St. PETER (continued 6)

A Mistake of Baronius.

Baronius is certainly mistaken, and so was Ruffinus^[1100], whom he follows, in asserting the Heresy of Apollinaris to have been first condemned by the Council of Rome, since it is manifest, that the Doctrine of that Heresiarch had been condemned long before by Athanasius, Basil, and Epiphanius, in their Writings, and by the Council held at Alexandria in 362. But Ruffinus probably meant no more, than that those Errors were first condemned by the Council of Rome, under the Name, and together with the Person, of Apollinaris; which is undeniable. |Another Mistake of the same Writer.| I cannot help observing here another Mistake of Baronius, pretending that Damasus (for whatever was done by the Council is by him ascribed to Damasus alone) in condemning Apollinaris condemned all the Errors he held; and consequently the Opinion of the Millenarians, holding that Christ was to return upon the Earth, and reign over the Faithful a Thousand Years before the End of the World. 210|The Doctrine of the Millenarians held by the greatest Men in the Church.| This Opinion was first broached about the Year 118. by Papias Bishop of Hierapolis, a Man of great Piety, honoured by the Church of Rome as a Saint^[1101]. He declares, in the few Fragments of his Works, which have been conveyed to us by Eusebius^[1102], that, as he lived near the Times of the Apostles, he made it his chief Business to learn of their Disciples whatever they could recollect to have been done or said by them, on different Occasions, that was not recorded in Holy Writ. Thus he learned the above-mentioned Doctrine^[1103], which, upon the Authority of such a Tradition, countenanced by some Passages in the Revelations^[1104], and one Text in St. Paul, was embraced and held by the most eminent Men for Piety and Learning, at that time, in the Church; and, among the rest, by Irenæus, and Justin the Martyr. And yet such a Doctrine is now rank Heresy in the Church of Rome. But, by declaring it such, have they not overset their own System, which places Tradition upon a Level with the Canonical Books of the Scripture? |How little Tradition to be depended upon.| Can they allege a more antient Tradition, one more universally received, or equally countenanced by Scripture, in favour of the many traditional Articles of Faith, which they have obtruded upon the World? Papias declares, he received the above-mentioned Doctrine of those who had learned it immediately of the Apostles. If such a Tradition be rejected as false, what other has a Right to be admitted as true? If we deny or question St. Peter’s having been at Rome, Tradition, and the Authority of Irenæus (for all the others have copied from him), are immediately produced against us. But what Weight either ought to bear, the Case before us sufficiently demonstrates.

To return to Apollinaris: It is very certain, that he held and taught the Doctrine of the Millenarians; but it is no less certain, that such a Doctrine was not condemned, as Baronius pretends^[1105], by the Council of Rome in 378. since many eminent Men in the Church held it, and Sulpitius Severus among the rest, after that Council, without being deemed Heretics on that score. |The Apollinarists con- demned by several Councils.| The Sentence pronounced against Apollinaris, and his Disciples, by the Council of Rome, was confirmed by a Council held the same Year at Alexandria^[1106], by an Oecumenical Council assembled at Constantinople in 381. and by the Council of Antioch in 379^[1107]. However, the Apollinarists, though 211thus condemned and deposed by all the Councils of the East and West, as we read in Gregory Nazianzen^[1108], still kept their Ground, till Recourse was had to the Secular Power. |Penal Laws enacted against them.| For the Emperor Theodosius, at the Request of Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople, enacted a Law, dated the Tenth of March 388. forbidding the Apollinarists to hold Assemblies, to have any Ecclesiastics or Bishops, or to dwell in the Cities^[1109]. As this Law was executed with the utmost Rigour, at least against the leading Men of the Party, who were banished the Cities, and confined to the Deserts^[1110], the Apollinarists were in a few Years reduced to a very small Number, when they begged to be admitted to the Communion of the Catholic Church, which was in the End granted them by Theodotus^[1111], who governed the Church of Antioch, from the Year 416. to 428. But as their Conversion was owing not to Conviction, but Persecution, they still held in their Hearts the same Sentiments, which ever must happen in the like Case; nay, and privately instilled their Errors into the Minds of many, whose Faith had been, till that time, untainted^[1112]. It was to these pretended Catholics, or disguised Apollinarists, that the Eutychian Heresy, and that of the Monothelites, of whom I shall speak hereafter, owed their Birth^[1113]. Hence the Emperor Marcian, by an Edict in 455. declared the Eutychians to be Apollinarists, and consequently liable to the same Penalties^[1114]. As for Apollinaris himself, he died about the Year 392. having maintained, to the Hour of his Death, the same Sentiments, in which he had lived; and, with them, the same outward Appearance, at least, of a most holy and exemplary Life^[1115]; which is all the Authors of those Times Will allow him.

New Disturbances raised by Ursinus.

While Damasus, and the other Western Bishops, were wholly intent upon suppressing the Heresy of Apollinaris, and restoring the Eastern Churches to their former Tranquillity, the Antipope Ursinus, laying hold of that Opportunity, arrived privately at Milan, and there joined the Arians, upon their promising to support him with the whole Power of their Party^[1116]. But Ambrose, who then governed that Church, and kept a watchful Eye over the Flock committed to his Care, gave immediate Notice of their clandestine Meetings, and pernicious Designs, to the Emperor Gratian, who soon after ordered Ursinus 212to quit Italy, and confined him to Cologne^[1117]. During his Exile his Partisans were not idle; they found the Emperor Gratian, who in 375. had succeeded his Father Valentinian I. warmly engaged in favour of Damasus: they well knew, that so long as he continued in that Disposition, it would be in vain to solicit the Return of Ursinus, or to put up any Petition in his Behalf. |Damasus falsly ac- cused, but cleared by the Emperor.| In order therefore to estrange the Mind of the Emperor from Damasus, they suborned a Jew, named Isaac, who had embraced the Christian Religion, but was then returned to Judaism, to accuse him before the Civil Magistrate of an heinous Crime, which I find not specified by any of the Antients. But the Emperor, taking upon himself the judging of that Cause, soon discovered the Innocence of the Accused, and the Malice of the Accuser; and therefore, honourably acquitting the former, and punishing the latter according to his Deserts, confined him to a Corner of Spain^[1118].

This Attempt on the Reputation of Damasus was not the only Thing that gave him great Uneasiness at this time. The Emperor Valentinian had transferred, as I have related above, the Power of judging Bishops, such at least as were concerned in the Schism of Ursinus, from the Civil Magistrate to the Bishop of Rome. |Some Bishops, de- posed by Damasus, keep their Sees.| But several Bishops, though deposed by him, still maintained themselves in their Sees, with open Force, in Defiance of his Sentence, and the Imperial Law. Among these were the Bishop of Parma, and Florentius Bishop of Puzzuolo, who, for their Attachment to Ursinus, had been both deposed by Damasus, and other Bishops assembled at Rome^[1119]. The Donatists too, notwithstanding the severe Laws enacted against them by several Emperors, had got Footing in Italy, and in Rome itself, where they were known by the Names of Montenenses, and Rupenses, on account of their assembling in a Church or Oratory, which they had among the neighbouring Rocks and Mountains^[1120]. They had a Bishop of their own, either sent from Africa, or ordained by Bishops sent from thence for that Purpose. Claudian, who governed them at this time, was their Fifth Bishop of Rome^[1121]. The Emperor ordered him to be sent back to Africa, whence he came. But though he had been several times imprisoned, in order to oblige him by that means to return, he could not even 213so be prevailed upon to abandon his Flock; but continued at Rome, perverting many there, and rebaptizing all he could pervert^[1122]. |The Italian Bishops recur to the Emperor.| To put a Stop to these Evils, the Bishops of Italy, assembling at Rome, had recourse to the Emperor Gratian, acquainting him with the Conduct of the contumacious Bishops, and earnestly intreating him to cause the Law, commanding the Bishops to be judged by the Bishop of Rome, and not by the Civil Magistrate, which he himself had enacted with his Father, to be put in Execution. By that Law, the Emperor, in all Likelihood, only intended to confirm, with respect to the Bishop of Rome, the Canons of the Church, appointing the Metropolitan, with his Council, Judge of the Bishops of his Province in Ecclesiastical Causes. But the Bishops, assembled on this Occasion at Rome, attempted to extend the Authority of the Bishop of Rome, far beyond the Bounds to which the Emperors and Canons had confined it. |Their letter to him.| For, in their Letter to Gratian, they suggested the following Regulations as necessary for the Tranquillity of the Church, and intreated him to establish them by Law: 1. That if any, who had been condemned by the Bishop of Rome, or other Catholic Bishops, should, after such Condemnation, presume to keep their Churches, they should be banished from the Territories of the Cities, where they had been Bishops. 2. That such as should refuse, when lawfully summoned, to appear before the Bishops, should be obliged, by the Prefect of Italy, or his Vicar, to repair to Rome, to be judged there. 3. That, if the accused Bishop resided in a distant Province, he should be obliged, by the Judges of the Place, to appear before his Metropolitan; and, if his Metropolitan was suspected as partial, or prejudiced against him, he might be allowed to appeal to the Bishop of Rome, or to a Council of Fifteen neighbouring Bishops; but, if the Accused was himself a Metropolitan, he should either repair to Rome, or appear before such Judges as the Bishop of Rome should appoint; and, when thus condemned, submit to the Sentence^[1123]. |What they demand in particular for the Bishop of Rome.| In Behalf of the Bishop of Rome in particular they begged, in the same Letter, that, as he was above other Bishops by the Prerogative of the Apostolic See, though upon a Level with them as to the Ministry, he might not be obliged to appear before the Civil Magistrate, since other Bishops had been exempted from their Jurisdiction, but before a Council, or that the Emperor would reserve to himself the Cognisance of what concerned him, leaving to the ordinary Judges the 214Power of examining Facts and Witnesses, but not the Authority of pronouncing Sentence^[1124]. |The Emperor’s Answer.| What Answer the Emperor returned to the Council, we know not; but, in a Rescript, addressed to the Vicar Aquilinus, after summing up the Heads of the Letter from the Council, and severely reprimanding his Officers for their Neglect, in not causing the Imperial Law to be put in Execution, he confirms the Rescript address’d to Simplicius, which I have mentioned above; commands the Bishop of Parma, Florentius of Puzzuolo, and Claudian the Donatist, with all those who shall be condemned by the Councils, as Disturbers of the Quiet of the Church, to be driven from their Dioceses, and banished an Hundred Miles from Rome: he grants all the Council had desired, with respect to the judging of Bishops; but requires the Bishop of Rome to act with the Advice of Five or Seven other Bishops; and, lastly, he forbids Persons of infamous Characters, or known Slanderers, to be admitted as Informers or Witnesses against Bishops^[1125]. In this Rescript he takes no notice of what the Council had asked for the Bishop of Rome in particular.

