of Jesus Christ to St. Thomas Happy are they that have not seen and yet have believed Which Words being not spoken by our Saviour till after his Resurrection nor written till a long time after it evidently appears that this Letter is counterfeit The History which is afterwards produced concerning these two Letters and taken from the same Archives is no less fabulous It is reported that Jude the Apostle c That Jude the Apostle who is also called Thomas Thomas the Apostle was not sirnamed Jude but Didymus and Jude the Apostle was not called Thomas which is a farther Proof of the Falshood of this History who is also called Thomas sent Thaddeus the Apostle one of the 72 Disciples to King Agbarus That this Prince being informed that there was a Man in his City that wrought many Miracles and doubting whether he were not the Disciple whom Jesus Christ had promised to send gave orders to one named Tobias to bring him into his Presence And that he had no sooner seen him but his Countenance seeming to him to be Divine he prostrated himself at his Feet to worship him desiring to know whether he were that Disciple whom Jesus Christ had promised to send to cure his Distemper Thaddeus having answered that he was and that if he believed in Jesus Christ he should be saved Agbarus replied I have believed so firmly in him that I included to prâ—… War against the Jews who Crucified him and utterly to destroy that Nation if the fear of the Roman Empire had not deterred me from this Undertaking Certainly the Person whosoever he be that caused this petty Prince of Edessa to utter these Words was endued with very little judgment in ascribing to him a Design so extravagant as this for is it not an egregious piece of folly to imagine that a Prince only of one single City should undertake to maintain a War against a Nation so powerful as that of the Jews and should hope to destroy it to revenge the Death of a Man whom he knew only by hear-say What probability is there that nothing but the fear of the Romans was able to divert him from so rash an Attempt I shall not proceed to make any Reflection on the other Circumstances of this Relation which appear to be no less fabulous than those that we have even now recited I shall only add that the time wherein it is affirmed that those Occurrences happened shews this whole History to be Supposititious They take notice at the end of this Record that these Things were Translated in the 430th Year of the Edessenian Aera now the 430th Year of the Edessenians is the 15th of Tiberius in which the Ancients believed that Jesus Christ died and rose again And we must say according to this Epocha and what we find recorded in the Acts that this happened immediately after our Saviour's Resurrection and that Agbarus and several other Gentiles of Edessa received the Gospel before Cornelius which is plainly contrary to the Acts of the Apostles and consequently we may be certain that this History is false and that these Letters are forged The Authority of Eusebius is not to be regarded in this case since it is evident that he hath too rashly given credit to the Memorials that were transmitted to him taken from the Archives of the Church of Edessa And none can be ignorant that this sort of Records ought not too much to be relied on especially with respect to Histories of such a nature But in regard that these Fables are always augmented in process of time it hath been likewise feigned that Jesus Christ in writing to Agbarus sent him his Picture drawn on an Handkerchief Evagrius is the first that makes mention of this Effigies in Book IV. Chap. 27. of his History relying on the Authority of Procopius who nevertheless takes no notice of this Relation However since the time of Evagrius the Defenders of Image Worship have often cited it and the modern Greeks so firmly believed it that they keep a Festival on the 16th of August in Commemoration thereof Of some Letters attributed to the Virgin Mary THere are several Letters likewise ascribed to the Virgin Mary which being not so ancient as those of Jesus Christ to Agbarus may more easily be proved to be false the Letter of Letters of the Virgin Mary the Virgin Mary to St. Ignatius is supposititious as we shall hereafter take an occasion to shew in discoursing concerning the Epistles of that Saint That to the Florentines published by Canisius as also another which the Inhabitants of Messina pretend to keep in their Possession have more evident Marks of their Falshood and are generally rejected insomuch that there is no necessity to prove them to be Apocryphal Of the Counterfeit Gospels NOthing more clearly evinceth the truth of this Maxim of Holy Scripture That the Father of Lies often changes himself into an Angel of Light than the great number of Books that Counterfeit Gospels have been heretofore forg'd in imitation of the Sacred Writings For as the Holy Ghost hath caused Gospels Acts Epistles and a Revelation to be written so in like manner the Devil to counterfeit the Truth hath procur'd several Gospels Acts Revelations and Epistles to be devis'd by his Ministers which have also been attributed to the Apostles To begin with the Gospels besides the four that are Canonical and true there were in the Primitive Ages of the Church several others that were fictitious and substituted in their room as well by the Hereticks as by some Catholicks Among these last we may reckon the Gospel according to the Egyptians and that according to the Hebrews which though spurious yet have been quoted by Catholick Authors as Works compos'd by the Orthodox The Gospel according to the Egyptians is cited by a QUoted by St. Clemens Stromat Lib. 3. pag. 452. St. Clement cites an Expression of Jesus Christ to Salome taken from this Gospel I am come to destroy the Works of the Woman and by the Woman he understands Concupiscence Moreover in pag. 465 after having produced another passage on the same subject cited by the Heretick Cassianus he replies first that it is not found in the four Gospels that are acknowledged by us and afterward endeavours to apply a good sense to it Clemens Alexandrinus as also by Epiphanius b By St. Epiphanius Haeres 26. The Valentinians likewise made use of this Gospel who declares that the Sabellians made use of this Gospel to confirm their Error because it contain'd divers Mystical Expressions concerning Jesus Christ some whereof might perhaps be applied by them to prove that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost were but one Person The Gospel according to the Hebrews written as it is reported by St. Jerome in the Syriack Tongue with Hebrew Characters is yet more remarkable among the Ancients It is quoted by Hegesippus c By Hegesippus In Eusebius Lib. 4. chap. 22. by
Prayers of those that shall read his Confessions Having set forth in the foregoing Books what he was before his Conversion he sheweth in the Tenth what he was at the time of his writing He finds that his Conscience gave an unquestionable Testimony of his love to God He explains the Reasons that oblige Men to love God reckoning up all the Faculties of his Soul that can lead him to know God especially Memory whereof he makes a wonderful Description He says amongst other things that it serves to teach us many things which entred not into the Mind by the Senses and that it may lift us up to God He occasionally speaks of Happiness and of the Idea that Men have of God afterwards he examineth himself about the three main Passions of Man the love of Pleasures of Knowledge and of Glory He sincerely confesseth what was his disposition with respect to these Passions prescribing at the same time excellent Rules to keep our selves from them Lastly He discovers the knowledge of the true Mediatour and of the Graces which he merited for us The Three last Books are about less sensible Matters He waves the History of his Life to speak of the love which he had for the Sacred Books and of the Knowledge that God had given him of them which to show he undertakes to explain the beginning of Genesis upon which occasion he starts several very subtil Questions In the Eleventh he refuteth those that asked what God was doing before he created the World and how God on a sudden formed the design of creating any thing whereupon he enters into a long Discourse concerning the Nature of Time In the Twelfth Book he treateth of the first Matter He pretends that by the Heavens and the Earth which God is said to have created in the beginning we are to understand spiritual Substances and the shapeless Matter of corporeal things that the Scripture speaking of the Creation of these two sorts of Beings makes no mention of days because there is no time with respect to them He affirms That whatsoever he hath said concerning the World's Creation cannot be denied though the beginning of Genesis were otherwise expounded because these are undoubted Truths He treateth here of the different Explications which may be made of the Holy Scripture affirming That there is sufficient reason to believe that the Canonical Authors foresaw all the Truths that might be drawn from their words and though they had not foreseen these Truths yet the Holy Ghost foresaw them Whence he seems to conclude that we are not to reject any sence that may be given to the holy Scripture provided it is conformable to the Truth At