That after the Death of Maximus the Scots and the Picts did waste Britain and that then Stilicho did send assistence to them Why then should the first wasting of the Countrey spoken of by Gildas and the Legion sent upon it be that in the latter end of Honorius and not rather that in the beginning For the latter end of Honorius his Reign was very perplexed and troublesome The Alani Suevi and Vandali were in Spain The Franks Burgundians and Goths in Gaul Iovinus and Sebastian there after Constantine's death usurped the Empire And although the Goths going into Spain did great Service against the other Barbarians yet such were the Straits of the Roman Empire in Gaul That Constantius who then managed the Affairs of the Empires was forced to recall them as both Prosper and Idatius say Monaxius and Plinta being Consuls which was the twenty fourth of Honorius and to give them all that part in Gaul from the Garonne to the Ocean The year before Honorius his death he was forced to send his Forces under Castinus into Spain against the Vandals as Prosper affirms and that proved the Occasion of new Troubles in Africa by the difference between Castinus and Bonifucius who for his own Security conveyed over the Vandals thither It is not therefore very probable that the first Supplies of the Britains should be in the latter end of Honorius especially since the Learned Primate confesseth that Honorius did not in his time recover the Province of Britain and he proves it against Sabellicus from Procopius Bede the Saxon Annals and Ethelwerd And the single Testimony of Sigebert That Honorius at the same time sent assistence to the Britains that he did to the Spaniards when Prosper Idatius and Cassiodore who all mention the latter say not a word of the former cannot weigh down the Reasons on the other side But as to the second Supplies which were sent upon the mighty importunity of the Britains They were in probability in the beginning of the Reign of Valentinian III. after that Aêtius had somewhat recover'd the Credit of the Roman Empire in Gaul For after his Success there both against the Goths and Franks he had liberty enough to send over a Legion to the Assistence of the Britains who were again miserably harass'd by the Scots and Picts And at this time it was that Gildas saith The Romans upon the sad Representations the British Embassadours made of their pitifull condition sent them speedy Supplies who coming upon their Enemies on a sudden like a violent Torrent drove them all before them and made them repass the Seas Which is an Argument they did not then inhabit in Britain But the Romans then plainly told the Britains they were not at leisure to bring over Legions as often as their Enemies invaded them But they must train up their own People to Arms to defend themselves and their Wives and Children against a sort of Men no ways stronger than themselves And to incourage them the more they built a Wall of Stone from Sea to Sea and Forts on the Shore and exercised them in Arms taking their leave of them and telling them they must expect their return no more This is the Substance of Gildas his Relation with whom Bede agrees onely inlarging the Description of the Wall which he saith was eight Foot in breadth and twelve in height and that it stood where the Wall of Severus stood being all made of Stone and not of Turf as that unserviceable Wall was which the Britains had before without skill and direction built for themselves It hath been much disputed among our Learned Antiquaries where this last Wall stood whether in the place where the former of Turf was raised by the Britains between the two Friths or where Hadrian's Wall was first built between the Tine and the Esk Bede puts a great distance between these two Walls and makes the former to have been between the two Friths beginning at a Place called Peneltun two miles from Abercorney and ending to the West near Alcluyd which saith he signifies a Rock in the River Cluyd But the latter Wall was from Sea to Sea in a direct Line between the Cities there built for Security against Incursions and it stood in the Place of Severus his Wall Joh. Fordon distinguishes between the old Wall called Grimes-dike from Grime a Britain whose Daughter Fergus married and after his death ruled over the Scots during his Grand-child's Minority and which Wall he saith this Grime overthrew and so recovered the ancient Possessions due to him as descended from Fulgenius and the other Wall built where Severus his stood And he gives very different descriptions of them The former Wall he saith begins from the East upon the South-side of the Scotish Shore near a Village called Karedin and then for twenty two miles crosses the Land leaving Glasgow on the South and ends on the Bank of the River Clyd near Kirk-patrick The other he saith begins on the East in the Southern Bank of the Tyne to Gaitsheved or Goats-head where Severus saith he a long time before had made a Wall and a Trench over against New-castle and so it is