with this dignity which gave them the Preference because they were the three chief Cities of the World The second Question is whether the Bishop of Carthage was subject to the Patriarch of Rome or Alexandria and answer is made that he was subject to neither because he was a Primaâ—e himself of one of the thirteen Dioceses whereof we have spoken As to Jurisdiction he saith that according to the Canons of the Councils the order of the differences amongst Ecclesiasticks and all that concerned the Clergy was immediately to be carried before the Metropolitan and by an appeal before the Primate without acknowledging the Superiority of the Patriarchs That which makes the difficulty is that St. Augustine said that St. Cicilian in his difference with Donatus appeals to the Bishops beyond Sea But answer is made that that ought to be understood of the Council and not of a particular Bishop as that of â—ome who would draw the honour thereof to himself and attributed that Right to himself from the time that the Vandals under their King Genserick destroy'd all Africk as the Popes have done since in regard to the Greek Church by the fall of the Eastern Empire The third Question is an enquiry whether or no England ever depended on the Patriarch of Rome and it s decided in the Negative It had it's Primate who was the Bishop of York For although London according to the Relation of Tacitus was already famous through commerce notwithstanding the City of York was the Capital the Vicar of the Empire resided there and the Emperor Constance Father of Constantine the Great died there If the Gallican Church hath it's Liberties the English Church is not wanting this is examined in a Treatise which followeth those we have already spoken of but 't is not Vshers The Author establisheth for a Foundation that under the ancient Law the Priesthood and Royalty was joyned together and that when they were separated the whole Authority always remained in the Person of the Prince Which is justified by the example of Solomon who nominated Abiathar to perform the Function of High Priest and by other Examples inserted in the request that was presented to King Philip the Fair by all his Subjects against the enterprizes of Pope Boniface VIII And he thence concludes that the outward Policy of the Church belonged always to the Prince and that it 's he alone who hath the power to convocate Councils and in particular by that of Nice and Constantinople which were assembled by the Authority of the Emperours and confirmed by Constantine the Great and Theodosius the Great For tho' the Intrinsick Authority depended on the Word of God the Extrinsick nevertheless depended on the Imperial Seal to give them the force of publick Law From whence he infers Patriarchs were not erected but by the Councils and Authority of the Emperours and chiefly that of Rome the Author evidently demonstrates this dignity was not attributed to it but by the respect that the Fathers and Councils had for the Capital of the Vniverse which was adorned with the Senate and Empire To convince these who are most prejudic'd in favour of the Court of Rome we shall relate but the terms of the last Council save one The Canon of the Council of Calcedon as it is to be seen in the Manuscripts of the Libraries of M. de Thou and M. Iustel He says that the Priviledges of Rome were granted by the Fathers because it was the Mistris of the World Quod urbs illa imperarèt Neither by Divine nor Apostolick Institution as he observes but a motive purely Temporal Therefore also the same Canon grants to Constantinople new Rome the first rank after old Rome for the same reasons because it was also honoured by the Senate and Imperial Throne After that the Author descends to the Priviledges of the English Church and maintains it did not depend on the Roman Patriarch because it was a different Diocess and that it was not in the number of the Suburbicary Provinces This Verse only is a proof on 't Ad penitùs toto divisos orbe Britannos It 's also further justified by this particular circumstance that the English celebrated the Passover according to the Custom of the East and conformed not to the West Having thus prepared the Mind he shews that the Order of Parliament under Henry the 8. who shook off the Popes Yoak was not a new Law but the re-establishment of the Ancient Laws and Maxims of the Kings of England who have maintained in all Ages that the Excommunications of the Pope were void in England and he brings many Examples to prove it He thence draws this Consequence that the Church of England cannot be aspers'd with the odious term of Schismatick because it hath not raised Altar against Altar that it hath kept it's Ancient Government and can shew a Succession of Bishops not interrupted since the beginning of Christianity and consequently it had sufficient Authority to reform it self There is added to these Treatises the advice of Iohn Barnesius a Benedictine Monk Who much disapproved these flatterers of the Court of Rome who have incens'd the Minds of men in maintaining that the Kingdom of England owes any homage to the Holy See and have caused this breach with the Pope He saith it would be very happy if the Pope for the good of Peace would again receive into his Communion the Kingdom of England without rendering it dependant on him until a Council may cure the evil But the Court of Rome never lets go its hold and it 's long since that Pope Paul the fourth answered to this Proposition of Barnesius For the Embassadors of England under Queen Mary asking him Absolution in the Name of the whole Kingdom he omitted not to demand of them if he might send an Exactor of the Tribute of St. Peter declaring unto them that they should not expect this Apostle should open them the Gate of Heaven whilst they retained his Patrimony upon Earth Barnesius confesseth it 's very hard to be submitted to the Pope who when he pleaseth Arms the Subjects against their King and adds that the Councils of Constance and Basil having declared those Hereticks who hold that the Pope was not Inferiour to General Councils the Modern Popes are in the Case of Excommunication declared by these Councils This he saith not to quarrel with his Holiness but humbly to insinuate unto him the means of bringing back so fine a Kingdom into the bosom of the Church Notwithstanding the good Intentions of this poor Monk have been very ill acknowledged for he was sent out of Paris strip'd of his habit tied like a fierce beast and uncompassionately dragg'd to Rome and there cast into the dark Dungeon of the Inquisition where he miserably expired An Extract of the Letters of Grotius I. PART The Subject Criticks and Divinity WE have not seen until now but a very small Number of the Letters of this Great Man the
A.B. Tillotson's necessity of frequent Communion 2 Suppl p. 28. Tobacco Questions about it 2 Suppl p. 29. Tollius's mad Wisdom or Chimical promises 4 Suppl p. 6. Travelling whether necessary 2 suppl p 28. †TAvernier's collections of several Relations p. 106. Themistius 33 Orations p. 118. Transactions of the Royal Society Extracts of several Lâ—tters English Iournals Registers and Experiments from p. 208 to p. 321. Tentamen Porologicum p. 236. Treatise of the Loadstone p. 237. Travels of Mars or the art of war divided into 3 parts p. 307. Treatise of the excellency of Marriage of its necessity and of the means of living happy therein whâ—re is an Apology made for Women against the calumnies of men p. 415. Treatise of the Trial of Witches wherein diverse questions relating to this subject are most learnedly and pleasantly resolved p. 427. V. * VAcuum whether any v. 1. n. 4. q. 8. Vnmarried persons whether lawful to cohabit v. 1. n. 5. q. 3. Virgin let a man know she loves him v. 1. n. 13. q. 15. Vertue Theorick and Practical the difference v. 1. n. 14. q. 8. Vndertaking rash how to shun the reproach v. 1. n. 17. q. 22. Vnion Prebyterians and Independants v. 1. n. 19. q. 1. Vnicorn whether there be any v. 1. n. 20. q. 3. Virgil whether impossible to make better verses than his v. 1. n. 21. q. 8. Viols two tuned in Vnison v. 1. n 22 q. 18. Vrine its Motion in Water v. 1. n. 23. q. 8. Vipers its venom where it consists v. 2. n. 8. q 4. Vsurper who is the greatest v. 2. n. 12. q. 4. Utrum Androgyna c. v. 2. n. 17. q. 11. Vertue whether it consists in intention v. 2. n. 17. q. 15. Virtue to an ill man or Vice to a good man which hardest v. 2. n. 23. q. 4. Vault why colder in Summer than Winter v. 2. n. 24. q. 17. Vnion is it desired by the Dissenters v. 2. n. 26. q. 5. Vrine why emitted by putting the hand in cold Water v. 2. n. 29. q. 8. Vacuum what are we to think of it v. 3. n. 1. q. 6. Vow never to marry whether lawful v. 3. n. 8. q. â— Vnruly wife how to reclaim her v. 3. n. 131.1 Vnion of Soul and Body how is it v. 3. n. 1â— q. 11 Vertue and Goodness is it any defence against misery â— 3. n. 18. q. 1. Vnjust steward why did the Lord commend him v. 3. n. 26. q. 2. Vâ—â—dois have they maintain'd the Christian Râ—â—gion v. 4. n. 2. q. 1. Vow to relinquish suddenly an employ is it sâ—sul v. 4. n. 8. q. 2. Variegation in Plants as Holly c. be â— defect v. 4. n. 9. q. 5â— Vnbaptiz'd Infants what becomes of â—â— v. 4. n. 14. q. 6. Voice calling a Woman who soon aftâ—â— died v. 4. n. 15. q. 3. Venomous Creature why not live iâ— Ireland v. 5. n. 7. q. 6. Verses on pain and pleasure c. v. 5. n. 11. q. 4. Vrim and Thummim their meaning v. 5. n. 15. q. 6. Vniversity instructions to â— Youth going there v. 5. n. 29. q. 2. ‖ VAudois the History of 'em 2 Suppl p. 19. Vaudois a further History of 'em 3 Suppl p. 36. Voâ—age into the World of Descartes 3 Suppl p. 3. Vicious Liver desirous to reclaim 5 Suppl q. 7. p. 13. Vsury a vindication of it 5 Suppl p. 26. †Usher Bishops Lifâ— with a Collection of 300 Letters published from the Original p. 21. His Antiquities of the Brittish Churches p. 31. and p. 65. His succession and state of the Christian Churches p. 37. Vindication of the Church of England p. 122. Vossius book of Observations p. 476. W. * WIfe whither she may beat her Husband v. 1. n. 2. q. 7. Weeping and Laughing whence proceeds v. 1. n. 3. q. 5 Witches whither there be any v. 1. n 3. q 6. What two Numbers are those v. 1. n. 5. q. 5. Words express things v. 1. n. 6. q. 2. Wind whence it has its force v. 1. n. 8. q. 5. Weapons which most serviceable Gun or Bow v. 1. n. 11. q. 5. Womans Condition in Marriage worse than Mans v 1. n. 13. q. 6. Woman believ'd when she says she will not marry v. 1. n. 13. q. 11. Wind its causes and whether they go v. 1. n. 14. q. 10. Woman with Childs longing the Reason of marking c. v. 1. n. 15. q. 2. Works deâ—raded thro' Malice or Ignorance c. v. 1 n. 15. q. 13. Weeping on the Wedding night from what it proceeds v. 1. n. 16. q. 3. Wounds an experiment about them v. 1. n. 17. q. 3. Womens Voice shriller than Mens v. 1. n. 17. q. 6. Women whether proper to be learned v. 1. n. 18. q. 3. Women supposed to have no Souls v. 1. n. 18. q 7. Women an Army of 'em do more then Men v. 1. n. 18. q 8. Whores common ones seldom have Children v. 1. n. 18. q. 10. Wood a Petrifaction of it how effected v. 1. n. 19. q. 2. Water spring hot in Winter v. 1. n. 20. q. 14. Wife that forsakes her Husband v. 1. n. 21. q. 15. Wood rotten why shine in the dark v. 1. n. 22. q. 17. Wine was its use unknown v. 1. n. 24. q. 5. World what was it made of v. n. 24. q. 7. Woman taken in Adultery v. 1. n. 30. q. 3. Words in 1 Joh. 5.7 why only Marginal noted v. 1. n. 3. q. 6. Wagers where had the Observator his Story of 'em v. 2. n. 2. q. 6. Women if meer Machines v. â—â— â— q. 4. Women whether not Banter'd into a belief of being Angels v. 2. n. 3. q. 5. Women whether Wiser than Men v. 2. n. 3. q. 11. Women whether they have Souls v. 2. n. 3. q. 11. Waâ— whether better to carry it v. 2. n. 5. q. 4. Water or Earth which the coldest Element v. 2. n. 11. q. 6. Women when bad why worse than Men v. 2. n. 13. q. 11. Word Culprit the meaning of it v. 2. n. 15. q. 6. Wife taking for the Maid v. 2. n. 15. q. 7. Wives a form of Prayer for 'em v. 2. n. 16. q. 1. World does it hang upon nothing v. 2. n. 18. q. 6. World what quarter of the Year it began v. 2. n. 18. q. 7. Wagers about King William v. 2. n. 23. q. 15. Wheels of eighteen Inches c. v. 2. n. 24. q. 1. Wound when it s proves incurable v. 2. n. 27. q. 15. Witches how they contract their Bodies v. 2. n. 28. q. 4. Wits why generally the greatest Sots v. 2. n. 28. q. 8. Woman plagued with an ill Husband v. 3. n. 4. q. 2. Wife doubly married whose is she v. 3. n. 4. q. 13. Worlds are there more than one v. 3. n. 6. q. 2. Women why fondeâ— of those Men that slight ' em v. 3 n. 13. q. 9. Witchcrafts and other Possessions whither Credited v. 3. n. 17. q. 1. Word of God to resolve
other Iames Hamilton They went into Ireland by order of the King of Scotland to form some agreement with the Protestant Nobility of that Country intending thereby to assure himself of that Kingdom in case Q. Elizabeth died suddenly The better to cover their enterprise and to give no Umbrage to a Queen extreamly suspitious they set themselves to teach Latin at Dublin where at that time 't was very rare to find persons learn'd in Humanity Vsher having profited very much by them in a little time seem'd to have a particular inclination to Poetry which he afterwards chang'd into as great a desire of understanding History that which created this inclination in him was reading these words of Cicero Nescire quid antra quam natus sis acciderit id est semper esse puerum his Annals and his other writings sufficiently shew what progress he had made in this study whereof he has given sensible proofs in his Infancy Being in the University of Dublin establish'd principally by the care of Henry Vsher his Uncle Archbishop of Ardmagh He set himself to read the Fortalitium fidei of Stapleton which made him resolve to apply himself to the reading of the Fathers to see if this Author had cited them faithfully he began to put this design in execution at 20 years old and continued this Study without intermission for 18 years obliging himself to read every day a certain task His Father had a mind to divert him from it and engage him to Study the Law to which our Prelate had no inclination but in 1598. he dying soon after left his Son at Liberty to chuse what manner of life was most pleasing to him he was the eldest son of the family and the estate his Father left was considerable enough to make him apply all his time in Domestick affairs This made him resolve to put off this trouble and to remit the Estate to his Brother with orders to give to his Sisters what their Father had left them reserving only to himself what would maintain him in the University with a sufficiency to buy himself some Books Whilst he was at the University and but yet 18 years old he disputed against a Jesuit call'd Fitz-Symmons and overcame him in two conferences which made this Jesuit afterwards in a Book Intituled Britannomachia call him the most learn'd of those who are not Catholicks A-Catholicorum Doctissimum he made so great a progress in the first years that he apply'd himself to Divinity that his Uncle Archbishop of Ardmagh ordain'd him Priest at the 21 year of his Age. This ordination was not conformable to the Canons but the extraordinary merit of young Vsher and the necessities of the Church made him believe it was not necessary to stay till the age mark'd out by the Ecclesiastical Laws of Ireland He preach'd then at Dublin with very great applause he particularly devoted himself to the controversies which were between the Protestants and Roman Catholicks he treated on them so clearly and with so much solidity that he confirm'd many wavering Protestants and prevailed with many Roman Catholicks to embrace the Protestant Faith But amongst those who rank'd themselves in the Protestant Churches there was a great number that were not so sincere as he could have wished them they did all they could to obtain the publick exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion at Dublin that they might insensibly have had the Liberty to make a profession of their true Sentiments Vsher who believ'd that this toleration wou'd be of a very dangerous consequence oppos'd it with all his might and one day as he Preacht upon this matter with great zeal he spoke something which then no notice was taken of but 40 years after it was found to be a true Prophecy he took his Text upon these words of Ezek. ch 4. v. 5. And thou shalt bear the Iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days I have appointed thee a day for a year He applied these days to Ireland and said that he who reckon'd from this year to 40. should find that the Protestants of Ireland should bear the Iniquity of those who were for a toleration in these times this was in 1601. and 40 years were no sooner expired 1641. but the Irish Catholicks made a bloody Massacre upon the Protestants He never wholly discontinued to Preach whilst he was in Ireland altho he was Professor of Divinity in that University but he accustom'd himself to make a Voyage every three years into England where he found a greater variety of Books than in Ireland there he past one part of his time at Oxford another at Cambridge and another at London and carefully visited all their publick and particular Libraries he made collections of what Books he there read and made remarks upon them with a design to make a work that he had resolved to Intitule A Theological Bibliotheque wherein he had treated very accurately of all the Ecclesiastical Antiquities but the misfortunes of Ireland and the Civil Wars of England hinder'd him from finishing it he ordered when he died that it should be put into the hands of Mr. Laugbaine Dr. of Divinity to supply what was wanting and publish them to the World This learn'd man engag'd himself forthwith in this useful work but he died before he finished it 1657. There is yet to be seen in the Bodleyane Bibliotheque his Manuscripts which no man dares undertake to finish In 1615. there was a Parliament in Ireland and an assembly of the Clergy where certain Articles were compos'd touching Religion and Ecclesiastical Discipline Vsher who was the chief in it caus'd it to be sign'd by the Chancellor of Ireland and by the Orators of the Assembly of the Bishops and of the Clergy King Iames approved of 'em also altho' there was some difference between these and the Articles of the Church of England some ill dispos'd persons and it may be Roman Catholicks took occasion from that to spread evil reports of Vsher. They accused him of Puritanism which was no little Heresie in the opinion of the King they also made use of this artifice to render those odious who appear'd the most capable of opposing the progress that the Missionaries of Rome endeavoured to make in Ireland Indeed the people knew not what this word signified and wherein Heresie consisted but it was known the King mortally hated Puritans and that was sufficient to make 'em look upon these Puritans as most dangerous Hereticks 't was this that obliged an Irish Divine to write to Vsher who was that time in England that it would not be amiss to desire the King to define Puritanism that all the World might know those who were tainted with this strange Heresie but Vsher had no need to make use of this way to justifie himself some conversations that he had with the King setled so good an opinion of him that the Bishopprick of Meath in Ireland being vacant the King gave it him immediately and
