Beauty by the Communication of the Word and by the Union it maintains with him that Catechumens are as it were Infants that are as yet in their Mothers Belly that being perfectly instructed they are born through Baptism and at last become perfect full grown Men that we ought not therefore to abuse these Words and employ them to oppose Virginity to which St. Paul exhorts the Fiathful not allowing Marriage it self and second Marriages in particular but as a Remedy for Incontinence like one that should desire a Person that is Sick and Indisposed to eat on a Fast-day and say to him It were to be wished that you were able to East as all of us have done to day for you know eating is forbidden but since you are sick it is expedient for you to eat that you may not die In the Fourth Discourse that goes under the Name of Theopatra it is maintained That nothing is more efficacious than Virginity to make a Man enter again into Paradise and enjoy a blessed Immortality In the Fifth Thalusa endeavours to demonstrate That the most excellent Gift we can present to God and the most worthy of Him is to embrace Virginity and she gives several Cautions and Advertisments to Virgins how to preserve their Virginity without Spot or Blemish Agatha that manages the Conference after Thalusa undertakes to prove in the Sixth Discourse that Virginity â—â—ght to be accompanied with Vertue and good Works and to this purpose she explains the Parable of the Ten Virgins Procilla afterwards begins the Seventh Discourse wherein she shews the Excellency of Virginity because of all Vertues this is that which has the Honour to be the Spouse of Jesus Christ. She explains a a certain place out of the Sixth Chapter of the Canticles ver 7. and 8. There are threescore Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number My dove my undefiled is but one Thecla assuming the Discourse after this observes That the Greek word that signifies Virginity only by adding one Letter to it denotes an Union with God and a frequentation of Heavenly Things She takes occasion from tâ—…ce to show That Virginity elevates us up to Heaven and makes us despise the Vanity of things below and having cited a place in the Revelations Chap. 12. concerning a Woman that is there described she explains it of the Church In short after she has drawn some Allegories from Numbers she exhorts all Virgins to persevere in their Virginity and to resist the Attacks of the Serpent that is to say the Temptations of the Devil From thence she launches out into other matter and shows that Men are free Agents and that they are not necessitated to do good or ill by the Insâ—…ences and Configurations of the Stars deâ—iding the Effects that the Astrologers attribute to the Constellations because of their Names For says she if there was any such thing as fatal Necessity from the beginning of the World it was â—o no purpose for God to place the Stars of Men and the Stars of Beasts in order and that if there was not a necessity at that time wherefore should God establish it since the World was then in its full perfection and in a time which they called the Golden Age She afterwards demonstrates That if we were necessitated by the Fatality of our Nativity under such and such a Constellation it would follow that God who is the Author of the Stars and of their Motion and Disposition would likewise be the Author of Sin and Iniquity She adds That Laws being contrary to things that are done by a fatal Necessity it is impossible that these Laws should be made by mere Fatality For says she it is not to be supposed that this Fatality would destroy it self Now if those that had a share in making these Laws were not subject to this fatal Necessity why should we not pass the very same Judgment upon others Besides if such a Fatality really took place it would be Injustice either to recompence the Good or punish the Bad or rather there would be neither Good nor Evil in the World since every one would be constrained to Good or Evil. Afterwards to explain the Cause of Evil she says There are two contrary Motions in us one of which is called the Concupiscence of the Flesh the other the Concupiscence of the Spirit that This is the Original of all Good and the Other the Cause of all Evil. After this Tysians taking up the Discourse explains in the Ninth Discourse a place of Leviticus V. 36. Chap. 23 where mention is made of the Feast of the Seventh Month that is to say the Fifteenth of September which is the Scenopegia or Feast of Tabernacles She reprehends the Jews for stopping at the bare Letter of Scripture without penetrating into the hâ—dden mysterious Sence and for taking the Figures of things to come as Marks of things that were already past She instances in the Paschal Lamb which they did not comprehend to be a Type of Jesus Christ who at the Day of Judgment shall save Souls marked with his own Blood That the Law was the Figure of the Gospel That these Shadows and Representations are no more but that we shall have a perfect Knowledge of all things when we shall be raised up from the Dead That Man was created Immortal but that his Sin causing him to incline towards the Earth God made him Mortal lest he should continue a Sinner everlastingly That for this reason he separated the Soul from the Body that so the Sin which is in the Body being dead and destroyed he might raise it up again immortal and delivered from the tyranny of Sin That we ought to adorn this Body which may be called a Tabernacle with Faith with Charity Vertue and particularly with Chastity That those that live chastly in the state of Marriage adorn it in part but not so perfectly as those that have made a Profession of Virginity That those Persons who have thus adorned and set out the Tabernacle of their Bodies in this Life shall enjoy after the Resurrection a Thousand Years of Repose and Felicity upon the Earth with Jesus Christ that afterwards they shall follow him to Heaven and that this is the promised Beatitude in which there shall be no more Tabernacles that is to say in which our Bodies shall be changed and become incorruptible and Men shall be made like Angels Lastly Domnina to show the Excellency of Virginity falls into a very obscure Allegory upon a place of Scripture taken out of the Book of Judges After her Harangue is ended Arete assuming the Discourse tells them That to be truly a Virgin it is not sufficient barely to preserve and keep Continence of Body but that it is likewise necessary to purifie ones self from all Sensual Desires That we actually dishonour and fully Virginity when we abandon our selves to Pride or permit a Spirit of Vanity to possess us because we have preserved our Bodies
e The Panegyrick upon Theodorus the Martyr Some Criticks think that this Panegyrick is Supposititious First because the Author of this Discourse prays the Holy Martyr to hinder the Incursions of the Scythians Now say they the Scythians had not made any Incursions into Armenia till a 100 Years after the death of St. Gregory under the Reign of Anastasius Secondly the Author says that Theodorus was of the Country of Job that is of Arabia and yet his is a Greek Name and 't is said in the same Panegyrick that he was of Amasea in Cappadocia But 't is easy to answer the first Difficulty for the Scythians had made Incursions into the Roman Empire in the time of St. Gregory Nyssen as appears by St. Jerom Ep. 30. and by Cedrenus who says that they entred into Thrace under the Reign of Valens The second Objection has no Difficulty for the Author of this Panegyrick does not say that Job was of Arabia nor that Theodorus was of the same Province with Job but only that they were both of the East having described the Honours which the Church bestows upon Saints and Martyrs and the Rewards which they enjoy he relates the Martyrdom of Theodorus and concludes with addressing a Prayer to him for obtaining the Graces and Blessings of God by his Intercession In the Panegyrick upon St. Gregory Thaumaturgus he praises the excellent Vertues of this great Saint he relates many of his Miracles whereof some are very extraordinary Suidas names this Panegyrick among St. Gregory's Works and there is no reason at all to doubt of it The Panegyricks upon St. Basil Meletius and St. Ephraem contain nothing but the Life and Praises of those great Men. To these Orations we may join the Life of St. Macrina his Sister The Canonical Epistle to Letoius contains the Rules or Laws of Penance St. Gregory there distinguishes Three Sorts of Sins which referr to the Three Faculties of the Soul Reason Lust and Anger He says that the greatest Sins are those which belong to the Spirit of a Man such as Idolatry Judaism Manichaeism and Heresy He would have those that voluntarily fall into these Crimes be depriv'd of the Sacraments till the Hour of Death But he says that those who have been forc'd by the rigour of Torments to commit some of these Crimes ought not to be punisht more severely than Fornicators He ordains also that those who deal in Magick Witchcraft and Divination of things to come should be treated as wilful Apostates if they have practis'd this Art through Infidelity but he would have them treated as those who yield under the rigour of Torments if they have used it only through too much Credulity or in hope of some considerable Gain He says that as to what concerns the Sins of Lust they may be referr'd to Adultery and Fornication and that Fornication is 2 kind of Adultery He referrs to Adultery the Crimes which are against Nature He imposes Nine Years Penance upon simple Fornication and double the time upon Adultery yet he leaves to the Bishop a liberty of Moderating or Lengthning the Penance according to the Disposition of the Penitent and he would have those treated more gently who confess their secret and hidden Sins In short as to the Sins which proceed from Anger he says That tho' the Scripture reproves all Sins severely yet the Fathers have made no Laws but against Murder He imposes 27 Years Penance for Wilful Murder and for involuntary Murders the same space of time as for Fornication yet he allows this Penance to be diminish'd according to the Fervor of the Penitent In general he observes that all those who fall sick before they have perfectly finish'd their Penance should be reconcil'd at the Point of death and be admitted to receive the Sacraments yet upon condition that they fulfil their time of Penance if they recover their health As for Covetousness he says That tho' this Crime be another kind of Idolatry yet there are no Canons made to subject the Covetous to Penance and therefore it is sufficient to purify them from this Crime by Instruction and Prayer As for Robbery he says there are Two Sorts of it that which is done Publickly and by force of Arms and that which is done Secretly That those who are guilty the first Sort ought to be put under the same Penance as Murderers but as for those who steal another's Goods in secret it was sufficient that they should restore them and give Alms to the Poor He looks upon the Action of those who dig up the Dead as a very great Crime and puts them under the same Penance as Fornicators At last he says That tho' Sacrilege was one of the Crimes which was punish'd under the Old Law by stoning the Person that was guilty of it yet this Punishment was mitigated under the New Law and that now sacrilegious Persons were treated less harshly than Adulterers He concludes with this Advertisement to Letoius to whom he writes that he should chiefly consider the Disposition of the Person that does Penance because it is not the length of time but the Conversion of the Person and change of his Life which cures the Sin Some Criticks have doubted whether this Letter was St. Gregory Nyssen's but there is no reason to reject it and it has been own'd by the Greek Church as appears by the Council held in the Emperour's Palace which approves the Canons of St. Gregory Nyssen and by the Commentaries of Zonaras and Balsamon who acknowledge it to be Genuine and besides 't is sufficiently evident that 't is the Work of an ancient Author In the Letter of the Profession of a Christian he shews that it consists in imitating Jesus Christ and he explains in what sence this can be done In the following Letter to Olympius he explains particularly wherein Christian Perfection consists and makes a particular Enumeration of all the Offices and Vertues of a perfect Christian The Treatise concerning the End which Christians ought to propose to themselves is almost upon the same Subject St. Gregory proves That the End of all Christians should be to shun Vice to practise Vertue to purify themselves from their Sins to beg the Grace of Jesus Christ to be humble to be Charitable to be diligent in Prayer to despise the World and to fix their Affections upon God This Treatise is address'd to the Monks In the Letter to Flavianus he complains of the evil treatment he had receiv'd from Helladius Bishop of Caesarea In the Letter concerning Pilgrimages to Jerusalem he dissuades Christians from undertaking lightly these kind of Journeys because of the Abuses which happen in them There have been great Disputes occasion'd by this Letter Some have believ'd it supposititious others have maintain'd that what is there said Respects only the Monks and the Nuns But First there are no Arguments strong enough to reject it and the most learned Catholicks have acknowledg'd it as a Genuine Work of
of Jesus Christ with their sacred Mouth Qui Christi corpus Sacro ore conficiunt In his Commentary upon Zephaniah he seems to doubt whether wicked Priests consecrate it But 't is probable that he speaks thus rather to terrifie them than to establish a Proposition whose Consequences would prove very dangerous I add an excellent Passage of this Father concerning the Sacrament of Penance taken out of his Commentary upon these Words of the 16th Chapter of S. Matthew Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Some saith he Priests and Bishops of the New Law understanding not the sence of these words doe imitate the pride of the Pharisees by ascribing to themselves a power to condemn the Innocent and to absolve the Guilty But God doth not so much consider the Sentence of the Priest as the Life of the Penitent And as the Levites did not cleanse the Lepers but only separated those that were cleansed from those that were not by the knowledge which they had of the Leprosie Even so the Bishop or the Priest doth not bind those that are innocent and loose the guilty but having heard the difference of Sins he knows whom to bind and whom to loose in the discharge of his Ministery In this place we may take notice 1. Of the Custom of declaring Sins to the Priest 2. The Power which Priests had to Absolve 3. The use Priests were to make of the Keys and the care they were to take not to Absolve but such as were truly penitent * After what has been already said of S. Jerom one can hardly esteem him a Person upon whose Authority Points of Doctrine or Matters of Discipline can safely be established He may however give the Sence of the Church in his own time in Matters wherein he personally was not concerned in which we have Reason to think that he gives a faithfull Account of things And therefore since we have no Cause to disbelieve what he says of the Eucharist and of what the Church of Rome calls the Sacrament of Penance but on the contrary may reasonably suppose that he spake the Sence of the Church The Passages themselves are to be examined Of those concerning the Eucharist we are to consider 1. That he keeps himself to the Language of the New Testament in his Answer to Hedibia's Question and only confutes the Millennaries but says nothing of the Modus of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament 2. That his Interpretation of those Words in S. John My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed of the Spiritual and Divine Flesh of Jesus Christ shews that he understood them Allegorically for he distinguishes that from the Flesh of Jesus Christ which suffered upon the Cross Now there is equal Reason to believe that what our Saviour says in the 6th Chapter of S. John concerning Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood is literally to be understood as what he says in the Institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist And if one is Allegorically to be interpreted then they are both 3. That the Mysteâ—â—â—s of Religion were as nicely examined in that Age as in any since Jesus Christ declared it to the World and when every thing else that was Mysterious was controverted this single Article of the Real Presence as defined by the Council of Trent which is contrary to that Reason that the other Disputes concerning the Trinity and the Divine Decrees are properly above was never debated This is so strange if we suppose the Doctrine of the Church of Rome to have been then receiv'd that it is incredible especially when we consider 4. That the generality of the Fathers at that time interpreted every thing in Scripture Allegorically to which they could not assign a convenient Literal sence This the People were used to This was S. Jerom's practice very often and he had learnt it of Origen whom he seems sincerely to have follow'd till he quarrelled with Rufinus So that we have great Reason to think that Men so accustomed to Allegories as the Teachers and the People were in this Age would not be at a Loss to interpret our Blessed Saviour's meaning in any of his Words which Literally interpreted would contradict and do Violence to that Reason by which they were capacitated to understand any part of his Law The Passage produced in favour of Auricular Confession proves nothing less S. Jerom says That after the Priest had heard the difference of Sins he knew whom to bind and whom to loose that is very true but that is no Reason for Men to reveal all their Sins to the Priest because the Church in that Age put Men under Penance only for publick Sins those that had committed private ones of such a Nature as would if discovered have made them unfit to come to the Sacrament were exhorted to put themselves under a voluntary Penance and if they did so they were obliged to declare why they did it that so the time of their Penance might be regulated but this seems to have been left to themselves which makes it quite another thing from the practice of the Church of Rome S. Jerom's Works were published by Erasmus and printed in six Volumes at Basil from the Year 1516 to the Year 1526. In 1530 they were again printed at Lions by Gryphius and at Basil by Froben in 1553. The First Edition of Marianus was at Rome by Manutius in the Years 1565 1571 and 1572. The Second at Paris by Nivelle in 1579. The Third at Antwerp in 1579. The Fourth at Paris with Gravius his Notes in 1609. The Fifth is of 1624 at Paris The Last was printed in 1643. These are the Collections of all this Father's Works There are several of them printed by themselves as the Letters in Octavo printed at Rome by Manutius Dr. Cave mentions an Edition of S. Jerom's Works at Frankfort in 1684 in 12 Volumes in folio with all the Scholia Censures Index's and Collections of all sorts that had been printed till that time upon S. Jerom which are all comprized in the three last Volumes in 1566 at Antwerp in 1568 with Gravius's Notes and at Mentz in 1470 at Venice in 1476 at Paris in 1583 at Dilingen in 1565 at Louvain in 1573. The Book of Famous Men at Louvain and Helmstad in 1611 at Colen in 1580 at Lions in 1617 at Antwerp in 1639. The Epistles to Theophilus at Paris in 1546 and 1589. The Book of Virginity at Rome in 1562. The Treatise of Hebrew Names at Wirtemberg in 1626. I say nothing of the Editions of the Chronicon because they were mentioned in the Account of Eusebius his Works The Benedictines of the Congregation of S. Maura will soon undertake a new Edition of S. Jerom There is reason to hope that it will not be inferior either in Beauty or Exactness to those of S.
to the Just and that a sharp Death remits Sins He examines why Baptism remitting Original Sin does not free Men from the Law of Death and he gives two Reasons for it taken out of S. Austin and of Julian Pomerius He believes Angels assist the Just at their Death and that Devils do then lie in wait for them He commends the Piety of the Faithful who take care to do the last Office to their Parents hereupon he produces some Passages out of S. Austin about the Sacrifices offered for the Dead and the Suffrages of Martyrs In the Second which is of the State of Souls after Death he says Those of perfect Christians are immediately carried into a Paradise where they remain joyfully waiting for the Resurrection of their Bodies And that they enjoy in that Place the Happiness and the Knowledge of God He believes those of them who have some Sins to blot out are detain'd for a while but neither the one not the other do enjoy as perfect a Vision of the Divine Substance as they shall do after the Resurrection tho' they do already see God and reign with Christ That the Wicked immediately after Death are precipitated into Hell where they undergo endless Torments He establisheth * Vid. not u Purgatory which he believes to be a real Fire wherewith Sins remaining at ones Death are expiated in the other World and that the Time of the Soul 's abiding there is proportion'd to the number or the grievousness of Sins committed by them He affirms That the Souls of the Dead may know one another He says The Dead pray for the Living but not for the Damned that they know what is done here below that they pity those they have been acquainted with that they are earnestly desirous of Men's Salvation that sometimes they appear to the Living that the Damned see only some of the Blessed c. The Third Book is of the Judgment and Resurrection These are his Opinions Neither the Time nor the Place of the Final Judgment can be known nor how long it will last Jesus Christ shall appear descending from Heaven with Angels carrying his Cross At the Sight of him the very Elect shall tremble for fear and that Fear shall purify them from their Sins but the ungodly shall be in a strange Confusion All the Saints shall judge the World together with Christ. All Men shall rise in a Moment and shall put on again a true Body and Flesh but uncorruptible without Defect Imperfection or Mutilation in a perfect Age and perfect Beauty The Difference of Sexes shall remain but without Lust without any need of Food or Raiment All Children who had any Life in their Mothers Womb shall rise again Angels shall separate the Good from the Bad the Consciences of both shall be laid open the ungodly shall be cast down head-long into real Fires in which their Bodies shall burn without being consumed there shall be different Torments according to the Difference of Crimes and the Children guilty of Original Sin only shall suffer the easiest Pain of all It is needless to ask where that Fire shall be after the Condemnation the Recompence of the Just shall follow and then the Heaven and the Earth shall be set on Fire there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth where the Saints may dwell tho' they may also ascend up into the Heavens they shall then see God as the Angels do see him now they shall enjoy a Liberty so much the more perfect as they shall no more be obnoxious to Sin they shall all be happy tho' in different Degrees of Happiness they shall be wholly employed in praising God they shall place all their Felicity in the perpetual Contemplation and Love of him These are the Points of Doctrine which Julian gathereth from the Fathers of the Church for properly this Work is nothing else but a Collection of Passages of the Fathers chiefly of S. Augustin S. Gregory and Julian Pomerius The Treatise against the Jews is more of Julian's Composition He proves in the first Book That the Signs of the Messias's coming pointed at in the Old Testament are come to pass That the Time set down by Daniel agrees with the coming of Christ and that after Jerusalem's Destruction the Jews can expect no other Messias In the second he shews by the History of the New Testament That Jesus Christ is the Messias and that the Apostles did convince the Jews of it In the last he distinguisheth the Ages of the World by the Generations and shews we are in the sixth Age The first is from Adam to the Flood the second from the Flood to Abraham the third from Abraham to David the fourth from David until the carrying away into Babylon the fifth from the carrying away into Babylon to Jesus Christ. He compares the Account of the Years of the Hebrew Text and of the Septuagint and preferrs the latter because it was more suitable to his Design finding by this means 5000 Years run out from the Beginning of the World to Christ's Birth He extols the Authority of the Version of the Septuagint and affirms that the Jews have corrupted the Hebrew Text. He adds That altho it were not so yet the distinction of the Generations shews the fifth Age of the World was run out when Christ came into the World The History of the Acts of Wamba in Gallia being no Ecclesiastical Work we will make no Extract of it here contenting our selves in observing that it is found in the first Volume of the Historiographers of France put out by Du Chesne In the Bibliotheca Patrum of Colen in 1618. they have attributed to Julian of Toledo a Book of Antilogies * at Basil in 1530. at Colen in 1533. octavo or seeming Contrarieties of the Scripture which had been already printed without the Author's Name but it was found to be Berthorius's Abbot of Mount Cassin There was also part of a Commentary upon the Prophet Nahum published under Julian's Name But besides that there is nothing said of it in Felix's Catalogue the Style and the manner of the Writing of it shews plainly enough it belongs to another Author tho' bearing Julian's Name in the Manuscript upon which Canisius publish'd it THEODORUS of Canterbury THEODORUS bred a Monk of Tarsus was ordained Bishop by Pope Vitalian and sent in 668. into England to govern the Church of Canterbury He arrived there Two Theodorus of Canterbury Years after his departure staying long in France as he went and was well entertained by King Egbert who had sent to Rome to desire a Bishop to be sent to him He laboured much in the establishing of the Faith and the Church-discipline in England He held several Councils made Bishops founded Monasteries made Peace between Princes kept the People in their Duty and having thus performed all the parts of a good Pastor during the space of 20 years he died in 690. being 88 years old He
the Bishops did think of vindicating him nor of maintaining him to have been of another mind But if he thinks it strange that the Legates should suffer Honorius's Memory to be condemned how much more strange must it seem to be that they should have suffered the Acts of the Council to be falsified to insert his condemnation in it Tho' Honorius had been excusable they may have had reasons not to oppose his condemnation the advantage of Peace and the fear to cause some trouble might have prevailed with them to acquiesce in the Judgment of the Council But no reason can be found to excuse their Treachery if they had corrupted the Acts of the Council to insert Honorius's condemnarion there I do not trouble my self to confute Baronius's other Reasons which are a mere begging of the Question having already said over-much on that Subject because now his Opinion of the corruption of the Acts of the 6th Council is wholly forsaken and it goes now for current that Honorius was condemned in the 6th Council This being supposed there remain Two Questions to be examined whether he was justly condemned or not and for what reason he was condemned To decide these Questions there needs no more than to read Sergius and Honorius's Letters and to remember the circumstances of the Fact Cyrus Patriarch of Alexandria that he might reunite the Theodosians approved this expression that there was but one Operation in Christ Sophronius opposed this Doctrine Sergius approved the Conduct and Doctrine of Cyrus but for Peace sake he did think it better not to debate this Question and neither to afâ—irm One nor Two Operations in Christ and only to say that the same person performed Divine and Humane Actions because they that use the expression of One Operation only seem to confound the Two Natures and when they say Two Operations they seem to assert Two contrary Wills in Christ which cannot be maintained by reason the Soul of Christ never had any motion of its own from it self or contrary to those of the Word but such as the Word pleased and when he pleased In a word that as our Body is governed and moved by our Soul so the Soul of Jesus Christ was led and governed by his Divinity Thus Sergius explains himself in his Letter to Honorius and asks him what was his Opinion about it What does this Pope answer to this He approves of Sergius's proceeding he commends his Letter he follows his Opinion he forbids speaking any more of One or Two Operations of Christ and orders that this Question be left to the Grammarians to be discussed yea and he declares that there is but One Will in Christ. Then he writes to Eulogius that he should maintain no longer Two Operations in Christ. He writes moreover a Second Letter to Sergius to command silence about that Question What did Sergius Pyrrhus Paul and the other Monothelites who were condemned in this Council do more They were in Two Errors 1. That we ought not to assert that there was One or Two Operations in Christ and that we should forbear debating that Question 2. That we should say that there is but One Will in Christ by reason the Soul of Christ was governed and led by his Divinity Honorius does plainly establish those Two Points therefore he cannot be excused without excusing also the Patriarchs of Constantinople You will say That when he said there was but One Will in Christ he said it to exclude the contrariety of Wills and that the reason he gives of it does evidently shew it We own saith he there is but One Will in Christ because he took upon him our Nature not our Sin and he had no other Law in his Members nor any contrary Will But if this reason may serve for the vindication of Honorius Sergius ought to be vindicated likewise as rendring the same reason and confessing in his Letter that the Soul of Christ had its proper motions directed and led by the Divinity Paul his Successor may with much more reason be excused for in his Letter to Theodorus he says That the only reason why he acknowledges but One Will in Christ is out of fear least he should admit a contrariety of Wills in Christ or should say That there be Two Persons with Two different Wills That he did admit but One Will not to annihilate the Humane Nature or any part of his Soul but to shew that Christ's Soul was filled with the gifts of the Deity and had no Will contrary to that of the Word By the same reason one may justifie the Ecthesis and the Type and all the Monothelites For they did not deny that the Body and Soul of Christ had all their Properties their Faculties and Motions but they affirmed they were so governed and led by the Will of the Word as to follow his direction and impression in all things And the only reason they gave why they would not have Men to say that there were Two Wills in Christ was for fear this expression should intimate Two contrary Wills in him Honorius therefore is no more excusable than Sergius Paul and the other Monothelites who did act and speak as he did and if they condemned these as Hereticks they might condemn Honorius likewise Wherefore not only the 6th Council always joined him with the other Monothelites and comprehended him in the same Anathema which they would not have done had they believed there was any difference to be made between him and the rest for it is expressly said They condemned him for delivering in his Letter things contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostles the Desinitions of the Councils and the Judgment of all the Fathers and for following the false Doctrine of Hereticks for approving in every thing the Impious Opinions of Sergius for writing a Letter tending to the same Impiety for Preaching Teaching and Spreading the Heresie of One Operation and One Will. In fine the Council having pronounced Anathema's against Theodorus Sergius Honorius Pyrrhus Paul Macarius and Stephen Polychronius adds Anathema to all these Hereticks They did then believe Honorius to be an Heretick as well as the rest and condemned him as such But say they in the Emperor's Edict he is called only a Favourer Helper and Confirmer of Heresie Pope Leo the Second in his Three Letters charges him only with Favouring the Error of the Monothelites and not suppressing it with a vigilancy becoming S. Peter's Successor But what maketh most for Honorius's vindication is that the Abbot John who writ his Letter S. Maximus and John IV do defend him and say that when he asserted but One Will in Christ he meant it of the Humane Will but he did not mean that there was but One Will of the Manhood and God-head That 's the most plausible thing can be said in the behalf of Honorius but all this doth not prove that he was not condemned as an Heretick and Favourer of Heresie Honorius was a Favourer of
Faith the Cross and the Worship due to it of the custom of praying towards the East of the Holy Mysteries in which we ought not to doubt but Christ gives us his Body and Blood * Spiritually to feed us the Bread and Wine being ‡ In their Use not Nature changed into Christ's Body and Blood and being but one and the same thing He tells us with what Purity we ought to receive such a Holy Sacrament He establisheth Mary's perpetual Virginity both in and after the Birth and reconciles the two Genealogies of Christ after the same manner with Africanus Then he proves that Saints ought to be honoured and their Relicks reverenced He would also have the Images of Saints and of Christ to be honoured and believeth them to be very useful to remember us of them He confesses they do not worship the Matter whereof the Cross or the Images are made but only that which is represented thereby He says That this Custom is established by an ancient Tradition and thereupon he quotes the Fabulous Story of the Image sent by Christ to King Agbarus He takes notice that no Image of God ought to be made He maketh a Catalogue of the Sacred Books of the Old Testament agreeable to the Canon of the Hebrews To the Books of the New he adds the Canons of the Apostles which he thinks to have been collected by St. Clemens Having treated of all these Things he comes again to some Questions he had forgotten He explains how many ways they speak of Christ. He proves God is not the Author of Sins and that there is but one Principle of all Things He renders a Reason why God created some Men who would Sin and not Repent He shews what 's the Law of Sin and the Law of Grace He gives some Reasons of the Observation of the Sabbath and Circumcision He extols the State of Virginity He concludes with some Reflections upon Antichrist the Resurrection and the Last Judgment Whereupon he says That Hell Fire shall not be material as that among us but such as God knows Non materià hujusce nostri constantem sed qualem Dein novit This Work is in Greek and Latin in the Basil Edition in 1548 and 1575. St. John Damascene wrote many Tracts more upon some particular Doctrines A Dialogue between a Christian and a Saracen about Religion Another Dialogue under the Name of an Orthodox and a Manichee in which he disputes against the Errors of those Hereticks A Treatise of the two Natures against the * The Acephali or Monophysites a sort of Hereticks Dr. Cave Monothelites who did admit but one Nature in Christ made up of two A Treatise of the Trisagion against the Sedition of Peter the Fuller wherein he explains several forms of Speech about the Trinity and the Inoarnation A Treatise of the two Wills in Christ against the Monothelites Another upon the Trinity and the Incarnation To these Tracts may be added the last Article of his Logick wherein he explains what is the Hypostatick Union and his Institutes containing an Explication of the Terms used by him in speaking of the Mysteries as Essence Substance Person Hypostasis c. The three Orations upon Images belong to the Doctrinal Tracts He distinguisheth two sorts of Worship and Adoration the one Supreme belonging to God only the other a Worship of Honour and Respect only He says The matter of Images is not worshipped but what is represented by them that they are in stead of Books to the Ignorant and that in worshipping of them they worship the Saints of whom they are the Images He cites St. Basil to Authorize this use of them He objects to himself St. Epiphanius's Letter and answers Either that that Letter is supposititious or that he caused the Picture he speaks of to be buried only for some particular Reasons like as St. Athanasius caused the Relicks of Saints to be buried to condemn the Profane Practice of the Egyptians He cites several Passages of the Fathers to prove that the Images of Saints are to be honoured but there is hardly one word proving directly what he maintains though he relates a great many Passages in those three Orations He owns the worship of Images cannot be established from Holy Scripture and that it is authorized by the Tradition of the Church only Lastly he confesses no Image ought to be made of the Trinity nor of Things purely Spiritual The Prayer for the Dead is another Point which also is not proved but by the Tradition of the Church S. John Damascene defends it in an Oration made for that purpose In it he affirms that the Prayer for the Dead is from the Tradition of the Apostles He adds That the Church does do nothing but what is useful and pleasing to God from whence he concludes that by those Prayers they obtain the Remission of those Sins which remain to be expiated by the Dead He relates the Fable of Trajan's Deliverance and a Story that happen'd to St. John the Alms-giver We may moreover add to these Tracts two very short Treatises the one in what consists the Image and Similitude of God in which we were created and the other of the Last Judgment Besides we may add to these two Letters about the Mass and the Consecration but I do not believe them to be of St. John Damascene's The Historical Works of S. John Damascene are fewer in number We have a Treatise of Heresies which bears his Name but the twenty four first are nothing but the Abridgment of S. Epiphanius The rest beginning at the Nestorians were added by S. John Damascene He joins to the Hereticks already known viz. the Nestorians Eutychians Monophysites Aphthartodocites Theodosians Jacobites Agnoetes Donatistes Monothelites Saracens and Iconoclasts He joins I say to these other unknown Sects of Persons that had extraordinary Opinions and Practices namely the Semidalites who taste of the Paste brought to them by Dioscorus's Scholars and believe this is to them instead of Sacrifice the Orchistae which are Monks dancing when they sing God's Praises the Gnosimachi who will not have Men to Write or Study a good Life being sufficient the Heliotropites who believe there is a certain Vertue in the Herb called Turnsol or Heliotrope the Thnetopsychites who believe Men's Souls to be like to the Beasts and that they die with them the Theocatochestes who find fault with some Expressions in the Scripture the Christolites who believe that Christ hath left his Body and Soul in Hell and that the Godhead only ascended up to Heaven the Ethnophrones who retain some Pagan Superstitions the Ethiproscoptes who find fault with ancient Usages and introduce new ones the Parermeneutes who interpret several places of the Old and New Testament according to their own fancy and the Lampetians living after their own fashion It is plain That S. John Damascene gave what Names he pleased to those he thought to be of these Opinions and Practices
