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therefore another Daniel to whom all this happened Answer St. Jerome observes that the Greek Interpreter of Daniel whose Version goes under the name of the Septuagint has allowed himself a great deal of liberty Secondly 't is said that Habakkuk who lived in the time of Manasses was dead about that time Likewise 't is replied by way of answer that we ought to distinguish between the two Habakkuks one that was a Prophet and lived in the time of Manasses and the other who is spoken of in this place of Daniel the last was of the Tribe of Levi the former of Simeon Lastly they tell us that in the History of Bel and the Dragon it is said that Daniel was six days in the Lions Den whereas in the sixth Chapter v. 19. we are told that he continued there but one night But to this they answer that Daniel was twice cast into the Lions Den under Darius because he prayed to his God contrary to the express command of that King and under Cyrus upon occasion of the Dragon The Prophecy of Daniel is quoted by Ezechiel chap. 14. v. 14. in the first Book of the Maccabees chap. 2. v. 59. and 60. Matth. 24. v. 15. oo Hosea the Son of Beeri is the first 'T is believed that he is the most ancient not only of the twelve Minor but also of all the Prophets The false Epiphanius and false Dorotheus report that he was of the Tribe of Issachar and the City of Belenor but these two are not very credible Authors pp The Prophet Joel follows Hosea This order is observed in the Hebrew Text but the Greeks place Amos and Micah between them qq 'T is not certainly known at what time Joel prophesied Huetius pretends that he prophesied after the Captivity of the ten Tribes because it is said chap. 3. v. 2. that they have scattered the People of Israel amongst the Nations But why might not he speak of a future thing as if it were already done He likewise says that there is not a word spoken of the Kingdom of Israel in the whole Prophecy but this is not certain Those persons that say he prophesied before Amos ground themselves principally upon his prediction of a Famine towards the end of the first Chapter whereof Amos speaks as of a thing already past in the 4th Chapter of his Prophecy But Huetius thinks that these are two several Famines that the Famine mentioned in Amos happened naturally whereas the other which Joel foretold was to be occasioned by the incursions of Enemies rr The time of Obadiah is uncertain 'T is not probable that this Prophet was he of whom mention is made in the Book of Kings for he is only called there one that feared God 'T is more probable that he lived in the time of Ahaz when the Edomites in conjunction with the Israelites made War upon the Tribe of Judah because he perpetually declaims against the Edomites ss Jonah the Son of the Prophet Amittai The Hebrews say he was the Widows Son of Sarepta but this is only a groundless fancy tt He that was the Son of Histaspes This is the opinion of Josephus of Clemens Alexandrinus of St. Jerome and Theodoret. Scaliger thinks that it was Darius Nothus because there is mention made here of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes his Predecessors whom he takes to be Xerxes and Longimanus but it is an easie matter to answer him by saying that these names are given in Scripture without any discrimination to all the Kings of Persia and that by them we may understand Cyrus and Cambyses the Predecessors of Darius the Son of Histaspes or Cambyses and Smerdis or if we please Cambyses himself to whom the Scripture gives two Names Scaliger's other Argument is stronger he says that Zechariah and Haggai Prophesied at the same time And Zechariah in the first Chapter vers 12. and in the 7th vers 5. testifies That when he wrote the People of Israel had been Threescore and Ten years in Affliction and that God was Angry with them Now the Second year of Darius the Son of Histaspes is not the 70th year of the Captivity To this it is answered That the Prophet Zechariah does not say that it was 70 years since the Children of Israel were in Captivity neither that they were then in Captivity but he only says in general Terms that they had been in Affliction and that God had poured down his Indignation upon them for the space of Threescore and Ten years which ought to be understood of the 70 years of the Captivity although it was already past The Hebrew and Greek Phrase in this passage no more denotes the present time than the past One undeniable Argument to prove that Haggai wrote in the time of Darius the Son of Histaspes is this that speaking of the second Temple in ch 2. ver 3. he says Who is left amongst you that saw this House in her first Glory Quis in vobis est derelictus qui vidit Domum istam in Gloriâ suâ Primâ Now if this had been Written under Darius Nothus these Persons ought to have been 176 years old or thereabout and it wou'd follow that Ezrah was 100 years old Zorobabel and Joshua 140 for so great a space of time there is from the first year of Cyrus down to the time of Darius Nothus uu Grandson of Iddo He is called in Ezrah the Son of Iddo in the Septuagint and in St. Jerome's Version the Son of Barachiah the Son of Iddo St. Jerome is of Opinion that he was the Natural Son of Barachiah and the Son of Iddo by Imitation Others say he was the Son of the latter according to the Law but 't is far more probable that he was his Grandson as it is observed in our vulgar Translation St. Jerome is mistaken in confounding this Iddo with him that was sent to Jerusalem in the time of Jeroboam since there were 240 years from Jeroboam to Dariâ—s a time too long to allow between Grandfather and Grandson xx He is different from Zechariah mentioned by Iâ—aiah By Chronology it appears that this was not the Prophet no more than he who is mentioned in the Chronicles and died in the time of Joash The First was the Son of Barachiah the Second of Jehoiada That which has occasion'd this difficulty is the saying of our Saviour in St. Matthew chap. 25. That Zechariah the Son of Barachiah was Slain between the Temple and the Altar which agrees with what is related in the Chronicles with Zechariah the Son of Jehoiada and this introduced St. Jerome to believe that our Blessed Saviour spoke of him and that we ought to Read as we find it in the Gospel of the Nazarens the Son of Jehoiada and not of Barachiah Origen on the contrary and several others understand this place of the Prophet who they say was Slain after the same manner They have this Text of the Gospel on their side and besides our Saviour speaks of a Prophet
should soon be destroyed 948 years after its Foundation and many other Things that could never be asserted by later Christians who would have been very far from admitting such Notions when they were convinced of the falsity of these Predictions Upon the whole matter it ought to be concluded that the Books of the Sibyls were certainly forged in the Second Century but it is difficult to determine the precise time and by whom this was done all that can be alledged as most probable is that they began to appear about the end of the Reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius m They began to appear about the end of the Reign of Antoninus Pius Possevinus affirms that these Books were written under the Reign of Câ—mmodus but he is deceived in taking the Conflagration mentioned in Book V. for the Fire of the Temple of Vesta that happened in the time of that Emperor for the Temple of Jerusaleus is to be understood in this place which is called the desirable House and the Guardian Temple of God We have already shewn that the Author had seen Lucius and Marcus but that he knew not the later Emperors All the Fathers that have quoted the Sibylline Books wrote either under the Reign of Antoninus Pius or after that time Josephus indeed and Hermas cite the Sibyls but in general Terms and there were possibly some Verses extant under their Names even in the time of Josephus who produceth one of them concerning the Tower of Babel Lib. 1. Ant. c. 5. M. Vossius in his last Book gives us an Hypothesis of the Sibylline Oracles somewhat different from this he acknowledgeth that the ancient Writings of the Sibyls which were preserved until the burning of the Capitol were entirely prophane and differed from those that are cited by the Fathers But he maintains that among those that were brought from Greece by Octacilius Crassus there were some Prophecies inserted that had been received from the Jews who pretended that they were written by the Sibyls in which the Coming of the Messiah was foretold and that these were cited by the Fathers under the Name of The Books of the Sibyls which Title was actually attributed to them This Hypothesis which is well enough contrived yet lies liable to many Difficulties for first the Collection of Oracles ascribed to the Sibyls that was made after the burning of the Capitol related no less to the Pagan Superstitions than the ancient Verses ascribed to the Sibyl of Cuma Secondly Since the Predictions concerning Jesus Christ expressed in the passages of the Sibylline Books and quoted by the Fathers are clearer than those that were contained in the Prophecies of the Jews there is no probability that they could proceed from any of that Nation Lastly The Doctrine comprised in the Books of the Sibyls seems rather to be that of a Christian than of a Jew since the Coming of Jesus Christ is therein manifestly foretold the Resurrection of the Dead the Last Judgment and Hell Fire are expresly described in plain Terms and mention is made of the Millennium of the appearing of Anti-Christ together with many other Things of the like nature which could not be related but by one that had been instructed in the Christian Religion Therefore it is much more probable that the Writings attributed to the Sibyls were forged by a Christian rather than by a Jew However none ought to be surprised that we reject those Books as supposititious which have been quoted by the Ancients as real and it must not be imagined that we thereby contemn the Authority of the Fathers or that we impugn the Truth on the contrary we should do an Injury to it if we should endeavour to support it by false Proofs especially when we are convinced of their Forgery The Fathers are to be excused for citing the Sibylline Verses as true because they had not examined them and finding them published under the Name of the Sibyls they really believed that they were theirs but they that are certainly informed of the contrary would be inexcusable if they continued to rely on such Testimonials or refused ingenuously to confess what the Truth obliged them to own And indeed it ought not to be admired that the Fathers did not examine these Books critically it is sufficiently known that they wholly applied themselves to Matters of the greatest Consequence at that time and that they often happened to be mistaken in prophane Histories and to cite fictitious Books such are the Works of Hystaspes and Mercurius Trismegistus which they almost always joyned with those of the Sibyls as also the Acts of Pilate Apocryphal Gospels divers Acts of the Apostles and a great number of other Records that have been undoubtedly forged But altho' the most part of the ancient Writers cited the Oracles of the Sibyls yet there were even then many Christians that rejected them as Counterfeit and could not be perswaded to approve the practice of those that made use of their Testimony whom in derision they called by the Name of Sibyllists This is attested by Origen in his Fifth Book against Celsus Celsus says he objects that there are Sibyllists amonst us perhaps because he hath heard it reported that there are some amongst us who reprove those that affirm that the Sibyl is a Prophetess and call them Sibyllists St. Augustine hath likewise acknowledged the falsity of these pretended Oracles and as often as he makes mention of them he declares that he is not convinced of their Truth particularly in Lib. 18. c. 45. De Civit. Dei. Were it not says he that it is affirmed that the Prophecies that are produced under the Name of the Sibyls and others concerning Jesus Christ were feigned by the Christians And in cap. 47. It may be believed that all the Prophecies relating to Jesus Christ that are not contained in the Holy Scriptures have been forged by the Christians Wherefore there can be nothing more solid in confuting the Pagans than to alledge those Prophecies that are taken from the Books of our Enemies But the Heathens say they doubted not of the truth of the Predictions of the Sibyls that were urged by the Fathers they only put another sense upon them nay they even proceeded so far as to own that the Sibylline Verses foretold the Nativity of a certain new King and a considerable Revolution This is mentioned by Tully in divers places moreover when Pompey took the City of Jerusalem it was commonly reported that the Sibyl had foretold that Nature designed a King for the People of Rome the Senate was likewise astonished at it and by reason of this Prediction refused to send a General or an Army into Egypt Lentulus according to the Testimony of Cicero and Sâ—llust flatter d himself that he should become this King that was intimated by the Sibyl Others have interpreted this Prophecy with respect to Julius Câ—sar or Augustus as is observed by Cicero and Suetonius Virgil in his Fourth Eâ—logue produceth the Verses
and there are some Opinions in the one which are different from those in the other This Commentary therefore cannot be attributed to any but this Hilary of Sardinia Besides the Time and Circumstances agree wonderfully to him for he says on Ch. 3. of the 1st to Timothy That tho' all the World was God's yet the Church whereof Damasus at present was Governour is call'd his House Which plainly shows that this Commentary was written by one Well-affected to the Church of Rome who liv'd in Damasus's time And therefore it cannot with any reason be attributed to Remigius of Lyons but most probably was written by this Hilary whom we now speak of Yet Petavius thinks that it cannot be attributed to him for Two Reasons First because this Author speaks in favour of Damasus and 't is not likely that a Man engag'd in the Luciferian Schism which favour'd Ursicinus should acknowledge Damasus lawful Bishop of Rome Secondly because upon Chap. 1. of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians he blames the Novatians and Donatists who rebaptiz'd and says that to believe that the Grace of Baptism depended upon the Persons who gave it was injurious to the Baptism of our Saviour Now the principal Errour of Hilary the Deacon according to the Testimony of St. Jerom consisted in this That he would have those Re-baptiz'd who had been baptiz'd by the Arians This objection cannot be answered but by saying that this Hilary did at last return into the Bosom of the Church under the Pontificate of Damasus but this supposition is contrary to the Testimony of St. Jerom who says in his Book against the Luciferians that this Deacon died out of the Church This Man says he speaking of Hilary the Luciferian being dead his Sect ought to dy with him because he being but a simple Deacon could ordain no Person to succeed him Wherefore it must be granted that we have no absolute certainty that this Book belong'd to this Hilary of Sardinia The Commentary upon the Two First Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews is an Extract out of the Commentary of St. Chrysostom which is not made by the same Author as that upon the other Epistles 'T is thought that the Questions upon the Old and New Testament which have been formerly printed under St. Austin's Name in his 4th Tome were written by the same hand as these Commentaries To prove it 't is said first that the Author of these Questions liv'd at the same time as the Author of the Commentary for he says in Qu. 44. that he wrote 300 Years or thereabouts after the Destruction of Jerusalem and he speaks of Photinus as an Author then living He speaks also of the Devastation of Pannonia which happen'd in 351 and the Famine of the Year 363 as Calamities which happen'd in his time Secondly 't is thought that he speaks in Qu. 115. of Sardinia as his own Country And in short some maintain that there is so great an agreement both in Stile and Doctrine between these Two Treatises a There is so great an Agreement both in Stile and Doctrine c. Compare Quest. 7. with the Commentary upon Ch. 6. to the Ephesians Quest. 13. with Comment upon Ch. 5. to the Rom. Quest. 18. with Comment upon Ch. 9. to the Rom. Quest. 21. with Comment upon Ch. 6 and 11th of the 1st Ep. to the Corinth Quest. 23. with the Comment on the 7th Ch. of the Ep. to the Rom. Quest. 24. with the Comment upon the 1st Ep. to the Corinth Ch. 11. Qu. 113. with the Com. upon Ch. 1st of the Ep. to the Ephes. and on Ch. 1st of the Ep. to the Coloss. Qu. 47. with the Com. upon the 2d Ch. of the 1st to the Corinth and upon Ch. 5. of the 2d to the Corinth Qu. 99. with the Com. upon Ch. 10. of the 1st to the Corinth Qu. 102. with the Com. upon Ch. 11. of the Ep. to the Rom. and upon Ch. 2d of the 2d to Timothy Qu. 108. with the Com. upon Ch. 3. to the Philipp the Qu. 109. and 25. with the Com. upon Ch. 8. to the Rom. Qu. 112. with the Com. upon these Words I see another Law in my Members c. Qu. 113. with the Com. upon Ch. 2d of the 2d Ep. to the Thessalonians Qu. 134. with the Com. upon Ch. 3. of the Ep. to the Ephes. and Qu. 115. with the 1st Ch. of the Com. upon the same Ep. These two Authors make often use of the same Words and in the same Sence as Diffidentia to signify Incredulity and the Words Praevaricandi Meliorandi c. that it cannot be doubted but they are written by the same Author Which must be understood of the 47 Questions upon the Old Testament the 50 upon the New and the 36 upon the one and the other which are all written by the same Author and not of the other following Questions which are for the most part a repetition of what had been said in those that went before But whoever was the Author of these Questions they are full of Falfities and Errors b Full of Falsities and Errors A Catalogue of them may be seen in the Censure which the Doctors of Lovain have prefix'd to this Work one of the chief of them is their Opinion that Melchifedeck was the Son of God and almost all of them are of very little use The Commentary upon the Epistle of St. Paul is better done and has more sence in it It is clear plain and litteral and gives the meaning of the Text of St. Paul well enough but it gives very different Explications from St. Austin c Different Explications from St. Austin For this one needs only read almost all the places of St. Paul which concern Predestination or Grace Particularly the Commentaries upon the 5th and 9th Chapters of the Ep. to the Romans upon the 2d of the Ep. to the Philippians and the Questions 13 24 47 115 223 where he proposes Maxims which are a little Pelagian in these places which concern Predestination Provocation Grace and Free-will PRISCILLIAN and Matronianus Tiberianus and Dictinius his Disciples PRISCILLIAN whom St. Jerom places among the Number of Ecclesiastical Writers was the Author of a Sect which was accus'd of many Impieties Sulpitius Severus who knew more Priscillian and his Disciples of the History of the Priscillianists than any Ecclesiastical Author whatsoever gives this Account of them That towards the End of the Fourth Century one Mark originally of Egypt being leaven'd with the Principles of the Gnosticks and Manichees came into Spain to spread his Errors there That at First he had for his Disciples a Woman call'd Agapa and one Elpidus a Rhetorician and that these were the Persons who instructed Priscillian That he was a Person of Quality Rich Powerful Quick and Restless but very Eloquent and very Learn'd That he acquir'd much Learning by hard Study and that he had a wonderful Easiness in Speaking and Disputing Happy
in which they Excommunicated Eusebius as an Impostor for making default Sometime after Antoninus died and his Death caused new Troubles in the Churches of Asia In this juncture of time the Clergy of Ephesus and the Bishops of that Province made application to S. Chrysostom and prayed him to come into their Countrey to establish some Order in the Church of Ephesus He came thither in the end of Winter of the Year 401 and assembled a Synod of Seventy Bishops wherein Six Bishops were deposed who were convicted of giving Antoninus Money for their Ordination The Heirs of that Bishop were enjoyned to return them the Money he had received and they Ordained Heraclides a Deacon Bishop of Ephesus What concerned the Church of Ephesus being thus regulated S. Chrysostom returned through Nicomedia where he turned out Gerontius who was formerly S. Ambrose's Deacon but went to the East and was ordained Bishop of Nicomedia He settled in his room Pansophius and going on in his Journey in every place he took from the Novatians and Quartodecimani the Churches which they were in possession of While S. Chrysostom was doing these things in Asia Severinus Bishop of Gabala a famous Preacher to whom at his going away he had committed the care of his Church did all he could to get the applause both of the Nobility and People This begot some jealousie in S. Chrysostom who expelled him out of Constantinople after he returned and this he did by the Sollicitation of a Deacon of his named Serapion But the Empress caused him to come again having reconciled them though with much difficulty This Reconciliation was followed by another quarrel with Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria an old enemy to S. Chrysostom The Historians represent that Bishop as an ambitious Man passionate fierce covetous and cunning who would never yield but compass every thing he undertook who easily provoked Men to be his Enemies and sooner or later would undoe them He was no friend to S. Chrysostom because he was obliged to ordain him against his will but the hatred he bore to him broke out upon the account of three Egyptian Monks Dioscorus Ammonius and Euthymius Sir-named the Long-brethren Theophilus was very angry with them because they reproved his Conduct and received Isidore that was become his enemy He condemned them in a Synod of Alexandria assembled in 399 because they would not subscribe the Condemnation of Origen After this Condemnation he went himself with Souldiers to drive them away with all the Monks that lived under their Rule These poor Monks not knowing whither to go because Theophilus persecuted them every-where came to Constantinople and represented to S. John the Violences of their Bishop beseeching him to have compassion on them S. Chrysostom gave them leave to say their Prayers in a Church he assigned for them but did not admit them to the Communion of the Eucharist He only writ to Theophilus to re-establish them On the contrary Theophilus sent Men to Constantinople who delivered to the Emperor a form of Accusation against these Monks who in their own defence accused their Bishop also S. John Chrysostom gave Theophilus notice of it who answered him fiercely That he ought to have known that by the Canons of the Council of Nice a Bishop is forbidden to judge of Causes that are out of the limits of his own Jurisdiction That he had no right to receive Accusations against him and that if he must be judged the Judgment belong'd to the Bishops of Egypt and not to the Bishop of Constantinople S. Chrysostom having received this Letter exhorted both the one and the other to Peace but neither were disposed towards it The Monks accused by Theophilus and some of their Brethren perswaded of their innocence continually Petition'd the Emperor who yielding to their Supplications at last appointed Judges who after examination of the Accusations against the Long-brethren found them to be Calumnies and so gave Judgment against some of the Monks that were the Authors of them All this happened in the Year 401. In the Year 402 S. Epiphanius Bishop in Cyprus who held with Theophilus because he was a great enemy to Origen came to Constantinople S. Chrysostom invited him to take a lodging in his House but Epiphanius pre-ingaged by Theophilus writing to him gave him this answer That he was so far from lodging in his House he would not so much as enter into it nor joyn in the publick Prayers whilst he was there unless S. Chrysostom first banish'd the Long-brethren and condemn'd Origen S. John having refused to doe it S. Epiphanius designed to go himself into the Apostle's Church on the Lord's-day and there publickly condemn Origen's Books and excommunicate the Long-brethren with their Adherents But as he was going he met with Serapion the Deacon who told him from S. Chrysostom that he undertook things against Order and against the Canons That he had ordained a Deacon out of his own Diocess and celebrated the Eucharist without permission from the Ordinary and that he was about a thing that was neither just nor reasonable and dangerous for himself for he had to doe with a populace which would soon be up and that S. Chrysostom would not answer for what might happen This discourse made Epiphanius withdraw and desist from his enterprise The Long-brethren after this went to him and complained that he condemned them before hearing and without conviction they shewed that they had not dealt so with him having every-where defended both his Works and his Person Epiphanius reflecting upon this Remonstrance and considering what Troubles Theophilus had engaged him in returned towards Cyprus At his going away he told the Bishops I leave you the Town the Palace and the Theater He died before he got to his own Country After the departure of S. Epiphanius S. Chrysostom made a Speech against the Disorders of Women The Empress Eudoxia supposing that it was meant of her complained to the Emperor and urged Theophilus to come to Constantinople This Bishop who waited for an opportunity to destroy S. Chrysostom came immediately about the beginning of the Year 403 and brought with him several Egyptian Bishops Those of Asia that were deposed by S. Chrysostom or were not satisfied with his behaviour repaired likewise to Constantinople Theophilus had his Apartment in one of the Empress's Houses from whence he sent the Accusers of John to the Emperor who commanded that both they and Chrysostom should appear before Theophilus his Synod to be judged there S. Chrysostom denied them to be his Judges affirming That it appertained to the Bishops of his and of the adjacent Provinces and not to Strangers to take cognizance of that matter Notwithstanding this reason which Theophilus himself had alledged to avoid being judged by S. Chrysostom he held a Synod of Six and Thirty Bishops in the Suburbs of Chalcedon to condemn S. Chrysostom One John exhibited Nine and Twenty Articles against him S. Chrysostom was cited to the Synod
