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General Library s
I
ORIGINES ECCLESIASTIC/E;
OR THE
ANTIQUITIES
OP
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
AND
OTHER WORKS,
OP THE
REV. JOSEPH BINGHAM, M.A.
Formerly Fellow of University College, Oxford; and afterwards Rector of Headbourn Worthy, and Havant, Hampshire ;
WITH A
SET OF MAPS OF ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY,
TO WHICH ARE NOW ADDED,
SEVERAI. SHHTflONSf
AND OTHER MATTER, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED,
Tlie whole Revised and Edited, together with
^ iStogtapiiical Eccotint of tht Author,
BY HIS GREAT GRAXDSOK,
THE REV. RICHARD BINGHAM, B.C.L.
Prebendary of Chichester, Alcar of Hale Magna, Incumbent of Gosport Chapel, and formerly Fellow of New College, Oxford.
IN EIGHT VOLUMES.— VOL. VL
LONDON: PRINTED FOR WILLIAM STRAKER,
443, WEST STRAND.
MDCCCXXXIV.
CONTENTS.
BOOK XVI.
OF THK UNITY AND DISCIPLINE OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the Union and Conimumon observed among Catholics in the
Ancient Church.
Sect, 1. Of the Fundamental Unity of Faith and Obedience to the Laws of Christ. — 2. Of the Unity of Love and Charity, as an Essential part of Christian Obedience. — 3. Other Sorts of Unity necessary to the Well- being of the Church. — 4. Amons; these was reckoned, first the necessary Use of One Baptism, ordinarily to be administered by the Hands of a Regular Ministry. — 5. Secondly, Unity of Worship, in joining with the Church in Prayers and Administration of the Word and Sacraments. — 6. Thirdly, the Unity of Subjection of Presbyters and people to their Bishop, and Obedience to all Public Orders of the Church in Matters of an indifferent Nature. — 7. Fourthly, the Unity of Submission to the Discipline of the Church. — 8. How different Churches maintained Com- munion with one another. Firsi in the Common Faith. — 9. Secondly, in mutual Assistance of each other for Defence of the Common Faith. — 10. Thirdly, in joining in Communion with each other in all Holy Offices, as occasion required, — IL Fourthly, in mutual consent to ratify all Legal Acts of Discipline, regularly exercised in any Church what- soever.— 12. Fifthly, in receiving Unanimously the Customs of the Uni- versal Church, and submitting to the Decrees of General Councils. — 13. Sixthly, insubniitting to the Decrees of NationalCouncils. — 14. No Necessity of a visible Head to unite all parts of the Catholic Church into one Communion. — 15. Nor any Necessity that the whole Church should agree in the same Rites and Ceremonies, which were things of an indif- ferent Nature. — 16. What allowance was mad? for Men, who, out of simple ignorance break Communion with one another. — 17. Of different Degrees of Unity ; and that no one was esteemed to be in the perfect Unitv of the Church, who was not in full Communion with hor.
A 2
359S60
CONTENTS.
CHAP. II.
Of the Discipline of the Churc/i, and the various Kinds of it; toscether with the various Methods observed in the Administra- tionof it.
Sect. 1. That the Discipline of the Churcli did not consist in Cancelling or Disannulling any Man's Baptism. — "2. But in excluding Men from the common Benefits and Privileges consequent to Baptism.— 3. This Power originally a mere spiritual Power; though in some Cases the secular Arm was called in to give its Assistance.— 4. This Assistance never re- (\uired to ])roceed so tar, as for mere Error to take away Life, or shed Blood. — 5. The Discipline of the Church deprived no Man of his natural or civil Uiglit; nuicli less the Magistrate of his Power, or Allegiance due to him. — But, consisted, first, in Admonition of the Offender. — 7. Secondly, in Suspension from the Communion, called the lesser Ex- communication.— 8. Thirdly, in Expulsion from the Church, called, the greater Excommunication, total Separation, Anathema, and the like.
9. This Sort of Excomnnmication commonly notified to other Churches.
10. After which he that was excommunicated in one Church, was held excommunicate in all Churches. — II. And avoided also in civil Com- merce and outward Conversation : and allowed no Memorial after Death. 12. The Grounds and Reasons of this Practice. — 13. No Donations or Oblations allowed to be received from excommunicate Persons. — 14. No one to marry with excommunicate Heretics, or receive their Eulo- gicB, or read their Books, but burn them. — 15. What meant by deliver- ing unto Satan. — 16. What by Anathema Maranatha. And whether any such Forms were in Use in the Ancient Church. — 17. Whether Ex- comnmnication was ever pronounced with Execration, or devoting the Sinner to temporal Destruction.
CHAP. 111.
Of the Objects of Ecclesiastical Censures, or the Pei'sons, on whorn they might be inflicted : with a General Account of the Crimes, for which they might be inflicted.
Sect. 1. All Members of the Church, falling into great and scandalous Crimes, made liable to ecclesiastical Censures without Exception. — •i. Women as well as Men. — 3. The Rich as well as the Poor. No Commutation of Penance allowed, nor Friendsiiip, nor Favour — 4. What Privilege some claimed upon the Intercession of the INlartyrs in Prison for them : and how this was answered by Cyprian. — 3. Magis- trates and Princes subject to Ecclesiastical Censures as well as any others.— G. In what cases the greater excommunication was forborne
COMENTS. V
for the Good of the Church. — 7. Tlic iniioccnl never involved among llif Guilty in ecclesiastical Censures. The Orif^iiial and Novelty of jiopish Interdicts. — 8. 'I'lu' Uauf^t-rof exconiiiuinicatini? iiinociiit Persons.— 9. No one to be excoininiinicati-d witliout briiis,'' lirst heard and allowed to speak for himself.— Ut. Nor without lejcal Conviction, cither by his own Confession ; or credible Evidence of Witnesses, against whom there was no just Kxception; or such Notoriety of the Fact, as made a Man liable toExconnuniucation Ipxo F«c/o, withf)ut any formal Denunciation. — II. Excommunication not ordinarily inflicted on Minors, or Children under Age. — I'i. How Persons were sometimes excommunicated after Death.— 13. The Censures of the Church not to be inflicted for small Olfences.— 1 1-. ^V■hat the Ancients meant by small Oll'ences in this Mat- ter, and how they distinguished them from thi^ greater. — 15. ICxcommu- nication not inflicted for temporal Causes. — 1(1. No Uishop allowed to use it to avenge any private Injury done to himself. — No Man to be excommunicated for Sins only in Design and Intention. — 18. Nor for forced or involuntary Actions.
CHAP. IV.
A Particular Account of those called, Great Crimes. Of Trans- gressions of the First and Second Commandment. Of the Principal of these, viz. Idolatry. Of the several Species of Idolatry, and Degrees of Punishment allotted to them accord- ing to the Proportion and Quality of the Offences.
Sect. 1. The Mistake of some about the Number of great Crimes, in con- fining them to Idolatry, Adultery, and Murder.— 2. The Account giveu of great Crimes, in the civil Lav? extended much further. — 3. In the ecclesiastical Law the Account of great Crimes ex- tended to the whole Decalogue. — 4. A particular Enumeration of the great Crimes against the first and second Commandments. Of f(h)latry, and the several Species or Branches of it. — 5. Of the Sacrijicati -dud Thurifirati, or such as fell info Idolatry by offering Incense to Idols, or partaking of tlie Sacrifices.— G. Of the Libellatici. Wherein their Ido- latry consisted. — 7. Of those, who feigned themselves mad, to avoid Sacrificing.— 8. Of Contributors to Idolatry. Of the Flamines, Mune- rarii, and Coronati. What they were, and how guilty of Idolatry. — 9. How the Office of the Duumvirate made Men guilty of Idolatry, and how it was punished.— 10. How Actors and Stage-players, and Charioteers, and other Gamesters, and Frequenters of the Theatre and the Circus were charged with idolatry, and punished for it. — 1 1. Idol-makers, their Crime and Punishment. — \2. The Idolatry of building heathen Tem- ples and Altars. — 13. Of Merchants selling Frankincense to the Idol Temples: and the Buyers and Sellers of the public Victims. — 14. Of eating Things ofi'ered to Idols. How and when it stood chargeable with Idolatry. — \o. Whether a Christian out of Curiosity might be present at an Idol-Sacrifice, not joining- in the Service. — 16. Whether he might eat his own Meat in an Idol-Temple. — 17. Or feast with the Heathen on their Idol-Festivals. — 18. Of the Idolatry of worshipping Angels, Saints, Martyrs, Images, &c. — 19. Of Encouragers of Idolatry and <*onnivcrs at it. And of the contrary Extremcin demolishing Idols without sufficient Authoritv to do it.
vi CONTENTS
CHAP. V.
Of the Practice of curious and forbidden Arts, Divination, Magic, and Inchantment : and of tlie Laicn of the Church made for the Punishment of them.
Sect. 1.— Of several Sorts of Divination. Particularly of judicial Astro- logy 2. Of Augury and Sootlisaying.— 3. Of Divination by Lots— t.
Of bivinalion by express Compact with Satan.— 5. Of Magical Inchant- ment and Sorcery.— (i. Of Amulets, Charms, and Spells to cure Diseases. 7. Of the Pra'siiyicc, or false Miracles wrought by the Power of Satan. 8.— Of the Observation of Days and Accidents, and making Presages and Omens upon them.
CHAP. VI.
Of Apostacy to Judaism, and Paganism,- of Heresy arid Schism ; and of Sacrilege and Simony.
Sect. 1.— Of such as apostatized totally from Christianity to Judaism.—
2. Of such as mingled the Jewish Religion and the Christian together. --
3. Of such as communicated with the Jews in their unlawful Rites and Practices.-— l. Of such as apostatized voluntarily into Heathenism.— 6. Of Heretics and Schismatics, and their Punishments both ecclesias- tical and civil.-— 6. A particular Account of the civil Punishments in- flicted on them by the Laws of the State.— 7. How Heretics were treated by the Discipline of the Church. First, they were anathema- tized, and cast out of the Church. — 8. Secondly, Debarred from entering the Church by some Canons, though not by ail.— 9. Thirdly, No one to encourage Heretics and Schismatics by frequenting their Assemblies.--- 10, Fourthly, No one to eat or converse with Heretics, or receive their Presents, or retain their Writings, or make Marriages with them, &c.-" IL Fifthly, Heretics not allowed to be Evidence in any ecclesiastical Cause against aCatholic— 12. Sixthly,Heretics not allowed to succeed to
any paternal Inheritance.— 13. No Heretic to have promotion among the Clergy after his Return to the Church.— 14. No one to be ordained, who kept any in'his Family that were not of the catholic Faith.— 15.No oncto bring his Cause before an heretical Judge under Pain of Excommunica- tion.—16. What Term of Penance imposed upon relenting Here'.ics.--
17. How this varied according to the Age and State, and Condition of several Sorts of Heretics.— 18. Heresiarchs more severely treated than their Followers. — 19. And voluntary Deserters more severely than they, who complied only out of Fear.--20. A Diflerencc made between such Heretics as retained the Form of Haptism, and such as rejected or cor- rupted it.— 21. No one to be reputed a formal Heretic, before he contu- maciously resisted the Admonition of the Church.— 22. The like Dis- tinctions observed in inflicting the Censures of the Church upon Schis- matics, according fo the different Nature, and various Degrees of their
CONTENTS. Vii
Schism. ---28. Of Sacrilcfje. Particularly of divertinjr thiniirs npproi)ri- ated to satTL'J Uses, to other Purj)<)si'!5.---2l'. Of Sacrilf^'c cominittcd in robbing liraves.— 'ij. Tiie Sacrilege of the ancient Traditors, who delivered up tlieir Bibles and sacred Utensils to the Jlealhin to be burnt.-— 'JO. The Sacrilege of profaning the Sacraments, and Altars, and tiiolloly Sc-iii)tures, &c.— 27. The Sacrilege of depriving Men of the Use of the Scripture, and the \Vord of God, and the Sacraments, particiilariy the Cup in the Lord's-Supper.— '28. Of Simony in buying and selling spiritual liifts.---29. Of Simony in purchasing spiritual Pre- ferments.---3C. Of Simony in ambitious Usur|)atiou of holy Offices, and lutrusion into other Men's Places and Preferments.
CHAP. VII.
Of Sins against the Third Commandment, Blasphemy, Pro- fane Swearing, Perjury, and Breach of Vows.
Sect. 1. The Blasphemy of Apostates.— 2. The Blasphemy of Heretics and profane Christians.— 3. TheBlasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Where is particulary enquired, wiiat Notion the Ancients had of it; In what sense they believed it unpardonable ; and what Censures they inflicted on it.— 4. Of profane Swearing. All Oaths not forbidden.— 5. But only the Custom of vain andconnnon Swearing.-— 6. And Swearing by the Creatures.— -7. And by the Emperor's Genius, and Saints, and Angels, »S:c.— -8. Of Perjury and its Punishments.— -9. Of Breach of Vows.
CHAP. VIII.
Of Sins against the Fourth Commandment , or Violations of the Law enjoining the Religious Observation of the Lord's- Day
Sect. I. Absenting from religious Assemblies on the Lord's-Day how pu- nished by the Laws of the Ciiurch.— 2. Of frequenting some Part of the Lord's Day Sorvice,and neglecting the Rest. --3. Fasting on the Lord's- Day prohibited under Pain of Excommunication.— -4. Frequenting the Theatres and other Shews and Pastimes on this Day haw punished.
CHAP. IX.
Of great Transgressions against the Fifth Commandment, viz. Di.'iobedience to Parents and Masters ; Treason and Rebellion against Princes ; and ContemjA of the Laws of the Chvrch.
Sect.^ 1. Children not to desert their Parents under Pretence of Religion. The t^ensure of such as taught otherwise.— "2. CJiildren not to rnarrv
Vm CONTENTS.
without the Consent of their Parents.— 3. Nor slaves without the Con- sent of their Masters.— 4. The Punishment of Treason, and Disrespect to Princes.— 5. Contemners of the Laws of the Church liow censured.
CHAP. X.
Of great Transgressions against the Sixth Commandment ,- of Murder and Manslaughter, Parricide, Self-murder, Dismem- bering the Body, exposing of Infants, causing of Abortion, 8fc.
Sect. 1. Murder ever reckoned a Capital and Unpardonable Crime by the Laws of the State. — 2. How punished by the Laws of the Church. — 3. The Heinousness of Murder alien joined witli other crimes, as Idola- try, Adultery, and magical Practices.— -4. Causint^ of Abortion con- demned and punished as Murder. ---5. The Punishment of Parricide.— 6. Self Murder.— 7. Of DisnuMiibeiiiig the Body.— -S. Of involuntary Murder by Chance or Maiislaufjiiter.-— 9. False Witness ag'ainst any Man's Life reputed Murder.— 10. Informers ag'z.inst the Brethren in Time of Persecution, treated as Murderers.— 11. P^xposina: of Infants reputed Murder. — 12. If a Virgin, deflowered by a Rape, kills herself for Grief, the Corrupter is reputed guilty of the Murder. — 13. The Lanistcp, ox Fencing-Masters reputed Accessories to Murder, and their calling condemned. — 14. Spectators of the Murders committed on the Stage, accounted Accessories to Murder also. — 15. Famishers of the Poor and Indigent reputed guilty of Murder. — 16. And all they, by whose Autho- rity Murder was committed. — 17. Enmity, and Strife and Quarrelling, punished as lower Degrees of Murder.
CHAP. XI.
Of great Transgressions against the Seventh Commandment, Fornication, Adultery, Incest, Polygamy, 8fc.
Sect. 1. The Punishmentof Fornication.— 2. Of y\dultery — 3. Of Incest. — 4. Whether the Marriage of Cousin-Germans was reckoned Incest. — 5. Polygamy and Concubinage. — 6. Of marrying after unlawful Divorce. — 7. Of Second, Third and Fourth Marriages.— 8. Of Ravishment.— 9. Of unnatural Impurities. — 10. Of maintaining and allowing Harlots. — 11. Of writing and reading lascivious Books. — 12. Fretiuenting the Theatre and Slage-plays forbidden upon this Account. — 13. As also all Excess of Riot and Intemperance for the same Reason. — 14. And pro- miscuous Bathing of Men and Women together. — 15. And promiscuous and lascivious Dancing, wanton Songs, &c. — 10. As also promiscuous Clothing, or Men and Women interchanging Apparel. — 17. And suspect- ed Vigils, or Pernoctations of Women in Churches under Prtlenct of De- votion.
COME MS. IX
CHAP. XII.
Of great Transgressions of the Eighth Commandment, Theft,
Oppression, Fraud, 8fc,
Sect. 1. The Censure of those Heretics, who tanght the Doctrine of Re- niinciiition, or Necessity of having all Thiujfs Common. — OfPlaf^iary or Man-stealing. — 3. Of malicious Injustice. — -t. Of simple Theft. — 5. Of detaining lost Goods from the true Owner. — 0. Of refusing to pay just Debts. — 7. And what Men are bound to by the Obligation of Pro- mise and Contract. — 8. Of removing Bounds and Landmarks. — 9. Of Oppression. — 10. Of the Exactions and Bribery of Judges. — 11. Of the Exactions of Publicans, and Collectors of the Public Revenues, and other Officers of the Roman l''nipire. — 12. Of the Exactions of Advocates and Lawyers, and Ajjparitors of Judges. — 13. Of griping Usury and Extortion. — li. Of Forgery. — 15. Of Calumny with Regard to Men's Estates and Fortunes : and the Reverse of it, the Fraud of Adulation and Flattery, — 16. Of Deceitfulness in Trust. — 17. Of Deceitfulness in Traffic. — 18. Of abetting and concealing of Robbers; buying stolen Goods, &c. — 19. Idleness censured as the Mother of Robbery.— 20. And Gaming as an Occasion of Fraud, and Ruin of many poor Families, who by these Means were reduced to the greatest Exigence.
CHAP. XHI.
Of great Transgressions against the Ninth Commandment^ False Accusation, Libelling, Informing, Calumny and Slander, Railing and Reviling.
Sect. L— Of false Witness.— 2. Of Libelling.— 3. Of Detraction, Whis- pering, and Back-biting.— 4. Of Railing and Reviling, or scurrilous and abusive Language : and of revealing Secrets.— 5. Of Lying. How far it brought Men under the Discipline of the Church.
CHAP. XIV.
Of great Transgressions against the Tenth Commandment, Envy, Covetousness, 8fc.
Sect. L— Whether Envy brought Men under tiie Discipline of the Church. —2. Of Pride, Ambition, and Vain-glory.— 3. Of Covetousness.— t. Of Carnal Lusts.
X CONTENTS.
BOOK XV 11.
OF THE EXERCISE OF DISCIPLINE UPON THE CLERGY IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the Difference of Ecclesiastical Censures inflicted on Clergy- men and Laymen.
Sect. 1. The peculiar Notion of Communion ecclesiastical, and Excommu- nication ecclesiastical, as applied to the Clergy.— 2. The Clergy usually punished by a Removal from their Office, but not always subjected to public Penance, as Me.i wholly cast out of the Communion of the Church. — 3. Yet in some special Cases both Penalties inflicted. — 4. Of Suspen- sion from their Revenues. — 5. Of Suspension from their Office. — 6. Of Deposition or Degradation.
CHAP. II.
Of reducing the Clergy to the State and Communion of Laymen, as a Punishment for great Offences.
Sect. 1. Lay-Communion not the same as Communion in' one Kind only. — 2. Neither does it signify barely conuuunicating among Laymen with- out the Rails of the Chancel. — 3. But a total Degradation, or Depriva- tion of Orders, and Reduction to the State and Condition of Laymen. — 4. Clergymen thus reduced, seldom allowed to recover their ancient Station.— 5. Notwitlistaudiiig the indelible Character of Ordination. — 6. Rut sometimes excomminiicated, as well as deposed, and denied the Communion of Laymen. — 7. Sometimes removed and corrected by the Assistance and Authority of tlie secular Power. — S. What meant ijy the Punishment called Curiee tiadi, or delivering up to the secular Court.
CHAP. III.
Of the Punishment, called Peregrina Communio, or reducing Clergymen to the Communion of Strangers.
Sect. 1. The several Canons wherein this Punishment is mentioned. — 2. The ( onnnunion of Strangers not the same as Lay-Coiiiniunion.— 3. Nor Communion in one Rind.— L Nor Communion at the Hour of Death — o. Nor the Communion of such as were enjoined to go on Pilgrimage on Karlh, which was a Piece of Discipline unknown to the Ancients.—
COM'ENTS. XI
(). Nor any i;ii\atc and peculiar Obliition for Strangers. — 7. But coiiimu- nicaliii}; only as Strangers travellinj;- without commendatory Leliers, who might (Jiirtakf ol the Church's Charity, but not of the Clinimunion of the Altar.— S. This Notion confirmed from several Parts of ancient History.— 9. WhatSort of Penance was necessary to restore such delin- quent Clcri;yn;ento their Office and Station again.
CHAP. IV.
Of some other special and peculiar IVays of inflicting Punish- ment on the Clergy.
Sect. 1. Sometimes the Clergy perpetually suspended from their Office, yet allowed to retain their Title and Dignity. — 2. Sometimes degraded not totally, but partially, from one Order to another. — 3. Sometimes de- prived of a Part of their Office, but allowed to exercise the Rest. — 4. Sometimes deprived of their Power over a Part of their Flock, but al- lowed it over the Rest. — 5. Bishops in Afric punished by dcprivingthem of their Seniority, and Right of succeeding to the Primacy or metropo- lilical Power.— 6. Also by confining them to the Communion of their own Church. — 7. Or by removing them from a greater Diocese to a les- ser.— 8. The Clergy in general punished by a Loss of their Seniority among those of their own Order. — 9. The inferior Clergy punished by rendering them incapable of being promoted to any higher Order. — 10. The Clergy sometimes punished by denying them the public Exer- cise of their Office, whilst they were allowed to officiate in |)rivate. — 11. Of Intrusion of Otl'enders into a Monastery to do Penance in private. — 12. Of corporal Punishment. How far used as a Piece of Discipline upon the inferior Clergy.
CHAP. V.
A particular Account of the Crimes for which Clergymen were liable to be punished with any of the forementioned Kinds of Censure.
Sect. 1. All C^rimes that were punished with Excommunication in a Layman, punished with Suspension or Deprivation in the Clergy. — 2. Some Crimes rendered an Ordination originally void: and for such Crimes the Clergy were immediately liable to be degradcfi from the very Moment of their Ordination. — As 1. For Ignorance or Heterodoxy in Religion. — 3. Se- condly for great Immorality before their Ordination: and for being or- dained against any of the known Rules of Ordination. As if he were a Digamist, or married to a Widow, or to one that had been divorced from another Man. If he were ordained diroXiXv^iit'iog, without being fixed to some particular Diocese. If he were ordained without Letters dimissoiy against the Consent of his own Bishop; or without the Consent of any of the Parties, that had a Right to vote in his Elec- tion. If any Bishop was ordained, who had before been degraded from his Orders. Or if he was ordained into a full See, where anothu*
XII CONTENTS.
