in the Church about the Episcopal Office did thereupon constitute Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the future ordered the Rule of Succession for them that when they themselves or the Bishops constituted by them should happen to dye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other Persons of approved worth might be substituted in their places Irenaeus confirms the same for says he habemus annumer are eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis Successores eorum we can name the very Men whom the Apostles Lib. 3. cap. 3. Basil 1528. made Bishops in several Churches and the Successors of them down to our selveâ— giving us thereby to know that the Office of Episcopacy was as truly of diâ—ine Institution as the Apostolate itself 4. And as there must be one Bishop to head and unite the several Christians into one so if primitive Institution and Practice may umpire in the case there ought to be but one single Bishop in one single Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is saith Ignatius but one Flesh of our Lord Ep. ad Philadelph cap. 4. and Saviour Jesus Christ one Bloud of his shed for us all one Bread broken to us one Cup distributed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but one Altar to a Church and one Bishop Deus unus Christus unus There is saith St. Cyprian but one God one Christ one Church one Chair Ep. 43. founded by our Lord another Altar besides that one Altar and Priesthood cannot be erected And again Christ warneth and teacheth us in his De unitat Eccles Gospel saying there shall be one Flock and one Sheepherd and can any man think aut multos Pastores aut multos greges there can be in one place either many Sheepherds or many Flocks The Bees saith St. Jerome Ep. ad Rust Mon. Edit Basil 1565. have their King the Cranes fly after one there is one Emperour one Judge of a Province singuli Ecclesiarum Episcopi one single Bishop to one single Church Were there many Bishops of one City saith St. Hom. 1 in Ep. ad Philip. Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by no means God saith St. Ambrose singulis Ecclesiis singulos Episcopos hath determined to 1 Cor. 12. every Church one proper Bishop It cannot be saith Theodoret that many Bishops should be at one and the same time Pastors of one and the same Church In 1 cap. ad Philip. Thus it was carefully provided against by the Fathers of the first Nicene Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That two Bishops should not be Can. 8. placed in one and the same City The like determination was made in the Council of Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That no Bishop should be constituted in a Church where one that is alive and had not voluntarily resigned is presiding And so it was also decreed by the fifth Aurelian Council Nulli viventi Episcopo Can. 5. alius superponatur aut superordinetur Episcopus That no Bishop be ordained or placed over the Head of another whilst that other is living The like in the Cabilon Council ut duo in una Civitate penitus in uno tempore nec Can. 4. ordinentur nec habeantur Episcopi That two Bishops are not to be ordained and placed together in one and the same City at one and the same time To this Custome and particularly to the aforesaid Canon of the Nicene Council Pope Innocent had respect when writing to the Clergy of Constantinople he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 8. c. 26. Edit Col. Allobr We never knew any such thing to be acted by our Forefathers but rather forbad that any should have power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to ordain another into the Place of one that is living 5. And this of one Bishop and but of one Bishop in a place was a Rule so generally known and so universally received in those early days of Christianity that Cornelius upbraids Novatus that Father of Puritanes and pretending Gospeller as he calls him for being ignorant of it Euseb lib. 6. cap. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that but one Bishop ought to be in one Catholick Church As if it had been a Rule as necessary to be known and practiced for the well governing of the Church and for keeping it in lasting Peace and Unity as any one Canon throughout the Scriptures besides And therefore St. Augustin though it was his fortune to be ordained Bishop of Hippo whilst Valerius lived would by no means suffer Eradius and perhaps he at that time needed a Coadjutor no less than Valerius did to be superordained upon him because he then knew it to be an Act uncanonical his Words are these Scio quod scitis vos I full Ep. 166. Edit Paris 1531. well know what ye also know that Eradius is a deserving Man and every way qualified to be made a Bishop sed nolo de illo fieri quod de me factum est but I would not have that done to him which was done to me adhuc enim in corpore posito for I was made a Bishop with him whilst he was living and sate with him in the same See quod ergo reprehendum est in me nolo reprehendi in filio meo what therefore was reprovable in me I will not have to be blamed in Eradius my Son erit Presbyter ut est quando Deus voluerit facturus Epâ—scopus he shall continue a Presbyter in the station he is and when God wiâ—â— by taking me away he shall be a Bishop Whence we may observe 1. That he looked upon his being consecrated Bishop whilst Valerius his Father and Predecessor lived to be an act reprehensible in him and altogether uncanonical 2. That afterwards knowing the Canon he would not act contrary to it by having Eradius superordained upon him though his declining Age needed it and both Clergy and People desired it 3. That it was done at the Request of the Bishop of the Place with the approbation of the Primate of the Province and as Possidonius relates the matter non tam succedere quam Consacerdos accedere not to dethrone the former as now a days it s done but De vitâ Aâ—gust cap. 8. to come into the Copartnership of the Bishoprick with him and thereby to assist in his old Age that the Affairs of the Church might not be suffered to run to Ruine by reason of his Infirmities and Inabilities The onely Case perhaps wherein two Bishops may be allowed in one Church yea and not then neither as Gratian makes out the Matter unless the infirm one particularly requests it the Church rather chusing to Caus 7. q. 1. cap. 11. bear the Infirmity of oâ—d Age in a Biâ—hop than to force an Assistant upon him lest thereby Opposition should arise betwixt them Now the Reason of all this was to prevent the Mischief of Schism
it being impossible to have two opposite Bishops in a Church without disturbing the Order and destroving the Vnity thereof For if there be two opposite Bishops there must be two opposite Altars and two opposite Communions each Bishop pretending aâ—ainst the other to be the true catholick and lawfull Bishop to which the Flock ought to adhere The first and true Bishop will doe what he can to keep the Flock from straying after the second and false one who usurps upon him and the Vsurper on the other hand will endeavour to the utmost to draw them after him and drain the Congregations of him over whom he usurps 7. Thus when that wicked and turbulent Novatianus the Author and Founder of the Schism was ordained Bp. of Rome over the head of Cornelius canonically placed there before He pretended to be the true and rightfull Bishop and to strengthen his own Interest would admit of none if formerly of Cornelius his Party to communicate with him unless they would first solemnly swear to become ever after his And therefore holding both their hands together with the bread in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist lib. 6. cap. 35. swear says he to me that you will never forsake me nor go back to Cornelius and so delivering the Bread the Communicant instead of answering Amen as the Custome was was forced to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will never return to him And as he was thus forward and active to begin a Schism at Rome so he was no less sedulous to propagate it abroad whereupon St. Cyprian his Contemporary reports it of him That Ep. 55. Antoniano though there were Bishops already regularly ordained and canonically constituted throughout all the Provinces and the several Cities thereof venerable for Age sound in Faith approved in Trials and Perfecutions yet he super eos creare alios Pseudoepiscopos ausus est was so presumptuous and daring as to create over them Bishops false-False-bishops of his own as if he were able by the discord he endeavoured to foment to over-run the Church of Christ and to tear in pieces its whole ecclesiastical Frame And indeed such footing it took that Socrates speaking of the Sect tells us that in the time of Boniface l. which was full an hundred and fifty Lib. 7. c. 30. Edit Col. Allobr years after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they mightily flourished at Rome enjoyed many Churches and had under them many great Congregations Sozomen speaking of them says That though other Sects were generally Lib. 2. cap. 30. short liv'd and soon decayed yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Novatians or they who had their rise from Novatus because their Bishops were for the most part good Men and they themselves held the Catholick Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were numerous at first and so continued to be 8. Such a Mischief arose by Meletius of Lycus in Egypt from whom the Meletian Faction took both its Name and Rise He quarrelling with Peter his Patriarch the Bp. of Alexandria for that he admitted the Lapsi being then both in Prison together and with them many other Bishops Ecclesiasticks and Confessors the same Quarrel that Novatianus fifty years before had with Cornelius took part against him which Peter perceiving and willing to try how the rest stood affected threw his Mantle cross the Prison crying out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that are for Epiph. ad Haeres lib. 2. T. 2 Haer. 68. me and my opinion let them come hither and they that are for Meletius let them go to him which being done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the company saith Epiphanius was divided and the greatest number of them Loc. cit cap. 3. went to Meletius and from thenceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they parted Companies and in acts of divine Worship kept their separate Assemblies Nay as soon as ever released out of Prison he where-ever he went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained Bishops Presbyters and Deacons of his own against the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons constituted before by Peter and thereupon erected Churches for his own Faction and so divided the Church that each Party refused to communicate with the other distinguishing their Assemblies as the aforesaid Author has it by an Inscription over their Church doors those who followed Peter taking to themselves the ancient name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Catholick Church and those who went after Meletius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church of Martyrs Nay though many of both sides were afterwards condemned to the Mines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they would not even there so much as communicate or pray together A breach of so ill consequence to the Church that being brought before the Nicene Fathers they disabled the Bishops which Meletius had made till confirmed by a more holy and warrantable Ordination and as for himself they confined him to his own City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 allowing him no power for the future to elect Socr. l. 1. c. 6. or to lay hands on any declaring him to be such an Offender in the Case that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the rigour of Justice he deserved no Favour at all 9. Such another Schism was that in Affrica begun at Carthage by Majorinus his being made Bishop there whilst Caecilian the preordained Bishop Advers Parm. lib. 1. p. 19. Aug contra Parm. lib. 1. cap. 3. Paris 1679. was living The Promoters were few as Optatus observes two baffled Competitors two or three sacrilegious Church-robbers potens factiosa Mulier a rich factious and exasperated Woman The Abetters not many more among whom Donatus who gave name to the Faction all Traditors and so uncapable of ordaining others or continuing in their own Orders But though so despicable Infects at first yet Cyp. Ep. 65. no sooner embodied and winged but like the Locusts in the Revelations they soon overspread and covered the Land filled all the Territories and places thereof insomuch that in their Council at Bagaia you shall Aug. cont Ep. Parm. l. 1. c. 4 Edit Paris 1531. Cont. Parm. lib. 1. p. 22. find no less than three hundred and odd Bishops of their brood Nay so numerous that whereas formerly men were accustomed to blush and be ashamed of their Actions there were none at that time saith Optatus to do it quia praeter paucos Catholicos peccaverunt universi forasmuch as all were become Sinners and all a few Catholicks excepted Apostates from the Vnity of the Church A Schism that lasted near an hundred years Aug. lib. 3. cont Julianum and might have continued much longer in the Church had not the pars Donati upon the death of Parmenian their Bishop put two new ones Primianus and Maximianus together in the Chair at once of whom Saint Augustine makes this Remark that for any Worth or Excellency in them Ep. 162. other than to head a Faction Maximianus might have been Minimianus and Primianus might
si non poterat deponi tolerandus intra rete if Cacilian had been a Traditor or done any thing else against the Canons meritting a Deposition he ought to have been deposed before another Bishop had been put upon him but if he were guilty of no such thing he ought to have continued sole Bishop there non judices consederunt non Sacerdotes de more There were no Bishops as usual it was to hear and judge the matter no Accusers no Witnesses no Libel whereby his crime might have been made out but instead thereof furor dolus tumultus qui regnant in falsitate nothing but Fury Fraud Tumult which ever rule in a bad cause Now-a-days saith Pope Innocent in reference to St. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozom. lib. 8. cap. 26. The innocent Bishops in a very preposterous manner are thrust out of their Churches for others to be put into their places having neither their crimes heard nor they so much as summoned to desend themselves A proceeding so novel and unjust that we never knew it practised by our fore-Fathers but rather forbad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as much as he cannot be a Bishop that is put over another unless he be deposed by due process of Law And so it was determined by the Fathers in the Constantinopolitan Council We hold it necessary say they for the avoiding of contentions and In Temp. Soph. Can. 16. tumults in the Church to decree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That none be made a Bishop in a Church where another presides and retains his Honour for though he may be every way faulty and justly deserve deposing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet after all his Cause ought first to be heard and his Crimes throughly examined and if upon that he be deposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then may another though he do survive be ordained and placed in his Chair But to pass Judgment against any without citing or hearing the Party accused is a procedure saith St. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Pallad de vita Chrys p. 22. Precedent and contrary to Law and Canon never practised either by the Heathens or Barbarians in their Judicatories 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay the very Scythians and Sarmatans the most uncivilized Nations of all never were so unjust cruel or unreasonable 24. Now the Judgment of these matters in the more early and purer days of Christianity was altogether referred to Episcopal Audience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apos 74. We hold it necessary saith the Canon That Bishops should be conven'd and judg'd by Bishops and so the Carthaginian Fathers decree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blast Synt. tit Δ in Can. 12. ex Edit Bevereg That the faults of Bishops be discussed and determined by a Synod of Bishops or if a full Synod cannot be had in time and it appear necessary that the Criminal be try'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that then his Cause be referred to twelve of them at least And so far did this Canon prevail that because John Bishop of Amathus was deposed by fewer his Deposition was declared as Balsamon relates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be invalid and void And for this end that matters arising and Controversies between Party and In praed Can. ex Edit Bevereg Party depending might timely be decided it was farther provided by the first Canons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That yearly Can. Apos 37. Con. Nic. 5. Ant. 20. twice in a year such Episcopal Synods should be held afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason of the great fatigue expences and dangers they were put unto by their journeys that they should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once in the year Can. 6 8 7 6. 25 Neither did the Emperors by becoming Christians alter the case for either they left the Judgment wholly to the Bishops as was formerly done or if they interposed it was ever in conjunction with them taking their advice and oftentimes their directions from them Thus when the Donatists petitioned Constantine the Great to grant them an hearing of the case between them and the Caecilianists he quia non est ausus de causa Episcopi judicare because he did not think it proper for him to sit Aug. Ep. 166. Judge over Bishops in Episcopal matters sent them to Melchiades Bishop of Rome and to three other Bishops from France Rheticius Marinus and Maternus to be judged by them But no ways satisfied with their judgment they desire a farther hearing whereupon he omnino cupienâ— tantam impudentiam cohibere willing to restrain and suppress so great an Aâ—â— Ep. 162. insolency dedit aliud Arelatense Concilium granted them another Synod at Arles adding that it was not for him ut de judicio Episcoporum qui Romae sederunt ipse judicaret to judge of the judgment passed by the Bishops at Rome But not yet contented because condemned as before they appeal to Constantine himself ut causam Constantinus audiret that he would be pleased to take the judgment upon himself and in some measure he did but as Bishop Parker observes it was not to judge but to Rel. and Royal. Part 1 p. 299. expose the Schismaticks or to suffer them to expose themselves For that he would not meddle with the business at all till he had the discovery of Ignatius his forgery in his pocket to confound them with And St. Austin by his charitable wish seems to insinuate something like it Vtinam ut eis ipse cessit ut de causa Episcopos judicaret would to God saith he he had accepted their Appeal and had judged the matter after the Bishops Ep. 162. à sanctis Episcopis veniam petiturus though he had excused himself afterwards for his so doing An undertaking that he ever declined and protested against quoties à me improbissimis additionibus suis sunt condigna responsione oppressi How often saith he have they been repulsed by me Coâ—st Ep. Cath. in t gest purgationis vid. Optat. Which if they would but have considered they would never have desired me to be their Judge I say and I say the truth Sacerdotum judicium ita debet haberi the judgment of Bishops ought as much to be regarded and followed as if Christ himself had sat in judgment with them neither was this the opinion of Constantine only but of all his Christian Successors I shall instance in Valentinian only though the same may be verified of Constantius Valentinian the younger Theodosius Gratian Arcadius Honorius Justinian Martian c. he was saith Sozomen a very Orthodox Hist lib. c. 20. and devout Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would not suffer any thing to be innovated nor imposed upon the Bishops that was any ways contradictory to the Laws and Canons of the Church One of his Edicts as it is given us by St. Ambrose runs thus In causa fidei vel Ecclesiastici