last having admired the Goodness of God who standing in no need of the Creatures had given them not only a Being but also all the Perfections of that Being he discovereth in the last Book the Mystery of the Trinity in the first words of Genesis and even the Personal Property of the Holy Ghost which gives him an admirable opportunity of describing the Actions of Charity in our selves He concludes with a curious Allegory upon the beginning of Genesis and finds in the Creation the System and Oeconomy of whatsoever God hath done for the Establishment of his Church and the Sanctification of Men the only end which he proposed to himself in all his Works St. Augustin placeth the Books of Confessions before those against Faustus which were written about the Year 400 in his Retractations from whence we may conclude that these were both written about the same time After these two which serve as we have said for a Preface to all St. Augustin's Works you find in this first Volume the Books that St. Augustin writ in his Youth before he was a Priest in the same order in which they were written The three Books against the Academici are the first after the Treatise of Beauty and Comeliness which is lost He composed them in the Year 386 in his solitude when he prepared himself for Baptism They are written in imitation of Cicero in the form of a Dialogue and directed to Romanianus his Countryman whom he adviseth to Study Philosophy The dispute beginneth betwixt Licentius Son to Romanianus and Trygetius after them Alypius and St. Augustin begin to speak Having observed in the first Book that the good things of Fortune do not render men happy he exhorts Romanianus to the Study of Wisdom whose sweetness he then tasted He afterwards gives an Account of three Conferences which Licentius and Trygetius had had about Happiness Licentius held with the Academici That to be happy it was enough to seek after the Truth but Trygetius pretended That it was necessary to know it perfectly both being agreed That Wisdom is that which makes Men happy they begin to dispute about the definition of Wisdom Trygetius gives several all disapproved by Licentius who asserts That Wisdom consisted not only in Knowledge but also in the pursuit of the Truth whereupon St. Augustin concludes That since we cannot be happy without knowing and enquiring after the Truth our only application should be to seek for it In the Second Book having again exhorted Romanianus to the Study of Philosophy he sets down three other Conferences wherein Alypius produces the several Opinions of both the Ancient and Modern Academicks And because the latter said That some things were probable though the Truth was not known they laughed at that Opinion it being impossible say they to know whether a thing is like the Truth without knowing the Truth it self And this very thing obligeth Men to enquire the more carefully after likely and probable things according to the Principles of the Academicks The Third Book begins with Reflections upon Fortune St. Augustin shews That the Goods of Fortune are of no use to get Wisdom and that the Wise Man ought at least to know Wisdom refuting withall the Principles both of Cicero and of the other Academicks who affirmed That we know nothing and that nothing ought to be asserted He blames the damnable Maxim of those who permitted Men to follow every thing that seemed probable without being certain of any thing He shews the dangerous Consequences of such Principles and endeavours to prove that neither the ancient Academicks nor Cicero himself were of that Opinion These three Books are written with all imaginable Elegance and Purity The Method and Reasonings are just The Matter treated of is well cleared and made intelligible for all Men it is beautified with agreeable Suppositions and pleasant Stories It may be said That these Dialogues are not much inferior to Tully's for stile but much above them for the exactness and solidity of the Arguments and Notions In his Retractations he findeth fault with several places in them which seemed not to him sufficiently to savour of Christianity but might be born with in a Philosophical Work The Book of a Happy Life or of Felicity is a Work of the same Nature written
That he was ready to be Judged by a Council of Bishops and that in the presence of the most Illustrious Magistrates The Enemies of Theodoret were not satisfied to have accused his Behaviour but they would render his Faith suspected and to this end published in Alexandria that he taught that there were Two Sons of God This obliged him to write his Eighty Second Letter to Eusebius Bishop of Ancyra wherein he declares that he was so far from that Errour that when he discovered some of the Fathers of the Nicene Council to incline to a Division of the Two Natures he was much troubled because he knew that the excessive use they made of it had given occasion to that Errour And for fear addeth he that it should be thought that it is fear which makes me now speak in this manner let those who would inform themselves fully of my Opinion read the Works which I have composed either before the Council of Ephesus or within these Twelve Years last past which if they examine and judge of my Opinions by them they will find that I have no other The Accusation which Theodoret endeavours to clear himself of in this Letter was greedily received by Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria who besides the old Controversie of the Aegyptians had another private Quarrel with Theodoret about the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Alexandria He wrote to Domnus who had succeeded John in the See of Antioch that it was told him that Theodoret Preaching publickly at Antioch had divided the Person of Jesus Christ into Two Theodoret having seen this Letter which was given to him in the Seventh Year of the Pontificate of Domnus in 447 he wrote the Eighty Third Letter to Dioscorus wherein he complains that Dioscorus had given Credit to the Testimony of a few Persons so easily He opposes to their Testimony the infinite number of those who had heard the Sermons which he Preached at Antioch in Twenty Six Years time under Three Arch-bishops without incurring blame from any person for that matter He professes to follow the judgment of the Fathers to defend the Doctrine of the Nicene Council and to acknowledge but One Jesus Christ the Son of God as he did confess but One Father and One Holy Ghost He proves this Truth likewise and shews That tho' there are Two Natures in Jesus Christ there is nevertheless but One Jesus Christ to whom the Proprieties of the Two Natures agree He adds That he hath taken this Doctrine out of the Writings of S. Alexander S. Athanasius and S. Basil and that his Writings make it appear that he made use of the Books of Theophilus and S. Cyril to confute the Errours of those that say That One of the Two Natures hath been changed into the other That he hath written to S. Cyril and that that Saint received his Letters That he hath read and admired his Books against Julian That he wrote to him upon that Subject and that he yet hath the Answer which he made S. Cyril He then desires Dioscorus not to harken to his Calumniators nor to reject him from his Communion and after he hath Cited his Books as Authentick Witnesses of the Purity of his Faith he concludes with this Protestation If any one refuseth to confess that the Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God or says that Jesus Christ our Lord is but a mere Man or divides him into Two he who is the only Son of God and the first Born of every Creature Let him lose all the hope which he hath in God Altho' Theodoret seemed to have fully justified himself by this Letter nevertheless Dioscorus gave not over his Enterprize and instead of rejecting the Calumnies which were so ill grounded he called together his Accusers caused them publickly to pronounce him Accursed and did the same himself When Theodoret heard it he implored the help of other Bishops but particularly Flavian Bishop of Constantinople The Letter which he wrote to him is the Eighty Sixth After he hath related the Attempt of Dioscorus he says that he heard that that Bishop of Alexandria had sent some of his Bishops to Constantinople hoping to raise great Commotions against him but he put his Confidence chiefly in God since he is Assaulted upon the account of the true Faith and next in the protection of Flavian whom he prays to maintain the Orthodox Faith and vindicate the Canons which were slighted For saith he the Fathers of the Council held at Constantinople following the determination of the Nicene Council have distinguished the bounds of Diocesses expresly forbidding the Bishops of one Diocess to eńcroach upon the Rights of another They ordered the Bishop of Alexandria not to concern himself but in Aegypt only and have left to others the Government of their own Diocesses But Dioscorus contemning these Laws boasts that his See is S. Mark 's that he may assume the Rights that do not belong to him We might oppose to him that the Church of Antioch was the See of S. Peter the Prince and Head of the Apostles But we do not regard the Dignity of the See we know and keep within the bounds of Humility which the Apostles have taught us Theodoret says further to engage Flavian on his side that