to come to Nicopolis but when he was there he would not permit him to be at the Prayers of the Church nor Communicate with him at all St. Basil seeing himself thus affronted without Reason retir'd from Nicopolis and came to Satala where he Ordain'd a Bishop at the Desire of the Inhabitants From thence he went to find out Eustathius and made him Sign a Confession of Faith to which he annex'd that of the Nicene Creed St. Gregory Nyssen sided against his Brother St. Basil as appears by the Letters 256 and 259 of this Saint where he accuses him of troubling the Peace of the Church and of laying Snares for him Some time after Eustathius of Sebaestia who upon St. Basil's account was engag'd in a Quarrel with Theodotus declar'd himself openly against St. Basil joyn'd the Eudoxians oppos'd the Faith of the Coâ—… of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thâ— Holy Spirit St. Basil understanding this 〈…〉 himself to â—… and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Letters against Eustathius Tâ—… are the 〈◊〉 Circâ—… of St. Basil's 〈◊〉 and the affairs which took â—p the grâ—… part of his time while he was 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 Circumstances whâ—… are of leâ—â— conseqâ—… may be lâ—…'d from 〈◊〉 Letters St. Basil died upon the First 〈◊〉 January in the Year 3â—9 The Letters of St. Basil are the most learned and the most 〈◊〉 of all his Books and perhaps of all Ecclesiastical Antiquity They are written with an â—…ble Purity Majesty and Elâ—… and contain an infinite number of things There 〈◊〉 may see all the History of his time 〈◊〉 to the Life the different Characters of 〈◊〉 's Tempers the contrary Interests of each Party and the Motives which acted both sides and the 〈◊〉 which they made use of 〈◊〉 carrying 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Designs The State of the Eastern and Western Churches is there described in lively â—…d 〈◊〉 Colours He handles an infinite number of Questions of Doctrine of Discipline and of Morality which he decides with much Learning and Prudence There one may find many Letters of Consolation or Exhortation which are very Edifying and Pathetical and even those which are only Complemental are full of Wit and of very solid and useful Thoughts They are indeed at present 〈◊〉 so great Confusion that 't is not an easie thing to read them in order with Delight and so 〈◊〉 translated that they are almost wholly disguised and can hardly be known by those that understand the Beauty of the Original Language I have begâ—n a Translation of them in Latin and French which I 〈◊〉 perhaps Publish some time or other with Notes In the mean time I shall now make some Extracts out of them according to my usual Method But to make them more useful I have rank'd the Letters according to the Order of Time If they are set according to the Subject Matter they may be divided into Historical and Doctrinal Letters of Discipline Apologetical Letters Letters of Instruction or Morality Letters of Consolation and Letters of Civility But I thought it more proper to follow in the Body of our Book the Order of Time which I have examined as exactly as I could They shall be divided then into Two Classes The First shall comprehend the Letters that were written in his Solitude before he was Bishop And the Second which will contain fâ—r the greater Number shall consist of those which were written after he was Bishop which I shall dispose in their Order of Time from Year to Year as near as I can The First of the Letters written by St. Basil in his Solitude is the 19th directed to St. Gregory Nazianzen wherein he acquaints him with the Resolution he had taken up to live retiredly and describes the place which he had chosen for his Retreat very Pleasantly and very Elegantly This Letter was written in the Beginning of the Year 358. St. Gregory having received this Letter did not approve of the Habitation which his Friend â—â—d chosen and from the Description which he had given of it he imagin'd that it was a very Melancholy and Frightful place He signified also his Thoughts of it in his 7th Letter to him and rallies pleasantly upon the Description he had sent of it Wherefore St. Basil having a mind to draw him to â—imself by some more powerful Motive represents to him in his 2d Letter which is commonly put the 1st the Manner of Life which he had embraced He complains at first That he could not yet reap all the Profit from his Retirement which he could have wish'd which Unhappiness he attributes to the Habits that he had contracted while he liv'd 〈◊〉 the World from which he could not yet disengage himself And he desires him to believe that he describes in his Letter the manner after which he should live and not that in which he did live at prosent After this he represents the Miseries of a Secular Life and the Delights of Solitude He shews how profitable this Retreat is provided one 's Mind be not too much fastned to the World after he is parted from it He gives an account of the Exercises of so Happy a State which consist in Prayer in labouring with our Hands in Reading and Meditation upon the Holy Scripture and gives Rules concerning the Discourse the Habits the Eating and Behaviour of a Monk This Letter was written in the Year 358. There are also some other Letters of St. Basil which are very near upon the same Subject and were written probably about the same time The Four first which are not rank'd in the other Classis are of this Number The First is address'd to one Chilon who having renounc'd the World had written to St. Basil to desire some Advice of him how he should behave himself which is done in this Letter He exhorts him to persevere in his Resolution He Counsels him not to Aspire at first to the highest Perfection of a Religious Life but to ascend to it by degrees He particularly recommends to him to abide in Solitude without going out of it upon any pretence whatsoever though it were even to be present at the Instructions of the Bishops in the Publick Assemblies of the Church After this Letter follows a short but very Instructive Exhortation to Young Monks which contains in few words many Precepts of a Religious Life The Second Letter is to a Monk who had abandon'd his Solitary state to return into the World that he might put himself in a way of Trade He deplores his Fall and Exhorts him to acknowledge it and to do Pennance for his Fault The Third is to a Monk of Jerusalem who had given a horrible Scandal by carrying away a Virgin consecrated to Jesus Christ. He sets before his Eyes the Happiness of that state from which he was fallen and the Misery of that to which he was reduc'd by his Crime He charges him very sharply for his Enormity and covers him with Confusion for his Infamous Action Nevertheless he concludes with Exhorting him from the
Letter wherein he gives him an account of those Transactions which had passed Letter 78 is the Confession of Faith which St. Basil caused Eustathius of Sebastea to sign at this time It contains the Nicene Creed and rejects the Error of Sabellius and Marcellus of Ancyra He speaks also of those Differences in Letter 364 to Atarbius He wrote also a little while after the Letter 239. to Eusebius of Samosata whom he acquaints with the disgraceful manner wherein he was treated by Theodotus He says That he had also a Conference with Eustathius and that he found him very Catholick He complains That the Bishops of the second Cappadocia lately advanced into a Province refused to have any Correspondence with him He rallies his Brother Gregory and says It were to be wished that he had a Bishoprick that would agree to his Mind That he is so zealous and watchful that he could Govern all the Churches of the World That he was not only capable of Great Things but that he gave weight to Small Matters and made Affairs of no Importance pass for Matters of the greatest Consequence by his manner of treating of them He complains of a Bishop nam'd Palmatius whom Maximus had made use of to Persecute the Church He invites Eusebius to come and see him giving him notice that his Presence was necessary to regulate the Affairs of Cappadocia He invites him also by Letter 256 to be present at the Feast of St. Eupsichius which was the 7th of September to Ordain Bishops and to give him Advice about the Cause which his Brother Gregory Nyssen had undertaken against him in the Assembly which was held at Ancyra Probably Eusebius of Samosata came not to this Synod of Caesarea but he sent thither a Bishop nam'd Sabinus whose Presence comforted St. Basil under the Afflictions which he had met with at Nicopolis as he acquaints Eusebius by Letter 253 where he excuses the too great Zeal which Theodotus had testified for the observation of the Canons He says in this Letter That he passionately wished to see and embrace Eusebius The Letters 252 255 260 were almost at the same time The 254th is to the same Person and in the same Year but it was written before that which we just now mentioned and at the Beginning of the Year He writes to him That Demophilus was upon the Throne of Constantinople and that he was a Hypocrite and yet that he had re-united the two Parties and that some Neighbouring Bishops were joyn'd with him He deplores the miserable state of the Eastern Churches and says That God only knows when there Condition may be better We have already seen that St. Basil went this Year to Satala to regulate the Affairs of this Church and that he Ordained a Bishop there at the desire of the Inhabitants He recommends him to them in Letters 296 and 183 and in 185 he writes to the Church of the Parnassians upon the Death of their Bishop and in 186 he does with much Eloquence and Christian Charity comfort the Widow of the Praetor Anatheus upon the Death of her Husband This Letter may pass for a perfect Pattern of true Christian Consolation Athanasius Bishop of Ancyra dying in the Year 372 it follows that the Letter 53 of St. Basil which is address'd to him was at least in the Year 371. He complains in this Letter of the Conduct of this Bishop who accused him of teaching Errors in his Writings or subscribing to those of others The Complaint of this Bishop made St. Basil apprehend that some Heretick had prefix'd his Name to his Works He declares That he had written against the Anomaeans and against those that say The Holy Spirit is a Creature The following Letter is written to the Father of this Bishop praying him to admonish his Son charitably not to defame his Colleague without reason 'T is credible that the Letter 381 address'd to the Suffragans was also written in the same Year with the preceeding Letters and probably soon after St. Basil was a Bishop He complains in this Letter That some neglected to observe the Canons and to follow the Discipline of the Church in the Ordination of Ministers exactly He observes that formerly none were chosen but those whose Probity was well known and of whom the Priests and Deacons gave a good Testimony to the Suffragans and that neither were these Ordained until the Bishops of the Diocess were first advertised of it He complains That now the Suffragans did not write to the Bishops and that they also permitted the Priests and Deacons to choose whom they pleas'd without enquiring into their Behaviour From whence it comes to pass says he that there are many Ministers and but very few who are worthy of their Ministry To avoid this Abuse he Ordains That there should be presently sent to him a List of all the Ministers that are in the Villages containing the Names of those which have been admitted and an account of the Life which they lead That they should be reduc'd to the Condition of Lay-men who should be found incapable and those who had been admitted by Priests since the time of the first Prohibition and that for the future none should be admitted but those whose Life and Conversation had been well examin'd In fine he declares That those who should be admitted into the Clergy without his Approbation should be thrust down to the station of the Laity again The 392 to Amphilochius was written before he was made Bishop of Iconium and by consequence towards the End of 371 or the Beginning of 372. 'T is written in the Name of Heraclides an ancient Friend of Amphilochius It acquaints him with the Life which he leads under the Conduct of St. Basil and invites him to come and stay with them The 319 to Innocentius may be also about the same time He refuses to charge himself with the Care of the Eastern Churches which this Bishop would have him to do 'T was probably in the same Year that St. Basil undertook to build a Church and an Hospital in Caesarea Some would have hindered the going on of this Work whereupon he writes to Elias Governor of the Province in Letter 372 praying him for leave to proceed in his Buildings The 373 was written to the same Person in favour of a Receiver who had neglected to send an Account of his Receipts In the 305 which is to some Receiver-General St. Basil determines That an Oath should not be exacted from the Collectors of Taxes because these kind of Oaths bring no great Profit to the Receivers and accustom Men to make false Oaths In the 304 he writes to the same Person That the Monks ought to be exempted from paying of Tribute In the Beginning of the Year 372 St. Basil having found out the Frauds of Eustathius of Sebastea separated from him and re-united himself to Theodotus This Separation was begun by two Friends of Eustathius call'd Basil and Euphronius who
Second for the Monks of that City and the Last for Pelagius of Laodicea These Letters are the 199 200 and 312. There is also a Letter upon the Ordination of Faustus address'd to Poëmenius Bishop of Satala which is the 313. A little while after he wrote to Meletius the Letter 59 wherein having defended himself from the Accusation of Eustathius who accus'd him of the Errors of Apollinarius he says That he had receiv'd Information that it was resolv'd at Court to deliver him up to the Fury of his Enemies but that this Order was suspended for some time He earnestly prays Meletius to answer the Letter which he had written to him by Sanctesimus and to send him a Letter for the Bishops of the West Sign'd by those who were united with him in Communion and Judgment He signifies that the Western Bishops must be advertis'd not to receive into their Communion indifferently all those that come from the East The Letter 273 to the Priest Antiochus who was Nephew to Eusebius of Samosata which Father Combefis believes to be directed also to Meletius is upon the same Subject He prays him to Order together with the Deacon Dorotheus what must be done for a Re-union with the West He Counsels him to dictate the Letter himself that was to be sent thither He says That he had written some time ago to the Bishops of Illyricum of Gaul and Italy by the Deacon Sabinus but he adds That it would be convenient to send one into the West in the Name of a Synod of the East As to what concerns Athanasius he says That he is very well inclin'd to Peace but he can do nothing unless Letters of Communion be sent to him Moreover That he does ardently desire the Re-union and will do all that 's possible for him to procure it This Letter was written before Easter He signifies that he waited for his Answer 'T was at this Time and upon this Occasion that Letter 70 of St. Basil was written address'd to the Western Bishops wherein he prays them to inform their Emperour of the Miseries which the Orthodox suffer'd in the East and to send them Deputies This Letter was to be carried by a Priest nam'd Dorotheus While Matters were thus order'd in the East St. Basil who was now recovering as appears by the Sixth Letter to Eusebius of Samosata fell sick again in Winter He speaks of this Sickness in his Seventh Letter and excuses himself for not visiting St. Eusebius from the sharpness of the Winter and the Death of his Mother He deplores in this Letter the unhappy State of the Church and says That some would have plac'd Arians at Ancyra and Neocaesarea in the room of the Orthodox but that at last they had left the Churches in tranquillity In the mean time Evagrius a Priest of Antioch being return'd from the West brought a Letter which he would have obliged the Eastern Bishops to Sign saying That those which they had written before were not approved in the West St. Basil having received Advice of this wrote to Eusebius of Samosata by his Eighth Letter There he speaks against Eustathius of Sebastea and enquires if he was to be present at the Ordination of a Bishop for the City of Iconium which had formerly depended upon his Metropolis but did not now since the Division of Cappadocia He wrote also at the same time to this Evagrius who was come from the West and who had written to him that he was suspected because of his Communion with Meletius St. Basil answer'd him by Letâ—â—r 342. That he waâ— very little troubled â—t what the World thought of him but that he would labouâ— hard for Peace and Exhoâ—ts Evâ—griâ—s to do the same He signifies to him That he was troubled to understand by Dorotheus That he would not Communicate with Meletiâ—â—'s Party He declares to him That as things now stand hâ— could not send any body into the West He writes the same Account of the Journey to Rome to that Dorotheus whom he had charg'd with Letter 70. He could not forbear taking Notice how angry he was with the Pope and saying That his Brother Gregory was not a proper Person to be deputed into the West because he was too simple to have any thing to do with a Proud Man and one exalted in Dignity who by consequence would hardly have patience to hear him speak the Truth This Letter is the 150. The Priest went to Râ—…e however as appears by Lâ—tter 321. In the mean time Eusebius of Samosata who passionately desir'd the Peace of the Church believing that St. Basil neglected to labour in it wrote a Letter to him wherein he complains of two Things First That he had not come to see him Secondly That he had abandon'd as one may say the Church to its Enemies by his Slothfulness and Negligence St. Basil answer'd him by Letter 262 That he could not come to see him â—…ause of his Sickness and that the thing which hindred his Good Success was not the want of Care but because the Bishops did not agree among themselves about Matters of Consequence and he alone could not regulate Affairs since the Canons did not allow one Bishop alone to make Regulations of this Nature The Letter 265 is almost upon the same Subject He wrote to him That he ardently desir'd Peace but then it must be a real one He advises him to take heed of those that seem to be Catholicks and yet are not He declares to him That he would never Communicate with those who did not receive the Nicene Faith or who believ'd that the Holy Spirit was a Creature because he was not willing to approach the Altar with a Heart full of Dissemulation and Hypocrisy that for this Reason he had withdrawn from the Communion of Euvippus That they ought to be treated with all mildness who had not receiv'd this Faith That we should invite them to own it and show great Charity and Moderation to them but that we ought never to be Trimmers nor remain Neuters in Matters of Faith About the End of this Year the Church of Antioch being afflicted with a rough Persecution he wrote Letter 60 to comfort it He proposes the Nicene Creed as the Rule of Faith He says That the Divinity of the Holy Spirit was not there expresly determin'd because it was not then directly oppos'd but that we ought to condemn all those who admit a Creature in the Trinity The Letter 62 to the Church of Neocaesarea is also of the same Nature he Comforts it upon the Death of its Bishop It was written before the foregoing Letter and at the beginning of the Year There are some other Letters of St. Basil which probably were written the same Year 372 that have not so much reference to History We may place in this Number the Letters 274 275 276 277 278 and 279 to the Governour Modestus who began to be his Friend about this time He prays him in this last
Books which he revised and made conformable to the truth of the Hebrew He afterwards answers two Questions which Lucinius had put to him about Saturday's Fast and a frequent Communion That Answer is too considerable not to be translated here As to what you ask me concerning the Saturday's Fast whether it ought to be kept and about the Eucharist whether it should be received every day as is Customary in the Churches both of Italy and Spain we have upon that Subject a Treatise of Hippolytus a very Eloquent man and several Authors have occasionally treated of that Matter for my part this is the advice I think ought to be given in that Point That Ecclesiastical Traditions not contrary to the Faith ought to be observed after the same manner that we received them from our Ancestors And I am perswaded that the Custom of one Church is not to be aboushed because of a contrary one in use in another Church Would to God that we could fast every day Do we not read in the Acts of the Apostles that both S. Paul and they that were with him fasted in the days of Pentecost and even upon Sunday's Yet for all that they ought not to be accused for Manichees because they did it out of a Spiritual good before which a Carnal one is not to be preferred As to the Eucharist it is good to receive it daily provided there be no prickings of Conscience and no danger of receiving our own Condemnation Not that I would have Men fast on Sundays or in the Fifty days after Easter but I must still return to my Principle That every Countrey ought to follow its own Custom and look upon the Ordinances of their Ancestors as Apostolical Laws This Letter was written about the Year 406. Lucinius to whom this Letter is directed being dead S. Jerom comforts his Widow Theodora in the following Letter in which he citeth there the Books of S. Irenaeus with Commendation S. Jerom's Eight and twentieth Letter is a Funeral Oration in Commendation of a Roman Lady called Fabiola This Lady had a former very lewd Husband and having procured a Separation she was married to another but having acknowledged her fault she did publick Penance and was admitted to the Communion She built at Rome an Hospital for sick Persons whom she had assisted with wonderful Zeal and surprizing Charity S. Jerom commendeth chiefly those generous Actions and speaks of the Journey which she had undertaken to Bethlehem where she remained some time with him This Letter was written in 400 two years after the Funeral Discourse for Paulina and Four years after that for Nepotian as S. Jerom says in the beginning The Nine and twentieth is a Note to Theophilus wherein he excuseth himself that he had not yet translated into Latin that Bishop's Book concerning Easter because of the troubles of the Church that had disquieted him and Paula's Death which had overwhelmed him with Grief So that this Letter was written in the Year 404. In the Thirtieth S. Jerom comforteth a Spaniard one Abigaâ—s for the Ioss of his sight he commends his Piety and desires him to exhort Theodora Lucinius his Widow to continue her Journey to Jerusalem this shows that this Letter was written after Lucinius his Death about the Year 408 or 409. The Thirty first as likewise a Letter of comfort to another Blind man one Castrutius who was S. Jerom's Countrey-man He thanks him for beginning his Journey to come to see him but desires him to undertake the Journey next year The Year of this Letter is not known It is probable that it was written very near the same time with the foregoing In the Two and thirtieth having administred comfort to Julianus one of his Friends for the loss of two Daughters of his Wife and Estate and for the Discontents occasioned by his Son-in-Law he adviseth him to give himself to God and embrace a monastical Life This Letter is written from the Solitudes of Bethlehem about the Year 408. In the Thirty third he exhorteth Exuperantius to forsake the Wars and the World and to withdraw himself with his Brother Quintillian to Bethlehem The Thirty fourth is to his Aunt Castorina with whom he had had some difference he intreats her by this Letter to be reconciled to him this Letter was in all probability written during S. Jerom's first retreat and since he tells her that he had written to her the year before upon the same Subject this must be of the Year 373 or 374. The Five and thirtieth was written at the same time He prays Julian the Deacon to send him News of his own Countrey and gives him thanks for sending word that his Sister continued in the resolution not to Marry The Thirty sixth to Theodosius and the other Monks was written by S. Jerom after his quitting the Desart of Syria in 374. where those Monks dwelt He desires them to pray that God would call him back into the Desart The Thirty seventh to the Virgins dwelling upon Mount Hermon is written from the Desart of Syria about the Year 373. He complains that they had not answered the Letters that he had written to them The Eight and thirtieth is certainly not S. Jerom's and there is nothing in it worth Observation In the Thirty ninth he invites Rufinus Presbyter of Aquileia who was then in Egypt to come to him in his Solitude of Syria where he was alone with Evagrius only after the going away of Heliodorus and the Death of Innocent and Hylas This Letter is of 373 or 374. The Fortieth Forty first Forty second and Forty third are very near of the same time they are written to his old Friends at Aquileia The First to Niceas Deacon of that Town the Second to Chromatius Eusebius and Jovinus The Third to Chrysogonus a Monk of Aquileia and the last to another Monk called Anthony These are of no great Consequence The Forty fourth to Rusticus is more useful He exhorts that Man to do Penance urging several places of Scripture touching Repentance He invites him to visit the Holy places This Letter is not of the same Stile with the rest of this Father's Letters The Forty fifth Letter is a biting Satyr against Virgins and Women who dwelt with Clergy Men that were not of their Kindred The Six and fortieth is a Declamation against Sabinianus a Deacon whose Life had been disorderly both in his own Countrey and at Bethlehem These Three last are written from the Solitude of Bethlehem The year is uncertain The Seven and fortieth is an Historical Narrative of a Woman of Vercelle who having been falsly accused of Adultery and condemned to die tho' she constantly denied the Fact was tortured seven times but could not be put to Death The Stile of this Letter is florid and childish tho' S. Jerom writ it when he was well in years The Life of S. Paul the first Hermite is one of S. Jerom's first Works This man at Fifteen years of Age
me how you durst undertake to give a new Exposition of them after those Great men You believed that those places which you explained were either clear or obscure If they were clear it is probable to use your own way of reasoning that they did understand them and if they are obscure and they did not well understand them it may be thought that you might be mistaken as well as they And lastly he makes himself sport with their Quarrelling with the good Bishop for reading his Translation of Jonas shewing that the occasion of it was ridiculous because the Question was about one single word only namely the term Gourd which he had rendred Ivy. This Letter is of the Year 404. S. Jerom being sometime without answering this Letter S. Augustin wrote to him that he was informed that he had received his Letters and expected an Answer and whereas there was a Discourse that he had sent a Book to Rome against S. Jerom he assures him that he had not This Letter is of the Year 402. It is here the Ninetieth S. Jerom in answer to it saith That he saw a Letter wherein he reproved a passage of his Commentary upon S. Paul and advised him to retract it but not being sure that this Letter was from him he had not answered it yet because he had been disturbed by the Sickness of Paula Afterwards he upbraids him for the Liberty he had taken and Taxes him with seeking after Glory by attacking Great men telling him that he ought to examine his own Strength and not compare himself with a Man that was grown old in Studying the Holy Scripture and much less provoke him to a Combat And at last deals with him as with one whom he did not much value and whom he judged not worthy of his Anger This Letter is of the Year 402. The Ninety second is written by S. Jerom with the same Spirit Again he complains that S. Augustin's Letter was published He writes him word that his Friends said that he had not Acted innocently in that particular but seemed to go about to establish his own Glory by the ruin of another Man's That if he would Dispute there were young and able Men at Rome of his own strength As for himself he might like a Veteran Soldier commend the Victories of others but not engage in the Fight That he would not so much as read his Books to find fault That he had seen nothing of his but his Soliloquies and some Commentaries upon the Psalms and that if he would examine them he could show him how he departed from the Exposition of ancient Authors This Letter is of the Year 403. S. Augustin having received both these Letters answered him with much Civility and Moderation yet without subscribing to his Opinions He speaks of the Quarrel which he had with Rufinus and laments that Division representing to him that he had not shewed that Meekness and Charity which he might have done This Letter is written very Artificially It is the Ninety third He directed it to Presidius to see it conveyed to S. Jerom as appears by the Ninety fifth S. Jerom contented with S. Augustin's Complements and Satisfaction writ to him some time after the Ninety sixth Letter whereby he excuses himself for having answered him and tells him that he earnestly desired there should be no more Disputes betwixt them S. Augustin having received this Letter by Firmus returned an Answer by the Ninety seventh Letter to what S. Jerom had written to satisfie his Requests and defended his Opinions with great Clearness and Moderation This Letter is here the Ninety seventh and was written as well as the foregoing in the Year 403. After this time there was no more said of the Questions that were betwixt them and they never writ to one another but with Civility This may be taken Notice of in the Letters we have already spoken of and in the Ninety fourth where S. Jerom thanketh S. Augustin for Dedicating and sending to him by Orosius the Books concerning the Origination of Souls and he tells him That he spake honourably of him in the Dialogue which he wrote against Pelagius This Letter is of the Year 406. The Ninety eighth is a Complement from S. Jerom to S. Augustin of the Year 397. The Ninty nineth Letter to Asella was written by S. Jerom at his going from Rome he defends himself very warmly from the false Rumours which his Calumniators had spread against him because of the Familiarity which he had had at Rome with some Roman Ladies This Letter he writ when he was Embarking to return into the East in 385. The Hundredth Letter is a Satyr against one Bonosus who had taken what S. Jerom had writ in general against all Vices as particularly designed against himself it is probably of the same time Erasmus's Edition which Dr. Cave follows calls him Bonasus which seems to be the truer Reading by the Letter it self wherein S Jerom quibbles upon his Name and plays upon his Nose and tells him That tho' his Name be lucky yet upon that Account he has no Reason to value himself with the foregoing The Hundred and first to Pammachius Concerning the best Method of translating is about the Translation which he made Two years before of S. Epiphanius's Letter to John of Jerusalem He was accused of not having done it faithfully To justifie himself he proves by the Examples of the best Translators both Ecclesiastical and Prophane that to translate well one is not to follow the words or terms but the Sence and Conceptions of his Author He saith that this Treatise was composed Two years after the Translation of S. Epiphanus's Letter of the Year 303 which shews that it is of 395. In the Hundred and second to Marcella he argues against those who accused him of corrupting the Text of the Gospel because he had corrected the faults of the Latin Translation according to the Greek Original and he reproveth those that found fault with him for blaming the Virgins frequenting Men's Company This Letter was written likewise sometime after his Departure from Rome in 385 or 386. These are S. Jerom's Letters and Treatises contained in the Second Volume The Third contains the Critical Letters and Works upon the Holy Scripture The First directed to Paulinus is not upon that Subject only for he exhorts him not only to the Reading of the Holy Scripture but also to retire and to vow Poverty But the Principal Subject of that Letter is Precepts and a Method which is to be observed both in Reading and understanding the Holy Scripture He shews at first that no Man ought to enter upon that Study without a Skilful Guide to shew him the Way He complains that all other Arts and Sciences are exercised by none but Men of that Profession but that every one pretends to be Skill'd in the understanding of the Scriptures To shew that Men are deceived and that the Scripture is not so easily
Fourth Hundred Forty Fifth and Hundred Forty Sixth are Explications of the Faith written at the same time and from the same place as also the Hundred Twenty Sixth Letter to Sabinian Bishop of the Pareni who having been deposed in the Council of Ephesus was retreated Theodoret commends him for his Valour At the end of this Year the Face of things was changed by the Death of Theodosius Marcian who Succeed him made the Judgment of the Council of Ephesus held under Dioscorus to be void and restored Theodoret who had been driven out of Cyrus He then wrote many Letters to his Friends either to complain of them who had forsaken him as he doth in the Hundred Thirty Fourth and Hundred Thirty Fifth or to return them thanks who had assisted him and opposed his Enemies as he doth in the Hundred Thirty Seventh Hundred and Forty Hundred and Forty One Hundred Forty Two and Hundred Forty Three or to make them some part of a means and pray them to obtain it of the Emperor that a new Council might be called to settle the Peace of the Church and uphold the Orthodox Faith This is what he desires of Anatolius in the Hundred Thirty Eighth Letter and Asparus the Consul in the Hundred Thirty Ninth Letter These are the principal Letters of Theodoret the other which contain nothing Historical are either Letters of Rejoicing upon some Festival or Letters of Consolation Thanks Recommendation and Congratulation to his Friends The Twenty Ninth and the following Letters recommend the Orthodox Banished from Carthage in 442. The Forty Second and Four following are written to obtain the discharge of a Sum which was demanded of his Country the payment of which was sollicited by a Wicked Excommunicated Bishop The Seventy Seventh and Seventy Eighth shew to the Bishops of Armenia near adjoining to Persia what they ought to do in time of Persecution Theodoret in all his Letters discovers a great deal of Piety Charity and Humility these have all the Qualifications which â—ender Letters valuable for they are Short Plain Neat Elegant Civil Pleasant full of Matter Wit and Holiness There is no necessity of making a further Description of Theodoret what we have related of his Life the Judgment which we have passed upon all his Works in particular and what we have spoken of his Letters are sufficient to give a full Idea of his Conversation Learning and Eloquence As to his Doctrine we shall have frequent occasion to speak of it Notwithstanding we see by his Conduct hitherto that tho' he defended the Person of Nestorius he never maintain'd his Errors he always professed his belief of One Jesus Christ God and Man in One Person he never divided but only distinguished the Two Natures he never disapproved the Term of the Mother of God and gave advice to Nestorius and Irenaeus to use it This is true that he never would approve the Chapters of S. Cyril but it was because he thought they contain'd in them that Error which was after maintain'd by Eutyches In fine he Explains in so many places of his Works the Doctrine of the Incarnation in so Orthodox and Exact Terms that he cannot be accused of Error in that point without a great deal of Injustice S. Cyril hath accused him of being in that Error but he also accuses all the Oriental Bishops of the same which after he acknowledged to be Orthodox after they had signed the Confession of Faith which was made in order to the Peace which because Theodoret approved he ought to be accounted Orthodox The Eastern Bishops were not obliged to approve of the 12 Chapters of S. Cyril to be accounted Orthodox why then should Theodoret be obliged to do it M. Mercator rails on Theodoret and finds Errors in his Books against S. Cyril But the very places which he cites justifie him and 't is only by Consequences which Theodoret disowns and which do not follow from his Principles that M. Mercator extracts his Errors As to the Authors which lived in the time of the 5th Council or since that time they ought not to be alledged because we know That they were Parties in this Cause or followed the Judgment of the 5th Council of which we shall speak hereafter If we desire to know the Defenders of Theodoret we shall find Men worthy of Credit John Bishop of Antioch all the Bishops of the East all his Hearers at Antioch are so many Witnesses of the Purity of his Faith S. Lâ—â— was an Apologist for him and the Emperor Marcian declared him Innocent The Council of Chalcedon owned him for a Bishop and did not oblige him to any retractation but only to say Anathema to Nestorius Many other Authors might be produced which defended him against Calumny But his best Defence are his Writings themselves his Protestations Declarations Explanations of Faith which cannot be accused of Heresie without condemning also the Letter of S. Leo to Flavian the Writings of the most Orthodox Fathers and the Forms of Doctrine which the Church of God hath always used I will not stay any longer to speak of the particular Opinions which are attributed to Theodoret Every one knows That he wasof the Judgment of the Greeks touching the Procession of the Holy Ghost The Controversie upon the Passages of the Eucharist are too famous and too common to be unknown It would be to no purpose to repeat in this place what hath been so often insisted upon He is accused of being a Pelagian and that he knew nothing of Original Sin But this is certain That he was not of Pelagian Principles since he owns That Death our propensity to evil Concupiscence are the effects of the Sin of the first Man He also often acknowledgeth the necessity of the Grace of Jesus Christ and begs his Assistance But he is not of the Principles of S. Austin concerning the nature of Original Sin and Efficacy of Grace He follows those of S. Chrysostom to whose Opinion he joins himself We have spoken of the principal Editions of the Works of Theodoret in particular The first Collection which was made of them was made up of Versions only It was printed at Collen in 1573. and at Paris 1608. also at Collen 1567 1617. F. Sirmondus hath printed these Collections in Greek with the Latin by the side This Edition is disposed into 4 â—ol in Folio printed at Paris in 1642. F. Garner a little while since hath added a 5th Vol. printed in 1684. This last contains besides the pieces of Theodoret which we have spoken of 4 Dissertations of F. Garner upon the Life Works and Doctrine of Theodoret whom he inveighs much against The Dialogues of Maximus upon the Trinity which he attributes to Theodoret a Dissertation upon the 5th Council the Collection of Pieces which F. Lupus had printed in 1682. A Treatise of Eutherius of Tyana which was among the Works of S. Athanasius and the different Readings of the Treatise of Theodoret against the Gentiles collected
up to that Haven 〈◊〉 thâ— Church 〈◊〉 S◠〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of December he was 〈…〉 the â—â—â—â—ning they took him into a Boat and carrieâ— him to the 〈◊〉 of the Courtof â—uard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 fourscore and thirteen days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being 〈◊〉 to speâ—â— to him That after that space of rimw he was brought into the Council 〈◊〉 of the Emâ—… prepared against him were ordered to appear they were Soldiers 〈◊〉 Men who accused him of conspiring with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Witneâ—â—es they brought against him and maintained he was more innocent by far thâ—n those Witnesses themselves and all the rest â—hat sided with Olyâ—pius 〈◊〉 that he came to 〈◊〉 in quality of Eâ—aâ—â—â— that he had the Authority and Power in his Hands and that they were forced to obey him Aâ—ter this Tumulruary Information they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a a where they stripped him and loaded him with Chains dragged him through the Town and put him in the Prison of the Praetorium loaden with the Burden of his Chains and brought to the last extremity The next day the Emperor coming to visit Paul of Constantinople who was ready to die and acquainting him with what was done that Bishop touched with a remorse of Conscience fetched a deep Sigh and turning him aside said Alas 'T is to add to the Account I am to give to God The Emperor asking him why he said so Is it not great pity answered he Bishops should be thus abused And he earnestly besought the Emperor to suffer it no longer After Paul's death Pyrrhus sought to be restoâ—ed but many opposed it because of the retractation he had made at Rome They sent to Pope Martin to ask him about the Passages of that Affair he answered That Pyrrhus came voluntarily to Rome's That his Predecessor Theodorus made him wellcome That he was entertained at the cost of the Roman Church the custom whereof was to find with Victuals all the Strangers who fled thither They would have forced him to say That Pyrrhus had signed his retractation by force but he declared he would always speak the Truth After having staid 85 days in that Prison they fetched him out of it to baâ—â—sh him to Chersona where he died the 16th of September in the year 656. having suffered much He wrote two Letters from that place of his Exile which are the two last in which he represents his Wants and the Poverty he suffered in that Country He prays his Friend to send him some relief from Rome For saith he if S. Peter feed so many Pilgrims at Rome it is very meeâ— he should assist us who are his Ministers and suffer so much for the Truth and Religion This Pope's Constancy and Firmness appears in his Letters They are well written with Strength and Wisdom the Stile of them is great and noble and worthy of the Majesty of the Holy See The third and the 10 next are found in Greek and Latin either he wrote them himself in those two Languages or they have been translated by some Body of that time S. MAXIMUS MAXIMUS descended of a noble Family of Constantinople having been a while chief Secretary of State to the Emperor Heraclius withdrew himself into the Monastery of S. Maximus Chrysopolis of which he was Abbot The fear of the Barbarians Incursions and the Errors spreading at Constantinople forced him to fly into Africa after Heraclius's death in the year 641. of the vulgar Aera There he stoutly opposed the Error of the Monothelites and prevailed with the Africans to join themselves with John Bishop of Rome to condemn their Opinions It fell out that Pyrrhus Patriarch of Constantinople and Head of that Party who was banished out of Constantinople because he was accused of having Poysoned the Emperor Constantine fled into Africa where he met with Maximus with whom he fell into Discourse and yielded or feigned to yield to his Reasons and hoping to be restored by the Pope's help he resolved to go to Rome with Maximus Being arrived there he presented an Orthodox Confession of Faith to Pope Theodorus But hearing afterwards from the Exarch of Ravenna that the Court was of the Party of the Monothelites and that he could not be restored unless he altered his Mind he retracted his Opinions and embraced again his first Tenets which forced Pope Theodorus to condemn him in a Council in which his Condemnation was signed with Ink mixed with some of our Lord's Blood Maximus was the Man that did thus stir up the Romans against the Monothelites and there is no doubt but he had a good share in the Council Pope Martin held at Rome against them and therefore the Emperor Constans's Anger did equally break out against him and Pope Martin They were brought to Constantinople Maximus appeared often before the Judges and was condemned to Banishment in the year 655. He was sent into a small Town of Thrace named Byzias whither Theodorus Bishop of Caesarea went to see him to oblige him to yield to their Opinion but when he could not prevail with him they brought him back to Constantinople and by a strange Cruelty after he had suffered much they cut off the Hand and Tongue of him and his Disciple Anastasius then he was sent into Prison in a Castle called Schemre where he died Aug. 13. 662. This Father wrote a great many Works Some of them have been published in divers Collections but Combefis hath published a good number of them in Greek and Latin in two Volumes printed at Paris 1675. At the beginning of these two Volumes is found S. Maximus's Life written by a Greek younger than he but pretty well acquainted with the Affairs of his time and the Authentick Acts of this holy Man's Persecutions The first part of those Acts contains the verbal Process of what pass'd at Constantinople in the Emperor's Council when Maximus was brought thither from Italy In the first Interrogatory we find the Depositions of Witnesses accusing him of injurious Speeches to the Emperors He defends himself against them and maintains against the 4th Witness that he was in the right when he said That the Emperors tho' Christians were not Prelates For saith he he who does not offer upon the Altars does not Baptize does not give the sacred Unction does not lay on Hands does not create Bishops Priests and Deacons does not consecrate Altars does not wear the Sacerdotal Marks nor Habits cannot be called a Prelate among Christians therefore in the Oblation at the Altar the Emperor is named after the Bishops the Priests the Deacons and the Clerks in the rank of the Laity Then they brought in his Disciple who was accused of being an Origenist but he purged himself from that Charge by saying Anathema to Origen The same day towards Evening two of the Emperor's Officers examined Maximus about the Conference he had with Pyrrhus in Africa He related to them what was said in that Conference and declared to them he would not
for it and forasmuch as Sigwin Archbishop of Sens who was at the Head of them had been wounded in the Flight Abbo was accus'd of being the Author of this Sedition He made his Defence in this Epistle He wrote a Letter to Bernard Abbot of Beaulieu in the Diocess of Limoges to disswade him from giving a Sum of Money which the Count of Thoulouse and the Archbishop of Bourges would exact from him for the making him Bishop of Cahors That Abbot having resolv'd upon taking a Journey to Jerusalem was disswaded from it by Abbo who advis'd him rather to go to Rome whither he retir'd upon Mount Gargan and being afterwards intreated to return into the World to relieve his Relations he again consulted Abbo about what he ought to do in the Case who in a very elegant Letter return'd him this Answer That he ought not to think of quitting his Solitude to involve himself in the Affairs of this World As to the Question which Bernard propos'd Whether he ought to keep or leave his Abbey he return'd him this Answer That Circumstances would direct him what to do and recommends to him the using his utmost Discretion to examine in his own Conscience which of the two was the most honourable for him and most beneficial to others because on one side t is a great Duty to discharge the Functions of an Abbot when one can conduct Souls to God but that on the other side when there is no hopes of being able to do any good by reason of the Wickedness of those one has to govern 't is more convenient to retire to provide for ones own Salvation Sometime after Abbo went to Rome to obtain a Confirmation of the Priviledges of his Church He there met with Pope John XV. upon the Holy See who was not says Aimoin the Author of his Life such an one as he wish'd him or as he ought to be Having this Pope in detestation he return'd after he had offer'd up his Prayers in the Holy Places of God's Worship Upon his return from this Journey he wrote a Letter to the Abbot of Fulda publish'd by Monsieur Baluzius in the first Tome of his Collection of Miscellanies He was afterwards sent a second time by King Robert to Pope Gregory V. Successor to John who threatned to lay the Kingdom under an Interdiction upon the Account of Arnulphus Archbishop of Rheims He met this Pope at Spoleto was very kindly receiv'd by him and obtain'd of him a Priviledge for his Abbey by which the Bishop of Orleans was prohibited entring into that Monastery unless he were invited thither and the Monks were permitted to celebrate Divine Service in their Monastery always even tho' the whole Kingdom were laid under an Interdiction by the Pope He adjusted the Business of Arnulphus and having engag'd his word to the Pope that that Archbishop should be releas'd out of Prison and re-establish'd he was intrusted to carry the Pall to him Upon his return to France what he had promis'd was accordingly done and he gave the Pope notice of it About the end of his Life he re-establish'd the Monastery of Squires in Gascony which was call'd the Monastery of the Rule and in the Country Language la Reoule where he was kill'd in the year 1004. in an Insurrection which the Monks or Women of that Country rais'd against him Monsieur Balusius has publish'd a Circular Letter written by the Monks of Fleury upon his Death Besides the Apology and the Letters of Abbo which we have already mention'd the Author of his Life makes likewise mention of the following Tracts Of a Letter in Hexameter Verse in praise of the Emperoâ— Otho The Verses begin and end with the same Letter and may be read six manner of ways which make so many different Senses Of a Treatise directed to Odilo Abbot of Cluny about the Harmony of the Gospel and of another Tract concerning the Cycles of all the Years from the Birth of Jesus Christ down to his time which Sigibert says is a Commentary on the Treatise of Victorius They likewise atribute to him the Abstract of the Lives of the Popes taken out of the History of Anastasius the Librarian printed at Maâ—…ce in the year 1603. The Life of S. Edmond King of England and Martyr Father Mabillon has given us an Excellent Collection of Canons compos'd by Abbo and dedicated to the Kings Hugh and Robert in the second Tome of his Analects Abbo's stile is very pure and elegant and his Conceptions are accurate He was very well vers'd in the Rules of Discipline and Morality His Zeal for the Monastical Order and the Interest of the Monks created him a great many Enemies because as he says himself he had always in his Thoughts the protection of the Monks and had consulted their Interest upon all occasions and oppos'd all who annoy'd them AIMOIN Monk of Fleury THE Life of Abbo was written by Aimoin Monk of the same Monastery He was of Aquitaine the Son of Anentrude the Kinswoman of Gerald Lord of Anbeterre He embrac'd the Monastick Aimoin Monk of Fleury Life in the year 970. under Oilbolde Abbot of S. Benedict upon the Loire and flourish'd under his Successor Abbo whose intimate Friend he was He attended him in his Journey to Gascoigne and after his death return'd to his Monastery The principal Piece of this Aimoin is his History of France dedicated to Abbo It was printed at Paris by Badius Ascensius in the year 1514. under the Name of Aimonius Fifty years after Monsieur Pithou or Pithaeus caus'd it to be re-printed from a Manuscript under the true Name of Aimoin It was publish'd in the year 1567. at the Printing House of Vexel In the year 1603. James of Breuil Monk of S. Germain del Prez caus'd it to be printed and pretended that it was writ by Aimoin a Monk of S. Germain Ten years after Freherus inserted it in the Body of the History of France which he caus'd to be printed at Hanouer Lastly The Messieurs Duchesne inserted it in the Third Tome of their Collections printed in the year 1641. This History is divided into five Books But of Aimon's there are only the three first Books and one and forty Chapters of the Fourth which ends at the founding of the Monastery of Fleury The rest is compil'd by a Monk of very late standing Aimoin is likewise the Author of two Books of the Miracles of S. Benedict which are the second and third Books of these four which are in the Library of Fleury of the Life of S. Abbo mention'd before of a Sermon upon the Festival of S. Benedict and of several Verses upon the first founding of the Monastery of Fleury printed in the Third Tome of the Collection of Duchesne together with another Treatise in Verse concerning the Translation of the Relicks of S. Benedict He is not altogether so elegant as his Master Abbo But he wrote with great accuracy and his Narration is
Epistle to the Corinthians which had been for a long time constantly read in the Church of Corinth as he testifies in these Words We have even now passed the Lords Day when we perused your Epistle which we shall hereafter read continually as we do that of St. Clement that we may be replenished with Precepts and wholsom Instructions Afterward he observes that his Letters were corrupted by Falsifiers in these Words I wrote several Epistles at the Entreaty of the Brethren but the Ministers of the Devil have filled them with Tares by retrenching and adding many things they may well expect this terrible Sentence Cursed be he that adds or diminisheth any thing from my Words Wherefore it is not to be admir'd that some have presumed even to corrupt the Sacred Writings since they have done it in Books of much less Authority Besides these Epistles there is another Extant written to Chrysophora his faithful Sister to whom he gave Instructions suitable carefully nourishing her with spiritual Food These are the Contents of this passage of Eusebius concerning the Epistles of St. Dionysius which I have set down entire because he hath made use of the same Method as we should have done in case those Epistles had been still Extant Moreover Eusebius in his 2d Book Chap. 25. recites another Fragment of his Epistle to the Romans wherein it mention'd the Death of St. Peter in the City of Rome in these Words Thus says he as I may so say by your Exhortations you have mixed the Grain that sprung from the Seed of St. Peter and S. Paul that is to say the Romans and the Corinthians for these two glorious Apostles entring into our City of Corinth instructed us in dispersing the spiritual Seed of the Gospel afterwards they passed together into Italy and having given you also the like Instructions they suffered Martyrdom with you at the same time This is all that we certainly know concerning the Life and Writings of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth In the Menologium of the Greeks he is reckoned among the Martyrs a He is reckoned among the Martyrs On the 29th of November 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on this day Dionysius Bishop of Corinth died by the Sword Glycas affirms that he suffered Martyrdom under the Reign of Antoninus Pius and yet it is certain that he lived under Marcus Aurelius but since neither Eusebius nor S. Jerom take any Notice of the matter I am apt to believe that the Latin Church hath done more prudently in placing him in their Martyrology in the Rank of the Confessors Pinytus Philippus Modestus Musanus and Bardesanes AT the same time lived Pinytus Bishop of Gnossus in the Island of Crete who replyed as we have even now observ'd to S. Denys of Corinth in an Eloquent and Learned Epistle Philippus Pinytus c. Bishop of Gortyna mentioned likewise by the later wrote a Treatise against Marcion as well as Modestus a As well as Modestus S. Jerom affirms that in his time there were other Tracts extant under the Name of Modestus but that they were rejected by the learned as Supposititious but less accurate Among these may be reckoned Musanus who wrote a Work against the Encratites and Bardesanes b Bardesanes Porphyritis Lib. de Abst. cites one Bardesanes a Babylonian who he says lived in the time of his Fore-fathers and writ concerning the Brachman and Indian Philosophers But he must needs have been another Person the Syrian who Composed two Tracts translated into Greek by his Disciples the First against Marcion and other Hereticks and the Second concerning Fate this last was dedicated to the Emperour Antoninus c Was Dedicated to the Emperor Antoninus It is asserted by S. Jerom that he presented it to him but it is more probable that being Translated it was afterwards delivered by others for since he wrote in Syriack it is not credible that he presented or even Dedicated his Book to the Emperor on the contrary he Composed it at the Entreaty of his Friends and in the form of a Dialogue Besides he wrote other Treatises upon the Persecution that was then raised against the Christians of Syria Eusebius observes that this Author having been engaged in the Sect of the Valentinians tho' he had acknowledged and retracted the most part of his Errors yet he retained some of them wherefore he is accused by S. Jerom of being the Deviser of a new Heresie Tho' he owns that Bardesanes was endued with a very quick Apprehension and was extremely vehement in his Disputes S. Epiphanius likewise makes him to be the Ring-leader of an Heresie Bardesanes says he in Haeres 56. is the Author of the Heresie of the Bardasianites he was a Native of Mesopotamia and an Inhabitant of the City of Edessa moreover he was a very good Christian d A very good Christian. S. Epiphanius is deceived for it is otherwise affirmed by Eusebius that he was at first a Valentinian and that his Errors were the remainders of this Heresie and wrote many useful Books being well skill'd in the Greek and Syriack Tongues e Being well-skilled in the Greek and Syriack Tongues He did not understand Greek since as Eusebius assures us his Disciples Translated his Works He was intimately acquainted with Abgarus Prince of Edessa and assisted him in his Studies he lived until the time of Antoninus Verus and Collected many things concerning Fate against the Astronomer Abidas There are also other Works written by him agreeable to the Faith He Courageously withstood Apollonius the Friend of Antoninus f The Friend of Antoninus Neither is there much certainty in this Relation who advised him to deny that he was a Christian and undauntedly replyed that he did not fear Death which he could not avoid tho' he should do that which the Emperor required But at last this Man adorned with so many Vertues fell into Heresie suffering himself to be infected with the Errors of the Valentinians inventing divers Aeones and denying the Resurrection of the Dead He acknowledged indeed the Law and the Prophets together with the whole New Testament but then he admitted several Apocryphal Books along with them Eusebius in Lib. 6. Praeparat Evangl produceth an excellent Fragment of the Writings of this Author against Fate whereby it is evident that it was written in the Form of a Dialogâ—â— He proves in this Fragment that Men are not Conducted by Nature and Necessity as brute Beasts but by Reason and with Liberty because altho' the Nature of all Men be the same yet there are infinite numbers of Manners Customs Laws and Religions among them that are different even in the same Country and under the very same Climate which cannot proceed but from the different Choice that is made by them Afterwards having alledged many Examples to evince this Truth he adds What shall we say of the Society of Christians who are dispersed throughout all the Cities of the World and who cannot
