mm m ■ IM 2)3 \ WT3 Columbia (HntUersitp in tfje Cttp of Jfjeto §9orfe LIBRARY A COL.COLL. HISTORY r> -p viTV OF V IS YO'V' it. THE CHURCH FROM Cfte (Earliest 9fges TO THE REFORMATION. BY THE REV. GEORGE WADDINGTON, Vicar of Masham, and Prebendary of Chichester. PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. SECOND EDITION, REVISED: IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: BALDWIN AND CRADOCK, PATERNOSTER-ROW. '*T LONDON : Trinted by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street. *}t> \ PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. I have availed myself of the opportunity now afforded me to make some considerable additions to the First Part of this History ; and have so enlarged the First, Second, Third, and Fifth Chapters, as to em- brace all that seems most important in the much- controverted records of the Antenicene Church. My deepest consideration they had long ago received ; only I thought it then sufficient to present little more than the 'general results of my researches, and com- pressed several particulars which will be found more amply treated in the present edition. In the Thir- teenth Chapter, which is for the most part a retrospect of the earliest annals of the Church, I have inserted a short account of the probable character and sources of the original Liturgies, compiled from a learned work, not, I think, in existence when that chapter was published. Several remarks, before interspersed through the notes, will now be found incorporated in the text. The general Index has been much enlarged; and at the end of the Second Volume I have placed a tabular Appendix of a great number of Councils, important in their day, which are slightly, or not at a2 i IV PREFACE. all noticed in the body of the work. To detail their proceedings and digest their decrees would alone be the labour of a life ; but even the scanty selections which I have made will serve to instruct the reader in some particulars not elsewhere presented to him, and at the same time to illustrate the general course and ever-varying aspect of ecclesiastical history. I have been sorry to observe that the account which I have published, and to which I still adhere, of the original constitution of the Church, has given offence to some respectable sectarians ; and those gentlemen will learn, perhaps with surprise, that the same account has equally disappointed the views of some learned and zealous divines within the Church. Thus doubly unfortunate, I can only seek consolation, under the dissatisfaction of the one party, in the oppo- site murmurs of the other : secure in the reflection, that, in our common liability to error, the more mode- rate generally proves the wiser judgment; and that extreme opinions seldom long survive the controversies which have given them birth. Such errors as I have discovered in the revisal of the work have been anxiously removed. To the friendly suggestions that have been made to me by others, I have applied, with advantage and gratitude, my most careful consideration. Yet is it a harder task than some imagine to thread the entangled paths of ecclesiastical contention. It is not enough to possess an earnest desire to arrive at just conclusions, PREFACE. nor to apply to the solution of disputed questions the most unwearied industry, the keenest sagacity, the finest criticism, unless the mind be previously pre- pared for the office by a process of moral discipline to which few can bring themselves to submit. And however eagerly we may set out in pursuit of truth, we can scarcely hope to overtake it, unless we shall first acquire the mastery over our passions and our prejudices — unless we shall learn to suspect every bias that birth, or education, or profession, or any other accident may have given us — unless we shall wash away from our inmost bosoms the faintest speck of sectarian animosity — unless, in short, we shall put away from us our own particular opinions, or insti- tutions, or interests, and forget them in the subjects that we have undertaken to investigate. He that shall attain this temper, and to a modest respect for the opi- nions of others shall add a perfect fearlessness in the expression of his own, may still fail indeed through defect of talents or lack of learning; but he will at least escape the reproach of that narrow spirit of party, which degrades history into mere advocacy — which disqualifies the mind for any bold inquiry — which precludes any enlarged views or generous prin- ciples, and leads even those who least intend it into perpetual misrepresentation. To mark the deviations from the precepts of the Gospel, and from the principles which lead to human happiness ; to denounce the bigot and the hypocrite yi PREFACE. who have filled the world with discord in the name of the Prince of Peace ; to expose the frauds by which the mass of mankind has been deceived and degraded, for the profit of the few who have done the wrong ; to honour and extol the men who have contended with these iniquities, who have laboured to restore a purer system, and have practised the law of concord and charity which they professed ; — such is the proper office of the Historian of the Church of Christ. And he, who would discharge it worthily, must not only love mankind and feel a general concern in the in- terests of all his fellow-creatures ; but he must love his Redeemer likewise, and be filled with the sincere spirit of that Religion, which, in its natural operation upon mankind, is the simple revelation of philan- thropy. G. W. Masham, April, 1835. INTRODUCTION. An attempt to compress even into three moderate volumes the ecclesiastical history of fifteen centuries requires some previous explanation, lest any should imagine that this undertaking has heen entered upon rashly, and without due consideration of its difficulty. This is not the case ; I am not blind to the various and even opposite dangers which beset it; and least of all am I insensible to the peculiar and most solemn importance of the subject. But I approach it with deliberation as well as reverence, willing to consecrate to God's service the fruits of an insufficient, but not careless diligence, and also trusting, by His divine aid, to preserve the straight path which leads through truth unto wisdom. The principles by which I have been guided require no pre- face ; they will readily develop themselves, as they are the simplest in human nature. But, respecting the general plan which has been followed in the conduct of this work, a kw words appear to be necessary. In the first place I have aban- doned the method of division by centuries, which has too long perplexed ecclesiastical history, and have endeavoured to re- gulate the partition by the dependence of connected events, and the momentous revolutions which have arisen from it. It is one advantage in this plan, that it has very frequently enabled me to collect under one head, to digest by a single effort, and present, in one uninterrupted view, materials bear- ing in reality upon the same point, but which, by the more usual method, are separated and distracted. It is impossible to ascertain the proportions or to estimate the real weight of any single subject amidst the events which surround it — it is impossible to draw from it those sober and applicable conclu- sions which alone distinguish history from romance, unless we Vlll INTRODUCTION. bring the corresponding portions into contact, in spite of the interval which time may have thrown between them : for time has scattered his lessons over the records of humanity with a profuse but careless hand, and both the diligence and the judg- ment of man must be exercised to collect and arrange them, so as to extract from their combined qualities the true odour of wisdom. It is another advantage in the method which I have adopted, that it affords greater facility to bring into relief and illus- trate matters which are really important and have had lasting effects : since it is chiefly by fixing attention and awakening re- flection on those great phenomena which have not only stamped a character on the age to which they belong, but have in- fluenced the conduct and happiness of after ages, that history asserts her prerogative above a journal or an index; not per- mitting thought to be dispersed nor memory wasted upon a minute narration of detached incidents and transient and incon- sequential details. And, in this matter, I admit that my judgment has been very freely exercised in proportioning the degree of notice to the permanent weight and magnitude of events. As regards the treatment of particular branches of this sub- ject, all readers are aware how zealously the facts of ecclesi- astical history have been disputed, and how frequently those differences have been occasioned or widened by the peculiar opinions of the disputants. Respecting the former, it is suffi- cient to say that the limits of this work obviously prevent the author from pursuing and unfolding all the intricate perplexi- ties of critical controversy. 1 have, therefore, generally con- tented myself, in questions of ordinary moment, with following, sometimes even without comment, what has appeared to me to be the more probable conclusion, and of signifying it as pro- bable only. Respecting the latter, I have found it the most difficult, as it was certainly among the weightiest of my duties, to trace the opinions which have divided Christians in every age regarding matters of high import both in doctrine and disci- pline. But. it seems needless to say that I have scarcely, in any case, entered into the arguments by which those opinions have INTRODUCTION. ix been contested. It is no easy task, through hostile misrepre- sentation, and the more dangerous distortions of friendly enthu- siasm, to penetrate their real character, and delineate their true history. For the demonstration of their reasonableness or absurdity I must, refer to the voluminous writings consecrated to their explanation. This history, extending to the beginning of the Reformation, will be divided into five Parts or Periods. The first will termi- nate with the accession of Constantine. It will trace the pro- pagation of Christianity ; it will comprehend the persecutions which afflicted, the heresies which disturbed, the abuses which stained the early Church, and describe its final triumph over external hostility. The second will carry us through the a^e of Charlemagne. We shall watch the fall of the Polytheistic system of Greece and Rome ; we shall examine with painful interest the controversies which distracted the Church, and which were not suspended even while the scourge from Arabia was hanging over it; and that especially by which the East was finally alienated from Rome. In the West, we shall observe the influx of the Northern barbarians, and the gradual conquest accomplished by our religion over a second form of Paganism. We shall notice the influence of feudal institutions on the cha- racter of that Church, the commencement of its temporal autho- rity, and its increasing corruption. Our third period will con- duct us to the death of Gregory VII. And here I must ob- serve, that, from the eighth century downwards, our attention will, for the most part, be occupied by the Church of Rome, and follow the fluctuations of its history. About 270 years compose this period — the most curious, though by no means the most celebrated, in the papal annals. From the founda- tions established by Charlemagne, the amazing pretensions of that See gradually grew up ; in despite of the crimes and dis- asters of the tenth century, they made progress durino- those gloomy ages, and finally received development and consistency from the extraordinary genius of Gregory. Charlemagne left behind him the rudiments of the system, without any foresight of the strange character which it was destined to assume ; Gre- gory grasped the materials which he found lying before him, and X INTRODUCTION. put them together with a giant's hand, and bequeathed the mighty spiritual edifice, to be enlarged and defended by his successors. The fourth part will describe the conduct of those successors, as far as the death of Boniface VIII., and the re- moval of the seat of government to Avignon. This is the era of papal extravagance and exultation. It was during this space (of about 220 years) that all the energies of the system were in full action and exhibited the extent of good and evil of which it was capable. It was then especially that the spirit of Mona- chism burst its ancient boundaries, and threatened to quench the reviving sparks of knowledge, and to repel the advancing tide of reason. The concussion was indeed fearful; the face of religion was again darkened by the blood of her martyrs, and the rage of bigotry was found to be more destructive than the malice of Paganism. The last division will follow the de- cline of papal power, and the general decay of papal principles ; and in this more grateful office, it will be my most diligent, per- haps most profitable, task, to examine the various attempts which were made by the Roman Church to reform and regene- rate itself, and to observe the perverse infatuation by which they were thwarted ; until the motives and habits which attached men to their ancestral superstitions at length gave way, and the ban- ners of reason were openly unfurled in holy allegiance to the Gospel of Christ. There is a sober disposition to religious moderation and warm but dispassionate piety, with which the book of Ecclesiastical History must ever inspire the minds of those, who approach it without prejudice, and meditate on it calmly and thoughtfully. May some portion of that spirit be communicated to the readers of the following pages ! May they learn to distinguish the substance of Christianity from its corruptions — to perceive that the religion is not contaminated by the errors or crimes of its professors and ministers, and that all the evils, which have ever been inflicted upon the world in the name of Christ, have invariably proceeded from its abuse ! The vain appendages, which man has superadded to the truth of God, as they are human so are they perishable ; some have fallen, and all will gradually fall, by their own weight and weakness. INTRODUCTION. Xl This reflection will serve, perhaps, to allay certain appre- hensions. From the multitude of others, which suggest them- selves, I shall select one only. The readers of this work will observe, from the experience of every age of Christianity, that, through the failings and variety of our nature, diversity in religious opinion is inseparable from religious belief; they will observe the fruitlessness of every forcible attempt to repress it ; and they will also remark, that it has seldom proved dan- gerous to the happiness of society, unless when civil authority has interfered to restrain it. The moral effect of this erreat historical lesson can be one only — uncontentious, unlimited moderation — a temperate zeal to soften the diversities, which we cannot possibly prevent — a fervent disposition to conciliate the passions, where we fail to convince the reason ; to exercise that forbearance, which we surely require ourselves ; and con- stantly to bear in mind that, in our common pursuit of the same eternal object, we are alike impeded by the same human and irremediable imperfections. George Waddington. Trinity College, Cambridge. CONTENTS 01' VOLUME THE FIRST. Preface to the Second Edition . . . . . iii Introduction . . . . . . . . vii PART I. FROM THE TIMES OF THE APOSTLES TO THE ACCESSION OF CONSTANTINE. Chapter I. — The Propagation of Christianity . Method of treating the subject. I. Church of Jerusalem — Its earliest members — Death of St. James — Succession of Symeon — Destruction of the city by Titus — Secession to Pella — Bishops of the Circumcision — Destruction of the city by Adrian — jElia Capitolina — Second succession of Bishops — Testimony of Justin Martyr. (II.) Church of Anlioch — Its foundation and progress — Ignatius — his epistles and martyrdom — Theophilus — Mesopotamia — Pre- tended correspondence between the Saviour and^Abgarus, prince of Edessa. (III.) Church of Ephesus — The Seven Churches of Asia — The latest years of St. John — Piety and progress of the Church of Ephesus — Polycrates — his opposition to Rome. (IV.) Church of Smyrna— Polycarp — his martyrdom — Sardis — Melito — Hierapolis — Papeas — Apollinaris — Bithynia — Testimony of the Younger Pliny. (V.) Church of Athens— Character of the people— Qua- dratus — Aristides— Athenagoras — Their Apologies — Other Grecian Churches. (VI.) Church of Corinth — Character of the people — Nature of their dissen- sions — Clemens Romanus — His Epistle — Form of government — Dionysius of Corinth — his seven general Epistles — Remarks. (VII.) Church of Rome — The persecution of Nero described by Tacitus — Martyrdom of St. Paul and St. Peter — Probable effect of this persecution — Extent of the superiority of Rome over other Churches — Controversy respecting Easter — Conduct of Victor, Bishop of Rome — of Polycrates of Ephesus — Irenaeus — Gaul — Church of Lyons — Churches of Spain — Britain — Carthage. (VIII.) Church of Alexandria — St. Marc — Its increase and importance — Epistle of Hadrian — Remarks on it — Education of the first Christians — Pantaenus — Clemens Alexandrinus — The Catechetical School — Concluding remarks, p. 1. Chapter II. — On the Numbers, Discipline, Doctrine, and Morality of the Primitive Church. (I.) General view of the extent of the Church— Facility of intercourse favour- able to Christianity— Other circumstances — Miraculous claims of the Church XIV CONTENTS. — To what limits they ought to be confined. (II.) Government of the Pri- mitive Church — During the time of the Apostles — After their death — Deacons — Distinction of Clergy and Laity — Earliest form of Episcopal Go- vernment — Independence of the first Churches — Institution of Synods — Their character and uses — The evil supposed to have arisen from them — Metropolitans — Excommunication— Supposed community of property — Cere- monies of religion — Feasts and fasts — Schools. (III.) Confessions of faith — The Apostles' Creed — Baptism — The Eucharist — The Agapae. (IV.) Mo- rality of the first Christians — Testimonies of St. Clement — Pliny — Bar- desanes— Chastity — Exposure of infants — Charity — The earliest Converts among the lower Orders — The progress of the faith was upwards — Testi- mony of Lucian in the history of Peregrinus — Suffering courage — Justin Martyr — On the early Fathers — Note on the government of the Church of Corinth, p. 28. Chapter III. — The Progress of Christianity from the year 200 a.d. till the Accession of Constantine, a.d. 313. Incipient corruption of the Church — Reasons for it — Its extent — External progress of religion in Asia and in Europe — Claims, character, and prosperity of the Church of Rome — That of Alexandria — Clemens — Origen — His charac- ter — Industry — Success — Defect — The Church of Carthage — Tertullian — His character — Heresy — Merits — On the works and principles of Cyprian — Go- vernment of the Church — Increase of episcopal power, or, rather, influence — Degeneracy of the Ministers of religion exaggerated — Institution of inferior orders — Division of the people into Faithful and Catechumens — Corruption of the sacrament of Baptism — Effect of this — The Eucharist — Daemons — Exorcism — Alliance with philosophy — Its consequences — Pious frauds — Their origin — Excuses for such corruptions — Eclectic philosophy — Ammonias Saccas — Plotinus — Porphyry — Compromise with certain philosophers — Millennarian opinions, p. 68. Chapter IV. — Persecutions of several Roman Emperors. Claims of Roman Paganism to the character of tolerance — examined — Theory of pure Polytheism — Roman policy — Various laws of the Republic — con- tinued under the emperors — Maecenas — Remarks — The ten persecutions — how many general— That of Nero — its character — Of Domitian — The grand- sons of St. Jude — The epistle of Pliny to Trajan — His answer — Real object of Trajan — Letter of Serenius Granianus to Hadrian — Antoninus Pius —Marcus Antoninus — Gibbon's partiality — Real character of this persecution compared with those preceding it — His principles and knowledge, and superstition — His talents and virtues — Connexion of his philosophy and his intolerance — Commodus — Decius — His persecution — accounted for — its nature — Valerian - — Martyrdom of Cyprian — Persecution of Diocletian — Its origin and motives — Influence of Pagan priesthood — Progress of the persecution — Its mitiga- tion by Constantius, and final cessation at the accession of Constantine — General remarks — Unpopularity of the Christians — accounted for — Calum- nies by which they 6uiiered — Their contempt of all false gods — Change in CONTENTS. XV the character of their adversaries— Philosophy — Excuses advanced for the persecutors — Their futility — General character of persecuting emperors- Absurd opinions on this subject — Effect of the persecutions — upon the whole favourable — For what reasons, p. ] 08. Chapter V. — On the Heresies of the first three Centuries. Meaning of the word Heresy — Charges of immorality brought against Heretics — Their treatment by the early Church — Number of early Heresies — Mode- ration of the primitive Church — Three classes of Heretics. (1.) Two kinds of Philosophy — Gnosticism — Origin and nature of that doctrine — its associa- tion with Christianity — Moral practice of the Gnostics — Their martyrs — Various forms of Gnosticism — Basilides — Carpocrates — Valentinus — Cerdo and Marcion — Tatian and Encratites. (2.) The Ebionites — Eusebius's ac- count of them — -Conclusions from it — The Heresy of Artemon — revived by Paul of Samosata — his sentence and expulsion — how finally enforced — Heresy of Praxeas — Doctrines of the Church stated by Tertullian — Sabellius — his opinions — Patripassians. (3.) Simon Magus — Montanus — his preaching and success — On the life, pretensions, and doctrines of Manes, and the dis- cipline of his followers — Their unrelenting persecution by the Church — Con- troversy on the Baptism of Heretics — The Novatians — their schism and opinions — Conclusions respecting the general character of the early Heresies, and the manner of opposing them, p. 13G. PART II. FROM THE ACCESSION OF CONSTANTINE TO THE DEATH OF CHARLEMAGNE. Chapter VI. — Constantine the Great. Victory of Constantine over Maxentius — his supposed conversion — the miracle of the luminous Cross — evidence for and against it — the latter conclusive — The Edict of Milan— its nature and effects — union of the whole Empire under Constantine — His moral character — sincerity of his conversion — un- justly disputed — Remarks on his policy — Power of the Christians — Altera- tions introduced into the constitutions of the Church — Its nature at Con- stautine's accession — Spiritual and temporal power — Union and strength of the early Church — how cemented — View of the Church probably taken by Constantine — he sought its alliance — Three periods of the ecclesiastical life of Constantine — How circumstanced with regard to the state in which Con- stantine found the Church — He assumes the supremacy — Rights of the Church — its internal administration — little altered in theory — permission to bequeath property to the Church — Independent jurisdiction of the Bishops — on what founded — External — subject to the Emperor — what particulars in- cluded in it — General observations — Constantine usurped nothing from the XVI CONTENTS. Church — Indeterminate limits of the civil aud spiritual authority — Altera- tions of the titles and gradations of the Hierarchy — pre eminence unattended by authority — Conclusion — Note on Eusebius, p. 1C9. Chapter VII. — The Allan Controversy. Controversies among Christians — their origin — how distinguished from philo- sophical disputations — their character — accounted for — Constantine's con- duct towards Heretics, and origin of the Ariau controversy — Alexander — Arius — his opinions — followers — Interference of the Emperor — Council of Nice — various motives of those assemhled — their proceedings and decision — Proposal of Eusebius of Caesarea — Gibbon's account of this Council — Tem- poral penalties — to what extent carried — Conduct of the successors of Con- stantine — Constantius — Athanasius — his history — twice exiled — his trium- phant restoration — contests with Constantius — methods taken by the latter to secure success — remarks on them — third banishment of Athanasius — Council of Rimini — progress of Arianism. — Theodosius — Council of Con- stantinople — Arianism of the Northern Barbarians — the conquerors of the West — its effects — Justinian — Spain — Council of To'edo — Termination of the controversy — -Observations — examination of Arian claims to greater purity of faith — to greater moderation — Progress of Arianism in the West — to what cause attributable — confusion of sectarian and national enmity — con- duct of Catholics and Arians under persecution — Note on certain Christian writers, p. 190. Chapter VIII. — The Decline and Fall of Paganism. Condition of the two Religions on the accession of Constantine — Progress of Christianity during his reign — His successive measures against Paganism — Remarks on them — Proceedings of his sons— Accession of Julian — Reasons given for his Apostacy — his enthusiasm for Paganism — his character com- pared with that of M. Antoninus — his policy contrasted with that of Constan- tine — his successive measures against Christianity — his attempts to reform Paganism — directed to three points — his attack on the truth of Christianity — in the attempt to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem — defeated — by what means — whether miraculous or not — examination of a late opinion — his death — Rapid decline of Paganism — Valentinian I. — Gratian — Theodocius I. — his edict against Paganism — extremely effectual — Imperfect faith of many of the Converts — corruptions introduced from Paganism — Synesius — Area- dius and Honorius — abolition of Gladiatorial Games— Theodosius II. — Sub- version of Paganism — in the East — in the West — Note on certain Pagan writers, p. 218. Chapter IX.— From the Fall of Paganism to the Death of Justinian. (388 . . . 567.) (I.) Conversion of the Goths — of Clovis and the Franks — of other Barbarians — causes of its facility — Miraculous interpositions. (II.) Internal condition of the Church— Symeon and the Stylites— Pope Leo the Great— Papal aggran- CONTENTS. XVII dizement — private confession — Justinian, his orthodoxy, intolerance, and heresy. (III.) Literature — its decay not attributable to Christianity — three periods of its decline — Religious corruptions — Barbarian conquests — Seven liberal arts — Justinian closes the Schools of Athens — early connexion of Phi- losophy with Religion— Morality — of the Clergy — of the People — general misery — Note on certain Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, p. 242. Chapter X. — From the Death of Justinian to that of Charlemagne. (5G7 to 814.) (I.) The external fortunes of Christianity — its Restoration in England by St. Austin — its progress in Germany — among the Tartars— Its reverses— Maho- met and his successors— their conquests in Asia — in Egypt — facilitated by Christian dissensions — in Africa — Carthage — in Spain — in France — their defeat by Charles Martel — Treatment of Christian subjects by the Saracens — Charlemagne — forcible conversion of the Saxons and Pannonians. (II.) The internal condition of Christianity — method of this History — Pope Gregory the Great — his character and conduct — worship of Images — Purgatory — Relics — Ceremonies — the Gregorian Canon — Gregory the creator of the Papal system — Title of CEcumenic Bishop — Power of the Keys — Apocrisiarii and Uefensores — Changes in the seventh and eighth centuries— Orders of the Clergy — The Tonsure — Unity of the Church — Councils — Metropolitans — Increase and abuse of Episcopal power — Pope Zachary consulted as to the deposition of Childeric — his conduct how far blameable — the Lombards — the Donation of Pepin — confirmed by Charlemagne — His liberality to the Church, and the motives of it — His endeavours to reform the Church, p. 280. Chapter XI. — On the Dissensions of the Church from the Aye of Constantine to that of Charlemagne. Division of the subject: — (T.) Schism of the Donatists — its real origin — progress — Circumcellions — conduct of Constantine — and his successor — of Julian — conference of Carthage — St. Augustin — the Vandals — Saracens — real extent of the offences of the Donatists : some account of St. Augustine. (II.) Pris- ci/fian — his persecution and death — probable opinions — the first Martyr to religious dissent — how truly so — Ithakius — Martin of Tours — effect of Pris- cillian's death on his followers. (Ill) Jovinian — his opinions — by whom chiefly opposed — Edict of Honorius — Vigilantius — his character — abuses op- posed by him — St. Jerome. (IV.) Pelayian Controversy — its importance — and perplexity — Pelagius and Celestius — opposition of St. Augustine — Coun- cils of Jerusalem and Diospolis — reference to Zosimus, Bishop of Rome — per- severance of St. Augustine — and his success— the sum of the Pelagian opi- nions — opposite doctrine of Fatalism — Semi-Pelagianism — Doctrine of the East— indifference of the Greek Church to this Controversy. (V.) Contro- versy respecting the Incarnation — early origin — Apollinaris — his doctrine — Nestorius — his rash assertion — Cyril of Alexandria — Council of Ephesus — condemnation and banishment of Nestorius — progress of his opinions — what they really amounted to — Eutyches— the Monophysite heresy — Dioscorus of VOL. I. b xviii CONTENTS. Alexandria — second council of Ephesus — interference of Pope Leo — Council of Chalcedon — condemnation and subsequent conduct of the Eutychians — Henoticon of Zeno — its object — effect — Controversies leading to the fifth General Council — Errors of Origen — The Three Chapters — Heraclius and the Monothelites — Council of Constantinople — general remarks on this Con- troversy — apology for those engaged in it — some of its consequences. (VI.) Worship of Images— its specious origin — its progress in East and West — Leo the Isaurian — effects of his Edict — Constantino Copronymus — Synod of Con- stantinople — the Empress Irene — second Council of Nice, or Seventh General Council — Remarks on the Seven General Councils — Leo the Armenian — Michel — his Epistle to Louis le Debonnaire — The Empress Theodora — Feast of Orthodoxy — general remarks — John Damascenus — miracles — conduct of secular clergy — of monastic orders — of the common people — of Papal See — contrast between the Italian and French clergy, p. 322. Chapter XII. — On the Schism between the Greek and Latin Churches. Preliminary considerations — Political causes — Ecclesiastical — Origin of the Dis- pute — Dignity and jurisdiction of the See of Constantinople — Council of Chalcedon — Ambition of the Patriarch' — Oriental dissensions — profitable to the Pope — Popish legate at Constantinople — Disputes between the two Sees — Title of Oecumenical Bishop assumed by John the Faster — Opposition of Gregory the Great — Emperor Phocas — Limits of Papal influence in Greece — Ground of controversy changed — Procession of the Holy Spirit — the ori- ginal doctrine — Process of the change — Spain — France — Charlemagne — Mo- deration of Pope Leo III. — Perseverance of the Greeks — Forgery of the Latins — the Patriarch Photius — his character — his excommunication of Pope Nicholas I. — Five heresies charged on the Roman Church — Transfer of several provinces from papal to patriarchal jurisdiction — Bulgaria — Dissen- sions of the Greeks — Fortunes of Photius — Connexion of Rome with Greek parties — defeat of the designs of the former — Subsequent differences — Michael Cerularius — Anathema of Leo IX. by his legates at Constantinople, p. 3G8. Chapter XIII. (I.) Review of the Anteniccne Church — Its construction and government — its real character and utility — Doctrines and heresies — moral excellences — Origin of various abuses — Early false miracles — their nature and object— Exorcism — Literary forgeries — Distinction of the converts — mysteries — Original Sacra- ments — their gradual corruption — Reverence for martyrs — celebration of their nativities — Prayers and offerings for the dead — Fasts, occasional and general — Certain terms and usages borrowed from Jewish and Pagan systems On the remains and distinctions of the ancient liturgies — Inferences — the — ante-Nicene Church had imperfections which might easily have been re- medied. (II.) From Constantine to Gregory the Great — (1.) Some particular innovations — Celibacy of the Clergy — practices of the Eastern and Western CONTENTS. XIX Churches — Gregory I. and VII. — Relaxation of penitential discipline — Pur- gatory — Use and consequent worship of images — (2.) The Church in con- nexion with the State — Origin of distinction between temporal and spiritual power — sources of ecclesiastical power and influence — increased authority of the Church — abuse of civil power for spiritual purposes — (3.) Internal govern- ment of the Church — decrease of popular, increase of episcopal, power — causes of this change — Elements of the papal system — the most obvious causes of its rise and progress. (III.) From Gregory to Charlemagne — Differences between the Eastern and Western Churches — Further growth of episcopal authority in the latter — Further exaltation of the See of Rome — The Athanasian creed. (IV.) Jurisdiction and immunities of the Clergy — Arbitration of ancient bishops — confirmed by Constantine — enlarged by Justinian — Great extent of privi- lege conferred by Charlemagne — his probable motives — the false decretals — Donation of Constantine — their objects .and effects. (V.) Revenues of the Church — Oblations — fixed property — Donations — various descriptions and objects of — other sources of wealth — Early distribution and application of ecclesiastical funds — Payment and establishment of tithes— Various advan- tages conferred upon the world by the Church during the ages preceding Charlemagne, p. 378. b2 __ COL.COLL. ■library. N.YO.RK. J ISTORY OF THE CHtHte#. PART I. FROM THE TIMES OF THE APOSTLES TO THE ACCESSION OF CONSTANTINE. Chapter T. The Propagation of Christianity. It is our object in this chapter to state what is material in the early history of such of the Churches of Christ, whether founded by the apostles themselves, or their companions, or their imme- diate successors, as were permitted to attain importance and stability during the first two centuries. For this purpose we have not thought it necessary to describe the circumstances which are detailed in the sacred writings, and are familiar to all our readers. The Churches which seem to claim our principal attention are eight in number, and shall be treated in the fol- lowing order : — Jerusalem and Antioch, Ephesus and Smyrna, Athens and Corinth, Rome and Alexandria; but our notice will be extended to some others, according to their connexion with these, their consequence, or local situation. It is thus that we shall gain the clearest view of the progress made by infant Christianity, and the limits within which it was restrained. I. The converts of Jerusalem naturally formed the earliest Church of Christian society, and for a short period probably the most Jerusalem « numerous; but their jealous adhesion to the Mosaic observances, which repelled the communion of the Gentile world, and thus occasioned some internal dissensions, as well as the unceasing hostility of the Jewish people and government, no doubt im- peded their subsequent increase. The same causes operated, though not to the same extent, on the Churches established in other parts of Palestine., as in Galilee and Samaria, and even VOL. I. B 2 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. I. on those of Tyre, Ptolemais, and C?esarea. About the year 60 James the a. d., James, surnamed the Just, brother of the Saviour, who was the first President, or Bishop, of the Church of Jerusalem, perished by a violent death* ; and when its members f subse- quently assembled for the purpose of electing his successor, their choice fell on Symeon, who is also said to have been a kinsman of Jesus. To this circumstance, or at least to his alleged descent from the house of David, it is ascribed that he too suffered martyrdom, during the reign of Trajan, in extreme old age J. Shortly after the death of St. James an insurrection of the Jews broke out, which was followed by the invasion of the Roman armies, and was not finally suppressed until the year 70, when the city was overwhelmed by Titus, and utterly destroyed. During the whole progress of this war, as well as in the events which concluded it, the Holy Land was subjected to a variety and intensity of suffering, to which no parallel can be found in the records of any people. A short time before the Roman invasion, we are informed § that the Christian Church seceded from a spot which prophecy had taught to hold devoted, and retired to Pella, beyond the Jordan. From this circumstance it becomes at least probable that the Christians did not sustain their full share of the cala- mities of their country; but though their proportion to the * Le Clerc, H. E. (vol. i. p. 415) ad ami. 62, in which year he places the death of St. James, and affirms that nothing is known respecting its manner. The state of the question is this : Eusebius (lib. ii. cap. 23), on the authority of Hegesippus, gives a very long and circumstantial narrative of the Bishop's mar- tyrdom; of the circumstances many are clearly fabulous, and all may be suspected; but the leading fact, that St. James was killed in a tumult of the Jews, it would not be safe to reject. His violent end, with some variation in particulars, is con- firmed by Josephus, Antiq. b. xx. chap. 9. t Eusebius (lib. iii. cap. 11) places the election of Symeon (d>; Xoyc; xxrl%ti) after the destruction of Jerusalem, which he makes immediately subsequent to St. James's martyrdom ; the Jewish rebellion probably was so. X It is again on the authority of Hegesippus that Eusebius (lib. iii. cap. 32) re- lates these circumstances. Now Hegesippus was a Jewish convert, who lived under the Antonines, and composed five books of Ecclesiastical History. Such a work might have been invaluable : but the fragments, preserved by Eusebius, persuade us that Hegesippus cannot always be followed with safety. § Euseb. lib. iv. c. 5. Le Clerc places this secession in the year 66. Semler (sect. 1) fixes the beginning of the Jewish war in G4. The Christians probably retired, as the war became more obstinate and advanced nearer to Jerusalem, CH, I.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 3 whole population may thus have been increased, their actual numbers could not fail to be somewhat diminished, since they could not wholly withdraw themselves from a tempest directed indiscriminately against the whole nation. During the next sixty years we read little respecting the Church of Jerusalem, except the names of fifteen successive presidents, called " Bishops of the Circumcision :" of these four- Bishops of teen only belong to the period in question, since they begin t ( . 1 i ' s t j^ rcura " with James ; and they terminate at the second destruction of the city, by the emperor Adrian *. But the precise periods of their successions are extremely uncertain — as the first Chris- tians had little thought of posterity f ; nor were any tabularies preserved in their Churches, nor any public acts or monuments of their proceedings. The Church, over which they presided, seems to have perished with them ; but there is still reason to believe that it was not numerous; and we may attribute its weakness partly to the continued action of the two causes abovementioned, and partly to the absolute depopulation of the country. Yet it would appear from Scripture, that some sort of authority was at first exercised by the Mother Church over her Gentile children ; and that " the decrees ordained by the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem J " found obe- dience even among distant converts. On the summit of the sacred hill, out of the ruins which de- formed it, Adrian erected a new city, to which he gave the new and Roman title of yElia Capitolina §— whether he thought to ^j^P 1 ' * Euseb. lib. iv. c. 5. \ This is the complaint of Le Clerc, ad ami. 1 35. And in fact the two most prominent features in the histories of Christians, during the first three centuries, are their divisions and their persecutions. These subjects we shall examine in separate chapters ; and all that can be confidently asserted on other points we are contented to glean from Eusebius and some writers of ambiguous authority who are quoted by him, from the Apologies, Epistles, and Treatises of the early fathers, and from a few fragments of profane antiquity. ~ X Actsxvi. 4. § Ecclesiastical writers differ about the date of this event. Sender (cent, ii.) places it in the year 119. Fleury (liv. iii. sect. 24.) mentions yElia Capitolina as existing previous to the rebellion of Barcochabas, but still as the work of Adrian. Le Clerc (ad aim. 119) seems to waver— (ad aim. 134) decidedly fixes the foun- dation for that year, and attributes the commotions of the Jews to that cause. Those commotions however broke out in 132, and were soon quelled ; and both 132 Church, 4 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. I. erase from all future history the hateful name of Jesusalem, or that a city with a more civilized appellation would be inhabited by less rebellious subjects, or that the contumacy of the Jews was associated with the name of their capital. But he employed besides a more effectual method to secure obedience, by ex- cluding from his colony all who professed the name, and practised the rites, of the Jews. This prohibition compre- hended, of course, the Christian Church of the Circumcision — a circumstance which (according to Sulpicius Severus *) was favorable to the faith, — [since a new church was then esta- blished, free from the bondage of the law; and composed either Gentile of Gentiles only, or of those mixed with such Jews as were willing entirely to abandon the Mosaic rites.] And a strong proof was afterwards given of the perfect emancipation of this Church from Judaic prejudices, when it took part with Rome, against the Asiatic churches, in the Pascal controversy. Marcus, a Gentile, was raised to the see ; and he was followed by a new succession of Bishops, as obscure and as rapid as that which we have mentioned. Their names (which is all their history) are also transmitted to us by the diligence of Eusebius j, but none with any distinction except Narcissus, the fifteenth in order, who flourished about the year 180, and of whom some traditionary miracles £ are recorded. Such are the imperfect accounts which remain to us respect- ing the early history of the Church in Palestine ; but, imperfect as they are, we are enabled to collect from them, that the pro- gress of Christianity in that stubborn soil was slow, and its Mosheim and Basnage (Ann. Polit. Eccles. 132, vol. ii. p. 72) consider the foun- dation of the new city to have been immediately subsequent to the rebellion— See Euseb. H. E. lib. vi. c. 6. Adrian reigned from 1 17 to 1 38. * Hist. Sacr. lib. ii. c. 31. In such dearth of information, the passage of Seve- rus, though not free from obscurity, is valuable. " Et quia Chrisfiani (those of Pa- lestine) ex Judaeis potissimum putabantur (namque tunc Hierosolymae non nisi ex Circumcisione habi-bat Ecclesia Sacerdotem) militum Cohortem custodias in per- petuum agitare jussit, quae Judaeos omnes Hierosolymae aditu arceret. Quod quidem Christianao Fidei proficiebat : quia turn paene omnes Christum Deum sub Legis ob- servatione credebant. Nimirum id, Domino ordinante, dispositum, ut Legis servifus a libertate Fidei atque Ecclesise tollereur. Ita turn primum Marcus ex Gentibus apud Hierosolymam Episcopus fuit." Mosheim has some judicious observations on this passage, De Reb. Gestis ante Const. Secul. ii. s. 38. t H, E. lib. v. c. 12. \ Euseb, H, E. lib. vi. c. 9. CH. I.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 5 condition uncertain and fluctuating. And this conclusion is confirmed by the direct assertion of Justin Martyr, a Samaritan proselyte of the second century, our best authority for that age and country, who expressly assures us, that the converts in Juda?a and Samaria were inferior, both in number and fidelity, to those of the Gentiles. " We behold the desolation of Judsea, and some from every race of men, who believe the teaching of Christ's Apostles, and have abandoned their ancient customs. We behold ourselves, too, and we perceive that the Christians anions the Gentiles are more numerous and more faithful than among the Jews and Samaritans." He then proceeds to account for the fact, "that none of these have believed, excepting some few," by appeal to the prophetic writers*. II. From the spectacle of the infidelity and devastation of Palestine, foretold by so many prophecies, and truly designated by Jortin as an "event on which the fate and credit of Christi- anity depended," we turn to the more grateful office of tracing its advance, and celebrating its success. We may consider the neighbouring Church of Antioch to have been founded about Church of 40 A.D.f by Paul and Barnabas. It was there that the con- Autloch - verts first assumed the name of Christian; and the first act which is recorded respecting them was one of charity to their suffering brethren in Juda?a. In a mixed population of Greeks, and natives unfettered by the prejudices of Judaism, our holy faith made a rapid and steady progress. In the residence of the Prefect of Syria, under the very eye of the civil government, it is probable that the infant society was protected against the active hatred of the Jews ; and there can be no doubt that its early prosperity was greatly promoted by the zeal of its second bishop, Ignatius. This ardent supporter of the faith, the con- Ignatius. temporary, and, as we are informed, the friend of some of the Apostles, presided over the Church of Antioch for above thirty * Apol. i., ch. G8, & seq. 'lavlouoi xa.) la/^ctnu; , 'i%evrt; tov rra.^ot reu ©mu "Koyov dm tuv ■XQo^nrcov Tru^aioQivra. aurot;, xa.) at) rt^oaboxhawns rov ~S.t>iffTov, 7r«.(>a.yivoft.ivov riyv'on l**'iku;, Origen. Cels. iii, p. 1 1 9. Clem. Ep. ad Cor. 42. Kara x^i as * a ' f^S'j xtievwov-T'.s, &C CH. I.] A HISfORY OP TUP CHURCH. 17 upon those people who were held in abhorrence for their crimes, and were commonly known by the name of Christians. They had their denomination from Christus, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, though checked for a while, broke out again, and spread not only over Judaea, the source of this evil, but reached the city also, whither How from all quarters all things vile and shameful, and where they find shelter and encouragement. At first those only were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect ; afterwards a vast multitude was discovered by them, all of whom were con- demned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their enmity to mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by doo-s : some were crucified : and others, having been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up as lights in the night time, and thus burnt to death. Nero made use of his own gardens as the theatre upon this occasion, and also exhibited the diversions of the Circus, sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer, at others driving a chariot himself; till at length these men, though really criminal and deserving exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated, as people who were destroyed, not out of regard to the public welfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man." This passage, which will scarcely be deemed creditable to the philosophy of its author even by those who most extol it, and which is most deeply disgraceful to his historical accuracy, to his political knowledge, and to his common humanity, was written at the end of the first century, about thirty-six years after the persecution* which it. so vividly describes. It was in * That event is placed in the year 64, by the general consent of Christian an- tiquity. It is also commonly agreed that St. Peter, as well as St. Paul, suffered martyrdom under Nero. (Euseb. 1. ii. c. 25, on the authority of Caius an eccle- siastic, and Dionys., Epist. to Romans.) But there are differences as to the exact time of that suffering. Le Clerc (vol. i. p. 447, a.d. 68) places it at the end of Nero's reign in the year 63 ; but the general opinion refers it to the persecution. The doubt as to fact rests rather on the martyrdom of St. Peter than of St. Paul, but the authority appears to us sufficient historically to establish the violent end of both. VOL. I. C 18 A IIISTOIIY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. I. the midst of this awful scene that St. Peter and St. Paul are believed to have suffered. We shall not pause to investigate the arguments for this opinion, but rather confine our attention to the testimony here afforded, as to the number of Christians existing at Rome even at that very early period. A vast multitude was discovered by the eye of persecution ; and the compassion excited by their sufferings would naturally awaken an attention which had never before been directed to them. The assault of Nero was furious and probably transient. Such is precisely the method of aggression which fails not in the end to multiply its objects ; and if from this evidence it be probable that, before the end of the first century, the Church of Rome surpassed every other in power and consideration, we may rest assured that these were rather augmented than diminished during the century following. To this belief we are persuaded, partly by the greater facility of conversion offered by the size of the city, and the multitude of the inhabitants; partly by the consideration, that the force of opinion would naturally lead the feeble Christian societies throughout the empire to look for counsel and protection to the capital, as we know the church of Corinth to have done; and partly by the fact, that frequent pecuniary contributions were transmitted by the faithful at Rome to their less fortunate brethren in the provinces. In this, then, consisted the original superiority of Rome ; in num- bers, in opinion, in wealth : to these limits it was entirely con- fined, and it was not until quite the conclusion of the second century that we hear of any claim to authority. Dispute) The circumstances of that claim arose from a very early dif- iht^cele"^ ferencc in the Church respecting the celebration of Easter. It Oration of was shortly this : the Christians of Lesser Asia observed the feast, at which the Paschal lamb was distributed, in memory of the Last Supper, at the same time at which the Jews celebrated their passover — that is, on the 14th day of the first Jewish month*; and three days afterwards they commemorated the resurrection, without regard to the day of the week. The Easter. * Nennder discovers a disposition to Judaism in this observance. We have mentioned that the Church of Jerusalem, being now Gentile, took the opposite side. us (so lately and so honourably mentioned by us) succeeded to the dangerous eminence. Under his prolonged and vigilant protection Chris- tianity took deep root and spread widely, and fixed itself, beyond further fear of extirpation, in the soil of France. According to the best authorities he died in the year 202*. The persecution had taken place about twenty-five years earlier ; and it is a common opinion that Pothinus, who was a mission- ary from the East, had first introduced the religion into Gaul. The names of the martyrs who perished with him are for the most part Greek; and the communication of their sufferings was addressed to their Oriental brethren. Sulpicius affirms that it was late before the faith was received in the Transalpine pro- vinces f ; and Lyons is the only church in Gaul which can show an unquestionable succession from the second century. Besides which, it seems very probable, from an agreement of their early Liturgies, that the original service of Gaul was derived from Ephesus, rather than from Rome. These circumstances, if they will not lead us altogether to disregard the traditions, which ascribe to an earlier period the conversion of Gaul, will at least convince us that the faith had made little progress there, and established itself with no firmness till the mission of Pothinus. St. Clement asserts in his celebrated Epistle, that St. Paul Of Spain, carried his preaching " to the boundary of the WestJ;" and though it. seems to us rather more probable that, by this ex- pression, the writer intended only to designate Italy (Hesperia), some have understood him to speak of Spain, and others even * That he died a martyr is a common belief. But as the fact is not mentioned either by Tertullian or Kusebius, we may be allowed to suspect it— in spite of Tillemont, vol. iii. p. 94. f " Turn primum (on the occasion just described) inter Gallias martyria visa; serins trans Alpes Dei religione suscepta." Histor. Sacr. 1. ii. c. 32. X The passage is in the fifth chapter. 'OvrxuXo; . . k7i^v% yiv'opivosh rn xvaroXy xai \vrrt iutru . . liKaioavv^ 1ihc&,c/.i oXov rov xo-o;, et passim ; and Eusebius wrote in the fourth century. CH. 11.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 43 which was intended to promote only the eternal interests of the Church, promoted, in some degree, the worldly consideration of the^order which governed it. This change began to show itself towards the end of the second century; and it is certain that at this period, we find the first complaints of the incipient cor- ruption of the clergy. From the moment that the interests of the ministers became at all distinguished from the interests of the religion, the corruption of Christianity may be considered to have begun. On the other hand, there can be little doubt that the increased authority and influence of the hierarchy was highly serviceable to the whole body in periods of danger and persecution; and that in those times it was generally exerted to excite the courage, and sustain the constancy of the faithful. Excommunication was the oldest weapon of ecclesiastical Excommu- authority. Doubtless, every society has the right to expel its mcatum ' unworthy members ; and this right was of extreme use to the first Christians, as it gave them frequent opportunities of exhi- biting to the heathen world the scrupulousness of their moral purity. But afterwards we know how dangerous an engine it became, when wielded by weak or passionate individuals, and directed by caprice, or interest, or ambition. The question has been greatly controverted, whether an abso- Commu- lute community of property ever subsisted in the Church. That p r L° r t v it did so is a favourite opinion of some Roman Catholic writers, who would willingly discover, in the first apostolical society, the model of the monastic system ; and the same, to its utmost extent, has been partly asserted, and partly insinuated by Gib- bon. The learned argument of Mosheim* disposes vis to the contrary belief; and if the words of Scripture in one place f should seem to prove that such community did actually exist among the original converts in the Church of Jerusalem, we are obliged to infer from other passages J, not only that it did not universally prevail as one law of the whole Church, but that * Dissertationes ad Hist. Eccl. pertinentes, vol. ii. Mosheim's object is to prove that St. Luke means community of use, not o{ possession. Some suppose the passage in Acts v. 4 to be at variance with that opinion. f Acts iv. 32, 34, 35. | Acts v. 4. " After it was sold, was it not in thine own power ?'' 44 A HISTORY OF TIIF, CHURCH. [CH. II. it gained no favour or looting in the several Churches which were founded elsewhere. This inference is generally confirmed by the uninspired records of Christianity ; and it is indeed ob- vious that a society of both sexes, constituted on that principle, could not possibly have had a permanent existence. The truth appears to be this, that the ministers of religion, and the poorer brethren, were maintained by contributions perfectly voluntary, and that a great and general intercourse of mutual support and charity prevailed, as well among the various Churches as among the members of each. It is probable that the ceremonies of religion had somewhat outstripped their primitive simplicity, even before the conclusion of the second century. Some additions were introduced even thus early, out of a spirit of conciliation with the various forms of Paganism which were beginning gradually to melt into Christianity; but they were seemingly different in different countries ; and it is not easy, nor perhaps very important, to detect them with certainty, or to enumerate them with con- fidence. We shall recur to this subject at a future period, when a better acquaintance with the innovations of following ages will enable the reader to form a juster estimate of the earliest*. The Lord's The primitive Christians were unanimous-}- in setting apart 1 y* the first day of the week, as being that on which our Saviour rose from the dead, for the solemn celebration of public worship. This pious custom was derived from the example of the Church of Jerusalem, on the express appointment of the Apostles. On these occasions, portions of Scripture were publicly read to the people from the earliest age. Origin of The two most ancient feasts of the Church were in honour of Festivals. t j le Resurrection of Christ, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit. At a period when belief must almost have amounted to know- ledge, the first Christians, the companions of the Apostles, per- haps the disciples of our Saviour himself, were so seriously * We refer the reader to the thirteenth chapter; to which place we have pur- posely deferred some facts connected with the earliest ages, and which, taken in conjunction with the first five chapters, will complete our history of the ante- Nicene Church. f Mosh. Gen. Hist., 1. i. p. ii. c. 4. CM. II.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 45 and practically earnest in their belief, and so satisfied of the generality of that belief, in the truth of those two mighty mi- racles which have presented, perhaps, the greatest difficulties to the sceptical inquirers of after ages, as to establish their first two festivals in solemn commemoration of them. The only day set apart for public fasting by the primitive Fasts. Christians was that of the crucifixion. But we must infer from a passage of Clemens Alexandrinus *, that both the Wednesday and Friday of every week were dedicated to that purpose, at least at Alexandria, before the end of the second century. The facts which we learn from Tertullian -J- on this subject are, that no Christians fasted on Sunday, not even the Montanists ; that the people were on no occasion prohibited from fasting; and that the bishops had the power of enjoining general fasts, in their own dioceses, on particular occasions. And Justin informs us, at a still earlier age, that both the convert and the congre- gation were prepared for the ceremony of baptism by abstinence. From these circumstances we must infer, that such mortification was considered, even in the earliest ages, a work of piety ; but that it was exercised with moderation, and partook in no degree of the superstitious austerity of later times. Christian schools seem to have existed in the second century, Schools, at Rome, Ephesus, and Smyrna $ ; but the catechetical school established at Alexandria was clearly the most important among the early literary institutions of Christianity. They were conducted on the model of the schools of philosophy, and even the terms, by which the different classes of the faithful were designated, were borrowed from these latter. There appears to have been as yet no costume peculiar to the minis- * Stromatum, lib. viii. p. 744. Edit. Lutet. Clemens is fanciful, or (to use his own expression) (enigmatical on the subject; but the passage proves the /net. OlS'v alroi x.u.\ d; xtnvov aproi, ovhi koivov ic%\ ra.7; yufjovtri xcti ra~; ya.fj.ouiJ.hai; fj-iira yvufj'/i; Ton 'EriffKoxov tyi* iMcriv sronTcrPai, rj o yafj.o; % y.aru. ©lev Kai fj'/i xut \'ffi£vu.ia.v. \ Lib. ii. Ad Uxorem. s. v. " Quod Ecclesia conciliat, et confirmat Oblatio, et obsignat Bcnedictio : Aogeli renunciant; Puter nro rato habet." dl. ||.] A HISTORY OF Till'. CHURCH. 53 transient as it was, we still recur to it with pious satisfaction, and we rejoice, both as men and as Christians, that our nature has been found capable of such holy exaltation, and that our religion was the instrument, which exalted it. Certainly the character of the first. Christians, and we are not, without guides who make us acquainted with it, presents to us a singular spectacle of virtue and piety, the more splendid as it, was surrounded by very mournful and very general depravity. Wo cannot read either St. Clement's description of the early Test j m ° n y condition of the Church of Corinth, or Origcn's panegyric on ment ; that of Athens, without recognising a state of society and morality such as all the annals of paganism do not discover to us, and such as its principles (if it had any fixed principles) could not ever have created. The following lines are a quota- tion from the former. " You were all humble in spirit, nothing boasting, subject rather than subjecting, giving rather than receiving. Contented with the food of God, and carefully cm- bracing his words, your feelings were expanded, and his sufferings were before your eyes — so profound and beautiful the peace that was given to all of you, and so insatiable the desire of bene- ficence, and so abundant the effusion of the Holy Spirit which had reached you all. You contended night and day for all the brotherhood, that the number of the elect might be completed. You were sincere and pure, free from all revengeful spirit. Every division, every schism was detestable to you ; you wept over the failings of your neighbours; you thought their defects your own, and were impatient after every good work," &c. It is true that soon after the period celebrated by this glowing de- scription, some dissensions disturbed the peace, and possibly the morality, of the Church of Corinth ; but we have no reason to believe that they were of long duration, or left, any lasting con- sequences behind them. The above passage refers to the Christians of Greece ; and there is a sentence in the letter of Pliny to Trajan, already cited, Of Pliny, which gives still stronger testimony to the virtues of the Asiatics. "They bind themselves by an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but. not. to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, — never to falsify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to them, when called upon to return it." o-l A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. II. Of Barde- Bardesanes, a learned Christian of Mesopotamia, who lived in the time of Marcus Antoninus, has the following passage, preserved to us by Eusebius. " Neither do Christians in Par- t.hia indulge in polygamy, though they are Parthians ; nor do they marry their own daughters in Persia, though Persians. Among the Bactrians and the Gauls, they do not commit adul- tery; but, wheresoever they are, they rise above the evil laws and customs of the country." This is not only a very powerful, but almost an universal testimony in favour of Christian mora- lity ; and there are some to whom its truth will appear the less questionable, because it comes from the pen of a heretic. The virtue of chastity, which however it may have been cele- brated in the heroic ages of paganism, was certainly little reputed in the East during the more enlightened rule of philosophy, was very rigidly cultivated by the primitive converts. This truth, which is generally attested by the passages above quoted, is made Of Justin the subject of peculiar exultation by Justin Martyr*. Howbeit the continence of the first Christians did not degenerate into any superstitious principle in the ages immediately subsequent, the simple practice of the Gospel began to be unreasonably exagge- rated ; and somewhat later the progress of monasticism was forwarded by the exalted value placed on that virtue. So that excess of admiration blinded enthusiasts as to its real nature and character, and led them to invest it with perfections and pretensions, which were at variance with the advancement and happiness of human society. The heathen governments, even the Roman, in its hio-hest civilization, tolerated, and perhaps encouraged, the unnatural practice of exposing infants, who in that condition were left, as it might happen, to perish from cold or starvation, or to be pre- served for the more dreadful fate of public prostitution. This practice was held in deserved detestation by the followers of Christ f. Charity was the corner-stone of the moral edifice of Chris- Martyr Benefi- cence of 5,5 C. 18. Apol. A. TloXXol rmi xee) •roXXct.), i^YizoiTovTcu xai ifioftriXtmrovTui, 01 ix vraiiwv If/.aSyiTiu^Yitrav tZ X^httui, u$fogai dia/j,ivoiitri. xai i$%of&xi xuru vruv yivo; a-jfydftcov roirourou; h7%?u, Origen (Contr. Cels. 1. vii. p, 305, ed, Cantab.) is more diffuse on the same subject. f Justin Martyr, Apol, A,, c. 36 ; edit. Cantab. CII. II.] A. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 55 tiauity, and its earliest characteristic; and as this is still the the early virtue by which it is most distinguished, both publicly and pri- iaus ' vately, from every false religion, so we need not hesitate to avow, that this of all its excellences was the most efficient under Divine providence in its original establishment. Every Christian society provided for the maintenance of its poorer members; and when the funds were not sufficient for this purpose, they were aided by the superfluities of more wealthy brethren. In this generous rivalry Ave must not forget to assign the foremost station and the highest praise to the Church of Rome. The greater means, which greater wealth and numbers conferred on her, were employed as became her apostolical origin, and her claims of supremacy — claims which were indeed placed on their surest foundation when they rested on the gratitude of the faith- ful. It is in the following expressions that Dionysius, the distin- guished Bishop of Corinth*, addressed the Roman Church about the year 156. "This has been your custom from the beginning, to confer benefits on all the brethren, and to send relief to va- rioiis churches in every city. By which means, while you assist the indigent, while you relieve the brethren who are in the mines, and continually persist in such donations, you persevere, like Romans, in the hereditary usage of Romans. And this practice your excellent Bishop Soter not only preserves, but ex- tends, by making generous donations to the saints who come to him from abroad, and edifying them by excellent discourse, as an affectionate father treats his children." It would appear, indeed, that on the occasion of any extraordinary calamity the Bishops caused collections to be made, which they distributed at their own discretion; and that Christians, who were con- demned to the mines, or banished, or imprisoned, or ship- wrecked, were considered as peculiar objects of charitable relief. The same spirit, which preached the Gospel to the poor, ex- tended its provisions to their temporal necessities ; and so far from thinking it any reproach to our faith that it first addressed itself, by its peculiar virtues as well as precepts, to the lower orders of mankind, we derive from this very fact our strongest * Apud Euscb. iv. 23, 56 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [(.H. II- argument against those who would persuade us that the pa- tronage of kings was necessary for its establishment: it rather becomes to us matter of pious exultation that its progress was precisely in the opposite direction. It cannot be too frequently repeated, that by far the majority of the early converts were men of low rank ; and their numbers were concealed by their obscurity, until they became too powerful to dread persecution. Every step which they took was upwards. Until the middle of the second century, they could scarcely discover among their thousands one learned man. From the schools they advanced into the senate, and from the senate to the throne ; and they had possessed themselves of every other office in society, before they attained the highest. It is important to attend to this fact, that we may not be misled ; it is important to observe, that the basis from which the pyramid started up was the faith and constancy of the common people — the spirit of the religion, and the earliest government of the Church, was popular ; and it is in its earliest history that we find those proofs of general moral purity, on which we now dwell with the more pleasure, because, in succeeding pages, the picture will never again be presented to us. We will make one short extract from the writings of a very witty pagan of the second century, which throws great light on Testimony the character of the Christians of that age. Lucian, who con- sidered every form of worship as equally an object of ridicule, tells a story of one Pcregrinus, who had been expelled from his country, Armenia, for the most horrible crimes; who thence wandered into Palestine, became acquainted with the doctrine of the Christians, and affected to embrace it. Being a man of talents and education, he acquired great influence among their illiterate body ; and, in consequence, he soon attracted the no- tice of the Roman governor, and was thrown into prison for being a Christian. In prison he is represented to have been consoled by the pious charity of the faithful : — " There came Christians, deputed from many cities in Asia, to relieve, to en- courage, and to comfort him : for the care and diligence which the Christians exert on these occasions is incredible — in a word, they spare nothing. They sent, therefore, large sums to Pere- CII. II.] A HISTORY OF TIIK CHURCH. 57 grinus, and his confinement was an occasion of amassing groat riches : for these poor creatures are firmly persuaded they shall one day enjoy eternal life ; therefore they despise death with wonderful courage, and offer themselves voluntarily to punishment. Their first lawgiver has taught them that they are all brethren, when once they have passed over and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship that Master of theirs who was crucified, and regulate their manner and conduct by his laws. They despise, therefore, all earthly possessions, and look upon them as common, having received such rules without any certain grounds of faith. Therefore, if any juggler, or cunning fellow, who knows how to make his advantage of opportunity* happens to get into their society, he immediately grows rich ; because it is easy to abuse the simplicity of these silly people." We have no reason to complain of such a description from the pen of an adversary ; for, on the one hand, it attributes to our ancestors in faith boundless charity, zeal inexhaustible, brotherly love, contempt of death and of all earthly possessions, and a steady adherence to the faith and precepts of Christ ; on the other hand, it lays no charge against them except simplicity, the usual associate of innocence. There is one quality mentioned in the above passage which we shall take occasion to notice hereafter, without entirely over- looking it now; the suffering courage of the persecuted. We consider it a strong proof of the lively faith of the sufferers in the atoning merits of their Saviour — since it could seldom pro- ceed from any other conviction, than that the change which they were about to undergo would lead them to a state of recom- pense ; a confidence which seems scarcely consistent with the consciousness of unrepentcd sin. Such, at least, we know to have been the impression sometimes produced on the more en- lightened, even among the heathen spectators. The ancient author of the Second Apology, attributed we think truly lo Justin Martyr, urges this proof with much fervour and rea- son^; and the conversion of Justin himself is, in a great degree, v^ap. 1 _. x.cr.i ya(> aires \yu Ti~i TWdrone; ^aieuy ^lidyf/.aei, 1ia$uV.'>.oy.'<.\cvs ukoviiv Xfurriatevs, fyuvVi dtpifiov; *gis (d\aT0t, na) xdvTa rd d}.?.a yof/.i^cpucc iff /3 v t%po if (and here learned writers stop short, and at once proceed to the conclusion, that hyovytvat must mean Bishops, — the very following words will seem, to some, to overthrow that supposition). NE'OIS n pirpicc xa) trs/zva vouv ivrvrfaevrt. TTNAIHIN ri It ap.ay.co xou aifi.\in xa.1 ayvn cvviihr.tni vruvru ItfiriXuv -ru^rtyyiXXiTt, &C This passage is illustrated by another in the twenty-first chapter, tov; cr^oriyoufiivov{ tlfiuv atdnrSuyiv rov; rr^icrjivripov; nycuv Tifiricru/Jt.iv. rov; viev; vraioiv&u/ttv . . . T«f y v v a. 7 x a. s riyuv Iti to ayaS'ov 'biopStiitrufAiia. . . (r'w obi vrivra,; -/j rov Aio-rorou Xagi; xai (piXavfyuiriu liotr^'upu. See Semler, vol.i. p. 66. It appears from Cy- prian's 60th epistle, that the Christians of Carthage had contributed readily, universally and bounteously for the redemption of some brethren, who were captives in Numidia. CH . in.