In what Sense the Pope above other Bishops.

From these Pieces, which are still extant, it is manifest beyond all Dispute, as the Reader must have observed, that, in the Year 378. when this Council was held, no Prerogative was yet discovered in the Pope, peculiar to him, and not common to all Bishops, besides that of Rank, which arose from the Dignity of his See, that is, from his being Bishop of the Metropolis of the Empire; for, in that respect alone, the Bishops, who composed the Council, acknowleged him to be above them; nay, by declaring themselves, in express Terms, equal to him as to the Ministry, they seem to have taken particular Care, that no Room or Pretence should be left for his claiming a Superiority in any other respect. And how great would their Surprize have been, had Damasus, in hearing that Part of their Address to the Emperor, started up, and, protesting against it, as derogatory to his Prerogative, declared, that, to him all Power was given in Heaven and on Earth; that, so far from being equal to him, they, and all other Bishops, were but his Deputies and Delegates; that the Power, Authority, and Jurisdiction, which they enjoyed, were derived to them from the Plenitude of his! Had he talked in this Strain, the whole Council would have concluded him delirious. And yet these are the Sentiments of his Successors; these the very Words, with 215which they and their Divines have expressed them^[1126]; so that it is now reckoned Heresy not to believe what in the Fourth Century it had been deemed Madness to have gravely uttered. |The Power he now claims unknown in the Time of Damasus.| It would perhaps have seemed still more strange and surprising to the Fathers of the Council, however prejudiced in his Favour, if Damasus, instead of gratefully acknowleging their Regard for him in petitioning the Emperor, that he might not be judged by the Civil Magistrate, but either by a Council, or the Emperor himself, had severely rebuked them as Strangers to, or Betrayers of, his inherent Right, acquainting them, that, in virtue thereof, all Men were to be judged by him, but himself by no Man^[1127]; that the greatest Monarchs were his Slaves and Vassals, and he King of Kings, Monarch of the World, sole Lord and Governor both in Spirituals and Temporals^[1128]; that he was appointed Prince over all Nations and Kingdoms^[1129]; that his Power excelled all Powers^[1130]; that it was necessary to Salvation for every human Creature to be subject to him^[1131]. And yet these are the Notions, that have been uttered by his Successors, and the very Terms in which they were uttered. In the Age I am now writing of, they had been looked upon no otherwise than the Ravings of a distempered Brain; but they are now held by the Church of Rome, and her Divines, as Oracles, and inserted as such into her Canons. Bellarmine owns, that, in the Fourth Century, the Pope was still subject to the Emperors, nay, and to the Civil Magistrate, without the least Distinction between him and other Vassals. But this Subjection, says he, in his Apology against King James^[1132], the Emperors exacted by Force, because the Power of the Pope was not known to them. Nor to any body else, he might have added, since the Writers of those Times seem to have been no better acquainted with the Power of the Pope than the Emperors; at least, they take no Notice of it, even in describing, as some of them have done, the State of the Church at the time they writ, and relating the Customs, Laws, and Practices, that then obtained. Besides, how could the Power of the Pope be unknown to the Christian Emperors, if it was one of the chief Tenets of the Christian Doctrine? Neither Damasus, nor any of his Predecessors, can be justly charged with Bashfulness, in acquainting the 216World with the Power they had or claimed. We may further observe here, that the Emperor requires the Bishop of Rome, in judging according to the Power granted him, to act with the Advice of Five or Seven other Bishops: a plain Proof, that he was as little acquainted with the Pope’s Infallibility, as with his Power.

A new Accusation brought against Damasus.

The Council of the Italian Bishops, assembled at Rome, no sooner broke up, than the Emissaries and Partisans of Ursinus began to raise new Disturbances in that City, by stirring up the Pagans against Damasus, and, at the same time, charging him with things, to use the Expression of the Council of Aquileia, not fit to be uttered by a Bishop, nor heard by such an Emperor as Gratian^[1133]. Anastasius writes, that he was accused of Adultery by the Two Deacons Concordus and Callistus^[1134]. And truly, that some Crime of that Nature was laid to his Charge, is pretty plain, from the Terms in which it was expressed by the Council. Valerian, then Governor of Rome, immediately acquainted the Emperor with the Accusation^[1135]; but what Part Gratian acted on this Occasion, we are not told by any antient Writer. We read in the Pontificals, and most of the modern Writers, that the Cause was referred by the Emperor to the Council then sitting at Aquileia; and that Damasus was declared innocent by all the Bishops who composed it. |The Council of Aquileia writes to the Emperor in his Behalf.| But, as neither is related by any credible Author, I am inclined to believe, that Gratian took no Notice of the Charge, in Compliance with the Request of the Bishops assembled at Aquileia; for, by a Letter, they earnestly intreated him not to hearken to Ursinus, because his giving ear to him would occasion endless Disturbances in Rome; and, besides, they could by no means communicate with a Man who thus wickedly aspired to a Dignity, to which he had no Claim or Title; who, by his scandalous Behaviour, had incurred the Hatred of all good Christians; who had impiously joined the Arians, and, together with them, attempted to disturb the Quiet of the Catholic Church of Milan^[1136].

A great Council as- sembled at Con- stantinople, by the Emperor Theodosius.

Towards the Latter end of the Pontificate of Damasus, Two great Councils were held, the one at Constantinople in 381. and the other at Rome in 382. The former was assembled by the Emperor Theodosius, who, after having put the Orthodox in Possession of the Churches, which till his Time had been held by the Arians in the East, where he reigned, summoned all the Bishops within his Dominions 217to meet at Constantinople, in order to deliberate about the most proper Means of restoring an intire Tranquillity to the Church, rent and disturbed not only by several Sects of Heretics, but by the Divisions that reigned among the Orthodox themselves, by that especially of Antioch, the most antient of all, which, from that Church, had spread all over the Empire, and occasioned rather an intire Separation, than a Misunderstanding between the East and the West, the former communicating with Meletius, and the latter with Paulinus, as I have related above. In this Council many weighty Matters were transacted, and several Canons established, some of which, namely, the Second and Third, deserve to be taken Notice of here. For, by the Second, the Council renewed and confirmed the antient Law of the Church, authorized by the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Canons of the Council of Nice, commanding the Bishops of each Province to be ordained by those of the same Province, and such of the neighbouring Provinces, as they should think fit to call in; directing all Ecclesiastical Matters to be settled, all Disputes to be finally decided by a Council composed of the Bishops of the Province, or at least of the Diocese, that is, of all the Provinces under the same Vicar; and strictly forbidding the Bishops of one Diocese to concern themselves, under any Colour or Pretence whatsoever, with what happens in another^[1137]. |which revokes the Privilege granted to the See of Rome by the Council of Sardica.| By this Canon the Privilege, formerly granted to the See of Rome by the Council of Sardica, was revoked, and all Appeals from the Council of the Diocese forbidden. By the Third Canon the See of ConstantinopleConstantinople is declared first in Rank and Dignity after that of Rome^[1138]. Some Greek Writers have pretended, that, by this Canon, the Two Sees were declared in every respect equal; but that Zonaras himself owns to be false and groundless^[1139]. It is to be observed, that the Council of Constantinople gave Rank and Honour to that See, but no Jurisdiction. It was to the Council of Chalcedon that the Bishops of Constantinople owed their Authority and Jurisdiction; for by that Council they were impowered to ordain the Metropolitans of the Dioceses of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace^[1140]. The Reasons alleged by Baronius to prove the Third Canon of the Council of Constantinople supposititious^[1141], are quite frivolous; and it is certain beyond all Dispute, that the Bishops of that City maintained ever after the Rank, 218which the above-mentioned Canon had given them. In a short time the Bishop of Constantinople, taking Advantage of that Canon, and of the Deference that is naturally paid to the Bishop of the Imperial City, extended his Jurisdiction over all the neighbouring Provinces, nay, and over the whole Eastern Empire, as we shall observe in the Sequel of this History.

The Council writes to the Western Bishops.

The Canons of this Council were, without all doubt, sent, according to Custom, to the Western Bishops for their Approbation, probably with the Letter which the Council writ to them concerning the Heresy of Apollinaris^[1142]. And yet Pope Leo the Great writes, that the Third Canon was never notified to the Church of Rome^[1143]; and Gregory the Great, that the Canon condemning the Eudoxians, which was the first, had never been received at Rome^[1144]: but Gregory perhaps meant nothing else, than that the Canon he mentions was of no Authority at Rome. As for Leo, it is hard to conceive what he meant by saying, that the Third Canon was not known to the Church of Rome; for he could not but know, that the Bishop of Constantinople held the Second Rank in the Church, and the First in the East, since his own Legates, whose Conduct he intirely approved of, owned him to have an indisputable Right to that Rank; nay, Eusebius Bishop of Dorylæum in Phrygia maintained, that it was with the Consent and Approbation of Leo himself that the See of Constantinople enjoyed that Honour.

The Authority of this Council among the Greeks,

The Authority of this Council has ever been great among the Greeks, who style it an Oecumenical Council, and had often recourse to it as such in the Council of Chalcedon^[1145]. The Bishops of the Hellespont speak of it with the greatest Respect and Reverence, in a Letter they writ to the Emperor Leo^[1146]. |and the Latins.| As for the Latins, I find a great Disagreement among the Popes themselves concerning the Authority of this Council; nay, the greatest of them all disagrees even with himself about it. The Legates of Pope Leo rejected its Canons, alleging that they had never been inserted in the Book of the Canons^[1147]. In like manner the Popes Simplicius and Felix II. speaking of the Councils which they received, name those only of Nice, Ephesus, and Chalcedon^[1148]. Gregory the Great writes, that the Church of Rome had neither the Acts nor the Canons of the Council of Constantinople; 219that the Condemnation of the Macedonians was the only thing done by that Council which they admitted; and that as to other Heresies condemned there, they rejected them, as having been condemned before by other Councils^[1149]. But he declares elsewhere, and often repeats it, that he received the Four Oecumenical Councils, as he did the Four Gospels^[1150], naming the Council of Constantinople in the Second Place. |The Popes at Var- iance among and with themselves about it.| In the same Manner, and with the same Words, were the Four Oecumenical Councils received by Gelasius, and several Popes before him, as well as by Martin I. and several others after him: so that the Council of Constantinople is, according to some Popes, of equal Authority with the Gospel; according to others, of no Authority at all: nay, it is thus by the same Pope at one time extolled, at another undervalued. Let Baronius and Bellarmine reconcile these Contradictions, if they can.

