upon the Belly that it caused a miscarriage For which bruitish behaviour he was cited to appear before his Bishop St. Cyprian but before they came to Judgement the Persecution overtook them by which means Donatus escaped his punishment at present and to avoid it for the time to come sets afoot this Schism to overthrow all the Discipline of the Christian Church Such was the Author and the Occasion of this pernicious Schism and he now seeing the Persecution begin to cool and St. Cyprian resolute to keep up the Efficacy of Discipline cunningly sets up Faelicissimus to be head of the Party who he knew would thrust himself forward enough into the quarrel meerly out of his factious nature and for the meer love of discord and contention as St. Cyprian expresses it That out of a natural instinct Instinctu suo quietem Epist. 41. fratrum turbans proripuit se cum plurimis ducem se Factionis Seditionis Principem temerario furore contestans to disturb the quiet of his Brethren he conspired with many others with the rage and rashness of a mad man to declare himself the head of the Faction and Prince of the Seditious Association And according to this Temper of his when St. Cyprian a while after sent his Commissioners to Carthage for the settlement of Ecclesiastical Discipline this Boutefeu with his Rabble openly oppose and affront them and threaten Excommunication to all that should obey either them or St. Cyprian Of which St. Cyprian being inform'd he immediately sends his peremptory Sentence of Excommunication against him and his accomplices Against him Because he attempted Quod cum Episcopo Ibid. portionem plebis dividere i. e. à Pastore oves filios à Parente separare Christi membra dissipare tentaverit to share the flock with his Bishop which is to divide the Sheep from the Shepherd Children from their Father and to disperse the Members of Christ. And against them that Not regarding Sed Augendus qui nec Episcopum nec Ecclesiam cogitans pariter se cum illius conspiratione sociavit siâ—â— ultra cum eo perseveraverit sententiam ferat quam ille in se factiosus temerarius provocavit Sed quisquis se conspirationi factioni ejus adjunxerit sciat se in Ecclesiâ nobiscum non esse communicaturum qui sponte maluit ab Ecclesiâ separari the Bishop or the Church they had associated themselves to his Conspiracy and therefore had brought the same Sentence of Condemnation upon their own heads that his Schismatical folly rashness had drawn down upon his and for that reason whoever joined with his faction was denounced excommunicate from theChristianChurch as one who had made himself so by his own separation This being done he signifies his Sentence to his People requiring them as Epist. 43. they would not ineur the same Sentence not to Communicate with the Schismaticks against their Bishop and presses them to it with this Argument There Deus unus est Christus â—â—us una Ecclesia Cathedra una super Petrum Domini voce fundata Aliud Altare constituiaut sacerdotium novum fieri praeter unum Altare unum Sacerdot ' non potest is one God one Christ one Church one Chair founded by our Lord 's saying upon Peter another Altar beside that one Altar Priesthood cannot be erected To divide from their Bishop as Faelicissimus had done was a breach of the Unity of the Priesthood and that was a breach of the Unity of the Church which is here expressed by the word Altar as it is frequently in the Ancient Writers of the Church but especially those that writ against the Novatians and the Donatists All the Christians under one Bishop were said to appertain to the same Altar because they belong'd to the same Communion and therefore when any separated from him they were said to erect a new Altar because they set up a new Communion And this Rebellion against the Bishop he farther aggravates as an utter Subversion of the Christian Church It is adulterous Ibid. it is prophane Adulterum est impium est sacrilegum est quodcunque humano furore instituitur ut dispositio divina violetur it is sacrilegious whatever is innovated by the passions of Men to the injury of God's own Institution And then passionately exhorting the People to avoid them he thus expresses himself Let no Man draw you Ghristians Nemo vos Christianos ab Evangelio Christi rapiat Nemo filios Ecclesiae de Ecclesiâ tollat Pereant sibi soli qui perire voluerunt Extra Ecclesiam soli remaneant qui de Ecclesiâ recesserunt soli cum Episcopis non sint qui contra Episcopos rebellârunt from the Gospel of Christ let no Man take away the Sons of the Church from the Church let them perish alone who have a mind to perish let them alone remain out of the Church who have departed from the Church let them alone not communicate with the Bishops who have rebell'd against the Bishops Thus we see how it is all along with him one and the same thing to be out of the Communion with the Bishop and with the Christian Church whilst the Bishop was in Communion with that But matters being thus prepared and the storm of Persecution laid St. Cyprian in a little time returns home and Summons a Provincial Council in which the Cause of Faelicissimus whose zeal had now made him proud of being head of the Party and his Factious Associates was Examin'd and after a full and fair hearing the former Sentence of Excommunication by their own Bishop was Synodically ratified But Schism never ends where it begins for the Incendiaries finding themselves thus defeated in Africa they fly to Rome and carry the flame with them from Carthage thither where they found combustible matter enough at that time to set the whole Christian World on fire from the contest between Cornelius and Novatian for the Bishopricâ— for as the Council of Carthage was held in the Month of May so this Contest happned the June following as the learned Annalist has made it evidently appear Cornelius being chosen Bishop by the much greater Majority of Votes Novatian Remonstrates to his Election loads him with a great heap of Crimes that would render him uncapable of the Episcopal Office but chiefly refuses Communion with him because he had Communicated with the Lapsi and upon this severe Principle that they were never to be admitted to Absolution he builds his Schism at which lucky juncture of time the African Schismaticks coming to Rome they join interest with him and set him up Anti-Bishop against Cornelius and by the severity of their pretence drew into the Party many well-meaning Men that had been eminent Confessors in the late Decian Persecution and by their Reputation for some time kept up the Schism with some credit and confidence But here the honesty of Schismaticks is not
you readily receive this Order as a true divine Command for whatever is agreed on in the Holy Councils of Bishops is to be taken as the Will of God But then it is remarkable that the Emperour only imposes this Decree of the Council by its own Authority and does not back it as he does that against Arianism with secular Penalties for what reasons himself best knew it is enough that it was not needful for by the bare Authority of the Council the controversie was laid asleep forever nor do I remember that after that time we hear of any material Contention about it Now by the whole management of this business the Conclusion is evident that the Emperour thought that Laws Ecclesiastick ought to be made by the Ecclesiastick State and when they were so that they were Valid and Obligatory by their own Authority though himself had power to enforâ—e them with Civil Snactions as he judged it serviceable to the advancement of Religion and the Peace of Government §. VIII And so the Great Council was dismist as well as summon'd by the Emperour with that success he desired in the unanimous Condemnation of the Arian Heresie insomuch that in that great number of Bishops that were there present there were no more then two that refused to subscribe the Decrees of the Council Secundus and Theonas as Eusebius himself informs us both in the life of Constantine and in his Epistle to his Diocess and it is from his Authority that Theodoret corrects the Errour boâ—h of Soorates and Zozomen who set down six Dissenters that is beside those two Eusebius of Nicomedia Theognis of Nicaea Maris of Calcedon and Eusebius of Caesareâ— but though it be true that these were the great Sticklers at first against the admission of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Faith yet is it certain from Eusebius his own account of it that they all at last acquiesced in the determination of the Council and Athanasius is witness of this not only for this Eusebius of Caesarea but his Namesake of Nicomedia And here even Philostorgius himself who is miserably lost thâ—â—â—â— this whole Story and every where betrays his ignorance by his confusion of times places and persons as well as his imperfect and false Relations yet here I say he happens to report the matter accurately enough though his Disciple Sandius who always takes great pains to be in the wrong forsakes both him and all the ancient Historians to follow the imperfect Story of Nicetâ—s who sets down twenty two Dissenters and among them Eusebius of Caesarea But on the other hand St. Jerom tells us and that as he pretends from the very Acts of the Council that not only these Bishops but Arius himself and his two Companions Euzoius and Achillas the last whereof though but a Presbyter Sandius is so ignorant as to take him for the Bishop that was Predecessor to Alexander were upon submission received into the Churches favouâ— but this I take to be one of St. Jerom's hasty slips for as all Authors beside agree that he was immediately banisht so it is very unlikely that if he had recanted and been received into the Church that Constantine should at that time have publisht that severe Rescript against him that his Sect should be call'd Porphyrians i. e. Enemies to the Christian Faith and that his Books should be burnt upon pain of death But beside that is there had been any signs of Repentance in Arius we should certainly have had an account of it in the Synodical Epistle of the Council to the Church of Alexandria whereas on the contrary they bemoan the Calamity into which he had not only cast himself but drawn after him Theonas and Secundus two Egyptian Bishops and tâ—e only two Bishops that stuck to the Arian cause into the same Pit of Destruction And that could be nothing else but banishment as appears from the words immediately following in which they congratulate to the Churches of Egypt their deliverance from those wicked and turbulent men and accordingly the Historians Socrates and Sozomen tell us that Arius was recall'd from banishment not long after the Council and not long after him Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nicaea who had been banisht from their Sees by the Emperous not at the time of the Council with Arius but some time after as is evident from the Emperours own Epistle to the Nicomedians in which he declares the reasons of their banishment viz. That though they had subscribed the Nicene Faith yet after their return home they had received some Arians into Communion that the Emperour had removed from Alexandria for the security of the Peace of that Church and that wasthefault of the Eusebians in this whole affair that though they were not Arians they thought that they might communicate with them as it is evident from the Synodof Alexandria in their excellent Synodical Epistle who do not in the least accuse the Eusebians of Arianism but only of holding Communion with them Not long after the just Banishment of these two trimming Bishops Arius is upon his submission restored into the bosom of the Church but with a peremptory command never to return to Alexandria upon which the banish't Bishops are awakened and encouâ—aged to endeavour their own Restitution in that as they plead in their own behalf when the person really guilty was absolved themselves who had never followed his Heresie but embraced the Decrees of the Council in all things and subscribed the Faith of Con-Substantial could not but be concern'd at least to deâ—â—ver themselves from the very suspicion of that Hereâ—â—e that they never own'd and therefore as they had before subscribed the â—â—â—th of the Council with which they â—â—y the Council was then well satisfied without subscribing the Anathema so now when they were ready to give an entire assent and subscribe even that too as well as the Form of Faith they hope 't it would not only give them complete satisfaction but move them to intercede with the Emperour for their Restitution And that was easily obtain'd from him who was desirous of nothing more then the Peace and Concord of the Church But Eusebius being of an haughty and implacable Spirit Studies nothing but revenge against Athanasius who was the chief man though in an inferiour station that had born down himself and his whole Party in the Council And beside his particular spite against the person of Athanasius his Party could not digest the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Socrates relates and therefore raised a new War about it notwithstanding that they agreed with the Catholicks about the whole Doctrine of the Trinity When both affirmed says he one Godhead subsisting in Three Persons yet I know not how it came to pass they were always contending about it And this we shall find exactly true that after the Council of Nice they never in the least appeared in behalf of
was collected before the Council of Calcedon and have ever since been received both by the Eastern and Western Churches till Baronius and the late Romanists endeavoured to bring them into disgrace for the Affront that they had given to Pope Julius in rating of him so severely for intermedling with their Affairs For thô that transaction is one of the main passages that they insist upon to make out the Authority of the Popes Universal Pragmaticalness yet there is scarce a fuller Testimony against it extant in the Records of the Church For when he takes upon him to act out of his Province in giving Absolution to Athanasius they charge him with a violation of all the Laws of the Christian Church and tell him that when Novatus was condemn'd by his Predecessors the Eastern Church would never receive the Schismatick to Communion and therefore challenge him how he dares make so bold with the Discipline of the Christian Church as to reverse any of their Decrees and they afterward proceed so high in the Quarrel as to Excommunicate his Holiness for his uncanonical Presumption and to signifie their Sentence against him by an Encyclical Epistle to all the Bishops of the Christian World which no doubt is a very likely thing if his universal Supremacy had been then as well known and as much talkt of as these Men would make us believe when as it is not in the least challenged or any way intimated by Julius so is it denyed by the Eastern Bishops as an utter overthrow of the known Discipline of the Christian Church And whereas he cited them to appear before the Council at Rome that was by virtue of their own voluntary Appeal when they had refer'd themselves and their Cause to that Council for it was summon'd only at their Request and importunity Now after all this that was done purely to gratifie themselves first wholly to baulk and decline the Council and then whilst it was Sitting and the Cause depending that they had put to reference to pass Judgment upon it themselves was such a piece of foul dealing as is not to be endured in common Conversation And that is the very thing that Julius himself charges upon them in Answer to their objection against him for intermedling with their Affairs not that they affronted his Supremacy but that when they had put him to the trouble of summoning a Council and while the matter was under Examination they should put such a slur upon it as meerly to steal away the cause that themselves had seem'd so much concern'd after so many Contests to refer to its final determination And in truth the whole business was so involved by the Craft of Eusebius from the time of the Tyrian Council that Athanasius which way soever he turn'd to clear his Innocence found himself insnared by the Canons themselves For as he was deposed in Council so he could not be Canonically restored but by Council and that is it they press upon him notwithstanding the Emperour's Restitution in that though he had power to call him from banishment yet he had none to take off the Censure of the Church And the Plea had held good if there had not been so much and so exorbitant Villany at the bottom though by it we may see by laying one ill Action for a Foundation what a vast Pile of Dishonesty may be built upon it For granting the Sentence of the Tyrian Council to be good as it would have been had it not been so enormously base Athanasius was which way soever he moved catch't in the Canons and therefore in all his Pleadings he is so wise as to refer his whole Cause to the Acts of that Council and that at last got him the Victory by making known their Villany But granting them Valid his Restitution by the Emperour was Canonically void as to any exercise of his Episcopal Function and that was the point that they urged to the Emperour Constantius in order to his Second banishment but fearing lest if he should make enquiry into the whole matter all their Forgeries should come to light they carry their Cause a great way off as far as Rome and that with a mighty shew of fair dealing and ingenuity on their part that they were so far from desiring any partial Judgment that they would refer it to Judges utterly unconcern'd and therefore send it into the other Empire And now when this was done with so much plausibility Eusebius all on the suddain huddles up a Council at home and dispatches the business before the Council at Rome could publish their Sentence and by that trick he very artificially ensconst himself and his Cause in a new Quarrel that would engage one half of the Christian Church on his side For now it was become the Quarrel of the Eastern Church against the Western because when they had sentenced a Cause at Antioch what power had they to reverse the Decree at Rome This must be an Invasion of the Liberties of the Oriental Church and no less then an Attempt to bring them into subjection to the Western Bishops and thus were they all drawn in by this Crafty Man to back his own Quarrel And therefore it is observable that this Cause was ever after managed by this very pretence and it was the very Complaint of the Eusebian Bishops that parted from Sardica and sat at Philippi against the Sardican Council that they endeavour'd to introduce a new Law that the Eastern Bishops should be subject to the judgment of the Western And thus by this Artifice did this subtle man remove his Tyrian Villany out of the sight and then he might go forwardwithout fear or danger for nothing else but the discovery of that could ever expose himself ruine his Cause and defeat his Malice But the most cunning Stratagem of all was that at the same time that they proceeded with so much seeming Christian Severity against Athanasius they either Enacted or Ratified so many excellent Laws of Discipline that yet were but so many Snares to Athanasius and his Friends after his Tyrian deposition especially the fifth eleventh and twelfth In the fifth it is decreed that if a Presbyter refuse to Communicate with his Bishop he shall after three Admonitions be deposed forever and be punisht by the Civil Magistrate as a Seditious Person a very good Canon in it self but at that juncture of time it was only a Rod for the Orthodox Clergy of Alexandria who the Eusebians too well knew would peremptorily refuse all Communion with their new Bishop Gregory that was thrust upon them by this Council and a Military Force in the place of Athanasius their true and lawful Bishop In the eleventh and twelfth Canons all Appeals from Ecclesiastical Censures to the Emperour are strictly forbidden under pain of Deposition and it is farther provided that if any Bishop be Synodically deposed he is not to be restored but by a greater Synod of Bishops This reach't Athanasius to the
