AELIUS ANTHONY LEBRIXA or NEBRISSENSIS A Spanish Doctor was born in 1444 Flourish'd from the Year 1470 and died in 1522 the 1â—th of July His Genuine Works c. are The History of King Ferdinand A Work upon the Bible entituled Quinquagesima Notes upon the 〈◊〉 of the Church JOHN FRANCIS PICUS of MIRANDULA Flourish'd at 〈◊〉 end of this Century and the beginning of the next and died in 1533. His Genuine Works c. are See the Catalogue of them P. 97. A Chronological TABLE of the COUNCILS held in the Fifteenth Century and of their Acts Letters Canons and Chapters Councils â—ears Acts Letters Canons and Chapters A Council at London in 1377 Mention'd by the Writers of that time A Council at Lambeth 1377 Mention'd by the Authors of that time A Council at London 1382 Its Acts condemn the Errors of Wicklef A Council at London 1396 Its Acts condemn the Errors of Wicklef A Council at Oxford 1408 Its Preface and 13 Constitutions against the Lollards A Council at Perpignan held by Benedict XIII 1408 and 1409 Fragments of the Acts and Mention made of this Council in the Writers of that time An Assembly at Frankfurt 1409 Mention'd in the Writers of that time A Council held by the Cardinals at Pisa 1409 It s Acts. A Council held by Gregory XII at Udine 1409 It s Acts. A Council at Rome 1412 Its Decree against the Wicklefites and Hussites A Council at London 1413 The History of it in Thomas of Walsingâ—am A Council at Constance 1414 Its Acts and Decrees A Council at Saltzburg in 1419 and 1420 It s 34 Chapters A Council at Collen 1423 It s 11 Regulations A Council at Pavia 1423 A Decree of the Translation of this Council to Siena A Council at Siena 1423 and 1424 Its Acts and a Decree of Translating it to Basil. A Council at Paris 1429 Its Acts divided into 41 Chapters A Council at Tortosa 1429 Its Acts and 20 Constitutions A Council at Basil 1431 Its Acts and Decrees A Council at Ferrara 1438 It s Acts. An Assembly at Frankfurt 1438 Mention'd in the Writers of that time An Assembly at Bourges 1438 The Pragmatick Sanction An Assembly at Nuremberg 1438 Mention'd in the Writers of that time A Council at Florence 1439 Its Acts and Decree of Union An Assembly at Mayence 1439 Mention'd in the Writers of that time An Assembly at Bourges 1440 Its Acts. An Assembly at Mayence 1441 Mention'd in the Writers of that time An Assembly at Frankfurt 1442 Mention'd in the Writers of that time A Council at Rome 1443 Mention'd in the Writers of that time A Council at Lausane 1443 Its Acts. An Assembly at Nuremberg 1443 Mention'd in the Writers of that time A Council at Roan 1445 It s 40 Regulations A Council at Anger 's 1448 It s 17 Regulations A Council at Soissons 1456 Its Decree A Council at Toledo 1473 It s 29 Regulations A Council at Sens 1485 Its Acts containing divers Regulations A Chronological TABLE of the Eccesiastical Writers of the Fifteenth Century Rang'd according to the Order of the Matters handled in them Works about the Truth of Religion against Pagans Mahumetans Magicians Astrologers and Impious Persons A Treatise of the Christian Religion by Marsilius Ficinus Eighteen Books of the Immortality of the Soul by the same Author A Treatise of the Christian and other Religions by Jerom Saâ—onarola The Alcoran sifted by Nicolas of Cusa A Treatise establishing the Faith against the chief Errors of Mahomet by the same The Fortress of Faith by Alphonsus Spina Eight Books of the Faith against Mahomet by Denis Rickel a Carthusian A Treatise against the Magical Art by the â—ame of the Immortality of the Soul by VVilliam of Houpelande of the Soul by Peter of Ailly Questions about the Creation by the same Of the Agreement of Theology and Astrology by the same A Treatise of Astrology by Gerson A Treatise of John and Francis Picus of Mirandula upon the same Subject Pieces of Gerson about Happy or Unhappy Days Against Talismans and the Art of Magick by the same Censures of the Faculty of Paris against Judicial Astrology A Treatise against the Magical Art by James Springer Works against the Jews Treatises of Jerome of St. Faith against the Jews and the Talmud call'd Hebraeo-mastix Treatises of the Greeks against the Latines A Discourse upon the Trinity by Joseph Briennius Treatises of Macarius Macres Demetrius Chrysoloras Macarius of Ancyra and Nicolas Sclengia about the Procession of the Holy Spirit Discourses and Pieces of Mark Eugenius whereof one is about Consecration A Piâ—ce against the Council of Florence by John Eugeniâ—us Treatises of Plethon about the Procession of the Holy Spirit A Treatise of Amiratzes against the Council of Florence of George Scholarius against the Council of Florence of Manuel Apestolius against the Council of Florence Treatises of the Greeks for the Latines Treatises of Bessarion of George Scholarius The Answer of Joseph of Metona to Mark of Ephesus An Apology for the Council of Florence by the same under the Name of Plusiadenus Two Letters of Gregory Mamas A Discourse of Andrew of Rhodes and Isidore of Kiovia to the Council of Florence A Treatise of Hilarion a Greek Monk about Communicating with Unleavened Bread A Letter of George of Trebizonde and two Tracts by the same about the Procession of the Holy Spirit A Treatise of John Argyropulus about the Procession of the Holy Spirit A Treatise of the Light of Thabor by Matthew Camariote Treatises of Theology and Controversie or the Principles and Dogmes of Religion The Natural Theology of God and the Creatures by Raimund of Sabunda A Treatise of the Agreement or Peace of the Faith by Nicolas of Cusa Divers Treatises of Theology by Denis Rickel A Doctrinal of the Antiquity of the Faith of the Catholick Church against the Wickleâ—ites and Hussites by Thomas VValdensis A Theological Summary by St. Antonin A Treatise of Learned Ignorance by Nicolas of Cusa Other Treatises of Theology by the same The Theses of John Picus of Mirandula Other Works by the same A Treatise of Philosophical and Divine Study by Francis Picus of Mirandula Theorems of the Faith by the same Other Treatises upon different Theological Matters by the same Of the Examination of Doctrines and Tryal of Spirits by Gerson A Declaration of the Truths which must be believ'd by the same A Protestation or Confession in Matters of Faith by the same The Characters of Obstinacy in the Case of Heresie by the same A Letter by the same about the Studies of a Divine A Treatise of the Incarnation by the same Of Books which must be read with Precaution by the same A Treatise of the Terms of Theology by the same A Treatise against Curiosity and Novelty in Matters of Doctrine by the same Conclusions about the Power of Bishops in Matters of Faith by the same A Treatise of Theological Studies by the same Of the Signs whereby to discern
of the Cuman Sibyl foreshewing the Birth of a new King that should deâ—oend from Heaven In short it is most certain that the Gentiles acknowledged that the Books of the Sibyls were favourable to the Christians insomuch that the later were prohibited to read them as appears from the Words of Aurelian to the Senate recited by Vopiscus I admire says he Gentlemen that you should spend so much time in consulting the Writings of the Sibyls as if we were debating in an Assembly of Christians and not in the principal place of the Roman Religion These Arguments seem to be very plausible but if we examine them we shall find that they contain nothing that is solid The Pagans never submitted to the Authority of these Books of the Sibyls that were quoted by the Fathers on the cantrary it is manifest that Celsus was perswaded that they were forged by the Christians and St. Augustine plainly declares that this was the general Opinion of all the Gentiles The Sibylâ—â—e Verses mentioned by Tully were Paracrosticks that is to say the first Verse of every Sentence comprehended all the Letters in order that began the following Verses now among all the Verses of the Sibyls only those cited by Constantine are composed in Acrosticks As for the Asseâ—tion that in the time of Pâ—â—pey Julius Caesar and Augustus there was a general report that it was â—oretold in the Sibylline Books that a new King should be born within a little while we may easily reply with Tully that the Verses attributed to the Sibyls by the Heathens were made after such a manner that any sense whatsoever might be put upon them and that perhaps mention might be made therein of a certain future King as it is usual in this kind of Prophecies Therefore when the Grandeur of Pompey began to be formidable to the Roman Empire they thought it fit to make use of this pretence to prevent him from going into Egypt with an Army And Lentulus to whom this Charge was committed being Governor of Syria vainly flattered himself with this Prediction which â—…ight peradventure be further confirmed by the Prophecies of the Jews who expected the Coming of the Messiah believing that he ought to be their King Afterwards when it happened that Julius Caesar and Augustus after him actually made themselves Masters of the Roman Empire the Prophetical Expressions of the Sibyls were interpreted in their favour neither was it necessary on this account that they should clearly point at the Coming of Jesus Christ â—s it is expressed in the Writings of the Sibyls that are alledged by the Fathers but it was sufficient that they mentioned a future King which is the usual practice of all those that undertake to utter Predictions of extraordinary Events This gave occasion to Virgil who intended in his fourth Ecâ—â—gue to compose Verses in Honour of Pollio his Patron as also to Extol Augustus at the same time and to describe the Felicity of his Reign this I say afforded him an opportunity to do it with greater Majesty to make use of the name of the Sibyl and to pronounce these Verses Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis â—t as Magâ—… ab integro 〈◊〉 nâ—scitur or do Jam 〈◊〉 progenes Câ—… alto Jam redit Virgo redeunt Saturnia regna By which nothing else is meant but that at the Nativity of Saloninus the Son of Pollio under the Consulate of his Father and the Reign of the greatest Prince in the World the Golden Age should return as it was foretold by the Sibyl That Plenty and Peace should flourish throughout the whole Universe and that the Virgin Astrâ—â— the Goddess of Justice who had abandoned the Earth at the beginning of the Iron Age should descend again from Heaven What is there in all this that resembles the Prophecies concerning Jesus Christ Or rather what is there that is not altogether prophane and â—â—gned by an Heathen Poet who only makes use of the Sibyls Name to flatter the Ambition of Augustus and to add greater Authority and Lustâ—e to that which he says in his Commendation Lastly the Words of Aurelian do not intimate that the Christians were forbidden by the Pagans to read the Sibylline Books but only that the Christians looked upon them as prophane Writings which in no wise related to their Religion and to which they gave no Credit THE Books that are attributed to Hystaspes and Mercurius Trismegistus and cited likewise by the ancient Fathers are not more Genuine than the Verses of the Sibyls There is nothing now extant of Hystaspes and this Aâ—… was altogether unknown to the ancient Heathens but the same thing connot be said of Merâ—â—riâ—â— Sirnamed Trismegistus n Sirnamed Trismegistus In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Egyptians call him Thaaut some affirm that he was styled Trismegistus by the Grecians because he was a great King a great Priest and a great Philosopher others as Lactantius that this Name was attributed to him by reason of his incomparable Learning who is mentioned by the most ancient Pagan Writers o Mentioned by the most ancient Pagan Writers Plato in Phaedrus declares that he invented the Characters of Letters together with Arts and Sciences Cicero in Lib. 3. de Natura Deâ—rum assures us that he governed the Egyptians and that he gave them Laws and found out the Characters of their Writings It is Recorded by Diodorus Siculus that he taught the Grecians the Art of discovering the Secrets of the Mind And we are informed by Jamblichus who quotes Manetho and Scleucus that he wrote above Thirty five thousand Volumes St. Clemens Alexandrinus in Stromat Lib. 6. makes mention of Forty two Books of this Author and gives an Account of the Subject of some of them The Works of Mercurius Trismegistus are cited as favourable to the Christian Religion by the Author of the Exhortation to the Centiles said to be St. Justin by Lactantius in the Fourth Book of his Institutions by St. Clement in Lib. 1. Stromat by St. Augustine in Tract de 5. Haeres and in Lib. 8. De Civit. Dei Chap. 23. by S. Gyril of Alexandria in Lib. 1. contra Julianum and by many others as an incomparable Person and an Inventer of all the Liberal Arts and Sciences He was an Egyptian and more ancient than all the Authors whose Works are still extant Hystaspes and Mercurius Trismegistus He is believed to be as Old as Moses he either wrote or at least it is said that he wrote Twenty five or Thirty thousand Volumes But we have only two Diologues at present under his Name one whereof is called by the Name of Poemander and the other of Asclepius who are the principal Speakers The first Treatise is concerning the Will of God and the second Treats of the Divine Power these have been cited by the ancienâ— Fathers to prove the Truth of our Religion by the Authority of so famous an Author But it is certain that they cannot be
Woman but his Wife That his Daughters remained Virgins and his Son was very Chaâ—t He says that the Apostles S. Peter and S. Philip were Married and that they had Children That even S. Philip married his Daughters and he adds also that S. Paul had a Wife wherein he is mistaken Tho' it is uncertain whether S. Paul was ever Married yet it is a rash thing to say positively he was not S. Clement alledges a Tradition in this Matter which might easily be conveyed entire down to his time It is plain that the true Yoke-fellow Philip. 4. 