rational discourse of the true use of Councils and their Authoritative determinations in the Christian Church It is not say they to make new Doctrines of Faith but to protect the old Truths against the wantonness of Innovators so that if all men would be content with the Ancient Faith it would be needless for the Church to make any new Declarations but when men leave the old Track of Religion to loose themselves in their own new contrived Labyrinths and corrupt the plain and simple Truth with over nice and curious Inventions it is then necessary for the Church to stop their Vanity by its Authoritative Declaration of the Truth it self Not as if there were something defective in the Faith and the Church were always adding to it but to make such wholesome Provisions as it judges most convenient against all Innovated Doctrines And this they exemplifie by â—ll the Decrees of the several Councils against the Prophane Novelties of Arius Pâ—â—tinus Macedonius and Nestorius and shew that they were only Fences to guard and defend the simplicity of the Ancient Faith against the petulâ—nt Assaulâ—s of these several Hereticks and that they declare to be the ground of their present determination against Eutyches that it was only a Declaration of the old Truth against a new Heresie And much more to this purpose and it is the true State of the Authority of Councils to make Decrees to stop the vanities and singularities of Innovators and when they are made they become obligatory by their own Authority and nothing can hinder or take off their Obligation but an apparent contrariety to the Divine Law So that it neither concerns nor becomes the Subject to make a strict and Philosophical search after the truth of the Decree it is enough to him that it is not apparently false In all other Cases the Authority of the Church is sufficient to justifie his Obedience before God by whose Providence they were placed under their Government And the want of this just Civility to Superiors has in all Ages been the true Original of all disturbances in the Christian Church And this was the sence of the Emperor himself who immâ—dâ—ately upon the Receipt of this Report from the Fathers publishes an Edict to the talking Citizens of Constantinople forbidâ—ing all farther disputations about the Christian Faith in that all Controversies were now determined by the Authority of the Council against which he says it were prophaneness and sacriledge for any man to presume to set up his own Opinion and no less madness then to grâ—pe after more Light at noon day and therefore after this clear discovery of the â—ruth whoever will not acquiesce in it but makes farther Enquiry he can neither seek nor find any thing but falshood And for this reason all farther disputes are peremptorily forbidden as an insolent and intolerable affront to the Sacred Authority of the Council and this is enacted under the forementioned Penalties that he declared in the 6th Session for the Confirmation of their Exposition of Faith Deposition of the Clergy Disbanding of Souldiers and Banishment of Citizens And this was afterward alledged as a proper instance by Facundus Hermianensis to the Emperor Justinian against the condemnation of the tria capitula after they had been tryed and acquitted by the Council of Calcedon with this remark upon it The Emperor Marcian judged it no less than Prophaneness and Sacriledg to review the Sacerdotal Judgment and therefore that being once pass't it was an end of all Controversie Here behold a Prince indeed a true Father of the Common-Wealth and a true Son of the Church that does not dictate but follow Ecclesiastical Decrees declaring by his Edict That whoever after the settlement of the truth shall pretend to make any farther inquiry can seek for nothing but Error For this saying forever blessed be his Memory all the World over who not only recover'd the sinking Empire but also restored lasting Peace to the poor distracted Church This Edict was reinforced by a second a Month after and Copies of it sent to all the several Praefecti-praetorio for its more effectual Execution And they are both revived in a third Rescript published the year following in which this Heresie and all the ways of propagating it are supprest by all the punishments against all other Heretiques So that it is in reality a neat Compendium of all the Laws under the Title de Haereticis in the Theodosian Code And because the bastard Council of Ephesus under Dioscorus in which Flavianus Eusebius Theodoret and many other Catholick Bishops were condemn'd had been ratified by a Rescript of Theodosius he here cancels its full force as to all the Sufferers that were surviving And because the Eutychian Itch was got among the Monks of Jerusalem and Alexandria to the raising of botches and tumults especially at Jerusalem by the disorderly behavior of one Theodosius who made himself Bishop of the place the Emperor and Empress write to them to desist at their farther peril But it seems some were stubborn and irreclaimable and no sort of Men so obstinate as those that live remote from the Conversation of the World and therefore in the year 455 the Emperor renews his former Rescript particularly to be put in Execution at Alexandria where the Heresie most reign'd and that is the last time that he appear'd against them And thus in four years time by protecting the Church in its due Authority and by abetting their Decrees with Penal Laws and by seeing his own Laws put in effectual Execution he put an end to this powerful and prevailing Heresie though it had gain'd both the Eunuchs and the Empire to its side § XVII And thus this great Prince this pattern of Government to all his Successors as Evagrius stiles him having settled all things both in Church and State two years after dyes and is succeeded in the year 457 by Leo who was chosen by the unanimous Vote both of the Senate and the Army a Prince says Nicephorus that would have carried the Election in the most flourishing times of the old Common-Wealth when only worth gave right and title to Preferm%nt a Man of that strict and severe Vertue that he must have been chosen Augustus by the Cato's themselves But as great a Man as he was he found it an hard task to keep things in that good order in which they were left by his Predecessor For no sooner came the news of Marcian's death to Alexandria that Metropolis of Sedition but a few of the Eutychian Party among whom were only two Bishops accompanied with the City-rabble make Timotheus Aelurus their Bishop and most inhumanely murther Proterius at Divine service who had been chosen to that See by the Bishops of the Province upon the deposition of Dioscorus and not content with his blood they treat the dead body with all the circumstances of rudeness and barbarity Upon this Complaints are carried to the Emperor by both Parties
