Selected quad for the lemma: power_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A61878
|
A further iustification of the present war against the United Netherlands illustrated with several sculptures / by Henry Stubbe.
|
Stubbe, Henry, 1632-1676.
|
1673
(1673)
|
Wing S6046; ESTC R30154
|
187,457
|
192
|
Circumstances being considered it is not to be wondered at if we read of so frequent Tumults when a Bishop then was declared or in danger to be declared an Heretick or Schismatick or to be Banished It will not then seem strange if upon the dissention betwixt Alexander the Bishop of Alexandria and Arius a Presbyter of his after that the Latter was Excommunicated great Tumults did follow For though the Power and Authority did seem Lodged in the Metropolitan yet did Arius supply that Defect by his Learning and Subtilty He was befriended by many Neighbouring Bishops of great Repute and Power he himself was exceeding Popular and he framed several Drolling Songs and Discourses whith were Sung in the Streets by the Vulgar and made the common entertainment of all Festivals Those of the Bishop's party were Exasperated at these Actions and being Instigated with Zeal Indignation and Interest they engaged the others in several Quarrels The Emperour interposed by reconciliatory Letters but to no purpose for the Arians drawing no Emolument from the Charity of the Bishop and being subjected to the Ignominy and Odium of an Excommunication they grew so outragious as to injure the Statues of Constantine The Pagans fomented the Division and abetted the Arians that so they might with more facility ruine Constantine The Meletian Bishops and their Followers being Orthodox yet under an Umbrage and looked on as Schismaticks by their Metropolitan did contribute all they could to the support of Arius So that Constantine was necessitated to call the Nicene Council where the Tenets of Arius were condemned and those that adhered thereunto Anathematized But neither was Arius by Name fulminated against nor did the Council solicite for but rather pitied his Banishment After the censure passed upon the Arians in the Nicene Council most Ecclesiastical Historians do agree that Constantine did Banish him and a few other Bishops his Adherents But the Narrative which they make concerning his Exile and his Revocation is so incoherent and defective that Baronius doubts and Gothofredus knows not what to make thereof If he Theognis and Eusebius of Nicomedia were Banished against the latter civil crimes as Treason are alledged for the cause And whether the forementioneâ— Tumults or the sense of any future Broils in Egypt which was the Granary of the Empire and prone to Rebellions did occasion the Banishment of the others I know not Their Fxile was not long nor were their Followers rigorously proceeded against but the Edict suspended And afterwards Athanasius having succeeded Alexander is Banished no otherwise then they had been before by the power of the Arian Faction Athanasius was sent back again by Constantine the Son upon the Death of Constantine the Great whereupon he Repossessed himself of the Sea at Alexandria Upon the Division of the Empire betwixt the three Sons of Constantine the East fell to Constantius who finding the perpetual Tumults which arose from this contest tried many wayes to compose Affairs The Arians did attribute a greater Power unto the Emperour in matters of Religion then did the Catholick And they perswaded him to violate the Canons for Election of Bishops by Imposing upon the People such as he should Nominate cause to be ordained and sent Whereupon he Ejected the Catholick Bishops and Substituted Arians the Orthodox were Tormented and Punished sundry wayes as by Imprisonment Banishment c. and a Toleration given unto all but those of the Nicene Faith The proceedings of this Emperour not being very Exemplary I shall conclude the account of his Reign with this Observation That by reason of this Persecution Athanasius and other Catholick Bishops moved Disputes Whether the Emperour had any power to Judge in Ecclesiastical Affairs And Whether it were lawful to Persecute any in cases of Religion with Imprisoning or Banishment Julian the Apostate succeeded Coustantius He laboured by all means possible to restore Paganism to its pristine Glory He granted Liberty of Conscience to all the Sects of Christians But withal he did equally subject them unto civil Employments and took away the publick Allowances which had been granted unto the Catholicks He recalled all the Exiled Bishops but did not restore them to their proper Seas and Admonished them and such as had been Deposed for Scandal to look after their Churches and provide for their Parties and Interests as well as they could Whereupon