to be alike but till then I must be allowed to cry out O Tempora O Mores and with the Poet conclude that Aetas Parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nequiores mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem Carm. Hor. L. 3. Od. 6. 50. I am sensible that there are two grand Mistakes in the World which minister to and hasten on these fatal Proceedings Some think there is no such thing as Schism others that though there be such a thing yet an Act of Parliament will authorize the Fact and justifie all insomuch that through the Midwifery of a Vote or two of theirs God's Altar may be turn'd or overturn'd Aaron and his Priests deposed or forced to comply and a new Erection like that of Jeroboam's though of the worst of Men made as sacred and divine as if it were done by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Voice from Heaven And from thenceforth if the Man of God happen as his Duty binds him to oppose or gainsay their Sanctions so as their Mightinesses become disobliged though he be sent of God as Aaron was though he ruleth well and laboureth in Word and Doctrine nay though he be doing the Will and Work of his Master yet a travelling Staff and a pair of ill clouted Shoes must pass for his double Reward But how contrary this is to Practice hath already been shewn and how diametrically opposite to the genuine Constitutions of this Church and State comes now to be demonstrated 51. Populus de Republica non de Ecclesia in Parliamentis antiquitus tractare consuevit Anciently saith the Author of Antiquitates Britannicae the People never meddled with Matters of religious Concern in their Parliaments De vit Cran. p. 339. but onely with Matters purely relating to the State Nay I find by the very Act of Submission it self which was in the Year 1530. That it was customary till then for the Clergy by virtue of the Authority they had in themselves without any Ratification or Confirmation from King or Parliament to make Canons declare Heresies convict and censure Criminals and to decree and do all other Matters as seemed good to them in relation to the Church and Clergy A Power thought too great to be in the hands of the Clergy whereupon saith Heylin The House of Commons aggrieved at the inequality and supereminency of the Power Ref. just part 1. S. 1. remonstrated and complained to the King that the Clergy should be permitted to act Authoritatively and Supremely in the Convocation and they in Parliament do nothing but as it was confirmed and ratified by the Royal Assent This in all probability hastened on the Submission for the Clergy soon after being met in Convocation as it is recorded in the aforesaid Book of Antiquities promised the King in verbo sacerdotis ne ullas deinceps De Vit. Warh in Synodo ferrent Ecclesiasticas leges that they would not henceforth enact or execute any Constitutions or Canons in their Synods or Convocations unless the King should cause their assembling and by his Royal Assent approve and confirm their Canons But then this only levels them with and not puts them under the Parliament it leaves indeed their Decrees and Sanctions to them to be farther guarded and secured by the addition of their civil Penalties and Inflictions but no ways subjects them to them in reference to the Validity Authenticalness or prior Establishment of them And this the learned Heylin hath elaborately and fully made out as to the two first Reigns both in reference to the points of Doctrine that were reformed and to the forms of Worship that were then enjoyned in his Book entitled The way of the Reformation of the Church of England declared and justified to whom for your farther satisfaction I refer you and the Reader 52. But not content to bring them down to their own level their next design and work was to bring them under and of this the aforementioned Antiquary complains Ecclesiasticarum legum potestate abdicata populus in Parliamento cepit de rebus divinis inconsulto Clero sancire the Submission says he being made the People in their Parliament as if the In vitâ Cranm p. 339. Submission had been made to them began to usurp upon the Church's Right and without ever consulting the Clergy to debate and agree such things as formerly were held peculiarly to the Clergy only But these saith Heylin were only tentamenta offers and undertakings only and Lib. p. cit no more And that they were so and no better nor otherwise approved of during the whole Reign of Q. Elizabeth under whom the Reformation received its full and perfect establishment will sufficiently be evidenced from the Journals of the Paliaments in her days handed down to us by Sir Simon D'Ewes And I shall give them in the order they lye in When a Bill was presented to the House of Commons for Reformation of the Common Prayer Book it was agreed upon by them that a Petition Ann. 13. p. 167. should be made to her Majesty for her License to proceed in the Bill before it be farther dealt in and to do otherwise saith the Treasure is to Page 166. meddle with matters of her Prerogative and as the Comptroller phrased it to run before the Ball. Mr. Strickland having pressed very earnestly the Reformation of the Book Page 176. of Common-Prayer and other Ceremonies was called before her Majesty's Council and commanded to forbear coming to the said House and when Page 130. the said Articles of Religion were afterwards presented to her she answered That she would have them executed by the Bishops by direction of her Highness's Regal Authority of Supremacy of the Church of England and not to have the same dealt in by the Parliament The Lord Keeper in his Speech to the Parliament by her Majesty's Command Ann. 14. p. 193. thus utters himself Because the proceedings of matters in Discipline and Doctrine do chiefly concern my Lords the Bishops both for their Understanding and Ecclesiastical Function therefore the Queens Highness looketh that they being called together in Parliament should take the chifest care to confer and consult of these matters and if in their conference they find it behoofull to have any Temporal Acts made for the amending and reforming of any of these lacks that then they will exhibit it here in Parliament to be considered upon and so gladius gladium juvabit as before time hath been used The Speaker declared to the House of Commons That it was her Majesty's pleasure That from henceforth no Bills concerning Religion shall be Page 213. preferred or received into this House unless the same should be first considered and liked by the Clergy Upon the presenting the Petition concerning the Reformation of the Discipline of the Church her Highness answered That her Majesty before Ann. 18. p. 257. the Parliament had a care to provide in that case of her own
said when he gave the Advice and upon that account as much to be presumed to be knowing to the Intent and Design of the Advice and Adviser as either Mr. Hody or his Prefacer can be presumed to be Secondly Neither was this the Humour of the People onely but of the Bishops as well as of them Hence Atticus Successor to Arsacius in the Usurpation Chrysostom being still alive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perceiving as Palladius relates the matter that De vit Chrys p. 95. none of the oriental Bishops would communicate with him and that the very People of the City where he was rejected his Communion procured the like Prescript of Severity as Arsacius his Predecessor had done before Id. p. 26. him which was either to communicate with him or to be deposed from their Bishopricks and to have their Estates and Goods confiscated But how little this Edict prevailed the Issue and Event thereof will shew Some of them saith Palladius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for continuing their P. 193 194. Communion with John were imprisoned and there dyed some were sent into Banishment of whom Palladius to whom the Advice was given was P. 66. one some of them were beaten and some slain Nay notwithstanding all the Severities that these Edicts occasioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meetings of those that were Lovers of Chrysostom or rather of those that were Lovers of God were not at all lessoned but as it is written saith he in Exodus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 86. the more they slew the more they grew And certainly if these or any other of the Bishops to whom St. Chrysostom gave the Advice had thought that he had designed it should have took place before his Death or that it had been fitting it should they would never have lost their Bishopricks run such hazards or undergone such Difficulties for him Thirdly And that this and no other was the meaning of the Advice will appear from the Advisers own Behaviour in the case for being demanded De vit Chrys p. 81. by the Emperour to leave his Church Palladius tells us that he refused to do it answering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I received this Church from Christ to take care of the Souls thereunto belonging and I must not relinquish it but the Care of the City is yours and if I must be gone force me thence by your Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may have some Excuse at least from being absent from my Station Nay when driven away so far was he from seeming to have given up and from blaming others who adhered to him that writing to the Bishops and Clergy at Chalcedon who for his sake were there imprisoned he commends them for their undaunted Behaviour in their Sufferings and Chrys Ep. 174. encourages them to be constant and under all to concern themselves for the Good of the Church and for the allaying that Storm that was risen in it telling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that though their Care and Study might want Success it would not want its Reward at the hand of God And in another to them he not onely commends them but their Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you says he for adhering to the Ep. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 4. p. 186. Laws and Constitutions of the Fathers which others invade and contaminate are made to suffer these things The like Letters he wrote to the Bishops sent from the West to procure a Synod for the further hearing more righteous determining his Cause with all Thankfulness acknowledging their Id. Ep. 157. c. pious Care and generous Charity for undertaking so tedious and dangerous a Voyage upon his Account The like also he wrote to the Bishops and Presbyters that attended them in their Journey the like to many other Bishops Id. Ep. 161 165 166. by name to all the Bishops throughout Macedonia thanking them all and every one in particular for the mighty Care and Compassion they had for him and telling them that not only he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 149 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all the Bishops throughout the East together with the Clergy and Laity of the several Cities thereof were mightily transported with their stout Behaviour in reference to him and the Church's Concerns the like Letter of Thanks he sent to Innocent Bp. of Rome one of the last saith Dr. Cave that ever he wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus englished by the aforesaid Dr. Cave We cannot thank you enough for Vit. Chrys p. 522. Chrys Tom. 4. p. 684. that Kindness and Compassion you have shewed us beyond the tenderest Bowels of a Father for what in you lies you have taken care that all things be duly performed and rectified and run in a proper Chanel and neither the Laws be subjected to Contempt and Force nor the Constitutions of the ancient Fathers violated And though some have hindred your Designs from taking any effect that they now seem incurably disordered and uncapable of a Reformation yet I beseech you still endeavour to reclaimt hem and not give the Affair over in Despair considering of what mighty Importance it would be to bring it to an happy Issue and indeed in some measure the whole World is interessed and concerned in this Matter The Churches are wasted and brought low the People dispersed the Clergy subdued and trampled on the Bishops banished and the Ecclesiastical Canons trodden down Once therefore and again I beseech you to use your utmost Care and Diligence and the greater the Storm is let your Study and Endeavour be so much the more This methinks doth not look as if he had relinquished his Bishoprick or that he ever designed whilst living to give place to another nay I am apt to think that if he would have relinquished as Mr. Hody and his Prefacer would have him to have done he needed not to have been banished or sent out of the way for another to be put in 4. Nay I cannot find but that the foreign Bishops were as deeply concerned for his return and restauration to his Bishoprick as either himself or any of his own Bishops and Clergy were not regarding his advice or at least not thinking it sit or that ever it was designed to take place till he was dead and gone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the design of the Roman Church as it is in Palladius was not to commâ—â—icate p. 214 215. with the Oriental Bishops and more especially with Theophilus the Author of these Mischiefs till God should please to give place to an Oecumenic Council that the sores and wounds which are made in the Church might be healed for though John should sleep yet truth for which in quisition ought ever to be made will awake And I would says he faiâ— know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where is the Priesthood for the present to be found where Religion Nay where common
Vnity of Priesthood Necessary to the Unity of Communion in a CHURCH With some REFLECTIONS ON THE OXFORD MANVSCRIPT And the PREFACE annexed ALSO Collection of CANONS part of the â—â—id MANUSCRIPT faithfully tranâ—ated into English from the Original but concealed by Mr. Hody and his Prefacer LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCII THE CONTENTS 1. UNdertaken at the News of the new Bishops 2. Plurality of Bishops as fatal as plurality of Kings 3. The Church founded on Bishops 4. But one Bishop in a Church 5. A Rule generally known and practised .. 6. More makes a Schism 7. Novatianus at Rome did so 8. So did Meletius at Lycopolis in Egypt 9. Majorinus at Carthage and others elsewhere 10. Unity of Priesthood under the old Law 11. The second Bishop makes the Schism 12. His Ordination null 13. His Person and Office censured 14. Not sufficient to be of the same Faith with the first 15. Though an Assertor of and Sufferer for it 16. Is rejected by all 17. The Bishops renounce Communion with him 18. The Laity his Presidency 19. The Compliers guilty 20. The Ordainers worst of all 21. A Digression touching the Oath of Canonical Obedience 22. The Schism aggravated 23. Through the unjust Deprivation of the Bishops as contrary 24. To the Primitive Canons 25. To the Proceedings and Rescripts of Christian Emperours 26. To the Methods of England Saxon or Norman 27. Not innovated by the Reformation 28. State Deprivation a novel and wicked Invention 29. Through the Primate's being one of these Bishops without whom 30. Nothing is to be done in the Church 31. No Ordination counted valid 32. The Case of Abiathar considered 33. As to the being of two High Priests at once 34. As to his Deposition by Solomon 35. Regal Depositions fatal to the Church 36. They proved so to the Jewish 37. They proved so to the Greek 38. An Apology for both 39. The Case of the deprived Bishops not the same 40. With those in K. Edward the Vâ—th 's days as touching 41. Their Investitures 42. Their Crimes 43. The Manner of their Deprivations 44. Nor with those in Q. Elizabeth 's days 45. Preliminary Observations respecting the same 46. The number of the deprived 47. Their Titles faulty 48. Their Crimes inexcusable 49. The Authority unexceptionable 50. The Parliament cannot authenticate Schism 51. No Act of Submission to them 52. Ecclesiastical Matters out of their Sphere 53. Neâ—er more unhappy than when meddling in them 54. The Necessity of the present Separation evinced 55. Mr. Hody and his Prefacer detected and confuted Vnity of Priesthood Necessary to the Unity of Communion in a Church SIR 1. OF all the Ill News you have sent me since the beginning of the late Revolution none sits so close upon me nor hath created such deep Thoughts of Heart within me as the News of a new Primate and a new Bishop the old ones being living and neither canonically heard nor judicially deprived A Project utterly dissonant to all primitive Practice to the antient Constitutions and Canons of the Church and which if not timely compromised must necessarily beget and perhaps unavoidably propagate a lasting Schism among us ad natos natorum qui nascuntur ab ipsis 2. The antient Cry was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one God one Theodor. lib. 2. cap. 17. Hom. Iâ—id lib. 2. Christ one Bishop answerab le to that of the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let there be but one King one Supreme intimating that it will be as fatal to the Church to have Bishop against Bishop as for the State to have opposite Kings The one ever fills a Nation with Bloodshed and Devastation the other the Church with Faction and Sedition The former ruines the Peace and disturbs the Quiet of the Common-wealth disposing it to most certain Anarchy and Confusion the other ever confounds the Unity and Concord of Christians till it turns the House of God into a Den of Thieves and of a Bethel makes it a Bethaven And if by either of these means we come once to be unsettled and to have our corner Stone displaced we mâ—y soon expect that Saying of our Saviour to be verified among us that an House divided against it self cannot stand Mark 3. 25. 1 Cor. 3. 4. This was the fate and sad condition of the Church of Corinth some were foâ— Paul others for Apollos and others again for Cephas which at length caused sâ—ch a Division among them that had not the Apostle come in 1 Cor. 4. 21. with his superintending Authority the Church it self had probably been overlaid and stifled in its Infancy 3. There might indeed be many subordinate Ministers and Assistants in a Church some â—or bringing in new Converts some for perfecting the oâ—d ones all for the Work of the Ministery and for the edifying of the Body of Christ Cornelius Bp. of Rome reckons up under him in his time no less than * Euseb Hist lib. 6. cap. 35. Edit Col. Allob. 1612. forty six Presbyters besides seven Deacons and many other ecclesiastical Officers Epiphanius tells us that at Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to every Church there was an appointed Haeres 68. S. 4. Presbyter but Bishop there could be but one to superintend and preside over the Church And therefore St. Cyprian tells us in his Epistle ad Florentium Puptanum That a Church is Pâ—ebs Sacerdoti adunata Pastori Ep. 66. suo grex adherens a People united to their Bishop and a Flock adhering to their Pastor and that Heresies and Schisms therefore arise quod Sacerdoti Ep. 59. Cornel. Edit Oxon. Dei non obtemperatur because the Bishop is disobeyed and not acknowledged to be the onely Bishop and the onely Judge for the time being under Christ in the Church Nay Ignatius makes this union between a Bishop and his People so absolutely and indefeasably necessary to a Church that he will not allow it to be a Church without it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without these says he Bishops and their Clergy there can be no Ad Fral c. 3. Church of God no Assembly of Saints no Congregation of Christians So doth the aforesaid St Cyprtan Scire debes Episcopum in Ecclesia esse Ep. 66. ad Flor. Ecclesiam in Episcopo you ought to know saith he that the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop and that he who is not with the Bishop is not in the Church And again at Ecclesia super Episcopos constituatur That the Church was to be founded upon Bishops divina lege fundatum Ep. 33. lapsis and was a Sanction at first by the divine Law and by the various Series of Time and successive Ordinations handed down to us A Sanction designed by Christ from the beginning for saith St. Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostles having beforehand fully learned Ep. ad Cor. 1. cap. 44. from Christ that there would arise a Contention
