throng'd to the Church that the Pulpit was altered from its ancient place which was in the Chancel into the body of the Church where the people standing round about him might readily attend to that torrent of Holiness and Eloquence The Athenian Orator that the noise and tumult of the people might not disturb him whilst he was pronouncing his brave Orations constantly used to repeat them on the Banks of the Haven that he who was unconcern'd at the rouling of the waves might likewise enjoy an undisturbed mind amidst the clamours and contentions of the people But this great man commanded the people to quietness every one fearing lest any noise should hinder them from hearing any sentence flowing from that golden mouth The anger that Eusebius conceived against Basil forced him into the Wilderness but the Schism between the two Bishops of Antioch elected by two different parties made Chrysostom the second time try the sweetness of the Desarts As yet that custom prevailed of the peoples power in electing the Bishop a Rite which indeed was used in several Ages of the Church which no more vindicates the Independent Ordination of Ministers then the Kings nomination of Bishops to the Sees and Patrons presenting of Clerks to their Benefices destroy the Episcopal Ordination Chrysostom thought the Briars and Thorns of the Desarts were incomparably less troublesom then the Schisms of the Church But the Antiochians are impatient Chrysostom must return they can endure no longer the absence of so brave a Preacher Chrysostom returns privately to Antioch with what joy did this news fill the City how tedious was that night to them how long seem'd every hour till they saw Chrysostom in the Pulpit Early in the morning did the Antiochians hasten to the Church expecting Chrysostom they knew he could be no longer out of the Pulpit Chrysostom failed not their expectation Chrysostom comes to Church he hastens first to the Altar where he pays his devotion to his blessed and dearest Lord. After a Reverence done to the Archbishop he ascends the Pulpit What passions appeared in the Antiochians countenances at the same time their faces gave the indication of Joy and Admiration their eyes were full of tears the sacred pavement was slippery with that holy water the Fountains of those Rivers was Love and Joy so Clouds kindly melt into gentle Rain by the greater influence of the Sun Chrysostom for twelve years which he spent during the time that he was Presbyter at Antioch was assiduous in preaching prayer and study His honour and affection that he had for his Archbishop was infinitely entire he perceiving that the Sermons of Flavianus were not so frequented as his own would reprehend the peoples temerity in the midst of his Sermons would make an Harangue in the praise of the Archbishop preferring the Sermons of him to those of his own extolling the judiciousness gravity and ponderous Divinity and reflecting with some diminutions on his own rapidness and impetuousness This glorious action endeared him to the Archbishop with whom he continued a perfect amity and rendred himself more amiable to the multitude who plainly perceived that amidst the Acclamations of the whole City nay the Applause and honour of the whole World he sought not his honour from men but endeavoured to receive it from God In the third year of his Presbytership the dreadful commotion happen'd wherein the Citizens in a wild fury threw down the Statues of the Emperor and Empress which cast Chrysostom himself into such a vast confusion of mind that for seven days together he retired to his Chamber as not being able to look upon that people who though they had attended so long to his admirable preaching should throw themselves headlong into such an inexpressible phrenzy The seventh day recollecting his Spirit he ascends the Pulpit never people wanted more an admirable Preacher and never people furnished with a more incomparable man They stood in need of Lenitives and Corrosives no person ever knew better how to apply them Their crime was so great that the very sharpest expressions a tongue dipt in Vinegar and Gall sufficed not to chastise their insolent Treasons and yet they were so filled with the apprehensions of their guilt the horrour of so dreadful a Fact did so terrifie them that their own consciences prepared wracks and wheels for them and they were dead before the sentence was pronounced against them The Citizens themselves became living Ghosts Chrysostom therefore as a most excellent Physician seeing a Patient lye sick of a desperate wound which stands in need of the most searching Corrosives and yet of a languishing and fainting mind prepares his Patient by Cordials to receive sharper Medicines so he raises the drooping Spirits of the Citizens and enlivens them by Heavenly comforts and instructions and afterwards scourges them with a most eloquent detection of their Villanies and dreadful denunciation of Eternal Judgments His Sermons he managed so piously and dexterously that they obtained his desired effect Some time after a sharp reprehension of that rebellious frenzy he would raise some comfort in their Spirits by an Elogium of the Emperors person and qualities some time promising them a happy success