the Church by a Rescript bearing date the year 376 that the same Custom should be observed in Ecclesiastical Affairs as was in Civil Causes that Controversies belonging to Religion should be judged by the Synod of the Diocess but all criminal Causes should be reserved to the Audience of the Secular Governors Not to inquire at present into the particular occasion of this Law which Gothofred conjectures was made in the controversy of punishing the Priscillianists with the Sword it is agreeable with the practice of the Empire and so this learned Civilian divides all Controversies into Causes ecclesiastical and political the Ecclesiastical into Controversies of Faith or Discipline these he says appertain to the Church The political are divided into Causes pecuniary or Causes criminal and these he says appertain to the Civil Power This I know is the common state of the bounds of Jurisdiction and has made great confusions in Christendom whilst both Powers contend to keep their own ground and especially since the power over the Catholick Church was swallowed up into the papal Omnipotency what troubles have the Popes given the Christian Emperors for daring to intermeddle with spiritual Matters But this Argument of the bounds of Jurisdiction I shall fully state when I have first set down the exercise of it in matter of Fact and therefore though I need at present only say that it is a dangerous Mistake to divide them by the different Matters about which they are conversant when they are both conversant about the same Matters and unless they are so both of them will be too weak to attain the ends of their Institution Yet because it is the fundamental Mistake on both sides and because I may never come to finish this wide undertaking and lastly because I find it to be the great stumbling block to the wiser and more judicious Men of the Church of Rome I shall here a little briefly consider its consequence The learned Petrus de Marca one of the wisest Writers of that Church affirms and believes the bounds of these two Jurisdictions to be so plainly determin'd by the Matters themselves about which they are imployed that no Man can possibly miss their true boundaries that does not industriously over-look them in that it is so evident that the regal Power extends only to things secular and the Ecclesiastical to things spiritual Whereas on the contrary nothing is more evident than that all Actions are both Secular and Spiritual the same Action as it relates to the peace of the World and the Civil Government of Mankind is of a secular Nature and as it is a moral Vertue and required by the Law of God as a duty of Religion so it is of a spiritual Nature And so on the other side those things that are esteem'd Spiritual yet as they have an influence upon the publick Peace and nothing has a greater they must come under the cognizance of the civil Government So that these Jurisdictions are so far from being distinguisht by the Objects about which they are conversant that they are always both equally extended to the same Objects so as that if we limit either to one sort of Actions we destroy both For to take Matters spiritual in their strictest acceptation and as they are vulgarly understood for the Offices of divine Worship and especially the publick Devotions that are performed by the Sacerdotal Order in the publick Assemblies yet if the Sacerdotal Power reach not beyond this to secular things it can never reach its end for that is to procure the future happiness of the Souls of Men and that very much depends upon their good or bad behavior in the Affairs of this life so that if their spiritual Guides and Governors are barr'd from intermedling in all such Matters they are cut off from the chief part of their Office and what remains will be too weak to attain its end for when Men have been never so careful in all the Offices of Religion yet if care be not taken to regulate the Actions of humane intercourse all their Devotion will avail them very little in the World to come So on the other side when the Civil Power has done all that it can to settle and secure the quiet of the Common-Wealth by the wisest Laws of Justice and Honesty yet if they may not take notice of what Doctrins are instill'd into their Subjects by their Teachers or what divisions or commotions are raised by them in the Church they may soon be involved into disturbance or confusion without any Power to relieve themselves I am not at present concern'd to prove that this is now actually done by any Party of Men it is enough to my present purpose that it is a possible thing to disturb the peace of Government under Pretences or by Mistakes of Religion or to pray and preach Men into Rebellion And if it be so then the consequence is unavoidable that it must be subject to the power of the Civil Magistrate if that be any of its Office to take any care of the peace and quiet of the World But in truth this distinction has been all along chiefly cherisht by the Bishops of Rome since the time of their Usurpation because when they had got all the spiritual