of the Provincial Bishops And for this none could be so fit as he that resided in the Metropolis of the Province thence call'd Metropolitan partly because the Countries for the most part round about had originally derived their Christianity from thence and 't was but fit they should pay a peculiar respect to the mother-Mother-church partly because most persons had occasion to resort thither for the dispatch of business and might with the same opportunity conveniently transact both their civil and Ecclesiastick matters and partly because 't was but reasonable that the Bishop of so eminent a place should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have an honourable presidency over the rest as the Council of Antioch particularly provides in this case Ordaining accordingly that tho every Bishop might Ordain Presbyters and Deacons and manage the affairs of his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or particular Diocess as we now call it yet that all the Bishops of the Province should acknowledge the Metropolitan and attempt nothing of moment without his knowledge and consent which they there enact not as any Novel constitution but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they tell us according to a most ancient Rule and Canon that had been in force from the times of their fore-fathers To the Metropolitan then upon every extraordinary occasion the Provincial Bishops addressed themselves to him also other Metropolitans such especially as lay nearest to him were wont to send Letters of Communion to testify their consent with him in the faith a confession whereof every new Metropolitan us'd to send abroad upon his advancement to his See and mutually to consult each others advice in all important cases VII THIS 't is plain from the Writings of S. Cyprian and others was the way of Administration during those first and most early Ages of Christianity Private causes every Bishop judg'd of within his particular jurisdiction where taking to him the assistance of his Clergy his Presbyters and Deacons they did Communi Consilio ponderare weigh things by common advice and deliberation where the case was of greater importance or more general concernment it was referr'd to a provincial Synod wherein the chief Bishop of the Province presided and directed all affairs Here the Ordination of Bishops was usually perform'd or where a Synod could not conveniently be had by as many Bishops as could be got together the rest who were absent by writing under their hands testifying their consent and the whole either actually manag'd by or at least done by the allowance and confirmation of the chief Bishop Here also criminal Bishops were depos'd and the same way of general suffrage observ'd Thus when Cornelius and his Synod at Rome had condemn'd and cast out Novatian for his Schismatical Usurpation of that See the Bishops that were not present at the Council did by their Letters ratify and subscribe that Decree VIII IN reference to the affairs of Churches abroad they acted by a kind of mutual consociation they communicated councils interpos'd in differences oppos'd the same common enemies and upon all occasions afforded ready help and assistance to one another that dilectio communis that Cyprian so often speaks of the common bond of love and charity obliging them to advise together that so by joynt consultations things might be carried on to the best advantage of Ecclesiastick Administration For they look'd upon themselves he tells us as members of the same Body of the Church though stretcht out into many several Provinces and that therefore they were bound to have care one of another and to watch over the welfare of the whole Body Upon a Persons Election to any of the greater Sees they were wont to send their congratulatory Letters to give him joy of that place to signify their concurrence with his advancement to a share of the Government of the Church and their communion with him in the Faith Thus Cyprian by Letters approv'd Cornelius his Election to the See of Rome which he did he tells us according to divine tradition and Ecclesiastick institution nay he sent to all the Bishops of his Province requiring them by their Letters to do the like And when Marcian Bishop of Arles was depos'd for his siding with Novatian Cyprian wrote to Pope Stephen to send him word who succeeded in that Bishopprick that so he might know to whom to direct his communicatory Letters When any person was duly Excommunicated in on Church he could not be admitted to Communion in another Thus when Felicissimus who had been Excommunicated by Cyprian and the African Synod fled to Rome and came thither guarded with a potent faction he found the doors shut against him whereof Cornelius advis'd Cyprian by Letters which the good man commends as replenisht with Brotherly Love Ecclesiastick Discipline and Episcopal censure And when the Legats of Novatian who had procur'd himself to be irregularly Ordain'd Bishop of Rome for which he was Synodically condemn'd came into Africk Cyprian rejected them and utterly refus'd to receive them to Communion In short no sooner did any extraordinary emergency arise but notice was presently given of it to other Churches and advice return'd what was fit to be done in those matters and all possible assistance afforded towards the dispatching of them In all which transactions the Bishop of Rome was no otherwise considered than as all others were as a Bishop of the Catholick Church nor was his Sentence any more regarded than that of other Bishops Donatus à casis nigris accus'd Cecilian Bishop of Carthage to Constantine the Great The Emperour referr'd the case to Pope Melchiades and three French Bishops together with whom Assembled fifteen Bishops of Italy who gave judgment against Donatus Wherein as the Pope acted as the Emperours Delegate and had no more power than the rest of his Collegues so the sturdy African slighted his judgment and appeal'd from it Constantine hereupon referrs the business to a Synod at Arles in France Ann. CCCXIV where the former sentence is again brought under examination and this thought no injury or dishonour to the Bishop of Rome nay his Legates in that Council subscribed only in the fifth place as the subscriptions publisht by Sirmoud out of an Ancient Copy stand at this day In short 't is ingenuously confess'd by Pope Pius the second then Cardinal that before the time of the Nicene Council very little regard was had to the Church of Rome By all which we see how the Government of the Church in those days was carried on Bishops superintended the affairs of the Church in every City and its adjacent Territory over them were Metropolitans and Provincial Synods and with foreign Churches they transacted by a mutual agreement and confederation for the good of the whole but without any coercive power over one another CHAP. II. The Government of the Church and Power of the Bishops of Rome as 't is represented in the Canons of the
motion with a who made me a Judge and a Ruler over you When the Jews were resolv'd to have made him King he fled from the very shadow of a Crown When there was a strife amongst his own Apostles which of them should be accounted the greatest like the Kings of the Gentiles which exercis'd Lordship and Authority over their Subjects he ended the Controversy with a short decision but ye shall not be so This Charge S. Peter particularly applies to the Bishops and Rulers of the Church that they should not be Lords over God's Heritage that the younger should submit themselves to the elder yea all of them be subject one to another and be cloathed with Humility for that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Had the excellent Rules here laid down by S. Peter been observ'd by those who pretend to be his Successors the Christian World had been free from those infinite disturbances and distractions which the pride and ambition of the Roman Bishops have brought upon it For certainly among all the corruptions and innovations of that Church nothing is more palpable and notorious than an intolerable usurpation over the Rights of their Brethren nothing more wild and extravagant than the challenging a Supremacy over the Christian Church as affix'd to the See of Rome expresly contrary not only to the Scripture the great Canon of our Faith but to the Laws of all ancient Councils and the practice of the Church which however it allow'd a primary honour and respect to the Roman Prelate yet still set him out as it did to all other Bishops the particular extent of his Jurisdiction This is that which I have endeavoured to evince in the following Discourse wherein I have trac'd the Papal Authority to those proper bounds and limits within which it was confin'd of old And upon that occasion have briefly survey'd the frame and constitution of the ancient Church and that Policy and Government whereby it was manag'd in its purer and better times That which gave birth to the whole Discourse was this I had elsewhere in relating the Acts of the second general Council represented the third Canon of that Council which decreed that the Bishop of Constantinople upon the account of its being New Rome or the Imperial City should have the priviledge of honour next to the Bishop of Rome A Canon which they of Rome could never pardon as which limits the power of the Roman Prelate and declares the foundation upon which it stands For the illustration of this Canon I intended im that place to have added a digression concerning the ancient Power and Precedence of the Bishops of Rome but upon second thoughts referr'd it to an Appendix at the end of the Book But that Book swelling into too great a bulk and this Discourse being grown beyond the proportion that was at first design'd I was over-perswaded by some Friends to venture it abroad alone A thing which had I intended from the beginning it had come forth at least in some parts more perfect than it is and with some advantages which now it is forc'd to go without I have wholly wav'd all Debates concerning the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy and the Controversies that depend upon it enough has been said upon that Argument and have chiefly insisted upon those branches of the Ecclesiastic Government which have been less canvassed amongst us For the same reason I have more lightly touch'd upon the Pope's Universal Supremacy 't was his Metropolitical and Patriarchal Power I principally design'd to enquire into I know Volumes have been written De primatu Papae de Ecclesiis Suburbicariis c. and therefore I have reduc'd what concerns those matters into as narrow a compass as I could and have said no more than what is necessary to clear the Argument and express my own sense about it If what is here said shall administer any light to this part of Church-antiquity I shall be very glad if not I am content it should follow the fate of many much better Books to be thrown aside 'T was never design'd to instruct the Learned but only to form a short Scheme of the true state of things for the benefit of those who have not been much conversant in the Antiquities of the Church at least to give some aid and direction to the younger sort who first apply themselves to the study of those ancient Times And if it may but attain this end I shall think my Time and Pains have been well bestow'd THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The State of the Church-Government and Power of the Roman Bishops 'till the Council of Nice An Equality among the Apostles as Church Governours appointed by Christ Peter's pretended Supremacy over the rest shewed to be vain and groundless If any such had been granted it belong'd not to the Roman Bishops Early appearances of the Pride and Usurpation of the Bishops of that Church Special advantages of that See to set up for Tyranny and Usurpation The foundation of that Church by two great Apostles Peter and Paul Rome the Seat of the Empire The honour and advantages of that Church thereby The Catholick Faith long time preserv'd entire in the Church of Rome It s large Revenues affording liberal Hospitality It s sending forth Emissaries to plant Christianity in other Countries and thereby claiming superiority over them The pride of that Church severely censur'd by S. Basil A general Scheme of the subordination in the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops Archbishops and Patriarchs and the Conformity herein to the Civil State Episcopal Government how it spread it self at first Metropolitans introduc'd and why A brief account of the ancient way of Ecclesiastical Administration out of Cyprian and others by the Bishop and his Clergy by Provincial Synods What things usually manag'd there Foreign Churches how mutually transacting with one another The Bishops of Rome had no more authority in this Period than the Bishops of other greater Sees Pope Melchiades appointed Commissioner by Constantine Donatus appeals from his Judgment His sentence brought under Examinations in the Synod of Arles Page 1 CHAP. II. The Government of the Church and Power of the Bishops of Rome as 't is represented in the Canons of the Nicene Council The sixth Canon of the Synod of Nice set down with the occasion of it Seven Observations drawn from that Canon I. That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces A. Province what Whether the Countries in Italy so called II. That the chief Church-Governour in every Province was the Metropolitan The prudence and convenience of that way of Government Patriarchs prov'd not to be intended in the Nicene Canon III. That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power This own'd by some of the greatest Champions of Rome IV. That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of the greatest note in the Christian