continued to the River Esk called Scotishwath for sixty miles and ends near Carlisle on the West But Buchanan contends that Severus his Wall was where Graham's Dike or Grimes-dike was and at least eighty miles distant from Hadrian 's Wall which he proves from the Antiquities there found and the square Stones taken up which do sufficiently prove an ancient Stone Wall to have been there but not that of Severus And the Roman Inscriptions in Camden mention Antoninus and not Severus Joh. Major places Severus his Wall as Fordon doth between the Tyne and the Esk. But Archbishop Vsher hath endeavoured to clear this matter by yielding to Buchanan that the Scotish Wall was made of Stone viz. by the Romans under Gallio Ravennas and by proving that Bede was mistaken as to Severus his Wall being made of Turf before which was the Reason he thought it turned into Stone at this time it being not likely that the Romans would bring the Britains at least eighty miles back and put them to defend a Wall so very much longer than the other But I rather think Severus his Wall was now repaired and a larger Scope allow'd for the Picts and Scots As besides what hath been said before may appear by this one Argument from Fordon He saith That when the Scots made a new Incursion they open'd Passages in the Wall from whence it was called Thirle-wall i. e. saith he Murus perforatus Now the Learned Primate grants that a Place called Thirle-wall stood on the Borders of Cumberland and Northumberland And that Fordon saith Thirle-wall was built by Severus on the Tyne And therefore Bede seems to have been in the right as to Severus his Wall but onely mistaken in thinking it was made of Turf before which was
at Antioch he saith gave out that both Osius and Liberius had renounced the Nicene Faith and declared the Son to be unlike the Father but Liberius clear'd himself by rejecting the Doctrine of the Anomaeans i. e. the open and professed Arians and this Vrsacius Valens and Germinius then at Sirmium were willing to accept of having a farther Design to carry on in these Parts which was like to be spoiled by the Anomaeans appearing so openly and unseasonably in the East And for the same Reason they were willing to call in that which Hilary calls the Blasphemy of Osius and Potamius as being too open and giving Offence to the Followers of Basilius of Ancyra in the East For now the Emperour having banished so many Bishops and struck so much terrour into the rest thought it a convenient time to settle the Church-affairs to his mind in these Western Parts and to that end he summoned a General Council but justly fearing the Eastern and Western Bishops would no more agree now than they did before at Sardica he appoints the former to meet at Seleucia in Isauria and the latter at Ariminum whose Number saith Severus Sulpicius came to above four hundred and to the same purpose Sozomen When they were assembled Valens and Vrsacius acquainted them with the Emperour 's good Intentions in calling them together and as the onely Expedient for the Peace of the Church they proposed that all former Confessions of Faith should be laid aside as tending to dissension and this to be universally received which they had brought with them from Sirmium where it was drawn up by several Bishops and approved by the Emperour Upon the reading this New Confession of Faith wherein the Son is said to be like the Father according the Scriptures and the Name of Substance agreed to be wholly laid aside the Bishops at Ariminum appeared very much unsatisfied and declared they were for keeping to the Nicene Faith without alteration and required of the Arian Party there present to subscribe it before they proceeded any farther which they refusing to doe they forthwith excommunicated and deposed them and protested against all Innovations in matters of Faith And of these Proceedings of theirs they send an account by several Legates of their own wherein they express their Resolution to adhere to the Nicene Faith as the most effectual Bar against Arianism and other Heresies and they add that the removing of it would open the Breach for Heresie to enter into the Church They charge Vrsacius and Valens with having once been Partakers of the Arian Heresie and on that account thrown out of the Church but were received in again upon their Submission and recantation but now they say in this Council of Ariminum they had made a fresh Attempt on the Faith of the Church bringing in a Doctrine full of Blasphemies as it is in Socrates but in Hilary's Fragments it is onely that their Faith contained multa perversae Doctrinae which shews that they looked on the Sirmian Creed as dangerous and heretical And in the same Fragments it appears by the Acts of the Council that they proceeded against Valens Vrsacius Germinius and Caius as Hereticks and Introducers of Heresie and then made a solemn Protestation that they would never recede from the Nicene Faith Their ten Brethren whom they sent to Constantius to acquaint him with