patrum Synodo constitutum Thirdly That Zosimus was guilty of a notorious forgery and imposture in falsifying the Nicene Canons pretending a Canon of Sardica to be a Canon of Nice and as such endeavouring to impose it and his own power by it upon the African Churches Can it be suppos'd that Zosimus should be ignorant what and how many the Nicene Canons were the Popes Legates were present and as we are often told presided in that Synod brought the Decrees home with them as all other great Churches did where they were no doubt carefully preserv'd among the Records of that Church and the frequent occasions of those times made them be daily lookt into Was not the Pope think we able to distinguish between Nice and Sardica between an Oecumenical Council and a Synod only of Western Bishops call'd in another Emperours Reign above Twenty years after No no it was not a sin of ignorance but the Pope knew well enough which Council would best serve his turn that the World had a just and a mighty veneration for that of Nice and that his design would be easily swallowed if he could gild it over with the reputation and authority of that Synod It was obvious to except against Sardica that it was but a particular Council and that the Canon it made for Appeals to Rome was only a Provisionary Decree when the injur'd person was not like to meet with Justice at home but the whole Mass of Bishops was corrupted and set against him as was the case of Athanasius and two or three more in respect of the Arians who were the occasion and for whose sakes that Canon was made But that of Nice was universal and unexceptionable and which he hoped would pass without controul But the African Bishops according to the humour of that Nation were of too honest and blunt a temper to be cajol'd by the arts of Rome They requir'd to have the matter brought to the test and to be Judg'd by the Original Canons and so the fraud was discovered and brought to light in the eye of the World Fourthly That the Church of Africk and accordingly every National Church has an inhaerent power of determining all causes that arise within it self That this Right is founded both upon most evident reason nothing being fitter than that controversies should be ended in the places where they began where there are all advantages of bringing matters to a more speedy and equal trial and upon the wisdom and justice of the Divine providence which would not let his assistance be wanting in one place more than another and especially there where doing right to truth did more immediately make it necessary and that 't was as probable two or three hundred should sift out truth as a single person That the Nicene Synod had made this the Right of the African no less than other Churches and they did not understand how they had forfeited it or that any Council had taken it from them Fifthly That it was not lawful for any person accused or proceeded against in Africk to appeal to Transmarine Churches no not to the See of Rome This they tell Coelestine most expresly and call them improba refugia wicked and unwarrantable refuges Against this they had particularly provided in the Council at Milevis not long before this contest arose that if any Clergyman had a controversie with his Bishop the neighbouring Bishops should hear and determine it But if there were any occasion of appealing they should appeal no further than to an African Council or to the Primates of those Provinces And that if any should resolve to appeal to any Transmarine Judgment no man in Africk should admit them to communion The Canon 't is true expresses only the Appeals of Presbyters Deacons and the Inferiour Clergy but as the Fathers in their Letters to Caelestine argue strongly if this care be taken about the Inferiour Clergy how much more ought it to be observ'd by Bishops Sixthly That the power which the Bishop of Rome sought to establish over other Churches evidently made way to bring pride and tyranny and a secular ambition into the Church of God and that if this course were follow'd it would let in force and domination and a scornful trampling over the Heads of our Brethren and perhaps the calling in the secular arm to remove the opposition it would meet with Principles and Practices infinitely contrary to the mild and humble Spirit of the Gospel And now let the Reader Judge what power the Pope had over the African Churches so solemnly denied so stiffly oppos'd not by two or three but by two or three hundred Bishops twice met in Council upon this occasion and their judgment herein not precipitated but past upon most mature and deliberate debate and consultation and after that the cause had been depending for five or six years together The truth is so great a shock is this to the Papal power that the Advocates of that Church know not which way to decline it At last stands up one who not being able to unty resolv'd to cut the knot directly charging both the Acts of the Council and the Epistles to Boniface and Caelestine without any warrant from Antiquity to be forg'd and supposititious But the best of it is the Writers in this Cause that came after him had not the hardiness to venture in his bottom Nor have any of the many Publishers of the Councils since that time stigmatiz'd them with the least suspicion of being spurious nor taken any notice of the trifling exceptions he makes against them IX FROM Africk let us Sail into Britain and see how things stood in our own Country the first Nation of the whole Western World that received the Christian Faith it being planted here as Gildas an Authour of untainted credit and no inconsiderable antiquity informs us and he speaks it too with great assurance Tempore summo Tiberii Caesaris in the latter time of Tiberius his Reign which admit to have been the very last year of his Life he died March the XVI Ann. Chr. XXXVII it was five or six years before 't is pretended S. Peter ever came at or founded any Church at Rome Christianity though struggling with great difficulties and but lukewarmly entertain'd by some yet as Gildas assures us made shift to keep up its head in the following Ages as is evident from some passes in Origen Tertullian and others and from the known story of King Lucius Leuer Maur as the Britains call him the great Brightness the first Christian King But this we have particularly noted elsewhere Religion being settled that Church Government grew up here as in other Countries by Bishops and then Metropolitans or Superiour Bishops there can be no just cause to doubt At the Council of Arles Ann. CCCXIV we find three British Bishops among others subscribing the Decrees of that Synod Eborius of York Restitutus of London the same perhaps that subscrib'd
A DISSERTATION Concerning the Government of the Ancient Church BY BISHOPS METROPOLITANS and PATRIARCHS More particularly Concerning the ancient Power and Jurisdiction of the Bishops of Rome and the Encroachments of that upon other Sees especially the See of Constantinople By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. One of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary Omne genus ad Originem suam censeatur necesse est Tert. de praescript c. 20. p. 208. LONDON Printed for R. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXIII TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable PRIVY-COUNCIL My Lord IN compliance with the good old Rule of S. Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do nothing without leave from the Bishop I have taken the confidence to lay these Papers at Your Lordships feet being well content they should receive from You a sentence of Life or Death either to come abroad into open light or be condemn'd to be thrown aside if you shall judge them useless and unprofitable For I am not so fond of my own Undertakings as to flatter my self that any thing that I can do will work much upon the obstinate humour of a perverse and contentious Age. My Lord The Church of England is usually assaulted by two sorts of Adversaries The one declar'd Enemies to the Episcopal Government or if at any time in a good humour they allow the name they deny the thing making the Bishop of the Primitive times no more in effect than a meer Parish-Priest The other are great pretenders to Antiquity and strongly enough assert the Episcopal Order but withall would obtrude upon us a Supreme and Universal Bishop to whom all others are to be subject and accountable and he we may be sure is the Bishop of Rome As for the first of these I have not directly enter'd the Lists with them though what is here said concerning the Ancient Church-Government might be enough to satisfie Men modest and unprejudic'd and more I did not think fit to add They have been so often baffled upon that Argument that nothing but a resolv'd obstinacy could make them keep a post so utterly indefensable But the Men of that way seem generally too over-weaning and opiniative and I have no hopes of doing good upon that Man that 's wiser in his own Conceit than seven Men that can render a Reason Indeed the nature of my design led me more immediately to encounter with the other Party whose cause so far as it relates to the Subject under debate I have examin'd and brought to be tried by the Standard of Antiquity the truest Rule to proceed by in this matter and this managed without any needless Exasperations For I never could think it a reasonable method of Conviction to rail at Popery or to load the Bishop of Rome with ill Names and spiteful Characters The best way sure in such cases is to appeal to the judgment of the Ancients and to enquire what power and authority was allow'd him in the wiser and better Ages of Christianity Which I hope I have done with all truth and fairness in the following Discourse My Lord Your Lordships known Zeal for the Protestant Cause and what next the goodness of the Divine Providence is the strongest Bulwark and Defence of it the honour and interest of the Church of ENGLAND might give you a just Title to this Discourse though there were no other inducement to it But we that are the Clergy of Your Diocess think our selves oblig'd to take all occasions of letting the World know how much we rejoyce under the happy Influences of Your Care and Conduct how much we are beholden to that great Example of Pastoral Industry and Diligence you daily set before us that we have to deal with a temper so incomparably sweet and obliging and that not only in private Converses but in all public Cases that concern the Church under your Charge you are pleased so freely and familiarly to consult and advise with us 'T is this to mention no more that creates in us so just a regard and veneration for Your Lordship And I verily believe since the Primitive Times there never was a more mutual Endearment and Correspondence Never Bishop that treated his Clergy with a more Paternal kindness and Condiscention never Clergy that paid a greater Reverence and a more chearful Obedience to their Bishop That this Concord and Agreement may not only continue but encrease and the happy effects of it visibly spread over your whole Diocess and especially this great CITY is the earnest Prayer of MY LORD Your Lordships faithful and sincerely devoted Servant WILLIAM CAVE TO THE READER AMong the several Virtues wherewith the Religion of our Lord does at once refine and adorn Humane Nature there are none conduce more both to the peace of the World and the quiet of private and particular persons than Humility and Contentment the laying aside the vain and fond opinion of our selves a lowliness of Mind to esteem others better than our selves in honour preferring one another an easiness and satisfaction under that place and portion which the Wisdom of the Divine Providence has thought fit to allot us and a generous Contempt of those little and sordid Arts by which Men hunt after Power and Greatness and impatiently affect Dominion and superiority over others A noble and divine temper of Mind which our Lord has effectually recommended both by his Doctrine and the example of his Life He has taught us that we should not after the proud and hypocritical manner of the Pharisees do our works to be seen of Men make broad our Phylacteries and enlarge the borders of our Garments love the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogue and greetings in the Markets that we should not affect proud Titles and the honour of a Name to be call'd of Men Rabbi Rabbi for that one is our Master even Christ and all we are Brethren not that our Lord here absolutely forbids all Honour and Precedence no more than he does all Mastership and Superiority in what follows but only an inordinate desire a vicious and irregular inclination toward these things and an undue and tyrannical exercise of them that we should call no man our Father upon Earth that is in the same sence and with the same respect wherewith we do God for that one is our Father which is in Heaven neither that we be called Masters for that one is our Master even Christ For that whosoever should exalt himself shall be abased and he that should humble himself shall be exalted And then for his own practice how openly did he protest against seeking his own glory or receiving honour from Men how studiously did he stifle the fame of his own Miracles and whatever might raise him in the esteem and value of the World When an Appeal was made to him to judge a Cause he rebuk'd the
motion with a who made me a Judge and a Ruler over you When the Jews were resolv'd to have made him King he fled from the very shadow of a Crown When there was a strife amongst his own Apostles which of them should be accounted the greatest like the Kings of the Gentiles which exercis'd Lordship and Authority over their Subjects he ended the Controversy with a short decision but ye shall not be so This Charge S. Peter particularly applies to the Bishops and Rulers of the Church that they should not be Lords over God's Heritage that the younger should submit themselves to the elder yea all of them be subject one to another and be cloathed with Humility for that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Had the excellent Rules here laid down by S. Peter been observ'd by those who pretend to be his Successors the Christian World had been free from those infinite disturbances and distractions which the pride and ambition of the Roman Bishops have brought upon it For certainly among all the corruptions and innovations of that Church nothing is more palpable and notorious than an intolerable usurpation over the Rights of their Brethren nothing more wild and extravagant than the challenging a Supremacy over the Christian Church as affix'd to the See of Rome expresly contrary not only to the Scripture the great Canon of our Faith but to the Laws of all ancient Councils and the practice of the Church which however it allow'd a primary honour and respect to the Roman Prelate yet still set him out as it did to all other Bishops the particular extent of his Jurisdiction This is that which I have endeavoured to evince in the following Discourse wherein I have trac'd the Papal Authority to those proper bounds and limits within which it was confin'd of old And upon that occasion have briefly survey'd the frame and constitution of the ancient Church and that Policy and Government whereby it was manag'd in its purer and better times That which gave birth to the whole Discourse was this I had elsewhere in relating the Acts of the second general Council represented the third Canon of that Council which decreed that the Bishop of Constantinople upon the account of its being New Rome or the Imperial City should have the priviledge of honour next to the Bishop of Rome A Canon which they of Rome could never pardon as which limits the power of the Roman Prelate and declares the foundation upon which it stands For the illustration of this Canon I intended im that place to have added a digression concerning the ancient Power and Precedence of the Bishops of Rome but upon second thoughts referr'd it to an Appendix at the end of the Book But that Book swelling into too great a bulk and this Discourse being grown beyond the proportion that was at first design'd I was over-perswaded by some Friends to venture it abroad alone A thing which had I intended from the beginning it had come forth at least in some parts more perfect than it is and with some advantages which now it is forc'd to go without I have wholly wav'd all Debates concerning the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy and the Controversies that depend upon it enough has been said upon that Argument and have chiefly insisted upon those branches of the Ecclesiastic Government which have been less canvassed amongst us For the same reason I have more lightly touch'd upon the Pope's Universal Supremacy 't was his Metropolitical and Patriarchal Power I principally design'd to enquire into I know Volumes have been written De primatu Papae de Ecclesiis Suburbicariis c. and therefore I have reduc'd what concerns those matters into as narrow a compass as I could and have said no more than what is necessary to clear the Argument and express my own sense about it If what is here said shall administer any light to this part of Church-antiquity I shall be very glad if not I am content it should follow the fate of many much better Books to be thrown aside 'T was never design'd to instruct the Learned but only to form a short Scheme of the true state of things for the benefit of those who have not been much conversant in the Antiquities of the Church at least to give some aid and direction to the younger sort who first apply themselves to the study of those ancient Times And if it may but attain this end I shall think my Time and Pains have been well bestow'd THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The State of the Church-Government and Power of the Roman Bishops 'till the Council of Nice An Equality among the Apostles as Church Governours appointed by Christ Peter's pretended Supremacy over the rest shewed to be vain and groundless If any such had been granted it belong'd not to the Roman Bishops Early appearances of the Pride and Usurpation of the Bishops of that Church Special advantages of that See to set up for Tyranny and Usurpation The foundation of that Church by two great Apostles Peter and Paul Rome the Seat of the Empire The honour and advantages of that Church thereby The Catholick Faith long time preserv'd entire in the Church of Rome It s large Revenues affording liberal Hospitality It s sending forth Emissaries to plant Christianity in other Countries and thereby claiming superiority over them The pride of that Church severely censur'd by S. Basil A general Scheme of the subordination in the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops Archbishops and Patriarchs and the Conformity herein to the Civil State Episcopal Government how it spread it self at first Metropolitans introduc'd and why A brief account of the ancient way of Ecclesiastical Administration out of Cyprian and others by the Bishop and his Clergy by Provincial Synods What things usually manag'd there Foreign Churches how mutually transacting with one another The Bishops of Rome had no more authority in this Period than the Bishops of other greater Sees Pope Melchiades appointed Commissioner by Constantine Donatus appeals from his Judgment His sentence brought under Examinations in the Synod of Arles Page 1 CHAP. II. The Government of the Church and Power of the Bishops of Rome as 't is represented in the Canons of the Nicene Council The sixth Canon of the Synod of Nice set down with the occasion of it Seven Observations drawn from that Canon I. That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces A. Province what Whether the Countries in Italy so called II. That the chief Church-Governour in every Province was the Metropolitan The prudence and convenience of that way of Government Patriarchs prov'd not to be intended in the Nicene Canon III. That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power This own'd by some of the greatest Champions of Rome IV. That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of the greatest note in the Christian