said also that Usher was a Bishop that he had made because that he had appointed him so without being sollicited to it by any person this Election was made in 1620. Returning into Ireland sometime after he was oblig'd to discourse some persons of Quality of the Roman Religion to administer to 'em the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy that they had refused to the Priest this discourse is inserted in his Life he remarks the form of this Oath is compos'd of two parts the one positive in which they acknowledge the King is Soveraign in all cases whatsoever and the other negative in which they declare they acknowledge no Jurisdiction or Authority of any strange Prince in the estates of the King he says afterwards in regard of the first part that the Scripture commands that we submit our selves to the Higher Powers and that we ought to acknowledge that the power the Kings have whatsoever it may be is Supream as they are Kings upon which he cites this verse of Martial Qui Rex est Regem maxime non habeat That one ought well to distinguish the power of the Keys from that of the Sword and the King of England does not exact an acknowledgment of the same power that is possess'd by the Bishops but nevertheless the Kings may interest themselves with Ecclesiastical Affairs in as much as it regards the body since according to the Church of Rome 't is the Magistrates duty to punish Hereticks For that which regards the second part of the Oath where it 's said that we shall not own any strange power as having any Iurisdiction Superiority Preheminence Ecclesiastical or Temporal in the Kingdom He says that if St. Peter were still alive he would willingly own that the King had this Authority in Ireland and that he us'd the same in regard of all the Apostles that the Apostleship was a personal dignity which the Apostles have not left hereditary to any but nevertheless suppose it was so he sees not why St. Peter should leave it to his successors rather than St. Iohn who outliv'd all the Apostles that there was no reason to believe that St. Peter shou'd leave the Apostolical Authority to the Bishops of Rome rather than to those of Antioch this last Church being founded before the first The King writ to Vsher to thank him for this Discourse which produced so good effect He afterwards went into England by the King's order to collect the Antiquities of the Churches of England Scotland and Ireland and publish'd two years after that his Book intituled De Primordiis Ecclesiarum Britannicarum 'T was in that time that the King made him Arch-Bishop of Armagh The Winter following he caused to be brought before him the Order for Toleration of the Roman Catholicks and the Lord Falkland then Deputy for the King in Ireland convocated and assembled the whole Nation to settle this Affair But the Bishops call'd by the Primate oppos'd it with much heat as may be seen by a Remonstrance sign'd by ten Bishops besides the Primate and which is in the 28th page They also spoke of raising some Forces by the Joynt consent both of Catholicks and Protestants to hinder any differences that might arise in the Kingdom the Protestants refus'd to consent thereto and wou'd not hearken to discourse the Primate thereupon in the Castle of Dublin altho' his reasonings were founded upon the principal Maxims of the Government of Ireland and maintain'd by Examples drawn from the Antient and Modern Histories of that Kingdom During the time our Primate stayed in Ireland after he had performed the Duties of his Charge which he acquitted with extraordinary care he employed the remaining part of his time to study the fruits whereof were to be seen in 1631. in the first Latin book which he ever published in Ireland 't is his History of Godescalch Monk of the Abby of Orbais who lived in the beginning of the 6th Age there was soon made a small abridgment of the History of Pelagianism which was then extreamly dispersed through Spain and England when he comes to the History of Godescalch he explains his Doctrine and shews by Flodoard and other Authors of that time that those sentiments whereof Hincmar Archbishop of Rhemes and Rabanus Archbishop of Maynce accused him and which were condemn'd by their Authority in two Councils were the same that St. Remigius Archbishop of Lyons and the Clergy of his Diocess defended openly many opinions and odious consequences according to Vsher were fathered upon Godescalch because that this Monk who maintained the opinions of St Augustine about Predestination and Grace did not at all understand ' em Ioannes Scotus Erygenus wrote a treatise against him in which are to be found the principal heads of Vsher but Florus Deacon of the Church of Lions answers it and censures him in the Name of all the Diocess Vsher gave an abridgment of this Censure as also of divers other treatises as that of St Remigius Pudentius Bishop of Troy Ratramus Monk of Corbi who writ against Scotus for his defence of Godescalch there had been two Councils which established the doctrine of this Monk and condemn'd that of Scotus 'T is true that Hincmar published a very large Book against these Councils which he dedicated to Charles le Chauve as Flodoard reports who shews briefly what it is that this Book treats of but that did not at all hinder St. Remigius and those of his Party to convocate another Council at Langres where they confirm'd the Doctrine established in the former Councils and condemn'd that new one of Scotus These Controversies were still agitated in the National Council of the Gauls where nothing was concluded altho' Barancus and others voted that Godescalch should be condemn'd there On the contrary Vsher maintains that in an Assembly which was in a small time after his Sentiments were approv'd of Nevertheless this wicked Godescalch was condemn'd by the Council of Maynce to perpetual Imprisonment where he was severely treated because he would never retract his Errours There are still two Confessions of his Faith by which one may see there are many things attributed to him which he never believ'd after having made a faithful report of the Sentiments of this Monk and those of his Adversaries Vsher concludes that it were better for men to be silent upon these matters than to scandalize the weak in proposing to 'em such Doctrines from which they may draw bad consequences There has been adds Mr. Parr and always will be different Opinions upon the great and abstruse Questions of Predestination and Free Will which nevertheless may be tolerated in the same Church provided those who maintain these divers Opinions have that Charity for one another which they ought to have That they condemn them not publickly That they abstain from mutual Calumnies and that they publish no Invectives against those who are not of the same Sentiments To return to the Life of our Prelate who altho' he
be found that almost none of these Ideas are distinct so that when the word is spoken to which it is applied we may perfectly know what is meant by it There are also according to them some of these words to which there hath been no Idea absolutely applied so that in some places of this dispute the two parties do very nigh the same thing that a French man and an Arabian would that should know their natural tongue only and speak by turns the lowdest they could and sometimes both at once without understanding each other and then each should boast to have conquered his Adversary This was chiefly what the opinions of Pelagius consisted in and those of his Adversaries touching Grace As to the election it seemeth Pelagius hath believed that there were two sorts the one to Grace and the other to Glory God hath resolved according to his Judgment to call certain persons to the knowledge of the Gospel that they might the more easily arrive at everlasting happiness This was the predestination of Grace He after that hath resolved to save those that he foresaw would persevere until the end in making good use on these favours This is the Predestinatiof to Glory which is founded upon merits whereas the other is purely of Grace St. Augustin in disputing against Pelagius hath confounded as Father Petau believes these two Predestinations and made thereof but one because according to his opinion all those that have received the necessary means to attain Salvation do infallibly arrive at it 'T was that made him exclaim so strongly against those that maintain'd Predestination according to works as if the Predestination to Grace was in question whereas they meant but the Predestination to Glory The year after the Council of Diospolis being Anno 415. there were in Africk held two Councils upon the same matter the one at Carthage and the other at Mileve Aurelius Bishop of Carthage presided in the first where were LXVII Bishops more met together also They had not as yet received in Africk the Acts of Diospolis but Eros and Lazarus had written what had passed therein and had sent their Letters by Orosius who was returned from Palestine to Africk It was resolved on the hearing this Relation to anathematize the opinions of Pelagius to hinder them from spreading any further and to anathematize him after with his Disciple Celestius in case they did not absolutely renounce these Errours After that they sent the Acts of the Council to Pope Innocent to engage him to condemn the same opinions The Council of Mileve consisting of LXI Bishops in which Silvanus Primate of Numidia presided did the same thing as that of Carthage Besides the Synodal Letters of these two Councils Innocent received particular ones from some Bishops of Africk among which St. Augustine was one The design of these Letters was the same as of the preceding ones the design being to incline Innocent to condemn the Doctrine attributed to Pelagius and to cite him before himself to examine whether he continued to maintain the same They insinuated that they might accomplish their end that it might be that Pelagius had deceived the Bishops of Palestine tho' they cou'd not positively affirm that the Churches of Africk might not be joined to those of the East Innocent answered the year following ccccxvii to the two Councils and to the Bishop that had written to him in particular He said he believed that Pelagius and Celestius did deserve to be excommunicated and that the former could not be purged at Diospolis but by Equivocations and by obscure expressions Nevertheless having received no new assurances from that Country and not knowing well how things had passed there he saith he can neither approve nor disapprove the conduct of the Bishops of Palestine He likewise excuseth himself in regard of citing Pelagius upon the distance of the places This Bishop writ these Letters at the beginning of the year and died a little after for the tenth of March in the Martyrology of Beda is marked for the day of his death After the death of Innocent St. Augustine and Alypius writ to St. Paulin Bishop of Nola to exhort him to oppose Pelagianism in Italy provided he was in a Condition of making any An historical Explication of the most weighty Question of the continual Succession and State of the Christian Churches especially in the West from the Apostles time until the last Age. By James Usher Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland Augmented and Revised by the Author London 1687. in fol. p. 191. THe principal difficulties which Roman Catholicks raise against Protestants consists in these two things that the Protestant Religion is new and that it was not remitted from the Apostles unto us whereas they pretend theirs is that of the Apostles and hath suffered no Interruption from their time unto ours Iohn Iuel Bishop of Salisbury hath undertaken in his Apology for the Church of England to shew on the contrary that the opinions of Protestants are conformable to those of the Fathers of the six first Ages Vsher was willing to answer the above cited difficulties in shewing that from the sixth Age unto the Reformation to wit during 900 years there have always been Churches in the West who have received the same Doctrines with the Protestants To that end he thought he ought to give the History of the Tenets and conduct of the Popes with those who have opposed their Usurpations during these nine Ages without mixing any thing of his own being contented to cite only the proper terms of the Authors who have spoken of those times for fear he should be accused of turning things after a more favourable manner for the Protestants This History had once appeared imperfect enough but now very much corrected and enlarg'd in this Edition and therefore we shall give a compleat Abridgement thereof We shall not however stay to relate what the Author saith as concerning the thousand years during which the Devil was to be bound and the time in which he was to be set free As there are as many different Sentiments as Interpreters upon this opinion and that there are but simple conjectures brought which are likewise subject to a thousand difficulties 1. Those who have a mind to be instructed therein may consult the Commentaries upon the Apocalypse At what year soever men relate the beginning of the thousand years whether it be from the Birth of our Saviour or from his Death and his Ascension or finally from the ruine of Ierusalem our Author equally draws his advantage as will be seen in the sequel It shall suffice to say that he divides his work into three parts whereof the first goeth from the seventh Age to the eleventh in which Gregory the seventh arrived to the Pontificate The second should have gone to Mccclxx but the Author could not continue it but to Mccxl. The third reaches to the past Age. So this work is far from being
St. Ioseph who made choice of St. Ann for their Patroness they afterwards established themselves in France under the protection of Ann of Austria Regent of the Kingdom So that it was in our times that the Grand-father and Grand-mother of Iesus Christ were brought into remembrance and I hope his great Grand-father and his Father will be soon deisy'd especially if the principle lay'd by the Maidens of St. Ioseph in this work be followed for if one must make his address to the Blessed Virgin because Iesus Christ cannot refuse her any thing and if we must address our selves to Ann the Mother of Mary to have the Daughters Favour then we must go back to great Grand-mother and so on to the rest BOOKS concerning the Exposition of M. de Meaux his Doctrine I. An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England upon the Articles that M. de Meaux heretofore Bishop of Condom has Explained in his Exposition of the Catholick Doctrine with the History of this Book Quarto 1686. II. Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrin of the Church of England against M. de Meaux and his Apologists Objections Quarto 1686. III. A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrin of the Church of England against M. de Meaux and his Apologists new Objections Quarto At London Sold by R. Chiswell 1688. IF it be useful in Civil Life to know them that give us advice and the secret motives that make them act such an examination cannot be of less advantage for our Spiritual conduct in the different ways shewn to Christians by the Doctors of divers Societies if Prejudices and Obstinacy do not damn at least it cannot be deny'd but they are very dangerous but when Learned Divines whose imagination is neither overheated with Dispute nor with the Opinion of a particular Party and does endeavour to call into doubts the most constant practices and publick customs there is reason to suspect that they have imbib'd no less odious Principles than Head-strongness and Prejudice If the Roman Church ever had Judicious and moderate Controvertists they were the Iansenists and M. de Meaux and some English that in these times have imitated the former so that if there be want of sincerity in the proceedings of these Gentlemen it is a strong presumption against the Defenders of Rome and no weak proof that its Doctrin cannot be maintained but by indirect courses These Reflections were necessary to shew the usefulness of the Modern History of Controversies as well in France as in England which Dr. Wake gives in his Preface of these Three Works and whereof we design to give a more than ordinary exact Abridgment here because there are remarkable circumstances known to very few I. All the World knows now that the Extirpation of all the Hugonots of France was resolved on even from the Pyrenean Peace and there are some that believed it was one of the secret Conditions of that Peace The difficulty was to put that Decree in execution without raising a Civil War and without alarming the Protestant Princes The Politicians took very just measures to weaken insensibly the Reformed of that Kingdom and either lull asleep or set at variance the Forreign Powers of their Communion There is none ignorant of the success but it would have been more happy if the Divines employed to maintain Rome's Cause had sped as well as the Coyners of Propositions and Inventers of Decrees And nevertheless it might be said that the Roman Catholick Doctors were not in the fault that things did not go on better and that it was not for want of incapacity that they persuaded no body The first that endeavoured to give a new turn to Controversies was M. Arnaud whose very Name is praised enough It is well known that this eminent Man who was a Philosopher a Mathematician well read in the Fathers and as well acquainted with Scripture has had several remarkable victories over the Adversaries of his own Communion yet with all his great qualities all that he did in his perpetuity of the belief of the Roman Catholick Religion touching the Lord's Supper was to repeat over and over that Transubstantiation being now the common Doctrine of the Church it follow'd that there never was any other Belief because it cannot be comprehended how all Christians should have agreed to change their Opinion which had it happened the certain time should be marked wherein the Universal Church had varied in this Point and when and how each particular Church came to Corrupt the Antient Doctrine It is very strange that after so many proofs of matter of Fact which M. Aubertinus alledged out of the Belief of the Holy Fathers that an Argument purely Metaphysical should make so much noise and be so much applauded by the Roman Communion It 's almost a certain sign of the weakness of a Cause to see the maintainers of it blinded with the least Sophism and Triumph in their fancy for the least appearance of Truth There wanted no great strength to ruin these imaginary Trophies The Protestants had no harder task than to shew that this reason supposed no error could be brought into the World nor embraced by a numerous Society The beginning of Idolatry is disputed upon and nothing yet decided Some will have it that it began by the adoration of Stars others from the deifying dead Men and then say they Statues were erected for Kings for the Benefactors of the People for Law-makers and for the Inventors of Sciences and Arts. And this to reduce People to the practice of Vertue and to do it the better they spoke of their Ancestors and proposed their Examples their Actions were spoken of in high Terms and their Soul placed in Heaven near the Divinity they thought they would not be idle there but that God would give them some considerable office there because they had acquitted themselves so well of the Employments they had upon Earth The common sort of People generally much taken with Figures and great Words it may be conceived a higher Idea of those excellent Persons than their first Authors designed and Priests observing that these Opinions made People more devout and brought themselves Riches made the People to pass insensibly from a Respect to a Religious Veneration And hence Idolatry was rais'd by little and little to its height now must we infer from hence that it is not a pernicious Error and that it was from the beginning of the World because the precise time cannot be marked in which People begun to adore the Stars nor tell who the first Hero was that had Divine Honors rendred to him and yet the Argument would be as concluding as Mr. Arnaud's Many Learned Men have Writ much of the Antient and Modern Idolatry and have shewn its various progress One can tell very near what time the Saturnalia were Instituted and the Mysteries of Ceres and Corpus Christi-Day and that of St. Ann. And at what time the Temple of Ephesus
