the Great to be crownâ—d the Italians were for an Italian Emperor nam'd Crescentius but the Germans whose interest was strongest at Rome caused Otho III. the Son of the last Otho to be crown'd Emperor with the Consent of Pope Otho III. crowned Emperor John XIV Benedict who did not survive Otho II. above six Months Peter Bishop of Pavia was put in his place and took upon him the name of John XIV He was Lord High-Chancellor to the Emperor Otho and it was doubtless by the recommendation of this Prince that he was advanc'd to this Dignity but he did not enjoy it long for Boniface return'd from Constantinople in the year 985 and having rous'd some of his own faction and won the people by distributing among them the money he had rais'd by the Boniface returns to Rome sale of those rich Ornaments he had carryâ—d from Rome he render'd himself very powerful in Rome seizâ—d on Pope John Ioaded him with Irons shut him up in the Castle of Saint Angelo where he starv'd him to death at the end of four months but he himself did not survive above four months and dy'd hated by all the World even by those of his own faction who after his Death us'd his body very contumeliously Upon the Death of this Tyrant the Clergy and Laity of Rome were left at liberty to elect a Pope The choice fell on a Priest nam'd John the fifteenth Pope of that name The beginning of his Pope-dom John XV. was disturb'd by the fear he had that Crescentius who having taken upon him the title of Consul seiz'd on the Castle of S. Angelo would not use him so kindly as he did his Predecessor Under this apprehension he withdrew into Tuscany from whence he sent several Deputies to Otho praying him to come to his assistance It was this that inclin'd the Romans who knew by experience what they were to fear from such kind of Visits as the Emperors made to send an honourable Embassage to the Pope earnestly to entreat him to return by giving him all the assurance he could desire He hearkened to them and was receiv'd with all the signs imaginable of submission and respect From that time forward he enjoy'd the Holy See very peaceably till about the latter end of his Popedom at which time he was again so disturb'd by Crescentius that he was forced to pray the Emperor Otho to come to his assistance This Prince immediately march'd with an Army into Italy and stopp'd some time at Ravenna During his stay there John XV. dyed in May 996. The Romans were oblig'd by an order from the Emperor to elect in his place Bruno his Cousin-german who took upon him the name of Gregory V. but Crescentius soon Gregory V. John the Anti-pope after outed him and set up in his stead John Bishop of Placentia This Action was not long unpunish'd for Otho came immediately with his Army and being soon Master of Rome re-establish'd Gregory John secur'd himself with Crescentius in the Castle of Saint Angelo The Emperor besieg'd it Crescentius held it out very vigorously and it would have been very difficult to have taken it had not he been kill'd treacherously The Antipope John was taken his Eyes were scratch'd out his Nose and his Ears were cut off and in that posture was he led through the Streets of Rome mounted on an Ass with his Head towards the Tail and forc'd to say as he went along Whoever shall dare to dispossess a Pope let him be serv'd like me 'T is said that Gregory to prevent the trouble which might afterwards arise in the Election of an Emperor order'd that for the future it should be made by a certain number of German Princes which he appointed which was done at the instant and by the authority of the Emperor Otho and to favour those of his own Nation and doubtless with the approbation of the Romans This Pope did not survive his Election above two years and eight or nine months Otho caus'd Gerbert to be elected in his place who took upon Gerbert nam'd Pope Silvester II. him the name of Silvester II. He had been formerly Archbishop of Rheims and was then Archbishop of Ravenna having been oblig'd as we shall hereafter declare to quit his first Archbishoprick He was a man of great Learning and much in favour with Otho which inclin'd him to prefer him before all others to that Dignity supposing he could not find a person more worthy to fill the Chair or in whom he could more rely We shall have occasion to speak of the Actions of this Prelate before he was Pope in the History of the Churches of France during this Century and of what he did or wrote while he was Pope in the History of the following Century to which it belongs for he was not promoted to Saint Peter's Chair till about March in the year 999. An Account of the Roman Wâ—…ers in the Tenth Century AFter what has been related of the State of the Church of Rome during the Tenth Century and of the Qualifications of those who govern'd it 't is no wonder that we have so few Monuments of this Church either of Councils held at Rome or of Letters written by the Popes John IX JOhn the Ninth has left us four Letters and the Acts of two Councils The first of these The Letters of John IX Letters is directed to Harvey Archbishop of Rheims who sent to know of him how he should deal with the Normans who after they had been baptiz'd had led lives wholly Pagan and were transported to that degree of Extravagance as to kill the Christians and Priests to sacrifice to Idols and to eat of such things as had been offered in sacrifice to them John IX after he had congratulated the Archbishops happiness in the conversion of Normandy returns him this Answer that the persons he mention'd being but newly converted and not fully instructed in the Christian Religion ought not to be dealt with according to the rigor of the Canons but with some sort of gentleness and moderation That however if there were any among them who would submit to all the severities of Pennance he ought to proceed against such according to the Canon Agreeable to this Letter Harvey sent to Guy Archbishop of Roan a Memorial containing Harvey Archbishop of Rheims the institutions of Councils and Popes the Authorities of the Fathers and the Example of Saints concerning the Mercy and Moderation which ought to exercis'd towards the greatest Sinners upon their sincere conversion and repentance John's second Letter is directed to Stilian Bishop of Neocesarea He congratulates his stedfastness to the Church of Rome from whose communion nothing was able to separate him and declares to him that he hopes that by his Prayers he would prevail upon God to put an end to the Schism which was of 40 years continuance He likewise declares 't is his intention that the Decrees of his Predecessors
accuses Peter Abaelard of treating of the Trinity like Arius Abelaard's Doctrine Examined of Grace like Pelagius and of the Incarnation like Nestorius of having bragg'd that he was ignorant of nothing and of being never willing to say Nescio i. e. I do not know of being willing to expound inexplicable things and to comprehend incomprehensible Mysteries Of giving a reason for that which was above Reason of believing nothing but what Reason discovers to us of placing Degrees in the Trinity Terms and Limits to the Majesty of God and Numbers in Eternity These are the general Reflections which he cast upon him In particular he finds fault with those Expressions of Abaelard concerning the Holy Ghost viz. That he is not of the same substance with the Father as the Son is He is astonish'd to find him on one side owning that he is Consubstantial to the Father and the Son and on the other side denying that he proceeds from the substance of the Father and the Son He maintains that the absolute Attributes of God such as his Omnipotence Wisdom and Mercy does not agree more to one than to another of the Three Divine Persons He opposes Abaelard's Comparison taken from a Seal and the material whereof 't is made He finds fault with the Definition of Faith which Abaelard makes use of because he therein gives to Faith the name of Estimation which is of too loose a Signification He omits speaking to several other Propositions of Abaelard that Jesus Christ had not the Spirit of Fear That the fear of God will not subsist in the other Life That the Accidents of the Bread and Wine after the Consecration are in the Air That the Demons do not tempt Men but only by the Virtue of some Stones and of some Herbs which they know and make use of That the Holy Ghost is the Soul of the World Proceeding afterwards to what relates to the Incarnation he in the first place cites the Proposition wherein Abaelard maintain'd that Jesus Christ did not come into the World on purpose to redeem Mankind upon this he urges the Business very home to him and shews that neither Scripture nor Tradition acknowledge any other end of the Incarnation beside the redeeming of Mankind from the Bondage of the Devil into which they had faln by the Sin of their first Parent He charges him with such things as he only advanc'd in his Commentary by way of Query He demonstrates in opposition to Abaelard that the end of Redemption does not consist in the Love of Jesus Christ since Infants are redeem'd by Baptism before they arrive to the use of Reason and consequently before they are capable of loving at all Lastly he considers three things in the Incarnation The example of Humility which God has given us by thus abasing himself The measure of Charity which he extended so far as to the Death upon the Cross and the Sacrament of Redemption whereby he has deliver'd Men from Death by his Death These are the Heads whereof St. Bernard treats in his large Letter against Abaelard directed to Pope Innocent II. which makes the Eleventh of his Opuscula But to come to an exact knowledge of all the Errors charg'd upon Peter Abaelard 't is sufficient only to consult the Collection of the Propositions extracted out of his Works which was read in the Council of Sens and sent to the Pope It consists of Fourteen Propositions The first is the Comparison which he makes of a Seal of Copper to explain the mystery of the Trinity The second is that which he says of the Holy Ghost viz. That the Holy Ghost is not a Power nor of the substance of the Father though the Three Persons of the Trinity are of the same substance The third that God cannot do any thing else but what he does do The fourth that the end of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ was not only to redeem Mankind but to inlighten the World with the Lustre of his Wisdom The fifth that speaking properly and without a Figure we cannot say that Jesus Christ is a third Person of the Trinity The sixth that God has not given more Grace to him who is sav'd than to him who is not before the former has cooperated with his Grace that he offers his Grace to all the World and that it depends on the Freedom of Men's Will whether they will make use of it or reject it The seventh that God ought not nor cannot hinder Evil. The eighth that when 't is said that Infants contract Original Sin this ought to be understood of the Temporal and Eternal Punishment which is due to them because of Adam's Sin The ninth that the Accidents which remain after the Consecration of the Eucharist are not joyn'd to the substance of the Body of Jesus Christ as they were to the Bread and Wine but are in the Air That the Body of Jesus Christ retains its Figure and Lineaments and that what we see are false appearances under which the Body of Jesus Christ is hid The tenth that 't is not the outward Action but the Will and the Intention which render Men either Good or Bad. The eleventh that the Jews who crucified Jesus Christ in ignorance and out of Zeal for the Law did not commit any Sin in so doing and shall not be condemn'd for this Action but for their former Sins which merited this Blindness The twelfth that those Words whatsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven are to be understood thus Whatsoever you shall bind in this present Life Abaelard's Doctrine examin'd shall be bound in the present Church That none but the Apostles had this Power and that if it had been communicated to their Successors 't is to be understood only of those who have the Holy Ghost The thirteenth that neither the Suggestion nor the Pleasure which follows it are sinful but the consenting to an Evil Action and the contempt of God The fourteenth that Omnipotence belongs only to the Father as a Personal Attribute Abaelard in his Apology disowns the Heretical meaning of those Propositions but the Question which still remains is to know in what Sense he advanc'd them It cannot be deny'd but that he had Catholick Notions about the mystery of the Trinity and did believe that the Three Divine Persons were of the same Nature The Comparison of a Seal which he makes use of to explain this Mystery is not altogether exact nor does he pretend that it is but he owns that we can find nothing among the Creatures which perfectly resembles this incomparable Mystery Nor does he deny that Power Wisdom and Love are such Attributes as are common to the Three Divine Persons he declares the contrary even in express Terms but he attributes Power to the Father Wisdom to the Son and Love to the Holy Ghost only by way of Appropriation wherein he seems not to disagree from the Doctrine of the Fathers and Divines But