Church and of these Rome the chief The eminency of Sees according to the greatness of the Cities wherein they were planted This gave precedency to the Church of Rome The three Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch ascribed to S. Peter Blasphemous things spoken of the Pope upon that account Primacy allow'd to the See of Rome No Supremacy belonging to it The Christian Church then knew of no such supereininent Power V. That the Rights of the Roman Metropolitan were not due by any Divine Constitution but by custom and the practice of the Church This plainly shew'd to be the sence of this and other following Councils VI. That the Ordination of Provincial Bishops was one of the prime Rights and Priviledges of every Metropolitan within his own Jurisdiction The fourth sixth and seventh Canons of this Council noted to that purpose The same shew'd to be the determination of other Synods What other Rights belong'd to Metropolitans VII That this way of Ecclesiastick Administration was not any late novel Institution but founded upon ancient custom and practice What this Antiquity implies The original of Metropolitans briefly enquir'd into Several instances of this way of Government noted in the second and third Centuries The word Metropolitan not met with 'till the Council of Nice But the thing long before The sum of the Observations upon this Canon Page 46 CHAP. III. The extent of the Bishop of Rome's Jurisdiction considered as a Metropolitan A search into the proper bounds of the Roman Bishop His Power fourfold Episcopal Metropolitical Patriarchal Apostolical The first not controverted the last discharg'd as extravagant and groundless and as frequently baffled both by the Reformed and Greek Church L. Allatius's jeer of his Country-men His Metropolitical Jurisdiction considered as concurrent with that of the Provost of Rome That how great and how far extending The Suburbicary Regions what Sicily no part of the Urbicary Regions The usual conformity between the extent of the Civil and Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction in those times The power of the Roman Metropolitan confin'd within an hundred Miles of Rome Rufinus his Exposition of the Suburbicary Churches Greatly quarrell'd at by the Romish Writers His authority in other cases allow'd sufficient and unquestionable His Book approv'd by Pope Gelasius and others No probability of his being mistaken in the sence of the Canon or the extent of the Roman Metropolitanship or the Suburbicary Churches His Explication confirm'd by most ancient Interpreters of this Canon The Bishops of Rome and Italy distinct The Bishop of Milan rank'd with him of Rome The objection of the Bishop of Rome's being confin'd to so narrow a compass consider'd and answer'd The Majores Dioeceses in the Epistle of the Synod of Arles what The bounds of the Roman Bishops shew'd to have been heretofore small from an ancient Notitia Episcopatuum The fraud in the first publication of that Notitia Morinus noted The greatness of Rome equivalent to a large extent Page 98 CHAP. IV. An Enquiry into the Rise and Original of Patriarchs in the Christian Church An Enquiry into the Rise and Original of Patriarchs in general None before the Council of Nice What that Council contributed to them Civil Dioceses when and by whom introduc'd These gave start to Primary Metropolitans Dioceses when first brought into the Church The title of Patriarch borrow'd from the Jews Who their Patriarchs and whence descended Exarchs what The word Patriarch when first us'd by Church-writers in a strict and proper sence The Patriarchs among the Montanists who A short Survey of the four great Patriarchates The extent of the Patriarchate of Alexandria The Dioecesis Aegyptiaca what The Patriarchal Jurisdiction in what sence larger than that of the Augustal Prefect Little gain'd to this Patriarchate more than a title of honour The Patriarchate of Antioch commensurate to the Eastern Diocess The contest about Cyprus how determin'd Palestine for some time under Antioch The Patriarchship of Constantinople By what degrees it arose What privilege conferr'd upon it by the second general Council The Bishops of it hence forwards exercising a kind of Patriarchal power over the Churches of the neighbouring Provinces The Power granted to that See by the Council of Chalcedon Its ninth seventeenth and eight and twentieth Canons considered to that purpose Jurisdiction over the three Dioceses of Asiana Pontica and Thrace This setled upon a full debate and discussion of the matter This Power own'd by the Synod to have been exercised of a long time before This Grant urg'd against the universal Supremacy of the See of Rome The extent of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate in after times manifested from several ancient Notitiae The Patriarchate of Jerusalem The honour confirm'd to this Church by the Nicene Council It s subjection to the See of Caesarea When first attempting a Metropolitical Power The contest between this Bishop and the Bishop of Antioch how determin'd in the Council of Chalcedon When first styl'd Patriarch The extent of this Patriarchate Page 137 CHAP. V. The bounds of the Roman Patriarchate A return to the Roman Patriarchate The limits hereof not expresly set down by the Ancients Unjustly pretended to reach over the whole West This granted by them of the Greek Church and why The Pope's Patriarchal Power disown'd by the Churches of Milan Aquileia and Ravenna The independency and opposition of those Churches to the Roman See severally evinc'd by particular cases and instances The Power of Metropolitans in France kept up independant from Rome The truth of this confess'd and clear'd by De Marca Other instances of preserving their Rights against the pretensions of Rome Hincmar of Rhemes and the Synod of Metz. Two other National Churches instanc'd in the African and the Britannick Churches The famous case of Appeals in the Church of Africk A clear account of that matter Their publick rejecting the power which the Pope challeng'd over those Churches The Letters of the Council of Carthage to Pope Boniface and Caelestine to that purpose Several useful and proper Corollaries deduc'd from this story for the evincing the vain pretensions of the Papal Power over those Churches The boldness of some in denying the truth of this whole story The state of the Britannick Church The progress of Religion and Church-Government here 'till the times of Pope Gregory The Church govern'd here by an Archbishop and Bishop at Austin's arrival Their Customs wholly different from and independant upon Rome Their absolute refusal to own the authority of Austin or the Pope The slaughter of the Bangor-Monks suspiciously charg'd upon Austin The Pope's proper Patriarchate most probably shew'd to be of equal extent with the Jurisdiction of the Vicarius Urbicus What Provinces under his Government The Roman Synod consisting of the Bishops of those Provinces A twofold Patriarchate of the Pope trifling and precarious The Bishops of Rome daily amplifying their Jurisdiction The means whereby they did this briefly intimated Page 198 CHAP. VI. The Encroachments of the See
of Rome upon other Sees especially the See of Constantinople The Roman Bishops breaking the bounds of all Laws and Canons Their taking hold of all occasions of magnifying their own power Instances of Julius Damasus Innocent Zosimus to this purpose The briskness and activity of Pope Leo. His many Letters written to advance the reputation of his authority His jealous eye upon the growing greatness of the See of Constantinople The attempts and actings of his Legates in the Council of Chalcedon Their mighty opposition against the passing the XXVIII Canon of that Synod The fraud of Paschasinus in citing the sixth Canon of Nice Their protestation against the power granted to the Bishop of Constantinople Pope Leo's zeal and rage against these Synodal Proceedings Faelix his Excommunicating Acacius of Constantinople The pretended occasion of that Sentence The same spleen continued and carried on by Pope Gelasius A reconciliation procur'd by the Emperour Justin between the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople Pope John's insulting over Epiphanius in his own Church at Constantinople John the Second's ranting Letter to Justinian The Bishop of Constantinople assumes the title of Oecumenical Patriarch This in what sence probably meant The passionate resentment of Pope Pelagius hereat The same zeal shew'd by his Successor Gregory the Great His Letters written upon that occasion The hard words he every where bestows upon that title His mistake about the offer of that title to the Pope in the Chalcedon Council The true state of that case This title frequently given to the Constantinopolitan Bishops in the Council under Mennas before John assumed it Baronius's poor evasion of that matter Gregory still continues to thunder out Anathema's against this Title All this suspected to be but noise and the quarrel only because themselves had not the title Phocas his Usupation of the Empire The monstrous villany and wickedness of that man Pope Gregory's scandalously flattering Caresses to him and his Empress Boniface the Third makes suit to Phocas and procures the title of Oecumenical to be affixt to the See of Rome The Pope's daily enlargement of their Power and Tyranny and their advantages for so doing The whole concluded with the Canons or DICTATES of Pope Hildebrand Page 267 ERRATA PAge 5. line 8. read whosoever p. 52. l. 21. r. Administration p. 73. marg r. iii. p. 75. l. 12. r. head p. 110. l. 19. r. Crustuminum p. 133. l. 15. r. larger p. 136. l. 3. r. desire p. 152. l. 12. after who add are p. 173. l. 4. r. this p. 187. l. 22. r. them p. 300. l. 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 304. l. 13. r. Isidore A DISSERTATION Concerning the GOVERNMENT OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH BY Bishops Metroplitans and Patriarchs c. CHAP. I. The State of the Church-Government and Power of the Roman Bishops till the Council of Nice An Equality among the Apostles as Church Governours appointed by Christ Peters pretended Supremacy over the rest shewed to be vain and groundless If any such had been granted it belong'd not to the Roman Bishops Early appearances of the Pride and Usurpation of the Bishops of that Church Special advantages of that See to set up for Tyranny and Usurpation The foundation of that Church by two great Apostles Peter and Paul Rome the Seat of the Empire The honour and advantages of that Church thereby The Catholick Faith long time preserv'd intire in the Church of Rome It s large Revenues affording liberal Hospitality It s sending forth Emissaries to plant Christianity in other Countries and thereby claiming superiority over them The pride of that Church severely censur'd by St. Basil A general Scheme of the subordination in the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops Arch-bishops and Patriarchs and the Conformity herein to the Civil State Episcopal Government how it spreads it self at first Metropolitans introduc'd and why A brief account of the ancient way of Ecclesiastical Administration out of Cyprian and others by the Bishop and his Clergy by Provincial Synods What things usually manag'd there Foreign Churches how mutually transacting with one another The Bishops of Rome had no more authority in this Period than the Bishops of other greater Sees Pope Melchiades appointed Commissioner by Constantine Donatus appeals from his Judgment His sentence brought under Examinations in the Synod of Arles I. ORDER and Government are so essentially necessary to the peace and welfare of Mankind that no Society whether civil or sacred can subsist without it Where there is none to command there will be none to obey and where every one is left to do what he please there must be confusion and every evil work No sooner therefore had our Blessed Saviour laid the foundation of the Christian Church but he chose twelve whom he named Apostles to whose care and conduct he committed the administration of it These he invested with equal powers upon these he deriv'd the same mission which he himself had receiv'd from God As my father sent me so send I you All had the same authority to Preach Plant and propagate the Church to feed and rule the flock of Christ to go teach and baptize all Nations the same Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to one as well as another that whatsoever sins they should remit they should be remitted and whosoever sins they retain they should be retained The same Holy Spirit breathed upon all with a receive ye the Holy Ghost Notwithstanding all which it is confidently pretended on the behalf of S. Peter that a paramount authority was conferr'd upon him and that not only above but over the rest that he was constituted by our Lord Prince and Head of the Colledge the other Apostles were indeed Shepherds of the Flock but were themselves Christs Sheep and St. Peter appointed Pastor over them with a great deal more boldly asserted at a venture and attempted to be made good by such warrant from Scripture as any thing but the necessity of maintaining a desperate cause would be ashamed to produce And as no such charter can be produc'd sign'd by our Saviour so neither do we find S. Peter challenging much less exercising any such superiority He submitted to the Orders of the Apostolical Colledge and rendered himself accountable to them for his actions styles himself no more than their Fellow-Presbyter and cautions against Lording over God's Heritage How openly did S. Paul assert that he came not a whit behind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very chiefest Apostles and that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto him as well as that of the Circumcision was to Peter James and John are said to be Pillars as well as he nay the whole twelve Apostles are equally styl'd the twelve foundations of the new Jerusalem that descended out of Heaven and it was indifferently promised to all that they should sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Nay when a strife arose amongst
them which of them should be greatest in his Kingdom our Lord on purpose to silence all such ambitious attempts for the future plainly told them that though the Kings of the Gentiles exercised Dominion over their Subjects and they that are great exercised authority upon them Yet ye shall not be so but whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant II. AND yet after all should it be granted that our Lord gave S. Peter some kind of superiour power over the rest yet what is this to the Bishops of Rome unless it could be prov'd that those priviledges were to be Haereditary and were not to determine and expire with S. Peter's person Bellarmine pleads that it is founded in a Right of Succession and this Right settled jure divino and by our Lords own Institution who expresly commanded S. Peter to fix the Apostolical Seat at Rome The proofs he brings to make good this command are a passage out of an Apocryphal Epistle of Pope Marcellus long since discarded together with the rest as the most notorious cheat and imposture that ever was put upon the Christian Church and at best an uncertain story of our Lords appearing to Peter and that too nothing to his purpose And therefore not daring to trust to them he fairly quits the jus divinum and confesses that the Pontifical Succession has no foundation in Scripture However that 't is not improbable and that 't is a thing piously to be believed that is perhaps it may be so and perhaps not we may do well to believe it but there 's no certain ground for it An admirable foundation to build so important a claim upon and for the sake whereof they have now for many ages created so much trouble and disturbance to the Christian World And besides there 's a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this case lies at the bottom it being generally taken for granted that S. Peter was in a proper sence Bishop of Rome which yet I believe can never be made good That he constituted that Church and laid down his life there for the Confirmation of it I easily grant but this makes him not properly Bishop of it and consequently the Popes cannot properly be his Successours Dye he might there but how comes this to entitle the Bishops of Rome to the Succession If so then as a Learned Man of the Greek Church long since urged in this case because our Lord died at Jerusalem therefore the Bishop of Jerusalem as possessing the Seat of our great High-Priest may claim an Universal superiority and challenge to be as much greater than the Bishop of Rome as Christ is than Peter Once more let it be suppos'd that this Supremacy was entail'd not only upon S. Peter but upon his Successors how comes it to pass that it was not lodg'd in the See of Antioch where they grant S. Peter resided as Bishop several years before he went to Rome and which therefore in all reason ought to challenge a Primary title An Objection which Bellarmin with all the subtilties of his Wit and Learning is not able to claw off So many insuperable barrs are there lying in the way to this soveraign and unaccountable authority of their Church III. BUT what Power soever the Bishops of Rome may pretend to derive from S. Peter sure I am they thus far inherit too much of his spirit and temper that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I mean that rash and busie fervour and eagerness so frequently noted in him by the Ancients Forward like him to speak run and interpose at every turn and forward like him too to smite with the Sword when meeting with the least opposition No sooner were the heats of the fifth persecution somewhat cooled and the Church entred a little upon more calm and prosperous days but we find Pope Victor An. 196. picking a quarrel with some of the Eastern Churches about the time of Celebrating Easter and though they justified themselves to the Christian World by Apostolical practice and a constant uninterrupted observation ever since yet because refusing to comply with the custome of the Church of Rome he hastily threw them under Excommunication to the great disturbance and amazement of the Christian World for which he was severely rebuked by the wise and good men of that time especially the mild and peaceable Irenaeus It was not much above half an Age after this when the practice of Baptizing a new those who had been Baptized by Hereticks begun mightily to prevail in some parts of the East but especially in the African Churches Stephen who was then Bishop of Rome storm'd hereat and in a great rage publickly declared that he would hold no Communion with them and when according to the custome whereby Churches mutually acted in those days they sent some Bishops to give him an account of their opinion and practice he proudly refused either to see them or speak with them and not content to deprive them of the Peace and Communion of the Church he denied them the common offices of humanity and charity forbidding the Christians at Rome so much as to entertain them To Cyprian he gave very hard words calling him false Christ false Apostle deceitful Worker and no better did he treat Firmilian Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia and the Churches of Iconium But Cyprian though a man otherwise of great gentleness and moderation plainly told him that this was nothing but the effect of a proud impertinent imprudent self-contradicting humour that it proceeded from blindness and perverseness from obstinacy and presumption and directly tended to the Patronage and encouragement of error and Heresie Firmilian charg'd him with inhumanity audaciousness and insolence with doing very unjust and unwarrantable things that they at Rome however vainly pretending Apostolical authority did not themselves exactly observe primitive tradition that he could not but disdain Stephens open and manifest folly who while he boasted so much of the eminency of his Episcopal place and contended that he had the Succession of Peter upon whom the foundations of the Church were laid did yet hereby introduce several other rocks and build new Churches upon them And when not long after the controversie came to be canvass'd in a Synod of Eighty seven African Bishops whom Cyprian had assembled at Carthage for that purpose in the speech that he made at the opening of the Council Cyprian tax'd the Pride and ambition of the Bishop of Rome telling them that they should all freely speak their minds without judging or Excommunicating any that were of another opinion that none of them took upon himself to make himself Bishop of Bishops or by a tyrannical threatning to force his Colleagues into a necessity of compliance since every Bishop according to the power and liberty granted to him had his proper rule and jurisdiction and could no more be judg'd by
of the Provincial Bishops And for this none could be so fit as he that resided in the Metropolis of the Province thence call'd Metropolitan partly because the Countries for the most part round about had originally derived their Christianity from thence and 't was but fit they should pay a peculiar respect to the Mother-church partly because most persons had occasion to resort thither for the dispatch of business and might with the same opportunity conveniently transact both their civil and Ecclesiastick matters and partly because 't was but reasonable that the Bishop of so eminent a place should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have an honourable presidency over the rest as the Council of Antioch particularly provides in this case Ordaining accordingly that tho every Bishop might Ordain Presbyters and Deacons and manage the affairs of his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or particular Diocess as we now call it yet that all the Bishops of the Province should acknowledge the Metropolitan and attempt nothing of moment without his knowledge and consent which they there enact not as any Novel constitution but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they tell us according to a most ancient Rule and Canon that had been in force from the times of their fore-fathers To the Metropolitan then upon every extraordinary occasion the Provincial Bishops addressed themselves to him also other Metropolitans such especially as lay nearest to him were wont to send Letters of Communion to testify their consent with him in the faith a confession whereof every new Metropolitan us'd to send abroad upon his advancement to his See and mutually to consult each others advice in all important cases VII THIS 't is plain from the Writings of S. Cyprian and others was the way of Administration during those first and most early Ages of Christianity Private causes every Bishop judg'd of within his particular jurisdiction where taking to him the assistance of his Clergy his Presbyters and Deacons they did Communi Consilio ponderare weigh things by common advice and deliberation where the case was of greater importance or more general concernment it was referr'd to a provincial Synod wherein the chief Bishop of the Province presided and directed all affairs Here the Ordination of Bishops was usually perform'd or where a Synod could not conveniently be had by as many Bishops as could be got together the rest who were absent by writing under their hands testifying their consent and the whole either actually manag'd by or at least done by the allowance and confirmation of the chief Bishop Here also criminal Bishops were depos'd and the same way of general suffrage observ'd Thus when Cornelius and his Synod at Rome had condemn'd and cast out Novatian for his Schismatical Usurpation of that See the Bishops that were not present at the Council did by their Letters ratify and subscribe that Decree VIII IN reference to the affairs of Churches abroad they acted by a kind of mutual consociation they communicated councils interpos'd in differences oppos'd the same common enemies and upon all occasions afforded ready help and assistance to one another that dilectio communis that Cyprian so often speaks of the common bond of love and charity obliging them to advise together that so by joynt consultations things might be carried on to the best advantage of Ecclesiastick Administration For they look'd upon themselves he tells us as members of the same Body of the Church though stretcht out into many several Provinces and that therefore they were bound to have care one of another and to watch over the welfare of the whole Body Upon a Persons Election to any of the greater Sees they were wont to send their congratulatory Letters to give him joy of that place to signify their concurrence with his advancement to a share of the Government of the Church and their communion with him in the Faith Thus Cyprian by Letters approv'd Cornelius his Election to the See of Rome which he did he tells us according to divine tradition and Ecclesiastick institution nay he sent to all the Bishops of his Province requiring them by their Letters to do the like And when Marcian Bishop of Arles was depos'd for his siding with Novatian Cyprian wrote to Pope Stephen to send him word who succeeded in that Bishopprick that so he might know to whom to direct his communicatory Letters When any person was duly Excommunicated in on Church he could not be admitted to Communion in another Thus when Felicissimus who had been Excommunicated by Cyprian and the African Synod fled to Rome and came thither guarded with a potent faction he found the doors shut against him whereof Cornelius advis'd Cyprian by Letters which the good man commends as replenisht with Brotherly Love Ecclesiastick Discipline and Episcopal censure And when the Legats of Novatian who had procur'd himself to be irregularly Ordain'd Bishop of Rome for which he was Synodically condemn'd came into Africk Cyprian rejected them and utterly refus'd to receive them to Communion In short no sooner did any extraordinary emergency arise but notice was presently given of it to other Churches and advice return'd what was fit to be done in those matters and all possible assistance afforded towards the dispatching of them In all which transactions the Bishop of Rome was no otherwise considered than as all others were as a Bishop of the Catholick Church nor was his Sentence any more regarded than that of other Bishops Donatus à casis nigris accus'd Cecilian Bishop of Carthage to Constantine the Great The Emperour referr'd the case to Pope Melchiades and three French Bishops together with whom Assembled fifteen Bishops of Italy who gave judgment against Donatus Wherein as the Pope acted as the Emperours Delegate and had no more power than the rest of his Collegues so the sturdy African slighted his judgment and appeal'd from it Constantine hereupon referrs the business to a Synod at Arles in France Ann. CCCXIV where the former sentence is again brought under examination and this thought no injury or dishonour to the Bishop of Rome nay his Legates in that Council subscribed only in the fifth place as the subscriptions publisht by Sirmoud out of an Ancient Copy stand at this day In short 't is ingenuously confess'd by Pope Pius the second then Cardinal that before the time of the Nicene Council very little regard was had to the Church of Rome By all which we see how the Government of the Church in those days was carried on Bishops superintended the affairs of the Church in every City and its adjacent Territory over them were Metropolitans and Provincial Synods and with foreign Churches they transacted by a mutual agreement and confederation for the good of the whole but without any coercive power over one another CHAP. II. The Government of the Church and Power of the Bishops of Rome as 't is represented in the Canons of the
