third of Greek Words and Phrases either worthy of Observation or such as that Author hath used in a particular Sence If those Index's were Compleat and Correct they would be undoubtedly very useful but they are neither There is a great many Faults in the Numbers and the Sence of Clemens is often mis-represented in them That Passage of Job There is none but is polluted is referred to the 25th Chapter of his Book whereas 't is in the 14th There is in the Index Peccato originali infectae omnium animae corpora 468. d. On the contrary Clemens confutes that Opinion in that place but Sylburgus or another who made that Index in all probability thought of what Clemens should have said in his judgment rather than what he did really say There is besides a Fourth Index before the Book which contains a Catalogue of the Authors cited by Clemens but the Pages in which they are cited being not marked 't is altogether useless 'T were to be wisht for the Common-wealth of Learning not only that Kings were Philosophers or Philosophers Kings but also that Printers were Learned Men or Learned Men Printers and that we might see again the Age of the Manutius's and Stephens to give us good Editions of the Writings of the Antients and make that Study more Easie which is Difficult enough of it self without encreasing the Difficulties by our own Negligence The Life OF EUSEBIUS Bishop of Caesarea THE same Reason that induced me to give the Publick the Life of Clemens Alexandrinus obliges me to give an Account of that of Eusebius of Caesarea It will be so much the more Curious to those who cannot consult the Originals because there happened more Remarkable Things in Eusebius his time than in Clemens's and because the former was in a Higher Station than the latter Eusebius was born in Palestine and perhaps at Caesarea at least * Ap. Socrat l. 5. c. 8. he seems to intimate in the beginning of his Letter to the Christians of that City That he was Instructed in the Christian Faith and Baptized there He was Born towards the End of the Third Century though we cannot find exactly the Year of his Birth He began early to apply himself to Learning especially to Divinity as it sufficiently appears in his Writings wherein may be seen that he had carefully read all sorts of Profane Authors and that all the Writings of the Christians who wrote in Greek and those of the Latin that were translated into that Tongue were known to him He had the advantage of the curious Library which the Martyr Pamphilius his particular Friend had collected at Caesarea It s affirm'd * Hieron Epist ad Chron. Heliod Antipater Bostrencis in Concil Nicaen II. Act. 5. That being become Bishop of this City he entreated Constantine who passed through it and who had bid him ask some Favour in behalf of his Church that he would permit him to make a search into all the Publick Registers to extract the Names of all the Martyrs and the Time of their Death However he has committed Faults enough in Chronology as Joseph Scaliger and a great many other Learned Men have observed and especially in relation to Martyrs as Mr. Dodwel has lately shewn in his Dissertation de Paucitate Martyrum But it was no easie Matter to escape these kind of Faults in such a Work as his Ecclesiastical History which was the first of that sort that was ever undertaken the Primitive Christians taking no care of the History of their Times Eusebius is commonly call'd the Son of Pamphilius Whether he was really his Son as some affirm or his Nephew according to the Opinion of others or in fine as most believe by reason of the great Friendship between them This Pamphilius was of Beryte in Phoenicia and Priest of Caesarea he held Origen's Opinions for whom he wrote an Apology of which there remains to us but a part of it in Latin among the Works of Origen and St. Jerome He made it in Prison where he was put in the Year 307 under the Emperor Decius and where Eusebius did not forsake him He could write only the five first Books having been hinder'd from finishing * Phot. Cod. CXVIII this Work by the Death which he sustered for the Gospel two years after he had been thrown into Prison But Eusebius finish'd it in adding thereto a sixth Book and publish'd it after his Death Pamphilius had for Master †Id. Cod. CXIX Pierius Priest of Alexandria who likewise suffer'd Martyrdom and was also of Origen's Opinion whose Assiduity and Eloquence he imitated which got him the Name of Second Origen It 's not amiss here to relate the Judgment which Photius makes of his Works He advances several things says he remote from those which are at present establish'd in the Church perhaps according to the Custom of the Antients Yet he speaks after a pious manner of the Father and the Son excepting that he assures us that they have Two Essences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Two Natures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using the words Essence and Nature as it appears by what precedes and follows in this Passage for that of Hypostasis and not in the sence of the Arians But he speaks of the Holy Spirit in a dangerous and impious manner for he attributes to him a Glory inferiour to that of the Father and the Son Yet he was Catechist of Alexandria under the Patriarch Theonas who was Consecrated in the Year 282. Pamphilius being dead as has been said Eusebius retired to Paulinus Bishop of Tyre his Friend where he was Witness as he tells us * L. 8. c. 6. himself of several Martyrdoms the History of which he has left us in his Book of the Martyrs of Palestine From thence he went into Egypt where he found the Persecution yet more violent and where he was thrown into Prison But this Persecution having ceased he was set at liberty and a while after elected Bishop of Caesarea after the Death of Agapius It 's not certainly known in what Year this Election was made but at least he was already Bishop when Paulinus dedicated a stately Church in the City of Tyre which he had built there which was in the Year 316 in the 10th of Year Constantine's Reign for it was the Custom of the Christians * Ant. Pagi Diss Hypat par 2. c. 3. n. 12 13. as well as of the Pagans to Consecrate their Churches in the time of the Decennales of the Emperors or of any other Solemnity Eusebius recites a fine Oration spoken at this Dedication †L. 10. c. 4. and though he does not say that it was he himself that spoke it yet the Stile of this Oration and the modest Manner after which he mentions him that made it gives one reason to believe that he has supprest his Name only through Modesty One might imagine that he was then but Priest were it
him wherein he criticizes his Work and three others which he entituled Of Ecclesiastick Theology wherein he establish'd the Opinions which he thought Orthodox touching the Divinity and refuted those of Marcellus and divers other Hereticks Marcellus was afterwards * Socrat. l. 2.20 Sozom. l. 2. c. 29. re-establish'd in the Synod of Sardica because he affirmed his Expressions had been mis-understood and being an Enemy to the Arians he insinuated himself into the Friendship of Athanasius who perhaps was surpriz'd by the equivocal Expressions used by Marcellus It 's certain that if we may judge of him by the Fragments which Eusebius cites he scarcely knew what he would say himself or else he conceal'd his Opinions under obscure terms lest he should fall into trouble After that Athanasius had been sent into Exile †Id. l. 1. c. 27 sec Arius had returned to Alexandria but his Presence being likely to cause a Disorder by reason of the great number of those who followed the Sentiments of Athanasius the Emperor recalled this Priest to Constantinople and to assure himself entirely of his Belief of which the Orthodox still doubted he offered him the Nicene Creed to sign which he did without ballancing and moreover swore