Religion and Loyalty The Second Part. OR THE History of the Concurrence of the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Government of the Church from the Beginning of the Reign of Jovian to the End of the Reign of Justinian By SAMUEL PARKER D.D. Arch-Deacon of Canterbury LONDON Printed for John Baker at the Three Pigeons in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXV TO THE READER THE Church of England having acknowledged and declared His Majestie 's Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical to be of the same Nature and Extent with that Authority that the Christian Emperors claim'd and exercised in the Primitive Church I deem'd it no unuseful piece of Service to my King and Country to inform my self and my Fellow-Subjects out of the Records of those times of our true Duty to the Royal Supremacy And to this end I have drawn up as exact a Chart as my little Skill could reach of the Primitive Practice of the Three first Centuries after the Empire became Christian. Neither have I only Surveyed and coasted the general History but have sounded every part of it and not only described the safe Passages and right Chanels through which the abler Pilots steer'd their Courses but the Shallows the Gulfs the Rocks and the Sands upon which the less Skilful or less Fortunate Shipwrackt their Governments Neither have I presumed to make any Political Remarks of my own but have only observed the Natural and Historical Events of Matters of Fact And by the Experience of 300 years in which all Experiments were tryed we are fully instructed in all the right and all the wrong Measures of Government in the Christian Church In the Reigns of the great Constantine Jovian Gratian Theodosius the Great Arcadius Honorius Theodosius the younger Marcian Leo Justin and Justinian are exemplified the Natural good Effects of abetting the Power of the Church by good Laws and their effectual Execution In the Reigns of Julian and Valentinian we may observe the inevitable Mischiefs of Toleration and Liberty of Conscience In the Reigns of Constantius and Valens but especially of Zeno and Anastasius are to be seen the fatal and bloody Consequences of pretended Moderation or as we phrase it comprehension that indeed unites all Parties but then it is like a Whirlpool into one common Gulf of Ruin and Confusion This is the short account of this Undertaking and the Historical Events of things being withal so very Natural they will of themselves amount to a fair Demonstration of the Necessity of Discipline in the Church and Penal Laws in the State All that I can ensure for the Performance is its Truth and Integrity I have faithfully and impartially perused all the most Material and Original Records both of Church and State and out of them and them alone have Collected the ensuing History and if that prove true and for that I stand bound the Conclusion that I aim at will make it self The CONTENTS SEct. I. The State of the Church under Jovian The Hypocrisie both of the Eusebians to recover their Bishopricks and of the Acacians to preserve theirs in owning the Nicene Faith page 1. § II. Of Valentinian his Edict for Liberty of Conscience The struglings of the Eusebians against the Acacians Their Councils at Lampsacus and Tyana to that end They are defeated by the juglings of the Acacians The dishonest craft of the two Leaders Eudoxius in the East and Auxentius in the West p. 7. § III. The Persecution of St. Basil by the Eudoxians his discourse with the Prefect Modestus Dear to the Emperor Valens Valens himself no Arian but abused by the Eudoxians the deplorable State of the Eastern Church at that time under their Oppressions St. Basil's misfortune in receiving Eustathius of Sebasta to communion The death of St. Athanasius The Heresie of Apollinaris how suppressed p. 27. § IV. The Election of St. Ambrose to the See of Milan The death of Valentinian the mischiefs he brought upon the Empire by his principle of Liberty of Conscience Themistius the Philosopher's Address to Valens in behalf of the Orthodox The Emperor Gratian's Rescripts and effectual Proceedings against Hereticks His restitution of the Discipline of the Church The bounds of the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction briefly stated The great Schism at Antioch occasion'd by Julian's toleration p. 35. § V. The singular care of Theodosius the Great to settle the Church and Orthodox Faith Vindicated in his Institution of the Communicatory Bishops He summons the general Council at Constantinople and confirms all their Decrees by several Imperial Rescripts Wisely forbids all Disputes about Religion Assists the young Valentinian against the Tyrum Maximus and prevails with him to reverse his severe Rescript against the Catholicks p. 55. § VI. Valentinian made the first open breach upon the Power of the Church in taking to himself the Power of Judicature in Matters of Faith St. Ambrose his Sufferings upon that account His Embassy to Maximus his Wisdom and Courage Maximus his Conquest of Italy and overthrow by Theodosius The Stars raised by the Hereticks at Constantinople in the Emperor's absence The method of lying People into Tumults His effectual enacting and executing Laws against them settles the Church in Peace p. 66. § VII His Laws made without the concurrence of the Church for reforming the Abuses of Widows and Deaconesses the disorders of Monks and the Abuse of Church-Sanctuary p. 81. § VIII His Laws without the same concurrence against Manichees Apostates Pagans and in behalf of the Jews p. 89. § IX Of the Council of Aquileia Of the Schism at Rome between Damasus and Ursicinus Of the Schism at Alexandria between Peter and Lucius Of the Schism at Antioch between Paulinus and Flavianus p. 98. § X. The unparallell'd Immorality of the Priscillian Heresie The Prosecution of them by Ithacius justified against Mr. B. they were executed as Malefactors and Traitors not as Hereticks St. Martin's great indiscretion in interceding for them p. 124. § XI The praise of Theodosius against the Calumnies of Zosimns The Laws of his Son Arcadius against the Hereticks p. 152. § XII His Laws of Privilege to the Catholicks The several Laws of Tuition The Law of civil Decision in the Church by Arbitration The Laws against Appeals from the Church to the civil Power p. 167. § XIII His Laws of Reformation of Discipline Against the tumults of Monks the abuse of Sanctuary against the Johannites against Apostates In behalf of the Jews The Laws of Honorius against and for the Jews The Laws of both Emperors under the Title de Paganis p. 180. § XIV The history and design of the Theodosian Code Theodosius his own Novels Of the Parabolani of Alexandria The famous Law concerning the Churches of â—lâ—yricum explain'd together with his other Laws and the Laws of Valentinian the third p. 198. § XV. The History and Acts of the Council of Ephesus against Nestorius and Imperial ratification of the Decreeâ—â—f the Church by Marcian p. 225. § XVI The
which way his Pulse beat tamper with Meletius the Orthodox Bishop of Antioch and dear to the new Emperor who at that time resided there to call a Council and though they had in the time of Constantius deposed him for his Apostasie to the Nicene Faith yet now in this Council they unanimously declare for it and signify their Decree and the necessity of it to the Emperor in that they were now convinced that there was no other stop to be put to the Arian Blasphemy viz. that the Son was created out of nothing and by this false and dishonest shufling they out-witted the old Eusebian Knaves and riveted themselves in their new usurpt Preferments But this goes to the very heart of the poor outed Eusebians to be thus over-reach't and supplanted and to turn the whole Game it drives them into their old out-rage against the vir gregis the great Athanasius And so away post Euzoius the then deposed Bishop of Antioch and Lucius the pretended Bishop of Alexandria to Court and there take their old Method of ingaging some of the Eunuchs into their Party and particularly Probatius the Praepositus Cubiculi that succeeded Eusebius in that Office who had done so much mischief in the reign of Constantius and having secured their Patrons they accuse Athanasius to the Emperor upon these three Topicks First that there had been continual