mind their own Salvation But why doth it happen That such as lived well before they were tempted by Afflictions should fall into sin when Temptation cometh S. Chrysostom answereth First That many seem to be Righteous before Men who are great Criminals before God that searcheth the Hearts Secondly That God permits the most righteous to fall into sin to humble them to keep them from Pride and from an Opinion of their own Merit and to put them in mind that if they have any thing that is good it is not of themselves but of the Grace of Jesus Christ. The Book of Virginity is written with much Prudence and Wisdom For whereas most of the Authors that have written of Virginity could not forbear whilst they commended this Vertue to condemn marriage or at least to speak slightingly of it On the contrary S. Chrysostom answereth at first those Hereticks that condemned Matrimony and proveth that their Virginity will not only be unprofitable but also pernicious adding withall that as many as condemn Marriage are Despisers of Virginity It being a greater advantage to be what it is a good thing a nobler and more excellent than another good thing than simply a Vertue in opposition to Vice I commend Matrimony saith he it is the Haven of Continency for those that will use it well but there are excellent persons who have no need of that help and are able to quench the Fire of Lust by praying watching and lying upon the Ground These I exhort to Virginity but forbid them not to marry If they follow not my Advice I condemn them not I excommunicate those that commit Adultery and Fornication but commend those who make an holy use of Matrimony Marriage is good that 's my Opinion but Virginity is better This I own and if you will have my Sence It is as much above Matrimony as Heaven is above the Earth and makes Men like to Angels Afterwards he makes an Objection to himself against Virginity which seems natural enough If it be better to live unmarried why did God institute Marriage why did he make Women and should all Men embrace Virginity how should Mankind be propagated To answer these Questions S. Chrysostom goeth back as far as the creation of the first Man and takes notice That while he was in the earthly Paradise with Eve he was taken up with a Conversation with God that he was then freed from Lust and the desires of the Flesh and lived in a perfect Virginity and the whole World was at that time a vast Solitude But Man having disobey'd God's Commands and becoming mortal and corruptible with that happy Life which he enjoyed he lost also the glory of Virginity so that Sin being the cause of Death became at the same time the cause of Marriage It is probable that tho' there had been no Marriage yet the World might have been peopled and that God had created other Men as he had done the first adding That it is not the frequent use of Marriage that multiplieth Mankind but God's Blessing and he believes that Marriage is more necessary to the World at present for a remedy against Incontinency than for the preservation of Mankind he grants That it is necessary for the weak but that Virginity is far more honourable and profitable too He pretendeth That whatsoever S. Paul said of Marriage ought to induce Men to embrace Virginity and at last he describes the troubles and inconveniencies of a married life and opposes to them the quiet liberty sweetness pleasure and other advantages of a single one and then concludes with this noble Sentence Here below we are seriously to work out our Salvation let him that has a Wife live as if he had none and he that hath not should endeavour with Virginity to get all other Vertues that so in the next World he may not lament the disorders that he committed whilst he was in this This Treatise of Virginity is quoted in the 19th Homily upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians preached at Antioch It was by consequence composed in that Town S. Chrysostom being a Deacon or newly ordain'd Priest The two Treatises against the cohabitation of Clerks and Women were composed if Palladius may be believed at Constantinople against the abuse of those Churchmen who lodged devout Women with them or themselves lodged in the Women's Houses Against these Disorders S. Chrysostom wrote two Books whereof the first reproveth the Virgins that dwelt with Churchmen and the second admonisheth Churchmen who admitted Women into their Lodgings and shews That such mixt-habitation is an occasion of scandal and cannot be wholly free from sin In the Discourse to a young Widow he both comforts and exhorts her To continue in her Widowhood He made another little Book on purpose to shew That she ought not to marry again where he proves That tho' second marriages be not absolutely forbidden yet it is much better to continue in Widowhood The small Treatise upon this Paradox That no Man is offended but by himself was written by S. Chrysostom in his Exile It is upon a Subject very proper to administer Comfort to a Man in Persecution for he proveth there by several Examples out of Holy Scripture That Persecutions and Vexations are so far from doing any harm to those that are tormented wrongfully that they make them more happy and glorious and that nothing but Sin can make Men truly miserable In the first Exhortation to Theodorus who is thought to be the Person who afterwards was made Bishop of Mopsuesta he adviseth him to do Penance for quitting a retired life to return into the World shewing him That how great soever his fault might be yet he might hope for Pardon from God's Mercy because he always granteth it to those that truly and earnestly repent which Penance is not to be judged of according to the length of Time but by the disposition of the Heart and which consists in a change of life Afterwards he represents Heaven Hell and Judgment whereof he maketh an excellent Description to oblige him to do Penance and then he comforts him by the hope that his Repentance will recover not only his former Innocence but also an higher degree of Holiness and Perfection Among the Examples which he mentions to confirm this Truth he citeth the History of that famous Thief who was converted by S. John which Eusebius takes cut of Clemens Alexandrinus The second Discourse to Theodorus containeth some milder Motives to oblige him to forsake a Secular life where he represents the Labours and Cares of the World to make him out of love with it This last Exhortation ought to be placed first These Treatises were written at Antioch All S. Chrysostom's Letters were written during his Banishment The first is a Circular Letter to Innocent Bishop of Rome Venerius Bishop of Milan and Chromatius Bishop of Aquileia in which having described the attempts of Theophilus the Injuries which he receiv'd from him the
their Sins Paulus as to fall into despair HELVIDIUS and VIGILANTIUS HEre are two Hereticks refuted by S. Jerom reckoned by Gennadius amongst the Ecclesiastical Writers Helvidius saith he Chap. 32. Auxentius his Disciple an imitator of Symmachus Helvidius and Vigilantius writ a Book that shows some Zeal for Religion but an indiscreet one His Style and Arguments are very intricate He cites several passages of Scripture whence he concludes That the Virgin Mary having brought forth Jesus Christ had other Children by Joseph that were called the Lord's brethren S. Jerom confuted that Error and writ a Treatise full of Testimonies out of the Scriptures against this Author Vigilantius a Priest Originally of Gaul a Parish-priest in the Diocess of Barcelona in Spain hath written likewise some Treatises whereby he shows his Zeal for Religion but he was deceived with Ambition and an Opinion of himself because he had a fine Style Not being well versed in the Scriptures he made a very bad Exposition of Daniel's Visions publishing several impertinent things wherefore he is numbred amongst Hereticks S. Jerom answered him likewise St. AUGUSTIN ST AUGUSTIN was born at Tagasta a City of Numidia in the Reign of Constantius the 13th of November in the Year 354. which had for Consuls the Emperour himself the St. Augustin Seventh time and Gallus Caesar the Third St. Augustin's Father an ordinary Citizen of that Town was called Patricius and his Mother a very vertuous Woman was named Monica This holy Woman took care to instill into her Son the Principles of the Christian Religion and placed him among the Catechumens so that falling dangerously sick he earnestly desired to be Baptized but the violence of the Distemper abating it was put off to another time His Father being yet Unbaptized and wanting that Sense of Religion that his Mother had intended only to promote his Son in the World and though he was not very Rich yet he spared nothing to instruct and give him Learning He made him learn the Rudiments of Grammar at Tagasta and then sent him to Madaura to study Humanity-Learning This Child had no mind to Study and particularly hated the Greek Tongue but his love for the Poets made him first take a pleasure in it At Sixteen Years of Age having gone through his Humanity-Course his Father took him from Madaura and sent him to Carthage to learn Rhetorick but wanting a Fond for this necessary Expence for some time St. Augustin tarried a whole Year at Tagasta where Idleness disordered him He went away at the latter end of the Year 371. for Carthage where he applied himself to study Rhetorick with much Application and Success In the mean while his Father died quickly after he was baptized The reading of Cicero's Hortensius inspir'd St. Augustin with a love of Wisdom But not finding there the Name of Jesus Christ which he had printed in his Heart from his Infancy he betook himself to the reading of the Holy Scripture But meeting not there with the flowers of profane Eloquence he could not relish it and so suffered himself to be led away by the Manichees Being Nineteen Years old he returned to Tagasta where he taught Grammar and frequented the Barr. This Exercise having fitted him for some noble Employment he went to Carthage at the Age of Twenty five about the latter end of the Year 379. where he taught Rhetorick with Applause He was still engaged in the Manichaean Errors but he began to be better informed by a Conference which he had with Faustus about the Year 383. The Insolence of the Carthaginian Scholars made him resolve to go to Rome though against his Mother's Will who desired either to keep him there or to go with him Being come to Rome he fell sick in the House of a Manichee where he lodged Being recover'd he got some Scholars about him but finding that most part of them were so base to go away without Paying he sought to settle somewhere else The Inhabitants of Milan having sent to Symmachus the Praefect of the City desiring that he would find a Rhetorick-Professor for them St. Augustin procured himself to be Chosen for that Employment Being in Milan he was so wrought upon by St. Ambrose's Discourses that he resolved to be converted and quit the Sect of the Manichees He discovered this Design to his Mother who came to him to Milan Plato's Books confirm'd him in his Resolution His Conversation with Simplicianus and Petilian did much further his Conversion and the reading of St. Paul's Epistles brought this great Work to Perfection in the 32d year of his Age. Before the Vacation in the year 386. he stay'd only a few Days to make an end of his Publick Lectures which he was to read before the Vacation Which no sooner came but he withdrew to Verecundus his House where he betook himself seriously to studying of the Truth and to fit himself for Baptism which he received at Easter in the year 387. having utterly renounced his Profession Afterwards he resolved to return into his own Countrey and having tarried some time at Rome he embark'd at Ostia where his Mother died However he continued his Voyage and arrived in Africa towards the end of the year 388. He went through Carthage where he lodged in a Magistrate's House named Innocent who was miraculously cured as he gives the Account in the 8th Chap. of the 22d Book of The City of God He went to dwell at Tagasta where he abode three years living in common with some of his Friends exercising himself by Fastings Prayers and other Works of Piety and applying himself Day and Night to the Meditation of the Law of God The Fame of his Piety was so great that as all that designed to embrace Spiritual Life addressed themselves to him Among the rest a Person of Quality in Hippo who was willing to give up himself to God desired to entertain him and to bring him to that Town St. Augustin did not find himself disposed to follow his Advice yet God did not permit his Journey to prove in vain for Valerius Bishop of Hippo having proposed to the People to chuse a Priest whom that Church stood in need of he chose St. Augustin when he did not think of it and he Ordained him against his Will about the beginning of the year 391. St. Augustin immediately retir'd to prepare himself for the worthy discharging of the Sacerdotal Function and begg'd of Valerius time till Easter In which space he established a Monastery or Community of Persons that had all things Common renouncing the Property of any thing Valerius who designed that St. Augustin should preach in his room permitted him to do it in his Presence contrary to the Custom of the African Churches This did not please some of his Brethren but he excus'd it by the Usage of the Eastern Churches and the need he had that some body should preach the Word of God in his place because he being a Greek
our Selves by Expiations and Sacrifices he asketh him Whether it be the same Thing or Two different Things This is in the 235th Letter By the 236th he gives Deuterius notice That he had degraded and expelled a Deacon one Victorinus convicted of being a Manichee though he was but a Hearer among them and not one of those they call Elect. He speaks of the difference which they made betwixt those Two sorts of Persons and he speaks of their principal Errours In the 237th Letter he opposes the Dreams of the Manichees and Priscillianists concerning the Apocryphal Books and ridicules the phantastical Interpretations which they made of the Canonical Books The 238th is a Relation of a Conference that St. Augustin had about the Mystery of the Trinity with an Arian called Pascentius The Three following Letters directed to this Arian carry on the same Dispute The 242d is also written to Elpidius an Arian to whom he showeth That the Son of God is equal to his Father In the 243d St. Augustin exhorts Laetus who having quitted the World was tempted to return to it He exhorts him I say to persevere in his former Resolution and not to suffer his tenderness for his Relations to weaken his Courage He shews in this Letter That the renouncing of all Things to follow Christ ought to proceed so far as to leave Father and Mother to serve God The 244th is a Letter of Consolation to Chrysinus for a Loss which he had sustained In the 245th to Possidius St. Augustin speaks with great moderation of Women's Dresses He thinks That fine Cloaths ought not to be forbidden to Married Women who are obliged to please their Husbands but he would not have them Paint or Wash to make them appear fairer or fresher because it is not probable that their Husbands should desire to be thus deceived for the true Ornament of Christians of both Sexes is neither deceitful Painting nor Gold nor precious Stuffs but Purity of Manners Lastly he prohibits those Superstitious Dressings which they used to render a kind of Homage to Daemons He tells Possidius That he would not advise him to ordain a Man that had been Baptized among the Donatists The 246th Letter to Lampadius is against those who accuse Fate for the Faults which they commit themselves By the 247th Letter St. Augustin reproves one Romulus a Rich Man that would make his Debtors to pay twice pretending That they had pay'd his Receiver in his Wrong The 248th to Sebastianus is concerning that Sorrow which affects the Righteous because of the impiety of the Wicked In the 249th St. Augustin Comforteth Restitutus the Deacon who could hardly bear with the Disorders of ill Christians and instructs him to keep Peace with the Wicked The 250th Letter is very considerable There St. Augustin resolveth a very nice Question Whether a whole Family or Community may be Excommunicated for the Sin of one Member It is directed to a young Bishop called Auxilius who had Excommunicated one Classicianus with his whole Family because he came to the Church to demand certain Persons who had taken Sanctuary there after he had by a false Oath profaned the Sanctity of the Gospel He asks that Bishop VVhat Reason he could have for so doing and how the Son can be Excommunicated for the Father's Sin the VVife for her Husband 's and the Servant for his Master's yea the Children that are yet unborn Excommunication being not a Punishment which falls upon the Body but an Effect of the Power given to Christ's Ministers to bind and to loose which properly concerns the Soul St. Augustin confesses That this Bishop might ground his Proceeding upon the Example of some great Bishops who had Anathematized whole Families for one particular Person 's Sin But he affirms That they could hardly justifie their Action and that he never durst do it himself Yet he addeth rather in Jest than Earnest that he is ready to hear his Reasons Your Youth saith he and the shortness of the time that you have been Bishop will not hinder me from hearing your Reasons I am ready to learn of you how young soever you be though the Grey Heirs that I wear and all the Experience I may have got by those many Years that I have been Bishop give me some small Authority over you After that he Aggravates the Injustice of that Pretence which might prove the Loss of a Soul for want of Baptism through the Impossibility to which the Sentence of Excommunication reduced those that were Excommunicated from having recourse to the Sacraments Wherefore he exhorteth Auxilius to revoke a Sentence wherein Anger had a greater share than Justice and so much the rather because he against whom it was pronounced had no ways deserved it In the next Letter St. Augustin sendeth Word to Classicianus That he will propose that Question in a Council that he was much concerned at Auxilius his Behaviour especially because it might happen that some might die without Baptism that he will also cause to be examined there if need be this Question Whether those ought not to be Excommunicated who deal unfaithfully with their Securities and that if it should be requisite he would write to the See of Rome about it that so what was to be done in such Occasions might be settled with general Consent But he sticks not to affirm That an unjust Excommunication is of greater Prejudice to him that pronounces it than to him against whom it is pronounced forasmuch as the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in the Saints never puts any to Pain who deserves it not For if Charity is neither rash nor hasty What shall we say of him that diffuseth it into our Hearts The 251st Letter was written by St. Augustin to Pancarius concerning one Secundinus a Priest that was accused before him He tells Pancarius That he will receive the Accusations of Catholicks but not of Hereticks and prays him not to suffer any Disorder to be committed in that Priest's House The Four following Letters were written about a Virgin that was an Orphan who was committed to the Church's Trust. St. Augustin declares in these Letters That he takes all the Care of her that may be and that he will not marry her without her consent to a Catholick and that he was looking out for an advantageous Match for her The 256th is an Answer of St. Augustin's to Christinus who desired That he would write to him to exhort him to give himself to God The 257th is a Letter of Complement to Orontius In the 258th he Congratulates Martianus for being a Catechumen exhorting him speedily to receive Baptism The 259th was written to reclaim a very lewd Man one Cornelius from his evil Way and adviseth him to imitate his Wife who lately deceased upon whom St. Augustin promiseth to write a Panegyrick if he will follow her Vertue By the next Audax desireth St. Augustin to write longer than he used to do and concludes with Four Verses in his
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
doth not only help Man to do Good when he is willing but makes him willing to do it that the Saints of the Old Testament were only justified by Faith in Jesus Christ that Baptism is not only necessary to Children to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but also to obtain a share in Life eternal out of which they are excluded by original Sin alone In the Two next Books he refutes almost the same Calumnies contained in the other Letter of the Pelagians The Two First are about Free-Will and Marriage St. Augustin adds nothing to what he had said in the fore-going Book In the Third they taxed the Catholicks with introducing Fatality St. Augustin shews the difference betwixt Grace and Fate In the Fourth they accused them of maintaining That the Law was not given to Justifie Man but to render him more Sinful St. Augustin tells them That they did not understand the Opinion of the Church in that Point that the Law was given to teach what ought to be done but that it is Grace which makes us obey the Law and so the Law doth indeed shew what Righteousness is but doth not make us practise it Fifthly They upbraided the Catholicks with believing That Baptism did not remit all Sins so that Men continued partly God's Children and partly the Children of the Devil St. Augustin replies That Baptism doth indeed remit all Sins but it doth not cure Nature of its Weaknesses and Imperfections That the Righteous may and do Sin often without becoming therefore the Children of the Devil because there is no Man so Righteous as that he sinneth not The Sixth Calumny is concerning the Old Testament St. Augustin answereth That the Righteous who lived under the Old Testament were justified through the Grace of the New whereof the Old was only the Figure The Seventh is that the Apostles and Prophets were not perfectly Holy but only less criminal than others St. Augustin answers That they were truly Righteous through Faith and Charity but they had not all the perfection of Vertue which now they have in the other Life He utterly rejects the Ninth Calumny whereby they accused the Catholicks of saying That Jesus Christ had been subject to Sin The Tenth Calumny was expressed in these Terms They affirm That Men shall begin in the next Life to practise the Commandments which they did not practise in this St. Augustin opposes it shewing That they put an ill Construction upon a Catholick Truth which is That the Vertue and the Righteousness of Men shall only be perfect in the next Life In the last Book St. Augustin refutes the Pelagian Doctrines and shews That under pretence of commending Nature Marriage Free-VVill the Law and the Saints of the Old Testament they advanced very dangerous Errors to which he opposes several Testimonies of St. Cyprian and of St. Ambrose The Book of Grace and Free-Will was written by St. Augustin in the Year 427. upon a Dispute which happened in the Monastery of Adrumetum against those who fearing least by the Doctrine of Grace Free-VVill should be denied do indeed deny Grace by defending Free-VVill because they suppose that Grace is given according to Merit This last Error St. Augustin chiefly opposes in this Book shewing That the beginning both of Faith and good Resolutions is an effect of Grace The reading of this Book did not settle Peace among those Monks For there was an Objection proposed which was obvious enough to every Man's understanding If no Man can do Good without the Grace of God and this Grace cannot be merited no Man is to be reproved or corrected for not doing his Duty since it is not in his Power to do it because he wants Grace and cannot deserve it St. Augustin perceiving the Difficulty of this Objection for the Solution thereof composed the Book of Correction and Grace wherein without retracting any thing of what he had formerly said he affirms That Admonition is to be used 1. Because it may happen that God will touch the Heart of him that is reproved 2. Because Sinners sin voluntarily and without Compulsion and that they cannot complain that God hath denied them his Grace or the Gift of Perseverance since he owes his Grace to no body He does not content himself with Answering the Objection but further explains and confirms his Principles by shewing the difference betwixt the Grace of Adam in the State of Innocence and that which is necessary to Man in the state of fallen Nature He speaks also of the Gift of Perseverance which is not granted unto all and of the Power of Grace and the free Predestination of the Elect. He again insisteth upon the same Matter and upon the same Principles in both the Books which he writ in answer to Hilary's and Prosper's Letters The First is of the Predestination of the Saints and the Second of the Gift of Perseverance Wherein he demonstrates That the beginning of Faith and good Purposes is the Gift of God and that so our Predestination or Vocation does not depend upon our Merits The Second Book concerns the Gift of Perseverance which he shews to depend equally upon God as the beginning of our Conversion St. Augustin composed these Treatises in the Year 429. St. Augustin's last Effort against the Pelagians fell upon Julianus his old Adversary who to maintain the Quarrel he had begun composed Eight Books against St. Augustin's Second Book Of Matrimony and Concupiscence St. Augustin having received Five of them from Alypius undertook to write against them and was engaged about the Fourth when he writ the â—â—4th Letter to Quodvultdeus in the Year 428. It is probable that Alypius sent him the other Three but St. Augustin answered but Six and this Work remains imperfect as Possidius affirms The Six Books of St. Augustin were published by F. Vignier from a Manuscript of the Abby of Clervaux which in all probability will be revised and corrected in a new Edition from some other Manuscripts These Books are written by way of Dialogue There St. Augustin produces Julianus's own Terms and Answers them plainly and in few Words We referr'd to speak of St. Augustin's Four Treatises Of the original of the Soul to this place because they were not written properly against the Pelagians though St. Augustin handleth there some Questions that have some relation to the Dispute betwixt them Therefore I think that it had been more proper to have set them at the end of the Sixth Volume than in this place The occasion and subject of these Four Books is this A Priest of the Province of Mauritania Caesariensis one Victor who was Surnamed Vincentius from a Donatist Bishop Successor to Victor of that Name whose Memory that Priest who had been a Donatist did reverence very much This Priest I say having met in the House of one Peter a Spanish Priest with a Writing of St. Augustin's wherein this Saint had set down his usual Doubts about the Soul 's Original wrote two Books
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
