Days of the Creation which are mention'd in Genesis do not begin at Night but at the Morning and end at the Morning of the Day following The First and Third of his Hymns are in commendation of the Mystery of the most Holy Trinity which he explains in many Words The Second is a Prayer to God and is rather in Prose like the Creed attributed to St. Athanasius than in Verse The Poem of the Maccabees is a Description in Hexameter Verse of the Martyrdom of those Seven Brethren There is nothing extraordinary in this Poem there is nothing Poetical in it but some mean Imitations of Virgil and for the most part the Verses are low and despicable The Commentaries of Victorinus upon St. Paul have not yet been publish'd Sirmondus found some Fragments of them in a Manuscript from which he took those two little Treatises of which we have already spoken But probably he judg d them not worth publishing though he says in his Advertisement That the Stile of these Commentaries is more clear and clean than that of his Dogmatical Works There are many Philosophical Books attributed to the same Victorinus as his Commentaries upon Tully's Rhetorick cited by Cassiodorus in his Bibliotheca and by Pope Sylvester the II. in his Epistle 130 which have been Printed several times There is also attributed to him the Version of Porphyrie's Isagoge which is amongst Boetius's Works a Book about Poetry and some Books of Grammar But those sort of Books ought not to come into our Bibliotheca which should contain none but Ecclesiastical Monuments St. PACIANUS ST PACIANUS Bishop of Barcelona no less Famous says St. Jerom for the Holiness of his Life than the Eloquence of his Discourse wrote many Books among which there is one entitled St. Pacianus Cervus or The Hart and some other Treatises against the Novatians He died under the Reign of Theodosius towards the Year 380. We have three Letters of his against the Novatians address'd to Sempronianus who was of this Sect. An Exhortation to Repentance and a Treatise or Sermon of Baptism address'd to the Catechumens All these Pieces are written with much Wit and Eloquence The First Letter to Sempronianus has Two Parts In the First he makes use of the way of Prescription from the Name and Authority of the Catholick Church to show that the Sect of the Novatians cannot be the Church of Jesus Christ. In the Second he refutes their Doctrine about Repentance He observes at the beginning of the First Part That since the coming of Jesus Christ there have appear'd an infinite Number of Sects who have all been denominated from the Names of their Authors That the Name of Catholick is continued only in the True Church That the Novatians make one of those Sects which are separated from the Catholick Church That they have forsaken the Tradition of the Church under pretence of Reformation He opposes to them the Authority of the Ancient Fathers of the Church who were Successors to the Apostles Why should not we says he have a Respect to the Authority of those Apostolical Men Shall we pay no Deference to the Testimony of St. Cyprian Would we teach this Doctrine Are we wiser than he But what shall we say of so many Bishops dispers'd over all the World who are united with these Saints What shall we say of so many Venerable Old Men of so many Martyrs and so many Confessors Is it for us to Reform them Shall our times corrupted by Vice efface the Venerable Antiquity of our Ancestors My Name says he addressing himself to Sempronianus is Christian and my Sur-Name is Catholick Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen He explains afterwards the Name of Catholick and tells us that the most Learned say that it signifies Obedient and that according to others it means one thro' all and shews that these two Significations agree to the Catholick Church which alone is obedient to the Voice of Jesus Christ and which only is the same in all the World After he has thus spoken of the Church he proceeds to Penance and so he enters into the Merits of the Question May it please God says he that none of the Faithful may ever stand in need of it That no Man after Baptism may ever fall into the precipice of Sin That so the Ministers of Jesus Christ may never be oblig'd to Preach and Apply long and tedious Remedies for fear of Patronizing the Liberty of sinning by flattering Sinners with their Remedies Nevertheless we allow this Mercy from our God not to those who are so happy as to preserve their Innocence but to those who have been so unhappy as to lose it by their Sins It is not to the Sound but to the Sick that we Preach these Remedies If the Evil Spirits have no more Power over the baptiz'd If the Fraud of the Serpent which destroy'd the first Man and gave so great occasion of Damnation to his Posterity has ceas'd If I say the Devil is gone out of the World If we may sport our selves in Peace If Man does not fall into many Sins of Thought Word and Deed Then let us not acknowledge this Gift of God Let us reject this Aid Let us have no more Confessions Let us no longer hearken to Sighs and Tears Let Justice and Innocence proudly despise these Remedies But if Man be subject to these Miseries Let us no more accuse the Mercy of God who has propos'd these Remedies to our Diseases and Rewards to those that preserve their Health Let us no more efface the Titles of God's Clemency by an unsupportable Rigour nor hinder Sinners by an inflexible hardness from rejoycing in those Gifts which he has freely bestow'd upon them 'T is not we who give this Grace of our own Authority but God himself who says Be converted to me c. After he has set down many Passages of Scripture which prove That God Pardons penitent Sinners he proposes this Objection of the Novatians God only will you say can grant Pardon of Sin That 's true answers he but what he does by his Ministers he does by his own Power For he says to his Apostles Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loos'd in Heaven But perhaps he did not give this Power to any but the Apostles If this were true then we must say That they only had also Power to Baptize to give the Holy Spirit and to Purify the Gentiles from their Sins For in the same place where he gives them Powr to Administer the Sacrament of Baptism he also gives them Power to loose Sinners Either then these two Powers were peculiarly reserv'd to the Apostles or they are both continued to their Successors and therefore since it is certain that the Power of giving Baptism and Unction is continued in the Bishops that same must consequently be granted of the Power of binding and loosing
John tells us that S. Justin and S. Irenaeus have interpreted it from whence some conclude that S. Irenaeus composed a Commentary upon it But S. Jerome's true meaning is that these two Authors cited and explained some passages of it Some Authors formerly attributed to him the Book De Universo which was composed by Caius a Presbyter of Rome mentioned by Photius Cod. 48. The Author of the Questions attributed to S. Justin cites a Book about Easter Quest. 115 and tells us that there was an Account that they did not pray kneeling on Sundays and that there was mention made of the Pentecost all which perhaps might be found in the intire Letter of S. Irenaeus to Polycarp of which Eusebius has only given us a fragment Eusebius in his fourth Book ch 25. speaking of the Book of Philip against Marcion tells us that S. Irenaeus and Modestus had likewise wrote against the same Heretick S. Irenaeus himself lib. 1. c. 29. promises to write particularly against that Heretick We are not assured whether he ever did write against him or no because neither S. Jerome nor Eusebius who have given us a Catalogue of all the Books of S. Irenaeus mention it 'T is probable that the Letter of the Churches of Vienna and Lyons concerning their Martyrs was writ by S. Irenaeus but it is not known when these last were written The Death of S. Irenaeus was no less glorious than his Life for after having governed the Flock which Jesus Christ had committed to his Charge for 24 years he was not willing to abandon it in the time of the persecution of the Emperor Severus which was much more cruel in France than in any other part of the World He suffered Martyrdom at Lyons with all the Christians that were found in that City and in so great numbers that their Blood ran down through all the Streets according to the report of Gregory of Tours in the first Book of his History Chap. 27. We have not any particular account of his Martyrdom which happened in the year 202 or 203 after the Nativity of Jesus Christ. Of all the Works of this Father there remains only in our possession a very barbarous Version of those against the Heresies and some few Greek Fragments of these Books given us by Eusebius Theodoret S. Epiphanius and S. Johannes Damascenus which are collected in the last Edition of Feuardentius and in the Writings of Halloixius There is also a Fragment of his Epistle to Florinus extant and a considerable part of that to Victor and an Advertisement which he had inserted at the end of his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to oblige the Transcribers thereof faithfully to revise and correct their Copy from his Manuscript The Version of the five Books concerning the Heresies tho' Barbarous as I have hinted already and full of Faults yet is a very valuable Fragment for the Variety which is in it is admirable In the First Book after having described at large the Errors of the Valentinians in Chap. 1. He opposeth to them in the Second the Faith of all the Churches in the World which he comprehends in a kind of Creed In the Third and fourth Chapters he proceeds to shew that all the Churches and all Christians agree in this Faith and that the most Learned cannot add any thing to it or make any Alterations from it nor the most simple and ignorant diminish any part of it The following Chapters are spent in explaining the absurd Notions of Valentinus and his Disciples In the 20th he returns to the Source and Original of the Hereticks and beginning with Simon Magus he gives an Account successively of all the Heresies that appeared since the time of the Sorcerer even unto that wherein he wrote This first Book indeed is extremely tedious being fill'd with almost nothing else but the wild Conceits and extravagant Imaginations of the primitive Hereticks There is a notable passage in it concerning Pennance upon the occasion of certain Women who being defiled by a famous Impostor named