it to sick Persons in the absence of Men They believe that this Consolation remits Sins even mortal ones and that without it 't is impossible to be Saved Lastly they maintain that those who have actually committed a mortal Sin are uncapable of adrainistring it effectually Afterwards Ermergard proves against them that 't is lawful to eat Flesh and to take an Oath and establishes the Doctrines of the Resurrection of the Dead the Invocation of Saints and Prayers for deceased Persons These three Authors scarce make use of any other Proofs but Passages of the Holy Scripture to confute the Errors they oppose and to establish the Truths they maintain nay they produce a great number of them amongst which there are some which do not clearly prove what they assert CHAP. XII Of the Ecclesiastical Authors of less note who flourish'd in the Western Countries in the Twelfth Century AFTER having treated in the preceding Chapter of the most noted Ecclesiastical Writers whose Works are more numerous or more considerable we shall now give some account in this of a great number of others less known who have composd divers small Tracts reserving the particular enumeration of the Historians and Greek Authors for the following Chapters ANSELM Dean of the Church of Laon flourish'd in the beginning of the Century and Anselm Dean of Laon. made publick Divinity-Lectures at Chalons in which he gave Explications of the Holy Scripture He is also supposed to be in part the Author of the Ordinary Gloss. Some attribute to him the Commentaries on the Book of Canticles on St. Matthew's Gospel on St. Paul's Epistles and on the Revelation of St. John which were printed under the Name of St. Anselm Arch-bishop of Canterbury but they really belong to Hervaeus a Monk of Bourg near Dol whose Name they bear in the Manuscripts GISLEBERT or GILBERT sirnam'd CRISPIN St. Anselm's Pupil after having follow'd Gislebert or Gilbert Crispin Abbot of Westminster his Study in the Abbey of Bec took a Journey to Rome and upon his return had a Conference with a certain Jew of Mentz Afterwards he was made Abbot of Westminster A. D. 1106. He wrote a Relation of that Conference and dedicated it to St. Anselm amongst whose Works it is inserted in the last Edition by Father Gerberon Dr. Cave assures us That there are still extant in the Libraries of England divers Manuscript Homilies written by Gilbert Crispin on the Book of Canticles and several Discourses on St. Jerom's Prefaces to the Bible with a particular Treatise against the Sins of Thought Word and Deed. The Relation of the Conference made by this Author is different from that which is annexed to St. Augustin's Works under the Title of The Contest between the Synagogue and the Church and is much more accurate He died A. D. 1114. as some Writers averr or according to others in 1115. PETRUS ALPHONSUS a Spanish Jew who formerly bore the name of Moses was Petrus Alphonsus a Spanish Jew converted converted A. D. 1106. was baptiz'd at Huesca and had Alphonsus King of Portugal for his God-father He compos'd a Treatise by way of Dialogue between a Jew and a Christian concerning the Truth of the Christian Religion divided into Twelve Chapters in the first of which he shews That the Jews explain the Writings of the Prophets too carnally and that they mistake their meaning In the second he makes it appear that the Cause of the Captivity of the Jews is the putting of the Messiah to death that it was foretold by the Prophets and that it will not cease till the end of the World In the third he confutes the Opinion of the Jews who believe that their dead shall be raised again one day to dwell on the Earth and that they shall multiply therein In the fourth he proves that the Jews do no longer observe the principal Articles of the Law of Moses and that what they do observe is not acceptable to God In the fifth Chapter which is written against the Mahometan Superstitions he shews that Mahomet was a false Prophet who wrought no Miracles and was destitute of Learning Religion and Probity In the sixth he proves the Doctrine of the Trinity by Passages of the old Testament In the seventh he demonstrates by the Writings of the Prophets That the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin and conceiv'd by the Operation of the Holy Ghost In the eighth That the Word of God was made Man and that CHRIST is God and Man In the ninth That JESUS CHRIST came at the time foretold by the Prophets and that the Prophecies concerning the Messiah are accomplish'd in him In the Tenth That he died voluntarily to redeem Mankind according to the prediction of the Prophets In the eleventh That he arose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven And in the twelfth That the Law of the Christians is not contrary to that of the Jews This Treatise is one of the best that we have of that kind and the Author handles these Matters very methodically with a great deal of clearness and solidity of Argument THIBAUD or THEOBALD Clerk of the Church of Etampes and afterwards Professor Theobald Clerk of the Church of Etampes of Divinity in the Schools of Caen and Oxford flourish'd in the beginning of the Century and wrote several Letters which were publish'd by Father Dachery in the Third Tome of his Spicilegium The First is written to the Bishop of Lincoln about certain Persons who were doubtful of the Mercy of God He shews That a Sinner may have recourse to Repentance at all times That he may obtain the Remission of his Sins and that a good Disposition is sufficient for an entire Conversion In the Second directed to Faricius Abbot of Abbington he proves That Children who die without receiving Baptism are damned The Third is a Complimental Letter to Margaret Queen of England The Fourth is a Consolatory Letter to one of his Friends who was unjustly slandered The Last Letter is written against Roscelin in which he shews That the Sons of Priests are uncapable of being admitted into Holy Orders RADULPHUS sirnam'd ARDENS a Native of Poitiers and Chaplain to William III. Radulphus Ardens Duke of Aquitaine flourish'd in the beginning of this Century He compos'd a great number of Sermons on the Sundays and Festivals of the Year printed at Paris A. D. 1568. 1583. at Antwerp in 1576. and at Colen in 1604. ODO Abbot of St. Martin at Tournay was ordain'd Bishop of Cambray A. D. 1105. and expell'd for refusing to receive the Investiture from the Emperor Henry IV. He retir'd to Odo Bishop of Cambray Doway and died there in 1113. He wrote a Commentary upon the Canon of the Mass in which he explains the Text literally with a kind of Paraphrase Three very Scholastick Books concerning Original Sin A Treatise in form of a Dialogue against a Jew touching the necessity of the Incarnation of the Son of
Days of the Creation which are mention'd in Genesis do not begin at Night but at the Morning and end at the Morning of the Day following The First and Third of his Hymns are in commendation of the Mystery of the most Holy Trinity which he explains in many Words The Second is a Prayer to God and is rather in Prose like the Creed attributed to St. Athanasius than in Verse The Poem of the Maccabees is a Description in Hexameter Verse of the Martyrdom of those Seven Brethren There is nothing extraordinary in this Poem there is nothing Poetical in it but some mean Imitations of Virgil and for the most part the Verses are low and despicable The Commentaries of Victorinus upon St. Paul have not yet been publish'd Sirmondus found some Fragments of them in a Manuscript from which he took those two little Treatises of which we have already spoken But probably he judg d them not worth publishing though he says in his Advertisement That the Stile of these Commentaries is more clear and clean than that of his Dogmatical Works There are many Philosophical Books attributed to the same Victorinus as his Commentaries upon Tully's Rhetorick cited by Cassiodorus in his Bibliotheca and by Pope Sylvester the II. in his Epistle 130 which have been Printed several times There is also attributed to him the Version of Porphyrie's Isagoge which is amongst Boetius's Works a Book about Poetry and some Books of Grammar But those sort of Books ought not to come into our Bibliotheca which should contain none but Ecclesiastical Monuments St. PACIANUS ST PACIANUS Bishop of Barcelona no less Famous says St. Jerom for the Holiness of his Life than the Eloquence of his Discourse wrote many Books among which there is one entitled St. Pacianus Cervus or The Hart and some other Treatises against the Novatians He died under the Reign of Theodosius towards the Year 380. We have three Letters of his against the Novatians address'd to Sempronianus who was of this Sect. An Exhortation to Repentance and a Treatise or Sermon of Baptism address'd to the Catechumens All these Pieces are written with much Wit and Eloquence The First Letter to Sempronianus has Two Parts In the First he makes use of the way of Prescription from the Name and Authority of the Catholick Church to show that the Sect of the Novatians cannot be the Church of Jesus Christ. In the Second he refutes their Doctrine about Repentance He observes at the beginning of the First Part That since the coming of Jesus Christ there have appear'd an infinite Number of Sects who have all been denominated from the Names of their Authors That the Name of Catholick is continued only in the True Church That the Novatians make one of those Sects which are separated from the Catholick Church That they have forsaken the Tradition of the Church under pretence of Reformation He opposes to them the Authority of the Ancient Fathers of the Church who were Successors to the Apostles Why should not we says he have a Respect to the Authority of those Apostolical Men Shall we pay no Deference to the Testimony of St. Cyprian Would we teach this Doctrine Are we wiser than he But what shall we say of so many Bishops dispers'd over all the World who are united with these Saints What shall we say of so many Venerable Old Men of so many Martyrs and so many Confessors Is it for us to Reform them Shall our times corrupted by Vice efface the Venerable Antiquity of our Ancestors My Name says he addressing himself to Sempronianus is Christian and my Sur-Name is Catholick Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen He explains afterwards the Name of Catholick and tells us that the most Learned say that it signifies Obedient and that according to others it means one thro' all and shews that these two Significations agree to the Catholick Church which alone is obedient to the Voice of Jesus Christ and which only is the same in all the World After he has thus spoken of the Church he proceeds to Penance and so he enters into the Merits of the Question May it please God says he that none of the Faithful may ever stand in need of it That no Man after Baptism may ever fall into the precipice of Sin That so the Ministers of Jesus Christ may never be oblig'd to Preach and Apply long and tedious Remedies for fear of Patronizing the Liberty of sinning by flattering Sinners with their Remedies Nevertheless we allow this Mercy from our God not to those who are so happy as to preserve their Innocence but to those who have been so unhappy as to lose it by their Sins It is not to the Sound but to the Sick that we Preach these Remedies If the Evil Spirits have no more Power over the baptiz'd If the Fraud of the Serpent which destroy'd the first Man and gave so great occasion of Damnation to his Posterity has ceas'd If I say the Devil is gone out of the World If we may sport our selves in Peace If Man does not fall into many Sins of Thought Word and Deed Then let us not acknowledge this Gift of God Let us reject this Aid Let us have no more Confessions Let us no longer hearken to Sighs and Tears Let Justice and Innocence proudly despise these Remedies But if Man be subject to these Miseries Let us no more accuse the Mercy of God who has propos'd these Remedies to our Diseases and Rewards to those that preserve their Health Let us no more efface the Titles of God's Clemency by an unsupportable Rigour nor hinder Sinners by an inflexible hardness from rejoycing in those Gifts which he has freely bestow'd upon them 'T is not we who give this Grace of our own Authority but God himself who says Be converted to me c. After he has set down many Passages of Scripture which prove That God Pardons penitent Sinners he proposes this Objection of the Novatians God only will you say can grant Pardon of Sin That 's true answers he but what he does by his Ministers he does by his own Power For he says to his Apostles Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loos'd in Heaven But perhaps he did not give this Power to any but the Apostles If this were true then we must say That they only had also Power to Baptize to give the Holy Spirit and to Purify the Gentiles from their Sins For in the same place where he gives them Powr to Administer the Sacrament of Baptism he also gives them Power to loose Sinners Either then these two Powers were peculiarly reserv'd to the Apostles or they are both continued to their Successors and therefore since it is certain that the Power of giving Baptism and Unction is continued in the Bishops that same must consequently be granted of the Power of binding and loosing
the Novatians and shows that the passage of St. Matthew Whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loos'd in Heaven cannot be understood of Baptism He proves all the Answers of Sempronianus to the Passages alledg'd in his first Letter to him to be false He objects to the Novatians their Hard-heartedness with reference to Penitents He shows That those of this Sect are not so pure nor so Innocent as they boast themselves to be and that there have been many Persons among them guilty of enormous Crimes He opposes to them the Authority of St. Cyprian and Tertullian before his Fall He ends with an Exhortation to Sempronianus to return into the Church He begins his Exhortation to Repentance with an Introduction wherein he observes That often-times it were better not to mention some Sins than to reprove them because the Sin is rather learn'd than restrain'd He says That the Book that he had written against the Play called Cervulus or the Little Hart had the Misfortune to render that Immorality the more common Concerning which we may learn by the by That the Book of St. Pacianus entituled Cervus or Cervulus The Little Hart mention'd by St. Jerom which is not extant was compos'd against some Profane and Lascivious Play or Ceremony wherein probably there were us'd indecent Postures He adds That this Treatise was written against the Heathens who mocked at it and that he was not to expect better success from this Exhortation to Repentance which was address'd to the Christians of his own Diocess He says That we cannot but imagine that this Book was design'd only for Penitents since Penance is as it were the Bond of all Ecclesiastical Discipline For says he we must take care of Catechumens that they fall not into Sin of the Faithful that they relapse not after they have been Purified and of Penitents that they may receive quickly the fruit of their Humiliation After this he divides his Discourse into Three Parts He treats in the First of the different sorts of Sin lest any should imagine that all Sins deserve the same Punishment In the Second he discourses of some Persons that are asham'd to make use of the Remedy of Penance and so receive the Sacrament with an heart and mind polluted with Sin They are fearful says he before Men but impudent before God they defile by their impure Hands and by their corrupt Mouth they defile I say that Altar which makes the Angels themselves to tremble The last Part Is of the Pains that they shall suffer who do no Penance and of the Reward of those that Purify themselves by a true and sincere Confession of their Sins In the First Part he distinguishes Sins from Crimes He averrs That we must not imagine that Men are oblig'd to do Penance for an infinite number of small Sins from which no Person is exempt That according to the Dispensation under the Old Testament lesser Faults were rigorously punish'd but Jesus Christ is come to deliver us from this Yoke of the Law Thus after Pardon if a Man may so speak of an infinite number of Sins which need no Powerful Remedies to cure them there remains a small number which may be easily avoided that deserve a severe Punishment Amongst these he reckons Idolatry Murder and Adultery As for other Sins says he they may be cur'd by the Practice of Good Works Inhumanity by Civility Injuries by Satisfaction Sadness by Mirth Harshness by Sweetness Lightness by Gravity and so of other Vices which are punish'd by the contrary