intreaty to proceed to Tryal which the Council imputes not only to their knowledge of the defect of their Accusations against others but to the Conscience of their own guilt Seeing great numbers of Persons there present that were ready to testifie of their various Cruelties and tell sad Stories of their Imprisoning Banishing Beating Starving Strangling Persons in Holy Orders only for refusing to Communicate with the Aria◠Hereticks And though the Criminals refused to appear the Witnesses were Examined and they Deposed and both the Emperors written to that their Majesties would be pleased to set all such at liberty that were still under restraint and to order their Officers for the time to come not to use any force or violence against the Clergy for their Faith but leave them first to be tryed by the Ecclesiastical Judicature In the next place the whole Intrigue against Athanasius is re-examined the Stories of Arsenius and Ischiras farther proved by fresh Witnesses and so both himself and the rest of the Deposed and Banish't Bishops are restored and the Intruders thrust not only out of their Sees but out of the Communion of the Christian Church And then in the last place they enact some Rules of Discipline useful and almost necessary for the Present State of the Church as against the practice of Eusebius and other Bishops of the Faction that invade other Mens Bishopricks and though such Offenders were only sent back to their own Sees by the Canon of the Nicene Council this Council is so severe as not only to Depose but Excommunicate them so as not to be capable of being admitted to Lay-Communion even at the hour of death Another Canon they made against the wandring of Bishops and that reach't Ursacius and Valens who left their own Diocesses to carry on the Eusebian Faction in other Provinces A third Canon was That if a Bishop were oppress 't by his Com-provincials he might have leave to make his complaint to the Bishop of Rome who might judge whether he ought to have a new hearing or not and this beside some secret reasons was to relieve the Eastern Bishops from the Oppression of the Eusebians who carried all before them by force and foul dealing Though the Romanists will have it to have been made particularly to justifie Athanasius in his Appeal to Rome but beside that if it were true it would do their Cause no service it is certain that Athanasius made not the Appeal himself but that his Cause was first referr'd thither by the Eusebians and that too with no other design then to remove it as far as they could from their own doors for fear of discovery §. XIII But as vigorously as the Western Bishops proceeded at Sardica the Eastern out-stript them at Philippopolis they first take to themselves the Title of the Council at Sardica they draw up a new Confession of Faith and call it the Sardican Creed in which they Anathematise all the Positions of Arius and only omit the word Consubstantial And as for Athanasius they cunningly load him with the Authority of the Tyrian Council and the Sentence of Constantine upon it Qui omnia ejus flagitia recognoscens suâ illum sententiâ in exilium deportavit Who examining into all his Crimes banish't him by his own Sentence as they blush not to aver as if the abused Emperor had been acquainted with all the juglings of that Council when it was their only care to keep their proceedings altogether in the dark from him But from this they proceed to infer that Athanasius being condemn'd by the Suffrage of so many Bishops and the Judgment of the Emperor it was now but a trick to move for a new Tryal when so many of the Judges Accusers and Witnesses were dead and therefore they must have the old Sentence allowed and ratified before they would act least as they plead They should bring in that prophane Innovation Quam horret vetus consuetudo Ecclesiae ut in concilio Orientales Episcopi quicquid forte statuissent ab Episcopis Occidentalibus refricaretur vice versa That the Ancient Custom of the Church abhors that the Decrees of the Eastern Church should be reversed by the Western and so on the contrary That was the point they would still be at that whatever was done in the Eastern Church should not be submitted to the Judgment of the Western Bishops and then that secured the Authority of the Tyrian Council and as long as that stood firm so did their Cause too But to make short work of it for there are vast numbers of odd casts of disingenuity in their Epistle they Excommunicate Athanasius Paul of Constantinople Julius of Rome Osius Marcellus and all that had any hand in the Absolution of Athanasius and this they signifie in an Encyclical Epistle written in the Name of the Council of Sardica to their friends in all Parts of the World and among many others it is directed to Donatus the Schismatical Bishop of Carthage Gratus the Catholique Bishop of that City with 36 other African Bishops being present at the Council of Sardica and joining with it against the Philippopolitans who therefore think to strengthen their Party by courting the Schismaticks to their side And among other sweet flowers flatter them with their own dear Expression viz. That they durst not join with the Sardican Council Ne proditores fidei Traditoresque Scripturarum dicamur Lest we should be esteemed Traytors of the Faith and Traditors of the Scriptures thereby insinuating an approbation of their Schism from the Catholicks upon that pretence And this took so luckily that the Schismatiques pleaded it in the days of St. Austin to prove that they had ever been in Communion with the Eastern Church But both parties having done the business that they came about especially the Eusebians whose only project it was to shun the Council and make the breach more general with the whole Western Church they break up their Assembly and where-ever they come put to death all that refuse Communion with them particularly they make a great Massacre at Adrianople where they cut off the Bishop's hands and after that his head with innumerable other outrages recited by Athanasius in his Epistle to the Monks But as for the Sardican Council having settled things as well as they could they acquaint both the Emperors with the Issue of their Proceedings and send three Bishops Arm'd with Letters from the Emperor Constans to his Brother Constantius to intercede for the restitution of the banish't Bishops But whilst they attended the Emperor at Antioch Stephen the Eusebian Bishop of that place by his Instruments conveighs a common Strumpet by night stark naked into the Chamber of Euphratas that was the most eminent Man of the Embassy and famous for his great Vertue and Piety but the Woman who expected some debauch't young Gallant for her Companion as soon as she saw the grave old Bishop asleep and altogether ignorant of the matter being
them were nicely and religiously observed by both Governments The first evidently appears from the Emperour 's summoning so many Councils to gratifie his own Will For his only design was to amend and reform the Nicene Creed for the reconciling of all Parties which if he had thought that he might have done by his own Imperial Authority to what purpose need he have broke up all the High-ways in Christendom by conveying Bishops to and from Councils He might have proclaimed down the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one Imperial Rescript if he had supposed that a proper Authority for it So that when he summoned such Variety of Councils by the Countenance of their Authority to compass his Will that demonstrates it to be a fixt Principle with him that the Controversies of the Church ought to be decided by the Authority of the Church And therefore though it was scarce ever more oppressed or abused by any Prince then himself yet his very illegal Actions are the highest acknowledgement that is upon record of that religious reverence that is due to that power that was setled by our Saviour upon his Apostles and the Bishops their Successours forever For though it so frequently crost his own design yet he durst never directly invade or usurp it but was forced from time to time to solicite their compliance with his own wicked Will or rather misinform'd judgement And though he carried things with so rough a violence yet he would never attempt any thing against the Liberties of the Church unless he could bear himself out by the Authority of a Council But if he so much own'd that how comes it to pass that the Ancients charge him so highly for usurping it particularly Athanasius Hosius St. Hilary and Liberius who freely and boldly reproved him for it to his own face And so they did and that too upon very just grounds for though he did not challenge the Authority of the Church to himself yet he endeavoured to over-rule it by down-right force and violence which is in effect to destroy it And that is the ground of their complaints that they were not allowed freedom in Council but that himself and his Prefects took upon them to forestall the Judgement of the Church by Restraints and Threatnings This is the standing complaint of Athanasius and all the Orthodox Bishops in all their Writings It is the grievance insisted upon by the Synod of Alexandria in their Synodical Epistle in behalf of Athanasius against the Tyrian Council With what forehead could they call that a Council over which a temporal Lord presided and where Spies and Notaries were placed where his Lordship determined and the Officers of the Church were silenced or rather lacquied to his Decree Where what was voted by the Bishops was over-ruled by him He carried all things by Power we were govern'd by the Guards or rather the pleasure of the Eusebians whose Tool and Instrument was the Secular President And a little after These worthy Eusebians shelter their forgeries speaking of the Villany of Arsenius under the pretence of a Council where all things were carried by the Emperour's Will where one of his Lords presided and the Bishops were under the custody of the guard and compell'd to say whatever the Emperour commanded The very same Complaint is made by Athanasius himself against the Council of Antioch in his Epistle to the Monks of Egypt That when upon the Appeal or rather Reference made to Rome by the Eusebians he had repair'd thither and the time of hearing the cause was appointed as soon as they heard they were likely to meet with an Ecclesiastical judgement where the Secular Governour was not to be present nor the Guards to keep the Council doors nor all things to be overul'd by the Commands of Caesar by which methods and no other they had hitherto born down the Bishops and without which security they durst never have made any appearance were so astonisht and surprised that they had no way of escape but to shift off their own Appeal And this is the Account that he gives of their lying off from the Synod of Sardica That when they had brought the Emperours Officers along with them and trusted to do what they pleased by their Authority but finding that all things were resolved to be managed there fairly and freely according to the Ecclesiastical Rule they quite baulkt the Council And to transcribe no more the same complaint is perpetually repeated by him in all his Writings as the fundamental miscarriage v. p. 833. 844. 845. 861. 862. This was the enormity of his Reign though he fell not so grosly into it till after the overthrow of Magnentius or the Murther of Gallus They were the Actions of that time that these good men particularly complain of and no wonder when he did all things more like a Mad-man then a Prince and Govern'd both the State and himself too as wildly as the Church As his Extravagance at that time is described by Ammianus Marcellinus Quo ille Studio blanditiarum exquisito sublatus immunemque se deinde fore ab Immortalitatis incommodo existimans confestim a justiti◠declinavit it a intemperanter ut AEternitatem meam aliquoties assereret ipse dictando scribendoque propriâ manu Orbis totius se Dominum appellare Upon the news of the death of Gallus he was so bloated by the flatteries of his Courtiers for his success against all his Enemies that he forgot himself and his own Mortality and sunk after so prodigious a rate from all sense of Justice that he was often wont in dictating Letters to subscribe himself My Eternity and Lord of the whole World They I say were the actions of this mad time that these good Men particularly complain of and as for all the time before he gave the Church reasonable fair usage and though the Eusebians drew him in to pack Councils yet he never proceeded so high himself as to forestall or over-rule their Decrees As for the Council of Antioch that was the meer contrivance of the Nicomedian Eusebius and his Eunuchs to prevent the Council at Rome in the cause of Athanasius In which it does not appear that the Emperor had any other concernment farther then to put their Sentence in Execution And was in all probability imposed upon as the good Bishops of the Council were in the Condemnation of Athanasius For it was all grounded upon the Acts of the Tyrian Council and had they been legal his Deposition had been but just so that their validity being as here it was supposed no wonder that the Bishops Vote so freely against him though for the most part neither Arians nor Eusebians The Council at Sardica was a full and free Council and though the Eusebians were forced to be cross and peevish in their own defence yet all things were managed in the Council it self fairly and candidly without any appearance of force or fraud in the Emperor insomuch