Nicene Council The Sixt Canon of the Synod of Nice set down with the occasion of it Seven Observations drawn from that Canon I. That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces A Province what Whither the Countries in Italy so called II. That the chief Church-Governour in every Province was the Metropolitan The prudence and convenience of that way of Government Patriarchs prov'd not to be intended in the Nicene Canon III. That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power This own'd by some of the greatest Champions of Rome IV. That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of the greatest note in the Christian Church and of these Rome the chief The eminency of Sees according to the greatness of the Cities wherein they were planted This gave precedency to the Church of Rome The three Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch ascrib'd to S. Peter Blasphemous things spoken of the Pope upon that account Primacy allow'd to the See of Rome No Supremacy belonging to it The Christian Church then knew of no such supereminent power V. That the rights of the Roman Metropolitan were not due by any divine constitution but by custome and the practice of the Church This plainly shew'd to be the sence of this and other following Councils VI. That the Ordination of Provincial Bishops was one of the prime rights and priviledges of every Metropolitan within his own jurisdiction The fourth sixth and seventh Canons of this Council noted to that purpose The same shew'd to be the determination of other Synods What other rights belong'd to Metropolitans VII That this way of Ecclesiastick Administration was not any late novel institution but founded upon ancient custome and practice What this antiquity implies The original of Metropolitans briefly enquir'd into Several instances of this way of Government noted in the second and third Centuries The word Metropolitan not met with till the Council of Nice But the thing long before The Sum of the Observations upon this Canon IN this condition stood things at that time when the great Council Assembled at Nice An. CCCXXV where what had hitherto been transacted only by custome and mutual consent became then a Law of the Church For Alexander the venerable Bishop of Alexandria having complain'd to the Synod that the Metropolitical Rights of that See had been invaded by the irregular and ambitious attempts of Meletius the Schismatical Bishop of Lycopolis in Thebais who during the late persecution had amongst other crimes taken upon him to Ordain Bishops and to confer inferiour orders where-ever he came the Synod did not only depose Meletius and in a manner null his Ordinations but pass'd among others this following Canon LEt ancient customs still take place those that are in Egypt Libya and Pentapolis that the Bishop of Alexandria have power over all these because such also is the custome of the Bishop of Rome And accordingly in Antioch and in other Provinces let the priviledges be preserved to the Churches This also is altogether evident that if any man be made a Bishop without the consent of the Metropolitan this great Synod Decrees such a one to be no Bishop And if two or three out of a contentious humour shall oppose the common election duly and regularly made according to the Canon of the Church let the majority of voices in this case prevail In this Canon which has been the subject of infinite debate and controversie there are several things very observable to our purpose which every impartial unprejudicate Reader will see do naturally flow from it First That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction at that time were concurrent with the Roman Provinces Secondly That the chief Church Governour within every Province was the Metropolitan Thirdly That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power Fourthly That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of greatest note in the Christian Church and of these Rome the chief Fifthly That the rights of the Roman Metropolitan were not due by any Divine constitution but flow'd only from Custome and the Practice of the Church Sixthly That the Ordination of Provincial Bishops was one of the prime Rights and Priviledges of every Metropolitan within his own Jurisdiction Seventhly That this way of Ecclesiastick Admiration was not any late novel institution but was founded upon ancient custome and practice All which Observations I shall briefly explain and make good 1. THAT the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces Every City besides what was within its Walls and immediate Suburbs had usually some adjacent Territory whither its Government did extend as Strabo notes of Nemausus or Nismes a City of the Gallia Narbonensis that it had under it twenty four Villages all well peopled and inhabited and so commonly in other places and these were the Towns and Villages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are call'd in the ninth Canon of Antioch that were under the superintendency and jurisdiction of the City-Bishop But a Province was a Collection of many Cities with all the Tracts and Territories belonging to them and was greater or less according to the custome of places or as the will of Princes had set them out Augustus as Strabo who lived about that time informs us when he resolv'd to commit some parts of the Empire to the immediate care of the Senate and to reserve the rest to himself divided each moiety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into several Provinces and caus'd a Rationarium or Book to be made of it this he did out of the Commentaries of Balbus whom he had appointed to measure the several parts of the Empire Some account of these Provinces Strabo there gives us but a more full and particular account is given by Dion Cassius How these Provinces stood divided in the following Ages especially from the times of Constantine is distinctly and accurately set down in the Notitia Imperii compos'd under the reign of the younger Theodosius I observe no more then that if at Augustus his settlement which is taken notice of and objected by some the Countries in Italy were not styl'd Provinces but Regions he divided it says Pliny into eleven Regions whence Italy and the Provinces and jus Italicum and jus Provinciale are frequently distinguisht yet this distinction held not long nor universally the words being promiscuously us'd as is evident from the Scriptores Rei agrariae some whereof if their Titles bely them not liv'd not long after Augustus his age where we find more than once the Territory of the Province of Picenum as well as the Region of Picenum the Province of Apulia and Calabria of Valeria of Tuscia and the like And for after ages especially from the times of Constantine no man can doubt of it that has but once
lookt either into the Justinian or Theodosian Code II. THAT the chief Church-Governour within every Province was the Metropolitan that is the Bishop that resided in the Metropolis or Mother-City of the Province For as the preventing Schism and disorder had necessitated Provincial Bishops who being all equal had no power one over the other to chuse one common President to umpire and determine differences and manage those affairs which could not be done by every single Bishop so reason and conveniency the example of the civil Government and the greatness of the place pleaded for the Bishop of the Metropolis to be the person who hence deriv'd the title of Metropolitan And this Salmasius himself how ill a friend soever to the whole Episcopal Order cannot but confess was wisely contriv'd and that had but Metropolitans contain'd themselves within their proper bounds there could not have heen a more useful and laudable Institution His business was upon all important occasions synodically to summon together the Bishops of his Province and therein to enquire into their miscarriages and misdemeanors to judg of the contentions that arose between them to ordain persons to vacant Bishopricks or at least to ratify their Ordination and to direct all transactions that were of greater and more general concernment Therefore the Fathers of Antioch take care that forasmuch as all that have any business to dispatch are forc'd to go to the Metropolis therefore the Bishops in every Province should own honour and give precedence to the Bishop that presided in the Metropolis and attempt nothing of moment without his concurrence and this according to a more ancient Canon derived to them from their Fore-fathers By the Ancient Canon here spoken of cannot be meant this of Nice which was but sixteen years before it and therefore without doubt referrs to the XXXIV Canon of the Apostles which almost in the same words commands the Bishops in every Nation to own him who is first or chief amongst them and to esteem him as Head and to do nothing of moment without his consent which truly expresses the ancient practice of the Church these Apostolick Canons being nothing else but a collection of Rules and Customes agreed upon in the first ages of Christianity For that I may note this by the way 't is vain to think that a thing then first began to be when we find it first mention'd or enjoyn'd by a Synodal Decree the Canons in such cases being very oft expressive of a more ancient practice which they then take notice of or enforce only because some extraordinary accidents at that time may have given particular occasion for it As here at Nice in the case of the Rights of Metropolitans which the Canon mentions and resettles only because Meletius's usurpation had brought it into question It had been long before an ancient custome and having lately received some little shock the Church no sooner had an opportunity of meeting together in a general Council but it establisht these Metropolitical priviledges by its Oecumenical Authority There are I know and they too men of no mean name and note both heretofore and of later times who tell us that this Nicene Canon is to be understood not of Metropolitans but Patriarchs But where does the Council say or so much as hint any such thing the Synod both here and in all other places constantly calls them Metropolitans and makes the bounds of their jurisdiction to be Provinces not Diocesses And indeed the word Diocese as relating to this extent of Ecclesiastick Government was not in use till above an intire age after Nay perhaps at this time it was scarce in use for the larger division of Countries in the civil state For it was but about this time that Constantine new modell'd the Government and brought in Dioceses as comprehending several Provinces under them So that either here must be Patriarchs without Dioceses or if the Canon be meant as some explain it of Metropolitani Metropolitanorum of some prime and principal Metropolitans that presided over the Metropolitans of the several Provinces within their jurisdiction then 't is plain the Synod must intend such whereever it mentions Metropolitans for it all along speaks of them as of the same In the fourth Canon it provides that in every Province a Bishop Ordain'd shall be confirm'd by the Metropolitan which is necessarily to be restrain'd to proper provincial Metropolitans In this sixth Canon it speaks more particularly and because the Metropolitick rights had been invaded in Egypt Ordains that the Bishop of Alexandria no less than he of Rome and that he of Antioch and the Churches in all other Provinces should still enjoy their ancient priviledges Where we see it speaks of them all without any difference in this respect as provincial Churches And thus the ancient Version of this Canon whereof more hereafter understood it when it rendred it thus in caeteris provinciis privilegia propria reserventur Metropolitanis Ecclesiis that at Antioch and in the other Provinces the Metropolitan Churches should have their own priviledges And to put the case out of doubt what the Council meant the Canon adds in the close that no Bishop should be made without the consent of the Metropolitan Nothing therefore can be more absurd than to say that Patriarchs are meant in the former part of the Canon and Metropolitans only in the latter when as the Canon it self makes no difference And indeed were that the meaning the grave and wise Fathers of that Council took an effectual course that posterity should never understand their mind If we look into the following Canon that secures the rights of the Metropolitan Church of Caesarea in Palestine and though it grants the next place of honour to the Bishop of Jerusalem yet still it subjects him to his own Metropolitan And I suppose it will puzzle any man to give a wise reason why the Church of Jerusalem for which the Christian World ever had so great and so just a veneration should be subject to that of Caesarea but only that Caesarea was the Metropolis of that Province and so had been ever since the time of Vespasian and accordingly Josephus says 't was the greatest City in the Country and Tacitus calls it the head of Judaea So miserably does Alexander Aristinus blunder in his Exposition of this Canon when by virtue of it he makes the Bishop of Jerusalem to become a Patriarch and yet withal to be subject to the Metropolitan of Caesarea or which is all one that the Metropolitan of Caesarea should not hereby lose his ancient power and dignity As if any Patriarch and much more one of the five greater could be subject to a private Metropolitan or a Metropolitan could have his ancient rights reserv'd to him when at the same time a considerable part of them are taken from him But Patriarchs were not then heard or so much as dreamt of in the Church nothing being truer than what
Balsamon has observ'd in this case that anciently all the Metropolitans of Provinces were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolute and independent and Ordain'd by none but their own Provincial Bishops III. THAT the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical Power This is so evidently the sence of the Canon that few who have otherwise Will good enough have yet the hardiness to oppose it The Sun it self is not clearer at Noon-day than that hereby the Council design'd that the Bishop of Alexandria should have the same power within his Province that the Bishop of Rome had in his Let the Bishop of Alexandria says the Canon have all his ancient and accustomed powers and priviledges in Egypt Libya and Pentapolis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since or forasmuch as the Bishop of Rome has the like Custome that is as a learned and zealous Champion for the Popes Supremacy does yet with great ingenuity expound it that he and none but he should exercise Jurisdiction within his own bounds as the Alexandrian Bishop has prescrib'd limits to his Diocess so also has he of Rome And as he of Rome manages the affairs of his own Diocess without the interposal or medling of any other person so we Will that he of Alexandria shall have the same power and that none shall obstruct him in the exercise of it The Canon then makes a double comparison between these two Metropolitans the one respecting the extent of their Jurisdiction that one was confin'd and limited as well as the other the other the fulness of their power which they might exercise within their respective limits and that none might presume to invade or hinder it but by the same Right by which the Roman Prelate Govern'd his Churches by the same might he of Alexandria the Churches subject to him One of the Greek Scholiasts Summs up the Canon into these words Let the Bishop of Alexandria have power over Egypt Libya and Pentapolis And the Roman Bishop over those places that are subject to Rome Harmenopulus expresses it in somewhat more general terms Let the ancient customes of arch-Arch-Bishops still prevail and every one have power over his own Province I enquire not now what were the peculiar bounds within which the Power of the Bishops of Rome was terminated 'T is enough at present that whether larger or narrower limits he had which he might not regularly pass and that the Church of Rome was in those days accounted a particular Church and as much a Member of the Church Universal as Alexandria Antioch or that of any other Province IV. THAT the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of greatest note in the Christian Church and of these Rome the chief Hence they are here particularly named while others are dismist with an Et caetera and Rome as the most eminent made the Exemplar according to which the Rights of Alexandria were to be recovered and resettled 'T were impertinent to shew that respect was always paid to places proportionable to their Temporal power and greatness S. Cyprian long since told us that the reason why Rome had the precedency of Carthage was pro magnitudine sua because 't was the greater City And 't were as endless as 't is needless to prove that the places mention'd in this Canon were Capital Cities of the Empire Rome was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius styles it the Metropolis or chief City of the Roman World it had for several Ages been the Governing City and was still the Seat of Empire the greatness whereof the Geographical Poet has no less briefly than Elegantly thus summ'd up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rome triumphs in th' Imperial Seat and is Wealth 's Store-house and the World's Metropolis Alexandria besides the vastness of the place numerousness of its inhabitants the riches and plenty of its Traffick was the Seat of the Imperial Vice-roy call'd the Augustal Prefect Indeed it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second City under the Sun that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristides styles it the greatest next to Rome and thence by ancient Writers emphatically call'd THE CITY Antioch was frequently the Court of Emperors constantly the residence of their Lieutenants the most ancient rich and populous City of the East commonly styl'd Antioch the Great Now the greatness of these places added a proportionable reputation to their several Bishops it being but reasonable that they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Fathers at Antioch speak precede others in honour who presided in the most eminent and honourable Cities And because Rome was confessedly the greatest and noblest City of the Empire hence the Church there had an honourary precedency before all others and the Bishops of it in all publick meetings and consultations had the first place allowed them and upon all occasions a mighty deference and respect paid to them and their favour was courted and Addresses made to them from all parts And in this sence 't is plain the ancients understood the honour due to the Roman Bishop When the Council of Constantinople decrees that the Bishop of that City shall have the next place to him of Rome for that Constantinople was new Rome it sufficiently shews upon what foundation the precedency of the Roman Prelate stood And that of Chalcedon much more expresly that the cause why the Fathers gave priviledges to the See of old Rome was because that was the Imperial City And in pursuance of these Canons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Emperour Justinian enacts that the Bishop of old Rome should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first of all Bishops I know there are who place the Eminency of these three great Sees upon another bottom and tell us it was because they were all founded by S. Peter two of them by himself and that of Alexandria by the Ministry of S. Mark his peculiar Disciple sent thither by his immediate direction and authority And the assertion further improv'd that these three Cities being severally the chief Cities of the three then known parts of the World Europe Asia and Africa thence it follows that the Government of these three great Churches and in them of the whole Christian World is lodg'd in S. Peters Successour and 't is added with greater boldness shall I say or blasphemy that S. Peter herein exprest a lively representation both of the Unity of the Godheads and of the Holy Trinity and that as 't is but one and the same Episcopal Office that is in a Bishop a Metropolitan and a Patriarch so a Trinity of Patriarchs meets in the Unity of the Pope so that in the See of the Prince of the Apostles there is an Unity in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity But where Men can suffer their wits want only to sport at this rate though 't is gravely brought in by
