St. PETER (continued 3)

The Schism of the Donatists in Africa.

Another remarkable Incident of this Pontificate was, the famous Schism, formed in Africa against Cæcilianus, the Catholic Bishop of Carthage; whereof a succinct Account will not be foreign to my Subject, as Melchiades was chiefly concerned in most of the Transactions relating to it. The first Decree against the Christians, published by Dioclesian, which I have just now mentioned, ordered the Churches to be every-where laid level with the Ground, the Books of the Scripture to be carefully sought for, and publicly burnt; and that such Persons of Quality as should persist in the Profession of the Christian Faith, should be deemed infamous, and excluded from all Honours and Employments. This Edict was executed with such Rigour in Africa, that it was a capital Crime in the Magistrates of the Cities, and punishable with Death, to shew any Mercy or Compassion to a Christian, who, owning he had the sacred Books, should refuse to deliver them into the Hands of the proper Officers. |Traditores who.| Those who, in Compliance with this Edict, delivered them up, which great Numbers did, were styled Traditores, a Name, which afterwards became famous in the History of the Church, by affording the Donatists a plausible Pretence to separate themselves from the Communion of the Catholic Bishops^[527]. Of this Crime Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage, was falsly accused; but, though the Charge could not be proved against him, yet some of his Flock, encouraged by Donatus, Bishop of Casænigræ in Numidia, separated from his Communion^[528]. Mensurius dying some Years after, Cæcilianus, Deacon of the Church of Carthage, was chosen in his room, in Spite of the Cabals and Intrigues of Botrus and Cælesius, Two chief Presbyters, who aspired to 89that Dignity. |The chief Authors of the Schism against Cæcilianus.| Cæcilianus, soon after his Election, summoned some Persons, in whose Custody his Predecessor had left the Money of the Church, to deliver it up to him: but they not only refused to comply with his Demand, but began to stir up the People, and form a Party against him. Botrus and Cælesius were not idle on this Occasion; but, animated with Jealousy and Envy, lest no Art unpractised to blacken his Character, and discredit him with those who had preferred him to them. But the chief Support of this Faction was Lucilla, a Woman of great Quality, Wealth, and Interest, and an avowed Enemy to Cæcilianus, who, while he was yet Deacon, had publicly reprimanded her for kissing the Relique of a Martyr, as she was upon the Point of receiving the Eucharist. An undeniable Proof, that the Worship of Reliques was at this time disapproved by the Church. Such Liberty taken with a Person of her Rank, was what she could not brook; and therefore she laid hold of the first Opportunity that offered, and no better could offer, to revenge the Affront^[529]. It is not to be doubted but those, who had separated from Mensurius, joined this Faction; since the Second Schism owed its Origin to the First, as St. Austin says, speaking of the Two Schisms under Mensurius and Cæcilianus^[530].

The Bishops of Numidia summoned to depose him.

The Schismatics, to give an Appearance of Justice and Authority to their Proceedings, summoned Secundus Bishop of Tigisis, and the other Bishops of Numidia, to depose Cæcilianus, and chuse another in his room; for the Bishops of Numidia claimed the Privilege of assisting at the Election of the Bishop of Carthage, and ordaining him after he was elected^[531]. They readily complied with the Summons; but, upon their Arrival, they found, to their great Surprize, that the whole City, except a small Number of Schismatics, the avowed Enemies of Cæcilianus, communicated with him as their lawful Bishop^[532]. They were 70 in Number; but as many of them were Traditors, and some guilty of other enormous Crimes, as appears from the Acts of the Council of Cirtha^[533], they were easily prevailed upon by Lucilla, who is said to have spent an immense Sum on this Occasion^[534], to declare the Election of Cæcilianus void, and the See of Carthage vacant. |They declare his Election null.| The only thing they could lay to his Charge 90was, that he had been ordained by Felix Bishop of Aptungus, whom they falsly accused as a Traditor. Cæcilianus refused to Appear before them; and truly to trust himself to such an Assembly, had been acting a very imprudent Part; for Purpurius, Bishop of Limata, had said, If he comes among us, instead of laying our Hands upon him, by way of Ordination, we ought to knock out his Brains, by way of Penance^[535].

The Schismatics separate themselves from the Communion of the Church.

The Party having thus declared Cæcilianus illegally elected and ordained, they separated themselves from his Communion, and from the Communion of all who communicated with him^[536]; that is, from the Communion of the Catholic Church; for Cæcilianus was acknowleged by the other Bishops of Africa, by the Bishop of Rome, and by all the Bishops of the World, says St. Austin^[537]. Such was the Rise of the famous Schism, which, for the Space of 300 Years, and upwards, occasioned great Disturbances in the Churches of Africa. |Called Donatists, and from whom.| Donatus, Bishop of Casænigræ in Numidia, was the first Author of it, according to St. Austin^[538]; but it was not from him, but from Donatus, the Schismatic Bishop of Carthage, that they took the Name of Donatists; for, till his Time, they styled themselves the Party of Majorinus^[539], whom they chose and ordained Bishop of Carthage, in the room of Cæcilianus; though he was then only Lector of that Church, and had been formerly one of Lucilla’s menial Servants^[540]. To justify their Conduct, and their electing a new Bishop, they writ Letters to all the Churches of Africa, filled with Calumnies against Cæcilianus, and those who had ordained him. By these Letters great Numbers were imposed upon, and misled; insomuch that, the People being every-where divided, most Churches had Two Bishops, the one ordained by Majorinus, and the other by Cæcilianus^[541].

Edicts enacted by Constantine, in fav- our of the Christian Religion.

About this time, that is, about the Year 313. Constantine, out of his Zeal for the Christian Religion, issued Two Decrees, addressed to Anulinus, Proconsul of Africa, the one commanding all the Places in that Province to be restored, which had once belonged to the Catholic Church, and might have been usurped during the Persecution^[542]; and the other, exempting the Ecclesiastics from all civil Functions^[543]. This Privilege was granted only to the Ecclesiastics of the Catholic Church, whereof Cæcilianus was the Head, as was expresly 91declared in the Edict; and therefore to him alone the Proconsul imparted it. It was a great Mortification to the Donatists to see themselves thus disregarded by the Emperor: they therefore assembled a few Days after, and drawing up a Petition to Constantine, they delivered it, unsealed, to Anulinus, together with a Bundle of Papers, sealed up in a Leather Bag, with this Title: The Petition of the Catholic Church, containing the Crimes of Cæcilianus; by the Party of Majorinus. |The Donatists petition Constantine, that the Dispute may be re- ferred to the Bishops of Gaul.| The Substance of the Petition was, that the Controversy between them and the other Bishops of Africa might be referred to the Bishops of Gaul, who were free from the Imputation of having delivered up the sacred Books to the Pagans^[544]. Anulinus immediately dispatched a Messenger to the Emperor, both with the Request, and the Papers, giving him, at the same time, by a Letter still extant^[545], an Insight into the Dispute, that made so great a Noise in Africa. Constantine, who was then in Gaul, having received and read all those Pieces, expressed great Concern to find the Christians thus divided among themselves, and the Bishops at Variance with one another^[546]. |The Bishops named by Constantine.| However, he readily granted to the Donatists the Judges they demanded, naming, for that Purpose, Maternus Bishop of Cologne, Rheticius Bishop of Autun, and Marinus Bishop of Arles^[547]; all Men of known Integrity, great Learning, and unblemished Characters. To these, by a Letter under his own Hand, he gave Notice of their new Commission; and, at the same time, for their better Information, he caused Copies to be transmitted to them, of all the Papers he had received from Anulinus^[548]. The Three Bishops were ordered to repair, with all Speed, to Rome, and there, jointly with Melchiades, Bishop of that City, to sit as Judges of the Controversy. Cæcilianus likewise was ordered to Rome, and allowed to take with him Ten Bishops of his Party, such as he should judge the most capable of defending his Cause; and the same Liberty was granted to the adverse Party^[549]. |His Letter to Melchiades.| Constantine, in the Letter he writ on this Occasion to Melchiades, after appealing to him as a Witness of the Respect and Veneration he had for the Catholic Church, declares, he had nothing so much at Heart as to see her Members happily united: he therefore earnestly intreats him to examine the Affair with the utmost Attention, and, jointly with the 92Bishops of Gaul, to judge it according to the strictest Laws of Justice and Equity^[550]. In this Letter Constantine names no other Judges but the Three Bishops of Gaul, Melchiades, and one Mark, supposed to have been Bishop of Milan, whom he joins with Melchiades; but afterwards he ordered Seven more to be added to the Number, and as many as could soon and conveniently assemble; so that they were at last 19 in all^[551]. |The Council of Rome.| They met, for the first time, on Friday the Second of October 313. Constantine and Licinius being the third time Consuls^[552]. The Place they met in was the Apartment of Fausta, in the Lateran Palace^[553], she being then, in all Likelihood, absent in Gaul, with the Emperor her Husband. Before this Assembly Cæcilianus appeared as the Person accused, and Donatus of Casænigræ as the Accuser. |Cæcilianus absolved, and Donatus condemned.| They had but Three Meetings: in the First the Characters of the Accusers and Witnesses were strictly inquired into, and their Depositions heard; in the Second the Acts of the Council of Carthage, which had condemned Cæcilianus, as I have related above, were examined; and in the last Cæcilianus, against whom nothing had been proved, was absolved, and Donatus condemned as a Slanderer, and the chief Author of the Schism^[554]. An Account of the Whole, together with the Acts of the Council, was immediately transmitted to Constantine, who began to flatter himself, that he had put an End to the Dispute; for he could not imagine, that the Donatists would appeal from the Judgment of such unexceptionable Judges, of Judges whom they themselves had demanded. But the good Prince was yet a Stranger to the Nature of religious Disputes, to the Heat, Animosity, and enthusiastic Rancour, with which they are commonly carried on. Notwithstanding the Pains he took, and his Successors after him, and no Pains they spared, to heal these unhappy Divisions, they continued, to the great Scandal of the Pagans, rending the Church into most furious Parties and Factions, for the Space of near 300 Years. |Melchiades dies.| The Council of Rome was held in the Month of October 313, and Melchiades died on the Tenth of January ensuing, Volusianus and Anienus being Consuls, having presided for the Space of Two Years, Six Months, and Eight Days^[555]. About an hundred Years after, the Donatists charged him with having delivered up the sacred Books, and offered Incense to the Pagan Gods; but this St. Austin calls a groundless Charge, a mere Calumny, a 93malicious Invention of the Donatists of his Time to justify the Conduct of their Predecessors, in appealing, as they did, from the Council of Rome, at which Melchiades assisted, and probably presided, as Bishop of the Imperial City^[556].