relapse into the very same Sins as things of no value that he approves of Marriage and believes it indissoluble that he blames Polygamy and even second Marriages He speaks but little of the Eucharist and what he says of it is very obscure because he endeavours to conceal this Mystery from those who were not Baptised But he declares expresly in the Second Book of the Pedagogue Chap. 2. that the Bread and Wine are the Matter of it and condems the Hereticks who used any thing else besides Bread and Wine mingled with Water He observes that in several Churches after the Eucharist was distributed it was left to the liberty of each Lib. 3. Stromat p. 462 465. Lib. 1. Stromat init Lib. 7. p. 754. of the Faithful to take a part of it He often cites Apocryphal Books as the Gospel according to the Egyptians the Book of Hermas yet in the mean time he only allows the Four Gospels to be Canonical He admits of the Authority of Tradition and that of the Church These are the Opinions of S. Clement upon the Principal Articles of our Faith which are conformable to the Doctrine of the Church in all the main Points and different only in some Things of lesser Consequence But this cannot be said concerning his Work of Institutions which according to the Testimony of Photius contained several Errors even contrary to what he had taught in his other Works Let us see what this Learned Critick says of the Matter The Hypotiposes says he were written upon some Passages of the Old and New Testament which he explains and interprets briefly but though he has in several places very Orthodox and true Notions yet in others he has some that are very Erroneous and Fabulous For he says that Matter is Eternal and he feigns Eternal Idea's produced by the Decrees of God he places the Sun in the number of Created Beings he holds the Metempsychosis he pretends that there were several Worlds before Adam he fancies Eve to be produced from Adam after an infamous manner and different from that which is set down in the Scripture he imagines that the Angels having had to do with Women begat Children of them he thinks that the WORD was not really and truly Incarnate but only in Appearance he feigns two WORDS of GOD the one Superior and the other Inferior this last was that which appeared unto Men he adds that this WORD is not of the same nature with the WORD of GOD that it was not the WORD of the Father that was incarnate but a certain Vertue and Power of GOD proceeding from the WORD which being a Spirit entred into the Souls of Men. He endeavours to prove these Opinions by Scripture In a word these Eight Books are full of such sort of Errors and Blasphemies whether it be the Author of this Book that has written them or whether it be any other who puts them out under his name The intent and design of the whole Work appears to be an Explication of Genesis Exodus the Psalms the Canonical Epistles and Ecclesiasticus The Author observes that he was the Disciple of Pantaenus If this Work was so full of Errors as there seems no reason at all to doubt after the Testimony of Photius who had seen it it must needs have been composed by S. Clement before he was throughly instructed in the Christian Religion and had altogether quitted the Opinions of Plato which seems very probable for we cannot say that he was not the Author of these Books which are attributed to him by all Antiquity and there is no likelihood that they were falsified by the Hereticks in so many places Besides that these are the Opinions of one who would accommodate the Platonick Philosophy to the Christian Religion or rather of one who was half a Platonist and half a Christian. However among the Ancients these Books have been had in sufficient esteem and reputation Eusebius cites several Passages out of them In the First Book Chap. 12. of his History he brings one out of the Fifth Book where it is said that Cephas Matthias Barnabas and Thaddaeus were of the number of the Seventy Disciples of Jesus Christ. The same Eusebius in the Second Book Chap. 1. produces another passage taken out of the Sixth Book were he says that Peter James and John though they were preferr'd by Jesus Christ to the other Apostles did not dispute about Precedency but chose with one consent St. James the Just to be Bishop of Jerusalem And another out of the Seventh Book where he says that these Three Apostles had the Spirit of Knowledge which they communicated to the Seventy Disciples In the 9th Chapter there is another Passage taken from the Seventh Book where he says that James the Brother of John by his Constancy converted his Accuser and that they were both beheaded for the Faith of Christ. In the 15th Chapter he says that S. Clement in his Sixth Book of Institutions affirms that S. Mark composed his Gospel by the Direction of S. Peter and that this Apostle approved of it when it was finish'd Lastly Eusebius in the Sixth Book 14th Chapter tells us that S. Clement in his Institutions explains all the Books of the Old and New Testament not omitting even those of which many Persons doubted as the Epistles of S. Jude S. Barnabas and the Revelation of S. Peter That he says that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by S. Paul and translated by S. Luke That S. Paul would not put his Name to it because he was hated by the Hebrews He sets down the Order of the Gospels he says that the Gospels of S. Matthew and S. Luke were first written that S. Mark composed his at Rome at the Instance of the Faithful and by S. Peter's Order and that S. John writ his the last at the desire of his Friends to explain what was most Spiritual in Jesus Christ the others having sufficiently spoken of his Body The famous Valesius has observed that we have still a very considerable Greek fragment of this Work at the end of S. Clement Entituled An Extract of the Oriental Doctrine of Theodotus For it contains those very Errors concerning Christ's Person which Photius has observed in the Hypotiposes and the Author says towards the end that Pantaenus was his Master It is also likely that the other fragment which follows which is a Collection of Words and Expressions of Scripture is likewise taken out of these Books for besides that it is found with the Works of S. Clement it is written after that manner in which Eusebius and Photius acquaints us that the Work of S. Clement was composed and it appears that it is the very same Design There is also another considerable Fragment of S. Clement taken from his Book What Rich Man can be saved in Eusebius Book 3. Chap. 23. where he tells us a famous Story of S. John He says that this Apostle coming to a City of
And Lastly The Fables and Falshoods which it contains give us sufficient Ground to doubt it There is another Treatise of Christ and Anti-Christ which bears the Name of Hippolitus published in Greek by Gudius which Father Combefis has caused to be Printed in Greek and Latin in the last Volume of the Supplement to the Bibliotheca Patrum Though this Treatise be more ancient than that which was published before under Hippolitus's Name yet does it not appear to me worthy of this Author Those that read the Commentary upon the History of Susanna and the Greek Fragment upon Daniel which are Printed in the same Place will pass the same Judgment upon them The Demonstration against the Jews publisht in Latin by Turrianus and inserted by Possevinus into his Apparatus is a Fragment of some Homily or of some other Book of that Nature It is not certain whether it be written by Hippolitus There was found at Basil a Treatise upon the Apocalypse attributed to Hippolitus but it is doubted whether it be his because of the meanness of the Style and the little Learning there is in it as Sixtus Senensis has observed The Collections or rather the Extracts taken by Anastasius the Library-Keeper out of the Sermons of Hippolitus upon some Points of Divinity and upon the Incarnation against Bero and Helix Hereticks of the Sect of the Valentinians published by Turrianus and Canisius and related in Greek by Anastasius in his Collections set forth by Sirmondus seem to be very ancient but it is not certain whether they belong to Hippolitus We must make the same Judgment of the Homily Entituled Of One Onely God in Three Persons and of the Incarnation against the Heresie of Noetus which is published hy Vossius with the Works of Gregorius Thaumaturgus but though it was not really written by Hippolitus yet it contains the Principles of the Ancients concerning the Trinity f The Principles of the Ancients concerning the Trinity These Principles are that the WORD was from all Eternity in the Father as being his Wisdom his Power and his Counsel that when he designed to create the World he did if I may so say put him without him and this is that which they call Generation That it is by him that he created the World and that he governs it that it is he who made himself visible to Men who spake to the Patriarchs and the Prophets who gave the Law and who at last became Incarnate that conformable to this Oeconomy we acknowledge Three Persons in God which nevertheless make but one only God that the WORD before he took Flesh had not perfectly the Quality of the WORD and that we may say that he was begotten of the Father That we ought to believe that the WORD descending from Heaven into the Womb of the Virgin Mary took therein a reasonable Soul and everything that belongs to human Nature Sin only excepted and all this in order to save Man who fell by the Sin of Adam and to render him Immortal c. That little Work Of the Lives of the Twelve Apostles which Father Combefis caused to be printed from a Manuscript in the King's Library in his Supplement to the Bibliotheca Patrum is not Hippolitus's and contains several Fictions of the modern Greeks g Several Fictions of the modern Greeks Such as these following that S. Andrew was Crucified upon an Olive-Tree That the Relicks of S. John were not found in his Sepulchre that S. Bartholomew was Crucified with his Head downwards that S. Thomas Preached among the Magi that he was run thorough in four Places with a Lance made of Deal in the City of Salamis that Thaddaeus preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia Things which are taken from the Fictions of the modern Greeks as from Sophronius and others relating to the Deaths of the Apostles We must say the same of a Book written much upon the like Subject concerning the Seventy two Disciples h Concerning the Seventy two Disciples This is manifestly the same with the false Dorotheus of Jesus Christ which was in the Library of Cardinal Sirletus which Baronius mentions in his Notes upon the Martyrology upon the Ninth Day of April Photius had read Hippolitus's Book against the Hereticks and gives us this Account of it I have read the little Book of Hippolitus who was Disciple of S. Irenaeus against Two and thirty Heresies He begins with the Dositheans and he goes on as far as Noetus and the Noetians He says that all these Heresies have been confuted by S. Irenaeus and that he has Collected in this little Book the Reasonings and Arguments of this Father His Discourse is clear and serious and he says nothing but what is to the purpose though he has not all the Beauties of the Attick Style He affirms some things which are not true and amongst others that the Epistle to the Hebrews was not written by S. Paul It is said that he made several Homilies to the People as well as Origen who was his Friend and that he wrote several other Books The same Author in another place mentions the Commentary of Hippolitus upon Daniel He says That though he does not litterally explain this Prophet yet he does not let slip any part of his Sense that is considerable that he interprets things according to the manner of the Ancients and not with that Exactness which has been since observed but that he is not to be censured for that because it is not reasonable to expect from those who lay the Foundation of any Science that they should omit nothing that might be said upon it but on the contrary we ought to commend them because they were the first Discoverers for those Things which they first found out That as for the rest Hippolitus was mistaken in pretending to fix the time of the End of the World and of the coming of Anti-Christ which Christ would not discover to his Disciples even then when they desired it of him very earnestly He pretended says he to fix it five hundred years after the Death of Christ as if the World was to last but Six thousand years which is too nice a Subtilty His way of writing is clear and plain and very proper for a Commentary though he departs from the Rules and the Purity of the Attick Dialect We have likewise a Homily which he made concerning Jesus Christ and Anti-Christ wherein though he follows the same way of Writing yet he is more plain and savours more of Antiquity And these Passages of Photius do not only discover the Subject of those Works of Hippolitus which he had read but also the Style and Character of this Author The Paschal Cycle for Sixteen years composed by Hippolitus whereof Anatolius Eusebius S. Jerom and Victorius have made mention was found round about a Marble Statue that was dug out of the Ground in the Year 1551 near Rome i Near Rome Near the Church of S. Laurence in in a Place where
to be all of one and the same Mind Alexander being in Prison in the time of the Persecution under Severus wrote likewise a Letter to those of Antioch wherein he Congratulates them upon the Ordination of Asclepiades who succeeded Serapion in that See He sent this Letter by Clemens as it is believed of Alexandria c As it is believed of Alexandria S. Jerom believes that it was S. Clement of Alexandria and this may very well be For he lived 'till this time and he was intimately acquainted with Alexander to whom he Dedicated a Book concernin the Ecclesiastical Rule Eusebius Lib. 6. cap. 13. Besides he wrote a Letter to Origen of which Eusebius recites a Fragment in the 14th Chapter of the 6th Book of his History where he says that he was a Friend of Pantaenus and of Clement of Alexandria and that these men made him acquainted with Origen And last of all he sent a Letter to Demetrius Bishop of Alexandria which he wrote along with Theoctristus Bishop of Caesarea in favour of Origen wherein he proves by several Examples that Bishops may invite those that are proper for instructing the People to Preach in their Presence He wrote besides several other Letters of which we have nothing remaining He suffered Martyrdom at Caesarea in the time of the Persecution under the Emperor Decius JULIUS AFRICANUS JUlius Africanus who was of Palestine a Who was of Palestine Some have confounded him with Sextus Africanus of Lybia but this is an Error For our Author was of Palestine and lived there whereas the other was only of Lybia though older than Origen b Older than Origen In the Letter which he wrote to Origen he calls him his Son and he continues his Chronicle no farther then to the Time of Heliogabalus which shews that he was older than Origen is believed to have been the Disciple of Heraclas because being drawn by his Reputation he came to Alexandria to confer Julius Africanus with him c To confer with him Heraclas was undoubtedly Bishop of Alexandria when he came into this City He says as much himself in his Chronicle according to the Relation of Eusebius Lib. 6. cap. 3. and of Bede de Sex aet Pag. 86. of Ado and others He was deputed by the Emperor Alexander d By the Emperor Alexander This Embassy was under Alexander the Son of Mammea and not under Heliogabalus That which made Eusebius mistake is because Africanus's Chronicle went no farther than the time of Heliogabalus to cause the City of Emmanus to be repaired which was afterwards called Nicopolis He particularly applied himself to Chronology and History and composed an exact Chronicle e And composed an exact Chronicle Eusebius gives it the Name of a Chronography and S. Jerom stiles it a History of the Times Photius and Bede call it a Chronicle It contained the Origine and Succession of all the Monarchies and Commonwealths and he annext to the end thereof a kind of Table called a Canon wherein he disposed under every Year what he had before observed Successively S. Basil cites a Passage from thence relating to the Divinity of the Holy Ghost in the 29th Chapter of his Book de Spiritu Sancto divided into five Books from the Beginning of the World to the Third Year of the Reign of Heliogabalus f The Reign of Heliogabalus Photius who had seen it says that his Chronicle went no farther than the Reign of Macrinus But the Computation of years and a Fragment related by Scaliger clearly shew that he continued it to the time of Heliogabalus wherein he gave a brief Account of the most remarkable Accidents from the beginning of the World to the time Jesus Christ and related in few Words all that had happened since Christ's Time to that wherein he wrote We have not this famous Work at present under Africanus's Name But Eusebius has inserted it almost entire in his Chronicon altering and adding some few things and Correcting some of his Mistakes We have still some of his Fragments in two Works publisht by Scaliger of which one is Latin and is called Chronological Extracts taken out of Eusebius and Africanus and the other is Greek and Entituled A Collection of Histories Besides this Chronicle he wrote two Letters upon two important Questions relating to the Scripture The first directed to Aristides was written to reconcile that seeming Contradiction which is found in the Account given of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ by S. Luke and S. Matthew Eusebius gives us a considerable part of this Letter in the First Chapter of the Seventh Book of his History And in order to reconcile this Difference he has recourse to that Law of Adoption that took place among the Jews and which obliged the Brothers to Marry their Brothers Wives who died without Children He says then that Matthan who descended from David by Solomon married a Wife named Estha by whom he had Jacob But that after the Death of Matthan this same Woman married Melchi he should have said Matthat who descended from David by Nathan of whom she had a Son named Heli and that so Heli and Jacob were Brothers by the Mothers-side and that Heli dying without Children Jacob was obliged to marry his Widow of whom he had Joseph the Husband of Mary who was by Consequence natural Son to Jacob and the Son of Heli according to the Law and descended from Solomon by Jacob and from Nathan by Heli. This way of reconciling the Evangelists as to the Geneology of Jesus Christ is very easie and has hardly any Difficulty in it but that every Body may readily comprehend it we shall represent it in the following Table DAVID SOLOMON And his Descendants related by S. Matthew  NATHAN And his Descendants relalated by S. Luke MATTHAN The first Husband ESTHA The Wife of both MELCHI Or rather MATTHAT The Second Husband JACOB The Son of Matthan the first Husband THEIR COMMON WIFE Whose Name we do not know First married to Heli of whom she had no Children and afterwards to Jacob his Brother HELY The Natural Son of Jacob. JOSEPH The Son of Heli according to the Law The Second Letter of Africanus relating to the History of Susanna was written to Origen who had in a Conference cited the Prophet Daniel to vindicate the Innocence of Susanna Africanus writes to him that he admires that he does not look upon this Part of Daniel as Fictitious and that this whole History is no more than a Fable The Reasons which he brings for this Opinion are very Learned and Ingenious and there was a Necessity for so great a Man as Origen to answer him and yet it seems as if Africanus wrote to him rather to be instructed in the Truth than with any Design of Disputing against him There is likewise attributed to this Author a Work Entituled The Cesti which is cited under his Name not only by Suidas and Sincellus but likewise
contained the entire Text of the Four Evangelists which Eusebius made use of in making his Canons which referred to this Concord and were a Table to it Trithemius likewise attributes Canons to Ammonius but they are those of Eusebius We have at present in the Bibliotheca Patrum an Harmony of the Four Evangelists falsly attributed to Tatianus by Victor of Capua which Cardinal Baronius Father Labbè and several other Learned Men do ascribe to Ammonius It is certain that this was not written by Tatianus who retrenched the Genealogies of Jesus Christ which are to be found in this Concord It bears the Name of An Harmony and it is ascribed in the Title to an Alexandrian which made Baronius conjecture that it was written by this Ammonius who was of Alexandria and whose Works bore the Title of an Harmony Zacharias Bishop of Chrysopolis who lived in the Twelfth Century and made Commentaries upon Ammonius's Harmony has followed this word for Word which confirms Baronius's Conjecture ORIGEN ORIGEN a Origen There is not any Ecclesiastical Author whose Life we have more exactly Eusebius who was his great Admirer has described it very particularly 'T is from him that we have taken without citing him almost all that we have related concerning him We must add thereunto S. Hierom in his Catalogue and in several other Places Ruffinus against S. Hierome S. Epiphanius in the 64th Heresie Photius in the 118th Volume where he has given an Abridgment of the Apology of Pamphilus and what Origen says of himself Tom. 6. in Matth. alibi We have also made use of the Assistance of the Moderns and particularly of that famous Work of Huetius intituled Origeniana of the Life of Tertullian and Origen written in French by a worthy Man which we say as much to do them Justice as to take off from our selves the Imputation of being a Plagiary Our Author means Dr. Allix Treasurer of the Church of Sarum who had a great Esteem paid to him in his own Country for his extraordinary Learning till the late Persecution forced him hither for Relief was born in the City of Alexandria about the year 185 from the Birth of Christ. b Was born in the City of Alexandria about the year 185 from the Birth of Christ. S. Epiphanius says That he was an Alexandrian Eusebius says That he was seventeen years old at the time of the Persecution of Severus which was in the year 202 from the Birth of Christ and by consequence he was born in 185. Besides the Name of Origen he had moreover that of Adamantius c He had moreover that of Adamantius Photius believes that he had this Name by reason of the strength of his Reasonings S. Hierom says That he had it because he resisted Errors like a Diamond But this is only guessing we may say the same of those who seek for the Etymology of the Name of Origen out of a needless Curiosity His Father who Origen was called Leonidas educated him in the Faith of Jesus Christ and did not only cause him in his Youth to learn the politer Learning with all the profane Sciences but he particuly ordered him to apply himself to the understanding of the Holy Scripture before any other kind of Learning giving him every day some Portions thereof to learn and repeat And it hapned very luckily that the Son's Inclination exactly answered the Father's Design for the pursued his Study with a most extraordinary Zeal and Fervency and as he was endowed with a quick Apprehension and very great Sagacity he did not content himself with that Sense which at first view presented it self but he afterwards endeavoured to dive into the mysterious and allegorical Explication of the Sacred Books and sometimes would even puzzle his Father by asking him the meaning of some Passages of Scripture which obliged this good Man seemingly to reprehend him and to advise him not to soar above the reach of his Understanding and to content himself with the most clear and natural sense of the Scripture though inwardly he was extreamly joyful and returned Thanks unto God with all his Heart for his great Mercy in bestowing on him such a Son But that these Opinions may not be attributed either to the blind Love of a Father for his Child or to that Affection which Eufebius who relates these things had for Origen it may be sufficient to observe That S. Hierom even then when he wrote against Origen with the greatest Earnestness was obliged to acknowledge that he had been an extraordinary Person from his very Infancy Magnus vir ab infantiâ Ep. 65. ad Pammachium de erroribus Origenis When he was a little more advanced in Years he had for his Master in Philosophy the famous Ammonius d He had for his Master in Philosophy the famous Ammonius There were two Origens Disciples to Ammonius The first of whom Porphyry speaks of in the Life of Plotinus and Longinus who wrote nothing but a small Treatise of Daemons and lived but to the Reign of Gallienus and who was Porphyry's Disciple and Friend which does not agree with our Origen as has been observed by Valesius and Huetius the Christian Philosopher and in Divinity the learned S. Clemens of Alexandria He was not above sixteen or seventeen years of age when the Persecution began at Alexandria in the 10th Year of the Reign of Severus and the 202d from the Birth of Christ. His Father being seized and imprisoned upon the account of the Christian Faith he would also have offered himself to the Persecutors out of the great Zeal he had to suffer Martyrdom but his Mother opposed it very stiffly and was even forced to hide his Cloaths to prevent him from going abroad to put his Design in Execution And being thus detained against his Will he wrote a Letter to his Father to exhort him to Martyrdom wherein he expresses himself thus Stand stedfast my Father and take care not to alter your Opinion upon our Account Leonidas being animated by his Son's Exhortation couragiously suffered Martyrdom and was beheaded within a little while after His Goods having been confiscated Origen remaining with his Mother and Brethren was reduced to extream Poverty but a certain Lady of Alexandria who was very rich whether out of Compassion to his Misery or out of the Respect she had for him afforded him all kind of Assistance and even took him into her House There lived with her at the same time a famous Heretick of Antioch whom she had adopted for her Son who held Conferences in her House where a great Number not only of Hereticks but also of Catholicks were present But though Origen was obliged of necessity to converse with this Man yet he would never hold Communion with him in Prayer keeping exactly to the Ecclesiastical Constitutions and testifying the Abhorrence that he had for the Doctrine of the Hereticks However in a little time he put himself into such a
a very gross Errour affirming That our Lord before his Incarnation was not a Person subsisting Some Bishops being assembled to convince him of this Error they caused Origen to come thither also After that several Bishops had had Conferences and Disputes with this Bishop Origen being desired to enter the Lists with him discoursed him at first familiarly being willing to be throughly informed of his Opinion and after having perfectly understood his Error and the Grounds upon which he pretended to maintain it he convinced him by several Reasons and set him again in the right Way forcing him to acknowledge his Error The Records of all that passed in this Affair were preserved for a long time after wherein was to be seen the Sentiments of Beryllus the Opinions of the Bishops who met there the Questions proposed to him by Origen and the whole Conference which they had together in his Church S. Hierom takes notice That in his Time Origen's Dialogue with Beryllus was extant This Bishop having acknowledged his Error preserved the Purity of his Faith even to his Death and had an extraordinary Kindness for Origen to whom he wrote several Letters S. Hierom places him among the Number of the Ecclesiastical Writers Afterwards Origen was called under the Reign of Philip to another Assembly of Bishops which was held against some Arabians who maintained That the Souls of Men died and were raised again with their Bodies After having spoke in the Presence of them all upon the Question which was in agitation he defended the Truth and attacked this Error with that Force of Argument that he caused all those to change their Opinion who had fallen into the Mistake He was then Threescore years old or thereabouts and yet this did not hinder him from carrying on his Works with the same or rather with greater Diligence for he did not only compose several Books in his Study but he made almost every day Discourses to the People and for the most part without any time allowed to prepare them which were nevertheless so well esteemed that the Transcribers took them after him as he delivered them and published them afterwards This Employment did not take him off from composing several considerable Books as his Eight Books against Celsus Twenty five Volumes upon S. Matthew Twenty five Volumes of Commentaries upon the Minor Prophets a Letter to the Emperor Philip and one to Severa his Wife m A Letter to the Emperor Philip and one to Severâ—â— his Wife Some have believed that this Emperor was a Christian and say that Babylas deprived him from the Communion of the Church till he had repented for the Murthers which he had committed but this Story is very uncertain S. Hierom says That he wrote also a Letter to Pope Fabianus wherein he sets forth his Recanting of the Errors which he had written and laid the Blame of them upon Ambrose If this be so he did it to make this Pope favourable to him that he might get again into the Communion of the Roman Church He wrote also at this time against the Hereticks called Helcesaitae Afterwards in the Persecution of Decius which was about the same time Origen suffered with great Constancy for the Faith He was seized put into Prison loaded with Irons he had for several Days his Feet in the Stocks where they were cruelly extended even to the greatest Extremity They threatned him to burn him alive and they rack'd him with several sorts of Tortures to try his Patience to the utmost but he endured all with an undaunted Resolution n But he endured all with an undaunted Resolution S. Epiphanius accuses him for approaching to the Heathen Altars and for making as if he would offer Incense to the Gods But this Story and almost every thing that Epiphanius says concerning Origen is fabulous and invented by some Enemy to Origen who deceived S. Epiphanius a Man easily imposed upon To shew that this Story is false 't is sufficient to observe that even Origen's greatest Enemies as Theophilus S. Hierom Justinian c. who have omitted nothing to cry him down have taken no notice at all of it and that his Defenders Eusebius and Pamphilius are so far from excusing him from this Crime that they have on the contrary commended his Constancy and Resolution 'T is true S. Epiphanius does not say that this hapned in the Persecution of Decius as Nicephorus does but in what time soever they fix this Accident it is equally overthrown by the Observation we just now made It is also less probable when it is referred to the time of Maximinus's Persecution for what likelihood is there that Origen after having committed so gross a Fault should be honoured as he was by the Bishops of Palestine Being come out of Prison he held several Conferences and wrote Letters worthy of a Holy Confessor of Jesus Christ. Lastly After having laboured so much and suffered with such great Credit and Glory he died in the beginning of the Reign of Gallus in the Year Two hundred fifty two from the Birth of Christ and in the Sixty sixth Year of his Age. op He died in the Year 252 from the Birth of Christ and in the 66th Year of his Age. According to Eusebius Lib. 7. cap. 11. he died in the first Year of the Reign of Gallus and S. Hierom in his 65th Epistle written 400 years after Christ says That it was 150 years after Origen's Death It is certain according to Eusebius that in the Year 202 Origen was seventeen years old and that in the third year of the Emperor Philip he was above sixty years old So that if we suppose him to have lived but sixty six years as S. Hierom assures us in his Book of Ecclesiastical Writers he must have died in the beginning of the Reign of Gallus in the Year 252 but if he lived sixty nine years as Eusebius writers he must have lived to the end of the Reign of Gallus that is to say till the year 254 or 255. Though what we have remaining at present of the Works of Origen makes up several considerable Volumes yet they are nothing in comparison to what he has wrote q Yet they are nothing in comparison to what he has written It is certain that he composed a very great Number of Books and he made them with that ease that he could hardly find Scribes enough as both his Friends and Enemies agree S. Hierom in his 65th Letter to Pammachius speaking of Origen says Who is there of you that can read as many Books as he has composed And in another Place he says That he compiled an innumerable company of Books Theophilus says the same thing Eustathius says That he filled the World with his Works Vincentius Lirinensis affirms That none has written more than him and it is upon this Account that he had the Name given him of Chalcenterus and Syntacticus S. Epiphanius and Ruffinus say That he writ
Name of the Trinity yet we cannot say that this Council has determined the Question calls the full Council which first decided this Controversie that St. Austin followed its Decision and proves it at large in his Books against the Donatists that the Western Church has embraced this Opinion and that though l The Eastern Churches Those of the East did not make use of St. Austin's Distinction either in the Council of Constantinople or in the Council that was held in the Emperour's Palace but they distinguished between three sorts of Hereticks Those that were to be Re-baptized as the Paulianists and the ancient Hereticks together with the Eunomians and Sabellians who did not observe three Immersions Secondly Those that were to be anointed such as were the Arians the Macedonians the Novatians the Quarto decimani and the Apollinarians And lastly those who had nothing more to do than barely to make an Abjuration as the Eutychians the Nestorians the Severians the Acephali and the Monothelites the Eastern Churches have not agreed with her absolutely in this Point yet they always made a distinction between Hereticks and differently received them It would be no difficult matter to justifie all this but as this is no proper place to discuss this Question so it would carry us too far from our Subject The Reader need only consult our Annotations to be better satisfied To compleat what remains of St. Cyprian's Life it would be necessary here to transcribe the ancient Acts of his Passion and what his Deacon Pontius has related concerning it but the Description of his Martyrdom does not concern the Subject or Design of this Work and therefore I shall only observe that towards the beginning of Valerian's Persecution in the Year 257 on the 30th of August he was banished to Curubis a City about ten or twelve Leagues distant from Carthage by the Command of Aspasius Paternus the Proconsul that after he had tarried there eleven Months he was re-called by the Proconsul Galerius Maximus who confined him to his own Gardens near Carthage that being informed that the Proconsul had sent some Soldiers to seize and carry him to Utica he retired inlo a private Place that he might not suffer Martyrdom out of his own Church or after any other manner than in the Presence of his own People and that at last being come back again to his Gardens after the Proconsul's return to Carthage he was apprehended and carried before him where after he had generously made Profession of the Christian Faith he had his Head cut off in a Place called Sexti near the City of Carthage on the 14th of September in the Year 258 under the Consulship of Tuscus and Bassus The first m The first Letter 'T is rather a Treatise than a Letter but all St. Cyprian's Works were called Letters as it appears by Ruffinus in his Apology St. Pacian calls the Book de Lapsis a Letter Ep. 3. ad Sempronianum St. Austin likewise not only calls the Treatise to Donatus but the Book of Unity the Treatise of Zeal and Envy by this Name and in some other places he gives the Title of the Book to the Letters It is an easie matter however to distinguish the Letters from the Treatises We leave the Treatise to Donatus amongst the Letters though is is a Treatise Letter which St. Cyprian writ to Donatus contains a Relation of a Conference he had with that Friend a little after his Baptism wherein after he has spoke of the marvellous Effects of that Sacrament he eloquently lays open the Perils we run in this World the Crimes and Injustices that are there committed and afterwards shewing the Excellence and Happiness of those Persons who consecrate themselves to the Service of God he exhorts his Friend to live a retired Life to renounce the World and to apply himself diligently to Reading and Praying This Letter which we are to consider as the First-fruits of St. Cyprian's Works is written in a very gay florid Style by no means suitable to the Matter in hand as St. Austin observes in his Book of the Christian Doctrine adding That this Martyr did not follow the same manner of Writing in his other Letters but that he took up a more masculine and graver way of Writing and which was more becoming a Christian. These Letters are divided according to the Order of Time n Into five Classes In the English Edition before the other Letters of St. Cyprian we find four that are said to have been written before his Retirement but they bring no Proofs or Conjectures strong enough to support this Opinion and therefore we had better own that we cannot tell when they were written into five Classes The first comprehends those which he wrote in his first Exile The second those which he wrote under the Pontificate of the two Popes Cornelius and Lucius The third those which he wrote under the Pontificate of Stephen The fourth those which he wrote during his last Exile towards his latter End The fifth those of which we cannot set down the precise time when they were written which are but few But besides this general Order which it is easie to observe we are to take notice what Letters follow each other immediately and this indeed has been attempted by Pamelius but with very little Success The Order he has followed has been reformed by a Learned Person who has translated St. Cyprian's Letters into our Language in the Preface which he sets before his Translation And lastly He that published a new Edition of St. Cyprian in England has disposed them in a new Order according to the Series of Time We shall follow either of them as we see convenient The first of those Letters that were written in the first Exile of St. Cyprian in all probability is that which is the fourth in Pamelius's Edition addressed to his Clergy that is to say to his Priests and Deacons wherein he exhorts them to acquit themselves in his Absence of their own Functions and his so that nothing may be defective in relation to Order and Discipline He recommends to their Care those Christians who were imprisoned for the Religion of Jesus Christ to assist them in their Necessities and to advise the Christians not to go in Multitudes to the Prisons for fear of provoking the Pagans that the Priests who went to offer the Sacrifice of the Altar in Prison should go thither each in their Turns along with a Deacon and lastly that the Christians should accommodate themselves to the Times and take care as much as in them lay to soften the Rigour of the Persecution What Du Pin renders to offer the Sacrifice of the Altar in St. Cyprian is only to offer It is well enough known that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was called a Sacrifice the Lord's Table an Altar and the Administration Offering in St. Cyprian's Time and it has been as often proved by all that have given an
last Persecution Patara in Lycia and afterwards of Tyre in Palaestine who suffered Martyrdom at Chalcis a City of Greece towards the end of Dioclesian's Persecution in the Year 302. or 303. composed in a clear elaborate Style a large Work against Porphyrius the Philosopher an excellent Treatise about the Resurrection against Origen another about the Pythonyssa against the same a Book Entituled The Banquet of Virgins one about Free-Will Commentaries upon Genesis and the Canticles and several other Pieces that were extant in St. Jerome's Methodius time At present besides The Banquet of Virgins that was published entire not long ago by Possinus a Jesuit we have several considerable Fragments of this Author cited by St. Epiphanius and Photius and others found in Manuscripts and collected together by Father Combesis who has Printed them together with the Works of Amphilochius and Andreas Cretensis But afterwards Possinus found The Banquet of Virgins entire in a Manuscript belonging to the Vatican Library and Translated it into Latin and sent it into France where it was Printed in the Year 1657. Revised and Corrected by another Manuscript We cannot doubt that this is the true genuine Work of Methodius as well because it carries all the Marks of Antiquity in it that a Book can possibly have as also because it contains Word for Word all the Passages that Photius has cited out of this Work of Methodius and another place cited by St. Gregory Nyssen 'T is written by way of Dialogue in which he introduces a Woman named Gregorium who tells her Friend Eubulus all the Conversation that passed in a Meeting of Ten Virgins which she learnt of Theopatra It was composed by Methodius in imitation of a certain Book very much resembling it written by Plato and Entituled The Banquet of Socrates After that Gregorium and Eubulus have exchanged the usual Complements and Gregorium has given a short Description of the Place where these Ten Virgins were assembled she feigns that Arete in whose Garden they were met requests each of them to make a Discourse upon Virginity which she repeats one after the other The First is that of Marcella who enlarges very much upon the Greatness and Excellence of Virginity She makes it appear how choice a thing Virginity is and that it is a difficult thing to preserve it amidst so many Thousand Temptations we meet with That it is necessary to meditate incessantly upon the Holy Scripture in order to keep it unspotted and undefiled That Virginity was scarce so much as known under the ancient Law when Men were permitted to Marry even their own Sisters and to take several Wives But that God by little and little has taught Men in the first place to preserve their Chastity and afterwards to embrace Virginity That Jesus Christ came into the World to instruct them in this Virtue by the Influence of his own Example that he is the Prince of Virgins as well as the Prince of Pastors that the Company of Virgins has the first place in his Kingdom though they are the least in number And this she justifies by a Passage out of the Revelations Chap. the 14th Since this Conversation of Marcella might seem to throw some Dis-reputation upon the Sanctity of Marriage Theophila proves in the second place that Jesus Christ in making the great Excellencies of Virginity known to the World did not design thereby to banish Marriage and entirely abolish so Sacred an Institution She says That the Ecstasie of Adam denotes and signifies the Passion of Marriage that God is the Author of Generation and that he forms the Infants that come into the World Here Marcella interrupts the Series of her Discourse and enquires of her How it comes to pass if Infants are conceived and born by the Will of God that he permits the Children of Adulterers to come into the World that these Children thrive and are often more perfect in their Body and Mind and also become better Christians than others That nevertheless Experience daily acquaints us with the truth of this Assertion so that we ought to understand this Saying in the Scripture The Children of Adulteterers shall be consumed by Fire only of those that corrupt the Word of God Theophila returns this Answer to the Obejction That God is not the Author of Adulterers though he forms the Infants that are born of such Copulations and this she illustrates by the Example of a Man that makes Earthen Vessels in a place enclosed with four Walls full of Holes through which he is furnished with Clay of which he makes his Work Now if those that serve him are mistaken in taking one hole for another and it so happen that his Work is not such as it ought to be the fault would lie neither in the Workman himself nor in the Clay but in those that had made a wrong Application of the matter That after the same manner we ought not to cast the Sin of Adulterers either upon God that makes Men or upon the Matter of which they are made or upon the Power that is given to Men to beget Children but upon the wicked Inclinations of those Persons that use these things in a dishonest manner that every thing in the World is really Good in it self but becomes Ill through the ill use and management of it She continues afterwards to prove by the admirable Beauty and Harmony that so visibly appears in the Contexture of our Bodies that God is the Author of them She observes that all Infants even those that are begotten in Adultery have their tutelar Angels to guard them immediately after their Conception that the Soul is in its Nature immortal that it is not generated by our Parents but proceeds from God who inspireth it In short after she has thus answered this Objection she concludes That it is permitted for Men to Marry though Virginity is a more perfect State than Marriage The Third Discourse goes under the Name of Thalia who applies the words of Adam to his Wife in Genesis to our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ and his Church and following the Opinion of the Apostle she adds That the Word was the Wisdom of God who existing before all Ages communicated himself after a very particular manner to the first Man but that Man having violated and transgressed the Commandments of God became Mortal and Corruptible and that it was necessary for the Word to make himself Man to deliver him from the Curse and Tyranny he had rendred himself obnoxious to and save him from Corruption by his own Death and Resurrection That it is upon this account that the Son of God came into the World to unite himself to the Church as to his Spouse which through this means became his Flesh and his Botie that he died for her that he purified her by Baptism and by his Holy Spirit that these words Increase and Multiply are accomplished and fulfilled every day in the Church which encreases in Greatness and
Points as may be observed in the Abridgment that we have made of his Works PAMPHILUS PAMPHILIUS a Presbyter of Caesarea in Palaestine and a Friend of Eusebius Eusebius wrote the Life of Pamphilus and was from him Surnamed Pamphilus Friend of Eusebius suffered Martyrdom during Maximine's Persecution He wrote almost nothing himself unless it be a few Letters to his Friends but he took extraordinary pains to gather the b The Books of Ancient Writers He laboured along with Eusebius to copy out exactly and to correct the Vesion of the Septuagint that was in the Tetrapla and Hexapla of Origen intending to publish it by it self Books of ancient Writers and particularly those of Origen for whom he had a particular Esteem He transcribed several Volumes with his own hand and amongst the rest his Twenty Five Books of Commentaries upon the Prophets and that very Transcript was to be seen in St. Jerome's time Pamphilus when he was in Prison composed c Five Books with Eusebius St. Jerome in his Catalogue of the Ecclesiastical Writers makes him the Author of the Apology for Origen but he afterwards retracted what he had said in his Apology against Ruffinus The truth is The Five first Books were composed by Pamphilus and Eusebius together and the last which Ruffinus quoted was Eusebius's alone See Photius Cod. 108. Five Books with Eusebius in defence of Origen and Eusebius added a Sixth after his Death LUCIAN LUCIAN a Presbyter of Antioch applied himself vigorously to the Study of Scripture and published a new Edition of the Version a Of the Septuagint The Version which he Corrected was the common Version of the Septuagint Upon this account St. Jerome Praefat. in Paralipomena distinguishes between three different Editions of the Version of the Septuagint The first was that of Eusebius and Pamphilus which he calls Palaestine that was taken out of the Hexapla of Origen who corrected it by an ancient Version and added several things borrowed from the Versions of Theodotian Aquila and Symmachus The Second was that of Alexandria whereof Hesychius was Author who likewise corrected the common Version of the Septuagint The Last that of Lucian This gave occasion to St. Jerome to say That Totus Orbis hac inter se trifaria varietate compugnat of the Septuagint which was afterwards called Lucian's Edition He was a Man of great Eloquence and wrote several small Treatises concerning Faith and some Letters Amongst others he wrote one when he was in Prison addressed to a Christian of Antioch the end of which Letter is preserved in the Chronicle of Alexandria and is as follows All the Martyrs that are with me Salute you I send you word that Bishop Anthimus died a Martyr Lucian is accused to have been the first Author of the Arian Opinion And indeed all the Heads of that Party were his Disciples He suffered Martyrdom at Nicomedia under the Persecution b Of the Emperour Maximinus Eusebius l. 9. c. 6. Hierom. in Catalog And therefore Baronius is mistaken when following the Acts of his Martyrdom he says That he suffered under Maximian for 't is a common mistake amongst the Greeks to take Maximian for Maximin of the Emperour Maximinus and was Buried at Helenopolis a City of Bythinia PHILEAS Phileas PHILEAS descended of a Rich and Powerful Family in the City of Thmuis in Aegypt after having passed through several Offices and 〈◊〉 and acquired to himself the Reputation of an extraordinary Philosopher was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the City were he lived and had his Head cut off for the Faith of Jesus Christ under the Emperour Maximinus Before he suffered Martyrdom he wrote a famous Letter to the Inhabitants of the City of Thmuis in which he describes the Punishments which the Christians were forced to endure in the City of Alexandria He describes the Constancy with which they supported themselves and exhorts his Flock to keep up the Religion of Jesus Christ after his Death which he foresaw would shortly happen Eusebius in the Eighth Book of his History Chapter the Tenth has preserved a Fragment of this Eloquent Letter which St. Jerome scruples not to call a Book He likewise tells us that they had the Answers which he made to the Judge who would have obliged him to offer Sacrifice We have the Acts of his Martyrdom that were Printed at 〈◊〉 But they are corrupt as most of the rest are and some things are inserted which are taken out of Eusebius and Ruffinus ZENO Bishop of Verona 'T is commonly believed that there was one Zeno Bishop of Verona that suffered Martyrdom under the Empire of Galienus and some Sermons are attributed to him that were published by Guarâ—â—us Printed at Venice and Verona in the Years 1508. and 1586. and afterwards inserted into the Bibliothecae Patâ—â—m But this Author being wholly unknown to all Antiquity his Works have been absolutely rejected nay some have doubted whether it be true that there ever was a Bishop of Verona of that Name that suffered Martyrdom under the Emperor Galienus St. Gregory the Great is the first that speaks of Zeno as a Martyr but before him St. Ambrose in a Letter written to Syagrius Bishop of Verona makes mention of one Zeno the Predecessor of this Syagrius who soems to have govern'd the Church of Verena in the time of Constantius or Julian the Apoltate The Testimony of St. Ambrose has obliged those that positively maintain that there was one Zeno Bishop of Verona a Martyr under the Empire of Galienus it has obliged them I say to distinguish between two Zeno's Bishop of Verona one put to Death under Galienus and another that lived in the time of Julian the Apostate But it is better to own frankly that 't is a mistake to believe that there was one Zeno Bishop of Verona in the time of Galienus St. Gregory does indeed give the Name of Martyr to Zeno of Verona but he does not tell us under what Emperour he suffered Martyrdom And perhaps he might bestow that Title upon him because he suffered some Persecution under Constantius or Julian the Apostate Be that as it will Molanus observes That heretofore in the Roman Martyrology they placed him amongst the considerable Bishops that were Confessors And Onuphrius Panvinus adds That the Church of Verona anciently honoured him under that quality and that Lippomanus Bishop of Verona was the first that procured him the honour of a Martyr 'T is very certain that the Sermons which we have under the Name of Zeno cannot belong to him whom they suppose to have suffered Martyrdom under Galienus for this Author in his Fifth Sermon speaks of the Divinity of Jesus Christ against the Hereticks that affirmed the Word to be God but did not believe him to be Eternal as the Father and supposed there was a time when He was not which visibly demonstrates That the Heresie of the Arians was then on foot Neither can these Sermons belong to that Zeno of
Commentaries and that he added many things of his own as the same St. Jerom has also observ'd We have his Commentaries upon St. Matthew we have also more of his Commentaries upon the Psalms than St. Jerem had seen for this Father mentions only the Commentaries upon the 1st and 2d Psalms upon the 51st and those that follow until the 62d and upon the 118th and those that follow unto the last and we have besides thâ—se Commentaries the Commentaries upon the 14th and 15th Psalms and upon the 63 64 65 66 67 68 Psalms which bear the Name of St. Hilary and are written in his Stile But we have none of his Commentaries upon Job which are cited by St. Jerom whereof St. Austin relates a Passage in his 2d Book against Julian to prove Original Sin There was also attributed to him in St. Jerom's Time a Commentary upon the Canticles but this Father says that he had never seen it St. Jerom mentions also a Collection of Hymns compos'd by St. Hilary a Book Entituled Mysteries and many Letters I place not the Letter and Hymn to his Daughter Apra in the Number of St. Hilary's Works because I doubt not but these piâ—ces were the Work of him that wrote his Life which are not at all like this Father's way of Writing Some have attributed to him the Hymn Pange Lingua and that of St. John the Baptist Ut quâ—â—nt laxis but without any Ground The Books of the Unity of the Essence of the Father and the Son were Rhapsodies taken out of the Genuine Works of St. Hilary St. Jerom in his Apology to Pammachius speaks of a Book of St. Hilary address'd to Fortunatus which was concerning the Number Seven Some have confounded this Treatise with St. Cyprian's Books of Exhortation to Martyrdom being address'd to a Person of the same Name But that which St. Jerom attributes to St. Hilary must be different from those of St. Cyprian and therefore if there be no Mistake in this place of St. Jerom we must say that St. Hilary wrote a Treatise address'd to his Friend Fortunatus concerning the mysterious Significations of the Number Seven And this Work may very well be one of those Treatises of Mysteries which St. Jerom mentions in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers The Twelve Books of the Trinity compos'd by St. Hilary in Imitation of Quintilian's Books as St. Jerom has observ'd are an excellent Work which contains the Explication and the Proofs of this Mystery He has there establish'd the Faith of the Church in a demonstrative Manner he has clearly detected the Errors of the Hereticks refuted them solidly and answered all their Objections So that this is the largest and most methodical Work of any that we have in all Antiquity upon this Subject The First Book is a Preface to the Whole wherein he describes very pleasantly after what manner a Man arrives at Happiness and the Knowledge of the Truth and then gives an Account of the Subject of the Eleven following Books He begins with observing that Happiness does not consist in Abundance nor in Repose as common People imagine nor yet in the bare Knowledge of the First Principles of Good and Evil as many wise Men among the Pagans thought but in the Knowledge of the true God He adds that Man having an ardent Desire after this Knowledge meets with some Persons that give him low and mean Idea's unworthy of the Divinity Some would persuade him that there are many Gods of different Sexes Others take the Representations of Men of Beasts and Birds for Divinities Others acknowledge no God at all and some in short confess That there is a God but deny that he has any Knowledge or takes any Care of things here below But the Reason of a Man discovers these Notions to be false and so by the Light of Nature he comes to know That there can be but one God Almighty Eternal and Infinite who is in all places who Knows all things and Orders all things and afterwards by reading the Books of Mosâ—â— and the Prophets where he found these Truths explain'd he was fully convinc'd of them and studied with the greatest Application of mind to know this Sovereign Being who is the Fountain of all kind of Beauty and Perfection Neither did he stop here but upon further Enquiry he came to understand That 't was unworthy of God to suppose that Man to whom he had given so much Knowledge should be annihilated for ever for if this were true to what purpose would his Knowledge serve since Death would one Day deprive him of all Understanding But then as on the one side Reason discovers it to be fit that Man should be Immortal so on the other side the Sense of his present Weakness and the Apprehension of Death which he sees is unavoidable fill him with anxious Fears In this State he has recourse to the Gospel which perfects all the Knowledge he had before and resolves all the Doubts that yet remain with him There he learns That there is an Eternal Word the Son of God who was made Man and came into the World to communicate to it the Fulness of Grace and Truth This gives him hopes infinitely above all that he could have before for now he presently perceives the Excellency and Greatness of these Gifts by understanding That since the Son of God was made Man nothing can hinder but Men may become the Sons of God and so when a Man joyfully receives this Doctrine he perfects the Knowledge he had of the Divinity by the Knowledge of the Humanity of Jesus Christ. He renews his Spirit by Faith He acknowledges the Providence of one God over him and begins to be fully persuaded that he who created him will not annihilate him In short he understands That Faith is the only infallible means of coming to the Knowledge of the Truth That it rejects unprofitable Questions and resolves the captious Difficulties of humane Philosophy That it judges not of the Conduct of God according to the Thoughts of Men nor of that of Jesus Christ according to the Maxims of this World That 't was by this Faith whereof the Law was only a Shadow and Type that Jesus Christ having rais'd our Minds to that which is most Sublime and Divine prescrib'd to us instead of the Circumcision of the Flesh the Circumcision of the Spirit which consists in the Reformation of our Lives and the Renovation of our Hearts That as we die to Sin in Baptism that we may live a Spiritual and Immortal Life so Jesus Christ died for us that we might rise again together with him and so the Death of him who is Immortal procur'd Immortality to us Mortals Now when once the Soul is fully possess'd with these Thoughts she rests satisfied with this Hope without fearing Death or being wearied of Life For she considers Death as the beginning of Eternal Life and looks upon this present Life as the means of obtaining a happy Immortality
much Heat and Passion the Stile is Harsh and Barbarous there is no Reasoning nor Principles in any thing that he says He only proposes Maxims which he proves by the Testimonies and Examples of Scripture whether they be pertinent to his Subject or no from whence it comes to pass that his Writings are nothing but a Collection of Passages of Scripture mix'd with Apostrophe's Applications and Reflections In the Two Books against Constantius he designs to prove That this Emperour was very much to blame for endeavouring to compel the Bishops to condemn St. Athanasius who was Absent and Innocent To prove this Truth he produces abundance of Histories and Passages out of Scripture which show First That God condemns no Man without hearing him And Secondly That 't is forbidden in Scripture to condemn any Man without hearing his Defence Thirdly That those who shed the Blood of the Innocent shall be most severely punish'd Fourthly That Constantius has no right to command Bishops because he is a Profane Person a Heretick and a Persecutor The design of the Treatise Of Apostate Kings is to prove by the Examples of many impious Kings That the Success of Constantius does not demonstrate that he has any right to Persecute the Orthodox Bishops nor that his Doctrine is true The other Books shew their Arguments by their Titles The First is to show That we must neither Assemble nor Pray with the Arians who are declar'd Hereticks The Second Is to Justify the severe Conduct of the Catholicks against the Arians and the Liberty that they take to reprove them with boldness and vehemence without sparing even the Powers themselves that is to say this Book is peculiarly design'd to justify Lucifer St. Hilary and some other Catholicks in their way of speaking to the Emperour Constantius The last Book contains many Proofs of this Truth That we must die for the Son of God He blames the Emperour Constantius for his Impiety and Cruelty and at the same time he praises the Constancy of the Catholicks who suffer Martyrdom with Joy for the Defence of the Orthodox Faith Lucifer's Works with the Letters of St. Athanasius and Florentius were Printed at Paris in 8 vo by Johannes Tillius Bishop of Meaux in 1568. and afterwards inserted into the Bibliothecae Patrum VICTORINUS of Africk FABIUS MARIUS VICTORINUS born in Africk after he had profess'd Rhetorick for the space of many Years in the City of Rome with so much Reputation that a Statue was Victorinus of Africk erected for him in one of the publick Places of the City did at last in his old Age embrace the Christian Religion The studying of Plato's Books which he had translated gave him some relish for the Holy Scripture for when he read it he admir'd it and so became a Christian in his heart He discover'd this Inclination to his Friend Simplicianus who exhorted him to enter into the Church of Christ since he was persuaded of the Truth of his Religion Victorinus thinking it was sufficient to know the Truth answer'd him as it were jesting upon his Simplicity And do the Walls then make Christians But at last being confirm'd in the Faith by Reading and Meditating upon the Holy Scripture and considering that Jesus Christ would not own him at the Day of Judgment if he should be asham'd to confess him publickly here he says to his Friend Simplicianus Let us go to Church and after he had been some time a Catechumen he was baptiz'd in the presence of all the People St. Austin reports this History B. VIII of his Confessions Ch. 2. which he says he learn'd from St. Ambrose St. Jerom places this Victorinus among the Number of Ecclesiastical Writers and observes that he wrote Books against Arius compos'd in a Logical Method Dialectico More which are very obscure and cannot be understood but by Learned Men. He adds That he had also written Commentaries upon the Apostle St. Paul but he says in another place that these Commentaries were almost useless because this Author having been wholly addicted to the Study of humane Learning did not understand the true Sence of the Holy Scripture We have at present those Four Books of Victorinus against Arius which are printed in the Orthodoxographa and in the Bibliothecae Patrum but besides this Book which St. Jerom mentions there are some other Tracts which bear the Name of the same Author These are in the Bibliothecae Patrum viz one in Defence of the Word Consubstantial three Hymns of the Trinity and one Poem of the Maccabees Sirmondus has also publish'd by its self in the Year 1630 a little Treatise against the Manichees and another about the beginning of Day All these Books are written in the same Stile and by the same Author In the Four Books against Arius dedicated to Candidus he refutes the Errors of this Heretick and those of his Followers he proves there the Divinity of the Word and defends the Consubstantiality But he does it in so Scholastick and Intricate a way that 't is very difficult to comprehend his Arguments One may find several Expressions about the Mystery of the Trinity that are scarce Sence and quite different from that way of speaking which is us'd in the Holy Scripture and by the Church of God The Book in Defence of the Term Consubstantial is a kind of Summary of those Four Books The Treatise to Justinus who was a Manichee is written against the Error of those Hereticks who admitted two Principles of the World and believ'd that the Flesh was created by an Evil Principle Victorinus refutes these two Errors in few words and exhorts Justinus to acknowledge one God only Suffer not any more says he my Friend Justinus suffer not your self you who are of the City of Rome to be abus'd by the Impieties of the Persians or Armenians In vain do you macerate your self with extraordinary Mortifications for after you have made your self lean by those Austerities your Flesh is of no other kind than that which shall return to the Devil in darkness who according to you created it I advise and require you to acknowledge That God Almighty is he that created you that so you may be truly the Temple of God according to the Words of the Apostle You are truly the Temple of God and his Spirit dwelleth in you If you have not the Honour to be the Temple of God and to receive the Holy Spirit into you Jesus Christ is not come to save but to destroy you for if we are his our Body and Soul must belong to him and then it may be truly said That God is all in all That he is the One and only Almighty and Eternal Principle of the whole Universe and perfectly Infinite to whom be Honour and Glory This is the Conclusion of this Treatise which ispleasanter and more intelligible than those which are written against the Arians In the little Tract about the beginning of Day he endeavours to show That the