way of Argument by some otherwise learned enough 't is no wonder that nothing should be stuck at true or false that may serve their cause But I spare any farther censure of this Authour finding by his life publisht since the Writing of these Papers that he repented afterwards of so hasty and inconsiderate an undertaking and oft intended to have brought that work under a review and castigation And indeed any Man may at first sight discern 't was the issue of a Juvenile heat and wanted the corrections of calmer and maturer thoughts But perhaps it might prove no such easie task to make it out that S. Peter founded those three Sees and if he did that any such authority as is claim'd is thence deriv'd to the See of Rome Antioch and Alexandria did always maintain their Jurisdiction Independent though the Popes frequently inculcated their being originally Instituted by S. Peter as a kind of obligation to Rome and that which reflected the greatest honour upon those Churches And the Fathers we see found their preheminence upon the Glory and Majesty of their Cities and none more expresly than that of Rome the Bishop whereof was therefore honoured caress'd and add rest unto because Bishop of Rome And had he contented himself with that place and deference which the Fathers gave him and not broken down Inclosures and trampled over the Heads of his Brethren we should neither have envied nor denied it And though perhaps it might admit some dispute whether Rome having for so many Ages lost the honor of being the Imperial City the Privileges conferr'd upon that Church upon that account ought not in reason to abate proportionably yet we are willing to grant what genuine Antiquity did allow that the Bishop of that place containing himself within Primitive Rules and Orders should be esteemed the most honourable among all Christian Bishops that he should be first but not Lord much less Tyrant over his Brethren The Priviledges assign'd him by the ancient Canons were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says a late learned Patriarch of Alexandria Priviledges of honour not conveyances of a Tyrannical power to make or abrogate Laws as he pleases And therefore suppose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Primacy of the Church of Rome mention'd in the beginning of this sixt Nicene Canon as 't is quoted by Paschasinus the Popes Legate in the Council of Chalcedon were granted yet who knows not that there is a Primacy of Order as well as Power a Primacy amongst equals and such 't is plain was that which the ancient Councils did assign him not an Universal Monarchical uncontroulable Power and Supremacy over the whole Christian Church which would have fundamentally destroy'd the very design of this Nicene Canon which makes the Bishops of Alexandria Antioch the other Provinces independent and as supream within their own limits as the Pope is in his Is there no difference between Precedency and Supremacy between Dignity and Dominion Let the Roman Church be the Head of all Churches as 't is sometimes styl'd by the Ancients and frequently challeng'd by the Popes 't is so only in an honourary sence and in that respect other Churches especially that of Constantinople have the same title given to them Where then shall we find the Soveraign Arbitrary and unbounded Power of the Bishop of Rome and where but in the pride ambition and Usurpation of that See certain I am it has not the least footing in this or any other ancient Council Nor can it be suppos'd that had the Fathers of this venerable Synod known of any such supereminent Power of the Roman Bishop as is now pretended to and know it they must if there had been any meeting from all parts of the World we cannot suppose I say they would have given the Bishops of Alexandria Antioch c. equal Power within their respective Provinces without inserting into the Canon a Salvo to the Supreme Rights and Prerogatives of the See of Rome especially when we find them in the very next Canon giving the Bishop of Jerusalem an honourable Session but still with a Proviso to preserve the Rights of the Metropolitan of that Province V. THAT the Rights of the Roman Metropolitan were not due by any Divine Constitution but flow'd only from Custome and the practice of the Church This is here laid down as one of the main foundations upon which the whole Body of the Canon is built the Right here convey'd not being Divine Institutions but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ancient Customs introduc'd by time and use and a wise contrivance Which is not only the case of Metropolitans in general but is particularly applied to him of Rome it being says the Canon the custome for the Bishop of Rome to have such Metropolitick Power Had these good Fathers known of any peculiar Commission given by Christ to Peter and in him to the Bishop of Rome to be his Supream and Universal Bishop upon Earth to Govern his Church by a despotical unaccountable power or that our Lord had but so much as authorized and appointed him to be Superiour to all the Bishops within the Roman Province it had been hard not to say unjust and unreasonable in them to conceal it and an irreparable injury to that Church to derive its authority from any meaner original An injury which we cannot conceive but that the Popes Legates who were then in Council must have immediately entred their Protest against But the Christian World was as yet unacquainted with such Notions and the Popes then either did not claim any such power or to be sure durst not challenge it in that Assembly where they knew it must be shamefully baffled and rejected What Power soever our Lord or his Apostles convey'd to Bishops this is certain that all Bishops as such stand upon a common level and that Superiority and Subordination among them is meerly from humane positive Institution borrowed from the Forms in the civil state and with great reason brought in to comply with the conveniencies and necessities of the Church And to this the Fathers usually refer it Thus we see they here determined the case of Metropolitans And in the following Canon the Bishop of Jerusalem's taking place next to his Metropolitan before all the other Bishops of that Province is ascrib'd to custome and ancient tradition In the Council of Ephesus the Bishop of Antioch was complain'd of for invading the Rights of the Metropolitan of Cyprus in deciding whereof the Fathers affirm it would be sufficient prejudice to his cause if he had not ancient custome on his side And having determin'd the case against him decree That every Province should enjoy those original Rights pure and inviolable which had been deriv'd to them by long continuance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as the power of ancient custome had prevail'd And when some years after by reason of the Incursions of the barbarous people the Metropolitan of Cyprus was forc't to
remove to Nova Justinianopolis in the Hellespont the Fathers of the sixt Council in Trullo confirm'd his rights to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to ancient custome For the Holy Fathers say they have determin'd that Customs should be preserv'd in every Church VI. THAT the Ordination of Provincial Bishops was one of the prime Rights and Priviledges of every Metropolitan within his own Jurisdiction No Man in those days was bound to go beyond his own Metropolis much less did they know of any obligation to seek to Rome either for Consecration or Confirmation And for this the Laws of the Church are as express and peremptory as words could make them Our great Council had made Provision herein by their fourth Canon that a Bishop should be Ordain'd by all the Bishops in the Province But because pers haps business or distance might render that inconvenient and sometimes impossible they decree that it should be done by three the rest testifying their consent in writing and that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the validity of what was done should be from the Confirmation of the Metropolitan in every Province And because the case of Meletius was then before them and had rais'd a mighty noise and clamour they again establish this matter in the close of the sixth Canon by way of recapitulation that whoever should be made Bishop without the consent of his Metropolitan his Ordination should be null and void and that if any doubt and dispute arose in this case the majority of Votes should carry it Accordingly in their Synodical Epistle to the Church of Alexandria they tell them they had taken care about the Election of their Bishops and that it must be with the Concurrence and Confirmation of the Bishop of Alexandria This Constitution we find unanimously ratified by almost all following Councils by that of Antioch most expresly by that of Laodicea by that of Sardica by the Second and Fourth Councils of Carthage by the general Council of Chalcedon who take notice of the neglect of some Metropolitans in delaying the Ordinations of their Provincial Bishop and in the particular controversie between Anastasius of Nice and Eunomius of Nicomedia they all with one voice ratify the Nicene Canon In all which Canons and infinite more that might be mention'd there is not the least intimation given of any Prerogative peculiar to the Bishop of Rome or that he has any power to take this Right out of the hands of the respective Metropolitans Nor is Ordination the only Priviledge which the Synod of Nice vests in Metropolitans for though they more particularly insist upon this because Meletius had given such fresh occasion by violating the Metropolitan Rights of Alexandria yet in the beginning of the sixt Canon they establish their Priviledges in general that they should have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the ancient Powers and Priviledges that belong'd to their Churches in every Province What these were practice and the subsequent Canons of the Church do inform us to take care that vacant Sees were well supplied to call Provincial Synods to disperse Canons there agreed on for the common good to end controversies between their Bishops to admonish the unruly to censure and suspend the irreregular to give communicatory Letters to their Provincial Bishops that were to go into foreign parts and such like In short the Synod of Antioch than which perhaps none ever made wiser and better Rules for the Government and Discipline of the Church order the Bishops of every Province not only to honour their Metropolitan but to do nothing of moment without his consent Lastly I observe hence That this way of Ecclesiastick Administration was not any late Novel Institution but was founded upon ancient custome and practice 'T was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Canon most expresly How far this Antiquity does extend it is not easie precisely to determine Salmasius himself grants it for an hundred years before the Synod of Nice And we would not have thankt him for a larger concession had the state of things before that Council been as clearly transmitted to us as they were afterwards Indeed the Records and Writings of those early Ages are generally lost and the defending Christianity from the assaults of Heathens on the one side and Hereticks on the other take up the far greatest part of those few that remain So that little light is afforded us to discover the Originals of particular Churches and to trace out the gradual advances of Polity and Church-Discipline Whether the Apostles themselves fixt a Superiour Bishop in every Metropolis of the civil State as some will have it or whether the Apostles only form'd the Scheme and draught but left it to following Ages to erect and set it up as de Marca thinks I leave it to the Reader who is curious about these matters to weigh their arguments and then pass his Sentence To me it seems probable that it actually commenc'd not long after the Apostolick Age when Sects and Schisms began to break in apace and when the Apostles who were the supream Governours and Moderators being remov'd off the Stage and controversies multiplying between particular Bishops it was found necessary to pitch upon one in every Province to whom the Umpirage of cases might be referr'd and by whom all common and publick affairs might be directed In the declining part of the second Century we find Philip styl'd not only Bishop of the Diocess of Gortyna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also of all the rest of the Churches or Dioceses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Crete among which Pinytus is reckon'd Bishop of the Parochia of Gnossus Towards the latter end of the same Century we find several Provincial Synods conven'd for determining the Paschal controversie Pope Victor presided in that at Rome in that of Palestine Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea and Narcissus of Jerusalem where Narcissus is joyn'd with Theophilus because the Bishop of Jerusalem had ever the place of honour next to his Metropolitan of Caesarea and this say our Nicene Fathers from custome and ancient tradition Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus at the request of Victor summon'd a Synod of the Bishops of Asia i. e. of the Lydian or Proconsular Asia whereof Ephesus was the Metropolis wherein he was president who all subscrib'd his opinion as he tells us in his Letter to Pope Victor In France there was a convention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Bishops of the several Gallick Dioceses wherein Irenaeus Bishop of the Metropolis of Lyons was chief Moderator Bacchylus also Bishop of Corinth that was a Metropolis too held a Synod of the Bishops of Achaia if S. Jerome understand Eusebius aright and in their name wrote an Epistle about this matter This the Author of the Ancient Synodicon calls a Provincial Synod and expresly styles Bacchylus
Arch-bishop of Corinth How oft does S. Cyprian mention his Province and his Fellow-Bishops in it to whom he communicated affairs of the Church and commanded Mandavimus is his own word their help and assistance and this Province no mean one neither as extending over Africk properly so call'd Numidia and the two Mauritania's Nor can I see any reason with Salmasius to understand it of the civil Province especially when the best reason he gives is that the Power of Primates or Metropolitans was not yet in force which is a plain and shameful begging of the Question Indeed if he means it only of the Title by which they were call'd I grant that the word Metropolitan is very rarely if perhaps at all to be found in any Authentick Writer before the time of the Nicene Council They were in those days styl'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Bishops and the Heads of Provinces as is plain from the XXXIV Apostolick Canon i. e they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief Bishops that resided in the several Metropoles as Zonaras truly expounds that Canon But whatever becomes of the Title the thing it self is plain to all that are not byass'd by prejudice and partiality that there was a Superiour Bishop in every Province resident at the Metropolis who partly by himself partly by the assistance of his Provincial Bishops meeting in Council usually manag'd all the more important Church-affairs within that Province The Sum in short of this great Nicene Canon amounts to this That the greater limits of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were concurrent with the Provinces of the Roman Empire that the prime Governours within those bounds were the Metropolitans and though some were more honourable than others by reason of the eminency of their Episcopal Stations yet that every Metropolitan had a free and independent power of Ordination and steering the main affairs of the Church within that Province that the Bishop of Rome had the same and no more within the Roman Province a Power not granted by any immediate commission or Divine authority but introduc't for conveniency and setled by custome and long continuance CHAP. III. The extent of the Bishop of Romes Jurisdiction considered as a Metropolitan A Search into the proper bounds of the Roman Bishop His Power Four-fold Episcopal Metropolitical Patriarchal Apostolical The First not controverted The last discharg'd as extravagant and groundless and as frequently baffled both by the Reformed and Greek Church L. Allatius's Jeer of his Country-men His Metropolitical Jurisdiction considered as concurrent with that of the Provost of Rome That how great and how far extending The Suburbicary Regions what Sicily no part of the Urbicary Regions The usual conformity between the extent of the Civil and Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction in those times The Power of the Roman Metropolitan confin'd within an Hundred Miles of Rome Rufinus his Exposition of the Suburbicary Churches Greatly quarrell'd at by the Romish Writers His authority in other cases allow'd sufficient and unquestionable His Book approv'd by Pope Gelasius and others No probability of his being mistaken in the sence of the Canon or the extent of the Roman Metropolitanship or the Suburbicary Churches His Explication confirm'd by most ancient Interpreters of this Canon The Bishops of Rome and Italy distinct The Bishop of Milan ranckt with him of Rome The objection of the Bishop of Romes being confin'd to so narrow a compass considered and answered The Majores Dioeceses in the Epistle of the Synod of Arles what The bounds of the Roman Bishops shew'd to have been heretofore small from an ancient Notitia Episcopatuum The fraud in the first publication of that Notitia Morinus noted The greatness of Rome equivalent to a large extent I. THUS far then we have gain'd that the Bishop of Rome as well as the rest was bounded within his Metropolitical Province the Council supposing this as the ground of its constitution that the Bishop of Alexandria should have jurisdiction over all within his Province as the Bishop of Rome had in his 'T is true the Council does not assign the proper limits of the Roman Metropolitanship as it does that of Alexandria there being a more particular reason why it should specify the latter that being the Subject under debate and the main if not only occasion of the Canon we must therefore search it out some other way And here we are told of a Three-fold power vested in the Pope Episcopal Patriarchal and Apostolical or as others distinguish a little more accurately he may be considered under a Four-fold capacity as a Bishop as a Metropolitan as a Patriarch and lastly as Pope or as he is the Vicar of Christ and Head of the Universal Church In which capacity he is not only more honourable than all other Bishops and Patriarchs but has full authority over them to consecrate confirm or depose them yea when he pleases to suppress old and to erect new Episcopal Sees Hereby they tell us he is constituted Judge over all Churches in the World and may at pleasure visit govern and give Laws to them For the First of these as he is a private Bishop we have no controversie with him And for the last his Supreme and Apostolical power over the whole Christian Church 't is so wild and extravagant a claim so groundless and precarious so utter a stranger to Scripture and Primitive Antiquity that it 's needless to take pains in the refuting of it Nay the Popes themselves how desirous soever to amplify their own Power have not yet dar'd to challenge it where they knew it would be disputed or denied In the discourse that past between Constantius and Pope Liberius about the condemnation of Athanasius the Emperour askt him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what great part of the World are you that you only should take his part and that as he urges a little before when the whole World had past Sentence upon him The proper answer to which had Liberius known of any such power had been this I only am intrusted by Christ with Supream Authority over the whole Church and I having acquitted him 't is no matter though the whole World besides has condemn'd him And so no doubt he would have answered had he been aware of any such Prerogative affixt to his See But Popes had not then set this claim on foot nor 't is like dreamt of it nor if they had was the World as yet dispos'd to receive it Something we said to this before when we considered the Bishop of Rome as standing uppermost among the Metropolitans mention'd in the Nicene Canon To add more were a vain and impertinent loss of time especially after so much as has been said upon this Argument both by the Writers of the Greek Church Alexius Aristinus Zonar as Balsamon Matthaeus Blastares Pet. Antiochenus Macarius Ancyranus Demetrius Chomatenus Barlaam Nilus Thessalonicensis Nicetus Seidus Nilus Doxopatrius
Rome than we can suppose that a Prebend of York born and bred in the Church of England should be ignorant how far the Province of Canterbury does extend Nor can there be the least reason to imagine either that by Suburbicary Churches Rufinus should mean any other than what lay within those Provinces that were universally known by that title or that he should dare so openly and in the face of the World to shut up the Bishop of Rome within those Suburbicary Regions had not his power at the time of the Nicene Council whose Canon he must in all reason be suppos'd to explain as things stood at the time of that Synod been notoriously known to have been confin'd within those limits But what need we take pains to vindicate the credit of our witness he stands not alone in this matter his testimony being sufficiently justified by concurrent evidence The ancient Version of the Nicene Canons publish'd by Sirmond out of the Records of the Vatican and another exactly agreeing with it by Mons. Justell from a very ancient Manuscript the Author whereof was perhaps not much later than Rufinus renders it by Suburbicaria loca the Suburbicary places the three Arabick Versions the Alexandrian that of the Melchites and the Paraphrase of Joseph the Egyptian all express it to the same effect that he should have power over his Countries and Provinces and what ever lay next to him Alex. Aristenus and Sim. Logotheta two Greek Canonists and a third ancient Epitomizer of the Canons mention'd by Leo Allatius by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the places and Provinces that lay under Rome i. e. the Suburbicary Countries Nor will it a little contribute to the further clearing of this matter to observe that as the civil Government of the Roman Provost is distinguish'd from that of Italy in the Writings of those times so is this of the Roman Prelate and this distinction very ancient When Paul of Samosata Bishop of Antioch refus'd to give Domnus possession of that Church an appeal was made to the Emperour Aurelian who referr'd the Decision of the case to the Bishops of Italy and of Rome as Eusebius tells us and in the title of the Letter written by the Sardican Synod to the Church of Alexandria 't is said that the Bishops Assembled from Rome and Italy i. e. Italy taken in its strict and peculiar notion as 't is there distingusht from Campania Calabria c. Thence Milan as being Head of the Italick Dioces is in an Ecclesiastick sence call'd the Metropolis of Italy and Dionysius Bishop of that Church styl'd Bishop of the Metropolis of Italy and Sulpitius Severus speaking of Priscilian and his company coming into Italy says they address'd themselves to Damasus Bishop of Rome and Ambrose of Milan as Bishops that had the greatest authority in those days And in this respect in the civil sence Berterius truly makes Rome to be the Metropolis of the Suburbicary Regions as Milan was of the rest of Italy VI. BUT it seems no small prejudice to the great men of that Church that so venerable a person as the Bishop of Rome should be pent up within such narrow limits much inferiour to many others especially him of Alexandria or Antioch But besides that the Eastern Dioceses as some think were generally larger than those of the West the Ecclesiastick Provinces as we noted before were restrain'd to the form of the civil constitution and were more or fewer as it happened in the political Distribution Wherein if the Roman Bishop had not so large an extent as some others yet was it made up in the number and frequency of Episcopal Sees beyond what was in all those times in other places of the like extent And therefore when the Synod at Arles in their Letter to Pope Sylvester say that he did majores Dioeceses tenere a passage frequently quoted by the Writers of the Roman Church possess greater Dioceses besides that the place as Salmasius observes is very corrupt and affords no currant sence 't is plain that the word Diocess there cannot be understood of Patriarchal Dioceses Constantine not having yet made the division of the Empire nor Dioceses come up in a civil much less in an Ecclesiastical sence and must therefore be meant of single Bishopricks in the modern use of the word and which was not unusual in those days as is evident from the Code of the African Church and the conference between the Catholicks and Donatists at Carthage where nothing is more common and obvious than this usage of the word Diocess for a single Episcopal See the places are too numerous to be reckon'd up And thus also Pope Leo uses the word in the case of Restitutus an African Bishop VII AND indeed that the bounds of the Church of Rome for several Ages after the Nicene Council were much narrower than some others appears from an old Greek Notitia Episcopatuum wherein the five Patriarchates are distinctly reckon'd up with all the Provinces and Bishopricks contain'd under them Where under him of Rome are set down no more than six Provinces whereof the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Province of Urbicary Rome is the first containing not above One hundred and eight Episcopal Sees A number far inferiour to the rest especially the Patriarch of Constantinople who had subject to him XXXiii Provinces and in them CCCLXXXiX Bishopricks besides some others then newly added to him This Notitia had been heretofore publisht by Carolus a S. Paulo in his Geographia Sacra but when he came to that part of it that concerns the Diocess of Rome he quite leaps over it pretending the Manuscript Copy to be imperfect and that the words were so corrupted that scarce any one remain'd entire leaving somewhat more than a bare suspicion that he himself or some before him had purposely rac'd the Manuscript least the nakedness of the Country the thinness and smallness of the Roman Diocess in comparison of others should be discovered But to their great confusion it has been lately publish'd intire and perfect out of the Oxford Library where the account that we have given is plain and notorious All which considered with how little reason and pretence to truth does Morinus appeal to the Ecclesiastick Notitia's even such as were made long after the times of Constantine to prove the amplitude of the Roman Province as to the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome But to return there can be no reason to expect that the Ecclesiastick limits in those days should be longer than those of the State which were the standard and measure by which the others were ordinarily regulated Nor is the greatness of any Jurisdiction so much to be measured by the largeness of its extent as by the honor and authority of the place where 't is exercised as that of the Lord Mayor of London though reaching no further than the Liberties of the