intelligible to those that lived in the following Ages For example We find the Ancient Names of Cities are sometimes changed for those they received afterwards because they would have been no longer known by their Ancient Appellations There are likewise some short Explications inserted into these Sacred Books to illustrate what was said by the Author And in short some necessary Passages have been added to compleat the History These things are common and we find Examples of it in the Books of Homer Herodotus and almost all the Ancient Historians and yet no Body is inclined for all this to reject their Books as if they did not belong to those whose Names they bear Why then should we not say the same thing of the Books of the Pentateuch which have been more constantly assigned to Moses than the Poems of the Iliads or the Odysses to Homer or the Histories of Herodotus and Thucydides to those by whose Names they are known Let us examine all the Reasons that are alledged against the Antiquity of the Pentateuch since they imagine they are unanswerable which yet is very false as we shall make appear in these following Discourses and we shall see they only prove that some Names of Cities or Countries are changed some few Words inserted to explain some Difficulties and lastly that the account of Moses's Death has been put in since which was but necessary to finish the History of the Pentateuch We ought therefore to affirm it for a certain Truth That Moses was the Author of the first Five Books of the Bible called the Pentateuch There are given to each of these Five Books which have their Names in Hebrew from the first Word in each Book there are given 'em I say such Names as have a relation to the Subject The first is called Genesis because it begins with the History of the Creation of the World It contains besides that the Genealogy of the Patriarchs the History of the Flood a Catalogue of the Descendaâ—… of Noah doâ—n to Aâ—… 〈◊〉 the Life of Abrahâ—â— of Jacob and Joseph and the History of the Posâ—eâ—â—ty oâ— Jâ—â—oâ— down to the Death of Joseph So that this Book comprehends the History of 2369 Years or thereabouts following the account of the Years of the Patriarchs as we find them in the Hebrew Text. The Second is called Exodus because the principal Subject of it is the Departure of the Children of Israel out of Egypt and all that passed in the Wilderness under Moses's Conduct for an Hundred forty five Years viz. from the Death of Joseph to the Building of the Tabernacle We find there a Description of the Plagues wherewith Egypt was afflicted an Abridgment of the Religion and Laws of the Israelites together with the admirable Precepts of the Decalogue The third is called Leviticus because it contains the Laws the Ceremonies and Sacrifices of the Religion of the Jews All which has a particular Relation to the Levites to whom God gave the charge of all those things that concern'd the Ceremonial part of that Religion The fourth is called Numbers because it begins with the Numbring of the Children of Israel that came out of Egypt and concludes with the Laws that were given the People of Israel during the Thirty nine Years of their sojourning in the Wilderness Deuteronomy that is to say the second Law is so called because it is as it were a Repetition of the first Foâ— after Moses has described in a few Words the principal Actions of the Israelites in the Wilderness â—e recites abundance of the Precepts of the Law i We don't certainly know when these Books were composed by Moses or which was first written However 't is very certain that Deuteronomy was written last in the Fortieth Year of the Departure out of Egypt and a little before the Death of Moses We can't so certainly tell who are the Authors of the other Books of the Bible Some of 'em we only know by Conjecture and others there are of which we have no manner of Knowledge It is not certain that the Book of k Joshuah was written by himself for as it is observed by the Author of the Abridgment of the Scripture attributed to St. Athanasius this Title is set at the Head of that Book not so much to discover the Author as to make the Subject of it known because it treats of War and other things that happen'd under the Conduct of Joshuah after the same manner as the Books of Judges of Kings of Tobit of Judith are so called because they give an Account of the Lives and Actions of those whose Names they bear But though 't is commonly believed that this Book was written by Joshuah and this Opinion seems to be countenanced by some Words of the last Chapter where it is said that Joshuah wrote all these things in the Book of the Law Nevertheless we must affirm that 't is certain that Theodoret and some others among the Ancients are not of this Opinion and that we have Reasons strong enough to make us doubt whether he is the Author or no. However it is 't is a most unquestionable Truth that this Book is ancient and that if it is not Joshuah's it was written either by his particular Order or a little after his Death It carries the History of the People of Israel Seventeen Years beyond the Death of Moses or thereabout We yet know less of the Author of the Book of Judges Some with the Talmudical Doctors attribute it to Samuel some to Hezekiah others to Ezrah In short some Persons are of Opinion that every Judge wrote his own Memoirs which were afterward collected by Samuel or Ezrah Be it as it will the Book is certainly ancient and l admit it was put into the condition we now find it by Ezrah yet we cannot reasonably question its being composed from ancient Memoirs It contains the History of what happen'd to the Israelites from the Death of Joshuah to that of Sampson We cannot precisely tell what Number of Years it takes in tho' 't is commonly fixed to something above 300 Years The Book of Ruth is a kind of an Appendix to the Book of Judges which is the reason why the Jews made but one Book of these two and for the same reason 't is commonly believed that one Author composed both 'T is certain that the History of Ruth comes up to the times of the Judges but we don't know the time exactly We may assign it to the time of Samgar Eight and twenty Years or thereabouts after the Death of Joshuah The two first Books of Kings are called by the Hebrews the Book of Samuel which has occasioned the Opinion that they were in part written by that Prophet m that is to say that he composed the Four and twenty first Chapters and that the Prophets Gad and Nathan afterwards compleated the Work This is the Opinion of the Talmudists and Isidore and is founded upon these Words of the Chronicles
His mentioning the Destruction of Ninive makes some think that he lived in the Time of Sardanapalus under Jeash and Jehu which if it were so he wou'd be the most ancient of the Prophets Josephus is of Opinion that he lived in the Time of Jotham and that he foretold the Ruine of Ninive which happen'd many Years after the time of Josiah St. Jerome Theodoret and Theophylact say he Prophecied after the Captivity of the Israelites others say under Hezâ—kiah and some under Manasses The most received Opinion is that he Prophecied after the Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Shalmanezer before Sennacherib's Expedition against the Tribe of Judah which is foretold in the first Chapter of his Prophecy Nor have we any better Information either of the Country or time of the Prophet Habakkuk The Jews say that he Prophecied in the time of Manasses or Jehoiachim a little before the Captivity St. Epiphanius and the false Epiphanius make him Contemporary with Zedekiah and Jeremiah Others say he lived in Josiah's time St. Jerome in Daniel's confounding him with that Habakkuk who is mentioned by that Prophet The most probable Opinion is that he lived under the Reign of Manasses whose iniquities he seems to describe in his first Chapt. Vers. 13 and 14. and before the Expedition of the Chaldeans against the Jews which he foretells in the first Chapt. Vers. the 6th as well as their Destruction Chapt. the 2d Vers. the 3d. The time wherein Zephaniah Prophecied is exactly marked out to us in these Words at the beginning of his Prophecy The Word of the Lord came unto Zephaniah the Son of Cushi the Son of Gedaliah the Son of Amariah the Son of Hizkiah in the days of Josiah the Son of Amon King of Judah We don't know from what Country he came St. Cyril makes him to have been of Noble Extraction because he mentions his Ancestors Haggai and the two following Prophets Prophecied not till after the return of the Jews from the Captivity of Babylon It is said in the beginning of Haggai's Prophecy that it was written in the second Year of Darius tt the Son of Hystaspes and the sixth Month. Zechariah the Son of Barachiah Grand-Son of Iddo uu wrote his Prophecy in the same Year of Darius two Months after the Prophet Haggai as he himself has observed in the beginning of his Prophecy He is a different Person from that Zechariah of whom Isaiah speaks in his eighth Chapter xx and of him that was slain by the Command of King Joash between the Temple and the Altar 2 Chron 24. 20. Malachi whose Name in Hebrew signifies My Angel yy Prophecied since Haggai and Zechariah after the Rebuilding of the Temple For the two former exhort the People to build the Temple but he exhorts them to observe the Law and offer their Sacrifices with purity which does necessarily suppose that the Temple was already rebuilt Besides this the Disorders for which he reproves the Jews are the very same with those which Nehemiah lays to their charge which is a manifest Argument that they both lived in the same time Malachi is the last of the Prophets and as there was none other to succeed him till the coming of Jesus Christ so he concludes his Prophecy with an Exhortation to the Jews to observe the Law of Moses and wait for the great and dreadful Day of the Lord who should turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the Hearts of the Children to their Fathers All which clearly and expresly sets before us St. John Baptist and Jesus Christ. The two Books of the Maccabees were not written by the same Person as the sensible difference of the Style of the Chronology and the History sufficiently shew zz We don't know who is the Authour of the first 't is indeed very probable that it was Originally written in Hebrew and afterwards translated into Greek and Latin The second is an Abridgment or Epitome of Jason who was one of the Jews of Cyrene as it appears by the Preface of that Book which begins Chap. 2. Vers. 23. It is preceded by two Letters of the Jews at Jerusalem to the Jews inhabiting Egypt added by the Author of this Abridgment which he has made with a great deal of Liberty These two Books are called The Books of the Maccabees from the Name of Judas the Son of Mattathias Sir-named Maccabeus because he had placed in his Banner the first Hebrew Letters of the Words of a certain Sentence in Exodus aaa which being joyned together make that word These two Books contain the History of the Jews under the Government of the Greeks from the Reign of Alexander to that of Demetrius Soter whch comprehends the space of Forty Years or thereabouts and they conclude an Hundred and Thirty Years before the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. NOTES a THere is no Paradox more dangerous than the Opinion of those who have presumed to deny that the Pentateuch was composed by Moses I have already observed in the first Edition that this Paradox was started by Rabbi Aben Ezra because he is the first that raised these Objections which have occasioned some Persons to believe that Moses was not the Author of the Pentateuch and though he durst not openly declare his Opinion in this Matter yet he expresses himself after such a Manner that it will evidently appear that he was not heartily perswaded that the Pentateuch was written by Moses For in his Explication of these Words in Deuteronomy Behold what Moses said to the Israelites that were beyond Jordan he not only makes use of this passage to shew that this Book was not Moses's but he musters up the most terrible Objections he could raise for this purpose You will know the Truth says he if you comprehend the Mystery of the Twelve Moses wrote the Law The Canaanites were then in the Land In the Mountain of the Lord it shall be seen Behold his Iron Bed Words which allude to some passages in the Pentateuch and which he uses to prove that it was not written by Moses And 't is principally upon the Authority and Reasons of this Rabbi that Hobbs Pererius and Spinosa established their Doctrine when they publickly maintain'd that the Pantateuch was not written by Moses To these Authors we may add Monsieur Simon who has wrote a Book called A Critical History of the Old Testament I was not willing to name him in the first Edition of this Volume though I took occasion then to confute his Reasons but since he has been pleased to declare that he was the Person whom I meant in a Letter to Monsieur Labbe a Doctor of the Faculty he ought not to resent it as an Injury if I attack him by name and endeavour to shew that his Hypothesis about the Books of Moses is a rash and dangerous as Spinosa's Monsieur Simon lays down his Opinion in the first Chapter of the first Book of his Critical History p. 3. of Leer's
Law and he pretends there is the same reason to affirm that Joshuah added the Book of his History to the Books of the Law But if any one will give himself the trouble to consider the passages that are to be found in the Notes b and c he will be perswaded that they are very positive as well as numerous and don 't lie in so narrow a compass as those which are brought in behalf of Joshuah Besides 't is but reading the 24th Chapter of the Book of Joshuah where we find this last passage and we shall see that it may be very well understood of the Moral and Ceremonial Precepts that are mentioned in that place From hence it evidently appears that there 's a vast difference between the Reasons that prove Moses to be the Author of the Pentateuch and those that seem to intimate that Joshuah composed the Book which contains this History and that a Man without incurring the guilt of rashness may doubt whether he is the Author of that Book but that he cannot doubt whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch without being guilty of that crime to the highest degree At the same time I will not absolutely deny that Joshuah was Author of the Book that carries his Name I have only observed that it is not absolutely certain and 't is an easie matter to take notice that I rather incline to that party which assigns it to Joshuah i We don 't certainly know when these Books were written by Moses Some say that Genesis was written by Moses after the departure out of Egypt so Pererius and Tena 'T is most probable that all of them were written after the departure out of Egypt and particularly that Genesis was composed after the Promulgation of the Law This is the Opinion of Eusebius and the Ancients and indeed we find in Genesis several Allusions to the Law as for example in Chap. 2. there is mention made of the Law of the Sabbath and in the 7th and 8th Chapters of clean and unclean Beasts Which are sufficient Intimations that Moses wrote those things when his Thoughts were full of the Law then newly made Deuteronomy is the last for besides that it is a Repetition of what we find in the Law it plainly tells us that Moses spoke those things to the People of Israel when they were ready to go over Jordan To this we may add that he there relates whatever happen'd towards the end of his Life and lastly that the Account of his Death is inserted there as being his last Work k Though 't is commonly believed that this Book was written by Joshuah Most of the Modern Writers are of this Opinion as was also Isidore in the 6th Book of his Origines Junilius and Dorotheus Vatablus Abulensis Driedo and Bellarmine say the same as do likewise the Talmudists Babatra c. 1. This Opinion is chiefly supported by these Words in the last Chapter Vers. the 26th where it is said that Joshuah wrote all these things in the Book of the Law of God However this passage may have a relation only to what is written in this Chapter or else perhaps Joshuah might have written another Book of which this was an Abridgment 'T is said in Ecclesiasticus Chap. 46. that Joshuah was the Successor of Moses in Prophecies But this does not prove that he wrote any thing Theodoret assures us that the Book of Joshuah is nothing else but an Extract out of the Book of Jasher which is mentioned in the 10th Chapter Vers. the 13th The Reasons that are brought to prove that this Book was not written by Joshuah are generally these In the first place say they it is observed there in the 10th Chapter Vers. 13. that the Book of Jashar where the Wars of Joshuah were written is quoted therefore the Book of Joshuah is later 2. We meet there this fashion of speaking Usque in praesentem diem unto this day frequently repeated As for instance when it 's said in the 4th Chap. Vers. 9. That the twelve Stones which Joshuah took out of the midst of Jordan continue there unto this day And in the 5th Chap. Vers. 9. The name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day 3. The taking of the City of Lachish is related Chap. 10. Vers. 35. tho' it happen'd not till after the Death of Joshuah as we may see Judges Chap. 18. Vers. 29. So likewise Chap. 11. Vers. 14. and the following there is an account of Caleb and his Daughter Achsah which passage did not fall out till after the Death of Joshuah as it is written in the first Chapter of the Book of Judges In the same Chapter Vers. 28. there is mention made of the Land of Cabul which received this Name from Hiram King of Tyre as we may find it in the 9th Chapter of the first Book of Kings Lastly in the 9th Chapter Vers. 23. and the last it is said That Joshuah made the Gibeonites Drawers of Waters and Hewers of Wood in the House of his God which is probably to be understood of the Temple that was not built long after the death of Joshuah These Arguments are not wholly unanswerable First We don't know what manner of Book the Book of Jasher was 't is not said that all the Wars of Joshuah were set down there but only the relation of the Sun 's standing still Some think that Genesis is there called the Book of Jasher where as they pretend this memorable Event was foretold Others believe 't is the Pentateuch Grotius says it was a Song composed upon that occasion Huetius supposes that it is a Book of Morality Lastly others imagine it to have been a Book of Annals If this last Opinion were the only true one yet it by no means follows that Joshuah was not Author of that Book where these Annals are quoted Secondly Suppossing that Joshuah wrote this Book towards the end of his Life as is most reasonable to think he did when he had occasion to speak of those things that happen'd at the beginning of his Ministry he might very well make use of that Expression Usque in praesentem diem unto this day even as St. Matthew himself who wrote a little after the Death of our Blessed Saviour tells us that the Field Aceldama was called The Field of Blood unto this day These and the following Objections may be answered by saying that these things have been added since and particularly the taking of the City of Lachish by the Danites Or at least we may say that the City of Lachish mentioned in Joshuah is a different place from Laish in the Book of Judges The second Objection may be answered by saying That whatever is said concerning Othoniel and Achsa in the Book of Judges is only a Recapitulation of what happened in the time of Joshuah The Land of Cabul mentioned in Joshuah is different from that in the Book of Kings Josephus has distinguished them one is a Country the other a Village
not of the number of the 150 attributed to David but written by some Hellenist who has borrowed it out of David Isaiah and Ezekiel cc They have been cited as Books inspired by God both in the Old and New Testament The 105th the 96th and the 136th Psalms are to be found in the 16th Chapter of the First Book of Chronicles and in the 7th of the Second Book it is said that the Priests did sing the Psalms which David had composed for the Lord singing For his mercy endureth for ever This is the 136th Psalm which is yet to be found quoted in Chapters 5 and 20 of the same Book in the 3d of Ezrah in the 13th of Judith in the 33d of Jeremiah and the 3d of Daniel according to their Computation who esteem the Song of the Three Children to be part of the Canonical Scripture In Ecclesiasticus ch 47. v. 9. it is said that David praised God with all his heart and set Singers before the Altar In quorum sono dulces fecit modos I have not leisure to speak of those many passages in the Prophets which allude to several places in the Psalms In the Second of Maccabees ch 2. v. 13. there is mention made of the Psalms of David St. Matthew ch 13. v. 35. and 27. v. 35. recites the Prophecies about our Blessed Saviour contained in the Psalms Jesus Christ himself cites the Psalm Dixit Dominus c. under the name of David and in St. Luke ch 24. it is said that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning him The Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles are full of Citations out of the Psalms dd Grotius has pretended upon slight conjectures it was composed by Zorobabel This Opinion is not supported by any solid Reason He says that the Shepherd mentioned towards the end of the last Chapter is Zorobabel and his Son Abiud but he brings no Proofs to recommend this Opinion They commonly object when they would prove that this Book was not written by Salomon that there are abundance of Chaldee words to be found in it that are only to be met in Daniel Ezrah c. but perhaps these words might be in fashion amongst the Jews towards the end of Salomon's Reign or it may be they were added since One might also object this passage of ch 2. v. 8. Os regis observa which makes it credible that it is not a King that speaks but we ought to read observa as it is in the Septuagint It looks also a little strange that Salomon should so often say that he did so or so above all that were before him in Jerusalem Eccles. 1. 16. 2. 7 9. since his Father David was the first King that ever Reigned in Jerusalem ee This Book of Wisdom is commonly attributed to Salomon This is St. Cyprian's opinion in his Book of Morality of St. Augustine in his second Book of the Christian Doctrine ch 8. The ancient Versions the Rabbins Origen St. Chrysostome St. Clement of Alexandria St. Cyprian have likewise attributed it to Salomon The most ancient Fathers call the Proverbs the Wisdom of Salomon ff St. Jerome says he saw in his time an Hebrew Copy Munster and Fagius still make menon of an Hebrew Copy of this Book Buxtorf tells us he saw one that was Printed at Constantinople but 't is probable that that Text was made upon the Greek gg Some of the Ancients have attributed this Work to Salomon St. Cyprian and St. Ambrose have cited it under his name St. Hilary testifies that several Persons in his time attributed it to him This opinion is impossible to be maintained not only because we know who is the Author but also because in ch 47. there is mention made of the Prophets that lived after Salomon Eusebius St. Jerome the Author of the Abridgment attributed to Athanasius St. Epiphanius St. Chrysostom St. Austin Caesarius of Arles and many others have acknowledged the true Author of it who was Jesus the Son of Syrach St. Jerome says he lived under the High-Priest Simon the Son of Onias the Second and that he wrote this Book after the Version of the Septuagint or at least that he lived in their time And first he proves it by the Preface of his Grandson who says he collected these Books of his Grandfather in the time of Ptolomy Euergetes who immediately succeeded Ptolomy Philadelphus Secondly because he commends the High-Priest Simon the Just Son of Onias the First ch 50. and afterwards the Translator praises Jesus the Son of Sirach as one that lived in the time of that High-Priest Thirdly because ch 2. he seems to speak of the Persecution which the Jews suffered under Ptolomy the Son of Lagus and in the first year of Ptolomy Philadelphus Huetius believes that Joseph the Son of Syrach is the same with a certain Jew named Ben Sira who has written the Proverbs in Hebrew but this opinion does not appear to be well grounded hh The Son of one Amos whom we must not confound with the Prophet that bears this name The name of the Prophet is Amos and that of the Father of Isaiah is Amots The first was a Shepherd the second was of Royal Extraction The first lived in the time of Uzziah King of Judah the later is more ancient St. Jerome in cap. 1. Isaiae St. Austin in the 18th Book de Civitate Dei ch 27. St. Cyril in his Preface upon Amos and others have distinguished between these two Clemens Alexandrinus l. 1. Strom. the Author of the Life and Death of the Prophets attributed to St. Epiphanius and the Rabbins have confounded them St. Jerome tells us that the Father of Isaiah was Father in Law to Manasses ii By whose command they say he was cruelly put to death and sawn asunder with a Wooden Saw This is a common Tradition amongst the Jews and is confirmed by the Testimonies of Tertullian St. Jerome and St. Basil. kk The conjectures they bring to prove it 〈◊〉 very frivolous They say that the Prophecy of Isaiah does not begin before the 6th Chapter when after 〈…〉 said that 〈◊〉 â—â—ld his Tongue he says I heard a voice of the Lord â—aying whâ—â— shall I send In the second place they pretend that what he says in the first Chapter concerning the desolation of Judah does not at all agree with with the Reign of Uzziah and therefore 't is not the beginning of his Prophecy Thirdly we don't find say they in this Book the Life and Actions of Uzziah that were written by Isaiah as we are informed in the Chronicles Fourthly Isaiah prophesied also under Manasses but there are no Prophecies under his Name that have any relation to the Reign of that King Fifthly the order of things frequently reversed as well in Isaiah as in the other Prophets Answer To the first Objection we return this answer That the Prophet does not say he had as
out of some other Prophet that is lost Others pretend that they are cited out of the 11th Chapter of Isaiah vers 1. where it is foretold That a Branch shall grow out which they call in Hebrew Netzer Huetius thinks that this passage is taken from the 13th Chapter of the Book of Judges verse 5. where it is said that he shall be a Nazarite from the Womb. But the most probable Opinion is that of St. Jerome who supposes that St. Matthew does not cite any Prophet in particular but only all the Prophets who have predicted that our Blessed Saviour should be Holy and Consecrated to God as the Nazarites were The second passage is cited in the same Gospel chap. 27. verse 9. Then says he was fulfilled that which was spoken in Jeremy the Prophet saying And they took the Thirty pieces of Silver the price of him that was valued whom they of the Children of Israel did value and gave them for the Potters Field as the Lord appointed me This Prophesie is not to be found in Jeremiah but there is something that seems to resemble it in Zechariah chap. 11. verse 13. Origen in his 35th Treatise upon St. Matthew pretends that it ought to be said that this passage is taken out of an Apocryphal Book called The Secrets of Jeremiah or else that we must affirm that in this Gospel the Name of one Prophet is used for that of another Some other Authors say that this Prophesie has been struck out of the Book of Jeremiah Others run to Tradition which as they give out preserved this Prophesie of Jeremiah down to the time of St. Matthew It is very probable say some others that this Prophesie being composed of the Words of Jeremiah and the Thought of Zechariah has been cited only under the Name of Jeremiah as in another Place a Prophesie of Malachi being joyned to one of Isaiah is attributed to the latter But yet 't is a great deal more probable that St. Matthew having only wrote as it was spoken in the Prophet without Naming any one they added in the Text of the Gospel the Name of Jeremiah that Evangelist not being accustomed to Name the Prophets whom he cites This is St. Jerome's Solution of the matter which seems to be by far the Solidest NOTES a WE call the Books of the Bible Canonical c. Some Persons say that they are thus called because they are the Rule of Faith but the other Opinion is far more probable b Books that are called Apocryphal We don't know well why they were so called This word comes Originally from the Greek where it signifies to hide or conceal St. Austin L. 15. de Civit. Dei Ch. 23. says they are so called because the Original of them is not known Others as St. Jerome and Gelasius believe they had this Name given them because they contained the hidden Mysteries of the Hereticks St. Epiphanius imagines this distinguishing Appellation was set upon them because they were not kept in the Ark. The Signification also of this word is doubtful one while they give this Name to all Books that are not in the Canon another while only to erroneous or ill Books Some of the Fathers make three Distinctions of Books viz. The Canonical the Doubtful and the Supposisitious Consult Origen upon the fourth Chapter of St. John St. Athanasius in his Festival Letter St. Gregory in the Poem to Seleucus Eusebius and the other Fathers divide them but into two sorts Canonical and Apocryphal But then they distinguish the Canonical into two Classes Indeed generally speaking they are ranged into three Classes the Canonical of the first Rank the Canonical of the second Rank and the Apocryphal c Some Persons distinguish three Canons made at several times by the Sanedrim or the great Synagogue of the Jews Serarius makes only two The first made by Ezrah and the Synagogue in his time The second either when they sent the LXX Elders to Translate the Bible or when the Dispute about the Resurrection was so warmly discussed between the Sadducees and Pharisees Genebrard supposes there were three The first composed by Ezrah and approved of by the Synagogue The second appointed by a Grand Assembly of the Synagogue when they sent the LXX at which time as he pretends Tobit Judith Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom were added to the Canon The third at the time of the famous Controversie between the Sadducees and Pharisees when the Books of the Maccabees according to him were Solemnly approved and received d But 't is a great deal more probable that they never had but one Canon It is unquestionably true that Ezrah received and collected the Sacred Volumes and consequently that he was the Author of the Canon amongst the Jews Neither they nor the ancient Christians acknowledged any other As for the Books which as they pretend were inserted into the other Canons 't is certain they were never owned by the Jews and what they talk about the two great Assemblies of the Synagogues that were Convened upon that Occasion is all a Chimera and Fiction The Ancients themselves never make the least mention of the Approbation of the Synagogue or Sanedrim of the Jews which our Moderns boast of so mightily Some are of Opinion That Nehemiah added the two Books of Ezrah to the Canon and found their Notion upon what is said in the 2d Book of Maccabees ch 2. v. 13. that he gathered together the Books of David and the Prophets and the Books of the Kings c. But this only proves that he erected a Library as it is intimated in that place and not made a Collection of the Sacred Books Others say that we ought to attribute this Canon to Judas Maccabeus because it is said in the first of Maccabees Chap. 1. Verse 56. that Antiochus and his Ministers burnt and tore to pieces the Books of the Law And in the second Book Chap. 2. Verse 13 14. the Jews of Jerusalem acquaint their Brethren that were in Egypt that Judas Maccabeus had gathered together all those things that were lost by reason of the War This does not prove that Ezrah's Canon was intirely lost and that Judas composed another but only that he got other Copies of those Sacred Books that were burnt and torn under Antiochus and made a Collection of several pieces relating to the History of their Wars which was never received into the Jewish Canon Our Opinion is invincibly proved by the Concurring Testimonies of Josephus and St. Jerome e But it is visible that this Citation has been since inserted into the true Text of Josephus The passage which as they pretend is cited by Josephus is in Chap. 42. of Ecclesiasticus Verse 14. Better is the Churlishness of a Man than a Courteous Woman 'T is beyond dispute that it was afterwards added for Josephus proposes in that place to cite the Laws of Moses and this passage makes nothing at all to the purpose In the Ancient Version