M'as regularly ordained before liiin. If any was an Encrguraen, or under the agitation of an evil Spirit, when he wasordaiued.If any had vo- luntarily mangled his own Body ; if any one was ordained, who had never been baptized, or not baptized in due Form, or was baptized by Here- tics, or re-baptizi'd by them ; if any made Use of the secular Powers to gain a Promotion in the Church; if a Bishop ordained any of his own unwortliy Kindred ; ifa Bishop clandestinely ordained his own Successor without the Consent of the Metropolitan or a provincial Council; or if two Bishops clandestinelyordained a Bishop without the Consent of their Fellow Bishops and the Metropolitan; in all these Cases the Clergy so ordained were liable to be deposed for transgressing the Rules of Ordi- nation.— 4. No Remedy allowe<l in this Case by doing public Penance for Offences. For all public Penitents were forever inca])able of Ordi- nation. And if any such were ordained, they were immediately liable to be deposed and degraded. — 5. Some Impediments of Ordination arising from Men's outward State and Condition in Ihe World, were also some- times Occasions of Deprivation. A& if any Soldier was ordained, or any Slave or Vassal without the Consent of his Master; or any Member of a ciyil Corporation, or any of the Curiales in the Roman Govern- ment.— 6. What Crimes might occasion the Deprivation of the Clergy, or other Censures to befal them, in the Performance of their Office, or rather Non-performance of it after Ordination. Clergymen to be cen- sured for Contempt of the Canons in general. — 7. More particularly for Negligence in thi-ir Duty. — 8. For neglecting to use the public lyiturgy. Lord's Prayer, Hymns, &c. — 9. For making any Alteration in the Form of Baptism. — 10. For not frequenting divine Service daily. — II. For meddling with secular Offices. — 12. For deserting their own Church ■withotrt Licence, to go to another. — 13. For officiating after the Condem- nation of a Synod. — 14. For Appealing from the Censure of a provincial Synod to any foreign Churches. — 15. For refusing to end Controversies before Bishops, and flying to a secular Tribunal. — 15. For suffering themselves to be re-baptized or re-ordained. — 17. For denying them- selves to be Clergymen. — 18. For publishing Apocryphal Books. — 19. For superstitious Abstinence from Flesh, Wine, &c.— 20. For eating of Blood. — 21. For contemning the Fasts or Festivals of the Church.— 22. For not observing the Rules about Easter. — 23. For wearing an indecent Habit. — 24. For keeping Hawks or Hounds, and following any unlawful Diversions. — 25. For suspicious Cohabitation with strange Women. 26. For marrying after Ordination. — 27, For retaining an adulterous Wife. 28. For Non-residence. — 29. For attempting to hold Preferment in two Dioceses. 30. For needless frequenting of public Inns and Taverns. 31. For conversing familiarly with Jews, Heretics, or Gentile Philosophers. 32. For using over rigorous Severity towards Lapsers. — 33. For want of Charity to indigent Clergymen in their Necessity. — 34. Forjudging in Cases of Blood. — 35. Crimes, for which Bishops in particular might be suspended or degraded. For giving Ordinations contrary to the Canons, f 36. For neglecting to put the Laws of I)iscii)line in Execution. 37. For dividing their Diocese, and erecting new Bisho|)rics without Leave. Or for extending tlu'ir Claim toother Men's Riglils beyond their own Limits and Jurisdiction.— 38. For not attending Provincial Councils, 39. For oppressing the People w ith unjust Exactions. — 40. For harbour- ing such as tied from another Diocese without I^eave. — 41. Cliorcpincopi might be censured for acting beyond their Commission. — 42. And Pres- byters for usurping upon tiic Episcopal Office. — 43. And Deacons for assuming Offices and Privileges above their Order and Station.
CONTKNTS. Xlii
HOOK Will.
OP THE SEVERAL ORDERS OF PENITENTS, AND THE METHOD OP PERFORMING PUBLIC PENANCE IN THE CHURCH, BV GOING THROUGH THE SEVERAL STAGES OF REPENTANCE.
CHAP. I.
A particular Account of the several Orders of Penitents in the
Church.
Sect. 1. Ptnitents divided into four distinct Orders or Stations. 9. Tlie first Original of this Distinction. 3. Of the first Order, cdlled Flentes, or Mourners, i. Of the second Order, called Audientes, or Hearers. 6. Of the third Order, called Prostrators, or Kneelers, and Penitents in the strictest Sense. G. Of the fourth Order, caXled Cojisistentes, or Co-standers.
CHAP. II.
Of the Ceremonies used in admitting Penitents to do public Penance, and the Manner of performing public Penance in the Church.
Sect. 1. Penitents first admitted to Penance by Imposition of Hands. 2. At which Time they were obliged to appear before the Bishop with Sack- cloth and Ashes upon their Heads. This Ceremony anciently not confined to Ash-Wednesday, or the Beginning of Lent, but Persons were admit- ted to Penance at any Time, as the Bishop judged most proper in his own Discretion. 3. Penitents obliged to cut offtheir Hair, or go veiled, as another Tolten of Sorrow and Mourning. 4. Penitents to abstain from Bathing and Feasting, and other innocent Diversions of Life. 5, Pe- nitents to observe all the public Fasts of the Church. 6. Penitents to restrain themselves in the Use of the conjugal State. 7. For which Reason no married Persons were admitted to Penance, but by Consent of both Parties. 8. Penitents not allowed to marry in the Time of their Penance. 9. Penitents obliged to pray kneeling, whilst others prayed standing, on all Festivals and Dajs of Relaxation. 10. Penitents ob- liged to shew great Liberality to the Poor. II. And to minister and serve the Church in burying the Dead
XIV CONTKNTS.
CHAP. HI.
A particular Account of the Exomolog-esis, or penitential Com- fession of the ancient Church; shewing it to be a different Thing from the private or auricular Confession introduced by the Church of Rome.
Sect. 1. The gross Mistake of those, who make the Exomologesis of the ancient Church to signify auricular Confession. — 2. No Necessity of auricular Confession ever urged by the ancient Church. — 3. This proved further from the Practice of the Ancients in denying all Manner of Ab- solution to some relapsing Sinners, without excluding them from the Mercy and Pardon of God, upon Confession to Him alone. — 4. And from above twenty Considerations of the like Nature. — 5. Yet private Con- fession allowed and encouraged in some Cases. — As first for lesser Sins, Men were advised mutually to confess to one another, to have each other's Prayers and Assistance. — 6. Secondly in case of Injuries done to private Persons, Men were obliged to confess, and ask Pardon of the injured Party. — 7. Thirdly, when they were under any Troubles of Con- science they were advised to make private Confession to a Minister, to have his Counsel and Direction. — 8. Fourthly, to take his Advice also, wheihcr it was proper to do public Penance for private Offences. — 9. Fifthly, when there was any Danger of Death arising fromthe Laws of the State against certain Oflenccs. — 10. Sixthly, private Con- fession was also required in Case of private Admonition for Offences. —11. The Office of the penitentiary Priest set up in many Churches to receive and regulate such private Confessions. — 12. This Office was af- terwards abrogated in the East by Nectarius, and Men were left to their Liberty as to what concerned private Confession.
CHAP. IV.
Of the great Rigour, Strictness, and Sei'erity of the Discipline and Penance of the ancient Church.
Sect. 1. Public Penance ordinarily allowed but once to any sort of Sin- ners.— 2. Some Sinners lield under a strict Penance all their Lives to the very Hour of Death. — 3. Such as were absolved upon a Death- bed, were obliged to perform their ordinary Ptimnce, if they recovered. — 4. Some Sinners were denied Communion at their last Hour. — 5. How this may be vindicated and cleared from the Charge of Novatianism. — 6. This Rigour abated in after Ages, without any Retlection on the pre- ceding Practice. — 7. What Liberty was allowed to Bishops in impo- sing of Penance, and exacting proper Satisfaction of Sinners. Some Sinners allowed to do Penance twice.— 8. Bishops had also Power to moderate the Term of Penance upon just Occasion.— 9. And this was the true ancient Notion of an Indulgence. — 10. Which was sometimes granted at the Intercession of the Martyrs, or the Instance of the civil
CONTENTS. XV
Magistrulc— II. Bishops had also n Power to alter the Nature of the Penalty iu some Measure, as well as the Term of it.— 12. What the Ancients mean by ttie Term, LrgUima Pcenitentia.— iZ. What meant by the Phrase, Inter JJt/emantcs orare.
BOOK. XIX.
OF ABSOLUTION, OR THE MANNER OF RE-ADMITTING PENI- TENTS INTO THE COMMUNION OF THE CHURCH AGAIN.
CHAP. 1.
Of the Nature of Absolution, and the several Sorts of it : More particularly of such as relate to the penitential Discipline of the Church.
Sect 1. — All Church-absolution only ministerial, not absolute. — 2. Of the grand Absolution of Baptism. That this was of no use in penitential Discipline to Persons once baptized. 3. Of the Absolution granted by the , Eucharist. 4. Of Absolution declaratory and eflective by the Administration of the Word and Doctrine. 5. Of the precatory Abso- lution given by Imposition of Hands and Prayer. 6. Of the Judicial Absolution of Penitents by restoring them to the Peace and full Com- munion of the Church.
CHAP. n.
Of the Circumstances, Rites and Citstoms anciently observed in the public Absolution of Si7iners.
Sect. 1. No Sinners anciently absolved, till they had performed their regu- lar Penance, e.vcept in Case of imminent Death. 'J. Penitents publfcly reconciled in Sackcloth at the Altar. 3. Sometimes more publicly be- fore the Apsis, or Reading-desk. 4. Absolution at the Altar always given in a supplicatory Form by Imposition of Hands and Prayer. 6. Absolution in the indicative Form, Ego te absolvo, not used till the twelfth Century. 6. In what Sense that Form may be allowed. 7, Why Chrism or Unction was sometimes addeti to Imposition of Hands in the Reconciliation of certain Heretics and Schismatics to the Church. 8. Why some Heretics could be reconciled no other way but by a new Baptism. 9. What Conditions were required of those, who fell from the Church into any Heresy or Schism, when they were reconciled to the Church again, 10. Of the Time of Absolution. 11. How the Church absolved some Penitents, and received them into Communion after Death.
XVJ CONTENTS.
CHAP. 111.
Of the Minister of EcclesiaMical Discipline, and particularly of the Minister of Absolution.
Sect. 1. All the Power of Discipline primarily lodged in the Hands of the Bishop. — 2. This in many Cases committed to Presbyters, either by a general or particular Coirmission. — 3. And to Deacons also. — 4. How far, and ia what Sense Absolution might be said to be given by a J.4iyraan.
THE
ANTIQUITIES
OF THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
BOOK XVI.
OF THE UNITY AND DISCIPLINE OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the Union and Communion observed in the Ancient
Church.
Sect. 1. — Of the fundamental Unity of Faith and Obedience to the Laws
of Christ.
The design of ecclesiastical discipline being chiefly to preserve the unity of the Church in all necessary things, and keep it in purity, and free from corruption, by turning out unworthy members from her society and communion, and denying them all the privileges that belong to it; nothing will be more proper to usher in a discourse con- cerning the discipline of the ancient Church, than first to give a preliminary account of that union and communion, which she laboured to preserve in all her members united in one mystical body under Christ, her universal head. And here first of all, the unity of faith was principally insisted on, \s the foundation, on which all other sorts of Christian unity ''.yere built : and next to this, they required the unity of ho-
VOL. VI. B
2 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK XVI.
liness or obedience, that the Church might be one in ob- serving all the laws and institutions of Christ.* Some reckon the first sort of unity fundamental and essential to the very being of the Church, and all others only necessary to the well-beino- of it. But 1 conceive the Ancients account- cd both the unity of faith and obedience necessary as funda- mentals to the very being of the Church,^ being both joined together by our Saviour, as the rock on which his Church should be built. For, as he says of failh, " Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shnll not pre- vail against it," Matth. xvi. 18. So he says of obedience to his laws, " Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doth them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell not, for it was fourided upon a rock. But every one, that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand : and the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and great was the fall of it." Matth. vii. 26-27. St. Luke, in relating the same passage, words it thus : " he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth, aoainst which the stream did beat; vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." Luke vi. 49. So that obedience, as well as faith, is part of that foundation upon which the Church of Christ is built : and he, that retains not the unity of obedience, wants an es- sential part of its foundation, and is not a real living mem- ber of Christ's mystical body ; but only a broken, or a withered branch of it. In regard to which, our Saviour says in another place, " Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so; he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven," Matth. v. 19.
Upon this account, when he sent his Apostles to teach all nations, he enjoined them two things, first, " To baptise
' Claget of Church Unity, p. 196. « Vide Aug. de Unit. Eccles.
cap. xxl.
CHAP. l.J CHRISTIAN CHDKCH. 3
them in the name, (or faith) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost f and secondly, "To teach them to observe all tiiinas whatsoever he had comman(hKl them." Matth. xxviii. 20, And for the same reason the ancient Church never admitted any persons to baptism, which was the ordinary door of admitting];- proselytes, and uniting- them as members to the body of the Church, without first obli- g'lng them to do these two things : first, to make profession of the primary articles of the Christian faith : and secondly, to promise, or bind themselves by a strict eng^agement and vow, to live in holy obedience to the laws and institutions of Christ. As I have fully shewn in a former book,* treat- ing- of the necessary conditions required of men before their baptism. Where I have particularly remarked out of St. Austin, that he wrote that excellent book, De Fide et Operibus, to shew the necessity of obedience and g-ood works, as well as faith, to the being- of a Christian : against some who pretended, that the profession of faith in Christ, and not the profession of obedience to his laws, was neces- sarily to be required of men, in order to unite them as Chris- tians to the body of the Church by baptism. They said, men were to be baptised, and united to the Church, so long- as they kept the foundation of faith entire, v\'hatever wicked works they built thereupon : for these would be purged away by certain punishments of fire, and they would obtain salvation at the last by virtue of the foundation, which they retained. To which St. Austin replies, that this was a false interpretation of the Apostle's meaning ; and that however these men were so impudent, as to charge the Church's practice with novelty ; yet it was always a firm custom obtain- ing in the Church, to reject professed workers of iniquity from baptism, and constantly refuse them the communion of the Church : and this was grounded upon the rules of an- cient truth, which manifestly declared, that they, which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Since therefore both faith and obedience were reckoned essentially necessary to baptism, they must be concluded
' Book. ii. chap. vii. sect. 6.
B 2
4 THR ANTIQT'ITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
equally necessary to preserve men in the real and prrfect unity of the Church ; iinless Ave could suppose, that any thing- was necessary to make a man a Christian, that was not necessary to make or keep him a member of the Church.
If it he now inquired, what articles of faith, and what points of practiio were reckoned thus fundamental, or es- sential to the very hemo- of a Christian, and the union of many Christians into one body or Church : the Ancients are very plain in resolving this. For as to fundamental articles of fai^i, the Church had them always collected or summed up out of SeripUire in her creeds, the profession of Avhich was ever esteemed both necessary on the one hand, and sufficient on the other, in order to the admission of mem- bers into the Church by baptism ; and consequently both necessary and sufficient to keep men in the unity of the Church, so far as concerns the unity of faith generally re- quired of all Christians, to make them one body and one Church of believers. Upon this account, as J have had oc- casion to shew in a former hook,^ the creed was commonly called by the Ancients, the KavwV and Reyula Fidei, be- cause it was the known standard or rule of faitk, by whicl) orthodoxy and heresy were judged and examined. If a man adhered to this rule, he was deemed an orthodox Christian, and in the union of the Catholic faith: but if he deviated from it in any point, he was esteemed as one that liad cut himself oif, ami separated from the communion of the Church, by entertaining heretical opinions, and desert- ing the common faith. Thus the Fathers, in the Council of Antioch,- charge Paulus 8amosatensis with departing from the rule or canon, meaning- the Creed, the rule of faith, be- cause he denied the divinity of Christ. Irenaeus calls it the unalterable canon or rule of faith :' And says,* this faith was the same in all the world; men professed it with one heart and one soul : for though there were diti'erent dialects in the world, jet the power of the faith was one and the same. The Churches in Germany had no other faith or tra-
' Rook X. chap. iii. sod. 2. « Epist. Con. Ant. ap. Eiiseb.
lib. rii. c. 3). ^ fren. lih. i. cap. i. p. 4t. ■* Ibid. cap. iii.
CMAP. 1,J CHRISTIAN OUURCN. *)
clitioii, than those in Spain, or m Frunce, <jr in tlic I'^asf, or Egypt, or Libya. Nor did tlie niost eloqniMit ruler of" the Clinreli, say any more tlian this ; for no one was above his master : nor the weakest diminish any thinii of tliis trachtioij. For the faith being- one and the same, lie that said most oi it, could not enhirge it ; nor he, that said least, take any thing- from it. So Tertullian says,' there is one rule of faith only, whieli admits of no change or alttuation, that \\hich teaches us to believe in one God Ahnighty, the maker of tlie world, and in Jesus Christ his Son, &c. Tliis rule, he says,- was instituted by Christ Himself, and lliere were no disputes in the Church about it, but such as heretics broug*ht in, or such as made heretics. To know nothing beyond this, was to know all tilings. This faitir^ was the the rule of believing' from the beginning of the (Jospel, and the antHjuity of it was suliiciently demonstrated by the no- velty of heresies, which were but of yeslerdavs standinij- in comparison of it. Cyprian says,* it was the law, which the whole Catholic Churcli held, and that the Novatians them- selves baptised into the same Creed, though they dillered about the sense of the article relating- to the Church. Therefore Novatian, in his book of the Trinity,-' makes no scruple to give the Creed the same name, Regiila Veritatis, the rule of truth. And St. Jerom after the same manner,^ disputing- ag-ainst the errors of the Montanists, says, the first thing- they difiered about, was the rule of faith. For the Church believed the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be each distinct in his own person, though uniled in sub- stance: but the Montanists, following the doctiine of Sabellius, contracted the Trinity into one person. From all which it is evident, that the fundamental articles of faith were those, which the primitive Church summed up in her creeds, in the profession of which she admitted men as members into the unity of her body by baptism ; and if any deserted or corrupted this faith, they were no longer reputed
' Tcrtiil. (le Velaiul. Virgin, cap. i. '^ Idoiu. de Piaescripf.
advers. Ilicieticos. cap. xiii. * Tdcui. coiit. Prax. cup. ii.
" Cypr. Ep. Ixix. al. 76. iid Magnum, p. 1S;J. ^ Novaliau. dc Tiinit.
<"i>l>- '• «"' ix. " Hi. ion, Ki-. liv. ad Marcdlani.
6 THE ANTlQlUriKS OF THli [BOOK XVI.
Christians, but heretics, who brake the unity of the Church by breaking- the unity of the faith, thoiig-li they had other- wise made no fiiithcr separation from her communion. For as Clemens Alexandrinus says,* out of Hermes Pastor, " faith is the virtue that binds and unites the Church toge- ther." Wlience Hegesippus, the ancient historian, giving an account of the old heretics, says,^ " they divided the unity of the Church by pernicious speeches against God and his Christ : that is, by denying some of the prime, funda- mental articles of faith. He, that makes a breach upon any one of these, cannot maintain the unity of the Church, nor his own character as a Christian." " We ought there- fore," says Cyprian,^ " in all things to hold the unity of the Catholic Church, and not to yield in any thing to the ene- mies of faith and truth. For he cannot be thought a Christian,* who continues not in the truth of Christ's Gospel and faith." " If men be heretics,'' says Tertullian,^ " they cannot lie Christians." The like is said by Lactantius, and Jerom, and Athanasius, and Hilary, and many others of the Ancients, whose sense upon this matter I have fully repre- sented in another place." As therefore there was an unity of faith, necessary to be maintained in certain fundamental articles in order to make a man a Christian : so these arti- cles were always to be found in the Church's creeds ; the profession of which was esteemed keeping the unity of the faith ; and deviating in any point from them, was es- teemed a breach of that one faith, and a virtual departing from the unitv of the Church.
As to the other points of obedience to the laws and in-
' Clem. Strom, lib. ii. p. 458. Edit. Oxon 'H ffui'exKca t/'/i' iKKXifviav apiTi^, Jj TTiTtc «7t. Hermes Pastor, lib. i. Vision, iii. cap. 8. Prima earum, qua; turrini, (nempc Eccksiam) continet manu, fides vocatur: per banc salvi fiiint electi Dei. &c. '^ llcgesip. ap Eusch. lib. iv. cap. xxii.
'E/xfjJterav tj^v 'ivuyaiv ti\q tKK\riaia(;tp^opii.U(iot^X6yoi<; Kara rfi Oti, &c.
* Cypr. Ep Ixxi. ad Qtiintuiu j). lOk Per omnia dtbemiis ecclesiae catho- lica; unitatfin teiiere, nee in aliquo fidei et vcritalis iiostibus cedere.
* Cypr. do Unit. Eccles. p. lit. Nee Christianas vidcri potest, qui non permanet in evanffelii ejusct fidei veritate. ^ Fcrtul. de Prescript, cap. xxxvii. Si Hajretici sunt, Christiani esse non possunt.
* Book. i. cliop. iii. sect. I.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 7
stitutlons of Chiist, vvliich were reckoned fiindamontal and essential to the being of a Cliristian, and the unity of the Churcli, they were generally summed up in those short forms of renouneinii' the devil and liis service, and his works, and covenanting- with Christ to live by the rules of his Gospel. By which they understood the renouncing all gross sins, sucli as idolatry, witchcraft, murder, injustice, intemperance, uncleanness, and whatever might be called worldly and fleshly lusts, contrary to the general tenor of the Gospel, and " the grace of God which had appeared unto all men, teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present ^vorld." They that walked after this rule, and squared their lives by these general measures and lines of duty ; " adding to their faith virtue, and to vir- tue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to tem- perance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godlmess brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity ;" these were the true Israel of God, and in the perfect unity of his Church: as long as they did these things, they could never fall: nothing could separate them from his Church, or from the love of God in Christ Jesus : " for so an entrance was ministered to them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." But if men went contrary to this rule, " Walking in the works of the flesh, and not of the Spirit, professing to know God, but in works denying him ;" though they might be corporeally and externally united to the visible body of the Church, yet in- ternally and spiritually they were divided from it. St. Austin says expressly,^ " That though men were regenerated by baptism, yet none but the good were spiritually built up into the body and members of Christ : the good only compose that Church, of which it is said, ' As the lily among thorns
' Aug. dc Unit. Eccles. cap. xxi. Nee regencrati spiritaliter in corpus et Membra Christi coicdificentur nisi boni : profecto in bonis est ilia ecclesia, cui dicitur, Sicut lilium in medio spinarum, itaproxima nieain medio filiarum. In his est enim qui adificant super Tetram, id est, qui audiunt verba Christi, et faciunt. Non est ergo in eis, qui Eedificaut super arenain, id est, qui audiunt verba Christi, ct non faciunt. &c.