from the Prudence and Authority and gravity of Flavianus who undertook to intercede for them whereby at the same time he gained a greater respect from his Auditors endeared himself to the Archbishop and ingratiated himself into the Emperors esteem and thus for twelve years he so prudently managed the Function of his Priesthood that his fame flew throughout the World his name was so celebrated in the Emperors Court that it occasioned his removal from Antioch to the Archiepiscopal See of Constantinople Now let us behold our Priests consecrated Bishops now we shall behold The entry of Basil into the Metropolitical See of Caesarea them with their Crosiers now advanced to the highest dignities But with their honour we shall behold their persecutions and troubles These Mountains of Piety and Learning are now struck with Lightning and Thunder The Tranquility of the Wilderness is changed into a violent storm their Retirements and Studies are turned into the troubles and confusions of the Court and Church now they are not more glorious in holiness and honour then persecuted by Envy and Rage When they entred upon their Episcopal dignities they launched into that Sea of trouble where they found no rest till the grave had prepared a Repose for them Upon the death of Eusebius Basil to avoid the Episcopal Authority retired and fled from Caesarea Valens the Emperour sent his Praefect of Cappadocia if possible to procure the installing of an Arrian Bishop into that Metropolitical See The Neighbouring Catholick Bishops knowing of what consequence to the universal Church the Election of Basil would be all unaminously hasten to Caesarea The aged Father of Gregory the Divine expecting a Bier to carry him to the grave rather than a Chariot to bring him to Caesarea determined to
undertake that journey the great Zeal he had to oppose the Arrian designs and the vast love he had for the promoting of the purity of the Churches Doctrine and establishing the Churches peace revived his drooping Spirits and seemed to restore him to a Juvenile vigour The Election was managed by the Arrian party with fury and passion But at length the Constancy of the Orthodox Christians prevailed Basil is Elected after enquiry is found by violence forced to Caesarea where the Provincial Bishops waited for his coming being resolved not to depart till they had confirmed the Church against the Arrian fury by the Consecration of Basil Anno 369. The Emperour Arcadius the whole The Consecration of Chrysostom in the Archbishoprick of Constantinople Court and City of Constantinople were so satisfied with the Virtues Eloquence and great Accomplishments of Chrysostom that they resolved no other person but he should sit in the Archiepiscopal See But a great question arose how they should procure the Assent of that person to accept of that Ecclesiastical dignity And the people of Antioch being seditious and addicted to mutinies it would be difficult to wrest Chrysostom averse to Ecclesiastical honours out of the hands of that people who would rather lose their lives then the Comfort of their lives the brave Sermons of Chrysostom But Eutropius the Lord Chamberlain of the Emperors Houshold acquainted Arcadius that he would certainly by an innocent contrivance bring Chrysostom to Constantinople The Emperour committed the management of the Affairs to Eutropius who immediately dispatched some Persons of Quality to Antioch with Letters to Chrysostom commanding him in the name of Arcadius upon the account of some important affairs to attend him in a City called by Zozom l. 28. 2. Pagras some miles distant from Antioch Chrysostom not dreaming of Eutropius's design at the place and time waited on him Eutropius at the first meeting roundly told him the Emperors intentions and desires Chrysostom refused as being unwilling to leave that People over whom he had so absolute a command and from whom he received such an entire affection But Eutropius was peremptory he commanded him to be carried into the Chariot The Charioter must obey Eutropius and not lend an ear to the prayers of Chrysostom on he drives and with hard journeys arrives at Constantinople where the Emperour and the Court receive him with all sentiments of love and honour and the people with all joyful Acclamations Virtue is always dog'd at the heels by Envy Theophilus Archbishop of Alexandria being then at Constantinople hugely opposed Chrysostoms Election and resolutely refused to be present at his Consecration That See the Alexandrian Archbishop designed for a Priest of his own Church who had obliged him by the faithful conduct of this affair In the War between Theodosius the Emperour and Eugenius the Tyrant he entrusted him with a noble present and two Letters the one to Eugenius the other to Theodosius with this Commission that he should deliver neither of the Letters until the Victory was obtained and to the Triumpher who had confirm'd himself in the Imperial Dignity the Letter directed to him with the gifts should be presented and the other presently consumed in the flames But as Treason seldom succeeds base and treacherous actions generally are discover'd One of the Servants of this Priest stole his Letters and immediately carried them to the Court of