This Council was assembled by the Emperor, and not by Damasus.

That this Council was assembled by the Emperor Theodosius, is affirmed by all the Writers who speak of it^[1151], nay, and by the Bishops who composed it^[1152]. And yet Baronius has the Assurance to assert, as a Thing not to be questioned, that it was convened by Damasus^[1153], which none of the Antients have so much as once named: and this Assertion he founds upon the Authority of the universally exploded Acts of Damasus; of certain Manuscripts, which he knows very little of, and nobody else any thing; and of a Passage in the Acts of the Sixth Oecumenical Council, where it is said, that Theodosius and Damasus opposed with great Firmness the Macedonian Heresy; whence the Annalist concludes, by what Rules of Logic I leave the Reader to find out, that the Council, which condemned the Heresy of Macedonius, was convened by the Authority of Damasus, backed by that of the Emperor^[1154]. Christianus Lupus, more honest than Baronius, tho’ no less attached to the See of Rome, ingenuously owns, that the Council was assembled by the Emperor alone; but adds, that Damasus confirmed it^[1155]; which is true, if he means no more than that Damasus accepted the Decrees made by the Council; for it was not his, but the Emperor’s Approbation, that gave them a Sanction; and accordingly they writ, not to him, but to the Emperor, acquainting him; by whose Command they had been called together, with the Decrees they had made, and requesting him to confirm them with his Seal 220and Sentence^[1156]. This Council consisted of an Hundred and Fifty Bishops, among whom were Thirty-six Macedonians, whom Theodosius had particularly summoned, hoping to reunite them with the Catholics^[1157]. No mention is made of Letters or Deputies sent either by Damasus, or by any of the Western Bishops; and Theodoret assures us in Two different Places^[1158], that Theodosius only assembled the Eastern Bishops. Meletius of Antioch presided; for Gregory of Nyssa styled him in full Council, our Father and Head^[1159]. Upon his Death (for he died while the Council was sitting) that Honour was conferred on Gregory Nazianzen, appointed by the Emperor and the Council Bishop of Constantinople^[1160]; but he resigning, soon after, his new Dignity, his Successor Nectarius was named to preside in his room^[1161].

One of the chief Motives that induced Theodosius to assemble so numerous a Council at Constantinople, was, to hear what Remedy they could suggest against the Schism of the Church of Antioch, which caused such Jealousies between the East and the West as seemed to forebode an imminent Rupture^[1162]. But before the Fathers of the Council entered upon that important Subject, Meletius died; and his Death, which ought to have put an End to the present Disturbances, served only to increase them, and engage the contending Parties more warmly in the Dispute. It had been agreed by Meletius and Paulinus, that the Survivor should be sole Bishop of all the Orthodox at Antioch^[1163]. Socrates and Sozomen add^[1164], that Six Presbyters, who it was most likely might be one Day raised to that See, bound themselves by a solemn Oath not to vote for any other, nor to accept themselves the Episcopal Dignity, so long as either of the Two lived. |The Disturbances in the Church of Antioch increased.| However, Meletius was no sooner dead, than some of the Prelates present at the Council moved for chusing him a Successor, which occasioned many long and warm Debates. Gregory Nazianzen, elected Bishop of Constantinople a few Days before, exerted all his Eloquence to divert the Council from a Resolution, which, he said, would prove fatal to the Church, and kindle a Flame, which perhaps it might never be in their Power to extinguish^[1165]. Several other Prelates, Enemies to Strife and Contention, falling in with Gregory, spoke to the same Purpose, exhorting their Collegues, with great Zeal and Eloquence, to put an 221End at last to the unhappy Divisions that had so long rent the Church, by allowing Paulinus, already stricken in Years, to govern peaceably the remaining Part of his Life^[1166]. But the far greater Part were for a new Election, offering no other Reason to recommend such a Step, but that the East, where our Saviour had appeared, ought not to yield to the West^[1167]. So that the Resolution of giving a Successor to Meletius was taken merely out of Pique to the Western Bishops, who, having the Bishop of Rome at their Head, had begun to treat their Brethren in the East with great Haughtiness, and assume an Air of Authority that did not become them; but that had been better resented on any other Occasion than on this.

Flavianus ordained Bishop of Antioch.

The Resolution being taken, Flavianus, a Presbyter of the Church of Antioch, was named by the Council, and, with the Approbation of the Emperor, and of all the Meletians at Antioch, ordained in that City. He is commended by the Writers who lived in or near those Times, as a Man of an exemplary Life, and extraordinary Piety, as a zealous Defender of the Orthodox Faith, and Opposer of the Arian Heresy, as a Mirror of every Sacerdotal Virtue; and, barring the Right of Paulinus, the most worthy and deserving Person the Council could name to succeed the great Meletius^[1168]. These, and other like Encomiums, bestowed upon Flavianus by the Writers of those Times, leave no room to doubt but Socrates and Sozomen were misinformed in naming him among the Six Presbyters who took the Oath I have mentioned above; the rather as no notice is taken of such an Oath by his most inveterate Enemies, in the many Disputes that arose about his Ordination. |Greg. Nazianzen resigns the Bishoprick of Constantinople.| Gregory Nazianzen, who had been lately preferred to the See of Constantinople, and had accepted that Dignity with no other View, but to remove all Jealousies, and restore a good Understanding between the East and the West, being sensible that the electing of a new Bishop in the room of Meletius would widen the Breach, and obstruct all possible Means of an Accommodation, resigned his Dignity, and, to the inexpressible Grief of his Flock, retired both from the Council and City^[1169]. In one of his Orations^[1170], he ascribes this Resolution to the Divisions that reigned among the Bishops, declaring that he was quite tired with their constant quarreling and bickering among themselves, and comparing them to Children at Play; whom to join in their childish Diversions, would be degrading a serious 222Character. |Nectarius is chosen in his room.| Upon the Resignation of Gregory, Nectarius was chosen to succeed him; but, as to the Particulars of his Election, they are variously related by Authors, and foreign to my Purpose. He was a Native of Tarsus in Cilicia, descended of an illustrious and senatorial Family, but at the Time of his Election still a Layman, and Prætor of Constantinople; nay, he had not been baptized^[1171].

The Council of Aquileia writes to Theodosius in favour of Paulinus.

The same Year that the Eastern Bishops met at Constantinople, by the Command of Theodosius, the Western Bishops met at Aquileia, by the Command of Gratian. While the latter were yet sitting, News was brought of the Death of Meletius, and at the same time they received certain Intelligence of the Resolution which the Council of Constantinople had taken of appointing him a Successor. Hereupon having dispatched the Business for which they had met, and condemned Palladius and Secundianus, the only Two Arian Bishops now in the West, they dispatched some Presbyters into the East, with a Letter to the Emperor Theodosius, wherein, after expressing the Joy it had given them to hear that the Orthodox in those Parts were at last happily delivered from the Oppression of the Arians, they complained of the Hardships Paulinus had met with, whom they had always acknowleged as lawful Bishop of Antioch, put the Emperor in mind of the Agreement between Paulinus and Meletius, and concluded with intreating him to assemble an Oecumenical Council at Alexandria, as the only Means of restoring Tranquillity to the Church, and settling a perfect Harmony amongst her Members^[1172]. Before this Letter reached the Emperor, the Council of Constantinople was concluded, and the Bishops returned to their respective Sees. However, Theodosius recalled some of them, in order to govern himself by their Advice in granting or denying the Western Bishops their Request^[1173]. |And the Bishops of Italy in favour of Maximus.| But the Election of Flavianus being in the mean time known in the West, the Bishops of the Vicariate of Italy, them assembled in Council with Ambrose Bishop of Milan at their Head, writ a long Letter to Theodosius complaining of that Election, openly espousing at the same time the Cause of Maximus against Nectarius, the new Bishop of Constantinople, and threatening to separate themselves intirely from the Communion of the Eastern Bishops, unless Maximus was acknowleged lawful Bishop of that City, or at least an Oecumenical Council 223was assembled to examine the Claims of the Two Competitors, and to confirm with their joint Suffrages the disputed Dignity to him, who had the best^[1174]. They also desired, in the same Letter, to have the Contest between Paulinus and Flavianus decided.

Who Maximus was, and how chosen Bis- hop of Constantinople.

Maximus, surnamed the Cynic, because he had from his Youth professed the Philosophy, and wore the Habit, of that Sect, was a Man of a most infamous Character, and had been publicly whipt in Egypt, his native Country, and confined to the City of Oasis, for Crimes not to be mentioned^[1175]. Being released from his Banishment, he wandered all over the East, and was every where equally abhorred and detested on account of his matchless Impudence and scandalous Manners^[1176]. At last he repaired to Constantinople, where he had not been long, when, by one of the boldest Attempts mentioned in History, he caused himself to be installed and ordained Bishop of that City: for the Doors of the Church being broken open in the Dead of the Night, by a Band of Egyptian Mariners, he was placed on the Episcopal Chair in the profane Dress of a Cynic, by some Bishops whom his Friends had sent out of Egypt for that Purpose. But the People, and some of the Clergy, in the adjoining Houses, being alarmed at the Noise, and crouding to see what occasioned it, Maximus and his unhallowed Crew thought fit to withdraw, and complete the Ceremony in a Place better adapted to such a Scene of Profaneness, the House of a Player on the Flute^[1177]. Maximus, thus ordained, in equal Defiance of the Imperial Laws and Canons of the Church, had the Assurance to claim the See of Constantinople as his Right, and to protest against the Election of Gregory Nazianzen, and likewise of Nectarius, who was chosen upon the Resignation of Gregory, tho’ they had both been named to that Dignity by the Council of Constantinople, that is, by all the Eastern Bishops. But no Regard being had to his Protest, nay, his Ordination being declared null by the Council, and he driven out of the City by the Populace, and rejected with Indignation by the Emperor, he had recourse to the Bishops of the Vicariate of Italy, then assembled in Council with Ambrose Bishop of Milan at their Head, as I have observed above. |He is acknowleged by Ambrose, and the Italian Bishops.| These giving an intire Credit to the Accounts of the lying and deceitful Cynic, as they were quite unacquainted with what had passed in the East, not only 224admitted him to their Communion, but, without farther Inquiry or Examination, acknowleged him for lawful Bishop of Constantinople, and writ the above-mentioned Letter to Theodosius in his Behalf^[1178]. We must not confound this Council with that of Aquileia, as I find most Writers have done: for the latter was composed of almost all the Western Bishops under Valerian Bishop of the Place; whereas the Council I am now speaking of, consisted only of the Bishops of the Vicariate of Italy, under the Bishop of Milan their Metropolitan. It is surprising that Ambrose, and the other Bishops of that Council, should not have been better informed with respect to the Ordination of Maximus, since Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica, with Five other Bishops of Macedon, had, at least a Year before, transmitted to Damasus a minute Account of it, agreeing in every Particular with that which I have given above from Gregory Nazianzen^[1179]. |The Emperor’s Ans- wer to their Letter.| The Letter from the Council caused no small Surprize in Theodosius: he was sensible they had suffered themselves to be grosly imposed upon; but, not judging it necessary to undeceive them, he only told them, in his Answer to their Letter, that the Reasons they alleged did not seem sufficient to him for assembling an Oecumenical Council, and giving so much Trouble to the Prelates of the Church; that they were not to concern themselves with what happened in the East, nor remove the Bounds, that had been wisely placed by their Fore-fathers between the East and the West; and that, as to the Affair of Maximus, by espousing his Cause they had betrayed either an unwarrantable Animosity against the Orientals, or an inexcusable Credulity in giving Credit to false and groundless Reports^[1180].

