it being so clear an Exemplification of my design to shew the right and the wrong ways of exerting the Civil Power in Matters of the Church In the Year 449 Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople who succeeded Pâ—oclus that succeeded Maximianus held a Council of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Bishops then Resident in the City for which reason in the Acts of the Council it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sâ—journing Synod according to the new and corrupt Custom of the Bishops of that City upon their Usurpation over the Rights of Metropolitans to receive Appeals from the Legal Sentence and determine them in the Synod of these Indwelling Bishops who attended at Court for their own Affairs and Preferments A device that the Bishops of Constantinople were forced to make use of because that See being at first but an inferior Bishoprick and subject to its own Metropolitan of Hâ—raclea it could not pretend to a Power of Convening Synods and therefore they seize this opportunity of consulting with the Bishops Resident in the City without any Summons and this by Time and a little Custom became a standing Synod superior to the Provincial Synods And that was the particular occasion of this present Council under Flavianus viz. A Contest of Florentius the Metropolitan of the Lydian Sardis with John and Cossinus two Bishops of his Province who had Appealed from their Metropolitan to Flavianus and his Court-Conclave though they upon hearing of the Cause were so civil and that was not usual either with them or any other Usurpers as to judge it on the side of the Metropolitan But that matter being fairly and easily dispatch't Eusebius the Bishop of Dorylaeum a City of Phrygia Salutaris and a man eminent for Piety and Learning rises up and accuses his old Friend Eutyches having long in vain endeavoured as he declares to the Council to reclaim him by private advice or discourse â—f holding and teaching Heretical Opinions or a different Faith from that delivered from the Apostles and received by the Nicene Fathers and delivers up the Articles of his Charge in Writing Upon this Eutyches is summoned to appear and is after three Citations and all the shifts of delay unkenell'd out of his Monastery and stript of his Orders But the great Eunuch Chrysaphius was his friend and before the Heretick would appear he flies to him for help and protection and he prevails with the Emperor to send Florentius a Courtier and one of his Creatures with a Rabble of Monks and a Guard of Souldiers along with Eutyches to the Council but for all that upon a full hearing and debating of the Cause he is again deposed and eased of his Abby Upon this he makes his Address to Pope Leo procures the Emperor's Letters in his behalf and among his many other Grievances makes that acceptable Complaint That his Appeal to the Apostolical See was rejected by the Bishop of Constantinople Leo was glad of any opportunity to exert his universal Pastorship but much more to break the Power of that Rival See and therefore he greedily takes the Judgment of the Cause to himself writes a very huffing Letter to Flavianus rates him severely for not acquainting his Holiness with his Proceedings but much more tartly for denying an Appeal to the Apostolical See and peremptorily Commands him to return all the Acts of the Council to himself as the only Supreme Judge or as he expresses himself in his Answer to the Emperor Ad praedictum autem Episcopum dedi literas quibus mihi displicere cognosceret quòd ea quae in tantâ causâ gesta fuerant etiam nunc silentio reticeret cùm studere debuerit primitus nobis cuncta reserare Flavianus knowing the Spirit of the Man and being afraid of giving him any Provocation returns him a very civil and submissive Answer â—â—gether with the Acts of the Council humbly requests his Concurrence and Approbation and assures him that Eutyches had never made any Appeal to his Holiness and therefore had abused him with a palpable falshood Leo upon this Information and the perusal of the Acts is satisfied and agrees to the Condemnation of Eutyches and returns Flavianus that Famous Epistle in confutation of the Eutychian Heresie that was afterward so magnified by the Council of Calcedon as to be made of equal Authority with the Decrees of the General Councils Upon this Eutyches flies a second time to his friends at Court and complains that the Acts of the Council had been falsified by Flavianus and upon that the Bishops that were present at the Council were re-summoned and are required to give in their Answer to the Interrogatories upon Oath but this they unanimously refuse as an affront to their Order because as Basil Bishop of Seleucia replyed it was never yet heard of that an Oath was offered to Bishops and therefore upon their word they vouch the truth and sincerity of the Record and declare that Eutyches never made any offer of Appeal to the Bishops of Rome and Alexandria as he pretended in his Bill of Complaint In short the Acts themselves being examined and compared with Eutyches his own Copy exhibited by his Procurators for he refused to appear in Person they were found to agree so exactly in all particulars as not only to put himself but his friends out of Countenance And therefore finding no shelter either at home or at Rome he betakes himself to Alexandria and there engages Dioscorus who succeeded Cyril in that See on his side And he being a man of an ungovernable temper and willing to put an affront upon the great Bishop of Constantinople according to the practice of those times for the Top-Bishops to endeavour to check each others greatness embraces the Quarrel with all possible Zeal and pursues it with as indefatigable diligence earnestly solicites the Emperor for a General Council to rehearâ— the Cause of Eutyches which he represents to him as nothing else then an opposition to the Nestorian Heresie and so the Emperor himself took it And though Flavianus and Leo opposed it with all their Zeal and Power yet Eutyches having the Eunuchs favour and the Emperors own aversation against Nestorius to back him he prevails and a second Council is summoned to Ephesus 19 years after the first consisting of 130 Bishops and the Presidency of the Council is by Chrysaphius his Power with the Emperor determined to Dioscorus by special Commission Pope Leo is invited but his Answer is That he neither would nor could come he could not because at that time Rome was distressed by the Huns and he would not because it was not becoming the State of the Apostolick Chair to appear in any Council but however he sends his Legates with Letters to the Council little suspecting those Irregularities that ensued but by the Artifice of Dioscorus they were not so much as suffered to be read and upon it the Legates quit the Council and upon that all
of our times that there is no Faith in Man as he often does in his Epistles but especially in the 79 th to Eustathius himself And all this upon no other account Good man than because he could not compass a kind Office for an unworthy and ungrateful Man and this found him work to his Dying day especially as he expresses it with the Pride and Superciliousness of the Church of Rome But among these various Transactions the great Athanasius dies about the year 371 or 372 perhaps sooner or later for I am not concerned in Chronological Niceties my Business is to trace the Tradition of Christian Truth not to turn Hour-glasses or watch the Motions of Pendulums But his Fall was the occasion of great stirs in the Church both Parties being at such a time highly concern'd for a fit Successor to so great a Man and so great a See Peter a grave and ancient Presbyter of that Church was by the dying recommendation of Athanasius unanimously chosen but Euzoius the Arian Bishop of Antioch upon the first News of the Vacancy flies to Court to move for his Friend Lucius who had been join'd in Ambassy with him to Jovian against Athanasius and by the help of the Eunuchs succeeds and is sent to Alexandria with Magnus a great Court-Trader in the Cause but before they came the Praefect of the City a zealous Heathen had driven Peter into Banishment and when they came the People were so averse to the Intruder that they were forced to place him in the See by Military Power upon which what bloody Tumults and Disorders followed may be seen in all the Historians but most accurately in Theodoret. Somewhat before this time arose the Heresie of Apollinaris consisting of a great many Prophane or rather wanton Novelties the chief whereof was That our Saviour had no other Soul than the Divinity it self and the Conceit because it was a new one began to take very much among the People who naturally run after any thing that is strange and unusual But it is soon quasht by the diligence of the Pastors of the Church and that not only by Writing though all the Learned Men of that Age appear'd against it as Athanasius Gregory Nazianzen Gregory Nyssen St. Basil and Epiphanius but much more effectually by the Discipline of the Church A Council was call'd at Rome by Damasus the active and leading Bishop of his time though he was here more particularly concern'd because he had unwarily given reputation to the Hereticks by granting them recommendatory Letters And here every particular Article is condemn'd by an Express Anathema against it and an account of their Proceedings is given by Damasus in a Synodical Epistle to the Eastern Bishops the Epistle is of a very peculiar strein and shews that the Gentleman began to have some thoughts of advancing the state of the Apostolick See and it is the first that I have observed of that stiff strein But however the Heresie was soon quasht by that unanimous Agreement of all Churches to suppress it every where by executing the effectual Discipline of the Church upon all its Followers In so much that I can not call to Mind more than one Imperial Law against them at that time and that was enacted by Arcadius in the year 397. against their secret Conventicles at Constantinople they not presuming to appear in Publick And when a Sect is brought so low as that it dares not venture to make any publick Appearance it is vanquisht and scarce worth the Notice of the Government § IV. In the year following i. e. Anno 374. a Council was held at Valentia in France for reforming some Abuses and Corruptions that had crept into that Church and restoring the force of some ancient useful Canons In the same year hapned that strange Election of St. Ambrose to the Bishoprick of Milan after this manner Upon the Death of Auxentius the Emperor Valentinian hapning to be then at Mâ—lan calls the Bishops together and Exhorts them to take care to choose a Person of eminent Abilities for so great a See They in all humility refer it to his Majestie 's own choice No says he that is a Province not proper for me to undertake but to you that are inlightned by the Divine Spirit most properly belongs the Office of choosing Bishops Upon this the Bishops take time to debate among themselves but whilst they are consulting the People of each Faction flock together into the Market-place and there as it usually happens in popular Assemblies from Disputing proceed to Tumult St. Ambrose being Governor of the Place flies according to his Office to appease the Multitude Who no sooner appears than they all cry out An Ambrose an Ambrose for their Bishop at which he being astonish't ascends the Tribunal with an austere Countenance as if he were resolved to put some of them to Death but they still cry the louder Upon that he accuses himself of such scandalous Crimes as by the Canons of the Church render him uncapable of the Episcopal Office but that is all one to them neither will they believe him And therefore in the last place he betakes himself to flight by Night and designs for Ticinum but having wandred all Night and thinking himself near his Journeys end he found in the Morning that he had walkt in a Circle and was just entring into one of the Gates of Milan at which being surprized and fearing lest there should be something of the hand of God in it he returns home and submits they acquaint the Emperor with it for his consent because by the Constitution of Constantine the Great they were forbidden to take any Officers either Civil or Military into the Clergy without it lest the Common-wealth should be left destitute of able Men. But the Emperor is highly pleased with the Election and is proud of his own choosing such Magistrates as are fit to be made Bishops and through this odd concurrence of Circumstances is he made Bishop contrary to the Canons for he was then no more than a Catechumene which Learned Men think may be excused by the miraculousness of the thing as if it had been immediately brought about by the special Interposition and Authority of God himself and for such extraordinary cases the Canon it self has provided an Exception adding this Clause at the end of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless it be done by the special favour of God And that this was so done all Parties concern'd in it thought they had good reason to conclude from so great a Conjunction of Wonders Soon after this Valentinian dies of an Apoplexy or some suddain Death upon which Ammianus Marcellinus reads a Lecture with as much Gravity as if he were President of the College of Physicians as he takes all Opportunity of shewing his Knowledge in all sorts of Learning a fondness very incident to all half-learned Men. But in the mean time Valens goes on in