fifth and sixth Columns were afterwards added And this appears to be the opinion of St. Epiphanius which the Learned Hâ—etius has so excellently explained In the Tetrapla that were made after the Hexapla Origen has retrenched the fifth and sixth Versions as also the two Columns of the Hebrew Text so that they are only composed of the Versions of Aquila Symmachus the Septuagint and Theodoâ—ion We must still observe that the Version of the Sepâ—uagint that was in the Hexapla and Tetrapla was corrected and augmented in several places yet without being changed For Origen added there some passages taken from Theodotion which he marked with an Asterisk and as for those places that as he supposed ought to be cut off and retrenched he inclosed them between two Hooks Since that there have been three Versions of the Septâ—agint used in the Church The first is the ancient or vulgar and was received by Lâ—cian it was used at Constantinople and in the East The second was that of Hesyâ—hius which they used in Alexandria and all over Egypt Lastly the third which was used in Palestine was the same with that which was in the Hexapla of Origen and which Eusebius and Pamphilus transcribed and published separately Here says St. Jerome are the three different Versions of Scripture that divide the whole Earth Totúsque orbis hac inter se trifariâ varietate compâ—…gnat I shall not say any thing about the Authority of the Version of the Septuagint compared with that Hebrew Text because it is a great and famous Question that does not in the least concern that design I have proposed to my self NOTES a WERE almost all written in Hebrew We must except Judith Tobit some Chapters of Daniel and some of the first Book of Ezrah which are written in Chaldee and some other Chapters of the same Prophet Daniel with the Books of the Maccabees that are written in Greek b The Characters which Moses made use of c. were the Samaritan This opinion was taken for granted in St. Jerome's time as he himself observes in his Preface to the Kings and it is confirmed by ancient Medals where we find this Inscription Holy Jerusalem written in Hebrew in the Samaritan Characters and this could not be written after the division of the Tribes for at that time the Samaritans did not consider Jerusalem as an Holy City c Gave it to the Men of Cuth 'T is far more probable that the Men of Câ—th had the Books of the Law rather from the Israelites than the Jews In the first place because they preserved them written in the ancient Character which makes it evident that they did not receive them after the Captivity since the Jews at that time wrote in Syriaâ—k Characters Secondly because the Collection of the Sacred Books amongst the Samaritans only contained the Pentateuch and consequently they received them of the Israelites who acknowledged no other Books but these to be sacred and not of the Jews who admitted the rest d Ezrah having reviewed and gathered together the Books of the Bible I have followed the common opinion of the Jews and Holy Fathers who ascribe the collecting and revising of the Sacred Volumns of the Old Testament to Ezrah Others are of opinion that it was Nehemiah that took this care but let the matter be how it will certain it is that the Jews at their return from the Babylonian Captivity took care to search after and gather their Books together The Author of the fourth Book of Esdras which is a Book full of falsities and fictions supposeth that all the Copies of the Sacred Books being burnt or lost Ezrah dictated them all anew by a Divine Inspiration We have this â—able at length in the 14th Chapter of this Book where it is tack'd to several other foolish Whimsies St. Clement of Alexandria Theodoret and St. Basil have followed this opinion without reflecting upon it but others who have used more precaution in this matter are content to say with us that Ezrah collected review'd digested and put in order the Books of Holy Scripture when there were many Copies of it as yet remaining This is the opinion of St. Irenâ—…us Tertullian St. Jerome St. Câ—â—ysostom the Author of the Abridgment of the Bible commonly attributed to St. Athanasius and of several others The first opinion is not only extremely prejudicial to Religion but impossible to be maintain'd For first What probability is there that the Jews during the Captivity should lose all the Copies of that Book for which they always preserved so profound a veneration and which was the foundation of their Religion Why should we think that not one single Man amongst them kept it by him Is it credible that Ezekiel Daniel and Jeremiah were deprived of reading the Books of the Law Can one conceive that Ezrab had no other knowledge of them than by Inspiration He I say that was so learned a Doctor of the Law of Moses at the time when he was in Babylon as it appears ch 7. v. 6. of the first Book of Ezrah 2. We ought to make the same reflection upon the Israelites of the Ten Tribes Now it is not probable that they did not carry the Holy Books along with them The Book of Tobit informs us that Tobit read the Prophecy of Amos Tob. c. 2. v. 6. 3. And 3dly is it not past dispute that the Men of Cuth preserved the Pentateuch which the Israelites of the Ten Tribes gave them 4. It appears by the 9th Chapter of Daniel that the Jews had the Books of Moses and read them during the Captivity All Israel says this Prophet have transgressed thy Law even by departing that they might not obey thy voice and therefore the curse is poured upon us and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses because we have sinned against him And a little lower All this evil is come upon us as it is written in the Law of Moses 5. It is said in the sixth Chapter of the Book of Ezrah that the building of the Temple was finished in the sixth year of Darius and that the Priests and Levites were established in their Ministerial Functions as it is written in the Law of Moses Sicut scriptum est in lege Moysis Now Ezrah was not yet come up to Jerusalem for it is related in the following Chapter that he arrived in Judea in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes 6. In the second Book of Ezrah ch 8. the People being desirous to be instructed in the Law of Moses did not request him to dictate it to them anew but only to bring the Book of the Law of Moses which the Lord had given to the People of Israel Et dixerunt Esdrae scribae ut afferret librum legis Moysis quam praeceperat Deus Israeli And it is said immediately after that Ezrah brought the Book of the Law and read it before all the People It will be said perhaps that I have borrowed these Reasons
out of another Mans Book I own it but I thought they were suitable to the present occasion e It is very certain that at first this Language was not common to all the Jews This is abundantly proved against the common opinion by what is said in the Book of Nehemiah ch 13. v. 24. that the Children of the Jews who had Married strange Women spoke Asotice and not Judaice In the Hebrew the words are Ashdodith and Jehudith and this last word in the second Book of Kings ch 18. v. 26. is opposed to Aramith which signifies in Syriack Precamur loquaris nobis Syriace non Judaice in the first Book of Ezrah ch 4. v. 7. and in the Prophet Daniel ch 2. v. 4. Aramith has still the same signification On the contrary Jehudith signifies the Hebrew Tongue in opposition to the Syriack as we may see in the second Book of Chron. ch 32. v. 18. 2 Kings 18. 26. and in Isaiah ch 36. v. 11. There were several Jews therefore in the time of Ezrah that still spoke Hebrew And this is evidently proved by the Books of Ezrah that were made since the Captivity and yet were written in Hebrew and not in Chaldee except some Chapters of the first Book of Ezrah where he tells us of the opposition that the Officers of the King of Persia who spoke Chaldee gave to the Jews From whence it follows that the Jews both understood and spoke Hebrew For otherwise why should Ezrah if he designed to have his Books intelligible by all the Jews write them in a Language which was not natural to them The same consideration will hold good as to the Books of the latter Prophets who wrote in Hebrew after the Captivity and yet addressed their Prophecies to all the People But lastly that which admits of no reply is a remarkable passage in the Book of Nehemiah ch 8. and 9. where we find that the Law was read in Hebrew before the People and all the People hearkened to it and understood it These Remarks have been lately made by a very Ingenious and Learned Person Mr. Simon indeed brags that he has invincible Reasons to overthrow them When he has honoured the World with a Sight of them we shall see whether they are powerful enough to make us retract this opinion as he would willingly perswade us they are but in the mean time he ought not to take it amiss if till then we continue in the same mind f The Syriack Tongue mix'd with Hebrew Words became the vulgar Language of the Jews which was afterwards called the Hebrew Tongue The truth of this appears by the Hebrew Words that we find in the New Testament which are all as St. Jerome observes Syriack Words and what our blessed Saviour says That not one Iota of the Law of God shall pass away c. makes it evident that the Jews at that time used the present Hebrew Alphabet and not the ancient and it is demonstrated from hence that the of the Jews was a little Letter which is true of the Syriack and Hebrew Jâ—d and not of the Samaritan which has three Feet g The Chaldee Paraphrasâ—â— which we have seen to be of a lâ—ter date The Câ—â—ldee Paraphrase is divided into three Parts The first that contains the Pentateuch is attributed to Oâ—kelos the second that contains the Prophets to Jonathan the third to one Josephus the blind There is likewise another Paraphrase of the Pentateuch called that of Jerusalem and another of the Canticles but all these Paraphrases are imperfect as well as new Since that time the Jews having committed to writing abundance of Traditions in a Book which they call Misna they afterwards composed Commentaries upon it whereof the most celebrated is called the Gâ—mera But all these Books are full of ridiculous foolish Fictions and have nothing common with the Scripture The Masora that is a sort of a Critical Performance upon the Bible is of more use and advantage The Follies and Whimsies of the Cabala are impertinent and impious h About the year of our Lord 500 the Jews of Tiberias invented the Points These Points were not used in St. Jerom's time as may be easily proved from several Passages of this Father drawn out of his 22th Question upon Jeremiah and out of his Commentary upon Habakkuk in Chap. 3. Vers. 20. which abundantly shew that in his time the Pronunciation of the Hebrew Words was not determined by the Points as it has been since i I am of opinion that one cannot absolutely deny that there was a Greek Version of the Books of the Bible made in the time of Ptolomy Philadelphus It is not credible that the Authors of the Books attributed to Aristeas and Aristobulus entirely invented the whole History and that there is no part of it true 'T is sar more probable that they only added several Circumstances to the Matter of Fact which was assuredly certain Mr. Simon imagines that this Version was called the Septuagint beause it was approved by the Sanedrim but this is a Conjecture without any Foundation k Some of the Fathers have believed this Fiction of the Talmudists The Author of the Discourse against the Greeks attributed to St. Justin St. Irenaeus and St. Clement believed it St. Austin questioned and doubted the truth of it St. Jeroâ—â— laughs at it l Aquila the Jew A certain Syriack Auther â—ited by Monsieur Le Jâ—i the Publisher of the French Poâ—â—gâ—â—ot tells us that he was descended from Adrian and adds many other Passages 〈◊〉 are extremely improbable St. Jerom assures us that he was a Jew in his Commentary upon the third Chapter of Habakkuk upon the third of Isaiah and in his Epistle to Marcellus m Theodotion the Disciple of Tatian St. Jerom's Testimony confirms what we have said here St. Irenâ—â—s names him in his Book against Hâ—â—esy from whence it follows that he lived when Elutâ—erius was Pope n Symmachus c. What we say concerning this Man is taken out of St. Jerom in his Preface upon Job Eusebius also says l. 6. c. 7. that he was an Ebionite and this is the reason why Hilâ—ry the Deacon Author of The Commentary of St. Paul attributed to St. Ambrose calls the Ebionites Sâ—…machians o We yet find another Version of the Bible in the time of the Emperor Caracalla St. Epiphanius is of opinion that this fifth Version was found at Jericho the Author of The Abridgment attributed to St. Athanasius is of the same opinion But Eusebius following the Testimony of Origen tells us that the sixth was found at Nicopolis that we don't know where Origen found the fifth and that the seventh which was only a Version of the Psalms was found at Jericho Consult Euseb. l. 6. c. 16. St. Jerom assures us that all these Translations were made by Jews p Eusebius St. Jerom and several other Ancients make no distinction between the Octapla from the Hexapla They place the fifth sixth and seventh Version in what they
call the Hexapla St. Epiphanius in his Book of Weights and Measures speaks of the Octapla but as of a Work which was not distinguished from the Hexapla for after he has described the Hexapla hâ— adds And if we find there the fifth and sixth Version added it follows that we ought to call them Octapla These Columns were unquestionably written upon different Rolls that were fasten'd one to the side of another SECT IV. Of some Authors whose Works have a Relation to the Old Testament viz. Philo. T. Flavius Josephus Justus Aristeas Aristobulus Josephus Bengorion Berosus the false Dorotheus Zoroaster c. THere are several Authors whose Works whether Genuine or Spurious have a Relation to the History of the Old Testament whom we think our selves obliged to take some short notice of Philo a Jew of Alexandria lived in the time of Caius Caligula and was the chief Person of an Embassy that the Jews sent to the Emperor He composed several Works upon the Old Testament a Catalogue of which may be seen in Eusebius's History l. 2. ch 8. and in St. Jerom's Book of Ecclesiastical Writers as well as at the beginning of the Greek and Latin Impression of his own Writings printed at Paris 1640. This Author is a Platonist and so well imitates Plato's Style that he has been called by some The Jewish Plato He explained the whole Bible by way of Allegory he is very Eloquent and Diffusive his Works are full of Moral Thoughts and continual Allegories upon all the Histories of the Bible he approaches very near the Notions of the Christians in his Morals His Works were published in Greek by Turnebus and printed at Paris 1552. and at Francfort 1587. Translated into Latin by Gelenius and printed at Basil 1554 and 1561. at Lyons 1555 in Greek at Geneva 1603. and in Greek and Latin at Paris 1640. Josephus was descended of the Sacerdotal Race of the Asmoneans as we are told in his Life which he wrote himself where all his Employments and Actions are exactly related He was born Anno Dom. 37. and died 93. He was surnamed Flavius by reason of Vespasian He composed the History of the Jews which he took for the most part out of the Books of the Bible and continued it down to the time of the Wars of the Jews under the Name of The Jewish Antiquities He also wrote the History of the War against the Romans and the taking of Jerusalem He has likewise written besides his own Life two excellent Books against Appion to answer the Objections which that Heathen had mustured up against the Antiquity of the Jewish Nation the Purity of the Law and the Conduct of Moses and he has written a Treatise concerning the Martyrdom of the Maccabees which is called by Erasmus and not without Reason An exquisite Master-piece of Eloquence This Author wrote very politely and the turn which he gives things is very agreeable His History is beautified with admirable Descriptions very eloquent Harangues and very sublime Thoughts his Style is clear and faithful he not only diverts his Readers but he also brings them over to what side he pleases in one word he excites and calms the Passions as himself thinks fit We may say he is a perfect Historian and we may justly call him the Livy of the Greeks The Treatise of the Maccabees sufficiently shews the Beauty of his Genius and the Height of his Eloquence and his Books against Appion demonstrate his profound Learning and the exaâ—tness of his Judgment The Works of this Author have been printed several times in Latin of the Translation partly of Ruffinus partly of Gelenius and partly of Erasmus and at Geneva in Greek and Latin Anno Dom. 1611. It were to be wished that we had a new Edition of it in a better Letter and better Paper Justus of Tiberias wrote also an History of the Jews and some Commentaries upon the Bible but Jesephus accuses him of Falsity and Lying We had not placed him in the number of the Ecclesiastical Authors if St. Jerom had not done it before us The Books of Aristeas and Aristobulus concerning the Version of the Septuagint are manifest Forgeries and imposed upon the World by some Hellenist Jew as we have already shewn when we were discoursing of that Version The History of the War of the Jews by Josephus Bengorion was written by an Author that lived since St. Jerom's time He speaks of the Goths as being in Spain and of the Franks in Gaul Now these People were not setled in Spain and in France till about the fifth Century and so by consequence this is a spurious Writer who having stolen several things out of the true Josephus has mingled them after his manner with Fictions and Fables The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs which is extant in the first Volume of the Bibliotheca Patrum is a Book wholly filled with Trifles and Impertinencies and deserves nothing but contempt Neither should one have a better opinion for the Abridgment of the Lives of the Prophets the Apostles and the other Disciples attributed to Dorotheus of Tyre who suffered Martyrdom in the time of Dioclesian It is a Book altogether unknown to the Ancients full of gross Faults and Mistakes in History and made up of Fables and Tales to divert the Reader There are some Books that go under the Name of Berosus the Chaldean of Manetho the Egyptian and of Metasthenes but they are altogether unworthy of these great Men whose Names they carry and the Forgery is plain and manifest All those Passages out of the true Berosus cited by Josephus in his Book against Appion are not to be found in this Book that is ascribed to him but we find there several Things that are clean contrary He speaks of the City of Lyons which had not that Name till after Caesar's time In short the History of Berosus went no farther than the time of Nabuchadomsoâ— and Nabopalassâ—… and this descends much lower The Book of a Zoroaster of The Sacred History of the Persians a Fragment whereof is cited by Eusobius in his first Book De praepar Evangel is a supposititious Work as well as the other Writings attributed to that fabulous Author In fine the History of the Phenicians which is supposed to be written by b Sanchoniathon and translated into Greek by Philo Biblius c who lived in the time of Adrian is a Romance wherein there are several Passages taken out of the History of the Bible and many Circumstances of the Fables of the Greeks NOTES a ZOroaster There were many of this Name but 't is generally held that the first and most celebrated of them lived in the time of Nimrod that he was King of the Bactrians and that he was overcome by Ninus They speak wonderful Things of his Knowledge his Wisdom and of the Prodigies which he wrote They make him the first Author of the Persian Philosophy which they called Magick Plato speaks of Zoroaster as Inventor of that
a double mistake for neither does St. Athanasiu's say that there be but few Priests or Bishops married nor does he speak a word of Priests Monks were not constantly Ordain'd in those days St. Anthony their great Master was a Lay-man and in this very Letter to Dracontius St. Athanasius amongst other Arguments to persuade him to accept the Bishoprick to which he was Canonically Elected tells him That if the Monks desired to have Presbyters among them to Instruct them in their Duty they ought not to envy others who for the same Reason were earnest to have Dracontius for their Bishop and we have seen Monks married In a word 't is permitted to every one in whatsoever State he is to use such abstinences as he pleases He concludes with exhorting him to return to his Bishoprick before Easter that his People might not be abandon'd and oblig'd to Celebrate that Feast without him and with earnest Entreaties that he would not hearken to their Counsels that would hinder his Return They would says he have Priests among themselves Why then are they unwilling that the People should have Bishops In the Letter to Ammon the Monk he refutes the Error of some Monks who condemn'd the use of Marriage and shows by the Scripture that 't is permitted and that 't is an Impiety to condemn it tho' Virginity is a more perfect State and deserves greater Rewards The Life of St. Anthony may be reckon'd among his Moral Writings for it contains excellent Instructions for all Monks We must also place among the Moral Works of St. Athanasius his Homily of Circumcision and the Sabbath There he treats of the Institution of the Sabbath and thinks that the principal end of its Celebration was not merely to rest but that it was Instituted to make known the Creator that the Reason why 't is abrogated in the New Law and the Feast of Sunday establish'd in its room is because the first Day was the end of the first Creation and the second was the beginning of the New For the same Reason he believes that Circumcision was appointed on the eighth Day to be a figure of that Regeneration which is made by Baptism Lastly That I may say something of the Treatises of St. Athanasius upon the Holy Scriptures the Abridgment of the Scriptures is the most useful of them There you may see in one view an Enumeration of all the Canonical Books of the Old Testament according to the Catalogue of the Hebrews which contains but 22 and he adds those that are not Canonical but yet are read in the Church to the Catechumens which according to him are the Books of Wisdom Ecclesiasticus Esther Judith and Tobit with this Observation That some plac'd the Books of Esther and Ruth amongst those which they esteem'd Canonical In the Catalogue of the Canonical Books of the New Testament he places all those which we acknowledge at present After he has given us these Catalogues he makes a very faithful Abridgment of what is contain'd in every Book and gives the Reason why 't is call'd by such a Name and Discourses of the Author that wrote it Afterwards he gives a Catalogue of those Apocryphal Books which are of little or no use at all He speaks particularly of the Four Gospels their Authors and the Places where they were compos'd he treats in a few Words of the Greek Versions of the Old Testament and at last gives a Catalogue of some Books cited in Scripture that are lost The Fragment of the 39th Festival Letter is upon the same Subject and it contains also a Catalogue of the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament and of those that are useful tho' they be not Canonical which he distinguishes from these Apocryphal Books that have been forg'd by Hereticks and here he follows the same Catalogue which is in the Abridgment But he adds to the number of these Books that may be read to the Catechumens The Doctrine of the Apostles and the Book entituled Pastor The Book to Marcellinus upon the Psalms is also of the same Nature St. Athanasius shows there the Excellency of the Book of Psalms and relates the Subject of many of them those that are Historical and those that are Moral He observes there That the Book of Psalms referrs to all the Histories of the Old Testament That it includes all the Prophecies of Jesus Christ That it expresses all the Opinions which we ought to have That it contains the Prayers that should be made and comprizes all the Precepts of Morality He observes That there are some Psalms Historical some Moral some Prophetical besides those that consist of Prayers and Praises all which he distinguishes and places in their proper Rank and Order He shews that the Psalms represent to every one of the Faithful the State of his own Soul that every one may see himself there represented and may observe from the different Passions there express'd what he feels in his own Heart and that in whatever State any one is there he may find Words suitable to his present Disposition Rules for his Conduct and Remedies for his Troubles Wherefore he divides the Psalms according to the different Matters of which they treat that every one may make use of them according to his Necessities and according to the different States that he falls into He adds That those who Sing should be of a free and quiet Spirit that the Melody of their Song may agree with the Harmony of their Spirit And last of all He would not have any Words of the Psalms which may appear simple chang'd under pretence of making them more Elegant The Treatise upon these Words of Jesus Christ Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Spirit his sin shall not be forgiven him neither in this World nor in the other is an Explication of this difficult place of Scripture wherein he first observes that Origen and Theognostus thought That the Sin against the Holy Ghost was the Sin of those who after they were baptiz'd lost the Grace of Baptism by their Crimes But St. Athanasius maintains That this Explication is not Natural because those that violate their Vows of Baptism sin no more against the Holy Spirit than against the Father and the Son in whose Name Baptism is administred And to shew that this Opinion of the Ancients is not defensible he observes That these Words of Jesus Christ were address'd to the Pharisees who were never baptiz'd and yet sinned against the Holy Spirit by saying That Jesus Christ cast out Devils in the name of Beelzebub He adds That if this Explication were admitted it would give up the Cause to Novatus He explains the Passage of St. Paul to the Hebrews where the Apostle says 'T is impossible that those who were once baptiz'd should be renew'd again which does not exclude says St. Athanasius Repentance after Baptism but only a second Baptism After he has rejected this Explication he advances a New one
So that every thing may be call'd Scandal which is contrary to the Will of God He adds That 't is also Scandal to do a thing though it be lawful when it is the cause of the loss or fall of the Weak He observes also That there is sometimes a Scandal taken without cause In the 11th he shows That 't is never lawful to do those things which are forbidden by the Law of God nor to obey those that command such things and that we must never use our Reason to exempt our selves from Obedience to the Law of God In the 12th he shows That we ought not only to take care of those Persons that are under our Conduct but that our Charity also must extend to all other Christians and that a Bishop ought in case of Necessity to help all the Churches In the last he proves by Scripture That we must endure all and suffer all even Death it self rather than fail in our Duty or disobey the Law of God This Treatise appears to be rather of Morality than Doctrine but though he treats there of Moral Questions yet he handles them Dogmatically and founds his Decisions upon all the Testimonies of Scripture which belong to his Subject The Treatise of true Virginity contains many Precepts for preserving Virginity In it he extols very much the state of Virgins and discovers the Dangers to which they are expos'd There are in this Treatise some Passages which may offend nice Ears but 't is to be consider'd that 't is address'd to a Bishop and not to the Virgins themselves setting that aside 't is very Eloquent and very well written In Homily 28. of Penance he proves against the Novatians That those who have sinned after Baptism have still the Remedy of Penance but he admonishes them that they ought not to sin in hopes of doing Penance That commonly those who sin with this disposition of Mind are deprived of Repentance That in truth there is hope of Pardon when they have sinned but still it is like a Wound that can be healed which leaves some Scar forever behind it We are now insensibly faln into the Homilies of Morality out of which we shall make our Extracts before we come to the Ascetical Treatises The First is a Homily about Fasting After he has in the First Part admonish'd us that we must Fast with a pleasant Countenance then he Exhorts Christians to Fast alledging many Authorities and Examples to that purpose He shows the Necessity of Fasting and answers the Excuse that is most commonly alledg'd for dispensing with it which is the want of Health or Sickness Do not alledge to me says he your Indisposition Don't tell me that you cannot endure Fasting 'T is not to me that ye alledge these Excuses 't is to God from whom nothing can be hid But tell me Can you not Fast say you Alas Can you fill your selves with Victuals can you charge your Stomachs with all sorts of Meats Do not the Physicians prescribe to those that are Sick Abstinence and Dieting themselves rather than abundance of Food How come you then to say that you can Eat very much and that you cannot Diet your selves At last St. Basil says That our Fasting should be accompanied with Abstinence from Evil That we must fast from our Passions and Vices and that without this bodily Fasting is unprofitable Take heed says he that you make not your Fast to consist only in Abstinence from Meats True Fasting is to refrain from Vice Tear in pieces all your Unjust Obligations Pardon your Neighbour forgive him his Debts Fast not to stir up Strife and Contention You eat no Flesh but you devour your Brother You drink no Wine but you cannot refrain from doing Injury to others You wait till Night to take your Repast but you spend all the Day at the Tribunals of the Judges Woe be to you who are Drunk without Wine Anger is a kind of Inebriation which does no less trouble the Mind than real Drunkenness He speaks afterwards against those who use Fasting to prepare themselves for larger Drinking and Eating or who indulge themselves as much as they can after they have Fasted as if it were to redeem the time they have lost He gives a natural and frightful representation of Drunkenness sufficient to beget a horror of it he disswades from it also from the Consideration of the Body of Jesus Christ which they are to receive He says That Fasting and Abstinence are Ornaments to Cities secure the Tranquillity of Publick Assemblies the Peace of Families and the Preservation of our Estates He says That to be perswaded of this they needed only compare the Night of this present day in which he Preached with the Night of the next Day From whence it appears that this Day was a Publick Fast. At last he wishes That in these Days wherein Christians are called to the Practice of Fasting they might learn to know the Efficacy of their Temperance to prepare them for that Great Day wherein God will reward their Vertue The Second Homily is also an Exhortation to Fasting Therein he condemns those who allow'd themselves great Liberties in Eating and Drinking before their Fasting He says That all Christians of all Ages and Conditions are obliged to it Lastly He speaks of the principal Disposition for profitable Fasting which is to abstain from Vice The Third Homily about Fasting publish'd by Cotelerius is shorter than the two preceding but it is written upon the same Principles and upon the same Subject In the Third Homily upon these words Take heed to your selves St. Basil recommends that Vigilance and Care which one ought to have over himself that 's to say over his Soul and his Behaviour He says That this Care is necessary for Sinners that they may amend their ways and for the Innocent lest they should fall That the first have need to watch over themselves to cure themselves You have committed says he a great Sin you must then endure a long Penance you must shed bitter tears you must pass whole Nights in watching you must Fast continually Though you have committed but a slight Sin yet you must watch over your selves to do Penance for it for it often happens that those who have but a slight Sickness become dangerously Sick when they neglect it After this he shews That this Watchfulness is necessary to fulfil the Duties of all States and Conditions He reproves those that watch for the Faults of others but never think of their own He shews That this Watchfulness is necessary to every Man in whatsoever state he is and that it is a Remedy to all our Evils and to all our Passions If you are ambitious says he if you are lifted up above measure â—…her upon the account of your great Riches or because of your Nobility if you take Pleasure in your Beauty if you are inspir'd with a Passion for Glory if you are Lovers of Pleasures you have nothing to do but to
Impostures and Tricks That he allow'd the People to Abuse and use Violence to the Christians and reserved to himself the ways of moderation to allure and perswade them That he changed his Court and gain'd the Souldiers over to his side That he removed Christians from all Offices that he entic'd some by Hope of Rewards and seduc'd others That he sent some of them into Banishment and in spite of his affected Gentleness he had exercised the greatest Cruelties upon others He adds That this Tyrant had a Design to shut out Christians from all Protection of the Law and to forbid them to make use of it alledging this for a Reason That their Law commanded them to bear Injuries patiently and to render Evil for Good St. Gregory answers this Raillery by saying That if Christians had a Law which oblig'd them to bear with Evil yet there was no Law in the World which permitted any to do it And besides that there were among Christians Two sorts of Precepts that some of them do so oblige that it is absolutely necessary to obey them but there are others which do not oblige but Christians are free to fulfil or not fulfil them that all the World cannot arrive at that perfection which consists in the observation of Evangelical Counsels and that one may be Sav'd by observing only what is commanded as necessary to be done In this place he makes a Digression about the Moderation which Christians observ'd when they were in Power and this he opposes to the Cruelties which the Pagans have exercis'd There was a Time says he to the Pagans when we had the Authority in our Hands as well as you but what have we done to those of your Religion which comes near to what the Christians have suffer'd from you Have we taken your Liberty from you Have we stirr'd up the Fary of the Mobile against you Have we put Governours in places on purpose to condemn you to Punishment Have we attempted the Life of any Person Have we remov'd any Body from the Magistracy or from their Offices In a word Have we done any of those things to you which you have made us suffer and which you have threatned against us I cannot conceive how St. Gregory could reconcile all these things with what he had said before that Constantius did very ill to suffer Julian to live and leave the Empire to him because he was an Enemy to the Christian Religion and was to Persecute it and that in this Constantius made a very ill use of his Gentleness and Goodness Afterwards he speaks of the Prohibition which Julian had given to Christians to study humane Learning It belongs to us says he to Discourse it belongs to us to understand the Greek Tongue as it belongs to us to Adore the Gods But as for you Ignorance and Barbarism is your Portion and all your Wisdom consists in saying I believe St. Gregory answers him that the Pythagoreans who had no other Reason to give for what they Affirm'd but the Authority of their Master would not have jested in that manner upon what the Christians answer when they are askt about their Doctrine This is what I believe that this only signifies that 't is not lawful to doubt of what is written by Persons Divinely inspir'd and that their Authority is of greater force than all the Reasons and Arguments of the World but that it does not follow from thence that Eloquence Terms of Art and Skill in Languages belong only to those who Profess to acknowledge many Gods For says he if this be so either the Greek Tongue is confin'd to the Religion or to the Nation It cannot be said that 't is confin'd to the Pagan Religion For Where is that Commanded Who are the Priests that have enjoyn'd us to study humane Learning as an Action of Religion Neither can it be said that 't is confin'd to the Nations that profess to Adore false Gods For it will not follow because the Greek Tongue has been us'd among those that profess the Pagan Religion that therefore it is so confin'd to them who profess that Religion that others cannot make use of it This is as if one should say that working in Gold cannot be exercis'd but by Painters because there were some Painters that were Goldsmiths likewise He concludes that Languages cannot be confin'd to a Profession nor an Art nor a Religion but that they are common to all those that can make use of them He adds several Curiofities about the Invention of Letters and Sciences about the Origin of Sacrifices about Pagan Ceremonies and the infamous Actions which the Poets attributed to their false Gods He occasionally answers an Excuse which the Pagans make to cover the Folly of their Poets alledging that they invented what they said concerning their Divinities to please the People but that under these Veils there was a secret Sence and hidden Mystery St. Gregory confesses that there may be in Religion hidden Mysteries and such Discourses as all the World does not understand and he acknowledges that there are some of this nature among Christians but then he maintains that the Veils Representations the Appearances and the Figures which conceal these Mysteries and Truths ought to have the Character of Honesty and not of Infamy That otherwise this was to do like one that would conduct a Man to a fine City through a Bog or that would bring a Man into Harbour by leading him over the Rocks And besides that there was no Example produced by the Poets which excited to Vertue but on the contrary they inclin'd all Men to Vice whereas the Christian Religion teaches nothing but Vertue and Perfection The 4th Oration is also an Invective against Julian There St. Gregory represents the visible Judgments which God had made use of to punish his Impiety as well as the sensible manner of protecting his Church and defeating the Designs of this impious Man He relates first that when Julian would have had the Jews rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem there arose such a Storm as drove away those that undertook the Work and that having retir'd into a neighbouring Temple there came forth a Fire which consum'd them He adds that there appear'd a Sign of the Cross in the Heavens which was a Mark of the Victory which Jesus Christ had gotten over these Impious Men and that all those who saw it or spoke of it found their Clothes mark'd with this Sign He says that this Miracle was so publick that many who saw it embrac'd immediately the Christian Religion and were Baptiz'd But if the Power of God appear'd in this Miracle his Vengeance clearly appeared in the miserable Death of Julian Before he departed to march against the Persians he made a Vow That if he return'd Conqueror he would reduce all Christians under the Power of the Devil But God who confounds the Designs of the Wicked did not suffer him to return from this Journey For being unseasonably engag'd
