the year 270 write to Dionysius Bishop of Rome and Maximus Bishop of Alexandria and all other Churches through the whole World that they had deposed Paulus and placed Domnus in his stead and this say they We therefore signifie to you that you might write to him and receive communicatory Letters from him Thus both Cornelius and Novatian when they contended for the Bishoprick of Rome acquaint St. Cyprian with their Elections who communicates the matter to all the Bishops within his Province and by that means the Election of Cornelius was approved not only by himself but by all his Collegues as he always calls them And when St. Cyprian writes to Steven Bishop of Rome to procure the Deposition of Marcian Bishop of Arles he desires when it is done to inform him who is chosen into his place that he might know to whom to direct his Letters and his Brethren significa planè nobis quis in locum Marciani Arelate fuerit substitutus ut sciamus ad quem fratres nostros dirigere cui scribere debeamus And when Fortunius the Donatist Bishop had the confidence to affirm to St. Austin that his Church was the Catholick Church and kept up the Catholick Communion St. Austin rebukes his presumption only by demanding of him whether himself kept correspondence with other Bishops by communicatory Letters And when Pope Zosimus took upon him to constitute Patroclus Bishop of Arles Metropolitan of the Province of Vienna he declares that no literae formatae or corresponding Letters shall be valid but what are sign'd by him And so Pope Vigilius when he restored the same Prehominence to Aurelius Bishop of Arles after some considerable interruption of it annexes this Authority to the See ne quis sine formatà tuae fraternitatis ad longinquiora loca audeat proficisci that no man without his Certificate ought to be own'd in Forraign Churches By all which it appears that the Power of granting Letters communicatory out of the Province was one branch of the Metropolitical Jurisdiction And that beside â—he power of summoning Provincial Councils was the only thing that he was empowr'd to do by his own single Authority For the practice of it being altogether occasional and uncertain and yet very frequent it was necessary to entrust it with some single person and for that none fitter then the chief Bishop that resided in the chief City And for the discharge of his trust he gave an account of this as well as all other parts of his Jurisdiction in the Provincial Synod that was assembled twice a year to take a review of all things that concern'd the state of the whole Province in reference to all Churches without it as well as of the Government of every particular Diocess within it And thus by this subordination of Diocesan Bishops to Provincial Synods and correspondence of Provincial Synods with each other was the Government and Discipline of every Church effectual in all Churches because no Member of one Church could be admitted into Communion with another without his Letters-Testimonial Whereby it was so order'd that whoever was admitted into one Church was admitted into all and whoever was excommunicated out of one was shut out of all And no wonder then that the Canons of the Church are so careful in this part of Discipline between Church and Church when the Efficacy of all other Acts of Discipline depend wholly upon it For if a Sentence given in one Church were not valid in every Church it was in any mans power to elude it only by slipping into the next Jurisdiction And therefore because nothing could be more pernicious to the whole Discipline of the Catholick Church then for the Bishop of one Church to receive and protect the Member of another against the Sentence or without the consent of his own Bishop for that reason it is that the Primitive Church was more watchful in that part of Discipline then any other and for the same reason 't is that I have here traced its practice thereby to direct us to the true way of restoring the effectual Discipline of the Ancient Church in Christendom Which has for many ages been with scandal and dishonesty enough utterly defeated by one single Judicatures making it self a common Sanctuary against the Jurisdiction of all other Churches And till this intolerable abuse and corruption be removed it is in vain to hope for any amendment of the poor distressed and despised Estate of the Christian Church and some men have been pleased to express it whether out of scorn or pity I know not but if the Church will crouch under such a pettifogging abuse it deserves both But by the Premisses we see that whilst the Church preserved its Original liberty it was able to preserve its Peace and Government too by observing the Canonical obligation to mutual Concord among all Christian Bishops and that was so far from being arbitrary that whoever broke the Rule was by it immediately deprived of all Trust and Authority in it And the practice of this Discipline was preserved entire and effectual in the Church till the settlement of Patriarchates who swallowed up this Authority as they did all the other Metropolitical Rights into themselves till at last the Pope swallowed up theirs And then the whole power of granting commendatory or dimissory Letters was in all Provinces entirely appropriated to their Legates This is a short account of the Polity of the Primitive Church and in it I think all things are so neatly composed for an easie a civil and an effectual Government that I may safely challenge all the great pretenders to Politiques and Framers of Common-wealths to find out a more useful or more artificial Scheme of Government But beside these great and more lasting Rules of prudence and good order they were forced to make many occasional Laws to restrain some Mens particular follies and superstitions I will for brevity sake instance only in two Apostolical Canons In the fifth Canon the Clergy of all degrees are forbid to put away their Wives upon pretence of Religion under pain first of suspension and if they persist deprivation The occasion of which Canon was the Opinion of several Hereticks especially the followers of Saturninus of whom Irenaeus reports Nubere generare à Satanâ dicunt esse that they affirm'd That Marriage and Propagation was the Devil's invention and this Opinion grew prevalent in the second Century so that Tertullian among many others was carried away with it But more especially That the Clergy were bound to leave their Wives that they might devote themselves the more entirely to Prayers Fastings and Religious Exercises the Devotions of married Persons being less pure and less acceptable to God Now to stop this Superstition as if Marriage were any way inconsistent with the Service of God this Canon was at first Enacted and is afterward Ratified by divers following Councils And the truth of it is this
Opinion of the great merit of Caelibacy was one of the first Superstitions that invaded the Christian Church and was in every Age more busie and forward than any other though I do not find that it could ever obtain the force of Law in the Eastern Church till the Council in Trullo in the year 691 by whom Bishops and no other are forbidden to cohabit with their Wives after Consecration and as that is the first Canon of this kind so is it a flat contradiction to the Apostolical Canon And though the Council endeavour to excuse it yet they do but the more grosly entangle themselves by their own Apology and instead of defending their fault confess it For when they have made the Canon they tell us that they do not intend thereby to contradict the Apostolical Canon when the very making of it is an express contradiction to it And in the very next Canon they condemn the Church of Rome for prohibiting marriage to Priests and Deacons and make good their Decree from this very Canon that equally allows it to all Orders But above all commend me to Gratian upon this Argument who when he has in two whole Chapters recited several Ancient Canons of the Church against this Superstition especially those severe ones of the Council of Gangra and last of all this last mention'd Canon in Trullo in which the marriage of Presbyters and Deacons is expresly warranted he begins his next Chapter with this general Assertion Servanda est ergò continentia ab omnibus in sacris ordinibus constitutis And then proves it by the Decrees of later Popes injoining Caelibacy as a Duty of Piety to all Orders of the Clergy But if they can thus confidently justifie their Innovations out of the Ancients by concluding contrary to their own avowed and express Sense I confess they may make good any Cause though I should think it would be much more adviseable to let fall such a Cause as can be no better way defended Another remarkable Law that was Enacted during this Interval by meer Ecclesiastical Authority was the exclusion of all voluntary Eunuchs from Holy Orders And that was made upon occasion of the Heresie of the Valesians who thought themselves bound to this severity against themselves by too rigid an Interpretation of some passages of our Saviour especially that of St. Matthew's Gospel 19. 12. And the same Canon was afterward renewed in a Synod at Alexandria against Origen upon the same account and after that by the great Council of Nice upon occasion of the fact of Leontius who being a Presbyter and very much delighting in the conversation of a young Virgin by name Eustolia and being upbraided with the scandal of using so much freedom with her to prevent that without losing her Society he made the same attempt upon himself that Origen had done for which he was deposed by the Council though afterwards he was contrary to the Canon or rather in defiance to the Council promoted by the Eusebian Faction with whom he sided to the great See of Antioch But hereby we may see the necessity of a Legislative Power in the Church without which there would be no means to restrain all the wild Conceits and Extravagancies that Superstition can blow into Mens fancies So exorbitant a Principle is it so inconsistent with the Peace and preservation of the Church so absurd so foolish and contrary to the Common Sense of Mankind that nothing ought to be imposed by the Governors of the Church but what is expresly imposed by the Word of God There are many more Examples in this Interval both of the settlement of that Polity in the Church that I have above described and of divers wise and prudent Laws made upon particular Occasions but to avoid being too tedious and yet to do the work effectually I shall confine my self to the Writings of St. Cyprian in whose time the State of the Church was brought to perfection and who I may be bold to say understood it as well as any Writer of the Christian Church either before or after his own time and who has stated the whole matter with the greatest clearness and strength of Reason and reduced it to practice with the most unblameable prudence and wisdom and therefore I shall give a more particular and exact account of his Sense of the Government and Unity of the Catholick Church both for the enlightening of some Mens minds who pretend to be so dull that they cannot understand how it should be govern'd in way of external Polity and for a proof of the exact agreement of the Church of England in its design'd Model of Reformation with this Ancient State of the Christian Church This is made much more easie at this time by the late labour of a very learned Prelate of our own in digesting his Writings that had hitherto lay not a little confused into their due and exact order of time For when we certainly know at what time and upon what occasion every discourse was written it must needs make it much more easie and much more useful then otherwise the discourse could have made it self For that Unity is a very desirable thing is agreed on all hands the only dispute is wherein it consists Some will have it to be only an Union of Faith and Charity others of External Polity so as that all Christians are some way or other United under one Government And these we may subdivide into two Parties Either those that place the Unity of the Catholick Church in a Subjection to one single Monarch Or those that set up an Obligation to a Political Unity among all Churches under several Governments So that though every particular Church or Diocess have Supreme Government within it self as to all things that concern its own State yet it is accountable to the Catholick Church i. e. to all other Churches for the Peace of the whole For though a Church may be at Unity within it self yet if it do any thing injurious to the peace of Government in any other Church it becomes Schismatical to the whole Body of the Catholick Church presuming as much as in it lies to overthrow the Discipline of all other Churches This as I take to be the true State of the Controversie so to be St. Cyprian's sense of it §. 12. And the first Principle that runs through all his Writings and lies at the bottom of all his Notions concerning Church Unity is that there is but one Episcopacy setled in the Church by Divine Appointment distributed among the several Bishops of the Catholique Church every one retaining the whole Power within his own Bishoprick as he expresses it like a Lawyer Episcopatus unus est cujus à singulis in solidum pars tenetur There is but one Episcopacy of which every one holds his own share with full Title and Possession For the word in solidum is a Law-term denoting a Plenitude of Title so that though an Estate