Whether the Lateran Palace was given by Constantine to Melchiades.

Baronius, impatient to see the Pope raised to the Rank of a Prince, endeavours to prove, that Melchiades was placed in that Station by Constantine, and argues thus: The Council of Rome was held in the Lateran Palace; therefore that Palace had been given by Constantine to Melchiades, and belonged to him; for that an Assembly of Nineteen Bishops only should meet in so spacious a Place, can no otherwise be accounted for, but by supposing the Pope to have resided there. This he calls a Demonstration^[557]. Having thus got him a Palace, and, no doubt, magnificently furnished, he finds no Difficulty in equipping him in every other respect as a Prince: For who can imagine, says he, that Constantine, so pious, so generous a Prince, would have given to the Head of the Church a Royal Palace to live in, and not allow him at the same time a suitable Retinue, with suitable Appointments? To act otherwise, had not been honouring, but disgracing the Christian Religion, since its High Pontiff, stalking about all alone in a huge Palace, could be but an Object of Ridicule to the Pontiffs of the Pagan Superstition, who lived in magnificent Houses, with answerable Grandeur^[558]. Thus is the Bishop metamorphosed at once into a Sovereign. But the Metamorphosis is somewhat premature. If Constantine, yet a Neophyte, was not well acquainted with the true Spirit of the Christian Religion, Melchiades was; and therefore, had that Prince offered to distinguish him by any such Marks of worldly Grandeur, I do not question but, as he was a very good Man, he would have taken from thence an Opportunity of instructing him better in the Principles of his new Profession, and shewing him in what Contempt the Christian Prelates had, and he himself ought to have, all worldly Grandeur. But no such Offer was ever made or dreamt of: For what at length is all this founded on? On the Meeting of the Council in the Lateran Palace. The French Academy meet in the Louvre: Are they therefore Princes? And does not Optatus, of whom we have the whole Account, call it in express Terms the House of Fausta^[559]? Fausta perhaps lived there, says Baronius, during the long and flourishing 94Reign of her Father Maximian, and thence it might be called the House of Fausta. Thus in the End is his Demonstration dwindled away to a mere Conjecture, and a very groundless one too: But, waving that, why might not Fausta continue in the same Palace after her Father’s Death, with her Husband Constantine, when he was at Rome, or alone, when she did not attend him in the Wars? The Annalist seems to have forgot that Fausta was Constantine’s Wife. But after all, the Empress, as it appears to me, had only an Apartment in the Lateran; for in this Sense I understand Optatus saying, The Council was held in the House, or Habitation, of Fausta in the Lateran. But her being any-ways there excludes Melchiades. Their sitting in the Imperial Palace gave a kind of Authority and Sanction to their Decisions; and besides, there might not be room in the House of Melchiades, if he had a House, for the Council, and those who were to attend it, they being in all Forty Bishops; so that we need not put Melchiades in Possession of that Palace to account for the Council’s meeting in it, as Baronius has done.

Constantine. SYLVESTER, Thirty-second Bishop of Rome.

Year of Christ 314. The Donatists com- plain of the Council of Rome.

Sylvester was chosen in the room of Melchiades on the last of January 314^[560]. In his time were held the two great Councils of Arles and Nice. The former was convened by Constantine’s Order at the Request of the Donatists, who, instead of acquiescing to the Judgment of the Council of Rome, loudly complained to the Emperor of the Bishops who composed it, as partial, prejudiced, and over-hasty in deciding a Controversy of the greatest Importance^[561]. Constantine heard them with great Patience; and that he might leave them no Colour or Pretence whatsoever to continue in their Schism, |The Council of Arles.| he summoned a second Council to meet at Arles, inviting several Bishops to it with most pathetic Letters under his own Hand, and ordering the Proconsuls and Governors of Provinces to acquaint the rest with his Desire and Intention. Chrestus, or Crescentius, Bishop of Syracuse, was allowed, and so, without all doubt, were the rest, 95to bring two Presbyters with him, and three Attendants, as we learn from the Emperor’s Letter to him, which is still extant^[562]. They were all to be supplied with Conveniences for traveling, and every thing else, at the public Expence. The Time appointed for their Meeting was the first of August 314. and on that Day they met accordingly^[563], not from all Parts of the World, as we read in the Acts of the Second Council of Arles^[564], but from Africa, and most other Provinces of the West. Sylvester Bishop of Rome was invited to it; but he excused himself on account of his Age, and sent in his room the two Presbyters, Claudianus and Vitus, with Eugenius and Cyriacus, Deacons; the Bishop of Ostia sent likewise two Presbyters in his room^[565]. |Cæcilianus declared innocent.| By this Assembly Cæcilianus was again declared innocent, and those who should falsly accuse their Brethren cut off from the Communion of the Church, without Hopes of being ever re-admitted, except at the Point of Death^[566]. As to the schismatic Bishops, it was agreed, that such of them as abandoned the Schism should not forfeit their Dignity, but sit alternatively with the Catholic Bishop till one of them died^[567]. The Council, before they broke up, acquainted the Bishop of Rome with their Proceedings, and at the same time sent him the Decrees they had made concerning the Discipline of the Church, not to be confirmed by him, as Baronius would make us believe^[568], but that by his means, as he held larger Dioceses, they might be the sooner known. These are the very Words of the Council^[569][N10].

96The other grand Council that was held during the Pontificate of Sylvester was that of Nice, so famous in the History of the Church: 97but the Bishop of the reigning City, says Eusebius^[570], being prevented by his great Age from undertaking so long a Journey, he sent Vitus and Vincentius, Two Roman Presbyters, to supply his room^[571], with Orders to agree in his Name to the Decisions of the Council^[572]. In Process of Time such Orders grew out of Date, and the modest Name of Roman Presbyters, given to those who were sent by the Bishops of Rome, either to Councils or Princes, was changed into the lofty Title of Legates a latere. |Osius did not assist at the Council of Nice as the Pope’s Legate.| Baronius^[573], and after him most Writers of the Church of Rome, maintain Osius, the celebrated Bishop of Cordoua, to have assisted, nay, and presided at the Council of Nice as the Pope’s Legate. Vitus and Vincentius, say they, represented the Person of the Pope; but Osius held his Place, and the Place of all the Bishops of the West. That Osius assisted at the Council with the Character of the Pope’s Legate, is affirmed, I own, by Gelasius of Cyzicus, who flourished about the End of the Fifth Century^[574]: but Eusebius, who was present, mentions only Vitus and Vincentius as sent thither by Sylvester. In like manner all the Historians, who have written of that Council after Eusebius till the Time of Gelasius, in naming those Two Presbyters and Osius, which they all do, constantly distinguish the former by the Title of the Deputies, the Representatives, &c. of the Bishop of Rome, and never the latter. Besides, Vitus and Vincentius, in subscribing to the Canons of the Council, declare, that they do it in the Name of the venerable Pope, or Father, Sylvester their Bishop^[575]; whereas Osius subscribes, like the other Bishops, in his own Name. As to his presiding at that great Assembly, his Name, 'tis true, is marked the first by Socrates^[576], among those who subscribed to the Definitions and Canons of the Council; but yet I am inclined to believe that Honour not to have been conferred upon him, but upon Eustathius Bishop of Antioch; |Nor did he preside.| for John, Bishop of the same City, writing to Proculus about the Year 435. styles him the first of the Fathers assembled at Nice^[577], and Facundus calls him the first of the Council^[578]. In the Chronicle of Nicephorus he is styled the Head of the Fathers of Nice^[579]: and from Theodoret we learn, that he sat the first on the Right-hand in the Assembly, and harangued the Emperor^[580], which it was the President’s Province to do^[N11].

98The Honour of presiding belonged of Right to Alexander Bishop of Alexandria; but he, it seems, declined it, perhaps to obviate the Complaints of the Arians, who looked upon him as a Party concerned, and one highly prejudiced against them. I know that the haranguing of Constantine is ascribed to Eusebius the Historian, in the Title of the Chapter in which he mentions it^[581], that Sozomen positively affirms it, and that the learned Valesius thinks there is no room to doubt of it, since Eusebius was the most eloquent Bishop of those Times; and besides, he himself tells us, that he pronounced a Speech in Praise of Constantine, on occasion of his entering into the Twentieth Year of his Reign, while he was sitting in the midst of the Ministers of God^[582]; meaning thereby, no doubt, the Bishops assembled at Nice. |Eusebius of Cæsarea did not harangue the Emperor at the Opening of the Council,| That Eusebius harangued the Emperor before that venerable Assembly, is not at all to be questioned; but that the Bishops, who composed it, should have pitched upon one who was suspected, or rather convicted, of Arianism, to address the Emperor in their Name, at the Opening of the Council, seems to me highly improbable. The Orator, whoever he was, sat in the first Place, or at least in the second (that I may not quarrel with Baronius, who will have the Place on the Left-hand to have been the most honourable^[583]): And what Right had the Bishop of Cæsarea to that Honour? |but on another Occasion.| I may add, that a short Compliment, such as is that which the Presbyter Gregory ascribes to Eustathius of Antioch^[584], had been far more proper on that Occasion than Eusebius’s long and tedious Panegyric, which therefore some suppose to have been pronounced on Occasion of the magnificent Entertainment which Constantine gave the Bishops, as they were preparing to return to their respective Sees; for he then entered into the Twentieth Year of his Reign, which began on the 25th of July 325. and it was on that Occasion that Eusebius writ, and delivered his Panegyric before the Emperor, and the Fathers of the Council, as he himself declares^[585]. To conclude, had Eusebius been appointed by that great Assembly to address the Emperor in their Name, his Modesty had not prevented him from describing the Spokesman so as to leave no room to doubt on whom that Honour had been conferred.

The Council of Nice not convened by the Pope.

Before I dismiss this Subject, it may not be improper, nor foreign to my Purpose, to observe, that the Council of Nice, the first General 99or Oecumenical Council held in the Church, was convened by the Emperor, and not by the Bishop of Rome; that the Bishop of Rome did not preside in it either in Person, or by his Legates, as they are pleased to style them; and consequently that the Privilege which they assumed in After-ages of assembling General Councils, and presiding in them, ought to be deemed a most insolent and unwarrantable Usurpation. |The Council commands all Causes to be finally de- termined by Prov- incial Synods.| The Second Thing worthy of notice with respect to this Council is its Fifth Canon, commanding all Ecclesiastical Causes to be finally decided in each Province by a Provincial Synod. The Words of the Canon are clear in themselves, and besides have been understood in this Sense by all the Councils that were held, by all the Authors that writ, for several Ages after^[586]; nay, it was understood in this Sense by some of the Popes themselves, namely, by Innocent I. who, in one of his Letters to Victricius Bishop of Roan, writes thus; If any Controversy should arise among the Clerks, whether they be of an inferior or superior Rank, let it be decided, agreeably to the Council of Nice, in an Assembly of the Bishops of the same Province^[587]. 'Tis true, he adds, without prejudicing the Rights of the Roman See. But that Restriction is his own, and not the Council’s. Hence this Canon, directing all Causes to be thus tried, all Disputes to be thus ended, was often quoted on occasion of Appeals made to Rome, and employed as a Bulwark to restrain the incroaching Power of the Popes within due Bounds; but in Process of Time their Ambition, supported by the Favour of Princes, and the great Temporalities they acquired, bore all down before them.

