St. PETER (continued 8)

Two Presbyters in the mean time came to Rome from the East, Domitianus of Constantinople, and Vallagus of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, and brought with them the original Acts, which they had purchased with a large Sum of the Imperial Officers, containing an authentic Detail of the Cruelties which some Women of Quality had been made to endure for not communicating with Arsacius, and the Bishops of his Faction. |Innocent applies to Honorius;| With these the good Bishop was so deeply affected, that he could no longer forbear applying to Honorius, who, at his Request, writ immediately to Arcadius a very pressing and friendly Letter in favour of Chrysostom, and those of his Communion. At the same time he issued an Order for convening a Council of the Western Bishops, who, meeting soon after at Rome, drew up an Address, which they sent to Ravenna, where the Emperor then was, earnestly intreating him to interpose anew his good Offices with his Brother Arcadius, that an Oecumenical Council might be allowed to assemble at Thessalonica, in order to compose the present Differences, which had already produced a Misunderstanding between the Eastern and Western Churches, and might in the End bring on an intire Separation. |who writes to Arcad- ius.| Honorius, in Compliance with their Request, writ a Third Letter to Arcadius (for he had, it seems, written already a Second), and at the same time one to Innocent, desiring him to appoint Five Bishops, Two Presbyters of the Roman Church, and One Deacon, to carry his Letter into the East, thinking that such a Legation would add no small Weight to his Mediation. The Letter to Arcadius was in the following Terms:

His Letter.

“This is the Third time I write to your Meekness (ad Mansuetudinem tuam) intreating you to correct and rectify the iniquitous Proceedings that have been carried on against John Bishop of Constantinople. But nothing, I find, has been hitherto done in his Behalf. Having therefore much at Heart the Peace of the Church, 299which will be attended with that of our Empire, I write to you anew by these holy Bishops and Presbyters, earnestly desiring you to command the Eastern Bishops to assemble at Thessalonica. The Western Bishops have sent Five of their Body, Two Presbyters of the Roman Church, and One Deacon, all Men of the strictest Equity, and quite free from the Byass of Favour and Hatred. These I beg you would receive with that Regard which is due to their Rank and Merit: If they find John to have been justly deposed, they may separate me from his Communion; and you from the Communion of the Orientals, if it appears that he has been unjustly deposed. The Western Bishops have very plainly expressed their Sentiments, in the many Letters they have written to me on the Subject of the present Dispute. Of these I send you Two, the one from the Bishop of Rome, the other from the Bishop of Aquileia; and with them the rest agree. One thing I must above all beg of your Meekness; that you oblige Theophilus of Alexandria to assist at the Council, how averse soever he may be to it; for he is said to be the first and chief Author of the present Calamities. Thus the Synod, meeting with no Delays or Obstructions, will restore Peace and Tranquillity in our Days^[1421].”

The Pope’s Legates not allowed to touch at Thessalonica.

With these Letters the Legates set out from Rome, attended by the above-mentioned Prelates Demetrius, Cyriacus, Eulysius, and Palladius; and, sailing for Greece, put in at Athens, with a Design to pursue their Voyage to Thessalonica, having Letters from Innocent to Anysius Bishop of that City. But at Athens they were, to their great Surprize, stopt and detained by a Military Tribune, who let them know, that they must not touch at Thessalonica; and at the same time appointed a Centurion as a Guard over them, strictly injoining him not to suffer them, under any Pretence whatsoever, to approach that City. Soon after the Tribune parted them, and, putting them on board Two Vessels, ordered the Mariners to convey them strait to Constantinople. Anysius communicated with Chrysostom, as I have observed above; and it was, without all doubt, on this Consideration that the Legates were not allowed to set foot in his Diocese. |The hard Usage they met with on their Journey,| They arrived at Constantinople the Third Day after they had left Athens, but starved with Hunger; for the Tribune had neither supplied them with Provisions when they embarked, nor allowed them Time to 300supply themselves; so that they had tasted no Kind of Victuals during the Three Days they were at Sea. |and at Constant- inople.| On their Arrival at Constantinople, they were not suffered to come ashore there, but ordered to a Castle on the Thracian Coast called Athyra, where they were all closely confined, the Legates in one common Room, and the other Bishops in so many separate Cells. As the People of Constantinople were most zealously attached to Chrysostom, the Emperor apprehended, and with a great deal of Reason, that their entering the City, and conversing publicly there, might be attended with uncommon Disturbances and Commotions; and therefore thought it adviseable to keep them at a Distance, and under Confinement. They had not been long thus confined, when they were ordered, they knew not by whom, to deliver the Letters they had brought. But neither by this Person, whoever he was, nor by several others, who were successively sent on the same Errand, could they be prevailed upon to part with them, alleging, that Letters from an Emperor ought to be delivered to none but an Emperor.

As they continued firm and unshaken in this Resolution, one Valerian, a Military Tribune, was at last called in, and ordered to employ the Rhetoric peculiar to his Profession, since no other could prevail. |The Letters taken from them by Force.| Valerian accordingly, after a short Preamble, proceeded to Violence; and, seizing them, took the Letters by Force, having in the Struggle wounded one of the Bishops in the Hand. The next Day they were visited by a Person, who, without acquainting them who he was, or by whom sent, offered them a very considerable Sum, on condition they would communicate with Atticus, who, upon the Death of Arsacius, had, by the Bishops of his Faction, been intruded in his room. |They are put on board a leaky Vessel;| Upon their rejecting, as they did, with the utmost Indignation, this Offer, Valerian, who was present, conducted them under a strong Guard to the Sea-side, and there put them on board an old leaky Vessel, having first, with a large Bribe, prevailed upon the Commander, as they were informed, to engage his Word, that they should not outlive that Voyage. |but arrive safe in Italy.| They outlived it however, and, having reached Lampsacus, they embarked on board another Vessel, which landed them safe at Otranto. As for the Eastern Bishops who had attended them from Rome, viz. Cyriacus, Eulysius, Palladius, and Demetrius, after having been some time kept under close Confinement at Athyra, they were banished to the most remote and abandoned Places of the Empire. The other Bishops, who refused to 301communicate with Atticus, Theophilus, and Porphyrius, fared no better, being in like manner either driven into Banishment, or obliged to abscond, and, under the Disguise of Mechanics, earn their Livelihood by the meanest Professions. Many perished in the Places of their Exile for want of Necessaries; and others were so cruelly harassed, nay, and barbarously beaten, by the merciless Soldiery, appointed to conduct them, that they died on the Road^[1422]. Such were the wretched Effects of that unchristian Principle of Persecution being lawful to punish Error in religious Disputes, which all Sects of Christians then held, and all suffered by in their Turns, as the different Parties among them got the Civil Magistrate and Force on their Side.

Honorius resolves to revenge the Affront offered to his Embas- sadors, but is diverted from it.

Honorius, being informed of the base Treatment the Legates had met with, though vested with the sacred Character of Embassadors, was so provoked at such a notorious Violation of the Right of Nations, that he resolved to make War on his Brother, and revenge it by Force of Arms. But from this Resolution he was diverted by a threatened Invasion of the Barbarians, and the seasonable Discovery of the famous Stilicho’s Treachery, which obliged him to keep all his Troops in Italy, or the adjoining Provinces. As for Innocent, finding the Mediation of Honorius, which he had procured, prove unsuccessful, and no other Means left of affording the least Relief to Chrysostom and the other persecuted Bishops, he resolved to make known to the World his Abhorrence of the Evils, which it was not in his Power to redress; and accordingly separated himself from the Communion of Atticus, Theophilus, and Porphyrius, as the chief Authors of the present Calamities^[1423].

Arcadius and Eudoxia not excommunicated by Innocent.

Baronius, thinking it inconsistent with the Dignity of his High Pontiff thus tamely to bear with the insulting Conduct of Arcadius, would fain persuade us, that, after he had tried in vain all other Methods of bringing the Emperor, and the Empress Eudoxia, to a Sense of their Duty, he at last thought himself obliged to thunder against both the tremendous Sentence of Excommunication, cutting them off as rotten Members from the Body of the Faithful committed to his Care and Direction. To prove this, he produces several Letters from Innocent to Arcadius, and from Arcadius to Innocent, transcribed partly from Gennadius, Glycas, and Nicephorus, and partly from the Vatican Manuscripts^[1424]. To enter into a critical Examination of those 302Pieces, would be wasting Time, and tiring the Reader to no Purpose. I shall therefore content myself with Three Observations, each of them sufficient, in my Opinion, to make the World reject them all as mere Forgeries. In the first place, the Silence of the Historians, who writ at that Time, touching so remarkable and unprecedented an Event as the Excommunication of an Emperor and an Empress, is an unanswerable Confutation of every Proof that can be alleged to support the Authenticity of the pretended Letters. For who can imagine, that the Writers, who flourished then, and have transmitted to us most minute Accounts of far less important Transactions both Civil and Ecclesiastical, would have passed this over in Silence? In the Second place, Eudoxia is supposed, in all those Letters, to have outlived Chrysostom; whereas it is certain, that she died in 404, four Years before him. Lastly, In the above-mentioned Letter, Arcadius is all along supposed to have repented, and changed his Conduct towards Chrysostom, to have persecuted his Enemies as he had formerly done his Friends, and to have chiefly vented his Resentment on the first Author of all the Disturbances, the Empress, who thereupon, out of Grief, Rage, and Despair, fell into a dangerous Malady^[1425]. But of all this not the least Hint is to be met with in Palladius, who writ in the last Days of the Life and Reign of Arcadius; nay, that Historian speaks of the Friends of Chrysostom as Men still under the Emperor’s Displeasure, and feeling the dreadful Effects of it in the inhospitable Places, to which they had been formerly confined.

Chrysostom did not appeal to the See of Rome.