Power of the Church into their own hands their next care was to hug and keep it intire to themselves and therefore they confin'd the Power of Princes wholly to Matters of State but as for all things that concern'd the Church they were bound with all submission to resign themselves to his Holinesses Orders and if they presumed to gain-say any of his Edicts though never so prejudicial to their own Affairs it was open defyance to Holy Church and though the Popes never proceeded any farther against him as none of them did till Hildebrand yet that alone was at that time a forfeiture of the Affections of his best Subjects i. e. all those plain and good People that have any real love or value for their Religion And this one thing alone gave the Popes of Rome though they had never proceeded to the scandalous boldness of deposing Princes an absolute Empire and Authority over all the Princes of Christendom And it is observable that they were the high flying Popes that were the chief sticklers for the advancement of this distinction as appears not only from the Collection of Gratian Distinct. 69. where it is largely exemplified but from Petrus de Marca himself warranting the truth of this Doctrin from the Authorities of Gelasius Symmachus Gregory the second Nicolaus the first Innocentius the third who in their several high Contests with the Emperors that indeavour'd to check and bridle their Ecclesiastical Insolence still bid them mind their own business and not presumâ— to meddle with the Church the Government whereof was intrusted to St. Peter and his Successors But their Adversaries have been even with them especially the Erastian Hereticks for what greater Heresy can
into open wickedness and practise all the lewd and dishonest things that the worst of Men can act with the confidence and authority of a divine Commission I am sure it was no more severe than what was done by the great Theodosius himself in his Laws against the Manichees in one of which he distinguishes between the Contemplative and the Practical Hereticks the first he out-laws but as for the others known by the names of Eucratitae Saccophori Hydroparastatae and I know not what salvage Sects more he brings them under the sentence of death And is withal so severe as to appoint an Inquisition for their discovery and in truth no care can be too great nor punishment too severe when Men under pretences of a stricter Piety bring in the practice of all sorts of uncleanness and immorality And that was the case of these brutish Wretches they pretended to singular mortification and under it acted all the Wickedness that humane Nature was capable of committing And therefore in such Cases as these it was a great mistake in St. Martin to think a Censure of the Church sufficient punishment and to disswade the Prince from drawing the temporal Sword against them when if ever it is necessary it is certainly most so when Men pervert Religion to the subversion of humane Society And then if they are executed it is not for their Heresie against the Faith but their Treason against the State and such Traitors all such Men are that teach such Doctrins as destroy the Faith of Mankind and the Peace of humane Society And therefore how blame-worthy soever Ithacius might be in his own life or manner of prosecuting and Sulpitius gives him a very ill Character as to both no wise Man could ever have blamed him so severely as he has done as to the prosecution it self and no good Man could have been too active in bringing such brutal Wretches to their due punishment And therefore it was at best but an indiscreet action supposing the truth of the Indictment which Sulpitius himself allows in Theognostus and his Followers in separating Communion from him for prosecuting though in a cause of blood When what he did in that case he was obliged to do as a Member of the Common-Wealth and antecedently to his holy Orders which certainly to whatsoever degree of Gentleness they may oblige a Man they cannot cancel that duty that by nature he owes to his Country And it is no better than Julian's Sarcastick Abuse of our Saviour's Laws to apply his Precepts of Mercy and Forgiveness against the just execution of Laws as if his Religion were set up as the Apostate prophanely objected to it only for the subversion of Civil Government The duty that he commands is a point of Prudence as well as Vertue that Men preserve the temper of their Minds in all the intercourses of life they may prosecute a Malefactor to the Gallows without strangling themselves with spite and revenge but only for the same ends for which the Government that owes him no malice inflicts the Penalty of the Law upon him A Man may hang a Thief and forgive him too And therefore it was no better than a rash and weak action of Theognostus St. Martin and their Adherents in general to condemn Ithacius his prosecution of the Priscillianists as if it had been inconsistent with the meekness of a Christian but much more the exemplary mercy of a Bishop It is indeed an Office that no good-natur'd Man can ever be fond of