3. was a Woman which others of the Antients understood of his Wife besides S. Clement His Expostulating with the Corinthians and asserting that he had a Power to lead about a Sister or a Wife as well as S. Peter or any of the Apostles may as well prove that S. Paul justified his own Practice as that he thought the thing simply lawful especially since he is there making a Defence for himself The Question however is very far from being certain in the Negative and therefore at least ought to be left undetermined In the Fourth Book he treats of Martyrdom and Christian Perfection He shews the Excellency of Martyrdom and exhorts Christians to undergo it confuting the Hereticks who held that Martyrdom was no Vertuous Action He makes the perfection of Christianity to consist in the Love of God and our Neighbour He would have us love Sinners and yet detest their Sin that we should do good out of a principle of Love and not for Fear For that Man says he that abstains from Evil only out of a slavish Fear is not good voluntarily but for Fear-sake and he who would not have abstained but in Consideration of the Recompence cannot be said to be just with a good Heart For in the one 't is Fear and in the other the hope of a Reward which renders them Just or rather which makes them appear so to the Eyes of the World He says that God inflicts Punishments upon Men for Three Reasons First that the Man whom he Chastises may become better Secondly that those who are to be saved may take warning by these Examples Thirdly lest he should be despised by Men if he did not avenge Affronts and Injuries done to himself In the Fifth Book after having shewn that the way of instructing by Allegories and Symbols was very ancient not only among the Jews but also among the Philosophers he proves that the Greeks took the greatest part of the Truths which are in their Books from the Barbarians and principally from the Hebrews This Book is full of Citations from the Poets and the heathen Philosophers In the Sixth Book he speaks again advantageously of Philosophy Afterwards he begins to draw a Character of the True Gnostick that is to say to give the Idea of a Christian that is perfectly Good and Wise. These are the principal strokes of his Picture The True Gnostick has the Command over his Passions He is exactly Temperate and allows his Body no more than what is necessary He loves God above all Things and the Creatures for Gods-sake and the Relation they bear to him and nothing is able to separate him from this Love He bears with Patience all unfortunate Accidents He makes it his Business to know all things which relate to God without neglecting humane Learning His Discourses are regular and to the purpose full of Sweetness and Charity He is never overcome with Anger He prays continually by Charity that unites him to God First begging of him the Remission of his Sins and then the Grace not to sin any more but to do Good Afterwards S. Clement enlarges upon the Source or Spring from whence this Gnostick derives this true Knowledge and compleat Science He says that it is the Holy Scripture the Law and the Prophets and in particular the Decalogue which he briefly explains and Lastly the Doctrine of Jesus Christ foretold by the Prophets preached throughout the World and received notwithstanding all the Contradiction of Kings and the great Men of this World who opposed it with all their Might In the Seventh Book he goes on to describe the Vertues of his Gnostick he says that he employs himself entirely in honouring God in loving him in understanding hearing and imitating his WORD which was made Man for our Salvation that he does it not only upon certain days but during the whole Course of his Life that the Sacrifices by which he Honours him are the Prayers and the Praises which he offers up at all times and in all Places that he is Gentle Courteous Affable Patient Charitable Sincere Faithful and Temperate that he despises the good things of this World and that he is ready to suffer every thing for Jesus Christ that he does nothing either out of Ostentation or Fear or the Desire of being rewarded but out of pure Love to the Goodness and Justice of God Lastly that he is entirely Holy and Divine Afterwards S. Clement Answers several Objections of the Greeks and Jews who affirmed that the multiplicity of Heresies ought to hinder Men from the embracing the Religion of Jesus Christ. To which he Answers that this multitude of Sects is likewise to be found among the Heathens and the Jews that it was foretold by Jesus Christ that such a thing should happen among the Christians That it ought not to make us forsake the Truth but rather on the contrary to seek after it with the greater Care and Diligence That there is an infallible Rule to distinguish Truth from Falshood that this Rule is the Holy Scripture which being an incontestable Principle serves for a Proof of whatever we say That it must be Confessed that the Hereticks make use of it as well as the Catholicks But then first they do not make use of all the Sacred Books Secondly those which they do use are corrupted Thirdly they chiefly urge ambiguous Passages which they explain according to their own Fancy by departing from the true Sense and keeping only to Terms Hence he takes occasion to condemn in general all Hereticks who rejecting the Tradition of Jesus Christ and his Apostles and forsaking the Faith of the Church have made themselves the Authors of particular Sects by inventing new Doctrines and corrupting the Truth He says that there is but only One Catholick Church which is more ancient than all the Assemblies of the Hereticks that it was founded by Jesus Christ who dyed under Tiberius and established it in the World by the Apostles before the end of Nero's Region Whereas there was hardly so much as one Heresie older than Adrian's Time and that they all bore the Name of their Author or that of the Places and Countries where they first appeared or from the Doctrine they taught or the things which they honoured which sufficiently discovers their Falshood and Novelty He concludes by making the Description of these Books of the Stromata and by promising to begin
very different because the Good after their Death are sent into a place of Refreshment whereas the Wicked are thrown headlong into a place where they are Tormented for ever that the first dye to be put into a better state of security and the last to be more severely punished That Sicknesses prepare us for Martyrdom and make us Martyrs of Jesus Christ that for this reason we ought not to be afflicted because they deprive us of the glory of Confession since not to mention that it does not depend upon our selves to be Martyrs and that it is the Grace of God to let us dye with a Will of suffering Martyrdom God will crown us as if we had really suffered it That it would be to no purpose to beg of God that his Kingdom may come if the Captivity wherein we are does still please us That we ought not to bewail those of our Brethren whom God has taken to himself since we have not lost them and they have only gone a Journey before us which we are all to make one time or another That we do in some sort distrust the promises of Jesus Christ if we concern and afflict our selves at the Death of our Neighbours and Friends as if they were no more and that we ought rather to rejoyce that they are passed into a better Life and enjoy a state of repose and tranquillity that will never end At last he exhorts all Christians heartily to wish for the happy day of their Death which will free them from the exile of this Life and give them admission into the Kingdom of Heaven which is their Country where they will be everlastingly in the Company of the Saints and with Jesus Christ. His Treatise to Demetrianus hh After the Death of Gallus and Volusian This Treatise was written during the Plague to shew that the Christians were not the cause of it He there speaks of the late Fall of Kings which is to be understood of the Death of Gallus and Volusian who were killed by their Soldiers a Judge in Africa was likewise composed during the rage of this Pestilence immediately after ii Judge It has been commonly believed that he was Proconsul But the Author of the English Edition has very well observed that St. Cyprian does not speak to him as to a Proconsul and that what he says of him viz. that he often came to him to dispute with him and that he drew several Persons over to his Party is by no means suitable to the Character of a Sovereign Magistrate of Africk the Death of Gallus and Volusian He there refutes a Calumny which the Pagans frequently formed against the Christians for being the cause of those Wars Famines Plagues and other Calamities that wasted the Roman Empire He shews that those misfortunes that daily happen in the World which grows old every day ought to be rather attributed to the Crimes and Impiety of Men and that the Christians were so far from being the occasion of them because they did not adore false Gods that the Pagans rather drew down all these heavy Visitations upon Mankind because they did not Worship the true God and Persecuted those that Worship'd him That all this was the immediate hand of God who to revenge himself for the contempt they shew'd of him and of those that served him punished Men after this rigorous manner and made them feel the weight of his displeasure That the Gods of the Pagans were so far from being able to exercise this Revenge that they were fettered and ill used as I may say by the Christians who ejected them by force out of the Bodies of those Persons whom they had possest That the Christians suffered patiently as being assured that their Cause would be soon revenged that they endured the same Evils which the Pagans did in this World but that they comforted themselves because after their Death they should possess everlasting Joy whereas the Pagans at the day of Judgment would be condemned to everlasting Torments He exhorts them at last with great zeal and ardour to quit their Errors and to repent of them while they are in a condition to do it because after this Life is once over there is no room for Repentance and afterwards the Satisfaction is useless since it is here upon Earth that every Man renders himself worthy or unworthy of everlasting Salvation That neither Age nor Sins ought to hinder any one from suffering himself to be Converted since as long as we are in this World there is still time for us to Repent the Gate of the Divine Mercy being never shut to those that diligently search the Truth Though you were says he at the point of Death if you pray'd to have your Sins forgiven and implored the goodness of God you would obtain remission of your Crimes and pass from Death to Immortality Jesus Christ has procured this favour for us by conquering and triumphing over Death on the Cross by redeeming those that Believe with the price of his Blood by reconciling Man to God and communicating a new Life to him by a celestial Birth Let us follow them all if it is possible and receive this Sacrament and his Sign c. It is probable that the kk The Treatise of the Works of Merey and Alms-giving This Treatise is cited by Pontius by St. Jerome Ep. ad Pamm by St. Austin contr Jul. contr Pelagianos alibi Treatise of Mercy and Alms-giving was writ when St. Cyprian gathered considerable Alms to redeem the Christians who had been taken Prisoners by the Barbarians towards the Year 253. He demonstrates in this Book by several Authorities of Scripture and many Convincing Reasons the necessity of giving Alms he refutes the frivolous excuses and vain pretences used by Rich Men to avoid the doing such acts of Charity and observes that in his time every one brought a Loaf at the Celebration of the Eucharist which was always once a day in the Morning before it was Light and often at Night after Supper St. Cyprian tells us himself in his Letter to Jubaianus that he composed his Book of Patience upon the occasion of a Question concerning the reiteration of the Baptism of Hereticks to shew that we ought to preserve Charity and Patience in all Disputes with our Brethren So this Treatise was composed at the beginning of the Year 256 and St. Cyprian ll He sent to Jubaianus a Bishop Ep. and Jub Teneatur à nobis patienter firmiter Charitas animi Collegii honor vinculum fidei concordia sacerdotii propter hoc etiam libellum de bono patientiae quantum valuit nostra mediocritas permittente Domino inspirante conscripsimus quem ad te pro multâ dilectione transmisimus Pontius mentions it St. Jerome cites it advers Lucif and St. Austin in several places sent it as soon as it was finished to one Jubaianus a Bishop together with the Letter which he writ to him
after his return into Africa about the Year 389. In the First Book he speaks of Musick in general In the Second of Syllables and Feet In the Three following he discourses of Measure Harmony and Verses In the Last he shows That Musick ought to raise up the Mind and Heart to a Divine and Heavenly Harmony St. Augustin's Discourse of a Master was written about the Year 395. It is a Dialogue betwixt himself and his Son Adeodatus wherein he shews That it is not by Men's Words that we receive Instruction but from the eternal Truth viz. Jesus Christ the Word of God who informeth us inwardly of all Truth The First of the Three Books of Free-Will was composed at Rome in 387. and the Two others in Africa in 395. In the First St. Augustin resolves that hard Question touching the original of Evil And having explained what it is to do Evil he shews That all manner of Evil comes from the Free-Will which readily followeth the Suggestions of Lust adding That our Will makes us either happy or unhappy That if we are not happy though we desire to be so it is because we will not live conformably to the Law of God without which it is impossible to be Happy In the Second Book the Difficulty alledged by Evodius VVhy God hath left in Man a Liberty of Sinning which is so prejudicial to him hath started these Three other Questions How we are sure that there is a God Doth all Good come from him Is the VVill free to do Good as well as Evil St. Augustin clears all these Difficulties proving That Free-VVill was given for a good End and that we received it of God that there is a Being more perfect than our Soul that this Being is Truth it self Goodness VVisdom it self that every good and perfect Thing cometh from it and that Free-VVill is to be reckoned among the good Things That there are Three sorts of Goods The greatest are the Vertues that make us live VVell the Idea's of Corporeal Objects without which we cannot live VVell are the least and the Power of the Soul are the middle Ones That the First cannot be abused but both the Second and the Last may be put to ill Uses That Free-VVill is of the Number of these middle Goods When the VVill adheres to the sovereign Good it renders Man Happy but when it departeth from that to cleave to other Objects then Man becometh Criminal and so Unhappy VVherefore neither the VVill nor the Objects it embraceth are Evil but it is a Separation from God that makes all Evil and Sin but God is not the Author of this Separation From whence then is this Principle of Aversion This St. Augustin clears in the Third Book It is not Natural since it is Guilty It is Free and Voluntary and it is enough to say That we may chuse whether we will follow it or no to justifie God's Justice But how can this Liberty agree with the fore-knowledge of God Nothing is more easie according to St. Augustin in this Place VVe are Free when we do what we please But Prescience doth not take away our Will on the contrary it supposes it since it is a Knowledge of our Will But are not the Creature 's Faults to be imputed to the Creator Why did he not make it impeccable Had not Men been more perfect if they had been created at first in the same condition with the Angels and the glorified Saints that cannot be separated from the love of God But St. Augustin replies Doth it therefore follow That because we may conceive a more Perfect State therefore God was obliged to create us in that State Should we not rather believe that he had his Reasons why he did not create us more Perfect There are several sorts of Perfections If the State of a Creature that enjoyeth God makes Soveraign Felicity then the State of a Creature that is subject to Sin which liveth in hope of recovering the Happiness which it lost is also in God's Order and exceedingly above that of a Creature that lies under the necessity of sinning eternally The Condition of these last is the worst of all and yet God cannot be accused of Injustice for giving a Being to Creatures which he knew would be eternally miserable He is not the Cause of their Sin That Being which he gave them is still a Perfection their Sins and their Misery contribute to the Perfection of the Universe and to exalt the Justice of God by the Punishment of their Sins What then is the Cause of Sins There is none but the Will it self which freely and knowingly inclineth to do Evil. For if Sin could not be resisted it were impossible to know or to avoid it and then there would be no Sin Wherefore then doth God punish Sins of Ignorance How cometh it to pass that he blameth those Actions that are done out of Necessity What mean those words of the Apostle I do not the Good that I would but the evil that I would not All that saith St. Augustin is spoken of Men born since Mankind was condemned to Death because of the First Man's Sin For were this Natural to Man and not a Punishment for his Sin it is certain there would be no Sin of Ignorance nor Necessity But when we speak here of Liberty we speak of that which Man had when God created him Here St. Augustin answers the greatest Objection that can be urged against Original Sin Though say they both Adam and Eve have sinned yet what had we done wretched Persons that we are to be thus abandoned to Ignorance and to Lust Must we therefore be deprived of the knowledge of the Precepts of Righteousness and when we begin to know them Must we see our selves under a kind of Necessity not to keep them by reason of the resistance of Lust St. Augustin confesseth That this Complaint were just if Men were under an impossibility of overcoming their Ignorance and Lust. But God being present every where to call his Creature to his Service to teach him what he ought to believe to Comfort him in his hopes to confirm him in his Love to help his Endeavours and to hear his Prayers man cannot complain That that is imputed to him which he is unavoidably ignorant of but then that he must blame himself if he neglects to seek after that which he knows not It is none of his fault that he cannot use his broken Members but he is guilty if he despiseth the Physician that proffers to cure him for none can be ignorant that Man may profitably seek for the Knowledge of what he knows not and which he thinks to be necessary And it is well enough known that Men ought humbly to acknowledge their Weakness to obtain Help In a word If Men do that which is Evil out of Ignorance or if it so happens that they cannot do the Good which they would there is Sin in that because it is in consequence