their Sex of which St. Ambrose makes them asham'd in Chap. 18. The Treatise of Naboth and the Poor for so it ought to be call'd according to the ancient Manuscripts and according to the Custom of St. Ambrose is a Discourse full of Zeal against the Rich and Powerful who oppress the Poor preach'd by St. Ambrose upon the History of the Oppression of Naboth by King Ahab This Saint there shews that there are Ahabs and Naboths at all times The History of Naboth says he at the beginning of his Discourse is ancient if we consider the time wherein it was Transacted but in Practice it happens daily tempore vetus est usu quotidiana For who is the Rich man that does not desire other Mens Goods Is it not daily seen that the Rich would take from the Poor the little Estate that they have and drive them away from the Inheritance of their Ancestors Where is there one found that is content with what he has There has not been one Ahab only in the World he is born in it every day there has not been one Naboth only kill'd there are some such every day oppress'd Every day the Poor are over-whelm'd driven away persecuted and reduc'd to die by Famine by the Injustice of the Rich. He declaims afterwards against this Barbarity and shews the Rich by the Example of Ahab that they are more unhappy with all their Riches than the most Miserable and the most Poor in their Wants He cries out against those sumptuous Feasts and needless Expences which they make by which they waste the Blood and Substance of the Poor Here he relates a frightful Story of a Rich Man who to procure good Wine to his Table forc'd a Poor Man to sell his Son and then he brings the Parable of the Rich Man mention'd in the Gospel of St. Luke Ch. 12. who purposed to pull down his Barns that he might build larger and shews from hence how far the Slavery Blindness and Misery of Rich Men extends Afterwards he returns to his History of Ahab and having represented the horribleness of the Action of Ahab and Jezabel he exhorts Rich Men not to imitate it by teaching them the use they ought to make of their Riches which is described in Psalm 75. He concludes with this Remark that God pardon'd Ahab for this Crime but this miserable Man brought upon himself Destruction by new Crimes 'T is thought that this Treatise was compos'd about the Year 395. The Book of Tobit is chiefly written against Usury which St. Ambrose condemns most severely There he describes the Miseries to which Usurers reduce the Poor and the Artifices they use to ensnare young Heirs Usury according to him is all that is receiv'd above the principal It is condemn'd by the Divine Law in the Old and New Testament If it was permitted to the Israelites with respect to Strangers it was only with reference to them whom they might lawfully kill He refutes those by name who restrain the Prohibition of Usury only to the Poor and rejects the Reasons of Interest which may be alledg'd to excuse it Erasmus doubted whether this Book were St. Ambrose's or no but it was a doubt very ill grounded for St. Austin cites it It has St. Ambrose's Stile it contains his Doctrine which is also to be found in short in his 23d Letter to Vigilius and it contains many Passages translated out of St. Basil according to the Custom of St. Ambrose This Book was written about the Year 386. The Four Books of the Intercession of Job and David that is of the Complaints which Job and David made for the Miseries and Weakness of Mankind are in this Edition replac'd here in their natural Order In the two First Books he enlarges upon the Complaints contain'd in the First Chapters of the Book of Job and in the Psalms particularly in the 72d and 42d In the Two last he answers the Complaints of those who tax Providence because the Wicked are happy in this Life and the Just miserable He proves that the Happiness of the Wicked is not true happiness and that the Calamities Miseries and Misfortunes of the Good do not at all render them unhappy In the Book entituled the Apology of David he saves the Honour of this Holy King not by justifying his Crimes of Adultery and Murder which are used to render him odious but by shewing that he rose again from his Fall by a quick and sincere Repentance that it was for our Instruction that God permitted him to fall into Sin and that he made amends for his Fault by a great number of good Actions And therefore he explains the 5th Psalm that it may serve as an Apology for this Holy King These Sermons were preach'd soon after the Death of Gratian in the Year 385. The Benedictines have plac'd here among these Works of St. Ambrose which are Genuine the Second Apology for David but it is confess'd in the Preface that it has been question'd and that there is reason for doing so Indeed it is observ'd that in all the Manuscripts that have been seen this Book goes under the name of St. Ambrose and the Conjectures which some Criticks have alledg'd to show its imposture are rejected But then they find the Stile is different from St. Ambrose's and the Author uses a different Version of Scripture and sometimes the Vulgar Latin and he speaks of Two Sorts of Wills and Operations in Jesus Christ in such a manner as favours very much of the Times of the Monothelites They add that this Author only Copies and Enlarges upon what St. Ambrose had said before The Second Apology contains a great part of what is in the First And what probability is there that St. Ambrose should twice repeat the same thing The Subject of both is the same The Author undertakes to show that no Man ought to be offended with any thing that is related in Scripture and that David fell into the Crimes of Murder and Adultery His Defence is divided into Three Parts In the First he shows that the Fall of David must be attributed to the Infirmity of Humane Nature and that his Amendment was the effect of his Vertue In the Second he says that David fell to instruct the Jews that they should continue no longer in their blindness In the last Christians are instructed in the Mysteries which is typify'd by David's Fall The Author enlarges upon common Places and employs part of his Discourse in Refutation of the Hereticks and chiefly of the Arians and Manichees This Treatise is composed of popular Harangues The Expositions of some particular Psalms are not a formal Commentary upon them but a Collection of Homilies upon the Psalms preach'd or compos'd upon several Occasions However it appears by the Preface to the Commentary upon the First Psalm that St. Ambrose had a Design to Expound all the Psalms The Homily upon the First Psalm was preach'd about the Year 390 after the Institution
be found in our Discourses of the Councils of Aquileia and Constantinople The 15th address'd to the Bishops of Macedonia and to the Clergy of Thessalonica was written upon the death of Alcholius Bishop of that City St. Ambrose comforts them upon his death because he was removed into a better life and enjoys the happiness of Saints He compares him to Elias and Elisha he testifies how much he lov'd him and how much he regrets the loss of him he enlarges upon his Vertues and congratulates the Churches of Macedonia upon the receiving Anysius for his Successor To him the following Letter is written which is also full of the Praises of his Predecessor Ascholius He prays God that Anysius may be successor to his Vertues as well as to his See These Letters are written in the Year 383. In Letter 17th St. Ambrose writes to the Emperour Valentinian against the Petition which Symmachus had made in the Name of the Senate for restoring the Altar of Victory He remonstrates to him that as all the Subjects of the Roman Empire ought to submit to him so he also was oblig'd to submit to the only true God and as they defend his Empire so he was oblig'd to defend the Religion of Jesus Christ. That a Christian Prince ought neither to Dissemble nor Tolerate and much less ought he to Authorize the Worship of Idols and false Gods He wonders therefore that under a Christian Emperour there should be found any Persons so rash as to hope that he would grant an Edict for restoring the Altars of the Gods and that he would contribute towards the Expence of it by giving Money out of his Exchequer That tho' the Temples had not been destroyed and the Worship of the Gods forbidden by the Laws of his Ancestors yet he ought to do it now but after the Laws have been in force for a long time there was yet less reason to subvert them That in this business he must never hearken to the Advice of a Pagan how prudent soever he may be otherwise and that if any Christian had been cowardly enough to consent to this Proposition he deserv'd not to bear the Name of a Christian any more That if a Pagan Emperour would re-establish an Altar and oblige Christians to consent to it this would be lookt upon as a Persecution How then can a Christian Emperour do it without committing Sacrilege That there was no probability that all the Senate had consented to this Proposition since all the Christian Senators two Years before had entred their Protestation against it and that they were not present in the Senate when it was done because they thought that they could not have their liberty there to make head against it He warns Valentinian that he should not suffer himself to be surpriz'd and exhorts him to do nothing new in an Affair of this Importance without the Advice of the Emperour Theodosius whom he was wont to consult in Affairs of Importance Now what Affair says he can be of greater Importance than this of Religion What is more precious than the Faith He prays him to desire of them a Copy of the Act of the Senate and that they would leave him to answer it In a word he tells him with an assurance becoming an Holy Bishop That if he should act otherwise the Bishops would not suffer nor dissemble the Injury which he would do to Religion and that if he came to the Church he should not find a Bishop there or else he should find one who would oppose his Entrance into it And what will you answer then says he addressing his Words to the Emperour Valentinian What will you answer to the Bishop when he shall say The Church cannot receive Oblations from him who has given Ornaments to the Temples of the Gods His Gifts shall not be presented on the Altar of Jesus Christ who hath made an Altar for Idols The Edict signed with your own Hand convicts you of the Fact How can the Honour which you give to Jesus Christ be acceptable to him since at the same time you worship Idols No you cannot serve Two Masters The Virgins consecrated to God have no Privileges and yet you have granted Privileges to Vestals Why have you recourse to the Ministers of Jesus Christ after you have preferr'd before them the Petitions of Pagans St. Ambrose adds to these Remonstrances of the Bishops the Charge which his Brother Gratian could draw up against him if he should return into the World and the Accusations which his Father Theodosius might justly make against him Because St. Ambrose had desired of Valentinian a Copy of the Petition which had been presented to him in the Name of the Senate and which he answers in the following Letter that is also here inserted Symmachus therein desires of the Emperours as Governour of Rome and Deputy of the Senate that they would cause the Altar of Victory to be repaired that so the Oath might be administred according to ancient Custom upon the Altar and that they would restore to the Vestal College and the Priests of the Gods the Goods and Privileges of which they had been unjustly deprived since the Gods being provoked with the Injuries done to their Priests had avenged themselves by a cruel Famine wherewith the Empire was afflicted He asserts That they ought not to imitate the Emperours who have taken away those ancient Ceremonies He introduces the City of Rome desiring this Restauration and he affirms that this may be done without any Expence to the Treasury This Petition was written with all the Eloquence and Politeness possible St. Ambrose answers it in the following Letter and reduces the reasons of this Request to these Three The First is the Claim which the City of Rome makes to her ancient Ceremonies The Second is the Injustice which is done to the Vestal Virgins and the Priests of the False Gods by despoiling them of their Revenues The Third is the Vengeance which the Gods have sent down upon the Empire by Famine To the First he opposes a contrary Prosopopoeia wherein the City of Rome condemns her ancient Superstitions and demonstrates the Advantages which she has drawn from the Christian Religion In answer to his Second Argument he compares the Virgins Consecrated to God with the Vestal Virgins and the Christian Bishops with the Priests of the False Gods The Vestals continued Virgins because of the Honour and Advantages which their Condition procured to them but the Christian Virgins have no other Recompence of their Virginity but their own Vertue They complain that the Priests of False Gods are deprived of Revenues from the publick but the Christian Priests are even deprived of the Right of Succession The New Laws says he have made this Regulation and yet we do not look upon it as an Injury because we are not much concerned for this loss The Priests of the False Gods are capable of Donatives but no Legacies can be made in Favour of
Lastly he declares That the trouble he was in when they spake of making him Bishop made him resolve to hide himself He sets forth this trouble by two Comparisons the one by describing the vexation which a Princess incomparable both for Beauty and Vertue might be in who being passionately beloved by a Prince should be forced to marry a mean and contemptible Man the other by describing the astonishment of a Clown that was forced to take upon him the Conduct of both a great Land-Army and of a Navy that was ready to give Battel to a dreadful Enemy He concludes by comforting Basil who was afflicted to see himself ingaged in so hard an Employment and loaded with so heavy a Burden Some say that he writ these excellent Books when he was very young which is not likely Others think with Socrates That he composed them while he was a Deacon but it seems rather that he made them in his Retirement before he was ordained Deacon about the Year 376. The three Books in defence of a Monastical Life against those that blamed that state were the first fruits of S. Chrysostom's Retreat In the first he argues for a Monastical way of life because of the usefulness and necessity of separating from the World In the Second he answers the Gentiles who complained that their Children forsook them to retire into desart places and then he comforts the Christians who were troubled to see themselves bereaved of their Children that embraced a Solitary Life to dwell in Wildernesses He affirms in these Books That a Monk is more glorious more powerful and richer than a Man of the World representing the great difficulty of saving our selves in the World and how hard it is to bring up Children to Christianity and comparing the condition of a Monk with that of Saints and Angels The short Discourse upon the comparison of a Monk with a Prince is upon the same Subject He shews That Men are mistaken who preferr the condition of Kings before that of Monks and retired Men. First Because the greatness of Kings ends with them whereas the advantages of a retired Life continues after death 2. Because the advantages of Retirement are much more considerable than the Fortune of Great Men. 3. Because it is more glorious for a Man to command his Passions than to rule whole Nations 4. Because the War of a Monk is nobler than that of a great Captain and his Victory more certain the one fights against invisible Powers and the other against mortal Men the one engages for the defence of Piety and the honour of God the other for his own Interest or Glory 5. Because a Prince is a charge to himself and to others by reason of those many things which he needs whereas a Monk wants nothing does good to all and by his Prayers obtains those Graces which the most powerful Princes cannot give 6. Because the loss of Piety may sooner be repaired than the loss of a Kingdom Lastly Because after death a Monk goeth in splendor to meet Jesus Christ and entreth immediately into Heaven whereas tho' a King seems to have ruled his Kingdom with Justice and Equity a thing very rare yet they shall be less glorious and not so happy there being a great difference in point of Holiness between a good King and a holy Monk who hath bestowed all his time and care upon praising God But if this King hath lived ill who can express the greatness of those punishments that attend him He concludeth in these words Let us not admire their Riches nor preferr their happiness before that of these poor Monks Let us never say that this rich Man is happy because he is cloathed with sumptuous Apparel carried in a fine Coach and followed by many Footman These Riches and great Pomps last but for a time and all the Felicity that attends them ends with the Life whereas the Happiness of Monks endures for ever It was likewise in his Solitude that he writ the two Books of Compunction of Heart whereof the first is dedicated to Demetrius and the second to Stelechius In these Books he discourses of the necessity and conditions of a true and sincere Repentance affirming That Christians ought to have their sins always in view to abhorr them with all their Heart to lament and continually beg of God the forgiveness of them That this sorrow ought to be a motion of that Charity which the Holy Ghost inspireth into our Hearts and to be animated with the fire of a Divine Love which consumeth sin and is accompanied with a Spirit of Mortification and Disinteressedness from the Goods of this World with an esteem of the Treasures of Heaven and of Spiritual Vertues He saith in the first Book That it is not Grace only which makes us do good since we ought our selves to contribute on our part all that depends upon our Wills and Strength wherefore saith he God's Grace is given to every one of us but it abideth only in the Hearts of them that keep the Commandments and departeth from them that correspond not with it neither doth it enter into their Souls who begin not to turn to the Lord. When God converted S. Paul he foresaw his good Will before he gave him his Grace The Three Books of Providence were composed by S. Chrysostom when he came out of his Solitude and returned to Antioch There he comforteth a Friend of his one Stagirius who having quitted the World was so tormented with an Evil Spirit that he was ready to fall into Despair exhorting him to look upon that affliction as a Grace of God rather than a Punishment for as much as it appears by the most notable Examples both of the old and of the new Law that from Adam to S. Paul Troubles and Afflictions have commonly been the lot of the Saints and Righteous Men For this reason these Books are intituled Of Providence because they clear that great Question which so much perplexed the learned Gentiles Why the Righteous are afflicted and persecuted if there be a Providence over-ruling the things of the World He sheweth there that this Question hath no difficulty if Men believe that there is another Life a Heaven and a Hell For saith he since every one is punished or rewarded in another World to what end are we concerned at what happens in this If wicked Men only were persecuted here we should easily believe that out of this World there is neither Punishments nor Rewards and were there none but good Men in affliction Vertue might be looked upon as the cause of Adversity and Crimes the reason of Prosperity Of necessity therefore there must be in this World righteous and wicked Men some happy and others unhappy He adds That by God's permission the Righteous are afflicted to expiate their sins and to correct them for their faults He saith further That God makes use of the Righteous Man's Fear to oblige others to look to themselves and to
Narration yet it may be called a Prophecy because that as there are three sorts of Prophecies the first of Writings the Second of Actions and the third of both So likewise there are three parts of each Prophecy That the first respects the present the Second what is to come and the third what is past Men Prophesie upon the present when they discover what is designed to be kept from them as Elisha did who knew Gehazis wickedness Men Prophesie upon the future when what is to come is foretold And there are also Prophecies of what is past when by Divine Inspiration things already passed are written whereof no knowledge was had otherwise In this Sence Severianus saith that Moses was a Prophet in the History of the World's Creation He observes further that Moses proposed to himself two things in his Writings to teach and to gives Laws That he began by Instruction in relating the Creation of the World to teach Men that God having created them had a right to give them Laws and Precepts For saith he had he not shewed at first that God is the Creator of the World he could not have justifyed that he was the Soveraign Lawgiver of Men because it is Tyranny to pretend to impose Laws upon those that do not belong to us whereas it is very natural to instruct such as depend upon us He endeth this Preface by shewing the Reason why Moses spake not of the Creation of Angels and Archangels First because it was not pertinent to his Subject Secondly because had he done it there was danger that Men would have worshipped them After this he explains the Text of Genesis about the World's Creation in a plain and literal way He doth not inlarge upon the spiritual Sence but rather finds fault with some Explications as being too much Allegorical But he maketh several trifling Reflections as when he observes in the Fifth Homily that the first Man was called Adam a word signifying Fire in the Hebrew because that as this Element easily spreads and Communicates it self so the World was to be peopled by this first Man Several other Notions of this Nature may be found in that Work which have neither Beauty nor Exactness nor Truth He Answers the Arians and Anomaeans He observes in the Fourth Homily that all Heresies bear the Names of their Authors whereas the true Church has none other Name than that of Catholick Church He inlargeth but little upon Morals yet at the Latter end of this Fourth Homily he recommends Fasting provided it be accompanied with Abstinence from Vices In a word One may say that this whole Work tho' full of Erudition yet is of no great use and deserveth not the Esteem of Men of true Judgment Father Combefis hath added to these Homilies some Fragments taken out of some Catena's upon the Scripture attributed to this Author and extracted out of his Commentaries upon Genesis Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy and upon Joshua But if these passages did not shew themselves to be written in Severianus his Stile one could not affirm it upon the credit of these Catena's One might with greater Confidence produce two passages of Severianus of Gabala upon the Incarnation quoted by Gelasius in the Book of the two Natures where he observes That the first is taken out of a Discourse of this Bishop against Novatus ASTERIUS AMASENUS ASterius a Asterius There were several of that Name The oldest is an Heretick of Arius his Party mention'd in the first Volume There is another Asterius commended by Theodoret in Philotheo c. 2. but different from this as well as the Catholick Bishop of the same Name who lived in the time of S. Athanasius Bishop of Amasea a City of Pontus flourished at the latter end of the Fourth Century b Towards the latter end of the Fourth Century We have observed That in the Sermon upon New-Years-day he speaks of Ruffinus his Death and of Eutropius his Disgrace which he tells us happen'd the Year before which justifyeth that he lived at the same time with S. Chrysostom and in the beginning of the Fifth The Sermons of this Bishop have been Asterius Amasenus quoted with Commendation by the Ancients c The Sermons of this Bishop have been quoted with Commendation by the Ancients He is cited in the Second Council of Nice Act. 4. and 6. Photius made some Extracts out of his works Cod. 271. Hadrian in lib. de un quotes his Homilies and Nicephorus defends them against the Iconoclasts There are but a small number of them extant Collected by F. Combefis at the beginning of his first Volume of the Supplement to the Bibliotheca Patrum The Five first were Printed formerly by Rubenius who published them at Antwerp Ann. 1608. and afterwards inserted into the Bibliotheca Patrum The six following were lately published by F. Combefis who joyned to them the Extracts made by Photius out of the Homelies of Asterius Amasenus and a Discourse upon S. Steven the Proto-Martyr formerly published under the Name of Proclus The first Sermon is upon the Parable of Dives and Lazarus He begins it with this Reflection That our Saviour not only made use of Precepts to teach us Vertue and to forbid Vice but that he further proposed illustrious Examples to instruct us in that way of Life which we ought to follow Afterwards he sets down the Text of S. Luke's Gospel making moral Reflections upon each Verse Upon these words Verse 26. There was a rich Man which was cloathed with Purple and fine Liâ—… He observes that the Holy Scripture by these two words understands all Extravagancies of Riches That the only use of Garments is to cover our Bodies and defend them from the injuries of the Air That God hath provided for this by creating Beasts with hair and wooll whereof Stuffs are made to secure us against both cold weather and the Beams of the Sun That besides he hath given the use of Flax for a greater Conveniency that these things ought to be applyed to our use in giving God thanks not only because he made us but also because he has provided all necessaries to cover and defend us from the Injuries of the Season But saith he if you leave the use of Wooll and Linen if you despise what God hath prepared and to satisfie your Pride you will have silk Garments thin like Cobwebs if after this you hire a Man at a dear rate to take out of the Sea a small Fish that you may dye them in its Blood Do you not Act the parts of effeminate Men He reproves those afterwards whose Garments were painted with several Figures of Men Beasts and Flowers and spares not those who by a ridiculous Devotion Printed upon their clothes some Godly Histories As the Marriage of Cana in Galilee the Sick of the Palsie in his Bed the blind Man cured the Woman that had an Issue of Blood the Sinner at the feet of Jesus Christ Lazarus risen again
Alacrity the day of the Resurrection for as much as this day represents unto us the Immortality which we are to enjoy These are the Reasons which the Church hath to keep Feasts and there are the like for the celebrating of all the rest But what reason can be given for the Festival of New-Years-Day and for the profusion then Practised O Folly O Impertience At that day every one runs with a design to get another Man's Goods Those that give doe it with Grief and they that receive Presents do not keep them but bestow them upon others One sends to his Patron what he received of his Client Another makes his Complement to receive Money The poor give to the rich and inferior people send Presents to the Great Ones As Brooks make small Rivers which at last fall into Great Ones in like manner the Presents which the common People make to those above them do all turn to the profit of great Lords upon whom they bestow them and thus this Feast is the beginning of Miseries and the overwhelming of the Poor Farmers and Labourers are constrained to give to their Landlords If they fail they are abused Miiserable People run like Fools through the Streets asking from Door to Door deafening every Body with their Noise and Cries It is a day of Riot for Soldiers The Consuls and Governours having made themselves rich with the Pay due to Soldiers the Spoyls of Widows and the publick Treasury having got Money by selling Justice by shameful Contracts by distributing this Money to Fidlers Stage-Players Dancers and Comedians lewd Women and base Fellows are at this Expense to feed their Vanity O Folly O Blindness God promises an eternal Reward to those who distribute to the Poor but these rather chuse to spend foolishly that they may get a vain and transitory Glory But after all what is the end of all that Vanity what Figure soever any can make in this World the end is always a Grave that buryeth Men in eternal Oblivion He describes here the fatal end of Ruffinus and Eutropius who just before were deprived both of their Dignities and of their Estates and concludes with these words of the wise Man Vanity of Vanities Dignities saith he are Dreams and Visions which vanish after having given some kind of delight for a very short time They are Flowers that dry on a sudden having flourished for a while The First Sermon is about Divorce Asterius shews there by several Reasons that Men are not to put away their Wives yet he excepteth Adultery and saith that if a Man puts away his Wife for Adultery instead of taking her again he commends him for avoiding a Person who by violating Chastity hath broken the indissoluble bond of Marriage He observes that the Law of the Gospel is the same for Men as for Women but that the Roman Laws have not observed the same Equity not permitting Wives to leave their Husbands but only Husbands to put away their VVives The reason commonly alledged of this difference is that Husbands do not prejudice their Wives in committing Adultery whereas by this Crime Wives doe introduce into Families other Men's Children and make them Heirs who have no manner of Right Asterius sticks not to say that this Reason is impertinent because Men abusing either Virgins or Wives overthrow and dishonour their Respective Families and wrong their Parents and their Husbands very considerably The Sixth Sermon upon the History of Susanna is full of curious moral Notions This is one A Man overtaken with a Sin is often drawn by that first Crime into all sorts of Iniquity as on the contrary one Vertue is the cause of another The Seventh Sermon is upon the miraculous cure of the Man that was born blind he exalts the Greatness of the Miracle and draws an Argument for Christ's Divinity from it The Eighth is a Panegyrick in Commendation of S. Peter and S. Paul he shews there how wonderful their miracles were and in several places establisheth S. Peter's Primacy amongst the Apostles All the Apostles saith he must give place to S. Peter and Confess that he alone deserveth the first Rank if a comparison of the Graces God gave to the Apostles is a Token of Priority of Honour The following Sermon is a Discourse in Commendation of Phocas the Martyr He affirms in the Preface that a remembrance of the Actions of Saints and of the Martyrs Engagements is one of the most powerful Arguments that can be to encourage Christians to Piety and Vertue He addeth that for this Reason they kept their Relicks that they are exposed to sight in Shrines that their Feasts are kept and Churches built to their Honour to refresh the Memory of their generous Actions Afterwards he relates the Life of Phocas the Martyr in a very plain and natural manner without any mixture of such Histories as are rather miraculous than rational He ends with the Honours that were paid to that Saint He says That the Memory of him was famous in the Countrey where his Body lay That at Rome he was respected almost as much as S. Peter and S. Paul and that his Head was had in great Veneration Asterius tells us that the Martyr Phocas he speaketh of was born as Sinope and a Gardiner by Profession without mentioning that he was a Bishop This is it perhaps which hath occasioned the Distinction of two Phocas's Martyrs The one martyr'd under Trajan whose Feast is kept July 14. and the other simply a Martyr whose remembrance is celebrated on the 5th of March The Greeks mention them both upon the 22d of September Perhaps it is but one and the same Man whose History hath been variously reported For both are supposed to have been of Sinope and the same Miracles are ascribed to both Be it as it will Seamen chose this Saint for their Patron as Asterius observes at the latter end of this Homily The Tenth Sermon in Commendation of Martyrs was preached in an Assembly met together for the Honour of the Martyrs He begins with this Reflection Very often we receive much good from our greatest Enemies unawares Had not Satan persecuted the Church we should have had no Martyrs He afterwards observes That Martyrs are not only Patterns of Vertue but also Accusers of Vice And this saith he is thus to be understood A Martyr hath constantly endured fire and flame why will you not tame the heat of Lust with Chastity A Martyr hath not regarded all the wealth of the World wherefore do you not despise a small Sum for the love of God A Martyr hath put off his own Body for God's sake why then will ye not part with the meanest Garment to cover a poor Man We ought either to Honour and imitate the Saints as our Masters or fear them as our Accusers Out of Honour to Martyrs we preserve their Relicks with Veneration looking upon them as Vessels of Benediction Organs of blessed Souls and assured Pledges of their Good-will
Pelagian Error concerning Children dying before Baptism whom they pretended to have a share of Eternal life The Third Letter of Innocent upon that Subject is his Answer to the Five Bishops who writ to him upon the suspicion of his Siding with Pelagius He tells them that by his Two former Letters he sufficiently discovered his Opinion concerning the Doctrine of that Heretick That as to his Person he had received certain Acts by which it appeared that he had been heard and absolved since the Council but that he did not believe them because it was plain from the Acts themselves that he had not clearly abjured his Errors He concludes with assuring them That he had read Pelagius his Book which they sent him and that he had found it to be full of Blasphemies that he met with nothing in it that pleased him or rather that he met with nothing there that did not displease him With this Letter there was a short Letter directed to Aurelius but there is nothing remarkable in it These Letters should be put last being written but a little before the Death of P. Innocent which was upon the 12th of March of the same Year and long after those that follow about the business of S. Chrysostom written in 404. The Twenty-eighth is a Letter of Consolation to S. Chrysostom soon after his Banishment The Twenty-ninth is directed both to his Clergy and People upon the same Subject The Thirty-first to Theophilus which is in Greek in Palladius is the first of the Three In the same Author there is another directed likewise to Theophilus The Thirtieth Letter to the Emperor Arcadius as well as the pretended Answers of that Emperor to Innocent and to his Brother Honorius are spurious grounded upon the Fable of Arcadius and Eudoxia's Excommunication He that forged them supposeth That this Empress out-lived S. Chrysostom but it is certain from Eunapius who is quoted by Photius Vol. 77. of his Bibliotheca that she died soon after S. Chrysostom's Banishment and three Years before his Death The 32d 33d and 34th Letters of P. Innocent are written about the Persecutions exercised by John of Jerusalem against S. Jerom. This Pope was skilfull in the Ecclesiastical Laws He often speaketh in commendation of the Nicene Canons He was very zealous for the Grandeur of the Roman Church and insisted much upon her Rights and Privileges He writes indifferently well and he giveth such an Air to his Notions and Reasonings as recommends them though they have not always that solidity and exactness that might be expected The Chronological Order of his Letters which ought to have been observed in the Printing of them is as follows In the Year 404. A Letter to Victricius Bishop of Rouën February 15. which is the II. A Letter to Theophilus XXXI A Letter to S. John Chrysostom XXVIII A Letter to the People of Constantinople XXIX In the Year 405. A Letter to Exuperius Bishop of Tholouse February 20. III. In the Year 413. A Letter to Boniface XIV A Letter to Alexander XV. A Letter to Maximian XVI A Letter to Alexander XVII A Letter to Acacius of Beraea XIX A Letter to Alexander XVIII In the Year 414. A Letter to the Bishops of Macedonia December 13. XXII A Letter to Marcian XXI In the Year 416. A Letter to Decentius Bishop of Eugubium March 17. I. A Letter to Aurelius June 1. XII A Letter to John of Jerusalem XXXII A Letter to S. Jerom XXXIII A Letter to Aurelius XXXIV A Letter to a Council at Toledo XXIII In the Year 417. Jan. 27. A Letter to the Council of Carthage XXIV A Letter to the Council of Milevis XXV A Letter to Five Bishops XXVI A Letter to Aurelius XXVII LETTERS without Date the Time whereof is not known A Letter to the Bishop of Nuceria IV. A Letter to Maximus and Severus Bishops of Abruzzo V. A Letter to Innocent Agapetus Macedonius and Marianus Bishops of Apuleia VI. A Letter to Rufus Gerontius c. Bishops of Macedonia VII A Letter to Florentius Bishop of Tivoli VIII A Letter to Probus IX A Letter to Aurelius and to S. Austin X. A Letter to Juliana XIII A Letter to Laurentius XX. A Suppositious Letter to Arcadius XXX Saint JEROM SAint JEROM was Born in the Town of Strigonium a The Town of Strigonium This Town is called Strigonium by Ptolomy some confound it with Strigonium in Istria others will have it to be different Situated upon the Borders of S. Jerom. Pannonia and Dalmatia He came into the World about the 345 Year of Jesus Christ b About the 345 of Jesus Christ. The Chronology of S. Jerom's Life is much disputed Some say that he was born under the Empire of Constantine according to some in the 25th Year of that Emperor's Reign and according to others in the 31st that is in the 331 or in 337. Prosper observes in his Chronicon that he died when Theodosius was the Ninth time Consul and Constantius the Third which is in the Year 420 and that he lived 91 Years If this be so the Year of his Nativity should be 329 Paulus Diaconus Sigebert Bede and the Writers of the Martyrologies give him 98 Years which would set the time of his Birth yet seven Years higher if we depend upon Prosper's Epocha for the time of his Death Baronius on the contrary computes that he lived but 78 Years so that if S. Jerom dy'd in 420 he was born according to that Author in 342. Lastly Others affirm That he was born in 348 or 350 and that he dy'd in 427. All that can be done in this diversity of Opinions is to find out those which agree best with what S. Jerom hath written of himself and with the Circumstances of his Life He saith in his Commentary upon the Prophet Habakkuk Chap. 3. That he was a Child a Student in Grammar when Julian the Emperor was killed Being saith he yet a Boy PUER and in Grammatical Exercises at the time that all the Cities of the World were polluted with the Blood of Victims in the greatest heat of Persecution on a sudden came the news of Julian ' s Death This expression Dum adhuc essem puer might intimate that S. Jerom was then but 10 or 12 Years old if S. Jerom did not often use the same word to signifie an older Age for in the Apology to Pammachius he hath the same word when he speaks of his Age when he was at Rome Dum essem puer Roma liberalibus studiis erudirer c. Now it is certain that he was then above 12 Years of Age. In a Letter to Nepotian speaking of the Time of his retiring he saith that he was then adolescens imo penè puer And yet he was then 30 Years old at the least In the 15th Chapter of his Commentary upon Isaiah making mention of the Earthquake that happened under the Consulship of Valens and Valentinian anno 365 he saith that he was a