he was of that Opinion A report ran that he had hid under his Arm a Writing which contain'd his Opinion and that he barely swore he believed what he had wrote but there is no great certainty to be expected in what his Enemies say of him Perhaps he thought like Eusebius of Caesarea that one might give to the words of the Creed a sence which amounted to his Sentiment although he wisht they had made use of other terms What the Fathers of Nice said more than he consisting in something absolutely incomprehensible perhaps moreover he counted that for nothing However Alexander Bishop of Constantinople refused to receive him into Communion although the Emperor had ordered him to do it and a great number of Bishops and of the People urged him to it Besides this the Arian Bishops were preparing to hold a Council to examine afresh the Question agitated at Nice and had mark't a day in which they were to meet to discourse about it and to conduct Arius into the Church maugre Alexander In this Extremity knowing not how to maintain his Refusal History tells us that he shut himself up in a Church called Peace and set himself very devoutfully to pray to God not that he would convert Arius or that he would discover to himself the Truth but That if the Opinion of Arius was true he himself might not see the day set apart to discourse of it Or That if his own Belief were true Arius who was the cause of so great Mischiefs might be punisht for his Infidelity A Prayer so little charitable and whence might be seen that this Bishop was more concerned for his Reputation than the Truth fail'd not of being heard seeing that the next Morning which was Sunday or the same Day at Night as Arius went to the Church accompanied by those of his Party or in some other Place for the Historians vary in passing by the Market of Constantine he had so great occasion to go and ease himself that he was forced to betake himself to the common Privies where instead of finding ease he evacuated his Bowels and thus died suddenly Since that time Passengers were commonly shewed these Places of Easement and no body dared sit down on the same place where Arius sate 'T is said that a rich Arian to abolish the memory of it bought afterwards this Place of the Publick and there built an House It 's thus that Rufinus Socrates and Sozomen relate the last Events of the Life of Arius But St. Athanasius says that having * In Epist ad Seraptonem having been recalled by the Sollicitations of those of his Party he offered his Confession of Faith to the Emperor and swore that he did not believe any thing After which those that protected him would introduce him into the Church at his going out of the Emperor's Palace but that he died as hath been said without having been received into Communion A †Valesius learned Man is of Opinion in this matter That the Arius who was received into Communion at Jerusalem was a Priest of the Party of the famous Arius and not he himself who had already died out of the Communion of the Church Because without this it must be said that Athanasius has been mistaken But were it granted him that this Bishop was mistaken in speaking of a Man whom he every moment o'erwhelm'd with Injuries it cannot be found strange especially not having been at Constantinople then when what he relates must have happened One may further say that Athanasius has related by way of abridgment and little exactly what he had heard say of Arius and that he regarded him as an excommunicated Person having been only received by a Council whose Authority Athanasius would not acknowledge it consisting principally of Persons whose Opinions had been anathematized at Nice It is far more natural thus to interpret this Passage of Athanasius than to reject wholly as false an History so circumstanc'd as that of the later years of the Life of Arius in respect of certain Facts which the Historians we have already cited had no interest to alter Arius being dead apparently of a sudden Death which may have given occasion to the tragical manner in which the Historians mention it the Disputes started on his occasion died not with him * Sozom. l. 2. c. 31. Those who were of Athanasius's Party at Alexandria besought of God his return in the Publick Prayers and ceased not to importune the Emperor to make him be recalled Constantine was obliged to write to the People of that Town a Letter wherein he upbraided them for their Lightness and Folly and enjoyns the Ecclesiasticks to remain quiet and wherein he declares he would not recall Athanasius whom he treats as a Seditious Person and one who had been condemned by a Council He answers likewise to Anthony the Hermit That he could not slight the Judgment of the Council of Tyre because that supposing some among the Bishops were Passionate yet it is not probable that so great a number of Wise and Learned Bishops should all of them act by Passion and that Athanasius was an Insolent Proud Troublesom Follow Constantine wrote these Letters but a little time before his Death which happen'd in the Year 337 the Circumstances of which may be seen in his Life writ by Eusebius Yet we must remember that this is rather a Panegyrick than an uninterest History whence it is that he says nothing of the Death of his two Wives and the Eldest Son of this Emperor whom he had put to Death through Jealousie or Revenge Eusebius lived not long after him he died towards the Year 340 and left in his Place Acacius his Disciple * Socrat. l.
Empire and Government and the most like Him who only is Almighty 'T is that Excellent Nature which governs all things according to the Father's Will which Rules the World well which Acts by an Unexhausted and Unwearied Power and which sees the most secret Thoughts The Son of God never leaves the Post from which he sees all things He is neither divided nor separated he doth not go from one place to another he is every where and is confin'd within no Bounds All Spirit All Paternal Light All Eye he sees all things understands all things knows all things and dives by his Power into the Powers themselves To that Paternal Reason who hath received that Holy Administration the whole Army of Angels and GODS is subjected because of Him who put them under him Clemens had another Opinion concerning the Humane Nature of Christ which perhaps he entertained lest he should make the Body of Christ inferior to that of the Gods of Homer The Gods of that Poet †Iliad 1. vers 342. neither ate Bread nor drank Wine And Our Lord according to * Paed. l. 1. p. 202. Clemens needed no Milk when he came into the World and was not nourished with Meat which he took only out of Condescension and which did not undergo the same Change in his Body which it does in ours Hence it is that †Vid. Diss P. Allix de Sanguine Christi Origen his Disciple believed that Christ had no Blood but a Liquor like that which Homer ascribes to his Gods and calls ΙΧΩΡ Plato says in several places that God inflicts no Punishment upon Men but for their Good and not at all out of meer Vengeance Which ‖ Paed. l. 1. p. 116. Strom. l. 4. p. 536. Clemens observes so as to make one believe that he approves it Plato said further That the Souls are purged with Fire in another Life and that after they have been purged they are restored to their former state * Strom. l. 5. p. 549 592. Clemens believed that the Apostles had the same Thoughts when they spake of a Fire which is to consume the World And †Vid. Huet Orig. l. 2. quaest 11. Origen his Disciple concluded from those Principles That the Devils and Damn'd Men should be one day delivered from their Sufferings The Apostles describe the Place wherein Wicked Men shall be tormented under the Notion of a Lake of Fiery Brimstone They use the same word with the Pagans to denote the State of the Souls after Death viz. ΑΔΗΣ They say that Men descend into it and