A Council of all the Western Bishops assembled at Rome.

Upon the Receipt of this Letter, the Italian Bishops, finding Theodosius no ways disposed to assemble an Oecumenical Council, applied to Gratian, who not only granted them Leave to meet at Rome, the Place they chose, but dispatched Letters to all the Bishops both in the East and West, giving them Notice of the Time and Place, in which the Council was to be held, and inviting them to it^[1181]. But of all the Eastern Bishops, Two only complied with this Invitation; viz. Epiphanius Bishop of Salamis in the Island of Cyprus, and Paulinus, whom all the West acknowleged for lawful Bishop of Antioch. The Western Bishops were all present, either in Person, or by their 225Deputies; and Damasus presided^[1182]. But, as to the Transactions of this great Assembly, we are almost intirely in the Dark; for all we know of them is, that they unanimously agreed not to communicate with Flavianus, the new Bishop of Antioch, nor with Diodorus of Tarsus, or Acacius of Berœa, who had been chiefly instrumental in his Promotion; that they condemned the Heresy of Apollinaris; and that, at the Request of Damasus, a Confession of Faith was drawn up by Jerom, and approved by the Council, which the Apollinarists were to sign, upon their being re-admitted to the Communion of the Church^[1183]. As for Maximus, they seem to have abandoned his Cause, being, in all Likelihood, undeceived, with respect to his Ordination, by Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica, and St. Jerom, who assisted at the Council, and could not be Strangers to the Character of Maximus, nor unacquainted with the scandalous Methods by which he had attained the Episcopal Dignity.

The Misunderstanding between the East and the West increased.

The Resolution they took not to communicate with Flavianus, whose Election, though imprudently made, was undoubtedly Canonical, and had been approved and confirmed by the Oecumenical Council of Constantinople, not only increased the Jealousies and Misunderstanding between the East and the West, but occasioned a great Disagreement, and endless Quarrels, among the Eastern Bishops themselves. For those who acknowleged Paulinus, viz. the Bishops of Egypt, of the Island of Cyprus, of Arabia, insisted upon the Deposition of Flavianus^[1184]. Nestorius mentions some Letters, written by the Bishops of Egypt against Flavianus, with great Virulency, and a tyrannical Spirit, to use his Expression^[1185]. On the other hand, the Bishops of Syria, of Palæstine, of Phœnicia, Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Pontus, Asia, and Thrace, not only maintained, with equal Warmth, the Election of Flavianus, but began to treat their Brethren in the East, who had joined the Western Bishops against them, as Schismatics, as Betrayers of their Trust, as Transgressors of the Canons of Nice, commanding the Elections and Ordinations of each Province to be made and performed by the Bishops of the same Province, and all Disputes concerning them to be finally decided in the Place where they had begun^[1186]. This Schism occasioned great 226Confusion in the Church, which continued till the Year 398, when Chrysostom, after having, with indefatigable Pains, long laboured in vain to bring about an Accommodation between the East and the West, had at last, soon after his Promotion to the See of Constantinople, the Satisfaction of seeing his pious Endeavours crowned with Success, as I shall relate in a more proper Place.

No Regard paid by the Eastern Bishops to the Judgment of the Pope.

From this whole Account it is manifest, as the Reader must have observed, that the Orientals paid no manner of Regard either to the Judgment of the Bishop of Rome, or to that of the whole Body of the Western Bishops, assembled in Council under him. For though they well knew the Bishop of Rome, and his Collegues in the West, to be warmly engaged in favour of Paulinus, yet they refused to acknowlege him, even after the Death of Meletius; and therefore raised Flavianus to the See of Antioch, in the room of Meletius, and confirmed that Election in an Oecumenical Council. The Western Bishops exclaimed against it, desiring it might be referred to the Decision of a General Council. But not even to that Demand would the Orientals agree, thinking, as they declared in their Answer, that there was no Occasion for a Council, since Flavianus had been chosen and ordained by the Bishops of the Diocese, which was all the Canons of Nice required. They therefore exhorted them to divest themselves of all Prejudices, to sacrifice all private Affections to the Peace and Unity of the Church, and to put an End to the present, and prevent all future, Disputes, by approving, with their joint Suffrages, an Election which had been approved and confirmed by an Oecumenical Council^[1187].

The Custom of ap- pointing Vicars intro- duced by Damasus, and on what Oc- casion.

To return to Damasus: He was the first who introduced the Custom, which his Successors took care to improve, of conferring on certain Bishops the Title of their Vicars, pretending thereby to impart to them an extraordinary Power, enabling them to perform several Things, which they could not perform in virtue of their own. Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica was the first who enjoyed this Title, being, by Damasus, appointed his Vicar in East Illyricum, on the following Occasion: Illyricum, comprising all antient Greece, and many Provinces on the Danube, whereof Sirmium was the Capital, had, ever since the Time of Constantine, belonged to the Western Empire. But, in the Year 379. Dacia and Greece were, by Gratian, 227disjoined from the more Westerly Provinces, and added, in favour of Theodosius, to the Eastern Empire, being known by the Name of East Illyricum, whereof Thessalonica, the Metropolis of Macedon, was the chief City. The Bishops of Rome, as presiding in the Metropolis of the Empire, had begun to claim a kind of Jurisdiction, or rather Inspection in Ecclesiastical Matters, over all the Provinces of the Western Empire; which was the first great Step by which they ascended to the Supremacy they afterwards claimed and established. This Damasus was unwilling to resign with respect to Illyricum, even after that Country was dismembered from the Western, and added to the Eastern Empire. In order therefore to maintain his Claim, he appointed Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica to act in his stead, vesting in him the Power which he pretended to have over those Provinces. Upon the Death of Acholius he conferred the same Dignity on his Successor Anysius, as did the following Popes on the succeeding Bishops of Thessalonica, who, by thus supporting the Pretensions of Rome, became the first Bishops, and, in a manner, the Patriarchs, of East Illyricum; for they are sometimes distinguished with that Title. This, however, was not done without Opposition, the other Metropolitans not readily acknowleging for their Superior one who, till that time, had been their Equal^[1188]. Syricius, who succeeded Damasus, inlarging the Power claimed by his Predecessor, decreed, that no Bishop should be ordained in East Illyricum without the Consent and Approbation of the Bishop of Thessalonica^[1189]. But it was some time before this Decree took place. Pope Innocent I. writes, that his Predecessors committed to the Care of Acholius, Achaia, Thessaly, the Two Epirus’s, Candia, the Two Dacia’s, Mœsia, Dardania, and Prævalitana, now Part of Albania, impowering him to judge and decide the Controversies that might arise there, and appointing him to be the first among the Primates, without prejudicing the Primacy of those Churches^[1190]. Thus were the Bishops of Thessalonica first appointed Vicars or Vicegerents of the Bishops of Rome, probably in the Year 382. for in that Year Acholius assisted at the Council of Rome, and it was, in all Likelihood, on that Occasion that Damasus vested him with this new Dignity. |The Institution of Vicars improved by the succeeding Popes.| The Contrivance of Damasus was notably improved by his Successors, who, in order to extend and inlarge their Authority, conferred the Title of their Vicars, and the 228pretended Power annexed to it, on the most eminent Prelates of other Provinces and Kingdoms, engaging them thereby to depend upon them, and to promote the Authority of their See, to the utter Suppression of the antient Rights and Liberties both of Bishops and Synods. This Dignity was for the most part annexed to certain Sees, but sometimes conferred on particular Persons. Thus was Austin appointed the Pope’s Vicar in England, Boniface in Germany; and both, in virtue of the Power which they pretended to have been imparted to them with that Title, usurped and exercised an Authority above that of Metropolitans. The Institution of Vicars was, by the succeeding Popes, improved into that of Legates, or, to use De Marca’s Expression, the latter Institution was grafted on the former^[1191]. |Legates vested with greater Power than Vicars.| The Legates were vested with a far greater Power than the Vicars, or, as Pope Leo expresses it, were admitted to a far greater Share of his Care, though not to the Plenitude of his Power^[1192]. They were sent on proper Occasions into all Countries, and never failed exerting, to the utmost Stretch, their boasted Power, oppressing, in virtue of their paramount Authority, the Clergy as well as the People, and extorting from both large Sums, to support the Pomp and Luxury in which they lived.