taken into Protection by the first Christian Emperours knowing how much it will endear the Church of England to Your Majesties Royal Care and Kindness when you discern its exact conformity to the first Constitution in all things but its Suffering And now I cannot pray for more happiness to Your Sacred Majesty then they comprised in a Collect for their Heathen Emperours under all the Storms and Outrages of Persecution That Almighty God would grant You a Long Life a Quiet Reign an Undisturbed Family Valiant Armies Faithful Councellors and Loyal Subjects That all things may fall out as successfully as Your Royal Heart can desire That Your Empire may ever increase and flourish And that the Lineal and Legal Succession of Your Royal Family may inherit Your Imperial Throne through all Succeeding Ages Which is the daily Prayer of Your Majesties Most Humble and Dutiful Subject S. P. The Contents § I. THE Introduction representing the seeming difficulty of the Argument from the niceness of the Controversy it self from the partiality of the Writers engaged in it and from the just jealousy of Superiours about it and yet nothing more easy to determine to the Satisfaction of all Parties concern'd and particularly to the advantage of Soveraign Powers Pag. 1. § II. Christianity supposes the power of Princes Our Saviour disclaims all Temporal Authority and all exemption from it to those that have it To pretend to any such thing by any grant from him is to renounce him and turn Mahumetan Christ as he is Head of his Church is subject to Sovereign Powers pag. 10 § III. The Power of Princes over the Church supposes the Power in the Church it is no Spiritual but a Civil Power over the Spiritual to deny the Authority of the Church in all Ages is to take away our Saviours own Authority all the several branches of his Commission to the Apostles proved against Mr. Hobbs to be Authoritative pag. 34. § IV. No Church-Power but what is conveyed from the Apostles by Ordination The Supremacy of Princes is the same whether Heathen or Christian Princes neither gain nor loose any Power by their Christianity Mr. Hobbs that he may destroy the present Power of the Church is forced to take away our Saviours own Power over it in this present World pag. 56. § V. The danger of a competition between these two Powers wholly avoided by the Churches Power being founded upon the Doctrine of the Cross. The Doctrine of the Cross explained pag. 65. § VI. The Rights of Sovereign Princes secured and improved by divers particular Laws of the Christian Institution The folly of limiting the obligation of these Laws to such Governours as govern by Law demonstrated against Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Baxter pag. 77. § VII Submission to the worst of Princes proved much wiser and much more advantageous to the Interest of the Subject then the liberty of Resistance or Rebellion in any case whatsoever Barclay's Concession of its being lawful in any case shewn to be an inlet to the subversion of all Governments in all cases pag. 109. § VIII Those that are trusted by our Saviour with the Government of his Church are tyed by him to a particular and exemplary submission to Civil Authority They are not forbidden the exercise of power but the haughty and insolent use of it The Church of England consists not in its Laws but in its Authority to Act Laws pag. 126. § IX The Primitive Churches practice of Passive Obedience No Canons against Rebellion because it was then never committed The Church careful to secure all mens civil Rights Canons to secure the Rights of Masters over Servants The Doctrine of Universal submission taught in the Greek Church by Policarp Justin Martyr Athenagoras Theophilus Origen and Dionysius of Alexandria p. 140. § X. The same Doctrine taught and practised in the Latin Church by Irenaeus Tertullian Minutius Foelix St. Cyprian It was not lawful for Christians that were banish't for their Religion to return home without leave of the Government To say this Doctrine was then taught because they wanted strength is to call them Knaves and Villains The blasphemy of the Independants in justifying their Treason by pretending to Inspiration from Heaven This done by John Goodwin and J. O. pag. 153. § XI The strictness of Government in the Church kept up to the height all this Interval notwithstanding their entire submission to the power of the Empire The necessity of a Legislative Power to the Being of a Church The Government and Discipline of the Primitive Church exemplified from the Apostolical Canons pag. 169. § XII The State of the Primitive Church collected into one view out of the Writings of St. Câ—prian with an account of the birth growth and death of the Novatian Schism His first Principle of Unity is the duty of Communion with the Bishop in every particular Church pag. 198. § XIII His second Principle of Unity is the Obligation upon all Christian Bishops to keep up correspondence and Communion among themselves pag. 227. § XIV Mr. Thorndike's Notion of the Unity of the Catholick Church by way of External Polity vindicated against the Objections of Dr. Barrow and the Doctors Treatise concerning the Unity of the Church confuted pag. 236. Part. II. § I. THe Concurrence of the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Power under the Reign of Constantine the Great in the Cause of the Donatists and Arians An account of the History of the Donatists from their beginning to the Council at Rome under Melchiades pag. 265. § II. A Chasm discovered in Optatus from the Council of Rome till after the Council of Arles The Sentence of the Council of Arles against the Schismaticks Their Illegal Appeal to the Emperour His resentments of it The Forgery of Ingentius against Foelix of Aptung discovered Constantine's Sentence against them at Milan without accepting their Appeal pag. 285. § III. Constantine's Proceedings against them But forced to grant them Liberty of Conscience upon his War with Licinius Their insolence upon it Their Case parallel with our present Schismaticks pag. 300. § IV. A Character of Donatus the Great and his Circumcellians Their behaviour towards the Emperour's Commissioners Their Flatteries of Julian pag. 307. § V. Their divisions and subdivisions among themselves Their Outrages and siding with Gildo the African Rebel Their disingenuity publickly exposed both by the Emperour and the Church The Imperial Laws against them and their great Efficacy Liberty of Conscience again granted them upon the Invasion of the Goths pag. 316. § VI. An account of the Conference at Carthage before Marcellinus The Donatists design in procuring his Murther The Faction forever broke by the effectual execution of Laws against them under Honorius p. 333. § VII The History of Arianism from its beginning to the end of the Nicene Council Eusebius of Caesarea and Petavius vindicated from suspicion of the Heresie Eusebius of Nicomedia and his Faction no Arians p. 348. § VIII After the Council
Priviledges all States that profess Christianity are bound by that profession to settle upon the Church I shall shew in its proper place but whatever they are the Church cannot challenge them by it's Original Charter So that if any Church shall be so presumptuous as to pretend to any such Power which way soever it comes in whether directly or indirectly by vertue of our Saviour's Commission that is not only a Contradiction to the Nature of Christianity but an Atheistical Abuse put upon the whole Design of the Institution But as to pretend to any such Power from our Saviour only over Subjects is no less then Blasphemy against him so to pretend to it over Soveraigns doubles the Blasphemy by adding the Sin of Rebellion to that of Impiety and utterly destroys not only the Being and Constitution of a Christian Church but of all humane Societies So that how many Marks soever there may be of a true Church this alone is an infallible Note of a false one And therefore every Church that refuses to disclaim any Temporal Power over Princes renounces the Christian Faith and forfeits all the Rights and Priviledges of a Christian Church but if it should be so vain as openly to claim any such power it bids open defiance to our Saviour and quits him and his Religion to follow Mahomet So that there is no one thing in the World can so effectually unchurch a Church as its claiming any Temporal Authority to it self especially over Soveraign Powers And this I doubt will light very severely upon the Bishops of Rome ever since the Hildebrandine Apostacy viz. That the Pope as Vicar of Christ has a power of deposing Soveraign Princes and absolving Subjects from their Allegiance this they have own'd whenever they durst and put in practice whenever they could and would never be brought upon any Terms to condemn it which Doctrine certainly is the greatest unkindness that they can do themselves and the worst thing that their greatest Enemies could desire to object against them and if any thing can prove his Holiness to be Antichrist this is the thing because it is an utter Subversion of the whole State of Christianity and makes our Saviour a false Christ by making him a Temporal Messias and placing him in the head of an Army to subdue the Princes and Nations of the World into subjection to himself I am sure for this very reason does the Learned Cardinal Baronius make Mahomet the Type of Antichrist because he promoted his Religion over several parts of the World by force of Arms Quod armorum potentia tot provincias nullo fermè negotio per suos posteros ejusdem sectae homines subjugasset He would have done well to have applyed this Censure nearer home and then he would not have justified all the Rebellious Popes in their violencies and outrages that they acted against Soveraign Princes and yet no man has done it with more diligence then himself as I shall prove when I come to consider his Performance Neither will this Charge of Apostacy light only upon the Church of Rome but upon every Church that maintains a right of resistance to Soveraign Powers upon a pretence of Christian Religion whatsoever for that is still to take to themselves such a power against their Prince by our Saviours Authority which is the same direct contradiction to the Nature of the Christian Faith and the same sort of Apostacy from Christianity to Mahumetism putting a Scymeter into our Saviours hand and under his pretended conduct waging War against their lawful Soveraign and that is the greatest dishonour that they can bring to their Master or themselves And yet we shall find some other Churches aś much guilty of this Apostacy both in Doctrine and Practice as that of Rome and though Rome and they stand at the greatest distance of Enmity out of Jealousie of one another who should carry the prize yet they both fully agree in this fundamental Antichristian Principle But this Charge will come home in its proper place at present we must take this Article of faith all along with us No Temporal Authority in the Church unless from the grant of the State §. III. But then secondly it must be granted too that the Power of Princes how great soever in Church matters supposes the Spiritual Authority of the Church that was as much settled by our Saviour without any dependency on the Authority of the State as the Authority of the State was settled by the Providence of God before there was any such thing as a Christian Church in the World So that it is undeniably evident from its original Constitution that the Church subsists no more upon the State as to its proper Power then the State upon the Church For as the Christian Church came into the World after the Civil Government of States was entirely settled in it so did the World come into the Church after its Government was as entirely fixed within it self And therefore as Christianity by its coming into the World ought no manner of way to abate the Civil Power of the State so neither when the Powers of the World come into the Church ought they to diminish any thing of that Authority that it enjoyed by Divine Commission before they came into it For they are received into it upon the same terms with all other Proselytes of the Christian Faith that they submit themselves to it as our Soviour's own Institution So that as our first point is That all Sovereign Princes have or ought to have an Imperial Supremacy over all Ecclesiastical Persons and in all Ecclesiastical Causes Our second is That this Supremacy which is the highest Power that can be on Earth is no Ecclesiastical but a Civil Supremacy For beside that it would be a dishonour to degrade a Sovereign Prince to the Priestly Office The Ecclesiastical Power is purely Spiritual and that is a Power that was never challenged by any Prince nor directly given by any Man though it is so by plain and undeniable consequence by all that disown an Inherent Authority in the Church from our Saviour's own Commission but only Mr. Hobbs who as he made the Prince his own Priest made him his own God too Now these two Principles laid together clear up the Nature and Title of the Supremacy of Sovereign Princes That it is none of that Spiritual Power that is lodged in the Church but a Temporal Supremacy over all the Spiritual Power of it within his own Dominions And now if these two Principles that are as certain as Christianity it self were but calmly attended to they would perfectly silence all the clamours of both the extreme Parties in this Controversie Those of the Church of Rome must cease their noise that we make the King a Bishop by acknowledging his Supremacy in all Ecclesiastical Causes and over all Ecclesiastical Persons when upon this State of the Question such a Supremacy over all things and persons within their Dominions
of the Primitive Church where we shall find the whole matter so fairly and so easily accorded that it is next to a miracle how it should ever be made so great a difficulty in these later times But it hapned in this as it did in most other things at the time of the Reformation that men saw themselves wrapt up they knew not how in woful Errours and Corruptions but did not and indeed as the World then stood could not immediately discover the true original state of the Church as it was at first setled by our Saviour and his Apostles and received into protection by Constantine and the Christian Emperours So that though they had Eye-sight enough and God knows very little would serve their turn to discern the follies and abuses of Rome they were at a loss how to fix the right Reformation and for want of the ancient Records of the Church that lay buried in dust and rubbish at that time could make but slow improvements in it So that before the true state of the Church could be clearly and fully discover'd most of them were setled in some way or other and after any new settlement it is very difficult to make any Alteration and therefore they continue in their first posture to this day But the Church of England at the very first Attempt resolving to reform it self by the Example of the Primitive Church and having the good fortune to retain the Apostolical form of Episcopal Government in subordination to the Royal Power set it self in a right way to Reformation And so as the state of things came to light by degrees brought its work to some competent Perfection For the Reformation of the Church after such an inveterate degeneracy must needs be a work of so great bulk and difficulty that it is an unreasonable thing to expect that it should be finisht at the first stroke So great a design as that must be a work of time and consideration to be reviewed and amended as the Master-Workmen shall find most convenient So as that they who had a Power first to begin it have an inherent right when ever they think fit to take an account of their own Work and if they find any flaws mistakes or defects in it to make them up by an after-care So that there must be a constant Power residing in the Church to enact or abolish Laws as it judges most serviceable to the present state of things And that is truly and properly the Church of England the Governours of it acting under the Allowance of the Sovereign Power by its establisht Laws and Constitutions with a constant power residing in themselves and their Successours to enact new Laws as they shall judge most beneficial to the Edification of the Church And it is a very crude notion of the Church of England as common as it is that it is to be found in its Canons Articles and Constitutions for that is only the Law and dead rule of the Church of England but the Church properly so call'd consists in its living Authority as setled by our Saviour by which these Laws were at first enacted and are or ought to be still executed and may in some cases be alter'd And that is the great difference between the Law and the Authority of the Church that one is alterable and the other is not The Authority of the Church may make new Laws and cancel old ones but that lasts the same for ever So that for men to talk of this or that Church without a particular form of Government setled in it by our Saviour's own Commission is to turn the Christian Church into a Chimaera and imaginary state of Fairies But as for the Church of England according to the design of its Reformation it consists of a National Synod of Bishops together with a select Convocation of Presbyters representing the whole Body of the Clergy in subjection to the Sovereign Power and in communion with the Catholique Church all the World over as far as it can be attain'd And this is contrived so agreeably to the Primitive Platform the Interest of Government the Nature of Christianity that there is little else defective in it then the honesty and the confidence to own it self and put its own Constitution into effectual practice But of that I shall discourse in its proper place §. 9. At present for the practice of the Primitive Churches Government within it self and as it related to the Civil State it must be consider'd in the two Periods before and after the Conversion of the Empire and by comparing the true face and posture of things in these two so different states we shall have an exact description of the Rights of the Church in all estates and conditions whatsoever But most of all of its easy complyance with the Rights of Civil Government in Christian States and of the safest way for Christian Sovereigns to govern and protect the Church within their Dominions without invading its inherent and unalienable Authority And then last of all I shall compare that Royal Supremacy that is acknowledged and asserted in the Church and Realm of England in Causes Ecclesiastical with the sense of the Ancient Church concerning the Authority of Emperours and with the Practice of Christian Princes in the Exercise of this Authority And by shewing their compleat Agreement shall from that Topick distinctly prove that we have in this as well as in other matters attain'd a good degree of Reformation First as for the Period of time before the Conversion of the Roman Empire there are two things to be consider'd first their behaviour towards the Civil Government whilst it supprest and persecuted the Christian Faith Secondly the exercise of their own Authority within themselves From both which it will appear that the Church as a Society founded by Christ challenged a Jurisdiction distinct from and Independant upon the Civil State and that this Jurisdiction was so far from interfering with or abating of the Sovereignty of Princes that it bound them to the strictest Allegiance and Subjection to the most inhumane Persecutors And the Story of this Interval whilst the powers of the Church and the World were separate and indeed as much as it was possible opposite will set before us a much clearer State of the Nature and Extent of the two Jurisdictions then we can have from the Practice of Christian States in which the two Powers concurring in the same Acts of Government it is not altogether so easie to discern their distinct influences but will withal give us the fullest Character of true Christian Loyalty from their practice under the hardest usage and severest persecutions But most of all from their Principles upon which they founded their Obligation to their Practice and when it appears upon what grounds and reasons they submitted to the utmost cruelty of the Civil Government that will prevent the common shift made by all Factious Parties against the Authority of their Example