Vertues But what shall be the Punishment of Idolatry What shall the Murderer do to expiate his Crime What shall be the remedy of an Adulterer or Fornicator These are my Brethren Capital Sins these are Mortal Sins After he has terrified those who have committed these Crimes with the dreadful words of Fire and Brimstone and almost made them despair of Pardon he adds However you may be healed if you begin to be sensible of the greatness of your Crime and the state to which you are reduc'd if you have a Fear that approaches near to Despair I address my self first of all to you who having committed those Crimes refuse to do Penance you who are so timorous after you have been so impudent you who are asham'd to do Penance after you have sinned without blushing you who are not asham'd to commit those Crimes but are asham'd to confess them you who approach the Holy of Holies with a Conscience polluted by these Crimes without trembling when ye present your selves before the Altars you who receive the Mysteries from the hands of the Priests in the presence of the Angels as if ye were innocent you who trample upon the Patience and Mercy of God and present at his Altars a defil'd Soul and an unclean Body After he has thus spoken a word to Impenitent Sinners he represents to them the Punishments that God has threatned to those that approach unworthily to Holy Things He proposes to them the terrible words of St. Paul and exhorts them by most powerful Motives and most convincing Reasons to discover the Wounds of their Conscience The Sick that are Prudent says he do not hide their Wounds from their Physicians even those that are in the most secret Parts They suffer them to apply the Iron the Fire and Causticks to Cure them And shall a Sinner be afraid to purchase Eternal Life for a little Shame Shall he dread to discover his Sins to God which are but ill hid from him He that dares offend against God why does he blush at any thing would he rather Perish without shame than be asham'd to Perish But though you should be asham'd to discover your Misery to others yet fear not to discover it to your Brethren who bear a part in your unhappiness It does not become one Part of the Body to rejoyce in the Evil that befalls another Member of the same Body they suffer all the same Pain and contribute to the Remedy The Church consists of the Faithful and Jesus Christ is in his Church and so he that discovers his Sins to his Brethren is assisted by the Tears of the Church and Absolv'd by the Prayers of Jesus Christ. After this he speaks a word to those who under pretence of being willing to do Penance lay open indeed their Wounds by Confession but know not what it is to do Penance nor what the Remedies which must Cure them who are exactly like those who discover their Wounds and Diseases to Physicians but neglect to bind up their Wounds and to apply necessary Remedies nay encrease their Disease by taking contrary Remedies and pernicious Potions and add new Crimes to their old Sins What can I do for these I who am a Bishop Says he 'T is very late to give them a Remedy but yet if any of you be willing to suffer the Iron and the Fire I can apply them Behold the Razor which the Prophet presents me Turn ye
says he to the Lord your God with fasting weeping and mourning and sighing and break your hearts fear not this Incision for David was very willing to endure it He relates also many other Examples of Penance and reproves the Softness the Pride and Loosness of the greatest part of Christians and Penitents He blames them for not observing so much as the daily Exercises of Penance which are made in the presence of the Bishop As to weep in the sight of all the Church to discover by the uncleanness of their Garments the regret they ought to have for losing their Innocence to Sigh to Pray to throw themselves at the feet of the Faithful to deprive themselves of Pleasures to prostrate themselves before the Priests to hold the hands of the Poor to supplicate the Widows to beseech the whole Church and implore its Prayers and in short to try all ways possible to save their Souls After this he quickens the Penitents by the Fear of Eternal Punishments which he represents to them in a most Pathetical manner and he invites them to Penance by the consideration of the Mercy and Goodness of God who desires nothing but the Conversion of Sinners The Subject of the Treatise of Baptism address'd to the Faithful and the Catechumens is set down by St. Pacian in the Beginning of his Discourse I will show you says he in what condition we are Born and how we are renew'd by Baptism To make you understand this I shall discover to you what the Gentiles are what is the Fruit of Faith and what are the Effects of Baptism In order to the Explication of these Three Things he observes That by the Sin of Adam all Men were enslav'd to Death and Sin That the Law of Moses discover'd this Misery very plainly but afforded no Remedy at all That so Sin reign'd from Adam till Christ who deliver'd Mankind from the Tyranny of Sin because as the Sin of the First Man was imputed to all his Posterity so the Righteousness of Jesus Christ was communicated to all Men by Baptism and by the Aid of the Holy Spirit provided that Faith preceed He adds That this Regeneration cannot be perfected but by the Sacrament of Baptism and Unction and by the Ministry of the Priest For says he Baptism Purifies from Sins and Unction brings down the Holy Spirit and both the one and the other are applied by the Hand and the Mouth of the Bishop the whole Man is born again and renewed in Jesus Christ that we may lead a new Life which shall never end because though this Body shall die yet we shall always live in Jesus Christ in a heavenly and eternal Life He observes That being deliver'd in Baptism from the bands of Sin we renounce the Devil and the World and if afterwards by forgetting the Grace which we have received we relapse into a Crime our Relapse is almost irrecoverable because that Jesus Christ suffer'd but once and we cannot be wash'd and purified above once He concludes with an Exhortation to those that are newly Baptiz'd to preserve the Grace which they had received to Sin no more to keep the Purity and Innocence of Baptism till the Day of Judgment and to endeavour to obtain Eternal Treasures by their Prayers and Spiritual Labours These Extracts which we have drawn from the Writings of St. Pacianus sufficiently discover his Judgment his Stile and Learning There is hardly any of the Ancients that speaks more clearly of the Efficacy of the Sacraments of Baptism Confirmation and Penance He attributes to Chrysm the effect of Confirmation which is an Opinion very rare among the Latins who attribute it to Imposition of Hands Though he speaks advantageously of the Efficacy of the Sacraments yet he requires very great Dispositions in order to their producing such Effects as they ought to have He particularly recommends Publick Penance for the Sins of Idolatry Murder and Fornication under which Three Sins must be comprehended all the Consequents of them which extend very far He thinks that those Sins cannot be pardon'd but by Publick Penance As to all other Sins he does not believe it necessary to submit to that Penance which the Canons of the Church enjoyned for them He explains the Fall of all Mankind that 't was caus'd by the Sin of the First Man very clearly and the unprofitableness of the Law the Necessity and Effects of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. He equally condemns the Rigour of the Novatians and the Impenitence of some Sinners as well as the heedlessness and softness where with others perform their Penance His Exhortations are lively and persuasive his Thoughts well-weigh'd his Proofs solid his way of Writing pleasant his Stile elegant and the Periods short In a word These little Tracts may pass for Master-pieces in their kind and these two Treatises may be look'd upon as a perfect Model of Preaching or Exhortation to the People The Works of this Father were Publish'd by Tilius and Printed at Paris with some other Books in 4to in the Year 1538 by Guillardus in 1655 in 8vo by Melchior Gopnerus and together with Hermas at Rome in 1564 in Folio and in the Bibliethecae Patrum GREGORY of Baetica GREGORY Bishop of Elvira a City of the Province of Baetica in Spain wrote divers Treatises in a low Stile and an elegant Book concerning the Faith which were extant in the latter Gregory of Baetica End of St Jerom's time We have in the Fragments of St. Hilary a Letter of Eusebius of Vercellae to this Bishop where he commends him for the Constancy wherewith he defended the Faith of the Church and resisted Hosius Marcellus and Faustinus the Luciferians tell us in their Letter to Valentinian the Emperour That Hosius being ready to condemn him was miraculously thrown upon the Ground and lost the use of his Speech But there is no probability that this Relation should be true as we have already shown when we Discours'd of Hosius St. Jerom in his Chronicle joyns this Bishop with Lucifer Calaritanus and observes that they would never have any Correspondence with those that were suspected of Arianism This joyn'd with the Honourable mention that Marcellinus and Faustinus make of this Bishop may induce us to believe that he was of the Judgment and Party of Lucifer He flourish'd from the Year 357 till the latter End of that Century The Ancients speak of him as a simple plain sincere Man but a zealous Defender of the Faith His Stile was no ways Sublime if we believe St. Jerom. There have been printed under his Name at Rome in the Year 1575 and in the Two first Editions of the Bibliothecae Patrum seven little Treatises against the Arians which are thought to be the same with the Book concerning the Faith cited by St. Jerom But it has since been discover'd that they were written by Faustinus a Luciferian Deacon to whom the Abbot Trithemius attributes them They are address'd to the Empress
Fire All that I can do is to exhort you 't is your part to Labour and God's to Perfect Raise up your Minds direct your Intentions prepare your Hearts it is for your Souls that you fight and they are Eternal Treasures which you hope for The First Lecture is also an Exhortation to those that are to be baptiz'd to prepare themselves by a Holy Life and by Good Works that so they may receive the Grace of Baptism It is compos'd upon a Lesson taken out of the First Chapter of Isaiah Verse 16. which begins with these words Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings c. He exhorts them wholly to put off the Old-man sincerely to renounce all Sin and to spend in the Exercises of Piety the 40 Days that are appointed to Prepare them for Baptism The Second is concerning Sin and Penance He teaches them That Sin is committed voluntarily by the bad use we make of our Free-Will That the Devil was the first Sinner that afterwards he made the first Man sin That by the Sin of the first Man all Men fell under Blindness and Death That he who rais'd Lazarus rais'd our Souls and deliver'd them from Sin by his Blood That therefore we ought not to despair whatsoever Sins we have committed but to trust to the Mercy of God and to have recourse to the Remedy of Repentance He relates many Examples of God's Mercy towards the greatest Sinners He alledges also the Example of the Angels to whom he thinks God pardon'd many Faults He adds towards the end the Example of St. Peter and concludes with these words These are my Brethren the many Examples of Sinners whom God hath pardon'd as soon as they repented Do you also Confess your Sins unto the Lord and you shall obtain the Kingdom of Heaven and enjoy the Heavenly Reward together with all the Saints in Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever The Third Lecture is concerning the Necessity of Baptism and of Penance which ought to precede it You must prepare your selves says he by Purity of Conscience for you ought not to consider the External Baptism but the Spiritual Grace which is given with the Water that is Sanctified by the Invocation of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost The Water washes the Body but the Spirit sanctifies the Soul that we being purified may become worthy to approach unto God You cannot be perfect unless you be sanctified by the Water and the Spirit So if any one be baptiz'd without having the Holy Spirit he receives not the Grace of Baptism and likewise if any one receive not Baptism though his Conversation were never so well order'd he shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This Discourse is bold but it is not mine but Jesus Christ's who has pronounc'd this Sentence when he said Except a man be born again of Water and the Holy Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven He proves this Truth by the Example of Cornelius then he shows the Necessity of Baptism by Water and says That none but Martyrs only can enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven without being baptiz'd The Ancients generally believed that Martyrdom was that Baptism by Fire which John Baptist fore-told Mat. 3. 11. and that was the Cup which our Saviour foretold Zebedee's Children that they should drink and the Baptism wherewith they were to be baptized He teaches That since Jesus Christ was baptiz'd to sanctifie the Waters of Baptism we must descend into the Water to be sanctified and as the Holy Spirit did then visibly appear so now he descends likewise though after an invisible manner upon those that are baptiz'd if they be well prepared for it In short he still exhorts those to whom he speaks to prepare themselves in the remaining part of Lent that so they may obtain by Baptism the Pardon of their Sins and the Grace of the Holy Spirit St. Cyril begins in the Fourth Catechetical Discourse with the Explication of the Articles of our Faith He says in his Exordium That the Worship of God consists in two things in the belief of those Doctrines that Religion teaches us and in the practice of Good Works That Faith is unprofitable without Good Works and that Good Works will prevail nothing without Faith He observes That the Articles of Faith are opposed by Pagans Jews and Hereticks and therefore it is necessary to propose it and explain it to those that enter into the Church He says That before he explains them more largely he will first give a summary of them and prays those that are already instructed to hear with Patience his Catechetical Discourses Afterwards he summarily explains the chief Doctrines of our Religion He instructs them concerning the Divinity That there is but one God only the Creator of all things who is every where present who knows all things who can do all things who never changes who will reward the Good and punish the Wicked c. He adds That we must believe also in Jesus Christ our Lord the only Son of God God begotten of God like in all things to him who begat him who was from all Eternity who sitteth now at his right hand and reigneth with him That we must not believe that the Son is of another Nature than the Father nor confound the Persons of the Father and the Son That he is the Word and the Word of God but a Word subsisting which is nothing like to the Word of Men That this Word was truly and really united to the Humane Nature That he assum'd real Flesh from the Virgin That he was truly Man subject to Humane Infirmities and to Death it self That he was crucified for our Sins That he was buried in the Grave and that he descended into Hell to deliver the Just who had been shut up there a long time with Adam That he was truly risen from the Dead That being ascended into Heaven he was worship'd by all the World and that he shall come again to Judge the Quick and the Dead and to establish an Eternal Kingdom Concerning the Holy Spirit he teaches That we ought to have the same Notions of him as of the Father and the Son That he is One Indivisible and Almighty That he knows all things That he descended in the form of a Dove upon Jesus Christ That he spoke by the Prophets That he Sanctifies the Soul in Baptism and that he ought to be honoured as the Father and the Son being one and the same Divinity He Exhorts his Auditors to hold fast this Creed and gives them Notice That he will prove it in the following Discourse by Testimonies of Scripture For says he we ought not to teach any thing concerning Divine Mysteries but what we can confirm by the Testimonies of Scripture Do not believe what I say if I do not prove it by the Holy Scriptures St. Cyril after having inform'd those whom he instructs what they ought