8 THE ANTIQLITIKS OF THE [booK XYl.
SO is my love among- the daughters. Cant. ii. 2. That Church consists only of those, who build upon the rock, that is, who hear the words of Christ, and do them. They therefore are not of that Church, who build upon the sand, that is, who hear the words of Christ, and do them not. And as thev, who by tlic ligaments of charity are incorporated into the building- that is founded upon the rock, and into the lily that shines among- thorns, shall inherit the kingdom of God: so they, who build upon the sand, and, are numbered among- the thorns, shall as certainly not inherit the king-dom of Gcd." A little after' reciting those words of the Apostle, Gal. V. " The works of the flesh are manifest, w hich are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like ; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. " He adds, " all those are not in the lily, nor upon the rock, and heretics are in that number." Again, speaking of the grace of the spirit, which sanctifies good men, he says,* " This is wanting in all the wicked, and sons of hell, although they be baptised with the baptism of Christ, as Simon Magus was baptised." " There are many such,^ who communi- cate in the sacraments with the Church, and yet they are not now in the Church. Such are cut off, before they be visibly excommunicated : and if they be visibly excommu- nicated, and visibly restored to communion ; if they come with a feigned mind, and an heart opposing the truth and the Church, they are not reconciled, they are not inserted into the Church, although the solemnity of reconciliation be performed upon them." In another place, he says,* " The wicked multitude of the Church are not reckoned to
' Aug. Ae Unit. Eccles. cap. xxii. • Augr. ibid. cap. xxiii. Hoc deest
omnibus inalignis et gelieniiae filiis, etiamsi Clirisli baptismo baptizentur, sicut Simon fucrat baptizatus. ^ Ibid. cap. xxv. IVIulti
tales aunt in sacrameiitoiuni communions cum ecclesiTi. et tamen jam non sunt in occiesiS. &c. ^ Aug. ibid. cap. xiii. Sermo divinns
rrdarguit inipius luibas ccclesiw, q\iae ncc in fcdosiS dcputantur, &c.
CHAP. 1.] CHRISTIAN eMWKCH. 0
be in tho Clinrcli, save only «o far as tlicv have tho saino sacraments in common with the saints, because they have only a form of liudliness, but (h'uy tlie j)o\ver of it." He re- peats the same frequently in his books against Cresconius' and other places, which it is needless here to repeat at length. I only observe, that as charity was reckoned one essential part of a Christian's virtue: our Saviour having* made it tho characteristic note of his disciples : " by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one foranother :' so the Ancients laid a great stress upon this one virtue, without which they never reputed any man to be truly in the unitv of the Church, whatever claim he could otherwise lav to the communion of it.
Sect. 2. — Of the Unity of Ijove and Charity, as an essential Part of
Christian Obedience.
" I do not think any man," says St. Austin,- " so vain and foolish, as to believe such an one to appertain to the unity of the Church, who has not charity. For St. James speaking" ag-ainst those, who thought it sufficient to believe, but would not f;o good works, says, Thou believest that there is one God ; thou dost well : the devils also believe and tremble. Certainly the devils are not in the unity of the Church ; and yet we cannot say, they believe other- wise of Christ than the Church believes, seeing' they said to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. What have we to do with Thee, Thou Son of God ? and St. Paul says, Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." " They that are enemies to this brotherly charity," says St. Austin again,^" whether they
• Aug. cont. Crescon. lib. i. cap. 29. lib. ii. cap. 15,21, 33, 34. Qui cum sint a bonis vitS. moribusque spiritaliter separati, corporaliter tainen eis in ecclesifi videnlur esse premixti usque in diem judicii. ' Aug.
cont. Crescon. lib, i. cap. 29. I^on autein existimo quenquani ita desipere, ut credat ad ecclesise pertinere unitatem eum, qui non habeat charitateni, &c. ^ Aug. de Bapt. lib. iii cap. 19. TIujus
autem fraternae charitatis iniinici, sive aperte foris sint, sive intus esse vi- deantur, pseudochristiani sunt et ^ntichristi. Cum intus videnlur, ab illi invisibili charitatis compare separati sunt. &c.
10 THE AM'JQlilTlES Ot THfc; [bOOK XVI.
are openly out of the Gliurch, or seem to be within, they are false Christians and At^iiihrists. When they seem to be within, they are separated from that invisible union or bond of charity. Whence St. John says of them, They went out from us; but they were not of us. He does not say, they were made aliens by going- out, but because they were aliens before, he declares, that therefore they went out." " This charltv was necessary to incorporate men into that building,* which was founded upon the rock of obedience, without which it could not stand : to uphold the structure, charity was required as a principal part of the foundation, whereupon the whole building rested, being fitly framed together, and united by charity into one, as members of the mystical body of Christ.'
Sect. 3.— Other Sorts of Unity necessary to the Well-being of the
Church.
After this manner the Ancients commonly discoursed of these sorts of unity, which I call fundamental to the very being of a Church ; being so absolutely necessary and es- sential, as that the Church could not consist without them, they were necessary to every individual, and necessary in all cases and circumstances whatsoever : there being' no case, in which it was lawful to deny the faith ; nor any case that could dispense with a man's obligations to sobriety, godli- ness, righteousness and charity. There were other sorts of unity, necessary indeed to the well-being of the Church, but yet not so absolutely essential, but that a man in some ex- traordinary cases and circumstances might be incapacitated or hindered in the actual performance of them, v\ithout in- curring the censure of breaking the unity of the Church, or being wholly excluded out of lier communion. It is every Christian's duty to unite himself to the Church by baptism, and to receive it from the hands of a regular ministry ; it is his duty to join in communion with the Church where he
' Vid. Aug. deUnit. cap. xxi. Compagc charitptis incorporati suot jedifi- cio super pctram constituto.
CHAP. l.J CHm.STlA^ CIILUCII. 1 I
lives, uiul asseriiblo with tlicni for worship and prayers, and adniinistration of the word and sacraments, and all otiier holy offices ; it is his duty to live under the g-overnment of a regular and lawful ministry, and submit himself to all the rules of the Church in worship and discipline, that are not contrary or repugnant to the word of God: but then it may happen, that a man cannot have baptism, though he be never so desirous of it; sudden death may prevent him, whilst he is seriously preparing- for it. In this case, the Church did not deny him lier communion, thoug-h he was never formally entered into it, but accepted the will for the deed, and treated him after death as one of her sons dying* in her bosom and communion. Which was the case of many martyrs, and others dying without baptism, not out of con- tempt, but by the exigence of same unforeseen accident preventing' them. So again, it might happen, that a man in extremity, when he was desirous of baptism, could not have it but from the hands of an heretic, or a layman. In this case the Church was equally favourable to the party so baptised, because he was united in heart and will to the Church, and it was not contempt of her ministry, but necessity that drove him to receive baptism from an heretic or a layman, rather than die without it. In like manner, a man, that was very desirous to join with the Church in her public assemblies, might notwithstanding" by some g'reat exigence be debarred from this privileg-e, as by sickness, or imprisonment, or banishment: in which case he was not divided from the communion of the Church in worship or prayers ; but his spirit was still present in her religious assemblies, though necessity obliged him in body to be absent from them. Or if it were but the care of the indi- gent, that required his help, and kept him away from the solemn meeting in God's house, his reason was g"Ood, and such an act was no breach of Christian unity, because God himself allows it; nay, requires it by his own rule, " I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:" which in such cases, where men act sincerely, and trifle not with God, is always their justification both before God, and his Church. It was further required, that men should comply with all the inno-
1
12 TUK ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
cent customs, and lawfnl orders of the Church ; and especially submit to her discipline in case of any scandalous transgression or immorality : but if men by reason of sickness, or infirmitv,or old ag^e, could not observe her rules about fast- ing; or by reason of their poverty could not abstain from their ordinary laV)our to attend her festivals: these were not reckoned transgressions of her rules, or g'ood order, because they naturally admitted of such limitations and exceptions : and no man was accused as a divider of the Church's unity for going against her customs in such cases. So though it was required, that penitents under discipline should be reconciled to the Church by imposition of hands and abso- lution; yet if any real penitent, who was desirous of absolution, happened to be struck dumb, or die before he could receive it; this was reckoned no prejudice to his con- dition: in this case, his good will, and desire, and intention of being reconciled, was reputed sufficient to restore him to the peace and unity of the Church, though he wanted the formality of an external absolution.
This was the great difference between those sorts of imity, which were reckoned fundamental, and essential to the very being of a Church and those which were recpiired as necessary to the well-being of it: the former admitted of no dispensations ; but the latter did in these and the like cases. No case could dispense with a man's putting away a good conscience, or making shipwreck of faith: no necessity could be so great as to justify a man in denying an essential or fundamental truth, or in living in open and professed violation of those necessary rules and great lines of duty, which require the practice of universal holiness in a godly, righteous, sober life, as the indispensable condition of salvation : but several necessities might dispense with men in the non-observance of the things of the latter kind; and therefore it is of great use carefully to distinguish these things in speaking of the unity of the Church. As there- fore I have spoken particularly of the former, so 1 will now speak a little more distinctly of these latter, and show how far the Ancients urged the necessity of them.
CIIAJ'. I.J CHlUsTlAN ClIL'ROII. 13
Sect. i. — Among- these they reckoned, First, the ueoessary Une of one Bnptistn, ordinarily to be administered by tlie Hands of a regular IMinistry.
And here first of all they required, that men should unite themselves to the Church by baptism; and that administered but once; and this also to be administered ordinarilv by the hands of a regidar ministry, except some urg-ent necessity oblig-ed them to do otherwise. The necessity of baptism they urg-cd from the tenour of the commission given to the Apostles, " Go, baptise all nations:" and from those words of our Saviour, John iii. 5. " Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." There were many heretics, vvho contemned the use of water-baptism, as a carnal ordinance, and wholly denied the necessity of it to salvation in any case whatsoever, of whom I have g-iven a particular account in a former book.' Ag-ainst these they urg-ed the necessity of baptism in all ordinary cases, to make men members of the Church ; and strenuously maintained, that men who wilfully neglected or despised baptism, could not by anv other means be united to the Church of Christ, or have any grounds for hope of eternal life ; because they despised that ordinance of Christ, which he had made the reg-ular and ordinary way of admitting members into his Church, and refused to enter by that door, which he had appointed to be the general entrance to eternal life. This opinion of the Ancients concerning the necessity of baptism in all ordinary cases, maintained against those several heresies, the reader may find fully discoursed in a foregoing part of this work f where I observed, that though they strictly urged the necessity of baptism in order to make men mem- bers of the Church, and sons of God; expressing- them- selves severely against all that either carelessly neglected it, or profanely despised it ; yet they did not believe it to be so simply and absolutely necessary as the unity of faith and
Bookii. (a. ii. « Bookx. chap. ii. sect. 19.
14 THE AMIUriTlKS OK THli: [BOOK XVI
repentance: because they always maintained, that the bare want of baptism, where there was no contempt, mijrht be supplied by martyrdom ; where the exhibiting of faith, and the greatest testimony of obedience that could be given, was sufficient to unite them to Christ and his Church in that case, and grant them all the privileges of Christian com- munion. And the like was determined concerning the faith and repentance of such catechumens, as were piously pre- paring for baptism, but were snatched away by sudden death before they had any opportunity to receive it. Which shews, that they put a manifest difference between the unity of faith and obedience, as fundamental and essential to the very being of a Church, the want of which nothing- could supply; and the unity of baptism, which though ordinarily necessary to the well-being of the Church, yet was not so absolutely necessary and essential, but that the want of it might be supplied in some cases by faith and obedience ; and by these a martyr or a pious catechumen mio-ht be presumed to die in the unity of the Church with- out baptism, when they had no opportunity to receive it.
The form of baptism itself indeed, whenever it was ad- ministered, was a little more necessary, because that implied a profession of faith in the Holy Trinity, and uni- versal obedience to the laws of Christ ; and therefore bap- tism administered in any other form was reputed null and void even in the Church itself, and was of necessity to be repeated ; but then this necessity did not rise from the bare necessity of baptism, which might, as we have heard, be dispensed with in some cases, but from the necessity of faith and obedience, presupposed as antecedent qualifications, essential to the very being of a Church, and the character of a Christian in the largest denomination. So that what made this so absolutely necessary, was not the absolute necessity of baptism itself, which might be dispensed with in some extraordinary cases, where those qualifications were really in the hearts of men before baptism: but it was the want of those qualifications, "or at least the want of professing them in due form, that made the baptism void ; because there was a strong presumption, that they had not
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 15
those qualifications that were essential to the very bcing^ of a Christian, since no profession was made of them in their baptism. For which reason, whether it was given in the Church, or out of the Clinrch, it was always to be repeated, as a tiling null and void, for want of those quaUfications of faitli and obedience, which were so indispensably required to make a man a Christian.
It was necessary also to the unity of the Church in its well-being', that baptism should ordinarily be administered only by the hands of a regular ministry : and therefore for either laymen without a commission in the Church to usurp this authority, or for heretics and schismatics without the Church to assume this power, was always esteemed a great breach of the Church's unity. And though the Church did not always annul such baptisms, if given in due form of words ; yet she always condemned the thing as an usurpa- tion, and an act of criminal schism, and manifest prevari- cation both in the giver and voluntary receiver. Insomuch that one of the ancient Councils orders,^ " that if any Catholic offered his children to be baptised by heretics, his oblation should not be received in the Church." This was in effect to punish him with excommunication, as an en- courager of heretics, and a divider of the unity of the Church. And St. Jerom says,^ to the same purpose, " if a man, who is orthodox in his own faith, is wittingly and willingly baptised by heretics, he deserves no pardon for his crime.'' But then it might happen, that a man in ex- tremity might be so distressed as to have none but an here- tic to baptise him ; in which case to receive baptism from the hands of an heretic or schismatic, was reckoned no breach of Catholic unity, because the man in heart and mind was still united to the Catholic Church. This is St. Austin's^ resolution of the case. " If a man," says he.
' Con. llerdense. can. xiii. Catholicus, qui filios suos in hseresi bap- tizandos obtulerit, oblatio illius in ecclesiS nuUatenus recipiatur. - llieron. Dial, cum Lucifer, cap. v. Si jam ipse bene credebat, et sciens ab haereticis baptizatus est, erroris veniam non meretur.
' Aug. de Bapt. lib. i. cap. ii. Si quem forte coegerit extrema necessi- tas, ubi catholicum per quem accipiat non inveuerit, et in anirao pace
16 THK A\Tiyurrih:s ok thu /^book xvi.
•' is compelled by oxtierno necessity, \vhere lie cannot have a Catholic to give him baptism, to take it at the hands of one who is not in Catholic unity ; in that case we reckon him no other than a Catholic still, though he died immediately, because he was in heart and mind a Catholic, and would have been baptised in Catholic unity, if there had been any opportunity to have done it. If such an one survives, and corporally joins himself to the Catholic congregation, from whicli in heart he never departed, we not only not disallow ■what he has done, but securely and truly commend him for it: because he believed God to be present in his heart, where he preserved unity, and would not depart out of this life without the sacrament of baptism, which he knew to be God's, and not men's, wheresoever he found it. But if any one, when he might receive it in the Catholic Church, by some perverseness of mind, chuses rather to be baptised in schism, though he after\\ard design to return to the Church, because he is certain the sacrament will profit him in the Church, but not elsewhere, though he may receive it elsewhere: this is a perverse and wicked man, and so much the more perniciously such, by how much the more know- ing he is." In another place he proposes the same question, whether a Catholic without breach of unity might receive baptism from a schismatic ? and he answers it after the same manner,^ " that he may safely receive it of a separatist, if he himself be no separatist, when he receives it ; for so it often happens to men, who have a Catholic mind, and an heart no ways alienated from the unity of peace, that in extreme necessity and danger of imminent death they light upon some heretic, and receive the baptism of Christ at his hands, but not with the perverseness, or
catholics custoditfi, per aliquem extra catholicara unitatem acceperit, quod erat in ipsfi catholicS unitate accepturus, si statim etlain de h&c vitfi mi- graveril, non eum nisi catholicum deputanius, &c.
'Aug. de Bapt. lib. vi. cap. o. Potest salubriter accipere a separato, si ipse non separatus accipiat: sicut plcrisque accidit, ut catholico animo et corde ab unitate pacis non alienato, aliquS necessitate mortis urgeutis ia aliquem haereticum irruerent, et ab eo Cbristi baptismum sine illius perversi- tate acciperent, &c.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHUKCH. 17
heretical piavity of the udiniiiistrator. For whether they die or live, they do not remain among- heretics, to whom in heart they never went over." 80 agfiin, disting-ulsliing- baptised [)ersons inlo three sorts ; first, sucli as are baptised in the house of God, and are truly and spiritually of the house of God ; secondly, such as are baptised in the house of God, but are spiritually by wicked works separated {"roin it; thirdly, such as are baptised in heresy or schism, who are corporally separated from the house of God, and worse than those who live carnally within it, and are only spiritu- ally divided from it; he adds concerning this last sort,^ who are rather to be said to be of the house of God, than in it, being- further separated by corporal division, than those who are only spiritually divided from it, that they neither have baptism to any profit themselves, neither is it received witli any profit from them, except where the necessity of receiving it forces a man to receive it from them, and the mind of the receiver does no ways recede from the bond of unity. By which is intimated that to receive baptism in case of necessity from the hands of an heretic or schismatic, does not involve a man in the g'uilt of schism, so long- as it is a case of extreme necessity, and the man in heart and mind is all the time in the unity of tlic Catholic Church.
The case was the same with those that were baptised by laymen. The rules of the Church required, that none should baptise in ordinary cases, but the regular and lawful ministers of the Church ; and to do otherwise, was always a note of criminal schism : but in case of extremity, she granted a general commission even to laymen to baptise, rather than any person in such an exigence should die without baptism; and in such a case, to receive baptism from a layman, was neither usurpation nor schism in the giver or receiver, because they had the Church's authority for the action. I produce no proofs or evidence for this
' Aug. (le Bajit. lib. \ii. cap. 52. Qui aiitem separallores ncj masis la doino quani ex domo sunt, neque oninino utiliter habfiit, nequc ab ois utiliter accipitur, nisi forte accipieiidi necessitas urgeat, et accipientis animus ub unitatis vinculo non reccdat.
VOL. VI.
18 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
hoio, because I have done it fully in a separate discourse before, treating- liistorically of the practice of the Church in reference to her a. lowance of baptism administered by laymen, in cases extraordinary, when men were in apparent dang-er of death, and could not have a minister to baptise them.
In all these cases, we sec, notlung- but extreme necessity could excuse men from criminal schism, in dividing- them- selves from the Church, either by the neglect of baptism, or seeking- to heretics, or schismatics, or laymen for the administration of it. And the like is to be said of any man's suffering himself to be rebaptised, after he had once received a true baptism, whether in the Church or out of it. For the unity of baptism was such, that it was never to be repeated. The greatest apostates were never rebaptised by the Catholic Church upon their admission ao-ain, but taken in by imposition of hands and absolution upon their repentance. Neither did the Church ever re- baptise those that were baptised in heresy or schism, except when some doubt was made, whether the baptism was de- fective in some essential part of it. And therefore because many heretics were inclined to rebaptise the Catholics, very severe laws were made both in Church and State, to repress this insolence : of which I h.ave given a particular account in handling- the subject of baptism heretofore,* and need only now observe, that this practice of rebaptising- was always esteemed a schismatical act, and a notorious breach of Ca- tholic unity, which never allowed of more tlian one baptism, according to that rule of the Apostle, " One Lord, one faith, one baptism,'' in the Church, as many of the Ancients expound it; or at least, because by the divine will it was so appointed.
Sect. 6.— 2fily, The Unity of Worship in joiiuiifir with tlie Church in Prayers, Adniliiistrulioii of tlu- Word, and SacraituMits.
Another sort of unity, requisite to the well-being of the Church, was the unity of worship, whereby all Chris-
- ■ - ■-■■■■ ■ - ~ '^ ■ ■ ■ ■ — — — -"^ —
' Honk xii. chap. v. sect. 7.
CHAP. I.] CnUISTIAN CHUKCH. l!)
tians were obliged to join uilli (heir vespt;eti\ o Churches in the poifornuuu'e ot" all lio!y olliccs in public ; .such as conimon-pinyor, and the administration of the word and sa- cranieiitis. Wliich did not roquire, that ali Churches sliouhl exactly a c;ree in the same form td' words, which were not essential to these thing's : for^ as we shall presently see, every Church was at liberty to make choice for herself, in what method and fuim of words she should perform these things: and ii was no breach of unity for different Churches to have ditrerent modes, and circumstances, and ceremonies, in performing- die same holy offices, so long as they kept to the substance of the institution: but that, which was re- quired to keep the unity of the Church in tliese matters, was, that every particular member of any Church should com- ply with the particular custom and usages of his own Church, (nothing being inserted into her oflices that was un- lawful,) and meet for religious worship, and hold constant communion with her in the performance of all divine service. And to do otherwise, either by negdecting- wholly the service of relig-ious assemblies, or setting- up op[>osite communions, or raising- unnecessary disputes about the lawful usages and innocent practices of the Church, whereof a man was a member, was always esteemed an act of criminal schism, as giving scandal and offence to the Church and his bre- thren, There are several canons in the Council of Ganij-ra, made against the separatists called Eustathians, directly to this purpose. The fourth canon runs thus: " If any one separate from a married presbyter, upon pretence that it is unlawful to partake of the oblation, when he performs the Liturgy, or celebrates the office of communion, let him" be anathema, that is, excommunicate, or cut off from the Church." The fifth canon is to the same effect: '• If any one teach, that the house of God, and the assemblies held therein, are to be despised, let him be anathema." The sixth forbids all private and irregular assemblies : "If any hold other assemblies privately out of the Church, and contemning the Church will have ecclesiastical offices performed without a presbyter licensed by the bishop, let him be ana- thema." The eleventh censures those in like manner, who despised the feasts of charity, made in honour of the Lord,
c 2
20 TlIK ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK XV[.
refusing- to partake of them. The eig'hteenth censures such as fasted on the LortPs day, under pretence of leading- an ascetic Hfe ; this being" a thing" contrary to the g'cneral rule and custom of tlie Churcli. The nineteenth, on the other liand, censures such ascetics, as ^^ithout tlie excuse of bodily infirmity, cut of mere pride, contemptuously broke the common fasts handed down by tradition to be observed in the Church. And the twentieth canon anathematises those, who, from an insolent disposition, contemned the assemblies that Avere wont to be held in the churches of the martyrs, and the service performed there, and the com- memorations of them. Among" the Apostolical Canons tliere is one to the same purpose, which orders,' '• that if any presbyter, despising" his bisliop, gather a separate con- g"reg'ation, and erect another altar, liaving" notliing* to ob- ject against his bishop in j)oint of godliness or righteousness, ho should bo deposed as a lover of pre-eminence, and ar- bitary power or tyranny in the Church. And if any of the clerg-y conspired with him, they were likewise to be deposed, and laymen to be suspended from the commainion, after a third admonition given them from the bisliop." These w ere some of the ancient rules relating" to separatists, dividing- wholly from the Church, and refusing" contemptuously to com- municate with her in divine service. And for such as frequen- ted some part of the service, but fell off from the rest, she set an equal mark of reproach upon them, as disobedient children also. One of the Apostolical Canons orders all communicants,- who came to Church to hear the Scriptures read, but did not stay to join in prayers and roceivin<i" the eucharist, to he suspended, as authors of confusion and disorder in the Church. And the Council of Antioch' repeats, and reinforces this canon. The Council of Eliberis* forbids the bishop to receive the oblations of such as did not communicate : which was in effect to cut them off from communion v\ith the Church, for the neglect of that principal part of divine service. The same Council in ano-
' Canon. Apo.st. xxxi. ' Canon. Apost. vii.