that Christ descended into it This was enough to make Clemens exclaim thus * P. 592. What was Plato ignorant of the Rivers of Fire and the Depth of the Earth which the Barbarians call Gehenna and which he Prophetically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 named Tartarus He hath mention'd Cocytus Acheron Pyriphlegethon and such like Places where Wicked Men are punisht that they may be mended Clemens did also believe with most of the Ancient Fathers †Strom. l. 6. p. 637 seq That Christ did really descend into Hell and preached there to the Damned Souls of which he saved those that would believe in Him I could alledge many other Instances whereby it would appear that Clemens explained the Opinions of the Christians by the like Doctrines which he found in the Philosophers But the before-mentioned Examples will suffice to those who have neither Time nor the Means to read that Author Those who will consult the Original will find enough of themselves One may further learn one thing from thence which most of those who apply themselves to the reading of the Fathers do not much mind and without which 't is almost impossible to understand them well in an infinite number of places viz. That before One begins seriously that Study the Heathen Philosophers especially Plato must be carefully read Without this One can't well apprehend what Grounds they go upon nor succesfully examine the strength of their Reasonings nor guess how they came by so many Opinions that are so different from those which are now entertained in our Schools Now to return to the Life of Clemens The Antients do unanimously say that he succeeded Pantaenus in the Office of Catechist He performed it with success and many Great Men came out of his School as Origen and Alexander Bishop of Jerusalem His Method of Instructing the Catechumeni consisted in teaching them what was Good in the Heathen Philosophy and so leading them by degrees to Christianity which they more readily embraced when they had relished many of those Maxims derived from the Light of Nature and scatter'd in the Writing of the Philosophers whom they saw every Body had a great Respect for than if they had been roughly told that they ought to renounce all their Opinions and look upon the rest of Mankind not only as Men that were guilty of Error but that had said nothing that was True * Strom. l. 1. p. 278. As Plow-men do not cast the Seed into the Ground but when they have watered it so says Clemens we draw out of the Writings of the Grecians wherewith to water what is earthly in those whom we instruct that they may afterwards receive the Spiritual Seed and be able to make it easily spring forth In effect the Light of the Gospel supposes that of Nature and doth not destroy it We don't find that Christ and his Apostles undertook to give us a compleat System of all the Doctrines that have some relation with Religion they supposed that we were already provided with several Thoughts received in all Nations upon which they reasoned else they should have for Example exactly defined all Vertues which they have not done because they found in the Minds of all Men some Idea's which though imperfect yet were most true So that they were content to add what was wanting in them or to take from them what ill Customs might have unfitly added to ' em Besides the Office of Catechist Clemens was promoted to the Priesthood in the Beginning as 't is thought of the Empire of Severus because Eusebius writing the Events of the Year CXCV. gives Clemens the Title of Priest About that time he began to defend the Christian Religion against Heathens and Hereticks by a Work which he entitled Stromata of which I shall speak hereafter because in that Work according to a Chronological Supputation * Lib. 1. pag. 336. he doth not go higher than the Death of Commodus From whence †Lib. 6. cap. 6. Eusebius concluded that he compiled it under the Empire of Severus who succeeded that Emperor Severus being exasperated against the Christians ‖ Vid. Dodwel Diss Cyp. XI §. 41 seq perhaps because of a Rebellion of the Jews with whom the Heathens confounded those who profest Christianity began to persecute them violently That Persecution having begun at Antioch went as far as Egypt and forced
embraced That they admired among themselves what they sharply censured in another Party That there was nothing to be seen amongst 'em but Disputes like Night-Fights wherein Friends are not distinguished from Enemies That they wrangled about Trifles on the specious Pretence of defending the Faith Lastly That they were abhorred by the Heathens and despised by good Men among the Christians This is a true Picture of the Lives of the Ecclesiasticks in his time as it doth but too plainly appear by the History of that time It 's an unlucky thing that those of our time are so much like them that were it not known from whence those Complaints come one would be apt to look upon them as a Picture of our Modern Divines Another Difficulty which attended the Exercise of Episcopacy consisted in discoursing well of the Mysteries of Christianity and especially of the * Pag. 16. Holy Trinity concerning which according to Gregory a medium ought to be kept between the Jews who acknowledge but One God and the Pagans who worship Many A Medium which Sabellius did not keep by making the same God considered under several Relations Father Son and Holy Spirit nor Arius by maintaining that they are of different Natures As for him he believed as we have already seen and as he repeats it here and in many other places that he kept that wished for Medium by establishing Three Principles Equal in Perfection though the Father be the Principle of the Son and Holy Spirit It seems that Gregory had not been long his Father's Coadjutor when his Brother Caesarius died 'T was not long after the Earthquake which happen'd in Bithynia in October in the Year 368. He was then at * Orat. x. p. 169. Nice where he exercised the Office of Questor or the Emperor's Treasurer That City was almost altogether ruined and he was the only Officer of Valens who saved himself from that Danger Gregory made a Funeral Oration in his Praise which is the Tenth of those that are extant He makes a short Description of his Life the chief Circumstances of which I have related describes the Vanity of whatever we enjoy here and makes several Observations upon Death and the manner of comforting one's self upon the Death of one's Relations He wishes that his Brother may be in †Pag. 168. Abraham's Bosom whatever it may be And towards the ‖ Pag. 173. end describing the Happiness of Good Men after Death he says that according to Wise Men their Souls are full of Joy in the Contemplation of their future Happiness until they are received into the Heavenly Glory after the Resurrection Caesarius had given his Estate to the Poor at his Death yet notwithstanding they had much ado to save it those who were at his death having feized the greatest part of it as Gregory complains in his Eighteenth Letter whereby he desires Sophronius Governor of Bithynia to use his Authority in it Basil Gregory's Friend having been made Bishop of Caesarea * Vid. Pagi Crit. ad hunc ann in the Year 370 had some difference with Valens which I shall not mention here because it doth not at all relate to the Life of his Friend This was perhaps the reason that moved that Emperor to divide Cappadocia into Two Provinces and to make Tyane the Metropolis of the Second Cappadocia Forasmuch as the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitans reached as far as the extent of the Province several Bishops who were before Suffragan of Caesarea became Suffragan of Tyane so that Basil saw himself at the head of a lesser number of Bishops than before †Orat. xx p. 456. The new Metropolitan drew to himself the Provincial Assemblies ceased the