and less becomes a Clergy-man than any other but yet it is not unlawful nor the breach of any Precept of our Religion and therefore he could not be justly condemn'd for it nay it was so far from being a Sin that it was a duty both in him and all other good Subjects to take care of the preservation of the Common-Wealth by indeavouring to remove such plague-sores out of it And therefore Maximus did but do him justice to call a Synod at Trâ—ives to absolve him from the Excommunication of Theognostus and if he had beside that punisht Theognostus for indeavouring to intercept and obstruct publick Justice I cannot see but that he had acted as became a good and a wise Governor At least I am sure it is much less decent for a Clergy-man to patronize wicked Men against the Laws than to prosecute them provided they have reputation enough which the Civil Law requires and all other Laws ought to do to qualifie them for Evidences If indeed these had been Malefactors of an ordinary size it might not have been unbecoming a Bishop to interpose for mercy but Men that were made up of nothing but Villainy were beyond the reach of compassion and no Man in whatsoever station he was placed ought to spare their prosecution And therefore it was no better than Monkish stubbornness in St. Martin to refuse communion with the Prosecutors after the judgment of the Council and though he was at last induced to communicate with the Council it self by Maximus who bought that condescension of him by giving him the Lives of two of his Friends that had been loyal Officers under Gratian though our crude Abridger says that it was for the sake of a great Priscillianist yet upon it he quitted the Council and could have no peace till he received absolution from an Angel after which he would never more communicate with the Bishops and that I take to be no better than Monkish Enthusiasm These affectations of mercy are very popular things and easily seize Men possess 't and tainted with mortified Vanity for there is generally the height of pride and ostentation under the pomps and shews of Humility And this I doubt was St. Martin's case who though he was a devout Man yet he was altogether unlearned and indiscreet and most miserably over-run with the Scurvy of Enthusiasm and not understanding the true nature of Pride as none of that sort of Men do he was apparently acted by it in all his singularities to the very height of a Cynical vanity that is the rankest sort of Insolence in the World And this is too evident from his Story as it is told by Sulpitius himself To give one instance for all when he was treated by the Emperor who invited all his Nobles to the Entertainment he carried one of his Presbyters along with him and the Emperor being very proud that he had reconciled to himself and his ill Cause a Man so much adored by the People treats him with all the flatteries of Civility seats him next himself and places his Presbyter in the midst of his Nobles that was the highest Place at the Table A Cup is brought to the Emperor according to custom to drink in the first place he commands it to be given to St. Martin expecting at least that he would have return'd the Complement but he without any farther formality very fairly takes off his draught and so delivers the Cup to his Presbyter as the
they intended to make a new Creed but as a necessary declaration of the ancient Faith against his upstart Heresie The sixth Action is one of the most remarkable Instances of the right use of the Imperial Power in the Christian Church that we have upon record in all the Histories of it For the Council being fully agreed about the settlement of the Faith in the last Session in this the Emperor with his Empress attended by a great Train of Nobles comes to confirm their Decrees as he professes in his Speech to the Holy Fathers Nos enim ad sidem confirmandam non ad potentiam aliquam exercendam exâ—mplo religiosi Principis Constantini Synodo interesse voluimus He came into the Council not to make but confirm and ratifie their Decrees by his Imperial Power And therefore having the Acts of the last Session read before him with the Subscriptions of all the Bishops to the Confession of Faith he there immediately enacts this Penal Law to inforce the observation of their Decree The Catholick Faith being declared by the holy Synod according to the Tradition of the Fathers we think it both decent and our duty to cut off for the time to come all farther Debates about it If therefore any private Citizen Soldier or Clergy-man shall hereafter make any disturbance by attempting any publick Disputation about the Faith the Citizen shall be banisht the Soldier disbanded and the Clerk deposed and be obnoxious to further punishment at our Royal Pleasure And thus having with so much Prudency and Decency exerted his Imperial Authority in Controversies of Faith 〈◊〉 not at all to interpose his own Power in making the determination but to imbrace and confirm the resolution of the Holy Fathers the proper Judges in the Case in the next place he exerts his Authority in