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 73 Stephanus tracing the footsteps of his predecessor Victor, in a controversy of still less importance ; and striving to impose the tradition of the Roman Church, as an invariable rule for the rest of the Christian world. His aggressions were resisted with the same independent spirit which characterized the last age; and he proceeded, as before, to remove the refractory Churches from his communion. One of those was the Church of Carthage — and it was at that Resisted time governed by Cyprian, the most distinguished churchman b y c yP nan » of the third century. We shall presently make some general mention both of his character and his works. It is sufficient here to say, that he repelled with vigour and firmness the encroachments of Rome; that he asserted in the plainest lano-uage * the independence of individual bishops in the admi- nistration of their Churches ; and rejected the authority of tradition when unsupported by the written words of Christ and his apostles. These principles are the more remarkable and valuable from the pen of Cyprian, because in other places he has voluntarily declared, that " the Primacy was given to Peter ;" and has even designated the chair (or see) of Peter as " the Principal Church, Avhence the Sacerdotal Unity proceeded f ." He acknowledged the Primacy, and denied the authority of Rome. In an assem- bly of all the bishops of Christendom he would have given the precedence to the bishop of Rome — but at the same time he * " Whence is that tradition ? Is it deduced from the words of the Lord, and the authority of the gospels, or from the teaching and the epistles of the apostles ? Custom, which has crept in with some people, must not prevent truth from pre- vailing—for custom without truth is nothing but inveterate and antiquated error." Kpist. liv. See likewise his Epistle to Quintus,an African bishop (Epist. lxxi.) : (i We are not to be governed by custom, hut overcome by reasoning— even as Peter himself, in his differences with Paul, displayed no arrogance; and asserted no primacy, &c." •j- Lib. De Unitate Eccl. "Hoc erant utiuue et caeteri Apostoli qnod fuit Petrus, pari consortio prsediti et honoris et potestatis : sed exordium ab Unitate profi- ciscitur, et primatus Petro datur, ut una Christi Ecclesia, et Cathedra una monstretur." AndEpist.lv. AdCornelium. "Postista . . navigare audent, et ad Petri Cathedram, atuue ad Eeclesiam I'rindpalem, unde Umtas Sacerdotalis exorta e*/,&c." In collecting the true sense of these passages, the first clause of that first cited must never be lost sight of. 74 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. III. temperately rejected the notion of any other superiority than that of rank. Addressing Stephanus, in the name of a synod *, as a brother and an equal, he used the following expressions : — " These things have we communicated to you, dearest brother, in virtue of our common dignity and sincere love, in the belief that, through the truth of your religious faith, you will take pleasure in what is religious and at the same time true. We know, indeed, that some are loth to lay aside their principles or their purpose ; but retain some peculiarities once adopted, with- out any violation of harmony. In which matter we neither lay force nor impose laws on any one : since every prelate has a right to the exercise of his own free will in the administration of his Church, under responsibility to God." and Fir- Firmilianus, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, in a letter mihanus. ac | t | resse( | { Cyprianf, expresses with greater warmth his indig- nation at the conduct of Stephanus, in prohibiting the reception at Rome of the African deputation. He accuses the professed successor of Peter of destroying, by his ambitious uncharita- bleness, the rock of unity on which the Church was built. He asserts that the traditions of Rome are in many instances at variance with those of other churches, also apostolical; and that these last have not on that account interfered to interrupt, in their differences, the bond of Christian peace. Appeals to Another circumstance occurred, nearly at the same time, to°Car- which indicated even more strikingly the character of Rome, thage. and gives us a stronger foretaste of her future usurpations. Two Spanish bishops, Basilides and Martialis, had been de- posed by a synod ; and the provincial bishops, with the Church over which Basilides presided, had chosen another in his place. * The passage concludes the lxxiind epistle, edit. Paris. He has likewise the following : Prcef. in Concit. Carthag. De Hceret. baptiz. " Neque enim quis- quam nostrum episcopum se esse Episcoporum constituit aut tyrannico terrore adobsequendinecessitatem collegas suos adigit: quando habeat omnis Episcopus pro licentia libertatis et potestatis suae arbitrium proprium, tamque judicari ab alio non possit, quam nee ipse poterit alterum judicare." •j- Published among Cyprian's works, epistle lxxv. ed. Paris. This Firmilianus is mentioned by Jerome (Catalog. Script. Eccles.) to have given great proofs of respect for Origen, and to have received from him instructions in the interpretation of Scripture. CH. 111.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 75 The two delinquents went to Rome and appealed to Stephanus. He reversed the sentence, and restored them to their offices. This led, of course, to a contest in Spain between the parties — and an appeal was then made to the Church of Carthage. Cy- prian did not hesitate to annul the decision of Stephanus — and to declare the sentence, which had deposed the bishops, to be just, and that unjust which had reinstated them. It should be observed, however, that in this epistle Cyprian did not examine whether or not such right of interference rested with the Roman see. He merely asserted, that the offences of the bishops had merited deposition, and that their successors had been legiti- mately elected. But as he claimed no " authority" for himself, in consequence of the appeal to his own see, so neither, accord- ing to his avowed principles, could he acknowledge any such in the see of Rome. Somewhat later in this century, in the year 269, a council of Affair of Oriental bishops deposed for heresy Paul bishop of Samosata. g~~ ° t His successor was formally appointed : but Paul, having great authority in the city, and being likewise supported by the cele- brated Zenobia, refused to resign his dignity. This schism continued, until Aurelian happened to come to Antioch, after his victory over the queen of Palmyra. The Catholic party then stated to the emperor their inability to enforce their own decision, and invited him to lend his power to aid them. Thus, for the first time in the history of the Church, was the civil authority invoked to interpose its ambiguous services in the defence of orthodoxy. Aurelian replied, that, whichever of the rivals was in communion with the bishops of Italy and Rome, the same should be established in the disputed see *. The decision was fair and natural, in a pagan and an emperor; and little could he dream what mighty pretensions and usurpations would hereafter seek a precedent and justification in that simple proceeding f . * rouroi; viTfiai •r^otrrdrTtuv tov oixov, oit «v el xu.ru. t»iv IruXlav xu) tjji/ 'P/v/u.u.i/uv Qrir Aoyos). But the simplest circumstances of his history were not known even to his inquisitive opponent ; and the nature of his philosophical opinions is a subject of uncertainty with learned men to this present moment. Howbeit, whatever may have . been his character and his tenets, it is evident, even from the fragments of his work which are cited by his adversary, that he possessed great general powers of expression, especially of sar- casm and of rhetoric ; that he was skilful in the selection of the points for attack; and that he possessed too that wicked talent of perverting truth and insinuating falsehood, of suppressing largely and inventing discreetly, and confounding established facts with rumoured calumnies — which so commonly marks the distinguished controversialist. But Origen presented to his aggression an ardent and generous spirit, repelling his assaults, confuting his sophistry, and exposing his inconsistency; and setting forth the excellence of his own profession in language, which even now cannot be read without emotion. But the most important work of Origen — that on which he justly set the greatest value, and on the compilation of which he is related to have employed eight and twenty years — was his CH. III.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 79 edition of the ' Septuagint.' Many errors, during 400 years of Edition of repeated transcription and, perhaps, interpolation, had crept • Se P tu " into the received version ; and it was a task worthy of the ge- nius of Origen to remove them. Accordingly, having collected, with great labour, three other translations from the Hebrew, those of Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, (all produced within a century from his time,) he published these, together with the Septuagint, in the same volume, in four parallel columns ; and this was called his Tetrapla. He subsequently added two other columns : one of the original Hebrew, the other of the same in the Greek character ; and this composed his Hexapla. And still later he discovered, and published with the rest, two other Greek translations; and this last compilation was, for the same reason, called his Octapla. These various versions he compared both with the Hebrew and with each other in such a manner as to show that, his critical talents were scarcely surpassed by his industry. This extraordinary work has reached posterity in fragments only. But when Origen applied himself to the interpretation of Scripture, it was not with the same success. He failed, how- ever, not through want of genius, but through want of judgment, and a compliance with the fanciful system which already existed in his age, and in his school. He fell into the error of the allegorists, and even carried it much farther than any who had adopted it before him. From the simplest passages of Scrip- ture he extracted a mystical, or spiritual, sense, to the general exclusion of the literal — just as the later Platonists affected to veil the fabulous history of the gods of Greece ; and even as the Jews of Alexandria deviated into a dangerous misinterpretation of the Sacred Writings. Such, indeed, was the hold which phi- losophy had acquired on the mind of Origen, that he sought its principles in the Bible, and applied all the ingenuity of his fancy to discover them even there. His error, so fascinating to the loose imaginations of the East, was rapidly propagated by numerous disciples; nor do we find that it encountered any serious opposition from the Church till the time of Jerome, the end of the fourth century. The fame of Origen was not confined to his native country, 80 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. III. nor to the schools of philosophy, nor to the professors of the faith. Mammaea, the mother of the Emperor Alexander, sought a conference with him in Syria ; he was held in high repute at Rome ; his personal exertions were extended to Greece; and among the most fortunate efforts of his genius we may be allowed to mention, that, when a numerous synod was twice convoked in Arabia on two occasions of heresy, Origen, who was present by invitation, was twice successful in convincing his opponents*. His school gave birth to a number of learned men, Plutarch, Serenus, Heraclides, Heron, who proved their sincerity and multiplied the followers of their religion, by the industry with which they adorned life, and the constancy with which they quitted it. This great man "was followed (says Tillemontf ) by the same fate after his death, as during his life. The saints themselves were divided on the subject. Martyrs have made his defence, and martyrs have written his condemnation. The one party has regarded him as the greatest doctor possessed by the Church since the time of the Apostles : the other has execrated him as the parent of Arius and every other heresiarch." Both parties, as is common in extreme opinions, were wrong. The genius of Origen, though vast and penetrating, was also rash and irregular, and he was in many respects an erring doctor and a dangerous guide. Nevertheless, the heresies of Arius and his successors would still have denied the Church, (as did the heresies of his numerous predecessors,) even though Origen had never opened to theologians the slippery paths of alle- gory. Dionysius His most distinguished successor in the Catechetical School was Dionysius ; and he was elevated to the see of Alexandria in the year 247. He was thus the contemporary, and the occa- sional correspondent of Cyprian ; like Cyprian, he was driven into exile in the persecution of 258, and endured even a longer * Euseb. H. E., vi. 19 and 37. Origen had also the credit of converting vari- ous other heretics, especially one Ambrosius, whose errors had some celebrity at the moment, and at whose instance he afterwards wrote his Books against Celsus. f Mem., vol. iii. pp. 494, 495. Tillemont takes the favourable side ; and the reader will find there a very satisfactory account of the Life and Writings of Origen. We may likewise refer to Dr. Burton's twenty-fourth Lecture. of Alex andria. CI1. III.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 81 trial of seclusion and indignity. But in this he was more for- tunate, that he finally escaped the last infliction, and died in possession of his office in the year 267. Some few of his writings are preserved by Eusebius, of considerable merit, and wearing much less of the philosophical character, than those of his pre- decessors Clemens and Origen. He was zealously opposed to the opinions of Novatian : but the controversy, by which he is best known to posterity, was occasioned by the errors of Sabel- lius, which first appeared in his diocese. It is true, that in his ardour to confute this Heresiarch he made use of some unguarded expressions, which the Arians were afterwards willing to torture into a profession of their own tenets — but without justice. For if his language in various passages be compared, with a due consideration of the circumstances under which he wrote, it may be pronounced with little hesitation, that he held the doctrine afterwards promulgated at Nice*. The Latin Church of Carthage attained little celebrity till Church of the end of the second century, when it was adorned by Tertul- ar iage * lian; but we have observed that, about that period, Christianity, which had already scattered its blessings along the banks of the Nile, and into the adjacent deserts, was very generally esta- blished along the northern coast of Africa. In his deprecatory Address to Scapula, Proconsul of Africa, Tertullian uses the following expressions, where exaggeration could have served no purpose but to throw contempt on his whole exhortation. "If you begin a general persecution here, what will you do with so many thousands, both men and women, of every sex, age, and dignity -j-, when they shall come to offer themselves for martyr- dom ? What flames and swords will be necessary ! What will Carthage itself suffer, when you shall decimate it — when * We refer the reader to Dr. Burton, Lect. xxvii. where the subject is well treated. f Origen, some twenty years later, uses the following more moderate expres- sions. (Cont. Cels. 1. iii. p. 11, 7.) Ny piv ovv ru^a, art ha, ra vrXvio; rZ* ?r£6%o[Atvai\i tS Aoyu koli Tkovirioi xa.) rivt; t co v iv ul-iafiuri x.tt) yvvaTa, ™' afiget xal ihyiiri dToY<%ovra,i rov; dtfo s, lector) without their consent ; and he mentions in some detail the peculiar merits of the candidate, which justified this inno- vation. Such then being the " Rule" of Cyprian, and such his * " Quod si nos aliquid audere contra Deum possumus, qui Episcopos facit, possunt et contra nos audere Diaconi, a quibus fiunt." f " Nihil sine consilio vestro et sine consensu plebis mea privatim sententia gerere." Ecclesiastical historians in citing this passage sometimes (inadver- tently no doubt) omit the words " et sine consensu plebis." But there are nume- rous other passages to the same purpose, as in Ep. xiii., " Hoc et verecundiae et disciplinae...converit, ut Propositi cum Clero convenientes praser.te etiamstan- tium plebe...disponere omnia consilii communis religione possimus." So Epist. xxviii., when called upon to decide a point of discipline, relating to two sub-dea- cons and an acolyth, he replies — " (Jui rei non potui me solum judicem dare, &c." So again Ep. xxiv., &c. CH . HI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 87 practice, it is unjust to plead his authority in defence of the episcopal usurpations of later ages. As he respected the independence of the clergy and people in Episcopal the government of his Church, so he perpetually recognised electlon - their authority in episcopal election. In his sixty-eighth Epistle (Ad Clervm etPlebes in Hispania consistentes) he justified the public election of Bishops by the law of Moses, and by aposto- lical authority; he asserted its almost universal observance, and upheld it by exhortation and argument*. So likewise (as we have already observed) he maintained the independence of the several sees, and their perfect equality in spiritual power, against the rising ambition of Rome. Reflecting on all these circumstances, we cannot consider Treatise on. Cyprian as the mere advocate of episcopal despotism (as some |J e t £ J e mty have done), whether in oppressing the Presbyters, or overruling Church, the people. His general object was not so much to exalt any order in the ministry at the expense of the rest, as to elevate the whole ministry in the eyes of the faithful; and to teach them an unbounded veneration for the Church. This is the spirit which really shows itself in many of his Epistles, as the leading principle of his conduct ; but to see its full development we must advance to his celebrated Treatise " On the Unity of the Church," from which we shall cite some few passages; be- cause the principles contained in them, however familiar they will hereafter become, were now for the first time promulgated with authority in the Catholic Church. "Whosoever separating himself from the Church becomes connected with an Adulteress * " Coram omni Synagoga jubet Deus constitui sacerdotem : id est, instruit ac osteudit ordinationes sacerdotales non nisi subpopuli assententis conscientia fieri oportere ; ut plebe praesente vel detegantur malorura crimina vel bonorum merita praedicentur, et sit ordinatio justa et legitima, quae omnium suffragio et judicio fuerit examinata. Quod postea, secundum divina magisteria, observatur in Actis Apostolorum. . . Nee hoc in Episcoporum tantum et Sacerdotum sed et in Diaconorum ordinationibus observasse Apostolos animadvertimus . . Prop- ter quod diligenter, de traditione divina et Apostolica, servandum est et tenen- dum quod apud nos quoque et fere per provincias universas tenetur, ut ad ordi- nationes rite celebrandas, ad earn plebem, cui Praepositus ordinatur, Episcopi ejusdem provincial proximi quique conveniant, et Episcopus dehgulur plebe pree- seitte, quae singulorum vitam plenissime novit." 88 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cH. III. is separated from the promises of the Church : nor will he attain the rewards of Christ, who has deserted the Church of Christ. He is a stranger, he is profane, an enemy. He cannot have God for his father, who has not the Church for his mother. It is no more possible that any man shall escape destruction, who is without the Church, than that any one could have escaped the Deluge, who was without the Ark of Noah*. No one will hold that those can possibly be good, who depart from the Church. " He can be no martyr, who is not in the Church. He can never attain the kingdom, who abandons her who will be its queen. Christ has given us peace ; he has told us to be in harmony and of one mind ; he has commanded us to preserve inviolate the bonds of affection and charity. Now no man can present himself as a martyr, unless he has maintained brotherly charity. . . . Those cannot remain with God, who have not chosen to be of one mind in the Church of God. Let them be delivered up and burnt by fire and flame, or be cast to the beasts and so perish ; that will not be the crown of their faith, but the punishment of their ■perfidy ; nor will their death be the glo- rious departure of religious excellence, but the destruction of despair. " Such a man is to be abhorred and avoided, whosoever shall be separated from the Church. Such a one is perverse, and a sinner, and self-condemned. Can he have any part in Christ, who turns against the Priests of Christ, and distinguishes him- self from the society of his clergy and his people ? He carries arms against the Church, he struggles against the dispensation of God. An enemy of the altar, a rebel against the sacrifice of Christ, a traitor to his faith " Cyprian concludes this Treatise with a mournful lamentation for the falling away of the Christians of his time from the apos- tolical unanimity and profusion of eleemosynary charity, which This expression, as synonymous with " The Church," became afterwards in great favour with Roman Catholic writers— and consistently so, for it insinuated one of the avowed maxims of their Church, viz., that there was no salvation out of the Church. When Protestant churchmen use it, it is, doubtless, through in- attention to the meaning really conveyed by it. CH. III.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 80 distinguished the primitive believers — and exhorts them to re- to ■*■ . turn to those principles in pious and rational language. Such then was the sort of Christian " Unity" which Cyprian inculcated as necessary for salvation, and such the limits of his " Charity." It was 1 he unity — not of Christendom — but of the Church. Was there any holiness ? It was only to be found within the precincts of the Church. Any hope of eternal sal- vation? It was forfeited by secession from the Church. In the inexhaustible treasures of God's mercy there was nothing reserved for the man who dissented from the creed, or practice, or discipline established by the Church. Such were the limits of his charity. Those who conformed preserved the spirit of Christian concord — but those who differed were consigned, as the foes of unanimity, to everlasting wrath. So early was the spirit of the Gospel forgotten in the spirit of the Church — and so disastrous the influence which the principles of Cyprian exerted over the churchmen of succeeding generations. At the same time, it is proper to distinguish between the guilt of Cyprian, and that of his imitators in after ages. They had nothing to plead but the zeal of sordid interest, or the mere pusillanimity of bigotry. But in the time of Cyprian, many of the prevalent heresies were so far removed both from Scripture and from reason, that it was difficult to extend to them so much as the name of Christian: and the deadly persecutions which were then raging, and which perpetually threatened the very existence of Christianity, created a strong necessity for a visible unity, enforced by a rigid and exclusive discipline. Cyprian was the Ignatius of the third century : he lived in the same tempestuous times ; he maintained (though in much greater variety and extent) the same sort of ecclesiastical prin- ciples; he perished by the same barbarous fate*, and endured it with the same constancy. But if we should compare him with Origen, who was his contemporary f, or with his imme- * It is worth remarking, that while Polycarp and many others were rather the victims of popular madness, both Ignatius and Cyprian fell beneath the deli- berate vengeance of the government. f Origen seems indeed to have been driven away from public life before Cyprian entered it — yet the latter survived him very few years. 90 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. III. diate predecessors Clemens of Alexandria and Tertullian, we should perceive at once how the character of his works was affected by his office in the Church : how much less he engaged in philosophical speculations, or moral investigation, or any general argument — how much more he was compelled to be conversant with the practical interests of the Church *, and the means of consolidating and supporting the external fabric. Hence it is, that in reading his works we find our attention continually fixed upon " the Church." The " nuptials of Christ with the Church ;" the " spiritual sword of the Church ;" the "discipline of the Church;" the "power and vigour of the priestly office (Sacerdotii vigor) ;" the " ark of Noah" — these and similar expressions perpetually remind us both of the station of the writer, and the ruling character of his principles. A great proportion of his pages is likewise occupied by ecclesiastical disputes of very transient importance; and the fury with which he pursued the schismatics and heretics of his day, though by no means peculiar to himself, perhaps surpassed the violence of any preceding father. But together with all this matter, we discover without surprise many expressions of fervent Christian piety, and many zealous exhortations of faith and constancy to his afflicted or trembling brethren. For he had fallen on evil times ; and in his anxious desire to preserve his religion both from corruption and overthrow, he adopted such measures as to him appeared suited to the necessities of the moment, without altogether neglecting those which proceeded from the 1 rue spirit of the faith and were adapted to its perpetual service. Govom- Respecting the general government of the Church during the Church, third century some particulars may be collected from the pre- ceding pages. It appears that the more important Churches were severally superintended by a bishop, possessed of a certain, but not very definite degree of authority; and that he ruled in conceit with the body of presbyters; and even consulted on "•'•' Neander would establish a general distinction between the %dgnrfiet 5/Sa *"■' ^fiivaus Xoyuv Tonitititris o'j/)fx.a^n l uivuv yu.\u. Lib. 111. Adv. Cels. (p. 143. Edit. Cantab.) 94 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. III. tioned, may appear uncertain ; but the fact of this two-fold instruction is at any rate important and worthy to be recorded. It is, however, certain that that distinction was closely con- False no- nected with the office of baptism. The original simplicity of Baptism. ^ lat sacrament had already undergone some corruption. The symbol had been gradually exalted at the expense of the thing signified, and the spirit of the ceremony was beginning to be lost, in its form. Hence a belief was gaining ground among the converts, and was inculcated among the heathen, that the act of baptism performed in communion with the Church and by imposition of the hands of the clergy *, gave remission of all sins committed previously to it. There are some passages in the writings of Cyprian which unreservedly and without any modification assert this doctrinef . And though there are many others, in which the nature of the spiritual regeneration is explained with great clearness, and some where he declares the efficacy of baptism | to that effect to be annulled by subsequent relapse into infidelity or trans- gression, yet enough exists, even in his enlightened composi- tions, to account for the origin of that notion. It was not fit, then, that so important a rite should be hastily performed or inconsiderately received ; and, therefore, the new proselytes were, in the first instance, admitted into a probationary state under the name of Catechumens, whence they were chosen, according to their progress in grace, into the body of the faith- ful. As long as they remained in that class, great care was taken to instruct them in the important truths, and especially in the moral obligations, of religion ; yet doubtless there would be some among them, in whom the love of sin survived the * " Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur, ut qui in Eeclesia baptizar.tur Praepositis Ecclesise offerantur, et per nostram orationera et manus impositionem Spiritum Sanctum conscquantur, et signaculo Dominico consummentur." Cypr. Epist. 73. f Epist. 76. Ed. Paris. " Nam cum in baptismo unicuique peccata sua remit- tantur, probat et declarat in Evangelio suo Dominus per eos solos peccata posse dimitti, qui habeant Spiritum Sanctum, &c." Also Ep. 73. &c. Euseb. H. E. vii. s. 8. Mosh. c. iii. p. ii. ch. 4. Compare Cyprian's language with the passage of Justin Martyr on the same subject. I " Parum est baptizari et Eucharistiam accipere, nisi quis factis et opere profi- ciat." Lib. Testimoniorum, iii. 26. CH. III.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 95 practice of superstition *, and such would naturally defer their baptism and their pardon until the fear of death, or satiety of enjoyment, overtook them. We should remember, however, that baptism was not supposed to bestow any impunity for future sins ; on the contrary, the first offence committed after it, required the expiation of a public confession, (called i^oixokoywis,) and the second was punished by excommunication. And if the hope and easy condition of pardon for the past tended, as it may have done, to fill the ranks of the catechumens, we may reasonably indulge the belief, that the great majority were amended and perfected by the religious instruction which was then opened to them. An opinion at this time became prevalent in the Christian Exorcism, world, that the demons, the enemies of man, were, in fact, the same beings whom the heathen worshipped as gods, who inha- bited their temples and animated their statues. It became, therefore, the duty of the soldiers of Christ to assail them under every form, and expel them from every residence. That, indeed, which they are related most frequently to have occupied was the body of man f, and from this refuge they were perseveringly disturbed by the pious exorcisms of the clergy ; and this prac- tice was carried to such superstitious excess, that none were admitted to the ordinance of baptism until they had been solemnly delivered from the dominion of the Prince of Dark- ness. The first unequivocal trace of the ceremony of exorcism, as essentially connected with baptism, appears in the Cyprianic age. In the council of Carthage held in 256, and composed of eighty-five bishops, the bishop of Bilta mentions exorcism among the ordinary parts of the ceremony. And Cyprian lum- * Origen, however, assures us, that among his converts there were more who had previously led a moral life than of the opposite description— a fact which may serve as an answer to one of Gibbon's insinuations. Contr. Cels. 1. iii. pp. 150, 151. Tillem., Mem., vol. iii. p. 11 C. f Celibacy, though under no circumstances considered as a duty either by clergy or laity, acquired some unmerited honour during this age, through the absurd, but general persuasion, that those who had wives were peculiarly liable to the influence of malignant demons. At least Mosheim (cent. iii. p. ii. ch. 2) asserts this on the authority of an enemy— Porphyry, we^'At^Jk, 1. W« p. 41 7. In the time of Irenaeus, (1. i. c. 24.) the profession of celibacy was a heresy. 96 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. 111. self, in the lxxvith epistle, after stating how "the Devil was flao-ellated, burnt and tortured by the exorcists, with human voice but power from above," proceeds to say that, " when the convert comes to the waters of salvation and the sanctification of baptism, we ought to know and trust that the Devil is then oppressed, and the man, dedicated to God, is through divine in- dulgence set at liberty. For as serpents and scorpions, so power- ful on dry ground, retain not their poison when cast into the water, so neither can the evil spirits remain in the human body, when, through baptism and sanctification, the Holy Spirit enters thereinto." The general use of exorcism among the Christians of this age is sufficiently proved by the existence of the office, and the testimony of the best writers * ; and this was only the continuation of an older practice : but its connexion with the baptismal service may be ascribed to the first half of the third century. The sign We may here mention, that the sign of the cross was already ° r ,'„ in much honour in the time of Tertullian f, and was held to be of great effect in the expulsion of Daemons, and other miracles. And we find it proposed, as one of t lie Theses in ' Cyprian's Book of Testimonies' J, "that in this sign there is salvation to all who receive it on the forehead." It is not probable that the enlightened prelate intended this expression to be interpreted literally : yet was it a dangerous abuse of language and fraught with abundant evil in after times, to confound the mere symbol with the spiritual regeneral ion signified, and exalt them in the same lofty terms, and propose them as objects of equal reve- rence to an ignorant and superstitious people. It is commonly asserted that, at about the same time, and from causes connected with the misapprehension of the real The Eu- nature of baptism, and the division of the converts, a vague and chamt. mysterious veneration began to be attached to the oilier sacra- * Origen (Contr. Cols. lib. i. c. 34.) asserts that traces of the Holy Spirit were yet preserved among Christians — <: who exorcise evil spirits (iZ'-irtpiovtrt laifiwct;) and perform many cures, and have some foresight, through the will of the Word, of things to come." See chap. xiii. f De Corona, cap. iii. " Frontem Crucis signaculo terimus." I Lib.ii. s. 22. CH. III.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 97 ment : that its nature and its merits were exaggerated by those who administered and partook of it : that it was regarded with superstitious curiosity by those to whom it was refused, while reports were propagated of the miraculous efficacy of the conse- crated elements. It is proper to examine how far these notions were justified by the deliberate expressions of the two great fathers of that century. Origen * speaks of " the bread, which is presented with thanksgiving and prayer, as being made by the prayer a holy body, sanctifying those who use it with wholesome purpose." Cyprian declares, that the eucharist is taken as a protection to those who receive it — to the end that they may be safe against the assaults of the adversary, being armed with the defence of the Lord's feast f." In another place 'I he gives a singular reason for the daily celebration of the sacrament. "We who are in Christ daily receive the eucharist as the food of salvation, lest being prohibited through the commission of any gross offence from communion and the heavenly bread (ccelesti pane), we should be separated from the body of Christ." The language of Origen afforded no manner of pretext for any superstitious notion ; but the more vague expressions of Cyprian were sure to receive from the ardent imaginations of the people a wild and extravagant inter- pretation §. A regular form of penance was imposed upon the offender, Penance before he could be restored to the communion, or, as it is ^.^ on- commonly called by Cyprian, the peace, of the Church (pax * Contra Cels. lib. viii. p. 393. Edit. Cantab. 2w^« Syim kx) ay'taZ,^ tov; pi? vyiov; TgoDiina; x-jtm ^upitov;. j f "Munimento dominicae saturitatis." Epist. 54. Ad Cornelium. | Liber de Dominica Oratione, p. 209. Edit. Paris. In the book De Lapsis he calls the cup— " Sanctifieatus in sanguine Domini potus"— and in Epist. 56. the reason he gives for "the daily drinking of Christ's blood" is, that "Christians may be in perpetual readiness to pour out their blood for Christ." § In his Liber de Lapsis Cyprian tells a story, on his own personal knowledge, of a female child, which, during the persecution, had been compelled to swallow some of the sacrificial food. She was afterwards brought to the Lord's table — and when, after many struggles, the deacon at last poured some of the cup down her reluctant throat, she immediately vomited it out. "In corpore at. pie ore violato Eucharistia permanere non potuit Tanta est potestas Domini, tanta majestas, &c." VOL. 1. H 98 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. Ill- Ecclesia?). The frequency of this practice is proved hy the common mention of it in the writings of that, and even of the preceding, age. " The power of remitting sins (says Firmilianus, bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia, to Cyprian *) was given to the Apostles, and to the Churches which they founded, and to the bishops who by vicarious ordination have succeeded them. Wherefore, in our periodical councils, besides other important matters, we seek by means of penance a remedy for our brethren who have fallen away after baptism — not as if the remission of sins proceeded from ourselves, but that, they may be turned by us to a knowledge of their sins, and make ampler satisfaction to God." " Let every man confess his sins (says Cyprian) while he is still in the world .... and while the satisfaction and remission made to the Lord by his priests may be still acceptable." This penance, even in minor offences, included public confession. " In smaller sins, the sinners do penance for an appointed time; then, according to the order of discipline, they come to the Exomologesis f ", and then, by imposition of hands of the bishop and clergy, they receive the right of com- munion J". This was the ordinary practice of the Church and extended to all the faithful. But, " there were some of more commanding faith and more scrupulous excellence §, who, though entirely free from the commission of sin, yet because they had so much as thought of it, confessed this very thought with sorrow and simplicity to the priests of God, and made an exomologesis of their conscience." — These however were rare and voluntary acts of devotion, not yet enforced by the precepts, or necessary to the power of an ambitious priesthood. Christian We shall conclude our account of these practices with the discipline. (j escr ip t i on r tne Christian discipline given by Origen in his Third Book against Celsus, " The Christian teachers pre- * Epist. Cypr. 73. f " Exomologesis est, qua delictum Domino nostrum confitemur, non quidem ut ignaro, sed quatenus satisfactio Confessione disponitur. Confessions Poenitentia nascitur, Poenitentia Deus mitigatur." — Tertultian de Poenitentia, § ix. Teitullian is more spiritual : Cyprian more ecclesiastical. \ Cyprian, Epist. ix. See also Epist. xi. and the Liber de Lapsis. § Liber de Lapsis. CH. III. J A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 99 examine, as far as possible, the souls of those who wish to hear them, and privately gain mastery * over them before admis- sion. And when the hearers appear to have given sufficient proof of their desire to lead a good life, before they are received into the public assembly, then they introduce them : making one class of those who are novices, and have not yet received the symbol of purification ; another of those who have, as far as may be, made good their profession, and proved that they have no inclinations adverse to the statutes of the Christians. Over these there are persons appointed to investigate their lives and morals, that they may exclude from the common assembly those who do things forbidden : and embrace with their whole soid such as are otherwise disposed, and establish them in the daily progress of improvement. How severe again is their discipline in regard to sinners, especially the incontinent, whom they expel from communion The respectable school of Pythagoras used to erect cenotaphs to those who deserted the sect, accounting them for dead. But the Christians hold those as perished and dead to God, who are subject to lust or any other evil passion — and these they bewail as departed souls : yet in such manner, that, if they give proofs of sincere repentance, again, after a longer trial than was imposed on their first introduction, they at length receive them back, as if they were risen from the dead. At the same time, they exclude such, as have thus fallen, from all power and dignity in what is called the Church of God." Christians had been divided during the second century, as to the propriety of adopting, in their contests with the heathen, the weapons of philosophy; and the difference was finally philo- decided, at least at Alexandria, by the talents of Clemens and S0 P h y- Origen, and the superior loquacity of the philosophical party. By this condescension the advocates of the faith gained great advantages in the display of argument, in subtilty of investiga- tion, in plausibility of conclusion, in the abuse and even in the use of reason ; but they lost that manly and simple integrity of * Kur iVmv uiiToTs -r^oi* aravr <.;. We have given what appears to us the general meaning of this expression. 'I%irfiiiv is, in Origen, to exorcise. H 2 100 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. III. disputation which well became, in spite of its occasional rusticity, the defenders of truth. It is to this alliance * that some are Pious disposed to trace the birth of those pious frauds which stain the Frauds. f ace Q f ecclesiastical history. Howbeit, the original source of this evil was at least innocent. It had long been a practice among ancient philosophical writers to ascribe their works to some name of undisputed authority, in order to secure attention to their opinions, though the opinions were well known to be only those of the writer ; and this might serve a good purpose, when opinions only were propounded, and not truths ; and when those opinions too were merely speculative, and did not at all involve the hopes or the interests of mankind. But when the same practice was introduced into the service of Christianity, it had no other effect than to generate distrust and contention; to pollute its present purity; and prepare the way for future and more abominable corruptions. Nume- rous apocryphal Gospels-)- were published in the second and third centuries. Acts and Revelations were so multiplied, that there is scarcely one among the apostles whose name has not been affixed to some such forgery. Books, written in later ages, were zealously circulated as the writings of the Apostolical Fathers^. The works of these last were altered or interpolated, * Le Clerc. adjudges to an earlier year (aim. 122) the celebrated forgery, under the name of Hermes Trismegistus, of which the object was to trace the doctrine of Christ to a much higher period than his incarnation, and thus to increase its sanctity. The interpolation of the Sibylline Books is referred by the same historian to the year 131. This latter imposture, as foolish as shameful, was warmly pa- tronised by a host of Fathers, including Clemens Alex., Tertullian, Eusebius, Jerome, Augustin, &c. and thus occasioned much scandal to Christians in general among their enemies in that age, and no little disrepute to its ancient patrons among candid writers of every age. See Le Clerc, vol. i. p. 1 OG. Jortin, Remarks, &c. vol. i. p. 188. f As the Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus, the Gospel of Nicodemus,the Gospel of Jude, the Gospel of Peter, the Preaching of Peter, the Acts of Paul and Thecla— all of which probably existed at the middle of the second century. The last four of these are respectively mentioned by Irenaeus(i. 31), Serapion (ap. Euseb. vi.12.), Clemens Alexandrinus (Stromates. vi.), and Tertullian. The "Testimony of the Twelve Patriarchs" was probably published about the same time— and a multitude of others might be mentioned— for indeed it was the fashion of that age to produce such romances. t Such, in the second century, were the celebrated Apostolical Canons; and, in the fourth, the Apostolical Constitutions, attributed to the diligence of Clemens CH. III.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 101 according to the notions of after times, or the caprices of the interpolator; but usually for the purpose of proving the anti- quity of some new opinion, some innovation in discipline, some usurpation of authority. The practice was justified by the detestable, but popular principle, " that truth may be defended by falsehood ;" it was encouraged by the difficulty of detection in ignorant aip>iirra,Tn Tvuffi;, kcc) n tZ ban dgitrrn f Act's of Apcst, v. }7 ; xv. 5. Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 5. 9. CI1 V.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 137 Christians ; and though it still continued for some ages to be used, in its first and most general sense, to designate every de- nomination, not only of sects but of false religions*, yet for the most part it was employed in speaking of those who, professing Christianity, had departed from the doctrine which was taught by the Apostles. In the mouth of an orthodox Christian it could not, in any of these senses, be a term of indifference ; since, according to the necessary exclusiveness of our principles, the faith which was revealed through Christ and interpreted by his Apostles is alone truth — every other belief is error. We next observe, that the notion of wilfulness and perversity (perhaps a much worse notion) was very early attached to it ; and even by the writers of the New Testament it is sometimes so used, that a somewhat indefinite idea of evil appears to have been affixed to it, Some, indeed, have supposed that it was understood by early Christian writers to contain the imputation of immorality |, and thus we may partly account for the exceed- ing zeal with which many of them laboured for its extirpation, and the language which they applied to those who had deviated into it. Charges, indeed, or insinuations of the grossest impu- rities are sometimes thrown out by the orthodox writers against the early heretics]};, but we are bound to receive them with great caution : because the answers which may have been given to them are lost; and because they are not generally justified by * Epiphanius, in his Book on Heresies, mentions TSaofi>u.^trpa;, Sxi/^^oV, 'EXXji- wo-^oj, ' Ioul)aY that the body of our Lord was declared to be a phan- tom while the Apostles were still in the world, and the blood of Christ was still fresh in Judaea. The Phantastics, under the denomination of Doceta^, were, indeed, a sect of very early origin, and we connect their opinions with one peculiarity of the Gnostic system, which we have not yet mentioned. Certain among those philosophers, in order to remove the Author of good to an immeasurable distance from the contact of matter, imagined a vast succession of created but superhuman beings, as the agents of communication between the Supreme God and the world, or at least its Creator. These were emanations from the Deity; and they appear, when their office was discharged, to have been restored to the Pleroma, to the presence of Him who sent them — these beings were called /Eons. Among them a very high rank, possibly the highest, was assigned to Christ ; but from this point the Gnostics broke off* into two different and almost opposite theories : many imagined that Jesus was a mere man, and maintained that the aeon Christ descended upon the man Jesus at his baptism, and left him immediately before his crucifixion, so that Christ was not, in fact, subjected to pain and death : while others held that the body, with which Christ appeared to be invested, was not really human and passible, but unsubstantial, or ethereal, or at least immaterial. These last were called Docetce. At the same time, both parties alike misunderstood that which the Church considered to be the peculiar doctrine and object of Christianity : for they agreed in believing that the mission of Christ had no further intention than to reveal the knowledge of the true God; they denied the resurrection and the final judgment, and by explaining away the death of Christ, they deprived his religion of the doctrine of the Atonement. * Advers. Lucif., c. viii. vol. ii. p. 203. "Apostulis adhuc in s;tl-u1o sup.er- stitibus, adhuc apud Judaeam sanguine Christi recenti; Phantasma Domini cor- pus designabatur," CH. V.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. MO From the above brief and very general outline of the Gnostic Heresies — which differed again widely from each other in many subordinate opinions — we perceive how very far they were re- moved from the precincts of reason and truth. Indeed, they retained so much more of Gnosticism than they assumed of Christianity, that it was only in the ancient and very broad acceptation of the term that they could be fairly denominated Heresies ; and thus we are less disposed to censure the severity of those Fathers who refused them the name of Christian. For however cautious we should be in withholding that appellation from those whose errors are founded on the mere perversion of reason, we may safely disclaim our fraternity with men, who substitute, for the fundamental doctrines and the clearest truths of the Gospel, wild visions and theories which have not any ground or existence, except in vain and lawless imagination. And we might do well to conclude this subject in the words of Le Clerc— one of the most rational and faithful among our histo- rical guides. " I am weary of the Valentinians, (thus he begins his account of the year 145,) and so I imagine are my readers; but the history of the second century is so crammed with them, and the Fathers, both of those and of later times, so often refer to them, that it, is necessary to expose monstrous opinions, which in themselves do not merit one moment's attention." In truth, their principal, if not their only claim on our attention, is, that the Books of the New Testament appear to contain some allusions to them, which it is our duty to examine and understand*. Howbeit, there is one Heresy, belonging to this School, on History of ii a • 1 i* M;i lies ; which it is proper to bestow a somewhat less superficial notice; because it acquired much more general prevalence than any of the others, and an importance too, which recommended it for a long series of centuries to the jealousy and persecution of the Church, both in the East and in the West. Manesf, the most * Any one desirous of more ample details respecting the Gnostic Heresies may safely consult the learned author in the Encycl. Britan., pp. 24, 25, 26., and Dr. Burton's Bampton Lectures, and Eccles. History of the Early Church. But if he wish to study their principles profoundly, he should have recourse to Beau- sobre's History of Manicheism. f The original document, whence the Western accounts of Manes are generally, 150 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. V. distinguished of all Heresiarchs, was born in Persia about the year 240 a.d. He professed Christianity, and is believed by some to have received ordination ; but he was expelled at an early age from the catholic communion. At the same time, he held most of the tenets of the Magians; though he seems to have belonged to one of those sects which had not embraced the Reformation of Zoroaster. Thus heterodox in both his professions, he applied himself to unite, and by uniting to perfect them. And this he proposed to accomplish by retaining just so much of both as he might hope to reconcile, without too flagrant a violation of reason. His pro- This purpose required authority.. Accordingly, he presented himself as an inspired apostle, superior in rank to those who had preceded him : enlightened and directed by the Holy Ghost, and commissioned to disclose those secret truths which the Saviour had withheld from his disciples; to purify the Sacred Books; to purge away the Judaism which corrupted Christianity ; and to complete, according to the promise of Christ, the work of Revelation. This office, (for his pretensions aspired no higher*,) by assuming his infallibility, placed him above the necessity of giving any reasons for his doctrines ; and he was thus contented to claim the privileges of the spiritual man, " who judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no if not entirely, drawn — viz. " Acta Disputationis Archelai, Episcopi Mesopotamia-, et Manetis Heresiarchse," appears to be supposititious. Beausobre, whose argu- ments on this subject are to us perfectly conclusive, has had recourse to the more copious and credible authorities of Oriental writers — and it is from the ela- borate work of Beausobre that the following account is for the most part derived. The name of the heretic of course furnished matter for sarcasm to the ignorant malevolence of the Greeks — ulirsi (t.\v vu.vtk; uloinxobs' i%ai?>irw; Se rov t7,; May ins Ivojvvpov — is the amiable injunction of Cyril of Jerusalem; and the pun is diver- sified in a variety of forms. But the probability is, that his name was really Menahem, or Manaem — a term signifying Comforter — and this approaches nearer too to his common denomination, Manichseus. Such at least is the con- jecture of Archbishop Usher (founded on a passage of Sulpicius Severus, Hist. Sacr., 1. i. p. 49), and it is confirmed by Beausobre. * The Manicheans seem to have regarded their founder much in the same light in which the Unitarians regard Christ — as a mere man, authorized to reveal to his fellow-creatures the mysteries of heaven. f 1 Corinth, ii. 15. CH. V.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 151 As he had been rejected by the Christian Church for lus im- perfect Christianity, so did his corruption of Magianism subject him to vexations from the established powers in Persia. He was imprisoned ; he is stated to have passed a considerable period in exile ; and he finally atoned for his dangerous inno- vations by death. The day of his execution (or martyrdom) is commonly asserted to have been the sixth of March, 270 or ami death, '•111 : the anniversary was long celebrated by his disciples, but the year has not been fixed with equal certainty. The author of his punishment is supposed (for this too is disputed) to have been Varanes I. : and the fatal offence appears, without much doubt, to have been his general proselytizing invasion of the established religion of his country — while the particular tenet, which excited the highest indignation and raised the loudest cry against him, was his denial of the resurrection of the flesh. It was not for the profession of Christianity that he suffered. As long as he was no more than an excommunicated heretic, he lived without any molestation. But when he began to pro- claim a heavenly commission, and to collect disciples, and to promulgate doctrines, and to send forth missionaries, he pre- sently incurred the jealousy of the Persian government ; and when it was ascertained besides, that his scheme embraced not only the revelation of a purer Christianity, but also the refor- mation of the Zoroastrian system, and the diffusion of un- authorized tenets, it was thought expedient at, once to ex- tinguish so dangerous an innovator. A public disputation was accordingly appointed between Manes and the Magians, in the presence of prejudiced judges : the arguments of the latter were pronounced to be victorious ; and the reformer was condemned and led away to execution. To the question, whether Manes was an impostor or a fanatic, the only reasonable answer is, that he was probably both: for there has seldom been a successful heresiarch, who has not contrived to combine craft and enthusiasm. The more useful inquiry would be — if even that were useful — which may have predominated in the mixture? It seems at least certain that the character of Manes, such as it is universally described, was far removed from that, vulgar fanaticism, so closely connected with ignorance. It 152 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. V. His clia- is affirmed that he was the most learned man in the Persian empire; that he was acquainted with the Greek language; that he was versed in the various arts and sciences, in music, mathe- matics, geography, astronomy, and astrology, painting and medicine ; that he was thoroughly familiar with the scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, and initiated in all the mysteries of the Eastern philosophy. The accounts which we have of his dress and ordinary bearing are such as indicate rank and distinction. He aspired, like Zoroaster, to reform his religion ; and he rested his lofty pretensions, not, on any mi- raculous gilts, to which he laid no claim, but on his own extra- ordinary supereminence in knowledge and wisdom. And in the histories of his life, a circumstance is incidentally mentioned, which proves that he wanted neither resolution nor piety. Seve- ral of his disciples came to visit him when he was in prison; and while they were exhorting him to have some regard for his personal safety, " he told them to be of good cheer, and rose and betook himself to prayer." His ambition may have been to surpass the renown of Zoroaster; but the result is different — for while the memory of the latter is transmitted to universal celebrity with every expression of gratitude and veneration, Manes was convicted of a double apostacy, persecuted by one party and fiercely stigmatized by the other, unpitied and un- pardoned by either. On the doc- The works of Manes are lost. They consisted of his " Re- Manes? velation or Gospel of Life (To ££v EuzyyiXw) ; "The Treasure of Life;" "The Book of Chapters or Fundamentals (twv Ke- cpaXai'wv) ; " and the " Book of Mysteries." There were also " Collections of his Letters," and of his " Memorable Sayings and Actions." His immediate followers appear to have used a liturgy or prayer book ; but this composition is not with any certainty ascribed to Manes. It is from the fragments of these works (especially the " Book of Mysteries ") and from some controversial writings of the early fathers (particularly x\u ce.XXax.rov ilx'ova, xcu tfowrorozov -xaffn; xrnrtas — are such as might have been subscribed by the most zealous Catholic. See Le Clerc, ap. Jortin, E. H. b. iii. ; and Tillemont, Sur les Ariens, Article xxxii. Also, Sozo- meiij 1. iii- c. v ; and Atbanas. de Synodis. + It was on this occasion that Constantius requested Athanasius to grant to the Arians one Church at Alexandra. This request the patriarch answered by another, proposing a similar concession to the Catholics at Antioch. From this conference we learn not only what high ground was assumed by the prelate, in his transactions with the emperor, but also with what different success the mea- sures of the latter had been attended in the capitals of Syria and of Egypt. CH. VII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 203 pagation of Afianisrn he presently renewed his attacks on Athanasins. He summoned* councils of the Western bishops; he menaced and caressed and corrupted the bishops whom he had summoned, and at length (in the year 356) with great difficulty succeeded in deposing for the third time his spiritual adversary. This struggle must not be passed over with slight notice, His contest since it presents to us an event, of which there had yet been ™ antius# " no experience in the history of the Church, or in the history of Rome, or perhaps in the history of man. Hitherto, or at least a very short time previous, the Church had been a despised and seemingly defenceless community, subject, as a body, to the ca- pricious insults of every tyrant, and liable, in its individual mem- bers, to his arbitrary inflictions. Until very lately, the emperor of the Roman world possessed authority uncontrolled over the liberty and life of his subjects, undisputed by any, except as re- bels, or rivals for the throne. And certainly the monstrous evils of despotic government have never been more signally displayed, than during the dreary interval which separated Augustus and Constantine. Still at the end of that period the rules of go- vernment remained the same as at the beginning — no civil revolution had assigned limits to the authority of the prince, or introduced any counteracting power — no political change had given weight to popular opinion or honour to free prin- ciples. And yet scarcely forty years from the accession of Constantine had elapsed, when we behold his son and successor reduced to the employment of intrigue and artifice, for the de- position of a magistrate whom he detested. The singularity of this circumstance is even increased by two other consider- ations — one of which is, that the emperor had the cordial sup- port of a considerable portion of his subjects, the Arian party, in this contest — and the other, that his adversary was not sus- * The most numerous council assembled on this occasion appears to have been that of Milan in 35."), which was attended by above 31)0 Western as well as many Eastern bishops. (See Maimk, Hist. Arian., b. iv. vol. i., p. 174 et seep) In the same year Liberius, bishop of Rome, .vas banished for his faithful attachment to the doctrine and cause of Athanasius ; but he was presently recalled, through the intercession first of the matrons, and afterwards of the populace, of Rome. Sozom., lib. iv. c. ii. Theod,, lib. ii. c. xvii. 204 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VII. tained by any armed force of soldiers or followers ; nor is it probable even that his violent execution would have been fol- lowed by any serious insurrection*. Yet Constantius, with a prudent respect both for the spiritual authority of the bishop and the rights of the Church, proceeded to the accomplishment of his object by indirect, and tedious, and unworthy methods. Such circumstances become, indeed, familiar to us in the pages of later history; but we should not for that reason overlook their first occurrence, nor fail to record with pleasure and gra- titude the earliest proof we possess of the political effect of Christianity in moderating the despotism with which it was associated. The third banishment of Athanasius lasted six years, until the death of his persecutor in 362 f . They were passed in the deserts of Upper Egypt, in concealment and dependence ; and they were consoled by the pious exertions of the exile for the opinions for which he suffered — exertions, which the vigilance of the Imperial police could neither prevent nor neutralize. After his final restoration he enjoyed his see withotit interrup- tion for eleven years, and at length died in peace and dignity. Divisions of In the mean time, as is natural among those who indulge in nans. an y j ax j^y f speculation respecting mysteries really inscrutable, the Arians were divided among themselves almost as widely as the more moderate among them varied from the Church. The original and pure Arians, following the opinions of their founder, maintained not only that the substance of the Word was different from that of the Father, but that it did not even resemble it ; while others, pretending the authority of Eusebius of Nicomedia, denied with equal confidence the Consubstan- tiality of the two Persons, but at the same tine affirmed their perfect likeness. These last are commonly called Semiarians ; and their doctrine appears to have been first proclaimed at the Synod of Ancyra in Galatia, held by Basil, the Bishop of that " ;: It is true that some popular commotions did at last attend the execution even of the legal order for the deposition of the bishop, which were suppressed by force; hut they were of very short duration, and entirely confined to Alexandria. f It is asserted by Tillemont (Sur les Ariens, Art. 103) that during the neu- trality of Julian, the Catholics gained considerable ground upon their adver- saiies. C1I . vil.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 205 place iu the year 358; but the Council of Seleucia, by which Council of 1 ' •> ii • ill Seleucia. their tenets were sanctioned in the following year, holds a more 359j A Di prominent place in ecclesiastical annals*. They were very numerous during the reign of Constantius, who was their pro- tector, and, as is supposed, their proselyte; hut they afterwards yielded in some measure to the pure Arianism of Valens and his patriarch, Eudoxius. Again, the Semiarians were not themselves entirely united : several among them maintained the pre-eternity of the Word; while others believed that, though it had suhsisted before all ages, it had once had a beginning. And that party f was not. inconsiderable which, admitting a general likeness between the Father and the Son, denied that there was any similarity of substance^. Athanasius, in his epistle respecting the Synods of Seleucia and Rimini, exposes the great variety of the Arian Creeds, and the subject has been enlarged upon by Catholic historians §, to show the inevitable perplexities of those who have once permitted themselves to deviate from the established doctrine. Having succeeded in his attack on the Consubstantialists, * In the fourth century were held thirteen Councils against Alius, fifteen for him, and seventeen for the Semiarians; in all forty-five. Jortin, Ecc. Hist., b. ni. f It would appear that Constantius himself belonged to this sect of the Semi- arians. See Gibbon, chap. '21. J The Consubstantialists are known in history by the Greek term Homoousi ans ; those who asserted the similarity of the substances by the name of IIomoiolsians ; those who denied any sort of resemblance were called Anouoians ; and, to com- plete the confusion, the last-mentioned Sectarians are sometimes denominated — from the name of one of their most popular teachers — Eunomians. The unim- portance of the verbal difference has provoked the ridicule of some, who would have done better to reflect with sadness, how much the angry application of those terms tended to prolong and embitter the controversy. See Semler, cent. iv. chap, iv., ad iinem. C) The distinction which Tillemont (Sur les Aliens, Art. 60) draws between the Avians and Eusebians refers rather to their situation in respect to the Church than to their doctrine. " By the Arians we mean those who were expelled from the Church by the Council of Nice — by the Eusebians.those who remained in communion with the Church, but who bent themselves insidiously to ruin its doctrine by the invention of new formularies, who endeavoured to expel Athanasius, and who communicated with the original Arians. So that these two formed only one sect in intrigue, and perhaps in belief too — though the one party appeared in the Church, and the other was visibly separated from it." The word opooitrio; is interpreted — habens simul essentiam, i.e. eundem esseutiam. 206 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH.VII. (and, we might add, on the pure Arians) of the East, Constan- tius removed the scene of action to the Western provinces, and Council of convoked a council at Rimini in the year 360 ; by nearly the same arts which he had employed to procure the condemnation of Athanasius*, supported by a moderate, but firm exertion of the civil authority, he succeeded in influencing the members to the subscription of a creed, containing some expressions capable of heretical interpretation. "The whole world groaned (says St. Jerome) and wondered to find itself Arian!" But this conversion was neither sincere nor lasting ; of the four hundred prelates assembled at Rimini eighty only were Arians ; and however opinions may have been divided in the East — for even there, though the majority of the bishops | followed the faith of the Emperor, there is reason to believe that many among the people remained catholic £ — we may safely infer from the small number of Arian prelates who were found willing to pro- claim that doctrine, even under an Arian Emperor, that it had yet made little progress in the Latin Church. For we should always bear ia mind, that any sudden change in the opinions of the vulgar respecting an abtruse mystery must necessarily be preceded by the same change in their spiritual directors. Valens. The path of intolerance, which had been pointed out and abandoned by Constantine, but so steadily followed by his heretical successor, was trodden with equal diligence in the * He directed Taurus, the governor of the province, to confine the bishops, un- til they should be all of one mind, that is, until they should be all of the Emperor's mind. The conditions of concord on which they at length agreed amounted to this : the Catholics conceded the offensive term (Consubstantialism), and the Arians to all appearance the doctrine; at least all parties agreed in anathema- tizing the name of Arius, while they professed, as it would seem, the Semiarian opinions. Sulpic. Sever, lib. ii. p. 420. Edit. Lugd. Batav. Maimb. Hist. Arian., b. iii. Gibbon, chap. 21. Some British bishops appeared at this synod, and a trait of their poverty and discretion is told by Sulnicius. f The throne and principal churches of Constantinople were occupied by Arian patriarchs from the year 342 till their restoration to the Catholics by Theodosius nearly forty years afterwards. Semler, Epit. sec. iv. I At Antioch at least the dissent of the people from the established Arianism was strongly and violently expressed ; and at Constantinople itself, the very citadel of the heresy, in spite of the savage edicts of Constantius, some very sanguinary tumults still proved the steady perseverance of many Catholics. In one of these 3150 persons were killed. CH. VII.] A HISTORY OF TflK CHURCH. 207 Eastern empire by Valens. That prince, wbo is believed to have been converted to Arianism by the influence of his Em- press* Dominica, in the year 367, permitted considerable licence against the catholics to his patriarch Eudoxius, even during the beginning of his reign, and proceeded, after a few years, to more direct and intemperate measures J . Alexandria, by whose pernicious fertility the controversy was first engen- dered, remained, however, through the influence of Alexander and Athanasius, strongly attached to the Nicene faith. It became the scene of frightful disorder, as soon as the civil authorities added strength to the malignity of the Arians, and proceeded again to expel Peter, the orthodox patriarch. The calamities thus occasioned were undoubtedly heightened by the zealous interference of the Jews and Pagans, who derived their best argument against Christianity from the furious dissensions of its professors, and who were, on all occasions, anxious from other motives to join in the assault on the stronger and wealthier party. On the other hand, the Monks, a new but numerous body, continued faithful to the doctrine of Athanasius, and loved it the more because they suffered for it. Peter avoided the tempest by a hasty retreat to Rome, and the success of the Arians does not appear permanently to have increased either their numbers or their popularity. However, there can be no doubt that the profession of Arianism was common, and even general, throughout the East, during the reign of Valens, and that in some of the Asiatic provinces, especially Syria, such * The Arians had no cause to blush at the obligations which they likewise owed to two preceding empresses. Constaniia protected their infancy and their misfortunes during the reign of Constanline, and Kusebia promoted their prosperity under the sceptre of Constantius. The Catholics could also boast of similar patronage; but Maimbourg (book vi.) establishes a very broad distinction as to the agency by which sucb aid was in each case administered ; "as the devil (says that very rigid Catholic) bad employed the assistance of princesses to introduce Arianism into the court of Constantine, of Constantius and Valens, so God made use of the empress /Elia Flaccilla in order to prevent it from creeping into the court of Theodosius." In a later page (b. xii. a. o. 590) the same author again alludes to the diabolical agency " which introduced the Arian heresy into the Kast by the means of three women," and which was afterwards compensated by the divine benevolence in raising up three princesses, Clotilda, Indegonda, and Theodelinda, for the purification of France, Spain, and Italy. t They are enlarged upon by Tillemont, Sur les Arieus, Art. 115. 208 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VII. may have been the real belief of the majority; but its progress was attended with perpetual tumults, and at the death of Valens in 378 it had reached the highest point of prevalence which it was destined in those regions to attain. Thi'odoMus Two years afterwards, Theodosius the Great proclaimed his adhesion to the doctrine of Nice, and immediately prepared to establish it as the creed of his subjects. " I will not permit (thus he addressed certain Arians in the year* 383) through- out my dominions any other religion than that which obliges us to worship the Son of God in unity of essence with the Father and Holy Ghost in the adorable Trinity — as I hold the empire of Him, and the power which I have to command you, he likewise will give me strength, as he hath given me the will, to make myself obeyed in a point so absolutely necessary to your salvation, and to the peace of my subjects." The peace of his subjects was not indeed the immediate reward of his vio- lent measures, but, on the contrary, general confusion and much individual suffering were occasioned by them. Still, as he persevered inflexibly, as he was supported even in the East by the more zealous, and, in some places, the more numerous party, and as he was seconded almost by the unanimity of the Western Empire, his severities were attended by general and lasting success, and the doctrine of Arius, if not perfectly extir- pated, withered from that moment rapidly and irrecoverably throughout the provinces of the East. Second The work of Theodosius was considerably promoted by the General council which he assembled at Constantinople a.d. 381, and Council, 1 3S1, a. d. which stands in the history of the Church as the Second General Council. Its object, besides the regulation of several points of ecclesiastical discipline, was to confirm the decision of Nice against the Arians, and especially to promulgate the doctrine of the Divinity of the Third Person, against the Macedonian! * See Maimb., Hist. Arian., b. vi. f Macedonius, in common with other Arians (or rather Semiarians), denied the Consubstantiality, and affirmed the likeness of the two first Persons; but he positively asserted that the Holy Ghost was y-rnrrov, created. He is said to have published this notion twenty years before the General Council which condemned it. Le Clerc, Comrend. Hist., ap. jort., b. iii. Mosh. H. E., Cent. iv.,p. ii. ; ch. v. CH. VII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 209 Heretics. The doctrine on those fundamental points, which was then established, is the same (if we except the manner of the holy procession) which is still professed in our Church : by the Oriental Church it has been unceasingly maintained, with- out any variation, to the present moment. We turn to the consideration of the Western Empire. While Arianism Valens was disturbing his subjects with fruitless persecution, ba Kuians. the Western Empire was administered by his brother Valcn- tiniau with justice and moderation. Those, and they were few in number, among the Western Bishops, who had openly de- serted to the faith of Constantius, were now concealed in ob- scurity, or removed by death ; Damasus, the Bishop of Rome, was an ardent supporter of the Nicene doctrine, and the Church preserved the general appearance, if it could not quite secure the reality, of concord. At Milan, during the reign of Theo- dosius, the celebrated St. Ambrose exerted his genius in the same cause, and at the end of the fourth century the proselytes of Arianism formed an inconsiderable and a declining party. Suddenly it received a new and extraordinary impulse from a quarter which could not have been suspected, from accidents which could not be averted, nor immediately controlled, and which prolonged the existence of that heresy beyond the du- ration which seemed otherwise to have been assigned to it. During the course of the fifth century numerous tribes of Bar- barians, Goths, Huns and Vandals, Suevi and Alani and Salii, overran and occupied the provinces of the West. Of these some had been previously converted to Christianity in their native forests, before their emigration to the south : the rest for the most part adopted the religion of the vanquished ; but while they professed generally the name of Christianity, they followed in its particular tenets the faith of their prince or leader. Now it so happened that all these tribes, excepting probably the Salii, imbibed in the first instance the notions of Arius. This circumstance is thus accounted for:— The Goths, who Ulphilas. were the earliest and most zealous among- the converts, were directed in their religious creed by their bishop Ulphilas, a man of great talents and influence. This prelate, in the course of VOL. I. P 210 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VII. two missions to Constantinople, during the reigns of Constan- tius and Valens, accommodated his opinions (whether sincerely or not, is questionable) to those of the imperial court, and he returned, at least from his second embassy, the zealous prose- lyte of Arianism. This doctrine he rapidly propagated among his compatriots, and diffused it through the whole nation. The example of the Goths was respected by the leaders of tribes of subsequent invaders and converts : in embracing the religion of the provinces which they conquered they preferred that form of it which was professed by their predecessors in conquest; and thus the tenets of Arius were disseminated among the bar- barian colonists in every province of the western empire. Other means of spreading those tenets were the persecutions of the orthodox emperors, especially Theodosius : by scattering the followers of the heretic among distant and populous nations, they diffused to the same extent the knowledge of his doctrine, and multiplied the number of its professors. Again, those of the barbarian princes who embraced Chris- tianity after their success, when they saw the great controversy by which the Christian world was divided, would be guided also by political motives as to the side they chose in it, and one of these would probably be opposition to the Eastern throne ; and, as they were little versed in the arguments by which the ques- tion was contested, and probably blind even to its real nature and importance, the mere effect of their ignorance would be to direct them to what might seem the simpler creed. Their soldiers and followers, still more ignorant than themselves, na- turally acquiesced in their belief; and even among the van- quished natives, the many who were indifferent would turn to the same profession. On the other hand, the Church remained firm; the exertions of its most eminent directors were bent almost without exception on the maintenance of the Nicene faith, and with such success, that the great majority of zealous and in- fluential Christians probably retained, even under foreign and Arian rule, their attachment to the established doctrine. Extinction This re-action in favour of Arianism, as it was sudden and somewhat violent, was not of long duration ; indeed we may fairly consider the sixth century as having brought about its of Arian ism. CH. VII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 211 termination. The conversion of Clovis to the Catholic faith in the year 496, and his subsequent zeal in its favour, are com- monly mentioned as having first opened the path to the con- clusion of the dispute ; and as it is sometimes the pleasure of Divine Providence to select the vilest instruments for the accom- plishment of His mysterious designs, so we may believe without astonishment that He deigned to bring about a great good even by the impure and flagitious ministry of Clovis. A more effect- ive agent in the same work was Justinian. That Emperor be- gan his long and active reign in 527, and his rigid orthodoxy was disgraced by the most violent proceedings against every description of heresy. His victories extended his means of ex- tirpation into the West, and before his death he had very gene- rally strengthened, though he had not universally restored, the authority of the Church. The Arians still retained a very powerful party in Spain, In Spain which was not, destined to be otherwise extinguished than by the accession of an orthodox monarch. In the year 585 Recared assembled the leaders of the two parties in a conference, which concluded in the triumph of the Catholics ; and that prince pur- sued his victory both in Spain and Narbonese Gaul, with so touch diligence and rigour, that, after some sanguinary tumults and barbarous executions*, the great body of his subjects ranged themselves under his doctrine, and never afterwards re- lapsed into heresy. The celebrated Council of Toledo, which was held by the same king in 589, may be considered as having completed the extirpation of Arianism from the soil of Spain. In Italy the victories obtained by the generals of Justinian Among the gave strength and confidence to the Catholic Church, and sg™^. 