Revenues of his Diocess and omitted nothing to lessen the Authority and Revenues of Basil Anthimus such was the Bishop of Tyane's Name who was an Arian shelter'd himself under the pretence of Piety and said that he could not give up the Flocks to Basil's Instruction whose Opinions concerning the Son of God were not right nor suffer that any Tribute should be paid to Hereticks Gregory assures us that he got some Soldiers to stop Basil's Mules to hinder him from receiving his Rents Basil found no other remedy to it but to make new Bishops who should have a greater care of the Flocks than he could have and by whose means every Town should carefully receive what was due to them Sasime being one of those Towns in which he was resolved to put some Bishops he cast his Eyes upon his Friend Gregory to send him to it without considering that that Place was altogether unworthy of a Person of such Merit 'T was a * Greg. de Vita sua p. 7. little Town without Water and Grass and full of Dust a Passage for Soldiers and inhabited only by some few poor Men. The Income of that Bishoprick was very small and besides he must either resolve to defend it by Force against Anthymus or submit to that new Metropolitan Gregory refused that Employment but at length the Importunity and Dexterity of Basil who wrought upon Gregory's Father obliged him to accept of it It seems that about that time he made his Seventh Oration wherein he addresses himself to his Father and Basil and desires their Help and Instruction to govern his new Church at Sasime Notwithstanding he says freely enough to Basil that the Episcopal Throne had made a great Alteration in him and that he was much milder when he was among the Sheep than since he was a Pastor The next day he made * Orat. vi another Oration on the Arrival of Gregory Nyssen Basil's Brother to whom he further complains of the violence his Brother had done him and because 't was a Day of some Martyr's Feast he adds several things on that occasion concerning the Manner of Celebrating Holy-days not with Profane Rejoycing but Pious Exercises He says amongst other things That 't is then time to raise one's self and become God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if one may so say and that the Martyrs perform therein the Office of Mediators 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Expression to become God instead of to become a Good Man and despise Earthly things doth often occur in Gregory's Writings He says elsewhere That the Priests * Orat. i. p. 31. Orat. xxiii p. 410. are Gods and Deifie other Men †Orat. ii p. 46. That Solitude Deify's Introducing ‖ Orat. xx p. 349. Basil who refused to embrace Arianism he makes him say That he could not worship a Creature he who was a Creature of God too and had received a Commandment of being God It ought to be observed that that Expression was used among the Pythagoreans as may be seen by the last Golden Verse of Pythagoras upon which Hierocles may be consulted When Gregory came to Sasime the misery of that Place made him believe that Basil despised him and abused altogether his Friendship Though he took
upon him the Government of it for a little time yet he exercised no Episcopal Function in it He did not Pray publickly with the People nor lay his Hands on any body Forasmuch as he went thither against his Will and without engaging himself to stay there he thought he might leave that Church and return into the Solitary Place out of which they took him when he came to Nazianzum He * Ep. 31 32. de Vita sua p. 7. alibi complained sharply of Basil's Pride whom the Episcopal Throne of Caesarea had so blinded that he had no more any regard to his Friends Those Complaints tho' never so just were look'd upon as a Rebellion by the Metropolitan who seemed to have forgot the Esteem he formerly had for Gregory and the Services the latter had done him in his Promotion to the See of Caesarea Yet Gregory continued to complain that he had been shamefully dealt with by his Friend Gregory having left Sasime * Greg. Presb. in ejus Vita p 14. retired into an Hospital of Sick Men whom he took care to consolate and his Father desired him in vain to return to Sasime he could never resolve himself to do it nor brook the Unkindness of Basil who out of fifty Bishopricks which were in his Diocess had given him the least All that Gregory the Father could obtain from his Son was that he should re-assume the care of the Bishoprick of Nazianzum during his Life †Ep. xlii Orat. viii without engaging himself to succeed him It seems that at that time a Commissary of the Emperor who had been a very good Friend of Gregory came to Tax the Inhabitants of Nazianzum They fearing he would not Tax them according to Equity obliged Gregory to make the Discourse which is his Ninth Oration wherein he exhorts Men of all Conditions to Piety and addresses himself to Julian who was the Emperor's Commissary to induce him to lay that Tax like an Honest Man Yet there happened a Tumult at Nazianzum which exasperated the Imperial Commissary and gave Gregory occasion to pronounce his Seventeenth Oration which is upon the same Subject and wherein he exhorts the People to Patience and the Commissary to Moderation 'T is also believed that his Sister Gorgonia who married a Man of Quality whose Name was Vitalian died about this time Gregory made her Funeral Oration which is the Eleventh in order I shall not mention the Praises he bestows upon her upon the account of her Piety and wise Conduct I shall only observe these Two things 1st That Gorgonia * Orat. xi p. 188. was Baptised with her Husband but a little while before she died according to the Custom of that time Her Brother did so much esteem her Piety that he doth not stick to say that there is scarce any body else to whom Baptism was rather a Seal than a Grace that is to say rather a Confirmation of the Vertue she had before than the Infusion of new Holiness 2. At the end of his Oration having said in his Address to her by a Rhetorical Figure very frequent in our Author that she enjoys the Contemplation of the Heavenly Glory he goeth on thus If you have any regard to us and if God hath given to Holy Souls the Privilege of perceiving such things receive our Oration rather than Funeral Gifts It appears from thence that he doubted whether the Souls of Dead Men know what 's done here One may also observe that the word which I have rendred Privilege * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hes Opera Dies vers 125. is the same which Hesiod uses when he says that Jupiter hath given to Kings the Advantage of being after their death the Guardians of Men. In the Year 371 Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria being dead Gregory †Orat. xxi made his Funeral Oration some Years after ‖ V. p. 376. being at Constantinople I shall say something of it when I come to that part of Gregory's Life In the Year 374 Gregory made another Funeral Oration in Praise of his Father which is the Nineteenth in order He says that he died being almost a Hundred Years old having been a Bishop Five and forty Years His Son makes his Panegyrick at large by giving an Abridgment of his Life and endeavours to consolate his Mother Nonna whom he also praises very much He addresses himself to his Father * Orat. xix p. 314. whom he desires to let him know what Glory he was in and to govern both the Flocks and Pastors of which he was named the Father and especially his Son Here he uses no word which may excuse so violent a Figure as that Prosopoeia is and had he not used elsewhere some softening words in the like occasions it would perhaps be a difficult thing to distinguish that Apostrophe from a true Invocation His Mother Nonna who was almost as * Pag. 315. old as her Husband died soon after and it was not necessary that Gregory should make any Discourse