The Custom of appointing Vicars and Legates may well be alleged as a remarkable Instance of the Craft and Policy of the Popes, since, of all the Methods they ever devised (and many they have devised) to extend and establish their Power, none has better answered their ambitious Views. But how Bellarmine could lay so much Stress upon it as he does^[1193], to prove, that the Pope has, by Divine Right, a sovereign Authority and Jurisdiction over all the Churches of the Earth, is unconceivable. |The sending Legates no Proof of the Pope’s universal Jurisdiction.| For it is certain, beyond all Dispute, that such a Custom had never been heard of till the Time of Damasus, that is, till the Latter-end of the Fourth Century, when it was first introduced, upon the dismembering of East Illyricum, by Gratian, from the Western Empire. Damasus did not even then claim that sovereign and unlimited Power, with which Bellarmine is pleased to vest him, but only a kind of Inspection over the Provinces of the Western Empire, as Bishop of the first See. |The Disingenuity of Bellarmine.| And here I cannot help observing the Disingenuity of Bellarmine, who, in speaking of this Institution, 229expresses himself thus: Leo appointed Anastiasius Bishop of Thessalonica his Vicar in the East, in the same manner as the Predecessors of Anastasius had been Vicars to the Predecessors of Leo^[1194]. From these Words every Reader would naturally conclude, and Bellarmine designs they should, that the Bishops of Thessalonica had been the Pope’s Vicars from the Beginning, or Time out of Mind; whereas it is certain, that this Institution had taken place but a few Years before. Pope Leo I. in conferring on Anastasius the Vicariate Dignity of his See, as he styles it, declared, that he followed therein the Example of his Predecessor Syricius^[1195], who first appointed Anysius to act in his stead. But he was doubly mistaken; for these Vicars were first instituted, as is notorious, by Damasus, and not by Syricius; and it was not by Syricius, but by Damasus, that Anysius was vested with that Dignity^[1196]. The Bishop of Thessalonica is styled, by the antient Writers, the Pope’s Vicar in East Illyricum, which is manifestly confining his Vicariate Jurisdiction to that District; but Bellarmine extends it at once all over the East, by distinguishing him with the Title of the Popes Vicar for the East^[1197]. But how little Regard was paid to the Pope’s Authority in the East, I have sufficiently shewn above.

I find nothing else in the antient Writers concerning Damasus worthy of Notice, besides his generously undertaking the Defence of Symmachus, who, being Prefect of Rome in 384. the last Year of Damasus’s Life, and a sworn Enemy to the Christians, was falsly accused to the Emperor, as if he had with great Cruelty persecuted and oppressed them. But Damasus had the Generosity to take his Part, and clear him, by a Letter he writ to the Emperor, from that Charge^[1198]. |Damasus dies.| This was one of the last Actions of Damasus’s Life; for he died this Year on the 10th or 11th of December, being then in the Eightieth Year of his Age, after he had governed the Church of Rome for the Space of Eighteen Years, and about Two Months^[1199]. He was buried, according to Anastasius^[1200], near his Mother and Sister, in a Church which he had built at the Catacombs, on the Way to Ardea; whence that Place, though Part of the Cœmetery of Calixtus, is by some called the Cœmetery of Damasus^[1201]. He proposed at first being buried near the Remains of St. Sixtus, and his Companions; but afterwards changed his Mind, lest he should disturb the Ashes of the Saints^[1202]. 230He caused the Church of St. Laurence, near the Theatre of Pompey, probably that which his Father and he himself had formerly served, to be rebuilt, inlarged, and embellished; Whence it is still known by the joint Titles of St. Laurence and Damasus^[1203]. In that Church his Body is worshiped to this Day. But, how or when it was removed thither, nobody knows^[1204]. |The Decrees ascribed to him suppositious.| Several Decrees are ascribed to Damasus by Gratian, Ivo of Chartres, Anastasius, and others, but all evidently forged by some Impostor blindly addicted to the See of Rome, and quite unacquainted with the Discipline of the Church in the Fourth Century. In one of them a Canon is quoted from the Council of Nice, forbidding the Laity to eat or drink of any thing that was offered to the holy Priests, because none but the Jewish Priests were allowed to eat of the Bread that was offered on the Altar. We know of no such Canon; and besides, it is not at all probable, that the Council of Nice would have restrained the Clergy from sharing at least with the Poor what was offered them. In another of these Decrees the Paying of Tythes is commanded, on pain of Excommunication; whereas it might be easily made appear, that, in the Fourth Century, the Offerings destined for the Maintenance of the Clergy were still voluntary. Another Decree supposes, that, by an antient Custom, all Metropolitans swore Fealty to the Apostolic See, and could ordain no Bishops till they had received the Pall from Rome. For the Sake of this, Baronius admits all the rest: but of such a Custom not the least Mention, or distant Hint, is to be met with in any antient Writer.

His Writings in Prose and Verse.

Damasus is ranked by Jerom^[1205] among the Ecclesiastical Writers, on account of the many small Pieces he writ, chiefly in Verse; for he had a particular Genius for Poetry, and was no despicable Poet, if some Compositions ascribed to him were truly his. He writ several Books, both in Prose and Verse, in Commendation of Virginity; but neither that, nor any of his other Works, has reached our Times, besides some Letters, and a few Epitaphs, Inscriptions, and Epigrams, which have been carefully collected by Baronius^[1206], though it may be justly questioned whether the several Pieces ascribed to him by that Writer were written by him. A short History of the first Popes, styled, The Pontifical of Damasus, and published together with the Councils, has long passed for the Work of Damasus; but now even 231Baronius owns it not to be his; and most Critics are of Opinion, that it was written after the Time of Gregory the Great; nay, some ascribe it to Anastasius Bibliothecarius, who flourished in the Ninth Century^[1207]. As for his Letters, those to Aurelius of Carthage, to Stephen, styled, Archbishop of the Council of Mauritania, to Prosper Primate of Numidia, to the Bishops of Italy, are all spurious, as well as the Letters to which some of them are Answers, and supposed to have been forged by that notorious Impostor Isidorus Mercator^[1208]. His genuine Letters are the Two, that are to be found among the Works of Jerom, to whom they were written; Two to Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica, published by Holstenius in his Collection of the antient Monuments of the Church of Rome^[1209]; a Letter of great Length to Paulinus of Antioch, whereof the chief Heads are set down by Theodoret in his History, as are likewise those of his Letter to the Orientals concerning Timotheus, the favourite Disciple of Apollinaris. Several Letters from the Councils, that were held in Rome in his Time, and at which he presided, are still extant, and may well be ascribed to him. The Two Letters to Jerom are well worth perusing, being written in a pure, easy, and elegant Style, and with a great deal of Spirit, Vivacity, and even Gaiety, though Damasus was then much advanced in Years, and overburdened with Cares and Business^[1210]. In one of them he declares, that his only Delight was to read the Scriptures; and that all other Books, however well written, gave him rather Disgust than Pleasure. Jerom returned to Rome from the East in 382. with Epiphanius Bishop of Salamis, and Paulinus of Antioch, to assist at the Council held there. |Jerom kept at Rome, and employed by him.| The other Two returned to their Sees; but Jerom continued at Rome, being kept there by Damasus, who employed him in answering the Letters he received from the Councils of several Churches applying to him for his Advice^[1211]. Damasus, taken with his Learning and Erudition, and chiefly with the Knowlege he had of the Scripture, had long before lived in great Intimacy with him, and upon his leaving Rome writ frequent Letters to him, not thinking it beneath the Rank he held in the Church to consult him as his Master about the true Meaning of some difficult Passages in holy Writ^[1212]. Thus in one of his Letters he desires him to explain the Parable of the Prodigal Son^[1213], and in another to interpret 232the Word Hosanna, which he says was differently interpreted by different Writers, who seemed to contradict each other^[1214]. In Compliance with this Request, Jerom writ the Piece on that Subject, which is still extant. It was likewise at the Desire of Damasus that he corrected the Latin Version of the New Testament, and revised at Rome the Latin Version of the Psalms, comparing it with the Greek Text of the Septuagint. But as to the Letter, with which Damasus is supposed to have encouraged him to undertake that Work, it is evidently supposititious, and altogether unworthy of him.

Psalmody falsly as- cribed to him.

Anastasius ascribes to Damasus the Custom of Singing, instead of Reading, the Psalms at Divine Service^[1215]. But it is manifest from Austin, that this Practice was brought from the East, and first complied with by the Church of Milan^[1216], in the Year 386. that is, Two Years after the Death of Damasus. So long as Damasus lived, Jerom continued at Rome; but as, by his Learning and exemplary Life, he was an Eye-sore to the lewd, ignorant, and haughty Clergy of Rome, or as he styles them, the Senate of Pharisees^[1217], he thought it adviseable to abandon the City upon the Death of his great Friend and Protector, and retire to Jerusalem, hoping to find there that Quiet and Tranquillity which he despaired of being able to enjoy while he dwelt with the Scarlet Whore^[1218], that is, while he lived at Rome. |His Character.| As for the Character of Damasus; Jerom styles him, a Virgin Doctor of the Virgin Church; and, in his Letter to Eustochium, a Man of great Excellence. Theodoret commends him as a Man of a holy Life, as one who declined no Fatigue or Labour to support and maintain the Doctrine of the Apostles, and who struck the Arians with Terror, though he attacked them at a Distance^[1219]. Elsewhere he calls him the famous Damasus^[1220], and places him at the Head of the most celebrated Teachers of Truth, who, till his Time, had appeared in the West^[1221]. That Greek Writer could not be biassed in his Favour, though Jerom perhaps was. The Orientals declared, in 431. that they followed the Example of Damasus, and other Persons eminent for Learning^[1222]; and the Council of Chalcedon, speaking of his Letter to Paulinus of Antioch, styles him the Honour and Glory of Rome for Piety and Justice^[1223]. The Church of Rome honours him as a Saint, and his Festival is 233kept in some Places on the 10th, in others on the 11th of December. But, after all, that he got the Pontificate by the most horrible Violence and Bloodshed; that he lived in great State; that he had frequent and grand Entertainments; that he kept a Table, which, in Sumptuousness, vied with the Tables of the Emperors themselves; and all this at the Expence of the Roman Ladies, whose generous Contributions might have been applied to better Uses; is affirmed by contemporary and unexceptionable Writers. It is likewise manifest from the Letters of Jerom, that in his Time the Discipline of the Church was greatly relaxed; that the Observance of the primitive Canons was almost utterly neglected; and that Luxury, Ignorance, and Debauchery, universally prevailed among the Ecclesiastics at Rome. And this Charge against his Clergy in some degree recoils upon him, since he appears to have carried the Papal Authority farther than any of his Predecessors, and therefore might have restrained and corrected them. Whether his Sanctity may not from all this be justly questioned, notwithstanding the favourable Testimony of some antient Writers, I leave the Reader to judge.