which they quote the Arch-bishop Laud Iackson Feilding Hâ—ylin Hammond and M. Thorndike There is not one but has writ the contrary These are the Points whereon the Enemies of Protestants would make the Church of England pass for half Papists tho there is not one but was taught by other Reformed excepting Episcopacy And this Government is so ancient that even those who think Presbytery better ought not to condemn for some little difference in Discipline a Church that is otherwise very pure unless they are minded to anathematize St. Ignatius St. Clement St. Polycarp St. Irenaeus St. Cyprian and the whole Church of the second and third Age and a great part of the first Without question the Episcopal Clergy of England have the like Charity for Presbyterians I will not alledge the Testimonies of Modern Doctors nor of such as were accused of having favoured the pretended Puritans we see the Marks of its mildness and moderation towards all excepâ—ing some turbulent Spirits amongst 'em which indeed are too common in all Societies If there ever was a time wherein the Church of England differed from Presbytery and had reason so to do it was in the middle of the Reign of K. Iamss the First and notwithstanding you may see how the Bishop of Eli speaks writing for the King and by his Order against Cardinal Bellarmin One may see how much the Protestants of this Country agree by Harmony of their Confessions where each Church acknowledges wherein she agrees with the rest Then lay aside those odious Names seek our Professions of Faith in our Confessions The Reproach you make us concerning the Puritans is altogether absurd because their number is but small and the most moderate among them agree with us in the chief Articles of Religion The Scotch Puritans Confession has no Error in Fundamental Points so that the King might say with reason That the Establish'd Religion of Scotland was certainly true And as for the rest there 's no reason to suspect Dr. Wakes Testimony for the Bishop of London and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury have approved his Books None of the other Doctors contradicted him and some sided with him against Roman Catholicks And these last have not accused him of swerving from the common Doctrine of the Church of England only in the Article of the necessity of Baptism and he proves by several Authorities in his Defence of his Exposition what he therein advanced At the end of this Defence are several curious Pieces 1. A Comparison betwixt the Ancient and Modern Popery 2. An Extract of the Sentiments of Father Cresset and Cardinal Bona concerning the Devotion to the Blessed Virgin 3. The Letter of Mr. Imbert to Mr. de Meaux 4. The Epistle of St. Chrysostom to Caesarius with the Preface of Mr. Bigot which was suppressed at Paris in 1680. and a Dissertation of Dr. Wake upon Apollinarius's Sentiments and Disciples A DISCOURSE of the Holy EUCHARIST wherein the Real Presence and Adoration of the Host is treated on to serve for an Answer to two Discourses printed at Oxford upon this Subject With a Historical Preface upon the same Matter At London 1687. p. 127. in 4to DR Wake Minister of the Holy Gospel at London who is said to be the Author of this Book gives First In few words the History and Origine of Transubstantiation as it hath been ordinarily done amongst Protestants Secondly He names several Illustrious Persons of the Romish Church who have been accused of not believing the Real Presence or Transubstantiation to wit Peter Picherel Cardinal du Perron Barnes an English Benedictine and Mr. de Marca Arch-Bishop of Paris who gave his absolute Sentiment hereon in one of his Posthume Dissertations tho' in the Edition of Paris the places wherein he said it have been changed or blotted out But it could not be hindered but that this Work having appeared before Persons took notice of these Sentiments some entire Copies thereof have fallen into the hands of Protestants who got it printed in Holland in 1669. without cutting off any thing To these Authors are joined F. Sirmond the Iesuite who believed the Impanation and who had made a Treatise upon it which hath never been printed and whereof some persons have yet Copies M. de Marolles who got a Declaration printed in form in 1681. by which he declared that he believed not the Real Presence and which was inserted here in English And in short the Author of the Book Entituled Sure and honest means of Converting Hereticks whom we dare not affirm to be the same who published a Treatise of Transubstantiation which the Fifth Tome of the French Bibliotheque speaks of p. 455. The Cartesians and several others are suspected of not believing the same no more than the Protestants So that if the Catholicks cite some Reformed for them Protestants also want not Catholick Authors who have been of their Opinion Thirdly The Author sheweth the dangerous Consequences which arise according to the Principles of the Romish Church from the incredulity of so many Men of Knowledge be it in respect to Mass or in respect of the Infallibility and Authority of the Church The Treatise it self is divided into two parts The first contains two Chapters and an Introduction wherein is expounded the Nature and Original of the Eucharist much after the Ideas of Lightfoot In the first Chapter Transubstantiation is at large refuted by Scripture by Reason and the Fathers We shall make no stay at it because this Matter is so well known The Second Chapter is imployed to refute what Mr. Walker said concerning the Opinions of several Doctors of the Church of England upon the Real Presence Dr. Wake at first complains That his Adversary in that only repeats Objections which his Friend T. G. had before proposed in his Dialogues and which a Learned Man had refuted in an Answer to these Dialogues printed at London in 1679. As to what concerns the Faith of the Church of England which he maintains to have been always the same since the Reign of Edward He reduces it to this according to the Author who refuted T. G. viz. That she believes only a Real Presence of the invisible Power and grace of Iesus Christ which is in and with the Elements so that in receiving them with Faith it produces Spiritual and real Effects upon the Souls of Men. As Bodies taken by Angels continueth he may be called their Bodies whilst they keep them and as the Church is the Body of Iesus Christ because his Spirit animates and liveneth the Souls of the Believing so the Bread and Wine after the Consecration are the Real Body of Iesus Christ but spiritually and mystically He gives not himself the trouble to prove the solidity of this comparison by Scripture and when he comes to the Examination of the Authors that Mr. Walker hath quoted he contents himself to produce other Passages where they do not speak so vigorously of the participation of the substance of Iesus
York and his Son being declared Caesar by the Army the Christian Religion was secure we find the Names of Three Bishops of Great Britain who Subscribed to the Council of Arles in CCCXIV The Author believes there were a great many more and that those Three were sent by the Bishops of the Three Provinces for all were never at any of the Councils which wou'd have been too numerous if every one had gone thither He believes also that there was a continual Succession of Bishops in England from the Apostles till that time Some Monks have thought that Bishops were Established in England in imitation of the Flamines and Archiflamines of the Heathens but Dr. Stillingfleet shews 't is but a Dream and that the first Pagan Hierarchy was established by Maximinus after the Model of the Christians which was much more Antient. Speaking of the Council of Arles the Author shews that its Canons were sent to the Bishop of Rome not to Confirm them as Baronius maintains but to Publish them Quae decrevimus say these Fathers in Communi Coneilio charitati tuae significare ut omnes sciant quid in futurum observare debeant To this he joyns the Canons of the Council which he reduces to certain Heads and expounds in a few words particularly the Third De his qui arma projiciunt in pace who ought to be suspended from the Communion If an Allegorical sense might be given to these words our Bishop believes they may be expounded of the Christians who in the time wherein the Persecution ceased grew more indifferent as to their manner of living and less conformable to the Discipline which they had kept before But if they are understood Literally they may refer to the Christian Soldiers who would leave the Army when there was no fear of being constrained to any Idolatrous act in serving the Emperor as they had been under the Heathen Princes Constantine offered to dismiss all the Soldiers that desired it The Fathers of the Council might fear that all the Christians wou'd abandon his Armies and that afterwards it should be supply'd with Pagans which could have been fatal to Christianity So the Bishops assembled at Arles and thought they ought to prevent this accident in suspending from the Communion such Christian Souldiers as quitted the Service III. After having shewn That there were Bishops in England before the Council of Nice the Author speaks of the State wherein the Churches of the same Island were after this Council to that of Rimini Although in the Subscriptions which we still have of the Bishops who assisted at the Council of Nice there is none of any Prelate of England it is very probable there were some of them 1. Because Constantine did all he could to assemble a great number of Bishops 2. Because there is no likelyhood this Emperor should forget the Bishops of England where he was born and proclaimed Caesar. 3. Because they having been at the Council of Arles which was held before and at those of Sardis and Rimini which followed that of Nice there was no reason to suppose that they should be forgotten in this latter This being granted Dr. Stillingfleet believes that we may learn from the Canons of the Council of Nice the Rights and Priviledges of the British Churches Therefore he relates and expounds these Canons but makes the longest stay upon three which concern Ecclesiastical Discipline The fourth is conceived in these Terms That a Bishop ought chiefly to be established by all the Bishops of the Province but if that be too difficult either because it requireth more haste or that the Proceedings of the Bishops wou'd make it too long there must at least be three present and they have the consent of the Absent to consecrate him But the Confirmation of all that is done in the Province ought to be reserved to the Metropolitan By this Canon the Rights of the Metropolitans are established after an uncontestable manner but that which creates difficulty is to know whether by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to establish which is at the beginning must be understood the Right of choosing a Bishop was devolved on the Bishops of the Province or whether the Question be only of Conservation which should be done by the Bishops upon the Election made by the Suffrages of the People Several Interpreters of the Canons understand by the Word to establish to elect and Dr. Stillingfleet sheweth That all this may be proved by a place of the Synodal Letter of the same Council to those of Alexandria where it 's said That the Meletian Bishops which the People should choose should be received and that in the time of the Council of Nice the People named the Bishops which hindered not but that they were elected by their Brothers and confirmed by the Metropolitan without which the nomination of the People signified nothing So that all that can be concluded from thence is that the People had the Right of Nomination which they have since deservedly lost by Seditions and Tumults and which they cannot recall unless it is shew'n whether it is a Divine and unalterable Right which will never be adds our Author and which even those who strive to win the favour of the People in defending it's Rights do not endeavour to prove upon the Principles of the first Ages It will not be denyed but that the People had then the Right of Opposing the chosen Persons by shewing That they were not worthy But in this case the People were heard as Witnesses and not as Judges If the Bishops who had chosen him who was opposed judged that the Accusations which were against him were just they proceeded against the Accused according to the Canons and then they came to a new nomination whereof notwithstanding the Synod of the Province was to judge The Author expounds thereby the 16 Canon of the Council of Antioch and the 12 of that of Laodicea where mention is made of the popular Election not to mark the Preferment of some one to the Episcopacy but the choosing of a Bishop already ordained to be Bishop of some Church The fifth Canon of Nice informs us That he who shall be excommunicated by one Bishop shall not be received into Communion by another If any one complained of being unjustly excommunicated the Provincial Synod judged thereof and if this Synod revoked not the Sentence of this Bishop every one was to hold him Excommunicated 'T is for that the Council of Nice orders That there should be every where held Provincial Councils twice a year at Easter and Autumn Our Author maintains that the Council of Nice doth not ordinarily acknowledge in her Procedures any other Tribunal than the Provincial Synods except in places whose ancient Customs were different as it appears by the following Canon So that all strange Jurisdiction is forbidden by the Fathers of Nice as the Churches of Africk maintained it boldly against the Popes Thence it 's concluded
The Bishop of Worcester maintains that the Pope could not convocate Councils but within the extent of the suburbicary Provinces tho' he denyes not but on certain singular occasions other Bishops have not been invited to these Councils as when Aurelian permitted the Bishops of Italy to assemble at Rome for the Affair of Paul of Samosatus But the Bishops of the Diocess of Italy who acknowledged the Bishop of Milan as chief thought themselves not obliged to be at the Patriarchal Councils of Rome And that which is remarkable is that one of these Councils was of Sentiments very different from him who then was upon the Patriarchal See of this City concerning the Ordination of Maximus to be Bishop of Constantinople Damasus writ twice to Constantinople with much fervour for the deposing of Maximus But St. Ambrose and the Bishops of his Diocess in a Synodical Letter to Theodosius justified the Ordination of Maximus and disapproved the Election of Gregory and Nectairus The Defenders of the pretensions of the Bishop of Rome are asked If this Council acknowledged the Patriarchal Power of this Bishop Mr. Schelstrate saith after Father Lupus That the Power of the Pope gave him the Right of deciding all things consulting only the Bishops who could do nothing without him If that is true it must be granted That the Italick Diocess was without the limits of the Patriarchate of Rome seeing the Bishops of this Diocess sent their Advices to the Emperor without having any respect to the Sentiments of Damasus Dr. Stillingfleet sheweth the independancy of the same Bishops in respect to Rome by the Example of the Council of Capua where St. Ambrose presided without asking so much as the Advice of the Bishop of Rome To prove that the Pope had the Right of calling the Bishops of all the West to all his Patriarchal Councils Mr. Schelstrate relates some Examples of Bishops amongst the Gauls and Great Britain who were at some Roman Councils But he is answered That it is no wonder that some should be found in extraordinary Rencounters and that it doth not follow from thence that the Pope was Patriarch of all the West no more than that Councils of Western Bishops being held at Milan Arles Rimini Sardis and elsewhere prov'd That the Bishops of these Cities were their Patriarchs It ought to be shewn That the Pope convocated the Bishops of the West by vertue of his Patriarchal Authority There was also a great Difference amongst the Councils assembled for the Vnity of Faith and the Discipline of divers Diocesses and the Provincial or Patriarchal Synods câ—nvocated at a certain time to appear before the Metropolitan or the Patriarch This is seen in the Diurnus Romanus where the Bishops of Rome oblige themselves to be present at the Councils of this City assembled at certain times as Garnier sheweth He saith it was thrice a year but no more for the Suburbicary Churches which had no other Primate but the Bishop of Rome The last of the Patriarchal Rights was to receive Appeals of the Provinces of the Patriarchship By these Appeals we must not understand the free Choice that parties can make for one to be an Arbitrator of their Differences but Juridical Appeals from an inferiour Tribunal to a higher one It hath oft fallen out that Bishops have been chosen Arbitrators of a common approbation to make others agree or that Bishops intermedled in the Differences of others without pretending to end them with Authority Our Author brings an Example of a Council of the Italick Diocess who medled with a dissention at Constantinople whereof we have already made mention But to this is opposed That the Bishops of Rome have several times sent Legates throughout all the West to examine the causes of the Bishops and to make Report of â—em For the Letters of the Popes to the Bishops of Thessalonica which are in the Roman Collection are cited to prove this But we have already taken notice what Dr. Stillingfleet's Answer is to that He adds here that the Origine of these pretensions was from this That the Council of Sardis being exasperated against the Eastern Bishops gave the Bishop of Rome the liberty to re-examine some Causes in divers Provinces He took the occasion from thence of sending Legates and that was one of the first steps by which he ascended to so great a Power in the West A Doctor of Sorbone who writ some years ago de antiquis majoribus Episcoporum causis alloweth That in the space of CCCXLVII Years viz. about the time of the Council of Sardis no Example of a Cause can be produced which was referred to Rome by the Bishops who were the Judges thereof It is besides Objected That the Council of Arles attributes to the Pope majores Dioeceses but it hath been seen by the Government of this Council which has been spoken of that it was far from acknowledging the Bishop of Rome for Superiour Besides there are reasons to believe that the place where these words are has been corrupted and tho' it was not so this may signifie another thing except this Bishop had a Diocess more large than his Brethren Dr. Stillingfleet refutes some more Reasons of Mr. Schelstrate of small consequence and relates some places of the Letters of Pope Leo where he presses hard the Canons of Nice against the usurpations of the Patriarch of Constantinople and maintains it was not lawful for any to violate or to reveal the Decrees of this Council from whence it 's concluded that the Churches of England are in no wise obliged according to the Discipline of the first Ages to submit to the Pope After having ended this Controversie our Prelate sheweth there is a great likelyhood that some Bishops of England were at the Council of Sardis But thence an occasion is taken to say that the British Churches having received the Council of Sardis they are obliged to acknowledge the Pope for the Patriarch of the West seeing this Council hath established the Appeals to the Bishop of Rome To see if this Objection be of any force Dr. Stillingfleet examines the Design and the Proceedings of this Council as follows Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria had been deposed by two Synods of Eastern Bishops for some Crimes of which he was accused He could not hope to have this Judgment reverst in the East because the Arian Party was very strong there he made his Address to the Bishops of the West and particularly to Iulius Bishop of Rome as to the Chief He desired that his Process might be reverst and shewed by Letters of divers Bishops of Aegypt that he had not been heard according to the Forms neither at Tyre nor Antioch because of the violence of the Faction of Eusebius Thereupon Iulius having communicated his Design to his Brethren the Bishops of the West writ in their name and his own to the Eastern Bishops That it was just to examine this Cause by