Dioscorus had hated him ever since he consented to the Rules made in the time of Proclus in favour of the See of Constantinople He wrote also Letters to Domnus Bishop of Antioch to the Bishops of Cilicia and to many Officers of the Emperour's Court whom he fills with Complaints We may see upon this subject the Eighty Third Letter and the following to the One Hundred and Tenth But all his endeavours were to no purpose he became every Day more and more odious to the Emperour and the main thing that was sought was an occasion to ruin him This was thought a very fit One to Depose Irenaeus whom he had Ordain'd Bishop of Phoenicia Two Faults were found with that Ordination The first was That Irenaeus was a Nestorian and did not believe that the Virgin ought to be called the Mother of God The other was That he had been Twice Married The Emperour wrote to Domnus to Depose him Theodoret tells him in his Hundred and Tenth Letter that he could not do it without an Offence against God because he had Ordained him pursuant to the Declaration of the Bishops of Phoenicia who had judged him worthy to be a Bishop for his rare Vertues and as to that charge That he had been Twice Married he had passed by the ordinary Rules according to the Example of Alexander Bishop of Antioch who with Acacius Bishop of Beraea had Ordain'd Diogenes a Man Twice Married and of Prailus Bishop of Jerusalem who also had Ordain'd Domnus Bishop of Caesarea altho' he was Twice Married That in fine Proclus had approved the Ordination of Irenaeus and the Bishops of Pontus Palaestine and Cappadocia had acknowledged him and that no Man had ever called in Question
Rome made upon that account by his Order A Dubious Work A Commentary on the seven Penitential Psalms A Manuscript Work A Commentary on St. Matthew's Gospel A Spurious Work A Piece call'd Dictatus Papae BENNO Cardinal Genuine Works that we have Two Books against Pope Gregory VII HUGH Bishop of Die and afterwards Arch-bishop of Lyons Genuine Works Divers Letters to Gregory VII about the Affairs of France which are among those of that Pope Two Letters to the Princess Mathilda against the Election of Pope Victor Two Letters concerning the Instalment of Lambert in the Bishoprick of Arras MANASSES Archbishop of Rheims Genuine Works A Letter to Pope Gregory VII An Apology or Manifesto in his favour THIERY or THEODORIC Bishop of Verdun A Genuine Work A Circular Letter against Pope Gregory VII FRANCO a Philosopher of Liege Works lost A Treatise of the Quadrature of the Circle Certain Treatises on the Holy Scripture One of the Calendar WARIN Abbot of St. Arnulphus at Mets. A Genuine Piece still extant A Letter to John sirnam'd Jeannelin MICHAEL PSELLUS a Senator of Constantinople His Genuine Works A Paraphrase in Verse with a Commentary on the Canticles Certain Questions about the Trinity and the Incarnation A Dialogue concerning the Operation of Demons Other Poetical and Philosophical Works Works that are in Manuscript or lost A Treatise against Eunomius An Epitome of the Pentateuch or Books of Moses Certain Theological Questions Divers Tracts Homilies Letters CONSTANTIN LICHUDES Patriarch of Constantinople Genuine Works His Constitutions and Synodal Decisions JOHN XIPHILIN Patriarch of Constantinople Genuine Works still extant An Homily on the Cross. Certain Decrees about Marriage ALBERIC a Monk of Mount Cassin Works lost A Piece against Berenger A Treatise of the Science of Musick A Book of the Forms of Saluting and Discoursing A Treatise against the Emperor Henry about the Election of Popes Another of the Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Divers Hymns Certain particular Discourses METELLUS Abbot of Tergensee Genuine Pieces Quirinales or Eclogues in honour of St. Quirinus DESIDERIUS Abbot of Mount Cassin and afterwards Pope under the Name of Victor III. A Genuine Piece A Dialogue about the Miracles of St. Benedict WILLIAM Abbot of St. Arnulphus at Mets. Genuine Works still extant Seven Letters and a Prayer ROBERT de TOMBALENE Abbot of St. Vigor at Bayeux Genuine Works A Commentary on the Canticles printed under the name of Radulphus Abbot of Fontanelle A Preface to that Commentatry MARIANUS SCOTUS A Genuine Work A Chronicle from the Creation of the World to A. D. 1083. LAMBERT of ASCHAMBURG a Monk of Hirsfeld A Genuine Work An Historical Chronology from the Creation of the World to A. D. 1077. ANSELM Bishop of Lucca Genuine Works Two Books against Guibert the Antipope A Collection of Sentences to shew that Kings are not the lawful Proprietors of Church-Revenues A Spurious Work A Collection of Canons THEOPHYLACT Archbishop of Acris Genuine Works still extant Commentaries on the Four Gospels on the Acts of the Apostles on St. Paul's Epistles and on four of the lesser Prophets LXXV Letters A Discourse on the Cross. An Instruction for Constantin Poâ—phyrogenneâ—a Manuscript Works Commentaries on the rest of the lesser Prophets A Treatise of the Controversies between the Greeks and Latins A Discourse to the Emperor Alexis Comâ—â—nus FOLCARD a Monk of St. Bâ—rthin Genuine Pieces The Lives of St. Beâ—thin and St. Omer GERARD Abbot of St. Vincent at Laon. A Genuine Piece The Life of St. Adelard WILLERAM Abbot of St. Peter at Mersburg A Genuine Work still extant An Epithalamium on the Marriage of JESUS CHRIST and the Church URSIO Abbot of Aumont A Genuine Work The History of the Life and Actions of Saint Marcelles Pope AMATUS a Bishop in Italy Works lost An History of the Normans Poems on St. Peter and St. Paul in commendation of Pope Gregory VII on the devout Prayers of the Rational and on the Heavenly Jerusalem ADAM Canon of Bremen Genuine Workâ— An History of the Church of Bremen A Treatise of the Situation of the Northern Kingdoms JOAN THRACESIUS SCYLITZES Curopalata A Genuine Work A Continuation of Theophanes's Chronicle from A. C. 813. to 1081. ENGELBERT Archbishop of Trier A Genuine Piece A Letter to Pope Gregory VII CONRAD Bishop of Utrecht A Genuine Piece still extant An Apology against Pope Gregory VII WENERIC Bishop of Verceil A Genuine Piece A Letter written in the Name of Thierry Bishop of Verdun to Pope Gregory VII ULRIC a Monk of Cluny Genuine Works Constitutions of the Abbey of Cluny BERNARD a Monk of Corbie in Saxony A Work that is lost A Tract against the Emperor Henry IV. WALERAN Bishop of Naumburg A Genuine Piece A Letter to S. Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury URBAN II. Pope Genuine Works A Collection of XXI Letters Another Collection of XXXV Letters Another Collection of divers Letters about the Affair of Lambert Bishop of Arras DEUS-DEDIT Cardinal A Manuscript Work A Collection of Canons LAMBERT Bishop of Arras Genuine Pieces that we have Five Letters RAYNOLD Archbishop of Rheims Genuine Pieces Certain Letters which are inserted in the Second and Fifth Tomes of the Spicilegium by Father Luke Dachery NICOLAS sirnam'd the Grammarian Patriarch of Constantinople His Genuine Pieces A Letter to the Emperor Alexis Comnenus Decrees about Marriage SIMEON the Young Abbot of Xerocerce His Genuine Works XXXIII Orations A Treatise of Piety call'd Hymns of the Divine Love CCXXVIII Maxims Two small Treatises viz. one about the Impressions made by the Elements on the Bodies and Minds of Men and the other of the manner of God's Omnipresence Works in Manuscript or lost Divers Homilies and Hymns St. ANSELM Archbishop of Canterbury His Genuine Works still extant Two Treatises call'd Monologia and Proslogia A Reply to Gaunilon A Treatise of Faith the Trinity and the Incarnation Another of the Procession of the Holy Ghost Another of the fall of the Devil Another shewing why God was made Man Another of Original Sin Another of Truth of the Will and its Freedom Another of the Agreement between Free-will and Predestination A Letter to Waleran Bishop of Naumburg about the use of unleaven'd Bread A Treatise of the Restauration of Clerks who have committed Sins of Uncleanness Another of Marriages between near Relations Another of the Will of God Another of Peace and Concord Another of a Grammarian XVI Homilies An Exhortation to the Contempt of Temporal Things An Admonition to a dying Person XXI Meditations LXXIV Prayers Four Books of Letters to which are annex'd two others concerning the Eucharist Spurious Works A Poem on the Contempt of the World The Psalter of the Virgin Mary A Dialogue about Divinity Another concerning the Passion of JESUS CHRIST A Treatise of the Dimensions of the Cross. Another of the Conception of the Virgin Mary Another of the Festival of her Conception Another on the same Subject The History of the Passion of St. Guigner A Tract about the