were sent to St. Basil as Spyes upon him These two Persons having created some trouble to this Saint he wrote about it to Eustathius and pray'd him to put a stop to the Disorder which they caus'd in his Diocess This Letter is the 307 which I believe was written to Eustathius of Sebastea though some think that it was address'd to another Eustathius Bishop of Himeria to whom the preceeding Letter is address'd Some time after Eustathius being invited to a Council held by St. Basil not only refus'd to come thither himself but hindred all those of his Party from going and declared himself in his Discourses and in his Letters against St. Basil. He had also the Insolence to write him a Letter wherein he declared That he had withdrawn from his Communion and publish'd a Writing or Manifesto against him wherein he accuses him of the Error of Apollinarius St. Basil understanding these things acknowledg'd but too late that he had too easily given Credit to one of the greatest Cheats in the World He began to commend the Prudence of Theodotus of Nicopolis and to reconcile himself perfectly to him he wrote the Letter 196 wherein he gives him a faithful account of all that we have said and testifies the regret he had for trusting to this Impostor He observes That he had publish'd a Confession of Faith which was perfectly agreeable to the Opinions of Arius and accuses him of re-ordaining Bishops A Bishop of Cilicia nam'd Theophilus joyn'd himself with Eustathius against St. Basil. 'T is to him that Letter 310. is address'd wherein St. Basil acquaints him That though he had great Cause of Grief upon his account yet he would not cease always to remember him The Letter 81. to Eustathius the Physician was written upon the Separation of Eustathius of Sebastea for therein he testifies what Trouble he endur'd for the Separation of those who had withdrawn from his Communion but yet he was oblig'd rather to suffer their Division from him than do any thing against the Truth and against his own Conscience because there was nothing more dear to him than the Faith and Hope in Jesus Christ. In Letter 82. to Patrophilus who had objected this Separation to him He shows him That his Enemies were the Causes of this Division and justifies himself from two Accusations which Eustathius had form'd against him Whereof the First was That he had formerly written to Apollinarius And the Second That he had received Diodorus into his Communion With reference to Apollinarius he confesses That he had formerly written one Letter only to him but he says That he did not then believe him to be in an Error That he could not be responsible for his Faults And That he had not read his Writings As to Diodorus he confesses that he received him into his Communion as a good Catholick being Educated by Silvanus of Tarsus and who could be charg'd with nothing He vindicates himself also from the Crimes that were imputed to him in a Writing address'd to Dazizus and at last he accuses Eustathius of Sebastea and describes his Life in such a manner as is very much to his disadvantage Patrophilus having received this Letter sent St. Basil word that he would not separate from him St. Basil thanks him in Letter 85 and admonishes him That for keeping Peace we must make choice of such Persons with whom we may be United and that we are oblig'd to break with some Persons with whom Peace cannot be had But St. Basil did not only defend himself by Letters written to his Friends but he wrote also a very smart Letter upon the same Subject to Eustathius which is the 79. There he gives an Account of his Conduct and his Doctrine during the whole time of his Life He shews him That he could not be accus'd without Injustice for having written almost Twenty Years ago to Apollinarius He takes Eustathius himself for a Witness of his Faith and asks him If he could accuse him of promoting any Error in the Conference which he had with him He accuses him of being the Disciple of Arius and Aetius At last he observes That the true Cause wherefore he had made this Separation was not because of the Letter which St. Basil wrote to Apollinarius as is pretended but because his Communion might be prejudicial to those who would acquire Favour and Authority 'T was at the beginning of this Year that St. Basil wrote to his Brother Gregory Nyssen upon a Complaint that he had against him He acquaints him in Letter 44 That he was surprised that there were three Letters written to him under the Name of his Uncle Gregory which were none of his He gives him to understand That he would come and see him and the Bishops his Friends provided they would receive him Honourably The 45 and 46 are to this Uncle Gregory upon the same Difference The Letter 43 goes under the Name of St. Basil and is address'd to the same St. Gregory Nyssen in the Editions of St. Basil But 't is in the Second Volume of St. Gregory Nyssen under the Name of that Father and is address'd to their Brother Peter and indeed it has more of the Stile of St. Gregory than of St. Basil. The Author of it explains with much Subtilty the Difference between the words Hypostasis and Essence and shows That Essence signifies that which is common to the Three Divine Persons and Hypostasis that which is peculiar to each Person The Letter 263 to Eusebius of Samosata was written before Easter in the Year 372. It contains excuses for not writing to him so often as he would St. Basil fell sick about Easter and was afflicted with a Fever which tormented him till Winter as appears by the Letters 257 and 258 written at the same time to Eusebius of Samosata and by 270 271 to Antiochus This same Year the Persecution of the Arians was begun anew more fiercely than ever St. Basil speaks of this Persecution in his Letter 5. to Eusebius wherein he acquaints him That 't was rais'd against the Catholicks of the Church of Tarsus which was the Centre of Unity to Isauria Cilicia and Cappadocia That the Church was ruin'd by desperate Persons and that all things went on from bad to worse while the Catholicks were amus'd and did nothing but look on Eusebius answer'd him That they must write again to the Bishops of the West to desire of them some Relief St. Basil wrote also about it to Meletius without whose Advice he would undertake nothing This Letter is the 58 wherein he complains that Anthimus Bishop of Tyana would have Ordain'd one Faustus in the room of a Bishop whom St. Basil had Ordain'd in Armenia He sent this Letter by Sanctesimus whom he charg'd also with a Letter to Theodotus wherein he complains of the Ordination of Faustus This Letter is the 195. Afterwards he gave to the same Person three Letters The First for the Priests of Antioch the
Sabellians At last he says That Corporeal and Temporal Goods are not good in themselves tho' they ought to be preferr'd to the Evils that are opposite to them But he averrs that God sends these Good Things according as he thinks fit for the Good of Men That there is such a Just Man to whom these Evils are necessary that he may be Just and there is another Just Man to whom God gives these temporal Good Things for a Recompence and there is such a Wicked Man to whom God denies them because they would harden him but there are other bad Men to whom he gives them in order to their Conversion In the 399 to the same Person he says That the Spirit of a Man is good of it self but it can apply it self to Good or Evil and to that which is indifferent That 't is given to it to know the Truth That God is this Truth which it ought to know And that he is to be known as far as an infinite Being can be known by a finite Mind This Letter is against the Error of Aetius who believed that the Essence of God might be perfectly known In the following Letter he proposes also one of the Sophisms of this Heretick who thus objected to the Catholicks Do you know whom you adore If you say that you know him What then is his Substance If you know him not How then do you adore him St. Basil answers That the Attributes and Operations of God may be known but we cannot comprehend his Essence nor his Nature That by Faith we believe his Existence which also may be known by his Power and its Effects and yet both Faith and Reason teach us that he is Incomprehensible In the 401 he solves also another Sophism of Aetius who ask'd Whether Knowledge were before Faith or Faith before Knowledge He answers That Knowledge is the Principle of Faith because the Existence of God is known by the Creatures and Faith follows this imperfect Knowledge as Adoration follows Faith He proves also that the Works of God and the Effects of his Power may be known but that we cannot perfectly know his Essence He explains many Significations of the Word Know. In the 408 Letter he speaks of the Relicks of the Martyrs as well as in 241. In the 410 he says That we ought to be content with the Faith which we made Profession of at our Baptism and to confine our selves to the Words that are taken out of the Holy Scripture for expressing it That we should shun all new Expressions because our Salvation does not depend upon the Words but the Orthodox Faith The 412 is against a Deacon nam'd Glycerius who had got into Orders to serve the Cure of a Church in Venesa together with a Priest This Deacon after he was Ordain'd had neglected his Ministry and had gathered together a multitude of Virgins to whom he had made himself Patriarch For St. Basil makes use of this very Term and says That he had taken upon him the Habit St. Basil adds That he did not this for Piety nor Devotion but to get Money That thus he had disturb'd the Church to which he belonged and despised the Parish Priest that Govern'd it That being reproved for this Disorder by the Parish-Priest and the Bishop he had fled with a Company of Virgins and Young Men himself being at the head of them That this happened when there was an Assembly of Bishops in the place and that he had abused the Parents who demanded their Daughters back again St. Basil prays him to whom he sent this Letter who had written to him in favour of this Deacon to perswade him to return to send back the Virgins or at least not to detain those by force who desired to return He promises also Pardon to Glycerius if he returned with a Letter from him to whom he wrote and a Resolution to behave himself more Modestly if not he declares him Suspended from his Function In the following Letter he still presses this Friend to procure the Return of Glycerius and the Young Women whom he had carried away with him and bids tell them That they needed fear nothing At last in the last Letter superscribed to this Glycerius he exhorts him to return and promises to Pardon his Fault upon their Account that had begg'd it for him and chiefly for the sake of his Parish-Priest who had interceded for him He declares That he should lose the Dignity of a Deacon if he absented himself any longer The 417 is written to a Judge upon a Robbery that was committed in his Church Some Garments of the Poor were taken away and the Robbers were discover'd by those that look'd after the Fabrick of the Church whereupon St. Basil condemned them to make Restitution Nevertheless they were accus'd before this Judge and St. Basil wrote to him That he had judg'd them and that the Cognizance and Punishment of any thing that happen'd in Churches belong'd to Bishops The 418 and 419 are written to a Receiver of the Taxes to pray him to relieve the Poor These are all the Letters of St. Basil which concern Religion The others are Letters of Civility of Recommendation or Consolation which have no respect to the Affairs of the Church of which I shall here give you a Catalogue The Letters of Civility of Complement and Congratulation c. are the 83 the 142 and those that follow to the 164 the 169 and so on to the 181 the 122 and so on to the 244 the 248 268 282 283 285 286 287 288 and 312 the 328 c. to 335 the 341 350 351 354 355 356 359 363 369 378 384 386 389 390 407 425 and 426 and the Three Letters of Libanius and St. Basil publish'd by Cotelerius Those of Recommendation or Request are the 11 84 215 c. to 220 221 232 236 237 247 248 267 333 352 353 357 360 365 366 367 373 374 375 376 377 380 381 415 416 420 421 422 423 424 427 428 and the Two publish'd by Cotelerius The Letters of Consolation are 186 188 189 201 202 347 362. I say nothing of the Letter to the Emperour Theodosius publish'd by Cotelerius because 't is evidently Supposititious All these Letters are written very pleasantly and they may be compared for their Stile and Wit to those of the most able Writers of Letters We have reserv'd the Letters of St. Basil to Amphilochius to be particularly treated of because they contain Decisions upon principal Points of Discipline which are not to be considered as the particular Opinions of St. Basil but as the Laws of the Church in his time And therefore they are not written in the form of particular Letters but after the manner of Synodal Decisions which are call'd Canons The 1st of these Canons is concerning the Validity or Invalidity of the Baptism of Hereticks St. Amphilochius had ask'd him particularly whether it was necessary to rebaptize those who had been baptiz'd
to whom St. Amphilochius made answer That it was enough that he had Saluted him Whereupon Theodosius fell into a Passion and declar'd how much he was offended with him for his neglecting of his Son That then Amphilochius discreetly told him You cannot suffer an Injury to be done to the Emperour your Son and do you suffer those who dishonour the Son of God That the Emperour being surpriz'd with this Reply made a Law wherein he forbids Hereticks to hold their Assemblies any longer Theodoret says That this happen'd after Theodosius's Return into the East that is about the Year 392. But 't is much more probable that St. Amphilochius spoke thus to the Emperour sometime after the Council of Constantinople in the Year 382 since it was then that the Law of Theodosius was made against Hereticks forbidding their Assemblies The Year of Amphilochius's Death is not certainly known St. Jerom in his Book of Ecclesiastical Writers written in 392 mentions him as one then living There also he mentions a Treatise of the Holy Spirit which St. Amphilochius had read to him a little while before wherein he proves that the Holy Spirit was God Adorable and Almighty The Works of this Father have been quoted with Commendation by the Councils and the Ancients The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon produce some Testimonies out of them against the Errors of Nestorius and Eutyches but they do not tell us out of what Book they are taken Theodoret in his Dialogues produces others which are taken out of the Homilies upon these Words of the Gospel My Father is greater than I and upon these other Words The Son can do nothing of himself and out of a Homily upon these other Words of Jesus Christ in St. John Chap. 5. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath eternal life and out of a Homily upon these Words of Jesus Christ in St. Matth. Chap. 26. My God let me not drink of this Cup out of a Discourse against the Arians which is the same with that upon these Words My Father is greater than I as appears by Leontius and out of another Sermon upon the Word the Son of God Facundus in Ch. 3. of B. XI of his Treatise cites Four Passages out of St. Amphilochius whereof the First is taken out of the Homily upon these Words My Father is greater than I the Second out of the Homily upon these Words He that believeth in him that sent me hath eternal life the Third out of the Homily upon these Words I ascend to my Father and my God and the Last out of the Homily upon these Words Let me not drink of this Cup. The Seventh Council in Action Five quotes a Fragment of St. Amphilochius against the Books written by Hereticks who bear the Name of the Apostles Leontius and Anastasius Sinaita quote also some Passages of St. Amphilochius St. John Damascene produces some Passages taken out of Two of his Letters whereof one was address'd to the Suadrenses and the other to Seleucus There is also a Fragment and a Question concerning the Flesh of Jesus Christ which is thought to have been extracted by Photius and another Fragment of a Letter written to the Deacon Pancarius Barlaam has also collected some Passages taken out of the Letter to Seleucus out of the First Sermon upon these Words No Man knows either the day or the hour of judgment out of another upon these Words The Child Jesus grew out of another upon these Words Destroy this Temple These Fragments have almost all been collected together by Father Combefis who has also publish'd the entire Works as many as could be found under the Name of Amphilochius and printed them at Paris in 1644. These are Eight Sermons a Poem upon the Holy Books and the Life of St. Basil. The 1st Sermon is upon the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The 2d is upon the Circumcision wherein he enlarges upon the Praise of St. Basil. The 3d. is upon the Purification of the Virgin the Mother of God upon Anne and Simeon The 4th is a second Sermon upon the Virgin and Simeon which is not written by St. Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium the Friend of St. Basil but by another Amphilochius Bishop of Syda who was present at the Council of Ephesus for this Sermon is written directly against Nestorius and is of a Stile different from the former The 5th is upon Lazarus The 6th upon the Woman in the Gospel that was a Sinner The 7th which had been formerly printed at Antwerp in 1598 is of the Holy Saturday The Last is about Penance This has not the same Stile as the others The Author speaks against the Heresy of the Iconoclasts and relates Fabulous Stories from whence it appears that this Homily is the Work of some Modern Greek It cannot be certainly known of any one of these Sermons that it belongs to St. Amphilochius of Iconium rather than Amphilochius Bishop of Syda The Poem to Seleucus has the Stile of St. Gregory Nazianzen whatever Father Combefis says to the contrary and it is very probable that it was written by this Father under the Name of Amphilochius There he makes an Enumeration of the Canonical Books which is not different from that which is in the 33d Poem For tho' he speaks of the Book of Esther and the Revelation yet he does not put them in the Rank of those Books which all the World receives for Canonical he only observes that some have admitted them and others have rejected them The Life of St. Basil attributed to Amphilochius translated into Latin by Cardinal Ursus whose Translation was printed by Rosweydus publish'd in Greek and Latin by Father Combefis contains many Fables and many particulars of the Life of St. Basil contrary to the Truth of History b Contrary to the Truth of History The Author of this Life supposes that St. Basil was Bishop in the time of Julian that Libanius was of Julian's Retinue that when this Emperour was kill'd he was converted in a few Days after and retired with St. Basil. Now 't is evident that St. Basil was not Bishop in the Emperour Julian's time and that Libanius was so far from being converted after his Death that he wrote a Panegyrick in his praise All the Histories which are related in this Life are Fabulous and do no ways agree with what the Ancients have said of St Basil. In a word No body can read this Piece but they may presently discover its Imposture so that it is plainly the Work of a Modern Greek Father Combefis who endeavours to maintain its Authority against the Opinion of Possevinus Baronius and Bellarmin says That some places in it are added and corrupted but that the Body of the Work is Amphilochius's which he does not prove at all nor can it appear probable to those that read it who will neither find in it the Stile nor the Genius of the Fourth Age of the Church The Life of
Chrysostom This Arsacius furiously persecuted S. Chrysostom's friends This Saint tarried not long at Nice but left it on the 13th of July to go to Cucusus the place of his Exile where he arrived in September He endured much by the way but was kindly received by Dioscorus Bishop of the place In the mean time Laws were published at Constantinople against those that adhered to S. Chrysostom Three of them are in the Theodosian Code The First of the First of September l. 16. tit 2. c. 3. It is against Foreign Clerks who kept Meetings in private places The Second of the Tenth of the same Month is tit 4. c. 5. of the same Book By this Law those are to be Fined who suffered their Slaves to go to private Meetings The Third in the same place c. 6. forbids all the Meetings of those that did not communicate with Arsacius Bishop of Constantinople Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria and Porphyrius who was chosen Bishop of Antioch in the place of Flavianus All these Laws are against them that took John's part and held private Meetings and refused to communicate with those Three Patriarchs About the latter end of that Year a shower of Hail of extraordinary bigness did much mischief in Constantinople and the Empress died soon after John's friends look'd upon both these accidents as Judgments from God for the injurious usage of S. Chrysostom The Patriarchs of the East having declared against S. Chrysostom he could expect no relief but from the Western Bishops and particularly from the See of Rome which had always been the refuge of Bishops that were unjustly persecuted in their own Country To prevent Pope Innocent Theophilus sent him a Letter by one of his Readers acquainting him with S. Chrysostom's deposition This being publickly known in Rome 〈◊〉 Deacon of Constantinople petition'd the Pope that he would suspend his Judgment till he were rightly informed of the matter Three days after came four Bishops sent by S. Chrysostom who delivered to the Pope a Letter from him imploring 〈◊〉 succour and that of the Bishops of the West with another Letter from Forty Bishops and the Clergy of Constantinople which declared That S. John Chrysostom was condemned unjustly and without being heard S. Innocent being persuaded that Theophilus had not proceeded regularly sent Letters of Communion to S. Chrysostom as well as to the Bishops that condemned him and declared that it was requisite to call an unexceptionable Council both of Eastern and Western Bishops Theophilus afterwards sent to Rome the Acts of the Council held against S. Chrysostom but this altered not the Pope's resolution who declared that he could not â—efuse Communion with S. Chrysostom before a new Council had condemned him Soon after Theoctâ—nus brought a Letter from Five and twenty Bishops signifying to the Pope that S. Chrysostom had been expelled out of Constantinople and sent into Exile the same was afterwards confirmed by another Letter of Fifteen Bishops brought by the Bishop of Apamea and by the Testimony of Palladius of Helenopolis who was forced to flâ—â— to Rome and by Letters from the Clergy of Constantinople which gave an Account of the Violences exercised against their Bishop and the whole Church of Constantinople The Pope moved with these things writ to S. Chrysostom and to his Clergy those Letters which are preserved by Sozomen in his History l. 8. c. 26. S. Chrysostom's friends every-where published these Letters and wrought so far with Innocent that he obtained of Honorius Emperor of the West a Letter to his Brother Arcadius in the behalf of S. Chrysostom by the which he requested of his Brother that a Council might be assembled at Thessalâ—nica where Theophilus should appear as one accused Three Bishops Two Presbyters and Two Deacons were deputed to carry this Letter with the Letters of several Western Bishops written in favour of S. Chrysostom But these Deputies were stopt at Athens by the Governour and sent by Sea with a Guard to Constantinople They were not permitted to enter into the Town but were convey'd to a Castle in Thrace where they were shut up A Counsellor of State called Patricius went thither to ask for the Letters they answered That their Order was not to deliver them to any but the Emperor and the Bishops to whom they were directed Patricius withdrawing after this Answer another Officer named Valerius was sent to take them by force The next day Money was proffered them to admit to their Communion Atticus who succeeded Arsacius in the See of Constantinople They refused it and demanded to be sent back When they could not be made to comply they were put into an old Vessel with Twenty Souldiers that carried them to Lampsacus where they shifted their Vessel and arrived at Oâ—ranto a Port of Calabria Twenty Days after their Embarquing and Four Months from their departure out of Italy This Deputation was dated in the Year 404. In the mean time S. Chrysostom being unhealthy in the place of his Exile was obliged often to shift his Quarters as appeareth by his 131st Letter But notwithstanding his banishment and infirmities he still sent Priests and Monks to preach the Gospel among the Goths and Persians and to take care of the Churches of Armenia and Phoenicia as appears by his 14th 123d 126th 203d 204th 206th and 207th Letters But his Enemies would not let him be quiet but persuaded the Emperour to send him further to Pityus a Town upon the Euxine Sea Immediately Souldiers were sent to convey him thither The usage which he endured and the fatigue of the Journey so weakned him that he fell sick of a violent Fever which carried him off in a few hours In the place where he died there was a Church of S. Basiliscus Martyr where he was buried the 4th of November 407 having been Three Years Three Months and Four and Twenty Days in banishment Aged Sixty Years and Ten Years Ordained Bishop of Constantinople After his Death the East and the West were divided for some time upon his account because those of the West reverenced his Memory and the others on the contrary look'd upon him as a condemn'd Bishop whose Name they refused to insert into the Diptychs That is to say in the Registers of those that were to be mentioned with Honour at the Celebration of the Eucharist One would have thought that the Emperour Arcadius his Death happening Five Months after should have removed the greatest obstacle which hindered the Bishops of the East from doing justice to the Memory of S. Chrysostom but Theophilus exercised his hatred against him even after his death He wrote against him a book full of Invectives and reproachfull Railings and prevented while he lived any honour to be done to the Memory of S. Chrysostom in the East When Theophilus was dead the Spirits of the Eastern Bishops began to relent and they began to be more favourable to the Memory of that Saint Alexander Successour to Porphyrius in the See of
Injustice and Violence exercised towards him and the Disturbance in the Churches of the East upon his account very eloquently he entreats them to write to the East to tell them That what was done against him was to be look'd upon as of no force as being done against the Laws in his absence by his Enemies and to the prejudice of those proffers which he had made to appear before lawful Judges and consequently that such as acted so Uncanonically were to be punished according to the severity of Ecclesiastical Laws declaring That he was ready to justifie his Innocence and to convince his Accusers of Imposture and Violence before uncorrupt Judges There is another Letter to Pope Innocent wherein he thanks him for the good Offices which he had endeavoured to do him but it was written long after the former in the third Year of S. Chrysostom's banishment The Letter to the Bishops and Priests that were put in Prison for defending his Innocence and refusing to communicate with Aâ—sacius was written in the first Year of his Exile There he commends the Constancy and Courage of these generous defenders of Justice whom he scruples not to call Martyrs The seventeen following Epistles are directed to the Widow Olympias who was united to him by the bonds of an intimate Friendship he comforteth her for the Persecutions she had endured the Affliction she was in and for the Sickness she lay under These are some of the Maxims which he lays down to comfort her and himself Nothing is to be feared but sin all other accidents of this life are but a Fable and a Comedy Afflictions Persecutions Sicknesses and Death it self should not move us these are to be born with patience for God's sake no other Blessing is to be compared with Patience We are neither to desire Death nor to neglect Sickness not the Persecuted but Persecutors are Objects of pity and the latter are so much the more to be lamented because like Men in a Frenzie they feel not their Distemper This present life is but a passage all the Goods of this World are but Dust and Smoak Such Christian thoughts as these employ'd the Spirit of S. Chrysostom in his Exile and furnish'd him with matter for the Letters he writ to his Friends He thanked them likewise in his Epistles for the care they had of him and for the generous Methods which they followed to justifie him with other Letters to oblige his Friends to continue stedfast to him to let them hear of him to let them know what they might do for him and to pray them That they would write to him These are the subjects of the greatest part of 225 Letters written to his Friends Some are concerning the Affairs of the Church in Phoenicia the Conversion of the Goths and the helping of the Poor which shew That tho' he was banished and deprived of his Bishoprick yet he preserved an Episcopal Spirit and Pastoral Watchfulness The Judgment which the learned Photius makes of these Letters is this Vol. 36. of his Bibliotheca I have read saith he the Letters which S. Chrysostom writ to several persons in the time of his Banishment the most usefull are those seventeen to Olympias and that to Innocent Bishop of Rome wherein he gives an account of the Persecutions which he suffered as much as the extent of a Letter could permit The Stile of these Letters is not very different from that of his other Works for it is clear and lofty florid pleasant and persuading The Letters to Olympias are not so artless as the others because he could not suit an Epistolary Stile with the Matter he was to write which if we may so say has done Violence to the Laws of the art of Writing This Reflection of Photius is particularly to be apply'd to the Letter directed to Pope Innocent and the other Western Bishops wherein he describeth the Persecutions which he endur'd with great force of Eloquence There is not among these Letters That directed to Caesarius the Monk Peter Martyr was the first that quoted it in these latter times and since he did not tell whence he took it and that the words seem'd contrary to the Doctrine of the Church and of S. Chrysostom upon the Eucharist those of the Church of Rome did long suspect Peter Martyr as guilty of Imposture and look'd upon the fragment of that Letter as a piece of his own Invention But since that time Bigotius having found an ancient Manuscript of the Version of that Letter in the Dominican's Library at Florence it was no longer doubted but that Peter Martyr took from thence the fragment which he quoted and I think we ought not to reject it as unworthy of S. Chrysostom For tho' the Greek Original is not extant entire yet something of S. Chrysostom's Eloquence appears in that Version and this Letter is mentioned by several Greek Authors q By several Greek Authors These Authors are Anastasius in the MS. Collections of the Library of Clermont Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople in two MSS. in Mr. Colbert's Library an Author that wrote against the Severians published by Turrianus S. John Damascen Tom. 4. Var. Lect. Canisii p. 211. Theorianus in Legatione ad Armenios p. 74. these Fragments are in the Rotterdam and London Editions who have taken several Quotations that are Printed with the ancient Version By this Letter it appears that Caesarius to whom it was written admired a certain Book wherein it was averred That in Jesus Christ there was such an Union or mixture of Humanity with Divinity that they made but one Nature S. Chrysostom tells him that this was the Errour of Apollinarius Arius Sabellius and Manichaeus about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. And to inform him better he bids him take notice that there were two Natures in Christ and each of them doth preserve its Properties without mixture and without confusion tho' united together in the same Person to explain this truth he alledges the Example of the Eucharist and saith †The words in the Original are these Sicut enim antequam sanctificetur PANIS PANEM nominamus Divinâ autem illum sanctificante Gratiâ mediante Sacerdote Liberatus est quidem Appellatione panis dignus autem habitus est DOMINICI CORPORIS appellatione etiamsi natura Panis in eo permansit non duo corpora sed unum corpus filii praeditatur Sic hic Divinâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est insidente corporis Naturâ unum filium unam Personam utraque haec fecerunt Agnoscendum tamen inconfusam Indivisibilem rationem non in unâ solum Naturâ sed in duabus perfectis Thus translated into English by the Learned Defender of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Bishop of Meaux For as in the Eucharist before the Bread is Consecrated we call it Bread but when the Grace of God by the Priest has Consecrated it it is no longer called Bread
Hieronymus Vincentius propter verecundiam humilitatem nollent debita nomini suo exercere Sacrificia laborare in hac parte Ministerii qua Christianorum praecipua salus est This Ordination was about the Year 375. before the Peace was concluded betwixt Meletius and Paulinus in 378. S. Jerom might be about 35 Years old at that time As he would not enter into Orders but upon condition not to be compelled to Exercise the Functions of his Ministery so he did not think himself obliged to have his Name registred nor to reside in the Church of Antioch he left it therefore to go to Bethlehem which he chose for his constant Habitation Yet he did not stay there long but went to Constantinople where he conversed with S. Gregory Nazianzen whom he calls his Master and of whom he professes to have learned to expound the Holy Scripture Having tarried some time with this Saint he had a Call to Rome about the Affairs of the Church with Paulinus and S. Epiphanius l He was called to Rome with Paulinus and S. Epiphanius He says so himself in his 16th and 27th Epistles He came thither in 382 and went away three years after as he observes in the Letter to Asella he speaks in the 11th Letter and in his Apology to Pammachius of the Letters and Answers which he writ in Damasus's Name whose interest he had Espoused against those of the East this Journey was in all probability undertaken after the Death of Meletius in the Year 382. Damasus taking notice of S. Jerom's merit kept him with him that he might have a Man that was able to answer all Questions proposed from all parts S. Jerom did not only discharge the parts of that difficult Employment most worthily but composed several Books besides He was likewise charged with the conduct of the most considerable Ladies of the Town m He was charged likewise with the conduct of the most considerable Ladies of the Town These Ladies are become famous by S. Jerom's writtings their Names are Marcella who being left a young Widow and having been but seven Months with an Husband refused to Marry a Man of the first quality called Cerealis to continue in Widow-hood Her Mother Albina who came also to hear S. Jerom. Melania is not less famous by the Praises of S. Jerom than by those of Rufinus Asella Marcellina and Felicitas are also of the number of those whom he commended but his greatest Affection appeared to be for Paula and her Daughters Blesilla Eustochium Paulina Ruffina and Toxotium This is what he saith himself in his Letter to Asella of the Esteem which he had gotten among the Women I have saith he dwelt three years at Rome I was often encompassed with great numbers of Virgins and Women I often expounded the Holy Scripture to them This reading made them constant and their Assiduity begot a kind of Familiarity upon which an ill Opinion was conceived of me and yet he was not able to prevent wholly evil speaking The Clergy of that City whose manners he reproved found fault with his Carriage accused him of too much Familiarity with Paula and they suborned a Footman to tax him with disorder but the Fellow being imprisoned and put to the Rack disowned all that he had said before by which means he got many Friends and much credit But as he severely reproved the Mis-demeanours of the Clergy and the Vices of the people so he got many Enemies who endeavoured to render his Behaviour suspected After Damasus his Death S. Jerom who this whole three Years that he was at Rome longed for his Solitude took Shipping in August 385. to go back to Bethlehem with a great many Persons that accompanied him He passed thro Cyprus where he saw S. Epiphanius from thence he went to Antioch where Paulinus received him courteously and from Antioch he went to Jerusalem and then into Egypt where he stay'd some time with Didymus Afterwards he visited the Monasteries of Nitria and finding the Monks there adhering to Origen's Opinions he returned to Bethlehem whither the Ladies Paula Eustochium and Melania came soon after He continued some time in that place in a little Cell But the number of those that embraced that kind of Life being increased Paula built there a Church and four Monasteries one for Men and three for Women S. Jerom then enjoying perfectly that Quietness which he so much desired continued his Labours and there composed the greatest part of his Works upon the Scripture His rest was somewhat disturbed by the Quarels which he had with Rufinus and with John of Jerusalem upon the Account of Origenism yet he went on with writing and defended himself with a great deal of Vigour He died very old in the Year of Christ 420. This Saint wrote great numbers of Books full of profound Learning and written with great Purity and Eloquence In our Accounts and Abridgments we shall follow Marianus Victorius's Order that he uses in the Edition which he published of S. Jerom's works The First Volume contains the Letters which S. Jerom writ either to exhort his Friends to Vertue or to instruct them or to commend them in Panegyricks or funeral Orations The First directed to Heliodorus was written by S. Jerom from his Solitude some time after this Friend left him to return into his own Countrey He exhorts him to come back again by representing the great Advantages of a retired Life with great force and Fineness and by answering all the Reasons that might keep him from embracing it with abundance of Art This Treatise is a Master-piece of Eloquence in its kind nothing can be more florid more agreeable or more moving This Letter saith he whereof you will find some lines blotted with my tears will put you in mind of the tears I shed and of the Groans I uttered at your going from me You then endeavoured by your Caresses to sweeten the contempt that you cast upon my Intreaties .... I was not able to stop you at that time and now I seek after you now you are absent .... No I will use no more Intreaties I will employ no more Caresses Love that feels its self offended ought to turn into Anger You who regarded not my Supplications will perhaps hearken to my Reproaches Nice Soldier what are you doing in your Father's house .... Remember that day wherein by Baptism you listed your self a Soldier of Christ then you took an Oath of Fidelity to him that you would spare neither Father nor Mother for his Service .... Tho' your little Nephew should hang about your Neck tho' your Mother should tear her hair and rend her clothes to show you the Bosom that carried you to oblige you to stay and tho' your Father should lie down upon the Threshold of the Door to stop you step over your Father and follow the Standard of the Cross with dry Eyes It is great mercy to be cruel on such occasions I know
you will tell me we have not an Heart of stone nor Bowels of iron ... The love of God and the fear of Hell break all Chains The Scripture you will say Commands us to obey our Parents Yes but whosoever loveth them more than Christ loseth his his own Soul But this you willsay is to be understood when they persecute us to make us deny Christ. You are mistaken Brother if you suppose that a Christian can be without Persecution He is then most violently Assaulted when he thinks himself most secure Satan our Enemy is always like a Lyon seeking to devour us ... On the one side Pleasures court us on the other Covetousness torments us .... You are not allowed to enjoy your own Estate you must renounce all for Jesus Christ. If you will be Heir to the Goods of this World you cannot be Coheir with Jesus Christ. Do you know the meaning of the word Monk Why do you remain in the World you that ought to be alone ... But what you will answer me then are all those that live in Cities no Christians You are not in the same condition with others Hear the words directed unto you by our Saviour If you will be perfect sell all that you have give it to the poor and come and follow me Have you vowed perfection A perfect Servant should have nothing but Jesus Christ. So that if you be desirous of this World's Goods you are no longer in that State of perfection which you have embraced Perhaps you will alledge the Example of those Churchmen who live in Cities shall I find fault with their Resolutions God forbid that I should speak evil of those that succeed the Apostles who consecrate the Body of Jesus Christ with their Sacred mouths who make us Christians and who holding the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven in their hands judge if I may so say before the day of Judgment and are the Guardians of the Virginity of the Spouses of Christ. It is not with Monks as with Secular Church-men These â—eed the Sheep of Christ and we receive from them the spiritual Food they live of the Altar and we should be guilty if we did not bring our Offerings to the Altar I am not permitted to sit down before a Priest and if I sin he may deliver me to Satan if you are sollicited to take Orders I shall rejoyce with you for your Exaltation but shall fear a fall ... for as he who worthily discharges his Ministery acquires a degree of perfection so he on the contrary that comes to the Altar unworthily is guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ. All Bishops are not Bishops If the Example of S. Peter comforts you let that of Judas terrifie you If you admire Stephen's Sanctity let the Fall of Nicholas fright you It is not the Ecclesiastical Dignity that makes good Christians .... It is not easie for all men to have S. Paul's Graces nor S. Peter's Holiness who now are reigning with Christ. If a Monk falls a Priest may pray for him but who shall pray for the fall of a Priest S. Jerom having thus far prosecuted his reasonings endeth with these Acclamations Imitating saith he those Pilots who happily steered their Ship between Rocks and Banks of Sand O Wilderness he crys out always covered with the Flowers of Jesus Christ O Solitude where the Stones that are made use of to build the City of the great King spoken of in the Revelations are to be found O happy Retirement where Men may have familiar Conversation with God! What do you do Brother in the World how long will you dwell under the shadow of Houses till what time will you be in the Prison of smoaking Cities What are you afraid of in these solitary places Is it Poverty but Jesus Christ calleth the poor Happy Do's labour astonish you Can he that strives in the publick Exercises be Crowned before he has fought Do you think of your Diet a lively Faith fears not hunger Do you dread lying upon the naked ground with your Bodies worm out with Fasting Remember that Jesus Christ rests there along with you Are you Scared with the extent of this hideous Solitude Paradise is open to you These are some of the Arguments which S. Jerom uses to perswade Heliodorus to return to his Retirement The Second Letter to Nepotian Heliodorus his Nephew was composed by S. Jerom long after the First as he says himself at the beginning Being saith he yet young when I struggled with the First motions of youth by the Austerities of Solitude I write to Heliodorus your Uncle a Letter of Exhortation full of Complaints and Tears to show how sorry I was for the absence of my Friend I plaid then suitably to my Age and used all the Flowers of Rhetorick with which my self at that time was full But now I am Old and my Forehead is full of wrinkles and my Chin covered with a white Beard I can no longer do what I could do then And yet he Discourses here after a manner youthful enough producing several Examples taken out of Ecclesiastical and prophane History to shew that old Men have not the same heat nor vigour that young Men have He addeth Expect not therefore from me youthful Declamations florid Sentences sweet Words poignant or acute Expressions at the end of my Periods to draw the applause of those that hear us I beg of God only the lights of his Wisdom .... Hearken then as S. Cyprian saith to a Discourse that hath more Strength than Sweetness Hearken to him that is your Colleague and your Father by his age .... I know that your holy Uncle Heliodorus who is now a Minister of Jesus Christ has taught and do's teach you Holiness and that his Life is an example of Vertue to you But take from me besides these small Directions and joyning this Treatise to that which I writ before to your Uncle learn of this how to be a perfect Church-man as the former may instruct you how to be a good Monk These are the main Precepts which S. Jerom giveth to a Church-man in this excellent Letter A Clerk saith he that serveth the Church of Jesus Christ ought to begin with the knowledge of what his Name signifies and then Labour to be what is signified by it The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a Lot or a Portion therefore the Name Clerk is given to Church-men either because they are consecrated to the Lord or because the Lord is their Portion but whosoever belongeth to the Lord or hath the Lord to his Portion ought to live as one that possesseth the Lord and in whom the Lord dwelleth he is to possess nothing but the Lord .... And so indeed in serving at the Altar I ought to live of the Altar but ought to be content with with what is necessary for Food and Raiment and stript of all things I ought only to follow the Cross ..... I conjure you
disorderly People least they teach her more evil than they have learned themselves Let them teach her to read with Box or Ivory Letters whereof she may remember the Names ..... She ought to be made to love Study and Labour either by promising her Reward or by provoking her by Example If she be of a soft Temper reprove her not too fiercely she ought to be encouraged with Commendation to raise in her mind a Desire to excel others and some trouble to see her self out-done Above all have care that she be not disgusted with Study least she come to hate it when she becomes older Let her read the Sentences of the Holy Scripture and chuse for her an able Master a Man of a good Life who may take pains to teach her to read Despise not these beginnings as inconsiderable for the rest depend upon them The beginnings of Reading and Pronunciation are not taught alike by a skilful and by a wary Man Do not let her use her self to speak her words by halves nor to take Pleasure in handling of Gold or Purple The one will hurt her Speech and the other her Manners Let her not learn that in her Infancy which she must forget afterwards ..... Evil is easily imitated and we often take up their Vices whose Vertues we cannot reach Her Nurse should be sober no Tatler nor given to Wine ..... Let her clothes be modest convenient for the State for which you design her Let not her Ears be bored nor her Face us'd to Painting she should not have her Hair dyed fair nor her Garments adorned with Gold Pearls or Jewels unless you design her for Hell fire .... When she grows older let her follow her Parents to the Church but never go out to return to the Pomps of the World Let her keep to her Chamber and never appear at Feasts or publick Meetings but she ought not to use too much Abstinence till she comes to the Age of strength least she prejudices her Health Let her take that which helps necessity but not what feeds Luxury Let her not be at Musick-Meetings nor hear musical Instruments but learn and repeat daily Sentences out of the Holy Scripture She should never go abroad without her Mother nor grow very Familiar with any one of her Servants provide her a wise prudent and vertuous Governess that may show her the way to rise in the Night to sing Psalms to rehearse the morning Hymns and at Tierce Sext Nones and Vespers Let her pray and work Night and Day let her learn to handle the Distaffe to turn the Wheel and spin Wooll Let her not meddle with Embroidering either of Gold or Silver let her be modestly cloathed and soberly fed she should not fast excessively but observe Lent regularly and take no pleasure in Baths To these moral Precepts S. Jerom adds an Instruction for the Studies of young Girls and advises them to read all the Canonical Books both of the Old and New Testaments not excepting the Canticles He advises them not to read the Apocrypha but the Books of S. Athanasius and of S. Hilary He concludes by exhorting Laeta to send her Daughter to the Monastery at Bethlehem This Letter is written from the Solitude of Bethlehem about the Year 400. The Eighth Letter was written in the Year 411. after the taking of Rome by the Goths it is directed to a Virgin of the First quality one Demetrias who was retired into Africa and there had embraced a Religious Life S. Jerom having commended her Grand-mother Proba directs her how to maintain her Virginity by recommending to her several Exercises of Piety as reading of the Holy Scripture renouncing the Pomps of the World exercising Penance moderate Fasting Obedience Humility Modesty Alms-deeds Prayers at all hours of the day and working with her hands He advises her to stick to the Faith of Pope Innocent and to beware of the Errors of the Origenist's and tells her that she should chuse rather to dwell in a Nunnery with other Virgins than to live alone But he would have her avoid the Company of the Ladies of the World He finishes his Letter with Commendations of Virginity It is to be noted that in those days Virgins consecrated to God might go out of their Cloysters but S. Jerom advises them to do it seldom He calleth Penance a Second Plank after Shipwrack He observeth that Fasting is not properly a Vertue but the ground of all Vertues that Chastity is a degree to arrive at Perfection but if it be single it is not enough to merit the Crown of Heaven He admonishes Virgins not to be lifted up because of the perfection of their State but to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God who resisteth the Proud and giveth Grace to the humble But saith he what is of Grace is no recompence for Works but a Free-gift wherefore the Apostle writeth that the good which Man doth is not to be attributed either to his Will or Labour but to the mercy of God and yet to will or not to will is in our Power but what depends upon us doth not do so without God's help Velle non velle nostrum est ipsumque quod nostrum est sine Dei miseratione nostrum non est At last he exhorts Virgins rather to bestow their Estates upon the Poor than to beautifie Churches The Ninth Letter is directed to a Lady of Quality one Salvina who had lost her Husband Nebridius Son to the Empresses Sister Tho' S. Jerom knew her not yet he writ to her at the request of one of her Friends called Avitus He begins his Letter with Commendations of Nebridius whose Vertues were the more to be admired because he had spent his Life at Court and in great Employments and then advises his Widow to render to her Children what she owed her Husband by giving them a good Education exhorting her earnestly to continue a Widow and giving Rules for her Behaviour He exceedingly blames Second Marriages and looks upon them rather as tolerated to prevent a greater Evil than permitted as a good He observes in that Letter that Riches do not hinder a Man from being saved provided he makes good use of them as Poverty doth not make a Man holy or just if he doth not avoid Sin He calls Penance the Remedy of the miserable He says that men should have a care of Sinning out of hopes of rising again by Repentance that such Wounds should be prevented as cannot be cured without Pain that it is a far greater advantage to enter the Haven of Salvation with a sound Vessel full fraught with Merchandices than to be forced to swim upon a Plank in danger of being broken against the Rocks and the Waves of an agitated Sea Salvina or Silvina to whom this Letter was written was the Daughter of that Gildo Governour of Africa who going about to usurp the Empire after Theodosius his Death perished Anno 398. She was a Widow and dwelt
disapproved upon S. Jerom's Word In his management of his Quarrel he is deserted by the Papists because they condemn the Errors of Origen as well as he and therefore they cannot with any Decency excuse his Carriage towards Rufinus but in his Controversies with Jovinian and Vigilantius concerning Virginity and Invocation of Saints he is applauded by them only the wiser men amongst them are a little out of Countenance at his Heat It is a Misfortune that Jovinian's and Vigilantius's Books are lost and there is Reason to believe from those other Disputes wherein S. Jerom was ingaged that if we knew what they said for themselves instead of thinking them Hereticks we should esteem them illustrious Defenders of the Christian Religion against that Superstition which an immoderate Zeal for a Monastical Life did at that time introduce into the Church Jovinian indeed is accused of maintaining That a Christian who is baptized cannot fall away from Grace which is a very great Error but it had no relation to his other Opinions and since Obstinacy is necessary to make a man a Heretick it would be rashness to call Jovinian a Heretick of whom we know nothing but what we have from his Enemies And now to return to our Subject S. Jerom going on to justifie himself of those things which they reproached him withal namely of commending Origen sets forth some Examples of great Men that might be commended for their Learning who did hold very remarkable Errors S. Cyprian saith he took Tertullian for his Tutor as appears by his Writings and yet did not approve the Dreams of Montanus and Maximilla as he did Apollinarius hath written very convincing Books against Porphyrius and Eusebius writ a most useful History of the Church The former erred concerning the Mystery of the Incarnation and the latter defends the Opinions of Arius He owns that he was Apollinaris's Disciple Didymus's Scholar yea that he hath had a Jew for his Master that he collected carefully all Origen's Works and read them exactly but affirms that he never followed his Errors Lastly to make short he saith that if he may be believed he never was an Origenist and that tho he had been yet now he ceaseth to be so Upon this Principle he exhorts others to imitate him and to condemn his Errors after that he gives Origen high Commendations rejecting his Opinions He refutes what Rufinus had asserted that the Errors which were found in Origen's Works had been added and laughs at the Liberty which he had taken to expunge what he thought fit Last of all he affirms that the first Book of the Apology for Origen which bore the Name of Pamphilus was not that Martyrs but Didymus's or at least some other Author's This Letter is written near 150 years after Origen's Death that is in the year 399. The Sixty sixth Letter to Rufinus wherein he complains of his Preface is written at the same time He speaks to him as to a person with whom he would not quite fall out he telleth him that he knew not with what Spirit he writ that Preface but that all the World saw how it was to be understood that he might have been even with him by commending him after the like malicious Manner but that he chose rather to justify himself of the Crime laid to his Charge than offend his Friend that he intreated him to cite him no more after the same manner that he undertook to write to him about it as to his Friend rather than to ingage with him publickly To let him know that he would do nothing that might check that sincere Reconciliation which he had made with him he exhorts him on his part to do the same least saith he that biting one another we do not mutually consume one another Rufinus who was not of a Temper to lie still without replying immediately put pen to Paper to write against S. Jerom. Paulinianus who was then in the West having found a Way to get the Extracts of Rufinus his Book before it was quite published sent them to his Brother who besides was informed by Pammachius and Marcellinus of the principal Heads contained in Rufinus's Answer and so he composed immediately his first Apology divided into two Books In the First he answers Rufinus's Calumnies The First was that he had translated into Latin the Books of Origen's Principles without altering S. Jerom answers that he did it to show the falsity of Rufinus his Translation and to shew Origen's Errors and so his Translation could hurt no body since it appeared that it was made only to condemn the Errors of that Book To justifie Origen's Doctrine about the Trinity Rufinus had quoted the First Book of Pamphilus's Apology S. Jerom affirms that it was not composed by that Martyr Rufinus laid before him the Praises which he had given to Origen He answers as he did before that he had commended his Learning but not his Doctrine as he had commended Eusebius and Apollinaris without approving their Errors Rufinus charged him with publishing Errors and Contradictions in his Commentaries He says that he did it without approving of them that he has collected in his Commentaries the Notions and Words of others observing that some understood those passages in one Sence and others in another that so the prudent Reader may chuse what is truth and reject what is false and that in this Case none can Tax him with Errors and Contradictions who barely relates the Notions and different Expositions of others This he proves by the Example of the ablest Commentators of profane Authors Rufinus had found fault that he had variously translated the Twelth Verse of the second Psalm where the vulgar Translation saith Embrace the Discipline by rendring it according to the Hebrew sometimes worship the Son sometimes worship ye only S. Jerom tells him That he had kept to the Sence rather than to the Letter translating the Hebrew word Nashecu which signifieth Kiss or Embrace by this term Worship ye That as to the other word Bar which hath several Significations for it signifies the Son or a handful of pickt Ears of Corn he had followed the former Signification in his Commentary and that in his Version to prevent the Jews accusing Christians of falsifying the Holy Scripture he adher'd to the latter Signification which both Aquila and Symmachus followed Rufinus found fault likewise with several passages in S. Jerom's Commentary upon the Epistle to the Ephesians in which he had abridged the Commentaries of Origen S. Jerom defends himself by saying that he produced Origen's Opinions without approving of them since he observes at the same time that those Explications were not his own Lastly Rufinus upbraided S. Jerom that he was naturally given to Calumniating and speaking evil of every Body That he reproved other Mens works out of Envy Yea he laid Perjury to his Charge because having protested before the Judgment Seat of Christ as he says in his Book of the Instruction of Virgin
that Work are S. Jerom's they are far more worthy of an Impostor The Treatise of the Circumcision to Therasia is a more genuine and an Ancienter Monument The Twenty first Epistle is a Letter of S. Augustin to Januarius which was formerly the One hundred and nineteenth and now the Fifty fifth among this Father's Epistles The Authour of the two following Treatises is not known which are the one a Declamation against a Virgin called Susanna that was fallen into sin and the other a reproof to Evagrius for refusing to comfort a Churchman that had sinned The Twenty fourth Letter is written by Paulinus The other Pieces in the first part of this Volume are mean and flat Sermons upon divers Subjects The Thirty sixth concerning the Observation of the Eves of Holidays is ascribed in the Third Volume of F. Dachery's Spicilegium to Nicetius Bishop of Triers who lived about the year 535 there may be possibly several other Sermons of the same Author The Fortieth and last is a Letter upon the Parable of the Prodigal Son which belongs to some Pelagian Author and perhaps to Pelagius himself The Second part of this Volume containeth certain Discourses very like S. Jerom's though they bear the Names of their Authors These are a Letter of S. Paulinus to Sebastian the Hermit the Translation of Pamphilus his Apology for Origen a Treatise of Rufinus concerning the falsification of Origen's Books the Translation of Origen's Principles by Rufinus with his Prologue Rufinus his Apology to Pope Anastasius this Pope's Letter to John of Jerusalem Both the Books of Rufinus against S. Jerom. Three Letters of S. Augustin to S. Jerom which formerly were the Twenty eighth Twenty ninth and One hundred fifty seventh amongst S. Augustin's and now the One hundred sixty sixth One hundred sixty seventh and One hundred ninetieth and the Homily of the Pastors which is in the Ninth Volume of the same Author The Epistle attributed to Valerius addressed to Rufinus which comes after these Treatises of S. Augustin is the Work of some Impostor Gennadius his Book of Famous Men is a continuation of S. Jerom's but the Catalogue of some Ecclesiastical Authors which is found also in this Volume is a sad piece and so are two Letters going before it and two others immediately following falsely ascribed to S. Jerom and to Damasus The Rule for Monks is a Collection of Sentences and Precepts taken out of S. Jerom composed by Lupus General of the Monks that stiled themselves of the Order of Hermits of S. Jerom and approved by Pope Martin V. The Dialogue of the Origination of the Soul betwixt S. Augustin and S. Jerom is the Fiction of some ignorant Person who drew out of both these Fathers Works some Passages of his Dialogue It is not easy to guess who was the Author of the small Treatise of the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ but it is easy to guess that he that composed it was well vers'd in the Doctrine of the Fathers The same may be said of the Author that wrote the Homily upon the Parable of the importunate Neighbour who asked a Loaf oâ— his Friend Luk. chap. 11. The third part of this Volume contains such â—reatises as Marianus judged unworthy to be ranked among Pieces of any Value He might have joined to them those which he set down in the first and second Rank whereof some are even more contemptible than those in the third He begins with three Epistles which some Impostor composed under S. Jerom's Name But the Imposture is discovered by the Meanness of the Expressions and the little Exactness in the Thoughts which discover the Cheat. The first is a comforting Letter to Tyrasius upon the Death of his Daughter The second an Exhortation to Oceanus how Injuries are to be endured The third to the same concerning the Lives of Clergy-men It is a strange thing that Baronius durst affirm this to be really S. Jerom's it being manifest that the Stile is very different from S. Jerom's besides that he speaketh of S. Martin whom he calleth Blessed and of his Life composed by Sulpitius Severus We have already given our Judgment of the Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Authors that is inserted here and of the precedent and following Letters The Rule for Nuns is written by some simple and unlearned Monk The Letter of Chromatius and Heliodorus to S. Jerom and the Answer under this Father's Name upon the Virgin Mary's Life are fabulous Fictions wholly unworthy of Credit Lastly S. Jerom's Life supposed to have been written by his Disciple Eusebius S. Augustin's Letter to S. Cyril in S. Jerom's Commendation and S. Cyril's to S. Augustin about his Miracles are rejected by every body as miserable Pieces full of Fables Falsities and Ignorance Can there be a grosser one than what the Pseudo-Cyril saith That S. Jerom's Miracles convinced Silvanus the Heretick who taught That there were two Wills in Christ as if either S. Cyril or S. Jerom had lived in the Time of the Monothelites or had approved of those Hereticks Doctrines S. Jerom doubtless was the Learnedest of all the Fathers he understood Languages very well and was well skilled in Humanity and Philological Learning He was well vers'd in Ecclesiastical and Prophane History and very skilful in Philosophy Poets Historians Orators and the Greek and Latin Philosophers were equally familiar to him he throughly understood them and filled his Writings with their finest Strokes His Way of Writing is clear and lively He affects not that lofty Eloquence of the Barr which is supported by high Terms and a handsom Turn of a Period but he excelleth in that other kind of Eloquence that is necessary for those that commit their Thoughts to Writing which consists in the Nobleness of Expressions and Thoughts His Discourse is enlivened by a wonderful Variety of lively and surprizing Turns and adorned with an infinite number of different Colours sometimes he brings in Flowers of Rhetorick sometimes he dexterously employs Logical Subtilties He often makes apt Allusions by the finest passages of the Poets and constantly calleth to his Assistance the Thoughts and Maxims of the Philosophers In a word he collects the finest things in all Arts and Sciences and adapts them so exactly to his Discourse that they seem to be there in their natural Place So that his Style may be compared to those in-laid Works where the Pieces are so artificially pieced together that they seem to have been made one for the other Yet it must be confessed that he affecteth this Way of Writing too much and overchargeth his Discourse with Quotations He gives a diverting and chearful Air to the roughest Questions and explains the most intricate Difficulties with great Clearness His Commentaries upon the Scripture are written in a Style very different from his other Works Those Flowers and that Ornament before named are banished from them and the Text is explained with Simplicity and Clearness as he says himself in several places For he saith in