whereof they would be Bishops Thirdly They forbid to cover dead Corpses with the Altar-Cloth or any other Linen which is used at the Altar Fourthly They ordain that Clergy-men shall not be supported against their Bishop by the Civil Powers Fifthly They Excommunicate those who desire of Kings the Possessions of the Church declaring at the same time that the Gift which the Prince makes of them is null Sixthly They order those Persons to be excluded Communion and Civil Society who espouse Jewish Men or Women Seventhly They forbid to cover the Body of a Priest with the Veil which covers the Body of Jesus Christ. Eighthly They forbid to lend the Ornaments of the Church for Marriages Ninthly To make Jews Judges of Christians Tenthly They forbid Bishops to invade the Parishes of their Brethren Eleventhly They forbid them to receive and ordain a Clerk of another Diocese without the leave of his Bishop Twelfthly They re-inforce the Penalty of Excommuuication against any Persons who marry within the forbidden Degrees which are the Widow of his Brother his Wive's Sister her Cousin-German or the Issue of her Cousin-German and the Widow of his Uncle Thirteenthly They oblige Priests and Deacons to live in Celibacy and in case they be found to keep Company with their Wives after they are promoted to these Dignities they ordain that they shall be depriv'd of them Fourteenthly They Excommunicate those who shall retain Goods that are given to Churches Fifthteenthly They enjoyn Priests and Deacons who are neither in Country-Parishes nor in the City but dwell in Country-Houses or serve Chappels to come and celebrate the principal Festivals of the year with their Bishop in the City and chiefly the Feasts of Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide They exhort also Lay-men that can to come Sixteenthly They renew the Canon so often repeated whereby Clergy-men are forbidden to keep strange Women in their Houses After they had made these Canons they wrote a Letter to King Theodebert praying him to suffer the Subjects of another Prince to enjoy peaceably the Lands and Goods which they had in his Kingdom The third Council of Orleans The third Council of Orleans FIve Archbishops and fourteen Bishops of France were present at this Council with the Deputies of some Bishops It was held on the seventh of May in the Year 538 under the Reign of Childebert It made three and thirty Canons for restoring the ancient Ecclesiastical Discipline The first concerning the holding of a Synod of the Province The second of the Celibacy of the Clergy beginning with the Sub-Deacons The third reserves the Ordination of Metropolitans to a Metropolitan in the presence of all the Bishops of the Province and it requires that he be chosen by the Bishops of the Province with the consent of the Clergy and People of the City it being fit that he who is to preside over all should have the Suffrages of all those over whom he is to preside As to the Bishops of the Province it ordains that they shall be consecrated by the Metropolitan and chosen by the Clergy and the People The fourth is the Prohibition so often made to Clergy-men of keeping Women in their Houses The fifth intrusts the Bishop with the Power of imploying the Goods that are given to Churches in the City for such uses as he should think most convenient and ordains that the Possessions belonging to Country-Churches shall be imploy'd according to custom The sixth forbids to ordain one Deacon before the Age of 25 years and a Priest before 30 and renews the ancient Canons concerning the Qualifications requisite in those who are ordain'd forbidding to ordain those who have been twice married who have done Penance who have Corporal Defects or Fits of Distraction This Canon declares those who are ordain'd with these Defects to have fall'n from their Dignity and Suspends those who shall ordain them from the Exercise of their Ministry for the space of six Months The seventh ordains That if Clergy-men who have been ordain'd with their own consent being unmarried do afterwards marry they shall be Excommunicated that if they were ordain'd against their own will they shall only be Depos'd and that the Bishop who ordain'd them shall be suspended for one year As to the Clergy-men who commit Adultery they shall be shut up in a Monastery all their life time yet without being depriv'd of the Communion The eighth is That Clergy-men being Convicted of a false Testimony and of Robbing shall be degraded without being depriv'd of the Communion and that perjur'd Clergy-men shall be put under Penance for the space of two years The ninth forbids to admit those into Orders who have had Concubines The tenth Canon is about Marriage between Persons within the forbidden Degrees Those shall not be excluded Communion who married their Kinswomen before their Baptism or who did not know of the Prohibition But as to those who contracted these Marriages since their Baptism and knew the Prohibitions they shall be Excommunicated until they part from one another These forbidden Degrees are his Father's Widow his Wife's Daughter his Brother's Widow his Wife's Sister his Cousin-German or her Issue his Uncle's Widow The eleventh forbids Clergy-men to exempt themselves from the discharge of their Office under any pretence whatsoever and deprives those who shall do it of the Rewards which are paid to those Clergy who are in the List of those who serve the Churches Canonicis The twelfth Canon forbids Alienations The thirteenth declares That the Jews are forbidden to impose such things upon their Christian Slaves as are contrary to the Religion of Jesus Christ. It forbids Christians to contract Marriages with Jews and to eat with them The fourteenth ordains that Masses shall begin at the ninth hour that the Bishop may be present at the Office of Vespers The fifteenth forbids Clergy-men to go into the Diocese of their Brethren to Ordain Clergy-men or Consecrate Altars there If a Bishop undertake to do it he shall be Suspended from Celebration for one year The Clergy-men who shall be ordain'd shall be remov'd but the Altars shall continue Consecrated The Clergy-men who go to dwell in the Diocese of another Bishop cannot be promoted to a superior Order nay Communion shall be deny'd to a Priest or Deacon who have not Letters from their Bishop The sixteenth Excommunicates Ravishers and those who are ravish'd if they consent to dwell with their Ravishers The seventeenth declares That the Successors of a Bishop cannot recall the Favours done by his Predecessor to Clergy-men but only those which he did himself The eighteenth ordains That it shall be at the Bishops disposal to deprive Clergy-men of the Ecclesiastical Revenews to whom the Government of a Monastery belongs or a Chappel or another Preferment because the Revenew of this Preferment ought to satisfie him The nineteenth That Clergy-men being disobedient to the Bishop shall be depriv'd of their Ministry until they have given him Satisfaction The Council of
with the Daughter and neither the Daughter nor he shall Marry others but the Mother may Marry another The 3d imports that if a Presbyter Marry his Niece he shall be obliged to leave her and loose his degree and if any body else Marry her he shall be oblig'd to leave her but shall have Liberty to Marry an other The 4th that a Maid in what manner soever she hath taken the Veil shall be obliged to keep it unless it was given her against her Will and in that case the Priest that Veil'd her shall be deposed If a Woman takes the Veil without her Husbands consent it shall be free for her Husband to let her keep it or to hinder her The 5th gives leave to the Husband whose Wife conspired his death to send her away and to Marry another The 6th gives leave to those who have Married Slaves whom they thought to be Free-born Women to Marry others The 7th permits Slaves who have a Concubine to leave her to Marry his Master's Maid-servant thô they do better if they keep the first The 8th permits the Master to oblige his Slave to Marry his Maid-servant if he hath had any Carnal knowledge of her The 9th imports that if men be forced to go away from the place of their Habitation and their Wives refuse to follow them without any other Reason but their Love to their own Country it shall be free for those Men whose Wives have thus left them to Marry others but not for the Wives to Marry again The 10th forbids him to Marry who hath layn with his Mother-in-Law and the Mother-in-Law likewise and permits the Father-in-Law to Marry another Woman The 11th inflicts the same punishment upon them who defile their Daughter-in-Law or Sister-in-Law The 12th Ordains that he that lies with two Sisters shall have neither thô the one of them were his Wife By the 13th He that marrieth a Bond Woman knowing her to be such is bound to keep her The 14th forbids ambulatory Bishops to Ordain any Priests and if any be found to have been thus Ordain'd and they deserve it they shall be Consecrated anew The 15th That a Priest degraded may Baptize in case of necessity The 16th forbids Clerks to bear Arms. The 17th Permits a Woman which complains that her Husband never did Cohabit with her to try the Proof of the Cross and if it appears by this Tryal that the thing is so then she may do what she pleaseth The 19th Ordains that Bond Slaves be exhorted not to Marry again if they be found to be sold severally The 20th imports that the Slave who is set at Liberty may put away his Wife being a Bond Woman and marry another The 21st forbids him who suffered his Wife to be defiled to marry another Regino recites some Articles more about the said matters which he ascribes to this Council of Verberie They may be seen in the Edition of the Capitularies of M. Baluz 19. 166. Vol. 1. The COUNCIL of VERNEUILLE THIS Council was held at Verneville upon Oise and not at Vernon as some have thought about July An. 755. by the Order of Pepin who confirm'd by his Edict and published Council of Verneville the Canons that had been proposed in this Council The 1st imports that there shall be a Bishop in every Great City The 2d That Obedience shall be paid to the Bishops made Metropolitans The 3d That the Bishop shall be empower'd to Correct the Regulars and Seculars in his Diocess The 4th That there shall be two Synods yearly kept in France one in March the other in Octob. The 5th That the Monasteries of Men and Women shall be regular otherwise the Bishop shall see to it and if he cannot do it himself alone he shall acquaint the Metropolitan with it if the Metropolitan cannot yet Correct and Order it he shall inform the Synod of it and if they slight the Synod they shall be Excommunicated The 6th That an Abbess shall have but one Monastery to govern that neither she nor any of her Religious Women shall go out without permission from the King that they shall send secular persons to the Prince or Synod to represent their Grievances that those that are not Veiled shall be put out of the Community and if they be willing to live regularly they shall be admitted after Tryal The 7th That no Baptistery shall be Erected without the Bishops Leave The 8th That the Priests shall be subject to the Bishops and that they shall neither Baptize nor Celebrate the Office without permission from him The 9th That they that communicate with Excommunicated persons shall be Excommunicated that Excommunicated Persons shall not enter into the Church that they shall not eat with any of the Faithful that no body may receive Gifts from them nor Kiss or Salute them The 10th That Monks shall not go to Rome nor out of their Monasteries unless the Bishop gives them Leave to go into a more strict Monastery The 11th imports that all Clerks shall live as Canons under the Bishops care or as Monks under an Abbot The 12th That Clerks not change the Church and that Clerks of another Church shall not be received 13th forbids Bishops to Ordain or Perform any other Episcopal Function out of their Diocess without the Bishops Order of the Diocess The 14th permits necessary Works such as dressing of Meat or making the House clean on Sunday but forbids the Works of Agriculture The 15th enjoyns both the Nobles and the Common people to be Married publickly The 16th renews the third Canon of the Council of Chalcedon which forbids Clerks to meddle with secular Affairs The 17th is the 25th of the Council of Chalcedon about the vacancy of Bishopricks The 18th renews the Ordinance of the 9th ch of the 3d Council of Carthage which forbid Clerks to come before the Tribunals of the Laity without the Bishops Leave The 19th is concerning the immunities of Churches The 20th Ordains that the Accounts of Monastery's Lands and Revenues if they be Royal shall be given up to the King if Episcopal to the Bishop this Canon was made in another Synod and perhaps the following Canons also The 21st That the Bishop shall have the Cures of his Diocess The 22d That no right shall be exacted from Pilgrims The 23rd That Counts and Judges shall hear the Causes of Churches Widows and Orphans preferably to others The 24th That no Mony shall be given to get into Holy Orders The 25th That Bishops Abbots and others shall take no Presents to Administer Justice The 26th is concerning the Rights of Portage The 27th The weight of Money The 28th Exemptions The 29th Secular Courts of Justice The 30th forbids Ecclesiastical Persons to go to Law with their Superiour without permission The COUNCIL of METZ THIs is another Synodical Assembly held under Pepin after the former An. 756. the Laws whereof were authorized and promulged by Pepin Council of Metz. The First is against the
Abbots who are not Priests upon pain of Expulsion from their Monasteries Nevertheless it permits those who are admitted into Monasteries or their Parents or Relations to give voluntary Gifts yet upon this condition That those Gifts shall belong to the Monasteries whether he that is Admitted stays or goes away unless the Emperor turn him out The 20th prohibits making double Monasteries that is for Men and Women and as for those that are Founded it ordains That the Monks and Nuns shall dwell in two several Houses that they shall not see one another nor have any Commerce together The 21st forbids Monks to quit their own Monastery to go to others The 22d forbids Monks to eat with Women unless it be needful for their Spiritual Good or upon a Journey yea though they be their Relations Moreover to the Acts of this Council is joyned a Panegyrick pronounced in Commendation of it by Epiphanius Deacon of Catana in Sicily a Letter of Tarasius to Pope Adrian about the Subject of the Council another Letter of the same Person against the Simonists in which he hath gathered together several Canons upon that Subject another Letter of his to John the Abbot upon the Definition of the 2d Nicene Council and against Simoniacal Ordinations The Acts of this Council being brought to Rome they sent Extracts of them into France where they had a different Practice about Image-worship They were indeed permitted to have them and to put them in their Churches but they could not endure that any Worship or Honour should be paid them whilst the Cross and Sacred Vessels were permitted to be honoured Charles who was then King of France and afterwards was Emperor caused these Extracts to be Examined by * Of whom Alcuin was the chief and R. Hoveden says He it was that composed the Caroline Books some Boshops of his Kingdom who composed a Treatise to vindicate their own Usage and to answer the Proofs alledged in the Council of Nice for the Worship of Images This Work was put out by Charles's Order and under his Name within three Years or thereabouts after the Nicene Council It is divided into four Books In the Preface having observed that the Church redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ her Spouse washed with the saving Water of Baptism fed with the precious Blood of her Saviour and anointed with Holy Oyl is sometimes assaulted by Hereticks and Infidels and sometimes vexed by the Quarrels of the Schismaticks and the Proud that she is an Ark containing those that are to be saved figured by that of Noah which undergoes the Storms of the Deluge of this World without any danger of Shipwrack which does not yield to the deep and deadly Whirlpools of this World and which cannot be overcome by the Hostile Powers wherewith she is surrounded by reason Christ does continually fight for her so that she does still withstand her Enemies and inviolably maintain the true Faith and Confession of the Trinity That she is a Holy Mother without Spot and Corruption always Fruitful and yet a Virgin that the more she is set on by the Contradictions of the World the more she encreases in Virtue the lower she is brought the higher she raiseth up her self After this Encomium of the Church they add in Charles's Name That seeing he hath taken the Reins of his Kingdom in his hands being in the Bosom of this Church he is obliged to endeavour her Vindication and Prosperity that not only the Princes but the Bishops also of the East puffed up with sinful Pride had swerved from the Holy Doctrine and the Apostolick Tradition and do cry up impertinent and ridiculous Synods to make themselves famous to Posterity that some years ago they had held in Greece a certain Synod full of Imprudence and Indiscretion in which they went about to abolish the use of Images which the Ancients have introduced as an Ornament and a Remembrance of Things past and to attribute to Images what God hath said of Idols though it cannot be said that all Images are Idols But it 's plain there 's a difference between an Image and an Idol because Images are for Ornament and Remembrance whereas Idols are made for destroying Souls by an impious Adoration and vain Superstition That the Bishops of this Council had been so blind as to Anathematize all those who had Images in Churches and so boast that their Emperor Constantine had freed them from Idols That besides this there was another Synod held about three years since composed of the Successors of those of the former Council yea and of those that had assisted at it which was not less Erroneous and Faulty than the former though it took a clean contrary way That the Bishops of this Synod order Images to be Adored which those of the former would not permit to be had or seen and that whenever these find Images to be spoken of whether in the Scripture or in the Writings of the Fathers they conclude from thence that they ought to be Worshipped That thus they both fall into contrary Absurdities those and confounding the Use and the Adoration of Images and the other believing Idols and Images to be one and the same thing As for us says he being content with what we find in the Gospels and the Apostle's Writings and instructed by the Works of the Fathers who have not swerved from him who is the Way and the Truth we receive the 6 first Councils and reject all the Novelties both of the first and the second Synod And as to the Acts of this latter which are destitute of Eloquence and common Sense being come to us we thought our selves bound to write against their Errors to the end that if their Writing should defile the Hands of those that shall hold it or the Ears of those that shall hear it the Poison which it might instill may be expell'd by our Treatise supported by the Authority of the Scripture and that this weak Enemy which is come from the East may be subdued in the West by the Sentiments of the Holy Fathers which we have produced In fine we have undertaken this Work with the consent of the Bishops of the Kingdom which God hath given us not out of any ambitious Design but animated with the Zeal of God's House and the Love of Truth because as it is a holy Thing to pursue good Things so it is a great Sin to consent to Evil. This is the Subject of his Preface In the first Book after having made some Cursory Observations upon some Terms of the Council he shews that the places of the Scripture alledged in that Council for Image-worship being explained in their genuine Sense and according to the Fathers do not at all prove what they pretend In the first Chapter he reproves this Expression in the Letter of Constantine and Irene By him that Reigns with us He says That it is a piece of intolerable Rashness in Princes to compare their Reign
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
had not obtain'd the Pall which his Legats requir'd because they were not given at Rome but to Persons there present The seventh is a Letter of William King of England and Duke of Normandy to Pope Gregory VII who acquainted him that his Legat was come to wait upon him to demand of him the Oath of Fidelity and the Mony which his Predecessors had always been us'd to remit to Rome He answers him That as for the Oath he would take none because he was not allow'd to do it and his Predecessors had never done it As for the Mony he says that for these three last years which he had spent in France it had been Collected very carelessly that he would send him what was already gather'd and the remainder he would send by Lanfrank's Deputies He desir'd to be recommended to his Prayers and assures him that he had a sincere Affection for him and would be always submissive to him Lanfrank at the same time sent the Pope word that he could not as yet prevail upon the King to take the Oath which he required and assures him that he had still the same Affection for him as formerly This is the Eighth Letter The ninth is a Certificate granted to a Man of the Diocess of Seez who stood Convicted of having kill'd three Persons who went to Mount S. Michael The Bishop of Seez had injoyn'd him Pennance and granted him Letters directed to the Bishops that they might absolve him or release him from part of his Pennance when they should think it proper This is what Lanfrank certifies to the Arch-bishop of York In the tenth writ to the same Arch-bishop he very clearly determines that it is not Lawful for a Man or a Woman who are divorc'd for Adultery to Marry again The eleventh is a Letter of Thomas Arch-bishop of York who wrote to Lanfrank desiring he would send to him the Bishops of Winchester and Dorchester to assist him in Consecrating a Bishop of the Isles of the Orcades protesting that hereby he did not pretend that these two Bishops were his Suffragans By the following Letter Lanfrank enjoyns them to do it In the thirteenth directed to John Arch-bishop of Roan he tells him his Opinion upon several Rites and Ceremonies which he wrote to him about He maintains that in the Consecration of Churches the Bishop ought not to wear his * Chasuble but a * Chappe Several Copes and Vestments wore by the Mass-Priests and other Clerks of the Church of Rome and that the * Maniple ought not to be given at the Ordination of Sub-deacons because 't is not a Habit peculiar to Ecclesiasticks no more than the Albe and Amict since in Monasteries the Laicks wear them The four next are likewise directed to the same Arch-bishop in the two first he writes to him about a difference which had happen'd in the Church of S. Owen which is related at large in a Passage of an History of the Church of Roan mention'd by Father Luke Dachery in his Notes The third is a Letter of Complement In the last he excuses himself upon some complaints that had been made of him The Four next are written in Favour of Baldwin Abbot of S. Edmond and the Religious of that House The Last is Pope Gregory the Seventh's to Lanfrank by which he orders him to prevent Bishop Herfast from putting that Abbot to any Trouble And this is the Subject-Matter of the former Letter which Lanfrank had wrote to that Bishop The One and twentieth is a Letter to the same Bishop about a Man whom he had ordain'd Deacon without having receiv'd any Order for it who besides was a married Man and would not turn off his Wife He enjoins him to depose him from his Deaconship to give him for the future only the four lesser Orders and not to place him among the Deacons unless he would live single If he did that then he should not confer the Order of Deacon upon him again but only grant him a Power of discharging his Functions by giving him the Gospels in a Synod or an Assembly of the Clergy The Two and twentieth is likewise an Answer directed to that Bishop about a Man who had enter'd into Priest's Orders without being fit for it He orders That he should be enjoy'd Pennance and suspeâ—â—ed from all Ecclesiastical Functions till such time as he thought fit to restore him The Three and twentieth is directed to Herbert Bishop of Norwich his Suffragan whom he reproves for slighting a Letter which he sent him in favour of Berard a Clerk belonging to the Abbot Baldwin He tells him of the Respect which is due to Metropolitans and admonishes him to turn out Monk Herman who went under a bad Name The Four and twentieth is directed to Maurice Bishop of London elect He returns him this Answer That he ought to injoin them Pennance who had apprehended a Man who dy'd under their Hands That he could not speak any farther of his Affair to the King That Clerk Geofrey charg'd with Apostacy ought to be turn'd out of his Church or bring Letters demissory from his Bishop And advises him to meet him the Saturday before Laetare-Sunday at Chichester and that he would there give him Priests Orders The following Letters which are very short are upon various and particular Subjects However there are several Things in them concerning the Discipline of the Church viz. In the Six and twentieth That a Priest who has taken upon him the Habit of a Monk and liv'd sometime in a Monastery without having receiv'd Benediction cannot return to the World again In the Seven and twentieth That Arch-deacons have a Right of distributing the Holy Chrism In the Two and thirtieth That young Women who have made a religious Profession or who have been presented at the Altar shall be oblig'd to continue Religious but that such as have not made any such Profession nor have been presented shall have Liberty to go out as well as those who fled for Sanctuary to Monasteries for fear of the French In the Three and thirtieth he proves to the Bishops of Ireland That tho' it might be proper to give the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to Infants yet it was not absolutely necessary for Salvation The Six Seven and Eight and Thirtieth inform us That the Clergy and Laity of Dublin elected their Bishop and sent him to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury for Ordination That there were some Irregularities in the Churches of Ireland and that it was requisite to call a Counciâ— there to reform them In the Nine and fortieth he shews That the Apostate-Monks who offer'd to return to their Monasteries again ought to be pardoned and to be treated with the same Kindness as formerly In the Sixtieth and the Last he proves That a Monk who has engag'd himself to constant Residence in any Monastery may now and then go to another Monastery when urgent Occasion requires it In the Fiftieth he refutes Berenger who charg'd S.