the Proceedings of the Council he would not admit to speak with him For he was informed beforehand by the Arian Party how things went in the Council at which he was extremely displeased and resolved to mortifie the Bishops so as to bring them to his Will at last He sends word to the Council how much his thoughts were then taken up with his Eastern Expedition and that these matters required greater freedom of Mind to examine them than he had at such a time and so commands the Legates to wait at Hadrianople till his Return The Council perceived by this Message that his Design was to weary them out hoping at last as Theodoret expresses it to bring them to consent to the demolishing that Bulwark which kept Heresie out of the Church i. e. the Authority of the Council of Nice To this smart Message the Council returned a resolute Reply That they would not recede from their former Decree but humbly beg leave to return to their Bishopricks before Winter being put to great hardships in that strait Place This was to let the Emperour know how he might deal with them and he sends a charge to his Lieutenant not to let them stir till they all consented And in the mean time effectual means were used with their Legates in the East to bring them to terms an account whereof we have in Hilary's Fragments which were to null all the former Proceedings and to receive those who were there deposed to Communion Which being done they were sent back to decoy the rest of the Council who at first were very stiff but by degrees they were so softned that they yielded at last to the Emperour 's own Terms The very Instrument of their Consent is extant in Hilary's Fragments wherein they declare their full Agreement to the laying aside the Terms of Substance and Consubstantial in the Creed i. e. to the voiding the Authority of the Council of Nice which was the thing all along aimed at by the Arian Party And Athanasius saith it was there declared unlawfull to use the word Substance or Hypostasis concerning God It is time now to consider how far those Churches can be charged with Arianism whose Bishops were there present and consented to the Decrees of this Council It is a noted Saying of St. Jerome on this Occasion that the World then groaned and wondered at its being become Arian Which a late Authour saith is a passage quite worn out by our Innovatours Whom doth he mean by these Innovatours The Divines of the Church of England who from time to time have made use of it Not to prove an Apostasie of the Catholick Church from the true Faith which no Man in his Wits ever dreamt of but from hence to overthrow the pretended Infallibility of General Councils or such as have been so called And notwithstanding the opprobrious Name of Innovatours which as we find in those of the Church of Rome often belongs to those who give it to others it is very easie to prove that this one Instance of the Council of Ariminum doth overthrow not onely the Pretence to the Infallibility of General Councils but the absolute binding Authority of any till after due examination of the Reasons and Motives of their Proceedings For it is apparent by the whole Series of the Story as I have faithfully deduced it that the whole Design of the Arian Party was to overthrow the Authority of the Council of Nice which they were never able to compass by a General Council till this of Ariminum agreeing as they
Church without declaring whether they were composed or inspired And so do Pliny and Tertullian in some Places But in his Apology he saith both were used Eusebius mentions the Hymns composed by Christians which proved the Divinity of Christ And the great esteem the Hymns of Nepos were in and the complaint against Paulus Samosatenus for laying aside the Hymns made to the Honour of Christ. The Council of Laodicea first restrained the use of Private Hymns in the Churches Service the Greek Canonists understand this Canon of Apocryphal Psalms such as Salomon's Psalter published by La Cerda out of the Auspurg MS. which he highly magnifies and almost believes to be genuine But if this Canon be extended to all humane Compositions it was never received in the Western Church wherein the Hymns of St. Hilary St. Ambrose Prudentius and others have been generally used And the Ambrosian Hymns were received into the Service of the Gallican Church as appears by the second Council at Tours And Cassander observes that not onely those made by St. Ambrose but others in imitation of him were called by his name Which Walafridus Strabo confirms But among those the Te Deum is not reckon'd by Cassander neither is it of the Ambrosian Composition for those Hymns ended their Sentence every fourth Verse as he observes Te Deum is commonly said to have been made by St. Ambrose and St. Augustine at his Baptism and to prove it the Ritualists quote the Chronicle of Datius Bishop of Milan But Gavantus observes that the Learned Men of Milan deny that there is any such thing as a Chronicle of Datius among them Mabillon sent to