From the Conduct of Chrysostom on this Occasion, the Roman-Catholic Divines have taken a great deal of Pains to prove, that the Custom of appealing to the See of Rome obtained in his Time; that he actually appealed to that See; and consequently, that the Prerogative of receiving Appeals from all Parts, and finally deciding all Controversies, claimed by the Bishops of Rome, was then acknowleged even in the East. Nothing surely but the utmost Distress for want of other Instances to prove their Assertion, could have tempted them to make use of this; since, from the Conduct of Chrysostom on this very Occasion, nay, and from that of Innocent too, if set in their true Light, it may be undeniably made out, that this pretended Prerogative was utterly unknown to both. The Fact stand thus, and thus it is related by the Historians, who have transmitted it to us: Chrysostom 303is unjustly accused; the Bishop of Alexandria takes upon him to inquire into his Conduct; assembles a Council, consisting chiefly of Egyptian Bishops, and summons Chrysostom to appear before them: Chrysostom pays no Regard to the Summons, protests against it, and will not allow the Bishops assembled to have any Power or Authority over him, since it had been ordained by the Canons of the Church, that the Affairs of the Provinces should be regulated by the Bishops of the Provinces; and it was consequently very incongruous, that the Bishops of Thrace should be judged by those of Egypt^[1426]. No Regard is had to his Protest, none to the Canons upon which it was grounded: he is summoned anew; and, not appearing within the limited Time, is judged, condemned, and deposed. From this Sentence he appeals to a lawful Council; but, being, notwithstanding his Appeal, driven from his See, he recurs at last to the Western Bishops, namely, to Innocent of Rome, Venerius of Milan, and Chromatius of Aquileia, intreating them not to abandon him in his Distress, nor exclude him from their Communion^[1427], but to procure by all means the assembling of a General Council, in order to restore the Church to her former Tranquillity.

Chrysostom an utter Stranger to the Power of receiving Appeals in the Bishops of Rome.

Such was the Conduct of Chrysostom: and, from this Conduct, does it not manifestly appear, that Chrysostom was an utter Stranger to the pretended Power in the Bishops of Rome of receiving Appeals from all other Tribunals, and finally determining all Controversies? Who can think, that, had he been acquainted with such a Prerogative, he would, when so unjustly oppressed, have appealed to a Council, which, he was well apprised, would meet with great Obstructions, when he had, ready at hand, a more certain and easy Method of finding Relief? Had he been satisfied, that Innocent had such a Privilege, is it likely he would have written to him on so urgent an Occasion, without taking the least Notice of it; that he would have contented himself with only intreating him to procure the assembling of a General Council? Should a Bishop now, apprehending himself injured by a National or Provincial Synod, appeal, not to the Pope, but, as Chrysostom did, to a General Council, he would, by such an Appeal, draw upon himself the Indignation of the Roman See: for it would be thence concluded, and no Conclusion can be more natural, that he did not acknowlege the Power of receiving Appeals claimed by that See.

Chrysostom never acknowleged such a Power.

304But Chrysostom, say they, did acknowledge such a Power; for, in his Letter to Innocent, he intreats him to declare such wicked Proceedings void and null, and to pronounce all, who had any Share in them, punishable, according to the Ecclesiastical Laws. But Chrysostom addresses himself here, not to Innocent alone, as I have already observed, but to him, in Conjunction with Venerius of Milan, and Chromatius of Aquileia^[1428]; nay, he addresses himself, throughout the whole Letter, to more Persons than one; and yet Baronius has the Assurance to style the Letter an Appeal to Innocent^[1429]. And why to him, and not to the other Two, since he writ nothing to him but what he writ to them? |The Disingenuity of Bellarmine.| Bellarmine, finding some Expressions in the above-mentioned Letter, which he thought might be so interpreted as to favour and countenance the Pretensions of the See of Rome, had Chrysostom addressed himself to Innocent alone, makes him accordingly, by altering the Number in the Passage he quotes, address himself to Innocent alone^[N49]; and then concludes, that even the Greeks acknowleged the Bishop of Rome for their Supreme Judge^[1430]. What must every impartial Man think of a Cause, that wants to be thus defended? What of those, who thus defend it?

Innocent’s Letter to Exuperius Bishop of Toulouse.

About this time, that is, in the Year 405. Innocent, being consulted by Exuperius^[N50] Bishop of Toulouse, concerning some Points of Discipline, answered him by a Decretal, containing the following Decisions: 1. That the Priests and Deacons, who were daily employed in sacrificing or baptizing, were not to be allowed the Use 305of Matrimony; that those, who were ignorant of the Decretal issued by Syricius, might be forgiven, upon their promising thenceforth to live continent; but, as to the rest, they should, as unworthy of Indulgence, be deposed. The Second Article relates to those, who, after Baptism, had led a wicked or sinful Life, and at the Point of Death desired the Communion. Innocent declares, that to such, according to the antient Discipline of the Church, which was more severe, Repentance was granted, and not the Communion; but, according to the present Practice, both were granted. By Repentance is here meant, according to the most probable Opinion, a Reconciliation with the Church; and, by the Communion, the Eucharist, which the Thirteenth Canon of the Council of Nice commands to be given to all dying Persons who desire it. Some doubted whether it was lawful for a Christian to discharge the Office of a Judge, in criminal Cases. Innocent therefore declares, in the Third Article, that no Penance ought to be imposed upon those who had condemned Criminals to the Rack, or even to Death, the Civil Power having been established by God for the Punishment of Criminals. As Women were, it seems, more frequently punished for Adultery than Men, some imagined that Crime not to be alike punishable in both. This Notion Innocent confutes in the Fourth Article; adding, that Women were more frequently punished, merely because the Husbands were more forward in accusing their Wives, than Wives were in accusing their Husbands. The Fifth Article is a Confirmation of the Third; for it only absolves from all Sins such as are obliged, by their Office, to prosecute or condemn Criminals. The Sixth Article excludes from the Communion of the Church all Men, who, after they have been parted from their Wives, marry other Women; and all Women, who, after they have been parted from their Husbands, marry other Men^[N51]. The same Punishment is, by this 306Article, inflicted on those who marry them, but not on their Parents or Relations, provided they have been no-way accessory to that unlawful Contract. The last Article contains a Catalogue of the Canonical Books of Scripture, the same as are still acknowleged by the Church of Rome as Canonical. In the same Article, some Books are pointed out, that ought to be absolutely condemned and rejected^[1431][N52]. These Directions, or Instructions, Innocent pretends to have drawn partly from Scripture, and partly from Tradition; and thanks Exuperius, because he had, by applying to him for a Solution to his Difficulties, engaged him to examine them with Attention, and thereby given him an Opportunity of learning what he had not known before. It is surprising he should have mentioned the Scripture, since the very first Article, debarring for ever married Men from the Use of Matrimony, is an open Contradiction to the Directions given by St. Paul to all married Persons, without Restraint or Distinction; Defraud you not one the other, except it be with 307Consent for a time, &c. and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your Incontinency^[1432].

His Letter to Anysius of Thessalonica.

As the Bishops of Rome had, ever since the time of Damasus, taken upon them to appoint the Bishop of Thessalonica their Vicar for East-Illyricum, Innocent no sooner heard, that Rufus had been promoted to that See, vacant by the Death of Anysius, than he let all the Bishops in those Parts know, by a Circular Letter, probably directed to Rufus himself, that he conferred on him the same Dignity which his Predecessors had conferred on the other Bishops of Thessalonica. He writ, at the same time, a private Letter to Rufus, containing some Instructions relating to the Exercise of his Vicarious Power, and, with them, the Names of the Provinces which he was to govern, as his Vicar and First Primate; but without intrenching, adds Innocent, upon the Rights and Privileges of the Primate or Metropolitan of each Province. In this Letter he takes great Care, that Rufus should not forget he is indebted for such a Power to the See of Rome; for that he frequently repeats, as if he entertained some Jealousy of Rufus, or apprehended that he might claim such a Power, as Bishop of Thessalonica, that City being, according to the Civil Division of the Empire, on which the Ecclesiastical was ingrafted, the Metropolis of East-Illyricum^[1433].

Rome reduced to great Streights by Alaric.

The same Year 407. the Emperor Honorius visited the City of Rome, and continued there till the Month of May of the Year 408. On the 23d of the following August, Stilicho was killed; and Alaric the Goth, entering Italy soon after his Death, appeared before Rome, and laid close Siege to that City in the latter End of the same Year. As no Provisions could be conveyed into the Place, all the Avenues being shut up, and well guarded, a Famine soon ensued, and upon the Famine a Plague, which daily swept off great Numbers of the Inhabitants. In this Extremity, such of the Senators as still adhered to the Pagan Superstitions, promising themselves Relief from the Gods of their Ancestors, resolved to implore their Protection, by solemn Sacrifices offered up to them in the Capitol, and other public Places of the City. |The Pagan Super- stitions connived at by Innocent.| This Resolution, says Zosimus^[1434], they imparted to Innocent, then Bishop of Rome, who, sacrificing his private Opinion to the public Welfare, agreed to it, on Condition that the Ceremony should be privately performed. Of these Sacrifices Sozomen too 308takes particular Notice^[1435]; but makes no Mention of Innocent; which has induced some to suspect the Veracity of Zosimus, who was, as is well known, a sworn Enemy to the Christian Religion. But that those Sacrifices were performed, is affirmed both by him and Sozomen; and it is not at all probable, that Pompeianus, who was then Governor of Rome, and a Christian, would have suffered them, without the Consent and Approbation of Innocent. However that be, I see not why Baronius should be so provoked against Zosimus, for making Innocent thus connive at the superstitious Worship of the Gentiles, since his Successors have always allowed, and do still allow, even in Rome itself, the free Exercise of the Jewish Worship.

Innocent leaves Rome, and repairs to the Emperor at Rav- enna.

Rome being reduced to the last Extremity, Deputies were, in the End, sent out to treat with Alaric, who, hearkening to their Proposals, raised the Siege, upon their paying to him Five thousand Pounds Weight of Gold, Thirty thousand of Silver, Four thousand Silk Garments, Three thousand Skins of Purple Dye, and as many Pounds of Pepper. At the same time the Romans engaged to mediate a Peace between him and Honorius: but the Emperor refusing to comply with the Terms that were proposed, though no-ways unreasonable, the Roman Senate sent Two solemn Deputations to Ravenna, where Honorius then resided, to lay before him the Danger to which he exposed the Empire, and persuade him to accept the Conditions offered him both by them and by Alaric. As the First Deputation proved unsuccessful, Innocent, thinking his Presence might give some Weight to the Negotiations, left Rome, and, together with the Deputies, repaired to Ravenna. Thus he escaped the Mortification of seeing the City of Rome taken and plundered by the Barbarians^[1436]. For, Honorius still rejecting the Terms of Peace, Alaric returned with his Army before Rome; and, having made himself Master of it on the 24th of August of the Year 410. treated the great Metropolis of the Empire no better, if Jerom may be credited, than the Greeks are said to have treated antient Troy^[1437].