Dr. Stillingfleet goes also further then any seeing the History of Arianism was left off at the death of Eusebius Here is an Abstract of what he adds and which is chiefly drawn from St. Athanasius The Falsities of the Arians were not discovered until after the Council of Rimini and it was chiefly at the Council of Seleucia where they declared themselves more openly It was then that the Followers of Basil of Ancyre who rejected the word Consubstantial as well as the Arians would separate themselves from them But the Arians had still recourse in this occasion to their old Artifices and consented to Sign any Creed whatever excepting that of Nice They caused Athanasius to be banished a second time but he was soon re called and his greatest Enemies were obliged to make him Reparation if he may be believed A little while after the Persecution began against him and all the rest who professed the Faith of Nice as our Author describes at large until the Council of Rimini whose Bishops were constrained to abandon the Terms of Hypostasis and Consubstantial The Orthodox Bishops would willingly depose all those who refused to Sign the Symbol of Nice and the Arians did not treat their Adversaries better when they could not prevail with them so that they ceased not Persecuting each other reciprocally Councils declared both for the one and the other which makes our Author reasonably conclude that we must not yield to the Authority of any Council whatever till having well examined the reasons of its Conduct If it was not lawful to do it in times past the Faith of Nice could not be re-established which would have received an irreparable breach at Rimini if the Orthodox Bishops were not restored to their Churches after the death of Constantius and had not re-established in smaller Assemblies what so numerous a Council had destroyed We find a remarkable example hereof in the Fragments of St. Hilary where we see that a Council Assembled at Paris declares that it abandons the Council of Rimini for assenting to that of Nice Dr. Stillingfleet conjectures that the British Churches did as much because St. Athanasius St. Ierome and St. Chrysostom do in divers places praise their Application to the Orthodox Faith Sulpicius Severus speaking of the Bishops of the Council of Rimini saith they refused to be entertained by the Emperor excepting those of England who were to poor too bear this charge Thereupon Dr. Stillingfleet makes divers Reflections whereof these are the Principal 1. That it followeth from thence that what Geoffrey of Monmouth saith of Riches which King Lucius gave the Church of England is false 2. That it is notwithstanding strange that the Bishops of England should not have wherewithal to maintain them at Rimini since before Constantine the Churches had divers Funds besides the Offerings of the People which were considerable in the numerous Churches and since Constantine had granted them great Priviledges as is shewn at length by divers Edicts of this Emperor which are in the Theodosian Codicil and elsewhere He comes thence to the Accusation of Pelagianism which Beda and Gildas had before raised against the Clergy of England He remarks first that Pelagius and Celestius were both born in Great Britain and not in the Armorick Britain as some have believed and Refutes at the same time some places of F. Garnier who hath spoken of Pelagius in his Notes upon Marius Merâ—ator 2. That the Monastick History makes him Abbot of the Monastery of Bangor but that there is little likelyhood that Bangor had had a Monastery famous in that time because the Convents of England are no antienter than the time of St. Patrick and if Pelagius was a Monk he was of such an Order as were Pammachius Paulinus Melanius and Demetriades who were pious persons withdrawn from the Commerce of the World but without Rule 3. That the Occupation of these Men after the Exercises of Piety consisted in the study of Scripture and that it was in such a Retreat that Pelagius Writ his Commentary upon the Epistles of St. Paul and his Letters to Melanius and Demetriades 4. That since he was accused of Heresie he was imployed to defend himself and that after having been Condemned in Africk and Banished he was yet Condemned in a Council at Antioch under Theodotus as Marius Mercator tells us and all that because the Sentiments of Pelagius were not well understood as the Bishop of Worcester justly saith 5. That wretched Pelagius passed the remnant of his Life in obscurity and dyed according to all likelihood without returning into England 6. That without the extraordinary cares of the Bishops of Africk Pelagianism would have been established by the Authority of the See of Rome Though Pelagius had been Condemned by the Emperor and the Councils Agricola Son to Severian Bishop who had embraced Pelagianism brought it into England It was perhaps the severe Edict of Valentinian III. Published in CCCCXXV against the Pelagians who were amongst the Gauls which drove him thence Prosper witnesseth that there were several of them in England which made some believe that Celestius was returned hither but our Author shews that this Opinion has no ground The Adversaries of the Pelagians not being able to defend themselves against so subtil Controvertists sent to demand aid of the Bishops of the Gauls who sent them Germain and Loup two Bishops of great Reputation but suspected to be Semi Pelagians the first being a great Friend to Hilary of Arles and the second being brother to Vincent of Lerins Semi Pelagians It 's found in a certain Writing that is attributed to Prosper Disciple of St. Augustin that it was Celestinus Bishop of Rome who sent him but our Author shews that there is reason to suspect this to be the writing of some other Prosper and that though it were his we have reason to believe that he was deceived Germain and Loup being arrived in England had a publick Conference at Verulam and acted so that they left England in the old Opinions as they believed but they were forced to return sometimes after Our Author relates no Head of the Doctrine of St. Germain and Loup by which we may know whether they Taught Semi Pelagianism or the Predestinarionism in England to free themselves from the suspicions which might be had of them He passeth to the Justification of Fastidius an English Bishop suspected of Pelagianism and of whom there is yet a Book de vita Christiana published by Holstenius It is not so easie to justifie Faustus of Riez from Semi Pelagianism though in his time he passed for a Saint and that he was Prayed to in this quality during many Ages in the Church of Riez Sidonius Apollinaris gives him this fine Encomium Cui datum est soli melius loqui quam didicerit vivere melius quam loquatur To whom alone it hath been given to speak better than he had Learned and to Live better
Post-Talmudical Rabbies It is therefore of the greatest moment to discover the improbability and absurdity of this Novel Opinion which so directly tends to the Overthrow of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures And though some of the Patrons of it do not themselves reject the Bible yet they well know others of them do on this Account So that we must defend the Divine Original of the Points as we desire to maintain the Divine Authority of the Bible And so much for the weight and moment of the Matter in controversie Secondly As to the seasonableness of debating this Controversie at this time there are Six Circumstances that in Conjunction attending it do render it seasonable The First is the Place of it that it is brougâ—t home to our own door We concern not our selves with the Controversies of Foreign Countreys but our own Nation is the Stage where this Opinion of the Novelty of the Points hath been more publickly espoused than would have been suffered in any other Protestant State And therefore Secondly It doth not creep in corners as in other places but hath received the publick Approbation of the Nation so far as to be solemnly espoused in the English Polyglott Bible Wherein Thirdly We have not faint Motions of it but powerful and mighty Efforts by the most Learned among them And this Fourthly is attended with answerable success the generality of the springing Youth embracing it And Fifthly Yet not content with this Victory Success and Credit in England the Patrons of it have of late put forth their greatest strength afresh for the promoting of their Cause in the Vindiciae of Ludovicus Capellus lately published in Answer to Buxtorf de Origine Punctorum And Sixthly Notwithstanding this Opposition to the Truth by the great Champion for the Novelty of the Points and its suitable Success yet there has been no Answer returned to this Treatise as yet that we hear of And it is fit it should be Answered lest this Vindiciae do as much mischief as the former Treatise entituled Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum whereof this last is a Defence that being justly accountable for the Success this Opinion hath had in England as by a brief Narrative of the Rise Progress and Issue of this Controversie amongst us will appear Which in short is this One Elius Lovita a learned Grammaâ—ian and Iew about the beginning of the Reformation fell upon this Conceit That certain Jews 〈◊〉 Tiberias A. D. 500. placed the Points as they had received them by Oral Tradition This he defendeth in his Masoret Hammasoret Preface 3 d. But herein he is contrary to all the Jews either in his time or before or after him And therefore he was answered by them as in particular by R. Sam. Areâ—â—olti in his Arugath Habbosem c. 26. And also by F. Azarias in his Meor Enaim in Imre Birtah cap. 59. And out of the Rabbins by Buxtorfius the Elder in his Thesaurus Grammaticus Print ed in 1609. And in his Tiberias 1620. Thus amongst the Jews the Errour ended where it began even in Elias himself none being left of his Opinion amongst them But it will not so end with Christians several Reformers whether moved by the Authority of Elias the famous Doctor and Master of the Hebrew Tongue of their time or else it may be at first not well examining of it embraced it This Advantage the Papists lay hold on with both Hands for they find their Accounts in it and improve it accordingâ—y Amongst Protestants Ludovicus Capellus becomes the main and greatest Champion for the Novelty of the Points and ex professo defends the same in his Treatise entituled Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum published by Erpenius the Author for some Reasons concealing his own Name at the first This Book was fully Answered and the Truth amply defended by Buxtorf the Younger in his Treatise entituled De Punctorum Origine Antiquitate published A. D. 1648. But at length in the Prolegomena to the Biblia Polyglotta we have this Opinion of Capellus which did but slily creep before publickly owned by Dr. Walton the Compiler of that Bible and defended with Capellus's Arguments whereby Capellus is deservedly answerable for the Success of this Opinion by its Station in the Polyglott Bible upon his Shoulders Hereupon Dr. I. O. writes some Considerations on the Prolegomena aforesaid and by the way Answers the Heads of Arguments brought for the Novelty of the Points But hereunto Dr. Walton returns a Reply entituled The Considerator Considered A. D. 1659. But in the Year 1661. Dr. I. O. in his Treatise De Natura Theologiae doth concisely defend his Opinion of the Divine Original of the Points The like doth Mr. William Cooper defend the Antiquity of the Points in his Domus Masaicae Clavis 1673 And so doth Wasmuth in his Vindiciae S. Hebraeae Scripturae 1664. And thus stood the Cause for some time until now at last Ludovicus Capellus his Vindiciae comes out in Answer to Buxtorf's Treatise De Origine Punctorum as also his former Treatise Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum is reprinted with it together with other Critical Discourses in a large Folio published A. D. 1689. and dedicated to the then Archbishop of Canterbury the rest of the Bishops and all the Clergy of the Church of England By which Dedication is made as bold a Challenge and earnest Invitation to the Defence of the Truth in Controversie as could well he made and together with the foregoing Considerations render it seasonable at this time as the weight and moment of the Subject do make the present Defence thereof necessary Thirdly As to the Method of the ensuing Discourse we have divided the same into Two Parts In the First Part we examine the Evidences for the Opinion that the Points were invented A. D. 500. Or since that time by the Masorites of Tiberias or Others and discover the Improbability thereof In the Second Part we Prove and Maintain the Antiquity and Divine Original of the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents against the Cavils and Objections of Capellus and Others But the First of the Two is what we begin withall for several Reasons First Because we are in Possession of the present Punctation as being of Divine Original and have peaceably enjoyed it in all Ages to this time all Translations amongst us being taken out of it 'T is our Inheritance and therefore unfit to call the Antiquity of the Points into question until we first see sufficient Evidence or at least great Probality that they were a Novel Invention Which if of so late date may be more easily proved than what was a Thousand Years before that time And the Rejecting or Answering of the Arguments for their Novel Invention is a Proof of their Antiquity and Divine Original for the Points were placed either since A. D. 500. or between the time of Ezra and A. D. 500. or else by the time of Ezra But we shall here prove in the First place
Common-Wealths The Reverse of Fortunes the Religions Politicks and Governments of Foreign Nations by this we may consult what practices have Establish'd Kingdoms what Laws have render'd any particular Nation more Safe happy and Civiliz'd than its Neighbours and what has Contributed to the Weakness and Overthrow of Bodies-Politick and what has Facilitated its Rise and Settlement and in a Prospect of the whole a New Scheme may be drawn for future Ages to act by Longum iter per praecepta breve Essicax per exempla Wisdom got by Experience is usually very Expensive Tedious and Uncertain Several Experiences confirm ones Knowledge and a Man's Life is too little to make many in every Case But if he finds e'm faithfully done to his hands the labour is sav'd and he may grow wise at the expence of other Mens Studies It was Thales that said of History Nil Mortem à vita differre because the Life of the Deceased depends upon the remembrance of the Living Mr. Brathwait in his Nursery for Gentry says Wou'd you be enabled for Company no better Medium than Knowledge in History It wou'd be a dispraise to advance an Elogy upon this Study which reconciles all times but futurity renders all the spatious Globe of the Inhabited World common and familiar to a Man that never Travelled We may see all Asia Africa and America in England all the Confederate Countreys in ones Closet Encompass the World with Drake make New Discoveries with Columbus Visit the Grand Seignior in the Seraglio Converse with Seneca and Cato Consult with Alexander Caesar and Pompey In a word whatever Humanity has done that 's Noble Great and Surprizing either by Action or Suffering may by us be done over again in the Theory and if we have Souls capable of Transcribing the bravest Copies we may meet Instances worth our Emulation History is as by some called the World's Recorder and according to my Lord Montague we must confess That no wise Man can be an Experienc'd Statist that was not frequent in History Another tells us That to be acquainted with History purchases more wisdom than the Strictest Rules of Policy for that the first do furnish us with Instances as well as Rules and as it were personates the Rule drawing out more into full proportion History best suits the Solidest Heads Whence we find that Caesar made it his Comment We read that King Alphonsus by Reading Livy and Ferdinand of Sicily by Reading Quintus Curtius recovered their Health when all the Physical Doses they took prov'd ineffectual but whether 't is Friendly to the Body or not 't is not our business to determine Sure we are that 't is Friendly to the Mind cultivates and informs it in what is very agreeable to its Nature we mean Knowledge therein imitating its Divine Original History is the most admirable foundation for Politicks by this may be discovered all that 's necessary for a Kingdoms Safety and Peace the Stratagems of War an account of the Management of the deepest Plots and Contrivances and the carrying on such Measures for every Publick Affair whether in respect to Enemies or Allies as the deepest Heads have ever yet practis'd And as History is so useful to such as are intrusted with the Charge of Common-wealths so 't is not less necessary for the Settling and Establishment of the Christian Religion We find a Great part of the World Worship Inanimate Beings others Sacrifice to Devils others propagate a Worship made up of the most ridiculous Fables as the Turks c. and many that profess the Christian Religion are so far degenerated from the Native Simplicity and Purity of it as that 't is now another thing A Reasonable Creature born into the World and finding in himself a Principle of Adoration of some Vnknown Being can't forbear an Enquiry into Religion but when he finds so many Religions so great a Diversity of Divine Worship and every Party willing to believe themselves in the Right and condemning all the rest of Mankind that are not of their Opinion This is enough to surprize such a Person but at the same time he will make this necessary Consequence after a little thought and application of Mind Certain I am that there 's a God and as certain that this God ought to be Worshipped after such a manner as is most Suitable to his Nature and the quality of the Worshipper as to his Nature it 's too fine and Spiritual to be pleas'd with any Adoration but what is Spiritual and as for Man the Creature that is to pay this Homage and Adoration he is a Reasonable Being and therefore it 's also Necessary that the Worship he pays be the most reasonable and perfect that his Nature will admit of Now a Man needs not go out of himself to consult what Reason is he has no more to do than to see what Religion is most agreeable to his Reason and most worthy the Dignity of his Nature we speak here of unprejudic'd persons And then History will inform him what has been practis'd and shew him that Christianity is the most noble sincere and pure Religion in the World but in this we refer you to what we have already spoken upon the foregoing Subject of Divinity There only remains to inform our Reader That 't is not onely Books but Maps Monuments Bass-Reliefs Medals and all Antient Descriptions that mightily strengthen and confirm History therefore 't wou'd be very useful to read such Authors as have treated upon Medals c. In our Catalogue of Miscellanies especially the Iournal des Scavans there are several of them The following Catalogue will be of great use in this Study HISTORY CHardin's Voyages into Persia fol. Embassie of the Five Jesuits into Siam fol. Chaumont's Embassie into Siam fol. Cornellis's Historical and Geographical Memoirs of Morea Negrepont and the Maritime places unto Thessalonica Dapper's Description of Africk in fol. Tavernier 's Travels in fol. Leti Historia Genevrina in 5 Volumes in Twelves Mr. Amelot's History of the Government of Venice Ortelius Mercator Cambden's Britannia Caesar's Commentaries Philo-Judaeus Cornelius Tacitus fol. Daniel's History of England fol. Lord Bacon of Henry the 7 th History of the Roman Empire Livies History Elzevir's Edition with Notes Supplementum Livianum Johannis Florus in Usum Dephini Valerius Maximus Utropius Suetonius Tranquillus Justinus Historicus Thucidides Translated out of Greek by Hobbs Zenophon Herodotus Diodorus Siculus in fol. Sir William Temple's Memoirs Dagoraeus VVhear his Method of Reading Histories Burnet's History of the Reformation Bishop Abbot's brief Description of the World in Twelves Davilla's History of the Civil Wars of France fol. Guichardin's History of Italy fol. History of Ireland Amour's Historical Account of the Roman State c. fol. Blome's Britannia Baker's Chronicles of the Kings of England fol. Bacon's Resuscitatio fol. Caesar's Commentaries fol. Heylin's Cosmography fol. Herbert's Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth fol. Howel's Institution of General History fol.