suddenly expire and that the Law of the Spirit a great deal more perfect would succeed it This Doctrine spread among a great many Spiritual Men and one of â—hem made a Book to establish it to which he gave the Title of The Eternal Gospel This Piece The Book call'd the Eternal Gospel appear'd about the beginning of this Century but what is the Author's Name is not known Matthew Paris ascribes it to the Order of the Jacobines Aimeric to John the Seventh General of the Franciscans Let the Case be how it will 't is certain that a great many Monks approv'd of this Work and that some of them would have Taught this Doctrine Publickly in the University of Paris in the Year 1254 but the Bishops oppos'd it And the Book of the Eternal Gospel was Condemn'd to be The Condemnation of that Book Burnt in the Year 1256 by Pope Alexander IV. who at the same time Proscrib'd those who maintain'd the Doctrine of that Book as William of Saint Amour and Ptolemey of Lucca assure us All the Errors of this Book turn upon this Principle That the Law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was The Errors of that Book imperfect in comparison of the law of the Spirit which was to succeed it For according to this Book the Law of the Gospel was to last no longer than Twelve hundred and sixty Years and consequently was upon expiring The Author of that Book advanc'd besides this several particular Errors viz. That none but Spiritual Men had the true Knowledge of the Scriptures That only those who went Bare-foot were capable of Preaching the Spiritual Doctrine That the Jews tho' adhering to their Religion shall be loaded with good things and deliver'd from their Enemies That the Greeks were more Spiritual than the Latines and that God the Father should Save them That the Monks were not oblig'd to suffer Martyrdom in Defence of the Worship of Jesus Christ That the Holy Ghost receiv'd something of the Church as Jesus Christ as Man had receiv'd of the Holy Ghost That the Active Life had lasted till Abbot Joachim but that since his time it was become useless That the Contemplative Life had begun from his time and that it should be more perfect in his Successors That there should be an Order of Monks by far more perfect which should flourish when the Order of the Clergy was perished That in this Third State of the World the Government of the Church would be wholly Committed to those Monks who should have more Authority than the Apostles ever had That those Preachers persecuted by the Clergy should go over to the Infidels and might excite them against the Church of Rome These are some of the Extravagancies which the Authors relate as extracted out of the Book of the Eternal Gospel The Maintainers of this Work are call'd Joachites or rather Joachimites in the Council of Arles 1260 The Condemnation of the Joachimites in the Council of Arles 1260. wherein their Doctrine was Examin'd and Condemn'd in these Terms Among the False Prophets who appear at this time none are more Dangerous than those who taking for the Foundation of their Folly several Ternaries in part true and making false Applications of them establish'd a very pernicious Doctrine and wickedly affecting to do Honour to the Holy Ghost do impudently derogate from the Redemption of Jesus Christ by aiming to include the Time of the Reign of the Son and his Works within a certain Number of Years after which the Holy Ghost shall Act As if the Holy Ghost were to Act with more Power and Majesty for the future than he has done yet since the beginning of the Church These Joachites by a Chimerical Concatenation of certain Ternaries maintain That the time of the Holy Ghost shall for the future be inlighten'd with a more perfect Law laying down for the Foundation of their Error this Holy and Coelestial Ternary of the Ineffable Persons of the Ever-blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost and are for establishing their Error on the Basis of all these Truths They add to this Sovereign Truth other Ternaries by asserting That there shall be Three States or Orders of Men who have had or shall have each their proper Season The First is that of Marry'd Persons which was in Repute in the time of the Father that is under the Old Testament The Second is that of Clerks which has been in esteem in the time of Grace by the Son in this Age of the World The Third is the Order of the Monks which shall be glorify'd in time with a larger measure of Grace which shall be given by the Holy Ghost Three sorts of Doctrines answer to these Three States the Old Testament the New and the Eternal Gospel or the Gospel of the Holy Ghost Lastly They distinguish the whole Duration of the World into Three Ages The time of the Spirit of the Law of Moses which they attribute to the Father the time of the Spirit of Grace which they attribute to the Son and which has lasted 1260. Years and the time of a more Ample Grace and of unveil'd Truth which belongs to the Holy Ghost and of which Jesus Christ speaks in the Gospel when he saies When that Spirit of Truth shall come he will teach you all Truth In the First State Men liv'd according to the Flesh in the Second between Flesh and Spirit and in the Last which shall endure to the end of the World they shall live according to the Spirit The Consequence which they draw from this Fiction of Ternaries is That the Redemption of Jesus Christ has no more place and that the Sacraments are Abolish'd which the Joachites have almost the Impudence to Advance by asserting That all Types and Figures shall be Abolish'd at this time and that the Truth shall appear all naked without the Veil of Sacraments Maxims these are which ought to be Abominated by all Christians who have Read the Holy Fathers and who firmly believe that the Sacraments of the Church are visible Signs and Images of Invisible Grace under the Elements of one of which the Son of God abides as he has promised in his Church to the End of the World This Council adds That tho' this Doctrine had been Condemn'd a while ago by the Holy See in its Censure of the Book of The Eternal Gospel yet because several Persons maintain'd it under a pretence That the Books which serv'd as a Foundation to that Error had not been Examin'd nor Condemn'd viz. the Book of Concordances and the other Books of the Joachites which till then remain'd undiscuss'd because they lay conceal'd in the Hands of some Monks and began then to appear in the World and to Infatuate the Minds of many it Condemns and Disapproves of those Works and prohibits the making use of them under pain of Excommunication In the Year 1240 William Bishop of Paris having Conven'd all the Regent Doctors of the University
The Propositions Condemned by William of Paris Condemn'd Ten Propositions which had been Taught as Matthew Paris observes by the Professors of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders who willing to Dispute with too much Subtilty and to dive too far into Mysteries were faln into Error by the just Judgment of God saies that Author to whom the Wisdom and Simplicity of a firm Faith is more acceptable than too great Subtilty in Divinity it being more Safe and Meritorious to receive and believe with Simplicity what the Fathers have Taught than to adhere to that which must be Prov'd and Discover'd by Humane Reason The Ten Propositions are these 1. That the Essence of God shall not be seen by Men or Angels 2. That the Divine Essence tho' the same in the Father Son and Holy Ghost yet as it is that Essence and the Form 't is one in the Father and the Son and not in the Holy Ghost 3. That the Holy Ghost proceeds not from the Son since he is Love and Unity but only from the Father 4. That there are several Eternal Truths which are not God himself 5. That the first moment the Creation and the Passion are neither the Creator nor the Creature 6. That the Wicked Angel had been Wicked from the first instant of his Creation 7. That the Souls in Bliss and even that of the Blessed Virgin her self shall not be in the Empyreal Heaven with the Angels but in the Crystalline Heaven 8. That an Angel may be in many Places at one and the same time and even every where 9. That he who is endu'd with better Natural Parts shall have more Grace than another 10. That the Devil had no Support to keep him from falling nor Adam to keep in his State of Innocence The Assembly after they had Censur'd these Propositions declar'd That Men ought firmly and without doubt to Beleive 1. That the Substance Essence and Nature of God shall be seen by the Holy Angels and the Blessed Souls 2 That there is but only one Substantial Essence and only one Nature in the Father Son and Holy Ghost even as it is the Form 3. That the Holy Ghost as Unity and as Love proceeds from the Father and the Son 4. That there is but only one Eternal Truth which is God and that no other has been from all Eternity 5. That the first Moment the Creation and the Passion are Creatures 6. That the Bad Angels have been Good and became Bad by their Sin 7. That the Souls of the Blessed and their Bodies shall be in the Empyreal Heaven as well as the Holy Angels 8. That the Angels are in a distinct Place so that they cannot be in two Places at once much less every where 9. That Grace and Glory are granted according to the Order and Predestination of God 10. That the Wicked Angels and Adam had Support to keep them from Falling tho' not sufficient to carry them on into Perfection About the same time William Professor of the Franciscan Friars having Advanc'd in a Sermon The Recantation of William the Franciscan Preach'd on the Festival of St. John Baptist in the Church of his Monastery several Propositions about Free Will and Free Grace was oblig'd to Retract the two following in an Assembly of the Doctors of Divinity of Paris 1. Free Will has a Natural Power to receive Grace but not an Effective or Co-operating Power for the entertaining of Grace 2. He who is Damn'd has never been in a State of Grace but has been always an Ishmael or a Judas never a Saint John In the Year 1270 