deliver'd up to the Orthodox Bishops or such as kept close to the Nicene Faith The Rescript is a plain Epitome both of the Creed and Canons of the Council and for the most part exprest in the very same words And because when the Churches were taken from the Hereticks they attempted to build new ones he seconds it with another to forbid that under pain of Confiscation Upon this the Hereticks meet in private Conventicles or assemble Multitudes together in the Streets and Fields which occasions two Laws in the year 383 to forbid all manner of Meetings in all Places whatsoever to restrain wandring Bishops from preaching or ordaining successors in the Heresy and the Execution of these Laws is injoin'd the Governors of Provinces upon pain of Deposition from their places But because the Hereticks were ferretted out of all other Places and took sanctuary in the great City of Constantinople he publishes another Rescript the year following requiring the Magistrates to make a diligent search to find out their lurking holes and so we hear no more of them till the year 388 when all these Laws against them were contracted into one Rescript the Emperor being provoked to renew the execution of his old Laws by their sawcy behaviour upon any cessation against them But now leaving the Eastern parts to go to the assistance of Valentinian the younger against the Tyrant Maximus who had driven him out of his Empire in the West he chooses Tatianus a Man eminent for Courage Wisdom and Conduct to be his Praefectus Praetorio in his absence and when he comes into Macedonia where he meets the distressed young Emperor and finding himself ingaged in a dangerous War on his behalf for the better security of the Peace sends him a new sort of Rescript strictly commanding him that he suffer no disputes about Religion and if any shall dare to do it that he punish their presumption with just severity A Law that has been found so useful and necessary to the publick Peace that it has been from time to time renewed by wise Princes in all Ages He himself was forced four years after to impose it upon the Egyptians and Alexandrians under pain of deportation and no wonder when they have been remarked in all Ages and by all Authors as the most contentious and quarrelsom People in the World and particularly at that time great Tumults were raised by the Anthropomorphite Monks It was afterward renewed by the great and wise Emperor Marcian inserted into the Laws of the Vice-Goths the Capitulars of Charles the Great and the Additions of his Son Lewis And this they did not only for the security of the publick Peace but for the honor and reverence of Religion For it cannot but bring that into great contempt to see it bandied up and down in popular Tumults and Seditions and therefore in the Primitive modest Times they indeavour'd to keep Matters of dispute and controversy from the notice of the People and distinguisht between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things fit to be preached and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notions fit to be conceal'd And it was the familiar form of Expression in their Sermons when they came to any controversial point to break off suddainly with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this the learned know Gregory Nazianzen has an excellent Sermon upon the Subject fit for our own conceited and capricious Times in which the good Father is so popishly affected as to recommend to his disputing Citezens of Constantinople ignorance above curiosity But this wise Emperor having settled things in as good a posture as he could in the East prevails at the same time with the young Valentinian who by the instigation of his Mother Justina had been a great Patron of the Hereticks to publish the same severe Rescript against them in the West that himself at his first coming to the Empire had enacted in the East and to cancel the former Law that he had two years before made in their behalf viz. that we grant liberty of publick Assemblies to all those that believe according to that Faith that in the time of Constantius was agreed upon at Ariminum by all the Bishops of the Roman World and let those Men know that presume that themselves alone ought to have liberty that if they shall attempt any disturbance against this our Command they shall stand guilty of High-Treason and pay for it with their blood This is a very high Act in behalf of all the Hereticks for by the Faith agreed upon at Ariminum is to be understood the cheat that Valens and his Party put upon the Council that comprehended all the different Parties whatsoever And yet that is the Faith that is here confirm'd to last forever and whoever shall publickly oppose any that publickly promote it shall forfeit his head This came from the furious zeal of Justina who prosecuted it with the same zeal and outrage wherewith she had procured it and it was so highly displeasing to Benevolus the Emperor 's Secretary that he chose rather to lose his Office and the Offer of much greater Preferments than so much as transcribe it And this was the Rescript that brought so much trouble to St. Ambrose when he refused to deliver up his Church to the Arians and indeed it was particularly aimed at him And the first Mover of all the Mischief was one Auxentius a Scythian that had a great mind to that wealthy Bishoprick but partly because the Name of Auxentius was hateful to the People of that City and partly because he was infamous for many Villanies in his own Country he took upon him the name of Mercurinâ—s But this whole business being a very remarkable transaction and of very great consequence to my Argument I shall set it down with the greater Nicety that we may not only see the outward Actions themselves but the inward Springs and Motives of the Court-Intrigues § VI. And first of all Auxentius challenges St. Ambrose to a dispute before the Emperor then only a Catechumen but the Bishop disdains the Motion that when the Faith had been so fairly determin'd by so many Councils he should prostitute the divine Authority of the Church by referring it to a secular Judicature but chiefly by making a Catechumen supreme Judg of the Faith But Dalmatius the Tribune is sent by the Emperor to command his appearance upon which advising with some Bishops that were then present with him he returns his Answer in writing in which with equal courage and modesty he reproves him for medling with things that did not originally belong to his Judicature and so proceeds to state the Power of the Emperors in Ecclesiastical Matters from the practice of his Predecessors And it was then but time to be hot in the Cause this being the first open breach that was made upon the Church for though Constantius had often done it underhand or rather unadvisedly
Nicomedia and ever after kept on foot by the Faction For the Western Church had been all along true and faithful to the Orthodox Faith and happy in a succession of Orthodox Emperors and therefore the Easterling Merchants that hitherto made a trade of their Religion and changed their Faith with their Interest greedily seized all Opportunities of breaking with the West where the Faith was fixt and settled because such a settlement would break the Court-Exchange for Preferments upon every Turn of Affairs And such Eceboliuses were the Bishops that raised and promoted this disorder They had ever changed their Faith with the Times and as they had bought their Bishopricks of the Courtiers under Constantius and Valens so were they resolved to keep them under Theodosius And therefore finding his Resolution to stand by the Nicene Faith they readily vote with the Council for its establishment but to prevent the establishment of the Church they start this new and unseasonable Controversie about the Ordination of Paulinus to keep up the division between the East and West Their wrigling and changing of Faith and their buying and selling of Preferments is admirably described by Gregory himself in the Poem of his own Life upon his resignation from whence I have chiefly collected this whole Story You are welcome Chap-Men how often soever you may have barter'd your Faith now 't is high Fair-time let no Man depart without a good penny-worth And now let R. B. here set his Presbyterian hand as his custom is to point out this Character of this prophane Faction against all the good Catholick Bishops with his cold Exclamation Are not these lamentable descriptions of the Bishops of those happy Times and excellent Councils But no multiplying-Glass like Malice unless perhaps Ignorance Upon this Hinge all along turn'd this Controversy it was not kept up by any zeal for the Arian Heresie but the Heresie it self was only pretended to keep up divisions in the Church and by that means a good Exchange was kept up at Court for the sale of Church-Preferments upon every turn of Times And so here upon Gregory's Resignation every Man hoped for a good penny-worth but the Courtiers were grown too cunning and it being so valuable a prize instead of sharing with the Church-men by Simony seize the Bishoprick for themselves Nectarius an unlearned Man but a great Courtier I know not by what art but I am sure by too much interposition of the Emperor being against all the Canons of the Church hoisted into it And it is the great blemish of that Princes reign though it may perhaps be some excuse that he stretcht a point to serve a Friend But the Western Church is startled at these irregular Proceedings and upon them Pope Damasus a resolute Man and one of the first that valued himself upon the great Authority of the Apostolick See moves the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius to grant a General Council at Rome for the better settlement of things But the Eastern Bishops baulk their appearance upon pretence that they cannot be so long absent from their Flocks having been assembled the year before at Constantinople and therefore send only their Legates with a Copy of the Acts of the Council With which the Council at Rome were so 〈◊〉 satisfied 〈◊〉 with very little 〈…〉 adjudged the See of