have been Postremianus However this Bishop upon Bishop so divided and subdivided the Party that it broke their Vnity and made as much Havock and Destruction in the Schismatical as it had done Id. Ep. 50. before in the Catholick Church Other Instances might be given and always producing the like effect as at Antioch when Paulinus was added Socr. l. 5. c. 2. to Meletius without his Consent at * Theâ—d sib 2. cap. 17. Rome when Foelix was put over the head of Liberius at †Sozom. l. 8. cap. 23. Constantinople when Arsacius invaded the Throne of St. Chrysostome In short Ambition Pride and Interest will never want a Bishop for any See or any Church Facite me Romanae urbis Episcopum make me but Primate or Metropolitane of Rome saith Praetextatus Hierom. ad Pameracb adv error Hierosol po 2. p. 165. that unbaptized Heathen and I will forthwith become a Christian and if once a Bishâ—p he will soon have his Altar and Party tho' assoon as ever he be in he by his Separation and Schism will put himself out of the Church again and turn as rank an Infidel perhaps as ever he was before 10 Now this Vnity of Priesthood and Altar was first commanded under the Law as the onely Preservative and Remedy against Schism in those days and therefore God to keep his People the Jews in one uniform way of Worship throughout the Land appointed but one Altar one Place of Sacrifice and one High Priest insomuch that to set up another High Priest against the High Priest already established though of the Seed of Aaron as in the case of Manasses against Jaddus or another Altar against the Altar of Jerusalem though built according to the Pattern of the other as in the case of Jeroboam was to multiply Sin as well as Priests and Altars because Ephraim as it is in Hosea hath made many Ch. 8. v. 11. Altars to Sin Altars shall be to him for a Sin Nay by this very Strategem it was that Jeroboam kept up the Rent and Schism which he had made between Judah and Benjamin and the other ten Tribes of Israel For saith he If this People go up to doe Sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem 1. Kings 12. 27. as of old then shall the heart of this People turn again unto their Lord even to Rehoboam the King of Judah Whereupon he made an House set up an Altar and thereunto consecrated Priests of his own an action so infamous and criminal that though God permitted him to keep the Kingdom to his dying day yet he would scarce suffer his Name ever after to be mentioned without an eternal Blot upon it this is that Son of Nebat which made Israel to sin Yea and so hatefull and provoking that for that very cause and that cause onely the Lord rejected all the 2 Kings 17. 20 21. Seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of Spoilers untill he had cast them out of his sight And to this St. Cyprian alludes when he would beat down the like Practices among Christians quam inseparabile Vnitatis Sacramentum how inseparable the band of Unity is and how without hope says he they pull down the wrath Cyp. Ep. 69. p. 182. Magno of God upon them who divide the Church and by casting off their own Bishops assume false ones to themselves they may sufficiently be admonished from the Scissure made in Israel by their making to themselves false Kings God never ceased plaguing them till he sent them away Captives and brought others into their room and without doubt tanta Indignatio adversus illos qui Schisma faciunt no less Calamity and Destruction will befall those who rend the Church and by setting up new Bishops of their own break the Unity of it 11. Thus far then it is plain and evident That in one Church or Diocess there can be but one Bishop at a time and that if more happen to be placed therein there will arise a Schism Let us then once more as the Prophet Jeremy adviseth ask for the old Paths and enquire for Ch. 6. v. 16. the old Way and we shall find it altogether as evident and plain that the first Bishop if canonically placed in the See was ever accounted the true and catholick and the second the false and schismatical Bishop and that the Church was ever adjuged to go along with those who by a lawfull Ordination were first set up in it and the Schism with those who were afterwards superinduced and clapt upon them Videndum est we are to observe saith Optatus who keeps Apostolical Succession and who deserts Ad. Parm. l. 1. p. 18. Edit Paris 1679. it quis Cathedram sederit alteram quae ante non fuit who sits in a Chair that none sate in before who it is that erects Altar against Altar quis Ordinationem fecerit salvo altero ordinato who ordains another when one was ordained before who it is that falls under the Apostle's Saying that many Antichrists should go forth because they were not of us And 1 John 2. 19. â—pâ— ad Parm. l. 2. p. 35 36. again We must be sure to observe qui prior Cathedra sederit who the first is that was placed in the Chair ut jam Schismaticus Peccator qui contra singularem Cathedram alteram collocaret for he is the Schismatick and Sinner who erects another Chair against that single Chair Hence was the Novatian Schism laid at the door of Novatianus Cornelius being in the Chair and first Bishop of the place Ecclesia una est the Church saith St. Cyprian is one and if it be with Cornelius who succeeded Fabian Ep 69. p. 181. Mag. and was first ordained Novatian cannot be in the Church neither is he to be accounted a Bishop thereof Evangelica Apostolica Traditione contempta for in as much as he contemns the Evangelical and Apostolical Tradition he succeeds none à scipso ortus but is self-begot and self raised Again Cornelins factus est Episcopus de Dei Christi ejus judicio Cornelius Ep. 55. p. 104. Antoniano is made Bishop according to the appointment of God and his Christ wherefore whosoever is made Bishop after him foris fiat must be without and not of the Church qui post unum qui solus esse debet he that is made Bishop after one which must needs be alone non jam secundus est ille sed nullus he is not a second but no Bishop at all The like was laid unto the Charge of Majorinus who was by a set of Traditors ordained over the head of Caecilian of Carthage Whereupon saith Optatus in Affrica sicut Advers Parm. l. 1. p. 17. in caeteris Provinciis una erat Ecclesia there was but one Church in Affrica as in all other Provinces till divided by the Ordainers of Majorinus For till then conferta
erat Ecclesia the Church was thronged with People the Page 21 22. Episcopal Chair crouded the Altar remained in its proper place whereat St. Cyprian Lucian and many other peaceable Bishops before had ministred but upon the unlawfull Ordination of Majorinus exitum est foras there was a going forth and Altar was set up against Altar And so manifestum est it is evident and clear exiisse de Ecclesia Ordinatores Majorinum qui ordinatus est that Majorinus and his Ordainers and not Caecilian and his Followers went out of the Church and made the Schism And therefore saith the same Optatus to Parmenian one of the Successors to Majorinus video te adhuc ignorare I perceive thou art still ignorant Lib. 1. p. 11. that the Schism was made first by your Leaders and Predecessors quare harum originem rerum look but into the first beginning of it and you will find that Caecilian did not go out from Majorinus but Majorinus from Caecilian neither did Caecilian break the Succession by departing from the Chair of St. Cyprian but Majorinus And since so it was it is evident vos Haeredes Traditorum Schismaticorum that You and Yours are the Offspring of Traditors and Schismaticks and not Caecilian and his Party 12. Nay so far did this Priority of Ordination upon a due and legitimate Succession prevail that it not onely null'd the Ordination of the super ordained but thrust both him and his Ordainers as well out of the Catholick whose Rules they had broke as out of the Particular Church whose Chair they had invaded Episcopatum tenere non posset etiamsi Episcopus Ep. 55. p. 112. Antoniano prius factus He cannot saith St. Cyprian hold a Bishoprick though he really a Bishop himself whosoever separates from the Unity of his Fellow Bishops and thereby divides the Church for in so separating he makes a Defection and can no longer retain nec Episcopi Potestatem nec Honorem either the Power or the Honour of a Bishop And again Christ Ep. 69. p. 182. Magno saith he insinuating to us his desire of Unity farther adds There shall be one Flock and one Sheepherd and if one Flock quomodo potest gregi annumerare how can he be accounted to be of that Flock who is not one of it Aut Pastor haberi quomodo potest Or how can he be a Sheepherd there who whilst the true Sheepherd is alive succeeds none but is self-created and self set up a perfect Enemy to divine Unity not of the fold in asmuch as none dwell there but who live in Unity and Concord Nay if he must be an Heathen man and a Publican who neglecteth to hear the Church much more must they be so qui falsa Altaria illicita Sacerdotia who feign to themselves false Altars unlawful Priesthoods unhallowed Sacrifices corrupt and adulterous Titles 13. It would almost amaze a man in these loose times to hear what hard language the holy Fathers bestow upon these unholy Persons their Ordinations their Altars and their Oblations As for themselves they are described to be * Opt. l. â—2 Peccatores Schismatici †Cyp. Ep. 59. Adulteri Extranei ‡ Ibid. Pseudoepiscopi ‖ Ep. 69. Fidei Praevaricatores Ecclesiae Proditores Dominicae Pacis ac divine Vnitatis inimici nemini succedentes a seipso orti nulli Sinners Schismaticks Adulterers Outliers Mockbishops Falsifiers of the Faith Betrayers of the Church Enemies to divine Peace and Unity succeeding none from themselves proceeding and in reality no Bishops at all their Ordination * Cyp. de unit Eccl. contra Ordinationem Dei †Id. Ep. 4. 43. contra Dispositionem divinam ‡ Ep. 45. contra Sacramentum semel traditum divinae Dispositionis catholicae Vnitatis ‖ Ep. 55. contra Dei Traditionem ⸪ Ep. 46. Opt. lib. 2. contra ecclesiasticam Dispositionem contra evangelicam Pacem contra Institutionis catholicae Vnitatem contrary to divine Tradition and Appointment ecclesiastical Sanction evangelical Order catholick Institution and Unity Their Chair Cathedra Pestilentiae a Chair of Pestilence that first infects then kills and sends to Hell Their Altars * Cyp. Ep. 68 69. falsa prophana false and prophane Their Sacrifices †Ep. 68. sacrilega irreligiose illicite contra jus divinae Institutionis oblata sacrilegious unlawfull and affrontive of the divine Institution The Schism occasioned thereby ‖ Aug. Ep. 162. horrendum scelus ⸪ Cyp. de unit Eccles summum malum a most horrid Sin the chiefest of Crimes pejus quam quod admisisse lapsi worse than the Sins of those that fell by offering to Idols yea and of so deep a stain nec Sanguine abluitur that it is not to be washed out with the Blood of Martyrs neither will their unity of Faith or their being Confessors for it excuse them from so foul a Charge 14. In vain do they pretend to the same Religion to the same Symbol of Faith to the same Profession what if they continue the same way of Worship the same Mysteries the same Rituals and the very same Form of Ordination What if they be chosen by the Suffrage of the greatest part of the People accepted by the Majority of the Clergy consecrated by a sufficient number of Bishops Yet this all this will not attone much less expiate for the uncanonicalness of their superordination or for the irregularity and injustice of their Vsurpation Quod vero eundem quem nos what if they believe with us saith St. Cyprian concerning the Novatian Ep. 69. p. 183. Magno Schismaticks in the same God the Father in the same Son Christ Jesus and in the same Holy Ghost Nec hoc adjuvare tales potest yet even this will not profit such Prevaricators as they for Corah Dathan and Abiram worshiped one and the same God according to one and the same Religion and Law as Aaron the High Priest did tamen quia loci sui Ministerium yet because they were disatisfied with their own Station and would have usurped the Priesthood and laid aside Aaron necpotuerunt rata esse proficere Sacrificia their Sacrifices were abhorred and their Censor's made Memorials against them that no Stranger which is not of the Seed of Aaron should ever after presume to offer Incense to the Lord. Possumus nos dicere we can say saith Optatus to Parmenian and his Donatists Pares credimus We believe alike and are sealed with the L. 3. p. 78. L. 5. p. 99. same seal as you We are no otherwise Baptized than you no otherwise Ordained We read the same Scriptures say the same Prayers have the same Ecclesiastical Discipline the same Sacraments the same Mysteries sed scissura facta but there is a Scissure made by you and that is your fault and by you it must be amended and made up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing saith St.
Chrysostom divides the Church Hom. 2 in Ep. ad Eph. Edit Paris 1621. sooner than the love of Preheminence and nothing provokes God more than to have his Church divided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why do you therefore say there is still the same Faith and they are no less Orthodox than we But if so why are they not with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism and if they are right we are wrong but if we are right they are wrong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do you think it sufficient they are Orthodox whilst they overlook and pass by the right of Ordination its Priority and Order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we ought certainly as much and as earnestly to contend for the one as for the other And not without good reason too for if every one may be ordained and made a Bishop in the Church in vain was the Altar ercted the Congregation appropriated and the Priests limited every thing then must come to Ruine and Confusion 15. And to no more purpose is the Eminency of their Learning the Excellency of their Parts their stout Defence of their Religion or their Sufferings for it pleadable in the Case What if they have Wrote well Preached well Disputed well Suffered well been Banished Imprisoned Tormented What if they have Converted some Confirmed others and when the foundations of the Earth were shaken and the Ark of God tottering they were seemingly such that kept the one from being removed and the other from falling Quisquis ille est qualiscunque est Christianus non est qui in Ecclesia Christi non est whosoever Ep. 55. p. 112. Antoniano and how great soever he be saith St. Cyprian of Novatian if he be not in the Church a Christian he cannot be jactet se licet for though he prides himself never so much for his Rhetorick and Eloquence though like Saul he appear for his Piety and Parts taller by the head than the rest of his Brethren yet since he retains not Brotherly Charity and Ecclesiastical Vnity quod prius fucrat amisit what soever he was before he is now lost as to it all and become no better than Salt that hath lost his savour And thus the Apostle long before had decreed Though I speak saith he with the Tongue of Men 1 Cor. 13. 1 2 3. and Angels and have not Charity though I understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and have not Charity nay though I bestow my Goods upon the poor and give my Body to be burnt and have not Charity I am nay it profitteth me nothing Upon which words the aforesaid St. Cyprian thus discants Cum Deo manere non possunt they cannot be with God who hold not the Vnity of De Unit. Eccl. p. 114. his Church for though they suffer themselves to be thrown into the Flames though they expose their persons to Wild and Savage Beasts non erit illi fidei Corona sed poena perfidiae they shall receive the demerit of their perfidity and unfaithfulness but not the Crown due to their Faith occidi talis coronari non potest such an one may indeed be slain but he cannot be crowned Martyrdom is always within the Church esse Martyr Id. 113. non potest qui in Ecclesia non est Nay it may be Martydom to suffer rather than to divide the Church Hence Dionysius writing to Novatus Eusebii Hist l. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tells him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shouldest have suffered any thing rather than divide the Church Neither is that Martyrdom which is suffered for not divulging the Church of lâ—ss Glory than that which is suffered for not sacrificing to Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay in my opinion it is far greater For in the one Martyrdom is suffered for one Soul in the other for the Vniversal Church 16 Being thus far advanced and finding it no unprecented Case to have Bishops set over the head of Bishops it will be worth our pains to enquire how the Church resented thâ—m what Communion they held with them what Deference they paid them what Honour they gave them And I find 17. That the whole College of Bishops all the Christian World over that went not out with them ever rejected their Ordination would neither Communicate with nor be Communicated by them neither send to nor receive Letters encyclical from them Cum ad nos in Africam Legatos misisset when Novatianus that new made Bishop sent into Africa to us to be received into our Fellowship we saith St. Cyprian with the advices of many of our Colleagues returned him this answer se foris esse Ep. 68. p. 177. Stephano nec a quoquam nostrum sibi communicari that he was gone out from us and therefore could expect no longer to continue a Communion with us Neither did Maximus his Presbyter or Augendus his Deacon that first brought the news of his Ordination scape much better for illicitae contra Ecclesiam Catholicam factae Ordinationis pravitate commoti being provoked with the irregularity of the Ordination as being contrary Ep. 44. p. 85 86. Cornelio to the usuage of the Catholick Church we forbad them saith St. Cyprian our Communion and gave no other answer to their Embassy than that laying aside all dissension and strife they would consider what an Impiety it was to desert the Church their Mother and how Episcopo semel facto that after one Bishop was legally Constituted and Eustalled another could by no means be superinduced or put into the same Stall with him Damasus saith Optatus to Parmenian succeeded Liberius and Siricius Lib. 2. p. 36. who is at present our Colleague and fellow Bishop succeeded Damasus cum quo nobis totus orbis commercio formatarum in una Communionis Societate concerdat with whom as with us the whole Christian World by their Communicatory Letters continue in Society and Concord together a favour never afforded to the Donatists I own saith St. Augustine that Ep. 62. p. 140. I do write ad nonnullos Donatistarum primarios to certain of the chief Bishops and Leaders among the Donatists But it is to shew them their Errors privatas tantum qualibus vobis uti etiam ad Paganos licet however they are private Letters and such as are lawfull to send to Pagans non Communicatorias not Letters Communicatory quas jam olim propter suam perversitatem ab Vnitate Catholica quae toto orbe diffusa est non accipiunt which by reason of their long obstinacy and perverseness are denied them all the World over 18. And no more kind were the Laity to them for they remonstrated against their Election renounced their Precedency would have nothing to do with their Altars their Clergy or their Oblations nay such an abhorrency they had of them that they would into Banishment into Death rather than into Communion with them Hence we
find St. Ambrose in his Funeral Oration upon Satyrus his Brother approving and commending him for that he avoided the Luciferian Bishops their Churches and their Assemblies for though desirous of the Holy Sacrament non it a avidus fuit ut esset incautus he was not saith he so desirous of it as not to be Orat. in Fun. Frat. Tom. 3. p. 19. Edit Basil 1567. careful from whose hands he took it and therefore advocavit ad se Episcopum he calleth first the Bishop that was to administer it and asked him utrumnam cum Episcopis Catholicis conveniret whether he was one of those that were in Communion with the Catholick Bishops non enim putavit fidem esse in Schismate for he did not believe that a right Faith could be had in a wrong and Schismatical Profession No less a Zeal may be observed in those more Honourable Ladies and Worthy Matrons of Rome when Liberius their Bishop was banished and Felix put into his room they saith the Historian perceiving the lukewarmness or rather cowardice Theod. lib. 2. cap. 17. Edit Col. Allob. of their Husbands in the case dressed themselves as became their Quality went to the Emperor and besought him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he would take pity upon the City and restore to them their Bishop again or at least give them and others leave to follow him adding that though he had placed another over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that neither they nor any other of the Citizens would ever enter the Church whilst he was in it And thus it was when Arsacius was thrust into the See of Constantinople in the place of St. Chrysostom nay so averse were the Citizens to receive him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho' they met him in the Streets they would not so much as vouchsafe to salute Theod. lib. 5. cap 35. him Neither were they more complying when Atticus was put upon them in the room of Arsacius none of them would communicate with him Nay though an Edict was procured for the Expulsion and Confiscation of the Goods of all such Bishops for the Deprivation of all such publick Officers and for the Banishment of all such Artificers and Tradesmen that would not communicate with him yet none saith Palladius but the In vit Chrys c. 10. p. 95 96. Edit Lut. Par. 1680. poorer Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those that were weaker in the Faith went in unto them whereas the others despising the World and willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep themselves upright and their Consciences undefiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of them fled to Rome some of them to the Mountains and some to foreign Monasteries the People all the while that staid behind keeping up their Meetings in the open fields And thus it happened again at Rome in the time of the contention between Damasus and Vrsinus the tumult Lib. 4. c. 24. saith Socrates was great occasioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not about Faith or Heresie but whether of the two by right should be Bishop And here I pretend not to determine the Priority of Ordination to either and Praef. ad lib. precum Edit Oxon. 1678. yet I know that Marcellinus and Faustinus gives it to Vrsinus as well as Socrates and others to Damasus and perhaps if things were rightly weighed and duly examined Vrsinus that lost it might bid as fair for the Chair as Damasus that got and possessed it However the Vrsinians Loco citat buoyed up themselves with the precedency of a seven days Ordination would have nothing to do with the other Nay when Damasus had prevailed so far with the Emperor as to have Vrsinus banished and his Clergy imprisoned or sent after him so that none were left to officiate among them yet rather than go in to Damasus Populus timens Deum per coemiteria Martyrum stationes sine Clericis celebrabat the People that feared God more than the Emperor his Judges or the new made Bishop met at the Tombs of the Martyrs and held on their stations without them 19. Neither let the Apostatizing Clergy or the complying Laity who run along with those disorderly Bishops think that they for their so doing are under no Crime or deserve no Censure Abstinuimus communicatione Felicissimum Augendum item Repostum de extorribus Irenen Rutilorum Paulam Sarcinatricem Sophronium ipsum de extorribus Soliassum Budinarium We have saith Caldoâ—ius in a Letter to St. Cyprian Ep. 42. p. 81. according to your Order separated from our Communion Felicissimus and Augendus Repostus the Exile Irene the Radler Paula the Pedler as also Sophronius and with him Soliassus the Mulettor As for Felicissimus saith St. Cyprian he endeavours cum Episcopo portionem plebis dividere Ep. 41. Cyp. Cal. to share the People with his Bishop that is to divide the Sheep from the Shepherd and the Children from the Father and therefore decree him excommunicated As for Augendus nec Episcopum nec Ecclesiam cogitat he neither hath regard to his Bishop nor the Church but confederates and combines with the other and therefore let the same sentence pass upon him quisquis se conspirationi ejus adjuxerit and as for the rest that go on in the Faction with them let them also know that they are not to communicate with us in the same Church Now of these some were Clericks as Felicissimus and Angendus others Confessors as Repostus and Soliassus others common Christians as Irene Paula and perhaps Sophronius from whence we may justly infer that it is not the high Calling of the Clergy the meritorious sufferings of the Confessors the Simplicity and Plainness of the well-meaning Christian no nor the Trimming between both Parties flattering the one and holding Communion with the other whilst they herd with the Out-liers and be found in their Quarters that will excuse them from the foul guilt of Schism or the due Demerits of it The Confessors at Rome were very sensible of this videbamur quandam Communicationem cum Schismaticis haeretico homine habuisse We seemed say they to Cornelius to have held Communion Corn. ad Cyp. Ep. 45. with Novatian and his Schismatical followers for we frequented their Assemblies appeared amongst them in their Holy Offices of Religion sincera tamen mens nostra semper in Ecclesia fuit yet our Hearts and our Souls ever went along with the Church We knew there was but one God one Christ one Holy Spirit unum Episcopum in Catholica Ecclesia esse debere and that there ought to be but one Bishop in a Church However nos imposturam passi sumus we cannot but say we were imposed upon and do heartily pray ut abolerentur de memoria tollerentur that those things may be forgiven and forgotten and we received again into Communion with Cornelius our lawful Bishop Such there were that could run with the Hare and