cause to St. Cyprian and by acknowledging a double relation or capacity in every Bishop one toward his own Flock another toward the whole Church and that is all the Political Union we contend for But Seventhly This Political Unity does not accord with the nature of the Gospel because it would bring too much Worldly State and Grandeur into the Church as appears by the Papal Monarch And that is true a Monarchical Unity would naturally bring in a Worldly Kingdom but not such an Unity as consists in the Communion of all Parts together and not in the Subjection of the rest to one part as our Author expresses it or as Mr. Thorndike often repeats it That not the infinite Power of one Church but the Regular Power of all is the mean provided by the Apostles for attaining Unity in the Whole This is the state of the Question between us and therefore all our Authors flourishes about the Papal Tyranny are nothing but flourish because it is so far from being that Catholick Unity that we own that it is the whole design of this work to prove that it is a most execrable and impudent subversion of it The 8th and 9th Arguments proceed upon the same Supposition of a Papal Monarchy The tenth upon its no Necessity against our Authors own confession The 11th and 12th because such an Unity was never in fact attain'd If he means in full perfection no more was ever any Government and therefore it is not to be required in this World but if he means that it was never put in practice so as in good measure to attain its end the whole History of the Church down to the Papal Usurpation contradicts it as appears by the whole Series of this Discourse This is all that this learned Man has alledged upon this Argument and from it the Reader I hope is sufficiently satisfied how little that has to alledge for it self for he was a person of that comprehensive mind that he never omitted any thing pertinent to his design was never in debt to any cause that he undertook nor ever fail'd that but when that fail'd him and therefore when we see so great a man able to say so little in defence of this uncatholick Assertion that is the strongest proof that we can have and perhaps stronger then any we could have had without it that it is utterly indefensible PART II. SECT I. HAving in the former Part of this Discourse set down the practice of the Church both as to the Exercise of its own Jurisdiction within it self and its entire subjection to the Civil Powers whilst it subsisted meerly upon its own Charter without any Assistance or Protection from them We are now arrived at a new state of things as they stood under Christian Emperors And here we shall find that the Government and the Constitution of the Church continued as it had ever been within it self and that the Christians when the Empire was on their side own'd the same kind of Subjection and that upon the same Principles of Duty to the Civil Government that they had ever done in the times of Persecution and when I have made good both these it will make up a compleat Demonstration both of the unalienable Power of the Church within it self and of the Sense of the Catholique Church unanimously condemning all resistance against the Civil Government in any case but most of all in the case of Religion Under Constantine the Great it is not to be doubted but that they were forward enough in their Loyalty and Obedience to his Government for all Men are for the Government when the Government is for them and therefore this part of the Enquiry concerning the Peaceable behaviour of Christians under his Reign is wholly superseded because if they did their Duty they had no motive or temptation not to do it submission to his Government being no less their Interest then their Duty and therefore it was no matter of Praise or Vertue in them if they own'd and honour'd that Power that was their peculiar Deliverance and Protection So that this side of the Controversie I shall altogether wave in this place and only consider the Ecclesiastical State of things under his Government where I once intended to have Exemplified the due Exercise of Regal Supremacy in the Christian Church from his Example First As a Sovereign Prince Secondly As a Christian Sovereign And that First In matters of Faith and Christian Doctrine Secondly In matters of Discipline and Christian Government and here particularly First Of his Power in Summoning Councils as Supreme Governor of a Nâ—tional Church Secondly Of that Obligation that he brings upon himself by becoming a Christian First To abet the Power of the Church with his own Secular Authority Secondly To endow it with a Revenue for the maintenance of the Service of God and those that attend upon it But upon more mature deliberation I thought it much more adviseable to forbear all such Reasonings and Discourses till I had first set down the whole matter of Fact as things stood not only under his Reign but all the Succeeding Emperors where we shall find Precedents enough to make up a Demonstration of all the fore-mentioned Principles But because this is the first Instance of Uniting Church and State into one Body and because this Wise and Prudent Emperor seems to have exerted his Power in both exactly according to the Rules both of Religion and Government I shall the more curiously consider the management of Affairs under his Reign whereby will be fully exemplified how this Union may be reduced to practice without any Diminution of either Power or Confusion of one with another and that will plainly demonstrate wherein consists the Original Rights of the Church in a Christian State and the due Exercise of the Supremacy of Christian Kings over all Ecclesiastical Persons Rights and Powers Now because the Supreme Power in all Government is the Legislative Power and is the thing most disputed in this Controversie I shall shew that he was so far from annexing this Power in the Church to the Imperial Crown that he expresly asserted its inherent Right and Protected it in its Exercise within it self with all his zeal and ability In that whenever he had a mind to have any Ecclesiastical Laws Enacted he never presumed to do it by his own Authority which he ever declared would have been no less Crime then to invade the Power of God himself but always referred the matter to the Bishops in Council and by their Canons he framed his Ecclesiastical Laws but never made any without or against them And that is a full and clear acknowledgement of that antecedent Authority that they enjoyed by our Saviour's appointment when he constituted the Apostles and their Successors Supreme Governors of his Church to the End of the World So that in all Changes and Revolutions of things their Government must remain unalterable and indefeasible and whatever Assistance
pretence of Electing a new Bishop of that Diocess and having chosen one Paulus a very ill man and a known Traditor they proceed to the deposition of Caecilian But before they can pass sentence against him they were first obliged to clear themselves of the Crime But upon Examination of every particular Person they all Convict one another of Guilt and absolve one another by mutual consent This being done they adjourn to Carthage summon Caecilian to appear before them but he refuses they being only a Combination of his profess't Enemies and upon it they immediately depose him for his Obstinacy and put Majorinus who was Chaplain to Madam Lucilla in his place and send their Encyclical Letters to all the Bishops in Africa to signifie that they had renounced Communion with Caecilian and all his Adherents as Traditors And this being done the people were told that Caecilian was no Church-Officer that under him they could have no true Sacraments nor enjoy any means of Salvation but were in the same forlorn condition with Pagans and Idolaters But with themselves were the pure Gospel Ordinances and all that were Members of their Church were made Holy without spot or wrinkle Amongst them the most forward of the Faction was Donatus à Casâ Nigrâ who being the first that set up a Conventicle gave name to the Schism And he having a Natural Faculty of Canting and Insinuating into the Affections of the Rabble soon inveigled so great a number into his Party that they forsook their private Meetings and built publick Churches and there inveighed openly against the Idolatry of Caecilian and the Catholicks for that is the custom of all Fanaticks to improve every thing into Idolatry bemean the miserable state of all that would not leave that to joyn with them and scare the People with perpetual Alarms of certain ruine and destruction if they will not come out of Babylon By these Arts they prevail every where and the Schism is on a suddain spread all over Africk so as not only to enflame the Church but to endanger the publick Peace About which time Constantine having vanquish't Maxentius he thereby added Italy and Africk to his Government and for the encouragement of Christianity in Africa he sends Caecilian large sums of Money to be distributed by him among the Clergy of the three Provinces and grants them immunities from all publick Burthens And about the same time the Donatists finding themselves over power'd by the Catholicks present Anulinus the Pro-Consul with a Petition of Appeal to the Emperor and though afterward when they found themselves check't by the Civil Government their great Clamour was Quid Christianis cum Regibus Aut quid Episcopis cum Palatio What have Christians to do with Kings or Bishops with the Court Yet they were as St. Austin justly upbraids their dis-ingenuity the first Christians that ever fled from the Judgment of the Church to the Civil Government Though as for this first Appeal this is to be said for them that they did not Appeal to the Emperour 's own Judgment but only Petition'd him That he would be pleased to appoint them Judges of the Cause in the Church of France because that Church having wholly escaped the Persecution the Bishops of it would be more unconcern'd and impartial Judges of the Cause of the Traditors Whereas themselves were so divided and engaged at home that it was not possible to have any fair determination in Africa And though the Request hitherto was not very unreasonable yet the Emperour was highly displeased at it out of that tender care and solicitude that he ever had for the Peace and Concord of the Christian Church But however for once he Commissions three French Bishops together with Melchiades Bishop of Rome to hear the Cause who calling fifteen other Italian Bishops to their Assistance undertake its judgment in order to which Ten Bishops of each Party are commanded from Africa to attend the Council at Rome Where three days are spent in Examination of Witnesses but the Donatists bringing no proof against Caecilian himself the Council declare him innocent And whether Faelix who Ordain'd him were a Traditor or not they would not enter into the Enquiry as altogether remote from the cause of Caecilian because though he were to be deposed by the Canons of the Church yet till those Canons were put in Execution by the Sentence of the Church all the Acts of his Office were good and valid But on the other side Caecilian plyed the Donatists so home with their own Weapon of Accusation and their foul dealings at Cirta and the briberies of Madam Lucilla that they were forced to quit the Council And yet that was so moderate in the Sentence against them that it Excommunicated none of them but only Donatus à Casis Nigris that was found guilty of divers other foul Crimes and the Author of all this mischief But the rest were invited to return to the Unity of the Church and offer'd the continuance of of whatever preferments they had in it though they had been Ordain'd by Majorinus or any others in a State of Schism §. II. But here happens such an unfortunate halt in the Story as leaves Learned Men at an utter loss what chase to follow and every one takes his own way so as that by the great variety of Opinions they have run the whole matter into confusion All which is occasioned by a Chasm in Optatus his History for here it breaks off and skips over the whole Transaction of the great Council of Arles and hearing at Milan Of which it is certain that Optatus could not be ignorant who has so accurately described all the less material parts of the Story and as Baronius argues very well Tot tantaque Concio toto Orbe a tam celebri Episcoporum conventu facta ab Imperatore Edictis publicis definita in Donatistas nequaquam Optalum proeteriisse potuerunt Things so many and so great done in so famous a Council of Bishops known all the World over and publick Edicts made by the Emperor against the Donatists could not possibly be altogether unknown to Optatus And therefore this part of the story must needs have been lost either through injury of time or the fraud of the Donatists which is most likely for there was not any one Ancient Book whose Copies were so corrupt and confused as this of Optatus as Baldwin justly complains But which way soever it came to pass this part of the story being lost and so the Transactions that hapned some years after as the Appeal of the Donatists from the Council of Arles to Constantine at Milan and his detaining Caecilian at Bress immediately following in this place they are supposed to have been done at this time though they hap'ned not till after the Council of Arles Thus Baronius having procured from Petrus Pithaeus Constantine's Letter to the Catholique Bishops upon the Donatists Appeal to himself after the Sentence