Mark afterwards did Pennance during the remainder of their Lives In the Second Book S. Irenaeus begins to impugn the Errors which he had barely recited in the First He chiefly makes use of the Principles of the Hereticks in opposing them and shews that they contradict themselves and that all their Whimsies are ridiculous and ill laid together In the Third Book he confutes them by the Authority of Holy Scripture and Tradition He proves that it is impossible that all the Churches in the World should agree together to alter the Apostolical Doctrine that the Evangelists and Apostles knew but one only God the Greator of Heaven and Earth and one Iesus Christ God and Man who was born of a Virgin who is not the Son of Joseph but was really Man and that he actually suffered and not in appearance only as was pretended by the Hereticks He occasionally refutes the Error of Tatian concerning the Damnation of Adam and maintains as a certain truth that he is saved In the Fourth Book he continues to demonstrate that there is but one God particularly he shews against Marcion that the same God is exhibited in the Old and New Testament he Answers all the Objections of the Hereticks and especially those which they took from Scripture afterwards he alledgeth the Reasons that induce a spiritual Man that is to say a Christian to condemn the Pagans Jews Hereticks and Schismaticks Lastly he rejects the Opinion of those who affirmed that Men were naturally good or evil and proves the Liberty of Mankind In the last Book he Treats of the Redemption of Jesus Christ of the Fall of Man of the Resurrection of the last Judgment of Anti-Christ and of the State of Souls after Death This is in General the Subject of every one of the Books of S. Irenaeus and they that peruse them will find several other passages relating to some weighty Articles of our Religion There are for Example many excellent Paragraphs concerning the Holy Scriptures and among others one in Book 2. Chap. 46 and 47. There are very considerable passages touching the Eucharist in Book 3. Chap. 19. Book 4. Chap. 32. and 34. and in Book 5. Chap. 4. Where he proves the Resurrection of the Body against the Valentinians because it is not credible that being nourished with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ it should remain in Corruption He mentions the Three Persons of the Trinity p Of the Trinity Lib. 1. c. 2. lib. 3. c. 20. lib. 4. c. 25 37 and 75. and lib. 5. In many places of his Works and almost as often as he speaks of the Word he establisheth his Divinity Eternity q His Divinity and Eternity Lib. 1. c. 19. lib. 2. c. 18 and 48. lib. 3. c. 6. In all these places and several others he says that the Word is truly God Lib. 2. c. 43 and 56. and lib. 3. c. 20. he says that the Word is and
their Letter 366 The Book against Auxentius Bishop of Milan is a Manifesto against this Bishop and against those that maintain him Who because they cover'd themselves chiefly under the Cloak of procuring Peace and Unity St. Hilary says That we can have no other true Peace but that of Jesus Christ and the Gospel and that this Peace cannot take place in a time when the Ministers of the Church are become Anti-Christs by opposing the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Gospel while they pretend to preach it He complains That they make use of Temporal Power to maintain a False Doctrine He endeavours to prove that Auxentius fosters Heretical Opinions he recites the Conference that he had with him and exhorts the Catholicks to take heâ—d of Anti-Christ and to separate themselves from Auxentius After this Book follows a Letter of Auxentius to the Emperour wherein he endeavours to purge himself from the Heresy of Arius yet without approving the Term Consubstantial or rejecting the Creed of Ariminum The Commentaries of St. Hilary upon St. Matthew are very excellent for there he had made many very useful Historical and Moral Observations The Chief of them are these following In the 1st Canon he endeavours to reconcile the two Genealogies of Jesus Christ by saying That St. Matthew describes the Royal Race of Jesus Christ by Solomon and St. Luke the Sacerdotal Race by Nathan He maintains That the Virgin was of the same Tribe and the same Family with Joseph and that she continued a Virgin after her Child-bearing and that the Persons who are call'd in Scripture the Brethren of Jesus Christ were indeed the Children of Joseph that he had by a former Wife He says That the Wise-men acknowledg'd the Royal Power of Jesus Christ by presenting him with Gold his Divinity by offering him Incense and his Humanity by giving him Myrrh He observes That Rachel who mourn'd for her Children is a Figure of the Church which having been a long time barren became afterwards fruitful He says That the Innocents were made partakers of Eternal Life by the Martyrdom which they suffer'd In the 2d Canon he says That Jesus Christ did not cause St. John to Baptize him for the Purification of his Sins since he was without Sin but that Water might Sanctify us by Jesus Christ. Then he speaks of the Effects of Baptism After Baptism says he the Holy Spirit descends upon the baptiz'd he fills them with a Caelestial Unction and makes them the adopted Children of God In the 3d. Canon he explains the Temptations of Jesus Christ and speaks of his Fast for Forty Days He says That the Devil was ignorant of the Incarnation In the 4th he explains the Beatitudes He says That none but the perfect Man who is wholly purified from his Sins shall enjoy the Vision of God He observes That Adultery is the only cause for which married Persons can be Divorc'd He condemns Oaths Revenge and Vanity In the 5th he sends the Reader to a Book of St. Cyprian for the Explication of the Lord's Prayer He also mentions Tertullian but he says of this last Author That his following Errors depriv'd his First Books of that Authority which he could otherwise have allow'd them He occasionally says That the Soul is Corporeal In the 6th Canon he particularly recommends Good Works without which all other things are unprofitable to Salvation In the 7th he explains allegorically the Cure of the Leper and of St. Peter's Mother-in-Law understanding those places of the Curing of Sinners He compares the Church to a Ship tost with a Tempest and towards the latter End he observes That we ought not to mention the Names of Dead Infidels in the Commemorations of the Saints In the 8th he Discourses particularly of the Fall of humane Nature by the Sin of the first Man and of the Reparation of Mankind by Jesus Christ. In the 10th he Advises Catholicks not to enter into the Churches of Hereticks He observes That nothing in the Ecclesiastical Ministry ought to be sold for Money and that the Ecclesiastical State ought not to be ambitious of obtaining Temporal Authority He says That at the End of the World the Jews that shall be then alive shall believe in Jesus Christ and be saved He assures us That Man was created Free but that the Sin of Adam enslav'd him to Sin and Vice and that in Baptism we are deliver'd by the Word from Sins contracted by our Birth Towards the latter End of the 11th he explains wherein the Easiness of Christ's Yoke consists excellently and in a few Words What is more Easy says he than the Yoke of Christ and what is more Light than his Burthen It is only to be obliging to all the World To abstain from committing Sin To desire that which is Good not to desire that which is Evil To Love our Neighbour To Hate no Body To lay up for Eternity Not to addict our selves to things present Not to do to another what we would not they should do unto us In the 12th he explains after the same Manner as St. Athanasius the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost by saying That it is the denying of Jesus Christ to be God In the 13th he observes That those who are out of the Church cannot understand the Word of God In the 14th speaking of St. Joseph he says That he was a Lock-Smith and not a Carpenter as is commonly believ'd In the 15th he observes that those who are to be baptiz'd make profession of their Faith in Jesus Christ and of being firmly persuaded of his Death and Resurrection and that their Actions may be agreeable to their Words they pass all the time of the Passion of Christ in Fasting that so in some measure they may suffer with Jesus Christ. He speaks in the 16th of the Prerogative that St. Peter receiv'd when Jesus Christ gave him the Keys of his Church after this manner O happy Foundation of the Church says he in the change of your Name O Rock worthy of the Building of Jesus Christ since it was to abrogate the Laws of Hell to break its Gates and to open all the Prisons of Death O happy Porter of Heaven to whom are entrusted the Keys of admission into it and whose Judgment on Earth is a fore-judging of what is done in Heaven since whatsoever he binds or looses upon Earth shall be bound or loosed in Heaven In the 18th Canon he concludes with these Words of Jesus Christ The Angels of these Children see the Face of my Father From whence says he it may be concluded That the Angels rejoyce at the Sight of God and that they preside over the Prayers of the Faithful which they offer continually to God He says that those who are bound on Earth by the Ministers of Jesus Christ that is says he those whom the Ministers of Jesus Christ leave bound in their sins and that those who are loosed by receiving them unto the Grace of Salvation upon