■• ("on. Antioch. can. ii. * Con. Klibcr. can. xxviii. Vid.
Clin. Tolct. i. can. 13.
ClIAl'. l.J cmusTiA.N OIIUUCII. 2l
thof caijon orders,' " that it" any one, being at lionie in liis own city, did fur tlirec Lord's days togctlier absent hin)seir IVotn church, he should be suspended tVotn the communion for an equal term, that he rnigh.t be made sensible of l)is crime by the Churcli's censure. ' Tlie Council of Sardica, not long" after, made a decree to the same purpose, referring- to some former canon that had been made upon this matter, which, though some learned men are at a loss to know what canon it was, seems plainly to be this canon of the Council of Eliberis. I'^or Hosius, bishop of Corduba, was present at both these councils, and presided in that of fSardica, which makes it probable, that he referred to the canon of Eliberis, when he proposed it to the Fathers at Sardica for their consent and approbation. For the Council of Sardica^ repeats a canon made in some former Council, .mporting-, that a layman absenting from church for three Lord's days together, without just cause or impediment, was to be excommunicated for his transgression. And the same is repeated in the Council of Trullo.^ So careful was the Church to preserve her members in the unity of di- vine worship, and discountenance all separatists whether partial or total, that an occasional communicant was liable to censure as well as any other.
But then there were some necessary reasons, that might justly excuse a man from this duty of constant communion with his own Church. As if a man was in a journey, the very nature of the thing was his excuse : for he could not communicate with his own Church in such a necessity, and therefore the Council of TruUo delivers the rule with that limitation. If a man was sick t;nd infirm, his intirmity was such an impediment, as all laws both human and divine would allow of as a reasonable cause of absentina'. And the same reason would excuse his non-observance of the severe fasts of the Church, which were imposed upon none but those that were able to bear them, as appears from the
■' Con. EUber. can. xxi. Si quis in civitate positus, tics tloniinicas ec- clesiiun non acccssejit, tanto tempore abstinoat, ul forrcptus esse vidc- iili'»". - Con. Saidif. can, .\i.
* Cou. Trull, can. l.v.^x.
22 THE ANTIQUITIF.S OF TMK [BOOK XVI
forecited canon of ibc Council of Gangva.' The stationary days of fastino- and prayer were chiefly designed for the exercise of rehgious ascetics, those who liad both strength and leisure lo attend them : and therefore an infirm man, or a j)oor nian, who was to live hy his bodily labour, was under no obligation to spend so much time in those ordinary returns of fasting" and prayer. If lie connmunicated with the Ciiurcli religiously on the l^ord's days, his omissions of tlie rest were not imputed to him as breaking- communion with the Church. If men were in prison or in banishment, tl»e necessity of their confinement was their natural excuse. For how should llu'v join bodily in communion with the Church, who had not the liberty of their own bodies, ^vhilst they were entirely at the mercy and dispo.sal of others? It was sufficient for them in such a case to join in spirit, when they could not in bodily presence ; and to say ^vilh David, " As tlie hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living- God: When sljal! 1 come and appear before God r' psal. xlii. 1. And, " Woe is me, that I am constrained to dwell with IMesech, and to have mv habita- tion among- the tents of Kcdar."' psal. cxx. 4. '' O God, my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth after Thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary," psal. Ixiii. 1. It was their n.isfortune, and not their crime in that case to be absent from the house of God: mean while the whole woi Id was to them the temple of God: " For the earth is the LorTs and the fullness thereof:"' their pri- son was tlieir oratory, and the wilderness a sanctuary • their own hearts a sacrifice, and their own bodies an altar. When Luciau the martyr made use of his own breast in chains instead of a communion-table to ofler the eucharist on, his sacr.lice was as acceptable to God, as if it had been in the midst of the Churcli upon an altar. For as St. Basil words it,* in sucli a case it is not the place, but the
' Con. (ianirrtn. can. xix. '^ Btisil Exliorl. ad lJu]it. et
nlii ap. l)iir:iiit. (!<■ Ililibiis, lils. i. rap. -J.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN ClJt'KCM. 23
mind and airectlun of the snppplicant, thai Goil regmd.s. Moses was he;iid in the Ijuttoin of ihe sen, Job upon ;i dun<;hill, I'^zokias in his bed, Jeremy in thedun<^eon, Jonas hi the whale's belly, Daniel in the lion's den, the three chil- dren in the burning* fiery furnace, the penitent thief upon the cross, and Peter and Paul in prison. " Every {)lace,'' says Dionysius of Alexandria,' '• is instead of a temple m time of persecution, whether it be a field, or a wilderness, or a ship, or an inn, or a prison." There is a great diffe- rence to be made between necessity and contempt. If a man voluntarily absents himself from the assemblies of the Church, when lie may enjoy them, he is a divider of her unity, by contemning her service ; but if necessity obli- ges him to be absent, when he is desirous to be present, he is spiritually present with her even whilst he is absent in body: which is as nmch preserving her unity, as his case will allow, or the Church can require: seeing- this soit of unity is not simply essential to the being of a Church in all states, but only necessary to her well-being- in peaceable times and ordinary cases, i^nd happy would it be for the Church, if men w ould never deny themselves the benefit of her communion in religious assemblies, but upon such rea- sons of necessity, which carry their own apology at first sight in their very natnre : if they were merely passive, and not active, in their separation, such a separation would not involve them in the guilt of schism, being* so rationally to be accounted for both before God and his Church. The primitive Church was exceedingly happy in these two things, which relate to this sort of unity in communion, the want of which is so much to be lamented both in its causes and effects in this uidiappy divided state of the Church in later affes: First. That no Church then ever assumed to herself an authority of imposing upon her members any thmgs un- lawful, or contrary to the word of God, either in faith or practice, as necessary terms of communion, they required no belief of any articles of faith, as necessary to salvation, but such as were contained in their common creeds, and
\i>. lou.^tl). lib. >ii. i-.ip- ■"•
24 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
founded upon the infallible authority of Scripture. They inserted nothing into their public forms of worship, repug- nant to the word of God, or intrencliing upon any divine rule g'ivenin Scripture about the object or m.itter or manner of adoration, as any one may perceive, by considering the account lliat has been given of their public worship and "Liturgy in the three last books, where we examined every particular office of it. Things being thus secured for tlie substance of tlieir worship, all Christian people in the next place thought it tlieir duty to submit to the wisdom and pruderx-e of their governors in establishing tl.ings external and circumstantial, relating to expedience, edilication, and g'ocd order. And this was the second tlung to be admired in the economy of the ancient Church, that the people never had any dispute with their superiors about matters of this kindj but left all indilFerent tilings, and things of expediency, decency, circumstance, and form, to the judg- ment and choice of their g'overnors, or persons invested with authority to delermine such matters ; readily comply- ing- with the innocent customs of the Church, and all the rules of public order, and never dividing into sects and par- ties upon the account of rites and ceremonies, though diffe- rently practiced in different Churches. This was according* to the wise and peaceable rule laid down by St. Austin in his advice to C: sulanus : " in tliose things,""' says he, " concern- ing wliich tlie holy Scripture has given no positive direction, the custom of the people of God, or the rules of onr an- cestors or superiors are to be taken for a law.*' He instances in the custom of the Church, never to fast on the Lord's day, which was become so much a rule, that whoever should pretend to introduce the contrary custom, to make it a fast, should be thouglit (o give great scandal to the Church, r.nd • that not witliout good reason. Nay, he says, it would be to
" AuEf. I'^p. Ixxxvi. ad Casulan. In his cnim rebu^, de quibiis niliil ccrli statuit Scriptiira divina, mos populi Dei, vol instittila niajonini pro lege
lenenda sunt. Quistjuis hiinc diem jejimio decernendiini potaveiit, non
parvo seandalo erit ecclesiiK, nee innnerito. Qnis non Deiini ofi'endet, si
velit cum scan-liilo toliiis. (|ii;p ubique dilatala est, ceclesiic, die doniinico .ie.junare ?
CilAl'. I.] CllUlsTIAN CllDKCII. 2.')
oHond God, so to scandalize tho universal Chuicli hy holding- a fast on tlu^ Lord's day; especially since it was l)ecoino the practice^ of tho impious Manichees so to fast in opposition to the Church. The Saturday fast was not a custom of so g-eneral observation : for some Churches kept it a fast, and some a festival : but his advice as to this is much of tlie same nature, that a man should observe the custom of every Church,* where he happened to be, if he was minded neither to give offence to them, nor take offence from them; and tliis advice, he says, he had in his younger days from the nu)uth of St. Ambrose. But because in such a matter as this is, it mig-ht happen, that not only diffe- rent Churches might practice differently, but also the members of the same Chinch might differ in their practice one from another without breach of communion, as it w^as in some of the African Churches, where in one and the same Church some chose to fast, others to dine upon the sabbath, his advice to Casnlanus as a presbyter was,^ " to follow the custom of those, who hud the care and govern- ment of the Churches committed to them:" " Resist not your bishop in such a matter as this, but follow what he does without any scruple or disputation."
Sect. G.— 3dly, The Unity of Siilijection of Presbyters and People to their Bishop, and Obedience to all public Orders of tlie Church in Matters of an indifferent Nature.
And this leads us to consider another sort of unity, very necessary for the well-being- of the Church: which was, that the clerg-} and people should be united under one single bishop in every Church, paying- a due respect to his autho- rity, and not dividing from him, either by setting up anti- bishops ag-ainst him, ot withdrawing- from his communion
' Aug. ibid. Ad quaincunqne ecclesiam veneritis, ejus niorem servate si pati seandalum non vultis, ant facere. '- Ibid. Sed quo-
niinnconlingit maxiiae in Africfi ut unaecclesia, vel unius regiouis ecclesire, alios habeant sabbato prandentes, alios jejunantes, mos eoruni mihi sequen-
dus videtur, quibus corum popidorum cong-regatio regenda commissa est •
Kpiscopo tuo inhac re noli rcsislere, et quod facit ipse, sine uilo scrupulo Tel disceptatione sectare.
2t» TllK ANTIQVITIKS OF TMP: [hoOK XVI.
or government, or despi'^ing- the public orders of his Church, whicli were made for expedience and edilictition in niiitters of an indifferent nature. Cyprian lias abundance relating to this sort of unity, considering- l)oth the state of his own and other Churches. " The Cliurch," lie says,' " is a people united to their bishop, aud a (lock adliering' to their pastor." Whence lie infers, that the bishop is in the Clmrcli, and the Church in the bishop ; and that whoever are not with the bishop, arc not in the Church : that is, none wlio voluntarily withdraw from his communion, and setup others in opposition to it. To the same »)ur[)ose he says ag-ain,^ *' That the ordination of bishops, and tlie constitution of the Church came down by succession from the Apostles, so as that the Church stood upon its bishops, and every act of the Church was reg-ulated by their direction, as tiie chief g-overnors of it." And therefore when some lapsers wrote to him, giving- themselves the name of thcCliurch, he gave them a very sharp answer, telling- them, " He could not but wonder at their temerity and boldnes, that they should style themselves the Church, wlion it was so plain by the divine law, that a Church consisted of a bishop and clerg-y tog'etlier with a people standing- firm withot la|)sing' in time of persecution ; wliereas no number of lapsers could be called a Church, since God was not the God of tlie dead, but of the living'." In another place he severely rebukes the presumption of those presbyters, who took upon them- selves by their own authoritv to reconcile lajisers without consulting- him, who was the chief manag-er and director of the dis^cipline of the Church. This, he tells them,^
' Cypr. Ep. Ixix. al. Iwi. ail Florcnlium. p. 16S. Ecelesia sunt plfbs sacerdoli aduanta, ct pastoii suo grex adlia;rcns. Unde sciit; dibis c{iisco- pum in ecclesift esse, et ccclesiain in cpiscopo; et si qui cum t-piscopo uon sint, in ccclcsia non esse. ^ t^yi"*. Ep. xxvii. al. xxxiii. ad
Lapses, p. 6(). Inde per temporum et successioniira vices, episcopDiuiu or- dinatio el ecclesiiK ratio decurrit, ut ecclcsia super episcopos conslituatur, et omnis actus ecclesim per eosdein prffiposito.s grubernelur. Ciiui hoc itaque divinS lege rundatuin sit, niiror ((uosdam audacl tenieritate sie milii scribere voluis.se, ul ecilesia? nomine literas I'accrent ; qnanJo ecelesia in episcopo et elero et in omnibus stantibus sit conslilula, &c. ^ Cypr. Ep. \. al. >;\i. ;i(l Clcruni. p. \\\vi. .Miipii deprcsbv teris, m..- evan-
ciiAi*. 1.1 muisTiAN ciirucn. 27
" uas to f'oi<»'ot bolli tlio lulcjs of (ho Gospol, and their <j\vn station ; iioitlier t!unkiii<^- of (ho future judgment of the Lord, nor the bishop that was now set over them, hut assu- inino- to tliernselvos the vvhoh^ power of discipline, both to the dishonour and contempt of their liishop, and to the detriment ol'their brethren's salvation." It was an ancient rule in tl'.e Cinnch, that presbyters shonld do no ministerial act but by the authority of their bishop, and in dependence upon and subordination to him. 'I'his T have had occasion to shew at larg'e in a former book, out of Ig-natius, Cyprian, and the ancient Councils,* which need not here be repeated. J herefore it was always reputed a tendency to^vard schism, for presbyters to do any such act in contempt of their bishop, though they made no formal separation from him. But the most flagrant act of schism was, when in despite of his au- thority, their factious humour and pride pushed them on to divide from his communion, and set U[) separate assemblies ill opposition to him. " This," says St. Cyprian, " is the first beginning- of heretics, the first rise and attempt of schismatics, men of evil dispositions, to please themselves, and with a swelling- pride contemn the bishop that is set over them. The effect of which is presently to forsake the Church, and set np another profane altar without, and to rebel against the peace of Christ, and the ordination and unity of God.''^ " Most heresies and schisms take their birth," (i^ays ho again) " from this original,^ that men refuse to submit to the bishop appointed by God, aud con- sider not that there ought to be but one bishop at once in a Church, and but one judge in the room of Christ."
flii. nee loci sui memores, sed neque rutuiuiu Doniini judicium, ncqt e
nunc sibi pra?pnsituni opiscopurn cogilantes cum contumeliri et contemptu
prtepositi totuin sibi vciulicant, &c.
' Book ii. chap. ill. sect. 2. &c. - Cypr. Ep. Ixv.
al. iii. ad Rogalian. p. 6. Ilaac sunt eiiim iniiia liaercticoruiii, et ortus atqne conalus schisiuaticonun male coijitantium, ut si'oi phiceatit, et piiEpositum superbo tumore contemnant. Sic de ecclesiS, iccoditur, sic altare proCanum foris collocatur, sic contra pacem Christi et ordinationem atque uiiilalem Dei rebellatur. ^ Ep. Iv. al. Ixix ad Cornel, p. 1-29. Neque
enim aliunde hairesps obortie sunt, aut nata sunt scandala, quam inde quod sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur, nee unus in ecclesiS adtempus sacerd<is, et ad tenipu.s judex vice ("Ini^ti ios;itatur.
28 THE ANTIQUITIES OK THE [BODK \VI.
This he speaks particuhirly against those, who thought to jus- tify their scliisrn by setting- up an anti-bishop in opp,)sition to the true one : which did not diminish the schism, but heighten Tind aujinient it, and conimonlv render it more inveterate and lasting-. As it was in the case of tlie Meletians in Egypt, and the Donatists in Africa, and the Novatians at Rcme, who all carried on their schisms more powerfully by the help of anti-bishops to strengthen their party, and uphold their faction. But this was no just pretence for schism; but a manifest violation of the standing- rule of the Catholic Church, which was, to have but one bishop in a Church as the centre of unity : and to set up another in opposition to him, was not to make another true bishop or pastor of the flock, to whom the people were obliged to join themselves as the minister of God ; but to introduce a wolf, an adulte- rer, a sacrilegicus usurper, a stranger and an alien, from whom they were obliged to fly, as from one who had no title to their obedience by any divine appointment or allowed rule of ordination. I have more than once fully demonstra- ted this* out of the writings of Cyprian-, and others of the Ancients, to which it is here sufficient to refer the reader. I only note one thing- out of Cyprian, which he applies par- ticularly to the case of theNovatian schism, that to set up such an anti-bishop to head a faction,^ was to act against the settlement of the Church, the laws of the Gosi)el, and the unity of the catholic institution : it was to make another Church, to tear the members of Christ, and disjoint that one body and soul of the Lord's flock by a dividing- emula- tion. And therefore he tells Maximus, and Nicostratus, and other confessors, \vho were concerned in upholding- and abettinof the Novatian schism, " that they were not asserting- the gospel of Christ, whilst they divided themselves from the flock of Christ, and were not in peace and concord
' Book ii. chap. xiii. sect. 1. See also Scholast. Hist, of Lay-Raptism, part ii. chap. 2. * tlypr. Ep. xliv.al. xlvi. ail Maxim, et Ni-
coslrat. Confi'ssorcs. Gravat mc cum vos illic compii issciu coutia »^c-
clcsiasticani dispositioiuMii, contra evangclicam h'gtiii, cimira iiislitutionis calholicffi uuitatem, alium cpiscopum lieri consensissc, id est, quodncc fas est Mcc lict'l fieri, tcclcsiuin aliani consliliti; Cluisli imnibra disccrpi, dciiiinici ^rc^'is aniiiiitin ct ciirjuis luuiiii (.liacisjii'i icimilatioiic lutcrari. «S;c.
rilAI». I.] CHRISTIAN CHUROH. 29
with his Cluiich." It is usual with liiin upon tliis acctmul to say ,^ '• He has not God for his i'litlier, vvlio has not the Church for his mother. Whoever is separatc^cl from the Church, to be joined to an adultrcss, is separated from tha promises of the Church : ho cannot come to the rewards of Christ, who leaves the Church of Christ: he is an aUen, lie is prolane, he is an enemy : and that martyrdom itself, which was accounted in many cases equivalent to baptism, would not expiate this crime, unless the offended party returned to the unity of the Church. For what peace," says he,- '' can they promise themselves, who die in enmi- ty with their brethren '? What sort of sacrifices do they think they olFer, who rival tlic priests with emulation? Do they imagine Christ is with them, when they are assembled, who assemble out of the Church of Christ? Such men though they be slain for the confession of his name, do not wash away the stain with their blood. The inexpiable and grievous crime of dissension is not purged away by their passion : he cannot be a martyr, that is not in the Church : he cannot attain to the kingdom, who deserts the Church, ^vllich is to have the king-dom. Christ commended peace to us : he commanded us to be unanimous and united toire- ther in concord; he enjoined us to keep the bonds of love and charity firm and inviolable. He cannot make himself a martyr, that retains not brotherly charity. St. Paul teaches us this, and testifies saying-, 'Though 1 have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing-. And though I bestow all my g'oods to feed the poor, and though I g-ive my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing*. Charity suffereth lono- and is kind; charity envieth not; doth not behave itself unseemly, is not puffed up, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, loveth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth :' it will
' Cypr. de Unit. Eccles. p. 109. Habere jam non potest Deuiu Palrem, quiecclesiam non habel niatrem, &c. « Ibid. p. 113. Vid.
Cypr. Ep. Iv. ad Anfoiiian. p. 108. et 1 l-t. Ep. Ivii. ad Cornel, p. 1 IS. Ep. Ix. ad Cornel.
so THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
always be in possession of tlie king'dom ; it will endure for ever in the unity of that fraternity, which adheres together. But discord cannot attain to the king-dom of heaven, nor come to the reward of Christ, who said, ' this is my com- mandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.' He cannot appertain to Christ, who violates the love of Christ V)y perfidious dissension. He that hath not love, hath not God. It is the voice of the blessed Apostle St. John:* 'God is love, and he that dvvelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.' They cannot dwell with God, who would not abide unanimously in the Church of God: though they burn in the flames, though they be cast into the fire, or thrown to wild-beasts, and so lay down their lives ; that will not be the crown of their faith, but the punishment of their perfidiousness ;not the glorious exit of a religious virtue, but a death of desperation. Such an one may be slain, but he cannot be clowned — Occidi talis potest, coronari non potest^ Cyprian often repeats this assertion in other places of his writings, (which for brevity's sake I omit,) and particularly applies it to the schism of the Novatians, who broke the unity of the Church by setting- up Novatian their leader, as anti-bishop against Cornelius, the lawful bishop of Rome ; whom being once regularly chosen and invested in his office, no other could intrude himself into the same place without dividing the unity of the Church. Which was not the singular opinion of St. Cyprian, but the voice of the whole Catholic Church, as I have had occasion to demonstrate more fully in another discourse,* to which T refer the reader for greater satisfaction. Neither was it any private opinion of Cyprian, that a schismatic, continuing a schismatic without repentance, could not be a martyr; but herein he is followed by the greatest lights of the Church, St. Chrysostom,'^ St. Austin,^ Fulgentius,* and others, who cite this saying of his with approbation, which shews,
' Scholast. Hist, of Lay-Baptism, part ii. chap. ii. sect. 4. • Chrys. Tloni. xi. in Kphcs. ^ Aupr. Ep. 61. t-t 204.. It. de
Rapt. lib. iv. cap. 17. Cont. Litems Petiliani. lib. ii. chap. 23. De Gestis cum emeiito. p. 240. * Fulgent, de Fide ad Petium.
chap. iii. and xxxix.
CHAF. I. J CHRISTIAN CnUROII. .31
nliat \veii;ht they laiil upon tl\is sort of unity of sulimission and obedience to every lawful bishop in the regular manage- ment of the afiairs of his own Chruch.
But we must note, that this obedience was only due to bishops, when thoy could make out a just title to it by the standino- lulos of the Catholic Church. For first, if any tnan came into his oftice by a simoniacal ordination, his ordination by the canons was declared null and void:' and then no obedience was due to him, nor any communion to be held with him, as a bishop of the Church. Secondly, if a man intruded himself into a full see, where another bishop was reg'ularly ordained before h.im ; it was so far from being a duty to pay obedience to him, that it was the very crime of schism, we have now been speaking- of in the Novatians of old, to separate from the true bishop by joining with an invader, set up against him. Thirdly, if a bishop fell into manifest heresy or idolatry, the people were not only at liberty, but oblig'ed in point of duty, to separate from his communion as an intolerable pvevaricator and transgressor. Thus Cyprian^ tells the people of Leon and Astorga, in Spain, with relation to Martialis and Bisdides, two bishops who fell into idolatry, that it was their duty, in obedience to the divine commands, to separate themselves from such apostatising- bishops, and not join in their sacrilegious sacri- fices ; forasmuch as it was chiefly in their power either to chuse worthy bishops, or refuse the unworthy. And the same obligation lay upon them to separate from the com- munion of an h.eretical bishop, as is evident from the whole practice of the Church. Fourthly, if any bishops were legally deposed for any other misdemeanors, it was equally the people's duty to give vigour and effect to the censures of the Church by deserting- their communion, and adhering to such as were by just authority substituted in their room.