Complaints against him during the whole time of his Episcopacy Secondly that upon the truth of those Complaints he had been often banisht by his Predecessors Thirdly that he was the sole Author of all the present Troubles and Disturbances in the Church This is their old train of boldness but the Emperor was a wise Man and saw thrô their Designs and therefore sends them away with very severe threatnings and charges his Eunuchs never to meddle with such Matters under no less Penalty than the Rod and the Cudgel and entertains Athanasius with all the highest expressions of Respect and Honor and so for his short time setled the Church both in Peace and Truth This is the true state and story of the revival of the Arian Controversy under this Emperor that had slept under Julian And not as Sozomen suggests the contentiousness of the Bishops who he says under Julian when the Christian Religion lay at stake pieced together for the security of the common Cause as 't is the custom of all Men to make peace and join forces against a common Enemy but as soon as the danger is blown over to return to their old Fewds and Animosities The observation in general is too true but not rightly applyed to this particular case for the ground of the quarrel here was not the natural contentiousness of Mankind whilst in a condition of peace as the Historian remarks in that the Orthodox had never pieced with any of the other Parties either Eusebians or Acacians under Julian but as we have already seen casheir'd and condemn'd them both and setled the Nicene Faith So that under Jovian there was no new breach but even according to Sozomen's own account the new contest was raised by the Eusebian Bishops that had lost their Bishopricks under Constantius after the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia when they were over-reach't by the Acacians And that is the Argument of their Petition to this Emperor that things might stand as they were left by those Councils and that all after acts might be null'd i. e. that themselves might be restored to their Bishopricks That was the present quarrel and no dispute against the setled Faith for they had already declared for the Nicene Confession And therefore the Acacians upon their complaint against them for the Aëtian Heresy immediately protest against it to secure their Preferments And that was all along the state of this Controversy both before and after this time the zeal of good Men on one side for the true Faith and the Arts of ill Men on the other for Preferment and Court-favor This is hitherto evident from the beginning of the quarrel of Eusebius of Nicomedia with Athanasius and will appear as clearly in all the same Contests as long as they lasted under the succeeding Emperors § 2. Jovian dying suddainly no body knows of what though several wise philosophical Conjectures are made about it by the Historians after him Valentinian is chosen Emperor with a Nemine contradicente being a Man as Marcellinus himself confesses of universal reputation And he deserved it though it were only for that Prince-like saying after his Election when those that chose him press't him to take an Assistant in the Government he replyed when the Empire was vacant it was in your Power to choose me Emperor but now I am in possession of the Crown it is my business and none of yours to take care of the Common-Wealth He understood the true Rights of Soveraign Power in all Monarchies whether Hereditary or Elective and unless it be supreme and unaccountable it is so far from being any Power at all that it is the lowest and most abject kind of Subjection and of a great General he would by his being made Emperor have only become the publick Slave of the Rabble But he coming to the Crown after so many suddain turns and supposing the Empire very much distracted about Religion by so many changes of Government publishes an Edict for Liberty of Conscience ut unicuique quod animo imbibisset colendi libera facultas tributa sit that every Man may have liberty to use what Worship he will according to those Opinions that he had suckt in But then again soon finding himself setled in the Empire in the very same year anno 364 he forbids the night Sacrifices of the Heathens but is prevail'd upon to tolerate all those religious Rites that were celebrated by day And having gain'd so much ground he proceeds to countermine and blow up the Crafts of Julian who made all his Laws with a malicious Aspect towards the Christians and particularly that famous Law that no Man should be allowed to practise Physick or teach any Art or Science but by the approbation of the Magistrates of the place with his own impeperial Consent and by that means he shut all Christians out of any learned or ingenuous Imployment and therefore Valentinian as soon as he comes to the Crown cancels that Law and restores all Professors of Learning to their respective Thrones But as for the Church the Emperor being setled the poor hungry Eusebians that had been so long sequestred out of their Bishopricks resolve once more to try their Fortune and they poor Men had hard luck to quit their Faith as they had done under Jovian and yet not get their Preferments But they hope to meet with kinder usage from this Emperor and therefore send Hypatianus Bishop of Heraclea in an Ambassy to him to request a Council to which he as he was a very civil Gentleman and obliged at that time to
haec nefanda prorupit per totum mundum instanter egêre ut impius furor ab universà Ecclesià pelleretur quando etiam Mundi principes ita hanc sacrilegam amentiam detestati sunt ut auctorem ejus ac plerosque dicipulos legum publicarum ense prosternerent Videbanâ— enim omnem curam hâ—nestaâ—is auferri omnem conjugiâ—rum copulam solvi simulque divinum jus humanumque subverti si hujusmodi hominibus usquam vivere cum tali professione licuisset Our Ancestors in whose time this prophane Heresy sprung up took all possible care to root the madness out of the Christian World when at the same time the secular Princes so abhorred its outragious wickedness that they put to deâ—th with the Sword the Author of it together with his chiefest Proselytes for they were sensible that by it all the Obligations to honesty were destroyed all the sacred bands of Marriage dissolved all Laws both Divine and Humane subverted if these Men were allowed to live any where with the profession of their debaucht Principles This is the true state of the case and yet it is the only great instance of cruelty that R. B. is perpetually bellowing out against the bloudy the persecuting the turbulent the destroying the proud the contentious the ambitious the hereticating the merciless the furious the confounding and the God-damn-you Prelates and fire brands of the World For these are the most usual Titles of honor that this Man of meekness and healing is pleased to bestow upon the reverend Bishops of the ancient as well as the present Church But though he is pleased to throw them out at random among the whole Order yet when he comes to particulars his whole Catalogue of Bonners and bloody Bishops is nothing but this story of Ithacius and the Priscillianists continually repeated in his fourscore books and upwards and by repeating one tale so often has made it so many stories But poor Richard transcribes in so much hast that he has not leisure to examine and weigh his Records no nor for the most part which is much worse to construe them for though he is very abounding with his in specie he is very defective in his In speech and has of late bless't and obliged the World with such heaps of historical