YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY From the Library of IRVING GOODWIN VANN, '63 Gift of his children FLORENCE VANN FOWLER IRVING DILLAYE VANN, *97 » -"'•% REMARKS ON ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. REMARKS ON ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, IN THREE VOLUMES. BY JOHN. JORTIN, D.D. CON OF LONDON, RECTOR OF ST D THE EAST, AND VICAR OF KENSINGTON. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. A/a ownpn/Aiuc x, tvftiLiiae. VOL. III. LONDON: SOLD BY LACKINGTON, ALLEN, AND CO. FINSBURY SQUARE; CUTHELL AND MARTIN, MIDDLE-ROW, HOLBORN ; AND J. WALKER, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1805. T. TURNBULL, PRINTER, EDINBURGH. CONTENTS OF VOLUME THiRD. Ai lMTIARIAN disputes-and mifades Page'l Jewish Talmud made public 3 Cassjdorus well treated by Ariah princes, though a Consubstantialist 3 St CaBSarius's nunnery a Timothy, Bishop of Constantinople, out of hatred to his predecessor, ordered the "Nicene Creed to be read-every time service was performed i Burnmg mirrors 3 Dsemoniacs in Alexandria 3 The Jew's synagogue- at "Raveiines burnt by Chris tians 3 £osimas, and the lion and the ass 4 Boethius 4 Justinian .4 The passage in Suidas relates to Justin, and not to Justinian 5 Theodora 5 The title Most Christian was first given to Justinian 6 Aphfhartodocitas 6 Procopius> and his character of Justinian and Theodora 6, ¦% . Agathias 25 A sea monster taken near Byzantium 28 The art of weaving silk brought to Constantinople 29 A learned dog 30 Gamesters punished by Justinian 30 • A sedition of the blues and greens 30 Prostitutes shut up by Justinian and Theodora 31 The custom of counting years by consulates dropped ^ Bishoprics purchased 33 The fconyersion of St Theophilus 34 » Damasciusj, VJ 60NTENTS. Page Pamascius, Simplicius, Eulamius, Priscianus, Her*. mias, Diogenes, Isidorus 34 Justinus junior, removes the oppressions of the great 35 Benedict's miracles " 3^ Dionysius Exiguus's aera 36 A council in Gaul about meats 36 Facundus's account of the Eucharist $6, Miracle of the cross at Apamea 37 The purification first celebrated 37 St Barsanuph 3§ St Simeon Salus, who feigned himself mad 38 Fifth tiounql at Constantinople 38 The Suevi converted from Arianism 38 A story of Anatolius like one in Virgil 38. Hormisdas III. 39 St Euphemia's church at Chalcedon 39 John the faster, bishop of Constantinople 40 Leovigildus king of Spain 49 His doxology 4^ Chilperic, king of the Franks 42 Theodoras the monk's two cages 4? A droll canon made by the council of Macoa 43 Gontran, king of the Franks, his reverence for sanc tuaries 43 St Cohimbanus turns a bear out his cave 43 Sabas the monk, a lion quits his den to him 43 St Gregory, pope 44 Dispute about the palpability of the resprrection body 45 Bodies of St Peter and St Paul 46 Filings of St Paul's chain 41 Serehus, Bishop of Marseilles and Gregory's dispute about images 4* Paulus Diaconus turns, the eucharistical bread into flesh 48 Recaredus, king of the Visigoths, forsakes Arianism 49 The Arian clergy were generally married 49 ' VulsUaic, CONTENTS. yU - . . Page Vulsilaie, a pillar monk in the West ' 59 The difference between the Eastern and Western monks 50 An impostor in Gaul calls himself Christ jo Gregory of Tours tq A council in Spain try Arian reliques by fire 51 St Austin^s teachings in Britain ci Simeon Stylites, jun. 53 Jacobites, or Monophy sitae 52 Rise of Tritheists jz Christianity propagated in China by the Nestorians 53 Valdenses settle in Piedmont 5 ft Eligius's system of religion 53 Mahomet 153 Fourth council of Toledo C3 Rotharis, king of the Lombards 54 Clovis II. a story of him unravelled J4 No councils helcj without permission of the princes 55 Theodoras, the pope, writes condemnations of here tics with a pen dipped in consecrated wine 56 Photius deposed 56 Carobas Calvus, his treaty with Bernard signed san guine Eucharistico j6~ Council of Lateran against the Monothelite? 56 Amri burns the Alexandrian library 57 Isdegerdes, the last king of the Persians 57 Monothelites 58 Osui, king of Northumberland's reason for keeping Easter on the same day as kept at Rome 58 Ignis Grcecus invented 58 The clergy commanded to get the Athanasian creed by heart 58 St Leger 58 Venerable Bede 59 Councils make canons against the wickedness of bishops 59 . a a Decrees #iii CONtENTTSi . Pag£ 60 Decrees that the eucharistic .bread shall be given apart from the wine ¦ 59 Sebbj^king of Essex, turns monk 59 Imma Released from^his fetters by his brother's say ing, mass The art of making glass brought intd England 60 Sixth general council of Constantinople anathematize the pope for heresy 6f ¦* Call Polychfonius before them 61 Transubstantiation unknown in the Latin church in 681 . • 62 The addition oijilioque made ta the Nicene creed 62 Council at Toledo release subjects from their allegi ance 62 Pope Leo II. anathematized 6i Another council at Toledo concerning the rights of princes and subjects 63 Theodorus writes a summafy of the discipline of Greeks and Latins The Constantinqpojitan council in Trttlla 63 Spanish Jews charged with treason by the council of Toledoj arid cruelly treated -ga The Mussulmans put an end to the Roman .power in Afric, and burn what books .they .can .find 64 Introduction of Christianity in China, by the Nes torians g4 Bishops in partibus infidelium g* The authority of the clergy more extensive in the West than in the East, and why .g4 The assumption of the Virgin, a doctrine not broach ed in the year 704 *¦ The clergy take arms g. Radbod, king of the Frisons, refuses baptism, and * W '7 • 6.7 A council at Rome forbids godfathers and godmo thers marrying one another g6 The Caliph, Yezid, destroys images in churches 68 63 Leo CONTENTS* IX Page Leo the emperor abolishes images 68 Eating horse-flesh forbid by Gregory III. 7 1 Bonifacius - 71 — 74 The Mohammedans in Spain make laws to curb the Christians, 72 Constantinus Copronymus 72 presents Pepin with an orgaa 73 Pepin gives twenty-two cities'to the pope 7 } Constantine's opinion of the Virgin Mary 7 > Chaplains, first mention made of them 74 Form of baptism used by an ignorant priest in Ba varia 7 4 Gevilieb, the bishop, fights 74 Monastery of Fulda exempted from all but the pope 74 Astolphus, king of the Lombards^ take9 Ravenna 74 A general council of Iconoclasts, near Constantinople 75 An assembly at Quiercy, the pope present 75 The pope forges a letter of St Peter to Pepin 7 5 Conditional baptism • 76 Leprosy held a sufficient cause to dissolve a marriage 76 The pope's letters dated from the reign of the em peror 76 The pope presents Pepin with a night -clock ~6 A council held in France about the procession of the Holy Ghost 76 A council at Rome in favour of image-worship 77 Charles the Great destroys a Saxon temple 77 puts an end to the kingdom of the Lombards '; 7 Leo, the emperor 77 Constantine, his successor, governed by Irene 77 The second Nicene council held in favour of image worship 77 A council in England forbids the cutting off horses ears and tails, or eating their flesh 73 Charles the Great has leave from the pope to ravage Bavaria 7 8 (h> forbids bishops to keep fools - 38 VOL. in. b Charles 1 content!?. Paige-' Charles his laws about lent 79 The French bishops opinion of images 79 — sS A new heresy m Spain- 80 Alcuin 80 Council of Frankfort 80 Arnon, archbishop of Salsburg 8b Scholastics - , 81 Charles the Great crowned emperor of Rome 81 ¦ a frieril to literature 83 A council rt Aix la Chapelle about the filioqtte 82 Almamun, or Aby Gaafiar Abdalfah, Caliph 82 St Ludger 84 StylitEe 84 Charlemain's laws in favour of the church 84 The emperor Leo,, the Armenian, against images 85 Theodorus Studites 85 Michael,- the emperor's account of idolaters 85 Images are carved statues as well as pictures 86' Bishop Basil requires the clergy to repeat by heart AthanasiiVs's creed every Sunday, and the people the Lord's prayer and apostles' creed 86? Pope Leo's offerings and repairs of churches 8y Council in England, and their decrees about keeping the eucharist in churches, signing with the cross, and baptism by infusion 87 Eucharist, disputes' in Franee about it 88- EucharUfieal elements not adored till the twelfth century S8« Ornaments in churches representing the' assumption nf the Virgin Mary 88 Claudius, bishop of Turin, against images ' 88 Theophilus, the emperor, an Iconoclast 89 1 Michael, his son and successor, establishes image worship 89 The feast of orthodoxy established 89 Opinions about receiving the body of Christ 89 Joannes Scofrus 90, .98 4 Godesehaleus CONTENTS; %l Page Gqdeschalcus •' 90 Controversies about grace, &c. 90 Christianus Druthmarus 91 Exactions of bishops restrained 91 Anpnymous reliques 93 . Pauliqjans persecpted by Theodora 95 Michael, the emperbr's character 9S Bishops assume a power of deposing kings 97 Pope Joan 97 Carplus Calvus 97 Huldericus, a German bishops opposes the pope 98 Photius, patriarch of Constantinople 98 — 105 Rodolphus qualified for orders by a temporal estate I02 ^Enjeas and Ratrum defend ih&jilioque 103 iEneas grounds the pope's supremacy on Constan- tine*s grant 103 Adrian, the Pope, appoints Louis successor to Lo- tharius 103 ^—humbled by Carolus Calvus 104 Council of Troyes forbid any to sit in the bishbp's presence 104 John VIII. approves of the Gospel being read in the yulgar tongue 104 Athanasius; bishop of Naples, absolved by the pope, on condition he cuts the Saracens throats 104 Basilica 105 Pope Stephen condemns Formosus, his predecessor 105 A canon to forbid plundering the pope's palace, &c. on his death ic6 Hungarians 106 A form of excomrnunicatida with a lamp 107 Alfred 107 Leo the emperor married a fourth wife contrary to the Greek 'canons 107 Sergius III. Pope 107 The Normans embrace Christianity 107 John X. Pope 108 h a Trypho xii CONTENTS. Pagg 108 108 108 no IIO IIOIII Trypho patriarch in confidence John XI. Pope Paul the- Monk St Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne? " John XII. Pope I09 Theffphilus the patriarch' 9 Otho Edgar's Etclesiastical laws Mayeul, abbot of Clugni, refused being Pope Suidas Christianity established among the Russians in jffilfric ii r, 112 Pope John XV. canonizes Uldaric I12 Pope Gregory V. ! ' 2 Antipope John XVI. H2 Festival of All Souls and worship of the Virgin Mary 1 12,125 Robert king of France, excommunicated 113 Pope Sylvester II. 113 Realists and' Nominalists 113, 3)6 Kyrieeleison and Paralipomenon sainted, and he who could read Greek -passed for a sorcerer 114 Times of ignorance and superstition 114 A Saxon homily against transubstantiation 117 Leutard set up as a prophet 117 A Fanatic at Ravenna taught that the heathen poets should be believe'd in 117 Many heretics from S&rdinia 118 Peter made pope by name of Sergius IV. ¦ 118 The Jews persuade the prince of Babylon to destroy the church of the sepulchre at Jerusalem 118 The Jews cruelly treated un A false pilgrim burnt jjcf A new head of John the Baptist x Ig Bouchard bishop of Worms , iJQ Manichceans or Paulicians John XIX. made pope by money 120,135,' [218= 231, 244,247 120 Council CONTENTS. Xlii Page Council of Anse reject a plea of privilege granted by the pope 120 Simony universally practised , 1 20 Guido the musician invented the gamut 1 20 Church bells baptised ill -Tenets of some hon«st converts 121 Bloody rain • 123 Theophylact Pope, by name of Benedict IX. 423 Sylvester III. 123 The emperor St Henry, persuaded to leave off a cruel diversion 124 Casimire, a monk, king of Poland 124 Abbot Richard's pilgrimage 124 Gregory VI. Pope 1 2$ Leo IX. his letter to the patriarch 125 Division of the Bible into chapters;- %%$ Nicolas II. Pope 126 Dominicus Loricatus x 26 Trial by fire .12.6 Alexander II. writes in favour of the Jews - 126 Architects brought from Constantinople to Italy ' 127 Adam of Breme's History of Denmark 127 Hildebrand Pope, by name of Gregory VII. 127 Heretics called Patarini 130 Quarrels abou't investitures, or right of patronage 130 Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury 130 Lambertus.the monk, an excellent writer 130 Hugo, duke of Burgundy . 131 Alexius Comnenus, emperor of Constantinople 131 Ignis Grascus used in war 132 Bogomili heretics 132 Basilius 132 Carthusian order founded by St Bruno J 33 Roscelinus's opinion of the Trinity 133 The popes require the public service to be in Latin 134 A custom for priests to pronounce the words of con- secra,tiop in the eucharist suhmissa voce 130 Croisadej xiv CONTENTS. Page Croisades and Groisez , '¦< J3^> 1.44ss1 [146, 230, 233, 235, 245, 246, 305, 307, 310, 316, 325 The corruption and ignorance of ecclesiastics 138 Witnesses of the truth I39 Scholastic and mystic divinity * 4° Warm contentions between the Latins .and Greeks 140 The pope and patriarch anathematize one another 1 41 Bevengariu-: I4I Papa, a name given to all bishops *4J Ildebert, bishop of Mans I42 Trials by fire, w.'.ter and cakes, &,c. *42 St Nicolas Peregrinus *43t Sacrament received in both kinds 1 44 The Jews persecuted by the Croisez 144 Franks, their behaviour, jn the emperor's dominions 145 Fleury's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, from the year 600 to uoo 146 — 20^, " Judgments on Rome for her crimes 147 " Declension of literature » 148 " False legends 1 50 " Temporal promises to princes 152 " Reliques and Impostures 153 " Pilgrimages 155 " Eastern church 157 *.' Clergy become hunters and fighters, 161 " Bishops temporalities 161 " Alliance of episcopacy and tempqral dominion " very mischievous 164 — 188/ " Abuses in the east 3568 " Charisticarii 168 *.' Wealth of religious houses 169 " Simoniac.al contracts 170 — 17^ " Impiety and contempt of religion 171 «' Marriage of ecclesiastics, and violence of the " lait7 173 *.' Penances, censures, and compensations 177 <¦' Excommunication 179 '< Popes CONTENTS. xy Page ¦" Popes depart from moderation 182 " Gregory VII. 183, 188 " Mischiefs from the pope's high notions 185 1" Wiser maxims of antiquity 186 " Bishops Jt 89 ** Councils 190 " Objects of study and schools 191 ** Monasteries and monks 193, 199 " Ceremonies 298 " Tithes 202 " Divine service in the popular language 202 " Result of this Discourse" 205 Observations on Fleury 208 The strength of prejudice and education 208 Fleury builds on two positions : 1. That ]the church of Rome cannot err j 2. That it has not erred 209 Heresies qf the church of Rome , 209 Infallibility, a dream 210 The rights of the church and state 210 Church, the sense of that word in Scripture and anti quity 211 No one fond of excommunication, but those who make a trade qf it 212 Conversion of barbarous nations 212 Prester John 213 Guibert writes an account of the holy war 213 The regard paid to literature and the liberal arts, owing to the emperor's munificence, and vigilance of the Constantiuopolitan prelates 213 Schools and universities founded 214 Roman law 215 Henry V. 216, 218 Pope Paschal absolved by a council 217 excites Robert, Count of Flanders, to make war with Henry IV. and the clergy of Liege 217 Robert D' Abriselles 218 The Xvi CONTENTS'. Page The Life of Henry IV. written by an elegant au thor > 218 Paschal's orders about the eucharist 218 Abelard condemned 219, 233. Concordatum between the pope and emperor, concer ning the election of ecclesiastics 219 Bishops, in council, complain of the monks 219 Tanchelm, a wicked heretic at Antwerp 219 Guiber's Treatise on Reliques and the tooth of Christ * , 221 Otto converts the Pomeranians - 222 Joannes Cremensis 223 KHights Templars 223,238, [245.348,369. Two Popes elected 223 William of Malmsbury 223 Tilts and tournaments f6rbid by the council of Rheims ' - 224 Council of Lateran 224 Pope Innqcent II. compares ecclesiastical dignities to fiefs 224 The canons of cathedrals claim a right to elect their bishop 224 Arnauld de Bresse burnt 224 Controversies about the immaculate conception 225, 230, Massaliani, or Euchetas 226 Waldenses and Albigenses 226,228 E"243» 247> 302, 3Jo Cathari, or Puritans 227 St Bernard 23! 232 Saracens, their cruelties accounted for 232 Gilbert, bishop of Poictiers 233 Eon, a French heretic 234 St Hildegardis, a fanatical nun 234 King Frederic and Pope Adrian's interview 234 Gratian's decree 2,4 Foreign /heretics in England < 235 Transub.-, CONTENTS. XV 11 Page Transubstantiatlon, that word first used by Petras Blesensis - 235,308 Joannes Cinnamus 235 Demetrius 235 Island ofRugia 236 Suantovit, the idol, originally St Vitus 236 Saxo Grammaticus 237 Alexander III. Pope, makes peace with Frederic 237 Pope chosen by the cardinals under his decree 237 . the first that proclaimed war against heretics 238 added cannonization to the. major tauses 238 exercised the power of creating kings 238 Thomas Becket 238 Assassins, a sect of Mahometans 239 Rabbins 240 Council at London 240 Order of St James 241 Petras Comestor 341 A council of -Lateran forbids exactions by bishops 241 A council of Lateran requires an estate as an eccle siastical title 241 its canon about societies of Lepers 242 condemns Peter Lombard's heresy 24a The poverty , of some bishops 242 St Laurence, archbishop of .Dublin -242 Manuel Comnenus, the emperor 242 Lucius III. elected pope 243 Philip of France expels the Jews 243 The Latins in Constantinople massacred . 244 The Sicilians take Thessalonica 244 Eustathius 244 ' The Livonians converted 244 Saladin takes Jerusalem 245 Jews in England massacred 245 Celestinlll. Pope 345 Stercorariae, the pope's chairs 245 Pope Joan's statue 246 Teutonic Knights 246, 311 Miracles. XV111 CONTENTS. Page Miracles very common and cheap 246 The Greeks erase the first writing on ancient manu scripts, to write on the same parchment agaiii 246 Innocent 111. Pope. 247,,3o81 [322 Order of the holy Trinity 247 Festival of fook 248 The pope threatens to excommunicate the emperor of Constantinople 248, Heretics persecuted 249 The manner of punishing unfaithfulness, iq Ger many 249 The corrupt state of religion 249 Fleury's Discourse on Ecclesiastical History 254 — 30$ " Credit given to false decretals 254 " The Pope's consent nqt necessary to councils 255 *' Bishops may be judged by councils 257 1' The Pope has no power of translating bishops 259 " The erection of new sees belongs to councils 260 ^ Suppression of bishoprics not in the pope alone 261 *' The Pope's authority supported by false de cretals . 262 " Non-obstante clause in the pope's bulls 264 *' Court of Rome 264 " Gratian's decree 267 " Thomas Becket 2685 *' Innocent III. his answer to the emperor 269 " The false foundation of the pope's temporal f' power • 271 " Bishops becoming lords against the primitive " institution 273 f No see but that of Rome admits a plea for " uniting the temporal and' spiritual power 278 *' The pope's legates 281 *' Cessation of provincial councils 283 " The pope's confirmation of conventions 284 " Pope's residence and subsidies 284 "The, CONTENTS,, XIX Page P The duty of an historian 286 ?' The rigour of the church condemned 286, 292 " Moderation ceased after the 8th century 290 " Penances changed 294 " Pecuniary mulcts 295 " Indulgences" 297 Strictures on Fleury's Dissertation 301 303 Prostration at the host, and bells used with it 304 The pope elects the emperor of Germany 304 The Italian, French, and Spanish languages sprang from the Roman rustic 304 Water mixed with wine at the eucharist ; and dis putes whether changed into blood, and whether the body of Christ in the eucharist was received corruptible or incorruptible, and whether Christ performed natural actions 304 Hanging and burning heretics the universal practice 30 j The Croisez take Constantinople and make a Latin emperor 305 Louis IX. or St Louis, his hatred of heretics 306 St Dominic 307, 311 The curates at Paris had a dish from wedding din ners as a fee . 307 St Francis . 307, 309 St Clara 307 Innocent III. foretells the downfal of Mahomet 307 Brunettq Latini speaks of the mariners compass 308 Transubstantiatlon 308 King John of England like a vassal to Innqcent 309 Impostors 309 Louis VIII. heads a Croisade against the Albigenses 3.10 Inquisition 310,316". [3M, 389 A story of a rambling Jew 310 Gregory IX- papal impudence 310 The books of the Old and New Testament in the vulgar tongue forbidden ¦ 311 *¦<• :• Autoay *. XX CONTESTS, Page Antony of Padua 311 Clandestine marriages declared null 31 2 Bishop Grosthead 312 Gregory IX. forbids the Greeks to shew the holy fire " 312 - Matt. Paris 3*3 Jewish books burnt in France 3*3 Flagellantes 3J3>322* f375v381 Feast of the sacrament 3X3 Errors condemned at Paris. 3I4 Pragmatic r-dict against papal oppression 3*4 Roger Bacon , 3IJ» 32« Communion in both kinds in England 3I5 Jacobus de Voragine, his legend and translation of the Scriptures 3J5 Joannes de Parisiis, his treatise on the eucharist 315 A prodigy at Constantinople 315 Raimond Lulle, an enthusiast 315 A Jew burnt for stabbing the host 3J6 Acre taken, and the Holy Land lost 316 John Pecham archbishop of Canterbury 316 Jews accused without proof 316 Sasracen principles better than those of the Latins 318 Prevalence of the Aristotelic philosophy 319 The liberal arts cultivated lay European princes 319 Frederic II. emperor 319 Alphonsus X. 319 School at various places, and university at Paris 320 Robert de Sorbonne founds a college of divines 320 Philology did not keep pace with other learning 320 Arnoldus Villanovanus 321 Vices of Greek and Latin prelates 322 New monastic orders 322 Fratricelli, or Beguardi, and other sectarists 323 Albertus Magmi3, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure 322 A necessary caution in reading authors of these times 323 CatharL "CONTENTS. VUl Pao-e i. -. , & Clathari, Waldenses, Petrobrusiani, and others, per secuted 323 Abbots, their method of getting riches 324 Bishops and archbishops, their method of fighting 324 Fleury's Discburse on the Croisades 325 — 363 " Their origin 32 5 " Indulgences ¦ 330, 340, 341 " Ecclesiastics take up amis 33 1 " Disorders committed by the Croisez 333 "Their arrival at and taking 6f Jerusalem 334 " Cruel abuse of this success ^34 " The fruits of this enterprize 335 " The pope's exhortations censured 356 {< The second croisade 338 " The suspicion of the Greeks just 338 " The pope excommunicates the Croisez, but af- " ter their success thinks God was for them- ' 339 " Mischiefs from the taking of Constantinople " by the Latins 339 * New objects of the croisade 339 " Croisades numerous 341 rt Taxes for the croisade, and Saladin tenth 342 " Quarrels between the legate and chiefs 343 " The princes who took the cross, and the pope " quarrel • 343 " New lords In the East 344 " Latin clergy of the East 345 " Military orders 347 ''' Ceasing of canonical penances 349 " Wickedness of the Croisez 352' " Compulsion censured ' 354>3^ *' Temporal interest the motive in the Northern- " Croisade 356 " The last Croisade Inconsiderable 358 " Religion needs not human support 353 " The method to convert Mahometans" 360 Obstacles to. the propagation of the gospel 363 * ' 'Whr Xxii CONTENTS. Page' Why Christianity can receive no good from Popish missions 3°4 Christians in general not qualified to make converts 365 Difficulties in converting Mahometans 365 It would be better to send philosophers and stu dents, than missionaries 3®& Philip le Bel's answer to Boniface VIII. 367 The Greek empire attacked by Othman 367 Boniface VIII. establishes the jubilee 367, 376 Jews banished by Philip qf France 3^8 Annates, begun by Clemens V. 368 Apostolical, a sect so called, destroyed by a bishop 37a The knights of St John take Rhodes 370 Organs introduced into churches ' 37°- .Henry VII. the emperor, poisoned in the host 370 An Arian princess poisoned in the same way 376 John XX. 370 Jews massacred by the Pastoureaux 370 Marsilius writes like a Protestant in defence of the emperor 376 The council of Avignon complain -of the hatred of the laity 371- The prqcession of the sacrament introduced 371 Nicephorus Callistus ' 371 Gulielmus Occamus . 371 Lollards 37i, 376 Richard Bury, bishop of Durham, his character 372 Trinity Sunday established 373 Jacobus Furneriusy pope, by name- of Benedict XII. 373 Innocent VI. 2-4 Urban V: „-- . Petrarch . --, _ • • 374 Quietists 3?4 St Catharine of Sieiia „_ . • 3/4 John Blome digs in the monastery of Glaston for Joseph of Arimatbea's body „-. Dancers, a sect Antipopes CONTENTS. XXIII Page Antipopes 375 Wickliff 376 Fr aires AM 1 376 The emperor Manuel's going to Rome was of ser vice to Europe as to literature 376 Sawtre, the first that was burnt fot heresy in Eng land 377 John Hus, and Jerom of Prague 377, 379, 38a At the council of Pisa was read Gregory's decree about. the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son 378 Alexander V. gives the consecrated golden rose to the Marquis of Este 378 Bur-gin burnt for heresy 378 Bishop, of Hildeshem, a story of him 378 Jews persecuted 3^8 The adventure of the Owl 379 Lithuanian and Samogite Pagans converted 379 The council of Constance establishes the superiority of councils over the pope 379, 381 . the Communion of one kind 380 decrees against safe conducts to heretics 380 The English bishops of Constance cause a tragic comedy to bo acted 381 A priest said to be miraculously converted 381 Constitution of Martin V. in favour of the Jews 381 Adamites 38.1 A pretended Union between the Greeks and Latins 382 A contest, whether the doctrines of Plato, or Ari stotle, were to be preferred 182, 385 ./Eneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II. 38 j Taborites 382 Nicolas V. Pope 383 Alphonsus 383 Mahomet II. takes Constantinople, and secures the library 383 CyiiHus Lucaris, the patriarch 384 Sixtus XXJV CONTENTS* FagS Sixtus IV. the pope, erects a bawdy-house at Rome 384 John II. King of Portugal 384 The pope's power declines with the revival of letters 385 The vices of popes and ecclesiastics 386 Hatred between the Greeks and Latins 387 Reflections on the Spanish and Portugueze method of propagating the Gospel - * 387 A list of persons supposed to be enemies to all reli gion ¦ '•¦ 387 The use of philology and polite literature 388 Remarks on the philosophers of these times 388 Luther's attack obliges his adversaries to seek out new methods of defence 389 Jesuits 389 Julius II. 389 Luther 390 REMARKS REMARKS ON ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. A. D. npHE Catholics disputed with the Arian bi- 500. JL shops, before an Arian prince, and pro posed to go to the grave of a dead saint, and appeal to him, and desire him to decide the question by work ing a miracle. The Arians would not comply with this proposal. Perhaps the story is a fiction ; but if it be true, the Arians, who did not traffic in miracles so much as their antagonists, were much in the right to refuse and reject such strange experiments. On this occasion, Avitus, a bishop, acquired great honour, and put to shame and silence Bonifacius, the advocate for the Arians *. After all, such kind of conferences, held for a few hours, are silly and use less methods for settling controverted points. This year an Antiarian miracle was wrought. Deu- terius, the Arian bishop at Constantinople, baptizing a man whose name was Barba, presumed to alter the baptismal form, and to sa)r over him, Barba is baptized in the name of the Father, by the Son, in the Holy Ghost. Whereupon the water that was in the font instantly vanished away ; and Barba, terrified at the. sight, ran vol. in. A as * Basnage, iii, 603. 2 REMARKS On as fast as his legs could carry him, and told' it to every one. So says Theodorus Lector, and the same story is related by Theophanes, Victor Tununensis, Cedre- nus, Paulus Diaconus, aitd other vouchers ejusdemfa- rince ; and is adopted by Basnage- The Jewish Talmud- was completed and made pub lic *. Cassiodorus flourished in this century, and was in the highest posts, and in favour with Theodoric,, Atha- naric, and Vitigius, Arian princes : yet he was a firm Consubstantialist.. A. 507. St Caesarius founded a monastery for nuns, and gave rules for their conduct. " The corrections of those who offended were re primands,, excommunication, or a separation from prayers, or from the common table ; and, lastly, dis cipline, that is to say, flagellation. The- bishops used this kind of correction, not only to their slaves, but tr> freemen, who were subject to their jurisdiction : and it is observed, as a singular proof of the mildness of CEesarius,. that he never inflicted more than thirty-nine stripes,, following in this the law of Moses -jr, 1 cannot discern any mildness in such usage. Thir ty-nine stripes, properly applied, would flay the pa tient from the shoulders to the buttocks. "What an in fatuation was it for Christians to submit to such fana tical tyrants, and sanctified scourgers 1 A. 515, Timothy succeeded Macedonhis in the see of Constantinople ; and because he hated his pre decessor, and pretended that he had been an enemy to the Nicene faith,, he ordered the Nicene creed to be repeated *' Basnage, iii. 606.. f Fleury,. vii. 154... ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 'S repeated every time that divine service was performed at church ; which before had been recited only once in theyear, on Good-Friday. Healsoadded manyreligious ceremonies. He was a shuffling rascal, insignis vete- rator, says Basnage * ; who might have added, insig* nis novator f. The fleet of Anastasius the Emperor overcame that ofVitalian. Proclus, a celebrated mathematician!, is said on this occasion to have hung up brazen mirrors on the walls of Constantinople, which by reflecting the sun beams, set the enemies ships on fire J. " I have heard it affirmed, says Lord Bacon, by a great, though vain dealer in secrets, that there was a conspiracy, which himself hindered, to have killed Queen Maiy, sister to Queen Elizabeth, by a burning glass, from the leads of the house, as she walked in St James's Park." At this time it was said that there were several dse- moniacs at Alexandria. Quce de Alexandrinis et pu- eris et mulieribus, dam a Dcemonibus vapulant, latra- tum edentibus, Grceci recentiores memorant, fabulis pro- piora videntur. Qui narrationum ejusmodi; quas pa- tulis faucibus Baronius sorbet, cupidus est, Miscellane- am adeat Historiam, et Cedrenum ||. These barking boys and girls seem rather to have been bitten by mad dogs than by devils. The Author of the Excerpta says, that the Christi ans at Ravenna rose against the Jews, and burnt their synagogues, and that Theodoric punished them for it, and compelled them to rebuild all that they had de stroyed §. A 2 A. 520. * iii. 623. f See Cave, i. 497, % Zonaras, xiv. 55. || Basnage, iii. 631,, $ Basnage iii. 649. 4 Remarks Off A. 520. One of the prettiest miracles of those days is contained in the story of Zosimas, the lion, and the ass. Zosimas was a monk, who performed many won derful works. As he was travelling through Csesarea> and leading his ass, on whom he had laid his small provisions and his baggage, he met a lion, who seized on the ass, and dragged him away.> Zosimas,. as fast as he could, followed the wild beast into- the forest, and there found him devouring the ass. When the fion had filled his belly, Zosimas smiled upon him, and said, My friend, thou hast quite stopped my journey, for I am old and infirm, and not able to bear my lug gage upon my own shoulders. Therefore I must de sire thee to carry this burden for me, and then I will let thee go free. The lion then came up,: crouching and fawning upon him, and the monk saddled and loaded him, and they went together to the gates of Caesarea, where he dismissed his porter*. About this time Boe'thius was unjustly put to death, a most learned and ingenious man, who may deserve a rank amongst classical "authors, and is in some respects superior to some of them f . A. 527. " Justinian began to reign. He wrote some tracts, and published many edicts relating to re ligion^ But we must not imagine that they were his own compositions ; for, as Suidas tells us, he was one of the illiterate princes. However, he employed skil ful persons, who wrote in a style and manner worthy of the imperial dignity. Nothing can be more noble and better drawn up than the laws, edicts, and epis tles which bear his name- We find in them a charac ter * Evagrius, p. 390. f See Cave, i. 495. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. J ter of gravity, wisdom, and majesty, whicli is not to be met with in the laws of other emperors ¦*. Suidas, imleed, says of Justinian, that he was illiteT rate to the last -degree. But there is sufficient reason to conclude, that the passage in Suidas is corrupted, and that it should be Justin, and not Justinian. Justinum wire imperitum uc rudem J'uisse literarum testis est in Suppressa I listeria Procopius : sic ut ne suuni qiddem nomen posset scribere. Quays quod de j usti niano iegitur apud Suidam, J'uisse ay.^nov y^x^aTay i-ni-fluy, ct uyxKc irrepisse pu- tat 'iwinxik, de eo amplius cogitamlum '-j'. ¦ Justinian published cruel edicts, to compel dissen ters of all kinds to be of his religion, and was a violent persecutor of Pagans, Samaritans, Arians, Astrologers, and all men called Heretics, partly through blind zeal, and partly through covetousness, that he .might seize upon their effects. He is thought by some to have done more harm than good to the Civil Law, by causing an imperfect hasty .compendium to be made of it in his Digest;. By his general, Bclisarius, lie conquered, and in a manner depopulated Afric, took Carthage, and de stroyed the .dominion of the Vandals, and putting au vend to Arianism in those regions, Made his new subjects orthodox By Apostolic blozos and knocks. He and Theodora, like two religious princes, head ed each of them a religious faction, he that of the A 3 Chalccdonians, *Xju Pin. f PcUvius, Rat. Temp. i. 337. 6 REMARKS ON Chalcedonians, she that of the Eutychians. The la dy, if the Scandalous Chronicle saith true, was the daughter of a fellow who kept bears for the Amphi theatre, and had been the most shameless and infam ous of all actresses, strumpets, and street- walkers. The title of Most Christian was first given to Justi nian by the fifth General Council at Constantinople. But alas ! his Most Christian Majesty at last fell into heresy, and was one of those who were called A'ph- thartodocitce .- for in his time, a dispute arose, for want of a better, whether the body of Christ whilst he lived upon earth had been corruptible or incorruptible ; and, hence arose the sects of the Corruptibles, and the In- corruptibles ; and Justinian sided with the latter, and held that the body of Christ, by its union with the. Divinity was incorruptible. It was indeed no great matter what nonsense he believed, if he had not per secuted those who would not agree with him. He spent his time in examining and deciding such sort of theological controversies, and instead of apply ing to affairs of state, amused himself with frivolous; speculations concerning the Divine nature. Of the trifling disputes carrried on with amazing fury in those days, a good account may be found in. Du Pin *, Procopius, to whom we are obliged for the history of those times, speaks with due contempt and detesta tion of the theological war, which then raged with so much folly and violence, and blames Justinian for stripping heretics of their possessions, and putting them to death. Procopius * v. 206. SeeEvagrius, p. 392. 39S. 420. 422, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 7 Procopius hath been * suspected or accused of pa ganism, or of atheism, by La Mothe Le Vayer, Ei- chelius, Alemannus, Cave, and others ; but is defend ed by Cousin, his French translator, and by Fabrici- *is f.. In his Secret History he unsays many things that he had said in favour of Justinian, Theodora, and Be- lisarius, in his other histories, and represents the em peror and his wife as two devils incarnate, seilt into the world for the destruction of mankind. Therefore t some have suspected these Anecdotes to be none of his, as Guietus, Combefisius, and La Mothe. Fabri- -cius thinks them genuine. " Procopius, who was of Caesarea, came to Con stantinople under the reign of Anastasius, where he acquired so much reputation by his consummate pru dence and erudition,, that he was raised to great em ployments and high stations.;. He accompanied Beli- sarius in the wars of Italy and Afric, and contributed not a little to the glory of his conquests and triumphs. His merit and his services were recompenced with the office of Quaestor, and with the Preelecture of Con stantinople, the most considerable post in that city. He writes with exactness, politeness, and elegance, as Evagrius testifies. He hath omitted nothing which the art of oratory can employ to embellish an history. The descriptions which he hath given us of countries, (mountains, seas, rivers, forts, cities, palaces, churches, pillars, * Evagrras, a Christian historian, who lived after Procopi- -ns, but in the same century, speaks with great esteem of him, and calls him an excellent writer ; which he would certainly aiot have done, if he had suspected him of paganism, or of ir- areligion. tBibl. Gr.vi. 248, 8 REMARKS ON pillars, sieges, and battles, are altogether admirable. The harangues are nervous, and suited to the subject. The reflections are solid and judicious, and accompa nied with such moral discretion, that vice never fails to be censured, nor virtue to be commended in them. He had seen most of the things which he relates, and this renders him the more worthy of credit. He was a Christian, as it is easy to discern in many places of his works ; and I am amazed that a learned Civilian' of our days should have questioned it, on some very slight and weak conjectures*. Now let us hear La Mothe : " Although Procopius in his History hath employ ed harangues oblique and direct, and every thing else that might give him a resemblance to the ancients, yet he, as well as Zosimus, is much inferior to them. I have however allowed him here a place amongst them, because he and Agathias, of whom I shall also give an account, may pass for the two. last pagan historians who have written in Greek, and of whose works we have any considerable remains. v I know that many persons take him for a Christian, and that many pas sages are to be found in his works, particularly in his Treatise of the -j- Edifices of Justinian, where he speaks like the believers in his time. But there are other pla ces so contrary to this, and the opinion of those who think him a pagan, is grounded on such strong evi dence, that I find myself obliged to come into it. For without insisting on this, that Procopius seems often to acknowledge fortune as a great goddess, or laying a stress on the strange animosity which he discovers against * Cousin, Hist, de Constantinople, T. i. Fref. t In that book, Procopius talks of Reliques, and of mira-s $les wrought by 'saints in the style of a very bigo^, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 9 against Justinian, on account, as it is supposed, of that emperor's religion, that single passage of the first book of his Gothic War, where he speaks of the em bassadors whom this prince sent to the bishop of Rome, to accommodate the discordant opinions of the Chris tians, should be sufficient to undeceive those who have considered Procopius as a Catholic Historian. ' I shall not amuse myself, says Procopius, in re lating the subject of these controversies, though I know it well enough. For I hold it to be a mere folly to seek into the divine nature. The human under standing scarcely knows the things which belong to man : much less can it comprehend the things whicli relate to the Eternal Deity. Let it therefore be per mitted to me to pass over such points in silence. All that I shall say of God is, that he is perfectly good, and that he governs all things. He who knows more about him may say more about him, whether he be of the sacerdotal order, or whether he be a private man *.' "In truth, he could not more explicitly deride all our Theology, and the zeal of the fathers of the church, who at that time were combating the Arian heresy. His discourse is that of a mere Deist, who thought, as did many other philosophers, and one Melissus, mentioned by Hesychius, that it was rashness to deter mine any thing concerning the Deity, and impossible to have any knowledge of him. How can one imagine that man to have been a Christian, whose belief in God, such as it was, rested upon such principles as these ? If to this we add the marks of Pagan supersti tion which appear in all his books, scarcely shall we be able to distinguish him from the profanest of all the Gentiles, * See what Fabricius offers in defence of this passage, p. 249, 10 REMARKS ON Gentiles. Of this kind is the tale which he relates in his first book of the Persian war, concerning the arti fice used by the Magi, to make Arsaces confess the truth. They covered the half of a floor with Persian earth, and the other with Armenian earth, and en chanted them both in such a manner, that when Arsaces trod upon the ground which came from his own coun try, he confessed what he had denied whilst he stood on the other. In the following book he says, that the military standards turned of their own accord from the west -to the east, as presaging the calamities which be- fol the Antiochians. King Geisericus, in the first book of the Vandalic War, discovers by the fluttering of an eagle over the heaxl of Marcian, that he would one day be emperor. Attila, about to raise the siege of Aquileia, continues it, because he saw a stork car rying away her young ones from the city *. In the same book he relates a trifling dream of his own, to which he paid so much regard, that nothing else cau sed him to resolve upon embarking with Belisarius. His books of the Gothic war contain such like super stitions* A Jew there foretells by f observations made upon thirty hogs, the destruction of the Goths in Ita ly : and Constantine causes to be buried in the mar ket-place of Constantinople the famous || Palladium of ' * Jornandes, a Christian bishop, scruples not to give us the same account. Cap. 42. T But Procopius thus introduceth the story : Although the thing seems altogether incredible to me, yet I will relate it. Bell. Goth. i. 9. If all those who give credit to dreams, inchantments, divi nation, magical arts, are tq be struck out of the list of Chris- dans, the number of the latter will be terribly diminished. || Zonaras, a Christian historian, relates the same story. Why then is Procopius called a Pagan for mentioning it ? Be- ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. II ©f ^Eneas., fetched on purpose from Rome. Is there any thing in these tales that savours of Christianity ? " Since we have hinted at the ill will of Procopius towards Justinian, which he hath so fully discovered in his Anecdotes, we must bestow a few remarks on that performance, as it is the storehouse, whence they who have defamed that emperor have been supplied with materials. If we shew how much Procopius was to be blamed for writing such a virulent libel against his sovereign, to gratify his own spleen, we shall at the same time invalidate the injurious misrepresenta tions which others have given of Justinian. The title of Anecdotes shews that it was a secret work, which the author did not intend to divulge. It is supposed that he drew it up in the thirty-second year of the. Emperor's reign, and that he left it imperfect, as re penting that he had suffered his resentments to run so far, and pacified by having received the wages which were due to him. For he complains more than once that the salaries of those who had served the public were detained ; and he was much chagrined to find himself for more than thirty years kept out of honour able posts, which were conferred upon others far in ferior to him, as he thought, in merit. At last, after having been secretary to Belisarius in all the African,. Persian, and Italian wars, he was received into the se nate, obtained the title of Illustrious, which was given to few persons ; and was made, by the favour of the Emperor, Prafect of Constantinople, which was the highest office in that city. Yet his Anecdotes were preserved ; Suidas mentions them, and they whom di vers considerations have excited to insult the memory of sides, he only gives it as a tradition related by the inhabitants *>f Constantinople,, £2 REMARKS ON of Justinian, have made their use of them, and have published them with glosses and commentaries alto gether worthy of the text. Others besides me have undertaken to refute this work • and it may here suf fice to shew briefly, that the historical parts of Proco pius become entirely absurd and ridiculous, if we pay any deference to this libel. " For since he protesteth, in the beginning of his first book of the Persian War, that no man can justly re proach him of having written partially, to oblige per sons who deserved no favour, or of having suppressed the truth, to spare the character of any friend ; and since he aeknowledgeth that as eloquence is the object ©f rhetoric, and fable ©f poetiy, so is truth the proper end of history ; how intolerable is it in him, after ha ving as an historian represented Justinian as a very great and virtuous prince, to set him forth in the A- necdotes as one of the most infamous and vicious of all mankind ! What is alledged in his behalf concerning the danger of offending sovereign power, can never ex cuse siich shameless discordance, and such manifest contradictions. So that Procopius stands at the same time convicted of having transgressed the two most important duties of his profession ; the first, never to relate what is false ; the second, never to suppress such truths as ought to be made known. Let us il lustrate this point a little, " Certain it is that Procopius hath always spoken most honourably of Justinian and Theodora in many places of his Histories, though not so often as he might have done. In the second book of his Persian War, he commends him for his foresight joined to a singu lar piety, with relation to a great pestilence, which passed from Egypt to Constantinople, and' which he took ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 15 ftook all possible means to stop. In his six Narrations: of the Edifices of Justinian, he perpetually sets ford* his greatness of mind, his devotion, his liberality, his mildness, and his magnificence. The monastery e- rected for penitent prostitutes, whom Theodora re trieved from a vicious life, gives him an opportunity to speak of her zeal and charity conjointly with that of her husband, though he hath given a different turn to this action in his Anecdotes. But in many places he hath made honourable mention of this lady. When it was debated what measures should be taken against Hypatius, who had caused himself to be proclaimed Em peror in Constantinople, he represents her speaking with such a spirit on the occasion, that, as he assures us, nothing infused so much courage into those of the Im perial Council, as the heroic resolution of Theodora. And when he describes the bad qualities of that John of Cappadocia, who was turned out of the office of Praefect, he says, that he was fool enough, and rash enough to calumniate to Justinian himself the Em press Theodora, whom he calls a woman of great pru dence. If he hath mentioned her in other places of his History without compliments, it hath been also without censures. He speaks of her decease at the end of the second book of the Persian War, but he says nothing to her disadvantage. And he speaks of" it also in the third of the Gothic War, as happening at the same time when Belisarius sent Ins wife Anto- nina to court, to forward his affairs by the favour of the Empress, without throwing out any reproach up on her. Now let us turn the medal, and see what a portrait he hath drawn of Justinian and Theodora in the satirical work of which we are complaining. First 14 REMARKS ON " First then, to render this prince still more odious, he will have it, that in his features he resembled Do- mitian, whose memory was held in such execration, that, by a decree of the Senate, his statues were pulled down all through the empire, and his name erased from all public inscriptions. Yet he was obliged to add that Justinian's was an handsome, or not disa greeable likeness of Domitian. He compares him also to an ass, not only for heaviness and stupidity, but because he used to move his ears to and fro ; on which account, in the open theatre, he was called ra.via.ft, or Asinego, by the Prasini, or the Green Faction, to which he was an enemy, according to the remark of Nicolaus Alemannus, who hath lately published the curious A~ toecdotesof Procopius, accompanied with historical notes ejusdemjarince. He was, moreover, a prince who con demned people upon the first accusation, without giv ing them an hearing ; and who, on any false report, would with great calmness and indifference order the sacking of cities, or the destruction of provinces. The love of women carried him beyond all bounds, and his hatred was always implacable. He wore the appear ance of a Christian, but in his heart he reverenced the pagan Deities. His profusions, particularly in build ings, constrained him to use strange extortions ; so that, besides the ordinary tributes which his Prae- fects were to levy, there was one which he himself in derision used to call Aerial, as having no other foun dation than his own covetous and tyrannical humour. His fickle mind was susceptible of all impressions, ex cept those of humanity. He never kept his word, unless somethingwas to be gotten by it. Flattery charmed him, and Tribonian gained his affections, by declaring in his hearing, that he greatly feared lest Heaven should snatch ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 15 Snatch away so pious a prince from the earth, unex pectedly and on a sudden. In a word, one would think that nature had taken a pleasure to infuse into the soul of this monarch an assemblage of all the bad qualities that could be found in the rest of men. To ruin them all the more easily, his wife and he laid a trap for them, by appearing to be always at variance with each other, the one affecting to protect the party ©f the Blues, the other of the Greens. They were botli of them such, that many persons, to insinuate them selves into their favour, pretended to be worse than they were, and inclined to all sorts of vices. And irs the opinion of Procopius, and of those who had an op portunity to know them best, they passed for devils incarnate, and furies who wore an human shape, that they might the more commodiousl'y plague mankind, and set nations at variance, and turn the world upside down. And in fact,, the mother of Justinian often confessed, that she had him not by her husband Sab- batius, but by an Incubus, who kept her company. As to * Theodora, they who had been her gallants when she was an actress, related, that daemons , or noc turnal spirits had often driven them away to lie with. her themselves. I have received from Rome some pas sages, which decency caused to be suppressed, in the forty-first, and forty-second page of the printed A- necdotes, wherein Procopius represents this woman as guilty of such strange acts of lust and immodesty, e- ven upon the theatre, that no one ever heard of the tike abominations, or ought to envy the Vatican Li brary for having a complete copy of the original. But let this suffice for a compendious representation of the characters * That Theodora was an infamous woman, is very certain. See Cave, i. 531., Viguvs, 16 REMARKS ON characters of Justinian and Theodora, as delineated by Procopius in this infamous libel, which discredits all his other performances. " I will not urge here, that Justinian had been rank ed amongst the Saints, as we are told by Nicephorus, Bartolus, Joannes Faber, Genadius, and others, who have fixed his festival on the calends of August. I shall only say, that though he and his spouse had been the most vicious of mankind, Procopius ought not to have been so unlike to himself, and so faithless to the cause of truth, as to speak of them in the manner that we have seen, blowing hot and cold, and oversetting the credit of his History in his Anecdotes, and the cre dit of his Anecdotes in his Treatise of the Edifices, which is the last of his works *. But without underta king to refute so many calumnies, what ground could there be to accuse this Emperor of cruelty, after ha ving shewed with how great clemency he treated, be sides Vitigis and Gelimer, two Vandal kings, even those subjects of his who had conspired against his state and his person ? John of Cappadocia, his Pre fect, and the valiant Captain Artabanes, convicted of these treasonable practices, suffered nothing worse than imprisonment ; and the latter, shortly after, was re established in his post, and in the good graces of him whom he would have deprived of empire and of life. - I know that he hath been reproached for too much se verity towards Belisarius. Yet we find nothing of that kind in Procopius, who probably would not have pass ed it over in silence. Agathias only says that the en- viers of this great General were the cause that the me rit of his services was not sufficiently considered, without * I find no proofs of the assertion that Procopius wrote his Treatise of the Edifices after the Anecdotes. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 17 without mentioning one word of condemnation, or confiscation of fortunes. Our Gregory of Tours suppo ses that Justinian was obliged to substitute the eunuch Narses, to take the command in Italy, in the room of Belisarius, because the latter had been too often beat en by the Franks ; and adds, that to humble him, the emperor replaced him in his first office of Constable, which could not be as considerable a post at Constan tinople, as it is at present in France. But since there are only a few low scribblers, of no name or authori ty, who represent him as begging alms in the streets, and reduced to the utmost misery, we ought to look upon this story as fabulous ; and on the contrary, con sider him as an example of the generosity of his prince, who, having loaded him with wealth and honours, ne ver used him worse than hath been mentioned, altho' he had been three times accused to the emperor of de signs to set himself up against him. It is also a strange thing that Procopius should have reproached Justini an for his buildings, and yet compose a book in com mendation of them, in which he describes the splen did structure of so many churches, hospitals, and mo nasteries, admiring in them the piety as much as the magnificence of this monarch. Evagrius, indeed, as cribes to him the repairing, or the entire rebuilding of one hundred and fifty cities ; but I see not what in ferences can be thence made to his discredit. The love of women, with which he is charged, seems to have no foundation at all : For though we may blame him for having shewed such excessive fondness for Theo dora, as to have extorted from his predecessor Justin new laws in favour of actresses, that he might marry her, it follows not that we may impute to him that boundless passion for women, with which he is char-* vol. in. B ged REMARKS ON ged by Procopius, without particular instances of it',* and without mention made either in his history, or irt any other, of the ladies with whom he was in love, and who doubtless would have taken advantage of his af fections, if he had been as weak in that respect as the Anecdotes represent him. I could hot forbear from! setting forth the absurdity ofsome of these accusations, whence we might judge of the rest, if they did not carry in them their own refutation. " But let me add one word concerning the asinine qualities of Justinian, and observe, that how moveable soever his ears might be, he was by no means- as stu pid as his calumniators describe him. An error in an edition of Suidas, by Chalcondyles, about one hundred and fifty years ago, where the name of Justinian crept in, instead of Justin*, with the nick-name of ' kvaKyiQu- %c, or Illiterate, which Procopius himself ascribes on ly to Justin, who indeed could not even write his own name, this error, I say, hath misled great men.. Al- ciat, Budaeus, and Baronius are of the number, who upon this false authority, contradicted by all the ma nuscripts of the Vatican, have ranged Justinian a- mongst the most ignorant princes.. I had the curiosi ty to examine three manuscripts of Suidas in thekiiig's library, to satisfy myself of the error in the above-men tioned edition. Of these manuscripts the two best are correct, and ascribe this ignorance to Justin, who, as we know, had been a ploughman, or grazier, till he entered into the army, and so raised himself to the em pire. The third manuscript is faulty, and hath Justi nian instead of Justin ; whence we may conclude that the printed copy followed some such faulty manu script.. • Cardinal Norij is of the same opinion. See BibL Ckms. i.19. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 19 script. In the mean time, certain it is that Justinian had studied diligently under his preceptor the Abbot Theophilus. Many books have been ascribed to him by Isidorus, and by others. The epistles of Cassio- dorus call him most learned ; and it was thought ob servable, that, at the same time; three sovereign prin ces should have made profession of philosophy, Chos- roes in Persia, the unfortunate Theodohatus in Ita ly *, and he of whom we are speaking, at Constanti nople : which shews how much he is wronged by those who would make him such an ignoramus. " Let us add, that although Procopius deserves to be censured for having given a loose to his private resent ments, yet he is an author of no small importance, since from him alone we can learn what he as an eye witness hath related of the emperor's wars against the Persians in the East, the Vandals in Afric, and the Goths in Italy. Hence Leonardus Aretinus ¦(¦, taking upon himself to give an history of the Goths and Van dals, was induced to commit the crime'of plagiarism. For not being able to find materials for his purpose elsewhere, he thought it proper to turn into Latin the three books of Procopius, and made them four, by splitting the latter into two ; retrenching some pas sages which he thought less interesting to his coun trymen, and adding some things from others, as the burning of the Capitol by Totilas, who yet, according to Procopius, did not light up such great fires in Rome, as those mentioned by Aretin. Yet in his preface, he thinks it enough to say, that he had made use of some foreign commentaries and Greek narra tions, without once naming the author, of whom he e2 is * See Grotius, Proleg. ad Hist. Goth. p. 38. f See Cave, ii- 122. Append, and Menagiana, ii. 101. iv, 88. .30 REMARKS ON is the mere translator, and tlie bad translator, by art affected oversight, which cannot be too severely cen sured. We have in other places rebuked tlipse who forge boojifs, and ascribp thena to .others,; and truly it is no small dishonesty thus to endeavopr to impose upon mankind : But if this be the viler roguery, the opposite crime of plagiarism, winch, instead of giv ing, £akes away, is the more shameful of the' two ; since nothing can be more infamous and base than to Steal, and since they who purloin the labours of others shew their own incapacity of producing any flung .that is valuable. " To return to our author. Under Belisarius lie had an insight into almosf; all the secrets of state, which gives weight and authority to his history. But he hath heen blamed for an excessive partiality to wards this general, by Bodinus arid others. Thus E- ginard is reproached as a perpetual flatterer of Charles the Great, Eusebius of Constantine, Paulus Jevius of Cosmo dp Medicis, Sandoval of Charles the Fifth, and others of other princes, whom they courted at the ex- pence qf veracity. And indeed Procopius is for ever" commending Belisarius, illuminating all his actions, and suppressing some part of the successes of which he is writing, rather than to insert any thing that might hurt the reputation of his hero. I shall pro duce a signal passage, the like to which is not to be found, I believe, in any other historian. It is in the second book of the Vandalic war, where, after he had given us one harangue of Belisarius to his soldiers, and two of his adversary Stbzas, he says that the troops of the former revolted, and obliged their officers to re tire into a temple, where they were all slain. Reason required that he should have informed us what became of ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 21 of Belisarius, whom the reader would have supposed to have been massacred with them. But because it was an ugly' event, Procopius, without saying how the general escaped, only observes, that upon the bad news; Justinian sent his nephew Germanus, who came and tobk tlie command of the forces in Afric ; and maims the narration in Such' a rhanner, that the reader knows not where he is. The Latin version indeed is somewhat deficient here, and hath not all that is to be found in the Greek, where nevertheless the fault of which we are speaking is evident enough. This calls to 'my mind another passage in his second book of the! Go^ thicWar, where, upon a mere letter sent by Belisarius, Theodebert, king of the Franks, suddenly stops the progress of his victories, and returns by flight to his own home. He became sensible of his fault, and of his rashness, says the historian, and retired with all speed. As if this potent prince came thither like a mere boy, without having considered what lie was ar bout ; and as if the rhetoric of Belisarius had reduced him and his counsellors to submit, through incapaci ty of returning a sufficient answer ! Certainly here is no "small defect of judgment, and Aretin did well to add a supplement of his own* and to say that hunger and want of provisions compelled the victorious Franks to retii'e ; to which he might have added contagious distempers,, mentioned by Gregory of Tours, where he speaks of this retreat, I find also Procopius ascribing an action to Theodebert, which agrees not with an ob servation that he had- madp a little before, that The French were, of all the world, the men who kept their faith the least, since he supposeth that a letter of Be.r lisarius, reproaching this prince with the disregard of a treaty, could have so great an influence upon him, B 3 A pru- 22 Remarks on A prudent author will not talk at this rate, and rasta ly insult a whole nation *, wirirthe same spirit which made the Romans decry the Greek faith, and the Pu nic faith, whilst at the same time they were themselves the most perfidious of all mankind towards all other nations. Before I quit this place, in which Procopi us hath been so severe upon us, I must also call him to account for having supposed, with much malignity and absurdity, that the Franks made themselves mas-. ters of the camp of the Goths and Romanized Greeks by mere surprize, by coming in an unexpected man ner, though they were in number more than an hun dred thousand ; as if they had dropped from the skies to the centre of Italy, like a cloud of locusts, carried about by the wind from one region to another, But whilst we reprove him for being partial, let us take heed that we fall not ourselves into the same fault, through too much zeal for the honour of our ancestors. " To conclude, I think that Procopius deserves an attentive perusal, principally on account of those tran* sactions of which he alone is the relator, and of which he had an exact knowledge. But he requires a dis creet reader, capable of discerning the good from the bad, the judicious part of his reflections from the de-? fects of which we have given instances, " He was. of Cesarea in Palestine, whence he came to Constantinople in the time of the emperor Anasta-* sius, whose esteem he acquired, as well as that of Justin the elder, and of Justinian. Suidas, who gives him the title of Illustrious, calls him a rhetorician and a sophist ; and * We pardon La Mothe's zeal for his country ; but certain it is, that the Franks had this character, and are so represented by Vopis- cus, Salvian, &c. yet they had their good qualities, for which they. are commended by Agathias. See Basnage, iii. 590. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 23 e. he would do it without ever mistaking. Therefore it was commonly believed that the dog had in him a spirit of divina tion -f\" It is no wonder that this Wise dog should have passed for a demoniac ; it is a wonder that the ecclesiastics did not seize him, and exorcise him. " Justinjan made severe laws against gamesters. Some of them being seized at Constantinople, and con victed of horrid blasphemies, had their hands cut off, and were led about the streets riding on camels as a public, example +." There were most absurd and violent seditions in those days, upon which Procopius makes these reflec tions : " It is a long time since the inhabitants of e- very city are divided into two factions, the Blues and the Greens || ; although it be not long since they are arrived * Procopius, Hist. Goth. iv. 461. Ed. Grot. f Malala, p. 189. J Ibid. p. !87. ff They were so called from the blue and green charioteers in the ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 31 arrived to that pitch of fury, on account of these names and colours by which they are distinguished. They fight together, not knowing the subject of their quar rel, and knowing well, that if they come off victori ous, they w-ill be sent to prison, and tkence to execu tion. They conceive without cause an implacable hatred for their nearest relations, and preserve it all the days of their life, without yielding to the rules of honour, of affinity, or of friendship. When two breth ren, or two friends happen to be listed in different par ties, they regard neither divine nor human laws, so the victory be on their side. They care not if God be offended, the civil laws violated, and the state over turned either by the arms of foreign enemies, or by the discord of citizens. When the affairs of their own faction prosper, they concern themselves neither about their own domestic wants, nor about the public losses of the empire. The women share in the madness, and follow the faction of their husbands, and sometimes the opposite faction ; and although they assist not at the spectacles, they interest themselves as much about them as the men. I know not to what this can be ascribed, except to some mental disease with which they are tormented. Such is the folly of the cities, and of the people * !" It is no wonder that men of this temper should have worried one another so im placably forNestorianism, Eutychianism, and such sort of metaphysical points, or Blue and Green Theology. " There was at Constantinople a considerable num ber of women confined in a place where they were compelled to prostitution, and where hunger and mi sery circus, whose part they took. Malala also gives some account of the fury of these factions, p. 213, 226 — 228, 236. * Bell. Pers. c. 24. 32 REMARKS ON sery obliged them to yield themselves to the embraces' of all comers. Certain men had for a long time en tered into an infamous society to carry on this wicked trade. Justinian and Theodora, equally zealous to promote all acts of piety, drove away these reprobates* and abolished these nurseries of debauchery. They delivered the unhappy girls from the necessity of com mitting such sins, by delivering them from poverty. There was a palace upon the border of the Streights, on the right hand as you sail towards the Euxine Sea. This palace they turned into a monastery, and there they shut up the converted prostitutes, that they might have leisure to eihpioy themselves in exercises of re ligion, and to mourn for the trespasses which they had committed in their former course of life. On this account the place was called Penitence. This monas tery they endowed with large revenues, and erected in it many elegant buildings, to comfort the recluses, and to make them some sort of compensation for their re tirement from the world." Thus Procopius extols this pious charity, in his Treatise of Edifices * : but in his Anecdotes -j", he gives it a different turn, and says: " Theodora Set herself to chastise the licentiousness of those women who publicly prostituted themselves, and having cau sed about five hundred of them to be seized, she shut them up in a monastery on the other side of the Bos porus, and obliged them to do penance. But some of them, to be delivered from the bondage of this forced repentance, flung themselves out of the windows into the sea." "* Malala represents the thing thus : " The most re ligious Theodora, to many other excellent deeds add ed * c. ix. f c. xviii. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. d$ ed this ; there were keepers of brothel-houses, who went about, buying the girls of the poorest people at a small price, and then prostituting them, even by violence, and living upon this abominable trade; She ordered them all to be taken up, and brought before her, with the girls whom they kept ; she paid them the price which they had given for their purchases* and delivered the unhappy creatures from this scan dalous bondage, and having clothed them and given them necessaries, she set them at liberty, and caused all such practices to be prohibited for the time to come *," Malala hath given a large account of the reign of Justinian, as far as his history goes* which breaks off abruptly* the latter part being lost; He bestows great Commendations on him and on his pious spouse, calling him bu'oraiev, most divine, and her ivtn6ira.Tw, most religious. These compliments may be very well add ed to Cave's arguments -\, to shew that Malala lived in those times* and much earlier than some Critics have imagined; " A rescript of Justinian* A. 541, is dated by the year of the Emperor* without mention of consuls ; and from this year the custom of counting years by consulates, which had prevailed from the beginning of the Roman Republic* was dropped, and thencefor- wards they made use of the year of the reigning Em peror, and of the indictions £." About this time, a custom was introduced in France for kings to sell bishoprics, and for Ecclesiastics to purchase them ||. vol* nis C Eutychianus, # P. 173. f i. 586. Fabricius, Bib!. Gr. viii. 138. % Fleuiy, vii. 410* || Ib'.d. viii 354. 34 REMARKS ON Eutychianus, an Ecclesiastic, wrote an account or the repentance and conversion of St Theophilus. This Theophilus, who had some honourable office in the church, being unjustly deposed by his Bishop, that he might recover his post, made a compact with the devil,- drew up a renunciation of Jesus Christ* and of the Virgin Mary, sealed it, and gave it to Satan. But having performed the acts of a true penitent, and in cessantly implored the mercy of the Virgin, he was s pardoned, and the devil was forced to bring him back the deed. Eutychianus declares that he had always dwelt with Theophilus, and served him, and that he knew this to - be matter of fact. Many eminent writers, but of later times, affirm the same. Yet Cave * declares that he doubts whether these things be true ; like the diffident gentleman, who doubted whether the Adven tures of Robinson Crusoe were a real, or a feigned history. Under Justinian flourished Damascius, Simplicius, Eulamius, Priscianus, Hermias, Diogenes, and Isido- rus, who were Pagan philosophers. These men hear ing a great character of the Persians, and of Chosroes their king, and imagining them to be honester than the Christians, went to Persia, with a design to settle there. But they found themselves strangely mistaken'; and soon discerning that both the great and the small were far more corrupted than their own countrymen, they returned home again to their Christian neigh bours. So says Agathias. Damascius and the rest of these philosophers were crack-brained fanatics, whose system consisted in a medley of Pythagorism, Chaldseism, and Platonism, Tirought * »• SW ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 35 brought into fashion by Plotinus, Porphyry, and lamblichus, and such sort of visionaries. Damascius is the last* Ithink, of the writers who professed them selves Pagans *. . A. 56S. After Justinian reigned Justinus Junior. " Whensoever this Emperor went forth from the pa lace, he used to be surrounded with petitioners com plaining of the injuries which they received from the great and the powerful, and begging to be redressed. He oftenlaid this grievance before the senate, to no pur pose. At last one of that body arose, and said to the Emperor, that if he were made prefect of the city, and had free access to him at all times, and leave from him to exercise his- authority, he would put things in such good order* that in a. month's time there should be no more complaints of oppression, and that if he did not perform his engagements, he was willing to lose his head. . This condition being accepted* a poor woman soon applied to him* and accused a certain person of high rank, who by fraud and calumny had taken from her all her possessions. He sent two citations to the offender, who instead of appearing before him, went the same day to dine with the Emperor who had in vited hiim Whereupon the Prefect going directly te the Emperor's table, reminded him of the agreement, and having his permission, seized on the man, brought him to his court of judicature, and having convicted him, caused him to he scourged, to be shaved, and to be led bareheaded upon an ass through the city, and confiscating his fortunes, gave them to the injured woman. Having proceeded in the same manner a- gainst some other offenders, he spread such a terror, c 2 that * See Cave, i. j£2, 36 REMARKS ON that no- more oppressions were heard Of. Then gorn^, to the Emperor, I have fulfilled* said he* all that I promised, and desire that you- would appear in public^ and make the experiment. Justin did sO,. and found all people quiet and contented. He greatly commend^ ed the man's behaviour,' and made him a Patrician, and prefect of the city for life * J ' Some of this whole some discipline, bestowed upon nobles and senators^ who oppress the poor, who1 will not pay their debts* and whose privileges are a public nuisance, would have' a good effect — in those nations where such reformat tion is wantedv A. 529. Benedict, the father of the Benedrctins^ founded a monastery, and wrought a multitude of miracles, botb living and dead f^ . A. 533. Dionysius Exiguus, in his Cyclus PascRalisj introduced a new Mra from the birth of Christ. A. 534.' A council held in Gaul excommunicates those who eat meat that had been Offered to idols, or animals that had been torn or killed by other beasts,,- Or that had been strangled, or that died a' natural death J. t Facundus, art African bishop, writes thus concern-' ing the eucharist ; Sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi, quod est in pane et poculo comecratOj corpus ejus et sanguinem dicimus,. non quod proprie corpus ejus sit pa '//is, etpoculum sanguis; sed quod in semysterium cor' poris ejus sanguinisque contineat, &;c. || A. 54Qv * Petavius, Rat. Temp, i, 361. f Fleury, vii. 296. Cave, i. 512. X Fleury, vii. 351. [| Cave, i. 520. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 37 A, 540. A miracle was performed by the' cross at Apamea, of which Evagrius had the happiness to be an eye-witness. " When the people of Apamea had iieard that Chosroes king of the Persians had destroy ed Antioch, they were in great consternation, and ber sought their bishop to produce to open view the sa^ lutary wood of the cross, that they might behold and adore it for the last time, and by its influences be made partakers of a blessed immortality. The bishop con- *ented, and appointed certain days for shewing the cross, that all the neighbourhood might come and re ceive its benefits- My parents came upon that occa sion, and took me with them, who was then a boy at the grammar-schooL Now as .often as the Bishop walked round the church, carrying the cross aloft in his hands, a great flame followed him, not burning, but flashing, so that the whole place where he stood seemed to be on fire. This was repeated several times, and it was an omen to the Apameans of their deliver ance, and fiature safety. To preserve therefore the memory of this miracle, a representation .of it was painted on the ceiling of the church *." The approach j" of the gods was usually manifested by a sudden light, filling the whole place, as a mul titude of Greek and Latin writers testify, both in prose and in verse, A. 542.. On this year, on the second day of Febru ary, began to be celebrated at Constantinople the fes tival of the purification, called by the Greeks hypapante, •or the meeting of Jesus .Christ, Symeon, and Anna J. c 3 A. 552. * -£vagrius, iv. p. 404. f See the Commentators on Claudian, Rapt. Pro's, i, 8. and Me,uf - sius, Eleusin.c. xi. % Fleury, vii. 416. 3$ REMARKS ON A. 552. At this time lived in Palsestirie St Bafsa* nuph, an ./Egyptian. He shut himself up in a cell, and was supposed to be still alive there, after fifty years, though no one had seen him all the time. But the most extraordinary Saint was Symeon Salus, who through humility feigned himself to be mad, and who converted abundance of sinners *. A. 553. The fifth general council was held at Con« stantinople f. A. 561. The Suevi, who were settled in Galleecia, and were Arians, were converted, together with their king, by signs and wonders wrought by the Teliques of St Martin J. Evagrius || relates the following story of Anatolius, a wicked magistrate, and of the Virgin Mary : " A- natolius being in prison, and seeing an image of the mother of God which hung up there, bowed himself before her in the posture of a captive and an humble suppliant. But she, detesting this impious man, turned her face quite round from him. This dread* fill prodigy, and worthy of eternal memory, was seen and reported by all who were in prison. The motheb of God appeared also in the day-time to many of the faithful, stirring them up against Anatolius, and de claring that her Son had been insulted by him, &c. This seems to have been copied from Virgil : Interea ad templum non cequce Palladis ibani Crinibus Iliades passis, — • Suppliciter tristes, et tunsce pectora palmis . Diva solojixos oculos aversa tenebat. A great * Fleury, vii. 473. Cave, i. J24. f Cave, i. 560. k Fleury, vii. J35. || v. 444. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 39 A great revolution happened in Persia. Hormis- das HI. who began to reign in 578, by his wickedness and bad conduct ruined in four years time a kingdom which his illustrious father had established with the labour of forty years. He was deposed, and impri soned, and then put to death by his own son, who had been chosen king *. A. 582. Saint Euphemia had a splendid church, de dicated to her name at Chalcedon, where her body wrought perpetual wonders. " At the east-end of the church there is a magnifi cent shrine made of silver, and elegantly chased, wherein lie the reliques of this holy martyr. The miracles which from time to time are wrought by her ate knOWn of all. She appears frequently in dreams to the bishops of that city, or to other pious persons who are used to repair to her church, and orders them to come thither to the vintage. When this is made known to the Emperor and the royal family, to the Patriarch, and to the people, they a.ll flock to the tem ple, to be partakers of these holy mysteries. Then the Bishop of Constantinople and the clergy approach the shrine. On the left side of this box there is a small opening with a cover to it, T^tough this hole •i;hey thrust in an iron rod, with a sponge at the end ; and wheh they draw it hack, it is full of coagulated blood ; at the sight of which the people praise and worship God. So great is the quantity of blood which is thus extracted, that it not only sufficeth for all who are present, but soine portion Of it may be sent to all the faithful, all the world over, who desire jjt. This blood always lasts the same, never changing c 4 Colour ; * Hist, de /' Acad, iv, 508. 40 REMARKS ON colour ; and the miracle is performed, not at any ceiv s ¦«•;• tain time, but according to the merits of the Bishops [j [a For, as it is reported, if he be a prelate of eminent piety, this miracle is frequent ; if he be not a man of such a character, it is withholden, and seldom granted, . Let me add to this another, miracle, which is uni form and uninterrupted, and depends not upon the .. ., good or bad conduct of men. Whosoever approaches at any time to the shrine, smells a sweet odour, which,, -t ¦? surpasseth all others, and resembles nothing that en ther nature or art produces, and by its singularity de-> 5 t -, Clares the extraordinary virtue of those sacred re-* _ 1 liques *." .. \ . John the Faster, Bishop of Constantinople, took T; title of Patriarch Qecumenic, at which Pope Peia- gius II. was highly provoked, and for which BaronU us heartily abuses poor John,, The patriarchs of Con^ stantinople are so passionately fond of this Oewmeni* ,. cal title, that they still retain it in the midst of their oppression under the Turkish government. A. 583. Leovigildus, king of Spain, was o-f the Arian sect, and a prince of no bad character. His son Hermenigildus rebelled against him, and Baronius commends him for it, Because, says he, his father was , , an heretic. What cursed divinity is, this ! Be wise now therefore, O ye kings ; be learned, ye that are judges of the earth, Beware of such teachers, and put jt out of their power to do you mischief, i -L Sandius in his Ecclesiastical History f produces from Mariana a pathetic epistle from this king to his unnatural son. But no man in those days could write * 5vas»us» "• 285- f p. 33 j. JV V ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 41 write it ; and he must be a poor critic who sees not that it is the handy-work of Mariana. Here it is : Coram maluissem, si per telicitum esset, quam per liter as, de re tata disputare ; quid enim a te prcesens non impe- trassem, sive regia auctoritate prceciperem, sive paterno jure castigarem P Beneficia certe in memoriam revocarem, quce tu in ludibrium vertere maluisti. A teneris, nimiafor- tassis indulgentia, inspem Gothorum regni diligenter alui ;¦ eonfirmata estate, antequam postulares, major a quam spe*- rares delata sunt. Dedi sceptrum, ut cum auctoritate adjutorem haberem ; non ut te, externasque gentes j cum quibus ftedus inire paras, imperio me adversum animarem. Novo exemplo appellavi regem, ut consortio potestatis contentus, primas patri partes dares; atque in hoc cetatis fexu esses seni prcesidio ceque ac solatio. Siquid est quod amplius cupias, patri explica ; sin autem supra ceta- tem, supra consuetudmem, supra merita tibi sunt omnia tributa, cur out ingratus impie, aut impius sceleratusque crudeliter circumscribis patremP An senis mortem ex- spectare grave fuit P tdntique fuerunt * pauci anni, quot kecc cetas recipit P An cum fratre communicatam potesta- tem invidebas P de quo me arbitro disceptare cequumj'uit. Sed nimirum regnandi ambifio omnes naturce leges violat, resolvitque ea quce perpetua necessitate constricta sunt. At religionem caussaris : in quo te video non humana ju- ra^ tantum, sed divina etiam evertere, et in caput tuum Dei vindictam provocare, Itane ab ea religione tuo ar bitrate discedas, cujus cultu propagando nomen GothiCum auctum opibus, atque potentia amplijicatum est P An Ma- jorum, quce sacrosancta esse debuit, auctoritatem contem- nos P Novas religionis vanitatem vel eo potissimum consi- derare * Taken from Epist. xvi. of Brutus to Cicero : Yalde care astimas tot annos quot ista cetas recipit, si propter earn caussam, iff. ff REMARKS ON der are potuisti, quodfliumapatresejungat, et sumrnce carifatis nomina odio plusqudm * paterno, atque invidia labefactet. Ego Hermenigilde pro patris jure impero, et pro cetate, qua major. sum, tibi consulo, revoca ad so? Irietatem animum, positaque noxiarum rerum cupiditate auiesce : sic enim facile eorum quce commissa sunt hade, mm venia dabitur. Si recusas, cogisque arma capere, we tufrustra paternam misericordiam re desperata im? plorabis. Thus Mariana, as an historian, takes the part of the father ; whilst, as a Jesuit, he should have taken the part of the son, Leovigildus called a council of his Arian prelates* in which it was determined that this form should be used ; Glory be to the Father, by the Son, and in the Hohj Ghost. Chilperic, king of the Franks, would needs meddle with theological subjects, and wrote a piece, to com mand that the holy Trinity should be called God, without any distinction of persons; for that the Fa ther, the Son, and -the Spirit, were one and the same. This was a revival of Sabellianism, though perhaps it was more than the king knew. But this doctrine would not go down with his subjects, and he was forced to desist. He was as eminent a grammarian as a divine, and projected to reform the antient orthor graphy, and add new letters to the alphabet. But this scheme also was rejected ¦{", Theodorus, a monk and 3 saint of those days, had two cages made for himself, one of iron for the sum' mer, and one of wood for the winter ; both without a top. In these he dwelt, loaded all over with iron, having * This is unintelligible. Should it be Vatiniano ? Odium Veiini- anum is a known proverb. f Fleury, vii. 612. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 43 having a coat of mail, a cross, a belt, shoes, and gloves, all of iron. He wrought many miracles, and made many disciples *. A. 585. The council of Macon made several ca nons. One of them is drole, and remarkable. It re commends the neglected duty of hospitality to bishops, and orders that they shall not keep mastiffs* to worry beggars. An assassin attempted to kill Gontran, king of the Franks, in a church. But because the villain was seized in the church, the king gave him his life, in reverence to that sanctuary \, A. 590. St Columbanus was an Irishman, a monk, a prophet, and a Worker of miracles, who went and settled in France. He found a cavern there, inha bited by a bear. He sent away the bear, and took it for his own use, and caused a -fountain to spring up close by it. The Saint should not have turned the poor bear out of his own house, to which he had a right by possession and prescription, which in the law is nine points of ten towards settling a property. The same den might have held them both, and they would have been pretty company. sSabas, a monk arid an abbot, towards the begin*- ning of this century, had retired to Scythopolis, to a cavern which, was inhabited by a huge lion, who of his own accord quitted it to the Saint. Here there seems to have been nO wrong done. Volenti non ft injuria. c Amongst the rules of Columbanus for the govern ment of monasteries, the punishment inflicted upon , • faulty * Fleury, vii. 618. 621. / \ Fleury, vii. 633. 44 REMARKS ON faulty monks was whipping ; six stripes for slighter offences ; and sometimes two hundred, but not more than twenty-five at a time. Monasteries were little monarchies, where the si> periors were most despotic rulers, , Prafectura domus Sicula non mitior aula, It is strange how men could bend their minds to such sordid and abject serviUty, and how a crazy piety could extinguish the love of liberty, which ofc ten is as strong as the love of life ; -, qui mente novissimus exit, Lucis amor. All things considered, it was perhaps less irksome to live the life of an hermit in a solitary den, than to submit to the humours of a bigot, a fanatic^ and a merciless tyrant*, - Pope Gregory the Great, called Saint Gregory, was remarkable for many things ; for exalting his own au thority, for running down human learning f and po* lite literature, for burning classic authors, for patron izing ignorance and stupidity, for persecuting here* sics, for flattering the most execrable princes, and for relating a multitude of absurd, monstrous, and ridi culous lies, called miracles, He was an ambitious insolent prelate, under the mask of humility. The Emperor Phocas, to whom Gregory paid his court, was according to Theophylactus Simocatta^ and other historians in general, the vilest of vile- wretches. Gregory is said to have been very liberal and hos pitable. He every day ordered twelve strangers to be invited to his table ; amongst whom it is reported; that he once received his guardian angel, and once Jesus/ * See Fleury, vii. 174. viii. 22. 24. f Dallseus de Usu Patrum, p. 243, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 4*5 Jesus Christ himself. He and Eutychius, the patri arch of Constantinople, had a curious dispute, whe ther the bodies of the righteous after the resurrection should be solid, or thinner than the air. Gregory was for the palpability, and Eutychius for the impalpa bility; and the dispute ended, as it is to be supposed, in a grievous quarrel. " Gregory, in his Dialogues, says Father Simon* hath imitated the style and manner of the monks of his time. This holy man seems to have flourished in the golden age, so celebrated by the Mythologists, when the beasts had the use of speech, and held con versations With men/' " His dialogues, says Fleury, are a work which modern critics have thought worthy of their censures, and even of their contempt. It is true that he had turned his mind more to moral reflections, and to the conduct of affairs, than to erudition and speculative sciences. It is therefore no wortder that he followed the taste of his times, in collecting and relating mira culous facts. Besides, he had not for antagonists philosophical men, who attacked religion in an argu mentative way. There were hardly any Pagans then, except peasants, country-slaves, and barbarous sol diers* who are more moved by miraculous stories than by the most conclusive syllogisms. All that Gregory thought necessary, was to relate those wonders which he judged to be best supported, after having used all possible precautions. His intention was upright ; it was -to confirm the faith of the weak and wavering concerning the immortality of the soul, the resurrec tion ofthe body, the intercession of the saints, the veneration of reliques, the profitableness of prayers for the dead, and particularly of the holy sacrifice, &c. Accordingly, 46 REMARKS ON Accordingly, these, dialogues were at first received with wonderful applause* and continued to be held in esteem for eight or nine hundred years.—" " The Empress Constantina asked, of St Gregory the head of St Paul, or some part of his body, to put in the church which they were building at Constant tinople in honour to this Apostle. Gregory sent her fhis answer : " You ask of me what I dare not and cannot dov For the bodies of the Apostles St Peter and St Paul are so formidable by their miracles* that none can approach them* even to pray* without be* ing seized with great terror. My predecessor having attempted to change a silver ornament which was o» ver the body of St Peter, though at the distance of fifteen feet, had a frightful vision. I myself wanted. to repair something near the body, of St Paul, andwe were obliged to dig near the sepulchre. The superi or of the. place found some bones* which yet did not touch the sepulchre* and moved them to another place. After having seen a terrible apparition, he died suddenly. My predecessor undertook also1 to make some repairs near the body of St Laurence. As they were digging, without knowing precisely the place where he lay, they happened to open his'sepul* chre ; but the monks, and others who were at the work* because they, had seen the sacred body, though they did not touch it, died within ten days, Know then, Madam, that when the Romans give any re liques of Saints, they never touch the bodies ; they only put in a box a piece of linen, which they place near the holy body. Then it is withdrawn and shut up with due veneration in the church which is to be dedicated ; and then as * many miracles are wrought by * This is undoubtedly true. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 47 by it as if the body itself were there. In the time of St Leo, some Greeks doubting of the Virtue of such reliques, he called for a pair of scissars, and cut the linen, and blood issued out, as our ancestors assure us. For not only at Rome, but in all the West, it is accounted a sacrilegious thing to touch the bodies of Saints. We are therefore much astonished at the cus tom of the Greeks to take away the bones of saints* and we hardly know how to believe it. Some Greek monks, who came here about two years ago, digged up in the night some dead bodies in a, field near St Paul's church, and seized on the bones. Being taken in the fact, and examined, they confessed that they intended to c^rry those bones* as reliques, to Greece, But, pot to frustrate your pious desire* I will send you some portion of the chains which St Paul wore* and which wrork many miracles* if however I be able to file off any. These filings are often begged ; and the Bishop applies the file ,' and sometimes he imme diately gets the filings* at other times he labours in vain." " Gregory, in an epistle to Serenus* Bishop of Mar seilles, says ; I have been informed that, seeing some persons worshipping the images in the church, you broke those images and cast them out. I commend your zeal in not suffering things made with hands to be adored : but I think you should not have broken the images. Images and pictures are put in churches* that they who are not able to read, may see upon the Walls what they cannot learn from books. You should therefore have preserved them, and have ex horted the people not to commi.t sin by worshipping them." Serenus 48 REMARKS ON Serenus was not satisfied with this letter, and made* a doubt whether it came from the Pope, who wrote him a second, in which he says ; " Tell me, my bro-» ther, have you heard of any bishop* who hath done what you did ? This single consideration, should it not have checked you from endeavouring to appear the only wise and pious man of them all ? I am in formed that you have so scandalized your own flock, that most of them have separated themselves from your communion. Send for them, and shew them from the holy scriptures that it is not lawful to adore things made by rnen ; tell them that this abuse of images raised your indignation, and caused you to de stroy them. Let them know that if they desire to have images in the churches for their edification, for which they were anciently designed, you willingly consent to it. Thus you will pacify them, and bring them back to your communion. If any one will make images, forbid him not : only suffer them not to be adored. The sight of historical pictures ought to excite in them religious compunction ; but they must not. bow down, except to adore the holy Trinity. I say all this for the love which I bear to the church, not to weaken your zeal, but to encourage you in your duty. — " " At the holy communion, the people used then to bring their own bread, which was a small, round, flat cake. A Roman lady, receiving the communion once from the hand of Gregory, and hearing him say the usual words, could not forbear smiling when he called that the body of Jesus Christ, which she had made with her own hands. Paulus Diaconus adds that the Saint, perceiving her behaviour, took this bread out of her hands, and having prayed over it, shewed ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 49 shewed it to her turned into flesh, in the sight of all the people *." This pontif was favourable to the Jews, and protected them from the rage of some hot headed Christians. Fleury and Cave represent Gregory in as favour able a manner as they could: In scouring an iEthi- opian, nothing is lost, except pains and sope f * A. 587. Recaredus* king of the Visigoths, forsook Arianism. " He converted the Arian bishops, and o- bliged them to become Catholics, more by reason than authority $ and with them the whole nation of the Visi goths in Spain ; not suffering any heretic to serve in his army* or to hold any post in the state: — Thus he resy was abolished in Spain, where it had prevailed from the beginning of the fifth century, for about one hundred and eighty years %." It appears that in those days the Arian clergy were generally married men, and lived with their wives* whilst the orthodox were strenuous contenders for the celibacy of the clergy. It is to be supposed that some of these ecclesiastics humbly contented them selves with common strumpets, or with other mens wives. It appears also that they who would not quit their Arianism were to be instructed by excommunications* deprivation of places, confiscations, banishments, &c. which, with Fleury's leave* seems to have savoured more of authority than of ratiocinations vol. in. r> A. 591. * Fleury. f See Barbeyrac, p. 331. Bayle, Gregoire i. Cave, i, 543. Fleury, vii. 606. viii. 40. 49. 84, 91. 168. ;- - % Fleury, vii. 643. 646. 6491 50 REMARKS ON A. 591. Vulfilaic, a monk of Lombardy, had a pil lar erected for him at Treves, and stood upon it bare foot, enduring great hardship in the winter. The bishops therefore compelled him to come down, and to live like other monks, telling him that the severity of the climate would not permit him to imitate the great Symeon of Antioch. He obeyed his superiors, but with tears and reluctance. And this, says * Fle ury, is the only instance that we know of a Sty Ikes, a Pillar-monk, in the western world. The difference between the eastern and the western monks was, that the first were usually the greater fana tics, and the second the greater knaves. An impostor and madman shewed himself in Gaul, who called himself the Christ, and had with him a woman, whom he called Mary. 'He acted the pro phet and the worker of miracles, seduced a multitude of people, and even many ecclesiastics, and drew to gether three thousand men, with whom he robbed passengers in the highways. He went to fight a bishop, and was slain by one of the bishop's soldiers. Mary was taken, and put to the rack, and confessed the imposture. Yet this did not undeceive his fol lowers. Many such religious, ruffians arose in Gaul, in those days "j". At this time died file famous romancer, Gregory of Tours. The amazing number of miracles which he relates, says .Fleury %, shews that he had more credu lity than critical discernment ; and his style, as he himself acknowledges, is infected with the barbarity of the age in which he- lived., A. 592. * vi'ii. 54. f Fleury, viii. 55. X viii. 57. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 51 A. 592. "A council held in Spain orders that all the reliques found amongst the Arians shall be pre sented to the bishops, and undergo the trial of fire. This seems to shew that it was then an opinion that true reliques could not be consumed *." The method, if fairly practised, was certainly most excellent ; and all sorts of reliques should be put to the same trial ; though Fleury doth not say so. But in following times, these pretended experiments gave occasion to many a pious fraud 4|*. The Britannic church, according to the venerable Bede, though truly catholic at this time* yet differed in certain things from the practice of the Roman church, as in the celebration of Easter, wherein it fol lowed the tradition of the eastern Christians, and in some baptismal rkes. Augustin the Monk, com monly called Saint Austin, attempted to change those rites, and also to abolish the privileges of the Metro-; politans of the nation. The British bishops resisted him boldly and justly, and would not acknowledge the usurper for their archbishop. The Christianity which this pretended apostle and sanctified ruffian taught us, seemed to consist principally in two things, in keeping Easter upon a proper day, and in being slaves to our Sovereign Lord God the Pope, and to Austin his deputy and vicegerent. Such were the boasted blessings and benefits which we received from the mission and ministry of this most audacious and insolent monk. He is strongly suspected, as Du Pin acknowledges, of having excited the Saxons to fall upon the Britons* and to cut the throats of twelve hundred monks of Bangor $. d 2 Paulus * Fleury, viii. 145. f- Fleury, xii. 420. X Bibl. Univ. vii. Basnage, iii. 933. Cave, i. 549* 601. Du. Pify vi. 47. Rapin, a. 79. Stillingfleet, v, 669. 52 REMARKS ON Paulus Warnefridus says of the Langobafdi, afftfuV time ; " It was a wonderful thing, that in their king dom there were no thefts, no robberies, no oppression, no secret fraud, no open violence ; but every one tra velled secure and without fear *." Happy are the people that are in such a case ! but after all, the ac count is scarcely credible. A. 593. Symeon Stylites, junior, lived sixty-eight years, first upon one pillar, and then upon another. He wrought many miracles, as Evagrius testifies. A- mandus, another saint of those days, was as much a fanatic as Symeon, and had also the same miraculous powers. About the close of this century the schism of the Donatists died away, and there is no farther mention made of it. Arianism also declined apace. But the Jacobites (so' called from one Jacobus, a bishop) or Mcnophysitce began to flourish in the east, where they continue to this day. Tliey are the progeny of the Eutychians* who were opposite to the Nestorians. Then also arose the sect of Trit heists, (for so they were called) who taught that the Father, Son, and Spirit were three coequal distinct Beings, who par took of one common undivided nature. Joannes Philoponus is accounted by many to have been the author of this sect -f\ A. 601. In this seventh century, Christianity was propagated in China by the Nestorians ; and the Val- denses, who abhorred the Papal usurpations, are sup posed to have settled themselves in the vallies of Pied mont. * p. Sto. Edit. Grot. f Mosheim, p. 25 1-— 256. Cave, j". 567. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 53 mont. Monkery flourished prodigiously, and the monks and popes were in the firmest union. As to true religion, here is the sum and substance of it, as it is drawn up for us by Eligius, one of the prin cipal saints of that age. " He is a good Christian, who goes frequently to church, and makes his obla tions at God's altar ; who never tastes of his own fruits till he hath' presented some to God ; who for many days before the solemn festivals observes strict chastity, though he be married, that he may approach the altar with a safe conscience ; lastly, -who can re peat the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.Tr-Redeem your souls from punishment, whilst you have it in your power ; offer your tithes and free gifts ; contribute towards the. Luminaries in holy places; repair fre quently to church ; and humbly implore the protec tion of the saints. If you observe these things, you may appear boldly at God's tribunal in the day of judgment, and say, Give, Lord, according as we have given *-" A. 608. Mahomet, or Mohammed, being forty years of age, set himself up for a prophet, and began to esr tablish his religion. A. 633. The fourth council of Toledo made seven ty-five canons ; of which the first is a profession of faith concerning the Trinity and the Incarnation ; in which it is expressly said that the Holy Ghost pro- ceedeth from the Father and the Son. This council, says Fleury "]", is the first in which the bishops take upon themselves a share in the administration of the civil government. Rotharis, * Mosheim, p. 257, 267, 269. f viii. '368, 369. 54 REMARKS ON Rotharis, king of the Lombards, was rertiarkaMe for valour, and for the love of justice. He was an Arian, and almost all the cities in his dominions had two bishops, the one an Arian, the other a Consuby stantialist ; which shews the moderation of Rotharis,' This prince drew up in writing the laws of the Lorn-? bards, seventy-seven years after their entrance into;. Italy*. A. 638. '< Clovis II, is the first of the French Kings, who hath been charged with insanity. The Monk of St Denis, author of this fable* ascribes his distemper to an imprudent devotion which made him carry off a hone from the arm of St Denis ; instigante Diabohf says the continuator of Almoin, At that instant thick darkness was spread over the church ; the king lost his senses, and to recover the health of his mind, he gave certain lands to the church of the saint ; he even sent back the relique, which he enclosed in a golden reliquary, covered with precious Stones, These donations softened the saint in some degree, and the prince had lucid intervals, but never recovered Completely, and died two years afterwards." To unriddle this marvellous story, it may suffice to learn from Almoin, that in a dreadful famine with which France was visited, this religious prince sold the covering of the shrine of St Denis, which was of gold. And though, by his order, the price for which it was sold was remitted to the abbot of St Denis, to be distributed to the poor, yet the monks of that house never forgave this prince an act of charity which lie exercised at their expence, and which might be a bad. precedent. At * Fleury, viii. 360, 402, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 55 At this time, says Du Tillet, there was in France a very sore famine, for the relief of which Clovis took a- way the gold and silver with which Dagobert had sumptuously decorated the church of St Denis, and by an act of humanity distributed it amongst the poor. He also took the treasure which was there, and the shrines and coffers; and breaking an arm of St Denis, he carried that away also; for which deed it is said, that by a divine judgment he went mad, and conti nued so the rest of his life. Certainly, as my author goes on, if he did these things for the relief of the poor and helpless, he did wisely, and like a good man ; though they put a story about, that he lost his senses ; fearing lest princes afterwards should follow his example, when they wanted the riches of the church to assist the poor, or to assist themselves. It is in deed highly probable that the monks, almost the only historians of those days, and to whom miracles cost nothing in times of ignorance, thought it expedient to terrify the successors of Clovis, by the report of so dreadful a punishment. In like manner the French ec clesiastics treated the memory ofCharles Martel, &c."* Vertot shews that the later kings of France, of the first race, were unjustly represented as ideots, slug gards, and lunatics, by monks, bigots, party-writers, and political knaves, who flattered the powers then in being f. A. 644. From a letter of Sigebert, king of Austra^ sia, it appears, that the princes in those times took all possible care that no coimcils should be held in their dominions without their permission £,. ' * Vertot. f Mem. de l'Acad, vi. 516. J Fleury, viii. 431,, 36 REMARKS ON A. 648. Theodorus the Pope condemned and depo-s sed Paul the Patriarch of Constantinople. He also anathematized Pyrrhus, a Monothelete; and calling for the chalice, he dipped a pen in the consecrated wine, and with it subscribed to his condemnation. This was a new trick of profane piety, which was after* wards imitated by others. The Council of Constantinople * condemned and deposed Photius with the same ceremony. Nicetas says ; Subscribunt autem damnationi Photii chirographo non simplici atramento, sed, horrendum dictu, ut ab his qui id norunt accepi, ipso videlicet Salvatoris sanguine ca-, lamum tingentes . Carolus Calvus f made a treaty of peace with Ber nard, count of Barcelona, which was signed by the king and the count sanguine eucharistico J. A. 649. The council of Lateran was held against the Monotheletes. Pope Martin, called Saint Martin* was president, and anathematized Paul of Constanti? nople ; for which exploit this insolent pope lost his life, but- got a place in the calendar amongst the saints and martyrs. He also excommunicated Paul of Thes- salonica, amongst other reasons, because he would not acknowledge himself the subject and the vicar of the Roman pontif. " Since the conquest of the Musul- mans, the churches of Egypt and pf the East were in a deplorable condition. Many were without pastors, and those who remained were mostly heretics. For besides the Monotheletes, all the ancient heretics ap? peared openly, as the power of the Greeks declined, \\\e Nestorians in Syria, the Jacobites or Eutychians }n Egypt. The Mahometans cared very little what , sect * A. 869. f A. 854. X See Dallseus, De Cult. LatMi. 954. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 57 sect their Christian subjects embraced. Only they suspected those most who held communion with the sees of Constantinople and of Rome, as secret friends to the emperor, their principal enemy *." The meaning of this seems to be that by the conquests of the Mahometans, the orthodox Christians could not persecute the heterodox in the east, as they had been used to do. A sad thing truly ! A. 6o0. Amri, a Saracen general, took Alexandria. There was a certain grammarian who begged of him all the books in the Alexandrian Library which related to philosophy. The General thought it necessary to consult the Calif Omar ; and the Calif ordered the whole library to be destroyed. The books therefore were sent to all the baths of the city, and served as fuel to heat them for six months. The prodigious number of these volumes may be inferred from the time which was taken up in consuming them, and from the number of the baths amongst which they were distributed, which are said to have . been forty thousand f. " A. 65 V. Isdegerdes the last king of the Persians Was slain, and that empire destroyed, after having lasted 425 years, from the year 226, in which Artax erxes, or Ardchir, overthrew the empire of the Par tisans. With the power of the Persians was abolished the religion of theMagi, who were $ fire-worshippers. Those of this sect who would not embrace Mahomet- ism retired into India, where some of them are still to be 'found |[." ¦ * Fleury, viii. 460—486. t Mem. de l'Acad. xiii. 615. X Or -vyere supposed to be. || Fleury, viii. 582. 58 REMARKS ON A. 656. The Monotheletes at Constantinople con demned Maximus the abbot and two ofhis disciples, who would not conform to their opinions, to be cruel ly whipped, and to have their tongues and their right hands cut off. Hence it appears that the Monothe letes Were as wicked wretches as their persecutors the Duotheletes. The Monothelites, or Monotheletes, Monothelete!, were so named, because they held the union of the two natures irt Christ to be such, that he had only one will and one operation, which they called theandric *. A. 664. A conference was held before Osui, king of Northumberland, about that most important point, the time of keeping easter. The king, having learn ed from the disputants on what day it was kept by St Peter, said, Hath Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven ? They answered, Yes. Then, said the king, I will observe the practice of the door-keeper of hea ven, lest when I go and knock there, he should not let me in f. A. 668. At this time Callinicus invented the Ignis Grweus. The Saracens or Musulmans attacked Con stantinople at different times for seven years togetiier with a great fleet ; and in the year 673, many of their ships were consumed by this^re, which was made of Uaptha* and burned in the water J. A. 669- A Synod was held at Autun by St Leger. — Its first canon commands the clergy to get by heart the Athanasian creed. No easy task. This St Leger, not long afterwards, had his eyes put out, and * Fleury, viii. $SS- t Fleury, viii. 593. % Fleury, viii. 605. ix. 51. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 59, and his lips and (tongue cut off. He was healed of his wounds, and spake as plainly as he did before ; which passed for a miracle *. A. 67%, This year was born the venerable Bede, an Englishman, and an honour to our country f. A, 675, The council of Toledo was obliged to make canons, to restrain in some measure the holy bishops of those times, who were openly guilty of robberies, murders, assassinations* fornications, adul teries, and such sort of bagatelles. The council of Prague at the same time censured those bishops who whipped their presbyters, abbots and deacons, as so many slaves or dogs ; and who compelled the deacons to do the office of chair-mert to the bishop, and carry him on their shoulders. This council also decrees that the eucharistic bread shall not be dipped in the wine ; but that the two kinds shall be given apart, and the wine mixed with wa ter %. A, 678. Sebbi, the king of Esses, was so piously disposed, that he would have embraced a monastic life, if his wife would have consented. Being seized with the distemper of which he died, he sent for the bishop of London, and received from him, together with his benediction, the monastic habit which he had go much desired. This, says Fleury §, is the first ex ample that I have found of the devotion, so frequent in latter ages, of dying in the garb of a monk. A. 679. * Fleury, viii- 61 1- 641- t Cave, i- 612- X Fleury viii- 630 — 632- § ix. 6. ' . 60 REMARKS ON A. 679. A young man in England, called Imma, was wounded and left as dead in the field of battle. Being found by the enemies, he was healed, and kept prisoner, and chained in the night-time, lest he should escape. He had a brother, one Tunna, priest and ab bot of a monastery, who, thinking him dead, went in search of the body, and having found one which he took to be his brother's, carried it to his monastery, buried it decently ; and frequently said mass for, the deliverance of his soul. The living brother perceived the effect of it ; for he often found himself released from his bonds, after the third hour, which was the hour of mass. The count who had him prisoner, ask ed him if he had a character. He answered, No; but, said he, I have a brother, a priest, who think ing me to be dead, often says mass for me ; and if J were in the other world, my soul would be released from purgatory by his prayers. After he was quite cured, the count sold him to another, who also could not keep him confined ; for though they tied him with different sorts of chains, he used to be set free at the same hour. So his last master dismissed him upon his parole, and he paid his ransom according to his pro mise. Returning to his brother, he learned from him that the times when he had been untied and receive/} refreshment and alleviation of his pain, were the times when mass was said for him. This excited several persons to pray, to give alms, and to offer the holy sacrifice for their deceased friends. The venerable Bede, who is , the relator of this story, says that he had learned it from one of those who had heard it frqm the man's own mouth. — At this time, the art of mak ing glass was brought into England *. A. 681, f. Fleury, ix- 6, 19- ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 63 A. 68 1 .' The sixth general council of Constanti nople persecuted and condemned the Monotheletes, and anathematized the deceased Pope Honorius, as having been guilty of the same heresy. Thus we have a vicar of Jesus Christ, and an infallible head of the church, condemned by a general council for the crime of heresy, that is, for a speculative notion whicli the holy catholic church of Rome still accounts to be heresy. The persecuted Monotheletes settled a- bout Mount Libanus, and are now called Maronites, though they renounce Monothelism *. Polychronius, an aged ecclesiastic, and a Mono thelete, was summoned before this council, and was ordered to declare his faith. He answered, I will shew my faith by my works, by declaring it over a dead man, and raising him to life. The council said, We will get you a dead man ; produce your confession of faith. Polychronius presented a sealed paper, con taining an account of some visions which he had seen, and also the doctrine of the Monotheletes, which was read. The council and the magistrates ordered that the trial should be made in a public place. The dead man was brought, and Polychronius laid his confes sion of faith upon his body, whispered in his ear for several hours, and at last said, I cannot raise this dead man. The people shouted, Anathema to the new Simon Magus, to Polychronius the impostor. Then the council called upon him to declare whether he would confess two wills and two operations in Christ. He answered ; I confess what I have written : I be lieve one will, and one theandric operation in Christ ; and I say nothing else. The council replied ; Since Polychronius hath persevered in his error to his old age, * Fleury, ix. 49- Mosheim, p- 277- Cave, Honorius I. .578. 606- 6a REMARKS ON age, and now being advertised by us, hath tempted the Holy Ghost, composing a writing full of blas phemies, and impudently declaring that he would raise a dead man, we anathematize him, and order that as a manifest heretic and impostor he be deprived of his rank and sacerdotal function. Then they all cried out ; Anathema to Polychronius : the Trinity hath deposed him *. What more they, did to the poor man, is not recorded. A mad-house was the properest place for him, and for those who anathema tized him, and the place which most resembled the general councils of those days. Ildefonsus wrote a sort of epitome of divinity 5 from which it appears that transubstantiation was then unknown in the Latin church, and that the use of the holy Scriptures was permitted to all persons f. The addition to the Nicene Creed of flioque wag projected in the seventh century, and not received by the Latin church before the ninth £. A council was held at Toledo, and gave the first example of bishops presuming to release subjects from their oath of allegiance to their kings, and to forbid kings the exercise of temporal jurisdiction, whilst they were condemned to perform penance |] . A. 682. Pope Leo II. anathematized, amongst other heretics, his predecessor Honorius §. A. 683. Another council of Toledo made Canons concerning the temporal rights of princes and sub«- jects. Nothing, says Fleury, >• 6?2- f See Fleury, ix. 2^3, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 73 of reliques, and he particularly abhorred and plagued the monks, who were his principal adversaries. If We may credit them ih their own cause, they were cruelly used by the emperor, and forced to fly to other countries, to avoid the persecution. Under his auspices *, a council of Iconoclasts was held, in which the adoration and the use of images was con demned. Their decrees were put in execution, and a massacre of painted and wooden gods ensued. Then the pope exhorted Pepin to make war upon the em-r peror, and to protect the image-mongers. Constantine sent ambassadors to Pepin, and pre sented him with an organ* the first that wa9 seen in France. Pope Stephen II. solicited Pepin to assist him against the Lombards, promising him both tem poral prosperity and eternal life* if he complied ; and declaring to him that he would infallibly be damned* if he did not. Fleury censures the pope for making use of such arguments. Pepin shewed him great kindness, and gave him twenty-two cities ; and this, says Fleury, was the first foundation of the temporal dominion of the see of Rortie. So the French have the honour of being the authors of this egregious folly. Constantine one day said to the patriarch* What harm would there bfe to say of the Virgin" Mary, Mother of Christ P God preserve yOu, answered the patriarch, from entertaining such a thought. Do you not see how Nestorius is anathematized by the whole church ? I only asked for my own instruction, said the emperor : let it be a secret. Another day, holding in his hand a purse which he had filled with gold, he asked those who stood by, what * A. 754. 74 REMARKS ON what it was worth. A great deal, said they. He then emptied it, and asked the same question. It is worth nothing, they answered. So it is, said he; with the mother of God. Whilst Jesus Christ was in her womb, she was worth much ; afterwards she was a woman, like other women *. A. 742. Bonifacius, whom we mentioned before, and who was an Englishman, says in a letter to Cuth- fcert, archbishop of Canterbury, I cannot pass over one thing in silence, which scandalizes here all good persons. It is that your church hath lost her reputa tion, and that you might put a stop to those evils, if you would forbid the pilgrimages of nuns and of other females to Rome. Many of them lose their chastity, and there is hardly a town in Lombardy, France, and other countries, in which some English whore is not to be found f. In a Council held in Germany, we find- the first mention made of chaplains J. A. 744. A priest in Bavaria, who understood not Latin, used to baptize in this form ; Baptizo te in no mine Patria, et Filia, et Spiritua Sancta. Some of the. clergy of that country thought that the persons so baptized ought to be rebaptized; but pope Zachary being consulted, determined that the baptism was good and valid ||. ;: A. 745. Gevilieb, bishop of Mentz, was the son of a bishop who was slain in a battle. Gevilieb fight ing against the same enemies, enquired out the man who * Fleury, ix. 380. 383. 419, f Fleury, ix. 305. X Ibid. 302. [| Ibid. ix. 327, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 75 who had" slain his father, and desired to speak with him:; and then challenged and encountered him, and killed him. This action, says Fleury *, was blamed by nobody, and the good prelate continued to per- form his ecclesiastical functions. A. 751. Pope Zachary granted to Bonifacius privi leges for the monastery of Fulda, and exempted it from the jurisdiction of all bishops, except the pope. This is the first example of such exemptions f, A. 753. Astolfus, king of the Lombards, besieged Ravenna, and took it. Eutychius the exarch fled to Greece ; and thus ended the exarchate in Italy, after having continued about 180 years, from the time of Justinus Junior. A. 754. A general council of Iconoclasts assembled near Constantinople, condemned the use of holy i- mages and pictures, and produced many good argu ments against this superstition J. An assembly at Quiercy, at which the pope was present, forbids the marriage of those who stood to gether as godfathers and godmothers at baptism, or at confirmation ; and allows baptism by pouring water on the head, in cases of necessity ||. A. 755. Pope Stephen, wanting the aid of Pepin, king of France, made use of a new trick, sent him a letter written by St Peter, requiring him to assist the see of Rome, under pain of damnation, with many |alse and most ridiculous applications of texts of Scrip ture. Pepin assisted the Pope §. In * Fleury, ix. 328. -f Ibid. 348. J Ibid. ix. 362. Cave, i. 646. j| Ibid, ix- 373. § Ibid. ix. 380, 76 REMARKS ON In the statutes or instructions of Bonifacius, one is, they whose baptism is dubious, ought without scru ple to be baptized, with this protestation ; I do not rebaptize thee, but if thou art not baptized, I baptize thee. This is the first example that we have found of conditional baptism *. A. 757. In a council at Compiegne, canons were made relating to marriages ; and the leprosy is allowed a sufficient cause to dissolve a marriage, ¦ and to leave the uninfected person at liberty to marry again f . " Pope Paul, in his letters to Pepin, is ever solicit ing his help, and, like his predecessor, ever confound ing things temporal with spiritual ; as if the Lom bards, who had been catholic Christians for one hun dred and fifty years, were to be accounted enemies to the gospel ; and as if the king of France was not free to determine whether it were proper for himself and his kingdom to go to war with the Lombards ! The pope's letters are dated by the reign of the emperor of Constantinople, as being still the true sovereign, of Rome ; and the Senate and people of Rome, writing to Pepin, call not the pope their lord, but only their pastor and father. This pope, besides other presents, sent Pepin a night-clock, or dial; that is, a dial which wanted not the sun, but either went upon wheels, like ours, or else measured the hours by sand or water, like the old Clepsydras J."— It seems most probable that it went by wheels. A. 776. A council was held in France at which the embassadors * Fleury, ix. 390. f Fleury. * Fleury, ix. 404—406.. , ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 77 embassadors of Constantine and the legates of Pope Paul were present. The Latins and Greeks disputed about the procession of the Holy Ghost ; and the Greeks reproached the former that they had added the FUioque to the Constantinopolitan creed. What was decided in this council we know not. Three years after, a council at Rome decided in favour of image- worship *. A. 772. Charles the Great having taken the for tress of Erisbourg, destroyed the temple of the Idol of Irminsut, a Saxon deity f . '¦'^ A. 774. Charles put an end to the kingdom of the Lombards, which had lasted in Italy a little more than two hundred years ; and then took the title of King of the French and of the Lombards %. A. 780. 'Leo, who succeeded Constantine, was also an enemy to images, and a persecutor of those who adored them. His death is therefore represented by them as a judgment. Constantine, his son and successor, being ten years of age, Irene his mother governed for him; and so, under the auspices of a superstitious and an execrable princess, and of a poor ignorant boy, the monks pre vailed, and image-worship was triumphant. Irene -used to insult and beat the emperor, when he was twenty years old ; and the boy proved as bad as his mother )|. A- 787«, The second Nicene council was held, t which *• Fleury, ix. 434. 459. Mosheim, p. 312.! f Vertot, in Hist- Je PAea4. ii. 291. Bibl. Univ. xi. 1^9. i Fleury, ix. 474. |j Fleury, x. 1. Mosheim, p. 31c. 78 Remarks on which is accounted the seventh general council. This assembly re-established the adoration of images* and made use of false miracles, false records, and the most ridiculous and spurious books to confirm their super stitious and stupid doctrines. Amongst so many Bishops, says Fleury, there teas not one critic, who knewihow to discern true from false records. — Critic ! quoth; he, It is well if there was one amongst them who could write his own name. But this doth not at all invali date the decisions of the council. We must beg his pardon for that. He makes too large demands upon us, when he requires us to be lieve the divine inspiration and infallibility of a cabal of ecclesiastics, who shewed themselves evidently the most lying knaves and senseless blockheads upon the face of the earth*. Stillingfleet hath given a good ac count of this council, and of its exploits "j". . ; i A council at the same time assembled in England. One of its canons forbids to cut off a horse's, ears or tail ; or to eat horse-flesh. Tassilon, duke of Bavaria, being at war with Charles, the pope interposed in the quarrel, excommunicated Tassilon and his accomplices, and gave the king per mission to ravage Bavaria. This, says Fleury, % is the first instance of a pope declaring a war to be just. A. 789. In the Capitulary published in France by Charles the great, bishops, abbots, and abbesses : are forbidden to keep fools, buffoons, an(j jugglersufor their diversion. Seneca would have told these pre lates * Fleury, ix. 536. Mosheim, p. 3!®. Cave.i- 611, 649. Bibl. Univ. ix. 7- t Vol. v. p. 554. X ix- ,561—563. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 79 lates that they might always be secure of a fool at hand, for their entertainment. He says, Ipse aversis- sim/ts sum ah istis Prodigiis. Si quando Fatuo delectari volo, non est mihi longe qucerendus : Me rideo. At this time, the French bishops meeting together endeavoured to steer a middle course. They approv ed the use qf images, against the Iconoclasts ; but they condemned the council of Nice, for running into the opposite error, and for establishing the adoration of them. Fleury, * meanly and disingenuously in my opinion, censures them for this procedure, and accu ses them of chicanery and prejudice against the Greeks and their council. • In the above-mentioned capitulary* there is this ri gid law ; Si quis sanctum Quadragesimale Jejunium pro despectu Christianitatis contemserit, morte moriatur . Upon this law Baluzius comments in the following manner : " It is indeed a great severity to put a man to death ibr despising the Lent-fast. But amongst a contumacious people, such rigour was necessary, to keep them from relapsing perpetually into Paganism. In the time of Ditmarus, bishop of Mersepurg, it was a law amongst the Poles, that he who ate flesh in the season of Lent* should have his teeth pulled out j*." Antiqui Saxones, et omnes Frisonum populi, instante rege Carolo, alios prccmiis alios minis sollicitante, adfi- dem Christi conversi sunt £. - ¦ From those times to ours, two Auxiliaries have been very instrumental in converting people to the faith, namely, Pistoles and Dragoons. A. 790. * Fleury, ix. 573. 577. * f See Basnage, i. 258- X Will Malmsb- De Gestis Anglorum, i- 4- 80 REMARKS ON A. 790. A new heresy arose ip Spain, which caus ed much disputing and. much disturbance. A ques tion was started by two bishops, Felix and EUpand, in what sense Christ was Son of God. . It' was deter mined that Christ, according to his human nature, was only Son of God by adoption, and. fl nominal Sqn *. A. 792. Alcuin, an Englishman and an abbot, de clared himself against imager worship ; and a council at Frankfort held the same opinion, and condemn^ the decisions of the second Nicene council. But pope Adrian I. took part with the image-mongers, though he endeavoured to talk upon the subject with some shew of moderation. This council of Frankfort decrees that abbots shall not put out the eyes, or cut off the limbs of their monks, for any fault whatsoever: which shews what sort of rulers these abbots were. It also decrees that it is lawful fo pray to Gpd in any language, and not, as some pretended, only in three tongnes, which it is to be supposed were Latin, Greek, and Hebrew "j". Alcuinus ohiit A. 804. vir pius, dofitus, gravis, La? tine, Greece, Ilebraiee peritjis. Mi quicquid penithris doctrines, quicquid polit'wris literuturm isto et sequenti- bus sceculis_Gallkt ostentat, totum aceeptum referre debet. Ei Academice Parisiensis, Turonensis, Fuldensis, Suesr soniensis, aliaquc plures originem et increment® dekent ; quibus ille, si non prmsens prcefuit, uut fundamenta po- suit, saltern doctrina praeluxit, exemplo prmvit, etbenqfi- ciis a Carolo impetratis adauxit J. . 