Events So that his Commentaries are wholly made up either of Origen's Allegories or of Jewish Traditions This is Rufinus his Judgment of others and it must be confessed that he hath avoided what he reproves in the Commentaries of others and that his is more useful for the understanding of the Historical Sence of the Prophecies It is strange that Gennadius should make no mention of these Commentaries but the Stile and the Circumstances sufficiently discover them to be composed by Rufinus Tho' some have doubted it We have only now to speak of the Commentaries upon the Seventy five first Psalms which were Printed by themselves at Lyons in the Year 1570. but they cannot belong to Rufinus because there are whole Periods taken out of S. Augustin's Commentaries upon the Psalms m There are whole Periods taken out of S. Augustin ' s Commentaries upon the Psalms This is particularly remarkable upon the 1st Psal. ver 1. Psal. 3d. ver 1. Psal. â—th ver 1. Upon the Ninth Psalm there is a whole Period which beginneth Prima persecutio taken almost word for word out of S. Augustin's Commentary upon the Third Psalm The Author says That he lived in a time when no Heresies appeared which shews that this is the Work of a new Compiler and out of S. Gregory's Morals Gennadius speaks of several Letters of Piety written by Rufinus among which he gives the first place to those that are written to Proba but they are not now extant It must be acknowedged That Rufinus tho' very ill used by S. Jerom was one of the ablest Men of his time Perhaps he had not so much Learning as S. Jerom but his Temper was better and less violent He doth not write so good Latin but his Stile is more even It cannot be denied but that the Latin Church is obliged to him for the knowledge of the most considerable among the Greek Authors and particularly of Church-History Tho' he was accused of divers Errors yet he was convicted of none and he justified himself sufficiently of the reproachful Objections made against him He defended Origen but that was by rejecting the Errors Father'd upon him The only Thing he may be thought to have been guilty of not upon the Score of his own Writings but by the Testimony of the Authors that have spoken of him is that he was Pelagius's Tutor But perhaps the Disciples Errors may have been imputed to the Master tho' he never taught them However it cannot be said That he divided from the Church upon that occasion or that these Errors were obstinately maintained by him And so in my Opinion it is very unjust for modern Writers to blemish the Memory of him and use him as if he had been one of the greatest Hereticks in the World We should not mind all the Accusations wherewith S. Jerom loaded him in the heat of their Quarrel but rather imitate the Modesty of Pope Gelasius who gives him the Character of an Holy Man Rufinus vir religiosus Tho' he confesses That S. Jerom was in the right when he reproved him for what he said concerning Man's Free-Will The Works of this Author have been collected into one Volume in Folio and Printed at Paris â—y Sonnius in 1580. They forgot to insert the two Invectives and the Apology to Pope Anastasius with the letter concerning the falsifying of Origen's Books which are in the last Volume of S. Jerom's Works His Translations are in the ancient Latin Editions of those Greek Authors which were made publick before new Translations were made SOPHRONIUS SOPHRONIUS a Man of great Erudition says his Friend S. Jerom in his Book of Famous Men writ when he was little more than a Child the Praise of Bethlehem and not long Sophronius ago composed an excellent Treatise of the ruin of Serapis He translated also into Greek my Treatise of Virginity to Eustochium and the Life of Hilarion the Hermit He likewise turned into Greek the Latin Translation of the Psalms and Prophets which I made from the Hebrew Text. The Greek Translation of the Book of Famous Men is also attributed to him There is another Sophronius Bishop of Jerusalem who lived under the Emperor Heraclius about the year 636 to whom is ascribed a small Treatise of the Labours and Travels of S. Peter and of S. Paul It is a miserable business not worth mentioning SEVERUS SULPICIUS SEVERUS SULPICIUS a Severus Sulpicius Gennadius saith That Sulpicius was his Sirname and S. Gregory of Tours lib. de vit S. Mart. c. 1. l. â—0 Hist. Franc. c. 31. calleth him as we do Severus Sulpicius but in his Letters he calls himself Sulpicius Severus But sometimes the Sirname is put before the Proper name Most of the Ancients call him only Sulpicius Sulpicius was the Name of his Family the Emperor Galba was of the Sulpician Family Severus was his cognomen as Cicero to Tully and Crispus to Sallust so that in Strictness his Name is Sulpicius Severus not Severus Sulpicius his Praenomen which went always first is not known In Gennadius's time the Roman way of naming Persons was almost wholly out of use excepting some few of the Descendants of the Old Roman Families and therefore one is not strictly to take those words Cognomento Sulpicius as if Severus were the Name of the Family and not Sulpicius Priest of Agen b Priest of Agen. He saith in the first Dialogue c. 20. that he was of Aquitain and in hiâ— History l. 2. He calleth Phaebadius Bishop of Ageâ— his Bishop They were mistaken who confounâ—â— him with one Sulpicius Bishop of Bourges who lived above 190 years afterwards under King Gontran all the Ancients allow to this Sulpicius no other Quality besides that of Priest famous for the Nobility of his Extraction the Fineness of his Parts and the Holiness of his Life was eminent in the times of Severus Sulpicius S. Jerom and Rufinus he was S. Martin's Disciple whose Life he writ He was an intimate Friend of Paulinus Bishop of Nola to whom he writ several Letters This Man speaking of Severus's Conversion in one of his Letters saith That it was altogether extraordinary and miraculous Because he had at once shaken off the Yoke of sin and broken the Bands of Flesh and Blood in the flower of his Age and at a time when he was famous at the Bar when neither Riches nor a Licence to enjoy Pleasures after Marriage nor his Youth could turn him out of the Way of Vertue to ingage in the broad and easie Path of worldly Men That he despised Wealth and Glory to follow Jesus Christ and preferred the preaching of Fisher-men before all the pieces of Ciceronian Eloquence and all the Books of fine Learning However he shewed his Eloquence in the Writings which he composed after his Conversion The chief of these Works is his Sacred History divided into two Books which contains an Abridgment of what remarkable things happened in the History of the
a Jew for this Treatise is intituled of Isaac's Faith who had been a Jew It contains those things whereof Gennadius hath made an Extract There are very subtil Reasonings upon the Mysteries of the Trinity and of the Incarnation PAULUS OROSIUS PAULUS OROSIUS a Spanish Priest of Tarracon S. Augustin's Disciple flourished under the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius Paulus Orosius S. Augustin sent him into Palaestine in the Year 415 to desire S. Jerom's Opinion concerning the Original of the Soul He brought from thence S. Steven's Relicks The City of Rome having been taken in the Year 410 by Alaric King of the Goths the Heathens willing to render the Christians odious accused them of being the cause of that misfortune and of all the other calamities that oppressed the Roman Empire To defend them against that reproach Paulus Orosius at S. Augustin's request undertook to write the History of the greatest Events that occurred from Jesus Christ to his own Time to show that great Calamities had happened from time to time in the World and that the Roman Empire had never been so free as since the Nativity of Jesus Christ. This Work is intituled Hormesta in some Manuscripts and is cited under that Name by some Authors the Original and Explication of which Title is very uncertain It is a kind of Universal History divided into Seven Books which may be of some use It is not ill written but not exact It has many faults against History and against Chronology He had not read the Greek Historians and easily credited whatsoever might help his Subject without examining whether it was well attested or not This Author hath written besides a small Treatise intituled An Apology for Free-will against Pelagius which was Printed with his History in the Colen Edition of the Year 1582. By a mistake they inserted several Chapters of S. Augustin's Treatise of Nature and Grace which were separated by Andreas Schottus in his Edition of it in the Bibliotheca Patrum There is also among S. Augustin's Works before the Treatise against the Priscillianists and Origenists a Letter of Orosius to S. Augustin concerning these Hereticks Some upon the credit of certain Manuscripts ascribe to him a Commentary upon the Book of Canticles which is amongst Origen's Works and a Treatise of Illustrious Men but this was because they put Orosius's Name for Honorius's S. Augustin in his 166th Letter saith That Orosius had great liveliness of spirit a wonderfull facility of speaking and a servent zeal Vigil ingâ—nio promptus eloquio flagrans studio His Style is close and his Language pure enough Orosius's History was Printed at Paris in 1506 by Petit. The Apology for Free-will was Printed by it self at Louvain in 1558. The best Edition of both these Works is that of Colen of the Year 1582. The latter is found in the Bibliotheca Patrum and the former in the Collections of Historians LUCIANUS AVITUS EVODIUS SEVERUS THese four Authors are to be joyned with Orosius because they writ concerning a particular Circumstance of his Life that related to the Relicks of S. Steven Lucianus Avitus Evodias Sâ—veras The First is a Grecian Priest one Lucianus who writ an History of the finding of S. Steven's Relicks His Book was Translated into Latin by Avitus a Spanish Priest Orosius's friend the Second of those Authors we are now speaking of The Third is Evodius Bishop of Uzala in Africa One of the Five that writ to Innocent the First the 95th Letter in S. Augustin he wrote a small Treatise concerning the Miracles of S. Steven's Relicks which Orosius had brought into the West He is likewise the Author of a small Treatise of Faith or the Unity of the Trinity against the Manichees which is in the Eighth Volume of S. Augustin's Works as Sirmondus proves upon the credit of MSS. S. Augustin mentions Evodius's Book touching S. Steven's Miracles in the 8th Chapt. 1. 22. Of the City of God and Sigebert placeth Evodius amongst the Ecclesiastical Writers The last Author here named is one Severus a Bishop of the Island Minorca who wrote a Circular Letter of the Jew's Conversion in that Island and of the Miracles wrought in that place by S. Steven's Relicks which Orosius left there Lucianus's Book and Avitus's Letter are printed by Surius upon the Third day of August Both these Books attributed to Evodius are none of his since they doe not bear his Name as the Author but only because they are directed to him Baronius published Severus's Letter from a MS. in the Vatican Library These Relations are so incredible that were they not authorized by the Testimonies of S. Augustin and Gennadius we should scarce give any credit to them They are all at the end of the Seventh Volume of the new Edition of S. Augustin MARCELLUS MEMORIALIS THis Author wrote the Acts of the Conference held at Carthage betwixt the Catholicks and the Donatists in the Year 1411. Part of them were printed by Papirius Massonus and printed Marcellus Memorialis with Optatus and in the last Collection of the Councils but Baluzius printed them more exactly in his new Collection of Councils EUSEBIUS THis Eusebius is not much known Gennadius doth not tell us whence he was nor what he was but only observes that he writ a Treatise of the Mystery of the Cross and of the Constancy Eusebius which the Apostles and particularly S. Peter had by virtue of the Cross. He places this Author among those that flourished in the beginning of the Fifth Century URSINUS URSINUS the Monk wrote a Treatise against those who affirm That Hereticks are to be re-baptized wherein he teacheth That those ought not to be baptized again who were baptized Ursinus in the Name of Jesus Christ or the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost though they that baptized them were in an error because it is enough to have been baptized either in the Name of Christ or in the Name of the Trinity to give a right to receive the Imposition of hands from the Bishop This Treatise is among S. Cyprian's Works I am apt to believe that the Author of it is more ancient than to agree to this place MACARIUS GEnnadius mentions one Macarius a Monk who writ a Treatise against Astrologers in Rome Wherein saith he he sought the help of the Scripture by the labours of those of the East This Macarius Macarius is he probably to whom Rufinus addresses his Apology and his Translation of the Books of Origen's Principles of whom S. Jerom saith in his Second Apology Had you not returned from the East this able Man would yet have been among the Astrologers His Book is not extant HELIODORUS HELIODORUS a Priest of Antioch wrote an excellent Book of Virginity grounded upon Scripture-testimonies Gennadius Chap. 29. Heliodorus PAULUS PAULUS a Bishop saith the same Gennadius Chap. 31. wrote a small Treatise of Repentance wherein he maintains That Sinners are not so to afflict themselves for
by St. Augustin at the same time in the 33d year of his Age. It is dedicated to Manlius Theodorus whom he had known at Milan In the beginning he makes a distinction of three sorts of Persons Some to avoid the Troubles of this Life fly into Harbour as soon as they come to the use of Reason that they may live quietly Others on the contrary having been a while ingaged in the Storms of this Life carried away with Passions Pleasures or Glory find themselves happily driven into Harbour by some Storm The third sort are they who in the midst of Storms and Tempests have always had an eye to some Star with a design to return into Harbour The most dangerous Rock to be feared in this Navigation is that of Vain-Glory which we meet with at the first setting out and where it is difficult to avoid Shipwrack These Reflections St. Augustin applies to himself and saith That at Twenty five Years of Age having conceived a strong Passion for Philosophy by reading of Tully's Hortensius he resolved to give up himself to that Study but that having been some time wrap'd up with the dark Clouds of the Errors of the Manichees which hid from him the Star that should have guided him At last that mist was dissipated That the Academicks had long detain'd him in the midst of the Sea in a continual Agitation but he had now discover'd a lucky Star that shewed him the Truth by the Discourses both of St. Ambrose and Theodorus to whom he writeth That the love both of Pleasure and of Glory had for sometime detain'd him but in the end he weighed all his Anchors to come into Port. After this fair beginning he acquaints Theodorus with a Discourse which he supposeth to be held upon the 15th of November his Birth-day with his Mother his Brother his Son his Cousins and his Two Disciples Trygetius and Licentius who appeared already in the foregoing Dialogues That they might enter upon the Matter the sooner St. Augustin introduces them agreed in this Point That Man being made up of Body and Soul the Soul is to be fed as well as the Body because it hath equal need of Nourishment After this he propounds the subject of their Conference saying That since all Men desire to be happy it is certain that all that want what they would have are not happy but he asketh Whether they be happy that have what they desire St. Austin's Mother having answered That they are happy if that which they desire be good Si bona inquit velit habeat beatus est He replies immediately That she had found out the greatest Secret in Philosophy Ipsam prorsus mater arcem Philosophiae tenuisti Upon these Principles he shews in the Three Dialogues of this Book That true Felicity consists in the Knowledge of God For in the first place the Goods of Fortune cannot make us happy since we cannot have them when we would The Academicks cannot be happy in their enquiry after Truth since they have not what they would find but they that seek God are happy because they no sooner seek to him but he begins to shew them Mercy All those whose Souls want any thing are not happy None but God can fill the Soul therefore none but God can make us happy None is happy without Wisdom And can Wisdom be had without God Is there any other Wisdom than that which cometh from him Is he not VVisdom and Truth He concludes with Exhorting those to whom he speaks to seek after God that they may come to the perfect Knowledge of him wherein consists the Soveraign Felicity of Life and the true Happiness of the Soul He corrects this Passage in his Retractations observing that Man cannot be entirely and perfectly happy in this Life because he cannot know God perfectly till he comes to the other VVorld St. Austin treateth of Providence in his Two Books of Order Shewing That all good and evil Things come to pass according to the Order of divine Providence These Books are written Dialogue wise In the First he discourses of Providence in general in the Second he begins to enquire What Order is but immediately digresses to speak of the Love of Glory And his Mother coming in he puts an end to the Conference shewing That Women should not be forbidden to Study VVisdom In the Third Dialogue which begins the Second Book St. Augustin clears several particular Difficulties about the Order of Providence He enquires what it is to be with God and in God's Order in what Sence a wise Man may be said to abide with God and to be immoveable He maintains That foolish and wicked Actions come into the Order of Providence because they have their Use for the good of the Universe and manifest God's Justice In the Fourth Dialogue he proves That God was always Just tho' there was no occasion for the exercise of his Justice before there were wicked Men That Evil was introduced against God's Order but that the Justice of God submitted it to its Orders Having bandied these Metaphysical Questions he enters upon Morals exhorting his Disciples to follow God's Order both in their Behaviour and in their Studies He says Men ought to live after the following Pattern 'T is necessary saith he for young Men to avoid Debauches and Excess to despise gay Cloths and rich Attire to be careful not to lose their time either at Play or unprofitable Recreations not to be Idle or Sleepy to be free from Jealousie Envy and Ambition in one word not to suffer themselves to be transported by any violent Passion They should be perswaded That love of Riches is the worst Poyson that can infect their Hearts They ought to do nothing either with Cowardice or with Rashness If they are offended let them refrain their Anger They ought to correct all Vices but to hate no Body not to be too severe or too yielding Let their Reproofs be always for a good End and their Meekness never Authorize Vice Let them look upon all that are committed to their Charge as their own Let them serve others without Affectation of Dominion and when they become Masters let them still be willing to serve Let them carefully avoid making Enemies and if they have any let them bear with them patiently and endeavour to be quickly reconciled In all their Business with others and their whole Behaviour let them observe that Maxim of the Law of Nature Do not that to others which you would not have done to you Let them not meddle with Publick Affairs except they are very capable and study to get Friends in what Employment soever they be take a delight in serving those that deserve it even when they least look for it Let them live orderly honour God think of him and seek him by Faith Hope and Charity Having thus given Precepts for the Manners of Youth he prescribeth Rules for their Studies He saith That Learning is got by Authority and
themselves having confessed that their own Manners and the Vices of the Romans were the main Causes of it He sheweth likewise how Contemptible the Juglings of Apollonius and Apuleius were in comparison of the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles The 139th Letter is likewise directed to the same Marcellinus but upon another Subject He speaks of Publishing the Acts of the Conference at Carthage He earnestly conjures him to hinder the Donatists that were cast into Prison from being put to Death He mentions his Books of Baptism His Abridgment of the Conference of Carthage A Letter to the Donatists Two foregoing Letters and that which follows directed to Honoratus Whereby it appears that all these Discourses belong to the Year 412. The 140th Letter is this just now mentioned directed to Honoratus and written concerning Five Questions He treats of Grace of the New Covenant and of the Design of Christ's Incarnation He observes at first that every Man hath a Soul endued with Reason but very different Uses are made of it Some use their Reason with no other prospect but to please their Senses others on the contrary seek after those good things which concern their Soul and which are of a Nature above their own The Soul may make a good use of Temporal Happiness but that is only when it is apply'd to the Service of the Creator for all Substances being good in their Nature it is a good thing to use them in order and not thereby to oppose the Order of the Creator And the ill use which Men make of good things doth not hinder the good use which God knows how to make even of evil ones For his Justice by Punishing brings into order those whose Injustice put them out of order by Sin God granted this Temporal Felicity in the Old Covenant which neither promised nor afforded any but Temporal Advantages but at the same time he revealed the New Covenant whereof the Old was but a Figure Tho' but a small number of Saints have taken notice of it and even these though Ministers of the Old Covenant belong'd to the New But in the fulness of time the Word of God was united with Man to be a Light to the Nations and those that received it became the Children of God not Children by Nature as Jesus Christ is but Children by Adoption and Grace It is he that taught us to despise the things of this Life and to value none but those which we shall enjoy in the other This is the Oeconomy of the New Covenant which St. Augustin explains at large in this Letter He proveth it by the Exposition of the 22d Psalm which begins with these words My God my God why hast thou for saken me Which was the Subject of Honoratus's first Question He insists chiefly upon shewing That Christians ought not to put their Trust and Confidence in the good things of this World but to love and seek after that only which concerns the next This is almost the sole design of this Letter to justifie that the love of Spiritual and Eternal Blessings is the only aim of the New Covenant To the same purpose he expounds also the beginning of St. John's Gospel the Parable of the ten Wise and ten Foolish Virgins these words of St. Paul Eph. 3. I pray God that being firmly settled rooted and grounded in love you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and heighth and depth and what is said in the Gospel concerning utter Darkness which were the Subject of Honoratus's five Questions This Man was but a Catechumen and yet St. Augustin sets before him the most sublime and the highest things of the Christian Religion and yet when he speaks of the Eucharist he doth not clearly explain it but only tells him That he shall know after Baptism in what time and after what manner it is offered But he declareth plainly enough what he believed concerning the Eucharist saying That Proud Men who come to the Lord's Table do indeed receive his Body and Blood and adore it but they are not fed therewith because they imitate him not and though they eat it yet they refuse to become poor as he was At the latter end of his Letter he speaketh against those who put their Confidence in their own Strength and not in the Grace of Jesus Christ. This is in short what St. Augustin treats of in this Letter which may be looked upon as a Treatise as he says himself in the Conclusion and in his Retractations where he places it amongst his entire Discourses The 141st is a Synodical Epistle of an Assembly of Catholick Bishops held at Cirta directed to all the Donatists whereby they are exhorted to return into the Church Their Bishops having been so solemnly confounded and convicted in the Conference at Carthage of which he gives a short Abridgment in that Letter It bears Date the 14th of June 412. The next Letter to Saturninus Euphratus and the Clergy newly returned into the Unity of the Church is of the same time St. Augustin Congratulates their re-union endeavours to confirm them in the good Resolution they had taken and exhorts them to discharge their Ministery faithfully In the 143d Letter St. Augustin answereth a Question proposed to him by Marcellinus to whom it is written namely where the Magicians of Egypt could find VVater to turn into Blood when Moses had turned all the VVater that was there already He saith That this Question may be answered two ways either by saying That they took Water out of the Sea or by supposing That the Plagues of Egypt had their Effect only where Egyptians were but not where the Children of Israel dweâ—t Having thus dis-entangled himself of the Question he explains some Passages of his Books concerning Free-Will and the Original of Souls He confesses That his Writings having been written with Precipitation some faults could not but creep in He sincerely acknowledgeth That even in Writing he perceived faults and that he corrects and reproves them being far from hiding or defending them He saith That he is not like those who through excessive love of themselves and to cover their own Errors would leave others in theirs That he would not have his best Friends to say That he was not mistaken He wisely observeth That none ought to approve the Commendation given by Cicero to one That he never uttered one word which he wished afterwards he had not spoken This says he belongeth to a Mad man rather than to a Wise man This cannot be applied but to Divine Persons by whom the Holy Ghost hath spoken He confesses That he is still uncertain concerning the Origin of our Souls because neither Scripture nor Reason have determined the Point He further saith That Scripture and Reason cannot be contrary to one another That if Reason seems to be contrary to the Scripture it is a false Light it is not right Reason That if what is drawn from Scripture is
saith That whosoever transgresseth the Law in One Point is guilty of breaking the Whole because Sin is against Charity and Charity is the fulfilling of the Law But from hence it doth not follow that all Sins are equal because that though every Sin violates Charity upon which the Law dependeth yet that hinders not but that a Man is more or less guilty according as the Sins he commits are greater or less In a word There is more or less Sin in us according as there is more or less Charity and we shall never be perfect in Charity before we are delivered from the weakness of this mortal Flesh. Lastly We ought not to despise small Sins or daily Faults but ask God Pardon for them and blot them out by constant Prayers and good Works Whosoever should neglect to expiate them and who thinking himself over-righteous should ask of God to be judged without Mercy would doubtless come to Christ's Iudgment-Seat overwhelm'd with Sins that would weigh him down and would find no Mercy The 168th is a Letter of Thanks which both Timasius and James return to St. Augustin for his Book of Nature and Grace composed in 415. which was dedicated to them In the 169th St. Augustin answereth Evodius about two Questions which that Bishop had put to him one concerning the Trinity and the other about the Dove under whose Shape the Holy Ghost appeared and there he explains the Faith of the Church concerning the Trinity and the Incarnation very clearly and exactly This Letter is of the same Year with the Book of Nature and Grace that is in 415. The next Letter in St. Augustin's and Alypius's Name is upon the same Subject There they instruct Maximus the Physician who was newly converted from the Arian Heresie and exhort him to reduce those to the Faith whom he had led into Error The next is a Note from St. Augustin and Alypius to Peregrinus a Bishop whereby they desire him to give them an Account of what Success their Letter to Maximus had and not to be offended at the length of their Letter because they used to write such to those Persons whom they esteemed most This Peregrinus not being made Bishop before the Year 413. it is likely both these Letters were not written before 415. The 172d is an Answer of St. Jerom to St. Augustin's 166th and 167th Letters There he commendeth what St. Augustin had writ and excuseth himself from making any Answer This Letter was brought by Orosius in 416. The 173d is directed to Donatus a Donatist Priest of the Town of Carthagena in the Diocess of Hippo who having been informed That there was an Order to Arrest and to carry him to Church had purposed to throw himself into a Well St. Augustin shews him in this Letter the Excess of his Folly proving That it is just to force them to do Good that are bent to do Evil. This Letter was written after the Conference at Carthage The 174th Letter of St. Augustin to Aurelius Bishop of Carthage was sent with his Book of the Trinity completed in 410. The 175th to Pope Innocent I. is not a particular Letter of St. Augustin's but a Synodical Epistle of the Council assembled at Carthage in 416. whereby the Bishops of that Council to the Number of 68. inform the Pope of what they had done in the Council against Pelagius and Coelestius How Orosius having delivered them the Letters of Heros and Lazarus against Pelagius and Coelestius after they had revised what they had done before at Carthage Five Years since against Coelestius they had again Anathematized their Errours to reclaim those that started them from that Extravagancy or at the least to Cure such as were infected already and to preserve such as might be infected in process of time from the Contagion They make the Pope acquainted with it that so the Authority of the See of Rome being joined with the Judgment of the African Bishops might secure the Salvation of many and call back into the right way those that had gone astray They refute afterwards the Principal Errors of the Pelagians against Grace and Original Sin They add That though Pelagius had been justly acquitted in the Council of Palaestine yet now the growing Errour that over-spreads the Church ought to be Anathematized Lastly That though both Pelagius and Coelestius seem to disown their Errours and have undertaken to deny that they ever owned them and to affirm that the Writings objected to them are none of theirs yet Anathema's ought to be pronounced against any one who dares teach and averr That the natural Strength of Man is sufficient to avoid Sin and to accomplish God's Commandments And that dares affirm That Children need not be delivered from Perdition by the Baptism of Jesus Christ or that they can have a share in eternal Life without that Sacrament The 176th is likewise a Synodical Letter of the Council of Milevis made up of 60 Numidian Bishops and Assembled at the same time with the foregoing They exhort Pope Innocent to use his Authority to Condemn that new Heresie which was an Enemy of the Grace of Jesus Christ. They accuse Coelestius and Pelagius as the Authors of it yet hoping that they will renounce their Errours Besides these Two Letters St. Augustin writ a particular one in the Name of the Bishops Aurelius Alypius Evodius and Possidius his Collegues and familiar Friends wherein he represents to him That Pelagius having lived long at Rome it was a thing of great Consequence there to Condemn plainly the Errour which he taught and that it were convenient to send for Pelagius to examine him and oblige him to make such a Confession of Faith as might not be capable of an ill Explication and to anathematize the Errours that were found in his Books They refute likewise the Pelagian Doctrine explaining the Difference betwixt the Law and Grace and shewing the Necessity of the Latter to fulfil the Commandments St. Augustin wrote again upon the same Subject and about the same time the 178th Letter to Hilary supposed to be Bishop of Narbon and the 179th to John of Jerusalem to whom he sendeth his Book of Nature and Grace with that of Pelagius desiring in exchange The Ecclesiastical Acts whereby it appeared That Pelagius had been Justified he means the Acts of the Council of Diospolis All these Letters are written in 416. Orosius being come back again who brought from Palaestine into Africa Heros's and Lazarus's Letters against Pelagius The 180th to Oceanus a Gentleman of Rome is also of the same time This Man had embraced St. Jerom's Opinion about the Origination of Souls and concerning an officious Lye St. Augustin shews him in few Words the Difficulties that attend St. Jerom's Opinion about the Origination of Souls with the difference betwixt Tropes or Metaphors and Lying He observes That St. Jerom with whom he had had a Dispute about that Subject had altered his Mind in his Dialogue against Pelagius He
desireth Oceanus to send him a Treatise of that Father whereof Orosius had spoken to him and wherein he treated of the Resurrection of the Flesh. The 181st 182d 183d and 184th Letters are Pope Innocent's Answers to those of the African Bishops whereby he approves and confirms all that was done in Africa against Pelagius and Coelestius they are of the Year 417. The 185th Letter is amongst those Discourses that St. Augustin mentions in his Retractations where he calls it the Book of the Correction of the Donatists against those who found fault that the Imperial Laws were put in Execution to make them return into the Church He directs it to Bonifacius a Tribune and afterwards Count in Africa Having shewed there the difference betwixt the Arian Heresie and the Donatists Schism he proves That keeping within the Rules of Christian Moderation the terrour of the Laws may be used to reduce Hereticks to the Church He speaketh at large of the Cruelties which the Donatists and particularly the Circumcellians exercised against the Catholicks He refutes all the Reasons then alledged at large which Reasons were now made use of to perswade Men that Hereticks are not to be reclaimed from their Errors by Force or Punishments He says some Things concerning Penance and Remission of Sins That Baptism blots cut all Sins and that by Penance they may also be remitted and That if the Church hath ordained That none of those who have been under Penance shall be admitted into the Clergy or kept in it this is only for the upholding of Discipline least some should do Penance out of Pride with a Design to obtain Ecclesiastical Dignities not that she would cast Criminals into Despair how Guilty soever they be but that this Method is altered upon those Occasions where the Business is not only to secure the Salvation of some particular Men but to deliver whole Nations from Death In which Circumstances the Church hath remitted much of the Severity of her Discipline to find a Remedy for greater Evils and for this very Reason she dealeth thus with the Donatists That she is satisfied if they expiate their Sin of Separation by as bitter Grief as was that of St. Peter and she preserveth their Rank and Dignity among the Clergy That the Church practised this when whole Nations were to be reclaimed from Errour or Heresie That Lucifer Calaritanus was looked upon as a Schismatick for being of another Opinion That the Sin of the Holy Ghost is not Errour or Blasphemy since it would thence follow that no Heretick ought to be admitted to Penance or obtain Remission of his Sin and that by this no other thing can be understood but final Impenitency St. Augustin observes in his Retractations that he wrote this Letter at the same time that he composed the Book of The Acts of Pelagius in 417. The 186th Letter of St. Augustin is written to Paulinus Bishop of Nola not to Boniface as it is entituled in some Manuscripts siince it is quoted as directed to Paulinus in the Book of the Gift of Perseverance Ch. 21. and by St. Prosper Ch. 43. against Cassianus his Conferences And indeed St. Augustin quotes a Passage out of a Letter from the Person to whom he wrote which is found in the 8th Letter of St. Paulinus ' to Sulpitius Severus This whereof we now speak is written in the Names of St. Augustin and Alypius who was an intimate Friend of St. Paulinus against Pelagius whom this Saint had in great Esteem In this Letter St. Augustin layeth open all his Principles concerning Grace and Predestination and refuteth Pelagius his Notions He begins with the Relation of what had been done against him in Africa and sends Copies of it to St. Paulinus Then he layeth down these Positions That the Grace of Jesus Christ that is necessary to enable us to do Good is altogether of Free Gift That God sheweth Mercy to whom he pleaseth That he takes whom he thinks fit out of the Mass of Corruption into which Mankind is fallen through Adam's Sin He insisteth particularly upon the Example of Infants whereof some are saved through God's Mercy and others damned because of Original Sin He refutes Pelagius's Opinion touching the State of Infants whom he supposes to be in a middle State between Heaven and Hell which he calleth Eternal Life He proves That Free-Will does not consist in an Indifference to Good or Evil for it is enclined to Evil and cannot do Good without the assistance of the Grace of God He tells St. Paulinus that Pelagius maintained the contrary in his former Books that afterwards he seems to have retracted his Errours in the Council of Diospolis whereof he had received the Acts and then he dissembled again sometimes confessing the Necessity of Grace and often affirming That the Will had Power of it self to abstain from Sin So that God's Assistance in his Opinion was afforded us over and above to enable us to do that which is good with the greater Ease These are the Opinions refuted by St. Augustin in this Letter where he urges a Passage from a Letter written by St. Paulinus to convince him that he ought to reject them and condemn Pelagius The next Letter to Dardanus is a Didactical Treatise mentioned by St Augustin in his Retractations There he shews how God is said to be Omnipresent upon occasion of Two Questions which Dardanus had proposed to him The one upon these Words of Jesus Christ to the good Thief This Day thou shalt be with me in Paradise and the other Whether Children have any Notion of God in the Womb. The former Difficulty is grounded upon this That the humane Nature of Christ was not in Paradise immediately after his Death because his Soul descended into Hell and his Body was laid in the Grave St. Augustin saith That the Soul of Jesus Christ may be said to have been in the same Place where the Souls of the Righteous were which may be called Paradise But he thinks it more probable That this is meant of Christ's Divinity which never ceased to be in Paradise This puts St. Augustin upon treating of God's Immensity whereof he speaketh after a very high manner shewing That we ought not to conceive of it as of a Corporeal Extention He discourseth likewise of the particular manner how God dwelleth in the Saints and in Baptized Infants that do not yet know him And this leads him to the Second Question about the Knowledge of Children that are yet in their Mother 's Womb. He affirms That they have no knowledge no not after their Birth and that the Holy Ghost dwelleth in them and they know it not whereupon he enlargeth upon Justification that is wrought by Regeneration and speaketh of Birth in Sin the Necessity of Baptismal Grace and of Faith in Jesus Christ. It is evident by St. Augustin's Retractations That this Letter was written in the Year 417. It is directed to the Praefect of Gaul to whom St. Jerom wrote
Trithemius and by Vincentius Bellovacensis and Printed among this Author's Works Yet the great number of Extracts taken out of the very Works of Hugo de S. Victore makes it questionable whether it be his St. Thomas ascribes it to a Cistercian Monk The Benedictines believe that it was written by Alcherus a Friend of Isaac's Abbot of Stella to whom this Man directed a Letter of the Soul In the Bibliotheca Cisterciana it is attributed to Isaac and it is observed that he publish'd it under Alcherus's Name but it is not likely that Abbot Isaac would insert a part of his own Letter into this Treatise The Treatise of Friendship is an Epitome or rather an Extract out of the Treatise of Aelredus Rievallensis which is found among that Author's Works The Book of the Substance of Love is made up of two small Treatises among the Works of Hugo de S. Victore That of the Love of God is a Collection of Passages of this same Author's out of St. Bernard and St. Anselm Vincentius Bellovacensis cites it under Peter Comestor's Name The Soliloquies that are here are not those of St. Augustin which are in the first Volume of his Works These are made up out of Passages of the Soliloquies and Confessions of St. Augustin and the Books of Hugo de S. Victore There is the first Chapter of the Fourth Lateran Council held in the Year 1198. It is proved in the Preface to the Book of Meditations that they cannot be St. Augustin's Many of them are attributed to St. Anselm but the Benedictines have prov'd That they are rather written by John Abbot of Fescamp who lived in the time of the Emperor Henry III. to whose Widow he directs a Letter published by Father Mabillon in the first Volume of his Analecta from another Manuscript of the Abby of St. Arnoul of Metz where this Treatise of Meditations is mentioned part whereof is found in the same Manuscript The following Treatise of the Contrition of the Heart is taken out of the Meditations attributed to St. Anselm The Manual is Composed likewise of Extracts out of St. Anselm's Works and St. Bernard's Hugo's de S. Victore and Alcuinus there are also some Passages of St. Augustin St. Cyprian St. Gregory and of Isidore of Seville Part of this Book is in the next Book entituled the Looking-Glass Another part of it is the Extract of a Prayer which is in the Manuscript of Corby which containeth the Works of Abbot John The Looking-Glass makes a part of the Confession of Faith which Chiffletius published under Alcuinus's Name yet it is Composed of Passages out of Alcuinus's own Works The next Book is entituled The Looking-Glass of a Sinner The Author citeth a Sentence of Odo Cluniacensis in Commendation of St. Martin He useth the term of Prebend and he hath taken some places out of the Prayer of Hugo de S. Victore out of the Book of the Spirit and Soul already mentioned and out of the Book of Conscience ascribed to St. Bernard The Book of the threefold Habitation is of the same nature and there are the same Notions It is very likely that all these Treatises of Piety belong to the same Author The Book intituled The Ladder of Paradise attributed to St. Bernard and intituled in his VVorks the Ladder of the Cloister or a Treatise how to Pray is written by Guigo or Guido Carthusianus as appears by the Letter that serves for a Preface taken out of the Manuscript of the Carthusian House in Colen Honorius of Autun in his Book of Luminaries mentions a Book which he had written intituled Of the Knowledge of Life or Of the true Life This here bears the same Title and has the Stile and Genius of this Author as is proved in the Preface The Book of a Christian Life was formerly restored by Holstenius to one Fastidius a Britain who is the true Author of it as we learn not only by the ancient Manuscript belonging to the Monastery of Mount-Cassin by which Holstenius Printed it at Rome in 1633. but also by the Authority of Gennadius who ascribes it to him and who observes that this Author was a Britain In this Book there are several Footsteps of Pelagius's Errors he lived much about the same time The Book of Wholsome Instructions is here restored upon the Credit of an ancient Manuscript in the Library of M. Colbert to Paulinus Patriarch of Aquileia who lived about the latter end of the * This seems to be a mistake of the Press this Paulinus or as it is in the French Paulus was Contemporary with Charles the Great assisted at the Council of Francfort and dy'd according to Dr. Cave in the Year 804. Ninth Century The Author of the Book Of the Twelve Abuses of the Age is not known it is as wrongfully attributed to St. Augustin as to St. Cyprian only it is observed in the Preface That this Book is quoted by Jonas Bishop of Orleans who was ancienter than Hincmar who writ a Book bearing the same Title different from that mentioned by Flodoardus Pamelius found a Manuscript having in the Margin the Name of Evrard instead of St. Augustin but this Evrard is not known They did not Print the two Treatises of the Seven deadly Sins and of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit which F. Vignier published under St. Augustin's Name in the First Part of his Supplement because they are amongst the VVorks of Hugo de S. Victore The Treatise of the Conflict betwixt Vertues and Vices was first ascribed to St. Augustin then to St. Leo then to St. Ambrose and at last to Isidore of Seville but here it is restored to its true Author Ambrosius Autpertus a Benedictine Monk of the Monastery of St. Vincent upon the Vultarnus near Benevente This Treatise is mentionâ—d in his Life which is in the Acts of the Benedictines Age III. at the Year 778. The Stile of this Treatise is very like that of this Author's Commentary upon the Revelations Of the same Nature is the Book of Sobriety and Charity and the Author of it is unknown There Drunkenness is particularly reproved This Book is well enough written and seemeth to me to be ancient The Benedictines prove in their Preface to the Book of true and false Repentance That this Book has not St. Augustin's Stile though it hath been cited under his Name by Gratian by the Master of the Sentences Petrus Blesensis and several others The Treatise of Antichrist is likewise among the VVorks ' of Alcuinus and Rabanus Rupertus cites it without naming the Author The Manuscripts attribute it to Alcuinus and it agrees well enough with his other Writings It contains several Circumstances relating to Anti-Christ and the End of the World which he describeth with as much Confidence as if he had learned it by Revelation After this Treatise comes a Prayer or rather an Imprecation out of several Verses of the Psalms It is intituled in a Manuscript of the
St. Augustin hath not mention'd all his Works in his Retractations and particularly those that are in the form of Letters We have already taken notice of some that he has omitted This is found in Possidius's Catalogue and the Author declares in the beginning That he had written already against Petilianus's Letter The Stile indeed is not so Elegant as of some other of St. Augustin's Works but it is no wonder because it is a Letter that was to be seen and understood by all Mankind For the same reason the Hymn against the Donatists might be rejected which is much flatter and containing more barbarous Expressions The Salutation agrees very well to the Subject and is not unworthy of St. Augustin And if he never used it in other places it doth not follow that he should forbear it in this When St. Augustin reckoned the Samaritans among the Heretical Jews he did not speak of the ancient Inhabitants of Samaria immediately after the division of the Tribes but of the later Samaritans who were real Hereticks among the Jews Lastly It is no extraordinary thing for St. Augustin to cite some places of Scripture in other terms than he had used in other places or that he should doubt here of some things whereof he speaks more affirmatively at other times Though these Answers should not be sufficient to remove all suspicion yet it is certain That this Book was written in St. Augustin's time and all that can be said is That it might have been drawn up by some of his Friends and directed in his Name to the Donatists It was written in 402. after the Second Book against Petilianus and before the Third It is a new Challenge which he sendeth to this Bishop to defend his own Party and to shew that the true Church is on his side He describes the Marks of the true Church and proves That they do not agree with the Donatists Party but with that of the Catholicks and then answereth those Passages which the Donatists urged for themselves and the Accusations which they formed against the Church One Cresconius a Grammarian of the Donatists Party undertook to defend Petilianus against St. Augustin's first Writing As soon as he saw his Letter he refuted it in three Books and retorted upon him all his Arguments by retorting in a Fourth Book the business of the Maximianists These Books were written about the Year 406. Here should have been placed Three other Treatises against the Donatists which he mentions in his Retractations but they are lost These were A Book of Proofs and Testimonies against the Donatists A Treatise against a Donatist And an Advice to the Donatists about the Business of the Maximianists The Book of one Baptism against Petilianus was written after the Conference at Carthage The Principal Question treated of by St. Augustin is concerning the Validity of Baptism administred by Hereticks St. Augustin being willing to Publish an Account of the Conference of Carthage wrote a Breviary of what was said in the three Days Conference in 412. He wrote a Book likewise directed to the Donatists with the same Design wherein he makes several Reflections upon the Conference of Carthage that he might perfectly undeceive that Party and shew that they were seduc'd and deceived by their Bishops He likewise answereth their Cavils against the Judgment of Marcellinus This Book is of the Year 413. The Treatise to Emeritus a Donatist Bishop who was one of the principal Defenders of that Party in the Conference at Carthage is lost St. Augustin had collected there the main Points wherein they had been baffled as he says in the 49th Chapter of the Second Book of his Retractations After this he went to Caesarea a City of Mauritania where he met with Emeritus before whom he Preached a Sermon to perswade him to reconcile himself to the Church but not prevailing by this means he held a Conference with him about those things which had been done in the Conference at Carthage and then pressed him so hard upon the Quarrel of the Maximianists that Emeritus had nothing to say This Conference was held in the presence of the Bishops Clergy and People the 20th of September 413. or 418. for the Manuscripts do not well agree about the Consul's Names At last Gaudentius one of the Seven Donatist Bishops who defended their Party in the Conference at Carthage being pressed by the Threatnings of Dulcitius writ two Letters which St. Augustin answers in his First Book against this Donatist Bishop which is particularly to justifie the severity exercised towards them Gaudentius willing to answer something wrote a Discourse wherein without meddling with the Contest betwixt them he justified his Party and calumniated the Church St. Augustin answereth this Treatise in the Second Book Both these Books of St. Augustin are of the Year 420. There is a Sermon attributed to St. Augustin concerning one Rusticianus a Sub-deacon who was Re-baptized by the Donatists and then Ordained Deacon but this Discourse does not agree to St. Augustin as it is proved in the Preface This Volume ends with a Catalogue of St. Augustin's Works against the Donatists which are in the other Volumes of St. Augustin's Works We have not spoken particularly of the Matters handled by St. Augustin in every Book against the Donatists because he commonly repeateth the same Arguments and so we should have been obliged to say often the same things and for which Reason it was put off to this place that so I might give an Abridgment of his Doctrine and a Breviary of his chief Reasons all at once It has been observ'd already That the Donatists began their Schism by a Separation of some African Bishops who accused Caecilian of several Crimes whereof they had been convicted themselves Though they had been condemned in the Council of Rome in that of Arles and at last by Constantine's Judgment yet they remained firm to their own Opinions and would by no means be reconciled to the Church Their Party also was much strengthned by the great number of Bishops whom they ordained almost in every Church of Africa and by the Multitudes of People whom they drew after them So that in St. Augustin's time their Party was very near as strong in Africa as that of the Catholicks But they held no Communion with all the other Churches in the World which acknowledged Caecilian his Successors and those of that Party for the true Church The Donatists in their own defence affirm'd That Caecilian Felix of Aptungis who ordained him Miltiades that absolved him and several others of his Brethren having been convicted of certain Crimes ought to be deposed and expelled out of the Church That their Crime made them cease to be Members of the Church which ought to be pure and without blemish That as many as defended them and had Communicated with them were become Accessaries to their Crime by approving it and that so not only the Churches of Africa but even all the other
Polygamy of the ancient Patriarchs was then very excusable because it was necessary that they should have a numerous Posterity but it may not be now used as a pretence to cover our Incontinence We will conclude with the Idea and Definition which he gives the Catholick Church The Faithful saith he dispersed throughout the whole World make up the Body of the Universal Church every particular Church is a Member of it l. 4. 103. This Universal Church hath often been assaulted but it never was nor ever shall be utterly extinct l. 3. 5. Letters concerning the Discipline of the Church In the Letters of S. Isidore there are a great many important things worthy of our Observation touching the Discipline of the Church He condemns Symony in an infinite number of them l. 1. 26 29 30 45 106 111 119 120 136 145 158 315. l. 2. 125. l. 3. 17 c. He taxes all those Exactions which were used upon the account of Ordinations with this Crime He condemns in several places those who ambitiously sought for Bishopricks He reminds the Priests about the Administration of the Sacrament of Penance that they have Power to bind as well as loose That they neither may nor ought to loose those who bring no Medicine for their Sins and who do not endure a Penance proportionable to the greatness of their Crimes He advertiseth them That they ought to be Ministers of Jesus Christ and not Fellow-Criminals That they are Intercessors with God and not absolute Judges That they are Mediators and not Masters l. 3. 260. He tells the Deacons That they are the Bishop's Eye and that they ought to be very careful in the management of the Church's Revenue l. 1. 19. He orders all Ecclesiastical Persons to carry themselves modestly and avoid the familiarity converse and sight of Women l. 1. 89. l. 2. 284 278. l. 3. 11 66. He requires them to be subject to Princes and pay them Tribute l. 1. 48. He observes That in the Apostle's time the Christians had no Churches but that in his time they were become very sumptuous and fine l. 2. 246. He blames the Bishop of Damiata for having built a stately Church with the Money which he had scraped together by selling Ordinations and other Exactions of the People He tells him That it is to build Zion by Blood and establish Jerusalem by Iniquity as it is said in the Prophet Micah That a Sacrifice made up of another Mans Substance is an Horror and an Abomination to the Lord. He advises him to give over building that Church at the expence of the People if he would not have that lofty Temple convince him of Injustice before God and be a Monument that shall cry eternally against him and which shall require the restitution of what he hath taken from the Poor and Vengeance for oppressing of them l. 1. 37. We find also some Ceremonies of the Church taken notice of in S. Isidore's Letters In his time the Bishop wished Peace to the People and the Congregation answered And with you also l. 1. 122. The Deacons which ministred at the Altar wore a Linen Vestment and the Bishops had a kind of Cloke made of Woollen which covered their Neck and Shoulders which they put off when the Gospel began to be read The first of these Habits according to Isidore denotes the Humility of Jesus Christ and the second represented the wandring Sheep which the good Shepherd brings home upon his Shoulders l. 2. 246. The Custom then was to allow Women to sing in the Church but S. Isidore says That they had abused that practice by causing themselves to be admired for the sweetness and harmony of their Voice and were no less blame-worthy than if they sang prophane Songs and that they ought to be forbidden singing in the Church for the future l. 1. 90. Divorce was only allowed in case of Adultery The Reason which S. Isidore gives for it is this That Adultery is the only Sin by which conjugal Faith is violated and which brings into a Family the Children of Strangers l. 2. 376. He could not bear those who asserted That Comedies might be of good use to beget a detestation of Vice and make Men more vertuous The aim and design of Comedians saith he is clear contrary and their Art hath no other end than to hurt and corrupt Manners l. 3. 336. Those who are pleased to see counterfeit Passions represented ordinarily become passionate it is then necessary to keep from going to Comedies for it is easier to avoid the occasion and to oppose the first approaches of Vice than to stop the course of it when it is once begun l. 5. 433. He says That a Person condemned by his Bishop ought no where to be received into Communion but he observes That altho' this were the regular course yet many Bishops of his time had neglected it and that was the reason that the good Bishops dare not take upon them to correct their disorderly and vitious Clergy Letters of Pious Advice and Instruction There never was in the Church a more strict or free Censor of Manners than S. Isidore of Damiata The Church of Damiata was then governed by a Bishop called Eusebius who sought his own advantage more than that of Jesus Christ. Altho' S. Isidore looked upon him as his Superior yet he was not afraid of violating the respect due to him by telling him with all the freedom imaginable That he did not lead a Life as became a Bishop He made no scruple to reprove him for his Vices to write of them to his Friends to discover them to the publick that he might make him ashamed of them and to lament the unhappiness of the Church of Damiata in having such a Bishop In his other Letters he speaks the same things for the most part sometimes he accuses him of selling Ordinations sometimes he reproves his Covetousness sometimes he taxes his Pride and Ambition and sometimes he suspects him to be guilty of living disorderly In a word he gives him every where the Character of a Bishop altogether unworthy of his Ministry He hath no more regard to the reputation of his inferior Ministers His Arch-deacon Pansophius and his Steward called Maro are taxed with the Crimes of Symony and unjust Exactions The Monks Zosimus and Palladius meet with no better Treatment he describes them as Debauchees who led a lewd and disorderly Life Another Priest called Martinianus who after the Death of Eusebius strove to get himself ordained into his place is also accused of many Crimes by Isidore He wrote also of him to S. Cyril to hinder him from ordaining him Bishop of Damiata If we will take the pains to read the Letters which he hath written to the Persons already named and to his Friends upon the same Subject we shall find therein excellent Instructions for all Bishops Particularly we may see against those that Hunt after Bishopricks l. 1. 23 28 104. l. 2. 127.