not willing to forsake their Errors to make those Charitable Severities which are made use of to recover them to pass for insupportable Violences and unheard of Cruelties by aggravating them and representing them in such an odious manner as is proper to stir up Indignation The Principles which he lays down in the following Part are very agreeable with those of the Protestants In the First Article he opposes those who will have it determined where the Truth is by the Judgment of the greater Number Jesus Christ saith he is the Truth as Tertullian hath a long Time since affirmed and 't is he that we ought to consult This being so are they not to be pitied who judge of the Force and Authority of a Doctrine only by the Number of those who approve it without considering that our Lord Jesus Christ chose ignorant and poor Men whom he made use of to convert all the World He required that Millions of Men should yield themselves up to the Doctrines of these Twelve Thus hath the Truth always triumphed although it were among the smallest Number and whosoever he be that despairing to prove what he affirms to be true flies to the Authority of the Multitude he confesses himself vanquished The great Number may affright but cannot perswade There are but few that shall be saved S. Stephen Phineas Lot and Noah had the Multitude against them yet who had not rather be on their Side than on that which did oppose them 'T is not saith the same Author that I bear not a due respect to the Multitude but it is to that which proves what it teacheth and not to that which will not suffer us to examine and search out the Truth 'T is to that which doth not condemn with Severity but correct with Gentleness not to that which loves Novelties but to that which preserves the Truth which they have received from their Ancestors But what is this Multitude which you object against me It is the Throng of Men corrupted by Flatteries and Prisons 'T is the Number of ignorant Men who have no Understanding to guide them It is a crowd of weak and fearful Men who suffer themselves to be conquered They are the Souls which preferr the Pleasures that Sin affords us in this Life which are momentary before Eternal Life and Glory So that when you object to me this Multitude to gain Credit to a Lye you do but discover the extent of Wickedness and the great Number of the Miserable The Second Chapter is of like Nature with this First In it he opposes those who maintain That it is needless to search the Holy Scripture that we may know what we ought to believe either because it is sufficient for every one to believe what his own Reason teacheth him or because in searching for the Truth in Scripture we meet with more Obscurity and Uncertainty Our Author cannot approve of this Advice He saith That being perswaded of the Truth of the Mysteries and trusting in the Help of Jesus Christ who hath promised to those who seek after the Truth that they shall certainly find it he seeks after the Truth in the manner that he ought he shall find it without mistaking that he puts himself into a Condition of proving what he teacheth of instructing the Faithful confuting Hereticks and convincing himself of the Truth and confirming the Doctrines so as none can doubt of them Would you have me saith he neglect the Study of Holy Scripture whence then will you have Knowledge necessary to support your Faith It is dangerous for this Life to be ignorant of the Roman Laws and 't is no less dangerous for another Life to be ignorant of the Oracles of our Heavenly King The Scripture is the Nourishment of the Soul Suffer not then the inward Man to die with Hunger by depriving him of the Word of God There are too too many who inflict mortal Wounds upon the Soul suffer them to seek Medicines for their Maladies and Griefs But there are say you things which pass our Understand I own it but the Scripture teaches us That we must search and that there are things that we cannot comprehend And as it would be a kind of Impiety to desire to throughly comprehend it so it is to have a kind of Contempt for the Divine Truths to lay aside wholly the search into them Every one ought to know what it is he adores as it is written We know what we worship But it is a Madness to enquire how much After what manner By what Means and where we must adore him In sum they who discourage others from reading and studying the Holy Scripture under a Pretence That they ought not to dive into Things too profound do it because they are afraid that they should be convinced of their Errors by it So when they find themselves pressed by convincing Testimonies of Holy Scripture they give a Sence clear contrary to the Words and if they find but one Word which can be brought to their Opinion although it be nothing to the Sence of the Place they must use it as an invincible Demonstration We must own that these Principles are not ill although Men may offend in the Application they make of them In the other Chapters he answers the Objections which the Aegyptians made against the Eastern Bishops and opposes some of their Expressions such as these The Word hath suffered in an impassible manner The Word hath suffered in the Flesh. He hath delivered several Expressions agreeable to those of Nestorius In sum He hath written with much Elegancy and Reason This Work is a Doctrinal Treatise and not a Collection of Sermons It is in Tom. 2. of Athanasius's Works under the Name of that Father and since it hath been printed at the end of Tom. 5. of Theodoret's Works put out by F. Garner at Paris in 1684. There are also some of this Bishop's Letters in F. Lupus's Collection THEODOTUS Bishop of Ancyra THEODOTUS Bishop of Ancyra a City of Galatia whom Gennadius calleth Theodorus was one of the greatest Adversaries of Nestorius He was present at the Council of Ephesus Theodotus of Ancyra where he courageously delivered his Opinion against him Gennadius says That he made a Treatise on purpose to confute him and that that Work was very Logical but that it was not sufficiently grounded upon the Authority of Holy Scriptures but lays down several Arguments before he comes to Scripture-proofs This description agrees well to the two Sermons of Theodotus upon the Feast of the Nativity preached in the Council of Ephesus and which are recited in the Acts of that Council where he proves by several Arguments That Jesus Christ is God and Man and that it is truly said That God is born of a Virgin There is also a 3d. Sermon preached at Ephesus upon S. John's day where he likewise speaks against the Errour of Nestorius The beginning of it is remarkable wherein he compares a Bishop to
of the Council of Nice This Letter bears Date March the 21st 453. S. Leo was obliged to write it for the satisfaction of the Emperor who had required him to give his approbation plainly to that which had been defined in the Council of Chalcedon for fear least he should take an occasion to oppose the Council because the Pope would not acknowledge the Rights which he had granted to Anatolius This S. Leo himself Testifies in the following Letter to Julian of Coos wherein he praises the Zeal of the Emperor and Empress who had restrain'd the Insolence of some Monks He also tells him That the Emperor haing privately bid him to Admonish the Empress he wrote presently to her and he desires him to let him know what was the effect of his Letter and if in short she hath approved of his Doctrine or rather S. Athanasius Theophilus and S. Cyril's As to the business of Aetius he says That he much Commiserated his Affliction but he thought he must bear it patiently for fear he seem to carry things too high In fine he tells him That Anatolius persisted in his Claim and that he understood by the Messenger that brought him the News of the Ordination of the Bishop of Thessalonica that he would make the Bishops of Illyria to subscribe it For this reason it was that he did not write to them altho ' Julian had desired him to do it because he knew by that that he would not be amended by it He sends him Two Copies of the precedent Letter the one by it self the other at the end of the Letter which was written to Anatolius that he might give that to the Emperor which he thought most convenient In the Eighty Ninth he writes to the Emperor about that which he required of him to give his Approbation of what the Council of Chalcedon had defined concerning the Faith He assures him That he had approved it already when he wrote to Anatolius but that that Bishop would not Publish his Letter because he therein reproves his Ambition He thanks God that he had given them an Emperor who knew how to join the Priestly Vigor and Royal Power together Perhaps you will wonder at this Expression but as F. Quesnel has already observed there are many such in S. Leo's Letters Constantine assumes to himself the Title of an Outward Bishop of the Church The Fathers of the Councils of Chalcedon and of Constantinople under Flavian have not scrupled in their Acclamations of Praise to the Emperors to give them the Title of Bishop S. Leo also commends Marcian because he took upon him to maintain the Decrees of the Council of Nice and that he had suppressed the Commotions of the Monks Lastly He assures him That he had declared his Judgment of the Council of Chalcedon in obedience to his Command He says a little after the same things to Pulcheria in the Ninetieth Letter Dated March the 21st 453. In the Ninety First written to Julian Bishop of Coos he tells him That he had omitted nothing that he was able to do for the defence of the Church's Cause That it belongs to the Emperor to suppress the Disturbers of Church and State He adds That the Bishops ought not to allow the Monks to Preach and therefore he wondred that Thalassius who was Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia had given that Liberty to one George who was fallen from the Monastick State by his Irregularities He says That he will write to him according to his Duty if Julian judges it convenient Lastly He exhorts him to do his utmost endeavour that the Emperor do hinder the Hereticks from troubling the Peace of the Church This Letter is Dated April the 9th in the same Year The Ninety Second Letter to Maximus Bishop of Antioch treats of several things He observes in the first place That the Catholick Faith keeps the Mean between the Two Extreams of Nestorius and Eutyches He Admonishes Maximus to be vigilant over the Churches of the East but more especially over those which the Council of Nice had entrusted him withal to prevent that Heresie be not established in them And that he might be able to do this with the greater Authority he advises him to maintain the Rights which the Council of Nice had allowed his Church and preserve to himself the third place That he will easily gain his ends by doing so because it is impossible that the Order established by the Inviolable Canons of the Council of Nice should be overthrown That Ambition might prompt to make a Change as it already hath happened in the Council where Juvenal endeavoured to usurp the Primary of Palaestine and attempted to ground his Pretensions upon some supposititious Writings and that S. Cyril being afraid of that Enterprise had written to him but that whatsoever Constitutions were made thereupon against those of the Council of Nice whensoever a more numerous Council should meet it would not nor ought to be valid That if his Legates had consented to any Decree of the Council of Chalcedon which did not concern Doctrine he declared it null because he had sent them for no other end but to defend the Faith of the Church against Heresies That all that had been handled in the Synods of Bishops except what concerned the Faith may not be received if it do not agree with the Decrees of the Council of Nice That he will see by the Copy of the Letter written to Anatolius how vigorously he defends the Council of Nice Lastly he advertiseth Maximus to prohibit the Monks and Lay-Men from Preaching and so much the more because it belongs to the Bishops only to do it This Letter is of the 10th of June In the Ninety Third Letter to Theodoret he in the first place testifies the Joy which he had when he understood by the Legates which he had sent to the Council of Chalcedon That the Catholick Faith had triumphed over the Errors of the Nestorians and Eutychians and that the Council had confirmed by its Judgment which was not subject to amendment the Doctrines which he had asserted These words are very remarkable because they evidently prove to us That there is no Judgment but that of an Universal Council which may not be re-examined and that the Judgment of the Pope himself is subject to amendment This was it that made him add That he was not troubled that some People would not accept the Judgment which he had given to evidence that the acknowledgment which the other Sees had made of his Supremacy as given to him by God was not meer Flattery That the Opposition which the Truth had met withal upon that occasion was the cause of some good because the Divine Favours are more thankfully acknowledged when they are obtained with difficulty and God's Providence brings us to the fruition of Good by a kind of Evil. That the Truth is made clearer and upholds it self with the greater strength when the examination confirms that