themselves with the Sign of the Cross on their Forehead in Eating and Drinking at their going out and coming in at their lying down c. He calls this Sign the Terror of Devils and the Mark of the Faithful He says That it drives away Devils That it cures Diseases That it defeats Inchantments and that at one day it will appear in the Heavens when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the World He proves in the Fourteenth the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ where he commends the Piety of those Emperours who built the Church of the Resurrection at Jerusalem where he was and adorned it with Gold and Silver The Fifteenth is concerning the Second coming of Jesus Christ of the End of the World and of Anti-Christ who will come says he after the Destruction of the Roman Empire He says many more particulars of him which he endeavours to prove by Prophecies but the explications he gives of them are not very Solid He observes That the Schisms which he then saw in the Church made him fear that the Reign of Anti-christ was not far off After this he Discourses of the last Judgment and of the Eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ. He refutes the Opinion of Marcellus of Ancyra who had said That the Son should not Reign any more after the Day of Judgment He makes very curious Remarks upon the particle Until and shows that it is not always exclusive as when it is said That Death reigned from Adam until Moses where the meaning is not That it did not Reign after Moses The Sixteenth Lecture is concerning the Holy Spirit He observes That we ought to take good heed lest we say any thing through Ignorance or Error which is contrary to the Belief we ought to have concerning the Holy Spirit because 't is written That the Blasphemies which are spoken against him are unpardonable Therefore he declares That he will say nothing of the Holy Spirit but what is said of him in the Holy Scripture and that he will not enquire by an indecent Curiosity after that which is not written 'T is the Holy Spirit says he who dictated the Holy Scripture he hath said of himself what he would have us to know and what we are capable of knowing about him He begins with giving an Account of the Errors of Hereticks concerning the Holy Spirit and afterwards recites what is said of him in the Holy Scripture he describes his Effects and attributes to him all the good Thoughts and good Actions of the Faithful He continues the same Subject in his 17th Lecture where he produces the Testimonies of our Lord concerning the Holy Spirit He has exactly Collected in these Two Catechetical Lectures all that is said of the Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testament He teaches That the Holy Spirit is not a Breath form'd by the Mouth of the Father and the Son but that he is a Person subsistent of the same Nature with the Father and the Son He calls St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the Porter of Heaven He observes That the Determination of the Council of Jerusalem was a General or Oecumenical Law which all the Earth had and did still observe The Last of those Lectures which are address'd to the Enlighten'd is of the Resurrection of the Church and of Eternal Life In the beginning he shows That the hope of the Resurrection is the Foundation of all good Actions because the expectation of this reward excites Men to labour for it 'T was this that made him say that the Faith of the Resurrection is a great encouragement and a very necessary Doctrine He brings for proof of the Resurrection the Justice of God which requires that Sinners which are not punish'd in this World should be punish'd in another and that the Righteous who are miserable here below should be recompenc'd in another Life He says That all Men have naturally some Knowledge of the Resurrection and that upon this Account they have a horror of those who rob the Dead He brings many Illustrations of it taken from the changes in Nature He does not forget the Example of the Phoenix for which he cites St. Clement for his Authority He observes That the Generation of Man is no less wonderful than the Resurrection and that God who could Create the Universe of nothing can easily raise a dead Man After he has employ'd these Reasons against the Pagans he alledges against the Samaritans the wonderful Effects of the Divine Power related in the Old Testament and proves the Resurrection of the Dead by many passages of the Prophets This seems to be a mistake the Sadducees were the only Sect of the Jews that denied a Resurrection In speaking of the dead Man rais'd at the Sepulchre of Elisha he says That by this Example we may know that we ought not only to honour the Souls of the Saints but also to show Reverence to the Relicts of their Bodies since they have such Power and Virtue The Second Part of this Instruction is concerning the Catholick Church He says It is so called because it is spread over all the Earth Because it universally receives all the Articles of Faith Because it generally cures all Sins and Lastly Because it possesses all Graces and all Vertues He says It is called the Church because it is an Assembly of the Faithful That the Hereticks have also their Assemblies of their Churches That to discern the one from the other when you go to any place you must not ask barely where is the Church or the House of the Lord because the Hereticks give this Name to their Temples but you must ask where is the Catholick Church because this is a Name proper to this Holy Mother of all faithful Christians which is the Spouse of Jesus Christ. In short The last part of this Lecture is of Eternal Life 'T is very Remarkable that in the Creed which St. Cyril used there is found Life Everlasting because as we have observed in the First Volume of our Bibliotheca almost all the ancient Creeds end with the Resurrection of the Flesh. St. Cyril adds to it Baptism whereof he had already spoken the Catholick Church and Life Everlasting He says upon the last Article That the Eternal Life of Christians is the Possession of the most Holy Trinity He concludes this Lecture with a Promise to his Auditors that he would explain after Easter the Sacred Mysteries which they were to receive upon the Christian Altar and with an Exhortation to rejoyce because the time of their Redemption Salvation and Regeneration approach'd The Five other Lectures which are call'd Mystagogical are address'd by St. Cyril to the same Persons after they had received the Grace of Baptism The first is about the Vow which is made in Baptism to renounce the Devil his Works and all his Pomps He declares to his Auditors the Importance of performing this Vow He says That the Works of the Devil are Sins and that
who thought that by his refusal he had offended them that had chosen him he answers in the first place That none ought to be afraid of offending Men when they cannot any other ways avoid it but by offending God 2. He shews that he was so far from disgracing them by his Denial that he pretended on the contrary that he obliged them very much by not exposing them to the reproaches to which they might otherwise have been subject and the false reports which might have been raised against them Is it not certain says he that had I accepted the Bishoprick then those that love to caluminate might have suspected and spoken many things not only of me but also of my Electours They would have said for example that they had respect to Riches or were blinded with the Luster of Birth or won by my Flatteries I know not whether they would not have dared to say that I had bribed them with Money But thanks be to God I took from them all these occasions of Evil-speaking and they can no more tax me with Flattery than they can accuse these good Men of being corrupted For why should he that bestowed Money or used Flattery to get an Office suffer another to take it when he might have it himself Again what might not have been said by detracting Men after my coming to the Office Could I have made Apologies sufficient to answer their Accusations Though all my Actions had been without reproach had they found no pretence to blacken me But now they have none for I have delivered those that might have chosen me from all imputations No complaints will be made of them It will not be said publickly They have entrusted young Fools with the highest and most considerable Offices they have exposed God's Flock to all sorts of Corruption Christianity is now made a jest of and they delight to render it ridiculous Now the mouth of iniquity must be stopped For if Calumniatours do thus complain of You addressing himself to Basil you will let them see that a man's Wisdom is not to be judged of by the Number of his Years nor old Age measured with Gray-hairs and that not young Men but Neophytes are to be excluded from Ecclesiastical Dignities Thus he concludes the second Book To defend himself against such as accused him of refusing the Bishoprick out of pride he says that it is not to be presumed that any Man could refuse so eminent a Dignity out of Vanity and that such as are of that opinion must needs be despisers of that high Office To undeceive them he speaks of the Priesthood in these Terms Though the Priesthood is exercised upon Earth yet it ought to be reckoned amongst heavenly Goods since neither Man nor Angel nor Archangel nor any created Power but the Holy Ghost himself established that sacred Order and made men think that they exercised a Ministry of Angels in a mortal Body Wherefore whosoever is raised up to the Priesthood ought to be as pure as if he were already in Heaven among those blessed Spirits When you see our Lord placed and offered upon the Altar The Bishop celebrating the Sacrifice and praying for the whole People dyed and made red with his precious Blood do you think that you are amongst Men and upon Earth Do you not believe your selves to be taken up into Heaven for that moment And do you not put off the thoughts of the flesh Do you not behold heavenly things with a pure Spirit and a naked Soul O Miracle O Bounty of God! He that is above with his Father suffers himself to be touched by the hands of all in this moment and gives himself to be held and embraced by those that desire it Afterwards he compares the Divine Mysteries to Elias his Sacrifice which caused Fire to come down from Heaven to consume the Victims He saith that the Bishop in like manner causeth by his Prayers not Fire from Heaven but the Holy Ghost to descend upon the Altar Having thus exalted the Dignity of the Priesthood because of the Power which they have to consecrate the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ he discourses of their Power of binding and loosing Sinners which is not less honourable nor less usefull to the Salvation of Men. For saith he living as yet upon the Earth they dispose of the things of Heaven and they have received a Power which God would give neither to Angels nor to Archangels having said unto Men and not to them What you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Temporal Princes have a power to bind but that is the Body only whereas Episcopal Power bindeth the Soul and reacheth unto Heaven because God ratifieth above what the Bishops do here below and the Master confirmeth the Sentence of his Servants This Power is as much above the Temporal as Heaven is nobler than the Earth and the Soul than the Body It were madness to despise a Power without which we could hope for no Salvation nor the possession