The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy first formed.

It was in the Pontificate of Sylvester, and under the benign Auspices of Constantine, that the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy was first formed and settled in the Manner it continues to this Day; the new Form of Government, introduced by that Prince into the State, serving as a Model for the Government of the Church. In the Three first Centuries no other Hierarchy was known, no other Degrees thought of, but those of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons. Of these alone was composed the whole Body of the Clergy; but with this Difference, that the Bishop or Supervisor was the general Disposer and Manager of all Things within the Bounds of his Jurisdiction, nothing being done there without his Consent and Approbation, and the Presbyters and Deacons 100his Assistants, or his Counsellors and Senate, as St. Jerom^[588], and before him St. Ignatius^[589], styled them. This Order was probably introduced, according to Grotius^[590], in Imitation of the Jewish Synagogues; for each Synagogue had its Ruler, who presided over the rest, its Pastors, and its Eleemosynaries; to the Ruler succeeded the Bishop, to the Pastors the Presbyters, and to the Eleemosynaries the Deacons. |The Office and Duty of Bishops.| It was the Bishop’s Office and Duty to preach the Word^[591], to pray with his People^[592] to administer the Sacraments^[593], to ordain Ministers^[594], to excommunicate Offenders^[595], to absolve Penitents^[596], and to regulate and settle every thing relating to his particular Church^[597], with the Consent and Concurrence of the Presbytery; for the Presbyters were his Counsellors or Senate, and, together with him, presided in the Consistories of those Times, as we learn from Tertullian telling us, that in those Courts approved Elders presided^[598]. Hence Petrus de Marca concludes the original Government of the Church to have been mixt of Monarchy and Aristocracy; or, to use his own Words, the Monarchical Government of the Church to have been tempered with the Aristocratical. As the Bishop could not discharge, as he ought, the above-mentioned Functions, without residing among those who were committed to his Care, his Residence was deemed absolutely necessary, and Non-residence a most heinous Transgression; insomuch that St. Cyprian, enumerating the Sins that brought the Wrath of God upon the Church in the bloody Persecution of Decius, mentions Non-residence in the Bishops as one^[599]. |How chosen, and ordained.| Upon the Vacancy of a See a new Bishop was chosen in the room of the deceased in some Places by the Clergy and People of that Church alone, in others by the neighbouring Bishops, the People and the Clergy only expressing their Desire, and giving Testimony of the Life and Manners of the Person proposed, and in some by the joint Suffrages of the Clergy, of the People, and of the neighbouring Bishops. These three different Methods of electing we find practised at different Times with respect to the same Church; but on no Occasion was the Choice of the neighbouring Bishops sufficient without the Consent of the Clergy and People, nor the Election of the Clergy and People without the Approbation of the neighbouring Bishops. The Bishop being thus elected 101and confirmed, he was in the next Place ordained; and this Ceremony was performed by the neighbouring Bishops, in his own Church, and in the Presence of his Flock, by the Imposition of Hands. The new Bishop, agreeably to a Custom which obtained then, immediately gave Notice of his Promotion to other Bishops, especially to those of the greater Sees, who, by receiving and answering his Letters, were said to communicate with him, and to acknowlege him lawfully chosen.

The Office and Duty of Presbyters.

In the Second Degree were the Presbyters or Priests, whose Office or Province it was to assist the Bishop in the Discharge of his Pastoral Commission, whence they are often styled the Bishop’s Assistants: with his Consent and Approbation they preached the Word, they prayed with the People, they administred the Sacraments, they absolved Penitents, and, in short, discharged every Office which the Bishop did, except those of ordaining, confirming, and excommunicating; I say, with the Bishop’s Consent and Approbation; for no spiritual Function could they perform without his Leave, as is manifest from Tertullian^[600], Origen^[601], St. Cyprian^[602], and above all from St. Ignatius, in his famous Letter to the Church of Smyrna^[603]. The Church, in those happy Days, admitted none to the sacred Functions, but such as were known by a long Trial to be well qualified for so great a Charge. |Qualifications re- quisite in a Presbyter.| The Qualifications requisite in a Presbyter, so far as I can learn from the Antients, may be reduced to these Four Heads, his Condition in the World, his Conversation, his Learning, and his Age. He was not to be intangled with any worldly Affairs, with any secular Employments, but at perfect Liberty to apply himself wholly to the Functions of his Office^[604]. He was to be of an unspotted and exemplary Life^[605]; and therefore, before Ordination, he was proposed to the Presbytery and People for their Testimony and Approbation. He was to be well versed in the Scripture, and capable of teaching others, and instructing them in the Mysteries of the Christian Religion. As for human Learning, it was not required in a Presbyter; nay, by some it was condemned, particularly Logic and Philosophy, as in a manner inconsistent with Christianity^[606], but at the same time highly commended and applauded by others as conducive to the right understanding of the Scripture, and necessary for confuting the Sophisms 102of Heretics^[607]; whence Logic especially is recommended by Clemens Alexandrinus to all Ecclesiastics, as a Hedge to defend the Truth from being trod down by Sophists^[608]. As for the Age of a Presbyter, he was to be stricken in Years, as the very Name of a Presbyter or Elder sufficiently declares. However, if a young Man was endowed with extraordinary Gifts and Talents, his Age was dispensed with in respect both to the Sacerdotal and Episcopal Dignity. Thus was Aurelius, though young in Years, raised, in regard of his great Merit, to the Rank of a Presbyter, as we read in St. Cyprian^[609]; and the Bishop of Magnesia, in St. Ignatius’s Time, was, it seems, but a young Man, since Ignatius, in his Letter to the Magnesians, exhorts them not to despise their Bishop’s Age, but to yield him all due Respect and Reverence^[610]. These were the Qualifications requisite in a Candidate for the Ministry: if he was recommended by them (for no other Recommendation could avail him), he was admitted to holy Orders; if not, he was rejected as unfit for the sacred Function. The Person ordained was at Liberty to serve the Church where he had received his Orders, or any other where his Assistance might be wanted; for he was not ordained Minister of any particular Church, but of the Church universal.

The Institution and Office of Deacons.

In the Third and last Degree were the Deacons, whose original Institution was to serve Tables, as we read in the Acts^[611]; that is, to inspect the Poor, and relieve them by a proper Distribution of the Offerings made by the Faithful, which were committed to their Charge, though they could not dispose of them without the Bishop’s Knowlege^[612]. They were ordained by the Imposition of Hands^[613], and therefore deemed Ministers of the Altar, as well as Dispensers of Alms; and with a great deal of Reason, for they assisted the Bishops or Presbyters in administring the Eucharist, by delivering the Elements to the Communicants^[614]; they carried the Eucharist to such as had not been able to assist with the rest at Divine Service^[615]; they preached, and, in the Absence of the Bishop and Presbyters, conferred the Sacrament of Baptism^[616]. |Their Number.| The Presbyters of a Church were not confined to a set Number; but the Deacons were, no Church having more than Seven 103in the primitive Times, that being the original Number instituted by the Apostles. Thus the Church of Rome had but Seven in the Times of Pope Cornelius^[617], and Pope Sixtus II^[618], the Church of Saragosa the same Number in the Time of Vincentius, who flourished under Dioclesian^[619]. The Fourteenth Canon of the Council of Neocæsarea, or the Fifteenth, according to the Greek, forbids this Number to be inlarged, even in the greatest and most populous Cities^[620]; whence St. Jerom writes, that great Respect was paid to the Deacons, because they were few in Number^[621].

Subdeacons, Acolytes, Readers,3] &c.

As for the Subdeacons, Acolytes, Lectors, Janitors, and Exorcists, they were not considered as any-ways belonging to the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, being employed only in the meaner Offices of the Church, by the due Discharge of which they were to give Proof of their Integrity and Attention, in order to be raised to a higher Degree; for in those Days very few, and none but upon some very extraordinary Occasion, arrived at once, or, as they call it, per saltum, at the Episcopal Dignity.

Each Church inde- pendent.

During the Three first Centuries each Church was in a manner independent, that is, could make such Regulations relating to its Discipline and Government as were judged proper and expedient, without the Concurrence and Authority of other Churches^[622]. However, in all Matters of Moment, the Bishops used to advise with one another, especially with those of the same Province, who frequently met to settle all Ecclesiastical Affairs within their respective Limits. |Frequent Synods held.| Firmilian, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, writes, that in his Province they met every Year^[623]; and from the frequent Synods mentioned by St. Cyprian, we may conclude them to have been held in that Province at least once a Year. |Of whom composed.| These Synods or Assemblies were composed of Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, and Laymen, representing the People of their several Churches^[624]. They met by their own Appointment and Authority, there being no Christian Magistrates in those Days to convene Synods. Being thus assembled, they chose in the first place one, and sometimes two Bishops, to preside^[625]. |The Method they held.| It was their Office and Duty to see the Point in question calmly and fairly debated, to sum up in each Debate what had been urged on both Sides, to take 104the Votes and Suffrages of the Members of the Synod, and last of all to give their own^[626]. In these Assemblies all Ecclesiastical Affairs were settled by the Majority of Votes, and their Decrees and Decisions were binding with respect to those Churches whose Representatives were present^[627]; but were not so with respect to other Churches.

The Ecclesiastical Policy adapted to the Civil.