' Vid. Can. Apost. xxix. et Con. Caked, can. ii. ' Cypr. Ep. Ixviii. al. Ixvii. p. 171. Plebs obsequons piaeccptis Doraini- cis, et Deum inetueiis, a pcccatoro prieposito separare sc debet, nee se ad sacrilegi sacerdolis sacrificia miscere ; quando ipsa maxima habeat potesta- tem vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes, vel indignos recusandr.
23 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
Fifthly, it sometimes happened that tlie dispute of right be- tween two contending- bishops was so nice, and doubtful, and hard to be determined, that good and wise men might join with either, till the matter of dispute was fully ended by a competent authority, from which there lay no further appeal. This was like the case oi a lite pendente, where each party might be presumed to have a rig'ht, till the cause was fully heard and adjusted: and in such a case it would be hard to condemn innocent men, who joined with either side, till some better light and direction could be afforded them, which might give a final determination of the question in debate, and settle more perfectly the rule of communion. This was the case between Flavian and Evag-rius, bishops of Antioch: Flavian was g-enerally received in the Eastern Churches, but Evagrius had the countenance of the bishops of Rome, and the Western Churches ; and during- this con- tention, it was no g-reat crime in men of honest minds to join with either party, since the matter was so hard to be determined by the greatest authority in the Church, Sixth- ly, sometimes a bisho{), who might be presumed to have a right in a Church, was willing to resign to his opposite, to prevent a schism, and preserve the peace of the Church : and in that case there could be no harm in submitting- to the opposite, because it was done by consent and cession of the true bishop, and was confirmed by the approbation of the Church. Seventhly, sometimes a bishop was willing- to resign for the sake of peace, but a superior power would not permit him so to do : thus Flavian in the forementioned dispute with Evagrius, being summoned by the Emperor Theodosius to have his cause heard and decided at Rome, generously told the Emperor, " that if his faith was ac- cused as erroneous, or his life as immoral and unqualifying him for a bishopric, he would freely let his accusers be his judges, and stand to their determination, whatever it were: but if the dispute be only about the throne and govern- ment of the Church," said he, " I shall not stay for judg- ment, nor contend with any that has a mind to that, but freely recede, and abdicate the throne of my own accord : and you, great sir, may commit the see of Antioch to whom
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 33
you ploaso.'' The historian say'^,' the Emperor was so miicli ad'eetod with this g^enerous answer, that, instead of sendin<;- him to Rome for judjL>inent, he sent him back to take eare of his Church, ami would never after hearken to any solicitations that were made to expel him. Now in this ease it were unreasonable to think, tliat the people, which followed Flavian, amoni>* whom \\'as St. Chrysostom, were in any fault, though the judgment of the Western bishops was ag-ainst him. Lastly, sometimes two bishops were al- lowed to sit jointly in the same see, as some suppose Peter and Paul to have been at Rome, the one tlie V)ishop of the Jews, and the other of the Gentiles ; or when one was to be coadjutor to the other ; or when it was to cure an in- veterate schism, as it was in the proposal made by the Catholic bishops to the Donatists in the Collation of Car- thage ; of all which cases the reader may find an exact account given in a former part of this work.^ Now in such cases obedience might be paid to either bishop without schism, because there was no opposition between them : and, though it was not according to the common rule of the Church, to have two bishops ordinarily sitting- together in one see at the same time, yet for extraordinary reasons this was sometimes allowed in special cases ; then there was no schism or other evil in it, no breach of unity or encroach- ment upon any man's right, because it was done for ex- pedience and benefit of the community, by common consent of all parties, and the general approbation of the Church. I have interposed these cautions, that it might bo more particularly understood, wherein the due submission to every bishop in his own Church consisted, and under what limitations obedience was required to a single bishop, regularly appointed, to preserve the unity of the Church.
Sect. 7. — Fourthly, the Unity of Submission to the Discipline of tho
Church.
4. To preserve the unity of the Church in its well-being-,
' Theodor. lib. v. cap. 23. « Book ii. chap. xiii.
VOL. VI. D
34 THK ANTIQI'ITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
it AVas roquirod that every member of a Church should sub- mit to the ordinnry rules of discipline appointed for the punishment of delinquents ; and neither despise the lawful censures of his own Church; nor seek clandestinely to bo restored to communion in any other Church, without giving" satisfaction to liis own Church, whereof he was a member; nor betaking- himself to the conventicles of heretics or schismatics, to be received by them as a communicant, when he was cast out of his own Church as a criminal. For all these were direct violations of the unity of discipline, which ought to be preserved entire in every Church. The efl'ect of a legal excommunication and the power of the keys was always reputed such, as that if a man was justly cast out of the communion of his own Church for his offences, he was supposed to be excluded from all title to the king-dom of heaven, during- his continuance in that state, by virtue of our Saviour's authority deleg-ated to the Church in those Words, " Whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained, and, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven." And therefore, unless men submitted to the ordinary way of restoring offenders, and soug-ht to be recon- ciled to the peace of the Church b}' the proper methods of public confession and repentance, and intercession for par- don and absolution, they were treated as desplsers of the Church's discipline ; and if they died in that state, without being- first reconciled, and received into communion again, they were looked upon as persons in a deplorable condition, as dvinn- in a state of sin and rebellion against God, and out of the unity of the Church. For which reason no so- lemnity was ever used at their funeral, as was usual for those who died in the peace of the Church ; nor were their oblations received, or any oflerings or commemorations made for them, as for others, in the usual service of the Church. Only in one case a little favour was shewed to such as died in the bonds of excommunication, unrelaxcd by any formal absolution: which was, when such penitents as obediently submitted to the Church's discipline, and gave evident tokens of their sincere repentance, happened to die suddeidy, when they were desirous of reconciliation and absolution, but by unavoidable necessity could not have it.
CHAP. 1.] CHRISTIAN CHUROII, 35
In this case the canons ordered, that flioir ohlations should bo ret'i'ived, as a testimony ol" tlicir submission, and beiug- united in heart and mind to the Ciuireh, thnng-h they couUl not have tlie formabty of an external absolution. In the fourth Council of Carthage there is a canon to tliis purpose; such pei\itents as are intent and diligent in observing the rules of penance,' if they chance to die in a journey, or at sea, where they can have no help or remedy, shall not- withstandino" have their memorv commended both in the prayers and oblations of the Church. The second Council of Vaison is a little more particular in declaring,^ how such penitents shall be admitted to all the privileges of Church communion after death : if any of those, who are under penance, and live in the course of a g'ood life with satis- factory compunction, happen to die suddenly and unex- pectedly either in the country or in a journey, their oblations shall be received, and their funeral obsequies and memorials shall be celebrated in the usual manner and affection of the Church: because it were unjust, that their commemorations should be excluded from the salutary mysteries, who, whilst they were labouring earnestly with a faithful affection after those holy mysteries, were intercepted by sudden death from the viaticum of the sacraments, to whom the priest perhaps would have thought fit to have granted the most absolute reconciliation. There are a great many canons in the second Council of Arles,^ and the second of Orleance, and the second of Toledo, and the Council of Epone, to the same purpose. By all which we may judge, that though the Church was severe against impenitent apostates and contemners of her discipline, yet she showed great favour and tenderness toward such as really honoured her disci- pline, and gave evident tokens of repentance : such men were not deemed to depart out of the unity and communion of the Church, though they happened to die without the for-
' Con. Carthag. iv. can. Ixxix. Pceniteutes, qui attente leges poenitenliaj excquiintur, si casu in itincrc \cl in niari niorlui fucrint, nbi cis suhvoniri non possil, menioria coruni I'l oiatitmibus ct oblationihus conmiLnuli'lur. =* Con. Valenscii. can. 2. » Con. Arelat. ii, can. 12. Con.
Aui-fliau. ii. can. 14. Con. Tokl. iii. can. 12. Con. Epaunense.can. xxxvi.
D 2
3f; THE ANTIQUITIES OF TIIR [bOOK XVL
mality of an external al)sohition ; being- internally reconciled both to God and the Church, by the testimonies ol" repen- tance, in such cases of extremity, where not their own will, but the necessity of their circumstances precluded them from a more formal reconciliation.
Sect. 8. — How different Churches maintained Communion with one another. 1st. in Faith.
And thus far we have considered the unity of every Church with relation to its own members : we are next to examine, what communion different Churches held with one another, that we may discover the harmonious unity of the Catholic Church. And here first of all we are to observe, that as there was one common faith, consisting- of certain fundamental articles, essential to the very being of a par- ticular Church and its unity , and the being- of a Christian ; so this same faith was necessary to unite the diflerent parts of the Catholic Church, and make them one body of Chris- tians. So that if any Church deserted or destroyed this faith in whole or in part, they were looked upon as rebels and traitors against Christ, and enemies to the common faith, and treated as a conventicle of heretics, and not of Christians. Upon this account every bishop not only made a declaration of his faith at his ordination, before the pro- vincial synod that ordained him, but also sent his circular or encyclical letters, as they were called, to foreign Churches, to signify that he was in communion with them. And this was so necessary a thing- in a bishop newly or- dained, that Liberatus tells us,' the omission of it was inter- preted a sort of refusal to hold communion with the rest of the world, and a virtual charg-e of heresy upon himself or them.
Skct. 9. — 2dly, In mutual Assistance of cacli otlirr for Defence of tlio
common Faitli.
To maintain this imity of faith entire, every Church was ready to give each other their mutual assistance, to
' liiljernt. Breviar. caj). xvii.
CHAl'. I. ] nURlSTlAN OIHIRCH. 37
oppose Jill fmidainontal (Tiors, antl l)ont down heresy at its first a[)poar;vnco uinonj^" tluMn. 'i'lie whole world in this respect was bnt one common diocese, tlu; episcopate was an nniversal thin<^, and every bishop had his share in it in such a manner, as to have an equal concern in tlie whole ; as T have more fully sliewn in another place,' where I ob- served, that in thin«>s not appertaining- to the faith, bishops were not to meddle with other men's dioceses, but only to mind the business of their own : but when the faith or wel- fare of the Church lay at stake, and religion was manifestly invaded ; then, by this rule of there being but one episco- pacy, every other bishopric was as much their diocese as their own ; and no human laws or canons could tie up their hands from performing' such acts of the episcopal office in any part of the world, as they thought necessary for the pre- servation of faith and religion. This was the ground ot their meeting in synods, provincial, national, and general, and sending their joint opinions and advice from one Church to another. The greatest part of Church history is made up of such acts as these, so that it were next to impertinent to refer to any particulars. I only observe one thing fur- ther upon this head, that the intermeddling with other men's concerns, which would have been accounted a real breach of unity in many other cases, was in this case thought so necessary, that there was no certain way to pre- serve the unity of the Catholic Church and faith without it. And as an instance of this, I have noted in the fore-cited book, that though it was against the ordinary rule of the Church for any bishop to ordain in another man's diocese ; yet in case a bishop turned heretic, and persecuted the or- thodox, and would ordain none but heretical men to esta- blish heresy in his diocese; in that case any orthodox bishop was not only authorised, but obliged, as opportunity served, and the needs of the Church required, to ordain Catholic teachers in such a diocese, to oppose the malignant designs of the enemy, and stop the growth of heresy, which might otherwise take deep root, and spread and over-run
' Book ii. chap. v. sect. 2.
38 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK XVI.
the Chureli. Thus Atlianasius aiul tlio famous Eusehius of Samosata went about the world in the prevalency of the Avian heresy, ordainin<^- in every Cluirch, where they came, such clergy as were necessary to support the orthodox cause in such a time of distress and desohition : and this was so far from being* reckoned a breach of tlie Church's uni- ty, though ag-ainst the letter of a canon in ordinary cases, that it was necessary to be done, in such a state of atlairs, to maintain the unity of the Catholic faith, which every bishop was obliged to defend, not only in his own diocese, but in all parts of the world, by yirtue of that rule, which obliges bishops in weighty affairs to take care of the Catho- lic Church, and recpiires all Churches in time of danger to give mutual aid and assistance to one another.
tiiiCT. 10. — 3dly, 111. joining in Communion with each other in all holy Offices, as Occasion required.
' This unity of the Catholic Church was further maintained by the readiness of each Church, and every member of it, to join in communion with all other Churches in the pcr-r formanee of divine worship, and all holy offices, as their oc- casions required. To this purpose two things were neces- sary; first, that every Church should keep her Liturgy free from all superstitious and idolatrous worship, and not render her assemblies for holy duties inaccessible by intrenching' upon any divine rule, or making any unlawful conditions of communion. And how careful the ancient Church was in this point, may be seen by any one that will peruse the ac- count I have lately given of the Liturgy of the ancient Churches in all the several parts of it 5 where none of those superstitious and idolatrous practices appear, that have so much divided the Church in later ag'es, since the exorbitant power of the Romish Church imposed so much upon the cre- dulity of men in points of faith, and loaded their conscien- ces so heavily in matters of unwarrantable practice. Second- ly, it was necessary that every Christian, when he came to a foreign Church, should readily comply with the innocent usages and customs of that Church, where he ha[)pened to be, though they might chance in some circumstances to dif-
oiiAP. I.] CHRISTIAN cinuicii. 39
fer from his own. Tliis was a necessary rule ol' peace, to preserve (lie unity ol" conunnnion iind worship throu^^liont the whole CathoTK- Chinch. For it was irn])ossihle that every Cliureh shouhl liave the same rit(;s and ceremonies, the same customs and usages in ull respects, or even the Stime method and manner of worshi[) exactly agreeing- in all [)unctilios with one another, unless there had been a general liturg-y for the whole Church expressly enjoined hy divine appointment. The unity of the Catholic Church did not require this, as we shall see more plainly by ai\d by, and therefore no one ever insisted upon this as any neces- sary part of its unity : it was enough that all Churches ag-reed in the substance of divine worship ; and for circum- stantials, such as rites and ceremonies, method and order, and the like, every Church had liberty to judge and choose for herself by the rules of expediency and convenience : and then, as it was the duty of every member of any ])arti- cular Church to comply with the innocent customs of his own Church, in order to hold free communion with "her; so it was the duty of every Christian to comply with the dilfc- rent customs of all other Churches, wherever he happened to travel, in order to hold communion with the Catholic Church in all places without exception. This rule is often inculca- ted by St. Austin, as the great rule of peace and unity with regard to all Churches : and he tells us, he received it as an oracle from the wise and moderate discourses of St. Ambrose, whom he consulted upon the occasion of a scruple, which had possessed the heart of his mother Monicha, and for some time greatly perplexed her. She having- lived a long- time at Rome, was used to fast on Saturday, or the Sabbath, according to the custom of the Church of Rome : but when she came to Milan, she found the contrary custom prevailing-, which was to keep Saturday a festival: and being much disturbed about this, her son, though he had not much concern about such matters at that time, for her ease and satisfaction, consulted St. Ambrose upon the point, to take his advice and direction how to govern herself in this case, so as to bo inoH'ensive in her practice. To whom St. Ambrose answered, that he could give no better advice
40 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
in the case, than to do as ho himself was wont to do: " for," said he,' " when I am here, I do not fast on the Sabbath ; when I am at Rome, I fast on the Sabbath: and so you, wliat- evcr Chinch you come to, observe tlie custom of that Church, if yon would neither take offence at them, nor give offence to them.'" St. Austin says,- this answer satisfied his mother, and ho always looked upon it as an oracle, sent from heaven. He adds moreover, that he had often expe- rienced with grief and sorrow the disturbance of weak minds, occasioned either by the contentious obstinacy of certain brethren, or by their own superstitious fears, who in matters of this nature, which can neither be certainly de- termined by the authority of holy Scripture, nor by the tra- dition of the universal Churcli, nor by any advantage in the correction of life, raise such litigious rpiestions, as to think nothing right but what themselves do ; only because they were used to do so in their own country, or because a little shallow reason tells them it ought to be so, or because they have perhaps seen some such thing in their travels, which they reckon the more learned, the more remote it is from their own country. Thus he handsomely and elegantly re- flects upon the superstitious folly, and contentious obsti- nacy of such as disturbed the Church's peace for such tilings as every Church had liberty to use, and every good Christian was obliged to comply with. For, as he says, in the same place, all such customs as varied in the practice of different Churches, as, that some fasted on the Saturday,
' Ausj. Ep. Ixxxvi. Ad Ciisuliin. Quando hie sum, non jejuno Sabbato ; <luando Roinfc sum, jejiino Sabbato: et ad quamcunque ecclesiam vciieritis, ejus morcm servatc, si pati scandalum non vultis, aut facere. * Aug. Ep. 118. ad Jniuiar. Hoc cum matri rcnunciasscm, libenter amplexa est. Ego vero do hac sentontia ctiani atquo etiam cogitans, ita semper habui, tanquam earn coelesti oraculo suscepcrim. Scnsi enim sappe dolens et gemens multas infirmorum pcrtuibationes fieri, per quorundam fratruni conlentiosam obstinalioncni, vcl supcrstitiosnm tindditatcin, qui in rebus hu- jusmodi, qusE neque Scripturtc sanctu- auctoritatc, nequc universalis eccle- siiE tiaditionc, nc-qiit- vita; coriigcndic utilitato ad ccitum possunt terminum pcrvcnire, tanlum quia subcst ([ualisciiuque raliociiiatio co£;iiaiitis, aut quia in sufipatrifi sic ipse consuevit, aut quia ibi vidit, ubi prrogiinati<)nfm suam, quo ri inotiorcm a sui>, to duclioicui faclain putal, laiu lifigiosas excitant <lua.'Stiont's, ut nisi quod ipsi laciuul, uiliil rectum cxislimcnt.
CHAP. I.] rilKlSTIAN CHUKCII. 41
and others did not; soino received the ciicharist every day, others on the Sahhath and Lord's day, and others on tlio Lord's day only; and whatever else there was of this Kind they wore all thing's of free observation :' and in such thing-s there could he no better rule for a g-rave and prudent Christian to walk liy, than to do as the Church did, wherever he happened to come. For whatever was enjoined, that was neither against faith nor good manners, was to be held indilferent, and to be observed according- to the custom, and for the convenience of the society among- whom we live. This he repeats over and over again,^ as the most safe rule of practice in all such thing's, wherein the custom of Churches varied, that wherever we see any thing-s appointed or know them to be appointed, that are neither ag-ainst faith nor good manners, and have any tendency to edification and to stir men up to a good life, we should not only abstain from finding- fault with them, but follow them both by our commendation and imitation. By this rule all wise and peaceable men always governed their practice in holding- communion with other Churches: thoug-h they did not al- together like their customs, they did not break communion with them upon that account. Thus Ireneeus observes to^ Pope Victor, when he was rashly going- to excommunicate the Asiatic .Churches for their different way of observing- Easter, that his predecessor Anicetus was far from this un- charitable temper. For when Polycarp came to Rome, though they could not come to a perfect agreement in this point, to have all the Churches observe Easter on the same
' Aui^. Ep. lis. Totum hoc genus rerum liberas habet observationes : nee disciplinaullaest in his melior, gravi prudentiquo Christiano, quam ut CO modo agat, quo agere viderit ecclesiam ad quamcunque forte devenerit. Quod enim neque contra fideni, neque contra bonos mores injungitur, indiffe- renter est habendum, et pro eorum inter quos vivitur societate servandum est.. * Aug. Ep. cxix. ad Januarium. cap. xviii. De iis, quae varie per diversa loca observantur, una in his saluberrima reguhi retinenda est, ut quae iion sunt contra fideiu, neque contra bonos mores, et habent aliquid ad exhorta- tionem vita; mcliorls, ubicunque institui videmus, vel instiluta cognoscimus, non soliim non improbcmus, sed etiam laudando et imitando sectemur, si ali- quorum infinnitas non ita impedit, ut niajus detrimentum sit. ^ Ap. Euseb. lib. v. cap. 24,
42 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK XVI-
ciny ; yet this difference mutlc no contention between them. For they gave each other tlie kiss of peace, and communi- cated together ; Anicetus paying Polycarp the customary civihty and respect, to let him consecrate the eucharist in his Church. Irena^us o1)serves further, tliat though there were many disputes then on foot concerning the time, and length, and manner of observing the Ante-paschal or Lent fast; yet all Churches agreed to live in peace and union with one another : and the difference of their fasts served only to commend the unity of their faith. And because it was then a customary thing for Churches of different countries to send the eucharist mutually to each other, to testify that they were in communion with one another ; he notes it like- wise as a peculiar instance of the Catholic tempers of the bishops of Rome, Anicetus, Pius, Hyginus, Telesphorus, Xystus and Soter, who were Victor's predecessors in that Church, that though they differed from the Asiatic Churches about Easter, yet they lived in peace with them ; not only receiving the members of those Churches into communion, when they came to Rome, but also sending the eucharist from Rome to those Churches. Which being so common a way of testifying their communion \\'\l\\ distant Churches in those days, it was a very just complaint, which Chrysostom made against Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, and his ac- complices, that, when they came to Constantinople, they came not to church, according to custom and ancient law; they joined not themselves to him, nor communicated with him in the word or prayer,^ or the communion of the eucha- rist ; but as soon as they landed, passing by the church, they took their lodging in an inn, when the bishop's house was ready prepared to entertain them. This he complains of, as a sineular instance of their enmity, faction, and unclia- ritable spirit, in refusing to communicate with him, before any formal accusation had been brought against him, much less any legal sentence of condemnation pronounced upon him. I3y this account of things it is easy to judge, what stress the Ancients laid upon the law of communion, obli-
' Chrys. Ep. ad Innocent, torn. iv. p. 07 7.
CHAP, 1.] nilKHTIAN CHURCH. 43
scimr cvcrv Clninh to cotniminicate witli licr sister Clmrclioti over all the vvorlti in all holy oHices, in order to preserve the comnuii\ion of worship one entire thin^- throu«>hout the whole Catholie Church, without any notorious division or distraction.
Sect. II. — 4tlily. In mutual Consent to ratify all l(i;-.il Acts of Discipline, regularly exercised in any Churcli whatsoever.
The communion of the whole Catholic Church was fur- ther declared by the obligation of such laws, as laid a ne- cessary injunction upon all Churches to ratify all such legal acts of discipline, as were regularly exercised in any Church whatsoever. Thus if any person was duly baptised, and thereby admitted to bo a member of any particular Chinch, that qualification gave him a right to communicate in any part of the Catholic Church, travelling- with commendatory letters from the bishop of his own Church, to signify that he was in perfect and full communion with her, and not cast out for any offence against the rules of her commu- nion. This is what Optatus means, when he says,* that the whole world was united together in one common society, or society of communion, by the mutual commerce of those canonical or communicatory letters, which they called Formatce, because these testifying that he was in the com- munion of his own Church, by the known laws and rules of discipline, gave him a title to communicate In any Church whatsoever, only observing* the rites and customs of that Church whither his occasions happened to call him. So again, if a man was legally excommunicated for his crimes by his own Church, no Church would receive him to com- munion, till he had given proper satisfaction to his own Church, which had bound him by her censures. Such a perfect good understanding and harmony was there then among all the parts of the whole Catholic Church, in con- firming- each others discipline, and nmtually strengthening their authority against all enemies of faith and virtue, whe-
' Optat. lib. ii. p. IS. Totus orbis comnicrcio fornuitarum in una coni- nninionis bocictatc concordat.