to her Praise because he had already made her Panegyrick in the Funeral Oration of his Father After the death of the latter they would oblige him to take upon him the Bishoprick of Nazianzum and 't was pretended that he had engaged himself to keep it when he began to take care of it But †Ep. xlii he excused himself because of his Old Age and the Bishops of the Province named Eulalius to succeed his Father and because 't was reported that that Election was made against Gregory's Will he wrote to Gregory Nyssen to let him know that there was nothing done in it but at his desire Forasmuch as things were not presently brought to that issue and Gregory ‖ Carmen de Vit. p. 9. was afraid that he should be forced to stay at Nazianzum he retired to Seleucia in a Monastery where he staid long enough till the Church of Nazianzum should be provided However he returned to that Town before the Election was made and he was again urged to take his old station but he would never do it The Author of his Life assures that Basil built at this time an Hospital for those that were sick of the Leprosie and that Gregory made on that occasion his * 'T is the Sixteenth Oration Discourse concerning Charity towards the Poor especially towards those that are sick of the Leprosie That Oration contains several Reflexions concerning Piety in general and the use of the Good things and Evils of this Life Gregory doth seldom confine himself to one Subject only and observe an Order clear and free from Digressions During the Empire of Valens who favoured the Arians that Sect and those that sprung out of it did very much encrease †Carmen de Vita sua p. 10. Constantinople especially was full of Arians and Apollinarists who believed that the Divinity of Christ was instead of a Soul to his Body
of the Episcopal Councils with the Assistance of the Saviour who defends his Church and that of the Imperial Edicts Pelagius and Celestius were condemned through the whole Christian World unless they should repent In the mean time Pelagius who was at Jerusalem still being urged to it by Pinianus and Melanius published a Declaration as to what concerns the Necessity of Grace which he acknowledged to be necessary in every Act and at every Moment He also said That with respect to Baptism he was of the same Opinion which he had set down in his Profession of Faith to Pope Innocent viz. That Children ought to be Baptized as they were wont to be But whatever he might say they did not believe that he understood what he said in the same Sence as the Church of Africa In the mean time Julian Bishop of Celaena in Campania published some Commentaries upon the Song of Solomon a Book concerning Constancy and four Books against the first of St. Augustin De Concupiscentia Nuptiis wherein he maintained the Opinions of Pelagius In the last of those Works he openly called the Bishops of Africa Seditious Men and Innovators and said that they must needs not have Reason on their side since in the Dispute they frighted those who dared oppose them with Imperial Edicts but that by such Proceedings they perswaded not Understanding but Timorous Men. * Ap. Aug. cont Jul. lib. 3. c. 1. Laborare illam partem rationis inopiâ quae in disserendo cum terrorem Surrogat nullam à prudentibus impetrat sed coecum à meticulosis extorquet assensum He accused Zozimus of having prevaricated by condemning Pelagius after he had approved his Opinions And with respect to the Councils of Africa he said That those who had been condemned in them could not defend their Cause That none is able to judge well of controverted Matters unless he examines them with a Mind free from Hatred Friendship Enmity and Anger and that the Bishops of Africa were not in that Disposition seeing they hated the Opinions of Pelagius before they were acquainted with them That Advices ought not to be numbred but weighed and in short Whatever is commonly objected against the Judgment of Great Assemblies A New Council made up of 217 Bishops was held at Carthage in the Year 419. wherein whatever was done in the foregoing against Pelagius was confirmed and indeed to use the Terms of St. Prosper in his Poem de Ingratis An alium in finem posset procedere Sanctum Concilium cui Dux Aurelius ingeniumque Augustinus erat But the Episcopal Authority was again upheld in this occasion by that of the Emperors who by a Letter directed to Aurelius confirmed their precedeing Edict and ordered * Vsser ubi sup p. 161. That if any one knew in what part of the Empire Pelagius and Celestius lay hid and did not discover 'em or presently drive 'em from it they should be liable to the same Punishment as Hereticks And in order to correct the Obstinacy of some Bishops who maintained by a tacit consent those who disputed in the behalf of Heresie or did not destroy it by publickly assaulting it Aurelius should take care to Depose those who would not subscribe to the Condemnation of Pelagianism and that they should be Excommunicated and Banished Aurelius received Orders to publish that Edict through all Africa and he did punctually perform them sending a Circular Letter to the Bishops of the Byzacene and Arzugitane Provinces by which he exhorted to subscribe to the Acts of the last Council both those who had assisted at it and those who could not come to it that it might appear that there was in the Bishops neither Dissimulation nor Negligence or lest perhaps there might remain some just Suspicion of some hidden Heresie The Bishops who were of Pelagius's Opinion had much ado to subscribe to the Acts and Eighteen of them wrote to the Bishop of Thessalonica to endeavour to get the Eastern Bishops on their side To engage them the more easily to it they accused their Adversaries of Manicheism because the Manicheaus maintained also the unavoidable Necessity of Sin and the Natural Corruption of Man That Accusation was so much the more odious because St. Augustine the chief Defender of those Opinions had been infected in his Youth with the Opinions of Manes and because having abjured them he had confuted them by the same Principles which the Pelagians used which he afterwards forsook when he came to be a Bishop On the other hand Julian wrote to Rome and Celestius went to Constantinople in the Year 419 to endeavour to get Friends there But after the before-mention'd Imperial Edicts 't was not likely they should be successful in it Celestius was ill received by Atticus who had succeeded Arsacius substituted to St. Chrysostom who died soon after The Pelagians were also ill treated as St. Prosper relates it at Ephesus and in Sicily And Constantius whom Honorius had made Partner of the Empire made in the Year 420 an Edict like that of that Prince against those who should conceal Celestius St. Jerom died that Year and St. Augustine wrote his Four Books dedicated to Boniface Successor of Zosimus and Six against Julian dedicated to Claudius He makes the Encomium of St. Jerom in them and assures us that he was of the same Opinion with the Bishops of Africa in all likelyhood because he wrote against the Pelagians though he made not use of the same Arguments with St. Augustine * Lib. 1. in Pelag. St. Jerom said That God's Commands are possible but that every one cannot do whatever is possible not by any Weakness of Nature which would be a Reflection upon God but by the Custom of the Soul which cannot have all Vertues always and at the same time Possibilia praecepit Deus sed haec possibilia cuncta singuli habere non possumus non imbecillitate Naturae ut calumniam facias Deo sed animi assuetudine qui cunctas simul semper non potest habere virtutes St. Augustin was so far from being of that Opinion that in 191 Sermon de Tempore he speaks thus We detest the Blasphemy of those who say that God hath commanded Man any thing that is impossible and that Gods Commands cannot be observed by every one in particular but by All in common Execramur blasphemiam eorum qui dicunt impossible aliquid homini à Deo esse praeceptum mandata Dei non à singulis sed ab omnibus in commune posse servari Here we must supply By the Assistance of Grace Whilst * Vsser ubi sup c. 11. Pelagius lay hid in the East and kept silence Julian wrote Eight Books against the Second of St. Augustine de Concupiscentia Nuptiis having refuted the First in the Four Books above-mention'd St. Augustine undertook to Answer the Last Work of Julian as he had answered the First but he could not finish his Answer being