Such was the Hierarchy, such the Government of the Church, during the Three first Centuries. But in the Fourth and following Ages great Alterations were made in both, the Church adapting her Government to that of the State, namely, to the new Form of Government introduced by Constantine, who had settled her in Peace, and taken the Priesthood into his immediate Protection. For it was in his Reign that the Titles of Patriarchs, Exarchs, Metropolitans, were first heard of, or at least had any Power, Authority, or Privileges, annexed to them. That this Conformity between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity may appear more plainly, I shall premise a succinct Account of the former, as established by Constantine throughout the Empire. That Prince divided the whole Roman World into four Prefectures, viz. the East, Illyricum, Gaul, and Italy, which were governed by four Prefects, called Præfecti Prætorio. |The new Form of Government intro- duced by Con- stantine.| Till his Time the whole Empire was governed under the Emperors by Two Prefects only, as Zosimus informs us^[628]; and this Division is supposed to have been made by Constantine, jealous of the too great Power of those Magistrates. Each Prefecture was subdivided into several Dioceses, and each Diocese into several Provinces. Thus the Prefecture of the East contained Five Dioceses; viz. the East divided into Ten Provinces, Egypt into Six, Pontus into Eleven, Asia into Ten, and Thrace into Six. Under the Prefecture of Illyricum were Two Dioceses; Macedon, consisting of Eight Provinces; and Dacia, consisting of four. The Prefecture of Gaul comprised Three Dioceses, Gaul made up of Seventeen Provinces, Spain of Seven, and Britain of Five. The Prefecture of Italy was divided into Two Vicarages or Lieutenancies; the one of Rome, comprehending Ten Provinces, under the Vicar of Rome, whence they were called Suburbicarian Provinces; the other of Italy, containing Seven Provinces, governed by the Vicar of Italy, who resided at Milan, whence they were simply called Provinces of Italy. Under the Prefect of Italy was likewise West Africa, and after Constantine’s Death West Illyricum. The Prefects had other Officers under them, by whom the Provinces were more immediately governed. 105These were, to name them according to their Rank and Dignity, Proconsuls, Vicars, Consulars, Correctors, and Presidents. Each Diocese had its Metropolis, and likewise each Province contained in the Diocese.

The Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity compared.

Now, if we compare the Civil Polity, thus described, with the Ecclesiastical, we shall find them in most Places answering each other, in every respect, and one Bishop raised above the rest, according to the Rank that was given by this new Division to the City in which he presided. Thus, for Instance, the chief Cities of the Five Dioceses of the Oriental Prefecture were; Antioch, the Metropolis of the Oriental Diocese; Alexandria, of the Egyptian; Ephesus, of the Asiatic; Cæsarea, of the Pontic; and Heraclea, of the Thracian. Now the Bishops of these Cities, in regard of the Eminence of their Sees, were exalted above all other Bishops, and distinguished with the Title of Exarchs; nay, and by Degrees they acquired, not to say usurped, a kind of Authority and Jurisdiction over the Bishops of the inferior Sees, which was afterwards confirmed to them by several Councils. In like manner the Bishop of the Metropolis of each Province was, on account of the Dignity of his See, honoured with the Title of Metropolitan, to which were annexed several Privileges, of which I shall speak hereafter. When one Province was divided into Two, which often happened, the Ecclesiastical Polity was likewise altered, and the Bishop of the new Metropolis raised to the Dignity of a Metropolitan. Several Instances might be alleged of ambitious Bishops applying to the Emperors for a Division of the Province, that their City might acquire the Title of Metropolis, and they, of course, that of Metropolitans. When the City of Byzantium was declared the Metropolis of another Empire, the Exarchate of Heraclea, the Metropolis of the Thracian Diocese, was, by that Change, transferred from Heraclea to the new Metropolis; so that the Bishop of Heraclea became Suffragan to the Bishop of Byzantium, or, as it was then called, Constantinople, who, till that Time, had been Suffragan to him. Upon the Division of a Province, the Churches were likewise divided, and the Bishop of the new Metropolis acquired all the Privileges and Power of a Metropolitan over the Churches taken by the Change in the Civil Government from the antient Metropolis. But it was afterwards decreed, by the Council of Chalcedon, that if any City should be raised to the Dignity of a Metropolis, the Bishop of that City should enjoy the Title, but not the Privileges of a Metropolitan. Thus the Bishops of Nice and Berytus were honoured with the Title of Metropolitans, and took Place 106of all the other Bishops of those Provinces; but nevertheless continued to be Suffragans to their antient Metropolitans the Bishops of Nicomedia and Tyre. For the same Reason several Bishops in the Kingdom of Naples enjoy, to this Day, the Title of Metropolitans; but neither have, nor ever had, any Province or Suffragans. The above-mentioned Decree was enacted by the Council of Chalcedon, to prevent the Bishops from recurring, as they often did, to the Emperors,and to obviate the frequent Changes that were thereby introduced into the Church.

The Prefectures of Illyricum, Gaul, and Spain.

The Prefecture of Illyricum had but one Exarch, the Bishop of Thessalonica, the Metropolis of the Macedonian Diocese. In the Prefecture of Gaul there was no Exarch, but in the Two Dioceses of Gaul and Spain as many Metropolitans as Provinces. Some there were, without all Doubt, in the Diocese of Britain, which was divided into Five Provinces, viz. Maxima Cæsariensis, Britannia Prima, Britannia Secunda, Valentia, and Flavia Cæsariensis. But in this Island an intire Change was made, by the Saxons, both in the Ecclesiastical and Civil Polity.

The Prefecture of Italy.

Under the Prefect of Italy were Three Dioceses, viz. Italy, West Illyricum, and West Africa. The Diocese of Italy was divided into Two Vicarages, as I have observed above, and governed by Two Vicars; the one called the Vicar of Rome, and residing in that City, the other styled the Vicar of Italy, and residing at Milan. Under the former were Ten Provinces, viz. Campania, Apulia, Lucania, Hetruria, Umbria, Picenum Suburbicarium, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and Valeria; and Seven under the latter, viz. Liguria, Æmilia, Flaminia or Picenum Annonarium, Venetia, Istria, Alpes Cottiæ, and the Two Rhætiæ. |The Ecclesiastical Polity there intirely agreeable to the Civil.| Such was the Civil Government of Italy, and intirely agreeable to the Civil was the Ecclesiastical. Thus the Bishop of Rome enjoyed all the Privileges of a Metropolitan, with respect to the Bishops of the Provinces subject to the Vicar of that City, or the Suburbicarian Provinces, as they are styled by Ruffinus. In like manner the Bishop of Milan exercised the Power and Authority of a Metropolitan over all the Bishops under the Vicar of Italy. But the Power of both was confined within the Limits of their respective Vicarages. As neither had the Charge of a whole Diocese, they were not, like several Bishops in the East, distinguished with the Title of Exarch, which they had no Right to, but with that only of Metropolitan. However, the Power of the Bishop of Rome far exceeded, within the Bounds of his Jurisdiction, that of other Metropolitans, as I shall shew hereafter.

The Ecclesiastical Polity in Africa.

107In Africa the Ecclesiastical Polity varied greatly from the Civil. Carthage indeed, in the Proconsular Province of Africa, properly so called, was the Metropolis of all West Africa, and the Bishop of that City the Primate and Exarch. But in the other Five Provinces of that Diocese, viz. Numidia, the Two Mauritanias, Cæsariensis and Sitifensis, Tingitana, Bizacena, and Tripolitana, the senior Bishop, in what City soever he presided, enjoyed the Title and Privileges of Metropolitan, Regard being had to his Seniority, or the Time of his Ordination, and none to the Dignity of his See. And hence it is that, at different times, we find Bishops of different Cities, within the same Province, acting as Metropolitans. Of West Illyricum, the Third Diocese under the Prefect of Italy, I shall have Occasion to speak hereafter.

The Dignities of Exarchs, Metropol- itans, &c. not of divine Institution.

Some Writers, namely Petrus de Marca, Archbishop of Paris^[629], Christianus Lupus^[630], Emmanuel Schelstrat^[631], Two eminent Divines, the one of Louvain, the other of Antwerp, and Leo Allatius^[632], have taken a great deal of Pains to prove, that these Ecclesiastical Dignities owe their Origin to Christ, or the Apostles. But their Arguments are unanswerably confuted by the learned Ellies du Pin^[633]; and, besides, it is evident, from the intire Conformity which the Ecclesiastical Government had, in most Places, with the Political State of the Empire, as established by Constantine, that the Church, in forming the Hierarchy I have described, adopted his Plan; and consequently, that such Dignities are not of divine, but of human Institution. I might add, that it cannot be proved from Scripture, that the Apostles, in appointing Bishops, gave more Power to one than to another, or any Power at all to one over the others.

The new Dignities added to the antient Hierarchy of the Church.

The new Dignities or Degrees, added to the antient Hierarchy of the Church, in the Fourth and following Centuries, were those of Metropolitan, Primate, Archbishop, Exarch, and Patriarch. The Title of Metropolitan was given to the Bishop of the chief City of a Province, and likewise that of Primate, he being primus, or the first of the Province; for such was the original Signification of that Word in an Ecclesiastical Sense; but, in Process of Time, the Title of Primate was restrained to the Bishops of some great Cities. On the contrary the Title of Archbishop was originally bestowed on Metropolitans 108only of great Eminence and Distinction; but, in the Eighth Century, it began to be given indifferently to all Metropolitans, and even to some Bishops, distinguished by no other Title. As the Bishop of the Metropolis, or chief City, of a Province, was dignified with the Title of Metropolitan, so was the Bishop of the Metropolis, or chief City of a Diocese, with that of Exarch; which, however, we find sometimes given to Metropolitans. As for the Title of Patriarch, it was first common to all Bishops, but afterwards confined to the Exarchs; and lastly, to the Bishops of the Five following Cities, viz. Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. It was first bestowed on the Bishop of Rome, by the Council of Chalcedon^[634], after it had been long common to all the Exarchs of the East, as the learned Du Pin well observes^[635].

The Rights and Priv- ileges of Metropolitans.

The Titles of Metropolitans, Primates, Exarchs, and Patriarchs, were not bare Names of Honour, but had several Rights and Prerogatives attending them. Thus the Metropolitans and Primates had, by their Prerogative, a Right to ordain the Bishops of their respective Provinces, to convene provincial Synods, and to have a general Superintendency or Inspection over the whole Province. The ordaining of Bishops was a Privilege common to the Metropolitan, with the other Bishops of the same Province; but with this Difference, that the Presence, or at least the Consent and Approbation of the Metropolitan was absolutely necessary; for, according to the Fourth and Sixth Canons of the Council of Nice, He who was not ordained, or approved, by the Metropolitan, was not to be a Bishop. This Privilege was confirmed to the Metropolitans by many subsequent Councils, namely, by those of Arles, Laodicea, Carthage, Chalcedon, Ephesus^[636], and many others. However, in the Fifth Century, the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Constantinople began, in the East, to usurp this Prerogative, pretending, that no Bishops ought to be ordained in their respective Dioceses, without their Knowlege, Consent, and Approbation; and the Patriarch of Rome, still more ambitious and encroaching, claimed a Right to ordain the Bishops throughout all the Provinces of the West, which occasioned endless Disputes, as we shall see in the Sequel of this History. As to the Second Privilege peculiar to the Metropolitans, they had a Right to summon the 109Bishops of their respective Provinces to meet when they thought proper; to appoint the Time and Place of their Meeting; to punish such as did not, without just Cause, comply with their Summons; and to preside in the Assembly. The general Care and Inspection, which they were charged with over the whole Province, imported, First, That all Complaints against, all Contests with or between the Bishops of the Province, were to be brought to their Tribunal; and there heard, judged, and determined, not by the Metropolitan alone, but by him and the other Bishops of the Province, in a Provincial Synod. Innumerable Instances might be alleged of Bishops thus deposed by their Metropolitans. Secondly, The Metropolitans had a Right to receive Appeals from the Sentence of inferior Bishops, and with the other Bishops, to confirm or reverse their Decrees. And, lastly, each Metropolitan was to keep a watchful Eye over the Bishops of his Province, and take care that they discharged, as they ought, the Functions of their Office. These Privileges were, in express Terms, granted to the Metropolitans, by almost innumerable Councils, which it is needless, and would be too tedious, to name.

