Prelates of that Church de Marca and Bosquet have endeavoured to explain this Canon so as to justifie their own Doctrine and Practice but Christianus Lupus was so little satisfied with the attempt that he exclaimes against it as becoming rather Eusebius of Nicomedia or Acacius of Caesarea than Bishops of the Gallican Church and whereas they alledge the Authority of Hincmare of Rhemes he plainly says that they might as well have alledged Luther's testimony against the Council of Trent Natalis Alex. interposes to mediate the business and would willingly make up the Debate with what success let Lupus's Party judge But still these Canons must be all acknowledged authentick though they are not in the Greek but if the Greek differ from the Latin in any thing material that goes in the least against the Church of Rome loud Outcries are presently made of Falshood and Forgery For the Charge here seems to lye not against Photius alone but against all the Greeks in general even from the second to the eighth General Council So Anastasius i Praef. in Conc. C.P. IV. col 972. complains that they had falsified the second the third the fourth the sixth the seventh General Councils and he suspects that they might use the same fraud as to the eighth Nay they did so The sly Greeks k Anastas not ad Action 1. col 989. stole away the Subscriptions which they had made in the beginning of this Council and though they restored them after they were discovered Omne quod ad laudem Serenissimi nostri Caesaris sancctissimus Dominus Hadrianus in Epistola sui decessoris Arsenlo Episcopo imminente adjecerat c. Guilielmus quidam alter Bibliothecarius continuator Anastasii in Adrian II. p. 389. yet at the end of the Council they had shewn them such another trick if Anastasius had not been too cunning for them They had already taken out some expressions which Adrian the Second foisted into an Epistle of his Predecessour and so they had robbed the Western Emperour of all the fine things which the present Pope had made his Predecessour say of him but Anastasius who with another as cunning as himself by great Providence as 't was thought was there found out the wrong done the Emperour and great Clamours were raised about it nor would the Legates at last subscribe otherwise than conditionally Vsque ad voluntatem ejusdem eximii Praesulis l Anastasii Continuat in Adrian II. p. 339. As far as it was the desire of that worthy Prelate which may convince us what a noise has used to be made of Forgery against the Greeks of whatever Party for Basilius and Ignatius we see are not exempted the whole Greek Church of all Ages is accused of these fraudulent Practices which assures us that there have been such Practices on one side and which side the fraud lyes may easily be determined if we consider that the passages pretended to have been forged were received by all other Churches and are not now denyed to be genuine by the most learned men in the Church of Rome as has been shewn T is no new thing to hear of Complaints of Forgery when any thing goes against the Church of Rome and Photius is not the first man that has been blackned to make the Charge find a more easie belief 6. Well! But Photius has before been guilty of making alterations in an Epist of Pope Nicholas m Epist 6 10. as that Pope complains Very likely and that he might be sure not to be discovered it was sent n Ibid. back again falsified to the Pope with the Acts of Photius's Council This is such an odd kind of Cheat that it lays one thing to his charge which his worst enemies never durst brand him with and is so great an Instance of Folly that it ruines all the rest of the Character they have been pleased to bestow upon him for it is acknowledged on all hands that he was peculiarly eminent for his Learning and for that which his Enemies call subtilty and his Friends wisedom That John the eighth did consent that Photius should be Patriarch is not denyed nor that he sent his Legates with Instructions for that purpose as both his Epistles and his Commonitorium certifie So far no Forgery is pretended but they say John never consented to the abrogating of the fourth Council of C. P. and that if the Legates consented to any such thing they went beyond their Commission but they rather incline to think that though the Legates were guilty of too much connivance and so betrayed the Trust reposed in them yet the Acts of the Council that restored Photius are falsified as the Epistles of John the eighth are in all those passages which speak any thing in derogation to this fourth Council of C. P. 7. But first it is certain that the restoring of Photius and the owning him not onely for a Patriarch but even for a Bishop onely is so far a derogation to this Council which fourth Canon decrees that Photius is no Bishop and pronounceth all his Episcopal Acts void so that the Council which afterwards by the consent and approbation of John the eighth acknowledges Photius for a Bishop and a Patriarch too does most certainly declare this whole Canon null and bids fair towards the justifying all that is pretended to be forged in John's Epistles I cannot think the Alterations in these Epist by whomsoever they were made are so ancient as Photius's time perhaps they may be much later than Ivo Carnutensis but if they be of so ancient date and if it be true that this Pope