confusions yet I know not by what blind and unhappy fate it is become a popular and a reigning principle among us All Innovators lay it at the bottom of their new Projects of Reformation it is the fundamental Principle of Grotius as well as all other Erastians Legislativam Potestatem jure divino non competere ecclesiae that the Church has no Legislative Power by Divine Right At present to say nothing to the falshood of the Proposition itself yet methinks Grotius who was so well acquainted with the Records of the ancient Church of all men should not have said it when it was so constantly both challenged and put in practice and that not only all the time before the Emperors became Christians but after But he was then a young man and the Book is written with great rawness and betrays lamentable want of consideration It is the very Foundation of all Independency that nothing ought to be imposed by the Governours of the Church upon the Members of it but what is clearly revealed in the word of God And that there is no other Rule of Unity then that rule prescribed by our Lord himself which is so far from truth so inconsistent with the Being of a Church that it is a meer contradiction to the Nature and the use of Government whose proper Office it is to make Provisions for the Peace and good Order of the Society upon all occasions by the common rules of Prudence and Discretion and such things it is necessary to leave to the judgment and determination of Men because their convenience and usefulness is alterable with change of times and circumstances and therefore must be left to the liberty of the Governors of the Church to impose or remove them as they shall judge most suitable to the present State of things This was the standing rule in the Primitive Church that points of Faith were unalterable and when they were once determin'd by the Judgment of the Catholick Church they were never after that to be debated but as for all Laws of Discipline they were alterable with change of times and circumstances And to name one for all Regula quidem fidei says Tertullian una omnino est sola immobilis irreformabilis Hac lege fidei manente caetera jam disciplinae conversationis admittunt novitatem correctionis The Rule of Faith is always the same this alone is unchangeable and unreformable But as this remains forever so matters of Discipline and Government admit the Novelty of change and amendment So that next to the Fundamental Charter of being a Church this is the grand Principle of its Government that its Governours be endued with an Authority of imposing some things that are not required in the Word of God because the Church must be govern'd as all humane Societies are i. e. by men of common sense that have Wit enough to judge what is fit to be done upon any emergent cases and whose Authority is sufficient to oblige the Members of the Society to their Decrees and without it there could neither be Church nor Government So that this principle is so little suited to the state of Church-Purity as the Schismatiques pretend that it is only set up as an impregnable pretence for everlasting Schisms and Divisions For it was never started or so much as thought of till t'other day when the Puritan Faction for want of something more material to object against the Constitutions of the Church were forced at last to make this their main quarrel that they were not préscrib'd in the Word of God And as long as they were resolved to stand to that Exception they were secure in their Schism for it is an Objection not against the particular Constitutions of this Church but the practice of the Universal Church and the exercise of any power in all Churches of the World and therefore it being so good a Fund for Confusion it is for that reason so carefully nursed by the Independant Faction at this day it is the result of all J. O's Books about Schism because it makes all peace and settlement an impossible thing when there is no such rule of worship or discipline as is pretended by attending to which the Unity of the Church is to be preserved and therefore to refer us to a means of Peace that is not in being is to leave us remediless And if the Church may not make occasional Provisions to restrain some mens extravagancies and to settle good order all men are let loose to all the follies in the World and it will look more like a Bedlam than a Christian Church In short it serves to no other purpose then to be an everlasting pretence of Sedition when it takes away not only from the Church but from theCivil Government too all Authority of making any Laws for the settlement of Religion And yet this very Principle of Confusion this Darling of Independency this bulwark of all Schism is crept into the Church of England it self or some pretenders to it and is laid down by our Reconcilers and Peace-makers as the first Rule of Accommodation between the Church of England and the present Dissenters Though if it were admitted the different Parties would be so far from being taken into the Bosom or the Peace of the Church that it would only widen the differences and harden them in their Schisms For first the contest is not primarily about unscriptural Impositions but about divine Commands they contend that their Form of Church Government is of God's Institution and that the form now establish't in England is an humane Government set up against it and destructive of it this is the whole design of Mr. B's Treatise of Episcopacy and this has ever been the main controversie from the beginning of the Schism whether the Episcopal or the Classical Government were set up by our Saviour in the Christian Church for Men were not so unthinking in those days as to imagine he should set up the Society of his Church without setling any Government in it and therefore it is but an imperfect a partial and a treacherous account of the Separation to state the controversie only in Ceremonies when the main controversie has been from the beginning to this very day about a matter of Divine Right and therefore to take no notice of that in the History of the Schism is to intimate that as to that part of the controversie neither had the better of the other but they both equally contended about what never was and that all the blame of the Separatists is their refusing to submit to some lawful Impositions But that reaches not their cause the ground of their Separation is pretended Divine Law they must be beaten out of that or they must be let alone But secondly this Principle of accommodation by rejecting unscriptural Conditions of Communion would be so far from reconciling the Dissenters to the Church that it would only give up the Churches Cause to
judicium neque nunc sibi praepositum Episcopum cogitantes quod nunquam omnino sub antecessoribus factum est cum contumeliâ contemptuPraepositi totum sibi vendicent ought we to expect from the divine displeasure when some of the Presbyters forgetting both the Gospel and themselves neither regarding the future Judgment of God nor the Authority of their Bishop Challenge what was never done under our Predecessors the whole Power of the Church to themselves to the reproach and contempt of their Bishop These are very severe words and the Crime it seems was look't upon as a thing so horrid at that time that it was till then without Precedent And therefore for the prevention of any further mischief and scandal he writes at the same time an earnest Letter to the People themselves to warn them against the disorderly Actings of his Presbyters But in his Epist. 17. next Letter considering the sickly Season of the year he gives power not only to the Presbyters but to the Deacons to grant Absolution in case of Sickness by vertue of this hisCommission for the Deacons had no Authority of their own to do it and therefore what they did was valid purely by vertue of his Deputation and the validity of Ecclesiastical ministrations depends not upon the outward Act but theAuthority by which they are warranted But it happened that about this time Celerinus a Confessor at Rome writes to Lucianus a Confessor at Carthage to grantAbsolution to some women that had fallen in the Persecution but had made ample satisfaction for it by their eminent Hospitality to the Confessors Upon this Lucianus with the rest of his Brethren Epist. 22. with great heat and rashness grant their peremptory Absolution and signifie their resolution to St. Cyprian with a threatning if he refused to joyn with them that they would not communicate with him To such a wild abuse was the customary priviledge of meer intercession grown that they came at last to supersede and over-rule all the Episcopal Authority Upon this St. Cyprian writes a peremptory Epistle to his Clergy commanding Obedience to his former Orders Epist. 26. to restore no man to the Church till it first pleased God to restore peace to it Instâ—tur interim Epistolis c. And the mischiefs of this licentious Practice to the Subversion of the Peace and Discipline of the Christian Church he represents in an Epistle to the Clergy of Rome That this did but expose the Bishops to the hatred Quae res majorem nobis conflat invidiam ut nos cùm singulorum causas audire excutere caeperimus videamur multis negare quod se nunc omnes jactant à Martyribus Confessoribus accepisse Denique hujus seditionis Origo jam cepit c. and envy of the People that when they would make particular enquiry into every mans case they would seem to the People to defraud them of that favour that was bestowed on them by the Martyrs which had been already the cause of some Seditions in his Province c. And they in an Eloquent Epistle Epist. 30. written by Novatian himself as St. Cyprian informs us in his Epistle to Antonianus approve his Judgment and declare themselves peremptory in his Opinion and so do Moyses and the Confessors then Epist. 28. 31. in Prison at Rome to whom St. Cyprian at the same time writ about the same matter Upon this he writes to the Lapsi themselves that had received Absolution without his Authority to let them know that whatever was done without the Bishop was void and good for nothing The Ordination of Bishops and the Succession Per temporum successionum vices Episcoporum Ordinatio EcclesiaeRatio decurrit ut Ecclesia super Episcopos constituatur omnis actus Ecclesiae perâ—eosdem Praepositos gubernetur Cùm hoc itaque divina lege fundatum sit miror quosdam audaci temeritate sic mihi scribere voluisse ut Ecclesiae nomine literas facerent Quando Ecclesia in Episcopo Clero in omnibus stantibus sit constituta of the Church run together hand in hand through all times and ages so as that the Church is built upon the Bishop and every act of the Church is authorised by the Bishops seeing therefore this is establish't by the Will of God I cannot but stand amazed at the bold rashness of some i. e. Lucianus the Confessors that dare write to me that they may give Letters of pardon in the name of the Church when the Church is made up of the Bishop the Clergy and the faithful Layity Novatus the first contriver of theSchism seeing himself and his Party thus universally run down sets Faelicissimus in the head of it by his boldness and impudence to keep up the sinking cause though Baronius is here so far mistaken as to make An. 254. N. 32. Faelicissimus the first Founder of the Schism notwithstanding St. Cyprian has so expresly given that honour to Donatus together with the occasion of his Quarrel which was nothing else then a design to escape the Discipline of the Church to which he knew himself so obnoxious that he could no other way avoid it but by raising Tumults St. Cyprian after a very severe Character of his wicked temper of Mind thus tells the Story plainly This is the Novatus that first sowed the Idem est Novatus Epist. 53. qui apud nos primum discordiae schismatis incendium seminavit qui quosdam istic ex fratribus ab Episcopo segregavit qui in ipsâ persecutione ad evertendas fratrum mentes alia quaedam persecutionostris fuit Ipse est qui Faelicissimum Satellitem suum Diaconum nec permittente me nec sciente suâ factione ambitione constituit Seeds of Schism and Discord among us that separated the Brethren from their Bishops that in the very time of Persecution became another Persecution himself to subvert the minds of our Brethren It is he that made Faelicissimus the Hector his Deacon without my knowledge or permission by Faction and Ambition And after this account of the Author he lets us know the occasion of the Schism That beside many other scandalous Enormities committed by him Not long before the breaking out of this Uterus uxoris calce percussus Abortione properante in paricidium partus expressus Hanc Conscientiam criminum jampridem timebat propter hoc se non de Presbyterio excitaritantùm sed communicatione prohiberi pro certo tenebat urgentibus fratribus imminebat cognitionis dies quo apud nos causa ejus ageretur nisi persecutio antè venisset Quam iste voto quodam evadendae lucrandae damnationis excipiens haec omnia commisit miscuit ut qui ejici de Ecclesiâ excludi habebat judicium Sacerdotum voluntariâ discessione praecederet quasi evasisse sit paenam praevenisse sententiam Persecution he had so wounded his Wife by a kick
a little observable in that though their Opinions were extreme yet they join in the same Schism against the Catholique Church For Novatus and his Party were so loose as to be for Absolution without any due course of Penance and Satisfaction But Novatian was so severe as to be against allowing any Absolution at all and yet in this distance from one another they both piec't together against the Catholique Church that taught and practised the middle way of Absolution upon Penance and Satisfaction But the Opinion of Novatian being the most plausible for that of Novatus was a meer inlet to all Debauchery it soon swallowed up the African Schismatiques into it for Novatus having by his Schism escaped with all his Crimes the Discipline of the Church he cared not what became of his Opinion Schism was his only business and therefore he would quit his Opinion or any thing else to strengthen himself by a stronger Faction And the Faction being now emboldned by their strength and number they signifie the Election of Novatian to the several Provincial Churches and among others to St. Cyprian But he and his Collegues then assembled in Synod having been before-hand certified of the Canonical Election of Cornelius by Synodical Letters like Men wise and stout are so moved with the irregularity of the action that they would not so much as give them Audience but immediately throw them out of all Communion When by their Letters Sed enim cùm ex Epist. 44. literis quas secum ferebant ex eorum Sermone atque asseveratione Novatianum Episcopum factum comperissemus illicitae contra Ecclesiam Catholicam factae Ordinatâ—onis pravitate commoti à CommuÌ„icatione eos nostrâ statim cohibendos esse censuimus and their Discourse we understood that Novatian was made Bishop being provoked by such an irregularity of an Ordination made against the Catholick Church we immediately forbid them our Communion And when they press't that the Cause of Novatian and accusations against Cornelius might be publickly heard the Council peremptorily rejected the motion Gravitati nostrae negavimus Ibid. convenire ut Collegae nostri jam delecti ordinati laudabili multorum sententiâ comprobati ventilandum ultra honorem maledicâ aemulantium voce pateremur We judged it unbecoming our Gravity that we should suffer the honour of our Collegue already chosen and ordain'd and approved by common suffrage to be farther prosecuted by envious and spiteful men And this he discourses with great wisdom Epist. 45. in his next Epistle Honoris enim communis memores c. For being mindful of our common reputation and bearing special regard to the honour and dignity of the Priesthood we refused to hear their Accusations sharpened with bitter Reproaches considering and weighing with our selves that in so great an Assembly of the Brethren in the presence of the Priests of God and before the very Altar they were neither fit to be read nor to be heard Neither are things to be rashly and easily made publick that may cause scandal in t he Hearers and raise an ill Opinion of their Brethren who live at a great distance off too great to clear their own innocence And now having rejected the Schismaticks with so much contempt and dishonour St. Cyprian writes to the Confessors who had given reputation to the Schism and Scandal to the Church and very severely schools them for their disorderly Epist. 