3 ' weakened the opposition of its adversaries ; and the heresy ap- pears to have been falling into discredit, when it received a fresh but momentary impulse from the invasion and triumphs of the Lombards. Those Arian warriors crossed the Alps in the year 569, and presently became masters of the greater part of * Maimb. Hist. Arian., b. xi. The fact is admitted and justified by Mariana, Hist. Hispan., lib. v., ch. xiv. See Bayle's Diet., Arius. The facility with which the Arians yielded to this persecution has given great matter of exultation to Catholic writers. p2 212 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VII. ihe country. Their conquests were attended by unusual cir- cumstances of barbarity, and the necessary horrors of uncivilized warfare were inflamed by sectarian animosity. But the suffer- ings of the Catholics were not of long duration ; they were speedily and effectually terminated by the conversion of the conquerors. This event is ascribed, in the first instance, to the diligence and fidelity of the orthodox Bishops*, who availed themselves of the first moments of tranquillity to recommend the Nicene doctrine to the conscience of the victors. It is at least probable that their exertions prepared and facilitated the success of a Catholic Queen, Theodelinda, who appears to have completed the overthrow of Arianism, even among her Lom- bard subjects, before the conclusion of the sixth century. The triumph of that princess may be read by the Catholic without a blush, and recorded by the historian without a sigh ; since it was accomplished, if not by the process of rational conviction, at least without the savage inflictions by which sudden religious changes are visually effected. It was thus that this lamentable controversy, after perplexing the faith, and animating the malice, and disturbing the happiness of the Christian world for more than two hundred and fifty years, was at length extinguished ; and at this moment the very name of Arius is almost forgotten in the Eastern world ; while in the West his opinions are confined to the breasts of a very inconsiderable proportion of the Christian community. Observa- We shall close this account with a few additional observa- tions. The Arians have laid claim to the greater moderation, both in the origin and in the conduct of this controversy; and they moreover assert that their communion was free from many of the superstitious corruptions, which, at that time, were grow- ing up so rapidly in the Catholic Church. This latter asser- tion is, at least, founded in probability ; because the principle of their faith, by disparaging the dignity of the Redeemer, re- moved them farther from religious excess. Their tendency was rather towards too little, than towards too much, belief; and we can readily suppose that those who were so averse from the * Maimbourg (Hist. Arian., b. xii.) is the more to be believtd in tin's point, as he mentions the fact almost incidentally. th>us. CH. VII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 213 worship of Christ, would certainly refuse any adoration to the Virgin or other created beings. But notwithstanding this, we find that Constantius had a superstitious veneration for relics, and was the first to encourage their transfer from place to place, with the miraculous qualities attached to them ; and when that Arian disturbed the (real or supposed) bodies of Timothy, St. Andrew, and St. Luke, and conveyed them to Constantinople, he assuredly introduced into the Church of Christ one of its most degrading corruptions*. But their claims to superior moderation are still more dis- putable, except, indeed, as far as it might be the fruit of their weakness. In the East, the reign of Constantius was the era of their triumph, and it was polluted by constant and sanguin- ary persecution. That of Valens was not less distinguished by the same spirit and principle, and the same oppression ; and as the Arian Bishops were then exceedingly numerous and power- ful, at least in Asia, it would be unfair to impute the whole criminality to the Emperor. Athanasius, the continual object of their hostility, has the following passage concerning them : ' Whenever any man differs from them, they have him before the governor or the general ; him whom they cannot subdue by reason and argument, they take upon them to convince by whip- pings and imprisonments ; which is enough to show that their principles are anything rather than religion ; for it is the pro- perty of religion not to compel, but to persuade.' On the other hand, Athanasius himself either had not yet learnt, or had wholly forgotten, this excellent truth, when he appealed to Con- stantine against the recall of Arius ; nor was it generally either practised or acknowledged afterwards by the Catholic Emperors of the Eastf . Gradually the faith of the prelates submitted itself to the injunctions of those monarchs ; the people were, upon the whole, always favourable to Catholicism ; and thus before the middle of the sixth century the Nicene doctrine was very firmly established throughout that part of the Empire. * This took place in 336. See Jortin, Eccl. Hist., vol. iv., p. xii. f There is one distinction, however, which to a certain extent is true, that the Arians were more lenient in their treatment of other Heretics ; whereas the Ca- tholics persecuted universally. See the Theodos. Code. The Edicts of Justinian. 214 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VII. In the West, Arianism would never have taken any deep root, except through the influence of the barbarian conquerors ; for the Church was steadily and zealously opposed to it, and so was the most religious, if not the most numerous, part of the conquered. It was probably confined to the courts of the vic- tors, to their armies, and to such of the natives as were in most immediate intercourse with them. In Gaul, in Spain, and in Italy, the Gothic Princes appear seldom to have persecuted their Catholic subjects, except in retaliation for some outrage exercised against the Arians by the Catholic Emperors of Con- stantinople. But in Africa the Vandal Arians were guilty of horrible excesses during the last half of the fifth century, which were not terminated until their expulsion by Belisarius in the year 530. On the other hand, in all those provinces the Ca- tholic population, whether persecuted or not, seems always to have been equally disposed to rise in favour of a Catholic in- vader. But we should here recollect that the distinction of Arian and Catholic was in general so entirely identified with that of Barbarian and Roman, conqueror and conquered, that we can scarcely say how much of this we should attribute to religious, how much to national, animosity. Upon the whole, we have little reason to give the praise of moderation, or even humanity, to either party ; much depended on the personal character of the Princes on either side, and on the principles or prejudices in which they had been educated. But in as far as the sectarian feeling was concerned, we may discover on both sides an equal disposition to give loose to it. The Arian was more flexible, the Catholic more rigid under persecution* ; the former finally submitted to conversion ; the latter would probably never have yielded to any infliction short of extirpation. This distinction is attributed by some to the undoubted circumstance, that it is easier to extend the belief of * Bayle (in his Life of Alius) observes this inconsistency in Roman Catholic writers, that they urge generally the obstinate perversity of Heretics as a proof of their errors ; and yet press their flexibility in particular cases to the same con- clusion. Yet the Roman Catholics endeavoured to accommodate their practice to both their suppositions ; which, indeed, could only be reconciled by the assump- tion, that Heretics were obstinate until they were persecuted, and no longer; and on this ground they erected the Inquisition. CH. VII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 215 the multitude, than to contract it ; a circumstance which pro- ceeds from the false but prevalent notion, that too much belief is at least an error on the safe side, and that Jesus Christ would more readily intercede for those who might have paid Him ex- cessive honour, than for those who had fallen short in their worship. Others imagine that the Arian always felt in his heart some latent consciousness of error, which undermined his constancy in the hour of trial, and deprived him of that energy of invincible endurance which is inconsistent with the very shadow of insincerity. NOTE ON CERTAIN EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORIANS. Three Greek writers, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, take up the annals of the Church about the time of its establish- ment by Constantine nearly where the history of Eusebius ter- minates, and carry them on as far as the reign of Theodosius the younger, through a space of about one hundred and twenty years. It is necessary to give a short account of them. 1 . Socrates was a native of Constantinople ; he was carefully instructed in grammar and rhetoric, and presently assumed the profession of a scholastic or advocate. Much time, however, and very considerable diligence he directed to the compilation of his historical materials, and no scanty judgment is shown in their arrangement and composition. The epistles of Bishops, the acts of Councils, the works of preceding or contemporary ecclesiastics, are consulted with care, and seemingly cited with fidelity, and the principal events are chronologically distin- guished by olympiads or consulates. His impartiality is so strikingly displayed, as to make his orthodoxy qiiestionable to Baronius, the celebrated Roman Catholic historian ; but Vale- sius in his life has clearly shown that there is no reason for such suspicion. We may mention another principle, which he has followed, which in the mind of Baronius may have tended to confirm the notion of his heterodoxy — he is invariably adverse to every form of persecution on account of religious opinions — ' Stcoyixov $s hiyaj to b'ncovovv rocpimiv robs riivyjxZpvTas' — and I call it persecution to offer any description of molestation to 216 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VII. those who arc quiet, Some credulity respecting miraculous stories is his principal failing. 2. Hermias Sozomen was also an advocate, resident at Con- stantinople ; but he was a native of Palestine, born near Gaza, and was educated in a monastery in that country. In his writings we perceive a great ardour for the monastic life, and a concomitant tendency to superstitious extravagance. Superior in style to his contemporary, he is below him in judgment and discrimination: still his work contains much valuable matter ; though some of it was probably borrowed from that of Socralcs, which seems to have been published some little earlier. 3. Theodoret, like Sozomen, received a monastic education ; but he entered into the ecclesiastical profession, and became Bishop of Cyrus, in Syria. He was remarkable, not only for his learning and piety, hut for his absolute and voluntary poverty. ' I was ordained Bishop against my will ; for twenty- five years (says he, in an epistle still extant) I have so lived in that, station, as never to be at variance, never to prosecute any one at law or to be prosecuted. The same I can say of all the pious clergy who are under my inspection, none of whom was ever seen in any court of justice. Neither I nor my domestics ever received the smallest present from any person, not even a loaf or an egg. My patrimony I gave long ago to the poor, and I have made no new acquisitions. I have neither house, nor land, nor money, nor a sepulchre where my friends may- lay my body when I die. I am possessed of nothing save the poor raiment which I wear.' As a writer, however, he is in- ferior to his two fellow-labourers, both in judgment and mode- ration ; he is more violent against schism and heresy, more bigoted, and more absurdly credulous. Yet he did not him- self escape the charge of heresy, and was certainly attached to the party, probably to the opinions, of Nestorius. His style is pronounced by Photius to be clear and lofty without re- dundancy. To this list we may venture to regret that we cannot add the name of Philostorgius. This writer was an Arian ; his history extended from the year 300 to 425, and he had witnessed much of what he described. But of his works nothing remains, except CH. VII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 217 an epitome by Photius, and some fragments. Photins assures us that he betrayed great partiality for the sect to which he be- longed, and this appears indeed to have been so; yet even such a narrative we would willingly confront with the probable mis- representations of his adversaries. We have also referred to the authorities of Epiphanius, Hil- ary, Rufinus, and Sulpicius Severus, but have been very sparing in our use of them. Epiphanius was bred a monk, and became bishop of Salamis, in Cyprus. He was the author of a volu- minous book against all the heresies which had hitherto arisen. But his work is disfigured by so many marks of levity and ignorance, that we can follow him with no general confidence. Hilary was bishop of Poictiers, for the most part a copyist of Tertullian and Origen, but celebrated for " Twelve Books con- cerning the Trinity," written against the Arians. Rufinus was a Presbyter of Aquileia, a translator, and not always a faithful one, of Origen and other Greek writers. He was engaged in a violent contest with St. Jerome, and was assailed by the viru- lence of that intemperate writer ; and he had the additional misfortune of being excommunicated by Anastasius, the Bishop of Rome, for his attachment to the opinions of Origen. Con- temporary with Rufinus was Sulpicius Severus, a native of Aquitania, and a man of rank and learning. He received ordination, and was extremely attached to the person and cha- racter of Martin, the venerable Bishop of Tours. He lived to become his biographer, and besides his "Vita Beati Martini," he wrote Three Epistles also relating to that prelate. But his principal work was his "Sacra Historia:" it consists of Two Books, of which the contents extend from the time of Adam to the end of the fourth century. The" only valuable portion of it is the conclusion, which contains some interesting con- temporary information. ( 218 ) CHAPTER VIII. The Decline and Fall of Paganism. Condition of the two Religions on the accession of Constantine — Progress of Christianity during his reign — His successive measures against Paganism — Remarks on them — Proceedings of his sons — Accession of Julian — Reasons given for his Apostacy — His enthusiasm for Paganism — his character com- pared with that of M. Antoninus — his policy contrasted with that of Constan- tine — his successive measures against Christianity — his attempts to reform Paganism — directed to three points — his attack on the truth of Christianity — in the attempt to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem — defeated — by what means whether miraculous or not — examination of a late opinion — his death. Rapid decline of Paganism — Valentinian I. — Gratian. — Theodocius I. — his edict against Paganism — extremely effectual. Imperfect faith of many of the Converts — corruptions introduced from Paganism. Synesius. Arcadius and Honorius — abolition of Gladiatorial Games. Theodosius II — subversion of Paganism — in the East — in the West. Note on certain Pagan writers. From the dissensions of Christians, and the calamities occa- sioned by them, we turn to a more pleasing subject — the final triumph of the Faith over the superstition which had heretofore prevailed throughout the Roman empire. In proceeding to this investigation, that which first strikes us as most, remark- able is, that the very period during which the Christian world was most widely and angrily divided by the Arian controversy, the middle and conclusion of the fourth century, was that pre- cisely during which the Religion, as if invigorated by internal agitation, overthrew her most powerful adversary — a circum- stance the more to be remarked, as strongly indicative of her own heavenly energy, because the spectacle of Christian dissension has afforded to infidels in every age, as it does at this moment, the most plausible argument for unbelief. Let us endeavour then to trace the measures by which this extra- ordinary revolution was brought about. Progress At the accession of Constantine, the Christians, though very of Chris- numer0USj formed no doubt the smaller portion of his subjects, since the multitude, who were in fact of no religion, were ac- counted among the votaries of Paganism. Besides, among the CH.VIII.] A HISTORY OK THE CHURCH. 219 lower classes, the parade of a splendid superstition was more attractive than the simplicity of the true worship, to persons both ignorant and incurious about the truth of either ; and in many others, a latent inclination towards the new religion would be repressed by the sight of the worldly afflictions which so frequently pursued it. The conversion of the emperor was naturally followed by a great increase in the number of nominal* Christians; the faith of many, who were nearly indifferent, would be decided by that event ; and many also, of more serious minds, would thus be led to examine with respect to the nature of the religion, which in its adversity they had contemptuously neg- lected. Honour and emoluments were annexed to the dignities of the Church, which were thus made objects of ambition to the noble and the learned; and since many, through the exercise of the religion, woidd gradually imbibe those sentiments and principles of piety, which they had not perhaps carried into it, we may believe that, while the name of Christianity was rapidly extended over the Roman world, its essential doctrines and moral influence made a considerable, though by no means an equal, progress. Constantine's first measure was the famous edict of universal Policy of toleration, which established Christianity without molesting any ti °g S aa " other religion ; and as late as the year 321 he published a pro- clamation favourable to the maintenance of one of the grossest impostures of Paganism, the art of divination. Until this period, and perhaps for some few years longer, he held with tolerably equal hand the balance of the two religionsf ; and in the rivalry thus established between them Christianity was daily gaining some weight at the expense of its opponent. This crisis was, indeed, of short duration, and the attentive eye of the emperor immediately perceived to which side the victory was inclining 1 . It was then that he threw into the preponderating scale the de- * See a note on Dr. Arnold's seventh Sermon, p. 88. f In book iii. of Eusebius's Life of Constantine, the 44th and 45th chapters mention some prohibitions against sacrifice and idol-worship, addressed first to the Pagan magistrates, and then to the people ; but in his prayer, or doxology, published in the 55th and following chapters, he accords alike "both to believers and those in error, the enjoyment of peace and tranquillity ; as such friendly communion has most tendency to lead men in the straight path. - ' 220 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cil. VIII. cisive addition of his civil authority. In the year 333 he began* to overthrow the temples of the idols of the Gentiles, and to invade their property ; he suppressed some of the writings most hostile to Christianity, and proclaimed his opposition to the sacred rites of Paganism. He condemned them as detrimental to the state ; and whatever may have been the sincerity of his faith, he was at least convinced that forms of worship, so con- trary to each other in all their principles, could not long co- exist in the same empire, and he gave his support to that which most conduced to the virtue and happiness of his subjects. The sons of Constantine followed their father's footsteps. Durino- the Arian rule of Constantius the severity of the laws against Paganism was rather increased than relaxed, and sacri- fice, together with idolatrous worship, was visited with capital punishment. This system lasted until his death ; so that, for a space of about thirty years, the antient superstition was restrained by perpetual discouragement, and afflicted with fre- quent persecution. The number of its followers was thus con- siderably reduced : but the triumph was not yet complete, and many were there still in every province of the empire, who hailed the accession of Julian. Julian. Julian, who is commonly mentioned in history by the name of Apostate, was the nephew of the Great Constantine ; he aban- doned in early youth the faith in which he had been educated, and betook himself with great zeal to the practice of Paganism. The motive, to which this change is usually attributed, is the hatred that he indulged towards the name and sons of Con- stantine, owing to the cruelties they had inflicted on his family — hatred which a young and impetuous disposition might easily extend to their religion. Another reason alleged is, that when he saw the dissensions of the Christians, and their rancour against each other, his faith was perplexed ; he found it hard to distinguish the excellence of the religion from the vices of * Semler, tab. sec. quarti, on orthor. of Julian, Orat. 7. Mosheim (cent, iv., p. i. c. i.) dates the exertions of Constantine from the overthrow of Licinius. See Euseb. Vit. Const, lib. iv. c. 23, 25, &c. Fleury (lib. xi., sect. 33) assigns the destruction of the temple of Venus, in Syria, and of jEsculapius and Apollo, in Cilicia, to the year which followed the Council of Nice. See Euseb. Vit. Const., lib. iii., chap. 54 ; and Sozomen, Hist. Eccl., lib. ii., c. 5. C1I. VI I r.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 221 those who professed it, and was unable to prevent his judgment from being blinded by his indignation. Both of them may be true ; for it is clear, from some part of his subsequent conduct, that his enmity to Christianity was founded on passion more than on reason, and his hatred of the faith is more prominent than his disbelief of it*. Hence it is that, having renounced one religion, he flew with ardour to the exercise of the other, and sought its aid and alliance against the common adversary. This enthusiasm for Paganism carried him into some ridiculous excesses. It is true that the affection which he professed for processions and ceremony, and the profuse splendour of his sa- crifices, may have proceeded from a wish to seduce and allure the vulgar ; but his private devotion to magical rites and the practice of divination, in which his sincerity is not doubted, has no such excuse, and could only have proceeded from an irre- gular and superstitious mind. Yet to this weakness he united many extraordinary cpialities — " he was eloquent and liberal, artful, insinuating, and indefatigable ; which, joined to a severe temperance, an affected love of justicef, and a courage superior to all trials, first gained him the affections, and soon after the peaceable possession of the whole empire." A strong attach- ment to literature distinguished his character, and may have tended to nourish his heathen prejudices ; and the passion for glory which sometimes misled him was probably the strongest of his passions, and his leading motive of action. If we compare the character of Julian with that of the other Compared great enemy of the religion, Marcus Antoninus, Ave shall find Antoninus, all the advantages of a thoughtful, consistent, and sober under- standing on the side of the latter. His conduct was invariably guided by his principles, and his principles were the best which heathen philosophy could suggest to him. 1 1 is knowledge of Christianity was too partial, and the power of its professors too inconsiderable, to command his belief or respect ; and he was too deeply sensible of the absurdities of Paganism to feel any * See Note at the end of the chapter. f The passage is from Warburton ; but we have no reason to question the sincerity of that principle in Julian, though it was sometimes overpowered l>y his religious antipathy. 222 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VIII. regard for that worship ; so that he was contented rigorously, but not intemperately, to maintain that, which happened to be the established religion. But Julian had more of passion than philosophy in his constitution and in his principles ; and even his philosophy (that of the new Academy) tended much more to speculation than to practice. Indifference, to which his temperament would never have led him, was precluded by the situation of the empire. Impetuous, and restless, and fearless, he converted into love for the one religion that which at first was only hatred for the other, and he proceeded daringly to accomplish what he ardently projected : yet his daring was tempered by so much address and knowledge, that it was not far removed from consummate prudence. With Con- But if we had space for such disquisitions, more interesting stantine. an( j p er haps more profitable contrast might be drawn be- tween the situation and conduct of Julian and of Constantine. Both arrived at the possession of unlimited power, through great difficulties, chiefly by means of their personal talents and popularity; both, on reaching the throne, found the religion of the state different from their own, and followed by the majority of their subjects ; and both determined to substitute that which himself professed. The grand difference was this — the religion of Constantine (we may be permitted for one moment to treat the subject merely politically) was young and progressive ; it stood on principles which proved its excellence, and ensured its durability ; the only weakness which it acknowledged was that of immaturity. The religion of Julian had for ages been held in derision by all reasonable men ; its energy had long passed away from it, and its feebleness was the decrepitude of old age. So that the one led on to certain victory an aspiring assailant ; the other endeavoured to rally a shattered, undis- ciplined, dispirited fugitive. Progress of Let us next examine the manner in which Julian proceeded Julian iii tQ t j ie accom pli s hment of his hopeless enterprise. His first tice of per- step was in direct imitation of the first act of Constantine. He published edicts which established the religion of the emperor as that of the state, and which tolerated every other. By such decrees he placed Christianity in a very similar situation to that secution. CH. VIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 223 in which, about, fifty years before, his uncle had placed Pagan- ism ; and he further increased this resemblance by inviting the most eminent philosophers to his court, admitting them to his confidence, and raising them to the highest dignities and offices in their religion. His second step was the natural consequence of the first ; he took away the immunities, honours, and revenues, which had been bestowed on the Christian clergy, and trans- ferred them to the service of the established religion — and though great individual injustice was thus perpetrated, no one can reasonably complain of the principle of this transfer, since such advantages are necessarily conferred by the state on those who profess the religion of the state. His first edicts, while they restored to Pagans their civil rights, do not appear to have vio- lated those of the Christians : but by a subsequent regulation he disqualified the Christian laity from office in the state. This measure was attended by another, founded on a deeper prin- ciple, and of much more dangerous consequence — he forbade any Christian to lecture in the public schools of science or lite- rature; and this prohibition not only obliged the Christian youth to have recourse to Pagan instructors, but also deprived them of one of the greatest encouragements to proficiency. Julian was sufficiently instructed in the nature of his project, to perceive that it would be of little avail to oppress the dissen- tients by vexatious restraints, unless at the same time he could degrade them by ignorance*. His last measure (for which we have the authority of the historian Socrates) was the direct imposition of a tax on all who refused to sacrifice to the gods of the empire. Considering that the reign of Julian lasted not two years, we must admit that, while he developed a perfect knowledge of the theory of persecution, he made very rapid progress in the prac- tice of it ; and had he been suffered by Providence much longer * A contemporary Christian writer (Gregory Nazianzen) tells us of another method adopted by Julian in order to bring the religion into disrepute, which proves how low his enmity was contented to descend, for the sake of inflicting one ad- ditional and ignoble wound. He commanded by edict (vo/anSir-iras) that Christians should no longer be called Christians, but Galileans. There was some art in this attack ; for the value of a name, which is every where of some influence, has especial importance among orientals. of Pagan ism. 224 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VIII. to persist in his aggression, with proportionate increase of se- verity, it is probable that the final triumph of Christianity would not otherwise have been achieved, than by means of a religious war. But the provinces of the civilized world were saved from that severest infliction by the death of the emperor. His reform As Julian was either too sincere a religionist, or at least too wise a politician, to wish to deprive his subjects of all religion, he accompanied his labours for the subversion of Christianity by some judicious attempts to render paganism more durable. But this scheme cotild scarcely have hoped for any great suc- cess, even had it been undertaken at an earlier period, when the vices of that religion had been less openly exposed and acknowledged : when its shrines were less generally deserted ; and when the mere moral superiority of its rival was less mani- festly and notoriously exhibited. He appears to have directed his exertions to three points : — 1. To conceal or disguise the absurdity of its origin and nature by moral and philosophical alleo-ories ; 2. To establish ecclesiastical discipline and policy on the model of the Christian Church ; 3. To correct the morals of the priesthood. For the first of these purposes he found materials already provided by the philosophers of his own sect, the Platonists ; who had been employed, especially since the appearance of Christianity, in refining the theology of paganism. In pur- suance of the second, he planned an establishment for readers in that theology ; for the order and parts of the divine office ; for a ree present. This last phenomenon is very ingeniously and even probably explained by Warburton, * The miracle is related ahout half a century afterwards, with the addition of various particulars, by Rufiuus, Socrates, Sozomeiij and Theodoret. <; 2 228 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VIII. this time, the convulsion has not ever been repeated. It re- mains then for us to consider, whether it be less improbable, that God should have interposed for the confirmation of his religion at the moment when its truth was put to a most public and insulting proof; than, that a mountain hitherto quiescent, and ever since so, should have undergone a natural convulsion, and thrown forth destructive fire from physical causes, at that very crisis (and at that crisis only) when the test was applied, and the insult offered ; that the eruption should have been con- fined to the particular spot in question; that it should have continued as long as the attempts were repeated ; and that it should have ceased when they ceased, when its seeming pur- pose was effected, for ever : and thus we might fairly leave it to any unprejudiced mind to decide, whether such a concurrence of fortuitous circumstances at such a conjuncture were more or less credible than a miracle. But the question is not yet exhausted ; a very plausible ex- planation of the phenomenon has been recently published, and received with an attention, of which, perhaps,, it is not un- deserving*. The greater part of the city of Jerusalem was undermined by very extensive subterranean vaults and pas- sages j, which were used as cisterns, or magazines, or places of refuge, or sepulchres, according to political circumstances, or their own form and situation. We learn that the cisterns alone furnished water during the siege to the eleven hundred thousand inhabitants, for whom the fountain of Siloa was insufficient; and we find, that when resistance became hopeless, the most active among the insurgents formed the project of secreting themselves in those recesses until the Romans should have evacuated the city. Some remains of such excavations may still be observed both in the city and in the adjacent mountains. Now it may reasonably be supposed, that during the long period of deso- * It appears to have been first proposed by Michaelis, quoted by Guizot in his translation of Gibbon's History. It is very reasonably treated by the judicious writer in the Encydop. Metropol. (Life of Julianus), and still more lately has been adopted, with too little hesitation or comment, by the author of " The History of the Jews." f See Tacit, v. 12. Dio, GG. p. 747. Josephus, Bell. Jucl. vii, 2., and Antiq. Jud, xv. c. xi. sect. 7. CH. VIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 229 lation which intervened between Titus and Julian, those vast caverns, being obstructed by rubbish and ruins, would remain untenanted, and probably unexplored ; and thus the workmen of Alypius, when they proceeded with torches to examine and penetrate the gloomy labyrinths, might be terrified and ex- pelled by frequent explosions of inflammable air. On a spot singularly congenial to superstitious apprehensions, under cir- cumstances peculiarly calculated to awaken and encourage them, such natural detonations might readily be ascribed, even by some of those who witnessed them, to extraordinary inter- position; and certainly the multitude of the Christians who heard the story, being as familiar with miraculous tales as they were ignorant of the mysteries of nature, would receive it un- hesitatingly, as an especial proof of divine protection. Such might naturally be the case; and suspicious as we should always be of any attempt to substitute plausible conjecture for facts historically proved, how marvellous soever their character, we are not prepared to reject the above explanation, though by no means impatient to embrace it, At least we should observe, that, if it satisfies the description of Ammianus, it is not appli- cable to some of the circumstances mentioned by the Christian authorities ; so that these must be condemned and sacrificed to it, and our belief entirely confined to the pagan account. And even then it will remain with many a matter of wonder, that Alypius, a dignified and enlightened pagan, assisted by the presence of the governor of the province, and acting almost under the eyes of the Emperor himself, should have finally abandoned a project esteemed by his master of immense im- portance, through a fortuitous impediment, of which the cause could scarcely be concealed from him, or the facility of over- coming it. And after all, it will remain at least questionable, whether the gases generated in those caverns were not of a nature more likely to extinguish, than to produce, combustion. A few months after this event Julian was killed in battle; and the succession of Christian Emperors was then restored, and never afterwards disturbed. Henceforward the advance of religion upon the receding ranks of paganism encountered little resistance, and was conducted with singular rapidity; still we 230 A HISTORY OF THK CHURCH. [CH. VIII. do not observe in the religions policy of the immediate suc- cessors of Julian any violent disposition to direct the pursuit. Valen- Valentinian I. placed his pride in the most impartial and timan. universal toleration. We may have observed indeed that some of the pagan Emperors commenced with the same professions a reign which ended in persecution ; and we have seen that both Constantine and Julian hastened to deviate from the generous principles which they first proclaimed. But Valentinian is scarcely, if at all, liable to this reproach ; and though in other matters he was guilty of some passionate exertions of unne- cessary severity, and though he neglected to restrain the Arian intolerance of his brother Valens, which afflicted the Catholics in the East, he appears himself to have maintained throughout the whole Western empire a perfect civil equality, as well be- tween the religions which divided it, as among the sects of each religion*. The short reign of Gratian, which likewise commenced with great professions of moderation, was rather remarkable for some laws against Heretics, than for any deliberate attack on Pa- o-anism. Nevertheless that worship was unable to survive the political patronage by which alone it had so long subsisted ; it seemed to have lost its only principle of existence as soon as it ceased to form a part of the system of Government f ; left to its own energies it discovered the secret of its decrepitude, and so easy and uninterrupted was the process of its dissolution, that it seemed patiently to await the final blow from any hand dis- posed to inflict it. Theodosius Theodosius I. is the Emperor to whom that achievement is the Great. L * " Inclaruit hoc moderamine principatus quod inter religionum diversitates medius stetit, nee quenquam inquietavit, neque ut hoc coleretur imperavit, aut iihul ; nee interdictis minacibus subjectorum cervicem ad id quod ipse coluit in- clinabat, sed. intemeratas reliquit has partes, ut reperit." — Ammianus Marcellinus. Was there any emperor of those days (if we except the short rule of Jovian) who can share this honour with Valentinian P •J- We may remark that, by some of the earliest laws against Paganism, Divi- nation was permitted, while Magic was forbidden ; because the former was a pub- lic ceremony, instrumental for political purposes, while the latter was the private and individual exercise of a similar description of art. The object of both was superstitious deception, but the government would not permit the people to be deceived except by itself. CH. VIll-l A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 231 usually, and, if to any individual, justly, attributed. HeHiaEdirt ascended the throne in the year 379, but he does not appear to g|S sm , have published his famous law until thirteen years afterwards. 392, a.d. It was to this effect — " that no one, of whatever rank or dignity or fortune, whether hereditary or acquired, high or humble, in what place or city soever he may dwell, shall either slay a vic- tim to senseless images; or, while he addresses in private ex- piation the Lar, the Genius and the Penates, with (ire, or wine, or odours, light torches, or burn incense, or suspend garlands in their honour ; but if any one shall immolate a victim in sacri- fice, or consult the panting entrails, that any man may become his informer, until he receive competent punishment, &c. &c." The execution of this law, and of others to the same effect, was no doubt much facilitated by the zeal of Christian informers ; and there could be few who would suffer martyrdom for a reli- gion*, which, as it rested on no evidence, could offer no cer- tainty of recompense ; and, therefore, the consecpience of the Edict of Theodosius was a vast diminution in the number of professed Polytheists. This change was most immediately per- ceptible in the principal cities of the empire, throughout which the superstition for the most part disappeared ; thenceforward it was chiefly confined to the small towns and villages (or pagi) ; and about that time it was that the name Pagan (or Rustic, Villager) was first adopted to designate those who adhered to Polytheism. The prohibitions contained in the above edict are impartially levelled against every condition of Heathen ; yet their weight and efficacy must clearly have fallen upon the lower classes : for among the higher and better informed, though there might be many who had not yet embraced Christianity, there could at * The bold resistance of an officer of high rank and character, named Genna- dius, to a very impolitic edict of Honorius, has been produced as a solitary in- stance even of the disposition to suffer in the cause of Paganism. Honorius had forbidden any except Christians to wear a girdle or sash at court, and Gennadius in consequence declined to present himself there. The emperor then expressed himself willing to make a particular exception in favour of an officer who was at the moment necessary to him, but Gennadius refused that distinction, and per- severed in his opposition so resolutely, that the emperor finally repealed the in- vidious law. See Zosimus, lib. v. 232 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VIII. that time have been extremely few, who either felt or affected any ardent attachment to a worship, which professed no moral principles, and offered no temporal advantages*. The vulgar persevered in it somewhat longer, from habit, from prejudice, and from ignorance ; but these motives were not sufficient long to sustain them against the laws of the empire, and the autho- rity of their superiors, and the example of their neighbours, all combining to propagate a more excellent and more reasonable faith. But we are not to imagine that the number of real converts to Christianity was at all in proportion to that of the seceders from paganism ; for persons who are forced out of any sort of faith will not readily throw themselves into the arms of that whence the compulsion has proceeded. However, time and patience might have remedied this disinclination, and led those converts (or at least the succeeding generation) to a sincere affection for a pure religion, if the purity of that religion had not been already corrupted by the intemperate zeal of its own professors. Horror of We have noticed indeed certain abuses which had already anions the shown themselves even in the iron days of Christianity, and earl y there are others vet unnoticed bv us, of which the earliest ves- Christians. . , . ,. . . f. „ , . . tiges and indications may probably be discovered m the prac- tice of the ante- Nicene Church, or in the writings of its Fathers; but among these idolatry certainly is not one. The ancient Christians continued to shun with a pious horror, which perse- cution exasperated, and which time did not mitigate, every ap- proach to that abomination ; and while they truly considered it essentially and distinctively Pagan, the reluctance which they felt to bow before any image was aggravated by the firm belief, that the images of the Pagans represented the implacable ad- versaries of man and God. So definite and so broad was the * A celebrated Pagan, Libanius, published even in this age an apology for his religion. His work was not suppressed, nor himself removed from one of the most important offices in the state, which he then held. While the emperor was engaged in destroying the practice of Paganism, he might easily accord to a fa- vourite subject the innocent indulgence of writing its defence ; for he knew that it was not by reason but by habit that the worship would subsist, if it could pos- sibly subsist at all. Cll. VIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 233 space which in this point at least separated the two religions, that it seemed impossible that either of them should overstep it, or that any compromise could ever he effected between prin- ciples so fundamentally hostile. Yet the contrary result took place ; and a reconciliation, which in the beginning of the fourth century could not easily have been imagined, was virtually accomplished before its termination. Let us trace the progress of this extraordinary revolution. Veneration ...... ii; fin-Martyrs. On the first establishment ot their religion, it was natural that Christians should look back from a condition of unexpected security on the sufferings of their immediate predecessors, with the most vivid sentiments of sympathy and admiration. They had beheld those sufferings, they had beheld the constancy with which they were endured ; the same terror had been suspended over themselves, and their own preservation they attributed, under the especial protection of divine Providence, to the per- severance of those who had perished. The gratitude and vene- ration thus fervently excited were loudly and passionately ex- pressed ; and the honours which were due to the virtues of the departed were profusely bestowed on their names and their memory. Enthusiasm easily passed into superstition, and those who had sealed a Christian's faith by a martyr's death were exalted above the condition of men, and enthroned among superior beings. Superstition gave birth to credulity, and those who sat among the Powers of heaven might sustain, by mira- culous assistance, their votaries on earth ; and credulity in- creased the food on which it fed, by encouraging the detested practice of forgery and imposture. Under these dangerous cir- cumstances it became the duty of the fathers and the leading ministers of the Church to moderate the violence of popular feeling, and to restrain any tendency towards vicious excess. But, unhappily for the integrity of the Catholic faith, the in- structors were themselves carried away by the current, or, we should rather say, united their exertions to swell and corrupt it. The people we may excuse and compassionate : but we blush when we discover the most distinguished writers of the fourth century, Athanasius, Eusebius the historian, Gregory Nazianzcn, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine, engaged in shameful con- 234 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VIII. spiraey against their religion, while they exaggerate the merit of the martyrs, assert or insinuate their immediate sanctification, and claim for them a sort of reverence which could not easily be distinguished from worship. In this age, and from this cause, arose the stupid veneration for bones and relics : it was inculcated and believed that prayer was never so surely efficacious as when offered at the tomb of some saint or holy person ; the number of such tombs was then multiplied ; at all of them miracles, and prophecies, and prodigies, and visions, were exhibited or recorded ; and the spirit of the Gospel was forgotten in the practice of forbidden ceremonies, and the belief of impious fables. Compro- Such were the first unworthy advances which were made by Paganism Christianity, and encouraged by her leading ministers, with a view to reconcile at least her external differences with Pa- ganism*. And, no doubt, they were very effectual in alluring those easy Polytheists, whose piety was satisfied with numerous festivals in celebration of the exploits of mortals deified ; for with them the change was only in the name of the Deity, not in the principles of the religion. At the same time, it must be observed that the Pagans on their side made the concession of sacrifice, or at least of immolation, which was the centre of their whole system. They were indulged with a sort of Poly- theism of saints and martyrs; and even sensible objects of worship were not withheld from them. But those Beings and Images were to be approached only with prayer and supplica- tion; and if it was presently found expedient to permit offerings to be made to them, their shrines were never contaminated by the blood of victims. By this degrading compromise the Church was filled by numerous converts, who believed, and who were * In the year 410, Synesius, a Platonic philosopher of Cyrene, was ordained Bishop of Ptolemais by Theophilus of Alexandria. Synesius remonstrated against this election, declared himself to he a Platonist, and specified several points in which his speculative opinions differed from those of the Christians. But as he was an agreeable orator, and had much influence in the province, his objections were overlooked, and after receiving baptism he entered upon his epis- copal functions. This is far from being the only instance of the pliancy of the early Church, at a period too when it had no excuse from fear or persecution. CH. VIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 235 probably taught to believe, that the worship which they had deserted was by no means essentially dissimilar from that which they had embraced, and who continued, after their ad- mission, to perpetuate and exaggerate those corruptions by which alone the resemblance was created. Here then we discover the root of several of the abuses of Papacy ; they were concessions made during this critical period to the genius of paganism, in order to delude its votaries into more 1 speedy apostacy, and to accelerate the dissolution of the one religion into the other. The immediate object was accom- plished — to diminish the numerical display of Polytheism, and prematurely to crowd the churches and pi'ocessions with nomi- nal Christians; and this was merely to anticipate the tardy but certain operation of irresistible causes, and to effect that in appearance, which in the next generation would have been surely consummated. But the lasting result has been, to darken and disfigure the features of Christianity, not in one race only, or for one age, but through a period, of which four- teen centuries have already been accomplished, and of which we cannot yet foresee the termination. Arcadius and Honorius succeeded respectively to the thrones of the East and West, and they followed the steps of Theodo- sius in his warfare against paganism, as well as heresy. Arca- dius was more distinguished in the latter contest, though he proceeded to some extremities against the temples and idols of Phoenicia. Honorius is more honourably celebrated by the Abolition law which abolished the Gladiatorial Games. This institution, tonal* '*" the most barbarous that ever disgraced a civilized nation, was Games, the genuine offspring of the character and morals of Pagan an- tiquity; and it was supported through the extinction of human feeling, and the contempt of human life. It was not suppressed until the year 404, or about ninety years after the first esta- blishment of Christianity — so slow is the influence of the most perfect moral system to undermine any practice which time and use have consecrated. But at length it sank before the gradual prevalence of happier and more natural principles ; and while we record its subversion, as marking an importanl epoch in the 23G A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cH. V11I. history of human civilization, we readily assign to it a corre- sponding rank in the annals of Christianity. Severities Theodosius the younger succeeded Arcadius in the empire exercised f t ] le g as t . an( j we ma y cons ider him as having completed, against the ' •' , 1 Pagans, as far as the limits of his authority extended, the task trans- mitted to him by his father, and his grandfather. And whe- ther from greater moderation of temper, or because extreme rigour was judged no longer necessary against a fallen adver- sary, he somewhat mitigated the severity of the existing laws ; and was satisfied with inflicting upon the few, who still per- sisted "in their accursed sacrifices to daemons," the milder punishments of confiscation and exile, " though the crime was justly capital*." From the flexible character of Polytheism, and the rare mention of Heathen martyrs, we are perhaps justi- fied in drawing the consoling conclusion, that those oppressive laws were seldom enforced to the last penalty. Yet we cannot doubt that many less direct, but not less effectual, modes of persecution were diligently exercised; we are assured that num- bers must have suffered in their persons or property for a blind but conscientious adherence to the worship of their fathers ; and we should have celebrated with greater satisfaction the final success of our religion, if it had been brought about by less questionable measures. Extinction In the West, the expiring struggles of Paganism continued perhaps a little longer. Though the exhibition of gladiators had been abolished, the games of the circus, and the contests of wild beasts were still permitted ; and though the essence of the Pagan religion was virtually extinguished, when the act of Immolation, in which in truth it consisted, was finally abo- lished, yet those spectacles were so closely associated with its exercise, if they were not rather a part of it, that they served at least to keep the minds of the converts suspended, by seeming to reconcile with the principles of Christianity the barbarous relics of the old superstition. And thus, though the number * The Theotlosian code is a collection of the constitutions of the Emperors from Constantine to Theodosius II. ; published by the latter in 438. ism. CII. VIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 237 who professed that worship was now exceedingly small, yet its practice in some measure survived its profession, and it con- tinued to linger in the recollections, and usages, and prejudices of men for some time after its name was disclaimed and repu- diated. Still from the historical survey of this subject, it is manifest that the mortal wound was inflicted by Theodosius I.; and whatever fleeting vestiges we may discover in succeeding reigns, the superstition was in fact extinct, from the moment that the Emperor called upon the Senate of Rome to make their election between that and Christianity. This celebrated assembly was convened in the year 3SS ; Christianity was Christian- established by the voice, and probably by the conscience of aJ^JJaby very large majority; and the religion of Julian did not in the Roman reality survive its enthusiastic votary and reformer for more 333, a.'d. than twenty-five years. NOTE ON CERTAIN PAGAN WRITERS. 1. — The first whom we propose to mention (first, in time and The Em- personal distinction rather than in literary merit) is Julian. j£™ r Ju His " Lives of the Emperors," his predecessors, in which we find many pointed remarks and illustrations of their several characters, and especially of their defects, though possessing neither the fulness nor impartiality of history, must nevertheless be considered his most important work. That next in celebrity bears the singular name of the Misopogon, or Beardhater. The imperial satirist seems to have been excited to this composition by the appearance of certain anapaests, published in ridicule of his personal rusticity, among his lively subjects of Antioch or Daphne. He admits the justice of their ridicule, he affects even to exaggerate the cause of it, and condescends to visit his own shago-v exterior with much humorous severity. But through the levity of his self-condemnation some traces of sup- pressed asperity are occasionally discernible ; and the wit, which had dared to trifle with an emperor, was not recommended to Julian by the general belief, that it had proceeded from the pen 238 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VIIT. of a Christian. Besides these two works, several epistles and rescripts are extant, which are of greater historical importance. That Julian's feeling towards the Christians was not the con- tempt of a philosopher, but the angry malevolence of a Pagan and a rival, appears from several passages in his works, and from those especially which are directed against Athanasius. In his Epistle to Ecdicius, Eparch of the Egyptians, we find these passionate expressions, — " I swear by the great Serapis, that unless Athanasius, the enemy of the gods, shall be wholly expelled from Egypt before the calends of December, I will impose a fine of a hundred pounds of gold on the troops under your command ; and you know that if I am slow to condemn, I am still more so to relax the sentence. For it does exceed- ingly afflict me, that all the gods should be contemned through his means ; nor is there anything that I would so willingly be- hold or hear accomplished by you, as the expulsion of Atha- nasius from the regions of Egypt — the scoundrel who has dared, and in my reign too, to persecute some distinguished Grecian ladies, till they submitted to baptism." Again, in a decree addressed to the Alexandrians, the emperor declares, " that he had recalled the Galileeans, who had been banished by Con- stantius*, not to their churches, but only to their countries; while I understand, (he adds) that Athanasius, with the ex- treme insolence and audacity which is characteristic of him, has taken possession of what they call the episcopal throne." He then decrees his exile. In a subsequent letter, (Edit. Par. p. 330.) addressed to the same people, he expresses his hatred both of the persons and doctrines of the Galileeans in the most powerful and passionate language. On the other hand he ac- knowledges, in more than one passage, the charitable attention which those same Galileeans bestowed upon the poor, and ascribes much of their siiccess to that virtue ; and the general spirit of his instructions respecting their treatment, while it enjoins a preference to the worshippers of the godsf, decidedly discourages unprovoked severities against the persons of "the * In a very kind epistle to /Etius, a celebrated Aiian bishop, and formerly his friend, Julian mentions the same fact. -j- ngaripa.o-!}/'.! ftwroi ml/; Siwipil; xct) tccvv Qwfti hTv. Epistle to Astabius. CH. VIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 239 Atheists." At the same time, he seems very readily to have availed himself of the offences of the Christians, in order to plunder them, and that too with perfect impartiality. In an epistle to Ecebolus he complains that the Arians of Edessa, exulting in their opulence, had made an assault upon the Valentinians ; and he adds, " that with a view to assist them in effectuating the instructions of their own admirable law, and that they might more easily travel to the kingdom of heaven, he had ordered all the possessions to be taken away from the Church of Edessa ; distributing the money among the sol- diers, and confiscating the fixed property." A passage in the Misopogon proves either the abject super- His super- stitiousness of the author, or his impudent and prejudiced stltlon - hypocrisy ; and though we believe the former to be the more probable charge, we are willing to leave the decision to his most devoted admirers. The story is well known of the reli- gious disappointment which he experienced at Daphne ; how he entered the temple with extraordinary parade and solemnity, for the purpose of presiding at a public and splendid sacrifice, and how he was reduced, by the universal desertion of the vo- taries of the gods, to the performance of an imperfect, and almost solitary act of devotion. In his relation of this story, in which his angry embarrassment is almost ludicrously depicted, he unreservedly asserts, and invokes the sun to attest his vera- city, that, at the moment of his entrance into the temple, the statue of the god indicated to him what was to take place*. His celebrated epistle respecting the reformation of Paganism His at- is addressed to Arcadius, the chief priest of Galatia; it is the te ™P^ f p. _ most remarkable monument of the religious policy of Julian, ganism. and it is also an evidence of the great and general influence which Christian principles had acquired even over the conduct of unbelievers. The progress of "impiety or Atheism" is ascribed by the emperor chiefly to three causes: to the cha- ritable or hospitable philanthropy of its professors; to their provident care respecting the sepulture of the dead; to their parade and affectation of a holy life : and he enjoins the vo- * Evrin/trivi fici SiVsXSo'vT/ Tr^wrev to ayaXfia. p. 112. Ed, Puns. 210 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. VIII. taries of the ancient worship to imitate the first of these preten- sions, and to realize the last. On the priests especially, as well as their families and their servants, he imposes a rigid attention to their religions duties, and he forbids them at the same time the amusement of the theatre, the conviviality of the tavern, and the exercise of every vulgar profession ; the disobedient are to be removed from the ministry. The emperor then proceeds to order the foundation of numerous establishments (Hevo^oxsTa) in every city, for the humane purpose of hospitality and charity: " for it is shameful to us, that no beggar should be found among the Jews, and that the impious Galileans shoidd support not only their own poor, but ours also ; while these last appear destitute of all assistance from ourselves." And that Pagan authority may not be thought wanting to justify his philan- thropy, he cites a passage from Homer in praise of hospitality. He concludes with some instructions to regulate the intercourse and define the respective dignities of the religious and civil authorities. Ammianus 2. The name of Ammianus Marcellinus deserves, even at the hands of the ecclesiastical historian, more elaborate mention than can here be bestowed upon it. A native of Antioch, of noble family, he devoted his youth to military service, and attended Julian, his patron and friend, in his fatal expedition against the Persians. During the reign of Valentinian and Valens he appears to have withdrawn to studious repose in his native city, and under Theodosius he finally fixed his residence at Rome. It was here that he composed his history in the Latin language, and published it with the general applause of a people, among whom the admiration of literary merit had survived its possession. The work consisted of thirty-one books, comprising the affairs of the empire from the beginning of the reicrn of Nerva to the end of that of Valens. The first thirteen are lost, and those remaining have escaped to us as from a ship- wreck, torn and mutilated*. Respecting the religion of the author, there can be no serious doubt that he adhered to Pagan- * See thf Life of Ammianus Marcellinus by VaUsius, which we have chiefly followed in this account. Marcelli nus CH. VIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 241 ism; though the impartiality, with which he commonly treats the deeds and character of Christians, has led some writers to suspeel his attachment to their faith. The suspicion is at least honourable to the historian; and a more faithful imitation of his example would have removed many stains from the pages of ecclesiastical annalists, and spared much perplexity to those who search them for information and truth. 3. The history of Zosimus extends from the time of Augustus Zosimus. to 1 he second siege of Rome by Alaric : it consists of five books, and the fragment of a sixth, into the iirst of which the reigns of the predecessors of Constantine are compressed. Zosimus was a prejudiced, and, as some miraculous descriptions attest, a superstitious Pagan ; and he treats with severity, perhaps with injustice, the character of some of the Christian emperors. Julian is his great hero, and Constantine the principal object of his censure. Respecting the latter, it has been observed, that we may safely believe any evil that has escaped from Eu- sebius, and any good that has been extorted from Zosimus. But these combined would furnish very scanty materials for the delineation of a great character. We must believe much more than these; and in this matter the panegyrics of the Christian are not, perhaps, more liable to suspicion than the aspersions of the Pagan writer. Ilowbeit, by far the greatest proportion of his attention is bestowed on the details of military enterprise, and it is not often that he crosses the more peaceful path of the ecclesiastical historian. VOI,. I. R ( 242 ) CHAPTER IX. From the Fall of Paganism to the Death of Justinian. (388 . . . 567.) I. Conversion of the Goths — of Clovis and the Franks — of other Barbarians — causes of its facility — Miraculous interpositions. II. Internal condition of the Church — Symeon and the Stylites — Pope Leo the Great — Papal aggrandise- ment — private confession — Justinian, his orthodoxy, intolerance, and heresy. III. Literature — its decay not attributable to Christianity— three periods of its decline — Religious corruptions — Barbarian conquests — Seven liberal arts — Jus- tinian closes the Schools of Athens — early connexion of Philosophy with Reli- gion — Morality — of the Clergy — of the People — general misery — Note on cer- tain Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries. That we may treat with some perspicuity the long period over which the two following chapters are extended, we shall separate in each of them the external progress and reverses of Christianity from the internal conduct and condition of the Church, and the character of those who ruled and influenced it. Conversion J Christianity had scarcely completed its triumph over an of the Bar- . : . r i i i it- i i i \ barians. ancient superstition, refined and embellished by the utmost human ingenuity, when it was called upon to dispute the pos- session of the world with a wild and savage adversary. Almost at the very moment when Julian was labouring for the re- establishment of Paganism, Ulphilas*, who is commonly called the apostle of the Goths, was diffusing the knowledge of the Gos- * Ulphilas is believed to have been the descendant of a Cappadocian family carried into captivity by the Goths, in the reign of Gallienus. His conversion to Arianism is referred to his embassy to the court of Valens in 378, and on his re- turn home he diligently diffused that heresy. It would appear, however, that his method of seduction was to assure the Goths, that the disputes between the Catholics and Arians were merely verbal, not at all affecting the substance of the faith — so that his success was gradual, and at first imperfect : thus, for in- stance, in the time of Theodoret. the Goths avowed their belief, that the Father was greater than the Son ; but they were not yet prepared to affirm that the Son was created — though they continued to communicate with those who held that opinion. Floury, H. E. liv. xvii. sect. 3G. Tillem. (Surles Aliens, Art. 132, 133) pronounces an eulogy upon bis virtues, in spite of his heresy ; and yet he adds, " Voila comment mi homme entralna dans l'enfer ce n ombre infiui des Septen- trionaux, qui avec lui et apres lui ont embrasse l'Arianisme." CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 243 pel with groat rapidity among that young and powerful people: so that the first invaders of the empire had previously learnt in their own land to profess, or at least to respect, the religion of the empire. The Goths then were early and easy proselytes to Christianity; and the example of their conversion, as well as of their invasion, was followed by the various hordes of bar- barians who presently overran and occupied the West. The Burgundians in Gaul, the Suevi in Spain, the Vandals in Africa, the Ostrogoths in Pannonia, and others, as they successively possessed themselves of the Roman provinces, during the fifth and sixth centuries, successively adopted the religion of the con- quered ; and if Rome, in her days of warlike triumph, received from vanquished Greece some taste in arts, and attainment in science, and skill in philosophical disputation, she repaid, her private obligation with more solid and extensive generosity in the days of her decline, when she instructed her own conquerors in those lessons of religious truth and moral knowledge, of which the principles can never change, nor the application ever be limited. It is impossible to trace with any certainty the exact moment Of Clovis. and circumstances of the conversion of so many tribes. That of Clovis, king of the Franks, has attained the greatest his- torical celebrity, and many of the particulars respecting it wear great appearance of probability*. In the year 493 Clovis espoused Clotilda, niece of the King of the Burgundians, a Christian and a Catholic. He tolerated the religion of his bride, and siiowed respect to its professors, especially to St. Remi, Archbishop of Rheims; but he steadily refused to aban- don his hereditary idols on the importunity either of the prelate or queen. At length he found himself in a situation of danger. In I ]>.e heat of an unsuccessful battle, while his Franks were Hying before the Alemanni, Clovis is related to have raised his weeping eyes to heaven, and exclaimed, "Jesus Christ f ! thou * Those which we select, together with many others, are related on the autho- rity of Gregory of Tours, and Hincm. Vita San. Remigii. See Fleuiy, liv. xxx. sect. 46. f "Jesu Christe, quem Chrotechildis prsedicat esse Filium Dei vivi, qui dare auxilium laborantibus, victoriamque in te sperantibus tribuere diceris, tuae oj is gloriam devotus etfhigito: ut si mihi victoriam . . . indulseris . . credam tibi, et R 2 244 A HISTORY OF TI1K CHURCH. [cH. IX. whom Clotilda asserts to be the Son of the living God ; thou, who art said to succour those in difficulty, and to give victory to all who trust in thee! I implore thy succour. If thou wilt give me the victory, I will believe in thee, and be baptized in thy name." At that moment the King of the Alemanni was slain ; his soldiers immediately fled, and abandoned the field to Clovis. The victor was not unmindful of the God of his adversity. On the conclusion of his expedition he caused himself to be publicly baptized; about three thousand of his soldiers attended him to the holy font with joy and acclamation, and the rest of his sub- jects followed without any hesitation the faith of their prince. The conversion of Clovis took place in 496; and though it had not the effect of amending the brutal character of the proselyte, it made a great addition to the physical strength of Christianity*; and it Mas attended by a peculiar circumstance which places it among the important events of ecclesiastical history. The nu- merous barbarian conquerors who then ruled the Western em- pire had embraced, without any exception, the heresy of Arius; Thrasamond, King of the Vandals, in Africa; Theodoric, of the Ostrogoths, in Italy; Alaric, of the Visigoths, in Spain ; Gondebaud, of the Burgundians, were all Arians ; and, as if to complete the heterodoxy of the princes of Christendom, even Anastasius, the Emperor of the East, was involved in the Eu- tychian heresy. Clovis alone adopted the Catholic faith ; and this accident (we are taught to attribute it to the orthodoxy of his wife) was probably the earliest cause of that close con- nexion between the Court of Burgundy and the See of Rome, of which some traces may be discerned even thus early, and whichj in a later age, was confirmed by Pepin and established bv Charlemagne. in nomine tuo baptizer, &c." Gregorius Turonens. Historia Franeorum, lib. ii. s. 30. ami. 49G. Gregory's History extends from the creation to the year 591 : it is continued by Fredegarius, a Burgundian, and probably a Monk, to 7G8. Both compositions are nearly barren of any valuable ecclesiastical information. Gregory was born at Auvergne about 540. a. b. His History is in Ten Books ; and he wrote besides, Four Books, " l)e S. Martini Miraculis," and a great num- ber of " Vitse Patrum." "" Clovis, immediately after his baptism, made some considerable donations of land to St. Kemi, who applied them to the use of divers churches, and the foun- dation of the bishopric of Laon. CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 245 The success of the Roman arms during the reign of Justi- nian, which began about thirty years after the baptism of Clovis, does not appear to have disinclined the barbarians to the religion of their enemies. It might even naturally pro- duce the contrary effect; and we do not read of any of their tribes which, after settling in a conquered province, were dis- posed lung to resist the influence of the Gospel. Respecting the natural causes which facilitated this powerful Probable accession to the body of Christianity from a quarter whence the their con- darkest danger was portended, it is proper to suggest a few ver8ion ' brief observations, that we may be enabled calmly to consider, whether or not they are sufficient to account for the phenome- non without the intervention of miraculous assistance. The wild and warlike Polytheists of the north, who estimated excellence by power, and power by extent of military sway, and who igno- rant ly applied to the gods the rules by which they judged of men, approached with respectful predisposition the Deity of the Roman empire*. And if it be true that their own successes gradually tended to abate this respect, yet is it not possible that they could fail to observe, or observe without some sense of reverence and humiliation, the superiority in arts and sciences, the high intellectual pre-eminence of the people whom their mere sword had overthrown ; nor would they hesitate to infer, from such sensible indications, both the wisdom and beneficence of the protecting Divinity. Again — The form of idolatry which they professed was most peculiarly characterised by a super- stitious veneration for their priesthood ; — it had no written law, nor any fixed principles, nor any ^ery attractive immemorial solemnities. In a foreign country, in the licence of a military expedition, the reverence for their native, and for the most part, * The conversion of the Burgundians, early in the fifth century, is thus related, with no improbability. Harassed by tbe continual incursions of the Huns, and incapable of self-defence, they resolved to place themselves under the protection of some God; and considering that the God of the Romans most powerfully be- friended those who served him, they determined, on public deliberation, to be- lieve in Jesus Christ. They therefore went to a city in Gaul, and entreated the Bishop to baptize them. Immediately after that ceremony they gained a battle against their enemies, and continued zealous in faith ever afterwards — i|lx«/y«u rl ii''jo; liccropa; \%ei#Tii*ivtii< Socrat. vii., cap. 30. 