Ignorance as cannot but be a full satisfaction to the Age that Presbytery and skill in antiquity are inconsistent things But as for this particular out-cry about Ithacius if he had but in the least understood the true state of the case he could never have prevail'd with himself to triumph over its cruelty with so much transport and insolence as he has done in so much that he seems to be more pleased with their Execution then the bloody Prelates themselves only because it serves him for a Common Place of railing at them and that is the sweetest gratification to his healing Spirit But what were these poor silly harmless Hereticks that were so barbarously butcher'd by these inhumane Prelates Were they meer Hereticks in a point of Faith as the Arians were Were they meer Schismaticks from the Communion of the Church as the Donatists were No but they were a rout of Villains that under the pretence of a greater Purity taught all the leudness and wickedness that humane Nature could commit and daily reduced their Doctrin to practice among themselves So that their Crime was not any heresie against the Christian Faith as this crude Rhapsodist supposes but an Apostasie from humane Nature and subversion of humane Society and an utter debauching of humane Kind Now when such Monsters of Men that were implacable Enemies to the Peace of the World arose within the Neighbourhood of some Christian Bishops I cannot see how they could any way have excused themselves to God and their Country if they had not indeavour'd a speedy stop of the Contagion For this concern'd them not as Christian Bishops but as Men and Members of the Common-Wealth which it was apparent that these Mens Principles utterly subverted and therefore for that very reason were they bound to let the Government know its danger And though their Office as Christian Bishops obliged them to mercy yet not to such foolish mercy as would undo the World And that was their case they did not prosecute Hereticks but Rebels and Traitors And that Office I think as much becomes a Bishop if he loves his King and his Country as another Man But it seems there is no cruelty so terrible in the Eye of a Presbyter as to bring Rebels to their due punishment And it looks like strange confidence that Men who have confess 't themselves Men of Blood and cut honest Mens Throats for their Loyalty should complain of the cruelty of executing Villains for their Rebellion So that in the Result of all and granting the truth of the whole Story the conclusion will amount to no more than this That the difference between the Prelatical and Presbyterian Ithacians is That the one is for gleaning up a few Malefactors to preserve a Nation the other is for reaping the whole field and that is the true thorough Presbyterian Reformation § XI Theodosius dyes in the year 395. after an happy and glorious reign having clear'd the Eastern Empire of Goths Persians and Arians and twice recover'd the Western from the Usurpation of Tyrants Maximus and Eugenius and leâ—t both Church and State in a settled and prosperous Condition insomuch that it is but a due and just Character that is given of him by Barâ—nius Nullus unquam Romanorum Imperatorum qui non hereditario jure parenti Augusto successerit ita legitimè ita opporrune ita fructuosè atque fideliter ad regimen Romani est cooptatus Imperii That none of the Roman Emperors that came not to the Crown by inheritance and lineal Succession were ever taken into a share of that Power that managed it with more skill or honesty and to the greater benefit of the Empire And yet he can no more escape the Barkings of Zosimus as Photius calls them than all the other Christian Emperors but his Calumnies consist not in ill Stories but in ill Characters that are as well consuted by his whole History of this great Princes actions as by Paulinus his Apologetick and St. Ambrose his Funeral Oration to which I refer the Reader and shall only give this Character out of a more knowing Author because contemporary and an Eye witness of his Actions and though a more impartial yet no bribed Author because an heathen too as well as Zosinus and that is Aurelius Victor who concludes his History with this Character of him having compared him to Trajan he adds that He was a Prince courteous merciful and familiar thinking himself to be distinguisht from other Men only by the Imperial Robe bountiful to all Men but to a degree of prodigality to good Men he loved Men of Integrity and honor'd Learning if without craft he bestowed his great bounty with a greater
ancient Canons And that was the custom of all Popes at that time following the dance of Innocent the first to make the Canons speak what themselves pleased and when they pleased to speak Contradictions But in the time of Leo the great Hilarius Bishop of Arles and a mettlesom Man would not be content with his Metropolitical Authority but sets up for a Patriarchal Supremacy over all France and Independency upon Rome This transports that proud and jealous Pope beyond all bounds of revenge and outrage and upon it he writes in great fury to the Bishops of France to depose him from his Metropolitical Authority and cancels all Acts of his Government in that capacity And as for the Grant of his Predecessor Zosimus to that See he has the confidence to pretend that it was only temporary and personal though by it he imposed as grosly upon Zosimus as Zosimus himself did upon the ancient Canons and to ratifie all he procures this Imperial Rescript commanding absolute Obedience to all his Commands and in effect erecting an universal Supremacy for him But the matter the stile and the spirit of the Rescript too much betray the rough hand of Leo himself in it And it was no hard Matter for so bold a Man to extort what he pleased from such a softly Prince And yet this very same Man when Hilarius dyed got Ravennius a very weak Man to succeed him and then restored the Metropolitical Authority to him and his See and thus did these Men set up and pull down as served the ends of their own Ambition and all out of pure Reverence to the ancient Canons And to speak a plain truth plainly they meerly lyed themselves into their universal Supremacy as I shall shew more at large not only from this instance of Arles but from two other great transactions on foot at the very same time that is their Usurpation over the Churches of Africk and Illyricum And though in the first they were shamefully baffled by the Africans who exposed their gross and scandalous Forgeries to the World yet it shews that they trusted to nothing so much at the time of their usurpation as the Sovereign Power of lying But to keep to our present business His next Law is to confirm all the Rescripts of former Emperors Pagan as well as Christian to out-law the Manichees This Law was made upon the discovery and confession of some very foul matter by one of the Ring-leaders of that Sect what the Fact was it was not thought decent to express and it is only in general thus described Quorum incesta perversitas Religionis nomine Lupanaribus quoque ignota vel pudenda committit such a foul incest under pretext of Religion that it was not so much as named in the publick Stews His next Law is against the Robbers of Tombs and Sepulchres it is a very severe one and one of the most eloquent for the stile in the whole Collection Servants and poor People convicted of it are punisht with death Men of fortune with forfeiture of half their Estates and all their Honors Clergy-Men with deposition from their Orders and perpetual banishment And as for all Governors that shall