hunt with the Hounds and such without doubt there will be amongst us my Prayer is that their number may be but small and like the before-mentioned Confessors they may soon see their Error and return 20. But of all the Sinners in the pack none more outrageously so than the Ordainers and their Complices those Bishops I mean that first dressed up the Ape set him in the Chair and bad God speed unto him Hence though Submission and Penance might reconcile the other Clergy yet nothing less than utter Deprivation and loss of their Sacerdotal Honour could attone for such Of the three Bishops saith Cornelius in his Synodical Epistle to Fabian that ordained Novatian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist lib. 6. cap. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of them repented and returned unto the Church and we received them into Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but no farther did we receive him than to the Communion of the Laity and as for the other two engaged with him in the Ordination we deposed them and ordained others in their room And so it faired with Trophimus one of those forward Bishops that received and congratulated Navatianus in his Election susceptus est Trophimus Trophimus upon his repentance was absolved and admitted but after all so admitted ut Laicus communicet non quasi locum Sacerdotis usurpet that he must thenceforth Cyp. 55. p. 105. communicate but as a Laick and no longer as a Priest or Bishop The severity of this Sentence came indeed afterwards to be more or less moderated wherefore Melchiades Bishop of Rome to whom the cause of the Donatists was referred would have none but Donatus himself quem totius mali principem invenerat whom he found as St. Austine records the matter chief Author of all the mischief to bear the burden alone offering Ep. 162. fol. 141. cap. 3. the rest upon their return to the Vnity of the Church the continuance of their Bishopricks and his Letters Communicatory though they had been ordained by Majorinus or any others in the State of Schism Ita ut quibuscunque locis duo essent Episcopi quos dissentio geminasset so that in all places where the Schism had caused two Bishops the prior ordained was to be established and the second removed to some other vacancy But then this was Sanitatis recuperandae optio with desire and design to heal the Breach and make up the Schism Thus again was Firminus Bishop of Istria admitted by St. Gregory without a deposition But then this was 300 years after the Greg. lib. 10. Indict 5. c. 37. Edit Paris 1551. Schism first commenced and at a time when it was grown inconsiderable the knot being broken almost 200 years before insomuch that some few scatterings onely were here and there remaining however not without due caution for the future for they were solemnly to swear se nunquam ad Schisma reversuros sed semper in unitate Ecolesiae Catholicae communione Romani Pontificis per omnia mansuros that they would never thenceforth depart from the Vnity of the Catholick Church and because more Greg. Iud. cad cap. 31. particularly belonging to the jurisdiction of Rome not from the Communion of the Roman See Such an Oath was not long after as Petrus de Marca in his Book de Concord Sacerdot Imp. informs us given to Adalbertus before L. 6. c. 3. n. 13. Edit Paris 1663. his Consecration by Hinemarus his Metropolitan Privilegio Metropolis Remorum Ecclesia ac ejus Praesulis secundum sacrosanctos Conciliorum Canones Decreta Sedis Apostolicae ex sacris Canonibus Legibus promulgata proscire posse absque dolo simulatione vel indebita pertinaci contradictione me obediturum profiteor I do promise from this time forward to the best of my skill and power without dissimulation and fraud and all manner of wilfull contradiction to be obedient to and observant of all the Rights and Priviledges of the Metropolitical Church of Rhemes of the Arch-Bishop thereof as they are established and set forth by the Holy Canons of the Church and by the Decrees of the Apostolical See therewith agreeing 21. An Oath much like that still in being and hitherto tendered by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to all his Suffragans at the Consecration of them and it were to be wished that such as have been Consecrated by Form of Conscr of Bishops him or by any of his Antecessors would seriously consider the obligation it lays on them in reference to which I make bold to propose two eminent instances the one of Ivo the other of our English Bishops Ivo Carnotensis one of the Suffragans to the Arch-Bishop of Sena as Petrus de Marca relates the matter was desired by Hugo Bishop of Lyons and L. 6. c. 3. n. 14. Legate to the Roman Pontife to assist him at the Consecration of the Bishop of Niverna a Suffragan properly belonging to the said Arch-Bishop without any consent or approbation had from him or by whose appointment according to the Canon of the Church he ought only to be consecrated Ivo utterly refuses to give his assistance answering that if he should engage in such an Ordination reus fieret violatae sponsionis quam Sedi Metropolitanae fecerat he should become guilty of the breach of his Oath made at his own Ordination to his Metropolitan The other instance shall be in our own Bishops in the time of King William the Second and I take it from the Author of a Discourse concerning the Illegality of the late Commission and for which he quotes Eadmerus the case thus Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was complain'd of by the King to the Page 17. Parliament with order to the Bishops his Suffragans to depose him the Bishops sensible of what Oath they had taken at the time of their Ordination instead of proceeding to a Deprivation declared they could not deprive him to whom they had promised Obedience These things I propose to their considerations and wish they would seriously apply them 22. The nature of Schism being thus set forth and laid at the doors of them that cause it my next work shall be to show the Heinousness and Injustice of the present Schism a Schism perhaps capable of as great or greater Aggravations than any that ever happen'd in the Church from the first rise of a Schism in it 23. It is not the manner of the Romans saith Festus concerning St. Paul to condemn any Man before that he who is accused have the accusers Acts 25. 16. face to face and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him nor no more hath it been the manner of the Church Videmus quae res coegit fieri Altare contra Altare let us examin saith St. Austin what first caused the Dâ—natists to raise their Altar Si Hypopâ—al cont Donat. Tom. 7. f. 2. malus erat Sacerdos deponendus erat ante
Ordinis cum Lib. 5. Ep. 32. judicare debet qui nec manere impar sit nec jure dissimilis they and they only are to be deputed Judges over Ecclesiasticks who are of the same Order and therefore to be presumed the most competent Judges because most knowing in those Affairs Hoc est Sacerdotes de Sacerdotibus voluit judicare that is as St. Ambrose comments upon it he would have Bishops to be the onely Judges of Bishops An Authority though partly Temporal yet of that nature that instead of laying waste the Church of supplanting the Bishops or of subverting the Canons it became a real defence and patronage to them all and no sooner experienced but was as frankly and freely consented to in reference to the succeeding Emperors Placuit ut quicunque ab Imperatore it seemeth good say the Bishops in the Milevitan Council that if any shall appeal to the Emperor to have Cen. 19. his Cause tried before Secular Judges he be deprived but if he appeal to have an Hearing thereof before a Synod of Bishops it shall no ways displease Thus did Pope Innocent address himself to Honorius to have the Schism between St. Chrysostome and Arsacius ended First he writes to Theophilus that great Promoter of it to challenge him to a Council We cannot saith he either in Reason or Justice withdraw our selves from Chrysostom 's Pallad de Vit. Chrys c. 3. p. 24. Communion and therefore if you dare abide by the Judgment you have made of his Deposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make your Appearance before the next Synod And after that he with the rest of the Italian Bishops sends to Honorius that he would write to his Brother Arcadius Co Emperour with him that a Council for that end might be convened where both Eastern and Western Bishops might conveniently meet which Honorius accordingly did sending his Letters by five Bishops two Presbyters and one Deacon assuring him That if either he or his Bishops could satisfie them that Chrysostome was duly and justly deposed he for his part would withdraw all Communion from him but if not that he then hoped He would be prevailed with to desert their Communion and their new made Patriarch Whence it is obvious to infer 1. That where two Bishops are placed at one time in a See a Schism must necessarily ensue 2. That Synods onely are the Deposers of Bishops and the onely Judges of a Deposition 3. That neither Emperour Senate Privy Council or Secular Power whatsoever can do it without making a Schism 4 That till a Synod be called and hath determined the Matter the first must be accounted the lawful Bishop and the second with his Adherent the Schismatick 26. And as this was the Usage Practice and Custome of all foreign Churches so it was one of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those antient Customs that the English Church hath observed Ego Constantini vos Petri Gladium habetis in Manibus I saith K. Edgar as cited by Twisden wear the Sword of Vind. Chur. 2. p. 94. Constantine and you of St. Peter Now how far the first exercised his Authority in reference to the case before us is already shewn and if K. Edgar went no farther we are sure there was no seizing upon Bishops or of putting others into their Bishopricks before they were heard and condemned by Bishops Indeed the Author of the Discourse concerning the Illegality of the late Ecclesiastical Commission tells us That P. 11 12. the Saxon Laws are a plain Evidence that Church Matters were in those times determined in the same Assemblies wherein the other Laws of the Kingdom were determined and I am apt to think that in a great measure they were But then as the learned Spelman observes Episcopuâ— jura Gloss Tit. Gemot divina enuntiabat Comes secularia alter alteri auxilio the Bishops declared and vindicated the Ecclesiastical Laws and the Nobles the Secular each supporting and assisting the other the one according to the Canons of the Church and the other according to the Municipal Laws of the Land Nay I cannot see but in some cases their actings might be separate sure I am that in the Synod held at Bacanceld and in that other soon after held at Clovesho for the restoring the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitical See of Canterbury to its Archibishop of which it had been despoiled by K. Offa contra Canones Apostolica Statuta in duas scissa Paroechias and contrary to all Canons and Constitutions Apostolical divided into two and Spel. Conc. in Ep. Kenul ad Leon. 3. in part given to Adulphus his Favourite there was none of the Laity in them no Earls no great Men of the Nation the one being held as we see in Spelman Praesidente Kenulso Rege by the King Archbishop Bishops Conc. Brit. an 709 803. and Abbats multis aliis idoneis personis and many other not great Men or Nobles but fitting persons the other ab Athelardo Archiepiscopo cum duodecim Episcopis potiori Clero by the Archbishop of Canterbury and twelve other Bishops with the chiefest of their Clergy as may appear by their respective Subscriptions and Spelman's Notes upon them adding this severe and terrible Denunciation Hear oh Heavens and give ear oh Earth Siquis quod omnino absit If any one which God forbid shall at any time hereafter presume against the Apostolical Precepts and this our Determination Tunicam Christi scindere Vnitatem ejus Ecclesiae dividere to tear the seamless Coat of Christ and thereby to divide the Vnity of the Church of Canterbury sciat se esse aeternaliter damnandum let him know that if he repents him not of that his fault he shall be eternally damned But be it so or not as the Authour avers yet in this we shall not much dissent that K. William I. having brought England under the power of his Sword separated Judicatures referring as it was in Constantine's days Ecclesiastical Matters to Ecclesiastical Judges Thus in a Council held at Winchester he himself being present with three * Spelm. anno 1070. Legates from Rome totius Cleri populus the whole Synod of the †Antiq. Brit. de Sâ—igand Clergy after they had heard divers things objected against Stigand then Archbishhp of Canterbury eum Episcopatu Ordinibus abdicabant deprived him both of his Archbishoprick and his Office The Crimes were chiefly these quod Archiepiscopatum Roberto vivente neque amoto possidisset because he had possessed himself of the Archbishoprick Robert the Archbishop being alive and not deposed and had worn the Pall which he left behind him being by Force most unjustly driven from thence Crimes every way deserving Deposition and because done by a Synod justly so punished and if Crimes then they are and must be so now let Stigand and his Party think what they will At the same time and by the same Synod was Agelmar Bishop of the East Angles deposed
the Case before us Deprivation is declared to be an Ecclesiastical Crime inter poenas ecclesiasticis legibus constitutas and liable to Tit. de Depr c. 1. the Punishments assigned by the Ecclesiastical Laws and thereupon it orders that a Bishop in amittendi status sui periculum venit that falls under Cap. 2. the danger of being deprived be referred to the Archbishop and two other Bishops deputed thereunto by the King qui Judicium exercebunt who shall have Power and Authority to hear and determine the said Cause And in case of Appeals it is farther decreed that they may be made from Tit. de Appel c. 11. the inferior Courts to the Bishop from the Bishop to the Archbishop from the Archbishop to the King quo cum fuerit causa devoluta which if once brought thither it is then to be transmitted si gravis sit causa if it be a matter of great concern to a Provincial Synod if of a less to three or four Bishops appointed thereunto to put a final End unto it a Method purely antient and primitive and if any other were practised whilst these Constitutions were framing it was certainly contrary to the Designs of the Reformers and perhaps no more justifiable than the Sacrilege the filling of Ecclesiastical Places with Lay Persons or the Bishops taking Commissions for the Exercise of their spiritual Offices was and which I think no Clergyman that at this day wears a Cassock in England will advocate for However since the designed Book was never admitted and no Review made thereof from that time to this I cannot see but what Dr. Heylin hath asserted must hold good to wit That all Hist Edw. 6. p. 19. the said Canons and Constitutions so restrained and qualified as above must still remain in force as of old they did and so we leave the Matter for the present 28. And indeed a State Deposition whatsoever noise it makes in the World or how much soever it pleases the Ears of some is but a novel and wicked Invention If Bishops saith St. Clemens be once constituted Ep. ad Cor. 1. c. 44. and approved of by the Church and it appears that they have been faithfull in their Office constant to their Ministration and for the time past well thought of for their Episcopal Qualifications 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we cannot if such as these be laid aside but look upon it as a piece of great Injustice neither will it be a small Crime in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they continue piously and blamelesly to offer up their Oblations for us to turn them out of their Bishopricks A thing never heard of in the Church for many Centuries of Years But if at any time the Bishop became so irregular as that the Church would no longer endure him in his Office they deposed as well as deprived him and reduced the first Bishop into a Layman before they advanced the second to his See and probably upon this very account to prevent the Inconvenience to which a State-Deprivation is subject of having two Bishops pretending to one See at once Nay saith Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pallad p. 20. de Vit. Chrys if such Proceedings prevail and it once become lawfull to invade and usurp another's Bishoprick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to cast out what Bps. they please for their own Interest and Humor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things will speedily run to ruine and the whole Christian World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the casting out of some and the being cast out by others be turned upside down An Arian Constantius may then deprive all the Orthodox and fill the Church with that Doctrine Mahomet may pull down the Cross and its Followers and set up the Half-moon and his Musselmen in their stead The long Parliament must not be thought to have done amiss when they cast off not some but the whole Order of Bishops nor the Usurper Cromwell the C. L. Asses that were got into their room a Matter of such fatal consequâ—nce to the Church that the divine Hosius understanding that Constantius was putting it into practice against the Bishops that would not subscribe to his Arianism and in my opinion Socinianism and Aerianism are not much better steps in on the behalf of the deprived giving the Emperour to know that it belonged not to him to exercise such an Authority over the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I beseech you says he leave off these Attemps Athan. Ep. ad solitar Vit. Edit Commet 1600. of yours and remember that though you be an Emperour you are not immortal dread the Day of Judgment and keep your self unspotted against that day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter meddle not with Ecclesiastical Affairs neither command us therein but rather take your Direction from us For God hath committed the Care of the Kingdom to you and to us the Care of his Church and as he who invades the Kingdom contradicts the divine Ordinance so be you carefull that you draw not into your Jurisdiction the things of the Church lest thereby you draw Guilt upon your self Give as it is written unto Caefar the things that belong unto Caesar and unto God the things that belong unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is neither lawfull for us to meddle in the Affairs of the Empire nor for you to meddle in the more sacred Affairs of the Church A Power certainly never designed by Christ since it is so affrontive to his Institution and so destructive to his Church However I would fain know of these Latitudinarian Statesmen who are so zealous to advance it among us 1. Whether since Christ's Kingdom is not of this World the Kingdoms of the World must have such Power in and over it as to deprive it and its Bishops of a Being and Existence in the World 2. Whether a Lay-Power purely such can operate upon Spiritual Persons in Matters purely spiritual so far at least as by their secular Laws and Sanctions to dissolve that spiritual Vnion that Christ hath made between them and their Church And whether it be not as absurd in them to attempt it and as great a Nullity in itself when effected as if the States of England should make Laws and enact Penalties for the States of Holland 3. Whether if the State hath such a Power to deprive a Bishop of his Church as they have put John upon William they may not put William upon John again and at length Jack Presbyter upon both as already they have done in Scotland 4. Whether the new made Bishops be not as much to be accounted State made as the other State deprived 5. Whether the deprived Bishops remaining Bishops of the Catholick Church as they are pleased to say they do they do not remain Bishops in and of the Church of England since that is a part of the Catholick Church 6. Whether if still Bishops in England there be not