of Rome upon other Sees especially the See of Constantinople The Roman Bishops breaking the bounds of all Laws and Canons Their taking hold of all occasions of magnifying their own power Instances of Julius Damasus Innocent Zosimus to this purpose The briskness and activity of Pope Leo. His many Letters written to advance the reputation of his authority His jealous eye upon the growing greatness of the See of Constantinople The attempts and actings of his Legates in the Council of Chalcedon Their mighty opposition against the passing the XXVIII Canon of that Synod The fraud of Paschasinus in citing the sixth Canon of Nice Their protestation against the power granted to the Bishop of Constantinople Pope Leo's zeal and rage against these Synodal Proceedings Faelix his Excommunicating Acacius of Constantinople The pretended occasion of that Sentence The same spleen continued and carried on by Pope Gelasius A reconciliation procur'd by the Emperour Justin between the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople Pope John's insulting over Epiphanius in his own Church at Constantinople John the Second's ranting Letter to Justinian The Bishop of Constantinople assumes the title of Oecumenical Patriarch This in what sence probably meant The passionate resentment of Pope Pelagius hereat The same zeal shew'd by his Successor Gregory the Great His Letters written upon that occasion The hard words he every where bestows upon that title His mistake about the offer of that title to the Pope in the Chalcedon Council The true state of that case This title frequently given to the Constantinopolitan Bishops in the Council under Mennas before John assumed it Baronius's poor evasion of that matter Gregory still continues to thunder out Anathema's against this Title All this suspected to be but noise and the quarrel only because themselves had not the title Phocas his Usupation of the Empire The monstrous villany and wickedness of that man Pope Gregory's scandalously flattering Caresses to him and his Empress Boniface the Third makes suit to Phocas and procures the title of Oecumenical to be affixt to the See of Rome The Pope's daily enlargement of their Power and Tyranny and their advantages for so doing The whole concluded with the Canons or DICTATES of Pope Hildebrand Page 267 ERRATA PAge 5. line 8. read whosoever p. 52. l. 21. r. Administration p. 73. marg r. iii. p. 75. l. 12. r. head p. 110. l. 19. r. Crustuminum p. 133. l. 15. r. larger p. 136. l. 3. r. desire p. 152. l. 12. after who add are p. 173. l. 4. r. this p. 187. l. 22. r. them p. 300. l. 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 304. l. 13. r. Isidore A DISSERTATION Concerning the GOVERNMENT OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH BY Bishops Metroplitans and Patriarchs c. CHAP. I. The State of the Church-Government and Power of the Roman Bishops till the Council of Nice An Equality among the Apostles as Church Governours appointed by Christ Peters pretended Supremacy over the rest shewed to be vain and groundless If any such had been granted it belong'd not to the Roman Bishops Early appearances of the Pride and Usurpation of the Bishops of that Church Special advantages of that See to set up for Tyranny and Usurpation The foundation of that Church by two great Apostles Peter and Paul Rome the Seat of the Empire The honour and advantages of that Church thereby The Catholick Faith long time preserv'd intire in the Church of Rome It s large Revenues affording liberal Hospitality It s sending forth Emissaries to plant Christianity in other Countries and thereby claiming superiority over them The pride of that Church severely censur'd by St. Basil A general Scheme of the subordination in the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops Arch-bishops and Patriarchs and the Conformity herein to the Civil State Episcopal Government how it spreads it self at first Metropolitans introduc'd and why A brief account of the ancient way of Ecclesiastical Administration out of Cyprian and others by the Bishop and his Clergy by Provincial Synods What things usually manag'd there Foreign Churches how mutually transacting with one another The Bishops of Rome had no more authority in this Period than the Bishops of other greater Sees Pope Melchiades appointed Commissioner by Constantine Donatus appeals from his Judgment His sentence brought under Examinations in the Synod of Arles I. ORDER and Government are so essentially necessary to the peace and welfare of Mankind that no Society whether civil or sacred can subsist without it Where there is none to command there will be none to obey and where every one is left to do what he please there must be confusion and every evil work No sooner therefore had our Blessed Saviour laid the foundation of the Christian Church but he chose twelve whom he named Apostles to whose care and conduct he committed the administration of it These he invested with equal powers upon these he deriv'd the same mission which he himself had receiv'd from God As my father sent me so send I you All had the same authority to Preach Plant and propagate the Church to feed and rule the flock of Christ to go teach and baptize all Nations the same Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to one as well as another that whatsoever sins they should remit they should be remitted and whosoever sins they retain they should be retained The same Holy Spirit breathed upon all with a receive ye the Holy Ghost Notwithstanding all which it is confidently pretended on the behalf of S. Peter that a paramount authority was conferr'd upon him and that not only above but over the rest that he was constituted by our Lord Prince and Head of the Colledge the other Apostles were indeed Shepherds of the Flock but were themselves Christs Sheep and St. Peter appointed Pastor over them with a great deal more boldly asserted at a venture and attempted to be made good by such warrant from Scripture as any thing but the necessity of maintaining a desperate cause would be ashamed to produce And as no such charter can be produc'd sign'd by our Saviour so neither do we find S. Peter challenging much less exercising any such superiority He submitted to the Orders of the Apostolical Colledge and rendered himself accountable to them for his actions styles himself no more than their Fellow-Presbyter and cautions against Lording over God's Heritage How openly did S. Paul assert that he came not a whit behind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very chiefest Apostles and that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto him as well as that of the Circumcision was to Peter James and John are said to be Pillars as well as he nay the whole twelve Apostles are equally styl'd the twelve foundations of the new Jerusalem that descended out of Heaven and it was indifferently promised to all that they should sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Nay when a strife arose amongst
Nicene Council The Sixt Canon of the Synod of Nice set down with the occasion of it Seven Observations drawn from that Canon I. That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces A Province what Whither the Countries in Italy so called II. That the chief Church-Governour in every Province was the Metropolitan The prudence and convenience of that way of Government Patriarchs prov'd not to be intended in the Nicene Canon III. That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power This own'd by some of the greatest Champions of Rome IV. That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of the greatest note in the Christian Church and of these Rome the chief The eminency of Sees according to the greatness of the Cities wherein they were planted This gave precedency to the Church of Rome The three Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch ascrib'd to S. Peter Blasphemous things spoken of the Pope upon that account Primacy allow'd to the See of Rome No Supremacy belonging to it The Christian Church then knew of no such supereminent power V. That the rights of the Roman Metropolitan were not due by any divine constitution but by custome and the practice of the Church This plainly shew'd to be the sence of this and other following Councils VI. That the Ordination of Provincial Bishops was one of the prime rights and priviledges of every Metropolitan within his own jurisdiction The fourth sixth and seventh Canons of this Council noted to that purpose The same shew'd to be the determination of other Synods What other rights belong'd to Metropolitans VII That this way of Ecclesiastick Administration was not any late novel institution but founded upon ancient custome and practice What this antiquity implies The original of Metropolitans briefly enquir'd into Several instances of this way of Government noted in the second and third Centuries The word Metropolitan not met with till the Council of Nice But the thing long before The Sum of the Observations upon this Canon IN this condition stood things at that time when the great Council Assembled at Nice An. CCCXXV where what had hitherto been transacted only by custome and mutual consent became then a Law of the Church For Alexander the venerable Bishop of Alexandria having complain'd to the Synod that the Metropolitical Rights of that See had been invaded by the irregular and ambitious attempts of Meletius the Schismatical Bishop of Lycopolis in Thebais who during the late persecution had amongst other crimes taken upon him to Ordain Bishops and to confer inferiour orders where-ever he came the Synod did not only depose Meletius and in a manner null his Ordinations but pass'd among others this following Canon LEt ancient customs still take place those that are in Egypt Libya and Pentapolis that the Bishop of Alexandria have power over all these because such also is the custome of the Bishop of Rome And accordingly in Antioch and in other Provinces let the priviledges be preserved to the Churches This also is altogether evident that if any man be made a Bishop without the consent of the Metropolitan this great Synod Decrees such a one to be no Bishop And if two or three out of a contentious humour shall oppose the common election duly and regularly made according to the Canon of the Church let the majority of voices in this case prevail In this Canon which has been the subject of infinite debate and controversie there are several things very observable to our purpose which every impartial unprejudicate Reader will see do naturally flow from it First That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction at that time were concurrent with the Roman Provinces Secondly That the chief Church Governour within every Province was the Metropolitan Thirdly That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power Fourthly That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of greatest note in the Christian Church and of these Rome the chief Fifthly That the rights of the Roman Metropolitan were not due by any Divine constitution but flow'd only from Custome and the Practice of the Church Sixthly That the Ordination of Provincial Bishops was one of the prime Rights and Priviledges of every Metropolitan within his own Jurisdiction Seventhly That this way of Ecclesiastick Admiration was not any late novel institution but was founded upon ancient custome and practice All which Observations I shall briefly explain and make good 1. THAT the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces Every City besides what was within its Walls and immediate Suburbs had usually some adjacent Territory whither its Government did extend as Strabo notes of Nemausus or Nismes a City of the Gallia Narbonensis that it had under it twenty four Villages all well peopled and inhabited and so commonly in other places and these were the Towns and Villages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are call'd in the ninth Canon of Antioch that were under the superintendency and jurisdiction of the City-Bishop But a Province was a Collection of many Cities with all the Tracts and Territories belonging to them and was greater or less according to the custome of places or as the will of Princes had set them out Augustus as Strabo who lived about that time informs us when he resolv'd to commit some parts of the Empire to the immediate care of the Senate and to reserve the rest to himself divided each moiety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into several Provinces and caus'd a Rationarium or Book to be made of it this he did out of the Commentaries of Balbus whom he had appointed to measure the several parts of the Empire Some account of these Provinces Strabo there gives us but a more full and particular account is given by Dion Cassius How these Provinces stood divided in the following Ages especially from the times of Constantine is distinctly and accurately set down in the Notitia Imperii compos'd under the reign of the younger Theodosius I observe no more then that if at Augustus his settlement which is taken notice of and objected by some the Countries in Italy were not styl'd Provinces but Regions he divided it says Pliny into eleven Regions whence Italy and the Provinces and jus Italicum and jus Provinciale are frequently distinguisht yet this distinction held not long nor universally the words being promiscuously us'd as is evident from the Scriptores Rei agrariae some whereof if their Titles bely them not liv'd not long after Augustus his age where we find more than once the Territory of the Province of Picenum as well as the Region of Picenum the Province of Apulia and Calabria of Valeria of Tuscia and the like And for after ages especially from the times of Constantine no man can doubt of it that has but once