in December Stephen Templar Bishop of Paris Condemn'd other Propositions Propositions Condemn'd by Stephen Templar Bishop of Paris Taught by several Professors in Philosophy and Divinity of the University of Paris which are Thirteen in Number 1. That the Understanding of all Men is one and the same in Number 2. That this Proposition Homo intelligit is false and improper 3. That the Will chuses and wills by necessity 4. That all Sublunary things are subjected to the Influences of the Heavenly Bodies 5. That the World is Eternal 6. That there never was a first Man 7. That the Soul of Man as being the Form of him is Corruptible 8. That the separated Soul does not suffer Eternal Fire 9. That Free Will is a Passive not an Active Power and that 't is led by the Sensitive Appetite 10. That God has no knowledge of singular things 11. That he knows nothing Externally without himself 12. That the Actions of Men are not Govern'd by Providence 13. That God cannot give Immortality or Incorruptibility to a Mortal and Corruptible Creature The Bishop of Paris order'd the Rector of the University not to suffer that Questions of Faith should be Disputed in the Philosophy-Schools and the University provided against it by a Statute made April the First 1271 by which it declar'd That all those who after they have propos'd Questions which may concern Faith and Philosophy shall Decide them against the Faith or shall maintain those Propositions true according to the Principles of Philosophy tho' contrary to the Faith shall be expell'd the University Notwithstanding this Maxim That one and the same thing may be true according to Philosophy and false according to Faith spreading it self The same Bishop being admonished by Pope John XXI forbad it in the Year 1277 and Condemn'd a great many Errors which they took the liberty to maintain under this Pretence as if there might be two Truths one according to Philosophy and another according to Faith He likewise Condemn'd a Book call'd Of Love or Of the God of Love and some Writings of Geomancy Necromancy and Witchcraft CHAP. IX An Account of the Sects of the Vaudois and Albigenses and other Hereticks Of their Errors Condemnation Adversaries of the Inquisitions Croisades and Wars Rais'd against them ABout the Year 1160. Peter Valdo a Rich Merchant of Lions being in an Assembly of his Brethren The Rise of the Sect of the Vaudois was so sensibly affected at the sudden Death of one of them that he took upon him a Resolution of altering his way of Living and explaining the Words of Jesus Christ against Riches in a Literal Sense he distributed all his Goods to the Poor of the City to make a Profession of Voluntary Poverty and to revive as he pretended the way of Living among the Apostles Several Persons having follow'd his Example they Form'd a Sect of People whom they call'd the Vaudois or Waldenses from the Name of their first Founder The Poor of Lions because of the Poverty of which they made Profession Leonists from the Name of the City of Lions and Insabbates upon the Account of certain Shoes or Sandals which they wore cut on the Top to shew their bare Feet in imitation of the Apostles as they suppos'd Valdo having some Learning explain'd to them the New Testament in the Vulgar Tongue He Instructed them so well
Father and the Son being a matter decided was no more liable to dispute nor debate The Greek Deputies proposed that at the least the Greeks be left at liberty to continue in their same Judgment it was replied they could not dispense with it because there was but one Faith in the Church and there was propounded to them an easie way of Agreement viz. That the four Patriarchs should depute some Persons of note in the West with sufficient Power to confer with such as the Pope should nominate not to dispute but to be instructed in the Truth and to remove their Scruple That for the Meeting of a General Council it was to no purpose neither could it be effected especially at this Juncture Barlaam return'd That though the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son went for currant truth among the Latines the Greeks notwithstanding were in a doubt of his Proceeding from the Son and that they could not be convinced herein but by the way of discussion that this was ever practised in the Church that if it were refused them they should suspect the Latines distrusted the goodness of their Cause That General Councils had ever been Useful and done the Church credit In fine he propounded to make a Re-union and leave both Parties free to hold what they pleased as to this Question to oblige the Greeks to grant the Church of Rome the Honours which the ancient Patriarchs had allowed and which were determined by the Laws of the Emperors and by the Canons of the Holy Fathers and that the Latines on their part should give way to allow to the Church and Empire of Constantinople the Rights they enjoy by ancient Custom by the Laws and by the Canons He concludes with demanding of Succours The Pope denied him for fear the Greeks when strengthened and raised by the Holy See and by the Catholick Princes of Europe should afterwards desert them as they had done before Barlaam before his departure delivered a fresh Memorial to the Pope wherein he set forth That it was impossible to send Deputies from the East as he demanded because whatever good Design the Emperor might have to settle the Union he durst not discover it and that the Patriarch of Constantinople could not send Legates without consulting the other Patriarchs which he could not do by reason of the Wars and that otherwise he was not certain the other Patriarchs would consent to it he added a Promise that notwithstanding he would do his utmost This Project had no issue and things remained in Greece in the posture they were in as to the Latines Andronicus being Dead in the Year 1341. the Empress to strengthen her self against Cantacuzenus Projects for Union under Cantacuzenus writ to Pope Clement VI. that if she were able to conquer her Enemies she would embrace the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome The Pope commended her Design exhorted her to persist in it and promised her Succours Cantacuzenus sent some time after George Spanopulus Master of his Wardrobe and Sigerus Praetor of the People in Quality of Ambassadors to whom he joined a Latine named Francis a Friend of the Pope's giving them in Charge to remove any Prejudice he might have against this Prince and to demand Aid against the Infidels Clement VI gave these Ambassadors a kind Reception and sent with them two Bishops one of the Oâ—… of the Grey-Friars and the other of the Order of Friars-Preachers to treat of the Union They agreed with the Emperor that the Pope should call a Council that he should give the Emperor notice of the time and place and that the Emperor should call the Patriarchs together to the intent they might send Deputies thither The Pope accepted this Proposal but he wrote to the Emperor that he could not put it in Execution suddenly because of the Wars in Italy Câ—…zenus gave him Thanks for his good Intentions and intreated him to do what was possible for the assembling of this Council but the Pope died and it was no more mention'd In the Year 1369. the Emperor John Palaeologus seeing himself hard beset on all sides by the The Union of John Palaeologus Turks made a Voyage into Italy to demand Succours of the Christian Princes in Europe He was well received there and repaired to Rome where Pope Urban V. came to meet him on the 13th of October and on the 18th of the same Month he made a Profession of Faith which he Signed with his Hand and Sealed with his own Seal in the presence of Five Cardinals and other Witnesses to the end he might be received into Communion whereby he acknowledged the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son the Pains of Purgatory Prayers for the Dead the Vision of Souls purged from all Sin soon after Death the Seven Sacraments the Validity of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist offered with Unleavened Bread the change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST the validity of Second Third and Fourth Marriages the Primacy of the Church of Rome over the whole Catholick Church given with full Power by JESUS CHRIST to â—t Peter to whom the Pope of Rome is Successor to whom recourse ought to be had in all Causes that concern the Church to whom all Churches and all Bishops owe Obedience and Submission who hath the fulness of Power c. He promises and engages by Oath upon the Holy Gospels inviolably to hold this Doctrine and utterly renounces the Schism Notwithstanding this Act of Submission John Palaeologus drew not much Assistance from the Western Princes but was Arrested by the Venetians for the Payment of his Debts and was not released till his Son Manuel had discharged them This latter coming to the Empire went also to the West about the end of this Century there to demand Succours against Bajazet who had laid Siege to Constantinople but he in vain went over Italy France England and Germany and could obtain but very little Aid from the French King insomuch that he not only rejected the Opinion of the Latines but also wrote against them about the Procession of the Holy Ghost The Greeks had likewise in the Fourteenth Century Disputes among them upon Points of The Contests between the Bâ—rlaamites and Palamites Doctrine which were pushed on with great heat on both Sides The Heads of the two Parties were Barlaam and Palamas The first was a Monk of Calabria Learned and Cunning who being come to Constantinople buoyed up by the Authority of the Emperor the young Andronicus undertook the Monks stiled Hesicasts or Quietists examined their Method of Prayer and having therein observed things he did not like he writ against them and accused them of reviving the Errors of the Euchites and the Messalianists giving them a new Name of Omphalo Psychi that is to say Navellists because as we have noted in speaking of Simeon of Xeroxerce one of the