most powerful at the Court of the Kings Theodoricus Atharicus and Vitiges Altho he was in the Court of those Arian Princes yet he never departed from the Catholick Faith but united the Title of a Good Christian with that of an Honourable Person and a Great Magistrate At the Age of 69 or 70 desiring to think more seriously of his Salvation he retir'd from Court and founded the Monastery of Vivarium in his own Country Father Garretus who publish'd his Works hâ—s taken great pains and made a formal Dissertation on purpose to prove that he follow'd the Rule of St. Benedict but it is a question about which few People will trouble themselves However this be Cassiodorus govern'd this Monastery for the space of 20 years and there he died in peace being aged 90 years The Works of this Author are considerable but there are many of them which are not about Ecclesiastical Matters They are all collected together in the last Edition made at Roan in 1679. The first Tome contains all the Letters and Publick Acts which he dedicated when he was in Offices This Work is entitled Divers Letters collected together by Cassiodorus himself and divided into twelve Books The five first contain the Letters which he wrote in the name of King Theodoric and under his Reign the sixth and seventh contain divers Forms the eighth ninth and tenth contain the Letters written in the Names of the Kings Athalaricus Theodatus and Vitiges the two last contain the Letters which he wrote when he was Prefect Praetorio There are some of them written to all sorts of Persons and about all kind of Affairs so that they contain a wonderful variety of rare and curious things They are all well written full of good Sense and very good Morality The Tripartite History is not properly the Work of Cassiodorus Epiphanius Scholasticus translated into Latin the three Greek Historians Socrates Sozomon and Theodoret but as these Authors wrote the History of the same Time so in reading them there is often found a Repetition of the same things And Cassiodorus made out of these three one Body of History by extracting out of every one what he says in particular and avoiding the Repetition of what is said by more then one The Chronicon of Cassiodorus is very fuccinct and contains only the Names of Consuls and the principal Transactions It is not very exact for Chronology He wrote the History of the Goths but there remains nothing now but a little Abridgment of this Work made by Jornandes These are the Works contain'd in the first Tome of Cassiodorus The first Work of the second is his Commentary upon the Psalms which he wrote in his Monastery He says himself in the Presace That having renounc'd Secular Business and the Cares of the World and begun to taste the sweetness of the Psalms he was wholly addicted to the reading of this Book and finding in them some dark places he had recourse to the Commentary of St. Austin wherein he found an infinite abundance of matter and that he himself had added some later Discoveries After this Commendation of the Psalms and observing that they are sung to the Office of the Night and the Morning at the first third sixth ninth hour and at Vespers he proposes some general Remarks upon the Psalms 1. He enquires what is Prophecy and defines it A way of speaking of Divine Things with Majesty and Truth by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit 2. He says That the Names of Persons that are at the beginning of the Psalms are not the Names of the Authors but of those who were to sing them and to play upon Instruments 3. That the Title in finem To the End signifies that the Psalm has relation to Jesus Christ. 4. That the Psalter is properly an Instrument of Musick in the form of a D. That it may be applied to all Songs that are play'd upon this Instrument and that it agrees in a particular manner to David's Work 5. That a sweet and harmonious sound is properly call'd a Psalm but a Song is a singing with the Voice and when the Voice accompanies the â—â—strument then it is call'd a Psalm Song 6. That a Pause is rather a mark of distâ—â—ction and change of the Person according to the Opinion of St. Austin S. Benedict then a Continuation according to that of St. Jerom. 7. That the Psalms are but one Book divided into five parts 8. That Jesus Christ is there represented both as God and as Man and as God-man 9. That in his Commentary he will first explain the Title of the Psalm and then divide it into parts and after that discover the literal and spiritual sense of it and then he will declare the design of it and lastly give the Sum of the whole Psalm or dispute against some Error 10. He speaks of the Eloquence and Usefulness of the Psalms 11. He praises the Church In fine he divides the Psalter into twelve parts which he applies to the twelve states of Jesus Christ. These are the Prolegomena of Cassiodorus to his Commentary upon the Psalms His Commentary is very large he has taken many things not only out of St. Austin but also out of the other Fathers It contains much Morality The Commentary upon the Canticles is none of Cassiodorus's altho it goes under his Name in some Manuscripts since the Author of this Commentary quotes the words of St. Gregory the Great besides that this Commentary has not the style of Cassiodorus He wrote Commentaries upon the Epittles of St. Paul the Acts of the Apostles and the Revelation but they are now lost It cannot be express'd how many useful things are contain'd in his Treatise of the Institution to Divine Learning or an Instruction for Learning Theology He observes in the Preface that being troubled that there should be Masters for Human Learning and Schools founded for teaching it but none for Divine Learning he had endeavour'd with the help of Agapetus to found Schools of Theology at Rome as there had been formerly at Alexandria and in his time at Nisibis But the War hindring him of Success in his Design he thought it his duty to write these Books as an Introduction to the Study of Theology He would have the Holy Scripture studied in the first place beginning at the Psalms and then the Reading of the Fathers to follow After he has spoken of the Commentaries of the Fathers upon the Books of the Bible and of their Writings he mentions the four General Councils Afterwards he gives an account of the different divisions of the Books of Scripture he speaks of the Hebrew Text and the Versions from thence he passes to the Ecclesiastical Historians and Latin Fathers He adds Remarks about the Order wherein the Holy Scripture is to be read about the Observations which may be made use of about the necessity of understanding Cosmography about the study of Human Learning about Orthography and the Sciences The
Authority and others of a less perfects and others lastly which are of none at all The Authors of these Books are known either by their Titles or by the beginning of their Works Moses is the Author of the Pentateuque Joshua of the Book which goes under his Name Samuel of the first Book of the Kings There are Books in it whose Authors are altogether unknown as the Book of Judges of Ruth and the last Book of Kings Among these Books there are some written in Verse as the Psalms the Book of Job and some places of the Prophets and others in Prose The Order of the Books of Scripture is not different from ours This is what concerns the External Surface of the Scripture As to the Substance of the things which it teaches the Author observes that there are in it some Names that agree to the Essence and others to the Persons of the Trinity and among these there are some which precisely denote them and others only consequentially because they signifie the Operations which are attributed to them He gives Examples of them and shows what is common to the three Persons and what is particular to each Lastly he speaks of the Attributes which agree to God In the second Book he makes a particular Ennumeration of what the Scripture teaches concerning the Creatures and explains after what manner God governs them From thence he passes to what concerns the World to come He treats of the Figures of the Law and the fulfilling of Prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. Lastly he enquires How it may be prov'd that the Books of our Religion are Divinely inspir'd And he answers That it may be known by the Truth of them it self by the Order of Things by the admirable Agreement of Precepts by the Simplicity and Purity wherewith they are written That to these Characters we must add the Qualities of those that wrote them and who preach'd the Doctrine which they contain because it was not possible without the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Men should write of Divine things that simple Men should write of things so Sublime that Men so ignorant and plain should discover Truths so great and Subtil That the success of their Preaching was also a proof of the Truth of their Doctrine For how was it possible that Persons so despicable should Convert the whole World Reform the Doctrines of the Philosophers and Confound their Adversaries without the Assistance of a visible Protection from God Lastly That the Accomplishment of Prophecies and the Miracles which produc'd a Belief of our Religion were convincing Proofs of its Truth and that if at present no Miracles are wrought it is because there is no need of them because the Establishment of this Religion is a Miracle more then sufficient to prove it This is what is most useful in this Treatise which is to be found in the Bibliotheques of the Fathers LIBERATUS Liberatus LIberatus a Deacon of the Church of Carthage and a Defender of the three Chapters is the Author of an Historical Memorial of the Contests that arose about the Heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches He begins with the Ordination of Nestorius and ends at the fifth Council i. e. in 553. This Memorial therefore was not written by Liberatus till after the Year 560. It contains some very useful particulars of this History which are no where else to be found and Extracts of the Authentick Acts to justifie what he affirms This Work was publish'd by F. Garner in 1675. It is also in the fifth Tome of the last Collection of the Councils VICTOR of Tunona VIctor Bishop of Tunona in Afric was also one of the zealous Defenders of the three Chapters for which reason he was banish'd into Egypt and afterwards shut up in a Monastery at Constantinople Victor of Tunona Isidore of Sevil informs us That he made a Chronicon from the beginning of the World to the first Year of the Empire of Justin the younger wherein he plac'd in Order the Consuls the most memorable Events of War and the Holy Fathers of the Church We have nothing now remaining but one part of this Chronicon which begins where that of St. Prosper ends i. e. in the Year 444 and ends at the Year 565. In it he particularly describes what concerns the History of Eutyches and the Affair of the three Chapters Canisius was the first that caus'd it to be printed at Ingolstadt in the Year 1600 and since that Scaliger has inserted it into his Treasure of Time PAULUS SILENTIARIUS PAulus Cyrus Florus Chief of the Silentiarii of the Palace flourish'd towards the middle of the sixth Age. He made a long Poem containing a Description of the Temple of Sancta Sophia Pauluus Silentiarius which is printed at the end of the History of Cinnamus He wrote also many other excellent Poems says Dr. Cave out of Agathias De Rebus Justiniani Hist. Lit. p. 416. PELAGIUS the First PElagius after he had been a long time at Constantinople return'd into Italy with Pope Vigilius and was Ordain'd after the death of this Pope by two Bishops in the presence of a Priest of Pelagius I. the Church of Ostia This extraordinary Ordination and the suspicion that went about of him that he had been the cause of the death of his Predecessor induc'd many to separate from his Communion and brought upon him the hatred of the People To purge himself he mounted into a Chair after a solemn Procession from the Church of St. Pancratius to that of St. Peter and swore upon the Holy Evangelists and the Cross That he was no wise guilty of that whereof he was accus'd the People were satisfy'd with this Oath and with the Prohibition he made against giving Money for Ordinations Altho there was nothing remarkable that happen'd in the Church during the Pontificat of this Pope which lasted almost five years yet he has written many Letters The first address'd to Vigilius is a supposititious Piece made up of Passages patched together which are taken out of St. Leo Itachius the date whereof is false The second is address'd to Count Narses He prays him to assist Peter the Priest and the Deacon Projectus whom he had sent to Prosecute two Bishops of Italy who disturb'd the Order of the Churches and would appropriate to themselves all the Ecclesiastical Revenues In the third he exhorts the same Count to employ the Authority which his Office gave him for correcting and punishing the Bishops of Istria Liguria and the Country of Venice who had separated Agnellus from the other Churches for the Affair of the three Chapters He remarks That if they had any Complaints to make against the Decision of the Council of Constantinople they should send Deputies to the Holy See and not rend in pieces the Body of Christ by their Separation In the fourth Letter he inveighs vehemently against the same Bishops for their boldness in excommunicating Narses He exhorts him to
's Image which is really a Doctrine of Devils yet the Artifice of Satan in this Temptation could be no other than this To Establish that Doctrine as Divine which he had secretly first brought into practice by endeavouring openly to extort it from the more Zealous Practicers of it And so make his Diabolical Delusions pass for Sacred and Divine Truths Adore the Virgin 's Image no more to be delivered from his Temptation and that he was reproved by his Elder for doing so In the 47th he relates That the Virgin having appeared Twice to a Jester uttering Impious Speeches against her and having warned him to do so no more but to no purpose she appeared to him the Third time and that having Signed his Hands and Feet with the Sign of the Cross he found himself when he awoke without Hands and Feet In the 79th he observeth It was the Custom in Constantinople to keep the Eucharist they received on Holy Thursday to the Holy Thursday of the next Year and that a Catholick being Servant to a Severian having left with his Master the Key of his Chest where he had laid up the Eucharist in a Linen-Cloth the Master having designed to burn it because his Servant did not come back found that the particles of the Eucharist had brought forth Ears of Corn. He relates in the 176th Chapter That a young Jew finding himself in great extremity in a Desart without Water and having called for Baptism on those that accompanied him one of them Baptized him by throwing Sand on his Head Three times and saying the usual Words Such an one is Baptized in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that presently after that Jew found himself better that afterwards it was debated whether that Baptism was good and valid and that at last he was sent to Jordan to be Baptized there and he that Baptized him was ordained Deacon In the 196th he relates That some Children of the Province of Apamea would needs represent the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries and that having chosen one of themselves to perform the Office of a Priest and two others of Deacons they set some Bread upon a Stone and that he that acted the Priest did pronounce the Words of Oblation which he had gotten by Heart because it was the Custom of his Church that Children should receive the Communion next after the Clerks and being for that pretry near the Altar they over-heard the Words of the Holy Sacrifice which the Priests in some places used to utter aloud that having thus performed all the Ceremonies before they brake the Bread to give the Communion Fire came down from Heaven which consumed the Oblation and the whole Stone whereon it was laid That the Bishop of the place hearing of it built a Monastery in that place and made all those Children Monks To this Example he adds that reported by Ruffinus of the Baptism administred by S. Athanasius who was then but a Child to some other Childeen and says That S. Athanasius believed those that receive Baptism out of fear and without Faith are nevertheless Baptized tho' Baptism does them no good In the 207th There is mention made of Two Angels who stood Sureties for a Girl which had a mind to be Baptized In the 214th It is observed They Baptized in the East on the Day of Epiphany as well as on Easter-Day and Whitsunday Such things as these are in that Book which may be of some use for the Church Discipline It is moreover full of an infinite Number of Relations and Miraculous strange Stories of Apparitions Revelations Visions and Miracles wrought by those Hermits whether by foretelling things to come by discovering Men's Thoughts healing the Sick commanding Lions and Wild Beasts or working extraordinary Feats Death it self did not hinder them from working Miracles from the Grave they did speak to the Living and wrought Miracles in their behalf Among those wonderful Stories of little Credit for the most part there be found inimitable Examples of Vertue extraordinary Austerities excessive Fasts wonderful