of the promised Goods For if none can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven unless he be first regenerated with Water and the Holy Ghost And if he that eateth not the Flesh of the Lord and drinketh not his Blood is deprived of Eternal Life And if it be these holy Hands I mean by the hands of Bishops that all these things are done How can either the Fire of Hell be avoided or the Crowns prepared for us in Heaven be obtained without their help They and only they are intrusted by God with these spiritual Births and that regeneration which is wrought by Baptism By them we put on Christ we are united to the Son of God and become Members of his sacred Body Bishops do not judge of the Leprosie of the Body as the Priests did under the old Law they judge of that of the Soul and they do not onely enquire whether Souls be purified but they have power also to purify them Wherefore those that despise them commit a much greater Crime and are worthy of a much severer Chastisement than Dathan and his Companions Having thus exalted the Dignity of the Priesthood he discovers the Dangers that attend this Office on all sides He compares a Bishop that has the Care of a Diocess with a Pilot that hath the Charge of a Ship But a Bishop saith he is more agitated with Cares than the Sea with Winds and Storms The first Rock he meets with is vain Glory Anger Peevishness Envy Quarrelling Calumnies Accusations Lying Hypocrisies Treachery and precipitate Violence against the Innocent joy to see those that serve the Church neglect their Duty and sorrow to see them discharge it worthily love of Praise desire of Honour which is one of the most pernicious passions of the Soul Discourses where pleasure is more looked after than the profit of the Hearers servile Flatteries base Complacency Contempt of the
of Jesus Christ with their sacred Mouth Qui Christi corpus Sacro ore conficiunt In his Commentary upon Zephaniah he seems to doubt whether wicked Priests consecrate it But 't is probable that he speaks thus rather to terrifie them than to establish a Proposition whose Consequences would prove very dangerous I add an excellent Passage of this Father concerning the Sacrament of Penance taken out of his Commentary upon these Words of the 16th Chapter of S. Matthew Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Some saith he Priests and Bishops of the New Law understanding not the sence of these words doe imitate the pride of the Pharisees by ascribing to themselves a power to condemn the Innocent and to absolve the Guilty But God doth not so much consider the Sentence of the Priest as the Life of the Penitent And as the Levites did not cleanse the Lepers but only separated those that were cleansed from those that were not by the knowledge which they had of the Leprosie Even so the Bishop or the Priest doth not bind those that are innocent and loose the guilty but having heard the difference of Sins he knows whom to bind and whom to loose in the discharge of his Ministery In this place we may take notice 1. Of the Custom of declaring Sins to the Priest 2. The Power which Priests had to Absolve 3. The use Priests were to make of the Keys and the care they were to take not to Absolve but such as were truly penitent * After what has been already said of S. Jerom one can hardly esteem him a Person upon whose Authority Points of Doctrine or Matters of Discipline can safely be established He may however give the Sence of the Church in his own time in Matters wherein he personally was not concerned in which we have Reason to think that he gives a faithfull Account of things And therefore since we have no Cause to disbelieve what he says of the Eucharist and of what the Church of Rome calls the Sacrament of Penance but on the contrary may reasonably suppose that he spake the Sence of the Church The Passages themselves are to be examined Of those concerning the Eucharist we are to consider 1. That he keeps himself to the Language of the New Testament in his Answer to Hedibia's Question and only confutes the Millennaries but says nothing of the Modus of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament 2. That his Interpretation of those Words in S. John My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed of the Spiritual and Divine Flesh of Jesus Christ shews that he understood them Allegorically for he distinguishes that from the Flesh of Jesus Christ which suffered upon the Cross Now there is equal Reason to believe that what our Saviour says in the 6th Chapter of S. John concerning Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood is literally to be understood as what he says in the Institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist And if one is Allegorically to be interpreted then they are both 3. That the Mysteâ—â—â—s of Religion were as nicely examined in that Age as in any since Jesus Christ declared it to the World and when every thing else that was Mysterious was controverted this single Article of the Real Presence as defined by the Council of Trent which is contrary to that Reason that the other Disputes concerning the Trinity and the Divine Decrees are properly above was never debated This is so strange if we suppose the Doctrine of the Church of Rome to have been then receiv'd that it is incredible especially when we consider 4. That the generality of the Fathers at that time interpreted every thing in Scripture Allegorically to which they could not assign a convenient Literal sence This the People were used to This was S. Jerom's practice very often and he had learnt it of Origen whom he seems sincerely to have follow'd till he quarrelled with Rufinus So that we have great Reason to think that Men so accustomed to Allegories as the Teachers and the People were in this Age would not be at a Loss to interpret our Blessed Saviour's meaning in any of his Words which Literally interpreted would contradict and do Violence to that Reason by which they were capacitated to understand any part of his Law The Passage produced in favour of Auricular Confession proves nothing less S. Jerom says That after the Priest had heard the difference of Sins he knew whom to bind and whom to loose that is very true but that is no Reason for Men to reveal all their Sins to the Priest because the Church in that Age put Men under Penance only for publick Sins those that had committed private ones of such a Nature as would if discovered have made them unfit to come to the Sacrament were exhorted to put themselves under a voluntary Penance and if they did so they were obliged to declare why they did it that so the time of their Penance might be regulated but this seems to have been left to themselves which makes it quite another thing from the practice of the Church of Rome S. Jerom's Works were published by Erasmus and printed in six Volumes at Basil from the Year 1516 to the Year 1526. In 1530 they were again printed at Lions by Gryphius and at Basil by Froben in 1553. The First Edition of Marianus was at Rome by Manutius in the Years 1565 1571 and 1572. The Second at Paris by Nivelle in 1579. The Third at Antwerp in 1579. The Fourth at Paris with Gravius his Notes in 1609. The Fifth is of 1624 at Paris The Last was printed in 1643. These are the Collections of all this Father's Works There are several of them printed by themselves as the Letters in Octavo printed at Rome by Manutius Dr. Cave mentions an Edition of S. Jerom's Works at Frankfort in 1684 in 12 Volumes in folio with all the Scholia Censures Index's and Collections of all sorts that had been printed till that time upon S. Jerom which are all comprized in the three last Volumes in 1566 at Antwerp in 1568 with Gravius's Notes and at Mentz in 1470 at Venice in 1476 at Paris in 1583 at Dilingen in 1565 at Louvain in 1573. The Book of Famous Men at Louvain and Helmstad in 1611 at Colen in 1580 at Lions in 1617 at Antwerp in 1639. The Epistles to Theophilus at Paris in 1546 and 1589. The Book of Virginity at Rome in 1562. The Treatise of Hebrew Names at Wirtemberg in 1626. I say nothing of the Editions of the Chronicon because they were mentioned in the Account of Eusebius his Works The Benedictines of the Congregation of S. Maura will soon undertake a new Edition of S. Jerom There is reason to hope that it will not be inferior either in Beauty or Exactness to those of S.
the time of this Pope The Epistle attributed to Lucius is full of Citations out of the Vulgar Latin and of several Passages taken out of the First Council of Arles the Third of Carthage that of Milevis St. Leo Gregory Agatho Adrian and Sixtus the Pythagorean Besides it is dated Six Months before the Election of Lucius The two Epistles attributed to Stephanus are filled with Citations out of Modern Authors and Statutes that don't all agree with the time of this Pope and consequently are Spurious For the same Reasons we must pass the same Judgment of the two Letters of Sixtus the Second the two of Pope Dionysius the three of St. Felix the First the two of Eutychianus that of Carus the two of Marcellinus those of Marcellus the three of Eusebius the Letter and Decree of Miltiades and the rest of the Letters of the Popes collected by Isidore that are full of several Passages taken out of the Fathers Popes and Councils more Modern than the very Popes by whom they are pretended to be written and in which many things are to be found that don't in the least agree with the true History of those times and were purposely said to favour the Court of Rome and establish her Pretensions against the Rights of Bishops and the Liberties of Churches But it would take up too much time to show the gross falsity of these Monuments that are now rejected by a common Consent and even by those Authors that are most favourable to the Court of Rome who are obliged to abandon the Patronage of these Epistles though they have done a great deal of Service in establishing the greatness of the Court of Rome and ruining the ancient Discipline of the Church especially in relation to Ecclesiastical Decisions and Rights of Bishops An Abridgment of the Doctrine Discipline and Morality of the Three First Ages of the Church AFter having given a Summary of what is contained in the Works of the Ecclesiastical Authors for the Three first Ages of the Church I supposed it would not be amiss to present the An Abridgment of Doctrine c. Reader with an Abridgment also of the Theology of the Primitive Christians This Design besides