at all the Austerities or Practices of the Monastick Life His Reputation for Holiness was so great that the Emperor sent for him to Constantinople He propounds also Examples of singular Vertue in Three Hermites of the same Region Eusebius Salamanus and Maris This last having been a long Time absent from the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries desired Theodoret to celebrate them he did so and causing the Holy Vessels to be brought he â—â—ffered the Holy Sacrifice by the Hands of the â—…ons who ministred to him at the Altar All those whom Theodoret hath spoken of hitherto were dead when he wrote these Ten which follow were yet alive He enlarges upon the Life of a certain Monk called James who was one of his Friends He recounts many Apparitions which the Devil made use of 〈◊〉 trouble him There is in that Place a very remarkable thing concerning Relicks Theodores had received with a great deal of respect some Relicks which were said to be S. Iohn Baptist's the Apostles and Prophets This Hermite doubting whether those which were reported to be S. John Baptist's were not some Martyrs of that Name would not receive them with the other He was thereupon reproved in a Vision and saw S. John Baptists who assured him that they were his and the desired Theodoret to bring them to him I pass over some other Monks of whom Theodoret speaks in the following Chapters to come to the famous S. Simeon Stylites whose Life Theodoret hath written with a great deal of exactness He was of Cilicia and had kept Sheep in his Youth but being at Church one Day and there having heard the Gospel where it is said Blessed are they that mourn he withdrew himself into the Monastery of Eusebius Amâ—nianits but because he used such wonderfâ—â— Austerity which the other Religious Men could not undergo they expelled him He retired into a Cistern from whence they fetched him repenting that they had driven him out so But he did not continue with them long but he went to a Village called Telmessus where he shut himself up in a little House He was desirous to pass the Lent without Eating or Drinking and having proposed it to Bassus who was preferred to the Office of visiting many other Churches he gave him Advice not to undertake a thing which might be the Cause of his Death Notwithstanding he shut himself up with Ten Loaves and a Pitcher of Water and passed Forty Days without touching them and when Bassus being returned at the End of the Time came to him he found all the Loaves whole and the Pitcher full and Simeon lying on the Ground senseless After he had moistned and washed his Mouth with a Sponge he gave him the Sacrament by which being strengthned he raised himself up and came to eating again by little and little yet from that Time he passed all other Lents without eating He remained Three Years in his Cell and then removed from thence to the Top of a Mountain where he tyed himself with a Chain of Thirty Cubits long But Meletius or rather some other Bishop of Antioch for Theodoret must needs be mistaken Meletius being dead a long Time before telling him that he need not to cumber himself with the Chain he brake it yet did not go from the Place to which he had confined himself His Fame having drawn an infinite number of People of all Nations to come to see him and to be very earnestly desirous to touch him he thought upon this Device that he might avoid the Multitude to get up upon a Pillar instantly he was upon one of Ten Cubits afterwards he raised it to Twelve then to Twenty two and presently after says Theodoret he is on a Pillar of Thirty six Cubits high Theodoret approves of such a Life which appeared extraordinary and which some disallowed although an infinite Number of Men highly reverenced him and came in Multitudes to receive his Blessing He gave them Instructions composed the Differences that were among them foretold what should befal them and often wrought Miracles He ordinarily continued his Prayers till the Ninth Hour and did not admit any to Audience who came to see him till after that Hour Lastly he took care of the Affairs of the Church opposed the Jews and Hereticks wrote to Emperors Governors and Bishops to admonish them of their Duty If this manner of Living by remaining in the Posture of standing upon a Mountain for so many Years seem incredible that of Two other Hermites who shut themselves up in Places where they were forced to continue always stooping and bowed down is not less admirable This Posture in my Judgment is more inconvenient than that of Stylites The Two Monks which used this Posture were Baradatus and Thalalaeus Theodoret writes their Lives in the Twenty seventh and Twenty eighth Chapters He makes an end with proposing the Examples of certain Women who had embraced a Monastick Life Marana and Cyra dwelt in a Cell near Beraea if we may call that Place a Cell which was inclosed with Four Walls without any Covering where they passed their Life in the Injury of the Weather They wore long Garments which covered all their Bodies and were loaden with Chains Domnina made her a little House in a Garden she was covered with Hair-cloth went every Day to Church and eat nothing but Lentils Theodoret saith That in his Time there were a great number of Virgins consecrated to God not only in the East but in Aegypt Palastine Asia Pontus and Europe who either lived in common or by themselves practising the Exercises of a Monastick Life That in Aegypt there were Monasteries which had Five thousand Monks in them He concludes his Book with a Request to those whose Lives he hath written not to contemn him though he comes short of their Vertue that he might have also a share in their Glory A Modern Author accuses this Opinion of Rashness Impatience and Arrogance but I do not believe that he can find many Persons that have so little Equity as he hath shewed himself to have in judging after this manner This History â—…ins mâ—â—y Thingâ— very remarkable concerning the Discipline of that Time By it we may see That there was a great deal of Honour given to the Saints That they wâ—â—e inâ—oked That Men expected help by their Prayers That their Relicks were sought after with great eâ—…ss That they believed very easily in them That they attributed a great deal of Vâ—…e to them That they did many Miracles and were very credulous That thâ—y were 〈◊〉 peâ—…ed that the Saints enjoyed Eternal Happiness immeâ—tely after their Deaâ—â— Tâ—…r they were with Jesus Christ and his Angels That they prayed for the Dead That they viâ—… the Hoâ—y Pâ—â—ces as Mâ—… Siâ—â—i and the Hoâ—y Land As to the Monks and Hâ—rmites it appears that they practised excessive Austerities It was most â—…ry with them not to eat but a very 〈◊〉 Bread to drink nothing but Water to fast all their
same matter nor is it at all surprizing to meet with the same Sence and the like Expressions If we would search S. Austin's Works as diligently as M. Anthelmi hath taken the pains to do S. Prosper's I do not question but we might have as good success in comparing the Phrases of the Books of the Calling of the Gentiles with his and there are also Parallel Places where the Sentences of S. Prosper which he compares with those of the Books of the Calling of the Gentiles are taken out of S. Austin or are found in the same Terms in the Works of that Father But it is needless to go to Particulars because notwithstanding all those long and tedious Parallels the difference between the Stile of the Books of the Calling of the Gentiles and S. Prosper's Works is easie to be perceived for the reason which we have already several times repeated We have now no more to do but to examine the Conjectures by which F. Quesnel hath been induced to attribute the Work of the Calling of the Gentiles to S. Leo. His principal or rather his only Argument is the agreement of Stile which he thinks he hath found between this Work and S. Leo's Writings For having read the Works of this Father over and over again and rendred his Stile familiar to him he acknowledged him as he says in the Books of the Calling of the Gentiles He perceived immediately his Modes of Speech his pleasant Words his Transitions his Figures his Fancy his exact Periods his rhyming Cadences his Apostrophes his Interrogations and Paraphrases And coming afterward more strictly to examine this Work he found 1. That the time did very well agree to S. Leo's Age who might have composed it under the Popedom of Sixtus the Contests about Grace having already been very much agitated 2. That the Country of this Author did also suit with S. Leo That he was not an African since he never quotes S. Austin That 't is not likely that he was a French Man Gennadius not having mentioned him That he is rather an Italian The Purity of his Stile shews it and this is confirmed by a Testimony out of Chap. 33. Lib. 2. where he sayâ— The Barbarians coming to the Assistance of the Romans have received that Religion in our Country which they could never have come to the knowledge of in their own which signifies That the City of Rome was the Country of this Author To this we may add That these Books were never cited in Africa That they were never seen in France till the ninth Age whereas we find them cited in 496 by Pope Gelasius as a Work known and received at Rome 3. This Author cites the Holy Scriptures after S. Leo's manner They both of them use S. Jerâ—m's Version they cite the same Texts and use them in a particular way 4. They express their Doctrine about Grace after the same manner They both acknowledge a general Grace and call the Elements and Creatures the Leaves and Volumes wherein the Eternal Law is written 5. They have often the same Thoughts They speak alike of the foundation of the Church of Rome That God hath chosen it to be the Head-Church of the World and that he permitted the Roman Empire to be extended over all the Earth that Religion might enlarge it self the more easily and that it hath entred into those places where the Roman Empire had gained no Power Compare Chap. 1. Serm 1. of S. Peter and S. Paul in S. Leo with Chap. 16. Lib. 2. of the Calling of the Gentiles They both say That S. Peter hath taken his Soundness and Constancy from the principal Rock S. Leo A principali Petra soliditatem virti tis traxit nominis The Author of the Books of the Calling of the Gentiles Lib. 2. Chap. 28. Ab illa principali Petra communionem virtutis sumpsit nominis the same Fancy Stile and Expression 6. The Stile of the Book of the Calling of the Gentiles is exactly like S. Leo. We have already observed That it is Elegant and Polite full of Antitheses and Rhymes that his Sentences are proportion'd and divided into equal Parts which is as we have noted the Description of S. Leo's Style 7. Not only the Style is very exactly alike but they use often the same Words and that peculiar ones We may see a large List of them p. 375. of the Second Tome of Father Quesnel's Edition He joyns to it in the following Pages a comparison of many Phrases and thinks that by this he hath invincibly prov'd That the Work Of the Calling of the Gentiles is Saint Leo's But his Adversary undertakes to prove Two Things against him 1. That all his Conjectures are weak 2. That there are Arguments which clearly shew and put it out of question That the Books Of the Calling of the Gentiles are not S. Leo's But since it is needless to enter upon a Discussion of the First if the Last be well proved therefore I will begin with the Latter Let us then take a View of the Reasons which do invincibly prove according to M. Anthelmi that S. Leo is not the Author of the Books Of the Calling of the Gentiles The First is taken from the Friendship that was between S. Leo and Cassian Is it credible that he would desire Cassian to write in the Name of the Church against Nestorius as he did and would have had so much Respect for him if he had thought him in an Error And would he have written the Books Of the Calling of the Gentiles against his Doctrine if he had known that he had forsaken it as F. Quesnel maintains I believe that he hath no Proofs and that it is not probable that Cassian changed his Opinion I own that S. Leo was one of his Friends but this is no Proof that he was of his Judgment nor can any Man be invincibly convinc'd thereby that he did not write the Books Of the Calling of the Gentiles All his Days he did write against his best Friends when he found them not of his Opinion All that he could do for his Friend was to direct him not to attack him directly to treat him mildly and instruct him rather than oppose him Now this is what the Author of the Books Of the Calling of the Gentiles does The Differences between S. Austin's Scholars and their Adversaries were never look'd upon as Heretical S. Prosper though he was zealous for S. Austin's Doctrines yet owns that those whom he oppos'd were Orthodox Christians and ought for all that to be reckon'd in the Church The Author of the Books Of the Calling of the Gentiles speaks in a more moderate way and account of those Contests as about some hard Questions which were debated among found Christians Cassian and the rest of his Party defended their Sentiments with much Calmness without Passion or Obstinacy All which evinceth that S. Leo might very well make use of Cassian to write against
the Church also in her Prayers giving thanks for those who have embraced the Faith requests perseverance for them and implores God's Mercy for Infidels that they may turn from their ways and live After what we have said of the Author of the Books Of the Calling of the Gentiles it is not necessary to enlarge much upon that which concerns the Author Of the Epistle to Demetrias since all Criticks agree that it belongs to the same Author Indeed they produce no other proofs but the conformity of Stile but that seems sufficient to determine these Two Works to the same Author F. Quesnel brings some Reasons proper to prove it S. Leo's 1. He says That the Scripture is Quoted as in S. Leo's Works sometimes according to S. Jerom's Translation and sometimes according to the Ancient Vulgar 2. He produces many Sentences Of the Epistle to Demetrias which are found in S. Leo's Works He finds the same comparisons and applications of Scripture c. 3. He marks out the very words of S. Leo. 4. He saith There is no probability that the Epistle to Demetrias was composed by an African that a Man of that Country mentioning his Religion would not have forgotten to tell how much S. Austin had been helpful to it and that the Stile agrees better to a Roman than an African and because he promotes the Authority of the Church of Rome in maintaining that the Holy See hath given an Example to all the Churches of the World by Condemning Pelagius 5. That there was an intimate acquaintance between S. Leo and Demetrias That it is related in Platina and the Roman Breviary That he perswaded her to Build a Church upon some Lands that belonged to her and Dedicate it to S. Stephen In sum That there is no ground to attribute this Work to S. Prosper That the Stile is altogether different from that Father's That the Inscription of the Letter in the Printed Books Prosper Episcopus Sacrae Virgini Demetriadi Prosper the Bishop to the Holy Virgin Demetrias is apparently added since S. Prosper never was a Bishop That the Author Of the Epistle to Demetrias speaks not of S. Austin altho' he had often occasion to do it which S. Prosper would not have omitted Lastly He seems to say That the Church of Rome was the first that Condemned Pelagius but S. Prosper gives this Honour to the Bishops of Africa These are the special Reasons of F. Quesnel M. Anthelmi on the other side maintains That this Letter is S. Prosper's and to prove it compares several long pieces of this Letter with S. Prosper's Writings but they do not seem to be more lucky about this Piece than about the former Books but we leave this to the Judgment of those who will take the pains to examine them In the next place he undertakes to overthrow the last Argument of F. Quesnel taken from the difference of which he speaks concerning the order of time in which Pelagius was Condemned in Africa and Rome He thereupon makes a long discourse which it is not necessary for us to enter upon nor discuss since S. Prosper hath said in a place of his Poem Pestem subeuntem prima recidit Sedes Roma Petri We must understand by this word Prima either the first in Dignity or the first according to the order of time and so much the rather of the latter because in another place of his Poem and in his Book against Cassian he places the Sentence of the Africans after Zosimus's But the proof is not worth our trouble we must own 't is one of the least and will tarry on it no longer Nor can we say that the Argument taken from the Familiarity between S. Leo and Demetrias is very sound but yet M. Abbot Anthelmi doth not confute it solidly by pretending that Demetrias who is spoken of in Anastasius Platina and the Roman Breviary is distinct from Demetrias The Epithet Ancilla Dei The Handmaid of the Lord doth suit as well to a Virgin as a Married Woman the taking away the Letters from the end is according to the usage of the Latins who follow that Termination Lastly Paulus Diaconus calls the Foundress of S. Stephen's Church Demetrias But why do we stay so long upon Trifles It is more profitable and more to the purpose to examine whether the Letter to Demetrias be written against those Priests of Marseille and against those other Christians who tho' they Condemned the Heresie of Pelagius would not agree to all the Principles of S. Austin or whether he speaks only of the Pelagians Altho' it be commonly thought that the Author of this Letter opposes the first as well as the last yet I am of the Opinion of a Learned Person who discovered this to me That that which is said in this Letter Ch. 10. of some Persons who pretending to deny all other Doctrines of Pelagius yet retained this That Grace is given according to Merits is meant of some moderate and counterfeit Pelagians as S. Leo observes in his Sixth Letter where he speaks plainly of the Pelagians For in both places it is said That these Persons had retain'd this Maxim with a design to revive all the other Pelagian Errors and to overturn the Doctrine of Original Sin which they owned among the Orthodox but denied among those of their own Party Cum inter nostros Originalis peccati vulnera faterentur inter suos tamen hoc tenere ostenderent Quod primorum hominum pravaricatio solis imitatoribus obfuit This does not agree neither to the Priests of Marseille nor to those other Persons who did not approve all the Principles of S. Austin for they did sincerely Condemn them who denied Original Sin they were no Party nor had any Alliance with the Pelagians They were then the Pelagians in disguise which the Author of this Letter to Demetrias speaks of in his Letter and the Sixth Letter of S. Leo teaches us That there were many in the Popedom of this Pope who made false professions of the Faith and with a design of reviving all their Errors by putting some of them in disguise S. Prosper says in his Chronicon That Julian used his utmost endeavors to gain admission into the Communion of the Church by pretending to renounce his Errors but S. Leo hindred S. Sixtus from receiving him And it is no wonder that the Author of the Letter of which we speak wrote to Demetrias against the Pelagians because Pelagius had heretofore written to that Virgin and she was acquainted with Julian and might have a Familiarity with some of his Friends The Author of this Letter in the first place commends her Noble Birth and Vertue he observes by the bye that there is no true Vertue without Charity and the Love of God which ought to be the Motive of our Actions Then he speaks of Humility first towards Men and next towards God This last consists in acknowledging sincerely and wholly the Grace of Jesus Christ. He
to say there is not one Verse which is not a piece of Homer's Poems Upon which account it is that they are called Centones Homerici Verses made up of Fragments of Homer Zonaras and Cedrenus say That Pelagius Patricius whom the Emperor Zeno put to Death had composed a Work which bore the same Title and indeed in the Catalogue of the Library of Heidelberg this Book is attributed to one Patricius who is there thro' mistake called a Priest There is also in the same place an Epigram of Eudocia's upon the same Poem The first Greek Editions of Aldus and Stephanus in the Year 1554 and 1578 have no Author's Name Photius who speaks of Eudocia's other works makes no mention of this All which would make me believe that 't is not hers but Pelagius's and that 't is imputed to her for no other Reason but because she had commended it in an Epigram which was in the beginning of it There is a Latin Work of the same Nature attributed to Proba Falconia the Wife of Anicius Probus who also hath made an History of the Life of Jesus Christ framed out of pieces of Virgil's Poems It was Printed at Collen in 1601 at Lyons in 1516 at Franckfort in 1541 and at Paris in 1578. These Two Works are also put in the Bibliath Patr. Tom. V. S. Jerâ—m in his Letter to Paulinus says that he had seen these Poems made up of * Centone Homerici 〈◊〉 Virgiliani pieces of Homer and Virgil but he shews no great liking to them and indeed these sort of Works cannot be very excellent but are rather an Indication of the Author's Memory and Labour than the fineness of their Wit or the strength of their Fancy Proba Falconia flourished about the Year * 371. Dr Cave 430. Eudocia was Married to the Emperor about the Year 421 and Died in 460 Zonaras tells us That she fell into disgrace about a â—â—vial matter The Emperor having sent her an Apple of an extraordinary bigness she gave it to Paulinus who was highly in favour with her upon the account of his Learning he not knowing where she had it presented it to the Emperor who seeing the Empress a little while after asked her What she had done with the Apple She fearing least her Husband should grow suspicious of her if she should say she had given it Paulinus affirmed with an Oath that she had Eaten it This made the Emperor believe that she had not an Innocent Familiarity with Paulinus especially seeing her so much Abashed when he shewed it to her Whereupon he forced her to depart from him She went to Jerusalem where she spent her time in Building of Churches and did not return till after her Husband's Death This is the History or rather the Fable reported by Zonaras * Turcius Dr. Cave TYRSIUS RUFUS ASTERIUS TYRSIUS RUFUS ASTERIUS who was Consul in 449 reveiwed and published Sedulius's Poems Some have thought him the Author also of a Book called A Tyrsius Rusus Afterius Comparison of the Old and New Testament written also in Verse but others attribute it to the same Sedulius It is an Elegy which contains in the First Verse of every Strophe some History of the Old Testament and in the Second an Application is made of it to some part of the New It is written in a very clear and smooth Stile PETRONIUS PETRONIUS a Person of great Sanctity after he had been for some time a Monk was chosen Bishop of Benonia He was Co-temporary with Eucherius Bishop of Lyons Petronius as appears by the Letter of this latter written to Valerian concerning the Contempt of the World He is thought saith Gâ—nnâ—dius the Author of some Lives of the Aegyptian Fathers whom the Monks look upon as the Model and Mirror of their Profession I have read saith the same Person a Book concerning the Ordination of a Bishop which bears the same Name but the Elegancy of the Stile proves that it is not his as some have thought it but his Father Petrâ—nius's who was a Man very Eloquent and very well skilled in the most excellent Learning for it is Noted in that Writing that the Author was Praefectus Pratorio He Died in the Reign of Theodosins and Valentinian S. Eucherius cites him in his Book of the Conâ—empt of the World We have none of this Bishop's Works Some Lives of the Fathers are attributed to him but they are supposititious CONSTANTINUS or CONSTANTIUS THIS Author was a Priest of Lyons who wrote the Life of S. German Bishop of Antisiodâ—rum recited by Surius on July the 31st Constantinus or Constantius PHILIPPUS PHILIP a Priest and a Disciple of S. Jerom hath composed a very plain Commentary upon Job He hath also written some Letters to his Friends in some of which he Exhorts Philippus them to endure Afflictions and Poverty patiently He Died under the Empire of Marcian This is what Gennadius says of this Author We have yet a Commentary upon Job under the Name of this Father Printed at Basil in 1527 both in Folio and Quarto It is nothing to the purpose that it hath been since attributed to Beda and Printed under his Name among his Works because this Author himself in his Treatise De Uncia i. e. of the Ounce cites it under the Name of Philip. But 't is not absolutely certain that it is the Work of the Scholar of S. Jerom. The Commentary upon Job falsly reckoned for S. Jerom's is nothing but an Abridgment of this SYAGRIUS STAGRIUS saith Gennadius Ch. 65. of his Book of Ecclesiastical Writers hath made a Treatise concerning Faith against the inconsiderate and presumptuous Terms which the Syagrius Hereticks made use of to Abolish or Change the Names of the Three Persons of the Trinity by refusing to give to the First Person the Name of Father which shews that the Son is of the same Nature and by calling him by the Name of the Only Uncreated God without beginning and cause that they may make us believe that the other Persons which are distinct from him are of a different Nature This Author demonstrates against them that the Father may be said to be without a beginning altho' he be of the same Nature with the Son whom he hath begotten and not Created and that the Holy Spirit is produced altho' it may be said that he is neither Begotten nor Created I have also met saith Gennadius further some Books intitled Of Faith and the Rules of Faith which also bear the Name of Syagrius but because they are not of the same Stile 't is not credible that they are his We have nothing more of this Author's ISAAC ISAAC a Priest of the Church of Antioch hath written several Books in Syriack the principal of them are against the Nestorians and Eutychians He hath also made a Poem Isaac wherein he bewails the destruction of Antioch as S. Ephrem before him had lamented the Ruin of Nicomedia This Isaac Died
give this reply to those that accuse them of troubling the Church and not submitting to their Bishop That 't is their Bishop that is the cause of this trouble and scandal because he teaches strange Doctrine In the next place he complains of his behaviour towards him and of the Calumnies they made use of to defame him He says that he is ready to defend himself before any Judicature but yet he was not against Peace provided the Orthodox Faith be secured Lastly He tells them that he had sent them again the Petition which they had sent to him but he had changed and mollified the terms lest Nestorius should say that he had accused him before the Emperor That in that which he had framed he had rejected Nestorius as being his Enemy He desires them to present this Petition if need be and says that it Nestorius goes on still to persecute him he will send some Wise and Prudent Persons to deâ—end his own and the Churches cause being resolved to suffer the utmost rather than abandon it He wrote also at the same time two Letters to justifie himself that he had engaged in this affair against Nestorius because he thought himself obliged to do it for the defence of the Faith He says that 't was not p. 1. c. 10. 11. he but Nestorius that was the Cause of the trouble and that 't was not he but Nestorius that had hindred that Peace was not again restored to the Church Nestorius not receiving an Answer from Pope Caelestine wrote another Letter to him in which he earnestly desires him to give him an answer about the Case of those Bishops of whom he wrote to him He speaks also of those pretended Hereticks who confounded the two Natures in Jesus Christ and attributed to the Manhood that which agrees only to the Divine Nature and to the Godhead that which belongs to the humane Nature only This Letter was carried to Rome by Count Valerius Caelestine had not returned an Answer to Nestorius's first Letter because he thought it necessary to Translate and Examine the Sermons which he sent him It is probable that this task was imposed upon Cassian and indeed the Books of this Author against Nestorius were made about this time and are written as we have observed against one of Nestorius's first Sermons Saint Cyril suspecting that Nestorius might have written to Rome sent Possidonius thither with a Letter p. 1. c. â—4 in which he relates all that had passed to that time in the business of Nestorius About the end of the Letter he tells S. Caelestine that he did wait for his Judgment to determine whether he should receive Nestorius to Communion which for that reason he had neither hitherto granted him nor absolutely refused Lastly He exhorts him to let them know his Opinion in the East that all the Churches might be United and joyn together in one and the same Doctrine With this Letter he sent some Papers which contain'd the principal heads of Nestorius's Doctrine Besides this he gave Possidonius a Paper of Instructions which is published by M. Balugius in which he lays down Nestorius ' Doctrine after this manner The Doctrine or rather the Nov. Col. Conc. tom 1. p. 378. Heresie of Nestorius is to believe That the Word of God foreseeing that the Person who was to be Born of Mary should be Holy and Great did therefore make choice of him to make him to be born of a Virgin and bestowed such Graces upon him as that he was rightly called the Son of God Our Lord and Christ that he made him Dye for us and then raised him from the Dead that this word was Incarnate because he always was with the Man as he also had been with the Prophets but in a more special manner That Nestorius confessed that he was with him in the Womb of the Virgin but he will not acknowledge that he was a God by Nature but he was called so upon the account of the extraordinary favour which God had always shewed him and that it was the Man that died and rose again After this manner S. Cyril delivers Nostorius's Doctrine which being done he thus explains his own We believe and confess that the Word of God is Immortal yea Life it self but he became Flesh and being united with a Body * enlivened animated with a Rational Soul suffered in the Flesh as the Scripture says and because his Body suffered we say that he hath suffered although he be of a Nature * impossible incapable of sufferings and because his Body is risen we say He is risen But Nestorius is not of that Judgment for he says that it is the Man who is raised and that it is the body of the Man which is offered to Us in the Holy Sacrament We believe on the Contrary that it is the Flesh and Blood of the Word that giveth life to all things He says afterward that Nestorius had suborned Caelestius to accuse Philip of being a Manichee but Caelestius not daring to appear Nestorius had found out another pretence and Deposed Philip for having Celebrated the Sacrament in his House although all the Clergy of Constantinople said that it was a thing ordinarily done as often as occasion required Possidonius departed to go to Rome with these Instructions but had order not to deliver Saint Cyril's Letter to the Pope unless he understood that Nestorius's Letter was come to his Hands Before Passidonius was arrived at Rome S. Cyril wrote to Acacius Bishop of Beraea that his Friend p. 1. c. 22. Nestorius had given Scandal to all the Church by suffering Dorotheus to deny that the Virgin was the Mother of God and maintaining that Doctrine And that because he would not abet that error Nestorius had declared himself against him and filled the World with Calumnies against his Reputation He tells Acacius that he was sorry that such a subtle and difficult Question had e'er been started and Preached to the People for which Moral Discourses and Instructions were much more suitable Acacius answered that he approved of this Judgment of Saint Cyril and that he was as throughly persuaded as himself that such things ought not to be disputed but he advised him not to reprove with so much passion a word which Dorotheus had Ibid c. 23. spoken unawares and inconsiderately for fear of embroyling the Church and desires him to appease this Quarrel by his Silence intimating to him that it was the Opinion also of John Bishop of Antioch Possidonius being arrived at Rome Pope Caelestine who had received Instructions from both sides 1. A Council at Rome had assembled a Council in August Anno. 430 in which after they had read and examined Nestorius's Writings his Letters and S. Cyril's they disapproved Nestorius's and approved Saint Cyril's Doctrine We have a fragment of the Acts of this Council related in Arnobius's conâ—eâ—erence with Serapion which contains some part of St. Caelestine's
Hereticks He sent him a Letter from Parthenius a Priest who assured him that Nestorius's Adversaries had not at all altered their Mind Theodoret seeing that there was no way to change the Resolution of his Metropolitan consulted C. 157. 159. his own Affairs alone and going to Antioch entred into Communion with John but without any Subscription or Approbation of the Condemnation of Nestorius to whom he wrote a Letter to excuse himself as also to Helladius Bishop of Tarsus The Bishops of Cilicia Secunda followed his C. 163. C. 160. c. Example and wrote a Synodical Letter to John Bishop of Antioch in which they acknowledged That his Letter to S. Cyril was Orthodox That they had separated themselves from him out of a suspicion that S. Cyril's Chapters were Heretical but their fear was taken away by that Exposition of Faith The Bishops of Cilicia Prima and Isauna yielded also but they could never alter the inflexible Resolution of Alexander Bishop of Hierapolis Theodoret himself wrote again to him and to his Friends to persuade him but he answered his Letters with anger and sharp Reflections shewing always an unconquerable Resolution and Obstinacy Meletius Bishop of Mopsuesta was the only Man of the Cilician Bishops that imitated him John Bishop of Antioch deposed and ordained in his place Chromatius and presented a Petition to the Emperor to persuade him to remove C. 176. him from his See But they behaved themselves better towards Alexander Bishop of Hierapolis Theodoret having done what he could to bring him over even by desiring Nestorius to write to him interceded for him to John Bishop of Antioch and desired him to let him alone shewing him that it would be of no ill consequence nor prejudice his Cause because he would be quiet whereas if he provoked him 't would cause more trouble But John Bishop of Antioch who was resolved to make all the Eastern Bishops subject to him wrote to Alexander by Count Titus and Dionysius Master of the Horse That they had born patiently hitherto in respect to him but if he did still continue in his Resolution not to communicate with John of Antioch they could not wait any longer nor dissemble He answered with his ordinary stiffness That he could not communicate with a Bishop who had received Hereticks to his Communion and that he was willing to go without any noise or stir whether they pleased C. 180. c. After this Titus gave Orders to Libianus Judge of Euphratesia to expel Alexander if he still remain'd in his Resolution and to put in his place such a Person as the Synod of Bishops should Ordain This Order being made known to Alexander he retreated and Libianus telling Titus that C. 185. he had executed his Orders represents to him and John Bishop of Antioch the Affliction that the Church of Hierapolis was in having lost their Bishop and prayed them to have some regard to it John Bishop of Antioch wrote hereupon to the Clergy and People of Hierapolis That he had C. 186. used all manner of ways to convert their Bishop Alexander That he had prayed and sollicited him several times not to hinder the Peace by his obstiuate refusal And that he was yet willing to receive him if he would comply and enter into Communion with him Lastly They thrust out and banished all the Bishops which refused to communicate with John of Antioch Irenaens hath given us a Catalogue C. 190. of them after he hath related the Order which was given against him and against another called Photius Adherents of Nestorius Alexander Bishop of Hierapolis banished to Phamosis in Egypt where there are Mines Abibus Bishop of Dolochia who was one of the first that was driven out of his Diocess and another ordain'd in his place by John Bishop of Antioch Dorotheus Bishop of Martianople Metropolitan of Moesia who was sent to Caesarea in Cappadocia Valeanius and Eudocius Bishops of the Province of Moesia subject to the Metropolis of Dorotheus who withdrew themselves voluntarily from the Churches Meletius Bishop of Mopsuesta Bishop of Cilicia Secunda banished to Melitina a City of Armenia where Acacius Bishop of that City made him suffer much Zenobius Bishop of Zaphyria in Cilicia Prima who left his Church in the same manner and was afterward banished to Tiberias from whom he was also driven Anastasius Bishop of Tenedos Pausianus Bishop of Hypate Basil Metropolitan of Larissa in Thessalia Julian Bishop of Sardica who retreated themselves and suffered much Theosebus Bishop of Chios who died in his own Church and would never communicate with those who had received S. Cyril Acilinus Bishop of Barbalissa who was expelled from his Bishoprick for refusing to communicate with John but he was after re-united to him without the condemning of Nestorius Maximinus Bishop of Demetrias in Thessaly who separated himself immediately after the Condemnation of Nestorius Thus ended the long and boisterous Contest between the Eastern Bishops which lasted two Years compleat after the Peace made between B. of Antioch and S. Cyril Lastly Nestorius who was the Author and Subject of all these Troubles was himself last of all sacrificed to it being removed from his Monastery and banished to Oasis by the Emperors Edict published in 435. and by another Edict in August in the same Year His Books were condemned to be burnt and all Persons forbid to read them Peace seemed by this means to be restored to the Church all the Bishops being of the same Communion but there still remained some Seeds of Division in Mens Minds The Eastern Bishops C. 192. had a secret Grudge against the Egyptian and the Egyptians could not endure the Eastern They suspected one another guilty of Heresie the one were always persuaded that S. Cyril's Chapters were Heretical and the others thought them Orthodox Besides several Eastern Bishops had not condemned Nestorius and were not inclined to condemn him thinking him innocent Nevertheless one of the Conditions of the Peace was That they should curse Nestorius Lastly Some of those who Signed the Deposition of Nestorius would not add any thing against his Doctrine saying That the Emperor exacted no more of them and to communicate with the Patriarchs Thus the Bishops of Cilicia Prima explained themselves in the Letter that they wrote to the Emperor in the presence of Aristolaus But this did not content S. Cyril and therefore he sent Beronicianus Bishop of Tyre to beg of the Emperor That he would by his Edict force all the Bishops not only to condemn the Person of Nestorius but also to condemn his Impious Doctrines and at the same time to confess that there is but one Son only who ought not to be divided into C. 194. two born of God after an ineffable manner before all time and born of the Virgin in time according to the Flesh. That in this sense she is the Mother of God because one and the same Person is God and Man
Expelled and Deposed with him because they would not Subscribe the Condemnation of Nestorius Lastly Was there none of S. Cyril's side in the Error opposite to Nestorius's As for Nestorius we have already shewn wherein his Error consisted and proved that there was a lawful ground of Condemning him because though he pretended to acknowledge the intimate Union of the two Natures in Jesus Christ yet he would not consent to the true Consequences which followed from that Union and made use himself of such comparisons and expressions as did plainly intimate a Moral Union only His obstinate rejection of the term of The Mother of God and other expressions commonly used in the Church as for Example That God was born suffered and dyed c. His way in which he Explained the Incarnation of Jesus Christ saying That God inhabited in Man as in a Temple that he was Cloathed with the Manhood that he was joyned to the Man that he beheld himself in the Manhood as in a Looking-glass The comparisons that he made of the Union of the Humane and Divine Nature in Jesus Christ to the Union of Man and Wife of the Spirit and Soul in a Righteous Man and several other ways of speaking of the like nature to which he was so much addicted that he shewed an aversion for those that signified the Natural and Substantial Union of the two Natures were evidences that he not sincerely allow of such an Union And although there had been no other reason besides the Scandal which he gave by speaking after such manner as might make Men believe that he was in the Error of Photinus or Paulus Samosatenus that had been enough to condemn him if he would not change those Expressions and conform to those of the Church Now it was so in this case for when they speak to the People who were accustomed to hear these Words God was born God is dead c. when they discoursed of Jesus Christ and told them that these Propositions were false and unsufferable they immediately imagined that they denied Jesus Christ to be God and by this means it was that the Nestorian Preachers and their Friends raised so great a Scandal among the Faithful at Constantinople At first they thought him of the Opinion of Paulus Samosatenus but the thing being better examined they knew that his Error was more subtle Saint Cyril himself acknowledged it and owned that it were better not to meddle with this Question But because Nestorius persisted still to give offence to the People and to speak in a way contrary to the Church and would not change it they were forced to condemn him John Bishop of Antioch and his best Friends who thought him of Orthodox sentiments disapproved his manner of speaking and advised him to alter them and own that the Virgin might be called the Mother of God He would not do it at first but at last he did it but too slowly and after such a manner as shewed that he did it not heartily He was therefore justly Condemned But did not his Adversary also deserve the same Fate Was not he of Arius and Apollinaris's Opinion or at least of Eutyches's Did not his twelve famous Chapters contain some Errors Had not the Eastern Bishops reason to reject them Did the Council of Ephesus do well to approve them As to the Opinions of S. Cyril he hath explain'd himself too clearly to be suspected as guilty of the Errors of Arius and Apollinaris He hath so often expresly rejected them and hath removed the Accusation so fully that it can't be said that he hath approved the Errors of these two Hereticks by denying with the one of them that Jesus Christ hath a Soul and with the other that his Soul was destitute of Understanding and Reason Nor can we with greater truth say that he hath confounded the two Natures in the Person of Jesus Christ or that he allows of a change of one Nature into another since he hath always distinguished the two Natures and rejected the Error of those who say That they are changed or confounded or mixed He distinguishes them so elegantly in his Second Letter to Nestorius that â—e was forced to own in his Answer to him that he allows a distinction of the two Natures that he acknowledged that the Word had not his Original from the Virgin and that it was not possible that the Word should suffer He always confessed this Doctrine when the dispute was at the hottest Lastly When he made Peace with the Eastern Bishops he made no scruple to acknowledge the two Natures in Jesus Christ united in one Person insomuch that John Bishop of Antioch Theodoret and almost all the Eastern Bishops have owned that his Letter and Doctrine were Orthodox But although it is manifest that S. Cyril was of Orthodox Sentiments yet we must own that it hath happened to him as it hath to all others almost who suffer themselves to be transported with Passion in Disputes that is to say by opposing an Errour so earnestly he seems to incline to the contrary for having opposed those Persons who divided the two Natures he used such Expressions to denote the Union as gave occasion to believe that they were confounded This Facundus Bishop of Hermianum wisely observes S. Cyril saith he having undertaken to oppose Nestorius who divided Jesus Christ into two that he might reject this Errour more fully and plainly made choice of all such terms as are most proper to express the Union of the two Natures whereas the Ancient Fathers writing against Apollinaris who confounded them laboured most to express their distinction But we ought not to think for all that that S. Cyril disowns the difference of the two Natures or that the Ancients denyed the Unity of the Person The difference of the Contests made them speak differently The Expressions which comes nearest the Opinion of the Eutychians and which is chiefly urged is this One Incarnate Nature S. Cyril uses it often and they affirm That he is the first of the Fathers that hath mentioned it For though it is said that he took it out of S. Athanasius yet it is very probable that the Writings attributed to Athanasius out of which S. Cyril is pretended to have taken it is rather Apollinaris's than this Father's as the Orthodox have since found out and maintained against the Severians This Expression seems directly contrary to the Faith of the Church which believes two Natures in Jesus Christ and was displeased not only with the Eastern Bishops but with S. Isidore of Damiata who wrote to S. Cyril that he ought not to use it because by saying One Nature he excludes the Two Nevertheless S. Cyril and Egyptions used it commonly and preferred it before others Eutyches and his Friends have since looked upon it as the Foundation of their Doctrine and Flavian himself comes near it in his Apologitical Letter to the Emperor The Council of Chalcedon would not make use of it and
the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the whole Trinity The last Question of Monimus is about the Explication of what St. Paul says That Virginity is a matter of Counsel and not of Command and about Fulgentius's comparing it to the two pence of Supererogation Upon this Subject he relates the different Opinions of St. Ambrose St. Austin and Optatus and shows that it is a matter of small importance after what manner the two pence of Supererogation be understood In the last Book he treats of the true sense of these words The Word was with God and answers the impertinent Difficulties which the Arians started about this passage The Books about Remission of Sins are in answer to another Question propos'd to St. Fulgentius by Euthymius viz. Who those are to whom God pardons sins in this life and whether he pardons them only in this life St. Fulgentius shows in the first Book That none can obtain remission of sins nor be saved who is out of the Church and that none of those who are in the Church can obtain pardon unless he be truly Converted and cease to commit sin and to love the Creature so as to set his heart upon it In the second Book he proves by many Reasons founded upon passages of the Holy Scripture That there is no remission of sins to be obtained but in this life and that all those who dye in a bad estate shall be damned without any mercy Which gives us to understand that he speaks only of mortal sins which deserve damnation But Fulgentius's words are general That all those who dye in a bad estate shall be damn'd which will not admit of this distinction but do plainly overthrow the Doctrine of Purgatory for whatever a man's sins be in which he dies unrepented of and unpardon'd he dies in a bad estate But Fulgentius could not have said that every one who dies in this state shall be damn'd without mercy had he believ'd a Purgatory into which many are thrown who die in a bad estate for their venial sins unpardon'd And this general sense of the words is confirm'd by what he says in his Treatise of Faith address'd to Peter That there is no state wherein a man can deserve well but only during this life and That those who die in a good state shall be happy for ever and others i. e. those who die in a bad estate shall be condemn'd to eternal punishment where he plainly asserts two different states only after this Life without any mention of a third which is now believed to be Purgatory by the Roman Church And to the same purpose he tells us in his Answer to the Questions propos'd by Ferrandus That it is unprofitable to baptize the dead because the Soul cannot obtain remission of its sins after it is gone out of the Body and Flesh alone is not capable of sin which Argument were of no force if the Soul might obtain after this Life remission of venial sins by the Pains of Purgatory for then it might be profitable to baptize the Dead for obtaining the pardon of these sins and delivering Souls out of Purgatory The most part of the Letters of St. Fulgentius were written in the time of his Exile The first is address'd to Proba who was descended of the illustrious Family of the Anicians There he extols Virginity and shows how necessary it is that it should be joyn'd with Humility and he gives also many useful Instructions to a Christian Virgin He address'd also another Letter to her concerning Prayer and Compunction of heart wherein he recommends particularly this last Vertue He compo'd also at the desire of this Virgin two Treatises concerning Prayer and Fasting which are now lost In another Letter he comforts a Roman Lady call'd Galla who was thought to be the Daughter of Symmachus and understanding that she was resolv'd to live a Widow he entertains her with a description of the happiness of that state and the manner in which she should live He wrote to Theodorus a Roman Senator to confirm him in the design he had taken up of quitting his Secular Employments to dedicate himself to God and informs him that this Conversion was owing to the Grace of Jesus Christ. The Letter concerning the Conjugal Duty and the Vow is upon a particular case Some had ask'd Fulgentius Whether a married Person was oblig'd to keep a Vow of Continence For resolving this Question St. Fulgentius makes many Observations concerning the use of Marriage and the Obligation of Vows He remarks upon the first Head That the use of Marriage is allow'd when it is intended for the procreation of Children but when it has no other end but pleasure altho it is not a Crime like Adultery yet it is always a small sin which is blotted out by Prayer and good Works As to the Vow he says That there is no doubt but by it an Obligation is contracted to do the thing which was vow'd But he maintains That the Vow of Continence made by one of the married Persons cannot oblige the other nor dispense with that Person who made the Vow for paying the Conjugal Duty to the other at least unless both parties had concurred in making the Vow Having laid down these Principles he concludes That if the Persons who wrote to him had both made a Vow of Continence then they were oblig'd to keep it and that if they found themselves tempted by Carnal Desires they should humbly pray to God to give them Grace to resist them but if only one of the two had made the Vow of Continence that party was oblig'd to pay the Conjugal Duty to the other who had not made it He concludes with some Reflexions upon the Duties of married Persons and chiefly upon the Education of their Children In the Letter to the Abbot Eugippius he treats very largely of the Advantages of Charity and the Love of our Neighbour He thanks him for his Present and acquaints him that he had sent him his Letters to Monimus St. Fulgentius wrote at the desire of Junilius who was one of his Friends a Letter about Penance to an unknown Woman call'd Venantia There he shows That remission of sins committed after Baptism may be obtain'd in this Life provided one be sincerely penitent From whence he concludes that these sinners ought not to despair but neither ought they to hope without striving and doing of Penance The Treatile of Faith address'd to Donatus contains an exact Explication of the Mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation We have already spoken of the Question started by the Monks of Scythia upon this Proposition One of the Trinity did suffer which they would maintain to be Catholick and oblige others to acknowledge it for such Their Faction was very powerful in the East and they had their Complices in the West They had sent as we have already observ'd Deputies to Rome to maintain their Opinions there and Peter the Deacon was at the Head
Resurrection 'T is compos'd of two Parts the first is a Dialogue of one that is Orthodox with one engag'd in that Error and the second is a Collection of the Authorities of the Fathers to which he prefixes the Books ascribed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite In the third Book he descovers the Artifices which the Nestorians of his time made use of for disguising their Sentiments He says That at first they feign themselves to be no wise concern'd for the Memory of Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodorus of Mopsuesta that they make a show of approving the Council of Chalcedon that they cause the Books of their Authors to be read that they entice Men with fait Promises that they make a feint of condemning Nestorius that they make no scruple to communicate with Catholicks and even to take the Communion with them for say they the Bread which is offer'd to represent Jesus Christ has always a greater Blessing then common Bread or that which the Philomarianites offer in the Name of * This passage plainly contradicts Transubstantiation by saying that it is Bread which is offer'd after consecration to represent Jesus Christ and comparing it with common Bread and tho it be spoken by a Heretick yet it is not censur'd neither by Leontius here who writes severely against all his particular Errors nor by any other Catholick Writer which shows that it was a Doctrine then commonly receiv'd or at least it was not thought a dangerous Error and much less a Heresy Mary After this he is transported to Invectives against the Memory of Theodorus He accuses him of being one whom St. John Chrysostom exhorts to do Penance for his want of Moderation of having corrupted the Scripture by his Commentaries of endeavouring to usurp the See of the Church of Tarsus if he had not been hindred by Theophilus of having condemn'd the Name of the Mother of God of scoffing at the Writings of the Fathers of giving a mean and low sense to the Scripture altogether unworthy of the Holy Spirit of speaking ill of Job and rejecting the Canonical Epistles of having interpreted the Psalms after a Jewish manner by applying them all to the History of the Time and referring but three of them to Jesus Christ of interpreting the Canticles of Carnal Amours of rejecting the Books of Esdras and the Chronâ—oles of making another Creed then that of Nice of making a new Mess of not believing the last Judgment of denying Original Sin of saying with the Manichees that Darkness was a Substance of affirming that Antichrist should be annihilated of affirming that many Events came by Chance and lastly to load him with Impiety of affirming that Jesus Christ was a mere Man and yet that he ought to be ador'd After this Leontius quotes some passages taken from the Writings of Theodorus to prove that he maintain'd the same Doctrines which were Fortunatus taught by Nestorius The same Author wrote a Treatise to prove That the Letters alledg'd by the Eutychians under the Names of Gregory Thaumaturgus Julius and St. Athanasius were supposititious This he endeavours to prove by showing the Agreement between some Expressions of this Heretick and his Disciples and those that are in these Letters This Argument is not very convincing for the Fathers may possibly use the same Expressions with Apollinaris and his Disciples tho in another sense There is also a Treatise of his by way of Dialogue which contains the Objections of the Acephali and the Answers which may be given them a Collection of Propositions against those who deny that there are two Natures in Jesus Christ after the Union and a Sermon on the Festival which is celebrated between Easter and Whitsunday There are also in the Manuscripts some other Treatises of this Author as a Treatise of the two Natures against the Monophysites and a Disputation against an Arian Philosopher The Treatise of Sects was printed in Greek at Basle 1570 in Octavo and in Latin translated by Leuvenclavius with the Embassy of Alexis Commenus and it has been since inserted into the first Addition to the Bibliotheque of the Fathers The other Treatises have been publish'd in Latin by Canisius and put into the last Bibliotheque of the Fathers printed at Lyons the greatest and largest Collection of the Fathers that ever was made The Sermon upon the Festival between Easter and Whitsunday was publish'd in Greek by Father Combesâ—s in the first Addition to the Bibliotheque of the Fathers with another Sermon upon the same Subject written by another Leontius Bishop of Cyprus which is quoted in the seventh Council Act 4. He of whom we have now spoken had a very subtil Wit but not very sublime he was moderately learned and much prejudic'd his style is mean and not at all pleasant FORTUNATUS VEnantius Honorius Fortunatus was born in Italy and after he had studied at Ravenna he settled in France He was Ordain'd Priest of the Church of Poictiers towards the Year 565 and some time after Bishop of the same Church He liv'd till the beginning of the next Age and was an intimate Friend to Gregory of Tours The principal Works of this Author are written in Verse He wrote four Books of the Life of St. Martinus address'd to Gregory of Tours his intimate Friend in acknowledgment for the Cure he had receiv'd of a Distemper in his Eyes by rubbing them with the Oyl of a Lamp lighted before the Sepulchre of this Saint and eleven Books of different Poems The first contains the Description of many Churches and the Praises of Leontius Bishop of Bourdeaux The second the Hymns upon the Cross and among them the Pange lingua and the Vexilla regis which are his the Verses in the Praise of the Clergy of Paris with a Description of the Church of that City and Verses to the Honour of many Saints The third contains Letters to Euphronius Bishop of Tours and to Felix Bishop of Nantes a Description of the Church of Nantes and Verses address'd to many Bishops The fourth Book is a Collection of Epitaphs to which are joyn'd a Letter to Avitus Bishop of Clermont and a Poem upon the Conversion of the Jews a Letter to Siagrius Bishop of Autun which accompanies a Piece of Poetry upon the Life of Jesus Christ wherein he is tyed up to a certain number of Words and Letters Lastly this Book contains many Papers of Verses The fifth and sixth are for the most part written upon profane Subjects In the seventh among other Pieces there is an excellent Description of the Assembly of the Saints in Heaven There he notes the Country where each of the Apostles was in his time believ'd to dye That which is most remarkable in the eighth is the Pieces address'd to Chilperic and the Epigrams upon the Actions of St. Martin The tenth is made up of many Papers to the Princess Radegondes The eleventh is not yet printed Besides these Poetical Works Fortunatus wrote also in Prose the