which bear the Name of this Author and are Printed at several Places Allatius likewise produces a Catalogue of many other Treatises written by Psellus which are only extant in Manuscript particulary a Treatise against Eunomius an Epitome of the Books of Moses certain Theological Questions divers Tracts about the Mysteries of Jesus Christ many Homilies and some Letters Notwithstanding the high esteem that Allatius has for this Author his Works do not appear to be very useful nor very learn'd in respect of Ecclesiastical Matters nor very eloquent Although he was no Friend to Michael Cerularius yet he maintain'd the Opinion of the Greeks concerning the Procession of the Holy Ghost In the end of the same Century liv'd SIMEON sirnam'd the Younger Abbot of the Simeon the Young Abbot of Xerocerce Monastery of Xerocerce of whom we have 33 Orations or Sermons on Faith and on the Christian and Monastick Manners as also a Pious Treatise call'd Hymns of Divine Love in measur'd Prose which the Greeks call Politick or Blank Verse and 228 moral Maxims which Jacobus Pontanus translated into Latin from the Manuscripts of the Libraries of Bavaria and Augsburg and caus'd to be Printed at Ingolstadt in Quarto A. D. 1603. Allatius gives us a Catalogue of 79 Homilies 58 Hymns and some Instructions by this Author with the Titles and Beginings of them Of the Homilies there are only Fifteen among those of Pontanus and of the Hymns there are Twenty which Pontanus has not publish'd no more than the Instructions of which he makes mention These Works are full of Moral and Ascetick Precepts but there are also certain Maxims of the Hesychasts or Quietists So that perhaps it may not be amiss here to shew after what manner he lays down those Principles of Quietism in his third Discourse of Prayer In the first place says he three Things are to be Practis'd in order to attain to what you desire viz. the Contempt of all Rational and Irrational Creatures Mortification and a pure Conscience free from all manner of Passions and particular Interests Afterwards sitting alone in Tranquility in a Corner of your Cell do what I am now about to tell you Keeping your Door shut lift up your Mind above all Vanities that is to say above all temporary and transitory Things and bowing your Head to your Belly hold your Breath seek your Heart in Mind At first you 'll find thick Darkness but by continuing this practice Day and Night you will discover Wonders and meet with endless Consolation For when the Mind has once found out the place of the Soul it clearly perceives things which it never comprehended before it discerns Air round about the Heart and becomes altogether Luminous and full of Wisdom And when a Man is arriv'd to that height of Perfection if any evil Thought intervenes it is expell'd and immediately dis-appears before it can make any Impression so that the Mind being exasperated drives away the Devil You may learn the rest with God by preserving Jesus Christ in your Heart This is the Model of Quietism fram'd by that Monk who talks of nothing for the most part in his System of Divine Love but Divine Illuminations and Lights Divine Unions Essential Unions with God the Transformation of our Members into those of Jesus Christ and other Matters of the like Nature However it must be acknowledg'd That otherwise the Works of this Author are full of most excellent Maxims solid Principles and very useful Instructions for promoting the Spiritual Life There are also two other small Tracts by the same Author viz. one of the alteration and impressions which the Elements make on the Bodies and Souls of Men and the other of the manner of God's Omnipresence in all Places and how his Light is dispers'd every where The same Method of Writing and the same Principles are observable in these Pieces But Simeon was cast into Prison in the end of his Life for reproving the Emperor too freely as some say or as others will have it upon account of his Erroneous Doctrins He is also reputed to have first broach'd the Error of those Greek Monks who imagin'd That the Light which appear'd on Mount Tabor was the uncreated and eternal Light of the Divine Majesty and that all Happiness consisted in the Contemplation of it JOHN Arch-bishop of Euchaita in Paphlagonia compos'd in the middle of this Century John Arch-bishop of Euchaita certain Poetical Pieces in Iambick Verse on the principal Histories of the Festivals of the Year Printed at Eton A. D. 1610. As also a Relation of the Lives of St. Eusebius and St. Dorotheus the Younger some Extracts of which are produc'd by Allatius in his Book of the Agreement of the Greek and Latin Churches concerning Purgatory JOANNES THRACESIUS SCYLITZES †The Name of one of the principal Ministers of State in the Court of the Eastern Emperors Georgius Cedrenus Curopalata who flourish'd under Joannes Thracesiu Scylitzes Curopalata Alexis Comnenus wrote a Continuation of Theophanes's History from the Year 813. to 1081. when Alexis Comnenus was advanc'd to the imperial Dignity It was Printed at Venice in Latin of Gabius's Translation and Peter Goar publish'd it in Greek at the end of Cedrenus's Chronicle part of the same History by Scyletzes which begins at A. D. 1057. and ends in 1081. GEORGIUS CEDRENUS a Monk flourish'd in like manner in the end of the Century and wrote Annals or an Epitome of History from the beginning of the World to the Year 1057. It is only a Collection of divers Authors more especially of George the * Acertain Officer under the Patriarch of Constantinople Constantin Lichudes Patriarch of Constantinople John Xiphilin Patriarch of Constantinople Samonas Arch-bishop of Gaza Syncellus whose Chronography he Copied out from the Creation of the World to the Reign of Diocletian of Theophanes from Diocletian to Michael Curopalata and of Joannes Thracesius Scylitzes afterward Curopalata to his time In a word his whole History is taken out of the Works of several Writers the Extracts of which he has drawn up without much Judgment or Skill in the Art of Critick These Annals were Translated by Xylander and Printed at Basil A. D. 1566. and afterward at Paris in the Royal printing-Printing-House with the Notes of Fabrot and James Goar in 1647. CONSTANTINUS LICHUDES who succeeded Michael Cerularius A. D. 1058. in the Patriarchal See of Constantinople compil'd certain Synodal Constitutions which are contain'd in the Collection of the Greek and Roman Law as well as a Synodal Decision of Michael Cerularius about Marriages to the seventh Degree of Consanguinity and some other Fragments of Constitutions by the same Patriarch relating to forbidden Marriages JOHN XIPHILIN of Trebisond or Trapezut a Monk of Mount Olympus succeeded Constantin Lichudes A. D. 1066. and died in 1078. We have still in our Possession his Homily on the Cross or on the third Week of Lent cited by Gretzer and certain Decrees about
Bishop of Meaux's upon this Question If it be lawful for a Man to Marry his Concubine He tells him that some Laws have forbid it and others have permitted it and leaves the whole matter to the discretion and judgment of the Bishops after which he exhorts the Bishop of Meaux not to approve of King Philip's Marriage with Bertrade The XVIIth to the regular Canons of St. Quentin at Beauvais does with a great deal of Eloquence set forth the troubles he is involved in since he was made a Bishop admonishes them to continue to observe the Rules of their Institution and to make choice of a Superiour in his place In the XVIIIth Ivo highly blames Cardinal Roger the Pope's Legate for being inclin'd to Absolve Simon Count of Niofle whom he had Excommunicated for Adultery This Count after the Death of his Wife Marries one with whom he had formerly been too familiar and now demands Absolution Ivo absolutely refuses it and sends him to the Pope with a Letter setting forth the whole affair the Count makes his suit to Roger hoping to meet with more gentle treatment from him than at the Pope's hands Ivo hereupon declares to the Cardinal that he cannot absolve him nor will he admit him to the Communion till he has an answer from the Pope either in writing or by word of mouth The XIXth Letter is written to William Abbot of Fècamp who had compar'd him to St. John and to Elijah for his boldness in declaring his dislike of the King's Marriage Ivo acquaints him how great inconveniences that liberty of his had brought him under and desires the Prayers of him and his Monks He cannot grant the Abbot's request in behalf of a Canon Regular who would have leave to quit his Rule and enter into the Monastery of Fècamp he tells him if he knew the Man he would not be concern'd for him that he is a proud and idle Fellow that for ten years together he had never as he ought observ'd his week for reading Mass but was at any time for reading out of his turn when there was an occasion of serving his vanity by it however if the Canons his Brethren would consent he should leave their House he would not hinder him and gave him full leave to ask them Ivo being taken into Custody for opposing King Philip's Marriage the Clergy and people of Chartres threatned to assault the Count unless he would release him to them therefore Ivo writes disswading them from all thoughts of taking Arms which would be a means not of procuring his liberty but prolonging his Confinement that it would moreover offend the Divine Majesty that it was not fit for a Bishop to recover his Rights by violence that he was resolv'd rather to Dye than that any Man should lose his Life to rescue him that that would much sooner be obtain'd by their Prayers which was all he had to beg or expect from them These are the Contents of his XXth Letter In the XXIst he pays his thanks to Hoel Bishop of Mans for the Prayers he had put up to God for his deliverance He desires of him the Relicks of St. Julian's Body which had been lately translated to Mans. The XXIId to King Philip acknowledges that having been by that Prince advanc'd to a Bishoprick he owes to him under God the highest respect and observance but that having had the misfortune to fall under his displeasure for offering him as a true and faithful Servant necessary and wholsome advice he had been ill treated and the goods of his Bishoprick embezled by his Enemies that therefore he pray'd His Majesty to excuse his not coming to Court and to allow him some time to breath and to put his affairs into order again He hopes God will one day convince him by experience of the truth of that Maxim of Solomon's that the wounds and harsh usage of our friends who love us are to be prefer'd before the kisses of our enemies and flatterers He concludes with assuring the King that he is ready to answer his accusers when he may know what they have to object against him and that he will defend himself in the Church if his crimes fall under the Ecclesiastical Cognizance or before His Majesty's Council if he be charg'd with any against the State The XXIIId is to Guy Chief Master of the King's Houshold who had interceded with the King in favour of Ivo he returns him thanks for his good offices and assures him 't is impossible they should come to any good terms till the King have totally quitted Bertrade that he had seen a Letter of Pope Urban's to all the Prelates of the Kingdom Commanding them to Excommunicate him in case he continued to live with her and that this Letter had been long since publish'd if he had not conceal'd it out of the true love he bore His Majesty and his unwillingness that his own people should rise up against him The XXIVth is to Hugh Arch-Bishop of Lyons he acquaints him how great joy it was to him to hear that Pope Urban had appointed him Legate of France in which employment he had so well acquitted himself under Gregory the VIIth but that he was now not a little griev'd to understand he had by the advice of several of his friends refus'd to accept of that Office again by reason of the too great business which must lie upon him at the present juncture of affairs while the Church labour'd under such troubles as would not easily admit of being compos'd Ivo tells him he had been ill counsel'd and ought not to be sway'd by his friends perswasions that though in Italy a second Ahab was arisen and France had another Jezebel who endeavour'd to overthrow the Altars and kill the Prophets of the Lord yet he should remember the saying of Elijah that God had yet left him Seven Thousand Servants who had not bow'd their knees to Baal that though their Herodias should request the Head of John and Herod should grant her what she ask'd yet John should not be afraid to tell him 't is not lawful for thee to put away thy own Wife and to Marry another Man's Wife or Concubine These and the like instances are urged by Ivo to induce Hugh to take upon him the Legatine Authority which he hopes he will soon acquaint him he has yielded to and desires to know where he may meet him about the beginning of Lent His XXVth Letter is address'd to Pope Urban and lays before him an account of the troubles and difficulties he was daily oblig'd to encounter with which made him often resolve to quit his Bishoprick He then intreats the Pope not to hearken to what should be alledg'd in his own defence by one of the Clergy of Chartres who had been degraded for Simony Money-Coining and other irregularities The XXVIth is to Walter Abbot of St. Maur des Fossez who had thoughts of leaving his Monastery by reason of the great corruptions and
Eighty Sixth is written to St. Bernard by John Abbot of the House of St. Mary in the Country of Verulo to comfort him about the unsuccessful Expedition to the Holy-Land whereof St. Bernard had been the Promoter He imputes the Fault thereof to the wickedness of those that had the management of it The Three Hundred Eighty Seventh is written to Peter Abbot of Cluny to whom St. Bernard excuses himself about a sharp Letter written in his Name affirming that the Blame ought not to be cast on him but on the Authors of it to which Peter Abbot of Cluny Answers by the following Letter expressing a great deal of Value and Esteem for St. Bernard professing himself well satisfy'd with his Excuse and moreover mentioning a Legacy deposited in the Treasury of Cluny which was left to the Monasteries of Clairvaux and Cisteaux which he says he will not contend with him about nor concerning the Election of a Bishop of Grenoble which the Carthusians oppos'd St. Bernard gives a short Answer to this Letter by the Three Hundred Eighty Ninth The Three Hundred and Ninetieth written to Eskile Bishop of Londen in Denmark and Legate of the Holy See in Sweedland contains only matter of Compliment in which St. Bernard Assures him of his Affection and thanks him for that which he had profess'd for him The Three Hundred Ninety First is Address'd to the Abbess of Tavernay in the Diocess of Bezancon whom he Admonishes to endeavour to re-establish the Religious Houses and to reform the Monastick Discipline The Three Hundred Ninety Second contains Instructions concerning Humility given to Radulph Patriarch of Antioch The following Letter contains the like being Address'd to William Patriarch of Jerusalem In the Three Hundred Ninety Fourth he blames the Arch-Bishop of Lyons for having depos'd thâ— Abbot of Aisnay and admonishes him to revoke his Decree In the Three Hundred Ninety Fifth Address'd to Alvisus Bishop of Arras he acquaints him that Thomas a Monk of St. Berthin being enter'd into the Monastery of Clairvaux cannot reasonably be expected to return to Berthin In the Three Hundred Ninety Sixth written to Ricuin Bishop of Toul he excuses himself for having receiv'd into his Monastery a Clerk of his Church without knowing of him In the Three Hundred Ninety Seventh written to Odon Abbot of Marmoutier in the Name of Hugh Abbot of Pontigni and of St. Bernard they give him to understand that his Monks ought not to take it ill that they have lost some Churches which they pretended to by the Arbitration and final Determination of Geofrey Bishop of Chartres and Thibaud Count of Champagne therefore perswades them to acquiesce in that Judgment They further Observe in this Letter that Churches and Church-Revenues belong naturally to the Clerks who are Oblig'd to serve at the Altar and consequently ought to live by it When the Profession of Monks and the Examples of their Predecessors learn them that they are to get their living with the sweat of their Brows and not to subsist on the Profits of the Church Nay even tho' the Church should be neglected by the Clerks they are not to partake of the Revenues tho' they do of the Trouble For says he with what Face can you O Monks pretend to the Wine of the Vines which you have not planted and to the Milk of the flock which you have not govern'd How comes it that you would exact some thing from them for whom you never did any Service And if you will needs â—â—y claim to it why don't you Baptize their Children Bury their Dead Visit their Sick Give Benedictions in Marriage Instruct their Ignorant Reprimand Sinners Excommunicate such as despise Instruction and give Absolution to Penitents In a word why don't ye Open your Mouths and Preach you whose duty it is to live in Repose and silence But it is a most Odious thing to reap where you did not Sow and live upon the gains of another Lastly St. Bernard says that altho' they had the right they pretended yet ought they not to Dissent from their Abbot who had already Agreed to the Judgment of the Arbitrators In the Three Hundred Ninety Eighth he writes to Guy Abbot of Montier-Raâ—…ey and to the Monks of his Monastery who had desir'd St. Bernard to compose Lessons and Hymns for them to read on the Feast of St. Victor whose body they pretended was bury'd in their Church to which he Answer'd that he durst not undertake a work so much above his Capacity and which requir'd a Person of greater Authority of a Life more Holy and who was master of a better Stile He Adds moreover that in the Celebration of so solemn a Feast New Prayers of small Authority ought not to be made use of but rather Authentick and Ancient Compositions which may be proper to edify the Church and which Savour of Ecclesiastical Gravity That if there be a Necessity for something new and the subject so requires it such Pieces ought only to be us'd as command respect from the Grandeur of their Style and the Pious Life of their Author As for the rest says he the Expressions therein contain'd ought to be of Unquestion'd Veracity They ought to inspire Justice Teach Humility Inculcate Equity Enlighten the mind Model the Manners Extirpate Vice Instill Devotion and restrain the Liberties of the Senses The Singing ought to be Grave without intermixing any thing either Effeminate or Rustick It ought to be Agreeable without being too delicate and should Affect the Heart by surprizing the Ear. And in a word it should comfort sadness and Appease Discontent but not drown the Sound of the Words but rather encrease it for it is no small disadvantage to a spiritual Life when the Charms of Singing divert the Attention from Thoughts and fix them rather upon Modulating the Voice than comprehending the sence of the Words These are the Sentiments of St. Bernard concerning Prayers and Celebrating the Divine Office and altho' he had all the Qualifications which he requir'd in an Author of this kind yet would he not undertake what was requested of him and contents himself with sending only two Sermons on the Life of St. Victor to the Monks of Montier-Ramey The Three Hundred Ninety Ninth is a Letter of Recommendation which he gave to a Monk of the Monastery of St. Michel who was about to go in Pilgrimage to Jerusalem He endeavours to disswade him from this Design by reason that he thought a Monk however Criminal he were could not do Pennance better than within the Walls of his Monastery He desires Lelbert Abbot of this Monastery to receive him The Four Hundredth is another Letter of Recommendation granted to Robert a Monk of Liessiâ—â— that his Abbot might use him more kindly The Two Letters following contain nothing remarkable In the Four Hundred and Third Address'd to Henry Arch-Deacon of Orleans he Answers to a Question propos'd to him to wit If a Child who was in Danger of Death had been
has been quoted under the name of St. Bernard by Gerson and others but nevertheless several ancient Manuscripts assure us that it was written by William Abbot of St. Thierry since Monk of Signy as well as the Treatises of the Contemplation of God and that of the Nature and Dignity of Love both which go under St. Bernard's Name and come next after This William was native of Liege he came to Rheims with his Brother Simon they embraced a Monastick Life in the Monastery of St. Nicaise afterwards Simon was made Abbot of St. Nicolas in the Diocess of Laon and William succeeded Geofrey translated from the Abby of St. Thierry to that of St. Medard of Soissons in the Year 1120. He had a very particular Correspondence with St. Bernard and retir'd to the Monastery of Signy of the Order of Cisteaux in the Year 1135 where he dy'd about the Year 1150. His Works over and above the first Book being the Life of St. Bernard and the three Treatises just mentioned comprehend a Treatise call'd the Mirrour of Faith another intituled the Aenigma of Faith a Book of Meditation A Treatise of the Nature of the Body and the Soul Another against Abaelard a Book of the Works of William de Conches A Treatise upon the Sacrament of the Altar and lastly an Exposition of the Canticles All these Works are to be met with in the fourth Tome of the Bibliotheque of Cisteaux There is moreover mention made of a Collection of Proverbs and Sentences being only a Manuscript with some other Works which are lost The Abtidgment of the two first Chapters of the Canticles which immediately follows the preceeding Works is only an extract of remarkable things in the one and fifty first Sermons of St. Bernard upon the Canticles The Declamations and Discourses on the words of St. Peter with our Saviour Christ are the Work Geofrey Abbot of Igny Guigue Author of the Ladder of the Cloyster Works belonging to Anonymous Authors found among those of St. Bernard of Geofrey Abbot of Igny extracted out of the several Works of St. Bernard whose Disciple he was The Treatise of the Ladder of the Cloyster or the method of Praying which was found among the Works both of St. Austin and St. Bernard has been since restor'd to Guigue Prior of the Grand Charter-House upon the Credit of a Manuscript of the Charter-House of Colen having in the beginning of it a Letter of this Guigue address'd to Gervase and which serves for a Preface to the Book The pious Meditations concerning the knowledge of Human Nature found amongst the Works of Hugh of St. Victor belong neither to him nor St. Bernard but rather to some more Modern Author The Treatise of the Edification the Inner House or of Conscience found also among the Works of Hugh of St. Victor belongs to some Monk in all probability of the Order of Cisteaux who liv'd much about the same time with St. Bernard The same Judgment may be given concerning another Treatise of Conscience and of another Treatise of the model of Life and Manners which follows this The Treatise of Charity is composed of Matters drawn out of the Works of Richard of St. Victor Peter of Blois and of St. Bernard The Treatise Entituled the Mystical Vine upon the words of our Saviour Christ I am the true Vine though it does not belong to St. Bernard yet was written by some Author not long after him The Meditation on the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ which bears the name of St. Bernard in some Manuscript yet is not at all like his Stile no more than the Lamentation on the Passion of our Saviour and the Treatise on the three principal Mysteries of our Religion The Treatise of Virtues is not likewise of St. Bernard's Stile but rather belongs to some Benedictin Monk who writ it for Probationers on the three Virtues of Humility Obedience and Charity The Exposition on the Lord's Prayer belongs to the same Author These Treatises are follow'd by some Sermons of St. Aelreda of Nicholas Disciple and Secretary to St. Bernard who came from the Monastery of Montier-Ramey to Clairvaux and who left this in disgust to St. Bernard of Oger Abbot of Lucedio in the Diocess of Verceli who liv'd a little while after St. Bernard and of some other Sermons whose Authors are unknown but which are attributed to St. Bernard together with some other Opuscula of Piety of the same Nature without Authors Names among which there is a Treatise on these Words Why are you come Which is printed in the Bibliotheca Patrum under the Name of David of Ausbourg of the Order of Minorites with another Treatise on the manner of living well dedicated by an Anonymous Author to his Sister This Tome ends with some pieces of Prose likewise falsely attributed to St. Bernard The Works of Gueric Abbot of Igny Lives of St. Bernard Works of Geofrey Disciple to St. Bernard The Sixth Tome contains the Sermons of Gueric Abbot of Igny whom St. Bernard brought to Clairvaux in the Year 1131 from Tournay where he was a Canon and whom he had made Abbot of Igny about the Year 1138 after that Humbert had laid down Some Spiritual Letters of Guigue fifth Prior of the Grand Charter-House Author of the ancient Statutes of this Order And the Historians of the Life of St. Bernard whereof the first Book was composed as we have said before by William Abbot of St. Thierry The second by Arnaud Abbot of Bonneval and the three last by Geofrey Secretary and Disciple to St. Bernard who had before been a follower of Abaelard and who after having been Abbot of Igny succeeded in the Year 1162 in the Abby of Clairvaux at Fastrede and in the Year 1175 retir'd to Fossa Nova in Italy of which he was Abbot as also afterwards of Haute-Combe about the end of this Century He also writ a Commentary on the Canticles the Life of St. Peter of Tarantaise and divers other Treatises or Sermons which were never Printed Cardinal Baronius has given us a Letter of this Geofrey Address'd to Henry Cardinal-Bishop of Albani against Gilbert of La Porre which Father Mabillon has also placed at the end of this Volume together with a Sermon of the same Author for the Anniversary on the Death of St. Bernard and a Letter of the same to Josbert on the Lord's Prayer The five Books of the Life of St. Bernard are follow'd by two Others containing an Account of his The History of the Miracles of St. Bernard Miracles one whereof consists of divers Pieces that is of three Letters One of Philip a Monk of Clairvaux to Sampson Arch-Bishop of Rheims The Other writ by the Monks of this Monastety to the Clergy of Colen and the third by Geofrey Abbot of Igny to the Bishop of Constance The Second is drawn out of the Book entituled The Great Beginning of the Order of Cisteaux Beside these Authors Father Mabillon