Innocent’s Letter to Marcianus, Bishop of Naissus.

While Innocent continued at Ravenna, he writ to Marcianus Bishop of Naissus, a City in Mœsia, concerning the Ecclesiastics of his Diocese, who had been ordained by Bonosus, of whom we have spoken above^[1438]. In that Letter, Innocent declares, that Marcianus 309ought to admit to his Communion, and even restore to their Churches, those Ecclesiastics, who, having adhered to Bonosus after his Condemnation, were willing to return, provided they had been ordained by him before his Condemnation. One of these, by Name Rusticus, to remove all Doubt concerning the Validity of his Ordination, had caused himself to be reordained by a Catholic Bishop; and this Reordination Innocent condemns, in the same Letter, as highly criminal^[1439].

His Letter to Aurelius of Carthage.

In the Year 412. Innocent writ to Aurelius Bishop of Carthage, whom he seems to have greatly honoured and esteemed, concerning the Day on which Easter was to be kept in the Year 414. He acquaints Aurelius, that the 16th Day of the Moon of March would fall that Year on the 22d of the Month, and the 23d of the Moon on the 29th of the Month; and consequently that, in his Opinion, Easter ought to be kept on the 22d of March. However, he desires Aurelius to discuss that Point in the Council of the African Bishops, that was in a short time to be held at Carthage; and to let him know, whether they approved of such a Regulation, or what they objected against it, that he might solemnly notify by his Letters, according to Custom, the Day, on which Easter was to be celebrated^[1440]. Their thus notifying to the other Bishops the Day on which Easter was to be kept, was no Argument of Power; but it gave them an Air of Pre-eminence, which they dextrously improved into Power.

The Letter of the Bishops of Macedon to Innocent.

In the Year 414. Vitalis, Archdeacon probably of Thessalonica, arrived at Rome, with Letters for Innocent, from the Bishops of Macedon, touching certain Points of Discipline which, it seems, they had referred to him, and he had decided before. In this Letter they represent to him, in the first Place, that, according to the Custom and Practice of their Churches, the marrying a Widow was no Bar or Impediment to Orders, or even to the Episcopal Dignity; and that to marry one Wife before, and a Second after, Baptism, was not, with them, deemed Bigamy. Then passing to those, who had been ordained by Bonosus, they declare it as their Opinion, that nothing more could be required than the Blessing of a lawful Bishop to re-admit them to the Functions of their Office. They conclude with begging Leave to raise to the Episcopal Dignity one Photinus, who had been condemned by the Predecessors of Innocent, and to depose a Deacon, by Name Eustatius^[1441].

Innocent’s Answer.

310This Letter Innocent answered, almost in the Style and Language of a modern Pope. He begins with expressing his Surprize at the Affront they offered to the Apostolic See, by calling in Doubt what he had already decided. He then answers, one by one, the Heads of their Letter, with all the Authority of an unerring Judge, though neither he, nor any of his Predecessors, had ever yet claimed, or thought of claiming, such a Prerogative. He absolutely condemns the Practice of admitting to Orders such as had married Widows, because that was forbidden, says he, by Moses to the High Priest of the Jews; which was tacitly declaring the Levitical Laws to be still, in some Degree, binding with respect to the Christian Clergy. He adds, that if any such had been ordained, it was the general Practice of all the Churches, both in the East and West, to depose them^[N53]. |Innocent declares Or- ders conferred by Heretics to be null.| As for those who had married but one of their Two Wives after Baptism, Innocent declares them equally incapable of being ordained as if they had married both^[N54]. As to the Ecclesiastics ordained by Bonosus, Innocent not only excludes them from the Ministry, but endeavours to prove in general, that Orders, when conferred by Heretics, are null, borrowing, for that Purpose, of St. Cyprian, all the Arguments which that Father had made use of to prove a no less erroneous Opinion; viz. the Nullity of Baptism, when conferred by Heretics^[N55].

Which Opinion has been since declared heretical.

The Opinion, which he endeavours to establish here, has been since condemned as heretical, by several of his Successors, and is now held as such by the whole Church; which has cut out a great deal of Work for the Champions of Infallibility. They plainly see (and who can read Innocent’s Letter without seeing?), that the Reasons which 311he made use of were all calculated to prove the Nullity of Ordination by the Hands of an Heretic; but nevertheless pretend, that whatever their seeming Purport may be, Innocent employed them only to prove, that an heretical Bishop had not the Power of conferring Grace, and with it the Right of exercising lawfully the Functions of his Office^[1442]. But who can believe any Man, endowed with the least Share of common Sense, capable of arguing so absurdly? If his Meaning may be thus wrested, in spite of his Words, to a Catholic Sense, whose Meaning may not?

Innocent owns the Holy See to have been imposed upon.

With respect to Photinus, Innocent declares himself very unwilling to blame, or give Occasion to the World to think that he blamed, the Conduct of his Predecessors, who had condemned Photinus; but nevertheless, since so many Prelates had made it appear by their joint Testimonies, that the Holy See had been imposed upon by false and groundless Reports, he agrees to his Promotion. As to the Deacon Eustatius, he lets them know, that, whatever Reports may have been spread to his Prejudice, he is well assured both of his Probity, and the Purity of his Faith, and therefore cannot consent to his Deposition. In the End of his Letter, he complains of the Bishops of Macedon for not paying due Regard to the Testimony of the Roman Church, in behalf of the Two Subdeacons Dizonianus and Cyriacus.

The Misunderstanding between the Eastern and Western Churches continues after the Death of Chrysostom.

We have observed above, that Chrysostom being driven from the See of Constantinople into Exile, Innocent, and with him most of the Western Bishops, had espoused his Cause with great Warmth; but, finding that all their Endeavours in his Behalf proved unsuccessful, they at last separated themselves from the Communion of Atticus of Constantinople, Porphyrius of Antioch, and Theophilus of Alexandria. In the Year 407. Chrysostom died at Cumana in Pontus; but with him did not die the Animosities, which his Deposition had occasioned between the Churches of the East and the West. Atticus indeed thought nothing could now obstruct the wished-for Union; and therefore, as soon as Chrysostom’s Death was known, he applied to Rome, desiring the Communion of that Church. But he was greatly surprised, when he understood, that Innocent, instead of readily granting him his Request, insisted upon his first acknowleging Chrysostom to have been, and to have died, lawful Bishop of Constantinople, 312by inrolling his Name in the Diptychs^[N56], with the Names of other Bishops of that City. This Demand seemed to Atticus highly unreasonable; for it was obliging him to acknowlege his own Election to have been null. He therefore peremptorily refused to comply with it; but nevertheless continued soliciting, by means of his Friends at Rome, a Reconciliation with that Church^[1443]. But Innocent was inflexible; he was determined at all Events to carry his Point, and therefore would hearken to no other Terms till that was complied with. The Eastern Bishops followed the Example of Atticus; the Western that of Innocent. And thus were the Separation, and the Animosities attending it, continued Seven Years longer, each Party bitterly inveighing, in the mean time, against the Authors of the Divisions, and each expressing a most earnest Desire of a Reconciliation.

The Churches of Antioch and Rome reconciled.

At length Porphyrius of Antioch, one of Chrysostom’s most inveterate Enemies, dying in the Year 413. or 414. Alexander, who till then had led a monastic Life, was chosen in his room by the unanimous Consent of the People and Clergy. As he was fully convinced of Chrysostom’s Innocence, and the Malice of his Enemies, he no sooner found himself vested with that Dignity, than he caused the deceased Prelate’s Name to be inserted in the Diptychs of his Church, and the Two Bishops Helpidius and Pappus to be restored to their Sees, from which they had been driven for refusing to renounce his Communion, and to communicate with his Enemies. After this Alexander sent a solemn Deputation to Rome, at the Head of which was, it seems, the famous Cassian, to acquaint Innocent with his Promotion, to inform him of what he had done, and thereupon to renew the Union between the Two Churches. Alexander, who entertained a sincere Desire of seeing Peace and Concord restored between the East and the West, did not doubt but the Example of his Church would be followed by many others, and a Way, by that Means, be paved to a general Pacification. Innocent received the Deputation with the greatest Marks of Joy, admitted Alexander to his Communion, and, with the Consent and Approbation of Twenty-Four 313other Bishops, declared the Church of Antioch again united to that of Rome.

The Bishop of Antioch strives to reconcile the Churches of Rome and Constantinople.

Several other Bishops, moved partly by the Example, and partly by the Letters and Exhortations of the Bishop of Antioch, yielded to Innocent, and submitted to the Terms he required. But Atticus still adhered to his former Resolution, and, to gain him, Alexander, who spared no Pains to complete the Work he had begun, repaired in Person to Constantinople. But he acted there with such Indiscretion as rendered that haughty Prelate more averse, than he had ever yet been, to an Accommodation on the Terms proposed by Innocent. For all other Means he could think of, to compass his Design, proving unsuccessful, he resolved in the End to apply to the Populace, who, as he well knew, had been most zealously attached to Chrysostom during his Life, and revered him as a Saint after his Death. |His imprudent Conduct.| Suffering therefore his Zeal to get the better of his Prudence, and of every Consideration Prudence could suggest, he began to harangue the Multitude, and inflame them with seditious Speeches against Atticus, as carrying, even beyond the Grave, his Hatred and Malice against their holy Bishop. The Populace heard him with Attention, applauded his Zeal, and, full of Rage against Atticus, demanded, in a tumultuous manner, that the Name of so holy, so great and deserving a Prelate, might be inrolled, without further Delay, in the Diptychs. But their Clamours and Threats made no more Impression on the Mind of Atticus than the Reasons of Alexander; he withstood both; and the Bishop of Antioch, finding all his Attempts thus shamefully baffled, returned to his See, with the Mortification of having only widened the Breach, which he intended to close, between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople^[1444]. Baronius supposes Alexander to have acted on this Occasion as Innocent’s Legate^[1445]. But I find nothing in the Antients to countenance such a Supposition, besides his haughty Behaviour, and his pursuing, by the most unwarrantable Methods, what he had in View.

The Name of Chryso- stom inrolled in the Diptychs by the Bish- op of Constantinople.