44 THE ANTIQUITIES oF TlIF, [hOOK XVI.
ther they wore such as lii(!cl by open violence and terror, or by secret arts and chmdestine practices to g'et admission, in opposition to the Church, whose censures they lay under. No Cliurch would admit them witliout communicatory let- ters: if they were rebels to their own Church, they were ac- counted rebels to the whole. Thus Epiphanius tells us,' when Marcion the heretic was excommunicated by his own father, and desired to be received into communion at Rome, they answered him, that they could not do it, without the permission of his father. For there was but one faith, and one rule of concord ; and they could not do any thing" in opposition to their g-ood fellow-servant, and his father. This repulse was highly resented by Marcion, and it put him upon those wicked designs of inventing a new heresy to disturb the Church : for he told them directly in revcn<»-e, that he would divide their Church, and bring- an eternal schism into it. Which, as Epiphanius rightly observes, was not so much to divide the Church, as to divide himself from it. There are a g-reat many other instances of the Church's steadiness and resolution in thus proceeding- against delinquents, to maintain the unity of discipline en- tire in all parts of the ecclesiastical body, and aljundance of canons to this purpose ; which, because I shall have occa- sion to speak more of hereafter,^ 1 willingly omit them in this place, and go on to observe another instance of the Church's unity in point of practice : which was,
Sect. 1-2. — 5thly. Tn roceiving unanimously the (customs of the Univer- sal Church, and .submitting to tlic Decrees of General Councils.
That all Churches generally agreed in receiving- such cus- toms as were handed down by general consent from apos- tolical tradition, or otherwise settled and determined by the decrees of general councils. For these two ways many customs became in a manner universal, and almost of ne- cessary observance in the Church over all the world : and then for any private man or Church to dispute against
• V
Epiphan. Ilacr. 12. Marcion. n. i. ' Chap. ii. sect. 10.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN rilllROII. ^^f
thorn, was to give scaiuhil lo the rost of tho world, and hrino- distiirliiUK'c into tho Cluirch by an unnocossary and iinroa- sonablc opposition to thing's innocont in ihornsclvcs, and settled by g-oneral consent and ai)[)robation. St. Austin takes notice of this double source and original of general customs in the Church, for which though there be no ex- press command in Scripture, yet a great deforonce ougdit to be paid to tho general sentiments and authority, and practice and observation of the whole Church. Those things, says he, which we keep,* not from Scripture, but from tradition, and which are observed overall the world, are reasonably supposed to have come down to us recom- mended and appointed cither by tho Apostles themselves, or by some plenary councils, whose authority is of great use in the Church ; such as the celebrating- the anniversary memorial of our Saviour's passion, and resurrection, and ascension, and the descent of the Holy Ghost from heaven, and whatever else of the like nature is observed by the universal Church in ail parts, wherever it spreads itself all the world over. Concerning- which sort of things, he con- cludes,^ that for any man to dispute against them, was most insolent madness, seeing- they were authorised by the prac- tice of the universal Church. He particularly applies this rule to the case of observing- the Lord's day,^ not as a fast, but as a festival : for since the whole Church observed it as a festival, no one could turn that day into a fast, without offending- God, by g"iving scandal to the Church Universal : there being- both g-eneral custom and canon against it.* For
' Aug. Ep. 118. ad. Januar. Ilia autem, quee non scripta, sed tradita custodimus, quae quidem toto terraium orbe observantur, dantur intelligi vel ab ipsis Apostolis, vel plenariis Conciliis, quorum in ecclesiS, salubcr- rima authorUas, commendata atque statuta retineri : sicuti quod Domini passio et rcsurrectio ct asconsio in caelum, et adventus de coelo spiritfls Sancti, anniveisarifi solonnitato celebrantur, et si quid aliud tale occurrerit quod servatur ab univcrs.l, quftcunque se dift'undit, ecclesiTi. « Ibid. Si quid horum tota per orbein frequentat ecclesia, quin ita facien- dum sit, disputaro, insolcntissimre insania; est. ^ Aug. Ep. 86. ad Casulan. Quis non Deum ofl'cndet, si Tclit cum scandalo to- tius, quae ubique dilatata est, ecclesiae, die dominico je.junare ? ♦ Vide Can. Apost. 04. Con. Gangren. can, 18. Con. Caithag. iv. can. G-t. Con. Biacar. i.can. i.
46 THE ANTIQLlITIES OF THE [BOOK XVI-
the same reason it was esteemed a crime to pray kneeling- on that day, because the practice of the universal Church was to pray standinjOf/ in memory of our Saviour's resur- rection : and the Council of Nice thouHit it a thina" worthy of a decree to bring- all men to an uniformity in that prac- tice. As she ditl also in the matter of observiii"- the Easter festival, making- a rule that all Churches should celebrate it on one and the same day, " because it was unlawful that in a business of so g-reat moment, and the religious observa- tion of such a festival, there should be any dissention," as Constantino expresses it in his epistle,^ which he sent to all the Churches in the world upon this occasion. So that though several Churches had kept this festival on different days before this decree was made, yet when it was once past, there was no more liberty for dissension.
Sect. 13. — Otlily, In submitting to the Decrees of National Councils.
The like may be observed of the decrees of national councils, when once the Roman Empire was divided into several kingdoms. A great many things were at first al- lowed to every bishop in the management of his own dio- cese, which were afterwards restrained by the decrees of national Councils. As to instance only in one particular; every bishop anciently had liberty to frame his own liturg-y for the use of his own Church : liut in process of time, when the world was divided into several kingdoms, rules were made that all the Churches of such or such a kinof- dom should have one and the same liturgy. Thus when Spain and Gallia Narbonensis became one distinct king- dom, a decree was made, that as there was but one faith, so there should be but one liturgy or order of divine service throughout the whole kingdom. The fourth Council of Toledo, under the reign of king Sisenandus, made an ex- press canon to this purpose :^ " After the confession of the
' Vid. Tertul. de Coron. Mil. rap. iii. tt Con. Nic. can. 20. • Ap. Euseb. de Vita Const, lib. iii. cap. 19. * Con. Tolct. iv.
can. ii. Post reclie lidci confessionem, qiuc in sancta Dei ecclesifi pra;- dicatur, placuit, onuies sacerdoles, qui cathoIic;c fidei imitate conipleclimur
CHAP. I.J CHRISTIAN CIinRCH. 47
true faith, which is prcacht'd In the holy Chiuc^h of (ifxl, it seemed g'ood, that all we bishops, who are joined tog-ether in the unity of the Catholic faith, should henceforth use no diversity or disag-reeinent in the administration of the eccle- siastical mysteries; lest every such diversity be interpreted a schism among- vis by carnal men, and such as are unknown to us, and the variety of customs in our Churches become a scandal to many. Let one order therefore of prayers and psalmody be observed by us throug-liout all Spain and Gaul ; one manner of celebrating- mass, or the communion service ; and one manner of performing- vespers, or evening- service : and let there henceforth be no diversity in our ec- clesiastical customs, seeing- we all live in one faith and in one king-dom." That canon also refers to more ancient canons, re(j[uiring' uniformity in divine worship throughout provincial Churches. And it is most certain, that about this time, that is, in the sixth and seventh centuries, and before, decrees were made in several Councils, requiring- the Churches of each respective province to conform their usag-es to the rites and forms of the metropolitical or principal Church among- them. As may be seen in the canons of the Councils of Agde, Anno 506 ;^ and Epone, and Girone, Anno 517 f and the Council of Vannes,^ and the first of Braga,* Anno 465 and 563. For though by the most an- cient rules every bishop had liberty to prescribe what he thought proper for his own Church, and no Church pre- tended to dictate mag-istorially in such things to any other; yet when Churches became subject to one political head, and national Churches arose from that distinction; then it was thought convenient by all the bishops of such a nation
ut nihil ultra diversurn aut dissonum in ccclesiaslicis sacramcntis againus » ne qiuclibet nostra diversitas apud ignotos sen carnales schisinatis errorem videutur ostcnderc, et multis extit in scandalum varietas ccclcsiarum. Unus ergo ordo orandi alque psallendi, d nobis per oinnem Ilispaniam atque Galliciani (leg. Galliam) conservetur : unus modus in niissarum solen- nitatibus, unus in vespcrtiniis officiis ; nee diversa sit ultra in nobis eccle- siastica consuetude, quia in una fide continemur et regno. Hoc enim et antiqui canones decrevcrunt. &c. ' Con. Agathen. can. xxx.
' Con. Epaunense. can xxvii. Con. Gerund, can. i. ■' Con.
Veneticum. can. xy. * Con. Bracarcn. i. can. 19, 20, 21. &c.
48 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [dOOK XVI.
to unite more closoly in rituals and circumstantials of divine worshij), as well as faith and substantials : and from that time this also became a necessary part of the union of national Churches; in which all the bishops voluntarily combininiir, no one could depart from that unity, without in- curriui!- the i>uilt of an unnecessary breach of that union, which was so convenient for cementinrr the several mem- bars of a national Church into one communion.
Sect. 14. — No Necessity of a Visible Head to unite all the Parts of
the Catholic Church into one Communion.
Thus we have seen, wherein the unity of tlie Catholic Church, considered in its utmost latitude, consisted. And hence one might safely infer these two things negatively without any further evidence : First, That there was no necessity of a visible head, as now is pretended in the Church of Rome, to unite all the parts of the Catholic Church into one communion. Nor, secondly, any necessity that the whole Catholic Church should a<>ree in all rites and ceremonies, and customs in indifferent things, which might be various in different Churches without any breach of Catholic communion.
The former of these was sufficiently provided for by the agreement of all Churches in the same faith, and the obli- gation that lay upon the whole college of bishops, as equal sharers in one episcopacy, to give mutual assistance to each other in all things that were necessary to defend the faith, or preserve the unity of the Church entire in all respects, when any assault was made upon it. It was by this means, and not by any necessary recourse to any single, visible, standing head, that anciently the unity of the Church was preserved. Recourse was sometimes had to the bishop of Rome, as an eminent bishop, who made a considerable figure in the great body of bishops, and one, who by his station in the imperial city, might be able to succour those, that were oppressed, in times of great difficulty and dis- tress: but his judgment or opinion was deemcil no infalli- ble rule, nor his decision such as was to conclude the rest of the world, so as to tie them down, in no ca.se without the
CilAP, I.J CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 4'j
cliariife of schism to vary from him. For sometimes the bishop of Rome fell into manifest lieresy, as when Liheriiis suliseribcd to the Arian blasphemy : in which case any other bisliop was not only at hberty to dissent from hitn, but was oblig-ed, by virtue of his share in the common episcopacy of the Church, to oppose him, and, if occasion required, to pro- nounce a tta/hem a i\gn\nst liim; as St. Hilary did against Liborius,' w hen he sul)scribed to the condemnation of Atha- nasius, and the Arian Creed made at Sirmium. Sometimes again the bishops of Rome took upon them to exercise a jurisdiction over other Churches, in whoso afftiirs by right of canon, they had no power: as when Pope Victor set him- self to excommunicate the Asiatic Churches- for their dif- ferent way of observing Easter, he was opposed not only by the Asiatic bishops, but by Irenneus and the rest of the world, as going beyond his bounds, and engag'ing himself in a rash and schismaticul undertaking. For he, who by an undue stretch of power not belonging to him divides others from his communion, is properly the schismatic, by making an unnecessary division in the Church, and not they, who bv necessity are forced to divide from him. So aaain, when Pope Zosimus and Celestine took upon them to receive appellants from the African Churches, and ab- solve those, whom they had condemned ; St. Austin and all the African Churches sharply remonstrated against this as an illegal practice, violating the laws of unity, and the settled rules of ecclesiastical eommerco, which required, that no delinquent, excommunicated in one Church, should be absolved in another, without giving satisfaction, to his own Church, that censured him: and therefore to put a stop to this practice, and check the exorbitant power, which the Roman bishops assumed to themselves, they first made a law in the Council of Milevis,- that no African clerk should appeal to any Church beyond sea, under pain of being- excluded from communion in all the
' Hilar. Fragment, p. 134. Anathema tibi a me dictum, i.iberi, et sociis tuis. Iteriim tibi anathema, et tertio, prffivarlcator Liberi. * Con. Milevitan. can. x.\''
VOL. VI. E
•'JO THE ANTIQUITIES OF THK [BOOK XVI.
African Churches: and then afterward meetin*'- iri a general synoa' they dispatched letters to the bishop of Rome, to remind him how contrary this practice was to the canons of Nice, which ordered, tliat all controversies should be ended in the places, wliere they arose, before a council and the metropolitan. And they withall tell him, it was unreason- able to think, that God should enable a single person to examine the justice of a cause, and deny his ^race to a multitude of men assembled in council. This evidently shews, that they did not imagine any single person to be the centre of unity to the whole Church ; or that all Churches were obliged to be in communion with the bishop of Rome, whether he were catholic or heretic ; or that any Church, without the limits of his metropolitical power, was bound in any respect to submit to his jurisdiction: but it manifest- ly proves on the contrary, that there was no necessity of a visible head, as is now pretended in the Church of Rome, to unite all the parts of the Catholic Church into one communion ; but that in matters of faith, every bishop was as much a guardian of the whole Church as the bishop of Rome ; and in matters of discipline, all Churches were at liberty to hear and determine their own causes in a synod of bishops, without having recourse to any foreign jurisdiction, as has been more fully demonstra- ted in other parts of this w ork,^ to which 1 refer the reader for greater satisfaction.
Sect. lo. — Nor any Nec<-ssity, that the whole Church should aj^reo in the same Rites and Ceremonies, wliirh were Things of an indill'ercnt Nature.
It is equally clear, that there was no necessity, in order to maintain the unity of the Catholic Church, that all Churches should agree in all the same rites and ceremonies ; but every Church mig-ht enjoy her own usages and customs having- liberty to prescribe for herself in all things of an indiHcrent nature, except where either an universal tradition or the decree of some general or naiional Council, as has
' Cod. Can. Afric. a cap. 13o. adjl3S. * Book ii.chap.v.
and Book ix. chap. i. sod. II.
CHAP. I.] CIIKISTIAN CHURCH. i* l'
been noted before, intervened to make it otberwise. To tills purpose is tliat lanious saying- of Irenaius,' \iponocea- sion of the different customs of several Churches in obser- ving- the Lent-fast : " we still retain peace one with another: and the different ways of keeping- the fast, oidy the more commends our agreement in the faith." St. Jeroin likewise, speaking- of the different customs of Churches in relation to the Saturday fast, and the reception of the eucharist every day, lays down this general rule,^ that all ecclesiastical traditions, which did no ways prejudice the faith, were to be observed in such manner as we had received them from our fore-fathers 5 and the custom of one Church was not to be subverted by the contrary custom of another ; but every province might abound in their own sense, and esteem the rules of their ancestors as laws of the Apostles. After the same manner, St. Austin** says, " that in all such things, whereabout the Holy Scripture has given no positive deter- mination, the custom of the people of God, or the rules of our fore-fathers, are to be taken for laws. For if we dispute about such matters, and condemn the custom of one Church by the custom of another, that will ^be an eternal occasion of strife and contention ; which will always be diligent enoug-h to find out plausible reasoning-s, when there are no certain arguments to shew the truth. Therefore g-reat cau- tion ought to be used, that we draw not a cloud over charity and eclipse its brightness in the tempest of contention." He adds, a little after : " Such contention is commonly endless, engendering- strifes, and terminating no disputes.
' Ap. Euseb. lib. v. cap. 2+. UdvTie il^i]vtvofiiv Trpog aWi'iXnc- kj >; Siaipwvia r/;g vij<^eiaQ tt)v bfiovoiav Trig TiTiwg auinTTjcn.
* Hieron. Ep. xxviii. ad Lucinium Boetic.um. Ego illiid te breviter adiuo- neiidum puto, traditiones ecclesiasticas (praesertim quaj fldei iioii officiant,) ita observaiidas, ut a majoribus traditse sunt : nee aliorum cons-Jttudiiiem
aliorum contrario more subvertl Sed unaquteque proyincia abundet in
suosensu, et priEcepta majorum leges apostolicas arbitrttur. ' Aug. Ep. Ixxxvi. ad Casulan. In his rebus, de quibus nihil certi statuit Scriptura divina, mos populi Dei vel instituta ma jorum pro lege tenenda .sunt. De quibus si disputare voluerimus, et ex aliorum consuetudine alios improbare, orietur interminata Juctatio, quaj labore sermocinationis cum certa documenta nulla veritatis insinuet; utique cavendumest, ne tcmpestalp contentionis serenitatem charitatis obnubil«t.
E 2
i2 THK ANTIQUITIES OK THE [bOOK XYl.
Let US therefore maintain one faith throusrhout the whole Cliurch,* wherever it is spread, as intrinsical to the mem- bers of the body, ahhough the unity of faith be kept with some different observations, whicli in no ways hinder or impair the truth of it. For all the beauty of the kind's daughter is within, and those observations which are diffe- rently celebrated, are understood only to be in her outward clothing-. Whence she is said to be clothed in golden fringes, wrought about with divers colours. But let that clothing- be so disting-uished by different observations, as that she herself may not be destroyed by oppositions and contentions about them.'' This was the ancient way of preserving peace in the Catholic Church, to let different Churches, Avhich had no dependence in externals upon one another, enjoy their own liberty to follow their own customs without contradiction. For as Gregory* the Great said to Leander, a Spanish bishop, there is no harm done to the Church catholic by different customs, so long as the unity of the faith is preserved. And therefore, though the Spanish Churches differed in some customs from the Roman Church, yet he did not pretend to oblige them to leave their own customs and usages, to follow the Roman. He gave a like answer to Austin, the monk, archbishop of Can- terbury, when he asked him, what form of div'ne service he should settle in Britain, the old Gallican, or the Roman? And how it came to pass, that when there was but one faith there were different customs in different Churches; the Roman Church having one form of service, and the Galli- can Churches another ? To this he replied,-* " Whatever
' Au£f. Ep. Ixxxvi. ad Casulan. Interminabilis est ista contentio, gene- rans lites, nonfiniens qurestiones. Sit ergo uiiafidfs iiniversae, quae ubique dilatatur, ccclesia;, tanqiiain intiis in itioiiibris, utiam si ipsa uiiitas fidei quibusdam diversis obscrvationibus cclebratiir, quihus nullo modo quod in tide verum est impeditiir. Oinnis eniin pulchritudo filisE regis intrinsccus^ JlJEe autem observaliones, quse varie celebrantiir, in ejus veste intelliguntur. Unde ibi dicJlur, In fimbriis aureis circuniamictfi varietate. Sed ea quoque vestis ita diversis cclebrationibiis varietur, ut non adversis contentionibus dissipetur. * Gregf. Magn. Ep. xli. ad Leandrum. In
una fide nihil ofTicit sancta; ccclesiac consuetudn diversa. * GreR-. respons. ad quaest. Aug. ap. Bedara. lib. i. cap. 27. and Gratian. dist. xii.cnp. 10. Mihi placet, uf sive in Romann, siv« in Galliarum, sen in quft
CHAP. 1.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 53
you find eitlicr in the Roman or Gallicun, or any other Church, which may be more pleasing- to Almighty God, I think it best, tliat you should carefully select it, and settle it in the use of the English Church, newly converted to the faith. For we are not to love things for the sake of the place, but places for the sake of the good things we find in them. Therefore you may collect out of every Church what- ever things are pious religious and right; and putting them together, instil them into the minds of the Englisli, and accustom them to the observation of them." And there is no question but that Austin followed this direction in his new plantation of the English Church.
Neither was this liberty granted to difterent Churches in bare rituals, and things of an indifi'erent nature, but some- times in more weighty points, sucli as the receiving, or not receiving those that were baptised by heretics and schis- matics without another baptism. This was a question long- debated between the African, and Roman, and other Churches; yet without breach of communion, especially on their part, who followed the moderate counsels of Cyprian, who still pleaded for the liberty andindependency ofdifierent Churches in this matter, leaving- all Churches to act accord- ing to their own judgment, and keeping peace and unity with those that differed from him, as has been more fully shewn in a former book,^ where we discourse of the inde- pendency of bishops, especially in the African Churches.
The reader may find an account of some other questions in the same place, as candidly and moderately debated among them; as the question about clinic baptism, and the case of admitting adulterers to communion ao-ain. m which the practice of the African bishops was often diflferent from one another ; but they neither censured
libet ecclesia aliquid invenisti, quod plus omnipotenti Deo placere possit' sollicite eligas; el in Anglorum ecclesii, quae adhuc ad fidein noya est, in- stitutione prsEcipuS, qu^ de inultis ecclesiis coUigjcre potuisti, infuudas. Non enim pro locis res, sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt. Ex singulis ergo quibusque ecclesiis, quae pia, quae religiosa, (pjae recta suut elige, e hiEc quasi in fasciculutn coUecta, apud Anglorum mcntes in eonsut^tudinom depone.
' Book ii. chap. tI.
54 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THK [bOOK XVI.
each other's practice, nor brake communion upon it. And sometimes the same moderation wi^s observed in doctrinal points of lesser moment. For as our learned and judicious uriters* have observed out of St. Austin,^ besides the neces- sary articles of faith, there are other thing's about whicli the most learned and exact defenders of the Catholic rule do not agree, ivithout dissolving- the bond of faith. There are some questions, in which without any detriment to the faith,^ that makes us Christians, we may safely be igno- rant of the truth, or suspend our opinion, or conjecture what is false by human suspicion and infirmity. As in the question about paradise, what sort of place it is, and where it was that God placed the first man when he had formed him? Where now Enoch and Elias are, in Paradise or some other place? How many heavens there are, into the third of which St. Paul says he was taken ? With innumer- able questions of the like nature, pertaining- either to the secret work of God, or the hidden parts of Scripture, concern- ing" which he concludes, that a man may be ig-norant of them without any prejudice to the Christian faith, or err about them without any imputation of heresy. This consideration made St. Austin profess in his modesty, that there were more things in Scripture,* which he knew not, than what he did know. And if men should fiercely dispute about such things, and condemn one another for their ignorance or error concerning' them, there would be no end of schisms and divisions in the Church, Therefore in such questions every man was at liberty to abound in his own sense, only observ- ing this rule of peace, not to impose his own opinions ma- gisterially upon others, nor urge his own sentiments as ne-
' Barrow, Of the Unify of the Church, p. 299. Potter, Answer to Charity Mistaken, sect. iii. p. fi8. « Aug. cont. Julian.