the Empire divided like a Patrimony between his three Sons but that any division was formally made by Will is an Addition of his Translator Ruffinus who indeed is the first Founder of the Story and for that reason we must pass it among his other numberless Crudities For though his Story is pretended to be nothing else then a Translation of Eusebius yet he has perform'd it after that bold and careless rate as almost to have turn'd the History into a Romance by flourishing it with variety of circumstances of his own invention And therefore where he adds any thing to Eusebius he is to be turn'd off as an Author of no Credit for no worse reason then this because he speaks without Authority for now he can have but that of Eusebius So that whatever he has given us over and above what Eusebius has given him must pass for an extravagant Dream and Vision of his own over hot Brain And such is this passage that Constantine himself made by Will the Division of the Empire between his three Sons whereas Eusebius makes no mention of any Will but only affirms in general terms and that in a Panegyrical Stile that he divided the Empire that is left it divided to his Sons as it were a Paternal Inheritance which Ruffinus has boldlytranslated liberis de successione Romani Orbis Testamento haeredibus scriptis And this bold rendring is all the ground of this Conceit for as for the Story of Constantines delivering his Will to an Arian Presbyter it looks so like an Arian Fiction and is so utterly destitute of any timely Authority that as it can deserve no credit so I cannot think it worth any Examination Especially when it is so evident that he was so far from making the Dividend between his Sons before his death that there was an intrigue after it for three Months and an half all which times his Sons took not upon them the Imperial Authority which was denoted by the Title of Augustus but kept that of the Caesars which they had before and is synonimous with that of Prince in other Empires and Kingdoms till each man took upon him the Government of his own share so that it is not improbable that the division was made among themselves as 't is expresly attested by Zozimus and Victor and shrewdly intimated by Julian himself in his Panegyrick to Constantius where he commends the Brothers for agreeing so amicably among themselves in the Division of the Empire in that they had done as the Sons of Darius of old who referred the like Controversie to the Arbitration of Friends instead of deciding it by the Sword now this prudence and moderation had been very little commendable in Constantius and his Brothers if every mans lot had been before-hand legally settled and determin'd by their Father at least their reiterated Commendation for agreeing so fairly among themselves in sharing the Empire shews that it was their own Act and Deed and not their Fathers settlement Though after all the most likely conjecture is that every man kept that part of which he was in possession as Vice-Roy at his Eathers death for it is certain that at the time of his death the Government of the Empire under him was shared among them after the same manner as it ever after continued and therefore it was but a chance that the eldest Brother succeeded in that part that came from the Grandfather in that he then happened to be the present Vice-Roy of it and it is but a lavish conceit that some would Collect from the Panegyrick of Eusebius that he succeeded to it as Heir of the Family whereas Eusebius affirms nothing more then that the eldest Son had that part that came from the Grandfather but upon what account it was allotted to him he says nothing and therefore it is most probable that as he succeeded not by right of Inheritance for there was no such thing at that time in the Roman Empire and if there had he must have inherited his Fathers Empire as well as his Grandfathers so neither by Will or Testament for then his Father had dealt very unkindly by his Eldest Son to leave him but a younger Brothers Portion viz. one half of the Western Empire and that the worst too the Transalpine Provinces but meerly by the Casual Title of Possession which he was forced to accept of because his Younger Brothers would part with none of their demeans and therefore which way soever the Lot was cast he was so dissatified with his own division that he invaded his younger Brothers Dominions Italy and Africk but perisht in the attempt So that though he was a friend to the Orthodox Faith yet he lived not long enough to do it any considerable Service only he recall'd Athanasius from banishment speedily after his Father's death in that he subscribes his Letter to the Alexandrians commanding his reception by the name of Caesar which must be within the three Months before the division and that shews the forwardness of his zeal in the cause Though Sandius the Arian that would be if he knew what it meant is here so impudent as to tell us thut upon the death of Constantine Athanasius immediately returned to Alexandria without any Warrant from Authority and is so shameless or rather stupid as to cite for it those very Chapters in Socrates Sozomen and Theodoret where the Princes Letters by which he was recall'd with all expressions of kindness are Recorded and this is to prove that he return'd to Alexandria in contempt of that Authority by which he was banisht and thâ— these Letters are so full of respect and honour to Athanasius yet this modest Man blushes not to set down the Prince that sent them for a Patron of Arianism I find strange dealing with the Records of the Church by all Factions that will not or dare not be honest but this Man 's whole story is nothing better then a meer blot dasht upon them all and yet because his Tale though it be as dull as false is cross to the received Opinion of the Church from the Council of Nice to this very day it is embraced as a great and weighty discovery and the silly Scribler Canonised among the Wits and the Worthies of this discerning Age and therefore though whoever he was he be a very contemptible thing of himself yet because he has got the Authority of a fashionable Vogue I am forced all along as I proceed in this Story to expose his want of common Sense as well as common Honesty only to let the unlearned Scepticks of the Age see by what woful Dunces they are cheated out of their Religion And next to insorming them of the real Truth of things I take this way of checking their pride and folly to be the best method to reduce them to Sobriety But to leave this Pedant and return to my Story Upon the death of Constantine the younger the whole Western Empire
where himself has not apparently determin'd us by an antecedent Countermand And such cases can rarely happen whilst the Primitive Constitution of the Christian Church is any where preserved and at least it is clear that this was the case of the Eusebians who raised so thick a dust against what was determin'd by the Authority of the Church only because they supposed the determination unnecessary and imprudent but what then and granting it were so it was not unlawful unless it had expresly contradicted something that was necessary But that themselves had not the confidence to pretend and if they had not then it is plain that they ought not to have quarrell'd with it but to have quietly submitted to it though not for its truth yet for the Peace and out of respect to the Sacred Authority of the Christian Church And that would have saved and prevented all that Turmoil that they brought both upon it and the Empire too for so many years only to persist in a peevish and at best a needless animosity against its Legal and Canonical determination §. XI But to descend to particulars Athanasius being arrived at Alexandria with all expressions of joy from the People and settled in the quiet possession of his See the Eusebians return to all their old Arts of undermining his Peace and Settlement And to this end they deal with all the three Emperors to have the Sentence of the Tyrian Council Executed upon him But all in vain for both Constantine and Constance are better informed of the Plot and acquainted with the whole Train of the Eusebian Villanies though Constantius his Ears are wholly possess 't by his Women Eunuchs and Courtiers as his Character is too truly and shrewdly set down by Ammianus Marcellinus Uxoribus ac spadonum graâ—ilentis Vocibus Palatinis quibusdam nimium quantum addictus ad singula ejus verba plaudentibus quid ille aiat vel neget ut assentiri possint observantibus That he was too much over-ruled by his Wives his Courtiers and the Effeminate Addresses of his Eunuchs that watch't to admire and flatter every thing he said and whether it were wise or foolish applaud it But these were only Tools and Instruments placed about him by Eusebius of N. comedia to be managed for his own ends though the first Opportunity that he could seize to compass his long'd-for design upon the Deposition of Athanasius was given him by the Solemnity of dedicating the great Church at Antioch that was founded by the Emperor's Father and finisht by himself at which were present Ninety Bishops which Meeting Eusebius craftily turn'd into a Council and in it deposed Athanasius And in truth it was but high time to seise the advantage for the year before they had as craftily referred the cause to Julius Bishop of Rome to which Judgment Athanasius had according to the constant simplicity and assurance of his own Conscience submitted himself But the Eusebians finding that after they had told their Story there all their tricks were too well understood and that they could not avoid a very shameful bafle move for a general Council of Eastern and Western Bishops to be assembled at Rome And now the Western were accordingly met where Athanasius attended in Person and whither his Enemies were summon'd by virtue of their own Appeal to appear to make good their Charge against him but Eusebius the grand contriver of all mistrusting the cause takes this advantage of the Meeting at Antioch and puts an end to the Appeal to Rome and the Western Bishops by passing the final Sentence upon him at home But by what subtilty they got it to pass the Council is not easie to discover and it is commonly apprehended from the supposed Authority of Julius Bishop of Rome that the intrigue was managed only by Thirty six of the whole number that was in all Ninety but this mistake is founded meerly upon a false Translation of Julius his Words viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Baronius and they that follow him understand of the Votes of Thirty six Bishops only whereas it signifies Thirty six days Journey as Valesius renders it Quia viginti sex mansionibus And that is Julius his proper reproof of the Ordination of Gregory that it was not done at Alexandria as the Canons required but at Antioch which was Thirty six Mansions or so many days Journey or nights Lodging from Alexandria And of this use of the Phrase Valesius alledges many Parallel Passages in the Writers of that time and then the sense of the whole Passage runs clearly thus I pray you who acted most against the Canons We that upon such convincing information received the Man Athanasius to Communion or you that at Antioch that is distant Thirty six days Journey from Alexandria choose a Stranger Gregory to be Bishop of that City and place him in his See by Military force So that from this Passage rightly Translated there is no ground of supposing any either stealth or division of Votes in the Council neither is there any need of it in that for any thing we know the greatest part might either be Eusebians or Orthodox But whatever they really were they all at least pretended to be Orthodox for the Eusebians themselves did not only quit but Anathematise the Arian Heresie as 't is evident from all the four Creeds that were framed in this Council in which they detest and Anathematise all the branches of it particularly in the last which they sent as the result of all to the Emperor Constans We Anathematise all those who say that the Son existed out of nothing or out of any other subsistence and not out of God himself or that there was a time when he was not And yet for all this express declaration modest Mr. Sandius boldly tells us That this Council expresly denyed the Eternal Generation of the Son of God But beside this Council of Antioch all the Councils under Constantius that are commonly accounted Arian till the last that over-reach't him against his own Opinion have as fully and clearly condemned Arianism as the Nicene Council it self It is true they could not digest the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but otherwise as for the whole Scheme of Arianism they have in all their Creeds Anathematised it with all clearness and fullness of Expression And therefore it has been but a vain dispute that has been so long agitated about the Authority of this Council in particular St. Chrysostom when he was kept out of his Bishoprick by virtue of a Canon made in it pleads that they were Arians who made it And for the same reason they are rejected by his Patron Pope Innocent the first Pope but with what design we shall see in its proper place otherwise the Council has been universally received in the Catholick Church St. Hilary himself reckons it among the Anti-Arian Councils and the Canons of it were received into the Code of the Canons that