Poverty and such a Simplicity and Humility as would sometimes pass for Sottishness an immoderate Zeal against Hereticks fierce Conflicts with Devils and some Witty and Holy Answers The Stile of that Work is low and course It was Translated into Latin by Ambrosius Camaldulensis and Printed in Greek in the Bibliotheca Patrum 1624. Cotelerius Published at last the Greek of some Chapters which were before wanting in his Second Volume of Ecclesiastical Monuments GEORGIUS Sirnamed PISIDES GEORGIUS Deacon and Library-Keeper of the Church of Constantinople Sirnamed Pisides wrote a Book in Iambick Verse upon the Creation of the World which the Ancients Georgius Pisides call * Hexaemeron the Six Days Work He writ also the Life of the Emperor Heraclius the Persian War a Panegyrick upon the Martyr Anastasius and another Work intituled Abarica or Avarica being an History of the Avares We have the first Work of this Author which is Dedicated to Sergius Patriarch of Constantinople and another Poem of the Vanity of this Life together with some fragments taken out of Suidas He is a better Poet than Divine This is probably the same Georgius who made some Sermons in the praise of the Virgin Published by F. Combefis whereof some are upon the Virgin 's Conception and his Mother's others upon the Virgin 's Birth her Presentation in the Temple her assisting at the Cross and at the Sepulchre they are full of Fables taken out of the Apocryphal Book of the Virgin 's Birth falsly fathered upon S. James and of extraordinary commendations of the Virgin and her Parents They are Declamations full of Descriptions Exclamations Rhetorical Figures and Emphatical Terms but void of Sence and Reason and fitter for Sport than Instruction The last of these Sermons is upon S. Cosmus and S. Damian EUGENIUS Bishop of Toledo EUGENIUS having lived in Solitude and in the practice of the Monastical Life near the City of Saragosa was forced to be Bishop of Toledo by order from the Prince Ildephonsus Eugenius Bishop of Toledo who succeeded him in that See tells us He wrote a Book of the Trinity and Two little Books whereof the one was in Verse of divers measures the other in Prose that he had also revised Dracontius's Work on the Creation of the World and had made it a great deal better than it was and had added to it the Work of the 7th Day Sirmondus hath Published Eugenius's Poems containing several pieces on different Subjects The Stile of them is not very Polite but the Fancies are very Exact and Judicious and he is full of very Christian Sentiments Cardinal Aguirre in his Notitia of the Councils of Spain promises a Letter of this Eugenius to Protasius and a new Book of Epigrams that has never been Published He had a Predecessor named Eugenius whom Ildephonsus ranks also among the Ecclesiastical Writers but he speaks
the Manuscript but Monsieur Baluzius has inserted them upon the Credit of Erigerus And whatever Additions or Alterations might be made 't is plain Rabanus did by no means approve of Paschasius his way of expressing himself yet this is no Argument but that he believed Christ's real Presence in the Eucharist For in the tenth Chapter of the seventh Book of Orders he expresly says that the Bread is changed into the Body of Christ and the Wine into his Blood and looks upon this Change as a very great Miracle Who could believe says he that the Bread could be changed into the Flesh of Christ and the Wine into his Blood if our Saviour himself had not said it by whom both the Bread and Wine were created and all things made of Nothing 'T is much more easie for him to make one thing of another than to make all things of Nothing In his Book of the Institution of Clerks he says that the visible Creatures being sanctified by the Holy Ghost pass into the Sacrament of the divine Body And in his Manuscript Commentary upon Joshua he says That the Flesh and Blood of the unspotted Lamb are offered every day on the Altar for the Nourishment of the Souis of the Faithful who receive the same that the Shadow of the Law being past the Truth of the Gospel may come to light by Jesus Christ himself Whereby it appears that Rabanus did not in the least oppose the real Presence of Christ's Body in the Eucharist but only disproved Paschasius his Expression which he thought seemed to intimate that the outward Signs of the Sacrament of the Eucharist which our Eyes see and our Hands feel are the very Body of our Saviour There is another anonymous Author whose Work is quoted by Erigerus and inserted in the Who is the Author that bears the Name of Bertramus 12th Tome of Dacherius his Spicilegium who speaks to the same purpose As there is nothing says he but what is true and real in Christ so there is nothing in the Mystery of his Body and Blood which is consecrated into what it was not by virtue of the blessing and the Word of God that can be false or deceitful and those Gifts being thus consecrated are changed by an invisible Power into what they were not before as the Water was changed into Wine at Cana but that this being a spiritual Change is not perceptible but by Faith Meaning that the * The Species remain and the Inward Change though real is not perceiv'd by our Eyes but by Faith Mr. Du-Pin in representing this Controversie uses the words Species Accidents and Form to express the Elements of the Sacraments to us that he may make the Romish Doctrines appear in the Venerable Robes of Antiquity and so describes the Real Change all along as if it were Corporeal but if we attentively observe the words of the Author we shall find that Bertram and those of his Sentiments allowed no Material but Sacramental Change in the Elements Christ's Body and Blood were present Effectively and Really but not Bodily and Substantially or Transubstantially as the Romanists hold and in this sense it is that we Protestants agreeable to all true Antiquity as Casaubon says Credimus in Eucharistia praesentiam non minus quam ipsi Papicolae veram Species of Bread and Wine remain and that the inward Change though real and effective is not perceived by our bodily Eyes but by Faith But nothing gives us a clearer Insight into the State of the Question then under debate than the Book of the Body and Blood of our Lord which passes commonly under the Name of Bertram But because some question whether he be the Author it will not be improper before we relate what is said therein to the present purpose to examine whose Work it is whether of Ratramnus himself a Monk of Corbey or of some other Author The First Impression of this Book was at Collen Anno 1â—33 by the care of the Protestants of Germany which made it the more odious to many Catholicks who without a due examination thereof lookt upon it as a Book that countenanced the Errour of the Protestants in the point of the Eucharist Some there were as amongst others Sixâ—… Senensis and Despansaeus Santâ—nensis who gave it out for spurious But some Ancient Manuscripts of it being found that supposition ceased Some undertook the Defence of this Treatise others conceived there were many things in it sit to be Corrected and others gave it quite over But however Divines were divided in those days upon the Doctrine of this Book still they agreed in this that Bertramus and Ratramnus were the same though Bertramus is the most commonly used and to be seen both in Sigebertus and Trithemius Arch-Bishop Usher is the first that quoted him under the Name of Ratramnus taking it for an undoubted Truth that Bertramus and Ratramnus were the same But Maresius being Asked his Opinion concerning this Author by Father Dacherius Writ to him a Learned Epistle inserted into the Second Tome of his Spicilegium that came out in 1657 in which he maintains That the Book bearing the Name of Bertramus is not Ratramnus's but that it is the Book of Johanne Ecotus Erigena who did certainly Write a Treatise on the same Subject in which he seemed to oppose the Reality of our Saviour's Body in the Eucharist This Opinion was followed by Father Paris a Canon Regular of S. Genovefa eminent both for his Learning and Piety in the Discourse he made upon this Subject and which he put at the end of the First Tome of his Book called The Perpetual Tenour of our Faith and of late by Father Harduin in his Treatise of The Sacrament of the Altar The Principal Reasons on which they ground their Conjectures are these 1. What Authors have said of the Book of Johannes Scotus concerning the Body and Blood of our Saviour does agree with the Book that bears the Name of Bertramus Asselin tells us That it was a little Book wherein he endearoured to prove That what is Consecrated upon the Altar is not really the Body and Blood of Christ for a Proof whereof he alledged several places of Scripture which he explained contrary to the true meaning of them and quoted amongst other things S. Gregory's Prayer in these words Perficiant in nobis tua Domine Sacramenta c. to which he added next Specie geruntur ista non Veritate All which agrees with Bertramus his small Book wherein the Author â—eems to design to disprove the Reality of Christ's Body in the Eucharist In order to which he alledges several Passages taken out of the Fathers and amongst others that very Prayer of S. Gregory with this Gloss Dicit quod in Specie geruntur ista non Veritate Berengarius speaking of Scotus his Book tells us That it was Written by the Order of Carolus Magnus and Bertramus his Book is thus Dedicated Ad Carolum Magnum 'T
not to be understood literally but that it is a Proverbial Expression to signifie that the Pains he felt were so very violent that he Sweated great drops To which he adds That this History of the Gospel has been left out of the Gospel by some and particularly by some Syrians but his Opinion is That it ought to be received as Canonical and to be put amongst the Scriptures of Divine Inspiration In the 139th he shews That it is not impossible as some pretended to look upon a Woman without sinful Thoughts The 144th is against Eusebius of Caesarea whom he charges with Arianism In the 147th Photius examines what it is to take God's Name in vain and says That among the Jews taking of God's Name in Vain was to give it to the Idols or make use of it for a false Oath or prophane it in idle Discourses That among Christians those take God's Name in Vain who Swear against that which is established by Law or who attribute God's Name to Creatures as a Being which they believe Created as also those who confound Images with Idols and all Hereticks who abuse that Name In the 152d he expounds as the Pelagians do that place of St. Paul's Epistle where it is said in which all have sinned pretending after Theodoret that it ought not to be thus Translated but whereas all have sinned In the following Letters he Treats of divers Critical Questions In the 162d he treats of the Names of God and shews by several Instances that the Name of God is sometimes given to Creatures with relation to their Excellency Justice or Power He observes the Jews were forbidden to Name God by his proper Name and that none but the High-Priest bore it which he did in his Forehead Written in extraordinary and strange Letters He adds that the Hebrews pronounce it Aia and the Samaritans Jabe that it is Written with these Four Letters Joth Alâ—ph Vau Hâ— signifying That is viz. He that is and indures for ever In the next Letter he demonstrates how it was not absolutely forbidden among the Jews to hear or pronounce that Name seeing Moses heard it and taught it the High-Priests who wore it Written upon Plates of Gold but that they were forbidden upon pain of Death to pronounce it before Strangers In the 164th he examines what may be the sence of the 13th Verse Chap. 1. of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans The 165th contains a Fine Encomium of St. Paul's Wisdom and Eloquence In the 166th he explains several places of St. Paul's Epistles something dark by reason of their Hyperbata or Ellipsis i. e. Transpositions or Defects of words usual in them The 174th contains Photius his Apology against one of his former Friends who now inveighed against him for his Contradictious Humour charged him with betraying the Catholick Church and violating her Laws Photius to vindicate himself from his Aspersions maintains That he has not undertaken done said or writ any thing that might give any just ground to that Accusation and that he could be reproached with nothing but the Hardships he had indured and the Misery he was reduced to by the Persecution of his Enemies Which he gives an Account of in the most sensible manner affirming That his Misfortunes had neither Despirited nor made him slight the Divine Truth His Adversary pretended That it was ill done of him to draw that Persecution on himself for Things of small consequence But Photius to justifie himself affirms That his Enemies are our Saviour's Enemies who rendred contemptible as far as in them lay the Blood of his Covenant prophaned his Altars and Ridiculed the Holy Chrism or rather the Holy Ghost who had Consecrated it He protests he will never hold Communion with such Men nor with those who shall receive them Next he deplores the Miseries of those who suffer Persecution for his sake and complains that he is abandon'd almost by all the World He concludes saying That he ever offers Sacrifices and Prayers to God for his Prince In the 176th Letter he recites the different Expositions of this Place of Scripture given by the Fathers viz. My Father is greater than I. In the 177th speaking of St. Peter's Fall he owns his Primacy In the 180th and the Two next he explains some places of the Gospel In the 182d he deplores his Misfortunes In the 187th he defends strongly and rationally against Julian's Railleries our Saviour's Advice To sell a Man's substance to give it to the Poor In the 188th he congratulates himself for his Sufferings In the 192d he observes upon the Word Ephod that it signifies 1. A Priestly Habit. 2. A Habit like unto that worn by Lay-men 3. The Habits of the Priests of the Heathen Gods who imitated the Ceremonies of the Priests of the True God The 201. is a Letter of comfort to George of Nicomedia upon the death of a Clerk Ordained a Priest by him He says That his Soul is in Abraham's Bosom where it injoys the Heavenly Glory In the 211th he expounds a difficult place of Genesis about the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel The 223d and the three next are likewise upon some difficult places of Scripture In the 228th he expounds that place in the Gospel so frequently objected by the Arians That none but the Father knows the Day of Judgment The 234th is a long Epistle no less Christian than Eloquent directed to Tarasius his Brother to comfort him upon the Death of his Daughter In the 240th he handles Two Critical Questions upon Scripture The first who was Ethan the Zeraite The second concerning David's Two Unctions The third about Samuel's serving Saul The 243d and 244th consist of Ingenious Reproofs to a Friend of his who forsook him through Timorousness The 245th is a piece of Comfort directed to a Nun upon the Death of her Sister Wherein be supposes her Soul to be in the Company of Angels The 246th and 247th are upon the Birth-place of St. Paul In the 248th he Discovers the Mystical Reasons of the Circumcision Monsieur Cotelerius was published in the Second Tome of the Monuments of the Greek Church Page 104. a short Letter of Photius to Smaracus Governour of the Isle of Cyprus against that Minister's Avarice and Extortions With a Compendious Discourse of the same Photius shewing that we ought to take care but of one Thing in this Life that is to forbear Sin and as we ought not to regard the Casualties and Misfortunes of this Life nor look upon them as Evils so Honour Riches Power Eloquence and other Advantages either of Nature or Fortune ought not to be regarded as a real Good Photius his Letter to the Patriarch of Aquileia is much beyond the former Baronius has inferted a Translation of it in his Annals ad An. 883. but it came out since in Greek by the care of Father Combefis in the last Addition to the Bibliotheca Patrum at Paris 1673. In this Letter having first highly