22. The Archbishop of Rhemes was call'd Romulphus and not Flavius as he is here set down The Bishop of Soissons was call'd Droctegifilas in 592. Greg. Tur. B. 9 c. 37. Ansericus was in the time of the Synod of Rhemes under Sonnatius in 630. Lastly King Theodoricus whose Subscription is here was then but two years old and his Father Childebert was yet alive There is one Peter who sign'd and is said to have seal'd this Instrument whereas at that time no sealing was in use In fine the Year 594 is us'd for the date of this Lâ—tter but we do not see that St. Gregory ever us'd this date and that which renders it suspicious is that the Jurisdiction which is subjoyn'd answears to the Year 593 and not to 594. All these Reasons prove invincibly the Forgery of this Instrument which deserv'd not to be plac'd among the Works of St. Gregory The Letter which is at the beginning of St. Gregory's Morals on the Book of Job informs us of his Design in composing this Work of the method in which he manag'd it and how he put it in execution It is address'd to St. Leander Bishop of Sevil with whom he had contracted a very close Friendship at Constantinople when he was there about the Affairs of the Holy See and when St. Leander was sent thither as Ambassador by the King of the Wisigoths St. Gregory puts such Confidence in him that he acquaints him with the disposition of his heart and the troubles of mind he had endur'd and disco vers to him that tho God had inspir'd him with the desire of Heaven and he was perswaded that it was more advantageous to forsake the World yet he had delay'd his Conversion for many years That nevertheless he was at last deliver'd from the Entanglements of the World and retir'd into the happy Harbour of a Monastery but he was quickly drawn from thence to enter into Orders which engaged him anew in Secular Affairs and oblig'd him to go to the Court of the Emperor at Constantinople That nevertheless he had the comfort to be attended thither by many Monks with whom he had daily Spiritual Conferences Then it was that they urg'd him with much importunity and St. Leander did even force him to explain to them the Book of Job after such a manner as they desir'd i. e. by subjoyning to the Allegorical Explication of the Historoy a Morality supported by many other Testimonies of Holy Scripture This was the occasion which mov'd St. Gregory to undertake this Work He repeated the beginning of it in the presence of his Monks and dictated the rest in divers Treatises Afterwards having more leisure he added to it many things cut off some reduc'd the whole Work into better Order and made it uniform by changing the Discourses and Treatises to the same style He divided this Work into 35 Books which were distributed into six Tomes He confesses that he sometimes neglected the Order and Coherence of the Exposition which he undertook and apply'd himself wholly to Contemplation and Morality But he excuses himself by saying that whosoever speaks of God ought necessarily to enlarge upon that which is most instructive and edifying for the Lives of those that hear him and that he thought it the best method he could observe in his Work to make a Digression sometimes from its principal subject when an occasion presented it self of procuring the welfare and advantage of his Neighbour He adds that there are some things which he handles in a few words according to the truth of History other things whose allegorical and figurative senses he enquires after and others from which he only draws Morality and lastly others which he explains with great care in all these three ways He affirms also that there are some places which cannot be explain'd literally because if they should be taken precisely according to the sense of the words instead of instructing those who read them they would mislead them into Error or confirm things that are contradictory Lastly he excuses the defects of his Work from his continual Sickness and declares that he did not hunt after the Ornaments of Rhetorick to which the Interpreters of Scripture are never oblig'd At the conclusion of this Letter he remarks that he ordinarily follows the late Version of the Scripture but yet he takes the liberty when he thinks it necessary to quote passages sometimes according to the Old and sometimes according to the New-Version and that since the Holy See over which he presided us'd both the one and the other he also employ'd them both indifferently to authorize and confirm what he asserted in his Work In the Preface of this Work having said that some thought Moses to be the Author of the Book of Job and others attributed it to the Prophets he looks upon it as a thing very needless to enquire in what time Job liv'd and who wrote his History since 't is certain that the Holy Spirit dictated it altho 't is very probable that Job himself wrote it After these few Historical Remarks he enters upon General Reflexions of a Moral Nature about the Patience of Job the Afflictions of the Righteous the Pride of Job's Friends the Conformity of Job to Jesus Christ. This is what the Preface contains The Body of the Commentary is agreeable to the Idea which he gives of it i. e. that he does not insist upon the litteral Exposition but upon the Allegories and Moralities which he applies to the Text of Job whereof a great part may be applied to every other place of Holy Scripture But he does not so much labour to explain the Book of Job as to amass together in one Work an infinite number of Moral Thoughts And indeed it must be confess'd that altho these Books are not a very good Commentary upon the Book of Job yet they are a great Magazine of Morality 'T is incredible how many Principles Rules and proper Instructions are to be found there for all sorts of Persons Ecclesiastical as well as Secular for those who converse with the World as well as for those who live in Retirement for the Great and for the Small in a word for all sorts of States Ages and Conditions We shall not here undertake to give a particular account of them for if we should make Extracts from such kind of Allegorical and Moral Commentaries our Work would grow infinitely big This is written with much simplicity and clearness but it is not so very brisk and sublime yet it was very much esteem'd in the Life-time of St. Gregory and admir'd after his Death We learn from himself that the Bishops caus'd it to be read in the Church or at their Table altho he would not suffer it to be done in modesty and all those who have spoken of it since his death have commended it as a most excellent Work There is a Relation which says That sometime after his Death the Original which he had
engag'd in the Arian Faction He was sent to Constantinople in the quality of Ambassador from his King to the Emperor Tiberius where he contracted aâ— we have already said a friendship with St. Gregory He compos'd many Works of which here follows the Catalogue which Isidore has left us He wrote says he Licinianus and Severus Bishops of Spain in the time of his Journey two Books against Heretical Doctrines wherein there appear'd great knowledge of the Scripture There he discovers and confounds with great earnestness the Errors of the Arians by showing what the Church teaches in opposition to them and wherein it differs from them in its Doctrine and in its Mysteries He 〈◊〉 â—lso another little Work against the Arians wherein he relates their Objections and subjoyns Answers to them He compos'd also a Treatise address'd to his Sister Florentina concerning the Instruction of Virgins and Contempt of the World He was very industrious and careful about the Offices of the Church for he made two Editions of the Psalms with the Prayers and compos'd Songs suitable to the Prayers and the Psalms which are repeated at the Sacrifice He address'd many Letters to Pope Gregory There is one about Baptism another address'd to his Brother wherein he admonishes him that he must not fear death and many familiar Letters to his Friends which are not written in lofty words but are made up of spiritual Thoughts He flourish'd and died under King Reccaredus This is what Isidore informs us concerning the Life and Works of St. Leander We have now nothing remaining but his Letter to his Sister Florentina which is in the third part of the Code of the Rules of Benedict of Aniana 'T is a very wise and useful Rule for Nuns The style of it is concise and short He affects to speak by way of Sentences which are adorn'd with Antitheses and words whose termination and cadence are the same at every part of a Period There is also a Harangue of this Saint about the Conversion of the Goths which he spoke after the third Council of Toledo at the end of which it is to be found LICINIANUS and SEVERUS Bishops of Spain THese are two Bishops of Spain mention'd by Isidore in these following words Licinianus Bishop of Carthage in Spain was learned in the Holy Scripture We have read some of his Letters whereof there is one about the Sacrament of Baptism and many written to Eutropius Bishop of Valentia but the other Fruits of his Labour and Industry are not come to our hands He flourish'd in the time of the Emperor Mauritius and died at Constantinople being poyson'd by his Enemies Severus Bishop of Malaga a Friend and Collegue of Licinianus wrote a little Treatise against Vincentius Bishop of Saragosa who had deserted the Catholick Faith and was fall'n into the Error of the Arians He wrote also a Letter of Virginity to his Sister entituled The Ring We know nothing but the Title of it therefore cannot tell how it is written He flourish'd and died under the same Emperor DINAMIUS SIgibert of Gemblours places Dinamius among Ecclesiastical Writers to whom he gives the Title of Illustrious and Noble and he says that he wrote the Life of St. Marius Abbot of a Monastery in the Valley of the Vaudois We have an Abridgment of the Life of this Abbot in the first Benedictine Dinamius Age of Mr. Mabillon p. 105. and there is also the Life of Maximus Abbot of Lerina which is related by Surius and attributed to Dinamius St. Gregory has written two Letters 33. Ind. 11. 33. Ind. 15. to Dinamius a Noble-man in Gaul and Governor of Marseilles We learn also from St. Gregory that he joyn'd his House to a Monastery in honour of St. Cassianus B. 6. Ep. 12. Ind. 15. This Dinamius died in 601 as appears by Letter 70 of B. 9. of St. Gregory written to his Brother Aurelius to comfort him upon his death Therefore Dinamius who under Childebert the second plac'd two Bishops against the King's will one at Uretia and the other at Marseilles as is reported in Gregory of Tours B. 6. Hist. c. 7. was different from this Dinamius Whether of the two is the Author of these Lives if the same Person be the Author of them both or if one is the Author of the Life of Marius and the other of that of Maximus is very difficult to divine EUTROPIUS Eutropius EUtropius Bishop of Valentia in Spain while he was yet an Abbot of a Monastery wrote a very useful Letter to the Bishop of Licimanus of whom we have spoken wherein he enquires of him Why the Unction of Chrysm is given to Infants who are baptiz'd He wrote also a Letter to Peter Bishop of Iturbica concerning the Distinction of Monks which contains wholesome Advices and very useful for them These are the words of St. Isidore in his Book of Illustrious Men Chap. 32. The last of these two Letters was publish'd by Holstenius in the Addition to the Code of the Rules of Benedict of Aniana It is not entituled De Distinctione Monachorum as is noted in the Text of Isidore which probably is corrupted but De Districtione Monachorum ruina Monasteriorum There he shows that the Monks must be reprov'd with candor and oblig'd to observe their Rule with exactness and rigor This Letter is written in a very plain style MAXIMUS Bishop of Saragosa THis Bishop was present at the Councils of Barcelona in 590 of Toledo in 610 and of Egara in 614. St. Isidore says that he compos'd many Works in Prose and Verse That he wrote a Maximus Bishop of Saragosa short History of the Transactions in Spain in the time of the Goths and that he also wrote many other things which Isidore had never seen EUSTRATIUS Priest of Constantinople WE shall conclude this Age with some Greek Authors mention'd by Photius who may be thought to have liv'd at the same time altho Photius does not distinctly set it down Eustratius Priest of Constantinople The first is Eustratius a Priest of the Church of Constantinople who wrote a Treatise of the Souls of the Dead of which Photius gives the following Judgment in Code 171 of his Bibliotheque His style says he is not much to be valued but his Thoughts are not altogether to be blam'd He is clear in what he says He proposes to himself three things First to prove that Souls are Active after their separation from the Body not only the Souls of the blessed but generally of all Men and that they act differently according to the difference of their Merits That those who appear in different Forms discover themselves in their Nature and that 't is not only the Divine Power which makes them appear invisible shapes since it is not necessary to 〈◊〉 to the Figures and Representations which are fram'd by this Power for the Souls done can by themselves do what pleases God After he has endeavour'd to
pleased themselves with starting a great many unprofitable Questions with explaining Mysteries by the Principles of Logick and disputing with Dogmatical stiffness about things of small consequence Moreover too great Credulity begun to possess the minds of the more Learned and Wise. There was nothing then heard of but Miracles Visions and Apparitions the Veneration due to Saints and their Relicks was advanc'd beyond just bounds and a mighty bustle was made about some very indifferent Ceremonies Altho the Councils continually renewed the Ancient Canons yet Discipline now grew remiss and the rigor of the ancient Laws about Penance was now very much abated The Riches of the Church begun to be burdensom to it because its Ministers consider'd them as their own peculiar Possessions whereas before they were look'd upon only as the Patrimony of the Poor This oblig'd the Councils of this Age to make so great a number of Canons about the distribution and preservation of these Possessions which was a matter wholly new about which there were never any Canons made before this time In the Latin Church the obligation to live in Celibacy was extended as low as to Sub-deacons but to free their behaviour from all suspicion she was forc'd to renew very often and with particular circumstances the ancient Canons which forbid Clergy-men to keep strange Women in their Houses Contests and Canvassings for obtaining Bishopricks were very common and many were promoted to them who had neither Knowledge Merit nor Capacity The Church of Rome was thrice disturb'd with the Schisms of Anti Popes and the Sees of Alexandria and Antioch were frequently the Prey of the Ambitious The Eastern and Western Churches begun to be divided some Popes pretended to such Rights and Prerogatives as their Predecessors never thought of and there wanted not Flatterers who endeavour'd to perswade them that they were independent upon and superior to Councils But the more Holy rejected these false Maxims and asserted their greatest Glory to consist in maintaining the Laws of the Church Yet it cannot be deny'd but this Age had also its own peculiar advantages In it the Doctrine of the Church was explain'd with all possible exactness the African Bishops defended the Faith with a Constancy and Boldness equal to that of the Primitive Bishops The Popes in it show'd much Prudence Conduct and Charity in the most difficult times and the Eastern Bishops discover'd great subtilty and sharpness of Wit in the Disputes they had among themselves and with the Occidentalists The Western Councils made very good Laws concerning the Discipline of the Church which are still observ'd to this day They regulated the Ceremonies and Rites of Divine Service the Degrees of Consanguinity within which 't is unlawful to contract Marriage the Qualifications requisite for entring into Orders the Impediments which render Persons uncapable of receiving them and many other things of this nature Lastly The Monastical Order was perfected in the East by the Laws of the Emperors and divers pious Writings and in the West by many Rules and particularly by that of St. Benedict whose Order in a littletime spread not only into Italy but also into France and England I should here conclude this Advertisement but that I think my self oblig'd to precaution the Reader against a Doubt which has been started since the Impression of this Tome against some Authors contain'd in it whose Works all the Criticks have hitherto received as most authentick Monuments 'T is in a Writing entituled A Defence of the Letter 〈◊〉 St. Chrysostom to Câ—sarius p. 78. He has also says the Author of this Writing added â—…over Facundus He has explain'd his Words agreeably to the Sentiments of the African Chuâ—â—h because he who forg'd this Work under his Name would not have it thought that he was of any other Judgment Yet P. H. was convinc'd from thence that it was a forg'd Piece tho he chose rather to follow for some time the common Opinion because he must be reserv'd in declaring who is the genuine Author of a Work But since I know the original of his Secret and his Proofs I am willing to make you now my Confident in this particular Know then that Facundus Liberatus Marius Mercator Victor of Tunona Cassiodorus to whom so many Works are attributed excepting only his Formularies the Treatise of the Soul and his Commentaries upon the Psalms and Isidore who is thought to be the Author of the Book of Ecclesiastical Writers Know then I say that all these pretended Africans Italians Spaniards with some others were born in France and are not near so old as they are believ'd to be I will tell you at some time hereafter the Reasons I have to reckon them among forg'd Writings If he to whom this Opinion is attributed were an ordinary Person his Judgment might be despis'd as not being founded upon any proof But because P. H. is an Author famous for Learning and Worth whose Reputation may make some Impression upon the mind of the Reader it will be convenient to produce the Proofs upon which the Monuments which he is said to reject are founded We shall begin with the Treatise of Illustrious Men written by Isidore of Sevil which gives testimony to the truth of the Books of Facundus and of the Chronicle of Victor of Tunona Never was Book attested to be genuine by Authors more worthy of credit The first of them is Braulio Bishop of Saragosa the Friend and Cotemporary of Isidore This Bishop surviving him made his Elogy and the Catologue of his Works and there he has reckon'd among the rest The Book of Illustrious Men to which we have added says he what I said just now about it The authority of the Witness cannot be rejected nor can his testimony be call'd in question the former is unquestionable and the other has all the Characters of Truth that can be desir'd He speaks of the Works of St. Isidore as one that was very well acquainted with them He observes that it was at his request that this Author undertook the Book of Etymologies that he had left it imperfect and only divided it into Titles He speaks of Isidore also in such a manner as sufficiently discovers that he had seen him and had been his Friend The second Witness for this Book of Isidore of Sevil is Ildephonsus of Toledo who may haveseen Isidore for Isidore died in 636 and Ildephonsus was ordain'd Bishop in 658. This last wrote a Book of Illustrious Men in the Preface to which he observes that he did it to continue the Works of St. Jerom Gennadius and Isidore To these two Witnesses may be added Honorius of Autun who abridg'd the Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers and their Works and transcribe from St. Jerom in the first Book from Gennadius in the second and from Isidore in the third I do not relate the testimony of the Chronicle of Isidore of Paca concerning this Work because it is not an unquestionable Monument If we should
the Errors of Origen which some imputed to him He shews that they who were of Origen's Opinion concerning the ending of Hell-Torments have imputed this Error to S. Gregory Nyssene by altering some of his Expressions putting an ill Construction upon others and not rightly understanding his other Writings Photius observes that his Style in this Work is clear and easie that he makes a fit use of Figures that his Phrases are elegant and polite that he is not flat and troublesome that he keeps close to his Subject and doth not fly from it by impertinent Expressions forgetting nothing necessary for his Subject and solidly proves the Propositions asserted that he chiefly confutes the Error of those who imagine That the Devils and Damned Souls shall one day be enstated among the Blessed having constantly suffered for their Sins He confutes I say this Opinion by the Authority of Jesus Christ his Apostles the Prophets and Testimonies of the Fathers particularly by some Passages taken out of the Works of S. Gregory Nyssene He answers to the Testimonies of this Father which the Origenists alledged and shews their Cheats discovers the Places that they have added and vindicates him against all the Accusations of his Enemies BONIFACE of Mentz BONIFACE was an English man by Nation and was called properly Winfrid or Winfred he professed a Religious Life in England and at the same time applied himself close to his Study that he might make himself serviceable to the Church With this intention he went out of England in the year 715 to preach the Gospel in Frisland but the War forced him to return into England Not long after he went to Rome from whence he was sent by Gregory the Second to preach the Gospel in Germany anno 719. He preached first in Turingia and then in Hassia East-Frisland and Saxony Having planted the Faith of Jesus Christ in these Provinces and converted several thousand Souls he made a second Journey to Rome and was there consecrated Bishop in 723 by Gregory the Second who sent him back again with Instructions and Letters of Recommendation Being returned he continued to preach the Gospel in Turingia Hassia and Bavaria He received the Pall from Gregory the Third with an allowance to constitute Bishopricks in the Countries newly converted The Respect which he had for the Holy See made him undertake a third Voyage to Rome but he stayed not long but returned soon into Germany It was then his main business to establish a firm Custom in the Churches which he had Planted to reform Discipline and Manners to abolish Superstitions to erect Episcopal Sees where it was necessary and to hold Councils of which he summoned several in Germany and France Hitherto Boniface had only the Quality and Dignity of a Bishop and Vicar of the Holy See without any particular Title Wherefore Pepin and the great Lords of France thought it convenient to give him one designing to make him Bishop of Colen but the See of Mentz becoming vacant by the Deposition of Gervoldus Boniface was put into his Place and that Church made a Metropolis which was confirmed by Pope Zachary who made five Bishops Sees subject to it viz. Tongres Cologne Wormes Spire and Utrecht and the Bishopricks newly erected or those that depended upon Wormes viz. Strasburg Ausburg Wirtemberg Buraburg Erford Eichstat Constance and Coira But he soon after laid down that Dignity upon the account of Lullus his Scholar whom he put in his Place with the Consent of Pepin the Bishops Clergy and Lords of the Province having first obtained Leave of the Pope to do it He went to Utrecht to preach the Gospel in Frisland where he was barbarously murder'd by the Heathens June 5. an 754. in the place whither he was come to confirm a great multitude of Persons newly baptized and was buried in the Abby of Fulda Serarius hath published a Collection of Boniface's Letters together with Lullus's Adulmus's and several other of his Scholars Friends Princes and Popes that wrote to him At Mentz in 1605 Reprinted 1629. The first is to one of his Friends called Nithardus in it he takes the Name of Winfrid which shews that it was written when he was young He exhorts this Friend to contemn Temporal Things and apply himself to the Study of Holy Scripture that he may acquire saith he that Divine Wisdom which is more glittering than Gold finer than Silver more sparkling than Diamonds more rare than Precious Stones and he adds That there is nothing that he can search after in his Youth with greater Honour or possess with greater Comfort and Pleasure in his Age than the Knowledge of Holy Scripture The second is directed to an Abbess to comfort her in her Afflictions The third is superscribed to the Bishop Daniel In it he complains of the Behaviour of certain Clergy-men who taught Errors and permitted Persons guilty of Murder and Adultery to be admitted into the Priesthood And that which troubled him most was this That he could not wholly separate from them because they were in great Reputation in Pepin's Court of whom he stood in need But he says That he did avoid all Communion with them in the Holy Mysteries He observes That the Opposition which he met with from Heathens and Infidels Boniface of Mentz was the more tolerable because it was without but when a Priest Deacon or Clergy-man departs from the Faith this causes a Disorder in the inward parts of the Church He asks Advice of this Bishop how he should carry himself he says That on the one hand he is obliged to hold a fair Correspondence with the French King's Court because he cannot without his Authority and Command defend the German Churches and subdue the Idolatry of those Provinces That going to desire Orders for that end he cannot but communicate with those disorderly Clergy-men yet he is afraid that he offends God by it having promised by an Oath to Pope Gregory to avoid those Persons but on the other side he is afraid of bringing a greater Damage upon the Church if he should forbear going to the French King's Court. He adds That he seems to satisfie his Oath by separating from those irregular Clergy-men in their Ministry and not agreeing with them in their Errors or sinful Conversation We have Daniel's Answer to this Letter wherein he approves of Boniface's Carriage The fourth Letter was written by S. Boniface when he was but a Deacon It was to desire Adelmus's Books of Alimus The fifth is a Letter written by two of S. Boniface's Scholars to an Abbess The sixth is a circular Letter of S. Boniface to all Christians in which he exhorts them to pray to God for a Blessing upon his Travels for the Conversion of the Gentiles In the seventh he desires an Abbess to help him by her Prayers In the eighth he gives Egbert Bishop of York notice that he hath sent a Writing to Ethelwald King of the Mercians against some Errors and exhorts him
1. When an Error hath been once condemned by the Church it needs no further Confutation 2 That when the Author of an Heresie is condemned all that fall into the same Heresie are involved in the same Condemnation 3. That the same Condemnation extends to all the Abettors of an Heresie 4. That they that Communicate with Hereticks ought not to be admitted to any Synod of the Orthodox 5. That those that revive a Condemned Heresie ought to be reproved by all the Bishops by virtue of the ancient Condemnation 6. That it is not lawful to introduce new Doctrines nor compose new Creeds 7. That such as acknowledge their Errors may be again received into the Church provided that we find sure tokens of their sincere Repentance in their return 8. That such Persons may never be promoted to any higher degree of the Clergy than what they are now in 9. That if they relapse again they deprive themselves of their Dignity 10. That those that act any thing contrary to the Definitions of Pope Caelestine ought to be Excommunicated 11. That such Clergymen may be received and continued in their degree of Priesthood who having once assented to the true Faith subscribe to Errors provided they deliver a Recantation of their Errors in Writing 12. That they that will not subscribe to the Truth are condemned of themselves Hincmarus alledges a great number of Authorities of Popes Councils and Fathers to prove these Points of Discipline which never were contested in which he shews more Learning and Skill in the Canons of the Church than Judgment or Equity Lastly Hincmarus ending this Work adds a Conclusion divided into 6 Chapters in which he sums up what he had before said concerning Predestination Grace Free-will the Will of God to save all Men and the Death of Jesus Christ for Infidels Some time after Hincmarus wrote another Treatise against Gotteschalcus upon another Subject Hincmarus's Book upon the Expression Tâ—ina Deitas He had forbidden that the Hymn of the Martyrs called Sanctorum Meritis should be sung in his Church because at the end of it the Three Persons of the Trinity were called Tâ—ina Deitas thinking that Expression to be contrary to the manner of speaking exactly about that Mystery Gotteschalcus seeking an occasion to expose and accuse him composed a Treatise to defend this Expression maintaining that the Trinity was Personaliter Trina i. e. Personally Three because each Person of the Trinity hath his perfect and entire Deity Naturaliter una He justified this Expression by some Examples of like Expressions drawn out of the Fathers Hincmarus maintained the contrary that the Deity was the Name of the Nature not of the Persons and that we might not say Trina Deitas as we ordinarily do Tres Personae because there is but one God in Three Persons It is apparent that this dispute was only about Words and Names which Hincmarus spins out to a great length with much Zeal in his large Treatise Entitled De Trina Deitate reciting several Quotations of the Fathers and producing several Arguments which is both tedious and needless to abridge We understand by Hincmarus that not only Gotteschalcus but also Ratramnus Abbot of Corby had written in the Defence of this Expression and that the Benedictine Monks did sing this Hymn not leaving out Trina Deitas But now we do not find those Words in the Hymn of the Martyrs which seems to be changed into Te Summa Deitas for they are in the Prose of S. Thomas upon the Eucharist The Editions of Hincmarus's Works are set down at the end of the 6th Chapter following to which the Reader is referred The End of the Second Controversy and Chapter CHAP. III. A Relation of the Contest between Hincmarus and Rothadus Bishop of Soissons HIncmarus was engaged in many other Controversies and Quarrels which were not ended Rothadus Bâ—shop of Soissons with less trouble than that with Gotteschalcus The first was the Contest with Rothadus Bishop of Soissons in which he was forced to contend with the Pope himself and at last give place to his Judgment This Rothadus had been Ordained Bishop of Soissons in the Reign of Lewis the Kind He had an Order to apprehend Ebbo his Metropolitan who was fled and to shut him up in a Monastery that he might attend the Synod He was present in 835 at the Synod held at Thionville where Ebbo was deposed So that Rothadus was an ancient Bishop when Hincmarus was made Archbishop of Reims which was 10 years after the Deposition of Ebbo which perhaps was the Reason that he would not give so much respect and subjection to Hincmarus as he expected of him The beginning of the Business of Gotteschalcus shews that Rothadus and The Disagreement between Rothadus and Hincmarus Hincmarus's Accusation of him Hincmarus were not well affected to one another for Hincmarus would not put that Monk into his Custody suspecting him to be inclinable to Novelties There were also some other differences about which Hincmarus was angry with Rothadus as his frequent Admonitions and Threatnings of him shewed At last the Quarrel broke out when Hincmarus accused him at the Council held at Senlis in 863 that he had unjustly deposed a Priest of his Diocess and would not obey his Metropolitan who commanded him to be restored and the Person put in his place to be removed that he had squandered away the Church Revenue and pawn'd pawn'd a Golden Chalice that he had sold the Vessels and Ornaments of the Church without the consent of his Metropolitan the Bishops of Provence yea of the Steward and Clergy of his own Church and that he had lived in such a way as did not become a Bishop Rothadus seeing himself likely to be condemned appealed to the Holy See and desired that he might have leave to go to Rome Hincmarus and the Bishops of the Council Rothadus's Appeal to Rome consented to it upon condition that he should return by such a time Rothadus returned immediately to his Diocess and prepared for his Voyage to Rome But before his departure he wrote to the King and Hincmarus and at the same time sent some Heads of Request to a Bishop that was his Friend to be shewn to the King in which he prayed the Bishops that had not consented to his Condemnation to stir in his defence The Priest that carried this Letter was constrained by the King and Hincmarus to shew it them although the Bishop to whom it was directed was not present When Hincmarus had read it he made use of it directly to hinder his going to Rome and have him judged in France He interpreted this as a tacit Renunciation of his Appeal and that he would be contented to bâ— judged in France by the Bishops he had desired the assistance of and Rothadus's Condemnation since they were the Judges he had chosen himself he could not afterward Appeal from them according to the Rule Ab electis
Judicibus appellere non licet Being therefore glad of this opportunity he perswaded the King to appoint those very Bishops for his Judges whose assistance he begged and immediately sent a Prohibition to Rothadus to stop his Journey to Rome and caused him to be Summoned to a Synod by those Bishops Rothadus refused at first to come and insisted upon his Appeal to Rome but it was denied him so against his Will he was brought to the Synod Deposed and afterward Deprived Banished and Imprisoned Another Bishop was put into his place but to lighten his Sufferings Hincmarus gave him a good Abbey with which he might live commodiously Hincmarus says that Rothadus at first seemed to acquiesce in this Judgment but afterwards being sollicited by the Bishops of the Kingdom and by Lotharius who quarrelled with him because he would not wholly join with them in the Matter of Waldrada as also by some Bishops of Germany Lewis's Kingdom he put himself in the head of them and went to Rome to obtain his Restoration But Rothadus on the contrary maintain'd that he never acquiesced in that Judgment that he always protested against it and demanded that he might be Judged at Rome and never had any intention to choose the French Bishops for his Judges that it was a Trick of Hincmarus's who made that ill use of the Letter he wrote to a Bishop The Quarrel between the Pope and Hincmarus about the business of Rothadus his Friend But however that was Charles the Bald having given Pope Nicolas an Account that Rothadus who had Governed the Diocess of Soissons very ill for 30 Years was Deposed and desiring him to approve his Deposition was answered that he did not approve it in the least and wrote in particular to Hincmarus that he should restore Rothadus within 30 days after he had received his Letter or suffer him to come to Rome and come himself or send his Deputy on his behalf threatning him that if he did not do one of them within that time he will interdict him from the Celebrating the H. Sacrament and would inflict the same Sentence upon all those who consented to the Condemnation of Rothadus Hincmarus and the other Bishops of France understanding that Pope complained of their Judgment sent the Acts of his Deposition to him by Odo a Bishop and wrote to him at large concerning that Matter but the Acts did only confirm the Pope in his Resolution and Opinion Wherefore he wrote again to Hincmarus that he was much troubled to see that they had Judged that Bishop contrary to the Appeal he had made to the Holy See that they ought not to have Deposed him without Writing to the Bishop of Rome and which is much worse Ordained another Bishop in his place after he had entred his Appeal For which reason he refused to confirm those Priviledges which Hincmarus had requested him to do exhorting him to amend what he had done amiss and enjoining him a second time to send Rothadus to Rome threatning him that if he did not do it he would pass a definitive Sentence upon him after a third Admonition He gave Charles the Bald also an account of what he had Written to Hincmarus desiring him to take it into serious consideration and to shew his displeasure told him plainly that he must expect no favour from Rome if he would not maintain the Priviledges and Prerogatives of the H. See He also wrote a Letter to all the Bishops who were present at the Synod of Senlis and had consented to the Deposition of Rothadus in which after some Allegations out of the Fathers and the Canons of the Council of Sardica to confirm the Right of Appeals to the H. See and condemning the Behaviour of the Bishops of France in pronouncing Judgment against Rothadus he orders them to recal him from the place of his Exile and to send him to Rome and with him two or three Bishops or their Deputies that he might re-examine that Affair assuring them that if they did not obey his Order within thirty days after they had received his Letter he would Absolve Rothadus and treat them as they had used him Nicolas at the same time also gave Rothadus notice of what he had done for him viz. That he had Written to Hincmarus and exhorted him to come to Rome and answer his Appeal and after he had received the Acts of his Condemnation he let him know what he had Answered to the Bishops of France at the same time advising him if he knew himself Guilty to submit to the Sentence passed against him as he had advised his Adversaries to restore him if they believed him wrongfully Cendemned He tells him also that he was permitted to come to him being assured by the King and Hincmarus that he was already let out of the Monastery to which he was confined He desired the King likewise to furnish him with all things necessary for his Voyage and tells the Queen Hermentruda that he could not pass by this Matter as she had desired him to gratify her Husband Charles the Bald. It is evident that Hincmarus who had a mind to keep the Matter as it was hindred Rothadus from going his Journey for Nicolas was forced to send him a fourth Letter wherein he complains of his Carriage and forbids him Consecrating him Bishop of Soissons who was chosen to be put in Rothadus's place Hincmarus seeing himself out of favour at Rome about this Affair and some Hincmarus's 〈◊〉 Rothadus other Matters writes a long Letter to Pope Nicolas to justify himself chiefly about this Matter In the Letter he assures him that Rothadus was not condemned with a design to hinder his Appeal to the H. See that he was Tryed by such Judges as he had made choice of himself upon which account it was that he thought it not necessary to send him to Rome but judged it sufficient to acquaint his Holiness of the Sentence they had passed on him That he was perswaded that the Holy See ought not to be troubled with personal differences between either the Superior or Inferior Clergy for the Canons of Nice and the Constitutions of Pope Innocent and many other leave them to the Judgment of the Metropolitan and Bishops of the Province 'T is true when the causes of the Bishops are difficult and can't be decided by the ordinary Canons in a Council of the Province then they ought to be carried to the H. See As also if a Bishop who hath been Tryed by a Council of the Province and hath not Appealed to Judges of his own choosing thinks himself unjustly Condemned he may Appeal to the Patriarch to have his Cause re-examined and the Pope may Write to those that have been his Judges as it is appointed in the Council of Sardica That the Archbishops only receive their Pall of the Pope who therefore ought only to be Judged immediately by him Coming in the next place to the business of Rothadus he
upon the Twelfth-day Bardas a Mighty Man and of a Cruel Temper Incensed at his Refusal took his time to break out into an open Resentment of it Not long after this designing to rid himself of Theodora who shared the Empire with him he perswaded Michael That it was time for him to Reign by himself and advised him to send away his Mother and Sisters into some Monastery The Emperour following his Advice commanded the Patriarch to see that Business done who refused to obey that Order Which Refusal made way for Bardes to Accuse him as an Abettor of the Rebellion of a certain Person who pretended to be a Son of Theodora by another Husband Michael in the mean time caused his own Mother and Sisters to be shaven and shut up into a Nunnery afterwards turns out Ignatius and Banishes him into the Isle of Terebinthus requiring him several times to Resign but although he could not obtain it from him yet he put Photius in his place This Photius was descended from a Noble Family of Constantinople and Nephew of Tarasius Photius his Character the Patriarch He was raised to the Chief Dignities of the Empire being made Principal Secretary of State Captain of the Guards and Senator He was both a refined Statesman and a Person of profound Learning So great a Grammarian he was and so well-versed in Poesy Philosophy Physick and other Sciences and as the Author of the Life of the holy Patriarch Ignatius observes it so great a Master of Eloquence that he might pass without contradiction for the greatest Man of his Age in point of Learning and might even be compared with the Ancients In short he had all the Parts requisite for an able Man a happy Genius agreeable to a Studious Life and a good Estate to get him a good Library of Books but above all so great a desire to raise his Reputation that it made him pass whole Nights in the course of his Studies And whereas he aimed at the Patriarchal Dignity he diligently apply'd himself to the Reading of such Ecclesiastical Writings as might fit him for it He was yet but a Layman when he was chosen Patriarch But that he might be as it were Photius his Ordination Gradually raised to that Dignity he was made Monk the first Day Reader the next and the following days Sub-Deacon Deacon and Priest So that in the space of six days he attained to that Dignity which fell out on Christmas-Day Anno 858. He was Ordained by Gregory Asbestas formerly Bishop of Syracuse but Degraded at Rome whereupon he withdrew into Constantinople Ignatius unwilling that he should assist at his Ordination had fore-warned him not to appear in the Ceremony and signify'd unto him his desire that his Affair should be examined and Judgment passed upon it before he held any Correspondence with him Which Gregory being much offended at he from that time declared himself Ignatius his Enemy and Separated from the Church with Peter Bishop of Sardis Eulampius of Apamea and some-other of the Clergy Whom therefore Ignatius the Patriarch cited before him and caused to be Excommunicated They Writ against him to the Pope who required of Ignatius that he would send some Person to Rome to give him a full Information of that Affair Ignatius did accordingly send one Lazarus and the Point being duly examined by the Direction of Pope Benedictus the next Successor to Leo Ignatius his Sentence was approved of by the Holy See The Schism however continued during the Eleven years Ignatius was in the Bishoprick of Constantinople who could not reduce Gregory nor those of his Party to their Duty because he had so great an Interest amongst the Grandees and with Photius in particular The Metropolitans subject to the Patriarchal See of Constantinople acknowledged Photius but they extorted from him a Promise in Writing that he should respect Ignatius as his Father and Ignatius Expelled and Deposed should by no means persecute him Yet notwithstanding this Promise Two Months after Photius was raised to that See Ignatius his Friends were secured and himself accused of a Conspiracy against the Government He brought an Information against him and removing him from the Isle of Terebinthus whither he had withdrawn himself he was convey'd to another Island called Hiera from thence to Berneta and afterwards to Numeta where he was very ill used bound with Chains and cast into Prison From thence he was carried to Mitylene and whilst he was there Photius having called a Council together Pronounced his Deposition and an Anathema against his Person Photius having thus secured himself in his Patriarchal Dignity was not fully satisfied but being desirous to get this Sentence Confirmed by the Bishop of Rome sent two Bishops to Pope Nicholas Pope Nicholas his Letter upon the Ordination of Photius Whom he pray'd to send two Legates to Constantinople to re-establish the Church-Discipline and utterly extirpate the residue of the Sect that opposed Image-worship being resolved to compell them to approve of Ignatius his Deposition For he did not formally desire of the Pope the Approbation of it but he gave him to understand that Ignatius had voluntarily quitted the Patriarchal See by reason of his Age and Craziness and had withdrawn himself into a Monastery belonging to a certain Island and that he was in great esteem both with the Princes and People Upon this Request Pope Nicholas sent two Bishops to Constantinople viz. Zachary and Radoaldus with the Character of Legates a latere with full power to Regulate the Business of the Iconoclasts and to Inform themselves so far onely of Ignatius his Deposition as to make the Report thereof to the Holy See At the same time he Writ both to Michael the Emperour and to Photius himself about the Deposition of Ignatius In his Letter to the Emperour he expresses his Dislike that Ignatius had been Deposed without consulting the Holy See about it and that a Lay-man was put into his Place contrary to the Canons of the Church and the Decrees of the Popes He therefore declares to him That he cannot give his Assent to Photius his Ordination before he is fully informed by his Legates of the whole Matter of Fact That he desired Ignatius should be Cited before them and the Council to ask him the Reason Why he left his Flock and to inquire whether his Deposition was made Canonically And that when he should have a True Account of Things he would decide the Matter by an Apostolick Decree according to the true Merit of the Cause Next he recommends the Worship of the Images of Jesus Christ the Virgin Mary and Saints proving the Lawfulness of it by the Tradition of the Church and some Instances out of the Old Testament To which he adds That as Altars are Sanctify'd by Benediction and as the Bread after Consecration is in reality the Body of Christ and the Wine becomes his Blood so the Wood whereof a Cross is made is but common
following Letters relate to the Wrongs which the Holy See Suffered by the Sarazens and other Enemies of the Church against all which he begs the Assistance of Charles the Emperour And Exhorts the Bishops and Princes of Italy to break the Treaties made with them and animates them to declare War against them The thirty fourth Letter is an answer to Bishop Ansbert who had Consulted him about the Promotions of Bishops and Abbots He sends him word That he must follow as much as he can the Directions of the Canons nevertheless he thinks it convenient he should wait for the coming of the Emperour that he may Act according to his Will and Pleasure He says in particular as to those Persons he had been Consulted about that an Exile may be favoured without doing any thing contrary to the Canons That with Permission of the Prince the Abbot that was put out of a Royal Monastery might be Re-established if he hath never been Convicted of any Crime And that a Murtherer or any Accomplice in such a Crime ought to be deprived of all Spiritual Authority The thirty seventh is a Letter about the Translation of Frotarius Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux to the Arch-Bishoprick of Bourges In the forty second he Exhorts King Charles the Gross to restore the Revenues he had taken from a Nunnery at Bresse and threatens him with Excommunication if he does not do it within sixty days In the forty seventh he acquaints the Emperour Charles the Bald that he had Excommunicated Adelard Bishop of Verona because he had seized upon the Monastery of Nonantula He sends the same thing to the Arch-Bishops of Ravenna Milan and Aquileia in the following Letter and in the forty ninth to the Clergy of Verona By the fifty third he commands the Arch-Bishop of Milan and the Bishop of Bresse to meet at a General Synod of the Bishops of Italy which was to be held at Ravenna in June In the fifty fifth he Cites Vitus Duke of Venice and the Bishops of his Country to it By the following Letter he commands the same thing to be done by the Bishops Peter and Leo. In the fifty seventh he requires the Arch-Bishop of Ravenna and his Suffragans to be present at the General Synod of the Bishops of Italy which was to be held at Ravenna The fifty eight is written to the Patriarch of Aquileia to end his Affair in this Synod By the fifty ninth he acquaints the Arch-Bishop of Ravenna that this Synod was Prorogued to the nineteenth of July and he signifies to him in the following Letter that he has Summoned thither all the Bishops of Italy and especially those of Venice The foregoing Letters are Dated on the tenth Indiction that is to say that they were written between September 876. and the same Month in 877. The following Letters are of the eleventh Indiction In the sixty second he sent a Man-slayer to his Bishop that had been enjoyn'd Penance and who was come to Rome but he nevertheless Exhorts and Intreats this Bishop to mitigate the rigour of his Penance The sixty third is Addrest to Carloman He acquaints him with his concern for the Death of Charles the Emperour Exhorts him to Protect the Church of Rome promises to send him Legates very speedily grants him the Pall for Theodemarus the Arch-Bishop and desires him to secure him in the Possession and Enjoyment of the Revenues which the Church of Rome has in Bavaria The sixty fifth is written to the English Arch-Bishop where after he hath commended his Zeal for the Holy See and Exhorted him to discharge his Duty with Constancy he warns him not to suffer Husbands to forsake their Wives and Marry others He Confirms the Privileges granted by St. Gregory to the Bishops of his See In the sixty sixth Letter he thanks Athanasius Bishop of Naples for Excommunicating his Brother Sergius who was an Enemy to the Church He desires him to continue his Labour and Vigilance for his Church and recommends to him the Deacon Peter In the following one he commends the Neapolitans for driving out Sergius and giving the Government of their City to the Bishop his Brother By the sixty Ninth he sends to Landulphus Bishop of Capua to joyn with the Bishop of Naples in the Defence of the Church of Rome and requires him to observe the Treaty made with the Amalphitans In the Seventieth He reproves the Bishop of Ambrun for Ordaining another Bishop of Venice than him that had been chosen by the Clergy and People and whose Election had been confirmed by the Consent of Charles the Emperour He enjoins him to come to Rome together with him that was Elected and him that had been Ordained The 68 72 and 73. are Letters written to Lambert Duke of Spoleto an Enemy to Rome to prevent his acting those Hostilities which he intended against it The seventy fifth and the six Letters following are written about the Affairs of Bulgaria to that King to the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Greek Emperour The following Letters are written against Lambert Duke of Spoleto who had Invaded the Territories of the Holy See and being possest of the City of Rome had placed a Garrison in it abused the Bishops and Priests and hindered them from performing Divine Service in St. Peter's Church These Outrages obliged the Pope to retire into France to implore aid of Charles of Carloman Lewis the Stammerer of Engelberga and Berengarius as it appears by these Letters In the ninety first he acquaints the Empress Engelberga that he will compose the Service for the Anniversary of the Emperour Lewis her Husband as she had desired him He Conjures her to continue her care of the Affairs of the Holy See and to act so that he may return as soon as possible to Rome he informs her also that he will hold a Council at Troyes the first day of August In the following Letter he tells her that he is come to Arles and that he hath met Boson and Hermengarda whom he wishes preferred to some higher Dignities that they might be more able to defend the Roman Church He Exhorts the Empress to favour him in the Design he hath for them and to write to the Arch-Bishop of Ravenna to pray for him and to send Legates to Rome to Comfort his Faithful Friends By Letter the ninety third he makes the Arch-Bishop of Arles his Vicar in France yet without prejudice to the Rights of the Metropolitans for whichend he gives him the Pall and Commands the Bishops that are obliged to go out of their Provinces not to do it without his Consent and if there should happen any Disputes concerning the Faith or about other matters of any difficulty among the Bishops he requires them after they have given him an account of it to Decide it with twelve Bishops which he shall Assemble provided that if it cannot be Decided by these Judges they shall content themselves with having fully instructed him and refer the matter to the
Council held at Valence on purpose in the Year 890. Thus France was divided into three Kingdoms The Kingdom of France which comprehended Normandy Aquitain and the Dutchy of Burdundy the Kingdom of Arles and the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy Eudes was not long in quiet possession of a Kingdom to which he could pretend no Right Charles the Simple had his Partisans who sent for him from England whither his Mother had carry'd him and caus'd him to The Reign of Charles the Simple be Crown'd at Rheims in the Year 893. He immediately enter'd into possession of a part of the Kingdom and rais'd a Civil War between the two Parties which within a while was appeas'd and wholly ended by the Death of Eudes which happen'd on the Thirtieth of January 898. By his Death Charles the Simple took possession of the Kingdom of France not of that of Arles nor of Lower Burgundy In the Year 918. he added Lorrain to his Dominions having conquer'd it from Henry the Falconer after the Death of Conrad But the Malecontents among the French Nobles took an occasion from this War to cut him out new Work and elected Robert the Brother of Eudes King who was Crown'd at Rheims on the Twentieth of June in the Year 922. so that Charles was forc'd to quit Lorrain to come and fight Robert This last was kill'd in Battle but his Party elected in his room his Brother-in-Law Radulphus II. Duke of Burgundy Charles the Simple struck up on Alliance with Henry the Faulconner 〈◊〉 whom he remitted Lorrain upon condition that he should aid him but he was treacherously taken in the Year 923. by Hebert Count of Vermandois who kept him Prisonner in Thierry Castle The Queen his Wife withdrew into England with her Son Lewis From that time Charles the Simple was always in the Power of Hebert or Hugh le Blanc Count of Paris Robert's Son who kept him Prisoner till his Death which happen'd in the Year 929. Upon his Death Radulphus was left in quiet possession of the Kingdom to the Year 936. at which time he Radulphus dy'd without Issue leaving the Dukedom of Burgundy to his Brother Hugh the Black and the chief Authority of France to Hugh the White Count of Paris and Orleans and Duke of France his Brother-in-Law However this Man had not the Heart to take the Crown upon him being afraid of Hebert Count of Vermandois and Gisalbert Duke of Lorrain and he thought it more advisable to send for the Son of Charles the Simple out of England who upon that account was call'd Lewis d'Outremer Lewis d'Outremer He was receiv'd without any Opposition and Crown'd at Laon in the Year 936. Lewis during his Reign had great Contests with the Counts Hebert and Hugh and was sometimes at War sometimes at Peace with Otho King of Germany But at last having accommodated Matters with Hugh he dy'd peaceably in the Year 954. leaving the Title of King to his Son Lotharius an Infant Lotharius of Fourteen or Fifteen years of Age and the Administration of the Government to Hugh to whom the young King granted the Dutchy of Burgundy and Aquitain Hugh dyed in the Year 956. and left four Children of whom the Eldest nam'd Hugh-Capet was declar'd Duke of France in the Year 959. by Lotharius who gave him likewise Poictou Lotharius reign'd peaceably Three and Thirty years having after the Death of Hugh the White reassum'd the Royal Authority But this was lost in the hands of his Son Lewis sirnam'd the Fainthearted who surviv'd his Father only sixteen Lewis the Faint-hearted Hugh-Capet and Robert Months under the Tutelage of Hugh-Capet and was the last King of the Carolignian Line For after his Death Hugh-Capet was Elected King by the Nobless of Nayon about the end of May in the Year 987. and afterwards Crown'd at Rheims without any regard had to Charles Duke of Lorrain Brother to Lotharius whom they hated because he had taken an Oath of Allegiance to the King of Germany for his Dutchy of Lorrain The next year Hugh-Capet caus'd his Son Robert also to be Crown'd However Duke Charles was not altogether out of hopes of re-investing himself in the States of his Ancestors and having seis'd on Laon and Rheims he made War for some time with Hugh but was taken in the Year 991. in the City of Laon and carried Prisoner to Senlis and from thence to Orleans where he was shut up in a Tower wherein he dy'd three years after And thus the Kingdom of France was transferr'd from the Carolignian Line to that of Hugh-Capet who liv'd till the Year 996. and left his Son Robert in quiet possession of the Kingdom which this good King govern'd till the Three and thirtieth year of the ensuing Century And thus much may suffice for what concerns the Political Estate of the Kingdom of France let us now proceed to the Ecclesiastical Affairs wherein the Archbishops of Rheims had a principal share FULCUS Arch-Bishop of Rheims FULCUS succeeded Hincmarus in the Arch-bishoprick of Rheims in the Year 882. He was Fulcus Arch-Bishop of Rheims a Person of Quality who had been a long time at Court Immediately he sent to Pope Marinus his Confession of the Faith according to Custom and receiv'd the Pall from him In a Second Letter he demanded a Confirmation of the Privileges granted by the Popes to his Predecessors and made Complaints to him of the Estate bequeath'd by his Brother Rampo for the building of a Monastery of which Ermenfroy who had married his Widdow had taken Possession Marinus wrote on this last point to to Gerard Arch-bishop of Sens in whose Diocess this Monastery was and to John Arch-bishop of Roan to whose Diocess Ermenfroy did belong giving him orders to enjoyn him to relinquish the Estate which he had so unjustly possess'd himself of and if he would not do it to make use of Canonical Punishments against him Fulcus wrote likewise to Pope Adrian the Successor of Marinus to Congratulate his Advancement to the Popedom and at the same time sent him some Copies of the Privileges granted by the Popes Leo Benedict and Nicholas to the Church of Rheims to which he desires him to grant a Confirmation In the same Letter he intreats him to send a Commission to the Arch-bishops of Sens and Roan to adjust the business of the Monastery which Ermenfroy had taken possession of and writes in favour of Frotarius Arch-bishop of Bruges who was accus'd by a Monk of his Diocess assuring the Pope that he had been Elected by the Bishops of his Province by the Clergy and Laity of his own Diocess and Confirm'd by Pope Marinus He sent another very submissive Letter to Pope Stephen wherein he thanks him for the Honour he did him in writing to him and in treating with him as a Friend and Brother Titles which he could not pretend to thinking it an Honour to be his Servant and Subject He assures him