Atticus, however, allowed, in the End, Chrysostom’s Name to be inserted in the Diptychs; but whether he did it by Choice or Compulsion, is uncertain; for, in one of his Letters, he writes, that he could no longer withstand the Threats and Violence of the enraged Multitude^[1446]; and in another, that he had done it to comply with 314the Will of the Emperors, and to conform to the Sentiments of his Brethren, both in the East and the West^[1447]. However that be, it is certain, that he never changed his Sentiments with respect to Chrysostom, as is manifest from his declaring, after he had placed his Name in the Diptychs, that he thereby meant no more than to own, that he had been once Bishop of Constantinople; but that he still adhered to the Judgment that was given against him. With this, however, Innocent was satisfied; and so is Baronius.

The Two Churches re-united at last.

Alexander maintained ever after a close Correspondence with Innocent, courting his Favour with the most servile Submissions, recurring to him in every momentous Affair relating to his Church, and suffering himself to be blindly guided by his Counsels. In one of his Letters he consulted him, it seems, concerning the Prerogatives of his See, and the Extent of his Jurisdiction; and nothing can be more subtle than Innocent’s Answer. |Innocent’s Letter to Alexander of Ant- ioch.| For after a long Preamble on the Dignity of the See of Antioch, he craftily insinuates all the Privileges and Prerogatives annexed to it to be owing not to the Dignity of the City, but to the Dignity of the See, as having been once the See of St. Peter. He adds, that on this Consideration it had been distinguished with an extensive Jurisdiction, and that it yielded to that of Rome itself only because St. Peter had accomplished there what he had begun at Antioch^[1448]. |The Prerogatives of the See of Rome owing to the City, and not to St. Peter.| What Innocent proposed to himself by thus exalting the See of Antioch, by deriving the Privileges, Prerogatives, and Jurisdiction, of that See from St. Peter, is obvious. If they were owing not to the City, but to St. Peter, as Innocent affirms, those enjoyed by the See of Rome were, in like manner, owing to St. Peter, and not to the City. This Notion, now first started by Innocent, was not suffered to drop; but, being greedily embraced by his Successors, it was, in Process of Time, improved by them into a general Plea for all their exorbitant Claims. And thus Innocent may be justly said to have pointed out the Ground on which the unwieldy Fabric of the Papal Power was afterwards built. But if it be true, as Innocent pretends, that the See of Antioch owed its Dignity to St. Peter, and not to the City, how will he account for its being ranked under that of Alexandria, which was neither founded, nor had ever been honoured, by that Apostle? But not to waste Time in combating such a groundless Notion, nothing is more certain, than that the Disposition and Division 315of the Church was founded upon, and intirely agreeable to, the Disposition and Division of the Empire^[1449]; and consequently that as no Regard was had to St. Peter, or any other Apostle, in the Civil, none could be had in the Ecclesiastical, Polity. And hence it naturally follows, that as Rome was the first City of the Empire, Alexandria the Second, and Antioch the Third, the Sees should be ranked in the same Order; and in the same Order they were ranked accordingly, though the See of Alexandria was founded only by a Disciple of St. Peter, and that of Antioch was supposed to have been founded by St. Peter himself.

The Division of the Church founded on the Division of the Empire.

This Division of the Church took place soon after the Division of the Empire made by Constantine the Great, on which it was founded. It was first introduced by Custom, but afterwards confirmed by several Councils; and in none of them is there a Word of St. Peter. As therefore the Bishop of Alexandria preceded in Rank the Bishop of Antioch, for no other Reason but because the City of Alexandria preceded in Dignity the City of Antioch, according to the secular Constitutions of the Empire; so the Bishop of Rome preceded in Rank all other Bishops, for no other Reason but because the City of Rome, as the Seat of the Empire, preceded in Dignity all other Cities.

Innocent encour- ages the Bishop of Antioch to invade the Rights of the Metropol- itans.

But to return to Innocent: In the same Letter to Alexander he observes, that the Bishop of Antioch did not preside over a single Province, but a whole Diocese; and therefore advises him not only to maintain the Right he had of ordaining the Metropolitans, but not to suffer other Bishops in the Provinces under his Jurisdiction, however distant, to be ordained without his Consent and Approbation. He adds, that, with respect to the Bishops of the less remote Provinces, he might reserve to himself the Right of ordaining them^[1450]. This was encouraging the Bishop of Antioch to invade and usurp the undoubted Rights of the Metropolitans, in open Defiance of the Fourth and Sixth Canons of the Council of Nice, which were afterwards confirmed by almost innumerable other Councils, all granting to the Metropolitans the Power of ordaining the Bishops of their respective Provinces jointly with the Bishops of the same Province, without ever once mentioning the Patriarch or Head of the Diocese^[1451]. But of this Right the Bishops 316of Rome had deprived the Metropolitans under their Jurisdiction as early at least as the Time of Syricius; for that Pope, in the Letter which he writ to Anysius Bishop of Thessalonica, appointing him his Vicar for East-Illyricum, charges him not to suffer any Bishops to be ordained in those Provinces without his Consent and Approbation. Innocent maintained what his Predecessors had usurped; and, to countenance their Usurpation and his own, he encourages, by this Letter, the Bishop of Antioch to pursue the same Conduct with respect to the Metropolitans of his Diocese. The Example of the Bishops of Rome was, in Process of Time, followed by those of Constantinople, who, rivaling them in Pride and Ambition, not only usurped the Power of ordaining all the Bishops of their Diocese, but, by the Interest they had at Court, obtained an Imperial Rescript, confirming to them the Power which they had usurped. But they were soon obliged to part with it, though thus guaranteed, by the Fathers of the Council of Chalcedon impowering, by their Twenty-eighth Canon, the Bishops of Constantinople to ordain the Metropolitans in the Dioceses of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace; but at the same time ascertaining to the Metropolitans the Right of ordaining the Bishops of their respective Provinces. But the Bishops of Rome, ever determined to part with no Power, however acquired, found means not only to elude the Decrees of this and several other Councils, ascertaining the Rights of the Metropolitans in the plainest Terms, but to improve, by daily Incroachments, their usurped Jurisdiction, as I shall have frequent Occasion to observe in the Sequel of this History.

Innocent’s Letter occasions great Disputes between the Bishops ofAntioch and those of Cyprus.

Innocent complains, in the next Article of his Letter, of a Custom that obtained in the Island of Cyprus. It was one of the chief Privileges of the Patriarch, or Bishop, who presided over a whole Diocese, to ordain the Metropolitans of the Provinces comprised under his Diocese. But the Metropolitan of Cyprus was ordained by the Bishops of that Island without the Consent, or even the Privity, of the Bishop of Antioch, though Cyprus belonged to his Province, according to the Civil Division of the Empire. This Custom Innocent condemns, as repugnant to the Canons of the Council of Nice; adding, that it was first introduced in the unhappy Times when Arianism prevailed all over Syria, the Bishops of Cyprus refusing then to acknowlege those of Antioch, who were infected with that Heresy. This Article proved the Source of endless Disputes between the Bishops of Antioch and those of Cyprus; the former pretending, that the Power of ordaining the Metropolitan of Cyprus was lodged in them, and the latter opposing 317with great Warmth such a Pretension. |Which are in the End decided in favour of the latter.| The Controversy was at length referred to the Council of Ephesus; and the Fathers of that numerous Assembly, having heard and examined with great Attention the Pleas of both Parties, condemned in the strongest Terms the Pretension of the Bishops of Antioch, as repugnant to the antient Canons, that is, to those very Canons, on which, at the Suggestion of Innocent, they had founded it. And here I cannot help observing, by the way, that the Bishops of Antioch never thought of alleging, in support of their Claim, the Authority of Innocent, which they would certainly have done, had they not been well apprised, that no Regard would have been paid to it by the Fathers of the Council. As for what Innocent adds concerning the Time and Manner in which the Custom he complains of was introduced, he must certainly have been no less mistaken in those Particulars, than he was in the Sense and Meaning of the Canons of Nice. For who can imagine, that the Arian Bishops, at the Time Arianism prevailed, that is, when they had the greatest Interest at Court, and the Orthodox had none, would have suffered the Bishops of Cyprus to withdraw themselves, contrary to the established Laws of the Church, from their Jurisdiction, for no other Reason, but because the Bishops of Antioch professed the Doctrine of Arius?

Alexander, in his Letter to Innocent, had asked him, Whether Two Metropolitan Sees should be erected in one Province, which had been divided by the Emperors into Two? Innocent replies, That the Concerns of the Church being different from those of the State, the Church ought to adhere to the antient Rule. |Alterations in the State generally at- tended with the like Alterations in the Church.| However, it is plain from History, that such Alterations in the State were, generally speaking, attended with the like Alterations in the Church; insomuch that when the Bishop of any considerable City wanted to be raised to the Dignity of a Metropolitan, the most expeditious Way of gratifying his Ambition was, to apply to the Emperor for a Division of the Province; that his City being advanced, by such a Division, to the Rank of a Metropolis, he might, by the same Means, be preferred to that of a Metropolitan. Of mere Bishops, thus raised to the Dignity of Metropolitans, without any Regard to Innocent’s Letter, or, as it is styled, Decretal, several Instances occur in History.

Innocent, in the End of his Letter, declares it as his Opinion, that such Ecclesiastics as had renounced Arianism, or any other Heresy, 318with a Desire of being received into the Church, ought not to be admitted as Ecclesiastics, but only as Laymen. |Ecclesiastics ordained by Heretics to be ad- mitted into the Church only as Laymen.| This Doctrine is intirely agreeable to the erroneous Doctrine concerning the Invalidity of Ordination by the Hands of an Heretic, which we have heard him labour to establish in his Letter to the Bishops of Macedon^[1452]. He concludes this Letter with intreating the Bishop of Antioch to cause it to be read in a Council, or to see that Copies of it be transmitted to all the Bishops of his Diocese, that all may agree in observing the Instructions which it contains^[1453].

Innocent’s Letter to the Bishop of Eugub- ium.