neglect the execution of this Law they forfeit both Estate and Honor. His last Law is to regulate the Bishops Courts and to revive some Laws of former Emperors relating to the Clergy it gives the Bishops power of Judicature praeeunte vinculo compromissi by way of Arbitration but no otherwise It allows Bishops and Presbyters to appear in the Civil Courts by their Proxies for all Causes unless Personal Crimes and lastly it prescribes what Persons may or may not be received into Holy Orders according to several fore-mention'd Rescripts of former Emperors § XV. But the most material Law of this reign is still behind and that is the Law to confirm the Decrees of the great Council of Ephesus that was both call'd and ratified by Theodosius the Younger which I have reserved to this place to treat of it by it self because as it is the greatest transaction of this Reign so is it another eminent Instance of the right Concurrence of the Powers of Church and State in the determination of Ecclesiastical Controversies and enacting of Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons All the old Schisms and Heresies being vanquisht by the Methods already described such is the wantonness of Humane Wit that it fell upon contriving new Conceits for its own sport and entertainment There is such a natural Vanity in some Mens Tempers that they can scarce live without singularities and innovations from whence comes that necessity of Heresies that St Paul speaks of they are the certain effects of Pride and Pedantry and as long as there are and will be born in all Ages Men of that Complexion nothing can hinder them from venting their own novel and home-spun Metaphysicks And therefore it cannot be expected that the Church should be altogether free from Heresies for that cannot be done without an alteration of Humane Nature it is enough that it is furnisht with means to stop and cure the Disease whenever it breaks out in the body of the Church as we have seen great numbers of Botches dispersed and reduced to nothing by the right exercise and concurrence of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And after this time it is observable that Heresies were not so long-lived for now the Method of their cure being understood by experience which when all is done is the best Art of Physick it was so soon dispatch't that they rarely survived their Author and after one sentence effectually executed they scarce ever put the Government to a second trouble as will appear by the following History Nestorius being chosen to the swelling Throne of Constantinople by Theodosius the Younger out of the Church of Antioch to avoid or rather end a violent competition at home he brings along with him one Anastasius a Presbyter his inseparable Friend and Companion and Valesius is pleased to be so critical as to affirm that he was his Syncellus an Office in the Pallaces of Patriarchs who had power to choose what Presbyters they pleased to cohabit with them who were therefore stil'd Syncelli or Concellanei But I doubt this learned Man here derives this Office too high for we find no foot-steps of any such State in the Records of the Church till after the Institution of Patriarchates by the Council of Calcedon and then we have frequent mention of it in History though nothing but deep silence before But whatever he were whereas the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mother of God had been so familiarly given to the Virgin Mary by the Ancients that it was by custom become her proper Title and always annext to her name against this Anastasius inveighs in a Sermon and affirms that she ought not to be stil'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of Man But
willful Malice and apparent Forgery In the same undertaking he is followed 〈◊〉 Eichelius Professor at Heltusted in Franconia in the Year 1654 who has after the German Fashion of writing for Marts improved the little Treatise into a great Book by transcribing those Quotations at length which the other only referred to And though both the substance and the wit of his Book are too grosly borrowed and that sometimes in the very same words without owning his Author yet he was a Learned man and has added a great many useful Remarks of History from his own observation has prosecuted the design more at large and demonstrated the disingenuity of the Procopian Author from these 11 Topicks 1. That he writes many things impossible in themselves 2. Many things contradicted by Co-Temperary Writers 3. By himself 4. That what he vehemently commends in his other Writings he here as vehemently inveighs against 5. That what came to pass by chance or by other mens default he imputes to Justinian 6. That he blames many commendable Actions 7. That he praises what he ought to blame 8. That he exaggerates things indifferent to the disadvantage of Justinian 9. That he wrests many of Justinians bravest Actions to an ill sense 10. That he picks up all trifling Reports of the Vulgar against him 11. That he writes divers things of great moment that are no where attested by any Co-Temporary Writers All which are I think sufficient to over-whelm the Reputation of any Writer and yet they are all so visible through the whole Vein of this Libel as to expose themselves to every mans view without searching for them But though this Author has quitted himself in the Historical Part of his Book as became a Learned Man yet he being an Erastian by principle he has all along failed in his observations upon Matter of Fact proceeding every where in that Fundamental mistake about Justinian as if he had pretended to give not only his Ratification but the first Validity to the Laws of the Church And therefore though I shall gratefully accept and acknowledge any assistance that thâ—se Learned Men have given me I shall be forced to make my own observations especially as to those things that concern Religion in which they are both mistaken And as for the Historical Part I shall not trouble my self or the Reader with any later Writers as they have done such as Zonaras Nicephorus Cedrenus c. but shall meerly relye upon Co-temporaries or such as lived upon the next Confines of the Age that they write of as I have carefully done through this whole History And such are in the Age that we are now treating of Procopius himself Agathius Marcellinus Comes Facundus Hermianensis Liberatus Diaconus Cassiodorus Jornandes Victor Tunonensis Gregorius Turonensis Evagrius Scholasticus under Mauritius and the Chronicon Alexandrinum under Heraclius And from them though the greatest part of them were either enemies or disobliged Persons I doubt not but to shew the falshood of the Libel it self and the Malice of its Abettors In the first place we have all the reason in the World to reject the Book it self as a spurious Pamphlet dishonestly fathered upon Procopius when we find it never so much as mention'd by any of the Ancients or by any Writer whatsoever for many Ages after his own time And yet it is next to impossible but that they must have taken notice of a work of such a peculiar streâ—n if it had been extant in their time especially when his other Writings were so well known in his own and all following Ages Evagrius who writ in the same Age though some time after viz. under Mauritius commends his other Histories without any mention of this Agathias Scholasticus that both Epitomised and continued his History and Johannes Scholasticus that writ not long after the death of Justinian knew nothing of this work though both were so well acquainted with his other Writings Photius that diligent