to the Christians of the Holy-Land and renews to those that do so the Privileges and Immunities granted by Urban and Eugenius his Predecessors and puts their Estates Wives and Children under the protection of the Holy See The Sixtieth is directed to all the Bishops of Christendom on the same Subject to the end that they might publish the preceding Letter in their respective Diocesses and induce the Princes and People to so pious an Undertaking In the Three following Letters directed to certain Prelates of England he gives them an Account after what manner he concluded a Treaty of Peace with the Emperor at Venice These are the Letters of Pope Alexander III. that are contain'd in the first Collection to which three Additions have been since annex'd the first of those Additions comprehends Fifty six Letters publish'd by Father Sirmondus in the end of the Works of Peter Abbot of Celles In the first Eighteen which are almost all directed to Peter Abbot of St. Remy at Rheims he nominates him in a Commission with others to determine divers particular Affairs The Nineteenth directed to the Arch-bishop of Upsal in Sweden and his Suffragans contains several Constitutions against Simony and against the Privileges of Clergy-men taken out of the Councils and the Decretals of the Popes In the Twentieth he recommends to the Charity of the Northern Christians Fulcus Bishop of the Estons a People of Sweden In the Twenty first he exhorts the Northern Kings and Potentates to perform the Duties of Christian Princes to endeavour to procure the advancement of the Church by encountering its Enemies In the Twenty second directed to the Arch-bishop of Upsal and his Suffragans he specifies the Pennances that they ought to impose for the Crimes of Incest and Uncleanness and inveighs against two Abuses that prevail'd in their Country viz. the first That the Priests were wont to celebrate Mass with the Lees of Wine or with Crums of Bread steept in Wine and the second concerning clandestine Marriages that were contracted without the Benediction of the Priest The following relate to many particular Affairs of Churches or Monasteries which he himself decides or for the determination of which he grants a Commission to other Persons in the respective places In the second Addition are compris'd 109 Letters directed to Lewis VII King of France or to the Prelates of his Kingdom the greatest part of which relate to the Affairs of the Churches of France as also some to the Contest between Alexander and Victor and others are only recommendatory Letters or full of Compliments They are taken out of the Collection of the Historians of France by Du-Chesne The last Addition contains 22 Letters of which the six first are written on the Schism rais'd by Victor the two following treat of the Privileges of the Canons of Challon In the Ninth he acquaints Henry Arch-bishop of Rheims after what manner he was receiv'd in Rome The five following were written in favour of the Church of Vezelay In the Fifteenth he commends Hugh Bishop of Rhodez for establishing a general Peace in his Diocess The Seventeenth and Eighteenth are the Bulls for the Canonization of Edward King of England and St. Bernard The Twentieth Twenty firâ—… and Twenty second are Acts of Approbation of the Order of the Knights of St. James in Spain of that of the Monks of the Abbey of St. Saviour at Messina and of that of the Carthusians and of their Constitutions There are also in the Addition to the Tenth Tome of the Councils five other Letters attributed to Alexander III. of which the four first relate to the Immunities of the Schools and Chapter of Paris and the last to those of the Chapter of Anagnia Lucius III. having possess'd the See of Rome but a little while has left us only three Lucius III's Letters Letters By the First he takes off the Excommunication of William King of Scotland and the Suspension of his Kingdom denounced by the Arch-bishop of York in Pope Alexander's Life-time for opposing the Consecration of John elected Bishop of St. Andrew The Second Letter is directed to Henry II. King of England in which he exhorts that Prince to permit a Tax to be rais'd in his Kingdom for the Relief of the Holy-Land The Third is a Decree against the Hereticks of that time in which he pronounces a perpetual Anathema against the Cathari the Patarins those that style themselves the Humbled or the poor People of Lyons the Passagians the Josepins and the Arnoldists and prohibits all sorts of Persons to profess Divinity or to Preach publickly unless they have obtain'd a License from the Holy See or from the Diocesan Bishop He likewise condemns all those who presume to maintain any Doctrines or Practices different from those of the Church of Rome concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Baptism the Remission of Sins Marriage or the other Sacraments with their Abetters and Adherents He ordains That Clergy-men convicted of those Errors shall be depos'd and Laicks deliver'd up into the Hands of the Secular Judges to be punish'd unless they immediately abjure them without allowing any Pardon to Relapses He enjoyns the Arch-bishops and Bishops to make a Visitation every Year either Personally or by their Arch-deacons in order to discover such Miscreants He exhorts the Counts Barons Lords and Magistrates vigorously to aid and assist the Clergy-men in the Prosecution of those Hereticks under pain of Excommunication and Privation of their Dignities And in that Case he grants a peculiar Jurisdiâ—…n to the Arch-bishops and Bishops over such Persons as enjoy certain Immunities and are subject only to the Holy See provided they be obey'd as the Pope's Delegates notwithstanding all manner of Privileges Urban III. gave notice to all the Bishops of his Election by a circular Letter dated January Urban III's Letters 11. A. D. 1186. which is the first of his Letters The Second dedicated to William King of Scotland relates to the Contest between the Bishops of St. Andrew and Dunckell the Tryal of which was referr'd to the See of Rome in the time of his Predecessor but could not be deterâ—…d till the Popedom of Urban who entreats the King in this Letter to take the Bishop of Dunckell into his Protection and makes the same Request in the following to Jocelin Bishop of Glasco In the Fourth he writes to Baldwin Arch-bishop of Canterbury about the building of a new Church in Honour of St. Stephen and St. Thomas In the last he approves the Foundation of a House of Hospitallers at Bononia and ratifies their Constitutions and Privileges Gregory VIII was no sooner advanc'd to the Papal Dignity but he wrote a Circular Letter Gregory VIII's Letters to all the Faithful to exhort them to relieve the Holy Land He gives a lively description of the most deplorable Calamities that befel the Christians when the City of Jerusalem was taken by Saladin and earnestly presses the Faithful to undertake
arguere nec laudare praesumo The Ninety eighth and the Ninety ninth are written in the Name of Richard Arch-bishop of Canterbury viz. the former to his Suffragans about the necessity of relieving the Holy Land and the second to Pope Urban III. to congratulate his promotion to the Pontifical Dignity and to thank his Holiness for the Pall which he had sent to him In the Hundredth Letter he vindicates an Arch-bishop who was accus'd of being too meek and moderate The Hundred and first directed to Robert Arch-deacon of Nantes is a Judgment that he passes on the Disposition of two of his Nephews whom he had put under his Tuition The Hundred and second contains a long Complaint made by the Abbot of Redding who was desirous to renounce his Dignity with Peter of Blois's Answer in which he advises him not to do it The following Letters contain nothing of any great moment as to Ecclesiastical Discipline In the Hundred and twelfth sent to the Bishop of Orleans he maintains the Immunities of the Church and asserts that the King of France ought to exact no other Supplies of the Clergy than their Prayers to carry on the War that he was preparing to manage against the Saracens in the Holy Land In the Hundred and thirteenth he exhorts Geffrey Arch-bishop of York to oppose the new Hereticks who appear'd in his Diocess and to publish so strict an Ordinance against them that the others might be terrify'd with the Severity of their Punishment In the Hundred and fourteenth he congratulates John of Salisbury upon his Instalment in the Bishoprick of Chartres and commends the Relation that he wrote of the Life of Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury In the Hundred and fifteenth after having shewn in what degrees of Consanguinity Robert and Adelecia were related one to another he produces the several Impediments of their Marriage and comprehends them in six Verses The Hundred and sixteenth is written to Hugh Abbot of St. Denis to whom he sends one of his Books to be examin'd and comforts him for the Indignity that was put upon him by the King of France In the Hundred and seventeenth he reprehends Geffrey Abbot of Marmoutier by reason that he had caus'd an Action to be commenc'd against the Prior of St. Come for certain Lands which he claim'd as belonging to his Jurisdiction There is nothing remarkable in the following Letters to the 123d in which he refuses to accept of the Sacerdotal Dignity not through contempt but an extraordinary respect for that Function In the Hundred twenty fourth he comforts Gautier Arch-bishop of Roan banish'd from his Church and justifies his retreat In the Hundred twenty fifth he admonishes the same Prelate to avoid slothfulness during his Exile and to apply himself to the reading of the Holy Scriptures In the Hundred twenty sixth directed to the Abbot of Glocester he gives an Encomium of Odo Chanter of Bourges chosen Bishop of Paris to whom he writes the Hundred twenty seventh to renew their old Friendship and the Correspondence that formerly pass'd between them In the Hundred twenty eighth Peter of Blois complains to William Arch-bishop of Sens that he had not as yet perform'd the Promise that he made to entertain him in his House and to conferr a Benefice upon him In the Hundred twenty ninth he writes against the Arch-deacon of Orleans who had introduc'd Simoniacal Practices into his Church In the Hundred and thirtieth directed to John Bishop of Chartres he clears himself from the Charge brought against him that he made use of the Recommendation of the King of England of divers Lords and of the Pope to procure a Prebend in the Church of Chartres In the Hundred thirty first he reproves one of his Nephews the Prior of a Monastery by reason that neglecting the study of the Liberal Sciences and abandoning his Solitude he frequented publick Places and endeavour'd to curry favour with Noble-men The Hundred thirty second and the Hundred thirty fourth directed to Persons newly made Abbots contain very useful Instructions for the conduct of Superiours In the Hundred thirty third written to the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury he maintains that he is not oblig'd to reside in his Prebend in that City in regard of the smalness of the Revenue which was not sufficient for defraying the Charge of a Journey thither The Hundred thirty fifth is a Dispensation for Non-residence granted by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to a Canon of Salisbury The Hundred thirty sixth is a Letter from Henry II. King of England to Alexander III. in which he complains of the Rebellion of his Children and implores the assistance of that Pope In the Hundred thirty seventh he congratulates a Novice Monk and gives him wholsome Advice In the Hundred thirty eighth he expresses to Gautier Arch-bishop of Roan the Joy that he had upon his return from his Exile In the Hundred thirty ninth he entreats the Abbot and Monks of Cisteaux to put up their Prayers to God that he would vouchsafe to grant him his Grace to enable him worthily to perform the Functions of the Priesthood to which Dignity he was lately rais'd and explains the reasons why he deferr'd the receiving of that Order till that time In the Hundred and fortieth he exhorts Petrus Diaconus to quit the study of the Law and to apply himself altogether to that of the Holy Scriptures and of Divinity In this Letter he makes use of the Term of Transubstantiation in treating of the Eucharist Thus you see says he in one single Sacrament a deep Abyss impenetrable to Humane Reason I mean in the Bread and Wine transubstantiated by Vertue of the Heavenly Words into the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST the Accidents that were therein remaining without a Subject and although the Body of JESUS CHRIST be Flesh and not Spirit nevertheless it Nourishes the Soul rather than the Body The same Body is to be found in several Places and on divers Altars against the nature of Bodies without ceasing to be in Heaven For although by its Nature it can only be in one Place after a circumscriptible Manner yet it is in many Places by its omnipotent Vertue and Energy and after a spiritual Manner In the Hundred forty first he complains to Gautier Arch-bishop of Roan that a certain private Person had detain'd the Revenues of a Prebend that belong'd to him and entreats that Prelate to cause Restitution to be made In the Hundred forty second he comforts the Prior and Monks of Evesham who were in great Trouble and exhorts them to bear it with Patience The four following Letters relate to the Confinement of Richard I. King of England and were written to procure his Liberty In the Hundred forty seventh he reproves Robert Bishop of Bangor who determin'd to retain a certain Benefice which he had conferr'd on another Clerk In the Hundred forty eighth he exhorts Savaric Bishop of Bath to return to his Diocess and not to leave
Emperor Frederick Barberossa in Lombardy and Liguria which on that Account was called The Ligurine and was printed at Strasburg A. D. 1531. as also at Basil in 1569. at Francfurt in 1584. and among the German Historians He likewise wrote a Treatise of Prayer Fasting and Alms-giving printed at Basil in 1504. and 1507. The Lives of St. Cyricius and St. Julia in Verse are also attributed to the samâ— Author SAXO sir-nam'd the Grammarian by reason of the purity of his Style was a Dane by Nation of the Isle of Seeland He was Provost of the Church of Roschild and Chaplain to Absalom Saxo Grammaticus Provost of Roschild Archbishop of Lunden who sent him to Paris A. D. 1177. to conduct the Monks of St. Genevieve into Denmark He wrote the History of his native Country to the Year 1186. Erasmus extols the vivacity of his Conceptions the nobleness of his Expressions the fluency of his Rhetorick and the admirable variety of his Figures and wonders much by what means a Dane could arrive at such a height of Eloquence in that Age. He chiefly affected to imitate Valerius Maximus His History was published by Christian Petri Canon of Lunden and printed at Paris A. D. 1514. John Bebelius caus'd it to be printed at Basil in 1534. as also did Philip Leonicier and John Fichard at Francfurt in 1576. Lastly Johannes Stephanius set forth a more large and correct Edition of it with Prolegomena and Annotations at Sora in 1644. This Author died in 1204. RALPH DE DICETO an English Man by Nation and Dean of St. Paul's at London a Person Ralph de Diceto Dean of St. Paul ' s at London well known on account of his Learning and Travels into Foreign Countries wrote a compendious Chronicle from the Creation of the World to the Year 1198. The first Part of it ending at the time of Pope Gregory the Great was never published because it only contain'd trivial Matters He also compos'd certain Historical Tracts call'd Portraitures from A. D. 1148. to 1200. These Works are among those of the English Historians printed at London in 1652. Writers of Relations of the Lives and Miracles of Saints ANSCHERUS Abbot of St. Riquier compos'd in the Year 1110. a Relation of the Life and Anscherus Abbot of St. Riquier Theofredus Abbot of Epternach Rainaud of Semur Archbishop of Lyons Miracles of St. Angilbert Abbot of the same Monastery which was published by Father Mabillon in the first Tome of his Benedictin Centuries THEOFREDUS Abbot of Epternach in the Dutchy of Luxemburg wrote a large Account of the Life of St. Wilbrod the first Bishop of Utrecht Four Books of Epitaphs of Saints printed at Luxemburg A. D. 1619. and certain Sermons which are inserted in the Book call'd Bibliotheca Patrum RAINAUD or RAINOLDUS OF SEMUR the Son of Dalmace de Semur and Aremberge du Vergey of an illustrious Family in Burgundy being the Brother of Hugh Abbot of Cluny was chosen Abbot of Vezelay and assisted in that Quality in the Council of Troyes A. D. 1104. He was afterwards promoted to the Archbishoprick of Lyons and died in 1109. in the 85th Year of his Age leaving a Narration of the Life of Hugh his Brother Abbot of Cluny which is extant in the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis published by M. du Chesne NICOLAS a Monk of Soissons wrote in the Year 1120. the Life of St. Godfrey Bishop of Nicolas Monk of Soissons Domniso Priest Amiens dedicated to Rohard Bishop of Soissons and referr'd to by Surius in Novemb. 8. DOMNISO an Italian Priest liv'd in the end of the preceeding Century and in the beginning of the present under the Emperors Henry IV. and Henry V. He wrote in Heroick Verse the Life of the Princess Mathilda printed by Sebastian Tingnagelius at Ingolstadt A. D. 1612. with the Letters of Gebhard of Saltzburg Sigefred of Mentz and Stephen of Halberstadt relating to the contest between the Emperor and Pope Gregory as also the Treaty of Bertholdus of Constance about excommunicated Persons the Lives of St. Altman of Passaw Thiemo of Saltzburg and Anselm of Lucca written by nameless Authors and Hesso's Treatise concerning the Transactions between the Emperor Henry V. and Pope Calixtus II. in 1119. AELNOTH a Monk of St. Augustin at Canterbury flourished in the beginning of this Century Aelnoth Monk of Canterbury and spent a considerable part of his Life in Denmark where as 't is reported he resided 24 Years He wrote about A. D. 1120. an Historical Account of the Life and Passion of Canut King of that Country which was published by Arnold Whitfield A. D. 1602. and afterward printed with Meursius's Notes at Hanaw in 1631. GUALBERT a Monk of the Abbey of Marchiennes compos'd in the Year 1125. or 1126. Two Gualbert Monk of Marchiennes Pandulphus of Pisa. Fabricius Tuscus Abbot of Abbington Auctus Abbot of Vall'Ombrosa Odo Abbot of St. Remy at Rheims Geffrey the Gross Monk of Tiron Ulric Bishop of Constance Archard Monk of Clairvaux Books concerning the Miracles wrought by St. Rictruda PANDULPHUS OF PISA flourished A. D. 1130. and wrote the Life of Pope Gelasius II. who died at Cluny in 1119. It was printed at Rome in 1638. FABRICIUS TUSCUS Abbot of Abbington in England wrote a Relation of the Life and Actions of St. Adelm an Abbot in Scotland He flourished in the beginning of the present Century AUCTUS a Native of FLORENCE and Abbot of the Monastery of Valombra or Vall'Ombrosa in the Territories of that City who flourished in the beginning of the Century has left us the Life of St. John Gualbert and that of Bernard Hubert Cardinal with a Narrative of the Translation of the Head of St. James the Apostle ODO Abbot of St. Remy at Rheims sent a Letter to Count Thomas Lord of Coucy which is still extant and contains the Relation of a Miracle which he heard at Rome from the Mouth of a certain Archbishop of India concerning the Body of St. Thomas the Apostle which was interr'd in his Church This Letter was written about A. D. 1135. for the next Year Odo return'd from Rome to France and gave Lands to the House of Mont-Dieu belonging to the Carthusians GEFFREY THE GROSS a Monk of Tiron wrote in the Year 1135. the Life of St. Bernard Abbot of that Monastery referr'd to by the Bollandists in April 14. ULRIC a Monk of St. Blasius in the Black Forest who was afterwards promoted to the Bishoprick of Constance A. D. 1120. wrote the Life of St. Gebehard Bishop of Augsburg cited by Canisius and that of St. Conrad Bishop of the same City whose Canonization he had obtain'd of the Pope In the end of his Life he left his Bishoprick and return'd to the Monastery of St. Blasius in 1138. where he died in 1140. ARCHARD a Cistercian Monk and Tutor to the Novices in the Abbey of Clairvaux in St. Bernard's time compos'd a Relation of the Life of St. Geselin a Hermit which
Mount-Cassin 〈◊〉 Exposition of the Rule of St. Benedict 〈◊〉 or Notes on the Old Testament 〈◊〉 Hymns Letters c. RODULPHUS Abbot of St. Tron Genuine Works still in our Possession â—â—ronicle of the Abbey of St. Tron 〈◊〉 Life of St. Liâ—tbert Bishop of Cambray â—…ter to Libertus a Monk of St. Pvntaleon A Manuscript Work 〈◊〉 Treatise against Simony of which F. Mabillon â—…s publish'd the Arguments GILLEBERT or GILBERT Bishop of Limerick Genuine Works Two Letters FRANCO Abbot of Afflinghem Genuine Works XII Books of the Grace and Mercy of God A Letter against the Monks who leave their Monasteries A â—etter to certain Nuns Works lost Sermons on the Life c. of the Virgin Mary TURSTIN Archbishop of York Genuine Works A Letter to William Archbishop of Canterbury The Original of the Monastery of Rippon ULRICUS Bishop of Constance Genuine Works still extant The Lives of St. Gibhard and St. Conrad WILLIAM of Somerset a Monk of Malmesbury His Genuine Works The History of England The History of the Bishops of this Kingdom The Life of St. Adelmus INNOCENT II. Pope Genuine Works XLVIII Letters CELESTIN II. Pope Genuine Works Three Letters LUCIUS II Pope Genuine Works Ten Letters ECKARDUS Abbot of Urangen Genuine Works A Chronicle Letters and Sermons Works lost The Lanthorn of Monks HUGH a Monk of Finery Genuine Works still extant A Chronicle Two Books of the Royal Prerogative and the Sacerdotal Dignity ANSELM Abbot of Gemblours A Genuine Work A Continuation of Sigebert's Chronicle ORDERICUS VITALIS a Monk of St Evrone Genuine Works XIII Books of Ecclesiastical History ANSELM Bishop of Havelburg A Genuine Work A Conference between him and certain Grecians concerning the Controversies between the Greek and Latin Churches HERVAEUS a Monk of Bourg de Dol. A Genuine Work A Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul Works lost An Exposition of the Book of the Coelestial Hierachy of St. Dionysius the Areopagite Commentaries on the Books of Genesis Isaiah the Lamentations of Jeremiah the end of the Prophecy of Ezekiel Ecclesiastes Judges Ruth Tobit the XII lesser Prophets and the Epistles of St. Paul Divers Sermons A Treatise of the Lessons of the Divine Offices A Book of the Miracles of the Virgin Mary An Explication of the Treatise of the Lord's Supper attributed to St. Cyprian HUGH DE FOLIET a Monk of Corbie Genuine Works still extant Four Books of the Cloister of the Soul Four other Books of 〈…〉 The Book of Physâ—… Two Books of Birds A Treatise of the 〈…〉 or 〈…〉 Carnal and Spiritual 〈…〉 The Mirror of a Siâ—… 〈…〉 A Discourse of the 〈…〉 Four Books of the the Mystical Ark and that 〈◊〉 Noah STEPHEN Bishoâ—… Paris 〈…〉 Several Letters RAINERIUS 〈…〉 St. Lawrence at 〈…〉 A Genuine Work A Treatise of 〈…〉 of his â—…y and of Liege GUALBERT a Monk of Marchiennes Genuine Work Two Books of the Miracles of St. Rictruda PANDULPHUS of Pisa. A Genuine Work The Life of Pope Gelasius II. FABRICIUS TUSCUS Abbot of Abington A Genuine Work The Life of St. Adelmus AUCTUS Abbot of the Order of Valombre Genuine Works The Life of St. John Gualbert The Life of Bernard Hubert An Account of the Translation of the Head of St. James ALBERTUS or ALBRICUS a Canon of Aix A Genuine Work still extant The History of the Crusade to the Yâ—… 1120. FOUCHER a Monk of Chartres A Genuine Work The History of the Crusade to the Year 1124. GAUTIER LE CHANCELLER A Genuine Work The History of the Crusade from A. D. 1115. to A. D. 1119. ANNA COMNENA the Daughter of Alexis Comnenus A Genuine Work Alexius or the History of the Reign c. of Alexis Comnenus ISAAC an Armenian Bishop Genuine Works Two Treatises against the Armenians MICHAELâ—… of 〈…〉 A Genuine Work Aâ—… World to thâ—… Death of Aâ—… ODO Abbot 〈…〉 at 〈…〉 A Genuine Workâ—… Possession A Relation of a Miracle of 〈…〉 HUGH of 〈…〉 â—… Genuine Workâ—… Literal Noâ—… the Books 〈…〉 Judges and Kingâ—… and 〈…〉 of the 〈…〉 Explications of the Lamentations of 〈…〉 〈…〉 Notes on the 〈…〉 of the 〈…〉 rarchy The Soliloquy of the Soulâ—… The 〈…〉 A Discourse 〈…〉 Praying A Discourâ—… and the Spoâ—… Four Books of the 〈…〉 A Hundred Sermons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Treatise of the Power and Will of Godâ—… Tracts concerninâ—… tâ—… of 〈…〉 CHRIST Miscellanies of Theological Learning A Dialogue between Master and Sâ—… The summ of the Sentences A Treatise of the Sacraments PETRUS ABAELARDUS Genuine Works still extâ—… Letters to Heloissâ—… and others An Introduction to Theology His Apoâ—… Explicationâ—… on the Loâ—…'s 〈…〉 Creeds of the 〈…〉 A Reply to the 〈…〉 Heloissa A Treatise of Hâ—… A Commentary on the 〈◊〉 to the 〈…〉 Sermons Workâ—… Diaâ—… Notes on the Prophecy of 〈…〉 A Treatise of 〈…〉 thy Self A Book call'd Yea and Nay 〈…〉 These two lastâ—… A Treatise of the Work of Manuscripts in the the Creation 〈…〉 of Sâ—… 〈…〉 WASELINUS MOâ—… 〈…〉 â—… A Genuine Work A Letter to Gauselinus Abbot of St. Floâ—… AMEDEUS Bishop of Lausanna Genuine Works Eight Sermons in Commendation of the Virgin Mary S. BERNARD Abbot of Clairvaux Genuine Works still extant Four Hundred and Seventeen Letters Five Books of Consideration A Treatise of the Manners and Duties of Bishops A Treatise of Conversion A Treatise of Injunctions and Dispensations An Apology for William Abbot of St. Thierr A Commendation of the New Militia A Treatise of the Degrees of Humility and Fride A Treatise of the Love of God A Treatise of Grace and Free Will. A Letter to Hugh of St. Victor The Life of St. Malachy â—…ons proper for the Sundays and Festivalâ— of the whole Year and on other Subjects Sermons on the Book of Canticles The Arbitrator's Sentence between the Bishop and the Count of Auxerre The Draught of a Letter relating to the Crusade Spurious Works The 418th Letter and others following to the Number 423. A Pious Meditation on the Knowledge of Human Nature A Treatise of the Building of the inner-Inner-House A Treatise of Charity The Mystical Life â—…ditations on the Passion and Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST A Treatise of Virtues 〈◊〉 Exposition of the Lord's Prayer 〈◊〉 Sermons c. WILLIAM Abbot of St. Thierry or Theodoric Genuine Works still extant The first Book of the Life of St. Bernard A Letter to the Carthusians of Mont-Dieu A Treatise of the Contemplation of God A Treatise of the Dignity of Love The Mirror of Faith The Mystery of Faith The Book of Meditations A Treatise of the Nature of the Body and Soul A Treatise against Abaelardus A Book of the Works of William of Conches A Treatise of the Sacrament of the Altar An Exposition of the Book of Canticles ARNOLDUS Abbot of Bonneval Genuine Works A Treatise of the Words of JESUS CHRIST on the Cross. A Treatise of the Cardinal Works of J. C A Treatise of the Six Days Work A Discourse of the Commendation of the Virgin Mary Meditations The Second Book of the Life of