prevented by Death We have Two Books of his with the Two Books of Julian which he confutes printed at Paris by the care of Claudius Menard in the Year 1616. Julian exprest his Mind boldly in those Books and seems by his giving the Adversaries of Pelagius ill Words to have been willing to take his revenge of the severe Edicts which they had obtained against him But his Conduct proved prejudicial to him seeing Celestinus Bishop of Rome caused him to be banished out of Italy together with Florus Orentius Fabius and all the Bishops of the same Party It appears notwithstanding that Pelagianism spread it self maugre its Opposers seeing the Emperor Valentinian publish'd an Edict at Aquileia in the Year 425 to drive it from the Gauls by which he order'd Patroclus Bishop of Arles to go and see several Bishops who followed the Opinions of Pelagius and to let 'em know that if they did not retract their Errors within Twenty Days allowed them to deliberate about it they should be banisht from the Gauls and deprived of their Bishopricks Joaunes Cassianus a Scythian by Origin whom some will have to be an Athenian others a Roman and others to be born in the Gauls who had been Deacon of St. Chrysostome and Ordained a Priest by Innocent I. having retired to Marseilles betook himself to write some Books then by which softening a little the Opinions of Pelagius whom he otherwise condemn'd as a Heretick he gave birth to those Opinions which went since under the Name of Semi-Pelagianism His Opinions may be seen in his Collationes or Conferences which St. Prosper confuted and which he maintained to contain meer Pelagianism * Petav. lib. Laud. c. 7. Here 's in a few words what his Opinions may be reduced to 1. The Semi-Pelagians confest that Men are born corrupted and cannot free themselves from that Corruption but by the help of Grace which is notwithstanding prevented by some Motion of the Will as by a good Desire whence it is that they said Meum est velle credere Dei autem gratiae est adjuvare To be willing to believe depends on me but 't is the part of God's Grace to help me God in their Opinion expects those First Motions from us and then gives us his Grace 2. That God invites All Men by his Grace but that it depends upon Mens freedom to embrace or reject it 3. That God caused the Gospel to be preached to the Nations which he foresaw should embrace it and would not have it to be preached to the Nations which he foresaw should reject it 4. That although he would have all Men to be saved yet he had only elected to Salvation those whom he foresaw should persevere in Faith and Good Works 5. That there was no particular Grace absolutely necessary to Salvation which God gave only to a certain number of Men and that Men could lose all the Graces they had received 6. That among little Children who died in that Age God permitted that those only should be Baptized who according to God's Fore-knowledge would have been Pious Men if they had liv'd and on the contrary that those who were to be Wicked if they had come to a more advanced Age were excluded from Baptism by Providence 7. The Semi-Pelagians were also accused of making Grace altogether External so that in their Opinion it consisted only in the Preaching of the Gospel But some of them maintained that there was also an Inward Grace which Pelagius himself did not altogether reject Some others confest besides that there is a Preventing Grace Thus it seems that the Difference between their Opinions and those of Pelagius consisted in their owning that Men are born in some sort corrupted and in their insisting more upon the Necessity of Grace at least in Words Although the Difference is not very great yet they Anathematized Pelagius Which perhaps they did supposing that Pelagius maintained all the Opinions condemned by the Councils of Africa St. Augustine accuses them of making the whole Grace of God to consist in Instruction which concerns only the Understanding whereas he makes it to consist in a Particular and Inward Working of the Holy Ghost which unavoidably determines us to Good and that Determination is not the Effect of the Light we have The other Opinions of that Father either contrary to the Doctrine of Pelagius or that of the Semi-Pelagians are well known One may learn them especially in his Books concerning Predestination and Perseverance which he wrote at the Desire of St. Prosper against the Semi-Pelagians and in the Works of this latter To return to the History 't is said that in the Year 429 one Agricola Son of Severianus a Pelagian Bishop brought Pelagianism into England but St. German Bishop of Auxerre was sent thither by Pope Celestinus or the Bishops of the Gauls and soon extirpated it Many Miracles are ascribed to him in that Journey and whilst he staid in England which may be read in Bishop Vsher But if what * Hist Scot. lib. 8. Hector Boetius a Scotch Historian who liv'd in the beginning of the last Century says be true he used a Method which is not less efficacious for the extirpating of Heresie 't is this the Pelagians who would not retract their Errors were burnt by the care of the Magistrates But whilst St. German was purifying England the Seeds of Pelagianism which Cassianus had spread among the Monks of Marseilles and in Gallia Narbonensis made it grow in France St. Prosper and Hilary wrote to St. Augustine about it and let him know that many Clergy-men in the Gauls look'd upon his Opinions as dangerous Novelties St. Augustine answered their Objections in the Books which I have just now mentioned But the Toleration which Hilary Bishop of Arles and Maximus Bishop of Riez granted the Semi-Pelagians hindred every body from molesting them though they shewed a great Aversion to the Doctrine of St. Augustine Julian and the other Bishops who were banish'd as I have said from Italy went to Constantinople where they importun'd the Emperor to be re-establish'd but because they were accused of Heresie he would grant 'em nothing without knowing the Reasons for which they were expell'd Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople wrote to Celestinus about it who returned him a very sharp Answer and as if it had not been lawful to enquire for the Reasons of their Condemnation upbraiding him at the same time with his private Opinions His Letter is dated the 12th of August in the Year 430. St. Augustine died about that time whose Encomium's may be found in Bishop Vsher who approves the Praises bestowed upon him by Fulgentius in his Second Book Of the Truth of Predestination wherein he calls him an Inspired Man A little while after his Death the Letters of Theodosius who ' call'd him to the Council of Ephesus came to Africa from whence some Bishops were sent to it That Council made up of Two hundred and ten Bishops