Constantinople and deliver'd them into the hands of Eutropius who reserved them to make use of them as occasion served Eutropius goes to Theophilus Archbishop of Alexandria not desires but commands him to consecrate Chrysostom he peremptorily denies and with indignation whereupon Eutropius shews him those unworthy and hypocritical Letters at which Theophilus is surprized with a trembling astonishment and begs pardon and silence of Eutropius and promised him to consecrate Chrysostom which he performed Anno 398. Basil having governed the Church The management of the Episcopal Function by Basil and Chrysostom of Caesarea under the power and Authority of Eusebius the management of all affairs being committed to him by that aged and grave Bishop there was no necessity of making any alteration in that Church which he had governed with so much prudence and sanctity Chrysostom on the contrary succeeding Nectarius in the Archiepiscopal See of Constantinople found a licentious Clergy a loose and a debauch'd City Nectarius from being a Praefect was advanced to that Ecclesiastical Throne and he though he was a person of a sound Faith and of no mean Abilities which he bravely exercised to the depressing of Hereticks yet bringing with him the splendour and pomp of the Court into his Palace the Reins of Discipline which in a more austere sanctity bridled the manners of the Clergy and people he let loose by Luxury and Pomp which ingratiated him very much into the favour of the Court and being a person of a sound Faith and great resolution against all Heresies gave him a brave esteem in the eyes of the World He was a great abhorrer of Avarice and nobly spent the revenues of the Church but by remitting of the severity of Ecclesiastical discipline a way was made for the more licentious conversation of the Clergy which spread it self not only into the Court but City likewise so that there seemed an universal defection from those rigours which made Christianity so glorious in the World Chrysostom being bred up in solitude and Austerities knowing no other Pomp or Luxury but a crouded Church attending upon his divine Eloquence and being naturally addicted to Austerities he was more prone by the manner of life he used to banish those Excrescences out of the Church Whereupon as soon as he enter'd upon his Episcopal dignity he betook himself to his old course of life constantly to preach and that he might not seem in the least to dissemble his intentions he with a sweet torrent of Eloquence sharply inveighs against the viciousness of Christians especially of the Clergy publickly threatning a deprivation of those of the Clergy who continued in a loose conversation This though it procured the hatred of the Clergy yet infinitely endeared him to the City now he is become their darling and favourite now in every Shop there are the Elogiums of Chrysostom every Boy sings the felicity of Constantinople How happy was that See in an Archbishop of the greatest holiness industry and Eloquence in the World What he threatned he punctually performed many of the Clergy who neglected his admonitions were presently deprived of Ecclesiastical Authority and removed from the Altar This laid the foundation of a great odium which the Clergy conceived against him and of his after-troubles He was represented cruel proud and arrogant An unreasonable passage of Seraphion a Deacon of the Church of Constantinople whom he dearly loved much heightned the hatred of the Clergy for in the Consistory as Chrysostom was examining the Priests Seraphion cries out Holy Father you will never rid the
Church of Impiety till you drive them out with the Rod a rigorous and an ill-timed passage But still Chrysostom is the Peoples darling and the Clergy that hated his Rigours admired his Parts and Eloquence But Chrysostom confined not his severity to the Church but it flew about the City nay it staid not there but it enter'd into the Court. There was no vitious Citizen let him be of never so great Authority and Riches no vitious Courtier let him be of never so unlimited Power and Greatness but felt the sharpness of his Eloquence and was threatned with Ecclesiastical Censures This enrages the Court against him scorning that the Grandeur of the Eastern Empire should be subject to the tongue of an Antiochian Priest whom they had but lately raised to the Constantinopolitan See Whilst his severities were confined within the Church walls Chrysostom shined with extraordinary lustre in the eyes of the Court but when it reach'd the Courtiers Luxury Pride Cruelty and Avarice all their esteem of him was turned into hatred and indignation So all persons love not their own concerns be touch'd the Clergy did not love that their own Vices but the Courtiers Enormities should be severely reprehended the Courtiers likewise are vastly pleased with the Reformation of the Church whilst they remain enamoured with their own deformities And this corruption in the manners proceeds from the mistake of Religion who suppose it a remedy for others but not for their own sins or from a strange partiality whereby they are prone to magnifie the Vices of others and lessen their own Basil was freed from all those inconveniences The Court had no residence