799. Arnon, archbishop of Salisburg, convert ed * Fleury, ix. 580. Moshiem, p. 315. Bibl. Univ xv 16. f Fleury, ix. J97, 608. X Cave, i- 637 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 81 ed many of the SclavOnians* who became very fond of him. He used to make all the Christian slaves come and dine at his own table, and gave them drink out of gilt cups; whilst their pagan masters sat with out doors On the ground* like dogs, and had meat and drink placed before them. When they asked him why they were thus treated, the answer was, as you have not been washed in the salutary bath, you are not worthy to sit and eat at table with those who are re generated. Upon this, they desired also to be instruct ed, and admitted to baptism *. This finesse was however more Episcopal and Chris tian than the usual method of bullying, beating, fin ing* and massacring those who would not quit Pagan ism. In this century the Scholastics arose, the first of whom were Irish, Scoti, who introduced logic and philosophy into divinity f . A.. 800. Charles the Great, or Charlematn, was made Emperor of Rome, and crowned by Pope Leo III. who prostrated himself before him, and acknowledged him as his temporal Lord. But the popes in follow ing times learned better things, and treated kings and emperors as their vassals* slaves, and footmen. This emperor was very plain and simple in his ap parel, and endeavoured to restrain the luxury of dress which began to be introduced in his dominions. He had the honour to be canonized in the year 1 166. He greatly favoured commerce ; and to facilitate it, he attempted to join the Rhine to the Danube, but could not accomplish the project. He made laws against luxury ; and protected and encouraged far- vol. in. f mer.7 * Fleury, x. 28. f Mosheim, p- 307. S2 REMARKS ON mers and husbandmen. He was a great prince by his successes, and still more by his wise conduct to which they are to be ascribed *. A. 809. In a council, at Aix la Chapelle, the ques tion was discussed whether the Holy Ghost proceeds. from the Son, and whether the Filioque should be in serted in the creed. Pope Leo III. being consulted, Was against adding this expression, and he gave this amongst other reasons, for his opinion, that every doc trine that is true is not therefore to be inserted in a con fession of faith. This was speaking like an honest and a wise man ; and if this advice had been fol lowed we should have had shorter creeds and fewer articles. This pope died in the year 816, and is ranked amongst, the saints f. " The Arabs, who before had been occupied in ex tending their territories, and not in cultivating their minds, now made a great progress in knowledge, ex cited by Almamun, or Abu Gaafar Abdallah. Thia excellent Caliph of Babylon and Egypt began to reign about the time when Charlemain died, and lived till the year 833. He founded celebrated schools in ma ny cities, he attracted learned men by great rewards, he collected considerable libraries, he caused at a vast expence the best Greek writers to be translated into the Arabic language, he performed every thing that became a prince who was a passionate lover of litera ture, and himself a very learned man. Under his in fluence the Arabs began to acquire a relish for Greek erudition, and propagated it by degrees not only through * Spener Hist. Germ. Foncemagne, Mem. de PAcad. Lx. 522. Cave, i- 632. Fleury, xv. 219, f Fleury, x. 100. Cave, i. 642. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 83 through Syria and Africa, but even through Spain and Italy. From this time they enumerate a long series of their own countrymen, who were philosophers, physicians, astronomers, and mathematicians. From these the European Christians received much of their knowledge ; for what was taught in Europe, from the tenth century, of the arts and sciences above-mention ed, was for the most part derived from the books and schools of the Arabs in Italy and Spain. And thus the Saracens, in a certain sense, may be called the re storers of letters in Europe. In that part of Europe which was subject to the Franks, Charlemain was a zealous promoter of litera ture ; and if his successors had been able and willing to tread in his steps, barbarity and ignorance would soon have been put to flight. Yet some imitators he had. Ludovicus Pius, following his father's example* attempted and performed many things conducing to the advancement of arts and knowledge. In this lie was surpassed by his son Carolus Calvus* a singular patron of erudition, who invited learned men from all quarters to his court, took pleasure in their conversa tion, adorned and enriched the public schools* and particularly the Aulic or Palatine school. In Italy, his brother Lotharius endeavoured to revive literature, which was then quite sunk, by founding schools in eight of the most considerable cities. But his com mendable efforts were attended with Small success, and Italy during that century remained destitute of learned and ingenious men. In England, Alfred ac quired great renown by encouraging philosophy and literature. But the infelicity of the times was such, that the effects were not produced which might have f 2 been 84 ~ REMARKS ON ¦ been expected from the dignity and authority of such royal patrons *." The commendations justly bestowed upon these illustrious protectors of learning ought always to be -understood as indirect censures of those princes who have not the honour to resemble them. A. 802. St Ludger flourished at this time, and passed for a worker of miracles f . It appears that there were still some Stylitce or Pil lar-monks, and that the practice had continued three hundred and fifty years after the famous Symeon* Who had been the founder of the sublime order J. A. SI 3. " Charles shewed his piety by many laws in favour of the church. In one of them he speaks thus : We command that all our subjects observe. the following decree, which we have extracted from the Theodosian code : Whosoever having a law-suit, ei ther as plaintif or defendant, chuseth the arbitration of a bishop, he may carry the cause before him, not withstanding any opposition made by the other party ; and whatsoever the bishop decides, it shall remain firm, without any appeal from it. The testimony. of one bishop shall be admitted by all the judges in their courts, and no testimony shall be permitted to be brought against it. There is indeed, in the Theodosian code, 1. xvi. such a law of Constantine, addressed to Ablavius : but the most skilful critics hold it to be supposititious ; and we find not that it was ever executed from the time of Constantine to that of Charles. It is true that the sanction given to it by Charles, who thought it * Mosheim, p. 320. f Fleury, x. 52.54. X Ibid. x. 58. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 8.5 it to be genuine, hath afforded an handle to the bishops in the subsequent ages to extend their juris diction very far *." A, 814. The Emperor Leo the Armenian declared himself against images. He called a council of eccle siastics who were in his sentiments, and persecuted the idolaters very severely, as they have represented it. The storm fell principally upon the monks, who were stubborn adorers of their brainless brethren, the images ; and Theodorus Studires f, one of the saints of those dark days, and a very great rogue, wrought abundance of miracles in their behalf. Leo was slain by conspirators, in the year 820, His successor Michael at first tolerated the idola ters, but afterwards oppressed them, and had a parti cular abhorrence for the monks. Historians have re presented him as very ignorant and very heretical, as one who denied the doctrine of the resurrection, and the existence of the devil, and held several absurd opinions, This emperor, writing to the emperor Louis, gives him the following remarkable account of the idolaters : Many of our clergy and laity, departing from the apostolical traditions, have introduced pernicious no velties. They took down the crosses in the churches, and put the images in their room, before which they lighted up lamps, and burned incense, honouring them as the cross. They sang before them, worship ped them, and implored their succour. Many dress ed 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. f 3 Some * Fleury, x. 157, + See Cave, ii. 8. 86 REMARKS ON 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, instead of an altar, on which they consecrated the elements ; and many such like abuses they committed. Therefore the orthodox emperors, and the most learned bishops assembled in council, have forbidden these §normities, and have removed the images to higher places in the church, where they stood former; ly, and where they were not worshipped, as they have been of late by ignorant people. Some of the complainers are gone to Rome, to ca: lumniate 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 mo ther pf God, and of all the saints ; we reverence their reliques ; we receive all the apostolical traditions, and the decrees of the six councils. From this account it appears that these images were not only pictures on flat boards or canvass, but also carved statues ; contrary to what is said above, on the year 726. In some instructions given by the bishop of Basil tp his diocese, the people are all required to learn the Lord's prayer, and the apostle's creed ; but the cler gy are enjoined to repeat by heart the creed of St Athanasius every Sunday *. A. 816. Pope Leo died. During his pontificate, which * Fleury, x. 236, 259. 263. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 87 which lasted twenty years, he made great repairs, and immense offerings to the churches of Rome ; which he was enabled to do, probably by the liberality of Charles the Great, and of other princes, and by the oblations of the multitude of pilgrims who repaired to Rome. He covered the pavement of the confession, or tomb of St Peter, with as much gold as weighed 453 pounds. At the entry of the sanctuary he made a balustrade of silver, of 1573 pounds. He rebuilt the baptistery of St Andrew, large and round, with fonts in the middle, surrounded with pillars of por phyry. In the midst of the fonts was a pillar, and on it a silver lamb, who poured out water. He adorned the windows of the church of Lateran with painted glass ; and this is the first mention that is made of such glass. The gold that was employed on these occasions amounted to more than eight hundred pounds, and the silver to more than twenty-one thou sand pounds, that is, Roman pounds of twelve oun ces *. A council held in England, at this time, orders that at the dedication of a church, the eucharist consecrat ed by the bishop shall be put up in a box, with the reliques, and preserved in the church ; and that if there be no reliques, the eucharist shall suffice ; that there shall be also a picture hung up, to shew to what saint the church is dedicated ; Every judgment or act, confirmed by the sign of the cross, shall be inviolably observed : The priests, when they baptize, shall not only pour water on the head of the children, but shall plunge them into the laver. This shews that baptism by infusion began to be introduced in cold climates -j*. f 4 A. 818, f Fleury, x. 184, f Fleury, x. 194. 88 REMARKS ON Ar 818, <* About this time disputes arose in France concerning the eucharist. PasGhasius Radbertus,; in a treatise on the subject, laid the foundation of the doctrine of transubstantiation amongst the Latins ; but was strenuously opposed by Rabanus, and after* wards by Ratramus, Joannes Scotus, and other di* vines. The deep silence of the disputants on both sides concerning the worship of this sacrament, shews that even in those days no such notion was entertain ed. But at length, after the doctrine of transubstan tiation had been confirmed by many decrees of the popes, and fully established by violence and blood shed, by the persecution and destruction of its gain* sayers; it was also decreed, as a proper inference from the doctrine, that the deified elements should be ador-r ed with divine worship, called Latria; a practice un known to the christian world before the twelfth cen tury *." A. 824. Amongst the ornaments of the churches at Rome, are mentioned two, which represented the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary ; which shews that this opinion was then received •)*. A. 825. The assembly at Paris, called together by the emperor Charles, endeavoured to steer a middle course in the grand controversy then on foot, condemn ning both those who destroyed images, and those whq - worshipped them. Four years after, Cladius, bishop of Turin, signar lized himself by pulling down the images in his dio cese, and writing against them. The * Dallaous, De Cult. Lot. p- 1013. 1018- t Fleury, x. 251. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 89 The emperor Theophilus was a warm iconoclast.' The idolaters affirm that they were cruelly persecuted by him. His enmity to holy images and the Catho lics, says Fleury, hath rendered his memory odious. He performed some signal acts of justice ; he also va lued himself upon his skill in music, and set some hymns to be sung in the church. On one solemn day, he was himself the guide, who beat the measure in the Greek church, and he gave the clergy on this occasion an hundred pounds of gold. Michael, his son and successor, who was then a boy, aided by his mother, and instigated by the monks, re-established image-worship in the year 842, which thenceforward was triumphant. On this glo rious victory over religion and common sense, a new festival was -established, called The Feast of Ortho* doxy, winch is still observed in the Greek church. Thus fell the heresy of the Iconoclasts, which had maintained itself about one hundred and twenty years after it was introduced by Leo Isaurus ; and thus it appears that even in those dark, ignorant, superstitious, credulous, lying ages, there was a long and a violent struggle against idolatry, till at length monks, wo men, priests, and popes bore down all opposition *. A. 831 . At this time Christians believed that in the sacrament they received, in some sense, the body and blood of Christ, without determining the manner how. But Paschasius Radbertus taught that only the figure or appearance of bread and wine remained, and that the true body of Christ was present. He met with warm contradiction on account of this novel interpre- * Fleury, x- 269. 298. 400, &c. Mosheim, p- 340. &c. Cave, ii. 72. 90 REMARKS ON interpretation. The disputants on this point talked very obscurely and inconsistently, except honest Joannes Scotus, who, being a philosopher, expressed himself with clearness and precision, and said that the bread and wine were signs and images of the absent body and blood of Christ *. Of Scotus it may be observed that he was no slave to common opinions. His very errors are not those of a blockhead, but of a man of parts, of a contempla* tive and inquisitive disposition. Now also was revived the controversy about grace, predestination, election, and reprobation, stirred up by Godeschalcus, a monk, who was a rigid predesti- narian, as Augustin had been before him, and as the Jansenists and Calvinists have been since. By order of a council he was very roughly handled, whipped, imprisoned, and compelled to burn his writings, Thus he was condemned as an heretic, and died in a jail. Many engaged on each side of the controversy; and f the third council of Valence made some decrees about it +Eodem tempore aliud ex Germania certamen in Gal- liam inferebatur de modo quo sanctissimus Servator ex utero matris in lucem prodiit. Germani quidam Jesum Christum non communi reliquorum hominum lege, sed singulari et extraordinario, utero matris exiisse statue- bant : qua sententia in Galliam delata, Ratramnus earn oppugnabat, atque Christum per naturce januam in mun- dum ingressum esse tuebatur. Germartis subveniebat Paschasius Radbertus, libro singulari, clauso prorsus ventre Christum natum esse sciscens, atque secus sentien- tes * Cave, ii- 32. f A. 855. X Fleury, x. 502. 592, &c. Mosheim, p. 343, &c- Cave, ii, 26, Usher, Life of Godscbalc. or the Bib/- Univ. ii. 229. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 91 tes negate virgimtatis Marice incusans. Brevis hccc concertatio fuit , majoribusque cessit. Omnium controversiarum quce hoc cevum agitarunt, nobilissima ceque ac tristissima ilia est, quae Grcecos et latinos disjunxit, <§c *, A. 840. Christianus Druthmarus wrote a commen tary on St Matthew, in which there are passages which make directly against transubstantiatlon, Ra-r tramus also wrote against it -\. A. 844-. The emperor Charles, upon the complaints of the presbyters in France against the intolerable ty ranny of their bishops, published a decree, to redress their grievances. By this law it is ordered that the bishops shall be contented with that quantity of bread, wine, and other provisions which is specified. The priests shall not be obliged to convey it farther than five miles, and the bishop's officers shall not give them any vex ation. When the bishop visits, the curate of the place, with the four next neighbours, shall furnish the provisions here specified ; and his retinue shall not exact more, or damage and plunder the house that entertains them, &c. This is an important decree, says Fleury J, as it shews how some prelates abused their power. The emperor very wisely made use of his authority to -restrain those prelates upon whom the authority of the gospel had no influence. " Alberic, bishop of Langres, being dead, Theut- bald succeeded him. Some time after, two pretend ed monks brought to the church of St Benignus at Dijon * Mosheim, p. 345. f Cave, ii. 25. 27. X x- 423- 92 REMARKS ON Dijon a parcel of bones, which they said were the re liques of some saint, brought by them from Rome, or some other part of Italy ; but they had forgotten the name of the saint. The bishop thought it not proper to acknowledge these anonymous reliques, nor yet to despise them, because the monks pretended that they would produce authentic proofs. One of them de parted to seek for testimonials, and returned no more : the other, who remained at Dijon, died there. In the mean time, these bones having been respectfully placed near the sepulchre of Benignus, a report was raised that they wrought miracles, and that women fell down suddenly in the church, and were torment ed, without having upon them the appearance of the blows which they said they had received. This ru mour drew a great concourse to see these wOnders, and three or four hundred persons came, and having been struck down in the church, refused to go out of it, saying that if they departed home, they should be seized again, and obliged to return to the church. Amongst these were not only maidens, but married women of every age and condition. The same mar vels were wrought, not only in this, but in other churches of the diocese. The bishop Theutbauld thought it proper to con sult Amolon, archbishop of Lions, upon this occa sion. Amolon answered, We advise that these bones, said to be of some unknown saint, without any proofs produced of it, be taken out of the sanctuary, remov ed out of the church, and secretly, before few wit nesses, buried in holy ground, that we may shew them some respect, because they are said to be re liques, and that the ignorant people may not be led into superstition, since we have no assured knowledge whether ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 93 whether they be reliques or no. He then mentions the example of St Martin, and the authority of pope Gelasius, and proceeds : If it can be proved that two or three cures have been wrought on this occasion in the church of St Benignus, we must return thanks for them to God, without giving our approbation to the rest that is done in that or in other churches. For these pre tended reliques having been brought in the time of lent, when churches are more frequented than at other times, it may have happened that some beggarly knaves, seizing on this occasion to gratify their ava rice, or to relieve their indigence, began to act these epilepsies, trances, blows, loss of senses, and recove ries ; upon which the by-standers, through pity and terror, gave them alms so liberally, that finding the sweets of it, they would not go away, and pretended that it was not in their power to depart. For who ever heard of miracles wrought in churches, and at the tombs of martyrs, not to Cure diseased persons, but to' deprive men of their health and senses ? who ever heard of i nnpcent girls cured by the prayers of saints, and relapsing into their disorders, when they returned to their parents ? or of saints who cured wo men, to separate them from their husbands, and to punish them if they repaired to their own houses ? Who sees not that these are either the tricks of im postors, or illusions of devils ? We find persons even in holy places, who, for the love of sordid lucre, in stead of instructing the people, and repressing these abuses* give countenance and encouragement to them, extolling the piety of such knaves, that they may share in the profit, and fill their bellies and their purses. I would not say this, if I had not seen ex amples 94 REMARKS ON amples of it in this diocese, and in the time Of my predecessor. I have seen persons brought to him, who said that they were possessed ; but by the exor cism of a few bastinadoes properly applied, confessed the imposture, and declared that poverty had led them into it. In the province of Narbonne, and at the sepulchre of St Fermin, the same tricks were play ed, and falls and bruises were seen, and they who fell into these fits had marks of burning upon their limbs, as of sulphur ; at which the people being terrified brought large oblations to the church. But the bishop of Narbonne, who is still living, having ad vised with our predecessor, forbad this concourse at the church, and ordered all the oblations which were made in it to be distributed to the poor. Upon which the illusion ceased, and all was calm and quiet. Arming yourself therefore with sacerdotal zeal and severity, banish from the church this diabolical pro fanation, and exhort the people to stay quietly each in his own parish, and do his Christian duty there. And if any fall sick, let him follow the direction of St James, and send for the presbyters, to pray over him, and anoint him in the name of the Lord. We have reason to hope that when these alms and oblations are cut off, the pretended maladies will cease also, and these impostors be obliged to get their bread by other methods. If any of them prove stubborn and refrac tory, they must be compelled by corporal corrections to confess their guilt. And though it were true that by leaving those pla ces, they should be seized again with, a relapse, it would be evidently the operation of evil spirits ; and therefore they have the more reason to quit those pla ces, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 95 ces, and despise the terrors of the enemy, and implore the assistance of God in the usual manner. For we must not imagine that the saints who dwell with God are liable to envy and jealousy, and take it in dudgeon that other saints should cure distempered people who had once applied to the former. If there be any real daemoniacs amongst them, they should be treated, according to the usual practice of the church, by their friends and their curate, or be conducted to some churches of the martyrs, in a silent way, and without drawing the rabble after them *. Read The Enthusiasm qf the Papists and Methodists compared, a treatise of great use and importance ; and observe how the spirit of fanaticism and the spirit of knavery operate in the same manner in the ninth and in the eighteenth century. A. 845. The empress Theodora undertook to con vert the Paulicians or Manichseans of Armenia, or to extirpate them, if they refused to be converted. They had been persecuted, and many of them slain by some preceding emperors ; and the Emir of the Saracens had given them an habitation in Armenia. She sent soldiers against them, who slew an hundred thousand, and their goods were confiscated for the use of the emperor. The remainder of them joined with the E- mir, and thus the empress, far from extinguishing this heresy, caused it to spread,. itself wider, and furnished the Saracens with powerful succours against the Ro mans, as they were called, or Romanized Greeks. These Paulicians were accounted to be Manichcens : but they did not own the charge, and in several points they differed from the Manichseans, They had some notions * Fleury, x. 479. Du Pin, vii. 150. 96 REMARKS ON notions which have been since adopted by the Qua kers. Bossuet hath given an account of this sect; but, as Mosheim justly observes of him, neither did he consult originals, nor scruple to wrest and misrepre sent things, so that he is not at all to be regarded or trusted in points relating to heresy, orthodoxy, or ec clesiastical authority *. A. 854. The emperor Michael is represented by his torians as a complete libertine. He was plunged in debauchery, used to drive chariots himself in the cir cus, and to stand godfather to the children of chariot eers. He had about him a select band of buffoons. and profligates, whom he treated with great respect.. To turn religion into open ridicule, he made them wear the episcopal robes, and mimic the most sacred rites and ceremonies. One of them, whose name was Gryl- lus, was called patriarch of Constantinople, and. the rest were bishops of various sees, and he himself repre sented a bishop. They imitated the chants of the church upon guittars, playing forte, and then piano% to represent the priests, sometimes speaking softly, and then aloud. They had also golden vases, adora- ed with jewels, which they filled with vinegar ., and mustard, and gave it by way of communion. In this manner they made processions through the streets of Constantinople, and Gryllus rode on an ass, followed by the rest. One day they met the patriarch on a procession with the clergy ; and Gryllus, rejoicing at so favourable an opportunity, began to chant to the., guittar, and was accompanied by his crew, who ai-' tacked the patriarch with profane and opprobrious language. * Fleury, x. 435. xi. 362. Mosheim, p. 351, &c. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 97 language. At another time the emperOr Michael sent to his mother Theodora to come and receive the bene diction of the patriarch. She, imagining that it was Ignatius, came and prostrated herself with great re spect before him* to receive the blessing. But it Was Gryllus, wlio took care to conceal his face. He then brake wind backwards, and in a profane manner, said, Such as I have, give I unto thee. The empress, thus insulted, cursed the false patriarch and her son, and told the latter, that God, whom he despised, would certainly forsake him *. In the acts of the council of Soissons,bishops are; em powered to scourge and beat the peasants and vassals belonging to any of the nobles, when they deserved correction. Thus, says Fleury f, the prelates mixed temporal with spiritual jurisdiction. But they car ried their insolence much farther ; for about this time they began to claim the power of deposing kings; A. 855. Pope Joan is supposed to have succeeded Leo IV. Many are the authors who have discussed this litigated and obscure subject $. A. 859. " Charles le Chauve* Carolus Calvus* pre sented"^ request to the council of Savonieres, com plaining of the archbishop of Sens, who had deserted him. Yet he consecrated me, says the king, and pro mised never to depose me, or at least, not without the consent and concurrence of the prelates who assisted at my consecration ; to whose judgment I then sub mitted, and still submit myself. vol. in. G These * Fleury, x. s^S- T Ibid. 551. $6$. X See Mosheim, p. 325. Amoen. Liter, vol. i. and ix. Bibl- Univ. xxi, ^6. 98 REMARKS, ONj These words are remarkable in .the mouth of a. king; and we have found none, who taliped in. this mannerv at least, none in France, But. .thfiL. example of Louis, the Debonnaire., who had so often caused:, Mnrsebf, to. be crownediand re-instated by bishops,, and the. weal*- ness of. Charles at, that juncture, might induce , him to. use such language, 8?c*» ¦ ,4,'f Hinpmarj censuring the. writings of Joannes.Seotus,* says, He hatbi other errors against the .faith ; as that. the divinity is triple ; that .the ' ¦" ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 99 ftfttd' in whose time1 the grand schism of the Greeks and Latins, of the eastern and western churches began. A council' for1 the destruction: of Photius was 'assem bled at Constantinople* and lest any resolution should pass in fa vour; of him, the legates of the pope would suffer no one to enter in, unless he would previously subscribe to a full compliance tbthe will of the sove reign lord the' pope1. The number of the prelates not be ing Sufficient, because many refused to subscribe* they introd'ncbd into the assembly' some deputies from the Saraetens, who Were Mahometans, and pretended that they were deputed from the patriarchs of the east ; ahd when these venerable fathers signified the decrees of the- holy council, and the' deposition of Photius, they did hot make use of ink; but of the' blood of Jesus Christ, that is, of the consecrated wine. This is the council, which the Latins call the eighth oecumenical cbuncil"; but the Greeks will not allow it to be a council"'; and Photius treated these papal enterprises with supreme contempt, artd excommunicated those who excommunicated him ; and in the year 866^ he anathematized and deposed Pope Nicolas. He had the" honour to :be cursed and anathematized by seven popes, during his patriarchate, arid by four after his death ; and these maledictions have so alienated the spirit of the Greek from the Latin church, that al though four councils have been assembled to recon cile them, it hath been to no purpose. Pope John XXII. sent the Greeks a' letter to invite them to a re union, to which they returned him this answer, Ex ercise' ybur authority over your own creatures. As to us, < we can neither bear your pride, norsatisfy your g 2 avarice 100 REMARKS ON avarice.us *. So the devil be with you ; for God is witlji Photius, deposed, banished, imprisoned, and sicky Wrote elegant and pathetic letters to the emperor Ba silars* and to other persons, which you may see in Fleury. V " Photius was of an illustrious family, but of a ge nius even superior to his birth. He had wealth e- nough to enable him to purchase all sorts of books, and was indefatigable in the use of them, so that he became the most learned man, not only of his own time, but of the preceding ages. He understood grammar, poetry* rhetoric, philosophy, physic, and all profane sciences ; nor had he neglected the study of theology. His extracts from about three hundred an cient-authors are fair and judicious -f." " Photium, quo doctiorem forsan nusquam tulit inge- niorUmferax Grcecia, egregid commendant ingenium ad omnia natum$ judicium solidum, summum acumen, infinita . lectio, incredibilis diligentiai Omnia pene Reipublicce munia obierat, omnia Ecclesiastica monumenta pervestiga- rat ; in unica, quam habemus hodie, Bibliotheca 280 fere Scriptores, majorem partem Ecclesiasticos sistit, diligenter a se lectos, recensiios, excerpios^ deque eorum libris, ar guments, stylo, fide, et auctoritate^ accuratum, si quis- quam alius, judicium tulit J. ' " In this century many things befel the Greeks^ which tended to extinguish thejbye of letters and of knowledge. Hg^gverTSW&fte'I men they still had, and particularly at Constantinople ; which is to be ascrib ed to the liberality of the emperors* Of whom some were themselves learned, and to the_ patronage of * Philippus Cyprius, intheBibl. Univ. vii. 61. •j- Fleury. X Cave. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 101 their pontifs, amongst whom Photius stood highest in knowledge and abilities. There were therefore per sons to be found amongst them who excelled in com positions both of prose and of verse ; who shewed their skill in the art pf disputation, both against the Latins,, and other antagonists ; who wrote histories, by no means contemptible, of the transactions of their own times. The warm contentions which were then carried on between the Greeks and the Latiiis excited the former to join to the art of ratiocination, a copious and elegant style, and to improve those natural talents which else would have been lost in a slothful obscu rity.— Photius, a man of an high spirit and more learned than all the Latins, imprudently sowed the seeds of an eternal war between the eastern and the western churches. First, he claimed Bulgaria, as belonging, to the see of Constantinople, whilst Pope Nicolas as serted a jurisdictionoyer that country, and then, which was more to be lamented, and unworthy of so great a man, he turned his own private into a public cause, and sent a circular epistle to the eastern patriarchs, in which, with expressions of vehement acrimony, he charged the Roman bishops who had been sent to Bulgaria, and the whole Roman church, with corrupt ing the Christian religion, and with heresy. Full of wrath and resentment, he accused them of five prac tices, which in his opinion were most detestable ; first, that they kept a fast on Saturday, or the Sabbath- day, next, that they permitted the eating of milk and cheese in the first week of Lent ; thirdly, that they Condemned the marriage of the clergy ; fourthly, that they suffered only bishops to consecrate or confirm baptized persons with the chrism, or holy oil, and •6 5 anointed ,1-02 REMARKS. ON anointed agajn thqse swho had heen anointed by. th^e presbyters ; lastly, that they had adulterated the'Cqiy. §tant;nopolitan Creed, by adding the Word Filjoqm, and taught that the Holy Ghost proceeded ,npt frprp .the Father.alone, but from the -Son also*." " The social and the private life qf Christians, es pecially of the Latins, abounded^ with institutions de rived from the ancient iinpieties. For the barbarous .nations, whiqh had adopted .Christianity, could .nqt easily qiiit.the manners and the customs of thqir p^- gan ancestors, howsoever, opposite to the rules of tijyp gospel, and by their example drew the people amqngslfc whom they dwelt into the practice of the same follies,. An example of this may be seen in that noted method pf trying the, innocence qf accused persons by cold wa ter, by duel, by hot iron, by the cross, and by other methods frequently made use of amongst the Latins in this and in following ages. No man of s§nse in these days hath any doubt but that this process qf in vestigating the truth in dark and ambiguous cases is qf a barbarous original, fallacious, and altogether re pugnant to the spirit of Christianity. Yetthepppes and bishops of those days scrupled nqt to sarictjfy these superstitions by solemn prayer, and by the ad ministration of the Lord's supper, and so to give them a kind of religious appearance "j". A. 860. Rodplphus, Archbishop pf Bqurges, was the son qf a count, who got him into orders, bv giyr pg him an estate in the Limousin ; and this is the firsf instanpe * Mosheim. Concerning Photius, see Fleury, xi. 5. 226. 366. 385. &c. Cave, Proleg- p. xxxvi. -. nd ii. 1. 47. 79. Fabricius, Bibh Gr. Eaillet, Jug. d.es Sav. ii. 7. Mosheini, p. 320. 346, t Moshejm, p. 349. eccle'stastical history. 103 -instance wherein a temporal estate served for a title to qualify a candidate for orders *. ¦ A. '888. "yEneas, bishop of Paris, a'lid Ratram a French rilottk, wrote agalrist the Greeks concerning the 'prOCe'ssfoh bf the Holy Ghost, and in defence of theFil'ioqne. .,. At this time heretics in general were called Patarinii and violent quarrels, arose about investitures, or the right of patronage in the laity, which Gregory VIL. was resolved to take from them ; and this caused the war between the pope and the emperor Henry IV. and subsequent contests between the church and the state. " If I am not mistaken, the terrible contentions be tween the emperors and the popes about the inaugura tion of bishops and abbots would not have been car ried on with such bitterness, or have continued for so long a time* if men of a liberal education and a ge-» nerous mind" had presided Over the church. But for the space of fifty years the church was governed by a succession of five monks, men of an obscure and mean birth* of brutish manners, and incapable of compli- . ance, infected with the true spirit of monkery, that is, with an inflexible obstinacy. As soon as ever persona* of an ingenuous and enlarged mind ascended St Peter's throne, a different face of things appeared, and a fair \ prospect of peace |." A. 1076. Ariselm, afterwards archbishop Of Canter* , bury* drew up a demonstration Of the being of Godin the metaphysical way. His zeal for the see of Rome procured him the title of saint £. A. 1077. Lambertus, a German monk, was the best': writer * Cave, ii. 151. Fleury, xiii. 251. 334. 383. xiv. 48. Du Pin, viii; 31. Bibl. Dmv. ix. 2o."Bibl. A. & M. viii. where le Clerc hath gi ven us. his life. Bayle, Gregoire vii- Barbeyrac, Mor. des Peres, p. 118. t Mosheim, p. 458. J Fleury, xiii. 361- Rapin,i. 219. ; ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 131 writer at that time in the Christian world. He was author of a General History* of which Joseph Scaliger says ; Equidem miror in sceculo tarn barbaro tantam ho- minis et in loquendo puritatem, et in temporum putatione solertiamfuisse, ut Chronologis nostri temporis pudorem aliquem exprimere possit, si aliquem sensum harum rerum haberenti Barthius also calls him a writer, Quo scrip- tor nemo politius, inter Veteres, res Germanke Uteris commisit *. A. 1079- Hugo* Duke of Burgundy* an excellent ruler, embraced the monastic state. Gregory VII. was much displeased at it ; and in a letter to the abbot who had admitted him he says ; You have received a duke into your monastery, and you have deprived an hundred thousand Christians of a protector* and ex posed them to all kind of evils. We have plenty of good mOnks* and of good private persons ; but a great scarcity of good princes. The pope's judgment in this point was just and right, and ought to be celebra ted, as it is the Only good thing that can be said of him •]¦.¦ A. 1081. £ Alexius Comnenus was made emperor of Constantinople. His ingenious daughter Anna Comnena hath written his life, or his panegyric. He is grievously accused by the Latins of having betrayed and used them very ill in their expedition to the Holy Land. But in truth he had just reason to fear and to abhor such assisters and visiters, who had God in their mouth, and the devil in their heart, who were perfect ruffians, and the scum and filth ofthe western world,. I 2 and * See Cave, ii. 153. f See Fleury, xiii. 383. X See Cousin, Hist, de Const. Aiiertissement, T. iv. 132 REMARKS ON and in point Of moials and religion not one jot better than the infidels, and who afterwards, instead of fight ing the Mahometans, took Constantinople, and set up a Latin emperor. Anna Comnena mentions an artificial fire *, or the Ignis Grascus, which burned with great violence* and was used in war^ It was made, says she* of the gum of pines and of other trees that are ever-green, mixed with sulphur, and reduced to a powder. In the days of Alexins, there were heretics called Bogomili, and supposed to be a sort of Manicheeans. Their leader, called Basilius, was condemned to be burnt, and had declared the fire would1 not hurt him. The Greeks who carried him to execution, first took off his cloak, and flung it into the fire, to try whether it would prove incombustible. Whilst it was burning, the poor fanatic cried out* Do you not see that my cloak is untouched, and* carried away in the air ? Up on which they cast him also into the fire, where he was soon consumed to ashesf. - Bogomili fuerunt Ariani. — Eorum proeeipuus hypera- spiies Basilius Combust us dicitur ab Alexio Comneno Im- peratore, postquam quinquaginfa duobus annis praedicas- set non esse Trinitatem, et Christum fuisse Archangelms Michaelem.— -Alias etiam dictiHulgari^ seu Bulgares, vel more Gallic^ corrupte, Rugares ; et hodie G alli jocose ut- untur appellations Bougre, eo sensu quo Helvetii Raetser seu Gazari abutuntur — «Porro sicut Bulgari nomen cessit in abusum, ita et Boni Hominis appellaiio (Ariani enim in Gallia se Bonos Homines vocabant) hodie in. Gallia et Teutonia denotat Comutxitn,jbrfassis propter paiien- tiam horum temporum Hcereticorum J. A. 1084. * xii. 2. f Cousin, xv. 9- Fleury, xiv. 144, X Sandius, Hist. Eccl. p. 386.- ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3 33 A. 1084, The Carthusian Order, one of the most ri gid monastic institutions, was founded by St Bruno, a fanatic. It hath least of any degenerated from its prU mitive rigour, and it hath made its way in the world much slower than other orders. There are only a few Carthusian nunneries, and in those few there is a re laxation of some severities, particularly of a perpetual silence, which doubtless was too heavy an imposition upon the fair sex *. A. 1089, " A dispute of a subtle nature was stirred up in France by Roscelinus, canon of Compiegne, a considerable logician of those times, and the head of the sect of the Nominalists. He denied that it was possible to conceive h0w the Son of God could take upon' him the human nature, separately from the Fa ther and the Holy Ghost, unless' the three divine peiv sons were three things, or natures separately exist ing, like three angels, or three sptjIs; although these three divine existences had one power and one will. Being admonished that by affirming this, he made three Gods, he frankly replied, that if the expression might be permitted, it would be true to affirm that there were three Gods. He was compelled to retract this position, in a French Council'f. But the danger being blown over, he resumed it again ; for which he was banished. Taking refdge in England, he again caused new commotions, for he vehemently contended that the sons of priests, who were born out of lawful wedlock, ought by no means to be admitted into holy orders ; which in those days was a most odious doc* trine * Mosheim, p. 408. Fleury, xiii. 515. xiv. 3?.. ¦f A. 1092. 134 REMARKS ON trine. So being expelled from England, he returned to France, and living at Paris renewed the old quar rel. ; If I am not mistaken, this whole controversy took its rise from the violent contentions between the ReaU ists and the Noniir^alists. The former seem to have de duced this consequenee from the doctrines of the lat ter, amongst whom Rpscelinus was eminent. ; If, said they, according to you, universal substances are mere names, and the dialectic art hath for its object words alone, it will follow that the three Persons also in the Deity are in your opinion, not things, but names. Not so, said Roscelinus ; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not mere names, but belong to the class of things, or beings^ ox realities, But. our logician by a- voiding Scylla fell into Charybdis ; for his adversaries from his concessions concluded that he had adopted Tritheism *. Difficult indeed it was both for Rosce-* linus and for his antagonists to steer between Trither ism and Sabellianism. " The popes would not suffer those of their? com munity to use anytongue but the Latin in their pub lic service. Whilst the Latin language prevailed a- mongst all the nations of the West, pr was unknown qnly to a few, there was no considerable reason why it should nqt have been kept up in the religious assemt blies qf Christians. But when the language, together with the dominion of the Romans, declined by de grees, and at last was quite lost, it was' just and fit that every nation should make use of its own in cele-, brating divine service. Yet this favour could not be obtained from the popes in this and the following ages * Mosheim, p. 439. Fleury, xiii. 552. Cave, ii. 178. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 135 ages, and the Latin ritual was obtruded upon the com mon people, who understood it-not. Various causes for this perverse behaviour have been assigned by va rious persons, and some of their conjectures seem to be too refined and farfetched. The principal reason was undoubtedly a superstitious respect for antiquity. From the same motive the Eastern Christians fell inT to the same fault, of whom the Egyptians in their re ligious service retain the old Coptic, the Jacobites and Nestorians, the Syriac, and the Abyssines the Ethio- pic language, although they be quite obsolete and un intelligible to the vulgar *. " The Manichaeans or Paulicians, who dwelt in Bulgaria and Thrace, were persecuted by the Greeks. They spread themselves in Italy, and in other parts of Europe ; and then the popes waged war with them. They were called Paterini, Cathari, Albigenses, Bulga ria Boni Homines, &c. Some of them were burnt for their heresy ; but many of them seem to have adoptr ed very little of the Manichsean system. The Manichseans of Orleans were mystics, who de spised the external worship of God, allowed no effica cy to rites and ceremonies, or even to the sacraments, accounted true religion to consist in contemplation, or in elevating the mind to God and to divine things, and philosophized concerning the Deity and the three persons in God with too much refinement, and with more subtilty than that age would admit. These re finers, who arose in Italy, in subsequent times were diffused through Europe, and, in Germany, were cal led 14 f Mosheim, p. 434. 136 REMARKS ON led Fratres liberi spiritus, free-thinkers, and in other- provinces Beghardi *." A custom was introduced for the priests in the La tin church to pronounce the words of consecration in the Eucharist in so low a voice, that none of the con? gregation shpuld hear them. The council of Trent hath anathematized all thpse who presume to condemn this stupid and ridiculous practice ; Si quis dixerit Ec7 clesice Romance ritum, quo suhmissa voce verba consecra? tionis proferuntur, damnaydum esse, Anathema sit f. In tins century began tjie Croisades^ attempted by Gregory VII. carried into execution, at the instiga tion of Peter the Hermit, by Urban II, in the year JQ95. In the following year eight hundred thousand men went forth on this pious expedition. '* The prin cipal motive which excited Urban and other pontifs to wage this holy war, arose in my ppiniqn from the superstitious ignorance pf the times and the corrupted State qf religion. It was thought a disgrace to Chris tianity tq suffer a lane], consecrated by the footsteps and the blqod of Jesus Christ, to be left in the posses^ sion of his enemies.; and pilgrimages to holy place? were Recounted meritorious acts of devotion ; though at the same time the Mahometan possessqrs qf Palas-r tine had reason enough tq be alarmed at them. To this mptive for a, Croisade was addefl a dread lest the Turcomans, who had already conquered a "great part pf the Greek empire, should pass oyer into Europe and invade Italy. There are learned men who think that the pope stirred up this war with a view to increase hjs pvyn authority, anid, to weaken the power of the Latjn f Mosheim, p- 437, t Dallaeus, De Cult. Lot. p. 1021— jojq. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 137 Latin emperors and kings; and that, the European princes concurred with him, hoping to send away the most powerful and warlike of their subjects, and to strip them of their lands and riches, These are inge-r nious conjectures, but they are no more than conjec tures. As soon indeed as the pontifs, kings, and princes learned by experience what great profits ac crued to them from these wars, the desire of acquir-r ing power and wealth were new inducements added to the former. Yet from these wars, whether just or unjust, innu merable evils of every kind ensued, both in church and state, the remains of which are still felt. Europe was deprived of the greatest part pf her inhabitants, an immense quantity of money .was carried away, to remote regions, and many illustrious and wealthy fa milies either perished entirely, or were reduced to ob scurity and beggary ; for the heads of such houses had pawned or sold their estates, to support them selves with necessaries for their journey. Other lords imposed intolerable taxes on their subjects or vassals, who being terrified by such exactions, choso rather to leave their farms and houses, and join in the croisade. Hence arose the utmost confusion and disorder through all Europe. I pass oyer the pillages, mur ders and massacres committed in all places with im punity by these pious soldiers of God and of Jesus Christ, as they were called, as also new and pernici ous rights and privileges to which these wars gave rise and occasion. Nor did Christianity suffer less than the state from these miserable wars. The Roman pontif gained a vast accession of power and dignity . The wealth of churches and monasteries was many ways consider ably 138 REMARKS ON ably encreased. The priests and monks, whilst their bishops and abbots were gone into Asia, led lawless and scandalous lives, and indulged themselves in all sorts of vices, without controul. Superstition, which was excessive before, became still more prevalent amongst the Latins : for the catalogue of tutelar saints, already very numerous, was augmented with a crew of eastern saints, unknown before in the wes tern world, and some of them unknown even at home. An amazing cargo of reliques was also imported ; for all who returned from Asia, came loaded with this sort of trash, bought at a great price of cheating and lying Greeks and Syrians, and either presented them to churches and religious places, or laid them up in their own houses, to be preserved there as an invalu-r able treasure *," " The ecclesiastics pf the Latin church were at this time corrupted to the last degree ; those of the Greek church were not quite so bad, because the distresses and calamities of their empire checked them in some measure, and stifled those enormities which plenty and ease and laziness produce in Undisposed minds. The monks of the west, most ignorant and profli gate wretches, had great power and wealth, and were leagued in strict union with tlie popes, and exempted in a great measure from all other superior jurisdiction. — Some attempts however were made to restore litera ture, which had sunk so lpw in the preceding cen tury f." Matthew Paris says of the clergy of those days ; Adeo literatura carebant, ut cceteris stupori esset qui Grammaticam didicisset. Froni * Mosheim, p. 383. Fleury, xiii. 615. xiv.' 47. f Mosheim, p. 394. 414. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 139 - From the days of Gregory VII. we find in some yegions of Europe, particularly in Italy and France, manifest indications of those persons who by the pro- testants are called zoitnesses of the truth, namely of se rious and pious people who deplored the corrupted state of religion, and the vices of the whole ecclesias tical order, who opposed the exorbitant claims of the pope and of the prelates, and who, some openly and some secretly, attempted to bring on a reformation. For how rude soever and illiterate and ignorant of re vealed truths the age might be, yet those few frag ments of the gospel which were proposed to the mul titude were sufficient to inform the lowest of the vul gar that the religion commonly received was not the religion of Jesus Christ, and that he required quite other things from his followers than the pope's bishops and priests either taught or practised, that they made a vile use of their power and revenues, and lastly, that the favour and blessing of God was not to be obtain ed by empty ceremonies, by liberal oblations to tem ples and priests, by building and endowing monaste ries ; but by purity of heart and an upright behaviour. . But they who thus undertook the arduous task of healing the distempers of the church were frequently unequal to the attempt, and by shunning one fault fell into another. They all discerned the corrupted state of the religion commonly received, but none or very few of them were acquainted with the true na ture and spirit of the gospel ; which will not seem strange to those who duly consider the infelicity of the times. Therefore with some opinions which were jlght, they often mixed many which were erroneous^ Plainly perceiving that most of the enormous crimes of the priests and bishops arose from a superfluity of wealth, |40 REMARKS ON wealth, they thought that the church could hardly be too necessitous, and accounted a voluntary poveri ty to be the principal virtue of a pious teacher. They all held the primitive church to be an eternal pattern which the christian world was obliged strictly to fol low, and the conduct and condition of the apostles to be an invariable rule for the Clergy, Many of tlient being grieved to see the people place their hopes of salvation in certain ceremonies and in outward rites, inculcated the Opposite notion, that true religion was only that of the mind, and consisted in a contempla? tion on divine things, and despised and rejected all external worship, temples, religious assemblies, doc* tors, and sacraments *.— ^Certain it is that if too mnch plenty hath a tendency to make the clergy vi cious, extreme want will make them contemptible. Berengarius, Lanfrancus, and Anselmus gave rise to the scholastic theology, by applying logic and phi losophy to divinity ; and systems or bodies of divini ty were now first drawn up. Nor were the mystical divines unemployed in their way f. The contentions were warm between the Latins and the Greeks, fomented by the popes and by the patriarchs of Constantinople, the first wanting to be supreme, the latter wanting to be independent. " The Greek emperor, Constantinus Monomachus, desiring to pacify this quarrel at its rise, entreated the Roman pontif to send legates to Constantinople, to treat about terms of a reunion. The pope sent three legates, and gave them letters to the emperpr and to the Greek patriarch. But the event of this ^mibassy was extremely unfortunate, although the emperor, for political causes, was more disposed to favour f Mosheim, p. 422, f Ibid, p 423. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. lit favour the Latins. than the Greeks. For the letters of Leo IX. full of pride and arrogance, alienated the mind of the patriarch Cerularius, and the legates themselves plainly shewed by many instances that their errand was not to restore concord* but to bring the Greek under an absolute subjection to the Ro man church. Thus all attempts to bring about a pa cification being dropped, the Roman legates proceed ed to an action than which nothing could be more unseasonable, imprudent, and impudent. They open* ly, in the temple of St Sophia *, anathematized the patriarch, with Leo Acridanus, and all his adherents, and having laid a copy of this solemn execration upon the principal altar, they shook the dust off from their feet, and departed. By this. abominable procedure all hopes of a reconciliation were lost, and the schism became incurable. The Greek patriarch returned the affront, and in a council condemned the legates, and all who took their part, declared them unworthy of Christian communion, and by the emperor's order caused the copy of the excommunication which the. legates had laid upon the altar to be pablicly burnt. Then followed a literary war, and writings on both sides full of insult and contumely, which furnished new fuel toikeep up the fire f ." ; ^Berengarius wrote against the corporeal presence of Christ in the sacrament, and held only the spiritual eating and drinking ©f him. He seems- to have had the same opinion which was afterwards that of Cal vin. For. this he was persecuted, excommunicated, condemned, ami compelled to recant : but it is thought that he never quitted his first opinion.. The. audacious and insolent Pope Gregory VII. was 'much inclined * A, 'io-jj4. f Mosheim, p. 425. iii REMARKS ON inclined to favour and protect him. Lanfranc, after wards archbishop of Canterbury, wrote in defence of transubstarttiation against him ; and so did Guimond *.< In ancient times the name Papa; Pope, was given to all bishops, and it is only since Gregory VII. that it hath been appropriated to the bishop of Rome. A, 1090, Ildebert, bishop of Mans,- accused of high treason by William Rufus king of England* offered to undergo the trial by fire, but was dissuaded by Ivo bishop of Chartres, such an action being contrary to the canons, Yet Pope Eugenius IL not only approv-f ed but introduced the trial by cold water. They used also to say mass over a cake of unleavened barley bread, and a piece of cheese made of sheep's milk, to discover those who were accused of theft* It was believed that when mass was said over them, the cake which was laid upon the altar would turn round of itself, if the person was guilty, and he would not be able to swallow the bread and cheese ; and from this custom* as Du Cange thinks, arose an imprecation still common amongst the vulgar ; May this morsel' ¦ choke me.; — —Menage hath given us the mass which was said on this occasion, and shews to what lengths superstition was carried in those ages of darkness.; There was also an exorcism used* to drive the de* vil out of the bread and, cheese* lest he should hinder the effect of the conjuration ; and two prayers, to be seech God that the mouth of the thief might swell, and that he might foam and cry, and that the morsel might * Mosheim, p. 428, Fleury, xii. 577. xiii. 70- Cave.ii. 130: Bibl Univ. ix. 10. 28. Du Pin, T. viii. P. ii. p. 6. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. f43 might not pass through his throat, till he owned him self guilty, &c *. A. 1094. Saint Nicolas called Peregrinus was fa mous in Apulia. He was a Greek, born in Attica. His parents were poor, and he had not learned to read, or been bred to any trade. When he was eight years of age, his mother sent him out to take care of the sheep. From that time he began to sing aloud, Kyrie eleison, which he did night and day ; and this act of devo tion he performed all his life long. His mother not being able to leave it off, thought that he was pos sessed of the devil, and carried him to a neighbouring monastery, where the monks shut him up and chas tised him, but could not hinder him from singing his Song. He suffered punishment patiently, and imme diately began again. Returning to his mother, he took a hatchet and a knife, and clambering up a mountain, he cut branches of cedar, and made crosses of them, which he stuck up in the high ways, and in places inaccessible, praising God continually. Upon this mountain he built himself a little hut, and dwelt there some time all alone, working perpetually. Then he went to Lqoanto, where a monk joined himself to him, and never forsook him. They passed into Italy, where Nicolas was taken sometimes for an holy man, and sometimes for a madman. He fasted every day till evening ; his food was a little bread and water, and yet he did not grow lean. The nights he usually passed in prayer, standing upright. He wore only a short vest, reaching to his knees, his head, legs and feet being naked. In his hand he carried a light wooden cross, and a script at his side, to receive the alms * Bibl. Univ. v. 402- 144 REMARKS ON alms which were given him, and which he usually laid out in fruit, to distribute to the boys who went about with him, singing along with him Kyrie ele'isom His odities caused him to be ill used sometimes, even by the orders of the bishops. He performed various miracles, and exhorted the people to repentance* At last falling sick* and visited by multitudes who came to beg his blessing* he died, and was buried in a ca thedral with great solemnity ; and according to cus*- torn, a great number of miracles was wrought at his tomb *, It was still the custom at this time to receive the sacrament, in both kinds fi A. 1096. The Croisez* or pious pilgrims* set Put in vast numbers for the holy war* All were not. ani mated with the same sort of zeaL Some went, be* cause they would not leave their friends and compa nions ; some* who were military men, because they would not pass for poltroons ; some through levity and the love of rambling ; some who were deeply in debt, that they might escape from their creditors. Many monks flung off the frock, and took up arms* and an army of women accompanied them, dressed like men* and carrying on the trade of prostitutes* Not long after* a second host set forth, in number two hundred thousand* without a commander, and without discipline. These pilgrims resolved to fall upon the Jews* wheresoever they found them, and to destroy them, They did so, particularly at Cologn, and at Mentz. At Spire, the Jews fled to the. royal palace, and there defended themselves, being assisted by the bishop, who afterwards put some Christians to death * Fleury, xiii. 586. f Ibid- 61 r. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 145 death upon that account. At Worms, the Jews pur sued by the Christians* repaired to the bishop, who refused to protect them, unless they would receive baptism. They desired some time to consider of it ; and entering into an apartment in the bishop's house, whilst the Christians staid without, in expectation of their answer, they all slew themselvesj The Jews at Treves saw the Croisez coming upon them. Some of them took their own children and stabbed them* saying that it was better to send them thus to Abraham's bosom, than to expose them to the cruelty of the Christians; Some of their women fled to the river* and loading themselves With stones leap^ ed into the water; Others, taking their goods and their children, retired to the palace, which was a sanctuary, and the habitation of the archbishop Egil- bert : with tears they besought his protection ; and he laying hold On the occasion, exhorted them to be converted, promising them safety, if they would re ceive baptism. Their Rabbin* Micaiah* prayed the archbishop to instruct them in the elements of the Christian faith. The bishop did so ; and then both the Rabbin and the rest of them professed Christiani ty, and were" baptized by the bishop and by his cler gy. But Micaiah alone persevered in his profession : the rest apostatized a year afterwards *, A. 1097- The emperor Alexis was terrified at this inundation of Franks, and thought that their design was to seize on his dominions. He therefore treated their leaders with much respect, but was resolved to do them all the hurt that he could. And, to say the truth, they gave him too much cause for it. Their vol. iii. k troops, * Fleury, xiii. 634. 146 REMARKS ON troops, encamped near Constantinople* demolished all the best houses in the country, and unroofed the churches, and sold the lead, that covered them to the Greeks themselves. They acted no better in Asia, pillaging and burning houses and churches *. A. 1093. The Croisez took Antioch, and one of their ecclesiastics found there, by revelation as he pretended, the spear with which Christ was pierced. Sometime after, some of the Croisez called the ge nuineness of the spear in question ; and a dispute a- rising, Peter Bartholomew, forhe was thefinder, offered to justify himself by the fiery trial. A large fire was made* and he holding the spear in his hand passed through it unhurt, as it was thought. But though lie had been in good health before, he died a few days af ter. Thus the credit, of this holy relique remained dubious f. A. 1099. The Croisez took Jerusalem by storm, and massacred all the Infidels that they found there, in number about twenty thousand. Immediately af ter this inhuman and bloody work, they repaired,, to the holy sepulchre with most astonishing zeal and de votion %. A Discourse on the Ecclesiastical History from iheyear 600 to the year 1 ] 00. By Fleury. " The fair days of the Church are passed away: but God hath not rejected his people, nor forgotten his promises. Let us view with a religious fear the temptations with which he permitted his church to be exercised * Fleury, xiii. 644. f Fleury, xiii. 664.. J Fleury, xiii. 686. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. I-i? exercised durinp: the five ap-es which followed the six firsthand let us consider with gratitude the methods which his Providence made use of to support it. They are subjects worthy of our attention. Rome Pagan sported with so many crimes, and drunk with the blood of so many martyrs, was to be punished, and the divine vengeance Was to be ma nifested upon her in the sight of all nations. — Accor dingly in due time Rome ceased to be the capital of^ the empire, when Constantine had transferred the seat of power to Byzantium ; and after the division of the empire, the emperors of the west resided at Ra venna, at Milan* and in any place, except Rome. Thus she lost by degrees her splendor, her riches, her numbers. We have seen the deplorable representa tion of her condition* as made by St Gregory. Yet. was she taken and pillaged by the barbarians, who ravaged and ruined the western empire. This inun dation of Barbarians I count for the first external temptation befalling the Church, since the persecu tions of the Pagan emperors. For these savages* in the beginning of their irruptions, filled all places with -slaughter, burned whole cities, massacred the inha bitants, or led them- away captives, and spread terror and desolation all around them. The most cruel per secutions under Rome Pagan were neither continual nor universal. The Pagans had the same language with their- countrymen the Christians i, they often listened to the doctrines of the" Christians, and were daily Converted. But where no rational creatures are to be found, there are no, churches ; and how was it ^possible to instruct and convert brutish ruffians, ai rways in. arms, always plundering, and. speaking a strange language ? Moreover, the Barbarians* who ruined the Roman k 2 empire, 148 - REMARKS ON empire, were either Pagans or Heretics ; so that af ter their first fury was somewhat allayed, and they were so far ^humanized as to converse with those whom they had invaded, they still detested the Ro mans, on account of the diversity of religion. You have seen the cruel persecutions carried on by the Vandals in Afric * These Barbarians, it is true* became Orthodox Christians, some sooner, some later ; in whose con version God shewed forth his mercy, as in the pu nishment of the Romans he had signalized his justice. But these barbarians, by becoming Christians, did not totally quit their former manners. They still remain^ ed for the most part fickle, changeable* violent, im petuous, acting more by passion than by reason. You may have observed what sort of Christians were Clo vis* and his children. These people continued des- pisers of arts and literature, busied only in hunting, or in fighting. Thence ensued gross ignorance even amongst their Rqman subjects; for the manners of the ruling nation will always predominate ; and studies languish, unless supported by honours and emolu ments. We see the declension of literature in Gaul* from the end of the sixth century, and about an hundred years after the establishment of the Franks. We have a sensible example of it in Gregory of Tours, who owns that he had not much applied himself to gram mar and humanities, And if he had not said it, he shews it sufficiently by his performances. Yet the least of his defects in his writings is that of style. There is in them neither choice nor method. It is a confused jumble of ecclesiastical and secular history; facts of no importance, accompanied with frivolous;" circumstances ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 149 circumstances unworthy to find a place in serious his tory, together with an excessive Credulity about mi racles. These defects I ascribe rather to a bad edu cation than to a bad disposition : else we must sup pose that for many ages together there was not a man born who had naturally good sense and sound judg ment. But the best dispositions easily follow the prer judices of education, and of vulgar opinions, when men have not cultivated the art of reasoning, and co pied after good models. Learned studies did not en tirely sink with the Roman empire : religion preserv ed them ; but the only students were ecclesiastics, and their studies were extremely imperfect. I speak of human sciences ; for as to the doctrines of religion, in those they followed the certain authority of scrip ture and tradition. Pope Agatho testifies it in a let ter which he transmitted by his two legates to the sixth council. We send them not to you, says he, for any reliance that we place in their abilities and e- rudition. For how should perfect science be found amongst people who live surrounded with barbarians, and with Jabour earn their bread by the work of their hands ? Only with pious simplicity of heart we preserve the faith which our ancestors have transmit ted to us. In the following ages, the most enlightened men, as Bede, Alcuin, Hincmar, Gerbert, felt the conta gion of the times. Endeavouring to embrace the whole circle of sciences, they mastered none, and knew nothing exactly. What they most wanted was critical skill to distinguish false from genuine tracts. For even then many works were fabricated, and as cribed to illustrious names, not only by heretics, but by Catholics, and Avith an honest intention. Thus k 3 Vigilius 15Q . REMARKS ON Vigilius of Thapsus owns himself that he borrowef the name of St Athanasius, with a view to obtain an hearing from the Arian Vandals. In like manner; Avhen they had not the acts of a martyr tq read pub-* licly on his holy day, they composed acts the most probable, or rather the most marvellous that they could devise ; and by these means they thought they could best keep up the piety of the commpn people. These false legends were principally composed on oc* casions of the translations of reliques, so frequent in the ninth century. They also made deeds and records* either to supply the place of true ones which were lost, or absolutely fictitious ; as the famous Donation of Constantine, which was received without the least doubt in Fraiice, in the ninth century. But of all the spurious pieces, the most pernicious were the Deere* tals ascribed to the popes of the four first centuries, which have given an incurable wound to ecclesiastical discipline, by the introduction of new maxims con'-* cerning the judgments of bishops, and the authority of the pope, Hincmar, though a considerable canon ist, could never clear up this point. He knew well that these decretals were unknown cq the preceding ages, and it is he who informs us when they first made their appearance : but he was not critic enough to discern the proofs of the forgery, plain and strong as they were : and he himself cites the Decretals, when they favour him. Another effect of ignorance is to make men credul-. ous and superstitious, for want of certain principles of belief, and an exact knowledge of the duties of reli gion. God is omnipotent, and his Saints have great prevalence with him. These are truths which noCa- ' tholic ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 151 tholic will contest. Therefore I ought to believe all the miracles which are ascribed to the intercession of saints. This inference is not just. The proofs of these miracles must be examined ; and so much the more ac curately, as the facts are more incredible and import ant. For to attest a false miracle is no less than what St Paul calls bearing false witness against God, as Damianus judiciously remarks,. So far therefore is piety from inducing us lightly to give credit to them, that it obligeth us to sift them with the utmost jrigour. The same holds true as to revelations, appa ritions of spirits, operations of the devil by the mini stry of sorcerers, or otherways ; in a word, all superr natural facts. Every sensible and religious person ought to be extremely reserved in giving credit to them. And for this cause I have mentioned very few out, of innumerable miracles related by the writers of these darker ages. It hath appeared to me that amongst them the taste for the marvellous was far more predo minant than the love of truth ; and I would not war rant that sometimes there were not at the bottom cer- tain self-interested motives, either to attract profita^ ble oblations from the belief of miraculous cures, or to secure the goods of the church by spreading the fear of divine judgments. To these purposes tend most of the stories related in the Collections of the miracles of St Martin, St Benedict, and other famous saints. As if they who became saints by despising riches upon earth, were become fond of them after they were in heaven, and employed their credit with God to re venge themselves on those who plundered the trea sures of their churches ! I can discern the pernicious mptive which induced them so zealously to support such 152 REMARKS ON such pretended miracles. They thought to restrain at least by the fear of temporal judgments those who were little moved by the dread of future punishments. But they did not perceive that this was introducing a dangerous error, by reasoning upon a false princi ple, that God usually punisheth the wicked in this life. This was, to bring the gospel baok to the state oftheoldlaw, wherein the promises, and threaten- ings were of the temporal kind ; this was, to expose the authority of religion to contempt by grounding these menaces upon it, since they Avere often confuted by experience, and the usurpers of the revenues of the church might be seen every day enjoying impunity, and passing their lives in health and prosperity. And indeed this was not the doctrine of more ert- lightened|Antiquity, and St Augustin hath solidly proved the contrary, &c. This doctrine (of the promiscuous and unequal dis tribution of good and evil in the present state) seems to have been quite forgotten, when the bishops and popes so audaciously employed temporal promises to engage princes to protect them ; as amongst others, Pope Stephen did, when he wrote a letter to the French king, in the name of St Peter. These promises and menaces may for a season impose upon the ignorant ; but when they are plainly seen to be void of effect, as it most usually happens, they are only fit to scandal ize men, and to weaken their faith, by inducing them to doubt also concerning the promises and threaten- ings relating to the life to come. Yet this old pre judice and illusion hath continued even in these later ages; and I can never sufficiently wonder that so knowing a man as Baronius should insist so much up on the evils which have befallen the enemies ' of the church, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 153 church, especially of the holy see, and represent them constantly as divine judgments, and on the other hand, set forth the prosperity of pious princes as sure proof's that they were maintainers of a good cause. And yet the plain truth of history often compels us to have recourse to the mysterious depths of the divine Pro- Aridence, in the misfortunes which have been the por tion of the most zealous catholics ; and the cardinal doth not discern that a proof which is not alw ays con clusive, is never conclusive, I return to the effects of ignorance and excessive credulity. Under this head we must place an easi ness to receive reliques ; the examination of which re quires, in due proportion, judiciousness and precau tion, as well as of miracles. Certain it is, that, in ge neral, the reliques of the saints deserve to be honour ed ; and this appears in the practice of the earliest a- ges of the church, in the most authentic acts of the martyrs, and in the writings of the fathers, Remem ber, amongst other instances, what St Augustin says concerning the reliques of St Stephen, and the mira cles wrought by them. But he also testifies that even then, in his time, false reliques were obtruded ; and it is no easy matter always to distinguish false from true ones. Never would there, have been any deception in the case, if the wise precaution had always obtain ed, not to touch the graves of the saints, but to leave their bodies entire, and deep under ground, as are still at Rome the bodies of the holy apostles. You have seen with what firmness St Gregory refused to oblio-e tlie empress with the head of St Paul. It was thought sufficient to send, by way of reliques, some pieces of linen, or of tapestry, which had cover ed them or their altars. 154 REMARKS ON It was in the east that the practice began of seV parating and sending about reliques ; and this gave occasion to impostures. For, to be satisfied of the genuineness of these remains, it would have been ne* cessary to trace them exactly up to the beginning* and to know through what hands they had passed:; which at the first might not be so difficult. But after many ages, it was more easy to impose not. only on the common people, but on the bishops also, who were grown less enlightened and less attentive. And after it was established, as a rule, to consecrate no. churches or altars without reliques, the want of them proved a strong temptation not to be over-curious in examining them : and then afterwards the profit gained by attracting offerings and pilgrimages, which enriched the churches and the cities, proved a temp tation of the grosser and meaner kind. I pretend not by these general reflections to raise suspicions . of any particular relique. I know that there are many assured ones, as those of the patron-saints of the cities in which they died, and which have been honoured ever since, as at Paris, St Denis, St Marcel, and St Genevieve. For though they were removed in the time of the Norman ravages, they were never lost out of sight. For the rest, I leave the examina* tion of them to the prudence of each bishop ; and I only add, that this examination should be more rigid^ with relation to those which, after having lain con cealed for many ages, made their first appearance in ignorant times ; or which are pretended to have been brought from very remote regions, and preserved no one can tell how, and by whom. Yet I believe that God, who knoweth the heart, accepts the devotionof those who, having no other intention than to honour him ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 155 him in his saints, revere with a good disposition re liques which for many ages have been held forth to public veneration. We must then distinguish what is of faith, namely, the utility of the intercession of saints, and of the veneration of reliques, from the abuses which ignorance and human passions have grafted upon it, not only erring in matters of fact, and honouring false reliques for true ones, but laying too great a stress on the true ones, and considering them as infallible in struments to draw down on individuals and on whole pities all kind of benedictions, temporal and spiritual. If we had those very saints living and conversing with us, their presence surely could not be more advan tageous than the presence of Jesus Christ himself. Now he expressly declares in the Gospel ; Ye shall say to the master of the family, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. And he shall say to you, I know you not. The use of reliques is to remind us of the saints, and to think pf their virtues ; else the presence of the reliques and pf the holy places will no more save us than they saved the Jews, who are reproached by the prophet for confiding in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, without amending their manners, :' Pilgrimages were the consequence of the venera tion of holy places and of reliques, especially before the translation of reliques began. They were more easily performed under the Roman emperors, by the constant commerce between the provinces ; yet they continued to be extremely frequent under the governs ment of barbarians, and after- the erection of new king doms. I am of opinion, that the manners of those people contributed to it ; for being occupied only in fmnting and fighting, they were ever in motion. And 155 REMARKS ON And thus pilgrimages became the universal devotion of subjects, kings, clergy, bishops and monks. I will be bold to say that this was a very small appendage to the essentials of religion, when a bishop left his diocese for whole years, to ramble from the extremi ties of France or England to Rome or Jerusalem ; when abbots and monks quitted their retirement ; when women, and even nuns, exposed themselves to the perils which attend long voyages. You have seen by the complaints of St Bonifacius the deplorable con sequences ; and doubtless there was more to be lost than to be gained by it ; and I look upon these indis creet pilgrimages as on one of the sources of the re laxation of discipline. Indeed they were complained of as such from the beginning of the ninth century. But it was the discipline of penance which suffered most by them. Before this, they used to shut up the penitents in deaconries, and other places near the church, to remain there in silence and recollection, remote from occasions of relapsing. You have seen this in the Sacramentary ascribed to Gelasius, and ih a Tetter of Gregory III.' But from the eighth century a contrary system was introduced, and notorious sin ners were ordered to go into banishment, and lead a vagabond life like Cain. The abuses of this rambling penance soon appeared, and it was forbidden to suffer such frightful fellows as under this pretence used to roam about the world, naked and loaded with irons. Yet it remained a common practice to impose by Way of penance some famous pilgrimage; and this gav&, rise to the Croisades. . .- ..j..: The abuse of the veneration of reliques deo-e^ nerates into superstition, of which the ignorance of the middle ages produced enormous examples •, as-that sort ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. \SJ sort of divination called the lots of the saints, of which Gregory of Tours produces so many examples, and that with a solemn seriousness to induce us to think that he really believed in them. Such were the proofs called the judgment of God by water, by fire, and by single combat, which Agobard vehement ly condemned, but which Hincmar justified, and which for a long time continued in vogue. Such was astrology, an object of common belief, especially as to the effects of eclipses and comets. These supersti tions at the bottom were remains of paganism, as were some other, and still more criminal, which stand condemned in the counsels of those times. In general, the worst effect of vain studies is a fancy that we know*- what we know not ; and this is still worse than mere iorno- ranee* since it is adding to it error and often presumption . Hitherto we have only spoken of the west : but the eastern church had also its temptations. The Greek empire* though not totally destroyed, was reduced to very narrow bounds, on the one side by the conquests of the Arabian Mahometans, on the other by those of the Scythians, Bulgarians, and Russians. The two latter received Christianity, and their domination pro duced! much the same effects as that of other barba rians in the north. But the Musulmans pretended to convert others, and to justify their conquests by a zeal to establish their own religion all over the earth. It is true, they tolerated the Christians ; but they employed all possible means tq pervert them, except open persecution ; and herein they were more dan gerous than the pagans. Moreover their religion had in it something that was plausible. They preached up the unity of God ; they abhorred idolatry ; they imitated Christian practices, as prayer at stated hours, a 15S REMARKS ON a month's fast, and solemn pilgrimages. Their in-* diligence of a plurality of wives and concubines was an allurement to sensual minds. They employed, a- niongst other things,- an artifice extremely perniciou's to Christianity. Syria abounded with Nestorians, and Egypt with Eutychians, who were, the one and the other, enemies to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and to the emperors, whom they accounted their per secutors. The Mahometans made their advantage of this discord, protecting the Heretics, and' depressing the Catholics, whom they suspected^ on account of their attachment to the emperors of Constantinople, and who thence had the name Of Melchites, that is to say, Royalists, in the Arabian language. Hence it is that these old heresies subsist even to this day, and that the eastern Christians have bishops and patriarchs, of these different sects, Melchites, Nestorians, and Jacobites, or Eutychians. By these various ways, the Mahometans, without totally extinguishing Christianity, greatly diminished the number of true Christians, and reduced them to gross ignorance by a servitude which deprived them of the heart and the means to prosecute any learned studies. The change of language contributed to the same end. The Arabian, which was the language of the rulers, became that of all the east, and is so still. The Greek Avas preserved only by the Christian reli gion, and that only amongst the Melchites : for the Nestorians had their divine service in Syriac, and^the Jacobites in Coptic, or the old Egyptian. And thus, the old sacred and profane books being in Greek, it was necessary either to have them translated, or to learn Greek, which made erudition difficult to be ac quired. Hence it came to pass that immediately after ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 159 ter the conquests of the Musulmans we lose sight of those ancient churches of Egypt, Palaestine, and Sy ria, once so flourishing, and that for want of writers. I have not been able to trace out their Successions, as in the foregoing ages. The history of Eutychius, pa triarch of Alexandria, is a proof of my assertion. Though a Melchite, he wrote it in Arabic, and it is full of so many fables and inaccuracies, even in„the transactions of his own times, that it shews the low ebb of literature amongst the poor Christians. , It de creased considerably even amongst the Greeks, whe ther by their commerce with their barbarous neigh bours, or by the government of Emperors as ignorant and brutish as were the ^nations from which they sprang, as Leo Isaurus, and his son Copronymus, and Leo the Armenian. The heresy, of the Iconoclasts, iwfeich these Princes supported with such violence, pro ceeded from gross ignorance, which caused them to look upon the worship of images as upon idolatry, and to be influenced by the reproaches of the Jews and the Mahometans. They considered not that this worship had been received in the church by an im memorial tradition, and that the church cannot err ; which is the grand proof made use of by the fathers •of the seventh council. ¦But the acts of this same council are an evident proof of the declension of literature, by the great num ber of dubious, not to say fabulous histories and sus picious records which are cited in them, and which shew that the Greeks were no better critics than the Latins ; which yet makes nothing to the material part of the question, because they produce authentic evi dence of the worship paid to images, and found their decLsions upon, the infallibility of the church. Ano ther 160 REMARKS ON ther notorious example of the want of critical skill iii the Greeks is that facility with which they swallowed the writings ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite. In the time of Justinian they were rejected ; and an hundred years afterwards they were not contested, when produced by the Monothelites, who laid a great stress upon them to establish the Theandric operation mentioned by that Dionysius. , The persecution carried on by the Iconoclasts had almost extinguished literature in the Greek empire* which revived a little Under Basilius Macedo, by the industry of the learned Photius, and continued under Leo the philosopher, and his successors. Yet the writers of these times are far inferior to those of an cient Greece. Their language is tolerably pure, but the style is affected. They deal in common places, vain declamations, an ostentation of erudition* and useless reflections. The most flagrant example of all these blemishes* and the most apposite to my purpose* is that of Metaphrastes, who hath spoiled so many lives of the saints, by endeavouring to embellish them* as even his admirer Psellus cOnfesseth. Amongst the Greeks, at least full as much, as a-* mongst the Latins, one sees the love of fable and of superstition, both of them the offspring of ignorance. As to fables, I shall only cite the history of the mira culous image of Edessa, of which the emperor Coii- stantinus Porphyrogenitus hath given us so copious a relation. As to superstitions* the Byzantine his tory furnishes us instances in every page. No em peror ascends the throne, or quits it, without presages and predictions. There is always some recluse. in an island, famous for the austerity of his life, who promi ses the empire to some great officer, and then the new ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. lo*! hew emperor makes him bishop of a considerable see. But these pretended prophets were often mere impos tors. I now return to the west. Another effect of the government of Barbarians was, that the bishops and clergy became hunters and fighters, as well as the laity. Yet this change did not arrive very soOn ; for in the beginning, the Barbar ians, though they received Christianity, were not ad mitted into the clerical order. Besides, their igno* ranee, their ferocity, and their natural levity and rest less inconstancy made them unfit to be trusted with the administration of the sacraments, and the care of souls. It was hardly before the Seventh century that they entered into orders, at least as far as I can judge from the names of the bishops and ecclesiastics, who till then were Usually Romans. And it is only since that time, that we find the clergy forbidden by the councils to wear arms* to hunt, and to keep hOunds and hawks for their diversion; Now the violent exer cise of these sports, the retinue and the expence which they draw after them, agree not well with Clef i cal mo desty, study, prayer, attendance on the poor, instruct*. ing the people* and a regulated and mortified life. The exercise of arms is still more remote from it ; and yet it became in some measure necessary to the bishops* because of their ecclesiastical possessions ; for about that time fiefs were established. Under the two first races of our French kings, and pretty far in the third, wars were not waged with regular troops enlisted and paid, but by the assistance of those to whom princes and sovereign lords had given lands "under these tenures; Every one knew how many men, horses* and arms he was to furnish* and he was to 'head them when he was required, Now as churches VOL; Hi. Ij in 1-62 REMARKS ON, ¦• in those times possessed extensive lands, tehe bishops. were often engaged to serve the state, as well as the other lords. The bishops, I say ; for aUithe.e^ clesiastical goods of each diocese were still admini stered in common under their authority ; on.iy th# goods of monasteries were, separate. The portions, as,-; signed to each clerk, which we, pajl benefices, Averenpt; as yet distinct ; and what we now. call benefices were; either fiefs given to laymen, or the Ususfruetus p.f some church lands granted: to a r clerk by way of re-; compence, or on, other accounts, op condition tha^ at his decease it should revert to the common stock;. The bi§hopjs.had their vassals., obliged to do them service on account of the fiefjj. which they held under tliem ; and Avhen the, bishop was , summoned- by the king, he was himself to marcl\ at the head, of his troops,. Charlemain, finding, this right, established} consented to remit it, at the request ofthe people, and excused his prelates from serving. In person, provided they sent their vassals. B.ut this, regulation was ill observed, and we, find, after him, as, well' a3.befo1.ehim, bishops armed, fighting, killed, or taken in battle. Independently of Avar, temporal lordships became ¦to the bishops a. continual source of avocations^ Lords had a considerable share in state affairs, tKansactedei- ther in general assemblies, o,r in tlie private councils of princes ; and. bishops, as being men of literatar-e, weremore serviceable there than lay. lords. They were therefore obliged! tp, be for ever journeying ; for nei ther the court, nor the prince, nor the assemblies, or. par liaments had any fixed, place, Charlemainibrinstance was sometimes on. this side, sometimes. on that side of the Rhine, then in Italy, then in. Saxony, now at Rome, and ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 163 and a few months after at Aix la Chapelle. He always hadirihis retinue a great number of bishops, who were followed by their domestics and vassals. What distraction ! Avhat loss of time ! what leisure to visit their dioceses, to preach* to' study 1 The parliaments and general assemblies were indeed councils at the same time ; but not those sorts of councils which had been wisely established in each province* for neigh bouring bishops to confer together. They Avere na tional councils of the whole empire of the Franks, where were to be found' together the archbishops of Galogn, Tours* Narbonne* and Milan, and the bishops of Italy, Saxony, and Aquitain. The regulations made by such councils were indeed the more uniform ; but the non-residence of the prelates hindered them from being put in execution. These assemblies were designedly parliaments* and occasionally councils, from the opportunity offered by the meeting of so many prelates. The principal objects therefore were temporal, and affairs Of state J and the bishops could not avoid taking part in them, being called for that purpose, as other lords. Hence came the mixture of things temporal and spiritual, so pernicious to reli gion. I have* as occasion served, produced the max ims of the ancients concerning the distinction of the two powers, ecclesiastical and secular ; amongst the irest, the letter of Synesius, and the famous words of pope Gelasius, so often insisted upon afterwards. You have seen that these celebrated Doctors were persuad ed, that although before the coming of Christ these two powers had been sometimes united, Almighty $od, knowing human weakness, had since entirely separated them ; and that as sovereign princes, though appointed of God*, have no share in the priesthood of l9 the 164 REMARKS ON the new law ; so bishops have received from Christ no power in things temporal. In this respect they are entirely subject to their princes, as the princes are equally subject to bishops in things spiritual. Tliese are the maxims of pious antiquity, which, we see maintained in the eighth century* in the second let ter of Gregory III, to Leo Isaurus. Pope Nicolas. I. addressed them again in the following century to the emperor of Constantinople. Before the coming of Christ, says he, there were kings who also were priests, as Melchisedeck. The devil hath imitated this in the person of pagan emperors, who were sovereign pontifs. But after the coming of him who is truly both King and Highpriest, neither hath the emperor assumed the rights of the pontif, nor the pontif the rights of the emperor. Jesus Christ hath separated these two powers, that Christian emperors might stand in need of the pontifs for their spiritual concerns, and that the pontifs might be assisted by the imperial laws for their temporal concerns. Thus spake Nico las, who can by no means be charged with neglecting the rights of his see. But after bishops became lords, and had a share in the government of the state, they imagined that as bishops they possessed the rights which they only had as lords. They pretended to judge kings, not only in their penitential tribunals, but in their councils ; and the kings, little skilled in their own rights, submitted to this usage ; as I have shewed in Charles le Chauve,. and in Louis d'Outremer. The ceremony of corona* tion, introduced after the middle of the eighth centu ry, served also for a pretext ; and the bishops, by crowning the king, seemed to give him the kingdom, by an- authority derived to them from God. ¦ - - .. Even ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 10*5 Even before this, I find a notable attempt on the royal dignity, which I account to have been the first. It was the deposing of Vamba, king of the Visigoths in Spain, in the twelfth council of Toledo, in the year 681, under the pretence that he had been condemned to do penance, and to put on the monastic habit, though Avithout his own knowledge, a distemper hav ing at that time deprived him of his senses. The se cond famous example is the penance of Louis the De- bonaire, after which the bishops, who had imposed it upon him, pretended that it was not lawful for him to resume the royal dignity. St Ambrose did not draw such consequences from the penitence of Theo- d(*ius. Shall we say that this illustrious sajnt wanted courage to enforce the authority of the church ? or that he was less enlightened than the Gothic prelates of the seventh, or the French prelates of the ninth century ? Count Bonifacius, governor of Afric, distressed by the enemies that he had at court, took up arms for his own security, and consulted his friend St Augustin. This holy doctor gave him salutary advice for the rer gulation of his morals and for the right exercise of his power ; but as to the war that he had undertaken, he plainly declares that he had no coun sel to give him on that point, and would not meddle with it. He knew how far his own duty extended, and would not go a step beyond it. Our French prer-. Iates, .much bolder than he, declared themselves a- galnst Louis the Debonaire, in favour of his children, and excited them to a civil war which ruined the French empire. Specious pretexts were not wanting ; Louis was a weak prince governed by his second wife ; and the empire was all in confusion. But they should L 3 have 1 66 REMARKS ON have foreseen the fatal consequences, and not have presumed to subject a sovereign prince to do penance* like a little monk. The popes, haying reason to belieye that they had as much pf this authority as the bishops, and mora, soon undertook to regulate the differences amongst so vereigns, not by way of mediation and intercession, but by authority ; whiph in reality was to dispose of crowns. Thus Adrian II. forbad Charles le Ch&uve to seize on the kingdom of his nephew Lotharius, and was highly offended when Charles took possession of it, notwithstanding his injunctions. Biit you have seen with what vigour Hincmar answered the re proaches of the pope, telling him, in the name pf the French lords, that the kingdoms of this world are ac quired by wars and victories, and not by papal and prelatical excommunications : and afterwards ; De sire the pope, says he, to consider that he cannot at the same time be a king and a bishop, and that his predecessors governed the church and not the state. And again ; It belongs not to a bishop to excpmmu* nicate, in order to give or to take away temporal do minions ; and the pope shall never persuade us that we cannot enter intp the kingdpm of heaven, unless by receiving the king whom he thinks fit to give us here upon earth. Such were the great inconveniences qf this, pretend? pd alliance of episcopacy and temporal dominion. In these darker ages it was thought that to be bishop and Iprd Avas better than tp be only a bishop : but it was not considered how much the lord hurts the bishop, as Aye still see too plainly in Germany and Poland. In this case the axiom of old Hesiod is a gpod one, that half is better than the whole. ' But why should ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, \67 should We cite Hesiod, when We Have the authority Of Christ himself, who teaches us that virtue all alone is hibfe excellent thali virtue with riches ? Ih this confused state of the two powers, the sCCu- htfs made encroachments also on their side, Often the lord's, Without the Concurrence of the bishops, appointed priests to the churches situated in their ter ritories, and Our kings of the first race pretended to dispose of bishopricks, although at the same time, in the "councils held with their permission-, the liberty of elections Was always reccmtm ended, and the shew of it always observed. The learned Floras* deacon of the ehareh of Lions, rerharks very justly, that under the Christian ehiperors of Rome* neither the emperors nor the magistrates usually meddled with the election of bishops* or the ordination of priests. For the bi shops then had rto temporal power, as they never had at any time in the Greek empire. But in the king doms formed out of the dissolution of the western emtbire* the bishops were so powerful, that it was the interest of sovereigns to be secure of them ; and there fore* even in the most canonical elections, the con sent of the prince was necessary. Ih this matter we must not pretend to establish rights upon facts often irregular, but upon eanon'sv laws^ and authentic acts. What we have said of bishops is proportionably tq fee understood of abbots. Though they were monks, tHey became lords* on account of the lands belong ing to their monasteries ; they had vassals, and forces Which they led OUt to war ; they were often at court, and Were summoned to councils of princes, and to parliaments. We may judge, from this dissipated life, how difficult it Wa's for them to observe the rules Pf y6% REMARKS ON pf their order, and not only fqr them, but for theip monks, some of whom they always had in their reti* nue, What a relaxation of discipline must have been caused by their absence, and what distractions, at their return in their monasteries ! These Lordsr Ab-j bots wanting large revenues to defray their voyages, and their other expences, made use of their credit at court to obtain many abbeys, and held them all with out scruple. The abuse went still farther. Monasteries were given to bishops and to clerks, although, not being rnorks, they were incapable of being abbots : for com ".iiendams were not introduced till the later ages, Then kings proceeded to give abbeys to mere laics, or to take them for themselves; and this abuse was common from the eighth to the tenth century. The' lords, without any other formality than the permis sion of the prince, went and lodged in monasteries, with wives, children, vassals, domestics, hounds and horses, devouring the most part of the revenues, andi leaving a sinall pittance to a few monks, who were permitted to dwell there, for fashion's sake, and who became more and more relaxed in their behaviour. \ The same abuse reigned in the east ; but the origin pfit was more canonical. The Iconoclasts, sworn foes to the monastic profession, had ruined the great est part pf the monasteries. To reestablish them* the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople appointed the bishops or the powerful laymen to take care of them, to preserve the revenues, to recover the alienated lands, tp repair the decayed buiklings, and to recall the scattered monks. These administrators Ayere cal-: led Charisticarii : but from charitable protectors they soon became selfish tyrants, who treated the monks like ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 16,9 like slaves, seized upon almost all the revenues for themselves, and transferred or sold to others the rights which they unjustly claimed in the monasteries. Such are the effects of the wealth of churches and pf religious houses. In all times it hath been a temp tation to excite the ambition of the clergy, and the avarice of the laity, especially when tlie former do not by their behaviour attract the love and respect of the public, when they appear to be rather a burden than a blessing to the people, and when they apply their revenues to no good purposes. Needful it is that there should be funds for the support of Christian societies, as of other societies, for the subsistence of the clergy occupied in serving them, for the con struction and reparation of the buildings, for the purchase of proper ornaments, and above all, for the relief of the poor. In the earliest ages, and under panjan emperors, the church, possessed immoveables, be ides the voluntary contributions which were her first fund, But it had been well if the bishops had always accounted temporal possessions as a mere en cumbrance, as did St Chrysostom, and had been as reserved in acquiring new ones as was St Augustin. Our bishops of the ninth century were not so dis interested ; as we learn from the complaints made a- gainst them in the time of Charlemain, that they per suaded silly people to renounce the world, that the church might get their estates, to the prejudice of their lawful heirs. Even without employing wicked. rneans, I find some bishops, allowed to be holy men, who were too sedulous, in my opinion, about aug menting the revenues. The life of St Meinverc of Paderborn, under the emperor St Henry, is chiefly filled Ij'0 REMARKS ON filled with an enumeration 6f the lands which he ac quired for his church. The treasures of the churches, I meari plate* shrines; and other precious ornaments, Were so many baits which attracted the infidels to pillage, as the Normans' in France, and the Saracens in Italy ; the Iahds and seignories excited the Cupidity of Wicked Christians* either to seize upon them by open force, after the sink*-* ing of the royal authority, or to usurp them under the pretence of serving the church. Hence also came in trigues and simoniacal contracts, as the only vocation to ecclesiastical dignities. But here let us not be scandalized at the enormities practised during the tenth century, particularly at Rome. The Son of Gocl, when he promised to assist his church to the end Of the world, did hot promise to exclude wicked members" from it. On the contrary, he foretold that there should be always a mixture of such persons, till the fiMl se paration. He hath not profnised holiness to all the ministers, and pastors of his church, not even to the head : he hath only promised supernatural powers to all those who should enter into the holy ministry ac cording to the forms Which himself hath prescribed. Thus as in all times bad men have been found, who without a sincere conversion, and other necessary dis positions, have received baptism arid the eucharist ; there have beeri also, who without a call having re ceived ordination and imposition of hands, became! priests and bishops, though to their own destruction, and often to that Of their floCk. In a Word, God hath not engaged to put a stop ih a miraculous way to sa crilege, any more than to other crimes. Therefore we must not scruple to acknowledge as lawful Popes a SergiUs III. or a John X. or others whose scandalous life ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. ^71 life was a disgrace to the holy see, if they were or dained, according to form, by bishops. But it must t)e owned, that it would have been more advantageous to the church to have been always in a state of pover ty, than to have been exposed to such scandals. These enormities were also partly owing to ignor ance* when it had taken deep root. After the sinking of literature, good manners, and the practice of Chris tian virtues subsisted still for a time, by the influence pf example and education. So they lived at Rome, under Pope Agatho, towards the conclusion of the se venth century. But ignorance daily increasing, a ne glect ensued of those religious practices, the grounds and reasons of which were no longer known, and cor ruption came to that height in which you have seen it towards the end of the ninth century, after Ni colas I. and Adrian II ; insomuch that, to raise up again the Roman church, it was needful, in the middle of the eleventh century, to call in from Germany men of more erudition, as Gregory X. and Leo IX, Ignor- fance most assuredly is good for nothing ; and I know riot what Is meant by a pretended simplicity tending to promote good morals. This I know, that in the (darkest times, and amongst the most ignorant nations, We find the most abominable vices triumphant. I have given some proofs of this on proper occasions. I did not think it right to produce them all, and I dare not specify them more precisely. There is a root of Concupiscence in all men, which brings forth its wretch ed effects, unless it be checked by reason assisted with grace. There is a kind of crime, of which in these ages we find examples only in the east ; namely, impiety, or an open eontempt of all religion. You have seen, and 172 REMARKS ON- and doubtless with horror, the sacrilegious sports of the young emperor Michael, son of Theodora, who went about the streets of Constantinople with his comrades in debauchery, cloathed in religious habits, mimicking the processions and other ceremonies of the church, and even the holy eucharist. Photius the patriarch saw all this and bare with it ; for which he was reproached in the eighth council ; which shews that he was even more profane thart the emperor. For this prince was a young mad fool, often drunk, and always a slave to his passions : but Photius acted calmly, and with deep consideration, was the greatest genius, and the most learned man of the age. He was a complete hypocrite, talking like a saint, and acting like a knave. Heseems to have been the author of another sort of impiety, of having carried flattery to such an excess as even to canonize princes who had done nothing to deserve it, to dedicate churches, and to appoint fes tival-days to their honour ; as he did to Constantine, eldest son of Basilius Macedo, to comfort that em peror for the loss of his child ; thus imitating the au thors of pagan idolatry. Constantius Monomachus wanted to do as much for Zoe, to whom he owed the empire. The three vices which in those unhappy times did the most mischief in the western world, were the incontinence of the clergy, the pillages and violences of the laity, and the simony of both; all three the genuine effects of ignorance. The clerks had forgot* ten the dignity of their profession, and the weighty reasons for this discipline of continence. They knew not that from the beginning of Christianity this angelic virtue was its glory, arid was held forth to the pagans as one of the most striking proofs of its excellence, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 1/3 excellence. As then the church always had a great number of persons . of both sexes who consecrated themselves to God by a perfect continence, nothing was more reasonable than to chtise its principal minis ters out of this purer part of the flock. The church was therefore the better served by men who, dis engaged from domestic and family cares, were not divided between different objects and: only thought, as St Paul says, to please. God ; applying themselves entirely to pray, to study, to instruct, and to perform works of charity. .Accordingly, you have seen that this holy discipline of the superior clerks was always observed in the church, though with more or less ex actness, according to times and places. But our ignorant ecclesiastics . of the ninth and tenth centuries accounted this law to be an insupport able yoke. Their functions were almost reduced to singing Psalms which they understood not, and to practising external ceremonies. Living in other re spects like other people, they easily persuaded them selves that like them also they ought to have wives ; and the multitude of bad examples induced them to look upon celibacy as impossible, and consequently upon the law that imposed it, as an insupportable ty- . ranny. The Greeks were the first, who at the end of the seventh century shook off this salutary yoke, by a canon of the council in Trullo, which permitted the priests to retain their wives ; and by way of pretext, they pleaded a canon • of Carthage wrongly under stood, and the scandals which were now too frequent amongst the Latins. But the first formal example in the west, is that of the curate, in thedipcese of'Chaal- ons, who married publicly, and at whom all good men 174 REMARKS 0& men were offended* as they would be this day. Such was the horror at this innovation. The pillages and outrages were reliques of: the barbarity of the northern nations. I have shew ed their origin, in tlie weak government of Louis the Debonaire, and their progress under his suc cessors. Strange it is that Christians should have been ignorant, to such a degree* of the. very elements of religion and policy* as to think; it; lawrful to right themselves, and, to take up arms against their own countrymen, just as against foreigners'. The fbunda-* tipn of civil society is to give Up private revenge* ta submit to the laws, and to judges, as the executors of the laws ; and the very essence of Christianity is cha rity, which obligeth not onby to do no harm to Our neighbour, but to him all the good that we can. What sort of Christiana then were these ! Christians ever ready to revenge themselves upon their brethren by murders' and devastations, and vdiose; justice lay in the point of their sword ! You have seen the useless complaints; and remon» strances against these flagrant disorders* which were made in the assemblies of bishops- and lords : and these were another proof of the ignorance of the times; for a man must have been simple indeed, to imagine:. that exhortations enforced by citations of scripture and of the fathers could wrest the sword Out of the hands of ruffians accustomed to blood and plunder. The remedy should have been to establish a new set of laws, like those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and other polished and disciplined nations. But where could legislators be found at that time, wise enough to draw up such institutions, and eloquent enough to persuade the observance of them ? In the mean time,' the ECCLEStfASftCA'L HISTORY. 17 j |he discipline of the church was expiring, and its mor* als corrupted more and more. The nobles, posted each in his own castle, came no more to the churches, to receive the instruction of the bishops. They as sisted a,t the service performed in some neighbouri no- monastery, or had it performed by their own chap? lains, or by the curates of their vassals; and even these ecclesiastics they put in and put pgtr as they thought fi,6. Often they appropriated to themselves the. tithes and revenues of the churches. The bishops could ,nflt correct those priests,, protected by then- lords, much less the lords themselves, nor visit their •dioceses, not assemble together to hold councils ; and sometimes, they were under a necessity to take arms, and< to defend the church liands, against the nobles. I account simony also a$ the result of ignorance. A. man enlightened, and persuaded of tlie truth of tlie Christian religion, will never think to use it as a trade to.gefc money. He will know that it is of a strblimev nature, and that it proposeth blessings of a different- kind. Simon himself offered money to St Peter, be cause he -knew* nothing concerning, the heavenly doc trines, and only wanted to receive a power of commu nicating miraculous gifts to others, that he might thereby obtain respect and riches. The more sensual and ignorant men arev the more they are affected with things temporal, and disposed to account them the chief good. Things spiritual and invisible seem to such persons mere fictions ; they derkle them, and wgs, spoken there as, in Jt^Iy, It is then by an effect of prpvkkinc.e that a reverence for Religion bath, caused the . ancient tongues to, be preserve^ ; else we should have lost the originals of the holy Scriptures, and Qf other ancient authors, and should not be able to k^OA« whetheif the versions ef them were foi,thfui. Ceremonies, also are a bar tp innpvations ; they are public protest against them which at least put a Stop, tp prescription, andwarnus of the wholesome practices; pf antiquity. Thus the office of Septuagesima shewsws. how we ought to prepare ourselves for Lent ; the ce remony of Ash- Wednesday represents to us the laws of ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 199 pf penance ; the whole Lcntrservice sIieavs us with what care the Catechumens were prepared for baptism, and the Penitents for absolution, &c.t— The office for the day before Easter is intended to remind us that we ought te spend in a religious manner the night before the resurrection. If these forms had been abolished, -we should be ignorant of the feryour of the ancient Christians, a fervour capable of overwhelming us with a salutary confusion. And who knows whether in happier times the church may not re-restablish those holy practices ? The first authors who have treated of religious ce remonies lived in the ages Avhich I am reviewing ; but they all speak of them as of most ancient institu tions ; and if in their time any new ones had been in troduced, they Avould not have failed to observe it. To these ceremonies they assign mystical meanings, at' which every one may form such judgment as he thinks fit. At least they assure us of a matter of fact ; and we may be certain that they were practised in their times, since they pretended to assign the rea sons of them. This in my opinion is the cliief use of these writers. But you have seen in the first six ages pi?o©fs of our ceremonies, at least of those which are most essential. Lastly, These middle ages haye also had their apos-r Ales, who founded new churches amongst the infidels at the expence of their blood ; - and these apostles were monks. Amongst the chief I count St Austin of Eng land, and his companions, sent by St Gregory, who though they did not suffer martyrdom, had the merit ¦ of it, by the courage with which they exposed them? selves in the midst of a nation, as then, barbarous. Nothing is more edifying than the history of that hir n 4 f'arit 200 REMARKS ON fant church, which Bede hath preserved to us, where we see virtues and miracles worthy of the first ages. And indeed it may be said that every age hath had its primitive church, That of England proved the fruitful source of the northern churches. The Anglo-Saxons, becoming Christians, had compassion on their brethren the ancient Saxons,! residing in Ger-r many, and addicted to idolatry. With an active zeal they undertook to carry the lamp of the gospel through those vast regions. Thence came the mission of , St Villebrod in Frisia, andof St Bonifacius in Germany. It is somewhat surprising that for the space of seveq hundred years so many pious bishops of Cologn, Treves, Mentz, and other cities of Gaul on the con fines of Germany should not have undertaken to con* vert the people beyond the Rhine. Doubtless they saw in the attempt unsurmountable difficulties, ei ther from the diversity of language, or the ferocity of these nations so remote from Christian mildness, as I have endeavoured to shew elsewhere. But, without presuming to penetrate into the designs of God, certain it is that he did not think fit to make himself known to the Germanic nations, till about the middle, of the eighth century ; and that in this he shewed more fer vour to them than to the Indians and others whom he hath left to this day under the darkness of idolatry. Now I find some remarkable circumstances in the foundation of these churches. First they who under? took the labour of this ministry, always received a mission from the pope, though in the earliest times, every bishop thought himself privileged tp preach to his, neighbouring infidels. But it is to be supposed that in the later ages the pope's appointment might be necessary tp remove diverse obstacles ; and in feet, I find ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. §01 find that Bonifacius had to contend with certain inde* pendent and irregular priests up and down in Ger many, who acknowledged the jurisdiction of no pre late. I find also that this holy martyr neglected not to secure the temporal protection of Charles Martel, and of Pepin, to prevent his infant church from be ing stifled in the cradle. I see that afterwards such missions continued to be supported by princes, as that of Saxony by Charlemain, that of St Anscariusin Den mark and Sweden by Louis the Debonaire, and by the kings of those countries ; and so proportionably by o- thers. These assistances were doubtless necessary in such nations ; but the conversions in the first ages, brought about by mere persuasion, were certainly more solid and stable. As it was conceived that no church could subsist without a bishop, the pope aU ways conferred this dignity on the principal mission ary, whether he consecrated him himself, or whether he permitted it to be done by others. But he made him bishop of the nation in general, as of the Saxons* or the Sclavonians ; leaving it to his choice to fix his see in the place that should seem to him the most con venient ; for as yet the formality of the titles In Par ibus was not invented. To this first bishop the pope gave the pall, with the title and powers of a metropo litan, that when the number of the faithful should be augmented, he might consecrate bishops for his suffragans, out of Avhom his successor might be cho sen, without the necessity of recurring to Rome. Of" this we have given several examples. To strengthen these new churches, they founded monasteries amongst them from the beginning, as Ful-, da, near Mentz, Corbeia in Saxony, and Magdeburg jvhich became a metropolis. These were seminaries where $03 HEM ARKS ON where the children of the country had their educa* tion, were instructed in religion and letters, formed to virtue, and made capable of ecclesiastical functions. Thus in a §hort space of time, these churches were a* ble to support themselves without standing in need of strangers. The monks also were serviceable in Ger» many, even in things temporal. By the labour of their hands they began tp clear and till vast forests which covered the whole land, and by their industry and wise economy, grounds were cultivated, the vas-> sals who inhabited them were multiplied, the monas* teries produced large towns, and their dependencies became provinces. True it is, that in these young churches the care of things temporal was not advantageous to things spi-r ritual ; too much haste was made to grow rich, and particularly by the exacting of tithes. You have seen the revolt of Turingia upon thisaccount against the arch« bishop of Mentz, that of Poland, and that of Denmark, which caused the martyrdom of their king St Canute. It should seem that more regard ought tp have beer) shewed to the weakness of these new made Christians, and more care not to render religion odious to them, I also marvel that a condescension was not used in permitting them to have the divine service performed, in their own native tongue, as it was the practice, jn the first ages. You may have observed that the «£> fices of the church were then in tlie language most used in each country, that is to say, in Latin through all the west, in Greek through all the east, except m the remoter provinces, as in Thebais where the E- gyptian was spoken, and in the Upper Syria, wherf Syriac was used ; insomuch that even ti»e bishop?! did not understand Greek, as it appears a$ the council of Chalcedony ECCLESIASTICAL. HISTORY, 203 Chalcedflft, in tiie process against Ih&s, and in the an, swers of the Abbqt Barsumas, who could only speak Syriae. See also the subscriptions, of a council held at Constantinople under Mennas. The Armenians have from the very beginning performed divine service in their own tongue, If the nations were pf a mixed kind, there were in the church interpreters to explain what waa read ; and St Procopius the martyr, accor ding to the relation given by Eusebiu.s, performed this office at Scythopolis in Palestine. In the same country, St Sapas and St Theodosius had in their mo nasteries many churches, wherein the monks of dif ferent nations had their Liturgy, each in his own lan guage. As to the German nations, Valafridus Strabo, who Avrote in the middle of the ninth century, testifies that the Goths from the heginning of their conversion had translated the sacred books into their language, and that in his time copies of those books were extant. It must have been the version of'Ulphilas, whose transla tion .of the- Gospels we have still, Valafridus adds, that amongst the Scythians of Tamos, divine service was celebrated in the same tongue. When the Goths, Francs, and other Germanic people Avere spread thro' the Roman provinces, they were found so few in num ber, compared Avith theold inhabitants, that it seemed not necessary for their sakes to change the language pf the church. But when religion was carried into nations where the language of the country was the predominant, or rather the. sole language, I think they should have had every thing granted to them that con duced to instruct and confirm them in the faith. And yet I cannot imagine that St Austin of Eng land <204 REMARKS ON land and St Bonifacius of Mentz wanted either pru dence or charity. They had a nearer view of things, and perhaps they feared that the people would remain too much separated from the rest of the Christians, if they were not united with them by the Latin tongue, and principally with Rome, the- centre of ecclesiasti cal unity. Perhaps also they feared the difficulty of translating, not only the Scriptures, where mistakes are dangerous, but other books needful for the instruction of Christians. We find indeed as early as the seventh century in England, and the eighth, in Germany, versions of the gospel ; but . this was rather for the consolation of particular persons than for the public use of the church, I find also that in the councils of Tours and of Rheims, called A. 813, it was ordered that each bishop should have for the instruction of his flock, some Homilies which all could understand? The Sclavonian language was still more favoured; St Cyril and St Methodius, apostles of that people, gave them in their own tongue both the holy scriptures and the liturgy. If is true that Pope John VIII. was offended at it ; but being better informed, he approv ed it; and although Gregory VII. forbad it again, the use of it remained in some places. I must * confess, I am not moved by the reason al leged by several moderns, that such prohibitions tend to keep up a due respect for religion. A blind re spect suits only a false religion founded on fables and frivolous superstitions. True religion, the better it is known, the more it will be reverenced. On the contrary, ever since the populace hath been accustom ed to hear prayers at church in a language unknown1 tq * An honest confession, which deserves to be commended. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 2(J5 to them, they have lost the desire of receiving instruc tion ; and their ignorance hath even taught them to think that they stand in need of no instruction; whilst they, who though ignorant have good natural abilities, are tempted to entertain no favourable opinion of the things which are so industriously concealed from them. Of this whole discourse the result in my opinion is, that the ages which Ave usually account to have been the most obscure and wretehed were not altogether so deplorable as we imagine, and were neither deprived pf knowledge or of virtue. But we must in every age seek religion where it is to be found, and not be ter rified to find both vice and ignorance in the most emi nent sees. In the seventh and eighth centuries, religion declin ed in France and Italy, but it gathered strength in England, In the ninth, it recovered itself in France; in the tenth, in Germany. Whilst it suffered such great losses under the dominion of the Mussulmans in the east, Afric, and Spain, it made them iTp byneAV conquests in Saxony, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, and Poland. There we behold a renewal of the won ders of the first ages : these nations have their doctors, and their martyrs ; and even the afflicted churches of Spain and of the east haA^e theirs also. Let us then admire the conduct of Providence, which makes all things-concur to serve its designs, and from the great est eyils brings forth the greatest blessings. In spite pf the redoubled incursions of barbarians, the over throw of empires, and the concussion of the whole earth, the church founded on a rock remains ever firm, ever visible, like a city built on a mountain ; its suc cession of pastors is never interrupted; it hath always had its doctors, its virgins, its professors of voluntary poverty* and its saints of a resplendent virtue. SOiS &8MARKS ON I know what it is that hath brought into such cdn« tempt the ages of which we have been discoursing jit is the prejudice of the Humanists of the fifteenth cen tury, of a Valla, a PlatiMa* a Politian. These pretend' ed scholar's and critics, who hsd a greater share of li--*' terature than of piety arid gOSd sense* arid who dwelt upon the surface of thing** could relish nothing be sides the writings of 8fiCieri6 Roftie arid aficient- Greece. Thence they had a s'tiprenig eent^mpt for the perfott mances df'the middle ages* andaccstmted that all wk§ lost when pure Latinity and ancient elegance was gMeV This prejudice1 passed from them td the* protestants* Who looked ttfxSli tile revival of kttef¥a8 ttpoh thg source of the reformation; They pretended that the5 desolation and ruin of A© church was* fbe1 gentling ef- feet of ignorance, Mel that the re-iga of antichrist arid the mystery of iniquity grew and prospered under the protection of darkness, In this discourse^ I have ftbt dissembled the state of the obscure eetiCtMe** rior th& causes and effects of that ignorance* But have ypri found any thing there that struck at the vitals Of re-- ligion ? Did they ever cease from reading and Study ing the Scriptures and the ancient doctors? Did they cease to believe and teach the doctrine of the Trinity arid incarnation* the necessity of divine grace, theim-*-- mortality of the soul, and the life to come ?; Did they ever cease to offer up the sacrifice of the Ericharist,;, and to administer the sacraments ? Was evera moral ity contrary to that of the gospel taught with irripit-, nity ? Nothing can be fairly objected from the irregu larities of particular persons* arid from abuses, which were always condemned as such. What matters it, after all* if men speak and write ill, SB ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 207 SO they believe arid live well? God fegsfttleth only tlie heart ; impoliteness of language and rusticity of man-- tiers is nothing in his sight. There is in Christ Jesus neither Greek rior barbarian* neither bond nor free. See how they Avho found grace in the sight of God are Commended in the Scriptures. Noah was a just man* .Job Wa3 a mart of simplicity and Uprightness* Moses was the meekest and mildest of men, A great and just eneomirim ! Oh the contrary, scoffers are detest ed and Cursed in namberless passages of scripture, al- tfidugh fot the most part they affect and cultivate e- fega-ttee of speech* and politeness of manners. And mde-ed, who AVOuld not chuse rather to have to do Vrith a man of strict probity* under a rough demean our, than with a most genteel and agreeable person upon whom no confidence could be placed ? We ex cise children when they are struck with splendid ap pearances; a man of sense loves virtue* under whatso ever garb it is found. Hitherto then you have seen how Jesus Christ hath accomplished his promise in preserving his churchy in spite of all the weakness of human nature, and of all the efforts of the powers of darkness ?" ? have nefe given a translation of this Dissertation &f fleury, on account of the ingenious and useful re-? marks, besides the historical narrations which it con tains. It is drawn up, for the most part* with a de cency and rftoderatidh rarefy to be found, in the ec- cle^ia^tieal Writers- of bi*- church* except Du Pin *. Fleury* * See a Dissertation o£Du Pin de Antigua Ecclesi* Ditciplina ; or an extract from it in. WeBiH. &»)'*. vi. -itf. SOS " REMARKS OH Fleury, like Du Pin, was a zealous asseftof of the temporal rights of kings* and hath not scrupled to ex pose the crimes and encroachments of the popes, for which doubtless he was held in execration by the Je suits, and by the see of Rome* As to his polite and artful insinuations to reconcile us Protestants to his church; the remarks. which I have given on Ecclesiastical History are, I conceive* a full and sufficient preservative against them. One important use may be made of his discourse: it shews most evidently the utter impossibility of any re-union between us and the papists* even upon, the, more* moderate plan laid down by this author, and, by some others. Between us and them there must be for ever Litora litoribus coniraria, &c. • I shall not here go about to combat that. baffle4 system of superstition and iniquity, which hath been confuted a thousand times, and which perhaps no author eVer attacked, without giving it a mortal wound. Strong indeed are the prejudices of ecVucatipn* aiid the attachment to a church in which we were born and bred, and to the ministry of which we have de voted ourselves ; and candid allowances ought ever to be made for them. Else it would seem impossible for a fnan of letters, a man versed in ecclesiastical history and in the Scriptures* a man of probity and good sense* to admit the pope's spiritual authority over the Christian world, the infallibility of popes "or councils, the celebration of the eucharist in one kind, transubstantiation, celibacy imposed upon the monks, the nuns, and the. clergy, the worship of images * See Bibl. Univ. v. 448. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY; 209 images and reliques, the usefulness of monasteries, the miracles ascribed to impostures, fanatics, and lunatics, and a multitude of other things so contrary to re ligion and to common sense. Fleury's ecclesiastical system is built upon two po sitions : First, it appears d priori that the church catholic (that is, the church of Rome) cannot err, having a promise of infallibility from Jesus Christ. Secondly, it appears tt posteriori that in fact the church hath not erred * and that popes and councils, ignorant and wicked as they were, have not directly established any false doctrine or heresy. To the second position I answer ; In the ages from A. 600; to A. 1100. to which Fleury's dissertation is confined, The worship of the virgin, the saints* an gels, reliques, and images was Carried to the utmost excess, and maintained by Violence, by lying mira cles, and false revelations : Popes, prelates, and coun cils took upon them to excommunicate kings* and de pose theni, and give their dominions to others, and absolve the subjects from their oaths of allegiance : The marriages of ecclesiastics was strictly condemn ed, as no better than fornication or adultery : The doctrine of murdering heretics was established by a general consent, and put in execution ; Christians were not permitted by the see of Rome to have divine service in their own language : The doctrine of tran substantiation began to be established : Indulgences and pardons were given to the vilest of mankind, on condition that they would go and cut the throats of heretics and Mahometans. vol. in. o in £10 REMARKS ON In the Credenda* or articles of faith, things were re quired to be believed as necessary to salvation, which, to speak in the mildest and most moderiate manner, Were absolutely unintelligible- If these be not heresies, there is no such thing as heresy in reruni natura ; it is a Avord without a mean ing ; unless w« define it to be a doctrine received by the minority, and condemned by popes, prelates, and councils. To Fleury's first position I say that the pretence of Infallibility is a Dream ifrpm the Ivory G-ape. AH that is promised of this kind is, that there shall always be a church of Christ upon earth ; that t$, a number of persons, or societies, who shall profess a hejief in Christ, and an adherence to his religion, in opposition to all other religions ; though these Christians JS)ay err more or less in doctrine arid in practice. If in the middle and lower ages of the church you want to find men who had the fewest dangerous errors, you must seek them, not amongst tlie Catholics, but amongst the Heretics. As to the rights of the church and the state, which Fleury hath discussed, the case seems to stand thus; In a Christian nation every subject bears two persons, or characters ; that of citizen, and that of Christian ; The civil magistrate also bears two characters ; that of ruler, and that of Christian. Considered therefore,. as Christians, they all constitute one religious society. . In, this society, which at the same time is both re ligious and secular ; the civil magistrate, with the consent and concurrence of the subjects, hath a right, or rather, hath an obligation to take care, that the public worship of God, according to the gospel, be established : That, as to points of belief, no other terms ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY* 21 1 |er«is of Christian communion be required, than are plainly and positively contained in the New Testa ment, as articles. of faith, required by Christ and his apostles : That ministers and pastors of the people be appointed : That they have a sufficient maintenance : That there be a toleration of those who approve not the Religious establishment, if they be peaceable sub jects* and maintain no immoralities. When Fleury talks of the rights and alliance of church and state, it is impossible without smjiing (for it is too ridiculous to make one angry) to see that by the church he means the bishops ; as though the laity, the deacons, and the presbyters were mere cy phers, mere bond slaves, quibus sola relicta est gloria obsequii. And indeed all the writers, who by the church mean prelates, Pr ecclesiastical councils and convocations, Pr the body of the clergy, use the word ehureh in a sense utterly unknown to Scripture and to primitive antiquity, Brit Fleury in other places allows the catholic church to mean the whole body of Christians. To reconcile these things, we must suppose that he con sidered the church in two views ; the church governing, that is, the bishops ; and the church governed, that is, the rest of Christians ; or as some call it, Ecclesia Re- prtesentativa, and Ecclesia Universalis. As to excommunication, which Fleury hath alsp taken into consideration, it seems, properly speakingr to be neither a part of Christian faith, nor of Christian iriorality, but a mere matter of discipline, and conse quently mutable in its own nature, and to be exercis ed no farther than the common interest requires. Whensoever it is found to produce more harm than o 2 good 212 REMARKS ON good (and how often that is the case I need riot say) it may be dreaded, but it cannot be reverenced. Kings* Considered as Christians* are- doubtless as much obliged as any of their subjects to cohforni themselves to the precepts of Jesus Christ. Yet Fleury himself is wisely of opinion that * kings should not be excommunicated* on account of the terrible evils which it produceth in civil society ; and it is too well known, to require any proof, that no one practice hath been more cursedly abused, and hath produced more pernicious effects than excommunica tion. No man therefore can be very fond of it ; those -excepted who consider it as a trade, which turns to a good account, and by which dominion or money are to be got. A. ilOl. Some barbarous nations were converted (if it may be Called a conversion) to Christianity^; and usually by mere violence. "ft may seem hardly necessary to repeat what we have observed before, that the savage nations which were thus converted to Christianity were rather nominal than real Christians. The religion .itself which was instilled into their minds was not that pure and simple discipline which our Lord established1, but a Certain art of appeasing the Deity by ceremonies and bodily exercises, and in many respects resembling' the old superstitions which they had been compelled to renounce. Take away the history and the name of Christ* the sign of the cross, a set of prayers* and a diversity of rites,, and there would remain no great difference * See Du Pin, in the Bibt. Univ. vi. 188. 196. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 213 difference between their ancient and their new re-* ligion, Many practices were still permitted to them, which were entirely opposite to the nature of Christianity, and mere impieties ; for the priests, a few excepted, took no care to reconcile them to God, but employed their- pains in seeking their own profit, and in esta blishing and augmenting the dominion of the pope *." In the Asiatic Tartary, near Cathaia, a powerful prince being dead, a Nestorian priest, called John, got. the kingdom and succeeded him. This is he who is Called Presbyter John, or Prester John, of Avhom many strange tilings have been related, ;aiid many disputes have been raised. His successor was conquered and slain by Ginghizcan, towards the end of this century f . Guibertus, or Gilbertus, a French Abbot wrote an account of the holy war, or, Gesta Dei per Francos. The title of his book would have been better chosen if it had been, Gesta Diaboliper Francos. " Amongst the Greeks, notwithstanding the most calamitous. state of the times, perpetual revolutions in the government, and intestine wars, great regard was still paid to literature and the liberal arts. This was to be ascribed, not only to the favour and the munifi cence of the emperors, particularly of the Comneni, but also to the vigilance of the Constantinopolitan prelates, who feared that the Greek cause would want skilful advocates against the Latins, if their clergy gave themselves up to ignorance and sloth. The Commentaries of Eustathius ofThessalonica, Avho hath most learnedly explained Homer and Dionysius, shew 0.3 thfc * Mosheim, p. 442. - f Mc-sheim, p. 444- 449- ?leury> xiv- 6l°- **• «6* 214 REMARKS ON the successful industry of ingenious men in eultiva* ting humanities and preserving ancient knowledge ; and many historians- of those times, as Joannes Cin- nanius, Michael Glycas* Joannes Zonaras, Nicephorus/ Briennius, and others, are proofs that there were not wanting persons disposed to pblige posterity with an account of past transactions, and able to record thent in a style and manner by no means contemptible. As to philosophical knowledge, no one encouraged it more than Michael Anchialus,. Patriarch of Cora* stantinople, His philosophy seems to have been the Aristotelic ; for this Avas the prevailing taste of the- Greeks in those days, as it appears, both from other' records, and from the interpretation given by Eu-> stratius of the Ethics- and Analytics of that Philoso pher. Nor yet was the Platonic system quite ne glected ; for we find that many, especially they who, favoured the mystics, preferred it by far tp the peri-t, patetic doctrines, and were of opinion that Plato suit ed best the honest and pious, and Aristotle the vain-; glorious and the wranglers. This dissent of judgment produced afterwards the famous controversy, whcr pught tp have the preference, Plato or Aristotle. In the greater part of the western World an in credible zeal was kindled to cultivate and advanee every branch of literature, Some of the poritiffsy kings, and princes,' who saw the signal service which redpunded to the state from the encouragement givere to letters, exerted their authority and their liberality, on this occasion. Hence were formed colleges or sodalities of men pf letters, who taught arts and sciences, and drew together a concourse of youths. desirous of instruction ; and thus by degrees those larger schools were erected, which in the next age were, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 215 AVere called Universities. Paris surpassed all the cities of Europe in learned professors, schools of various kinds and the number of students ; so that this city, about the middle of this century, exhibited the first pattern of our present Universities, rough indeed and imperfect, but afterwards improved and polished. About the same time an illustrious school was founded at Anjou, by the care and direction of Ulger, the bishop of the place for Ararious studies, but princi pally for jurisprudence. There was already at Mont- pellier a famous academy for civil law and for physic. A like school of great reputation was in Italy, at Bologna, whose origin seems to have been elder than this century, arid it was chiefly frequented by those who studied the Roman and the canon law, especially after the emperor Lotharius II. had re-established and honoured it with new privileges. In the same province the Salernitan school for the study of physic, which had before been in high reputation, attracted a multitude of disciples. These various academies arising in Europe, Alexander III. in a council at Rome, A. 1179. decreed that there should be new schools, founded, or old ones re-established in the monasteries and the cathedral' churches ; for those which had formerly been there were either entirely dropped, or extremely sunk. But the superior merit and splendor of academies and literary societies kept tliese lower schools from making a figure, and render ed the papal decree of small effect. The authority and dignity of the ancient Roman law flourished in Italy, and prevailed over the otlier laws, after the time when under the emperor Lo tharius II. A. 1137, at the taking of AmaWi, the cele brated Code of the Pandects, or Digests, which for many 216 REMARKS ON many ages had been hardly known, was found and. fell into the hands pf the Pisans, &c *." A. 1104. Henry V, waged war with his fafherv Henry IV. and deposed him, on pretence of religion, and of defending the papal power ; and Pope Paschal JI. released this rebellious son from his duty and allegiance to his father and his king, It was the ex, communication of Heiiry IV- that gaye his son an Opportunity to rise up against him, and he was excit ed to this impiety by letters from the pope, who ex horted him tp sucppur the church of God. What made his crime still blacker, was that his father had shared his authority with him, and had made him, king, .This young prince appeared at a council, shewing great modesty and humility, and the most profound reverence towards the prelates. With tears, in his eyes, he called God and all the court of heaven- to witness that he had n° desire to reign, or to see his lord, and/ his father deposed. Qn the contrary, said he, I have been deeply afflicted at hi§ disobedience and obstinacy ; and if he will submit himself to St Peter, and, to his successors the popes, I am ready to surrender up the kingdom to hjm, and to obey him even as the lowest of hjs subjects, This godly and meek beliaviour of Henry V. drew tears from the whole assembly. So admirably did the ypung rascal play the hypocrite ! . Paschal, afterwards had quarrels and contentions with, this prince^and was driven to grant him some privU Jeges, and to make peace with him on disadvantageous, terms ; for which being severely censured, he called, a council, and submitted himself entirely to the deters minatjp^ f tylosheim, p. 450. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 217 mination of the prelates, They therefore rescinded the agreement between the pope and the king, and absolved their pontif from his contract and his promi ses. Thus the pope, to get out of the toils, fairly ac knowledged the superior authority of councils*. A. 1105. Paschal exhorted Robert, Count of Flan ders, to make war with Henry IV. and with his ad herents, the clergy of Liege ; and promised him and his soldiers the remission of sins, and a mansion in the heavenly Jerusalem. The clergy of Liege on this occasion drew up an ex cellent apology, addressed to all Christian people. They declare themselves firmly attached to the unity of the church, and to Paschal as to the head of the church. They hold themselves to be unjustly excommunicat ed for rendering unto Caesar the things that are Cae sars, according to the gospel, and in opposition to all novel traditions. Having taken an oath of allegiance to their king, they cannot violate it without perjury. The dispensing with such oaths is an innovation in troduced by pope Hildebrand (Gregory VII.). He. is the first, say they, who drew the murdering tempo ral sword agairist sovereign princes, and by his exam ple taught his successors to do the like. He is the first who absolved sinners f rOm all their sins past, pre sent, and to come, if they would but fight against the emperor, without requiring from them confession, re-; pentance and amendment; thus binding and loosing. in a way unknown to Scripture and pious antiquity, and setting the door wide open to all kind of malice andwickedness, &c. -f A. 1106. * JVIosheim, p. 457, &c. Fleury, xiv. ?r, %c. f fleury, xiv. 78, 318 REMARKS ON A. 1106, Henry IV. taken prisoner by his rebellfc ous son, was obliged to renounce the kingdom and sur render it up to him ; and died sOon after*. Robert D'Arbrisselles, a wild enthusia.st and field preacher, and the founder of a monastery, made rip small noise in those times. He drew after him a mul titude of female saints, with whom he used to lie in bed, but never touch them* by Way of self-denial and mortification. His enemies have charged him with ihese practices ;¦ and indeed austerities of this kind' seem to suit the fanatical taste f. Ari anonymous authpr, whp flourished at this titae, wrote the life of Henry IV. He is ari historian of singular integrity and of no less elegance, who, hav ing recorded the things relating to Henry with impar tiality and veracity, chose rather to conceal his name, than to expose himself to malice and persecution. In this writer, says Casaubon, I am at a loss what to admire most, the elegance of style, which for those* times is astonishing, or the dignity and importance of his remarks, or the piety which is conspicuous through the whole. If he had lived in an happier age, I should have judged him not inferior to any Greek and Latin? author, and his work not less to he esteemed thari the life of Agricola by Tacitus |." A. 1114. Some heretics, called Manich^artS, were seized and imprisoned at Soissons, and burnt by the* enraged populace ||. A. 1118. Amongst the letters of Paschal II. we find one in which he orders, in the communion, to grv$ the * Fleury, xiv. 82. f Ibid- xiii. 622. xiv. 37. X Cave, ii. 189. || Fleury, xiv. 194. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 2l9 the two kinds separately, and not the bread dipped in th6 wine, as it was practised at Chtgnr. He makes an exception for children and sick persons, who could not swallow ^the bread. Hence it appears that the Eu charist Was then given to infants*, A. 1121. Abelard Was condemned in a council, for a treatise which he had written on the Trinity f. A. 1122. A concordatum, or agreement, was made between the pope and the emperor concerning the e- leetion of ecclesiastics, which still subsists |. A. 1123. The bishops in a council make heavy complaints against the monks. Nothing more, say they, remains for the monks to attempt, unless it be to take our j urisdiction from us, and to exercise it them selves. They possess churches, lands, eastles, tenths, oblations of the living and of the dead. The glory of tile Canonical Order and of the clergy is obscured, since the monks, forgetting all heavenly views, engross the episcopal rights with an insatiable ambition, instead of leading quiet and retired lives, according to .the in tention of their founder St Benedict. The city of Antwerp, though large and populous, had only One priest belonging to it, and he had no au thority, because he kept his niece for his concubine. An heretic called Tanchelm took this occasion to se duce the people, He was a very profligate man, but Cunning and eloquent. He set at nought the pope, the bishops, and the clergy, and said that he and his followers were the only true church. He made use of the Fleury, xiv. 237. t Fleury, xiv, 306. Bayle, ABELAiD. X Mosheim, p. 459, 220 REMARKS ON the Avomen whom he had corrupted, to insinuate^ ;hi$ errors, and by their help he gained the husbands.; When he had drawn over a multitude of people, he preached in the country, arrayed like a king, and at* tended with guards who carried before him a standard; and a sword ; and the besotted populace hearkened, to him as to an angel sent from God.: He said: that the churches were houses: of prostitution ; that the sacraments were profanations, particularly the euchaT rist, and of no efficacy for salyation * and he maintain ed that the virtue of the sacraments depended upon the holiness of the ministers. He told the people not to pay tithes, and he found no difficulty to persuade them in this point. In general, he preached such doctrines as he thought would he most acceptable to the audience, and attracted them not only by his, elo quence, but by feasting them with good cheer, He had in his retinue three thousand men, armed and ready to cut the throats of all who should resist him. ! Puffed up with this success, he ascribed divinity. to himself, saying, that he had as good a title to it as Je-' sus Christ, haying received the fulness of the Spirit So infatuated were his followers, as to drink the wa ter in which he had bathed himself, and to keep it a» an holy relique. He lay with, girls in the f presence1 of their mothers, and with Avives before their hus-; bands. This he called a spiritual work, and the-' females who were not admitted to this, honour account ted themselves urihappy, Qne day he contrived a neW scheme to enrich himself. He produced before tW multitude an image of the Virgin Mary, and taking it by the hand, repeated the office^ of matrimony. Then he added ; You see that I have espoused the virgin ; you must make us nuptial presents. He ordered two coffers ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 22l CPfFers to be" placed on each side of the image, one for the men, the other for the women, and said, we shall see which of the two sexes hath the most affection for me artd my spouse. Every one made his offerings li berally* and the women put in even their necklaces and ear-rings. After this wretch had propagated his doctrines in various parts about Utrecht and Cam- bray, he was at last demolished by a priest, who broke his scull, as they were together in a boat *. The man was either quite mad* or a consummate villain, if the. things Avith which his adversaries charge him were true. But as he Vehemently inveighed a- gainst the clergy, they might perhaps calumniate him by way of revenge f. , Guibert, abbot of Nogent, Wrote a treatise on the reliques of the saints* occasioned by a tooth of Jesus Christ, which the monks of St Medard pretended to have. . He allows that we ought to honour the re liques of the saints, in order to imitate their example, and obtain their protection ; but he observes -that Ave QHght first to be well assured both of the sanctity of those whom we honour, and of the genuineness of their reliques. He is of opinion that miracles alone are not a ^sufficient proof of sanctity; and he informs us, by theway, that it was in his time a common opinion that the kings of France cured the king's evil. He ^ys that the inventors of false miracles deserved the aeyjerest punishment* because they ascribed to God tyhat he had not done* and as far as in them lay, made Him a liar. He mentions many examples of fictitious Wyes, of saints, and of false reliques ; and to shew the ^Ition. and .reserved ness of the church with ; relation to * Fleury, xiv. 336. f Mosheim, p. 485.. 222 REMARKS 0S to uncertain facts, he says that she dares ; not affirm the resurrection pf the holy Virgin, how strong soever may be the arguments which support it, and that sbt only permits us to think so. He blames the practice pf taking the bodies of saints out of their graves, to re move them, or to divide them, as being contrary- to an cient Usage, and furnishing opportunities to inaposte upon the world by false reliques. Proceeding to the pretended reliques of our Savi* our, he says that we ought to seek none, except the holy eucharist, in which Christ hath left us, not some fragments of himself, but his whole body. And her® he defends the real bodily presence against Bere*g& and others. As* to the tQotft, of Christ, which was said to be one of his young teeth, he ranks this rehque with that of his navel, which others pretended to have. He rejects them, as contrary to the Christian faith, which holds that Jesus Christ at h.is resurrection re^assumed his whole body ; besides which, it is highly imptobabll that the virgin should have laid up such things, any more than her own milk, which was shewed at Laon; These sentiments of Guibert are the more remarkable, because both in this and in other of his works he shews himself extremely credulous about miracles *. A. 1124. Tlie Pomeranians were converted by Otto, bishop of Bamberg. He knew that in Pome- rania, beggars Avere despised and hated, and that some missionaries having appeared in that form, could riot eA-en obtain an hearing, and were rejected as poor va gabonds, who only wanted to get a maintenance. ¦'- He « resolved to eury, xiv. 340. ECCLESIASTICAL HJSTORY. 225 resolved therefore to come to them as a rich man, to shew these barbarians that he did not seek to get their money, but to save their souls. He took with him men of abilities, with sufficient provisions for the jour ney, missals, and other book?, chalices, and ornaments for a church ; with splendid robes, and fine clothes, to present to the principal men of the nation *. A. 1125. Joannes Cremensis, the pope's legate, who h$id published a law, in the synod at London, against the clergy that kept concubines, on the same night, $ft#r the celebration of the mass, was found in bed with a whpre, &c. f A. 1128. The prefer of the Knights-Templars, the first military order, was established. St, Bernard gives a most excellent character to these fighting saints. How well they deserved it, the Lord knows. He observes, which makes the wonder still greater, that.jthese saints had been for the most part debauched, irBjpipus, perjured, sacrilegious thieves, murderers, for nicators, adulterers, ravishers,, who now joined to the uppeeijiiee ©f the lamb, the courage of the lion , + A. 1 130. Tavo popes were elected, and a schism en- 3»ad. Ssuch schisms often happened afterwards ||. ¦ At tiiis time flourished our William of Malms- bury. I&ier vetmstissimos rerum nostrarum Auctores, et nar- rationisfide <§ judicii maturiiate principem locum tenet Qsuliehms Malmsburiensis, homo, ut erant ea tempora, literate * Fleury, xiv. 346. f Cave, ii 263. X Fleury, xiv. 387. 479. Bity- Univ. xix. 508. |j M9*ein>- P- 459- 224 Remarks 6% literate doctus, qui septingentorum plus minus dnnoruiii res tanta fide et diligentid pertexuit, ut I nostris propH solus historici munus explesse videaiuf *. A; 1131. A canon, of the council Of Rheims fbr-J bids tilts and tournamerits, on account of the great danger AVhi'ch ariseth from them both to the body and to the soul. Christian burial is refused to those who die in these combats* though absolution and the via ticum is granted them, if they live long enough to request it. But it appears riot that these ecclesiastic cal prohibitions, though often reiterated* could put a stop to these practices, which continued to be frequent for four hundred years j*< A. Il39i; Pope Innocent It. held a council at Late ran* where were assembled about a thousand bishops. In his speech to them he said ; You all know that Rome is the capital of the world, and that all ecelesi-* astical dignities are held and received by permission of the Roman pontiff* as by a fief; and without his leave cannot be lawfully possessed. This is the first time that we find ecclesiastical sta-j tions compared to fiefs ± which are altogether of a dif* ferent nature %. It appears that at this time the canons of cathedral churches claimed a right of electing their bishop, ex cluding not only the laity, but the curates, and all the clergy both secular and regular ; which was contrary to the ancient laws and practices [| . Arnauld dei Bresse, having declaimed violently a* gainst the vices of the clergy, was silenced by this council * Saville. 'f Fleury, xiv. 428. • X Fleury, xiv. 528. |] Ibid. 529. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY; 22J council Of Lateran, which is accounted to be the tenth general council. He was afterwards condemned by the clergy, and burnt alive at Rome *. "A. 1 140: A controversy arose about the Imma culate Conception, as it was called, of the Virgin Mary, Some French churches began to celebrate a festival dedicated to this conception, -which the Eriglish had observed before, upon the authority, as they said* of Anselm archbishop of Canterbury. Amongst the more eminent churches, that Of Lyon was the first, or one of the first, which adopted it. St Bernard hear ing of this* severely reprimanded the canons of Lyon, for the innovation, in an epistle addressed to them, and also attacked the doctrine itself. Hence arose a dissention, some favouring the ecclesiastics of Lyon, and adopting their sentiments, others defending Ber nard's opinion. But after the Dominicans had settled themselves in the academy of Paris, the dispute grew much more violent, whilst the Dominicans sided with Bernard* and the academy with the Clergy of Lyon. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception soon grew prevalent* as more agreeable to the superstitious devotion and blind zeal of the age* in Avhich a vene ration for the Virgin Mary had already exceeded all bounds. The Greeks and other eastern Christians were en gaged during this centuiy in a fierce contention Avith fanatics of various sorts, who are reported to have be lieved in a twofold Trinity* rejected matrimony, and flesh-meat* despised all public worship of God, as al so baptism and the Lord's Supper, placed the sum of vol. in. r religion, * Fleury, xv. 8, 226 REMARKS Oft religion in prayer alone, and taught* as it is said, that an evil daemon dwelt in every man, and was to be ex pelled by continual prayer. Certain it is, that both in this, and in many pre ceding ages* there were amongst the Greeks and Sy rians, especially amongst the monks* such sort of men, not profligate* but crack-brained. The accounts whicli are given concerning them are not entirely td be credited i It is rather highly probable* and many things make it so* that in this detested number there were several pious and religious persons, who incurred the hatred of the Greeks, because they opposed the arbitrary dominion and the vices of the priests, and derided the vile superstition which was established by public authority. The Greeks and their eastern neigh bours gave to all these people the common and invi dious denomination of Massalianii, or of Euchetce-; just as the Latins call those in general Waldenses or Albi genses-, who were enemies to the pope; It is to be observed* that these appellations used by the Greeks are vague and ambiguous, and promiscuously applied to all, whether honest or wicked* wise or mad, who had an unfavourable opinion of the public rites and ceremonies, censured the vices of ecclesiastics, and ac counted piety to be the one thing needful. The .Latins enumerate many more sects. For as reli^ gion grew more and more corrupted, and the clerical order more flagitious* the popes neglected their own proper duty, and augmented the impiety of the peo ple by various ways, and principally by the trade of indulgences. The bishops and priests were more oc* cupied in gratifying their own lusts, than in promot ing the cause of God. In this state of things, good menj ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 227 men, who were desirous to save themselves and others, although of slender capacities, could easily discern that true Christianity was lost ; and made attempts to restore it. But few of them having either the powers of reasoning well, or a proper share of erudi tion, in those days of ignorance* they misunderstood and misapplied the holy Scriptures. Hence it una voidably came to pass that they sometimes departed as much from the design and sense of the Gospel, as from the Romish religion* and passed beyond all due bounds in censuring and correcting. Amongst the sects of that agC, the principal place is to be given to the Cathari or Puritans, who, com ing forth from Bulgaria, disturbed almost all the re gions of Europe, and were massacred without mercy wheresoever they were found. The religion of this faction was somewhat of kin to that which was an ciently professed by the Gnostics and Manichaeans ; and therefore they also were vulgarly called Mani- ehseans, although in many points they differed from genuine Manicheeans. However, they all held that evil had it rise from matter ; that the Maker of the world was not the Supreme God ; that Christ had no true and real body, and that, properly speaking, he nei ther was born, nor died ; that human bodies Avere formed by the devil, and perished at death, without any hope of a resurrection ; that Baptism and the Lord's Supper were of no virtue and efficacy. They all required of their followers, to live hardly and au sterely, to abstain from things animate, from flesh, and wine, and marriage. They despised the Old Tes tament, and only received the New, and particularly the four Gospels, which they held in veneration. To emit other points, they affirmed that rational souls by p 2 a 228 Remarks oft a cruel fatality Avere incarcerated. Lrfc hitman bodies^ and could only be released by continence, fasting, a dry food* and other such like methods., But of all the secta which sprang up in this century* none aquired a greater reputation' for innocence and probity, by the concessions even ofnts.perseeutors, and none drew together more followers, than that of those people who from their author were called Waldenses, and from the place where they first appeared* Pau- peres de Lugduno^ or Leonistce. Petrus Valdensis, a> wealthy merchant of Lyon in France, and a very pious; man, caused some parts of the holy- Scriptures to be translated from, the Latin into French, particulariy the four gospels,, and some: select sentences from the ancient fathers, about A. 1160. Upon a careful'. perusal of those books, he saw that the religion, which the Roman church propounded to the people was en tirely different from that which Jesus Christ and hiijj apostles had taught; and desiring to save- his soul, he distributed, his goods amongst the poor, and in. the year 1 180, having collected a religious society, he un dertook the office, of a. teacher. The archbishop of Lyon, and other prelates, opposedr this innovation ; but the plain and holy religion which these: good- men professed, the acknowledged innocence of their lives,. and that contempt which they shewed of riches- and honours* caused, multitudes' of well-disposed: Christians to join with them. And. thus many con.* gregations of them were formed, first in Erance, and; then in Lombardy, and thence in- other parts of Eu rope, more speedily than could have been imagined,, which no persecutions, no punishments, and no mas sacres could totally extirpate. The ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 229 The design of Petrus Valdus and of his adherents was not to make a new religion, and to propound new doctrines, but rather to bring back the state of the church, the manners of the teachers, and the behavi- -Qur of Christians to that primitive and apostolical sim plicity, which might be collected, as they thought, from the discourses of Jesus Christ himself. They taught therefore that the Roman church had departed from its former sanctity and purity in the time Of Constantine the Great ; they refused to submit to the usurped powers of its pontiff ; they said that the pre lates and doctors ought to imitate the poverty of the apostles, and earn their bread by the labour of their hands ; they contended that the office of teaching, confirming, and admonishing the brethren belonged in some measure to all Christians ; they wanted to re store the old discipline of Penitence, which the indul gences had almost obliterated ; and they taught that true penitence consisted in expiating past transgres sion by prayer, by fasting, and by almsgiving : and they added, that any pious Christian was. capable of giving proper directions to a penitent sinner, to make his peace with God, and that there was no occasion to confess to a priest ; that the power of remitting sin, and the punishment of sin, belonged to God alone ; that indulgences were the invention pf sorded ava rice ; that funeral rites and prayers for the dead were idle ceremonies, since tlie souls of the departed enter ed into no middle state of purgation, but went direct ly either to heaven, or to hell, &c. Their discipline wasextremely strict and austere : for they interpreted Christ's discourse upon the mount according to the literal sense of the words ; and they condemned Avar, lawsuits. 230 REMARKS OK lawsuits, industry in acquiring riches, capital punish ments, oaths, and self-defence. * Nicolas Antonius, in his Bibliotheca Hispanica, e- numerates no less than one hundred and sixty au thors, all of them Spaniards, who have written concern ing the Immaculate Conception, -j" A. 1 147. They who had gone to the holy war, be ing in great straits, and oppressed by the Mahome tans, called aloud for help from Europe ; and a se cond expedition was set on foot, by the authority of St Bernard, which proved extremely unfortunate, and cost Europe an immense waste of treasure, and loss of men. The Croisez, instigated by some wicked wretches, began again to massacre the Jews ; but Bernard oppose edit. Peter, abbot of Clugni, also declared against putting them to death ; but advised the princes tp strip them of all their money. Even Bernard con- fesseth that many of the Croisez were the vilest of mankind. They took Lisbon, at that time occupied by the Moors. Manuel, the emperor of Constantinople, did them all the mischief that he could ; and then the Turks fell upon them, and destroyed most of them. A third expedition was carried on, in the year 1 189. which like the former exhausted Germany, France, and England to no purpp.se. These holy wars gave rise to three fighting orders* pr establishments of saints militant, the Knights of St John * Mopheirn, p. 479. See also Cave, ii. 182. Bibl. Univ. xx. iaa_, jfjdii. 361. L'Enfknt, Cone, de Basle, i. 9. &c. f Amcen. Liter, ii. 412, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 231 John of Jerusalem, the Knights Templars, and the Teutonic Knights. The first of these are now Knights of Malta. St Bernard was an enthusiast from his youth, and had almost killed himself by monkish austerities. He refused several bishopricks, through humility, as his admirers suppose. But it is no wonder that he declin ed them, since he was far more respected as an abbot than he would have been if he had condescended to stoop to an archbishoprick. He could create Popes, and command kings, and lead councils by the nose. His advice was asked by the greatest persons in church and state ; and he was even adored by the common people, avIio fancied that he was an inspired man, and endued with the gifts of healing. In support of the Croisade he wrought such a mul titude of miracles, that the Martins and the Sijmeons were hardly fit to hold a candle to him. They are collected by Fleury. Read them, and then com pare them with the Lies contained in Lucian's Dia logue called Philopseudes. Having promised the Croisez great success in the name of the Lord, and finding them soundly banged, and utterly discomfited, he wrote an apology for him self, j ustifyng his promises, and laying the fault en tirely on the vices of the Croisez. You never knew a fanatic pretending to prophecy, who ever blushed when his predictions came to nought, or ever , was at a loss for some paltry subterfuge in his own vindica tion. Bernard died in the year 1 153, and is called * The fast of the fathers : he might also be called, The fa ther * Ultimus Patrum. ^32 REMARKS OK ther of monasteries, haying been the founder' of aa hundred and sixty. He was canonized twenty years,; after his death, Du Pin* hath written his. life ; and Cave f bestows great encomiums upon him. J " The Writers of this age made loud complaints of the fury and cruelty of the Saracens towards the east ern Christians ; and we have no reason to reject theif testimony. But most of them suppress the causes of this barbarity, which are to be ascribed to the Chris-. tians themselves. By tlie laws of arms, it was allowed tp. the Saracens to repel force with force ; and it cannot be conceived- with what face' the Christians should re quire of a people whom they attacked with nume rous armies, and destroyed whensoever they were able, that they should take it all patiently, and not retaliate. Add t° this, that the Christians, in their. expeditions, "committed most detestable outrages in the east, and treated the Saracens with the utmost barbarity. Is it strange that a nation thus provoked and injur t ed should have thought itself licensed to act in the same manner ? that a nation not at all inclined to hu-^ manity and lenity, ancl irritated by the calamities of this holy war, as it was called, should oppress thpse pf its subjects who were of the same religion with its. sworn enemies || ?" Bernard, who was the constant persecutor of poor Abclard, said of him ; Cum de Trinitate loquitur, sapit Arium ; cum de gra-i tia, sapit Pelagiuni ; cum de persona Christi, sqpit Ne stor turn. *l Bern art] ? T. iv. p. 48. f ii. 195. J Mosheim, p. 444. Fleury, xiv. 47. || Mosheim, p. 448. L'Enfant Cone, de Pise, ii. 72. 98. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. g33 M Bernard was ingenious, and in many points of a Bound judgment, but of a superstitious and an overhear ing temper, avIio kneAV how to conceal a domineering spirit under the appearance of great piety, and made no scruple by false accusations to ruin thpse whom he could not endure, Abelard, the disciple of Anselm, was the most re» markable person of the times, for wit, elegance, eru dition, logical skill, and unhappy fates. A great man he was, worthy of a better age, and better for tune*." One manifest advantage which the popes foresaw from the Croisades, was that the princes going upon such expeditions would probably leave their realms to the care of ecclesiastics; and returning home beggared to their impoverished subjects, would be the more supple and submissive to the papal see. A. 1147. Gilbert, bishop of Poitiers, was accused pf an heresy, which consisted of some logical and me taphysical quirks and subtleties about the doctrine of the Trinity. Bernard was his zealous opposer and accuser: and they fought together, more Andabata- rum. j" A. 1148. There Avas a Croisade of the Saxons a- gainst the northern pagans, whom they resolved ei ther to convert or to extirpate. This attempt pro duced the usual effects, ravages and murders, and then was dropped ±. One * Mosheim, p. 468. 476. Cave, ii. Z03. Du Fin, T. ix. p. 108. f Fleury, xiv. 635- &$l. X Fleury, xiv. 6j6\ 234 REMARKS ON One Eon, a French heretic, or rather lunatic, pre-. tended to be the Son of God, and seduced many of the vulgar. He was put in prison, and died there *. St Hildegardis, a fanatical Nun, and a worker of wonders, had visions and revelations, and was counr tenanced by St Bernard, Pope Innocent III, arid many others -j\ A. 1155, King Frederick and Pope Adrian IV. had an interview. The pope and the cardinals were en raged, because the king did not perform the ceremony of holding the pope's stirrup. The king prostrated himself before him, and kissed his feet, and then ap proached to receive the kiss of peace, as it was called. But the pope told him that he could not grant him that favour till he had paid the pope the honour which all orthodox emperors had shewed to his predecessors, out pf respect to the holy apostles. The king de murred, and th^e next day Avas spent in conferences about it. At last, the king consulted the old lords, who had accompanied Lotharius at his interview with Pope Innocent, and being assured that such was the custom, both by their testimony, and by ancient monuments, he performed the office of groom to the pope, and held his stirrup £. A. 11.58. Gratian's decree, or his collections of canons, though full of ignorance and of blunders, and magnifying the popes authority beyond all bounds, passed for ecclesiastical law in this time, and in the three * Fleury, xiv, 658. f Ibid. 673. xv. 457, X Fleury, xv. 9. Cave, ii, 230. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 235 three following centuries. He was a Benedictin monk *. A. 1 160. Some foreign heretics Avere found in Eng land, and condemned by the bishops. Then they were beaten with sticks, scourged, burnt in the face, and turned adrift ; and no person being permitted to lodge or to feed them, they all perished with cold and hunger. To have hanged them would have been mercy compared with such usage I. Petrus Blesensis jor/»z«.y omnium Juit, qui in re Eu- charistica Transubstantiationis vocabulum usurpasse di- citur %. At this time flourished Joannes Cinnamus, a Greek historian, and a good writer. Dictio ejus purior est tersiorque quam aliorum esse Graculorum solet : imo Xenophontis ipsius, quern in Prcefatione laudat, cemulus est §, t A. 1166. Demetrius, a Greek, an illiterate man, and a great pretender to theological knowledge, -broached a notion that Christ was equal to his Father in all respects ; that is, I suppose, both as man and as God. : A council of Constantinople condemned his doctrine ||. Henry II. king of England, came to Normandy, and called an assembly of prelates and barons, and appointed a collection of money for the relief cf the Holy Land, at the request and after the example of the king of France, and in execution of the decree of Pope Alexander. This assessment was laid upon all persons * Fleury, xv. 54. Cave, ii. 215. f Fleury, xv. 113. X Cave ii. 233, § Gr. J. Vossius, Cave,ij. 235. || Fleury, xv. 244. 336 REMARKS ON persons, without exception, and was to last five years, It seems to have been the first instance of a subsidy for this purpose *. A. 1167. Some Manichseans, as they were called, were burnt at Burgundy f. A. 1168. Pope Alexander submitted to the bishop of Roschild the island of Rugia, newly converted. For Valdemar, king of Denmark, had conquered the Sela- vonian Rugians, inhabitants of that island. He be sieged their capital, which surrendered to him. Tlie first articles of capitulation were, that they shpuld de liver up to the king their idol, called Suantovit, with all its treasures ; that, they should give up without ransom all their Christian captives ; and that they .should themselves embrace Christianity. Suantovit, whom these barbarians held to be their supreme god, was originally the martyr Saint Vitus, Some Saxon monks, who honoured the reliques of this saint, had formerly introduced the gospel into Rugia, and had founded a church there, dedicated to their patron-r saint : but these people relapsing into idolatry, forgat the true God, and in his stead worshipped this martyr, called him Suantovit, and made an image of him. So dangerous is it, as Fleury himself observes, to teach pagan idolaters too soon the worship of saints, and of their images, before they have been well instructed, and confirmed in the belief of the true God. Suantovit had a magnificent temple in the city: his idol was gigantic, and had four heads, two looking forwards, and two backwards. In his right hand he/ hekl * Fleury xv. 221. f Ihid. 274. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 257 held an horn, adorned with various metals. His pontiff filled it every year with wine ; and as this liquor wasted, or not, he foretold the plenty or steri lity of the year. ' To this idol they sacrificed animals, and then feasted upon them ; they also sacrificed men, but only Christians. All the country paid tri butes and oblations to this deity, and his pontiff Avas a much more considerable person than the king *. A. 1 170. Saxo Grammaticus, a most elegant writer for the age in which he lived, wrote the history of his coufttrymea the Daries "j*. A. 1177* The emperor Frederic made peace with Pope Alexander III. " Some have reported that this pontiff put his foot upon- the neck of the prostrate emperor, and repeated" the words of the xcth Psalm ; Super aspidem et basiiis- cum ambulabis; et conculcabis leonem et draconem. But it is now the general % opinion that the story is not built upon sufficient authority. Alexander, who made himself famous by this Avar with Frederic, had, also violent contentions with Henry II. of England, on account of Thomas Becket. He secured the ecclesiastical authority, and par ticularly tlie power of the Roman Pontiffs, not only by arms, but by artifice, and by enacting new laws. For in § the third Lateran council, he made a decree that for the future, to avoid the Usual contentions and disturbances at the election of a pope, the right of ehusino- him should be vested in the cardinals alone, and he should be a lawful pope, who had the suf frages -&v » Fleury, xv. 278. f Cave ii. 241. + See Bib/. Univ. xiv. 6« & A. 1179. 238 REMARKS ON frages of two thirds of the college of cardinals; This law still continues in force from its establishment; ancl by it not only the people; but the Roman clergy are excluded from any share in the nomination of popes. He was the first pontiff who in the same council proclaimed an holy war against heretics* who at that time disturbed the Catholic church* and particularly some provinces of France. He took away from the bishops, and evert from general councils, the right of appointing and nomina-: ting those who should be publicly Worshipped as saints ; and added Canonization, as it is called, to the Major Causes^ that is* to those which pertain to the cognizance of the pope alone. He also, to pass over lesser exploits,- put in actual practice the power which the pontiffs had claimed, from the time of Gregory VII. to create kings. Fof he * gave the royal title and dignity to Alphonsus-L; duke of Lusitania, who before, under Lucius II. had subjected his province and made it tributary to the see of Rome ^t Thomas Becket was most justly canonized by: the pope, since he lost his life for maintaining popish in novations and the tyrannical power which the church,. as they called it, usurped over the state. His blessed > bones wrought numberless miracles, till Henry VIII. demolished them J. "A. 1173. At this time the Templars acted the part of free-booters and murderers^ A prince of the: assassins * A. 1179. t Mosheim, p. 461. Cave, ii. 232. X See Stillingfieet, vol. v. p. 710. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. g$9 assassins in Phoenicia sent a deputy to the kino- of Jerusalem, declaring himself and his people inclined to receive the Christian religion. The king sent him back to his master* with one of his own guards to protect him. But the Templars assassinated the de puty, as he was returning home ; and the king was unable to chastize or restrain them. The Knights Templars and Hospitallers had scarcely been establish ed sixty years before they were corrupted to such a degree, that both Christian and Mahometan writers, though seldom concurring in the same sentiments, agree in describing them as the vilest of mankind. The assassins Were a sect of Mahometans, who a- rose in the year 891, when Carmat, a pretended pro phet in Arabia, drew after him many followers. He fasted, and laboured with his hands, and prayed fifty times a day. He promised to re-establish the family of Ali, and to dethrone the Califs. He released his disciples from the most troublesome observances of their religion, permitting them to drink wine, and to eat any kind of food. By this indulgence, joined to the hopes of plunder* he collected a great army, and ravaged the dominions of the Calif. He had a series of successors, of whom the most famous was Abou- Taher, who having desolated the provinces with an army of an hundred thousand men, ancl robbed the caravans of the pilgrims * took Mecca, murdered all the pilgrims who were assembled in the temple, and carried away the black stone, which was the object of their devotion, and caused the pilgrimage to cease for twelve years. Afterwards * A. 9,29. §40 REMARkS o*r AfterAVards these Carmatians being enfeebled; kept their religion concealed, and mixed themselves" with the Mahometans. In the year 1090,- they were set tled in Persia ; where Hacen* their chief, receiving a threatening rriessage from the Sultan* commanded one Of his subjects, in the presence of the messenger*'' to fling himself froin the top of a tower; and another1 to kill himself, which they instantly performed. Theii Hacen said to the messenger, Tell your master that I have severity thousand men ready tP do as much. The Carmatians, unknown and desperate, went about and murdered several princes in a treacherous way. Historians call their prince, The old man bfthe mom- tain$ Which is a literal translation of his Arabic name; and as they commOftly made use of the poinard, they were called Hassissins,' which we have changed to Assassins. The Jew* Benjamin of Tudela, speaks Of them in his voyages, which end at the year 1173; His rela tions are full of fables, and gross geographical errors; so that he is justly suspected of writing what he had heard from others concerning places which he pretends to have visited. This is the time' of the first famous Rabbins..- After the* Talrririd, which was eompleated in the year 500*. the Jews have only a few books written before 1000. From that time, literature began to revive amerigst them, and treatises Avere composed by Nathan, Aben- ezra of Spain, Solomon Jarchi of France, Maimonides of Corduba, and David Kimhi of Spain *." A. 1 175. In a council at London, it is decreed in one of the Canons : The *- Fleury, xv. 377. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 241 The eucharist shall not be given dipped, under pretence of making the communion more complete. . It was then the more usual custom to receive the eucharist only in one kind *. Pope Alexander approved a new military order of St James in Spain, consisting of clerks and of knights, the former observers of celibacy, the latter married men, whose wives were accounted sisters of the order. Their business was to wage war with the Saracens, &c. t A. 1176. Petrus Comestor published his scholastic history, a very paltry performance, and yet received with such applause, that for three hundred years it was accounted a body of positive theology, and held the same rank with the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and Gratian^s Decretals. This might give rise to a fable believed for a long time, that these three authors wrere brethren. A. 1179* In a council of Lateran, the fourth canon forbids archbishops and bishops to empoverish and pillage the clergy and the churches by their exactions at their visitations. It adds* If a bishop ordains a priest or a deacon, without assigning him a certain title for his subsistence, he shall maintain him till he gives him some ecclesiastical revenue ; unless the clerk can subsist by his own pa trimony, This is the first canon that mentions a patrimony, or an estate, as serving for an ecclesiastical title. The twenty-third canon says, vol. 111. Q Wheresoever Eleuty, xv. 402. + Ibid- 406. 24-2 REMARKS Off Wheresoever there are lepers numerous enough to form a society, and to have a church, a church-yard, and a priest to officiate, this favour shall be granted, to them, ancl they shall also be exempted from pay ing tithes of the fruits of their gardens, and of their; cattle. •; This is likewise the first constitution that I have: observed concerning societies of Lepers*. .:-;, At this council the pope condemned, as heretical^ this proposition of Peter Lombard ; ; ., Jesus Christ, considered as man, is not any thing, o?v something f. But nonsense can hardly be called heresy'. The pope at the same time consecrated two English bishops, and two Scots. Of the Scots, one came to Rome with only one horse ; the other on foot, with only one companion. There came also an Irish bishop, Avho had no other revenue than- the milk of three cows ; and when the coavs ceased to yield milk, hisdiocesaiis furnished him with three others. This was the Mtas Lactea with the Irish prelates : the Mtas A urea Avas not yet come. St Laurence, avIio at that time was archbishop of Dublin, Avas a very religious man, according to the religion ofthose days. When he lay on his death-bed, being admonished to make his will, he replied ; God knoweth that I have not a single penny J. A 1180. The emperor Manuel Comnertus died, Avhilst he was occupied about a theological contro versy, Avliich was terminated three months after. There v Fleury, xv. 466. f Cave, ii. 220. X Fleury, xv. 474, ' ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 243 There was in the Catechism of the Greeks an anathema against the God of Mahomet, who neither begetteth nor is begotten, but is Holosphyros, as if you should say, solid^ Or all of a piece ; for so the Greeks rendered the Arabic word Elsemed, which is one of the names of God, according to the Mahometans. The emperor Called his bishops together, and proposed to strike out this anathema* which scandalized such Mahometans as were else disposed towards Christianity, and could not bear to make use of curses pronounced against God, On any pretence whatsoever. The bishops at first would not part with the anathema, and rejected the emperor's proposal. However, at length, with much reluctance, they consented to leave it out, and instead of it to say, Anathema to Mahomet, to his doctrines, and to his sect *. A. 1181. The pope's legate marched with a great army against the Albigenses, whom he called Mani chseans. Lucius III. was elected pope by the cardinals, who- now assumed that right to themselves f. A. 1182. Philip of France hated the Jews, and suspected them to be guilty of crucifying Christian children, and of other crimes ; and therefore expelled them from his dominions. " I find not till now, says Fleury, accusations of this kind brought against the Jews ; but afterwards they were frequent. The Jews affirmed that they were calumnies. But why should the Christians q 2 have * Fleury. xv. 487. + Ibid. 498, 244 REMARKS OS have forged them more at this time than at i any other, if there had not been Some foundatip^f for them }'* There seems to be no great weight in Fleury's avhy. Many Christians Of those times would nqt scruple to tell any lies, especially where religion was concerned. Thus they confidently affirmed, that miracles were wrought at the tombs of these crucified children. . , . . . Several heretics, called Manichaeans* wrere burnt 'nf Flanders. The Greeks massacred all the Latins whom they found in Constantinople, except about four thousand, whom they sold for slaves to the Turks. The Latins repaid the Greeks in the same manner *-. A. 1185. The Sicilians took Thessalonica, and committed th'ere all kind of cruelties, sacrileges, and impieties* The archbishop of that city was very serviceable to his flock in this grievous calamity; He was the learned Eustathius, well known by his Commentary on Homer. He might have retired before the seige, but he chose to stay Avith his people*! to comfort them-; and after the city Avas taken, > he often visited the Counts who commanded the Sici lian troops, to soften them and excite them to coni-i passion. They shewed him. respect, arose to receive him, heard him patiently, and, had some regard to his entreaties "j". A. 1186. Some Livonians were converted, and a church was founded in their country. The * Fleury, xv. 506. t Ibid. 540. Cave* ii. 240. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 245 "{*"The Templars, by their perfidies, perjuries, and ravages, provoked Saladin, who on that account waged war with the Christians, beat them at the. bat tle of Tiberias, slew all the Templars that feU into, his hands, took Jerusalem, and treated its inhabi tants with much generosity and humanity. Thus Jerusalem fell into the hands pf the Mahometans, after. having been in those of the Latin Christians eighty- eight years. And now the Latins had only Antioch, Tyre, and Tripoly left in their possession *. V A. 1188, A Croisade was undertaken, and the pope's legate went as a sort of generalissimo. ' There was a massacre of the Jews in England, re- Corded by our Historians, A. 1191. Celestin III. being; made pope, was se.at-s ed in the Stone Chair, which was even then called Stercoraria, because it had a hole in the seat, resem bling a close-stool. But the. hole is small, and antiquaries are of opinion that it had been a chair used in some bath witi,i an opening to, l,?t the water drain off. > This modest pope crowned the emperor Henry VI. and holding the imperial crown first between his feet, he kicked it tP the floor, to shew that he had ppwer, to depose, as well as to make emperors f. >¦: "¦ In the cloister of St John of Lateran, there are three chairs, one of white marble and two of porphy ry. The two latter are pierced, the first is not. They were called Stercorarire, and they used to make the new popes sit clown in them to fulfil the words 0,1 f Q 3 of f Fleury, xv. 552. f Fleury, xv. 6oq 246 REMARKS ON of Scripture ; Susdtat de pulvere egenurn^ et de sier-i. core erigit pauper em. Mabillon thinks that they had at first been used in baths, and that the beauty of the marble caused them to be employed in this ceremony, ancl that being in the porch of St John of Lateran, they Avere called Stercorarice, on account of the obscure and neglected place where they stood, and also by way of allusion to the words of the Psalm Avhich the pope used to chant when he sat upon them. Others took them to be close-stools, and on that account fit for the pope to sit upon, when he said de stercore, &c. It is not known when this re ligious use of them commenced. No author hath spoken of it before the twelfth century, that is, accord ing to Mabillon, an hundred years before mention Avas made of the story of Pope Joan, pf which he, supposes Martinus Polonus to have been the first re- later. After which, it being reported that they used these chairs, to examine the sex of the new made pope, the ceremony became so infamous that it was abolished *." " There was a statue of Joan, whilst the. story about her was believed, and it stood amongst those pf the popes in a church pf Siena. But, under the Pontificate of Clemens VIII, they altered the fea tures of her face into those of a man, and put under neath it the name of Zacharias, thus transforming a Popess into a Pope^.3' Acre was taken by the Croisez ; and the Order of Teutonic Knights was established %. a. \mx * Mabillon, Bibl. Univ. vii. 150. f Bibl. Univ. vii. i6p. X Fleury, xv. 602. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 247 ;A. 1193. " Since the twelfth century, the Greeks sunk in Ignorance, took it into their heads to erase the writings of old parchment manuscripts, aud to write ecclesiastical treatises in them ; and thus, to the unspeakable detriment of the republic of let ters, such authors as Polybius, Diodorus Siculus. and some others avIio are quite lost Ave re metamor phosed into prayer-books and homilies. After an exact search, I can affirm that of the books Avritten on parchment since that century, I have found the greater number tp be such as had the first writing upon them scratched out. But as all these copysts were not equally dextrous in effacing and cleaning these manuscripts, I have seen some in which a part at least of the former writing might be read *," Celestin III. died, and Innocent III. was chosen in his room, being only thirty-seven years of age : and here end the annals of Baronius. ; Some heretics, called Manichseans, and also the Val- denses, were persecuted in France, The order of the Holy Trinity, or of the Trini tarians, for the redemption of captives, was instituted, and was confirmed by the pope *j\ - The Annales Ordinis SS. Trinilatis, written by a Franciscan, abound with wonderful Wpnders wrought in support of the order. These were happy times, when miracles cost nor, thing besides the easy labour of inventing them. Were the monk.s and nuns destitute of food ? They sat down to table, and angels in the form of pretty girls brought them dishes of savoury meat, Did they * Montfaucon, Mem de /'Acad. is. 325. Fleury, xiv. 16, Mosheim, p. 51 J. fcibl, Univ. y. 1. 24S REMARKS ON they want to go a voyage by sea ? Ships Avere at hand, which spontaneously carried them to the desired harbour, Were they travelling by land, and did they want to sit down and rest themselves ? Rooks Avere instantly turned into soft elboAV-chairs. Was it time to say mass? The bells tolled of their own accord, &c. There was at Paris a feast observed in the cathe dral, on the first of January, called The festival of jbols, in which all sorts of absurdities and indecencies were committed, This holy-day w^s put down, or rather, was suspended only for a time ; for it lasted still two hundred and forty years after. The insolent Pope Innocent III. in a most saucy and impertinent letter, threatened to excommunicate' the emperor of Constantinople and all the Greeks church, if they would not submit to his supreme: authority, temporal and spiritual. What a blockhead; Avas he, to think that his excommunications would terrify the Greeks, already alienated from the Latins, and from the popes ! He shewed favour to the Jews, forbidding to com pel them to receive baptism, and to take their goods by violence, to disturb them in the celebration of their festivals, to exact from them new services, to deprive them of their burying-grounds; or to dig up their bodies *. Mosheim f hath given a full and just account of the tyranny, usurpation, and wickedness of the popes" and their legates in this century. The princes eUv deavoured to restrain some of these encroachments, §nd Louis IX. called Saint Louis, secured, as far as the, * ?Ie«7' xvi- ^ t P. p6. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 249 the times would permit, the privileges of the GaUican church, by the Pragmatic Sanction. A. 1199- Some heretics were hanged, some be^ headed, and some burnt in Italy *. In this century, in Germany, persons even of the highest rank, if they had behaved unfaithfully to the emperor, were condemned, according to an old cus tom, to carry a dog about upon their shoulders ; that this animal, who is a symbol of fidelity, might up- braid them for the Avant of it -\. " So many things concurred to disgrace and corrupt religion, that it is matter of wonder to find even the slenderest traces of it remaining. The Roman pon tiffs would suffer nothing to be taught which opposed their insolent government, and required that religion should be modelled in such a form arid manner, as to be subservient to that plan which their predecessors had contrived. Whosoever would not comply with their will, and presumed to prefer the holy Scriptures. to their decrees, was immediately cut off by fire or sword. Then the priests and monks perceiving that it was their interest to keep the people in profound ig norance, amused them with frivolous and pompous ceremonies, and made piety to consist in silly rites, bodily macerations, and a profound veneration for the sacred order. The Scholastic doctors, considered the. dictates of the ancients, dressed up in a logical form, as the only sacred truths, and instead of explaining the word of God, divided and subdivided religion in to incoherent scraps. In opposition to them, the mystics, excluding human liberty, ascribed all pious dispositions, * Fleury, xvi.. $6. f Spener, Hist. Germ. 2-50 REMARKS ON dispositions to a divine impulse, and instead of set. ting bounds to reason, absolutely discarded it. Hence, an incredible superstition and ignorance supplied the place of religion amongst the people, They put their trust, not in prayers to God, and in the merits and intercession of Christ, but in reliques, for the most part fictitious, ancl at the best uncertain. Whosoever could build a church at his own expence, or largely contribute to repair and adorn it, Avas ac* counted an happy creature, and high in the favour of God. He who through poverty could not perform such exploits, submitted to the functions of a beast of burden, in carrying stones, and drawing a cart for the use of a sacred edifice, and expected eternal life as a reward for these voluntary labours. Religious invocation was much more directed to the saints and to the court of heaven than to God or to our Saviour; and in those days no curious questions were started, as they were in later times, in what manner the saints above could be supposed to hear and regard the suppli cations of men upon earth ; for before the Scholastics had begun their subtle speculations upon this subject, it had been an old opinion, which the Christians bor rowed from the pagans, that celestial spirits descended from their mansions, and delighted to be in the places which they had frequented when they dwelt here. If any knave or lunatic, male or female, boasted of di vine revelations, they were received as the oracles of God ; as it appears from the examples of two cele brated German prophetesses, St Hildegardis, and St Elizabeth. The rulers of the church took a mean advantage -of the bigotry and stupidity of the people, to squeeze money out of them, arid to enrich themselves ; and every ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 251 every religions order had tricks of its own to carry on this pillaging trade, The bishops, Avhenever they wanted large sums, either for pious, or for Avicked uses, gave sinners leave to purchase at certain rates a remission of the punishment which they had incurred; that is, they granted indulgences; and it is well known what great undertakings were accomplished in these ages by- the profits arising from the indulgences. The. abbots ancl the monks, to whom it was not per mitted to exercise this privilege, found out another device to get Avealth. They used to carry about in solemn processions the carcases and reliques of the. saints from place to place ; and Avhosoever wanted to see, or to handle, or to kiss these rarities, was obliged to purchase this honour and felicity by an handsome present. As large a profit Avas sometimes made by this craft, as even by episcopal indulgences. The Roman pontiffs, perceiving how lucrative the grant of indulgences was to the inferior prelates, pro jected to restrain this episcopal privilege within nar rower bounds, and to take the trade into their own hands. They therefore granted not only common and public indulgences, but perfect, absolute, andplenar// remission of all temporal and finite pains and penal ties, as often as the necessities of the church, or their own interest required ; nor did they only remit those penances and corrections which the laAvs divine and .human inflicted, but also those Avhich were to be un dergone in the intermediate state of purgatory ; which was more than the bishops had presumed to do. At first they exercised this prerogative sparingly, and only for carrying on the holy wars : but after wards they granted such favours profusely, on various and 2-52 REMARKS ON and lesser occasions^ and for the sake of lucre. By the introduction of this new right, the ancient cano nical and ecclesiastical penitence fell to nothing ; and the penitential canons and directories being laid aside* an unbounded licence of sinning was allowed. And that the papal usurpations might not want a proper support, a doctrine unheard of before was invented in this age, which in the following century was polished and perfected by Thomas Aquinas ; namely, that: there is an immense and inexhaustible treasure of works of supererogation performed by the saints ; that; the guardian and dispenser of this treasure is the Ro man pontiff ; that out of this plenteous stock, he can transfer and assign to every man such a portion as his spiritual wants may require, and as shall suffice to* secure him frpm the punishment due to his offences,.: It is a deplorable thing that a device, so mean, so sor did, so infamous, and so noxious, should still be're-r tained and defended. The principal professors of theology dwelt at Paris, but divided into different sects. The first sort were the Theologi Viteres, who adhered to the old divinity, and established sacred doctrines on passages of the. Scriptures, testimonies of the fathers, and decrees of councils, and rarely added any thing of human wis dom or science. Such were Bernard and others** There was not a wide difference between these doc;;, tors and those who were afterwards called Positivi and- Sententiarii : for the latter supported their theological tenets principally bythe testimony of the Scriptures, and of the ancient doctors ; but yet they had recourse also to reasoning and to philosophy, especially yvhen difficulties were to be removed and adverr saries ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 253 saries were to be confuted ; and herein some were more cautious and moderate than others. The most eminent of these was Petrus Lombardus, whose four books of Sentences, which were made public A. 1162, suddenly acquired such authority, that the doc tors took them as a text, to be explained by their comments. At the same time another* and a far bol der sect of teachers arose* who presumed to interpret the sacred doctrines by logical terms and distinc tions* and to reduce them to the rules of the dialectic art; The author of this method of teaching divini ty* which was afterwards called Scholastic, because it was generally adopted in the schools* was Peter Abe- lard, a man of a most subtle genius ; and great mul titudes in France, in England, and in Italy* incited by his example, and desirous of acquiring the same hon our, became his followers and imitators^ By these studies the mild and peaceable religion of Christ was suddenly turned into the art of quibbling and wrang ling. For these men illustrated and explained no thing* but obscured the clearest truths by distinctions and by subdivisions into scraps and fragments ; Wearied themselves and others with frivolous and ab struse questions ; disputed both for and against the most important points; and because logical terms were not to be found applicable to all parts of religion, tbey had recourse to new ones, and ran into the most intricate and perplexing trifles *.*' Mosbej-m, p. 469. Discourse 2.54 REM-ARkS ON Discourse on Ecclesiastical History, by Fleury. They who have perused with any attentiori rhy foregoing volumes, have doubtless observed a wide difference between the discipline of the first ten cen turies, and of those which followed. It was indeed much enfeebled in the tenth century* but that was Owing to ignorance, or to such transgressions as stood condemned at the first view^ Still it was acknowledge ed that the canons and the ancient tradition were to be followed. It is only since the twelfth century: that they began to build Upon new foundations* and to follow maxims unknown to antiquity; But even then they thought to follow it, Avhilst they were departing from it. The evil came from art error in fact, from taking that to be ancient which Avas novel ; for in ge-> neral it hath been always taught in the church that itAvas necessary to adhere to the tradition of the first ages, for discipline as well as for doctrine. I have ala ready spoke:: of the false decretals ascribed to the popes of the three first ages, Avhich are found in the col lection of Isidorus, and which made their appearance at the end of the eighth century, and I have mention ed the proofs which demonstrate them to be spurious; Here is the sourse of all the evil ;^an ignorarice of history and criticism caused these decretals to be'1 re- ' ceived, and the neW maxims contained in them to be admitted as the doctrine of the purest antiquity. A presbyter of Constance, who wrote towards the end of the eleventh century, says, on the authority of these decretals ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 255 decretals, that according to the discipline of the aposa ties and their successors, bishops ought never, or very rarely to be accused ; and yet acknowledges that this discipline agrees not with the Nicene Council ; and owing likeAvise that this council forbad the transla tions of bishops, he opposeth to it the authority of the Popes Euaristus, Callistus, and Anteros, more ancient than that council, who permitted such transla tions. After the Roman church had groaned an hundred and fifty years together under many worthless popes who profaned the holy see, God took pity on this pri mary church, and gave her Leo IX. whose virtues have placed him among the saints, and who had for successors in the rest of the eleventh century, and in the twelfth* several popes virtuous, and zealous for the re-establishment of discipline, as Gregory VII. Ur ban II. Paschal II. Eugenius III. and Alexander III. But the most upright intentions destitute of know-* ledge, produce great faults ; and the faster one run-s in the dark, the more frequent and dangerous are the falls. These great popes, finding the authority of the decretals so established that none ever thought to con test them, imagined themselves obliged in conscience to support the maxims therein contained as the pure discipline of the apostolical times,, and of the golden age of Christianity. But they did not discern that they contained many maxims directly contrary to those ®f venerable antiquity. .In these false decretals it is declared unlawful to hold a council without the order, or at least the per mission of the pope. Have you seen any thing like this in the.liis.tory, I say not of the three first ages of Christianitv. 236 REMARKS OST Christianity, but down to the ninth ? I knoW that the authority of popes was always necessary i for general councils ; and thus is to be understood the saying of the historian Socrates* that there is a canon forbidding the churches to make any rule without the consent of the bishop of Rome ; and the remark; of Sozomen, that the care of all the churches belongs to him, on account of the dignity of his see. But as to provincial and ordinary councils, the Roman correc tors of Gratian^s decree have acknowledged, that the authority of the pope is not necessary. In fact,, is there the least trace of a permission or consent of the pope in all the councils mentioried by Tertullian, Cyprian, and Eusebius, either as to the celebration of Easter, or the re-admission of penitents, or the baptism of heretics ? Was any mention made of the pope in the three great councils of Alexandria* which were convened on the affair of Arius, before the Ni cene Council ? Was there any mention of him in the council of Constantinople called by the emperor Theodosius in 381 ? And yet pope Damasus and all the Avest consented to its decisions ; insomuch that it is counted the second Oecumenic council. Not to mention so many national councils held in Fiance, principally under the kings of the second race, and in Spain under the Gothic kings. When' the Nicene fa thers ordered that two councils should be held annu ally in each province* did they suppose that a mes sage was to be sent to Rome to ask leave ? How could such application be perpetually made from the extre mities of Asia and of Africa? The holding of provin cial councils was counted amongst the ordinary prac tices of religion, just as the celebration of the eucha rist . ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY^ 257 nst on Sundays. It was only the violence of persecu*- tions which interrupted the Course of it ; and as soon as the bishops found themselves at liberty* they re*- turned to it* as to the most efficacious way of keeping up proper discipline; . Yet in consequence of this new riiaxim* scarcely were any councils held after the twelfth century, in which the legates of the pope did not preside ; and then the custom of calling them to gether insensibly declined and was dropped* In the Decretals it is said that the bishops can be jndged definitively by the pope alone i and this max im is frequently repeated; You have met with an hundred instances to the contrary. To mention only the more remarkable* Paul of Samosata* bishop of An-» tipch* the first see of St Peter, and the third city of the Roman empire* was judged arid deposed by the bishops of the east arid of the neighbouring provinces* without the participation Of the pope* to whom they thought it sufficient to notify the thing after it was done, as it appears from their synodical letter i and the, pope made no complaint about it. Nothirig is more frequent in the first nine ages than accusations and depositions of bishops ; but this was performed in provincial councils, the usual tribunals in all causes ecclesiastical. He must be totally ignorant of the history of the Church, who can imagine that no bi shop at any time* or in any place* could be judged* without sending him to Rome* or obtaining a com mission from the pope. And indeed, without consulting facts, a small de gree Of common sense Will shew that the thing was impracticable. As early as in the fourth century, there was a prodigious number of churches in Greece, -in Asia* in Syria* in Egypt* and in Afric, besides vol. ni. R those 238 REMARKS ON those in the western World. Most of the bishops were poor, and incapable of taking long Journeys ; and the emperors used to defray their charges when they came to general councils. How was it possible to bring them up to Rome, and not them only, but their accusers, and the witnesses, men usually still poorer than they ? Yet this is what the author of the decretals was obliged to suppose ; and the absurdity of it appeared evidently when the popes attempted to put it in practice. Gregory VII. for example* be lieving himself the sole competent judge over all the bishops, Used daily to summon them from the remo test parts of Germany, France, or England. They were obliged to quit their churches for years together, to travel to Rome at vast expence, to go and defend themselves agairist accusers who often failed to ap pear. Delays after delays were obtained ; the pope gave commissions for regeiving information's at the place itself; and thus, after many voyages, and a te dious process, he pronounced a definitive" sentence, against which appeals were made under the next pon tificate. Often the cited bishop did not come to Rome, either on account of sickness, or of poverty, or of some other impediment, or because he knew himself to be guilty. And if the pope deposed him, and appointed another in his place, he defended himself sword in hand. Of this you have seen examples ; and such are the inconveniences of attempting what never fvas, and never can be practicable. True it is that on a few extraordinary occasions of a manifest oppression and a crying iniquity, the bi shops condemned by their councils might have re-, course to the pope, as to the superior over all bishops, and the conservator of the canons ; and such is the' appointment ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY; '25$ appointment of the council of Sardica. But then it requires that the pope, Avhether he appoints a legate or no, shall have the cause judged at the place itself, since it is easy to impose upon a remote judge. On this St Cyprian insists, spekking of Basilides* a Spa nish bishop, who, being deposed in his own province* had by disguising the truth, obtained from Pope Stepheri letters commanding that he should be re stored* to which the African council paid no regard at all. And some years before this, the same Cyprian, writing to Pope Cornelius concerning Fortunatus the Schismatic* useth these remarkable words : " It is a settled rule amongst us* that eVery offen-> der be examined in the place where the offence was committed; It is not fit that they who are subject to our jurisdiction should run about here and there* to sow dissension amongst the bishops; Let them plead the cause Where accusers and witnesses are to be had." Thus he speaks to the pdpe himself* to whom For tunatus had carried his complaints; After all, this recourse to the pope permitted by the council of Sar- dica related principally to extraordinary affairs* and to the bishops of the most eminent sees* such as A- thanaslus, Chrysostom, and Flavian of Constanti nople* who had no other superior to whom they could appeal.- 'The Decretals have also ascribed to the pope alone •the poAver of trarisiating bishops from one see to ano ther; Yet the council of Sardica and other councils, which have mOst strictly forbidden all translations, have made no exceptions in favour of the pope ; and vvhen in a few instances a trarislation was allowed, for toe manifest service -of the church, it was clone by r 2 - the 260 REMARKS ON the authority of the Metropolitan and thes couneil'of the province. So far was the pope from authorizing translations, that the church of Rome was a most ex act observer of the canons which prohibited it. For nine hundred years we find no bishop translated to the see of Rome. Formosus was the first ; and this was made one of tlie pretexts for digging up his body after his death. But since the Decretals obtained force, translations were frequent in the west, where they had before been unknown, and the popes only condemned them wheri they were practised without their authority ; as it appears from the letters of Inno cent III. The same may be observed concerning the erection of new sees. According to the decretals, this belongs to the pope alone ; butaccordingtothe ancient disciplinfe.it belongedto the council of the province, and thereis an ex press canon for it in the African councils. And certainly, to consider only the advancement of religion and thepub- lic utility, it was far more reasonable to refer.it to the bishops of the country, to judge what cities stoodfin need of new bishopricks* and to chuSe proper persons to. fill them, than to refer it to a pope residing so far off, and so incapable of forming a right judgment. In vain are his commissaries appointed to inquire in to these things ; such procedures are not to be com pared with ocular inspection and experimental know ledge. Accordingly, when Augustin erected a new see in his own country, he sent not to Rome aboatit, he only consulted the primate of Numidia ; andifthft pope was acquainted with it* it was only on occasion Of the personal faults of Antony the appointed-bi shop ; and he made no complaint that the see had been erected without his participation. St Remigius had' ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 261 had not recourse to the pope, when he erected the bi- shoprick of Laon ; he did it? says Hincmar, by the authority of the African council, that is, of the canon which we have mentioned. And the reason is, that the Decretals which invest the pope with this privilege were not as yet fabricated. As to the consolidation, or suppression of bishop ricks, I see no other grounds to attribute them to the pope alone, except some procedures of St Gregory reported by Gratian. But Gratian did not discern that Gregory acted thus only in the southern parts of Italy, of which Rome was the metropolis, or in Sicily, and other islands, which depended particularly on the holy see. In the first ages, metropolitan cities were few, in pro portion to the number of bishopricks, that the coun cils might consist of the more members ; for the prin cipal function of the Metropolitans was to preside in them. But after the popes possessed the power of appointing them, they created a great number, chiefly in Italy, without any occasion for it, and purely to ;shew honour to certain cities. The Nicene Council, which doubtless had a right to grant new prerogatives pf this ; kind, says simply, that the privileges of churches shall be preserved to them, according to an cient custom ; which shews that the distinction of metropolitan and patriarchal churches was already settled by long possession. The popes since the ele venth century haye not oiily made metropolitans, but patriarchs, and prirnates, all upon the authority of the decretals ; namely, of the first letter attributed to St Clemens, and of the second and third of Pope Ana- clef, wherein it is said that the apostles and their sue, r 3 cessprig 262 REMARKS ON cessors established patriarchs and primates in thosfe, cities, where the temporal government had- placed the principal magistrates, and where the pagans had their Archiflqmines, a barbarous word, which is to be found only in the decretals. You have seen that in the first ages even the title of archbishop was unknown: they were called only bishops of Rome and of Alex andria, as well as pf the smallest city ; and the bi^ shops in their letters treated each other as brethren, With a perfect equality, as it appears from the inscrip tions of the letters of Cyprian, As charity declined, titles and ceremonies increased, Tlie bishop of Alex andria, as it is supposed, was the first who took the name of archbishop ; the bishop of Antioch that, of patriarch ; and the name of primate was peculiar- to Afric. But this was more than the forger of the de* cretals knew ; and he hath not mentioned the title pf exarch, so famous in Asia, Yet it was upon the credit of this author that Gre^ gory VII, established, or rather confirmed- the prima cy of Lyon, since in his bull he cites the words of the decretal of Anaclet. On the same foundation other popes have presumed to erect so many primacies, ill France, in Spain, and elsewhere ; supposing them to have been ancient, by an error in fact. These newesta- blishments being contrary to ancient possessions, have produced most violent contests, You haye seen with what vigour the French prelates rejected the primacy which John VIII. gave to the archbishop of Sens : you have seen how they afterwards opposed that of Lyon, which long possession hath at last established ; and how the bishops of Spain opposed that of Toledo, and of Brague, which have never been well authorized. We must npt then imagine that a bull given without knowledge/ ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 263 knowledge of the cause, like that of Callistus IL for the primacy of Vienne, sufficeth to overset at once the ancient state of churches, in defiance to the parties concerned. One of the deepest wounds that the Decretals gave to ecclesiastical discipline, was the boundless extend* ing of the appeals to the pope. It appears that the forger had this article greatly at heart, by the care that he hath taken to spread quite through his work the max im that not only every bishop, but every priest, and in .general every person who finds himself aggrieved, may upon every occasion appeal directly to the pope. He introduceth no less than nine popes confirming this doctrine, Anaclet, Sixtus I. and IL Fabian, Cornelius, Victor, Zephyrinus, Marcellus, and Julius. Yet St. Cyprian, who lived in the time of Fabian, and Cor nelius, not only opposed such appeals, but gave solid reasons for his opposition ; and in the time of St Au gustin, the African church did not as yet permit them, as it appears from a letter of a council to Pope Caeles-? tinus*. Lastly, Until the ninth' century, we find few examples of these appeals, by virtue of the Council of Sardica, unless, as I said before, by some bishops of eminent sees, who had no other superior than the pope. But after the Decretals got into vogue, appeals were perpetual throughout the Latin Church. Hincmar, better skilled than others in the knowledge of the an cient discipline, vigorously opposed this innovation, maintaining that the remedy ought, at the farthest, to be granted only to bishops, and not to priests. You have seen afterwards the complaints of Ivo and of * A. 426. §64 REMARKS ON of St Bernard against this abuse, which in their day# was got to the heighth. They shewed that the liberty * of appealing to the pope, in aU matters, entirely en* ervated the old discipline ; that wicked priests, and Ot ther refractory sinners, had by it a sure Avay to elude, or at least to delay correction ; that the pope was; of ten ill-informed, and obliged to retract the judgments which he had rashly pronounced ; lastly, that the prelates wearied out with the length of vexatious procedures,' theexpenceand the fatigue of voyages, and many other difficulties* desponded and connived at disorders which they could npt rectify. Even the popes found them-? selves at last iripommoded by this liberty. of appealing to them,^ which often retarded the execution of their- own orders; and thence arose the clause, Notwithstmik; ing all appeals; which became the style of their bulls. If St Bernard exerted himself with such vigour against this abuse, whilst he yet supposed that the doctrine of appeals must be admitted, what would he have gaid, if he had known that it was a mere innovation founded upon forged records ? How much: more strongly would he have inveighed against that multi-r plicity of affairs with which the popes were encum bered and oppressed ? He knew that, according to the evangelical maxims, a bishop and a successor of the apostles ought to be disengaged from things temporal, to attend to prayer and to the instruction of his flock^: But the tyranny of custom restrained him, and for want of a knowledge pf antiquity, and pf the steps by which the popes had been Jed into tins busy situation, he did not dare to speak put roundly, and advise EuT geniu? to return to the simplicity of the firsfages. And yet the description which Bernard hath giveri Us pf the court of Rome shevy-s how this imaginary right^ founded ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 265 founded on the decretals, had hurt the holy see, un der the pretence of extending its jurisdiction : For he represents the consistory of the cardinals as a par liament, and a sovereign tribunal, occupied in judg ing causes from morning to night, and the pope, who presided, as so encumbered with affairs, that he had scarcely breathing-time. The court was full of soli citors, pleaders, counsellors, self-interested, passionate, disingenuous men, seeking only to over-reach their antagonists, and to grow rich by fleecing others. The same idea is suggested* to us by the history of the; popes of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and by their letters, particularly those of Innocent III. which contain an astonishing detail of the affairs of all Chris tendom. These letters alone must have been an im mense occupation ; for though the pope might not have been the composer of them himself, he must have had an account of their contents laid before him, and have taken cognizance at least of the more important causes. And how shall a pope so occupied find time for prayer, for studying the Scriptures, for preaching* for other essential duties of episcopacy ? I speak not now of the cares resulting from his own do minions, as he Avas a temporal prince : I shall consider them hereafter, I see plainly that by thus extending the authority of the pope, they thought to procure him signal ad vantages, and make his primacy more important. They must then have been absolute strangers to ec clesiastical history, or they must have supposed that thejmost eminent popes, as St Leo and St Gregory, neglected their rights, and suffered their dignity to be debased : for it is % matter of fact that they never exercised the authority set forth in the decretals. Let 956 Remarks on Let us enter a little farther into this subject. These popes, had they not good reason for acting as they did ? Had they not sublimer thoughts, and a more perfect knowledge of religion, than Gregory VII. and Innocent III. ? Vulgar minds seek only their own in terest : philosophical minds, extending their views much farther, discern by the mere light of nature and reason, that in every society the interest of individuals, and even of the rulers, ought to yield to the interest of the community. Surely it is unlawful to imagine that Jesus Christ should establish his church upon maxims less pure and noble than those of pagan phi losophers ; and indeed to those who faithfully govern his flock he hath promised no temporal emoluments, but only an eternal reward proportionable to their charity. Let us then frankly acknowledge that the popes of the five or six first ages had reason to con sider the utility of the catholic church preferably to any apparant advantage to their own persons, or to their own see. Let us own that the interest of the church required that all affairs should be judged upon the spot by those who could settle them with more knowledge and facility ; that the bishops, and parti cularly their head, should be diverted as little as pos sible from their spiritual and essential functions ; and that each of them should remain settled in the church ' where God's providence had placed him, ever apply ing himself to instruct and sanctify his people. To these solid blessings can any one pretend to compare the melancholy advantage of making a pope formi dable all the world over, and of attracting to Rome a crowd of bishops and clergymen from every quarter, some through the fear of censuses, others by the hope of favours. I am ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 267 . I am sensible that this resort of prelates, and of other strangers, whom various interests drew to Rome, brought thither great riches, and that the people of that city grew fat at the expence of the rest of the world ; but I am ashamed to mention a profit of this kind, where Christianity is concerned. Was the pope established at Rome to enrich it, or to sanctify it ? and St Gregory, did he not perform the office of a common parent when he poured out so liberally, by his alms extended through all the provinces, the im mense revenues of the* Roman church ? But the popes Avho enriched Rome did not sanctify Rome ; they seemed to have even despaired of the possibility of it, according to the hideous portrait which St Bernard draws of the Romans of his time. Yet it was the first duty of the pope, as of their bishop, to labour their conversion, and he was much more obliged to this, than to sit in judgment upon so many foreign causes. Gratian's decree * gave the finishing stroke to es tablish the authority of the Decretals, which are cited and dispersed throughout his book. For more than three centuries no other canons were known than those contained in this compilation, and no other were fol lowed in the schools, and in the tribunals. Gratian had gone even beyond the decretals in stretching the pope's power, maintaining that he was not subject to the canons, which he says of his own head, without proof or voucher. Thus arose in the Latin church a confused notion that the papal power had no bounds; and from this principle, taken for granted, manycon- jsequences have been deduced beyond the articles pre- !, cisely P See Cave, ii. 215. 268 REMARKS ON cisely expressed in the decretals ; and the new theologers have not sufficiently distinguished these maxims from the essentials of the catholic faith, concerning the pri macy of the pope, and the ancient rules of disciplined : Besides the things Avhich regard the pope, Gratian hath inserted in his decree new maxims respecting the immunities of the clergy, affirming that they cannot be judged by, laymen, in any case whatsoever ; to prove which he cites many passages from the decretals, and a pretended law of Theodosius adopted by Chaf- lemain, to stretch beyond measure the jurisdiction of bishops. To this he adds a Curtailed paragraph from one of the Novellas of Justinian, which* if the whole had been produced, Avould have proved directly the contrary. Yet this imperial constitution, thus mang led, was the principle pretext on which St Thomas of Canterbury (Becket) resisted the king of England, with that firmness which brought upon him, first per secution, and then martyrdom. The maxim was false, in fact ; but it passed for true amongst the most emi nent casuists. These instances are sensible proofs of the import ance of criticism, which speculative and indolent scholastics treat with contempt, as a childish amuse- 1 ment and a vain curiosity. To learn diverse languages so as to know them accurately ; to weigh every word so as to find out its proper signification, and even its etymology ; to observe the diversity of styles i in the same language, according to times and places ; to exa mine the histories of each nation, trusting only to originals ; to read them with an attention principally to morals ; to join to this the study of geography and of chronology ; these are the foundations of criticism. It is, I confess, a work long and laborious,, but neces sary ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 269 sary in order to ascertain the truth of facts. Facts are not to be discovered by mere syllogizing ; and yet on these facts often depends the conduct of life. You have seen what inconveniences arose from a belief of forged records. Thence came a facility of receiving all sorts of narrations, for want of proper rules to dis tinguish them ; thence so many fabulous legends, so many false miracles, so many frivolous visions, and idle reports ; as we see, not to mention any more, in the dialogues of Csesarius the monk. The maxims contained in Gratian concerning the immunities of the clergy are the ground of an answer given by Innocent III. at the beginning of his pon tificate, to the emperor of Constantinople, whence hath been extracted a famous Decretal. In this letter the pope gives forced interpretations to a passage of St Peter which was alledged by the emperor to prove that all Christians without exception ought to be sub ject to the temporal powers. The apostle, says the .pope, spake thus, to excite the faithful to humility. The king indeed is sovereign, but only oyer those avIio receive from him things temporal, that is to say, over the laity : As if the church had not received all her temporalitiesfrom the secular power ! The pope adds, that the prince hath not received the power of the sword over all evil-doers, but only over those who, using the sword themselves, are subject to his juris diction. By this he means only laymen, that so he might procure for criminal clergymen an exemption from temporal punishment, or an immunity. He says that no one ought to judge another's servant, . supposing that the clergy are not servants to the prince. Then he produces the allegory of the two great lights which Gad hath placed in heaven, to represent, says he, 270 REMARKS ON he, the two great dignities, the pontifical and the re gal. As if in a serious debate it were allowable to advance allegorical whimsies* to deny which is to confute them ! Thus they eluded the plainest aufhori- tiesofthe holy scriptures, to suppott'prejudices drawn from the decretals. Now Innocent could not have addressed himself to a worse person for his purpose* than to a Greek em peror, when he advanced these maxims unknown to antiquity. The Latin princes, for the most part sO ignorant that they could not even read, took for grant ed upon these points all that was told them by the clergy, who were their counsellers ; and these clerks had all studied in the same schools, and drawn from the same source, from the decree of Gratian. A- mongst the Greeks all men of any rank, both clergy and laity, were men of letters : they consulted original records, the scriptures, the fathers, and the ancient councils. They knew nothing of the spurious Beere-< tals coined in the west, and written in Latin. Ac cordingly, they had preserved the old discipline in all the points whichT have marked out; You have seen that all their bishops, and even their patriarchs, were judged, and often deposed in their councils* and that they did not ask leave of the pope to assemble* and that there lay no appeal to him from their decisions. They did not apply to him for -the translations of ; bishops, or for the erection of new sees ; they followed the canons contained in the ancient code of the Greek church, I say not that this church Avas clear of all abu-* /l ses ; I have pointed out several on diverse occasions ; and I know that the patriarchs of Constantinople, by the favour of the emperors, had claimed an exorbitant au thority, and had encroached much on the ecclesiastical power; ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 271 power ; but still the old formalities were externally kept up, and the canons were known and reverenced. You will say, perhaps, It is no wonder that the Greeks did not address themselves to the pope, either for appeals, or for any thing else, since from the time of Photius they did not acknowledge him as head of the church. But did they appeal to him before? And even in the times when they were most united with the Roman church, did they observe any part of that which I now call the new discipline ? Not they indeed ; since even the Latins did not observe it, and these regulations were unknown to the whole church. And here it may be remarked, by the way, that the schism of the Greeks is not so ancient as it is com monly believed. I will clear up this in another dis course. In the mean time let me just mention, that it was hardly formed before the taking of Constantinople by the Latins. Besides, I see not that in the disputes which we have had with the Greeks since the time of Leo IX. and of Michael Cerularius, we have re proached them for holding councils without the per mission of the pope, and for other points which we have ..been discussing. Nor do I find that Gregory VII. and his successors, ever cited the Greek bishops to Rome, and treated them as they did the Latins. They knew well. enough that such commands would not have been regarded. Leo IX. and the popes, who undertook to repair the ruins of tlie tenth century, and to restore the- Roman church to its lustre, laboured also to re-esta blish its temporal power, whicli they founded first on the Donation of Constantine, and then on those of Pepin, Charlemain, Louis the Debonaire, and Otho.. All the world knows now what the Donation of Con stantine 272 REMARKS ON stantine is, and the falsehood of it is even more gene!'' rally acknowledged than that of the Decretals. But in the days of those pppes its genuineness was hot called in doubt. St Bernard took it for granted, when he told EugeniuS that he was not -only the successor of St Peter, but of Constantine. It was known and re ceived even in the ninth century* and it was not till the middle of the fifteenth that the forgery' begart to be discerned. Even the Greeks admitted it* as it ap pears from Theodorus Balsamon, who cites it all* and pretends to ground upon it the prerogatives of the see of Constantinople. Gothofred of Viterbo* in his abridged history* de* dicated to Urban HI. speaking of Constantine's Dp- nation, says that in the opinion of many persons* the church had been more holy in the three first ages* but more happy in the following times, Who soever was the author of this fine sentence* he- had very mean and sordid sentiments* and far beneath* not only the gospel of Jesus Christ, but even human philosophy, a small share of which might teach a man that the happiness of life consisteth in virtue* and not in wealth. But one who pretends to be a Christian cannot form a doubt of it. Je'sus Christ hath explain ed himself sufficiently on this subject by his doctrine and. by his example ; since, being Lord of all worldly possessions, he supremely despised them, and be* queathed, as a portion to his disciples, poverty and sufferings; I -return then again to the question* whether discoveries were made in the eleventh century of a wisdom unknown before, and whether Leo IX, and Gregory VII. were more illuminated than St Leo and St Gregory. These ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 273 These eminent pontiffs had not searched their ar chives enough to find in them the Donation of Con stantine. They were neither sovereign princes, nor temporal lords ; and yet they did not complain that theif power was too much cramped. They had no superfluous time upon their hands* after the perfor mance of their spiritual duty. They were persuaded of the distinctiori between the two powers, which Pope Gelasius hath well set forth, when he says that eVen emperors were subject to bishops in the Religious Order, and that in the Political Order the bishops* not excepting the possessor of the first see* were ob liged to obey the laws of the emperors; Not that it is unlawful for ecclesiastics,- as well as for laics, to possess things temporal. You have seen that in the earliest ages, under Pagan emperors, the churches had their immoveables* and their bishops had a property in all kind of goods* and even in slaves. Hence it follows that they might also pos sess seignories, when* by the weakness of sovereigns* and a defect in politics, jurisdictions became patri monial, and the public power a property of particu lars. For under the Roman empire nothing of this kind was known, and there was no lord, except the sovereign. But after lordships were annexed to certain lands* they who gave sudi lands to the church, gave the seignories also ; and so bishops became counts* dukes* and princes, as they are still in Ger many. And thus, directly against the primitive in stitution, even monks* whose humility had placed them the , lowest of . mankind had their subjects and their vassals ; and their abbots acquired the rank pf lords and princes. All these rights are indeed VOL. HI. & legal ; 274 REMARKS ON legal ; nor ought they to be contested more with the church than with the state ; and to return to the Roman church, it would be unpast to dispute her sovereignty of Rome, and of a great part pf Italy, which she hath possessed for so many agesr since most of the sovereign princes have no better title to produce than a long possession. There was. reason therefore to condemn Arnauld of Bresse, who stirred up the Romans to rebel against the pope, maintaining in general that it was not law ful for the clergy to possess lordships, lands,, or im moveables, and that they ought to subsist upon alms; and voluntary oblations. Yet I confess I could wish to have found in authors contemporary with Arnauld the arguments by which they refuted his errors. For the two letters of St Bernard to the Romans upon. this subject are pathetic declamations, supported by no proofs, and taking it for granted that the pope's. right was incontestable. And as we observed before, he had no doubts concerning the donation of Con stantine. This dped, being received as a true one, established the fact, and the particular rights of the pope ; and as to the rights of the clergy in general, they were valid, as I have shewed. But they ought to have called to mind the maxim of the apostle, that, What is lawful is not always ex pedient, and that the powers of the human mind are too limited to suffice at the same time for the exercise of temporal and of spiritual authority. At least, they ought to have respected the conduct of the ancients, and to have supposed that if Constantine^. donation was real, St Leo and St Gregory must. needs have known it, and must in that case have de clined the use of it, for prudential reasons. The ex perience ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 275 perience of more than six hundred ages hath shewed that their conduct was wise. Bishops who are no more than bishops, are in less danger of being in volved in contentions with the secular power, which hath been continually struggling with lords-bishops. In the opinion of holy prelates, even the administra tion of temporal possessions was too heavy a burden. St Chrysostom complained of it ; and St Ambrose delivered up the management even of his own patri mony to his brother Satyrus. When the church made it a rule to admit none to holy orders except such as embraced a state of con tinence, she had not only a respect to the purity be coming those who Avere continually employed about things sacred, but was desirous that her principal ministers should be disengaged from the cares which a married state unavoidably brings on, and which makes St Paul say that he who is married is divided between God and the world. Now what is the care cf one family compared with the care of a kingdom ? or the conducting of a wife and children, and of a few domestics, Avith the government of an hundred thou sand subjects ? We are more affected with sensible, than with spi ritual objects. A sovereign is occupied in repressing crimes, and preventing seditions and conspiracies a- gainst his person and his estate. He labours to de fend arid preserve it against foreign enemies, and to seize upon opportunities to aggrandize it. For this purpose he must raise and maintain troops, fortify places of defence, and amass treasures to defray so ma ny expences, correspond with' neighbouring princes, negotiate, make treaties of commerce and alliance. To a politician these appear most serious and important r 2 affairs. $7& REMARKS ON affairs., Ecclesiastical functions, in comparison witfr these, seem to him mere trifles and child's play. To sing in a church, to walk in a procession, to practise ceremonies, to make a catechism,, are in his sight vul gar occupations of which any one and every one is ca pable. The important and the solid point is to main tain his own power, and to weaken that of his enemies. Prayer, reading, meditating upon the scriptures, are in his opinion fitter for a monk than a- statesman. He hath no leisure time for such employments. You have seen how much St Bernard feared for Pope Eugenius, lest the burden -of worldly affairs should hinder him from making necessary reflections upon himself and his duties, and lead him. at last into an hardened state of mind. Perhaps you may imagine that a princely prelate will reserve for himself the spiritual functions, and leave the care of the state to some layman. No : That he will not do, by any means, lest he should make this layman the real prince.. He will chuse to turn over his spirituals to others ;- for he is- not afraid of a priest, a vicar-general, a suffragan bishop.. To them he Avill consent to transfer the study of divinity and of the canons, the office of preaching,, the care of souls, contenting himself with a general account of these matters laid before him. But he will enter into the most accurate detail of his. troops, his fortifications,. and his finances ; or he will employ for that purpose some of his ecclesiastics in whom he can better con fide than in laymen ; and these deputies will be in outward appearance clergymen, in reality statesmen. If you doubt of these assertions, look how the dioceses and dominions of powerful prelates in Germany and Poland ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 277 Poland are governed, and you will see by experience that the ancient Christians were the wise men, and that this alliance of temporals and spirituals is never advantageous either to the church or to the state. As to religion, most evidently it is better kept up by bishops who are only bishops, and entirely oc cupied in things spiritual, such as St Ambrose and St Augustin. They usually presided at the assemblies of the faithful, and offered up the holy sacrifice, to which they joined their exhortations and instructions ; they were the- preachers and the divines of their own church. The word of God had quite another effect coming from their mouth, and supported by their authority and their virtues, than in that of mere priests, often strangers or mercenaries. Theology was hand led more seriously and nobly by such prelates so em ployed, than by idle doctors, who sought only to start subtleties, and refine upon one another in fri volous speculations and new questions. The ancient fathers of the church entered only into theological disputes, as new errors sprang up which they were obliged to refute ; but they went -into a particular de tail in points relating to the instruction of the Catechu mens, the conversion of sinners, and the conduct of penitents. They were also the charitable arbitrators and mediators of peace between all Christians who were at variance ; and to them every one applied, for counsel ami assistance, who was ambitious to make a progress in piety ; as we learn from their letters. Jt is true that nothing was to be expected from thesu holy bishops besides spiritual blessings ; they made no man's fortunes in this world ; and this was a sin gular advantage to religion. Wisely our Lord, who was wisdom itself, chose to be born poor, and to be destitute 278 REMARKS ON destitute of all the possessions which are the objects, of covetousness. His disciples were allured and at tached to him only by the force of truth, and by the love of virtue. He wanted to have servants like him-* self, attracted by no other motives than the desire of be* coming better men, and the hope of eternal life. Whosoever imagines that things temporal, of what soever kind they be, riches, honours, power, and the, favour of the great are proper methods to establish re* ligion, he is quite mistaken, I affirm it boldly, and he hath not in him the spirit of the gospel. The reason is evident. If you preach the gospel and have riches and honours to' distribute, you cannot discern by what motive you are followed and regarded, whether that of gain, or that of godliness ; you run the risque of attracting hypocrites, or rather it is almost certain that you will attract none besides such, since the bulk of men is only affected with temporal profit. Say not that it is good to join the spiritual and the temporal together, and so to allure by all sorts of in-r ducements men whose weakness is well known. Jesus Christ knew their weak side better than we, and yet never employed such methods. It is all an illusion of self-love ; and the ministers of the gospel are glad in the mean time themselves to enjoy that wealth and those honours which they pretend to employ as means to gain and to save souls. Let us return to the bishops, and conclude that it was gross and coarse ignorance which made them ima gine that seignories added to their sees were useful means for the support of religion. I know of no see, except that of Rome, which admits a peculiar plea for the unipn of the two powers. As long as the Rqman ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 279 Roman empire subsisted, it contained in its vast ex tent almost all Christendom : but since Europe hath been diA'ided amongst many independent princes, if the pope had been subject to one of them, it might have been feared that the rest would not have been disposed to acknowledge him as a common father, and that schisms would have been frequent. It may therefore be thought that by a particular providence the pope became independent, and lord of a state so powerful as not to be easily oppressed by other sove reigns ; that so he might be more at liberty in the exercise of his spiritual power, and better able to keep all the bishops in order. Tins is the notion of a great prelate * in our days. But in general, if the union of the two powers can be profitable for religious purposes, it ought to have conduced to establish and support those good morals which are the genuine fruits of Christian-doctrine. For Jesus Christ did not only come to instruct us in speculative truths ; he came, as St Paul says, to puri fy to himself a people acceptable, and zealous of good works. If this be the aim of true political wisdom, and the first duty of Christian princes, much more should it be so of ecclesiastics, whose very profession is to sanctify others. Let those who have travelled irt the dominions of ecclesiastical princes tell us how the case is, whether fewer horrible crimes and scan dalous vices are committed there ; whether the high ways are less infested with robbers ; whether more ho nesty and veracity is found in trade and commerce ; in a word, whether the subjects of these prelates dis tinguish * Whom I should guess tp be Bossuet. It looks like one of his. refinements. g80 REMARKS ON tinguish themselves from those of secular rulers by the purity of their morals. I never yet heard it said that the dominions of ec? clesiastics are happier than other kingdoms even in things temporal. Oil the contrary, as these princes are not warriors by profession, their subjects are of ten more exposed tp the insults of foreign enemies, As those dominions are not hereditary, the relations and the creatures of the prince are only attentive tp enrich themselves, and that at the expence of the peo-. . pie. They haye no views of serving the public by augmenting the number of the inhabitants, cultivate jng the lancls, favouring honest industry, facilitating s commerce, encouraging arts and sciences, inviting ancl importing all that conduceth to secure plenty and the conveniences of life. These extensive views are more suitable to republics, or to kingdoms where princes haye a regard for their own posterity, Amongst the Greeks we find no lordsrprelates, be cause, notwithstanding the weakness and declension of their empire, they eyer preserved the Roman laws, and the maxims of wiser antiquity, according to which all the public power was vested in the sovereign, and was neyer communicated to the subject, except in magistracies and offices which were pot held as a pro perty. Accordingly, the Greeks were much scanda-; lized when they saw our bishops possessing seignories, bearing arms, raising troops, and heading them. One pf them said that the pppe was pot a bishop, but an emperor. What we have observed of Greek bishops is also, to be understood of Syrian and other eastern prelates, even before they fell under the dominion of the Maho, metans ; ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 2S1 metans ; for since that calamitous time they have been more slaves than lords. The spiritual dominion of the pope being thus ex tended by consequences drawn from, the Decretals, he was obliged to commit his power to delegates, it being impossible for him either to go all over the world, or to bring all the world to him. Thence came the legations so frequent since the eleventh cen tury. Now these legates were of two sorts, either bi shops and abbots of the country itself, or cardinals sent from the court of Rome. The legates also of the country were of two sorts, the one constituted by a particular commission from the pope, the others such as by the prerogative annexed to their see ; and these were called legates born Legati nati as the archbishops pfMentz, and of Canterbury, The Legates who came from Rome were called legates a latere, to shew that the pope had sent them from his OAvn person ; and the expression was taken from the council of Sardica. The legates born did unwillingly suffer that the pope should commission others, to the prejudice of their privileges ; but the pope placed more confidence in those of his own appointing, than in prelates whom he knew not, or who did not suit his purposes. Now amongst those whom he chose, the most accep table to the country were they who dwelt upon the spot, because they were more capable of judging and determining affairs than strangers from remote places. You may have observed with what pressing solicita tions Ivo of Chartres entreated the popes not to send those foreign legates. None such were received ei ther in England or in France,' unless the King himself had asked for them ; and the bishops could not bear to see foreign bishops come and preside over them, and 282 REMARKS ON and much less cardinals-priests, or deacons ; for till then all bishops had rank above those cardinals who were not prelates. But what rendered the legates a latere still more o- dious, was their pride, luxury, and avarice. They travelled neither at their own expence, nor at the pope's, but at that of the country whither they were sent. They travelled with a great equipage, at least of twenty-five horses ; for to this number the third council of Lateran had reduced them. Wheresoever they passed, they were to be magnificently defrayed by the bishops and the abbots ; insomuch that the monasteries were sometimes reduced to sell the plate of their churches, to answer the demands of the legates, You may have observed what complaints were made about it. That was not all yet : presents were to be made to them ; they received gifts from the princes to whom they were sent, and from the parties who had causes before them ; and nothing was ever exper dited gratis. In a word, these legations were golden mines for the cardinals, who used to return home load ed with cash. You have seen what St Bernard says upon this subject, and with what admiration he* speaks of a disinterested legate. The usual end of the legation was a council, which. the legate called at such times and places as he thought proper. There he presided, and decided the affairs in hand, with the approbation of tlie bishops, whose only business was to applaud ; for no great delibera tion was used. Thus insensibly were abolished the provincial councils, which, according to the canons, every Metropolitan was to hold every year. The dignity of archbishops obscured by that of the legates dwindled into mere titles and ceremonies, such as to have ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 28.? have a pall to wear, and a cross to be carried before them. But they lost all authority over their suffra gans, and no other councils were to be seen but those of the legates. And by the way, these frequent lega tions seem to have given rise to the distinguished rank which the cardinals of the church of Rome have since held. For every church had its own cardinals, that is, its own priests and deacons, Avith certain titles an nexed. But when in these councils cardinal-legates were seen taking place of bishops, archbishops, pri mates, and patriarchs, by degrees people were accus tomed to annex to the title of cardinal the idea of a dignity inferior only to that of the pope. The dress of the cardinals, when they appeared in pomp, con firmed this notion. The cope and the hat were a travelling dress, which suited the pope's embassadors ; and red * was the colour affected by the pope ; and to represent him the better, the legates wore it, ac cording to the remark of a Greek historian. / Yet hence arose one of the greatest changes which the discipline of the church underwent, namely, the cessation of provincial councils, and the diminution of the authority of the Metropolitans. Was it fit that this decent order, so well established from the begin ning of the church, and so usefully observed for eight or ten centuries, should be banished and overset with out deliberation, without examination, Avithout know ledge of the cause ? but in truth, what imaginable rea son could be assigned for the change ? Legates Avho were strangers, who knew not the language or the manners of the country, who were sojourners there for * His holiness should rather have chosen some other colour than that of the Great Red Dragon, and of the Whore arrayed in scarle: Jleyelat. xii. 3. xvii. 4. 