was collected before the Council of Calcedon and have ever since been received both by the Eastern and Western Churches till Baronius and the late Romanists endeavoured to bring them into disgrace for the Affront that they had given to Pope Julius in rating of him so severely for intermedling with their Affairs For thô that transaction is one of the main passages that they insist upon to make out the Authority of the Popes Universal Pragmaticalness yet there is scarce a fuller Testimony against it extant in the Records of the Church For when he takes upon him to act out of his Province in giving Absolution to Athanasius they charge him with a violation of all the Laws of the Christian Church and tell him that when Novatus was condemn'd by his Predecessors the Eastern Church would never receive the Schismatick to Communion and therefore challenge him how he dares make so bold with the Discipline of the Christian Church as to reverse any of their Decrees and they afterward proceed so high in the Quarrel as to Excommunicate his Holiness for his uncanonical Presumption and to signifie their Sentence against him by an Encyclical Epistle to all the Bishops of the Christian World which no doubt is a very likely thing if his universal Supremacy had been then as well known and as much talkt of as these Men would make us believe when as it is not in the least challenged or any way intimated by Julius so is it denyed by the Eastern Bishops as an utter overthrow of the known Discipline of the Christian Church And whereas he cited them to appear before the Council at Rome that was by virtue of their own voluntary Appeal when they had refer'd themselves and their Cause to that Council for it was summon'd only at their Request and importunity Now after all this that was done purely to gratifie themselves first wholly to baulk and decline the Council and then whilst it was Sitting and the Cause depending that they had put to reference to pass Judgment upon it themselves was such a piece of foul dealing as is not to be endured in common Conversation And that is the very thing that Julius himself charges upon them in Answer to their objection against him for intermedling with their Affairs not that they affronted his Supremacy but that when they had put him to the trouble of summoning a Council and while the matter was under Examination they should put such a slur upon it as meerly to steal away the cause that themselves had seem'd so much concern'd after so many Contests to refer to its final determination And in truth the whole business was so involved by the Craft of Eusebius from the time of the Tyrian Council that Athanasius which way soever he turn'd to clear his Innocence found himself insnared by the Canons themselves For as he was deposed in Council so he could not be Canonically restored but by Council and that is it they press upon him notwithstanding the Emperour's Restitution in that though he had power to call him from banishment yet he had none to take off the Censure of the Church And the Plea had held good if there had not been so much and so exorbitant Villany at the bottom though by it we may see by laying one ill Action for a Foundation what a vast Pile of Dishonesty may be built upon it For granting the Sentence of the Tyrian Council to be good as it would have been had it not been so enormously base Athanasius was which way soever he moved catch't in the Canons and therefore in all his Pleadings he is so wise as to refer his whole Cause to the Acts of that Council and that at last got him the Victory by making known their Villany But granting them Valid his Restitution by the Emperour was Canonically void as to any exercise of his Episcopal Function and that was the point that they urged to the Emperour Constantius in order to his Second banishment but fearing lest if he should make enquiry into the whole matter all their Forgeries should come to light they carry their Cause a great way off as far as Rome and that with a mighty shew of fair dealing and ingenuity on their part that they were so far from desiring any partial Judgment that they would refer it to Judges utterly unconcern'd and therefore send it into the other Empire And now when this was done with so much plausibility Eusebius all on the suddain huddles up a Council at home and dispatches the business before the Council at Rome could publish their Sentence and by that trick he very artificially ensconst himself and his Cause in a new Quarrel that would engage one half of the Christian Church on his side For now it was become the Quarrel of the Eastern Church against the Western because when they had sentenced a Cause at Antioch what power had they to reverse the Decree at Rome This must be an Invasion of the Liberties of the Oriental Church and no less then an Attempt to bring them into subjection to the Western Bishops and thus were they all drawn in by this Crafty Man to back his own Quarrel And therefore it is observable that this Cause was ever after managed by this very pretence and it was the very Complaint of the Eusebian Bishops that parted from Sardica and sat at Philippi against the Sardican Council that they endeavour'd to introduce a new Law that the Eastern Bishops should be subject to the judgment of the Western And thus by this Artifice did this subtle man remove his Tyrian Villany out of the sight and then he might go forwardwithout fear or danger for nothing else but the discovery of that could ever expose himself ruine his Cause and defeat his Malice But the most cunning Stratagem of all was that at the same time that they proceeded with so much seeming Christian Severity against Athanasius they either Enacted or Ratified so many excellent Laws of Discipline that yet were but so many Snares to Athanasius and his Friends after his Tyrian deposition especially the fifth eleventh and twelfth In the fifth it is decreed that if a Presbyter refuse to Communicate with his Bishop he shall after three Admonitions be deposed forever and be punisht by the Civil Magistrate as a Seditious Person a very good Canon in it self but at that juncture of time it was only a Rod for the Orthodox Clergy of Alexandria who the Eusebians too well knew would peremptorily refuse all Communion with their new Bishop Gregory that was thrust upon them by this Council and a Military Force in the place of Athanasius their true and lawful Bishop In the eleventh and twelfth Canons all Appeals from Ecclesiastical Censures to the Emperour are strictly forbidden under pain of Deposition and it is farther provided that if any Bishop be Synodically deposed he is not to be restored but by a greater Synod of Bishops This reach't Athanasius to the
taken into Protection by the first Christian Emperours knowing how much it will endear the Church of England to Your Majesties Royal Care and Kindness when you discern its exact conformity to the first Constitution in all things but its Suffering And now I cannot pray for more happiness to Your Sacred Majesty then they comprised in a Collect for their Heathen Emperours under all the Storms and Outrages of Persecution That Almighty God would grant You a Long Life a Quiet Reign an Undisturbed Family Valiant Armies Faithful Councellors and Loyal Subjects That all things may fall out as successfully as Your Royal Heart can desire That Your Empire may ever increase and flourish And that the Lineal and Legal Succession of Your Royal Family may inherit Your Imperial Throne through all Succeeding Ages Which is the daily Prayer of Your Majesties Most Humble and Dutiful Subject S. P. The Contents § I. THE Introduction representing the seeming difficulty of the Argument from the niceness of the Controversy it self from the partiality of the Writers engaged in it and from the just jealousy of Superiours about it and yet nothing more easy to determine to the Satisfaction of all Parties concern'd and particularly to the advantage of Soveraign Powers Pag. 1. § II. Christianity supposes the power of Princes Our Saviour disclaims all Temporal Authority and all exemption from it to those that have it To pretend to any such thing by any grant from him is to renounce him and turn Mahumetan Christ as he is Head of his Church is subject to Sovereign Powers pag. 10 § III. The Power of Princes over the Church supposes the Power in the Church it is no Spiritual but a Civil Power over the Spiritual to deny the Authority of the Church in all Ages is to take away our Saviours own Authority all the several branches of his Commission to the Apostles proved against Mr. Hobbs to be Authoritative pag. 34. § IV. No Church-Power but what is conveyed from the Apostles by Ordination The Supremacy of Princes is the same whether Heathen or Christian Princes neither gain nor loose any Power by their Christianity Mr. Hobbs that he may destroy the present Power of the Church is forced to take away our Saviours own Power over it in this present World pag. 56. § V. The danger of a competition between these two Powers wholly avoided by the Churches Power being founded upon the Doctrine of the Cross. The Doctrine of the Cross explained pag. 65. § VI. The Rights of Sovereign Princes secured and improved by divers particular Laws of the Christian Institution The folly of limiting the obligation of these Laws to such Governours as govern by Law demonstrated against Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Baxter pag. 77. § VII Submission to the worst of Princes proved much wiser and much more advantageous to the Interest of the Subject then the liberty of Resistance or Rebellion in any case whatsoever Barclay's Concession of its being lawful in any case shewn to be an inlet to the subversion of all Governments in all cases pag. 109. § VIII Those that are trusted by our Saviour with the Government of his Church are tyed by him to a particular and exemplary submission to Civil Authority They are not forbidden the exercise of power but the haughty and insolent use of it The Church of England consists not in its Laws but in its Authority to Act Laws pag. 126. § IX The Primitive Churches practice of Passive Obedience No Canons against Rebellion because it was then never committed The Church careful to secure all mens civil Rights Canons to secure the Rights of Masters over Servants The Doctrine of Universal submission taught in the Greek Church by Policarp Justin Martyr Athenagoras Theophilus Origen and Dionysius of Alexandria p. 140. § X. The same Doctrine taught and practised in the Latin Church by Irenaeus Tertullian Minutius Foelix St. Cyprian It was not lawful for Christians that were banish't for their Religion to return home without leave of the Government To say this Doctrine was then taught because they wanted strength is to call them Knaves and Villains The blasphemy of the Independants in justifying their Treason by pretending to Inspiration from Heaven This done by John Goodwin and J. O. pag. 153. § XI The strictness of Government in the Church kept up to the height all this Interval notwithstanding their entire submission to the power of the Empire The necessity of a Legislative Power to the Being of a Church The Government and Discipline of the Primitive Church exemplified from the Apostolical Canons pag. 169. § XII The State of the Primitive Church collected into one view out of the Writings of St. Câ—prian with an account of the birth growth and death of the Novatian Schism His first Principle of Unity is the duty of Communion with the Bishop in every particular Church pag. 198. § XIII His second Principle of Unity is the Obligation upon all Christian Bishops to keep up correspondence and Communion among themselves pag. 227. § XIV Mr. Thorndike's Notion of the Unity of the Catholick Church by way of External Polity vindicated against the Objections of Dr. Barrow and the Doctors Treatise concerning the Unity of the Church confuted pag. 236. Part. II. § I. THe Concurrence of the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Power under the Reign of Constantine the Great in the Cause of the Donatists and Arians An account of the History of the Donatists from their beginning to the Council at Rome under Melchiades pag. 265. § II. A Chasm discovered in Optatus from the Council of Rome till after the Council of Arles The Sentence of the Council of Arles against the Schismaticks Their Illegal Appeal to the Emperour His resentments of it The Forgery of Ingentius against Foelix of Aptung discovered Constantine's Sentence against them at Milan without accepting their Appeal pag. 285. § III. Constantine's Proceedings against them But forced to grant them Liberty of Conscience upon his War with Licinius Their insolence upon it Their Case parallel with our present Schismaticks pag. 300. § IV. A Character of Donatus the Great and his Circumcellians Their behaviour towards the Emperour's Commissioners Their Flatteries of Julian pag. 307. § V. Their divisions and subdivisions among themselves Their Outrages and siding with Gildo the African Rebel Their disingenuity publickly exposed both by the Emperour and the Church The Imperial Laws against them and their great Efficacy Liberty of Conscience again granted them upon the Invasion of the Goths pag. 316. § VI. An account of the Conference at Carthage before Marcellinus The Donatists design in procuring his Murther The Faction forever broke by the effectual execution of Laws against them under Honorius p. 333. § VII The History of Arianism from its beginning to the end of the Nicene Council Eusebius of Caesarea and Petavius vindicated from suspicion of the Heresie Eusebius of Nicomedia and his Faction no Arians p. 348. § VIII After the Council