remarkable that he had a more than ordinary desire to be instructed in the Fundamentals of the Sciences and being yet very young he read the Works of my Lord Bacon Des Cartes and Gallileus In reading the Remarks of Scaliger upon Eusebius he observed that Chronology was founded upon Astronomy whereupon he also resolv'd to apply himself to the study of this last Science He set himself to read the Almagest of Ptolomy but he soon perceiv'd that he cou'd not read this sort of Books with advantage without the help of Geometry then he applied himself to the study of Euclides Elements in which he profited much in a little time and afterwards publish'd the Elements of Geometry explain'd in few words and better than ever was done before him Besides these are the Titles of some other Mathematical Books which he compos'd Euclidis Data Lectiones Opticae Lectiones Geometricae Archimedis Opera Apollonii Conicorum Lib. IV. Theodosti Sphaerica Lectio de Sphaera Cylindro One wou'd be surprized that so great a Geometrician cou'd also be a Poet yet we are assured in his Life that there are found several Poems amongst the Titles of his Latine Works Dr. Duport having renounc'd his Charge of Professor of the Greek Tongue he recommended Mr. Barrow who had been his Scholar whereupon he was admitted to Examination and read with great applause but he could not obtain the place because 't was thought he was inclin'd to Arminianism which was not savoured in England during the Usurpation this made him resolv'd to travail He went to France from thence to Italy where he embarked at Leghorn for Smyrna from whence he went to Constantinople there he tarried a year and we are assured during that time he read the works of the most famous Patriarch that that City ever had We may easily understand it was St Chrysostom that is here spoken of afterwards Mr. Barrow embarked for Venice from whence he returned for England by the way of Germany and Holland When King Charles the second was restored all the World believed Dr. Barrow would be preferred because he had been always firm to the Interests of the Royalists but being disappointed he made this Distich upon his unkind treatment Te Magis optavit rediturum Carole Nemo Et Nemo sensit te Rediisse Minus However he was elected Professor of the Greek tongue in 1660 and Chosen two years after to teach Geometry In the year following Mr. Lucas having founded a Chair for a Professor of Mathematicks he was the first that fill'd it and there was an Order made for him and those that were to succeed him that they shou'd be oblig'd every year to leave to the University Ten of their Lectures in writing he so passionately loved the Mathematicks that there was found before his Apollonius these words written in his own hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu autem Domine quantus es Geometra cum enim haec Scientia nullos terminos habeat c. God himself hath Geometry in his thoughts but thou O Lord how great a Geometrician art thou For tho' this Science has no bounds yet one may find an infinite number of new Theorems by the only assistance of a humane Capacity THOV seest all these Truths at one glance without any chain of consequences and without being wearied with a long search of demonstrations In other things our Intellect is defective and it seems that we do think of I do not know what for want of a perfect assurance From whence it happens that there are almost as many Opinions as different Persons But all the World agree in the Truth of Mathematicks and 't is in this that the Mind of Man feels its strength and is perswaded that it can effect something great and wonderful c. This only is able to enflame me with the Love of Thee and to make me wish with as much ardor as is possible for that happy day in which my Spirit being delivered from every thing that now perplexes it shall be assured not only of these Truths but of an infinite number of others without the trouble of deducing consequences c. There is without doubt but a very few Men who amongst those reasons which induce 'em to wish for Heaven give this of expecting the Happiness of a Perfect Knowledge of the Mathematicks there Thus Mr. Barrow having wearied himself with these Speculations resolved to addict himself only to the study of Divinity After which the Bishops of St. Asaph and Salisbury gave him some Benefices and the King made him Rector of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge in the year 1672. The Colledges of the Vniversities of England are otherwise regulated than those beyond Sea The charge of the Master of a Colledge is much more considerable than that of the Rectors of Forreign Academies or Colledges A few years after Mr. Barrow was preferred to a more eminent Post to wit Vice-Chancellor which is the greatest charge of the University and after this Chancellor which is not given but to Persons of the first Quality The Author of the Life of Mr. Barrow informs us how he governed the Colledge with an Vniversal Applause but it shall suffice to say that he there composed divers Treatises and amongst others that of the Supremacy of the Pope which is at the end of the first Volume In fine he died at London the 4th of March the year 1677. and was buried at Westminster where his friends erected a Marble Monument without an Epitaph which is added to the end of his Life The first five Sermons which compose the first Volume treat of the Excellency of the Christian Religion and of the Interest which accrews to us in loving and practising it the four following expound the great Duties of Christianity Prayer and Thanksgiving The 10th 11th and 12th are upon particular occasions to wit The Return of the King The Gunpowder-Plot And the Conseâ—ration of the Bishop of Man his Vncle. The ten following from the 13th to the 23d were composed against the sin of speaking too much in conversation in speaking ill of his Neighbour and Swearing c. Mr. Barrow is very large upon these matters because there are few Vices so universal tanta hujusmodi Libido saith St. Paulinus cited by the Author Mentes hominum invasit ut etiam qui procul aliis Vitiis recesserunt in illud tamen quasi in extremum Diaboli Laqueum incidant Those which follow even to the 30th have respect unto the great Precepts in which the Law is fulfilled to wit to love God and our Neighbour All the preceding Sermons were not published till after the death of the Author but he himself caused the two last of this Volume to be printed whereof one treats of Charity towards the Poor and the other of the Passion of Iesus Christ Dr. Tillotson speaks of the first that there could be nothing more elaborate in its kind and that Dr. Barrow had spoken the utmost that the
took all imaginable care that the Roman Religion should not make any progress in Ireland yet it stole in by the negligence of other Bishops insomuch that that Party which maintain'd it did sensibly increase and grow strong It was this that oblig'd King Charles the first to write a Letter to the Primate of Ireland which is to be found in page 38. wherein he authorizes him to write Letters of Exhortation to all the Bishops of Ireland that they shou'd discharge their duty better than they had done About the latter end of the year 1631. Vsher makes a Voyage into England where he publish'd a small English Treatise concerning the Antient Religion of Ireland and of the People which inhabited the North of Scotland and of England he shews in this Treatise how it was in respect to the Essential parts of the same Religion which at present is establish'd in England and which is very forreign to that of the Roman Catholicks The year following our Arch-Bishop return'd into Ireland and publish'd a Collection intituled Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge whereof the first Pieces were written about the year 1590. and the last about 1180. there one may learn the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Ireland In 1639. which was seven years after he publish'd his Book intituled Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates wherein he inserted the History of Pelagius and his Sentiments There are to be found the Antiquities of the most distant Churches of Great Britain since Christianity was Preached there that is to say since about 20 years after the death of Jesus Christ. In 1640. Vsher makes a Voyage into England with his Family with design to return very soon into Ireland but the Civil Wars hinder'd him insomuch that he cou'd never return to his Country again T is said that in the year following he brought the King to sign the death of the Earl of Strafford but as to this Dr. Parr speaks very much in his Justification he afterwards shews us after what manner he lost all that he had in Ireland except his Library which he brought into England Strangers very much envyed this great man that his Compatriots shou'd offer him divers Places of Retreat The Heads of the University of Leiden soon gave him a considerable Pension and offered him the Title of Honourable Professor if he wou'd come into Holland The Cardinal Richelieu sent him his Medal and also proffer'd to him a great Pension with the liberty of professing his Religion in France if he wou'd come thither Our Arch-Bishop thank'd him and sent him a Present of Irish Grey-Hounds and other Rarities of that Country Three years after he publish'd a small Treatise intituled A Geographical and Historical Research touching Asia Minor properly so call'd to wit Lydia whereof frequent mention is made in the New Testament and which the Ecclesiastical Writers and other Authors call'd Proconsulary Asia or the Diocess of Asia In this Treatise there is a Geographical Description of Asia Minor and of its different Provinces as that of Caria and Lydia under which the Romans comprehend Ionia and Aeolia Vsher shews there 1. That Asia whereof mention is made in the New Testament and the Seven Churches which St. Iohn spoke of in the Apocalypse were included in Lydia that every one of these Cities were the Chief of a small Province and because of this Division they were chosen to be the principal Seats of the Bishops of Asia 2. That the Roman Provinces had not always the same extension but were often contracted or enlarg'd for reasons of State thus the Empire was otherwise divided under Augustus than it was under Constantine under whom Proconsulary Asia had more narrow bounds than formerly 't is remarkable that under this last Emperor Proconsulary Asia which was govern'd by a Proconsul of the Diocess of Asia from whence the Governor was call'd Vicarius or Comes Asiae or Dioceseos Asianae but this division was afterwards chang'd under his Successors and whereas every Province had but one Metropolis to satisfie the ambition of some Bishops 't was permitted to two of 'em at the same time to take the Title of Metropolitan 3. That under Constantine Ephesus was the place where the Governors of Asia met to form a kind of Council which decided affairs of importance and 't was for this that Ephesus was then the only Metropolis of Proconsulary Asia that the Proconsul which was Governor never submitted to the Authority of the Praetorian Prefect and that there was something so like this in the Ecclesiastical Government that the Bishop of Ephesus was not only Metropolitan of Consulary Asia but also the Primate and Head of the Diocess of Asia 4. That there was a great conformity between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Government in this that the Bishops of every Province were subject to their Metropolitans as the Magistrates of every City were to the Governors of the whole Provinces This was the time wherein Vsher published in Greek and Latin the Epistles of St. Ignatius with those of St. Barnabas and St. Polycarp seven years after he added his Appendix Ignatiana where he proves that all the Epistles of Ignatius are not suppositious and explains many ecclesiastick antiquities he published the same year his Syntagma de editione 70 Interpretum where he proposes a particular Sentiment which he had upon this version 't is this that It contained but the five Books of Moses and that it was lost in the burning of the Library of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus and that Doritheus a Heretick Jew made another version of the Pentateuch and also translated the rest of the Old Testament about 177 years before the birth of Jesus Christ under the Reign of Ptolomaeus Philometor and that the Greek Church preserves this last version instead of that which was made under the Reign of Ptolomeus Philadelphus he also treats in this same work of the different editions of this version which according to him are falsly styled the version of the 70 this Book was published a year after the death of our Prelate with another De Cainane altero or the second Canaan which is found in the version of the 70. and in St. Luke between Sala and Arphaxad This last work of Vsher was the Letter which he wrote to Mr. 〈…〉 the difference he had with Mr. a friend of the Archbishops we shaâ—â— speak of it hereafter Dr. Parr informs us that in the Civil Wars of England Vsher going from Cardisse to the Castle of St. Donates which belonged to Madam Stradling he was extreamly Ill treated by the Inhabitants of Glamorganshire in Wales they took his Books and Papers from him which he had much ado to regain and whereof he lost some which contained remarks upon the Vaudois and which shou'd have serv'd to carry on his Book de Ecclesiarum Christianarum Successione where there is wanting the History of more than 200. years viz from Gregory the 11th to Leo the 10th from the year 1371 to 1513 and
the Gospel Preached unto 'em and Maximianus Herculius violently persecuted the Christians which he found here in the year CCCIII. It 's what Vsher tells us Chap. 7. Where beginneth what we have called the second part of his Work It may be that many things might be added to the precedent which he saith there upon the Faith of the Monks of the great number of Martyrs that Maximianus put to death and of the circumstances of their punishments Howbeit it 's certain that Dioclesian and Maximian having voluntarily quitted the Empire in the year CCCIV. and Constantius Chlorus being declared Augustus he put a period to all violences of what nature soever in the Provinces of his Jurisdiction and England was amongst the rest in which the Monks assure us that he built some Churches but dying two years after at York his Son Constantine who till then had been but Caesar was proclaimed Augustus by all the Roman Army which had lately got a signal victory over the Picts This gives occasion to our Archbishop to seek into the native Country of Constantine and of Helena his Mother in the eighth chapter The Country of this Princess is very doubtful although the Monks affirm she was of Treves yet is it not unlikely to be true that her Son was born in England as it may be seen in our Author who builds his opinion chiefly upon these words of Eumenius in his Panegyrick of Constantia O fortunata nunc omnibus terris beatior Britannia quae Constantinum Caesarem prima vidisti Vsher afterwards sheweth that some Bishops of England assisted at the Council of Arles in CCCXIV and 11 years after at that of Nice likewise at the other Councils called upon the occasion of the antient controversies Notwithstanding that hindered not Arianism to pass into Great Britanny when Gratianus had granted liberty to all the sects of the Christians saving to the Manicheans to the Photinians and to the Eunomians But it seemeth that the Tyrant Maximius that favoured the Orthodox suffered not Arianism to take root in England where he began to Govern in CCCLXXIII some time after he sent hence a great number of Inhabitants which he established in Amorica that is to say Low Brittany which he remitted to one Conan Meriadoc who was the person according to the Monkish History that obtained of Dionot King of Cornwall his Daughter Vrsula in Marriage with 11000 Virgins of noble Birth besides 60000 other Virgins of meaner families All the World are acquainted with the Story of St. Vrsula and of the 11000 Virgins and those that would know who hath refuted it may consult Vsher who relateth it with many reasons to shew it is but an impertinent Fable altho' Baronius maintains the contrary In that time many people went to see the Holy places in Palestine which was the occasion of making known in the West the Books of Origen which were unknown there before Rufinus Amongst others a Priest of Aquila after having lived three years in the East and Studied under Evagrius an Origenist imbib'd not only the sentimeâ—ts of Origen but returning into Italy spread them every where by translating divers of his works It was of him that Pelagius and Celestius learned at Rome this Doctrine whereof we shall speak in the sequel They both were Monks and of Great Britain Celestius of Scotland and Pelagius of England the second was called Morgan in the Language of the Countrey that is to say born of the Sea or in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a name given him out of his Countrey If St. Ierom may be believed Pelagius was an ignorant man who could not express himself that was more to be pittied than envied and Celestius a studier of solecisms but St. Augustine speaketh advantageously of their wit in divers places and indeed it is seen by the fragments that remain in his works that they expressed not themselves so ill as St. Ierom saith We have still two pieces of Pelagius amongst the supposed writings of this last whereof one is a Letter to Demetriades and the other is intituled the Symboli explanatio ad Damasum whereas it should have been called Professio fidei ad Innocentium for it was to Innocent that Pelagius sent it This last piece is also found in Baronius and in the first Tome of the Councils of the edition of Cologne in 1606. Pelagius sojourn'd long enough at Rome where he acquired much reputation by his works and his conduct whence it cometh that Augustin Bishop of Hippona spoke honourably of him and writ to him a very obliging Letter before he entered into a dispute with him He calleth him in his Book de peccatorum meritis vir ut audio sanctus nec parvo profectu Christianus bonus ac praedicandus vir He is saith he a man as I am told Holy and much advanced in Piety a man of Merit and Praise worthy Father Petau in his book De Pelagianorum Semi Pelagianorum Dogmatum Historia remarketh that St. Augustin composed the Book in which he speaketh so advantageously of Pelagius after the condemnation of Celestius in the Council of Carthage in CCCCXII Thence he concludeth that it is not of this Pelagius whereof St. Chrysostome speaketh in his fourth Letter wherein he deplores the fall of a Monk of the same name There is no more likelihood that the Pelagius a Hermit to whom St. Issiodorus de Diamette hath written great censures be him that we speak of here whose life was always irreproachable as appears by the Testimony of St. Augustin Rome being taken by the Gothes in the year CCCCX Pelagius who was there departed and Sailed to Africa yet he remained not there but immediately went into the East Notwithstanding his Disciplie Celestius stayed at Carthage and aspired to be Priest of that Church but as he made no difficulty to maintain the Sentiments of his Master he was accused by Paulinus Deacon of the same Church in a Council where Aurelius Bishop of Carthage presided in the year which is already mention'd Celestius was there condemned and excommunicated as having maintain'd these seven Propositions I. That Adam was created mortal and that he should die whether he had sinned or not II. That the sin of Adam was only prejudicial to himself and not to all Mankind III. That the Law opened the entrance into Heaven as well as the Gospel IV. That before the coming of Iesus Christ men were without sin V. That Children newly born are in the same State as was Adam before his fall VI. That all Mankind dyeth not by the Death and Prevarication of Adam as all Mankind riseth not by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ. VII That man is without Sin and that he can easily obey the Commandments of God if he will Celestius answered to these Heads but we have only part of his Answers in the Books of St. Augustine that is to say that we have no other Testimonies of his Doctrine than