of Rome or Eugubium whether of Constantinople or of Rhegium Alexandria or Tunis it is still the same Dignity and the same Function Power and Riches do not make a Bishop greater Poverty and want of Credit do not render his Station more vile All Bishops are Successors of the Apostles But you will say how cometh it to pass that at Rome a Priest is not ordained except a Deacon gives him his Testimonial Why is the Custom of one only Town objected to me Why is the small number of Deacons so exalted as if that were the Law of the Church All that is rare is most esteemed The small number hath made Deacons valued and the great number hath rendred Priests contemptible However Deacons stand before the Priests even when the Priests are sate down and this is observed even in the Church of Rome Tho' I have seen a Deacon sitting in the same rank with Priests in the absence of the Bishop and give the Blessing in the Presence of the Bishop such is now the Corruption of Manners But let such as undertake these things know that they are against Order Let them hear these words of the Apostle It is not just that we should leave the word of God to serve Tables let them learn wherefore Deacons were established let them read the Acts of the Apostles and remember their condition The Name of Priest or Presbyter denotes Age and that of Bishop Dignity wherefore in the Epistle to Timothy mention is made of the Ordination of Bishops and Deacons but not of that of Priests because Priests are comprised under the Name of Bishops Lastly to shew that a Priest is above a Deacon one needs only observe that a Priest is made of a Deacon but not a Deacon of a Priest This Letter was written after his going from Rome the Year is not known but it was in all probability about the Year 387. What he saith of Bishops may have a good Sence if we consider his design in this place which was to exalt the Dignity of the Priesthood by comparing them with Bishops not that he thought them equal in Dignity since he positively excepteth the Power of Ordination and that of Confirmation in his Dialogue against the Luciforians but since Priests have a share in the Government of the Church they may in that Sense be called Bishops Like Expressions may be seen in S. Jerom's Commentary upon the Epistle to Titus and in many Authors that have followed him The Eighty sixth is a Letter from S. Augustin to S. Jerom whereby he thanks him for the Answer to his and intreats him in the Name of the whole African Church to translate the Greek Authors that had writ Commentaries upon the Scripture He says That he was very desirous that S. Jerom would translate the Sacred Books after the same way that he had translated Job by setting down the differences of the Version of the LXX which had great Authority in the Church Now because S. Augustin did not understand Hebrew he could not apprehend that there should be so much difference betwixt the Hebrew Text and the Translation of the LXX and doth not approve of any departing from it For saith he to S. Jerom either those passages are clear or they are dark If they are dark you may be mistaken as well as the Seventy If they are clear can any Man believe that those learned Men did not understand them This Letter which was written about the Year 395 not being carried S. Augustin wrote another to S. Jerom upon the same Subject in 397. But the Person to whom he had given it to deliver to S. Jerom gave out some Copies of it which were spread in Rome so that it was publick before S. Jerom saw it This second Letter is here the Ninety seventh S. Augustin asketh of S. Jerom the true Title of his Book of Ecclesiastical Writers afterwards he reproves what S. Jorom had said That S. Peter and S. Paul pretended to have a difference tho' they were agreed He pretends that this Opinion is of very great Consequence and may have dangerous Effects because if we admit of an officious Lye in the Holy Scripture it seems to give Men a handle to doubt of all He therefore exhorts him to alter that passage in his Commentary At the latter end he prays him to add to his Book of Ecclesiastical Writers the Errors of some Hereticks of whom he speaks or to make a Book purposely on that Subject S. Augustin having no Answer because neither of those two Letters were delivered to S. Jerom wrote a Third by Cyprian the Deacon wherein he requireth an Answer to the two former adding in this That he found fault with his writing a new Translation of the Bible pretending that it would cause Disturbances and Scandals if it were publickly read in the Church as it really happened in a Church of Africk where a Bishop having publickly read the Prophecy of Jonas according to S. Jerom's Translation the People hearing other Terms than they were wont to hear accused their Bishop of falsifying the Scripture This Letter was written some years after the foregoing about the Year 403. S. Jerom having received these Three Letters by Cyprian the Deacon thought himself affronted by S. Augustin's demands and answered him with some Loftiness in the Eighty ninth Letter He repeats all the Questions that had been put to him by S. Augustin and endeavours to give him Satisfaction He telleth him 1. About the Title of his Book of Ecclesiastical Writers that it ought to be Entituled the Book of Famous Men or of Ecclesiastical Writers 2. He defends his Exposition of S. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians about the Action of S. Peter and S. Paul by the Authority of Origen Didymus and other ancient Authors whose Commentaries he only translated as he had said before in the Preface That if he is in an Error he had rather err with those Great men than flatter himself with having the Truth only on his side He adds Reasons to Authority shewing by the History of the Acts That S. Peter could not but know that Christians were freed from the Burden of the Law That on the other side S. Paul had himself practised that very thing whereof he here accuseth S. Peter by observing the Ceremonies of the Law from whence he concludes that both these Apostles being of the same Opinion had agreed to raise that small Dispute to instruct both Jews and Gentiles by that pious Artifice Afterwards he refutes S. Augustin's Opinion and strives to answer the Reasons which he had produced Last of all he gives him Reasons for the Notes that were in his Translation of the Scripture He answereth S. Augustin's reasoning to prove that he had not done well in Translating the Bible a new very pleasantly by retorting the same upon him You cannot be ignorant saith he that the Psalms have been expounded by several Commentators Greek and Latin who wrote before you Pray tell
and it were look'd upon as Honoratus's Estate that Example would serve for a Pretence to those that should come into Monasteries to deferr the parting with their Estates wherefore his Opinion was That at least they should divide it and that the Church of Thiana should have but half St. Augustin tells him That he was not of that mind but desireth him to Sign the Letter which he had written to the Church of Thiana whereby he utterly renounced all Pretensions upon Honoratus's Estate and he proffers to return Half of it to the Monastery of Tagasta when any considerable Donation should be conferred upon the Monastery of Hippo. This Letter is placed in the Year 405. In the Eighty fourth Letter he excuses himself towards Novatus who is supposed to be the Bishop of Sitifi that was present at the Conference in Carthage for detaining Lucillius the Deacon his Brother because he understood and spake the Punick Language well the Use whereof being common at Sitifi and not at Hippo it was easie for Novatus to find a Church-man in those Parts to Preach in that Tongue whereas St. Augustin could not so readily meet with such a One in his Country Thus is this Letter to be understood as the Translator oberveth after a very Learned Man It seems to belong to the same Year as the foregoing In the Eighty fifth St. Augustin reproves Paul of Catagnae for parting with his own Estate when he was made a Bishop that he might abuse the Revenue of his Church to live more at ease telling him That so long as he liveth thus he will not communicate with him In this Letter there is this excellent Advice Non est Episcopatus artificium transigendae vitae fallaâ—â—â— Episcopacy ought not to be look'd upon as an Establishment or a Means to procure the deceitful Pleasures of this Life This Paul being dead before the Year 408. as is plain by the Ninety sixth Letter this Letter must have been written about the Year 405. In the Eighty sixth he solliciteth Caecilian Governor of Numidia to restrain the Donatists about Hippo as he had done in other Places under his Government It was written after the Edict o Honorius of the Year 403. before Caecilianus was created Praefectus Praetorio in the Year 409. In the Eighty seventh Letter that was written about the same time St. Augustin presses Emeritus a Donatist Bishop at Caesarea to tell the Reasons which made him separate from the Church and refuteth those which he used to alledge The Eighty eighth was written by St. Augustin in the Name of the Clergy of Hippo to Januarius a Donatist Bishop after the Donatists Deputies that were sent in 406. to the Emperors were rejected It contains several Complaints against the Violences of some Donatist Clerks and the authentick Acts of what happen'd in Constantine's time concerning the business of the Donatists About the end of the Letter they propose a Conference The Eighty ninth Letter to Festus is much upon the same Subject St. Augustin begins by justifying the Emperor's Edicts against the Donatists Then he relates the Original of that Schism and the Judgments whereby it was condemned He proves That the Donatists had no Grounds for their Separation nor for Re-baptizing Catholicks Lastly He giveth Festus notice That the People about Hippo still persisted in the Schism notwithstanding his Letters and continued their Violences The Ninetieth Letter is from an Heathen one Nectarius who interceded with St. Augustin for his Fellow-Citizens that dwelt at Calama who had sacrificed to Idols contrary to the Emperor's Inhibitions and offered Violence to some Christians The Reason that this Pagan uses to prevail with St. Augustin is That it is the Duty of a Bishop to do nothing but Good to Mankind Not to meddle with their Affairs unless it be to make them better and to intercede with God to pardon their Faults Baronius is of Opinion That this Letter was written immediately after the Laws of 399. In the last Edition it is placed in the Year 408. and what is said there of the Laws newly published is apply'd to the Law of the 24th of November 407. directed to Curtius which is the 19th of the 10th Title of the 16th Book of the Theodosian Code The next Letter is St. Augustin's Answer to Nectarius whereby he exhorts him to turn Christian promising That though the Violences of those at Calama had proceeded very far yet he would contribute as much as the Interest of publick Security would permit to have them treated gently He owns and approves the Maxim which he alledged concerning Episcopal Meekness yet he asserts That there must be Examples The most guilty cannot be spared That Christians do not desire to see them punished out of Revenge but Charity obligeth them to provide for the future yet however they do not desire the Death of those that abused them they desire only their Conversion And they are but little concerned for the Losses which they sustained but they seek after their Souls This is saith he in the Conclusion of his Letter what we are seeking with the Price of our Blood This is that Harvest which we would make plentiful at Calama or at least that what happened in that place might not hinder us to make it any where else In the Ninety second to Italica a Lady he comforts her upon the Death of her Husband telling her That God cannot be seen either in this World or in the next with bodily Eyes This Letter is before the Ninety ninth directed to the same Lady which is written in 408. The Ninety third to Vincentius a Donatist Bishop containeth several Reasons to show that Secular Authority and the Severity of the Laws may be used against Schismaticks to oblige them to return into the Church One of the chiefest is The Usefulness and the good Effects which the Terror of the Imperial Laws had produced since they caused the Conversion of several whole Cities St. Augustin confesses That this Reason affected him most That by such Examples his Collegues brought him to their Opinions That it was his Opinion formerly That no Man ought to be forced That Words only were to be used for otherwise they could make none but counterfeit Catholicks But that having withstood all Reasons he finally yielded to Experience That the Laws had brought back those that continued in the Schism only by Interest Fear Negligence or other Considerations of the same Nature Afterwards he exhorts Vincentius to return to the Church shewing That the true Church is that which is spred throughout the Earth He Answers what the Donatists objected to prove that it might be comprehended within a small number of Righteous Men He shews That it must necessarily be mix'd with both bad and good And at last declares against Re-baptizing This Letter was written about the Year 408. The 94th Letter is by St. Paulinus Bishop of Nola and the 95th is St. Augustin's Answer to that of Paulinus He discourseth of
desireth Oceanus to send him a Treatise of that Father whereof Orosius had spoken to him and wherein he treated of the Resurrection of the Flesh. The 181st 182d 183d and 184th Letters are Pope Innocent's Answers to those of the African Bishops whereby he approves and confirms all that was done in Africa against Pelagius and Coelestius they are of the Year 417. The 185th Letter is amongst those Discourses that St. Augustin mentions in his Retractations where he calls it the Book of the Correction of the Donatists against those who found fault that the Imperial Laws were put in Execution to make them return into the Church He directs it to Bonifacius a Tribune and afterwards Count in Africa Having shewed there the difference betwixt the Arian Heresie and the Donatists Schism he proves That keeping within the Rules of Christian Moderation the terrour of the Laws may be used to reduce Hereticks to the Church He speaketh at large of the Cruelties which the Donatists and particularly the Circumcellians exercised against the Catholicks He refutes all the Reasons then alledged at large which Reasons were now made use of to perswade Men that Hereticks are not to be reclaimed from their Errors by Force or Punishments He says some Things concerning Penance and Remission of Sins That Baptism blots cut all Sins and that by Penance they may also be remitted and That if the Church hath ordained That none of those who have been under Penance shall be admitted into the Clergy or kept in it this is only for the upholding of Discipline least some should do Penance out of Pride with a Design to obtain Ecclesiastical Dignities not that she would cast Criminals into Despair how Guilty soever they be but that this Method is altered upon those Occasions where the Business is not only to secure the Salvation of some particular Men but to deliver whole Nations from Death In which Circumstances the Church hath remitted much of the Severity of her Discipline to find a Remedy for greater Evils and for this very Reason she dealeth thus with the Donatists That she is satisfied if they expiate their Sin of Separation by as bitter Grief as was that of St. Peter and she preserveth their Rank and Dignity among the Clergy That the Church practised this when whole Nations were to be reclaimed from Errour or Heresie That Lucifer Calaritanus was looked upon as a Schismatick for being of another Opinion That the Sin of the Holy Ghost is not Errour or Blasphemy since it would thence follow that no Heretick ought to be admitted to Penance or obtain Remission of his Sin and that by this no other thing can be understood but final Impenitency St. Augustin observes in his Retractations that he wrote this Letter at the same time that he composed the Book of The Acts of Pelagius in 417. The 186th Letter of St. Augustin is written to Paulinus Bishop of Nola not to Boniface as it is entituled in some Manuscripts siince it is quoted as directed to Paulinus in the Book of the Gift of Perseverance Ch. 21. and by St. Prosper Ch. 43. against Cassianus his Conferences And indeed St. Augustin quotes a Passage out of a Letter from the Person to whom he wrote which is found in the 8th Letter of St. Paulinus ' to Sulpitius Severus This whereof we now speak is written in the Names of St. Augustin and Alypius who was an intimate Friend of St. Paulinus against Pelagius whom this Saint had in great Esteem In this Letter St. Augustin layeth open all his Principles concerning Grace and Predestination and refuteth Pelagius his Notions He begins with the Relation of what had been done against him in Africa and sends Copies of it to St. Paulinus Then he layeth down these Positions That the Grace of Jesus Christ that is necessary to enable us to do Good is altogether of Free Gift That God sheweth Mercy to whom he pleaseth That he takes whom he thinks fit out of the Mass of Corruption into which Mankind is fallen through Adam's Sin He insisteth particularly upon the Example of Infants whereof some are saved through God's Mercy and others damned because of Original Sin He refutes Pelagius's Opinion touching the State of Infants whom he supposes to be in a middle State between Heaven and Hell which he calleth Eternal Life He proves That Free-Will does not consist in an Indifference to Good or Evil for it is enclined to Evil and cannot do Good without the assistance of the Grace of God He tells St. Paulinus that Pelagius maintained the contrary in his former Books that afterwards he seems to have retracted his Errours in the Council of Diospolis whereof he had received the Acts and then he dissembled again sometimes confessing the Necessity of Grace and often affirming That the Will had Power of it self to abstain from Sin So that God's Assistance in his Opinion was afforded us over and above to enable us to do that which is good with the greater Ease These are the Opinions refuted by St. Augustin in this Letter where he urges a Passage from a Letter written by St. Paulinus to convince him that he ought to reject them and condemn Pelagius The next Letter to Dardanus is a Didactical Treatise mentioned by St Augustin in his Retractations There he shews how God is said to be Omnipresent upon occasion of Two Questions which Dardanus had proposed to him The one upon these Words of Jesus Christ to the good Thief This Day thou shalt be with me in Paradise and the other Whether Children have any Notion of God in the Womb. The former Difficulty is grounded upon this That the humane Nature of Christ was not in Paradise immediately after his Death because his Soul descended into Hell and his Body was laid in the Grave St. Augustin saith That the Soul of Jesus Christ may be said to have been in the same Place where the Souls of the Righteous were which may be called Paradise But he thinks it more probable That this is meant of Christ's Divinity which never ceased to be in Paradise This puts St. Augustin upon treating of God's Immensity whereof he speaketh after a very high manner shewing That we ought not to conceive of it as of a Corporeal Extention He discourseth likewise of the particular manner how God dwelleth in the Saints and in Baptized Infants that do not yet know him And this leads him to the Second Question about the Knowledge of Children that are yet in their Mother 's Womb. He affirms That they have no knowledge no not after their Birth and that the Holy Ghost dwelleth in them and they know it not whereupon he enlargeth upon Justification that is wrought by Regeneration and speaketh of Birth in Sin the Necessity of Baptismal Grace and of Faith in Jesus Christ. It is evident by St. Augustin's Retractations That this Letter was written in the Year 417. It is directed to the Praefect of Gaul to whom St. Jerom wrote
Conference is a Disourse of the Abbot Pinuphius about true Repentance It consists in his Judgment in never committing those Sins of which we repent or which our Consciences accuse us of Also we ought to believe That our Sins are pardoned when we have renounced our Passions and our Desires of this World It is good for a Man to call to mind his Sins at the beginning of Repentance but he must afterward forget them There are many other ways of blotting out Sin besides by Baptism and Martyrdom Charity Sorrow Confession Alms-giving Prayers c. are means of obtaining Remission If we are ashamed to confess our Sins to Men it is sufficient to acknowledge them before God which ought to be understood of ordinary Sins When our greater Sins are remitted and we feel no more the Motions nor Desires to commit them we must quite forget them But we must not do so with little Sins into which we fall every day and therefore must repent of them daily The 21st Conference is the Abbot Theonas's He describes his own Conversion and relates how he left his Wife against her Will to retire himself into a Monastery But Cassian is careful to advertise us That he doth not propound this Example as lawful to be imitated Lastly the Question is put Why the Monks observe no Fasting-days from Easter to Whitsontide For resolution of this Question he lays it down That Fasting is in it self a thing indifferent and not always convenient to be used and maintains That it is an Apostolick Tradition not to fast in those days of Joy This Question gives an occasion for another Why Lent in some places is kept six Weeks in others seven since neither way if we take away Saturday and Sunday it is not of forty days continuance Theonas answers That the 36 days of Lent contained in the 6 weeks make the tenth part of the Year which is Holy to God That those whose Lent is seven weeks long have 36 Fasting-days without counting Saturdays and Sundays because the Fast of the Holy Saturday which they continue without interruption to Easter-Sunday may well pass for two That those who keep a six weeks Lent only fast on Saturday In sum That that time is called Quadragesima altho' we Fast but 36 days because Moses Elias and Jesus Christ fasted 40 days That the Perfect are not tyed to this Law which was ordained for those only who spend all their Lives in Pleasure and Delights that being forced by a Law they may at least spend that time in God's Service But as to those who give their Life entirely to God this Law was not intended for them they are freed from paying these Tythes Upon this ground he affirms That there was no Lent observed in the Primitive Church and that it was established for no other reason but because of the negligence of the Faithful Lastly Theonas concludes That it is Love that makes the Precepts of the Gospel lighter and easier to be born than those of the Law About the end Germanus asks him Why those who fast much do find themselves often troubled with the Temptations of the Flesh The resolution of this Question is put off to the next Conference where he treats of Nocturnal Pollutions which happen either through immoderate Eating or through Negligence or lastly by the craft of the Devil These last are no Sin and if the judgment of this Abbot may be followed they need not hinder us from approaching the Holy Sacrament altho' we ought to receive it not without much dread and believing our selves unworthy That we must be truly Holy that we may approach it but it is not necessary to be without Sin because then no Body may receive it since none but Jesus Christ is free from all Sin In the 23d Conference the same Abbot explains this Text of S. Paul The good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not that I do and some other places of like nature He holds That we must understand them of S. Paul and the Apostles and not of Sinners For the explication of them he says That the Good which Man cannot do is absolute Perfection and a total freedom from Sin He adds That those that aim at a State of Perfection often fall themselves drawn away by the motions of the Flesh and Passions and therefore acknowledge the necessity of Grace He owns That Concupiscence is an effect of Adam's Sin which hath brought Mankind into Bondage That Jesus Christ came to deliver him from it and that he hath done it by restoring him again his Liberty entire and not by clogging it That altho we have the knowledge of Goodness and desire spiritual and celestial Goods the Flesh often pulls us down to the Earth and fills us with earthly desires which do not indeed hurry good Men into enormous Sins but yet makes them fall into venial Sins and so the most Holy and Just Men do truly call themselves Sinners and desire of God every day the pardon of their Offences That it is almost impossible to avoid all Sin even in our Prayers either through distraction or carelesness but yet these Sins ought not to discourage us from receiving the Communion Germanus and Cassian having declared to the Holy Old Man Abraham that they had a desire to return into their own Country alledging that they might do much good there both by their Example and Exhortation This Holy Abbot diverts them from this Design and tells them plainly that it was nothing but an hankering Mind that they had to the World He then enlarges upon the necessity of retirement and an entire separation from the World He speaks also of the Mortification of the Senses and Lusts of the Flesh which renders Jesus Christ's Yoke pleasant and easie to be born He confesses That we must allow our selves sometimes Recreation Lastly he proves That those who have renounced the World entirely enjoy Riches Pleasures and Honour infinitely more real and substantial than those that Worldings enjoy and that so the Promise of Jesus Christ which gives all those who leave any thing for him hopes of receiving an hundred fold is accomplished in them even in this present World Cassian having finish'd this Work before the Year 429. was resolved to continue silent and write no more but he was over-perswaded by S. Leo who was then Archdeacon of Rome to write a Treatise upon the Incarnation against the Heresy of Nestorius which then began to spread it self in which he confutes the first Sermon of Nestorius This Work is divided into seven Books In the First having compared Heresy to an Hydra he makes a Catalogue of the principal Heresies And insisting upon the Pelagian Heresy he observes That the Error of those who hold That it was not a God but a Man that was born of the Virgin Mary was taken from the Principles of the Pelagians Leporius was the first Author of that Erroneous Doctrine and preached it to the
which he shall cite shall be compell'd by the Governour to come to Rome This Edict which is contrary to the Canons and also to the Decrees of the Council of Sardica hath no place here It is dated the 6th of June in 445. The Eleventh Letter to Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria was written certainly some Time after the Ordination of that Bishop and consequently in 445. S. Leo having spoken of the Union and Agreement that there ought to be between the Church of Rome and Alexandria because the First was founded by S. Peter and the Second by S. Mark his Scholar He exhorts Dioscorus to observe that which was practised in the Church of Rome touching the Times of Ordinations which ought not to be conferr'd on all Days indifferently but only on Saturday-night just before the Lord's Day which may be looked upon as belonging to the Lord's Day He would have them who celebrate Ordination to be Fasting and that they continue the Fast of Saturday upon the Lord's Day that is to say That since they begin to fast all Day on Saturday they do not eat till the Evening of the Lord's Day after the Ordination is ended so we ought to understand S. Leo's Words This Explication is confirmed by Urban II. in the Council of Clermont in the Year 1095. where speaking of Ordinations he says Et tunc protrahatur jejunium usque ad crastinum ut magis appareat in die dominico ordines fieri And then let the Fast be lengthned till the Morrow that it may be the more apparent that Orders are conferred on the Lord's Day In the Second Part of this Letter he advises him to observe the Custom of the Church of Rome which was to reiterate the Holy Communion when so great Numbers come to the Church upon solemn Festivals that all those that come cannot enter It was evidently the same who began the Sacrament again for the Bishop ordinarily administred it and it was not allow'd to a Priest to offer in the presence of a Bishop He wrote this Letter to Dioscorus by Possidonius a Deacon of Alexandria who is evidently the same that S. Cyril sent to S. Caelestine for S. Leo witnesses That he had often been present at the Ordinations and Processions of Rome The Twelfth Letter is to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica and although the Date of it be not well known yet it is referr'd to this Year S. Leo in this Letter lays some Faults to the Charge of this Bishop and prescribes him some Rules which he would have him observe He tells him That he and his Predecessors being made his Deputy he ought to execute that Charge with Moderation and suspend the Judgment of Matters of Consequence and which have some Difficulty to make Report of them to the Holy See He tells him That he must act with Gentleness and Charity principally in reproving Bishops and that he must rather amend them by Kindness than Severity He afterward objects some Faults against him not directly laying them to his Charge They saith he who seek their own Interest more than that of Jesus Christ take no Care how they manage Affairs they depart from the Laws of Charity they love rather to Rule than to Advise the Honour pleaseth them when it raiseth them and they abuse the Title which hath been given them for the Preservation of Peace He adds That it is a Grief to him that he is forced to use such Terms but he thinks himself in Fault when he knows That he whom he hath made his Deputy is departed from the Laws which he hath given him He then tells him That the Reason of this Imputation is the Severity which he hath used towards Atticus Metropolitan of Epirus because he had not appeared at the Synod to which he had been summon'd He tells him That although he were Blame-worthy yet he had not Power to condemn him without waiting for the Judgment of the Holy See because being but Deputy he was assumed in partem sollicitudinis non in plenitudinem potestatis To share in his Care not exercise the same Authority He appoints in the Second Canon that Metropolitans should preserve the Rights which are granted them by the Canons In the Third he says That such Persons may not be chosen for Bishops as are Laymen or Novices or twice married or have married Widows In the old Edition it is Sed nec qui viduam copularit Neither he that marrieth a Widow It ought to be read Qui unam vel habeat vel habuerit sed quam sibi viduam copularit He that hath or shall have but only one Wife but whom he married when she was a Widow F. Quesnel hath thus corrected it following the Authority of the Collections of Councils In the Fourth Canon he commands the Bishops Priests and Deacons to live unmarried and observes That the Use of Marriage was not allowed to Subdeacons Nevertheless S. Gregory lib. 2. Regist. Ep. 42. says That it was too hard to refuse it to the latter In the 〈◊〉 Canon he saith that he ought to be made a Bishop who is chosen by the 〈◊〉 and People He gives Power to the Metropolitan in case that their Judgments be divided to preferr him who is of greatest Worth and hath most Votes But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forbids him making any Person a Bishop whom the People would not have In the Sixth Canon he judges it very fit that the Metropolitan should write to his Vicar concerning the Election that it may be confirmed by his Judgment and so after the Death of the Metropolitan he wills that the Bishops of the Province should assemble themselves and chuse one of the Priests or Deacons of the Vacant Church and that they give an Account of their Election to his Vicar that he may confirm it He commands him notwithstanding to return a speedy Answer Sicut enim saith he Just as electiones nullis volumus dilationibus fatigari ita nihil permittimus te ignorante praesumi For as we will not have due Elections to be disturbed with Delays so we do not allow that any thing be presumed on without your Knowledge In the Seventh Canon he appoints according to the Nicene Council That two Synods be held every Year in each Province He requires that if there be any Cause among the Bishops accused of Crimes which cannot be determined in the Provincial Synod it should be made known to his Vicar and if he could not end it he should write to the Holy See In the Eighth he declares That he that would go from one Church to another out of Contempt of his own shall be deprived both of that he would have and of that he hath Ut nec illis praesideat quos per avaritiam concupivit nec illis quos per superbiam sprevit That he may not preside over those whom he through Covetousness hath desired not those whom through Pride he hath contemned S. Leo in this follows the Canon of the Council of Sardica