in his City he succeeded a devout and severe Bishop by whose Authority he had formerly modelled his Church He was a person of a sweet and brave temper and exceedingly prudent and so could free himself from those Rocks on which others perhaps might have split But that which most conduced to the intestine tranquility of his See was the continual persecutions to which it was obnoxious Persecution made the Church of Cappadocia severe and holy Persecution performed that which Chrysostom desired to obtain by Ecclesiastical Censures Chrysostom came to govern that Church which was debauch'd by the remisness of a former Archbishop and degenerated into Pride and Luxury which a great Peace a vast Trade and Commerce affluence of Wealth the glory and pomp of the Court had occasioned The playing of the golden beams of the Sun makes us throw off our Garments when the blustering North wind cause us straiter to bind them to us It is easie to perswade to Reason an afflicted mind but difficult to reduce to sobriety a prosperous Criminal The Eastern Church at that time was The contests and conflicts of Basil and Chrysostom with the Hereticks vexed with the Eunomians Sabellians but more chiefly by the Arrians Valens himself a person of very great Courage but of greater Impiety violently persecuted the faithful Christians He had banished most of the Bishops from their Sees and instead of pious and holy Prelates the Church was pester'd and almost ruin'd by wicked and misbelieving Bishops Valens when he had carried Trophies of his own wickedness through most of the parts of the Eastern Empire was dreadfully enraged that Cappadocia should stand so firm against all the furies and assaults of Hell he in his own person leads his Army down into Cappadocia attended with a numerous Train of the most learned of his Arrian Chaplains not questioning but that he should either terrifie Basil into obedience or else rid Cappadocia of that great Prelate But what course should he use what should he order an Army of his Heretical Priests and Bishops against one Basil No he had gained so many notorious and famous Victories over the learnedst Opponents in the World that none of them durst undertake him And it may move a pretty laughter to observe that when the greatest Scholars of the Arrian Faction trembled at the very thoughts of a contest with Basil the Emperours Cook Demosthenes challenged Basil to dispute whom when Basil had most egregiously baffled not without angry smile thus says to the people Illiterate Demosthenes would dispute the properest place for a Cook is the Kitchin Can his tongue which is only fit for the tasting of Sauces and his head filled with the fume of Meat comprehend or discourse of Spiritual things Valens assaulted Basil by a Praefect of his Army who first allured him by the promises of the greatest Preferments and told him the glory of being honoured by the Emperor and the great Officers of his Army was not to be refused by him To which Basil gallantly replied Christianity is not made illustrious by the dignity of Persons but by the integrity of Faith At which the Praefect grew enraged and thunder'd out the heaviest menaces and thus accosted him Fear'st thou not the confiscation of thy Estate to which Basil presently reply'd No all the Riches I enjoy are these poor Rags I have on my back and a few Books Not Banishment No I am a Stranger in the World the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Not Torments No this worn body of mine will not endure above one stroke Not death No I am almost already dead and you will sooner send me to the Grave After he had thus answered the Praefect he ends that discourse with a passage full of sweetness and courage Sir I speak nothing in contempt of your Dignity it is not for us faithful Christians to speak roughly to the meanest person much less one of so great a quality as your self but we are obliged to profess in the Cause of our God all torments are a delight to us This carriage of Basil filled the Praefect with the Reverence of him The Praefect hastens to the Emperour giving this only account of that undertaking Basil hath conquered us This not succeeding Valens sends for Basil whom he attacks by all the arts imaginable Thousands of profits he proposed as many tortures and utmost extremities threatned But nothing moved Basil whose hopes were Heaven and fears Hell Yet Valens persisted in his determination of banishing him which he altered on several accounts Valens admiring the piety of Basil managed with so great a Prudence went to the Church to observe the demeanor and carriage of Catholick Christians in the performance of Divine Offices where coming and seeing Basil sitting in his Chair and the Multitude of Christians standing round about him all in a posture noting the highest reverence of the Divine Majesty and hearing them sing their Hymns and Hallelujahs with the greatest fervour joy and devotion and taking cognizance of the management of all the Divine Service and Worship he was struck with such a horrour that he fell into an universal trembling that as he approached to offer his gift at the Altar had he not been supported by one of the Priests that assisted Basil in a great amaze and astonishment he