way of Argument by some otherwise learned enough 't is no wonder that nothing should be stuck at true or false that may serve their cause But I spare any farther censure of this Authour finding by his life publisht since the Writing of these Papers that he repented afterwards of so hasty and inconsiderate an undertaking and oft intended to have brought that work under a review and castigation And indeed any Man may at first sight discern 't was the issue of a Juvenile heat and wanted the corrections of calmer and maturer thoughts But perhaps it might prove no such easie task to make it out that S. Peter founded those three Sees and if he did that any such authority as is claim'd is thence deriv'd to the See of Rome Antioch and Alexandria did always maintain their Jurisdiction Independent though the Popes frequently inculcated their being originally Instituted by S. Peter as a kind of obligation to Rome and that which reflected the greatest honour upon those Churches And the Fathers we see found their preheminence upon the Glory and Majesty of their Cities and none more expresly than that of Rome the Bishop whereof was therefore honoured caress'd and add rest unto because Bishop of Rome And had he contented himself with that place and deference which the Fathers gave him and not broken down Inclosures and trampled over the Heads of his Brethren we should neither have envied nor denied it And though perhaps it might admit some dispute whether Rome having for so many Ages lost the honor of being the Imperial City the Privileges conferr'd upon that Church upon that account ought not in reason to abate proportionably yet we are willing to grant what genuine Antiquity did allow that the Bishop of that place containing himself within Primitive Rules and Orders should be esteemed the most honourable among all Christian Bishops that he should be first but not Lord much less Tyrant over his Brethren The Priviledges assign'd him by the ancient Canons were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says a late learned Patriarch of Alexandria Priviledges of honour not conveyances of a Tyrannical power to make or abrogate Laws as he pleases And therefore suppose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Primacy of the Church of Rome mention'd in the beginning of this sixt Nicene Canon as 't is quoted by Paschasinus the Popes Legate in the Council of Chalcedon were granted yet who knows not that there is a Primacy of Order as well as Power a Primacy amongst equals and such 't is plain was that which the ancient Councils did assign him not an Universal Monarchical uncontroulable Power and Supremacy over the whole Christian Church which would have fundamentally destroy'd the very design of this Nicene Canon which makes the Bishops of Alexandria Antioch the other Provinces independent and as supream within their own limits as the Pope is in his Is there no difference between Precedency and Supremacy between Dignity and Dominion Let the Roman Church be the Head of all Churches as 't is sometimes styl'd by the Ancients and frequently challeng'd by the Popes 't is so only in an honourary sence and in that respect other Churches especially that of Constantinople have the same title given to them Where then shall we find the Soveraign Arbitrary and unbounded Power of the Bishop of Rome and where but in the pride ambition and Usurpation of that See certain I am it has not the least footing in this or any other ancient Council Nor can it be suppos'd that had the Fathers of this venerable Synod known of any such supereminent Power of the Roman Bishop as is now pretended to and know it they must if there had been any meeting from all parts of the World we cannot suppose I say they would have given the Bishops of Alexandria Antioch c. equal Power within their respective Provinces without inserting into the Canon a Salvo to the Supreme Rights and Prerogatives of the See of Rome especially when we find them in the very next Canon giving the Bishop of Jerusalem an honourable Session but still with a Proviso to preserve the Rights of the Metropolitan of that Province V. THAT the Rights of the Roman Metropolitan were not due by any Divine Constitution but flow'd only from Custome and the practice of the Church This is here laid down as one of the main foundations upon which the whole Body of the Canon is built the Right here convey'd not being Divine Institutions but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ancient Customs introduc'd by time and use and a wise contrivance Which is not only the case of Metropolitans in general but is particularly applied to him of Rome it being says the Canon the custome for the Bishop of Rome to have such Metropolitick Power Had these good Fathers known of any peculiar Commission given by Christ to Peter and in him to the Bishop of Rome to be his Supream and Universal Bishop upon Earth to Govern his Church by a despotical unaccountable power or that our Lord had but so much as authorized and appointed him to be Superiour to all the Bishops within the Roman Province it had been hard not to say unjust and unreasonable in them to conceal it and an irreparable injury to that Church to derive its authority from any meaner original An injury which we cannot conceive but that the Popes Legates who were then in Council must have immediately entred their Protest against But the Christian World was as yet unacquainted with such Notions and the Popes then either did not claim any such power or to be sure durst not challenge it in that Assembly where they knew it must be shamefully baffled and rejected What Power soever our Lord or his Apostles convey'd to Bishops this is certain that all Bishops as such stand upon a common level and that Superiority and Subordination among them is meerly from humane positive Institution borrowed from the Forms in the civil state and with great reason brought in to comply with the conveniencies and necessities of the Church And to this the Fathers usually refer it Thus we see they here determined the case of Metropolitans And in the following Canon the Bishop of Jerusalem's taking place next to his Metropolitan before all the other Bishops of that Province is ascrib'd to custome and ancient tradition In the Council of Ephesus the Bishop of Antioch was complain'd of for invading the Rights of the Metropolitan of Cyprus in deciding whereof the Fathers affirm it would be sufficient prejudice to his cause if he had not ancient custome on his side And having determin'd the case against him decree That every Province should enjoy those original Rights pure and inviolable which had been deriv'd to them by long continuance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as the power of ancient custome had prevail'd And when some years after by reason of the Incursions of the barbarous people the Metropolitan of Cyprus was forc't to
Rome than we can suppose that a Prebend of York born and bred in the Church of England should be ignorant how far the Province of Canterbury does extend Nor can there be the least reason to imagine either that by Suburbicary Churches Rufinus should mean any other than what lay within those Provinces that were universally known by that title or that he should dare so openly and in the face of the World to shut up the Bishop of Rome within those Suburbicary Regions had not his power at the time of the Nicene Council whose Canon he must in all reason be suppos'd to explain as things stood at the time of that Synod been notoriously known to have been confin'd within those limits But what need we take pains to vindicate the credit of our witness he stands not alone in this matter his testimony being sufficiently justified by concurrent evidence The ancient Version of the Nicene Canons publish'd by Sirmond out of the Records of the Vatican and another exactly agreeing with it by Mons. Justell from a very ancient Manuscript the Author whereof was perhaps not much later than Rufinus renders it by Suburbicaria loca the Suburbicary places the three Arabick Versions the Alexandrian that of the Melchites and the Paraphrase of Joseph the Egyptian all express it to the same effect that he should have power over his Countries and Provinces and what ever lay next to him Alex. Aristenus and Sim. Logotheta two Greek Canonists and a third ancient Epitomizer of the Canons mention'd by Leo Allatius by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the places and Provinces that lay under Rome i. e. the Suburbicary Countries Nor will it a little contribute to the further clearing of this matter to observe that as the civil Government of the Roman Provost is distinguish'd from that of Italy in the Writings of those times so is this of the Roman Prelate and this distinction very ancient When Paul of Samosata Bishop of Antioch refus'd to give Domnus possession of that Church an appeal was made to the Emperour Aurelian who referr'd the Decision of the case to the Bishops of Italy and of Rome as Eusebius tells us and in the title of the Letter written by the Sardican Synod to the Church of Alexandria 't is said that the Bishops Assembled from Rome and Italy i. e. Italy taken in its strict and peculiar notion as 't is there distingusht from Campania Calabria c. Thence Milan as being Head of the Italick Dioces is in an Ecclesiastick sence call'd the Metropolis of Italy and Dionysius Bishop of that Church styl'd Bishop of the Metropolis of Italy and Sulpitius Severus speaking of Priscilian and his company coming into Italy says they address'd themselves to Damasus Bishop of Rome and Ambrose of Milan as Bishops that had the greatest authority in those days And in this respect in the civil sence Berterius truly makes Rome to be the Metropolis of the Suburbicary Regions as Milan was of the rest of Italy VI. BUT it seems no small prejudice to the great men of that Church that so venerable a person as the Bishop of Rome should be pent up within such narrow limits much inferiour to many others especially him of Alexandria or Antioch But besides that the Eastern Dioceses as some think were generally larger than those of the West the Ecclesiastick Provinces as we noted before were restrain'd to the form of the civil constitution and were more or fewer as it happened in the political Distribution Wherein if the Roman Bishop had not so large an extent as some others yet was it made up in the number and frequency of Episcopal Sees beyond what was in all those times in other places of the like extent And therefore when the Synod at Arles in their Letter to Pope Sylvester say that he did majores Dioeceses tenere a passage frequently quoted by the Writers of the Roman Church possess greater Dioceses besides that the place as Salmasius observes is very corrupt and affords no currant sence 't is plain that the word Diocess there cannot be understood of Patriarchal Dioceses Constantine not having yet made the division of the Empire nor Dioceses come up in a civil much less in an Ecclesiastical sence and must therefore be meant of single Bishopricks in the modern use of the word and which was not unusual in those days as is evident from the Code of the African Church and the conference between the Catholicks and Donatists at Carthage where nothing is more common and obvious than this usage of the word Diocess for a single Episcopal See the places are too numerous to be reckon'd up And thus also Pope Leo uses the word in the case of Restitutus an African Bishop VII AND indeed that the bounds of the Church of Rome for several Ages after the Nicene Council were much narrower than some others appears from an old Greek Notitia Episcopatuum wherein the five Patriarchates are distinctly reckon'd up with all the Provinces and Bishopricks contain'd under them Where under him of Rome are set down no more than six Provinces whereof the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Province of Urbicary Rome is the first containing not above One hundred and eight Episcopal Sees A number far inferiour to the rest especially the Patriarch of Constantinople who had subject to him XXXiii Provinces and in them CCCLXXXiX Bishopricks besides some others then newly added to him This Notitia had been heretofore publisht by Carolus a S. Paulo in his Geographia Sacra but when he came to that part of it that concerns the Diocess of Rome he quite leaps over it pretending the Manuscript Copy to be imperfect and that the words were so corrupted that scarce any one remain'd entire leaving somewhat more than a bare suspicion that he himself or some before him had purposely rac'd the Manuscript least the nakedness of the Country the thinness and smallness of the Roman Diocess in comparison of others should be discovered But to their great confusion it has been lately publish'd intire and perfect out of the Oxford Library where the account that we have given is plain and notorious All which considered with how little reason and pretence to truth does Morinus appeal to the Ecclesiastick Notitia's even such as were made long after the times of Constantine to prove the amplitude of the Roman Province as to the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome But to return there can be no reason to expect that the Ecclesiastick limits in those days should be longer than those of the State which were the standard and measure by which the others were ordinarily regulated Nor is the greatness of any Jurisdiction so much to be measured by the largeness of its extent as by the honor and authority of the place where 't is exercised as that of the Lord Mayor of London though reaching no further than the Liberties of the
place among the Patriarchs assign'd to him as appears from the constitution of the sixth general Council And because Jerusalem lay in the borders both of the Antiochain and Alexandrian Patriarchates therefore to make up its jurisdiction we are told that something was taken out of each the Metropolitick Sees of Rabba and Berytus from him of Alexandria as Caesarea and Scythopolis from him of Antioch And that as a badge of his ancient subjection the Metropolitan of Caesarea still had the honour to Ordain the Patriarch of Jerusalem as upon the fame account he of Heraclea had to Consecrate the Patriarch of Constantinople And in this Patriarchal capacity we find the Bishop of Jerusalem subscribing in all Councils and upon occasions summoning the Bishops of his Patriarchate Thus Ann. DXVIII we find John Bishop of Jerusalem with his Synod of the Bishops of the three Palaestines sending a Letter to John Patriarch of Constantinople And when the Council at Constantinople under Mennas had condemn'd Anthimus Severus and the rest of the Acephali Ann. DXXXVI Peter Patriarch of Jerusalem as he is all along call'd in the Acts of his Council summon'd a Patriarchal Synod of all the Bishops of the three Palaestine Provinces who confirm'd what had been done in the Council at Constantinople And thenceforwards the Patriarchate of Jerusalem runs smooth and currant through the History of the Church As to what Bishops and Metropolitans he had under him the old Notitiae give us this account The Patriarch himself had immediately under him XXV Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nilus Doxopatrius calls them Independent Bishopricks because subject to no other Metropolitan besides which he had four Metropolitans The Metropolitan of Caesarea who had twenty Bishops under him he of Scythopolis or Basan who had nine Rabba Moabitis or as Doxopatrius has it Petra who had twelve and Berytus who had XXXV which by the Authors we have cited are particularly reckon'd up CHAP. V. The bounds of the Roman Patriarchate A return to the Roman Patriarchate The limits hereof not expresly set down by the ancients Unjustly pretended to reach over the whole West This granted by them of the Greek Church and why The Popes Patriarchal Power disown'd by the Churches of Milan Aquileia and Ravenna The independency and opposition of those Churches to the Roman See severally evinc't by particular