James at Liege's Life of St. Modoaldus Anscherus's History of the Life and Miracles of St. Angilbert Theofroy or Theofredus's Life of St. Wilbrod Hariulphus's Life of St. Arnulphus with a Relation of the Miracles of St. Riquier and the Life of St. Maldegisilus Bruno of Segni's Lives of Pope Leo IX and of St. Peter of Anagnia Guibert Abbot of Nogent's Life written by himself His Encomium on the Virgin Mary Nicolas a Monk of Soissons's Life of St. Godfrey Aelnothus's History of the Life and Passion of Canutus King of Dnmark Thomas a Monk of Ely's Account of the Life and Translation of St. Etheldrith Guigue's Life of St. Hugh Bishop of Grenoble Geffrey Sirnam'd the Gross's Life of St. Bernard Abbot of Tiron Rodulphus Abbot of St. Trudo's Life of St. Lietbert Ulric Bishop of Constance's Lives of St. Gebehard and St. Conrad Baudry Bishop of Dol's Life of St. Hugh Arch-bishop of Roan and of some others Gualbert a Monk of Machiennes's Two Books of the Miracles of St. Rictrude Pandulphus of Pisa's Life of Pope Gelasius II. Fabricius Tuscus's Life of St. Adelm William of Malmsbury's Life of the same Saint Auctus's Lives of St. Gualbert and Bernard Hubert with the History of the Translation of St. James's Head Odo Abbot of St. Remigius at Rheims's Relation of Miracle wrought by St. Thomas St. Bernard's Life of St. Malachy The Life of St. Bernard written by William Abbot of St. Thierry by Arnold Abbot of Bonneval by Geffrey Abbot of Clairvaux and by Alanus Bishop of Auxerre with other Relations of his Life and Miracles William Abbot of St. Thierry 's History of the Actions of William of Conches Peter the Venerable's Two Books of Miracles Suger Abbot of St. Denis's Life of Lewes the Gross King of France Herman Abbot of St. Martin at Tournay's Three Books of the Miracles of St. Mary at Laon. The Life of St. Otho the Apostle of Pomerania by divers Authors Archard's Life of St. Geselin Hugh Cardinal Bishop of Ostia's Letter about the Death of Pope Eugenius III. Robert Arch-Deacon of Ostrevant's Life of St. Aâ—bert The Life of St. Ludger by a Nameless Anthor Thibaud or Theobald a Monk of St. Peter at Beze's Relation of the Acts and Miracles of St Prudentius Gautier or Gauterius a Canon of Terouanes's History of the Life and Martyrdom of Charles Sirnam'd the Good St. Aelred's Life of St. Edward The Life of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury by divers Authors with the Letters of the same Prelate Ecbert and Theodoric's Relations of the Life of St. Elizabeth Abbess of Schonaw Hugh a Monk of St. Saviour's Life of Pontius Larazius Philip of Harveng's Lives of divers Saints Nicolas a Canon of Liege's Life of St. Lambert Sibrand's Life of St. Frederick Bertrand's History of the Miracles of Robert Abbot of La Chaise-Dieu Radulphus Tortarius's Book of the Miracles of St. Benedict Gonthier or Gontherius's Life of St. Cyricius and St. Julitia Works of Morality and Piety Philip Sirnam'd the Solitary's Dioptron or the Rule of a Christian Life Bruno of Segni's Moral Discourses attributed to St. Bruno Guibert Abbot of Nogent's Treatise of Virginity Geffrey Abbot of Vendôme's Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth and Fifteenth Tracts Honorius of Autun's Treatise of the Philosophy of the World St. Norbert's Discourse Guigue's Meditations with a Treatise of the Comtemplative Life or the Ladder of the Cloister Franco Abbot of Afflighem's Treatise of the Mercy of God and his Letter to certain Nuns Eckard Abbot of Urangen's Letters and Discourses Hugh a Monk of Fleury's Two Books of the Royal Power and the Sacerdotal Dignity Hugh de Foliet a Monk of Corbie's Works Hugh of St. Victor's Soliloquy of the Soul His Encomium of Charity His Discourse on the manner of Praying His Discourse of the Love of the Bride-Groom and the Spouse His Four Books of the Vanity of the World St. Bernard's several Letters His Treatise of Consideration His Tract of the Manners and Functions of Bishops His Treatise of Conversion His Treatise of Injunctions and Dispensations The Commendation of the New Militia His Treatise of the Degrees of Humility His Treatise of the Love of God William Abbot of St. Thierry 's Letter to the Carthusian Monks of Mont-Dieu His Treatise of the Contemplation of God His Tract of the Dignity of Love His Mirrour of Faith His Mystery of Faith His Meditations Arnold Abbot of Bonneval's Treatise of the Words of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. His Treatise of the Principal Works of Jesus Christ. His Treatise of the Six Days Work His Meditations Peter the Venerable Abbot of Clunys's Letters Antonius Melissus a Greek Monk's Collection of the Maxims of the Fathers Potho a Monk of Prom's Five Books of the House of God and a Treatise of Wisdom Sérlo's Treatise of the Lord's Prayer Nicolas a Monk of Clairvaux's Letters Henry of Huntington's Treatise of the Contempt of the World St. Elizabeth Abbess of Schenaw's Visions and Letters St. Aelred's Mirrour of Charity His Treatise of Spiritual Amity Gilbert of Hoiland's Ascetick Treatises and Letters Richard of St. Victor's Treatises of Piety St. Hildegarda's Letters Visions and Answers to certain Questions Philip of Harveng's Moral Discourses on the Book of Canticles His Letters His Treatises on the Vertues and Endowments of Clergy-Men Adamus Scotus's Treatises about Moses's Triple Tabernacle and the Three kinds of Contemplation John of Salisbury's Polycraticon with a Letter by the same Author Peter of Celles's Letters and other Works Geffrey Abbot of Clairvaux's Letters Baldwin Archbishop Canterbury's Sixteen Treatises of Piety and a Tract of the Recommendation of Faith Isaac Abbot of L'Etoile's Treatise of the Mind and the Soul Henry Abbot of Clairvaux's Treatise of the City of God in Exile Peter Abbot of Clairvaux's Letters Garnier of St. Victor's Treatise call'd The Gregorian John a Carthusian Monk of Portes's Letters Stephen de Chaulmet a Carthusian Frier of the same Monastery's Letters Gonthier or Gontherius's Treatise of Fasting and Alms-giving Sermons Guibert Abbot of Nogent's Treatise of Preaching Odo Bishop of Cambray's Discourse concerning the the Sin against the Holy Ghost and the Parable of the Unjust Steward Radulphus Ardens's Sermons Bruno of Segni's CXLV Sermons Guibert Abbot of Nogent's Sermon on the last Verse of the 7th Chapter of the Book of Wisdom Geffrey Abbot of Vendôme's Eleven Sermons Hildebert Bishop of Mans's Two Sermons with his Synodical Discourse Drogo Cardinal Bishop of Ostia's Discourse Hugh of St. Victor's Hundred Sermons Petrus Abaelardus's Sermons Amedeus of Lausanna's Eight Sermons in Commendation of the Virgin Mary St. Bernard's Sermons on the Sundays Festivals and other days of the Year and on divers other Subjects Arnold Abbot of Bonneval's Discourse in Commendation of the Virgin Mary Petrus Sirnam'd the Venerable his Sermon on our Saviour's Tranfiguration Guerric Abbot of Igny's Sermons Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople's Sermons St. Aelred's Sermons Adamuus Scotus's XLVII Sermons Ecbert's Two Sermons Arnulphus Bishop of Lisieux's Sermons on the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary Peter
Bishops of Spire Strasburg and Wormes to command a German Lord to set the Archbishop of Salerno whom he kept Prisoner at liberty and if he would not to suspend the Diocess wherein he was detained In the five and twentieth he orders the Bishop of Sutri and the Abbot of St. Anastasius to absolve Philip Duke of Suabia provided he set the Archbishop of Salerno at liberty In the twenty sixth which is superscribed to the same Persons he orders them to charge the German Princes to set all the Sicilians at liberty that they had prisoners and upon their refusal to excommunicate them and interdict their Estates In the seven and twentieth he recommends the assistance of his Legates which he had sent into the Exarchate to the Archbishop of Ravenna and his Suffragans In the twenty eighth he desires the Archbishop of Sens and the Bishop of Meaux to comfort the Countess of Champagne about the death of her Son and to make use of Ecclesiastical Censures for the prevention of any ones doing her any injury The twenty ninth is to the Bishop of Ferentino and contains a decision of the following Case A Man had promised another by Oath to marry his Daughter and there was nothing to hinder the performance of it but the Daughter's unwillingness to comply Two or three years after another man espoused her per verba de praesenti The Pope's Judgment is That the second Contract ought to stand if it were certainly made per verba de praesenti but if it was enter'd into like the other per verba de futuro then the former should take place The thirtieth he writes to the Chapter of Strasburg to certify them that for the preservation of the peace of their Chapter the Provost of St. Thomas in consequence of the Grant that he had made him of it by his Legate the Cardinal of St. Cecilia had given up into his hands the right that he claimed to one of their Prebends and had thereby put an end to the Suit that was between them and that Provost In the one and thirtieth written to the Archbishop of Tarragon and the Sacrist of Wie he entrusts them with the Judgment of a Difference about the Election of an Abbot of St. Bennet of Bage The thirty second is an Act by which he confirms the Settlement that the Archbishop of Colocza had made of some Churches upon the Provost of that Church The thirty third is addressed to two Canons of Pisa ordering them to take care that a certain Man's Goods which he had mortgaged for a sum of Mony should be restored him he paying the Principal of that Sum for which his Estate was mortgaged In the thirty fourth he warns the Sovereign Magistrate and the Counsellors of Viterbo not to go on in that Treaty which they and those of Pisa had began to make with the Governors of Tuscany without the Consent of the Holy See He gives order in the following Letter to his Legates to interdict the Pisans if they did not obey this Command In the six and thirtieth he gives judgment that a Priest who at the point of death has received a Monachal Habit from the hands of a simple Monk and has thereupon been carried into a Monastry but afterwards upon his recovery has quitted the Habit and left the Monastry with the leave of the Abbot is not afterwards thereby obliged to lead a Monastical Life The seven and thirtieth is the decision of a Suit that was between the Archbishop of Milan and the Monastry of St. Donatus of Scozula In the thirty eighth he confirms the Excommunication of Marcovald by his Legates for having seized upon the goods of the Church and forbids all his Subjects to obey him freeing them all from any Oath of Allegiance that they might have taken to him The thirty ninth is a Decree ordering the Bishop of Lodi to settle a Clerk named James in the Prebend of the Church of Novara which had been given him by his Predecessor except it could be proved that the two Persons who were in possession of the vacant Prebends were chosen before his Predecessor forbad the choosing any other but James The next Letter is but the same over again in respect of the other that had been chosen by the Holy See for the other Prebend By the forty first and forty second he puts a Monastry that depended before immediately upon the Holy See under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Luni In the forty third he gives order to the Archbishop of Gnesn and his Suffragans to make use of their Ecclesiastical Censures upon the Princes of Poland that troubled the Duke of that Country In the forty fourth he gives the Bishop of Worms notice to take care of the celebration of the Feast of St. Paul's Conversion in his Diocess The forty fifth is the confirmation of a Privilege granted by the Bishop of Chartres to the Curates of the Deanery of Espâ—rnon and to the other Archdeaconries and Deaneries in his Diocess In the six and fortieth addressed to the Archpriest and Canons of Perusa he confirms the Rules they had made for the government of their Church which were that there should be eight regular Canons and professed Monks in their Chapter two other Clerks Subdeacons or Acolites that among the Canons there should be three Offices an Archpriest an Ordinary and a Chamberlain that the Archpriest should be the chief and should have the care of the Society that the Ordinary should be entrusted with the care of the Cloister of the Divine Office and of the Reading and should be President in the absence of the Archpriest and that it should be the Chamberlain's business to take care of the temporal Affairs for the Election of an Archpriest three persons should be chosen out of their Canons who should take the Votes of all the others that the Ordinary and the Chamberlain should be appointed by the Archpriest but with the consent of the Society and many other Rules doth this Letter contain for the Settlement of this House The forty seventh is a Letter written to the Pope by the Consuls and Inhabitants of the Castle of Monâ—â—-Bello whereby they give themselves up to the Church of Rome In the forty eighth to the Bishop of Marsi he decides the following Case A Man married a Woman with whom he had before been carnally acquainted and after that married another of whom he had had Children the first Woman demands either that he may live with her or else she may have leave to marry another The Pope's Answer is that if this Man married the former per verba de praesenti he then ought to return her but if per verba de futuro they must then both have a Penance enjoined them and the Woman be at liberty to marry whom she would In the forty ninth to the Abbot and Religious of the Monastery of St. Prosper of Riom he declares null the Alienation of the Possessions of this
Gand speaks of this Author HUGH a Regular Canon of the Order of Premontre in the Abby of Floreff in the Diocess Hugh of Namur wrote about the year 1230 by order of his Abbot the Life of St. Ivetta a Widow and Recluse of Huy that died in 1227 published by Bollandus in the 13th of January and those of St. Ida of Nivelle and of St. Ida of Leurve two Nuns of a Monastry of the Order of Citeaux in Brabant CONRADE of Marpurg a Religious a German of the Order of Preaching Friars Conrade wrote about the year 1230 a History of the Life and Miracles of St. Elizabeth Princess of Thuringen whose Confessor he had been dedicated to Pope Gregory IX published by Allatius in his Collection of Pieces printed at Cologn in 1653. PHILIP of Greve Professor and Chancellor of the University of Paris flourished about the Philip. year 1230. He composed 300 Sermons upon the Psalms of David which were printed at Paris in 1523 and at Bresse in 1600. They were mightily lookt upon in their time and the Preachers made a common use of them to that degree that there was a Sum made out of them which is in Manuscript in Monsieur Colbert's Library In the Libraries of England are likewise to be seen two Commentaries of this Author one upon Job and the other upon the Gospels THOMAS de CELANO of the Order of Minor Friars composed about the year 1235 Thomas a Book of the Life and Miracles of St. Francis approved by Gregory IX We have already spoken in the foregoing Century of JAMES of Vitry and his History of James the East and West all that we are to observe now is that besides this Work and the two Letters there mentioned he composed Sermons upon all the Epistles and Gospels of the year upon the Feasts and upon the different Estates of Men part of which were printed at Antwerp in 1575 and that he likewise wrote the Life of St. Mary of Oignies related by Surius in the 23d of June LUKE Deacon of the Church of Tuy in Spain after having travelled into Italy Grece and Luke Palestine and gained the Friendship of Cardinal Hugolin afterwards Pope under the name of Gregory IX was at last made Bishop of that Church He composed three Books of Controversies against the Albigenses printed at Ingolstadt in 1612 and in the last Bibliotheca Patrum and a History of Spain from the beginning of the World to the year 1274 of the Spanish Aera that is according to our account 1236 into which he inserts the Chronicle of St. Isidorus which he continues down to his time and makes divers Additions to and Alterations in Lastly he is the Author of St. Isidore's Life related in Bollandus in the 4th of April and in the second Benedictine Age of Father Matillon He was no more than Deacon when he wrote his Chronicle which plainly shows he was not made Bishop till after 1236 but how long he remained so or when he died we cannot tell We shall have occasion to speak of this Author's Works against the Albigenses when we treat of those Hereticks GODFREY Monk of St. Pantaleon of Cologn composed an Historical Chronicle from the Godfrey year 1162 to the year 1237 which is in the Collection of the German Writers by Freherus EDMOND RICH born at Abington in England after having gone through his Studies St. Edmond at Oxford gave himself wholly to Divinity and Preaching and taught Philosophy with applause in the University of Oxford He was then made Canon of Salisbury and lastly Archbishop of Canterbury in 1234 by the recommendation of Gregory IX When he came to his Dignity he thought it was his Duty vigorously to check the Irregularities of the Courtiers which procured him the hatred of them and of King Henry the third to that degree that he was fain to get himself to Rome for security from them He did not there meet with all the satisfaction he could desire and so returning into his own Country he went into a voluntary Exile some while after and in 1240 retired to the Monastry of Pontigny in France and two years after into the House of Regular Canons at Soisy where he died on the 16th of November 1246. He was canonized the next year by Innocent IV. He wrote a Treatise of Piety intituled The Mirror of the Church printed in the Bibliotheca Patrum He treats therein of a spiritual Life and of the Perfection of a Christian of the Articles of the Creed of the seven Sacraments of the seven mortal Sins of the seven Beatitudes of the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit of the four Cardinal Virtues of the seven Works of Mercy of the seven Petitions in the Lord's Prayer of the Mysteries of our Lord of the Godhead and of the Trinity of the different degrees of Contemplation of the Love of our Neighbour and of Humility He speaks of all these things without entring upon any Controversy in a very edifying way and proper to instruct ordinary Believers Linwood has given us twelve Ecclesiastical Constitutions of this Arch-bishop ROBERT GROSTESTE or GROSTEAD born at Stratbrook in the County of Robert Grostead Suffolk after having studied at Oxford and Paris was made Archdeacon of Leicester and in the year 1235 succeeded Hugh of Velles in his Bishoprick of Lincoln He stoutly opposed the Designs of the Court of Rome and of the Monks about the Jurisdiction of Ordinaries and had a considerable Dispute with Innocent the Fourth about a Mandate which that Pope had granted to a young Italian named Frederick of Lavania his Nephew who was under age for the first Canon's place that should be vacant in the Church of Lincoln This Mandate was directed to the Archdeacon of Canterbury and to Innocent the Pope's Secretary in England who sent to Lincoln and gave notice of it to Robert who by a Letter answered them that he would with all submission and respect obey the Orders of the Holy See but that he would oppose whatsoever was contrary to Orders that were truly Apostolick and that no one could account those Apostolick Orders which were contrary to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and his Apostles as the things contained in the Letter to him manifestly were First Because the Clause non obstante which was in this Letter and many others of the like nature was an Inundation of Uncertainty Boldness and Temerity and an Inlet to Falshood and Deceit Secondly That there was no greater crime in the World setting aside that of Lucifer and Antichrist nor any thing Robert Grostead more contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel and of the Apostles nothing more displeasing to Christ Jesus more detestable and abominable than destroying Souls by robbing them of the care of their Pastors which is done when such People receive the Incomes appointed for the subsistence and maintenance of Pastors as are not capable of executing their Offices that it was impossible
in 1482. See the Judgment that Gerson gives of this Author and his Works in his Treatise about the Books which Monks ought to read In my opinion says he one of the best Authors that a Man can read is Eustachius for so one may translate his name of Bonaventure he is the Man of all the Catholick Doctors not to derogate from the rest that seems to me the most proper and safe for the enlightning of the Judgment and inflaming the Heart To be convinced of this one need not read any more than two of his Works I mean his Breviloquy and his Itinerary which are written with so much art and brevity that nothing can be beyond them and though they are more difficult and scarce than his other Works yet all Christians ought to search and examine them Mystical Theology being proper for the Faithful In another place in his Book of the examination of Doctrines he says That if any one should ask him which of the Doctors he thought most proper for the instruction of the Faithful his Answer should be without detracting from the rest St. Bonaventure because he is solid safe pious just and devout and keeps as far as he can from Niceties not meddling with Logical or Physical Questions which are alien to the matter in hand disguised under Theological Expressions as too many do and because by clearing the Understanding he sets off Religion and Piety in their true Colours which is the reason adds he that the indevout Schoolmen which the more is the Pity make the greater number cast him by though there is nothing more noble more divine more conducive to Salvation and fitter for Divines than the Doctrine of this Author Trithemius makes almost the same Judgment of him in these words St. Bonaventure wrote many very deep and devout Works all his Expressions are full of heat and inflame the Hearts of those that read him as well as inlighten their Minds by a holy Light for his Works surpass all those of the Doctors of his time in their usefulness the Spirit of the Love of God and of Christian Devotion shining through them He is deep without Prolixity subtile without Nicety eloquent without Vanity his words are full of spirit yet not bombastick which is the reason that such as are touched with the Love of God read him with the more safety understand him with the greater ease and remember him with the greater profit Many Authors teach Doctrine and others preach Devotion but there are very few to be met with who have joined these two things together in their Writings But in St. Bonaventure they are united for his Devotion instructs in Doctrine and his Doctrine inspires with Devotion So that whoever desires both Knowledg and Devotion cannot do better than apply himself to the reading of his Works Much of the same opinion is St. Antoninus who remarks That such as desire Divine Knowledg more than Aristotelical Vanity find his Works easy to be understood Indeed the greatest part of St. Bonaventure's Works are mystical and spiritual they make eight Volumes printed at Rome in 1588. The first contains Commentaries upon some Books of the Old Testament viz. A sort of Preface intituled Principles of the Holy Scripture Thirty three Sermons upon the Six days Work or the Creation of the World Explications or Postilles upon the Psalms upon Ecclesiastes upon the Book of Wisdom and upon the Lamentations of Jeremy The second Volume contains Commentaries upon the Gospels of St. Mathew St. Luke and St. John with Conferences upon the last of them The third is Sermons of time and of the Saints The fourth and fifth are Commentaries upon the four Books of the Master of the Sentences The sixth Tome contains the first and second parts of his Opuscula the Titles of which are Of the reducing of Arts to Divinity The Breviloquy The Centiloquy The Quiver An Explanation of the Terms of Theology An Abridgment of the Books of the Sentences Four Books of Sentences in Verse Of the four Cardinal Virtues Of the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit Of the three Ternaries of Sins Of the Resurrection from Sin to Grace The Diet of Salvation Of the Hierarchy of the Church Those of the second Part are the Soliloquâ— Meditations upon the Life of Jesus Christ Of the seven Degrees of Contemplation Of the five Feasts of the Child Jesus The Office of the Passion The Elogy of the Cross The Wood of Life The Mirror of the Praises of the Virgin The Crown of the Virgin The Compassion of the Virgin The Nightingale of the Passion of our Lord fitted to the seven hours On the seven Words of our Saviour on the Cross The Great Psalter of the Virgin The Little Psalter on the Salutation of the Angel and the Salve Regina The seventh Tome contains the third Part of his Moral Opuscula which are Of the ordering of a Christian Life Of the Government of the Soul The Mirror of the Soul Of the ten Commandments Of the degrees of Virtues The Itinerary of the Spirit of God Of the seven Paths of Eternity The Spur of Divine Love The Fire of Love The Art of loving The Book of Spiritual Exercises The Fasâ—iculary The five and twenty Memorials The Confessional Of the manner of confessing Of Purity of Conscience Of the Priests Preparation for the Mass An Explication of the Mass Of the six Wings of the Cherubims and the six Wings of the Seraphims The eighth Volume contains the Opuscula which concern the Religious the Catalogue of which I shall set down A Treatise of the threefold Estate of Religiouses The Mirror of Discipline for Novices which some call in question The twenty steps of Novices Of Advancement in Religion Of the Contempt of the World Of the Reformation of the Spirit The little Alphabet of a good Monk which is Thomas a Kempis's Of the Perfection of a Religious Life An Explanation of the Rule of the Minor Friars Questions about this Rule Why the Minor Friars preach Of the Poverty of Jesus Christ That Jesus Christ and his Apostles went barefoot An Apology for Evangelical Poverty A Treatise against the Reviler of the Order of St. Francis An Apologetick against the Adversaries of the Order of Minor Friars A Treatise intituled De non frequentandis quaestionibus Conferences to the Brothers of Tholouse which are not St. Bonaventures A Treatise of the Reform of the Minor Friars address'd to the Provincials of the Order In this Tome there is an Appendix containing An Abridgment of Theology Treatises upon the Essence Invisibility and Immensity of God and a Work of Mystical Divinity The Life of St. Francis related by Surius in October 4. is likewise ascribed to St. Bonaventure St. THOMAS of Aquino Sirnamed the Angelical Doctor of the House of the Earls of Thomas Aquinas Aquino descended from the Kings of Sicily and Arragon was born in 1224 in the Castle of Aquino which is in the Country of Lavoro in Italy