in sundry Cities there started up two or three Bishops an Arian a Meletian and a Catholick In some places more He permitted them to Quarrel and Fight and commit all Outrages one against the other encouraging the Sectaries and Pagans against the Orthodox This was the Indulgence which he gave unto them and whereby he designed to overthrow Christianity After his Decease succeeded Jovianus who was an Orthodox Emperour his Reign was but short he found the Empire divided into Potent Factions of the Orthodox Arians Gentiles c. Whereupon he declared that he would not molest any Person for his Faith whatsoever of Paganism Hrresie or Schism he professed But he should principally Love Honour and Favour those which endeavoured to Restore the Church unto its peace He restored the Orthodox unto their former Immunities and Priviledges which Constantine had bestowed on the Catholick Church These proceedings gained unto him this Character That the Empire had been brought unto a most happy Posture as to Church and State if it had pleased to God to grant him a longer Life Upon the Decease of Jovianus there was chosen for Emperour Valentinian and he Elected his Brother Valens for his Consort They were both Christians but Valentinian was Zealous for the Nicene Faith and Valens favoured the Arians as much Such testimonies had each of them given of his Sincerity that both did proffer to Die Martyrs rather that Sacrifice to Idols under Julian The Artifices of Julian had broke Christianity into so many Sects and Subdivisions of Sects that in every City almost their might be found Two Three Four or more Bishops all Anathematizing each other and most Rebaptizing the Converts gained from any other Congregation The East did abound principally with Arians and Macedonians Eunomians c. Which were of the same Sentiments almost in the West the Interest of that Heresie was much lessened by the care and piety of Saint Hilary who by his Christian Prudence Charity and exemplary Piety joyned with as great Indulgence or forbearance did reclaim the Arians in France Yet were those Hereticks considerable at Millain and in sundry others places of the Western Empire As also were the Donatists in Africk notwithstanding their fierce Persecution under Constans by Macarius Governour of Numidia It was then seen that no confiscations of Lands and Churches nor Exiles or the most severe Punishments could extinguish a numerous and obstinate Sect Whatsoever they endured they esteemed it as Martyrdom and became Implacable against the Catholicks as having solicited that Emperour and
and Brotherly love such as God by his grace instils into the Breasts of his Servants might be restored But because the wickedness and obstinacy of some Persons hath frustrated our intentions they not enduring to be convinced of those Errors wherein they delight We must patiently expect until the mercy of God do allay this mischief which by the means of a few persons doth diffuse it self amongst the populace It is from thence that we must hope for a redress whence all good desires and actions do proceed But until that great Physician be pleased to heal our breaches we ought to form our minds unto patience and with composed Spirits suffer all the efforts of their insolence Do not retaliate any injuries It were folly to anticipate that revenge which we ought to leave unto God especially our Faith instructs us that whatsoever the rage of the Donatists shall Act against you will procure unto you in Heaven the Crown due to Martyrs What is it to overcome on Earth in the name of God then that the peaceable Believers should undergo the outrages of the wicked If your sincerity can thus dispose it self you will soon see by the grace of God that the Ringleaders of this contention will loose their credit and the People will see their Errors that they ought not at the instigation of a few to hazard that salvation which early repentance may ensure unto them Farewel dear Brethren This Letter is supposed to have been written Auno Dom. 317 or 318. But this Lenity of Constantine's produced no other effect then that the Donatists grew more insolent against the Followers of Caecilianus In the City of Constantina formerly called Cirta the Donatists being animated by Silvanus their Bishop did by violence possess themselves of the principal Church ejecting the Catholicks thence This Church had been built at the charge of the Emperour yet would they not restore it upon several imperial Mandates They proceeded further to put in execution the penal Laws against Hereticks and Schismaticks upon the Catholicks making their Clergy to serve in sundry civil and undecent employments Hereupon the Catholicks did modestly complain and desired they might not be brought under the