is no wonder his passions were so by assed when his Judgment was so imposed upon Theophilus gathers a great company of Bishops together and there all those Bishops which the severity of Chrysostom or the Arts of his Adversaries or all the powers of the Court could make met at a place called the Oak in Constantinople and summoned Chrysostom to appear before them He refused and with the highest reason for what Authority had the Alexandrian Bishop over the Bishop of Constantinople or with what Authority or reason could they celebrate a Council in Constantinople without the consent of Chrysostom Arch Archbishop of Constantinople Chrysostom sent two of his Presbyters to that unlawful Convention of Bishops and acquainted them that their actions were destructive of the Churches peace contrary to the Ecclesiastical Canons and that he refused not to answer any crimes laid against him but he rejected an usurped power and therefore appealed to a General Council They still persist in their determinations upon his non-appearing At the fourth summons they pronounced a sentence of his deposition which being divulged in the City filled them with rage and indignation The whole City is in an uproar here the very Children and Women cryed men raged all hastened to the Cathedral and Palace of Chrysostom whom they detained all night which was pass'd in Prayer and Preaching They could hardly be filled with a greater sorrow and amazement if an Enemy had been sacking their Town then they were at the apprehensions of the loss of Chrysostom but Chrysostom uses all his Eloquence to perswade the people to peace and to behave themselves with all Reverence and obedience to their Religious Emperour O brave mind provoked to excellent actions by injuries and oppressions So Chrysostom retires to his Palace where for some space he keeps himself reserved and would not come to the Church and now Constantinople seems to be in a perpetual night no joy in that City where their brave Preacher was wanting Theophilus seeing the affections of the People for Chrysostom and the rage against him fears an attempt upon his Person the like possest the rest of the Bishops who wisely to prevent any danger leave the City and hasten to their respective Sees Chrysostom receives a message from the Emperour to retire into Exile that the Souldiers were ready to convey him into the place designed for his banishment who fearing his publick departure might occasion an uproar and endanger the Person of the Emperour and Empress privately delivered himself into the hands of the Souldiers and so unknown to the City was carried into Exile But as soon as ever the fame of his Banishment was spread the people were struck with rage and fury the Women and children run with the greatest passion to the Emperors gate and there they begg'd and cry'd for Chrysostom the men assembled in numerous companies nothing in this City but confusion here a company would cry what Judgments waited upon that City which was unworthy of Chrysostom others violently railing at the unlawful proceedings of the Bishops that deposed him So pitiful were the complaints so dangerous was the insurrection that Arcadius had no other means left him to quiet that tumultuous City but with a promise of a speedy restauration of him Whereupon he immediately dispatched Burso an Eunuch of the Empress with special commands to bring Chrysostom back to Constantinople He finding him at Prenetum over against Nicomedia brings him back to the City where he was received with all imaginable expressions of joy No City reduced to the greatest extremity by a potent Enemy besieging it could be more filled with the highest joy at a seasonable succour and relief then the Constantinopolitans were at the return of Chrysostom Their Acclamations were so loud their expressions of content so various and great that Chrysostom's satisfaction for his return was lessened by the immoderate honour they did unto him But he staid in the Suburbs and would not enter into the City nor go into the Pulpit till he was legally absolved till his cause was legally heard and he himself found innocent But this gave no satisfaction to the people they must see Chrysostom in the Church they must hear him preach Whereupon they so pressed upon Arcadius that he forced Chrysostom into the Pulpit and there to pray and preach which he performed In his Benediction they thought themselves all blessed his Prayers they concluded would pierce the Heavens and his pious Eloquence convey them to glory And this course for some months to the infinite content of the Citizens he continued But over against the Church called Sophia one of the miracles of the World the place where he usually preached the Statue of the Empress made of Silver with a rich Mantle over her head was erected before which Plays and Interludes were celebrated Chrysostom looking upon this as a dishonour done to Almighty God dehorts the people from such courses in a great vehemency maintains the dignity of the Divine Service with a torrent of the richest Oratory against Plays and Interludes that it was an inexpressible indignity to Almighty God that the Acclamations and noise of Plays and Interludes should be heard in the Church where Halelujahs