with the Catholick Church nor Profession be made of believing in the Roman Church as one believes in the Catholick Church Thus you see what he offers in the Treatise of the Primacy set forth by Salmasius But he destroys these Principles in his Letters which he wrote to the Greeks while he was in the West for he there maintain'd that every Church ought to be Subject to the Church of Rome and her Bishop who hath received his Ordination from JESUS CHRIST that his Decrees ought to be consider'd as the Divine Scriptures that we owe them a blind Obedience that it belongs to him to correct all other Bishops and to examine their Judgments and to confirm them or make them void that he has right to ordain other Patriarchs that St. Peter received this Primacy from JESUS CHRIST that his Successors have ever enjoyed it that the Schism of the Greeks took beginning but Four Hundred Years ago that since this time the Greek Church is fallen to decay and sensible she is reduced to the last Extremity that the Latines cannot be accused of Heresie for using Wafers nor for holding the Procession of the Holy Ghost seeing they follow in it the Opinion of the ancient Doctors of their Church and the Practice of their Ancestors and that the Greeks who obstinately assert that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from the Father are not only Schismaticks but also Hereticks seeing they deny a Truth grounded upon the Holy Scriptures and on the Tradition of the Fathers GREGORY ACINDYNUS followed not the example of Barlaam in his Union with the Latines Gregorius Acindynus a Greek Monk but remain'd concealed in Greece continually writing against the Palamites Gretser has set forth two Books of Acindynus concerning the Essence and Operation of God written against Palamas Gregoras and Philotheus printed at Ingolstadt in the Year 1626. Allatius has published in his Graecia Orthodoxa i. e. Orthodox Greece a Poem in Iambick Verse made by Acindynus against Palamas and two Fragments against the same in one of which he makes mention of Five Volumes which he wrote against Barlaam to defend the Monastick Discipline of the Greeks The Works of GREGORY PALAMAS which are extant follow Two Prayers upon the Transfiguration Gregory Palamas Archbishop of Thessalonica of our Lord wherein he explains his Doctrine of the Light which appear'd on Mount Tabor that it was Uncreated and is not of the Essence of God set out in Greek and Latin by Father Combefisius in his Addition to the Bibliotheca Patrum A Prosopopoeia which contains two Declamations one of the Soul against the Body which she accuses of Intemperance and Disobedience and the other of the Body which defends it self against the Soul together with the Sentence given by a third Party set forth in Greek by Turnebus printed at Paris in the Year 1553. and in Latin in the last Bibliotheca Patrum Two Discourses of the Procession of the Holy Ghost against the Latines printed at London The Confutation of the Expositions of Johannes Veccus on the Procession of the Holy Ghost set forth in Greek and Latin together with the Answers of Cardinal Bessarion by Arcudius and printed at Rome in 1630. He made a great many Works for the Defence of his Opinions whereof divers are cited by Manuel Calecas and by other Greeks which wrote against him and among others A Treatise of Divine Participation A Catalogue of Absurdities which follow from the Opinion of Barlaam Dialogues Letters Discourses c. of which the Extracts are to be seen in Manuel Calecas There is in the Library of Ausburgh a Treatise in MS. of Palamas on the Transfiguration of our Lord more large than the Prayers beforementioned The other Authors who have written for or against Palamas shall be inserted in the Succession of Greek Authors of this Century which we proceed to recite according to the Order of the times NICEPHORUS the Son of Callistus Xanthopylus a Monk of Constantinople a studious and laborious Nicephorus Callistus a Greek Monk Man undertook under the Empire of Andronicus the elder to Compose a New Ecclesiastical History which he dedicated to that Prince it was divided into Twenty three Books began at the Birth of JESUS CHRIST and ended at the Death of the Emperor Leo the Philosopher that is to say at the Year 911. we have no more than the Eighteen first Books which end with the Emperor Phocas that is to say in the Year of our Lord 610. He collected his History out of Eusebius Socrates Sozomen Theodoret Evagrius and other good Authors but he has mixed it with a great many Fables and has faln into many Mistakes the style is not disagreeable and is Correct enough for his time The only Copy of this History which was in the Library of Matthias King of Hungary at Buda was taken by a Turk and Sold at an Auction in Constantinople where it was bought up by a Christian and after carried to the Library of the Emperor at Vienna where it is at this present Langius has translated it into Latin printed at Basil in 1553. at Antwerp in 1560. at Paris in 1562. and 1573. and at Francfort in 1588. and Fronto Ducaeus hath since published it in Greek and Latin printed at Paris in the Year 1630. Father Labbe has set out a Catalogue of the Emperors and Patriarâ—… of Constantinople collected by Nicephorus in his Preliminary Treatise of the Byzantine History printed at Paris in 16â—8 and there was printed at Basil in 1536. An Abridgment of the Scripture in Iambick Verse which aâ—… bears the Name of Nicephorus There is exâ—… under the Name of ANDRONICUS of Constantinople a long Dialogue between a Andronicus the Elder a Greek Emperor Jew and a Câ—…n wherein the Christian proves the principal Points of the Religion of JESUS CHRIST by Quotations out of the Old Testament This Work is published in Latin in the Translation of Liveneius by Stuart and printed at Ingolstadt in the Year 1616. and in the Bibliothecis Patrum It is doubtful who is the Author but the time is certain for the Author counts 1255. Years from the Captivity of the Jews which reckoning since the taking of Jerusalem by Titus fall in the Year 1527. from JESUS CHRIST which makes it appear that Liveneius is deceived in ascribing this Work to Euthymius Zigabenus who died before that time The Politick Verses which he found in the Front of the Book seem to intimate that this Andronicus was of the Family of the Commeni but one may likewise understand them otherwise and perhaps not much strain his Faith The Greek Original is in the Library of the Duke of Bavaria where also are to be found other Dialogues which â—…ry the Name of Andronicus the Emperor viz. A Dialogue between the Emperor and a Cardinal concerning the Procession of the Holy Ghost a Dispute of the Emperor 's with one Peter an Armenian Doctor a Treatise of the two Natures in JESUS CHRIST
Venice to take up some Gallies there After he had said this he would have given a Writing to the Emperor who refus'd to receive it The Pope being angry at this Refusal withdrew but he caus'd tell the Emperor by the Cardinal Julian that after the Affair was concluded he might return that he would defray his Charges as far as Venice and give him assistance to go to Constantinople The Greek Prelats having examin'd a-new the Articles propos'd by the Latins found them reasonable and pass'd even the Article of Purgatory On the 17th of June the Emperor call'd together the Greek Prelats who were all found to be of the same Opinion about the Union except Mark of Ephesus who remain'd unmoveable The next Sunday they examin'd the Privileges of the Pope and approv'd them all adding to them two Conditions First That the Pope could not Call an Oecumenical Council without the Emperor and the Patriarchs Secondly That in Case of an Appeal from the Judgment of the Patriarchs the Pope could not call the Cause to Rome but he must send Judges to sit in the Places where the Fact is committed The Pope being unwilling to pass these two Articles the Emperor was ready to break off the whole Negotiation but the Greek Prelats some Days after drew up the Article concerning the Pope in these Words As to the Pope's Supremacy we confess That he is the High-Priest and the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Pastor and Teacher of all Christians who governs the Church of God saving the Privileges and Rights of the Eastern Patriarchs viz. of Constantinople who is next after the Pope and then of Alexandria of Antioch and lastly of Jerusalem This Project was agreed to by the Pope and Cardinals and all Parties consented to labour from the next Day in composing the Decree of Union The first Difficulty which presented it self was to fix upon the Name that should be put at the Head