the relation it had to the Work it self seem'd in my Opinion to be the principal Fruit and Advantage that could be gathered from it For the ultimate Scope and End which a Man ought to propose to himself in reading the Ecclesiastical Authors and their History is not to gratifie a vain foolish Curiosity but to learn Religion thereby We must not study these Matters only to make a Pompous Ostentation of our Knowledge but to become better Christians to become more certain of the Doctrine of the Church more respectful to its Discipline and better instructed in its Holy Morality For all Theology reduces it self to these Three Points Doctrine Discipline and Morality Doctrine concerns the Articles of Faith that our Religion teaches us Discipline concerns the Government of the Church and Morality teaches us what things we are to do and what we are to forbear Hereticks overthrow the Doctrine of the Church by their Errours Schismaticks destroy its Discipline by violating the Orders and Rules of the Church And lastly The vitious Christian discards and lays aside the Laws of its Morality by living after an irregular manner For the better avoiding these Rocks and Precipices it is exceeding requisite for all Christians to draw out of the Tradition of the ancient Church that is to say out of the Books of the Primitive Fathers who are the unquestionable Witnesses of the Opinion of the Church in their own times to draw I say from thence the Doctrine which they are obliged to believe to examine the Ecclesiastical Discipline which they are to revere and obey and lastly from thence to learn the most Holy Rules of the Christian Morality An Abridgment of the Doctrine THE Doctrine of the Church was always the same and will be ever so till the end An Abridgment of Doctrine of the World For 't is utterly impossible that the true Church should cease to be or that the true Church should not teach the Doctrine of Jesus Christ because whether she should teach a Doctrine different from that of Jesus Christ or whether she should not teach the Doctrine of our Blessed Saviour in both these Cases she would cease to be the true Church Jesus Christ as St. Irenaeus Tertullian and all the rest of the Ancients have observed taught his Apostles all the Truths of Faith The Apostles published them throughout all the Earth and opened them to all the Churches in the World whose Doctrine is found to be conformable each to other in Articles of Faith This Doctrine was always preserved in the Church which is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth 'T is indeed very true that they did not always make use of the same terms and that before the Birth of Heresies they did not observe that precaution in speaking of Mysteries which they did afterwards when they were attack'd by the Hereticks But still the Foundation of Doctrine was always the same as to the principal Articles of our Faith We must likewise acknowledge that there were some Errours very frequent in the First Ages of the Church that have been rejected since but then they don't concern the principal Articles of our Faith and besides were never looked upon to be the received Doctrine of the Church but only the most common Opinions These previous Observations will be confirmed by an Abridgment of the Doctrine of the Church as it is delivered by the Authors of the Three first Centuries which we are going to represent in as few words as possibly we can They taught That the Grounds and Principles of Faith were the Holy Scriptures and Tradition that we ought to believe Mysteries though we were not able to comprehend them they spoke of the Nature of God and of his Attributes after a most excellent manner they believed him to be Invisible Eternal Incorruptible c. they have frequently discoursed of his Providence his Power his Bounty his Mercy and his Goodness they wrote very sharply against the false Divinities of the Pagans and the Errours of Hereticks who imagined that there cou'd be above one Soveraign and Independant Being they proved that God Created all Things and even Matter it self which was not Eternal they acknowledged the Trinity of the Three Persons in one only God the Divinity and Eternity of the Word and of the Holy Ghost they maintain'd that the Word was from all Eternity in God as a Person distinct from the Father that the Father created the World by him and that he governs it and that it was the Person of the Word that appear'd to the ancient Patriarchs under different Figures and who was at last Incarnate that Jesus Christ was the Word made Man God and Man all together composed of two intire and different Natures that he had a Soul and Body like
Sence as in his other Treatises but makes very learned and judicious Remarks which serve very much to clear the Text of the Bible The Notes upon Job are a very imperfect VVork St. Augustin had writ them in the Margin of a Copy of the Book of Job from which some body took them and compiled them into a Book by themselves which makes him say That he knew not whether it was to be called his VVork or theirs who had thus collected and reduced them He findeth there much Obscurity proceeding from their great Brevity and because they added some Notes to those words of the Text to which they do not referr In one word He found so many Faults in that VVork that he had suppressed it had he not known that there were several Copies of it abroad This is the Account which he gives of it in the 13th Chapter of the Second Book of his Retractations Yet this Treatise is not so contemptible it is a kind of Paraphrase or literal Explication of the Book of Job which explains it and discovers such Notions as may be further improved The Looking-glass taken out of the Scripture is neither a Commentary nor a particular VVork upon the Scripture but barely a Collection of Passages out of the Old and New Testament containing Precepts and Instructions for Manners Possidius affirms That St. Augustin wrote a Book of this Nature and Cassiodorus recommends the reading of it It is not certain whether this is that which St. Augustin wrote The Preface is in his Style but in the Body of the Book the Scriptures are cited according to St. Jerom's Translation Perhaps the Text used by St. Augustin was changed and the more common Version was put in the room of it For I can hardly believe that St. Augustin would quit his Old Translation to make a constant use of St. Jerom's Father Vignier hath also published A Looking-glass taken out of Scripture attributed to St. Augustin But this relates to Doctrine more than to Manners which doth not agree with what Possidius saith of St. Augustin's These are all St. Augustin's Treatises upon the Old Testament which make up the First Part of the Third Tome The Second contains Treatises upon the New Testament and begins with a Harmony betwixt the Four Gospels divided into Four Books In the First having spoken of the Number Authority and of the Style of the Gospels he refuteth those who refuse to give Credit to the Gospel because it was not written by Jesus Christ himself but by his Disciples whom they suppose to have receded from their Master's Doctrine that so they might persuade the VVorld that he was God and thereby destroy the VVorship of the Gods He observes That Two of the Four Evangelists were Apostles St. Matthew and St. John and Two were not St. Mark and St. Luke that so none might say that there was a difference betwixt those who had seen with their Eyes Christ's Actions and those who wrote them upon the Relation of those who had seen them He addeth That other Men's VVorks who undertook to write the History of Christ were not received by the Church as Canonical because the Authors of these Histories were not to be believed having stufft their Works with false Relations and Errors contrary to the Rule of the Catholick and Apostolick Faith and to sound Doctrine He believes That the Four Gospels were composed in the same Order as we see them in at present That St. Matthew's Gospel was written in Hebrew and the others in Greek That each Evangelist hath observed a particular Order yet without obliging himself not to speak any thing that had been spoken by another That St. Matthew designed particularly to give an Account of Christ's Royal Descent and to represent him according to that Humane Life which he led among Men That St. Mark did little else but abridge St. Matthew That St. Luke apply'd himself to set forth Christ's Priesthood which is the reason why he doth not reckon his Genealogy from King David by Solomon as St. Matthew doth but by Nathan and for the same reason he takes notice That the Virgin Mary was a-Kin to Elizabeth who was of the Sacerdotal Race and Wife to Zacharias the Priest Lastly That St. John taketh his Subject above Christ's Humane Actions to speak of his Divinity and to discover the Equality of the Word with his Father So that it may be said that the Three First Evangelists are more for the Active Life and St. John for Contemplation After this St. Augustin makes Application of the Four Beasts in the Revelations to the Four Evangelists and having made these Remarks he answereth those who found fault that Christ had written nothing He proposes to them the Examples of Socrates Pythagoras and of the wisest Heathen who left to their Disciples the care of committing to Writing both their Doctrine and their Instructions He shews That Christ cannot be said to have written Magical Books or that he approved the Worship of False Deities He particularly enlargeth upon this last Head shewing That the Apostle's Doctrine touching the Worshipping of One only God is conformable to that of the Prophets who fore-told That the Messiah should preach the same upon Earth and that it should be published and received throughout the VVorld The Three other Books are a Harmony of the Evangelists In the Second and Third he followeth the Text of St. Matthew's Gospel and compareth the three other Gospels with that In the last he takes notice of what the three other Evangelists have peculiar to themselves He doth not only compare the Text of the Evangelists but makes them agree together and resolves the seeming Difficulties and Contrarieties that are betwixt them as to the Order and Manner of their relating both of the Words and Actions of Jesus Christ. This Work was very difficult and laborious and it was finished by St. Augustin with great exactness It was composed about the Year 400. After this Treatise we find in this Volume the two Books of St. Augustin upon the Sermon of Christ in the Mount written about the Year 393. They contain Moral Reflections with Instructions and Precepts contained in Christ's Sermon recorded by St. Matthew in the 5th 6th and 7th Chapters of his Gospel St. Augustin likewise clears the Difficulties that he meets with in the Letter of the Text. Among the Passages of this Treatise which he reviseth in his Retractations there are Two of Consequence The former is about the Divorce allow'd by Jesus Christ in case of Fornication He had extended what is said of Fornication to all those Crimes that set us at a distance from God Here he retracteth this Opinion and confesseth That this Notion is not very certain He saith also That it is a very hard Question VVhether a Man may Marry another VVife having been Divorced from a former The Second Point of any importance taken notice of in his Retractations is touching an Expression he had used when