The Rights and Priv- ileges of Patriarchs, or Exarchs.

As for the Patriarchs, or Exarchs; by their Prerogative, they were impowered to ordain the Metropolitans, to convene Diocesan Synods, and to have a general Superintendency over their respective Dioceses, such as the Metropolitans had over their respective Provinces. |The Bishop of Rome not a Patriarch.| The Bishop of Rome had not the Charge of a whole Diocese, and therefore was not, properly speaking, Exarch or Patriarch: his Jurisdiction did not extend beyond the Limits of the Vicarage of Rome, or the Suburbicarian Provinces; and no Instance can be produced of Metropolitans or Bishops ordained by him, out of those Provinces, till the Time of Valentinian III. Even in the Vicarage of Italy the Metropolitans of each Province ordained all the Bishops, and were themselves ordained by the Bishops of the Province. But over the Suburbicarian Provinces the Bishop of Rome exercised greater Power and Authority, than the Exarchs of the East did over the Provinces of their Dioceses; for the latter left the Ordination of the Bishops to their Metropolitans, whereas the former ordained not only the Bishops of the Metropolitan Cities, but all those of the fore-mentioned Provinces: and the Reason of this was, because these Provinces had no Metropolitans, to whom the Ordination of Bishops would of Right have belonged; so that the Prerogatives of the Metropolitans were all vested in the Bishop of Rome alone. |The Bishops of Rome have no Right to ordain the Metro- politans.| As there were no Exarchs 110or Patriarchs in the West, the Bishops of each Province were, by several Councils, vested with the Power of ordaining their own Metropolitans; and that they were thus ordained in Gaul, Spain, and West Africa, is so manifest as to admit of no Dispute^[637]. And yet the Sticklers for the See of Rome pretend the Bishops of that City to have a divine and inherent Right of ordaining all the Metropolitans throughout the Christian World, by themselves, their Vicars, or Delegates. To maintain this chimerical Right against the uncontestable Evidence of Facts, they tell us, that the Popes, for some Ages, neglected to exert the Power they had^[638]. But from this Charge all Mankind will clear them, it being but too well known, that they never neglected the least Opportunity of exerting to the utmost the Power they had, and usurping the Power they had not. But, Cavils aside, it is evident beyond Dispute, that the Popes never knew, nor dreamt of, any such Right or Prerogative, till they were told of it by their flattering Divines; at least Pope Leo, surnamed the Great, did not; for in one of his Letters to the Bishops of Gaul he disclaims, in express Terms, the Right of ordaining the Bishops of that Diocese^[639]. To conclude, the Bishop of Rome was the only Metropolitan in that Vicarage; and, as such, had a Right to ordain all the Bishops of the Suburbicarian Provinces, or the Provinces subject to the Vicar of Rome; but, for a considerable Tract of Time, there is no Instance of their ordaining either Bishops or Metropolitans out of that District.

The Title of Arch- bishop in itself a bare Name of Honour.

As for the Title of Archbishop, it is in itself a bare Name of Honour; whence, in some Countries, especially in Italy, several are distinguished with that Title, who indeed take place of, but have no Power or Authority over, other Bishops. And thus far of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, as settled in the Fourth and following Centuries, of the different Degrees that compose it, and the Prerogatives peculiar to each Degree, the Knowlege whereof is absolutely necessary for the right understanding of the many Contests and Disputes in point of Jurisdiction, which I shall have Occasion to touch upon in the Sequel of this History; for it was not at once, but by Degrees, and not without great Opposition, that the Bishops of Rome, extending their Authority beyond the Limits of that Vicarage, which was at that time the Boundary of their Jurisdiction, acquired the unlimited Power they now enjoy, with the arrogant Title of Universal Bishop.

The Donation of all Italy made by Constantine to the Pope, a Forgery.

111But to return to Sylvester, in whose Pontificate this great Change began; I need not employ many Words to shew the Forgery of the so much boasted Donation of all Italy, supposed to have been made by Constantine to Sylvester, in the Spring of the Year 324. Four Days after he had been baptized by that Pontiff, since the Instrument of that Donation is now looked upon as supposititious, by all who have the least Tincture of Learning. The Arguments they allege against it are: 1. That more than Twelve Copies of that Instrument are still extant, all differing from one another. 2. That it evidently appears, from Two Constitutions of Constantine, still to be seen in the Theodosian Code^[640], that he was not at Rome, but at Thessalonica, in the Spring of the Year 324. 3. That neither Eusebius, who has given us a very minute and particular Account of the Actions of that Prince, nor any other contemporary Writer, has so much as hinted at so memorable a Fact. 4. That all the antient Writers, both Greek and Latin, agree, that Constantine was not baptized at Rome, but at Nicomedia, when he lay at the Point of Death^[641]. Let those, who stand up in Defence of that Donation, give satisfactory Answers to these Reasons, and I shall conclude with them, that Italy being, by such a Donation, disjoined from the Empire, the Emperors who succeeded Constantine, had no Claim or Title to that Country; that none of their Constitutions were binding there; and consequently that, by the Inhabitants of Italy, Recourse ought to be had, in all Cases, not to the Civil, but to the Canon Law: for such pernicious Doctrines have been broached, published, and maintained, as natural Deductions from Constantine’s great Generosity to Sylvester^[642]. In Rome is still to be seen, in a most sumptuous Chapel, close to the Lateran, the Baptistery or Font in which Constantine is said to have been baptized. The Chapel is adorned with noble Paintings, representing that august Ceremony, as performed by Sylvester, in the magnificent Drapery, and stately Apparel, of the present Popes. Four Days after this Ceremony, Constantine, sensible of his Obligations to Sylvester, rewarded him for his Trouble with a Fee, as Luchesini the Scolopian expresses it, answering in some Degree to the Greatness of the Favour he had received at his Hands; a Fee worthy of so great a 112Prince, of so great a Pope^[643]. |Constantine baptized at Nicomedia, and not at Rome.| The Fee, which that Writer, otherwise a Man of Learning, makes a long and tedious Descant upon, was no less than the City of Rome, and all Italy. That Constantine was baptized at Nicomedia, and not at Rome, is affirmed, in express Terms, by Theodoret^[644], Sozomen^[645], Socrates^[646], and Photius^[647], among the Greeks; and, among the Latins, by St. Ambrose^[648], St. Jerom^[649], and the Council of Rimini^[650]. Emmanuel Schelstrat, on one Side, ashamed to reject, or even to question such Authorities, but, on the other, unwilling to rob Sylvester of that Glory, will have Constantine to have been baptized in both Places. It is well known, says he, that Constantine, in the Latter-end of his Life, was greatly biassed in favour of the Arians, and their Tenets. Now a Practice obtained among them of rebaptizing such as came over to their Sect from the Catholic Church; and, to conform to this Custom, Constantine was, in all Likelihood, prevailed upon by Eusebius, the Arian Bishop of Nicomedia, who assisted him on his Death-bed^[651]. Thus Schelstrat. But it is certain, that, in Constantine’s Time, the Arians allowed the Validity of Baptism administred by the Catholics; for, long after, we find St. Austin upbraiding them with the Practice of rebaptizing, as a Novelty lately introduced among them^[652]. Besides, who is so little versed in the History of the Church, as not to know, that, in those early Times, a very bad Custom universally prevailed, at least among Persons of Distinction, who embraced the Christian Religion, namely, that of putting off their Baptism to their Death-bed, or till they were upon the Point of exposing themselves to some great Danger? Thus Theodosius the Great, though he had not only openly professed the Christian Religion, but given many Instances of an extraordinary Piety, yet did not chuse to be baptized till he fell dangerously ill at Thessalonica^[653]. In like manner Valentinian II delayed his Baptism till the Approach of a Battle with the Barbarians, when he sent, in great Haste, for St. Ambrose to administer that Sacrament to him. But while the good Bishop was crossing the Alps, on his Way to Vienne, where the Emperor then was, he received the melancholy News of his having been inhumanly murdered by some of his own Officers, at the Instigation of Arbogastus. His Death was greatly 113lamented by St. Ambrose, who, in the elegant Oration, which he pronounced on Occasion of his Obsequies, maintained, that the fervent Desire of Baptism had the same Effect as the Sacrament itself; and consequently, that the Sins of the deceased Prince being thereby cancelled, it was not to be doubted, but from this Life he had passed to eternal Bliss^[654]. Innumerable Instances of the same Nature occur in History, which were, it seems, utterly unknown to the Author of the Acts of Pope Sylvester, upon whose sole Authority the Fable has been credited of Constantine’s receiving Baptism at the Hands of Sylvester, soon after his Conversion. That Impostor, whoever he was, is supposed to have lived in the Eighth Century, long after the Custom of deferring Baptism to the Point of Death had been utterly abolished. |What gave Count- enance to the Custom of deferring Baptism to the Point of Death.| What gave Countenance to such a Custom, was an Opinion then generally received, and still held by the Church of Rome; viz. That by the Waters of the sacred Font Men were washed clean, not only from the original, but from all other Sins. This proved a great Encouragement to Vice when Piety began (and it began but too early) to decay among Christians; and therefore the Fathers of the Church, especially Basil, his Brother Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Ambrose^[655], employed all the Oratory they were Masters of, in crying down such a pernicious and wicked Custom, as they style it; so that it was at last quite laid aside. Whether Confession ought not, on the same Account, to be put down, I shall leave the Reader to judge; and only observe here, by the way, that had the Virtue and Efficacy, ascribed now to Confession, been known in those Times, Sinners needed not have delayed Baptism to the Point of Death, since their Sins had been no less effectually cancelled by Confession, than by Baptism.

Spurious Pieces ascribed to Sylvester.