two Bishops in a Church at a time from whence Schism of course must arise 29. Neither is this the onely aggravation of the present Schism that Bishops of an indisputable Title without being either previously heard or judicially sentenced are deprived but that the Primate of all England is one of those Bishops The Canon is alike against multiplying of Metropolitans in a Province as of multiplying Bishops in a Diocess Statutum est it is ordained saith Gratian referring us to the twelfth Canon of the Council of Chalcedon quod duo Metropolitani in una eadem provincia Dist 101. esse non dâ—bent that two Metropolitans ought not to be had in one and the same Province and therefore when Augustin the Monk by Authority from the Pope would have thrust himself upon the British Bishops they would not submit saith Bede to any of his orders neque illum pro Hist l. 2. c. 2. Edit Lovaâ— 1566. Archiepiscopo habiturum nor receive him for their Archbishop as having an Archbishop of their own And Huntington relating the mâ—tter as cited by Baziere adds that neither the Britains nor the Irish would communicate Hist l. 36. Lib. Brit. Chur. with him or with the English that were governed by him more than with Pagans giving this for their reason because he did seem to deal uncanonically by them in constraining them to take him for their Archbishop when they had an Archbishop before And if we do but consider the high standing the Primate hath in the Church and the reason of his being set there which was as Spalato speaks ut unitas de Repub. Ec. lib. 3. cap. 2. concordia inter Episcopos servaretur that Vnity and Concord might be preserved among the several Bishops of the Province it must every way be held as reasonable to have but one Primate in a Province as one Bishop in a Church And hence it is that the Apostolical Canon enjoyns the Can. Apost 34. Conc. Aut. Can. 9. the Bishops of every Nation or Province 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have always a regard to him who is the chief among them and to esteem him as their head yea and so far to be headed by him as to come under his Precedency by virtue whereof the whole Province becomes but one Church the Deacons and Presbyters acting under their Bishop the Bishops under their Metropolitans and the Metropolitans under their Primate or Patriarch And it is the breaking this Chain and the going off from this Subordination that begets a Schism but never proves it so fatal as when the Primate suffers in it This holy Synod say the Constantinoplitan Fathers perceiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temp. Apost Can. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Devil is busie through the fury of Schismaticks to divide the Church doth for the prevention of the same determine that if any Presbyter or Deacon suspecting or knowing his Bishop to be faulty shall presume to separate himself from him and forbear naming of him in the Church's Prayers as it is customary to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before a Synodical Hearing Examination and perfect Judgment shall be had in the case he for so doing be deposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the future deprived of all their Sacerdotal Honour and the like They decree to those Can. 14. Bishops that upon the same account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate themselves from the Communion of their Metropolitan And the Can. 15. like again to those Metropolitanes that shall separate themselves from their Primate or Patriarch thereby making a Schism and breaking the Unity of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though guilty of no other fault than such separation 30. The old Rule was that nothing be done in the Church without him meaning as it is a Provincial Church And Balsamon in his Commentaries upon the aforesaid Apostolical Canon which commands the Bishops Can. 34. of every Nation to observe the Primate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to transact nothing in the Church of the more weighty affairs thereof without him tells us wherein these weighty affairs consist and that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as relate to Ecclesiastical Constitution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cannot otherwise be transacted by the respective Bishops in their respective Diocesses And whence it is that one of the chief Branches of his superintended Authority arises and that is to call and convene all the Bishops of the Province into a Synod in order to have all such matters debated stated and provided for that all Irregularities may be amended and all Schisms prevented Now we are told by the Council of Antioch that that and that only is a true and right Synod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein the Metropolitan Can. 16. presides and that it is not lawfull for any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 20. of their own heads or by a separate Authority from him to call Synods Insomuch that if the present Metropolitan be usurped upon and not rightfully deposed all Synods that are and shall be called and all matters that are or shall be debated therein and determined thereby must necessarily fall to the ground and have no Virtue or Solidity in them I am sensible a Man may bear up the Name and hold the State of a Bishop answerably habited with his Pastoral Staff in his hand and a Mitre upon his head he may call a Synod and have his Bishops and Clergy about him bestowing his Prebendaries to some his Archdeaconries to others nay reditus census capones he may receive Rents Services Capons c. whilst his Regency holds All this did the Episcopus Puerorum as he is described and deciphered by Mr. Gregory of Christ-Church Oper. Posth p. 117. Edit 1665. and yet he was but a mock Bishop and so he died without any farther Character of a Bishop upon him notwithstanding he be buried in the Pontifical Ornaments of a Bishop and had a Dragon under his feet with a Motto as great and as proud as ever Bishop usurped conculcabis Leonem Draconem 31. Another of his unquestionable Prerogatives and Priviledges as he is Primate of the Province an Office according to Petrus de Marca of Lib. 6. c. 1. Part 3. Apostolical Tradition and coaeval with Christianity it self is that no Bishop ought to be ordained or taken for a Bishop within the Province that is not ordained by him or with his approbation and consent Insomuch that if a thousand Bishops be made without his consent and much more against it they can be no Bishops And this is evident from the first Nicene Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 6. if any one be made a Bishop without the allowance and good liking of the Metropolitan this great Council decrees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that such an one shall be no Bishop at all and so it was decreed in the first Council at Antioch
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let no Man be Can. 19. ordained Bishop without the presence of the Metropolitan or if any shall be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his Ordination be null and invalid and that not only as to himself but as to all others that shall be afterwards ordained And this was the plea that Alexius made when they would unjustly have deposed him from his Patriarchship and which in probability prevented his deposition stoutly answering as Doctor Burnet relates the matter That if his Ordination was null then all Regal cap. 3. the Metropolitans whom he had ordained and all the Bishops whom those Metropolitans had ordained during the eleven years of his Administration ought to be likewise degraded From whence it is evident that if the Ordination be at first null it conveys and entails a nullity upon all its descent and what a miserable confusion this will bring in eleven years time upon the Church of England he that hath but half an eye may foresee Nay at this rate Archbishop John totius Schismatis Primas Metropolitanus will neither be Primate nor Bishop nor can it in the least justifie him from the Crime of Schism that the present Power backs him in his Invasion and Vsurpation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if any one saith the Apostolical Canon Can. 30. shall make use of any secular Power to thrust himself irregularly into the Possession of a Bishoprick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be deposed and excommunicated together with all those that take part with him The like iâ— decreed in the Council held at Paris Si quis per ordinationem regiam if any Bishop shall unduly and with two much haste ascend to the height of Episcopal Honour by the strength and interposition of Regal Power let him no ways be recieved or owned by the Bishops of the Provâ—nce or if contrary to the Canon he shall be received by any of the Comprovincials then let such be separated from the rest of his brethren 32. I here foresee that the instance of Abiathar will be produced against me not only to overthrow the position of one Bishop in a Church or of one Primate in a Province but to shew that is in the Power of Kings upon good reason to depose any of them nay the highest of them all that do or can Priest it in their Dominions God say they appâ—inted but one High Priest at a time for the whole Jewish Church nâ—ither do we read of any farther order given for the displacing of him or for the putting of others upon him And yet none can deny but that in King David's days there were two High Priests together Zadock the Son of Ahitub and Abiathar the Son of Ahimelech 2 Sam. 15. 29. and this by the sole order and pleasure of the King neither do we read that he was ever the farther from being the Man after God's own heart for his doing so And it is as evident on the other hand that Solomon his Son deposed and degraded one of them to wit Abiathar 1 Kings 2. 26. after he had continued in the Office full forty years and that by no other Authority than his own Both which actions plainly demonstrate That if reasons of State so require the King may either multiply Bishops upon a Church or depose them especially as to us in England since we give the same Prerogative to our Kings as was given by Art 37. God to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures And this they think will be a sufficient plea and cause for what they are doing But to this I answer and first as to the being of two High Priests at once 33. I think I may say that it is the only instance to be met with in Scripture from the time that the Priesthood was setled upon Aaron and his Family to the time that the Jews became Captives and were carried out of the Land And if it had been either convenient or necessary it would have been oftner practised and if it had been oftner practised we should have oftner heard of it So that it being a particular case it must have a particular reason and foundation proper and peculiar to it self upon which it stands and without which it falls Howbeit it was at a time when the High Priesthood was got into a wrong Chanel and possessed by a Family which according to the Law of Inheritance had no present right unto it I say no present right a right it had at large as bâ—ing of the Family of Ithamar one of the Sons of Aaron to Lev. 10. 7. whom no less than the other the Priesthood at first was given but however not without a Precedency to Eleazar as being the first born And hence we read that when Aaron was to be taken away by death Numb 20. 28. Moses was commanded to strip him of his Garments the Garments of Holiness which at his Consecration he had put upon him and to put them upon Eleazar signifying thereby the divesting Aaron of his Priesthood Lev. 8. 7. to array and invest Eleazar with it From him it was conveyed to Phineas his Son to whom and to whose Seed it was farther assured and Numb 25. 13. granted to be an everlasting Priesthood but so it happened at present that the Posterity of Eleazar was put by and the Posterity of Ithamar taken into their room and so it had been and continued for four Generations even from the time of Ely to this Abiathar's days who having escaped the Massacre made at the command of Saul upon Ahimelech his 1 Sam. 22. 18. Father and Family fled unto David and bringing the Ephod with him 1 Sam. 23. 6. was constituted High Priest in the room of his deceased Father and indeed in some measure meriting the same for it was upon David's account and for entertaining him in his necessities that his Father was put to death and the whole Family besides himself destroyed But 1 Sam. 22. 13. this appearing irregular to David because against the right of Inheritance and finding that the line of Eleazar was to be restored in his days even before the Temple should be built and Israel be in its full Glory he 1 Sam. 2. 32 35. puts Zadock the principal of the line at that time into the Priesthood and gives him the Precedency to Abiathar as being regularly the Heir and the person to whom by right thereof the Priesthood belonged continuing however Abiathar as a Copartner with him in it during life the whole afterwards to devolve upon Zadock and his Posterity as it was at first ordered So that all this was but a Pious and Righteous design in David to restore the Priesthood to its rightful owner and not unreasonably to divide the Church but reasonably to make up the Breach that had been made in the Inheritance A method commended by the Bishops of Sirmium to the Clergy of Rome upon their having
two Bishops at a time occasioned by the banishment of Liberius and the Investiture of Felix during his banishment Let them say they receive Liberius Soz. Hist l. 4. cap. 14. their former Bishop since he is permitted to return and let Felix and he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyntly enjoy the Apostolical Throne and do all things amicably and in conjunction together that so the irregularity of the one and the misfortune of the other may both be buried Neither can it be blame worthy when two Bishops do arise which yet Sozomen in the place before quoted says is in it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain sign of Schism and against the Rule of holy Church thus to make up the Feud and reconcile the Division persuading them like Zadock and Abiathar to go hand in hand and bear up the Ark together whilst both of 2 Sam. 15. 24 29. them do live Nay so desirable a thing is Vnity and Amity in the case that when Melâ—tius and Paulinus the two Bishops of Antioch would not be persuaded to agree the matter among themselves in their lives time the chief of the Clergy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were accounted the fittest to be made Bishops after them Soz. l. 7. c. 3. Socr. l. 9. c. 4. or who had the greatest expectation of being so bound themselves mutually by an Oath that they would never so much as attempt to be Bishops in either of their rooms or so much as accept if they were chosen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as long as either Paulinus or Meletius should live but that when either of them should die the Bishoprick should remain entire to the Surviver of them and from thenceforth continue undivided 33. Neither will the other part of the Objection much affect us that I mean of Solomon's deposing Abiathar For it was in a case of High Treason driven perhaps thereunto out of hopes that if Adonijah had prevailed against Solomon he might have regained the Priesthood back unto his Family which he could not but foresee was quite going from it A Crime of so high and malignant a nature that the Church will not Advocate for it Nay though she be industrious to defend her Clergy under other Accusations that they be not too much oppressed by Secular Powers yet as to a Delinquent of this nature she utterly throws him off and exposes him to all the hardships he can meet with In Matthew Blaster's Syntagma Chapter de Episcopis ob Crimina sua judicatis I find this Law or Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. Δ. cap. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let none of the Laity judge the Clergy unless they be accused of Treason intimating that if accused of that no Sacredness of Office no Sublimity of Honour must either indemnifie except or excuse them from punishment And yet how far this Deposition wrought is not to me altogether so plain The Scripture saith no more concerning it than that Solomon thrust out Abiathar from 1 Kiâ—gs 2. 27. being Priest unto the Lord it neither shews how far he thrust him out nor by what method he did it Nihusius as cited by Frischmuth in his Treatise de Rege eligendo deponendo would have us believe it was ex Aula solum S. 63. Edit Jenae 1653. only from appearing at Court and exercising his Office in or about Jerusalem where the King had his abode with liberty however to execute it in the Tabernacle at Gibeon as Zadock before him had done when he was Copartner with Abiathar and this perhaps may be grounded on the 1 Chron. 16. 39. relation that Josephus makes of the matter where he brings in Solomon thus speaking to Abiathar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pains saith he that thou hast endured by accompanying Ant. l. 8. c. 1. my Father David and attending and bearing the Ark with him makes thee to escape from death yet forasmuch as thou hast taken part with Adonijah I so far condemn thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thou depart hence and see my face no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for since thou hast so offended me it is not convenient that thou shouldst be in Honour with me Carthusianus goes farther than Nihusius and tells us Abiatharem de integro singulari clementia Regis pristino Officio restitutum that he was by the special Frisch Loc. cit S. 64. clemency of the King wholly restored to his Office again Gersomides brings him down to a much lower station yet makes him however to be Loc. cit Zadock's Substitute when ever he was hindered by any defect from executing the Office of the High Priest himself and such an one Josephus makes Ellem the Son of Joseph to be unto Matthias in the time of his Ant. l. 17. c. 8. uncleanness But be it as it will most certain it is from Scripture 1. That he had his life given him 2. That he had liberty to retire unto his City and to dwell quietly there 3. That he had still the Name and the Title of High Priest continued to him I will not saith Solomon 1 Kings 4. 4. at this time put thee to death because thou barest the Ark of the Lord before David my Father and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my Father was afflicted it seems Gratitude to past Services and a Veneration to the high dignity of Priesthood was not then perished quite out of the Land nondam terras Astraea Neither are we less in the dark as to the manner how he was deposed We read of no formal procedure in the case all that is said about it is That Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being Priest unto the Lord And yet if we will credit Menochius * De rep Heb. l. 1. c. 6. S 6. he will tell us that among many other things to be transacted in the great Synedrion the punishing of the High Priest was one and so saith the †Tit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 1. l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Misna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They judged not the High Priest unless in the Sanedrim or great Consistory meaning saith Selden out of Mamonides ‡ De Synod l. 3. c. 8. S. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far as Life is concerned Nay though in other Matters not concerning Life they might judge of him in other Courts yet both ‖ l. 3. c. 6. S. 1. Selden and * De Jure Belli c. 3. S. 20. Grotius affirm that in that point ne Regi quidem ipsi permitteretur it was not lawfull for the King himself to take cognizance of him Yea the former of the two having reckoned up above an hundred and forty irregularities and defects in reference to his body besides many more incident to his mind which hindered him from being admitted at all into his Office and rendered him after liable to be turned out concludes notwithstanding dum sui juris