City which take not in half the Suburbs is yet a more honourable authority than that of a Sheriff of the largest County in England In this regard the Bishop of Rome had though a shorter cut a better and more noble Jurisdiction than any other Prelate in the World besides Rome being the Seat of Majesty and Power the residence of the Emperours the highest Court of Justice the place to which all parts paid either homage or at least respect and veneration honoured with the Title of ROME THE GREAT the Provost whereof was reckoned next in honour to the Emperour and upon all occasions went equal in dignity to the Praetorian Prefect who yet commanded ten times as many Provinces He had the precedence of all the great Officers of Rome and to him belong'd Civilium rerum summa the management of all civil affairs Hence the Title given to Sylvester is that of Bishop of the Imperial City and the Council of Chalcedon tells us that the Fathers therefore gave a Prerogative to the See of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that was the Governing and Imperial City and Constantius the Emperour though he had already condemn'd and depos'd Athanasius did yet to put the better colour upon it desires to have it ratified by the authority enjoy'd by the Bishops of the eternal City as the Heathen Historian has remark'd And thus much may serve for the Metropolitical bounds of the Roman Prelate CHAP. IV. An Enquiry into the Rise and Original of Patriarchs in the Christian Church An Enquiry into the Rise and Original of Patriarchs in general None before the Council of Nice What that Council contributed to them Civil Dioceses when and by whom introduc'd These gave start to Primary Metropolitans Dioceses when first brought into the Church The title of Patriarch borrowed from the Jews Who their Patriarchs and whence descended Exarchs what The word Patriarch when first us'd by Church-writers in a strict and proper sence The Patriarchs among the Montanists who A short Survey of the four great Patriarchates The extent of the Patriarchate of Alexandria The Dioecesis Aegyptiaca what The Patriarchal Jurisdiction in what sence larger than that of the Augustal Prefect Little gain'd to this Patriarchate more than a title of honour The Patriarchate of Antioch commensurate to the Eastern Diocess The contest about Cyprus how determin'd Palestine for some time under Antioch The Patriarchship of Constantinople By what degrees it rose What priviledge conferr'd upon it by the second general Council The Bishops henceforwards exercising a kind of Patriarchal power over the Churches of the neighbouring Provinces The Power granted to that See by the Council of Chalcedon It 's ninth seventeenth and eight and twentyeth Canons considered to that purpose Jurisdiction over the three Dioceses of Asiana Pontica and Thrace This settled upon a full debate and discussion of the matter This Power own'd by the Synod to have been exercised of a long time before This grant urg'd against the universal Supremacy of the See of Rome The extent of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate in after times manifested from several ancient Notitiae The Patriarchate of Jerusalem The honour confirm'd to this Church by the Nicene Council It s subjection to the See of Caesarea When first attempting a Metropolitical Power The contest between this Bishop and the Bishop of Antioch How determin'd in the Council of Chalcedon When first styl'd Patriarch The extent of this Patriarchate I. PROCEED we in the second place to consider him as a Patriarch the highest Degree of Ecclesiastick Government which the Church ever owned And in order to the better clearing the whole matter it will be of some advantage and perhaps not unpleasant to the Reader to enquire briefly into the rise and original of Patriarchs in general and then survey each particular Patriarchate The rise of Patriarchs is but obscurely delivered in the Records of the Church the thing not being particularly and by name taken notice of 'till like a River that has run a great way and gathered many tributary rivulets it had swell'd it self into a considerable stream That there were none at the time of the Nicene Council we shew'd before the chief Church-Governours then being the Metropolitans some of which soon after set up for more room and began to enlarge the bounds of their Jurisdiction And two things there were greatly contributed to that attempt First The mighty reputation which the Synod of Nice had given to Metropolitans and especially to the particular Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch This inspir'd them with an ambitious affectation of extending their Superiority and Jurisdiction and prepar'd the way among their Brethren for the easier reception of it Socrates observ'd that long before his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which must reach as far as the Council of Nice at least the Bishop of Rome as he also of Alexandria had gone beyond the bounds of his place and had aspir'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a Power and Dominion over his Brethren A remark so very clear and plain especially as to the Bishop of Rome that nothing is more obvious in the whole History of the Church The Synod of Nice was beholden by all with a just regard and veneration and its Decrees receiv'd as Oracles from Heaven and the Christian World finding what particular care it had taken of those three great Sees were the more ready to submit and strike Sail to their Usurpations Hence the following Popes but especially Leo the First do upon all occasions magnifie the Nicene Canons and amplify their meaning beyond what was at first intended by them Secondly The late division of the Empire and the alteration of it from that form whereinto it had been cast first by Augustus and afterwards by the Emperour Hadrian new modell'd by Constantine the Great much about the time of the Nicene Council gave a singular advantage and opportunity to promote and further this design II. FOR Constantine introduc't four Praetorian Praefectures each Praefecture containing several Dioceses XIII in all and each Diocess comprehending several Provinces the Vicar or civil Lieutenant residing in the Metropolis of every Diocess and presiding over all the Provinces within that division And how easie was it the World being so prepar'd and dispos'd and the Church so readily embraceing the forms of the civil state for the chief Metropolitan of every Diocess to set up for himself The dignity of the City where he resided and the resort of people thither for the dispatch of business made him at first be esteem'd and honored as the First Bishop of the Diocess and this in a little time brought on the priviledge of Ordaining the Metropolitans of the several Provinces and to be intrusted with almost the same powers over Metropolitans which they had over Provincial Bishops And no doubt it made persons more willing to comply with such a Model that haveing frequent occasion of repairing to the
Metropolis as is intimated in the ninth Canon of Antioch they might with the greater conveniency dispatch their civil and Ecclesiastical affairs both at once It serv'd not a little to help on this business that the second general Council gave the Bishop of Constantinople the next place of honour to him of Rome upon the account of its being the Imperial City which gave no small encouragement to the Bishops of all Diocesan Metropoles to attempt the extending their Superiority equal to that of the Imperial Governour that kept his residence in that City But that which puts the case past dispute is that that Council took in the form of civil Dioceses into the Church at least approv'd what was already taken in for so they provide that Bishops should not go beyond the Diocess to meddle in Churches that were without their bounds Socrates giving an account of this Canon says expresly that the Fathers of the Synod having made division of the Provinces constituted Patriarchs And though perhaps by Patriarchs Socrates means no more than those Pro tempore Commissioners who were within such and such places appointed to judge who should be received to Catholick Communion as we have elsewhere observ'd yet very plain it is that the Council there intends Diocess properly and in an Ecclesiastick sence and therefore opposes it to Province ordaining that Bishops should not ordinarily go out of the Diocess to celebrate Ordinations or any other Church-offices and that the Canon concerning Dioceses being observ'd the Synod in every Province should manage the affairs of it according to the Nicene constitution And in the sixt Canon they speak yet more expresly that if any take upon him to accuse a Bishop he shall first exhibit and prosecute his charge before the Provincial Synod and in case they cannot end it that then the accusers shall apply themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the greater Synod of the Bishops of that Diocess who shall be assembled for that purpose And if any slighting the Bishops of the Diocess shall sue to the Emperour or the secular Tribunals or to a general Council he shall not in any wise be admitted to exhibit an accusation but be rejected as a Violator of the Canons and a disturber of Ecclesiastick Order And to name no more in a case so evident Pope Innocent in a Letter written about the year CCCCVIII says of the Church of Antioch that its authority reacht not over a single Province but over a Diocess though withal he falsly makes it to have been so settled by the Synod of Nice Nay long before all this we meet with Ecclesiastick Dioceses in this sence For by a Law of the Emperour Gratian bearing date May the XVII Ann. CCCLXXVI it is provided that the same customs that were in use in civil Judicatures should obtain in Church matters and the final decision and determination of Ecclesiastick causes should be made in their proper places and by the Synod of every Diocess And this course the Emperour insinuates as that which was not then first introduc't III. FROM all this it appears that according to the Political constitution Diocesan or as 't was after call'd Patriarchal Jurisdiction was brought into the Church and that accordingly the Bishops of some of those Cities who had hitherto been but Metropolitans advanc't into the Title and Dignity of Primates which was the word that generally obtain'd in the Western parts the word Patriarch being late and little us'd in the Western Church extending their superintendency commensurate to the Jurisdiction of the Vicar of the Diocess And because some of these Metropoles were Cities of far greater eminency and account than others as Rome Alexandria c therefore the Bishops of them were in the East especially honoured with the Title of Patriarchs differing at first from other Primates not so much in power as in dignity and honour they were diversorum nominum sed ejusdem officii as Gratian notes That this Title of Patriarch was borrowed from the Jews there can be no doubt Upon the final destruction of their Church and State they were dispers'd into several Countries especially in the Eastern parts where not being capable of continuing their Levitical Polity exactly according to the Mosaick Institution they constituted some persons to exercise the chief authority among that people who kept their residence in some of the greater Cities as at Babylon Alexandria Tiberias and afterwards probably at Jerusalem The persons thus made choice of are thought to have been of the Tribe of Judah and more particularly to have descended from the Line of David Epiphanius seems to make them at least them of Tiberias to have been the Posterity of Gamaliel the great Councellour spoken of in the Acts. But Theodorit has a more peculiar fancy that they were the descendants of Herod the Great who was by his Fathers side an Ascalonite by his Mothers an â—dumaean But however descended they were entrusted with the chief Power and Government over the Jews within their particular Jurisdictions These are they who so often calld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heads of the Exiles and otherwhiles Princes and frequently Patriarchs though besides these Supream it seems probable from some of the Imperial Laws that they had an inferiour sort of Patriarchs who were but just Superiour to their Presbyters or Elders of these Jewish Patriarchs there is frequent mention both in Jewish and Christian writers and especially in the Theodosian Code Whence also 't is evident that this Office and Title ceas'd or rather was abolisht by the Imperial Authority not long before the year CCCCXXIX in the time of the younger Theodosius But though it be plain whence this Title was deriv'd yet when it first sprung up in the Christian Church it is hard to say In the Canons of the Chalcedon Council he is call'd Exarch of the Diocess and any Bishop or Clergy-man that has a controversie with his own Metropolitan is allow'd to appeal to him the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indifferently notes any chief Person in place or power and the sence or it is to be determin'd according to the circumstances of the case Thus the Canons mention both Exarch of the Province and Exarch of the Diocess the First denoting a Metropolitan the Second a Patriarch But in the Acts of that Council we are told of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most holy Patriarchs of every Diocess and in the several Libels exhibited against Dioscurus Pope Leo is intitled Patriarch of Great Rome And that this Title was not then newly taken up we are assured from the Letters of Theodosius and his Empress Placidia about calling the third general Council holden at Ephesus Ann. CCCCXXXI in both which Leo is styl'd the most Reverend Patriarch This is the first time that I remember to have met with a Patriarch strictly so call'd unless we will understand the
passage of Socrates I mention'd concerning Patriarchs in a proper sence IV. INDEED the Montanists or Cataphrygians who started up under the Reign of the Emperour Antoninus had their Patriarchs They had three Orders of Church-Officers Patriarchs Cenones and Bishops But besides that they were an odd and absurd Sect whom the Catholick Church alwas disown'd 't is not easie to guess what they meant by Patriarchs whom they plainly make distinct from Bishops They were it seems their prime Ecclesiastick Governours the chief whereof resided probably at Pepuza in Phrygia which they Fantastically call'd Jerusalem affirming it to be the New Jerusalem that came down out of Heaven and this 't is like in imitation of the Jewish High-Priest for from the Judaical constitution they borrowed many of their Devices and perhaps might borrow the very name as well as thing from them the prime Church-Officer among the Jews after the Destruction of the Temple and the Abrogation of that Polity being styl'd Patriarch as we noted before But it may be doubted whether the Montanists had those three Orders from the beginning of their Sect it being taken notice of by none Elder than S. Jerome nor that I know of mention'd by any other ancient Writer after him However 't is certain that in the common use of the word it occurrs not till the time of Pope Leo and the Ephesine and Chalcedon Councils After that the Title became fixt and nothing more common than the word Patriarch and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patriarchal Sees in the writings of the Church What and how many these particular Sees were we are told by the sixt Council in Trullo where they are particularly enumerated and their order and precedency adjusted in this manner Rome Constantinople Alexandria Antioch Jerusalem From hence then we descend to survey these particular Patriarchates not designing to meddle with Secondary and later Patriarchates such as that of Aquileia Grado Russia the Patriarchs of the Maronites Jacobites Armenians the Catholick or Patriarch of Bagdad or Mauzel and the like Our business now is with the five ancient and eminent Patriarchships and though first in order we shall reserve that of Rome to be treated of in the last place intending to discourse more fully concerning it V. WE begin with the Patriarch of Alexandria for I shall take them in order as I conceive they grew up in time who seems to have gain'd little by his new Patriarchship besides the honour of the Title whether we consider him in point of precedency in point of power or in the extent of his Jurisdiction nay in some respects he was a loser rather than a gainer by it In point of precedency he was before the second Metropolitan in the whole Christian World whereas now he was thrust down into the third place In point of power he was before this change sole Metropolitan of those parts and the Ordination of his suffragan Bishops intirely belong'd to him or depended upon his consent and confirmation which now according to the constitution of Church-Policy must be devolv'd upon the several Metropolitans under him Nor was he much advanc't in the extent of his Jurisdiction 'T is true the Dioecesis Aegyptiaca consisted of six large Provinces all under the Government of the Augustal Praefect who constantly resided at Alexandria and consequently in Spirituals belong'd to the Patriarch of that place These in the Notitia Imperii we find thus reckon'd up Libya Superior Libya Inferior Thebais Aegyptus Arcadia Augustanica Whereas in the Nicene Canon the Alexandrian Metropolitanship is said to extend but over three Egypt Libya and Pentapolis But when it is considered that Thebais Arcadia and Augustanica were of old parts of and lay hid under the more general name of Egypt and that Pentapolis was the same with the Upper Libya the account will be much the same We find in the Council of Nice that the Bishop of Alexandria was appointed to give an account of those Synodal transactions to the Churches throughout all Egypt Libya and Pentapolis and the neighbouring Countries as far as the Provinces of India Where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or whole Egypt in opposition to the other two which were but single Provinces takes in Egypt strictly so call'd Thebais Arcadia and Augustanica and by the neighboring Regions that lay as far as India are doubtless meant the Frontier Countries that bordered upon the Roman Provinces and were perhaps confederate with the Empire and wherein 't is like the Bishops of Alexandria had propagated Christianity as we know Athanasius did in India whose Churches therefore own'd a dependance upon the See of Alexandria And in this respect I grant the Bishop had somewhat a larger Jurisdiction than the Augustal Praefect tho otherwise they were the same Upon the erection of this See into a Patriarchate several Metropolitans start up Ten of the Metropolitans of his Diocess the Emperour Theodosius commanded Dioscorus to bring along with him to the Council of Ephesus How many more he had is not certain Nilus Doxopatrius in his Notitia says there were thirteen the old Greek Notitia we mention'd before reckons ten Provinces and in them ninety nine Bishopricks which surely argues that a miserable desolation had laid waste those Countries and reduc't the number of Episcopal Sees Seeing before the time of the Nicene Council there met in Synod near an Hundred Bishops out of Egypt and Libya whom Alexander had summon'd to the condemnation of Arius And that so many there were Athanasius expresly tells us more than once And how greatly Bishopricks were multiplied afterwards the Reader who is vers'd in these matters needs not be told VI. THE See of Antioch always took place next that of Alexandria being ever accounted the prime City of the East Like the rest it arose by degrees into a Patriarchate First getting an honourary then an authoritative Superiority over that Diocess During the Session of the Second general Council the Bishops not only of that Province but of the Eastern Diocess met together to Ordain Flavianus Bishop of Antioch whose Act herein was ratified by the Vote of that Council as the remaining part of the Synod meeting again the next year tell Pope Damasus in their Letter to him About this time or rather sometime before I guess the Bishop of Antioch had set up for a Patriarchal power and had begun to enlarge his Jurisdiction from a Province to a Diocess Now the Eastern Diocess under the care of the Comes Orientis contain'd fifteen Provinces the Three Palestine's Phoenice Syria Cyprus Phoenice Libani Euphratensis Syria Salutaris Osrhoëna Mesopotamia Cilicia Secunda Isauria and Arabia Cyprus indeed stood out and would not submit to the See of Antioch and though the Bishop stickled hard to bring them under yet the Cyprian Bishops stoutly maintain'd their ancient rights The case was canvass'd and debated at large in the Council of Ephesus and upon hearing the