As for the Letter from the Council of Nice to Sylvester, his Answer, the Acts of a Council of 275 Bishops, supposed to have been held by him, at the Request of the Fathers of Nice, to confirm their Canons and Decrees^[N12], his Letter to the Bishops of Gaul, in favour 114of the Church of Vienne; the Acts of Two other Councils, said to have been held by him at Rome; they are all Pieces universally rejected by Men of Learning, and deemed no less fabulous than the Instrument of Constantine’s Donation, and that Prince’s Journey with Sylvester to the Council of Nice, as it is related in the Acts of the latter, even in those which F. Combesis published in 1660. They are in Greek, and that Writer undertakes to defend them as genuine^[656]; but we need no other Proof than the Account they give of that Journey, to conclude them incapable of being defended. Sylvester died on the 31st of December 335. after having governed the Church of Rome for the Space of Twenty-one Years, and Eleven Months^[657].

Constantine. MARK, Thirty-third Bishop of Rome.

Year of Christ 336.

Sylvester was succeeded by Mark, on the 18th of January 336. He is passed over by Theodoret^[658], but named by Optatus^[659], Ruffinus^[660], St. Austin^[661], St. Jerom^[662], and Sozomen^[663]. We know 115nothing certain either of his Life or Administration. |The Bishop of Rome ordained by the Bishop of Ostia.| Anastasius indeed tells us, that by him the Bishop of Ostia was first appointed to ordain the Bishop of Rome, and to carry the Pallium or Pall; where Baronius observes, that the Pall is here mentioned for the First time^[664]. But Anastasius is not a Writer we can depend upon. It is certain, however, that the Bishops of Ostia have long enjoyed this Privilege; for it is mentioned by St. Austin^[665], and likewise in a Memorial presented by the Clergy of Rome in 418. to the Emperor Honorius, on Occasion of the Election of Pope Zosimus^[666]. The Letter which the Bishops of Egypt are said to have written to this Pope, and his Answer to them, are rejected even by Baronius^[667], and very justly; for the Pope’s Answer is dated Eighteen Days after his Death. He died on the 7th of October the same Year he had been chosen^[668], and was buried in the Cœmetery of Balbina, which was thenceforth called after his Name^[669]. His Body is now worshiped in the Church of St. Laurence at Florence, though no Mention is made by any Writer of its having ever been translated thither^[670].

Constantine, and his Three Sons, JULIUS, Thirty-fourth Bishop of Rome. Constantine, Constantius, and Constans.

Year of Christ 337. Falsely said to have held a great Council at Rome.

Upon the Death of Mark the See was vacant for the Space of Four Months, that is, to the 6th of February 337. when Julius was chosen^[671]. He is said to have held a Council of an Hundred and Sixteen Bishops in the December of the same Year^[672]. But the Date of this Council puts Baronius to a Stand; for in the Date are marked the Consuls, the Year of the Emperors, and the Indiction. Now, according to the Consuls, it must have been held in 337. according to the Year of the Emperors, in 340. and, according to the Indiction, in 116347. The Annalist spares neither his Words nor his Labour to solve, or rather to patch up, this Difficulty; but, being sensible, after a long, tedious, and puzzling Descant, that he labours in vain, he concludes, that the Text has been altered^[673]. He might have saved himself a great deal of Trouble, by owning at once what has been plainly proved since by Blondel^[674], viz. that no such Council was ever held.

When Julius was raised to the Pontificate, the celebrated Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, lived in Banishment at Treves; but the Year following he was allowed to return to his Church by the Three Emperors, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans, who had succeeded their Father in 337. |The Arians write to Julius against Athan- asius.| The Eusebians, that is, the Arian Faction headed by Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, at whose Instigation he had been banished by Constantine, alarmed at his Return, writ bitter Letters against him to the Three Princes, and likewise to the Bishop of Rome. To the latter they dispatched with their Letters Macarius a Presbyter, and the Two Deacons Martyrius and Hesychius. Athanasius no sooner heard of this Embassy than he, in his Turn, dispatched some Presbyters to oppose the Attempts of his Enemies, and defend his Innocence against the Calumnies, which he well knew they were sent to spread against him, not only at Rome, but all over the West^[675]. |They desire Julius to assemble a Council.| Upon their Arrival, Macarius privately withdrew from Rome, and the other Two were so confounded by the Deputies of Athanasius, at a private Conference held before the Pope, that, to gain Time, they had no other Resource but to appeal to a Council, which they begged the Pope to assemble, and to give timely notice thereof both to Athanasius and the Eusebians. They bragged that, before the Council, they would make good the Charge they had brought against Athanasius, and offered to take Julius himself for their Judge^[676]. This Offer, we may be sure, was readily accepted by the Bishop of Rome, who immediately writ to Athanasius inviting him to the Council, and at the same time desired the Deputies of the Eusebians to acquaint their Party, that, agreeably to their Request, a Council should be soon convened. Athanasius, upon the Receipt of the Pope’s Letter, set out, without Delay, for Rome, where he arrived in the Latter end of the Year 339. After his Arrival the Bishop of Rome dispatched Elpidius and Philoxenes, Two of his Presbyters, with Letters to the Eusebians, summoning them to the Council, which their Deputies had demanded, 117and acquainting them with the Time and Place in which it was to be held^[677]. The Place was Rome, and the Time the Month of June 341. according to the most probable Opinion. |They decline appear- ing at the Council of Rome; assemble one at Antioch; and there depose Athanasius;| The other Bishops assembled at the Time appointed; but the Eusebians, instead of appearing at the Council of Rome, which had been convened at their Request, assembled one at Antioch, and there, without waiting for the Determination of Julius, whom they had chosen for their Judge, deposed Athanasius, and appointed Gregory Bishop of Alexandria in his room; nay, they even detained the Deputies sent by the Pope till the Time appointed for the Meeting of the Council was expired, that they might afterwards plead, as they did, the Shortness of the Term prescribed for them to meet in^[678]. |who is declared innocent in the Council of Rome.| In the Council of Rome the Cause of Athanasius was examined, and he, after the strictest Scrutiny, declared innocent with one Voice by the Fifty Bishops who composed it^[679]; so that Julius and the rest continued to communicate with him as a Bishop^[680], which was declaring him unlawfully deposed. Several other Bishops, who had been deposed by the Arians, came to lay their Complaints before the Council, and, among the rest, Marcellus Bishop of Ancyra, and Paul Bishop of Constantinople. The former had been condemned as an Heretic by a Council held at Constantinople in 336. and consisting intirely of Arian Bishops. As nobody appeared against him during the Fifteen Months he continued at Rome, and the Declaration of his Faith, which, at the Request of Julius, he gave under his own Hand, was judged quite orthodox by the Pope and the Council, he was readmitted to the Communion of the Catholic Church^[681]. But whether they did not judge too favourably of his Belief, may be very much questioned: Epiphanius at least was no-ways satisfied with it^[682]. And truly it would be no easy Task to clear him from the Heresy of Sabellius and Samosatenus, denying the Trinity of the Divine Persons^[683]: but to examine so perplexed and intricate a Point, would be foreign to my Purpose. |Neither Athanasius nor any other Bishop restored by Julius.| Socrates^[684] and Sozomen^[685] write, that Julius, by the Authority of his See, reinstated all the Bishops who had been displaced by the Arians; that he supported and defended their Innocence with Letters full of Vigour and Liberty; severely reprimanded those who had deposed them; summoned some 118of them to appear at Rome, in a limited Time, to justify their Conduct; and, lastly, that he threatened to treat them as they deserved, if they did not forbear raising Disturbances in the Church. In virtue of these Letters, says Socrates, the Bishops were restored to their Sees. But Sozomen names only Athanasius, and Paul Bishop of Constantinople. It is surprising, that the Advocates for the See of Rome should allege the Testimony of these two Writers, to prove that the Authority of the Bishop of Rome was acknowleged by the Orientals; that his Jurisdiction was universal; when they themselves must know (for I cannot suppose them so ignorant as not to know) that the Historians whom they quote were grosly mistaken. For it is manifest from Athanasius^[686], that Julius writ only two Letters to the Eusebians; one before the Council met, inviting them to it; and the other, while the Council was still sitting, which I shall speak of hereafter; and in neither of these does Julius take upon him either to threaten or command. The above-mentioned Historians seem to have jumbled these two Letters together, and to have made a Third out of them, with some Improvements of their own. As to his restoring the deposed Bishops to their Sees, it is certain he did not, since Athanasius continued in the West till the Year 349. when he was restored by the Council of Sardica. Paul indeed was reinstated sooner, but not till the See of Constantinople became vacant by the Death of Eusebius, who had been translated from Nicomedia to that City. I appeal to the Roman Catholics themselves, and leave them to judge whether it is at all probable, that the Emperor Constantius, and the Oriental Bishops, incensed as they were against Paul and Athanasius, whom they had condemned and deposed in Two Synods, should, out of Respect to the Pope, suffer them thus tamely to return to their Sees, and drive out those whom they had placed in their room. This had been owning themselves guilty, and reversing the Sentence they had but lately pronounced, which, as will appear, they were no-ways in an Humour to do.