Hebraei that whilst the Jews were governed De Success in Pontific l. 2. c. 5 6 10. Lond. 1636. by their own Laws the Legitimate Succession where no impediments prevented ever took place and that it was high injustice to reject or expell any to whom the Priesthood belonged unless some or more of those irregularities were really to be found upon him The Crime indeed of Abiathar being no less than a Crime of High Treason could not but be animadverted upon But then the Crime being Capital and the High Priest the Criminal we may well conclude that before ever Solomon thrust him from the Priesthood the Sanedrim had previously judged and passed their Sentence upon him And so it fared with Joab one of his fellow Criminals for it is plain if Josephus says true That before Ant. l. 7 8. c. 11. Edit Gen. 1634. ever Solomon sent Bennajah to fall upon him he first sent him to fetch him from the Altar in order to bring him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Seat of Judicature there to purge himself if he could And if this formality was used towards Joab before ever the command was given to have him slain it 's probable the like was used towards Adonijah the King's Brother before he was slain and the like also to Abiathar before he was thrust from the Priesthood Nay though it should be true as some assert That the Kings of Judah were more absolute in their Authority than the Kings of Israel and did not always so formally proceed by way of Justice as the other did and that this proceeding against Abiathar might be one of those extraordinary instances of their power yet this is certain that they had thâ—ir standing Courts of Judicature all the Land over for the right and full administration of Justice to all sorts and degrees of Men the chiefest of all which and to which the last Appeal was made was ever at Jerusalem as being most near unto the King Thus Jehosaphat having constituted Judges throughout all the fenced Cities of the Land is said to have done the same at Jerusalem setting Amariah the High Priest over all in the matters of the 2 Chron. 19. 11. Lord and Zebadiuh the Son of Ishmael for all the King's matters the Secular concerns to be transacted by the King through the assistance of his Secular Judges and the Ecclesiastical by the Ministery of his Ecclesiasticks In like manner David having set out the form of the Temple and given Solomon directions for the building and ordering of it leaves him to his Priests and Levites to be farther advised The courses saith he of the Priests and Levites shall be with thee for all the service of the House of God And I dare say this power so fixed and 1 Chron. 28. 21. managed cannot but be thought so just and reasonable that as the Church of England hath all along granted it to their Kings so there is not at this time one Church-Man of the old Foundation among us that will deny it them but wish that it were so are troubled that it is not so nay can say By the waters of Babylon we sit down and weep whilst we remember thee O Sion 34. I confess there are not instances wanting in History to shew that it hath often been the practice of Emperors and Kings by their own Authority and without concerning themselves at all with a Synod to depose Bishops and thrust them from their Bishopricks But then this hath been as Petrus de Marca observes in apertissima Canonem violati Lib. 4. cap. 6. Part 1. in such cases only where the Canons of the Church have been most notoriously and scandalously violated so notoriously that there needed no proof as to matter of fact nor any thing farther to be done but to apply the punishment And of this he gives us two instances in reference to the case in hand The one of Justinian the Emperor and the other of Zeno the first deposing Anthimus for that contrary to the Canon he had deserted his own Church and invaded the See of Constantinople the latter for doing the same thing to Peter surnamed Moggus for that contrary to the Canon he had seized upon the Patriarchship of Alexandria Timothy the lawfull Bishop thereof and under Banishment being not yet dead And referring us to the Acts of the Council held by Mena at Constantiople he farther tells us That such violations aut à Principe Loco citat aut a Synodo castigari posse may be punished either by the Prince or by a Synod But now for Emperors or Kings to take this power upon them when there is no breach of Canon nay when it is contrary and contradictory to all Canon and purely for their own Will and Pleasure or because it may serve their Interest to have others in their Places and Bishopricks that may lick their spittle and cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them in all their actions This certainly must be pernicious and fatal to the Church and can bode nothing less than an utter and speedy ruine to it Of what dismal consequences this kind of dispositions have been and what sad and deplorable mischiefs they have brought along with them to the most flourishing Churches in the World I shall in a more particular manner evidence from the Jewish and Greek Churches being provoked thereunto by some of the late Treatisers 35. And because the Jewish Church offers it self first to our View I shall consider it first and shew what Success it met with whilst it was thus rid Josephus tells us that the first that ever executed this deposing Ant. l. 15. c. 3. Power was Antiochus who depriving Onias put Jason into his place a fitting Priest for so wicked a Tyrant For no sooner was he made so Lib. de Mac. cap. 4. saith the same Author but he forced all the People to Impiety and to forsake Religion Nay such saith the Author of the Book of Maccabees was the height of Greek Fashions and encrease of Heathenish Manners through 2 Mac. cap. 4. 13 14. the exceeding Prophaneness of Jason that ungodly Wretch that the Priests had no courage to serve any more at the Altar but despising the Temple and neglecting the Sacrifices hastened to be partakers of the unlawfull Allowance in the place of Exercise not setting by the Honour of their Fathers but liking the Glory of the Grecians by reason whereof sore Calamity came upon them About three years after Menelaus had Jason laid aside and himself put into the 2 Mac. 4. 24. Jos Ant. l. 12. cap. 15. High Priesthood though he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the race of the High Priests He saith the Book of Maccabees came with the King's Mandate having nothing worthy of the High Priesthood but having the fury 2 Mac. 4. 25. of a cruel Tyrant and the rage of a savage Beast And such an one he was for he stole certain
Vessels of Gold out of the Temple caused Onias the Ch. 4. v. 32. 2 Mac. 5. 15. deposed High Priest to be slain and was Guide to Antiochus when he went to the Temple to risle it of its holy Vessels A wicked and impious man saith Josephus who for his ambitious Desire of Authority had enforced Ant. l. 12. c. 15. our Nation to revolt from their Religion He was slain and succeeded by Alcimus who also is said to have defiled himself wilfully in the time of their 2 Mac. 14. 3 c. mingling with the Gentiles and was the cause of all that Mischief that afterwards happened to Judas Razis and the Temple The next Instance shall be in Herod and his Successors after he was by the Roman Emperor created King of the Jews In the Roman Times saith the Annotatour Ham. in Luc. c. 3 2. quoting Josephus for it it is manifâ—st that the Roman Prefect did ad libitum when he would and that sometimes once a year put whom he please into the Pontificate to officiate in Aaron 's Office instead of the lineal Descendant from him And this was as Bp. Overall in his Convocation-Book suggests Lib. 1. c. 34. to keep them from entring into Rebellion suspecting that if the Priesthood should have been held by Succession or for term of Life by the chief Persons of Aaron's Posterity it might have grown dangerous unto their Government The last Instance touching the Jews shall be of the Zealots not long before and hastening on the Destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple there They saith Josephus not respecting De Bell. Jud. l. 4. c. 5. the Families out of which it was onely lawfull to chuse the High Priest elected strange and base Persons to that sacred Dignity and such as would be Partakers of their Villanies and Impietieâ— for they who not deserving it attained to such Dignity were as it were obliged unto their Will in all things by whom they were so exalted A Fact says ne contrary to the most firm Custom that was amongst the People and onely a Device to get all Government into their hands From all which we may remark and inferr 1. That the Reason and End of such Actions is purely to serve the Interest of Government and to have such Persons in the Head of the Priesthood that will own their Actions and execute their Commands though never so wicked and sinful 2. That Religion is so far from gaining by it that it is generally forced to give place to Atheism Profaneness Heathenism 3. That it is a sad Prognostick and Forerunner of an utter Desolation to the Church and shews that her Enemies the Zealots on the one hand and the Romans on the other are either come or coming upon her which makes me with Faustinus almost to wish That since the high Dignities of the Church Libel Prec p. 21. Oxon. 1678. prove so tempting and do so debauch the Priesthood she had never been so richly endowed sed ut apostolico more vivens fidem integram inviolabiliter possideret but that her Clergy living more after the Apostolick Manner might the more inviolably hold the Apostolical Faith and not for the love of Honour or Wealth be rempted to decline or withgo it 36. The like Instance of this Abomination of Desolation may be taken from the Greek Church In Andronicus 's long Reign saith the Author of the Burnet c. 3. Edit 1682. Regalia many were put in and out to the great Scandal of the Church and he makes this Remark upon it from the Historian which he quotes That Niceph. Greg. lib. 7. Princes chuse such Men to that Charge who may be their Slaves and in all things obsequious to what they shall prescribe and lie at their Feet and not so much as have a Thought contrary to their Commands I might have told you before from Josephus that Onias had never been De Mac. c. 4. turned out of his Priesthood at least Jason not put in had it not been for an annual Payment of three thousand six hundreed and threescore Talents of Silver to Andronicus And from the Book of Maccabees That Menelaus 2 Mac. 4. 24. had never got over Jason's Head had he not promised three hundred Talents more than what Jason gave So bewitching are the Rewards of Divination when proferred by Kings that Balaam the Prophet though perhaps his Conscience doth boggle at them at first no less than his Ass afterwards did at the sight of the Angel yet rather than not be fingering of them he will remove from Mountain to Mountain from Hill to Hill to try whether from some place or other he may not venture to curse Israel Nay I am apt to think that if the chief Dignities of the Church come once to be sold by Inch of Candle all the burning and shining Lights thereof will soon be turned out of their Candlesticks for dim and stinking Snuffs to be put in their rooms and of what ill consequence this may prove to a Church without being a Prophet or a Prophet's Son we may easily guess The forementioned Author of the Regalia informs us of the Mischiefs and Misery it hath brought upon the Greek Church The Turks saith he having taken this matter into their Hands have so exposed Ch. 3. p. 99. all unto Sale and I may add Interest and have found so many base minded and ambitious Churchmen that are as ready to buy as they are to sell that those Churches which were once the Glory of the World are now become Dens of Thieves and Robbers adding that as those Miseries are to be lamented in them so we who hear of them ought to remember the words of our Saviour If these things be done in the green Tree what shall be done in the dry 37. But what need I aggravate the Mischiefs that attend these Alterations especially when continued and daily renewed There are none so blind but may see them none so hardy but must lament them none so senseless but as far as in them lies will endeavour to prevent them But say some what meaneth the Bleating of the Sheep and the Lowing of the Oxen we hear Why so much noise of Schisme Why such breaking of Communion Why such running from our Churches Must all be Schismaticks that take in with the new Bishops and follow them Is not this to make the Jewish Church schismatical after the High Priesthood became annual and the Greek Church too as often as the Grand Seignior changes the Patriarch Sure we are that our Saviour himself at that time communicated with the Jewish Church which we presume he would not have done if it had been schismatical and no Man for ought as we do know blames the Patriarch who succeeds nor yet the Church which receives him And yet though it be so I cannot see that either of these Cases run parallel to ours for the Jews for many years before had been under
that the Parliament never had or at least cannot now pretend to have any such Power but that when they attempt to meddle and decree in such matters they are perfectly out of their Sphere and Bounds and so far forth too that their Acts can be no otherwise accounted of than encroachments and their Penalties little less than Oppression 53. Mistaken too often they are in their own affairs but never so much as when they arrogate to themselves the full command over Religion A sad instance whereof we have in the late Rebellious Parliaments whose Ordinances though but of small continuance proved far more bloody and undoing than all the Canons that had been made since the beginning of the Reformation Hence being Masters of the Sacerdotal as well as Regal Power they in the first place fell foul upon the Bishops the Fathers and Governours of the Church and not only took away the Lives of some the Liberties of most and the Estates of all but to the everlasting scandal of Christianity they voted away * Scobel Jun. 12. 1643. the whole Order of them sacrilegiously declaring †Oct. 9. 1646. their Government to be evil in it self justly offensivâ— and burthensome to the Kingdom and a great impediment to the Reformation though a Government coeval with Christianity universally received throughout the whole Christian World and continued down to the several Provinces thereof and in Britain as well as elsewhere without the least contradiction from the Apostles days unto our own And in their room and stead set up a company of Schismatical Presbyters supporting Aug. 29. 1648. them with a new Sect of Lay-Elders the former never permitted in the Catholick Church and the latter never heard of in the World for the first fifteen hundred years after Christ Thus advanced they next quarrel the Service Book * Jan. 3. 1644. vote it out of the Church and force the Church-Wardens †Aug. 23. 1646 to turn Traditors and deliver them up to the Committees of the respective Counties to be destroyed permitting the reading thereof soon after to be ranked ‡ Cromw Let. to Judge Gatford's Pâ—t 1655. with the horrid crimes of holding or maintaining Blasphemous and Atheistical Opinions of being guilty of Cursing Swearing and Perjury of Adultery Fornication Drunkenness and such other abominable Crimes with order to the Justices of the Peace to be as carefull to suppress the reading of the same as of Ale-houses and the before-mentioned abominations though a Book eminently ministering to the best Reformation that ever happened in the Church composed by Pious and Orthodox Men who stuck not to seal their Profession with their blood the laying aside whereof in Q. Mary's Reign was declared in the ensuing Reign by the united Wisdom of the Nation in their Parliament to be to the great decay of the due Honour of God and discomfort to the Eliz 1. cap. professors of the truth of Christ's Religion And all this to trump up their beloved Directory a Form of Worship plainly accusing the Primitive Church Direct c. its Pref. of indiscretion and which may be abused by the ignorance or malice of every one that uses it liable to Heresie and Blasphemy as well as to ridiculous Indecencies Folly and Profaneness an Office that never absolves Penitents hath no Blessing no Creed no Hymns no external Adoration no Amen and in truth a form of Prayer without a form or so much as a Prayer in it the Lord's Prayer it self being left to the Caprichio and Pleasure of him that officiates Thus engaged they hurry on to the turning out all the Regular Loyal and Conformable Clergy of the Land under the notion of scandalous delinquent Ministers which upon Aug. 23. 1647. Fowlis Hist of Pret St. l. 3. c. 1. trial proved so constant and steady that Zechary Crofton one of the Chieftains of the Party thought it matter enough to boast of that among the ten thousand Clergy in the Church they had gained six hundred of them a poor pittance God wot to comply and subscribe their Covenant And then rather than be without whosoever would they consecrated making the lowest of the People Priests of the high places The Author of the Dissenters Sayings represents us with a Page 8. Catalogue of some of them and by them you may guess at the rest Godly Painful and Laborious Preachers Fulcher the Egg-Man Hobson the Taylor Gree the Felt-maker Spencer the Coachman Potter the Smith Durance the Wash-ball-maker Debman the Cooper Heath the Coller-maker Rice the Tinker and Field the Bodys-maker Neither could much better upon the outing of the other be expected since the two Vniversities those Seminaries of the Church designed for the supply of Hist Oxon. Quaer Cant. the vacancies thereof were forced to run the same risque and to undergo the same fate as the constituted Clergy of the Land had done And no question like Preachers like Doctrine So leud extravagant and vile that many of themselves being by experience made sensible thereof thought sit to complain and when it was too late seek for redress you have most noble Senators saith Mr. Edwards done worthily against Ep. Ded. part 1. Gang. Papists Prelates and scandalous Ministers but what have you done against Heresy Schism Disorder What against Seekers Anabaptists Antinomians Brownists Libertines and other Sects You have made a Reformation but with the Reformation have we not a Deformation and worse things come upon us than before You have put down the Book of Common-Prayer you have cast off the Bishops you have taken away Ceremonies you have caused the Imagies to be broken down of the Trinity Christ the Virgin Mary and the Apostles and instead thereof there are those rose up among us who throw away the Scripture ridicule the Ministery cast away the Sacraments and overthrow the Trinity deny Christ undervalue the Virgin and disown the Apostles The Sects have been growing ever since the first year of your sitting and have every year encreased more and more and if Schism and Heresy c. be let alone and rise proportionably for one year longer we shall need no Enemy from without to undo us Thus it fared with our oppressed Church in those days till her King and Priests were despised her solemn Feasts and Sabbaths forgotten and the Sanctuary abhorred and I am afraid thus it will prove again if Erastus his Demagogues and his Party ever any more happen to dictate Religion to us 64. And thus I have freely delivered my thoughts concerning this Subject insomuch that if you or others will but seriously reflect and consider what hath been offered thereon from authentick and undeniable Testimonies you may readily perceive the reason why so many of us at present refuse the Communion of the new Bishops and perform our Devotions separate by our selves under the presidency of our old ones The Communion it self was difficult if at all tollerable before the rent was
made for as Baalam said to the Messengers of Balak How shall I Numb 23. 8. curse whom God hath not cursed Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied How could we make him our Enemy or pray that God would confound his devices whom we durst not lift up our hands against nor so much as curse no not in our thoughts How could we upon our bended knees with our and eyes lifted up unto Heaven go along with the Priest and with a blessing to attend his Spirit when our Consciences in the interim told us that we must either say our Prayers backward or play the part of the greatest Hypocrites in the World Certainly it is better as King Charles the First said when they would suffer him to have no other Chaplains to pray with him in his Solitudes than what they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ch 24. put upon him to seem undevout and to hear no Mens Prayers than to be forced to comply with those Petitions to which the heart cannot consent nor the tongue say Amen without contradicting a Man's own Understanding or belying his own Soul Terms of Communion may happen to be so sinful and unjustifiable that a good and devout Christian ought rather to absent than to joyn in with them into this strait Grâ—tius was brought between the corruptions in the Roman and the want of Orders in the Reformed Church which made him to be Segrex a Separatist Watson Pref. Lib. 5. Ep. 27. and Devotee by himself And St. Ambrose was so incensed against the Bishops that took part with Maximus that had invaded the Empire and put by Valentinian that he did abstinere ab Episcopis withdraw from them and refused all Communion with them and if it once comes to that pass that we must either be alone or so communicate I think it much safer to use the words of the before recited Martyr to be condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ch 24. to the woe of a Vae soli than to that of Vae vobis Hypocritis by seeming to pray what we do not approve especially considering that of St. Cyprian solus non est cui Christus in fuga comes that he is never Ep. 58. Pleb Thib. alone nor without the benefit and blessing of publick Communion if driven thence for Religion sake who hath Christ along with him for his Companion nec sine Deo nor without God and the influences of his Spirit be he were he will if he do but keep himself free from the pollutions that defile the Temple of the Lord whose Temple ye are saith the Apostle speaking of those who would have nothing to do with the Temporizing Gnosticks their Doctrine and their Communion This was the 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. difficulty we laboured under then and should we now any longer consent and communicate with them seeing they have cut themselves off from their lawfull Bishops and turned Subjects to those that have usurped their Thrones we should unavoidably involve our selves in their Schism and there lie as open to the punishment thereof as they did who ran in unto Corah and took part with his Confederacy to cast off Aaron and set up a Priesthood against him St. Cyprian highly commends the Presbyters and Deacons who refused to communicate with Gaius a fellow and neighbouring Presbyter because he was found to be present at the Prayers of the Lapsi and tells them that by so doing they did act uprightly and Ep. 34. Presb. Diac. consonant to the Discipline of the Church Nor is it enough to plead as the Confessors did at Rome sincera mens nostra we liked well of Cornelius Cornel. Cyp. Ep. 49. and always went along with him in our hearts when at the same time they took in with Novatian and became followers of him and his Schism or as they in Athanasius's time did who came to him Nicodemus like in the night to beg pardon for their Apostacy Nos animo Synaxin cum Athanasio we are ever present with Athanasius and at his Synaxes with our Souls when upon all occasions they daily appeared in the Assemblies and Ep. ad solit vit Meetings of the Schismatical Gregory his Bishops and his Presbyters Neither can any peace be expected to be given to such unless the Schism be abjured His ita gestis these things being resolved on saith Cornelius Ep. 49. Cyp. concerning the returning Confessors Maximus Vrbanus Sidonius Macarius and many more qui se eis adjunxerant who had joyned themselves to them in their Schism in Presbyterium venerunt came into the Conistory and more earnestly beg'd that all their Schismatical compliances might be pardoned And at the same rate Arsenius Bishop of Hyppolita with his Presbyters Deacons and Followers submitted to Athanasius the Patriarch we say they diligentes pacem unanimitatem earnestly Athan. Apolog 2. coveting the Peace and Unanimity of the Church and willing according to the antient constitution to become obedient to the Ecclesiastical Canon do in the presence of God solemnly promise nos deinceps non communicaturos cum Schismaticis never henceforth to communicate with Schismaticks nor with any one else to whom the peace of the Church is denied be they Bishops Presbyters or Deacons nor have any thing to do with them neither send tâ— or receive Letters of pacification from them but for the future wholly to give our selves up to the Church's Canons and the direction of you our Metropolitane And indeed less than this cannot hope to speed ecce incolumis immaculata laudis integritas behold saith St. Cyprian that 's the unblemished and Praise-worthy Ep. 51. Cornel. repentance that 's the incorrupt and substantial return à desertoribus profugis recessisse to desert the deserters and to fly the fugitives to bid adieu to the betrayers of the Faith and the impugners of Catholick Unity And certainly the sooner this is done the better lest being once out of the Church and no longer assisted by the Spirit of Grace that goes along with it we be driven from Post to Pillar from one point of the Compass to another and go we shall provided Poverty or Disgrace Cross or Faggot be not in the way till we have made Shipwreck of the Faith and in the end finding our selves at the brink of the Precipice and not able to return or go farther we contentedly drop down and perish Thus it was with the Meletians non est sperandum ut Antichristo Meletiani resistant it 's now no longer to be hoped saith Athanasius Ep. ad sol vit that the Meletians should oppose Antichrist or resist his coming for they have thrown off all care of truth count it no sin to deny Christ but Camelian like transform themselves into all shapes and colours semper mercenarii always at the lure and beck of those they live under and throughout all preserring Ease before Verity till addicting themselves to Voluptuousness and