who Instructed the Catechumens Upon the Second they say that the Testimony of the Authors which have quoted him shew that he was older than the Eighth Century and that there is a Manuscript in the Abby of St. Gal written in great Letters which Mabillon believed might be about 1000 Years old whose Antiquity shows that this Author liv'd before the Seventh Century Besides that it appears by the Work it self that it is more ancient For there he speaks of a great Number of Adult Catechumens which proves that he liv'd at a time when the practice of Baptizing all Infants was not yet so general He observes also That there were yet in his time some Remainders of Idolatry And in short he refutes no other Hereticks but the Arians and he makes use of a Version of the Bible different from that of St. Jeroâ— which yet is not that which St. Ambrose used As to the last Head which concerns the Country of this Author 't is evident that he was not a Roman since he says That he Honours the Church of Rome and follows many of its Practices tho' he does not think himself oblig'd to follow it in all This gives occasion to conjecture that he was not far distant from it The Customs and Practices which he describes agree very well with the ancient Rites of the Church of Milan and the Churches of Gaul These Remarks seem to prove that this Book may be St. Ambrose's for all these Characters agree perfectly well to him but there are other Reasons which hinder the Benedictines from attributing it to him The First and Principal is the diversity of the Stile for tho' it may happen that an Author should write in a more plain and less sublime manner than he was wont to do yet the Strength of his Wit is always perceiv'd 'T is never found that an Author who has naturally an Elegant and Noble Stile does write in a very mean one St. Ambrose never falls into this Fault he does not make use of cold and childish Interrogations such as this Treatise is full of Besides that 't is no wise probable that St. Ambrose should imitate himself so exactly and transcribe a part of his Book about Mysteries and a part of his Treatise of the Institution of a Virgin They add also That St. Ambrose never reproves his People for Communicating seldom as this Author does and that there is no probability that he should oppose so publickly the Practice of the Roman Church about the washing of Feet These last Conjectures are a little weak on the contrary the former are very Strong and are as one may think sufficient to have determin'd the Benedictines to remove this Book from the Place of which it was possess'd among the Genuine Works of St. Ambrose especially since in reading the Book of the Sacraments it plainly appears that the Author was nothing else but a cold Imitater of St. Ambrose In effect the Subject of this Book is the same with that of the Book about Mysteries The Author does nothing but enlarge upon what St. Ambrose had said before He follows him step by step he adds very few things of his own he speaks only of the same Sacraments and the same Ceremonies he gives the same Explications of them he amplifies the same Arguments and the same Observations yet he enlarges sometimes a little more upon certain Ceremonies He openly opposes the Custom of the Church of Rome in omitting the Washing of Feet He explains the Change which is made in the Sacrament more largely He gives an Explication of the Pater noster and discourses of Prayer But he has also taken what he says of it out of St. Ambrose's Book of the Institution of a Virgin These Six Books are so many Sermons preached to the Novices The Two Books of Penance are undoubtedly St. Ambrose's they have his Stile He speaks of them in his Commentary upon Psalm 37 and St. Austin cites them several times There cannot be more convincing Proofs to show that any Work is Genuine These Books were written against the Novatians who would not allow the Church to have Power to Pardon Crimes This is the Error which St. Ambrose disputes against in the First Book He begins with a commendation of Moderation and Christian Meekness whereof Jesus Christ himself has given us an Example who condemns the harshness and rigour of the Novatians who fright Sinners from Penance and hinder them from applying a Remedy to their Diseases For who is it says he who will have the Courage to do Penance without any hope of Pardon What Confidence will any one have in such a Physician who is so far from having Compassion for his Sick Patient that he shows nothing but Contempt and Rigour towards him Afterwards he explains wherein the Error of the Novatians consists They maintain says he That we must not admit those to Communion who have faln by violating the Law of God If they spoke only of Sacrilege if they refus'd Pardon to this Crime only this would indeed be a Rigour condemn'd by the Words of Scripture But they offend also against common Sence by making all Crimes equal and by depriving those of Communion that are guilty of lesser Crimes as well as those that have committed the greatest They say That they do Honour to Jesus Christ by reserving to him only the Power of Pardoning Sins and in this very thing they dishonour him because they violate his Commandments The Church obeys Jesus Christ in binding and loosing Sinners The Novatians content themselves with binding only and will never loose Sinners tho' Jesus Christ gave at the same time to the Church the Power of binding and loosing whence it follows that the one cannot be permitted without the other wherefore both the one and the other are done in the Church and neither the one nor the other can be done among Hereticks For this Jurisdiction belongs only to Priests and none but the Church can assume it since none but she has true Priests and Hereticks have none at all Tho' what we have just now recited might make us believe that the Novatians granted not Remission to any Sin yet St. Ambrose confesses in the following Discourse that they pardon'd lighter Sins and refus'd Absolution only to those that were guilty of great Sins He asserts against them that Novatian was never of this Opinion and that his Judgment was That Penance should not be allow'd to any Sinner Perhaps St. Ambrose would have found it very difficult to prove this Assertion which seems not to agree with the Account we read in â—t Cyprian of the Birth of the Error of the Novatians However it be St. Ambrose having objected to them that they condemn the Author of their Sect disputes against their Distinction by saying That Jesus Christ did not make it That his Mercy extends unto all Sinners That those who have committed the greatest Sins should perform the greatest Penance and Lastly That the greater the
Antioch in the absence of the Bishop He commends the Martyrs and treats of Contrition of Heart and of Alms-deeds The Seventieth is upon the Feast of S. Bassus Bishop and Martyr upon an Earthquake that happened at Antioch and upon the Words of Jesus Christ Matthew c. II. v. 29. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart The Seventy-first is a Panegyrick upon S. Drosis The Seventy-second is a Sermon of Penance mention'd in the Ninth Homily of Penance All these Sermons now mention'd were preached at Antioch by S. Chrysostom when he was Priest of that Church There are but two more in this Volume preached at Constantinople the first was after the expulsion of Gainas from the City and the other was after S. Chrysostom's return from his first Exile At the latter end of the Fourth Volume there are Three Sermons of the same The First was preached at Antioch by S. Chrysostom immediately after his being made Priest This Sermon is a Panegyrick upon Flavianus who Ordained him It is the First that S. Chrysostom ever preached The Two others in the same place were preached towards the latter end of his Life The First at the time when they contrived his Deposition and former Banishment the Second after he was recalled In it there is an excellent Comparison of Sarah seized upon by the King of Egypt and of the Church of Constantinople deprived of his presence by the Caballings of Theophilus an Egyptian Bishop and a dextrous Commendation of the Empress Eudoxia The first Volume contains several other Sermons preached for the most part at Antioch The first Twenty-one are called Sermons of Statues because they were preached at the time and upon the occasion of a sedition in Antioch in the beginning of the Year 388 wherein the People had thrown down and dragged about Streets the Statues of Theodosius and of the Empress Flaccilla The first Sermon is upon these words of S. Paul to Timothy Use a little Wine for thy Stomach's sake and often Infirmities wherein he alledgeth several reasons why God permits his Saints to be afflicted he preached it sometime before that Tumult which obliged him to discontinue his preaching But the heat of that sedition was no sooner over and the People of Antioch astonished with the fearfull Threatnings of the Emperour had acknowledged their fault and turned their fury into Mourning but he resumed the Chair for the comfort of that desolate People And Flavianus their Bishop as a good Father went to the Emperour to asswage his Anger The first Sermon of S. Chrysostom upon this Subject is that which is called the second of Statues There he bewails the Unhappiness of that City exhorting the Inhabitants to implore the Mercy of God by fervent Prayers and turn away his Wrath by good Works to prevent the Danger that threatned them This Discourse is very eloquent Here are some Fragments whereby one may judge of the rest What shall I say What shall I speak of Our present Condition calls for Tears rather than Words Lamentations rather than Discourses and Prayers rather than Sermons The blackness of our Action is so great the Wound we have given to our selves is so deep and so hard to be cured that we have need to apply our selves to an Almighty Physician Then having compared the Misery of that City to that of Job he adds Seven Days have I kept silence as formerly did Job's Friends Give me leave to open my Mouth and bewail our Misery I groan I weep not for the severity of the Threatnings but for the excess of our Folly For though the Emperour were not angry with us and should forbear to punish us how should we suffer the shame of our Action After this he describes very elegantly the Happiness which that City enjoyed before that Mutiny and the Misery it was now reduced to and concludes this Description with these Words The great City of Antioch is in danger of being utterly destroyed she that lately had an infinite Number of Inhabitants will shortly prove a Wilderness none in this World can help her For the offended Emperour hath no equal upon Earth he is the Sovereign and the Master of all Men. All we can do is to make our Application to the King of Heaven let us address our selves to him and call upon him for help If we obtain not Mercy from Heaven we have no remission to hope for He observes that God permitted that Mischief to punish the People for their Blasphemies and teaches rich Men what use they are to make of their Riches The next Sermon was preached when Flavianus was gone to Court to sollicite the Business of the City of Antioch There he represents the Charity of Flavianus who would undertake that Journey He tells them the things that the Bishop was to represent to the Emperour and bids them hope that these Remonstrances will be heard affirming that he is confident of all through God's Mercy God says he will stand betwixt the petitioning Bishop and the Emperour addressed to he will soften the King's Heart and put in the Bishop's Mouth the Words which he should speak He intreats the People to pray earnestly that God would mollifie the Spirit of the Emperour He speaks of fasting in Lent affirming that right fasting is to abstain from Sin At last he advises the People to avoid three Vices Evil speaking hatred of their Neighbour and Blasphemy He goes on to instruct and comfort the People of Antioch in the following Sermons In the 4th he praises God that the Christian's Affliction in the City of Antioch had put them upon thoughts of their Salvation and exhorts them to Patience And in the last place inveigheth against Swearing and promises to speak of it all the Week This Sermon was preached upon Munday of the First week in Lent Next day he continued the same Subject encouraging the People of Antioch to bear with Constancy and Generosity all the Threatnings against them and not to fear either Death or Sufferings He shews that Sin is the only thing that Christians ought to fear and he speaks again eagerly against Swearing The 6th Sermon was preached the next Day after for the Consolation of the People that were intimidated by the Magistrate He giveth God thanks that Flavianus was arrived before those that carried the News of the Mutiny He tells the reasons that the Bishop was to use to the Emperour and explains a Law that was to be urged He tells them That Sin only was to be feared and that Swearing ought to be avoided The 7th and 8th were preached upon Thursday and Friday of the same Week He comforts the People and explains the beginning of Genesis which was then begun to be read in the Chuches in Lent He discourses against Swearing and reminds them that it was the sixth Day that he had preached against that Sin and that it should be the last time Which shews that the 15th Sermon followeth this for there he tells them