of Calahorra Flourish'd about the year 1470. He wrote the History of Spain divided into Four Books from the beginning of that Nation to the year 1469. which is Printed at Frankfort in 1603. and in Spanish Illustrated and also a Work divided into two Books Entituled The Mirror of Human Life Printed at Rome in 1468. at Paris in 1475. and at Besanzon in 1488. In the First Book of this Work he Treats of all the Conditions of the People of the World and in the Second of the Spiritual State of Life both Ecclesiastical and Regular it is Dedicated to Paul II. and is rather a Moral than Spiritual Treatise Thomasinus informs us that there are at Padua Three Manuscript Treatises of this Author one an Appeal from the decision of the Pope another of General Councils and a third of the Remedies of the Church Militant afflicted by the Turks Henry Harphius or of Herp a Fleming of the Order of Friars Minors of the Observance Henry Harphius a Friar Minor died in the year 1478. He excell'd in Mystical Divinity and wrote three Books about it whereof the 1st is Entituled Epithalamium or the Bridal Song the 2d a Golden Directory of the Contemplative the 3d. Eden or the Terrestrial Paradise of the Contemplative Printed at Collen in 1538. and 1555. and Corrected by Order of the Holy-See at Rome in 1585. at Brescia in 1601. and at Collen in 1611. He wrote also some other Treatises of the same Nature viz. The Golden Mirror upon the Precepts of the Decalogue Printed at Nuremberg in 1481 at Basil in 1496. and at Strasburg in 1520. The Mirror of Perfection Printed at Venice in 1524. Three Conferences of the Perfection of Life or an Abridgment of the Directory Printed at Collen in 1536. Some Sermons Printed at Haguenaw in 1509. with a Discourse of the three parts of Repentance and another about the three-fold Advent of Jesus Christ. He wrote all these Books in Dutch but they have been since translated into Latin Gabriel Barlet a Native of Apulia of the Order of Friars Predicant liv'd until the year 1480. Gabriel Barlet a Domini can Two Tomes of Sermons are attributed to him which are full of Impertinencies and Ridiculous things unworthy of the gravity wherewith the Word of God should be preached There is an Old Edition of them in the year 1470. and two others Printed at Venice in 1571. and 1585. Some pretend that 't is the Work of one who had a mind to Ridicule the Sermons of Barlet and that he is not at all the Author of them Leander Albertus says that he knew in his Youth the Man that forg'd this Work In the mean time the Writers of the Sixteenth Century attribute it to him as his genuine Work And Altamura Library-Keeper to the Dominicans owns them and endeavours to defend them Bartholomew or according to others Baptista Platina Born at Piadena or Platina near Cremona Bartholomew or Baptista Platina Library Keeper of the Vatican of inconsiderable Parents after he had for some time follow'd the profession of a Souldier applied himself to the Study of Learning wherein he made a considerable Progress He went to Rome under the Pontificate of Callistus III. and was their entertain'd by the Cardinal Bessarion who took him into his House Pius II. made him Apostolical Abbreviator and gave him two Benefices But Paul II. having abolish'd all the Abbreviators without paying them the Rents that belong'd to their Offices he as well as the rest was robb'd of all and by his Remonstrances against this Injustice drew upon himself the indignation of the Pope and having the boldness to write to him a Letter wherein he complains of this Treatment and threatens to have recourse to Christian Princes and desire of them a Council the Holy Father clapt him up in Prison and put Irons upon his Feet from which he was set at liberty for this time after he had stay'd there four Months But three years after the same Pope suspecting he had Conspir'd against his Person caus'd him to be put in Prison again and Tortur'd and when he could not by this means extort a Confession from him of the pretended Crime he accus'd him of Heresie and of having some bad Opinions about the Immortality of the Soul Nevertheless upon the request of the Cardinals Bessarion and Gonzaga he granted him at last his Liberty but he was not Restor'd 'till the Pontificate of Sixtus IV. who made him Library-Keeper of the Vatican and gave him a House in the Quirinal where he died in the year 1481. Aged Sixty Years He wrote the Lives of the Popes from our Lord until the Pontificate of Sixtus IV. with freedom enough and in a tolerable Stile but not with all the exactness and discretion that were to be be wish'd They were Printed at Venice in 1479. at Nuremberg in 1481. and at Lyons in 1512. together with the Continuation of Onuphrius at Louvain in 1572. and at Collen in 1600 and 1610. Besides this he wrote many Works of Morality as three Dialogues of that which is truly and falsely good another against Amours a Dialogue of true Nobility two Dialogues of a good Citizen a Panegyrick upon Cardinal Bessarion a Discourse to Paul II. upon the Peace of Italy and the Declaration of War against the Turks All these Works of Platina were Printed at Collen in 1529 and 1574. and at Louvain in 1572. There is a Book of his about the Means of preserving Health the Nature of things and the Art of Cookery Dedicated to the Cardinal of Rovera Printed at Bologne in 1498. and at Lyons in 1541. upon which Sannazar made this Excellent Epigram Ingenia mores vitasque obitusque notasse Pontificum argutae lex fuit Historiae Tu tamen hic lautae tractas Pulmenta Culinae Hoc Platina est ipsos pascere Pontifices There was under the Reign of Louis XI a Divine nam'd Martin the Master a Native of Martinus Magister Confessor to the King Tours Doctor in Divinity of the Faculty of Paris of the House of Navar and Principal of the College of St. Barbara who tho' he was of a very mean Extraction as being the Son of a Butcher yet attain'd the High Offices of Almoner and Confessor to the King He was famous for the Treatises of Philosophy and Morality which he taught There is a Treatise of his about Valour Printed at Paris in 1489. A Treatise of Temperance Printed in the same City in 1400. A Treatise of the Consequences that follow from the Doctrine of the Nominals Printed at Paris without Date an Explication of the Universals of Porphyrie Printed at Paris in 1499. and a Question of Fate Printed at the same place This Author was admitted Batchelor in 1469. took the Degree of Doctor in 1473. and died in 1482. Robert Flemming an English-man after he had spent some years at Rome under the Pontificate Robert Flemming Dean of Lincoln of Sixtus IV. return'd into
Author are full of Spiritual Thoughts and Maxims of Piety in them he speaks freely against Vices and teaches a most pure and sublime Morality Aelius Antony de Lebrixa who turn'd his Name into Nebrissensis in Latin a Spaniard was Aelius Antonius Nebrissensis a Spanish Doctor not inferior to any person of his time for beauty of Thought and Learning of all kind He was Born in 1444. in the Village of Lebrixa Scituate upon the Guadalquivir After he had Studied Mathematicks and Philosophy at Salamanca he went into Italy where he perfected himself in the Languages and Divinity In the year 1473. being recall'd by Alphonsus Fonseca Archbishop of Sevil he restor'd the Study of Polite Learning and the Sciences in Spain by his publick Lectures After the death of this Archbishop he left Sevil and went to Salamanca where he was honour'd with 2 Chairs one of Grammar and the other of Poetry in which he labour'd to banish away that Barbarism which had reign'd in Spain till his time He set himself to oppose the Schoolmen who accus'd him of favouring Novelties and in the year 1488. he retir'd to the House of John Stunica Grand Master of the Order of Alcantara but he was quickly recall'd to fill the first Chair of the University at Salamanca which happen'd to become vacant King Ferdinand knowing his worth sent for him to his Court in 1504. that he might write the History of his own Life and Cardinal Ximenes employ'd him in publishing the Edition of the Polyglot-Bible In the year 1513. he quite forsook the University of Salamanca and addicted himself entirely to the Service of Cardinal Ximenes who gave him the Government of his own University of Complutum or Alcala d'Enarez where Nebrissensis died the 11th of July in 1522. Aged 77 years He wrote an infinite number of Books about Grammar whereof we shall say nothing here 2 Decades of the History of King Ferdinand and of Queen Elizabeth from the year 1509. and 2 Books of the War of that Prince against the King of Navar in the year 1512. His principal Work of Divinity is a Treatise of Critcism for explaining 50 difficult places of Scripture Entituled Quinquagenae printed by it self at Paris in 1520. at Basil in 1543. at Antwerp in 1600. and in the Great Criticks of England there is much Learning and profound Judgment in this Work There are also some Notes of his upon the Lessons taken out of the Epistles of St. Paul and the Prophets which are Read in the Service of the Church upon the Prayers and Hymns of Divine Service upon the Hymns and Psychomachia of Prudentius a Paraphrase upon Sedulius's Poem about the Miracles of Jesus Christ and some other Works I shall now Present you with an Account of some Authors whose Works are lost which we have from Trithemius who has preserv'd the Names of the Authors and the Titles of their Books JOHN of Duren of the Order of Friars Minors who wrote some Sermons and Treatises upon Writers of the 15th Century whose Works are lost the Seven Mortal Sins upon conceal'd Vices and Confession Tilman of Hachenberg of the same Order the Author also of some Sermons Hugo of Sletstat a German Doctor who wrote some Treatises of School-Divinity Paul of Venice of the Order of Hermites of St. Austin the Author of a Treatise against the Jews of some Sermons and many Books of Philosophy James of Thessalonica of the Order of F. F. Preachers the Author of some Sermons Thomas of Hasselbach a German Doctor and Reader of Divinity in the University of Vienna who spent 21 years in Commenting upon the first Chapter of Isaiah and was the Author of a Commentary upon the Books of Sentences of many Sermons of a Treatise about the Decalogue and of a Treatise about the 5 Senses of a Man Thomasinus of the Order of F. F. Preachers the Author of many Sermons Nicholas a Monk of the Monastery of the Holy Cross of the Order of Cistercians in Austria who wrote 3 Books in honour of the Virgin and some Sermons Francis Bachon and Michael Herbrant of Duren of the Order of Carmelites the Authors of some Sermons and Works about their own Order Peter of Spira of the Order of the Hermites of St. Austin the Author of some Sermons and Philosophical Works Reinard of Fâ—onthoven the Author of some Sermons Henry of Coeffelde a Carthusian who wrote Commentaries upon Exodus and the Epistle to the Romans and Compos'd Treatises about the Monastick Vows against the property of Monks about the Institution of Novices of the 3 Monastick Observances of the Sacrament of the Altar of the Mystical Circumcision a Panegyrick upon St. Paul the Hermite some Sermons and Letters He died the 19th of July in the year 1410. in the Carthusian Monastery at Bruges Henry of Hachemburg of the Order of Friars Preachers the Author of some Sermons Jâ—urdain of the Order of the Hermites of St. Austin the Author of a Commentary upon the Revelations of St. John of an Apology for his own Order and many Sermons Peter Bishop of Citta-Nuova in Italy who wrote a Dictionary of the History of the Bible a Commentary upon the Books of Sentences and upon the whole Bible almost 〈◊〉 Gâ—… a Professor in the University of Leipsick who wrote 3 Books upon the Mass and divers Queâ—â—ions 〈◊〉 of Aâ—… a Priest of Bamberg who wrote a Treatise of the Sacraments of the Church â—…ne of the Order of Friars Preachers was made Cardinal by Gregory XII 〈…〉 the Cardinal of Ragusa and was sent by this Pope to the Council of Conâ—… 〈…〉 was Sitting He wrote many considerable Books viz. Commentaries upon 〈…〉 〈◊〉 the Gospel of St. Matthew the Magnificat and the Epistle to the 〈…〉 The Lamp of the Night and another the Itinerary of Devotion and â—… many Sermons and some other Works 〈…〉 Bâ—…op of 〈…〉 Native of Basil wrote upon the Sentences and Compos'd many 〈◊〉 〈…〉 of Erford wrote upon the Sentences 4 Commentaries upon the Pentateuch and the Epistles of St. Paul and some Sermons 〈◊〉 oâ— Spoâ—â—to of the Order of F. F. Hermites of St. Austin wrote against the Hereticks and the Fraâ—ricelli Peter Mâ—urocenus a Venetian and Cardinal wrote upon the Decretals Jâ—â—n of Denâ—ermonde a Carthusian the Author of many Treatises of Piety viz. Of the Knowledge of God of the Restoration of Faln Man of the Joy of Man of the Faith of Christians of the Conception of the Virgin Mary of the Nature and Fall of Man of the Love of God the Sacrament of the Altar and the Honour of God Anthony of Genes an Augustin the Author of a Treatise about the Figures of Mortality Anthony of Parma General of the Order of Camalduli the Author of some Sermons All these Authors Flourish'd from the beginning of this Century till about the year 1420. John Plaâ—th a Professor in the University of Heidelberg wrote upon the first Book of the Decretals and the first Book of the
and there are even Manuscripts later than some Editions 3dly The Testimonies which they alledge 4thly The Reasons they bring to establish their Claims 5thly The Answer they give to the Proofs which are offer'd to destroy it SECTION III. An Examination of the Manuscripts of the Book of the Imitation which go under the Name of Thomas a Kempis a Canon-Regular of Zwoll THE first of the contending Parties whom we will hear is Thomas a Kempis whose most probable Title is founded upon a Manuscript of the Imitation which is to be found in the Jesuits House at Antwerp written with his own Hand in 1441. as these Words written at the end of the Manuscript give Reason to believe Finitus completus Anno Domini 1441. per manus fratris Thomae Kemp. in monte S. Agnetis prope Zwol i. e. Being finish'd and compleated in the Year of our Lord 1441. by the Hand of Friar Thomas a Kempis in the Mount of St. Agnes near Zwoll This Manuscript contains the four Books of the Imitation of Jesus Christ under four different Titles The 1st under this Title Useful Advertisements for a Spiritual Life alias Of the Imitation of Jesus Christ. The 2d under this Advices which carry a Man inward The 4th which is transpos'd and plac'd in the room of the 3d under this Title Of the Sacrament of the Altar The 3d which is plac'd last under this Title Of the Interiour Speech of Jesus Christ. And besides these four Books there are some other Treatises of Thomas a Kempis viz. A Treatise of the Discipline of those who are in the Cloyster A Letter of a Devout Person to a Regular A Recommendation of Humility of the Mortified Life the Peaceable Life of good Men Of the Elevation of the Heart A short Advice about External Behaviour Now all these Treatises are without Dispute Thomas a Kempis's from whence it is inferr'd That the four first are also his and so much the rather because if they had been another Author's he would not have fail'd to have set down his Name This Manuscript is Authentick for it is mark'd at the beginning That it is at the Monastery of the Canons-Regular of Mount-saint Agnes a Virgin and Martyr near to Zwoll And afterwards we find written with a later Hand That Friar John Latomus a Regular of the Order of Regulars in the House near Herental Minister-General of this Order having visited the Monastery of St. Agnes near Zwoll had remov'd the Ruins of this Monastery lest it should entirely be lost and carried it to Antwerp where he had left it in 1577. in the hands of his Ancient and Faithful Friend John Beller who had given it in favour of his Children to the F. F. of the Society of Jesus in 1590. Those who maintain That Thomas a Kempis is not the Author of the Book of the Imitation of Jesus Christ Answer That this Manuscript rather favours them than the contrary 1st Because it proves only that Thomas a Kempis is the Transcriber of the Books of Imitation and not that he is the Author of them This is all that is signified by what is set down at the end and the same Observation is to be met with in a Volume of a Bible written by Thomas a Kempis Finished and Compleated in 1439. on the Vigil of St. James by the hands of Friar Thomas a Kempis c. which shows That this is the common and ordinary Form which meer Transcribers us'd to make use of at that time 2dly That tho' this Manuscript be written with the hand of Thomas a Kempis yet it cannot be said That this is the Original of that Book because it is evident and confessed by all the World That there are Manuscripts of the Book of Imitation more ancient than this among the rest a Manuscript of the first Book which ends thus Here ends this Treatise written in the Council of Basil in 1437. and finish'd with the help of God by me Gottingen It cannot therefore be said That this is the Original of Thomas a Kempis's Composition it can be no more than a Copy which he wrote out of his own Works 3dly There are some things in this Manuscript which may make it doubtful whether Thomas a Kempis be the Author of the Book for if he were 't is reasonable to believe That he would not have plac'd the fourth Book in the room of the third he would not have left in it so many Faults such as Omissions particularly at B. 1. ch 13. after this Verse Principiis obsta sero medicina paratur this other Verse necessary for compleating the Sense is omitted Cum mala per longas invaluere Moras and at B. 2. ch 11. Raro invenitur tam spiritualis the Word invenitur is forgotten and gross Faults as at B. 1. ch 12. Non bene nobis creditur for de nobis at B. 2. ch 5. Debes habere for velles habere B. 4. which is the third Book in the printed Copies ch 36. succumbi for succumbere ch 55. stips for stipes or stirps and Words repeated twice and eraz'd If these things be true say they then those who publish'd the Book of the Imitation under the Name of Thomas a Kempis have not in every thing follow'd this Manuscript as they ought to have done if it were certain that this was the last Copy of the Author which ought therefore to be most correct 4thly 'T is pretended That this is not a Proof that the Imitation is Thomas a Kempis's because it is joyn'd to the Works which are ascrib'd to him That there are very often found in one and the same Volume the Works of different Authors and perhaps there may be some cause to doubt whether these other Works which are joyn'd to this are all of them Thomas a Kempis's To the 1st Objection it is reply'd That 't is true it cannot be inferr'd meerly from the Words that are at the end of this Manuscript That it is Thâ—maâ— a Kempis's nay 't is confess'd That in Humility he would not put his Name to this Work That he lov'd rather to pass for the Transcriber than the Author of it but still it is pretended that this being join'd to the other Works which are uncontestably his in one and the same Manuscript all written out with his own hand 't is no ways probable that it should be any other Author's and so much the rather because Thomas a Kempis did not make any Distinction between them and never observ'd that the Imitation was another Author's As to the 2d That 't is not pretended that this Manuscript was the first Original of Thomas a Kempis but that it was only a Copy written out in 1441. of a Work which he compos'd about the Year 1410. As to the 3d 'T is reply'd That an Author who transcribes his own Work may sometimes commit Faults through Inadvertency That the Transposal of the Book is not a Fault since these Books never had any
certain Order That the Verse Cum mala per longas c. is omitted not only in this Manuscript but in many others which go not under the Name of Kempis and that Cajetan and Walgrave did think it needless since they have not put it in their Editions As to the last 'T is reply'd That this Manuscript being written from beginning to end with the hand of Thomas a Kempis it cannot be said that it was by chance he join'd these Works together and that 't is no wise probable he should write a Treatise which is none of his with those Treatises which are his and never make any Distinction between them There is another Manuscript also written with the hand of Thomas a Kempis which has a Declaration written at the end of it in 1586. by John Ulimmerius Hic liber est scriptus manu characteribus Reverendi Religiosi Patris P. Thomae Kempis Canonici Regularis in Monte St. Agnetis qui est Autor horum libellorum devotorum Joannes Ulimmerius scripsit 1586. This Manuscript is in the Library of St. Martin of Louvain it contains the Soliloquy of the Soul the three first Books of Imitation the Treatise of the Elevation of the Soul a brief Advice for spiritual Exercise the Treatise of the Sacrament which is the fourth Book of Imitation whereof there is nothing but the Preface 'T is partly written on Parchment and partly on Paper There are in it the same Omissions which are in the other and the same Reflections may be made upon them and so much the rather because it is not himself but another who testifies that it was written with the hand of Thomas a Kempis and that he is the Author of it and this he did in 1586. which is more than a Hundred Years after his Death which renders his Testimony both as to the Writing and Composure of Thomas a Kempis of little Authority Those who have seen these two Manuscripts and might have compar'd them together have never told us whether the hands be like one another Let us now proceed to the other Manuscripts which are not written out with the hand of Thomas a Kempis but only go under his Name which are produc'd by the F. F. of St. Genevieve The first is a Manuscript of St. Martin of Louvain which contains the little Garden of Roses and three Books of Imitation viz. the 1st the 4th and the 3d at the end whereof these Words are read Expliciunt tractatus quatuor Fratris Thomae Kempis devoti interni scripti illuminati ligati per manus fratris Symonis Jacobi de Leydis Professi in Leyderdorp pro tunc Socii Rectoris hujus Monasterii sancti monialium Antiquaâ—um in Aemstelredam Anno scilicct Domini 1482. in professo Willibrord Episcopi i. e. Here end the four Treatises of Friar Thomas a Kempis a devout and inward Man written enlightned and bound up by the hands of Friar Simon James of Leyden a Regular of Leyderdorp at that time the Companion of the Rector of the Ancient Nuns of this Monastery of Amsterdam in the Year of our Lord 1482. on the Festival Day of St. Willibrord Bishop Here is a Manuscript of 1482. whose Transcriber does plainly ascribe three Books of the Imitation to Thomas a Kempis The second is a Manuscript of the House of St. Peter and St. Anthony at Delhem wherein there is found an Extract taken out of the Treatise of the Cloyster of the Soul by Hugo Foliot written in 1475. and the Book of Imitation under this Title A Treatise of the Contempt of the World at the end whereof there is written with another hand Explicit libellus de Contemptu Mundi quem fecit frater Thomas Kempis professus in Monte Agentis Ordinis Canonicorum Regularium obiit aetatis suae Anno 92 in Ordine devotus 65 requiescat in perpetua pace de primis pro quo solvi debitum Anno 1471. Cosmae Damiani quo Anno obiit i. e. Here ends the Book of the Contempt of the World which was made by Friar Thomas a Kempis a Regular of Mount-Saint-Agnes of the Order of Canons Regulars who died in the 92 Year of his Age in the 65 after his Admission into his Order and in 1471. on the Day of St. Cosmas of St. and St. Damian Let him rest in Eternal Peace This Manuscript does not contribute much to confirm the Claim of Thomas a Kempis because this Observation was not made with the hand of him who wrote the Manuscript who left the Treatise Anonymous The third is a Manuscript of the Canons-Regular of the Holy Cross of Ausburg which contains four Books of the Imitation at the end whereof are found these Words Compilator hujus Opusculi fuit quidam frater Thomas nomine de Conventu Ordine Canonicorum Regularium Ordinis St. Augustin Montis sanctae Agnetis Trajectensis i. e. The Compiler of this Treatise is Friar Thomas of the Convent and Order of Canons-Regulars of the Order of St. Augustin of Mount-Saint-Agnes of Utrecht Bollandus and Heserus have pretended that this Manuscript is of the Year 1440 but in that which was produc'd by the Canons-Regulars of St. Genevieve there was no Date at all and those who are well vers'd in these Matters could not pitch upon the time in which it might be written and therefore we cannot tell whether it be more ancient or later than that of 1441. besides That Thomas a Kempis is here describ'd only as a Compiler The fourth is a Manuscript in the Library of St. Martin at Louvain which at the head of the first Book has the Name of Thomas a Kempis Liber primus fratris Thomae a Kempis Canonici Regularis de Imitatione Christi This Manuscript has its Date at the end which is but in the Year 1524. Ultima Decembâ—is finientis Anni 1524. in Festo St. Sylvestri Papae Confessâ—…is They alledge also many other Manuscripts which have been seen and quoted by those who have written about these Matters whose Testimonies they relate as a Manuscript of the Convent of the Carthusians at Brussels written in 1463. containing the four Books of Imitation without the Name of the Author indeed but only under the Title of a Regular Explicit devotus tractatus cujusdam Regularis de interna locutione Christi ad Animam fidelem scriptus per manus Jacobi Baeust Laici redditi Finitus in Anno Jubilâ—eo 1473. die mensis Octobris pertinet ad Carthusienses Domus Sylvae Sancti Martini prope Geraldi Montem This Manuscript is cited by Chistetius in the 7th Chapter of his Apology and he affirms that he had it in his hands There is another Manuscript at Utrecht cited by the same Author upon the Credit of Lappius who believ'd it to be of the 14th Century in which the Name of Thomas a Regular is thrice repeated There are two Manuscripts in the Monastery of St. John Baptist of Rebdoâ—f without Date which