the Latins would have it to be that of the Pope and the Emperor pretended to the contrary that it should be his At last it was order'd That the Pope's Name should be put there but then it should be added with the Consent of the Emperor the Patriarch of Constantinople and the other Patriarchs There was another Difficulty about the manner of expressing the Pope's Privileges The Latins would have it put thus that he should enjoy them as was determin'd in Scripture and the Writings of the Saints This Expression pleas'd not the Emperor for says he If any Saint has made honorary Complements in a Letter to the Pope shall this be taken for a Privilege And therefore he said That he would not pass this Article as it was thus express'd The Pope consented but with Difficulty that it should be amended and that in stead of saying according to the Writings of the Saints it should be put according as was contain'd in the Canons The Archbishop of Russia and Bessarion would have an Anathema pronounc'd against those who did not approve this Decree but the Archbishop of Trebizonde and the Protosyncelle oppos'd it and the Emperor was of their Opinion At last all the Words of the Decree having been for a long time weigh'd and examin'd on both sides it was fairly written out in Greek and Latin and a Day was set for Signing it and then concluding solemnly the Union The manner of expressing this Decree is as follows The Title of it is The Definition The Decreâ— of Union between the Greeks and the Latins of the Holy Oecumenical Council celebrated at Florence of Eugenius the Servant of the Servants of God to serve for a perpetual Monument with the Consent of our dear Son John Palaeologus the Illustrious Emperor of the Greeks and of those who supply the place of our most venerable Brethren the Patriarchs and of the other Prelats representing the Greek Church The Preface is a kind of an Hymn which contains the joyful Thoughts and Thanksgivings for the Union of the two Churches after which the Definition is express'd in these Words The Greeks and Latins being Assembled in this Holy Oecumenical Council have us'd all Care to examine with the greatest exactness possible the Article which concerns the Holy Spirit and after the Testimonies of Holy Scripture and the Passages of Greek and Latin Fathers were related whereof some import that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and others that he proceeds from the Father by the Son it was acknowledg'd That they had all the same Sense tho' they make use of divers Expressions That the Greeks by saying that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father did not intend to exclude the Son but in regard the Greeks thought that the Latins by affirming The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son admitted of two Principles and two Spirations therefore they abstain from saying that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son The Latins on the contrary affirm'd That by saying the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son they had no design to deny that the Father was the Fountain and Principle of the whole Divinity viz. of the Son and of the Holy Spirit nor to pretend that the Son does not receive from the Father that wherein the Holy Spirit proceeds from him nor lastly to admit two Principles or two Spirations but that they did acknowledge there was one only Principle and one only Procession of the Holy Spirit as they had always held And forasmuch as these Expressions came all to one and the same true Sense they did at last agree and conclude the following Union with unanimous consent Therefore in the Name of the Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost by the Advice of this Holy Oecumenical Council Assembled at Florence we Define that the truth of this Faith be believ'd and receiv'd of all Christians and that all profess that the Holy Spirit is eternally from the Father and the Son that he receives his Substance and his Subsisting Being from the Father and from the Son and that he proceeds from these two eternally as one only Principle and by one only Procession declaring That the Holy Doctors and Fathers who say That the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father by the Son have no other Sense which they discover by this That the Son is as the Father according to the Greeks the Cause and according to the Latins the Principle of the Subsistence of the Holy Spirit and by this That the Father has Communicated to the Son in his Generation all that he has except that he is the Father and also has given him from all Eternity that wherein the Holy Spirit proceedeth from him We define also That this Explication and of the Son was added lawfully and justly to the Creed to clear up the Truth and not without necessity We declare also That the Body of Jesus Christ is truly consecrated in Bread-Corn whether it be Leaven'd or Unleaven'd and that the Priests
and that it was Authoriz'd in some Places by an Ancient Custom He answers That no Custom nor Prescription ought to be alledg'd against the Law of God the Holy Decrees of Councils the Commands of the Holy Fathers and against Decency and Good Manners He refutes also the excuse which some alledge who would defend this Usage We do not say they sell the Orders it is not for Orders that the Money is given but for the Letters the Seal and the Notary These says he are Fictions and not Truths for it often happens that those who refuse to take the Letters to shun this Simony have nevertheless been oblig'd to give the Mony to be Ordain'd what say I to be Ordain'd Their Names are not so much as set down in the Catalogue of those who are to receive Orders unless they pay what is demanded of them Whether this turn to the profit of the Bishop or his Secretary God is witness and the Secretary may be also But suppose that this turn to the profit of the Secretary is it just that the Bishop should pay to him anothers Mony and among so many Officers cannot he maintain a Secretary at his own Charges Besides that it is expresly forbidden in the Canons to take any thing not so much as for the Writing which excludes all kind of pretence In fine he affirms that this Abuse is the Fountain of all the Disorders that are in the Church for whence says he comes the Indevotion of the People the Contempt of Priests the Abolishing of the Rights and Liberties of the Church but because it is full of contemptible Persons and unworthy of their Ministration Whence comes it to pass that an infinite number of ignorant Persons are admitted to the Priesthood who understand no Latin and scarce can Read and who in Repeating or Singing the Prayers know not whether they Bless or Curse the Lord and so many others of bad Morals who live in all sorts of Debauchery The Bishops are the chief Cause of these Disorders because they admit to Orders indifferently all sorts of Persons without examining their Learning or their Manners and they are satisfy'd with punishing them in their Purse without endeavouring to reform their Faults And after all this can any one wonder that the Ecclesiastical State should be trampled upon despis'd hated afflicted oppress'd robb'd and Persecuted These are the words which Clemangis makes use of to exaggerate the Disorders of the Ecclesiasticks in his time which thanks be to Heaven to the Decrees of Holy Councils and chiefly to that of Trent and to the Pastoral Vigilance of our Bishops are now Corrected and Reform'd in our Age which abounds with Ecclesiasticks of singular Learning and extraordinary Piety The Collection of Clemangis's Letters contains 137. all Written with much Elegance and Chastity and full of Christian Moral and Politick Instructions of the Descriptions of Vices and Vertues of Draughts of History of Critical Questions of wholsom Advices and Complements The most considerable with reference to Ecclesiastical Matters are those which were written about the Schism and about the State of the Church viz. the first address'd to King Charles VI. wherein he exhorts him in a most Pathetical manner to labour for the Reformation of the Church and the Extirpation of Schism The second address'd to Pope Benedict XIII lately chosen written with a great deal of Art upon the same Subject The third wherein he makes an Apology for the former The thirteenth address'd to Benedict about the Inconveniences of the Substraction The fifteenth to John Gerson about the danger in which the Church was The seventeenth to King Charles VI. to dissuade him from the Substraction which is very long and eloquent The twenty ninth address'd to Peter of Ailly Bishop of Cambray about the Afflictions of the Church The fortieth address'd to Renald of Fountains to justifie That he was not the Author of the Letter which Benedict sent into France for Excommunicating the King and the Kingdom The forty second to the University of Paris upon the same Subject The forty third to Renald of Fountains to clear himself of some other things which he was accus'd of writing in Letters intercepted The forty fourth forty fifth and forty sixth about the Persecution which he suffer'd upon this occasion The fifty fifth against the Enemies of Pope Benedict The hundred second of the Qualifications which Deputies ought to have that are sent to a General Council And the hundred twelfth address'd to the Council