Antioch to Paulinus alone and yet forbore to denounce the sentence of Deposition against Flavianus for fear the Faction should take the advantage that they watcht for to break off Communion with them In order to which it is probable that they raised the Bishop of Constantinople to so great an height of dignity as to take place and precedency next to the Bishop of Rome who upon the account of the Grandeur of the Imperial City had all along held the greatest esteem in the Christian Church And by vertue of this Decree of the Council at Rome Paulinus takes and keeps possession of his Bishoprick to his dying day and is succeeded in it by Evagrius Of the legality of his Succession against the claim of Flavianus see St. Ambrose his 78 th Epistle that runs parallel so luckily with Theodoret's partial story as to discover all its particular flaws and dawbings For says Theodoret after this they would never let Flavianus be at quiet but tired the Emperor with Complaints against him till he undertook his defence himself and by it so satisfied the Western Bishops that they promised reconciliation to him upon which he sent his Legates to treat the Peace which was at last agreed on in the time of Innocent the first But according to St. Ambrose his account who was an Actor in the business the Story runs thus The Emperor upon the Complaint of Siricius that succeeded Damasus against Flavianus refers the Cause to a Council at Capua but Flavianus refuses to appear and moves for an Eastern Synod But the Bishops at the Council being aware of this old device of dividing between East and West immediately vote Communion with all Bishops of the Eastern Church that own'd the Nicene Faith of whatsoever side in this Controversy to cut off that old pretence of Schism upon which Flavianus relyed Upon it he peremptorily refuses all appearance and upon that they refer it to Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria and the Egyptian Bishops but he shuns the reference and takes shelter at Court. Upon which the good Father thus expostulates Frustra ergo tantorum sacerdotum fusus labor Iterum ad hujus seculi Judicia revertendum Iterum ad Rescripta Iterum vexabuntur Sacerdotes senes transfretabunt maria Iterum invalidi corpore patriam peregrino mutabunt solo Iterum sacrosancta Altaria deserentur ut in longinquum proficiscamur Iterum pauperum turbae Episcoporum quibus ante onerosum paupertas non erat externae opis egentes compellentur inopiam gemere aut certè victum inopum itineris usurpare Interea solus exlex Flavianus ut illi videtur non venit quando omnes convenimus But soon after this Evagrius dyes and Flavianus bestirs himself that no Successor should be chosen but yet for all that the People would not be reconciled to him And St. Chrysostom coming at this time to the Throne of Constantinople he prevails with Theophilus of Alexandria to join with him in an Ambassy to Rome to reconcile Flavianus to the Western Church and by that means to remove those heart-burnings that were kept up between the Eastern and Western Bishops upon that account Which was done with some success for it abates the Schism though it does not end it And so things stood till the death of Flavianus in the year 404 who is succeeded by Porphyrius a Bishop of the Court-mould of as bad a Character and as true an Huckster as ever was bred up in the shop of the Nicomedian Eusebius He procured both the banishment of his Competitor and his own Ordination by money and when he had once got into his See
silence in all Places and the burning of all their Books and both upon no less Penalty than Death it self This Law being of so severe a strein was no doubt made upon some special Provocation as generally capital and sanguinary Laws were particularly the 51 and 56 of Honorius against the Donatists and therefore being made in some suddain transport of Passion we do not find that they were ever put in execution for the Emperors never put Men to death for meer Heresie the Circumcellians were hang'd as high-way Robbers the Priscillianists and practical Manichees were put to death as Debauchers of Mankind but otherwise the Imperial Laws reacht not Mens lives in case of Heresie it being a standing rule of the Fathers that their punishments ought to be such as to leave the Offenders in a capacity of repentance Nay they were so far from touching Mens lives that they rarely or never that I remember inflicted any bodily punishments Their usual Penalties were proscription of Goods confiscation of Estates forfeiture of the Meeting Houses deprivation of the Priviledges of a Roman Citizen incapacity of bearing Office in Church or State intestability and last of all banishment of the Preachers and all that conceal'd them which last as it proved the most easy and effectual punishment for the extirpation of any Heresy so it was least odious and grievous to the People extending not to the generality but only to a small handful of Men. This Law with another at the tail of it inflicting severe Penalties upon all Officers that neglect its execution is strong enough to master the most head-strong Faction in the World And with this sort of Law does this young Emperor conclude all his Laws against the Eunomians In the year 399 he remits the usual punishment of Intestability and beside the infliction of the other common Punishments relys chiefly upon the deportation of the Preacher and so after that we hear no more of them in his reign and as by this means he rooted the Eunomians out of the East so did Honorius vanquish the Donatists in the West for all the following Rescripts of this reign under this Title de Haereticis are his Constitutions against that Sect of which we have had an account already § XII But beside these Penal Laws against Hereticks Honorius enacted divers Laws of Priviledg to the Catholicks No wonder then if as the Historians observe the Hereticks flockt so fast into the Church under the reign of these two Princes when they followed nothing but Sun-shine and Court-favor And therefore seeing that these Princes were resolved to tread in their great Fathers steps and to annex the Preferments of the Church to the Orthodox Faith they had no other hopes left than to tack about to it and when they could not after all their pains make the Church come to them it is not to be supposed that Gentlemen of their yielding and waxen temper would be so stout as not to bend to that And so at length this powerful Faction that had so long imbroil'd the Christian World with Wars and Tumults of Wars from the very time of Constantine the Great now began to forsake themselves And those very few that stuck to the Cause rather out of peevishness than Principle relyed only upon their remains of Court Interest for their support as we are informed by Synesius concerning some of them that came into his little Diocess of Ptolemais to debauch the Church there setting up Quintianus for their Bishop backt as they boasted by Court-power so that it seems though the Emperors had declared against them they were so far from wanting Friends there that they were proud of their strength At his first coming to the Crown he confirms all manner of Priviledges granted by any of his Predecessors to the Church and commands his Officers that they diligently perform the duty of Tuition i. e. that they defend and protect the Priviledges of the Church against all Invasions and if it were requisite from Violence And therefore this Office was both Civil and Military Civil Tuition was the standing Office of the Civil Magistrate to protect the Church in its Priviledges The Military was a lawful Guard allowed by the Civil Magistrate to defend any Publick Assembly from violence and therefore this kind of Tuition was not granted in the Contests of private Men and there is an express Law of Theodâ—siâ—s the Great to restrain it but only to Publick Societies as to the Jews to guard their Synagogues and to the Navicularii i. e. those Officers that carried away the Tribute Corn from other Places to Rome or Constantinople who were constrain'd to have Guards for their defence against the fury of the hungry Rabble and to the Christian Churches to protect them from the Assaults and Outrages of Hereticks though this was rarely put in Execution anywhere but in Africa where it was necessary to defend the Christian Assemblies against the Troops of the Circumcellians And this Emperor was at last forced to restrain their fanatick Violence by Capital punishments requiring withal of all his Officers to put it in execution by vertue of their Office without the Complaint or Information of the Bishop because his Function obliged him to acts of Mercy and if the Offenders made any resistance they were impowr'd to fall upon them with the Emperors Forces whose assistance they were by this Rescript authorised to demand in his Majesty's Name This was a brisk Law but nothing more gentle than this could make any impression upon Men of their temper and bloody Principles And here the clause commanding the Officers to proceed against them without staying for the Bishops complaint cui sanctitas ignoscendi solam gloriam reliquit is very remarkable because it becomes Bishops in such Cases to spare Mens lives and therefore St. Austin tells the Proconsul of Africa that if he put the Donatists to death they should cease their Information against them But this is quite different from the Case of the Priscillianists because these are particular Offences and Miscarriages against particular Men whereas their fault was a general Offence against Mankind in the one the Crime lay in the Action that may be forgiven because but transient in the other it lay in the principle that cannot because perpetual So that though it may be a decent Act of Mercy in a Bishop to interceed for pardon to a criminal Action yet to do it for a debaucht Principle were to make himself Patron of the Wickedness But to proceed in the year 397 he publishes a Law against the Mutilation of the Priviledges of the Church and this the Emperors were often forced to do because thir Officers and Governors were apt to oppress them Especially where the Church was wealthy and the Governors heathen as Theodorus was to whom this Rescript was directed they were very forward to hook them in towards bearing their share in those publick burthens from which