Pleasure they conclude with an ede bibe let us eat and drink for to morrow we die The saddest fate that can befall Men in this World and such an one that God inflicts on none but the worst of sinners and not on them neither till he consigns them over as lost to everlasting desolation So that whatever other punishment Heaven shall think fit to lay upon me whilst I am in my journey I heartily pray it may not be my doom to be delivered up to an obdurate Heart a reprobate Mind a careless Spirit or a seared Conscience 55. And here kind Sir I had thrown my Pen by had not you sent me a late Treatise of Mr. Hody's wherein he endeavours to prove from a Greek Manuscript out of the publick Library at Oxford That there was never any separation from the new Bishop though uncanonically introduced into the room of another where there was not Heresy in the case As for the Manuscript it self I leave it to others to inspect and examine however I cannot but in my own defence observe First That all the instances therein produced are of much later date than those produced by me His not beginning till Mine do end Most of them the results of the middle and corrupt Age of the Church and therefore of little or no force against the Practice of the more Primitive and purer Age thereof to whom mine do pretend Nay were the Practices of those times to be urged and allowed for Precedents I can see no reason why the Latine Church should not be permitted the priviledge of them to prove the corruptions of their Doctrines as well as the Greek Church to prove the irregularity of their Discâ—â—line A thing I am apt to think Mr. Hody and his Party would have been shie some few years ago to have consented to Secondly That in all the instances touching the various Schisms produced by me there is no concern of Heresy in the case and yet the postordained was always postponed and as much rejected by the Church as if he had been as deeply tainted with Heresy as ever Heretick could be This Mr. Hody denies but 't will undeniably be made out by reflecting on and calling back some of the former instances to a farther review And because Novatianus was the first that I instanced in and for ought it appears to me the first that ever made a Schism in the Church I shall begin with him and I suppose it will not be denied but that if there had been any Heresy in the Master it would have been followed and propagated by his Scholars with the Schism nay the longer the Schism lasted the worse would the Heresy have been and yet I find that in Constantine's days which was near 100 years after the Shism began when he set forth his Edict for the putting down the Meetings of Hereticks the Novatians were not so much troubled about it because as Sozomen relates the matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they held the same Lib. 2. c. 30. Doctrines as the Catholick Church did And so it was in Theodosius's Reign near forty years after that He admiring saith Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the confent and harmony of the Novatians Lib. 5. c. 10. touching the Faith though he had banished all sorts of Hereticks yet decreed that they should enjoy their own Assemblies and have such liberty and priviledges as the other Churches of the same Opinion and Faith were wont to have And when Atticus of Constantinople was some time after that moved to drive them out of the City Do you not know saith he as the same Socrates relates what grievous Persecutions and Troubles Lib. 7. c. 25. they endured with us for the Faith adding that though they had been of old divided from the Church yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they never attempted to introduce any Novelty as touching the Faith The like we find verified of the Schismatical Donatists whose Schism arose as hath been shewn by Majorinus his being uncanonically placed in the Chair of Caecilian who was stated there before him And therefore St. Austin being sent to by Boniface one of the Emperor's Life-Guard to give him an account of the Donatists Creed hi plurimi se dicunt omnino credere quod Catholica credit Ecclesia many of them saiys he do say Ep. 50. that they perfectly believe concerning the Holy Trinity as the Catholick Church believes neither is there any difference between the one and the other sed de sola communione infeliciter litigant but only the Donatists perversely separating themselves from the Church to break the Vnity of it which is the sole cause of the contention between them The same is granted by Optatus in his Book against Parmenian the Donatist Et apud vos apud nos una est Ecclesiastica conversatio communes lectiones eadem fides ipsa fidei Sacramenta eadem mysteria there is saith he with you Lib. 5. p. 99. and with us one and the same Ecclesiastical Discipline the same Scriptures the same Rule of Faith the same Administration of Sacraments and the same Mysteries And yet though so alike in all things else purely because descended from Majorinus who was Posterior to Caecilian all kind of Communion was denied them The same was verified of Meletius the Lycopolitan and his Faction for though he ordained and constituted Bishops in all places where ever he came in opposition to the Bishops already placed thereby disturbing the Church with his New and Schismatical Ordinations yet says Epiphanius he adhered notwithstanding to the Catholick Adv. Haer. l. 2. Tom. 2. Haer. 18. Sect. 1. Church and the avowed Faith thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither did he at any time afterwards in the least swerve in the same Nay though he lived a long while after that he first set the Schism on foot yet saith my Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He all along studied Id. eod S. 3. the good of the Church and never taught any thing contrary to the Faith thereof Thus it fared in the debate at Antioch between the followers of Meletius and the followers of Paulinus they held their Synaxes apart saith Theodorit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist l. 3. c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet both of them professed one and the same Faith and firmly adhered to the Doctrine of the Nicene Fathers Neither did the death of Meletius put an end to the Controversy for no sooner was he gone but his Party not accepting Paulinus which had been co-Co-bishop with him chose Flavianus into his room and then the Church of Antioch was divided again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not about the Faith saith Hist l. 5. c. 9. Socrates but about their Bishops Once more and then most or all my instances Chrysostom excepted of which more anon will be reviewed and made good and that relates to Liberius and Felix Liberius was banished and Felix his Deacon was made
Bishop in his stead a Man saith Sozomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist l. 4. c. 10. always reported to be firm to the Nicene Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as to matters of Religion altogether blameless And yet when Liberius was recalled from his banishment Felix was forced to retire nay the People of Rome though requâ—sted thereunto by the Emperor would not so much according to Theodoret as suffer him to Hist l. 2. c. 17. remain Copartner with the other in the Bishoprick From whence it was evident let Mr. Hody say what he will to the contrary that there is something more required in a new Bishop than barely to be Orthodox in the Faith and Catholick in his Belief and that plainly is if the Canons of the Church which were of old looked upon in Sacredness and Authority next to the Evangelists may umpire and determine not to invade another Bishop's See the See not being forfeited made void or vacated by the Canons of the Church A rule of such Catholick Authority in the Church that the known Violaters of it were no less rejected from its Communion than were the Violators of the most holy and sacred Evangels and though otherwise never so deserving a Bishoprick adjudged ever after altogether unfit to preside and govern in the Church Nay I cannot but in the third place observe and still my eye is upon Mr. Hody Thirdly That when Heresy prevailed and made its Bishops and its Party the Canon against Intrusion was no less pleaded against them to render them uncanonical than was their Heresy Hence we find Julius of Rome after he was informed of the Invasion made by Gregory the Arian upon Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria complaining no less of the irregularity thereof than as if there had been no Heresy at all in the case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where saith he in answer to his Letter from Antioch is there any such Ecclesiastical Athan. Apol. 2. p. 201. Canon or any such Apostolical Tradition That a Man who is a Stranger or a Foreigner should be made Bishop at Antioch and sent to Alexandria to be Bishop there introduced not by the Clergy of the City nor by the Bishops of the Province but by a Guard of Russians and Souldiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Church at that same time being at peace within it self and all the Bishops of the same in perfect Communion and Concord with Athanasius their lawfull and proper Bishop consider I pray you if such a thing had been acted against any of you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Would you not have inveigh'd against it Would you not have required satisfaction for so palpable a Breach of the Canons Believe me and I speak it saith he in the sincerity of my heart and as in the presence of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is no rihghteous doing not according to Equity nor according to Canon Nay so incensed were the Ecclesiasticks at this Invasion of his that none of them would go unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Ep. ad Orthod p. 171. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except some that were Hereticks like himself some that for their irregularities had been cast out of the Church and some few that had play'd the Hypocrite out of fear yea and so enraged were the People against him that being deprived of their lawfull Ministers so as to have none left either to baptize or to visit them in their sickness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they rather chose to hazard themselves and their Children than to have him and his Clergy to bless them I confess this might arise in a great measure from their disgust to him his dealings and his Arianism but withall something of it cannot but be ascribed to the aversion they had to this uncanonical Promotion for being afterwards under a far worse usage by Count Syrianus they applied themselves to Maximus the Praefect and other of the Magistrates telling them that if it were the Emperor's pleasure to have them persecuted they Pope Alex. Ec. Sub. Athan. p. 240. were willing and ready to be Martyr'd but if not then they that would be pleased to intercede for them that they might enjoy the most Reverend Athanasius whom God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the wonted succession of their forefathers had set over them to be their Archbishop and that no other contrary to such succession might be put upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which rather say they than suffer we have even unto death resisted A zeal that attended the Primitive Christians from the very first to the last and as hard to let go as the Faith it self And this in a manner is confess'd by Mr. Hody himself at least by his Prefacer Vide Pref. who tells us that at the time the Manuscript was wrote there was a Party of Men Friends to the deprived says he but perhaps more to the Discipline and Canons of the Church who adhering to him I suppose because uncanonically deprived gave out that the former was still their Genuine and Canonical Bishop and that it was sinfull to have Communion with the new one And this as he guesses was in the end of the Twelfth or the beginning of the Thirteenth Century It seems the Canon for one Bishop in a Church at a time and the inconveniency of having more unless the first be Canonically deprived even till then was retained in the minds of Men and endeavoured after for the good of the Church if possible to be received Nay I cannot but consider in the fourth place Fourthly That if there be Heresy in the case tho' rising from the more nice and speculative Doctrines of Christianity the deprived Bishops are then according to Mr. Hody to stand upon their Right and the People to adhere to them And if so then certainly much more when the practical Doctrines of Faith Justice and moral Honesty and the Commandments that enjoyn them are concerned which practical Doctrines and Commandments are as holy in themselves as dear to God and the Church as the more speculative Doctrines the consubstantial Doctrine not excepted and more than other nice Theories which occur in the Controversies concerning Eutychianism Monothelitism c. the believing contrary to which is called Heresy Insomuch that if a deprived Bishop in the Greek Church must and would have stood out against an Eutychian or Monothelite Successor and defended his Church against them much more our deprived Bishops to stand out against their Successors in defence of those moral Principles in adherence to which they suffered Deprivation Doubtless a virtuous and good Life was as much intended and promoted by our Saviour in the establishment of his Kingdom amongst us as a good Faith or a right Belief and his Apostles and Ministers to whom and to whose Successors the care of the Church was committed had it as much in charge to propagate the one as the other Dr. Sherlock hath been heard
to say That he would as soon turn Arian as take the new Oath of Allegiance of such concern he then thought the practical Doctrines to be And well he might when the Lawgiver himself hath expresly told us That whosoever shall break one of the least of these Commandments Matth. 5. 19. and teach men so to do shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven so far the least say Interpreters that when the enquiry shall be made for the breakers thereof they shall not be found to have a Name there I confess Bishops the most unjustly deprived have often ceded and acquiesced under their Deprivations but then this they did foreseeing that no hurt would accrue thereby to the interest of Christianity either in the speculative or practical Doctrines thereof they considered that the loss would only be their own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Office of teaching saith St. Chrysostom in a like case neither Pallad in vit Chrys p. 69. began from me nor will it end in me But if the Cause of God and of his Church thereby do suffer if Justice Faith common Honesty and whatsoever is pure whatsoever is lovely whatsoever is of good report or praise worthy be thrust out of the World and all sorts of Immorality and Vice brought into their room nay pass for Virtue or not be owned to be Sins If Duty to Parents must cease if Obedience to Magistrates must fail if Oaths must be no security nor any longer be counted Sacred and if that unspotted Loyalty which hitherto hath attended and made the Church of England so famous and so beloved of Princes must be deserted and abandoned as false and erroneous methinks this is such a blemish to Religion and will prove so great a scandal to the Church that it should make our deprived Bishops though otherwise studious of Peace to resume their Power and not to suffer the Church over which God hath made them Overseers to be ruined by their Cessions nay not only to resume it themselves but because they evidently see their Bishopricks supply'd by persons that already have and upon any other occasion will be ready to betray it again in these and the like particulars to take what care they can that these Doctrines and Principles be defended and propagated to Posterity Doctrines certainly the most likely of any we profess to cause a rebuilding of our Church which if I live to see and shall be thought fit to have a place in the building I pray God it may not fall to my share to be set up for the Weather-Cock And so I am come to St. Chrysostom's Case which the Introduction to the Treatise tells us ought particularly to be considered And here I cannot but observe Fifthly That whatsoever advice St. Chrysostom gave either to his Clergy or People upon his parting with them from whence Mr. Hody and his Prefacer would infer a voluntary Resignation and Cession it all issued from an apprehension of a sudden and violent death to befall him as if he were forthwith to be made a Sacrifice and taken out of the World An apprehension with which he was warmly and confidently possessed for saith the Author of his Life a Bishop then present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pallad in vit Chrys p. 67. John being inspired by the Holy Ghost said to his Friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pray for me my Brethren for I am ready now to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand and then follows the advice let none of you desert your Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for I evidently foresee that I must leave the World The like he enjoyned the devout Women upon the same account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come hither you my Daughters and hearken to what I say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things I see are at an end with me I have finished my course and in all probability I shall see your face no more one thing however I beg of you that upon this my failure you would submit your selves no less to my Successor if fairly set over you than you have done to me Neither were his fears altogether groundless for it was every where reported 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was to be beheaded Nay it was not long Id. p. 68. before that his life was twice assaulted once saith Sozomen by one Lib. 8. c. 21. that personated himself distracted and at another time by a Servant of Elpidus one of Chrysostom's mortal Enemies who if Palladius saith true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was hired for â—â—fty pieces of Gold Page 197. to dispatch him and in the attempt slew four and wounded three From whence it may rationally be presumed that the advice here given in reference to a future Submission unto the Bishop that was to follow him was purely and wholly ascribable to the perswasion he had of himself he that was no better than a dead Man willing thereupon to leave peace behind him at least not to have the Church divided upon his account when he was dead and gone without regard in the least had to an Intruder either to approve his Intrusion or to allow Communion with him And that this is the true meaning of his advice will farther appear from the after behaviour both of persons to whom the advice was given and of him who gave the advice as also of other Foreign Churches who thought fit to concern themselves in the Affair for the good of the Church and for the maintenance of the Discipline thereof And hence I find First That John was no sooner removed and Arsacius put into his Bishoprick but the People Populace and Rabble saith the Prefacer Bankers and chief Citizens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persons of place and dignity say the Edicts as if no such Advice had been given them or at least as if it were Pall. p. 96. never intended to take place during his Life holding it not lawful saith Sozomen to communicate or pray with their new made Bishop or with any Lib. 8. c. 23. in Communion with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separated themselves from them and held their Assemblies apart by themselves Nay says Olympias Pall. p. 89. who was one of the very Women to whom Chrysostome gave the Advice being first fairly sollicited and afterwards by Threats menaced to renounce John and to communicate with Arsacius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho' you should compel me never Soz. l. 8. c. 24. so much against Law and Right to come into his Communion I will never consent to doe what no pious and good Christian can warrantably do It seems to own an Intruder in her opinion during St. Chrysostom's being alive was an unwarrantable Action and unbecoming good and pious Christians and yet she was a * Pall. p. 150. Deaconess of the Church regarded and beloved by Chrysostom †Id p. 30. for her good Deeds present as hath been