afterwards recalled his approbation and renounced communion with Photius and anathematized him and his own Legates for no other reason but because he was laugh'd at for a Tame-man o Bin. Not. in vit Joh. Octavi Andr. Schot Praef. ad Photii Bibliothecam and in mockery called a Woman Pope Pope Joan instead of Pope John if he was so weak and unconstant so soon to contradict his own Epistles and his Commonitorium which are confessed to have been sent on purpose to restore Photius for no other reason but because he was upbraided with casting such a reflexion upon his two Predecessours Nicholas the First and Adrian the Second the sworn Enemies of Photius he might then be willing to have his Epistles so altered as to make him most consistent with his Predecessours and with himself But much more would he be inclined to be consenting to such an alteration if there were other motives more forcible for the Truth is Photius was the great Champion for the Liberties of the Greek Church and therefore he must be sure to enjoy no favour from the Church of Rome which began to be as angry with Ignatius when he shewed himself in the same cause For the first breach between the Greek and Latin Churches was occasioned by contentions about Jurisdiction though afterwards it spread it self farther
that he had communicated with Photius and had deposed Ignatius but not a Syllable of any Bribe mentioned Rhadoaldus y Epist 7. Col. 289. 10. Col. 355. the other Legate stood out still and would not confess nor would by any means be persuaded to abide his Tryal but fled for it notwithstanding all the kind words and promises of fair dealing the Pope could give him though in the thirteenth Epistle they are said both to confess the Fact z Col. 381. and afterwards Rhadoaldus flies So little is there to be relied upon in the Invectives against Photius This is certain not a Act. 1 2 3. a Bishop was suffered to sit in the Council called to depose him till he had first subscribed a Writing sent thither from the Pope wherein they denounced Anathema to Photius and condemned his Councils and owned those against him then it can be no wonder if they libel him in the most bitter manner calling him by all the ill names they could think of and treat him in such Terms as could not become them to use whatever he might deserve that nothing might be wanting to the keenness of their malice they made Iambicks upon him which Anastasius has taken care to translate but the Greeks were ashamed of them for their Copy tells us they were ill Verses and so it has omitted them but Anastasius b Act. 7. in sin had no such nice Stomach he knew no distinction of good or bad so they were but against Photius At the end of the ninth Action the Greeks it seems were not so witty in their own malice but Anastasius has supplyed that defect and added some Rhimes of his own I mention this the rather for the honour and antiquity of this way of confutation because a late Authour has turned all the Papists Arguments and all their Railery too into Rhime In Conclusion c Nicetas in vita Ignat. ap Labbé Conc. Tom. 8. the Fathers subscribe his Deposition not with Ink but with Wine consecrated in the Sacrament which is a surer sign of the hatred they bare to Photius than of their belief of Transubstantiation for what malice could transport men to so extravagant Impiety as to profane our Lord 's own bloud to such a use What the Proceedings of this Council were may be sufficiently understood from this which has been but intimated out of it and I need not refer to the account Photius gives but to the Acts themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Phot. Epist 118. And if hitherto they were not daring enough yet it was an unexampled thing to change the Ambassadours and Servants of impious Saracens into High-Priests and to give them the precedency of Patriarchs and to set them up as Heads of their wonderfull Assembly to observe their heat and fury against him He complains of great terrour and violence used in the Synod and that certain Embassadours from the Saracens were received there and took their places as Patriarchs of the East And there is still exstant d Philippi Cyprii Chron. Eccles Graec. cum Com. Henr. Hilarii p. 137. an Epistle of Elias Patriarch of Jerusalem which confirms the Truth of what Photius says in this matter He makes frequent Complaints in his Epistles of the hardships and miseries which himself and his Party endured and declares how unwillingly he entred upon the Patriarchate and professes that if it had been in his own Power he would sooner have chosen to dye than to venture on so high and difficult a station and was now ready to resign and he makes these complaints not to any friend at a distance from Court or who could be a stranger to his Affairs but to Bardas the man who is said to have conspired with him to get Ignatius deposed if that were true what need could he have to make such pressing solicitations to one so deeply engaged in his Interest and how ridiculous would such Protestations be could he be so forsaken of all modesty and common sense as to tell the very man e Epist 3. 