dignam satisfactionem He exhorts them earnestly to observe the Lent-Fast The fourth is directed to the absolved Penitents He compares the state they were in before Reconciliation to that they are now in and exhorts them not to make their Repentance of no advantage to them by relapsing into their Sins The last Sermon is upon the settlement of the Christian Religion whose excellency he commends by the price it cost For the sake of this it was that Jesus Christ died and rose again that the Apostles laboured and suffered so much that so many just Men have been martyred that so many Confessors have given such Examples of Virtue and dispersed that Light in the World that so many Men have retreated into Monasteries founded and establish'd by the piety of the Kings and Princes of the Earth This gives him an occasion to inveigh against those that take away the Revenues of Churches and Monasteries He comforts the Christians that suffered Wrongs and shews them That they ought to content themselves with a few worldly Things and labour for a Celestial Treasure where these Extortioners which spoil the Church the Normans who plunder and rob to enrich themselves must expect the Torments of Hell Wolfardus or Wolfadus a Priest and Monk of Hatennede in the Diocese of Eicstat composed Wolfadus a Monk of Hatennede about the end of the 9th Age the Life of S. Walpurga and dedicated it to Erkenwald Bishop of Eicstat by whose Command he made them and three Books of Miracles of that Holy Woman He promised a Dialogue concerning that Saint which we have not Other of his Books are printed in the Collections of Canisius Bollandus and F. Mabillon Hugbaldus Hucbaldus or Hubaldus the Nephew and Scholar of Milo a Monk of S. Amandus Hugbaldus a Monk of S. Amandus flourished in the 9th Age and was very long-lived He was accounted a Man of great Learning in his time He made a Poem of 300 Verses dedicated to Charles the Bald in commendation of Baldness of which almost all the Verses begin with the Letter C. But 't is not for the sake of this Work tho' it hath been thought worth the printing at Basil in 1516. and 1546. and at Frankfort in 1624. that we mention this Author nor for the sake of his Book of Musick spoken of by Sigebert but because he composed the Lives of S. Aldegondes Abbess of Malbod S. Rictrudres Abbess of Marchieme and S. Lebwin a Priest printed by Surius and Bollandus on May 12. and Mabillon Saec. Bededict II. Sigebert speaks of this Author and attributes to him the Lives of several other Saints in his Book De Script Cap. 108. Alfredus or Elfridus or Aluredus King of Englund was sent by his Father Ethelwolf Alfredus King of England King of the West Saxons to Rome where he was Crowned in the year 872 by Pope Leo IV. He was a great lover of Learning and Learned Men He Translated several Latin Authors into the Saxon Tongue and published them in his own name viz. Bede's History of England Paulus Orosius's History S. Gregory's Pastoral c. He composed some Laws The Saxon Translation of Bede's History was Printed at Cambridge in 1644 with his Laws and Prefaces to S. Gregory's Pastoral and P. Orosius His Laws also are inserted in Spelman's Councils and in the 9th Tome of the Councils p. 582. The 1. commands the payment of Tythes The 2. Is against those that rob Churches The other are about Civil matters This King died in the year 900. Father Collet hath Published his Will out of Asserius Menevensis Rembertus Arch-bishop of Breme wrote the Life of his Predecessor Anscharius Printed at Rembertus Arch-bishop of Breme Cologne with the Lives of the other Bishops of that Church 'T is also in the Collections of Bollandus and Father Mabillon Rembertus was chosen Bishop after the Death of Anschcarius in 865 and died in 888. Herembert or Erchempert a Monk of Mount Cassin lived at the end of the 9th Age he made a Chronicon printed at Naples in 1626 by the care of Caracciolus a Theatin Herimbertus a Monk of Mount Cassin Almanus a Monk of Hautivilliers Priest Almannus a Monk of Hautevilliers in the Diocese of Reims Compiled at the request of Theudonus his Bishop the Life of S. Memnus the first Bishop of Chalons Father Mabillon in Tome 2. Analect hath put out a Letter of that Bishop to him and his Answer with an Extract of the Register for Burials in the Abby of Hautevilliers which shew that this Author made the Lamentations of France Ravaged by the Normans and the Lives of S. Nivard Arch-bishop of Reims Sindulphus a Recluse and Priest the Empress S. Helena and the History of the Translation of her Relicks from Rome to the Monastery of Haute-villiers with several other Works Adelinus or Adelelinus or Adelmus succeeded Hildebrand in the Bishoprick of Seez after 877 and govern'd that Church till the Year 910. He wrote the Life of S. Opportuna the Abbess Adelinus Bishop of Seez Sister of Godegrand the first Bishop of Seez It was published by Surius Bollandus in April 22 and by F. Mabillon in Tome 2. Saec. Benedict III. Otfredus a Benedictine Monk of the Abby of Weissenburg and Scholar of Rabanus Compos'd Otfredus a Monk of Weissemburg an History of the Gospel in the Teutonick Tongue that the People that did not understand the Greek nor Latin might read and understand the Gospel He divided this Work into five Books which contain'd the principal circumstances of the Life of Jesus Christ taken out of the Four Evangelists and digested into the order of Time He Dedicated it to Luctbertus Arch-bishop of Mentz by a Latin Letter which he used instead of a Preface it is Printed in the Bibliotheca Patrum but the Work it self is not yet made Publick Trithemius makes mention of some other Treatises of this Author Dedicated to King Lewis Bishop Solomon and the monks of S. Gallus Three Volumes upon the Psalms a Treatise of the last Judgment another of the Joys of Heaven several Letters and many pieces of Poetry Aldrevaldus Aldelbertus and Albertus a Monk of Fleury lived towards the end of the 9th Age. He wrote an History of the Translation of S. Benedict and S. Scholastica and a Book of Aldrevaldus a Monk of Fleury Asserius Bishop of Sherburn the Miracles of S. Benedict These works are in the Library of the Monastery of Fleury Asserius Menevensis Bishop of Sherburn in England flourished about 890 and died in 909. He wrote the History of the Acts of Alfredus his King which was Printed in 1602 at Francfort with other English Historians Bale says he wrote the Annals of England some Homilies and some other Works but we have them not He is accounted an Author of good Credit We must not forget the Martyrologies which were perfected in this Age. In the beginning of the last Century venerable Bede
says He who has regenerated you by Water and the Holy Spirit grant you the Unction of Salvation Now 't is God alone who is the Author of Grace the Dispenser of Spiritual Gifts and who remits Sins In discoursing on the third Point namely concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of CHRIST after he had taken notice of its Sublimity and its Incomprehensibility he says That God commiserating our Frailty has provided a Remedy for us by this propitiatory Sacrifice offer'd for our daily Faults and forasmuch as he has taken out of our sight and carry'd to Heaven that Body which he offer'd for our Redemption that we might not be depriv'd of the present Protection of his Body he has left us a Salutary Pledge of his Body and Blood which is not a Symbol of a vain empty Mystery but the real Body of JESUS CHRIST which his secret Efficacy produceth every Day after an invisible manner in the Solemnity of those Mysteries under the visible Form of the Creature 'T is this Body which he spake of to his Disciples a little before his Passion This is my Body and this is my Blood And elsewhere He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him John 6. 56. Being therefore thus instructed by the Will and Pleasure of this true Master in partaking of his Body and Blood we may boldly maintain That we are chang'd into his Body and that he dwelleth in us not only by an Union of the Will but by the Reality of the Nature which is united to us He adds That we should not imagine it to be any Dishonour to a God who condescended to enter into the Womb of a Virgin to be in Pure and Virgin Creatures That what appears externally to be the Substance of Bread and Wine became internally the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST And to make this Change the more credible he compares it to the Creation and says That if God could make Creatures out of Nothing he could more easily convert them into the Substance of his Body The Second Letter of Fulbert of Chartres is concerning a Custom in use in his time of giving to the Priests after their Ordination a Consecrated Host which they kept and communicated of for forty Days together He had been ask'd the Reason of this Custom But before he reply'd to that he observ'd That different Churches had their different Customs which was no hindrance of their being united in the same common Faith Afterwards he says That this Custom was observ'd by all the Bishops of his Country That he remember'd that formerly a Priest having receiv'd a consecrated Host from his Bishop and communicating thereof every Day it one Day happen'd That after he had celebrated these Mysteries he lost this Host by wrapping his Habit in the Communion Table-cloth That on the Morrow in the time of Celebration when he came to communicate he was very much surpriz'd at his missing the Host. That the Bishop being inform'd of what had happen'd through his Carelessness