Humanity or so much as our Saviour's commands whilst the Church is under such disorder can be met with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishops of Europe saith Theodorit so much detested the dealings and doings against John that they withdrew themselves from the Communion Hist l. 5. c. 34. of all those that wrought that mischief against him and with them all the Bishops of Illyrium did agree Nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though that excellent Doctor was dead the Western Bishops notwithstanding were so far from renewing Communion with the Bishops of Egypt of the East of Bosphorus and of Thrace that they would not so much as have a correspondence with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till they had entered the Name of that Divine Man into the Dyptichs of the Bishops that were dead And though Atticus one of the Intruders had often sent Ambassadors to them and as often requested the Peace of the Church at their hands yet they would never grant it till John was dead nor then neither untill he inserted his Name among the dead Bishops which being done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they from henceforth saith the same Thodorit received him into Communion and without doubt Ibid. thereby accepted and authenticated him and his Ordinations purging the Stream of Succession for the future so as that it might run pure and clean down to Posterity without taking their irregularities along with it And if so then the following instances of Maximian Proclus and the rest of Atticus his Successors will do Mr. Hody no good But grant that all which Mr. Hody and his Prefacer insâ—nuates was true that Chrysostom relinquished that Separation was contrary to his Spirit that the good Man seeing he was to be Deposed advised and charged the Bishops his Friends to keep Communion with his Deposers and not to rend and divide the Church for his sake telling them and their adherents that the Church could not be without a Bishop though it might be without him yet I pray you what would he or any other of the deprived Bishops have done under an Emperor which persecuted the Order and very Office of Bishops and would suffer no Bishops at all in the Church Put the case that the Emperor had deposed all the Bishops in one part of the Empire and had set up Schismatical Presbyters nay Pseudopresbyters who were and are professed Enemies to the Name and Order of Bishops in their place I am apt to think that John Chrysostom would not have submitted to an unjust Deprivation at such a time and by such an Emperor who had sacrificed the Order to his Interest in one part of the Empire and had no principle to keep him from doing it in the other when great and formidable numbers of all sorts would desire the deprivation and deposing of the whole Order certainly in such a case as this he would never have receded but continued his Order and Office though a thousand deaths had attended him methinks I hear him at the bare thoughts of it using the words he did when he was banished the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will the Empress banish Ep. 125. me let her banish me the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof If she command that I be cut in pieces let me be sawn asunder the Prophet Esay was served so before me Will she throw me into the Sea I remember it was the fate of Jonas or into a fiery Furnace I shall have the three Children for my fellow Sufferers If she will cast me to wild Beasts I think how Daniel went the same way to the Lions If she command I should be stoned let it be so I have Stephen the Protomartyr on my side Will she have my Head Let her have it John the Baptist lost his Has she a mind to my Estate Let her have it naked came I out of my Mother's Womb and naked shall I return thither But as for my Office I will never forsake neither shall my Order perish as long as I have a Tongue and Hands to propogate it Thus I persuade my self his zeal would have inflamed him and how tamely soever he might otherwise have sat down when the Interest of the Church was not concerned yet at such a time as this he would have resumed his courage and his power and never have suffered the Church to have been ruined for want of his assistance And so I have done with Mr. Hody as far as I am concerned with him But how he will come off for shamming the World with part of the Manuscript for the whole I am not able to guess Mr. B. in his Preface to the English Translation tells us That there was a singular providence in the discovery of it at this juncture and if there were so then I hope the Collection of Canons which both of them have concealed may have as good a Title to that singular providence and as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the discovery of it as that part hath which they have thought fit to Print It is written in the same hand and follows immediately where the Printed Book concludes and Mr. Hody as I am informed having been told of it and asked the reason why he did not publish it answered That he believed it was not written by the same Author But put the case he did believe so had it not however been much the more for his honour and the interests of truth to have published it and given his reasons to the learned World why he did not believe it to be a part of the Manuscript or that it was written by the Author of it This had been fair dealing but instead of that both he and his Prefacer wholly concealed it though the Canons carry much more venerable Antiquity and Authority with them than the examples they have Printed and are indeed of that Antiquity and Authority which to use the Prefacer's words of us we profess to imitate and pretend to alledge I shall here set them down as they are translated into English from a Copy of the Original that was sent from Oxford and when the learned Reader hath perused them he will be shrewdly tempted to guess at the reason for which many learned Men suspect Mr. Hody hath concealed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 31 Canon of the Apostles by a mistake for the 32. If any Presbyter contemning his own Bishop shall hold a separate Meeting and erect an opposite Altar having nothing werewith to charge the Bishop in matters of Piety and Justice let him be deposed as an ambitious affector of Government for he is an Usurper In like manner as many of the Clergy as shall joyn with him shall be deposed and the Laicks excommunicated But all this ought to be done after the first the second and third admonition of the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 6 Canon of the Synod of Gangra If any Man hold a private Meeting out of the Church and
despising the Church shall presume to perform the Offices of the Church * * In the Orig. It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Printed Canons have it the officiating Presbyter not being thereunto licensed by the Bishop let him be Anathema 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 5. Canon of the Synod of Antioch If any Presbyter or Deacon despising his own Bishop hath withdrawn himself from the Church and set up an Altar in a private Meeting and shall disobey the admonitions of the Bishop and will not be persuaded by him nor submit to him exhorting of him again and again he is absolutely to be deposed and ought no longer to be treated as a curable person neither as one who can retain his honour and if he shall persevere to make tumults and disturbances in the Church he is to be turned over as a seditious person to the Secular Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 15 Canon of the same Synod If any Bishop accused of any Crimes be condemned by all the Bishops of the Province who have all with one accord denounced the same sentence against him such an one by no means ought to be judged again by others but the concordant sentence of the Provincial Bishops ought to remain firm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 10 Canon of the Synod of Carthage If any Presbyter being puffed up against his own Bishop shall make a Schism let him be Anathema 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 13 Canon of the Synod of Constantinople called the first and second Synod The Devil having sown the seeds of Heretical Tares in the Church of Christ seeing them cut up by the roots by the Sword of the Spirit hath betaken himself to a new way and method viz. to divide the Church by the madness of Schismaticks but the holy Synod being also willing to obviate this Stratagem of his hath decreed as followeth If any Presbyter or Deacon under pretence of accusing his own Bishop of any Crimes shall presume to withdraw from his Communion and not to mention his Name in the holy Prayers of the Liturgy according to the Tradition of the Church * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before Synodical Judgment and Trial such a one shall be deposed and deprived of all Sacerdotal honour For he that is in the Order of a Priest and shall usurp the power of judging bâ—longing to the Metropolitanes and as much as in him lies shall condemn his own Father and Bishop before sentence pronounced by them he is worthy neither of the honour nor appellation of a Presbyter and those who are followers of such an one if they are in Holy Orders even any of them shall be degraded from his proper honour but if they are Monks or Laicks they shall by all means be excommunicated from the Church untill abhorring the conversation of Schismaticks they shall return unto their proper Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 14 Canon of the same Synod If any Bishop pretending an accusation against his Metropolitane ††〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before Synodical Judgment shall withdraw himself from Communion with him and shall not recite his Name according to custom in Divine Service the holy Synod hath decreed that such an one shall be deposed if after private admonition he shall depart from his own Metropolitane and make a Schism For it behoves every one to know his own proper bounds and that neither the Presbyter depise his own proper Bishop nor the Bishop his own Metropolitane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 15 Canon of the same Synod These decrees concerning Presbyters Bishops and Metropolitanes agree also to Patriarchs So that if any Bishop or Metropolitane shall presume to depart from Communion with his own Patriarch and shall not mention his Name in the Divine Offices as is decreed and ordered but shall make a separation * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before Synodical conviction and final condemnation of him the holy Synod hath decreed that such an one be absolutely deposed from all Sacred Orders if he offend in this kind after private admonition And these things are decreed and enacted concerning those who under pretence of any accusations revolt from their own Superiors and make a Schism ††〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Prints only and break the Vnity of the Church But if any shall separate themselves from Communion with their Superior for any Heresie condemn'd by the holy Synods and Fathers he publickly Preaching the same Heresie to the People and teaching it bare-fac'd in the Church Such shall not be only free from Canonical censure for separating themselves from Communion with the Bishop so called ‡ ‡ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before Synodical condemnation but shall be thought worthy of the honour that is due to the Orthâ—dox because they have not condemned a Bishop but a false Bishop and a false Teacher and have not divided the Unity of the Church by Schism but have studiously endeavoured to preserve the Church from Schism and Divisions From this Collection of Canons which speaks of no Deposition or Deprivation of Bishops but what is Synodical an unprejudiced Reader will easily perceive that the Author of the Manuscript of which this Collection is the latter part ought to be understood of the former not of Secular but of Ecclesiastical Deprivations by Synods abusing their lawfull power and unjustly depriving and deposing Bishops whom they ought not to have deprived and deposed And that the Author ought to be so understood is farther evident from his citing the Synods explication of their Canons as well as the Canons themselves with respect to which they tell us that notwithstanding what is said in those Canons the People and Priests may separate from their Bishops or the Bishops from their Metropolitane or the Metropolitane from the Patriarch before Synodical condemnation if they openly and publickly Preach any Heresie which is already condemned by the holy Synods which strongly implies that he thought that they were not upon any other account to forsake them unless they were Synodically condemned and that the unjust deposions he speaks of in his Treatise are to be understood of unjust depositions by Synods i. e. of unjust depositions by the proper and competent but erring Judge As great as the decay of ancient Discipline was in the Greek Church in the Age when Master B. thinks this Manuscript was written Synodical depositions though by most degenerate and corrupt Synods was still the common practice of it and Emperors still deprived Bishops by the old way of Synodical Authority as is plain from the deposition of Arsenius Patriarch of Constantinople by the procurement of the usurping Michael Paleologus of which I will here give a short account out of Nicephorus Gregoras because it caused the greatest Schism that ever happened at Constantinople but that upon the deposition of John Chrysostom and also
because it is very probable that this anonymous Treatise now published against us was written upon the occasion of this Schism The Emperor Theodosius Lascaris the second Son of Theodorus Ducas Lib. 3. by Irene Daughter of Theodorus Lascaris the first dying in the 36th year of his Age left John Lascaris his Son a Minor of six years of Age under the Tutorship of Muzalon and Arsenius the Patriarch of Constantinople But Muzalon a Man of inferior Quality perceiving he was envied by the Nobles and common People offered to resign his Trust into the hands of the Nobles convened for this purpose but they refused to let him part with his Trust and not long after with the whole Army took an Oath to him under the highest Imprecations to themselves and their Families that without any Treachery they would maintain him in the Wardship of the young Prince and reserve the Empire for him and his Posterity But notwitstanding this Oath some of the Nobles six days after set upon Muzalon in the Church and slew him and his two Brothers at the Altar whither they had fled for Shelter Upon this Arsenius very much perplexed consults with the Nobles what was to be done for the Safety of the Prince in which Consultation they chose Michael Paleologus to take the Administration upon him under the Title of Despot during his Minority After this the chief among the Nobles declare him Emperour which Lib. 6. troubled the good Patriarch exceedingly who thereupon had thoughts of excommunicating the Usurper and all his Adherents but upon farther deliberation he thought it more advisable to give way and bind both him and them by new Oaths to give Security to the Prince both as to his Life and Succession to the Throne when he should come to Age. Shortly after he had taken this security from them he was forced at the instance of the Senate and Clergy to tie the Diadem upon the Head of Paleologus with his own hands but when he did it he made him swear again that he should recede from the Government and lay by all the Regalia to make way for the Prince when he came of Age. But after this the good old Man seeing the Prince his Pupil despised retired from his Church into a Monastery and was succeeded by Nicephorus Bishop of Ephesus who died after he had enjoyed his dignity a year Soon after this Paleologus being peaceably setled in Constantinople and the Government calls back Arsenius and makes him Patriarch again upon the vacancy of Nicephorus And not long after resolving to keep the Empire for himself he persisted to marry the Sisters of the Prince to inferior persons and without any regard to humanity or his repeated Oaths he puts out the Eyes of the Prince and sent him to be safely kept in a remote Prison The Patriarch upon this excommunicates the Emperor Peleologus who in a seeming humble manner desires to be absolved from the excommunication but not being able to obtain absolution from the Patriarch he calls a Synod to meet in the Palace to try him for some pretended Crimes which he pickt up here and there against him The Synod met and the cowardly time serving Bishops strove which should be most forward in having their Patriarch acâ—used and accordingly they cited him to appear and called for his accuseâ—s but he refused to appear upon this exception that the Synod was indicted by the Emperor his open Adversary wâ—â— in effect was also his Judge Upon his non appearing he was deposed by the Synod for contumacy and upon 〈◊〉 Deposition banished by the perjured Emperor and Germanus Bishop of Adrianople the â—â—perâ—r's old Friend succeeded in his Throne Upon this a great Schism arose in Constâ—â—â—â—nople among the People who looked upon Germanus as an Usurper counting Arseâ—i◠〈◊〉 be their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or true Patriarch after deposition because he was â—â—justly deposed wherefore Germanus not being able to endure the affronts and reproacâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the people quitted the Throne and was succeeded by Josephus a Monk who dâ—◠〈◊〉 understand Greek but absolved the perjured Emperor and afterwards retired fro◠〈◊〉 See into a Monastery and during his administration there was still a strong Part◠〈◊〉 adhered to Aâ—senius and continued to do so in the time of Becus who after the deâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Lib. 5. Lib. 6. the Emperor privately withdrew from his Station into a Monastery and was succeede◠〈◊〉 Josephus the Patriarch whom before he had succeeded but still the Schism contiâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 â—ome being for Josephus Arseniús being now dead and others being against him beâ—â—◠〈◊〉 as they prttended Arsenius had excommunicated him in his life time for invadâ—â—◠〈◊〉 See while he was alive and the Parties thus contesting one with another Josephus 〈◊〉 for peace sake and partly because he was old and infirm once more retired and 〈◊〉 succeeded by Gregorius Cyprius who it seems understood the learned Greek well but â—â—â—ther was the Schism suddenly quieted in his time though I suppose this famous Manuscâ—â—â—â— had been written under some of the Successors of Arsenius to appease it and I deâ—â—â— Mr. Hody and Mr. B. his Voucher to tell us how the People of Constantinople came to â—â—pose so many Successors of Arsenius if according to the Greek Manuscript Neither tâ—â— justly deprived Bishop nor the Church ever made a separation from his Successor if he were â— Heretick What! Are they the first that did so No both these Gentlemen and tâ—â— Graeculus esuriens know better but however as he thought it might serve a turn the◠〈◊〉 write his Book so they thought it might serve a turn now to Print it and commend 〈◊〉 an excellent Tract though it is really a trifling piece written with little skill and leâ—â—â—â—â—cerity by an Author of little Antiquity and Authority in a most ignorant and coâ—â—â—â—â— Age when it was counted a mighty thing in a Greek Clergy-man to understand the learâ—â—â— Greek and the Writings of their Fathers that was written in it and when in 〈◊〉 Greek Church it-self there was a great corruption in Doctrine Worship and Discipline â—â— well as in the Morals both of the Laity and Clergy the latter whereof were of such 〈◊〉 Spirits as to court and comply with every base Vsuâ—per to get Preferment and 〈◊〉 every thing to his and their Covetousness and Ambition but their quarrels with the 〈◊〉 and the Possessions of their Church Thus much I have thought fit to say in reference to the Baroccian Manuâ—cript of 〈◊〉 I was bound to take some notice in behalf of my own Book which is taken out of best and purest Antiquity that calls for much more deference and veneration froâ— than the thing Collected by the Author of that Tract And if our New Bishops havâ— better Authorities than those they find in him to justifie and support them The Goâ— Peace and Vnity be mercifull unto them and give them Grace to consider that numbers and strâ—â—â— cannot alter the Primitive notion of Schism nor change the sinfull and direfull nature thereoâ— September 29. 1691. FINIS