and judicious Critick gives an high Character of his other works but is utterly silent about this In short the first Author that makes any mention of it is that crude and injudicious Rhapsodist Suidas who lived not till the 11th Century 500 Years after Procopius but he comes too late not being vouch't by any more Ancient Testimony and then his own can be of no Credâ—t especially considering the humour of the man who was a meer Collector without choice or judgment setting down whatsoever came to his hands without examining into the truth of the Record so that it seems this Libel being forged before his time he imbraces it contrary to the fundamental Law of the Criticks without any ancient Testimony to certifie its legitimacy Alemannus pleads that the reason why it was so long unknown was because Procopius was forced to suppress it for the security of his own life That might be a good reason for Procopius his own time but certainly not for the long interval of so many Ages as from the sixth Century to the eleventh And to give any credit to a Book that never appear'd once in the World till 500 years after the death of its pretended Author is a Civility that the Criticks would never allow in any Case neither do I know it ever challenged unless in this I know indeed Books may have been buried five hundred or a thousand years but then they have always had some ancient Testimonies that there were once such Books written by such Authors and upon no other terms were they ever received and this was the case of St. Clement's Epistle But however this Vatican Plea for suppressing Procopius his Book for his own safety may be consistent with it self I am sure it is very inconsistent with the pretence that he has undertaken to make good viz. that it may be all proved out of Procopius his other Writings in which he tells many more and many worse Stories than in this little Epitome And yet they were not only seen but approved by the Emperor himself But if so he ought either to have suppress't all or none and not to have publisht the sharper Invective to gain the Emperor's favor and keep back the milder to avoid his displeasure These are pretty consistent Dreams that could never have come into any Man's head but in a Vatican Nap. But beside the want of sufficient Certificates to warrant the reception of the Book the thing is so very unlikely in it self that Procopius should write so dirty a Libel both against Justinian and Belizarius that it would require very strong proof only to make it a thing credible For when he had through his whole life been so infinitely obliged by both when he had been raised by Justinian from a low Condition to the highest Preferments in the Empire when he had ever kept the most entire and intimate friendship with Belizarius and lastly when he made it the great work of his life both before and after the writing of this Book to
of Africk and delivered into the Emperors Exchequer it is set down by Procopius in the description of his Triumph as the greatest Treasury in the World And among the rest were the Vessels and Furniture of Solomon's Temple that Titus brought to Rome and Gizerick carried away when he sack't it and the Emperor to avoid the Misprision of Sacriledge thought it his duty to return them to the Christian Churches at Jerusalem Now if we compare this Account of Procopius with the Anecdota concerning the same Time and Action how could the Wit of Mankind have better way-layed the Malice of this Scribler For this was no part of secret History no closet or bed-chamber Transaction but all such publick shew as was not capable to be be-lyed And therefore when Procopius writes it to his own age to thousands of Eye-witnesses that Belizarius was worshipt both by the Prince and the People for that vast Treasure that he brought into the Chequer what can we conclude of the secret Historian that has the confidence and the ignorance as to obtrude such an incredible Flam upon all Posterity that he was the contempt of all Men deserted by his Friends sad and solitary and that the occasion of all this disgrace was embezelling the Emperor's Treasury Compare but these two Reports together of one and the same thing that was not acted in secret but upon the most publick Stage in the World and from that alone we may learn what Faith is to be given to this goodly Romance And lastly as for the ill-success of his second Expedition into Italy which the Libel lays intirely upon his ill Conduct he has here some little truth to help out his malice For it is true that his second expedition was not so successful as his other Wars but whose fault was that Every Man 's rather than Belizarius For at his first Expedition against Vitigis he left Italy in a settled State of Peace and Safety but in his absence at the Persian Wars it was lost by the negligence of other Captains upon this Belizarius is recall'd from Persia where he had in a very short time broke all the strength of the great King Chosroes and is posted away with all speed into Italy without Men or Money The last is confest by the Libel it self that upon that account charges him with Covetousness and Oppression And it is not to be doubted but that the Contributions of the Inhabitants must have been very heavy But it was not in Belizarius his power to ease them for he came to defend their Country and having no other Supplies they must either maintain the Charges of the War or submit to the Enemy But alass he was not able to act or attempt any thing for want of Forces as Procopius himself informs us that he could not make up a body of 4000 Men and those but raw Soldiers and unarmed that he had pickt up in his passage through Thrace and Illyricum Upon this he writes to the Emperor for Men Money and Arms and tells him plainly that Belizarius his meer presence in Italy was not of force enough to recover it and therefore supplies he must have particularly the Souldiers that were immediately under his own Command For that was his custom in all his Wars to lead 7000 of his best Horse in Person and it was chiefly by their courage that he obtain'd all his great Victories But no relief coming Totilas carries all before him and lays siege to Rome it self till Narses came with new Forces At whose arrival Belizarius had raised the siege with 500 Men had he not been betrayed by Bessa the Governor of the City who when the whole Gothish Army was put into disorder within his sight refused to sally out though he had 3000 Men in the Garrison Upon this Belizarius moves forward with his whole Army and being much inferior in force he made it up with Art and Stratagem and managed his first On set with that Conduct and Dexterity that he had given an utter Defeat to the Gothish Army notwithstanding that the Governor never sallied out in all the Engagement though he could not compleat his Victory being forced to make a suddain Retreat by the rashness of one of his Commanders who being left behind to secure the Treasure and Ammunition and hearing of the great Victory he resolved to have a share in the honor of it and so leaves his Post falls upon a Party of the Enenemy is routed and not only the whole Baggage is in their power but the security of Belizarius his retreat is cut off And for that reason he was forced to leave his Victory unfinished and the City being very ill defended by the Governor and betrayed by some of the Guards who in the Night set open the Gates to the Besiegers it became an easie Prey to the Enemy And yet Totilas was so shockt with this rough Encounter that he dispatches to the Emperor Letters to request Peace In the