of Constance wherein he praises the Fathers of that Council who were already Assembled for two Years and exhorts them not to part till they had procur'd the Peace of the Church and insinuates to them towards the end of the Letter That it would be more convenient to choose one of the Competitors than not to conclude the Peace of the Church signifying withal That he did not approve the Decree which some said they had made That they would not choose one of the Competitors Those which are written about the Civil Wars and the Mischiefs wherewith France was Afflicted at that time by the Divisions of Princes are equally strong and beautiful they are full of Christian Maxims and Politicks about the Peace and Reformation of the State See the Letters 59 63 67 68 69 89 90 97 98 101 103 107 and 132. to which may be added the 56 to Louis Duke of Aquitain Eldest Son to King Charles VI. wherein he exhorts him to Mildness and Clemency The 93d about the Instructions of this Prince address'd to John D Arcanval his Governor and the 136 to Henry King of England about Justice and the other Vertues of a Prince In many of his Letters he gives lively Descriptions of the Disorders and Corruption of Manners in the Ecclesiasticks and Secular Men of his Time See the 14 15 28 31 35 54 133. In others he treats of important Points of Morality as in the 9th of Patience under Afflictions in the 11th That the Health of the Soul is preferable to that of the Body in the 60th of shunning Vain-Glory in the 62d of the advantages of Afflictions and Persecutions In the 65 73 74. of Preaching of the Fervor and Constancy that should be us'd in this Ministration in the 75th of the Vigilance of Pastors and the things wherein they ought to employ themselves There he confirms the same Principles which are in his Books of the Corruption of the Church and the Study of Theology in the 82d he treats of the uncertainty and shortness of this Life and in the 92d of Alms and Christian Watchfulness There are some Letters which are not about serious Matters and so do not discover the Learning and Excellent Wit of Clemangis as the fourth and fifth in which he refutes what Petrarch had affirm'd That no where but in Italy there were any Popes and Orators of Worth the Twenty third wherein he enquires Whether one might make use in Latin Letters of the form of Salutation
spoke some Words prejudicial to the Faculty was obliged to make Satisfaction in 1428. In 1429 John Sarrazin Licentiate in Theology of the Order of Friars Preachers was delated to the Faculty and accused of having advanc'd in his Act de Vesperiis Eight Propositions concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction contrary to the Doctrin of the Faculty viz. 1st That all the Powers of Jurisdiction in the Church which are different from that of the Pope are from the Pope in their Institution and Collation 2dly That these Powers are not of Divine Right nor instituted by God immediately 3dly That Jesus Christ says nothing of these Powers but only of the Supream to which he intrusted the founding of his Church 4thly That when any thing is decreed in a Council all the Authority which gives force to its Decrees resides only in the Pope 5thly That there is no Text in the Gospel by which it expresly appears That the Power of Jurisdiction was granted to any other Apostle but St. Peter 6thly That it is repugnant in some manner to Truth to affirm that the Power of Jurisdiction in Inferior Prelates whether Bishops or Parish-Priests is immediately from God as the Power of the Pope is 7thly That no other Spiritual Authorities can do any thing of Right against the Pope 8thly That the Pope cannot commit Canonical Simony which is forbidden by a positive Law The Faculty having caus'd these Propositions to be examin'd by Deputies obliged Sarrazin to retract them publickly and to make Profession of eight Propositions contrary to them wherein he owns 1st That all the Powers of Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions which are different from that of the Pope are from Jesus Christ as to their first Institution and Collation and from the Pope and the Church as to their Limitation and Ministerial Dispensation 2dly That these Powers are of Divine Right instituted immediately by Jesus Christ 3dly That we find in Scripture that Jesus Christ founded his Church and expresly instituted other Powers besides that of the Pope 4thly That when any thing is decided in a Council the Authority which gives force to its Decrees does not reside only in the Pope but chiefly in the Holy Spirit and the Catholick Church 5thly That there are express Texts in the Gospel by which it appears That Jesus Christ has given his Apostles and Disciples an Authority of Jurisdiction 6thly That 't is agreeable to Evangelical and Apostolical Truth to affirm That the Power of Jurisdiction in inferiour Prelats whether Bishops or Parish-Priests is immediately from God 7thly That there is a Power viz. That of the Church which can do something of Right in certain Cases against the Pope 8thly That every Man in this Life having the Use of Reason of whatsoever Dignity Authority and Preheminence even the Pope himself may commit the Crime of Simony This Retractation was spoken by Sarrazin in an Assembly of the Faculty March the 30th 1429. according to the way of reckoning in France at that time i. e. in 1430. In 1432. The Faculty was consulted in the Name of the Bishop of Evreux and the Inquisitor A Censure of a Proposition about the Admonitions of Bishops of that Diocese about a Proposition which one had advanc'd That the Admonitions of Bishops are Abuses and it declar'd by its Conclusion dated May the 16th That this Proposition was reproachful presumptuous rash scandalous tending to Sedition and Rebellion and to weaken the Ecclesiastical Censures contrary to the Doctrin of Jesus Christ and the Apostles and favourable to some Errors condemn'd in the Council of Constance In 1442. Nicholas Quadrigarii a Doctor of Divinity of the Order of Friars Hermites of A Censure of the Errors of Quadrigarii and Augustin St. Austin having advanc'd in his Act de Vesperiis two Propositions 1st That every thing which happens by Divine Providence comes to pass necessarily the other That there is no other Power of Jurisdiction in the Church but the Pope's which is immediately from Jesus Christ was obliged by the Order of the Faculty to retract these two Propositions on the 9th of January and to make Profession of the contrary Doctrin In 1448. a Regular of the Order of Friars Minors having advanc'd in the Diocese of Tournay A Censure of the Propositions of a Friar Minor about the Hierarchy in 1448. A Censure in 1451. against the Propositions of John Bartholomew a Friar Minor contrary to the Rites of Parish Priests many Propositions contrary to the Rights of Parish-Priests like those which had been formerly advanced in 1429. by John Sarrazin the Grand Vicars of the Bishop address'd themselves to Giles Charlier who wrote a piece to refute them which is agreeable to the Doctrin of the Faculty of Theology at Paris in the Censure against Sarrazin In 1451. John Bartholomew of the Order of Friars Minors advanc'd at Roan in his Sermons many Propositions contrary to the Rights of Parish-Priests chiefly about Confession viz. That the Parishioners may freely confess themselves to Regulars Mendicants without asking leave of the Parish-Priests Whereupon the Proctor of the Archbishoprick caus'd an Information to be drawn up against him and the Affair being brought before the University of Paris this Regular appear'd in the Assembly of the University December the 4th and refusing to own that the Parishioners were obliged to confess themselves once a Year to their Parish Priests it was resolved That the Degree of a Licentiate should be denied him and that the deciding of the Question should be referred to the Faculties of Theology and Law In 1456. this Question was started again with some Warmth in the University upon occasion The Differences of the University with Regulars Mendicants about a Bull of privilege which they had obtaimed of a Bull obtain'd from Pope Nicholas V. by the Mendicants who gave them leave to take Confessions to the prejudice of the Right of Parish-Priests established by the Canon Omnis utriusque Sexus and also by Order of the Clementine Dudum The University understanding that it had been presented to the Official of Paris by some Regulars Carmelites interposed an Appeal and cited the Mendicants to appear on Monday May the 24th to declare to them That they should be excluded from the University unless they renounc'd the obtaining of that Bull and would promise to obtain the Revocation of it within a certain time The Mendicants having appear'd and refusing to do it the University declared them perjured and excluded from their Society The Mendicants instead of procuring the Revocation of that Bull address'd themselves to Pope Callistus complain'd of the Treatment they met with from the University and obtain'd of him a Bull which confirm'd that of Nicholas V. and null'd all that the University had done against them Notwithstanding this the University continued firm and the Mendicants were obliged to seek out some ways of Accommodation the Archbishop of Rhemes the Bishop of Paris and the Parliament concern'd themselves in the Affair