that he believ'd that the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST were of the same nature with other Aliments and were turn'd into Excrements He says that in the Latin Church they usually celebrated Mass on Sundays and Holydays at the * A Popâ—sh Canonical Hour Tierce Hour and on Fast-days at Noon or about Night but that when necessity required it might be celebrated at any Hour without breaking one's Fast. He reproves the Greeks because in breaking the Consecrated Bread they took no Care to gather up the Crumbs which fell because they rub'd their Patines with Leaves or a Brush because they crouded the Consecrated Bread into their Boxes by thrusting it down with their Hands because in elevating the Consecrated Bread at the Mass of the Preconsecrated Bread they seem'd to offer one and the same Oblation twice because they did not observe the Decretal of Pope Clement who requir'd that no more Hosts should be Consecrated than what were sufficient for the Communicants and that if any were left they should not be kept till the Morrow but be consum'd because immediately after they had communicated they fell to Eaâ—ing because that a great many of them did not observe Lent and because several others fasted only a Week the which they stil'd the Lent of Theodorus Lastly he charges Nicetas with being a Nicolaitan because he oppos'd the Celibacy of Priests and Deacons He explains the Canons which prohibit Priests from parting with their Wives of the Care which they ought to take of them in looking upon them still as their Wives tho' they have no Carnal Knowledg of them He produces the Canon of the Council of Nice concerning Women who live with Clerks and several Authorities of the Popes to prove that Priests ought to live chastly In short he charges the Greeks for not ordaining Ministers till after they had oblig'd them to Marry and concludes all by anathematizing Nicetas Cardinal Humbert was not satisfied with having refuted this Monk in so blunt a way he The Retractation of Nicetas was willing likewise to make him recant and when he went with the Emperor and the other Legats to the Monastery of Studius he oblig'd him to Condemn and Burn his own Writing and to anathematâ—ze all those who deny'd that the Church of Rome was the chief Church of the World and who Dar'd to call its Doctrin into Question The next Day Nicetas went himself to wait upon the Legats at the Palace of Pigi without the City where they resided and after he had a second time Condemn'd what he had written or done against the Holy See he was admitted into their Communion and became one of their Friends But as for Michael Cerularius he was not so forward to revoke what he had written on the contrary he avoided meeting with the Legats and holding any Conference with them When the Legats The Excommunication of Michael Cerularius by the Pope's Legats perceiv'd that he continu'd Obstinate they went July the Sixteenth which happen'd to be a Saturday to the Church of St. Sophia about Nine a Clock when they were just upon celebrating Mass and after they had complain'd of the Obstinacy of Michael Cerularius they lay'd on the high Altar in the presence both of Clergy and Laity a Sentence of Excommunication against that Patriarch drawn up in these Terms HUMBERT by the Grace of God Cardinal Bishop of the Holy Church of Rome PETER Arch-bishop of Melphi FREDERICK Deacon and Chancellor to all the Sons of the Catholick Church Greeting The Holy Apostolick See of Rome which is the Chief of the whole World to which as to the Head belongs in a more especial manner the Care of all the Churches has sent us to this Royal City in the quality of its Legats for the Welfare and Peace of the Church that as it is Written we should go down and sâ—e whether the Cries which pierce its Ears from this great City be true or no. Let therefore the Empeâ—ors Clergy Senate and People of this City of Constantinople know That we have here found more Good to excite our Joy than Evil to raise our Sorrow For as to the supporters of the Empire and the principal Citizens the City is wholly Christian and Orthodox But as for Michael who took upon him the false title of Patriarch and his Adherents we have found that they have sown Discord and Heresie in the midst of this City because they sell the Gifts of God like the Simoniacal because they imitate the Valesians in causing Eunuchs to take upon them Holy Orders and in advancing them to the Episcopacy it self because they Re-baptiz'd as did the Arians those who had been Baptiz'd in the Name of the Blessed Trinity and particularly the Latins because with the Donatists they maintain that the Greek Church is the only true Church and that the Sacrifices and Baptism of none else are Valid because with the Nicolaitans they allow of Priests cohabiting with their Wives because with the Severians they enjoyn'd the Observation of the Law of Moses because they have struck out of the Creed the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Person of the Son as the Pneumatomachi that is the Macedons who deny'd the Divinity of the Hoâ—y Ghost because with the Manichees they ascrib'd a Soul to the Leaven'd Bread because with the Nazarens they were such strict observers of the Legal Purity that they would not Baptize Infants who dy'd within eight Days after they were Born nor admit Women in Travail or who had the usual Infirmities of Nature upon them to Baptism or the Communion and lastly because they Condemn'd and Excommunicated those who shav'd their Beards according to the Custom of the Roman Church Michael having been advertis'd of these Errors and reprov'd for several other proceedings by the Letter of Pope Leo has still persisted in them and when that we would have apply'd a Remedy to these Evils he refus'd to appear before or to have any Conference with us and has likewise forbad our entrance into the Churches to perform Divine Service therein forasmuch as he had formerly shut up the Churches of the Latins calling them Azymitae Persecuting and Excommunicating them all which reflected on the Holy See in contempt whereof he stil'd himself OECUMENICAL or UNIVERSAL PATRIARCH Wherefore not being able any longer to tolerate such an unheard of Abuse as was offer'd to the Holy Apostolical See and looking upon it as a Violation of the Catholick Faith in several Instances By the Authority of the Holy Trinity by the Authority of the Holy Apostolical See whereof We are Legats by the Authority of all the Orthodox Fathers the Seven Councils and the whole Catholick Church WE do Subscribe to the Anathema which our most Holy Father the Pope has denounc'd against Michael and his Adherents if they do not retract their Errors and in pursuance hereof we declare that Michael stiling himself Patriarch a Novice who was made Monk only by the fear
compris'd in the Collection made my Orthuinus Gratius under the Title of Fasciculus rerum Expetendarum Fugiendarum Printed in 1535. and afterwards set forth by Goldastus in a Collection of Pieces compos'd in favour of the Emperor Henry IV. against Pope Gregory VII In this Collection by Goldastus is likewise contain'd a Treatise by Conrad Tutor to Conrad Bishop of Utrecht Henry Bishop of Utrecht call'd An Apology for preserving the Unity of the Church and putting an end to the Schism between the Emperor Henry and Pope Gregory VII which is also Printed among the Historians of Germany publish'd by Freherus Indeed some Persons attribute this last Treatise to Waldramus of Naumberg and others to Weneric Bishop of Verceil Weneric Bishop of Verceil who flourish'd at the same time Trithemius says That the latter wrote a Letter in the Name of Thierry Bishop of Verdun to Pope Gregory VII in which he admonishes him as a Friend of every Thing that as it was reported he had acted or alledg'd contrary to the Rules of Justice and Equity and conjur'd him to put a stop to those Irregularities ULRIC descended of a Family of Bavaria at Ratisbon a Monk of Cluny made a Ulric a Monk of Cluny Collection of the ancient Customs of that Abbey in three Books at the request of William Abbot of Richenaw This Collection is contain'd in the fourth Tome of the Spicilegium by Father Luke D' Achery BERNARD a Monk of the same Monastery was likewise employ'd about that time Bernard Monk of Cluny Bernard Monk of Corby in Saxony Bernard Clerk of the Church of Utrecht Egilnothùs Arch-bishop of Canterbury Campanus of Lombardy in writing on the same Subject but his Work being not so compleat Father Dachery did not think fit to publish it But care must be taken not to confound this Writer with another of the same Name a Monk of Corby in Saxony who flourish'd some time after and wrote a Book in a very fine Stile but very Satyrical against the Emperor Henry IV. which is mention'd by Sigebert and Trithemius There is also a third Author of the same Name who was a Clerk of the Church of Utrecht and wrote Commentaries on Theodulus's Eclogues of which mention is made in Sigebert To these Authors may be added certain Writers of whom Trithemius takes partiticular notice and whose Works are not as yet come to our Hands AEGILNOTHUS Arch-bishop of Canterbury famous for his extraordinary Charity to whom he attributes a Piece in Commendation of the Virgin Mary certain Letters and some other Works flourish'd according to his Account under the Emperor Conrad the Young A. D. 1030. CAMPANUS OF LOMBARDY a renown'd Philosopher and Astronomer was a Man of a subtil Wit an able School-Divine well vers'd in the Holy Scriptures and very skilful in the Art of Arithmetick more especially in the Calendar For all these commendable Qualities are attributed to him by Trithemius who adds That he set forth many small Tracts the reading of which might be of very great use to Bishops and among which he himself had perus'd the following viz. a Treatise of Ecclesiastical Numbers another of the manner of making Sun-dials a Calendar and some other Astronomical Works This Author flourish'd A. D. 1040. Sigebert of Gemblours makes mention of another Scholastick Philosopher of Liege nam'd FRANCO who liv'd in the Year 1060. He compos'd a Treatise of the Quadrature of Franco a Philosopher of Liege a Circle another of the Calendar and certain Commentaries on the Holy Scripture BERTHORIUS Abbot of the Monastery of Mount Cassin joyn'd according to Trithemius the Study of the Holy Scriptures to that of the Profane Sciences and after having written before his Conversion certain Works relating to Philosophy and Physick he compos'd when Abbot divers Discourses for the Edification and Benefit of the Monks under his Tuition ERARD a Benedictin Monk spent his Time in Preaching and Explaining the Holy Erard a Benedictin Monk Scriptures Trithemius met with certain Commentaries on the whole Pentateuch and divers Homilies written by this Author ADAM Abbot of Perseme in the like manner apply'd himself to Preaching He compos'd Adam Abbot of Perseme many Discourses for the use of his Monks with several Homilies on the Festivals of the Saints and on different Subjects and some Commentaries on the Holy Scripture of which Trithemius makes mention without having seen any of them M. Balusius has publish'd in the first Tome of his Miscellaneous Works five Moral Letters by this Author directed to Osmond a Monk of Mortemer in Normandy CHAP. XI Of the Authors who wrote Ecclesiastical History or the Lives of the Saints in the Eleventh Century MEGENFROY MEGINFROY or MEGINFRED a Monk of Fulda Megenfroy Monk of Fulda wrote in the Year 1010. the Life of St. Emmeran Bishop of Ratisbon directed to Arnulphus Count of Vogburg and afterwards a Monk of the Monastery of St. Emmeran at Ratisbon and referr'd to by Canisius in the second Tome of his Antiquities The same Author compos'd Twenty four Books of History cited by Trithemius in the Life of St. Maximus Bishop of Mentz which is in Surius's sixth Tome November 18. SYRUS a Monk of Cluny and the Pupil of St. Maiol wrote about the same time the Life of his Tutor dedicated to Odito which was publish'd with great accuracy by Father Syrus Monk of Cluny Mabillon in the fifth Benedictin Century and with Aldebaldus's Addition by the Bollandists in May 11. OSBERN or OSBERT a Monk and Chanter of Canterbury wrote in the beginning of the Century the Life of St. Dunstan with those of St. Odo and St. Alphegus The Osbern Monk of Canterbury Life of St. Dunstan was set forth by Surius under the Name of Osbert but that Narration belongs to a later Author since it was written in Lanfranc's Time and Father Mabillon has publish'd the genuine Life of that Arch-bishop by Osbert as well as that of Odo of Canterbury and the Life of St. Alphegus referr'd to by Bollandus in April 19. TANGMARUS a Saxon Dean of Hildesheim compos'd a Relation of the Life of St. Bernard Bishop of that City and his Pupil which was publish'd by Browerus and Tangmarus Dean of Hildesheim afterwards inserted in the last Edition of Surius This Author wrote in the Year of our Lord 1023. ARNOLD a Canon of Herfeldt wrote the Life of St. Godehard Abbot of that Monastery who succeeded St. Bernard in the Bishoprick of Hildesheim A. D. 993. and died in Arnold Canon of Herfeldt 1036. This Author was Meginfroy's Pupil and had seen Godehard in his Youth but he was inform'd of the Passages which he committed to Writing by a certain old Man who had spent his Life with that Saint This Piece was set forth by Browerus with the Life of St. Bernard and these two Lives may well be reckon'd among the most accurate that were written at that time EBERARD made a Narrative of the
The CCVIIth is a Letter of Thanks to the Bishop of Worcester In the CCVIIIth Letter Ivo reproves Geofrey Abbot of Vendome that having quitted that place and retir'd into a private Cell he entertains there Monks that are disobedient to and abuse their Abbot and that he hinders those who hold Estates of the Abbot from doing homage to him In the CCIXth he represents to Hugh Earl of Troyes that the Consultation intended to be held at Sens about the validity of the King's Marriage with the Marquess Boniface's Daughter the Earls Kinswoman will neither be honourable nor of any advantage to her It will be to no purpose because the Marriage will certainly be declar'd Null by the Bishops and Lords of the Realm nor will it be for her honour because it will occasion the illegitimacy of her Birth to be talk'd of so that Ivo advises the Earl to hinder if he can all debates about that matter In the CCXth he writes Pope Paschal word that Odo Bishop of Cambray complains of his Holiness for turning out of the Arch-Deaconry of his Church one who was a zealous friend of the Holy See and putting in one who is an Enemy to it In the CCXIth to Ralph Arch-Bishop of Rheims he deduces the Genealogies of the Earl of Flanders and the Daughter of the Earl of Rennes to shew they are nearly Related The CCXIIth to Geofrey Bishop of Beauvais is about the validity of a Donation granted to the Monastery of St. Simphorien In the CCXIIIth to John Bishop of Orleans he proves that the Regular Clergy may have Cure of Souls and Parishes committed to them In the CCXIVth to Bruno Arch-Bishop of Treves he bemoans the sad State of Religion under the unhappy divisions between the Church and the Civil Government The CCXVth is a Letter of compliment and friendship to Thomas Arch-Bishop of York In the CCXVIth and CCXVIIth Letters he give Richard Bishop of Albane Legate of the Holy See an account of the dispute between the Monks of Bonneval and those of Blois which he tells him he had us'd his best endeavours to accommodate but could not yet effect it In the CCXVIIIth he writes to Gualon Bishop of Paris that the Canon of that Church who had lately been Married ought to loose his preferment and be degraded from being a Clergy-man but that his Marriage must remain good and valid In the CCXIXth he justifies himself to Pope Paschal for having divided part of a Prebend of his Church among the Canons by dayly distributions for the Encouragement of such as assisted constantly in performing Divine Service In the CCXXth to Hildebert Bishop of Mans he shews that when an appeal is made from one Judge to another the party concern'd is within five days after he appeals to get a Letter from the first Judge to the other he appeals to who is not else oblig'd to take cognizance of the Matter He asserts also in this Letter that it is not in the power of any Bishop to give up the Estate of a Religious Society to the sole disposal of the Abbot In the CCXXIst Letter to John Bishop of Orleans concerning a free-man's having Married a Slave without knowing her to be so Ivo says that by the Civil Law the Marriage is void and he may quit her and marry another Woman but that by the Laws of God and of Nature they ought to keep together or at least if he put her away he may not marry again In the CCXXIId to the Clergy of Autun he inquires if a Woman that has been guilty of Adultery must necessarily be Divorc'd from her husband and concludes that in strictness she ought but by the wisdom of the Gospel such a Temper was prescrib'd as may reconcile her to her husband In the CCXXIIId to Owen Bishop of Eureux he perswades him to Excommunicate and deny Christian Burial to such as embezil the Patrimony of the Church In the CCXXIVth he tells Guy Abbot of Molême that one of his Monks having been with him and acknowledged with great Sorrow that he took Orders for the sake of Temporal gain only though by the Rigour of the Canons he ought for ever to be turn'd out of the Clergy yet having express'd true Repentance for his Sin he thinks he may be permitted to retain his Orders and to Exercise the Functions of them In the CCXXVth to Daimbert Arch-Bishop of Sens he delivers his judgment that a certain person who came and confess'd that before he was Married he had Carnal knowledge of his Wife's Sister ought to be deem'd ever after infamous and his evidence not to be heard against any man that he ought also to be Divorc'd from his Wife and live the rest of his Life unmarried but that his Wife should have her Portion back again CCXXVIth he requests Bernier Abbot of Bonneval to receive kindly one of his Monks who was sorry for having left his Monastery and beg'd leave to come into it again The CCXXVIIth is a Letter of Condoleance to Pope Paschal and acquaints him that being desirous of bestowing a Prebend in his Church upon Guarin he is oppos'd therein by the Dean and Chapter In the CCXXVIIIth to Gonhier a Priest Ivo answers a Scruple he had propos'd to him viz. How to reconcile these words of the Prophet Ezechiel At what time-soever a sinner shall Repent and turn from the Evil of his ways he shall save his Soul alive or be forgiven with the Sentence and discipline of the Ecclesiastical Canons which suspends for some time even penitents from the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and how it comes to pass that those whom Christ who is the head immediately releases the Church who is the body should detain under the Penalty of sin This difficulty Ivo says 't is Easie to solve if we consider the manner of God's remitting sins and the frailty of Mankind that God who knows the heart forgives the sin as soon as he sees the heart is converted but that the Church which knows not the inward thoughts of a Man cannot absolve a sinner till his Conversion be made evident by Publick Signs of it In the CCXXIXth to Lisiard Bishop of Soissons he declares that a Man who defames a Married Woman to any of her Relations by saying he had Carnal knowledge of her before her Marriage ought not to be admitted in Court as an evidence against her because he is criminal himself by his own Confession In the CCXXXth to Hildebert Bishop of Mans he asserts that a Jewish Woman who turns Christian may not quit her husband nor Marry another at least unless her husband were her near Relation In the CCXXXIst to Pontius Abbot of Cluny after giving some mystical reasons of the Elevation of the Chalice and the Host and the Signs of the Cross made upon those occasions he delivers his opinion that a Monk who was forc'd to make himself an Eunuch to prevent Epileptick fits he was subject to may notwithstanding be allow'd
What strange Opinions has he concerning the Soul and the Person of Jesus Christ of his Descent into Hell and the Sacrament of the Altar of the power of binding and of loosing Original Sin Concupiscence the Sin of Pleasure the Sin of weakness the Sin of Ignorance of the Action of Sinning and the Will of Sinning If you find hereby that I have reason to be mov'd be you also the like but that you may not be so to no purpose be sure to bestir your self suitable to the Rank Dignity and Authority of your Power Lay these Works of Darkness open Reprehend and Condemn them publickly and stop the Mouths of those that speak Evil. In the following Letter to Pope Innocent he expresses his concern in that Schism had not been sooner extinguish'd and that the Errors of Peter Abaelard and Arnaud of Bresse had not sooner been abolish'd He Acquaints his Holiness that he has been invited by the Arch Bishop of Sens to enter the Lists with Abaelard That he came at the time appointed and in the Presence of the King Bishops Abbots and several Learned Men he produc'd divers Articles against him but as they were going to be Read this Heroe all of a sudden went out of the Assembly and Appeal'd to the Judges that he had chosen which I hope says St. Bernard will not be approv'd of In his Absence the Articles propos'd were examin'd into and found repugnant both to Faith and Truth He concludes this Letter by earnestly exhorting the Pope not to grant protection or encouragement to a Person that was at variance with the Establish'd sentiments of St. Peter The Hundred and Ninetieth is a Treatise against the Errors of Peter Abaelard which is also inserted amongst his Opuscula The Hundred Ninety First is written to Pope Innocent in the several Names of Sanson Arch-Bishop of Rheims Josselin Bishop of Soissons Geofrey of Chalons and of Aloisus of Arras against Peter Abaelard They are made to Accuse him of Presumption Error and Heresie and also observe that his Book of the Trinity has already been Condemn'd to be Burnt by a Legat of the Holy See and moreover that having been lately Accus'd by the Abbot of Clairvaux to avoid his Condemnation he had Appeal'd to the Holy See without cause or reason against the Judges which he himself had made choice of And that the Bishops who were Assembled about that Affair would not Decree any thing against him out of respect to the Holy See but only Condemn'd some few Articles drawn out of his Books In a word that it was necessary that his Holiness should apply some speedy remedy to a mischief which daily encreased In the Hundred Ninety Second he Counsels Guy Cardinal of the Church of Rome not to favour the Errors of Abaelard on account of Friendship for his Person and to frighten him the more from it he tells him that he treats of the Trinity like Arrius like Pelagius of Grace and like Nestorius concerning the Person of Jesus Christ. In the Hundred Ninety Third he writes to another Cardinal Nam'd Ives acquainting him that he is surpriz'd that Abaelard should find so many Friends and Protectors at Rome By the Hundred Ninety Fourth Letter Pope Innocent Answers Henry Arch-Bishop of Sens Sampson Arch-Bishop of Rheims the Bishops their Suffragans and St. Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux that he has been as much concern'd for the Novelties advanc'd by Abaelard as joyful at the Zeal they have shewn to oppose him in his Innovations and declares that by the Advice of the Bishops and Cardinals of the Church of Rome he had Condemn'd the Articles which they had sent him and all the false Doctrines of Peter Abaelard together with their Author on whom he has enjoyn'd perpetual silence as being a Heretick and moreover that he esteems all the Followers and Defenders of these Errors to be worthy of being put out of the Communion of the Church In the Hundred Ninety Fifth he Counsels the Bishop of Constance to expel Arnaud of Bresse out of his Diocess he having already been driven out of Italy and France for his Errors In the Hundred Ninety Sixth he gives the same Advice to Guy the Pope's Legat to whom this Arnaud was retir'd for shelter In the Hundred Ninety Seventh he reproves Peter Dean of Bezanson for disturbing the Abbot and Monks of Cherlieu In the Letter following he earnestly Recommends their Case to Pope Innocent who refers it to John Abbot of Bonneval then Bishop of Valence and to the Bishop of Grenoble These determin'd in favour of the Abbot of Cherlieu But Peter not being willing to acquiesce in their determination continu'd to importune the Holy See for redress which occasion'd St. Bernard to write the Hundred Ninety Ninth Letter to Pope Innocent to beg of him to confirm the Judgment Pronounc'd by the Bishops The Two Hundreth is written to Ulger Bishop of Anger 's concerning a difference between this Bishop and the Abbess of Fontevrault In the Two Hundred and First he admonishes Baudeuin Abbot of the Monastery of Realino and recommends to him in particular three things First to instruct others by his Discourse Secondly to give them good Example by his Works and Thirdly to apply himself to Prayer In the Two Hundred and Second he exhorts the Clergy of Sens not to proceed too rashly in the Election of an Arch-Bishop but to wait for the Opinion of the Suffragan Bishop's and consent of the Persons of Rank in the Diccess to prevent that befalling them which hapned before to the Churches of their Neighbourhood Orleans and Languedoc He Recommends to them moreover to proclaim a Fast Assemble the Bishops Summon the Monks and in fine to omit none of the requisite Ceremonies in this Election This Letter was written after the Death of Henry Arch-Bishop of Sens who was succeeded in the Year 1144. by Hugh Abbot of Pontigni In the Two Hundred and Third Letter he Counsels the Bishop and Clergy of Troyes not to suffer the Sub-Deacon Anselle to be Marry'd and carry Arms. The Two Hundred and Fourth contains a Christian Compliment to the Abbot of St. Aubin The Two Hundred and Fifth is an Answer to the Bishop of Rochester who wrote to him somewhat severely about causing Robert Pallus to Live at Paris when he thought it necessary In the Two Hundred and Sixth he Recommends one of his Kindred to Melisenda Queen of Jerusalem and wishes her a long and happy Reign The Three following Letters Address'd to Roger King of Sicily contain nothing remarkable The Two Hundred and Tenth and the Eight following are Letters of Recommendation Address'd to Pope Innocent In the Two Hundred and Thirteenth he complains that this Pope took little or no notice of the Reconciliation made by his means with Peter of Pisa. In the Two Hundred and Sixteenth and Two Hundred and Seventeenth he Complains that Radulphus Count of Vermandois having put away one Wife and Marry'd another was seemingly vindicated by the
Hundred and Tenth Address'd to Arnaud Abbot of Bonneval is the last which he writ before his Death He therein gives his Friend to understand the sad Condition he is in and desires his Prayers These Three Hundred and Ten Letters compose the Ancient Collection of those of St. Bernard compil'd by his Disciples and left in the Monastery of Clairvaux There have since been found several others which are those which follow continuing the Number The Three Hundred and Eleventh is Address'd to Haimeric Chancellor of the Holy See and written in the Name of Hugh Abbot of Pontigni and of St. Bernard It contains Complaints against those who envy other Men's good Actions and excessive Commendations of Haimeric's Conduct in his Ministry The Three Hundred and Twelfth is a Letter of Compliment to Rainaud Arch-Bishop of Rheims In the Three Hundred and Thirteenth written to Geofrey Bishop of York he says that those Monks that have a mind to quit a Life for amore Austere ought not to be hinder'd but after having embrac'd it they are not to be releas'd for fear of becoming Apostates The Three Hundred and Fourteenth is written to Pope Innocent II. about the time that St. Bernard negotiated the Affair of the People of Lombardy with his Holyness He sends him word that he can neither prevail upon those of Cremona nor those of Milan In the Three Hundred and Fifteenth he begs of Maud Queen of England to grant him what he had formerly requested of her in favour of the Abbot of La Chapelle In the Three Hundred and Sixteenth he desires also Henry Arch-Bishop of Sens and Haimeric Chancellor of the Church of Rome not to oppose the Restitution of some Ecclesiastical Goods which a certain Lord has a mind to make to the Monks When Laicks says he who are in possession of Churches orChurch-Revenues have a mind to quit them it is commendable and when they are disposed to give them to the Ministers of God it is doubly so But this being to be done only by the hands of the Bishop he cannot refuse it without being guilty of two Faults nor consent to it without being cause of two good things This Lord requests a thing of you which you ought to have asked of him for which do you think does it better become to be in Possession of Church Revenues a Soldier or a Saint No body that has heard of this Action but has been surprized Make then no more difficulties to receive from Laicks what belongs to the Church and the Ministers of God's Word In the Three Hundred and Seventeenth written from St. Bernard to Geofrey Prior of the Monastery of Clairvaux he gives him to understand that the Church of Rome is at present in Peace that the party of Peter of Leon have done Fealty and Homage to Pope Innocent that in like manner all the Clergy that had sided with that Cardinal were came over to the Pope And in fine that God having thus fulfill'd his Wishes he shall be speedily on his Return This Letter was written in the Year 1138. In the Three Hundred and Eighteenth he acquaints Pope Innocent II. with the Danger the Church of Rheims was in by reason of the great Contests about the Election of an Arch-Bishop In the Three Hundred and Nineteenth he exhorts Turstin Arch-Bishop of York not to lay down his Arch-Bishoprick or in case that he be obliged to do it for some secret Reason or in Obedience to the Popes Commands he advises him to enter into the strictest Cloyster In the Three Hundred and Twentieth he admonishes Alexander Prior of the Monastery of Fountain in England to take care that the Election of a new Abbot be made without Heats and Dispute In the Three Hundred and Twenty First he enjoyns Henry de Murdach to accept of the Abby of Fountain in case he be Elected The Three Hundred and Twenty Second contains wholsom Instructions to a young Monk which he gives to Hugh then but a Probationer and afterwards Abbot of Bonneval The Three Hundred and Twenty Third is written in favour of the Arch-Bishop of Treves against the Abbot of St. Maximin The Three Hundred and Twenty Fourth is a Compliment to Robert Abbot of Dunes who was afterwards successor to St. Bernard in the Abby of Clairvaux In the Three Hundred and Twenty Fifth he writes to the same Abbot that he is not to admit a Probationer if he have not well acquitted himself during his Probation-ship The Three Hundred Twenty Sixth is a Letter from William Abbot of St. Thierry to Geofrey Bishop of Chartres and to St. Bernard against the Error of Abaelard which he has there reckon'd up We shall speak more of this when we treat of the Doctrine of Abaelard The Three Hundred and Twenty Seventh is an Answer of St. Bernard's to this Letter wherein he acquaints him that he intends speedily to have a Conference with him upon that Subject The Three Hundred Twenty Eighth is written to Pope Innocent II. against him that had been chosen Bishop of Rhodes The Three Hundred Twenty Ninth is written to the Bishop of Limoges against the same The Nine Letters following were written in the Year 1140. against Peter Abaelard The Three Hundred and Thirtieth and the Three Hundred Thirty Seventh to Pope Innocent and the rest to the Cardinals The Three Hundred Thirty Seventh is written in the Name of the Bishops of France and contains a Relation of what had passed against Abaelard in the Council of Sens. In the Three Hundred Thirty Ninth he recommends to Pope Innocent Aloisus Bishop of Arras and says that those who have accus'd him are only Calumniators In the Letter following he recommends to the same Pope Ulger Bishop of Anger 's The Three Hundred Forty First is written to Malachy Arch-Bishop of Armagh in Ireland who had sent two young Monks to him to learn the manner of living in Clairvaux with design to found a Monastery of the same Institution St. Bernard promises to send them back well instructed in a short time In the Three Hundred Forty Second he writes to Josselin Bishop of Soissons to appease the King who had been incens'd without cause against Geofrey de Loroux Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux who had incurred the Displeasure of this Prince by ordaining Grimoard who had been canonically elected Bishop of Poitiers in the Year 1140. The two following Letters were written by Bernard Abbot of St. Anastasius and afterwards Pope Eugenius III. The first to Pope Innocent II. and the second to St. Bernard In both he expresses a great deal of Concern for having been forced from the Monastery of Clairvaux and sent into Italy The Three Hundred Forty Fifth is a Letter of St. Bernard's to the Monks of St. Anastasius to whom he recommends living always in strict observance of their Order and in Charity one towards another He moreover tells them that though any of the Monks be sick they must make use only of some common sorts of Herbs it
his City Prisoner From this time forward they went under the Common Title of Albigenses There were a great Number of them not only in that Country but likewise in all Languedoc and Gascogne There were likewise Banditi in those Provinces without Law or Gospel who ran about the Countrey ravag'd pillag'd and Massacred all without Distinction of Estate Age or Sex and in an especial manner Assaulted Churches and Monasteries some of them were call'd Barbancons others Arragonists Navarrists and Bascani others Cotteraux and Triverdini The General Council of the Lateran held in the The Condemnation of the Albigenses in the Lateran Council A. D. 1179. year 1179. Excommunicated all of them prohibited the Interring them in holy Ground exhorted the Catholick Princes to wage War against them to confiscate their Goods and to make them slaves granted to those who took up Arms against them proportionable to their Services and according to the Discretion of the Bishops Excommunicated those who gave them any protection suffered them in their Territories or had any Commerce with them That Council says that the Hereticks of Albi were call'd Cathari Patarini Publicans and went under a great many other Names which shews that they were descended from the Hereticks who appear'd in the Beginning of this Century and were so call'd The Publicans or Poblicans held a great many Castles in Gascogne In the year 1181. Henry Abbot of Clairvaux Bishop of Albi being in the Quality of Legate rais'd a great many Troops and went to give them a Visit. To divert this storm they pretended to Abjure their Errors but the danger once past they follow'd their old Course of Life again This Infection spread it it self in several Provinces on each side the Loire One of those false The Heresy of Terrick Apostles nam'd Terrick who lay a long time conceal'd in a Grott at Corbigny in the Diocess of Nevers was taken and burnt Several others suffer'd the same Punishment in other parts particularly two old Women in the City of Troyes to one of whom 't is said that this Terrick gave the name of Church and to the other the name of Saint Mary that so when his followers were examin'd they might swear by Saint Mary that they held no other Faith than that of the Holy Church These Publicans were likewise condemn'd in the Council held at Sens in the year 1198. which The Publicans depos'd the Abbot of Saint Martin 's of Nevers and suspended the Dean of the Church of that City accus'd of that Heresy and referr'd them to the Holy See There was in the same Century a Visionary who was presented to Pope Eugenius III. at the The Errors Eon de l' Etoile opening of the Council of Rheims He was a Gentleman of Bretagne nam'd Eon de l' Etoile who was so Ignorant that having heard it sung in the Church Per Eum qui venturus est judicare vivos Mortuos he imagin'd and asserted that it was he who was to Judge the Quick and the Dead He was follow'd as a great Prophet sometimes walk'd with a great train of People at his heels sometimes liv'd in Solitude and afterwards appear'd in greater splendor than before T is said that he was a Magician and that to draw the Mob after him he made great Entertainments but that they were meer Illusions and that the Victuals which were cat at his Table and the Presents which he made bewitch'd mens minds The Arch-Bishop of Rheims having apprehended him presented him to his Holiness and the Council His Answers were so full of Frensy and Enthusiasm that they look'd upon him as a Fool and shut him up in a close Prison where he dy'd soon after A great many of his Disciples a great deal more sensless than himself chose rather to be burnt than to renounce him These were the Heretical Sects which appear'd in the Twelfth Century and were so full of Extravagant Errors If we enquire into the Causes of the Amazing Progress which they made in so short a time we shall find that the Relaxation of Church Discipline the Avarice and Covetousness of Ecclesiasticks the Common Abuse which was made of the Sacraments the Credulity and Ignorance of the People the pretended Virtues of those new Preachers and the Desire of Reformation contributed very much to the spreading of those Upstart Opinions CHAP. VII The History of Peter Abaelard of his Writings Errors and Condemnation THE famous Peter Abaelard has himself given us an account of his Life and Adventures which The Life and Adventures of Abaelard are both Diverting and Singular We have the Relation thereof in his first Letter written to one of his Friends of which we now give you the Abstract He was born in the Village call'd Le Palais about three Leagues from the City of Nantes His Father Berengarius though a Man of Arms was yet somewhat given to Study and took care to give all his Children Learning Abaelard who was the Youngest and very much inclin'd to Letters renounc'd the Profession of War to give himself up wholly to the study of Philosophy With this design he left his Native Country and after he had frequented several Schools came to Paris where that Science was then in Vogue and chose for his Master William of Champeaux Arch Deacon of Paris the most famous Professor of that time After he had liv'd for some time with him in good Repute he incurr'd his Displeasure because he undertook to refute his Opinions and to dispute against him with so much Strength that he sometimes seemed to have the Advantage over him The great Opinion which he had of his own Parts made him though but young very desirous of teaching others and of seeking out a convenient place where he might profess publickly The Castle of Melun which was then a Royal Seat was pitch'd upon by him as very proper for his Purpose because of its being near to Paris He obtain'd a License to teach there publickly in spite of the Opposition which William of Champeaux made who did not like that Abaelard should teach so near Paris for fear that the Reputation which he acquir'd would lessen his In effect Abaelard had no sooner begun to teach Logick but the Reputation of William began to sink which inclin'd Abaelard to go and settle at Corbeil that so being nearer Paris the Disputes might be more frequent Some time after this Abaelard was constrain'd by a Sickness contracted by his great Application to Study to return to his own Country During his Absence William was made Regular Canon in the Monastery of St. Victor that so as was suppos'd he might with greater ease obtain a Bishoprick as happened accordingly being within a short time after elected Bishop of Chalons Whilst he stay'd at Paris he continued his Lectures in St. Victor and Abaelard being returned to that City had studied Rhetorick under him and renewed the Disputes in Philosophy which he had formerly with him
with whom it was very difficult for him to converse This happened at the same time when the Abbot of St. Denys took to himself the Abbey of Argentevil and the Nuns of that place being dispers'd Abaelard gave to Helloissa who was Prioress thereof and to several other of the Religious who had follow'd her the Church of the Paraclete and its Dependencies This Donation was confirmed by the Bishop of Troyes and by Pope Innocent II. and by Degrees this Covent which was very poor at its first Rise was plentifully endowed by the liberality of the Faithful Abaelard went often thither to assist them in their Needs which gave occasion to the Malicious of accusing him of having still a Passion for Helloissa and of attributing to the Motions of his fleshly Lusts what he did out of a pure motive of Charity or to avoid the ill treatment of his Monks who perpetually sought for an Opportunity to get rid of him This Letter of Abaelard fell into the Hands of Helloissa whereupon she sent him word that having known his Hand-writing she could not forbear to read it over with all the eagerness which the Passion The Letters of Helloissa to Abaelard she had for him could inspire into her That it was but very reasonable since she had ruin'd him that she might at least receive some Consolation by the reading of his Letters That this however had very much afflicted her by putting her in mind of the Miseries which had happened to him and letting her know of the Danger wherein he was That she conjur'd him to send her often word how he did that so she might partake with him either in his Grief or his Joy That since he had been pleased for the satisfaction of his Friend to send him an account of his Misfortunes he lay under greater Obligations to write to her and her Religious whom he ought to esteem not only as his Friends but as Persons entirely at his Devotion not as Companions but as his own Daughters who were beholden to him alone for the Monastery which they were in possession of That it was he who first rendred that solitude Habitable and was the Founder of that House That it was his Duty likewise to bestow all his Cares upon it and that having done so much for others it was very reasonable he should be serviceable to them also That he was farther oblig'd thereto upon Consideration of the Relation she had to him of the extream Love which she always had for him and the great loss which she had suffer'd by parting from him Afterwards she expresses the Sentiments of her quoâ—dam Passion to him so as not only to say that she never lov'd any thing in him beside his own Person but also that the name of Concubine seemed more Eligible to her than that of Wife because it would wound his Reputation â—ess and have made her a greater Sacrifice She adds that when the Emperor would have had her in Marriage and bestowed the whole Empire upon her yet she chose to be Abaelard's Mistress rather than Empress By this you may perceive the Violence of a Womans Passion To this she subjoyns the Remembrance of several other reciprocal Testimonies of Love which they had given each other and afterwards she upbraids him for that though in Obedience to him she was made a Nun yet that he had so far slighted or rather forgot her that she had received no Refreshment by his Visits nor Comfort by his Letters Is it says she because the Bond which tyed you to me was rather the Heat of Lust than the Force of Love She avows that it was not out of Devotion but in Obedience to her Husband's Commands that she had embrac'd the Monastick Life that she could not expect any Reward from the Lord for it for whose Sake she had not done it That she had follow'd or rather preceeded her Husband and that one of those things which troubled her most was that he had ingag'd her to dedicate her self to God before he had resolv'd upon it himself as if he had some distrust of her Fidelity She assures him that even at present she had him still in her Mind and lov'd him still She intreats him to consider what a piece of Ingratitude it would be in him to refuse to visit her and comfort her with his Letters since that would be a means of her serving God with the less Detraction And lastly that since he had formerly writ so many â—ove Letters to excite a dishonourable Passion in her it was very reasonable that he should write some to her now to incline her to God Abaelard return'd an Answer That it was not out of Negligence that he had deferr'd writing Abaelard ' s Letter to Heloissa to her but because he had so much Confidence in her Piety and Learning as to think that she stood in no need of his Advice That if she thought that she wanted it she might inform him of the Points wherein she desir'd his Instruction and that he would satisfie her therein He thanks her for being so kind as to participate in his Afflictions and recommends himself to her Prayers and the Prayers of her Fraternity From this he takes an occasion to shew how grateful the Prayers of Holy Virgins are to God In particular he takes notice to her of a Form of Prayers which he desired that they would say for him at the Close of the Canonical Hours and tells her that after his Death he would have his Body be brought to their Monastery to be there interr'd that they might pray to God for the quiet of his Soul This Letter very sensibly affcted Heloissa because Abaelard therein speaks of his Death as if Another Letter of Heloissa near at Hand She had so much Affction for him that she could not bear this thought without being very much disturbed at it She declares those thoughts to him in a very pathetical manner in the Letter which she sent back to him wherein she could not forbear reflecting upon the Misfortune which had happened to Abaelard through her means She desir'd that she might undergo a Penance worthy of her Fault and owns that she is still so weak as not to efface out of her Memory the remembrance of past Pleasures but that they continually present themselves to her Mind which gives her great cause of Humiliation and of rejecting the Praises which he had bestowed upon her Abaelard endeavoured to comfort her by excusing himself of the Reproaches which she had cast Abaelardâ— Reply upon him in that Letter which he reduced to four Heads The first was about the Complaint which she made of his having nam'd her first in the Inscription of this Letter The Second about the Reproach which she had cast upon him of having increased her Grief rather than afforded her any Consolation The Third about the Reflections which she had made upon their past Misfortunes And the last about
Pope Innocent II. to desire him to confirm the Sentence which they had pass'd against the Errors of Abaelard and to intreat him to prevent his teaching any Longer and his having any Countenance at the Court of Rome Their Letters are the hundred and Ninety first and the three hundred and thirty seventh among the Letters of Saint Bernard who doubtless compos'd them himself He wrote likewise in his own Name to the Pope the hundred and Eighty Ninth Letter wherein he earnestly exhorts him to proscribe the Errors of Abaelard and to hinder him from having any Countenance in the Court of Rome He likewise sent him the Heads which he had found fault with in Abaelard's Book with an Ample Refutation of his Errors This is the hundred and Ninetieth or Ninty first Opuscule Lastly to prevent Abaelard from making use of that Credit which he had at Rome in his favour he wrote to three Cardinals his Friends to do what they could that Abaelard might not succeed in his Designs This is the Subject Matter of the hundred and second the hundred and third and three hundreth and thirty Eighth Letters The Pope return'd Answer to the Prelates of the Council of Sens and to Saint Bernard that he The Confirmation of the Sentence pass'd by the Council of Sens by the Pope commended the Zeal which they had express'd against the Errors of Abaelard That after he had advis'd with the Bishops and Cardinals he had condemn'd the Heads which they had sent him and all the Errors of Peter Abaelard with the Author of them on whom he impos'd a perpetual silence as on a Heretick and that he had adjudg'd that all the Followers and Defenders of his Errors ought to be Excommunicated This Letter which is the hundred and Ninty fourth among Saint Bernard's bears dare July the 16th in the Year 1140. In an Order of the same or the foregoing day directed to the same Bishops and Saint Bernard he joyns Peter Abaelard to Arnulphus of Bresse and orders the Bishops to imprison them and to burn their Books where-ever they found them Abaelard to justify himself compos'd an Apology or rather a Confession of Faith wherein after Abaelard's Apology he had taken Notice that it was a hard matter when one writ to avoid reproach he protests in the presence of God that he is not at all sensible of being guilty of those things whereof they accus'd him and that if he were satisfied of his having advanc'd any Error he was resolv'd to maintain it no longer That it might happen that by carelessness he might have writ what he ought not to have writ but that he calls God to Witness that as to those Points whereof he was accus'd he had advanc'd nothing out of an ill Design or Pride That he always spoke in Publick and never conceal'd his Writings That if in that great Number of Lectures which he had held he had faln into any extravagancies he would never be stiff in the Maintenance of them but would be always ready to give satisfaction by Correcting or blotting out what he might have advanc'd improperly But that as it was his Duty to correct the faults which he had committed he was likewise oblig'd to refute those Accusations of Error which had been fasly laid to his Charge because as Saint Augustine says he who is negligent of his Reputation is an Enemy to himself and silence is a kind of Confession That 't is for this Reason that he Answers those Heads which are publish'd against him to let all the Faithful know that he is a true Son of the Church that he receiv'd whatever it receiv'd that he rejected whatever it rejected and that he always continu'd in the Union of the Church tho' he were not equal to others in the sanctity of his Life He thereupon in this Apology rejects the Errors whereof he was accus'd and professes the Contrary Truths by declaring 1. That he abhorr'd the Proposition which had been maliciously imputed to him That the Father had a perfect Power that the Son had only a Certain Power and that the holy Ghost had no Power at all and he professes that he believes that the Son and Holy Ghost are of the same Substance with the Father and that they have the same Power and the same Will and pretends that it was either out of Malice or Ignorance that they had accus'd him of having said that the Holy Ghost was not of the same Substance with the Father 2. That he professes to believe that the Only Son of God was made man to deliver us from the Slavery of Sin and from the Bondage of the Devil and to open an Entrance to us to Heaven by his Death 3. That Jesus Christ is the true and only Son of God Born of the Substance of the Father before all Worlds and that the holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity who proceeded from the Father and the Son 4. That the Grace of God is so necessary to all men that neither Nature nor Free-will are sufficient to Salvation because Grace Prevents us that we may Will follows that we may do what we Will and accompanies us that we may persevere 5. That God cannot do any thing but what is agreeable to his Nature for him to do and that he has indeed Power of doing a great many things which he will never do 6. That there are sins of Ignorance especially when it proceeds from an Omission of having learn'd what we are oblig'd to know 7. That God often hinders Evils either by preventing the Evil Wills of Wicked men or by changing them 8. That we have All contracted the Guilt and Punishment of Adam's Sin which has been the Cause and Original of all our Sins 9. That those who crucified Jesus Christ committed a notorious sin by nailing him to the Cross. 10. That the Perfection of Charity was in Jesus Christ. 11. That the Power of Binding or Unbinding was granted to the Apostles and their Successors and that all Bishops be they Worthy or Unworthy have that Power so long as the Church acknowledges them as Bishops 12. That all those who are equal in Charity are equal likewise in Perfection and Merit 13. That the Father is as Wise as the Son and the Son as Beneficent as the holy Ghost because the Glory of the three persons of the Trinity is coequal 14. That one cannot Attribute to the Father the last Judgment or Advent 15. That the Soul of Jesus Christ did not only descend into Hell in Power but likewise really and substantially 16. That he had not maintain'd that neither Action nor the Will nor Lust nor Pleasure were sins and that we ought not to pray for the quenching of our Lusts. Lastly he asserts that they did him wrong attributing a Book of Sentences to him which he had never compos'd and conjures all the Faithful not to injure his Innocence which the Truth shelters from all the faults ascribed
not able to give Entertainment to the Bishop by reason of their Poverty he asserts That they ought to sell or pawn the Ornaments of their Church to exercise Hospitality towards their Diocesan In the Sixty second he recommends to a Widow who had devoted her self to God the giving of Alms to the Poor In the Sixty third he commends the Countess Adela in regard that after her Conversion instead of undertaking a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land she had embrac'd the Monastick Life In the Sixty fourth he censures the Custom of a Monastery where both the Species of the Eucharist were not administer'd separately but that of the Bread steept in the other of the Wine He maintains That the sopt Bread which our Saviour gave to Judas was not the Eucharist In the Sixty fifth written by Hildebert as well as the next after his Translation from the Bishoprick of Mans to the Arch-bishoprick of Tours he acquaints the Pope That he had taken a Journey to Bretagne where he held a Synod at Nantes A. D. 1127. for the Reformation of the Church chiefly as to what concerns incestuous Marriages and the Succession of Relations to Ecclesiastical Preferments That the Prince had remitted in that Synod the Right which was claim'd by the Lords to seize on the moveable Goods of deceased Persons and even his own Royal Prerogative by vertue of which all manner of Wracks at Sea belong to his demeans That it was also ordain'd That the Bishops should publish in their Synods and the Preists in their Churches That those who presume to contract unlawful Marriages for the future shall be excommunicated and that the Children born in such Wedlock were declar'd illegitimate That the Ecclesiastical Constitutions were reviv'd concerning the Qualities requisite in Persons who design to receive Orders That it was prohibited to ordain the Sons of Priests unless they turn'd Regular Canons or Monks and that as for those who were already ordain'd they were not allow'd to serve their Fathers Parishes in that Quality lest they should find means to succeed them And lastly That very strict Prohibitions were made that Benefices should be transmitted as it were by Succession He entreats the Pope to confirm what they had done more especially the Resignation that the Prince had made of his Right to the Shipwracks Pope Honorius II. grants him this Confirmation in the Letter which immediately follows that of which we have but now made mention In the Sixty seventh he complains to that Pope that the King of France had confiscated the Revenues belonging to his Church and would not suffer him to enter the Territories of his Kingdom because he refus'd to dispose of the Benefices according to the pleasure of that Prince He likewise wrote to him about the Contests that happen'd in the Church of Tours between the Dean and some of the Canons which was carry'd on to that height that one of the Canons was maimed by one of the Collegues and by the Dean's Friends The latter was accused of being accessory to the Fact but he deny'd it and no Proof being brought against him he clear'd himself by his own Oath and by that of seven other Priests In the Sixty eighth he tells the Pope that the had done what his Holiness requir'd of him having restor'd Bracerius to his Prebend which he deserv'd to lose by reason of the enormity of his Crimes and in sending to him Radulphus Dean of St. Maurice of whom mention is made in the preceding Letter He justifies the Innocence of that Dean and acquaints the Pope with the Judgment passed in his favour In the Sixty ninth he entreats the Pope to confirm a Donation that the King of England made to the Church of Fontevrault In the Seventieth he comforts the Queen of England for her Barrenness and gives her to understand that she ought not to look upon it as a disgrace but as the means of procuring her Salvation by adopting the Poor for her Children In the Seventy first he exhorts to perseverance a Countess who had quitted worldly Affairs to embrace the Monastick Life The Seventy fourth is a Reprimand given to a Clergy-man who did not lead a regular Course of Life In the Seventy fifth he complains that none of his Friends undertook to maintain the Interests of his Church in the Court of the King of France In the Seventy ninth he determines That Nuns who live in a Monastery ought not to go out of it alone but accompanied with one of their Matrons He reproves those who act otherwise on Holy-days and observes that about thirty Years were pass'd since he wrote a Treatise of Virginity Lastly he declaims against some Nuns who dwell in private Houses to lead a more dissolute Course of Life The Eightieth is a Letter by Marbodus Bishop of Rennes which we shall mention in its proper place The Eighty second is an excellent Letter directed to Pope Honorius in which he expresses himself with Submission and Freedom against the Appeals made to the See of Rome which were so frequent in that Age. He entreats him at first not to be offended at his Letter nor to attribute that to Presumption which he was oblig'd to do by necessity and lest the Church should be oppress'd by force of Arms the effects of which he himself knew by Experience He adds that he has reason to hope that his Remonstrance will not be unacceptable to him because it is written for the sake of Justice Afterwards he declares That that Custom was never approv'd on the hither side of the Alpes and that it is not an Article grounded on the Ecclesiastical Laws that all sorts of Appeals should be receiv'd at Rome That if that Innovation prevail the Authority of the Popes will be disannull'd and the whole vigour of Church-Discipline will be subverted For says he where is the Oppressor that does not enter an Appeal as soon as he is threaten'd with an Anathema Where is the Clerk who will not continue in his exorbitant Courses defending himself by a declinatory Appeal Or by what means can the Bishops inflict any Punishment for the least Act of Disobedience An Appeal will certainly put a stop to his Censure weaken his Constancy baffle his Resoluteness impose Silence upon him and cause all manner of Crimes to go unpunished However Hildebert owns that the Church on the hither side of the Alpes has acknowledg'd some Appeals and 't is but reasonable that those who have lawful Grievances should get them redress'd by that means as also that those Persons whose Judges are their Enemies or suspected or who fear the Outragiousness of the People should have the same liberty to secure themselves But he maintains that Appeals which are only enter'd on purpose to put a stop to the Course of Justice and to procrastinate Affairs ought not to be authoriz'd and therefore he entreats the Pope no longer to admit any of that Nature The Eighty third Letter which is the last of this