56. Seditious behaviour Gravat enim me atque contristat c. It grieves and troubles me it pierces my very heart with unspeakable sorrow when I found that you even you against all Ecclesiastical Constitution against the Law of the Gospel against the Unity of the Catholick Church had consented to the Creation of another Bishop i. e. to erect another Church to tear asunder the Members of Christ to divide the very Soul and Body of the Lords Flock And so goes on pathetically to exhort them that as they would not lose the honour and reward of their past sufferings that they would speedily return into the Unity of the Church and out of that it was in vain for them so much as to pretend to the Confession of Christianity And for their more ample satisfaction sends them his Book de unitate Ecclesiae Where among many other effectual Arguments he represents to them that their Schism is a much more heinous Crime then that committed by the Lapsi and that they had offended God less if they had fallen in Persecution then standing in it to fall into Schism which he tells them is a Crime not to be expiated by Martyrdom it self Though they were slain for the Confession Tales etiam sroccisi in confessione nominis fuerint macula ista nec sanguine abluitur Inexpiabilis gravis culpa discordiae nec passione purgatur Essâ— Martyr non potest qui in Ecclesiâ non est of his Name yet their Sin is a blemish not to be washt off by their own blood The sin of Discord is heavy and expiable not to be purged away by Martyrdom it self Neither can he be a Martyr that is out of the Church The Martyrs being alarm'd with these and the like discourses for they received another Letter about the same business and much about the same time from that Wise and Great Man Dyonisius Bishop of Alexandria are awakened to enquire more narrowly into the matter upon which they find that Letters full of Calumnies Epist. 49. and Reproaches of which they were utterly ignorant had been scatter'd and dispersed in all Churches in their name and confess that they had been circumvented by ill men beg forgiveness and acknowledge their great miscarriage in the publique Congregation and submit to Cornelius as their true and only Bishop And that immediately broke the Schism and scatter'd the Schismaticks Hic enim quosdam fratrès nostros c. Epist. 51. For this was the thing says St. Cyprian that seduced some with us that they followed the Communion of Confessors which strong prejudice being removed they are able to see the Light and understand that the Peace and Unity of the Church ought not to be broke and divided neither will they be so easily perverted by every furious Schismatick for the time to come when they are now convinced by experience that these brave Soldiers of Christ could not long by all the Arts of Craft and Subtilty be kept out of the Church But if the Reader desire a more compendious Account of all the Scenes and Motions of this Controversy he may meet with it in St. Cyprian's admirable Epistle to Antonianus a Numidian Bishop who not throughly understanding the state of the Resolutions concerning the Lapsi nor the contest between Cornelius and Novatian writes to St. Cyprian for better information about them both Who returns him a full Answer to both but more especially to the whole Tragedy of the Contest between Cornelius and Novatian wherein he proves that
Cornelius was lawfully Elected and Consecrated before Novatian and therefore that that alone was enough to null the Title of Novatian Et cum post primum c. And seeing when there is one Bishop there cannot be another whoever pretends to be second after a first who ought to be alone is not the second but none at all And though he gives a large Account of Cornelius his Vertues and the Vices of Novatian yet the Principle that he relyes upon is the Priority of Cornelius his legal Ordination after which for any other man to thrust himself upon what pretence soever into the same Bishoprick is really to thrust himself both out of the particular Church that he invades and out of the Catholick Church against which he Rebels because by the Rules of both one Church is not capable of receiving two Bishops But the Martyrs being reduced and the Schismaticks scatter'd and every where rejected St. Cyprian sets himself to bring the War to a Final Issue and for that end summons a Council at Carthage to settle the Case of the Lapsi forever whereas he informs Antonianus it was after mature debate determin'd with true Ecclesiastical Moderation Scripturis diu ex utrâque parte prolatis c. The Scriptures bâ—ing alledged and urged on either side we temper'd and pois'd the matter with an healing moderation that neither the hope of Restitution should be wholly denyed the Lapsi lest despair should drive them into utter Apostacy nor that the censure of the Church should be so loosned that the Offenders should be lightly admitted to Communion but that upon due Penance and Humiliation every mans particular cause and circumstances being examin'd he should be accordingly treated Which Decree being certified by a Synodical Epistle to Rome Cornelius at the Petition of St. Cyprian as Labbe according to the manner of the Romanists expresses it allows his Confirmation And for the proof of it alledges St. Cyprian's words to Antonianus in which he declares Cornelius his Compliance with the Authority of his determination so that instead of giving force to his Authority he only followed it And as if the number of Ac si minus sufficiens â—piscoporum Numerus in Africâ videbatur etiam Romam super hac re scripsimus ad Cornelium Collegam nostrum qui et ipse cum plurimis Coëpiscopis habito Concilio in eandem nobiscum sententiam pari gravitate et salubri moderatione consensit Bishops in Africa were not sufficient we writ to Cornelius our Collegue at Rome who calling a Council of a great many Bishops approved our Judgment with equal Wisdom and wholsome moderation The Schismatiques being thus utterly routed at Rome they fly back into Africk and there associate to set up another Bishop against St. Cyprian and agree upon Fortunatus which being done Faelicissimus with a Guard of rude and desperate Fellows posts to Rome signifies the Election of their new Bishop to Cornelius and demands Communion with him but is rejected with all manner of scorn and disgrace Upon this they huff and domineer and scare the old Bishop with their lowd threatnings and lowder Lyes particularly that this business was transacted by the concurrent Vote of five and twenty Bishops this puts Cornelius to a stand and hearing nothing all this while of it from St. Cyprian writes to him to know the whole state of the matter who returns him a large and pathetical Narrative of it where he states the whole matter with that Epist. 59. clearness and strength of reason with that evidence of proof with that fulness of Testimony that vanquisht the Faction forever for after that time we hear very little of this sullen Schism And the Fundamental Principle upon which he insists is the Divine Institution of his own Episcopal Superiority Heresies and Schisms arise from no other Fountain Neque enim aliunde Haereses obortae sunt aut nata sunt Schismata quà m inde quòd Sacerdoti dei non obtemperatur nec unus in Ecclesiâ ad tempus sacerdos et ad tempus Judex vice Christi cogitatur cui si secundùm magisteria divina obtemperaret fraterni tas Universa nemo adversum sacerdotuÌ„ collegium quidquaÌ„ moveret nemo post divinum judicium post populi suffragium post coepisco porum consensum Judicem se jam non Episcopi sed dei faceret then because the Priest of God is not obeyed nor one Priest at a time is thought to preside in the Church as Christ's Vicegerent To whom if the whole Brotherhood would obey according to the divine commands no man would move Sedition against the Colledge of Priests no man after the Sentence of God the good liking of the People the consent of the Bishops would take upon him to judge not the Bi shop but God him self That was his case that when he had been Canonically Elected and Constituted in the See of Carthage his own Presbyters should presume to out him of his Bishoprick that he held for his life by Dâ—vine Authority And therefore to Travel no farther into this Controversie though the Schismatiques according to the restless Genius of such Men made some faint sallys to save and redeem themselves we plainly see that this was the first Article of St. Cyprian's Unity of the Christian Church the Unity of a Bishop in every Diocesan Church and the dutiful and regular Communion of all its Members with him § 13. The second grand Article and that which has a more diffusive influence upon the Peace and Unity of the Church is the obligation upon all Christian Bishops to preserve Concord and Communion among themselves And as the former unites every Christian to some particular Church so this unites every particular Church to the Body of the Church Catholique And this is that which St. Cyprian and the Ancients intend by the Catholick Church viz. All Churches in the World united into one Body by the Concord of Bishops in the same Rules of Discipline and Government And this is his meaning in those several Passages in which he makes every Church both a perfect Church within it self and yet only a Member of the Church Catholique as in the formention'd Passage in his Book De Unitate Episcopatâ—s â—nus est cujus a singulis in solidâ—m pars tenetur There is but one Episcopacy of which every Bishop possesses his own share with plenitude of Power And in his 56 Epistle A Christo una Ecclesia per totâ—m orbem in multa membra dâ—visa Christ has founded one Church dispers'd through the whole World in many Districts or Divisions And in the same Epistle Episcopatus unus Episcoporum multorum concordi numer sitate diffusus There is but one Episcopacy spread every where by the Concord of all Bishops And in the 68th Epistle Etsi Pastores multi sumus unum tamen gregem pascimus oves universas quas Christus sanguine sâ—o passioâ—â— qâ—aesivit colligere fovere debemus Though we
pretence of Electing a new Bishop of that Diocess and having chosen one Paulus a very ill man and a known Traditor they proceed to the deposition of Caecilian But before they can pass sentence against him they were first obliged to clear themselves of the Crime But upon Examination of every particular Person they all Convict one another of Guilt and absolve one another by mutual consent This being done they adjourn to Carthage summon Caecilian to appear before them but he refuses they being only a Combination of his profess't Enemies and upon it they immediately depose him for his Obstinacy and put Majorinus who was Chaplain to Madam Lucilla in his place and send their Encyclical Letters to all the Bishops in Africa to signifie that they had renounced Communion with Caecilian and all his Adherents as Traditors And this being done the people were told that Caecilian was no Church-Officer that under him they could have no true Sacraments nor enjoy any means of Salvation but were in the same forlorn condition with Pagans and Idolaters But with themselves were the pure Gospel Ordinances and all that were Members of their Church were made Holy without spot or wrinkle Amongst them the most forward of the Faction was Donatus à Casâ Nigrâ who being the first that set up a Conventicle gave name to the Schism And he having a Natural Faculty of Canting and Insinuating into the Affections of the Rabble soon inveigled so great a number into his Party that they forsook their private Meetings and built publick Churches and there inveighed openly against the Idolatry of Caecilian and the Catholicks for that is the custom of all Fanaticks to improve every thing into Idolatry bemean the miserable state of all that would not leave that to joyn with them and scare the People with perpetual Alarms of certain ruine and destruction if they will not come out of Babylon By these Arts they prevail every where and the Schism is on a suddain spread all over Africk so as not only to enflame the Church but to endanger the publick Peace About which time Constantine having vanquish't Maxentius he thereby added Italy and Africk to his Government and for the encouragement of Christianity in Africa he sends Caecilian large sums of Money to be distributed by him among the Clergy of the three Provinces and grants them immunities from all publick Burthens And about the same time the Donatists finding themselves over power'd by the Catholicks present Anulinus the Pro-Consul with a Petition of Appeal to the Emperor and though afterward when they found themselves check't by the Civil Government their great Clamour was Quid Christianis cum Regibus Aut quid Episcopis cum Palatio What have Christians to do with Kings or Bishops with the Court Yet they were as St. Austin justly upbraids their dis-ingenuity the first Christians that ever fled from the Judgment of the Church to the Civil Government Though as for this first Appeal this is to be said for them that they did not Appeal to the Emperour 's own Judgment but only Petition'd him That he would be pleased to appoint them Judges of the Cause in the Church of France because that Church having wholly escaped the Persecution the Bishops of it would be more unconcern'd and impartial Judges of the Cause of the Traditors Whereas themselves were so divided and engaged at home that it was not possible to have any fair determination in Africa And though the Request hitherto was not very unreasonable yet the Emperour was highly displeased at it out of that tender care and solicitude that he ever had for the Peace and Concord of the Christian Church But however for once he Commissions three French Bishops together with Melchiades Bishop of Rome to hear the Cause who calling fifteen other Italian Bishops to their Assistance undertake its judgment in order to which Ten Bishops of each Party are commanded from Africa to attend the Council at Rome Where three days are spent in Examination of Witnesses but the Donatists bringing no proof against Caecilian himself the Council declare him innocent And whether Faelix who Ordain'd him were a Traditor or not they would not enter into the Enquiry as altogether remote from the cause of Caecilian because though he were to be deposed by the Canons of the Church yet till those Canons were put in Execution by the Sentence of the Church all the Acts of his Office were good and valid But on the other side Caecilian plyed the Donatists so home with their own Weapon of Accusation and their foul dealings at Cirta and the briberies of Madam Lucilla that they were forced to quit the Council And yet that was so moderate in the Sentence against them that it Excommunicated none of them but only Donatus à Casis Nigris that was found guilty of divers other foul Crimes and the Author of all this mischief But the rest were invited to return to the Unity of the Church and offer'd the continuance of of whatever preferments they had in it though they had been Ordain'd by Majorinus or any others in a State of Schism §. II. But here happens such an unfortunate halt in the Story as leaves Learned Men at an utter loss what chase to follow and every one takes his own way so as that by the great variety of Opinions they have run the whole matter into confusion All which is occasioned by a Chasm in Optatus his History for here it breaks off and skips over the whole Transaction of the great Council of Arles and hearing at Milan Of which it is certain that Optatus could not be ignorant who has so accurately described all the less material parts of the Story and as Baronius argues very well Tot tantaque Concio toto Orbe a tam celebri Episcoporum conventu facta ab Imperatore Edictis publicis definita in Donatistas nequaquam Optalum proeteriisse potuerunt Things so many and so great done in so famous a Council of Bishops known all the World over and publick Edicts made by the Emperor against the Donatists could not possibly be altogether unknown to Optatus And therefore this part of the story must needs have been lost either through injury of time or the fraud of the Donatists which is most likely for there was not any one Ancient Book whose Copies were so corrupt and confused as this of Optatus as Baldwin justly complains But which way soever it came to pass this part of the story being lost and so the Transactions that hapned some years after as the Appeal of the Donatists from the Council of Arles to Constantine at Milan and his detaining Caecilian at Bress immediately following in this place they are supposed to have been done at this time though they hap'ned not till after the Council of Arles Thus Baronius having procured from Petrus Pithaeus Constantine's Letter to the Catholique Bishops upon the Donatists Appeal to himself after the Sentence