246 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. absent ministers, would gradually abate in fervency and fide- lity; and then (such is the nature of superstition) it would change its object, and s'.veli into devout respect for the minis- ters of the unknown religion, by whose more imposing rites 1 hey were now surrounded and dazzled. By this process, being insensibly weaned from an ancient worship, chiefly perhaps endeared to them by its association with that home which they had now deserted for ever, they would join in the splendid processions, and bend in the stately temples of the Christians. Of such advantages as these the clergy were not slow to avail themselves; and their own great superiority in penetration and learning, joined with a zealous and interested activity", enabled them to convert the mass of the invaders ; while the Prince, as illiterate as his subjects, was often influenced by the address, and often by the piety, of the prelates who had access to his court. The same work was still further facilitated by the ex- ample of the Goths, who had opened the gates of Christianity to succeeding conquerors. Nor should we by any means pass over the exertions of the missionaries, who had previously in- troduced into the native forests of the invaders a favourable opinion, and even a partial profession, of the religion of the empire which they were destined to subvert. Claims to These reasons are probably sufficient to account for the faci- aitf 10 S y W ^ w ' nc ' 1 th e various invaders of the western provinces adopted the religion which they found established there, even without any deep examination into its merits or its truth ; but the histories of those times arc so abundant in preternatural tales of extraordinary conversions everywhere wrought by the continual interposition of Providence, that we must not quite overlook this consideration. However, we can here entertain * At a Council supposed to have been held at Braga, or Braccara, in Portugal, in the year 4 12, on the irruption of an idolatrous or Arian host of Alani, Suevi and Vandals, the Bishops prepared themselves to resist at every risk the destructive torrent. For this purpose they appear to have adopted two measures, which, taken together, are strongly indicative of the state of religion in that age and country. The first was to publish an abbreviation of the Creed of the Catholic church ; the second, to conceal in the securest recesses and caverns the inva- luable relics of their saints. Fleury, H. K. lib, xxiii., sect. 6. Concil. torn, ii., p. 1508. CH. 1X.J A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 217 little doubt, or feel any strong hesitation to affirm, that the very great proportion of those miraculous stories is wholly and unquestionably fabulous*. But we must be careful that our indignation at the impiety, which fabricated so many wicked impostures, and the diligent mendacity, which has retailed them, do not so far prevail as to hurry us into an entire disbe- lief of any divine intervention in those ages. To pronounce so sweeping a sentence, in the confusion of contemporary evidence, and our necessary ignorance of the dispositions of Providence, woidd approach too near to presumption; and we shall, there- fore, do better to leave this subject where the judicious modera- tion of Mosheim j" has placed it : — ' How far these conversions (he says) were due to real mira- cles attending the ministry of those early preachers is a matter extremely difficult to be determined. For, though I am per- suaded that those pious men who, in the midst of many dan- gers, and in the face of obstacles seemingly invincible, endea- voured to spread the light of Christianity through the barba- rous nations, were sometimes accompanied by the more pecu- liar favour and succour of the Most High ; yet, I am equally convinced, that the greatest part of the prodigies recorded in the histories of this age are liable to the strongest suspicions of falsehood or imposture. The simplicity and ignorance of the generality in those times furnished the most favourable occa- sion for the exercise of fraud ; and the impudence of impostors in contriving false miracles was artfully proportioned to the credulity of the vulgar, while the sagacious and the wise, who * Unbelievers and heretics were closely associated in the language and opi- nion oi'the Catholics of those days, and were consequently subjected to the same mode of cure. In the fourth century even the great St. Ambrose condescended to adopt the miraculous method of argument for the conversion of the Arians. lie used, in his disputes with those Heretics, to produce men possessed with devils, who, on the approach of certain Catholic relics, were obliged by preternatural compulsion to acknowledge with loud cries that the doctrine of the Council of Nice was true, and that of the Arians both false and of most dangerous conse- quence. This testimony of the Prince of darkness was regarded by St. Ambrose as unquestionable and conclusive (Mosh. civ., p. 2., c. 3), nor was it easily answered by adversaries who made less pretension to influence ill the other world. f Cent, v., p. 1. c. 1. 248 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH:. [CH. IX perceived these cheats, were obliged to silence, by the danger which threatened their lives and their fortunes, if they detected the artifice. Thus does it generally happen in human life, that when the discovery and profession of the truth is attended with danger, the prudent are silent, the multitude believe, and the impostors triumph.'' Changes H- While the profession of Christianity was thus extending within the itself among so many nations, the changes which were gradually Church. ... & . D taking place within the Church were by no means favourable to its purity. We have already mentioned the copious trans- fusion of heathen ceremonies into the Christian worship which had taken place before the end of the fourth century, and, to a certain extent, paganized (if we may so express it) the outward form and aspect of religion : those ceremonies became more ge- neral and more numerous, and, so far as the calamities of the times would permit, more splendid in the age which followed. To console the convert for the loss of his favourite festival, others of a different name, but similar description, were introduced ; and the simple and serious occupation of spiritual devotion was beginning to degenerate into a worship of parade and demon- stration, or a mere scene of riotous festivity. Various were the forms assumed, and numerous the excesses occasioned, by reli- gious corruption ; which was by no other circumstance more plainly evidenced, or more effectually promoted, than by the growing prevalence of the monastic spirit. Symeon ^ is contrary to our general purpose to call much attention the Stylite. t instances of the passing fanaticism of the day — those transient eruptions of superstition, which have left no deep traces in his- tory, or in their moral consequences ; nevertheless, we cannot forbear to record one very extraordinary shape which the phrensy of those times assumed. About the year 427, one Symeon, at first a shepherd, afterwards a monk, of Syria, in- vented a new method of penitential devotion. Dissatisfied with the insufficient austerities which were practised in his convent, he retired to a mountain in the neighbourhood of Antioch, where, by solitary self-inflictions and extreme abstinence, he obtained great provincial celebrity; but his piety or Ins ambi- tion were not thus easily contented, and accordingly he devised Cil. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 240 an original and more difficult path to sanctity. He caused a pillar to be erected, of which the height was gradually increased from nine to sixty feet ; thereon he established his residence. His ordinary occupation was prayer ; and habit and exercise enabled him to take, without risk or difficulty, the different pos- tures of devotion. Sometimes, especially on great solemnities, he assumed an erect attitude, with his arms outstretched ; some- times he bent forward his body, attenuated by continual last- ing, till the forehead touched the feet ; and he repeated those inclinations with marvellous flexibility*. He passed the whole night and a part of the morning in worship; one slender meal in 1 he course of a week sufficed for his sustenance, and a coarse vestment of skin, which wrapt his whole body, was his only covering: in this situation he endured the returning inclemen- cies of thirty seasons, and at length died, without descending from his column. It is no matter of reasonable astonishment, that the passionate enthusiasts of the east thronged eagerly round the pillar of Symeon from the most remote provinces, and regarded the self- devoted martyr with feelings partaking of adoration. Nor are we, in any degree, surprised to read, that he converted to Christianity the inhabitants of Libanus and Antilibanus, and an entire tribe of Arabs, together with severalJews and heretics, by miraculous aid and operation. Nor, perhaps, have we cause to think it strange, that this popular fanaticism was rather en- couraged than disclaimed by the Church j ; and that it has • « A curious spectator (says Gibbon), after numbering 1'2-U repetitions, at length desisted from the endless account." Theodoret, who had frequently seen and conversed with him, wrote an account of his life during its continuance. That author himself entertained some doubts as to the credibility of his narra- tion : although (says he) I have formy witness, if I may so express myself, every man in existence, yet I fear that to posterity my account may appear a ground- less fable; for what is passing here is above humanity, and men are wont to pro- portion their belief to the powers of nature, and all which surpasses those boun- daries appears falsehood to such as are not familiar with things divine. -j- It is true that when Symeon first ascended his pillar some opposition was made to the innovation by some monasteries both of Syria and Egypt ; but as their objections were confined to the novelty of the scheme, and did not proceed from its absurdity, they speedily disappeared, and Symeon was restored with unanimity to the bosom of the Catholic church. 250 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. descended to posterity without any ecclesiastical stigma of schism or heresy- But our amazement is reasonably excited, when we learn that. Theodosius II. seriously consulted Symeon the Stylite on the most important concerns oi' Church and State* ; and that the Emperor Leo particularly solicited his advice respecting the council of Chalcedon — whether those princes really shared the popular madness, and considered him as a soothsayer or prophet, to whom bodily mortification, and a loftier residence had disclosed a nearer prospect of the secrets of futurity; or whether they were only willing to gain credit with the silliest among their subjects by encouraging their most absurd superstition. However this may be, Symeon be- came the founder of a sect of fanatics called " Stylites " (or Pillar-men) ; who, under the names of " Holy Birds " and " Aerial Martyrs," peopled the columns of the east ; and, after imitating (so far as their physical powers permitted them) the ascetic gesticulations of their master, have escaped, in more fortunate oblivion, the sinister celebrity which still attends his name. Leo the We have now traced the history of the Roman See to the. 9, r ~ at " middle of the fifth century, and our attention has not hitherto 440 a. u. " been arrested by the character of any individual who has occu- pied it. Not one man remarkable for commanding genius, or profound acquirement, or even great ecclesiastical energy, had, up to this period, distinguished the chair of St. Peter. We have no cause to lament this circumstance. The truly epis- copal duties of devotion and charity are usually performed in silent unobtrusiveness ; and the highest interests, and the truest happiness of the human race, have commonly been best promoted by those, of whom Fame has made least mention. But. this long period of comparative obscurity was at length terminated by Leo, surnamed the Great. That prelate ascended the chair of St. Peter in the year 440, and occupied it for one and twenty years. At his accession, he found the eastern Church still ao-itated by the receding tempest of the Nestorian controversy; * Gibbon, chap, xxxvii. Fleury, liv.xxix, sod. 9. The Emperor Marcian is also said to have indulged his curiosity by a secret visit to the Holy Pillar in the throng of his miserable subjects. CII. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 251 and the heresy of Eutyches, immediately succeeding, introduced fresh disorders, which continued to disturb his long pontificate. In the west, the success of the barbarians in Africa and Gaul presented a new and extensive field for ecclesiastical exertion; while we arc taught, at the same time, to believe that the in- ternal lustre of his Church was darkened and endangered by the prevalence of the Manichsean heresy. The zeal of St. Leo n as directed to all these points ; and perhaps, if he had evinced less eagerness in t lie discovery* and pursuit of his domestic ad- versaries, the very circumstance of their existence might never have been known to us. It is a singular fact, however, and worthy of notice, that one of the tests which he employed for their detection, was their refusal of the cup in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Indeed, Pope Gelasius very shortly afterwards published a decree, which shall here be recorded f, on the same subject. But in justice to Leo, we are equally bound to praise his firm co-operation with the eastern church for the peaceful repression (had such been possible) of the perverse notions which perplexed and divided it; nor are there wanting many salutary expositions of doctrine and reason- able rules of discipline, scattered throughout his numerous writings J. * Baronius (chiefly ad aim. 443) gives several proofs, from the Chronicon of Prosper and St. Leo's own writings, of the diligence of that Prelate in tearing those heretics from their hiding-places, and publishing their infamy. It also ap- pears that until that period it had been usual for all Christians to direct their prayers to the East; but as this form was with the Manichaeans essentia', with the orthodox only matter of ceremony, he directed the latter to discontinue the practice, in order that the perverse might be distinguished and detected by their perseverance. In the year 444 he even held a Council at Rome against them, and made a speech against the abominable i-ect, f 'inqua lex est mendacium, Diaholus religio, sacrificium turpitude" There is also a passage (in his 95th epistle) in which he advocates the unsheathing of the temporal sword in vindica- tion of the doctrines of the Church. " Profuit diu ista districtio ecclesiastical lenitati, (pise, etsi sacerdotali contenta judicio cruentas refugit ultiones, sevens tamen Chiistianorum principum constitutionibus adjuvatur, dum ad spiritale non- nunquam recummt remedium, qui timent corporale supplicium." f " Comperimus ouod quidam, sumpta tantummodo Corporis Christi portione, a Calice sacri Cruoris abstineant: qui proculdubio . . aut Integra Sacramenta percipiant, aut ab integris arceantar : quia divisio unius ejusdemque mysteriisine grandi sacrilegio non potest provenire." We are not aware how the Roman Church, for the last six centuries, has got rid of this charge of sacrilege, proceed- ing from so venerable an authority. \ One hundred and forty-one Epistles and niuety-six Sermons still remain to us, 252 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. Aggran- The circumstances of the times were favourable to another oftheRo- 0D ject, which, with Leo, indeed, may possibly have been so- man See. condary, though it occupied the foremost place in the attention of so many of his successors — the aggrandisement of the Roman See. In the East, it happened about that time that the pa- triarch of Constantinople, by the assumption of some additional power*, had alienated the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, and that these last appealed to Rome for succour and justice. Of course, the authority, which such appeal might seem to imply, was at no time recognised by the patriarch — it was even decided, during this very pontificate, by the twenty-ninth canon of the council of Chalcedon f , that the "See of New Rome should have the same advantages with that of Antient Rome in the ecclesiastical constitution ;" but, nevertheless, the influence of the latter was extended, for the moment at least, among the subjects of the former, by the dissensions which severed them from their head. And, again, the accidents which placed the Bishop of Rome in Familiar and almost independent corre- spondence J with the emperor, could not fail to exalt his name and elevate his dignity. In the western provinces, the increase of Papal authority was owing to other causes. The declining power, the indolence and the absence of the emperors, left little civil control over the authority of the bishop who presided in 1 hough several of both are lost. Upon the whole the)' indicate great talents, and an improved and exercised mind. Respecting their genuineness, see Du- pin, t. iii. p. 2. * Mosh. cent, v., p. ii. c. ii. f Held in 451. The substance of the enactment is as follows: — "That the Fathers did reasonably accord its privileges to Antient Rome, because it was the imperial city ; and for the same reason the hundred and fifty Bishops here as- sembled have decided that New Rome, which is honoured witli the empire and the senate, shall have the same advantages with Antient Rome in the ecclesias- tical constitution, and be the .second after it" — meaning, obviously, that the two Sees were to be independent in power and equal in privilege; but that in rank and precedence the superiority was due to the more ancient. This Canon has given birth to the most voluminous contentions. Fleury, liv. xxviii. sect. 30. Haron. aim. 451. Sect. 148. \ Some Epistles are still extant, addressed by St. Leo to the Emperor Theo- dosius, on the subject of the Eastern controversies; and one of them begins in the following terms : — Quantum prsesidii Dominus ecclesiie sua; in fide veslrae clementiae praepararit, his etiam Uteris, quas ad me misistis, ostenditur: ut vobis non solum regium, sed etiam sacerdotalem animum esse gaudeamus, &c." PH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 253 the imperial c-il v ; and the incursions and triumphs of the bar- barians rather contributed to advance than to restrain his rising dominion. For the chiefs of the invaders, whose principal so- licitude was to give stability to their government, when they perceived the great deference paid by the multitude to the hier- archy, courted even the inferior members of that body, but naturally offered the most obsequious respect to the highest in rank. From these and similar causes a variety of advantages spontaneously flowed, and they were seized and perpetuated by the genius and ambition of Leo. One innovation in the discipline of the Church was introduced Institution by that pontiff, which deserves more attentive notice than is confession; usually directed to it. It had been the custom for the more grievous offenders to make the confession of their sins publicly, in the face of the congregation; or at least, for the ministers occasionally to proclaim before the whole assembly the nature 1 of the confessions which they had received. Leo strongly dis- couraged that practice; and permitted, and even enjoined with some earnestness, that confession should rather be private, and confided to the priest alone. The evil most obviously pro- ceeding from this relaxation was the general increase, or, at least, the more indecent practice, of the mortal sins, and espe- cially (as Mosheim* has observed) of that of incontinence; unless, indeed, we are to suppose that the original publicity of confession was abandoned, from its being no longer practicable in a more numerous body and corrupt age. But. another con- sequence which certainly flowed from this measure, and which, * Cent. v. p. 2. eh. iv. The epistle containing this ordinance is the 136th, addressed (on March G, 4 j9) to the Bishop of the March of Ancona and Abruzzo. Dupin, Nouv. Bihlioth. torn. iii. par. ii. The words of the decree are given by Baronins, ann. 459. sect, ult., and should he cited. "111am contra Apostolicam regulam prassumptionem, quam nuper cognovi a quibusdam illicita usurpatione committi, modis omnibus constituimus submoveri — >ie de singulorum peccalunt,// genere /tlirl/is script a profes&ip publice reciletur — cum reatus conscientiarum suf- ficiat solis sacerdotibus indicare confessione sccreta .... Sufficit enim ilia confessio, qua; primum Deo oflertur, turn etiam saeerdoti, qui pro delictis posniten- lim/i precator attendit. Turn enim demum plures ad poenitentiara poterunt pro- vocari, si publicis auribus non publicetur conscientia confitentis." We should observe, that even in introducing this innovation St, Leo is not. ashamed to plead the apostolical usage. 254 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cH. IX. in the eye of an ambitious Churchman, might counterbalance its demoralizing effect, was the vast addition of influence which it gave to the clergy. # When he delivered over the conscience of the people into the hands of the priests, — when he consigned the most secret acts and thoughts of individual imperfection to the torture of private inquisition and scrutiny,— Leo the Great had indeed the glory of laying the first and corner-stone of the Papal edifice — that on which it rose and rested, and without which the industry of his successors would have been vainly exerted, or (as is more probable) their boldest projects would never have been formed. Justinian, From the name of St. Leo we may proceed without inter- ruption to that of Justinian * ; who ascended the throne of Con- stantinople in the year 527, and occupied it for nearly forty years. This emperor is most honourably known by his legis- lative labours, and the digest of a code of laws, which, in a later age, obtained general and durable reception throughout Europe, and which are not in all places obsolete at this mo- ment. A different and secondary description of celebrity is reflected on him by the success of his generals, Belisarius and Narses, against the invaders of the West ; but, for our own part, we are not disposed to think, that he would have made any addition to the extent, or improvement in the nature, of his reputation, had he deserted the pacific duties for which he was well qualified, to place himself at the head of armies f without disposition or experience for command. He deputed to his soldiers the sanguinary task of conquest, and confined his own talents to those offices, which he justly considered to be more truly imperial. Among the first and favourite of these he placed the regulation of the religious affairs of his subjects. His own faith was distinguished by the most rigid orthodoxy; and his theological studies had at least conducted him to sound © * Of the jurisdiction of the clergy, which was the most acknowledged exercise of their power and the most direct cause of their influence, it will be better to defer all mention until we come to treat of the acts of Charlemagne. f The trumpet of Gibbon (upon the whole a humane historian) is too often and too loudly sounded in celebration of military prowess, and the pomp of camps, and the virtues of heroes — the favourite themes of vulgar minds, and the easiest incentives to vulgar enthusiasm. CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 255 doctrinal conclusions. But he had studied with more success tlit- tenets, than the history, of his religion; or he would have learnt from the sad experience of two centuries, that neither the canons of councils, nor the oppression of civil power, are sufficient to restrain the wanderings of human opinion. He devoted a large portion of his long reign to the extinction ofhisintole- heresy; he waged war with equal fury* against the remnant rance > of the Arians, the Nestorians, and the Eutychians; he expelled them from their churches, which he transferred, together with their public possessions, to the Catholics; and, finally, he de- scended to individual persecution, and confiscated the private property of many. Whatever ambiguous excuses may be found for his other proceedings, the guilt of this last robbery is usually attributed to his sordid avarice. In spite of those measures (shall we not rather say, in consequence of them?), the fifth General Council (assembled at Constantinople during his reign) conferred upon him the title of "The Most Christian Empe- ror;" not foreseeing that, by one of those strange dispositions of Providence which seem to mock at human calculation and (•(insistency, the very monarch whom they had exalted by that glorious distinction — due, indeed, to the purity of his faith, but forfeited by his intemperance and bigotry, — was destined to die a heretic ! f A foolish dispute had been raised at that time, whether the body of Christ on earth was or was not liable to corruption; and this divided Oriental Christians into the two sects of Corruptibles and Incorrupt ibles. The latter were ob- viously involved in the heresy of the Phantastics; and yet Jus- andheresy. tinian, in the blindness of old age, adopted that opinion; and it, is even believed, that he was preparing to persecute all who differed from him, when he fell sick and died. ;: He appears to have taken pains to search for them — a detestable exaggera- tion of persecution. lie assailed with the same ardour both pagans and astro- logers ; and his severities against the Samaritans, who had obtained a place in the long list of heretics, excited and justified their rebellion ; and it was not sup- pressed without horrible carnage. On the other hand, he exerted himself with equal vigour against various foims of impiety and immorality (Fleury, liv. xx\ii. sect. 27.); and was no less zealous in the conversion of the Heruli and other barbarian tribes to the belief in the Gospel, than in oppressing all who did not interpret that Gospel as he did. f The history of Henry VIII. of England furnishes an instance at first sight similar to this. 255 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH". [CH. IX. Our censures on the religious policy of Justinian, though at variance with the usual language of ecclesiastical historians, require no justification — but it is proper to clear that emperor from the more odious imputation of having created the system, which he so zealously administered. The sentence of banish- ment, pronounced by Constantine against Arius and his fol- lowers, however speedily regretted and revoked, was the grand and authoritative precedent to which every Catholic persecutor of after-times appealed with pride and confidence. That which was an experiment — an injudicious and fruitless experiment — with Constantine, became a principle or a habit with most of his successors, each of whom enacted such penalties as seemed suited to repress the errors of the day; but it was reserved to Theodosius II. to complete the work, and to confirm and Severe laws er *ibody the scattered edicts of bigotry and despotism. There of Theodo- is no space here to enumerate the severe laws against heretics, sins II. . ° which may be found in the Theodosian code*; it may suffice to say, that they extended to almost every denomination of dissent, and menaced the contumacious with confiscation, inteslation, exile, as the ordinary punishments — while the "last and inexpiable penalty" was suspended over the most formidable innovators. More than this — that emperor actually * The following are extracts : — " Quid sensibus oxceccatos Judaeos, Samaritas, Paganos, et csetera haereticorum genera portentorum audere cognoscimus! Quod si ad sanitatem mentis egregio legum edicto revocare conemur, severitatis culpam ipsi praestabunt j qui durae frontis obstinato piaculo locum veniae non relinquunt. Quamobrem, cum sententia veteri desperatis morbis nulla sit abhibenda curatio, tandem, ne ferales sectcc in vitara. immemores nostri sa;culi velut indiscreta con- fusione, licentius evagentur, hac victura in omne cevum lege sancimus — Neminem Judgeum, neminem Samaritam, neutra lege constantem, ad honores et dignitates accedere ; nulli administrationem patere civilis obsequii, nee defensoris fungi saltern officio. Nefas quippe credimus, ut supernae majestati et Romants legibus inimici, ultoresque etiam nostrarum legum surreptivae jurisdictionis habeantur obtentu et aequisitae dignitatis auctoritate muniti adversum Cluistianos, et ipsos plerumque sacra? Religionis Antistites, velut insultantes fidei nostras j udicandi vel pronuntiandi quid velint, babeant potestatem," &c. Again: — "Hinc prospicit nostra dementia Paganorum quoque et gentilium immanitates vigiliam nostram debere sortiri, qui naturali vesania et licentia pertinaci religionis tramite dissi. dentes nefarios sacrificiorum ritus occultis exercere quodammodo solitudinibus designantur — quos non promulgatarum legum mille terrores, non denuntiati exitii poena compescant, ut si emendari non possint, mole sa/tem criminum et illuvie rir- timarum discerent abstinere. Sed prorsus ea furoris peccatur audacia, &c. &e." Leg. Novell. Div. Theod. A. Lib. These enactments of the first, CO rmed by the second Theodosius, are in every sense barbarous. CII. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 257 appointed Inquisitors for the detection of certain specified offenders, and enjoined the most diligent and penetrating search * for the purpose of unmasking them. Tt has been ob- served, that Pope Leo the Great adopted this method for the extinction of the Manichseans ; and it is some excuse for the eagerness of the bishop that the mighty footsteps of the em- peror lay traced before him. It would not be just to attach to his name very deeply the guilt of intolerance ; nor would we defraud even Justinian himself of such plea as may be found for him in the penal system previously established, in the spirit of the times, in the practice of his predecessors. Yet should we distinguish — a churchman may be more leniently censured, if he enforce the laws already enacted for the protection of his Church, and calculated, as he may ignorantly imagine, for that purpose. But a legislator should look more deeply into the records of history and the constitution of human nature ; and if, among the venerable statutes of his ancestors he observes one which is founded in manifest injustice, which in its immediate operation occasions confusion and misery, and which in its general efficacy has been proved by long experience to miss the end proposed — to re-enact and perpetuate that statute is not error, but deep and inexpiable crime. III. We shall conclude this Chapter with a few remarks re- specting the literature and morality of the period on which we are employed: for though it may seem impossible to treat so extensive a subject in such contracted limits with adequate ful- ness, or even with profitable precision, there would be still greater ground of reproach were we to neglect it altogether. :B " Summa explorations rimetur, ut, quicunque in unum Paschsc diem non ob- sequenti religione convenerint, tales indubitanter, quales hac lege damnamus, habeantur." This seems to have been levelled against the remains of the Quar- tadecimans. The Encratites, Saccophori, and Hydroparastatae, are the names which are threatened " sumrao supplicio et inexpiabili poena."' A law was also enacted to prevent the meetings of the Taseodragita? — a denomination of persons " who made their prayers inwardly and silently, compressing their noses and lips with their hands, lest any sound should transpire." Basnage, iii. 82. Jortin, vol. iv. ad ami. 381. That any danger either to Church or State could for an instant have been apprehended from such abject and pitiful enthusiasm might have been pronounced impossible, if the history of persecution in every age, howsoever modified and disguised by time and circumstance, did not incessantly attest it to be both credible and probable. VOL. I. S 258 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. Literature. Decline of The decline of Roman literature, between the age of Auoms- tus and that of the Antonines, in chasteness and delicacy of thought and expression, and even the decay of the language itself, are instantly perceptible to the classical reader ; yet was it still animated by some of the fire of ancient genius. It had availed itself of the progress of science and the increased know- ledge of man. and it applied that knowledge with immortal success to history as well as philosophy. But from the reign of Antoninus to that of Diocletian the fall was sudden and pre- cipitate. In the barren records of the third century we find no names of good, few even of indifferent writers ; and if the works of the ancients were more generally diffused and studied than formerly (which seems uncertain), they were at least much less diligently imitated, and not an effort was made to surpass them. It is of importance to remark this fact ; because there have been some so unjust in their hostility to Revelation, or so perverse in their estimation of history, as to attribute the decay of literature to the prevalence and influence of the Christian religion. This charge is very far removed from truth — indeed it is easy to show that literature had already fallen into deep and irre- trievable ruin, before Christianity began to exercise any control over the refinements of society. At the beginning of the third cenlury, during the parting struggles of learning, the Christians, numerous as they were, and irresistible in strength, were prin- cipally confined to the lower and middle ranks ; and even at the beginning of the last persecution, though they held some high offices in the court, of Justinian, it will scarcely be asserted thai tlu-y formed a sufficient proportion of the higher and edu- cated classes, to affect in any great degree the literary character of the empire*. A very general moral improvement they had undoubtedly introduced among the lower orders : some influence on the civilization of the people, and even on the policy of the * The effect which Christianity may have produced on the literature of the Roman empire in the third century bears some resemblance in character (though it was far inferior in degree) to that exerted by Puritanism on the literature of our own country. And if it is true, that the immediate influence of both was, to a certain extent, hostile, their ultimate operation was certainly to invigorate and renovate. Some of the fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries write better than any profane author after Tacitus. CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 259 government, they may also have exercised ; bnt complete revo- lutions in national literature do not originate in those quarters; and even had it been otherwise, we have seen, that, more than a century before that period, the downfall of taste and learning had been irrevocably decreed. While they speculate on the secondary causes of singular phenomena, historians are sometimes too prone to neglect such as are plain and obvious. In the present instance these were certainly no other than the prolongation of unmitigated despot- ism, and the civil confusion, which, in addition to its customary attendants, it so commonly introduced in the succession to the throne. It is unnecessary to search after remote reasons for the degradation of any people which has been subjected for three centuries to the abuse of arbitrary rule. And though it be true that Trajan and the Antonines for a moment arrested the torrent of corruption, they were but accidental blessings ; and if their personal excellence partially remedied the monstrous depravity of the system, their influence lasted not beyond their life. Presently the tide resumed its downward course, and its natural and necessary progress was scarcely accelerated either by the crimes of Severus, or the calamities of Decius. Whether, then, it be reasonable to consider the first period of the decline of literature as closing with the reign of the Antonines, or whe- ther we shall extend it over the barren period, which intervened between the death of Marcus and the establishment of Chris- tianity, it is clear that it proceeded from causes quite indepen- dent of that religion. The second line we may venture perhaps to draw after the fourth council of Carthage, and the third at the expulsion of the Athenian philosophers by Justinian. During the second period, Constantine, Julian and Theo- dosius successively proposed encouragements to learning, and bestowed personal honours on those possessing it. If Julian confined his rewards to Pagan, and Constantine to Christian, literature; the greater effect (owing to the longer duration of hi< reign) was produced by the latter — the same is true of the exertions of Theodosius ; consequently, during the last half of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century, the Church abounded with prelates of splendid talents, and laborious in- s2 2C0 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. dustry, and such learning as was then thought most necessary. The Christian writings of this period, to whatsoever objections they may be liable, constitute the best part of its literature. And in so far as they are censured (and justly censured) for the occasional display of vain speculation about things not determinable, of unfair representation, of perverse disputatious- ness, of absurd or unworthy arguments, it is a question, whe- ther the lucubrations of the schoolmen and rhetoricians of Rome or Greece give less ground for the same reproaches : for in a mere literary point of view, it matters little, whether it be the inscrutable in nature or revelation on which the wayward imagination wastes itself; and as these latter researches are more likely to deviate into a moral character, so is there a bet- ter prospect of their utility. And in justice to most of the Fathers of this period we should add, that there are many splendid illustrations of scripture, and many generous bursts of moral exhortation, which enrich and ennoble their works, and which surpass the ardour, if they do not rival the elegance, of profane philosophy. Fourth A canon of the council held at Carthage * in the year 398 Carthaee f° ruac ^ e tne stu dy of secular books by bishops ; and we have 398 a. d. therefore selected this as a crisis in the history of Christian literature. Assuredly a deplorable dearth of learning very soon followed this crisis, and our third period is distinguished by scarcely two or three names respectable for talents or ac- quirements. However, we do not at all intend to attribute this rapid defection to the injudicious ordinance in question; since * The celebrated canon in question appears in the midst of several others, generally respecting the episcopal oflice and duties: their substance is as follows : — " The bishop should have a small residence near the church ; his furniture should be of small price, and his table poorly supplied ; he should sustain his dignity by his faith and his holy life; he shall read no profane books, nor those of the heretics, unless by necessity. He shall take no concern in the execution of wills, nor any care of his domestic affairs, nor plead for any temporal interests. He shall not himself take charge either of the widows, orphans, or strangers, but commit that office to the chief priest — he shall have no other occupation than reading, prayer and preaching. He shall perform no ordinations without the counsel of his clergy, and the consent of the people." See Fleury, liv. xx., sect, xxxii. We are not to suppose that the above canons were everywhere received, or perhaps strictly enforced any where. en. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 261 its authority was not universal, and since injunctions of that description are seldom obeyed, except by such as are previously disposed to receive them. It was an index, rather than a cause, of the altering spirit of the Church, and as such we record it. The real reasons of that sudden defection, and of the darkness which followed it, are two : the first of these, which alone per- haps might gradually have completed the extinction of sound learning, was i he internal corruption of Christianity, and the spreading influence of monachism. An age of prodigies and relics and Stylites was not proper for the growth of genius, or the cultivation of knowledge; and the little of either, which survived in the East, may have owed its existence to the dis- sensions of the Christians, as much as to their virtues. The second reason was the frequent irruption and final settlement of the barbarian conquerors. This cause was indeed confined almost entirely to the provinces of the West ; but the wounds which it inflicted there were deeper and of more extensive in- fluence, than might at first have been apprehended. It afforded a fearful prospect, that those hordes of colonists were wholly uninstructed in literary acquirements, and even generally pre- judiced against them. Theodoric himself, the wisest, as well as the best, among their princes, while he respected the su- perior civilization of the vanquished, despised and disclaimed that art, which seemed to be employed for no other end, than to inflame and perpetuate religious controversy. He could never be prevailed upon to learn to read. But the cause which increased and prolonged that mischief, and created many others, was the superstitious disposition which the invaders brought with them. They had learnt, as the rudiments of their own religion, a subservient reverence for their priesthood, and this principle accompanied them into the Christian Church ; the priesthood received without reluctance the unbounded homage which was offered to them ; their authority grew with that ob- sequiousness, and their ambition swelled with their authority; and when they found how easily this could be maintained and extended over a credulous people, and how certainly credulity is the offspring of ignorance, they became interested in per- petuating blindness and prejudice. 262 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cH. IX. Subjects of Some schools indeed still subsisted, and the youth were in- Education. s t ruc t e d in what were called the Seven Liberal Arts ; but these, as we learn from Augustin's account of them, consisted only in a number of subtile and useless precepts ; and were consequently more adapted to perplex the memory than to strengthen the judgment. The arts in question were gram- mar., rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astro- nomy; and those were very rare among the scholars whose studies extended beyond the three first. Moral exhortations began now to be commonly confined to the public reading of "Books of Martyrs" and "Lives of Saints," by which the passions of the vulgar were excited, and their imaginations prepared for the belief of any imposture which it might be expedient to practise upon them. Such were the materials of Christian literature during the fifth and sixth centuries, and such they continued with very little alteration until the eleventh. The Edict Some remnants of the philosophy of ancient Greece still lin- oi Justmi- g-ered at Athens : and a few degenerate descendants of Plato, an, which ° , ..... closed the Aristotle or Zeno, still exhibited in their half deserted schools Schools of t j le s } lac i ow f ^e } ore f former ages. Those teachers had Athens, 3 529 a.d. been encouraged by M. Antoninus and Julian, and tolerated by the Christian emperors, and they may have constituted the wisest, and probably the most virtuous portion of the Pagan population ; but they had gradually dwindled away into ob- scurity and insignificance. Nevertheless, Justinian considered their existence as inconsistent with the principles of his govern- ment, and consequently issued (in the year 529) that celebrated edict which closed the schools of Athens for ever. The his- torian of the Church of Christ need not fear to celebrate any judicious exertions to enlighten and dignify mankind. And in as far as the genius of philosophy has been employed in the dis- covery of moral truth, and in effectual exhortations to virtue and magnanimity; in as far as it has taught the science of government on sound and practical principles ; in as far as its researches have had no other object than truth, and truth which was convertible to the service and improvement of society — so far we respect its exertions and honour its name, and disdain CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 263 the narrow policy which completed its extinction. But we are bound to admit, that, long before the period in question, the abuse of reason had so far supplanted its proper exercise, and perverted its noble character and purposes, that it constituted in fact the most active portion of the systems then called philo- sophical — just as the abuses of religion were then beginning to form the most conspicuous part of the Catholic system. To the connexion of Christianity with philosophy several of those abuses maybe attributed; for at the first moment of their con- tact, while religion was yet pure, philosophy was already deeply and vitally corrupted; and the infection of bad principles, ivhe- ther of reasoning or morality, was too easily communicated. And thus religion, which is indeed the friend of that true and useful philosophy whose object is the advancement of society and the happiness of man, became stained and degraded by its alliance with controversial sophistry. There is also another reflection which lessens the indigna- tion so naturally excited in every generous mind by the edict of Justinian. The philosophers had declared war against Christianity at an early period ; to their malignity the last and severest persecution may be partly attributed, and the more dan- gerous aggressions of Julian were conducted by their spirit, if not by their counsel ; so that, if we cannot excuse the severe retaliation, which Christianity, in her time of triumph, more effectually inflicted, at least our compassion for the sufferer is diminished by the recollection of its hostility and its vices. The exiled philosophers (seven in number) at first took refuge at the court of Persia ; but finding none of the moral advantages, which they professed to expect under a different form of government and worship, they were presently contented to return, on certain stipulations, and terminate their days under a Christian mo- narch. We can scarcely believe that the character of Christian litera- ture was so deeply affected by that act of Justinian, as some imagine. Moshcim* appears to consider it as having occasioned * Cent, vi., p. ii., c. i. In another place be seems inclined to attribute the same result (and perhaps with rather more probability) to the decision of the fifth General Council, by which some of the opinions ot'Origen, who was a New Pla- tonieiun, were condemned, 264 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. particularly the extinction of the New Academy, (the descend- ant of the Platonic school,) and the substitution of the system of Aristotle. It is, indeed, well known that about this period the latter philosophy was gradually gaining ground upon the former in the Christian schools, probably because it was better suited to the contentious spirit of the age; and whatever evils had heretofore been occasioned in the Church by too great re- verence for the authority of Plato, and by the boldness of his followers, much wider and more durable calamities were after- wards inflicted upon the Christian world by the universal sub- mission of the human mind to the name of Aristotle. But we are not persuaded that this change was brought about violently : or that the edict, which silenced a few obscure Pagan philo- sophers, at all generally influenced the learning of Christians; or that any act of legislation could suddenly have effected so general an alteration in the studies and intellectual pursuits of an extensive empire. These mighty changes usually result from the patient operation of general principles upon the mo- rals and habits of a people — the caprice of a monarch has no power to create them; and, perhaps, it is the commonest mis- take of historians to attribute too much to the edicts of sove- reigns, and too little to the unceasing movement and agitation of civilized society. Morality of Respecting the condition of morals during this period it is the p ler !p impossible to speak with equal definiteness; some indeed do not hesitate to describe them as exceedingly depraved, and in no respect better upheld by the clergy than by the laity* : and true it is, that certain laws were enacted, with the specific ob- ject of securing the morality, and even of punishing the offences, of the priesthood ; indeed when we consider the sort of immu- nity from civil tribunals which that body in those times enjoyed, we are not surprised that too great general indulgence led to the imposition of occasional and particular restraints. But these by no means prove its universal corruption. The increased wealth of the Church is mentioned as another and a necessary reason of its increased degradation. But we should not be too indiscriminate in our inference of evil from * Mosheim, cent, vi. ; p. ii. ; c. ii. CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 205 that cause. The ill effects of ecclesiastical wealth, which is generally diffused among the clergy with very great inequality, would be chiefly confined to the more elevated and ambitious members of the hierarchy, and would scarcely extend to the lower and more numerous ranks of the ministry ; besides which we should recollect, that it is at least as common an effect of wealth to enlarge and exalt, as to debase, the character of its possessor. Even were this not so, the Church, in the sixth century, had certainly not arrived at any dangerous degree of opulence, since the sources, which in after ages so profusely supplied it, were scarcely yet. opened. At the same time, the steady progress of religion, the general conversion of the bar- barian conquerors, and the devotion of the converts to their priesthood, are scarcely consistent with the gross immorality, and even total contempt of decency, with which Mosheim charges that order*. And therefore, without advocating its perfect moral purity, we need not hesitate to believe, that the great majority of its members continued with zeal, though in silence, to execute their offices of piety, and that, though stained by individual scandal, the body was very far removed from ge- neral degradation, either in the Eastern or Western empire. Hitherto we have spoken of the clergy only, and the general morality of the age would to a great extent be regulated by the conduct of that body. But the political prostration of the Western provinces, overrun by so many savage tribes — the ra- pid dissolution of the old governments without any stability in those which succeeded them — the subversion of legal security, the substitution of military and barbarous license — these and * " Whence so many laws to restrain the vices and preserve the morals of the ecclesiastical orders, if they had fulfilled even the obligations of external decency, or shown, in the general tenour of their conduct, a certain degree of respect for religion or virtue ? Be that as it will, the effects of all these laws and edicts were so inconsiderable as to be hardly perceived ; for so high was the veneration paid at this time to the clergy, that their most flagitious crimes were corrected by the slightest and gentlest punishments : an unhappy circumstance, which added to their presumption, and rendered them more daring and audacious in iniquity." These are Mosheim"s words; and some will think that they carry their own con- futation with them. At least we may safely believe, that the flagrant offences of a few notorious individuals have been darkly reflected upon the whole body; and such has been the misfortune of the Christian priesthood in every age. 266 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. other circumstances, aggravating the usual miseries of conquest, occasioned, wheresoever they extended, more absolute wretched- ness, both individual and national, than had hitherto been re- corded in the history of man ; insomuch, that among those who beheld and shared those inflictions, there were many who re- garded them as special demonstrations of divine wrath. And as men are ever prone to attribute such chastisements to the most striking revolution of their own day, and as the subver- sion of the temples of their ancestors was still recent in their memory, some there were, who ascribed the anger of the gods to the establishment and prevalence of Christianity. Since the appearance of that impiety (they said) the Roman power has incessantly declined. The gods, the founders and protectors of that empire, have withdrawn their succour, as their service has been neglected ; and now that their worship has been en- tirely suppressed, now that their sanctuaries are closed, and their sacrifices, auguries and other propitiations rigorously pro- hibited, they have at length abandoned us Avholly, and left the once victorious Rome to be a prey to barbarians*. This fool- ish delusion was immediately and successfully combated by the eloquence of St. Augustin. In his noble composition, " The City of Godf ", he confuted the error by irrefragable argu- ments, and conclusive appeals to the evidence of profane his- tory ; and inculcated the more reasonable opinion, that the temporal afflictions which God permitted to devastate the em- pire were chastisements \ inflicted by a just Providence for the * Fleury, II. E., liv. xxiii., sect. vii. t The work was published in 426, after thirteen years had been employed in its composition. It consists of twenty-two books, of which the first ten are de- voted to the confutation of the various errors of Paganism, and among others of that which we have now mentioned ; while the last twelve establish the truth of Christianity. | Thirteen years afterwards Carthage was sacked by the Vandals : Salvian, a Presbyter of Marseilles, a contemporary author, also considers that event as a signal example of divine justice; and he enlarges with great fervour on the ex- ceeding corruption of that great city. " It seemed as if the inhabitants had en- tirely taken leave of reason — the streets were filled with drunkards crowned with flowers and perfumes, and infested with every possible snare against chastity; adulteries, and the most abominable impurities were the commonest of all things, and they were publicly practised with extreme impudence. The orphans and widows were oppressed, and the poor were tortured to such despair, that they CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 267 correction, not for the destruction, of his creatures. The error was indeed confuted, and presently died away ; but the general dislocation of society, which occasioned it, must have suspended for a time the moral energies of man : and the period of his severest suffering may also have been that of his deepest de- pravity. NOTE ON CERTAIN ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS OF THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES. 1. It is probable that Lactantius was a native of Africa, since Lactantius. his first lessons were received from Arnobius, whose school was at Sicca, in that country; but the truth is not positively known, nor the year of his birth. It is only certain, that he witnessed and survived the persecution of Diocletian, and was selected, in his old age, as preceptor to Crispus, the son of Constantine. He was the most learned Christian of his time ; and the record of his necessitous and voluntary poverty may at least persuade us, that his habits were influenced by the spirit of Christian philosophy which adorns his writings. prayed God to deliver the city to the barhar'mns. Blasphemies, too, and impiety reigned there ; many, though professedly Christians, were at heart Pagans, and worshipped the celestial goddess with entire devotion. Besides which (he adds), the people had an extreme contempt and aversion for I he Monks, however holy they might be." The description is probably exaggerated — yet ecclesiastical his- torians almost universally admit the corruption of Christians to have been the cause of their chastisement. Baronius adds another reason — the prevalence of heresy. At the year 412, he asserts — " Barbari prsevalent ubi haereses vigent." He in other places (ann. 410, 428) declares, that the former might easily have been subdued, if the latter could have been expelled ; and ad ami. 40fi, 407, he more expressly affirms, that Providence sent the invaders into Gaul for the mere purpose of destroying the heresy of Vigilantius, and that the greatest devas- tations were committed in the districts where those errors were most deeply rooted. By an opposite, but not less extravagant error, Theoi'.osius, legislating nearly at the same time, attributed even the unseasonable severities of the skies to the pro- longed existence of Paganism. "An diutins perferimus mutari temporum vices irata coeli temperie ? qua', Paganorum exacerbata perfidia, nescit naturae libra- menta servare. Unde enim ver solitam gratiam abjuravit ? Unde sestas messe jejuna laboriosum agricolam in spe destituit aristarum ? Unde intemperata fero- citas ubeitatem terrarum penetrabili frigore sterilitatis kesione damnavit — nisi quod ad impietatis vindictam transit lege sua naturae decietum ? Quod ne post- hac sustinere cogamur, pacijica uiiione, ut diximus, pianda est supremi numinis veneranda majestas." 268 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. The "Divine Institutions," his most important work, contain a powerful confutation of Paganism, in a style not uninspired with the genius of antiquity. " Lactantius (says St. Jerome*) is as a stream of Ciceronian eloquence ; and I would that he had been as successful in confirming our own doctrine as in overthrowing that of others." He was liable indeed to that reproach, and he shared it with all the apologists who had pre- ceded him ; his arguments are often feeble, his assumptions sometimes false, and his conclusions not always sound : but his style deserves great praise; and if his diction occasionally rivals the elegant exuberance of Cicero, (and he is commonly compared, and sometimes preferred, to that orator,) the Chris- tian has reached, through the more elevated nature of his sub- ject, a sublimer range of thought and expression, in the field of moral as well as divine philosophy. A nobler conception of the Deity, and a deeper knowledge of his works and dispensations, have occasionally exalted, above the Roman's boldest flights, a genius clearly much inferior both in nature and cultivation. There is another work still extant, called " The Death of the Persecutors," first printed in 1G79, and by many attributed (though probably not with truth) to Lactantius. It is of un- disputed antiquity!, and contains some valuable facts not else- where recorded ; but it is still more remarkable for an attempt to vindicate the temporal retribution of Providence, by asserting the violent ends of the various persecutors. But an endeavour to pervert, with whatsoever promise of temporary profit, the eternal truths of history, can produce no other lasting effect, than to stain the character of the author, and to throw discredit on the cause which is advocated by falsehood. Gregory 2. Gregory, son of the Bishop of Nazianzus, was born about Nazianzen. 320. He was animated by a strong natural love for literary and religious seclusion, and a disinclination to ecclesiastical dignities, of which we are compelled to acknowledge the sin- * Ejpist. 13, addressed to Paulinus, bishop of Nola. Sue Dupin, Nouvelle Bi- blioth., Vie de Lactance. The Institutions were dedicated to Constantine, pro- bablij during the conclusion of the last persecution (t etween 306 and 31 1), and may possibly have influenced his religious opinions. f Probably published about 315. CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 200 eerily, though it so happened that he occupied, in succession, the sees of Sasimi, of Nazianzus*, and Constantinople. His learning, his eloquence, and his religious zeal preserved him from obscurity, and raised him, in his own despight, from inde- pendence and privacy. On a visit to Constantinople, about the year 376, he found the Churches, with only one exception, in the possession of the Arians. In the adversity and humiliation of the Church, he raised his voice against the predominant heresy with boldness and success. Several are believed to have been converted by his arguments ; and he continued to instruct and govern the Catholic party, until the accession of the ortho- dox Theodosius. He was then raised by the command of the emperor and the affection of the people to a dignity which he neither coveted, nor long retained. Some discontents which followed gave him a pretext for resignation, and he died in 389 in the retirement of his native city. There remain to us about fifty of his Discourses and Sermons, of which the language and sentiments alike argue a moderate temper and a cultivated mind. The most celebrated among them are the third and fourth, which are directed against the emperor Julian. In the seventeenth discourse, delivered on the occasion of some sedilious disturbances at Nazianzus, in pre- senting himself as a mediator between the people and the civil officer, he exalts the authority of the Church in very lofty lan- guage. He thus addresses the governor of the city : — " The law of Christ subjects you to my power and to my pulpit ; for ours is the authority — an authority greater and more excellent than that which you possess, unless, indeed, spirit is to be subject unto flesh, and heaven unto earth f : you command with Jesus Christ ; it is He with whom you exercise your authority; it is He who has given you the sword which you wear, not so much for the chastisement of crime, as for its prevention by terror and by menace." It is curious to reflect, that these principles were thus publicly promulgated (in the year 372) within sixty years * He was raised to a share of this see, as a kind of Coadjutor to his father, and on his death fled from the city, lest the undivided responsibility should then be forced upon him. f Dupin, a liberal Catholic, throws into his translation of this passage the words Church and Primes, neither of which came from the lips of Gregory. 270 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. IX. from the establishment of Christianity, and within nine from the death of Julian. Yet the character of Gregory was mild and forbearing ; his twenty-sixth discourse contains some tem- perate injunctions respecting the treatment of heretics ; and both in that and in other places, while he laments the distrac- tions of the Church, and while he proclaims his own attachment to the Catholic doctrine, he is never so unjust as to ascribe the whole evil to the opposite party, nor so partial as to conceal or to spare the vices and scandals which disgraced his own*. Gregory of Gregory is celebrated for his friendship with St. Basil, the Nyssa. father of oriental monachism ; and the brother of St. Basil was another Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, in Cappadocia. This last was the author of five orations on the Lord's Prayer, be- sides various Commentaries on Scripture, and discourses on the mysteries, and moral treatises. But the work by which he is most known is his oration on the life of St. Gregory, sur- named Thaumaturgus, or the Wonder-worker. That renowned prelate (he was Bishop of Neocsesarea) flourished about one hundred and twenty years before his namesake of Nyssa; so that the stupendous miracles, which are so diligently recorded of him by. his credulous panegyrist, can have no claim on our serious consideration. St. Am- 3. St. Ambrose was born in Gaul, about the year 340, of Roman and noble parents-)-; he was educated in Italy, and his talents and conduct early raised him to a high civil appoint- ment. In 374, on the vacancy of the see of Milan, a violent dissension arose between the Catholics and the Arians ; the bishops of both parties assembled in great numbers, and the tumultuous divisions of the people not only violated the unity of the Church, but seriously threatened the repose of the state. Ambrose was then Governor-General of the province, and he * It should be observed, that in his sixth Discourse (delivered before Gregory of Nyssa) he exalts the honour of the martyrs, and even attributes to them the office of mediators. f Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth., Vie St. Ambrose. While the infant was one day sleeping in his father's palace, a swarm of bees surrounded his cradle, and after reposing on his lips, suddenly ascended high into the air, and disappeared. Am- brose had been anticipated by Plato — yet the Roman Church has shown no dis- inclination to adopt the profane miracle. CH. IX.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 271 proceeded in person to compose the disorders. The people were assembled in the principal church, and there he addressed them at length on their civil duties — on social order and pub- lic tranquillity. His eloquent harangue produced a very dif- ferent effect from that which had been (at least professedly) proposed by it, for it was followed by the unanimous accla- matoi'v shout — "We will have Ambrose for our bishop." Ambrose was not yet baptized* — what religious instruction he may have received in the schools of the Catechumens is un- certain, and it appears to have been exceedingly slight ; but he had not yet been admitted to the communion of the faithful. Yet no difficulty seems to have arisen from this obstacle. Again — the consent of the emperor was necessary for his trans- lation from a civil to an ecclesiastical office. That consent was granted with immediate alacrity. Still there remained one unforeseen impediment to be overcome — the persevering repug- nance of Ambrose to the proposed elevation. But the perse- verance of the people was not less obstinate. It was in vain that the bishop elect, in order to disqualify himself in their eyes for a sacred office, publicly committed some acts of judicial cruelty and flagrant immorality. The people exclaimed — " Thy ofl'ence be upon our heads." It was in vain that he escaped from the city and concealed himself at the residence of a faithful friend; he was discovered and conducted in triumph to Milan. At length, conceiving that the will of God was thus irresistibly declared against him, he submitted to assume the ungrateful dignity. After having passed through the necessary ecclesiastical gra- Hissudden datious he was ordained bishop on the 8th day after his bap- f e . T a c" tism, at the age of 34. His first act was to make over the of Milan. whole of his property to the Church or the poor; and it should be remarked, that the same charitable disposition continued afterwards to distinguish him. He immediately declared in favour of the Catholic against the Arian doctrine ; and though the fury, with which the contest was at that time conducted, reached and infected him, we cannot justly accuse him of hav- * See Fleury, Hv. xvii., sec. xxi., &c. 272 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cH. IX. ing wantonly inflamed it. The Empress Justinia, the widow of Valentinian, was an Arian, together with her soldiers and her court ; the great body of the people were on the side of Ambrose ; and in the year 385 some violent disputes arose, in which the bishop maintained his spiritual privileges with a cou- rage and a confidence not unworthy of the brightest ages of papacy*. From a contest with a passionate woman, he ad- vanced to measure his strength with a wise and powerful em- peror. Theodosius the Great had very barbarously avenged the murder of some imperial officers at Thessalonica bv the massacre of the inhabitants ; and as the bishop of Milan had previously interfered in their favour, he boldly condemned the sanguinary execution. Theodosius pleaded in his defence the example of David. " Since then you have imitated his offence (rejoined the prelate) imitate also his penitence." It appears, that for the period of eight months the emperor was denied all access to the holy offices of the Church — the consolation which was afforded to the lowest of his subjects was refused (as he complainedf ) to himself. Finally, after some public humili- ation, to remind him of the essential distinctions between the priest and the princej, and the spiritual inferiority of the latter, he consented to the performance of public penance, as the con- dition of reconciliation with the Church. This extraordinary event took place in 390§ ; and if we have already remarked * The great influence which Ambrose is shown to have possessed over the po- pulace, not to excite only but to compose its tumults, attests the vigour of his cha- racter more certainly, than it proves either his virtues or even his eloquence — though we have no reason to doubt either. f See Fleury, liv. xix., sect. xxi. The power "to bind and to loose," as dele- gated by Christ to his ministers on earth, is a favourite theme with St. Ambrose, and asserted by him in a sufficiently extensive sense. | See Theodoret, book v., c.xviii. Sozomen, lib. vii., cap. 25. "Stop (said Ambrose to the emperor, as he was entering the sacred precincts) =V/a P at 'y' which scarcely displayed its real shape till the reign of Gre- gory VII. Nevertheless, it will be reasonably inquired what elements existed, or, at least, what indications may be discovered, in the sixth century, of the monarchical government, which formed the characteristic of the Communion in later ages ? We shall, therefore, proceed to point out such of these as were most perceptible during the time of Gregory I. We have noticed an early jealousy subsisting between the Sees of Rome and Con- stantinople, and the sort of superiority which was conferred upon the former by the council of Chalcedon. It appears, too, that St. Leo was addressed by certain Oriental correspondents by the title of (Ecumenic, or Universal Patriarch, though his Title of immediate successors refrained from adopting that lofty appel- Universal lation. Matters rested thus till the year 588, when the Em- peror Maurice conferred that same title upon his own patriarch John, commonly called the Faster*, an austere and ambitious that was to be chanted was marked in another volume, called the " Antiphonaire, pane que Ton chantoit altem&tivemeat; d'ou vient le nom d'antiphones ou anti- ennes (anthems) comnie il a ete expliuue." '" : John the Faster, disputing an unmeaning title with Gregory, is assimilated by Baronius | ann. 595, sect, xxvii.) to the apostate angel rising against the Most High God — a comparison not far removed from blasphemy. In more than thirty sections, which that historian devotes to the subject, he labours to depress the See of Constantinople even below that of Alexandria, and continually advances 300 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. X. prelate. Pope Pelagius opposed those pretensions ; and, eight years afterwards, the contest was much more vigorously re- newed by Gregory. In 595, he addressed five epistles on this subject to John himself, to the Emperor and Empress, and to the rival Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch ; in all vehe- mently inveighing against the arrogance of the Faster, and pro- fessing the very purest spirit of Christian humility. In his let- ter to the Emperor he declares that the public calamities are to be ascribed to no other cause than the ambition of the bishops. "We destroy (he says) by example that which we preach in word ; our bones are consumed with fastings, and our soul is puffed up with pride; beneath the meanest garments we conceal a haughty heart. ; we repose on ashes, and we pre- tend to grandeur ; under the aspect of the sheep we nourish the fangs of the wolf." He proceeds — " The direction and pri- macy of the whole Church has been given to St. Peter; never- theless we do not call him the Universal Apostle, and yet the holy man John, my brother, is ambitious to be called the Uni- versal Bishop*." To Constantina he mournfully complains of the insult which has been offered to the See of Rome ; and while he humbly confesses " that the sins of Gregory have merited such chastisement," he reminds the Empress that St. Peter at least is sinless, and undeserving the outrage which had been offered him. Primacy of From these and others, even among the few passages which St. Peter. ^ ^^ ^.