The Churches are guarded by the Martyrs as by so many Soldiers The afflicted make Addresses to them and with Confidence implore their Intercession It cureth Diseases comforteth in Poverty and appeaseth the anger of Princes Finally the Churches of Martyrs are an Harbour in a Storm and a refuge in all Miseries The Father whose Child is sick prayeth unto God for his Cure by the intercession of a Martyr saying You Holy Martyr that suffered for Jesus Christ interceed for us You who can Address to God with greater Boldness carry this word for your fellow Servants Tho' you are no longer in the World yet you know the Pains and Afflictions of this Life Your selves have formerly pray'd to the Martyrs before you were Martyrs they heard you when you intreated them now that you can hear us grant â—s our Requests But least ignorant Persons should yield to Martyrs the Honour which belongs only to God he adds We doe not adore the Martyrs but we Honour them as God's Servants We Honour not Men but admire them VVe lay up their Relicks in beautified Shrines and we build magnificent Churches to their Memory to render them the same Honour in the Church that is given in the VVorld to those that have done famous Actions He goeth on to establish this Principle in the rest of this Discourse where he speaks so strongly of the worship of Saints and Martyrs against such as despise them that it gives occasion of Suspicion whether this be not of a younger Age than that of Asterius Amasenus The Eleventh Sermon is a Panegyrick upon S. Euphemia cited in the Seventh general Council Act. 4. and by Photius It seemeth not to me to be of Asterius Amasenus his Stile The Author relateth the History of that Saint and observes that she was represented upon a VVinding-sheet that was near her Grave After these Sermons come those Extracts produced by Photius Vol. 271. The first is taken out of a Sermon of Penance upon the sinful Woman among the Works of Gregory Nyssen to whom he ascribed it in the Second Volume of his Bibliotheca but after serious reflection I have found that it is more likely to be written by Asterius Amasenus The Second Extract is taken out of the Sermon upon S. Steven among Proclus's Sermons It differs from that which S. Gregory Nyssen made upon that Subject tho' I confounded them in the Second Volume The Third is taken out of the Homily upon the Parable of the Traveller who going to Jericho was taken and wounded by Thieves Luk. 10. He supposeth that this Accident was real and that Jesus Christ makes use of it to inform the Jews of the Greatness of his Charity and Mercy This wounded man going down to Jericho is the Figure of Adam who by his Sin fell from the happy State wherein he was created and at the same time caused the Fall of all mankind The Levite and the Priest are Moses and S. John who finding this Man that is all mankind destitute of Grace Vertue and Piety and wounded by his Enemies did indeed look upon him with Compassion but could not cure him That the Samaritan is Jesus Christ who carries a Treasure of Grace hidden till the time of the New Law This Exposition of the Parable is pretty exact so far but the Comparison he makes afterwards betwixt the Body of Jesus Christ and the Horse that carried this Samaritan is hardly tolerable Because saith he the Body of Jesus Christ is as it were the Vehicle of the Divinity The Fourth Extract of Photius is taken out of an Homily upon the Prayers of the Pharisee and of the Publican spoken of Luk. ch 18. Here is an excellent Definition of Prayer Prayer is a conference with God a forgetting of earthly things and an Ascension into Heaven He that prayeth standing with his hands lifted up to Heaven doth by this posture of his Body represent the Cross and if he prayeth with the Heart and his Prayer is acceptable to God he hath the Cross in his Heart For Prayer extinguishes in him the Desires of the Flesh the love of Riches and puts off from his Spirit the thoughts of Pride and Vanity He addeth That Vain-glory corrupts the best Actions as Prayer Fasting and Alms c. and renders them improfitable The Fifth Extract is out of the Homily upon the History of Zacchaeus it containeth nothing considerable The Sixth is upon the Parable of the prodigal Son He saith that the Father spoken of in that Parable represents the Father of Eternity That the two Sons are two sorts of Men That the prodigal Child is a Figure of those that have lost the Grace of Baptism That the Portion of Goods which he desires of his Father is the Grace of Baptism and the Participation of the Body of Jesus Christ That this Child doth indeed ask it well but does not keep it but goes into a foreign Countrey that is he departeth from God's Commandments That the Devil is that Citizen and Prince who commandeth the Swine that is debauched Persons That this Sinner at last acknowledging his Fault cometh back to God his Father but with fear and confessing his unworthiness That the Father full of Compassion and Mercy receiveth him embraceth and puts upon him new Robes That these new Robes cannot be Baptism which cannot be received a second time but Repentance which is instead of Baptism and which blotting out our Sins with tears makes us clean and acceptable to God That the Ring afterwards given to this prodigal Child is the Seal of the Holy Ghost which is given in Repentance as well as in Baptism The Seventh Extract is of a Sermon upon the cure of the Centurion's Servant Photius saith that Asterius upon occasion of that History treateth of the Duties of Masters and Servants That he adviseth Servants to obey their Masters readily and heartily and exhorteth their Masters to use them with Meekness and Bounty looking upon them as Brethren For saith he they are made of the same Mould with us they have the same Creator the same Nature the same Passions they have a Body and a Soul as we have c. The Homily at the beginning of the Fast from which Photius hath taken out the Eighth Extract is in Latin among the Works of S. Gregory Nyssen I now Confess that it rather belongs to Asterius than to that Father The Ninth Extract is of the Homily upon the Man born blind which we have entire The Tenth is upon the Woman having an Issue of Blood There he speaks of the History of the Statue which that Woman caused to be set up in Honour of Jesus Christ in the City of Paneas This is all that F. Combefis hath collected of the Works of Asterius Amasenus but since that Cotelerius in the second Volume of his Ecclesiastical Monuments hath given us three Homilies upon Psalm 5 6 and 7. which he ascribeth to Asterius Amasenus upon the Authority of two Catenae upon the Psalms
Hieronymus Vincentius propter verecundiam humilitatem nollent debita nomini suo exercere Sacrificia laborare in hac parte Ministerii qua Christianorum praecipua salus est This Ordination was about the Year 375. before the Peace was concluded betwixt Meletius and Paulinus in 378. S. Jerom might be about 35 Years old at that time As he would not enter into Orders but upon condition not to be compelled to Exercise the Functions of his Ministery so he did not think himself obliged to have his Name registred nor to reside in the Church of Antioch he left it therefore to go to Bethlehem which he chose for his constant Habitation Yet he did not stay there long but went to Constantinople where he conversed with S. Gregory Nazianzen whom he calls his Master and of whom he professes to have learned to expound the Holy Scripture Having tarried some time with this Saint he had a Call to Rome about the Affairs of the Church with Paulinus and S. Epiphanius l He was called to Rome with Paulinus and S. Epiphanius He says so himself in his 16th and 27th Epistles He came thither in 382 and went away three years after as he observes in the Letter to Asella he speaks in the 11th Letter and in his Apology to Pammachius of the Letters and Answers which he writ in Damasus's Name whose interest he had Espoused against those of the East this Journey was in all probability undertaken after the Death of Meletius in the Year 382. Damasus taking notice of S. Jerom's merit kept him with him that he might have a Man that was able to answer all Questions proposed from all parts S. Jerom did not only discharge the parts of that difficult Employment most worthily but composed several Books besides He was likewise charged with the conduct of the most considerable Ladies of the Town m He was charged likewise with the conduct of the most considerable Ladies of the Town These Ladies are become famous by S. Jerom's writtings their Names are Marcella who being left a young Widow and having been but seven Months with an Husband refused to Marry a Man of the first quality called Cerealis to continue in Widow-hood Her Mother Albina who came also to hear S. Jerom. Melania is not less famous by the Praises of S. Jerom than by those of Rufinus Asella Marcellina and Felicitas are also of the number of those whom he commended but his greatest Affection appeared to be for Paula and her Daughters Blesilla Eustochium Paulina Ruffina and Toxotium This is what he saith himself in his Letter to Asella of the Esteem which he had gotten among the Women I have saith he dwelt three years at Rome I was often encompassed with great numbers of Virgins and Women I often expounded the Holy Scripture to them This reading made them constant and their Assiduity begot a kind of Familiarity upon which an ill Opinion was conceived of me and yet he was not able to prevent wholly evil speaking The Clergy of that City whose manners he reproved found fault with his Carriage accused him of too much Familiarity with Paula and they suborned a Footman to tax him with disorder but the Fellow being imprisoned and put to the Rack disowned all that he had said before by which means he got many Friends and much credit But as he severely reproved the Mis-demeanours of the Clergy and the Vices of the people so he got many Enemies who endeavoured to render his Behaviour suspected After Damasus his Death S. Jerom who this whole three Years that he was at Rome longed for his Solitude took Shipping in August 385. to go back to Bethlehem with a great many Persons that accompanied him He passed thro Cyprus where he saw S. Epiphanius from thence he went to Antioch where Paulinus received him courteously and from Antioch he went to Jerusalem and then into Egypt where he stay'd some time with Didymus Afterwards he visited the Monasteries of Nitria and finding the Monks there adhering to Origen's Opinions he returned to Bethlehem whither the Ladies Paula Eustochium and Melania came soon after He continued some time in that place in a little Cell But the number of those that embraced that kind of Life being increased Paula built there a Church and four Monasteries one for Men and three for Women S. Jerom then enjoying perfectly that Quietness which he so much desired continued his Labours and there composed the greatest part of his Works upon the Scripture His rest was somewhat disturbed by the Quarels which he had with Rufinus and with John of Jerusalem upon the Account of Origenism yet he went on with writing and defended himself with a great deal of Vigour He died very old in the Year of Christ 420. This Saint wrote great numbers of Books full of profound Learning and written with great Purity and Eloquence In our Accounts and Abridgments we shall follow Marianus Victorius's Order that he uses in the Edition which he published of S. Jerom's works The First Volume contains the Letters which S. Jerom writ either to exhort his Friends to Vertue or to instruct them or to commend them in Panegyricks or funeral Orations The First directed to Heliodorus was written by S. Jerom from his Solitude some time after this Friend left him to return into his own Countrey He exhorts him to come back again by representing the great Advantages of a retired Life with great force and Fineness and by answering all the Reasons that might keep him from embracing it with abundance of Art This Treatise is a Master-piece of Eloquence in its kind nothing can be more florid more agreeable or more moving This Letter saith he whereof you will find some lines blotted with my tears will put you in mind of the tears I shed and of the Groans I uttered at your going from me You then endeavoured by your Caresses to sweeten the contempt that you cast upon my Intreaties .... I was not able to stop you at that time and now I seek after you now you are absent .... No I will use no more Intreaties I will employ no more Caresses Love that feels its self offended ought to turn into Anger You who regarded not my Supplications will perhaps hearken to my Reproaches Nice Soldier what are you doing in your Father's house .... Remember that day wherein by Baptism you listed your self a Soldier of Christ then you took an Oath of Fidelity to him that you would spare neither Father nor Mother for his Service .... Tho' your little Nephew should hang about your Neck tho' your Mother should tear her hair and rend her clothes to show you the Bosom that carried you to oblige you to stay and tho' your Father should lie down upon the Threshold of the Door to stop you step over your Father and follow the Standard of the Cross with dry Eyes It is great mercy to be cruel on such occasions I know