dear to him but the Truth of God and that as for Nestorius though he had received many injuries from him he was so far from bearing him any ill Will that what he did was out of kindness to him only to put him upon clearing himself from those errors in the Faith that were vulgarly and he hoped falsly charged upon him which if he would be pleased to do himself should be very glad of his Friendship But the Quarrel advances whil'st Anastasius pretending Peace undertakes to prove in a Discourse before the Clergy of Constantinople that Cyril in his Book against him was at last of the same Opinion with himself Upon this Cyril writes to them to convict him of manifest leasing and impudence and upon that the Clergy of Constantinople draw up a Schedule to parallel the Assertions of Nestorius with the Doctrines of Paulus Samâ—satenus as the Father of this Heresie from whence Suidas and from him Baronius rashly suppose him to have descended of his Off-spring and when they had so done they by common consent publish it in their Churches which could not but be an unpardonable Provocation to his Proud and Violent Spirit and indeed it was a just ground of displeasure against them it being a false and unjust Charge against their own Bishop But Cyril finding by his furious temper that he was not to be reclaimed endeavours to engage all the Bishops of the most eminent Churches against him and first he writes to Celestine the great Bishop of Rome to inform him of the whole matter and beg his Assistance and Advice Celestine immediately takes very high offence at Nestorius Condemns him in Council and by the Authority of the Apostolick See deposes him if he repent not within 10 days and writes to John of Antioch Rufus of Thessalonica Juvâ—nal of Jerusalem and Flavianus of Philippi to desire their Concurrence to his Sentence And no doubt he took the Complaint so much the more greedily as being glad of any opportunity to take down the Proud and Aspiring Prelates of that See of whom he had too much reason to be jealous at that time when they had made several Attempts to mount the Throne of the Imperial City above the Apostolical Chair it self But now Nestorius perceiving the Clouds to gather and that a Storm was like to overtake him by Cyril's Activity he follows him with his Letters to Celestine though pretended to be written upon another occasion viz. Concerning the Pelagian Bishops that had been cast out of the Western Church for their Heresie but were then at Constantinople filling all Peoples Ears with Complaints of their unjust Sentence and daily soliciting both the Emperor and himself for restitution and therefore desires to let him know their Crime that he may rid both his Royal Master and himself from their Importunity After this his own Controversie is brought in as it were by way of Postscript to prevent false Reports against him and soon after he sends him larger discourses in his own Justification Upon which he returns him a very stately and supercilious Answer as if he were particularly pleased in insulting over a Bishop of Constantinople cutting him off from the Communion of the Catholick Church allowing him only 10 days from the time of the Receipt of the Instrument to redeem himself from the Fatal Decree by a publick and open Repentance And as for the Cause of the Pelagians he rates him very smartly for giving them any Countenance or Entertainment and reflects suspicious of that Heresie upon him for his presuming to interpose in their behalf however it is not time for him to intercede for others but to take speedy care of himself This being done he certifies his Sentence to the Clergy and People of Constantinople letting them know that if Nestorius did not recant within 10 days they should no longer own him for their Bishop And the same thing is done by his several Epistles to the forementioned Bishops all which is seconded by Cyril who was glad to fortifie himself with the Authority of the Apostolick See and therefore he sends by the same Messenger that first brought Celestine's Letter to himself a particular account to them and to Acacius of Beraea of all the fair means that had been used for reclaiming Nestorius before they proceeded to this severity who all agree with him against Nestorius as it is evident by Acacius his Answer to it this he particularly assures him for himself and John of Antioch who upon it writes a very kind and prudent Letter to his old Friend Nestorius conjuring him by all the Tyes of Friendship not to disturb his own and the Churches Peace by contending about a word whilest himself professed to own the sense of it And withal tells him that if he would suffer himself to be perswaded to disclaim the Controversie it would be so far from the dishonour of a Recantation that it would be an eminent Act of Wisdom and Greatness of Mind to forego Contentions and his own Opinions that were not necessary to the Faith for the Peace of the Church and this he writes as the unanimous sence of divers Bishops that were his Friends This Letter might probably have made some impression upon his great Spirit had not Cyril spoyled all by his own over eagerness for now finding himself so well back't he would not be satisfied with the meer quitting his opinion but he must be obliged to anathematise it too and accordingly tenders him 12 Anathema's to subscribe which though they were Theological Verities were I think too nice to be imposed as Articles of Faith and necessary conditions of the Peace of the Church And I am withal very apt to think that if this new Imposition had not made the breach wider it might have been made up for both Nestorius and Anastasius seem'd by this time not to have been very fond of their Cause if they could any way have quitted it with honour But this new Imposition of Cyril so enflames his Cholerick Nature that he now forgets all Temper and encounters Anathema's with Anathema's and throws himself into an utter incapacity of Reconciliation upon the Terms of Pope Celestine and that which is worse it gave him the advantage and reputation of a Party for John of Antioch was so offended at their rigour that it made him side with Nestorius against Cyril and it was this that enflamed the Zeal of Theodoret who as appears by his Epistles to Sporadius and Irenaeus was before and after this time no Friend to the opinions of Nestorius but an irreconcileable Enemy to Cyril and his Anathema's and therefore though he were one of those Bishops that had subscribed John of Antioch's Epistle to Nestorius he could never after brook this Imposition of Cyril But now Nestorius having gained this advantage by this over Pursuit rallies with greater fierceness and rages with greater Cruelty then ever especially against his own
the Conventicle on the other side are commanded to insist upon the abolition of Cyril's Anathema's as Heretical Schismatical and unwarrantable Additions to the Nicene Faith But when they came they were not admitted into the City for fear of Tumults by the Monks the Schismaticks were dismiss't to Calcedon and indeed the business was over eight days before their arrival when the Emperor understanding the Cheat that had been hitherto put upon him condemn'd Nestorius to perpetual Banishment and set Cyril and Memnon at liberty And though the Legates of the Conventicle press't him with three Petitions one upon the neck of another for a Conference he would not for a long time grant it But at last their importunity prevails and as themselves boast they shock the Emperor for thô he would hear nothing in behalf of Nestorius yet he was offended at Cyril's Anathema's that were represented with too much advantage by the adverse Party as unwarrantable additions to the Nicene Faith of which the Emperor was very jealous and that was the point that put him upon some Demur Nestorius stood condemn'd by him from the first sentence of the Council but on the other side Cyril's Anathema's were offensive as his own private additions to the settled Faith And therefore Nestorius his Friends let fall his Cause and only pursue the condemnation of the Anathema's and that Plea was too plausible with the Emperor for though they might be Theological Verities they were no Articles of Faith not being express't in the Nicene Creed and yet so they were made by being imposed upon the Church under the Penalty of an Anathema And here stuck the pinch of the Controversie all the time that it depended at Court that the Nestorians press't for the examination of the Anathema's which the Cyrillians at last endeavor'd to baulk and insist only upon the Heresie and Condemnation of Nestorius and having the Emperor sure on their side in that point they were sure to carry the Cause at last for he being tired with the Disputes about the Anathema's le ts that Controversie fall and only abets the Sentence of the Council against Nestorius with his own sentence of banishment and commands the Bishops to choose a Successor into the See who electing Maximianus are dismist without any determination of the other Controversie And as if the sentence of the Council and the Confirmation of the Emperor had been invalid without it Pope Celestine sends his Pontifical Rescript to confirm all by the Authority of St. Peter Longius quidem sumus positi sed per sâ—licitudinem totum propius intuemur Omnes habet beati Petri Apostoli cura presentes non nos ante Deum nostrum de hoc possumus excusare quod scimus In all this Contest the greatest Looser next to Nestorius who lost all was John of Antioch who being run down in Council his confining Adversaries take that advantage to beat him out of his late Usurpations The Bishops of Cyprus over whom he had extended his Jurisdiction make their Complaints to the Council by whose Decree he is expell'd the Island And whereas he had usurpt over the Provinces of Arabia and Phaenice upon which Juvenal the new Bishop of Jerusalem a brisk and ambitious Man had cast his Eye and made some inroads of Usurpation he now thinks by the advantage of the animosity between Cyril and John of Antioch to have it confirm'd to him in Council and this was the thing that made him so active there for which reasons he was nominated one of the eight Commissioners to the Emperor Which Design is plainly suggested to the Emperor by John and his Party in their first Petition from Calcedon It is evident Sir say they that some among them have contrived and carried on this wicked design for their own ends and your Majesty will see them when they have carried through their Treachery to divide the Spoils of the Church among themselves And though Juvenal of Jerusalem took upon him to ordain some of of us we held our peace notwithstanding that we ought to have contended for the Canons lest we should have seem'd to contend for our own Ambition Neither are we ignorant of his Designs and Devices at this very time upon the second Phaenice and Arabia So that it seems he had made some overt-acts of his design in Council but Cyril detested and damn'd the Motion as Pope Leo in his 16 th Epistle tells us That Cyril himself inform'd him by Letter But though he could not carry it in Council he got at last both those Provinces and the three Palestines beside and kept them till the Council of Calcedon when both Parties being conscious to themselves of their having no right to the whole Child consent to its division the three Palestines falling to Juvenal Phaenice and Arabia to Maximus of Antioch But though the Nestorian Controversie was ended the quarrel was not that run very high between those two great Prelates Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch and their greatness drew great numbers of Bishops after them to the great disorder and disturbance of the Church and great grief of the Emperor who therefore advises with Maximian and other Bishops how to redress the mischief they answer that there is no remedy but John of Antioch's subscribing the condemnation of Nestorius and his Heresie Upon this the Emperor writes to John by Aristolaus commanding him to meet Cyril at Nicomedia and be reconcil'd to him upon pain of his displeasure And this Letter he seconds with another to the famous Monk Simeon Stylites Acacius Bishop of Beraea and the Bishops of all the Eastern Provinces to perswade John to return to the Peace and Unity of the Church Upon this a Council meets at Beraea and agree upon this Proposal that they would condemn Nestorius upon condition that Cyril would call in all his own Writings about the Controversie But this being refused and John being wrought upon either by the Emperor's threatnings or the importunity of his friends declares his assent to the Decree of the Ephesine Council Anathematises the Heresie of Nestorius subscribes his deposition and approves the ordination of Maximinian But for the greater solemnity of the business and to salve the dishonor of an absolute submission he sends Paul Bishop of Emesa as his Legate to Alexandria to treat with Cyril about terms of Peace and sends by him a Confession of Faith which if Cyril would accept he was his humble Servant Now the Confession being Orthodox and having nothing in it of his own but only the form of Words it was as easily accepted as offer'd and so after all this contention about nothing but mutual misunderstanding are they at last reconcil'd as both Cyril objects to the Antiochians in his Letter of Reconciliation and Theodoret to the Cyrillians in his Letter to Andrew the Monk But though they were agreed the Contest is still kept up by some Mens zeal and other Mens malice The