Pelag. Alia sunt de quibus inter se aliquando doctissimi atque optinii regu- la: catholicse defensores, salvfi fidei compare, non consonant. " Aug. de Peccat. Orig. cont. Pelag. et Celest. lib. ii. cap. 23. Sunt qusEStiones in quibus, salvfi fide qua Christiani sumus, aut ignoratur quod verum sit, et sentenlifi definitive suspenditur; aut aiiter quam est ; hunianfi et infirmfi suspicione conjicitur. Veluti cum qusritur, Qualis, aut ubi para- disus sit ? &c. Vid. Enchirid. ca|>. 69.
* Aug. r,p. 119. ad Januar. cap. xx. Etiani in iji^is Sanctis ycripluris inulto ncsciain pi ma fiiiiini sciani.
CHAJ\ I.J CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 55
cessary doctrititis or articles of faith in such points, whore cither the Scripture was silent, or left every man the liberty of opining".
Sbct. 16. — Wliat Allowance was made for Men, who out of simijli- I;^- norance broke Communion with one another.
Nay, in some cases a little allowance was made for men of honest minds, who broke communion with one another. For sometimes it happened, that good Catholics were divi- ded among- themselves out of ignorance, and broke com- munion with one another for mere words, not understanding- each other's sentiments. In which case ail wise and mode- rate men hada just compassion for each party, and laboured to compose and unite them, without severely condemning- either. Nazianzen tells us, there was a time* when the ends of the earth were well nigh divided by a few syl- lables. Jt was in a controversy about the use of the words Tpto •jroo<T(t)7ro, and Tptitj 'Yiro'^daeir, in the doctrine of the Trinity. Each party was orthodox, and meant the same thing- under different words ; but not \mtlerstandin«»- one another's sense, they mutually charged each other with heresy. They who were for calling- the three divine persons three Hypostases, charged their adversaries as Sabellians ; and they on the contrary returned the charo-e of Arianism upon them, as thinking they had taken three Hypostases in the Arian sense, for three essences or sub- stances of a ditl'erent nature. But the great and good Atha- nasius, in his admirable prudence and candour, seeing- into the false foundation of these disputes, quickly put an end to them, by bringing- them to a right understanding of each other's sense, and allowing them to use their own terms without any difference in opinion. And this, says our author, was a more beneficial act of charity to the Church, than all his other daily labours and discourses : it was more honou- rable than all his watchings aad humicubations, and not inferior to his flights and exiles. And therefore he tells his readers, in ushering in the discourse, " That he could not
' Naz. Oral, xxi. dc laud. Athanas. toin. i. p. 3!.>r).
56 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK XVI.
omit the relation without injuring- them, especially at a time when contentions and divisions were in the Church; for this action of his would be an instruction to them, that were then alive, and of great advantage, if they would propound it to their own imitation, since men were prone to divide not only from the impious, but from the orthodox and pious, and that not only about little and contemptible opinions, which ought to make no ditt'erence, but even about words that tended to the same sense, as was evident in the case before them/'' Such was the candour and prudence of wise and good men in labouring to compose the unnecessaiy and verbal disputes of the orthodox, when they unfortunately happened to clash and quarrel without grounds one with another.
And they had some regard likewise to men of honest minds, who, through mere ignorance or infirmity, were en- gag-ed in greater errors. For they made a great distinction between Heresiarchs and their followers; between the guides and the people ; and between such as were born and bred in the Church, and afterward apostatised into heresy, and those that received their errors from the tradition and seduction of their parents. St. Austin' speaking of this lat- ter sort, says, " that they, wh.o defend not a false and per- verse opinion with any pertinacious animosity, especially if they did not by any audacious presumption of their own first invent it, but received it from the seduction of their erring parents, and were careful in their inquiries after truth, being ready to embrace it when they found it ; that they were by no means to be reckoned among heretics." That is, they had not the formality of heresy, which is pride and obstinacy in error ; and therefore a more favourable opinion mioht be conceived of them above others, who first founded heresies, or embraced them afterwards out of some vicious
' Aufif. Ep. 162. ad Episc. Donat. p. 277. Qui sententiam suam, quamvis iatsam atque perversa™, nullfi pertinaci animositate defendunt, prBesertim qiiam noil audaciti praesuiiqitionis suae peperoruiit, scd a seductis atque in • rrorfin lapsis parentihusacccperunl, qua;runt auteiu causfi solicitudinc veri. tati-m, rcrrigi parati cum invcncrint, ncquaquam sunt inter hsprrllcos depu-
*»iA^. l.J CHRISTIAN CMURCH. 57
coiriiptioii t)f" inincl, liaving- a greater reg-ard to their own lusts, and }>leasures of unrighteousness, than any sincere love for trnlii. Tliough such weak and injudicious persons could not be wholly excused from error, or schism, or sin, yet in comparison of others their case was tliouijht capable of some proper allowances: and tiierefore they were neitlier so severely punished in the Church here, nor reputed so great objects of God's displeasure hereafter. For as Salvian' words it, in the ease of some who embraced the Arian heresy, " they erred indeed, but they erred with a good mind ; not out of any hatred to God, V)ut with afiection to him, thinking' thereby to honour and love the Lord. Although they had not the true laitii, yet they imagined this their opinion to be perfect charity towards God. And how they shall be punished for this error of their false opinion in the day of judgment, no one knows but the Judge alone."
Sect. 17. — Of dificront Dogrros of I'nity ; and that no one was esteemed to be in the perfect Unity of the Cliurcli, who was not in full Communion with her.
This occasioned a little distinction sometimes to be made betwen Heresiarchs, or the first authors of heresy, and those that were ignorantly drawn into error by their seducement and delusions, as we shall see more in speaking of the disci- pline and censures of the Church. In the mean time, I ob- serve, that because the Church could not ordinarily judo-e of men's hearts, nor always know the means and motives that engaged them in error or schism, she was forced to proceed commonly by another rule, and judge of their unity with her by their external communion and professions. And because there were several sorts and degrees of unity, as we have seen before, so that a man might be in the communion of the Church in one respect, and out of it in another ; therefore the Church went by this rule, to judge none to be in her
' Salvian. de Gubeinat. Dei. lib. v. ]>. \5i. f]rrant ergo, sed bono aninio errant ; non odio, scd atfectu Dei, honorare so Dominum, at<jup amare cro- dentcs. Qnanivis noti habeant reotam (idem, illi tamen hoc perfectam Dei asstimnnt charitatem. Qiialiter pro hoc ipso falsrs opinionis cnorc in die judicii punicndi sunt, nullns potcsl scire nisi judex.
58 THE ANTIQIHTIKS OF TlIK [bOOK XVI.
perfect unity, but such as were in full communion n itli lior. Upon which account, thoug-h heretics and schismatics and excommunicate persons and profane men were in some sense of the Church, as having* received baptism, which they always retained, and as making- profession of some part ot the Christian faith ; yet because, in other respects they were broken o(F from her, they were not esteemed sound and per- fect members of the body, but looked upon as withered and decayed branches, for want of such unity in other respects, as is necessarily required to denominate a man a real and complete Christian, which is a title allowed to none but such as are in full communion with the Church o Christ. This distinction between total and partial unity, and total and partial schism and separation, is of great use to make a man understand all those sayings of the Ancients, which speak of heretics and schismatics and excommunicato per- sons and profligate sinners, as being' in some measure in and of the Church, at the same time that they were reputed really and truly separated from her. Thus Optatus tells the Donatists.* " that they were divided from the Church in part, not in every respect: for that was the nature of a schism, to be divided in part, not totally cut asunder. And that for very g'ood reason, because both we and you have the same ecclesiastical conversation ; though the minds of men be at variance, the sacraments do not vary. We have all the same faith, we are all signed with the same seal: we are no otherwise baptised than you are, nor otherwise ordained than you are. We all read the same divine Testament, we all pray to the same God. The Lord's prajer is the same with us, as it is with you : but there being a rent made, as was said
' Optat. lib. iii. p. 72. In parte vestis adhuc unum sumus, sed in di versa pcndenuis. Quod onini scissum est, ex parte divisum est, non ex toto con- cisum. Et merito, quia nobis et vobis una est occlesiastica conversalio : et si hominuni litigant mentes, non litigant sacranuMila. Denique possumus etnosdicere, Pares credimus, et uno sigillo signati sumus: nee aliter bap- tizati quam vos. Nee aliter ordinati quam vos. Testanicntum divinum Icgi- niuspariter: unum Deum rogamus. Oralio dominica apud nos tt apud vos una est, sed scissurS (ut supra diximus) factfi, parlibus liinc atcjue indc pcndenlibus, sarlura nercssaria.
CHAI'. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURC!!. .*0
l)ofore,liv tl»t3 parts lianging- this way anrl that way, an union was necessary to restore the whole to its integrity.*' He re- peats this agMin in other' ])Iaces : " both you and we have the same ecclesiastical conversation, the same common les- sons, the same faith, the same sacraments of faith, the same mysteries." And upon this score he frequently tells them they were their brethren still, whether they would or not, " Though the Donatists hate us," says he,'' " and abhor us, and will not be called our brethren, yet we cannot depart from the fear of God : they are without doubt our brethren, I hough not good brethren. Therefore let no one wonder, that I call them brethren, who cannot be otherwise tlian our brethren, seeing* both they and we have one and the same spiritual nativity, though our actions are different from one another." '•' Ye cannot but be our brethren," says he ag-ain^ to them, " whom one mother the Church hath born in the same bowels of her sacraments ; whom one God, as a father, hath received after one and the same manner, as adopted children. We all pray, our Father which art in Heaven: whence you may perceive, that wo are not totally separated from one another, whilst we pray for you willing-- ly, and you pray for us, though against your will. You may hence see, brother Parmenian, that the sacred bonds of brotherhood between us and you, cannot be totally broken asunder." St. Austin always discourses after the same man- ner concerning- this union in part: in many thing's ye are
' Optat. lib. V. p. 84. Denique apud tos et apud nos una est ecclesiastica conversatio, communes lectiones, eadem fides, ipsa fidei sacramenta, eadem uijsteria. * Lib, i. p. 34i. Quaravis nos odio habent, ef execrentur,
ct nolunt se dici fratres nostros ; tamen noS recedcre a timore Dei non pos- sumus. — Sunt igitur sine dubio fratres, quamvis non boni. Quare nemo nii- letur, eos me appellare fratres qui non possunt non esse fratres. Est quidem nobis et illis una spiritualis nativifas, sed diversi sunt actus, &c. So in tlie ('onference of Carthage, die. ill. n. 233. tlie Catholics say, Pro|)ter sacra- menta frater est, sive bonus sive mains. * Optat. lib. iv. p. 77. Non enim non potestis esse fratres. quos iisdem sacramentorum visceribus una mater ecclesia genuit ; quos eodem niodo adoptivos filios Dous Pater excepit. — Videtis nos non in totnm ab invicem esse separatos, dum et nos ])ro vobis oramus volentes; et vos pro nobis oretis, ctsi nolentes. Vides, Iratcr Parmenianu, .sancla germanilalis vincula inter nos ct vos in totuin runipi non posse.
60 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
one* with us, in baptism, in the creed, and the rest of God's sacrament-s." And hence^ he also concludes, " that whether they would or no, they were their brethren, and could not cease to be so, so long- as they continued to say, our Father, and did not renounce their creed and their baptism. For there was no medium between Christians and Pagans, If they retained faith, and baptism, and the common prayer of the Lord, which teaches all men to style God their Father ; so far they were Christians : and as far as they were Chris- tians, so far they were brethren, though turbulant and con- tentious, who would neither keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, nor continue to be united in the Catholic Church with the rest of their brethren."
By all this it is evident, I. that there were different de- g-rees of unity and schism, according" to the proportion of which, a man was said to be more or less united to the Church, or divided from it. 2. That they, who retained faith, and baptism, and the common form of Christian wor- ship, were in those respects one with the Church ; though in other respects, wherein their schism consisted, they were divided from her. So they raig-ht be said to be brethren, and not brethren ; sons of God, and not sons of God ; of the house of God, and not of the house of God; according to the diff'erent acceptations of these terms, and the different proportion and degrees of that unity or schism, whereby they were united to the Church, or separated from her. 3. That to give a man the denomination of a true Catholic Christian, absolutely speaking, it was necessary that he should in all respects, and in every kind of unity be in per- fect and full communion w ith the Church ; that is, in faith, in baptism, in holiness of life, in charity, in worship and all holy offices, and in all the necessary parts of government and discipline: but to denominate a man a schismatic, it was sufficient to break the unity of the Church in any one
' Aug. Ep. 49. ad Vincent, p. 71. In mullis estis nobiscum, in baptismo, in Sinibolo, in ceteris dominicis sacranientis. In spiritu auteni unitatis, et vinculo pacis, in ipsfi denique calholicfi ccclesift. nobiscum non estis. " Aug. in Psal. xxxii. Concion. ii. p. !>1. Velint. nolini, fratics nostri <unf. &c.
CHAl*. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH: 61
respect ; though the malignity of his schism wafl to bo in- terpreted more or less, according to the degrees of tiie sepa- ration that he made frorn her. And by these rules it is easy forany one to understand, what the Ancients meant by unity and schism, and how the discipline of the Church was exer- cised and maintained by obliging men to live in perfect and full communion with her, which I come now more particu- larly to explain and consider.
CHAP. II.
Of the Discipline of the Church, and the xarious Kinds of it, together with the various Methods observed in the Administration of it.
Sect. 1. — That the Discipline of the Church did not consist in cancelling or disannulling any Man's Baptism.
The discipline of the Church beine: intended, as was ob- served before, only to preserve the unity and purity of her own members in one communion, we arc not to look for the exercise of it upon any but such as in some measure made profession of being joined in society with her; which were either baptised persons, or at least candidates of baptism: for she pretended not to exercise discipline upon any others which were without, but such only as were within the pale, in the largest sense, by some act of their own profession. And even upon these she never pretended to exercise her discipline so far, as to cancel or disannul their baptism, so as to oblige them to take a second baptism, if their first was good, in order to be admitted into the Church again, when for any crime they were cast out of it. For even heretics and apostates, who made the greatest breach of Christian unity, were never so far divided from the Church, but that still they retained some distant relation to her by baptism, whose character was indelible, even in the greatest
Vy2 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK XVI.
apostacy that can be imagined, even in the total abjuration of the Christian faith : the obhg-ation of their baptism still lay upon them, and with what severity soever they were treated in their repentance, if ever they returned to the Church again, there is no instance of receiving- them by a second baptism, wliich, if once lawfully given, was for ever after forbidden to be repeated upon any account whatso- ever. I will not stand to prove this here, because I have had occasion once or twice' before to speak largely upon it; but only observe, that it was no part of the discipline of the Church to deny men the original right they had in bap- tism ; and consequently that the most formal casting them out of communion was never intended to signify, that they were mere heathens and pagans, and that they could not be admitted again into the Church without a repetition of their baptism.
Sect. 2. — But in excluding Men from the common Benefits and Piivele^es
consequent to Baptism.
But the discipline of the Church consisted in a power to deprive men of all the benefits and privileges of baptism, by turning them out of the society and communion of the Cliurch, in which these privileg-es were only to be enjoyed; such as joining in public prayer, and receiving the eucha- rist, and other acts of divine worship : and sometimes they were wholly forbidden to enter the church, so much as to hear the Scriptures read, or liear a sermon preached, till they shewed some signs of relenting ; and every one shun- ned and avoided them in common conversation, partly to establish the Church's censures and proceedings against them, and partly to make them ashamed, and partly to secure themselves from the danger of contagion and in- fection.
' Book xii. chap. r. and Scholastical History of Baptism, part ii. chap. vi.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 63
Sect. 3. — This Power oriffinally a mere spiritual Power, thons(Ii in some Cases llie secular Arm was called in to give its Assistance.
Thus far the Church went in her censures by her own natural right and power, but no further: for her power originally was a mere spiritual power; her sword only a spiritual sword, as Cyprian' terms it, to affect the soul, and not the body. Over the bodies of men she pretended no power; no nor yet over their estates, except such as were purely ecclesiastical, and of her own donation, to resume what was her ovvn property and g"ift from such as were con- tumacious and rebellious ag^ainst her censures. In which case she sometimes caved assistance from the secular power, even whilst it was heathen, and more frequently when it was become Christian. Thus when the Council of Antioch had deposed Paulus Samosatensis, and substituted Domnus in his room, but could not remove him by any power of their own from the house belonging to the church, which he still kept possession of, they had re- course to Aurelian, the heathen Emperor, who did them justice upon appeal, ordering* the house to be delivered to those, to whom the bishops of Italy and Rome should write with approbation. " And so," says Eusebius,^ " Paul was cast out of the church with the highest disgrace by the help of the secular power." This was more common after the Emperors where become Christians : for then they could with greater liberty and confidence appeal to them, and beg- their assistance upon such occasions. And then canons where made to authorise such addresses, that the censures of the Church might have their effect and force upon contumacious and obstinate offenders. Such an order was made in the Council of Antioch,^ Anno 341, in the reign of Constantius, " that if a presbyter, who set up a separate
' Cypr. Ep. Ixii. al. iv. ad Pompon, p. 9. Spirituali gladio superbi et contumaces necantur, dum de ecclesifi ejiciuntur. * Euseb.
lib. vli. cap. 30. Mtrd rijc *<''X^''''yC aiaxvvTjg inrt) rijc KOffftiKJjg apx»7f i^tXaliviTai rijc (KKXjjairtQ. ' Con, Antioch. can. v. Et Se
Trapafiivoi SopiijSwj' ic) ava'raruiv ti)v iic/cXi/ffirtv, Sta Tijg t^wSev e5«(T«'af tl»c
C4 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK XVI.
meetlno- ag-ainst his bishop, and VA'as, after admonition, depo- sed for liis crime, still continued obstinately to disturb and subvert the Church, he should be corrected by the external power, that is, the civil mag-istrate, as a seditious person." Such another canon was made in the third Council of Carthag-e,* in the case of oneCresconius, an African bishop, who having" left his own bisliopric, and intruded himself into another, wliere he stayed in spite of all ecclesiastical cen- sures, orders were g-iven to petition the secular magistrate bv his authority to remove him. And this canon was in- serted as a general and standing- rule into the African Code.' Where we have also a like constitution^ against such pres- byters, as set up new bishoprics in the diocese of their own bishop without his consent : they were to be deprived and removed out of such places, as rebels, 'Apx^vrtKy Suvortia, hy the governing poiver of the secular magistrate. And in another canon* mention is made of letters to bo sent from the synod to the magistrates of Africa, to petition them to yield their assistance to their common mother, the Catholic Church, against the Donatists, for as much as the authority of bishops was contemned in every city. This petition is more particularly explained in another canon,* which grants a commission to certain bishops to go as legates in the name of the Church, to the Emperors, Arcadius and Honorius, and complain of the violences offered by the Donatists, who had invaded many of their Churches, and kept them by force ; against which they desired the Emperors to grant them a suitable help by a military guard ; it being no unusual thing, nor against the Scripture, to be protected, as St. Paul was, by a band of soldiers against the conspiracy of insolent and factious men. They requested also, that the Emperors would put in execution the law, which Theodosius their father, of pious memory, had enacted against heretics, whereby every one that ordained, or was ordained by them,
' Con. Carlh. iii. can. 3S. Dignemini dare fiduciain, qua, necessitate ipsa cogentf, liberuin ad proesidi-m regionis adversus ilium accedere, secundum
constitutiouis cl. imperatorum ut secularis magistrafus auctoritate pro-
hibeatur. * Cod. Afric. can. xlix. * Cod. Afric. can. Ut.
♦ Ibid. can. Ixviii. * Cod. Afrip. «?»". vriii. al. <^5,
CHAP. 11.] CHRISTIAN CHLUOII. t'lj
was anicrecd in the sum ul" tiMi pounds of g'old. The law, they reftM- to, is still extant in tlie Thoodosian Code, running- in these terms,* " If proof is made ag-ainst any, who are en- g'ag'ed i:i heretical errors, that they either liavc ordained clerks, or received the office of a clerk, a mulct of ten pounds in g'oid, is hy our order to bo imposed upon them : and the place, in whieli any of these unlawful things were al- tomptcd, if done by the connivance of the owner, shall be confiscated. But if the possessor was ignorant of the mat- ter, then he that rented the farm, if he be a freeman, shall forfeit ten pounds of g'old to the exchequer ; or if he be descended of a servile condition, and cannot bear the penal- ty, then he shall be beaten with rods, and sent into banish- ment." This was that famous penal law of Theodosius against all lieretics in general, so often mentioned by St. Austin, and which he with the rest of the African Fathers desired Honorius to confirm, so as it might specify and affect the Donatists, more particularly such of them, as by open or secret violence made assaults upon tlie Catholic Church. They did not desire, that this penalty should be inflicted indifferently upon all the Donatists, but only such as the Circumcellions and others, who in their mad zeal and fury committed violent outrages against the Catholics: but Honorius extended the penalty to them all, and enforced the old law of Theodosius, his father, by a new law of his own, wherein the Donatists were particularly named as heretics,^ who upon conviction, or confession, were to be fined in the sum of ten pounds of gold, according- to the tenour of the former law. No one better understood either the reasons or the effects of this law than St. Austin, and therefore it cannot be better explained than, as Gothofred does it, in his words. Now he, writing- to Count Boniface, an African magistrate, gives this account of it: " before
' Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. V. de HfEicticis. Icsf. xxi. In harcticis erro- ribus quoscunque constiterit vel ordinftsse clericos", vel suscepisse officium clericoriim, denis libris auri viritim niultandos esse censemus, &c. ' Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. V. leg. 39. Donatistae supeistitionis hajieticos, quocunque loci, vel fatentes, vel convictos, legis tenore servato, pcenam (lebitam absque dilatioup pcrsolvere decerninius.