against them at Arles and divers other Papers relating to that Council because in Optatus they immediately follow the Council of Rome he has thrust them in there to the great confusion of the story as if they had been done immediately after that Council when they ought to have been placed after the Council of Arles And this is evident enough from the words themselves that immediately follow the Sentence of Melchiades Sufficit ergo Donatum tot Sententiis esse percussum Caecilianum tanto judicio esse purgatum tamen Donatus appellandum esse ab Episcopis credidit Ad quam Appellationem Constantinus Imperator sic respondit ô rabida furoris audacia sicut in causis Gentilium fieri solet Appellationem interposuerunt Now beside that this Answer of Constantine is certainly known to have been made upon their Appeal from Arles the Tot Sententiae against Donatus here mentioned could not be till after the judgement of that great Council for before that there was but one Sentence against him viz. by the small Council at Rome and therefore these Appeals from so many Judgments and so great a Judicature as Optatus speaks of must have been after the Council of Arles And that puts an end to the dispute among Learned Men when the Donatists first Appeal'd to the Emperor from the Episcopal Judgment whether after the Council at Rome or not till after the Council at Arles Baronius Binius Petavius Labbè and others will have the first Appeal to have been from the Council at Rome because it immediately follows so in Optatus But this is confuted by Valesius a Man learned and curious with many pregnant passages out of St. Austin expresly attesting that the Donatists only complain'd against the first Council at Rome but Appeal'd from the second at Arles And their different behaviour towards these Councils is every where so carefully remarked by him that the Testimonies cannot be avoided But then the Learned Man knows not how to bring off Optatus but by leaving him under an enormous mistake of Memory applying that which was done after the Council of Arles to the Council of Rome or by some defect and corruption in the Copies which he only suspects without assigning any ground or reason for his suspition But if he had only a little consider'd that the whole Story of the Council of Arles is omitted in the Books of Optatus and that this Passage of the Appeal to Constantine relates to divers Sentences which could not be till after the Sentence at Arles he could not but have easily seen where lay the defect of the Copies To which might be added that this defect reaches not to the Council of Arles alone but to some part of the Council of Rome for whereas that consisted of a double Sentence the Absolution of Caecilian and the Condemnation of Donatus the latter part is wholly wanting in Optatus and immediately after the Sentence of Absolution follow the words Sufficit ergo Donatum tot Sententiis esse percussum c. From all which it is put past all doubt where lyes the breach of the Copies and how far it extends viz. From the absolving Sentence of Caecilian at Rome to the Appeal of the Schismaticks from the Council at Arles And this being observed the story runs smoth and clear that has hitherto been so confused and involved as to be thought to report the same Appeal from both Councils though it is evident that it can agree but to the last Now this one difficulty being overcome our Passage after it will be easie and pleasant all the rest of the story lying in its due and proper order And what effect the Sentence of the Council at Rome had upon the Schismatiques we have a distinct account in the Emperors own Letter to AElasius or rather AElianus his Praefect of Africa For whereas we might reasonably have expected that they should have acquiesced in the Authority of so fair so grave and so gentle a Sentence they return home exasperated with rage and swoln with insolence raise new Tumults perpetually tease the Emperor with fresh Tales and Complaints against Caecilian and represent him as utterly unworthy of any Office in the Christian Church And when the Emperor replies that this was all in vain with him because the whole business had been so fairly determin'd by fit and unexceptionable Judges they cry out That their cause had not a legal Tryal that the Council was packt that the proceedings were clancular and the Judgment partial The Emperour such was the clemency of his Nature and his tender care of the Peace of the Church condescends to their importunity and Summons the famous Council at Arles of a much greater number of Bishops and more unknown to each other as coming out of the distant parts of Christendom to review the Decree of the Council at Rome This Council meets in the year 314 where the Schismaticks repeat their old Stories against Caecilian but without any other proof then Popular Report raised by themselves and therefore were not only condemn'd by the Council but rejected with scorn and derision And to prevent the like attempts of Forgery for the time to come they make Canons to suppress that general way of Accusation as Canon the 13th they Ordain That no Man shall be Convicted of having been a Traditor by bare Testimony but by publick Acts and Records and if any Man from that time be so Convicted that then he shall be degraded from his Holy Orders but if before his Conviction he have Ordain'd any that his Crime shall be no prejudice to the validity of his Ordination And Canon the 14th they Decree That whoever falsely Accuse their Brethren as the Schismaticks had Caecilian and Faelix should not be received into Communion even at the hour of death which was the severest Sentence in the Christian Church This shameful overthrow makes great numbers of the Schismaticks quit the Faction and reconcile themselves to their Bishop But the more stubborn and Seditious are not ashamed to Appeal as it is their first Appeal in the Council it self to the Emperor and this is signified by the Council to him by Letter to know his farther will pleasure From whence it is evident that the Emperor himself was not present in Council as 't is commonly supposed and Baronius Binius and most of the Roman Writers are so civil to him as to excuse his presence though a Lay-man because the controversie was not about any matter of Faith but a particular matter of Fact concerning Caecilian And it is agreed among them that of all such matters Lay-men are as competent Judges as Bishops But however that may be and what Right Sovereign Princes have of sitting in Council whatever the matter of Debate may be I shall discourse in its proper place It is certain here that the Emperor was not present in Council because they signified their proceedings to him by Letter which if he had been
present they could or need not have done And beside that the thing is more then plain enough by the Appeal it self for if Constantine had been there present to what purpose was it for the Donatists to remove the Cause to him that would have been only to Appeal from himself to himself But he being inform'd of the design by the Letter from the Council replies to it with great detestation of the Schismaticks Obstinacy and Perverseness and wonders how they dare to Appeal to his Judgment when they were already Condemn'd by the Judgment of God in the Votes of the Bishops who in these matters judged in God's stead and by his appointment And therefore he esteems their Appeal as no less then Treason and Rebellion against God himself But however he advises them to patience and to give the Schismaticks some time to consider and if they persisted in their stubbornness to give themselves no farther trouble about them but to repair to their several Homes And seeing the Schismatiques had been so prophane as to make their Appeal to him he would take care to provide them Guards for their safe Conduct to his Court Ut ibi sibi mortem pervideant which whatever it signifies is a very high threatning So that after all I do not find that Constantine ever in the least accepted of their Appeal looking upon it as no less sin then an affront to God himself but only resolved now to proceed against them as a Sovereign Prince with all severity as factious and seditious Persons in the Empire And about this time was the business of Faelix of Aptung examin'd by AElian the Proconsul of Africa for though it is generally supposed that this was done before the Council of Arles yet it is evident by the Acts of the Court that it was done the same year and it is certain that there was no notice taken of it in the Council and therefore the first account of it that was return'd to the Emperour must have been after its dissolution And this it was The Schismaticks making such perpetual Clamours about Faelix his being a Traditor and though it was nothing to the Cause of Caecilian yet the Emperour having caught them in so many Factions and Stories suspects every thing that they say of falshood and therefore writes to his Proconsul to enquire into the matter of Fact upon the place where it was transacted He accordingly Examines all the Officers that had belonged to the Court of Inquisition at Aptung under Dioclesian at which time and place the Fact was laid against Faelix who all acquit him from any such Crime And whereas the main Accusation was taken from some passages in a Letter of one Caecilian a Duumvir of the City of Aptung to Faelix Ingentius a publick Notary confesses That he was hired and suborn'd by the Schismatiques to forge the Epistle and foist it into the Records of the Court. Upon which he is Committed to close Prison and an account of the whole matter return'd to the Emperour who now supposing that after so fowl a discovery if it were made publique over the Christian World it would so shamefully expose the wickedness of the Schismatiques that they could never have the confidence to appear more in a Cause so foul and base But what method to take he could not suddenly resolve one while he thinks of sending Commissioners but then considering the Obstinacy of the Schismaticks he fears nothing will be effectually done but by himself and therefore resolves upon a Journey into Africk to settle the whole matter there but upon what occasion I know not he changes his mind and summons the Parties concern'd to appear before himself at Rome and writes to the present Proconsul Probianus to send Ingentius thither with a good Guard That he might publickly shame those seditious and troublesom People that have the confidence to make continual Clamours and raise false Stories against their Bishop that so these Animosities and Contentions being quell'd the People may be brought to attend the Devotion of the Church with due Reverence and without brawls and discords They are the Emperour 's own words but for what cause 't is not Recorded Caecilian appears not and the Donatists that came either finding themselves discovered by the coming of Ingentius or for some other reason endeavour to make their escape but some of them are detain'd by force and sent in close custody to Milan But those that Recover'd AEgypt raised such Tumults there as put the whole Country into an Uproar of which the Emperour is informed by Celsus the Governor who orders him at present to take no notice of their disorders but to hasten Caecilian and his Accusers to Milan And here I have a strong fancy ought to have come in the mutilated Story of Caecilian's consinement at Brixia in Optatus for as it follows after the Chasm in which the whole Story of the Council of Arles is lost so it agrees with Constantine's account with the variety of his own Resosolutions and the Transactions at Milan For Brixia or Bress lay not far from that City so that both of them might make up the Scene of this Affair And therefore when the Schismatiques gain'd leave to return home and procured Caecilian to be detain'd it was probably upon their dismission upon some change of the Emperour's Resolutions But when they came home they betake themselves to the constant Artifice of all Schismaticks to keep up their Faction by tricks and lyes And therefore they raise mighty brags of their great Victory and tell the People that Caecilian was Condemn'd and Imprison'd by the Emperâ—ur and when once they had raised this lye among the Party it was easie to keep it up for ever insomuch that we find it confidently insisted upon in the Conference at Carthage an hundred years after Upon this Caecilian gets leave to return home for undeceiving the People by which means the Factions are raised and the Tumults enflamed and that occasions two Letters from the Emperor the former to Celsus to send Caecilian and his Accusers the latter dated from Brixia to the Donatist Bishops commanding their immediate appearance and withal assuring them that if they can but make good any one Article against Caecilian it should weigh as much with him as if they had proved the whole Charge and this I suppose produced the Meeting at Milan but whatever becomes of this conjecture of mine and fragment of Optatus it is certain that there they met where all the foul dealings of the Donatists especially the forgery of Ingentius being openly exposed it is needless to tell what was the event when it could be no other then that the Emperor should publickly declare the innocence of Caecilian and scoure away the Schismaticks as a combination of incorrigible Knaves But here St. Austin is concern'd to excuse the Emperour for judging an Ecclesiastical cause after the Episcopal Judicature and a thousand excuses are invented for him
by the Roman Writers as his being then but a Novice in the Faith and not sufficiently inform'd of the Discipline of the Church or his being tired out by the restless importunity of the Donatists so that he could enjoy no quiet till he yielded to it These things may be true but they are needless for though it may not be proper for a Lay-man to judge in Ecclesiastical Causes yet it may not be altogether unlawful especially when the Peace of the State depends upon them and that was the Emperour's case at this time all Africa was in an Uproar and in danger to be lost by the Sedition and therefore it highly concern'd him to exert his own Power as he would secure so great a part of his Empire and upon that reason he might take the Judgment upon himself thereby to restrain the Donatists from raising Disturbances and Seditions in the State Though when all is done it is certain that the Emperour never accepted the Appeal nay that he protested against it as an affront to the Divine Authority and setting up his own Power above God's appears not only from his Epistle to the Bishops at Arles but his perpetual Declarations of it And therefore it is not to be supposed that he would be prevail'd with to take upon himself a Judgment that he so solemnly disavowed And therefore his design in hearing the Cause after Judgment was not to judge but to expose the Schismatiques or to suffer them to expose themselves For the cause was already so fully and clearly determin'd at the Council that it could not admit any Review but because they were so restless to have it re-heard before the Emperour himself he at last seem'd to condescend to their importunity when he knew it would prove their fatal overthrow for it is observable that he would not meddle with the business at all till he had the discovery of Ingentius his Forgery in his Pocket with which they were so surprised that instead of following their Suit it utterly dispersed them And for the very same reason he gave them other Hearings after his own Imperial Judgment only to give them the greater scope to lay open themselves and their dishonesty to the World as will appear anon in the foul discovery of Nundinarius the Deacon §. III. But after the Imperial Sentence against them instead of submitting to so great an Authority and such clear Conviction they raise high clamours of injustice and oppression and when they return home put the People into Riots and Tumults and seize a Church in Numidia belonging to the Catholicks and of the Emperors own Foundation Of which when complaint was made to the Empeperor by the Bishops of the Province such was then the fury of the Schismaticks and the disorder of the times that at that time he could send them no other relief then by exhorting them to patience and bestowing a new Church upon them not daring to inflict any punishment upon the Offenders for so long a Train of Sedition but leaving them as himself speaks to the Judgment of God And as he had not long before witten to his Lieutenant Celsus that he should forbear them a while till himself could have leisure to visit Africa sâ—re now assures them that when he comes the Schismaticks shall feel the Event of his Abused Patience and that he doubted not when he came to convince them of such manifest Villany that would utterly spoil all their Glory of Martyrdom For that they gave out to justifie their stubborness against the Imperial Edicts that whatever punishments the Emperor decreed against them they were ready to undergo as Martyrs for the truth of God and therefore that they were so far from dreading any severity that they desired the Execution of Penal Laws against them And so they persist railing at the Emperor for denying Justice and reviling the Catholicks for inciting him to Persecution Till at length he is forced to Enact severe Laws against them and first of all all their Meeting-houses are confiscated to the Crown and accordingly seized on and it hapned very luckily at that time that one Nundinarius a Deacon of the Donatists who was privy to the first contrivance of the Schism at their meeting at Cirta discovers the whole Conspiracy to Zenophilus the Pro-Consul of Numidia and proves both by publick Records and a great number of Witnesses that Silvanus whom they had made Bishop of Cirta and the most factiâ—â—s man of the whole Party was a Traditor and that my Lady Lucilla had given the Numidian Bishops a great sum of Money to depose Caecilian and bestow his Bishoprick upon her Ladyships Chaplain And this discovery being signified by Zenophilus to the Emperor together with a Catalogue of the Seditious Practices of Silvanus he condemns both Silvanus and all the other Ring-leaders of the Faction to perpetual Banishment and that is the utmost severity that he ever proceeded to for though some of them were sentenced to death yet such was his natural Clemency that he turn'd it into banishment and thus by seising their Conventicles and sending away their Leaders he gave himself ease and quiet for some time from their disturbances But now behold the constant ingenuity of all Schismaticks to be sure to beleager the State when ever they find it in any distress and to gain their own ends out of the publick Necessities and to make what demands they please when the Government is not in a condition to contend with them And thus about this time the War between Constantine and Licinius breaking out the Donatists presently accost the Emperor with a bold Petition both for granting liberty of Conscience and recalling Silvanus and his Collegues from Banishment are so confident as to tell him in broad expression that they would suffer a thousand deaths before they would be reconciled to that Prelatical Knave of his Caecilian And yet so involved were the Emperors Affairs at that time that he was forced to grant whatever they demanded and orders Verinus his Vice-Roy in Africk to leave them to their own Liberty And that they used with all manner of Insolence whilst the Civil War lasted neither now would they be satisfied with their own Liberty at home but endeavour to spread their Schism into all parts of the Catholick Church and poyson all the Emperors Dominions with the Spirit of Faction and Sedition What Emissaries they sent into other Churches is not so well known but to Rome they send one Victor as Titular Bishop of that See who took upon himself all â—piscopal Authority over his Party and had many Successors in his Usurpation but not having Liberty to keep their publick meetings in the City they betook themselves to Field Conventicles and Assembled in the Roks and Mountains and from thence were commonly call'd Montenses Campitae and Rupitani This is all that we have recorded of them in this Emperors Reign for he having overcome Licinius and being Master of the