it is remark'd Explicit Contemplatio B. Bernardi de Passione Domini sinita Anno. 21 in die sancti Joannis Baptistae This Date of 21 can be nothing but 1421. since the Register was fram'd in 1517. It may be said perhaps That the Imitation of Jesus Christ was by another hand and at another time than the Treatise of St. Bernard but the Register supposes them both to be of the same time and the same Writing and in the same Volume and those who have seen them have given us no Advertisement about them The Date of the Manuscript at Weingarten is yet more certain for the Manuscript it self is produc'd wherein are the three first Books of the Imitation and at the end of the third is written with the same hand Explicit liber internae Consolationis finitus Anno Dom. 1433. secunda Feria ante Festum Assumptionis Beatae Virginis Mariae per me fratrem Conradum Obersperg tunc temporis Conventualem in Weingarten Here then is a Manuscript in 1433. which is not the Original of Thomas a Kempis and which does not bear his Name The Second Manuscript of Melice follows quickly after this and is dated in the Year 1434. It contains The Manual of St. Augustin the Rule attributed to St. Jerom about the manner of living in Monasteries the Book of the Reformation of Man divided into four Parts whereof the first Book is of the Imitation of Jesus Christ and the Contempt of the Vanities of the World and after the four Books of Imitation there are some Treatises of Gerson whereof the last is 25 Considerations for hearing of Confessions at the end whereof p. 120. is written Explicit die Kiliani 34. which denotes the Year 1434. because there is mention made of it in the Register fram'd as we have already said in 1517. Father Mabillon assures us in his Journey into Italy That he saw at Padua in the Library of the Abbey of St. Justina a Manuscript of the Imitation dated 1436. whereof the Ancient Title was eraz'd and instead of it there was written Gerson or rather Thomas de Campis The ancient Title therefore was not by Thomas a Kempis for if it had been so it would not have been raz'd to write the same again with a later hand The Manuscript of the Monastery of St. Ulric of Ausburg which contains the first Book of the Imitation without the Name of the Author is written in 1437. at the time of the Council of Basil as is observ'd at the end Et est finis hujus Tractatus scripti in Consilio Basileensi Anno Dom. 1437. Et sic cum Dei adjutorio finitus est iste Tractatus per me Georgium de Gottingen tunc temporis Capellan in Wiblengen The Manuscript written by Thomas a Kempis in 1441. may pass for one that is Anonymous since Th. a Kempis put his Name to it as a Transcriber and not as an Author The Manuscript of the House of the Carthusians of St. Barbe of Colen wherein the first Book of the Imitation is found written in 1447. has not the Name of the Author only it is observ'd in the Index that this Treatise and those which follow that are Tho. a Kempis's are a Devout Regular's Cujusdam devoti Regularis The Manuscript of St. Martin of Louvain which contains the 3d Book of the Imitation Dated in 1449. and produc'd by the F. F. of St. Genevieve is Anonymous The ancient French Anonymous Version made in 1447. by a Regular of Marchia for Bernard of Armagnac is printed at Roan in 1498. Another French Version which was found in 1467. in the Study of Monsieur the Count of Angoulesme is under the Name of St. Bernard There is in the Abby of St. German de Prez a Manuscript of the 4 Books of Imitation Dated in the year 1460. under the Name of Gerson That of Allatius which goes under the Name of Canabaco is Dated in 1463. That of Saltzburg of the same year bears the Name of John Gerson There is an Anonymous Manuscript of the same year at Brussels Cited by Chiffletius That of Parma which has the Name of Gersen at the beginning of the 4th Book contains besides the 4 Books of Imitation a Rule of St. Benedict written with the same hand at the end whereof the Date is set down Die Octo. Aug. 1466. There is also one Cited which was given in 1468. to a Monk of the Order of Olivet by a Visitor of that Order and which the Father Delfau found in the Cabinet of Monsieur of St. Hilary Those of Slusa and Padolirona which have the Name of Gersen were written about the same time being judg'd to be 200 years old in 1671 and 1674. That of St. Peter of Dalhem is Anonymous in the 1st Writing and 't is only since that 't is observ'd that the Book of the Imitation is Tho. a Kempis's The First Manuscript which attributes this Book to Tho. a Kempis as the Author is that in 1477. quoted by Rosweidus and written by Offermans The Second is that of James of Leyden Dated in 1482. The Third is a Manuscript of the Holy-Cross at Ausburg which some give out to be of 1440. but is without Date as are also those of Rebdorf and Lappius to which we must joyn the Collections and Catalogues which we have above related That which is in the Library of St. Genevieve and which attributes this Book to St. Bernard is without Date it is at least 200 years Old That of Mr. Lechassier Cited by Mr. Launoy wherein the 4 Books of Imitation are under the Name of Gerson is written before 1497. for it is written by James Lupus who is design'd Batchelor of Divinity who was Licentiate in 1497. and Died in 1498. These are almost all the Manuscripts of the Books of the Imitation which we could come to the knowledge of The Reflections which may be made upon them are these 1. That there are Manuscripts either Anonymous or under the the Name of Gersen which the most Able Men in these matters judge to be written at the end of the Fourteenth Century and in the first years of the Fifteenth 2. That there are some Manuscripts in 1421 1433 1434 1436 1437. and that during all that time from 1420. to 1441. there is not any Manuscript that goes under the Name of Thomas a Kempis and that these Manuscripts are not the Author 's but the Transcribers who Copied them out from others which were more ancient 3. That the Manuscript of 1441. does not discover him for the Author but for the Transcriber 4. That from 1441. until the end of that Century there are divers Manuscripts which are either Anonymous or which attribute this Book to Gersen to Gerson or to St. Bernard 5. That there is never a Manuscript during the Life-time of Thomas a Kempis until the year 1471. which goes under his Name as the Author 6. That after his death his Name is found in Manuscripts and Editions until the end of that
proves that he had no knowledge of it Yet you may see in Gerson Sentences and Expressions very like to those which are in the Book of Imitation if you will read the Letter which he addres'd to this Hermite in the Fourth part of his Works P. 51. the Letters which he wrote to his Brother Nicolas in the same Part Fol. 372 373 374. the Book de Mendicitate Spirituali Fol. 387. and the Treatise de Considerationibus quas debet habere Princeps Part 2. Fol. 279. All which gives occasion to conjecture that the Author of the Imitation is not more ancient than Gerson and that it was he or some other who had read his Works who wrote this Book SECTION XI The Reasons which prove that the Book of the Imitation is not Gerson's THere are but two Reasons alledg'd against Gerson the Profession of the Author who declares himself a Monk as we have seen and the difference of Style The First of these Reasons may appear decisive against Gerson yet it may be said that he speaks in the Person of those for whom he writes and so Gerson does in the Treatise upon these words Venite ad me omnes for says he Si semel nos Jugo astrinxerimus non liceat nobis de Monasterio egredi collum excutere de subjugo Regulae .... Propter quod natus est benedictus legislator noster And in the Tract De Solitudine Ecclesiasticorum written for the Celestines he says hoc jubet supremus Abbas noster Jesus Christus And in the Epistle Pro Confortatione alicujus tentati he says Vita Clericorum Monachorum omnium Religiosorum in Cruce c. si aliam viam quaerimus erramus We may also Observe 1st That Gerson liv'd as an Hermit for the space of 10 years at Lyons before his death for he died in 1429. And it appears from the Letter of his Brother John the Celestine to his other Brother Anselm written in 1423. that he had then retir'd for the space of 4 years and that he liv'd there in great peace of mind which made him say that he never had so clear and vigorous a Spirit And he adds that he could hardly prevail with him to put forth some Tracts under his Name except only those which he was oblig'd to write by reason of his Office as Chancellor or Doctor and that he neglected a great number of them whereof some are lost as that which he wrote de Nuptiis Sapientiae which was the Cause why he could not exactly set down all his Books 2dly That Gerson had been desir'd by the Celestines to write something upon these words Si quis vult venire post me abneget seipsum tollat Crucem suam sequatur me For this he says plainly in a Letter which he wrote to them which is about the end of the 3d Part of his Works And his Brother John the Celestine says also that they had pray'd him to write something for their Edification It appears also that he compos'd for them a Treatise upon these words Venite ad me omnes qui onerati estis which are the same with which the 4th Book of the Imitation begins He wrote also other Treatises for them May it not therefore be that during this Retreat he applied himself particularly to meditate upon the Principal Maxims of Renouncing the World and so Compos'd the Book of the Imitation about the end of his Life that he might send it to them All this may be made use of to shew that it is not altogether impossible that Gerson should be the Author of the Imitation altho' the Author speaks like one that had embrac'd a Monastick Life As to the difference of Stile 't is true that the Stile of Gerson is different from that of the Imitation and that he handles matters in a manner more methodical and less moving but this difference is not so sensible in his Books of Piety and it may be that having a mind to compose a Work which might excite and nourish Piety he applied himself so much the more to sweeten his Stile and to fill his Book with affecting thoughts and so assum'd a Stile and way of Writing suitable to his Design SECTION XII An Examination of the Manuscripts produc'd for John Gersen or Gessen an Abbot whether there was one John Gersen Abbot of Verceil of the Order of St. Benedict whether John Gersen was taken for John Gerson or on the contrary John Gerson for John Gersen THere remains only now John Gersen whose Claim to this Book is chiefly founded upon Manuscripts The first and most ancient is that which is found at Arona a City of Italy belonging to the Princes Boromees in the Novitiat of the Jesuits which was formerly an Abbly of St. Benedict This Manuscript came not as Cajetan at first believ'd from the ancient Library of the Benedictines of this Monastery but was brought thither from Genoâ— in 1579. by Father Maiolus who found it in his Father's House The Author of these Books is there call'd in three places John Gesen the Abbot once the Abbot John Gesen and once the Abbot John Gersen The first Title upon the first Leaf is written with Red Ink Incipiunt Capitula libri primi Abbatis Joannis Gesen de Imitatione Christi contemptu omnium vanitatum mundi Caput primum At the beginning of the second Book there is also written in Red Letters Incipit tabula libri secundi Abbatis Joannis Gesen de interna Conversatione Caput primum At the beginning of the third Book it is also written in Red Letters Incipit Tabula tertii libri Abbatis Joannis Gesen de interna Christi locutione ad animam fidelem At the beginning of the fourth Book that which follows is written with black Ink Incipiunt Capitula quarti libri Abbatis Joannis Gessen cum quanta reverentia Christus sit suscipiendus Caput primum At the end of the Book is written with Red Ink Explicit liber quartus ultimus Abbatis Joannis Gersen de Sacramento Altaris After these Books there follows a Treatise of St. Bernard to his Kinsfolk of St. Ambrose about Morality and a good Life and another Fragment of St. Bernard's All this is fairly written upon Parchment with one and the same hand and in the same Character which was judg'd by the Assembly in 1687. to be 300 Years old This is not the Original Manuscript of the Author who would certainly have written his own Name every-where after the same manner but it is some Copy There appears nothing which can be reasonably objected against this Manuscript It cannot be accus'd of Falsification in five places neither can any say That these Titles are later after they have been view'd and examin'd by unexceptionable Judges Neither can the Book be thought very late after the Judgment they have given of its Antiquity All that can be said is That the Writer may have put the Name of John Gesen Gessen or Gersen for
our Church-men I do not complain of this severity says St. Ambrose for I would rather that Ecclesiasticks should have less Riches and more Grace The Church hath no Patrimony but her Faith if she has any Revenues they are for feeding the Poor In short St. Ambrose discovers the Falshood of Symmachus's Supposition That the Gods of the Pagans being provoked sent the Famine which afflicted the Empire the preceding Year First Because this Famine did not begin till long after the Pagan Priests were depriv'd of their Rewards and their Honours Secondly Because this Famine did not continue long and plenty succeeded it tho' nothing was done in Favour of the Priests of the Pagan Gods He concludes this Answer with showing That the Emperours ought not to expect Protection from the Gods of the Pagans These Pieces were written in the Year 384 when Symmachus was Governour of Rome The 19th Letter to Vigilius lately chosen Bishop of Trent contains some Important Instuctions which he counsels him to give unto his People The Principal is To dissuade the Faithful from contracting Marriages with Infidels of this he treats largely in this Letter But he admonishes him also by the bye to teach his People the Obligation that lies upon them to pay Labourers their hire to instruct them that Usury is forbidden and to exhort them to use Hospitality One of the Reasons which he brings to show That a Christian ought not to marry an Infidel is this That Marriage ought to be sanctified by the Priestly Veil and by the Blessing How then can a Marriage be made between two Persons of a different Belief The History of Sampson and Dalilah affords him a fair Field to enlarge upon by which Example he shows that Christians ought to shun marrying with Persons of a different Religion Vigilius died under the Consulship of Stilico in 400 or 405. 'T is commonly believed that he was 20 Years a Bishop yet there are Acts of the Life of this Saint where he is said to be only 12 Years instead of 20. If he died in 400 and was Bishop only 12 Years this Letter was in the Year 383. If he died in 405 and was 20 Years a Bishop the Letter may be written at the same time it cannot be in the Year 381 because the Name of his Predecessor is found in the Subscriptions of the Council of Aquileia The 20th Letter to Marcellina Sister to St. Ambrose contains a Relation of the Endeavours that the Empress Justina us'd in the Year 385 to take from the Catholicks of Milan two of their Churches and of the manner wherein St. Ambrose defended them The Day after I received your Letter says he by which you signify to me That you were very much tormented with troublesome Dreams here begun those Commotions which have created me a great deal of trouble They were not satisfied with asking the Portian-Church which is without the City but they demanded also the New-Church which is within the City and is greater than the other The Lords of the Court and the Officers came to find me out and told me that I must abandon this Church and hinder the People from making any Sedition I answered according to my Duty That a Bishop cannot deliver up the Temple of the Lord. The next morning there was great Crying in the Church and the Prefect came thither to persuade us to give up at least the Portian-Church the People oppos'd him with their Clamours and he retired saying That he would make his Report of what was done to the Emperour The next Day which was Sunday after the Reading and Sermon when I was explaining the Creed to the Catechumens I was told That Serjeants were sent to seize upon the Portian-Church that they had already hung up Curtains and that a great many People were flocking thither I went on still in discharging my Duty and began Mass but as I was offering I was inform'd that the People having met with an Arian Priest call'd Cartulus had laid Hands upon him This made me weep and I prayed to God in the midst of the Holy Sacrifice that he would hinder the shedding of Blood in the Quarrel of this Church At the same time I sent Priests and Deacons to recover this Man out of the Hands of the People Immediately very severe Sentences were pass'd First against all the Companies of Merchants so that at this Holy Time which was the last Week of Lent when Prisoners were wont to be set at Liberty there was nothing heard every where but the rattling of Chains wherewith Innocent Men were loaded and great Sums of Money were extorted from the People The Officers threatned Persons of Quality if they would not deliver up the Church to them The Counts and Tribunes came to me and required me to deliver up the Church presently saying That the Emperour in whose Power all things are does but demand his Right I answered them Did he demand any thing of mine my Money or my Land I should willingly give them up to him tho' all that I have belongs to the Poor but places Consecrated to God belong not to the Emperour neither is it in my Power to give them If you should demand my Patrimony said I to them take it If you would have my Person I am here ready for you carry me away Prisoner put me to Death if you please In short Do with me what you please I 'm content I will not call upon the People to Succour me I will not prostrate my self before the Altar to beg my Life but I will rather willingly Sacrifice my self for the Altar's sake I was desir'd to put a stop to the Sedition of the People I answered That all that I could do was to give no Encouragement to it but God only could appease it That if they thought I was the cause of it the Emperour might banish me whithersoever he pleas'd I pass'd the rest of the Day in the Old Church and at Night I went back to sleep at my own House that they might find me ready to be gone if they had a mind to force me away Next Morning the Church was encompass'd with Souldiers the People came still flocking thither in great Multitudes the Souldiers who had Orders to seize upon it joyned with the People in the Prayers which were put up in it In the mean time St. Ambrose preached in another Church about the present Calamities He recites here his Sermon full of Boldness and Respect out of which take an Excellent Passage as follows I was commanded to deliver up the Church I answered That it was not lawful for me to deliver it up nor for you Prince to receive it You cannot justly Invade the House of any particular Man and would you forcibly take away the House of Jesus Christ I was told that every thing is lawful to the Emperour I answered That the Emperour has no Jurisdiction over Divine Things That he ought not to assume this Boldness and
if he would Reign long he must submit to God For 't is written we must render to God what is God's and to Caesar what is Caesar's the Palaces are for Kings the Churches for Bishops The Emperour has Power over the Walls of the City but not over Sacred Edifices 'T was said but 't is very Just that the Emperour should have a Church for himself No he ought not to have any Here some came and told him That they had already brought the Royal Hangings into the Church and that the People which were there earnestly desired his Presence This gave him occasion to apply the Psalm which was read that Morning to the Case in hand O Lord the Heathens are come into thine Inheritance c. While he was discoursing upon this Subject there came a Notary in the Emperour's Name to ask him Why he had acted contrary to the Orders of his Majesty St. Ambrose answered That he did not believe that he had done it Why then says the Notary did you send Presbyters into the Church which he had a mind to take Possession of If you be a Tyrant the Emperour desires that you would declare your self so that he may know what he has to do St. Ambrose answered That he had done nothing contrary to the Respect which he ow'd to the Emperour nor contrary to the Interest of the Church That he had indeed sent Presbyters to this Church but he did not believe that he had herein done any thing contrary to his Authority That if they took him for a Tyrant they might put him to Death That he had no other Arms to defend himself withal but the Invocation of the Name of Jesus Christ That under the ancient Law the Kingly Power had been given to Priests but they had never usurp'd it That Kings were more desirous of the Priesthood than Priests of the Kingly Power That Christ himself run away for fear lest he should be chosen King That Maximus would not say that he had been wanting in his Loyalty to Valentinian In short That Bishops had never been Tyrants but had often suffered hard things from them All the Day was spent in sadness and St. Ambrose could not return to his own House because the Church was encompass'd with Souldiers so he passed the Night in singing Psalms in the Church The next Day the Book of Jonas was read As St. Ambrose was expounding it word was brought him that the Emperour had commanded the Souldiers to withdraw and order'd the Fines which were exacted from the Merchants to be restor'd What Joys says he what Acclamations of the People This was the Day wherein Jesus Christ was delivered up for us the Day wherein Absolution is given to Penitents This is writes he to his Sister what is pass'd God grant 〈◊〉 here may be an end of it But the Threatnings of the Emperour make me fear still some greatâ—â— Commotions He says That I am a Tyrant and more than a Tyrant And when his Officers pray'd him to come to Church he answered them If Ambrose would command you you would deliver me up Behold what am I to expect after this All those that heard him say this testified sufficiently the trouble that it gave them but there are some about him who have blown up the Coals Calligonus Master of the Wardrope came to me and threatned me in these Words Why do you despise the Emperour Vengeance shall quickly come upon you I answered him That if God should suffer these Threatnings to take Effect he would do as Eunuchs have been wont to do and I should suffer as becomes a Bishop Heavens grant That all the Mischiefs which threaten the Church may fall upon me That her Enemies may point all their Darts against me That they may asswage their Rage with shedding of my Blood Thus ends this Excellent Letter of St. Ambrose Tho' the First Efforts of Justina had such bad Success yet she did not give over her Persecution To colour her Design she caus'd a Conference to be propos'd between Auxentius the Arian Bishop and St. Ambrose before such Judges as they should name hoping by these means to have a Pretence to force him away Then an Officer was sent in the name of Valentinian to signify unto him That Auxentius had named some Judges and that he should name some on his own behalf St. Ambrose answered That according to the good Maxim of Theodosius the Father of Valentinian Bishops could have none but Bishops for their Judges That Laymen could not judge between Bishops and much less Infidels or Hereticks such as Auxentius in all probability had chosen This is what St. Ambrose remonstrated to Valentinian in Letter 21st which is properly a Petition wherein he shows that he had done nothing contrary to the Respect which he owes him by this Answer That he only followed the Law which his Father had establish'd and that this was the Custom of the Church That if a Conference about the Faith was necessary it should be in the Church and before Bishops That if Auxentius should appeal to a Synod tho' it was not necessary to assemble one since if an Angel should come from Heaven and teach a contrary Doctrine it ought not to be preferr'd before the unanimous Consent of all the Churches yet if a Council should be assembled he was ready to appear there That he would have come to Court and to the Emperour's Council if his People his Clergy and the Bishops had not hindred him That he was not wont to go thither but for the Interest of the Emperour neither was it his Custom to frequent the Court. At the time when St. Ambrose sent this Petition to be presented to the Emperour he preach'd a Sermon to his People to allay the Fear they were seized with after they understood that St. Ambrose was cited to appear before the Emperour's Council This is plac'd after the preceding Letter There he declares to his People That he had no design to abandon his Church That they might arrest his Body by force but they could not separate his Mind from it That he would never willingly forsake them but if he should be driven away by force he would not resist I can says he sigh and mourn I can lament Tears are my only Arms against Violence and against Souldiers Bishops have no other Defence I cannot I ought not to resist any other ways but as to flying away and forsaking my Church that I will never do You know that the Respect which I have for the Emperour does not make me yield cowardly that I offer my self willingly to Punishment and that I do not fear the Mischiefs they threaten me with If I knew that in my absence the Church would not be deliver'd up to the Arians and if it were the Duty of a Bishop to go to the Palace I would go willingly but this is not his Duty for Matters of Faith cannot be handled but in the Church If any one has