Asiatick and Thracian Bishops for him upon the account of the Animosity between him and Cyril about the Anathema's From hence they fall to the Examination of the Acts of the Ephesine Council where the forgeries the frauds the violent and illegal Proceedings of Dioscorus Juvenal and their Associates against Flavianus and Eusebius are at large most shamefully exposed to the World but their punishment is referred to the Emperor and so ends the first Action In the second they proceed to treat of the settlement of the Faith where they establish the Nicene Faith against Arius the Ephesine against Nestorius and the Epistle of Pope Leo to Flavianus against Eutyches as necessary Expositions of the Faith In the third Session which Valesius says ought to have been the second comes on the Tryal of Dioscorus who upon divers Accusations brought into the Council against him and after three Citations refusing to appear is deposed It is pretty to observe in this sentence how under this swelling Pope the Acts and Forms of Court were innovated for the advantage of the Papal Power The Libels or Petitions against the Offender are addrest in the first place to the Oecumenical Arch-bishop and Patriarch of Rome and then to the Council it self And then none must denounce the Sentence but his own Legates and that too must be done not in the name of the Council but in the Name and by the Authority of Pope Leo and St. Peter and this being done the Council signifie their sentence to the Emperor and Empress where again they give all the glory of the Action to Pope Leo. In the fourth Action beside repeting the former Decrees a Committee is appointed to debate farther concerning the Faith and Leo's Epistle which they represent to the Council as agreeable in all particulars to the Nicene Faith After that the Judges acquaint the Fathers that the Emperor is pleased to refer back the sentence against the Accomplices of Dioscorus to themselves but they tacking about and following the dance of that shameless Ecebolian Juvenal of Jerusalem and subscribing the Epistle of Pope Leo are reconciled and admitted to sit In the next place the Egyptian Bishops refuse to subscribe either the Condemnation of Eutyches and Dioscorus or the confirmation of Leo's Epistle during the Vacancy of the Arch bishoprick of Alexandria upon the deposition of Dioscorus it being both against the Canons and the Custom of their Church to act any thing without the consent of their Arch-bishop But this the Council interpret a meer shift and tergiversation to escape the subscription to their Decrees and therefore insist upon it before their dismission And tell them withal that the Canon was valid as to the ordinary Affairs of their own Province but ought to be anticipated and superseded by the determinations of general Councils that include and over-rule all Provincial Jurisdictions In answer to this they declare their own readiness to subscribe but dare not for fear of the People when they return home who they knew would lay violent hands upon them for betraying the Rights of the great Alexandrian Metropolitan And after long drawing on either side the matter is adjusted by the mediation of the Secular Judges that their subscription should be respited till the election of a new Arch-bishop which was accepted by Paschasinus the Popes Legate upon this condition that they would give Security by Oath or Sureties not to depart the City till that was done which being readily perform'd it ended the Controversie After this follows the Petition of the Eutychian Monks of Constantinople to the Emperor which he referr'd to the Council as he did all other Addresses but it being in behalf of Dioscorus against the Council and particularly their own Bishop Anatolius from whom they threaten to divide Communion if they persist in their Sentence against Dioscorus they are taught by Aëtius the Arch-deacon of Constantinople in a Premunire against the 4 th and 5 th Canons of the Council of Antioch whereby all Presbyters are actually excommunicated that presume to separate from their own Bishop But before they can be farther heard in Council they are required to subscribe the Epistle of Pope Leo against Eutyches and his prophane Novelties which refusing they are deposed from their Orders and expell'd their Monasteries The Imperial or as the Council phrases it the external Power according to the holy Laws of their Ancestors backing their Decree against the Contumacious This Action is shut up with a very fair decision of a Controversie between Photius Bishop of Tyre and Eustathius Bishop of Beryte who being a subject Bishop to Photius had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by subreption procured a Rescript in the time of Theodosius the Younger to bring part of the Province into subjection to himself and by force and threatning extorts Photius his consent to it But this great Council now sitting Photius Petitions the Emperor to write to the Council to redress his wrong which is easily granted where the cause being debated Eustathius confesses the Canon against him but pleads the Imperial Rescript against that But this Plea is utterly rejected both by the Judges and the Bishops to whom the Judges referred its final judgment who determin'd it upon this rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Imperial Pragmaticks are of no force against the Canons Upon this Eustathius pleads the Authority of Anatolius and a Synod of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishops sojourning at Constantinople who had proceeded so far in this contest as to excommunicate Photius though uncited and unheard upon this the Judges refer it to the Council Whether that were a legal Synod to which Anatolius pleads That it was so by Custom though not by Law But against this the 4 th Canon of Nice is urged that no Bishop can be ordain'd without the consent of his Metropolitan which Eustathius having done by whatsoever other Authority it was an open breach of that Canon and so adjudged by the Council to whom the Secular Judges intirely lest the Judicature as proper to their Jurisdiction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they declare to give the final Sentence about these Matters which being done by the Council in behalf of Photius it is thus confirm'd by the Judges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the Decrees of the Council stand establisht forever And upon it Cecropius Bishop of Sebastopolis is incouraged to move That all Imperial Pragmaticks for the Alteration of the settled bounds of Provinces may be taken away forever as bringing certain disturbance and confusion upon the Government of the Church which being seconded by the Synod is confirm'd by the Consent of the Judges In the 5 th Action after many Debates the Judges having no mind to the Imposition of Leo's Epistle the Fathers proceed to the settlement of the Faith and having first approved the Creeds of the three other general Councils they add a 4 th of their own framing against Eutyches not that
with Petitions on one side for abrogating and on the other for confirming the Council of Calcedon The Emperor considering of the Matter refers it to the Judgment of the Church and being unwilling to put the poor aged Bishops to the tedium of long Journeys for assembling in Council he takes a more compendious but no less effectual course directing his Letters to all the Metropolitans of the Christian Church within the Empire requiring their impartial Judgment of both Controversies without fear or favor or ill-will having only the fear of God before their Eyes and as they would one day answer it to the divine Majesty viz. the Ordination of Timotheus Aelâ—rus and the ratification of the Council of Calcedon And this brought forth that famous volume of Encyclical Epistles that make up the third part of the Council of Calcedon and that are so often and so much commended by the Ancients Liberatus Facundus Hermianensis Evagrius Victor Tunonensis and Cassiodorus at whose perswasion as himself informs us Epiphanius a learned Man translated them into the Latin Tongue and that is the only Copy of them that is now extant An excellent Collection it is of Ecclesiastical Antiquity and a true representation of the ancient Unity and Communion of the Catholick Church without the formality of a general Council The Authority of the determination is the same consisting in the Concord of Bishops and the Resolution it self much more easie and expedient For it required much time and expence to assemble Councils it put infirm old Men to long and tedious Journeys it rob'd most Churches for a time of their Guides by the absence of their leading Prelates whereas by this way of Encyclical Correspondence the dispatch was equally speedy and effectual For the Result of all their Answers was the approbation of the Synod of Calcedon and the deposition of Timotheus there being but one Dissenter and he but half an one and that was Amphilochius Bishop of Sida who at first disallowed the Council of Calcedon but earnestly pâ—â—ss't the deposition of Timotheus thô witâ—â—n a little time he was brought to subscribe the Council as Eulogius Bishop of Alexandria reports who withal says that there were no less than one thousand six hundred subscriptions return'd to the Emperor which if true it is a much greater number than all the four General Councils put together amount to Upon this transaction the Remarque of Facundus is very smart and acute Behold here the true Liberty of the Church in those days when the most Christian King did not overâ—aw the Priests of God with his temporal Power but on the contrary arm'd and warn'd them against all such fear by the over-ruling fear of God Neither did he suggest any thing of his own thoughts lest it should be suspected that their Answer was suited to his Royal Will and this he did not only out of respect to the Discipline of the Christian Church but because he very well knew that no forced Decrees were of any Authority in themselves for when a Sentence is forced it is not his Sentence by whom it is pronounced And the cause that carries it gains nothing by it but the advantage lies on the side of the Party condemn'd for it is evident that he was not at liberty to judg aright whose Judgment is forced for a forced Judgment is none at all And therefore this Emperor of blessed Memory preserved the Peace of the Church because he would not presume to establish any Doctrins by his own Authority and usurp that Power that is proper to the Priesthood alone Whereas had he prescribed to the Council and they meerly lacquied to his instructions it is evident that one Lay-man that was no competent Judg of those Matters really pass't the judgment and not those who were the only proper Judges of the Cause And withal he very well understood that forced Councils never came to any good effect as the Council of Ariminum under Constantius and the false Council of Ephesus under Dioscorus And therefore though himself could have pass't a right sentence yet he would not because he would not render the Sentence of the Church suspected and by that means evacuate its Authority But as the whole Eastern Church agreed in this business so no Man was more active not to say more imperious in it than Pope Leo who was ever for carrying all things through with an high hand and having raised himself to the height of Authority resolved to keep it up For it was no small point of Grandeur that he gain'd when he procured that his own private Epistle should be imposed upon the Catholick Church and made equal with the Decrees of General Councils But that which