but those of Nice and Chalcedon permitted them to continue in their First Church In the Ninth he forbids the Bishops to receive or invite the Clergy of another Church He will so have it That if a Clerk being come out of his own Diocess abide in the same Province he should be compell'd to return to his own Church by the Metropolitan and if he be out of the Province by the Vicar of the Holy See In the Tenth he enjoyns him to observe a great deal of Moderation in calling his Brethren together He requires That if it be necessary to convene a Synod about some weighty Affair he would constrain no more than Two Bishops of each Province to come to it and those such as the Metropolitan should chuse and that he should keep them no longer than Five Days In the last he commands Anastasius That if in any Thing he found his Judgment different from his Brethren's that he should write to him before he did any thing that all things might be done with Unity and Concord He observes That although the Dignity of Bishops be common for so it ought to be read Etsi dignitas communis non est tamen ordo generalis their Order is different that although the Apostles were equal yet a Primacy was always given to one only That according to this Platform the Distinction of Bishops is formed and it hath been provided That all should not assume to themselves all sorts of Rights For this Reason it is that Metropolitical Bishops have greater Authority than other Bishops that in great Cities there are those that have a greater Charge And that Lastly the Care of the Universal Church belongs to the See of S. Peter that all the Churches may agree with their Head That he must not take it ill to have one above him who is himself above others but he ought to obey the rather as he desires others should obey him and as he would not bear an heavy Yoke himself he must not impose it upon others It is to be observ'd That S. Leo wrote this Letter to a Bishop of Thessalonica whom he had made his Vicar in the Diocess of Illyria which he had a Mind to add to his Patriarchate and govern it with the same Authority that he did the Sub-urbian Provinces The Thirteenth Letter directed to the Metropolitans of Achaia is taken out of the Collection of Holstenius It is Dated January the 6th 446. S. Leo tells them how Joyful he was at the Receipt of their Letters understanding thereby that they approved of what he had done in committing the Care of the Churches of Illyria to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica He Admonishes them That if there arise any Controversies among the Bishops of that Country which cannot be decided in the Province they ought to be brought before him and determined by his Judgment but if they are of very great consequence and cannot be ended in the Provinces nor accommodated by the Mediation of the Bishop of Thessalonica the Bishops of the Provinces must come to a Synod which he will call and Two or Three Bishops at least of each Province must be present at it He then Reproves the Metropolitan of Achaia because he had Ordained many contrary to the Canons of the Church and particularly had not long before made a Person Bishop of Thespiae who was unknown to the Inhabitants and whom they were against He thereupon forbids Metropolitans to Ordain such Persons as they thought good of Bishops without waiting for the consent of the People and Clergy and enjoins them to accept him who shall be chosen by the common consent of all the City Lastly He requires them to Observe the Canons which forbid a Bishop to take a Clerk of another Bishop if he do not shew Letters from his own Bishop that he is willing to let him have him He looks upon this point of Discipline as being very useful to uphold Agreement and Peace among Bishops We have already spoken to the Fourteenth Letter written to Januarius Bishop of Aquileia The Fifteenth Letter written to Turribius is of July the 21st 447. S. Leo therein commends that Bishop that he had care to give him notice that the Abominable Heresie of the Priscillianists began to spring up afresh in Spain He also calls it the Sect of the Priscillianists because he says it was an heap of detestable Errors and most filthy Superstitions He adds That that Heresie hath been Condemned by the Church as often as it hath appeared and that the Magistrates themselves have had so great an Hatred for that detestable Sect that they have used the severity of the Laws against them punishing the Author and principal Abetters with Death And that not without Reason because they saw that all Laws Divine and Humane would be subverted and the Civil Society disturbed if such Persons who divulged so detestable Errors were suffered to live That this severity had been used a long time together with the Lenity of the Church because tho' the Church being contented with the Judgment of her Bishops avoids all Sanguinary Punishments yet it is helped by the Edicts of Princes which cause them that fear Temporal Penalties to have recourse sometimes to Spiritual Remedies S. Leo in the next place relates the Sixteen Articles in which Turribius makes the Doctrine of the Priscillianists to consist and shews us that they contain so many Impieties The Articles are these 1. That the Father Son and Holy Ghost are only One Person 2. That there comes from the Essence of God Virtues that is to say Spiritual Beings which proceed from his Essence 3. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God only because he was Born of the Virgin Mary 4. That they Fast on Christ's Nativity and Sundays 5. That the Soul is from the Divine Essence 6. That Devils were never good by their Nature that they were not Created by God but they were Formed out of the Chaos and Darkness 7. That Marriage is forbidden and that Generation is a detestable thing 8. That the Bodies of Men are made by the Devil and that they shall not rise from the Dead 9. That the Children of the Promise are Born of Women but are Conceived by the Holy Ghost 10. That the Souls of Men have their abode in Heaven before they are inclosed in their Bodies and that they are thrust into them upon the account of their Sins which they have committed heretofore 11. That the Stars and Constellations govern all things by an inevitable Fate 12. That the Body and Soul are subject to certain Powers those that Govern the Soul are called Patriarchs and those that Rule the parts of the Body are Stars 13. That the whole Body of the Canonical Scriptures is contained under the Name of the Patriarchs which denote the Twelve Vertues which restore and illuminate the inner Man 14. That our Bodies are subject to the Stars and Constellations 15. S. Leo Observes That they have corrupted the
obliged to reserve nothing of their Goods to themselves since it is their part to give an Example to the Ignorant Christians whom they ought as much to surpass in Devotion as they do in Degree and Dignity For the highest place in the Priestly Office without great worth is nothing else but a Title given to an Office Dignity to an unworthy Person and as a Precious Stone in the Dirt. The Levites of the Old Law had nothing of their own with how much greater reason is it forbidden to the Ministers of the New Law to possess Riches and leave them to their Heirs Jesus Christ doth not advise 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 doth others 〈…〉 Gold or Silver The 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 obliged 〈◊〉 others to 〈◊〉 them 〈◊〉 because 't is their State and 〈…〉 Sins we must give them to 〈…〉 of Life I grant we may says 〈…〉 and cut off all Superâ—… We 〈…〉 getting Riches or eâ—creasing them or be troubled in keeping them Lastly Some Goods which we have in this Life must be distributed 〈…〉 not 〈◊〉 run to the last 〈…〉 I have children may some say here begins Wordâ—'s Third 〈…〉 for their Salvation But if 〈◊〉 the Affection of Parents who leave their Children something to live on be 〈…〉 their â—ollateral Heirs and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Rich Men Oh unhappy Men as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you are full of Carking 〈…〉 when you are Dead and do not think upon 〈…〉 before God's 〈◊〉 the Devils attend you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you Eternally and you are thinking on the Pleasures which your Heirs will have in enjoying the 〈◊〉 which you have gotten I do not speak this to 〈◊〉 Christians altogether from leaving any thing on their lawful Heirs Heirs but to Teach them above all things to take care of 〈◊〉 Salvation There are some cases in which it is not only justly allowable to leave in their Heirs 〈◊〉 it were the greatest Injustice not to do it As for Example If a Man leaves his Father or Mother 〈◊〉 or Wife 〈◊〉 Necessity if he hath Poor Friends he is obliged to leave them something and so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they are Dedicated to God although we now do just the contrary and Fathers leave none of their Children less than those they have offered to God But why is it necessary to give to the Religious 〈◊〉 say How Must they be forced to beg their Bread because they are Religious It true That That they need not the things of this World but no thanks to their Parents that they are not in â—ant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Hardness would reduce them to it if they had not other helps You will demand What gâ—â—d would it do them to have an equal share of their Father's Estate with their 〈◊〉 I Answer That it would be useful to maintain the others Religious to impart to those that have nothing that their Charity may make them not to have it soon but may be more happy in having had it Why do you reduce them to Poverty against their wâ—â—â—s 〈◊〉 Suffer them to embrace Poverty voluntarily to chuse it out of Devotion without obliging them to endure it through Necessity There are some that think it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leave the Proâ—… to their Religious Children This is a kind of Impiety and Inâ—â—â—elity says 〈◊〉 For besides that the propriety of their Goods belongs to their Children this is a way found out to provide for their Children without giving any thing to God They would have the Holy Monks Live in Riches but Die in Poverty In fine 〈…〉 much against that Abuse which is become a kind of Law among us To leave nothing to the Religious or only an Allowance for Life he spends the rest of this Book and all the Fourth in proving That Men are obliged at their Death to leave a part of their Estate to be employed in â—ions Uses Salvian cites one place of these Books in his Fourth Book Of the Government of God which shews that they were written before the Year 440. He also gives the reason of the Title of these Books in his Letter written to Salâ—… where he says 1. That he Dedicated them to the whole Church because the disorders were general 〈◊〉 That he concealed his own Name for Two Reasons for fear it should be 〈◊〉 occasion of Pride and upon the account of that small Authority and Esteem he had least they should hurt the important Truths contain'd in his Work 3. That he chose the Name of Tiâ—… according to S. Luke's Example who â—ook Theophilus's because that Name may agree to all Men that Honour God and that being fearful of telling a Lye he assumed a Name which agreed to the design of the Work composed for the Honour of God But that it was needless curiosity to search after the Author because he was not willing to be known There are besides these Eight Letters of Salvian's which are all written with a great deal of Elegancy The best of them is that which is written to his Wife's a Hypatius Father and b Palladia Mother in his own their c Quieta Daughter 's and their d Auspicioâ—a little Daughter's Name to appease the Anger in which their Mother and Father were because they were retreated and had Consecrated themselves to God It is not necessary to commend the Beauty and Elegancy of Salvian's Stile it is sufficiently known to all that have but a little smattering of Learning It would be hard to find a more near beautiful smooth and pleasant Discourse He is not so diffusive but he is more diverting and full of Instructions than Lactantius and he proves what he asserts by Texts of Scripture which he alledges much to his purpose and which come up very well to the Subject in hand He makes very Natural Descriptions of Vices to create Hatred of them he produces very plausible Reasons to induce Men to forsake them and he confutes solidly and ingeniously the idle preâ—…es which they made use of to defend their pursuit of the World His Morals are strict without being unreasonable but he lays down some Principles a little too largely and which he cannot maintain in their strict sence but it is the common fault of 〈◊〉 that are too rigid Censors of Manners and it is hard to inveigh strongly against a Vice aâ—d not fall into the contrary Extream There are Three Books of Questions Printed with Salvian at Basil and elsewhere to reconcile some places of the Old and New Testament together Some attribute them to Salvian but 't is certain they are not his They are commonly imputed to Julian Bishop of Toledo The Works of Salvian have been Printed in the former Age in several places as at Basil in 1530 with the Notes of Alexander Brassicanus in Folio at Paris in 1570 and in 1575 at Rome by Manutius in 1564. M. Pitthaeus reviewed them by several Manuscripts and put out a new Edition at Paris in 1580. After him Ritterhusius caused them to be reprinted in 1611 at
That he acknowledgeth the Grace of God but after such a manner as that he joyns Man's endeavour and Labour with it 2. That he doth not say That the Free-will is lost but only that it is weakned and impaiâ—ed and that he that is Sayed might have been Damned and he that is Damned might have been Saved 3. That Our Saviour out of the Riches of his Goodness hath tasted Death for every Man 4. That he desireth not the Death of him that dyeth but is rich unto all that call upon him 5. He professes that Jesus Christ dyed for the Wicked and for those who have been Damned contrary to his Will 6. He confesseth also that according to the disposition and order of Ages some have been Saved by the Law of Moses and others by the Law of Nature which God hath written 〈◊〉 the Hearts of all Men by the hope of the coming of Jesus Christ. It is very hard to salve this Proposition as well as the Condemnation in the Seventh if we understand it Literally since none but Pelagius hath dared to affirm That Men have been saved by the Law of Moses and by Nature But Faustus and others understand it plainly in another sense i. e. That the Law and Nature have contributed to their Salvation And for this reason it is that Lucidus adds That no Man can be purged from Original Sin but by the Intercession of the blood of Jesus Christ â—n the last place He acknowledges Hell-Fire and Unquenchable â—â—ames are prepared for those who have Committed heinous Crimes because they continue in their Sin they are justly condemned to Punishment which they also deserve that do not believe these truths The Letter concludes with these words Orate pro me Sancti Apostolici Patres c. O Holy and Apostolick Fathers pray for me I Lucidus the Priest have Subscribed this Epistle with my own Hand and I affirm all that is affirmed in it and condemn all that is condemned in it The Bishops of the Council of Arles appointed Faustus Bishop of Ries to write upon this Subject as he tells us in the Preface to his Treatise of Free-will and Grace Dedicated to Leontrus Bishop of Arles These are his Words You have done O my Blessed Father a great deal of good to all the French Churches in assembling a Council of Bishops to condemn the Error of Predestination But methinks you have not sufficiently provided for your reputation in commanding me to put in order and set down in Writing what was said in your Conferences for I am sensible of my inabilities to perform it as it ought to be The honourable judgment which your Charity hath passed upon my abilities hath caused you to make a Choice of which you have Reason to repent At the end of this Preface that after this Work was finished the Council of Lyons had ordered something to be added to it F. Sirmondus concludes from these Records That the Council of Arles was held about the year 475 consisting of 30 French Bishops against the Predestinarians Heresie which began in the time of St. Austin and had its Original in the Monastery of Adrumetum from whence it passed into France where it was opposed by Hilary and Prosper and condemned by Caelestine That it was supported by St. Austin's Writings not rightly understood as is observed in the Chronicon of Tiro Prosper and Sigibert opposed by the Author of the Book of Heresies Entitled Praedestinatus and by Arnobius Junior ranked among the Heresies by Gennadius at the end of St. Austin's Book revived in the Ninth Age by Gotteschalci and confuted at the same time by Rabanus and Hincmarus That Lucidus who was engaged in this Heresie was summoned to the Council of Arles where this Question was disputed and he was ordered by this Council to make the Recantation of which we have already spoken That Eaustus in his Books of Grace doth only deliver the Judgment of this Council That his Work was afterward approved in another Council of Lyons that this Bishop is of very Orthodox Sentiments and is still honoured as a Saint and that Joannes Maxentius and Gotteschalci do wrongfully enveigh so much against him This is almost all that F. Sirmondus saith about this matter in his History of the Predestinarians But on the other side some able Divines maintain that this Heresie is a meer Chimaera and a Calumny which the Semi-Pelagians made use of to blacken the Scholars of St. Austin That there were no Predestinarians in the time of S. Austin That the Monks of Adrumetum who are made the first Authors of this Heresie never thought of any such thing but that all the contest that was among them proceeded from hence that they were not rightly understood That Cresconius and Faelix had accused Florus of denying Free-will and the Judgment which God will render to every Man according to their Works because they did not well understand his Sentiments and that indeed St. Austin who upon the relation of these two Monks had believed that Florus was in an Error having heard him himself found that he had not a false Opinion touching Grace and that it was not he that deserved reproof but they who did not understand him when he explained his Judgment That as to the Controversie which arose among the French some time after it is evident that they are not the Predestinarians which St. Prosper and Hilary oppose but the Enemies of the Doctrine of St. Austin who imputed to his Scholars the same Doctrines which were attributed to the Predestinarians The Authors alledged for the justification of this Heresie are much to be suspected The first is Tiro Prosper an Author of little Credit who says that this Heresie is not taken out of St. Austin's books not rightly understood as Sigibert hath corrected it but out of St. Austin himself qâ—â— ab Augustino accepisse dicitur initium which proves that he that inserted this place in St. Prosper's Chronicon was an Enemy to St. Austin Predestinatus is an Author full of faults and Pelagian Errors The same may be said of Arnobius who doth not acknowledge Original Sin Gennadius was a Learned man but well known to be a favourer of the Semi-Pelagians As for Paustus 't is certain he was their head That Gelasius hath condemned his Books That St. Fulgentius hath confuted them in 7 Books approved by the Council of Sardâ—… That Caesarius hath written against his Doctrines in a Book approved by Pope Faelix That Pope Hâ—rmisdâ—â— hath rejected theâ— That Petrus 〈◊〉 hath pronounced Anathema against him That the Head of a Sect so often condemned ought not to be looked upon as a Saint That he was in another very dangerous Error maintaining that all Creatures are Corporeal That all that he says of the Council of Arles and the approbation given to his Books by the Council of Lyons is not true or that the Authority of these Councils is of little consequence since they were
of Orange II. 121 Orentius 26 Council I. of Orleans 113 Council II. of Orleans 125 Council III. of Orleans 127 Council IV. of Orleans 129 Council V. of Orleans 130 Council of Osca or Huesca 161 P COuncil II. of Paris 147 Council III. of Paris ibid. Council IV. of Paris 151 Council V. of Paris 152 Pascâ—acius 62 Paterius 103 Paulus Silentiarius 58 Pelagius I. 58 Pelagius II. 65 Council of Poictiers 158 Pontianus 49 Primasius 56 Procopius Gazaeus 35 R COuncils of Rome under Pope Symmachus 108 Council of Rome under Boniface II. 122 Rusticus 56 S COuncil of Saintones 149 Council of Sâ—â—agossa 160 Sedatus 64 Severus 27 Severus Bishop in Spain 104 Council I. of Sevil. 157 Pope Silverus 46 Symmachus 1 T COuncil of Tarrago 114 Tetradius 51 Theodorus 27 Council II. of Toledo 123 Council III. of Toledo 155 Council of Toledo in 597. 161 Council II. of Tours 149 Trifolius 24 Trojanus 50 Council of Tutella 131 V COuncil II. of Vaiso 121 Council of Valentia 119 Council II. of Valentia 154 Victor of Capua 55 Victor Tunnuensis 58 Pope Vigilius 47 Z ZAcharias 52 BIBLIOTHECA PATRUM OR A NEW HISTORY OF Ecclesiastical Writers TOME IV. CONTAINING An Account of the LIVES and WRITINGS of the Primitive FATHERS that Flourished in the Sixth Century of Christianity with Censures upon all their BOOKS determining which are Genuine and which Spurious Pope SYMMACHUS AFTER the Death of Pope Anastasius which happen'd at the end of the Year 498 there was a fierce contention in the Church of Rome between Laurentius and Symmachus which Pope Symmachus of them two was duly promoted to that See Symmachus who was Deacon was chosen and ordain'd by the far greater number but Festus a Roman Senator who had promis'd the Emperor Anastasius that his Edict of Agreement with the Bishop of Rome should be sign'd procur'd Laurentius to be chosen and ordain'd This Schism divided the Church and the City of Rome and the most eminent both of the Clergy and the Senate took part with one of these two Bishops but at length both Parties agreed to wait upon King Theodoric at Ravenna for his Decision in the case which was this That He should continue Bishop of Rome who had been first chosen and should be found to have the far greater number of Voices for him Symmachus had the advantage of Laurentius on both these Accounts and so was confirm'd in the possession of the Holy See and he ordain'd Laurentius Bishop of Nocera if we may believe Anastasius At the beginning of the next Year he call'd a Council wherein he made a Canon against the ways of solliciting men's voices which were then us'd for obtaining the Papal Dignity But those who oppos'd the Ordinance of Symmachus seeing him possess'd of the Holy See against their mind us'd all their endeavours to turn him out of it for which end they charg'd him with many Crimes they stirr'd up a part of the People and Senate against him and caus'd a Petition to be presented to King Theodoric that he would appoint a Delegate to re-hear the Cause He nam'd Peter Bishop of Altinas who depos'd the Pope from the Government of his Diocese and depriv'd him of the Possessions of the Church This Division was the cause of so great disorders in Rome that from words they came many times to blows and every day produc'd fighting and murders Many Ecclesiasticks were beaten to death Virgins were robbed and driven away from their habitation many Lay-men were wounded or kill'd insomuch that not only the Church but also the City of Rome suffer'd very much by this Schism King Theodoric being desirous to put an end to these disorders call'd a Council wherein the Bishops being possess'd with a good Opinion of Pope Symmachus would not enter upon the examination of the particula Articles alledg'd against him but only declar'd him Innocent before his Accusers of the Crimes that were laid to his Charge And they prevail'd so far by their Importunity that the King was satisfy'd with this Sentence and both the People and the Senate who had been very much irritated against Symâ—…chus were 〈◊〉 and acknowledg'd him for Pope Yet some of the discontented Party still remain'd who 〈◊〉 a Writing against this Synod and spread their Calumnies forg'd against Symmachus as far as the East The Emperor Anastasius objected them to him which obliged Symmachus to write a Letter to him for his own Vindication But notwithstanding these Efforts of his Enemies he continued in peaceabâ—â— possession of the Holy See until the Year 514 wherein he died The first Letter of this Pope is written to Aeoniâ— Bisâ—op of Arâ—es which is dated Septemb. 29. in the Year 500. In this Letter he decâ—ares that his Predecâ—ssor had unjustly taken away from the Bishop of Arles the Right of Ordaining Bishops to some Churches and given it to the Bishop of Vienna contrary to the Custom and the Canons of his Predecessors Upon this occasion he says That the Priesthood being one and indivisible altho' it be administred by many Bishops the Successors can make no Innovation contrary to the Canons of their Predecessors and moreover That it is of great importance to Religion that no difference of Judgment should appear among the Bisâ—ops and chiefly among the Bishops of the Church of Rome from whence he concludes That Aeonâ—us should follow the ancient Custom in Orâ—aining Bishops and that the New Canon of Anastasius ought not to take plâ—ce The second Letter written to the same Bishop ought to be plac'd before the former not only because of the Date which is written Octob. 30. 499. but also because it is a Citation of the Bishop of Vienna to come and defend his pretended Right which ought to precede the Judgment given against him which is contain'd in the first Letter There is also a third Letter on the same Subject written to Avitus Bishop of Vienna Octob. 13. 501. published in the fifth Tome of the Spicilegium of Luc Dachera and is there reckon'd the twelfth wherein he answers that Bishop and tells him That the Judgment he had given should be no ways prejudicial to him if he could prove that the Canon made by his Predecessor was useful altho it was not regular because what is done for a just cause is not against the Law and one may depart from the Rigor of the Law for the Good of the Church since the Law it self would have excepted such a case if it could have foreseen it and he adds That it would be oft-times cruel to adhere to the Letter of the Law when the strict observation of it is found prejudicial to the Church because the Laws were made to serve the Church and not to do it any prejudice After this he exhorts the Bishop of Vienna to produce his Reasons and Defence in a Letter to himself At last in the Year 502 he ended this Difference by confirming the Canon made about this matter by S. Leo who
capable of discharging his Episcopal Function The tenth Letter is from Apollinaris Bishop of Valentia Brother to Avitus wherein he acquaints him with a Dream which he had in his sleep on the night of the Anniversary of their Sisters death He takes this Dream for an Admonition which his Sister gave him that he should do her this service and informs his Brother of it who answers him in the next Letter That he had discharg'd this Duty at Vienna and that the Fault he committed in forgetting it was very pardonable The fourteenth Letter is from Victorius Bishop of Grenoble who had consulted Avitus his Metropolitan what he should do as to a Man call'd Vincomalus who had espous'd the Sister of his Wife deceas'd and liv'd with her afterwards for many years He asks Avitus what Penance he should impose upon them and whether or no he ought to part them Avitus answers him That he ought not to suffer this Disorder but should enjoyn them to part from one another and also Excommunicate them if they continued in this way of Living until they obey'd and did publick Penance for the Fault Vincomalus coming after this to wait upon Avitus endeavour'd to excuse his Fault by the length of time which he had liv'd with this Woman but Avitus gave him to understand That this Circumstance did rather aggravate then any ways diminish his Fault and made him promise to part with this Woman immediately And after he had extorted this Promise from him he wrote to Victorius that he should dissolve this unhappy Marriage by an innocent Divorce that nevertheless he should punish this Man according to the utmost rigor of the Canons and in the mean time he should not altogether trust his Word nor pardon him but upon the Security of those who had interceded for him That he should advise him to do Penance but not impose it upon him against his will The seventeenth Letter is address'd to the Priest Viventiolus who was afterwards Bishop of Lyons He exhorts him to take upon him the Government of the Monastery of St. Claude and wishes him a higher Preferment This Letter is without an end and the next is without a beginning it may be there were some between them which are wholly lost 'T is not known to whom the last is written Father Sirmondus thinks that it is to Pope Symmachus He tells him That altho there be some Reliques of the Holy Cross yet he ought to desire them of the Bishop of Jerusalem who keeps this precious Depositum in its purity The nineteenth is a short Note from King Gondebaud to Avitus wherein he puts a Question to him about two passages in Scripture Avitus answers him in the twentieth Letter The one and twentieth is addressed to Sigismond the Son of Gondebaud wherein he speaks of a Conference which he had with his Father about Religion In the three and twentieth Avitus thanks the Bishop of Jerusalem for the Reliques of the Holy Cross which he had sent into his Country This Letter begins with this fine Complement Your Apostolical Eminence exercises the Primacy which God has granted you and means to show not only by his Prerogatives but also by his Merits that he holds the first place in the Universal Church Some may think that this Letter is address'd to the Bishop of Rome but the Title and Body of the Letter do plainly discover that it is to the Bishop of Jerusalem The four and twentieth Letter is address'd to Stephen Bishop of Lyons about a Donatist who was in his Country Avitus advises him to labour after the Conversion of this Man to hinder this Error from taking root among the Gauls and acquaints him That he ought to receive this Donatist by Imposition of Hands since it is certain that he had received the Unction of the holy Chrysm with Baptism In the Churches of the Gauls they made use sometimes of Chrysm to receive Hereticks as appears by many Examples related by Gregory of Tours But probably it was not us'd save only to those who had not receiv'd it at their Baptism as this passage of Avitus invincibly proves In the five and twentieth Letter he promises his Brother Apollinaris to be present at the Dedication of a Church and commends the charitable Gifts that were design'd for the Poor at this Feast The six and twentieth Letter is address'd to a Bishop whose Name is not known Avitus rebukes him for his easiness in discovering our Mysteries to the Enemies of Religion He proves afterwards that an Heretical Bishop who is converted may be promoted to the Dignity of the Priesthood in the Church provided there be nothing in his Life or Manners which hinders it For why says he may not he govern the Flock of Jesus Christ who has acknowledg'd that the Sheep which he fed were not the Sheep of Jesus Christ Why may not he be promoted to the Priesthood among us who has quitted that which he had for love of the Truth Let him become of a Lay-man a true Bishop who of a false Bishop which he was was willing to become a Lay-man The following Letter was written by Avitus under the Name of King Sigismond to Pope Symmachus It is an acknowledgment which he made to the Pope for the Reliques he had sent him praying him at the same time to give him some other Reliques This Letter is fill'd with high Complements to the Pope to whom he gives the Title of Bishop of the Universal Church In the eight and twentieth Letter address'd to King Gondebaud he proves by express places of Scripture That Jesus Christ did subsist in his Divinity before he was made Man Florus the Deacon call'd this Letter a Treatise of Divinity The one and thirtieth Letter to Faustus and Symmachus who were the two chief Senators of Rome was written by Avitus in the Name of the Bishops of France on the behalf of Pope Symmachus who had been acquitted in a Synod held at Rome by the order of Theodoric King of Italy Avitus takes it very ill that a Council had undertaken to judge the Pope He maintains that the Bishops ought to assist but not judge him because there is neither Law nor Reasons which allows Inferiours to judge him who is above them And he adds That if any call in question the validity of the Ordination of one Pope it would seem that not the Bishop but Episcopacy it self were in danger At si Papa Urbis Romae vocatur in dubium Episcopatus jam videbitur non Episcopus vacillare 'T is difficult to understand what Avitus means by this for what if one Pope fall into Idolatry or Heresie if he become a Symoniack and commit many enormous Crimes is the Apostolick See ever the less worthy of Honour upon that account May not this Pope be reformed without endangering Episcopacy Avitus did not sufficiently reflect upon what he said and the Honour which he had for the Holy See made him propose such Maxims as are
which perfects That for this reason the Catechumens are seven days in a white Habit that they are first baptiz'd and then anointed Justinian with Oyl and lastly made partakers of the precious Blood before the Bread be given them and upon this Subject he makes very mystical Reflexions Afterwards he gives three Reasons why Moses does not speak of the Creation of Angels The first is Because he wrote only for Men. The second Because he would make God known by the visible Creatures The third is Lest it should be thought that the Angels created the World He maintains that the Angels were not known till after the Promises which God made to Abraham The fourth and fifth Book contain only two Chapters wherein he endeavours to prove That it was more convenient that the Son should be made Man then the Father The sixth which begins at the 22th Chapter contains the Question Why the Titles of Creator Redeemer and Judge are attributed to the Son He says That they agree well enough to all the three Persons but by way of excellence they are appropriated to the Son He discourses of the Order of the Persons of the Trinity and of the Title Holy which is given to each Person He cites upon this Subject St. Gregory Nazianzen and the Books attributed to St. Denys the Areopagite In the seventh Book he observes three Changes of the World The first from Idolatry to the Knowledge of one God by the Law The second from the Law to the Gospel which Reveals the Son and the Holy Spirit And the third which gives a perfect Knowledge of the Trinity in another Life Upon this occasion he handles many Questions concerning the Names of the Father and the Son He gives many Reasons why the Son was not Incarnate from the beginning of the World He speaks of the knowledge of the Trinity which the Blessed shall have in another Life of the Obscurity of the Old Testament and the Mysteries which it covers under the Letter of the Law In the eighth he handles two Scholastical Questions The first is If it be a good proof that there is in God one Person of the Word because God cannot be without Reason why will it not follow from hence that there is in this Word another Word and so in infinitum Photius remarks That he endeavours to answer this Objection thirteen manner of ways but that they are weak and tho they may satisfie such Persons as are pious and religious yet they afford matter of raillery to those who are of a contrary Disposition In effect these kind of Questions and Arguments can never produce any good Effects but expose Religion to the Contempt of great Wits and the Scoffs of the Impious The other Question is no more useful altho it be at present more common 'T is demanded Why the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeding both from the Father the one is call'd the Son and the other the Holy Spirit and why they have not both the Title of the Son He could find no other Answer to this Question but that this is the Custom and that Men express as they can the Differences of the Divine Persons altho they comprehend them not This Answer is ingenuous very wise and reasonable In the ninth Book he treats of the Dignity and Graces of the Angels and Men compar'd together and applies to them the Parable of the Prodigal Child After this he enquires How it can be that Jesus Christ should die for all since there was an infinite number of Men dead before his Coming He answers to this Question That Jesus Christ preach'd the Gospel to the Dead and that all those who have lived well and believed in him are saved He enlarges here very much upon the Explication of another passage of Jesus Christ I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance After this he treats also of the state wherein Angels and Man were created of the Fall of the one and the other of the Reasons for which God redeemed Man and not the Angels c. This is enough to discover to us that the Work of this Author was not very useful that he delighted to start difficult and intricate Questions that he gives extraordinary Sences to passages of Scripture that he maintains Propositions which are indefensible In a word that we ought not much to regret the loss of his Work whereof the Extracts related by Photius are but too long and very tedious JUSTINIAN THe Emperor Justinian may be justly rank'd amongst Ecclesiastical Writers for never Prince did meddle so much with what concerns the Affairs of the Church nor make so many Constitutions and Laws upon this Subject He was perswaded that it was the Duty of an Emperor and for the good of the State to have a particular care of the Church to defend it's Faith to regulate External Discipline and to employ the Civil Laws and the Temporal Power to preserve in it Order and Peace Upon this account he did not only make a Collection of the Laws made by the Princes his Predecessors about Ecclesiastical Discipline but he added many to them Here follows the Catalogue and the Substance of them The third Novel regulates the number of the Clergy of the great Church of Constantinople and fixes it to 60 Priests 100 Deacons 40 Diaconesses 90 Sub-deacons 110 Readers 25 Chanters and 100 Porters It contains also That it shall not be lawful for Clergy-men to remove from a lesser Church to a greater and that the Possessions of the Church shall be employed for the maintenance of the Poor and other pious Works The fifth Novel contains Regulations concerning the Monks and the Monasteries That a Monastery shall not be built until the Bishop comes to the place to Consecrate the Ground where it is to be built by Prayer and fixing a Cross in it That the Habit of a Monk must not be given to those who present themselves immediately after they are entred into the Monastery but that they ought to continue Probationers for three years in their Secular Habit that during this time it shall be lawful for those who redeem them as Slaves to take them back again and not after this time is past That the Monks ought to abide and lye in one and the same place except the Anchorets and Hesycastes who have attained a great perfection That a Monk who quits his Monastery shall lose all his Riches that he had at his entrance into it which shall belong henceforth to the Monastery That a Man or a Woman who enter into a Monastery may dispose of their Possessions before they enter into it but if they enter into it without disposing of them their Possessions belong to the Monastery except the fourth part which belongs to Children or the Portion of a Daughter if she be married and except that which they might have given That if any Person abandon his Monastery to go into the Militia he cannot enter into