6. who contrived the whole business with him how great a force and reluctancy he had upon himself in consenting to be made Patriarch Theophanes f Epist 83. his Deacon and Prothonotary was put to the Torture that by any means he might be compelled to accuse Photius which he afterwards lamented and besought his pardon Photius g Epist 174. gives a large description of his miseries in an Epistle which he wrote to the Bishops while he was in Banishment And all this he suffered for his Loyalty h Zonar Annal Leo Grammat Chronograph to his Prince for he was deposed because he refused to receive Basilius to Communion after he had murthered Michael the Emperour Whoever considers his unshaken Loyalty and reads his Writings will not easily believe that he could be so notorious a Villain as he is represented but if so much wickedness could meet in one man in one Bishop yet how improbable is it that the whole Greek Church should respect and reverence this Bishop as a Saint or that Pope John the Eighth after his cause had been so narrowly examined and his Enemies had said and done their utmost should yet think him a man of an orthodox Faith and an unblameable Life and compare him to St. Athanasius St. Cyrill and St. Chrysostome But he had discovered that his Predecessours had been imposed upon or that something more severe must be said of them and so are all those imposed upon or would impose upon others who give us so monstrous a Character of so excellent a Man. He is charged with having corrupted the Acts of the Councils which restored him and particularly those passages which import that this fourth Council of C. P. was cancelled by that But is it a sure proof of Corruption and Forgery if Copies differ as the Greek and Latin Copies often do The next Question will be where the Forgery lies and who is to be taxed with it To go no farther the Version of Anastasius and the Greek Original of this fourth Council of C. P. differ very much for besides other Variations there are twenty seven Canons in the Latin and but fourteen in the Greek yet both of them must pass for authentick enough though the seventeenth of the additional Canons will give the French some pains to reconcile it to the practice of their Church For it appoints that all Metropolitans shall meet in Council at the summons of their Patriarch notwithstanding any prohibition from the secular Magistrate and that Princes should not be present in any but General Councils both which are contrary to the Practice of the French Church For their Princes are wont to be present in their National and Provincial Synods and their Bishops if they be detained by command from the King think that a sufficient excuse for absenting themselves from any Synod their Patriarch shall call them to Two eminent
into other causes Holstenius would not allow this to be the rise of the Schism but Pet. de Marca p Concord Imp. Sacâ—rd lib. 1. § 4. cum Baluz observ Prolegom p. 1â— defends himself against his objections and maintains what he had before asserted that no other cause could be assigned Baluzius adds that he might have said farther that the Popes of Rome were in the fault and could never justifie their pretensions which had been no more says he than our Ancestours have said before as he there shews by particular Instances We see that Pope John's Epistles are as fully for abrogating this Council in Ivo Carnutensis as Photius could make them though he had endeavoured it never so much and for my part I cannot believe that Photius was so much concerned for the Pope's Approbation as that he would be at the pains to falsifie the Acts of a Council upon that account he q Anast Praefat col 967. had excommunicated and deposed Pope Nicholas and though he was himself afterwards deposed yet was he restored without the Pope's leave or knowledge onely the Pope had some hopes of having his pretensions to Bulgaria succeed and upon that sent to ratifie what he could not hinder but when he r Bin. ex Baronio Conc. Tom. 9. col 326. found himself mistaken in his design and Photius the same man still he fell foul upon him as his Predecessours had done Now cannot I be persuaded that Photius if he could be so base and wicked as to make a thousand Forgeries would yet doe it here when he could not hope to be undiscovered or would condescend to use such vile and foolish Arts onely to countenance his proceedings with the appearance of that Authority which he had in so much scorn and defiance This would be as if Archbishop Cranmer after he had renounced the Pope's Supremacy should have falsified the Bulls which the Pope dispatched hitherto for his promotion to the See of Canterbury The Greeks we have seen looked upon this as the healing Synod which after the death of Ignatius had reconciled all differences amongst them by making void the Council held against Photius and settling him in his See again and therefore whatever heats had passed between Ignatius and Photius as it often happens between very good men and had happened between their own St. Chrysostom and Epiphanius yet now these things being composed into a happy peace and settlement notwithstanding the Pope's Anathema they received the names of both Photius and Ignatius into their Diptychs and register'd them among their Saints whom they most solemnly commemorate in their Prayers 8. There are so many Improbabilities in the Story against Photius that they will hardly gain belief without a Miracle and therefore we are told that in the Council held against him at Rome under Adrian the Second when the Book which contained his