Valentinian, Theodosius, SYRICIUS, Thirty-seventh BISHOP of Rome. Arcadius, Honorius.

Year of Christ 384.

Syricius, the Successor of Damasus, according to the Pontificals, and some antient Monuments quoted and received by Baronius^[1224], was a Native of Rome, the Son of one Tiburtius, had been first Reader, and afterwards Deacon, under Liberius, and, upon his Death, had zealously espoused the Cause of Damasus against Ursinus and his Party. Damasus being dead, he was chosen in his room by the unanimous Acclamations of the whole Roman People, being at that time Presbyter of the Church known by the Title of the Pastor, perhaps the most antient Church in Rome^[1225]. Ursinus, who was still alive, did not fail, upon the Vacancy of the See, to revive his former Claim; but he was rejected with Scorn and Indignation. Valentinian the younger, who then reigned in Italy under 234the Direction of his Mother Justina, received the News of this Election with great Joy; and, concluding from the Unanimity of the Electors, the Worth and Merit of the Person elected, confirmed Syricius in his new Dignity, by a Rescript dated the 23d of February, and directed to Piaianus, at that Time either Prefect or Vicar of Rome^[1226][N20].

His Answer to Himerius Bishop of Tarragon.

The first Thing I read of Syricius is his answering a Letter or Relation which Himerius, Bishop of Tarragon in Spain, had sent to Damasus by Bassianus, a Presbyter of that Church, requiring the Advice of the Church of Rome concerning some Points of Discipline, and certain Abuses that prevailed in Spain. Damasus being dead before the Arrival of Bassianus, Syricius, who had succeeded him, caused this Relation or Letter to be read, and carefully examined, in an Assembly of his Brethren, that is, perhaps, of the Bishops who had assisted at his Ordination; and, having maturely weighed and considered every Article, he first acquainted Himerius with his Promotion, and then returned to each the following Answers^[1227]. The First was concerning the Sacrament of Baptism, which was by some Bishops of Spain rejected as null and invalid, when conferred by an Arian Minister. In Opposition to them, Syricius alleges the Authority of Liberius, and of the Council of Nice, the Practice of the Church of Rome, and that of all other Churches both in the East and West^[1228]. Isidorus of Seville takes particular notice of this Point of Discipline, which he says was established by the Letter of Syricius^[1229]. By the Second Article he forbids the Sacrament of Baptism to be administred at Christmas, or the Epiphany, on the Feasts of the Apostles or Martyrs, or at any other Time but Easter, and during the Pentecost of that Festival, meaning, in all Likelihood, all Easter time, or the Fifty Days between Easter and Pentecost, or Whitsuntide; for such, adds he, is the Practice of the Church of Rome, and of all other Churches. From this Rule, however, he excepts Children, and all Persons, who 235are any-ways in Danger^[1230]. By the Third Article, he forbids granting the Grace of Reconciliation to Apostates, that is, forgiving and readmitting them to the Communion of the Church, except at the Point of Death^[1231]. By the Fourth, a Woman, who, being betrothed to one Man, has received the Priest’s Blessing to marry him, is debarred from marrying another. The Fifth Article commands all Persons, who, being guilty of a Crime, have performed Penance for it, to be treated as the Apostates, if they relapse into the same Crime; and the Sixth, all religious Persons, whether Men or Women, guilty of Fornication, to be dealt with in the same Manner, and, moreover, to be excluded from partaking of the sacred Mysteries, that is, of the Eucharist, except at the Point of Death^[1232]. How different is the present Practice of the Church of Rome from that of the same Church in the Fourth Century! which was perhaps even too severe.

Priests and Deacons obliged to observe Celibacy.

Syricius, by the Seventh Article of his Letter, obliges all Priests and Deacons to observe Celibacy; and as some had not paid due Obedience to that Command of the Church, he allows those who should acknowlege their Fault, and plead Ignorance, to continue in their Rank, though without Hopes of rising: but as for those who should presume to defend this Abuse as lawful, he declares them deposed and degraded from the Rank they held in the Church^[1233]: Pope Innocent I. writing to Exuperius Bishop of Toulouse, quotes and transcribes great Part of this Article^[1234]. The Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Articles describe at length the Life which those ought to have led, who are raised by the Clergy and People to the Episcopal Dignity, and the Steps or Degrees by which they should ascend to it. They ought first to have been Readers; at the Age of Thirty, Acolytes, Subdeacons, and Deacons; Five Years after, Presbyters; and in that Degree they were to continue Ten Years before they could be chosen Bishops. Those who had been married to Two Wives, or to a Widow, are absolutely excluded from ever sitting in the Episcopal See. Even the Lectors are forbidden, on pain of Deposition, to marry twice, or to marry a Widow^[1235]. These, and several other less important Regulations, Syricius delivers as general Rules to be inviolably observed by all Churches, often declaring, that those who do not readily comply with them shall be separated from his Communion by the Sentence of a Synod, and strictly injoining the chief Prelates of each Province to 236take care they be punctually observed within the Bounds of their respective Jurisdictions, on Pain of being deposed, and treated as they deserve. He therefore desires Himerius to notify his Letter, not only to all the Bishops of his Diocese or Province, but likewise to those of Carthagena, Bætica, Lusitania, Galicia, and to all the neighbouring Bishops, meaning perhaps those of Gaul; for Innocent I. supposes the Decrees of his Predecessor Syricius to be known to Exuperius of Toulouse^[1236]; and in all Likelihood they were so to others in that Country.

This Letter is the First of all the Decretals acknowleged, by the Learned, to be genuine, and likewise the First in all the antient Collections of the Canons of the Latin Church. It is quoted by Innocent I. and Isidore of Seville, and is the only Letter of the many ascribed to Syricius, that Dionysius Exiguus has inserted in his Collection. It is to be found in Father Quesnel’s Roman Code^[1237]; and Cresconius quotes no other Decrees of Syricius but what are taken from this Letter. It is dated the Third of the Ides of February, that is, the Eleventh of that Month 385. Arcadius and Bauto being Consuls^[N21].

The Celibacy of the Clergy first proposed in the Council of Elvira.

As Priests and Deacons are commanded, by the Seventh Article of this Letter, to abstain from Marriage, and this is the first Opportunity that has offered of mentioning the Celibacy of the Clergy, a short Digression on such a material Point of Discipline in the Church may not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the Reader. The laying of this 237heavy Burdens on the Shoulders of the Clergy, a Burden too heavy for most of them to bear, as Experience has shewn, was first moved in the Council of Elvira, held about the Year 300. according to the most probable Opinion; and, being warmly promoted by the celebrated Osius of Cordoua, and Felix of Acci, now Guadix in Andalusia, who presided at that Assembly, it passed into a Law; and all Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, and Subdeacons, were commanded, on Pain of Deposition; to abstain from Wives; and the begetting of Children. These are the very Words of the 33d Canon of that Council^[1238]. That, till this time, the Clergy were allowed to marry, even in Spain, is manifest from the 65th Canon of the same Council, excluding from the Communion of the Church, even at the Point of Death, such Ecclesiastics, as, knowing their Wives to be guilty of Adultery, should not, upon the first Notice of their Crime, immediately turn them out of Doors^[1239]. How long the 33d Canon continued in Vigour, is uncertain; nay, it may be questioned whether it ever took place: if it ever did, it was out of Date, or at least not generally observed by the Spanish Clergy, in the Time of Syricius, as evidently appears from the Words of his Letter, or Answer to Himerius of Tarragon. I said, by the Spanish Clergy, for no such Injunction had yet been laid on the Ecclesiastics of any other Country or Nation. About Fifteen Years after, was held the Council of Ancyra, in which it was decreed, That if any Deacon did not declare at his Ordination, that he designed to marry, he ought not to be allowed to marry after but might, if he made such a Declaration, because, in that Case, the Bishop tacitly consented to it. The Council of Neocæfarea, which assembled soon after that of Ancyra, and consisted, in great Part, of the same Bishops, commanded such Presbyters as married after their Ordination to be degraded. In the Year 325. was held the Council of Nice; and, in that great Assembly, it was moved, perhaps by Osius, who acted a chief Part there, that Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, and Subdeacons, should be debarred from all Commerce with the Wives they had married before their Ordination. But this Motion was warmly opposed by Paphnutius, who had himself ever led a chaste and single Life, and was one of the most eminent and illustrious Prelates, at that time, in the Church. He represented, that the Burden they proposed laying on the Clergy, 238was too heavy; that few had sufficient Strength to bear it; that the Women, thus abandoned by their Husbands, would be exposed to great Dangers; that Marriage was no Pollution, but, according to St. Paul, commendable; that those therefore, who were not married, when first admitted to the Sacerdotal Functions, should continue in that State; and such as were, should continue to live with their Wives. Thus Sozomen^[1240], Socrates^[1241], and Suidas^[1242][N22].

The Advice of Paphnutius was applauded by the whole Assembly, add the above-mentioned Historians, and the Point in Dispute was left undecided. In the Year 340. it was decreed, in the Council of Arles, that, no Man, incumbered with a Wife, should be admitted to Holy Orders, unless he promised, with his Wife’s Approbation and Consent, to abstain for ever from the conjugal Duty.

This is all I can find in the antient Records concerning the Continence or Celibacy of the Clergy, before the Time of Syricius. And hence it is manifest, that both Crichtonæus and Melanchthon were greatly mistaken; the former in affirming, which many have done after him, that Celibacy was first imposed upon the Clergy by Syricius^[1243]; and the latter by confidently asserting, that Celibacy was not required of the Ministers of the Gospel by any Council, but by the Popes, in Opposition to all Councils and Synods^[1244]. It must be owned, however, that this Law was not so generally observed before the Time of Syricius, as it was after. For it was not long after his Time before it became an established Point of Discipline in most of the Western Churches, not in virtue of his Letter, or of those which his Successors writ to the same Purpose, but because it was injoined by the Synods of each particular Nation. Thus it was established in 239Africa by the Council of Carthage in 390. in Gaul by one held at Orleans, by Two at Tours, and one at Agde; in Spain, by Three held at Toledo; in Germany, by the Councils of Aquisgranum, or Aix la Chapelle, of Worms, and of Mentz. We know of none in Britain: and that it did not even begin to take place here till the Arrival of Austin, in the Sixth Century, may be sufficiently proved from the Letters of that Monk to Gregory, and Gregory’s Answer to him; but of that more hereafter^[N23].

The present Practice of the Church of Rome, with respect to this Point.