of Renouncing his Saviour for so does every one that denies his distinct Authority and takes it to himself So inseparably is the right of Governing the Christian Church annexed to the Apostolical Office by virtue of our Saviour's Divine Authority that to take it from them and place it any where else is open Rebellion against the Soveraignty of God himself Thus far have I consider'd the wild Consequence of that Opinion that gives all Power in the Christian Church to the Civil Magistrate and shewn not only that it gives them what no Prince was ever so Extravagant as to challenge a Power to Administer the Sacraments a Power to Ordain Ecclesiastical Officers a Power to do all those Offices that are known all the World over to be proper only to the Ecclesiastical Function but withal that it apparently takes away all Authority from our Saviour himself And this in the Conclusion of all I must say for Mr. Hobbs that though he sticks not to own all these bad Consequences he affirms no more then what he is forced to by his first Assertion and whoever gives the proper Ecclesiastical Power to the Civil Sovereign if he will not own Mr. Hobbs his Consequences must quit his own Assertion And this I shall prove in its proper place upon all the followers of Erastus that will not acknowledge any form of Ecclesiastical Government settled by Divine Right they must Renounce their Christianity and be Baptized into the Church of Leviathan §. V. And now having avoided these two dangerous extremes one whereof destroys our Government and the other our Religion upon the supposition of the Truth of the Premisses there are and ever must be in all Kingdoms and Common-wealths where Christianity is Entertain'd and Protected two distinct Jurisdictions so as that if we confound them both together or that either invade or intrench upon the other it is as much as our Christianity is worth and the wrong either way will light at last upon our Saviour's own Authority For if the Priest challenge any Temporal Jurisdiction as derived from our Saviour beside the violation of the Rights of Sovereign Powers he directly affronts his Masters own Government and in effect disclaims it For his Kingdom is purely Spiritual and he becomes our Lord and Saviour by virtue of his Supremacy over it and therefore to pretend to any Power of another Nature from him as head of his Church is the thing that I charge with turning Christ into Mahomet and forces upon him in spight of his own Protestation against it a Temporal Dominion Which is such an abuse of his Institution and such a contradiction to his whole Design that to call him Impostor would not be a greater Blasphemy For this implies no less then that under pretence of such a Religious and Innocent design of erecting a Kingdom but not of this World he really intended no other Design then to advance an Universal Empire over all the World and all the Sovereign Powers of it And on the other side if a Sovereign Prince shall assume to himself the Exercise of that Power that is peculiarly vested in the Governors and Officers of the Church and so take upon him the sole Government of it as such instead of Governing the Church he destroys it when every Church as a Church is capable of no other Government then what was delegated to the Apostolical Office by our Saviour's own special Commission after the full settlement of the Rights of Sovereign Princes So that after this for them to take it to themselves is to act not only without but against our Saviour's own express Commission when he has so particularly appropriated that Power to another Order of Men. Neither is it only an encroachment upon our Saviour's own Authority but an assuming of it to himself In that the Prince thereby Challenges the Supreme Government of our Saviour's Kingdom without any Commission from him and then has it by virtue of his own Title and not of our Saviour's Grant and then is our Saviour plainly turn'd out of his Kingdom and another seated in his Throne Now this being the true State of the Christian Church the grand difficulty that follows upon it and that has hitherto so much puzled most Men in this Debate is the danger of Competition between two Supreme Powers For if they happen to contradict each other as of later time they have too often done who shall over-rule If a man obey his Prince contrary to the Prescription of his Spiritual Guide he may endanger his Soul if he obey the Bishop he disobeys his Prince and thereby forfeits his Neck to Justice This Knot is thought so difficult that instead of untying it it is generally cut asunder and the competition avoided by denying the distinction Thus the Romanists that are the high flying Assertors of Ecclesiastical Power unanimously confine all the Power of Sovereign Princes to things Secular and take away all Authority from them in matters Ecclesiastical And on the other side the greatest part of those that Assert the Royal Supremacy deny any Jurisdiction at all in Ecclesiastical Officers making their whole Function meerly Ministerial or nothing but a right to perform and administer the Offices of the Church but as for any Power or Jurisdiction in it they have none but what is granted by the Civil Magistrate But both these run into all the fore-mention'd ill Consequences the first by denying the King's Supremacy over all things within his own Dominions The second by denying our Saviour's Supremacy over his Catholick Church in all places by which he has every where settled a Power in his Deputies distinct from the Power of Princes so that either of these Extremes howsoever minc'd and stated still carry us upon the same Precipice Though this difficulty becomes so much the more nice because of the more Ancient Possession of Sovereign Powers in that before the Institution of the Christian Church they govern'd their Kingdoms without Competitors and therefore have reason to be jealous of this new Authority as an encroachment upon their old Soveraignty For whereas before the setting up of this the whole and sole Power within their Dominions was in themselves now they seem to enjoy but a kind of divided Empire and see another erected in it backt by no less Authority then the immediate and miraculous Power of God himself and that is greater then the greatest Power upon Earth so that by it they seem not only to be rivall'd but over-topt in their Authority That is that Providence that had hitherto made them Supreme under it self within their own Dominions seems hereby to introduce a Superiour Power over their Heads by his own more immediate Institution All which seems to be an unavoidable contradiction to the first Principle that I have laid of a Christian Church that it makes no alteration or abatement of the Rights of Sovereign Princes But all these difficulties as big and as dreadful as they may
of the Primitive Church where we shall find the whole matter so fairly and so easily accorded that it is next to a miracle how it should ever be made so great a difficulty in these later times But it hapned in this as it did in most other things at the time of the Reformation that men saw themselves wrapt up they knew not how in woful Errours and Corruptions but did not and indeed as the World then stood could not immediately discover the true original state of the Church as it was at first setled by our Saviour and his Apostles and received into protection by Constantine and the Christian Emperours So that though they had Eye-sight enough and God knows very little would serve their turn to discern the follies and abuses of Rome they were at a loss how to fix the right Reformation and for want of the ancient Records of the Church that lay buried in dust and rubbish at that time could make but slow improvements in it So that before the true state of the Church could be clearly and fully discover'd most of them were setled in some way or other and after any new settlement it is very difficult to make any Alteration and therefore they continue in their first posture to this day But the Church of England at the very first Attempt resolving to reform it self by the Example of the Primitive Church and having the good fortune to retain the Apostolical form of Episcopal Government in subordination to the Royal Power set it self in a right way to Reformation And so as the state of things came to light by degrees brought its work to some competent Perfection For the Reformation of the Church after such an inveterate degeneracy must needs be a work of so great bulk and difficulty that it is an unreasonable thing to expect that it should be finisht at the first stroke So great a design as that must be a work of time and consideration to be reviewed and amended as the Master-Workmen shall find most convenient So as that they who had a Power first to begin it have an inherent right when ever they think fit to take an account of their own Work and if they find any flaws mistakes or defects in it to make them up by an after-care So that there must be a constant Power residing in the Church to enact or abolish Laws as it judges most serviceable to the present state of things And that is truly and properly the Church of England the Governours of it acting under the Allowance of the Sovereign Power by its establisht Laws and Constitutions with a constant power residing in themselves and their Successours to enact new Laws as they shall judge most beneficial to the Edification of the Church And it is a very crude notion of the Church of England as common as it is that it is to be found in its Canons Articles and Constitutions for that is only the Law and dead rule of the Church of England but the Church properly so call'd consists in its living Authority as setled by our Saviour by which these Laws were at first enacted and are or ought to be still executed and may in some cases be alter'd And that is the great difference between the Law and the Authority of the Church that one is alterable and the other is not The Authority of the Church may make new Laws and cancel old ones but that lasts the same for ever So that for men to talk of this or that Church without a particular form of Government setled in it by our Saviour's own Commission is to turn the Christian Church into a Chimaera and imaginary state of Fairies But as for the Church of England according to the design of its Reformation it consists of a National Synod of Bishops together with a select Convocation of Presbyters representing the whole Body of the Clergy in subjection to the Sovereign Power and in communion with the Catholique Church all the World over as far as it can be attain'd And this is contrived so agreeably to the Primitive Platform the Interest of Government the Nature of Christianity that there is little else defective in it then the honesty and the confidence to own it self and put its own Constitution into effectual practice But of that I shall discourse in its proper place §. 9. At present for the practice of the Primitive Churches Government within it self and as it related to the Civil State it must be consider'd in the two Periods before and after the Conversion of the Empire and by comparing the true face and posture of things in these two so different states we shall have an exact description of the Rights of the Church in all estates and conditions whatsoever But most of all of its easy complyance with the Rights of Civil Government in Christian States and of the safest way for Christian Sovereigns to govern and protect the Church within their Dominions without invading its inherent and unalienable Authority And then last of all I shall compare that Royal Supremacy that is acknowledged and asserted in the Church and Realm of England in Causes Ecclesiastical with the sense of the Ancient Church concerning the Authority of Emperours and with the Practice of Christian Princes in the Exercise of this Authority And by shewing their compleat Agreement shall from that Topick distinctly prove that we have in this as well as in other matters attain'd a good degree of Reformation First as for the Period of time before the Conversion of the Roman Empire there are two things to be consider'd first their behaviour towards the Civil Government whilst it supprest and persecuted the Christian Faith Secondly the exercise of their own Authority within themselves From both which it will appear that the Church as a Society founded by Christ challenged a Jurisdiction distinct from and Independant upon the Civil State and that this Jurisdiction was so far from interfering with or abating of the Sovereignty of Princes that it bound them to the strictest Allegiance and Subjection to the most inhumane Persecutors And the Story of this Interval whilst the powers of the Church and the World were separate and indeed as much as it was possible opposite will set before us a much clearer State of the Nature and Extent of the two Jurisdictions then we can have from the Practice of Christian States in which the two Powers concurring in the same Acts of Government it is not altogether so easie to discern their distinct influences but will withal give us the fullest Character of true Christian Loyalty from their practice under the hardest usage and severest persecutions But most of all from their Principles upon which they founded their Obligation to their Practice and when it appears upon what grounds and reasons they submitted to the utmost cruelty of the Civil Government that will prevent the common shift made by all Factious Parties against the Authority of their Example