advanced him to the top-round of Power was his signal Victory over Constantinople and the Eastern Bishops when he forced them to eat and reverse their 28 th Canon made Anatolius submit and beg his pardon brought the Emperor Marcian himself almost upon his Knees and forced him to renounce his own Imperial Rescript thô made in favor of his own Imperial City This great success could not but swell his mind that was already but too great of it self and thereupon he takes the supreme and indeed single management of all things into his own hands And when no Man no not the Emperor himself dares withstand his Commands so severe and peremptory were they that for a good time he kept the Eutychian Cause sufficiently low and humble And to say the truth setting aside his by-design of advancing the Grandeur of his own See he acted nothing that was not only warrantable but justly praise-worthy For when once a Controversie is decided by the Authority of the Church no Christian Bishop can be too vigorous in his proceedings against all thâ—t refuse submission to the Decree Here Peace and Government lye at stake as well as Truth and unless they are preserved the Church is lost and the Society dissolved into meer Tumult and Confusion Whilst Controversies are on foot and have not received the Judgment of the Church we may allow Men to be moderate or eager in their Disputes about them according to the variety of their apprehensions or natural Tempers But after the Church has interposed its Authority there all moderation is at best but Treachery and the Reverence due to its commands will call forth every honest Mans utmost zeal in its defence And that was the case here that the Eutychians moved for a review by a new Council No says Pope Leo that were to offer an Affront to the Authority of the Church in the great Council of Calcedon and instead of putting an end to Schisms and Contentions to make them perpetual for the humor and pleasure of every peevish talker Nam cum nihil sit convenientius fidei defendendae quà m his quae per omnia instruente spiritu sancto irreprehensibiliter definita sunt inhaerere ipsi videbimur bene statuta convellere et
to the See of Alexandria Of which when Simplicius sends him Letters of Complaint one after another he would never vouchsafe him any Answer and so Simplicius dying the â—udgels are immediately taken up by his Successor Foelix the 3 d and the first Act of his Government is to call a Council in which a Synodical Letter of Admonition is written to Acacius chiding him for his sullenness to Simplicius charging him with Pride and ill-manners towards the Apostolick See advising him to use his Interest with the Emperor to rectifie the late Misdemeanors at Alexandria in the election of Moggus otherwise he must be thought an Apostate from his own Principles and a Renegado to the Hereticks for not to proceed against wicked Men when it is in a Man's power to curb them is to give them protection and he incurs suspicion of secret friendship who gives over his opposition to a manifest impiety And in tâ—e same Council another long and pathetical Letter is drawn up to the Emperor and sent by the same Legates Vitalis and Micenus conjuring him to keep fast to his old Principles against the Hereticks and gauling him in the same Dilemma in which they had involved Acacius viz. That if he stood firm to the Council of Calcedon he must renounce the Hereticks and therefore if he did not oppose them he protected them against the Council and that was manifest opposing it But the Emperor was big with his new Project of comprehension and was deaf to all advice against it and Acacius being secure of him he slites Foelix his Letters imprisons his Legates and draws them in to join Communion with himself and Moggus Upon the news whereof another Council is immediately summon'd at Rome where the sentence of Deposition and Excommunication is denounced against him But he being warm and safe at Court slites the force of all Ecclesiastical Discipline and requites Foelix in his own coin striking his name out of the Dypticks and persisted in the exercise of his own Function to his dying day which was 4 years after the Sentence that was decreed in the year 484 and he dyed in the year 488. This was the effect of this shrewd Instrument of Comprehension in these three head Churches of Rome Constantinople and Alexandria nothing less than a total breach of Communion and one of the fiecrest Schisms that ever befel the Christian Church and though the Peace between them was patcht up about 34 years after by the Power and Activity of Pope Hormisdas yet they were never heartily reconcil'd to this very day As for Acacius it is a dispute what he was some indict him of Heresie or Church-treason others only of high Misdemeanors though as for my own part after all streins of Candor I cannot but think him guilty of both or I fear something worse the want of a serious sense of Religion To free him from the high charge of Heresie it is pleaded that he never in the least own'd the Eutychian Faith that he ever declared against it that he was never charged with it by the Ancients and that in the Sentence against him at Rome where all his Crimâ—s were strictly enough enumerated this is no Article against him But yet for all this I see not how he can be absolved from it for in the Eye of the Law and indeed the common sense of the World all Communâ—on with Hereticks is and ought to be judged Heresie as in all Civil Laws all consulting with Traitors is deem'd Treason For it concerns not the Government to fish out every Man's Opinion or motive of his Practice that can judg only by overt-acts and then to communicate with Hereticks is Heresie and to consult with Traitors Treason But much more in this particular Case in which all Communion with the Hereticks had been Canonically declared Heresie by the Church in the great Council of Calcedon and without it the sentence of the Church had been of no force for that can reach no farther than their outward Communion So that after all the Henoticon was so far from compromising the Controversies as it pretended and I believe design'd that it only reverst and contradicted the Decree of the Church and by an Imperial Rescript declared that to be no Heresie that had been judged so by the Council and that I take it is plain bidding defyance to it and its Authority As for the other Crimes charged upon him they are enormous enough his very friendship with such ill Men as Moggus and Fullo shews he had but very little sense of Honesty or indeed of Reputation otherwise he would have loath'd and defyed Men of such rank Practices But the leading Sin that betray'd him into all his other Miscarriages was his Pride and Ambition and to gratifie that it is plain that he stuck not to subvert all the Discipline of the Christian Church For finding the Emperor Zeno fond of his Henoticon he at least frankly complyed with it to the subversion of the first and fundamental Law of all Church-Communion in receiving Hereticks into it without Canonical Repentance and Satisfaction And this is suggested in the Decree of the Council at Rome against him that he preferr'd the Emperor's favor above his own Faith and then it is no matter to what Religion such perfidious Men pretend when it is too apparent that they have really none at all And the case of the Church at this time was much the same as it was under the Reigns of Constantius and Valens ill Men got into the Court and from thence crept into the Church and to gain Preferments for themselves flatter'd the Prince into an exorbitant use of his Power against the true and regular Discipline of it And that would at once give them interest at Court and make vacancies in the Church for themselves and this weak Prince was so drunkenly fond of this little Project that he would throw away the best Preferments in the Church upon any Parasite that would but seem to hugg his fondling-Ape by which means great numbers of very bad Men came into the best Churches But one of the greatest Instances of it is the great Church of Antioch we have already seen the other three leading Churches brought into a Civil War among themselves but here it came to blows and cutting of Throats that I shall very briefly describe as another observable Example of the good Effects of this gracious Instrument of Accommodation Petrus Fullo a Monk had been expell'd his Monastery for the Eutychian Heresie in the time of the Emperor Leo flies to Calcedon and being a talkative Man is soon driven thence for the same Cause and so takes shelter at Constantinople and there insinuates himself into the favor of the Princess Ariadne and by her recommends himself to the Patronage of her husband Zeno and having gain'd that he endeavors to dis-place Martyrius Bishop of Antioch Zeno being then Governor of the Place but Martyrius making his Application to the
not to say a greater only to avoid envy a Benefactor to Mankind as any Prince in the whole Succession He delivered Christendom from the Incursions of the Barbarians and when he found it not so properly invaded as besieged and in a great measure possest by them he not only subdued them all to the Empire but which was a much greater work to Civility and the Christian Faith and by that means he left the Peace of the World much better secured and its manners much more improved then they were before His next Improvement of the Creation were his numberless and prodigious Buildings by which he lest the World more habitable then he found it neither do I speak meerly of that vast number of great Cities that he built but of his great care to make Commerce easie and pleasant and remove the difficulties of travelling by building Bridges making High-ways founding Publick-houses for the reception of Strangers in all convenient places in these kind of works he was so munificent in all places that he might not improperly be stiled the Founder of the Roman Empire that as it were turned those vast Dominions into one City A Third Benefit to Posterity is his excellent Body of Laws and Rules of Government gathered out of the Records of that wise State for about 1300 Years A work so glorious in it self that it had been often attempted by the greatest men not only those of the more ancient Common-wealth but of the most polite and emproved Age it entertain'd the ambitious thoughts both of Caesar and Cicero But in vain so great a work was preserved for the glory of Justinian and though if we consider the remote Antiquity of the Laws the seeming inconsistency among themselves and the immense bulk of Books and Records in so long a Tract of time the undertaking must have seem'd an impossible thing to any other man yet he pursued it with that diligence as to bring the greatest work that was ever undertaken to perfection in a little time Now for all these good Deeds that he has done to all Posterity I think no man that pretends to any thing of gratitude or ingenuity can excuse himself from the obligation of doing honour but much more right to his Memory But beside all this his Cause is become the Controversie of all Christendom because the Power that he challenged and exercised in the Christian Church for which he is so much condemned by the Court of Rome is one of the inseparable Branches of Soveraignty and was always challenged by all Christian Emperors so that if the Princes of Christendom should suffer themselves to be stript of it they are thereby outed of one half of their Empire And the true rise of the Court of Romes displeasure against him was not upon the account of any of his own Actions but a late Contest viz. The Famous Quarrel between Paul the 5th and the State of Venice as Eusebius has very well observed about these three Articles 1. The Power of the Civil Magistrate to judge the Clergy in Criminal Causes 2. The Decree of