The Eusebians write to Julius;

While the Council of Rome was yet sitting, the Pope’s two Deputies, Elpidius and Philoxenes, returning from the East, delivered to Julius a Letter from the Eusebians, which may pass for a Master-piece of the Kind; for, without departing from, or intrenching upon, the Respect that was due to the Bishop of the Imperial City, they, at the same time, commend, censure, menace, and rally him in a most cruel Manner. They begin with alleging several frivolous Excuses for 119not appearing at the Council, such as the Persian War, which, by the way, did not prevent their assembling at Antioch; the Shortness of the Term prescribed for their Meeting; the Pope’s writing only to some of them, and not to all, as he ought to have done; and finally, his writing to them in his own Name alone, which was tacitly taxing him with taking too much upon him. They then launch out ironically, it seems, into the highest Encomiums on the Church of Rome, styling her the first of all Churches, the School of the Apostles, the Metropolis of true Piety. However, the first Preachers of the Gospel, add they, came out of the East; and, after all, we ought to be looked upon as Inferiors to none, though perhaps we may not have such numerous and flourishing Churches as some have, since the want of Numbers may be abundantly supplied by the Piety of a few. As to Rank, we are all equal, the Greatness of the Cities, in which we preside, adding nothing to the Dignity we all enjoy. In the next place, they express great Concern at the little Regard shewn by some to the Decisions of Councils, which ought to be revered by all, and deemed immutable. This was modestly censuring the Pope for not acquiescing to the Decrees of the Councils of Tyre and Constantinople condemning Athanasius. |and threaten to separate themselves from his Communion.| In the End they allege several Things both against Athanasius, and Marcellus Bishop of Ancyra; and conclude with telling Julius, that if he renounced all Correspondence and Intercourse with the Bishops they had deposed, and acknowleged those they had placed in their room, they would continue to communicate with him; but if he refused to comply with their Decisions and Decrees, they should think themselves obliged to act in a very different Manner^[687]. Julius was so mortified with this Letter, that he suppressed it for some time, hoping the Eusebians would send Deputies, who, he presumed, would express their Sentiments by Word of Mouth, and in a different Style. But, none appearing, he was obliged to lay the Letter he had received before the Fathers of the Council, who, after expressing the greatest Indignation against the Eusebians, advised the Pope to answer it; which he did accordingly, by that excellent Letter, which has been preserved intire among the Works of Athanasius. |Julius’s Answer to their Letter.| He begins with complaining, in very modest Terms, of the Animosity they betrayed in their Letter, to which he thought he had given no Occasion; unless they had taken it amiss, that he had summoned 120them to the Council; which he could not persuade himself they did, since, at the Request of their Deputies, he had appointed the Council to meet, and, at their Request, invited them to it. As for the Regard due to the Decrees and Decisions of Councils, he told them, that they had trespassed the first against the Decrees of the Oecumenical Council of Nice, by admitting the Arians to their Communion, which he conceived to be more criminal in them, than it was in him to receive Athanasius and Marcellus. He reproaches them with another Transgression of the Canons of the Church, namely with that of passing from one Bishoprick to another, which Eusebius had done. He then justifies his Conduct with regard to Athanasius and Marcellus; exhorts the Eusebians, with great Zeal and Earnestness, to find out some Remedy against the Evils and Disorders that reigned in the East, which he describes at Length; and concludes with complaining of the Orientals for condemning and deposing Bishops, those especially of the Apostolic Sees, without the Concurrence or Knowlege of their Brethren in the West^[688].

Julius, finding his Letter made no Impression on the Eusebians, applied with several other Bishops to the Emperor Constans, who, at their Request proposed to his Brother Constantius the assembling of an Oecumenical Council, in order to put an End to those unhappy Divisions. |The Council of Sardica.| To this Proposal Constantius agreed; and accordingly, by the Command of the two Princes, a numerous Council met in 347. at Sardica, the Metropolis of Dacia in Illyricum^[689]. Julius, apprehending it dangerous to abandon his Flock at that Juncture, did not assist in Person, but by his Deputies Archidamus and Philoxenes, who signed in his Name^[690]. The Orientals came, but withdrew soon after, upon the Council’s refusing to exclude Athanasius, and some others, whom they had condemned^[691]. But by the orthodox Bishops, who remained, the Acts of the Council of Rome were confirmed, Athanasius and Three other Bishops declared innocent; and those, who had been placed in their room, not only deposed, but anathematized, and intirely cut off from the Communion of the Catholic Church^[692]. The Council, before they broke up, writ several Letters; and, among the rest, one to the Emperors; one to the Bishop of Rome; and a circular 121Letter to all the Bishops of the Catholic Church, acquainting them with what had passed, and exhorting them to join the Council, and declare to the World, that they accepted their Decrees by subscribing to them^[693]. The circular Letter was subscribed first by the great Osius Bishop of Cordoua, and in the Second place by the Pope’s Legates^[694]. In their Letter to Julius they beg him to notify their Decrees to the Bishops of Sardinia, Sicily, and Italy, lest any of them should receive Letters of Peace and Communion from the Bishops they had condemned^[695]. In this Letter the Council says, or rather is made to say, That it is very meet or reasonable, that all Bishops should acquaint their Head, that is, the See of St. Peter, with what passes in their respective Provinces^[696]. I agree with Blondel^[697], that this Passage is foisted in; but cannot acquiesce to the only Reason he alleges to support his Opinion, viz. the Barbarity of the Latin Expression (valde congruentissimum est); for such a Slip might easily escape Men wholly bent on defending the Truth, and speaking it; and besides, we are not certain, that this Letter was originally written in Latin. The want of Connexion between that Sentence, and what is said both before and after it, is, I think, a more convincing Proof of Forgery.

Canons of the Council of Sardica relating to the Bishop of Rome.

By the Council of Sardica several Canons were made; but I shall only take notice of those that regard the Bishop of Rome. By the Third Canon in the Greek, or the Fourth in the Latin Translation by Isidorus, it is ordered, that if any Bishop shall think himself unjustly condemned, his Judges shall acquaint the Bishop of Rome therewith, who may either confirm the first Judgment, or order his Cause to be re-examined by such of the neighbouring Bishops as hehe shall think fit to name^[698]. Osius, who was greatly addicted to the See of Rome, begged the Council to grant this Honour to the Memory of St. Peter. The Fourth Canon, according to the Greek, adds, That the See of the deposed Bishop shall remain vacant till his Cause shall be judged by the Bishop of Rome. By the Fifth Canon, which by some Mistake is the Seventh in Dionysius Exiguus, it is ordered, that if a Bishop, condemned in his own Province, shall chuse to be judged by the Bishop of Rome, and desires him to appoint some of his Presbyters to judge him in his Name, together with the Bishops, the Bishop of Rome may grant him his Request. |The Practice of ap- pealing to the Pope first introduced. Several Circumstances concur in his Favour.| Thus was the pernicious Practice of appealing to the Pope first introduced and authorized. It must be 122observed, that the Oriental Bishops had all left the Council: those who remained were all zealous Opposers of Arianism. At the Head of their Party was the Bishop of Rome. In the Heat of their Zeal they thought they could not confer too much Power upon him; and so made a Concession intirely repugnant to the Discipline of the primitive Church, and which he could never have obtained, had not those Dispositions worked strongly in his Favour. This will not be surprising to those, who have attended to History, and seen how much the Ambition of Princes, and Heads of Factions, is often advanced beyond its due Bounds by the indiscreet Fervour of Party-Zeal. To the Council of Sardica, acting under this Influence, the See of Rome is indebted for the so much boasted Privilege of receiving Appeals; and Julius was very thankful for it. |The Popes claim as their original Right, what was granted them as a Favour.| But his Successors, looking upon such an Obligation as a Diminution of their pretended Sovereignty, have had the Assurance to claim it as their original Right: but that such a Right was unknown to their great Friend Osius, to the Fathers of the Council, nay, and to the Pope himself, and his Legates, is manifest, since what they now claim as their original and inherent Right, was by Osius begged of the Council as a Favour, and, as such, granted by the Council, and accepted by the Pope and his Legates. This Power of receiving Appeals, only with respect to the judging and deposing of Bishops, has been extended by the Popes to all Causes; and great Encouragement has been given to such as recurred to their Tribunal on the slightest Occasions. Concerning Appeals in the smallest Causes, we would have you to know, that the same Regard is to be had to them, for how slight a Matter soever they be made, as if they were for a greater, says Pope Alexander III. in his Letter to the Bishop of Worcester^[699]. The scandalous and intolerable Abuse of this Power in the Popes has obliged several Princes, even when Superstition most prevailed, to restrain their Subjects by severe Laws from recurring to Rome. Nay, other Councils of far greater Authority than that of Sardica, finding no other Means to put a Stop to the daily Encroachments of the See of Rome, have thought it necessary to revoke the Privilege, which that Council had too rashly granted, as we shall see in the Sequel of the present History.

Decrees of the Council of Antioch revoked by the Council of Sardica.

It had been decreed but Six Years before, by the Council of Antioch, that, if the Bishops of the same Province disagreed in judging one of 123their Brethren, the Metropolitan might call in those of the neighbouring Province to judge with them; but if they agreed, and were unanimous either in condemning or absolving, their Judgment should be irreversible. Both these Decrees were revoked by the present Council, though intirely agreeable to the antient Practice and Discipline of the Church. |The Pope has no Power to summon Bishops to Rome.| But yet this Council, however favourable to the Pope, did not grant him the Power of summoning Bishops to Rome, in order to be judged there by him. He was only impowered to examine the Judgment given in the Province; and, in case he found it to be wrong, to order another in the same Province, to invite to this new Synod the Bishops of the next Province, and to send his Legates to it as he thought fit.

Osius did not preside at the Council of Sardica as the Pope’s Legate.

At this Council the Pope’s Legates assisted; but Osius presided, as we are told in express Terms by Theodoret^[700], by Sozomen^[701], and by the Fathers of the Council of Chalcedon^[702]. Besides, his Name is the first in the Subscriptions, as they have been transmitted to us by Athanasius, who assures us, that Osius was the Chief, and presided in all the Councils at which he assisted. He signed the first, and in his own Name: after him signed the Legates, not in their own, but in the Pope’s Name; Julius Romæ per Archidamum & Philoxenum Presbyteros; which is a sufficient Confutation of De Marca, and the other Popish Writers, pretending, without the least Foundation, that Osius presided in the Name of Julius.

The Council of Sardica a Council of no great Authority.

It is to be observed, that the Canons of this Council were never received in the East, nor even in the West by the Bishops of Africa; and that they were not inserted by the Council of Chalcedon into the Code of Canons approved by them, as Rules to be universally observed: so that, after all, the so much boasted Council of Sardica is a Council of no great Authority. Of this the Popes themselves were well apprised; and therefore, recurring to Fraud, attempted, as we shall see hereafter, to impose upon the World the Canons of Sardica as the Canons of Nice.

Athanasius retires to Naissus.

Athanasius, though declared innocent by the Council, did not think it adviseable to return to his See, being informed, that the Eusebians had prevailed upon the Emperor Constantius to issue an Order, impowering and commanding the Magistrates of Alexandria to put him to Death, without further Tryal, in what Place soever he should 124be found within the Precincts of that Jurisdiction^[703]. |Is recalled by Constantius.| He therefore retired to Naissus in Upper Dacia, and there continued from the year 347. to 349. when Constantius chose rather to recall him, and the other exiled Bishops, than engage in a Civil War, with which he was threatened by his Brother, if he did not^[704]. Before his Departure for the East he went to Rome, to take his Leave of that Church, and his great Protector Julius, who, on that Occasion, writ an excellent Letter of Congratulation to the Presbyters, Deacons, and People of Alexandria. Of this Letter we have Two Copies, the one in Socrates^[705], and the other in Athanasius^[706]. The former contains great Commendations of that Prelate, which, out of Modesty, were, as I conjecture, omitted by him.

Ursacius and Valens retract all they had said against Athanasius.