VOL. VI. F
(id THE ANTiQUlTlKS OF THK [cOOK \Y!.
those laws," says hc,^ '' were sent into Afric, which compel heretics to come in to the Church, some of our brethren, among whom I was one, were of opinion, that although the madness of the Donatists raged every where, yet we should not petition the emperors to forbid any one simply to be of that heresy, by inflicting punishment on all tliat em- braced it; but only desire them to make a law to restrain ?hem from oft'ering violence to any, that either preached or held the Catliolic faith. Which we thought might in some measure be done after this manner: if the law of Theodosius of pious men ory, which he had promulged against all here- tics in general, that whoe\er was found to be a bishop or clerk, any where among them, should forfeit ten pounds in gold, were more expressly couMrmed ag^iinst the Dona- tists, who denied themselves to be heretics, in such a man- ner, as that the penalty should not be inflicted upon them all, but only upon such, in whose regions the Catholic Church suffered violence from their clergy, or the Circumcellions, or their people, so as after the protestation of the Catholics, who suffered from them, the magistrates should compel their bishops or ministers to pay the fine. For so we thought, that by this means they might be terrified from daring any such attempts, and the Catholic truth might be taught and held freely, so as no one should be compelled to it, but every one, that would, might embrace it without fear, and we should have no false or counterfeit Catholics. And though others of our brethren were of a different opinion, who by tlicir age had greater experience, and could plead the example of many cities and places, where we saw the Catholic Church firmly and truly settled, which yet was there settled by such kind methods of divine Providence, whilst men were compelled by the laws of former emperors
' Aug. Ep. 1. .1(1 Boiiifac. p. 84. Antequ;\m istic leges, quibus tid convi- vium sanctum coguutur intrare, in Africam inittercntur, nonnuUis fratribus in quibus ct ego erara, quamvis Donatistaruni rabies usqnequaque soiviret, Tidebatur non esse petendura ab imperatoribus, ut ipsam haeresin jnberent omnino non esse puenam oonstituendo eis, qui in illS esse voluissent, sed hoc potius constitueient, ut eoiiim furiosas violentias non paterentur qui ve- ritntew cathollcam vel prsedicarent loquendo, vel legerent conslituendo. &c.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN OHIJRCM. »;7
to como in to the Catholic coininunion, yet notvvitlistanding- this we prevailed, that our petition should be presented to the Emperors in the foresaid form. And thereupon a decree was drawn up in council, and our legates were dispatched to court. But ihe greater mercy of God, who better knew Iiow necessary the terror of such laws, and a little medicinal trouble is, for the wicked or cold hearts of many men, and for that hardness of mind, which cannot be corrected by words, but may by a little severity of discipline, so ordered the matter, tliat our legates could not obtain the thing- they had undertaken. For before they could get to court to pre- sent our petition, several grievous complaints had been made by the bisliops of other places, who had suffered ex- tremely from the Donatisls, and were driven from tlseir sees by them : especially the horrible and incredible murder of Ma.ximian, the Catholic bishop of Vaga, made it impossible for our embassy to succeed. For now a law was already promulg'ed against the barbarous Donatist heresy, the very sparing" which seemed more cruel than the cruelty which themselves exercised, that not only its violence, but its very- being- should not be tolerated or suffered to go unpunished. Yet to observe Christian meekness, even toward the un- worthy, the penalty proposed was not death, but only a pe- cuniary mulct, and banishment for the bishops and minis- ters." Then relating- particularly the barbarous usag-e of Maximian, and their unparalleled cruelty towards him, he adds, " that the Emperor being well apprised of these facts, in his g-reat piety and concern for religion, chose rather uni- versally to correct that impious error by wholesome laws, and reduce those, who carried the badge of Christ ag-ainst Christ, to Catholic unity by terror and punishment, than barely to take from them the liberty of exercising- their cruelty, and leave them at liberty to err and perish." Ho observes further, " that as soon as ever these laws appeared in Afric, they wrought wonderful effects upon the minds of men : for immediately all such as waited only for a pro- per occasion, or were kept back merely by the dread of the cruelty of those frantic men, or were afraid to offend their relations, came over at once to the Catholic Church. Many
F 2
C*^ TIIK ANTIQUITIES OF THK [boOK XVI.
also, who were detained in schism merely by the custom they had been trained up to by their parents, but had never spent a thought about the grounds and reasons of their error, nor would consider or make any inquiry into the merits of the cause ; when once they began to consider it, and found nothing* in it worth suffering so great loss, they without any ditiiculty became Catholic Christians. For a concern for their own safety brought them to understanding-, who before were grown negligent by securily. Many also, who were less capable of understanding and judging by themselves, what was the difference between the error of the Donatists and the Catholic truth, were induced to follow the authority and persuasion of so many examples going* before them. So the true mother received great multitudes of people into her bosom ag'ain rejoicing, and only an har- dened company remained obstinate by their unhappy ani- mosity in that pernicious ^vay• And many of these also communicated with the Church by a sort of dissin^ulation : but they, who at first dissembled, afterwards by degrees accustomins" themselves to the way of the Church, and liearing the preaching of truth, especially after tlie confe- rence and disputation which was held between their bishops and us at Carthage, did at last for the rnjst part correct their errors also."
This is the account which St. Austin gives both of the reasons and effects of this penal law, which he frequently* mentions in other places, carefully collected by Gothofred, but needless here to be recited. I only observe these few things upon the whole matter. 1. That though it was no part of the Church's discipline to use any mnnner of force to give effect to her censures ; yet in case of obstinate opposition and contempt *he did not think it unlawful to lake the assistance of the secular power. 2. That in case of violence offered to the Church or any of her ministers or her members, there was still more reason to petition for defence ag-ainst them. 3. That it was generally thought
' Aug. Ep.68. adJanuar. Doiiatist. Ep. 166. ad Donatistas. Ep. 173. ad Crispinum DonalUt. Cont. Crescon. lib. iii. cap. 47. Cont. Liter. Petilian- lib. ii. «ap. 83.
CHAI'. U.] CHRISTIAN OHUUOlf. () J
useful to inflict some luotJerate tcmpoiul punishrnoiifs upun obstinate heretics, and scliismatics, and other olienders, (with a liberty of indulg^ing-, and remitting- the penalty, as prudence directed,) in order tobrino-themto consider and ex- amine the grounds of truth and error, and humble them by repentance, and restore them to the communion of the Church from whence thev Avere fallen.
Sbct. 4. — This Assistance never required to proceed so far, as, for mere Error, to take away Life, or shed Blood.
But then it is also to be considered, that the Church never encourag-ed any mag-istrate to proceed further in her behalf against any one for any mere error, or ecclesiastical misdemeanour, than to punish the delinquent with a pecu- niary mulct, or bodily punishment short of death, such as confiscation or banishment, unless it were in case of capi- tal crimes, and of a civil nature, which fell directly under the cognizance of the civil magistrate, as treason or rebel- lion, which the imperial laws punished with death. There are indeed some laws in the I'heodosian Code, which order heretics to be prosecuted with capital punishments. Theo- dosius,^ made a decree against some of the Manichees, which went by the name of encratites^ saccopkori, and hydroparastatce, that they should be punished with death, at the same time that the solitarii, another sect among them, should only suffer confiscation. And Honorius re- newed the same law against them.^ And in two other laws he ordered the Donatists, in Afiic to be put to death,^ if they held any public conventicles to the prejudice of the Catholic faith, revoking all tolerations that had been granted them before. But as these laws were very rare, so they
' Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 5. de Haereticis. leg. ix. Suninio supplicio ct inexplicabili poena jubemus affligi. * Cod. Theod. lib. xvi.
tit. o. de IIa;ret. leg. 35. ' Ibid. leg. 51. Oraculo penitus
remoto, quo ad rifus suos hsereticse superstitiones obrepserant, sciant onines aanctae Icgis inimici plectendos se pcenft proscriptioiiis et sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum, excerandti sceleris siii lenieritate temptHV''iiiU . An. ilO. Vid. ibid. Ic-. .5fi.
70 THL: ANTIQUITIKS OK THIi [iJOOK XVI.
may be supposed to be made upon some pavticular provo- cation of then* enormities, such as the Manichees were g"uilty of; or their barbarous outrag-es committed against the Catholics, such as the Circumcellions among" the Dona- tists every where stand charged with. Then again, it was as rare to find these laws at anytime put in execution ag'ainst them. F'or we scarce find an instance before Priscillian of any heretic suffering" death barely for his opinion. Sozo- men, speaking" of this law of Theodosius, says,* it was made more for terror, than execution. And Chrysostom at the same time delivered his opinion freely, that the tares were not thus to be rooted out:^ for if heretics were to be put to death, there would be nothing' but eternal war in the world. Christ does not prohibit us to restrain heretics, to stop their mouths, to cut off their liberty, and their meeting's, and their conspiracies, but only to kill and slay them. St. Austin seems not to have known any thing' of this law of Theodosius; and for those of Honorius, they were not yet enacted against the Donatists, when he wrote against them. Therefore writing, frequently to the African magis- trates, he tells them, the law g'ave them no power to put any Donatist to death. Thus in his letter, to Dulcitius, the tribune,^ " You," says he, " have not received the power of the sword against them by any laws, neither by any impe- rial injunctions, which you are obliged to execute, are you commanded to put them to death." So he tells Petilian, the Donatist bishop, " that God had so ordered the matter in his providence, having- the hearts of kings in his hand, that though the emperor had made many laws to admonish and correct them,* yet there was no imperial law which commanded them to be put to death. The judges indeed had power to punish malefactors with death, as murderers,
' Sozom. lib. vii. c. \2. ^ Chrys. Horn, xlvii. in Mat. p. 422. Ov yap
Sti uvaipnv u'iixtikov twfi iroXtfioQ aanovloQ i'lQ Tt)v oiKHfitvijv tfitWiv ilaayiaGai. &c. * AiiE^. Ep. (il . atl Dulcitiam. Noii tu in eos jus pladii ul- lis legibus accoptisti, aut iin])t'rialibus constilutis, qiuirum tibi injiincla est execulio, hoc prfficcptiiin est, ut necenlur. * Auji:. cont. literas Petiliani. lib.ii. cap. 8;^. Multas ad vos conimonendos et coiripiendos Icares ipse con- stituit: nulla lamen lex rcgia vos jussit occidi.
OIIAl'. II.] CHRISTIAN ClUKCIl 71
and fho like ; atitl so porliaps some of tlio Doimtisfs luiglit Ruder ; but that was not for their opinion barely. Ami even in that case, when it was tlie cause of the Church, the Ca- tholic bishops commonly interceded for them, that the deaths of their martyrs rni<iht not be revenjicd with blood." " For no g-ood men in the Catholic Church," says St. Austin,' " are pleased to have any one, although he be an heretic, prosecuted unto death," Therefore writing" to one Donatus, a proconsul in Afric, he tells hirn,'^ " they desired that the terror of judges and laws might correct them, so as to preserve them from the punishment of eternal judg- ment, but not kill them ; that discipline might not be ne- glected toward them, and yet that they might not undergo the punishment whicli they really deserved. Therefore punish their crimes in such manner, as that the authors may continue in being, to repent of them. We beseech you, when any cause of the Church comes before you, although you know the Church to be assaulted and afflicted by their injurious villanies, yet then forg-et that you have the power of killing, and do not forget our petition. Let it not seem vile and contemptible in your eyes, that we, who pray to God to correct them, intercede with you not to kill them. Let your prudence also consider this, that no one besides ecclesiastics is concerned to brinfr ecclesiastical causes before you; so that if you should resolve to put such cri- minals to death, who are accused of acting wickedly against the Church, you will deter us from bringing- any more such actions before your tribunal : and that will make them more licentious, and daringly bold to assault us, and work our ruin, when they know we are under such a necessity, to chuse rather to be slain by them, than bring* them to be slain before your tribunals," He pleads after the same
' Cont. Crescon. lib. iii. cap, 50. NuUis tamcn bonis in catholica hoc placet, si usque ad luortem in quenquain, licet ha;reticuni, sicviatur. * Aug. Ep. 127, ad Donat. Ex occasibne terribilinni judicum ac leguin ne in aaterni judicii pocnas incidant, corrigi eos cupinius, non necari ; mc disciplinam circa cos ncijligri vohuuus, ncc siippliciis quibus digni sunt cxerceri, &c.
72 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THK [BOOK XVI.
manner in anoth(3r Letter, to Marccllinus,* the tribune, in behalf of some Donatist?:, who confessed themselves guilty of murderinii- some of the Catholic clerw-v. " T beseech you,'' says he, " let their punishment be short of death, though their crimes be so great, both for our conscience sake, and to commend the lenity and meekness of the Catholic Church." A little after he intreats him to inter- cede in his name to the proconsul for them. " I hear it is in the power of the judge to mollify the rig-our of the law in giving- sentence, and to use greater mildness in punish- ing th.au the laws command. But if he will not at my re- quest consent to this, let him however grant me this favour, to keep them in prison till I can send to the emperor, and obtain of his clemency,'^ that the passions or martyrdoms of the servants of God, which ought to be g-lorious in the Church, be not stained and defiled with the blood of their enemies." He urges the same argument in his next Letter to this Marcellinus with greater earnestness, conjuring him by all that is sacred, not to proceed to the utmost extre- mity against some Circumcellions and Donatist clergy, who were convicted of murdering- two of his presbyters belong- ing- to the Church of Hippo, after having' first barbarously struck out an eye, and cut oft' the finger of one of them. " I am under the g-realest concern imaginable," says he, '' lest your highness should decree their puni^^hmont by the utmost severity of the law, to make them sutfer the same things' that they have done. Therefore I beseech you in these letters by the faith which you have in Christ, by the mercy of the Lord Jesus, that you neither do this, nor sutler it to be done. F'or though we miaht excuse ourselves from their death, forasmuch as it was not by any accusation of ours.
' Aupf. Ep. 15S. ad Marcellin. Pofiia sane illorum, quamvls dc tantis sccU-ribus confi'ssorum, rogo te ut pnetpr supplicium mortis sit et propter conscicntiaiu nostrani, ct propter catholic-am inaiisiictiuiinein commciulandam. - Ibid. Hoc dc cleincntifi iniperatoris inipetrare curabiuius, ne passiones scrvoruin Dei, qua; debenl esse in ecclesifi gloriosse, ininiicoriini sanguine (lihonestentur. ' -'^I'g'. Ep- ''^9- Sollicitudo niihi maxima
inciissa est, ne forte siibliniitas tiia censcat, eos tanta Ugnin severitate plec- 'entlos, lit qualia fecerunt, taiia patiantur. — Nolumns passiones servorum Dfi quasi vice lalioni:' paribus suppliciis vindicnri.
r.lWV. 11.] CHRISTIAN CHUKCH. 73
but by tlio information of those who have the caro of pre- serving- the piiltlic pence, that they were broii<^ht in ques- tion ; yet we would not have the passions of tlie servants of God be revenged with the hke punishments, as it were by wav of retaliation. Not that we are n<>:ainst dcnriviiiir wicked men of the liberty of committing* such villanous actions, but because we rather think it siifliclont, without either killing them, or maiming them in any part of their body, to bring' them by coercion of the laws, from these mad and turbulent practices, to live peaceably and soberly, or at least instead of these wicked works, to engage them in some useful employment." He yet again more pathetically urges the same matter to one Apringius, another African judge,' in these very affectionate and moving" terms, pleading for mercy toward the same Circumccllions. " I am afraid lest they, who have committed this murder, should be sentenced to death by your power. That this may not be done, I that am a Christian, beseech you the judge, I that am a bi- shop exhort you that are a Christian. 1 know the Apostle says, Ye bear not the sword in vain, but are ministers of God to execute wrath upon them that do evil. But the cause of the State is one thing, and the cause of the Church another. The administration of that (the State) is to be carried on by terror, Vjut the meekness of the Church is to be commended by her clemency." Then using- several ar- guments, he adds a little after, " If nothing short of death could be imposed upon them, for our part we had rather they should be set at liberty, than that the passions of our brethren should be revenged by shedding the blood of their enemies. But now since there is room both to shew the gentleness of the Church, and also to restrain the au- daciousness of the cruel, why should you not incline to the more provident side and milder sentence, which judges have liberty to do even in causes where the Church is not concerned? Therefore stand in awe with us of the judgment of God the Father, and demonstrate the clemency of the Church your mother. For what you do, the Church does
' Aujj. Ep. IHO. art Apringium.
74 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THK [BOOK XVI.
for whose sake you do it, and whose you are that do it. Therefore contend and vie g-oodness with the evil. They by monstrous inhumanity and wickedness tear cfFthe m.em- bers from the Uving- body : do you in mercy cause their members, which were exercised in such barbarous works, to remain whole and untouched in them, that they may henceforth serve to work at some useful labour. They spared not the servants of God preaching- reformation to them, but do you spare them that have been apprehended in their crimes, spare them that have been presented to your examination, spare them that have been convicted be- fore you. They with the sword of unrighteousness shed Christian blood : do you withhold even the lawful SAVord of judcment from beino- imbrued in their blood. Thev slew the minister of the Church, and thereby deprived him of the time of livino" •' do vou let the enemies of the Church live, and thereby grant them a time of repenting*. Thus it be- comes a Christian judge to act in the cause of the Church, at our request, at our admonition, at our intercession. Other men are wont to appeal from the mildness of the sentence, when their enemies are too favourably dealt with upon conviction : but we so love our enemies, that if we did not presume upon your Christian obedience, we should appeal from the severity of your sentence."
After this manner St. Austin always pleads for favour to be shewn to the Donatists, that they should not be prose- cuted unto blood, in the cause of the Church, thouirh it were for a capital crime, which in a civil case would infal- libly have been punished with death without redemption. And certainly they, who were so tender of their enemies' lives, when they were guilty of such flagrant crimes of violent outrages against the Church, could never think it lawful to sentence them to death for mere error in opinion. And th(;reforo, though Honorius made some such laws, after St. Austin had written all this; yet we never Hnd the Church approved them, or desired they should be put in execution : but on the contrary always stood firm to her own character, which wc have heard before in the words of St. Austin: that is, that no g"ood men in the Catholic Church ^^ore pleased \\\\\\ havin;;- heretic^ prosecuted
0HA1'. 11. ] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 7.";
unto doatli. Lesser punishments, they thoug-lit, mig-ht have their use, as means sometimes to bring them to consideration and repentance : but to take away their lives was to deprive them at once of all means and opportunity of repenting. Besides that it was invidious to the Church, and rather a confirmation to heresy : for such as were shvin, were always reckoned martyrs \)y their party. Thus the Donatists honoured their Circnmceilions, which were slain in the encounter with Macarius, whom the Emperor Constans sent into Afric in a peaceable manner to scatter his gifts among- them, and try to reduce them to unity by his kindness : they were the ag-g-ressors, and forced him to require aid of the governors to defend himself against their assaults, a nd yet those, that were slain in such necessa- ry defence, were by them reputed martyrs and the Catholics were nick-named Macarians, and these called the Macarian days, that is, in their language, days of persecution. And in answer to this, Optatus was forced to tell them, first, that the fact was false : no violence w^as used toward them ; there was no terror in the first desig'n ; they neither felt rod nor imprisonment ; but only exhortations to peace.* And secondly, if any violence was offered to them, they called it upon themselves by their own insolency, obliging- the emperor's officer or almoner to defend himself ag'ainst the rude insults of the Circnmceilions. Meanwhile whatever happened, was neither done by the desire, nor the counsel, nor the knowledge, nor the concurrence of the Church. A like instance happened in the case of the Priscillianists. Priscillian and some of his accomplices, were by Maximus the Emperor, at the instigation of Ithacius, a fierce and sanguinary bishop, sentenced unto death. This gave occa- sion to the followers of Priscillian to triumph in the sufferings of their leader. For as Sulpicius Severus observes,^ his
' Optat. lib. iii. p. 62. Nullus erat primitus terror. Nemo vidcrat vir- gam; nemo ciistodiam : sola fuerant hortamenta. &c. Et tamen horum om- nium nihil acUun est cum vote nostro, nihil cum consilio, nihil cum consci- cntia, nihil cum opere.
' Sever. Hist. lib. ii. p. 1-20. Priscilliano occiso, non solum non repres- sa est Hsercsis, quae illo authore proruperal, sed confirmatn, latius propa-
76 THE ANTIQUITIKS OF THK [bOOK XVI.
death was so far from suppressing the heresy, that it g-ave confirmation to it, and rnado it spread further than other- wise it would have done. For his followers, who before honoured him as a saint, afterwards began to reverence him as a martyr. The thing was utterly displeasing to all good men, who were interested and attached to the Ithacian party, St. Martin, bishop of Tours, not only rebuked Ithacius for his over zealous prosecution,* but interceded with Maximus the Emperor to abstain from shedding their blood, telling him, it was enough to expel heretics from their Churches, after they were once condemned by the episcopal judgment : and he obtained a promise of Maximus, not to decree any thing against their lives. From which when he departed by the persuasicn of others, and condemned them to death, St. Martin, would never after be induced to communicate with those sanguinary men, save once in a small matter, of which he also repented, and continued his aversion to them all his days, as the same historian informs us.* Now from all this it is plain, that whatever flxvour or assistance the ancient Church required of the civil magistrates, to back her discipline with, against heretics or other delinquents, she never desired them to unsheath the sword in her cause, or punish them with death ; but always interposed in their behalf, that they might have the favour to live and repent, if ever any sanguinary laws, which were very rare, and no- ways encouraged or approved by the Church, were made against them. The discipline of fire and faggot, and inqui- sitions, and a thousand othertorturos, which under pretence of mercy has spilt so much Christian blood, are inventions of later ages, and more corrupt and degenerate times, when men had forgot the spirit of Christianity, and the character of our blessed Lord, who " came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
gata est. Nam(|ue setcatores ejus, qui eum priiis ut sanctum honoraverant, postea ut martyreni colcre coeperunt.
' Sever. Hist. lib. ii. p. 119. Xon desinebat increpare Ilhacium, ut ab accusationedesisteret : Alaximuin oiaie, ut sansruine infeliciuin abslineret : .satis .superque sufficeic, ut rpiscopali scntcntifl. hseretici judicati pccleniis pelleronlur, ^r. ' Sever, dial. iii. n. 15.
CHAP. 11. J CHRISTIAN CHLIKCH. 77
Sect. 6. — The Discipline of the Church deprived m) Man of his natural or civil Rights ; much less the Magislrati' of his Power, or AUpgiance due to him.
It was no part of the ancient discipline to deprive men of their naturul or civil rio'hts. A master did not Ios.e his natural authority over his family, nor a parent over his chil- dren, by losing- the privileg'es of Christian communion. A judg-e did not lose his office or charg-e in the state, by being- cast out of the Church. For many such enjoyed their power andjurisdiction under Constantius and other heretical princes, notwithstanding" the Church's censure. Though now it is the common doctrine of the Romish Church, as Cardinal Tolet^ delivers it for the instruction of priests, that an ex- communicated person cannot exercise any act of jurisdiction without sin ; nay, and if his excommunication be made public, all his sentences are null and of no efl'ect. This rule is desig-ned ag'ainst sovereign powers, to weaken the hands of princes by displacing- their officers, under pretence of excommunication. But the Church of Rome goes further and puts it in the power of the Pope to lay princes under the highest excommunication or anathema, and then by virtue of that to depose them from their thrones, and absolve subjects from their allegiance, and dispose of their king- doms to whom they think fit. Of which practice there is not the least footstep in all the discipline of the primitive Church for many ages, nor scarce any unquestionable in- stance of such an attempt before the time of Pope Hllde- brand, or Gregory VII. (from whom this doctrine is called the Hlldebrandin doctrine,) as some of their own historians ing'enuously confess. " I have read over and over again," says Oiho Frisingensis,^ a noble German bishop, " the
' Tolet. de Instruct. Sacerdot. lib. i. cap. iii. Excoinmunicalus non potest exercere actum jurisdictionis absque peccato : imo si publica est ex- communicatio facta, scntentite nulljc sunt. Vid. du Moulin's Buckler of Faith, p. 370. Et Decretal. Gregor. lib. ii. tit. xxvii. de sententia el Re Judic. cap. xxiv. * Olho Frising. lib. vi. cap. 35. Lei^o et re-
lego Romanorum regum etimperatorura gesta, et nusquam invenio quenquam eorura ante hunc k Romano pontifice excommunicatum, vel regno privatum.
78 TUli: ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK XVI.
records of the Roman kings and emperors, and f no where find that any of them before this was excommunicated, or deprived of his kingdom by the bisliop of Rome ; unless any one think fit to call that anathematizing, when Philip, the Emperor, was placed among* the penitents for a little time by the