any thing they should teach others and which is necessary to render them capable of Instructing them That they ought to understand very well the Holy Scriptures not only the Historical part but be able to Expound the Figures and Mystical Sense of it That it is good for them to have a Tincture of other Arts and Sciences That they be Civil and Regular in their Manners and Affable and Courteous in their Speech That they be of an Acute Judgment and know how to apply proper Remedies to the different Diseases of the Soul He afterwards makes use of the words of St. Gregory the Great to Reprove those who undertake to teach others and Cure Souls without being very well instructed in their Duty themselves I mean such as enter into the Ministry meerly through the Prospect of Interest or Ambition and those that dishonour God by an Irregular Life whose Deportment does not answer their Doctrine He says That the Grounds and Perfection of Wisdom is the Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures which is an Emanation of the Eternal Wisdom of God and a Participation of his Truth That all the Wisdom and Truth that Men have and all that is to be found Profitable in Profane Writers is to be attributed to the Divine Wisdom which gave it a beginning That the Scripture has its Obscurities which are good to exercise Mens wits But there are scarce any Truths contained in one place which are not explained in another Nihil autem de illis obscuritatibus eruitur quod non plenissimè dictum alibi reperiatur This is taken from St. Austin's Treatise of Christian Doctrine as well as the rest of this Book which is nothing but an Extract from this Father excepting what he says upon the Seven Liberal Arts upon which he quotes a passage taken out of the Pastoral of St. Gregory The Book of Orders Holy Sacraments and Priests Habits which followeth this is almost nothing else but a Copy of the first of the three foregoing Books It is very near the same with the three Books of Ecclesiastical Discipline for the two first are nothing but an Abridgment of those of the Instruction of Clerks to which he has added some passages out of St. Austin In the last which is about the Christian Warfare he Treats of Vertues and Vices * Dr. Cave adds a third De Puritate Cordis Or the Purity of the Heart The two Books dedicated to the Abbot Bonosus of which the first is about the Vision of God and the second upon Penance are made up of passages out of the Fathers upon these Subjects The three Books of Questions about the Rules of Penance do not belong to Rabanus The first and second are Halitgarius's Bishop of Cambray and the third an unknown Author's The three Books of Vertues and Vices belong to the same Halitgarius who has also made a Penitential at the Request of Ebbo Arch-Bishop of Rheims divided into Five Books and published under his Name by Canisius These are not much different from the Five Books which here bear the Name of Rabanus But the Penetential dedicated to Otgarus Arch-Bishop of Mayence is certainly the Work of Rabanus which he composed towards the Year 841 before he was Bishop of Mayence This Tract is Printed alone at Venice 1584. Quarto The Name of a Penitential has also been given to the Letter which he wrote to Heribaldus Bishop of Auxerre published by Stewart in his Addition to the Antiquities of Canisius at Ingolstadt 1616. and by M. Balusius at the end of Regino at Paris 1671. But this is a Canonical Letter in Answer to some Questions propounded by that Bishop It is divided into Articles and quoted by Regino and the Collectors of Canons He there gathers together many Canons concerning the Penances of Homicides Adulterers Forsworn People Sorcerers and about the Punishments of those that commit any great Crimes after they are admitted into Holy Orders and about other Circumstances of Penance and Absolution But towards the end he Treats about two Questions much debated in his Time The First about the Eucharist whether it goes into the Draught A Question that has been spoken of before And the Second about Ebbo Old Arch-Bishop of Rheims who after his Deposition retired to Hildesheim in Saxony where he exercised his Episcopal Functions He says that he knows not whether he was justly or unjustly Deposed but nevertheless that it did not hinder him from doing the Duty of that Office For he has heard that he was afterwards re-established by the Holy See He adds That he had lately written thereupon to Hinemarus after he understood that he had removed from the Priesthood and Clerkship all those who had been ordained by Ebbo after his being deposed This Letter of Rabanus was written about the Year 853. a long time after the Penetential of which we have spoken before Rabanus's Letter to Humbert about the Degrees of Consanguinity within which 't is forbidden to Contract Marriage is also a Work of the same Nature In it after he hath related the Opinions of Theodorus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Isidorus he says 't is his Judgment that a Man may Marry after the fifth Degree of Consanguinity And that if there be any Marriages found within that Degree without their knowledge they were so near of Kin they might be suffered to continue married only enjoyning them Penance and exhorting them to live in Abstinence from the Marriage-Bed Humbertus not being satisfied with this short Answer sent him some new Questions about this Subject and also askt him what he thought of Fortune-tellers Divinations Rabanus Answers him in a longer Letter in which he shews that he was in the right to make use of the Chapter in Leviticus to Regulate the Degrees of Consanguinity within which it is forbidden to Marry Because that this Law related to Manners and that the Precepts of this kind have not been abolisht by Jesus Christ. He afterwards relates a passage of St. Austin which explains the passage of Leviticus Another passage in the Answer of St. Gregory to Austin the Monk and a great many Canons concerning the Degrees of Consanguinity in which it is forbidden to Contract Marriage In the Second Part after having spoken of the Artifices of Magicians or Sorcerers he concludes That we ought to take care how we apply our selves to them for the Cure of any Distemper or to find things that are stollen or lost In his Book Of the Soul he treats briefly contrary to his ordinary Custom about such Questions that respect the Original and Nature of our Souls He says also that it is a disputable Point whether God created it to be infused into our Bodies or whether it be produced from the Souls of our Fathers and Mothers He maintains that it is altogether Spiritual and has no particular Figure although its principal seat be in the Head He says it is not less in Infants than more aged Persons and that it is of the
by Pope Urban but his Residence in that City being inconvenient by reason of the excessive Heats he retir'd to a Village near Capua where the Pope soon gave him a Visit upon his arrival at the Siege of Capua which Place was invested by Roger Duke of Apulia After the raising of the Siege the Pope held a Council at Bari in which St. Anselm assisting disputed earnestly against the Greeks about the Procession of the Holy Ghost and entreated the Pope and the Bishops not to excommunicate the King of England When the Council was concluded he accompany'd the Pope to Rome and some Days after the King of England to whom Urban had written that he ought to re-establish St. Anselm in his Metropolitan See sent thither an Ambassador who obtain'd a Demurrer till the Festival of St. Michael St. Anselm being inform'd of the matter determin'd to go to Lyons but the Pope oblig'd him to stay in order to be present in a Council which was to be held at Easter in the Year 1099. Thus he resided during six Months at Rome and was very highly esteem'd in that City The Writer of his Life observes that certain English Men who came to visit him being desirous to Kiss his Feet as it was usually done to the Pope's he would not sufâ—er them to do it and that the Pope admir'd his Humility in that particular Lastly St. Anselm having assisted in the Council of Rome A. D. 1099. in which Laicks who took upon them to give Investitures and those Clergy-men who receiv'd them from their Hands were excommunicated he took leave of the Pope and retir'd to Lyons where within a little while after he was inform'd of the Death of Urban II. and afterward of that of William II. King of England which happen'd in the Month of August A. D. 1100. Henry I. his Successor immediately recall'd St. Anselm to England where he was no sooner arriv'd but he had new contests with that Prince about the Investitures and the Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy which he refus'd to take Forasmuch as this Affair was regulated at Rome it was requisite that the King should make application to that Court to endeavour to cause the Resolution which had been taken there to be chang'd However St. Anselm reâ—us'd to ordain the Bishops who had receiv'd Investiture from the King and nothing could be obtain'd from Rome Afterward this Arch-bishop being perswaded by the King to take a Journey to Rome to find out some Expedients for the adjusting of that Affair went thither accompany'd with an Ambassador Upon their Arrival the Matter was debated A. D. 1105. in the presence of Pope Paschal II. to whom the Ambassador peremptorily declar'd That the King his Master would sooner be prevail'd upon to part with his Kingdom than with his right to the Investitures The Pope reply'd That he would sooner lose his Life than suffer him to retain it However at last it was agreed upon That the King of England should enjoy certain Privileges which were in his possession but that he should lay no manner of claim to the Investitures Therefore the Excommunication which he was suppos'd to have incurr'd by granting the Investiture of Benefices was taken off but it was ordain'd That those Persons who had receiv'd them from his Hands should remain excommunicated for some time and that the giving them Absolution for that Offence should be reserv'd to St. Anselm The Affair being thus determin'd the Ambassador and St. Anselm set forward in their Journey but when they were arriv'd near Lyons the Ambassador declar'd to him in his Master's name that he was forbidden to return to England unless he would promise him to submit to the Custom which prevail'd in that Kingdom without having any regard to what had been ordain'd to the contrary by the Pope St. Anselm refusing to enter into such an Engagement stay'd some time at Lyons and having pass'd from thence into Normandy at last came to an Accommodation with the King of England on condition that the Churches which King William II. had first made subject to the Payment of a certain Tax should be exempted from it and that his Majesty should restore what he had exacted of the Clergy and every thing that was taken from the Church of Canterbury during the exile of the Arch-bishop After this Agreement which was concluded A. D. 1106. between the King and the Arch-bishop at Bec Abbey St. Anselm return'd to England was re-establish'd in his Arch-bishoprick and enjoy'd it peaceably till his Death which happen'd three Years after in the 16th since his advancement to that Dignity and the 76th of his Age A. D. 1109. St. Anselm is no less famous for his Learning and the great number of his Writings than for his Conduct and the Zeal he shew'd in maintaining the Rights of the Church The largest Edition of his Works is the last published by Father Gerberon and it is that which we shall follow being divided into three Parts The First of these containing Dogmatical Treatises bears the Title of Monologia that is to say a Treatise of the Existence of God of his Attributes and of the Holy Trinity It is so call'd by reason that it is compos'd in form of the Meditations of a Man who reasons with himself to find out Divine Truths and who explains them accordingly as they are discover'd by him It is a very subtil Work and contains a great Number of Metaphysical Arguments He continues to Treat of the same Subject and observes the same method of Writing in the Prostogia where the Person who reason'd with himself in the first Work making his Addresses to God Discourses of his Existence Justice Wisdom Immensity Eternity and of his being the Summum Bonum or Soveraign Good A certain Monk nam'd Gaunilon having perus'd this Treatise could not approve the Argument which St. Anselm makes use of therein to prove the Existence of God taken from the Idea of a most perfect Being We have says he at least the Idea of a most perfect Being therefore this Being of necessity Exists Gaunilon not being able to comprehend this Argument which seems to be a Sophism or meer Fallacy to those who are not endu'd with a sound and penetrating Judgment to discern the force of it wrote a small Tract on purpose to refute it in which he objects every thing that is most subtil and plausible to overthrow this Ratiocination St. Anselm return'd a very solid Answer in which he enervates his Adversary's Objections and makes it appear that his Argument is Rational and Convincing The Treatise of Faith of the Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation Dedicated to Pope Urban II. was written against a French Clergy-man nam'd Rocselin Tutor to Abaelard who undertook to prove That the three Persons of the Trinity are three different Things because otherwise it might be said That the Father and the Holy Ghost were Incarnate St. Anselm being as yet Abbot of Bec began a Treatise to confute