had impos'd on him a very severe Pennance S. Fulbert adds That this Accident gave him an occasion of asking this Bishop Whether it were not better that the Priests should eat this Host the first or second Day after it was consecrated without dividing it into so many Pieces But that this Bishop had return'd him this Answer That they were oblig'd to keep this Host for the space of Forty Days because as JESUS CHRIST had been Forty Days upon Earth after his Resurrection and appear'd to his Apostles several times so the Bishop in ordaining his Priests gave them the Eucharist to take for Forty Days together to put them in mind of those Forty Days during which our Lord appear'd to his Apostles after his Resurrection Fulbert having ask'd Whether this Mystery might not be as well perform'd by the Bread which the Priests consecrated every Day was answer'd by the Bishop That as many particular Churches spread over the Face of the whole Earth made but One Catholick Church because they have all one Common Faith just so many Particucular Hosts offer'd by many Faithful are only One Bread because of the Unity of the Body of CHRIST That the Bread consecrated by the Bishop and the Bread consecrated by the Priest are chang'd into one and the same Body of JESUS CHRIST by the Omnipotency of the same Virtue which operateth in both but as it may be said in some measure That the Body of JESUS CHRIST born of the Virgin and nailed to the Cross is different from the Body of JESUS CHRIST when raised from the Dead Even so it seems That the Bread consecrated on the Ordination-day and kept by the Priests may have a particular Signification distinct from the Bread which was consecrated every Day the former may denote the Body of JESUS CHRIST raised from the Dead to die no more the latter JESUS CHRIST who dies and rises again every Day for us The Third and Fourth Letters are directed to King Robert wherein he prays him to order Eudes Count of Chartres to cause the Castles to be demolish'd which were built by Vicount Geofrey and very much incommoded the Church of Chartres The Two following contain nothing in them remarkable The Seventh is directed to Leoterick Archbishop of Sens whom he exhorts to make use of his Authority in succouring Avisgaudus Bishop of Mans whom the Count of that City oppress'd and to threaten the said Count with Excommunication in case he did not restore to him his Revenue and let him be quiet The Eighth is a Copy of a Letter which he had written to this Avisgaudus who complain'd that Fulbert and Leoterick had publish'd his Confession Fulbert gives him to understand That he wrong'd them in having such a Thought of them That they had never publish'd any thing but what was for his Advantage and which might serve to justifie him against those who had accus'd him of having quitted his Bishoprick out of Avarice Baseness or for some other dishonourable Cause That if he had trusted to their Secrecy such Things as he ought to repent of they had taken great Care to conceal them but that they had no Power to conceal those which were publick both before and after his Confession As to that part of this Bishop's Complaint that they had said of him That he was in Love with a Monastick Life Fulbert returns him this Answer That he ought not to take this amiss since it could be no Prejudice to him for the Love of a Religious Life render'd him rather worthy than unworthy of the Bishoprick into which he desir'd to enter again were there nothing else to hinder him from it But that they could not perceive how he could be put into Possession again because he could not complain that he had been turn'd out of it or that any one had been put into Possession of that See against his Will since he had voluntarily quitted it under
JESUS CHRIST who shall bring the Clergy to live after the Ancient Way of the Apostles shall Convert the Jews and Turks and purifie the whole Earth Innocent VI. ordered also his Inquisitor in Germany to banish all the Begards and Beguines and condemned an Heresie risen in England concerning Original Sin and the Merit of good Works This Pope died Sept. 12. 1362. A Register of his Letters is preserved in the Vatican Library several of which are published His Writings The Election of Urban and his Actions by Rainaldus Bzovius and Waddingus in their Annals Octob. 28. following the Cardinals being Assembled in the Conclave chose William Grimoardus a Native of Grisac in the Diocess of Menda Doctor of Law and Abbot of S. Victor at Marseilles who assumed the Name of Urban V. and was Consecrated and Crowned Pope at Avignon Nov. 6. After he had had a Conference at Avignon in the Year 1365. with the Emperor Charles he took up a Resolution to go to Rome to set in Order the Affairs of Italy and accordingly departed from Avignon the last day of April 1367. and taking Ship at Marseilles May 20. he Arrived four days after in Italy Having stayed some time at Viterbo He made his Entry into Rome Octob. 6. and was there received with great Joy by the Romans He had the honour to receive two Emperors there viz. Charles the Emperor of Germany who came in 1368. with an Army to bring the People and Cities of Italy into Obedience to the Pope and Joannes Palaeologus Emperor of the Greeks who came to Rome the next Year and united himself to the Roman Church Urban having put the Affairs of Italy in order resolved to return to Avignon under a Pretence of endeavouring to make a Peace between the Kings of France and England He left Italy Sept. 5. 1370. came the 16th of the same Month to Marseilles and the 24th to Avignon where he died Decemb. 19. of the same Year This Pope had several great Accomplishments and was very Noble very Zealous to do his His Character and 〈◊〉 Duty and a lover of Justice He erected divers stately Buildings Reformed many Abuses in the Court of Rome punished Irregular Clergy-men very severely prosecuted Usurers and Persons guilty of Simony and such as used Unlawful Trades forbad Plurality of Benefices favoured Learning established several Publick Universities and entertained 1000 Students at his own Charge He was Liberal and Charitable to the Poor made a good Use of the Revenues of the Church forbad Ecclesiastical Immunities and Privileges and preferred only two of his Relations to Ecclesiastical Dignities because they were worthy of them His Constitution against Plurality of Benefices is in the 11th Tome of the Councils The Annalists Bzovius ad an 1365. and Waddingus ad an 1363. have published several of his Letters and there is a Volume of them in the Vatican Library After the Death of Urban the Cardinals chose Petrus Rogerius Nephew to Clement VI. being The Election of Gregory XI about Forty Years old He was a Native of Maumont in the Diocess of Limoges He took the Name of Gregory XI and was Consecrated and Crowned at Avignon Jan. 4. 1371. Italy was afflicted with Wars under the Pontificate of this Pope and the Florentines revolted and drew away Bononia and several other Cities After the Pope had thundred out his Excommunications he published a Croisado and Levyed an Army against them which he sent into Italy under the Command of the Cardinal of Geneva And lastly resolved to go and make his Residence in Italy and fix his See at Rome Some affirm That he did this by the Perswasion of Baldus the Lawyer who had been his Master Others say That it was done upon the Reflection of a Bishop who was reproved by him for Non-residence Others say That he did it by the Advice of St. Catharine of Sienna However that be he left Avignon without the Knowledge of the French Sept. 13. 1376. being accompanied with all the Cardinals except five who would stay there and made his Entrance into Rome Jan. 7. in the next Year His Arrival did not at all alter the state of Affairs the Revolt continued the Romans themselves would not submit to him and kept up their Magistrates Their Governor invaded Viterbo and some other Cities belonging to the Patrimony of St. Peter which obliged Gregory to retire to Anagnia under a Pretence of avoiding the heat of the Weather He returned to Rome in November and having accommodated things with the Governor of Rome he treated with the Florentines and the other Revolters about a Peace During the time of this Negotiation Gregory died March 27. 1378. Gerson says That this Pope made a Declaration when he died in which he exhorted all present not to believe the Visions of Private Persons because he had himself been deceived by the advice of one of these Enthusiasts and upon that Account had like to have created a dangerous Schism in the Church but that he foresaw the ill Consequence of it This he said with a respect to the Advice which Catharine of Sienna had given him to go to Rome However that be the Death of Gregory made a Way to a Schism of which we shall speak in the following Chapter The greatest part of the Letters of this Pope are published by Waddingus in his Annal. Minor ad an 1371. and by Bzovius in his Annales ad an 1372. CHAP. IV. The History of the Schism of the Popes of Rome and Avignon and of what passed in Christendom on that Account till the Council held at Pisa. GRegory the XIth being Dead at Rome the Romans were desirous to take this Opportunity The Election of Urban VI. made by sorce of resettling the Pope's Court in their City by promoting the Choice of a Roman or at least of an Italian There were at that time Sixteen Cardinals at Rome Four Italians which were Peter of Corsinis a Florentine Bishop of Porto styled Cardinal of Florence Simon of Brossana a Milanese Cardinal-Priest of the title of St. John and St. Paul Francis of Thebaldeschis Cardinal-Priest of the title of St. Sabina commonly called the Cardinal of St. Peter James Des Ursini a Roman Cardinal-Deacon of the title of St. George and Twelve Ultramontanes i. e. of the Nations beyond the Alps to wit the Cardinals John of Grosso a Limoisin Bishop of Praeneste called Cardinal of Limoges Robert of Geneva Cardinal-Priest of the title of the Twelve Apostles Gerard du Puy Abbot of Marmoutier Cardinal-Priest of the title of St. Clement Peter Flandrini Cardinal-Priest of the title of St. Eustace Willam of Aigrefeüille Cardinal-Priest of St. Stephen in Monte Coelio Bertrand Larger of Glandeva Cardinal-Priest of the title of St. Cecily Hugo of Montelais of Nants of the title of the four Crowns Guy of Malesicco Cardinal-Priest of the title of the Holy-Cross in Jerusalem styled Cardinal of Poictiers Peter of Sortenac Cardinal-Priest of the title of St.