reprimeremus Audaciam Seeing it was beyond the memory of the People what was transacted almost an hundred years since with the Schismaticks necessity compelled us that producing the matters of Fact at our Conference we should rebuke their strange boldness and immodesty To this purpose Marcellinus a Man eminent both for Wisdom Learning and Piety and the same to whom St. Austin dedicates his Books De Civitate Dei though a Secular Judge is sent into Africa with a Commission to preside at the Conference and that he might do by the Laws and Custom of the Church because the Controversie was not about either a matter of Faith or rule of Discipline but only a matter of Fact Neither had he the Office of a Judge about that so much as an Inquisitor but was by his Commission only to Examine the publick Records and that was all that he undertook and perform'd In March in the year 411. he Summons both Parties to meet at Carthage in the June following and grants to all Donatists that would obey his Summons the free use of their Churches and provides all things necessary or useful for their Journey The whole number of Donatist Bishops in all 159 enter Carthage in a full Body with all the shews of Pomp and Ostentation and this being their full strength at that time it shews how their Party had shrivel'd away under this Emperor's Laws against them For in their Council at Bagaia where the Maximinianists were condemn'd by the other Donatists were present four hundred and sixty Bishops and yet now all their Force cannot make a third part of that number But when they came to Carthage they would not meet in the usual house of Convocation that they call'd the Synagogue of Satan and therefore met in the Gargilian Baths And before they enter'd upon the Conference the Catholicks endeavour to Court them with all manner of Civility and Condescention if by any means to prevail upon them to have some sense of the Peace and Unity of the Christian Church But all in vain they were resolved to persist in their Peevishness and therefore when they came together instead of fair and ingenuous Discourse they only endeavoured to spin out time with trifling and pettifogging Tricks For whereas the Catholiques first propounded for quicker dispatch to separate the particular matter of Fact concerning Caecilian's being Ordain'd by a Traditor from the general matter of Right concerning their present Separation from the Church Because that was only Personal and carried nothing in it that concern'd the cause of the Church it self at so great a distance of time and therefore they would freely grant tho nothing could be more false that Caecilian and Faelix were guilty of all their Indictment But that being granted they affirm'd that it was no sufficient reason for them at that time of the day to separate themselves from the Catholique Church though it had so many years past Communicated with them But the Donatists resolve to insist upon the old Nags-head-story and wholly baulk the matter of Right for here they knew that they could wrangle and amuse the People and this was not only their standing Artifice but as Baldwin observes 't is the last shift of all Schismatiques when they are bafled to throw dirt So Petilian served St. Austin so the Pelagians so the Manichees but he would not be drawn from his Cause by such foolish divertisements and still answer'd them all Quod ad mores nostros pertinet quemadmodum vivamus in promptu est eis cum quibus vivimus nunc de Catholico agitur Dogmate c. As for my Life and Conversation it is known to those with whom I live but our business is about Christian Truth that is the cause not I if you have any thing against me in God's Name Indict me according to Law but otherwise it is a base and helpless shift when you are Convicted by Argument to betake your selves to idle Tales and Slanders for that is the last Machine of all Hereticks And therefore 't is no wonder that the Schismaticks stuck so long at this point for to Persons of that Kidney Calumny is much dearer then their Opinion And it was a long while before Marcellinus with all his Art and Temper could bring them out of this Hold but being at last forced out of it they in the next place wrangle about matters that they pleaded ought to be preliminary to the Conference And first they cavill'd and excepted against the time viz. That the time limited by the Emperour's Summons was past to which cavil they are Answer'd That the Meeting was adjourn'd to the present time by their own Consent Then they except against Marcellinus and the Form of proceeding viz. That Ecclesiastical matters ought not to be determin'd after the manner of the Secular Courts but by the Holy Scriptures To this Marcellinus replies both that he does not take upon himself the Office of a Judge and withal that things should be determin'd by the Rule of Scripture as they desired And beside this the Catholick Bishops satisfie them by exhibiting the Injunctions that they had given to those Bishops that were to manage the Conference that they had taken sufficient care of that matter But then this the Donatists turn'd into a new Cavil that they would not trust their Cause to a few Mens management but would be all Speakers which they knew could not be done in so great a Multitude without turning the whole business into Tumult and Confusion And therefore it is with much ado over-ruled that Seven of each Party should manage the Conference of whom St. Austin and Petilian were the chief of each side But in the next place the Mandate of the Catholicks to their Commissioners being signed by 286 Bishops the Donatists object that there were not so many present and pretend that to encrease the number they had set down false names and therefore require that every Bishop should answer to his own name But all this trifling being at last past through Marcellinus with Hat in hand desires the Company that they would be pleased to take their Seats but the Donatists insolently refuse his Civility grumbling out among themselves that of the Psalmist Odi Ecclesiam Maligâ—antium cum impiis non seâ—â—bo Then the Instrument of the Donatists to their Commissioners is read which consists all of Accusation against the Catholiques both as Traditors and Persecutors and here they are immediately snapt in their own â—nare having subscribed many Names to it of Men that were not in Being and among the rest of one that upon the discovery they now pretended dyed on the way though before they had declared that it was drawn up after they came to Carthage and that was all the Event of the first days Conference that they ensnared themselves in two or three grand Falshoods The second Conference was spent in the same trifles and cavils with the first and so came to
and cancell'd the Acts of another Bishop against his own Presbyter and endeavour'd to engage the Approbation of the whole Church to his irregular actings that was apparently setting up an open Schism in the Christian Church And so Alexander represents it in his encyclical Epistle and loads Eusebius with the violation of the Apostolical Canon viz. the 33d which injoyns that no Clergy-man Excommunicate by his own Bishop be received to Communion by another But Eusebius being a man of a proud Spirit regards it not neither was this his first breach of the Canons having skipt out of one Bishoprick into another which is there severely forbidden and he was the first man that I know of who was guilty of that boldness against that Sacred Law of the Church but instead of desisting from his Schismatical proceedings endeavours to spread the Schism as far as he could and his Letters fly abroad every where to engage the Bishops to his Faction by which means he being then a great Man and a Favourite of the Emperour the Court then residing at Nicomedia all the Bishops in the World were in a moment engaged on one side or other not upon the account of Arius but Eusebius whose Pride and Ambition was the only cause of all this confusion this so alarms Constantine that he dispatches away his great Favourite Osius of Corduba with his Letters to Alexandria if it were possible to allay the heats of both Parties Though Baronius is very earnest in it that Osius was first sent by Pope Silvester as his Legate into the East to Constantine by whom he was arm'd with Letters to Alexandria where he wrought great wonders by vertue of his Legantine Authority And in this the Cardinal is very vehement and often repeats it with extraordinary assurance though there is not the least intimation of it in all the ancient Historians who make not any mention of the Pope in all this business but impute the whole transaction to Constantine's own care and management Now the Scope of the Emperors Letters was to perswade and exhort them wholly to lay aside the Controversie as nice and unnecessary and not of weight enough to deserve a determination Though as Sandius tells the story the Emperour lays the blame of all upon the Bishop but this not only without any Authority but against the express words of the Letter that equally blames them both for their too much curiosity about a vain Question as he calls it And as for the Letter it self I shrewdly suspect it to have been the contrivance of Eusebius of Nicomedia who was very intimate with the Emperour and impos'd upon him all along in this whole Affair I am sure the Scope of the Letter is exactly agreeable with Eusebius his whole carriage in this Controversie which was not to have it determin'd either way but only silenced as an over curious speculation I know indeed that he is on all hands represented as a Ring-leader of the Arian Faction but it is a mistake that has brought confusion upon the whole History and made the Arian Heresie seem of a much greater extent then it ever was whereas Eusebius and his Party were no less Enemies to the Arians then to the Orthodox and yet it was they that all along made the greatest shew and noise in the Contest And as for the Arian Faction it was wholly supprest by the Nicene Council and all the Tumults that were made after that are owing to the Eusebians who were as forward as the Orthodox to anathematize the Arians but then they must have the Decree of the Nicene Council reverst and what work they made about it we shall see when we come to the Reign of Constantius all whose Persecutions of the Catholicks were meerly raised by these mens wise indiscretion and had it not been for their unseasonable tampering prudence and moderation the Arian Heresie could never have lift up its head more after the Nicene Council But to return to Constantine who finding the Contest too hot at Alexandria to be allayed by the mediation of Hosius and withal the flame too far spread into other Churches to be quench't by one mans industry he resolves upon a General Council to compose this and some other spreading Controversies particularly that concerning the time of Easter which though it had slept ever since Pope Victor began now to raise new heats in several parts of Christendom The Council being met at the time and place appointed he entertains them with an Oration exhorting to Peace and Unity but neither prescribes nor commands any thing only desires them to examine things impartially and by their Authoritative determination of the present Controversies to settle the Peace of the Church forever as appears not only from the Tenour of the Speech it self and the Emperours behaviour in the Council but from the challenge of St. Ambrose to Valentinian si conferendum de fide sacerdoâ—um debet esse ista câ—llâ—tio sicut factum est sub Constantino augustae memoriae principe qui nullas leges ante praemisit sed liberum dedit judicium Sacerdotibus If there be a consultation about the Faith that is the work oâ— the Priesthood as it was managed under the Emperor Constantine of Glorious Memory who prescribed no Laws beforehand but allowed freedom of judgment to the Bishops And the Council being fairly left to the free use of that Authority that thev had received from our Saviour they proceeded as fairly in the Exercise of it And in the first place The Acts of the Council at Alexandria against Arius are produced and the interposition of Eusebius in his behalf inquired into whereby it appear'd which side had actâ—d according to the Laws of the Church and the Arians are after a fair hearing with very little Debate condemn'd by the Unanimous Vote of the Council though Sandiuâ— affirms from no Authority but his own that they would not so much as hear Arius his Arguments much less Examine them But though the Council agreed in the Subscription to the Orthodox Faith yet the Eusebians for a time refused to subscribe to the Anathema against the Arians because they did not think them so bad as they were represented But here again our honest Arian Historiâ—grapher tells us from Eutychius and other Oriental Monuments i. e. Modern and Barbarous Arabick Pamphlets that there were above 2000 Bishops present at the Council and that all exceptingonly 31â— which was the full number of the Council according to all the true Records voted for Arius but that Constantine himself over-ruled the whole business by violence and force of Arms. And then whereas the Emperor to abet the Decree of the Council commands the Arian Books to be burnt and especially Arius his Thaleia upon pain of death and banish't some of the Arians into Illiricum this Sandius is not ashamed to say was done by the Authority of the Council it self and withal that the Bishops