whole matter the Council adjudg'd it for the Cyprian Churches that they should still enjoy their ancient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their liberties independent upon the See of Antioch and pass'd a particular Canon in favour of them And so they continued for many Ages And therefore in the old Notitia Cyprus is not plac'd under any of the Patriarchates but is noted to be a Province 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having Jurisdiction within it self But the rest of the Provinces for any thing that appears submitted and the Bishop of Jerusalem with his Metropolitan of Caesarea were both for some time under the See of Antioch And this renders S. Jerom's meaning plain enough in that known passage when he tells John Bishop of Jerusalem who in the controversie between him and Epiphanius had appeal'd to Theophilus of Alexandria that if he would have appeal'd it should have been either to him of Caesarea who was his Metropolitan or to the Bishop of Antioch as Metropolitan of the whole East that is of the Eastern Diocess But when he says this course was settled by the Synod of Nice 't is plain 't was his mistake And indeed his own Ni fallor shews he was not very confident and peremptory in the case The account of this Patriarchate as delivered by Nilus Doxopatrius with whom in the main concurr many other ancient Notitiae stands thus Immediately subject to the Patriarch were VIII Metropolitans who had no suffragan Bishops under them and VIII or as others reckon XII Arch-Bishopricks Besides which he had XIII Metropolitick Sees Tyre containing under it XIII Bishopricks Tarsus VI Edessa XI or as others X Apamea VII Hierapolis XI the Latine Notitiae reckon but VIII Bostra XIX or XX Azarbus IX Seleucia in Isauria XXIV Damascus XI Amida VIII or as the Latins VII Sergiopolis V but by some one less Daras X the Latin Notitiae call it Theodosiopolis and allow but VII Episcopal Sees and lastly Emesa containing VI. This was the state of that once venerable Patriarchate VII THE next that succeeds is the Patriarchate of Constantinople which though starting later in time soon got beyond the other two The Bishop of Byzantium or Constantinople had for several Ages been only a private Bishop Subject to the Metropolitan of Heraclea which anciently had the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Procopius tells us the Primacy of all the Cities of that Country in acknowledgment of which subjection the Bishops of Heraclea had ever the priviledge to Ordain the Patriarch of Constantinople But no sooner was that City made the Seat of the Empire but great things were spoken of it 't was styl'd the Governing City the Metropolis of the whole World a great City says Nazianzen in one of his Sermons to the people of that place and the very next to Rome nay not at all yielding the Primacy to it it being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and chiefest City of the Empire And now the Bishop of Constantinople began to appear considerable in the World and both Church and State conspir'd to render him great and powerful The Fathers of the second general Council holden in that City considering that Constantinople was new Rome conferr'd upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the priviledge of honour and respect next to the Bishop of Rome This at one lift set him over the Heads of the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch Accordingly in the preceding Canon of that Council and in a Law of Theodosius conforme thereto concerning the bounds of Dioceses and Catholick Communion he is set before both the Bishops of those Sees and if the subscriptions to this Synod be of any credit we find Nectarius subscribing first to the Decrees of the Council And when the Acts of the clancular Synod at Ephesus were read in the Chalcedon Council and it was found that the Bishop of Constantinople was therein put in the fifth place the Bishops presently rais'd a clamour why had he not his proper place why was he thrust down into the fifth place whereupon Paschasinus the Popes Legate declar'd that he held Anatolius of Constantinople in the first place which Diogenes of Cyzicum affirm'd was according to the constitutions of the Fathers But to return to what we were upon Though this Canon of Constantinople gave the Bishop no direct power yet it gave him so mighty a value and reputation that he wanted not opportunities enough to carve for himself He was soon courted on all hands his mediation requested and his interposal desired for the ending differences and where Provincial Bishops could not agree about the Election of their Metropolitans the case was very often referr'd to him and he perform'd the Ordination This in time begat a right at least a claim over the Churches in those Countries that lay next him especially the Dioceses of Asiana Pontica and Thrace in which 't is plain he exercised a Patriarchal power Thus to omit other instances S. Chrysostom Synodically heard the cause of Antoninus Bishop of Ephesus the Metropolis of the Asian Diocess and afterwards went himself in person thither where he conven'd a Synod of LXX Bishops of those parts heard the cause over again gave judgment upon it and ordain'd a Metropolitan in that City He likewise depos'd Gerontius Bishop of Nicomedia which lay in the Diocess of Pontica and some others and fill'd up their Sees whereof we have elsewhere given an account at large And this very instance we find produc'd and pleaded in the Chalcedon Synod to prove the rights of the Constantinopolitan See over those Churches I know the validity of these good mans proceedings in this matter is disputed by some and was of old put among the Articles exhibited against him to the Synod at the Oke But no doubt can be made but Chrysostom thought he had sufficient authority and right to do it and would not have attempted it had it not been warranted by the practise of his predecessors In the mean time I cannot but smile at the grave fancy of a Learned Man who without the least shadow of any other warrant than his own conjecture will have Chrysostom to have acted herein as the Popes Legate and to have done all this by vertue of his absolute and supreme authority So quick-sighted and acute are men to discern what never was and so willing to believe what 't is their interest should be true VIII BUT to proceed with our Patriarch of Constantinople he held on much at this rate till the general Council at Chalcedon holden there Ann. CCCCLI when what he had hitherto holden by custome Canonical authority made his right By their ninth Canon they provide that if any Bishop or Clergy-man have a controversie with his own Metropolitan it shall be at his liberty to appeal either to the Exarch that is Primate of the Diocess or to the See of Constantinople where his cause shall be heard A Canon that invested
him with a vast power putting him into a capacity of receiving and determing final appeals from all those parts The same they again ratify by their seventeenth Canon and by their twenty-eight make a more particular provision for him First they profess in general altogether to follow the Decrees of the Holy Fathers then they recognize the third Canon of the second general Council which was then read before them and Decree the same Priviledges and upon the same account as that had done to the Church of Constantinople Forasmuch say they as the reason why the Fathers conferr'd such Priviledges upon the See of Old Rome was that it was the Imperial City And upon the same consideration the Bishops of that second general Council gave equal Priviledges to the See of New Rome rightly judging as the Canon goes on that the City which was honoured with the Empire and the Senate and enjoy'd equal Priviledges with old Imperial Rome should also in Ecclesiastical matters have the same honour with it only coming after it in the second place And because the Bishop of Constantinople had hitherto had no certain Diocess nor any place wherein to exercise Jurisdiction but what he held precariously and as it were by courtesie in the latter part of the Canon they fix his bounds giving him power over the three Dioceses of Pontica Asiana and Thrace that the Metropolitans of all those places and all the Bishops of the Barbarous Countries belonging to those Dioceses should be bound to come and receive their Ordination from the Bishop of Constantinople And now he lookt like Bishop of the Imperial City being invested with so ample and extensive a Jurisdiction For the three Dioceses of Asiana Pontica and Thrace were great and large The First containing eight Provinces viz. Pamphylia Lydia Caria Lycia Lycaonia Pisidia Phrygia Pacatiand and Phrygia Salutaris both which were anciently comprehended under the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or greater Phrygia as it stood oppos'd to the lesser that lay upon the Hellespont the Second eleven Bithynia Galalatia Paphlagonia Honorias Galatia Salutaris Cappadocia Prima Cappadocia Secunda Hellenopontus Pontus Polemoniacus Armenia Prima Armenia Secunda the third six Europa Thracia Haemimontus Rhodopa Maesia Secunda Scythia The Popes Legates were infinitely enrag'd at this Canon and the Powers and Priviledges hereby given to the See of Constantinople and us'd all possible arts to overthrow it but all in vain it pass'd clearly and was subscrib'd by all the Bishops then present in the Synod amounting to a very great number whose subscriptions are still extant in the Acts of the Council After a full discussion of the whole matter that no pretence of force or fraud might be objected as many of the Bishops of Asiana and Pontica as were then in the Synod were desir'd to declare whether they had freely submitted to this constitution Who accordingly stood up and one after another did most solemnly protest that they had voluntarily and unconstrainedly assented to and subscrib'd the Canon and that nothing was more acceptable to them And many of them expresly declar'd they did it for this reason because not only themselves but their Predecessors had been Ordain'd by the Bishops of Constantinople and that the See of Constantinople had these rights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Canons and precedent customs So that it 's more than probable that the Bishop of Constantinople had exercised this power within those Dioceses almost ever since the time of and by virtue of the third Canon of the second general Council And 't is observable what Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum a City of the greater Phrygia tells the Synod upon this occasion that he had been at Rome and there in the presence of the Clergy of Constantinople that were with him had read the Canon I suppose he means that of the second general Council to the Pope who approv'd and received it which I the rather take notice of because not only modern Writers but Gregory the Great so confidently affirms that the Church of Rome neither had Copies nor did admit the Acts and Canons of that Council And whereas Eusebius of Ancyra scrupled to subscribe yet he confest that he himself had been Ordain'd by the Bishop of Constantinople that he had ever declin'd Ordaining Provincial Bishops and had done it only by direction of the Bishop of Constantinople And after Thalassius of Caesarea in Cappadocia told the Synod that they were of Arch-bishop Anatolius his side and did decree the same thing The Judges hereupon having weighed all that had past declar'd that in the first place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that precedency and singular honour should according to the Canons be paid to the Arch-bishop of Old Rome and that withal the Arch-bishop of the Imperial City of Constantinople being New Rome ought to enjoy the same Priviledges of honour and to have besides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power of himself and by his own authority to Ordain the Metropolitans within the Dioceses of Asiana Pontica and Thrace the Election being first duly made within every Province and that then it shall be at the choice of the Arch-bishop of Constantinople whether the Metropolitan Elect shall come to him for his Consecration or whether by his permission it shall be done at home by the Provincial Bishops and that this shall no ways prejudice the Rights of Metropolitans and Provincial Bishops in Ordaining private and particular Bishops wherein the Arch-bishop of Constantinople shall not interpose Whereupon all with one voice cried out 't was a righteous Sentence that they were all of that mind that this just judgment pleas'd them all that the things that had been establisht should take place and that every thing had been done decently and in order In conclusion they wrote a Synodical Letter to Pope Leo acquainting him with what had past and upon what grounds they had done it and desiring his concurrence in it And we may observe they tell him that in settling this power upon the See of Constantinople they did but confirm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the custome which that Church had of a long time obtained over those three Dioceses Which puts it past all peradventure what we noted before that from the very time of the second general Council the Constantinopolitan Bishops had exercised a kind of Patriarchal Jurisdiction over those Churches though never till now settled by Canon IX AND now let the Reader impartially reflect upon the whole affair and when he has considered what this wise and great Council expresly affirm that the Priviledges which the Fathers gave to the See of Rome were meerly upon the account of its being the Imperial City and that for the very same reason they gave equal Priviledges to the See of Constantinople only reserving a honourary precedence to him of Rome let him tell me whether it can be suppos'd they could or would have said and done this had they known
or but so much as dream't of any supream authority which Christ had immediately given the Bishops of Rome over the whole Church of God Nor was this the only Council that thus honoured the Constantinopolitan See somewhat more than two Ages after met the sixt general Council in the Trullus or great Arch'd-hall or Secretarium of the Pallace who confirm'd what both the former Councils that of Constantinople and the other of Chalcedon had done in this matter and assigned each Patriarch his proper place X. WHAT additions or alterations after Ages made in the See of Constantinople the Reader may perceive somewhat by perusing the following accounts In the Greek Notitia publisht not long since out of the Bodleian Library compos'd in the Reign of the Emperour Leo the Wise about the year DCCCXCI this Patriarchate had under it XXXIII Metropolitans who had under them CCCLXXV Episcopal Sees besides XLI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or independent Arch-bishopricks subject to no Metropolitan Leunclavius presents us with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or disposition of the Churches of this Patriarchate made by this same Emperour wherein are set down LXXXI Metropolitans containing under them DLXXIV Suffragan Sees and XXXIX Arch-bishopricks But surely this list is either greatly interpolated or must be of a later date than it pretends to being so different from the other both in the number and the names of places and not very consistent with it self For whereas it reckons up LXXXI yet when it comes to set down each Metropolitan with his particular Suffragans it gives but an account of LVII of the number But however this be within an Age or two after partly by the addition of new Provinces partly by erecting new Metropoles it was enlarg'd For in the Notitia or discourse concerning the five Patriarchal Sees written by Nilus Doxopatrius the Archimandrite Ann. MXLIII the account stands thus Metropolitans LXV under the Bishopricks DCXL. Arch-bishopricks without Suffragans and immediately subject to the Patriarch XXXIV Ann. MCCLXXXIII Andronicus Palaeologus entred upon the Empire He publisht an order according to which the Metropolitans were to take place wherein they are reckon'd up to the number of an Hundred and nine And in another agreed upon by the Emperour and the Patriarch put out by Leunclavius but without any date either of time or persons are mention'd LXXX Metropolitical Sees Archiepiscopal XXXIX And thus much for the Patriarchship of Constantinople XI THE fourth that remains is the Patriarchate of Jerusalem the last in time and least in circuit For several Ages the Bishop of Jerusalem was no more than a private Prelate subject to the Metropolitan of Caesarea For so the Notitia publisht by William Archbishop of Tyre informs us that according to ancient tradition and Records of good authority in those parts the Church of Jerusalem had no Bishop under it nor enjoy'd any or very little prerogative till the Reign of Justinian and the times of the fifth general Council though always out of reverence to the place custom and ancient tradition as the Fathers of Nice inform us had allow'd him a peculiar honour and therefore those Fathers decree him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the consequence of honour that is that he should have respect and precedence before all the Bishops of that Province next to his own Metropolitan And indeed whatever they of the Church of Rome may talk of the merit of S. Peter as the foundation of the supereminent authority of that Church surely if any Church might have pleaded merit one might have thought it should have been that of Jerusalem which for so many Ages had been the Metropolis of the Jewish Nation the Seat of their Kings adorn'd with a most magnificent Temple and all the Solemnities of Divine Worship the place where our Blessed Saviour spent the greatest part of his publick Ministry where he Preacht so many Sermons wrought so many Miracles where he suffered died and rose again and whence he ascended into Heaven where the Apostolical Colledge was kept for some years and all affairs of the Church transacted there where S. James the Brother of our Lord was made and that say some of the ancients by our Lords own hands the first Christian Bishop of that See the place where the first Church was planted and from whence Christianity was propagated into all other parts of the World This was the true Mother Church and if merit might have challeng'd Primacy and Power it had more to say for it self than all other Churches in the World besides But Caesarea happening to be the Metropolis of that Province and the Seat of the Roman Governour carried away the Superiority and so Jerusalem though it had an honourary respect continued a private See subject to the Metropolitan of Caesarea as he for some time was to the Patriarch of Antioch But after that the Empire was become Christian and that Constantine the Great and his Mother Helena and some following Emperours began to reflect some peculiar favours upon that place and had grac'd it with stately and magnificent buildings and other marks of honour and after that the Devotion of Christians began to pay an extraordinary respect to the places of our Lords Crucifixion Sepulchre and Resurrection the Bishops of that Church lookt upon themselves as hardly dealt with to be coop'd up within so narrow a compass and to be subjected to another jurisdiction and therefore resolv'd to throw off the yoke and to get what power they could into their own hands The first that graspt at the Metrpolitick Rights was S. Cyrill who disputed the case with Acacius Bishop of Caesarea for which Acacius depos'd him and persecuted him both in the Synod at Seleucia and in that which followed at Constantinople about the latter end of Constantius his Reign What immediately followed in this controversie is uncertain the History of the Church being silent in that matter In the Council of Ephesus Juvenal Bishop of Jerusalem laid claim to the Metropolitical Jurisdiction of that Province and sought to have it confirm'd by a Decree of that Synod But Cyrill of Alexandria President of the Council oppos'd and hindred it After this a high contest arose between him and Maximus Bishop of Antioch who challeng'd Jerusalem and Palestine as within his Diocess The case was brought before the Chalcedon Council where it was debated and at last by compromise between the two contending parties brought to this issue that the Bishop of Antioch should retain the two Phoenicia's and Arabia which it seems were also in dispute and the See of Jerusalem should have the three Palaestine Provinces for the bounds of his Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction This was assented to and ratified by the Decree of the Council And now the Bishop of Jerusalem had his peculiar Diocess though of no very great extent allotted him and the tables were turn'd and Caesarea it self subjected to him and the fifth and last
distaste to Pope Martin and 't is like to his Successour Eugenius who sat but one year But Pope Vitalian who succeeded would not so put it up but summons Maurus to appear and answer his contempt at Rome but he slighted the Summons for which the Pope Excommunicated him and he in requital did the like to the Pope nay upon his Death-bed oblig'd his Clergy never to submit themselves to the Bishop of Rome Reparatus his Successour trod in the same steps and procur'd the Emperours Rescript to free that Church from any subjection to the Roman See Ann. DCCVIII Felix of Ravenna was content to receive his Ordination at the hands of the Pope but when he came thither an Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity was required of him to the See of Rome This he utterly denied a confession of his Faith he offered but homage he would not pay nor engage to send money to Rome Nor more he did but home he goes where his people gave him little thanks for what he had done and both agreed to defend their liberty but it cost the old man dear and them too for that attempt For Justinian Rhinotmetes the Emperour who favoured the Pope being made acquainted with what was done at Ravenna a Fleet is sent under the command of Theodorus Patricius the City besieg'd and taken several of prime quality lost their lives and fortunes and the poor Arch-bishop had his eyes put out and was banisht into Pontus where he remain'd 'till the severity of Discipline had taught him better manners The same courage in asserting the priviledges of their Church against the Papal encroachments was afterwards shewn by John and Guibert Successors in that See as were it necessary might be particularly related But the case is too evident to be denied and the argument thence too strong to be evaded how little those times understood of any Patriarchal Jurisdiction which the Pope had over all Italy much less over the whole West V. IF we look into France we shall find them careful to secure the Rights of Metropolitans and the priviledges of Provincial Bishops without being oblig'd to fetch them from Rome The second Council of Arles Ann. CCCCLII decree that no Bishop shall be Ordain'd without his own Metropolitan and three of the Provincial Bishops the rest testifying their consent by Letter The second of Orleans holden Ann. DXXXIII renew the ancient form and manner of Ordaining Metropolitans that it shall be done by the Bishops of the Province which shews how little they depended upon any foreign power in this matter But it 's needless to insist upon this point which the Learned De Marca has so fully cleared and vindicated as a fundamental part of the liberties of the Gallican Church and has deduc't it through the several Ages and Dynasties of their Kings I shall only remark that when Hincmar Arch-bishop of Remes had depos'd Rothald Bishop of Suessons for great misdemeanours Rothald appeal'd to Rome and Pope Nicolaus espous'd his cause wrote sharply to Hincmar and cited him to appear and answer what he had done at Rome But Hincmar would not stir but publisht a large Apologetick to the Pope wherein he justifies his Act and though he gives good words and great deference to the See Apostolick yet stoutly contends that he ought to be content with a general care and inspection and not interrupt the ordinary Rights of Metropolitans and that 't was infinitely reasonable that the criminal should be referr'd to the judgment of his own Province Two years before this viz. Ann. DCCCLXIII a French Synod met at Metz about the Marriage of King Lotharius wherein they determin'd contrary to the liking of the Papal Legates However they sent Letters with the reasons of their proceedings by Guntharius Arch-bishop of Colen and Theatgaud of Triers to Pope Nicolaus The Pope upon their arrival call'd a Synod wherein he Excommunicated the Synod of Metz and depos'd the two Arch-bishops that were sent with the Letters and publisht a manifesto of what he had done To this the Bishops return'd an answer wherein having represented the personal affronts and ill usage they had met with from him they tell him Chap. IV. that as for his froward unjust and unreasonable sentence contrary to all Canons they did not own it yea as being illegal and unwarrantable they together with the rest of their Brethren slighted and despised it and utterly renounc'd Communion with him contenting themselves with the Communion and fellowship of the whole Church over which he had so proudly exalted himself and from which through his pride and contempt he had separated himself And whereas he had styl'd them his Clerks they bid him take notice they were none of his Clerks but persons whom if his pride would have suffer'd him he ought to have own'd and treated as his Brethren and fellow Bishops with much more there spoken with a just but smart resentment And now can any man believe the Pope should have met with such treatment upon all occasions and that from the wisest gravest most learned and eminent persons in their several Ages had his title to the Jurisdiction of the West been so clear and unquestionable as some men seem to represent it The same might be shew'd in other Countries and he must be a great stranger to Church-History that can be at a loss for instances of this nature I shall therefore instance only in two more and with them dispatch this argument the African and the Britanick Churches VI. I chuse to instance in the Churches of Africk because so confidently challeng'd by them of Rome at every turn and because they were under the civil Jurisdiction of the Praetorian Praefect of Italy And here omitting infinite arguments that offer themselves I shall insist only upon the famous case of Appeals commenc'd under Pope Zosimus Ann. CCCCXVIII and not ended 'till some years after which will furnish us with a plain and uncontroulable evidence how little authority more than what was honourary the See of Rome in those days had over those Churches The case as briefly as it can well be summ'd up stands thus Apiarius a Presbyter of Sicca in Africk had been depos'd by his Diocesan Urbanus for very notorious and scandalous offences and the sentence ratified by a Provincial Council Hopeless of any relief at home over he flies to Rome tells his tale to Pope Zosimus who restores him to Communion espouses his cause and sends him back with Faustinus an Italian Bishop and two Roman Presbyters into Africk to see him resettled in his former place When they arriv'd in Africk they found a Council of African Bishops to the number of CCXVII sitting at Carthage to whom they delivered their message partly by word of mouth partly by writing But the writing being demanded a memorial was produc't containing instructions from Pope Zosimus what they should insist upon it consisted of four Heads First concerning the