the Pope grew obstinate in his Sentiment they would rather quit the Priesthood than Marriage and that Gregory who despised men should take the care of providing himself with Angels to govern the Church These good men without doubt spake with much sincerity and it may be if those who have endeavoured to blacken the conduct of the Reformers in that they have introduced anew the Marriage of Priests would let nature speak they would not say less But it is a great unhappiness and a great prejudice at the same time against the deluders of Virginity to live in a Church whereof they are constrained to defend all the Sentiments unless they would dishonour and destroy themselves In fine the Authors of the time of Hildebrand and those who have written since give him several times the name of Antichrist and it cannot be denied at least but that it is he who hath established the excessive authority of Popes and who the first durst to maintain that they have the power of deposing Kings and to change what they please in the Canons It is no more than may be seen in the Decretals of the Edition of Rome whereof Vsher cites divers scandalous articles He also gives the History of the quarrels which this Pope had with the Emperor Henry IV. and relates all the evil that hath been said of the first And with this he ends the first part of his work which was to have extended to the time in which the Devil hath been let loose II. As it is in the Apocalypse that a thousand years being past the Dragon was to be unloos'd for a little time Vsher begins his second part by the explication of this place and remarks that according to the maxim of Aristotle nothing being called great or little but by relation to another thing the time in which the Dragon was to be unchain'd should be short in comparison of the time during which he had ravaged the World before he had been put in Chains Roman Catholicks demand of Protestants where the Church was then if the Pope was Antichrist Vsher answers that the Church was then in the state in which some Antients and divers Catholick Authors have said that it would be under the Reign of Antichrist St. Augustin in his XX Letter which is directed to Hesychius saith that the Church appear'd not because of the excessive cruelty of the Persecutors Ecclesiam non apparituram impiis tunc Persecutoribus ultra modum saevientibus Several ancient and modern Authors have spoken to the same effect Vsher takes occasion from hence to make a parallel of the State of the Churches which followed the Council of Nice in the times that the Arians were the strongest with that wherein the West was found in these corrupt Ages The Arians reproached others with their small Number and their Poverty as it appears by these words of Gregory of Nazianza Where are those who upbraid us with our Poverty who say that the greatest Number forms the Church and who jeer the smalness of our Flock But as there lived in the Roman Empire several People who were not Arians Vsher conceives that under the Government of the Pope there was a pretty great number of Persons who were not of these opinions To shew that he doth not advance a simple conjecture he gives the History of the Original Opinions of the Vaudois who have rejected several of the Sentiments of the Church of Rome But he speaks more of them in the sequel as being a place wherein he should properly speak of them which obligeth us to pass to the vii Chapter and afterwards we will return to the Vaudois Vsher divides the time during which the Dragon hath been delivered from his Prison into three Periods the first reacheth to the time of Innocent III. The second unto Gregory XI And the third unto Leo X. The first comprehends two Ages taking it's beginning from the year 1000. The State the Western Church hath been in during the first of these two Ages and the complaints that the Authors of that time made against Corruptions which were equally seen in the Ecclesiasticks and People There have been no less complaints made of the Disorders of the twelfth Age as is plain in our Author who relates a great number thereof amongst which is this famous distich of Hildebert Bishop of Mans who saith in speaking of Rome Vrbs foelix si vel Dominis Vrbs illa careret Vel Dominis esset turpe carere fide Happy City if it had no Masters or if those who possess it believed it a shameful thing to want Faith The Popes took great care in that Age to have paid to them from England a kind of Tribute that they called St. Peters pence which Alexander II. in a Letter written to William the Norman saith had been paid by the English ever since they had embraced Christianity It appears by this Letter that the English sent this Money at first to Rome only thro' Liberality but this Liberality becoming a Necessity because the Kings commanded absolutely to do it the Authors of those times looked upon it as a Tribute Therefore Bertold of Constance who lived towards the latter end of the eleventh Age saith that it was then that the Prophecy of the Apocalypse was accomplished which saith That no Person could sell or buy without having the Mark or Name of the Beast or the Number of its Name The Reason of this is that according to the Relation of this Author in his Appendix of Hermannus Contractus towards the year Mlxxxiv William the first King of England rendred his whole Kingdom Tributary to the Pope and suffered none to sell or buy but such as submitted himself to the Apostolick See that is to say before he paid the Rome-scot or penny of St. Peter Notwithstanding this same William refused to swear an Oath of Fealty to Hildebrand and punished Bishops and other Ecclesiasticks who had offended him as he thought fit without having any regard to the Prayers and Exhortations of this Pope Some other Kings of England resisted the Popes likewise with the same vigour and we have proofs that the opinions of Rome were not yet spread every where Here is one that is pretty remarkable which is that Frederick Barbarousse being gone into the Holy Land to fight the Infidels in Mclxxxix Niaetas Choniates observes that the Germans were welcomed by the Armenians because the adoration of the Images of Saints was equally prohibited with the Armenians and Germans Hereby it appears that they had not as yet forgotten in Germany the Council of Francfort It is also remarked that several English Authors who have written after the arrival of the Normans said that the Church had in abhorrence the worship of Images The Doctrine even of Lanfranc concerning the Eucharist which the Normans brought into this Island was contrary to divers ancient Forms and Writings of the English And this is the cause that a long time after the Condemnation of
who repented after having kept them some time in Prison to put upon their cloaths violet coulor'd Crosses which they thus wore all their Life not being suffered to appear with other cloaths and with this clause that the Inquisition reserved a full power of changeing the Sentence pronounced as it should be thought fit whether those who had been condemned to wear the Cross were accused anew or whether there was no accusation at all Those whom they resolv'd to mortifie by a sad imprisonment were kept between four Walls where they were constrained to go of themselves and where they were nourished only upon Bread and Water The obstinate Hereticks were put into the hands of the Secular There was at that time in Gasconny of divers sorts as well as before In this Register are Vaudois and Albigeses condemned for divers pretended Heresies as of denying Transubstantiation and the seven Sacraments of the Romish Church of maintaining that we shall not rise in spiritual Bodies c. There have been besides Baguins certain Monks of the third Order of St. Francis who thought that it was not lawful for them to possess any thing whatever who called the Pope Antichrist because he suffered the Religious of St. Francis to possess Riches and who suffer'd themselves to be burned rather than to retract these Fantastick Opinions There is also the Condemnation of divers Manicheans And the proceeding against Peter Ruffit who quite to overthrow Concupiscence had with a Woman the same commerce as some Priests had with Young Women in the time of St. Cyprian a Custom which lasted so long that the Council of Nice condemned it As being us'd in the beginning o' th' fourth Age and that St. Basil St. Chrysostome and St. Ierome employ'd all their Eloquence to cure several Ecclesiasticks of this Custom in their time an exact account hereof may be seen in Mr. Dodwel's third Dissertation upon St. Cyprian Two small pieces of James Usher Archbishop of Armagh One of the Original of Bishops and the other of Proconsulary Asia to which is added an Appendix of the Priviledges of the British Churches At London by Samuel Smith 1687. in 8vo And at Rotterdam by Renier Leers THis is another Posthume Work of the Learned Vsher Archbishop of Armagh which sufficiently testifies that profound Learning that hath rendered him so famous and makes him still respected as one of the Oracles of England The Question he starteth here has so imploy'd the wits for some years past that instead of reuniting for the common Interest they cannot without much ado calm the Agitation which this dispute hath caused tho' it only concerns Exterior Order It is therefore pretended that in this Work Episcopacy is a Divine Institution founded upon the Old and New Testament and the Imitation of the Ancient Church Vsher immediately remarks that the chief of the Levites bore a Title which was translated in Greek by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishop of the Levites he expounds these Words of the Apocalypse Write to the Angel of Ephesus as if the word Angel was the same thing as that of Bishop The Succession of the Bishops of Ephesus appeared evident enough at the Council of Calcedon held in 451. And there 't is likely enough that Timothy or one of his Successors was the Angel to whom the words of St. Iohn are directed St. Ireneus says that he had seen Polycarp who was established Bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles Lastly he adds that Tertullian in his Book of Prescription against Hereticks and St. Irenaeus pressed the Hereticks by the Argument of the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles unto their time and chiefly upon that of the Bishops of Rome beginning with Linus Cletus or Clement that the Apostles had placed there and continuing until Elentherius the twelfth Bishop from the Apostles And it was Eleutherius who had the Glory of receiving into the Christian Faith Lucius King of England with all his Kingdom and that there were Bishops so well established from that time that ten years before the Council of Nice held in 325. three English Bishops assisted at the Council of Arles After having proved the establishment of Bishops by the Apostles Vsher examines the origine of the Metropolitans to whom he gives the same Antiquity For supposing as we have said that St. Iohn speaking of the seven Angels understands nothing else but Bishops he extends his conjecture so far as to say that St. Iohn having written to the seven Churches of Asia without denoting them more particularly it necessarily follows that they had some Preheminence and that they were distinguished by themselves that is to say by their quality of Metropolis He confirms it by this circumstance that the Prefects of the Romans resided in these Cities as Capitals and that the Adjacent Cities came for Justice thither Whence he concludes that they were as Mothers to the other Churches He concludes in shewing it to be the Sentiment of Beza and Calvin and proceeds to the second part of his Work which treats of the Proconsulary or Lydian Asia He observeth that the Name of Asia properly belonged to Lydia for they pretend that Asia was the Name of an ancient King of the Lydians and that it was Vespasian that made a Proconsulary Province on 't After that these three Questions are resolved The first if at the time of the Council of Nice all the Bishops were subject to the three Patriarchs of Rome Alexandria and Antioch It 's proved by the very Canons of the Council of Nice and by the first Council of Constantinople assembled under Theodosius the Great that each Patriarch had Power no farther than the extent of his Territory and over the Bishops of his particular Province And to inform us where the Patriarchats were limited he saith that that o◠Alexandria comprised Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis but that Africk Thebes nor the Mareotides were not subjected to it That of Antioch had not the whole Empire of the East whereof Constantinople was the Capital But only all that extended from the Mediterranean Sea towards the East to the Frontiers of the Empire That of Rome contained ten Provinces The Islands of Sicily Corse and Sardinia were three of them and the Continent of Italy on the East-side made the other seven that the ancient Lawyers called Suburbicaries But not to leave the work imperfect upon this Subject he examines in what dependance the Churches were who set up no Patriarchs To this purpose he observes that the Roman Empire was divided into thirteen Dioceses seven on the East-side and six on the West-side in all 120. Provinces Each Diocess had a Metropolis where the Primate resided as well as the Praetor or Vicar who decided appeals in Civil Affairs as also each Province had it's Metropolis It will not be useless to add that tho' Primates had the same Authority as the Patriarchs they preceded them notwithstanding in Councils and that Rome Alexandria and Antiochia were honoured
inspire into the Greeks of the State of Venice the Sentiments of the Protestants to introduce the Reformation into Italy by that means See Letter 238. p. 2. It may be this was but a bare Report Grotius was too far from the places to be throughly inform'd in it but he had opportunities to be perfectly instructed of some other things which happened in Holland whilst he was there He saith Letter 11. p. 1. That in a Conference which Arminius and Gomarus had before the Gentlemen of the States of Holland as Oldenbarndvelt said to these two Gentlemen that he praised God for that the Controversies which was amongst them were not upon any fundamental Article Gomarus answered that the Opinions of Arminius his Collegue were of such a nature that he cou'd not appear before the Tribunal of God with ' em The whole dispute concerned Predestination and the greatest difference that was betwixt their opinions was that Gomarus believed God had resolved to create the most part of men to damn them without having any respect to their Actions only for the Manifestation of his Power whereas Arminius maintained that God damns not men but because of their unbelief and impenitence This last opinion is Melancthon's as Grotius saith Ep. 58. p. 1. and elsewhere The Gentlemen of the States of Holland made in 1614. an Edict which may be seen in the 3. Vol. of the Theological Works of Grotius by which they ordered the two parties which then were in the Reformed Churches of the Low Countries to support each other and to treat with moderation the controverted matters the then King Iames of England at first praised this order also divers Bishops approved it as Grotius saith in his Letters 28 and 29. But this Prince changing his opinion afterwards disapproved this conduct as appears by Letter 111. p. 1. to Mr. Anthony de Dominis Archbishop of Spalatro But that which was most fatal to Grotius and those of his party was that from that time divers Provincial Synods were held where they were not favoured as he himself says in Letter 64. p. 1. The Magistrates of every City promised Pastors of that party shou'd exercise their charge as before but those of the contrary party thought the same toleration ought not to be given to them Some refused to Preach in publick Churches because the other party were suffered there They assembled themselves in private Meetings so that the Magistrates feared these divers Assemblies wou'd cause trouble in the State as they had in the Church There was an attempt made at Rotterdam as Grotius relates Letter 65. p. 1. to calm these troubles by a particular conference where the reasons of those Pastors were heard who would not Preach in publick Churches with those who were not of their opinion nor communicate with them But this Conference had no good effect as may be seen in this Letter of our Author and in the following where he gives an account of what happened on both sides in this Assembly Lastly the Schism was made after such a manner as all the World knoweth and that besides many other reasons was no little hindrance according to the Judgment of Grotius to the design which several Pious persons formed some years after of reuniting all Protestants The King of Swedland too endeavour'd it a little before his Death having assembled at Leipswich divers Lutheran and Calvinist Divines The authority of this great King made this Conference end with mildness on both sides but his Death which hapned a little while after made all hopes of accommodation vanish It was at that time that an English Divine named Duraeus who had as 't were consecrated himself to endeavour this reunion ran vainly over all the Protestant States to induce them to Peace which the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud whose Encomium Grotius makes in divers places v. p. 2. Ep. 405 406.532.540 and several Bishops of England passionately desired Grotius saith that an answer of Doctor Hois Preacher to the Elector of Saxony being too violent against the Reformation hindered it very much see Let. 444. p. 1. Protestants not being able to unite with one another there was no likelihood that the Union between them and the Roman Catholicks should succeed Yet there was a great talk on 't in France and Cardinal Richelieu if we believe Grotius Letter 531. p. 2. affirm'd that it would be agreed on Cardinalis quin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 negotium in Gallia successurum sit dubitare se negat This made several persons apply themselves to writing to propose to the publick means and projects of an Union Amongst whom none appeared that made so much noise as Theophilus Brachet dela Millitiere which seemed the more surprizing because before the taking of Rochel this Author had attacked the Kings party and all the Roman Catholicks with an extraordinary heat in a little Book which he Printed for the defence of some Assemblies held at Rochel Grotius speaks of it in divers places but particularly in Letter 373. p. 1. 385.343 345. p. 2. There was then a report at Paris which gave some hope to those who penetrated not the policy of Cardinal Richeleu that there would happen a change in the Gallican Church which would much contribute to an Union Which was that the Cardinal had a design to render himself Patriarch in France and thus to draw the Gallican Church from the obedience of the Court of Rome To this design was applied according to the relation of Grotius Letter 982. p. 1. this Tetrastich of Nostradamus Celui qui etoit bien avant dans le Regne Aiant chef range proche Hierarchie Apre cruel se fera tant craindre Succedera à sacreé Monarchie Some are so far from taking away from the obedience of the Apostolick See that they scarcely dared to defend the Liberties of the Gallican Church The King who had given orders to make a Collection of the Edicts of the Kings of France and of the Acts of Parliament by which until then the excessive power of the Court of Rome was opposed got this collection suppressed in 1639. when the impression thereof was finish'd Grotius who had promised himself much from the courage of the French on this occasion could not dissemble his grievance which he too strongly expresseth Ita sub Regibus aut ignavis aut ignaris tantum sape fit damni quantum successores aegre sarciant mirumque est pro Regibus scribi Lutetiae non licere cum Romae quotidie contra Reges eorum jura liberè fiant He speaks thereof also in as weighty terms in Letter 1105. to Lewis Camerarius Ambassador from Swedland into Holland This event and some others made Grotius doubt of the Roman Catholicks ever giving any satisfaction to Protestants concerning the complaints made of the abuses which they believe to be slipt into the Roman Religion He testifies these doubts in Letter 85. p. 2. where he saith that there is more reason to wish