viz. that they submitted for want of strength to make resistance because it will shew that they thought themselves obliged to suffer any thing from the Government rather then resist by the most Sacred and indispensable Laws of their Religion And first as for their Patience and Submission under all kinds of Cruelties and Oppressions it is so remarkable so entire so without reserve or exception that if it were possible the height and glory of their practice exceeded the Gallantry of their Masters Precepts And though they were eminent for all other Vertues yet in this of patience cheerfulness and magnanimity under sufferings they out-did themselves It was the hight and perfection of all their goodness it was the wonder and astonishment of their Enemies and the glory and if any thing could be so the very boast of their Religion Numberless are both the Instances of this Practice in the Records of the Church and the Assertions in the Writings of the ancient Doctors of it to own and justifie their Obligation to it But to transcribe them would be an endless work and would take up the greatest part of the Records of the first three hundred years that are for the most part employed about these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius stiles them these peaceable Wars of Martyrs and Confessors It is enough that in all that time there is not one instance of any Christians making any forcible defence or joyning in any Sedition against their Governors Though if there had been any miscarriages in that kind that could have been no objection against the truth of the Doctrine it self which is to be taken from the general Practice and Sense of the Church not from the irregularities of a few private persons And yet so far was it from that that to me it looks like Wonder and Miracle that among all the Primitive Christians who lived under Pagan and persecuting Emperors till the time of Constantine the Great which takes in the Interval of three hundred and forty years there should not be one instance of any one Christian that either taught or practised the Doctrine of resistance in any case whatsoever but that on the contrary they unanimously both taught and practised the Duty of Passive Obedience as one of the greatest and most indispensable Laws of their Religion And first as for the publick Records the Canons and Laws of the Church the case is the same here as that of Parricide in old Rome the Crime was so unknown and so unsuspected that no Provision was made against it For among all the Canonical Decrees and Censures of the Ancient Church which were all enacted to restrain some present miscarriages there is not one to be found that forbids or punishes the Sin of Resistance to Lawful Superiors The Christians of the Primitive Church were so firmly fix't in their Duty here by our Saviour's and his Apostles Precepts and by the constant Instructions and Unanimous Sense of their Pastours and Teachers that they supposed that they could not make any resistance to the most unjust violence of their Persecutors without renouncing Christianity it self And that is the reason why this Crime was then never restrained by Ecclesiastical Censures because it was then never committed And though there are scarce any other Sins for which the Church has not appointed proper Penances because they were some time or other put in practice yet the sin of Rebâ—llion was the only Crime for which it had no Penance because there never was any one instance of it to give any â—ccasion for a Law against it Nay so far was the Church from doing any thing prejudicial to the Rights of Sovereign Powers that it was careful and tender of the Interests of Families in pursuance of its Fundamental Principle that Christianity was to make no alteration in any Civil Rights whatsoever And therefore in the 82 Apostolical Canon it is provided That no Servant be admitted into Holy Orders without his Master's consent because as they give the reason of the Law that would be a subversion of Families And for that reason it was made one of the Articles framed against St. Chrysostom by his Adversaries in the Synod under the Oak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he had Ordain'd other Mens Servants before they were set at liberty And in the third Canon of the Council of Gangra it is Decreed That whoever teaches Servants to forsake their Masters upon the account of Religion be Anathematised This Synod of Gangra was assembled against a particular Sect of Fanatiques in Armenia that under the pretence of a more refin'd and spiritual Religion became perfect Ranters and Levellers and so subverted all Rights both Sacred and Civil as they are excellently described in an Epistle of the Bishops of the Synod to the Bishops of Armenia prefixt to their Canons and among the many other disorders into which these wild Enthusiasts â—an themselves this was one that they taught Servants to run away from their Masters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the pretext of Godliness which as well as all their other absurd Principles is here justly and as Zonaras observes in pursuance of the Apostolical Doctrine Anathematifed These are all the Canons that I know of in the Ancient Church that concern Mens Civil Rights so rarely were they invaded or violated among the Primitive Christians but the first Canons that I meet with against Rebellion were the three Anathema's of the Council of Toledo in the year 633 When the Romans being driven out of Spain by the Goths and they being settled in the peaceful Government of the Country after the death of Cinthilas who first obtain'd the Crown and the Peoples consent to it Sisinandus his Son summon'd this Council in the first year of his Reign to Anathematise all Persons that should any way attempt any thing against his Crown Life or Dignity But this was meerly contrived for the security of his Government against the Romans and to preserve his new Subjects from Revolting to their old Masters and was not made to condemn the Doctrine of Resistance as if it had been taught at that time but to abet their Oath of Allegiance and for that reason the Anathema upon the Offender is founded upon the sin of Perjury The next passage that I remember to provide against all Rebellion is the fragment of a Synod held by Alexius Patriarch of Constantinople under the younger Constantinus Porphyrogenneta who began his Reign in the year 975. In which all defections from or insurrections against the Emperour are Anathematised and so is the Priest that gives absolution to any Rebels before they return to their Duty and Allegiance The occasion of this Law I know not but whatever it was I know no other of the same nature till the Hildebrandine Apostacy whose barbarous proceedings against the Emperour Henry the Fourth were immediately censured and condemned by a Council of Thirty Bishops assembled at Brixia in the year 1080 and
to their demands and justifie them in their Schism because they dissent not from her in any matters clearly reveal'd which alone the Church has Power to impose and to charge the Church of Tyranny for daring to impose any other conditions of Communion then what are imposed by Divine Authority An excellent way of accommodation this in behalf of the Church of England to condemn her whole practice of illegal and unwarrantable Usurpation and allow the Pleas of the Dissenters just and reasonable And what is worst of all to take away all Government in the Church for ever and the Church it self too when it is evident from common sense that it can never subsist without a Legislative Authority within it self but that I shall have occasion to discourse of more copiously hereafter when I come to shew what injury is done to the Church of England by these false Principles of accommodation I shall at present content my self with proving it by experience and representing the particular Laws made by the Ancient Governors of the Church from time to time to secure and provide for its own Peace and Tranquility And by it I shall make good these three considerable Points First the great Authority inherent in them and independent on any Civil Power Secondly their great wisdom in the use and exercise of it for by the particulars it will appear that they generally acted upon wise and prudent reasons And thirdly the absolute necessity of it when we shall see by the Example of every age that there is no way of preserving any manner of Peace in the Church without it And to begin with the first Decree made by the Apostles themselves to accommodate the contrary prejudices of Jews and Gentiles If they had obliged the Gentiles to comply with the whole Law of Moses that would have look't like an attempt to bring them under the old intolerable Bondage and tempt them rather to renounce Christianity then submit to such a grievous Yoke And if they had wholly exempted them from the Mosaick Law that would have as much endangered the Apostacy of the Jews thinking that they should thereby have renounced the God of the Law for it was not easie to every capacity to distinguish between rejecting the Law and the Lawgiver And therefore to satisfie and avoid the prejudices of both Parties they agreed To lay no greater burthens then these necessary things that they abstain from Meats offer'd to Idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood Where by things necessary it is plain that they mean things necessary at that time and place for that they were not so in all times and places is evident not only from the direction of their Synodical Epistle to the particular Churches of Syria and Cilicia but from their not imposing the same Decree upon other Churches that were not in the same Circumstances In the Churches of Syria and Cilicia that confined upon Judaea the Jews were very numerous and therefore to avoid offending i. e. tempting them to renounce the Christian Faith it was requisite to make it a standing rule to them at that time that all Christians abstain from the Oblations to Idols and that would wholly prevent their great fear of Idolatry But on the contrary because the Church of Corinth consisted chiefly of Gentiles the same rule was not made peremptory and universal to them but they were left to their own liberty to eat Meats offered to Idols as they judged most consistent with Christian prudence and charity as they are directed by their Ghostly Father St. Paul This is all that I can make of that great Council and though they were endued with the Holy Ghost yet they proceeded by no other Rule then common prudence and discretion And if they had taken the same method that our Schismatiques and Pacificators would oblige the present Church to to search for a determination of this casual dispute in their Masters own Laws I doubt they would have been very much at a loss to have found any thing like such a decree amongst all his Precepts And yet there was as much reason that they should refer all Acts of Government to be determin'd by his own express Decree as that their Successors should refer them to theirs But next to this Apostolical Synod the Apostolical Canons are the greatest and earliest Demonstration of the Legislative Authority of the Christian Church being compiled by their next Successors in the second and third Centuries by which we understand the true settlement of the Church as the Apostles left it for all the Canons relating to Government are no new Laws but only declarations of old Customs so that though they were not Apostolical Laws they were true and early Records of Apostolical Customs and by them the practice of Church-Government was so entirely setled that they were ever after the Rule and Pattern to the determinations of following Councils And most of the chief Canons both General and Provincial were only Ratifications of these old Decrees to recover their just Authority when any of them had been neglected or violated or additional provisions in pursuance of their general design in new particular Cases For which it seems every Age found matter enough to suppress some Mens extravagant and wanton fancies and it was the new rising of Schisms and Heresies that gave occasion to enacting all the Laws of the Church But these Apostolical Canons being as it were the Institutes or Magna Charta of the Ecclesiastical Laws and being withal enacted in this Period of time that we are now in by pure Ecclesiastical Authority I shall give a brief view of them to let the Reader see the exact Model of the Primitive Church as reduced to practice and brought to perfection by the Apostles and their immediate Successors In the first place therefore because nothing has so great an influence upon the welfare of the Church as the setting up good and wise Governors over it great care is taken against rash Ordination of Bishops so that though every Bishop has an inherent Right in himself to conveigh his own Authority to another yet is it here fixt and has remain'd so through all Ages as a standing Law to the Church that every Bishop be Consecrated by three Bishops at least or two in cases of necessity Now though this Rule has been observed and practiced in all Churches over all the World and is so highly useful to the good Government of the Church by not entrusting a matter of such weight to the discretion of a single Person yet I believe it will be a very hard task to find any thing like a clear Precept requiring it in the Holy Scriptures So apparently repugnant is the principle of the Projectors of Accommodation against unscriptural impositions to the very first Law that was made in the Christian Church after the Apostles and if they pleased it might as well be used to take away this prudent Practice