^ ^^ Gregory's writings, it appears that the ground, on which the Church of Rome rested its assertion of supremacy, was already changed very essentially. In its early days the sort of superiority which it endeavoured to assume was founded for the most part on its imperial name and dig- nity ; but when that basis was overthrown by the conquests of the barbarians, another was substituted, of a purely spiritual the obtrusiveness of Rome, as a proof of her rightful authority. However, it is true enough that the power of Rome was now growing real and substantial — a fact much more easily shown than either its antiquity or legitimacy. * St. Gregory could not foresee that, within twelve years from that in which he was writing, the same title would be proudly worn by a successor to the chair of St. Peter (Boniface III.), though granted to that pontiff by an Emperor who dis- graced human nature. CH. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 301 nature, and thus better calculated to impose upon the ignorant proselytes. The name of St. Peter became more venerable than that of Augustus or Trajan ; and his chair, as it was occu- pied by the successors of the apostle and the vicars of Christ, inspired a deeper awe into the blind and superstitious multitude, than the throne of all the Caesars. This change, no doubt, was gradual — it cannot entirely be ascribed to Gregory, nor to any other individual ; indications of that pretension may even be discovered in very early ecclesiastical writers ; but that Pope exerted himself more than any of his predecessors to confirm it , and to give to that uncertain ground-work a stability, which has enabled it to support the mighty papal edifice for so many ages. It has also been observed that Gregory was the first who The power asserted the power of the keys, as committed to the successor ° 1L ^ ys * of St. Peter, rather than to the body of the Bishops ; and he betrayed on many occasions a very ridiculous eagerness to secure their honour. Consequently he was profuse in his dis- tribution of certain keys, endowed, as he was not ashamed to assert, with supernatural qualities ; he even ventured to insult Anastasius, the Patriarch of Antioch, by such a gift. " I have sent you (he says) keys of the blessed Apostle Peter, your guardian, which, when placed upon the sick, are wont to be resplendent with numerous miracles.*" We may attribute this absurdity to the basest superstition, or to the most impudent hypocrisy ; and we wovdd gladly have preferred the more ex- cusable motive, if the supposed advancement of the See, which was clearly concerned in these presents, did not rather lead us to the latter. Two descriptions of papal agents rise into notice during the Papal En- pontificate of Gregory — the Apocrisiarii (Correspondents), who lS^s and Atlvo- * " Amatoris vestri, beati Petri Apostoli, vobis claves transmisi, qua? super eegros cates « positu; multia solent miraculis coruseare." He addresses nearly the same words to one Andreas, a nobleman, with a similar present. And in another epistle (to Theotistus) he coolly relates a prodigy which had once been performed by one of those keys upon a Lombard soldier. Karonius, ann. 585, sect, iv., ami. ;VJ7, sect, xiv., ann. 591., sect, vii., viii. ( The historian (in the first of those places) eagerly attaches to the keys the notion and omen of possession, which probably did not occur to a Pope (not even to Pope Gregory) in the sixth century. 302 A HISTORY OP THE church. [ch. X. acted as envoys or legates at the Court and at the See of Con- stantinople ; and the Defensores, or Advocates, who, besides their general commission to protect* the property of St. Peter, appear to have been vested with a kind of appellative jurisdic- tion, which might sometimes interfere with that of the bishops. The former of these appointments tended to raise the external dignity of the See; the latter to extend its internal influence. Again, we find sufficient evidence, in the records of this age, that a practice which afterwards proved one of the most fruitful sources of Papal power, was already gaining ground — that of appeal from episcopal decision to the Roman See. It does not, indeed, appear that it was founded on any general law, civil or ecclesiastical ; but it proceeded very naturally from the preju- dice attached to the name of Rome, and the chair of St. Peter; and it was carefully encouraged by the See, whose authority was insensibly augmented by it. Before we quit the subject of papal aggrandisement, we shall mention one other circum- stance onlyf . Great relaxation in the monastic discipline of the age justified the very sedulous interference of Gregory to restrain it ; and so much address did that pontiff combine with his diligence, as not only to reform the order, but also to secure and protect it. For, while he enforced the severity of the ancient rules with judicious rigour J, he took measures to shel- ter it from episcopal oppression, and taught it hereafter to look Connexion to Rome for redress and favour. As none are ignorant how firm with the a support to papal power was furnished in later ages by the Monaste- devotion of the monasteries, it is important to record the origin lies. * Baron, ann. 593, sect. xv. xix. Gibbon (chap, xlv.) considers them to have possessed not a civil only, but a criminal jurisdiction over the tenants and hus- bandmen of the Holy See. f " The bishops of Italy and the adjacent islands acknowledged tire Roman Pontiff' as their special Metropolitan. Even the existence, the union and the translation of episcopal seats was decided by his absolute discretion; and his suc- cessful inroads into the provinces of Greece, of Spain, and of Gaul, might coun- tenance the more lofty pretensions of succeeding popes. He interposed to pre- vent the abuses of popular elections ; his zealous care maintained the purity of faith and discipline ; and the apostolic shepherd assiduously watched over the faith and discipline of the subo.dinate pastors." Gibbon, chap. xlv. I Fleury, H. E. lib. xxxvi. sect. 33 and 34, lias condensed the original infor- mation contained in the third and following epistles of Gregory, CII. X A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 303 of that connexion; and it is difficult to discover any earlier trace of it than that which we have mentioned. Gibbon, who has drawn with vigour and impartiality the cha- Thevari- racter of Gregory, has much over-rated his qualities when hede- °^^f situates him as the greatest of that name. It is very true that the Gregory. mixture of simplicity and cunning, of pride and humility'' 1 , of sense and superstition, which singularly distinguished him, was happily suited both to his station and to the temper of the limes; and it might perhaps be pleaded, that he did no more than yield to that evil temper, when he gave sanction to opi- nions and usages which were at variance with the spirit of Scripture. But this was to consult his present convenience or popularity, not his perpetual fame. Those who follow the stream of prejudice may be excused or pitied, but they can establish no claim to greatness, no title to the respect or grati- tude of a posterity to which they transmit, without correction, the errors or vices of their ancestors. So far as he applied him- self to remedy those vices or imperfections, so far as he reformed the discipline and repressed the avarice of his clergy, and intro- duced such improvements into other departments of the system as were consistent with the Gospel truth on which it stood, his name is deservedly celebrated by every honest Christian ; but his eagerness in the encouragement of superstitious corruptions (for he was not even contented to tolerate, still less did he make any effort to repress them) must not be treated with indifference or indulgence ; because the diffusion of error -j" has a far more * His humility sometimes descended to baseness. The abject adulation with which he courted Phocas, the usurper of the Eastern Throne, the most execrable parricide in history, proves (as Bayle has malignantly remarked) that those who prevailed with him to accept the Popedom, knew him better than he knew him- self. " lis voyoient en lui le funds de toutes les ruses et de toutes les souplesses flout on a besoin pour sefairede grands protecteurs, et pourattirer stir PEglise les benedictions de la terre.'" The motive of his flattery was jealousy of the Pa- triarch of Constantinople, He addressed, with the same servility, Brunehaud, a very wicked Queen of Fiance, and again found his excuse in the interests of his Church. f In his epistle to the King of England, Gregory (cited by Baronius, aim. 601, sect, xix.) thus expresses his own millennarian opinions. " Besides, we wish you (vestram gloriam) to know, as we learn from the words of Almighty God, in the Holy Scriptures, that the end of the present world is already near, and the king- dom of the Saints is at hand, which can know no end, But as the end of the 304 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cil. X. pernicious consequence in religious than in other matters. A mere speculative falsehood will mislead the understanding of the studious, but it. will not reach his principles of action ; a wrong political axiom will unquestionably influence for a time the happiness of a nation ; but on the discovery of its falsity, it is not difficult to modify or reject it, because it can seldom be- come rooted in the habits or the prejudices of the people. But. 1 he religious impostures which were authorized and propagated by Gregory affected not the belief only, but the conduct and character of the greater portion of Christendom through along succession of ages; and while their certain and necessary ten- dency was to debase the mass of believers, and to deliver them over in blindness and bondage to a spiritual tyranny, their final and most disastrous effect has been, to enlarge the path of in- fidelity, by dissociating the use of reason from the belief in Re- velation. At the same time it is proper to mention, that the religious compositions of that age, though containing frequent indications of the growing superstition, were not destitute of excellent pre- cepts and pious exhortations ; and it will not be out of place here to present to the reader a short specimen of the discourses, which Avere delivered to a Christian people in the age of its darkest ignorance. A sermon St. Eligius, or Eloi, bishop of Noyon and contemporary with oi St. Eh- Q re o 0r y W as celebrated for his ardour in searching after the gius. » J' # bodies of martyrs, and his miraculous sagacity in discovering them — yet his sermons to the people contain some of the purest admonitions of Christian morality*. "Wherefore, my brethren, world is now approaching, many things hangover us which hefore were not, — to wit, change of atmosphere, and terrors from Heaven, and unseasonable tempests, war, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes, — which however shall not all fall out in our days, but will certainly follow afterwards." The caution of the concluding sentence would almost prove the Pope's distrust in his own prophecy. * See the life of Eligius in the Spicilegium Dacherii, vol. v., p. 147 — 304. Our reason for selecting this passage is, that it has been most grossly and unpardonably mis-represented by Mosheim (cent, vii., p. ii., c. iv.) That writer has been so exceedingly unjust both to St. Eligius and his Church, as to select from the bishop's sermon certain passages (which we have put in italics) and string them together, without any notice of the context, and thus present them as a fair specimen of the compositions of that age, and of the sort of piety incul- cated by the hierarchy. And as the historian has been at the pains to weed CII. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 305 love your friends in God, and love your enemies on account of God, for he who loveth his neighbour (saith the apostle) hath fulfilled the law; for the man who would be a true Christian must observe the precepts, since he who observes not circumvents himself. He, then, is a good Christian, who be- lieves not in charms or inventions of the devil, but places the whole of his hope in Christ alone ; who receives the stranger with joy, as though he were receiving Christ himself; since it was He who said, ' I was a stranger, and ye took me in ;' and ' inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my breth- ren, ye have done it unto me.' He, I say, is a cjnod Christian, who washes the feet of the strangers, and cherishes them as his beloved parents; who gives alms to the poor in proportion to his possessions ; who ijocs frequently to church and makes his oblations at Gods altar ; ivho never tastes of his own fruit until lie hath presented some to God; who has no deceitful balances, nor deceitful measures; who has never lent his money on usury; who both lives chastely himself, and teaches his children and his neighbours to live chastely and in the fear of God; and who for many days before the festivals observes strict chastity, though he be married, that lie may approach the altar with a safe conscience ; lastly, ivho can repeat the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, and teaches the same to his children and his family. lie who is such as this, without any doubt is a true Christian, and Christ dwells in him. " Behold ! ye have heard, my brethren, what sort of people good Christians arc; wherefore strive as much as you are able,, with tiie help of God, that the name of Christ may not be false in you; but to the end that ye be true Christians, always pon- der the precepts of Christ in your mind, and also fulfil them in your practice. Redeem your souls from punishment whilst you out the original expressions and give them with a direct reference to the Spici- legium, he h.is imposed i'or a while upon the confidence of some following writers. In the mean time, the impression which lie conveys to his readers is wholly false: and the calumny thus indirectly" cast upon his author is not the less re- prehensible, because it falls on one of the obscurest saints in the Roman calendar. If the very essence of all history be truth, and if the deliberate violation of truth he sinful in the profane annalist, still less can it deserve pardon or mercy in tho historian of the Church of Christ. VOL. 1. X 306 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. X. Changes from Gre- gory to Charle- magne. have it in your power ; give alms according to your means ; keep peace and charity; recall the contentious to concord; avoid lies; tremble at perjury; bear not, false witness ; commit no theft; offer your free gifts and tithes to the churches; con- tribute towards the luminaries in the holy places ; repeat the Creed and the Lord's Prayer,, and teach it to your children ; instruct and correct even your god-children, and recollect that you are their sponsors with God. Repair frequently to church, and humbly implore the protection of the saints ; observe the Lord's day, through reverence for Christ's resurrection, without any bodily work; piously celebrate the solemnities of the saints; love your neighbours as yourselves, and do as you would be done by; and what you wish not to be done to yourselves, that do to no man. Observe charity before all things, because charity covers a multitude of sins; be hospitable, humble, placing all your solicitude in God, since he hath care of you. Visit, the infirm, seek out those who are in prison, take charge of strangers, feed the hungry, clothe the naked. Despise jug- glers and magicians ; be just in your measures ; require of no man more than your due ; and on no account exact usury. If you observe these things, you may appjear boldly at God's tri- bunal in the day of judgment, and say, Give, Lord, as we have given ; show compassion even as we have shown it ; we have fulfilled what thou hast commanded, do thou now reward us as thou hast promised." Ecclesiastical History is not distinguished by any character of very great eminence for the period of above a hundred and fifty years, which separates Gregory from Charlemagne ; nor is that period marked by any single occurrence of striking im- portance, except the separation of the Roman states from the Eastern empire, and the donation made by Pepin to the Holy See. Yet very considerable changes were gradually taking place in the constitution of the Church, which it is the more necessary to detect and notice, because they are not discovered without some care, and have indeed commonly escaped the observation which is due to them. The conquest of the West- ern empire by the barbarians, its subdivision into numerous principalities and provinces, and the prevalence of the institu- C1I. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 307 tions and habits of the conquerors, could not. fail to influence, in many respects, the religious establishment, of those countries. And hence it is that the distinction between the Eastern and Distinct- Western Churches, which may be traced in name, at least, to! onsbe ,", J tween the the division of the empire, was afterwards extended and widened Eastern by many substantial points of difference. In the former, indeed, c „lchurch« very lew alterations took place after the time of Justinian, even C8 « in the form of administering the Church, and none in the prin- ciples of its constitution: if some new privileges, or additional revenues, seemed to swell the importance of the clergy, yet the emperors maintained so firmly their undisputed supremacy*, and exerted, moreover, such frequent interference in spiritual affairs, that the power of the hierarchy received no real increase, nor did any other circumstances accidentally intrude, to enlarge beyond its just limits their influence over the people. But the policy for the most part pursued by the Western kings was dif- ferent — they were usually watchful in preserving their temporal rights over the Church, and even in usurping others which they did not possess, especially that of episcopal election : but they abstained from all intervention in matters strictly spiritual; and in committing to the priesthood the entire regulation of doctrine, and consigning to their uncontrolled direction the consciences of their ignorant and uncivilized subjects, they left to that body much larger means of despotic and permanent authority, than any of those of which they deprived it. In the more enlightened provinces of the East, the discussion of theological subjects was not uncommonly shared by intelli- gent laymen ; but in the West it became exclusively confined to the clergy, and their dictates, howsoever remote from scripture or reason, were submissively and blindly received. Again, in the aristocratical assemblies, by which political affairs were chiefly regulated, the property and intelligence of the bishops acquired fur them both rank and influence; and thus also were they placed in a different position from their brethren in the East, where the original spiritual character of the hierarchy was more rigidly preserved. It has been already remarked, * Giannone, Stor. di Nap., lib. iii., cap. vi, x2 30R A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CO. X. that the limits of the spiritual and temporal powers were, even from the very establishment of Christianity, liable to some con- fusion and perplexity. They were long maintained, however, with tolerable distinctness in the countries which escaped from barbarian invasion; but in 1 he West, from the circumstances just mentioned, and from the unsettled and arbitrary form of the civil governments, the causes of discord and temptations to mutual aggression were incalculably multiplied. The clergy were very early divided into major and minor orders, of which the latter consisted of the acolyths, porters, Degrada- exorcists, and readers. Between the sixth and eighth century tion of the this lost its whole weight and almost name in the Church ; and Western B Clergy. even the higher order of subdeacons, deacons, and priests, suf- fered great degradation. The kings of the West, in their desire to devote the whole of their free subjects to military service, forbade the ordination of a freeman without their particular consent; and hence proceeded the debasing, but not uncommon, practice of conferring the office of priesthood on serfs of the Church, emancipated for that purpose. Nor did the bishops contend against this innovation so vigorously as the interests of the Church required, because their own authority was ob- viously augmented by the humiliation of the order next below them. Add to this, that the priests were in some places, and perhaps generally, bound, on their ordination, by a solemn obligation to remain attached to the Church to which ihev were originally appointed — a sort of servitude which subjected even their persons to the authority of the bishop. No such changes in the constitution of the clergy took place in the Eastern Church. The Ton- Another order was rapidly increasing in the seventh and sure. eighth centuries, which probably exercised more influence in Church matters than is usually attributed to it. The tonsure was originally considered as a sign of destination for orders, (signum destinations ad ordinem,) and was given to those only who were intended for the sacred profession ; but in aftertimes if was less discriminately administered, and was made the means of connecting with the Church a large body of persons who received some of the immunities without any of the re- CH. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 309 si rid ions of (he sacerdotal condition, and became clerks with- out being ecclesiastics. It may be true* that they introduced to a certain extent a sort of lay influence into the ecclesiastical administration; but, they had probably a much greater effect in diffusing that of the clergy among the private and sacred relation of domestic, life. The grand principle of the " Unity of the Church" — existing Unity as one mighty spiritual communion undivided by any diversity ^ nurc i,, in place, time, language, government, or other circumstances — - though it, was broached as early as the third century, did not enter into full operation till the dissolution of the Western em- pire. Its worst, effects had, indeed, been developed before that time in the persecutions to which it gave birth on both sides of the Adriatic. But the good, which it was capable of producing, was not felt until the Western Provinces were broken up into numerous, and independent, and hostile states, with no political bond of union, and little friendly or commercial intercourse. It was then that the notion of one universal religious society contributed to supply the want of international sympathy and co-operation, and, through the means of a common belief, in- troduced the feeling of common interests, and the exercise of common virtues. Subsequently, during the seventh and eighth centuries, the principle was more rapidly progressive; and it, pre- sently gave birth to a second principle, which naturally sprang from it — viz. that the one body coidd have only one head. The * Guizut (Hist, de la Civilisation en France, 13 Leqon) mentions four avenues through which the laity still continued, in the seventh and eighth centuries, to exert an influence in ecclesiastical matters. (1.) The distinction between the Ordination and the Tonsure, and the numbers of those who received the latter only. ('!.) The founder of a Church or Chapel, whether bishop or layman, pos- sessed the privilege of appointing the minister to serve it. (.'5.) Chaplains were very commonly resident in noble families for the service of the private oratories. (4.) Certain laymen, under the names of Causidici,Tutores, and Vicedomini, were appointed at an early period for the protection of the Church property. They originated, it would seem, in the African Church; at Rome they were called Defensores, and they were afterwards employed in Gaul, under the title of Ad- vocates. Henry (end of livre xliv.) mentions that they were originally Scholastics or Lawyers; but that after the barbarian conquests they possessed also a military character — to the eud that, in case of necessity, they might also be qualified to* defend the interests of the Church by material weapons. 310 A HISTORY OF THIS CHURCH. [CH. X. Toledo. general footing which this acquired, at least throughout the West, contributed in no small degree to prepare and smooth the way to papal despotism. Councils of Much of the history of this period is collected from the canons of the councils held in all the kingdoms of the West, and especially in Spain — for the ecclesiastical affairs of Gaid * were also in part regulated by these last. Those of Toledo were the most celebrated and influential, and the attention which was paid to their proceedings even by the Roman See sufficiently proves the authority which they held in the Church. The fifteenth of these was assembled in G88, and the last, not long before the invasion of the Saracens, in G96. But, upon the whole, the number of councils diminished during the seventh and eighth centuries, and in Gaul especially we find that, whereas fifty-four were held in the sixth, twenty only as- sembled in the seventh century, and only seven during the first half of the eighth. This gradual disuse of one of the most an- cient and legitimate methods of governing the Church, and one of the best guarantees both for its inward purity and external independence, was a proof of its growing corruption, and a fear- ful omen for its future prosperity. It arose in some measure from a cause which we are about to mention. The early origin and duties of the metropolitans have already been noticed : they were the prelates resident in the capital of the province, and their legitimate office was to preside in pro- vincial councils; but they endeavoured to extend their con- sequence by usurping a judicial authority in charges against bishops, and other matters properly lying under the cognizance of the council ; and they had some success until the sixth cen- tury. But from this period we may date their downfall : the ambition of the popes, always jealous of their power, and anxious to transfer it to the Holy See, pressed and assailed them from above : from below, the episcopal order, preferring a dis- tant and indulgent control to the more rigid scrutiny of a do- Decay of the Metro- politan sys tem, * The fourth council of Toledo, held in C3.3, ordains an uniformity of rites and ceremonies, prayer and psalmody, throughout Spain and Gaul — the same office of the mass, and oilier services. Floury, 1, xxxvii., sect. 46. CH. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 311 mestic censor, were equally eager for their overthrow; and this was greatly facilitated by the minute subdivisions of some of the Western provinces, which in many cases politically sepa- rated the metropolitan from the bishops who were placed under his superintendence, and thus at once annihilated his influence. From these causes the metropolitan system fell into decay, so that little more than its name remained at the end of the eighth century — and closely connected with its fall was the disuse of provincial councils. The steps, by which the popes progressively subverted that system, are so clearly traced by Giannone*, that we shall here give the substance of his account. In the fifth century the title of patriarch was universally acknowledged to belong, in com- mon with the four Oriental prelates, to the bishop of Rome. His ordinary power indeed did not extend beyond the provinces called Suburban (Suburbicarie), those which obeyed the vicar- general of Rome ; and to these limits it was confined till the reign of Valentinian. But in process of time, as the preroga- tives of primacy were united in his person, it was easy to stretch them farther. It belonged to him as primate to have regard and attention; on this ground he began to send into such pro- vinces as seemed to require such superintendence his own vicars; in Illyria first, afterwards in Thessaly and Macedonia, the dele- gates of the Roman pontiff exercised patriarchal authority. This he presently afterwards extended over the whole of Italy, over Gaul and Spain, as well as over all countries newly con- verted by his missionaries; so that the Greeks themselves acknowledged him to be sole j'atriarch of the West. The next step of the popes, which occasioned no small disturbances, was to usurp the power of ordaining bishops throughout all the western Church, which was no less than to subvert the rights of all the metropolitans. They proceeded farther, and claimed the office of ordaining the metropolitans themselves. The method 1 hey made use of to usurp the rights of the metropolitans regarding ordination was, to send them the vest * Storia di Napuli, lib. iv. c. 0*. 312 a history or the church. [ch. x. or pallium* — for it was by means of this that the metropolitans were invested by the holy pontiff with the power of ordaining the bishops of the province ; whence it followed that such power was not possessed by them unless by this grant of the pallium. Here another point was gained — the metropolitans had not the power of exercising all the episcopal functions until they had received the pallium from the pope. The last, step naturally followed this — that the pope would not grant the pallium until the metropolitans had taken an oath of fidelity such as he re- quired. Another ground on which he advanced was this — he contrived that appeals from the decisions of the metropolitans, especially relating to disputed elections of bishops, should be brought, before himself; that if the electors had been negligent, or the elected unfit, the election should devolve on the pope ; that he alone should possess the right, of accepting the cessions of sees, of determining translations, and the coadjutorships in the next succession; and lastly, that the confirmation of all episcopal elections should be vested in the Holy See. Aggran- The great result which was brought about by the above cir- disement cums ( a nccs, and which showed itself early in the West — as to and conse- . , quent cor- the West were also confined the changes which we have men- Jhjf epfc. tioned — was the undue aggrandisement of the episcopal order, copal order. an J jts consequent deformity and corruption. From the mo- ment that the princes succeeded in usurping the appointment to vacant sees, the mutual awe and dependence of the bishop and his clergy were at an end. The original method of elec- tion, according to which the dignity was generally conferred on some eminent ecclesiastic who had long resided in the diocese, secured at least some degree of deference in the elected to the office and privileges of the priesthood; but the practice of regal appointment, broke that tie, and the stranger, who was fre- quently intruded, with few common interests or affections, gave loose without any restraint, to his insolence or his avarice, in an * It was sent in the first instance in token of an honour, to which no condition was attached — but afterwards in attestation of their subjection to the See, and obedience to its canonical commands. The viilitcs of the Pallium are described at great length in an epistle from Pope Zachary to Boniface, Baron, ann. 712, s.v. CH. X.] A HISTORY OF TllK CHURCH. 313 age and condition of society in which public opinion had no in- fluence. Accordingly we collect, even from the councils of those times which were entirely composed of bishops, the violent excesses to which many members of that order pro- ceeded. " We have learnt (says the council of Toledo, in 58'.)) that the bishops treat their parishes not episcopally but cruelly, and oppress their dioceses with exactions. Wherefore, let all that the bishops would appropriate to themselves be refused, excepting that which the ancient constitutions grant to them; and let the clergy, whether parochial or diocesan, Avho are tormented by the bishop, carry their complaints to the me- tropolitan, and let the metropolitan hasten to repress such ex- cesses." Nearly a century afterwards, the fourth council of Braga (in 675) inveighs against the brutality of certain bishops who treated honourable men like robbers, and lacerated priests, abbots, and deacons, with personal chastisement. " Avarice (says the council of Toledo in 633) is the root of all evils, and that detestable thirst takes possession even of the hearts of bishops. Many of the faithful, through the love of Christ and the martyrs, build chapels in the parishes of the bishops, and leave offerings there ; but the bishops seize them and turn them to their own use. Hence it follows that clerks are wanting to perform the divine offices, for they receive not their fees; and the chapels when dilapidated are not repaired, because sacer- dotal avidity has carried away the resources, &c." Besides these and similar proofs, which might be brought in great abundance, the tyrannical oppressions of the bishops are suffi- ciently evinced by the conspiracies or coalitions of the priest- hood to resist them, which are sometimes mentioned, of course with reprehension and menace, by the councils of the sixth and seventh centuries. Notwithstanding the measures taken to repress it, the licence and the demoralization of the episcopal order gradually in- creased, and towards the close of the eighth century it had reached perhaps the farthest limit to which it ever proceeded. The restraint, which had formerly been imposed by the watch- ful superintendence of provincial councils and metropolitans, was feebly supplied by the rare, and cautious, and often inef- 314 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. X. fectual interference of the Roman see. The practice of regal election freed the bishop from any check, with which either re- spect or gratitude towards his clergy and people might other- wise have supplied him — and the positive degradation of the clergy itself removed him still farther from any deference to the feelings, or even the rights of that body. Sole adminis- trator of the revenues of the Church, he possessed the most ample means of plunder and usurpation ; while his close con- nexion with political transactions, and the weight, which he exerted in the most important deliberations of the state, so in- terwove the temporal with the spiritual office and duties, and also added to his legitimate authority so much temporal power, that there were few excesses which he might not hope to com- mit with impunity. It is therefore without stirprise that we find him at one time advancing to battle* at the head of his armed attendants, and at another engaged in marauding ex- peditions from motives of plunder or private hostility. His habits and his manners alike departed from the ecclesiastical character, and he grew to resemble the- rude barons who sur- rounded him, both in the extent of his power, and the insolence with which he exercised it. The Papal We now turn to Rome — the centre to which most of our at- pnncxple. ten ^ on must hereafter be directed — and having shown the pro- gress of the religious aristocracy during the seventh and eighth ages, let us observe whether any corresponding advance was made by the monarchical principle. Gregory the Great died in the year 604; and certainly if his immediate successors had equalled him in energy and ambition, the yet distant pe- riod of pontifical despotism might have been greatly anticipated. But the fact was so far otherwise, that, through a dreary period of almost five centuries, the Vatican was never ruled by any character of sufficient transcendency to assert its single super- eminence, and seize the sceptre which was so long presented to it by superstition and ignorance. But this accident, though it retarded the maturity of the Roman Church, did not prevent * It should not be forgotten, however, that this character was sometimes assumed on royal compulsion ; nor was this the only stain which the Church received from its contact whh the wild barbarism of those ages. Gil. X.l A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 315 the gradual operation of the principles on which it was now firmly founded \ and if it he the province of genius alone to create those commanding situations and circumstances, by which systems are formed or established, a very ordinary mind may turn them to advantage when created and presented. And thus the long succession of obscure pontiffs, who presided in the West for the century and a half which followed, may have profited by such occasions as were offered to extend the authority of the Church and exalt the supremacy of its head. At least we have reason to believe, that, both the one and the other of those objects were, upon the whole, advanced during tin" period in question. Within fifty years from the death of Gregory, pope St. Mar- Seizure of tin assembled a council at Rome, in which, among various ex- J^,^"" positions of doctrine, he condemned a certain heresy at that emperur, time maintained by Constans, the emperor of the East. That ' A- u ' prince, little disposed to pardon the offence, sent his exarch into Italy with orders to seize the person of the pontiff. By the em- ployment of some address he succeeded in his mission ; in the year G53 St. Martin was carried away from Rome a captive to Constantinople, and thence, after enduring, according to the Catholic historians, a multitude of insults, he was exiled to the Chcrsonesus. In the year following (G54) he died there; and his successor Eu genius was appointed by the emperor. The singularity of this circumstance has recommended it to our notice, rather than its importance. It was an isolated event, de- pending solely on the political power which the emperor of the day might happen to possess over his Italian subjects, and not at all affecting the influence which the Holy See was now ac- quiring in every quarter of the West — for that was the ground on which its battles were to be fought and its conquests gained, and to that they were destined to be confined; and so long as it suffered no reverses in that field, it mattered little what might be the result, of an occasional dispute either with the patriarch or the emperor of the East. We have already mentioned that, during the seventh and eighth centuries, some successful inroads were mad'- by the popes on the privileges of the metropolitans, especially in their 316 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. X. election or confirmation; and the influence of St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, was warmly exerted about the year 742 among the bishops of France and Germany, to extend the authority of the see. Another occurrence, which tended much more effectually, though by a very different course, to the same result, took place almost immediately afterwards. The dona- Pepin, who was mayor of the palace to Childeric III., King v!!!;?, r-u of France, was desirous to dethrone his imbecile master, and a.d. to usurp the name, after having long exercised the power, of royalty. Accordingly he assembled the states of the realm, and they gave it as their opinion that the bishop of Rome should previously be consulted respecting the lawfulness of the project. In consequence ambassadors were sent to Zachary with a question to the following import — " Whether the divine law did not permit a valiant and warlike people to dethrone a pusillanimous and indolent monarch, who was incapable of discharging any of the functions of royalty, and to substitute in his place one more worthy of rule, and who had already rendered most important services to the state?" The answer of the pope was such as the usurper desired : Childeric was stripped of royalty without any opposition, and Pepin took un- disputed possession of the throne. This occurrence is generally related as the first instance of the temporal ambition of the Vatican, or at least of its inter- ference with the rights of princes and the allegiance of subjects — and therefore the conduct of the pope has commonly been treated (by Protestant writers) with unmeasured reprehension. But certainly if we consider the act of Zachary distinct from ihose subsequent usurpations, to which in truth it did neither necessarily lead, nor even furnish a plausible precedent — if we consider the act, as historical justice requires of us, with a fair regard to the circumstances of France and Italy, and to the principles of the times, we shall be surprised indeed that a pope of the eighth century should so easily assent to the most popu- lar principle of republicanism, and we may reject perhaps the political axiom which he has laid down ; but we shall not ac- cuse him of ambitious or unchristian arrogance for having re- solved a difficulty which he did not create — for having answered CH. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 317 a question which was proposed to him, as the highest human authority, and proposed without any interference or solicitation on his own part. It is true that the nature of his answer may have been influenced by his manifest interests, and the necessity in which the see then stood of a powerful protector — but this is a consideration quite distinct from the charge of intrusion into temporal concerns — and even in this matter, the mere absence of that splendid disinterestedness, which is rare in every age, and almost impossible in bad ages, is not to be stigmatized as inexcusably criminal, nor to be placed on the same level with the active, intriguing intrusiveness of guilty ambition. It is not probable that Pope Zachary foresaw all the ad- vantages which soon afterwards accrued to the Holy See from his decision — but pressed by the Greeks on one hand, and the Lombards on the other, he was no doubt glad of the occasion to create a substantial friendship beyond the Alps. The Lom- bards had gradually possessed themselves of those provinces of Italy which had remained longest attached to the Greek empire, under the name of the Exarchate of Ravenna*; and those warlike foreigners were now projecting the extension of their conquest to the whole peninsula. Stephen II., the successor of Zachary, applied to the court of France for protection ; and instantly, Pepin, at the head of a numerous army, crossed the Alps, and overthrew the Lombards, and recovered the Exar- chate from their hands. Pepin might have restored this valuable spoil to the throne of Constantinople with great praise of justice; or by the indulgence of ambition he might ha\e re- tained permanent possession of it himself, without any reproach and with much profit — he did neither; but, mindful of his obligation to the Holy See, and sensible of the advantage of intimate alliance with it, he transferred the sovereignty over the provinces in question to the bishop of Rome. This cele- brated donation took place in 754-5; and thus we observe that the earliest interference of the Vatican in temporal matters * The strict limits of the Exarchate were included in the territories of Ravenna, Bologna and Ferrara : dependent on it was the Pentapolis, which extended along the Adriatic from Rimini to Ancona, and advanced into the interior as tar as I he ridges of the Apennines. Gibbon, c. 4L*. 318 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cH. X. brought after it, in the course of three years only, a rich and solid reward of temporal power, which has never since been cither greatly increased or greatly diminished. The degree of authority which individual pontiffs have exerted in their states has indeed been liable in different ages to extreme diversities : still the authority itself has, in some shape, been perpetuated ; and it has survived the splendid pretensions of the spiritual despotism, by whose infancy it was created, whose maturity it assisted to swell and pamper, and whose expiring influence will probably be confined to the same limits with itself. Charle- The donation of Pepin awaited the confirmation of his son llbMaTitvto Charlemagne, for in the year 774 the Lombards again threat- the Church cned the Roman territories; the aid of France was again in- motives for voked, and the monarch, who now afforded it, did not pause till 1{ ' he had entirely and finally subverted the empire of those con- querors, and proclaimed himself their king. Charlemagne was so far from disapproving his father's munificence to the pope, that he renewed and even increased the grant by some accession of territory ; he drew still closer the bonds which allied him with a bishop, whose power was real and solid, how- ever fanciful may have been the claims on which it stood ; and thus he secured the zealous assistance of the See, when circum- stances at length allowed him to mature the projects of his own ambition, and to proclaim himself, in the year 800, the Em- peror of the West. Charlemagne did not confine his benefactions to the bishop of Rome, but distributed them among all the orders of the hier- archy. He augmented their wealth, he enlarged their privi- leges, he exalted their dignity, he confirmed and extended their immunities; and were it not beyond contradiction established, that he was one of the greatest and wisest princes who ever reigned, some writers would not have hesitated to place him among the weakest of mankind. But the motives of his liberality were such as became a magnanimous and a benevo- lent monarch. Superstition has never been accounted among them, nor any unfounded fears or undue reverence of the ecclesiastical order — from the former he was perhaps more nearly exempt, than would have appeared possible in so rude CH. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. olO an a^p ; and in his transactions with the clergy, even with the pope himself, he never forgot, or allowed them to forget, his own supremacy. But. he was desirous to civilize his barbarous subjects; he was anxious to influence their rude manners, and correct their vicious morals, by the more general diffusion and comprehension of the Christian truths; and he was willing also to sow the seeds of secular learning, and dispel the igno- rance which oppressed his people. As the first step towards this regeneration, he presented to them the example of his own piety and his own learning*. But when he looked round for the means of communicating those blessings, the first and the only one which presented itself was the agency of the clergy. All that was influential among his subjects was contained in the two orders, military and ecclesiastical ; and the wild tur- bulence of the former pointed them out rather as objects than instruments of reformation. The little of literary taste or acquirement which his kingdom contained was confined to the clergy ; and there he laboured to encourage its increase, and to distribute it, through the only channel that was open, for the moral improvement of his subjects. It was chiefly with this view that he augmented the power and revenues of the Church, and raised its ministers to a more exalted rank and influence — influence which they subsequently studied to improve by methods not always honourable, but which, as circumstances then existed, it was pardonable if not commendable, it was magnanimous if it was not also politic, in Charlemagne to bestow. * Many writers assert that he yielded not to any contemporary in either of those merits : the former, however, does not appear greatly to have influenced his moral practices; and as to his proficiency in the latter, we may at least venture to prefei to him his own master and preceptor Alcuin, an Englishman, the most celebrated divine of the day ; and since we are assured that Charlemagne did not Learn to write till late in life, doubtless we might make other exceptions. Alcuin is regarded as the restorer of letters in Fiance, or at least the principal instrument of Charles in that work. In a letter to that prince, he avers that it rested with those two alone to raise up in France a Christian Athens. And his own writings attest his industry in restoring almost every branch of study. The devotion of Charlemagne to the services of religion is not disputed ; through his whole life he was a regular attendant on the offices, even the nocturnal ceremonies, of the Chinch, and his last days were passed in correcting the text of the Gospel with the assistance of certain Greeks and Syrians, Fleury, II, K. 1. -15, s. viii. aud xviii, q 20 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. X. Reforms- Bat we shall readily admit that that monarch's munificence clergy. would have been very dangerously bestowed, had he not taken vigorous measures to reform, at the same time that he enriched, the ecclesiastical body ; and some of those measures, though we had proposed to defer the particulars of his legislation till a subsequent chapter, may be mentioned with no less propriety in the present. In the year 789, at an assembly at Aix-la- Chapelle, Charlemagne published a Capitulary in eighty articles, chiefly with a view to restore the ancient discipline of the Church". It was addressed to all ecclesiastics, and car- ried by the officers of the monarch into all the provinces. The instructions which most nearly affected the peculiar abuses of the age were those, perhaps, which exhorted the bishops to select their clergy from free men rather than from slaves ; and which forbade bishops and abbots and abbesses to possess dogs, or hawks, or buffoons, or jugglers. At the same time he pro- tected the property of the Church (which he designated as vota fidelium, pretia peccatorum et patrimonia pauperum) from the invasions and usurpations of the laity j. By the celebrated council of Francfort (sur le Mein) held in 794, it was enacted, among many other wholesome regulations, that bishops should not be translated from city to city; that the bishop should never be absent from his Church for more than three weeks; that he should so diligently instruct his clergy, that a worthy successor might ever be found among them ; and that after his death his heirs should only succeed to such portion of his property as he possessed before his ordi- nation — all acquisitions subsequently made were to return to his Church. Other articles regulated the discipline of the in- ferior clergy. We shall conclude with one additional and very singular instance. Towards the close of the year 803 the em- peror held a parliament at Worms, when a petition was pre- sented to him by all the people of his states, of which the * The substance may be found in Fleury, H. E. liv. 44, sect. 40, and liv. 45, sect. 26. f Five years afterwards we observe that pope Hadrian pronounced all who perseveringly refused restitution guilty of Heresy. "Haereticum turn pro hujua irroris jiersivcrantia decernemus.*' Ap. Baron, ann. 79 1. s. f>0. CH. X.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 321 following was the substance — "We pray your Majesty that henceforward bishops may not be constrained to join the army, as they have been hitherto. But when Ave march with you against the enemy, let them remain in their dioceses, occupied with their holy ministry, and praying for you and your army, singing masses, and making processions and almsgiving. For we have beheld some among them wounded and killed in battle, God is our witness with how much terror ! and these accidents cause many to fly before the enemy. So that you will have more combatants if they remain in their dioceses, since many are employed in guarding them; and they will aid you more effectually by their prayers, raising their hands to heaven, after the manner of Moses. We make the same pe- tition with respect to the priests, that they come not to the army, unless by the choice of their bishops, and that those be such in learning and morals that we may place full confidence in them, &c." Charlemagne replied as follows — " In our de- sire both to reform ourselves, and to leave an example to our successors, we ordain that no ecclesiastic shall join the army, except two or three bishops chosen by the others, to give the benediction, preach and conciliate, and with them some chosen priests to impose penance, celebrate mass, take care of the sick, and give the unction of holy oil and the viaticum. But these shall carry no arms, neither shall they go to battle nor shed any blood, but shall be contented to carry relics and holy vessels, and to pray for the combatants. The other bishops who remain at their churches shall send their vassals well armed with us or at our disposal, and shall pray for us and our army. For the people and the kings, who have permitted their priests to fight along with them, have not gained the advantage in their wars, as we know from what has happened in Gaul, in Spain, and in Lombardy. In adopting the contrary practice we hope to obtain victory over the pagans, and finally ever- lasting life." VOL. I. ( 322 ) CHAPTER XL On the Dissensions of the Church from the Age of Constantino to that of Charlemagne. Division of the subject: — I. Schism of the Donatisls — its real origin — progress — Circnmcellions — conduct of Constantine — and his successor — of Julian — con- ference of Carthage — St. Augustin — the Vandals — Saracens — real extent of the offences of the Donatists : some account of St. Augustine. — II. Priscillian — his persecution and death — probable opinions — the first Martyr to religious dissent — how truly so — Ithakius — Martin of Tours — effect of Priscilhan's death on his followers. — III. Jovinian — his opinions — by whom chiefly op- posed — Edict of Honorius — Vigilantius — his character — abuses opposed by him — St. Jerome. — IV. Pelagian Cofilroversy — its importance — and perplexity — Pelagius and Celestius — opposition of St. Augustine — Councils of Jerusalem and Diospolis — reference to Zosimus, Bishop of Rome — perseverance of St. Augustine — and his success — the sum of the Pelagian opinions — opposite doc- trine of Fatalism — Semi-Pelagianism — Doctrine of the East — indifference of the Greek Church to this Controversy. — V. Controversy respecting the Incarnation — early origin — Apollinaris — his doctrine — Nestorius — his rash assertion — Cyril of Alexandria— Council of Ephesus — condemnation and banishment of Nestorius — progress of his opinions — what they really amounted to — Eutyches — the Monophysite heresy — Dioscorus of Alexandria — second council of Ephe- sus — interference of Pope Leo — Council of Chakedon — condemnation and sub- sequent conduct of the Eutychians — Henoticon of Zeno — its object — effect — Controversies leading to the fifth General Council — Errors of Origen — The Three Chapters — Heraclius and the Monothelites — Council of Constantinople — general remarks on this Controversy — apology for those engaged in it — some of its consequences. — VI. Worship of Images — its specious origin — its progress in East and West — Leo the I saurian — effects of his Edict — Constantine Cop- ronymus — Synod of Constantinople — the Empress Irene — second Council of Nice, or Seventh General Council — Remarks on the Seven General Councils — Leo the Armenian — Michel — his Epistle to Louis le Debonnaire — The Em- press Theodora — Feast of Orthodoxy — general remarks — John Damascenus — miracles — conduct of secular clergy — of monastic orders — of the common people —of Papal See — contrast between the Italian and French clergy. The controversies which occasioned the widest divisions in the Church during the five centuries following its establishment, (we do not refer to the Arian disputes, which have already been treated) principally regarded two subjects — the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour, and the Worship of Images. Indeed, if we except the Pelagian opinions., there were none other than CI1. XI.] A HISTORY OP THE CHURCH. 323 those, which left any lasting consequences behind them. Still we are not justified in confining our notice entirely to those three, but we must extend it, though more concisely, to some other dissensions, of less importance and earlier date, which animated the passions of Churchmen during the interval be- tween the Arian and the Incarnation controversies. We shall mention them in the following order : — I. The schism of the Donatists ; 2. the heresy of the Priscillianists ; 3. the opinions of the reformers, Jovinian and Vigilantius; and shall then pro- ceed to the doctrines of Pelagius and Celestius. To these we shall limit our curiosity; for the various disputes, created, directly or indirectly, by the writings of Origen, and the many real (or supposed) ramifications of the Manichean heresy, are not such as to claim a prominent place in this work. I. On the death of Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage, in 311, Origin of the clergy and people of that city and district elected in his f e t he No- place the Archdeacon Ca?eilianus, and proceeded to his consecra- natists, 311 AD tion without waiting, as it would seem, for the consent of the Bishops of Numidia, a contiguous and subordinate pro- vince. Probably custom or courtesy was violated by this neglect ; but the Numidians considered it also as an infringe- ment of their right, and hastened to resent it as such. This was no doubt the real foundation of the schism — an objection was indeed taken against the character of Felix, the Bishop who had consecrated Csecilianus : he was accused of being a Traditor *, and the question of the validity of a consecration, performed by such hands, was repeatedly brought forward in the course of the controversy, and is continually mentioned by those who have described it — nevertheless, the objection seems to us to have been, in the first instance, a frivolous pretext. The dissentients, headed by a certain Donatus, assembled a Council of their own, condemned Caecilianus, and appointed his deacon, Majorinus, for his successor. Both parties then proceeded to great extremities; and as there appeared no other prospect of reconciliation, they agreed to bring the dispute be- * i. c. of having delivered up copies of the Scriptures during Diocletian's per- secution, Y 2 324 A HlSTORf OF THE CHURCH. [cil. XL fore the Emperor Constantine, who had just then proclaimed the establishment of Christianity. Constantine inquired into the affair, first by means of a Synod at Rome, consisting of three Gaulish and fifteen Italian prelates*, at which the Bishop of the capital presided ; and presently afterwards, by an inquiry into the truth of the charges against Felix, before the civil ma- gistrate ^Elian, proconsul of Africa, assisted by several lay, and for the most part military assessors : the decision, on both in- vestigations, was unfavourable to the Donatists. They were discontented ; seventy venerable Numidian pre- lates, assembled in council in the heart and light of Africa, had rejected the authority of Caecilianus : could so solemn an act be superseded by a commission of a small number of ob- scure Bishops meeting in a different province, and perhaps ignorant, of the leading circumstances ? they submitted the mat- ter to the Emperor's re-consideration. His patience was not yet exhausted ; he immediately summoned a much more numerous synod at Aries, in Gaul, and here again, after much serious de- bate, the Donatists lost their cause. Still dissatisfied, they had recourse to the final expedient, an appeal to the personal jus- tice of Constantine. The Emperor again consented to their request ; but on this occasion the motive of his indulgence may be liable to some suspicion, since the very application admitted the power of the Emperor to reverse the decision of an eccle- siastical council — a right which he might very naturally choose to assert at that moment : at least it is certain that, in the year 316, he condescended to investigate the affair at Milan, in the presence of the contending parties. He deliberately confirmed the former decisions ; and then, as these repeated condemna- tions had no other effect than to increase the perversity of the schismatics, he applied the secular power to their correction. He drove some into exile ; he is also said to have deprived them of their churches, and even to have shed some blood. Thi& measure led to some violent disturbances ; many joined, as persecuted, those whom they loved not as schismatics ; and * Fleury, lib. x., sect. 11, records the names of most of them, and the order of precedence, Cll. XI.] A HISTORY OF TIIK CHURCH, 325 the confusion thus generally occasioned gave license to a num- ber of lawless ruffians, the refuse of Africa, of no sect, and pro- bably of no faith, to range their weapons and their crimes on the side of the contumacious. These men, the soldiers of the Their con- , , , ^,. ii- i.i- tests w 'th Donatists, were called Circumcelhons ; and their savage ex- tht , Govein . cesses went very far to convert the schism into a rebellion. JJ^qJJ 1 *,, When the quarrel arrived at this point, it is well worthy of no- ii cs . tice, that Constantino, instead of proceeding to extinguish the malcontents by the sword, attended to the advice of the (javcr- nors of Africa, so as to repeal the laws which had been enacted against them, and to allow the people full liberty to adhere to the party which they might prefer. This change in his policy seems to have taken place in 321 — after five years' experience of the opposite system. Not so his successor Constans : during his reign we read of the defeat of the Donatists at the battle of Bagnia, and of thirteen years of tumult and bloodshed, and uninterrupted per- secution. These severe measures, which the fury of the Cir- cumcellions could scarcely justify, destroyed many, and dis- persed into other countries a still greater number of the perverse schismatics, but converted probably none. The moment of reaction was not far distant; the numerous and revengeful exiles were restored to their home by the suspi- cious justice of Julian, and the horrors which they committed on their restoration are very vividly and seriously retailed by Fleury*. They expelled the Catholic people, violated the women, and murdered the children. They threw the Eucharist to the dogs, but the dogs became mad, and turning against, their masters tore them in pieces. One of them threw out of the window a phial of the holy ointment, which fell among the stones without breaking. They exorcised the faithful in order to baptize them anew ; they washed the walls of the churches, and broke the altars and burnt them — for most of those in * L. xv., s. 32, on the partial authority of Optatus of Milevi, (lib. ii., p. 54, 55.) and Augustine—" Venistis rabidi, venistis irati, membra laniantes Ecclesiaa — subtiles in seductionibus, in csedibus immanes, &c. &c. Episcopi vestri jnsse- runt Eucharistiam canibus fundi: non sine siguo divini judioi; nam iidejn canes aceensi rabie," &c. 326 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CII. XI. Africa were then of wood — they broke the consecrated chalices and melted them down, to convert them to other purposes — in a word, they held as profane all that the Catholic Bishops had consecrated. Whatever may be the truth of these particulars, the sect appears to have sprung up, during the few following years, to the highest eminence which it at any time attained. Towards the conclusion of the fourth century Africa was covered with its churches, and its spiritual interests were guarded by a body of four hundred Bishops. Let us observe the consequence of this prosperity — a violent division grew up among them, respecting some very insignificant person or thing, and opened a breach in their fortress to the persevering assaults of the Catholics. Besides which, the method of assault was now somewhat changed and refined ; the wea- pons of reason and disputation were now again admitted into the service of the Church ; and they were not without effect, since they were directed and sharpened by the genius of Augus- tine. The Bishop of Hippo* attacked the Donatists in his writings, in his public discourses, in his private conversation ; and so vigorously exposed their dangerous and seditious spirit, as to lessen their popularity in Africa, and to destroy any sym- pathy which their former sufferings might have created in the rest of Christendom. C f°Ca erenCe From this period they fell gradually into dishonour ; some- thage, 411 what they still endured from the unjust application of the laws against heresy, of which no one has ever accused them ; but a more dangerous wound was inflicted by the celebrated con- ference held at Carthage in 411. The tribune Marcellinus was sent into Africa by the Emperor Honorius, with full power to terminate the controversy; he convoked an assembly of the heads of both parties, and two hundred and eighty-six Catholic, and about two hundred and seventy-nine Donatist, bishops presented themselves in defence of their respective opinions. The most solemn preparations were made to give weight and dignity to this meeting, and its deliberations were watched with pro- * He seems first to have taken the field while a simple presbyter, in the year 39-4, A.D. CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 327 found anxiety by the people of Africa*. For three days the Tribune listened with respectful attention to the arguments advanced by both parties, and then proceeded to confirm the decisions of the former century, by pronouncing in favour of the Catholics. Augustine has deserved the glory of this spiritual triumph — and, that no means might be wanting to make it de- cisive, it was vigorously pursued by the myrmidons of civil authority, who indicted almost every punishment on the contu- macious, except the last. And even this exception was little more than nominal; for though the infliction of death, as the direct punishment of schism, is not enjoined by the Edict of Honorius, it necessarily followed, as the punishment of contu- macy and rebellion. The edict, however, even without that penalty, was so severe, and threatened to drive the Donatists to such extremities, that the civil magistrate, Dulcitius, hesitated to enforce it, until he should have taken counsel of Augustine. That prelate exhorted him to proceed — " since it was much better (he said) that some should perish by their own fires, than that the whole body should burn in the everlasting flames of Gehenna, through the desert of their impious dissension j." The survivors took breath under the government of the Van- dals, who conquered that part of Africa from the Romans about the year 427 ; and when it, was recovered by Belisarius, more than a hundred years afterwards, the sect of the Donatists was still found to exist there as a separate communion. It was again exposed to the jealousy of the Catholics, and particularly attracted the hostility of Gregory the Great ; but we do not learn that it suffered further persecution. We are told that it dwindled into insignificance about the end of the sixth century; but it is not improbable that the Saracen invaders of Numidia * " Let the Bishops (says Marcellinus in a previous proclamation) signify to the people in their sermons to keep themselves quiet and silent. I will publish my sentence and expose it to the judgment of all the people of Carthage." St. Augustine himself addressed an epistle or tract on this controversy to the Dona- tist laity. The particulars of the conference are retailed with great patience by Fleury in his twenty-second book. See the " Gesta Collationis Carthagini ha- bitse inter Cath. et Don., &c." published with the works of Optatus JMilev. Ed. Paris. -j- Epist. 61, (-04). Honorius's Edict appears in the Theodosian Code, and a very sufficient specimen of it may be found in Jortin ; II. E., ann, 114. 328 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. of differ- ence found there, some few years later, the remnant of a sect not ill- disposed to favour any invader, nor unmindful of the sufferings of their ancestors. The ground The Donatists have never been charged, with the slightest show of truth, with any error of doctrine, or any defect in Church government or discipline, or any depravity of moral practice ; they agreed with their adversaries in every respect, except one — they did not acknowledge as legitimate the minis- try of the African Church, but considered their own body to be the true, uncorrupted, universal Church. It is quite clear that they pushed their schism to very great extremities — even to that of rejecting the communion of all who were in communion with the Church which they called false ; but this was the ex- tent of their spiritual offence, even from the assertion of their enemies. The excesses of the Circumcellions lost them much of the sympathy which would otherwise have been bestowed on their misfortunes ; but the outrages and association of those outlaws were generally disclaimed by the most respectable leaders of the sect. One strange sin, indeed, they are accused of encouraging, and of indulging with dreadful frequency — an uncontrollable inclinal ion to suicide*. But suicide is the resource of the desperate ; and it is unlikely that it found any favour among them, until oppression had persuaded them, that death was not the greatest among human evils. In the fortunes of the Donatists do we not trace the usual history of persecution ? In its commencement fearful and re- luctant, and, as it were, conscious of its corrupt origin, it irritates without depressing; then it hesitates, and next suspends the attack; thereon its object rises up and takes strength and courage. The same process is then repeated, under circum- stances slightly different — with the same result. Then follows the passionate and sanguinary assault which destroys the noblest Observa- tions. * Mosheim, cent, v., p. ii., ch. v. An authority for this fact is Augustine, in his Epistle to Boniface, ch. iii. " Quidam etiam se trucidandos armatis viatori- hus ingerebant, percussuros eos se, nisi ab iis perimerentur, terribiliter commi- nantes. Nonnunquam et abjudicibus transeuntibus extorquebant violenter, ut a carnificibus vel ab officio ferirentur. Jam vero per abrupta prsecipitia, per aquas et flammas occidere seipsos quotidianus illis ludus fuit." CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF TI1K CHURCH. 329 anion »• the recusants, while the most active and dangerous are preserved bv hypocrisy or exile — and thus the sect spreads secretly and widely ; it secures a sympathy which it may not have merited by its excellence, and on the first occasion breaks out again with fresh force and fury. Then indeed, if recourse be had to argument, if greater right be on the stronger side, and if the secular sword be only employed to pursue ihe victory of reason, the cause of the sufferers becomes more feeble and less popular — but still, unless the pursuit be carried to absolute, in- dividual extermination, the extinction even of the silliest heresy can only be effected by time — and time itself will complete its work at least as much by calming passion, as by correcting judgment. The above narrative has introduced us to the name of Angus- Notice of tine, who was the most, celebrated amongst the antient Christian tin ' e 354!^ fathers, and who deserves even now a more than usual attention, 430 A - u - from the influence which his writings have unceasingly exerted in the Roman Catholic Church. But the notice which can here be bestowed upon him must necessarily be confined to the most important points. He was born in Numidia, in the year 354, and his early youth was distinguished by his aversion from all study, and especially that of the Greek language. But an ardent passion for poetry at length opened the gate, through which he entered into the fields of general literature. From profane, he directed his attention to religious subjects ; and when we recollect that Tertullian, the greatest amongst his African predecessors, seceded from the Church in the maturity of his judgment and learning, in order to embrace the visions of a raving fanatic, we are scarcely astonished to learn that the youthful imagination of Augustine was seduced by the Mani- chsean opinions. He appears to have retained them for nine or ten years, during which time his rhetorical talents had raised him into notice; and it was not till the year 386 that he was persuaded (as it is said) by the sermons of St. Ambrose, and the writings of St. Paul, to return to the communion of the Church. His baptism (he was previously a catechumen only) speedily followed his conversion; his ordination took place soon afterwards, and the city of Hippo, in Africa, which owes most 330 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. of its celebrity to its association with his name, was that in which he first ministered as Priest, and afterwards presided as Bishop. He died in 430, in the thirty-fifth year of his epis- copate. Of cessa- The first recorded exploit of his ecclesiastical life was the hon destruction of an inveterate and consecrated abuse. We have Agapae. mentioned the innocent origin of the Agapee or feasts of cha- rity, and the good purposes to which, in early times, they con- tributed. But as the influx of the Pagan converts grew more rapid, and as these naturally sought in the new religion for any resemblance to the popular ceremonies of the old, the solemnity in question insensibly changed its character under their influ- ence, and degenerated into the licence and debauchery of a heathen festival. Augustine, while yet a Presbyter, undertook the difficult task of persuading the people to abandon a favour- ite and hereditary practice, and by the simple exertion of his eloquence he succeeded. Services of reading and chaunting were substituted in its place ; and while the Churches of the heretics* resounded with the customary revelry, the voice of devotion alone proceeded from the assemblies of the Catholics. This change took place in the year 395; and from that mo- ment the reputation of Augustine spread rapidly throughout the African Church, and thence, as his labours proceeded, was diffused with no less of splendour to the most distant parts of Christendom. His reasons Besides the faithful discharge of his episcopal and his private sio & to die duties, the Bishop of Hippo engaged deeply in the controversies Church. of the day; and his attacks are chiefly directed against the Manichseans, the Donatists, and the Pelagians. His famili- arity with the errors of the first may have qualified him more effectually to confute them — but it is at the same time curious to observe the motives which he advanced for his own adhesion to the Catholic Church. They are the following: the consent of the people ; the authority which began in the faith of miracles, * Epist. 