2. c. 4. who wrote his Master's Life which we have not I shall not relate what happened afterwards with respect to the Arian Disputes because I only design'd to mention the Events which happened during the Life of Eusebius or in which he was somewhat concerned He was always of the Arians side and St. Athanasius and St. Jerom have accused him of being of their Opinion In effect 't is scarce credible that if he had been Orthodox he would have so much favoured Arianism and given his Consent to the Deposal of St. Athanasius Yet * Ib. c. 21. Socrates hath undertaken to justifie him by citing some Passages wherein he speaks as the Orthodox did and several modern Authors have done the same as Dr. Cave in the Life of Eusebius which he hath writ in Latin and English This latter seems to have thought himself obliged to 't through Christian Charity but others are of opinion that Christian Charity that is the Love we ought to have for all Christians should oblige all Historians to mention such Truths as make no Alteration in the state of those that are Dead and are very useful to the Living who learn thereby to judge soundly of things That pretended Charity which extends it self only to the Fathers who are look'd upon as Orthodox hath been the cause why we have in a manner only Panegyricks of the Antients wherein their Defects are always supprest when they cannot be covered with the Mask of some Vertues Eusebius as it appears by his Conduct at the Council of Nice was a dextrous Person which made no scruple to subscribe to Terms which he did not like provided he could expound them in a sence agreeable to his mind though little agreeable to that of those who set them up Indeed a Man must shut his Eyes who doth not see by what he says in his Letter to the Church of Caesarea that he understood otherwise the Terms of the Creed than Athanasius for example did So that we ought not to mind the Terms which he uses to accommodate himself to such ways of speaking as were authorized and which he look'd upon as equivocal but only such places wherein he speaks after a manner altogether opposite to the received Opinions In his Books De Theologia Ecclesiastica he explains himself with so great clearness in several places that if some equivocal Passages may be opposed to them there is scarce any Citation but what may be eluded You are afraid says he to Marcellus Book 3. chap. 7. lest by owning Two Hypostases you should introduce Two Principles and destroy the Unity of God Learn therefore that there being but One God without Generation and Beginning who begot the Son there is but One Principle One only Monarchy and One Reign since the Son acknowledges the Reign of his Father For God is the Head of Jesus Christ as the Apostle says But you very much fear say you lest those who confess that the Father and Son have Two Hypostases are obliged to acknowledge Two Principles Learn therefore that those who maintain that there are Two Hypostases in God are not obliged to acknowledge Two Fathers nor Two Sons but they will only grant that one of them is Father and the other Son So those who admit of Two Hypostases ought not necessarily to own that there are Two Gods For we do not say that they are Equal in Honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor that Both have no Beginning or are not Begotten but that the one is without Generation and Beginning and the other is Begotten and hath the Father for his Principle Hence it is that the Son calls his Father his God when he says I go to my God and to your God c. wherefore the Church teaches only One who is the God of the Son c. He goes on in the same strain and declares that that passage and the like cannot be understood of the Flesh or Humane Nature of Christ These Principles are very different from those of St. Athanasius who says that there is but One God though there is Three Persons * In 1. Dial. de Trin. Tom. 2. p. 160. Vid. Curcellaei Quaternion Diss 1. because those Three Persons are altogether Equal and there is but One Deity in Kind This is one of the chief things which ought to be observed in reading the Writings of Eusebius To which must be added that he was a Disciple of Origen of whom one may see several Opinions in the Life of Clemens Alexandrinus It remains only to give a Catalogue of his Works as I have done in the Life of Clemens I shall make use of Dr. Cave's Chartophylax adding to it what I shall think fit 1. A Chronicle or an Universal History The First Part whereof which is now very imperfect contains the Antiquities of almost all Nations of the Chaldaeans Assyrians Medes Persians Lydians Hebrews Egyptians c. Eusebius took it from Africanus The Second entitled A Chronological Canon is an Abridgment of the First and reduces all the Chronology into Decades from Abraham to the 25th year of Constantine Which makes one believe that that Work was finished a little before the Council of Nice St. Jerom translated it into Latin adding several things to it especially with respect to the Roman History in which Eusebius was not very well skill'd The Greek Original is lost and Joseph Scaliger endeavour'd to recover it as much as he could by collecting all the Fragments he found in Syncellus Cedrenus and the Chronicle of Alexandria He caused them to be printed at Leyden in 1606 with his Notes but they have been re-printed since at Amsterdam in 1658 with more Notes 2. The Evangelical Preparation in Fifteen Books which he published after the Council of Nice since he cites his Chronological Canons in them The Design of Eusebius in that Work is to confute the Religion of the Pagans and to prove some Principles of ours by their Philosophers to dispose 'em to embrace it more easily He shews therefore 1st That the Christians had very good Reasons to renounce the Heathenish Religion and gives some Abridgments of the Theology of the Phoenicians and Egyptians and of the Opinions of the Graecians concerning the Beginning of the World whereby it appears that all of them acknowledged that the World is not Eternal 2dly That the Graecians borrowed their Divinity from the Eastern Nations and that their Gods were only Dead men whose Graves were turned into Temples and whose Fabulous History was so ridiculous that Plato laught at it 3dly That to defend their Fables they have in vain explained them after an Allegorical manner a Method whereof he shews the Vanity 4thly That the Pagan Oracles contain only the Answers and Cheats of Bad Daemons 5thly That nothing was so false as what the Stoicks said concerning Fate 6thly That the Opinions and Customs of the ancient Hebrews were very agreeable to the Sentiments of the most rational Pagan Philosophers especially to
met to Condemn Nestorius in the Year 431. Cyril of Alexandria presided in it and whilst it sate John Bishop of Antioch met with Thirty other Bishops who made some Canons opposite to those of that Council What is singular in it is that the Party of Cyril and that of John accused each other of Pelagianism but the greatest Party approved the Deposal of Julian and the other Italian Bishops whom Nestorius had treated more mildly He is accused of having been of their Opinion and of having maintained that Christ became the Son of God by reason of the good use he made of his Free-Will for a Reward whereof God had united him to the Eternal Word Hence it is that Pelagianism and Nestorianism were condemned together in that Council But notwithstanding all this and the care of Three Popes Celestinus Xystus III. and Leo I. Semi-Pelagianism maintained it self in the Gauls Perhaps the manner after which Celestinus wrote to the Bishops of France contributed towards it because although he condemned Pelagius with heat and praised much St. Augustine yet he said at the end of his Letter That as to what concerned the profound and difficult Questions which were mixed with that Controversie and had been handled at large by those who opposed the Hereticks as he durst not despise 'em he did not believe neither that it was necessary to determine one's self thereupon One may see in * Vbi sup c. 12. Bishop Vsher how much St. Prosper and the Popes Xystus and Leo laboured to confute or destroy Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism About the same time Vincentius Lirinensis wrote his Commonitorium that is three