Julius had, soon after, the Satisfaction of receiving a solemn Retractation made by Ursacius Bishop of Singidunum, and Valens Bishop of Mursus, Two of Athanasius’s most inveterate Enemies, publicly owning, that whatever they had said or written against him was utterly false, groundless, and invented out of pure Malice: at the same time they embraced his Communion, and anathematized the Heresy of Arius, and all who held or defended his Tenets. This Act Valens writ with his own Hand, and Ursacius signed it; whereupon they were both admitted by Julius to the Communion of the Church^[707][N13]. This Retraction, 125though not at all sincere, but merely owing to Policy, greatly contributed to the Justification of Athanasius. I find nothing else in the Antients, concerning Julius, worthy of Notice. |Julius dies.| He died on the 12th of April 352. having governed the Church of Rome Fifteen Years, Two Months, and Six Days^[708]. He is said to have been buried in the Cœmetery of Callistus, on the Aurelian Way, where he had built a Church^[709], and to have been removed from thence in 817. by Pope Paschal I. to the Church of St. Praxedes, and again from that, by Innocent II. in 1140. to St. Mary’s beyond the Tyber^[710]. Bede, whom the Authors of the modern Pontificals have followed, tells us, in his Martyrology^[711], that Julius was sent into Banishment, where he suffered much for the Space of Ten Months, till the Death of Constantius, a zealous Promoter of Arianism. |Julius was not banished by Constantius.| But that Historian was certainly mistaken, since Constantius was never Master of Rome in Julius’s Time, and his Brother Constans was a great Friend to Julius, and all the orthodox Bishops. |Spurious Pieces ascribed to him.| Of the many Writings ascribed to Julius, none, except his Two Letters, are authentic, the one to the Eusebians, and the other to the Church of Alexandria, of which we have spoken above. Leontius of Byzantium mentions Seven Epistles, which, in the Latter-end of the Sixth Century, were ascribed to Julius^[712]; but, at the same time, he assures us, that they were not written by him, but by Apollinaris the Heresiarch; and the Monks of Palæstine, in the Account they gave of the Eutychians, in the Time of the Emperor Anastasius, assure us, that they seduced great Numbers of People, by ascribing the Works of Apollinaris to the Fathers, namely to Athanasius, to Gregory Nazienzen, and to Julius^[713]. Gennadius ascribes to Julius a Letter to Dionysius Bishop of Corinth, greatly favouring of the Heresy of Eutyches and Timotheus^[714]; 126but Leontius of Byzantium evidently proves that Letter to have been written by Apollinaris; and as his it is quoted by his Two Disciples Valentine and Timotheus^[715]. The Orientals have a Liturgy, which they suppose to have been composed by Julius: this Supposition, however groundless, shews him to have been in great Repute in those Parts^[716].

Constantius, Julian, LIBERIUS, Thirty-fifth Bishop of Rome. Jovian, Valerian.

Year of Christ 352. Liberius his own Panegyrist.

Liberius was chosen on the 22d of May 352. in the room of Julius^[717]. He had trampled under-foot (to use his own Terms) all worldly things, to observe the Gospel, and obey the Dictates of his Faith. He had been employed, before his Election, in several Ecclesiastical Ministries, and discharged them with Reputation, though he was not conscious to himself of having ever done the least Thing for the sake of Praise and Glory. He was at last raised to the Episcopal Dignity, but much against his Will, as he calls God and the Church to witness. He protests, that it was his ardent and only Wish, that he might keep himself pure and undefiled in the Administration of his new Dignity, that he might inviolably maintain and defend the Faith, which he had received from his illustrious Predecessors, among whom were many Martyrs^[718]. |No easy Matter to form a true Idea of his Character.| Were we to judge of his Conduct from his Words, we should equal him to the best of his Predecessors; but there appears, throughout his whole Administration, such an odd Mixture of opposite Qualities, that it is no easy Matter to form a true Idea of his Character: at one time we shall find him bold, intrepid, and inflexible; at another timorous, faint-hearted, and compliant; insomuch that one can hardly conceive him to be the same Man. The latter Qualities he betrayed in the very Beginning of his Pontificate, by separating himself from the Communion of Athanasius. Constans, the great Support of the Orthodox Party, being murdered, and Constantius upon the Point of becoming Master of Rome, by a complete Victory he had gained over the Two Brothers Magnentius and Decentius, the Eusebians thought this a proper 127Juncture to try whether the Fear of that Prince had not rendered Julius somewhat more tractable. For Constantius was more incensed than ever against Athanasius, being assured by the Eusebians, to whom he gave an intire Credit, that he had influenced his Brother to threaten him with a Civil War^[719]. |The Eusebians write a second Letter to Julius against Athanasius:| They writ therefore to Julius a second Letter, filled with new Complaints and Calumnies against Athanasius; but Julius dying in the mean time, their Letter, together with another to the same Purpose from the Arians of Alexandria, was delivered to Liberius, who caused them both to be publicly read in a full Assembly of the People, and in the Council, which was then sitting at Rome^[720]. |which is answered by Liberius:| His Answer to these Letters has not reached our Times; but a Copy of the Letter, which he writ on that Occasion to Athanasius, has, to his eternal Disgrace, been transmitted to us, among the Fragments of Hilarius Bishop of Poitiers. |who summons Athanasius to Rome.| In that Letter he summons him to appear forthwith at Rome, to clear himself there of the heavy Accusations brought against him; and threatens to cut him off from the Communion of that Church, if he refused to comply with the Summons^[721]. With this Letter he dispatched Three of his Presbyters, Lucius, Paulus, and Ælianus; strictly injoining them, by all means, to prevail upon Athanasius to repair, without Delay, to Rome^[722]. This Conduct, so very different from that of his Predecessor, was, no doubt, owing to the Dread he was in of the Emperor Constantius, by this Time probably Master of Rome, and all Italy; for what else could tempt or induce him to act so preposterously? Be that as it will, Athanasius was greatly surprised and concerned to find himself so unworthily treated and threatened by the Bishop of Rome; but did not think himself, on that Account, obliged to abandon his Flock. He remained therefore in Alexandria; but begged his Collegues in Egypt to write in his Favour to the Pope; which they did accordingly. |Liberius commun- icates with the Arians, and excommunicates Athanasius.| But Liberius wanted to ingratiate himself with the Arians, and, by their means, with the Emperor; and therefore, without any Regard to the Testimony of the Orthodox Bishops, or the known Innocence of the oppressed Athanasius, he writ to the Eusebians, acquainting them, that he communicated with them; but, as to Athanasius, he had cut him off from his Communion, and from that of his Church^[723]. |His Letter to them not supposititious.| Baronius^[724], 128and after him the Benedictines, in their last Edition of the Works of Hilarius and Athanasius^[725], maintain this Letter of Liberius to have been forged by the Arians, and inserted into the Works of Hilarius. But they allege no convincing Reason why the other Pieces, among which it has been conveyed to us, should be admitted as genuine, and this alone rejected as supposititious. Athanasius, indeed, never reproached the Bishop of Rome with his scandalous Conduct, as they observe; but may not that be ascribed to his Moderation? The more, as he was sensible, that Liberius acted thus not out of Ill-will, but Fear. As to the want of Connexion between that Letter and the Pieces preceding and following it, I should not have expected such an Objection from any who had ever perused the Fragments of that Writer, which every one knows to have been patched together without any Regard to Time or Order^[N14].

The Council of Arles.

In the mean time Constantius, now in quiet Possession of the whole Empire by the Death of Magnentius, who, after his Defeat, had laid violent Hands on himself, summoned a Council to meet at Arles. At this Council Liberius did not assist in Person, but by his Legates, Vincentius Bishop of Capua, and Marcellus Bishop of Campania, who, together with some others, had been sent by Liberius some time before to meet the Emperor at Arles, and beg him in the Pope’s Name to assemble a Council at Aquileia^[726]. As the Bishop of Capua was a Man of great Parts, and long Experience, Liberius reposed 129an intire Confidence in him, not doubting but he would maintain the Dignity of his Legation, and support the Innocency of Athanasius with that Firmness which he had shewn on several other Occasions ^[N15].

As the Council consisted chiefly of Arians, their great Point in view was, to extort from the Italian Bishops a solemn Condemnation of Athanasius. |The Emperor’s Edict.| This therefore was in the first place proposed in the Council; and, because the orthodox Bishops would not consent to it, an Edict was issued by the Emperor, sentencing all those to Exile who should refuse to sign the Condemnation of Athanasius^[727]. |The Pope’s Legates sign the Condem- nation of Athanasius.| The boasted Firmness and Constancy of Vincentius were not Proof against such a Trial. He did all that lay in his Power to divert the Emperor from the Execution of a Decree utterly inconsistent with the Liberty of a Council; but finding him deaf to all Remonstrances, he began to capitulate, offering to sign the Condemnation of Athanasius, on condition the Eusebians signed that of Arius, and publicly abjured his Doctrine. This he thought would be some Alleviation of his Guilt, and therefore the Proposal which he had made by Word of Mouth he gave in Writing to the Heads of the Arian Faction, signed by himself and his Fellow-legates. But the Arians, too well acquainted with their Weakness to grant them any Terms, peremptorily insisted upon their condemning Athanasius, and referring the Cause and Doctrine of Arius to a more proper Juncture. Vincentius and his Collegues, finding the Enemies of Athanasius thus inflexible, and, on the other hand, determined at all Events to keep their Bishopricks, and avoid the Hardships of a painful Exile, complied at last, and yielded to the troublesome Times, to use their softening Expression^[728]. They were the more inexcuseable, as they had before their Eyes the Example of a great Prelate, whose Constancy was proof against all the Threats and Menaces of a provoked Prince. This was the celebrated Paulinus Bishop of Treves, who, after perusing the Formulary, drawn up by the Eusebians, to be signed by him and the other Bishops, rejected it with the utmost Indignation, declaring that nothing they could do should ever induce him to betray the Truth, and his own Conscience, 130by setting his Hand to such a scandalous Piece. The Eusebians left no Art unattempted to gain him, as they had done the Pope’s Legates, but finding he was a Man of a quite different Disposition, and despairing of being ever able to prevail upon him either by Hopes or Fear, they at last had recourse to the Emperor, who, putting his Decree in Execution, sent him into Exile; and in order to tire out his Patience, ordered him to be constantly conveyed from one inhospitable Place to another. |The glorious Behaviour of Paulinus.| But in every Place Paulinus was the same, the Conscience of his suffering for the sake of Justice enabling him to bear, not only with Patience, but Chearfulness, the inexpressible Hardships he underwent^[729]. He died in Phrygia in the Fifth Year of his Exile^[730], that is, in 358. But his Body is supposed to have been discovered in a Church of his Name at Treves, in the Year 1071^[731]. How and when it was conveyed thither, let those inquire who adore it.