Church of Rome and Africk yea and of all Orthodox Christians in the World That the cause why these Persons acted in this manner was That they could not endure what had been opposed against those things which in their Conferences they had started against S. Austin's Doctrine That they knew well enough that if they came to produce their Maxims in any Council a great number of S. Austin's Writings would be objected against them which would evidently prove that we ought to attribute all the Glory of the Good we do to the Grace of Jesus Christ and not in the least to the freedom of our Wills In sum That he hoped through the Mercy of God that he would not for ever deprive those of his Illumination whom at present he permitted to forsake Christian Humility that they might follow the bent of their own Wills The Error of these Persons consists in asserting That our Vertues and Holy Lives spring from Nature or if they proceed from Grace it had been preceded by some good Action or Election of the Will which had deserved it S. Prosper undertakes to confute this Opinion by proving from Testimonies of Holy Scripture that since the Fall of Man the Free-will hath no Power to do any good or to deserve any thing unless assisted by the Grace of Jesus Christ and that all Men being faln into a state of Perdition through the sin of Adam nothing but the gratuitous Mercy of God could deliver them To prove this Doctrine he brings the Example of Children who die Unbaptized and of those Nations to whom the Gospel hath not been Preached He adds That Grace doth not destroy Free-will but that it restores and changes it That of it self it can do nothing but Evil and all the Work it doth tends to Man's Destruction That Grace cures it and makes it act and think otherwise but he teaches at the same time that its Recovery proceeds not from himself but from his Physician Lastly S. Prosper refells the Calumny with which they had blackned the Doctrine of S. Austin by accusing it of introducing a Fatality and admitting two Natures in Man He maintains That he never asserted any thing like to those Errors That neither himself nor his Scholars hold That any thing happens through Fate but they assure us that all is ordered and ruled by Divine Providence That they allow not two Natures in Man the one good and the other bad but only one Nature which having been created perfect is faln from that Perfection by the sin of the first Man and is become subject to Eternal Death but Jesus Christ hath restored it by a second Creation and secured its Liberty by preventing it and helping it continually He concludes by exhorting him to whom he wrote to read carefully S. Austin's Works if he desired to be well instructed in the sound Doctrine concerning the Grace of Jesus Christ. But the Adversaries of S. Austin were not contented to divulge scandalous Reports against his Doctrine but they set down in writing the pernicious Consequences which they thought might be drawn from it Vincentius who was perhaps the famous Monk of Lerins of whom we have spoken put out sixteen erroneous Propositions which he pretends to be maintain'd by S. Austin and his Scholars This oblig'd S. Prosper to deliver S. Austin's and his Scholars Judgment upon every one of his Propositions Objection I. That our Lord Jesus Christ did not die for the Salvation and Redemption of all Mankind S. Prosper answers That it is a true Assertion that Jesus Christ died for all Men because he assumed that Nature which is common to all Men that he offered up himself upon the Account of all Men and that he hath paid a Price sufficient for their Redemption But nevertheless all Men have not a part in that Redemption but those only who have been regenerated by Baptismal Grace and are become the Members of Jesus Christ. Objection II. That God will not save all Men altho' they desire to be saved S. Prosper Answers That it may be said That God desires the Salvation of all Men altho there be some that shall not be saved for Reasons known only to himself That those that perish perish through their own fault but they who are saved are saved by the Grace of Jesus Christ. Objection III. That God created one part of Mankind to damn them Eternally He Answers That God creates no Man to Damnation The sin of the first Man hath damned many but God created them not to be damned but to be Men. He denies not his Concourse for the multiplying of Mankind He rewards many for the good that is done by them and he punishes in others the Vices that he sees them guilty of Objection IV. That one part of Mankind is created to do the Will of the Devil His Answer is That God created no Man to do the Will of the Devil but every Man is made a Captive of the Devil by reason of the sin of the first Man Objection V. That God is the Author of Evil since he is the Author of our perverse Will and hath created us of such a Nature as cannot but sin He replies This Objection is also grounded upon the Doctrine of Original Sin God hath created Nature but Sin which is contrary to Nature hath been introduced by the Apostacy of Adam Objection VI. That Man 's free Will is like the Devils which cannot do any good He answers All the difference is that God sometimes converts through his Mercy some of the vilest Sinners but the Devils are past all hopes of Repentance Objection VII That God will not have a great number of Christians to be saved nor gives them a desire so to be His Answer is They that desire not to be saved cannot be saved but 't is not the Will of God that makes them not desire it but on the contrary 't is that which stirs up the Wills of them that desire it God forsakes no Man that forsakes him not and very often converts those who have forsaken him The Three Objections and Answers which follow are bottomed upon the same Principles with the former The seven last are some Difficulties about Predestination which come all to one Head almost viz. If God hath predestined some to Salvation and others to Damnation this Predestination is the cause of all the Evil that is done and all the Faithful who are decreed to Damnation shall necessarily be damned whatsoever they do The general Answer to these Objections is this That God hath not predestined the sin of any Man He knew from all Eternity the sins which should be committed and hath decreed the punishment of sins but not the sins themselves He damns the Wicked and Impenitent but he makes them not either Wicked or Impenitent It is true he gives them not the Gift of Righteousness or Repentance but neither is he obliged to do it It is one thing to deny a Gift and another to
Conference with the Arian Bishops The King told him with a stern Countenance If your Religion be good why do not you hinder the King of the Franks your Soveraign from making War upon me Avitus answer'd That he did not know the Reasons which his Prince had to make War upon him butif he would submit to the Law of God he did not doubt to obtain a Peace for him The King answer'd That he did acknowledge the Law of God but he would not acknowledge three Gods Avitus gave him to understand that the Catholicks do not acknowledge but one God only and then he fell prostrate at his Feet The next day the King told them That his Bishops were ready to enter into a Conference with them but that it must not be held before the People but only in his presence and before such Senators as he should choose To Morrow is appointed for the day The same Night the Lessons were read which mention'd the hardning of Pharaoh's heart and of the Jews which was a bad Omen When the time for the Conference was come the Bishops of both Parties were present at the Place appointed Avitus explain'd the Faith of the Church about the Mystery of the Trinity and prov'd it by Testimonies of the Holy Scripture Boniface being the Arian Bishop that was to speak answer'd nothing to Avitus's Discourse but only propos'd many subtil and entangling Questions about the Mystery of the Trinity and then broke forth into reproachful Language The King respited the Answer of Boniface till to morrow An Officer call'd Aredius would have perswaded the Catholicks to retire telling them That this sort of Conferences did nothing but exasperate mens minds Bishop Stephen answer'd him That on the contrary it was the only means to clear up the truth and to reconcile men to one another and bring them to a good understanding But notwithstanding this Admonition the Catholick Bishops entred into the Place King Gondebaud seeing them came to meet them and spoke reproachfully of the King of the Franks whom he accused of solliciting his Brother against him The Bishops answer'd him That the way to make Peace was to agree about the Faith and that they themselves would be Mediators for it and then every one took his place Avitus being desirous to wipe off the Calumnies of Boniface who had accus'd the Catholiks of worshipping many Gods prov'd that the Catholicks acknowledg'd one God only Boniface instead of answering continued still to reproach them The King seeing that this would not put an end to the difference rose up with indignation Avitus insisted that he should either answer his Reasons or yield But to shew clearly on whose side the Truth was he propos'd That he should go immediately to the Monument of St. Justus and ask the Saint about the truth of the one and the other's Belief and then report what he had said The King approv'd this Proposal but the Arians refus'd it saying They would not do as Saul did who had recourse to Charms and Divination that the Scripture was sufficient for them which was much more powerful then all other means The King going away carried with him to his Chamber Stephen and Avitus and bidding them farewel he embraced them and intreated them to pray to God for him Which discover'd to them says the Author of this Relation what a perplexity he was in But because the heavenly Father had not drawn him he could not come to the Son that this word of truth might be fulfill'd 'T is not he that willeth nor he that runneth but God that sheweth mercy After this day many Arians were converted and baptiz'd some days after and God exalted our Faith by the Intercession of St. Justus These are the very words of the Acts of this Conference ENNODIUS Bishop of PAVIA MAgnus Felix Ennodius descended of an illustrious Family among the Gauls a Descended of an illustrious Family among the Gauls says in many places of his Works that his Parents were Gauls He was a Kinsman to the greatest Lords in his time as to Faustus â—oetius Avienus Olybrius Senarius Florianus c. was born in Italy b In Italy 'T is certain that he pass'd his first years in Italy in the Year 473 c In the Year 473. In the Panegyrick which he made upon Theodoric he declares that he was sixteen years old when that King entred into Italy in the Year 489. Having lost at the Age of Sixteen an Aunt who gave him Maintenance and Education he was reduc'd to low Circumstances in the World but by marriage to a rich Fortune he was restor'd to a plentiful Estate He enjoy'd for some time the Advantages and Pleasures which Riches afford but knowing the danger of them he resolv'd to lead a more Christian Life He entred into Orders with the consent of his wife who for her part embrac'd a chast and religious Life 'T was at this time that he became famous for his Letters and other Writings He was chosen to make a Panegyrick upon King Theodoric and undertook the Defence of the Council of Rome which acquitted Pope Symmachus For his Merits he was promoted to the See of Pavia about the Year 510 d About the Year 510 Father Labbe says that he was made Bishop of Pavia in 490 but this cannot be since he was not then seventeeen years old He was not yet Bishop when his Book was approv'd in the Synod of Rome in 503 for the Title of Bishop is not given him After this he was made choice of to endeavour the Re-union of the Eastern to the Western Church Upon which occasion he made two Journeys into the East the first in the Year 515 with Fortunatus Bishop of Catana and the second in 517 with Peregrinus Bishop of Misena These Journeys had not the success which he desir'd but they discover'd his Prudence and Courage For the Emperor Anastasius did all he could to seduce or corrupt him but not being able to compass his design after many affronts at last he caus'd him to put to Sea in an old rotten Vessel and forbad all persons to suffer him to land at any Port of Greece whereby he was expos'd to manifest danger Nevertheless he arriv'd safe in Italy and return'd to Pavia where he died a little time after on the first day of August in the Year 521 aged 48 years There are many Writings of this Author which have no relation to Ecclesiastical Matters Among his 297 Letters which are divided into nine Books there are but very few from whence any weighty observation can be made about the Doctrine or Discipline of the Church The fourteenth Letter of the second Book is one of this number It is written to the Christians of Africk whom he comforts under the Persecution which they had suffer'd for a long time and the loss of their Bishops Fear not says he to them because you see your selves destitute of Bishops you have amongst you him who is both
his Grace to enlighten them and to make the Word fruitful in them for in vain does the Word of God strike our Ears if God does not open our Understanding by his Grace Thus ends this Answer of the Bishops of Afric which is worthy of the Faithful Disciples of St. Austin The Books of Faustus against these Principles were publish'd at Constantinople and because they made a great noise these Monks sent them to St. Fulgentius who wrote seven Books to refute them This Work is not printed Father Vignerus of the Oratory had a Manuscript of it but since his Death it is not known what is become of it St. Fulgentius had finish'd it before he was call'd back into Afric When he was upon his return thither he wrote upon the same subject and according to the same Principles three Books of Predestination and Grace address'd to John the Priest and Venerius a Deacon He shows in the first Book That Predestination is purely gratuitous and that it does not depend upon the prospect of Men's Merits The example of Infants is one of his strongest Proofs But whereas some save themselves by saying That God permits them to receive or not to receive Baptism according to the knowledge of the good or evil which he foresaw they should have done if they had liv'd he rejects this Solution and this middle Science In the second Book he confesses that the Good and Evil have a Free-will but he maintains that it is aided and improv'd in good Men by Grace and that it is weakned and punish'd in the bad that it is God who converts us and worketh in us to will that which is good that 't is he who gives us the design and will to pray that the Will of Man always follows the grace of God which precedes it Towards the end he confutes the Opinion of his Adversaries who affirm'd That the Vessels of honour and dishonour mention'd by the Apostle are not the Predestinate and the Reprobate but the Vessels of dishonour are the Poor the Monks and Ecclesiasticks and the Vessels of honour are the Noble the Rich and the Potentates of this World He proves that this Exposition is false and hereupon he says That in this World there is no Dignity in the Church above that of a Bishop nor in Secular Affairs above that of a Christian Emperor but all the Bishops and Emperors are not Vessels of Mercy but only those who acquit themselves well in their Offices A Bishop says he shall not be sav'd because he is a Bishop but he shall be sav'd if he watch over his Flock if he preach the Word in season and out of season if he reproves sinners if he uses to them Entreaties and Rebukes with all kind of patience and meekness if he has not the spirit of domineering and pride if according to the Command of the Apostle he serves for an Example to all his Flock So likewise an Emperor is not a Vessel of Mercy destin'd to Glory because he has the Soveraign Power but he shall be if he live in the Orthodox Faith if being possessed of true Humility he makes his Royal Dignity subservient to Religion if he loves rather to serve God with fear then to command his People with pride if he moderates his severity by a spirit of meekness if his power is accompanied with goodness if he would rather be lov'd then fear'd if he minds nothing but the good of his Subjects if hâ— loves Justice without forgetting Mercy if he remembers in all his Actions that he is a Son of the Church and that he ought to employ his power for its quiet and peace For this Honour for the Church makes the Emperors greater and more glorious then all their Battels and Victories In the third Book he returns to Predestination