But of all Innocent’s Letters, that which he writ to Decentius Bishop of Eugubium (a City still known by the same Name in the Duchy of Urbino) is by far the most worthy of Notice, whether we consider the Doctrine which he there lays down, or the Principles on which he founds it. As to the Doctrine, it may be reduced to the Two following Heads; viz. That all the Churches in the West are bound to adopt, and strictly to observe, every Practice and Custom observed by the Roman Church; and that the Customs of all other Churches, differing from those of the Roman Church, are but Corruptions of the antient Tradition, Deviations from the Practice of the Primitive Times, and insufferable Abuses. As for the Principles on which he founds this Doctrine, they are, to say no more, of a Piece with the Doctrine itself. For he pretends, 1. That no Apostle, besides St. Peter, ever preached in the West. He ought, with St. Peter, to have at least excepted St. Paul; and, no doubt, would, had not his Memory failed him, as well as his Infallibility. |All Churches ought, according to him, to conform to the Cus- toms of the Roman Church.| He supposes, in the Second place, That all the Churches in the West were founded by St. Peter, or by some of his Successors; and consequently, that they ought to conform to the Customs of the Roman Church, since to that Church they owe their Origin. But that the Church of Lyons, not to mention others, was founded by Preachers sent thither out of Asia by St. Polycarp, and not by St. Peter, or any of his Successors, is affirmed by all the Antients, and allowed by the most learned among the Moderns; though some of them pretend, without the least Foundation, the Whole to have been done by the Authority of the Bishop of Rome^[1454]. Innocent pretends, in the Third place, every Point of Discipline and Ecclesiastical Polity to have been settled by the Apostles, and whatever was settled at Rome by St. Peter to have been there strictly observed ever since his 319Time, without the least Addition or Diminution. He concludes this Part of his Letter with laying it down as a general Maxim, That it is unlawful for any Bishop to make the least Alterations in the Discipline of his Church, or even to introduce into one Church a Custom or Practice observed by another^[1455]. This nevertheless is what all Bishops have done, and even those of Rome, both before and after Innocent’s Time, and consequently what they thought it lawful to do. |Some Customs of the Roman Church bor- rowed of other Churches.| The Psalmody, for Instance (and innumerable other Instances might be alleged), or the singing of Psalms in the Churches, was not instituted by any of the Apostles but first introduced by St. Ignatius into the Church of Antioch^[1456], whence it spread in a very short time to all the Churches in the East, those Bishops no more scrupling to adopt, than Ignatius had scrupled to introduce, so laudable a Practice. Of the Eastern Churches it was borrowed by the Church of Milan, and of the Church of Milan by that of Rome, long before Innocent’s Time; which plainly shews, that his Predecessors held not that Doctrine, no more than one of the best of his Successors, St. Gregory the Great, who openly approves of some Customs, that were first unknown to, but afterwards adopted by his Church^[1457]. Upon the Whole, it is evident, that Innocent was grosly mistaken, not only with respect to this Point, but likewise in asserting, that whatever had been settled at Rome by St. Peter, was still observed there without the least Addition or Diminution.

The Ceremony of anointing those who are confirmed.

The remaining Part of Innocent’s Letter relates to some particular Ceremonies and Customs, especially to the Ceremony of confirming those who were baptized, and the Custom of fasting on Saturdays. With respect to the former, he informs Decentius, that, according to the Custom of the Church, founded on the Practice of the Apostles, the Bishop alone can anoint on the Forehead those who have been baptized, and give them the Holy Ghost; and that the Priests can only anoint other Parts, the Episcopal Power not having been granted to them, though they partake of the Priesthood^[N57].

Confirmation not a Sacrament.

320The Roman Catholics, finding this Ceremony, now known by the Name of Confirmation, styled a Sacrament by St. Cyprian^[1458], and St. Austin^[1459], have thereupon raised it to that Rank, not reflecting that the antient Writers frequently make use of that Word to express no more than a sacred Ceremony, or Mystery. And truly were they to reckon among their Sacraments all the Ceremonies which the Fathers and other Christian Writers have distinguished with that Title, their Number would amount to Seventy rather than to Seven.

Why deemed formerly unlawful to fast on Sunday or Saturday.

With respect to the other Point, those who are ever so little versed in the Writings of the Fathers, must know, that from the earliest Times it was deemed unlawful, nay, and highly criminal, for a 321Christian to fast on Sunday or Saturday; on Sunday, because those Heretics, who denied the Resurrection of our Saviour, fasted on that Day, in Opposition to the Orthodox, who, believing it, solemnized the Sunday, the Day on which it happened, with Feasting and Rejoicings; on Saturday, because other Heretics holding the God of the Jews, and the Author of their Law, to be an evil Spirit, whom Christ came to destroy, fasted on the Seventh Day, thinking that by fasting they vilified the God of the Jews as much as the Jews honoured him by feasting^[1460]. Among the antient Canons, known by the Name of the Apostolic Constitutions, we read the following Ordinance: If a Clerk shall be found to have fasted on a Sunday or a Saturday, let him be deposed; if a Layman, let him be cut off from the Communion of the Faithful^[1461]. But that Canon must be understood only with respect to the East; for there was broached, and there chiefly prevailed, the Heresy that first introduced such a Practice. But in the West, where that Heresy was scarce known, some Churches, and the Roman in particular, observed both Fridays and Saturdays as Fast-days. |Friday from the earliest Times a Fast-day.| The Friday was, from the earliest Times, a Fast-day with all Churches, both in the East and the West; the Saturday was only in the West, and even there with very few Churches, which had borrowed that Custom of the Roman Church, as we are informed by St. Austin^[1462]. Innocent therefore, desirous of establishing in all other Churches the Custom that obtained in his own, undertakes to prove, first, That all may, and, secondly, That all ought to observe Saturday as a Fast. |Saturday a Fast-day in the Roman Church.| That all may, he proves well enough; but the Reasons he offers to shew that they all ought, viz. Because Christ lay in the Sepulchre the Saturday as well as the Friday, and the Apostles fasted, as he supposes, on both Days, are manifestly unconclusive as to any Obligation. Besides, it was not because Christ lay in the Sepulchre, or because the Apostles fasted, but because Christ was crucified on a Friday, that a Fast was appointed to be observed on that Day. In Process of Time, the Custom of sanctifying both Days with a Fast took place in most of the Western Churches; and this Custom has been made in latter times a general Law, and one of the Commandments of the Church, which all Roman Catholics are bound to obey on Pain of Damnation. However, the Severity of it is so far relaxed, that, as they are only required 322to abstain from Meat, the utmost Riot and Epicurism in other Kinds of Food, and in Wine, may be, and are indulged on their Fast-days.

The Ceremony of anointing the Sick with Oil.

The last Article of Innocent’s Letter relates to the Ceremony of anointing the Sick with Oil, agreeably to that of St. James, Is any sick among you, &c.^[1463]? As the Apostle directs the Faithful to call for the Elders of the Church; some took from thence Occasion to question whether Bishops were impowered to perform that Ceremony. Innocent therefore answers Decentius, who had proposed the Question, that there can be no room to doubt whether or no the Bishops have such a Power, since the Priests can have none, which the Bishops have not, of whom they receive all their Power. It is true, says Innocent, that St. James ordered the Faithful to call for the Elders, and not for the Bishops; but that was because he knew that the Bishops could not have so much Leisure from other important Duties as the Priests. He adds, that this Unction must not be applied to Penitents; that the Oil used in it must be blessed by the Bishop; and when it is thus blessed, not the Presbyters only, but all the Faithful, may anoint with it both themselves and others. The Power of anointing, St. James confined to the Elders or Priests, and that is the present Doctrine of the Church of Rome, though Innocent extended such a Power to all the Faithful. This Ceremony, now known by the Name of Extreme Unction, was, in Innocent’s Time, a kind of Sacrament; for so he styles it^[1464]. But it is now a true Sacrament, and such it was declared by the Council of Trent^[1465].

Letters from the Councils of Carthage and Milevum to Innocent.

In the Year 416. Innocent received Three Letters from the African Bishops; viz. one from the Bishops of Africa, properly so called, assembled at Carthage; another from those of Numidia, assembled at Milevum; and a Third from St. Austin, signed by him and Four other Bishops. The Two Councils writ to acquaint Innocent, that they had condemned Pelagius and his Disciple Cælestius, of whose Opinions I shall speak hereafter, and desire him to add the Authority of the Apostolic See to their Decrees. The Letter from St. Austin, and the Four other Bishops, was to inform Innocent, in a friendly manner, that he was suspected of countenancing those Heretics, and favouring their Doctrine. This Suspicion they themselves seem not to have 323thought quite groundless: for Possidius, one of the Bishops who subscribed the Letter, writes, that the African Bishops took a great deal of Pains to convince Innocent, and his Successor Zosimus, that the Doctrine of Pelagius was erroneous and heretical, knowing that his Followers were striving to infect the Apostolic See itself with their poisonous Tenets^[1466]. They strove in vain, says Baronius; and perhaps they did; but the African Bishops had never taken so much Pains to guard the Apostolic See against that Infection, had they not thought it capable of being infected. The Five Bishops sent to Innocent, together with their Letter, St. Austin’s Answer to a Letter which he had received from Pelagius, his Confutation of a Book composed by that Heretic, and the Book itself, with the Passages marked in it that gave most Offence, and claimed a particular Attention, lest he should overlook them^[1467]. This was not treating him as an infallible Judge^[N58].

Innocent’s Answer to the Councils.