2'84> REMARKS ON for a few days, could they be more proper than the ordinary pastors to judge of disputes, and to re-esta-i- blish discipline ? supposing them to have made excel lent regulations in a council, could they be assured that such orders would be obeyed if the bishops did not lend an helping hand ? Conclude we then upon this article, as upon the rest, that the ancient discU pline Avas not exchanged for a better. And in fact we do not find that these legations proved of any ad vantage to religion. The bishops and metropolitans were so ignorant of their own rights, that they greedily sought after Le- gatine powers-; never considering how much better was an authority, \f lesser, yet inherent and indepen dent, than one more extensive, but borrowed and pre carious. It seemed as though they could do nothing of themselves, unless tlie pope supported them ; and he on his part was very ready to grant thern favours of which they stood not in need, and which always aug mented his jurisdiction. The same holds true propor- tionably of the frequent practice of those days to get the pope to confirm conventions made between church es, and profitable donations bestowed upon them ; as if these acts were the less valid unless he confirmed them. By granting favours which the suitor had no occasion to ask, new claims are seized by the giver, and a pretence that his consent is necessary. Tlie popes were often obliged to depart from Rome since the eleventh century, either by the revolts of the Romans who could not be brought to acknowledge tiiem as sovereigns ; or by the schisms of the anti- popes. They resided in neighbouring cities, as in Or- vieto, Viterbo, and Anagni ; and their court follow ed them ; which it is necessary to observe, that we may ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 285 may not confound the city and the court of Rome. I find not that before this time the word court was made use of, to signify the retinue of a pope, or of a bishop. The expression would have been thought too secular and profane. Sometimes the popes could not reside even in Italy ; and then they took refuge in France, as did Innocent II. and Alexander III. for the persecuted Popes were no where safer than in France. And as in this kind of exile they enjoyed not their re venues, they Were obliged to subsist by the liberality of princes, and by the voluntary contributions of the clergy. This may be collected from a sermon of Ar nold of Lisieux, at the opening of the council of Tours. Thus began the subsidies which the popes often de manded afterwards of the princes, or of churches, ei ther to enable them to go to war, or for other occa sions. How different was this conduct from that of St Gregory, who so liberally bestowed his revenues through the provinces ? of the Pope St Dionysius, who assisted the afflicted churches, even as far as Capado- cia ? ancl, to go higher, of St Soter, to whom St Dio nysius of Corinth bears a glorious testimony of his cha rities to the Greek churches ? How entirely had they forgotten the noble independence, of Christian pover ty, and the maxim of our Lord, that it is more bless ed to give than to receive ! It is a disagreeable task to expose facts of this kind ; and I fear that some persons who have more piety than knowledge will be scandalized at it, and will say, perhaps, that in historical relations, such facts should be dissembled, or after being barely named, should not be resumed and dwelt upon in a dissertation. But the foundation of History is truth, and to dissemble it, even in part, is not to relate it faithfully, A flatter ing 286 REMARKS ON ing portrait is no likeness ; and such is every panegy-? ric, which makes a person appear commendable by setting forth only his good qualities. Vain and clum sy artifice, which disgusts men of sense, and makes them the more attentive to discover the defects that are so cautiously concealed. To tell half truths is a species of lying. No man is obliged to write history ; but if he will undertake it, he is obliged to tell the whole truth, Spondanus having bestowed great com mendations on Guichardin, adds ; If sometimes he censures with asperity princes and other persons whose conduct he relates, this is the fault of the guilty, and not of the historian. He would have been far more reprehensible if he had dissembled those bad actions which may tend to make others wiser and better, and discourage them from committing the like, at least through shame and fear of being exposed themselves in the same manner, according to the saying in the gospel ; There is nothing hid Avhich shall not be re vealed. Sacred history hath set us an example to follow. Moses palliates neither his own faults nor those of his people. David was willing that his sin should be re corded, with all its odious circumstances ; and in the New Testament, all the evangelists have taken care to represent the fall of St Peter. True religion is ground-- ed On sincerity ; it wants none of the tricks of human policy. As God permits evils which he could have pre vented, because he can make them turn to the benefit of his servants, we ought to believe that he will ca.use the knowledge of the disorders committed in his church to conduce to our profit. If indeed these disorders had so ceased that no traces of them remained, possibly it might be proper to bury them in eternal oblivion ; but we ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 287 we see and feel too plainly their pernicious effects in the heresies which have torn the church in pieces for these two hundred years, in the ignorance and super-, stition which reign in some catholic countries, and in the corruptions of morality by certain new maxims. And is it not useful to know what cave rise to these deplorable evils ? If we should be ever so desirous to abolish the me mory of these ancient disorders, it would not be in our power, unless we could suppress all the writings and all the monuments which remain of the six or seven last centuries. And who could execute such a pro ject ? If the Catholics agreed to attempt it, would the heretics concur with them ? Would they not, on the contrary, be the more sedulous to preserve those re cords which were so odious to us ? Since then it is im possible that these facts should be obliterated, is it not better that they should be represented faithfully, simp ly, sincerely, and without disguise by Catholic wri ters, than surrendered up into the hands of Protestants, who alter, exaggerate, and turn tbem in the most spiteful manner ? Is it not useful to point out to pi ous people the true reasonable medium between the extremes of some modern writers ? The Pope is not Antichrist : but he is not impeccable, nor an absolute monarch in the church, in temporals and .spiritual?;. Monastic vows did not proceed from the devil's shop: but the monks have degenerated from time to time, and have made a bad use of their wealth and their pri vileges. The church hath power to grant indulgen ces : but the canonical penances were more salutary. The Scholastic divines are not contemptible sophists ; they have preserved the tradition of sound doctrine : but they are not to be blindly admired, or preferred to- the 288 REMARKS ON the fathers of the church. Perhaps for who knp-#9 the designs of God, or hath been admitted into his counsels ? perhaps he hath permitted these disorders in his church, tp teach men by their own experience to follow his precepts according to their plain and ob vious sense, and not to seek to establish his religion by the maxims of Avoridly policy. You fancy that wealth joined to virtue will make you happier ; you will find the difficulty of joining them together. You think that the priesthood will have more authority when joined with temporal power ; and you will lose the true authority which consists in being esteemed and trusted. You hope to make yourselves formida ble and punctually obeyed by pouring out your cen sures : by so doing you will make those censures con temptible and ineffectual. Be instructed at least by facts, and learn wisdom from the faults and follies of your ancestors. There are two sorts of persons who take it amiss that the facts which are a disgrace to the church should be exposed. The first are profane politicians, who, ignorant of true religion, consider it all as an human invention, to keep the populace in order, and are a- fraid of every thing that might tend » to diminish the veneration of it in the minds of the vulgar, by undecei ving them. I will have no dispute with these men, Avho want first to be converted and instructed. But willingly would I satisfy, if it were possible, pious and scrupulous minds, which are alarmed by a zeal with out knoAvledge, and fear where no fear is. 'What is it that you dread ? I would say to them, is it to know the truth ? If so, you chuse to remain in error, or in ig norance. And how can you safely remain in that state, you Avhose office it is to instruct others ?. For I speak ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 289 speak now to ecclesiastics; who ought particularly to be acquainted with ecclesiastical history. In this enlightened age* can we maintain the Donation of Constantine and the Decretals Of Isidorus ? And if these records are indefensible* can we approve the con sequences which are drawn from them ? Let us then frankly acknowledge that Gregory VII: and Innocent III. deceived by these forgeries* and by the bad logic of the divines of their days; have push ed their authority too far* and by extending it havei made it odious ; and let us not pretend to justify ex cesses of which we see both the causes and the wretch ed effects; For whatsoever can be alledged to the con trary, it is evident that the first ages furnish us with a greater number of pious popes than the latter, and that the morals and discipline of the Roman church Avere far more pure in the earlier times; Now it is riot conceivable that the popes should only then have begun to know their rights, and to exercise their power in its full extent, when their lives began to be less edifying, and their flock to be less regulat ed; This reflection affords a grievous prejudice a- gainst the novel maxims. Of all the alterations of discipline, I find none which have more decried the church than the rigour which she exercised against heretics and excommuni cated persons. You have seen how Sulpitius Sever us blames and detests the two bishops Idatius and Itha- cius for having solicited the secular judges to banish the Priscillianists, and applied to the emperor against them. But the indignation was encreased when these prelates pursued the Priscillianists to Treves, and ap peared openly as. their accusers. St Martin instantly pressed Ithackts to desist, and entreated the emperor vol.* li i. t Maximus 290. REMARKS ON Maximus not to shed the blood of these heretics ; and1 when they were put to death, St Ambrose and St Mar tin would no longer hold communion with Ithacius, pr with the bishops who adhered to him, although they were protected by the emperor ; and Theognostusjia bishop, gave sentence publicly against them. As. to Martin, he reproached himself all his life afterwards for having occasionally communicated with the Itha*- elans, and even that with a charitable view to save the life of some innocent persons. So horrible a thing it appeared to them, that prelates should have had an hand in putting, to death those heretics, although their sect was a branch of the detestible heresy of the Ma- niehaeans. The Donatists, and particularly their drcumcellwm&, exercised great cruelties upon the Catholics, killing some ecclesiastics, and maiming others.; yet St Au gustin in his letters to Donatus, proconsul of Afric, and to Marcellinus, intreats that these men may not be put to death for it, or punished by the laws of re taliation, &c. Some time -before, Marcellinus, bishop of Apamea in Syria, being burnt alive by pagans, whose temple he had demolished, his children wanted to have his death revenged. But the provincial council opposed it, judging that it was not right to revenge a martyrdom, for which thanks ought rather to be returned to God. Amongst many examples of a like kind, I chuse out this, as it shews particularly the spirit of the church m the decision of a whole council. But this holy discipline was forgotten from the eighth century. The death of Bonifacius of Mentz was revenged by the Christians of the country, and many Pagans were slain on that account. Venceslas Duke of ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 291 of Bohemia, having been murdered for his religion by his brother Boleslas, Otho I. king of Germany, made war upon Boleslas, to revenge the death of the martyr. Boleslas, the cruel king of Poland, having killed Stanislas, bishop of Cracovia, was deprived of his royal state by Gregory VII. as the Polish histori ans informs us. As soon as St Thoirias * was killed, the archbishop of Sens, his brother-in-law, and the king of France sent to the Pope, to demand justice in behalf of the prelate, whom yet they called a martyr ; arid it was not without pressing solicitations that the pope was persuaded not to excommunicate the king of England, and put his kingdom under interdict, which according to the maxims of that age, tended to de throne him. And so alarmed was the king about it, that he retired to Ireland till he was assured of obtain ing absolution. Pope Innocent III. decreed the se verest punishment against the Countof Toulouse, who was supposed guilty of the death of Peter of Castel- nau. He ordered him to be excommunicated, he ab solved his subjects from their oaths of fidelity, he per mitted every catholic to attack his person and to seize his lands. Nothing can be more remote from the an cient ecclesiastical mildness than the conduct of Hen ry, archbishop of Cologne, to revenge the death of St Englebert his predecessor. As soon as he was elect ed he sware that he would pursue the offenders all the days of his life. He carried the dead body to the diet, and presented it to the king and to the lords. He caused Count Frederic, author of the murder, to be put to the ban of the empire. He promised a thou sand marks of silver to any person that would seize and deliver the count into his hands ; he paid twice as t 2 much * Becket. 292 REMARKS 0# much as he had promised, and having thus takeri th& count, he caused him to be put to death in a most bar'-' barous manner by the hangman* though the count shewed all possible sign's of repentance. As to heretics, they who were discovered at Orleans, and convicted in the presence of King Robert, were burnt upon the spot ; and if the bishops did not soli cit it, it appears not that they opposed it. But the Bogomili, who like these were also a sort of Manichae^ ans, being found out at Constantinople by the empe ror Alexis. Comnenus, were condemned to the flanies- by the clergy, and by the patriarch himself. This was the common punishment of the heretics,- called Cathari, Paterini, Albigenses, and others of o- ther denominations, but all of tiiem Manichaeans. They had been doomed to death even from the fourth Century by the emperor Theodosius, and afterwards by Justin ; and their abominations well deserved it ; but it became not ecclesiastics to press the execution; Andwe find that the council of Lateran, under Alex ander III. aeknowledgeth that the church meddles not with sanguinary executions, although she permits her self to be assisted by the laws of Christian princes to repress heresies. This maxim hath ever been con stant. But as to practice, it hath not been always follow ed. When Pope Innocent III, wrote to King Philip Augustus to turn his arms against the Albigenses, and when in France he caused the croisade against them to be published* was this a condemnation of such bloody proceedings ? I will speak of the croisades 'an- other time ; I am here only considering the prosecu tion of heretics, and I must confess that I cannot re concile the conduct of the ecclesiastics of the thir teenth ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 293 teenth century with that of the saints of the fourth. When I see prelates and abbots at the head of the arr mies which made so great a slaughter of heretics, as at the taking of Beziers ; when I see the abbot of Cis- teaux desiring the death of the heretics at Minerbe, though he did not dare to condemn tiiem open ly, because he was a monk and a priest ; when I see the Croisez burn these poor wretches Avith triumph and exultation, as a writer of those times testifies in many places of his history ; in all this I discern no more the true spirit of the church. If then they spared not the lives of these men, it is no wonder that they spared not their goods. You have seen that Gregory VII. offered to Sueno, the king of Denmark, a very rich province, occupied by heretics, for his son to seize and possess. As if the •heresy of the conquered gave a lawful title to the con queror ! The canonists have since established this maxim, that heretics have no right to possess any thing ; founding the opinion on some passages of St Augustin produced by Gratian. But they have ex tended to all heretics and to all their possessions-wliat this father only said of the Donatists, and of the pe cuniary fines which were imposed upon them, and of the plundered goods of the ehurch which they had been compelled to return. Leave Gratian with his reflections, the summaries, and the modern glosses, and consult originals, and you will see that they breathe mildness and charity, and have only in view just restitutions, and wholesome corrections for the conversion of heretics. ..._ When St Gregory Nazianzen was called to Con stantinople, though he could have availed himself of all the power of the emperor Theodosius, he trusted ,-.-, .,.-• ' T 3 only 294 REMARKS ON only to Christian patience ; he did not solicit the magistrates to put in execution against the heretics those laws whicli they despised ; far from desiring the confiscation of their goods, he would not even take the least step to oblige them to refund the immense revenues of his church which they had pillaged for forty years ; he generously forgave an assassin who came even into his chamber to kill him ; he suffered himself to be pelted with stones even to the door of his church, and answered a friend who was full of in dignation at it ; It is good to punish the guilty, for the correction of others ; but it is better and more divine to suffer. These generous sentiments were for gotten in the twelfth century, when Peter of Celles, writing to St Thomas of Canterbury, said that non- resisting patience was the only portion of the young church in the first ages ; but now, adds he, that she is come to maturity, she ought to correct her child ren. As if the church was not arrived to her maturity in the days of Theodosius, or had suffered persecution from pagans and heretics, only through a mere ina bility of resisting 1 I close these melancholy reflections with the change that was introduced into penances. Public penitence Avas turned into tortures and temporal punishments. By tortures I mean those horrible spectacles exposed to the public, when a penitent appeared naked down to his waist, with a rope about his neck, and rods in his hands, with which he was beaten by the clergy. In this manner, besides other persons, Raimond the old count of Toulouse was treated. I am of opinion that this was the origin of the Amendes Honorable \Amendai Honorabiks'] received since many ages- hi secular tribunals, but utterly unknown to all- anti quity. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 293 quity. -Hence arose also those fraternities of peni tents established in some provinces ; nominal peni tents for the most part. For these penitences Avere more specious than serious ; they were not proofs of the true conversion of a sinner, they were often mere ly the effect of fear least they should lose their tem poral possessions. The Count of Toulouse dreaded the croisade which the pope stirred up against him ; arid to go farther back, when the emperor Henry IV. so humbly begged absolution of Pope Gregory VII. as to remain for three days at his door, barefooted and fasting till night, it was because he feared to lose his crown if he remained under excommunication for the whole year. Accordingly neither of these princes became a better man after absolution than he had been before. These forced penitences were not durable, and the shame and infamy annexed to them, far from producing a salutary confusion, only irritated the offender, and put him upon studying how to reyenge the affront. For, as Chrysostom observes, he who is insulted becomes the more audacious, and despises and hates the insulter. To make these penances the more felt, pecuniary mulcts were added to them* of which the payment was exacted before the absolution was granted ; and if the payment was duly made, the rest of the penance was easily overlooked. You have seen how St Hugo of Lincoln repressed this abuse. Thus then penances and absolutions became temporal transactions with respect to private persons as well as to princes. No longer was any care taken to explore by long trials ihe conversion and renovation of heart, which Avas the thing intended by the canonical penitences ; but the point was, to get proper securities for the resti tution 296 REMARKS ON tution of an usurped property, of depredations anc| damages, or for the payment of a fine ; and as the penitent, especially if he was a prince, was in haste to remove the effects of an excommunication, or of an interdict, his first step was to procure absolution, by giving an oath that he would satisfy the church with-. in a certain time, under pain of having the excom-! munication renewed. These promises often were not performed, and then all was to be done over again ; for the unconverted offender was in no hurry to give ¦ the promised satisfaction, when by absolution he had obtained all that he cared for, namely, to enter into his rights, and to be delivered from the present dread of losing them. Of this you have seen many an ex ample, and more shall be produced hereafter. Afe the same time was introduced the practice of granting the absolution itself in the secret penitence, as soon as confession was made, and satisfaction enjoined and accepted ; though in ancient times, absolution was not granted till the penance was fully accomplished, or at least in a great measure. This alteration was founded on the reasonings of scholastic doctors, who held that external absolution ought not to be refused to him who was supposed to have received it internally from God, by virtue of the apparent contrition of his heart ; and that being in a state of grace, he could more pro fitably perform satisfactory works. But it ought to have been considered that man is much more excited ,to act by the hope of obtaining what he desires, than by gratitude for having received it, or by faithfulness in fulfilling the promises which he made, in order to obtain it. A sick man observes much more the diet prescribed to him for the recovery of his lost health; than for the preservation of jt when he thinks himself cured, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 297 cured. Few creditors are to be found who will give a discharge beforehand, upon a promise made or even sworn to by the debtor that he will pay at a set time. Besides, penances, or satisfactory words, had been relaxed more and more from the strictness of the old canons, which were now proposed to confessors, only as examples to be consulted upon occasion, and not as rules to be exactly followed ; upon a false supposi tion, that nature was enfeebled, and that the human body had no longer the strength to bear fastings and other austerities. Some doctors went so far as to say that it was mere judaizing, to adhere to the letter of the ancient canons. They also extended to all priests a right which the bishops had always exercised, to mitigate penances, either by lessening the penitential works, or by shortening the time. At last the maxim was established, that all penances were to be left to the discretion of the confessor ; and as even then the number of confessors both secular and regular was be come very great, it . is no wonder that they did not always act prudently in this affair, and that penances even for heinous offences were very slight and super ficial. It is true that the multitude of indulgences, and the facility of granting them, became a great obstacle to the zeal of the more judicious confessors. Hard was the task to persuade a sinner to fasting and to other discipline, who could buy it off by a few alms, or by paying a visit to a church. For the bishops of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries granted indul gences for all sorts of pious works, as the building a church, the supporting an hospital, and even for pub,- lie 298 REMARKS ON lie works of other kinds, for making a bridge, or a causeway, or mending the roads. These are the indulgences which the fourth council of Lateran calls indiscreet and superfluous, which make the keys of the church contemptible, and weaken its discipline. To repress this abuse, it orders that for the dedication of a church, the indulgence granted shall not be for more than one year, although many bishops should be assembled there ; for each of them* Jt seems, pretended to give his own indulgence. William, bishop of Paris, who lived in those times, explains to us the motives of these indulgences : He who hath the power, says he, to impose penal satis factions, may either augment or diminish them, as he finds it expedient for the honour of God, the salvation pf souls, and the public or private utility. Now it is manifest that more honour accrues to God, and more benefit to souls, by the building a church where God is continually served with prayers and sacrifices, than woulcl arise from the severest performance, of penal works. Therefore it is the duty of the bishop tp con vert these bodily penances into works more useful; And again: It is to, be supposed that the saints, who have so much interest with God, obtain from him most ample indulgences for those who honour thens, by doing good to the churches where their memory is reverenced. As to the indulgences granted to those who make or repair bridges and highways, these are works useful to pilgrims and other pious travellers, besides the common benefit enjoyed by all the faith ful. These arguments, if they had been solid, ought to have influenced the bishops of the first ages, who had established ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. §99 established the canonical penitences ; but those good men extended their views much farther. They knew that God is more honoured by the pure and pious morals of Christians than by building and ornament ing churches, by chanting in them, by ceremonies, by bodily services, which are orily the externals of religion, whose essential part is righteousness or vir tue. Now, as Christians for the most part are not so happy as to preserve their baptismal innocence, those wise pastors, instructed by the apostles, had studied all possible means of restoring sinners, and preserving them from relapses ; and they found no better reme dies and preservatives than to engage them to inflict voluntary punishments upon themselves, by fastings, watchings, retirement, recollection, silence, and the retrenchment of all pleasures, ,by which they may confirm their good resolutions ; to be constant in prayer and meditation on sacred and eternal truths ; and to practise these religious exercises for a consider able time, that they may be assured of the certainty of their conversion. In Arain do we speculate and run into subtle refinements ; these good practices tended more directly to tlie salvation of souls, and conse quently to the glory of God, than alms given for the erecting, repairing, and decorating a church. A sin ner truly affected Avi th the heinousness of his guilt, and with the eternal punishment which it deserves, will account all mortification to be a light burden. He who wants to obtain pardon upon the easiest terms, is not converted ; all that he Avants is to quiet his mind, and to save appearances. In a word, let us appeal to experience. Never were Christians more religious- than when canonical penitences were regu larly SOO REMARKS ON larly kept up ; never were they more corrupted than since that discipline was abolished,, Give me leave to propose to you a parallel instance ;, A prince by a false clemency offers to all criminals some easy methods to avoid punishment ; as mode rate fines applied to defray the expences of his build ings and of his troops ; a formal appearance at his pa lace ; a petition for pardon ; or, if the crimes have been very heinous, an obligation laid upon the offenr der to list himself for a soldier, and to serve for some years in the army. What think you of this ? Would his kingdom be well governed ? Would innocence of manners and integrity in commerce flourish there ? Would the highways be safe for travellers, and the public tranquillity maintained ? Would not vice of every kind and an unbounded licentiousness prevail, together with all the fatal consequences of such impur. nity ? The application is obvious. We must then return to the maxim of St Paul, that all things which are lawful are not [always expedient, For this same prince, who should thus pardon all cri* minals, would only exercise his own rights, since we suppose him to be the sovereign ; but he would ex-- ercise them most indiscreetly. The same is the case of indulgences. Every good Catholic will allow that the church can grant them, and that she -ought to grant them in certain cases, and that she hath always exercised this power : but it is the duty of her mi nisters to dispense thesefavours with discretion and caution, and not with an useless or a pernicious pro* fusion. I conclude this discourse with a desire that you would remember, Avhat I think hath been proved, that the alterations in the discipline of the church since five op six ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 301 six hundred years were not introduced by the autho rity of bishops or of councils to correct ancient prac tices ; but by negligence, by ignorance, and by error grounded on the false Decretals, and on the false rea soning of scholastic doctors. God grant that we may make a good use of his grace, by which we have the happiness of being born in a more enlightened age; and that if we cannot retrieve the ancient discipline* we may at least esteem it, reverence it, and regret A pew strictures on this Dissertation will suffice,. Here are corruptions enough, and more than enough* acknowleged and set forth with some degree of fair ness, to which more might be added. What followed ? Did the popes and the court of Rome own them, and endeavour to correct them? No; nothing that deserv ed the name of amendment was produced ; nothing donefo any purpose by the councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basil. At last arose Luther, and other reformers, who were persecuted with the utmost malice and fury. Then came the council of Trent, whicli made bad worse : and thus things stand at this day. Add to the rest, the Jesuits and the Inquisitors : Tristius haud illis monstrum, nee scevior ulla Pestis et ira Dcum Stygiis sese extulit undis. Can Protestants enter into alliance and communion With such a generation of Aripers ? Fleury, and others of his sentiments, who wish for sbme reformation, Avould perhaps willingly bring the state of the church, as to doctrine and discipline, to its condition in the fourth and fifth centuries. Alas ! , ' This 302 REMARKS ON < This is doing very little. Many were the faults arid errors of those times, and the mystery of iniquity was even then working. We must go to the fountain- head, to the doctrine of the New Testament. I can by no means allow Fleury's supposition * that the popes mentioned by him, and particularly the ex ecrable Hildebrand, erred bona fide, being misled by the Decretals. The heretics of those days, such of them I mean who acknowledged the sacred authority of the New Testament, particularly the honest Wa^en* ses, discerned very plainly that the powers usurped by the popes and ecclesiastics were tyrannical and anti-. christian, and consequently that the Decretals which' established some of those notions must have been impu dent forgeries. Why could not the popes discern the same ? Because profaneness, pride, ambition, and avarice hardened their hearts, and blinded their eyes ;: because they would neither examine, nor let other people examine. It is to be supposed that the Donations of Constan tine, the Decretals, some of the councils, and otlier documents and records for the same purpose, were forged by the popes themselves, or by persons acting under their direction* about the ninth century*. He compares the extravagant usurpations of-HUdc- brand, and of other popes of the same stamp, with the more modest behaviour of St Leo and St Gregory. But the truth is, that all the popes, from the time of Constantine, saints as well as sinners, laboured to ex tend their jurisdiction, and uniformly carried on the same scheme. Rome was not built in a day, says the proverb ; and popedom was not built in a day ; but * See Mosheim, p. 328. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 303 but one encroachment was followed by another, till at last it brought on the Seculum Hildebrandinum. He complains of false miracles, and yet hath inserted thousands of them in his Ecclesiastical History ; like the Quack who vends his powder of post, and cries^ Beware of counterfeits. As to the affair of persecution, he rather shuffles it over, though indeed he seems to have said as much against it as it was safe for him to say. But he should not have commended the lenity of St Augustin, who, after he had dropped some reasonable expressions in favour of Christian mildness and moderation, played the turn-coat, and became the preacher and the pa tron of persecution. The church ought not to shed blood. So says Fleury ; and so says the inquisition at this day. That honour is transferred to the civil magistrate ; and thus the priest is the judge, and the king is the hang man. As to penance, or repentance, you must not ex pect to find just notions of it in these quarters, and Fleury saw only a part of the truth. The unwhole some austerities and frantic macerations of fanatics of ancient times, who were called saints, introduced and established in the Christian world wrong notions con cerning penitence, and penitential works. Repentance is a change of mind for the better, and the proper pe nance of a sinner is to mortify his unruly passions and his lusts, and, to the utmost of his power, to re pair all the wrongs that he hath done. In other re spects, the duties of a repenting sinner are nearly the same Avhich are required of all Christians. , A. 1201. The pope's legate at Cologn ordered, that in 304 REMARKS ON in the mass, at the elevation of the host, all the pep-' pie should prostrate themselves in the church, at the sound of the bell, and implore God's mercy, till the consecration of the chalice. He ordered also that when the sacrament was, carried to the sick, the scholar and ringer should go before the priest, and ring the bell, to admonish the people to worship Jesus Christ in the streets and in the houses. Hence came these two pious customs. The pope by his legate presumed to elect an empe-" ror of Germany, or king of the Romans. . The lords and prelates made warm remonstrances against this usurpation ; to which his holiness returned a most impudent answer *. The language which "was called the Roman-rustic was used in the provinces which had obeyed the Ro-' mans ; and from this language, and its different dia-1 lects in different places, sprang the Italian, the French and the Spanish |. A. 1202. Innocent was consulted whether tlie wa ter mixed with the wine is changed into the blood of Christ. He answers in the affirmative, after having acknowledged that the scholastics were of different o- pinions about it. At the same time, it was debated at Constantinople whether in the eucharist the body of Christ was re ceived incorruptible, as it. was after his resurrection* or corruptible, as it was before. This dispute was carried on not only by divines* but by the vulgar in the streets and in the markets. It is to be supposed that tlie incorruptibles got the better, It was also ques tioned * Fleury, xvi. 9c. f Speher, Hist. Geriii. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY; 305 tioned whether Christ, whilst he was here upon earth, performed natural actions, like other men *. This was the century in which hanging and burn ing heretics for God's sake became the universal prac tice, being chiefly promoted by the ecclesiastics and by the pope, who declared in formal terms, that no faith was to be kept with heretics* and no oaths bind ing on that Occasion "j". A. 1203. All the Conquests made by the Croisez were supposed to become the pope's patrimony; The popes now began to find the great advantages •which accrued to them from the expeditions to the Holy Land, and therefore violently pressed forwards this pious war. But the Croisez, who were French and Venetians, instead, of fighting the Infidels, took Constantinople a second time, and made a Latin em- peror J. The Greeks chose for their emperor § Theodorus Lascaris, whose residence was at Nicsea in Natolia. From this time there were two emperors of the Greeks, the one a Frank, the other a Greek, till Michael Pa- laeologus || recovered Constantinople. The Croisez found and carried off, besides vast wealth and things of real value, a prodigious number bf holy reliques, of which a curious inventory may be seen in Fleury ; and they crowned Baldwin emperor. Nicetas hath given us a tragical account of their im pieties and barbarities; Another expedition was *[ undertaken by the Ita lians and Germans ; but it came to nought. VOL. III. u A * Fleury, xvi. 106. Bibl. Uriiv. vii. 66. f Fleury, xvi. 174. 240. X A. 1204. $ A. 1206. f]A. 1216. 5f A. 1217. , 306 REMARKS OTFt A third* performed something* but yet no great matter. • Other expeditions, less famous, and altogether un successful were undertaken f . Then Louis IX. of France, called Saint Louis, % attempted the same ; and was taken prisoner, and ransomed. He renewed the war ||, and died, like a fool, of the plague, in Afric. Then the European princes, were at last cured of this frenzy ; and the power of the Latins in the east was extinguished, A. 1291. These repeated crosses and calamities were owing not so much to the conduct and courage of the Ma hometans, as to the dissensions of the Christians and their treachery towards each other, to the worse than Pagan morals of these religious soldiers of Christ, and to the consummate ignorance, stubbornness, and sau- ciness of the papal legates §. Saint Louis was a great patron of the inquisition. -This pious prince (and it was no small part of his piety), had a most implacable hatred towards heretics of all denominations, and held that such persons should not be reasoned with, but killed upon the spot ^f. Pope Innocent gave leave to the croisez to help themselves to necessaries wheresoever they found them. This permission, says 4. Fleury, to live upon pillage in a friend's country is remarkable ; and the more so, as the pope authorizes it by examples taken from Scrip ture. A. 120.6. * A. 1228. f A. 1259. and 1240. J A. 1258. || A. 127®. § Mosheim, p. 492, &c. Fleury, xvi. 120. 1[ Mosheim, p. 549. 4. xvi. 120. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 307 A. l20d. At this time Dominic^ Of Castille, began to act the missionary and the inquisitor ; and Francis, an Italian, signalized himself' as a preacher and a saint. These two famous fanatics* and founders of two pernicious orders turned the brains Of multitudes* and did infinite mischief in the world *. A. 1208. From the old statutes of the church of Paris it appears, that when a marriage was celebrated* the curate for his fee had some dishes of the weddine- feast sent home to him f; A. 1212. One of the exploits of1 St Francis was to persuade a girl of eighteen, Called St Clara, to elope from her parents ; and her younger sister followed her example. For this he ought to have been shut up in a jail, or in a mad-house, the rest of his days; This St Clara was abbess of a monastery* famous for' her austerities and macerations, and received answers to her prayers from the consecrated wafer, Avhich she kept in a box. She died A. 1253 J; ¦¦'Ai 1213; Innocent III. exhorting the Christian World to the croisade* acted the prophet, foretold the downfal of the power of Mahomet, and cal led him the Beast in the Revelation. Thus anti christ Avas shifting off his own character, and transfer ring it upon another; The boys and girls in France and Germany caught the epidemical madness, and listed themselves, as Croisez, to go to Jerusalem, and ran away from u 2 home* * Fleury', xvi. 218. . Bibl. Univ. ix. 46. Cave, ii. 283. 344; Mosheimp. 517. t Fleury, xvi. 244. 1 Fleury, xvi. 3 16. xvii. 486. SOS REMARKS ON home. Many of these poor children perished in the fields and forests*. A little before this time was born Brunetto Latini at Florence, who was the reviver of letters in Italy, and was orator, poet, historian, philosopher, theolo- ger, and politician. Dante was his disciple. This author speaks of the Mariner's compass, and of this use of the loadstone, forty years before A. 1300, which is the time usually fixed for that discovery f . A. 1215. Till Innocent III. the manner of the change in the eucharist was not accounted an article of faith : but he in the council of Lateran established Transubstantiation, both the doctrine and the zvord; Matthew Paris doth justice to this pope by saying that he was the most avaricious and ambitious pf men, and capable of committing all sorts of crimeSi He adds that Innocent caused seventy articles of faith to be read before the council, and commanded the holy fathers there assembled to approve them in the lump, without entering into any examination. And Allix affirms that the decree which established : tran substantiation never obtained the force of a law till some time afterwards ; and indeed the doctrine of transubstantiation, notwithstanding this decision; Avas still contested and rejected by several prelates and doctors J.. Innocent * Fleury, land, who had upon him the five wounds of Christ, in his hands, his feet, and his side. But he Avas con victed, in a council held at Oxford, by his own con fession. Long afterwards, Sister Mary, a Portuguese Nun, had also on her body the five wounds, and passed for a saint of the first magnitude. But the artifice Avas discovered by the inquisition, A. 1588 -j\ " That Francis really had the Stigmata, I make no question, since there are many sufficient vouchers for i.t. * Fleury, xvi. 553. -J- Fleury, xvi. 544. &c. Bibl. Univ. viii. 149. Rapin. Vol. u ?• 352; 31Q REMARKS OSf it. But withput all peradventure, this man, who was extremely superstitious and fanatical made them him* self*. A. 1226, Louis VIII, of France headed a croisade, to cut the throats of all the Albigenses, and took At yignon f, A, 1227. An inquisition was established in France. St Dominic hath the honour of being the father and the founder pf that diabolical institution J. A. 1228. An Armenian archbishop came to Eng land, and with a grave face told our monks the story of the Rambling Jew, Avho, having insulted Jesus Christ when he stood before Pilate, Avas doomed by our Lord to live and to travel about till the day of judgment, and was then in Armenia |j . Now Papal impudence was at its heighth. Gre gory IX. excommunicated the Emperor Frederic, ab>- -solved his subjects from their allegiance, made war Upon him, and pillaged all the ecclesiastics, and parti cularly the English, to support his expences. Hiss troops signalized themselves by their wickedness, and committed all kinds of outrages and barbarities. ' l This pope canonized St Francis, haying got his miracles attested by a competent number of false wit3 nesses § . A. 1229. In the council of Toulouse, a most severe and sanguinary inquisition was established against heretics. One * Mosheim, p. 579. f Fleury, xvi. 601. X Fleury, xvi. 631. Bibl. Univ. xx. 218 j| Fleury, xv}. 654. § Fleury, xvi. 644. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 311 One of its canons is : It shall not be permitted to laymen to have the books of the Old and New Testa ment ; only they, who out of devotion desire it, may have a Psalter, a Breviary, and the Hours of the Vir gin. But we absolutely forbid them to have the above-mentioned books translated into the vulgar tongue. " This is the first time, says * Fleury, that I have met with this prohibition ; but it may be favourably explained by observing that the minds of men being- then much irritated, there was no other method to put a stop to contentions than by taking away from them the holy Scriptures, of which the heretics made a bad use," A poor excuse indeed ! A. 1230, The Prussians were at this time pagans 5 but tlie knights of the Teutonic order entered into the country, and Waged bloody war with tiiem for fifty- three years, and at last compelled them, and with them the Lithuanians, to submit to their government, and to receive Christianity, such as it was, from the ministry of these execrable ruffians, A. 1231,. Antony of Padua was a famous fanatic ;saint, and field-preacher, in those days j. A. 1234. St Dominic was now canonized. The multitude of miracles which he wrought both liv ing and dead, and the delightful odour of his car case, which, when it was taken up, perfumed all the place, were sufficient vouchers for his saintship f . u4 A. 1231, * Fleury, xvi. 676. f Fleury, xvi. 523, xvii. IJ. X Fleury, xvii. 52. 312 REMARKS ON A. 1231. Iha council of Anjou, clandestine mar-: riages are declared null ; and to prevent them it is forbidden t. > contract them by words de prcesenti, un^ less the banns be first published in the church, ac cording to custom. A. 1235. Our learned Bishop Grosthead was a Strenuous adversary to papal usurpation's. Fleury gays that he Avas a pious and upright prelate, but that his zeal was bitter, and his discourses void of moderation. Indeed it is not to be expected that any writer of the Romish communipn shpuld dare t9 justify him. The pope, enraged at his free speeches, and bold complaints, wanted to dispatch hirii ; but some Car dinals declared it to be more adviseable to let him alone, lest, said they, it should quite alienate the English from their obedience to the see of Rome ; which will happen some time or other. Thus, says Fleury, they seemed to have foreseen the evil which jcame to pass three hundred years after *. A. 1238. Gregory IX. forbad the Greeks to shew at Jerusalem the holy fire, which used to descend , into, Christ's sepulchre on the Saturday before Easter. It \s pleasant to hear the pope and Fleury % complain ing of this imposture, this sham-miracle, which, , I think, still continues, inter Gr&culos, mendaces, . . i A. 1240. At this time lived our. valuahleihistorian Matthew Paris J. " Matthe^ * Cave, ii. 294. Fleury, xvii. 490. Rapin, i. 354. f xvii. 173. X Cave, ii. 294. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 313 " Matthew Paris is an honest, sincere, and good -writer, excepting the miracles, visions, apparitions, and phantoms, which he hath admitted in his works, according to the taste of those times*," He is com mended by Lipsius. f A. 124-8. The Talmud was condemned by the pope, and a vast collection of JeAArish books was burnt in France. $ A. 1259. A sect of Flagellantes, or, Floggers, arose in Italy, consisting of men and women, old andyouno-, nobles and beggars ; for the disorder grew epidemi cal. It spread itself into Germany, Poland, and other regions. But princes and prelates strenuously op posed it and put an end to it ; yet it revived again in after-times. § A. 1264. The annual feast of the Holy Sacrament was instituted upon the revelations of a fanatical fe male called Juliana. || " The Latins dared not, even in the twelfth cen tury, to attempt the establishment of this festival, although they then entertained such notions of the sacrament as were a proper foundation for such prac tices. These notions therefore were sedulously incul cated during the twelfth century. But when by long and subtle disputations, and zealous homilies, and above all, by fire and sword, by military executions, proscriptions, tortures, wars and massacres, the doc trine of transubstantiation was so fully established that * Menagiana, ii. 98. + Epist. Cent- v. 83. • X Fleury, xvii. 418- $ Fkury, xvii- 630- Bibl. Univ. viii. 455. || Fleury, xviii. 46- 314 REMARKS ON that no man dared to open his mouth against it, then they began to think of adding to it an annual festival, as a farther confirmation, which at last was brought to pass, under Pope Urban *. A. 1270. Many errors taught by philosophical divines were condemned at Paris. Here are some of them : The human will acts by necessity ; or rather is pas sive. All things here below are governed and over ruled by the celestial bodies. The world is eternal, and there never was a first man. Tlie soul dies with the body. God knows not any thing, except himself. There is no providence. In the Deity there is no Trinity. God cannot beget his like. God knows not future contingences. There is no predestination. Creation is impossible according to reason, though faith requires us to believe it. The heavenly bodies have souls. Accidents cannot exist without a sub ject. The most excellent state of the mind is to phi- losophize. It is not necessary to pray, or to confess sins, except to save appearances. A resurrection is impossible. Fornication is no sin. An observance of the moral virtues sufficeth to acquire life eternal. Death puts an end to the whole man. Theological discourses are grounded on fables, and of no value, &c.| The pragmatic edict of St Louis was published with a view to restrain papal oppression, and to se-< cure the privileges of the GaUican church. It is in Dupin. X A. 1278, * Dalleeus De Cult. Lat. p- 922- f Fleury, xviii- 161- 269- X x" J33? ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 315 A. 1278, Roger Bacon flourished, who seems to have been as great a genius as hath arisen in any age. A. 1281. The communion in both kinds was not yet entirely laid aside in England *. A. 128°. Jacobus De Voragine wrote tlie Legend Avhich is called aicrea: and is full of most ridiculous miracles, It is, saith Vives, Legenda Aurea ab homine oris j err ei cordis plwmbei script a. However, this man was the first who translated the Scriptures of the Old Testament into Italian f. At the same time Joannes de Parisiis composed a treatise on the eucharist, of which an account is given in the Bibl. Universeile £ . It is a curious tract; it shews the absurdity of transubstantiation, even as it is represented by this defender of it ; it shews to what perplexity and distress the doctors were driven in ac counting for the bodily presence. A. 1284. A prodigy happened at Constantinople. The Priest who was to officiate found one of the con secrated hosts so black and corrupted, that it had no longer the appearance or the Accidents of bread . There fore they put it into the place appointed for such purposes, called by the Greeks, the holy oven §. A. 1287. Raimond Lulle made his appearance: he was a very strange enthusiast. || A. 1290. * Fleury, xviii- 373. f Cave, ii. 334- Fleury, xviii. 561. * iii- 395- See Cave, ii. 333- Fleury, xix- 85- Mosheim, p ,537. § Fleury, xviii- 434- y Fleury, xviii. 494, S9S- six- 252' Mosheim, p- 566. 316 REMARKS ON A. 1290. A Jew at Paris stole the Host, and stab bed it, and flung it into the fire, and endeavoured by all means to destroy it ; but it wrought so many mir acles, that the poor devil was discovered, and was burnt alive. Fleury gives us this for a true story. * A. 1291. Acre was taken, and the holy land en tirely lost ; and here end the Croisades. A. 1292. John Pecham, Archbishop of Canter bury, died this year. He was a rigid disciplinarian, and a lover of money. He enriched all his family, and left behind him more than five thousand pounds, a great sum in those days. | In this century the Jews were accused of having murdered many Christian children. But there are no- good proofs of the facts, as Fleury fairly owns* J " The tribunal of the inquisition was extremely odious, as it appears from the difficulty of establishing it even in Italy and in the Ecclesiastical State, and from the fate of those inquisitors who were murdered, and are ranked amongst the martyrs. The inquisition was not only hated by the heretics whom it hunted out and pursued, but even by the Catholics ; by the Prelates and Magistrates, whose j urisdiction it dimi nished, and by other persons whom it terrified with the rigour of its proceedings. Such complaints were frequent, as were also the constitutions -of popes^to moderate this severity. Thus some nations, which at first admitted the inquisition, rejected it afterwards, as the French ; and many never would receive it, a- mongst whom, notwithstanding, the Christian religion is * Fleury, xviii. 536. t Fleury, xviii. 362. Rapiri, i- 483- X Fleury, xviii- 485. ecclesiastical history. 317 is as Avell taught and practised, as in countries Avhere the inquisitorial authority is carried to its highest de gree. They "who have been in these different countries will bear witness to this assertion. The end for which the inquisition was established is to keep out or to abolish heresy ; but the means used for this purpose are such as naturally produce hypo crisy and ignorance. The dread of being accused, imprisoned, and punished for mere suspicions, ground ed perhaps upon some imprudent expression, deters people from ever speaking about religion, proposing their doubts, asking questions, and seeking instruc tion. The shortest and easiest Avay is to hold your tongue, or to speak and act like others, whether you think like them or not. An habitual sinner; who is resolved not to leave his concubine, goes to the com munion at Easter, lest an information should be brought against him to the inquisition, as against a suspected heretic. The countries of the inquisition are the most abundant in loose casuists. Reading is one of the best means of acquiring instruc tion ; but it is not to be had in those regions. The Scrip tures are not to be found there in the vulgar tongue, but only in Latin. To have an Hebrew Bible would make a man pass for a JeAV. Many good editions of thefathers and other ecclesiastical authors are prohi bited, as having been published by heretical or sus pected persons. At least, it is required to strike out a preface* an advertisement, a commentary, a note ; to blot out here and there a line, or a word, as it is spe cified at large in the Index of the Spanish inquisition. Without these corrections it is forbidden to read the book, or to offer it to sale. The booksellers therefore are SIS REMARKS ON are not willing to deal in such goods ; arid thus many excellent books never enter into those places/'* These are Fleury's remarks *» and they do him ho nour. " What great loss Christianity suffered im A- sia, is very manifest. If the Saracens had held the same principles which were received amongst the La tin Christians of these times, they would not have suf* fered one Christian to live in their dominions. Brit this nation, though guilty of various crimes and op pressions* yet judged it to be an act of too much ini* quity and cruelty ; whilst the Romans accounted it a pious deed to destroy by fire and sword all who were of a different religion from themselves, and refused to be converted. After the new kingdom of Jerusalem was overturn ed, many of the Latins remained in Syria, who retired to the steep mountains of Libanus, and by degrees so lost all sense of humanity and religion, that those of them who still remain seem to be little better than mere Atheistical brutes. The Latin writers of this age make many complaints of persons amongst them, Avho were open enemies of the Christian religion, and even deriders of the Deity ; nor are these accusations to be accounted vain and groundless. For men of parts, who attentively cori- sidered the religion which was then delivered to the public by the popes, and their creatures and a- gents, as true Christianity, and supported by violence and massacres, and who could find none to instruct them better, and to set the gospel in a true light* were easily led into the opinion that Christianity was a fa ble invented and propagated by priests for the sake of their * Vol. xix. Discourse, p. 2©.. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 319 their own emoluments. Add to this, that the Aristo- telle Philosophy, which then reigned in all the schools of Europe, and was looked upon as truth, and right reason itself, disposed many persons to reject the theo logical doctrines of a divine providence, the immorta lity of the soul, the creation of the world, and other religious principles, and to be spreaders of impiety. These doctors taught, strange as it may seem, that there was only one intellect, common to all men, that every thing was subjected to an absolute necessity, that there was no providence, that the world had been from eternity, that the soul perished at death, and o- ther such like tenets, and supported them all by au* thorities taken out of their philosopher Aristotle. But to save their own fortunes and lives, they then acted the same part which the later Aristotelics did in- the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They made a dis tinction between theological and philosophical truth, to secure themselves from ecclesiastical censures. These things, said they, are true, according to the philosopher, but not according to the catholic faith. The deplorable condition of the Greeks left them neither spirits nor leisure to pursue learned studies. Much happier was the state of the Latins : for the Eu ropean princes having found by experience the mani fold advantages which arose from the cultivation of the liberal arts, sought out, encouraged, honoured, and rewarded learned men. Among these patrons, none distinguished themselves more eminently than the emperor Frederic II. who Avas learned himself, and Alphonsus X. king of Castille and Leon ; of whom the first founded an academy at Naples, procured a Latin version of the works of Aristotle, drew a great resort nius, and of penetration', who although they had much esteem for Aristotle* yet endeavoured to carry human knowledge still farther* and despised that dry and je june way of philosophizing which was contained in his writings. The most renowned amongst these were Roger Bacon *, called Doctor Admirabilis, and well deserving that title, skilled beyond the pitch of those times in philosophy, mathematics,- chemistry, mecha nics, languages, and many other things, and ennobled by the great discoveries which he made ; Arnoldus Villanovanus, a Frenchman, according to some, a Spaniard as others say, celebrated for his knowledge of physic, philosophy* chemistry, poetry* besides other accomplishments ; Petrus de Abano, or Apono, an Italian, and a physician of Padua, called Conciliator, from a book of his* intitled* Conciliator differentiarum Philosophorum et Medicorum, a man of an acute under standing, and deeply skilled in philosophy, astrono my, physic and mathematics. But the rewards Avhich these excellent persons received for their abilities and their useful industry, were to be called magicians and heretics by an ignorant world, and Avith great difficul ty to escape fire and faggot. Bacon languished ma- yoL. in. x ny * Fie was an Englishman, and a Franciscan. 322 REMARKS ON ny years in a jail ; and the bodies of the other two, after their decease, were condemned to the flames by the inquisitors. Both the Greeks and the Latins censure and detest with much freedom the horrible vices of their prelates and teachers ; and no One who is acquainted with the state of those, times will think that theyearrjed their complaints too far. Some great men indeed made at tempts to cure this leprosy, which was diffused from. the head to all the members ; but they had not reso lution and power equal to the arduous undertakings The calamities of the times wpuld not suffer the Greek emperors to bring about a reformation ; and the Lar tins Avere curbed and depressed by the -superstition of the age, and the immense wealth of the Roman pon tiffs. Innocent III. Avho died A. 1216, followed the. plan; pf Gregory yil. and pretended tp be supreme ford and master in temporals and spirituals ; a man learn ed for those times, and laborious, but rough, cruel, a- yaricipus, and arrogant. He made kings, just as he thought proper, in Asia and in Europe. His owri letters give abundant instances of the tyrannical domi nion which he exercised, whilst Europe looked on with silence and astonishment. Several new monastic orders were established in this century. Multitudes also of sectarists were to be found, of men called Frqtricelli, or Beguardi, and of other deno minations, to whom are to be added the Flagellantes.}. Amongst those who cultivated logical or philosophi cal divinity, the principal are Albertus Magnus, Tho mas Aquinas, and Bonaventura. It must be acknow-; ledged ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 323 ledged that these irien had a strong desire of wisdom, a sharp Wit, arid a dexterity in discussing subtle and intricate points ; though oil many accounts they be reprehensible. Particular caution is to be used iri reading those authors who in these and the following times treated of morality, and gave rules for the conduct of life. For although thfcy use the same w'Ofds and expressions Which are to be found ih the scriptures, and which we rioAv employ, yet they took them in a' sense entirely- different. Justice, charity, piety, faith, are not with them what our Saviour and his apostles meant by those virtues. He is a pious person, according to Christ, who hath dedicated his heart to God and to God^s precepts : but these doctors Call that man pious and holy, Who strips himself of his worldly possessions to enrich the priests, who builds churches and monaste ries, and neither rejects nor neglects any thing that the pope requires to be believed, arid to be performed. It is lawful arid commendable, as they teach, to op press, torment, and destroy heretics, that is, men who will not submit to the decrees of the Roman see. Jus tice therefore, in their estimation, is quite a different quality from that justice whicli the Scriptures' recom mend and require. -The Roman' Pontiffs during this century waged vio lent and incessant war with heretics, who departed from the doctrines and decisions of the Church, and called in question the authority and jurisdiction of the popes i For the Cathari, the Walderisfcs, the Pe trobrusiani, and riiariy other Sects had spread them selves- almost through all Europe', especially through Italy, France, Germany, arid Spain, ancl were collect ed- into congregations, and became very formidable. . ' x2 To 324 REMARKS ON To the older sects new ones were added ; and all of* them* how discordant soever in otlier opinions, were unanimous in asserting that the Vulgar religion was ah* solu'teiy falser and that the popes usurped, a most un righteous dominion over the church* and over the gos pel. There were no small number of nobles who lis tened very willingly and favourably to these new preachers inveighing against the power,- wealth, and wickedness of the poritiffs, and of the whole hierarchy, and confuting their claims and their practices by the testimony of the sacred books.- There Was therefore need of new and extraordinary assistances tp crush and extirpate so numerous and sP dangerous enemies. In quisitors were appointed for1 that purpose, and that formidable tribunal Avas erected* which brought back multitudes of heretics to the bosom of the, church, and destroyed as many by fire and faggot *." The abbots in these days were very rich; nor did they neglect any methods of increasing their- wea!j& and their power, not even the barbarity of breaking peasants on the wheel, that they might seize on their effects. It was an Abbot Of Nienburg who was guil? fy of this cruelty. He was a most pious ecclesiastic for he ordered a monk to be cast out unbuf ied upon a dunghill, because he died possessed of nineteen crowns; adding to justify his severity, this, sentence of Scripture, Thy money perish, with thed ;,,. : ,.,,-j It was then an axiom* that the, church abhors ithfe shedding of blood : Therefore bishops and archbishops used to go to battle armed with clubs, and madepno scruple to knock down an enemy, and to. beat an$ bruise him to death, though they held it unlawful tp run him through with a sword. These * Mosheim, p. 496, &c. joi, &c. . , ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 325 These ages of ignorance were golden and happy a- ges for the church ; and the prelates abounded in good works ; for no man dared to call their actions by any other name *, Discourse on the Croisades, by Fleury. The croisades make a considerable part of the his tory of the church during the twelfth and thir teenth centuries, and were one of the principal sour ces of the alteration of ecclesiastical discipline. You have seen the end of them ; let us look back to, their beginning and their progress. The origin of croisades is to be discovered in the pilgrimages to the Holy Land, which became fre quent from the reign of Constantine, when the cross was found f, and the holy places re-established. Thi ther they repaired from all Christendom, which was contained pretty nearly within the compass of the Ro man empire, whose vast extent made such voyages easy, even from Gaul, Spain, and the remotest pro vinces. This liberty continued during three hundred years, notwithstanding the fall of the western empire, because the kingdoms formed out of its ruins remain ed Christian, and were peopled with Romans, though made subject to barbarians. The great change hap pened not till the seventh century, by the conquests of the Arabian Mahometans separated from us by re ligion, language, and manners. Yet as they left to x 3 .their ^?'Btbl. Univ.i. 96, &c. t He should have saidx was not found. 