and having affirm'd that it is gratuitous that Vocation Justification and Glory are its effects that it is infallible and certain that the number of the Predestin'd is determin'd and that it is impossible to add too or take away any from them he answers this great Objection That if this were so we ought then neither to pray nor watch but follow our own Wills since if we are of the number of the predestin'd we shall infallibly be sav'd and if we are not we cannot be sav'd He says That this Objection is like that of those to whom God should promise a long Life when they infer from this promise that they will no more take those things that are necessary to maintain this Life He adds That as the love of Life makes him to whom this promise is made seek for those things which are necessary to maintain it so the Grace which God has prepared for us by his Predestination does infallibly make us watch pray and labour Afterwards he enlarges upon this Passage God would have all men to be sav'd and is of Opinion that the true sense of it is That God would have some Men of all Nations Ages and Conditions sav'd and not that he wills the Salvation of every Man in particular since he would not make himself known to such Men as would have believed in him if he had made himself known unto them From hence he passes to consider the difference between the state of the first Man and ours The first Man was perfectly and fully free he had no inclination to evil and he had the power to do good by the assistance of that Grace which he could use or not use But since sin entred the liberty of Man's Will is deprav'd and his Free-will is become a Slave to sin and he has need of a powerful preventing Grace to deliver him from the unhappy necessity of sinning and to render him victorious over Temptations Lastly He treats of the Origine of Souls whether they be created and put into the Body or produc'd by other Souls He follows and approves the Modesty of St. Austin who treating of this Question left it undecided He shews what Difficulties there are to reconcile the first Opinion with the belief of Original Sin and the second with the manner of propagating Mankind And so without determining any thing upon the Question he says only That we must believe that the Soul is not a Body but a Spirit that it is not a part of the very Substance of God but a Creature that it is not put into the Body as a Prison for sins that are past but that it is put into the Body by the appointment of God to animate it and that being united to the Flesh it contracts Original Sin from which it is purified by Baptism He refutes in a few words these Errors and those who asserted them St. Fulgentius wrote also a Letter in the Name of the Bishops of Afric to John and Venerius to whom he address'd these two Books This Letter contains the same Principles and the same Doctrine about Grace and Predestination There they observe that God permits some Persons to
Adult Persons who are Baptized but are not of the number of the Elect are not true Members of the Church of Jesus Christ. In the fourth place he doth not like his words where speaking of Predestination he saith That the Devils and Reprobates are Predestined to Damnation so that none of them can be saved He affirms That this is an horrible Blasphemy against God and an Impiety that makes Sin necessary That God indeed foresees the Siâ—s of Devils and wicked Men without which they would be necessitated and that he hath not Destined them to eternal punishments but upon the prevision of their Sins which he knew they would commit freely Fifthly He abhors the Proposition delivered by Gotteschalcus that the Damned are as infallibly and irrevocably Predestined to Damnation as God is Infallible and Immutable And he laughs at that which he adds That the Bishops ought to exhort the Reprobate to Pray that tho' their Damnation is irrevocable yet their Torments may be less Sixthly He can't endure what he hath said That God and his Saints rejoyce at the Eternal Condemnation of the Reprobates He says That God rejoyces in their Destruction but not for it That he rejoyces not in their Evil doing but in the Exaltation of his own Justice Lastly He condemns his behaviour toward the Bishops by railing at them contemning them and calling them that are not of his Judgment Hereticks and Rabanists He chides him for being unconcerned at the separation of the Church which he had suffered a long time for exalting himself against his Spiritual Fathers the Bishops for submitting to no Authority nor desiring a peaceable Decision of the Controversie in hand with humility and for thinking himself the only Person enlightened and inspired by God to confirm the Truth He exhorts advises and conjures him to reflect upon himself return from his Errors to the Church and submit himself to the Bishops and gives him with a Fatherly goodness such other Counsels as were proper for him to follow This Epistle is Printed by Mauguin in Collect. Script 9 Saeculi Tom. 2. and with his other Works at the end of Agobardus's Works put out by Balurius at Paris 1666. Some have pretended that this Writing of Gotteschalcus which Amolo confutes in this Letter was Forged by Hincmarus whom they accuse of this Forgery but they have no proof of it and the two conjectures upon which they ground the Accusation are took weak to raise any Credit upon so that 't would be a very rash thing to condemn so illustrious an Archbishop of so scandalous a Crime without better proofs especially since we do not find any of the Favourers of Gotteschalcus to have laid any such thing to his Charge It is most reasonable for us to believe that Gotteschalcus composed this Writing privately and sent it to Amolo Archbishop of Lyons supposing that that Church would be more favourable to him because it was of S. Austin's Judgment about Predestination and Grace but since he strain'd his Opinions to too high and faulty a pitch and drew hard and unwarrantable Consequences from them 't is no wonder that Amolo gave him such an Answer which is written with all the insinuating Art possible to appease Hincmarus and oblige this Monk to make him satisfaction There is another small Piece which is annexed to this Letter to Gotteschalcus which is thought to be a fragment of the Letter written at the same time to Hincmarus in which he treats of Grace and Predestination In it he teaches us to believe that 't is Grace by which men are saved which is not given them according to their merits but through the pure and free Mercy of God which moves them to good not by Necessity but by their Will and Love That this Grace is given to Infants in their Baptism to Adult Persons and all the Faithful in all their Actions Thoughts and Words that are good because there is no good but is the gift of God That his Prescience is certain and that he foresees how all things will come to pass so that the number of the Elect is known to him and cannot be changed That the Predestination of the Just is of free Mercy and is not done in consideration of their Merits but that he hath justified and sanctified by his Grace in time all those who have been Predestinated from all Eternity through his meer Mercy that they may be holy and just That Perseverance is a Gift of God That our Free-will is so much weakened by Sin that it can't raise it self to the love of Truth and Justice if it be not excited healed and strengthned by the Grace which frees it He adds That this Doctrine needs not to cast us into Despair but gives us confidence in the Mercy of God That that which is found in S. Austin and some other Fathers that God hath Predestinated the Wicked to Damnation and eternal Death ought not to be understood as tho' God constrained them by his Power or Predestination to be Sinners and so Damned but in this sense That God hath Ordain'd by his just Judgment eternal punishments for those that he foresaw would continue in the Mass of Perdition by the Sin of Adam or who would make themselves subject to Damnation by their own voluntary Sins This fragment of Amolo's Epistle is also extant in the forementioned Edition of Agobardus Hincmarus seeing Amolo thus in a manner to condemn Gotteschalcus thought it convenient to write Hincmarus's Letter to the Church of Lyons to the Church of Lyons upon that subject Whereupon he wrote a Letter to him giving him an account after what manner Gotteschalcus was Judged and Condemned in two Councels and comprises his Doctrine under five chief Heads 1. That God hath Predestined from all Eternity those whom he pleaseth to the Kingdom of Heaven or Eternal Damnation 2. That they that are Predestined to Eternal Death can't be Saved and those that are Predestined to Eternal Glory can't be Damned 3. That God will not have all Men to be Saved and that the Apostles Words ought to be understood only of those that are Saved 4. That Jesus Christ came not to save all Men that he hath not suffered for all Men but for those only who are saved by the Mystery of his Passion 5. That since the Fall of Man no Man can keep himself safe by his own Free-will from the commission of Sin Pardulus Bishop of Laon wrote also to the Church of Lyons upon the same subject telling them that of those six Persons who had written upon these Questions none of them had sufficiently cleared them Some join to these Letters one of Rabanus's written to Notingus Pardulus's Letter is not extant to the Church of Lyons When these Letters were carried to Lyons Remigius who succeeded Amolo in the Archbishoprick of The Answer of the Church of Lyons to Hincmarus by Remigius Lyons wrote in the Name of his Church an Answer to three Letters
not the Other That the Father for Instance is not the Son nor the Son the holy Ghost because they are of the same nature and distinguish'd only personally That the Property of God the Father is not to be begotten That of the Son to be begotâ—en but not made nor Created That of the holy Ghost to proceeed from the Father and the Son but not made nor Created The Names of the three personâ— comprehend the Essence which is supremely or infinitely perfect The Power of God is denoted by the Name of Father the Wisdom by that of the Logos or the Son and the Love of God towards men by that of the Holy Ghost the three things which make up the Supreme Good The Distinction of these three persons serves to perswade men to render to God the Worship and Adoration which they ow to him for two things inspire into us Respect viz Fear and Love The Power and Wisdom of God make us to fear him because we know that he is our Judge that he can punish us and that nothing is hid from his Eyes and his Goodness makes us to love him because 't is but just and reasonable to love him who does us so much Good This likewise serves to render the Works of God the more admirable since he can do whatsoever he pleases that he knows how to preserve what he has made and Wills that every thing should be made and subsist in its Order He takes notice that yet we ought not to believe that those Attributes do so agree to each of the Divine Persons but that they may be common to them all so that we are not to believe that the Father is only Powerful the Son Only Wise and the holy Ghost only Merciful but on the Contrary that these three persons have the same Power Wisdom and Mercy That these three Properties are only attributed to the three Divine Persons in an Especial Manner as their particular Operations are attributed to them tho' all the Divine Operations which relate to the Creatures are Common to all the three Persons namely the Creation to the Father the Incarnation to the Son and the Regeneration to the holy Ghost Afterwards he proves the Mystery of the Trinity by several passages out of the Old Testament and by the Testimonies of the heathen Philosophers of whom be quotes a great many He foresaw that these Citations out of the Heathen Philosophers concerning the Mystery of the Trinity would seem extraordinary and displease a great many People therefore he makes use of part of the Second Book to justifiy himself in this particular 1. By the Example and Testimonies of Saint Jerom and the other Fathers 2. By demonstrating that Logick and the other Sciences are not useless to Religion provided a right use be made of them 3. By showing that 't is usefull to explain Mysteries as well as one can by Instances and Comparisons and to demonstrate that they are not contrary to Reason especially when they were to treat with Jews Heathens and Hereticks 4. By refuting those who maintain'd that one ought not to make use of Reason but only Authority to prove the Mysteries of Faith 5. By maintaining that one might have some Knowledge of Mysteries and that as we have Terms whereby to explain them 't is requifite likewise that we have Ideas to answer those Terms 6. Because without taking any Notice of Jews and Pagans there are likewise some Hereticks or Persons erroneous about our Mysteries viz. a certain Laick nam'd Tacâ—eline in Flanders who caused himself to be stil'd by the People the Son of God and Peter of Bruis in Provence who had so far subverted the Order and Discipline of the Church as to oblige a great many People to be rebaptiz'd and taught that one ought not to Celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar any Longer nor make use of the Cross That it was not requisite any longer to pass by in silence the Publick Professors who taught Errors contrary to the Catholick Faith and Sound Doctrine among whom he opposes four one in France another in Burgundy a third in Anger 's and a Fourth in Bourges He gives a particular account of their Errors which it may not be amiss to insert here The first says he asserts that several of those who liv'd before the Coming of Jesus Christ were sav'd without having believ'd his future Coming That our Saviour proceeded out of the Virgins Womb after the same manner as Other Men and that God begat himself The Second teaches that the three Properties which distinguish the three Divine Persons are three Distinct Essences of the same Person and of the Divine Nature That the Body of our Saviour did not increase but was of the same Bigness in the Virgins Womb and in the Manger as it was upon the Cross. That the Marriages of Monks or Nuns are Valid and that one ought not to divorce them but only to injoyn them Penance The third not only maintains that the Attributes of the Divine Persons are things distinct from the Godhead but likewise that all the other Attributes such as Justice Mercy c. are Qualities and things distinct from God The fourth has been so Extravagant as to assert that since things may happen otherwise than God foresaw they would 't is possible for him to be deceiv'd From this Digression he returns to his Subject and treats of the Divine Nature He says that God is not an Accident nor properly a Substance if you take that word to signifie an Essence which supports Accidents that he may be call'd an Essence that he is not comprehended under any of Aristotle's Ten Categories that we want proper Terms whereby to express his Nature and Perfections but that we make use of Energical and figurative Terms and give Examples and Similitudes to explain imperfectly what agrees to this ineffable Nature He produces several of these about the Mystery of the Trinity and in the first place observes that things may be One either by Resemblance or in Number or in Propriety and that as in one and the same thing there are a great many properties so in one and the same Divine Essence there are three distinct Persons who have distinct Properties because the Father begets the Son is begotten and Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son That 't is true indeed that we have not among The Works of Abaelard created Beings any Instance wherein one and the same Essence are three Persons but that we are not to seek for a perfect Resemblance since 't is sufficient to bring some Comparisons He produces that of a Seal composed of the Material and the Figure engraven thereon The Seal is neither the simple Material nor the simple Figure but a sort of an Integer composed of both and yet in reality the Seal is nothing else but the Material thus or thus engraven though the Figure is not the Material nor the Material the Figure After this he