to choose in other Churches such Practices as he shall think most pleasing to God that he may bring them into use in the Church of England Quest. 4. What should the Punishment be of him who robs the Church Answ. This ought to be regulated by the Quality of the Person who commits the Robbery viz. Whether he has whereupon to subsist or whether he did it thro necessity Some ought to be punished by pecuniary Mulcts by making them pay the Damage sustain'd and the Interest of it Others ought to be punish'd in their Bodies some ought to be punish'd more severely others more slightly But the Church must always use Charity in punishing and design nothing else but the Reformation of him whom it corrects It ought not to be too rigorous in its Chastisments nor to make advantage by the Robbery by exacting more then it has lost Quest. 5. Can two Brothers having the same Father and Mother marry two Sisters which are a-kin to them in a very remote degree Answ. They may since it is not forbidden in Scripture Quest. 6. To what Degree may the Faithful marry together May one marry his Step-mother or the Widow of his Brother Answ. A Roman Law viz. that of Arcadius and Honorius Cod. B. 5. T. 4. Leg. 19. permitted Marriages between Cousin-Germans But St. Gregory did not think these Marriages convenient for two Reasons 1. Because Experience shows that no Children are born of them 2. Because the Divine Law forbids them But 't is certain that those who are a-kin to the third or fourth Degree may marry together 'T is a great Crime for one to marry his Step-mother neither is it lawful to marry his Sister-in-law Quest. 7. Must those be parted who have made an unlawful Marriage Must they be depriv'd of the Communion Answ. Since there are many English who have contracted this kind of Marriages before their Conversion therefore when they are converted you must make them understand that this is not lawful and excite them by the fear of God's Judgment to refrain from it but you must upon this account interdict them Communion As to those who are already converted they must be admonish'd not to engage in any of this kind of Marriages and if they do they must be excluded from the Communion Quest. 8. When there are no neighbouring Bishops who can assemble together may one Bishop only Ordain another Answ. Austin being at first the only Bishop in England there was a great necessity that he alone should Ordain Bishops If any went over to him from Gaul he was to take them for Witnesses of his Ordination and when he had Ordain'd many Bishops in England he was to call three or four of them to be present at his Ordination Quest. 9. of Austin After what manner he should deal with the Bishops of the Gauls and of the ancient Britains Answ. of St. Gregory He must know that he has no Authority over the Bishops of the Gauls and the Bishop of Arles ought to enjoy the Priviledges which he had receiv'd from his Predecessors that he ought to confer with him if there be any Disorders to be reform'd that he may also excite him to do his Duty if he were negligent or inconstant but that he cannot challenge to himself any Authority among the Gauls As to the Bishops of Britany he speaks at another rate For St. Gregory gives him full Jurisdiction over them to teach the Ignorant confirm the Weak and correct the Disorderly * This was to give Austin what he had no power to grant like some of his Successors in that See who very liberally bestow'd the Kingdom of England and Ireland upon the King of Spain and therefore this pretended Jurisdiction of the Pope was vigorously oppos'd by the British Bishops and Monks in Austin's time who resus'd to receive any Romish Customs different from those of their own Church as appear'd by the famous Controversie between them about the time of keeping Easter and the right of imposing them has been sufficiently disprov'd by our Writers Vide Dr. Basire of the Exemption of the British Patriarchate There is also a Request of Austin wherein he desires the Reliques of St. Sixtus The Pope tells him that he had sent them unto him but he did not look upon them as certain This Article is not found in the Copies of Bede nor in many other Manuscripts and probably it is supposititious Quest. 10. contains many Heads Whether a Woman big with Child may be baptiz'd How long it must be after her lying in before she enter into the Church and have Carnal dealing with her Husband Whether it be lawful for a Woman quae tenetur menstrua consuetudine to enter into the Church Whether a married Man may enter into the Church after the use of marriage without washing The Answers to these Heads of Questions are as follow A Woman big with Child may be baptiz'd A woman that has newly layn in ought not to be deny'd Entrance into the Church A Woman who has newly layn in may be baptiz'd and her Infant at the very moment of its Birth if there be danger of death A Husband ought not to come near his Wife after her lying in until the Infant be wean'd and if by an abuse she do not suckle it her self he must wait till the time of her Purgation be over A Woman who has her ordinary Infirmities ought not to be forbidden to enter into the Church nor to receive the Communion but it were better for her to abstain A Man who has had Carnal Knowledge of his Wife must wash himself before he enter into the Church and Communicate Quest. 11. Whether it be lawful to receive the Communion the next day after natural Pollutions Answ. When these Pollutions proceed from the Infirmity of Nature there is no fear but when they proceed from eating or drinking too much they are not altogether innocent but this faultought not to hinder any from receiving the Communion nor from celebrating Mess when it is a Festival at which they must communicate or when there is no other Priest to celebrate But if there be other Priests he who is in this condition ought in humility to abstain from celebrating and especially if this Pollution was attended with unclean Imaginations Other Pollutions which proceed from the Thoughts which a Man had while he was waking are yet more Criminal because these Thoughts are the cause of them And in unchaste Thoughts we must distinguish three things the Desire the Pleasure and the Consent When there is only a Desire there is not as yet any Sin but when we take Pleasure in such Thoughts then the Sin begins and when we consent to them then the Sin is finish'd The Letter which is attributed to Felix of Messina is certainly a supposititious Piece The Title does not well agree with the Custom of that time Domino beatissimo honorabili Sancto Patri Gregorio Papae Felix vestrae
refutes Severus's Error That the Two Natures became one in Christ. The same Subject is also handled in the next Writing directed to a Lord named Peter The 14th Letter which is the 41st piece of this Volume is also on the Mystery of the Incarnation but in the end of it he speaks of the Incursions of the Arabians which spoiled the Frontiers of the Empire The 15th is a Scholastical Tract of the Union and Distinction of the Two Natures in Christ directed to Conon a Deacon of Alexandria To it is joined a Letter directed to the same Deacon to exhort him to stand up in the defence of the Truth without being dismayed at the sufferings attending the defence of it The 17th is directed to Julian It is also about the distinction of the Two Natures The 18th is written in the Name of George a Noble-Man of Africa to some Nuns of Alexandria engaged in the Error of the Monâ—â—helites to dissuade them from it The 19th is written to Pyrrhâ—s before he was Patriarch and â—ad declared himself openly against the Church Maximus asks him How his saying is to be understood that there was but one Vertue or Operation in Christ. The following Letters to divers private persons are shorter than the former and contain nothing but some Moral or Mystical Discourses The Five Dialogues upon the Trinity which were Published under Athanasius's Name are here restored to S. Maximus upon the Authority of the Greek Manuscripts and Authors which have Quoted them under this Father's Name We have shewed already that Combefis was in the right to put them under Maximus's Name and that they are none of Theodoret's as F. Garner pretended After so many Writings of the Ancients upon the Trinity there is no need to make an Extract of this where that Mystery is handled after Maximus's Genius Scholastically and in the form of a Conference Maximus's * Or an Exposition of the Publick Liturgy of the Church Mystagogy are Considerations of the Church-Ceremonies He says there That the Church is the Figure and Image of God the World Man and the Soul That the Introitus of the Mass is a representation of Christ's entrance into our Souls That the Lessons signifie the Faith of Christians That the Songs are signs of the Spiritual Joy That the Gospel figures the Consummation of the World and the Perfection of Christians That when the Bishop descends from his Chair he represents Christ descending from Heaven in the Day of Judgment That the going out of Catechumens teaches us that those that have not Faith shall be rejected That the Doors shut the Kiss of Peace the saying of the Creed are the figures of the perfect Union of Christians That the Trisagion and the Sanctus are Types of our future Glory and present Adoption This whole Book is full of such Allegories Lastly The last of Maximus's his Works is a Collection of sundry passages of Ecclesiastical and Prophane Authors set down under different Titles concerning Vertues Vices Women ' Duties Moral Precepts and Maxims We have moreover a Comment or Scholia of Maximus's upon the Books ascribed to the Areopagite which is Printed with Dionysius's Works He writ also some Scholia upon S. Gregory Nazianzen which were Printed at Oxford in 1681. Petavius hath Published a Kalendar for Easter ending in the Year 641 ascribed to Maximus Photius saith This Author hath extraordinary well turned Periods but that he often useth Hyperboles and Transpositions and is not careful at all to speak properly which renders his Writings obscure and difficult That he affects a kind of harshness of swelling Stile which renders his Discourse unpleasing and ungrateful to the Ear That in his Rhetorical Figures he does not make choice of that which is neat and handsome That he tires out his Reader with his Allegorical and Mystical Explications so far distant from the Letter and the truth of History that one cannot see any coherence between his Answer and the Question That yet he excells in the Allegorical and Mystical way and that they who take delight in it can meet with nothing more accomplished That his very Letters are not without obscurity which is the only Epistoler Character he hath kept to That he is plainer and clearer in his Treatise of Charity and in his Maxims meerly Moral Lastly That the Conference with Pyrrhus is of a Stile somewhat low and that he hath not kept the Laws of Logick One may add to this Judgment of Photius That Maximus handles matters after a meer Scholastical manner That he Speaks and Reasons as a Logician That he gives his Definitions Terms and Arguments in form That he maketh use of great big Words signifying no more than what might be expressed in other terms That he is acute and close striketh his Adversaries home and stands firm to his own Principles That he was very quick of Apprehension of Reasoning and Disputing very free of Speech Stiff and Firm. He was of the Opinion of the Latins about the procession of the Holy Ghost Original Sin Christ's Grace and the Celibacy of Bishops and the Greatness and Power of the Roman Church He had the Monastick Life in high esteem and was much given to Mystical Thoughts In a word He was a Scholastical Mystical and Speculative Man ANASTASIUS Disciple of Maximus ANASTASIUS Disciple of Maximus who suffered so much with him for the same cause wrote a Letter to the Monks of Cagliari against the Monothelites wherein he refutes Anastasius those that said That in Christ there was One and Two Wills from whence he concluded that they admitted Three It is in the Collections of Anastasius Bibliothecarius Published by Sirmondus at Paris 1620 and among Maximus's Works He Died in Exile at Lazica ANASTASIUS Apocrisiarius of Rome THIS * A Commissary or Chancellor to a Bishop Apocrisiarius of Rome suffered also the same Persecutions for the same cause He wrote a Letter to Theodosius Presbyter of Gangra upon S. Maximus's Death There he Anastasius Quotes some fragments of the Writings of Hippolytus Bishop of Porto It is in Anastasius's Collections and among Maximus's Works THEODOSIUS and THEODORUS THESE Two Brothers made an Historical Memorial of the Life and Conflicts of Anastasius and the other Champions of the Faith This is also found among Anastasius's Theodosius and Theodorus Collections THEODORUS THEODORUS Presbyter and Abbot of Raithu to whom Maximus directed his Treatise of the Essence and Nature wrote a Tract upon the Incarnation There he sets Theodorus down at first the Errors of Manes Paulus Samosatenus Apollinarius Theodorus of Mopsuesta Nestorius and Eutyches about that Mystery Then he Expounds the Faith of the Church opposite to those Errors He shews How they have been revived by Julian of Halicarnassus and Severus to whom he opposed the Fathers Testimonies but we have not now this last part This Work was Published in Greek and Latin by Beza and Printed at Geneva in 1576 Quarto Since that time it was
examined He speaks the same things to Hincmarus in his Letters written to him at the same time but more especially blames his Carriage and Administration in many sharp reflexions and concludes telling him That he takes it ill that he makes use of the Pall on such occasions as were not allowable In a third Letter he thanks King Charles the Bald for the satisfaction he had given him in making the Bishops of France unanimously join in the Restoration of those Clerks but could not blame Hincmarus Lastly In his fourth Letter he Congratulates Wulfadus and the other Clerks for their Restoration and Exhorts them to be subject to Hincmarus and tells them That he would allow them a Years time to prosecute that Affair at Rome if they thought fit These four Letters bear Date Dec. 7. 866. These Letters of Pope Nicolas are extant Tom. 8. of the Councils p. 268. and 480. They are also Printed with a Collection of his Epistles Published at Rome 1542. Fol. By what has been said it is evident that the Bishops of France would not bring these Causes The Carriage of the Bishops of France to Rome nor be obliged to appear there themselves to maintain the Justice of their Sentence nor would endure it to be Disanulled or blamed in the least the contrary to which Pope Nicolas pretended to do He required that the Councils which Judged any Causes at the first Hearing should be called by his Authority That both the Accused and the Accusers had liberty of Appealing to Rome before and after their Sentence That all Synods should give him a large and full Account of their Proceedings before they passed Sentence That in case of Appeal the Holy See might put the Condemned into the Places and Condition they were formerly in conditionally and then the Judges should be obliged to come or send their Deputies to Rome to maintain their Judgment where the Cause shall be Examined a-new as if it had never been decided From this time the Bishops of France who were most Learned and best Skilled in the Canons to evade the Pretensions contrary to the Canons which tended directly to the utter ruining of the Episcopal Authority and overthrow of all Church Discipline and that without quarrelling with the H. See Judged all Ecclesiastical Causes that came before them in their Synods and that their Judgment might be of greater Authority they caused the Contending Parties to choose their Judges because according to a Maxim of Law It is not Lawful to Appeal from the Sentence of those Judges whom they had Elected Lastly They caused that Judgment to be Executed and in case the Persons Condemned referred themselves to Rome they would send the Pope their Reasons and require his Confirmation or rather Approbation of their Judgment but tho' often cited never would go to Rome nor send their Deputies with a Commission to act in their Names to call any Matter in Question but left it to the Pope to do as he pleased without opposition And if it so happened that they were obliged eitheir for the good of the Church or for Peace sake or in Obedience to the Will of that Prince to do as the Pope would have them they protested that it was without any Abrogation of their Sentence which was Valid and Just but only to shew Mercy to the faulty Thus they behaved themselves in this Cause Hincmarus first of all caused those Clerks to present their Petition in Writing and to leave it to the Synod of France He then made them choose their Judges by agreement after he had withdrawn from the Tryal After the Judgment was passed he had it executed and confirmed by the Pope but at last Nicolas I. being solicited to it by Wulfadus and being desirous to have that Cause re-examined in a Synod Hincmarus ordered the matter so that not only their Decree was kept in force but was confirmed without any offence to the Pope who had resolved to restore these Clerks or to the Emperor who favoured Wulfadus For he perswaded the Bishops not to deal so rigorously with Wulfadus and his Fellows as in Justice they might and to consent to their Restoration if the Pope desired it This shewed a great deal of complaisance to the Pope in leaving the thing to his dispose in respect to the H. See but it was not what the Pope desired He would have had the Synod which he called to have quite Disanulled what was done at Soissons and himself to be made Judge in that Affair and upon an Appeal both Parties should have come to Rome to Contest about it And for this Reason it was that he would not determine the Matter definitively but satisfied himself to Restore Wulfadus and the Clerks Ordained by Ebbo conditionally Before Nicolas's Letters were brought by Egilo Charles the Bald who had so great a favour for Wulfadus and would have him Ordained Archbishop of Bourges by all means whatsoever sent Wulfadus Ordained Archbishop of Bourges his Son Carolomannus Abbot of S. Medard to have him Ordained and Installed which was done in September by some Bishops who were not very well Skilled in the Laws of the Church which Wulfadus had provided and Carolomannus had scared into it It was Aldo Bishop of Limoges who Consecrated him and some have said that that Bishop in the midst of the Ceremony was taken with a Fever of which he Died soon after Egilo being returned with four Letters from Pope Nicolas in the Year 867 Charles the Bald called a Council at Troyes at which were the Archbishops The Council of Troyes of Reims Tours Rouen Bourdeaux Sens and Bourges with those 14 Bishops who were present at the Council of Soissons the Year before in which some Bishops favouring Wulfadus to please Carolus Calvus would encounter Hincmarus but he defended himself so well that they only resolved to satisfy the Pope to send a Synodical Epistle containing a large Relation of what had passed in the Deposition of Ebbo his pretended Restoration and the Ordinations of Wulfadus and others who had been Consecrated after his Deposition In it they relate how the Children of Lewis the Godâ—y would have deprived him of his Estate and for that end had made use of Ebbo and some other The Letter of the Council of Troyes to the Pope against Ebbo Bishops who having obliged that Prince to confess some forged Crimes had put him in a State of Penance and deprived him of his Authority How afterwards when Lewis the Kind was again restored by the Authority of his Bishops Ebbo had left his See and fled how he was Apprehended and carried to the Emperor by Rothadus Bishop of Soissons and by Ercaraus Bishop of Chalons how he had himself Signed and Approved the Restoration of Lewis the Kind and owned that he was unjustly and contrary to the Canons put to Penance after which manner having acknowledged his fault in Writing at the Council in Thion-ville held 835 in which
upon the Crown of the Head of the Person that is to be Ordained Reading the Prayers in that place This being done and all the Congregation saying Amen they shall take the Gospels from the Neck of him that is to be Ordain'd put the Agnus upon his Finger and give him the Pastoral Staff After which he shall take his place among the Bishops viz. The first if he be a Metropolitan and the last if he be a single Bishop Then they shall read the place in the Epistle to Timothy where he speaks of the Qualifications of a Bishop and when the Service is ended they shall lead him to the Episcopal Chair from whence he shall return into the Vestry and then shall come out again to Celebrate the Sacrament Then they shall give him a Testimonial of his Ordination * Hincmarus's Treatisâ— against the Translation of Bishopâ— Hincmarus opposes the Translations of Bishops in a Writing composed upon that Subject upon the occasion of the Translation of Actardus Bishop of Nantes to the Archbishoprick of Tours He proves that according to the Laws of the Church and the Tradition of the Apostles the Translation of Bishops is forbidden altho' in some cases these sort of Translations are permitted for the good of the Church The only Lawful Reasons for Translations according to him are these The Necessity of Preaching the Gospel and the Peoples refusing to accept a Bishop As for the Persecution of a Bishop in his Diocess he shews that it is not a sufficient reason for Translation and that according to the Law and Canons a Bishop persecuted or driven out of his Diocess ought only to remain in another in the Quality of a Bishop but there is no necessity he should be a Titular Bishop in another Church As to the particular case of Actardus that he might have remained in the vacant Church where the Council permitted him to remain without removing to the Church of Yours and that 't was not heard of that he might be Archbishop of Tours and yet retain the Right which he hath to the Church of Nantes Actardus excused himself because he had not sufficient Revenues in the Church of Nantes to live Honorably according to his Quality but Hincmarus says that that pretence is by no means a lawful excuse but on the contrary proves his Covetousness and so much the more because he had elsewhere Abbies and an Estate sufficient for his maintenance and expence There are in this Treatise a great many excellent Citations out of the Fathers and some very good Precepts against the Covetousness and Ambition of Bishops His Treatise of the Accusations and Judgments of Priests is a Collection of the Ecclesiastical and Civil Hincmarus's Tract of the Judgment of Priests Laws upon that Subject in it he shews what Persons may accuse Priests the quality and number of the Witnesses the Judge before whom they ought to be accused which is the Bishop the Judgment from which they may Appeal to the Metropolitan the common Subjects for which they may be accused the manner how they ought to clear themselves when there are no Witnesses nor Proofs against them He confutes the Opinion of some Persons who held that a Priest or Bishop could not be accused by their Inferiors He shews the falshood and impertinence of a Decree taken out of the forged Acts of Pope Silvester He owns that for causes Civil and Pecuniary a Clergy-man may be Summoned before a Lay-Judge and ought to answer before him by his Attorney Lastly He is of Opinion that the Estates of Clergy men all Ecclesiastical Revenues and Oblations of the Faithful do belong to the Church He orders that all Bishops Officers should be careful to inform them whether that part of the Tenths which ought to be distributed to the Poor be appropriated to the Church and whether they take any Presents of any Man not to put them in the Registers of the Church nor require of them any sort of Service whether they do not put in their Kindred And lastly If they look after the Poor and Infirm of their Parishes Hincmarus applies the Laws which he had laid down for the Judgment of Priests to the particular Fact The Process against Teutfridus of a certain Priest called Teutfrid who had taken away the Ornaments of the Church He shews first That he ought to be Judged in his Province either by his Bishop or by a Council That if he hath confessed or is convicted of having conveyed away the Ornaments he should be condemned to make Restitution Deposed and Excommunicated If it be found that he hath rejected the Judgment of the Church to have recourse to the Prince he ought also to be Excommunicated and Deposed according to the Canons of the Councils at Antioch and Cartbage That if he confesses or be convicted to have sworn falsly to his Neighbors in his own behalf he ought to be condemned as a Perjured person and that he ought not to be excused by saying That he was forced or by putting another sense upon his Words because God can't be deceived by such Equivocations and that we ought not so much to consider the Words of him that Swears as what is meant by him that imposes the Oath The relation of the Vision of Bernoldus is worth our notice because of the circumstances of what happened The Vision of Bernoldus to that Person being fallen Sick made his Confession received Absolution Unction with the Holy Oil and the Communion of the Body and Blood of J. C. That afterward he fell into such a condition that he could not speak nor take any thing but a little Water and when he had remained thus 3 days on the 4th day about Noon he became utterly senceless but coming to himself about Midnight he called for his Confessor who being come and having made such Prayers as are usual upon such Occasions he told him he had been in another World and had seen 41 Bishops in a certain place among whom were Ebbo Pardulus and Aeneas who seemed to him to be mangled and black as if they had been burnt quaking sometimes for cold and sometimes scorched with heat That Ebbo calling him to him said to him Since you have a permission to go into the other World we pray thee to do us this Service as to bid the Priests and Lay-men of our Diocess to Pray and offer Sacrifice and give Alms for us That Bernoldus answering that he knew not where to find them they ordered a Person to conduct him who brought him to a large Palace where there were a great number of Bishops That returning from this Walk he came to the first Bishops whom he found in a better condition and more merry than they were the first time who told him That he had freed them from the Evil Guardian they had and had put them into a state of rest That afterward he saw the Emperor Charles in another place who charged him to
the Emperor That it was fit he should Publickly Read it himself in the Church and Anathematize himself In order to which upon a Whitsunday his House was beset with Guards Which Ignatius perceiving made his Escape in a Country-man's habit with Baskets and got over into the Islands where he absconded shifting frequently his Habitation for fear of being discover'd In August following there hapned an Earthquake at Constantinople which the People attributed to the Persecution of Ignatius For which reason the Princes were forced to Promise That he should no more be molested nor any harm done him for having concealed himself or to any Person or Persons that had concealed him Which Promise being made publick Ignatius discovered himself and was sent back into his Monastery there to live in quiet Whereupon the Earthquake ceased and the Bulgarians were converted Zachary and Radoaldus being returned to Rome declared onely to the Pope by word of Mouth that Ignatius had been Deposed and Photius Raised in his stead to the See of Constantinople but concealed from him the share they had in it Two days after came an Ambassador named Leo from the Emperour with two Volumes containing the Acts of the Council at Constantinople one concerning Ignatius his Deposition and the other about Images He also brought a Letter from the Emperour to the Pope wherein he desired his Assent under his own hand to the Deposition of Ignatius and the Promotion of Photius At the same time a Monk by Name Theognostus came to Rome from Ignatius in a Layman's habit who informed the Pope of what had passed The Pope far from doing what the Emperour desired of him Wrote immediately a Letter to all the Patriarchs wherein he declared his Dislike of Pope Nicholas his Letters upon the Deposition of Ignatius Ignatius his Deposition and Photius his Intrusion He Wrote likewise to Michael the Emperour that he would never yield his Consent to the Deposition of Ignatius nor the Ordination of Photius And whereas to justifie this last Nectarius and S. Ambrose were alledged as two Presidents being made of Lay-men Bishops he makes it out that they had a particular Calling and that they had not been Ordained to thrust a Bishop out of his See He answers farther to the same Instances and that of Tarasius in the Letter he Writ at the same time to Photius that it is for the good of the Church through Necessity or by a particular Inspiration of God that the Laws of the Church have been dispensed with upon such Occasions but that none of those Reasons could take place in his Ordination He complains that Photius refuses to own or observe the Popes Decretals because they condemn his Ordination He does acknowledge that some Churches may have particular Customs different from those of Rome But he maintains withall that this Way of Ordaining a Lay-man Bishop contrary to the Canons and the General Laws of the Church ought not to be tolerated His farther Complaints are That his Legates were not used with that Respect he expected that they had been detained a long time without the freedom of speaking to any one and that they had been forced by Threats to consent to the Deposition of Ignatius and the Intrusion of Photius These three Letters are under the same Date viz. March 18th 862. The Pope having sent them to Constantinople and other parts of the World a Council was called A Council held at Rome upon the Ordination of Photius by His Holiness at Rome in order to have this Business throughly examined The Pope knew not at first how much his own Legates had contributed to the Deposition of Ignatius and thought they had been forced to it But hearing that they had been corrupted by Photius and that they themselves had Deposed Ignatius and owned Photius he thought himself bound for the Vindication adn Honour of the Holy See to call this Synod Radoaldus did not appear but Zachary did who being convicted to have had a hand in the Deposition of Ignatius and to have acknowledged Photius as the Lawful Patriarch he was Deposed and Excommunicated He afterwards did acknowledge his Fault declaring That he had acted contrary to the Orders he had received from the Holy See by Consenting to the Deposition of Ignatius Radoaldus being absent his Condemnation was put off till another time This Council did also take into their Consideration the Difference betwixt Ignatius and Photius and Confirmed Image-Worship as may be seen by the Six Articles inserted into the Seventh Letter of Pope Nicholas The First declares That Photius being of a Lay-man Ordained a Patriarch by Gregory of Syracuse for having Invaded the See of Constantinople and thrust out Ignatius the Lawful Possessor thereof for having held Communion with Persons Excommunicated by the Holy See having Corrupted the Pope's Legates having Banished and Persecuted the Bishops who would not acknowledge him is therefore degraded from his Sacerdotal Office and all Orders Ecclesiastical by the Authority of God of the Princes of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul of all the Saints of the Six General Councils and by the Judgment of the Holy Ghost And if after this Judgment he continues in possession of that See he is Excommunicated with all such as shall Abett him or hold Communion with him The Second contains the like Sentence of Deposition against Gregory of Syracuse and a Commination against him if he continues to raise Troubles against Ignatius and such as hold Communion with him are hereby declared Excommunicated In the Third Article All such as Photius has promoted to its Orders and have held Communion with him after his Instruction are declared to have been unlawfully Ordained and their Orders to be void accordingly The Fourth injoyns the Restauration of Ignatius though he never was truly Deposed nor justly Condemned or Degraded and declares that all Persons that shall hinder him from assuming again his Sacerdotal Habit from performing the Duties of his Place or from the peaceable enjoyment of his See shall be Deposed and Excommunicated The Fifth enjoyns That all Persons Exiled upon this account be Restored to their several Stations and Declares all that shall obstruct it to be Excommunicated The Sixth confirms what had been Decreed by the Popes touching the Images of Jesus Christ the Holy Virgin and the Saints and pronounces an Anathema against John of Constantinople and his Followers who Taught That they ought to be broken and trampled under our feet To these Six Articles Pope Nicholas adds two Decisions made in a former Synod against those who held That our Saviour's Godhead had suffered upon the Cross. By the first it is determined that our Saviour indeed suffered in his Flesh but that his Godhead remained Impassible And by the Second pronounces an Anathema against those who shall say That our Saviour suffered in his Godhead Radoaldus whose Judgment was put off being returned into Italy from France the Pope sent some Bishops to summon him to