Congregation of St. Maur Publish'd a new Edition much finer and more correct than the preceeding Printed at Paris in 1675. which is a signal Proof of his accurate Industry and sound Judgment whose Merit is well known in the Common-wealth of Learning To St. Anselm's Works are annex'd those of Eadmer a Monk of Canterbury and his Pupil the First of which is the Life of his Tutor written very largely and in a very plain Style Eadmer St. Anselm ' s Pupil The Second is call'd The History of Novelties and divided into six Books of which the first Four contain a Relation of the Contests which St. Anselm had with the Kings of England about the Affair of the Investitures and of the Persecutions he suffer'd upon that Account and the Two last the History of the Transactions in the Church of Canterbury under Radulphus his Successor who was translated from the Bishoprick of Rochester to the Arch-bishoprick of Canterbury five Years after St. Anselm's Death and govern'd that Church till A. D. 1122. The Third is a Treatise of the excellent Qualities of the Virgin Mary in which he extols her Nativity Annunciation Assumption the Love that she had for her Son and the Advantages she procur'd for Men and ends with a Prayer made to her The Fourth is a particular Tract of the four Cardinal Vertues observable in the Blessed Virgin The Fifth is a Discourse of Beatitude or rather of the State of the Blessed in Heaven which he had heard deliver'd by St. Anselm The Sixth is a Collection of divers Similitudes and Comparisons that were taken out of St. Anselm's Works or which he had heard from his Mouth The Same Author likewise compos'd a Treatise of Ecclesiastical Liberty and wrote the Lives of St. Wilfrid and St. Dunstan and many Letters which are not as yet Published He died A. D. 1121. CHAP. X. Of the Ecclesiastical Writers of the Eleventh Age who compos'd Treatises of Church-discipline or Commentaries on the Holy Scripture BURCHARD a German by Nation a Monk of Lobes and the Pupil of Olbert Abbot Burchard Bishop of Worms of Gemblours succeeded Franco his Brother in the Bishoprick of Worms A. D. 996. He assisted in the Council of Selingenstadt held by Aribo Arch-bishop of Mentz in 1023. and died in 1026. He compil'd by the help of Olbert a Collection of Canons distributed according to the Matters and divided into twenty Books call'd Decrees in which he has copy'd out and follow'd Regino but he has added many things and even committed several Errors which Regino never fell into This Work was Printed at Colen in 1548. and the next Year at Paris and at the end of it are annex'd the Canons of the Council of Selingenstadt 'T is compos'd very Methodically but without a due choice of Matters being full of Quotations of the false Decretals of the Popes according to the Custom of that Time GODEHARD Abbot of Tergernsee and afterwards Bishop of Hildesheim flourish'd Godehard Bishop of Hildesheim Gosbert Abbot of Tergernsee Guy Aretin Abbot of La Croix St. Leufroy Aribo Arch-bishop of Mentz in the beginning of the Century Father Mabillon has Publish'd five Letters written by him in the fourth Tome of his Analecta GOSBERT was in like manner Abbot of Tergernsee and Contemporary with the former Four of his Letters are Publish'd by Father Mabillon in the same Place GUY ARETIN Abbot of La Croix-St Leufroy flourish'd from the Year 1020. to 1030. and compos'd a new Method for Learning the Art of Musick call'd Micrologus He likewise wrote a Treatise of the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST against Berenger which is lost ARIBO the nineteenth Arch-bishop of Mentz is plac'd by Sigebert and Trithemius in the Class of the Ecclesiastical Writers The former only attributes to him a certain Commentary on the Fifteen gradual Psalms and the other adds a Letter to Berno Abbot of Richenaw and some others He says That that Arch-bishop held in the Year 1023. a Council at Selingenstadt with Burchard Bishop of Worms and the other Bishops and Abbots of his Province in which were made very useful Constitutions and that he died under the Emperor Conrad A. D. 1031. BERNO a Monk of St. Gall and afterward Abbot of Richenaw who was contemporary with and the familiar Friend of Aribo is likewise recommended by Trithemius as a Berno Abbot of Richenaw Person not inferiour in Knowledge to any of the learned Men of his Time He was more especially Skilful in the Art of Musick which was much study'd in that Age and compos'd many Works as well in Prose as in Verse We shall here mention those that Trithemius has taken notice of viz. A very elegant and useful Treatise Dedicated to Pilgrin Arch-bishop of Colen but he does not declare the Subject of it A Treatise of Musical Instruments Another of the coming of our Lord Dedicated to Aribo A Book of the Office of the Mass one of the Fast of the Ember-weeks one of Saturdays Fast another of the Time of the Monocord and several Letters But Trithemius has forgotten to make mention of the Life of St. Ulric Bishop of Augsburg compos'd by that Author and set forth by Surius as also of the Life of St. Meginrad Bishop and Martyr which Father Mabillon Publish'd in the second Part of the fourth Benedictin Century Berno flourish'd under the Emperor Henry II. from A. D. 1014. till 1048. when he died after having been Abbot during forty Years His principal Work is the Treatise of the Office of the Mass in which he enquires into the Authors of it and the Original of the Prayers of which 't is Compos'd He supposes that in the beginning of the Church the Mass was not said after the same manner as afterwards that in the time of the Apostles no other Prayers were recited but the Lord's Prayer and that for that Reason St. Gregory Pope ordain'd that the Lord's Prayer should be said over the Host after the Consecration He adds That the Canon was not made by a single Person but that it was augmented from Time to Time and that the other Parts of the Mass were Establish'd by Popes or by Holy Fathers Lastly he Treats in particular of the Gloria in Excelsis and of the times when it ought to be said of the Solemnity of the Octaves of Pentecost of the Office for the Sundays in Advent and other Sundays of the Year of that of the four Ember-weeks and of other Rubricks of the Divine Office But it ought to be observ'd That in this Book as in other Works of the same Nature divers Matters of Fact are advanc'd without sufficient Ground and even contrary to the Truth of History BRUNO Duke of Carinthia Uncle by the Father's side to the Emperor Conrad II. was Bruno Bishop of Wurtzburg ordain'd Bishop of Wurtzburg A. D. 1033. He wrote a Commentary on the Psalms taken out of the Works of the Fathers with certain Annotations on the Songs of the Old
IX A Treatise of the Corruption of the Age The Life of St. Peter of Anagnia Six Books of Moral Discourses attributed to St. Bruno Two Letters A Treatise of the Sacraments or Ceremonies of the Church CALIXTUS II. Pope Genuine Works still extant Thirty Six Letters Spurious Works Four Sermons on St. James GUIBERT Abbot of Nogent sous Coucy Genuine Works A Treatise of Preaching Ten Books of Moral Commentaries on the Book of Genesis Tropologia or an Explication of the Prophecies of Hosea and Amos and on the Lamentations of Jeremiah A Treatise against the Jews A Treatise of the Real Presence of the Body of JESUS CHRIST in the Eucharist A Treatise of the Encomiums of the Virgin Mary A Treatise of Virginity Three Books of the Relicks of Saints The History of the Crusades under the Title of Gesta Dei per Francos The Life of Guibert by himself A Sermon on the last Verse of the 7th Chapter of the Wisdom of Solomon Works lost Sentences taken out of the Gospels Commentaries on the other lesser Prophets Manuscripts ERNULPHUS or ARNULPHUS Bishop of Rochester Genuine Works still extant Two Letters GAUTERIUS Bishop of Maguelone A Genuine Work An Epistle serving instead of a Preface to Lietbert's Commentary on the Book of Psalms publish'd by him GEFFREY Abbot of Vendôme Genuine Works Five Letters A Treatise of the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST A Treatise of Elections against the Investitures Two other Treatises against the Investitures A Treatise of Dispensations A Discourse on the Qualities of the Church Explications of the Ark of the Testimony A Treatise of the Sacraments of Baptism Confirmation Extreme Unction of the Sick and the Lord's Supper A Treatise of the Reiteration of the Sacraments A Treatise to prove that Bishops ought not to exact any thing for Blessings and Consecrations A Rule for the Confessions of Monks A Discourse on the Three Virtues of Pastors A Dialogue between God and the Sinner Four Hymns Eleven Sermons HONORIUS II. Pope Genuine Works still extant Eleven Letters BAUDRY Bishop of Dol. Genuine Works The History of the Crusade A Memoire concerning the Monastery of Fecamp The Life of St. Hugh Archbishop of Rouen Other Lives of the Saints HILDEBERT Bishop of Mans and afterwards Archbishop of Tours Genuine Works Eighty Three Letters Nine other Letters publish'd by F. Dachery Two Discourses on the Nativity of our Lord. A Paraphrase in Verse on the Canon of the Mass. Two Sermons A Synodical Discourse The Life of Hugh Abbot of Cluny The Epitaph of Berengarius A Letter to Reginoldus A Preface to the Life of St. Radegonda A Work lost A Treatise of Virginity STEPHEN HARDING Abbot of Cisteaux Genuine Works still extant The Charter of Charity The small beginning of the Order of Cisteaux A Discourse on the Death of Albericus A Discourse Dedicated to St. Bernard PETRUS GROSOLANUS or CHRYSOLANUS A Genuine Work A Discourse before Alexis Comnenus EUSTRATIUS Archbishop of Nice Manuscript Works A Reply to Chrysolanus Some other Treatises STEPHEN Bishop of Autun A Genuine Work A Treatise of the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Mass. NICEPHORUS BRYENNIUS of Macedonia A Genuine Work still extant The Byzantine History from the Year 1057. to 1081. JOANNES ZONARUS Secretary of State to the Emperor of Constantinople Genuine Works Annals or an Ecclesiastical History Commentaries on the Canons A Discourse of Impurity A Canon of the Virgin Mary A Preface to the Poems of St. Gregory Nazienzen Fifty Six Letters Works lost An Explication of the Canons for the Festival of Easter Several Sermons A Poetical Work on the Procession of the Holy Ghost HONORIUS SOLITARIUS Professor of Scholastical Divinity in the Church of Autun Genuine Works A Treatise of the Lights of the Church or of the Ecclesiastical Writers A List of Hereticks A Chronological Table of the Popes The Pearl of the Soul or a Treatise of Divine Offices divided into Four Books A Treatise of the Image of the World in Three Books The Philosophy of the World A Treatise of Praedestination and Free Will Questions upon the Book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes A Commentary on the Book of Canticles The Seal of the Virgin Mary Works lost An Illustration of the Church of the Doctrine of JESUS CHRIST and of Eternal Life The Mirror of the Church The Scandal against the Incontinence of Priests An Historical Summary A Treatise of the Eucharist A Treatise of Eternal Life The Ladder of Heaven Extracts out of St. Augustin's Works in form of a Dialogue A Treatise of the Pope and the Emperor Commentaries on the Books of Psalms and Canticles Certain Homilies on those Gospels that were not explain'd by St. Gregory The Key of Natural Philosophy The Nutriment of the Mind in the Festivals of our Lord and the Saints Several Letters A Spurious Work A Moral Commentary on the Book of Canticles NICOLAS a Monk of Soissons A Genuine Work still extant The Life of St. Godfrey AELNOTHUS a Monk of Canterbury A Genuine Work The History of the Life and Passion of Canutus King of Denmark THOMAS a Monk of Ely A Genuine Work An Account of the Life and Translation of St. Etheldrith S. NORBERT Founder of the Order of Premontré A Genuine Work A Moral Discourse in form of an Exhortation RUPERT Abbot of Duyts Genuine Works A Treatise of the Trinity and its Operations divided into Three Parts and containing Commentaries almost on the whole Bible Cammentaries on the XII lesser Prophets and on the Book of Canticles XIII Books of the Victory of the Word of God A Commentary on St. Matthew of the Glory of the Son of God Commentaries on the Gospel of St. John and o◠the Apocalypse A Treatise of the Glorification of the Trinity and of the Procession of the Holy Ghost A Treatise of the Divine Offices GUIGUE Prior of La Grande Chartreuse or the Great Charter-House Genuine Works still extant Statutes of the Carthusian Order The Life of St. Hugh Bishop of Grenoble Meditations A Treatise of the Contemplative Life or the Ladder of the Cloister Four Letters Works lost A Treatise of Truth and Peace kept in Manuscript in the Charter-House or Carthusian Monastery of Colen Some other Letters DROGO or DREUX Cardinal Bishop of Ostia Genuine Works A Sermon on the Passion of JESUS CHRIST A Treatise of the Creation and Redemption of the first Man A Tract on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost A Treatise of the Divine Offices PETER of Leon Anti-pope under the Name of ANACLETUS II. Genuine Works XXXVIII Letters GEFFREY Bishop of Chartres A Genuine Work still extant A Letter to Stephen Bishop of Paris GEFFREY the Gross a Monk of Tiron A Genuine Work The Life of St. Bernard Abbot of Tiron PETER Library-Keeper of Mount Cassin Genuine Works A Treatise of Illustrious Personages of Mount-Cassin The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Mount-Cassin A Treatise of the Roman Letters Works lost Semons 〈◊〉 of the Saints 〈◊〉 History of the Righteous Men of
Prosperity That than Charity Innocence Faith Piety Justice and sincere Friendship reign'd upon the Earth and that Fraud and Calumny were banish'd out of it because the Pastors instructed their People in these Vertues by their sound Doctrin and their holy Life but that Abundance having produc'd Luxury and Pride Religion grew cold by degrees and Avarice took Possession of the minds of Men and extinguish'd Charity in them that after this the Salvation and Edification of the Faithful was not design'd in the Ecclesiastical Offices of Divine Service but only the great Revenue of Benefices that the greatest part of benefic'd Men thought only of Ravishing the Profit without putting themselves to the trouble of discharging the Office Afterwards he enters upon the particular Abuses which Lust has introduc'd among the Ecclesiasticks and begins with those which the Passion of domineering and enriching themselves has introduc'd into the Court of Rome Such as are the Collations of all Benefices which the Popes have engross'd in their own Hands to the prejudice of Elections the Sums which the Apostolick Chamber hath exacted for these Collations the Promises of vacant Benefices which they have granted to unworthy Men who have rendred the Priest-hood contemptible the Rights of Vacancy the Tenths and the other Taxes of Pence which have been exacted with an unparallel'd Rigor an infinite number of Processes which the Court of Rome hath given Birth to and maintain'd by its Tricks the Pride and Pomp of Cardinals who being formerly imploy'd for burying of the dead are now so highly advanc'd that they despise not only the Bishops whom they call in derision Little Bishops but even the Archbishops the Primats and Patriarchs who heap together an infinite number of incompatible Benefices uniting in their own Persons the Titles of Monks and Canons Regular and Secular and possessing Benefices of all sorts of Order and Nature not only to the Number of two or three but even to twenty nay a hundred or more of the most considerable and richest Benefices while a great number of poor Ecclesiasticks have not whereupon to live and are forc'd sometimes to purchase Benefices of them He accuses them of being the Authors and Causes of Schism of selling their Votes of making Creatures and Dependents by the Benefices which they give After this he proceeds to other Prelats and reprehends the Ignorance and Avarice of some the absence of others from their Benefices and the neglect of discharging their Duties the Disorders of some Canons the Excesses of some Monks and the Pride of some Religious Mendicants He describes in Words very sharp and apparently passionate the Disorders which were in some Monasteries of the Regulars Lastly having compar'd together the Manners of the Christians of his time and those of the Primitive Church for fear lest what he had said should be abus'd he adds this Caution That his Intention was not to comprehend all Ecclesiasticks without Exception as being guilty of the Disorders which he had spoke of That he knew that Jesus Christ who cannot lie had said Peter I pray for thee that they Faith fail not That he was persuaded there was in each State many just and innocent Persons who have no hand in the Disorders of which he had complain'd although he believ'd that the Number of wicked Men was far greater After this he aggravates the Disorders of the Pope's Court at Avignon and the miserable Consequences of the Schism and says That we must have recourse to God and pray him to reunite his Church and heal the Breaches which were among its Members He concludes all with a Prayer directed to Jesus Christ for this purpose After this Work follows a poetical Piece in Hexameter Verse wherein he bewails the Schism of the Church and exhorts Pope Benedict XIII to extinguish it The Treatise of the Falling and Restauration of Justice address'd to Philip Duke of Burgundy is a Work rather Political than Theological wherein he shews that without Justice a State cannot be maintain'd he detests the Civil Wars the Contempt of Justice and Religion and the other Disorders which reign'd then in France and enquires after Means to remedy them The third Dogmatical Treatise of Clemangis is about the Infallibility of a General Council This he wrote when the Council of Constance was sitting and the University of Paris did vigorously maintain the Infallibility of General Councils Clemangis wrote then two Pieces by way of Conferences with a Scholastical Divine of Paris wherein he proposes the Difficulties and Doubts which there are about this Question and the Reasons which are brought to prove this Infallibility He says himself at the end of this Work That he has no design to affirm any thing but only to propose his Doubts and Difficulties that the Matter may be clear'd up and that he is ready to retract or amend what he has written upon this Subject if it shall be found contrary to Truth or be the cause of Scandal This Temper may serve to excuse what he has written so boldly in this Treatise against the Infallibility of General Councils though he does not oppose the Infallibility of Councils in Matters of Faith which he acknowledges but only in Questions of Fact about Morality or Discipline To these three Treatises must be join'd his Book about Theological Studies publish'd by Father Dom Luc Dachery in the Seventh Tome of his Spicilegium It is address'd to John of Piemont Bachelor of Divinity who had consulted him whether he should Commense Doctor He answers him in this Book That we must distinguish between him who is truly a Doctor and him who has only the external Marks of that Degree that undoubtedly he would do well to be a Doctor in the first Sense that 's to say to be capable of Teaching and doing the Office of one by his Discourses and by his Life but if he enquir'd whether he ought to take upon him the exteriour Marks of one i. e. the Degree and Cap of a Doctor he must consult himself and reflect upon his own Mind and Design because it was a thing which might be well us'd or abus'd yet he must examine what Motives mov'd him to assume this Degree and search the secret Corners of his Heart that he might discover the Springs of this Action From thence he takes occasion to explain to him what ought to be the Object and End of a Divine's Studies he blames those who study this Science out of Interest or Vanity and think of nothing but to enrich themselves by this Means He would have a Divine who is a Preacher to be in Truth the same thing which he says to live according to God and give an Example of that Life which he Preaches that his Sermons should be the Effect of the Charity of the Holy Spirit spread abroad in his Heart that he should read continually the Scriptures and the Books of the Holy Fathers He complains of the Divines of his own time that they read the Holy