Appeals of Bishops to the See of Rome Secondly against the busie resorting of Bishops to Court Thirdly concerning the handling the causes of Presbyters and Deacons by the neighbouring Bishops where they were unjustly Excommunicated by their own Fourthly concerning the Excommunicating Bishop Urban who had depos'd Apiarius or at least his appearing at Rome unless he corrected what he had done amiss But the main thing insisted on was that of Appeals and the Popes sending Legates thither to hear causes and this too challeng'd by Zosimus in his memorial by vertue of a Canon of the Council of Nice giving leave to Bishops accus'd or condemn'd to appeal to Rome and power to the Pope to hear and determine those Appeals either immediately by himself or by Commishoners which he should send to that purpose The African Fathers were infinitely surpriz'd to hear such a power claim'd and more to hear it claim'd as due by a Canon of Nice They had search'd into the Canons of that Council which they found to be but twenty and not one of that number to this purpose While these things were debating Zosimus dies and Boniface succeeds and the case is again canvast and the result of the consultation was that for the present things should rest upon that bottom whereon the Popes memorial had plac't them 'till they could send to the three great Churches of Constantinople Antioch and Alexandria for authentick Copies of the Nicene Canons to adjust and decide this matter They wrote likewise to Pope Boniface by his Legates who then return'd acquainting him with the state of the case and what was done in it and withal tell him that if it were as those pretended Canons claim'd the issue would be intolerable to them But they hop'd it would be found otherwise no such thing appearing in their Copies of that Council However they had sent to the Eastern Churches for such as were most authentick and intreated him also to do the like VII SOME years pass'd in this matter at length the Messengers that had been sent into the East return'd and brought Letters from Cyril of Alexandria and Atticus of Constantinople importing that they had sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most true and exact Copies of the authentick Synod of Nice preserv'd in the Archives of their Churches Copies of which they had also sent to Pope Boniface Hereupon a full Council of African Bishops is conven'd to which Pope Caelestine for Boniface was lately dead dispatcht Faustinus as his Legate And now the case of Apiarius is again brought under examination and found worse than it was before the farther they rak'd into it the more foul and offensive did it appear to them 'till the conviction of his conscience though sore against his Will forc'd him to confess all and save them the trouble of any farther Scrutiny And now this cause being over and the pretence of Appeals overthrown by the authentick Copies of the Canons of Nice nothing remain'd but to write to Caelestine which they did in a quick and smart strain Wherein they first give him an account of the case of Apiarius and how troublesome and injurious his Legate Faustinus had been to the whole Synod in asserting the priviledges of the Church of Rome and by vertue thereof challenging that Apiarius should be readmitted to communion because his Holiness believing his Appeal which yet could not be made good had restor'd him to communion a thing which he ought in no wise to have done Next they proceed earnestly to beseech him that henceforth he would not so easily give ear to those that came from hence nor admit any to communion whom they had excommunicated which he might easily perceive was prohibited by the Council of Nice which if it has taken so much care about the Inferiour Clergy how much more did it intend it in the case of Bishops that where any are suspended from communion within their own Province his Holiness should not rashly and unduly readmit them that he should as became him reject the unwarrantable repairing of Presbyters and others of the Inferiour Clergy there being no Canon of any Council that has depriv'd the African Church of this Right and that the Decrees of Nice have most plainly committed both the Inferiour Clergy and the Bishops themselves to their own Metropolitans having most wisely and justly provided that all affairs shall be determin'd in the very places where they arise and that the Grace of the Holy Spirit will not be wanting to every Province whereby equity may be prudently discern'd and constantly maintain'd by the Ministers of Christ especially since every man has liberty if he be offended with the determination of his Judges to appeal to a Provincial or if need be to a general Council Unless perhaps any one can think that God should enable single persons to examin the Justice of a cause and deny it to a vast number of Bishops Assembled in Council Or how shall a Judgment then made beyond Sea be valid whereto the persons that are necessary to give in evidence either through the infirmity of their Sex or Age and many other impediments that will intervene cannot be brought For that any Commissioners should be sent hither by your Holiness we do not find Ordain'd by the Fathers in any Synod For as to what you long since sent us by Faustinus as part of the Nicene Council in the true and authentick Copies of that Council which we received from Cyril of Alexandria and Atticus of Constantinople and which we sent to your Predecessour Boniface we could find no such matter In conclusion they advise him that he should not upon the request of any man send any of his Clerks thither to execute his sentence nor grant such leave to any lest they should seem to introduce the smoaky pride of the World into the Church of Christ which holds forth the light of simplicity and the brightness of humility to all them that are desirous to see God That as to Faustinus they are confident that Brotherly love continuing through the goodness and moderation of his Holiness Africa shall no longer be troubled with him Such was their Letter to the Pope a Letter not fuller fraught with true matters of fact than fortified with clearness and strength of reason VIII FROM this naked and unartificial representation of the case its plain First That whatever power the â—â—shop of Rome claim'd in Africk was even by his own tacit confession founded upon the Canons of the Church Zosimus did not pretend a Commission from Christ or a Delegation from S. Peter but only a Canon of Nice to justify his proceedings Secondly That the Canons of the Church give the Bishop of Rome no power over foreign Churches either to receive their excommunicated Members to hear and decide their causes or to restore them to communion or to send Legates and Commissioners with authority to determine the cause at home for this say the African Fathers nullâ invenimus
the whole West when there 's scarce any one Western Church that did not in those times stoutly appear against the incroachments of Rome But you 'll say where then shall we find the Roman Patriarchate certainly within much narrower limits And here nothing can offer it self with so much rational probability as that his Patriarchal Jurisdiction was concurrent with that of the Vicarius Urbicus or the Lieutenant of Rome as his Metropolitical was with that of the Praefectus Urbis or City-Provost Now the Vicarius Urbicus had ten Provinces under his Government four Consular viz. Campania Tuscia and Umbria Picenum Suburbicarium the Suburbicary as well as other Provinces being in some cases especially that of Tribute under the Inspection of the Praetorian Praefect and his Lieutenant Sicilia Two Correctorial Apulia with Calabria and Lucania Brutiorum Four Praesidial Samnium Sardinia Corsica and Valeria This was the Urbicary Diocess distinct from the Italick Diocess the Metropolis whereof was Milan Within these bounds the Bishops of Rome especially after the times of the Nicene Council took upon them to exercise Jurisdiction to call Synods Ordain Metropolitans and dispatch other Church-afairs Hence they had their usual Synod which was a kind of Council in ordinary to the Bishop of Rome and met upon all important occasions Such was the Synod of Pope Damasus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Bishops that Assembled with him at Rome mention'd by Athanasius as conven'd about his Cause Such that of the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in those parts spoken of by Pope Julius as concurring with him in his Letter to the Eastern Bishops The old Roman notitia produc'd by Baronius out of the Records of the Vatican but of an Age much later than the times we write of tells us this Synod consisted of LXX Bishops And much about that number we find them in the Acts of Councils as in the Synod under Pope Gelasius and in that under Symmachus Thus we find Pope Leo requiring the Bishops of Sicily to send three of their number every year upon Michaelmus-day to meet the Roman Synod fraterno concilio socâ—andi And the Synod of Sardica sending their Decrees to Pope Julius desire him to communicate them to the Bishops in Sicily Sardinia and Italy i. e. that part of Italy that lay within the Urbicary Diocess that none of them might receive communicatory Letters from any that had been depos'd in that Council And this was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude of Bishops wherewith Pope Leo was encompast and whom by vertue of the power and preheminence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own proper place and Jurisdidiction he had conven'd out of many Cities in Italy as the Empress Galla Placidia speaks in her Letter to Theodosius Not but that sometimes here as in other places we find foreign Bishops convening in Synods with those under the Jurisdiction of the Roman Bishop especially upon some extraordinary emergencies But then this was only in a Brotherly way and at the invitation of the chief Bishop of those parts and not that they were under his charge and government He had no direct and immediate influence over any but those who lay within the bounds over which the civil Governours who resided at Rome extended their authority and who no doubt fell in the willinglier with his Jurisdiction for the conveniency of their being aided and assisted by the Church of Rome By all which we see that no sooner were Dioceses divided and settled by the civil constitution but the Roman Bishop began to extend his Jurisdiction commensurate to the Urbicary Diocess within which his Metropolitical was at last swallowed up This the Learned Arch-bishop of Paris readily grants and thinks is intimated in the ancient Version of the Nicene Canon which we mention'd before where the Bishop of Rome is said to have Principality over the Suburbicary places and all the Province the first denoting the Government of the Provost the latter that of the Vicarius or Lieutenant of Rome and consequently the one represents the Popes Metropolitical the other his Patriarchal Jurisdiction 'T is true he often tells us of a two-fold Patriarchate the Pope had ordinary and extraordinary the one reaching to the Urbicary Diocess the other over the whole West But with how little reason and pretence of truth we noted before We grant the Pope had always great honour given him by all and more by the Western Churches but authoritative power he had not but over his own special Diocess nor does S. Basil's styling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief of the Western Bishops imply any more than dignity and precedence or the Empires being divided into East and West and in allusion thereto the Churches being sometimes distinguish'd into Eastern and Western make any more for his Western Patriarchate than it did for the Bishop of Constantinoples being Patriarch over the whole East Arguments which I should be asham'd to mention but that they are produc'd by such great Names and are indeed the best they have in this matter I grant that according to the ambitious humour of that Church they were always attempting to enlarge their Borders and to propagate their power beyond its just limits and partly by recommending persons to be Bishops in foreign Churches and thence proceeding to impose them partly by interposing in Ordinations and exacting an Oath of Obedience to the See of Rome from the persons Consecrated partly by challenging the immediate decision of Episcopal Causes and a power to confirme translate excommunicate depose or restore all delinquent Bishops partly by drawing Appeals to Rome and taking the determination of matters from the cognizance of their proper Judges and arrogating the sole priviledge of judging and condemning Heresies partly by claiming to preside in all Councils and if disoblig'd withholding their assent to the Decrees of Synods partly by sending their Legates into foreign Countries to hear and decide cases and take up controversies by taking off and engaging brisk and active Bishops by honourary Imployments by sending Commissions to the Bishops of the greater Sees and lodging certain powers in their hands to act as their Vicars within their several Provinces that so they might seem to derive their authority from the Roman See as they did at Thessalonica Corinth Justiniana Prima Arles c. partly by giving all imaginable encouragement to persons whether of the Clergy or Laity to send to Rome for the resolution of difficult and important cases and partly by dispatching Missionaries to convert Pagan Countries by these and infinite other the like Arts and Methods they grew in time though not 'till some Ages to challenge and exercise a power over all the Churches of the West But from the beginning it was not so The summ then of all that has been discours'd hitherto is this that as 't was the Dignity of the City of Rome gave the Bishops
of that place preheminence above all other Primates or Patriarchs so 't was the division of the Empire made by Constantine exalted his power from that of a Metropolitan to a Patriarch and enlarged it to an equal extent with the Diocess of the Lieutenant of Rome within which Bounds they pretty well contain'd themselves 'till their pride and ambition began more openly to break out and to disturb the peace and order of the Church CHAP. VI. The Encroachments of the See of Rome upon other Sees especially the See of Constantinople The Roman Bishops breaking the bounds of all Laws and Canons Their taking hold of all occasions of magnifying their own power Instances of Julius Damasus Innocent Zosimus to this purpose The briskness and activity of Pope Leo. His many Letters written to advance the reputation of his authority His jealous eye upon the growing greatness of the See of Constantinople The attempts and actings of his Legates in the Council of Chalcedon Their mighty opposition against the passing the XXVIII Canon of that Synod The fraud of Paschasinus in citing the sixth Canon of Nice Their protestation against the power granted to the Bishop of Constantinople Pope Leo's zeal and rage against these Synodal proceedings Faelix his Excommunicating Acacius of Constantinople The pretended occasion of that Sentence The same spleen continued and carried on by Pope Gelasius A reconciliation procur'd by the Emperour Justin between the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople Pope John's insulting over Epiphanius in his own Church at Constantinople John the Seconds raving Letter to Justinian The Bishop of Constantinople assumes the Title of Oecumenical Patriarch This in what sence probably meant The passionate resentment of Pope Pelagius hereat The same zeal shew'd by his Successour Gregory the Great His Letters written upon that occasion The hard words he every where bestows upon that Title His mistake about the offer of that Title to the Pope in the Chalcedon Council The true state of that case This Title frequently given to the Constantinopolitan Bishops in the Council under Menans before John assum'd it Baronius's poor evasion of that matter Gregory still continues to thunder out Anathema's against this Title All this suspected to be but noise and the quarrel only because themselves had not the Title Phocas his Usurpation of the Empire The monstrous villany and wickedness of that Man Pope Gregory's scandalously flattering Caresses to him and his Empress Boniface the Third makes suit to Phocas and procures the Title of Oecumenical to be affixt to the See of Rome The Popes daily enlargement of their Power and Tyranny and their advantages for so doing The whole concluded with the Canons or DICTATES of Pope Hildebrand I. THOUGH Custome and the Canons of the Church had set out the Bishop of Rome his proper Portion in the Ecclesiastick Government yet how hard is it for covetousness and ambition to keep within any bounds A spirit of pride still fermented in that See that made them restless 'till they had thrown down all enclosures and that their Sheaf alone as it was in Joseph's Vision arose and stood upright and the Sheaves of their Brethren stood round about and did obeysance to it In the discovery whereof we shall only remark the more general attempts they made concerning it And first nothing made more way to their Usurpt Dominion than the magnifying their own power and the priviledges of their Church upon all occasions II. TO begin no earlier than Pope Julius in his Letters to the Bishops of Antioch to make them more willing to submit their Cause to be tried at Rome he had it seems highly extoll'd the greatness of that Church and the dignity and authority of his See as appears by the summ of their answer and his rejoynder to their Letter Not long after Pope Damasus writing also to the Eastern Bishops commends them that they had yielded due reverence to the Apostolick See And though this was spoken with modesty enough aw'd hereinto perhaps by the Synod at Rome in whose Name he wrote yet in his Epistle to them of Numidia and in general to all Catholick Bishops if that Epistle be genuine he speaks out telling them that according to ancient institutions they did well in all doubtful cases to have recourse to him as to the head and that this was founded upon Custome and Ecclesiastick Canons concluding his long Epistle thus All which Decretals and the constitutions of all my Predecessors which have been publish'd concerning Ecclesiastical Orders and Canonical Discipline we command to be observ'd by you and all Bishops and Priests so that whoever shall offend against them shall not be received to pardon the Cause properly respecting us who ought to steer the Government of the Church This was most Pontifically spoken and boldly ventured at especially if we consider how little the African Bishops regarded the authority of the Roman Church when the case of Appeals arose a few years after as we have already seen at large Siricius came next to Damasus and he in his Letter to Himerius of Taragon in Spain magnifies the Roman Church as the Head of that Body and bids him convey those Rules he had sent to all the Bishops in that and the neighbour Countries it not being fit that any Bishop should be ignorant of the constitutions of the Apostolick See Innocent the First more than once and again styles the Church of Rome the Fountain and Head of all Churches and this built upon ancient Canons and yet perhaps meant no more than that it was the principal and most eminent Church of the Christian World An honour which upon several accounts intimated before Antiquity freely bestow'd upon it Zosunus in a Letter to the Council of Carthage produc'd by Baronius out of a Vatican Copy makes a mighty flourish with the unlimited power of S. Peter that he had the care not only of the Roman but of all Churches ratified by the Rules of the Church and the tradition of the Fathers that both by Divine and Humane Laws this Power descended upon the Bishop of that See whose sentence none might presume to reverse III. LEO the Great entred that See about the year CCCCXL. A Man of somewhat a brisker and more active temper than those that had been before him and one that studied by all imaginable methods to enlarge his Jurisdiction and being a Man of Parts and Eloquence did amplify and insinuate his power with more advantage He tells the Mauritanian Bishops That he would dispence with the Election of those Bishops who had been immediately taken out of the Laity so they had no other irregularity to attend them not intending to prejudice the commands of the Apostolick See and the Decrees of his Predecessours and that what he pass'd by at present should not hereafter go without its censure and punishment if any one should dare to attempt what he had thus absolutely forbidden And elsewhere that