Vindication after it had been trampled upon by all the Reverend Assembly was at last thrown by his Holiness into the fire the flames catched at it and devoured it immediately in a strange manner with a noisome smell and a kind of Pitch colour tinctured the fire and besides a great showr happening at the same time increased the flames as if so much Oil had been thrown upon them And now who is so hardy as to deny the Authority of any thing that was said or done against Photius or to doubt but that the fourth Council of C. P. is in full force and infallibly the eighth General Council § VIII The imperfect account we have of the three first Lateran Councils serves onely to shew the little esteem which was formerly had of them The first Later Council A. D. MCXXIII The second Lat. Council A. MCXXXIX The third Lat. Council A. MCLXXX or MCLXXIX secundum Lab. how General or Infallible soever they might be Bellarmin confesses that the two first are not extant and no great discoveries have been made of them since his time Caranza and Sylvius mention none of the three and Platina passes them all over without bestowing so much as the Title of General upon them and with so little remark as shews that he esteemed them none of the most considerable Actions of those Popes Lives who called them Indeed there are few Provincial Synods the Records whereof less care has been taken of nor could it f Platina in Calixto Secundo Innoc. Secundo Alexan. Tertio be that any Council should universally obtain amidst so much Faction and Schism and among so many Antipopes as then vexed and divided the Church But it was the custome of those times to call all Councils General which made any tolerable settlement of the Popedom with the approbation of some of the chief Western Princes Thus William of Tyre t Bell. sacr lib. 21. c. 26. speaking of the Third Council of Lateran Cùm anno praecedente indicta esset per universum Latinorum orbem Romae Synodus Generalis ad eandem Synodum vocati profecti sunt de nostro Oriente c. When there was a general Synod called at Rome the foregoing year throughout all the Latin World those who were called went out of the East c. He mentions no more out of the East but himself and three other Bishops with one Prior and one Abbat and he as most think was a Latin and so 't is probable were all the rest however the Greeks in this Council opposed the Latins and would not yield in the least But not onely Western Councils but National and Provincial Synods were sometimes styled General and Sir Roger Twisden v Historic Vindic. cap. 8. p. 162. Eodem a MCCXXII Magister Stephanus de Langetuna Generale Concilium celebravit apud Oxonlum Hist Maj. ad annum MCCXXII gives many Instances to shew that the distinction of General Councils at least in that sense in which it is now taken was not suddenly brought into the Church many Synods by our Writers being called General to which the obligation was never of that nature as if they did not or could not err and the same learned Authour proves * p. 167. that the Lateran Council under Innocent II. was never received in England thus Matt. Paris says that Stephen Langton held a General Council at Oxford yet the name of General bestowed upon them by some well disposed to that Popes Interest who called them is almost all that can be shewn for the Authority of these three Councils It doth not appear that any of the Eastern Bishops were in the two first and it is certain that the Greeks dissented in the third as they ever did when they had no restraint upon them 'T is remarkable that in this Council an Oath was drawn up by which all the Bishops that had rejected Alexander the Third abjured and sware Allegiance to him against all men contra omnem hominem which x Labbé Conc. Pontificale Rom. The fourth Lat. Councâ—â— MCCXV Oath
in an Exception to reserve the Liberties of the Gallican Church entire And in the e Id. p. 348. Low Countries when Margaret Dutchess of Parma then Governess there required the Magistrates of every Province to make search whether any thing in the Decrees of the Council of Trent were contrary to the Rights of his Catholick Majesty or to the ancient customs of their Countrey they animadverted upon several Chapters particularly upon C. 5. Sess 24. which the French likewise particularly except against and they said it was an Innovation and the King might insist upon his Ancient Right 3. I think nothing can be a greater Evidence that this Council was not General than the opposition of National Churches in behalf of their particular Privileges in points of Reformation for a General Council may undoubtedly prescribe to particular Churches in matters of Discipline as the first General Councils did and oblige them to a compliance for the peace and benefit of the whole and the Council must be judge what is most conducing to that end To deny this Authority to a General Council is plainly to lay its Authority quite aside and to receive onely as much of it as particular Churches shall think fit for it were an extravagant thing to demand absolute obedience and submission in matters of Faith when points of Discipline are insisted upon against the express Decrees of the Council a Council may err in Doctrine but if it have any Authority this must extend at least to points of Discipline which are in themselves indifferent and may be altered as