mean time Belizarius goes on with success and upon it Totilas in a rage resolves to destroy Rome but desists upon a Letter from Belizarius partly civil and partly threatning and marches away with the Body of his Army towards Ravenna Whereupon Belizarius surprises Rome and makes all possible hast to repair the Fortifications but before he could set up the Gates Totilas returns with all his Forces and in two general Assaults is beat off with prodigious Slaughter and forced to retreat with great fear and consternation in so much that the Goths broke down-all the Bridges over the Tiber lest the Romans should pursue them and so Belizarius went on to repair the Walls and the Gates and when he had finisht sent the Keys of the City for a Present to the Emperor And the Emperor in requital sends him fresh Supplies but Belizarius sailing to Tarentum for their reception is driven by storm into Croto and in his absence his land-Army engage the Enemy at first with good success but at last for want of good Conduct they are utterly routed Upon the news of this irreparable loss he sails for Sicily there receives some Recruits and attempts to raise the Siege of Ruscia but is again defeated by another storm upon which he changes his Councils and new Models his Army and at this very nick of time is he called back by the Emperor to Command in the Persian War that was then very pressing on that side of the Empire This is all the ill conduct that this great General was guilty of in this Expedition it was not indeed so honorable as his other Wars because not so successful but where the Miscarriages lay we have seen in the Premises from whence it appears that Belizarius was so far from committing any Faults that it was his greatest work through the whole War to retrieve other Mens losses And therefore he is received by the Emperor and the Court with all possible expressions of
own Nation by which Artifice the Empire was deliver'd from its greatest Plague to all future Ages Now can any Man be so disingenuous as to cry out here what need of this Expence or can any Man assign me an Instance of Money better laid out for the good of the Common-Wealth than to destroy so great an Enemy for ever without the loss of a Subject And therefore though the People of Constantinople at first murmur'd against it to see the Barbarians depart loaded with so much Wealth yet when they saw the Event they could not enough praise and admire the Emperor's great Conduct and Wisdom § XXXI The next Topick of Calumny is oppression and continual fleecing of the Subject but without any instance to abet the Charge and therefore I need at present only oppose to it the contrary Character that is given of this Prince by his Successor Quem non hominem pietate benignâ Continuit fovit monuit nutrivit amavit Et tamen innocuo plures voluere nocere Non caret invidiâ regni locus But I shall not concern my self to wipe it off till we come to his allegation of Particulars in the 11 th Chapter and there we shall see that all the ground of this pretended Crime was the Emperor's putting the Laws in execution against Jews Heathens Samaritans Sodomites and the whole herd of Hereticks which our ingenuous Author is pleased to surmise was not done out of any regard to Religion but out of pure love to Fines and Confiscations But in the next place he was very like Domitian in the shape and features of his Body who being torn in pieces by the Assassinates the Senate decreed that there should be no Statue or any other Monument erected to his Memory but his Empress being a vertuous Lady and extremely beloved of all Men they gave her leave to ask what she pleased and it should be granted She begs her Lords Body and leave withal to erect only one Statue of Brass to his Memory This is granted and she to leave a Monument of the Assassinates Cruelty to Posterity gathers the fragments of the Body and unites them into one Spectacle of horror from whence was taken his Statue that to this day stands at the descent or foot of the Capitol What pains are here taken to hale in a pitiful piece of Malice For what if Justinian had the ill luck to be like Domitian what follows but that Domitian had the good luck to be like Justinian But not to honor so mean a Calumny with any Answer the story it self is all fable and ignorance for there is no such Report in any of the ancient Greek or Latin Historians Suetonius Dio Cassius Philostratus Sextus Aurelius who are very nice and particular in the Story relate it quite another way in all circumstancâ—s They say nothing of his being cut in pieces but only that he was kill'd with seaven Wounds Nothing of his Bodies being begg'd by the Empress Domitia but that it was buried by Phillis the Chamber-Maid nothing of her erecting a Statue as a Monument of the barbarous Cruelty of the Conspirators but that she her self was the head and Contriver of the whole Conspiracy Where then this barbarous Writer could pick up the Fable I cannot divine unless it be that he lived in an Age when it was the fashion to debauch all the ancient History with Fable and Romance But all this says Alemannus detracts nothing from the truth of the Procopian report because the Ancients do not contradict it But all this say I demonstrates it to be a palpable false-hood because they do nothing but contradict it Yet however he says the thing is evidently proved by the brazen Statue extant in the Authors own time But this pieces exactly with all the rest of the story for there never was any such Statue seen before or since And yet such a remarkable thing could never have escaped the observation of other Writers if it had continued so long a time in so eminent a place So that the Statue is so far from proving the rest that it disproves it self and only proves that the Founder of the Tale lived in a barbarous Age when Men scribled any thing without being accountable for the truth of their Reports But beside all this 't is very likely and becoming Romantick tale that when a Man has been hewed and chopt to bits they should again be so pieced together that from thence any Man should be so subtile-sighted as to discern the exact shape of his Body and Features of his Face And yet that we must suppose in this story of the great resemblance between Domitian and Justinian Though when all is done we are still harping upon the burden of Don John for if we compare their several descriptions as they are drawn by Suetonius and our pretended Procopius Domitian was a very tall and a very fat man but Justinian of a middle stature and a moderate habit of body But however if he resemble him not in shape he did so in Rapine and Cruelty as for example he it was that was the first Prince that punish't Hereticks with temporal Penalties Enacting Dracho's Laws against those innocent Dissenters Montanists Sabbatians Arians Nestorians Manichees Jews Sodomites Pagans and Astrologers only to enrich himself by seizing the forfeitures of their Estates This indeed is a Tragical Story but so like the Author himself that it would have been great pity if it had been omitted And though it is more then enough confuted by the account that I have given above of this Princes Ecclesiastical Laws yet because the passage is of a remarkable strein and so well stuft with lucky mistakes I will be at the pains to transcribe it to satisfie the Reader that it is impossible that it could ever have been written by any man that was not an utter stranger to all the Affairs of that Age. Thus then the black Tragedy begins There are in the Roman Empire divers Sects of Christians commonly call'd Heresies as Montanists Sabatians and several others that poysoned the People All these he commanded to quit their own Sentiments threatning the obstinate among other Penalties with the great punishment of Intestability In the Temples of these Hereticks especially those of the Arian Sect were treasured up incredible heaps of Wealth so that neither the whole Senate it self nor any other eminent Body of the Roman Empire could compare with these Churches for abundance of Wealth and Riches All their Furniture and Ornaments were of Gold Silver and precious Stones of value not to be estimated and number not to be computed beside vast Purchases and Estates in all parts of the World no Prince having ever before this time given them any disturbance so that they were able to relieve and maintain out of their common stock great numbers of the Orthodox Christians The Treasures of these wealthy Churches were seized on and made a Prey to the Emperor to the utter undoing of