made a Priest by Innocent the first being retired to Marseilles began to compose Books by which sweetening a little the Sentiments of Pelagius wâ—om he also condemned as a Heretick he gave birth to the opinions to which were since given the Name of Semi-pelagianism His Sentiments may be seen in his Collations or Conferences that St. Prosper hath refuted and maintain'd against the pure Pelagianism Here in a few words is what they were reduced unto I. The Semi-pelagians allowed that men are born corrupted and that they cannot withdraw from this Corruption but by the assistance of Grace which is nevertheless prevented by some motion of the Will as by some good desire whence they said nâ—cum est velle credere Dei autem gratiae est adjuvare to Will to Believe dependeth of me but it 's the Grace of God that helpeth me God according to them expecteth from us these first motions after which he giveth us his Grace II. That God inviteth all the World by his Grace but that it dependeth of the Liberty of men to receive or to reject it III. That God had caused the Gospel to be preached to Nations that he foresaw would embrace it and that he caused it not to be preached to Nations that he foresaw would reject it IV. That notwithstanding he was willing all should be saved he had chosen to Salvation none but those that he saw wou'd persevere in Faith and good Works V. That there was no particular Grace absolutely necessary to Salvation which God gave only to a certain number of men and that men might lose all the Graces they had received VI. That of little Children which died in their Infancy God permitted that those only should be baptized who according to the foreknowledge of God would have been pious if they had lived but on the contrary those that were wicked if they came to a more advanced Age were excluded from Baptism by Providence VII The Semi-pelagians were yet accused to make Grace entirely outward so that according to them it chiefly consisted in the preaching of the Gospel but some of them maintained that there was also an interiour Grace that Pelagius himself did not totally reject Others allowed that there was preventing Grace So it seemeth that the difference that was betwixt them and Pelagius consisted only in this that they allowed Men were born in some measure corrupt and also they pressed more the necessity of Grace at least in words Tho' the difference was not extreamly great he notwithstanding anathematized Pelagius But this they did it 's like in the supposition that Pelagius maintained all the opinions condemned by the Councils of Africk St. Augustine accuseth them to have made the Grace of God wholly to consist in Instruction which only regardeth the understanding when as he believ'd it to consist in a particular and interiour action of the Holy Ghost determining us invincibly to Will good this determination not being the effect of our understanding The other Sentiments of this Father are known opposite either to the Doctrine of Pelagius or that of the Semi-pelagians We may be instructed herein particularly in his Books of Predestination and Perseverance that he writ at the entreaty of St. Proâ—per against the Semi-pelagians and in the works of the latter To come back to the History 't is said that in the year Ccccxxix one Agricola Son of Severiaenus a Pelagian Bishop carried Pelagianism into England but St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre was sent hither by Pope Celestin or by the Bishops of the Gauls and extirpated it suddenly Several miracles are attributed to him in this Voyage and in the stay he made in England as Vsher observes But if what Hector Boetius saith a Historian of Scotland who lived in the beginning of the past Age be true he used a means that is not less efficacious for the extirpation of Heresie which was that the Pelagians that would not retract were burned by the care of the Magistrates But whilst St. Germain purified England the Seeds of Pelagianism that Cassian had spread amongst the Monks of Marseille and in the Narbonick Gaul caused it likewise to grow in France St. Prosper and Hilary had writ of it to St. Augustine and had specified it to him that several Ecclesiasticks of the Gauls looked upon his opinions as dangerous novelties St. Augustine answered to their objections in the books which we lately have named but the support that Hilary Bishop of Arles and Maxim Bishop of Riez granted to the Semi-pelagians hindered any body from molesting them tho' they shewed much aversion for the Doctrine of St. Augustine Iulian and the other Bishops banished as I have already observ'd from Italy were gone to Constantinople where they importuned the Emperour to be re-established but as they were accused of Heresie he would grant them nothing without knowing the reasons why they were banished Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople writ about it to Celestine who answered him after a very sour manner and as if it had not been permitted to be informed of the reason of their condemnation reproaching him at the same time with his particular Sentiments His Letter is dated the 12. of August in the year Ccccxxx. It was at that time that St. Augustine died whose Elogium may be found in our Author who approveth of the praises that Fulgentius giveth him in his 2. Book of the Truth of Predestination where he speaks of him as Inspired A little after his death the Letters of Theodosius that had called him to the Council of Ephesus arrived in Africk whence some Bishops were sent thither In the year Ccccxxxi the 22. of Iune this Council composed of CCX Bishops was assembled for the Condemnation of Nestorius Cyril of Alexandria presided there and whilst it was holding Iohn Bishop of Antioch was assembled with 30. other Bishops who made Canons contrary to those of this Council The particulars were that the party of Cyril and that of Iohn reciprocally accused each other of Pelagianism but the greater part approved of the Deposition of Iulian and other Bishops of Italy that Nestorius had used with more mildness He is accused to have been of their opinion and to have maintained that Jesus Christ was become the Son of God by the good use he made of his Free-will in reward whereof God had united him to the Everlasting Word This was the cause that in this Council Pelagianism and Nestorianism were both condemned together But notwithstanding all this and the cares of three Popes Celestinus Xystus and Leo the first Semi-pelagianism was upheld amongst the Gauls It may be that the manner wherewith Celestine writ to the Bishops of France contributed to it because that tho' he condemned Pelagius with heat and praised St. Augustine he said at the end of his Letter that as to the deep and difficult Questions which were found mingled in this Controversie and which were treated at length by those that opposed the Hereticks that as
per voi e dovevate far la per voi e non per altri We thought that the Reader would be glad to learn the Adventures both of an History and an Author who have made so much noise And therefore shall proceed to the Work it self What had been Printed at London contained but the Antient and Modern State of Great Britain It is to be had entire without any thing cut off in the two First Volumes of this Edition except the Author thought it more expedient to reserve for the Fifth Volume any thing which was Historical The First Volume contains eleven Books whereof the First gives a brief account of the History and Religion of England whilst it had been possessed by divers Princes and bore the Name of Britannia to wit unto Egbert who reduced it altogether under his Power and gave it the Name of England or of Anglia at the end of the Eighth Age. There are in this First Book divers things very curious concerning the Druides and the Gods who were adored in England before the Faith had been planted in it The Author describes in the Second Book the Greatness the Situation the Provinces the Rivers the Cities the Bishopricks the Inhabitants the Fertility the Merchandises the Negotiations and the Buildings of England The Third Book is employed altogether upon the Description of the Famous City of London Here there is more exactness than in the very Writings of some English who have given the Publick the state of this Famous City and that of the whole Kingdom There is according to the supputation of Mr. Leti near Four hundred fifty thousand Souls in London and about Six Millions in the whole Kingdom The Fourth speaks of the Government and Priviledges of the same City as well as of the Factions which do divide it The Sixth describes the Humour of the English and the Application they have to Religion and to the Observation of the Laws of the Country The Seventh is a Continuation of the same subject and a description of the Laws and divers Customs of England The Eighth speaks of the strangers who are in that Country and chiefly of the French Protestants who have fled thither some time since In this is the Declaration of the King of France importing That the Children of those of the R. P. R. may convert at seven Years accompanied with political and very curious Reflections In the Ninth Book the Author describes the Three States of England the Clergy the Nobility and the People but particularly the first It contains the number and names of the Bishops of this time the manner of consecrating them their Revenues c. The Tenth speaks of the State of Roman Catholicks in England of their number of their Exercises of the Endeavours to bring in again their Religion of the Missions of Fryars and of the Complaints they make of Protestants The Author adds the Answer of the Protestants to these Complaints and shews by the Catholick Authors the Designs of the Court of Rome upon England and of the Intrigues it makes use of to bring it under its Yoke The last Book of this Volume contains the Policy of the Court of England and its Maxims of State The Second Volume is composed of Eight Books whereof the two first do treat of the Religion and different Parties which divide it Therein are to be seen the Disputes of the Conformists and of the Non-Conformists the Opinions of the Quakers of Anabaptists c. The Fourth contains the Foundations and the Rights of the Monarchy of England the Revenues of the King and other Particulars of this nature There are several things in this place which cannot be found elsewhere The fifth describes the Government of England the King's Council the Parliament and the divers Tribunals of Justice of this Kingdom Herein are the Reasons why Parliaments have opposed in so many Rencounters the Designs of King's which Strangers are commonly ignorant of The sixth speaks of the particular Government of Cities and of Countries as also of the Posts of Governours of Places of the Garisons and of the Land Forces and Sea Forces of England The seventh is a Description of the Court and the King's Officers and of the Royal Family The last speaks of the strange Ministers who are at London of the manner wherewith they receive Ambassadours there Residents Envoys c. and of the Priviledges they enjoy Here is the Description of those who were in England whilst the Author lived here He tells very frankly their good or ill Qualities and this is not a little useful to judge of their Negotiations and to know why the one succeeds without pains in his Designs whilst the other stumbles every where It were to be wished that all the Histories which we have were thus circumstantiated For as there would be much more pleasure in reading them so we might also profit thereby much more than we do We should know not only the Events but also the secret Causes the Intrigues and the means which have contributed to the great Revolutions and it is what may profitably instruct us What signifieth it to know in general that a certain thing hath happened in a certain Year if we do not know how and wherefore It is the Conduct of Men which serveth us for an Example and an Instruction and not the simple Events which of themselves are of no use to us But where are there Men so couragious as to write without Flattery the History of their Time Where are there Princes who are so just as to suffer that their Truths should be told to their Faces Where are there even Ministers of State who would permit that their Defects should be divulged during their Life Nevertheless it is but then that it can be well done for if in the time wherein things are fresh more than one half is forgotten much more are the following Ages deprived of the knowledge of a thousand particular Facts which have produced great Affairs The Author having thus described the State of the Kingdom in the two first Volumes takes up again in the three others the sequel of the History of England from Egbert and continues it unto M DC Lxxxii He hath disposed his Work after this manner that after having made all the Essential Remarks of the History of England in the two first Volumes he should not be obliged in the following to interrupt the course of his Narration The third Volume contains Six Books whereof the last is destined to the Life of Henry the VIII The fourth Volume is composed of Five Books the first whereof includes the Reign of Edward and of Mary and the Second that of their Sister Elizabeth In the Third the Author after he begins the History of King Iames who reunited the Three Kingdoms makes a Description of Ireland and Scotland and speaks of their Ancient and Modern State after which in the Fourth Book he composes the History of the Reign of King Iames wherein
of Solid Piety and very fit to remove the Abuses whereunto Superstition wou'd engage ' em The Bishop of Mysia Suffragan of Cologne the Vicar General of that City the Divines of Gant Malines and Lovain all approved it Nevertheless the Iesuite assures that That Writing scandalized the good Catholicks that the Learned of all Nations refuted it that the Holy See condemned it and that in Spain it was prohibited to be printed or read as containing Propositions suspected of Heresie and Impiety tending to destroy the particular Devotion to the Mother of God and in general the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images There are now near 10 Years past since M. Meaux kept us in Expectation of Mr. Noguier and M. Bastides Refutation but at length instead of an Answer in form there only appeared a second Edition of his Book bigger by half than the first by an Addition of an Advertisement in the beginning of it One may soon judge that it does not cost so much pains to compose 50 or 60 pages in Twelves as the taking of the City of Troy did But tho' the time was not very long it was too long to oblige all that time the Pope and the Court of Rome to give their Approbation to a Book so contrary to their Maxims Without doubt the Secret was communicated to them and they were assured That as soon as the Stroke was given and the Hugonots converted either by fair or foul means what seemed to be granted would be recalled Some Roman Catholicks worthy of a better Religion suffered thro' the ignorance of this Mystery A Prior of Gascogne Doctor in Divinity called M. Imbert told the People that went to the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday in 83. That the Catholicks adored Iesus Christ crucifyed on the Cross but did not adore any thing that they saw there The Curate of the Parish said it was the Cross the Cross but M. Imbert answered No no it is Iesus Christ not the Cross. This was enough to create trouble this Prior was called before the Tribunal of the Arch-bishop of Bordeaux and when he thought to defend himself by the Authority of M. Meaux and by his Exposition what was said against that Book was objected to him that it moderated but was contrary to the Tenets of the Church After which he was suspended from Ecclesiastical Functions the Defendant provided an Appeal to the Parliament of Guienne and writ to M. de Meaux to implore his protection against the Arch-Bishop who threatned him with a perpetual Imprisonment and Irons it is not known what became of it The History of M. de Witte Priest and Dean of St. Mary's of Malines is so well known that I need not particularize upon it Our Author refers us here to what the Journals have said It is known what Persecutions he has suffered for expressing the Popes Supremacy and Infallibility according to M. de Meaux's Doctrine He did not forget to alledge that Bishops Authority and to say That his Exposition required no more of a Christian and an Orthodox but this did not hinder the University of Lovain to judge that Proposition pernicious and scandalous that intimates that the Pope is not the Chiefest of Bishops In the mean time the Reformed did not forget M. de Meaux his Advertisement did no sooner appear but it was refuted by Mr. de la Bastide and Mr. Iurieâ— a little after made his Preservative against the change of Religion in opposition to that Bishops Exposition But all these Books and those that were writ against his Treatise of the Communion under the two Kinds had no Answer this Prelate expecting booted Apologists who were to silence his Adversaries in a little time The Roman Catholicks of England notwithstanding their small number flattered themselves with hopes of the like Success having at their head a bold couragious Prince and one that would do any thing for them They had already translated M. Condom's Exposition of 1672 and 1675 into English and Irish and as soon as they saw King Iames setled on his Brothers Throne they began to dispute by small Books of a leaf or two written according to the method of the French Bishop The Titles with the Answers and the several Defences of each Party may be had in a Collection printed this present Year at London at Mr. Chiswells which is Entituled A Continuation of the present State of Controversy between the English Church and that of Rome containing a History of the printed Books that were lately published on both sides The Gentlemen of the Roman Church did begin the Battel by little Skirmishes but found themselves after the first or second firing without Powder or Ball and not able to furnish scattered Sheets against the great Volumes made against them said at last instead of all other answer that the little Book alone entituled The Papist Misrepresented and there represented a-new was sufficient to refute not only all the Dissertations which the English Divines lately published against Papists but all the Books and Sermons that they ever preached against Catholicks It is to no purpose to take the trouble of Disputing against people that have so good an Opinion of their Cause And in consequence of this the English answer to M. de Meaux's Exposition and the Reflections on his Pastoral Letter of 1686. met with no Answer as well as several other Books But Dr. Wake had no sooner published his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England but these Gentlemen which know better to assault than to defend made a Book Entituled A Vindication of the Bishop of Condom 's Exposition with a Letter of that Bishop Because we do not design to enter on the particulars of these Controversies we will only take notice as to what past That First M. de Meaux denyed that any Roman Catholick writ against or did design to write against it Secondly That Sorbonne did not refuse approving his Book Thirdly He says his Exposition was reprinted to alter those places which the Censurers had improved and maintains that it was put into the Press without his knowledge and that he had a new Edition made only to change some expressions that were not exact enough Fourthly That he neither read nor knew any thing of Father Cresset's Book Dr. Wake published the Defence of his Exposition about the middle of the same year 1686 where he shews First That the deceased Mr. Conrait a Man acknowledged by both Parties to be sincere had told many of his Friends that he saw this Answer in Manuscript and other persons of known honesty that are still living assured the Author that they had this Manuscript in their hands Dr. Wake justifies his Accusations on the 2d and 3d heads by so curious a History that it seems worthy of being believed He says that one of his Acquaintance who was very familiar with one of Marshall de Turenne's Domesticks was the first that discover'd this Mystery For this