cases and instances The Power of Metropolitans in France kept up independant from Rome The truth of this consess'd and clear'd by De Marca Other instances of preserving their Rights against the pretensions of Rome Hincmar of Rhemes and the Synod of Metz. Two other National Churches instanc't in the African and the Britannick Churches The famous case of Appeals in the Church of Africk A clear account of that matter Their publick rejecting the power which the Pope challeng'd over those Churches The Letters of the Council of Carthage to Pope Boniface and Caelestine to that purpose Several useful and proper Corollaries deduc't from this story for the evincing the vain pretensions of the Papal Power over those Churches The boldness of some in denying the truth of this whole story The state of the Britannick Church The Progress of Religion and Church-Government here 'till the times of Pope Gregory The Church Govern'd by an Arch-bishop and Bishop at Austin's arrival Their customs wholly different from and independant upon Rome Their absolute refusal to own the authority of Austin or the Pope The slaughter of the Bangor-Monks suspiciously charg'd upon Austin The Popes proper Patriarchate most probably shew'd to be of equal extent with the Jurisdiction of the Vicarius Urbicus What Provinces under his Government The Roman Synod consisting of the Bishops of those Provinces A two-fold Patriarchate of the Pope trifling and precarious The Bishops of Rome daily amplyfying their Jurisdiction The means whereby they did this briefly intimated I. HAVING thus dispatcht the other Patriarchs we return to him of Rome ever allow'd to be the first and most honourable of the number What his Patriarchal bounds were the Records of the Church have not so particularly set out as they have done the rest And here the Champions of that Church when they find themselves prest upon and that rhe Popes Universal and Apostolical Power is a Post not to be defended presently retreat to his Patriarchate which with great confidence they extend over the whole Western World being content with half when they cannot have all And to this prodigious Latitude some of them stretch the Suburbicary Churches as if the whole Western Empire had been nothing but the Suburbs of Rome and in this sence they tell us Rufinus meant the Canon of Nice and this upon no wiser reason than what is as trifling and precarious as the other that the whole West was the Special Diocess of the Bishop of Rome But this looks rather like Fancy and Romance than that grave and sober arguing that becomes those great Names that use it Omitting therefore this extravagant notion of Suburbicary Churches come we to the thing it self And herein it must be granted they have the later Greeks Zonaras Balsamon Barlaam Nilus c. on their side who very liberally give him all the Western Provinces and that too by vertue of the sixth Canon of Nice A concession which they make not so much out of any kindness to the Church of Rome as partly out of a design to magnifie the power and greatness of their own Patriarch of Constantinople who was to share equal priviledges with him of Rome partly because they were willing to keep the Pope within any bounds whose restless ambition they saw carrying all before it and therefore car'd not to throw him the West for his portion for which they had no care or concernment what became of it being mainly intent upon preserving their Jurisdiction at home And here I cannot but by the way remark the indiscreet and injudicious Zeal of a very Learned man who confidently asserts that in the expedition of the Franks for the recovery of the Holy Land God by a peculiar providence let the Eastern Parts be subdued by the Western Armies that so those famous Patriarchal Sees might learn to strike Sail to the See of Rome and own the greatness and dignity of that Church Besides 't is to be considered that in this concession the Greeks took their measures of things from the state of the Church as it was in their time when the Pope had in a manner intirely subdued the Western Provinces to the See of Rome But in the better and more early Ages the case was otherwise And indeed that the Popes Patriarchal Jurisdiction was far enough from extending over the whole West there can be no better evidence than that there was scarce any Western Church in those days that did not upon occasion oppose the power and remonstrate against the Usurpations of the See of Rome In Italy we need go no further than
Bishops and Metropolitans were therefore constituted that by them the care of the Universal Church might be brought to the one See of S. Peter and that there might be no disagreement between the Head and the Members And in a Sermon upon the Martyrdom of Peter and Paul in a profound admiration he breaks out into this Rhetorical Address These says he are the Men that have advanced thee to this honour that thou art become a holy Nation a peculiar People a Royal and Priestly City that being by the Holy See of S. Peter made Head of the World thou mightest govern farther by means of a Divine Religion than by worldly power For although enlarg'd by many victories thou hast extended the Bounds of thy Empire both by Sea and Land yet is it far less which thou hast conquer'd by force of Arms than that which thou hast gain'd by the peace of the Church IV. BUT Leo was a Man not only for speaking but for action He saw the Emperours and the Eastern Bishops were resolv'd to advance the See of Constantinople that it might bear some proportion to the Imperial Court and that the Synod of Constantinople had already adjudg'd it the place of honour next to Rome that therefore it concern'd him to bestir himself to stifle all attempts that way well knowing that the glory of that would eclipse his lustre and cramp those designs of superiority and dominion which the Bishops of Rome were continually driving on over the Church of Christ A general Council was now call'd to meet at Chalcedon Ann. CCCCLI wherein were present no less than Six hundred and thirty Bishops Hither Pope Leo sent his Legates furnished with peremptory instructions which they afterwards read openly in the Synod to keep a quick eye upon all motions that way and with all possible resolution to suppress them At the opening of the Council the Legates cunningly slipt in a clause telling the Fathers that they had such and such things in command from the most Blessed and Apostolical Bishop of the City of Rome which was the Head of all Churches Which either was not heeded by that Synod or pass'd by in the sence before declar'd as allowing it an honourary preheminence above the rest In the fifth Session of that Council the Papal Legates mov'd that the Epistle of Leo about the condemnation of Nestorius might be inserted into the very definition of the Council against that Heresie Craftily foreseeing what a mighty reputation it would give the Pope in the eye of the World and to what vast advantage it might be stretch'd afterwards But the Council stiffly oppos'd the motion and said they freely own'd the Letter and were ready to subscribe it but would not make it part of the definition The Legates were angry demanded the Letter back again and threatned to be gone and to have a Synod at Rome And when the Emperour intimated some such thing the Bishops cried out they were for the definition as it was and they that did not like it nor would subscribe it might if they please get them gone to Rome After this all things went on smoothly 'till they came to frame the Canons among which one was that the Bishop of Constantinople should enjoy equal Priviledges with the Bishop of Rome and then the Legates could hold no longer plainly telling them that this was a violation of the constitution of the great Synod of Nice and that their Commission oblig'd them by all ways to preserve the Papal dignity and to reject the designs of any who relying upon the greatness of their Cities should attempt any thing to the contrary To prove that this was contrary to the Nicene Decrees they produc'd the Sixth and Seventh Canons of that Council beginning thus as Paschasinus repeated them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Church of Rome ever had the Primacy Let Egypt therefore have this priviledge that the Bishop of Alexandria have power c. where instead of the first words of that Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let ancient Customs still take place the Legate shuffled in this sentence as more to his purpose the Church of Rome ever had the Primacy And admitting here that this was only the Title to that Canon in the Roman Copy yet 't is somewhat more than suspicious that Paschasinus intended it should be understood as part of the Canon it self Which if so there could not be a bolder piece of forgery and imposture But the Fathers were not to be so impos'd upon Aetius Arch-deacon of Constantinople produc'd a Copy from among the Records of that Church which he delivered to Constantine the Secretary who read it according to the genuine words of the Canon without any such addition Let ancient Customs still take place c. and in confirmation of that were next read the second and third Canons of the second general Council at Constantinople And because the Legate had objected that the Canon had been procur'd by fraud the Judges requir'd the Bishops concern'd to declare their minds who all readily declar'd the contrary The case having been thus fully debated and nothing material being alledg'd against it the Canon pass'd by the unanimous suffrage of the Fathers the Roman Legates only entring their protestation and resolving to acquaint the Pope with what was done that so he might judge both of the injury done to his own See and the violence offered to the Canons V. NO sooner did the news of what had pass'd in the Synod arrive at Rome but Pope Leo storm'd to purpose wrote to Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople charging him with pride and ambition with invasion of the Rights of others with irreverence towards the Nicene Canons contrary to which he had exalted himself above the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch He dispatch'd Letters also to the Emperour Marcianus to his Lady the Empress Pulcheria and to Juvenal Bishop of Jerusalem and the rest of the Fathers of the Synod all to the same effect complaining of the pride of Anatolius and the irregular proceedings of the Council that the priviledges of Churches were destroy'd the bounds of Metropolitans invaded many depressed to make way for one venerable Decrees made void and ancient Orders trodden in the dirt That whatever Rules were made contrary to the Canons of Nice were null that the care and inspection of these things was committed to him a duty which he could not neglect without being guilty of unfaithfulness to his trust that therefore by the authority of S. Peter he repeal'd and made void what ever any Council had agreed upon repugnant to the Nicene Canons yea though done by many more in number than were in that venerable Synod declaring that no regard or reverence was to be paid to their constitutions In all which though nothing appear above ground but a mighty zeal for the honour of the Nicene Canons yet 't is plain enough 't was his own ambition his envy and emulation that
another than he himself could judge others that in these matters they were to expect the Judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ who alone had power both of appointing Governours over his Church and of calling them to an account for their administration IV. BY these instances and many more no doubt which the History of those times would have set before us had the Churches Records come safe to us it appears how early the Bishops of Rome set out to usurp a Dominion over the Church and though they generally met with opposition yet they still went on and vigorously improv'd all advantages with what success the Christian world has now for many ages found to their cost And certainly never any stood fairer to start and carry on such a design For First Their Church was not only Apostolical but had been founded by two of the most eminent Apostles Peter and Paul which gave a mighty reputation to it in after Ages the Christian world bearing an extraordinary reverence to those great names which the Bishops of that See knew how to improve to their own advantage For this reason Irenaeus calls the Church of Rome the greatest and most eminent Church and most Universally known as being founded by the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul and S. Augustine says that in it there always flourished the principality of the Apostolick Chair and Origen took a journey on purpose to Rome to gratify his curiosity with the sight of so ancient and renowned a Church And upon this account must be discharged very many of those great things which several of the Fathers speak so liberally concerning the Church of Rome who thought they could never express a veneration big enough towards S. Peter and consequently towards the place which he had honoured with his Doctrine and Residence and watred with his Blood which however spoken by them out of a devout intent prov'd the first rounds of that Ladder by which the Roman Bishops mounted up to a Supremacy above the rest It happening in a few Ages that nothing was talkt of at Rome but of the Prince of the Apostles and the authority of the Apostolick See 'till almost every thing there became Apostolical and was covered with S. Peters name Secondly Their Church was planted in the Imperial City a place that seem'd born for Empire and Soveraignty that had long since Conquered and at that time Governed the greatest part of the World a City that was the Center of all Nations and the Seat of Majesty and Magnificence where all great affairs were transacted and all the Scenes of glory and greatness represented in a little compass Which could not but reflect a more than ordinary lustre upon those Bishops that sat at the upper end of the world and make them appear considerably bigger more conspicuous and useful than the rest of their Brethren and by reason of the general confluence of all Nations to Rome enable them in a little time to draw the cognizance of Ecclesiastick Causes from all parts thither 'T was this conveniency of Situation gave them opportunity to insinuate themselves into the favour of the Emperors and by their power to enlarge their own Borders yea and to succour and relieve their Clients and Dependants which made many to court their protection and assistance