are sung to God and so a disturbance be given to the Priest and holy people that wait about the Altar Which Sermon coming to the Empresses ears the fire of her rage which lay smothered under the ashes of dissimulation broke out into an open flame against him so that she openly threatned his second deposition which he receiving in great passion enters the Church and there makes that so famous Sermon which thus begins Herodias still dances Herodias still rages Herodias is still filled with indignation Herodias yet seeks for the head of John in a Platter At which the Empress was so incensed that she would hear of no entreaty for a reconciliation with Chrysostom But immediately sends for Theophilus Archbishop of Alexandria the old and sworn enemy of Chrysostom to summon a Council at Chalcedon there to hear the crimes laid against Chrysostom who justly refused to appear affirming that he kept himself within his own Palace with the company of fifty Bishops of excellent Piety and Learning who spent their time in prayers and tears No crimes in that Council were objected against Chrysostom only he was charged that contrary to the Ecclesiastical Canons he had preached not being absolved and restored to his Church For in a Council at Antioch it was decreed that if any Bishop was deposed he should not be restored to any Ecclesiastical Dignity except the number of Bishops that restored him exceeded the number that deposed him To which Chrysostom made this reply that his deposition was unjust unlawful and in it self null and that for fear of those inconveniences which might follow a popular tumult he voluntarily retired into Exile that he had not returned but by the Emperours command and for fear of the least transgression of
the Ecclesiastical Canons upon his return he staid in the Suburbs and would not enter into the City much less into the Church till he was compelled by the Emperors commands and by the clamours of the people and withall being perswaded by the suffrage of fifty Bishops that were then with him he performed his Ecclesiastical Function and that that Canon which was alledged against him was made by an Arrian Council in the Cause of Athanasius and here it seem'd a very hard measure was offered to Chrysostom that by that Emperor who commanded his return and forced his preaching a Council should summon and condemn by an Arrian Canon The Council was resolved to satisfie their own indignation and the Empresses rage Chrysostom must be banished Chrysostom must be deposed the sentence is again pronounced against him the Emperor brings his Army into the City But Chrysostom that the people nor Court nor Army might be in danger delivers himself again privately into the hands of the Souldiers who carry him into Banishment Their noble extraction entituled The great Charity of Basil and Chrysostom them to great Revenues Basil was the Eldest Son Chrysostom the only Son of his Parents and being both raised to great Dignities they had opportunities of treasuring up a large Estate but their great Souls could not be confined by Riches Chrysostom at Antioch distributed his Estate amongst the poor Basil retained a great part of his Estate till after he was Bishop When there fell a great Famine in Caesarea which threatned the consuming of most of the Citizens this occasion this wise person took to shew his liberality for he sold all his remaining Revenue to which he laid the Revenues of his Metropolitical See by this example and most powerful preaching he wrought so upon the Nobility and Gentry of Caesarea and the rich Citizens that they brought to him vast sums of money which he so disposed on that he brought a plenty into Caesarea he so husbanded his Bank that the Markets of the City were constantly furnished with provision Chrysostom when he was banished and in perpetual fears through the rude and barbarous Nations yet received such a supply from his Friends at Constantinople and other places that for the Fatherless Widows Captives and other distressed people he had a continual supply Many Captives he redeemed multitudes of other persons he furnished with necessaries that in his greatest extremity he thought it his highest duty to convert the liberality of others to him into charity for the furnishing of others with necessities They both of them in their respective Sees built Hospitals received Strangers and indeed performed all acts of charity to all sorts of persons So much they partaked of the Divine nature that they seemed wholly to be made up of goodness and bounty by which means the very Jews and Pagans had them in very great Honour and Reverence Basil took the highest care for the Their great Labours for the peace of the Church preservation of the Churches peace against the Arrian Hereticks his labours were indefatigable and having with the assistance of his beloved friend Gregory Bishop of Nazianzen notwithstanding the power and fury of the Arrian Hereticks quietly settled the Churches in Cappadocia O Cappadocia made odious by those proverbs which rendred the Inhabitants the most wicked people in the World now became glorious by the great profession of Christianity which was made illustrious by three Bishops the best Scholars and holiest persons in the