29, ad Alypium. This is the occasion on which it is recorded, that as long as his eloquence was honoured only by the acclamations of the listening multitudes, Augustine was sensible of its imperfection, and despaired of success — his hopes were only revived by the sight of their tears, CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 331 which was nourished by hope, augmented by charity, con- firmed by antiquity ; the succession in the chair of St. Peter ; and the name of Catholic so established, that if a stranger should ask where is the Catholic Church? no heretic would certainly dare to claim that title for his own communion*. These arguments, and such as these, have been so commonly reported in later ages, that, without at all entering (for such is not our province) into the question of their real value, we are contented to record their high antiquity, aud the sanction which they received from the name of Augustine. His exertions against the Donatists, which we have already His into- noticed, have attached to the character of that father the stain c ^pt"s. rni1 " of persecution. The maxim (says Mosheimf) which justified the chastisement of religious errors by civil penalties was con- firmed and established by the authority of Augustine, and thus transmitted to following ages. He cannot be vindicated from that charge £ ; he unquestionably maintained the general prin- ciple, that the unity of the Church should be preserved by secular interference, and that its adversaries should be crushed by the material sword. But his natural humanity in some de- gree counteracted the barbarity of his ecclesiastical principles; and there is still extant an epistle addressed by him to Marcel- linus (in 412), in which he earnestly entreated that magistrate to extend mercy to certain Donatists, who had been convicted of some sanguinary excesses against the Catholics. But the misfortune was, that, while his private philanthropy preserved the lives perhaps of a few individuals, the efficacy which he added to the worst maxim of Church policy, not only sharpened the shafts of injustice in his own time, but tempered them for long and fatal service in after ages. * No heretic was so likely to have laid that claim as a Donatio — yet even a Donatist, while he maintained that the true Catholic spirit and purity was alone perpetuated and inherent in his own communion, would scarcely have affirmed, that that was bondjide the Universal Chnrch, which did not extend beyond the shores of Africa, and which had not the majority even there. f Cent, iv., p. ii., ch. iii. I Besides the epistle to Dulcitius, see his letter, or rather tract, to Boniface, " de Correctione Donatistarum ;" and that to Vincentius (113, alias 48). The principle is avowed and defended in both — at least provided the animus be to correct, not to revenge • 332 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. The Pelagians, the third class of his religious adversaries, will receive a separate notice in the following pages. Of the numerous works which lie composed, unconnected with these controversies, that entitled " De Civitate Dei" has justly acquired the greatest celebrity. We may also mention his book on the Trinity among his most important productions. He devoted much diligence and judgment to the interpretation of Scrip- ture; and his writings contain many excellent arguments for the truth of the religion, and of the evangelical history ; but the mere barren enumeration of his works would convey neither amusement nor profit, to the reader, and we have no space for abstracts sufficiently copious to make him familiar with the mind of the author. Augustine Erasmus has drawn a parallel between Augustine and his rome com- great contemporary, the monk of Palestine, which is certainly pared. too favourable to the latter. " No one can deny (he says) that there is great importance in the country and education of men. Jerome was born at Stridona, which is so near to Italy, that the Italians claim him for a compatriot ; he was educated at Rome under very learned masters. Augustine was born in Africa, a barbarous region, and singularly indifferent to literary' pursuits, as he avows in his epistles. Jerome, a Christian, the child of Christians, imbibed with his very milk the philosophy of Christ : Augustine began to read St. Paul's epistles with no instructor when nearly thirty years of age. Jerome devoted his great talents for thirty years to the study of the Scriptures : Augustine was immediately hurried to the episcopal office, and compelled to teach to others what he had not yet learnt him- self. We observe then, even supposing a parity of country, talents, masters, education, how much more learning was brought to the task by Jerome : for it is no trifling matter that he was skilled in the Greek and Hebrew languages; since in those clays all theology, as well as all philosophy, was in pos- session of the Greeks. Augustine was ignorant of Greek* ; at * Dr. Lardner makes, we think, a very ineffectual attempt to prove that Augus- tine knew much more of that language than he even himself professed to know. For a few happy translations of Greek words, and even sentences, he was probably obliged to the learning of a friend or secretary. CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 333 least, the very trifling knowledge which he possessed of it was insufficient for the study of the commentaries of the Greek writers*." The merit of more profound learning was unques- tionably on the side of Jerome, but we cannot justly attribute to him any other superiority ; in soundness of reasoning and in natural judgment he certainly yielded to the Bishop of Hippo, and in the only recorded point of difference f between them he was very properly corrected by that prelate. In depth of moral feeling and energy of affecting eloquence the advantage is also due to Augustine ; and the natural suavity of his disposition, which forms so strong a contrast, with what might almost be designated the ferocity of Jerome, tended to soften the acri- mony of religious difference £, and to throw some sparks of charity into the controversies in which he found himself almost necessarily engaged. Some particulars relating to his private life are recorded by Records of historians, on the evidence of his own writings, and other re- n.fe P * a spectable authority. His furniture and his dress were plain, without affectation either of fineness or of poverty. He wore, like other people, a linen garment underneath, and one of wool without ; he wore shoes and stockings, and exhorted those, who thought better to obey the Gospel by walking with naked feet, to assume no merit from that practice. " Let us observe cha- * Erasmus ends his comparison by affirming, " that for his own part he learns more of Christian philosophy from one page of Origen than from ten of Augustine ;" and others, perhaps, will add, from their own experience, " and from one page of Augustine, than from ten of Jerome." f This dispute was on the verse (ch. ii., v. 11.) of St. Paul's epistle to the Ga- latians : " When Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed."' Jerome had published his opinion, that the apostles had this public difference on a previous understanding, and by a charitable artifice; and that St. Paul in fact saw the policy and propriety of St. Peter's adhesion to the Jews, at the moment when he professed to condemn it. According to Augustine, this interpretation goes to overthrow the whole authority of Scripture ; for if it is once allowed to admit there the existence of serviceable falsehoods, and to say that St. Paul in that passage spoke what he did not mean, and heated St. Peter as reprehensible when lie did not think him so, there is no passage which may not he similarly eluded. The heretics who condemn marriage would assert that St. Paul only approved it through condescension to the imperfection of the first Christians — and so of others. I Compare, for instance, the manner of his opposition to the opinions of Jovi- nian with that of Jerome. 334 A HISTORY OF THE CI1UKCH. [CH. XT. rify, he said : I admire your courage — endure my weakness." His table was frugal, and ordinarily served with vegetables; meat was seldom prepared, unless for guests or for the infirm, but there was always wine. Excepting his spoons, which were of silver, all the service was earthen, or of wood or marble, not by necessity, but from a love for poverty. On his table were written two verses, to forbid any scandal to be spoken of the absent — proving that it was without a cloth, according to the usage of antiquity. He never forgot the poor, and aided them from the same fund on which he subsisted with his clergy ; that is, from the revenues of the Church or the obla- tions of the faithful. He paid great regard to hospitality, and held it as a maxim, that it was a much preferable error to en- tertain a rogue, than to refuse an honest man. His usual occupation was arbitration among Christians and persons of all religions, who submitted their differences to him. But he liked much better to decide between strangers than between his friends — " for of the two strangers I may make one a friend ; of the two friends I shall make one an enemy." He applied him- self little to the temporal interests of the Church, but busied himself much more in study, and in the meditation of spiritual concerns*. Priscillian. II. Priscillian, a Spanish bishop of birth and fortune and eloquence, was accused by certain other bishops of the heresy of the Manichreans : he was condemned by a council held at Saragossa (in 380), and a rescript was then obtained for his banishment, from the emperor Gratian ; but he was speedily restored to his country and his dignity. Gratian was assas- sinated, and succeeded by Maximus, a tyrant worthy of the throne of Domitian; and before himf Idacius and Ithakius, the two ecclesiastics most persevering in their zeal or malig- nity, again accused Priscillian. His followers were probably not very numerous, but they presented themselves to plead their cause and prove their innocence, before Damasus, Bishop of Rome, and the celebrated Ambrose, at Milan — from neither * Fleury, liv. xxiv., chap, xxxviii. xxxix. f Sulpicius Severus mentions Magnus and Rufus as the two bishops who were finally the successful agents in procuring the condemnation of Priscillian, CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 335 of them could they obtain a hearing*. Perhaps their unfor- tunate instructor was not more successful at the court of Max- imus ; at least it is certain that, in the year 384, he was put to death at Treves, with some of his associates, on no other pre- text than his heretical opinions j. It is now disputed what those opinions were; and it is probable His pro- . , . . . . bable opi- that the same dispute existed in his own time; since no ancient n i ns. writer has given us any clear account of them — and none of the works of Priscillian or any of his followers have reached us. Sulpicius simply calls them gnostical ; and it seems likely that they made some approaches, perhaps very distant ones, to the errors of the Manicha?ans respecting the two principles, the doctrine of seons, or emanations from the divine nature, and the creation of the world. It is possible that they dis- puted the reality of Christ's birth and incarnation — though they professed to receive the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament. They are stated to have disbelieved the re- surrection of the body, and they had some errors concerning the nature and functions of the soul. They are blamed for not consuming the Eucharist at church, and for some irregularity in the seasons of their fasts ; and some of them were charged besides (strange charges to be brought by Catholic accusers !) with having deserted their social rank, in order to betake them- selves to solitary devotion ; and with holding opinions favourable to celibacy. For these offences, or such as these, Priscillian suf- fered death. And it is a curious reflection, that at the same moment in which Priscillian was suffering those pangs, for opi- nions resembling the Manichsean heresy, St. Augustine, the des- tined bulwark of the Catholic Church, — the man whose future * Their opinions may have been adopted by several both among the nobility and the people, and by a vast multitude of women (as is also asserted) in Spain; hut they obtained no footing elsewhere. They are said to have been intro- duced into that country by one Marc, an Egyptian, of Memphis, and a Gnostic. Augustine (Haeres. cap. 70) calls them a compound of Gnosticism and Manieheism. St. Leo brings them nearer to Sabellianism, ap. Maron. ami. 447; but in his epistle (xv.) to Turibius, where he approves of the inter- ference of the " Muudi Principes" on such occasions, he confounds them with Manieheism. f We need not pause to notice some monstrous charges of immorality — such us we have seen so commonly affixed to an unpopular heresy. 33G A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [cH. XT. writings were to become a storehouse of the true doctrine for so many countries and ages — was actually and deeply involved in the very intricacies of the heresy itself. He returned to rea- son — but Priscillian, who was much nearer to it than himself, was hastily executed. His fate has gained him the more celebrity, because it is usual to consider him as the first martyr to religious dissent. Not perhaps truly so — for between the years 325 and 384 many an obscure victim of the Arian heresy must have perished for his opinions, in silence and ignominy — but Arius himself escaped the storm ; and it cannot be disputed that Priscillian was the first, who atoned with his life for the dangerous dis- tinction of founding a religious sect*. It. is some consolation to be enabled to add, that the principle by which he suffered was not yet in favour with the Christian Church. The charac- ter of Ithakius, his most active enemy, is thus described by a contemporary historian (Sulpicius Severusf), — "he was a man void of all principle ; loquacious, impudent, expensive, a slave to gluttony — so senseless as to represent every holy person who delio-htcd in religious studies, and practised mortification and abstinence, as an associate or disciple of Priscillian." On the other hand, the persecuted heretic found a powerful Tours. protector in one of the most venerable prelates of that age, Martin of Tours, "a man comparable to the apostles." So lono- as Martin remained at the court of Maximus, his autho- rity was sufficient to prevent the meditated injustice; he had even ventured to represent to that usurper, that it was " a new and unlawful attempt of the civil magistrate to take cognizance * We should mention, perhaps, the distinction that Priscillian suffered death for the opinions themselves — directly and avowedly — not, as thousands hefore him had suffered, for contumacy in persisting in them, — a distinction which has no real value, except as marking the greater shamelessness of persecution in at length casting off her mask. \ Nearly at the end of his Sacra Historia. Sulpicius, though a moderate man, was a hitter enemy to the " doctrina exitiabilis," &c. of Priscillian. There- fore the following description of liis personal character is the more valuable:— " Acer, inquies, facundus, multa lectione eruditus, disserendi ac disputandi promp- tissimus. Felix profecto, si non pravo studio corrupisset optimum ingenium: prorsus multa in eo animi et corporis bona cemeres. Vigilare multum, fame in ac shim ferre poterut, habendi minime cupidus, utendi parcissimus." Martin of CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 337 of an ecclesiastical cause" — a boldness consistent with his peace- ful virtues, and derived from the now acknowledged dignity of his profession. The deed was perpetrated in his absence, and he then protested against it, and withdrew from the communion of the murderers. The memory of this excellent prelate has been disfigured by the credulous historian, who intended to be his eulogist; and we would willingly believe, that the stupen- dous miracles, so profusely attributed to him, were created by the veneration of the vulgar, or even by the enthusiasm of the writer, not by the deliberate imposture of a pious Christian*. Sulpicius proceeds to say, that " the death of Priscillian was so far from repressing the heresy of which he had been the author, that it conduced greatly to confirm and extend it; for his followers, who before had reverenced him as a pious man, began to worship him as a martyr. The bodies of those who had suffered death were carried back to Spain, and interred with great solemnity ; and to swear by the name of Priscillian was practised as a religious act." Such were the immediate consequences of his execution ; it does not appear, however, that his opinions took any deep or lasting root, or ever again became the occasion of offence or confusion to the Church. III. The same age, almost the same year, which witnessed Jovinian, the death of one heretic for opinions, of which an undue ad- miration of bodily austerities and religious seclusion was one, beheld with less surprise the banishment of another heretic, for daring to raise his voice in disparagement of those same prac- tices. Jovinian had received his education in an Italian con- vent ; but the common feelings and principles of nature were not extinguished in him. He left his retirement and published a volume, in which he rashly endeavoured to show, that those * " Men of probity in other respects, and fully persuaded of the truth of Chris- tianity, (and such I take. Martin, Paulinus, and Sulpicius to have been,) having found in the populace a strong taste for the marvellous, and no capacity for better proofs, judged it expedient rather to leave them to their prejudices, and to make use of those prejudices to confirm them in the true faith, than to undertake the vaiu task of curing them of their superstition, and run the risk of plunging them into vice and unbelief. Therefore they humoured the trick, and complied with tho fashion, for the good of those who were deceived." Le Clerc, Bibl. Chois., ap. Jortin, ad ami. 402. This seems to be the simplest solution of the difficulty. VOL. I. Z 338 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. who followed the rules of the Gospel, amid the temptations and perplexities of social life, possessed as just a claim to the re- wards of futurity, as those who observed the same rules in solitude ; that pleasures are not necessarily sins ; that tem- perance is as excellent a virtue as abstinence ; and that the chaste enjoyments of marriage are as agreeable to the eye of a benevolent Deity, as the mortifications of unnatural celibacy. He was also charged with the speculative error, that all who have been regenerated by baptism, with perfect faith, were in- defectible, and could not fail of their heavenly recompense. He may also have held this opinion — but the points on which the controversy turned were those which much more nearly affected the practice of mankind. Jerome, "the monk of the age," poured out in reply much passionate declamation in praise of the established superstitions, and some calumnious invectives against the person of the reformer ; and as the cur- rent already ran too strongly in his favour, his clamours were echoed by the zealous multitude, while the wise were constrained to sorrow and silence*. Among the Christian Churches the foremost in the extinction of reason and true Christianity was the Church of Rome. Her impatience to crush the dangerous innovator was emulated by Ambrose at Milan; and the opinions of Jovinian were formally condemned, in the year 390, by a council there held by that prelate. But the work was not yet complete; the emperor Honorius was prevailed upon to interpose the secular authority in the same cause ; and the fol- lowing was his proclamation — "The complaint of some bishops mentions as a grievance that Jovinian assembles sacrilegious meetings without the walls of the most holy city. Wherefore we ordain that the above-mentioned be seized and whipped, together with his abettors and attendants, and confined to some condemned place of banishment ; and that the machinator himself be im- fshed? 11 " mediately sent away to the island of Boa." Boa was a wretched rock, near the Illyrian coast ; and in this exile, Jovinian, during the remainder of his life, expiated the crime of proclaiming in * It should be mentioned that the reply of Jerome was not written till after the condemnation of the offender, in consequence of some progress which the opinions are said for the moment to have made at Rome. CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 339 the fourth century truths which no one had dreamed of dis- puting in the second, and which are defended with almost equal clearness by the authority of reason and revelation. This example did not prevent another and a bolder attempt Vigilaiw at Reformation — for as the corruptions of that time had not yet subsided into habits ; as they could not yet plead prescrip- tion and long familiar practice ; as they were not yet conse- crated by the claims of hereditary reverence, it was natural that the voice of reason should sometimes raise itself in faint oppo- sition to their progress. Very early in the following century, Vigilantius, a native of Gaul, who had performed the functions of presbyter in Spain, and afterwards, by his travels through Egypt and Palestine, enlightened and emiched a vigorous un- derstanding and character, boldly avowed his disgust at the growing abuses of the day. Nor did he confine his attack to one or two points ; he directed it against the castles and strong holds of superstition. He denied that the tombstones of the martyrs were proper objects of homage and worship ; he denied the holiness of places so sanctified, and censured the pilgrim- ages that were made to them. He derided the prodigies by which the temples of the martyrs were so much celebrated, and condemned the vigils performed in them ; and he even ventured to assert that the custom of burning tapers at their tombs, in the face of day, was a foolish imitation of the Pagan practice. He denied the efficacy of prayers addressed to departed saints, and spoke lightly of fasting and mortifications, and celibacy, and the various and useless austerities of the monastic lii'e. And lastly, he disparaged the merit of that suspicious charity which lavished large sums for devout purposes, in fancied atonement for unrepented sin. The clamorous guardian of ecclesiastical depravity was again awakened by this second in- vasion of abuses so dear to him ; and immediately, from his monastery at Bethlehem, he assailed the reformer with such overbearing vehemence of plausible and popular argument, that the good Vigilantius deemed it wiser to retire from the conflict than to expose himself to unprofitable martyrdom. And in fact we find that this heresy (so it was designated) gained so little ground, that the interference of a council was not required z2 340 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. to extinguish it. The principal credit of both these triumphs is due to St. Jerome — than whom the Church, in her whole history, has not ever listened to a more pernicious counsellor. The Pela- IV. The controversy to which we next proceed was on a n'v" rs° n " suD j ect of the deepest and most permanent importance to the whole Christian world ; and though, through the perverse mis- application of human ingenuity, dissensions have flowed from it, to the great disturbance of former ages, and to the division even of the present, we cannot affect either surprise or regret that a question of so much moment should have agitated thus early the minds of pious men — for it went to the bottom of the Christian doctrine respecting the original corruption of human nature, and the necessity of divine grace, to enlighten the un- derstanding and to purify the heart. It is in all cases extremely difficult, in the statement of those ancient controversies, to do justice to the arguments, or even to the opinions, maintained by either party — because these, in the process of the dispute, became closely, often inseparably, con- nected with consequences imputed to them by the adversary as necessary, and disclaimed by the advocate as unfair and arbi- trary. So that those very subtilties of reasoning, which pro- fessed to unfold and explain the difference, did in fact only produce perplexity. In the Pelagian controversy this difficulty is increased by two causes : first, that we know little of the opinions of the heretic, except from the writings of his oppo- nents; secondly, that the fear of public condemnation, and perhaps temporal punishment, occasionally led him into un- worthy equivocation; so that his expressions are sometimes such as seemingly to convey an assertion of orthodoxy at variance with the whole drift of his previous argument. Again, the mere facts of the controversy have been variously related, according as the opinions of the relators have been tinged, however slightly, by the opposite colours of Pelagianism or Fatalism. We must endeavour, however, to disentangle the truth from these intricacies. Pelagius Pelagius was a native of Britain, probably of Wales; the t -, USi ' associate of his travels, his heresy, and his celebrity, was Celes- tius, an Irishman: both were monks; both, too, were men of CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 341 considerable talents, and no just suspicions have ever been thrown on the sanctity of their moral conduct. They arrived at Rome in the very beginning of the fifth century, and re- mained there in the undisturbed, and perhaps obscure, pro- fession of their opinions till the year 410, when they retired, on the Gothic invasion, the former to Palestine, the latter to Car- thage. Here the peculiar doctrines of Celestius did not long Outline of escape detection; they first, attracted the attention of the ** c i oatro " deacon, Paulinus of Milan, who arraigned and caused them to be condemned in a council held at Carthage in the year 412. The errors here charged against Celestius were com- prised in seven articles — 1. That Adam was created mortal, and would have died, whether he had sinned or not ; 2. that the sin of Adam injured himself alone, not the human race; 3. that infants, at their birth, are in the condition of Adam, before his sin ; 4. that neither the death nor sin of Adam is the cause of man's mortality, nor the resurrection of Christ of his resurrection; 5. that man may be saved by the Law as well as by the Gospel ; 6. that before the coming of Christ there had been men without sin ; 7- that infants inherit eternal life without baptism. Though these were partly disclaimed or explained away, still enough remained to show the real nature of his opinions : we may observe that the words free-will and grace do not yet appear in the controversy. It docs not appear that Augustine assisted at this council, as he was still engaged in pursuing his advantages over the Donatists; however, he did not delay to enter the field against the new adversary, and very soon afterwards assailed the infant heresy, both by his sermons and writings*. Dissatisfied with • The natural causes of the opposition of the Church to the Pelagian opinions are ingeniously and reasonably discussed by Guizot (Cours d'Histoire Moderne, Leqon V.) We shall transcribe one passage, which deserves attention, and which cannot be condensed :— " Augustine, who was the chief among the doctors of the Church, was peculiarly called upon to maintain the general system of its belief. Now, the notions of Pelagius and Celestius appeared to him to be in contradiction with some of the fundamental points of Christian faith, especially the doctrine of original sin and that of redemption. He attacked them, then, in three characters ;— as philosopher, because their science of human nature was, in his view, narrow and incomplete ; as practical reformer and governor of the Church, because they weakened, in his mind, the most efficacious method of re# 342 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. Exertions the easy triumph which attended his exertions in his own tine, k Church, he followed the fugitive into the East, and having ascertained that Pelagius maintained the same errors in Pales- tine, he occasioned him to be accused before two councils ; the one at Jerusalem*, the other at Diospolis. John, bishop of Jerusalem, was favourable to the cause, perhaps to the tenets of Pelagius ; and thus, partly by his influence, partly from the absence of any fixed rule of orthodoxy on those particular sub- jects in the Eastern Church, partly from the very modified statement of his own opinions delivered to the councils by Pelagius, that sectarian, in spite of the violent opposition of Jerome, was acquitted in both. This event took place in 415; and in the year following, Augustine, undaunted by this repulse, again assembled councils in Africa and Numidia, and again condemned the offensive doctrines. Conduct of The scene of action was then transferred to Rome, on the the bishop a pp ea i^ as ft would seem, of the two heretics, and with the hope, perhaps, (not a reasonable hope,) that the authority of the Church of Jerusalem would have as much weight at the Va- tican, as that of the Church of Carthage. Zosimus had been just raised to the pontificate ; to him the controversy was re- ferred, with great show of humility, by Celestius ; and whether deceived by the artful composition of the creed presented to him for approval, or overlooking the importance of a question form and government ; as logician, because their ideas did not exactly square with the consequences which flowed from the essential principles of the faith. Ob- serve, then, what gravity the dispute assumed from that moment: everything was engaged in it — philosophy, politics, and religion ; the opinions of St. Augustine, and his business, his vanity, and his duty. He abandoned himself entirely to it, publishing treatises, writing letters, collecting communications which flowed in upon him from all quarters, profuse in regulations and counsels, and carrying into all his writings and all his measures that mixture of passion and mildness, of authority and sympathy, of expanse of mind and logical strictness, which gave him such singular power." * On this occasion, being asked if he really maintained opinions which Augus- tine had condemned, he replied, " What is Augustine to me ?" Many were of- fended, for Augustine was the most venerable authority of the age ; and some immediately proposed to excommunicate the spiritual rebel : but John averted the blow, and kindly addressed Pelagius,—" It is I who am Augustine here ; it is to me that you shall answer." Pelagius spoke Greek, and is said to have thus obtained some advantages over his accuser Orosius, who was ignorant of that language. CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 343 to which his attention had not previously been much directed, or flattered by the personal appeal to his justice and the ac- knowledged submission to the chair of St. Peter, or influenced by all these reasons, Zosimus pronounced the innocence of the disputed doctrine. Augustine was not even thus discouraged ; and his ardent religious feelings, as well as his reputation, were now too deeply interested in the controversy to allow him to rest here. Once more he assembled his bishops, and after the public renewal of former declarations, he proceeded to inform the bishop of Rome more clearly as to the real nature and importance of the question ; as to the errors which had been actually professed by the heretics; and those which, though disingenuously dis- avowed, followed of course from them. Zosimus does not ap- pear to have been much moved by these representations ; but in the mean time a more powerful avenger had been roused by the perseverance of the Africans. An imperial edict descended from Constantinople, which banished both the delinquents from Rome, and menaced with perpetual exile and confiscation of estates all who should maintain their doctrines in any place. This decisive blow was struck in the March of 418; in the May following, another and still more numerous council* met at Carthage for the purpose of completing the triumph ; and then the Bishop of Rome was at length prevailed upon to place, in conjunction with his clergy, the final seal of heresy on the Pelao-ian opinions. The opinions themselves did not, indeed, expire from these successive wounds, but have frequently re- appeared under different forms and modifications; but no further attempts were made to extend them by their original authors. The sum of those opinions was this: — 1. That the sins of The sum iii of the our first parents are imputed to themselves alone, and not to opinions. their posterity ; that we derive no corruption from their fall ; that we inherit no depravity from our origin ; but enter into the world as pure and unspotted as Adam at his creation. It * Two hundred and three, or, as some assert, two hundred and fourteen bishops were present. 344 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. was a necessary inference from this doctrine, that infant baptism is not a sign or seal of the remission of sins, but only a mark of admission into the kingdom of Christ. 2. That our own powers are sufficient for our own justification; that as by our own free- will we run into sin, so, by the same voluntary exercise of our faculties, we are able to repent, and reform, and raise ourselves to the highest degree of virtue and piety ; that we are, indeed, assisted by that, external* grace of God which has taught us the truths of revelation ; which opens to us our prospects, and enlightens our understandings and animates our exertions after godliness ; but that the internal and immediate operation of the Holy Spirit is not necessary, either to awaken us to religious feelings, or to further us in our progress towards holiness ; in short, that man, by the unassisted agency of his natural per- fections under the guidance of his own free-will, is enabled to work out his own salvation. Regarding these doctrines, it is sufficient for a Christian to examine, whether or not they are in accordance with the ob- vious interpretation of Scripture ; and the long experience of a fruitless controversy must at length have convinced us respect- ing such inscrutable subjects, that if we advance one step be- yond the safe and substantial ground of revelation, we become entangled in the mazes of metaphysical disputation. In these matters, we are not to inquire what is probable, but what is written ; and it has become a question, whether the presump- tuous arrogance of reason, which is objected to the system of Pelagius, did not lead his opponents, who believed themselves humble, equally far away from that entire submission to the Gospel, which is the only true humility. Augustine maintained the Church doctrines of original sin and saving grace with great force and zeal, and the most unaf- fected sincerity ; and his writings on this subject continued for above twelve centuries to distribute the waters of regeneration * Pelagius artfully perplexed the subject, by his assertion of six different lands of grace ; and if there be any of his expressions which may seem to imply more than we here give them credit for, they are, at least, so vague, and we think purposely so vague, as to make it impossible to attach any definite meaning to them. CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF TIIK CHURCH. 345 over the barren surface of the Roman Catholic Church. But Augustine himself, in the ardour of his opposition to free-will, did he not overstep the just limits of reason, and advance into the contrary extreme of fatalism ? It is true that he warmly disclaimed that doctrine, when nakedly objected to him as the obvious and inevitable result of those which he professed ; but it was not without some sacrifice of logical severity that he de- clined the formidable conclusion. Nevertheless, more rigid logicians and more daring theologians were found, who pressed to their utmost consequences the opinions of their master, and deduced from them the predestinarian dogma in its full extent. Again, the publication of the astounding tenet on such autho- rity (for Augustine, as well as his adversaries, was held re- sponsible for the consequences of his positions*) became the occasion of another series of divisions in the Church, which more particularly distracted that of Gaul ; so that the discord which grew out of the Pelagian controversy was not confined to the original ground of dispute, but spread with baneful luxu- riance over the vineyard of Christ. Among the opinions to which it gave birth, the most popular, The Semi- and perhaps the most reasonable, were those of the Semi-Pela- lela « riaus * gians. They began to spread in the South of France about the year 428, and are attributed to an Oriental, named Cassian, who resided in a monastery at Marseilles. These Sectariansy regarded with equal suspicion that absolute independence of the Divine aid, so rashly ascribed to the human soul by the Pela- gian system, and its entire prostration and helplessness, as exhi- * la fact, Augustine attributed the progressive sanctification of man to the di- rect, immediate, and special action of God on the soul; that is, to grace, properly so called ; grace to which man had, by his own power, no title, and which pro- cecded from the absolutely gratuitous gift and free choice of the Divinity. His twelve fundamental points of the doctrine of grace are delivered in the epistle (to Yitalis) numbered 217 or 107. -j- Guizot has justly observed, that none of these doctrines gave birth to a Sect, according to the modern acceptation of the term : those who held them were not formally separated from the Church and formed into a distinct religious society, nor had they any peculiar organization or worship. The doctrines were pure opinions debated among enlightened men, and varying both in tbeir credit and in the degrees of their deviation from the Church, but never such as to menace a formal schism, 34G A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. bited by the Fatalists ; and they consequently concluded, that, by holding a middle course between opposite errors, they should most nearly arrive at truth. And so they maintained, on the one hand, that the Grace purchased by Christ was necessary for salvation, and that no man could persevere or advance in holi- ness without its perpetual support and assistance : on the other, that our natural faculties were sufficient for the beginning of repentance and amendment : that Christ died for all men, and that there was no particular dispensation of his grace in con- sequence of predestination, but that it was equally offered to all men ; that man was born free, and therefore capable of receiv- ing its influences, or resisting them. These doctrines were generally condemned in the Western Church *, It is true, they have continued, with slight variations, to find many advocates there in every age : but the Church faithfully followed the line which had been traced by Augustine. By adopting his doc- trines on grace, it condemned the heresy both of the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians ; and by rejecting the dogma of the Fata- lists, it relieved itself from that which would have proved a per- petual source of internal dissatisfaction and dissent. But in the East, if we may judge from the writings of Chrysostomf, and the general tone of the Greek fathers, the Semi-Pelagian opi- nions had obtained an earlier and common prevalence, and they appear to have been maintained, with little interruption or dis- pute, to the present moment. The Greeks, however, engaged with little ardour in the Pelagian disputes ; and the reason may have been, that the seeds of another contention, even more suited to the peculiarity of their metaphysical taste, were now ready to burst forth with abundant fertility. The great contro- versy respecting the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, which engaged, for about two hundred and fifty years, the ingenuity and the passions of the Eastern world, first discovered itself in the be- * Augustine of Rome died about two years after their birth, but his work was followed up by Prosper and Hilary, who caused them to be condemned very soon afterwards by Celestine. On the other hand, the opinions of the Predesti- narians were also condemned by the Councils of Aries (in 472), and of Lyons (in 473). f The opinions of Chrysostom on the subject appear to be fairly discussed by Dupin, Nouv. Bibb, in his Life of that Father. CII. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 347 ginning of the fifth century, emerging, as it were, from the mists of some early heresies. We shall give as concise an account of it, as is consistent with the illustration of its more important features. V. The controversy respecting the Trinity was terminated by The Con- the Council of Constantinople in the year 381, which established tiTeTnair" the belief in the personality and divinity of the Holy Spirit, as nation, the true doctrine of the Universal Church. The Arian heresy had been previously condemned ; and about the end of the fourth century, the attention of speculative minds began to turn from the momentous consideration of the eternal and celestial nature of Christ, and the consequent degree of worship which is due to him, to a subordinate inquiry into the probable nature of his existence during his temporary residence here on earth. This question had, indeed, been moved in the first ages of the Church, and some of the errors of Marcion, of Cerinthus, Car- pocrates, Basilides, and others, are connected with it ; but their opinions were so immediately derived from the absurd theories of Gnosticism, that they gained no great or lasting prevalence, nor have any claim on our present attention. And it will seem, indeed, a very singular circumstance, that the first speculations on this subject, which necessarily fix our notice, should have proceeded from the friend and associate of Athanasius. Apol- Apollinaris. linaris, Bishop of Laodicea, whether carried into excess by his hostility to Arianism, or inextricably entangled in his own un- necessary subtilties, so far lost sight of the moderation of reason, that in asserting the divinity of Christ he denied the reality of his human nature. For he held that the divine nature (the Lo^os) supplied in Him the place of the spiritual and intel- lectual principle, and constituted, in fact, His mind. In this sense he could not be considered as perfect man ; and in effect, the substitution of the Divine essence for the human soul so far confused the two natures of Christ, as to reduce them to " one incarnate nature," — a doctrine which, indeed, Apolli- naris did not disavow. This opinion took deep root in the Egyptian Church, but it was condemned by the clergy of Asia and Syria. The question, however, not being publicly pursued by the 348 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. directors of the Church, rested in an unsettled state until the Nestorius. accession of Nestorius to the See of Constantinople in the year 428. That prelate was a native of Antioch, and had been educated in the Syrian schools; and having then been strongly impressed with the distinction of the two natures and the dan- gerous error of confusing them, he inculcated so strongly the difference between the Son of God and the Son of Man, as to seem almost to extend the distinction of natures to a distinction of persons, though he avowed no such intention. In conse- quence of these principles he defended one of his presbyters, Anastasius, who, in a public discourse, had ventured to argue, that the Virgin Mary ought not properly to be called " Mother of God" (©soroxoy), but " Mother of Christ" (Xgtororoxos), or even " Mother of Man" ( 'Av0§w7roroxos-). Whatsoever may be the most appropriate appellation for the Mother of Jesus Christ, it was assuredly the proof of a narrow and contentious spirit, that the Head of the Oriental Church should in any* way inter- fere in so vain a dispute. But Nestorius interfered with earnest- ness and ardour. It also happened, that the opinion which he undertook to protect was at variance with the popular enthu- siasm ; that had already set in the opposite direction, and it was easily urged on and roused into a tempest, when an insult was represented to have been offered to the dignity and holi- ness of the Virgin. On one occasion, in the midst of a nume- rous assembly, one Eusebius (then a lawyer, and afterwards Bishop of Doryleum) interrupted the sermon of the patriarch with these words : — " It is the eternal Logos himself who has undergone a second birth according to the flesh, and by means of a woman." The people were excited ; the subject occupied universal attention; the passions became inflamed, and Nesto- rius, in his own capital, was absurdly f accused of reviving the heresies of Photinus and Paul of Samosata. * In a letter addressed to John of Jerusalem, about two years afterwards, when the matter was inflamed almost beyond hope, Nestorius, indeed, attempts a jus- tification, by saying that he found the religious world divided between Theotocos and Antbropotocos ; and that his only object was to unite both parties by the intermediate term, Christotocos. But he had then discovered the folly of his attempt. f In a sermon, delivered in answer to a public attack made by Proclus, Bishop CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 349 But it was not among his domestic adversaries that he found his most formidable opponent. That opponent was Cyril, the Cyril of patriarch of Alexandria — a man of learning' and eloquence, and * intolerable arrogance. And some jealousy which at that time subsisted, respecting the relative dignity of the two Sees, pro- bably heightened the contention, and is believed by some to have caused it. Whether that be so or not, the two patriarchs anathematised each other with mutual violence; and such troubles were raised, that the Emperor Thcodosius the younger deemed it necessary to convoke a General Council for the purpose of Council of appeasing them. It was assembled at Ephesus in the year ThirTo'e- 431, and stands in the annals of the Church as the Third Gene- neral, 431 ral Council. Cyril was appointed to preside, and consequently to judge the cause of his adversary; and he carried into this office such little show of impartiality, that, he refused even to wait for the arrival of the Bishop of Antioch and others, who were held friendly to Nestorius, and proceeded to pronounce sentence, while the meeting was yet incomplete. To secure or prosecute his advantages, he had brought with him from Egypt a number of robust and daring fanatics*, who acted as his soldiery. And it had been skilfully arranged, that Ephesus should be chosen for the decision of a difference respecting the dignity of the Virgin ; since popular tradition had buried her in that city, and the imperfect Christianity of its inhabitants had readily transferred to her the worship, which their ances- tors had offered to Diana. After publishing an unjust condemnation f of the undefended of Cyzicus, Nestorius maintained that it was improper « nakedly to assert, that God was born of Mary ; but rather, that God, the Word of the Father, was joined to him who was born of Mary. It was the Man, and not the Word God, which rose again ; the Temple should be distinguished from the God who dwells there." (Fleury, liv. xxv. sect. 2.) It seems very probable, that if Nestorius had abstained from all mention of the Virgin Mary, or merely avoided the imprudence of inter- fering with the title of a Being who was already becoming the object of super- stition, the controversy would not have taken place at all. * These were chiefly monks— a race which swarmed with singular fecundity along the banks of the Nile, and in the deserts of the Thebais. The influence which they possessed in the Egyptian Church is proved by the circumstance, that the first attack which Cyril made upon his brother-patriarch appeared in the form of an Epistle General to the Monks of Egypt. Its success was very sensibly dis- played at Ephesus. f The first burst of the unanimous (if it was so) indignation of the Fathers was 350 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. patriarch, and causing, through its own dissensions, some san- o-uinary tumults through the city, the Third General Council was at length dismissed hy Theodosius in these words : — " God is my witness, that I am not the author of this confusion. His providence will discern and punish the guilty. Return to your provinces ; and may your private virtues repair the mischief and scandal of your meeting." The banishment of Nestorius did not immediately follow his condemnation; and four other years of intrigue and malevolence were necessary before he was dismissed, — first, to his original convent at Antioch, and finally to an island (or oasis) in the deserts of Upper Egypt. There he died ; and as he died a persecuted exile, he has a strono- and natural claim on our sympathy : but it is lessened by the recollection of his dangerous indiscretion ; and we are forbidden to forget or to conceal, that in his days of prosperity, while in the enjoyment of dignity and power, he had not refused to inflict on the Arians and other heretics the calamities which were impending over himself*. In the mean time his opinions extended themselves rapidly throughout central Asia, along the eastern extremities of Chris- tendom. Through Chaldea, Persia, Syria, and Assyria; in Arabia, India, Tartary, and even China, they took deep root, during the fifth and sixth centuries ; and the number of their professors, their indignation against the persecutors of Nesto- rius, and their consequent enmity against the Church and name of Greece, prepared them, in a later age, for alliance with the Mahometan invader f. expressed nearly in these words : — " Anathema to him who does not anathematize Nestorius ; the orthodox faith anathematizes him ; the holy council anathematizes him. We all anathematize the heretic Nestorius ; we anathematize all who com- municate with him and his impious belief. All the earth anathematizes the unholy religion of Nestorius. Anathema to him who does not anathematize Nestorius." — Fleury, liv. xxv. sect. 3'J. * During his banishment he was carried into captivity hy the Blemmyes; and after his release by them, was hurried about from place to place by the governor of Upper Egypt, so that he had no repose even in exile. " Enfin (says Fleury) il mourut, accable de vieillesse et d'infirmites ; et on dit, que sa langue fut rongee de vers." Of all Roman Catholic historians, Fleury is the most charitable. f " The successors of Mahomet in Persia employed the Nestorians in the most important affairs, both of the cabinet and of the provinces, and suffered the pa- CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 351 They assembled their councils at Seleucia, and their doc- Doctrine of trine, as there determined, amounted to this — " That in the torians." Saviour of the world there were two persons or substances (uwovtolgzis), of which the one was divine, the Eternal Word ; and the other, which was human, was the man Jesus : that these two substances had only one aspect (barsopa, Ttpbiwrtav*) : that the union between the Son of God and the Son of man was not an union of nature or of person, but only of will and affection: that Christ was therefore to be carefully distinguished from God, who dwelt in him as in a temple: that Mary was to be called the mother of Christ, and not the mother of God." From this exposition* of doctrine it has been suspected, and with some appearance of justice, that the difference between the Nestorians and the Orthodox was in fact merely verbal ; and that the more rational disputants of both parties were maintaining, with some variation of expression, the very same opinions. In the history of this controversy, the name of Eutyches im- Eutyches. mediately succeeds to that of Nestorius. This person was the abbot of a convent at Constantinople, and an intemperate op- poser of the opinions of Nestorius. He carried the doctrine of the Egyptian school to its extreme interpretation, and appears to have exceeded the obscure limits of the error of Apol- linarisf. For that heresiarch affected to draw some distinction between an intellectual and a sensitive soul, which, hoAvever subtile, may seem to remove his doctrine one step from that of the Monophysites ; but Eutyches at once boldly pronounced triarch of that sect only to reside in the kingdom of Babylon. The Monophysites enjoyed in Syria and Egypt an equal degree of favour and protection." Mosh, cent. vii. p. ii. ch. v. * It is taken from Mosheim ; and the peculiar word Barsopa may perhaps he properly translated aspect. Only render it person, and omit that same word when it is used synonymously with substance, and even the shadow of the difference is almost removed. It is at least certain that the Monothelites have commonly accused the Catholics of Nestorianism, and have sometimes mistaken the one for the other. f In the meantime Eutyches was so far from acknowledging this resemblance, that in his letter to St. Leo, and in the presence of the council, he anathematized Apollinaris, together with Valentinus, Manes, Ne&torius, and Simon the ma- gician. He had reached his seventy-first year, when his opinions were attacked by the very same man who had first sounded the trumpet against Nestorius— Eusebius, now bishop of Doryleum. 352 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. " that in Christ there was but one* nature — that of the incar- nate word." Dioscorus, who had succeeded to the throne of Alexandria and to the character of Cyril, gave his decided sup- port to Eutyches, and as both parties grew violent, Theodosius was exhorted to convoke another council to determine the dif- ference. He did so ; and, as if to prove the inefficacy of ex- perience to confer wisdom, he again appointed Ephesus as the place of the meeting, and again selected the bishop of Alex- andria to preside in it, The tumults which had disgraced the Church in 431 were repeated with some additional brutalities Latrocini- in 449 ; the Egyptians again were triumphant ; and the assem- Snum Phe " ljl y at len g tn dispersed, after having sanctioned the doctrine of 431 a. i), Eutyches, and acquired the title, by which it has been stig- matized in every age of the Church, as "The Assembly of Robbers." This meeting, we should observe, has not obtained a place among the general councils of the Church f. The Western bishops had hitherto interfered, not very warmly, in these disputes, which were indeed peculiarly Oriental both in their origin and character. But Leo the Great, sensible of the scandal now brought upon the whole Church even by the tem- porary establishment of an erroneous doctrine, saw the neces- sity of more zealous interposition. He therefore prevailed upon Marcian, the successor of Theodosius, to summon another council on the same subject. It met at Chalcedon in 451 ; Council of and the pope's legates (under the usual superintendence of the Chalcedon. i m p er i a l Officers) presided there. The proceedings were con- iourthGe- l J l „, , , „. neral. ducted with greater decency ; Eutyches and Dioscorus were 451 A> D * condemned, and the orthodox^ doctrine of " Christ in one per- son and two natures" was finally established. • * A necessary consequence of this doctrine seems to be the ascription of the passion and sufferings of Christ to the Divine (the only) nature, and this could scarcely be avoided without taking refuge in the heresy of the Phantastics. In fact, the dissensions between the corruptibles and incorruptibles, in the reign of Justinian, were little else than a continuation of the Eutychean controversy, in its consequences. These disputes chiefly prevailed in Egypt, the hotbed of the Monophysite heresy. f " S.Cvo'ho; Xwrrpix.*, Conventus Latronum, Latrocinium Ephesinum," are the terms in which it is usually mentioned by the writers of both Churches. + Admitting, as we do, that the opinions of Nestorius were in fact very little, if at all, removed from orthodoxy, we cannot at all assent to the reasoning of Le Clerc, who would persuade us (and who appears to have persuaded both Jortin C1I. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 353 As before with the Nestorians, so now with the followers of Eutyehes, their energy, and perhaps their numbers, increased on the public condemnation of their opinions. Some monks of that persuasion obtained possession of Jerusalem, and indulged in the most violent excesses ; and the Catholic successor of Dioscorus, after a contention of five years with his Alexandrian subjects, was at length sacrificed to their religious fury. Pre- Henoticon sently afterwards, in the year 482, the emperor Zeno made a ^'f 1 '"^* fruitless but memorable attempt to extinguish all religious dis- sension, by the publication of an edict of union, called the Henoticon. In this proclamation he confirmed the established doctrines, and anathematized alike the Arians, Phantastics, Nestorians, and Eutychians; but out of tenderness to the feel- ings of the last, he avoided any particular mention of the Coun- cil of Chalcedon. The more moderate men, both among the Catholics and Monophysites*, (still the two prevailing parties,) subscribed to this decree; but the fruits of their moderation were not such as, by their principles and example, they de- served, and perhaps expected. Among the latter a violent schism arose, and this speedily gave birth to numerous other schisms, which divided into several sects the followers of Eu- tyehes; while among the Catholics very great and general indignation was excited by the omission of the name of Chal- cc don, against all who had signed so imperfect a declaration of orthodoxy. And thus it proved, to the disgrace of the dis- putants, and almost to the scandal of human nature, that an attempt, judiciously conceived by a benevolent prince, to com- pose the religious differences of his subjects, produced no other effect than to inflame the character, and multiply the grounds of dissension. And that unhappy result was not in this case attributable to the infliction of any civil penalties in the arbi- and Gibbon) that Eutyehes also held the same doctrine with both Nestorius and the orthodox — for in this last dispute there is no confusion of terms ; in the very same words the one party plainly asseits one, the other hvo natures of Christ; and the same train and description of argument, which is applied to reconcile this difference, would, in our mind, be equally successful in removing every religious difference. ■' The Eutychians or Monophysites are also known in history by the appella- tion of Jacobites, from the name of one of their teachers, James Baraddus. VOL. I. 2 A 354 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. trary enforcement of the decree, but solely to the vehemence of the passions engaged on both sides, which had hardened the greater number against any representations of wisdom or reason, and even against the ordinary influence of human feelings. The Mono- However, time effected much towards the healing of these animosities, and they were diverted during the reign of Jus- Errors of tinian into other channels. Several of the opinions of Origen had been very keenly controverted since the beginning of the fifth century; and some important errors were imputed to him by many churchmen. He was accused of having held (1.) that in the Trinity the Father is greater than the Son ; the Son than the Holy Ghost. (2.) That souls pre-existed, and were condemned to inhabit mortal bodies, as a punishment. (3.) That the soul of Christ was united to the Word, before the incar- nation. (4.) That the sun and other heavenly bodies Avere animated and endowed with rational souls. (5.) That at the resurrection all bodies will be of a spherical form. (G.) That the torments of the damned will have a termination. (7.) That as Christ was crucified here, to save man, he will be crucified in the next world, to save the devils. Now, though the adhe- rents of Origen were very powerful in some parts of the East, especially in Egypt and Syria, the opposite party was still more numerous : and thus his offensive opinions had been re- peatedly condemned, since the time of Jerome — but they had not yet been subjected to the deliberate examination of a ge- neral council. Again : the Council of Chalcedon had given its sanction to a The Three body of suspicious theology, called the Three Chapters. These Chapters. ccmsis|ed ( ! _) of the Stings of Theodore of Mopsuesta. (2.) Of the hooks which Theodoret of Cyrus wrote against the Twelve Anathemas, which Cyril had written against the Nestorians. (3.) Of the letter, which Ibas of Edessa had written to one Maris, a Persian, concerning the Council of Ephesus and the con- demnation of Nestorius. All these were supposed to have a Nestorian tendency — and thus the theological zeal of Justinian was easily excited against them. It would seem, however, that he overstepped the boundaries of ecclesiastical moderation when he presumed to condemn (in 544), on his own authority, CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 355 what had been approved by the decision of a general council. Accordingly, many independent prelates, among whom some Western bishops were distinguished, resisted this edict, but the emperor, nothing daunted, confirmed it, in the year 551, by a second. The discord was thus augmented, and two years after- wards Justinian found it expedient to summon the Fifth General The Fifth i-H i • ■ c r\ • / i ■ i General Council. To its deliberations the opinions of Ongen (to which Council. the emperor was adverse) as well as the Three Chapters were 55; * A,D - submitted; and the obsequious prelates (they were almost en- tirely Orientals) pronounced the sentence of condemnation on both. After the lapse of nearly two hundred years from the Council of Chalcedon, the waves of the incarnation controversy had seemingly subsided, and the differences and even the malevo- lence, which may still have existed, no longer broke out into open outrage. The vain curiosity of the Emperor Heraclius threatened the revival of those evils. On his return from the Persian war in the year 629, that prince proposed to his bishops the unprofitable question — "Whether Christ, of one person but two natures, was actuated by a single or a double will? " The Greeks in general favoured the former opinion, but not. with their usual impetuosity ; indeed they seem at length to have been so far exhausted by such fruitless contests, as to have con- sidered the question trifling and superfluous. And it was not until the year 680, that, through the angry opposition of the Latins to this dogma, the Sixth General Council was assembled sixth at Constantinople, which formerly pronounced that two wills ^ L ' llL ' ral were harmonized in the person of Christ. Such is still the 680 a. d. doctrine both of the Greek and Latin Churches ; and with the establishment of that doctrine the controversy respecting the incarnation, after an interrupted duration of about three hun- dred years, expired*. * Accurately speaking, the Monothelite Controversy was rather a consequence, than a part, of that respecting the incarnation ; since those who adopted the doc- trine of one will, did not in consequence reject the decisions either of Ephesus or Chalcedon, but adhered, on the contrary, to both, — so as to unite (in profession at least, if not in reason) the strictest orthodoxy respecting the nature and person of Christ with their perverse opinion respecting his will. 2 a 2 35G A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. The heretics who advocated the one will were called Monothc- lit.es, and by this name the dispute is generally known. It lasted about fifty years ; and it is a painful but necessary reflection, that during its continuance, while the attention of Christendom was in some degree engaged by it, the Mahometans had found time to convert Arabia and to complete the conquest of Persia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt: the three patriarchal thrones, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem had fallen into their hands ; and Carthage itself was already on the point of under- going the same fate. Obscrva- Having treated the conduct of the parties engaged in these the™ °C'un- dissensions with unrestrained freedom, we shall conclude with trovfisies. some considerations not unfavourable to them, and not less just than our censure. 1. None of the disputants at any time fell into any heresy respecting the Trinity — the doctrine which had been established by the first and second general councils was followed with equal fidelity by those who deviated from the Church respecting the incarnation, and by those who adhered to it. 2. As the manner in which this controversy was con- ducted, exhibited the earnest devotion of all parties to their re- spective opinions, so the origin of all those opinions may be traced to an anxiety (oftentimes indeed a very injudicious anxiety) to acquire accurate notions respecting the Redeemer, so as neither to exaggerate nor disparage his dignity. It may be traced to an excess of the religious feeling, even to a tendency to superstitious enthusiasm ; but at least it was free from the infection of that cold, indifferent apathy, which sometimes shelters itself under the name of philosophy, but which, in fact, is not far removed from scepticism. 3. The very individuals who, under the excitement of religious dissension and the bustle of public councils, heated too by the various passions, which the mere spirit of resistance will create in the calmest tempera- ment, ran loose into scandalous excesses, might very consist- ently be endued with the purest piety, and habituated, in the private exercise of their sacerdotal functions, to the fervent dis- charge of every Christian duty. It argues a very slight or a very partial view of human nature to infer, from the occasional extravagance of public feeling, the general destitution of moral CII. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 357 principle or the absence of virtuous habits; and we must be careful not to be misled by those historians, who bid us judge the general character of the Eastern clergy by their conduct at the Councils of Ephesus. Lastly, whatever may have been the original policy of convoking general councils for the suppression of religious difference, it cannot be asserted that such councils were wholly useless — for, besides the particular doctrine which they were called upon to settle, and which on some occasions was fundamentally important, they also published numerous canons and ordinances for the regulation and reform of the Church. These were disseminated and received through every part of Christendom, and very often proved of the highest utility. And even as to the doctrines on such occasions esta- blished, we should observe, that after the first tumult of oppo- sition had subsided, they met with general acquiescence; that they were almost universally adopted in succeeding ages, and still constitute the creed of the great majority of Christians*. VI. We proceed to the contest respecting the worship ofContro- images, which claims our careful attention, partly from the ex- gpectirie" treme agitation which it excited throughout Christendom during images. the eighth and ninth centuries — partly, because it occasioned (should we not rather say accelerated ?) the separation of the Roman states from the Greek empire. Among the various superstitions which had gradually grown up in the Church, and of which the vestiges may, in some cases, be traced to its earliest ages, none had obtained such general influence and firm footing among the lower orders (especially in the East) as Image-wor- * The Controversy, which we have described, blanched out into various theo- ries respecting the manner of the union of the two natures, which amused the re- fined imaginations of the Greeks. But it was reserved for the grosser absurdity of a German to originate the following offensive speculation: — "Eodem tempore aliud ex Germania certamen in Gallias inferebatui de modo quo Sanctissimus Servator ex utero Matris in lucem prodiit. Germani quidam Jesum Christum nun communi reliquorum hominum lege, sed singular] et extraordiuaria, utero Matris exiisse statuebant. Qua sententia in Galliam delata, Ratramnus earn op- pugnabat, atque Christum per naturae januam in mundum ingressum esse tueba- tur. Germanis subveniebat Paschasius Radbertus, libro singulari, &c. &c." Jortin, vol. iv., p. 480. This occurred about the year 840, and it is worthy of no- tice, if it were only that we find the great patron of Transubstantiation, Pasclia-i sius Radbertus, advocating such extravagant and impious nonsense. Qr, 58 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. ship. It was an idle distinction to uphold a respect for images, as means and not as objects of devotion, when they were pre- sented to the uninstructed and undiscriminating vulgar. When the understanding has never been enlightened, when the heart has never been informed with the genuine feelings of religion, the devotee will surely address his prayer to the Deity which is placed before his eyes, and turn, in the darkness of his in- tellect, to that which is perceptible by his mere senses. And it was therefore the greatest among the crimes of the ancient di- rectors of the Church, and that which appears more peculiarly to have brought down upon it the chastisement from Arabia, that they filled the temples with their detested idols, and ob- truded them upon the eyes and into the hands of the most ignorant. Nor can their advocates plead the necessity of this conduct ; for the example of the Mahometan faith alone has proved, that a people may be barbarous without being idola- trous, when idolatry is discouraged by the ministers of religion. And if any excuse be furnished by the general and deeply- rooted influence of the ancient superstition, it is at least none for those who exerted their power and their talents to extend and perpetuate it. Unhappily, those exertions were attended by too easy success ; before the year 600, idolatry w T as firmly established in the Eastern Church, and during the following century it made a gradual and very general progress in the West, where it had previously gained some footing. Leo the It was not till the year 726 that any vigorous attempt was saurian. ma( j e | Q disturb i* s swa V '■> anc ^ then the minds of men were 7 lb, A. D. J ' become weakened by long acquiescence in superstitious maxims, even so far as to regard with submissive reverence the sins and follies of their ancestors. Nevertheless, the Emperor Leo, sur- named the Isaurian, a prince of sense and energy, had the boldness to undertake*, in the face of so many difficulties, the purification of the Church ; and he began his pious enterprise * Roman Catholic historians attribute Leo's resolution to the sudden appear- ance of a new island in the Archipelago, from volcanic causes. This phenomenon the superstitious emperor ascribed to the Divine wrath, excited by the idolatrous impiety of his subjects. He is also supposed to have derived his prejudice from tbe Mahometan religion, to which his attachment is more than insinuated. CH. -I.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 359 by an attack on its most flagrant corruption. It is disputed, whether the first measure of Leo was prudently confined to the abolition of idolatrous worship, and the removal of its objects to higher and more distant situations in the churches, wherein they were suspended; or whether, without any indulgence to prejudice, he entirely concealed them from view, and even destroyed them. The effect of the edict would rather lead us to the latter conclusion — for it immediately occasioned a civil war, both in the East and in the West. In the East, the islands of the Archipelago, and even a part of Asia, broke out into a tumultuous insurrection, which however was speedily suppressed ; but in the West, the more deliberate resistance of the Bishop of Rome (Gregory II.) encouraged the rebellion of the Italian provinces (in 730), and led to the defeat of the Imperial troops before Ravenna. The tribute paid to the Eastern Emperor was then withdrawn, and his authority was never afterwards acknowledged in the ecclesiastical states. This reverse did not abate the zeal of Leo, who proceeded to enforce his resolutions, as far as his power extended ; and as he found the strongest opposition to proceed from the monastic orders, he extended his scheme of reformation to them. And in spite of various tumults, excited partly by their influence, and partly through a popular prejudice in favour of super- stition, he persisted in his project, with uncompromising perse- verance, and even with some prospect of success, until his death. In the year 741 he was succeeded by his son Constan- Constan- tine, surnamed Copronymus, who faithfully followed his foot- tm e Cop- steps. Thirteen years afterwards that prince assembled a 741. a. d synod in the suburbs of Constantinople, at which three hundred and thirty-eight bishops attended. They decreed the destruc- tion of images*, and the decision, which has sometimes been attributed to their loyalty, may with equal justice be ascribed to their sense and their piety. They were called Iconoclasts, or image-breakers ; and the execution of their decrees occa- * Some of the arguments seriously advanced on this occasion by the Icono- clasts seem intended to surpass the absurdity of their adversaries ; according to them, even the very painter is convicted of several, and even the most opposite, heresies. They may be found in Fleury, liv. xliii., sect. 7. SGO A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. sioncd many calumnies against the emperor's character, and many tumults, which disturbed the peace and even endangered the security of his reign. Nevertheless that reign lasted thirty- lour years; and the whole space was persevcringly employed in contention with idols, with the monks who protected them, and with the pernicious influence of Rome, which was active and constant in the support of both. Seventh Leo, who succeeded, was guided by the principles of Con- r L !mw':i stantine ; but he died soon after his accession, and the education 787 a. v. of his son, a boy of ten years old, as well as the direction of public affairs, was entrusted to the empress Irene. Imme- diately the religious policy of the palace w as changed ; and as fifty years of vigorous opposition had not availed to extirpate corruptions which were the gradual growth of four centuries, the change was hailed with delight by a large proportion of the people. In the year 787, a General Council was assembled at Nice, by which the images were reinstated in their former honours*, through the united exertions of the monks and the mob, and the pope and the empress. This Council, the second of Nice, is accounted in the East as the seventh and last General Council, and its decisions completed the body of doc- trine and discipline which constitutes the system of the Greek Church. Several <>1>- It may be proper, in this place, very briefly to remind our ^v* n >- rea( ^ ers °f tne particular objects for which these seven celc- neral cuun- bratcd Councils were severally summoned ; not merely as mat- ters of barren recollection, but because we perceive in them, if we are not greatly in error, an indication of the gradual de- parture of the Church, first from scriptural simplicity, and then from truth. Between the first and the last of them the space * The following is a part of the confession of faith published with the autho- rity of this Council: — " We receive, besides the figure of the cross, the relics of suints, and their images; we embrace them according to the ancient tradition of our fathers, who have placed them in all the churches of God, and all the places where he is served. We honour and adore them, viz. that of Jesus Christ, of his holy Mother, of the angels, — for though they are incorporeal, they have re- vealed themselves in a human form; those of the apostles, the prophets, the martyrs, and other saints ; because those paintings recall to us the memory of the originals and make vs participate in their sanctity." Fleury, liv. xliv.. sect. 34. CII. XI.] A HISTORY OF TlIK CHURCH. 