though often with the loss of their own freedom and liberty This was especially done after the Emperours became Christians the Roman Church being by them enrich'd with vast honours and priviledges accounting that the greatness of that Church would not a little contribute to the splendour and magnificence of the Empire And though the Imperial Seat was quickly translated to another place yet besides that the Emperours a long time retain'd their affection for Rome what the Pope lost in one sence he gain'd in another making use of the Emperours absence to enhance his own Power and Revenue 'till he was able not only to Lord it over his brethren but over Princes themselves Thirdly The Roman Church continued for several Ages the Seat of true Apostolick Doctrine maintaining that character that S Paul had given them that their Faith was spoken of throughout the whole world it being here preserv'd pure and uncorrupt while a great part of the Christian world besides was over run with Error and Heresie and torn in pieces by Schisms and Factions This made Rome in those days while it remain'd sound and Orthodox in a manner the Standard of Catholick Communion most other Churches veering in point of Communion as they found the Wind blow from that Quarter and saw how the business far'd at Rome Accordingly Theodosius in the beginning of his Reign resolving to reform the Doctrine of the Church then miserably degenerated in the Eastern parts commanded that that Faith only should take place that was profess'd by Pope Damasus and Peter of Alexandria that Faith and Religion which S. Peter had delivered to the Church of Rome and which had all along 'till that time flourisht there This made way for Appeals every party being desirous to gain the good will of that Church and to have its Bishop pronounce for their cause 'till from an honourary arbitration it came to be claim'd as a right and due And persons especially those who were persecuted in their own Countries for their adherence to the Catholick Faith were the more encourag'd to repair hither because here they were kindly treated and hospitably entertain'd a piece of charity which the Bishops of that Church by reason of their ample possessions and large endowments were very capable to afford For besides their standing Rents and Revenues their gains by collections and oblations was so great that by them alone in the time of Pope Damasus they were enabled to live in a state and grandeur like that of Temporal Princes if we may believe the account given by Ammianus Marcellinus and the story is known of Praetextatus a zealous Gentile design'd to be Consul who reflecting upon the plenty of that See was wont pleasanly to tell Pope Damasus make me but Bishop of Rome and I will immediately become a Christian 'T is certain that Church could never want plentiful Incomes flowing in upon it and as charitable it was in those days as it was wealthy and was not only very kind to strangers when they came thither but was wont to transmit very liberal distributions of its charity to forreign Churches to relieve the necessities of the Brethren that were under Persecution and were condemned to the Mines as Dionysius Bishop of Corinth tells us in his Letter to Soter Bishop of Rome written about the Year CLXXIV and that this had been the custome of that Church from the very Infancy of Christianity Fourthly The Church of Rome by the advantage of the Imperial City was capable of propagating the Christian Doctrine into several parts of the West to send out Disciples receive Dispatches transmit Directions and supply all
Balsamon has observ'd in this case that anciently all the Metropolitans of Provinces were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolute and independent and Ordain'd by none but their own Provincial Bishops III. THAT the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical Power This is so evidently the sence of the Canon that few who have otherwise Will good enough have yet the hardiness to oppose it The Sun it self is not clearer at Noon-day than that hereby the Council design'd that the Bishop of Alexandria should have the same power within his Province that the Bishop of Rome had in his Let the Bishop of Alexandria says the Canon have all his ancient and accustomed powers and priviledges in Egypt Libya and Pentapolis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since or forasmuch as the Bishop of Rome has the like Custome that is as a learned and zealous Champion for the Popes Supremacy does yet with great ingenuity expound it that he and none but he should exercise Jurisdiction within his own bounds as the Alexandrian Bishop has prescrib'd limits to his Diocess so also has he of Rome And as he of Rome manages the affairs of his own Diocess without the interposal or medling of any other person so we Will that he of Alexandria shall have the same power and that none shall obstruct him in the exercise of it The Canon then makes a double comparison between these two Metropolitans the one respecting the extent of their Jurisdiction that one was confin'd and limited as well as the other the other the fulness of their power which they might exercise within their respective limits and that none might presume to invade or hinder it but by the same Right by which the Roman Prelate Govern'd his Churches by the same might he of Alexandria the Churches subject to him One of the Greek Scholiasts Summs up the Canon into these words Let the Bishop of Alexandria have power over Egypt Libya and Pentapolis And the Roman Bishop over those places that are subject to Rome Harmenopulus expresses it in somewhat more general terms Let the ancient customes of Arch-Bishops still prevail and every one have power over his own Province I enquire not now what were the peculiar bounds within which the Power of the Bishops of Rome was terminated 'T is enough at present that whether larger or narrower limits he had which he might not regularly pass and that the Church of Rome was in those days accounted a particular Church and as much a Member of the Church Universal as Alexandria Antioch or that of any other Province IV. THAT the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of greatest note in the Christian Church and of these Rome the chief Hence they are here particularly named while others are dismist with an Et caetera and Rome as the most eminent made the Exemplar according to which the Rights of Alexandria were to be recovered and resettled 'T were impertinent to shew that respect was always paid to places proportionable to their Temporal power and greatness S. Cyprian long since told us that the reason why Rome had the precedency of Carthage was pro magnitudine sua because 't was the greater City And 't were as endless as 't is needless to prove that the places mention'd in this Canon were Capital Cities of the Empire Rome was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius styles it the Metropolis or chief City of the Roman World it had for several Ages been the Governing City and was still the Seat of Empire the greatness whereof the Geographical Poet has no less briefly than Elegantly thus summ'd up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rome triumphs in th' Imperial Seat and is Wealth 's Store-house and the World's Metropolis Alexandria besides the vastness of the place numerousness of its inhabitants the riches and plenty of its Traffick was the Seat of the Imperial Vice-roy call'd the Augustal Prefect Indeed it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second City under the Sun that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristides styles it the greatest next to Rome and thence by ancient Writers emphatically call'd THE CITY Antioch was frequently the Court of Emperors constantly the residence of their Lieutenants the most ancient rich and populous City of the East commonly styl'd Antioch the Great Now the greatness of these places added a proportionable reputation to their several Bishops it being but reasonable that they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Fathers at Antioch speak precede others in honour who presided in the most eminent and honourable Cities And because Rome was confessedly the greatest and noblest City of the Empire hence the Church there had an honourary precedency before all others and the Bishops of it in all publick meetings and consultations had the first place allowed them and upon all occasions a mighty deference and respect paid to them and their favour was courted and Addresses made to them from all parts And in this sence 't is plain the ancients understood the honour due to the Roman Bishop When the Council of Constantinople decrees that the Bishop of that City shall have the next place to him of Rome for that Constantinople was new Rome it sufficiently shews upon what foundation the precedency of the Roman Prelate stood And that of Chalcedon much more expresly that the cause why the Fathers gave priviledges to the See of old Rome was because that was the Imperial City And in pursuance of these Canons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Emperour Justinian enacts that the Bishop of old Rome should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first of all Bishops I know there are who place the Eminency of these three great Sees upon another bottom and tell us it was because they were all founded by S. Peter two of them by himself and that of Alexandria by the Ministry of S. Mark his peculiar Disciple sent thither by his immediate direction and authority And the assertion further improv'd that these three Cities being severally the chief Cities of the three then known parts of the World Europe Asia and Africa thence it follows that the Government of these three great Churches and in them of the whole Christian World is lodg'd in S. Peters Successour and 't is added with greater boldness shall I say or blasphemy that S. Peter herein exprest a lively representation both of the Unity of the Godheads and of the Holy Trinity and that as 't is but one and the same Episcopal Office that is in a Bishop a Metropolitan and a Patriarch so a Trinity of Patriarchs meets in the Unity of the Pope so that in the See of the Prince of the Apostles there is an Unity in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity But where Men can suffer their wits want only to sport at this rate though 't is gravely brought in by
remove to Nova Justinianopolis in the Hellespont the Fathers of the sixt Council in Trullo confirm'd his rights to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to ancient custome For the Holy Fathers say they have determin'd that Customs should be preserv'd in every Church VI. THAT the Ordination of Provincial Bishops was one of the prime Rights and Priviledges of every Metropolitan within his own Jurisdiction No Man in those days was bound to go beyond his own Metropolis much less did they know of any obligation to seek to Rome either for Consecration or Confirmation And for this the Laws of the Church are as express and peremptory as words could make them Our great Council had made Provision herein by their fourth Canon that a Bishop should be Ordain'd by all the Bishops in the Province But because pers haps business or distance might render that inconvenient and sometimes impossible they decree that it should be done by three the rest testifying their consent in writing and that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the validity of what was done should be from the Confirmation of the Metropolitan in every Province And because the case of Meletius was then before them and had rais'd a mighty noise and clamour they again establish this matter in the close of the sixth Canon by way of recapitulation that whoever should be made Bishop without the consent of his Metropolitan his Ordination should be null and void and that if any doubt and dispute arose in this case the majority of Votes should carry it Accordingly in their Synodical Epistle to the Church of Alexandria they tell them they had taken care about the Election of their Bishops and that it must be with the Concurrence and Confirmation of the Bishop of Alexandria This Constitution we find unanimously ratified by almost all following Councils by that of Antioch most expresly by that of Laodicea by that of Sardica by the Second and Fourth Councils of Carthage by the general Council of Chalcedon who take notice of the neglect of some Metropolitans in delaying the Ordinations of their Provincial Bishop and in the particular controversie between Anastasius of Nice and Eunomius of Nicomedia they all with one voice ratify the Nicene Canon In all which Canons and infinite more that might be mention'd there is not the least intimation given of any Prerogative peculiar to the Bishop of Rome or that he has any power to take this Right out of the hands of the respective Metropolitans Nor is Ordination the only Priviledge which the Synod of Nice vests in Metropolitans for though they more particularly insist upon this because Meletius had given such fresh occasion by violating the Metropolitan Rights of Alexandria yet in the beginning of the sixt Canon they establish their Priviledges in general that they should have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the ancient Powers and Priviledges that belong'd to their Churches in every Province What these were practice and the subsequent Canons of the Church do inform us to take care that vacant Sees were well supplied to call Provincial Synods to disperse Canons there agreed on for the common good to end controversies between their Bishops to admonish the unruly to censure and suspend the irreregular to give communicatory Letters to their Provincial Bishops that were to go into foreign parts and such like In short the Synod of Antioch than which perhaps none ever made wiser and better Rules for the Government and Discipline of the Church order the Bishops of every Province not only to honour their Metropolitan but to do nothing of moment without his consent Lastly I observe hence That this way of Ecclesiastick Administration was not any late Novel Institution but was founded upon ancient custome and practice 'T was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Canon most expresly How far this Antiquity does extend it is not easie precisely to determine Salmasius himself grants it for an hundred years before the Synod of Nice And we would not have thankt him for a larger concession had the state of things before that Council