which he has no better defence than that Theophanes thought they were too severe so that himself could not but detest them And yet Theophanes says no such thing but only that they were severely punisht without any intimation of dislike much lesss of abhorrence But it was executed upon two Thracian Bishops to the great scandal of the Church whereas Constantine the Great would rather have cover'd them in the Fact with his Imperial Robe That was a great Complement of that great Emperor and 't is likely enough that if the Crime had been known to himself alone such was his generous Nature that he would never have divulged it But that was not Justinian's case for the Crime was become publick before it came to his knowledg and after that it had been a Scandal with a witness to let it pass unpunisht But that after all is the thing that gauls at the Court of Rome that a Secular Prince should challenge any Power to correct Ecclesiastical Persons which though it has long obtain'd as an unquestionable Rule in that Court yet I have proved through the whole series of this History that it was both claim'd by all the Emperors and acknowledg'd by all the Popes and Councils But beside as for this story of Theophanes concerning the two Bishops by my Rules of critick Law I must pass it for meer fable because destitute of timely and sufficient Testimony For so I cannot but esteem the Reports of all Writers that live at too great a distance of time from the matter of Fact And that is the case of this little Story there are no foot-steps of any Record of it either in that or the next Ages whereas Theophanes that was its first Founder reports it not till above 250 years after it was done and then what reason have we to believe him in a matter of Fact that had been so many years beyond the memory of Mankind any more than if he had lived at twice the distance of time For when a thing is once got out of the reach of the memory of Man an hundred and a thousand years are the same thing And then it is never to be admitted to any capacity of belief without some more credible and timely Records And for that reason I have industriously neglected all the latter Greek Historians as to any matter of Fact done at any considerable distance from their own Age. For if they are voucht by any more ancient Authority that is proof enough without them if they are not their own is none at all And the truth is they are so much addicted to the humor of patching Fables to the ancient Records of the Church that whatever we find in them not reported before them we ought for that reason to conclude it meer Fable and Fiction But in the last place which way will he bring off his Author in finding fault with the severity of this Law for reaching such as were Offenders before its publication when the Law declares it self to have been only enacted in pursuance of the known establisht Laws of the Empire especially the famous Law of Constantiâ—s and Constans that was ever after in force What a childish piece of malice then is it in this Author to insinuate as if this Law had taken hold upon Offenders at a time when there was no known Law against them As for the Law against Astrologers our Librarian has so much wit as not to touch it and to leave his Author in the lurch to answer for himself For these Men commonly call'd Astrologers that is such as profess to read all Mens Fates in the Stars were ever lookt upon as the most mischievous and most dangerous Traitors to the Government and any Man that has but cast an eye upon the Imperial Story cannot but know that there never was any one Act of Treason contrived against the Prince's Life or Govâ—rnment without their encouragement or direction as in the present case Joannes Cappadox was put upon his Treason against Justinian by their instigation And for this reason it was ever punisht with the greatest severity by all Princes as well Heathen as Christian. Under the heathen Emperors down from Caesar himself by banishment under the Christian from Constantine by death And yet this wretched Satyrist is so infatuated as to inveigh against it as a new piece of Cruelty in Justinian only for setting them in a disgraceful posture upon Camels and so whipping them through the City when by the Law they ought to have been executed But upon occasion of this fierce censure of the counterfeit Procopius upon the Emperor's prosecuting of Heathens and Hereticks it is become a dispute what Religion the true Procopius adhered to or whether to any at all Alemannus will have him an Atheist Rivius and Eichelius a bigotted Pagan but they are both apparently too severe and equally in the wrong when through all his Writings he expresses so high a sense of honor and kindness for the Christian Religion especially in his last Books de Aedificiis that are for the most part a Panegyrick upon Justinian's great zeal to advance and propagate the Christian Faith And let the Reader only peruse the first Book of that History and he will soon be satisfied of the Author 's own sense of Religion But they say that he was only a counterfeit Christian for Interest and Preferment But this they may say if they please of any Man as well as Procopius But he has dropt some loose and slite Expressions of the Christian Religion and both Parties instance in the passage out of his Books de Bello Gothico wherein he expresses a great dislike of the Controversies on foot at that time that is the violent heats about the tria Capitula Which it is evident from his own description of them that he did not in the least understand but supposed them to have been too curious and philosophical Inquiries into the Secrets of the divine Nature whereas he says it is satisfaction enough to him that God Almighty govern'd the World with a wise and good Providence and as for other more nice Speculations every Man might for him quietly enjoy his own Opinion This though it be very false Politicks as we have seen by the Henoticon and our own late too dear bought Experience yet it is neither Atheism nor Paganism For a good and wise Providence that governs the World is the only Principle opposed to Atheism and though it may thô very hardly be consistent with philosophick Paganism yet it is the fundamental Article of Christianity Now the dispute as he states it was not between the two Religions but about an Argument common to both viz. as he supposed the Nature of God and like a Gentleman he frankly declares his Opinion against all bigottry in these nice and obscure Controversies and thinks that Men ought not to inquire farther into the divine Nature than the Wisdom and Goodness of his Providence This is