he commanded his Restitution And Athanasius himself is so far from Accusing the Emperor's rigour that he imputes his banishment purely to his kindness to deliver him from the Rage and the Snares of the Eusebians and therefore when they importun'd the Emperor to put another Bishop in his place thereby to prevent his Restitution he was peremptory in his refusal and would never hear of it without great indignation But however Athanasius being removed out of the way the next thing they endeavour is the restitution of Arius upon his pretended Repentance for it is all along suggested to the Emperor that he had renounced his Heresie and the desired Communion of the Church which was denyed him only by the peevishness of Athanasius and that it was his single wilfulness herein that was the cause of all these troubles The Emperour at their importunity recalls Arius and his Associate Euzoius and for the security of their Repentance they humbly present him with their Confession of Faith in which they come up to the Nicene Creed in all things but only the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for though they baulk the word it self they clearly assert the thing and instead of their prophane Novelties That the Son of God was made out of nothing and that there was a time when he was not that are the two main points of the Arian Heresie they now affirm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of God to be God begotten of his Father from Eternity but if so it is undeniable that he was of the same uncreated Substance with the Father and this is so easie and intelligible in it self that it was a most unaccountable kind of perverseness in the Eusebians to make so much stir against the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that did but more plainly express the Notion that themselves profess't to maintain But upon this Arius is received and sent to Alexandria with commendatory Letters not only from the Council but the Emperor in which as Sandius adds of his own pure good Will he renounces the Nicene Determination and rejecting the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recommends to them that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that Alexander Bishop of Alexandria subscribed the Letter and that a Reconciliation was then made between him and the Arians and this he proves with great gravity from Book and Chapter of Socrates and Sozomen but if you consult the places referred to there is nothing like this Story and they happen to treat of quite different matters as particularly the Chapter of Sozomen of the Conversion of the Iberians And as for the Story of Alexander's subscription it is as foolish as false for that good Man dyed long before this time viz. within five Months after the Council of Nice whereas this Letter was not sent till after the banishment of Athanasius that succeeded him and yet after this time does this injudicious Scribler make him to prevaricate his promise and then again Relapse to the Homousian Heresie But this he is forced to do to make something of the inconsistent Tales of Philostorgius who places all this Fable immediately after the Nicene Council but that being so apparently false and against all Records this Historian would thrust it in at this more obscure time but so unfortunately that the chief Actor that he brings upon the Stage was long since out of the World And after the same rate is he confounded and lost through the whole Series of this Story so that at this time he places the return of Eusebius and Theognis from banishment and to it tacks a pleasant Fable of his own pure devising viz. That the Emperor after their return enquiring of them the reason of their dissent from the Decrees of the Council when they had subscribed them â—â—ey answered That they subscribed not willingly but being afraid lest he being offended at the Quarrel should fall off from the Christian Religion as too uncertain and full of Controversie and then from an Apostate turn a Persecutor with which the Emperor being satisfied resolves to call another Council to mend matters but is prevented by death But a Man that can write thus confidently out of his own pure invention is a very fit second for Philostorgius and a fit Patron to make out the fair carriage of the Arians and Eusebians in this whole Story But to return to Arius when he came to Alexandria they shut their Gates against him and he is forced to turn back to Constantinople where was met a Council of Eusebians against Marcellus then an eminent Defender of the Catholique Faith for having at last Conquer'd Athanasius they now resolve to rout the whole Party In this Council Arius presents himself to the Emperor and complains of the affront that was offer'd to him by the Alexandrians but here he is again Catechised concerning his Faith and the Emperor to tye him fast is not content with his bare Subscription but makes him give in his Confession upon Oaâ—â— And upon this security he commanâ—â— Alexander Bishop of Constantinople to receive him into the Communion of the Church which the good Man flatly refuses and hereupon the Eusebians agree to accompany him to the Church with extraordinary Pomp and Triumph but in the midst of the Procession Arius was snatcht away with that strange kind of death that is well known to have been his singular Fate But here our faithful Arian Historians Philostorgius and Sandius are so wise and ingenuous as to say no more of the Stories of Ischiras Arsenius and all the other parts of the Tyrian Plot then that Athanasius was accused in Council of all the Crimes charged against him and by them found Guilty and that when the Commissioners from the Council appear'd before the Emperor they so convinced Athanasius of all the Crimes laid to his charge and so satisfied the Emperor of his guilt that he immediately sentenced him to banishment these are worthy Historians and proper Advocates for the management of the Eusebian Cause that have the confidence to out-face publick and undeniable Records the foulness of all these proceedings was made evident by the Acts of Court yet extant and the Confessions of the Witnesses themselves particularly Ischiras under Hand and Seal and all this within short time after the Transactions themselves published to the whole World by Athanasius himself in the face of his Enemies without any contradiction And now when the whole forgery was thus shamefully exposed in the face of the Sun and stood so upon Record to all Ages are not these wise Men to think that they are able to slur so clear an Evidence only by their trifling it as if all the World were so blind or so foolish as to read or believe nothing but their Fables And yet this incredible confidence is all the strength of these daring Historians This is the true State of the Arian Controversie during the Reign of Constantine and by all the premisses it is
here a Courtier whether through ignorance or to divert any farther discourse about the Tyrian Council steps in and swears that he was deposed by the Council of Nice To which the grave Bishop could make no other reply then a scornful smile and so proceeds to represent the foul dealings of the Tyrian Council the Forgeries and Recantations of Valens and Ursacius but here he is again upon a dangerous point and so is again interrupted by the Courtiers with rude and impertinent reflections upon the drift of his discourse and there is an end of all the Conference upon that point The next great Jealousie that they had blown into the Emperours head was that Athanasius had so little Wit Manners and Religion as to have made it a great part of his business to make bate between the Emperour and his Brother and carried it on so effectually that if Constantius had not very much restrain'd his own Passion it had broken out into an open and Fatal War and he is so much possest with this jealousie that he professes that the Victory over Magnentius though he run mad for joy of it was not more acceptable to him then one over Athanasius would be But to this the Bishop replyes That if it were true it was most proper for the Emperour to punish such an Offender at his own Tribunal and not to force the Ecclesiastical Judicature to condemn a Person of any Crime unheard But when nothing will do he has his choice either to subscribe the Condemnation or leave his Bishoprick The first he peremptorily refuses and so is banisht to Beraea in Thrace and Faelix his Arch-Deacon put into his place And here it is again observable that Faelix was no Arian himself but a Stickler for the Nicene Faith only allowing the Arians a capacity of Communion with the Church And that is the thing that I affirm all along to have been the Eusebian Cause not to restore Arianism but to piece up the Peace of the Church by comprehending all in one Communion or by mutual forbearance So that notwithstanding that vehement out-cry that has been hitherto made of the Universal Predominancy of Arianism under Constantius especially at this very moment of time I do not find it hitherto so much as own'd nor any man preferr'd upon the account of his being an Arian Auxentius that was at this very time thrust into the place of Dionysius of Milan has as bad a Character as any man of the time yet St. Hilary himself though he were apt enough to make Arians by Consequences says of him that he always openly disclaim'd Arianism though he suspects that it was because he dâ—rst not own it so that whatever was at bottom it is evident that the Arian Heresie it self in all this Controversie never appear'd at top And those very Bishops that are represented as the most zealous Arians were rather Atheists then Heretiques The Head and Founder of the Party was Eusebius of Nicomedia and what a worthy Saint he was already appears from the Tenour of his whole life But when by his unfortunate favour at Court he had got the Power of the Church into his own hands especially the disposal of Bishopricks and made that the only qualification for Preferment to join with him and his malice against Athanasius in this case it is no wonder if the vilest of Men flockt in to his Party in as great sholes as Irish Evidences to a Plot. And such were Valens and Ursacius Men Educated in Villany and so hardened in their wickedness that they were past shame at its very discovery and when they could not stand out a Perjury they would impudently confess it and then â—ace it out and ask Pardon with as little remorse as modesty and when they had unsworn a Perjury they would the next opportunity swear it all good again And such an one was Epictetus as he is described by Athanasius a Neophite rash and daring and therefore dear to Constantius because he found him prompt and dextrous at all manner of Wickedness and so could by his help ensnare what Bishops he pleased for he would never stick at any thing so it were but acceptable to the Emperour And it is the same Character that is given of Cecropius and Auxentius that they were Men of no worth and prefer'd for no other merit then meerly their dexterity in wickedness to destroy good Men. And such an one was George of Cappadocia who was thrust into the place of Athanasius as he is described by Gregory Nazianzen his Countrey-man the most notorious Villain of the Age He was a Monster bred up in the Borders of our Country of an ill-bred but a worse Temper a Slave and a waiter at other Mens Tables and so of no value that he was sold for a Bushel of Corn and by this baseness he was inured to do or say any thing for Bread till at length he crept into some publick Employment though the vilest that could be to be Hoggard to the Army which he discharged with so much cheating and knavery that he was forced to fly and so wandred up and down the World till at length he setled at Alexandria where though he had made an end of his Travels he did but begin his mischiefs and though he were contemptible in all points of no Learning no Wit no Conversation not so much as pretending to a shew of Piety fit for nothing but to make mischief and disturbance he outed so great a Man as Athanasius and as vile a Wretch as he was presumed to get himself placed in his Episcopal Throne And yet this very Wretch is vehemently recommended to the Alexandrians by the Emperour 's own Letter as one of the best Divines in the World So miserably did his Eunuchs abuse the good meaning of this poor Emperor as to put the vilest of Men into the best of Preferments for Money and as he got it so he used it not like a Bishop but a Publican till his Oppressions cost him his life for which he had the good fortune in the barbarous Ages of the Church to be Canonised among the Principal Saints and Martyrs For in all the timely Records of the Church I can find no other St. George then this And this was the peculiar miscarriage of this Emperour 's unhappy Reign that the Preferments were got into wicked hands and then it is not to be doubted but that wicked Men would get into the Preferments and things were so basely carried at last that nothing seem'd to keep up the good old Eusebian Cause but the advantage that it gave ill Men for Ecclesiastical Plunder and Sequestration But to return to the train of the Story Liberius the Bishop of the great City being dispatcht the last Enemy to be overcome was the great Hosius that Father of Councils who by reason of that high Authority that he had acquired in the Christian Church both by his Age and Wisdom was
Pretence and will rather forfeit their Understanding then not gratifie their ill-nature how else could any Man be so transported out of his common Sense from one miscarriage to warrant our imitation of it against the constant sense of the Church for so many Ages And yet with what joy and greediness has this poor trifle been embraced as a new discovery dropt from Heaven and how confident are we that the Primitive Christians were no such softly fools as they have been hitherto represented as to preach and practise that Sheepish Doctrine of Passive Obedience Which only shews how ready some Parties of Men among us are for seizing any pretences for Resistance and Rebellion Otherwise certainly if Men would Judge impartially and without Faction of this mighty work the whole Mystery of it is no more then this that an Industrious Searcher into the Records of the Church has at last found out one instance in which some Christians failed of their Duty to their Prince A great performance this worthy the applause and admiration of this learned Age and therefore to deal civilly with it I care not though I grant the truth of the Assertion but then I must crave leave to let them know that this is the only instance of this kind that hap'ned in Eleven hundred years For that is the thing that I have undertaken to maintain That from the beginning of Christianity down to the time of Pope Gregory the Seventh who was the 159th Pope and succeeded not till the year 1073 no one Christian of the Western Church no not a Pope or taught or put in practice the Doctrine of Resistance to Sovereign Princes or disown'd the duty of Passive Obedience under the worst of Persecutors and after this much good may this little Story of Julian do them For they cannot but see what a mean and foolish design it is to set up one single Tale as a proâ—f of the Sense of the Primitive Christians when it stands all alone and is contrary to the declared Sense of the Catholick Church for so many Ages So that they gain so little advantage to their Cause by this admired Performance that it proves the most unlucky Argument that could have been contrived against it For this is a demonstration to all the World that there is in all the Records of the Church but one Precedent of Christian disrespect or disobedience to persecuting Princes And that is but a single exception to its universal practice and if it be it confesses its own Enormity from it So that methinks Men that design'd to preach up Resistance and Rebellion from the Precedents of the Primitive Christians should rather have taken any other method to abuse the People then by telling them this single Story of Julian For hereby they are brought to understand that they have no more then one Tale for their Cause and that if it were true it is controuled by the universal practice of all Churches in all Ages and that I think is as much as any reasonable Man can desire to shame and bafle the Assertion Especially when it is so evident that Christians before this time were become in a great measure like other Men because when Christianity became the Religion of the Empire and the darling of Princes all Men would equally embrace it for present Advantage and Preferment And in these circumstances bad Men will be sure to appear as forward in their Zeal as the best Christians and generally to outstrip them in outward Appearance So that if at that time there had been any Christians found guilty of disloyalty towards their Prince what wonder is it when such Numbers came into the Church not for any love of the Religion but for other ends and designs of their own And such Men were as effectually loose from all the Obligations of Christianity as if they had never own'd it And therefore the true Sense of Christians ought not to be taken from their practice after it had been the thriving Religion for then it was made a Trade but from their Professions in such times when they had no other Motive to embrace it but it self for then it is certain that all that did so were in good earnest It being then so evident that the Christians through all Ages down to Constantine profess't and practiced the duty of Non-resistance or Passive Obedience to all Princes without reserves and exceptions as an indispensible Law of their Religion that is a clear full and unanswerable declaration of the Sense of the Primitive Church in this matter however any might fall into a contrary behaviour in times of ease and prosperity For then it is impossible but that there would be many in the Church that were not of it as we have shewn above from the complaint of Eusebius and others how the Credulity of Constantine was abused by pretended Converts to the great dishonour of his Government and Oppression of his People And yet I think no Man could think it reasonable to upbraid Christianity with their Scandals and if Julian found multitudes of such Men in the Church when he came to the Empire what wonder would it be if Men that were in reality no Christians made any unchristian Attempts against him So that granting our Apostates the truth of their Plea from the behaviour of Christians towards Julian this one thing utterly barrs their Conclusion that this was the avowed practice of Christians at that time when at the time that he came to the Empire there were as many in the Church that were not as that were Christians But because it is to be supposed that the Counterfeits fell off with the Apostate I will allow the Plea that if the Christians who persevered in the Faith committed any of those disloyal and Seditious pranks that the Apostates charge upon them that then the blame shall lye at the Church door And yet so as not to make a Precedent for imitation because it is a single Enormity both from the plain Laws of the Religion and the universal Practice of all its Professors and after that it is a very impertinent way of arguing to draw any Conclusion from such an Example And yet secondly as impertinent as it is it is much more false for there is not any one instance of any one Christian in all his Reign that ever made any resistance to any one of his Commands And then whatever they did beside to affront him that is nothing to warrant the practice of Resistance and shews that in whatsoever hatred and contempt they held his Person yet notwithstanding that they thought themselves bound in duty to an entire Submission to his Government And therefore of their ill manners and uncourtly behaviour towards him I shall discourse by it self because that concerns not the Argument of Resistance and shall at present only shew that they were so far from putting any such design in practice that they all expresly disclaimed and defied it as utterly inconsistent with the