been as clearly transmitted to us as they were afterwards Indeed the Records and Writings of those early Ages are generally lost and the defending Christianity from the assaults of Heathens on the one side and Hereticks on the other take up the far greatest part of those few that remain So that little light is afforded us to discover the Originals of particular Churches and to trace out the gradual advances of Polity and Church-Discipline Whether the Apostles themselves fixt a Superiour Bishop in every Metropolis of the civil State as some will have it or whether the Apostles only form'd the Scheme and draught but left it to following Ages to erect and set it up as de Marca thinks I leave it to the Reader who is curious about these matters to weigh their arguments and then pass his Sentence To me it seems probable that it actually commenc'd not long after the Apostolick Age when Sects and Schisms began to break in apace and when the Apostles who were the supream Governours and Moderators being remov'd off the Stage and controversies multiplying between particular Bishops it was found necessary to pitch upon one in every Province to whom the Umpirage of cases might be referr'd and by whom all common and publick affairs might be directed In the declining part of the second Century we find Philip styl'd not only Bishop of the Diocess of Gortyna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also of all the rest of the Churches or Dioceses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Crete among which Pinytus is reckon'd Bishop of the Parochia of Gnossus Towards the latter end of the same Century we find several Provincial Synods conven'd for determining the Paschal controversie Pope Victor presided in that at Rome in that of Palestine Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea and Narcissus of Jerusalem where Narcissus is joyn'd with Theophilus because the Bishop of Jerusalem had ever the place of honour next to his Metropolitan of Caesarea and this say our Nicene Fathers from custome and ancient tradition Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus at the request of Victor summon'd a Synod of the Bishops of Asia i. e. of the Lydian or Proconsular Asia whereof Ephesus was the Metropolis wherein he was president who all subscrib'd his opinion as he tells us in his Letter to Pope Victor In France there was a convention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Bishops of the several Gallick Dioceses wherein Irenaeus Bishop of the Metropolis of Lyons was chief Moderator Bacchylus also Bishop of Corinth that was a Metropolis too held a Synod of the Bishops of Achaia if S. Jerome understand Eusebius aright and in their name wrote an Epistle about this matter This the Author of the Ancient Synodicon calls a Provincial Synod and expresly styles Bacchylus
Arch-bishop of Corinth How oft does S. Cyprian mention his Province and his Fellow-Bishops in it to whom he communicated affairs of the Church and commanded Mandavimus is his own word their help and assistance and this Province no mean one neither as extending over Africk properly so call'd Numidia and the two Mauritania's Nor can I see any reason with Salmasius to understand it of the civil Province especially when the best reason he gives is that the Power of Primates or Metropolitans was not yet in force which is a plain and shameful begging of the Question Indeed if he means it only of the Title by which they were call'd I grant that the word Metropolitan is very rarely if perhaps at all to be found in any Authentick Writer before the time of the Nicene Council They were in those days styl'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Bishops and the Heads of Provinces as is plain from the XXXIV Apostolick Canon i. e they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief Bishops that resided in the several Metropoles as Zonaras truly expounds that Canon But whatever becomes of the Title the thing it self is plain to all that are not byass'd by prejudice and partiality that there was a Superiour Bishop in every Province resident at the Metropolis who partly by himself partly by the assistance of his Provincial Bishops meeting in Council usually manag'd all the more important Church-affairs within that Province The Sum in short of this great Nicene Canon amounts to this That the greater limits of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were concurrent with the Provinces of the Roman Empire that the prime Governours within those bounds were the Metropolitans and though some were more honourable than others by reason of the eminency of their Episcopal Stations yet that every Metropolitan had a free and independent power of Ordination and steering the main affairs of the Church within that Province that the Bishop of Rome had the same and no more within the Roman Province a Power not granted by any immediate commission or Divine authority but introduc't for conveniency and setled by custome and long continuance CHAP. III. The extent of the Bishop of Romes Jurisdiction considered as a Metropolitan A Search into the proper bounds of the Roman Bishop His Power Four-fold Episcopal Metropolitical Patriarchal Apostolical The First not controverted The last discharg'd as extravagant and groundless and as frequently baffled both by the Reformed and Greek Church L. Allatius's Jeer of his Country-men His Metropolitical Jurisdiction considered as concurrent with that of the Provost of Rome That how great and how far extending The Suburbicary Regions what Sicily no part of the Urbicary Regions The usual conformity between the extent of the Civil and Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction in those times The Power of the Roman Metropolitan confin'd within an Hundred Miles of Rome Rufinus his Exposition of the Suburbicary Churches Greatly quarrell'd at by the Romish Writers His authority in other cases allow'd sufficient and unquestionable His Book approv'd by Pope Gelasius and others No probability of his being mistaken in the sence of the Canon or the extent of the Roman Metropolitanship or the Suburbicary Churches His Explication confirm'd by most ancient Interpreters of this Canon The Bishops of Rome and Italy distinct The Bishop of Milan ranckt with him of Rome The objection of the Bishop of Romes being confin'd to so narrow a compass considered and answered The Majores Dioeceses in the Epistle of the Synod of Arles what The bounds of the Roman Bishops shew'd to have been heretofore small from an ancient Notitia Episcopatuum The fraud in the first publication of that Notitia Morinus noted The greatness of Rome equivalent to a large extent I. THUS far then we have gain'd that the Bishop of Rome as well as the rest was bounded within his Metropolitical Province the Council supposing this as the ground of its constitution that the Bishop of Alexandria should have jurisdiction over all within his Province as the Bishop of Rome had in his 'T is true the Council does not assign the proper limits of the Roman Metropolitanship as it does that of Alexandria there being a more particular reason why it should specify the latter that being the Subject under debate and the main if not only occasion of the Canon we must therefore search it out some other way And here we are told of a Three-fold power vested in the Pope Episcopal Patriarchal and Apostolical or as others distinguish a little more accurately he may be considered under a Four-fold capacity as a Bishop as a Metropolitan as a Patriarch and lastly as Pope or as he is the Vicar of Christ and Head of the Universal Church In which capacity he is not only more honourable than all other Bishops and Patriarchs but has full authority over them to consecrate confirm or depose them yea when he pleases to suppress old and to erect new Episcopal Sees Hereby they tell us he is constituted Judge over all Churches in the World and may at pleasure visit govern and give Laws to them For the First of these as he is a private Bishop we have no controversie with him And for the last his Supreme and Apostolical power over the whole Christian Church 't is so wild and extravagant a claim so groundless and precarious so utter a stranger to Scripture and Primitive Antiquity that it 's needless to take pains in the refuting of it Nay the Popes themselves how desirous soever to amplify their own Power have not yet dar'd to challenge it where they knew it would be disputed or denied In the discourse that past between Constantius and Pope Liberius about the condemnation of Athanasius the Emperour askt him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what great part of the World are you that you only should take his part and that as he urges a little before when the whole World had past Sentence upon him The proper answer to which had Liberius known of any such power had been this I only am intrusted by Christ with Supream Authority over the whole Church and I having acquitted him 't is no matter though the whole World besides has condemn'd him And so no doubt he would have answered had he been aware of any such Prerogative affixt to his See But Popes had not then set this claim on foot nor 't is like dreamt of it nor if they had was the World as yet dispos'd to receive it Something we said to this before when we considered the Bishop of Rome as standing uppermost among the Metropolitans mention'd in the Nicene Canon To add more were a vain and impertinent loss of time especially after so much as has been said upon this Argument both by the Writers of the Greek Church Alexius Aristinus Zonar as Balsamon Matthaeus Blastares Pet. Antiochenus Macarius Ancyranus Demetrius Chomatenus Barlaam Nilus Thessalonicensis Nicetus Seidus Nilus Doxopatrius
two things are plain beyond all just exception First that the Jurisdiction of the City-Praefect reacht an Hundred miles about Rome Secondly that the Urbicary and Suburbicary Regions lay chiefly and in all likelyhood intirely within that compass and deriv'd that title from their vicinity to the City and their immediate dependance upon the Government of its Provost And I cannot but a little wonder that Sirmond who more than once grants the Praefect of Rome to have had jurisdiction within an Hundred miles should yet as often deny that he had any Provinces under his Government as if there had been no Provinces within that compass when they are expresly call'd the Suburbanae Provinciae in the Theodosian Code and the ordinary Judges in those parts commanded to return all greater causes to the Tribunal of the City-Praefect and this in contradistinction to the course of other Provinces which were to be accountable to the Praetorian Praefect IV. HAVING thus found out the Jurisdiction of the Roman Praefect it should one would think be no hard matter to discover that of the Bishop of Rome there being so known a correspondence between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Government of those days And though this did not always nor Universally take place and how should it when time and the Will of Princes made such alterations in the bounds of places and Provinces yet did it generally obtain A thing introduc'd at first for greater conveniency founded upon long custome and settled by several Laws and Canons of the Church insomuch that if a change or alteration had been or should hereafter be made by imperial authority in any City that then the Order of Episcopal Sees should follow the civil and Political forms as is expresly provided by two general Councils the one of Chalcedon the other of Constantinople Nor can any reason be given why the Bishop of Alexandria should exercise a Pastoral Authority over Three such large Provinces as Egypt Libya and Pentapolis but only because they were under the civil Government of the Praefectus Augustalis the Imperial Vice-roy who kept his residence in that City The Jurisdiction then of the Bishop of Rome being of equal circumference with that of the Roman Provost must extend to all the City-Provinces that lay within an Hundred miles round about it Accordingly we find that when great disturbances were made in the Church of Rome by the Manichees and other Hereticks and Schismaticks Valentinian the Third writes to Faustus Praefect of Rome to expel them all out of the City but especially to proceed against those who separated themselves from the Communion of the venerable Pope and whose Schism did infect the people commanding him that if upon warning given they should not within Twenty days reconcile themselves he should banish them One hundred miles out of the City that so they might be punisht with their self-chosen solitude and separation The Emperour thinking it but just that they who had voluntarily rejected should be themselves cast out of the bounds of his Jurisdiction that they who had perverted many in the Capital City should not be left within any part of his Diocess to infect the people And this was done in compliance with the course observ'd in civil cases where notorious malefactours were so us'd Thus Symmachus the Gentile was for his insolence banish'd an Hundred miles out of Rome And some Ages before that Severus having cashiered the Souldiers that murdered the Emperour Pertinax banisht them and charg'd them at the peril of their Heads not to come within an Hundred miles of Rome that is within the limits of the City-Praefecture And more plainly yet in the case of Ursicinus who had rais'd infinite stirs at Rome about the choice of Pope Damasus and had set up himself as Competitor in that Election for which he had been banish'd into France Valentinian the Elder afterwards as appears by his Rescript directed to Ampelius the City-Provost gave him and his companions leave to return into Italy provided they came not to Rome nor any place within the Suburbicary Regions that is within the Jurisdiction of the Roman Bishop But Rufinus has put the case beyond all question who in his short paraphrase for for a translation we may be sure he never intended it of the Sixt Nicene Canon tells us that according to ancient custome as he of Alexandria had in Egypt so the Bishop of Rome had the care and charge of the Suburbicary Churches The Champions of the Roman Church finding themselves sorely pinch'd with this authority have no other way to relieve themselves but to throw it quite off their Necks and to fall foul upon Rufinus loading him with all the hard Names and Characters of reproach charging him with malice falshood ignorance want of learning and indeed what not But the World is not now to be taught that Rufinus was a Man of parts and learning witness the reputation which his Works had of old and still have to this day Pope Gelasius with his Synod of seventy Bishops allow'd them the case only of free-will excepted And among the rest his Ecclesiastical History wherein this very Nicene Canon is extant and gives him too the title of a Religious Man into the bargain So that Rufinus his Exposition has the Popes own approbation on its side And surely if ever his judgment be infallible it is when he has his Council about him to advise and assist him And though perhaps that Gelasian Synod if searcht into may not be of that authentick credit as to lay any considerable stress upon it yet however it stands good against them that own its authority and thereby approve its determination And though it had not given this testimony to Rufinus yet there wants not other evidence that the thing was so Accordingly Hincmar of Rhemes speaking of this very Book of Rufinus whence this passage is taken assures us it was one of those that were receiv'd in the Catalogue of the Apostolick See Nay his Ecclesiastical History obtain'd such credit that it was wont solemnly to be appeal'd to by Fathers and Councils in some of the most weighty and important cases of the Church V. NOR is there any shadow of probability that he should be mistaken either in the sence of the Nicene Canon or in the Province of the Bishop of Rome He was himself an Italian born not above Twenty years after the Synod of Nice Baptiz'd and perhaps born at Aquileia a famous City of Friuli honoured heretofore with the residence of Augustus and some other Emperours and made afterwards a Metropolis and the Seat of the Praetorian Prefect and himself a Presbyter of that Church He had been frequently conversant at Rome had travell'd over most parts of the Christian World and had convers'd with persons of the greatest note and eminency in every place In all which respects he could no more mistake the jurisdiction of the See of