were preached at Antioch In the 21st Homily upon the Epistle to the Corinthians he plainly says that he was preaching at Antioch In the 3d Homily upon the Epistle to Titus he makes mention of Daphne a Suburb of Antioch as belonging to the Town where he preached The Sermons upon the Epistle to the Colossians were preached at Constantinople for in the 3d Homily he speaks with Episcopal Authority threatning Sinners to deny them the Peace of the Church he also mentions the Episcopal Throne whereon he was sitting and calls himself Bishop Of the same time are the Homilies upon the Epistles to the Thessalonians In the eleventh upon the first Epistle he says that he presided over them that heard him The same is to be taken notice of in the 4th Homily upon the second Epistle In the 4th upon the Epistle to the Hebrews he threatens to put those out of the Church who should hire Mourners at the Funerals of their Relations which justifies his being Bishop In the 26th Homily upon the second Epistle to the Corinthians there are these words That the Son of Constantine caused his Father to be buried in this City As to the rest there is no certain proof from what he says to tell us where they were preached but the style of the Homilies upon the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians being smoother and more polished whereas that of the Homilies upon the Epistles to the Ephesians Philippians and Philemon being careless and without Art we may believe according to Photius his Rule that the former were preached at Antioch and the latter at Constantinople These Homilies consist of two parts The first contains a Commentary upon the Gospel the other a moral Exhortation to the People In the Commentary he gives a reason of the Contents of the Gospel examines all the circumstances thereof weighs the words and discovers in those places which seem most plain great Numbers of fine things to which no attention would have been given had he not taken notice of them He keeps still to the literal Sence and of all Explications he always chuses not the most subtle but the most natural He seeks for no allegorical or figurative Sence He useth no far fetched notions to prove his opinions avoids all intangled and hard Questions contenting himself to make clear and usefull Observations upon the History and upon the Text of St. Paul He gives a perfect light to all the places of this Apostle's Epistles which seem most difficult and particularly to those which are thought to speak of Predestination and of Grace His expositions remove all that which at the first view makes them appear terrible and fearfull Every-where God is represented as a good and mercifull Being and willing to save all Men and who affords them all necessary means of Salvation Men are exhorted to answer that Call of God since it is their own fault if they be not saved for those that are damned damn themselves He tells them often that God requireth no impossible thing of them That with God's help they may keep the Commandments and practice Vertue S. Chrysostom finds these comfortable Thoughts in the passages of S. Paul which seem most terrifying and endeavours to prove that they are not contrary to the mind of this Apostle The Exposition he gives of the most difficult places is no ways forced yea it seemeth very often to be the most simple and natural However to my thinking it is always the most profitable and edifying and the fittest to be preached to the People which are much edified by such Remonstrances as tend to practice but can reap little or no fruit from Speculations about God s eternal Decrees and other abstracted matters that have but little Relation to the Government of Life and Manners All the Exhortations that conclude S. Chrysostom's Homilies are ordinarily about some points of Morality as about the fear that men ought to stand in of God's Judgments the Necessity of Repentance the Contempt of Riches forgiving of Enemies Humility Abstraction of the Heart from worldly things diligent Meditation upon the Holy Scriptures and God's Laws an Abhorrency of Plays and Shows Charity towards the Poor Alms and Hospitality brotherly Reproof the Duties of Husbands to their Wives of Parents to their Children of Masters to their Servants of Lay-men towards their Pastours Patience in Afflictions that Holiness wherewith Men should come to the Sacraments the Benefit of Prayer and the Conditions required therein of Fasting and the Advantages of a monastical and solitary Life Assiduity in divine Offices Attention to preaching Sobriety Purity Modesty Meekness Clemency Contempt of Death and many other like Subjects which he handleth with such familiar and yet such solid and convincing Reasons that there are no Discourses more capable of inspiring Notions of Piety and Vertue He does not go about as most Preachers do to set forth studied Notions which divert the Understanding but do not touch the Heart He goes to the bottom of things searches the secret solds of Man's Heart and not contented to have discovered and described Vice he begets an horrour of it He sets forth the most powerfull Motives to deter Christians from it and the most proper means to correct it and to practice true and solid Vertue He stretches nothing too far but distinguishes exactly the matter of a precept from the Advice therein contained He is neither too meek nor too severe He is neither too familiar nor keeps too much distance never complies beyond what is meet nor terrifies to discouragement In a word his Exhortations are an excellent pattern of preaching to the People The Sermons in the Fifth Volume upon several Texts of the New Testament are not Commentaries but moral Instructions or Homilies upon different Subjects The First is of Forgiveness of our Enemies upon the parable of that Debtour to whom his Master remitted Ten thousand Talents and yet afterwards exacted the hundred Pence from him that owed them to him He speaks of the exact Account that Men must render to God Rich Men saith he must give account for the use of their Riches poor Men of their patience Judges of the Discharge of their Office but above all Church-men shall account for their Ministery they shall be more strictly examined It shall be asked of him to whom the Word of God was committed whether out of Idleness or Flattery he omitted none of those necessary things which his Ministery obliged him to speak if he explained all and concealed no truth A Bishop charged with the direction of a Diocess hath yet a far greater Account to give his Examination will be not only about his Doctrine and his helping of the Poor but especially about the Orders which he shall have conferred and a Thousand other obligations of the Priesthood S. Chrysostom speaking of S. Peter in that Homily calleth him the Head of the Body of the Apostles the Mouth of the Disciples the Firmament of the Faith the
Foundation of Confession and the Fisherman of the whole Earth The Second Sermon of this Volume is against Dancing and Luxury there he shews that Preachers are bound to reprove Vice and that they ought never to forbear though their preaching seems to be without Fruit Then he begins to explain the Parable of Dives and Lazarus making several moral Reflexions on the particulars of that Parable in the four following Sermons The last is quoted by Photius in the 277th Volume of his Bibliotheca where he speaks of an Earth-quake at Antioch where he preached these Sermons He observes in the Fourth that God does not permit any to return from the Dead and gives the reason of it The Seventh Sermon is an Exposition of the Parable of the Man that was sick of the Palsie he uses Jesus Christ's Words concerning that sick Man and his Cure to prove the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The Eighth is upon these Words of Jesus Christ in S. Matthew Chap. 26. v. 39. Father if it be possible let this Cup pass c. There he explains the Mystery of Christ's Incarnation and in what sence he feared Death and would have avoided it The Ninth on these words of S. Matthew Enter in at the strait Gate is against publick Shews At the latter End of it the case of Dives is compared with that of Lazarus The Tenth contains an Exposition of the Lord's Prayer This Prayer is not written in S. Chrysostom's style The Eleventh is upon the Resurrection of Lazarus That Discourse is none of S. Chrysostom's the style elocution and the very thoughts are quite different from his The Twelfth is upon the Title of the Acts of the Apostles where after a Discourse concerning the Establishment and Perpetuity of the Church which could neither be shaken nor ruined by the severest Persecutions he shews that a Christian Life and good Works are more to be valued than the Gift of working Miracles he ends with a Commendation of the Bishop of Antioch whom he calls the Successor of S. Peter For saith he it is one of the Prerogatives of our City is to have had for our Master S. Peter the first of the Apostles It was just that that City which had the advantage of bearing first the Name of a Christian City should have for her Bishop the first of the Apostles But having enjoy'd that happiness we would not ingross it to our selves but consented he should go to Rome the Imperial City Yet in giving we have not lost him we have him still we have not his Body but his Faith and having S. Peter ' s Faith we may truly say we have S. Peter himself He justifies himself in the Thirteenth for the length of his Prefaces he shews there the Usefulness of Reproof and treats of the Conversion of S. Paul and of the changing of his Name and reproves them that neglect to labour in their own conversion under pretence that God will convert them God saith he forceth no man he draweth only them that are willing to go to him he is willing to save us but that is if we be willing to be saved The Fourteenth is upon these words of S. Paul Rom. c. 5. v. 3. Rejoycing in tribulations Here he shews what is the fruit of afflictions and of persecutions The same Subject is handled in the following discourse upon these words of the same Apostle All things work together for good to them that love God The Preface of the Sixteenth is against such as frequent not the Assemblies of the Faithfull in Churches and then he expounds these words of the Apostle If thine enemy hunger feed him exhorting Men to forgive injuries In the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Sermons he makes many very usefull reflections upon these words of S. Paul Salute Aquila and Priscilla In these discourses we have an example justifying how many Moral Thoughts may be suggested by a subject which of it self seems dry and barren For what is there more simple in appearance and of less instruction than this Salutation of S. Paul Yet by a wonderfull Art S. Chrysostom makes use of it for the explanation of many important instructions As about the respect we ought to have for the Poor Charity towards our Brethren the small regard that is to be had to Nobility the profit of working with our own hands and the reverence due to Church-men c. The Nineteenth and Twentieth Sermons are about what S. Paul saith of Marriage in 1 Cor. c. 7. from which he takes occasion to speak against Dancing Feasting and other profane Pomps of Weddings He teaches what ought to be the end of Marriage among Christians and how it is to be used Marriage saith he is a remedy against Fornication let us not therefore dishonour it by filthy Pomps Christians ought to banish from their Weddings devilish Pomps filthy Songs lascivious Consorts undecent Dancings obscene Words Riots excessive Laughter and they ought to introduce the Servants of Jesus Christ and his Priests to have Jesus Christ in Person in the midst of them as of the Marriage in Cana. Let no man tell me it is the custom do not tell me of a custom if it is sinfull If the thing be Evil in it self how old soever the use of it be retrench it If it be Good and not usual bring it in But know that this custom is not ancient but an Innovation Remember the Marriage of Isaac with Rebecca of Rachel with Jacob the Scripture tells us how those Weddings were kept it shews indeed that there was a Feast more splendid than ordinary that the Relations and Neighbours were invited but there were no Fiddles no Dancing nor any other shamefull Excesses of our Age. Now at Weddings such lascivious Songs are sung as teach Adultery and inspire foolish Love the Guests full of Wine do attend the Bride with impure Discourses With what reason can you pretend to require Chastity in a Woman whom you have taught from the very First day to be impudent and before whom you suffer that to be said and done which your Foot-men would blush to doe or hear To what purpose do ye bring in a Priest to crave a blessing and the next day your selves commit base actions In the same Homily there are a great many Exhortations of the same nature against such disorders which are not less frequent in our days than they were in the time of this Bishop Afterwards he adviseth both Men and Women to behave themselves holily in Marriage and not only to avoid Adultery but not so much as give an occasion of suspicion He proves that Second Marriages are not forbidden though it is better to forbear and concludes with a sensible Declamation against Adultery and Fornication The Twenty-first is upon these words 1 Cor. c. 10. Our Fathers were all under the cloud c. After a large Exposition of which words he speaks of Alms-deeds and of the necessary Dispositions to communicate worthily The Twenty-second is upon