vindicates the comparison he made of the different States of the Church to the various Phases or Apparitions of the Moon and maintains that Terms and Maxims of Philosophy and of the Civil Law may be us'd in treating of matters of Religion when it can be done conveniently In the Ninth he reproves one of his Pupils who after having compleated his Philological Studies determin'd to rest for two Years before he apply'd himself to that of Divinity and shews that that negligence would be extremely prejudicial to him In the Tenth written to one of the Chaplains of the King of Sicily against the Design which that Prince had to cause to be install'd in the Bishoprick of Agrigento a certain young Lord who was by no means capable of performing the Functions of the Episcopal Dignity he admonishes the said Chaplain that his Office obliges him to continue to make Remonstrances to the King to hinder him from disposing of the Bishoprick after such a manner In the Eleventh he exhorts a Clergy-man who had solemnly engag'd to embrace the Monastick Life to perform his Vow The Twelfth is a consolatory Letter directed to one of his Nephews afflicted with the Death of his Uncle the burning of his House and a Wound he receiv'd in his Foot In the Thirteenth he reprehends a Young Monk who endeavour'd to get a Priory under pretence that he should thereby have an opportunity of converting more Souls and makes it appear That a Monk ought not to covet Secular Employments nor to aspire to Dignities not to affect to instruct others In the Fourteenth directed to the Chaplains of the King of England he communicates to them certain Reflections that a Fit of Sickness caus'd him to make on the miserable condition of those Clergy-men who are oblig'd to reside in the Courts of Princes of which he gives a very lively Description and exhorts them to follow his Example in quitting that course of Life The Fifteenth is an Instruction to Rainaud newly chosen Bishop of Chartres concerning the Episcopal Qualities and Functions He says That the first thing that is sometimes done is to make enquiry into the Revenues belonging to the Bishoprick and not into the present condition of it He censures the Luxury and Magnificence of some Bishops of his time the pains that they took to heap up Riches and to gratifie Princes and the Secular Course of Life that they lead In the Sixteenth he exhorts a certain Bishop immers'd in the management of many Affairs to make choice of a more quiet manner of Living in order to promote his own Salvation In the Seventeenth he shews That a Clerk who drives a Trade is no less culpable than one that follows Usury and that all manner of inordinate endeavours to get and heap up Riches are unworthy of a Clergy-man In the Eighteenth he gives us a lively description of the Irregularities of a certain Bishop who was addicted to that Vice In the Nineteenth he resolves two Questions which were propos'd to him by one of his Friends who studied the Law at Paris viz. 1. Whether a Woman who turn'd Nun upon a supposition that her Husband was dead be oblig'd to leave the Convent if he return And 2. In case she be oblig'd to follow her Husband whether she ought to assume the Veil again after his Death He answers That the Vow of Chastity made by her being in the Husband's Power is not obligatory and that she ought to return with her Husband and may marry again after his Decease In that Letter there is a remark very advantageous to the Schools of Paris of which he saies that as there was formerly a Proverbial saying that those who had any Question to propose ought to repair to Avila so in like manner at present it pass'd into a Proverb that those who were desirous to have any Question decided need only go to Paris where the greatest Difficulties are fairly resolv'd In the Twentieth he complains That the Domestick Servants of Rainaud Bishop of Chartres remov'd him from the Palace of that Prelate whom he blames for his too great Liberality In the Twenty first he reprehends the haughtiness and arrogancy of a Canon who was formerly one of his particular Friends In the Twenty second directed to John of Salisbury he commends his Constancy and that of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury and advises them to persevere and not to suffer themselves to be mov'd by any manner of Adversity or Persecutions In the Twenty third written to Octavian the Pope's Legate he declames against the Abuse that was then predominant to fill up the vacant Bishopricks with unworthy and uncapable Persons who obtain'd them by the means of sinister practices or purchas'd them with Money In the Twenty fourth he entreats the Friends of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury to prevail upon that Prelate to forgive the Arch-Deacon of Salisbury who was desirous to be reconcil'd with him In the Twenty fifth he exhorts an Official to quit that Employment which he looks upon as very dangerous I am apt to believe says he that the Officials were so call'd not from the name of their Office but from the Verb Officio which signifies to be hurtful or to do Mischief For the whole Function of an Official is to sheer and flea at the pleasure of the Bishop the poor Sheep that are under his Jurisdiction They are the Bishop's Horse-leeches that cast up the Blood they have suck'd out and which as it were so many Spunges that being squeez'd restore the Water wherein they were soak'd pour into their Masters Bosom the Treasure that they have extorted insomuch that of all those execrable Purchases they have only left the stain of Sin For that which is thus hoarded up by oppressing the Poor serves to gratify the unruly Appetite of the Bishops and draws Punishments on the Officials who may be well compar'd to those private Doors thro' which the Priests of Bel were wont secretly to convey the Sacrifices that were laid on the Altar of that False God since the Bishops make use of their Hands to pillage the Estates of other Men casting upon them all the marks of Infamy and the whole guilt of those Crimes of which they make the sole advantage The Office of the Officials at present is to confound Right to create Law-suits to disannul Agreements to prolong Trials to suppress the Truth to maintain Falshood to seek for nothing but filthy Lucre to sell Justice to commit all manner of unjust Actions and to devise Cheats and Artifices to deceive the People These are the Men who over-load their Landlords with a numerous Retinue of Attendants and costly Equipages who hunt after dainty Dishes being very prodigal of the Estates of other Persons and as covetous of their own They are very critical in searching out the etymology and signification of Words and make Glosses upon all manner of Syllables on purpose to lay Snares for others in order to drain their Purses They take
upon them to interpret the Laws according to their own capricious Humour admitting some and rejecting others at their Pleasure they corrupt that which is sound over-rule just Allegations foment Divisions conceal Crimes make void lawful Marriages penetrate into the Secrets of Families defame innocent Persons absolve the Guilty and in a Word leave no Stone unturn'd to get Mony This is the Character that Peter of Blois gives us of the Officials of his time very different as 't is to be hop'd from that of those Gentle-men who now discharge those Functions in our Churches In the Twenty sixth he advises a Friend of his to enter upon a Course of Divinity at Paris after having left the study of the Civil-Law to which he apply'd himself at Bononia because a Clergy-man ought not to be entirely immers'd therein He censures by the way the sinister Practices of the Advocates of his Time who made it their whole business to get Money and to enrich themselves In the Twenty seventh he acquaints the Canons of Beauvoir with the Death of Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury and tells them that there was reason to be so far from bewailing his Death that they ought to rejoice at his Happiness He likewise makes mention of the Dissensions that happen'd in his Church about the Election of a Successor The Twenty eighth is written in the Name of Rotrou Arch-bishop of Rouen to William Arch-bishop of Sens and the Pope's Legate whom he exhorts to use his utmost endeavours to divert those Calamities which were ready to break forth in the Territories belonging to the Church of Roan by reason of the War that was carry'd on by the two Kings In the Twenty ninth directed to the Abbot and Monks of St. Alban he complains that one of their Priors had refus'd to entertain him at his Table and shews how much Hospitality is recommendable more especially in Monks In the Thirtieth he communicates to his Friend Rainaud chosen Bishop of Bath the Dream that he had upon his promotion to the Episcopal Dignity The Thirty first is written to the Abbot of Fontaines concerning a Distemper with which Peter of Blois was afflicted The Thirty second is a recommendatory Letter directed to the Prior of Canterbury The Thirty third is written in the Name of Rotrou Arch-bishop of Roan to Henry III. the Son of Henry II. King of England who was preparing to make War with his Father to entreat him to take into his Protection Andely and the other Territories of the Church of Roan In the Thirty fourth he excuses himself to the Bishop of Perigueux who had offer'd him his House for not accepting of his Proposal because he was detain'd by the Promises of his old Patron The Thirty fifth and Thirty sixth are Exhortations to a certain Nun. The Thirty seventh is a Letter of Excuse to the Prior of Jumieges for neglecting to send back a Book that he had borrow'd of him The Thirty eighth is an Apology directed to Albert Cardinal of the Church of Rome for the Conduct of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury who was accused of being ignorant of the Laws covetous and too much inclin'd to raise his Family The Thirty ninth is a Letter written by way of a secret Trust to one of his Friends in which he sends him word That the Court of Rome according to the usual Custom had charged him with many Debts and that if he could once find means to discharge them he would take care not to fall into that Abyss for the future In the Fortieth he condemns the Deportment of a certain Bishop who spoke ill of his Prince In the Forty first he entreats Henry II. King of England to give him notice of the Place where he was to the end that he might wait on him and acquaints him that his Majesties Envoys are return'd from Rome clear'd of their Silver and loaded with Lead without being honour'd with any considerable Presents and that the Ambassadors of the King of Spain were come to meet him to constitute him Mediator of the Peace between them The Forty second is written to Robert Provost of Aire in Flanders elected Bishop of Cambray to whom he gives a smart Reprimand for contenting himself to enjoy the Revenues of his Bishoprick without taking care to perform the Episcopal Functions and for leading a Secular and Scandalous course of Life The Forty third is a very apposite Consolation compos'd by him upon occasion of the Sickness of a certain Person in which he sufficiently makes it appear that he had study'd the Art of Physick In the Forty fourth he advises Arnulphus Bishop of Lisieux not to leave his Bishoprick by reason of any opposition that might be made by his Prince his Chapter or the People of his Diocess but he would perswade him to resign it in case he aspir'd to that Dignity by under-hand dealings In the Forty fifth he vindicates Rainaud Bishop of Bath from the imputation of having persecuted or occasion'd the Death of St. Thomas of Canterbury and observes that if he made somewhat too severe a Reflection upon him at the time when that Arch-bishop excommunicated the Bishop of Salisbury it ought to be forgiven him as well as what he might have done against him thro' Ignorance and so much the rather in regard that he had expiated that Fault by a very rigorous Penance In the Forty sixth directed to Richard Bishop of Syracuse after having excus'd himself for returning to Sicily he enlarges on the Commendation of Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury The Forty seventh is written in the Name of Richard Arch-bishop of Canterbury who exhorts Henry the Son of Henry II. King of England to desist from making War with his Father and threatens to excommunicate him unless he submit to his Remonstrances In the Forty eighth he congratulates William Cardinal Bishop of Pavia upon account that at last an end was put to the Quarrel between Pope Alexander and the Emperor Frederick by his mediation and declames against Octavian and his Electors In the Forty ninth he complains That some of the Canons of Chartres whom he took for his Friends had brought an Information against him in a Trial depending between him and Robert of Salisbury for a Prebend of Chartres and that not being able to â—ully his Reputation they had slanderously traduc'd the Memory of his Father In the Fiftieth he entreats the Bishop of Bayeux to absolve a certain Person who had committed Man-slaughter in his own defence and who being afflicted with a very sensible Grief for that unfortunate Accident had done Penance in due Form In the Fifty first he admonishes Jocelin Bishop of Salisbury to pay his Debts and not to bestow too great Favours upon his Nephews In the Fifty second he acquaints the Arch-bishop of Canterbury who had sent him to the King of England That he met with a furious Storm during his passage into Normandy and assures him that he was ready to undertake every thing and
St. Augustin Bishop of Hippon and of St. Amand Abbot of Tongres The Passion of St. Cyricius and St. Julitta with that of St. Salvius The Lives of St. Foillan St. Gislen St. Landelin St. Ida and St. Valtruda The Passion of St. Agnes in Elegiack Verse with divers other Poetical Pieces and some Epitaphs ADAMUS SCOTUS a Regular Canon of St. Augustin of the Order of Premontre Adamus Scotus a Regular Canon flourish'd A. D. 1160. and died in 1180. He Compos'd a Commentary on St. Augustin's Rule A Treatise of the Triple Tabernacle of Moses Another of the three kinds of Contemplation and Forty seven Sermons Those Works were printed at Antwerp in 1695. and Father Ouden says That he saw Fifty three other Sermons and a Soliloquy of the Soul by the same Author in the Library of the Celestine Fathers of Mante JOANNES BURGUNDUS a Magistrate and Citizen of Pisa was sent to Constantinople to negotiate certain Affairs for that Republick at the Court of the Emperor Manuel Joan. Eurgundus a Magistrate of Pisa. Comnenus where he met with some Copies of St. Chrysostom's Homilies on St. John and St. Matthew and translated them into Latin He likewise translated St. John Damascenus's Treatise of the Orthodox Faith and Nemesius's Eight Books of Philosophy The latter of those Works was printed at Strasburg in 1512. This Author flourish'd in 1150. and died in 1184. His Translations are not very polite but extremely faithful PETER of RIGA Chanter and Canon of the Church of Rheims flourish'd A. D. 1170. He Compos'd Seven Books under the Title of Aurora which contain the Two Books of Peter of Riga Canon of Rheims Kings and the Four Gospels in Verse according to the Literal and Allegorical Sense This Piece is still to be found in the Libraries and Father Oudin assures us That he had them all ready to be printed However the Publick may well excuse him from taking that pains without suffering much detriment in regard that such sort of Works are of no great usefulness HENRY Arch-bishop of Rheims dispatch'd two Letters A. D. 1170. in favour of Dreux Chancellor of the Church of Noyon whom Pope Alexander III. determin'd to condemn viz. Henry Arch-bishop of Rheims one to the Cardinals and the other to the Pope himself They are both written with a great deal of Freedom and he complains that nothwithstanding the signal Services he had done to the Holy See so little regard was had to Persons for whom he had a particular Esteem However the Pope return'd a very Civil Answer without granting his Request shewing That if he did not do what was expected it ought not to be inferr'd from thence that he was not desirous by all means to give him Satisfaction but that the present Conjuncture of Affairs would not admit of such a Compliance Both the Letters written by this Arch-bishop were publish'd by M. Baluzius in the Second Tome of his Miscellaneous Works ROBERTUS PAULULUS a Priest of Amiens Compos'd A. D. 1178. Three Books Robertus Paululus Priest of Amiens of the Offices of the Church which were printed seperately and under the Name of Hugh of St. Victor among the Works of that Author The Treatise call'd the Canon of the Mystical Purification which is also inserted among the Works of Hugh of St. Victor ought in like manner to be restor'd to the same Robert of Amiens MAURICE sirnamed DE SULLY from a small Town of that Name situated on Maurice de Sully Bishop of Paris the River Loire which was the place of his Nativity was Born of mean Parentage nevertheless upon account of his singular Merits and extraordinary Learning he was promoted to the Bishoprick of Paris A. D. 1164. after the Death of Peter Lombard Henricus Gandavensis assures us that he compos'd Sermons for all the Sundays and Festivals of the Year and certain Instructions for the Priests of his Diocess the Manuscript Copies of which are kept in the French King's Library and in that of St. Victor He died A. D. 1196. and was bury'd in the Abbey of St. Victor GERVASE a Priest of Chichester one of the Favourers of Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Gervase a Priest of Chichester Odo Abbot of Bel. Canterbury was in good repute for his Learning and wrote a Commentary on the Prophet Malachy which as we are informed by M. James was kept in the Lomley Library ODO of the County of Kent Prior of the Monastery of Canterbury and afterwards Abbot of Bel was likewise the Friend and Protector of Thomas Becket He wrote divers Works but we have none left except a certain Letter directed to his Brother a Novice in the Abbey of Igny in which he exhorts him speedily to assume the Monastick Habit. This Letter was published by Father Mabillon in the first Tome of his Analecta LABORANTIUS Cardinal with the Title of St. Mary who flourish'd in the Year 1180. Laborantius Cardinal compos'd a Collection of Canons A Treatise of Justice and Equity divided into four Parts and dedicated to the Governor of Sicily Another to Hugh Arch-bishop of Palermo A Letter directed to the same Hugh against the Sabellians And another Letter to Vivian Cardinal of St. Stephen concerning Appeals All these Pieces are contain'd in a certain Manuscript of St. Peter's Church at Rome cited by Baronius and Possevinus ALULPHUS a Monk of St. Martin at Tournay compil'd a Collection of Sentences and Alulphus Monk of St. Martin at Tournay Baldwin Arch-bishop of Canterbury Maxims taken out of the Works of St. Gregory and call'd it The Gregorial It is extant in Manuscript in several Libraries and Father Mabillon has produced the Preface to it in the First Tome of his Analecta BALDWIN a Native of Exeter in the County of Devon of a School-Master became an Arch-Deacon afterwards turn'd Monk and was made Abbot of Ferden From that Abbey he was translated to the Bishoprick of Winchester A. D. 1181. and at last advanc'd to the dignity of Arch-bishop of Canterbury in 1185. He accompany'd King Richard I. in his Expedition to the Holy Land and died there in 1191. or 1192. 'T is reported that Pope Urban sent him a Letter the Superscription of which was to this effect To Baldwin a most zealous Monk a fervent Abbot a luke-warm Bishop and an effeminate Arch-bishop The following Works written by this Prelate are contain'd in the fifth Tome of the Bibliotheca Cisterciensis set forth by Father Tissier viz. sixteen Treatises of Piety on different Subjects particularly on the Love of God the twofold Resurrection the efficacy of the Word of God the Angelical Salutation c. A Treatise of the recommendation of Faith And another of the Sacrament of the Altar dedicated to Bartholomew Bishop of Exeter ISAAC Abbot of L'Etoile of the Cistercian Order in the Diocess of Poitiers flourish'd in Isaac Abbot of L'Etoile the end of the Century He compos'd divers Sermons publish'd in the sixth Tome of the
and published by Sir Henry Savil A. D. 1596. and at Francfurt in 1601. Father Mabillon has likewise set forth in the first Tome of his Benedictin Centuries the Life of St. Adelm Bishop of Salisbury compos'd by this Author who died A. D. 1143. JOHN OF HEXAM a Native of the County of Northumberland Monk and Provost of the John of Hexam Provost of Hagulstadt Sylvester Girald Bishop of St. Davids Monastery of Hagulstadt flourished about the Year 1160. He made a Continuation of Simeon of Durham's History of the Kings of England and Denmark from A. D. 1130. to 1154. This Work is extant among those of the other English Historians printed at London in 1652. SYLVESTER GIRALD born in Wales flourished in the end of the Reign of King Henry II. to whom he dedicated a Natural History a Topography of Ireland and a History in form of a Prediction of the Conquest of Ireland by that Monarch printed at Antwerp These Works were published by Mr. Camden and printed at Francfurt in 1602. He also wrote an Itinerary of Wales upon a Visitation there made by him with Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury to excite the People of that Country to undertake a Voyage to the Holy Land This last Work is extant among the others and was likewise printed at London in 1585. with a Description of the same Country of Wales Besides these Pieces he wrote the Lives of several Saints and died Bishop of St. Davids in the beginning of the following Century One of his Letters is contain'd in Archbishop Usher's Collection of the Letters of Ireland and divers other Works of this Author are found among the Manuscripts of the publick Libraries of England ROGER OF HOVEDEN an Officer under King Henry II. and afterwards Regius Professor Roger Hoveden Regius Professor of Divinity of Divinity in the University of Oxford compos'd the Annals of England from the Year 731. where Venerable Bede ends to 1202. This Work is among those of the English Historians published by Sir Henry Savil and printed at London A. D. 1595 as also at Francfurt in 1601. Historiographers of the Crusade THE History of the Famous Crusade instituted under Pope Urban II. and the Conquests which the Western People made in the Levant from the Year 1095. to 1099. have afforded Matter to many contemporary Historians the greater part of whom were Eye-witnesses of the Transactions related by them The First of these Historiographers is PETRUS THEUTBODUS who saw the most part of Petrus Theutbodus A Nameless Italian Author the memorable Actions which he has committed to Writing and from whom those that wrote after him took a considerable Part of their Relations The Second is a NAMELESS Italian Author who accompanied Boamond King of Sicily in the Expedition to the Holy Land His Work is known by the Title of The notable Exploits of the French and other Christians of Jerusalem and divided into Four Books The Third is ROBERT a Monk of St. Remy at Rheims who assisted in the Council of Clermont Robert Monk of S. Remy at Rheims in the Year 1095. and afterwards made a Voyage to the Holy Land At his return he wrote the History of the War of Jerusalem divided into Eight or Nine very short Books He excuses himself in the Preface upon account of the roughness of his Style The Fourth is BAUDRY Abbot of Bourgueil who was afterwards ordain'd Bishop of Dol A. D. Baudry Bishop of Dol. 1114 and died January 27. 1131. His History is divided into Four Books but he was not an Eye-witness of what he relates although he assisted in the Council of Clermont Therefore he contents himself only to follow and to supply the defects of an ancient nameless History which was ill written inserting such Accounts as he had receiv'd from others This Author likewise wrote the Life of St. Hugh Archbishop of Rouen and a Tract concerning the Monastery of Fescamp published in the Book called Neustria pia To him also is attributed the Life of Robert d'Arbrisselles which is in Surius and the History of the Translation of St. Valentin's Head which is extant in Bollandus's Collection in Febr. 14. Moreover it is observ'd that he is the Author of the Life of St. Samson and that he promises certain Notes on the Pentateuch in the Preface to his History Lastly 't is reported that there is a small Manuscript Tract of the same Bishop Baudry concerning the Visitation of the Sick in the Library of Vienna in Austria He was employ'd in writing his History near the end of his Life The Fifth is RAIMOND D'AGILES Canon of Puy and Chaplain to the Count of Thoulouse Raimond d'Agiles who was an Eye-witness He wrote this History at the Request of Peter Ponce de Baladin a particular Friend of the said Count who was kill'd in the Siege of Arache and dedicated it to the Bishop of Viviers The Sixth is ALBERT or ALBERIC Canon of Aix in Provence who compos'd his History Albert or Alberiâ— Canon of Aix Foucher Monk of Chartres Gautier the Chancellor from the Relations of others It is extended to the Second Year of the Reign of Baldwin II. that is to say to A. D. 1120. The Seventh is FOUCHER a Monk of Chartres who accompanied Robert Duke of Normandy in the Expedition to the Holy Land A. D. 1095. His History is carried on to the Year 1124. But Guibert of Nogent accuses him of having written fabulous Narrations GAUTIER or GAUTERIUS who assumes the Quality of Chancellor is the Eighth He published an History of the Advantages obtain'd by the Western Christians at Antioch A. D. 1115. and of the Misfortunes that befel them in 1119. He was an Eye-witness of those Occurrences and was taken Prisoner in the War but his History is not very accurate The Ninth is GUIBERT Abbot of Nogent an Author of great Note whose Works deserve Guibert Abbot of Nogent A Nameless Author Another Nameless Writer William Archbishop of Tyre to be specified in a separate Article The Tenth is a NAMELESS Writer who has only made an Abridgment of Foucher's History to the Year 1106. where he ended The Eleventh is another Anonymous Author who compos'd a Relation of the same Transactions under the Title of the History of Jerusalem It was divided into Two Parts but the Second is only extant which begins at the Year 1110. and ends in 1124. This Author has in like manner only follow'd Foucher The Twelfth and most considerable of the Writers of this History is WILLIAM Archbishop of Tyre who has deduc'd it from the beginning of the Crusade to the Year 1183. in XXIII Books It is probable that this Author was a Native of Syria however he passed very young into the Western Countries and having compleated his Studies return'd to the Levant where he was ordain'd Arch-deacon of the Church of Tyre A. D. 1167. Afterwards he was employ'd in the Negociations that were transacted between the Kings of Jerusalem
the same month December and consecrated on Christmass Day taking the name of ALEXANDER the Fourth He was six years five months and three days in the Holy See and writ in this time many Letters There are no more than three of them in the last Collection of Councils but there are a great many in Rainaldus twenty four in the Great Bullary which are most of them for the Confirmation or Settlement of Orders or for the Establishment of the Inquisition and the persecution of Hereticks a Constitution for the Island of Cyprus which is in the Addition to the eleventh Tome of the Councils and a hundred and twenty four Letters in favour of the Order of Minor Brothers which are in Vaddingus There are six Letters more of this Pope to St. Louis in the sixth Tome of Father Luâ—â— Dachery's Spicilegium in which he declares that the Chappels of the King cannot be interdicted nor any part of his Estates without a special Order of the Holy See and gives leave to the King and Noblemen to put those of the Clergy into prison as were guilty of enormous and notorious Crimes and declares such of the Clergy as meddle in Merchandise or Business stript of their Privileges This is confirmed by two Letters of Clement the Fourth which are related in the same place The Death of Alexander the Fourth fell out upon the 24th of June in 1261 and was Urban the Fourth followed by a Vacancy of three months and three days by reason there were but nine Cardinals eight of which that were present at the Election could not agree with one another so that at last they were forced to bring it to this that they would look for one out of their own College They cast their Eyes straight upon the Patriarch of Jerusalem named Simon Pantaleon a Native of Troies in Champagne and of a very mean Extraction but one whose merit had raised him by degrees to this Dignity having first been Canon of Troies then Arch-deacon of Laon and Leige and then Bishop of Verdun He was chosen the 28th of August â—… the year 1261 and taking the name of URBAN the Fourth was put in possession of the 〈…〉 See the 4th of September following 〈…〉 Pope instituted the Feast of the Holy Sacrament for the Honor of that Holy Mystery 〈…〉 in obedience to the Revelation which he heard many pious Persons had had concerning it 〈…〉 particularly St. Juliana of Leige and for the satisfaction of many Christians who ardently 〈…〉 this Institution The Letter by which the Pope established it in the year 1264 is preserv'd 〈…〉 the eleventh Tome of the Councils and in the Great Bullary and another Letter to a Reliâ—… 〈◊〉 of Leige named Eve There are in the Bullary too eight other Letters of this â—… some of which are written in favour of the Inquisitors who he declares cannot be exâ—…ed by the Legates of the Holy See and to whom he grants some other Privileges 〈…〉 are some more of them too in Rainaldus and Vaddingus has got together thirteen of them â—…ing to his Order Lastly you may find in the last Bibliotheca Patrum a Paraphrase upon 〈…〉 â—…rst Psalm attributed to this Pope who died at Perusa the 3d of October in the year 1264. 〈…〉 months after Guy the Gross a Frenchman Cardinal Bishop of St. Sabina who took upon Clement the Fourth 〈…〉 the Name of CLEMENT the Fourth was elected February the 5th 1265. The first 〈…〉 his Letters is an authentick Proof of his Humility It is written to a Kinsman of his Peter 〈…〉 Gross of St. Giles whom he tells that he was as much troubled for his being raised to be â—… as others seem'd joyful and that he ought not to be proud upon this or seek hereupon a more 〈…〉 Match for his Sister That if he did so he would not show him any kindness 〈…〉 if he would give her to the Son of that Cavalier to whom he had before designed to â—… he would advance three hundred Tournoise Livres That he did not mean any of â—…ed should fare better for it than if he had still been a simple Clergyman and that 〈…〉 given notice to one of them not to come from Suza nor to make any Petitions to him for 〈…〉 nor if any one offered him any Presents to do it to take them He writes all this 〈…〉 â—ecretly and with a Charge not to speak of it and that 's the reason he tells him that he 〈…〉 not make use of a Bull but of the Fisherman's Ring of which the Popes make use when 〈…〉 write privately to any of their Friends which is a plain Proof that this Letter was not 〈…〉 a vain oâ—tentation of Humility but that they were his real thoughts This Letter we 〈…〉 in the Councils with two others which are Confirmations of the Elections made to the Archâ—… of Saltzburg and the Bishoprick of Passaw There are many other of this Pope's 〈…〉 in the Annals of Rainaldus and Bzovius sixteen of his Bulls in the Great Bullary wâ—… 〈…〉 the Confirmations of Orders or Canonizations or Orders against Hereticks and in 〈…〉 of the Inquisition Vaddingus has collected thirty four of them which concern his Order 〈…〉 Father Luke Dachery has given us five which concern the Kings of France Arraâ—… 〈◊〉 〈…〉 England in the sixth seventh and ninth Tomes of his Spicilegium This Pope departed 〈◊〉 〈…〉 October the 29th 1268. The Divisions and Intrigues of the Cardinals retarded the Election of a Pope for almost three Gregory the Tenth â—… At last when they saw they could not agree otherwise they agreed to refer it to six Carâ—… who chose on the 1st of September 1271 Theobalde Archdeacon of Leige a Native of Plaâ—… who was then in Syria with an Army of Crosses Their Choice was approved of by all â—…dinals who wrote to him in very respectful Terms When he had notice of his Electiâ—… parted from Syria arrived in Italy at the beginning of January in 1272 and was 〈…〉 at Rome the 27th of March having taken the name of GREGORY the Tenth 〈…〉 called and kept the second General Council of Lions in the year 1274. There 〈…〉 Letter of the Indiction of this Council and many other Letters of this Pope about the 〈…〉 of the Greeks and Latins in the Acts of this Council There is another there too 〈…〉 to the Bishop of Leige who was deposed in this Council for his Incontinence There 〈…〉 five more in the Great Bullary and one against the Christians that turned Jews and 〈…〉 which are preserved by Rainaldus and Vaddingus This Pope died the 10th of January â—… 'T was he that first made that Law of shutting up the Cardinals after the death of the â—… in a place called the Conclave and of keeping them there till they had â—â—ected a Pope 〈…〉 oblige them to make a quick Dispatch with the Election and to prevent the Holy See's 〈…〉 so long vacant as it had been after the
Fragments in his Book of Purgatory George Gemistius Plethon a Celebrated Platonick Philosopher did no less oppose the Union George Gemistius Plethon a Greek Philosopher than Mark of Ephesus he set himself against the Proposal which was made of beginning a Conference with the Latins he gave Advices contrary to the Union in the Council of Florence he derided it when it was made and stood up against it after he was return'd to Constantinople he liv'd a long time and wrote against the Latins Allatius mentions two Treatises which he wrote about the Procession of the Holy Spirit which are in Manuscript in the Vatican Library Bessarion who had been his Scholar writing to his Children after his Death gives a fine Encomium of him There are many Historical or Philosophical Works of this Author in Print To Gemistius we must joyn another Philosopher Nam'd Amirutzes of Trebizonde who was Amirutzes a Greek Philosopher present also at the Council of Florence disallow'd the Union and wrote against it after he return'd to Constantinople his End was unhappy for he Apostatiz'd and became a Mahometan We must not forget to place among the rest Silvester Sguropulus or Scyropulus Grand Ecclesiarch Silvester Sguropulus the Grand Ecclesiarch of the Church of Constantinople who came with the Patriarch to the Council of Florence was present there was always against the Union and yet Sign'd it but he was no sooner return'd to Constantinople but he declar'd openly against it and wrote the History of the Council of Florence after such a manner as was little to the advantage of that Council This has been Translated and Publish'd by Robert Creighton a Doctor of the Religion in England and afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells and Printed at the Hague in 1660. It is written by way of Memoirs but with much fineness and purity the Translation of it is not faithful in some places * Here Dupin should have mention'd the Places and the Translator speaking of the Ceremonies of the Church does often make use of Contemptuous and Reproachful terms which do not at all agree with those which are in the Original We must place in the number of those who were Enemies to the Latins George Scholarius a George Scholarius Enemy to the Latins Monk who is different from that George Scholarius who wrote for the Latins in the Council of Florence for this of whom we speak was a Scholar and Friend to Mark of Ephesus and is the Author of a Treatise against the Council of Florence Printed in Greek at London without the Date of the year He wrote many Letters which Allatius saw and quoted Lastly we must add to these Authors Manuel or Michel Apostolius a Learned Man but Poor Manuel or Michel Apostolius whom Cardinal Bessarion maintain'd a long time but he being mov'd by Envy against those Learned Men who deserv'd Praise and Commendation from him set himself to Write against them and so drew upon his head the Rebukes of Bessarion who abandon'd him insomuch that he was forc'd to retire about the end of this Century into the Isle of Crete where he got a livelyhood by Writing Books and teaching Children Then it was that he wrote a Treatise against the Doctrine of the Latin Church contain'd in the Decree of Union made by the Council of Florence which is publish'd by Monsieur Le Moine in his Collection of Pieces He wrote also a Treatise of the Procession of the Holy Spirit against Plethon wherein he Reprimands that Philosopher because he did not found his Doctrine upon Principles of Divinity but upon Arguments of Philosophy whereof Allatius makes mention Among the Greeks who sincerely embrac'd the Union and maintain'd it to the last there was none Bessarion a Cardinal more Illustrious than Bessarion who from being a Monk of the Order of St. Basil was advanc'd to be Archbishop of Nice that he might assist and speak in behalf of the Greeks at the Conferences with the Latins He behav'd himself worthily in this Employment and spoke with a great deal of Eloquence in the Council of Florence After he had Disputed earnestly for the Greeks he came to a Temper and was the chief promoter of the Union By this means he became odious to the Greeks who were displeas'd with it and therefore he stay'd in Italy and was honour'd with the Dignity of a Cardinal or rather he honoured the Purple which he wore by his Learning Wisdom and Piety He deserv'd to have been Pope and should have been so if he would have made some advances to obtain that Supream Dignity but he preferr'd Retirement Study and Repose before the Pontifical Dâ—◠〈◊〉 and thought that he could not in Conscience seek after it He died in 1472. Aged 77 years after his return from his Embassie into France whither he had been sent by the Pope The Works of Bessarion which now remain are these which follow a Treatise of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and of the words of Consecration wherein he proves that the Bread and Wine are chang'd into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by vertue of the words of our Lord and not by Prayer and answers the Objections of the Greeks by explaining their Liturgy according to the Doctrine of the Greek Fathers a Dogmatical Discourse about the Causes of Schism and another about Union in the Acts of the Council of Florence a Treatise address'd to Alexis Lascaris concerning the Procession of the Holy Spirit and in Defence of the Definition of the Council of Florence related in the 13th Tome of the Councils p. 1228. A Letter of the Procession of the Holy Spirit an Apology for Veccus together with a Confutation of the Treatise of Palamas a Letter to those of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and an Answer to 4 Arguments of Planudes about the Procession of the Holy Spirit which works were publish'd by Arcadius and printed at Rome in 1630. These are all the Theological Works of Bessarion not to mention those of Philosophy which discover that he was as great a Philosopher as Divine He defends the Philosophy of Plato in 4 Books against George of Trebizonde who attack'd it he wrote about that Philosophers Books of Laws and a Treatise of Nature and Art address'd to George of Trebizonde he Translated the Metaphysicks of Aristotle and Theophrastus which Works were printed at Venice in 1503. and 1516. He wrote a Letter to the Governour of the Children of Prince Thomas Paleologus about their Education which is publish'd by Pontanus in his Notes upon the History of Phranza printed at Ingolstat in 1504. and by Meursius at Leyden in 1613. There was also printed at Islebon in 1603. An Exhortation to Christian Princes to make War against the Turks and Bzovius has inserted into his History a Discourse which Bessarion made upon the death of the Emperor Manuel Paleologus There are also some Letters of his in Print and in Manuscript There is no Greek
which rejects some Apocryphal Books the ninth which forbids Travelling in the Week after Easter and Singing the Hymn called Beati Maculati the Saturday which is before Quasi-modo the twelfth which inflicts the Penance of Manslayers upon him that strikes his Father the thirteenth which allows Monks to Baptize and the sixteenth which says That 't is Lawful for Lay-men to Baptize Infants when a Priest cannot be had After these Canons Catelerius hath also Printed a Canonical Letter of Nicephorus's wherein he answers several Questions of Discipline propounded to him The Questions and Answers are as follow Quest. 1. Whether it be Lawful to Communicate Eat or Sing with those Priests which have been Ordained at Rome Naples or in Lumbardy without Proclamation or Title He Answers Yea if it be through Necessity and could not be done otherwise Quest. 2. Whether they ought to receive Priests Ordained in Sicily out of the Province He answers Yes for the same Reason Quest. 3. Whether they may communicate with those Bishops in Prayer and Singing who had communion with Hereticks and go into their Churches He answers No in no wise Quest. 4. Whether they may do it if the Churches be not possessed by Hereticks but Catholick Bishops He answers Yes provided that the Catholick Bishop do solemnly open and call Assemblies in them Quest. 5. Whether the Orthodox Christians may go into the Church-yards where the Bodies of the Saints Iye and Pray to them when the Church-yards are in the possession of Hereticks He answers No unless in case of Necessity or to Honour the Saints Relicks Quest. 6. How those Monks ought to be treated who have been invested in that Possession by Hereticks He answers They ought to be received to Communion by an Orthodox Priest after they have done their Penance Quest. 7. How those Priests and Monks are to be dealt with who have Subscribed to Heresie He answers They ought to be received when they have done their full Penance Quest. 8. Whether they may communicate with those Monks who hold communication with Hereticks He answers No. Quest. 9. Whether they ought to be put upon Penance who have Eaten but once only with Hereticks He answers They ought to do Penance and then they may be admitted with the ordinary Prayers and Ceremonies Quest. 10. Whether such Lay-men as have Subscribed to Heresie and Communicated with Hereticks may Eat with the Orthodox Laity He answers They may not till they have done Penance Quest. 11. Whether Men may be Baptized by a Priest who hath held communion with Hereticks when they cannot have an Orthodox Priest especially in cases of danger He answers It is allowable for such Priests in case of necessity to Baptize and Administer the Sacraments which have been Consecrated by an unblameable Priest to Invest Monks to Read the Prayers at Funerals and bless the Water at Epiphany Quest. 12. Whether it be allowable to receive Schismaticks He answers They ought to undergo Penance before they are received Quest. 13. Whether a Priest who hath been Ordained by a lapsed Bishop may Exercise the Office of his Priesthood after he hath done Penance as a certain Priest in a Monastery now doth He answers There is no doubt at all but that he may not Quest. 14. How they are to be dealt with who have Eaten with the Patriarch of Constantinople who is a Heretick He answers They may be received as he said before after they have under-went the Penance imposed on them and continue in the Order wherein they were The Penance ought to be proportioned to the Persons and their Manners which is sufficient if it be undergone 80 or 120 days Quest. 15. May Men have Society with those who have communicated with those Priests who have Eaten with the Patriarch not knowing it He answers Their Ignorance excuses them Quest. 16. Whether Orthodox Priests may impose Penance as Hilarion and Enstatus have done He answers Priests may certainly do it and 't is probable Monks may do it when there is no Priests Quest. 17. Whether a Monk Invested by a Deposed Priest not knowing it is rightly and sufficiently Consecrated He answers His ignorance makes him safe This Letter was written by Nicephorus in the place of his Exile to a Bishop of his Province about the difficulties which then happened in communicating with the Iconoclasts Photius who had read this History of Nicephorus passes his Judgment upon it in the 66 Vol. of his Biblioth in this manner His Style saith he hath nothing superfluous or obscure neither too much affected nor yet too careless in his Words and Expressions but yet he uses such choice and elegant terms as might well become a good Orator He avoided all new fangled Words and uses only the common and ancient expressions and is very agreeable and pleasing In fine he might be said to have out-done all that ever wrote History before him had not his desire of Brevity hindred him from using necessary Ornaments for such a Work This Judgment of Photius is true as to the History of Nicephorus but the same commendation may not be given to his other Works which have nothing in them Praise-worthy but their Method and Brevity I except his Letter to the Pope which is of a copious but flat Style Next to Nicephorus Theodorus Studita is the most considerable of the Patrons of Image-Worship He was the Scholar of S. Plata Head of the Monastery upon Mount Olympus who voluntarily Theodorus Studita resigned the Government of it to him in 795. The same year Constantinus Capronymus having forced his Wife to enter upon a Religious Life married one of her Maids of Honour named Theodotas which Taresius the Patriarch was extreamly against tho' he did not oppose it with so much vigour as he ought nor punished Joseph the Monks Steward of the Church of Constantinople who had married them but Plato and Theodorus declared themselves openly against the Emperor and separated themselves from his Communion blaming the carriage of Taresius The greatest part of the Monks followed their example which angred Constantine so much that he banished Theodorus with eleven of his Monks After the Death or this Emperor Theodorus returned to Constantinople but not being able to stay in his own Monastery by reason of the Inroads of the Barbarians he was created Abbot of the Monastery of Studa at Constantinople which was so called from the Name of the Founder He restored this Monastery put in his Monks and enjoy'd it some time peaceably But afterwards quarrelling with the Patriarch Nicephorus about the restoration of Joseph the Steward he was Banished a second time because he would not approve the Decision of the Synod which declared the second Marriage of Constantine Lawful In his Exile he continued his opposition to that Allegation violently he wrote to Pope Leo III. about it and treated them that maintained it as Hereticks calling them Maechians because they approved or at least tolerated Adultery And whereas some of his
Friends told him that he could not properly impute Heresie to an Opinion that only respected Manners he on the contrary held That his Adversaries had made a Doctrine of it by giving a Dispensation or Indulgence to an Adulterous Match and pronouncing them Accursed who would not acknowledge it Lawful They produced several Presidents of Indulgences and Dispensations in answer to which to shew the present case to be very different from those they alledged he wrote a Treatise of Dispensations or Indulgences In 811 he returned from his second Exile after the Death of the Emperor Nicephorus and was reconciled to the Patriarch Nicephorus by the Mediation of the Emperor Michael and the Pope In the Reign of Leo he undertook the Defence of Image-Worship with much heat and vigour and tho' the Emperor commanded him to be silent yet he spake and wrote Zealously against a Synod held by that Emperor against the Worship of Images This was the cause of his third Exile in which he suffered much through the Cruelty of Leo whom he provoked by Writing to his Fellows in his Exile and animated them to maintain their ground In the beginning of the Reign of Michael Balbus in 821 he had Liberty given him to return to Constantinople but having spoken too freely he was forced to retire for some time At the end of his Life he visited the Patriarch Nice-phorus in his Exile and several others He died in the Year 826. Michael his Scholar hath written his Life who thus speaks of his Writings He wrote or dictated several Works which shew That he was enlighten'd by the Holy Spirit The first was a Catechise which he calls a small one tho' it contains 135 Sermons spoken to his Brethren proper for each day of which the Sentences are choice and Terms elegant In them he treats of Constancy contempt of Adversity Perseverance in the Austerities and Exercises of a Monastick Life resisting of Temptations and Courage under all Accidents of Life with great Eloquence He hath also another Work called a large Catechism divided into three parts containing the Rules and Discipline of a Monastick Life He hath also composed a Volume of Panegyricks or Sermons upon the chief Festivals of the Year as well those of our Lord as those of the Virgin and St. John whose solitary and retired Life he commends in an Hymn by it self He hath made a Piece also in Jambick Verse in which he describes the Creation the Fall of the first Man the Murther of Cain the Life of Enoch and of Noah In the same Book also he delivers an History of the Heresie of the Iconoclasts We have 5 Books of his Letters in which he manifests a great deal of freedom in his Discourse Zeal for the Truth Care of the Church and Constancy in Adversity Lastly He hath made a Dogmatical Treatise in which he confutes the Sophisms of the Iconoclasts with solid Reasons Of these Works only these are come to our hands A Latin Version of his 134 Sermons made by Livineius Canon of Antwerp and Printed there by Miraeus in 1602. The Version of several of his Letters which Baronius had out of a MS. and caused them to be Translated by Sirmondus to put into his Annals where they may be found between the Years 795 and 826. A Sermon in Latin upon the 4th Sunday in Lent which is in the Biblioth Patrum Tom. 14. A fragment of a Letter to Naucratius about the Hereticks extant in Gr. and Lat. in Allatius de consensu l. 3. c. 13. A Letter to a Monk who had left his Monastery Translated by Turnan A Sermon upon S. Bartholomew turned into Latin by Dacherius in the 3d Tome of his Spicilegium The Life of S. Plato Head of the Monastery of Mount Olympus published by Surius December 6. or 16. Lastly A Doctrinal Treatise about the Worship of Images Printed at Antwerp 1556. in Lat. and at Rome in 155◠in Gr. with a Treatise of S. John Damascene of Images Baronius hath also Printed the Testament or Will of this Abbot in his Annals in 826. which contains several profitable Admonitions and Directions for his Monks but chiefly a Superstiticus Zeal for Image-Worship It is also Printed with his Sermons at Antwerp in 1602. and in Biblioth Patrum Tom. 14. In the Greek Liturgies there are several Hymns or Songs in Honour of the Restoration of Images attributed to him but they are not his being made since the Peace was restored to the Greek Church about that subject F. Sirmondus hath Published the Works of this Monk in Greek and Latin at the end of his own Works His Works are useful for Monks He wrote in a plain and easie Style He died in the Year 826. Nov. 11. His Life was written by his Scholar Michael part of which is Published in Baronius's Annals Tom. 9. The Relation of his Death made by Naucratius who was another of his Scholars hath been Published in Greek and Latin by F. Combefis in Vol. 2. Auctuar Biblioth Patr. Dr. Cave hath this Treatise in MS and hath given us a Specimen of its trifling and vain commendation of the Image-Worshippers and in particular of Theodorus Studita in Hist. Lit. p. 512. Joseph Archbishop of Thessalonica was the Brother of Theodorus and his Companion in all his Joseph Bishop of Thessalonica Troubles He was Banished with him for opposing the Marriage of Constantinus Copronymus the Restoration of Joseph the Steward of Constantinople and for so zealously maintaining Image-Worship He hath left us a Discourse in Honour of the Cross extant in Gretzer de Cruce Tom. 2. p. 1200. and an Epistle to Simeon the Monk Printed in Baronius's Annal in 808. p. 10. Dr. Cave 22. There was another Theodorus Sirnamed Graptus which flourished about the same time with Studita Theodorus and was one of the most Zealous Patrons of Image Worship for the Defence of which he died in Exile and Prison He composed the Relation of a Conference of Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople with Leo Published by F. Combefis with a Narration of the Martyrdom of himself and Brother Theophanes who out-lived him and was Bishop of Nicaea There is attributed to him an Hymn in commendation of his Brother which is found among the Greek Offices Theodorus also hath a Letter to Joannes Cyziconus concerning his own and Brothers Sufferings from the Emperor Theophilus Published also by Father Combefis and a Book de fide Orthodoxâ contra Iconomachos yet in MS. Theosterictus a Monk and Scholar of Nicetas a Defender of Image-Worship wrote the Life of Theosterictus his Master in a Panegyrick recited by Metaphrastes and is extant in Surius April 3. It contains an Abridgment of the Persecutions raised upon the account of Image Worship from the Reign of Leo Isaurus to that of Michael Balbas These are the chief of the Greek Authors which wrote in the beginning of this Age in the dispute of Images Besides the forementioned Authors there were others engaged in
the Order of Cisteaux upon the Monks of Gigny of the Order of Cluny of 30000 Sols Hereupon the Abbot of Cluny and St. Bernard had endeavour'd to accommodate the Difference and the Monks of Gigny having little to say for themselves St. Bernard has recourse to the Pope that he would be pleas'd to do justice in behalf of those of the Mirrour In the Two Hundred Eighty Fourth he recommends to this Pope the Arch-Bishop of Rheims the Bishop of Arras the Abbot of Aucourt and some others The Three following Letters were written in favour of Odon Successor of Sugerus in the Abby of St. Denys The Two First are Address'd to the Pope and the Third to Hugh Cardinal Bishop of Ostia In the Two Hundred Eighty Eighth Address'd to Andrew his Uncle a Knight Templar he acquaints him with his concern for the ill Success of the Croisade occasion'd by the ill Conduct of the Christian Princes and says he hopes to see that Enterprize accomplish'd before he dies In the Two Hundred Eighty Ninth he gives wholesom Advice to Melisenda Queen of Jerusalem In the Two Hundred and Ninetieth Address'd to Hugh Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia he writes against the Conduct of Jordain des Ursini Cardinal Legate of the Holy See in Germany Your Legate says he has left behind him shameful Marks of his Expedition where-ever he has been for he has fill'd all the Churches of Germany France and Normandy with Sacrileges It is said that he has done a great many Ill Things unworthy of his Character Robb'd the Churches where-ever he came and every where plac'd Young Men in Ecclesiastical Dignities That several have paid him great Sums of Money to keep him out of their Country That by his Emissaries he has Extorted and Exacted Money from those places whither he could not go himself In a word he is become the By word of the World Every Body slights and speaks ill of him The Poor Monks and Other Clergy complain of him Those of his Profession have the greatest Abhorrence of his Life and Conversation and Lastly he has little resemblance with John Paperans who was Legate at that time in Ireland and who was justly Honour'd and Rewarded for his faithful and Prudent Ministry St. Bernard desires his Letter may be Read to the Pope to Assist him in his Proceedings against this loose Legate In the Two Hundred Ninety First he prays the Pope to have compassion on the Monastery of St. Eugende on Mont-Jura which was almost ruin'd In the Two Hundred Ninety Second he reproves a Man of the World for having endeavour'd to disswade one of his Relations from turning Monk In the Two Hundred Ninety Third he writes to Peter Abbot of Celles concerning a Monk of the Abby of Chesy whom he had receiv'd into his Monastery In the Two Hundred Ninety Fourth he recommends to the Pope William de Passavant Bishop of Mans Accus'd by one of his Clergy In the Two following Letters he recommends also the same Person to the Cardinals Henry and Hugh Bishop of Ostia In the Two Hundred Ninety Seventh he sends back a Monk of the Abby of Montier-Ramey who had quitted his Monastery and now was desirous to return to it In the Two Hundred Ninety Eighth he writes to the Pope that Nicholas who came from the Abby of Montier-Ramey to his of Clairvaux and who also had been his Secretary was run from him and had taken away several Books a great Sum of Money and divers Seals of Value That he had for some time been Jealous of him but that he all along hop'd that God would convert him or that he would betray himself as he now had done That he does not question but he has written to several People in his Name At length he desires his Holyness not to receive him In the Two Hundred Ninety Ninth he writes to the Count of Angoulesme in behalf of the Monks of the Monastery of St. Amand de Boisse In the Three Hundredth he comforts Matildis Countess of Blois concerning the extravagant Courses of her Son and that he hop'd Age would work an Alteration upon him but however he Advises her to treat him with Mildness In the Three Hundred and First he prays Sancha Sister to the King of Spain to Accommodate a difference that had hapned between the Monks of the Order which she had newly Establish'd in Leon and the Other Monks of the Country The Three Hundred and Second is written in favour of the Arch-Bishop of Mentz to the Legates of the Holy See sent into Germany to determine the matter This Arch-Bishop was Henry and the Legates were the Cardinals Bernard and Gregory who suspended this Arch-Bishop notwithstanding the recommendation of St. Bernard having as was suppos'd been corrupted by Money In the Three Hundred and Third he writes to King Lewis the Younger that he ought not to let a Lord of Britany being Excommunicated for Adultery have the Estate that belongs to his Wife In the Three Hundred and Fourth he thanks this King for his kind Enquiry after his health and Moreover recommends to him Robert Cousin to this Prince In the Three Hundred and Fifth he sends Pope Eugenius word that he has hindred Henry Bishop of Beauvais from going to Rome as likewise recommends to him the Affair of this Bishop desiring him to delegate the Arch-Bishop of Rheims for its Determination In the Three Hundred and Sixth he acquaints the Cardinal of Ostia that he has not been able to encline the Monks of the Three Fountains to Elect Nicholas for their Abbot whom this Cardinal desir'd might succeed in this Abby yet notwithstanding the Monks had chosen Turolde that he knew nothing in that Person which could deserve that Dignity and that if he had a mind to out him of it for his part he would not oppose it In the Three Hundred and Seventh he excuses the Conduct of the Bishop of Beauvais to this Cardinal altho' he says he does not deserve it He promises him to recall as soon as possible Robert his Monk who was with that Bishop and moreover sends him word that Heraclius Arch-Bishop of Lyons was on his Journey to Rome but that falling Sick at Montpelier he had spent all the Money he had laid apart for his Voyage He gives him likewise to understand that he had been almost at Death's-Door but was now somewhat recover'd The Three Hundred and Eighth is address'd to Alphonso King of Portugal He writes him word that he will do all in his Power to comply with his Commands gives him some Account of his Brother Peter and likewise acquaints him that one of his Monks nam'd Roland brings him a Letter from the Pope whereby his Holyness grants him many Favours He lastly recommends this Monk to him as also all of his Order within his Majesty's Dominions The Three Hundred and Ninth was written before the foregoing in the Life time of Sugerus Abbot of St. Denys whom he thereby recommends to the Pope The Three