to say The Immortal is dead Life is dead God is crucified Humane Flesh is become the Giver of Life and to be adored Yea some of them as Acacius Bishop of Melitina maintained this Expression That the Word was born died hath suffered and applyed it to the Divinity or Divine Nature of Jesus Christ. This was the Original of the greatest part of the Disputes which reigned in this Age which we are now speaking of and in the next This was the Cause of the misunderstanding between the Eastern and Egyptian Bishops The pretence of their Division and the Subject of their Contests THE HISTORY OF THE COUNCIL of CHALCEDON The Council of Chalcedon and other Precedent Councils ALthough all the Eastern Patriarchs seemed to be agreed about the Contests which had so long troubled them yet private Persons were not united in their Opinions and Cyril Ep. ad Coelest 1. p. Conc. Ep. c. 14. Socr. l. 7. c. 3. 2. several there were on both sides that stirred up Divisions in both the Churches Among the Easterns there were some secret Nestorians who sought by any means to revenge the Disposition of Nestorius and among the Egyptians there were others that carried the Union of the two Natures too far making but one of the two and could not endure any should acknowledge two after the Union The Monks especially were of that Opinion published it every where and condemned all those that would not embrace it After the Deposition of Nestorius the Patriarch of Constantinople and Alexandria were united but because the Interest of these two Sees were different they did not continue Friends long The Bishop of Constantinople would have the second place among the Patriarchs and rule over the Diocesses of Asia and Pontus the Bishop of Alexander disputed his Claim yet himself aimed to bring one part of the East under his Jurisdiction The Bishop of Antioch did not much regard the Preference of the Bishop of Constantinople but he would not submit to the Bishop of Alexandria nor endure him to take away his Provinces from him These things being controverted in 439 between Proclus Patriarch of Constantinople Theodoret in place of John Bishop of Antioch and the Deacon Dioscorus Deputy for the Patriarch of Alexandria an Order was made among them That the Canons of the Councils of Nice and Constantinople should be observed That the Bishop of Alexandria should be confined to Egypt That the Eastern Bishop should exercise his Jurisdiction over the Eastern Churches only hereafter and not concern himself hereafter with the Affairs of the Diocesses of Asia and Pontus and that the Bishops of Constantinople should have the second place according to the Canon of the Council of Constantinople Dioscorus opposed this Regulation with all his Power and accused Theodoret of having betrayed upon this Occasion the Interests of the Churches of Alexandria and Antioch but he had the management of the Bishop of the Imperial City who was in great favour at Court and might much advantage or hurt the Eastern Bishops Rabulas Bishop of Edessa who was one of the violent Enemies of the Memory of Theodorus and the most Zealous Defender of the manner of speaking used by the Egyptians being dead Ibas a Priest was put in his place who was of the just contrary Judgment and was suspected to be a Nestorian Rabulas having left in his Church several Persons of the same Opinion who could not endure any Expressions which looked like Theodorus's or Nestorius's he did never enjoy any quiet They had accused him already while he was yet but Priest and while John Bishop of Antioch was yet alive of defending the Nestorian Principles refusing to subscribe Proclus's Writing and to condemn the Propositions of Theodorus annexed to it but on the contrary translating them into Syriack and dispersing them in the East Proclus before whom he was accused had sent him to John Bishop of Antioch but the business went no further either because his Accusers would not prosecute him before John Bishop of Antioch who was not a Favourer of them or because John Bishop of Antioch had stifled the matter When Ibas was made Bishop they revived these Conâ— Chal Act. 10. old Accusations Samuel Cyrus Maras and Eulogiûs Priests of his Church whom he had Excommunicated accused him to Domnus who succeeded John and presented a Petition to him accusing him of being a Nestorian Domnus ordered him to appear to justifie himself but because it was in Lent he put off the hearing him till after the Feast was over and yet ordered him to absolve these Priests from the Excommunication Ibâ—â— permitted Domnus his Governor to do with him as he pleased and Domnus absolved them from their Excommunication because of the Feast but upon Condition that they should not go from Antioch because the Cause was not determined and in case they went from thence before the business was ended they should be liable to greater Punishment Maras and Eulogius stayed but the other two went to Constantinople to accuse Ibas and to procure him other Judges Domnus having called a Synod after the Feast asked the two Priests which staid at Antioch about them and knowing of them that their Fellows were gone to Constantinople declared them false Accusers and that they were justly Excommunicated and that by their flight they had render'd themselves more blame-worthy This Judgment was subscribed by twelve Bishops Nevertheless Dioscorus who Succeeded S. Cyril in 444 revived the old Quarrel between the Egyptian and the Eastern Bishops and endeavoured to destroy the principal Bishops of their party In this enterprize he was asisted and maintain'd by Eutyches a Priest and Abbot of the Monastery of Constantinople who had great interest at Court This Monk was always one of the most Zealous of the Egyptian Party who stuck close to the most rigid Expressions of S. Cyril but carried things higher than he and absolutely refused to say that there were two Natures in Jesus Christ. He accused his Adversaries of being of Nestorius's Opinions and they again reproved them for being Apollinarians The Greatest part of the Eastern Monks were of Eutyches's judgment and accused their Bishops for being Nestorians And because they were in favour at Court and some of these Bishop were suspected to be Nestorians they easily obtain'd an Edicts against them Theodoret suffered more than any Man else by it as we have seen Irenaeus was Deposed but justly They appointed Judges for Ibas and troubled several other Bishops suspected to be Nestorians They laboured also to go further and under the pretence that the Eastern Bishops were defenders of the Memory of Theodorus and Diodorus they would involve than all in the same Condemnation Domnus and the Eastern Bishops opposing this attempt wrote to the Emperor Theodosius that Eutyches revived the Error of Apollinaris That he corrupted the Doctrine of the Church touching the Mystery of the Incarnation asserting That the Humane and Divine Nature of Jesus Christ are but
one and attributing the Sufferings to the Godhead That he Cursed Diodorus and Theodorus with a design to maintain those Errors those two Pillars of the Church who had maintain'd the truth against the Hereticks of their time and had been commended and esteemed by the great Men of their Age. Eutyches to revenge himself upon these his Accusers wrote to the Pope S. Leo that the Error of Eutyches was revived by a private Faction He dare not accuse the Bishop of Antioch and the other Eastern Bishops by name but it is easie to see that he means them Saint Leo commends his Zeal but would not openly declare himself against the Persons whom Eutyches accused not knowing particularly who they were Saint Leo's answer bears date June 1. 448. The Judgment of Eutyches did legally belong to * Bishop of Constantinople Flavian who was his Bishop This Patriarch was engaged for his own Interest to uphold the Eastern Church against the Egyptian because the Bishops of Alexandria contended with him about the Prerogatives and Privileges which Conc. Chalced. Act. 1. p. 150. c. Council of Constantinople Act. 1. he pretended to whereas the Bishop of Antioch and the Eastern Church had yielded to them Wherefore it happened that in the Council assembled at Constantinople Nov. 448. to examine the Sentence given by Florentius Bishop of Sardis Metropolitan of the Province of Lydia against two †John Cossinius Bishops subject to his Jurisdiction Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum brought an Accusation against Eutyches and presented his Petition to the Council Nov. 8. in which he requests that Eutyches might be Summoned before the Synod to answer to such Accusations as he had to make against him alledging that he was ready to prove that he held Heretical Opinions about the Mystery of the Incarnation This Petition being read in the Council Flavian said That this Accusation surprized him but that Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum ought to go to Eutyches and confer with him about his Doctrine and if he found him Heretical in his principles then the Synod might cite him Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum answered That he was heretofore intimate with him That he had admonished him several times but could not work any change in him Flavian urged him several times to speak with him again but he would do nothing but more importuned them to cite Eutyches Whereupon the Council ordered that he should be Summoned and they sent John a Priest and Advocate and Andrew a Deacon to Communicate to him the Petition presented against him and to tell him That he must come to the Council In the Second Action which was on Nov. 12. Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum to free himself from Act. 2. all suspicion of Nestorianism desired that the two first Letters of S. Cyril to Nestorius and his Letter to John Bishop of Antioch might be read Flavian Eusebtus Bishop of Dorylaeum and all the other Bishops approved the Doctrine contained in their Letters and the greatest part of them added that it was conformable to the Faith of the Nicene Council In the third Action held Nov. 15. John and Andrew related to the Council that they had been Act. 3. with Eutyches at his Monastry That they had read to him the Petition presented against him and had given him a Copy of it and had cited him before the Synod but he answered them That he had made a Resolution a long time ago never to go out of his Monastry but to abide in it as in a Tomb That he prayed them to assure the Council that Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum had been his Enemy along time and had invented this Accusation to ruin him That he was ready to consent to the Confession of Faith made by the Fathers assembled at Ephesus and Nice and subscribe their Expressions but if they were mistaken in any thing he would not reprove it nor did he intend to give his approbation of it That he did keep close to the Scripture as being more certain than the Explications of the Fathers That after the Incarnation of the Word he did adore Jesus Christ as God Incarnate and made Man That he read a Book to to them where these things were and afterwards rejected the Propositions of which he was accused and among the rest this that the Word had brought his Flesh from Heaven That he owned that he was perfect God and perfect Man born of the Virgin without having a Flesh consubstantial with ours and that he was made up of two Natures Hypostatically united This Relation of John and Andrew was confirmed by testimony of one Athanasius of Seleucia Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum said to the Council That what he had already related was sufficient to discover the Opinion of Eutyches but he again intreated the Synod to cite him a second time They sent therefore to him two Priests named Mamas and Theophilus giving them an Order in Writing directed to Eutyches in the name of the Synod in which he was Commanded to come and defend himself against the Accusations of Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum and they threatned him if he did not come to judge him according to the severity of the Canons as a Person who was afraid to be convicted and therefore fled from Justice because the excuse which he alledged that he had resolved not to go out of his Monastry was not sufficient the Accusation being of that Nature After the departure of the Priests who carried this Order to Eutyches Eusebius Bishop of Dorylaeum said that this Monk did all he could to make trouble that he had sent into all the Monasteries a form of Faith to have it signed there Abraamius the Priest deposed that Asterius told him that the Abbot Immanuel had received one in the name of Eutyches and because he assured them that he also had sent it to other Monasteries they nominated two Priests and two Deacons to go and get a true information of it in all the Monasteries Mamas and Theophilus whom they had sent to Eutyches being returned reported That being arrived at his Monastry they found the Monks at the Gate and that they told them that they came to speak with their Abbot that as the Deputies of his Bishop and of the Synod they desired to speak with him but the Monks answered that he was Sick That he could not speak with them and that they might tell them the occasion of their coming and what they desired of him That they insisted upon it that they must speak with him in Person and that they had a Letter from the Synod directed to him That these Monks being gone in sent out another Monk called Eleusinius who told them That he was come to them instead of their Abbot who was Sick That they had insisted and demanded whether Eutyches would receive them or not That these words much affrighted these Monks but to pacifie them they bid them not trouble themselves for they brought nothing that need