Bishops and Metropolitans were therefore constituted that by them the care of the Universal Church might be brought to the one See of S. Peter and that there might be no disagreement between the Head and the Members And in a Sermon upon the Martyrdom of Peter and Paul in a profound admiration he breaks out into this Rhetorical Address These says he are the Men that have advanced thee to this honour that thou art become a holy Nation a peculiar People a Royal and Priestly City that being by the Holy See of S. Peter made Head of the World thou mightest govern farther by means of a Divine Religion than by worldly power For although enlarg'd by many victories thou hast extended the Bounds of thy Empire both by Sea and Land yet is it far less which thou hast conquer'd by force of Arms than that which thou hast gain'd by the peace of the Church IV. BUT Leo was a Man not only for speaking but for action He saw the Emperours and the Eastern Bishops were resolv'd to advance the See of Constantinople that it might bear some proportion to the Imperial Court and that the Synod of Constantinople had already adjudg'd it the place of honour next to Rome that therefore it concern'd him to bestir himself to stifle all attempts that way well knowing that the glory of that would eclipse his lustre and cramp those designs of superiority and dominion which the Bishops of Rome were continually driving on over the Church of Christ A general Council was now call'd to meet at Chalcedon Ann. CCCCLI wherein were present no less than Six hundred and thirty Bishops Hither Pope Leo sent his Legates furnished with peremptory instructions which they afterwards read openly in the Synod to keep a quick eye upon all motions that way and with all possible resolution to suppress them At the opening of the Council the Legates cunningly slipt in a clause telling the Fathers that they had such and such things in command from the most Blessed and Apostolical Bishop of the City of Rome which was the Head of all Churches Which either was not heeded by that Synod or pass'd by in the sence before declar'd as allowing it an honourary preheminence above the rest In the fifth Session of that Council the Papal Legates mov'd that the Epistle of Leo about the condemnation of Nestorius might be inserted into the very definition of the Council against that Heresie Craftily foreseeing what a mighty reputation it would give the Pope in the eye of the World and to what vast advantage it might be stretch'd afterwards But the Council stiffly oppos'd the motion and said they freely own'd the Letter and were ready to subscribe it but would not make it part of the definition The Legates were angry demanded the Letter back again and threatned to be gone and to have a Synod at Rome And when the Emperour intimated some such thing the Bishops cried out they were for the definition as it was and they that did not like it nor would subscribe it might if they please get them gone to Rome After this all things went on smoothly 'till they came to frame the Canons among which one was that the Bishop of Constantinople should enjoy equal Priviledges with the Bishop of Rome and then the Legates could hold no longer plainly telling them that this was a violation of the constitution of the great Synod of Nice and that their Commission oblig'd them by all ways to preserve the Papal dignity and to reject the designs of any who relying upon the greatness of their Cities should attempt any thing to the contrary To prove that this was contrary to the Nicene Decrees they produc'd the Sixth and Seventh Canons of that Council beginning thus as Paschasinus repeated them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Church of Rome ever had the Primacy Let Egypt therefore have this priviledge that the Bishop of Alexandria have power c. where instead of the first words of that Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let ancient Customs still take place the Legate shuffled in this sentence as more to his purpose the Church of Rome ever had the Primacy And admitting here that this was only the Title to that Canon in the Roman Copy yet 't is somewhat more than suspicious that Paschasinus intended it should be understood as part of the Canon it self Which if so there could not be a bolder piece of forgery and imposture But the Fathers were not to be so impos'd upon Aetius Arch-deacon of Constantinople produc'd a Copy from among the Records of that Church which he delivered to Constantine the Secretary who read it according to the genuine words of the Canon without any such addition Let ancient Customs still take place c. and in confirmation of that were next read the second and third Canons of the second general Council at Constantinople And because the Legate had objected that the Canon had been procur'd by fraud the Judges requir'd the Bishops concern'd to declare their minds who all readily declar'd the contrary The case having been thus fully debated and nothing material being alledg'd against it the Canon pass'd by the unanimous suffrage of the Fathers the Roman Legates only entring their protestation and resolving to acquaint the Pope with what was done that so he might judge both of the injury done to his own See and the violence offered to the Canons V. NO sooner did the news of what had pass'd in the Synod arrive at Rome but Pope Leo storm'd to purpose wrote to Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople charging him with pride and ambition with invasion of the Rights of others with irreverence towards the Nicene Canons contrary to which he had exalted himself above the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch He dispatch'd Letters also to the Emperour Marcianus to his Lady the Empress Pulcheria and to Juvenal Bishop of Jerusalem and the rest of the Fathers of the Synod all to the same effect complaining of the pride of Anatolius and the irregular proceedings of the Council that the priviledges of Churches were destroy'd the bounds of Metropolitans invaded many depressed to make way for one venerable Decrees made void and ancient Orders trodden in the dirt That whatever Rules were made contrary to the Canons of Nice were null that the care and inspection of these things was committed to him a duty which he could not neglect without being guilty of unfaithfulness to his trust that therefore by the authority of S. Peter he repeal'd and made void what ever any Council had agreed upon repugnant to the Nicene Canons yea though done by many more in number than were in that venerable Synod declaring that no regard or reverence was to be paid to their constitutions In all which though nothing appear above ground but a mighty zeal for the honour of the Nicene Canons yet 't is plain enough 't was his own ambition his envy and emulation that
arriving at the Imperial City he resolved to keep up his Port entred with great state and being invited to sit upon a Seat even with that of Epiphanius Bishop of that Church he refus'd telling them he would maintain the Prerogative of the Apostolick See not giving over 'till a more eminent Throne was purposely plac'd for him above that of the Bishop of Constantinople As if it had not been enough to reproach and vilify him at a distance unless contrary to all Laws and Canons and to the Rules of modesty civility and reason he also trampled upon him in his own Church Nay Anastasius adds that the Emperour in honour to God came before him and prostrated himself upon the ground to adore and worship him Pope John the second about ten years after writing to Justinian though there want not very learned men who question the credit of that Epistle talks stylo Romano just after the rate of his Predecessours he tells the Emperour 't was his singular honour and commendation that he preserv'd a reverence for the Roman See that he submitted all things to it and reduc'd them to the unity of it a Right justified by S. Peter's authority conveyed to him by that authentick deed of gift Feed my sheep that both the Canons of the Fathers and the Edicts of Princes and his Majesties own professions declar'd it to be truly the head of all Churches Where yet as in infinite other expressions of that nature in the Pontifical Epistles he warily keeps himself within general terms capable of a gentler or a brisker interpretation as it stood with their interest to improve VIII WEARIED out with continual provocations oppositions and affronts from Rome the Patriarchs of Constantinople began to think upon some way by which they might be better enabled to bear up against them To this end John who from his extraordinary abstinence was Sir-nam'd Nesteutes or the Faster being then Bishop of that See in a Synod conven'd there Ann. DLXXXIX about the Cause of Gregory Bishop of Antioch procur'd the Title of Oecumenical or Universal Bishop to be conferr'd upon him with respect probably to that Cities being the head Seat of the Empire which was usually styl'd Orbis Romanus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Universe or whole World and it could not be therefore thought extravagant if the Bishop of it did assume a proportionable Title of honour nothing appearing that hereby he laid claim to any extraordinary Jurisdiction Nor indeed is it reasonable to conceive that the Eastern Patriarchs who as Evagrius who was advocate for Gregory in that Synod tells us were all either by themselves or their Legates present in this Council together with very many Metropolitans should at one cast throw up their own power and authority and give John an absolute Empire and Dominion over them and therefore can be suppos'd to grant no more than that he being the Imperial Patriarch should alone enjoy that honorable Title above the rest Besides that every Bishop as such is in a sence intrusted with the care and sollicitude of the Universal Church and though for conveniency limited to a particular charge may yet act for the good of the whole Upon this ground it was that in the ancient Church so long as Order and Regular Discipline was observ'd Bishops were wont upon occasion not only to communicate their Councils but to exercise their power and functions beyond the bounds of their particular Diocess and we frequently find Titles and Characters given to particular Bishops especially those of Patriarchal Sees equivalent to that of Universal Bishop I cannot but mention that passage of Theodorit who speaking of Nestorius his being made Bishop of Constantinople says that he was intrusted with the Presidency of the Catholick Church of the Orthodox there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was nothing less then that of the whole World A passage which perhaps might the more incourage and invite John at this time to assume the Title IX BUT in what sence soever intended it sounded high but especially made a loud noise at Rome where they were strangely surpris'd to find themselves outshot in their own Bow for though they had all along driven on the design with might and main yet they had hitherto abstain'd from the Title Pelagius who at this time sat in that Chair was extreamly netled at it and immediately dispatch'd Letters to John and the Bishops of his Synod wherein he rants against this pride and folly talks high of the invalidity of all Conciliary Acts without his consent and approbation charges them though summon'd by their Patriarch not to appear at any Synod without authority first had from the Apostolick See threatens John with excommunication if he did not presently recant his error and lay aside his unjustly usurpt Title of Universal Bishop affirming that none of the Patriarchs might use that Profane Title and that if any one of them were styl'd Oecumenical the Title of Patriarch would be taken from the rest a piece of insolence which ought to be far from all true Christians with a great deal more to the same effect I know the last publishers of the Councils make this Epistle to be spurious a false piece of Ware patch'd up in Insidore Mercators shop But however that be plain it is from S. Gregory who sent Copies of them to the Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria that Pelagius did write such Letters wherein by the authority of S. Peter he rescinded the Acts of that Synod propter nephandum elationis vocabulum for the sake of that proud and ungodly Title prohibiting his Arch-Deacon then at Constantinople so much as to be present at prayers with the Patriarch of that place X. GREGORY the Great succeeded Pelagius whose Apocrisiarius or Agent he had been at Constantinople when the thing was done A man of good learning and greater piety and of somewhat a more meek and peaceable temper then most of those that had gone before him which perhaps he owed in a great measure to those sad calamitous times he so oft complains of wherein he liv'd And yet as tender in this point as his Predecessours John of Constantinople had lately sent him an account of the proceedings in the case of John Presbyter of Chalcedon wherein he took occasion to style himself Oecumenical Patriarch almost in every sentence This touch'd Pope Gregory to the quick and as he had an excellent talent at writing Letters he presently sends to Mauritius the Emperour to the Empress Constantina to the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch to John himself and to Sabinian his own Deacon then residing at Constantinople In all which he strains all the Nerves of his Rhetoric to load the case with the heaviest Aggravations complaining that by the contrivance of this proud and pompous Title the peace of the Church the holy Laws and venerable Synods yea and the commands of our Lord Jesus himself who by that
Yoak and had restor'd times of Liberty under the conduct of his Imperial Grace and Piety He wrote likewise to the Empress Leontia one who is said to have been not one jot better than her Husband with flattering Caresses and under abundance of good words courts her kindness and patronage to the Church of S. Peter which he fails not to back with Thou art Peter and upon this Rock c. To thee I will give the Keys c. XV. NOT long after Gregory dies and Sabinian who succeeded living not full six Months Boniface the Third of that name takes the Chair He had very lately been Apocrisiarius or the Pope's Legate at Constantinople where he wanted not opportunities to insinuate himself into the favour of Phocas and the Courtiers And now he thought it a fit time to put in for what the Popes notwithstanding all the pretences of Self-denial so much desir'd the Title of Universal Bishop and the rather because Cyriacus Patriarch of Constantinople was at this time under disfavour at Court. From the very first entrance upon the Papacy he dealt with Phocas about this matter and at length gain'd the point though not without some considerable difficulty and opposition aegre nec sine multa contentione as my Authors have it At last out comes an Edict from Phocas commanding that the Church of Rome should be styl'd and esteem'd the Head of all Churches and the Pope Universal Bishop A rare Charter sure not founded upon the Canons of the Church but upon an Imperial Edict and this Edict too granted by the vilest and the worst of Men. But so they had it no matter how they came by it And now that Title that had so lately been new vain proud foolish prophane wicked hypocritical presumptuous perverse blasphemous devilish and Antichristian became in a moment not only warrantable but holy and laudable being sanctified by the Apostolic See XVI FROM henceforth the Church of Rome sate as Queen and govern'd in a manner without control For the Empire being broken in the West by the irruptions of the Lombards into Italy and its Power declining in the East by the successful invasions of the Saracens the Emperours were but little at leasure to support and buoy up the Honour of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate Advantages which the Popes knew well enough how to improve And indeed every Age made new Additions to the height of the Papal Throne and the Pride of that Church increasing proportionably to its Power and Grandeur hector'd the World into submission to the See of Rome which as imperiously imposed its Commands and Principles upon other Churches as Tyrants do Laws upon conquer'd Countries Witness for a concluding instance those extravagant Canons or Articles DICTATES he calls them which Pope Gregory the Seventh publish'd about the year MLXXV. I know Monsieur Launoy has attempted to shew that these Dictates concerning the Prerogative of the See Apostolic were not fram'd by Gregory the Seventh Whether his Reasons be conclusive I am not now at leasure to enquire Sure I am they are without any scruple own'd for his by Baronius and generally by all the Writers of that Church And Launoy himself is forc'd to grant that several of them are agreeable enough to the Humour Pretensions and Decrees of that Pope They run thus 1. That the Church of Rome is founded by our Lord alone 2. That the Bishop of Rome only can be truly styl'd Universal Bishop 3. That he alone has power to depose or reconcile Bishops 4. That his Legate though of an inferiour Degree is above all Bishops in Council and may pronounce sentence of Deposition against them 5. That the Pope may depose absent Bishops 6. That where any are excommunicated by him we may not among other things so much as abide in the same House with them 7. That he only may according to the necessity of Times make new Laws constitute new Churches turn a Canonry into an Abby and on the contrary divide a rich Bishoprick and unite such as are poor 8. That it is lawful only for him to use the Imperial Ornaments 9. That all Princes shall kiss none but the Pope's Feet 10. That his Name alone shall be recited in Churches 11. That there is but one only name in the World that is that of Pope 12. That it is in his power to depose Emperours 13. That in case of necessity he may translate Bishops from one See to another 14. That wheresoever he please he may ordain a Clerk to any Church 15. That whoever is ordain'd by him may have the Government of any other Church but may not bear Arms nor may receive a superiour Degree from any Bishop 16. That no Council ought to be call'd General without his Command 17. That no Chapter nor Book shall be accounted Canonical without his authority 18. That no Man may reverse Sentence past by him and he only may reverse all others 19. That he ought not to be judg'd by any 20. That none presume to condemn any person that appeals to the Apostolic See 21. That the weightier Causes of every Church ought to be referr'd to that See 22. That the Church of Rome never err'd nor as the Scripture testifies shall ever err 23. That the Bishop of Rome if Canonically ordain'd is by the merits of S. Peter undoubtedly made holy as S. Ennodius Bishop of Pavia bears witness favour'd herein by many of the holy Fathers as is contain'd in the Decrees of the blessed Pope Symmachus 24. That by his leave and command Subjects may accuse their Superiours 25. That without any Synod he may depose and reconcile Bishops 26. That no Man shall be accounted Catholic that agrees not with the Church of Rome 27. 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Mr. Selden's Janus Anglorum Englished with Notes To which is added his Epinomis concerning the Ancient Government and Laws of this Kingdom never before extant Also two other Treatises written by the same Author One of the Original of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Testaments the other of the Disposition or Administration of Intestates Goods now the first time Published Fol. Mezeray's History of France rendred into English Fol. Gul. Ten Rhyne Med. Doct Dissertat de Arthritide Mantyssa Schematica de Acupunctura Item Orationes tres de Chemiae ac Botaniae Antiquitate Dignitate De Physiognomia de Monstris Cum Figuris Authoris notis illustratae Octavo D. Spenceri Dissertationes de Ratione Rituum Judaicorum c. Fol. Epist ad Philadelph p. 30. vid. ad Trall p. 16. Mat. xxiii 5 6 7 8 9 10 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in loc 1 Pet. v. 3 5. Life of S. Greg. Naz. Sect. v. Num. ix Joh. xx 21. 1 Pet. v. 1 2 3. 11 Cor. xi 5. Gal. ii 7. 9. Rev. xxi 14. Matth. xix 28. Matth xx 25 26 27. * De Rom. Pontif. l. 2. c. 1. Col. 5â—9 c. 12. Col. 628. l. 4. c. 4. Col. 803. * L. 2. c. 12. l. 4. c. 4. ubi supr * Barlaam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 25. edit Graec. * Firmil Ep. ad Cypr. inter Ep. Cypr. p. 150. * Epist 74. ad Pomp. per tot p. 129. * Epist supr cit p. 143 c. * Synod Carth. apud Cypr. p. 282. * Adv. Haeres l. 3. c. 3. p. 232. * Epist 162. col 728. * Euseb H. Eccl. l. 6. c. 14. p. 216. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod Hist l. 1. in vit Commod p. 32. Tibi proficiscentium major facultas fuit primò quia in commune imperii caput undique gentium convenitur tum quod clementissimum principem in hac parte degentem varia omnium desideria vel necessitates sequuntur Symmach l. 4. Epist xxviii ad Protad vid. sis not Lectii * De fid Cathol C. Th. leg 2. vid. Soz. l. 7. c. 4. p. 708. * Lib. 27. p. 1739. * Hieron ad Pammach adv error Jo. Hierosol p. 165. * Ap. Euseb H. E. l. 4. c. 23. p. 145. * Epist v. Concil Tom. ii col 876. * Innoc. Epist I. ibid. col 1245. * Epist 10. ad Gregor p. 54. * Ap. Baron ad An. 372. T. 4. p. 322. * Prim. Chr. Part. 1. Ch. 8. p. 227. Edit 1. vid. Breerwoods Quaer 1. Berter Pithan fere per tot aliique * Can. 9. * Cypr. Epist xxxiii p. 47. xxxii p. 46. * Vid. Cone Nic. Can. iv * Cornel. Epist ad Fab. Antioch ap Eus l. 6. c. 43. p. 245. * Epist xxix p. 41. * Epist xxx p. 42. * Epist XLii. p. 56. * Epist LXVii infin * Epist LV. p. 78. * Epist XLi. p. 55. * Optat. l. 1. p. 27 c. Const Epist ad Melch. ap Euseb l. 10. c. 5. p. 391. * Vid. Conc. Tom. 1. col 1428. * Epist CCLXXXii p. 802. Vid. Epiph. Haeres 68. p. 307. Sozom l. 1. c. 24. p. 438. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nist Territorium est universitas agrorum intra fines cujusque civitatis quod ab eo dictum quidam aiunt quod magistratus ejus loci intra eos fines terrendi id est submovendi jus habet l. 239. § 7. de verb. signific * Geograph l. 4 p. 186. vid. Plin. l. 3. c. 4. p. 39. * Lib. 17. p. 84. * Vid. J. Front de Colon inter sâ—r Rei Agr. à Goes Edit p. 141. frag de Term. ib. p. 148. * Lib. 53. in vit August * Sirmond Censur P. 1. c. 2. p. 10. Aleand Refut Conject P. 1. c. 3. p. 25. * Lib. 3. c. 5. p. 41. Front ib. p. 118. 123. alibi * Ib. p. 127. ‖ Ib. p. 144. * Hyg de limit ib. p. 211. * Appar ad Primat pap p. 273. Can. ix * De bell-Jud l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 854. * Hist l. 2. p. 359. * In Can. II. Concil C P. p. 88. * L. Allat de consens Eccles Orient Occid l. 1. c. 12. N. 4. p. 190. * Alex. Arist in loc * Epit. Can. Sect. I. Tit. I. in Jur. Gr. Rom. p. 1. * Epist XLIX p. 63. * Epist ad solit p. 644. * Dionys de script Orb. vers 355. p. 8. * Dion Orat. xxxii ad Alex p. 362 * Orat. in Rom. p. 358. Tom. 1. * Alexand. ap Eustath comment in Homer Iâ—iad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