brings Lazarus and his Sisters at the same time into Provence The strongest reason to persuade us that the Gospel was so soon Preached in England is drawn from a passage of Gildas's which was not well understood Interea glaciali frigore rigenti Insulae veluti longiori Terrarum Recessu soli visibili non proximae verus ille non de firmamento solum Dr. Stillingfleet reads Sol sed de summa etiam those who read Solum for Sol have also added this Etiam for the clearing of the sense coelorum arce tempora cuncta excedente universo orbi praefulgidum sui coruscum ostendens tempore ut scimus summo Tiberii Caesaris quo absque ullo impedimento ejus propagabatur Religio comminata senatu nolente a Principe morte dilatoribus Militum ejusdem radios suos primum indulget id est sua praecepta Christus These words of Gildas were taken until now as if he meant that the Gospel was Preached in England towards the end of Tiberius's Reign But thus the Bishop of Worcester understands them Jesus Christ the true Sun who as 't is known made his Light to shine over all the Vniverse towards the end of Tiberius 's Reign at which time his Religion was propagated without hinderance in spight of the Senate because this Prince threatned those with death that should accuse the Christians Jesus Christ I say made his Sun-beams to shine to wit his Precepts not from the Firmament but the highest place of the Heavens and which was from all Eternity upon this frozen Island distant from the visible Sun Gildas speaks of two several times wherein the visible Sun appeared the one towards the end of Tiberius's Reign at which it shined to the view of the whole World and the other that it particularly appeared in England and which he marks by the Particle interea This word relates to the time whereof he speaks to wit that in which Suetonius Paulinus Conquered the Queen Boadicea which happened towards the middle of Nero's Reign about Twenty years after that Claudius had sent A. Plautius to reduce England into the form of a Province The Monks of the last Ages fruitful in Ancient Histories affirmed that Ioseph of Arimathea came from Glassenbury where he founded a Monastery Preaching there the Gospel In a time wherein all that came from these pious Lyars was believed this Fabulous History was taken for an ancient Tradition but the Bishop of Worcester easily shews it is supported only by the Authority of such Men and actions as are very suspicious and accompanied with ridiculous circumstances Nevertheless he believes it may be proved by good Authorities and maintained by probable circumstances that Christianity entred into England in the time of the Apostles Eusebius positively affirms that these Holy Men Preached the Gospel in the British Isles Theodoret reckons the Britans amongst those People Converted by the Apostles St. Ierome saith that St. Paul after his Imprisonment Preached the Gospel in the West in occidentis partibus by which he seems to understand England as well as St. Clement who saith that St. Paul went to the farthest part of the West Terms which Dr. Stillingfleet proves to have been commonly taken for Great Britain He shews after that by the History of St. Paul's Life that this Apostle had time to come into England and that he might have been persuaded to have taken this Journey because this part of Great Britain was then reduced into a Province There is also some likelihood that Pomponia Graecina Wife to Plautius was a Christian Tacitus assuring us that she was accused of a Strange Superstition and that she lived in a continual Melancholy If this Lady was a Christian she might have inform'd St. Paul what state England was in and encouraged him to come hither He might likewise have been instructed by those whom Plautius led Prisoners to Rome True it is that it has been said that St. Peter and some other Apostles were in England but these Traditions appear altogether Fabulous and if any came it was undoubtedly St. Paul according to the Testimony of St. Clement of whom we have spoken II. To pursue the Ecclesiastical History of England our Prelate undertakes in the 2 d. Chapter to Collect what is found in the Antients about the space of time from the Apostles to the First Council of Nice The Principal Proofs from whence we conclude there were Christians in that time in England are the Testimonies of Tertullian and Origen which the Author defends and Expounds at length Many of the Writers of the last Ages said that a King of England named Lucius was Converted to Christianity in the time of M. Aurelius and Lucius Verus But suppose this true in the Main there are divers circumstances which are really false as when this Lucius is made King of all England which was at that time a Roman Province Our Prelate believes there might be a Christian Prince of that Name in some place of England and whom the Romans suffered to Reign because he was of their side such as might have been the Descendants of one Cogidunus who favoured them That this place of England perhaps was the County of Sussex where there is no Monument of the Romans This being so it may easily be conceived that Lucius had heard Discourses of the Christian Religion by some antient Britans or Soldiers of the Army which M. Aurelius brought hither and which had been delivered from an eminent danger by the Prayers of the Christians that were in it as the Emperor himself said in one of his Letters After that Lucius might send as Tradition has it Messengers to Eleutherius Bishop of Rome to be better Instructed because of the great Commerce which was betwixt England and Rome If Persons had been satisfied to have related this History after this manner it may be none would have called it in question but the Lyes wherewith it 's stuft the better to maintain it have rendered according to the Remark of the Author doubtful and suspicious that which may be true in it Others will not fail to add to this that in the Conjectures that are always made in the Enquiry after these Antiquities founded upon the Traditions of as great Lyars as the Monks of the past Ages that in these Conjectures I say Si trapassano i confini del vero per scrivere negli ampii spatii del possibile cose incerte non seguite according to an Italian Author And also the silence of Gildas who inform'd us of all he knew of the Antiquities of England yet speaks not one word of this Lucius which renders this History very suspicious even in what appears most possible in it Our Prelate proves there were Christians in England in the time of Dioclesian and that several suffered Martyrdom in it though the Persecution could not last long here seeing Constantius Father to Constantine stopped it Constantius dying at
Judges that were not suspected of Partiality and desired them to go to the places where these Judges should be with the Informations they had taken against Athanasius The Bishops of the East would not hearken to it whereupon those of the West received Athanasius Marcellus and other Bishops of their Party into their Communion Those of the East were extreamly affronted at it there were many Complaints on each side and at last the two Emperours Constantius and Constantine agreed to call a General Council at Sardis to decide this Difference There went Bishops to it from all parts but the Western Bishops were willing that the deposed Bishops should be admitted to the Communion and take place in the Council the Eastern would not suffer it and withdrew to Philippopolis where they protested against the Proceedings of Sardis as contrary to the Canons of Nice The Bishops of the West notwithstanding continued their Session and made new Canons to justifie their Conduct The Eastern Bishops complained that the Discipline established at Nice was manifestly violated and the Western Bishops said That there was Injustice done to the deposed Bishops that Athanasius had not been heard in Aegypt and that it was just that all the Bishops of the Empire should re-examine this Affair The Bishops of Sardis had no respect to the reasons of their Brethren they renounced not the Communion of Athanasius and made divers Canons the chief of which are the III. the IV. the V. which concern the Revisal of the Causes of Bishops In the third they declared that the causes should first come before the Bishops of the Province and if one of the Parties was grieved by the Sentence he should be granted a Revision Our Author makes divers Remarks upon two Canons of the Council of Antioch to which its commonly believed that that of the Council of Sardis has some affinity which we have spoken of our Author discovers the Irregularities of the Councils of Antioch and Tyre He also remarks that to obtain the Revision of an Ecclesiastial cause an Address was made to the Emperor who convocated a greater number of Bishops to make this new Examination The Council of Sardis made an Innovation in this for it seems that it took away as much as it could the Right of reviewing these sorts of Causes from the Emperor to give it to Iulius Bishop of Rome in honour to St. Peter He might by the Authority of this Council if he thought fit Convocate the Bishops of the Province to revise the Process and to add Assistant Judges to them as the Emperor used to do Besides this the Fourth Canon enjoyn'd that no Bishop should enter into a vacant Bishoprick by the deposition of him who was in it nor should undertake to Examin a-new a Process until the Bishop of Rome had pronounced his Sentence thereupon The Fifth Canon signifies That if he judges the Cause worthy of Revising it belongs to him to send Letters to the Neighbouring Bishops to re-examine but if he thinks it not fit the Judgment pronounced shall stand This is the Power which the Council of Sardis grants to the Pope upon which our Author makes these Remarks 1. That there was somewhat new in this Authority without which these Canons would have been useless Thus de Marca and he who published the Works of Pope Leo have established this Power of the Pope upon the Canons of the Council of Sardis But an Authority given by a particular Council in certain Circumstances as appears by the name of Iulius which is inserted in the Canon cannot extend it self to the following Ages upon the whole this Authority has changed nature so much that now it passeth for an Absolute and Supream Power founded upon a Divine Right and not upon the Acts of one Council 2. These Canons do not give this Bishop the Right of receiving Appeals in quality of Head of the Church but transport only unto him the Right of a Revision which the Emperor enjoyed before It is a great question if the Council of Sardis had the Power of so doing but there is a great likelihood that the Protection which Constantius granted the Arian Party engaged it thereunto 3. These Canons cannot justifie the conduct of those who should carry Causes to Rome by way of Appeal because they return the second Examination to the Bishops of the Province 4. The Council of Sardis it self took knowledge of a Cause which had been decided by the Bishop of Rome 5. This Council could not be justified by the antient Canons in that it received Marcellus to the Communion he who before had been Condemned for Heresie as also afterwards even by Athanasius himself 6. The Decrees of this Assembly were not universally received as it appeared by the Contestations of the Bishops of Africk against that of Rome seeing the first knew nothing of it some years after as our Author sheweth IV. Arianism being spread every where and afterwards Pelagius and Celestius being gone out of England the Clergy of this Isle were accus'd of having been Arians and Pelagians in those Ages Our Author undertakes to justifie them from these suspicions and afterwards describes the Publick Service of the British Churches But as the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England afford no great matter he hath supplyed them by digressions He immediately refutes I know not what Modern Author who hath been mistaken in some facts concerning the History of Arianism since the Council of Nice at which we shall not make a stay After that there is an Abridgment of this History until the Council of Rimini The Arians being condemned at Nice and vainly opposing the term of Consubstantial thought they could not better save themselves than by yielding to the times They also suffered themselves to be condemned by the Council and to be Banished by the Emperor Arius with Theones and Secondus his Friends Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nice Chief Heads of the Arian Faction Signed as the rest yet without changing their Opinion Afterwards they in like manner endeavoured to hide themselves under Equivocations The Circumstances of this History may be seen as Dr. Stillingfleet relates them in the Tenth Tome of the Vniversal Bibliotheque p. 447. and the following ones Yet there are these differences that our Bishop is larger in Reflections drawn from St. Athanasius concerning the Address of the Arians who expressed themselves almost as the Orthodox of that time to deceive the simple Moreover the Relation which we have cited was not made on design to justifie the Orthodox and to get those of the Arians Condemned but to give an Idea of these confusions without taking any Party whereas the design of our Author is to inform the Publick against the Arians without reprehending any thing whatever in the conduct of their Adversaries And our Author hath not applyed himself so much to the order of years which he doth not mark as hath been done in the Life of Eusebius of Caesarea
than he Spoke What has been said of him may be seen Tome 8. p. 228. and Foll of the Vniversal Bibliotheque The Learned have much Disputed to know if there really had been Hereticks who may be named Predestinarians Some believed they were but Semi-Pelagians who turn'd the Sentiments of St. Augustin into Heresie and consequences of 'em into another Name and others have said that really there were some who had indeed drawn from the Doctrine of this Father this consequence That there was no Free-will and consequently that God would not Iudge Men according to their Works Our Author proves there have been Men who maintained these strange Opinions though there was not enough to make a Sect. After that Dr. Stillingfleet returns to St. Germain and Loup who established Academies or Schools in England and who also introduced here the Gallican Liturgy Upon this Subject he seeks for the Origine of the most antient Schools of England and speaks of the Gallican Liturgy which he compares with the Roman He shews finally the Conformity of the English Church of this time with the Antient British Liturgy and concludes that the Non-Conformists are in the wrong to accuse the Episcopal Church of having received its Liturgy from the Roman Church It sufficeth to speak of this briefly because there are almost none but the English who can be curious of these sorts of things V. The same reason obligeth us to make this use of it in respect of the 6th and last Chapter where the Author treats of the fall of the British Churches He sheweth 1. That all Great Britain was never Conquer'd by the Romans and that the Picts and Scots being not subdued made Excursions upon the Britans 2. That what is said of Scotch and Irish Antiquities is no more assured than what Geoffrey of Monmouth hath published of those of England 3. That as soon as the Barbarous Nations of the North had some knowledge of Sciences they would have Histories as they saw the most Polite Nations had and to descend from some Illustrious People such as the Trojans were the Greeks and the Aegyptians whence an Infinity of Fables hath taken birth 4. That the Evils of the British Churches came from their being exposed to the Fury of the Scots and Picts upon the Declining of the Empire of the West which was no more in a way of helping them and that several times there were Walls or Retrenchments made betwixt Scotland and England to preserve the latter from the Incursions of these Barbarous People 5. That the Britans being afterwards divided one of the Parties called to its help the Saxons whose Origine is here sought for that they repented it soon after and that the Britans were obliged to make War against them whereof divers events are described drawn from the Monastick Histories full of Lyes and at the same time very defective 6. That Armorick Britain was Peopled by a British Colony towards the end of the Fourth Age. There it was that Gildas Writ his Letter where he Addresses himself to Five Kings amongst whom England was divided and describes at large the Vices of the Britans to induce them to Repentance Lastly The Bishop of Worcester Relates the manner how the Prelates of England received the Monk Augustin who was sent hither towards the end of the Sixth Age by Gregory Bishop of Rome This Augustin being made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury by the Pope desired to have a Conference with the British Bishops to whom he represented that they ought to embrace the Unity of the Catholick Church viz. to submit to him and the Pope All that he could obtain is that they asked time to consult and offered afterwards to Answer him in a greater Assembly There were Seven British Bishops and several Learned Men chiefly of the Monastery of Bangor whereof one named Dinot was Abbot The Result of the Assembly was That the Britans altogether refused to submit to the Church of Rome or to Augustin as their Arch-Bishop It is what Beda whose Authority is indisputable in these matters relates of this Conference It is yet found more at large in a M. S. published in the Collection of Mr. Spelman an Antient Britan in English and in Latin As there have been some objections made against this History and this M S. Dr. Stillingfleet Answers 'em at the end of this Chapter Thence he concludes that the British Churches are in the same case in relation to the Dispute they have with the Bishop of Rome as the Churches of Cyprus were in regard to the Bishop of Antioch who would fain be their Patriarch against their Antient Rights according to which they had a particular Metropolitan As the Council of Ephesus condemned the Bishop of Antioch who would extend too far the limits of his Jurisdiction If the pretentions of the Pope upon England be this day judged by the antient Canons he shall infallibly be condemned for striving to extend his Patriarchship in places where he hath not been acknowledged for above 600 years All the WORKS of James Alting Professor of Divinity in the Academy of Groningen Fifth Vol. in Fol. at Amsterdam Sold by Gerard Borstius 1687. THose that have read the Schilo of this Author his Treatises upon the Sabbath the Conversion of the Iews and his Theological and Philosophical Dissertations will not wonder that Mr. Becker Minister of Amsterdam hath taken care to Print all his Works Posthumâ— It hath been thought that the Style of Mr. Alting which is simple enough and sufficiently disengag'd from the terms of Schools would not be ill received in an Age where neatness is so much loved and wherein great words are no more taken for great things This is what may be judged by a general view of the Subjects to which this Divine hath applyed himself and by an Essay that shall be given here of his Method 1. We find in the First Tome an Analysis and Notes upon the Four first Books of Moses and upon the 24 First Psalms a larger Commentary upon Deuteronomy from the first Chapter until the XIX Vers. 11 and Lessons upon all the Prophet Ieremy The 2d contains besides the Parallel of divers Prophecies of the Old Testament cited in the New very ample Commentaries upon several passages of the Old Testament whose sense is given and whose use is shewn in Religion and Morality The 3d and 4th Volumes comprise Expositions of the same nature upon the whole Epistle to the Romans and divers Texts of the New Testament an Analysis of this Epistle and of that to the Colossians with Lessons upon the Epistle to the Hebrews from the beginning to the Ninth Chapter Vers. 10. In the 5th there are the Dissertations which have been already Printed with a very long Treatise upon the Nature of the Sabbath where 't is shewn it was altogether Evangelick Notes upon the Catechism of Heidelberg a Method of the Didactick Divinity Five Heptads of Theological and Philosophical Dissertations the First