361 of 4G2 years intervened, an interval full of important, and, for the most part, pernicious changes in the ecclesiastical constitu- tion; but. most of these were imperceptibly introduced, especially into the Western Church, without the authority or cognizance of any general assembly, and they involved many circumstances of power, property, or discipline, to which we do not here intend any reference. The professed purpose for which the general councils were in every instance convoked, was to compose the controversy of the day, and to pronounce a final decision upon the doctrine which happened to be disputed; and thus, in the history of those councils, we follow the track of theological in- vestigation, and observe it gradually receding from soberness and sense. (1.) The object, for which the first two were assembled, was to ascertain and promulgate the scriptural doctrine of the Trinity; and a more important inquiry, and one more worthy of the deliberate consideration of the directors of Christendom, was not ever propounded to any religious assembly : and their decisions respecting this doctrine were in accordance with the sense of Scripture, as it has been interpreted by the great ma- jority of Christians in every following age. (2.) The questions proposed for the investigation of the third and fourth Councils were of less importance to truth, and, in the same proportion precisely, more difficult to comprehend and determine, — the nature of Christ's existence on earth. The manner in which they were argued was not calculated to di- minish this difficulty; and the violence, with which even the more decorous* of these meetings was disgraced, was such as ' V\'e might refer to the whole account of the sessions of the Council of Chalcedon, even as it is given by Fleury (lib. xx. 8.) One short passage may serve as a specimen. The assembly was divided into two parties : the bishops of Egypt, Illyrium, and Palestine formed one; those of the East — of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace — the other. Theodoret was obnoxious to the former party, as being suspected of the Nestorian heresy. Nevertheless, he was allowed a seat in the council by the emperor. When he took his place the Orientals cried out, " He is worthy of it." The Egyptians exclaimed, " Call him not bishop — hi; is no bishop ; expel the enemy of God — expel the Jew ! " The Orientals cried, "Expel the seditious — drive out the murderers ! " And they continued for some time to vent such exclamations on both sides. At length the magistrates inter- fered : "These popular cries are unworthy of the episcopal character, and are of 362 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. would naturally result from eager disputation on a matter of mysterious and almost impenetrable abstruseness. The subject of the labours of the Sixth Council grew out of that which occupied the third and fourth ; and while it surpassed the other in metaphysical intricacy, it presented even less prospect of any practical advantage from its decision. (3.) The matters which employed the Fifth Council were in a great measure derived from the individual opinions of Origen ; and if these should be thought by some not to have merited by their importance the cognizance of so solemn a tribunal, they had at least a greater claim on general attention than the foolish speculation of the Monothelites. (4.) The seventh and last established idolatry as the law of the Christian Church; and thus was completed the structure of Oriental orthodoxy. It rose from the most solid and sub- stantial foundation ; it advanced, by the labours of a busy but unwise generation, through the mid air and mist of metaphysics, and terminated in a still blinder age, in clear and manifest su- perstition. The same seven Councils are also received by the Roman Church, but. not as a perfect rule either of faith or discipline ; and, indeed, when we consider that they were held, without exception, in the East, on the occasion of controversies originat- ing in the East, and almost confined to it; that their deliber- ations were closely surveyed and influenced, if not directed, by the Eastern emperor ; and that the prelates who framed them were almost exclusively Orientals*, we shall be disposed, per- haps, to feel some surprise that the Western Church, with so many causes of variance with her rival, should have acquiesced so submissively in their decisions. We might also feel surprise, no use to either party— allow the paper to be read to you." The Egyptians ex- claimed, " Expel that one man only, and we will all listen ; our voice is raised for the Catholic faith," &c. * At Nice, among 318 members, three were of the Western Church ; at Con- stantinople (1.), among 150, one only ; at Ephesus, among 68, one ; at Chalce- don, among 353, three; at Constantinople (2.), among 164, six; at Constanti- nople (3.), among 56, five; and even at the last, among the 377 who assisted, we can observe no Occidentals, except the pope's legates, a very small number of Sicilian bishops, and a deputy of the bishop of Sardinia. CII. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 363 were we not accustomed to such phenomena, that the last public act of the united Greek and Latin Communions, the last which was in truth binding on the universal Church, was the establishment of the grossest practical corruption which the re- ligion has ever suffered. And we may likewise remark, that it was established solely on the authority of tradition, while it was that, of all others, for which even the traditional authority is most defective, since it cannot be traced higher than the fourth century. The edicts of the last General Council did not secure imme- diate obedience. Leo the Armenian, who reigned from 814 to 820, relapsed into the heresy of the Isaurian. He fell an early victim to conspiracy; but. his successor, Michael, fearlessly proceeded in the same difficult endeavour ; and the earnestness of his wishes and the perplexities of his situation are naturally displayed in an epistle addressed by him to the son of Charle- magne, Louis, emperor of the West. As this document throws great general light on the ecclesiastical history of that age, we shall transcribe it here. " Many of our clergy and laity, departing from the apostoli- Epistle of cal traditions, have introduced pernicious novelties. They took pt , ror J Mi- down the crosses in the churches and put images in their room, chael> before which they lighted up lamps and burned incense, ho- nouring them as the cross. They sang before them, worshipped them, and implored their succour. Many dressed the female images with robes, and made them stand godmothers to their children. They offered up hair to them when they cut it off for the first time. Some Presbyters scratched off the paint from the images and mixed it with the holy Eucharist, and gave it in the communion. Others put the body of the Lord into the hands* of the images, and made the communicants take it out thence. Others used boards with pictures painted on them, in- stead of an altar, on which they consecrated the elements ; and * Thus it appears that the distinction at present so broadly drawn by the Greek Church between the worship of painted and of graven images did not then exist. The distinction is, indeed, very old in the writings of the Church; but it is probable that it was not practically introduced until after the Mahometan con- quest. 364 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XI. many such-like abuses were committed. Therefore, the ortho- dox emperors and the most learned bishops, assembled in council, have forbidden these enormities, and have removed the images to higher places in the church, where they stood for- merly, and when they were not worshipped, as they have been of late, by ignorant people. "Some of the complainers are gone to Rome to calumniate us there ; but we are orthodox ; we believe the Trinity, one God in three persons, the incarnation of the Word, his two wills and two operations ; we implore the intercession of the Holy Virgin, the mother of God, and of all the Saints ; we re- verence their relics ; we receive all the apostolical traditions and the decrees of the six Councils*." The spirit of appeal and justification, in which the above epistle is conceived, indicates the weakness of a falling cause ; and so, indeed, it proved ; for in the year 842 the Empress Theodora re-established the authority of the Seventh Council, Final a nd replaced the images with so firm a hand, that they have the I mages, never since been shaken. In celebration of this achievement, a 842, a. d. new festival was instituted under the name of the "Feast of Orthodoxy " f , and the most riotous enthusiasm generally attended the proclamation of idolatry. The malice of historians has not failed to observe, that as the first success over the reviving reason and religion had been ob- tained under the auspices of Irene ; so the second and mortal wound was inflicted by the rashness of a second woman J. The * See Jortin, Eccl. Hist, ad ann. 814. From this concluding confession we ohserve how many were the ahustis to which even a reformer of the Church felt obliged to publish his adhesion. f There seems some reason to believe that this feast was not established until after the Council which was assembled by Photius, in 879, in further confirmation of idolatry. I In favour at least of the consistency of that sex, we must mention that it declared itself for idolatry from the very commencement of the contest, and very strongly too, as will be seen. Leo the Isaurian began his enterprize by an attack upon a very celebrated image of Jesus Christ, called the Antiphonetes, or Re- spondent ; and he despatched one of his officers, named Jovinus, to break it down. Several women who were present endeavoured to avert his design by their suppli- cations ; but Jovinus, nothing moved by them, ascended a ladder and dealt some severe blows on the image. On this the women became furious; they pulled inascenus. CH. XI.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 365 charge is true and remarkable ; but the strenuous and system- atic exertions of a long succession of Popes in the same cause will easily excuse the blindness of two empresses. Indeed, a general view of history rather tends to raise our astonishment, that so many princes were found wise and bold enough to stem the popular torrent. But this attempt at reformation commenced so late, and under circumstances so unfavourable, that even another century of judicious exertion, continued without pause or vacillation, might scarcely have sufficed for its success. We shall conclude the chapter with a few additional remarks John Da- on this controversy. The best writer in the Eastern Church during this most critical period in its history, — indeed, the only writer of any reputation even in his own day, — was John Da- mascene; and with his name the long list of Greek Fathers may probably be said to terminate. He was a monk, and contempo- rary with Leo the Isaurian, against whom he vented his indig- nation with great impunity, as his ordinary residence was the monastery of St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, beyond the limits of .he imperial control. His laborious and subtile works (of which the principal are " Four Books concerning the Orthodox Faith," and " Sacred Parallels") are tainted by the infection of the Aristotelian philosophy, and by a strong superstitious tendency ; and therefore we are not surprised to observe that his eloquence and influence were zealously engaged in the de- fence of images*. He possessed considerable learning ; and his sophistry, no less than his authority, may really have blinded the reason of some, while many more would nourish under the shelter of his name a previous inclination to idolatryf. down the ladder, massacred the officer on the spot, and tore him in pieces. The image fell notwithstanding, and the women were led away to execution. * He condescends to appeal to the authority of older fathers in his defence of images — to that of B.isil, Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Anastasius of Antioch, and others. But we believe that he has not even affected to advance any name of higher antiquity than the fourth century — not, by the way, that his cause would have been much better if he had. lie was anathematized by the Iconoclast Council iu 754. f Theodore Studites, a monk and abbot, has acquired great reputation in the history of the Eastern Church by his obstinate defence of the orthodox practice, chiefly during the second contest. Exile was the punishment of his zeal, and severer punishment was very seldom, if ever, inflicted on the contumacious. 866 I BISTOKI OF TUT. CHURCH. [CH. XI. We believe it to be true, that of the miracles which are re corded to have abundantly signalised this prolonged dispute, the verj great proportion, if not the whole, were performed by the friends of the idols, — a fact which, while it proves the higher principles of the other party, will also assist in accounting for their unpopularity, ["he people in the Fast were not, indeed, at this time so stupid and unenlightened as the serfs of the Western Empire j but they were by nature more disposed to fanaticism : they were familiar, through long habits of decep- tion, with preternatural appearances, and disposed, by a con- trolling imaginal dulity. I : o* The Bishops, and. in general, the secular clergy of the Eas ppear to have taken no violent pan in the contest. Indeed, *• 53 : we are persuaded that that numerous body contained many pious and rational individuals, who were shocked by I gra- dation of Chris - and human nature, and who watched with an anxious eye the ei ars which were made to remove it. But such chai s, which gthel st of the sacred profession, are seldom bus} or ambitious; and the anxiety of - excellent men may have been often confined to their own bosoms, or at least to the narrow limits of their diocese. Qa the other hand, the monastic orders have t< g ..'rally thrown discredit on their origin by their alliance with impurity and im- posture. And thus in the present instance, they were furious advocates for a system so necessary to their influence and their avarice; and it is chiefly, no doubt, to their pers< e that we are to attribute the evil result of the conflict .0 peo- The common people, partly from a natural tendency to a sen- re: sible worship, partly from the inveteracy < g habit, were Strongly disposed to the same ad that disposition was effectually improved by the monks, wl ershowof austerity, had th g st hold upon their minds. Nor is the circumstance to be slightly noticed, that the contest in this case wasforaninl _ visible object. Unlike the metaphy- sical intricacies of some former controversies, it carried a direct appeal to the understanding of the vulgar, because its subject was the subject of their senses. It' they positively worshipped the image, its destruction deprived them of their god; and e\ cn, Xi.] A HISTORY 01 '/in. CHURCH. ''''7 where the worship was only relative, it was extreme to per uade themthat, in parting with the symbol of their faith, uiih the book of their religion, they were rashly casting away religion ii elf. Their enthusiasm was heated by false miracles; and when we think of the violence which the populace of the East were wont to exhibit even al their public rpectacl< s,in the frivolous contests of the Hippodrome, we shall understand to whal exce <- they might be hurried by the agitation of i gioui < xcitement. The Papal Chair perseveringly supported the can e of super' of the Bi- stition; and this, perhaps, is the first occasion on which the j!^',' ,f close alliance of principle between the Pope and the monastic orders di played it elf. The Pope** legates were present at the I;, t General Council, and his Italian clergy appear to have given him rery cordial a i tance. Not bo the more rational Prelates of France. f.< awed by the presence of the spiritual director, more so by the dictates of re* ! piety, they established, fthe under the guidance of Charlemagne*, ■ e< ry broad distinction JJJJJ i between positive and relative worship; and without entirely disclaiming the authority of th - Council, they endea- voured to obviate, aa much as possible, the . practical evil which din-ctly flowed from it. Thi difference in the conduct of the French and Italian Churches on so great a qu< stion i a facl of otiic importance in history ;»nd deserving of attentive notice; and it is bu1 justice to our own anc asto the German divines of the age, to admil thai they generally endeavoured to follow the same difficull course. But their resistance was not long effectual, nor indeed could it reasonably expect success ; because, by permitting the use of images ^nd their presence in the congregations of the converts, they made that, firsl concession to error, of which all the ol re re- mote, perhaps, hut necessary queno * The Council of Francfort, whose deli . were held under the eye ot that monarch, .deed, somewhat farther than this, and, tho igh it permitted the images to remain, forbade ai f Dupin (Nout. Bibl. on second Council of tori- col view of the subject of usage-worship. He ■ it, during the t ages and the beginning of the fourth, images were very rare among Christians; ( 3GS ) CHAPTER XII. On the Schism between the Greek and Latin Churches. Preliminary considerations— Political causes— Ecclesiastical— Origin of the Dis- pute — Dignity and jurisdiction of the See of Constantinople — Council of Chal- cedon — Ambition of the Patriarch — Oriental dissensions — profitable to the p pe_Popish legate at Constantinople — Disputes between the two Sees — Title of (Ecumenical Bishop assumed by John the Faster — Opposition of Gre- gory the Great — Emperor Phocas — Limits of papal influence in Greece — Ground of controversy changed — Procession of the Holy Spirit — the original doctrine — Process of the change — Spain — France— Charlemagne — Moderation of Pope Leo III. — Perseverance of the Greeks — Forgery of the Latins — the Patriarch Photius — his character— his excommunication of Pope Nicholas I. — Five heresies charged on the Roman Church — Transfer of several provinces from papal to patriarchal jurisdiction — Bulgaria — Dissensions of the Greeks — Fortuues of Photius — Connexion of Rome with Greek parties — defeat of the designs of the former — Subsequent differences — Michael Cerularius — Ana- thema of Leo IX. by his legates at Constantinople. We have so frequently had occasion, especially in our later pages, to distinguish between the conduct and character of the Greek and Roman Churches, that it, becomes necessary to enter still farther into the causes of this distinction, and to trace the differences which had for some time disturbed their har- mony, and which ended in their entire separation. In so doing, we must, in the first place, be careful not to confound the division of the churches with that of the empires ; for the former, in fact, did not take place until more than a century after the final alienation of the ecclesiastical States from the sceptre of Leo the I saurian. Nor, on the other hand, should we be that towards the end of the fifth, pictures and images made their appearance, chiefly in the East, and became common in the sixth ; they represented combats of mar- tyrs and other sacred stories, for the instruction of those who were unable to read. The simple vulgar were touched by these representations ; and when they beheld the Saints so vividly, and, as it were, bodily presented to them, they could not prevent themselves from testifying, by exterior signs, the esteem, the respect, and the veneration which they felt for them. Thus the worship of images insensibly established itself, and it was still further confirmed by the miracles which were attributed to them. CH. XII.J A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 369 correct in considering these events as perfectly unconnected. Doubtless, political causes had great influence both in opening and widening the spiritual breach. The division of the empire Causes of under Arcadius and Honorius, though not immediately affect- b et W een C " in cr the unity of the church, operated indirectly to its dis- the two turbance by weakening the bonds of connexion and destroying the complete community of interests which more naturally sub- sists under a single government. Again, the circumstance, that the seat of the Western Empire was removed from Rome to Ravenna, communicated that sort of independence to the Ro- man Bishop, which though it conferred not, in fact,-any tempo- ral authority, failed not to give nourishment to his pride and some countenance to his general claims of supremacy. A further alienation was necessarily occasioned by the barbarian conquest, of the West; because this event not only annihilated the former relations and the reciprocal dependence of the two empires, but also produced a great and rapid change in the character of the Western clergy, and even in the principles of the Church. Lastly, the common violence and mutual insults of Leo the Isaurian and Pope Gregory II., the civil war which broke out between them, the complete triumph of the latter, and the con- sequent transfer of certain jurisdictions in Sicily and the South of Italy from the Roman to the Const antinopolitan See, greatly tended to weaken the spirit which had hitherto identified the Churches, and to remove any notion of their inseparability. These are some of the political causes which undoubtedly pre- pared the way for the grand schism, and contributed to acce- lerate and inflame it. But there are others, of a nature purely ecclesiastical, to which it. is more usually ascribed, and which had doubtless the principal share in its accomplishment. The earliest recorded difference between the Churches was that already noticed by us, respecting the celebration of Easter; and we also remarked the tone of authority which the Bishop of the imperial city arrogated even in those days : but their connexion, and even their harmony, was not seriously endan- gered by that dispute; nor, indeed, can we trace the origin of the fatal controversy with any certainty to an earlier period than the fifth century. On the foundation of the new capital at. vol. i. 2 B 370 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XII. Byzantium, the Bishop was, of course, invested with some power and dignity, which gradually increased, through the con- sent or the neglect of the immediate successors of Constantine ; however, the superior rank and precedence of the Roman Pon- tiff was not yet disputed. But in the beginning of the fifth century the spiritual jurisdiction of the See of Constantinople was much more widely extended : it then comprehended Asia, Thrace, and Pontus, and advanced on the west within the con- TheCoun- fines of Illyricum; and, in 451, the Council of Chalcedon not cedon * ' on ty confirmed that jurisdiction, but conferred on the Bishop 451, a. d. of Constantinople the same honours and privileges which were already possessed by that of Rome : the equality of the Pontiffs was justified by the equal dignity and lustre of the two capitals. The legates of Leo the Great were present, and had consider- able influence in that council ; but neither their exertions, nor those of the Pope himself, were able to prevent this affront to his dignity. Having attained so elevated a situation, the pa- triarch very soon proceeded to exalt himself still higher. The method which he took to extend his authority was, to humble, if possible, his brethren of Antioch and Alexandria*; and thus the same ambition was found to pursue the same course at Con- stantinople as at Rome. But there it was liable to severer mortifications and more effectual control from the immediate presence of the Emperor, from his power and supremacy, and his habitual interference in church affairs. Again, the grasping ambition of the patriarch, and the dis- sensions which, from other causes no less than from that, so continually disturbed the Oriental Church, were productive of great influence to the Pope, not only through the positive weakness occasioned to that Church by such divisions, but chiefly because the injured or discontented party very gene- rally made its appeal to the Roman See, where it met with most willing and partial attention. We may recollect that Athanasius, when persecuted in the East, fled to the Western Church for refuge ; and this example was not lost on those * It was not till a little before this time that Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, usurped the title of patriarch, which, however, was confirmed to him byTheodosius the YouiiLrer. CH. XII.] A HISTORY OF THE: CHURCH. 371 who thought themselves aggrieved in after-ages. It is true that Roman interference was, on every occasion, indignantly rejected by the rival Pontiff; nevertheless, the habit of inter- posing would lead many to imagine that it was founded on some indefinite, unacknowledged right ; and disaffection was encouraged in the East by the certainty of a powerful pro- tector. Very soon after the Council of Chaleedon, Leo appointed a Pope's Le- resident legate at Constantinople to watch over the papal in- 8 tercsts, and to communicate witli the Vatican on matters of spiritual importance. That useful privilege, as we have already seen, was not abandoned by succeeding popes : and those ec- clesiastical ambassadors, or ( Correspondents,' continued for some time to represent the papal chair in the eastern capital. For the next hundred and thirty years, the disputes respect- ing the equality of the two Sees, as well as the limits of their jurisdiction, were carried on with little interruption perhaps, but with little violence. But in 588, at a Synod called at Title of Constantinople respecting the conduct of a patriarch of Antioch, j3j s i 10 ' John, surnamed the Faster, who was then Primate of the East, 588, a.d. adopted, as we have observed, the title of CEcumenical, or Uni- versal Bishop. It appears that this title had been conferred on the patriarchs by the emperors Leo and Justinian, without any accession of power ; nor was it, in fact, understood to indi- cate any claim to supremacy beyond the limits of the Eastern Church. But Gregory could not brook such presumption in an Eastern Prelate, and used every endeavour to deprive his rival of the obnoxious title, and at the same time to establish his own superiority. He failed in both these attempts — at least his success in the latter was confined to the Western clergy, and to the interested and precarious assent of the dis- contented subjects of the Eastern Church. The quarrel proceeded during the seventh century, and Roman Catholic writers confidently assert that the Emperor Phocas (a sanguinary usurper), through the influence of Pope Boniface III., transferred the disputed title from the Greek to the Roman Pontiff'. It seems probable that he acknowledged the pre-eminence of the latter — and early usage justified him 2 b 2 372 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XII. in so doing — without at all derogating from the independence of the former. But the alliance of the Eastern Emperor with a foreign Bishop against his own patriarch could not possibly be of long duration ; and, accordingly, throughout the contro- versy about images (which presently followed) we find the Pope in direct and open opposition to the Emperor and to the power- fid party in his Church which favoured him. On the other hand, the ecclesiastical orders in the East were so widely and passionately divided on the subject of this dis- pute, and the hopes of the weaker and more violent party were obliged for so many years to fix themselves on Rome, that the Pope must again have acquired great influence in that quarter. It, was great, but it was temporary only ; for the popular pre- judice, especially in Greece itself, was still strong and general against any acknowledgment of papal supremacy, and the na- tional vanity was still jealous of the name and ascendancy of Rome. And thus the actual influence of the Pope was gene- rally confined to those, who stood in need of his assistance, and seldom survived the crisis during which they needed it. Thus far the disputes between the Pope and the Patriarch were confined almost entirely to the question of supremacy in the Universal Church, pertinaciously claimed by the one, and perseveringly refused by the other ; and to this difference we need not doubt that a great proportion of the violence which disgraced the controversy may be ascribed. But during the eighth century, the contention assumed a different aspect, and took a ground and character less discreditable to either party. Difference According to the original creed of the Latin, as well as of theX^'iJe tne Greek Church, the Holy Spirit was believed to proceed Pi-ocesslon.yVom the Father only ; and the question, though of great theo- logical importance, does not appear to have been generally in- vestigated until the eighth century — at least to that period we must refer the origin of the controversy respecting it. It is true that the change in the established doctrine was first intro- duced into the Church of Spain *, an event which must have * Baronius asserts, that the wonls Fi/ioque were first added by the Council of Toledo, by the authority of Pope Leo J., about the year 447 ; but he confesses that the doctrine was not expressly received by the Roman Church until some ages afterwards. CH. XII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 373 taken place before the Mahometan conquest. Thence it pro- ceeded into France, and in the year 767 it was agitated in the Council of Gentilli, near Paris ; it then received the assent, of the French clergy. Soon afterwards, it was warmly advocated by Charlemagne himself; and in the year 809, at the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle * Pope Leo III. acknowledged the truth of the doctrine, but still objected to making it an article of faith; observing, with great reason, 'that everv doctrine which is true should not, for that reason, be inserted in a creed :' nevertheless, as it had previously obtained place in the Latin creeds, his authority, or his inclination, was not sufficiently strong to effect its general erasure. It was maintained in France, and its rejection by Rome was feeble and temporary. But the Greeks obstinately adhered to their original faith, as established by the Council of Constantinople ; and what gave them great advantage in the subsequent controversy was, that their adversaries had begun the contest by abandoning the de- fensible ground of argument: they forgot the authority of scripture, and look refuge under a falsified copy of the Canons of that Council, into which (through that obtuse craft which becomes a principle in ignorant ages) the words Filioque (and the Son) had been interpolated. The fraud was instantly de- tected, and the homage, which they had thus reluctantly of- fered to the Council in question, was converted into a conclu- sive argument by an adversary, who rested his own faith on no better ground than its antiquity. A controversy conducted on such principles could hope for no rational discussion, nor any friendly termination : its only effect was to inflame the enmity already too hotly kindled, and 1o accelerate the certain hour of separation. This consumma- tion was presently secured by the promotion of a very extraor- dinary person to the patriarchal throne. In the year 853, Photius, Photius f, a layman of splendid talents, unusual extent of eru- A.D. * Fleury, Hist. Eccl. liv. xlv. sect. 48, Concil. Tom. vii. The Pope defended his opinion by the argument, that two General Councils, that of Chalcedon and the Fifth, had forbidden any addition to the creed. f " Photius, than whom Greece, the parent of so much genius, has never pro- duced, perhaps, a more accomplished man, is singularly recommended by talents applicable to every object, sound judgment, extreme acuteness, infinite reading, 374 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XII. dition both secular and theological, and unimpeachable moral character, was raised to that dignity by the Emperor Michael, who, with that view, removed and banished the actual bishop, Ignatius. The exile appealed to Rome. And if the jealousy of the Vatican was excited by the splendid reputation of the new patriarch, its anxiety might also be awakened by his am- bitious and fearless character : therefore Pope Nicholas I.> who was as proud and aspiring as his rival, listened to the appeal, and eagerly espoused the cause of Ignatius. He as- sembled a Council at Rome * in 862, in which he pronounced the election of Photius illegal, and excommunicated him with all his abettors. The patriarch was not much disturbed by this violence, and four years afterwards, in a Council summoned at Constantinople, he retorted the anathemas of his rival, pro- nounced his deposition, and removed him from the communion of all Christians. Five direct Photius justified this extremely bold measure by a circular heresies . charged on letter addressed to his brother patriarchs, in which, besides the Church sonie strong reflections on other grievances, he charged the of Koine. & b . to Roman Church with five direct heresies. We shall here enu- merate them, both that we may more clearly show what were held to be the principal points on which the Churches were di- vided, and also that we may observe how low the malevolence of controversy will sometimes condescend 1o stoop: 1. That the Romans fasted on the Sabbath, or seventh day of the week; 2. That in the first week of Lent they permitted the use of milk and cheese; 3. That they prohibited their priests to marry, and separated from their wives such as were married when they went into orders; 4. That, they authorized the Bishops alone to anoint baptized persons with the holy chrism, withholding that power from Presbyters ; 5. That they had interpolated the creed of Constantinople by the insertion of the incredible diligence. He had held nearly all the offices of state, he had thoroughly investigated all the records of the Church; in his Bibliotheca alone, still extant, he has brought together nearly two hmidred and eighty writers, chiefly ecclesias- tical, which he has studied, reviewed, anil abstracted, and pronounced a most accurate judgment on their arguments, style, fidelity, authority.' Cave ap. Jor- tin, A.D. 86 i. * Mosheim, cent. ix. p. ii.j c. iii. CH. XII. J A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 375 words Filioque, and held the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son as well as the Father. These charges, and the consequent recriminations, embittered Disputed as they also were hy national animosity, had, of course, n <>risSdion" other effect than to exasperate the violence of both parties; but. we should be mistaken if we were wholly to attribute that fury to the differences either in doctrine or discipline. Its deepest motive is, perhaps, to be traced to another source. The empe- ror, with the assistance, and probably through the influence, of his ambitious Primate, had lately and definitively withdrawn from the papal jurisdiction various provinces to the east of the Adriatic, Illyricum, Macedonia, Epirus, Achaia, Thessaly, and either transferred them to the patriarch, or (for the point is disputed) confirmed his previous authority over them ; and this, indeed, was an ecclesiastical offence of a description little calculated to find forgiveness at Rome. Moreover, it happened that this sensible injury was immediately succeeded by another of the same nature. The heathen inhabitants of Bulgaria, a province of the Eastern Empire not far distant from Constantinople, had very lately been converted to Christianity by Greek missionaries ; or, if it be admitted that some very imperfect efforts had been previously made there by the emis- saries of Charlemagne, the Greeks at least had the merit of completing the spiritual conquest * : consequently, Photius placed Bulgaria under his own jurisdiction ; nor will the im- partial historian blame that prelate for his endeavour to make the limits of the Church co-extensive with those of the empire, and to repel the intrusive invasions of Rome. But the influence of the pope was still maintained, and nourished by the dissensions of the Greeks ; and the flame of controversy had not at all abated, when Basilius, the Mace- donian, on his accession to the throne, deposed Photius, and restored Ignatius to his former dignity. This act was confirmed * It appears, indeed, from Roman Catholic historians, that the Pope main- tained a sort of communication with the Bulgarians, by means of missionaries, and that their King actually sent his son to Rome in acknowledgment (as thoso assert) of spiritual obedience. The utmost that can he truly alleged is, that the field, which both parties had exerted themselves to cultivate, was the subject of equal claims. 376 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XII. by a council assembled at Constantinople in 869, in which the papal legates had great influence, and which the Roman Eighth Church still acknowledges as the Eighth General Council. In General §73 Photius was recalled, and in 886 again deposed; but Council of . . . „ . „ the Roman neither his recall nor his deposition had the eticct ot conferring ?'n Ulch ' on the papal chair the jurisdiction for which it had struggled Su'J, a.d. r 1 J oo so pertinaciously. And, indeed, we may again observe, that throughout her long succession of interferences in the religious affairs of Greece, Rome has, on no occasion, gained any sub- stantial or permanent advantage. In fact, even at the moment when she seemed to be playing her part most artfully, she was little more than a tool in the more artful hands of a Greek party, who flattered her as long as their own interests required her support, but were always ready to reject her intervention when they required it no longer. Dispute be- We might have closed the account of this controversy with nihuius L ' the mutual excommunications of Photius and Nicholas: indeed and Pope t } ie sc hism did properly commence at that period ; and though the popes continued to prosecute, through the two succeeding centuries, their unsuccessful schemes of ambition, they produced little mischief, and have, consequently, little attracted the notice of history. About the middle of the eleventh century the attention of Rome seems to have been particularly directed to the reduction of the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch under its own supremacy. While the pontiffs were contending for authority, the Churches were debating with extreme ardour a point of difference posterior in origin to the time of Photius, viz. whether the bread used at the Eucharist should be leavened or unleavened ? The Greek clergy held the former opinion, and objected the latter to the Latins as an unpardonable error*. Michael Cerularius, a man of lofty, perhaps turbulent spirit, was at that time patriarch ; and after some angry correspond- ence between him and Pope Leo IX., the latter pronounced at Rome the sentence of excommunication. Nevertheless, his * Some other abuses are also imputed to them by Cerularius, and they are among the most frivolous which could have been selected out of the long and dark list of their corruptions — a proof that the spirit of the Greek Church in that age was as far from the true comprehension of Christianity, as that of its rival. CH.X1I.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 377 legates were invited to Constantinople with a view to heal the schism ; there they asserted some insolent claims, which Ceru- larius indignantly rejected. As the deliberations continued, the differences grew deeper and wider, and at length the legates in the heart of Constantinople, in the church of St. Sophia, publicly excommunicated the patriarch and all his adherents. Excommu- They then solemnly deposited the written act of their anathema the Greek on the grand altar of the temple, and, having shaken off the PqVJ^' dust from their feet, departed. This event took place in 1054, and confirmed and consum- mated the separation; and though some degree of friendly intercourse has been occasionally resumed since that time, as political rather than religious exigencies have required it, the imputed errors of the Greeks (of which the most offensive was their independence) have never been seriously retracted by their Church, nor ever pardoned by its rival. ( 378 ) CHAPTER XIII. I. Review of the ante-Nicene Church — Its construction and government — its real character and utility — Doctrines and heresies — moral excellences — Origin of various abuses — Early false miracles — their nature and object — Exorcism — Literary forgeries — Distinction of the converts — mysteries — Original Sacra- ments — their gradual corruption — Reverence for martyrs — celebration of their nativities — Prayers and offerings for the dead — Fasts, occasional and general Certain terms and usages borrowed from Jewish and Pagan systems — On the remains and distinctions of the ancient liturgies — Inferences — the ante- Nicene Church had imperfections which might easily have been remedied. — II. From Conslantine to Gregory the Great — (1.) Some particular innovations — Celibacy of the Clergy— practices of the Eastern and Western Churches — Gregory I. and VII.— Relaxation of penitential discipline— Purgatory— Use and consequent worship of images— (2.) The Church in connexion with the State—Origin of distinction between temporal and spiritual power — sources of ecclesiastical power and influence — increased authority of the Church — abuse of civil power for spiritual purposes— (3.) Internal government of the Church — decrease of popular, increase of episcopal, power— causes of this change— Ele- ments of the pupal system — the most ohvious causes of its rise and progress. — III. From Gregory to Charlemagne — Differences between the Eastern and Western Churches — Further growth of episcopal authority in the latter — Further exaltation of the See of Rome — The Athanasian creed — IV. Jurisdiction ond immunities of the Clergy — Arbitration of ancient bishops— confirmed by Constantine— enlarged by Justinian— Great extent of privilege conferred by Charlemagne— his probable motives— the false decretals — Donation of Con- stantine their objects and effects. — V. Revenues of the Church— Oblations — fixed property — Donations — various descriptions and objects of — other sources of wealth — Early distribution and application of ecclesiastical funds — Payment and establishment of tithes— Various advantages conferred upon the world by the Church during the ages preceding Charlemagne. We shall depart from that important position in our history, which is occupied by the acts of Charlemagne, with a clearer view of their nature and a better comprehension of the character of the Roman Church, if we previously throw even a hasty retro- spect over some portion of the path which we have traced ; and thus, after retouching some parts which may not have been sufficiently illustrated, we shall complete the account which we propose to give of the first eight centuries of the Church. Some particulars will also be introduced, of which all mention has purposely been deferred till this occasion, in order to bring them into contact with those more remarkable events to which they are allied in principle, though separated by time or other CH. XIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 379 circumstances. We shall commence this review from the earliest ages. I. The primitive assemblies (lnyXriaiai) of the converts were The ante- N ICO 116 called Churches. These, in the first instance, were scattered, church. as the religion spread itself, in perfect equality and independ- ence, and their affairs were, for the most part, regulated hy a body of presbyters, who acted with the consent of the people, and under the guidance of the Apostles. This form of govern- ment was, to a certain extent, modelled on that of the Jewish Earliest synagogues, and it was natural that it should be so ; since verumen t." most of the first converts were Jews; since Christ himself had not laid down any general rules of ecclesiastical polity ; and since his apostles were more intent on enlarging the numbers of the believers, and informing their piety, than on constructing partial laws for the external constitution of a society, which was destined to comprehend every race and variety of man. Over two at least among the original Churches presidents were apostolically appointed under the name of bishops ; and presently, as the apostles were gradually withdrawn, all the principal Churches, respecting which we have any express * information, elected for themselves superintendents under the same name. That custom prevailed very commonly even before the death of St. John, and became almost universal be- fore the end of the first century: still, for a certain time longer, the various Churches continued to conduct their own affairs without any mutual dependence, and with little other corre- spondence than that of counsel and charity ; and the bishop, in almost all matters, acted in concert with the presbytery in the internal administration of each. Thus, in the unsettled constitution of the primitive Church, we may observe the elements of threef forms of government * We refer to the note at the end of Chapter II. The first bishops were in many instances appointed by the apostles : their successors were chosen by the people ; and this practice continued. The following is a curious passage (in Cy- prian's 6Sth Epistle), and should be cited :— " Propter quod plebs, obsecpiens prseceptis Dominicis et Deum metuens, a peccatore prseposito separare se debet, nee se ad sacrilegi sacerdotis sacrificia miscere— quando ipsa maxime potesta- tem habeat vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes, vel indignos recusandi." f Perhaps we might even say four— at least those, who maintain the sufficiency of the occasional and spontaneous exhortation of any zealous member of any con- 380 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. subsisting under apostolical direction, the Episcopal, the Pres- byterian, and the Independent. But of these the second scarcely survived the departure of the inspired directors, and immedi- ately subsided into a limited episcopacy ; and the third, though it continued somewhat, longer, so coalesced with the other two, that the greater part, if not. the whole, of the Independent Churches, during the first half of the second century, were ruled by a bishop and a presbytery : that is to say, the various societies which constituted the body of Christendom were so ruled, though as yet they exercised no control over each other. In a very short time, as new circumstances rapidly sprang up, it was found necessary for the common interest to facilitate a more general communication between societies, which, though separate in government, were united by far more powerful ties. This was most, reasonably accomplished by the assembling of Councils or occasional councils, called synods, composed for the most part Synods. f bishops, each of whom represented his own Church, and acknowledged no superiority of power or rank in any of his brethren. These associations of Churches cannot be traced to the first century ; but before the time of Tertullian* they were common and extensive, at least in Greece, and the custom rapidly spread over every part of Christendom. The rules or canons enacted by these synods were received as laws of the Church throughout the province which had sent its deputies to the meeting ; they were frequently published and communi- cated to other provinces; and the correspondence and co-opera- tion, thus created, united, in a certain measure, the Avhole body, and combined the many scattered Churches into that one, which, even in those early days, was called the Catholic f Church. But from this description we observe both the inde- pendent equality of the members composing it, and also, that it had no acknowledged chief or head. For though the metro- politans might assume, each in his own province, some supe- riority in rank, perhaps even in authority, yet these among gregation for spiritual instruction, also seek their authority in the partial and transient practice of the Primitive Church. * De Jejuniis. — "Aguntur per Groecias'illa in locis concilia ex universis ecclesiis, per quae et altiora quaeque in commune tractantur, et ipsa repreeseutatio totius nominisChristiani magna veneratione celebratur." f See Bingham, Antiq. b. i , c i., sect. 7. CH. XIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 381 themselves were equal, and their precedence and power were strictly confined to their own district. The principal bond, which united the original Catholic The origi- Church, was the possession of a common canon or catalogue ol j^ cimrch" sacred hooks ; and thus, when everywhere tried by the same test, the opinions which might he stigmatized as heretical by any one of the Churches were, for the same reason, condemned by the universal Church ; and the spiritual delinquents, who were removed from communion by a part of the Catholic body, were consequently repudiated by the whole. It is true, that those who combined and directed this external system of Catho- licism were the ecclesiastical ministers, and chiefly the Bishops: it is also true, that the influence of all these over the people, and the power of the latter in the government of their dioceses, were augmented beyond their original moderation by the cir- cumstances, which led the clergy to so general a co-operation. But, on the other hand, it is extremely doubtful whether, with- out such a confederation, the faith itself, loosely scattered over so broad a space, coidd have withstood the various tempests which were levelled against it; and it certainly was not possible that any general confederation could have been formed amono- the Churches, unless by the exertions of their directors — and those, too, in each instance invested with some personal autho- rity. So that, if there are any who inveigh against the original Catholic Church as the first corruption of Christianity, and the parent of all that have followed, they do not sufficiently consider either the simple objects and character of that Church, or the perilous circumstances under which it coalesced, and combined many defenceless members into one powerful body. Under any circumstances, a close association and unity among religious societies, possessing the same canon of faith and the same form of administration, would have been natural and de- sirable; but, under the pressure of common danger and cala- mity, it was not. only reasonable, but necessary. Sender* considers it to have been the worst consequence of the formation of the early Church as a single body, that it re- strained the liberty of individual judgment, or what he calls in- * Obscrvationes Novoe in Historian* iii. primorum ssculorum. 382 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. ternal religion; that it imposed certain rules, both of doctrine and discipline, upon the more ignorant and worldly Christians, and discouraged any laxity, or, as he would say, freedom, of interpretation or practice. And on that principle he exalts the character of the bolder and more mystical writers, Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen, who were notpartizans of the Church, at the expense of Tertullian, Cyprian, and others, and praises the independence of the heretics in thinking and reasoning for themselves. We are not, however, able to discover that the expositions of Scripture contained in the Alexandrian, are, upon the whole, more sound and rational than those of the Cartha- ginian, Fathers, while they certainly abound with many fanci- ful extravagances from which the latter are free ; and we have shown that the tenets of many of the early heretics were incal- culably remote from the precincts of reason and Scripture. At the same time we are willing to agree with Semler, that it were better far for religion to endure all those irregular absurdi- ties, than to support the Unity of the Church as it was pro- claimed in the Roman Catholic sense, and as it was upheld by execution and massacre. But it cannot be asserted that the papal system was the necessary offspring of the early Catholic Church; for, if so, it would have arisen in the Eastern as surely as in the Western communion. The worst principles of that system proceeded from causes posterior far to the second century ; and the union of the religious societies, which at that time constituted the Church, was, in our opinion, an instrument in God's hands both for the preservation of sound doctrine amidst the numerous and irrational deviations of heresy, and also for the association of the faithful in discipline, and in de- voted resistance to the attacks of persecution. The ante- The writings of the ante-Nicene fathers contain all the most important doctrines of Christianity ; but we should vainly search those books for a complete and consistent system of theology. In fact, their writers did not commonly handle the dogmas of faith, unless with a view to the confutation of some new or pre- valent heresy*. Thus their arguments were usually directed * " C'est la matiere de tous les Sermons des Peres la morale et les heresies du terns. Sans cette clef souvent on ne les entend pas ; ou du moins on ne les Nicene Fa triers. CH. XIII. ] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 383 to a. particular purpose, and addressed to the views and prejudices of the time or place in which they were published. Many of them were uninstructed in the art of reasoning, and almost all were, in some degree, infected either with the narrow spirit of Judaism, or the loose and speculative genius of philo- sophy ; so that, in correcting the errors of others, they often de- viated very widely from sense and truth themselves *. Those controversies, however, though not always conducted with be- coming moderation, were not, perhaps, without their use even in those days ; since they warmed the zeal and animated the industry of the parties, without endangering their personal security. And to us their retrospect may bring some increase of charity, if the consideration of the very broad and essential points, on which they turned, should haply lead us to attach less weight to those less momentous differences, which have raised such heats in later times, and which even yet have not entirely lost their bitterness. It, is certain that a very important moral improvement was Morality of immediately introduced by Christianity, wheresoever it gained christians, footing. The earliest societies of the converts furnished an ex- ample of rigid, but simple and unaffected piety, to which the his- tory of man cannot, perhaps, produce any parallel; and even in the following century we need not hesitate to assert the incom- parable superiority of the Christians over their Pagan contem- poraries : the principles of their religion, the severity of their dis- cipline, the peculiarity of their civil condition, confirm the evi- dence which assures us that such was the fact. But the golden a days of Christianity were confined to its infancy; and it is a great delusion to imagine that its perfect integrity continued through- out the whole period of its persecution, or to refer indiscrimi- nately to the history of the first three centuries for a model of peut goiiter. Et c'est encore uneutilite considerable de l'Histoire Ecclesiastique. Car quand on scait les heresies qui re'gnoient en chaque terns et en chaque pais on vort pourquoi les peres revenoient toujours a certains points de doctrine.'" Floury, Disc. 1. snr 1'IIist. Eccles., s. xiv. ::: Even Irenseus, almost the earliest among them, is not exempt from this charge: his errors are enumerated by Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth., Vie S. Irenee, vol. i. p. 73. 384 A HISTORY OK THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. Evangelical purity. We must also be careful not to exaggerate the merits of the early Church, nor to extenuate the abuses which it certainly admitted, nor to exculpate the ministers who created or encouraged them. The anti- So far, indeed, are we from any such intention, that we con- q<"ty of sid er the present as a proper opportunity to examine with more abuses. specific notice the innovations which successively appeared, either in doctrine or discipline: that we may ascribe to its proper age each of the several abuses which at length combined to deform the structure of the Catholic Church ; and that we may perceive how gradual was their growth, and how deep and ancient the root from which many of them proceeded. That to which we shall first recall the reader's attention (for there are few, if any, of which some mention has not already been made) is the claim to miraculous power, as inherent in the Church, which was asserted by several among the early Christians, from Justin Martyr downwards, and asserted (as evidence and reason have persuaded us*) without any The mira- truth. According to the Apologists, and other writers of the ~u;°™ f >r second and third centuries, the sick were commonly healed, ( Kill lis 111 the early the dead were raised y, and evil spirits cast out, through the Church. * See Chapter II. f The following is part of the celebrated testimony of Irenanis (lib. ii. cap. 31 or 57), as cited by Eusebius (lib. v. cap. 7): — oi p.h yap loc'tpwot.; iXaiivovo-i $ifiu.iu; xai aXviQus- utTTi 'jroXXcixj; xou ■Tie-T'.vsiv ai/rov; ixuvovi xa$aoiirfivru; Una oQnrtKd.;' aXXoi Ti tovs xu.y.vovra.; %ia. rn; tui ^!i»« sW:iu; lxtlV0l$ lm7i\ovp.lv, ■r^iy y Tifrivtrxi. But the grosser opinion obtained footing among the vulgar. f Among these, besides tbe Epistle to Abgarus, the works ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, the Sibylline Prophesies, Hydaspis, the Apostolical Canons and Constitutions, we may mention various apocryphal histories of Je-us, of Mary, and bis other relatives — of Tiberius, Nicodem us, and Joseph of Arimathea — o the Apostles, especially St. Peter — tbe origin of the Apostles' Creed — the Synods of the Apostles — the Epistle of Seneca to Paul — the Acts of Pilate,. &c. &c. 2c2 388 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. Division into cate- chumens and believers. the gross millcnnarian* doctrine, which was the first-horn child of tradition, was supported and diffused hy those writings ; and it did not cease to exercise, in various parts of Christendom, a pernicious and perhaps powerful influence, until it was checked by the pen of Origen and succeeding writers. The distinction of the converts into " Catechumens," and " Faithful, 1 ' or " Believers," (TIigtoI) was introduced after the age of Justin, and before or during that, of Tertullianj. Its motive was probably twofold : — first, to prove the sincerity, to instruct the ignorance, to ascertain or correct the morality of the ruder proselytes, who were now numerous and eager for baptism, and so to restrain the indiscriminate performance of that rite ; next, to conciliate reverence and excite curiosity by the temporary concealment of the most solemn ceremonies of the new religion. To this end the catechumens were only ad- mitted to the previous part of the service, and, before the cele- bration of the holy sacraments, were dismissed £ : all that followed was strictly veiled from them, until the time of their own initiation. Even from the above short description it is easy to discover in this early Christian practice an imitation of * Mosheim (De Reb. Gestis ante Constantinum, sec. iii., 8. 38.) seems to consider Chiliasm as of Judaistical origin, and goes at great length into the sub- ject. The following passage of Tertullian (Adv. Marcionem, 1. iii., ad finem) de- serves to be cited : — " Usee ratio regni terreni, post cujus mille annos (intra quam aetatem concluditur sanctorum resurrectio, pro mentis maturius vel tardius surgen- tium) tunc et mundi destructione et iudicii conflagratione commissa, demutati in atomo in angelicam substantiam, scilicet per illud incorruptela; superindumeu- tum transferemur in cceleste regnum, &c." f De Prescrip. adv. Hseret. cap. 41. He censures the heretics for not making the distinction in question in their congregations. J " Ite, Missa est (i. e. Ecclesia) Go — it is dismissed." This stems, upon the whole, the must probable origin of the words Missal, Mass ; though many others have'been proposed. (See Bingham, b. xiii. chap, i) Oi axoivavtiroi, ■ngtrarwart — "Non-communicants, depart" — was the Greek form of separating the two classes. Bingham is very minute, and probably very faithful, in describing the nature of the Missa Catechumenorum and the Missa Fidelium, or Communion Service — though the forms, as he gives them, probably belonged to the fourth and the subsequent, rather than the preceding, centuries. But a summary of the instructions delivered to the catechumens is given by the author of the Constit. Apostol., lib. vii , c. 39. It embraces the knowledge of the Trinity, the order of the world's creation and series of Divine Providence, as exhibited in the Old Testament : the doctrine of Christ's Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and As- sumption, and what it is to renounce the devil and to enter into the covenant of Christ. CH. XIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 389 the system of Pagan mysteries. These, as is well known, were twofold in number and importance — the first or lesser being of common notoriety, and easy access to all conditions and ages, while the greater were revealed*, with considerable dis- crimination, to such only as were thought qualified for the pri- vilege, by their rank, or knowledge, or virtue. The name also passed into the liturgies of the Church; and the sacraments, which were withdrawn from the profane eye of the catechumens, were denominated Mysteries. These mysteries continued for some time, perhaps till the Two sacra- beginning of the fourth century, to be two only, baptism and mysteries, the eucharist. We have proofs, indeed, that in that age the ceremonies, at least of penitential absolution, of ordination, and confirmation,! were concealed from the uninitiated, as carefully as the two original sacraments; and hence no doubt arose the error which has sanctified them by the same name. Regarding the rite of baptism \, we have noticed, in a former chapter, a mis- apprehension of its true nature and object, which gained very early footing in the Church ; and the consequent abuse of defer- ring it until the hour of death was clearly customary before the days of Constantine ; we need not pause to point out the evils which obviously proceeded from it§. The original simple * Mosheim treats the Disciplina Arcani (which he identifies with the Theologia Mystica) as being of various kinds — admitting, however, the uncertainty of any speculation on the subject. De Reb. Gcst., sec. ii., 34. f The passages which respectively prove these three facts are from Optatus contr. Parmen., lib. ii., p. 57; Chrysostom Horn., 18, in ii. Cor. p. S72 ; and Inno- cent I., Epist. i., ad Decentium Eugubin : and are cited by Bingham, Antiq., hook x., chapter v. St. Basil (De Spir. Sanct. c. 27) places the oil of chrism among the things which the uninitiated might not look upon ; while St. Augus- tine (Comm. in Psalm ciii., Concio. i.) says, " Quid est quod occultum est et port publicum in Ecclesia ? Sacramentum Baplismi, Sacramentum Eucharist ice. Opera nostra bona vident et Pagani, Sacramenta vero occultantur illis." The practice probably varied in different Churches ; but the whole proves that the Seven Sacra- ments were not yet acknowledged in an}'. I The following are the instructions delivered by Tertullian (De Baptismo, lib. xx.) " Ingressuros baptismum, orationibus crebris, jejuniis, et genicula- tionibus et pervigiliis orare oportet, et cum confessione omnium retro delictorum, &c." Mosheim (De Reb. Gest., sec. iv., 7) supposes that there were two impositions of bands — the first, on making the catechumen, the second, at baptism. § Gibbon somewhere proposes a question, whether this pernicious practice was at any time condemned by any council of the Church ? And in reply, a learned modern writer appeals to the. 12th canon of the council of Neoca:sarea: — ixv ri; lonut (Sari/rPr,, u; Tpar^uriiov v.yitrQou ov1i)vc/.rcx,r ovk ix TT^oaiotffiu; yu.^ h Kirn; ceurS, 390 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. character of the eucharistical assemblies of the primitive Christians, such as they are described by Justin Martyr, was first exalted by the strong and almost ambiguous language of Ireneeus, and still further by the exaggerated though the vague expressions of subsequent writers *. By such means the eucharist gradually rose to be considered the most abstruse and awful of the mysteries. Yet is it still doubtful whether this grew to be a great abuse before the establishment of the Church ; though the secrecy and exclusiveness, which sur- rounded its most holy ceremony, offended the open character of the religion, and even lessened its estimation among the wise and virtuous, by introducing an unworthy assimilation to the mummeries of paganism. Honours Jt was an opinion in the third century, originating, perhaps, martyrs, with Tertullian, but more expressly declared by Dionysius, " That the holy martyrs were the assessors of Christ and par- ticipators in his kingdom, and partakers in his judgment, sitting in judgment with liimf ." While we read this extravagant conceit of that early age, we might almost be disposed to praise the moderation of later times, which were contented to invest those holy sufferers with the character of mediators J. But long even before the age of Dionysius, and probably before any thought had been raised respecting their immediate exaltation or beatification, it had been a natural and even pious custom to celebrate the birthdays of those, who had offered themselves aXX j| uvdyzri;- u pn nx^d, §;« rhv fiirci raura uvrou irzTouV/iv tea.) t'kttiv, kcc) oia B-Tctimi avfyurav. The last clause is extremely obscure ; the two preceding seem to contain a general prohibition against the baptism of sick persons, as seeking it rather through a sort of compulsion than by deliberate choice. * The passages in Irenaeus, which have given occasion to the warmest contro- versy, and not wholly without ground, are lib. iv. c. 17 (or 32) and 18 (or 3 I). and lib. v. c. 2, " Miracula Sacrae Cuense vel Cyprianus audet narrare." Semler, Observ. Nov., &c. f Tertull. de Resurrectione Carnis, cap. 43. " Nemo enim peregrinatus a cor- pore statim immoratur penes Dominum, nisi ex martyrii prerogativa, Paradiso scilicet nun Inferis deversurus." And lib. de Anima, cap. 5!j. Dionys. ap. Euseb., llV. VI.) cap. 42. tov 'S.oitrrou •rajso^s/, xa.) rri? fiairiXiixs ahroZ xomuvei, xa.) fiiro%ei m; xoitiio; u-lrtw, xa) trvvitxa^vTi; auTu. X ®"X u i 3s$u; alrou; tfgacriovTIS) «XX' ui Si'iov; avQfiui-Xovs avrifcoXoZtT-s, xa.) yiytcrDai TPtirfiiuras vtiq tripuv Ta/iaxaXoZvri;. (Theodore*, ap. Beaus. Hist. Man., p. ii., 1. IX., C. IV.) T&iv ayl/uti ftagruficuii f/.vnf*.ivivco/u. J tian writers have made to such services, we may trace them with great probability to four original sources, viz. : — the Great Oriental, the Alexandrian, the Roman, and the Gallican. The Ori- (I.) The first of these comprehends the liturgies of Antioch turgy. l " an< l Csesarea, as well as that falsely ascribed to St. Chrysostom. That of Antioch commonly bears the name of James, the brother of the Saviour. And though this pretension may not be older than the fifth century, the vestiges of the service itself arc traced as high as the second. At least we find in the Apo- logy of Justin Martyr j- an outline of the liturgy of his days and Church, which agrees, as far as it goes, with that of An- tioch. St. Basil became bishop of Ccesarea in the year 370 — and he presently published the office, which still bears his name : it was immediately adopted at Constantinople, and at this moment forms a part of the ritual of the Greek Church. It was probably the ancient liturgy of Cresarea, reconstructed by the prelate whose name it bears : and though it is impos- sible at this time to distinguish what were the original portions which he retained, there is at least no reason to suppose that * Palmer, " Origines Liturgicae, &c. with a Dissertation on Primitive Liturgies." Oxford, 1832. We should observe, that in this " Dissertation" the term Liturgy is used in that restricted sense, which it commonly bears iu the writings of the ancients — the service of the celebration of the Eucharist. f Page 96, 97. num. CH. XIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 395 any part of it is posterior to that age. It. agrees in substance and the order of its parts with the liturgy of Antioch, as well as with that, of Chrysostom. This last appears to have been used in the Byzantine Churches as early as the fourth century — but 110 sufficient reason is given for its usurpation of the name of Chrysostom*. From the general agreement in the outlines of these three liturgies, some learned writers are willing to infer their apostolical origin. (II.) As St. Basil reformed the ancient service ascribed to The Alex- St. James, so, as seems most probable, did Cyril of Alexandria amplify the original liturgy of his own Church. This was naturally attributed to St. Mark, but without any shadow of authority : though there is no doubt of its very great antiquity. It differs in the order of its parts from every other liturgy, ex- cept the ^Ethiopic, which was seemingly derived from it. (III.) The Roman liturgy was revised and enlarged by The Ro- Gregory the Great ; but it is a mistake to consider him as its author. Its identity, at least in some principal respects, may be traced as high as the end of the fourth century. The ser- vice of Milan (called the Ambrosian) continued to agree with that, of Rome, in all substantial points, till the time of Gregory — and there is no reason to disbelieve, what seems at first sight so natural, that it was received in the first instance from the Capital. The African liturgy may be traced (in the writings of the African Fathers) to an earlier age than that of Rome : and the allusions, which we find made to it, may persuade us that it was substantially the same. From this circumstance it is inferred, that the Roman service is of much higher antiquity than can be historically proved. For, since Carthage, according to all likelihood, received the religion from Rome, it would be strange, if it had not received the liturgy likewise. The greater eminence of the early African writers will account for those early references to the African liturgy, during the obscurity of that of Rome. * The liturgy ascribed to St. Clement, in the sixth book of the apostolical constitutions, would more properly belong to the Oriental, than to the Roman communion, if it could properly be considered as a transcript of the liturgy of any Church. It is a mere forgery of the fourth or fifth centuries. Still it has its value ; as we must suppose that the author of it had some model not very dissi- milar before his eyes. can. 396 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. The Galli- (IV.) The original Galilean liturgy was again different from any of the three abovementioned ; and it may very probably have been brought from Ephesus by the missionaries who introduced Christianity into the country : since, from the little light that remains, respecting the ancient ritual of Ephesus, we may still collect, that it differed from the Oriental liturgy, and agreed with that of Gaul. It naturally assumed the name and authority of St. John — and it continued to distinguish the Church of France, until Charlemagne confirmed his connexion with Rome by imposing her service upon his reluctant subjects. The same sort of coincidence, in the number and order of the parts, subsisted between the Gallican and Spanish (or Mosarabic), as between the Roman and African, between that of Antioch and that of Cresarea : until the popes of the eleventh century succeeded in supplanting the Mosarabic, and substi- tuting the Roman in its place. And, as the early records of the English Church sufficiently prove, that its original liturgy differed from that of Rome, it may very probably have been received, together with the power of ordination and even the religion itself, from the bishops of Gaul. Ob^erva- A few remarks are necessary, in order that this short sketch of the earliest liturgical remains may convey a just impression, and no more than just, to the minds of our less learned readers. Of the four original liturgies, of which the existence seems so probable, not one is now extant, nor, as far as can be shown, any considerable portion of any one : the language, the precise expressions — the particulars which filled up the outline- — are entirely lost. All that can now be done, is to ascertain, in each case, the substance and order of the parts — or, if not the substance, at least the order — or if not the order of every individual part, at least the "main order;" and this order it is, which essentially and mainly constitutes the identity of liturgies*. Thus it is only from a variation in this order that * Palmer, p. 43. Again — "It is only fur the antiquity of the main older that I contend, not for that of every individual part." p. 121 . "As to the very words of this liturgy (the Gallican) during the primitive ages, or indeed at any time, we need not attempt to seek for them. The number and order of the lessons and prayers, the main substance and tendency of some of them, the words commemo- rating Christ's deeds and words at the institution, the hymn Ter-sanchts, the Lord's prayer, and a few minor particulars, seem to be all that was fixed." p. 158. tions. CH. XIII. 1 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 307 an original difference can be inferred. So, for instance, where it is observed that the Roman liturgy ordered the kiss of peace to be given after the consecration ; that all the Orien- tal liturgies, as well as the Gallican ordered it before ; and that the Ambrosian and (according to Tertullian and Augustine) the African agreed with the Roman form ; it is inferred that these three proceeded from the same source with each other (whatever that may have been) — and a different source from those which, in so material a point, followed a different order. Again, the chief distinction between the Gallican and Oriental liturgies consisted in this : that the prayers for the living and departed members of the Church occurred after the thanks- giving and consecration, in the latter ; while in the former they preceded the salutation of peace and thanksgiving. Besides which, the Gallican had not the three prayers for the faithful*. Such is the nature of those distinctions and coincidences, which might well be overlooked by a careless eye, but which suffice to conduct the experienced ritualist, in the absence of clearer light, to probable conclusions. The degree of proba- bility, which will be attached to his particular inferences, will depend upon the mind of the student ; and that which may almost carry certainty to one, will seem frivolous and fanciful to another. But respecting the general conclusions, which may be drawn from this investigation, there can exist little doubt in any unprejudiced mind. There can be little question, that some regular forms of worship were in use among the primitive Christians — and that these did not proceed (as some have imagined) from one common original, but varied more or less in different Churches. In respect to the question, whether or not they were actually composed by the Apostles, there is no direct evidence, of any value, either way. They w T ere very ancient ; they were immemorial — they may, or they may not, have been Apostolical. The practice of the Jews is favourable * Palmer, p. 163. Those three prayers seem to have been introduced into the Oriental liturgy about the beginning of the fourth century — i.e. long after Gaul had received its liturgy from Ephesus. 