it shall seem most conducing to the good of the whole Church * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de Vita Constantini lib. 3. cap. 20. Constantine after the Council of Nice not onely determined the Controversie against Arius but the time of keeping of Easter and other things of Order and Discipline to which all Churches submitted whatever eager Debates they had had amongst themselves before The erecting the Churches of Constantinople and Jerusalem into Patriarchates and the settling of Church-Government was performed in the four first General Councils yet nothing was objected against the Authority of Councils in such Affairs nor did the Churches placed under the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople insist upon their particular Privileges onely the Church of Rome was unwilling to have Constantinople equalled to her self and therefore made a troublesome but fruitless opposition in the Council of Chalcedon 4. But if at this day the Church of France be so jealous of her Privileges in matters of Discipline we have much more reason to be carefull of the Privileges of our common Christianity in matters of Faith if she insist that her Bishops have Authority to decide the Causae Majores i. e. all Debates arising whether in matters of Faith or Discipline according to the Decrees of General Councils how can it be denied us to defend the Ancient Faith according to General Councils truly such if they reject the Decrees of Reformation how shall we subscribe Pope Pius's Creed nay how shall they subscribe it not by virtue of any obligation from this Church but because they otherwise think the Articles of it True and for the contrary reason we cannot subscribe them because we think them false so that the Authority of the Council of Trent is really laid aside on both hands and the merits of the cause must be the onely thing in Debate For to say that a General Council properly speaking cannot abridge a particular Church of her Privileges is to say that a particular Church is above a General Council or at least exempt from its Jurisdiction This is well enough understood at Rome where Gerbais's Book in defence of the Gallican Privileges is condemned § XVIII I have done now with their Councils and have shewn how far Papists themselves have been from thinking them infallible or from acknowledging most of them to be General whatever credit they may have gained by the ignorance and superstition of latter Ages when every Assembly of Bishops greater than ordinary was esteemed a General Council and every General Council voted it self infallible For 't is certain that in the most ignorant Ages they first fansied themselves infallible and then took the liberty to say and doe what they thought fit and so imposed many superstitious conceits and gainfull Projects on the world for infallible Truths It now remains onely to consider whether we can meet with any better satisfaction from the consent of the present Roman Church and to enquire whether there be any expedient to reconcile these differences concerning the Authority of their several Councils But here we are so far at a loss that we find them in nothing more disagreeing than in the very Fundamental Point upon which all the Authority of Councils depends and so disagreeing in this they must be at an eternal disagreement concerning the Councils themselves For some making the Pope above a General Council others a General Council above the Pope and a third sort making them co-ordinate those that place infallibility in the Pope alone have little reason to regard a Council and those that place it in a Council alone do upon occasion as little respect the Pope or judge of General Councils by Bellarmin's Rule and seek no farther than for the Pope's confirmation but those that think it is in neither separately can acquiesce in the Determinations neither of Pope nor Council unless they both concur unanimously in their Determinations and whoever make the Church diffusive to be the Judge of what Councils are General and what are not so are still at a wider difference from all the rest § XIX Our English Papists seem generally to be of the last Opinion placing the Authority of the Church in the Agreement of the Pope with a General Council but making the Authority of General Councils to depend upon the Reception of the Church diffusive hereby placing the Authority Executively onely in General Councils confirmed by the Pope but fundamentally and radically in the Church upon whose Approbation all depends but by Church they understand onely the governing part of it and such as would have had a right to vote if they had been assembled in Council This is the Doctrine advanced in the Book so much valued by our English Papists The Guide in Controversies and because this way has most Artifice and Amusement in it they are willing to put the issue here though most of their Priests must needs have great Prejudices against it from a foreign Education For the French are of the second opinion and the Pope with all his Adherents of the first How well the Guide's Hypothesis has been accepted abroad I am not able to say but it will be best guessed at by the contest that has been about the two other opinions whether the Parties seem inclinable to admit of the Guide as a Reconciler § XX. The Jesuites are for no less than a Personal