them to enquire particularly about it and they return'd Answer That they had no such thing But that there was such a Title put upon a Book written by other Authours In an old Collection of Hymns and an old Latine and French Psalter mention'd by Archbishop Vsher this Hymn is attributed to St. Nicetius And there were two of that name in the Gallican Church The former of which might probably be the Authour of it The one was Bishop of Triers and subscribed to the Council of Auvergn Anno Dom. 535. highly commended for his Eloquence and Sanctity by Gregorius Turonensis Fortunatus and others And the other of great fame too and Bishop of Lyons who subscribed to the Council there Anno Dom. 567. But against this latter there is a strong Objection from the mention of this Hymn in the Rule of St. Benedict c. 11. who died according to Baronius Anno Dom. 543. It is likewise mention'd in the Rule of Caesarius drawn up by Tetradius c. 21. who died about the same time And in the Rule of Aurelianus who was present in the Council of Lyons Anno Dom. 549. in the time of Sacerdos Predecessour to Nicetius But I see no reason against the former Nicetius since Menardus confidently affirms there is no mention of this Hymn in any Writers before And therefore we may look on this Hymn as owing its Original to the Gallican Church Besides Cassian takes notice that in the Gallican Churches Gloria Patri c. was said by the People at the end of every Psalm But Walafridus Strabo observes That at Rome they used it rarely at the end of the Psalms but more frequently after the Responsoria From hence the three Cardinals Bellarmine Baronius and Bona all conclude those Ritualists mistaken who make Damasus the Authour of adding the Gloria Patri c. to the end of every Psalm And that the Epistle under the name of St. Jerome to him about it is notoriously false and withall they say that the other Ritualists are mistaken who attribute it to the Council of Nice Because then there would not have been such difference in the use of it in several Churches In the Aethiopick Eucharistical Office of the 318 Fathers at the Council of Nice bestow'd on me by my worthy Friend Doctour Castle this Hymn it self is not used But the Office consists chiefly of a Lofty and Divine Paraphrase upon it In the Liturgy of Dioscorus it is used in the middle of the Prayers It is evident from St. Basil's Discourse concerning it that the Hymn it self was of ancient use in the Eastern Church but he doth not say in what part of the Churches Service it was used But Cassian saith over all the East it was used onely to conclude the Antiphona By which he understands a Hymn between the Psalms Walafridus Strabo observes great diversity in the use of it in the Western Churches Some put it he saith into all Offices Some at the end of every Psalm Some at every breaking off the longer Psalms Some after the Responsals But the use in general was universally approved onely the Greeks found fault with the Latines for putting in the middle Sicut erat in principio but the use thereof was required in all the Gallican Churches in the time of Caesarius Archbishop of Arles as Uniformity was required by other Councils Cardinal Bona following Baronius makes that Council much elder which required the use of this Hymn and soon after the Council of Nice But that cannot be if the Subscriptions in Sirmondus be true and he observes that mistake in Baronius to have risen from misunderstanding a Passage of Ado Viennensis So that the Morning Service of the Gallican Churches consisted chiefly in Lessons Hymns and Psalms of St. Jerome 's translation with Gloria Patri at the end of every Psalm The Latine Tongue being yet the common Language of the Roman Provinces But are we to suppose that they met together for the Worship of God without any Prayers I answer that they had then two sorts of Prayers in their Assemblies 1. Private Prayers of each particular Person by himself 2. A concluding Collect which was the Common Prayer wherein they all joined 1. That they had such private Prayers in their Assemblies I prove from Cassian who reproves the Custome of some in the Gallican Churches who fell to their private Devotions on their Knees before the Psalm was well ended But he saith the Egyptian Monks used to spend some time in Prayer to themselves standing and then fall down for a short space in a way of Adoration and presently rise up again continuing their Devotions standing All which is capable of no other sense but that between the Psalms a time was allow'd in the Gallican Churches as well as Egyptian Monasteries for private Devotions in the publick Assemblies Gregor Turonensis saith That in the Gallican Churches the Deacon did Silentium indicere and the Priest did it by the Mozarabick Liturgy which Eugenius Roblesius understands onely of making the People attentive Which I grant was part of the Deacon's Office and Design in commanding Silence as appears by several passages in the ancient Liturgies both Greek and Latine But there