distaste to Pope Martin and 't is like to his Successour Eugenius who sat but one year But Pope Vitalian who succeeded would not so put it up but summons Maurus to appear and answer his contempt at Rome but he slighted the Summons for which the Pope Excommunicated him and he in requital did the like to the Pope nay upon his Death-bed oblig'd his Clergy never to submit themselves to the Bishop of Rome Reparatus his Successour trod in the same steps and procur'd the Emperours Rescript to free that Church from any subjection to the Roman See Ann. DCCVIII Felix of Ravenna was content to receive his Ordination at the hands of the Pope but when he came thither an Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity was required of him to the See of Rome This he utterly denied a confession of his Faith he offered but homage he would not pay nor engage to send money to Rome Nor more he did but home he goes where his people gave him little thanks for what he had done and both agreed to defend their liberty but it cost the old man dear and them too for that attempt For Justinian Rhinotmetes the Emperour who favoured the Pope being made acquainted with what was done at Ravenna a Fleet is sent under the command of Theodorus Patricius the City besieg'd and taken several of prime quality lost their lives and fortunes and the poor Arch-bishop had his eyes put out and was banisht into Pontus where he remain'd 'till the severity of Discipline had taught him better manners The same courage in asserting the priviledges of their Church against the Papal encroachments was afterwards shewn by John and Guibert Successors in that See as were it necessary might be particularly related But the case is too evident to be denied and the argument thence too strong to be evaded how little those times understood of any Patriarchal Jurisdiction which the Pope had over all Italy much less over the whole West V. IF we look into France we shall find them careful to secure the Rights of Metropolitans and the priviledges of Provincial Bishops without being oblig'd to fetch them from Rome The second Council of Arles Ann. CCCCLII decree that no Bishop shall be Ordain'd without his own Metropolitan and three of the Provincial Bishops the rest testifying their consent by Letter The second of Orleans holden Ann. DXXXIII renew the ancient form and manner of Ordaining Metropolitans that it shall be done by the Bishops of the Province which shews how little they depended upon any foreign power in this matter But it 's needless to insist upon this point which the Learned De Marca has so fully cleared and vindicated as a fundamental part of the liberties of the Gallican Church and has deduc't it through the several Ages and Dynasties of their Kings I shall only remark that when Hincmar Arch-bishop of Remes had depos'd Rothald Bishop of Suessons for great misdemeanours Rothald appeal'd to Rome and Pope Nicolaus espous'd his cause wrote sharply to Hincmar and cited him to appear and answer what he had done at Rome But Hincmar would not stir but publisht a large Apologetick to the Pope wherein he justifies his Act and though he gives good words and great deference to the See Apostolick yet stoutly contends that he ought to be content with a general care and inspection and not interrupt the ordinary Rights of Metropolitans and that 't was infinitely reasonable that the criminal should be referr'd to the judgment of his own Province Two years before this viz. Ann. DCCCLXIII a French Synod met at Metz about the Marriage of King Lotharius wherein they determin'd contrary to the liking of the Papal Legates However they sent Letters with the reasons of their proceedings by Guntharius Arch-bishop of Colen and Theatgaud of Triers to Pope Nicolaus The Pope upon their arrival call'd a Synod wherein he Excommunicated the Synod of Metz and depos'd the two Arch-bishops that were sent with the Letters and publisht a manifesto of what he had done To this the Bishops return'd an answer wherein having represented the personal affronts and ill usage they had met with from him they tell him Chap. IV. that as for his froward unjust and unreasonable sentence contrary to all Canons they did not own it yea as being illegal and unwarrantable they together with the rest of their Brethren slighted and despised it and utterly renounc'd Communion with him contenting themselves with the Communion and fellowship of the whole Church over which he had so proudly exalted himself and from which through his pride and contempt he had separated himself And whereas he had styl'd them his Clerks they bid him take notice they were none of his Clerks but persons whom if his pride would have suffer'd him he ought to have own'd and treated as his Brethren and fellow Bishops with much more there spoken with a just but smart resentment And now can any man believe the Pope should have met with such treatment upon all occasions and that from the wisest gravest most learned and eminent persons in their several Ages had his title to the Jurisdiction of the West been so clear and unquestionable as some men seem to represent it The same might be shew'd in other Countries and he must be a great stranger to Church-History that can be at a loss for instances of this nature I shall therefore instance only in two more and with them dispatch this argument the African and the Britanick Churches VI. I chuse to instance in the Churches of Africk because so confidently challeng'd by them of Rome at every turn and because they were under the civil Jurisdiction of the Praetorian Praefect of Italy And here omitting infinite arguments that offer themselves I shall insist only upon the famous case of Appeals commenc'd under Pope Zosimus Ann. CCCCXVIII and not ended 'till some years after which will furnish us with a plain and uncontroulable evidence how little authority more than what was honourary the See of Rome in those days had over those Churches The case as briefly as it can well be summ'd up stands thus Apiarius a Presbyter of Sicca in Africk had been depos'd by his Diocesan Urbanus for very notorious and scandalous offences and the sentence ratified by a Provincial Council Hopeless of any relief at home over he flies to Rome tells his tale to Pope Zosimus who restores him to Communion espouses his cause and sends him back with Faustinus an Italian Bishop and two Roman Presbyters into Africk to see him resettled in his former place When they arriv'd in Africk they found a Council of African Bishops to the number of CCXVII sitting at Carthage to whom they delivered their message partly by word of mouth partly by writing But the writing being demanded a memorial was produc't containing instructions from Pope Zosimus what they should insist upon it consisted of four Heads First concerning the
arriving at the Imperial City he resolved to keep up his Port entred with great state and being invited to sit upon a Seat even with that of Epiphanius Bishop of that Church he refus'd telling them he would maintain the Prerogative of the Apostolick See not giving over 'till a more eminent Throne was purposely plac'd for him above that of the Bishop of Constantinople As if it had not been enough to reproach and vilify him at a distance unless contrary to all Laws and Canons and to the Rules of modesty civility and reason he also trampled upon him in his own Church Nay Anastasius adds that the Emperour in honour to God came before him and prostrated himself upon the ground to adore and worship him Pope John the second about ten years after writing to Justinian though there want not very learned men who question the credit of that Epistle talks stylo Romano just after the rate of his Predecessours he tells the Emperour 't was his singular honour and commendation that he preserv'd a reverence for the Roman See that he submitted all things to it and reduc'd them to the unity of it a Right justified by S. Peter's authority conveyed to him by that authentick deed of gift Feed my sheep that both the Canons of the Fathers and the Edicts of Princes and his Majesties own professions declar'd it to be truly the head of all Churches Where yet as in infinite other expressions of that nature in the Pontifical Epistles he warily keeps himself within general terms capable of a gentler or a brisker interpretation as it stood with their interest to improve VIII WEARIED out with continual provocations oppositions and affronts from Rome the Patriarchs of Constantinople began to think upon some way by which they might be better enabled to bear up against them To this end John who from his extraordinary abstinence was Sir-nam'd Nesteutes or the Faster being then Bishop of that See in a Synod conven'd there Ann. DLXXXIX about the Cause of Gregory Bishop of Antioch procur'd the Title of Oecumenical or Universal Bishop to be conferr'd upon him with respect probably to that Cities being the head Seat of the Empire which was usually styl'd Orbis Romanus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Universe or whole World and it could not be therefore thought extravagant if the Bishop of it did assume a proportionable Title of honour nothing appearing that hereby he laid claim to any extraordinary Jurisdiction Nor indeed is it reasonable to conceive that the Eastern Patriarchs who as Evagrius who was advocate for Gregory in that Synod tells us were all either by themselves or their Legates present in this Council together with very many Metropolitans should at one cast throw up their own power and authority and give John an absolute Empire and Dominion over them and therefore can be suppos'd to grant no more than that he being the Imperial Patriarch should alone enjoy that honorable Title above the rest Besides that every Bishop as such is in a sence intrusted with the care and sollicitude of the Universal Church and though for conveniency limited to a particular charge may yet act for the good of the whole Upon this ground it was that in the ancient Church so long as Order and Regular Discipline was observ'd Bishops were wont upon occasion not only to communicate their Councils but to exercise their power and functions beyond the bounds of their particular Diocess and we frequently find Titles and Characters given to particular Bishops especially those of Patriarchal Sees equivalent to that of Universal Bishop I cannot but mention that passage of Theodorit who speaking of Nestorius his being made Bishop of Constantinople says that he was intrusted with the Presidency of the Catholick Church of the Orthodox there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was nothing less then that of the whole World A passage which perhaps might the more incourage and invite John at this time to assume the Title IX BUT in what sence soever intended it sounded high but especially made a loud noise at Rome where they were strangely surpris'd to find themselves outshot in their own Bow for though they had all along driven on the design with might and main yet they had hitherto abstain'd from the Title Pelagius who at this time sat in that Chair was extreamly netled at it and immediately dispatch'd Letters to John and the Bishops of his Synod wherein he rants against this pride and folly talks high of the invalidity of all Conciliary Acts without his consent and approbation charges them though summon'd by their Patriarch not to appear at any Synod without authority first had from the Apostolick See threatens John with excommunication if he did not presently recant his error and lay aside his unjustly usurpt Title of Universal Bishop affirming that none of the Patriarchs might use that Profane Title and that if any one of them were styl'd Oecumenical the Title of Patriarch would be taken from the rest a piece of insolence which ought to be far from all true Christians with a great deal more to the same effect I know the last publishers of the Councils make this Epistle to be spurious a false piece of Ware patch'd up in Insidore Mercators shop But however that be plain it is from S. Gregory who sent Copies of them to the Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria that Pelagius did write such Letters wherein by the authority of S. Peter he rescinded the Acts of that Synod propter nephandum elationis vocabulum for the sake of that proud and ungodly Title prohibiting his Arch-Deacon then at Constantinople so much as to be present at prayers with the Patriarch of that place X. GREGORY the Great succeeded Pelagius whose Apocrisiarius or Agent he had been at Constantinople when the thing was done A man of good learning and greater piety and of somewhat a more meek and peaceable temper then most of those that had gone before him which perhaps he owed in a great measure to those sad calamitous times he so oft complains of wherein he liv'd And yet as tender in this point as his Predecessours John of Constantinople had lately sent him an account of the proceedings in the case of John Presbyter of Chalcedon wherein he took occasion to style himself Oecumenical Patriarch almost in every sentence This touch'd Pope Gregory to the quick and as he had an excellent talent at writing Letters he presently sends to Mauritius the Emperour to the Empress Constantina to the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch to John himself and to Sabinian his own Deacon then residing at Constantinople In all which he strains all the Nerves of his Rhetoric to load the case with the heaviest Aggravations complaining that by the contrivance of this proud and pompous Title the peace of the Church the holy Laws and venerable Synods yea and the commands of our Lord Jesus himself who by that