penal Laws and that Constantine would be pleased to grant unto them another Plot of Ground whereon they might build a Church Their Requests were yielded unto and the Church built at the publick charge Not long after this there happened a quarrel betwixt Nundinarius a Deacon and the Silvanus aforesaid the former accused the latter to have been himself a Traditor and convicted Him before Zenophilus Consular of Numidia who thereupon did inform the Emperour that this fierce Donatist who had made so great a combustion in Africk and so disturbed the civil and Ecclesiastical Peace had been himself a Traditor and by indirect means attained unto the Bishoprick Whereupon the Emperour banished Him and some other of the Donatists Bishops who were proved to have ordained Majorinus and rejected Caecilianus not out of any just cause but out of malice and by the instigation and corruption of a rich Woman named Lucilla The Donatists hereupon petition to the Emperour that their Bishops may be recalled from exile and declare that they will undergo all torments and penalties rather then communicate with that Knave Coecilianus Although it was impudently done of the Donatists to term Him a Knave whom the Emperour himself had acquitted yet was their desire assented unto their Bishops were recalled and a plenary toleration granted unto them their Madness or Schismaticalness being left unto the immediate punishment of God Anno Dom. 321. Some two or three years after this when Constantine was involved in a War with the Goths and Licinnius the Donatists raised greivous tumults throughout Numidia to the great hazard of the Province in that juncture After which if we find Constantine to have proceeded rigorously against them confiscating their Churches and giving them unto the Catholicks or punishing them sundry ways It will never appear that this was done purely upon the account of Schisme but by reason of Outrages Murthers and horrid tumults committed and raised by that obstinate and furious Sect. I have shewed how long and what manner they were tolerated By the endowments of their Churches it appears that they were equally indulged with the Novatians Both these Sects were Orthodox in Doctrine Their default was Schisme The Novatians were the more antient and exemplary Offenders and since they were priviledged who can imagine that the others were depressed for Separation only It may perhaps seem strange unto the less intelligent Reader that such tumults should happen amongst the People in behalf of their Bishops whither Donatists or Arians c. But the wonder will cease when he shall be informed that in the Primitive Ages none could be chosen to be Bishop in any Diocess but where He had formerly lived The People being assembled together did nominate and elect them and it was in their power to chose the worthy and reject the unworthy The nomination of the several Competitors was not so limited to the People as that the Clergy except as in the case of the reconciled Meletians Socrat. Hist. Eccles. l. 1. c. 9. Sozomen l. 1. c. 24. might not propose any but their Business was to Examine if the Election were Regular to consent unto the choice made and to consecrate the Person chosen Even the Emperour Constantine did not assume the Nomination of a Bishop of Antioch unto the People but only recommended some to them that they might be Nominated by them But the sinal approbation of the Bishop Elect and Consecrated was in the Emperour as to the Orthodox and endowed Clergy Thus Athanasius having certified the said Emperour that he was canonically Nominated and chosen by the People of Alexandria he did immediately confirm unto him the possession of the Episcopal See The Bishop being thus Invested in the Bishoprick was esteemed no less bound unto his Chair and Diocess than the Husband unto his Wedded Wife He could not exchange his See for another though Canonically Elected by the voluntary Suffrage of the People of a more Rich and Illustrious Bishoprick As was judged in the case of Eusebiw Bishop of Caesaria and is averred by Athanasius and others of the Fathers The Bishop being thus to be Elected must needs carry himself with great Infinuation and a specious shew of popular Zeal and Piety that he might gain their Suffrages and being once Enthroned he had another way besides those Appearances to preserve his Interest amongst them For he had more or less of Annual Revenue and Incomes to dispose of in a way of Hospitality and he had the charity of the Church to distribute amongst the poor Widows and Orphans and Distressed persons besides the Presbyters Deacons Sub-Deacons Acolythi Exorcists Readers Door keepers All which Persons did sometimes in an ordinary Bishoprick amount to the number of three Thousand The which