The Letters from the Council of Carthage, from that of Milevum, and from the Five Bishops, were brought to Rome by Julius, Bishop of some City in Africa; and, by the same Julius, Innocent answered them with Three Letters, all dated the 27th of January of the Year 417. The First, which is addressed to Aurelius, probably Bishop of Carthage, and to the other Bishops of that Assembly, he begins with commending them for their Zeal, their Pastoral Vigilance, and the Regard they had shewn for the Apostolic See. |He claims the first a Divine Right of finally decidingdeciding all Controversies.| He thence takes an Opportunity to resume his usual and favourite Subject, the Dignity, Pre-eminence, and Authority of that See; roundly asserting, that all Ecclesiastical Matters throughout the World are, by Divine Right, to be referred to the Apostolic See, before they are finally decided in the Provinces. This was indeed a very bold Claim, and a direct asserting to himself the Universal Supremacy attained by his Successors. But it was yet too 324early for such a Claim to be granted; and it is plain the African Bishops had no Idea of this Divine Right. For, had they entertained any such Notion, they surely would never have presumed finally to condemn and anathematize, as they did, Pelagius and Cælestius, without consulting at least the Apostolic See: neither would they have written to Innocent in the Style they did, after they had condemned them: for, in their Letter, they did not leave him at Liberty to approve or disapprove of what they had done; but only desire him to join his Authority to theirs, which they well knew he could not refuse to do, without confirming the Suspicion of his countenancing the Pelagians, and their Doctrine. |Which is not ac- knowledged by the Af- rican nor the Numidian Bishops.| We have anathematized Pelagius and Cælestius, say the Fathers of the Council of Carthage, and thought fit to acquaint you with it, that to the Decrees of our Mediocrity might be added the Authority of the Apostolic See. This is a modest Style, and respectful to the See of Rome; but it is that of Men who plainly thought they had a Right to act in this Matter, by their own Judgment and Power, without waiting for the Award of that See, as they ought to have done, is they had allowed of Innocent’s Claim. In like manner the Council of Milevum, after informing Innocent of the Sentence, which they had pronounced against the Two above-mentioned Heretics, adds; And this Error and Impiety, which has every-where so many Followers and Abetters, ought also to be anathematized and condemned by the Apostolic See^[1468]; which was putting Innocent in mind of what he ought to do, and not consulting him what they should do. |An Instance of In- nocent’s great Subtlety and Address.| This Conduct of the African Bishops gave Innocent no small Uneasiness. He was at a Loss what to do at so critical a Juncture. For to approve of a Conduct, so derogatory to the pretended Dignity of his See, was giving up his Claim to the Divine Right of finally deciding all Ecclesiastical Controversies. To disapprove it, was confirming the Suspicion of his countenancing the Doctrine which they had condemned. But Innocent was a Man of great Subtlety and Address; and he found out, at last, an Expedient to extricate himself out of that Perplexity, and gratify the Fathers of both Councils, without either approving or condemning their past Conduct. The only thing they required of him was to join his Authority with theirs, in condemning the Pelagian Heresy; and that 325he readily did. But, lest in so doing he should seem to approve of their having condemned it without first consulting him, in his Answer to their Letters, he supposes them to have actually consulted him; nay, to have referred to him the final Decision of that Controversy; and, agreeably to that Supposition, he commends them for the Deference they had thereby shewn to the Apostolic See. You have well observed, says he, the Ordinances of the antient Fathers, and not trampled under-foot what they, not in human Wisdom, but by Divine Order, have established; viz. That whatever is done in Places, however remote, should, for a final Conclusion, be referred to the Apostolic See. And again, You have had due Regard to the Honour of the Apostolic See, I mean of him who has the Charge and Care of all Churches, in consulting him in these Perplexities, and intricate Cases^[1469]. Thus did Innocent maintain his Claim, and, at the same time, avoid quarrelling, at an improper Season, with those who had acted in direct Opposition to it. A necessary Policy in the first setting up of such extravagant and groundless Pretensions.

He excommunicates Cælestius and Pelag- ius.

In the present Letter he not only approves of the Judgment given against Pelagius and Cælestius by the African Bishops, but alleges several Reasons in Confutation of the Doctrines they taught; and concludes, by declaring them cut off from the Communion of the Church, agreeably to the Sentence of the African Bishops, as Men not only unworthy of that Communion, but of human Society, and even of Life^[1470]. The same things he repeats in his Answer to the Bishops of Numidia; but he seems there to have been sensible, upon a more cool Consideration, that, in his Letter to the Council of Carthage, he had strained his Prerogative too high; and therefore in this he confines to Matters of Faith the general Maxim, which he had laid down, concerning the Obligation of referring all Ecclesiastical Matters, for a final Decision, to the Apostolic See. In the same Letter he endeavours to confute, in particular, the Doctrine of Pelagius, allowing Children, who die without Baptism, to partake of eternal Life^[1471]. In his Answer to the Five Bishops, he refers them for his real Sentiments, concerning the Doctrine of Pelagius, to the other Two Letters, adding, that he had read the Book of Pelagius, which they 326had sent him, and found nothing in it that he liked, or rather that he did not dislike^[1472][N59].

Cælestius condemned by the African Bi- shops, notwithstanding his Appeal to Rome.

Cælestius had been condemned by a Council held at Carthage in the Year 412. and probably consisting of the same Bishops who composed that of the Year 416. From their Sentence he appealed, as Baronius observes^[1473], to the See of Rome, summoning his Accuser Paulinus to appear at the same Tribunal. But all we can infer from thence is, that either Innocent did not receive the Appeal, or, if he did, that the African Bishops made no Account of it, since they condemned him anew, without waiting for the Judgment of Innocent, to whom he had appealed.

Innocent’s Letter to Jerom.

Innocent writ Two Letters more, a little before his Death, one of which was to St. Jerom, comforting him in his Distress. For some who favoured Pelagius, provoked at Jerom’s repeated Invectives against him, had set Fire to his Monastery at Bethlehem, and burnt it down to the Ground, agreeably to the Spirit and Methods in which religious Controversies were now carried on. Their Design was to have burnt Jerom himself; but he had the good Luck to escape out of the Flames, and save himself in a strong Tower. The Two noble Virgins, Eustochium and her Niece Paula, who led a retired Life under the Direction of Jerom, met with no better Treatment. For those Fanatics, breaking into the House where they lived, beat some of their Attendants in their Presence, killed others, and threatened them with Fire and Destruction. With this they acquainted Innocent, who thereupon writ to Jerom, offering to exert the whole Authority of the Apostolic See against the Authors of such Excesses, provided he knew who they were: for the Two Virgins had concealed their Names, probably to prevent his exerting that Authority, which they had Reason to apprehend would be attended with greater Evils.

327Innocent adds, that so long as the Authors and Promoters of those unheard of Barbarities are unknown, he can only condole with those who have suffered by them; but, if they were accused in due Form, at his Tribunal, he would not fail to appoint proper Judges to try them; which, by the way, he had no Right to do.

His Letter to John of Jerusalem.

Innocent’s other Letter is to John Bishop of Jerusalem, who hated Jerom on account of his Inveteracy against Origen, and was suspected to connive at the cruel Treatment he and his Followers had met with. Him therefore Innocent reprimands very severely, for suffering such enormous Abuses within the Limits of his Jurisdiction. In his Letter he gives him the Title of well-beloved Brother; but, at the same time, treats him with more Haughtiness than was becoming even in a Superior, though he neither had, nor could claim by the Canons, any kind of Jurisdiction or Authority over him.

Innocent dies.

These Letters Innocent writ in the Latter-end of January, and died on the 12th of March of the same Year 417. having governed the Roman Church near Fifteen Years; for his Predecessor Anastasius died on the 27th of April 402. and he was chosen soon after his Decease, as I have observed above. He was generally esteemed a Man of good Parts, and well acquainted with the Laws and Traditions of the Church. |The See of Rome greatly indebted to him for its Grandeur.| Hence he was frequently consulted by the Western, and sometimes by the Eastern Bishops, in Points both of Faith and Discipline. Of this general Esteem, and the Deference that was thereupon paid to his Decisions, he took Advantage to lay down, with an Air of Authority, and as undoubted Truths, many false, groundless, and dangerous Maxims, all tending to the Diminution of the Episcopal Power, and the Advancement of the Papal. The Dignity of the Apostolic See was, as we have seen, the Burden of almost all his Letters; he even improved it into a Claim of Supremacy; and we may say, with great Truth, that to him the See of Rome was more indebted for the Grandeur it afterwards gained, than to all his Predecessors together. He formed the Plan of that Spiritual Monarchy, which they, by constant Application, established at last, in spite of the many almost insurmountable Difficulties, which they had to contend with. He was the first who, changing the antient Foundation of the Primacy, claimed it as the Successor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, as he is styled, and not as the Bishop of the first City, though on that Consideration alone it had been granted by 328the Councils. I said Primacy, because the Word Supremacy was utterly unknown in those Days. The Council of Sardica, held in the Year 347. had allowed, in some Cases, and under several Restrictions, Appeals to be made to the See of Rome, as has been observed elsewhere^[1474]. But Innocent, scorning to owe any Branch of his Authority to that, or any other Council, claimed, by Divine Right, the Power of finally deciding all Ecclesiastical Controversies and Disputes; which was claiming, by Divine Right, an unlimited Jurisdiction. It is true, no Regard was had to such Claims; nor indeed did Innocent dare to pursue them, being well apprised of the Opposition he would meet with, if he should then have made such an Attempt. He therefore wisely contented himself with laying Foundations, and thought it a great Advance, as it certainly was, to have openly asserted such Notions, and brought the Ears of Men to endure them, if not their Minds. Had he gone farther, he would have been stopped in his Career, and it might have proved fatal to the Power of Rome before it was come to an Age of Maturity; but that he went thus far was of great Benefit to it, because it made a Beginning, and furnished his Successors with a Pretence to plead some Antiquity for the Opinions and Principles upon which they proceeded.

His Decretals often quoted by the Popish Divines.

Accordingly the Decretals of Innocent are frequently quoted by the Advocates for the See of Rome, to shew how early the Popes claimed, by Divine Right, and as Successors of St. Peter, an universal Authority and Jurisdiction. But if the Principles, on which they founded their Claims, were false in Innocent’s Time, they are still so in ours; if no Account was then made of such Claims (and that none was made, I have sufficiently shewn), no Account ought to be made of them now; no more than if they were dated but Yesterday. Nor, indeed, ought the Beginning of the Fifth Century to be esteemed an early Time in the Christian Church. Great Corruptions were then crept into it; and, with regard to the Point in Question, it was very late. For had the Bishop of Rome been supreme Head of the Church, in Right of St. Peter, how came that Supremacy to be unknown, and unheard of, for above Four hundred Years? If the Four first Centuries could not discover it, on what new Light was it revealed to the Fifth?

Is sainted.

Innocent has been inrolled, by his Successors, in the Catalogue of Saints; and he is now adored in the Church of Rome as a Saint of the 329first Rate; an Honour which, it must be confessed, he better deserved at their Hands, in their Estimation of Merit, than any of his Predecessors, or any of his Successors, except Gregory the VIIth.

Honorius, ZOSIMUS, Fortieth Bishop of Rome. Theodosius the younger.

Year of Christ 417.

Zosimus, the Successor of Innocent, was, according to the Bibliothecarian, a Greek by Nation, and the Son of one Abraham^[1475]; which is all we know of him before his Election. He was elected and ordained Six Days after the Death of his Predecessor, that is, on the 18th of March 417^[N60].

Pelagius, his Country, Profession, Parts, &c.