matters of Discipline For having observed some defects in the Clergy both against the ancient Canons and the Imperial Laws he propounds it to the Council that they would take care to provide for their Reformation And this he declares he does out of meer Respect and Honor to their Function as thinking it more decent that they should be canonically determin'd in Council then enacted and inforced by his own Imperial Laws And as it was a civil Decency so it was no more for the Abuses that he complain'd of were such as concern'd the Peace of the Empire as well as the Church as the Tumults and Disorders of the Monks frequent Instances whereof as we have met with through the whole progress of this Story so were they the Masters of these present Revels And certainly such Disorders concern'd his own Imperial Power if the Peace of the Empire did so As for his other two Proposals the first against the trading and the second against the wandring of the Clergy they were properly subject to the Imperial Power because though these and the like irregularities were first forbidden by the Ecclesiastical Canons yet they had before this time been often restrain'd by the Imperial Laws as we have seen above out of the Theodosian Code After this the Emperor in Complement to the memory of the Holy Martyr St. Euphemia in whose Church the Council was held gives the City of Calcedon the honor of a Titular Metropolis securing all the Rights of Metropolitical Power to the Metropolitan of Nicomedia And here some say the Council ended the Fathers having dispatcht the whole work for which they were summon'd the following Sessions being only taken up with casual and personal Controversies and therefore by some of the Ancients they are made distinct Councils and this latter part in some of their Writings goes under the name of the 5 th Council The seventh Session is spent in confirming the Agreement or Concordate between Juvenal of Jerusalem and Maximus of Antioch about dividing their Usurpations How Juvenal that had been all along such an active Confederate with Dioscorus and stood guilty of the same Crimes came to meet with so much favor is easie enough to conceive being a great Court-Parasite and Church-trimmer and so by his cringings and flatteries had wrigled himself into the good Opinion of the Fathers In the 8 th Action Theodoret is restored to his Church upon his anathematising Nestorius and his Heresie and that was a very easie matter for him to do when he had all along done the same having only opposed the unseasonable imposition of Cyril's Anathema's The 9 th and 10 th Actions were taken up with the case of Ibas Bishop of Edessa who had been accused to the Emperor Theodosius by some Eutychians as guilty of the Nestorian Heresie and by him the cause was referr'd to a Synod at Beryte in which he anathematised Nestorius and all his Doctrines and was cleared of his Indictment But in the violent Council of Ephesus he was again accused by Eutyches himself and without being heard deposed and imprison'd But now upon his Petition is heard in this Council and after the examination of all Records and Witnesses he is again found clear of the Nestorian Heresie all the Accusation being grounded upon his opposition to Cyril's Anathema's And the true State and Account of that Controversie between Cyril and Nestorius and the Eastern Bishops against both is best described by Ibas himself in his Famous Epistle to Maris Persa recorded among the Acts of the 10th Session The subject of the 11th and 12th Actions was a Contest between Bassianus and Stephanus for the Bishoprick of Ephesus but they being both uncanonically ordeined are both deposed Upon this occasion the Asiaticks move that the new Bishop may be Consecrated at Ephesus according to the Canons No say the Constantinopolitans but in this City according to Custom as they falsly pretended for all their Usurpations to do illegal things and then make them a Precedent to warrant their illegal doings This occasions a new Contest about the Prerogative of the Bishop of Constantinople to ordein other Metropolitans but he and his Party being conscious to themselves of the weakness of their own pretence they let fall the Controversie The most observable passage in this Action next to the Contest it self and the Constantinopolitan Plea to justifie their Usurpation by illegal Custom against Canon is the Plea of Bassianus to make good the Title to his Bishoprick viz. That he was Consecrated by the Bishops of the Province and his Consecration allowed and confirmed by the Emperor and that is an instance of the Custom of those times that the Princes Approbation was necessary to the Instalment of a Bishop though the Power of Election was placed in the Provincial Synod Upon what reason of State this Power of the Prince was grounded I shall shew when I come to argue the reason of the thing at present I only alledge this as an instance of the practice And of the same nature is the next Action of a Case setting up a new Custom and the pretence of an Imperial Rescript against Canon and Ancient