As to the present Practice and Doctrine of the Church of Rome, with respect to this, in their Opinion, most essential Point of Ecclesiastical Discipline, no Man is allowed, after his Ordination, to marry, or to cohabit with the Wife he had married before: nay, in order to prevent all possible means even of any clandestine Commerce between them, the Woman must, by a solemn Vow of Chastity, renounce all Claims on her Husband, and, retiring into a Monastery, bind herself by a second Vow to continue there, without ever once going out, on any Pretence whatsoever, so long as her Husband lives, who cannot be admitted so much as to the Rank of a Subdeacon, till she is secured by these Two Vows. Such is the present Practice of the Church of Rome, though Subdeacons were allowed to marry long after the Time of Syricius, who, in his Letter, mentions only Deacons and Presbyters, and does not even oblige them to part with their Wives, but only excludes them from rising to a higher Degree in the Church. Pope Leo the Great, chosen in 440. was the first who extended the Law of Celibacy to the Subdeacons, commanding them, 240in a Letter, which he writ about the Year 442. to Rusticus Bishop of Narbonne, to abstain, as well as the Deacons, Presbyters, and Bishops, from all Commerce with their Wives. But this Law was observed by very few Churches. In the Time of Pope Gregory the Great, that is, in the Latter-end of the Sixth Century, it had not yet taken place, even in Sicily, though reckoned among the Suburbicarian Provinces: it was first introduced into that Island by him; but he allowed those to cohabit with their Wives, who had been ordained without a previous Promise to live continent, though he would not suffer them to be raised to a higher Degree without such a Promise. Bellarmine^[1245], and the other Divines of the Church of Rome, to soften the Odium, which the hard, and commonly impracticable Command she lays on her Clergy, must reflect on her, represent Continency as a Virtue to be easily acquired. Their Ascetics seem better acquainted with the Difficulties and Struggles attending the Practice of that Virtue, than their Divines; for they prescribe, as the sole Means of attaining it, constant Prayer, frequent Fasting, macerating the rebelling Flesh with all kinds of Austerities, and principally the avoiding of all Female Company. And, if these be the sole Means of attaining it, I leave the Reader to judge how few of their Clergy do attain it.

In the primitive Church, married and unmarried Men raised indiscrimin- ately to Ecclesiastical Dignities.

No one is so little versed in the History of the Church, as not to know, that in the Three first Centuries of the Christian Religion, married and unmarried Men were indiscriminately raised to the Episcopal, and every other Ecclesiastical Dignity; nay, Jerom writes, that in his Time, that is, in the Fourth Century, the former were, the most part, preferred to the latter, not in regard of their greater Merit, but because, in such Elections, the unmarried Men were outnumbered by the married, who chose to be governed by one in their own Station of Life^[1246]. It is hence manifest, that Marriage was not thought, in Jerom’s Time, inconsistent with, or any Bar to, the Episcopal Dignity. And why should it? since, excepting St. John, the Apostles themselves were all married, as we are told, in express Terms, by Ignatius the Martyr^[1247], who was their Contemporary and Disciple, and whose Authority ought, on that Consideration, to be of greater Weight than that of all the other Fathers together. But such of the primitive Clergy, says Bellarmine^[1248], as were married before 241their Ordination, abstained ever after from the Use of Matrimony: let our Adversaries produce, if they can, but a single Evidence of a Presbyter or Bishop’s having any Commerce with their Wives. It lies upon him to shew they had not. We know nothing to the contrary, and therefore may well suppose, that, pursuant to the Advice given by the Apostle to all Husbands and Wives, they came together after Ordination as they did before, lest Satan should tempt them for their Incontinency.

Celibacy recom- mended by the Fathers:

The Fathers, it is true, out of a mistaken Notion of an extraordinary Merit attending Celibacy in this Life, and an extraordinary Reward reserved for it in the other, began very early to recommend it to Persons of all Ranks and Stations, but more especially to the Clergy, as the principal Excellence and Perfection of a Christian. By their Exhortations, and the Praises they were constantly bestowing on Virginity, Celibacy, and Continence, many among the Clergy, and even some of the Laity, were wrought up to such a Pitch of Enthusiasm, as to mutilate themselves, thinking they could by no other means be sufficiently qualified for the unnatural, but meritorious, State of Celibacy. And, what is very surprising, this Practice became so common in the End of the Third, and the Beginning of the Fourth, Century, that the Fathers of Nice were obliged to restrain it by a particular Canon. They enacted one accordingly, excluding for ever from the Priesthood, such as should make themselves Eunuchs, the Preservation of their Life or Health not requiring such a Mutilation. By the same Canon they deposed and degraded all, who should thus maim themselves after their Ordination^[1249]. But tho’ the Fathers warmly recommended Celibacy to the unmarried Clergy, and Continence to the Married, neither was looked upon as an Obligation, till late in the Fourth Century, and not even then in all Places; for Epiphanius, who lived till the Beginning of the Fifth, writes, that though Men still begetting Children were excluded by the Ecclesiastical Canons from every Dignity and Degree in the Church, yet they were in some Places admitted as Subdeacons, Deacons, and Presbyters, because those Canons were not yet universally observed^[1250]; so that, according to Epiphanius, it was not by the Apostles |never injoined by the Apostles:| (as the Divines of the Church of Rome pretend), but by the Ecclesiastical Canons, that this Obligation was laid on the Clergy; and, in his 242Time, those Canons were not yet universally complied with, nor indeed many Ages after: nay, in the Greek Church, the Clergy are to this Day allowed to cohabit with the Wives they married before their Ordination; and, in this Kingdom, Celibacy was not universally established till after the Conquest, as I shall have Occasion to shew in the Sequel of the present History.

deemed by Pagans the highest Degree of Sanctity.

The abstaining from lawful, as well as unlawful Pleasures, was deemed, by the antient Pagans, especially in the East, the highest Degree of Sanctity and Perfection. Hence some of their Priests, in Compliance with this Notion, and to recommend themselves to the Esteem of the People, did not only profess, promise, and vow an eternal Abstinence from all Pleasures of that Nature, as those of the Church of Rome do, but put it out of their Power ever to enjoy them. Thus the Priests of Cybele by becoming Priests ceased to be Men, to borrow the Expression of Jerom; and the Hierophantes, who were the first Ministers of Religion among the Athenians, rendered themselves equally incapable of transgressing the Vows they had made, by constantly drinking the cold Juice of Hemlock^[1251]. A Stoic, called Cheremon, introduced by Jerom to describe the Lives of the Egyptian Priests, tells us, among other things, that, from the time they addicted themselves to the Service of the Gods, they renounced all Intercourse and Commerce with Women; and, the better to conquer their natural Inclinations, abstained altogether from Meat and Wine. Several other Instances might be alleged to shew, that Celibacy was embraced and practised by the Pagan Priests, long before the Birth of the Christian Religion; and, consequently, that it was not Religion, but Superstition, that first laid the Priesthood under such an Obligation. The Church of Rome has borrowed, as is notorious, several Ceremonies, Customs, and Practices of the Pagans, and perhaps the Celibacy of the Priesthood among the rest: I say, perhaps, because it might have been suggested to her by the same Spirit of Superstition that suggested it to them: for where-ever the same Spirit prevails, it will ever operate in the same manner, and be attended with the same, or the like Effects. Thus we find the same Austerities practised by the Pagans in the East-Indies, and other idolatrous Nations, that are practised and recommended by the Church of Rome; and yet no Man can imagine those Austerities to have been by 243either borrowed of the other. There is almost an intire Conformity between the Laws, Discipline, and Hierarchy of the antient Druids, and the present Roman-Catholic Clergy; nay, the latter claim the very same Privileges, Prerogatives, and Exemptions, as were claimed and enjoyed by the former^[1252]: and yet we cannot well suppose them to have been guided therein by their Example. Celibacy was discountenanced by the Romans, who nevertheless had their Vestals, instituted by their Second King at a time when, the new City being yet thinly inhabited, Marriage ought in both Sexes to have been most encouraged: and the same Spirit, which suggested to that superstitious Prince the Institution of the Vestals, suggested the like Institutions to other Pagan Nations, and to the Church of Rome that of so many different Orders of Nuns.

How much better had the Church of Rome consulted her own Reputation, had she either, in Opposition to the Pagan Priesthood, allowed her Clergy the Use of Matrimony, or, by a more perfect Imitation of their Discipline, with the Law of Celibacy, prescribed the like Methods of observing it! How many Enormities had been prevented by either of these Means, the World knows. But none of her Clergy have the Observance of their Vows so much at Heart as to imitate either the Athenian or the Egyptian Priests: and as for those of Cybele, they are so far from conforming to their Practice, that a Law subjecting them to it has kept them out of Protestant Kingdoms, when the Fear of Death could not.

The Celibacy of the Clergy a bad Institution.

If every Law or Institution is to be judged good or evil, according to the Good and Evil attending them, it is by daily Experience but too manifest, that the forced Celibacy of the Clergy ought to be deemed of all Institutions the very worst. Indeed all sensible Men of that Church know and lament the innumerable Evils which the Celibacy of her Clergy occasions, and must always occasion, in spite of all Remedies that can be applied to it. But she finds one Advantage in it, which, in her Eyes, makes more than sufficient Amends for all those Evils, viz. her ingrossing by that means to herself all the Thoughts and Attention of her Clergy, which, were they allowed to marry, would be divided between her and their Families, and each of them would have a separate Interest from that of the Church. Several Customs and Practices, once warmly espoused by that Church, have, in Process of Time, been abrogated, and quite laid aside, on account 244of the Inconveniences attending them; and this, which long Experience has shewn to be attended with more pernicious Consequences than any other, had, but for that political View, been likewise abolished.

Another Letter of Syricius.