Universe thus the glory of Christianity turns the Briars of the Wilderness into the Roses of Sharon He then betook himself to the establishing of the Churches of the whole World he travelled into Armenia and into the adjacent Countries of Cappadocia the Western Churches enjoyed a great tranquility under a Catholick Emperor To the Bishops of Italy France and Spain he wrote Letters representing the calamities of the Eastern Churches imploring their Aid The brave Bishop of Millain St. Ambrose gave him his greatest assistance and with the Divine goodness and eternal Providence notwithstanding all the persecutions of Valens the Emperor and all the oppositions of the Arrian Learning and Arms could make against him Cappadocia was preserved as a Virgin not spotted with the errours of those times Chrysostom so earnestly endeavoured the Reformation of the East that the remotest parts of them were happy by the influence of his piety and learning He undertook for the expelling of Hereticks a journey of some months into Asia he sent some of his Presbyters to convert the Goths in which they had a noble success He reformed the Churches of Armenia and Palestine he maintained an union with the Western Bishops and receiving an Edict from the Emperor to destroy the Idolatrous Temples in Phaenicia with a command to the Lords of the Emperors Treasury for the delivering of money to defray the expences for that imployment he accepted of the command and refused the money Out of his own Purse and with the charge of other Noble Persons he performed the Emperors Edict without the Emperors expences So these great persons like the Caelestial Luminaries emit an happy influence to those Churches which are far distant from them The great inclination that Basil had The Calumnies and slanders cast on them to Disputations and the vast love he had to Learned men was the occasion of casting many slanders on him In his Sermons against the Arrians his enemies that came to hear him more to carp then to learn would snatch away some passage that might seem to savour of the Sabellian impiety Preaching at other times against the Sabellia Heresie some sentence would drop from him which his Adversaries would wrest to Tritheism In the Eucharistical Benediction with which he concluded his Sermons having alter'd the Prepositions in and by though that mutation was approved of in many Churches of the East and used by the most Catholick Bishops of the World yet his impudent enemies carried away the clamours and impetuous noise of Arrianism and Eunomianism which defamations being spread abroad alienated the affections of many of the Eastern and Western Bishops from him Those wicked revilers by their most desperate slanders had so changed the affections of the Citizens of Neo-Caesarea to whom he was very much endeared by his first education that all the Protestations of Basil to the contrary all the Pathetical Letters he wrote to them could hardly reduce them to better thoughts of him How strange is it that a person who in all his Writings in all his Sermons in all his Actions nay who vindicated himself bravely from the aspersions of any indiscreet language which might seem to justifie the calumny of his enemies yet should be believed to be a great friend to those Heresies which he made the whole design of his life to overthrow Yet here was Basils felicity that his beloved Gregory was his defence perpetually and the Churches of Cappadocia constantly entertained the honour for him
for his impious opinion by Hermogenes Bishop of Caesarea was excommunicated but afterwards presenting to him a confession of his sound Faith was restored and ordained He relapsed and was again excommunicated at Constantinople returning into his own Country he presented a form of sound Faith whereupon he was received and made Bishop after that in the Synod of Ancira he anathematized the Faith of one substance his Heresie he promoted in Cilicia and Constantinople whereupon in a Synod at Melitina he was deposed for which he makes his address to the Western Bishops before Liberius Bishop of Rome he makes a confession of the true Faith subscribes it by him and the Western Bishops he was absolved from whom he received Letters to a Synod met at Tiana to receive him into the Church and restore him into his Bishoprick which by them was performed All this is granted but the Primacy not granted It 's evident that St. Basil wrote not only to Liberius but to the Western Bishops And what was done by the Eastern Bishops was not only upon the account of Liberius but of the other Western Bishops It was a custom in the Church to certifie one another of their agreement in the form of sound Doctrine and of those persons who were Hereticks and Excommunicated whereby there might be no communion held with such persons it was usual with these to make their Address to other Churches that they might receive them into Communion with them and by that means to receive Letters Testimonial of the integrity of their Faith the revoking of their Error and their desire that they might be restored into the Church from whence they were excommunicated which was oft performed All this did not include any Authority but a Fraternal love and communion that they agreeing