398 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII to the supposition, that they were coeval (at, least in Syria and Alexandria) with the propagation of Christianity. And the litlle allusion made to them by the early fathers may be partly ascribed to the peculiar sanctity then attached to the mysteries of the faith, and an unwillingness to disclose those awful secrets to the Catechumen, or the Infidel. It should likewise be recollected, that the first liturgies were not committed to writing, but preserved only in the memory of the faithful. Some eccle- Many of the early Ecclesiastical terms, and some few cere- terms C anJ monies chiefly of the third century, are usually considered as ceremonies. f Pagan derivation, though some of them may, with equal justice, be ascribed to a Jewish original. A very ancient name for the chancel was Qvitocvrripiov, Ara Dei*, or Altar e ; oblations were made there, and " the unbloody sacrifice " offered up, and frankincense smoked, and lamps were lighted, even during the persecutions of the Church ; even votive donations (donaria — ava0y)ju.ara) were suspended in the yet rude and ill-constructed temples of Christ. But the simple superstition of the Faithful in those ages did not proceed to more dangerous excesses. It was reserved for the following century to fill those temples with images, and to introduce into the sanctuaries of God the pre- dominating spirit of Paganism. Various I 11 reference to the various facts which we have above stated, inferences an j which carry with them the plain conclusions to which we trom the * A above facts, proceed, it seems only necessary to observe — -first, that we are not to attend to those writers who represent the ante-Nicene Church as the perfect model of a Christian society — as the unfailing storehouse whence universal and perpetual rules of doctrine and discipline may be derived with confidence, and followed with submission. The truth is far otherwise; and though we ought assuredly to distinguish the authority of the apostolical from that of the later uninspired writers, still even the works of those first Fathers are not without much imper- fection, and furnish, besides, very insufficient materials for the construction or defence of any system ; and in the extensive * " Nonne solemmor erit statio tua si et ad aram Dei steteris ? " Tertull. De Oratione. It is asserted, however, that the original appellation of the Lord's table was mensa. CH. XIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 399 variety both of opinions and arguments, which distinguishes their successors from Justin to Eusebius, we cannot fail to ob- serve, that the former are sometimes erroneous, and the latter very commonly feeble and inconsequential. From such facts we are compelled to infer, that the true nature and design of Christ's mission on earth were not very perfectly comprehended by the mass of Christians in the second and third centuries. Indeed, it was scarcely possible that it could be otherwise; since they consisted of converts, or the children of converts, many of whom were imbued with the deep and indelible pre- judices of Judaism, and the others attached by long hereditary affect ion to the splendid ceremonies of Paganism. To either of these classes it was necessary to address a peculiar form of argument, and to present a peculiar view of the religion, that, there might be any just hope of persuading them to embrace it. We should also mention that some of the errors of the third, and even of the second century, may be ascribed to the undue weight already attached to apostolical tradition, and the authority that was blindly attributed to any precept or usage, however obscurely traced to that uncertain source. But, in the second place, we are equally bound to remark, that the fundamental doctrines of Christianity shine with a steady and continuous light through the strange mists in which the ante-Nicene Church has sometimes involved them ; it was a great advantage which that age possessed over those which followed, that it confined itself to plain and scriptural expressions, and was contented to deliver the truths of God in the language of the holy writings. Moreover we should add, that among the abuses which we have described, though some were shameful to their inventors, and injurious to the cause, there were many which, in their origin, were comparatively, if not absolutely, innocent ; in many instances they arose rather from the circumstances of the converts than from the design of the priesthood, and there were few, if any, among them which might not have been arrested after the establishment of Christianity, if that security, which gave power to the ministers of religion, had conferred wisdom and true piety along with it. To conclude, then : — a general view of the Church of the 400 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. three first ages presents to us a body always unconnected with the state, frequently at variance with it; surrounded by multi- tudes of heresies, many of them very monstrous, which it com- bated with the sword of the Spirit alone ; under a government in which the gradually-increasing influence of the bishop was still for the most part extremely limited by the power of his presbytery; with a rule of faith not curiously definite on abstruse questions, but simply conceived and scripturally ex- pressed — rising into strength and confirming its consistency, and, finally, making good its long-neglected claims to toleration and respect. A closer examination of the same body discloses to us a number of stains and defects, proceeding at different moments from various causes, and spreading, in some degree, as that advanced in magnitude : but as they had not yet pene- trated to its heart, they might still have been checked, and even removed, by an influential and truly Christian priesthood. It is certain that the deep and fatal corruptions of after ages sprang, in many instances, directly from them ; but the crime of those consequences must rest, for the most part, with those who combined and perpetuated the first abuses ; for these were indeed rather the produce of circumstances than the work of men. We have also observed, in the various conditions of apos- tolical Christianity, the scattered elements of some forms of government and discipline, which, though they very early melted away into the episcopal system, should not be passed over in silence, since they are still pleaded as precedents and imitated as models by many excellent Christians. From Con- II. Flcury, who is the most, moderate and reasonable of the stantme to Roman Catholic historians, laments that, after the first six cen- the Great, turies, the brightest days of the Church were passed away*. In his first discourse he represents the brilliancy of that period in vivid and exaggerated colours. The reverence due to the sanctified martyr — the solemn aspect of monastic solitude — the piety and disinterested poverty of the early prelates — the purity of their election — the austerity of their life — the magni- * Discours sur l'Hist. Eccles. depuis Pan 600 jusques ii Tan 1100. " Les beaux jours de l'Eglise sont passes, maisDieu n'a pas rejette sonpeuple, ni oublie ses promesses," &c. &c. innova- tions. CH. Xlfl.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 401 fieence of the offices — the severity of discipline — the venerable names of tradition* and antiquity — are objects of his warm and indiscriminate eulogy. But it was an error (for to Fleury we would not willingly ascribe the intention of deceiving) to con- found the three earliest with the three following centuries ; as if the government, discipline, and spirit of the Catholic Church had remained invariable from the age of St. Clement to that of St. Gregory. Even the first of those periods was somewhat removed from apostolical perfection, but in the second the distance was incalculably increased; and that, not only accord- ing to the customary progress of unreformed abuse, but also through a change of principles in the administration of the Church, which proceeded from other causes. At present, before we enter on any general review of the Particular outward form and position of the Church, or even of its internal t i administration, we shall mention, as in continuation of the subject which has been most lately treated, some particular innovations in belief and discipline which either began or were established during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. The first, and by far the most important of these, was the institution of the monastic system, of which it cannot be properly said that there existed any vestige before the beginning of the fourth age, and which, before its termination, had fixed its roots deeply, and struck them into the very heart of Christendom. Its origin and progress will be the object of future inquiry f ; at present we shall confine our notice to a subject very closely connected with it — the celibacy of the clergy. In the first ages the Church * " It was one of the rules of discipline not to commit it to writing, but to pre- serve it hy a secret tradition among the bishops and priests, chiefly that, regarding the administration of the sacraments; and the better to keep that secret, that the bishops should confide their ecclesiastical letters to the clergy only. So, when the ancients speak of observing the canons, imagine not that they speak of written canons; they speak of all that was practised through a constant tradition. For we must believe, according to the maxim of St. Augustine, that that which the Church has observed at every time, and in everyplace, is apostolical tradition. In fact, from what other source could have come those universal practices, such as the veneration of relics, the prayer for the dead, the observance of Lent?" Fleury, Discours sur i'Hist. des Six Premiers Siecles, &c. &C —Of the three prac- tices here instanced, two at least were probably much posterior to the times of the Apostles. f See Chapter xix. VOL. I. 2 D 402 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. The celi- writers advocated the universal lawfulness of marriage against clergy. * the heretical rigour of the Encratites, of Saturninus and Basil- ides, of the Montanists, and even the Novatians — so that any undue respect for celibacy which may have prevailed during the first three ages cannot justly be attributed to the Church : it was also very partial and vague in its nature, and wholly unsupported by canonical regulations. Afterwards, there can be no question that the cause, which first gave impulse to the principle, and carried it into practice, and subjected it to re- peated legislation, was the growing prevalence of Monachism, and the popular veneration that was found to attach to excessive austerities. Already at the council of Nice* it was proposed to forbid the marriage of the clergy ; but through the opposition of an Egyptian bishop, named Paphnutius, it was only enacted, that all clerks who had been married before they took orders should be allowed to retain their wives, according to the ancient tradition of the Church, but that they should not marry a second time \. Such continued both the rule and practice of the Eastern Church ; it was confirmed by the council in Trullo in the year 692, with an exception against bishops, who were obliged, on their promotion, to separate from their wives ; and this law was never afterwards altered. Biit in the West, where the spirit of sacerdotal domination more strongly prevailed, many attempts were made in those days to enforce perfect celibacy on all the orders of the ministry ; and their constant repetition proves their inefficacy. Siricius, who held the see of Rome from 385 to 398, published some letters or decretals, which have acquired the weight of canons in the Roman Church. One of his great objects was to discourage the marriage of the * Eleven years earlier it was enacted, by the tenth canon of the Council of Ancyra, that when a deacon declared his intention to marry, at the time of his ordination, he might be allowed to do so, but nut otherwise. Dupin, Nouv. Bibl., tome ii. p. 312. Bingham, Church Antiq. b. iv. ch. v. — Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth., tome i. (Abrege de la Discipline), mentions, as the rule of the early (ante-Nicene) Church, that it was permitted to a priest to keep his wife, but not to marry again: on a deacon there was no such restraint. It is impossible to trace that, which is mentioned as being imposed upon the priest, to the first ages ; but in the be- ginning of the fourth century, perhaps somewhat earlier, it was undoubtedly established, that no man who was ordained priest could marry. f Socrates, lib, i., c. 11. Sozomen, lib. i., c. 23. CH. XIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 403 clergy, but it does not appear* that his regulations much ex- ceeded the severity of those of Nice. However, it must be admitted, that the perseverance of his successors was not fruit- less, at least so far as their immediate influence extended ; and we are assured that at the end of the fifth century, the rule of celibacy was very commonly observed by the clergy of Romej. But a hundred years afterwards, Gregory, as we have seen, was still engaged in the same struggle against the natural affections and the common reason of man, and he transmitted it, still unfinished, to his distant £ posterity. His object was clerical celibacy in the strictest sense ; but we should remark that no ordinance going to that extent had yet been enacted by any general council, even of the Western Church, and that the common practice was still in opposition to it ; a great number, probably far the larger proportion, of the German, French, English, and Spanish clergy continued to avail themselves at least of that portion of their scriptural right, which the Council of Nice had left them. The penitential discipline of the ante-Nicene Church was Penitential exceedingly severe, even in the season of persecution, and it was f S t he early by rigour rather than indulgence that it sought to secure the Church, fidelity and increase the number of its members. For the space of fifteen, or sometimes of twenty years, it might be for his whole life, the repentant sinner was excluded from the precincts of the Church, and exposed to the reproach or compassion of every beholder. After this long endurance, when the gates of the sanctuary were at length unclosed to him, it was only, perhaps, that he might worship there for some additional years in the attitude of prostration, muffled and unshaven, fasting and * Dupin, Nouv. Bibl., Vie de Siriee. f A distinction in this respect was observed a century earlier between the Catholic and the Arian clergy; the laxity of the latter, who were almost uni- versally married, was made matter of reproach by their more rigid adversaries. I lathe ninth century (ahout the year 860) we observe Ilulderic, Bishop of Augsburg, vigorously resisting the edicts of Pope Nicholas; and two hundred and twenty years afterwards, when Gregory VII. at length achieved the object, which had foiled his predecessors for above six centuries, he encountered an opposition which could scarcely have been surmounted by a less extraordinary character. 2d2 404 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. covered with ashes*. A discipline which, in some ages, would be deemed barbarous, if it were not impracticable, was found very effectual in those early times, both in preserving individual morality, and in upholding the external show and dignity of the Church. It seems to have been maintained in its original spirit throughout the fourth century f, and its rigour was still further aggravated by the necessity of public confession. The measure of Pope Leo, which substituted private confession, may have been made necessary by the universal profession of Chris- tianity, and the degeneracy of many who professed it. But not only was it attended by an immediate relaxation in the penitential discipline of the Church (for secret penance very speedily followed secret confession), but it became, in process of time, one of the most abundant sources of sacerdotal in- fluence. Purgatory. During the first four centuries, there was no mention of any place of Purgatory ;{; — neither St. Ambrose, nor even St. Jerome has expressed any belief in such an intermediate state. But St. Augustine§ speaks somewhat more ambiguously; for if, in * Fleury, Discours sur les Six Premiers Siecles, &c. et passim. Cyprian is the most ancient father who has mentioned any sort of system of penance. But some derive such rules from the discipline imposed in the Pagan system previous to initiation in the great mysteries. f See Dupin, Nouv. Bibl. tome ii. p. 247, Vie de S. Ambroise. 1. Sinners were expected to request that they might be admitted to penance. 2. The circum- stance of their doing penance separated them from the communion. 3. They did penance publicly. 4. They practised a number of fastings, austerities, and hu- miliations during the whole time of penance. 5. They could be admitted to that penance once only. Of course the penance here mentioned was the severest which the Church ever inflicted for the most enormous sins. I The allusion of Origen (C. Cels. 1. vi. p. 292, ed. Cantab.) to the passage in Malachi (iii. 2, 3) can scarcely be so considered. He does indeed speak of a sort of purification for leaden souls,— rhv (Ai-ru (iairavou x.u.$u.£ Church. of Christ? by what exertions, by what habits, did it enforce the principles of the religion which it had preserved? First — by ihe general exercise of Charity. The generosity of its bene- factors had often been directed, in part at least, to that pur- pose. That excellent rule which had been received from the earliest ages was not discontinued ; the relief of the poor was associated with the ministry of religion ; the worldly necessities of the wretched were alleviated by their spiritual pastors, and the most excellent virtue of Christianity was inculcated by the practice of its Ministers. We intend not to exalt the merit of that body in dispensing among the indigent the funds intrusted to them for that purpose ; we only assert its great utility as a channel for the transmission of blessings, which in those ages could not otherwise have reached their object — as a sacred re- pository, where the treasures of the devout were stored up for the mitigation of misery which had no other resource or hope. Secondly — the penitential discipline of the Church was ex- tremely efficacious in enforcing the moral precepts of the reli- gion ; and whatsoever advantage may have been conferred on ancient Rome by the venerable office of the Censor, whatsoever restraints may have been imposed on the habits of a high-minded people by the fear of ignominious reproach ; awe more deep and lastino- must have been impressed upon the superstitious crowd by the terrible denunciations of the Church, by the deep humi- liation of the penitent, by his prolonged exposure to public shame, by the bitterness and intensity of his remorse. With- out affecting to regret, as some have done, the present disuse of the penitential system in the present enlightened state both of cases merely nominal, has been already admitted. Still, where the affair was with a tuition, and that too a very barbarous nation, it was impossible, humanly speaking, that it could have been otherwise than imperfect. CH. XIII.] A HISTORY OK THE CHURCH. 441 society and religion, we cannot close our eyes against its ex- traordinary power, as an instrument of moral improvement, in ao-es when the true spirit, of religion was less felt and compre- hended ; when education furnished very slender means for sell- correction; and when even the secular laws were feebly or par- tially executed. Thirdly — After the fifth century the office of Legislation throughout the Western provinces devolved in a o-reat measure on the ecclesiastical body — directly, in so far as they composed, or assisted in, public assemblies ; indirectly, as they influenced the councils of princes and their nobility. Their power was effectually exerted for the improvement of the bar- barous system of the invaders, the suppression of absurd prac- tices, and the substitution of reasonable principles. " I have already spoken," says Guizot, " of the difference which may be observed between the laws of the Visigoths, proceeding in a great measure from the Councils of Toledo, and those of the other barbarians. It is impossible to compare them without beino- struck by the immense superiority in the ideas of the Church in matters of legislation and justice, in all that affects the pursuit of truth and the destiny of man. It is true that the greater part of these ideas were borrowed from the Roman legislation ; but if the Church had not preserved and defended them, if it had not laboured to propagate them, they would have perished." Fourthly — In furtherance of this faithful dis- charge of its duties to the human race, the Church unceasingly strove to correct the vices of the social system. The worst ot these, and the principal object of her hostility, was the abomi- nation of slavery ; and if it be too much entirely to attribute its final extirpation to the perseverance of the Church in pressing the principles of the Faith ; and if it has been speciously insi- nuated that her motives in the contest were not always disin- terested, at least it is impossible to dispute either her zeal in the righteous cause, or the power and success with which she pleaded it*, or the great probability that, without such advo- * " II y en a une pmive irrecusable: la plupait desformules d'affranclnsse- inent, a diverses epoques, se fondent sur un motif religieux ; c'est au nam des ulees religieuses, des esperances de l'avenir, de l'egalite ruligieuse des hommes, que l'af- francliisseineiitest presque toujours prononce.*' — Guizot, Hist. Geneiale, Lecon vi. 2 G 442 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XIII. cacy, so steadily pursued through so long and hopeless a period, the complete emancipation of the lowest classes would have been accomplished much later, perhaps not wholly accom- plished even at this moment. Fifthly — The same spirit which was so well directed to improve the internal fabric of society turned itself also to the prevention of civil outrage and even of international warfare. In this attempt, indeed, it had not equal success, since it had to contend with the most intractable of human passions ; but the pages even of profane history abound with proofs of the pacific policy and interpositions of the Church : nor were they entirely suspended even after the fatal moment, when it engaged as a party in the temporal affairs of Europe, and so frequently found its own policy and strength and triumph in the discord, devastation, and misery of its neighbours. Lastly — From considerations which are more immediately con- nected with the happiness of mankind, we may descend to men- tion a theme of praise which is seldom withheld from the Church by any description of historians — that of having pre- served many valuable monuments of ancient genius ; and also of having nourished, even in the worst times, such sort of lite- rary instruction and acquirement as was then perhaps attain- able. It is true that these advantages were not generally dif- fused among the people ; that little desire was evinced by the Clergy to communicate such knowledge, or by the laity to share in it : still was it a possession useful, as well as honour- able, to those who cherished and maintained it, and through them, in some degree, to their fellow-subjects. Some languid rays it must have reflected even at the moment upon the sur- face of society ; at least it was preserved as a certain pledge of future improvement, as an inviolable and everlasting treasure, consecrated to the brighter destinies of ages to come. END OF PART II. ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. VOLUME I. INTRODUCTION. The Author's reasons for abandoning in this work the usual method of division by centuries. This history is divided into five parts or periods, ending respectively at the establishment of the Church by Constantine; at the death of Charlemagne ; at the death of Gregory VII. ; at the secession of the Popes to Avignon ; at the beginning of the Reformation The study of ecclesiastical history teaches religious moderation PART I. Chapter I. — The Propagation of Christianity. A.D. PAGE GO The Church of Jerusalem. James the Just its first President or Bishop — succeeded by Simeon . . . .1 65 Secession of the Christian Church to Pella. Bishops of the Cir- cumcision ...... No tabularies or public acts preserved by the primitive Christians . 3 134 Foundation of ^Elia Capitolina by Adrian. Gentile Church . 3 Sulpicius Severus is cited. 40 Church of Antinch founded by St. Paul and Barnabas . . 5 There the Converts first assumed the name of Christian . 5 107 Ignatius, the second Bishop, suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Trajan. His journey from Antioch to Rome . . 6 The pretended correspondence between Jesus Christ and Abgarus, Prince of Edessa in Mesopotamia, proves the early introduction of the faith into that country . .. . .7 The Church of Ephesus, founded by St. Paul, and governed by St. John . . . . . .7 166 The Church of Smyrna governed by Polycarp, till his martyrdom under Marcus Antoninus . . . .8 The Churches of Sardis and Hieropolis. Melito and Papias. Con- version of Bithynia . . . . 9, 10 107 The testimony of Pliny the Younger, contained in his Epistle to Trajan . . . . . .10 The difficulty of establishing the Church at Athens may be ascribed to the speculative character of the people . . .13 95 Greater facility in the conversion of the Corinthians. The dissen- sions of the converts were censured by St. Clement, Bishop of Rome ...... 14-5 165 The seven Catholic Epistles of the Bishop Dionysius . .16 2 g 2 444 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. A.D. PAGE C4 The persecution at Rome by Nero is related by Tacitus, with little humanity. St. Peter and St. Paul are believed to have suffered on that occasion. Testimony to the numerical importance of the Converts . . . . • . 1G 196 Victor, Bishop of Rome, addressed an order to the Asiatic Bishops respecting the celebration of Easter, which they refused to obey. A schism was the consequence .... 18-20 177 A persecution in Gaul by Marcus Antoninus . . .20 Irenseus was subsequently Bishop of Lyons . . .21 23 On the original Churches of Spain, Britain, and Carthage . 21-23 Some reasons why the Church of Alexandria was probably nume- rous at an early period . . . .24 St. Mark, the first Bishop .. . . .24 134 Testimony of the Emperor Adrian, respecting the religious character of the Alexandrians . . . . .25 Establishment there of the Catechetical School, and subsequent labours of Pantsenus, Clemens, and Origen . . 26 Chapter II. — On the Numbers, Discipline, Doctrine, and Morality of the Primitive Church. 200 The great extent over which Christianity was spread before the end of the second century . .. . .28 The earliest converts were chiefly of the middle or lower classes ; the cause of their obscurity . . . .30 The great facility of intercourse throughout the Roman Empire, the zeal of the missionaries, &c. . . . .31 On the miraculous powers claimed by the Church, and the period to which they were most probably confined . . .32 They appear to have ceased with the immediate successors of the Apostles . . . . . .33 The episcopal government generally established after the death of the Apostles ... A perpetual succession of Bishops traced up to that time in most of the Eastern Churches and in Rome . 35-7 On the temporary ministry of the prophets . . .37 On tbe subordinate office of deacon, and the extent of the spiritual duties assigned to it . . . . .37 Very early origin of the distinction between clergy and laity, esta- blished by the Act of Ordination . . .38 The bishop co-operated with the Council of Presbyters in the govern- ment of his Church, and was elected by the whole body of the clergy and people . . . . .39 150 et seq. Origin and composition of the first provincial assemblies or synods; they rose in Greece . . . .41 From these synods proceeded the title and dignity of the Metro- politan, and the general aggrandizement of the episcopal order . 42 Excommunication the oldest weapon of the Church . . 43 Community of property had not universal prevalence . . 43 The primitive institution of the Lord's Day . . .44 The two most ancient festivals were those of the resurrection and of the descent of the Holy Spirit . . .44 The only public fast on the day of the crucifixion . . 45 Early expositions of doctrine by Tertullian . . .46 The variety of early creeds, and the primitive use of the Apostles' creed . . . . . .47 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 445 A.D. PAGE The sacraments of baptism and the eucharist . . 48-9 Nature and object of the Agapae or feasts of charity . . 50 Original celebration of marriage . . . .52 Exemplary morality of the early Christians proved from the writings of St. Clement, Origen, the younger Pliny, Bardesanes, Lucian, and Justin Martyr ..... 52-8 Charity the corner-stone of the moral edifice . . .55 Some account of the writings of the early Fathers, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius — his ecclesiastical principles — Polycarp, Cle- ment of Rome, Justin Martyr, and Irenseus . . 58-64 Note— on the original government of the Church of Corinth . 64 Chapter III. — Progress of Christianity from 200 A.D. till the Accession of Constantine. The first appearances of corruption in the Church necessarily pro- ceeded from the increased numbers and more varied character of the converts . . . . .69 313 Before the time of Constantine Christianity was deeply rooted in the eastern provinces of the Roman empire : it had also spread among the northern and western nations . . .70 Rome advances some vague pretensions to supremacy, which are resisted by Cyprian ..... 72-3 269 The affair of Paul of Samosata — terminated by Aurelian . 75 General character of the works of Clemens Alexandrinus . 76 185 — 252 Origen was made President of the Catechetical School, and remained so for nearly thirty years. His work against Celsus. His editions of the Septuagint. His great diligence and erroneous principles in the interpretation of Scripture. His celebrity, and success in converting certain Arabian heretics . . 77-80 247 Dionysius of Alexandria . . . .80 192 Tertullian was made Presbyter of the Church of Carthage. He fell into Montanism about seven years afterwards. A man of vigorous but violent and inconsistent character. The sect of Tertullianists . . . . .82 250 Cyprian was raised to the see of Carthage. Some account of his principal works, and the nature of his ecclesiastical principles . 84-90 His treatise on the Unity of the Church . . .87 The dignity of the Metropolitans was exalted, and the general dis- tinction between Bishops and Presbyters somewhat widened during the third century. Whether or not Cyprian was instru- mental in this . . . . .91 Some inferior classes in the ministry were instituted : the distinction between the Faithful and the Catechumens became prevalent in this age ; and some mistaken notions were encouraged respecting the nature of baptism, as well as of the Eucharist . . 92-4 The sign of the cross was employed in the office of exorcism . 95-6 The early forms of penance and confession . . .97 Origen's account of Christian discipline . . .98 The connexion of religion with philosophy occasioned the origin of many pious frauds and forgeries . . .99 The sect of the Eclectics, founded by Ammonius Saccas, tended to the injury and corruption of Christianity. His successor Plotinus founded a school at Rome . . . .102 The principles of Porphyry. His Life of Apollonius Tyaneus. — Of Pythagoras . . . . .103 446 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. A.D. PAGE Account of Minucius Felix and Arnobius . . .104 On various Ante-Nicene councils, especially that of Eliberis . 105 Some of its principal enactments . . . .106 The Millenarian notions prevalent in the early Church may be ascribed to the error of Papias . . . .106 Various Apologies for Christianity . . .107 Chapter IV. — Persecutions of several Roman Emperors. The theory of pure Polytheism permits an unlimited reception of divinities, and, as such, is tolerant; but the Polytheism of Rome was a political engine ; the laws were rigid in excluding foreign Gods ; and the practice of the Republic was continued in the empire ..... 108-112 The Number of Ten Persecutions became popular after the fifth century. The name of persecution should be confined to four or five . . . . .112 64 Whether the persecution of Nero was general or confined to Rome, and whether his laws against the Christians were more than an application to them of the standing statutes of the empire 113-14 94 or 95 The grandsons of St. Jude were brought before Domitian, and dismissed in security . . . .115 The Rescript of Trajan enjoined death as the punishment of a con- victed Christian ; forbidding, however, inquisition . .116 138 — 161 The Christians suffered, during the reign of Antoninus Pius, through popular violence, rather than legal oppression . 117 162 — 181 The first systematic persecution was that of Marcus An- toninus, and it lasted during his whole reign. He encouraged inquiry after the suspected, and inflicted every punishment. He censured the enthusiasm of the martyrs, yet not himself free from the charge of superstition, though adorned by many virtues 117-20 202 — 211 The Edict of Severus against the Christians remained in force; it was most destructive in Egypt . . . 120 250 Decius pretended to constrain all his subjects to return to the religion of their ancestors ; many perished ; and many fell away from the faith . . . . .121 258 Cyprian suffered martyrdom in the reign of Valerian, on his refusal to sacrifice . . . . .123 303 The teachers of philosophy were instrumental in bringing Diocletian to begin his persecution. It was continued for ten years, with a severity comprehending every form of oppression ; and ceased not till the accession of Constantine . . . .125 313 The early unpopularity of the Christians is accounted for by ancestral prejudices, the fame of peculiar sanctity, converting zeal, Jewish hostility, and various calumnies ; the exclusive character of the religion, aversion for idolatry, &c. . . 126-30 The Church learnt from her sufferings the lesson of persecution, which she practised in after ages . . .130 Contumacy the pretext for these Pagan inflictions . .132 Various false notions respecting the characters and ends of the em- perors who persecuted and who tolerated . . .133 On the number of martyrs . . . 1 34 These persecutions were not, upon the whole, unfavourable to the progress of religion ..... 134 ANALYTICAL TA1JLE OF CONTENTS. 447 A.D. PAGE Chapter V. — On the Heresies of the First Three Centuries. The original meaning of the word heresy is choice ; it passed from philosophy into religion ; and various senses, no longer indifferent, were then attached to it . . • . 13G The earliest fathers strongly opposed erroneous opinions ; yet per- mitted no personal severities . . . .139 The names of dissent were in no age more numerous than the ear- liest — proving the numhers of the early converts . .139 Some errors probably older than the apostolic preaching . 139 The Church suffered from the absurd opinions of some of the heretics who were confounded with it . . .140 Mosheim distinguishes the early heretics into three classes . 141 A different view is taken by Dr. Burton, who traces all the most ancient heresies to the Gnostic philosophy . .142 The division of heresies here given is rather in reference to their subject, than their supposed origin . • .142 The vain inquiry respecting the origin of evil ; it is ascribed to matter ; hence the eternity of matter, and supposition of an evil principle . . . . • .143 The association of this philosophy with Christianity occasioned many gross errors, as the rejection of the Old Testament as the work of the evil spirit, and the denial of the humanity of Christ; these were held by the Gnostics . 144 Simon Magus was classed among these ; and his disciples are thought to have been numerous at Rome . • • 145 120 — 121 Saturninus introduced the opinions into the Asiatic, Basilides into the Egyptian, School ; and Carpocrates and Valentin us fur- ther extended or refined them. Cerdo and Marcion introduced them into Rome . . . • .146 1 72 Tatian, disciple of Justin Martyr, founded on them the heresy of the Encratites, who professed meditation and bodily austerities . 147 The Docetse (Phantastics) were of very early origin ; they had a system of emanations from the Divinity, called /Eons, of which Christ was one ; while Jesus was the mere man, into whom the JEon descended. They disbelieved, in consequence, the atonement 148 270 The profession, character, and doctrines of Manes. His principal works. The discipline and observances of his followers, and the persecutions to which they were subjected . . 149-57 72 The Ebionites, who denied the divinity of Christ, were of very early origin ; they were chiefly confined to the Jewish converts, and were disclaimed by the Church . . . .157 200 Theodotus was expelled from the Church of Rome, while Victor was bishop, for asserting the mere humanity of Christ . .159 269 Paul of Samosata was deposed, and removed by Aurelian . 160 The heresy of Praxeas . . • .161 250 Sabellius denied the distinct personality of the second and third persons, considering them as energies, or portions of the first ; hence his followers were called Patripassians . . 162 170 Montanus began to prophesy in Phrygia, in company with Maxi- milla and Priscilla. Tertullian became a convert and advocate . 162 257 A controversy arose about the baptism of heretics, in which Ste- phen, Bishop of Rome, displayed some violence . . 163 On the admission of the lapsed .... 164 448 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. A.D. PAGE TheNovatians, the earliest ecclesiastical reformers, were condemned by the Church ; they subsisted till the fifth century . .165 Observations on the character of the early heresies, and the man- ner in which they were opposed by churchmen . .16 7 There was yet no dissent on the subject of Church government . 167 PART II. Chapter VI. — Constantine the Great. 312 An inquiry into the miracle of the luminous cross, which rests on very insufficient evidence . . . .170 313 Publication of the edict of Milan — an edict of universal toleration . 171 The suspicions of Constantine*s sincerity are founded on the inade- quacy of his morality to his profession ; and are counteracted by many particulars of his conduct and character . .172 Before Constantine, neither the authority of synods or bishops, nor the property of the Church, was recognized by law. Here is the earliest vestige of distinction between spiritual and temporal power 1 75 In what the strength of the Ante-Nicene Church consisted. That strength, as well as the peculiar qualities of Christians, influenced Constantine to legalize Christianity . . .177 — He received the Church into strict alliance with the State ; investing the Crown with the highest ecclesiastical authority, with great mutual advantage . . . 1 78 321 The internal administration of the Church remained in the hands of the Prelates. Permission was granted to bequeath property to the Church ; also exemption from civil offices, and independent jurisdiction . . . . .179 The Emperor assumed the control of the external administration ; the right of calling general councils, &c. . . . 181 This right was the creation of a new power, not an usurpation on the Church . . . . .182 Constantine, in the ecclesiastical, followed the civil, divisions of the empire. To the three leading Prelates of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, he added the Patriarch of Constantinople . 183 A thousand Bishops administered the Eastern, and eight hundred the Western, Church . . . . .183 The establishment of the Church was, upon the whole, favourable to the concord of Christians. The persecutions which have followed it were not its necessary consequence Corruption of the Church . . . .185 Note. On the historical respectability of Eusebius ; to what his professions are confined, and how far he fulfils them . 186-89 Chapter VII. — On the Arian Controversy. Those metaphysical controversies, which exercised only the wit of philosophers, engaged the passions of Christians. They were pro- longed by the neglect of ,Scripture, and inflamed by the national characteristics of the disputants . . . .191 Constantine presently published laws against various heretics . 192 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 449 A.D. PAGE 319 Arius promulgated his opinions at Alexandria, and had many fol- lowers in Asia and Egypt. He was excommunicated by Alex- ander, Bishop of Alexandria . . • .193 325 Constantine reluctantly convoked the Council of Nice . .195 Eusebius's description of the assembly— which is disparaged by Dr. Jortin . . • • • . • 195 The Bishops had some dissensions, but finally pronounced the Son consubstantial with the Father . . . .196 Gibbon's account examined . . • .197 Temporal penalties were inflicted on the contumacious, but revoked as soon as their inellicacy was discovered! ) . . .199 The character of Arius, according to Epiphanius . . 200 336 Constantius encouraged Arianism in the East . . 200 326 Athanasius succeeded Alexander in the See of Alexandria. He was degraded; restored; and again degraded; and passed his exile at Rome . . • • .201 349 He was again restored to his throne ; and, in seven years, deposed for the third time . . • • .203 The difficulty with which Constantius accomplished his deposition proves the diminution of the imperial despotism, through the rise of the Church . . . . . 203 362 Athanasius was again restored on the death of Constantius, and, after eleven years, died in his See . . • .204 Difference among the Arians as to the likeness between the two persons ; leading to divisions . • • .204 The Semiarians, Homoiousians, Anomoians, or Eunomians . 205 358 — 359 Synods of Ancyra and Seleucia . . . 205 360 The Council of Rimini established Arianism (or rather Semiari- anism) in the West . 206 370 Valens persecuted the Catholics throughout the East . . 207 383 Theodosius the Great generally restored the Catholic belief . 208 381 The Council General of Constantinople established the divinity of the Third Person . . ■ • .208 — Damasus at Rome, and Ambrose at Milan, zealously defended the Consubstantialist doctrine .... 208 370 Ulphilas converted the Goths to Arianism ; other barbarians sub- sequently adopted the same opinion ; and in the fifth century it again became general in the West . . . • 209 527 et seq. Justinian sustained the Catholics . . .211 589 The Council of Toledo extirpated Arianism from Spain ; and the Lombards soon afterwards embraced the Catholic doctrine . 211 The Arians may have been free from some of the superstitious corruptions of the Catholics, but the merit of tolerance cannot be ascribed to either party . . • • .212 Note on Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and other ecclesiastical writers . . ■ • • 215-17 Chapter VIII. — The Decline and Fall of Paganism. The overthrow of Paganism contemporary with the Arian dissen- sions . . . . • .218 321 Constantine published an edict in favour of divination . . 219 333 He began to attack the temples and idols, and generally condemned the rites of Paganism. Constantius, the Arian, followed his ex- ample ...... 220 450 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. A.D. PAGE The supposed motives of Julian, and his character, as compared to that of Marcus Antoninus .... 220-1 The policy of Constantine contrasted with that of Julian . 222 The successive penalties and disabilities by which Julian attacked the Christians, and the great knowledge which he showed of the theory of persecution .... 223 His endeavours to reform Paganism were directed to three points ; in a great measure borrowed from the ecclesiastical system of the Christians ..... 224 363 He made his celebrated attempt to rebuild the Temple of Jeru- salem. The historical facts of this attempt are founded on the combined evidence of four contemporary authors, one of whom, Ammianus Marcellinus, was a Pagan . . . 225 The question whether the phsenomenon which interrupted the work was natural or miraculous .... 227 A recent explanation of it is attended with some difficulties, and still leaves room for uncertainty .... 228-9 Valentinian I. practised universal toleration . . . 230 392 Theodosius published his famous edict against polytheism. It was effectual in diminishing the numbers of the Pagans, and confining them chiefly to the villages : whence the name . .231 The religion may be considered as extinct from this time . 232 Some heathen superstitions were communicated to Christianity. The veneration for martyrs encouraged by the Fathers, and carried to excess by the people .... 232-4 404 Honorius abolished the gladiatorial games . . . 235 388 Christianity was established by the Roman Senate . . 236 Note on the writings of Julian, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Zosimus. Julian's hatred of Christianity was not the contempt of a philosopher, but the passion of a rival ; a passage in the Mis- opogon proves his own superstitiousness or hypocrisy ; his cha- ritable edicts were derived from the Christian practices 237-41 Chapter IX. — From the Fall of Paganism to the. Death of Justinian. 370 — 600 The various barbarian tribes were converted, some before, some after, their invasion of the empire . . . 242 496 The probable account and consequences of the conversion of Clovis. The first connexion between France and Rome . . 243 The natural causes which facilitated the conversion of the barba- rians ; their respect for the grandeur of the empire, for the sacer- dotal character, for the imposing ceremonies of the church . 245 The opinion of Mosheim as to the probability of supernatural inter- position in aid of this work .... 247 The internal condition of the Church was still further corrupted by the admixture of another superstition . . . 248 427 Symeon the Stylite, a Syrian monk, commenced his method of peni- tential devotion, and obtained the admiration of the people and the respect of the Emperors .... 249 440 Leo the Great was raised to the See of Rome; zealous in the re- pression of error both in the East and West . .250 And in the aggrandizement of the Roman See . . 252 Leo encouraged, or instituted, the practice of private confession, — so useful to sacerdotal power .... 253 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENT!?. 451 A.D. PAGE 252 451 The substance of the 29th canon of the Council of Chalcedon re- specting the relative rank of the Sees of Rome and Constanti- nople . • ... 527 Justinian ascended the throne, and held it for nearly forty years. He assailed various heretics, Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians ; received from the fifth General Council the title of " Most Chris- tian," and died in the heresy of the Incorruptihles, or Phantastics 254-5 On the system of persecution adopted by the Christian Emperors. Theodosius II. embodied the various barbarous edicts in the Theodosian Code, and instituted inquisitions for the detection of heresy ...••• 256 The decline of the Roman literature was previous to any influence of the Christian religion, and chiefly caused by despotism 258 3,30 — i3Q Many eminent Christian writers nourished, and were the best of that age . 259 398 The Council of Carthage prohibited the study of secular books by Bishops ; great ignorance followed, though not in consequence of this decree . 260 The « Seven Liberal Arts,' ' Books of Martyrs,' ' Lives of Saints,' &c. 262 529 Justinian published the edict which closed the School of Athens 262 Religion in its purity had been connected with philosophy in its cor- ruption and abuse ..... 263 The effect of Justinian's edict has probably been much exaggerated 264 The moral delinquencies of the clergy were not so great as some have represented them . . • .264-5 The miseries of the age were ascribed by many to the overthrow of the idols ; and Augustine combats this notion in his ' City of God' ...... 266-7 Note on certain ecclesiastical writers . . .267 310, &c. The 'Divine Institutions,' and 'Deaths of the Persecutors,' the works of Lactantius .... 267 362, &c. Gregory Nazianzen wrote some Discourses against the Em- peror Julian ; he exalts in lofty language the authority of the Church . . . • • .268 374 Ambrose raised by the people to the See of Milan; he was not then baptized. In 390 he imposed an act of humiliation on Theo- dosius the Great . . . • .270-3 Chrysostom combined great eloquence, zeal, and piety, with some extravagance ; he died in exile on Mount Taurus. His opinions on the Eucharist, on Grace and Original Sin, and on Confession, have been the occasion of much controversy . . 273-7 390 Jerome, in his convent at Bethlehem, exalted monastic excellence, and attacked the reformers and heretics, Jovinian, Vigilantius, Pe- lagius, &c. His Latin translation of the Old Testament less fa- vourably received at the time than his polemical philippics 27 7-9 Chapter X.~From the Death of Justinian to (hat of Charlemagne, 567 — 814. 596 St. Austin, with forty Benedictines, introduced Christianity into Britain. His miraculous claims may be rejected ; but the work was accomplished without violence. Gregory the Great was Bishop of Rome . . • • 280 Some of the original Christians remaining in Wales retained the Eastern error as to the celebration of Easter . .282 452 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. A.D. PAGE 790 The conversion of the Tartars .... 284 715 — 723 Winfred (Boniface), an Englishman, called the Apostle of Germany. He was raised to the See of Mayence, and (755) mur- dered by the Frieselanders .... 283 622 — 732 The Mahometans conquered Persia, Syria, Egypt, (through the co-operation of the Jacobites) the northern parts of Africa, and Spain. They invaded France, and were defeated by Charles Martel ...... 285-8 The religious policy of the Saracens . . . 288 772 Charlemagne converted the Saxons by the sword; and had reason to complain of their contumacy . . . 289 590 — 604 Gregory the Great was raised to the Roman See; he pos- sessed some good and great qualities, and applied himself to reform some abuses. He was charitable, zealous for the propa- gation of Christianity, and the unity of the Church . 291-4 The charge against him of having burnt the Palatine Library is pro- bably unfounded . . . . .294 — He encouraged the use, and prohibited the worship, of images . 294 He inculcated purgatory, and pilgrimage to holy places . 295 His extravagant letter to the Empress Constantina on the bodies of the Saints and the sanctity of their relics . 296-8 — Worship was still celebrated by every nation in its own language 298 Gregory instituted the canon of the Mass, and added splendour to the ceremonies of the Church . . . 298 598 The title of (Ecumenic was conferred by the Emperor Maurice upon the Patriarch of Constantinople. Gregory vehemently dis- puted the propriety of the title, without claiming it for himself 299 Gregory first claimed the power of the Keys for the successor of St. Peter, rather than the body of the Bishops . . 30(1 The use of papal envoys and advocates, and the practice of appeal to Rome, became more common during the pontificate of Gregory 301 — Of his claim to the title of Great, and the mischief occasioned by the superstitions encouraged by him . . .303 St. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon — a specimen of his sermons — misre- presented by Mosheim .... 304-6 604 — 770 No character of ecclesiastical eminence from Gregory to Charle- magne. But many changes were silently introduced into the Western Church, through the barbarian conquests. The East remained unaltered . . . .306 The lower orders of the clergy were greatly debased in the West. The office of priesthood was commonly conferred on the serfs of the Church . . . . . 308 A number of laymen were connected with the Church by the giving of the tonsure ..... 308 The principle of the Unity of the Church, now useful in associating the barbarians, prepared the way for the papal despotism. On some Councils held in Spain . . . 309-10 The process by which the Popes usurped the authority of the Me- tropolitans . . . . 310-12 Princes usurped the appointment to vacant Sees, with great detriment to the Church in those ages . . . .312 The power and corruption of the episcopal order. The military cha- racter commonly assumed . . . .313 635 Pope Martin was carried away to Constantinople, and died in exile in the Chersonesus ..... 315 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 453 A.D. PAGE 754-5 Pope Zachary, having contributed to raise Pepin to the throne of France, was rewarded by the donation of the Exarchate of Ra- venna . . . . . 31 G 800 Charlemagne was proclaimed Emperor of the West. He exerted great munificence towards the Church; still, however, retaining Rome us a part of the empire. His object was to civilize his sub- jects by means of the clergy . . . .318 789 The Councils of Aix-la-Chapelle and (794) Frankfort assembled for the reformation of the clergy .... 320 Chapter XI. — On the. Dissensions of the Church from Constantihe to Charlemagne. 31 1 The principal cause of the schism of the Donatists was a disrespect shown to the Numidian Bishops. The principle which it pleaded was the invalidity of the ministry of the Traditors . . 323 Constantine interfered, by synods, first at Rome, then at Aries ; lastly, by personal investigation. He decided against the Donatists, and used the secular power .... 324 But he presently repealed the laws against them. They were per- secuted by Constans ; restored by Julian ; they then flourished, and quarrelled. Presently Augustine assailed them ; and they were 411 condemned by the Council of Carthage, and persecuted. Great ravages were committed by the Circumcellions . . 325-9 354—430 Augustine, a Numidian, embraced the Manichean opinions. He returned to the Church ; was made Bishop of Hippo ; reformed the abuse of the Agapse ; and became celebrated by his Catholic zeal, and his writings . . • 329-32 Erasmus had drawn a parallel between Augustine and Jerome 332 Some particulars relating to his private life . . 333 380 Priscillian was condemned on the charge of Manicheism by the Coun- cil of Saragossa, and executed at Treves, by Maximus, four years afterwards. He is generally considered as the first martyr to religious dissent. It is disputed what his opinions were 334 -G Martin of Tours ..... 336 390 Jovinian was condemned by a Council held by Ambrose, at Milan, and banished by the emperor. He wrote against celibacy, and religious seclusion .... 337 405 Vigilantius wrote against the temples of martyrs, prodigies, vigils, prayers to saints, fasting, &c. .... 339 412 The opinions of Celestius were condemned by a Council at Car- thage. Augustine then accused Pelagius before two Councils, in Syria ; but he was acquitted in both. Zosimus, Bishop of Rome, at first declared in his favour. But an imperial edict was obtained against the heresy, &c. .... 340-3 What is the substance of the Pelagian opinions ; and what seem to have been the real sentiments of Augustine . . 343 428 The Semipelagian doctrines began to spread in France, and seem to have had earlier prevalence in the East ; but they were equally condemned by the Church of Rome . . • 345 The doctrine of the ' One Incarnate Nature' was first avowed in Egypt by Apollinaris, Bishop of Loadicea, the friend of Athanasius ; but condemned in Asia and Syria . . .347 428 Nestorius was raised to the See of Constantinople. He maintained 454 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. A.D. PAGE that the Virgin Mary should be called the ' Mother of Christ,' or even ' Mother of Man ;' not ' Mother of God.' Cyril of Alex- andria opposed him ..... 348 43 1 He was condemned by the General Council of Ephesus, and died in the deserts of Upper Egypt. But his opinions spread throughout Asia ...... 349 The doctrine of the Nestorians, according to the Councils of Se- leucia ...... 351 449 The Monophysite opinions of Eutyches were confirmed in a Council held at Ephesus ; but rejected by that of Chalcedon (451), which established the doctrine of Christ in one person and two natures 351-3 482 Zeno published his Henoticon, or Edict of Union . . 353 The errors of Origen, which principally gave occasion to the Fifth General Council ..... 354 G29 Heraclius proposed the question of the single or double will of Christ ; and the latter was established by the Sixth General Council at Constantinople, held in 680 . . .355 Some remarks favourable to the parties engaged in these controversies 35G 726 Leo the Isaurian attacked the worship of images, established in the East before 600 ..... 357-8 And was resisted both in the East, and in Italy, and by Gregory II. 359 754 An assembly near Constantinople decreed the destruction of images (hence the name Iconoclasts) ; but Irene restored them by the General Council of Nice, in 787 ; the seventh, and last, of the Greek Church. Some remarks on I hose Councils . 359-63 The Inconoclast heresy was renewed by some following emperors ; but finally repressed (842) by the Empress Theodora . 364 754 John Damascenus, the last of the Greek Fathers . . 365 — The miracles in this contest were chiefly claimed by the friends of the idols, who, in the East, were for the most part the monks and lower people. In the West, the Papal Chair zealously supported the same cause ..... 366 794 But the Council of Francfort, under Charlemagne, was much more moderate ..... 367 Chapter XII. — On the Schism between the Greek and Latin Churches. Some political causes which accelerated the division between the Churches ..... 368 320—451. The extent and authority of the See of Constantinople in- creased widely, and its jurisdiction was confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon, in spite of the Legates of Leo the Great . 370 588 After continued disputes, John the Faster assumed the title of Uni- versal Patriarch, which led to fresh quarrels. The internal dis- sensions of the Greek Church always gave Rome an influence in its affairs . . . . . .371 767 The doctrine of the double procession, having been previously agitated in Spain, was received by the French clergy at the Council of Gentilli, and advocated by Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 809 . . . . .372 53 Photius was raised to the See of Constantinople, and then he and Nicholas I. excommunicated each other . . . 373 Photius charged the Roman Church with five errors . 374 There were, besides, differences about the limits of their respective ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 455 A.D. PAGE jurisdictions. Photius was deposed, and the act confirmed by a Council held at Constantinople, in 869 ; but this had no effect in healing the schism .... 375 1054 Another dispute between Michael Cerularius and Leo IX. completed the division ; and the Latin Act of Excommunication was placed on the grand altar of St. Sophia . . .376 Chapter XIII. — The condition of the Church at the Death of Charlemagne. The subjects of this Chapter are chiefly retrospective . . 378 1 — 313 The nature of the primitive ecclesiastical government. The ele- ments of three forms of government may be discovered in it — the Episcopal, the Presbyterian, and the Independent ; but they im- mediately resolved themselves into a limited episcopacy . 379 The rise of synods ; their co-operation for the union of the various churches ..... 380 The principal bond of union was the catalogue of the Sacred Books ; and perhaps the salvation of the Church may be ascribed to that union . . . . • .381 An opinion of Sender considered . • . 381-2 The writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers contain the most important doctrines, but no theological system . . . 382 Miraculous powers falsely attributed to the early Church, at least after the middle of the second age . . . 384 The nature of those which it asserted . . . 384 On Exorcists and Dsemoniacs. The words of Cyprian . 386 Several literary forgeries disgraced the Ante-Nicene Church . 387 The distinction of the converts into Catechumens and Faithful, was as early as Tertullian. Its motive two-fold . . 388 There were two original sacraments or mysteries ; but the ceremo- nies of penitential absolution, ordination. &c, were concealed from the uninitiated ; and even baptism and the eucharist were sur- rounded with some superstitious reverence . . 389 The birthdays of the martyrs were of early institution ; and honours were offered at their tombs . . . .390 The use of prayers and offerings for the dead, and the practice of occasional fasting, was very early . . .392 Some of the forms of the external economy of the Church are to be sought in Jewish, some in Pagan practices. On the distinction between clergy and laity, the power of the presbytery . 393 On antient Liturgies. Their four original sources. The Oriental, Alexandrian, Roman and Gallican— Restrictions with which these facts must be received .... 393-7 Two conclusions may be drawn. (1.) That the Ante-Nicene Church was not a perfect model of a Christian society. (2.) That the fundamental doctrines of Christianity are steadily perceptible from the beginning. The corruptions, which were even then in exist- ence, might have been easily corrected on the establishment of the Church . . . . .398 320—604 A great progress in abuse during this period . . 401 The monastic system took root in the 4th and 5th ages . 401 The celibacy of the clergy was treated in the Councils of Ancyra and Nice, and in that of Constantinople in Truth . . 402 45G ANALYTICAL TABLE OP CONTENTS. A.D. PAGE The exertions of Pope Siricius and Gregory the Great . 403 The penitential system was maintained in full vigour, till the insti- tution of private confession by Leo the Great . .403 The doctrine of purgatory was first expressly laid down to the Church by Gregory the Great . . .404 A great number of Pagan ceremonies found their way into the Church in the 5th and 6th centuries ; and, among other evils, the use and abuse of images .... 405 The first instance of the erection of images was probably the act of Sulpicius Severus .... 407 The origin of the spiritual power of the Christian clergy ; a power unknown to the Pagan priesthood. To what objects it was directed before Constantine. The popular influence which it conferred . . • • .4 08 Other motives afterwards combined to raise the authority and in- fluence of the hierarchy . . . • ^09 The great number (1800) of the Bishops increased their weight in the commonwealth ; but this was diminished by their intestine dis- sensions . . . . • .410 The ill and wicked policy which led the Church to appeal to the temporal sword . . . • .410 The influence of the Presbytery in the government of the diocese gradually decayed ; and the authority of the Bishop rose far above the inferior clergy . . . . .411 The Bishop of Rome was exalted as the Bishop of the Imperial city, as the only Patriarch of the West, by the absence of the Imperial Government, by the especial claim of St. Peter's protection, and of the Keys ; hence he derived respect, which he converted into authority . . . ' .412 600—800 A vast field for ecclesiastical exertion, for good as well as for evil, was opened by the barbarian conquests ; the inordinate growth of episcopal power was another characteristic of this period; an- other was the establishment of the Pope's temporal monarchy by the donation of Pepin . . . .414 The Athanasian Creed, originally written in Latin, is commonly attri- buted to Vigilius Tapsensis, who lived at the end of the fifth cen- tury'; the principle of this creed is the exclusive salvation ofthose within the Church. The truths which it contains are not ex- pressed in the words of Scripture ; it was composed many ages after the apostolical times, when evangelical purity was in no prevalence . . . • .417 Constantine instructed the magistrates to execute the episcopal sentence, but he restrained their power within narrow limits. Some decrees of subsequent emperors on the same subject and with the same view . . • .419 Justinian enlarged the jurisdiction of the Bishops, and entirely exempted them from the lay courts, and there the matter rested in the Eastern Church ; in the West, Charlemagne increased their privileges to an inordinate extent, which their territorial posses- sions stretched still farther . . . 420 The foundations of the Papal omnipotence were laid by the for- geries of the donation of Constantine, and the False Decretals ; how far Charlemagne may have been influenced by the former 423 1 — 325 The Ante-Nicene clergy were supported by voluntary oblations. Constantine opened a variety of new sources . . 425 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. 457 A.D. PAGK What exemptions the clergy soon afterwards enjoyed . 427 The ancient manner of dispensing the church funds • . 428 470 (about.) A law for the quadripartite division of tithes was enacted in the West . . . . .429 Changes introduced by the system of feudalities . . 430 Foundation of benefices and right of patronage . . 430 The territorial and other possessions of the clergy were very con- siderable, even before Charlemagne, and not always acquired by worthy means ..... 430 Much on the other hand was derived from fair and honourable sources ; and all was liable to spoliation . . . 432 No tithes were paid to the Antenicene Church : but both Ambrose and Augustine inculcated the payment vehemently, and pressed the divine obligation. Chry?ostom and Jerome were more mo- derate ... ... 433 Some special endowments may have been made before the end of the seventh century ; but the first legislative act which con- 778 ferred the right was that of Charlemagne. Other constitutions fol- lowed, but the payment does not seem to have been commanded 1215 ' as a duty of common right,' till the fourth Lateran Council, under Innocent III. (Canon 54*) . . .436 The power and influence of the Church, at the period of the bar- barian conquests, were the instruments by which the religion was preserved . . . . .438 It afterwards conferred great benefits on society by the general exercise of charity, by the severity of its penitential discipline, by its more civilized principles of legislation, by attempts to abolish slavery, and to diminish civil outrage and international warfare ; by preserving the ancient writings, and disseminating the im- perfect education of the age. .... 440 * ' Quod Decimae ante Tributa solvantur.' VOL. I. 2 H A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE ANTENICENE CHURCH. It is proper to premise that several of the dates are disputed. A.D. 32 James the Just is made Bishop of Jerusalem. Elders appointed. 37 Tiberius is succeeded by Caligula. The year of the birth of Josephus, the historian. 39 The Church of Antioch is founded by Paul and Barnabas : and the faith- ful first assume the name of Christian. Simon Magus is supposed to have passed from Antioch to Rome about this time. 50 Paul visits Athens and Corinth. 54 Luke writes his Gospel. 58 Peter's probable visit to Rome. Mark writes his Gospel. 60 James, Bishop of Jerusalem, is killed, and Symeon succeeds. 64 Persecution of the Christians by Nero at the burning of Rome. 65 Secession of the Christian Church to Pella. 66 Matthew writes his Gospel. 70 Ignatius succeeds Evodius as Bishop of Antioch. 72 Jerusalem destroyed by Titus. Rise of the Ebionites. 82 Origin of the Cerinthians and Nicolaitans, heretics. 89 The trial of Apollonius Tyanteus, before Domitian, and his fabled preter- natural disappearance. (Philostratus, lib. vii., and viii.) 93 Clement succeeds Anancletus as Bishop of Rome. 95 Probable date of his Letter to the Corinthians. The grandsons of St. Jude are brought before Domitian. 96 John writes his Gospel and Epistles. 100 Evarestus succeeds Clement as Bishop of Rome. 107 Ignatius suffers martyrdom. Heros succeeds as Bishop of Antioch. Letter addressed to Trajan by Pliny the Younger. 114 Insurrection of the Jews in JEgypt and Cyrene. Basilides the head of the Gnostics at Alexandria, and Saturninus at Antioch. 125 Apologies presented to Hadrian by Quadratus and Arislides. 126 Hadrian writes to M. Fundanus, Proconsul of Asia, concerning the Chris- tians, to protect them from popular fury. 129 Hadrian writes to Servianus the Consul, mentioning the Christians. 134 Foundation of /Elia Capitolina by Hadrian, after the revolt of the Jews under Barcochebas. (Semler places this event at ] 19.) Testimony of Hadrian respecting the religious character of the Alexan- drians. (Some place this too some years earlier.) CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 459 A.D. 135 Mavcus, the first Gentile Bishop of Jerusalem. 138 Hadrian dies, and Antoninus Pius succeeds. 142 Marcion, the Gnostic, comes to Rome. Valentinus and Cerdo somewhat earlier. The first Apology of Justin Martyr puhlished ahout this time. 151 Anicetus, Bishop of Rome. 158 Polycarp's visit to Rome. Hegesippus flourishes. 165 Death of Justin Martyr. The seven Catholic Epistles of the Bishop Dionysius. 1G6 Martyrdom of Polycarp under Marcus Antoninus. 1G6 Montanus begins his heresy, 169 The Apology of Melito. 172 Tatian, the disciple of Justin Martyr, founds the sect of Encratites. 174 Legend of the Thundering Legion. 178 On the martyrdom of Pothinus, Irensous is made Bishop of Lyons. 180 Apology of Miltiades. 185 Pantsenus enters on a mission to India, and is succeeded in the Catechetical School at Alexandria by Clemens. 189 Victor succeeds Eleutherus as Bishop of Rome. 192 Tertullian made Presbyter of the Church of Carthage. 193 — 6 Victor excommunicates Theodotus for denying Christ to be God; and addresses an order to the Asiatic Churches respecting the celebration of Easter, which they refuse to obey. 1 98 The Heresy of Praxeas. 199 Tertullian lapses into Montanism. 202 Persecution of Severus. Leonides, the father of Origen, suffers death. Origen then 1 7 years old. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, by Symmachus, is assigned to this year. 203 Origen made president of the Catechetical School. 215 A council at Carthage, concerning the Baptism administered by heretics. 228 The bcffinnina: of the war between the Romans and Persians 229 Origen is ordained at Csesarea — visits Greece. 231 He finally leaves Alexandria and settles at Csesarea. The death of Ammonius Saccas takes place about this time. A Council held at Iconium on the Baptism administered by Heretics. 240 Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocajsarea in Pontus, flourishes. A council of 90 Bishops at Carthage. 244 Philip, of whom it is recorded by Eusebius that he was in earlier life a Christian, succeeds Gordian in the Empire. He does not persecute. 245 Plotinus, the Platonic philosopher, settles at Rome. 246 Origen writes against Celsus. 250 (or 248) Cyprian is raised to the See of Carthage. Persecution of Decius. Origin of the Heresy of Sabellius. 4G0 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.D. 251 Cyprian holds a council at Carthage, on the subject of the lapsed. Cornelius elected Bishop of Rome. Origin of the Schism of Novatian. He is condemned by a council held at Rome. 252 Two councils held at Carthage. A council at Antioch. Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, is driven into exile. . 253 Lucius, his successor, suffers the same fate. 253 Another council at Iconium, on the validity of the Baptism administered by Heretics. Some place the death of Origen in this year. 255-G Controversy between Cyprian and Stephen, Bishop of Rome, concerning the Baptism administered by Heretics. A council of Carthage decides against its validity. Stephen threatens the Orientals with excommunication. 257 Stephen suffers in the persecution of Valerian. 258 Cyprian suffers martyrdom. 262 Question as to the orthodoxy of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria. Porphyry comes to Rome. 265 First council of Antioch against Paul of Samosata. 269 Second council deposes Paul from the See. 270 Death of Plotinus. 272 Aurelian, having defeated Zenobia, enforces the sentence of the council against Paul of Samosata. 277 Probable date of the death of Manes, or Manichams ; and of the first appearance of his sect in the West. 286 Legend of the Theban Legion. 303 Beginning of the persecution of Diocletian. Lactantius writes in favour of Christianity. 305 Council of Cirta in Africa. Council of Eliberis in Spain, at which Hosias was present. 306 Constantius dies at York, and Constantine assumes the title of Ccesar. 310 Arnobius writes in favour of the Christians. Antony originates the eremitical life in Egypt. 312 Origin of the schism of the Donatists. Constantine marches against Maxentius. Supposed vision of the Cross. Defeat and Death of Maxentius. 313 Edict of Milan, authorizing the profession of Christianity. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. London ; Printed by William Clowes mid Sons, Stamford-Street, \ C |Millilf BIA UN,VERSITV LIBRARIES 00571 02880 PHOTOCOPY .-,, . - ! I [MT"I itifif afcal