were but Magna ex parte recepta in a great measure receiv'd by the Church of Rome And who knows whether this Title might not be some part of what was rejected But if not perhaps the Popes might slight it as a Title only accidentally given not claim'd as due Whereas Pelagius and Gregory rant so much against the other John because he assum'd it in opposition to Rome and had it by a solemn Synodical Act conferr'd upon him I observe no more concerning this than that Leo Allatius who is not wont to neglect the least hint that may serve his cause speaking of this passage barely takes notice of Baronius's inference without the least sign of his approving it But to return XII WHILE Gregory was venting these passionate Resentments John the Patriarch dies But the quarrel died not with him Cyriacus who came after him keeping up the Title This put the Popes passion into a fresh ferment and now all the hard things are said over again and Cyriacus is warn'd to lay aside the scandal of that ungodly Title that had given so much offence and that he would hold no communion with him 'till he had renounc'd that proud and superstitious word which was the invention of the Devil and laid a foundation for Antichrist to take possession nay peremptorily affirms with an Ego autem fidenter dico that whoever either styles himself or desires to be styl'd by others Universal Bishop is by that very Pride of his a fore-runner of Antichrist And when he understood that John Bishop of Thessalonica Urbicius of Dyrrachium John of Corinth and several others were summoned to a Synod at Constantinople not knowing whether a Snake might not lye hid in the Grass he writes to them giving them an account of the rise and progress of that proud and pestiferous Title as he calls it cautioning them not only not to use it themselves but not to consent to it in others nor by any overt Act to approve or own it and if any thing should be craftily started in the Synod in favour of it he adjures them by all that is sacred that none of them would suffer themselves to be wrought upon by any Arts of Flattery and Insinuation of Rewards or Punishments to assent to it but stoutly oppose themselves against it and couragiously drive out the Wolf that was breaking into the Fold XIII HE that shall view these passages and look no farther than the outside of things will be apt to think surely S. Gregory was the most self-denying man in the World and that he and his Successors would sooner burn at a Stake than touch this Title And yet notwithstanding all these passionate outcries 't is shrewdly suspicious that they were levell'd not so much against the Title it self as the person that bore it We have taken notice all along what an inveterate Pique the Bishops of Rome had against those of Constantinople ever since the Emperours and Councils had made them equal to them and this now added to all the rest seem'd to exalt Constantinople infinitely above S. Peter's See Had this Title been Synodically conferr'd upon the Pope we had heard none of this noise and clamour but for him to be pass'd by and his Enemy the Patriarch of Constantinople to be crown'd with this Title of Honour 't was this dropt the Gall into his Ink. And therefore in the midst of all this Humility he ceas'd not to challenge a kind of Supremacy over that Bishop Who doubts says he but that the Church of Constantinople is subject to the Apostolic See a thing which both the Emperour and Eusebius the Bishop of it daily own But this 't is plain is there spoken in the case of Rites and Ceremonies wherein it seems all Churches must take their Measures from Rome unless with Spalato we understand it of a subjection in point of Order and Dignity that Rome was the first See and Constantinople the second The truth is to me the passage seems suspected and that Constantinople is there thrust in for some other place and the rather because there was no Eusebius at that time Bishop of that See nor for a long time either before or after However Gregory had all his Eyes about him that no disadvantage might surprise him and therefore in his Letter to the Bishops of Greece mentioned before that were going to the Synod at Constantinople he tells them that although nothing should be attempted for the confirmation of the Universal Title yet they should be infinitely careful that nothing should be done there to the prejudice of any place or person which though coucht in general terms yet whoever understands the state of those Times and the Pope's admirable tenderness in those Matters will easily see that he means himself And indeed that the Bishops of Rome look'd upon the Title of Oecumenical Bishop to be foul and abominable only 'till they could get it into their own hands is evident in that Gregory had scarce been 12 Months cold in his Grave when Pope Boniface the Third got that Title taken from Constantinople and affix'd to the See of Rome the manner whereof we shall a little more particularly relate XIV MAURICIUS the Emperour had in his Army a Centurion call'd Phocas one whose deformed looks were the Index of a more brutish and mishapen Mind He was angry fierce bloody ill-natur'd debauch'd and unmeasurably given to Wine and Women so bad that when a devout Monk of that time oft expostulated with God in Prayer why he had made him Emperour he was answer'd by a voice from Heaven Because I could not find a worse This Man taking the opportunity of the Soldiers mutinying murder'd the Emperour and possess'd his Throne which he fill'd with Blood and the most savage Barbarities Ten of the Imperial Family he put to death and so far let loose the Reins to fierceness and cruelty that he had it in design to cut off all those whom Nobility or Wisdom or any generous or honourable Actions had advanc'd above the common Rank And yet as bad as this lewd Villain was scarce was he warm in the Throne when he receiv'd Addresses from Pope Gregory who complemented the Tyrant and that too in Scripture-phrase at such a rate that I know not how to reconcile it with the honesty of a good Man His Letter begins with a Glory be to God on high who according as it is written changes Times and transfers Kingdoms who gives every one to understand so much when he says by his Prophet the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will The whole Letter is much of the same strain representing the happy advantages the World would reap under the benign influences of his Government And in another written not long after he tells him what infinite Praise and Thanks they ow'd to Almighty God who had taken off the sad and heavy
lookt either into the Justinian or Theodosian Code II. THAT the chief Church-Governour within every Province was the Metropolitan that is the Bishop that resided in the Metropolis or Mother-City of the Province For as the preventing Schism and disorder had necessitated Provincial Bishops who being all equal had no power one over the other to chuse one common President to umpire and determine differences and manage those affairs which could not be done by every single Bishop so reason and conveniency the example of the civil Government and the greatness of the place pleaded for the Bishop of the Metropolis to be the person who hence deriv'd the title of Metropolitan And this Salmasius himself how ill a friend soever to the whole Episcopal Order cannot but confess was wisely contriv'd and that had but Metropolitans contain'd themselves within their proper bounds there could not have heen a more useful and laudable Institution His business was upon all important occasions synodically to summon together the Bishops of his Province and therein to enquire into their miscarriages and misdemeanors to judg of the contentions that arose between them to ordain persons to vacant Bishopricks or at least to ratify their Ordination and to direct all transactions that were of greater and more general concernment Therefore the Fathers of Antioch take care that forasmuch as all that have any business to dispatch are forc'd to go to the Metropolis therefore the Bishops in every Province should own honour and give precedence to the Bishop that presided in the Metropolis and attempt nothing of moment without his concurrence and this according to a more ancient Canon derived to them from their Fore-fathers By the Ancient Canon here spoken of cannot be meant this of Nice which was but sixteen years before it and therefore without doubt referrs to the XXXIV Canon of the Apostles which almost in the same words commands the Bishops in every Nation to own him who is first or chief amongst them and to esteem him as Head and to do nothing of moment without his consent which truly expresses the ancient practice of the Church these Apostolick Canons being nothing else but a collection of Rules and Customes agreed upon in the first ages of Christianity For that I may note this by the way 't is vain to think that a thing then first began to be when we find it first mention'd or enjoyn'd by a Synodal Decree the Canons in such cases being very oft expressive of a more ancient practice which they then take notice of or enforce only because some extraordinary accidents at that time may have given particular occasion for it As here at Nice in the case of the Rights of Metropolitans which the Canon mentions and resettles only because Meletius's usurpation had brought it into question It had been long before an ancient custome and having lately received some little shock the Church no sooner had an opportunity of meeting together in a general Council but it establisht these Metropolitical priviledges by its Oecumenical Authority There are I know and they too men of no mean name and note both heretofore and of later times who tell us that this Nicene Canon is to be understood not of Metropolitans but Patriarchs But where does the Council say or so much as hint any such thing the Synod both here and in all other places constantly calls them Metropolitans and makes the bounds of their jurisdiction to be Provinces not Diocesses And indeed the word Diocese as relating to this extent of Ecclesiastick Government was not in use till above an intire age after Nay perhaps at this time it was scarce in use for the larger division of Countries in the civil state For it was but about this time that Constantine new modell'd the Government and brought in Dioceses as comprehending several Provinces under them So that either here must be Patriarchs without Dioceses or if the Canon be meant as some explain it of Metropolitani Metropolitanorum of some prime and principal Metropolitans that presided over the Metropolitans of the several Provinces within their jurisdiction then 't is plain the Synod must intend such whereever it mentions Metropolitans for it all along speaks of them as of the same In the fourth Canon it provides that in every Province a Bishop Ordain'd shall be confirm'd by the Metropolitan which is necessarily to be restrain'd to proper provincial Metropolitans In this sixth Canon it speaks more particularly and because the Metropolitick rights had been invaded in Egypt Ordains that the Bishop of Alexandria no less than he of Rome and that he of Antioch and the Churches in all other Provinces should still enjoy their ancient priviledges Where we see it speaks of them all without any difference in this respect as provincial Churches And thus the ancient Version of this Canon whereof more hereafter understood it when it rendred it thus in caeteris provinciis privilegia propria reserventur Metropolitanis Ecclesiis that at Antioch and in the other Provinces the Metropolitan Churches should have their own priviledges And to put the case out of doubt what the Council meant the Canon adds in the close that no Bishop should be made without the consent of the Metropolitan Nothing therefore can be more absurd than to say that Patriarchs are meant in the former part of the Canon and Metropolitans only in the latter when as the Canon it self makes no difference And indeed were that the meaning the grave and wise Fathers of that Council took an effectual course that posterity should never understand their mind If we look into the following Canon that secures the rights of the Metropolitan Church of Caesarea in Palestine and though it grants the next place of honour to the Bishop of Jerusalem yet still it subjects him to his own Metropolitan And I suppose it will puzzle any man to give a wise reason why the Church of Jerusalem for which the Christian World ever had so great and so just a veneration should be subject to that of Caesarea but only that Caesarea was the Metropolis of that Province and so had been ever since the time of Vespasian and accordingly Josephus says 't was the greatest City in the Country and Tacitus calls it the head of Judaea So miserably does Alexander Aristinus blunder in his Exposition of this Canon when by virtue of it he makes the Bishop of Jerusalem to become a Patriarch and yet withal to be subject to the Metropolitan of Caesarea or which is all one that the Metropolitan of Caesarea should not hereby lose his ancient power and dignity As if any Patriarch and much more one of the five greater could be subject to a private Metropolitan or a Metropolitan could have his ancient rights reserv'd to him when at the same time a considerable part of them are taken from him But Patriarchs were not then heard or so much as dreamt of in the Church nothing being truer than what