were an intention to begin again that which was already done but the same Ceremony may be re-iterated when 't is perform'd for a different end and has another effect That therefore the Holy Chrism is put on the Fore-head after having anointed the top of the Head with it because those several Unctions produce different Effects But that Extreme Unction cannot be re-iterated by reason that it is a Sacrament In the Tenth he proves That the Bishops ought not to exact any thing for Benedictions and Ordinations and asserts it to be a kind of Simony in a Bishop not only to receive Money for the Benediction of an Abbot but also to exact of him an acknowledgment by which he binds himself by promise to his Diocesan The Eleventh is a Constitution about the manner how Monks ought to proceed in accusing others and in defending themselves in their Chapter In the Twelfth he explains in a few words three Vertues necessary for Pastors of the Church viz. Justice Discretion and Fore-sight The Thirteenth and Fourteenth are certain Dialogues between God who upbraids the Sinner with his Ingratitude and the Sinner who acknowledges his Offences and implores the Mercy of God The Fifteenth and Sixteenth are Prayers made by a Sinner to God in which he humbly sues for his Mercy and begs pardon for his Transgressions These Tracts are concluded with four Hymns or Proses viz. one directed to the Virgin Mary and the three others on the Repentance of Mary Magdalen All these Works are follow'd by eleven Sermons on the Nativity Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ On the Purification and Festivals of the Virgin Mary On Mary Magdalen whom he confounds with the Sinner On the penitent Thief and on St. Benedict These Sermons are dry and barren containing nothing that is Eloquent and indeed generally speaking all the Pieces of this Author are not written with much Elegancy or Politeness However his Compositions are very natural and his Explications easy and familiar Father Sirmond caus'd them to be printed at Paris A. D. 1610. from two Manuscript Copies and annex'd Annotations on the Letters which are very serviceable to make known the Persons and to illustrate many Historical Matters of Fact that are mentioned therein HILDEBERT Bishop of Mans and afterwards Arch bishop of Tours HILDEBERT Born at Lavardin in the Diocess of Mans of Parents of mean Condition Hildebert Bishâ—p of Mans. joyn'd the Study of the Liberal Sciences to that of Divinity and was chosen Bishop of Mans A. D. 1098. His first Exercises of the Episcopal Functions were disturbed by the War that broke forth between William II. Sirnam'd Rufus King of England and Helie Count of Mans who being taken Prisoner by that Prince the City of Mans fell into the Hands of Foulques Count of Anger 's The King of England was Marching at the Head of an Army to take it when the Bishop and Inhabitants fearing lest the Count of Anger 's should make an Agreement at their Cost Surrendred it to him on Condition that their Count should be set at Liberty Afterwards the Count having got together some fresh Troops re-enter'd the City of Mans and Besieg'd the Forts that were possess'd by King William's Forces but he was repuls'd and the King remain'd Master of the City Hildebert was accused of having been concern'd in that enterprize and oblig'd to pass over into England to clear himself The King enjoyn'd him to cause the Towers of his Church to be pull'd down and Hildebert returning with that Order found his Church laid waste by the outrages that were committed against the Clergy by the pillaging of its Revenues and the burning of the City But the King of England dying a little while after A. D. 1100. Count Helie re-took the City granted a Composition to the King's Soldiers who were in the Forts and re-establish'd Order and Peace in those Parts When Hildebert saw his Native Country restor'd to its former Tranquillity he undertook a Journey to Rome and went to visit Pope Paschal II. by whom he was very kindly entertain'd and returned from Rome laden with Honours and Preferments Some time after he was apprehended at Nogent le Rotrou where he went to bear the last Will and Testament of the Count of Rotrou who was detain'd Prisoner at Mans. At last having procur'd his Liberty he solemniz'd the Consercation of the Cathedral Church of Mans newly re-built and continu'd to Govern his Diocess in Peace till the Year 1125. when he was translated to the Arch-bishoprick of Tours after the Death of Guillebert Hildebert not long after his Promotion to that Dignity fell out with Lewis the Gross King of France having refus'd to dispose of the Benefices belonging to that Church more especially the Deanry and Arch-Deaconry at the pleasure of his Prince who caus'd the Revenues to be seiz'd on and prohibited him to enter his Dominions The Person who was nominated Dean was at variance with the Canons who were maintain'd by the Court which gave occasion to disturbances in the Church of Tours At last these dissensions being appeas'd he was restor'd to the King's Favour and died A. D. 1132 after having possess'd the Episcopal See of Mans 27 Years and the Metropolitan of Tours six Years and as many Months The Letters of this Author are the most valuable Pieces amongst his Works They are written in a fine Epistolary Style after a very Natural manner and contain divers Important Points of Morality Church-Discipline and History We shall here produce the Extracts of those that Treat of these Matters omitting the others which relate to meer Compliments or to particular Affairs such as the six first Therefore we shall begin with the seventh in which the Author determines That a Virgin Betroathed before she was Marriageable whose Husband died without knowing her Carnally cannot Marry the Brother of her former Husband because Marriage does not consist in Carnal Copulation but in the consent of the Parties The seventeenth is likewise written on the same Subject In the Ninth he declares That he refus'd to assist at the Consecration of one who was chosen Bishop of Anger 's because he was a Young Man and not as yet in Orders and was not Canonically Elected by the Clergy but proclaim'd in a Popular Tumult against whose Election the Dean the Chanter the Arch-Deacons and the greatest part of the Chapter had protested He declares the same thing to that Elected Person in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Letter and exhorts him not to suffer himself to be Consecrated By the Fourteenth he deposes a certain Person who had given Money to be Ordain'd a Deacon The Eighteenth is a Letter directed to Paschal II. and Compos'd with a great deal of Art to excuse the Canons of St. Martin at Tours who had given offence to the Pope by insisting too much on their Privileges In the Nineteenth he excuses himself for not being able to be present in a certain Council by reason that his Church and
Maxims to hinder Men from falling into these Follies and Errors into which the Mystical Authors are many times led by an indiscreet Devotion In the next Treatise address'd to William Minand formerly Physician to the Cardinal of Saluzzes and then a Carthusian he resolves divers Questions which he had put to him as to the manner in which the Prior of the Carthusians ought to behave himself upon different occasions towards his Regulars In the Treatise Entitled A Theological Question viz. Whether the Light which shines in the Morning begot the Sun He treats of the Practice of Evangelical Counsels and the Perfection of their State who take upon them a Vow to Practise them and shews That the State of Prelats and Curates is more perfect than that of Monks and Regulars The same Question he handles in the Treatise of the perfection of the Heart which is written by way of Dialogue The following Treatises are Works of Piety whose Titles discover their Subject viz. A Treatise of Meditation A Treatise of Purification or Simplicity of Heart A Treatise of Uprightness of Heart A Treatise of the Illumination of the Heart A Treatise of the Eye A Treatise of the Remedies against Pusillanimity Scruples false Consolations and Temptations written in French and translated into Latin A Treatise of divers Temptations of the Devil translated also out of French An Instruction concerning the Spiritual Exercises of simple Devotionists A Treatise about the Communion A Piece against a Regular Profess'd who was Disobedient and another about the Zeal of a Novice Eight Spiritual Letters A Treatise of the Passions of the Soul Two Spiritual Poems A Treatise of Contemplation which was also translated out of French A Conference of a Contemplative Man with his own Soul whereof the second Part contains several Prayers and Meditations A Letter to his Sisters about the Thoughts we ought to entertain every Day An Act of Appeal from the Justice of God to his Mercy A Treatise of Prayer and its Effects An Explication of these Words in the Lord's Prayer Pardon our Sins c. A Prayer of a Sinner unto God Many Treatises upon Scripture-Songs particularly upon the Magnificat and the Canticles A Treatise of the Elevation of the Soul to God or the Alphabet of Divine Love A Treatise upon the seven Penitential Psalms Donatus Moraliz'd that 's to say Moral Questions in the form of Donatus's Grammar A Poem of a Solitary Life These are the Books contain'd in the second Part of Gerson's Works at the end of which are put two Epitaphs of the Author and a Letter from his Brother John the Celestine about Gerson's Works after which follows a Caralogue which contains a Great Part of the Works whereof we have spoken The fourth Part contains many Sermons some Letters and divers Treatises The first Sermon is a Discourse about the Angels rather Dogmatical than Moral after which follows a Conference about the Angels A Sermon about Circumcision and the Panegyricks of St. Louis and St. Nicholas Two Discourses for the Licentiates in Law A Sermon upon the Supper of Our Lord A little Tract wherein he advises to read the Ancients rather than the Moderns Three Letters about Spiritual and Contemplative Writers to Peter of Ailly Bishop of Cambray A Supplement to a Sermon which begins with these Words A Deo exivi A Memorial about the Duty of Prelats during the Subtraction Two pieces containing divers Proposals for the Extirpation of Schism A Tree of Right and Laws and the Ecclesiastical Power containing their Divisions A second Panegyrick of St. Louis and a Letter to John Morel Canon of St. Remigius of Rhemes about the Life of a Holy Woman which he thought not convenient to publish The Treatises which follow are more considerable the First contains a Definition of all the Terms of Speculative and Moral Divinity and also of the Vertues Vices and Passions the Second is an Addition to the Treatise of Schism the Third is a Letter address'd to the Abbot of St. Denis to persuade him to suppress a Placard injurious to the Parisians wherein he accuses them of an Error and a Fault about the Relicks of St. Denis the Fourth contains some Proposals about the Extirpation of Schism the Fifth two Lectures against Curiosity and Novelty in Matters of Doctrin the Sixth a Treatise against Horoscopes and Judicial Astrology the Seventh a Sermon for Holy Thursday the Eighth another Sermon upon the Feast of St. Louis the Ninth two Letters about the Celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph the Tenth a Treatise of the Marriage of St. Joseph and the Virgin with the Office of the Mass for that Day the Eleventh divers Conclusions about the Power of Bishops in Matters of Faith the Twelfth a Treatise of the Illumination of the Heart the Thirteenth a Resolution of a Case viz. whether it be lawful for the Regulars of St. Benedict to eat Victuals in the House where they use to do it to which he answers affirmatively the Fourteenth a Tract against the Superstition of those who affirm That such as will hear Mass on a certain Day shall not die a sudden Death The Fifteenth Instructions to John Major Preceptor to Louis XI Dauphin about his Duty the Sixteenth a Sermon preach'd at Lyons in 1422. about the Duty of Pastors the Seventeenth a Treatise to justifie what he had written of Lascivious Pictures against the Writing of one who would justifie this Custom the Eighteenth a Treatise of Good and Evil Signs to discern where a Man is Just or Unjust the Nineteenth an Imperfect Sermon about the Nativity of the Virgin the Twentieth of Principles against a certain Monk who preferr'd the Prayers of a devout Woman and Lay men before those of Ecclesiasticks who are Sinners the Twenty first a Sermon Preach'd the Day after Pentecost the Twenty second a Rule for a Hermit of Mount Valerian the Twenty third an Opposition made to the Subtraction of Obedience from Benedict XIII the Twenty fourth a Letter written from Bourges in the Year 1400. about the Calamities of the Church the Twenty fifth the Articles for the Reformation of the University the Twenty sixth the Centilegium of the final cause of the Works of God the Twenty seventh a Treatise of Metaphysicks and Logicks After these Treatises follow many Sermons preach'd in French by Gerson and translated into Latin by John Briscoique after which there are printed also some other Tracts viz. a Treatise of Consolation upon the death of his Kindred A Discourse spoken in the Louvre in the presence of King Charles VI. the Dauphin and the Court containing many Instructions for a Prince to which are join'd Ten Considerations against Flatterers Another Discourse spoken also before the same King in the Year 1408. about the Peace of the State and the Church A third Discourse about Justice A Sermon upon the Passion preach'd in the Church of Notre Dame in Paris A Treatise against the Romance of the Rose Some Conclusions against the