The first thing that engaged the Attention of Zosimus, after his Election, was the Heresy of Pelagius, and his chief Disciple Cælestius, which, at that time, made a great Noise in the Church. Pelagius was by Birth a Briton, and a Monk by Profession; but one of those who, parting with their Estates, and renouncing all worldly Honours, lived an austere Life; but in no Community, and under no Rule. Such a Monk was the famous Paulinus, such Pammachius, and such probably Pelagius; for I do not find, in any antient Writer, that he ever confined himself to a Monastery; nay, the wandering Life he led is a strong Proof he never did^[N61]. As to his Parts, Jerom, who could never discover any thing commendable in those he opposed, 330speaks of him with the greatest Contempt, as if he had no Genius, and but very little Knowlege^[1476]. But St. Austin, a more candid and less passionate Writer, owns him to have been a Man of extraordinary good Sense, of a very sprightly Genius, of great Penetration, and one who was not easily overcome, but rather capable of maintaining, with the strongest Reasons that could be offered, the Opinions which he once embraced^[1477]. He lived several Years at Rome, at least from the Year 400. to 411. and was there well known, and greatly esteemed. For St. Austin, who first heard of him, while he lived at Rome, spoke of him in the first Books, which he writ against him, as of a Man, who passed for a Saint, who had made great Progress in Piety, whose Life was chaste, and Manners blameless, who had sold and given to the Poor all he had, &c^[1478]. St. Paulinus and St. Jerom seem to have once entertained a no less favourable Opinion of him in these respects, than St. Austin did; for they too, in some of their Letters, speak of him with the greatest Commendations. But he no sooner began to broach his new Doctrines than he forfeited their good Opinion, and with it every Virtue which he had formerly possessed; nay, they pretend that he abandoned himself, at once, to immoderate Eating and Drinking, and to all manner of Debauchery, passing his whole Time in Revels and Banquets, in caressing and pampering his Body, which by that means, says Jerom, swelled to such an exorbitant Size, that he was more capable of crushing his Adversaries with the Weight of his Carcase than the Weight of his Arguments^[1479]. We shall find very few, if any at all, who, upon their teaching Doctrines not approved by the Fathers, have not been immediately transformed by them, out of their great Zeal for the Purity of the Faith, into Monsters of Wickedness, though they themselves had, perhaps, proposed them before for Patterns of every Christian Virtue. It behoves us therefore to be very cautious in giving Credit to what they say of those whom they style Heretics. With respect to Pelagius, St. Austin, more moderate than the rest, does not charge him with any Vices, but only ascribes to Hypocrisy the Virtues which he had admired in him before^[1480].

Cælestius, his Family, Profession, Parts, &c.

Cælestius, the first and chief Disciple of Pelagius, was, according to some, a Native of Scotland or Ireland; according to others, of 331Campania in Italy^[1481]; but, with respect to his Country, nothing certain can be advanced. He was descended of an illustrious Family, and had applied himself, from his Youth, to the Study of the Law, and made some Figure at the Bar; but growing weary of that Profession, he retired from the World, embraced a monastic Life, and lived some Years in a Monastery^[1482]. St. Jerom speaks of him as a Man of no Genius or Talents^[1483]. But St. Austin entertained a very different Opinion of his Parts; for he commends him as a good Writer, as one who was thoroughly acquainted with all the Subtilties of Logic, and whose Talents would have proved very serviceable, could he have been retrieved from his Errors^[1484].

Their Doctrine.

The Tenets of Pelagius or Cælestius (for those, who embraced them, are styled indifferently Pelagians and Cælestians) may be reduced to the following Heads: 1. That we may, by our Free-will, without the Help of Grace, do Good, and avoid Evil. 2. That if Grace were necessary for either, God would be unjust in giving it to one, and denying it to another. 3. That Faith, which is the first Step to our Justification, depends upon our Free-will. 4. That the Sin of Adam hurt none but him; that Children are born in the State which he was in before the Fall; that they are not delivered by Baptism from eternal Perdition, but, without Baptism, partake of Life everlasting. By Life everlasting they meant, a middle State between eternal Happiness and eternal Misery. 5. That Grace is only necessary to render the Observance of the Commandments more easy.

Both pass over into Africa.

These Opinions Pelagius and Cælestius first broached at Rome, about the Year 405. and gained there a great many Followers; more, says St. Austin, than could be well imagined^[1485]. They both left Rome in 410. or 411. and, crossing over into Africa, infected many there, says the same Author, especially at Carthage, with their new Doctrine^[1486]. |Pelagius repairs to Palæstine.| Pelagius, after a short Stay at Carthage, went first into Egypt, and from thence into Palæstine, where he continued a long time^[1487]. Cælestius remained at Carthage, hoping to be preferred there to the Priesthood; but as he did not use the due Caution in propagating his Doctrine in that City, he was soon discovered, and accused 332by one Paulinus, a Deacon, before a Council, at which several Bishops were present, and Aurelius of Carthage presided. |Cælestius accused and condemned in Africa.| The Charge brought against him was, That he held the Sin of Adam to have hurt him alone; that it could not be imputed to his Descendents; and that no Sin was cancelled by Baptism. These Tenets he did not own before the Council; but neither would he disown or anathematize them; and therefore the Bishops, provoked at his Obstinacy, not only condemned his Doctrine, but, at the same time, cut him off, as an incorrigible Heretic, from the Communion of the Church^[1488]. |Appeals to Rome, but flies to Ephesus.| From this Sentence Cælestius appealed to the Judgment of Innocent, then Bishop of Rome, summoning Paulinus, his Accuser, to make his Charge good at that Tribunal. But Cælestius himself laid, it seems, no Stress on his Appeal; for, instead of repairing to Rome, he fled to Ephesus^[1489], where we shall leave him for the present.

Pelagius accused in Palæstine by Heros and Lazarus, two Gallican Bishops;

Pelagius, in the mean time, was not idle in Palæstine, whither he had retired, as I have said above; but, being countenanced by John Bishop of Jerusalem, he gained daily such Numbers of Followers there, that Heros and Lazarus, Two Bishops of Gaul, whom I shall speak of hereafter, happening to be then in Palæstine, thought it incumbent upon them to accuse him to Eulogius Bishop of Cæsarea, and Metropolitan of Palæstine. They drew up a Writing accordingly, containing the chief Heads of the Doctrine which Pelagius taught, together with the Articles, for which his Disciple Cælestius had been condemned by the Council of Carthage; and this Writing they presented to Eulogius. Hereupon a Council was assembled soon after at Diospolis, a City of Palæstine, known in Scripture by the Name of Lydda. It consisted of Fourteen Bishops, and Eulogius of Cæsarea presided; but neither of the Gallican Bishops was present, the one being prevented by a dangerous Malady, and the other not chusing to abandon him in that Condition. However, their Charge against Pelagius was read, and he examined, by the Fathers of the Assembly, on the Articles it contained. |and absolved by the Council of Diospolis.| But as nobody appeared against him, as none of those Bishops were sufficiently acquainted with the Latin Tongue to understand his Books, and he disowned some Propositions, explained others in a Catholic Sense, and anathematized all who maintained Doctrines repugnant to those of the 333Catholic Church, the Council pronounced, at the Suggestion of John of Jerusalem, the following Sentence: Since the Monk Pelagius, here present, has satisfied us, as to his Doctrine, and anathematized with us whatever is contrary to the true Faith, we acknowlege him to be in the Communion of the Church^[1490]. This Council St. Jerom styles, The pitiful Synod of Diospolis^[1491]. But St. Austin, instead of insulting them, calls them Holy and Catholic Judges; and will not answer, that he himself might not have been deceived by the Artifices of Pelagius, had he been one of his Judges^[1492].

He is accused by Heros and Lazarus to the Bishops of Africa.

Heros and Lazarus, surprised to hear that the Fathers of the Assembly had absolved Pelagius, and despairing of ever being able to get him condemned in the East, where his Cause was openly espoused by the Bishop of Jerusalem, resolved to apply to their Brethren in the West, especially to the Bishops of Africa, who they well knew could not be prejudiced in his Favour, since they had already condemned his favourite Disciple Cælestius. Pursuant to this Resolution, they writ, by the famous Orosius, who was returning from Palæstine to Africa, to the Bishops of that Province, accusing Pelagius and Cælestius as the Authors of an Execrable Sect; giving them a particular Account of what had passed in the Council of Diospolis, and acquainting them with the wonderful Progress the new Heresy made in the East, especially in Palæstine^[1493].

The Doctrine of Pelagius and Cælest- ius condemned anew in Africa.

These Letters were delivered by Orosius to the Bishops of the Province of Carthage, who, after having caused them to be read in the Provincial Council, which was then sitting in that City, and, with them, the Acts of the Council, which had been held Five Years before against Cælestius, not only condemned the Doctrine ascribed to him and Pelagius, but declared, that the same Sentence should be pronounced against them, unless they anathematized, in the plainest and most distinct Terms, the Errors with which they were charged^[1494]. The Example of the Bishops of Africa was followed by those of Numidia, assembled at Milevum, and by Innocent Bishop of Rome, as I have related above.

They appeal to Rome.