in the same Faith the persons whom they received into communion should be of the same Faith with them whereupon if any Heretick excommunicated by his own Bishop addressed himself to another Church with whom his Bishop was in communion and he there revoked his Heresie and made profession of the Catholick Faith he was received into communion and having obtained literas format as with a Copy of his Faith he was many times restored into Communion This is every where obvious in Ecclesiastical history Eustachius being excommunicated flies to the Western Bishops Basil in his Epistle to the Western Bishops concerning Eustachius Apollinaris and Paulinus thinking he should be restored by them by whom he was received and carried Letters from them to us to the Synod of Tyana containing the profession of his Faith and the desire of his restauration which was performed the Synod restored him Liberius perswaded it very much conduced to the peace of the Church for to agree in the same Faith it tended much to the confusion of the Arrians to see the East and West conspiring in the Orthodox Faith the best and greatest part of Christians to be their enemies Eustachius being very inconstant sometimes did publickly profess the Faith sometimes propagate Heresie where he did this he was excommunicated where the other he was absolved And in that very place where he was condemned if he revoked his errours the condemnation was repealed This same Eustachius after he had been convicted of Heresie addresses himself to St. Basil before whom he makes a confession of the true Faith and subscribes a confession which Basil himself drew up upon which he was received into communion The same is to be averred concerning the actions of Liberius and the Western Bishops in the case of Eustachius Basil therefore earnestly intreats them that since they lived at so great a distance they would believe nothing but what they received from those persons who lived in the East and were worthy of credit therefore he gives them a Character of Eustachius after his restauration he now destroys that Faith on the account of which he was restored into communion he joyns himself with them who anathematized the Faith of one substance and is become the Ring-leader of the Pneumatomici he useth the confidence you gave him to the ruine of many since from you he took a liberty to injure the Church 't is necessary that from you proceed a redress and therefore that you would give an account to us for what reason he was received into communion and why he is now changed and wherefore he enervates that favour granted him by the Fathers In all which there is not the least intimation of the Primacy That which was the cause of his restauration was a form of sound Faith which he deceitfully presented to the Western Bishops which with their Letters he tenders to the Synod of Tiana upon which by the Authority of the Synod he was restored Chrysostom as I have before related Chrysostoms address to Innocent Bishop of Rome and the Western Bishops having incurred the Empresses displeasure Arcadius the Emperour sendeth for Theophilus Archbishop of Alexandria to come to Constantinople who upon the Emperours command attended with several other Bishops arrived at Constantinople He calleth a Synod receives the Accusation exhibited against Chrysostom whom he summoneth before him Chrysostom refuseth to appear whereupon he is condemned for contumacy pronounced guilty excommunicated deposed and by the Authority of the Emperour banished Upon which he writeth to Innocent bitterly complaining of the notorious injury done to him and of the miserable estate of the Grecian Church and passionately intreateth that he and the Western Bishops would afford him what assistance they could and use all possible endeavours they could to redress those grievances with which that Church was afflicted That this is an Appeal to Rome as to a supreme Court of Judicature is averred by Bellarmine and others but that it is not appears thus Baronius saith That Theophilus as he was Archbishop of Alexandria had power over the Churches of Greece and therefore might legally summon Chrysostom before him An assertion which I cannot but wonder at for what Authority can the Archbishop of Alexandria have over the Archbishop of Constantinople and Chrysostom to Innocentius accuseth him of unjust usurpation 'T is not congruous saith he that one out of Aegypt meaning Theophilus should judge those that lived in Thrace Which manifestly renounceth the pretended Authority of Theophilus Arcadius the Emperour then keeping his Court at Pera a City in Thessalonia Theophilus with his Associate Bishops attended him the Emperour issueth out his command to Chrysostom that he should appear at Pera before Theophilus to answer those crimes that were objected against him he refuseth in his Letter to Innocent he giveth this reason 't is not fit for any person to appear before a Foreign Court of Judicature and that all things that are acted ought to be tryed within their own Jurisdiction all things ought to be examined within their own Province before their proper Court to whom the cognizance of the Cause doth belong which is an undoubted testimony against Foreign Appeals Chrysostom could