be divided into two parts yet both inherit their own share in solidum and so if two Men be bound for the same Debt if they are bound each Man in partem they are obliged to pay but half share but if they are obliged in solidum either of them is bound to pay all And this is St. Cyprian's State of Episcopacy that though many share the Authority yet every Bishop has as full possession of his own share within it self as if there were no other Seeing as he elsewhere expresses it a Parcel of the Flock is allotted to the care of its particular Pastor which every one is bound to guide and govern and to account to God for the discharge of his Episcopal Office Neither was this his singular Notion but the unanimous and settled Sense of the Ancients Thus the Author of Clement's Institutions brings in the Apostles Writing after this manner to all Christian Bishops We being all gathered together have written to you this form of Catholique Doctrine For the Confirmation of you to whom is entrusted the Catholique Episcapacy of the Church This was the entire Sense of all Ignatius his Epistles which suppose the full Jurisdiction of every particular Church to be placed in the Bishop and his own Clergy So Tertullian It is necessary that so many great Churches should be that one and first derived from the Apostles from whom all are derived and therefore they are all but one and yet several Apostolical Churches So all the Ancient Canons inhibit every single Bishop even the Metropolitan to intermeddle in anothers Diocess upon pain of Deposition Neither is this Supremacy of Power in every Bishop any abatement of the just Rights of Metropolitans For in the Primitive Church as I have shewn in a former Treatise Metropolitans had no Power over inferiour Bishops but in conjunction of the Synod of the Province So that it was the Synod not the Metropolitan that had the Superiour Power over every single Bishop And it is evident that he was as liable to the Sentence of the Synod as the meanest Bishop of the Province as appears from the case of Paulus Samosatenus and Metropolitans considering their number were as often censured and Deposed as other Bishops And this is the reason of St. Cyprian's so earnestly disclaiming the Title of Episcopus Episcoporum because though his own Metropolitical Jurisdiction were of great extent yet as a single Bishop he had no Superiority over any other Bishop no Authority to punish his Misdemeanors to receive Appeals from his Sentence or to order and rectifie any thing within his Diocess All such Power was to be exerted only in Synodical Conventions in which he had the Honour and Authority of Presidency but the Jurisdiction was seated in the Body of the Council without whose concurrence had he presumed to do any thing more then any other Bishop his least punishment had been certain Deposition This was the real State of things in the Ancient Church and Metropolitans never took upon them any Power over their Collegues or Brother-Bishops by their own single Authority till after the Papal Usurpation neither then did they challenge it as Metropolitans but as Legates to the Pope and that was one of the highest branches of the Usurpation But before that time the Governours of the Church were not more watchful against any one thing then that one Bishop should not claim any power over another Now this Principle being first laid That the whole Episcopal Authority is vested in every Bishop the next that is consequent upon it is That whoever separates from the Communion of his Bishop or sets up another against him is a Schismatick and this was the Subject of almost all his Epistles concerning the Restitution of the Lapsi or such as fell in time of Persecution For they according to the Ancient Discipline of the Church were not to be received into Communion but by these degrees First they were to Petition to be admitted to Penance and that upon confession of their fault was granted and then having undergon the Penance imposed they made a publick Confession of their Crime before the Congregation and upon that they received Absolution by the Imposition of the hands of the Bishop and Câ—ergy and after that they were admitted to the Holy Eucharist or Full-Communion But instead of this solemn severity of Discipline some of his own Presbyters had been so rash as without the consent of their Bishop to give them entire Absolution and admit them to entire Communion This was the opening of that unhappy Schism that afterward created so much trouble both to himself and the Church of God For when these Presbyters had so illegally restor'd those Enormous offenders they prevail'd by their Importunity upon the good Nature of the Martyrs and Confessors to intercede for their Restitution it being an Honour and Prerogative allowed them in the ancient Church to admit Sinners more easily to repentance upon their Request because they had by the constancy of their sufferings compensated for the scandal that the others had given by their Fall But instead of interceding for their admission to Penance these well meaning men move St. Cyprian for their complete Absolution without it to which he replies that they who had with so much courage and devotion kept the Faith of our Lord ought to be as â—areful of keeping his Law and Discipline †Epist. 16. per totum But yet he is willing to excuse them not only because they did it out of ignorance of the Laws of the Church and out of modesty being meerly overcome by the importunity of others but because they proceeded no farther than only to intercede with him in whom they acknowledge the Power and Authority of granting Absolution whereas the Presbyters had subverted all the Order of the Church by presuming upon it without him These slighting that dignity and respect which the Martyrs Hi sublato honore quem nobis beati Martyres cum confessoribus servant contemptâ domini lege observatione quam iidem Martyres Confessores tenendam mandant ante extinctum persecutionis metuÌ„ ante redituÌ„ nostruÌ„ ante ipsum pene MartyruÌ„ excessum communicent cum lapsiis offerant Eucharistiam tradant Confessors care fully observed despising the Law of God which those Good Men required to be kept before the fear of Persecution is over before our Return before the very consummation of the Martyrs themselves communicate with and give the Eucharist to the Apostates And therefore at the begining of this Epistle in which he so candidly excuses the Martyrs he reproves the rashness and disorder of the Presbyters with more then usual warmth and vehemence of Expression What Punishment Quod enim periculum non metuere debemus de offensâ domini quando aliqui de Presbyteris nec Evangelii nec loci sui memores sed neque futurum domini
is the very establishment of this Polity for a duty or obligation common to several Societies supposes one Government common to them all to which every Society is accountable for the discharge of its Duty Every passage that recommends Union among the Members of that Body of which Christ is Head is an express Command to this Duty for he is Head of the Catholique Church and the Catholique Church is his whole Body and therefore particular Churches are only Members of it and therefore as such they are obliged by such Precepts to keep the Unity of the whole If our Learned Author mean that this Communion was not establisht between all Churches in the Apostles time I will grant it because it was impossible that it should till the settlement of Christianity in the World was brought to some perfection and till then such a Confederation in Discipline could not be established in all places For some of them travelling into remote Parts and Founding Churches there such distant Churches could not keep up any common Discipline among themselves for want of convenient Correspondence But as far as this design could be put in practice it was pursued by the Apostles keeping Peace and Unity among all Neighbour Churches But Thirdly The Fathers make the Unity of the Church to consist only in the Unions of Faith Charity Peace not in this Political Union First suppose they do yet if a Political Union be necessary to preserve those other Unions that must be implyed in them But Secondly What Fathers make it to consist only in those Unions Does any Father affirm that there is no other Union in the Church but only of Faith Charity and Peace that were to the purpose but because they sometime speak of those Unions to conclude that they affirm that there is no other only shews a miserable scantiness of proof and yet beside this the chief Passages that he alledges out of them refer to this Political Union His first Instance of the Church of Rome's refusing to receive Marcion to Communion because he was Excommunicated by his own Father the Bishop of Sinope a small Diocess in Pâ—ntus is the most remarkable Precedent of this Unity of Discipline that he could have pitched upon in all the Records of the Ancient Church for if they were â— bliged not to admit him into Communion in one Church when he was Excommunicate in another then they were under some Law of Government common to both how else should the Church of Rome be obliged to put in execution a censure of the little remote Church of Synope And yet too without this obligation the Discipline of the Church would be utterly defeated for what had become of that if it had not been of force at Rome and every where else as well as at home And of the same nature is the known and famous case of Synesius who when he had Excommunicated Andronicus and his Companions requires of all Bishops in the World not to receive them to Communion under pain of Excommunication as dividing that Unity of the Church which Christ has appointed Though this was only for the greater caution for though he had not given this notice they were all obliged under the same penalty of Excommunication not to admit them to Communion without their Bishop's Certificate or Communicatory Letters and as long as that rule was observed which was till the time of the Usurpation the Discipline of every particular Church was without any trouble effectual in all Churches all the World over But to return to Marcion the reason says our Author why the Roman Church refused Communion to Mercion when he was Excommunicated by his Father was because his Father and they were of one Faith and one Mind And let it be the reason if he pleases for what can follow thence then that Unity of Faith obliges to Unity of Discipline And that too is expresly enough infer'd in the following words which he has omitted We cannot i. e. we ought not to act contrary to our fellow Minister But after all we need only refer this whole matter to our Learned Author 's own decision who has given his judgment of it in these words It is a rule grounded upon apparent Equity and frequently declared by Ecclesiastical Canons that no Church shall admit into its Protection or Communion any Persons who are Excommunicated by another Church or who do withdraw themselves from it And this he proves by the Canon of the African Fathers against Appeals to Rome by the proceedings against Marcion by St. Cyprian's repulse of Maximus and Novatian and Cornelius of â—aelicissimus by the punishment of Dioscorus who was deposed for it and by the Mandate of Synesius to all Christian Churches against Andronicus And what can we desire more then this That as this Rule was a standing Law of the Christian Church so it was grounded upon apparent Equity and such Laws are Obligatory all the World over because their Violation is apparent Iniquity in short it was no Arbitrary Rule but such an one as was its own obligation by its own intrinsick Goodness and Usefulness As for our Authors Passages out of Tertullian they do him as little Service as this Precedent of Marcion For they expresly assert this Unity of Discipline in the Catholique Church We are one Body by our agreement in Religion our Unity of Discipline and our being in the same Covenant of hope What can be more evident then that he makes the Unity of the Christian Body to consist in an Unity of Discipline as well as of Faith And to the same purpose are all his other Passages out of the Ancients that from the Unity of Faith in all Churches infer this Unity of Discipline as is obvious to any one that will but peruse them The Fourth Argument is only a Repetition of the two first and therefore is already consider'd And so is the fifth viz. That this Unity could not comport with the Apostolical State of the Church when Christian Churches were founded in such distant places as could not with convenience correspond That is to say it was not reduced to practice till it was practicable and that I must acknowledge it was not in all places till after the Apostles but as far as it could be obtain'd it was carefully observed from the beginning The Sixth Argument taken from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or liberty of particular Churches to govern themselves I have answered in the foregoing Discourse by shewing its Consistency with its Subjection to the Catholique Church because as our Learned Author here very well observes The Peace of the Church was preserved by Communion of all parts together not by the subjection of the rest to one part But the truth is in prosecuting this Argument he has not only answered that but all the rest by confessing the absolute necessity of this Political Verity so that without it Christianity must have perished by referring the judgment of the