the Senate to prohibit the erecting of new Churches or Religious Houses without the Consent of the State 3. Their Statute of Mortmain against settling Lands upon the Church without the same Consent How high this Quarrel run is vulgarly known but it was so managed by the Learned Men that appeared in behalf of the Senate as to refer its whole decision to the Justinian Law whereas the Pope on the contrary challenged a Superiority over all Laws and would submit to no Rule but his own Authority Now the reason why the Venetian Advocates insisted so stubbornly upon the Justinian Code was not only for the advantage of those several Precedents that we have seen above to warrant the proceedings of the State in the several matters of the present Controversie but chiefly because the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church were taken into the Justinian Code and made part of the Imperial Law and if they could but bring the Pope any way under the Canons that would carry their Cause for it not only proved in behalf of the State that the power of prohibiting Ecclesiastical Laws to be imposed upon their Subjects without their Consent was a right challenged by all Christian Princes but own'd by the Church in the General Councils it being the known Custom of the Fathers to send their Decrees to their Imperial Majesties for Approbation before they presumed to publish them to the World or impose them upon the Church This is the Argument insisted upon by Jacobus Leschasserius a Learned Civilian at Paris in his Apology in behalf of the Senate who recommends the Justinian Code as the Bull-wark of the Liberties of Christendom And this little Treatise first gave the hint to Christophorus Justellus to publish the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church Now when the Court of Rome had for so many Ages been used to an absolute and unlimited Authority it could not but gawl and fret their proud Spirits to hear of being brought into subjection to Imperial Laws and for that reason they set themselves with all the Arts of Malice to beat down the Credit and Reputation of the Justinian Code till at length from his Laws they proceeded to vent their Revenge upon his Person and that was the thing that gave so much joy and transport to Alemannus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that now the World might see what kind of man this Justinian was who was so prophane as to take upon him a power of medling with Sacred Things and controuling Popes themselves But the indignity of so base a design soon provoked Learned Men to expose it to the World with that scorn that it deserved The first that appeared in the Cause that I know of was a Learned Man of our own Nation in the Year 1626 viz. Dr. Rive Advocate to his late Majesty a Gentleman equally eminent both for Learning and Loyalty in a little but a very ingenious Treatise upon the Argument Entituled Imperatoris Justiniani desensio adversus Alemannum The Book which is great pity is hard to be procured neither indeed had the Learned Author the advantage of some considerable Records that are now brought to light and though he was a Learned Man not only in his own Profession but all other Polite Learning yet I find that he was not so well acquainted with the Records of the Church as to be able to state that matter aright And therefore he is altogether mistaken in that part of his defence especially as to the Controversie of the tria Capitula but he followed the common opinion as it was stated by the Romanists against the Africans as I think all Writers have done to this very day But otherwise he has with great eloquence and strength of reason cleared the reputation of this great Prince from all their dull and dirty aspersions and Convicted the whole design of
Cappadox and this he affirms not only without any Testimony from Records but against the most obvious and known story of those times by which it is evident that this Title was first challenged and granted to another Johannes surnamed Jejunator or John the mortified under Mauritius But however when it is certain not only from Record but from matter of Fact it self that Amantius was put to death for endeavoring to depose the Emperor if Procopius himself imputed it to a little foul Language it argued great malice but if it were done by any other counterfeit Author it argues great ignorance in the Affairs of those Times And indeed the Author has every where betrayed so much of that as plainly discovers himself to be no true Procopius And such is his story in his 6 th Chapter of Justin's being analphabetus void of all Learning not able to write his own name which he proves from the invention of the Printing Plate with his name in it that he stampt upon all his Commissions because he could not write This is all the Authority for this wild Story and we never hear any thing of it till Suidas transcribed it hence and yet it is strange that none of the Historians of that Time should ever take notice of a thing so very strange in the Empire had it been true But however this story of the printing Plate is a very unlucky discovery of the asses ears under Procopius his skin when it is so well known that it was the custom of all the Roman Emperors to stamp their names to their Commissions for expedition And this Alemannus himself confesses was the ancient usage and describes the forms of it out of Plutaâ—ch and Ausonius and shews that it was used by Justinian himself though it was in after-times disused by the Grecian â—mperors Now for any Man to go about to prove that Justin could not write his own Name because he had it engraven on a printing Plate when all other Emperors used the same Instrument it clearly demonstrates his ignorance of the Customs of those times and proves him some unlearned Greek that lived after the disusage of that Custom in that Empire And as for Justin's acting so little and Justinian's acting so much in the publick Affairs Procopius himself in his first Book de Bello Vandalico imputes it to no other cause then his extreme old age and not to any want either of natural Parts or ingenuous Education as this malicious and ignorant Libeller has done who sticks not to call him a fool and a blockhead And it was no doubt a sign of his being so when he raised himself from so low a fortune into the Imperial Throne and when he was in it govern'd so well as we have seen in the History of his Reign But here again commend me to the Ingenuity of Alemannus that cites the very passage in the Book de bello Vandalico which imputes Justin's inability for business to nothing but his extreme old Age to confirm this passage that lays it wholly upon his natural incapacity and blockishness But having convicted this story of the Murder of Amantius for an unmannerly word of extreme malice and ignorance let us now examine the other hundred Millions of instance in the death of Vitalian and there we shall find as strong streins of the same malice and ignorance as in the Amantian Fable For first he is so miserably inform'd as to place this transaction immediately after the death of Amantius whereas he was for a good time one of the greatest Favourites of the Emperor Justin and kept up an intimate Friendship with Justinian and joyn'd with him in transacting that great Business of uniting the Eastern and Western Churches with Pope Hormisdas as appears by Justinian's Epistles to that Pope and therefore the death of Vitalian did not follow the Execution of Amantius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a short time after as if it were the next Action as this Author expresses it for it was not done till the third year of Justin's Reign and for that reason Evagrius when he tells this Story immediately after that of Amantius he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this was done afterwards by which it is evident that this Author was utterly ignorant of the right order of the Transactions of that time But the true Story of Vitalian is this That he had often stein'd himself with Rebellion against his Master Anastasius and had caused the slaughter of many Thousands of Citizens for his own Ambition but the Emperor was at last too hard for him so that whil'st he reign'd the Rebel lived in Exile but was restored by Justin taken into great favour advanced to great honour first made Master of the Militia and afterward Consul but he seising all opportunities of encouraging Faction and Sedition and heading the Tumults of the Scythian Monks at Constantinople he perish't some way or other in the Attempt but the manner of his death is not certainly known Marcellinus Comes only says that he was stabb'd within the Palace with sixteen wounds Evagrius says from Zacharias the Eutychian that he was trapan'd by Justin and Justinian and if it were so yet that Partial Historian against those Emperors has set down two very good reasons to justifie it first that it was to cure his insatiable Thirst after the Crown which they saw nothing but his own Blood could quench and secondly to punish him for all that Train of Mischief and Treason that he had practised against the Roman Empire But Victor Tunensis both a co-temporary and a disobliged Writer â—â—ing one of those African Bishops that were banished for their Zeal against the Tria Capitula only says that it was reported that his Throat was cut within the Palace by the Faction of Justinian so that it seems he could get no certain knowledge of it whether it were done by the Emperors command or by a Tumult of the Guards and that is most likely for Souldiers of Loyal Principles are never wont to forgive as indeed they never ought revolting Rebels But which way soever it was brought about it was a just Execution of one of the vilest men living that had often embroiled the Empire in bloody Wars that had called in the barbarous People to invade it that had besieged Constantinople it self and had utterly destroyed it had not Proclus fired his Fleet as Archimedes did that of Marcellus with burning Glasses These two just and unavoidable Executions are the only too bloody Actions by which this Prince outstript the cruelty of all the Tyrants that ever were in any Age or Nation and destroyed more People then an Universal Plague not only cutting the Throats of all the Inhabitants of the Roman Empire but dispeopling the whole Creation § XXVI But what were there no Acts of Mercy in his Reign nay what if there were nothing but Acts of Mercy what if no other Reign can vie Acts of Clemency with it And