Years after the Council of Ephesus He is suspected to be the Author of the Objections which St. Prosper confuted under the Title of Objectiones Vincentianae His Commonitory was re-printed last Year 1687. in Twelves at Cambridge with Balusius's Notes and Sr. Augustine's Book de Haeresibus One may also see in †Ibid. Bishop Vsher the Devastation which the Scots and Picts made in England in that Century the Arrival of the Saxons into that Island after what manner they made themselves Masters of it and the other Events of that Time Before * Vid. Vsser ubi sup c. 13. those Misfortunes happen'd in England a Monk whose Name was Faustus went from that Countrey into Gallia Narbonensis where he became Abbot of Lerins and afterwards Bishop of Riez after Maximus to whom he had also succeeded in the Abbey of Lerins He assisted at a Council held at Rome towards the End of the Year 462 wherein it was agreed that a Council should be held every Year in the Gauls which should be convocated by the Archbishop of Arles There was one held a little while after in that City which ordered Faustus to declare his Opinions concerning the Matter of Grace and another at Lyons by the Order of which he added something to what he had already written because some new Errors had been discovered Those Errors are those to which the Divines of Marseilles gave the Name of Predestinarian Heresie which some maintain to have been a true Heresie and others the Opinion of St. Augustine We have no more the Acts of those two Synods but Faustus's Work is still extant it is entitled De Gratia Libero Arbitrio directed to Leontius Bishop of Arles and contains very clearly the Semi-Pelagianism Erasmus printed it for the first time at Basil in 1528 and it was since inserted into the Eighth Tome of the Bibliotheca Patrum Faustus sent the Opinions of the Second Council of Arles to a Predestinarian Priest named Lucidus to oblige him to retract his Errors and subscribe to the Doctrine of that Council We have still his Letter to Lucidus and the Answer of that Priest directed to the Bishops who met at Arles wherein he declares That he condemns the Opinions of those who believe that Free-Will was altogether lost after the Fall of the First Man That Christ died not for all Men That some are designed for Death and others for Life That from Adam to Christ no Heathen was saved by the First Grace of God that is by the Law of Nature because they have lost Free-Will in our First Father That the Patriarchs Prophets and greatest Saints have been in Paradise before the time of the Redemption This is almost an Abridgment of Faustus's Book Some learned Men have maintained that Faustus did more than he was order'd and that many of those who assisted at the Councils of Arles and Lyons would not have subscribed to his Book But 't is hard to apprehend how a Bishop who was very much esteem'd as it appears by the Letters of Sidonius Apollinaris Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne who makes his Encomium in many places and by Gennadius who praises that Work 't is I say somewhat hard to apprehend how he could have been so bold as to ascribe to a Council some Opinions which the greatest part of them would have abhorred and that the Members of that Council should shew no resentment of it Indeed those who say that Faustus did more than he was bid give no reason for it only they cannot believe that there was so many Semi-Pelagians in the Gauls One may see in Bishop Vsher the Judgment of several learned Men concerning Faustus and whereof the greatest part do not much favour him Baronius himself speaks ill of him so that what happen'd formerly to the Pelagians happens now-a-days to the Semi-Pelagians viz. those who maintain their chief Doctrines condemn them only because some Men who were more esteem'd than they have formerly condemn'd them Faustus his Book * Vsser ubi sup c. 14. did not remain unknown seeing they brought it to Constantinople where the Minds were divided concerning the Doctrines which it contain'd Some affirmed it was Orthodox and others Heretical as it appears by a Letter of Possâ—â—â— an African Bishop who was then at â—â—â—â—tantinople and wrote from thence to Pope Hormisda in the Year 520 to know what he thought of it Some Persons of the greatest Quality among which were Vitalian and Justinian who was since Emperor desired to know the Opinions of the Church of Rome thereupon Hormisda disapproved Faustus his Book and referred them to those of St. Augustine Of Predestination and Perseverance There was then at Constantinople a Monk whose Name was John Maxentius who wrote an Answer * Tom. 6. Bibl. P. P. Ed. Col. to Hormisda's Letter wherein he compares the Opinions of St. Augustine and Faustus and sharply censures Possessor and those who maintained that Faustus his Book was Orthodox It appears from thence that Possessor was a Semi-Pelagian and consequently that the Councils of Africa had not been yet able to bring all the Bishops of that Church to their Decisions The Vandals had invaded Africa during the heat of the Pelagian Controversies â—nd because they were Arian they turned out a great number of Bishops who followed the Decrees of the Council of Nice Thrasamond King of the Vandals had sent Sixty of the Byzacene Province into Banishment to Sardinia They were consulted from the East concerning the Controversies about Grace rather to have a publick Declaration of their Opinions than to be Instructed seeing those who wrote to them were already fixed in their Opinion and condemned in their Letters not only the Pelagians but the Books of Faustus Fulgentius Bishop of Esfagues answered in the Name of the others and explained the Opinion of St. Augustine in a Letter and a private Book directed to Paulus Diaconus The same Fulgentius wrote also some other Books concerning the same Matter He had composed Seven Books against Faustus his Two De Gratia Libero Arbitrio but they are lost Those African Bishops returned to their Churches in the Year 523 in which Thrasamond died as we learn from Victor of Tonneins in his Chronicle Fulgentius had confuted Faustus before he departed from Sardinia from whence it follows as well as from Possessor's Letter that Binius should not have placed the Third Council of Arles the Opinions of which Faustus had explained in the Year 524 But this is not the only Fault he hath committed he hath corrected or rather corrupted as he thought fit a vast number of Places in the Ancient Councils without having any regard to Manuscripts Wherefore * Vb. sup p. 231. Bishop Vsher gives him the Title of Contaminator Conciliorum As Hilary and Leontius Archbishops of Arles had favoured Semi-Pelagianism so Caesarius who succeeded Leontius favoured what the Divines of Marseilles call'd Predestinatianism that is the Opinions of St. Augustine The Second Council of Orange was held under his Direction in the Year 529 which approved St. Augustine's Opinions and whereof the Acts may be seen entire in †Vb. sup p. 262. Bishop Vsher A little while after another Council was held at Valence concerning the same Matters which did also condemn Semi-Pelagianism Boniface II. approved the Acts of that Council by a Letter which he wrote to Caesarius in the Year 531 which the same learned Primate of Ireland hath inserted in his Work Here ends the History of Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism which notwithstanding was not extinguished in the Gauls and England by so many Endeavours and Decrees of the Defenders of Grace as may be seen by the History of Godescale written by the same Bishop What can one conclude from thence according to St. Augustine's Principles but that God was not pleased to bestow his Grace upon Anathema's Confiscations Deposals and Banishments which the Godly Emperors and Holy Councils made use of against the Unfortunate Pelagians FINIS