This Condemnation, so solemn and general, was attended with the wished for Effect. It greatly lessened the Reputation of Pelagius and Cælestius, staggered many of their Followers, and deterred others 334from embracing their Doctrines. Of this both Pelagius and Cælestius were well apprised; and, at the same time, sensible, that the only means of retrieving their Credit, and maintaining the Ground they had gained, was to justify themselves either to the Bishops of Africa, or to the Bishop of Rome, they chose the latter, thinking it more easy to gain over one than many. Besides, in Africa they knew St. Austin, who was in great Reputation there, and swayed all the Councils as he pleased, to be their declared and irreconcileable Enemy; whereas they had many Friends at Rome; and, among the rest, the Presbyter Sixtus, who was afterwards raised to that See^[1495]. In order, therefore, to persuade the Bishop of Rome, as Pelagius had done the Bishops of Diospolis, that they had been falsly and maliciously accused, Pelagius writ a Letter to Innocent, whose Death he had not yet heard of, while Cælestius, trusting to his Eloquence, and depending on the Favour which the Bishops of Rome had always shewn to those who recurred to them, undertook a Journey to that City. He had fled from Carthage to Ephesus, as I have related above. On his Arrival in that City he was well received by the Bishop of the Place, and even preferred, after he had staid some time there, to the Priesthood. |Cælestius is driven from Ephesus and Constantinople.| But, in the mean time, his Doctrine giving Offence to some, while it was embraced by others, great Disturbances arose; and he was, in the End, driven out of the City. Being thus expelled from Ephesus, he repaired to Constantinople; but he no sooner began to discover his Sentiments there, than Atticus, who then held that See, and kept a watchful Eye over him, commanded him forthwith to depart the City^[1496]. |Repairs to Rome and presents himself be- fore Zosimus.| From Constantinople he went strait to Rome; and, finding that Innocent was dead, he presented himself before his Successor Zosimus, declaring, that he was come to Rome, to defend his oppressed Innocence at the Tribunal of the Apostolic See; not doubting but he should make it appear before so knowing and unprejudiced a Judge, and confute the many groundless Aspersions with which his Enemies had strove to blast his Reputation in the Eyes of the whole Church: he complained of the Judgment given against him by the African Bishops about Six Years before; and, pretending that his Accuser Paulinus, conscious of his Innocence, and his own Guilt, had declined the Judgment of the Apostolic See, he summoned him anew to appear, and make good the Charge which 335he had brought against him. |He delivers his Con- fession of Faith to Zosimus;| At the same time he presented to Zosimus a Request, containing a Confession of his Faith, with long Descants on the Articles of the Apostolic Symbol, concerning which his Orthodoxy had never been questioned. But as to Grace and Original Sin, he said, they were not Matter of Faith; but that he was, nevertheless, ready to acquiesce, even with respect to them, in the Judgment of the Roman See^[1497].

Zosimus had at this Time some Affairs of the greater Importance on his Hands^[1498]; but, highly pleased with the pretended Submission of Cælestius, and thinking this a favourable Opportunity of extending his Authority, and drawing to the Tribunal of the Apostolic See Appeals in Causes that had been judged and decided elsewhere, he postponed the other Affairs to attend to this alone, in his Opinion, the most important of all. A Day was appointed, without Loss of Time, for Cælestius to appear in the Church of St. Clement, and there give an Account of his Faith. He appeared accordingly; and the Confession being read, which he had delivered to Zosimus, he owned that, and no other, to be his Faith. In that Confession he did not deny Original Sin, but declared, in the clearest Terms, that he was in Doubt about it; and that the Belief of Original Sin was no Article of the Catholic Faith. |which is approved by him.| And yet such a Confession was approved by Zosimus as Catholic; which was approving, if not the Doctrine, at least the Doubts which Cælestius entertained of Original Sin^[1499]. |The Roman Catholic Divines strive in vain to excuse Zosimus.| The Roman Catholic Divines have taken great Pains to clear Zosimus from this Imputation; but have been attended with no better Success than St. Austin was before them. For that Father, unwilling to condemn one of his Brethren, pretended that Zosimus, in approving the Confession of Cælestius, did not declare his Doctrine to be Catholic, but only the Disposition of his Mind to condemn whatever should be found amiss in his Doctrine; for such a Disposition, says he, makes a true Catholic^[1500]: he might have added, if sincere, and not feigned; for it was certainly feigned in Cælestius; and consequently Zosimus was no less mistaken in declaring his Disposition of Mind to be Catholic, than if he had made such a Declaration with respect to his Doctrine. St. Austin himself was sensible of the Weakness of his Plea, and therefore immediately added; But, allowing the Doctrine of Pelagius and Cælestius to have been approved by the Roman Church, 336all we can infer from thence is, that the Roman Clergy was guilty of Prevarication^[1501]; an Inference which he seems to be no-way solicitous about, though he could not have admitted it without giving up the Question, if he had thought the Pope infallible.

His Haughty Letter to the African Bishops in favour of Cælestius.

Zosimus, however prejudiced in favour of Cælestius, did not take upon him to restore him to the Communion of the Church, from which he had been cut off by the Bishops of Africa Six Years before, or to come to any farther Resolution till he had imparted the Affair to them. He writ accordingly to Aurelius of Carthage, and to the other African Bishops; not that he stood in need of their Advice, or wanted to be directed by them, as he let them know in his Letter, but because he was willing to hear what they had to object against one who had been first accused at their Tribunal. He upbraids those Prelates, and with great Bitterness and Acrimony, as if they had acted with too much Haste and Precipitation in an Affair that required the most mature Deliberation. As for Heros and Lazarus, the two great Opposers of Pelagius and Cælestius, he inveighs against them with the most abusive Language that an implacable Rage could suggest. He lets the African Bishops know, that if the Accusers of Cælestius did not appear at Rome in Two Months, to make good their Charge against him, he would declare him innocent, and admit him as a true Catholic to his Communion. He styles all such Inquiries, that is, Inquiries concerning Grace and Original Sin, empty Speculations, and trifling Disputes, owing to a criminal Curiosity, and an immoderate Desire of speaking and writing; in which perhaps he was not much to blame: he closes his Letter with exhorting them not to trust to their own Judgment, but to adhere in every thing to the Scripture and Tradition^[1502].

The Characters of Heros, Lazarus, and Patroclus.

As for Heros and Lazarus, against whom Zosimus chiefly vented his Spleen, while he favoured Cælestius; St. Prosper gives us, in his Chronicle, the following Account of the former: “Heros, says he, was Bishop of Arles, a holy Man, and the Disciple of St. Martin. However, he was driven from his See by his own People, though quite innocent, and not even accused of any Fault. In his room was placed one PatroculusPatroculus, an intimate Friend of Count Constantius, who at that Time, bore a great Sway in the Empire, and whose favour they courted, and hoped to earn by that Violence.” This happened in 412. All we know of Lazarus is, that he was ordained 337Bishop of Aix in Provence, by Proculus Bishop of Marseilles, a Prelate of extraordinary Merit, as appears from the high Commendations bestowed on him by the Council of Turin^[1503], by St. Jerom^[1504], and by Tiro Prosper in his Chronicle. Patroclus, who was intruded in the room of Heros, is painted by Tiro Prosper, a Writer no-ways prejudiced against the Pelagians, or their Friends, as a Man of a most abandoned Life, and one who turned the Episcopacy into a Trade, and sold the Priesthood to all who had Money to purchase it^[1505]. Baronius interprets the violent Death, which he suffered in 426. when he was barbarously murdered by a Military Tribune, as a Punishment from Heaven for his criminal Intrusion^[1506]. Such were the Characters of Heros, Lazarus, and Patroclus; and yet of the latter, who favoured the Pelagians, Zosimus entertained the highest Opinion, and often commends him in his Letters as a Man of great Merit and Virtue. |Heros and Lazarus falsly charged with many Crimes by Zosimus.| But the Two former, who had distinguished themselves above the rest in opposing the Pelagians, he most outrageously abuses, styling them, in his Second Letter to the African Bishops, Two Plagues, who, with their nonsensical Whims, disturbed the Peace and Tranquillity of the whole Church; Whirlwinds and Storms, that could suffer none to enjoy any Quiet. He adds, that he was not at all surprised at their wickedly attempting to defame with false Depositions, and lying Evidences, a Layman, meaning Pelagius, who had served God so long with an untainted Reputation, and shining Virtues, since they had raised so many Storms in the Church, had contrived so many Plots, employed so many Engines, to compass the Ruin of their Brethren and Collegues in the Episcopacy^[1507]. No Mention is made by the Historians of those Times of any other Storms or Disturbances in the Churches of Gaul, but such as were occasioned by the Expulsion of Heros, and the Intrusion of Patroclus; and these Patroclus probably exaggerated beyond Measure, laying the whole Blame on Heros. For Patroclus was in Rome at the very Time Zosimus writ his Letter to the African Bishops, fraught with Invectives against Heros and Lazarus^[1508]. In the same Letter Zosimus charges the Two Prelates with several other Crimes; viz. that they had both been ordained against the Canons, and against the Will of the People as well as the Clergy, whom, however, they had forced by Chains, Prisons, Confiscations, and the Favour of the Tyrant, meaning, no doubt, the Usurper Constantine, to 338consent in the End to their Election; that Lazarus had ascended the Episcopal Throne, while his Hands were still reeking with innocent Blood, &c. But, had they been guilty of such Excesses, would Prosper, who lived at this very Time, and all the other Historians, have passed them over in Silence? Would he have styled Heros an holy Man? Would St. Austin have called them both his holy Brethren^[1509]? Would the Fathers of the Council of Carthage in 416. have acknowleged them for their Fellow-Labourers and Collegues in the Priesthood^[1510]? Would Proculus of Marseilles, one of the most illustrious Prelates at that Time in Gaul, have ordained Lazarus, while his Hands were still reeking with innocent Blood? We may therefore, upon the Whole, agree here with Baronius^[1511], and ascribe the Crimes, of which the two Prelates were arraigned by Zosimus, to the Suggestions of their Enemies, especially of Patroclus, in whom Zosimus reposed an intire Confidence. |They are both de- graded and excommunicated by Zosimus.| However that be, Zosimus, highly incensed against both, not only declared them deposed, as Men unworthy of the Episcopal Dignity, but cut them off from his Communion, for many Reasons, says he, and, among the rest, because they had deposed themselves^[1512].

The injustice of this Sentence.

This Sentence he pronounced in their Absence, without even acquainting them with the Crimes laid to their Charge; not reflecting, in the Height of his Passion, that he was, at that very Time, complaining of the African Bishops for having condemned Cælestius in his Absence, reproaching them with too much Haste and Precipitation, and laying it down as a Rule never to be swerved from, that no Man ought to be condemned before he is heard, let the Crimes laid to his Charge be ever so great. As for their deposing themselves, or voluntarily abdicating their Dignity, it is very certain, if Prosper is to be credited, that Heros did not abdicate, but was violently driven from his See. If Lazarus abdicated (for Cardinal Noris^[1513] and others^[1514] are of Opinion he did not), that ought not to have been imputed to him as a Crime, any more than it was to Nazianzen Bishop of Constantinople, and many others, who were not even censured by their Enemies on that Account. |The other Bishops make no Account of the Anathemas of Zosimus.| The other Bishops seem to have made no Account of the Anathemas of Zosimus; for they still continued to communicate with them, and acknowlege them for their Collegues^[1515]; 339the Name of Heros was inserted into the Diptychs of the Church of Arles after his Death; and Lazarus was, according to some, even restored to his See^[1516].