but to Men and consequently 't is they not the Spirit which are the Authors of the Words and Expressions which they use although he inspires them with the Sense and Doctrine they ought to write In his Answer to the Third Objection he opposeth the Opinion of his Adversary who maintain'd that the Souls of Men were Created separated from the Bodies he affirms that we ought to believe that they are created in and with the Body although the Philosophers delivered the contrary and Austin doubts of it In the next place he answers a question put to him by his Adversary Whether Truth be any thing but God He answers That Truth is not always taken for God himself although 't is not to be doubted but that God is Truth The Fourth Question concerns the Righteous Men of the old Law Agobard maintains that they may be called Christians although they were not called so because they believed in Jesus Christ and belonged to him being anointed with the invisible Ointment of his Grace as well as those who were good Men among the Gentiles The Jews who were in credit at Court because they had Money obtained an Edict from the Emperour which contained many things in their Favour and among the rest that none of their Slaves should be baptized but with their Masters Consent This Edict being very prejudicial to Religion and contrary to Christian Piety Agobard addressed a Writing to Hilduin the King 's great Chaplain and to the Abbot Vala who was at Court in which he shews the injustice and impiety of that Prohibition being evidently contrary to the Design of the Gospel and the intention of Jesus Christ who will have all Men to be saved and hath commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel to all Creatures and baptize all that believe whether Bond or Free He desires them to whom he writes to endeavour all they can to get this Edict recall'd which he hoped might be done more easily because he offered to pay the Jews the Ransom of those Slaves according to the appointment of the Canons made in that Case In the Letter written by Agobard in his own Name and Hildegisus and Florus's who were Clergy-men of Lyons to Bartholomew Bishop of Narbonne he speaks of a certain Distemper which took Men suddenly and threw them down like the Falling-Sickness Some also felt a sudden Burning which left an incurable Wound This ordinarily happen'd in the Churches and the astonish'd People to guard themselves from it gave considerable Gifts to the Churches to secure them Agobard disallows this practice and searching into the Cause of this Plague he says 't was nothing else but the will of God who punisheth Men by the Ministery of an Angel After which he relates several Examples of the like Chastisements out of Scripture in which God hath exercised his Justice by Angels and other Creatures He affirms that these sort of inflictions are not from the power of the Devil although he owns that God sometimes suffers the Devil to disquiet and torment Men. Returning then to the Question of Bartholomew viz. what we ought to think of the practice of those who coming into the Churches where they were seized with this Distemper bring presents to them He says that fear causes these people to do what they ought not and hinders them from doing what they ought for it were better says he to give Alms to the Poor or Strangers to address themselves to the Priest to receive Unction according to the Command of the Gospel and of the Apostle to fast and pray and do works of Charity It is true adds he that if the Offerings given to the Church be employed as they ought they are an Action of Charity but because at present they are used only to satisfie the Covetousness and Avarice of Men and not to honour God or relieve the Poor it is a shame to give them to such covetous Wretches to be kept or ill imployed by them The Injustice and Violence which was practised among the people of Lyons and could not be restrained obliged Agobard to write to Maâ—fredus a powerful Man in the Emperour's Court. He begs of him to use his Interest with his Prince to hinder those Disorders and cause justice to be done This Compliment is short but urgent The Letter to the Clergy of Lyons concerning the manner how the Bishops and Pastors ought to govern is an excellent instruction for them He says that those who are entrusted with the Government of the Church the Spouse of Christ who is Peace Truth Justice and the Author of all Good ought to love that his Spouse singularly as himself and apply himself entirely to the spiritual good of his only Spouse That those who neglect to do their Duty and place all their Pleasure and Affections upon Riches Finery Hunting and Debauchery are the destroyers of God's Work and the Assistants of Anti-christ That though they seem to be Bishops in the Eyes of Men they are not so in the Eyes of God no more than Hypocrites who affect to appear outwardly Holy but whose Heart is full of Impurity who seek not the Edification and Instruction of the Faithful but their own Interest and Glory such are those who seek to get into the sacred Ministery only to obtain Honour and Riches or to live finely He adds that all those that make it their main Business to gain themselves the Love and Respect of those that are under their Charge and not to make Jesus Christ be loved and honoured by them who is the only Spouse of the Church are Adulterers and unworthy of the sacred Ministery because they design rather to feed themselves than their Flock Nevertheless he advises that the Sheep should endure wicked Pastors through Prudence when they can't reform them His Book concerning the Dispensing of Ecclesiastical Revenues was not written against the ill usage which Clergy-men might make of them but against the Laity who took them away and kept them unjustly Lewis the Godly having called an Assembly of Clergy-men and Lords at Attigny in 822. for the Reformation of Church and State Agobard advises Adelardus Abbot of Corbey and another Abbot called Helissicarius that they ought to rectifie the Disorder that was in the Church about the Ecclesiastical Revenues which the Laity had appropriated to themselves that they might speak to the Emperour of it He zealously represents to them that the Churches having been enriched by the Gifts of the Emperours Princes and Bishops had made an abundance of Laws and Canons for the preservation of the Revenues and to hinder Lay-men from encroaching upon them That the necessity which they alledged was not a sufficient Reason to over-look those Laws nor to authorize the Usurpations they had made of them The year following this matter was more fully debated in an Assembly held at Compeigne where the Clergy again represented that the Laity were not to be suffered in the quiet Possession of the Revenues of the
maintain'd That that Yoke ought not to be laid equally on all People because there were some who were not able to undergo it by reason of the weakness of their Bodies neither perhaps did their Transgressions deserve so severe a Chastisement and there were others in respect of whom this Satisfaction is not proportioned to the haynousness of their Offences That it were more expedient to follow the Canonical Rules in the imposing of Pennances and that much less ought the People to be constrain'd by an Oath to observe this Abstinence since that were by such means to expose them not only to the hazard of breaking a Commandment but also of incurring Perjury The same Prelate did not think fit that the Bishops should be concern'd in Military Affairs and the bearing of Arms saying That it is the Province of Kings to take cognizance of those matters and not that of Clergy-men 'T is a thing very observable that a great number of Bodies of Saints and abundance of Relicks were brought into those Councils and that 't was generally believ'd that many Miracles were wrought therein There were also held at the same time divers other particular Councils either for the dedicating of Churches or for the granting of Privileges to Monasteries or for the determining of private differences among the Bishops about the limits of their Diocesses or to put an end to other Contests which are mention'd by the Writers of that Time but do not deserve to be insisted upon in this Place The Council of Rheims held in the Year 1049. HERIMAR Abbot of St. Remy at Rheims having invited over Leo IX to consecrate his new Church that Pope arriv'd there in the Month of October A. D. 1049. accompany'd The Council of Rheims in 1049. with the Arch-bishops of Trier Lyons and Bezanson and the Bishop of Porto and after having perform'd the Ceremony and that of the Translation of the Body of St. Remy to this new Church he held a Council therein which continu'd during some Days It was compos'd of the Arch-bishops of Rheims Trier Lyons and Bezanson of the Bishops of Soissons Terouane Senlis Mets Langres Coutances Lisieux Bayeux Auranches Verdun Nevers Anger 's Nantes and Porto and of a Bishop of England with divers Abbots and other Clergy-men to the number of Fifty Peter Deacon of the Church of Rome open'd the Council declaring That it was requisite to treat about the reformation of many Abuses which had crept into the Churches of France particularly Simony the seizing of Churches by Laicks forbidden Marriages the Apostacy of Clerks and Monks c. But above all things he admonish'd the Bishops to declare under pain of an Anathema whether they were ordain'd for Mony or otherwise The Arch-bishops of Trier Lyons and Bezanson protested that they were not but the Metropolitan of Rheims desired time to return an Answer Among the Bishops there were only Four who were not able to clear themselves viz. those of Langres Nevers Coutances and Nantes The Abbots being ask'd the same Question many of them protested themselves innocent and others own'd their Fault by their silence The Abbots of Poitiers was accused of Incontinency by the Bishop of Langres and not having sufficiently clear'd himself was depos'd In the end of this Session it was prohibited under the penalty of an Anathema to attribute the Title of Universal Primate of the Church to any but the Bishop of Rome The next Day the Arch-bishop of Rheims after having had a private Conference with the Pope and some other Prelates entreated the Bishop of Senlis to speak in his favour who accordingly declar'd that the Arch-bishop was not guilty of Simony but the Pope order'd that he should clear himself by Oath whereupon he sued for longer time which was granted on condition that he should appear in a Council to be held at Rome in the middle of April in the following Year The determination of the Cause that was depending between that Arch-bishop and the Bishop of Toul about the Abbey of Monstier-Randy was referr'd to the next Day Afterward certain Clerks of the Church of Tours brought an Accusation against the Bishop of Dol for assuming the Quality of Arch-bishop and withdrawing himself with the seven Bishops of Bretagne from the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Tours It was order'd that he should be summon'd to the Council of Rome in the Month of April following Then the Bishop of Langres was accused of Simony of bearing Arms and committing Murders of tyrannizing over his Clergy and of perpetrating other more notorious Crimes One of his Clerks depos'd that the said Bishop took away his Wife whom he had whilst he was as yet a Lay-man and after having abus'd her made her a Nun A certain Priest gave in evidence that he caus'd him to be kept in Custody under a Guard and to endure much hardship on purpose to extort Mony from him The Bishop of Langres demanded Counsel and made application to the Arch-bishops of Lyons and Bezanson The latter going about to plead for him falter'd in his Speech and the other acknowledg'd that the Bishop had expos'd the sacred Orders to Sale and exacted a Sum of Mony of that Priest but deny'd that he caus'd him to be misus'd On the third Day the Bishop of Langres not daring to appear and being summon'd thrice and sought for to no purpose was at last excommunicated The Bishop of Nevers own'd that his Relations had given a Sum of Mony for his Bishoprick but that he was altogether ignorant of what they had done nevertheless he declar'd that he design'd to leave it and even at the same time laid down his Crosier-Staff at the Pope's Feet who caus'd him to take it up again after he had taken an Oath that that Mony was paid without his knowledge Then an ancient Copy of a Privilege granted to the Church of Rheims was read which made it appear that the Abbey of Monstier Randy belong'd to its Jurisdiction and it was accordingly adjudg'd to that Church The Bishop of Coutances confess'd that his Brother had laid out a Sum of Mony to get him advanc'd to the Episcopal Dignity but having taken an Oath that it was done without his knowledge he was declar'd innocent The Bishop of Nantes was not so favourably treated for having own'd that he succeeded his Father in his Bishoprick after having disburs'd a certain Sumn of Mony he was depos'd and only permitted to exercise the Office of a Priest Lastly a Sentence of Excommunication was denounc'd against the Prelats who were summon'd to this Council but did not appear and the following Constitutions were agreed upon viz. 1. That none shall be promoted to Ecclesiastical Dignities but by the election of the Clergy and People 2. That none shall buy or make Sale of the Sacred Orders Ecclesiastical Offices or Altars 3 That Laicks shall not retain Spiritual Livings 4. That none but the Bishop or some Person deputed by him shall be empower'd to levy any
arguere nec laudare praesumo The Ninety eighth and the Ninety ninth are written in the Name of Richard Arch-bishop of Canterbury viz. the former to his Suffragans about the necessity of relieving the Holy Land and the second to Pope Urban III. to congratulate his promotion to the Pontifical Dignity and to thank his Holiness for the Pall which he had sent to him In the Hundredth Letter he vindicates an Arch-bishop who was accus'd of being too meek and moderate The Hundred and first directed to Robert Arch-deacon of Nantes is a Judgment that he passes on the Disposition of two of his Nephews whom he had put under his Tuition The Hundred and second contains a long Complaint made by the Abbot of Redding who was desirous to renounce his Dignity with Peter of Blois's Answer in which he advises him not to do it The following Letters contain nothing of any great moment as to Ecclesiastical Discipline In the Hundred and twelfth sent to the Bishop of Orleans he maintains the Immunities of the Church and asserts that the King of France ought to exact no other Supplies of the Clergy than their Prayers to carry on the War that he was preparing to manage against the Saracens in the Holy Land In the Hundred and thirteenth he exhorts Geffrey Arch-bishop of York to oppose the new Hereticks who appear'd in his Diocess and to publish so strict an Ordinance against them that the others might be terrify'd with the Severity of their Punishment In the Hundred and fourteenth he congratulates John of Salisbury upon his Instalment in the Bishoprick of Chartres and commends the Relation that he wrote of the Life of Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury In the Hundred and fifteenth after having shewn in what degrees of Consanguinity Robert and Adelecia were related one to another he produces the several Impediments of their Marriage and comprehends them in six Verses The Hundred and sixteenth is written to Hugh Abbot of St. Denis to whom he sends one of his Books to be examin'd and comforts him for the Indignity that was put upon him by the King of France In the Hundred and seventeenth he reprehends Geffrey Abbot of Marmoutier by reason that he had caus'd an Action to be commenc'd against the Prior of St. Come for certain Lands which he claim'd as belonging to his Jurisdiction There is nothing remarkable in the following Letters to the 123d in which he refuses to accept of the Sacerdotal Dignity not through contempt but an extraordinary respect for that Function In the Hundred twenty fourth he comforts Gautier Arch-bishop of Roan banish'd from his Church and justifies his retreat In the Hundred twenty fifth he admonishes the same Prelate to avoid slothfulness during his Exile and to apply himself to the reading of the Holy Scriptures In the Hundred twenty sixth directed to the Abbot of Glocester he gives an Encomium of Odo Chanter of Bourges chosen Bishop of Paris to whom he writes the Hundred twenty seventh to renew their old Friendship and the Correspondence that formerly pass'd between them In the Hundred twenty eighth Peter of Blois complains to William Arch-bishop of Sens that he had not as yet perform'd the Promise that he made to entertain him in his House and to conferr a Benefice upon him In the Hundred twenty ninth he writes against the Arch-deacon of Orleans who had introduc'd Simoniacal Practices into his Church In the Hundred and thirtieth directed to John Bishop of Chartres he clears himself from the Charge brought against him that he made use of the Recommendation of the King of England of divers Lords and of the Pope to procure a Prebend in the Church of Chartres In the Hundred thirty first he reproves one of his Nephews the Prior of a Monastery by reason that neglecting the study of the Liberal Sciences and abandoning his Solitude he frequented publick Places and endeavour'd to curry favour with Noble-men The Hundred thirty second and the Hundred thirty fourth directed to Persons newly made Abbots contain very useful Instructions for the conduct of Superiours In the Hundred thirty third written to the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury he maintains that he is not oblig'd to reside in his Prebend in that City in regard of the smalness of the Revenue which was not sufficient for defraying the Charge of a Journey thither The Hundred thirty fifth is a Dispensation for Non-residence granted by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to a Canon of Salisbury The Hundred thirty sixth is a Letter from Henry II. King of England to Alexander III. in which he complains of the Rebellion of his Children and implores the assistance of that Pope In the Hundred thirty seventh he congratulates a Novice Monk and gives him wholsome Advice In the Hundred thirty eighth he expresses to Gautier Arch-bishop of Roan the Joy that he had upon his return from his Exile In the Hundred thirty ninth he entreats the Abbot and Monks of Cisteaux to put up their Prayers to God that he would vouchsafe to grant him his Grace to enable him worthily to perform the Functions of the Priesthood to which Dignity he was lately rais'd and explains the reasons why he deferr'd the receiving of that Order till that time In the Hundred and fortieth he exhorts Petrus Diaconus to quit the study of the Law and to apply himself altogether to that of the Holy Scriptures and of Divinity In this Letter he makes use of the Term of Transubstantiation in treating of the Eucharist Thus you see says he in one single Sacrament a deep Abyss impenetrable to Humane Reason I mean in the Bread and Wine transubstantiated by Vertue of the Heavenly Words into the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST the Accidents that were therein remaining without a Subject and although the Body of JESUS CHRIST be Flesh and not Spirit nevertheless it Nourishes the Soul rather than the Body The same Body is to be found in several Places and on divers Altars against the nature of Bodies without ceasing to be in Heaven For although by its Nature it can only be in one Place after a circumscriptible Manner yet it is in many Places by its omnipotent Vertue and Energy and after a spiritual Manner In the Hundred forty first he complains to Gautier Arch-bishop of Roan that a certain private Person had detain'd the Revenues of a Prebend that belong'd to him and entreats that Prelate to cause Restitution to be made In the Hundred forty second he comforts the Prior and Monks of Evesham who were in great Trouble and exhorts them to bear it with Patience The four following Letters relate to the Confinement of Richard I. King of England and were written to procure his Liberty In the Hundred forty seventh he reproves Robert Bishop of Bangor who determin'd to retain a certain Benefice which he had conferr'd on another Clerk In the Hundred forty eighth he exhorts Savaric Bishop of Bath to return to his Diocess and not to leave
of the first Benefice shall forthwith bestow it on whom he pleases and if he delays Presenting the space of three Months not only the Right of Presenting shall lapse to another as is order'd in the former Lateran Council but also that he shall bestow so much of his Revenues on the Church as he has gain'd by the Vacant Benefice The same thing is order'd with respect to Personats and therein 't is prohibited the having two Personats in one and the same Church tho' they have not the Cure of Souls However 't is declar'd That the Holy See may dispense with this Law with respect to Persons of Merit and Learning who ought to be Dignify'd with Considerable Benefices when there shall be sufficient Reason for it The Thirtieth orders That those who shall Collate Benefices on in-sufficient Persons shall be Suspended from their Right of Collating and that this Suspension shall not be taken off but by the Authority of the Pope or Patriarch The Thirty first imports That the Children of Canons and especially Bastards may not have Prebends in the Churches where their Fathers are Canons The Thirty second orders the Patrons of Parochial Churches to allow the Curates a sufficient Part of the Revenues for their Maintenance and enjoins the Curate to serve their Cures themselves and not by Vicars at least that a Parish-Church shall not be annex'd to a Prebend or a Dignity in which Case he who is the Incumbent being oblig'd to do Duty in the Great Church shall substitute in his Place for the Cure a constant Vicar to whom he shall allow a Competency It prohibits the laying a Pension on the Revenues of Curates The Thirty third orders That the Bishops or their Arch-Deacons shall not exact the Right of Procuration but when they shall Visit in their own Persons that they shall observe the Regulation made in the Lateran Council This Law likewise extended to the Legates and Nuncio's of the Holy See and they who Visit are recommended not to seek their own Profit but the Glory of Jesus Christ and to apply themselves to the Reformation of Manners and to Preaching The Thirty fourth prohibits the Exactions made under a pretence of paying the Duty of Procuration to Legates or any others The Thirty fifth prohibits the Appealing from a Judge to a Superior before he has pass'd Sentence unless there be a lawful Cause for such an Appeal which shall be represented to the Judge before it can be brought before the Superior which is enjoin'd without prejudice to those Constitutions which order That the greater Causes shall be referr'd to the Holy See The Thirty sixth imports That if the Judge revoke a Comminatory or Interlocutory Sentence which he has pass'd he may continue the drawing up of the Process when an Appeal has been made from this Sentence The Thirty seventh prohibits the granting of Commissions for the allowing Persons to appeal before Judges above two days Journey distant from the Place where the Person assign'd is and the obtaining such Commissions without special Orders from the Lord of the Place The Thirty eighth enjoyns the Judges to have a Publick Officer or two sufficient Persons who shall write down all the Form of the Processes which shall be communicated to the Parties concern'd keeping the Minutes by them The Thirty ninth orders That the Person who has been turn'd out of any Place shall be first put in it again before his Right to it be try'd The Fortieth imports That the Possession of a Year shall be computed from the Day of its being settled by a Decree tho' the Person in whose favour Sentence is pass'd cannot by reason of the malice of his Adversary be put into possession of the thing which is adjudg'd to him or may have been turn'd out of it It prohibits Ecclesiasticks from committing the Tryaâ— of Ecclesiastical Causes to Laicks The Forty first imports That the Prescription which is not Bona fide made shall be of no force and that 't is necessary that he who makes use of Prescription shall not remember any time when what he holds did not belong to him The Forty second prohibits Ecclesiasticks from enlarging their Jurisdiction to the prejudice of Secular Justice The Forty third prohibits Laicks from exacting Oaths of Fidelity from Ecclesiasticks who hold no Temporality of them to oblige them to it The Forty fourth declares That the Constitutions of Princes which are prejudicial to the Rights of the Church shall not be observ'd whether they be for the Alienation of Fiefs or for the Incroaching on the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or for any other Goods The Forty fifth prohibits Patrons and Vouchers of Churches from undertaking more than is allow'd them and deprives them of the Right of Patronage who shall wound or kill the Clerks of the Churches under their Patronage The Forty sixth revives the Excommunication issu'd out by the Lateran Council against those who exact Tallies and other Taxes from Ecclesiasticks Notwithstanding it allows Bishops in cases of Necessity to engage Ecclesiasticks to give something provided they have advis'd with the Pope about it first It declares those Sentences Null that are made by Excommunicated Persons and it observes that those who have been Excommunicated whilst they were in an Office are not discharg'd from their Excommunication for their having quitted that Office The Forty seventh regulates the Form of Excommunication as follows The Excommunication ought to be preceded by Admonition made in the Presence of several Witnesses It ought to be founded on a publick and reasonable Cause If the Excommunicated Person finds himself aggriev'd he may complain of it to the Superior Judge who shall send him back to be absolv'd by the Judge who Excommunicated him if there be no danger in such a delay but if it is to be fear'd that this Delay may have dangerous Consequences he may himself give him Absolution When the Injustice of the Excommunication shall be prov'd he who has Excommunicated shall be condemn'd to repair the Damages of him who has been Excommunicated and be punished according as his Superior judges requisite But if he who complains of the Excommunication does not bring any sufficient reason he shall be condemn'd to Damages and punish'd as the Superior pleases if he be not excusable by some probable Error and he shall remain Excommunicated till he has made Satisfaction or given Security for doing it If a Judge finding himself in a mistake revoke his Sentence and he in whose favour it was made will appeal no notice shall be taken of such Appeal unless the Error be such as admits of no Question in which Case he shall absolve the Excommunicated Person upon Condition that he will submit to the Judgment of him to whom the Appeal has been made The Forty eighth imports That when any Person has a Judge whom he suspects and will refuse to be Try'd by him he shall allege the Reasons of his Suspicion before Umpires who shall be pitch'd upon and
Subject whereof is not as some imagine That the Church can take away the Pope for ever but that there are many Cases wherein the Church may be for a time without the Pope and that there are some Cases wherein he may be Depos'd He takes for the Text of his Discourse the Words of Jesus Christ in St. Mark Ch. 2. The time will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from you whereupon he enquires First Whether Jesus Christ who is the Bridegroom of the Church can be taken from the Church and its Members And first he lays it down for certain That he cannot be taken away from the whole Church according to the Ordinary Law Secondly That tho' he may cease to be the Spouse of particular Believers in the Church Militant yet he cannot cease to be the Spouse of the whole Church Collectively Thirdly That he cannot cease to dispense continually his Graces to the whole Church and every one of its Living Members Fourthly That it was not possible That Jesus Christ should be taken away from the far greatest part of his Spouse so that the Church should subsist in one Woman only or in the Sex of Women only or in Lay-men only This is what concerns Jesus Christ. Now follow the Propositions which concern the Pope his Vicar First The Monarchical State of the Church Establish'd by Jesus Christ cannot be chang'd Secondly A Pope may cease to be the Vicar of Jesus Christ by Cession or Resignation of the Pontificat Thirdly He may be remov'd by a General Council even against his Will in some Cases and tho' the Council cannot take from him the Power of Order yet it may Deprive him of the lawful Execution of the Power of Order and of his Jurisdiction Fourthly The Council has Power to do this legally and with Authority Fifthly The Pope may be Depos'd as a Heretick and Schismatick tho' he be only mentally so in such Cases as he may be presum'd and judg'd to be such Sixthly He may in some Cases be depriv'd of the Pontificate without any Fault of his though not without cause as if he become incapable of doing his Duty if he do not prove that his Election was Canonical if his Deprivation be a means to procure the Peace of the Church or the Re-union of a great many People or if he has promis'd to resign Seventhly The Church cannot take away the Vicar of Jesus Christ unto the end of the World supposing that it shall last yet for some time From whence he concludes That those who contribute to maintain a Schism oppose the Order of Jesus Christ because they hinder the Church from having a lawful Head The 4th Treatise of Gerson is about the manner of our Behaviour during a Schism where he shews That when it is doubtful which of the Competitors is the true Pope we ought to abstain from Condemning one another and endeavour to procure the Peace of the Church either by obliging the Competitors to resign their pretended Rights or by withdrawing our Obedience to them but above all things we ought not to divide the Communion of one from the other At the end of this Treatise he has added an Appendix wherein he gives a Catalogue of the Schisms of the Church of Rome The 5th Work is a Treatise of the Unity of the Church wherein he shews with what Zeal we ought to seek after Union with one sole Head the Vicar of Jesus Christ and of what importance it is to procure it After this follows a Treatise of the different States of the Ecclesiasticks of their Duties and Privileges First With respect to the Pope who hath the Supremacy in the Church tho' he be subject to the Laws of General Councils and ought also to pay a Deference to other positive Laws Secondly With respect to the Bishops who are of Divine Institution and exercise their Power in Subordination to the Pope yet so that he cannot destroy it nor deprive the Bishops of it without Reason or restrain their Rights or Jurisdictions beyond reasonable Bounds Thirdly With respect to Parish-Priests who succeed the 72 Disciples and who are also instituted by Jesus Christ who although they be inferiour to Bishops yet are superiour to the Regulars having a Right to Preach and Administer the Sacraments Fourthly With respect to the Regulars who are priviledg'd and have been chosen to Preach and hear Confessions a long time after the Establishment of the Church a Privilege which they ought to use Charitably and not from a Principle of Interest Emulation or Ambition and to the Prejudice of the Parish-Priests and not at all but when they are approv'd by the Bishop The next Treatise is a Work purely of Morality wherein Gerson collects many Christian Maxims for all Estates after which follows a Sermon preach'd at Constance wherein he relates divers Signs of the approaching Destruction of this World among which he places the Pomp Pride and Tyranny of the Prelats of his time and the Novelty of Opinions After this we find a Catalogue of the Faults of Ecclesiasticks which are many The plurality of Benefices is not forgotten there nor the Tricks and Sollicitations that are us'd to obtain them the Absence of Bishops from their Diocesses the Negligence of Ecclesiasticks in performing their Office and reading Divine Service their Ignorance the worldly Life which they lead the Pomp and Pride of Cardinals and other Prelats and an infinite number of Disorders both in the Manners and Behaviour of the Ecclesiasticks The three following Treatises were Compos'd before the Council of Constance at such time as Benedict XIII was yet acknowledg'd by France wherein he proves the Right that Benedict had to the Pontificat and would have him put an end to the Schism by way of Compromise or Cession rather than by a General Council Gerson being sent to Pope Benedict by the University of Paris preach'd before him two Sermons at Taraseon in the Year 1404. one on the day of our Lord's Circumcision and the other about the Peace of the Church wherein he undertakes to persuade the Pope that he ought to embrace all ways for procuring it even by resigning if need were his Right to his Adversary This Discourse was ill taken wherefore Gerson was forc'd to justify himself by two Letters which he wrote whereof one is address'd to the Duke of Orleans and the other to the Bishop of Cambray In these Letters he speaks of another preceding Sermon deliver'd before the same Pope at Marseilles wherein he declares the Occasion of his Embassy which is printed after the other two whereof we have now spoken although it should be before them and there is also among them a Discourse which was not preach'd by Gerson till a long time after in the presence of Alexander V. The other Pieces of Gerson about the Schism are a Discourse spoken in the Name of the University of Paris in 1408. in the presence of the Embassadors from England who were
their own Conscience reflect upon their Sins and blot them out by their Contrition wash them with their Tears drive them away by Prayer ransom them by Alms and by praying to God for Pardon thro' the Invocation of Jesus Christ and the Saints and for Grace to forsake them for the time to to come for he is not a true Penitent nor worthy of Pardon who has not a firm Resolution to forsake his Sins Now to the end that the Heart may be quickned to this Devotion the Faithful must be assisted on these Days with Holy Mysteries they must hear Mass and the Word of God which is able to soften the hardest Hearts if they hear it with attention they must Meditate on the Actions and Vertues of the Saints whose Festival is Celebrated that they may imitate their Example 'T is probable that the Saints are more favourable to those who Pray to them who Honour them on the Days of their Festivals than at other times and that Jesus Christ has then a greater regard to their Intercession But the Faithful must so prepare themselves that the Saints may Pray to Jesus Christ for them and that Jesus Christ may hear their Prayers He declaims afterwards against the Profaneness of the greater part of Christians in his time on these Days and the Disorders which they committed But since it might be objected to him that tho' many Persons had abus'd the Festivals yet there were many others who Celebrated them with Devotion and spent these Days in Prayer and Good-Works That the Festivals being chiefly appointed for Persons of Piety it was not convenient to abolish them but that even new ones might be added to them to procure farther means of Edification and so much the rather because the Administrations of the Church are chiefly design'd for the benefit of the Elect which herein follow the foot-steps of its Head He proposes therefore this Objection and before he answers it he observes that there is a great deal of difference between the Commandments of God and the Traditions of Men as to what concerns their Observation or Neglect that the Commandments of God cannot be abrogated by any Human Institution upon any pretence of profit whatsoever because no Man has a Right to change the Law of God But as to Ecclesiastical Constitutions altho' they have been appointed for just and sufficient Reasons they do not oblige so indispensably but they may often be chang'd with respect to Times Places and Customs by the Universal Church or even by particular Churches He alledges Images for an Example which were though to be forbidden in the Primitive Church for fear lest the Faithful who were newly Converted from Paganism should believe that there was some Divinity in them and which were afterwards allow'd when the Faithful were confirm'd in the Faith and this Inconvenience was no more to be fear'd He adds that about four years ago Michael Bishop of Antisiodorum a Prelate of great Vertue and lately deceas'd had taken away by his Synodical Decrees many Festivals which were wont to be Celebrated in his Diocess upon the account of the Disorders which were committed at them and the necessities of the Common People that this Retrenchment did not hinder Pious Persons from Celebrating them with Devotion and assisting at the Office that 't is true the Church ought to manage all things for the good of the Elect but then it ought not to despair of any Man nor to look upon any Christian as a Reprobate while he lives upon Earth that it ought to take care of the good and the bad that according to the Gospel we should rather cut off our Hand or our Foot and pluck out our Eye than give offence to the least of our Brethren How much more Reason is there then to take away a thing which gives Scandal both to Great and Small He intimates also that the Consideration of the Miseries to which the Common People in his time were reduc'd was sufficient Reason for abolishing these Festivals which depriv'd them of the means of gaining their livelyhood Lastly he blames the New Festivals whose Rents they cannot enjoy without Celebrating them in their Churches an Abuse which had so subverted the Divine Service in the greatest part of the Churches that the Office for the Day was scarce any more regarded because these New Saints had Engross'd all the Days and sometimes had even taken up the Days of the Festivals Consecrated to God from whence it came to pass that the Holy Scripture was no more read in the Office but only the History of the Saints and that there was a necessity of changing every day the Ancient Offices and the Order of the Church He complains that these Novelties were introduc'd into the greatest part of the Churches and even into the Cathedrals except that of Lyons which he says did not receive these Novelties Lastly he Conjures those who had more Zeal than was necessary for the Institution of the New Festivals to reflect upon these Reasons and if they found them Just to acquiesce in the Truth if they found any thing in them worthy to be blam'd to acquaint him wherein he was deceiv'd and declares that he was ready to Correct what he had written if it were against the Rule of the Church and protests that he had not Compos'd this Book to contradict their Affection which he believed to proceed from a good Intention bâ—t to discover the Scandal and Mischief which arise from this multiplication of Festivals for the instruction and satisfaction of those who not considering them procure these Novelties out of a good Zeal but not according to Knowledge In the Treatise of Simoniacal Prelates Address'd to Gerson he declaims earnestly against the Custom of some Bishops in his time who took and exacted Mony for Conferring of Orders under pretence of dispatching the Letters or otherwise Tell me O Bishops says he who are not asham'd to sell Doves in the Church of Jesus Christ wherefore think ye that Ecclesiastical Benefices were Appointed Was it not for the performing of some Office And what is the Office for which ye were Ordain'd Ye will not tell me that it was to Baptize to Consecrate the Eucharist to hear Confessions to give Absolutions to Celebrate Marriages since this is common to you with the Curates and Priests of your Diocess Neither will you say that it was to Preach for altho' it belongs to you to discharge this Duty yet ye do it very rarely and negligently and commonly turn it over to others What then is the Office which is not common to you with others 'T is chiefly to Conferr Orders in your Diocess this is the Principal End for which ye were Ordain'd Bishops How comes it to pass then that ye do not discharge this Duty gratis having so great Revenues of your Bishopricks for this very Reason As to what might be objected to him that there were many Bishops of great Piety that us'd to do this