Another Letter, universally ascribed to Syricius, has reached our Times. It is written in a very perplexed and obscure Style; bears no Date; is not to be found either in Dionysius Exiguus, or any antient Code; and is addressed to all the Orthodox dwelling in different Provinces^[1253]: which is manifestly a Mistake, since Syricius desires those, to whom it is addressed, to confirm it with their Subscriptions, which cannot be understood but of Bishops. However, as it is received by all as genuine, I shall not take upon me to reject it as spurious. The Subject of this Letter is the Ordination of the Ministers of the Church; and the First Article is against those who pretend to pass from the Vanities of the World to the Episcopal Dignity. Syricius writes, that they came often to him, attended with numerous Retinues, begging him to ordain them; but that they had never been able to prevail upon him to grant them their Request. In the Second Article he complains of the Monks, who were constantly wandering about the Country, and on whom the Bishops chose rather to confer holy Orders, and the Episcopal Dignity itself, than to relieve them with Alms. The Third and last Article forbids a Layman or Neophyte to be ordained either Deacon or Presbyter. If this Letter be genuine, Syricius was the first Bishop of Rome who styled himself Pope, as Papebrok well observes^[1254]; for the Title of his Letter, as transmitted to us, runs thus; Pope Syricius to the Orthodox, &c. The Word imports no more than Father, and it was antiently given, out of Respect, to all Bishops, as I have observed elsewhere; but I have found none before Syricius who distinguished themselves with that Title.

Jerom retires from Rome.

Jerom continued at Rome some Months after the Death of his great Patron Damasus. But, finding himself obnoxious to the Roman Clergy, for the Liberty he had taken in some of his Writings to censure their effeminate and licentious Lives, and, on the other hand, not being countenanced and supported by Syricius, as he had been by his Predecessor, he thought it adviseable to abandon that City, and return to Palæstine. Some pretend, but without sufficient Authority, that Syricius joined the rest in reviling and persecuting him.

The Usurper Maximus writs to Syricius.

245Baronius has inserted, in his Annals^[1255], a Letter from the Usurper Maximus, who reigned in Gaul; from which we learn, that Syricius had writ first to him, exhorting him to continue steady in the Catholic Faith, being, perhaps, apprehensive lest he should suffer himself to be imposed upon by the Priscillianists, who were very numerous in Gaul; and complaining to him of the undue Ordination of a Presbyter named Agricius. Maximus, in his Answer, pretends great Zeal for the true Faith, and promises to assemble the Bishops of Gaul, and of the Five Provinces, meaning Gallia Narbonensis, to examine the Affair of Agricius. He assures Syricius, that he has nothing so much at Heart as to maintain the Catholic Faith pure and uncorrupted; to see a perfect Harmony established among the Prelates of the Church, and to suppress the many Disorders which had prevailed at the Time of his Accession to the Empire, and would have soon proved incurable, had they been neglected. He adds, that many shocking Abominations of the Manichees, meaning no doubt the Priscillianists, had been discovered, not by groundless Conjectures and Surmises, but by their own Confession before the Magistrates, as Syricius might learn from the Acts. For Maximus caused the Ringleaders of that Sect to be put to Death this very Year, convicted before the Magistrates of the grossest Immoralities^[N24]. These were Priscillian himself, Felicissimus, 246and Armenus, Two Ecclesiastics, who had but very lately embraced his Doctrine; Asarinus and Aurelius, Two Deacons; Latronianus, or, as Jerom calls him, Matronianus, a Layman; and Enchrocia, the Widow of the Orator Delphidius, who had professed Eloquence in the City of Bourdeaux a few Years before. These were, by the Order of Maximus, all beheaded this Year at Treves. The rest of Priscillian’s Followers, whom they could discover and apprehend, were either banished or confined.

They are honoured by their Followers as Saints and Martyrs.

But these Severities served only to increase the Evil which they were employed to cure. The Bodies of Priscillian and of those who had suffered with him, were conveyed by their Friends and Adherents into Spain, and there interred with great Pomp and Solemnity;|Many embrace their Doctrine.| their Names were added to those of other Saints and Martyrs, their Firmness and Constancy extolled, and their Doctrine embraced by such Numbers of Proselytes, that it spread in a short time over all the Provinces between the Pyrenees and the Ocean^[1256]. Symphosius, Metropolitan of Galicia, whom, after the Death of Priscillian, they looked upon as the chief Man and Head of their Sect, took care to fill all the vacant Sees in that Province with Bishops of his own Communion. Dictinius, whom he raised among the rest to that Dignity, 247is supposed by St. Austin^[1257] to have been the Author of a Book, famous in those Times, styled Libra, or, the Pound^[N25]. |Two of their leading Men renounce their Errors;| However, both he and Symphosius were afterwards convinced of their Errors; and, desiring thereupon to be reconciled with the Church, they undertook a Journey to Milan, in order to engage St. Ambrose, Bishop of that City, in their Favour. He received them with the greatest Marks of Kindness and Affection; and being satisfied with the Terms of Reconciliation, which they themselves proposed, and promised to observe, he writ in their Behalf to the Bishops of Spain, who, at his Request, admitted them to their Communion^[1258][N26].

and are admitted to the Communion of the Church by the Council of Toledo.

In the Year 438. of the Spanish, and 400. of the common Æra, a Council was held at Toledo; and, in the Presence of that Assembly, Symphosius, Dictinius, and Comasus, one of Symphosius’s Presbyters, solemnly abjured the Errors of Priscillian, anathematized the Doctrine, Sect, and Books of that Heretic, and readily signed the Confession of Faith which the Council had drawn up. Their Example was followed by Three other Bishops, viz. Paternus, Isonius, and Vegetinus, who were all admitted to the Communion of the Church, and even allowed to keep their Sees, though unduly preferred, on Condition the Bishops of Rome and Milan should consent thereto, and 248restore them to the Peace of the Church^[1259]. From these Words, which are the very Words of the Council, it is manifest, first, that the Fathers, who composed that Assembly, were Strangers to the Bishop of Rome’s universal Jurisdiction; and, secondly, that the Bishop of Milan did not act, as Baronius pretends, on that Occasion as the Pope’s Legate. Their requiring the Approbation of the Bishop of Milan, besides that of the Bishop of Rome, sufficiently proves the one; and their requiring the Approbation of the Bishop of Rome, besides that of the Bishop of Milan, the other.

Four other Bishops, viz. Herenius, Donatus, Acurius, and Æmilius, could by no means be induced to follow the Example of Symphosius and Dictinius; and were thereupon deposed by the Council, and cut off from the Communion of the Catholic Church. |The Acts of that Council confirmed by St. Ambrose and Syricius.| The Bishops of Rome and Milan not only confirmed the Acts of the Council with respect to Symphosius and Dictinius, but separated themselves from the Communion of the Bishops of Bætica and the Carthagenese, who, thinking the Council had dealt too favourably with them, refused to admit them to their Communion^[1260]. |Dictinius honoured as a Saint.| Dictinius died in 420. and is now honoured in Spain as a Saint, though it may be justly questioned whether he deserves that Honour. Idatius the Chronologist who was a Native of Spain, and raised there to the Episcopal Dignity about the Year 428. mentions him without saying any thing in his Praise, or taking the least Notice of his being honoured then as a Saint. St. Austin speaks doubtfully even of his Conversion^[1261], and at the same time tells us, that his Book was highly esteemed by the Priscillianists, and his Memory no less revered; which, notwithstanding the eminent Sanctity ascribed to him by Baronius^[1262], gives us room to suspect, that the Honour now paid him is owing to a Tradition handed down by the Priscillianists. |Priscillian honoured as a Saint and a Martyr.| For thus was Priscillian himself once revered both as a Saint and a Martyr. Nay, the Author of the Notes on Sulpitius Severus assures us, that he has seen his Name in some, not very antient, Martyrologies; and Petrus de Natalibus has allowed, both to him, and to Latronianus, who suffered with him, a Place among the Martyrs of the Church, pretending to be countenanced therein by the Authority of Jerom^[1263]. And truly it must be owned, that Jerom, in the Year 392. writ very favourably of Priscillian. He was executed, says he, by the Faction of Ithacius, 249being accused by some as if he had embraced the Heresy of the Gnostics; but others maintained, that he held not the Doctrine and Tenets with which he was charged^[1264]. But being afterwards better informed, he styles him an execrable Man^[1265], and condemns his Doctrine as an infamous Heresy, as a Plague and Contagion, that cruelly ravaged most of the Spanish Provinces^[1266]. It is not therefore without Reason that the Church of Rome now anathematizes, as an Heretic, the Man she once revered as a Saint. Such has been the Fate of many others, judged by Baronius himself unworthy of the Worship that was paid them, and therefore set aside, when, by the Command of Gregory XIII. he revised and corrected the Roman Martyrology. As for Dictinius, he has not yet been driven out of Heaven, though nobody can well tell how he came in. 'Tis true, both he and Symphosius are styled Bishops of holy Memory, in the Abstract of the Council of Toledo, which is supposed to have been done about the Year 447. This is all Baronius can plead in favour of his eminent Sanctity. A poor Charter indeed to hold a Place in Heaven by, and claim the Worship and Honours attending it! For the Author of that Abstract is utterly unknown; and, besides, he canonizes alike Symphosius and Dictinius, styling them both Bishops of holy Memory. Why then should his Authority have so much Weight with respect to the one, and none at all in regard of the other? If we bar Prescription, which surely can have no room here, Dictinius can have no more Right to keep the Place he has, than Symphosius to claim the Place he has not. Nay, the latter would have a far better Right, were it true, that Dictinius relapsed into the Errors he had abjured, and was on that Account deposed with several other Bishops of his Sect. This I read in an Author of great Note^[1267]; but as he advances it upon the Authority of another, viz. of Idatius the Chronologist, and the Passage he quotes is not to be found in that Writer, at least in the Editions I have perused, it would be both unjust and ungenerous to deprive Dictinius of, or disturb him in, the Possession of his Saintship upon such an Evidence.

The Doctrine of the Priscillianists takes deep Root in Spain.

Syricius and Ambrose, in Conjunction with the Catholic Bishops of Spain, alarmed at the wonderful Progress the Doctrine of Priscillian had made in so short a Time, left nothing unattempted they could think of to put a Stop to the growing Evil. But all to no Purpose; in spite of their utmost Efforts, in defiance of the most severe 250Laws, that were enacted against them, especially by the Emperors Honorius, and Theodosius the younger, their Numbers increased daily, and their Doctrine grew daily more popular; the Severities that were practised against them, serving only to recommend those to the Esteem and Veneration of the Multitude, who suffered them, as many did, with Patience and Constancy. As they held it lawful to conceal their real Sentiments from the Catholics, by disowning them with the most solemn Oaths; the Catholics suffered themselves to be led by a mistaken Zeal into the same Error, disowning, in like manner, their Sentiments, the better to discover those of their Adversaries. But this pernicious Practice of defending Truth by destroying it, and opposing Lyes by Lying, was fully and unanswerably confuted by Austin, in his Answer to Consentius, who had writ to him at Length upon that Subject^[1268][N27].