against them at Arles and divers other Papers relating to that Council because in Optatus they immediately follow the Council of Rome he has thrust them in there to the great confusion of the story as if they had been done immediately after that Council when they ought to have been placed after the Council of Arles And this is evident enough from the words themselves that immediately follow the Sentence of Melchiades Sufficit ergo Donatum tot Sententiis esse percussum Caecilianum tanto judicio esse purgatum tamen Donatus appellandum esse ab Episcopis credidit Ad quam Appellationem Constantinus Imperator sic respondit ô rabida furoris audacia sicut in causis Gentilium fieri solet Appellationem interposuerunt Now beside that this Answer of Constantine is certainly known to have been made upon their Appeal from Arles the Tot Sententiae against Donatus here mentioned could not be till after the judgement of that great Council for before that there was but one Sentence against him viz. by the small Council at Rome and therefore these Appeals from so many Judgments and so great a Judicature as Optatus speaks of must have been after the Council of Arles And that puts an end to the dispute among Learned Men when the Donatists first Appeal'd to the Emperor from the Episcopal Judgment whether after the Council at Rome or not till after the Council at Arles Baronius Binius Petavius Labbè and others will have the first Appeal to have been from the Council at Rome because it immediately follows so in Optatus But this is confuted by Valesius a Man learned and curious with many pregnant passages out of St. Austin expresly attesting that the Donatists only complain'd against the first Council at Rome but Appeal'd from the second at Arles And their different behaviour towards these Councils is every where so carefully remarked by him that the Testimonies cannot be avoided But then the Learned Man knows not how to bring off Optatus but by leaving him under an enormous mistake of Memory applying that which was done after the Council of Arles to the Council of Rome or by some defect and corruption in the Copies which he only suspects without assigning any ground or reason for his suspition But if he had only a little consider'd that the whole Story of the Council of Arles is omitted in the Books of Optatus and that this Passage of the Appeal to Constantine relates to divers Sentences which could not be till after the Sentence at Arles he could not but have easily seen where lay the defect of the Copies To which might be added that this defect reaches not to the Council of Arles alone but to some part of the Council of Rome for whereas that consisted of a double Sentence the Absolution of Caecilian and the Condemnation of Donatus the latter part is wholly wanting in Optatus and immediately after the Sentence of Absolution follow the words Sufficit ergo Donatum tot Sententiis esse percussum c. From all which it is put past all doubt where lyes the breach of the Copies and how far it extends viz. From the absolving Sentence of Caecilian at Rome to the Appeal of the Schismaticks from the Council at Arles And this being observed the story runs smoth and clear that has hitherto been so confused and involved as to be thought to report the same Appeal from both Councils though it is evident that it can agree but to the last Now this one difficulty being overcome our Passage after it will be easie and pleasant all the rest of the story lying in its due and proper order And what effect the Sentence of the Council at Rome had upon the Schismatiques we have a distinct account in the Emperors own Letter to AElasius or rather AElianus his Praefect of Africa For whereas we might reasonably have expected that they should have acquiesced in the Authority of so fair so grave and so gentle a Sentence they return home exasperated with rage and swoln with insolence raise new Tumults perpetually tease the Emperor with fresh Tales and Complaints against Caecilian and represent him as utterly unworthy of any Office in the Christian Church And when the Emperor replies that this was all in vain with him because the whole business had been so fairly determin'd by fit and unexceptionable Judges they cry out That their cause had not a legal Tryal that the Council was packt that the proceedings were clancular and the Judgment partial The Emperour such was the clemency of his Nature and his tender care of the Peace of the Church condescends to their importunity and Summons the famous Council at Arles of a much greater number of Bishops and more unknown to each other as coming out of the distant parts of Christendom to review the Decree of the Council at Rome This Council meets in the year 314 where the Schismaticks repeat their old Stories against Caecilian but without any other proof then Popular Report raised by themselves and therefore were not only condemn'd by the Council but rejected with scorn and derision And to prevent the like attempts of Forgery for the time to come they make Canons to suppress that general way of Accusation as Canon the 13th they Ordain That no Man shall be Convicted of having been a Traditor by bare Testimony but by publick Acts and Records and if any Man from that time be so Convicted that then he shall be degraded from his Holy Orders but if before his Conviction he have Ordain'd any that his Crime shall be no prejudice to the validity of his Ordination And Canon the 14th they Decree That whoever falsely Accuse their Brethren as the Schismaticks had Caecilian and Faelix should not be received into Communion even at the hour of death which was the severest Sentence in the Christian Church This shameful overthrow makes great numbers of the Schismaticks quit the Faction and reconcile themselves to their Bishop But the more stubborn and Seditious are not ashamed to Appeal as it is their first Appeal in the Council it self to the Emperor and this is signified by the Council to him by Letter to know his farther will pleasure From whence it is evident that the Emperor himself was not present in Council as 't is commonly supposed and Baronius Binius and most of the Roman Writers are so civil to him as to excuse his presence though a Lay-man because the controversie was not about any matter of Faith but a particular matter of Fact concerning Caecilian And it is agreed among them that of all such matters Lay-men are as competent Judges as Bishops But however that may be and what Right Sovereign Princes have of sitting in Council whatever the matter of Debate may be I shall discourse in its proper place It is certain here that the Emperor was not present in Council because they signified their proceedings to him by Letter which if he had been
and cancell'd the Acts of another Bishop against his own Presbyter and endeavour'd to engage the Approbation of the whole Church to his irregular actings that was apparently setting up an open Schism in the Christian Church And so Alexander represents it in his encyclical Epistle and loads Eusebius with the violation of the Apostolical Canon viz. the 33d which injoyns that no Clergy-man Excommunicate by his own Bishop be received to Communion by another But Eusebius being a man of a proud Spirit regards it not neither was this his first breach of the Canons having skipt out of one Bishoprick into another which is there severely forbidden and he was the first man that I know of who was guilty of that boldness against that Sacred Law of the Church but instead of desisting from his Schismatical proceedings endeavours to spread the Schism as far as he could and his Letters fly abroad every where to engage the Bishops to his Faction by which means he being then a great Man and a Favourite of the Emperour the Court then residing at Nicomedia all the Bishops in the World were in a moment engaged on one side or other not upon the account of Arius but Eusebius whose Pride and Ambition was the only cause of all this confusion this so alarms Constantine that he dispatches away his great Favourite Osius of Corduba with his Letters to Alexandria if it were possible to allay the heats of both Parties Though Baronius is very earnest in it that Osius was first sent by Pope Silvester as his Legate into the East to Constantine by whom he was arm'd with Letters to Alexandria where he wrought great wonders by vertue of his Legantine Authority And in this the Cardinal is very vehement and often repeats it with extraordinary assurance though there is not the least intimation of it in all the ancient Historians who make not any mention of the Pope in all this business but impute the whole transaction to Constantine's own care and management Now the Scope of the Emperors Letters was to perswade and exhort them wholly to lay aside the Controversie as nice and unnecessary and not of weight enough to deserve a determination Though as Sandius tells the story the Emperour lays the blame of all upon the Bishop but this not only without any Authority but against the express words of the Letter that equally blames them both for their too much curiosity about a vain Question as he calls it And as for the Letter it self I shrewdly suspect it to have been the contrivance of Eusebius of Nicomedia who was very intimate with the Emperour and impos'd upon him all along in this whole Affair I am sure the Scope of the Letter is exactly agreeable with Eusebius his whole carriage in this Controversie which was not to have it determin'd either way but only silenced as an over curious speculation I know indeed that he is on all hands represented as a Ring-leader of the Arian Faction but it is a mistake that has brought confusion upon the whole History and made the Arian Heresie seem of a much greater extent then it ever was whereas Eusebius and his Party were no less Enemies to the Arians then to the Orthodox and yet it was they that all along made the greatest shew and noise in the Contest And as for the Arian Faction it was wholly supprest by the Nicene Council and all the Tumults that were made after that are owing to the Eusebians who were as forward as the Orthodox to anathematize the Arians but then they must have the Decree of the Nicene Council reverst and what work they made about it we shall see when we come to the Reign of Constantius all whose Persecutions of the Catholicks were meerly raised by these mens wise indiscretion and had it not been for their unseasonable tampering prudence and moderation the Arian Heresie could never have lift up its head more after the Nicene Council But to return to Constantine who finding the Contest too hot at Alexandria to be allayed by the mediation of Hosius and withal the flame too far spread into other Churches to be quench't by one mans industry he resolves upon a General Council to compose this and some other spreading Controversies particularly that concerning the time of Easter which though it had slept ever since Pope Victor began now to raise new heats in several parts of Christendom The Council being met at the time and place appointed he entertains them with an Oration exhorting to Peace and Unity but neither prescribes nor commands any thing only desires them to examine things impartially and by their Authoritative determination of the present Controversies to settle the Peace of the Church forever as appears not only from the Tenour of the Speech it self and the Emperours behaviour in the Council but from the challenge of St. Ambrose to Valentinian si conferendum de fide sacerdoâ—um debet esse ista câ—llâ—tio sicut factum est sub Constantino augustae memoriae principe qui nullas leges ante praemisit sed liberum dedit judicium Sacerdotibus If there be a consultation about the Faith that is the work oâ— the Priesthood as it was managed under the Emperor Constantine of Glorious Memory who prescribed no Laws beforehand but allowed freedom of judgment to the Bishops And the Council being fairly left to the free use of that Authority that thev had received from our Saviour they proceeded as fairly in the Exercise of it And in the first place The Acts of the Council at Alexandria against Arius are produced and the interposition of Eusebius in his behalf inquired into whereby it appear'd which side had actâ—d according to the Laws of the Church and the Arians are after a fair hearing with very little Debate condemn'd by the Unanimous Vote of the Council though Sandiuâ— affirms from no Authority but his own that they would not so much as hear Arius his Arguments much less Examine them But though the Council agreed in the Subscription to the Orthodox Faith yet the Eusebians for a time refused to subscribe to the Anathema against the Arians because they did not think them so bad as they were represented But here again our honest Arian Historiâ—grapher tells us from Eutychius and other Oriental Monuments i. e. Modern and Barbarous Arabick Pamphlets that there were above 2000 Bishops present at the Council and that all exceptingonly 31â— which was the full number of the Council according to all the true Records voted for Arius but that Constantine himself over-ruled the whole business by violence and force of Arms. And then whereas the Emperor to abet the Decree of the Council commands the Arian Books to be burnt and especially Arius his Thaleia upon pain of death and banish't some of the Arians into Illiricum this Sandius is not ashamed to say was done by the Authority of the Council it self and withal that the Bishops