for the issue of that Challenge I will farther Challenge both the Libeller and the Librarian to find any one Offender in all his Reign that did not meet with more mercy then justice or to find me in all Records from the beginning of Mankind so many instances of a great and generous Nature in any one Prince With what barbarity were his Confederates assassinated and with what fury was his own Empire beset by Gilimer King of the Vandals and Vitigis King of the Goths yet when by the Event of War they were made his Prisoners with what Prince-like respect did he treat them Instead of any revengeful usage they enjoyed the Wealth and State of Princes Vit gis chose to continue at Court Gilimer had the grant of vast Revenues for himself and his Relations in Gaul and was courted to accept of the dignity of a Patriarchate but rendred himself uncapable of it by refusing to quit the Arian Heresie Johannes Cappadox a man that Justinian had obliged above all men having made him both Patriarchate Consul and Pâ—efect of the City in which last Office the Empire being ensured to him by the Magicians he is foolishly drawn in to conspire the death and destruction of the Emperor and is undenyably Convicted of it yet after all this discovery this wicked man and Procopius gives a blacker Character of him then of any man in his whole History is so far from being put to death that he is only put into a Monastery and that with such vast wealth and so many advantages of life that as Procopius observes if he had been endowed with Wit enough to estimate his happiness by the measures of Reason not of Ambition he would have valued his Misfortune as the most happy thing that ever befel him But now to compare the truth and the ingenuity of the open and the secret Histories concerning this unhappy man by the first it is proved that he was guilty of all manner of wickedness and oppression an Atheist and a Villain that designed the Crown for his own Head by the Murther of his Royal Master and that certainly is enough to put any Subject out of all capacity of mercy And yet in the Anecdota his fall is imputed meerly to Theodora's Revenge for endeavouring to alienate the Emperors Affections from her And if it were so that was so ill an Office that if any thing could would warrant the lawfulness of it But whether there were or were not any thing of Pique in the Case it is certain that he had discovered his Ambition to supplant his Master and if after that the Empress by slite over-reach't him whatever private design she might have in it it was in it self an eminent act of duty And by this we may judg both of the Wisdom and the Petulancy of this Libeller when he snarles at an Action so commendable in it self and so commended by Procopius himself in his relation of it In short when Procopius had painted this Man in such black Characters in common discretion he ought not he could not have made his Prosecution a Crime for setting aside the Empresses disgust by Procopius his own report from the deposition of the Witnesses he deserved death for his Treason and then after that what ever motives she might have to prosecute no Man could have any just ground to blame the Prosecution And yet after all the good Emperor spared the Traitors blood and only condemn'd him to say his Prayers and sue out his pardon in Heaven as he in great mercy had granted it here on earth But so blind was the importunity of the Man that he rusht into farther Disorders till he was at last turn'd loose to beg Bread and Farthings which story was in the Legend Age of Christianity fastned I know not by whom upon the great Belizarius But now considering the heinousness of this unhappy Man's Offences Theodora and Antonina who entrapt him as great Furies as they are represented for it by the Libel are not less to be commended for their honesty in the design then the dexerity of their Wit in its management Neither upon the whole Matter do I find them to have been such instruments of Cruelty as they are made not only by this Libel but the common vogue It is evident that they were Ladies of great Art and Subtilty that had great power over their Husbands and by that means great share in the Government in which as they had opportunity of doing many other good Offices so the discovery of this Traitor was none of the least And as for Theodora how black soever she is painted in this Libel I cannot find but that she bears a very fair Character in all other Writers both for Wisdom Piety and Charity Procopius himself gives an high commendation of her Wisdom in his first Book de bello Persico And in his Books de Aedificiis reckons up many of her foundations for pious and charitable Uses especially that of destroying the publick Stews and building and endowing religious Houses for the maintenance of lewd People taken out of them there to repent of the Wickedness of their former lives and sequester themselves to Prayer and Devotion And as for her good-nature he has left this Character of it upon Record that it was in her temper to relieve and protect the oppressed and therefore she forced Artabanes a great favourite with the Emperor to receive his injured Wife a piece of Justice that laid the foundation of a Conspiracy against the Emperor's life as we shall see afterward And as much as that Age abounded with Writers none of them have left any ill character or ill story of her upon Record unless in the point of Religion that she favour'd the Acephali and the Eutychians So that whereas this Libel reports that she was at first a Player a common Strumpet the most infamous Prostitute of the City 't is as probably true as the other tale of her being a Witch and having carnal copulation with the Devil And it is very likely that so wise a Prince should take a Woman of such publick infamy into his Bed and his Bosom but if he did it is much more so that when the thing was so universally known in the whole Empire and out of it too for such Reports stop no where that yet not any the least footsteps of it should appear in any Writer either of the same or the adjoyning Ages There were at that time several Historians that lived out of the Dominions of Justinian as Jornandes Cassiodorus Paulus Diaconus who might have spoke out with freedom and without danger and yet they are altogether silent There were many angry and disobliged Writers as all the Africans who suffer'd in the Cause of the tria capitula and their African Blood would have been tempted at least to make some remote Reflections upon a thing so foul and foolish Evagrius did not write till the Justinian Family was extinct and it
any Mans reputation such a River over-flowed and at such a time it thundred who can we think was the cause of it but the Emperoâ— and his evil Genius O Aâ—emannus that thou shouldest satisfie thy self with such a Wretch as this Is this stuff to put into an inditement can you think to beat down the Emperors towring reputation by such Tales as these you had been much better advised when you first found your Vatican Manuscript instead of publishing it to the World with so much satisfaction of Revenge upon the Emperor to have buried it in some secret Corner where it should never have been discover'd for now you have only brought down reproach and disgrace upon your own head by opposing such a barbarous Pamphlet to the Glory of all his Actions and have withal provoked more ingenuous Men to revive the Memory of his great Name and make the unparallel'd Actions of his Reign though 1100 years old shine as bright and look as fresh as if they had been the Wonders and mighty Works of our own Age. But however if the Emperor had an ill Genius to bring these Miseries upon the World I am sure he had a good one too to make amends and what breaches the one made upon any part of the Empire the other repair'd and left it not in the power of the bad Genius of any of his Successors to commit the same Riots again As the Barbarian might have learnt from the Books de Aedificiis had he been duely acquainted with Procopius his genuine Writings But in the next place from Prodigies this Grub-street Historiographer descends to Dreams Once upon a time a certain Gentleman thought he saw in his sleep the Emperor standing in the middle of the Sea and that he drank it all dry and then the Rivers and then the Kennels and Common-Shoars and yet was not satisfied and then the Gentleman awaked Did he so But was the Author awake when he writ this Story and Alemannus when he publish't it to the World to deter as the Preface declares Tyrants in after-Ages from imitating Justinian's wicked Actions when they see how their own Wickedness will be displayed to Posterity This dream I doubt will be of very little use to that purpose But he set up Monopolies What then some Monopolies are beneficial to the Publick and therefore if our Author would have made a serious Accusation of it he ought to have shewed in what Particulars to monopolize Commodities of common use and necessary to the life of Man is a great Oppression upon the People and brings them into the Estate of the hungry Egyptians under Pharaoh's Monoply of Corn. But when it is limited to things of Pleasure and Luxury it is a confinement to Mens Vices and gives check to their Follies This Author gives but one Instance of his Complaint and that is in the Merchandise of Silks the Emperor imposing it upon the Company of Persian and Tyrian Merchants not to vend them but upon a certain high price upon Penalty of Proscription of Goods This was a Law highly useful to the Common-Wealth for it not only cured the meaner sort of People of their silken Vanity but it stopt a great Revenue that went annually out of the Empire into the Enemies Country i. e. the Persians And to prevent that Mischief for the time to come he sent certain Monks into India to discover the Mystery of Silks who return'd loaden with a whole Cargo of Silk-Worms Eggs and by that means he set up that Manufacture within the Empire it self but how it was establisht we no where read But he set up two new Officers in the City because the old Magistrates were not enough to execute his Rapine and Cruelty One was call'd the Praetor of the People to prevent Fires and punish Burglaries the other Quaestor to make inquiry after Sodomy Adulteries and false Religions What then were not these useful Offices in the Common-Wealth If they were what malice is it in this Author to impute the design of their Institution meerly to Rapine But still his Ignorance keeps pace with his Malice for the Praetor was no new Office but as ancient as Augustus and by him stiled Praefect of the Watch but Justinian will have him go by the name of Praetor because that was the most honorable Title for all Offices among the ancient Romans and this Restitution of that old Word this ignorant Writer every where mistakes for the institution of a new Office But as for the other Office of Questor for punishing the Vices mention'd it is but another fair cast of his ignorance for there is no such thing extant in the whole body of the Imperial Law nor any where else There was indeed the Office of a Quaestor to find out lazy People that would follow no Imployment and force them to work This Office this barbarous Scribler ignorantly ascribes to the fore mention'd Vices so utterly unacquainted is he with the true State of Affairs at that time But he put unfit Men into that great trust of City Quaestor to the great oppression of his Subjects as Tribonian Junilus and Constantinus But of his great care in the choice of his Officers we have discoursed above and if among so great a number of good ones some few proved corrupt that is a Misfortune not to be avoided in this World Though this is all Tale for Tribonian was admired for all his Vertues and good Qualities only he loved Money too well Junilus is a Man never heard of but in this Author and it is likely that he should be in so great an Office as this seven years and never be so much as mention'd in any Record no not in one Imperial Rescript To him succeeds Constantinus a very young Man not yet so much as call'd to the Bar. But this out-bids all the rest For Constantinus was Secretary of State and one of the Commissioners for compiling the Code in the third year of Justinian whereas Tribonian injoyed the Prefects Office many years to his dying day which Alemannus computes to be in the 21 st year of that Reign to him succeeds Junilus who injoys the Office seven years now if Constantinus who followed both were so young a Man that he was not of age to practise the Law I would only know of the unlearned Author and his learned Commentator of what Age he might be in the third year of Justinian when he was Secretary of State and so eminent for his Skill in the Law that he was made one of the Commissioners for its Reformation But beside the old Revenue of the Crown he imposed a new heavy Tax commonly call'd the Aerial Tribute as if it dropt out of the Air coming neither from Law nor Custom this was collected by the Praefecti Praetorio and that they might squeeze his Subjects to purpose he put the worst Men into that Office and when they had enricht themselves by oppression he siezed all