326 REMARKS ON their Christian subjects the free exercise of their reli gion, they permitted pilgrimages, and eyen they -them-,. selves went to visit Jerusalem, which they called the Holy House, and for which theyvhave a singular .ve neration. The Christians therefore of the west continued, un der the domination of the Mahometans, to visit the holy places of Palestine, though with more difficulty than in.tiie preceding ages ; and Aye have some rela tions of their voyages, as of that of Arculphus a French bishop, written by an Irish abbot towards the end of the seventh century. These pilgrims, beholding the servitude under which the eastern Christiansg^oaned:,, made, without question, "doleful representations of it, and of the disgrace to Christianity that the h°ly pie ces should be in the hands of infidels. Yet many centuri.es elapsed before any attempt was made to de liver them. It is true that the Greek emperors, were almost aW ways at war with the, Mahometans ; but it was rather- for the defence of fheii; frontiers than for. the conquest* of Jerusalem. The Goths, the Franks, the Lombards,; and other nations which ruled the west* were fes- a long time occupied in the wars which they waged with one another and with the Greeks. Afterwards, they found themselves obliged to fight against those* Mahometans who conquered Spain, penetrated, into. France, and established themselves in. Sicily, whence they made descents into Italy, even to, the gatesflof Rome. Far from projecting to cross the seas, and to. carry the war pver to them, the Christians reckoned'' it a sufficient happiness to repulse them. Gharlemaiin, so powerful, so warlike, so zealous for religion, em-: ployed his arms against the Saracens, only on thefi-pn-i tiers ECCLESIASTICAL. HISTORY. 327 tiers of Spain, and so little thought of attacking them infthe east, that he always preserved alliance and friendship with the calif Aaron, who sent to this prince the' key of the holy sepulchre, as a token of liberty for pilgrimages. The voyage of Charlemain to the Holy Land is a romance invented since the croisades. It Was not till the end of the eleventh century that the Christians of the Avest united in a common enter prise against the enemies of our religion ; and Pope Gregory VH. a man of spirit, and capable of vast de signs, was the first mover of it. He Avas much af fected With the' lamentable relations which he received of the state of the eastern Christians oppressed by the infidels, particularly by the Turks who came to settle in Asia. He had excited the princes of the west to take up arms agairist them ; he was sure of fifty thousand men* whom he himself intended to head, as* be testifies in a letter to the emperor Henry. But? more pressing affairs' at home hindered Gregory from1 executing his project, which was not accomplished' till twenty years after by Urban IL Some preludes' there had been, arid the pilgrims travelled to the holy land in great numbers, and well armed ; of which the seven thousand Germans were a remarkable instance* who performed this' Voyage in the year 1064, and de fended themselves valiantly against' the Arabian rob bers. Such a caravan' was a little army, and the Croisez were only a collection of pilgrims. Besides the principal motives of Opening a free pas sage for pilgrimages, and succouring the Christians of the east, I am persuaded that Gregory ancl Urban had also a view to secure Italy from the insults of the Saracens, arid to weaken their power in Spain, where it continued indeed- to decline after the croisades. Besides 328 REARMKS ON Besides this, Urban in one of his sermons gives inti mations of another important design, which was: to, extinguish the several wars which had raged in the. west for more than two hundred years, and kept, the lords continually in arms against each other. The croisade answered this design more effectual than the Truce of God, as it was called, established by many councils about the year 1040, to suspend' for certain days in the week all acts of hostility; Tlie croisade turned against the infidels those. forces' which the Christians employed to destroy one another ; it enfeebled the nobles, engaging them in immense ex- pences, by which means the sovereign princes grew: more powerful and by degrees re-established their authority* I find not that in those days it was ever made a question whether this war were just. The Christians^ of the east and west all took it for granted. Yet a difference of religion cannot be a sufficient cause of war ; and Thomas Aquinas, writing in the thirteenth century when the croisades were still frequent, says, that it is not lawful to compel infidels to embrace, the faith, but only that believers may employ force* when they are able, to hinder infidels from doing hurt to religion either by persuasion or by open persecution. And it is for this reason, says he, that Christians often wage- war with infidels, not to constrain them to be-. lieve, but to restrain them from opposing any ob stacles ,to the faith. On these principles* i Christian princes in all times have thought that they had a right to protect foreign Christians oppressed by their sove* reigns. Thus Theodosius the Younger, refused to sur render up to the Persian king the -Persian Christians who had taken refuge amongst the Romans, and pro* claimed ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 329 claimed war against him, to compel him to cease the persecution. The same was the occasion of the first croisade. The emperor of Constantinople implored the succour of the Latins against the formidable power of the Turks ; and the Christians of the east besought it still more earnestly by the complaining letters of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, which Peter the Hermit brought to Pope Urban. It must also be acknowledged that the hatred which the Christians bore to the Mahometans had a great share in the design of the croisade. The Christians considered them as a cursed nation, declared enemies to true religion, and professing to establish their own in all places by force of arms. Their own Christian subjects could not bear to obey them. John Damas cene, living in the capital of their empire a century after their conquests, addresseth himself to Leo Isaurus as to his true and lawful sovereign. Fifty years after, the patriarchs of the east, in their letters to the seventh general council, acknowledge the Greek emperors for their masters, and represent the Mahometan princes as execrable tyrants; Nor were the Christians of Spain reconciled to them in the middle of the ninth century, as Ave see in Eulogius of Corduba. I con fess that I discern not here the first spirit of Chris tianity, nor that perfect submission to pagan emperors during three hundred years of persecution. But these are certain facts ; and the Christian princes did not treat the Mahometans taken in war like other enemies, as it appears from those whom the emperor Basilius Macedo caused to be flayed alive, and from those whom the popes Leo IV. John VII. and Benedict VIIL put to death. The 330 REMARKS ON The croisade was not appointed by Pope Urban alone, but by the council of Clermont, consisting of more than two hundred bishops assembled for' all the west ; and so persuaded were all persons of the- zeillof God concurring in this enterprise, that it w?as madg tile shout of battle. To bring it into execution; and to put the people in motion, the grand resort was a plenary indulgence, which was then first introduced. The church in all times had left a discretionary power to the bishops to remit part of the canonical penance* according to the fervour of the penitent, or to other ' circumstances ; but till now it had never been seeri that in favour of one single work the sinner Was dis-* charged from all temporary punishments which were due to the divine justice. Nothing less than a nu>- merous council, with a pope presiding in person, could authorize such an alteration in the system of penance; and doubtless it was thought to be ground ed on sufficient reasons. For more than tWO' hun dred years, the bishops* had found it very difficult to make sinners submit to the canonical penances*.whicti indeed had been rendered impracticable by- multiply ing them according to the number of transgressions ; whence came the invention of commutations, and of buying off the penances of many years in a few days! And amongst these commutations it had been for A long time a practice to enjoin pilgrimages to- Rottie^ to Compostella, or to Jerusalem ; to which pilgrim ages the croisade now added the perils of war. It was thought therefore that such a penance as this Wast e* quivalent to the fastings, prayers, and: alftisgivrrigSj whicli each penitent could perform in particular!, and that it would be more useful to the church, and* riot less agreeable to God. This ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 331 r >This indulgence served the croisez in lieu of pay ; 3nd I find not in the first voyages any rising of tenths to defray the troops. The first was the Saladinp tenth, levied on account of the third croisade. But as indulgences will not feed the body, it was supposed that the croisez would subsist at their own expence,, or by the assistance of the rich and the charitable ; and this great expence attending so long a voyage was to be accounted as a considerable part of the penance. Even op these terms the indulgence was accepted Avith joy as a great favour. The, Nobles, who, knew themselves for the most part guilty of many crimes, and amongst others of pillag ing the churches, and robbing the poor, thought it a favour to have no other penance: imposed upon them than their own common occupation, and practice, which was fighting, togetiier with the prospect, if they fell in battle, to be ranked amongst the martyrs. Before this time, one part of penance had been, nei ther to- bear arms, nor to go on horseback. Now both the one and; the other was not only permit ted but required ; so that the croisez changed only the object of their enterprises, without changing in the least their way of life. The nobles drew after them the populace, most of whom were vassals con fined to the lands, and entirely dependent on their lords ; and doubtless chpse rather to follow them in, this voyage than to sit at home confined to, agricul ture or to laborious trades. Thus were formed those immense armies which -we find, in history. To march towards the holy land was thought sufficient to se cure the salvation of the traveller. The ecclesiastics took up the cross as well as others ; but it should have been from a different motive, .».."( namely, 332 REMARKS ON namely, to instruct the croisez, to comfort them, to administer the sacraments to them, and not to buy off their own penances ; for, according to the true rules\ canonical penances were not established for the clergy: When they had transgressed, it was thought sufficient; according to the apostolical canon, to depose them* and reduce them to the state of laymen, without adi dirtg any other correction, that they might not be punished twice for one fault. However it may be that in the eleventh century this distinction was not accurately considered ; and the ecclesiastics, too many of Avhom were guilty, proposed, as well as the laity did, to expiate their crimes by the croisade. What is certain is, that they thought it lawful to bear arms,1 and make, use of them in this, as well as' in other wars, against infidels. You have seen the bishops of Hun gary armed against the Tartars, when these ravaged their kingdom in the year 1241. The prelates of the fifth century did not act thus. St Leo the pope, and St Lupus bishop of Troyes stopped Attila by no- other weapons than prayers and arguments ; and they -who could not pacify these barbarians by meekness and mildness, suffered themselves to be massacred ; and the church approved their conduct so much as to: rank them amongst the martyrs. Even the monks and their abbots listed themselves in these expeditions, although this military sort'' of devotion led them off more than other men from their own vocation, which was silence and solitude;5 I have mentioned in its proper place the answer of St Gregory Nyssen'to a Solitaire of Cappadocia who con sulted him about a voyage to Jerusalem. Gregory' would not give him leave, although that was only a mere pilgrimage. You have seen how St Bernard' rew' proached; ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 333 pfoached an abbot for entering into the croisade, and how he himself absolutely refused to head the second .croisade. Yet at the croisade in the time of Inno cent III. we find there abbots* even of the Cistertian Order. Their essential duties suffered by it; the monastery was not the better governed for it ; and at their return neither they nor their companions the monks brought back with them a spirit of more regu larity. The same may be proportionably said of the bishops and of their clergy; When the armies were assembled and began to march in the first croisade, the event did not answer the intentions of Urban and of the council of Cler^ mont. In those times little discipline was observed in armies* and still less amongst that of the Croisez* composed of volunteers of diverse nations, and led by chiefs independent one of another, Avith none who had the supreme command* unless the pope's legate, and he a person by no means capable of governing such troops. Accordingly the pilgrims did not forbear from acts of hostility till they should enter into the lands of the infidels; In their passage they ravaged and pillaged the Hungarians* Bohemians, and Greeks, though Christians* and cut to pieces all who Opposed their violence. On these occasions so many of them perished, that their numbers were considerably dimi nished when they arrived at Asia. The Emperor Alexis* who then reigned* had been engaged in great Contentions with; Robert Guichard duke of Apulia, and had been worsted : So that seeing Boemond the son of Robert in the midst of Greece, and at the head pf a formidable army, he gave himself for lost? not dpubting but that this pretended pilgrim wanted his fcroWn. It is nowonder that he did the croisez all the 334 REMARKS ON the mischief that lay in his power ; and, being irifei rior in strength, had recourse to artifice according to the genius of his nation. The croisez were ill instructed Concerning the state of the countries which they went to attack. This appears from the relations of their exploits, in which the names of people, regions, and princes are strange ly disfigured. They knew not the roads, and were reduced to take up guides on the spot* that is, to ex^- pose themselves to the mercy of their enemies, who often misled them on purpose* and caused them to pe rish before they could strike a blow ; as it happened in the second croisade, Even in the first voyage they weakened their own hands by dividing their troops to secure diverse conquests, as Nicaea, Antioch, Edessa, instead of reserving their strength for Jerusalem, which was the aim of their enterprise. But the different chiefs had their own private views, and the ablest of them all was Boemond the Norman, who got Antioch for himself, much more solicitous, as far as We Can judge of him, to make his own fortune* than to do a- ny service to religion. At last they arrived at Jerusalem, besieged it, and took it by a kind of miracle ; for it was not to be ex- pected that amidst such obstacles an enterprise so ill conducted should have an happy conclusion. Per-' haps God thought proper to make it prosper for the sake of some well disposed warriors who aeted uprightly, and by a spirit of religion, such as Godfrey of Bottil- Jon, whose piety and simplicity is as much extolled as his valour by the historians of those times. But the Christians corrupted this victory by the ill use they^ made of it, putting all the Mahometans to the sword^ and filling Jerusalem with blood. Could they hope to« ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3S5 to exterminate and abolish this religion and its great empire which extended itself from Spain to the Indies? And what idea of the Christian religion did it give to the infidels ? Would it not have been more conforma-. ble to the spirit of the gospel to treat them with kindness and humanity, and to be contented with se eming by this conquest the liberty of pilgrimages to the Holy Land ? By such a behaviour they would have settled the peace of the old Christian inhabitants pf that country, and have made tlie government of tiie new rulers more amiable, and have procured the con version of some infidels'. Saladin, when he re-took Jerusalem, behaved himself in a much mors decent manner, and knew how to reproach the Christians Avith the barbarity of their parents. Rut after all, what were the fruits of this enterprise which had shaken and exhausted all Europe ? Only the new kingdom of Jerusalem conferred upon tlie worthy Godfrey, on the refusal of the principal lords of the croisade, who having accomplished their vow, were in haste to return to their homes. History will hardly furnish us with a kingdom smaller in the ex-. tent of land, and shorter in duration, for it lasted on ly eighty years, and comprised no more than Jerusa lem and a few neighbouring villages, and even those inhabited by. Mahometans, or by Christian natives who had no affection for the Franks. Thus the new king had in reality no other subjects than the small remainder pf the croisez, that is, three hundred horse, and two thousand foot. Such w:as this poor conquest, so vaunted by historians and poets \ and strange it m that the Christians persevered for two hundred years in the design of preserving or regaining it. But 336 REMARKS ON But it was because the popes, and they who by their' command preached the croisade, ceased not to repre sent it to the nobility and the populace as the cause of God, and the best method to secure their owrn salva* tion. We must, said they, revenge the disgrace of Jesus Christ, and wrest out of infidel hands that land which is his heritage, acquired by the price of his blood, and promised by him to his people. He gave . his life for you ; is it not just that you should give yours for him ? Can you sit at rest in your houses,' whilst his enemies blaspheme his holy name, profane his temple, and the places which he honour ed with his presence, by the abominable wor ship of Mahometans, who insult the faithful that have not the courage to eject them ? What will you answer to God at the day of judgment, when he will reproach you for having preferred your repose and your pleasures to his glory; and for having slighted so easy a method of expiating your sins, and gaining the crown of martyrdom ? This is what the popes in their .letters, and the preachers in their sermons inculcated with the most pathetic expressions. In our days, when the spirits of men are no longer inflamed with the subject, and we consider it in a cool temper, we can discern in these discourses neither so lidity, nor even the appearance of reason. It Avas said that the disgrace of Jesus Christ ought to be revenged. But what he accounts an injury, and what truly dis honours him is the debauched life of wicked Chris tians, and such were most of the croisez, which is far more odious to him than the profanation of things in animate, of buildings consecrated to his name, and of places which bring to our mind what he suffered for us. What respect soever may be due to holy places, his ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY* 337 his religion is not connected with them. He hath de clared this himself, when he said that the time was coming when God should be worshipped neither in Sa maria, nor in Jerusalsm* but in all* and in any places* In spirit and in truth. And it was to Undeceive the Jews, and remove their attachment to one spot* and to an house made by men* that he caused Jerusalem to be destroyed, and never suffered the temple to be res- built. It is mere equivocation to call Palestine the LordJs heritage* and the land promised to his people. These expressions belong to the Old Testament in the proper and literal sense, and Can be applied to the New only in a figurative sense. The heritage which Christ pur- Chased with his blood* is his church collected from all nations* and the land which he hath promised is the heavenly country. We Ought to be ready to give up our life for him ; but that is done by suffering all sorts of oppressions and persecutions, and even death* ra ther than to renounce him and lose his favour. He hath not commanded us to expose our lives by attack ing infidels sword in hand ; and if it be lawful to give the title of martyrs to those who are slain fighting with unbelievers, it must be in a purely religious war. More than five hundred years were elapsed since the Mahometans had conquered Palestine when the first croisade was undertaken, and we see not that Christi anity in general had suffered any great .detriment by their 'conquest* or that it grew more flourishing since. In a word, all the heavy censures bestowed on those princes .who refused to go to .the holy war fell as much upon their predecessors* and upon other princes, vyho yet had been rnost zealous in the cause of religion. Vol, nr, ... „ Y The 33S- REMARKS ON The second croisade conducted by Louis the Young' with Conrad king of Germany was entirely unsuccessr* ful ; and St Bernard, who had preached it, was redu ced- to plead for himself against the reproaches which his doctrine had. brought upon him. The army of Conrad perished in Natolia, without striking a blow, by the treachery of the Greeks ; and one cannot Avon- der enough at the simplicity of this prince, to trust himself to the emperor Manuel, after the experience of the first croisade, Avhen Manuel's ancestor Alexis had used all his endeavours to blast the enterprise. The interval between the one and the other was only of fif-1 ly years, and the same causes of distrust still subsist ed. The Greeks were always persuaded that the La tins wanted to take possession of their empire ; and the event, fifty years after, in the fourth croisade, jus tified their suspicions too fully. I speak of the enterprise in which the French, in stigated by the Venetians, went first to attack Zara in Dalmatia,. and then Constantinople, to re-establish the young emperor Alexis, of which city they made them selves masters, under the pretence of punishing Mur- zuflus for his disloyalty to this young prince ; for this was the motive which the bishops, their conductors,- proposed to them, namely, that persons who had com mitted such murders as Murzuflus, had no right to pos-. sess their dominions ; and so blind were the princes of the croisez as not to discern the dangerous conse- quences which might be drawn against themselves by- virtue of this false maxim. Innocent III. at first us-. ed his utmost efforts to divert the croisez from this project : He represented to them that they had taken ? arms against infidels, not against Christiaris, and 'that. it belonged not to them to revenge injuries done to tiie-j Emperor Ecclesiastical htsfoRY. 339 EmperOr Isaac, or to his son Alexis. To these re monstrances he added his censures, and the croisez were excommunicated for this undertaking. But at length he was dazzled by the success ; and Seeing the Latins masters of Constantinople as itwrere by miracle* he imagined that God had declared him self for them, TwO specious reasons imposed upon him ; the facility of succouring the Holy Land, and the hopes ofre-uniting the Greek to the Latin church. It was said, The Greeks are they who above all have pre vented the good effects of the croisades by their perfi dy. When we are masters of the empire, the passage to the Holy Land will be easy and safe, and we shall advance step by step to its assistance. It was also ur ged, The Greeks are obstinate schismatics, children of the church who have rebelled against their mother since many ages* and who deserve to be scourged for it. If the fear of our arms recals them to their duty, so much the better ; if not* we must extirpate them, and re-people the country with Catholics. But in both these reasonings they were widely mistaken. The conquest of Constantinople drew on the loss of the Ho ly Land, and made the schism of the Greeks irrecon- cileable.' This wants to be explained. First then : The preservation of Constantinople be came a new object of the croisez, and divided the for ces of the pilgrims, already too small to sustain the war in Syria, particularly after the loss of Jerusalem. Yet the croisez repaired more willingly to Romania, at tracted by' the proximity and by the goodness of the country. Thither they went in droves, and thence sprang up new states, besides the empire, as a king dom of Thessalonica, and a principality of Achaia. There also werefound new enemies to encounter be- y 9 sides §40 REMARKS ON sides the Greeks, as the Bulgarians, Valachians^ Co> manians, and Hungarians. Thus the Latins* being; established in Roriiania, had work enough at home, without troubling themselves about the Holy Land. They were eternally crying out for succours, and at* trading as many of the croisez as they could. But* in spite of all their1 efforts, the conquest of Constanti nople was still more short lived than that of Jerusa lem. The Latins did not preserve it sixty years ; and; Which added to these evils* this conquest, with the Wars which it produced, shook the Greek empire to such a degree, that it gave occasion to the Turks > to overset it entirely two hundred years afterwards ; and as to the schism of the Greeks, it was so far from extin guishing, that it inflamed and made it irreconeileable. The indulgence granted to the croisade, having been extended to the preservation of the empire of Romania, against the schismatical Greeks, was soon applied to all the Avars which appeared of impor tance to religion. The popes granted the same indul gence to the Spaniards who fought against the Moors, and to strangers who joined them as auxiliaries ; and indeed it tended to deliver Christians from the domi nation of infidels, and to diminish the power of the latter. By these means were accomplished the- con quests of James king of Arragon, and of St Ferdinand king of Castille, carried on so far by their successors-* fchat at last they expelled all the Moors from Spain. At the same time the croisade was preached in Ger many against the pagans of Prussia, Livonia, and the neighbouring regions, both to hinder them from vex ing the new Christians, and to incline them to receive the gospel themselves. An additional, object, of the croisade Avas the destruction ofheretics, such as %hp Albigen- ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 341 Albigenses in France, and others in Germany. Lastly, it was preached against princes who were excommu nicated fer disobeying tlie church, as the Emperor Frederic II. and his son. And because the popes treated as enemies to the church all those with whom they had any disputes even about their temporal in- . terests, they had also recourse to croisades on these occasions, as to the last resort against resisting powd ers. Noav these croisades grown so numerous, Avere hurt ful one to the other. The croisez split into so many different bodies could not perform great exploits ; and this was the principal cause of the loss of the Holy Land. The Spaniards and Germans chose rather to gain the indulgence by staying at home; the popes had more at heart the preservation of their own temporalities in Italy than the kingdom of Jerusalem., and the destruc tion of Frederic and liis son than that of the sultans of Egypt and Syria, Thus the succours expected by the Christians of the east were diverted or retarded, and the multitude of the croisades caused that enterprise to miscarry which had been their first and only view. The croisades were grown objects of contempt, and the preachers of them were no longer followed and re garded. It became necessary to grant an indulgence of some days, and even of some years, to those who would deign to be present at those sermons, The extension of the plenary indulgence was also hurtful to the croisade. At first it was only granted to those who took up arms and went in person. Afterwards it was thought right not to deprive those >of it, who, being unable themselves to serve, contri buted to the success of the enterprise, as old men, sickly persons, and women, who gave their substance for 342 REMARKS ON for the maintenance of the army. It was extended to all those Avho were promoters of this holy cause, in proportion to the- sum which they gave, either during their life, or by their testament ; and the croisez who could not accomplish their vow, on account of spme obstacle arising afterwards, were dispensed frprn it on the payment of a certain gift; and this sometimes Upon slender excuses. All these contributions a- mounted to a vast sum, which was collected by the Pope's commissaries, templars, mendicants, or others, who were sometimes accused of being faithless stew ards. But these voluntary collections were casual, and experience shewed that a certain fund was neces sary for the maintenance of the croisez, most of whom were not able to serve at their own expence. Thence they proceeded to imposts and taxes ; and as the subr ject of this war was the defence of religion, it was judged lawful to make free with consecrated goods, that is, Avith ecclesiastical revenues. The first impo sition pf this kind was'the Saladine tenth, on occasion ofthelossof Jerusalem, Sensible men foresaw the consequences, and Peter of Bfojs opposed this inno* vation, so prejudicial to the liberties of the clergy, and the immunity of ecclesiastical revenues, And indeed this example, began in the third croisade, was followed in all the succeeding ones,, not only in those for the Holy Land, but for any cause whatspev/er ; and the popes, pretending to a right tp dispose- of ec clesiastical goods, required of the clergy a twentieth, sometimes a tenth, sometimes even a fifth of their re- A'enues, either for the croisade, or for the particular affairs of Rome : and also sometimes they gave a part qf those taxes to those kings who came into, their in* terests, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. S43 terests. The French and the English clergy made loud complaints on this account. These levies were only a small part of the temporal business which the croisades brought upon tlie pope, Who was always tiie first mover .; for these wars, though undertaken upon a religious motive, were to be conducted like other wars. It was needful to raise troops, to furnish them with necessaries, to give them commanders, to send them forth, to (ix their rout by land, and their embarkation when they chose to o-p by sea, to have fortified places, stoics, and magazines, and to make all other suitable preparations. It was the pope who regulated the enterprizes, disposed of the conquests, and ratified the treaties of peace or of truce ; and as he could not march himself at the head of the croisez, there was always in each army a legate, usually a cardinal, furnished with most ample pro visions, and having authority over the chiefs, and a kind of generalissimo, But the pppe who gave him this power could not along with it giye him the ca pacity requisite in a Commander ; and so it often happened that the military officers were of a different opinion from the legate concerning, the conduct of the war ; and this produced divisions amongst them, as it did between the legate Pelagius and the king of Jerusalem, Frequently it happened that a prince, after having taken the cross and an oath to set out at a certain time, delayed his voyage, either through fickleness and change of mind, or on account of more pressing affairs at home, by a revolt of his subjects, or by the invasion of a neighbouring prince. Then recourse was to be had to the pope, to obtain a dispensation from the oath, and an allowance of longer time. If the' 344 REMARKS ON the pope did not approve the excuses, he was not sparing of his ecclesiastical censures. Such, was the source of the famous contest between Gregory IX. and the emperor Frederic II. whicli brought on the ruin of that prince and of his house, and plunged Germany into an anarchy of thirty years, and intro duced a division in Italy from which it hath not as yet recovered itself. Such was also the cause of the quarrel of Boniface VIII. and Philip Le Bel, which was carried to the last extremities, and the end of which was so fatal to that pontiff. The prince used to say on those occasions, I am ready to accomplish my vow ; but I must first pro vide for the safety of my kingdom, subdue my re bellious subjects, or disarm a neighbouring prince, who will take advantage of my absence. The pope replied, The croisade is the common cause of religion, to which all private and personal interests must yield. Put your cause into my hands, as to a judge and an arbitrator, and I will do you justice. As a croise, you are under the special protection of the Roman church ; whosoever attacks you during your absence shall be declared her enemy. The new lords established in the east, as the king of Jerusalem, the prince of Antioch, the count of Tri poli, gave the pope the more occupation, as their con duct towards the infidels and their contentions a- mongst themselves directly affected the preservation of the Holy Land. Add to this the affairs of the Latin bishops established in those regions after the con quest, and you will find that the croisade alone and its consequences involved the popes in more business than fell to the share of the. greatest monarchs. So much did they set their hearts upon the affairs of :tlie Holy ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3&5 Holy Land, that several of them died of mere vexation at the bad event of this enterprise. The Latin clergy of the east deserve a particular notice. Presently after the conquest of Antioch, Jerusalem, and other cities, they established in them Latin patriarchs and prelates ; and in like manner, after the conquest of Constantinople. True it is that the diversity of language and of rituals obliged the Latins to have clergy of their own : but I know not whether it was proper to be so hasty in multiplying prelates for the sake of the Latins, who Avere few in number. For example, could not the patriarch of Jerusalem have very easily governed the church of Bethlehem, which lay only two leagues off ? The croisez went to succour the ancient Christians, Sy rians, Armenians, and others, who all had their own bishops established by a long succession ; yet in our histories I find little mention made of these poor Christians and of their bishops, except the complaints which they made of being ill used by the Latins. Thus under the pretence of delivering them from the Mahometans, they only laid them under a new slavery. The first care of these Latin bishops was to esta blish the temporalities of their sees, and to acquire. seignories, cities, and castles, after the examples which they had seen at home, aiid to be extremely careful in preserving them. Accordingly, scarcely were they established when they began to have violent contests with the nobles ; as the patriarch of Jerusalem had with the king, for the dominion of the city. Nor had they less altercation for their spiritual jurisdiction, both amongst themselves, and with the knights of the military orders equally jealous of their privileges. To 346 REMARKS ON To settle these litigated points, recourse was to be had to Rome, whither the patriarchs themselves were often obliged to go in person. What dissipation for these prelates ! and what additional burden of affairs for the pope ! But what scandal given to the ancient Christians of the east, and to the infidels ! According to the true spirit of the gospel, the Latin clergy ought to have applied themselves principally to the instruc tion and amendment of the croisez, and to form as it were a new Christianity, as near as possible to the purity of the first ages, and capable of attracting by good examples the infidels with whom they were sur rounded. Then the clergy might have laboured for the re-union of heretics and schismatics, and for the conversion of the infidels ; and this was the method to make the croisade turn to good account. But out' Latin ecclesiastics were not knowing enough to have views so pure and so sublime ; they were in Palestine like those in Europe, or rather still more ignorant, and still more dissolute. After the loss of Jerusalem, the patriarch, as well as the king, retired to the city of Acre, where he re* sided till the total loss of the Holy Land ; and though his patriarchate was only titular, there was reason to retain it so long as any hopes remained of recovering Jerusalem. The same may be said of the patriarch of Antioch, and of Constantinople, and of other Latin Bishops of Greece and of the east, But since the croisades are ceased, and no rational hope subsists of re-establishing these prelates in their churches, it might have been better to have ceased from giving them successors, and perpetuating those empty titles ; and the more so, because this procedure makes the Greeks and otlier schismatics still less disposed to a re-union ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 347 re-Union with the church, Whilst they see the court of Rome full of these bishops inpartibus, in employ ments little answerable to their dignity. Next to the clergy, let us consider the military or ders, a kind of Religious persons unknown to antiqui ty. Until the twelfth century, it was thought enough to account the profession of arms permitted to Chris tians, and compatible with salvation ; it was not yet contrived to make it a state of perfection, ancl to -join to it the three vows essential to a religious life. And in truth, the observation of these vows requires great precautions against the ordinary temptations ; it re quires solitude, or at least retirement, to avoid the occasions of sin ; recollection and meditation on re ligious truths ; and frequent prayer, to acquire tran quillity of mind, and purity of heart. Now it seems very difficult to join these practices with a military life, full of action, and continually exposed to the most dangerous temptations, or at least, to the most violent passions. For these reasons warriors would have more need than other men to cultivate their minds by reading, conyersation, and wise reflections. As we suppose them bold and brave, a right use of their reason is more necessary for them than for others, that they may employ their courage in a proper manner, and keep it Avithin just bounds. Valour, by itself, only makes men brutal ; and reason, by itself, makes them not courageous. They want both valour and reason. Now our old knights had never studied, and most of them could not read ; so that the common prayers of the Templars consisted only in assisting at the office which was sung by the clerks. I should also much jrjpuht whether they were sufficiently guarded against the 34S REMARKS ON the temptations -inseparable from the exercise of a.fm% and in the midst of battle could preserve such an even temper as not to be carried away by emotions of wrath and malice, by desire of revenge, and sentiments not conformable to humanity and justice. According to the ancient discipline of the church, some sort of pe nance was required of those who had shed bloodeven in the justest wars ; and we find some remains of this discipline in the ninth century, I am willing to suppose that the templars and o- ther knights of the military orders gave shining ex amples of virtue in their first zeal. But it must be confessed that they soon degenerated, and that heavy complaints were made of them, even in the twelfth century, not long after their institution. They abused their privileges, extending them beyond all bounds; despising the bishops, from whose jurisdiction they were exempt, and even obeying the pope no farther thank pleased them. They kept not their treaties with infidels, and sometimes entered into schemes with them for the destruction pf Christians. Many of them led a corrupt and scandalous life. In fine; the crimes of the templars were carried to such an excess, that it became needful to abolish their order at the general council of Vienne, before two hundred years were elapsed from their establishment ; and the facts of which they stand accused are so atrocious, that we cannot read them without horror, and can scarcely be lieve them, though proved by authentic procedures. As to the military orders which still subsist, I re< verence the authority of the church which hath ap-, proved them, and the virtues of many particular per sons in each of them. We have in our days known such amongst the knights of Malta. But I leave it to ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 34g to the conscience of each individual, to examine whe ther he lives like a truly Religious man, and faithfully observes his Rule. I particularly intreat all those Who embrace this state of life, and all parents who place their children in it, to do it with solemn deli beration, and not to be led merely by the example of others ; to consider attentively, before God, what are the obligations incumbent on that state, according to the intention of the church, and not according to those relaxations which it tolerates ; and above all, what are the motives for embracing this profession; whether they be to secure eternal life, and to aim at Christian perfection* or to participate, of the revenues of the order, and obtain offices of dignity ; for it is quite preposterous to make a vow of poverty with a view to acquire riches. . Of all the consequences of the Croisade, that Avhich most affected religion was the cessation of canonical penances : I say, the ceasing, not the abrogating : for they were never expressly abolished by any papal constitution, or by any council. Never was this point taken into deliberation ; never was it affirmed in the following manner : " We having carefully ex amined the reasons of this ancient discipline, and the effects which it hath produced, find the inconvenien ces of it to be -greater than the utility; and so, all things duly weighed, we judged it proper henceforth to leave penances to the discretion of confessors." I have seen nothing of this kind in the- whole course of ecclesiastical history. Canonical penances have in sensibly declined by the facility of bishops, and by the hardened stubbornness of sinners, by negligence, and by ignorance ; but they received, as we may say* 350 REMARKS ON say, their mortal wound by the indulgences of the Croisade. I know that this was not the intention of Pope Ur ban, and of the council of Clermont. They designed on the contrary to perform two good deeds at a time, to deliver the Holy Land, and to facilitate penance for an innumerable company of sinners who else would have performed none. This is what St Bernard ex pressly says, and what Innocent III. affirms; and they pathetically extol the mercy of God, who iri those' days had given men an opportunity of being converted, and a new method of satisfying the divine justice. But it is to be feared that they had riot enough" considered the solid reasons for which the ancient ca nons had regulated the times and the exercises of pe nance. The holy men who established these rules had not only in view to punish sinners,' but to ascer tain their conversion, and to guard against relapses. They began therefore by separating them from the rest of the faithful, and keeping them confined during the time of their penance, except when they were to as sist at divine service, and receive religious* instruction. Thus they removed from them the occasions of offend ing ; and these times of silent recollection gave leisure to the penitents for making serious reflections on the enormity of sin, the rigour of God's justice, eternal punishments, and other formidable truths, whicli the priests who had the care of theiri did not fail to repre sent in such a manner as to excite in them sentiments of compunction. Then they comforted and en couraged them, and by degrees confirmed in them a resolution to renounce sin for ever, and to lead a new life. It was not till the eighth century that they intro duced ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3^1 duced pilgrimages in lieu of satisfaction ; they be emplum dabo, sed ttoxkuv dv1a.%iov olkkuy, virum melioribus Uteris pro Sorte sceculi haud vulgariter imbutum, egregium plane literarum et literatorum patronum ; Ricnrdum in- telligo Buriensem, quern nobilis et opulenta sedes Dunel- mensis olirn tulit Episcopum, * Utinam sic semper talem! Vixit is Edvardo tertio, regum nostrorum felicissimo, ( cujus' pueritiam rexerat*, et ad mores Principe dignos formaverat J magnis et Ecclesia et Reipublica muneribus functus ; erat quippe, ut alia mittam, summus Anglia Cancellarius, magnusque JErarii Regii Thesaurarius. Quam flagranti vero, et, ut ipsius verbo utar, exstatico in Uteris promovendis J'erebatur animo, in Libello suo, quern idicirco Philobiblion, sive De Amore Librorum inscripsit, ipse nos docet. Ab ineunte atate viros doctrina claros familiares habuit, suavissima eorum consuetudine mirifice delectatus ; quos postea etiam in dignitate positus socios sibi adscivk, in hospitio commensales, in itinere comites, in omni fort una sodales. Impetrata facultate regia, omnes regni bibliothecas, turn publicas turn privatas, perlusfravit <§• d'digenter excussit. Ab iis quos maximis devinxerat beneficiis nullum gratius ivTtla^ay offerri potuit, quam si pulverulenti quaterniones, et decrepiti codices donarenturi In plurimis quas apud exteros Principes legationibus in Gallia, Italia, Germania obiit, nunquam non ei curcefuit supellectilem librariam augere. Quocurn- quepedem moveret, omnia librorum armamentaria solerter invisit, et quicquid thesauri literarii reperit, munifica liberalitate redemit. Nee tabernas librarias neglexit, si quid in rem suam inde reportaret. Ex Ordinibus Mb- ; nasticis, * Cave, I .suppose, had in view a certain bishop 6f Durham,, who doubtless was much inferior to our Richard of Bury. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 373 nasticis,prcecipue Prcedidatoribus et Minorilis, Monachos selectiores habuit, quos in omnem literati orbis angulum misit, ut melior'is not re codices vel prece vel pretio sibi compararent. In atriis suis ingens semper aderat And- quariorum, Scriptorum, Colligatorum, Correctorum, et Illuminatorum multitudo, qui libros sua quisque facilitate curarent, Et quoniam probe sciret Unguurum cognitionem unicam esse ad reseranda scientiarum penetralia c'a- vem, Grammaticam Grcccam, ut-et Hebrceam adornari curavit, adjunctis aliis, quce in his Unguis excolendis studiosorum usibus inservirent. Antiquos codices cmen- davit, voces vetustate nimia caligantes congruis interpret tationibus elucidavit, veierumque Grammaticorum ortho- graphiam, prosodiam, etymologiam, et diasynthesin in- concussa sedulitate instauravit. Denique, ne quid deesset, apud se sfatuit Aulam Publicam in Academia Oxoniensi fundare, reditibus ditare, inque ea Bibliothecam, quam habuit instructissimam, in communem Academicorum usum collocare ; ut plures certe libros quam omnes simul istius temporis Anglice Episcopi possedisse dicitur. Utrumque prcestitisse, Collegium nempe Dunelmense a Monachis antea inchoatum perfecisse, prcediisque locupler- tasse, et bibliothecam suarn inibi repossuisse diserte tradunt Annales Oxonienses. Haec Buriensis noster, cujus ex- emplum haud pari licet passu secuti sunt alii, ex meliore luto habentes prcecordia, qui de bonarum artium studiis his temporibus optime meriti sunt. Sed pauci erant, et, Rari nantes in gwgite vasto, &c, * A. 1334. John established the feast of the holy Trinity, on the first Sunday after Whitsunday -f. Jacobus Furnerius, being made pope, took the name pf Benedict XII. Historians represent him as a man . of * Cave, Proleg. p.-n. t Fleury, xix. p. 519. 374 REMARKS as of probity, and free both from ambition and from covetousness. He saw the disorders of the church, and used his best endeavours to remove them, artd tp reform the monks. He intended to proceed still far ther, when death called him away, in the year 1342. Superstition excepted, which was the common dis ease of the age, his character is good and fair *. Add to him Innocent VI. and Urban V. who were tolerable popes. A. 1341. Petrarch was crowned poet laureate. In ancient times it had been a custom to crown poets, who in public assemblies had carried the prize, and obtained the preference. This lasted till about the days of Theodosius ; then it ceased ; and afterwards revived about the end of the twelfth century, and continued till it was prostituted to such a degree in various courts of Europe, and bestowed upon such miserable versifiers, that the title became perfectly Contemptible and ridiculous "j". The Quietists, egregious fanatics, caused great dis turbances in Greece, being attacked by Baiiaam, and defended by Palamas ^. A. 1347. This year gave birth to St Catharine of Siena, whom even Fleury § treats as an enthusiast. A permission was granted by our Edward III. tp one John Blome, to dig in the Monastery of Glaston, and search for the body of Joseph of Arimathsea, which * Mosheim, p. 573. t See a dissertatipn on the Laureate poets in the Mem. de PAcad, xv. 235. % Mosheim, p. 598. § xx. 288. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 375 which lay there, as Blome had learned by a revelation made to him *. A. 1373. The Flagellantes appeared again upon the stage ; as also an opposite sect of dancers, who were like the convulsionaires of our times f. A. 1378. The grand schism of the antipopes lasted fifty-one years, from 1378 to 1429. The council of Pisa was convened upon this oc casion. During this famous schism there were freer discourses made in public debates, concerning the wickedness of popes and of papal usurpations, than could well be expected in such ignorant and bigoted times. It is strange that none, of them, having proceed ed so far, should have gone farther, and have discern ed that a pope is no creature of God's making. That discovery was reserved for Luther. However, the schism, together with the ignorance, insolence, and abandoned profligacy of the clergy, had one happy effect. It opened the blind eyes of the laity, and prepared the way for the reformation. The consum mate wickedness of these antipopes, who were the greatest villains upon earth, as all honest Christians accounted them, and as they themselves used to call one another, and of whom some were gnilty of every crime that can be conceived, and Atheists without all peradventure, gave an incurable wound to popery. Puteanus hath written an account of this schism ; and Mosheim, J and L'Enfant, in his histories of the three councils, haye treated of it, A, 1387, * Bibl. Chois xxiii. 326. t Mosheim, p. 603 -. t P- 574- 376 REMARKS ON A. 1387. Wickliff died about this time. He waa the father of the Lollards, whose tenets, as far as they are opposite to popery, were nearly the same with those that are now commonly held by the Protestants. He was the first translator of the New Testament from the Latin vqlgate into English *. A. 1399- A new sect of fanatics arose, called Albi, or Fratres Albi, who presently increased, and seduced great multitudes, and not a few ecclesiastics, They went about cloathed in white, men, women and child? ren, making processions, and professing extraordinary sanctity. But in a short time they were dissipated f. In this century flourished Chrysoloras, Petrarch, and Dante, and were restorers of polite literature. Aristotle's philosophy was principally cultivated, The Realists and Nominalists were at eternal war, which lasted till the days of Luther, who put an end to it by calling another question. The clergy were as wicked as it can possibly be conceived ; and papal tyranny began to be roughly shaken with the opposition made by Philip Le Bel J. A. 1400. A grand Jubilee was solemnized, a farce which was invented by Boniface VIII. A. 1300, and which both at first and afterwards, by the grants of indulgences*, proved extremely profitable tp the aya? ricious popes and ecclesiastics §. The emperor Manuel came to Rome, to negotiate an union between the eastern and western churches, and, * Rapin, i. 479. l'Enfant, Gone. de. Pise, ii. 45. de Const, i. 20 r, Mosheim, p. 567. | L'Enfant* Cone, de Pise, i. P. i. 121. X Mosheim, p. 568. § L'Enfant. C. de Pise, i. 124. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3JJ and, Avhich w«s his main point, to procure some as sistance against his formidable neighbours. It pro duced no good to the emperor, but it Avas of singular benefit to Europe ; for the learned men whom he brought with him, revived in Italy and in other states of Europe a taste for the Belles Lettres *. A. 1401. In the reign of our Henry IV. an order was sent to the Mayor of London to burn William Sawtre, an heretic, that is to say, a Lollard. This is the first Englishman who was put to death for reli gion f. A. 1408. From the controversial writings of the illus trious John Huss, it appears that he was of singular abilities, and of considerable learning for those times. He had all the qualities requisite for a reformer, oreat piety, and undaunted courage. He had also a tinc ture of fanaticism. He thought himself inspired, and impelled to act as he did ; and the warmth of his tem per made him break out sometimes into violent invec tives. Pie was manifestly Luther's forerunner, and preached particularly against indulgences. Jeroni of Prague, his intimate friend and fellow-labourer, is re presented by some writers as a man of an impetuous and turbulent spirit. The heresy for which John Huss suffered was his censuring the tyranny and debauchery of ecclesiastics ; for in speculative points he was nearly orthodox, ac cording to the orthodoxy of those days. He defended himself by the example and authority of our illustrious Grosthead. Like Sampson, he slew more at his death than * L'Enfant C. de Pise, i. 127. t Bibl. Chois. xxvii. 322. 378 REMARKS ON than he had done in his life, and his martyrdom was amply revenged by his followers. L'Enfant hath given a large account of him. A. 1409. At the council of Pisa was read a decree of Gregory X. concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, as from one, and not from two principles. The Greeks had consented to this article at the * second general eouncil of Lyon f. A. 1410. Alexander V. gave the consecrated Gol den Rose to the Marquis of Este. This ceremony was introduced in the eleventh century. The pope published at the same time a letter for the extirpation of heretics ; and one Burgin, of the sect of the Begards, was burnt. The ecclesiastical canon, which forbids the clergy to bear arms, was neglected in all places, and particu larly in Germany. It is related that a'bishdp newly elected at Hildeshem, inquiring after the library of his predecessors, was conducted to an Arsenal full of all military weapons. These are the books, said they, of which your predecessors made use ; and which you must use to defend your church against the usurpa tions of your neighbours %. A. 1411, The Jews were cruelly persecuted. His* tory says that many of them were converted by Vin cent Ferrier, a famous preacher ||. A. 1412, * A, 1274. L'Enfant, C. de P. T. 1, p. ii. 41. 51. 136- 138, X L'Enfant, il L'Enfant. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 379 A- 1412. John Huss wrote an excellent refutation pf the bull of John XXIII. * In a council held at Rome by this pope, at the first session, happened the adventure of the owl. After the mass of the Holy Ghost, all being seated, and John sitting on his throne, suddenly a frightful owl came screaming out of his hole, and placed himself just' be fore the pope, staring earnestly upon him. The arri val of this nocturnal bird in the day time caused ma ny speculations ; some took it for an ill omen, and were terrified ; others smiled, and whispered to each other that the Holy Ghost had assumed a strange form to appear in. As to the pope, he blushed, and Avasin a sweat, and arose and brake up the assembly. But at the next session, the owl took his place again, fix^ ing his eyes upon John, who was more dismayed than before, and ordered them to drive away the bird. A pleasant sight it was to behold the prelates occupied in hunting him ; for he would not decamp. At last they killed him as an incorrigible heretic, by flinging their canes at him -J". A. 1414. The Lithuanian and Samogite Pagans were converted by their duke, Ladislas Jagellon %. The council of Constance was in one respect very considerable ; for it established the superiority of coun-. cils over the pope. Several of the divines who preach ed at this council represent all the fathers and ecclesi astics, both within and. without doors, with very few exceptions, as a collection of most abandoned and profligate villains. Accordingly, these infamous wretches * L,'Enfant, ii. 119. Cave ii. Append. 102. Mosheim, p. 614. f L'Enfant. * L'Enfant. 380 REMARKS ON wretches took due care that there should be in the church no reformation of manners, or such a pretend-, ed reformation as would amount to nothing, See a, sermon which was preached to this assembly in the Amamitates Literarice *, and the preface of L'Enfant to his history. This council decided, that although Christ gave the eucharist in both kinds, yet ought the commur nion of only one kind to be preferred ; and then burnt John Huss apd Jerom of Prague for maintaining the contrary, The council of Trent f renewed this de cree, or rather carried it still farther, absolutely for* bidding the cup to be granted to the laity on any occasion ; notwithstanding the pressing remonstran ces of the emperor, the king of France, the duke of Bavaria, and many other princes and states %, L'Enfant hath given us the scandalous decree of this council of Constance against the safe-conducts granted to heretics by sovereign princes. It is well known that the emperor Sigismund baser. ly gave up Jphn Huss into the hands of the council ; and that he blushed on the occasion, when Huss fixed his eyes steadily upon him, There goes a report that Charles the Fifth, being importuned by Eccius, and o. ther wretches like him, to arrest Luther, notwithstand ing the saferconduct granted to him, replied, Iwillnof blush zcith my predecessor Sigismund. Huss, alluding to his own name, which signifies a goose; said, The goose is a tame domestic bird, which goes not far from home, and doth not take an high fight. But other birds will come, who shall soar aloft, and esr cape the snares of the enemy. On * iii. 40, f A. 1,562- X L'Enfant, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 381 On these words was probably founded a tradition that Huss foretold the reformation accomplished by Luther, and said to his judges, To-day you roast a goose ; an hundred years hence, will come a Avhite swan, which you shall not be able to destroy *. A. 1417. The English bishops at Constance, in ho nour to Sigismund, caused a pious tragi-comedy to be acted before him on the birth of Christ, the com ing of the wise men, and the slaughter of the infants. To the English then is due the invention of such sce- nical entertainments in Germany ; though others give- the honour of it to the famous Reuchlin. The sect of the Flagellantes made a great stir at this time. There is a list of the strangers who attended the council of Constance* as tradesmen, heralds, buffoons* &c. amongst which are seven hundred courtesans; or* as another list hath it, fifteen hundred ; which seems to be the more probable account f. A certain priest, who was a deist, and was brought before his bishop upon that account, did not dissem ble his opinion. But being tortured* he recanted, and declared himself converted to Christianity, and desir ed to be put into a monastery. This change was thought miraculous by some people, who would have had more reason to think it so, if a jail and the rack had not been employed in his conversion %. A. 1422. Martin V. published a constitution in favour of the Jews, whom he took under his protec tion, L'Enfant * L'Enfant. f L'Enfant, ii. 21. 79. .386- % L'Enfant. C. de B. i- 89. 382" REMARKS ON L'Enfant hath made some remarks on the Bohemian Adamites * ; and says, " The accounts which we have of the later heretics come for the most part from the shops of their con temporaries, the monks, who were most notorious im postors, and so given to lying, that, as the Benedictirt Thomas of Walsingham observes, it was universally allowed to be a Conclusive argument ; The man is a monk ; ergo, he is a liar?* ' See also Mosheim f. A. 1439. A pretended union between the Greeks and Latins was patched up at the council of Flor ence %. A. 1440. A great contest, whether the doctrines Of Plato or of Aristotle were to be preferred, arose a- mongst the Greek philosophers, Genlistus Pletho* Gen nadi us* Gaza, Bessario, &c || I aril much afraid that it would be doing no wrong* to many of the literati of those days, to suppose that they had nO other esoteric religion than what they drew from Plato or from Aristotle. A. 1444, Concerning the famous iEneas Silvius, af terwards Pope Pius II. see L'Enfant §, arid the Amce- ni tales Liter arias ^[. Silvius hath given us a malicious descriptiori of the' Taborites ; and yet from this very description it may be collected that they were better Christians than lie, whose religion was Italian politics,- and who made no conscience * L'Enfant, ii. 304. f P. 637. X L'Enfant. || Mem. de l'Acad. iv. 455. § Cone de B- ji. 156. i i. 267. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 383 conscience of calumniating, prevaricating, saying, and unsaying. These Taborites gave a confession of their faith at the synod of Kuttenberg, very much in the Protestant style, Avhich may be seen in L'Enfant *. A. 1447. No Protestant scholar will refuse to pay his respects to the memory of Pope Nicholas V. that friend and patron of letters. No prince ever had so many books inscribed and dedicated to him. He en riched the Vatican library with several volumes col lected from the remotest parts of the east, and from o- ther regions. He made a present of seven hundred ducats to Philelphus, and proposed to him the most advantageous conditions that were perhaps e\'er offer ed to a scholar, if he would come to Rome and tran slate Greek books, particularly the poems of Homer. But the death of this excellent pontiff put an end to that project j". A. 1450. Laudator ab Historicis Alphonsi Regis in- victus et generosus animus ; turn in literas earumque cul- tores excellens amor : cui vicem ii celebrandd apud poste- ros illiusfamd retulerunt J. A. 14-52. Whilst Mahomet II. was besieging Constan tinople, of which he soon got possession, the miserable inhabitants Avere carrying on their religious controver sies with the utmost fury, cursing and anathematizing all those who had consented to any union with tlie Latin church I). When * ii. 132. f Petavius, i- 494. Mem- de L'Acad- xv. 570, where ¦may be found the life of Philelphus- X Petavius- U Ducas, c- 37. $84 REMARKS ON When Mahomet had taken the city, he secured the! library of the Greek emperors, which was preserved by his successors* till it was destroyed by AmuratlV^ Who began to reign* A. 1623. *. The succession of patriarchs from the taking of Con* stantinople down to Cyrillus Lucaris, is given us by Philippus Cyprius -f. The unfortunate Cyrillus Lucaris Avas elected A* 1612. This honest prelate, for opposing the tyranny of the church of Rome and refusing to submit to the pope, was slandered and persecuted all his days by the Jesuits, and by the courts of France and Rome* and at last basely murdered at their instigation J. A. 1471. Sixtus IV. erected a famous bawdy-house at Rome ; and the Roman prostitutes paid his holi* ness a Weekly tax, which amounted sometimes to twen* • ty thousand ducats a-year |j« A. 1495. This year died John II. king of Portugal* who had the honour to be called Optimus Princepsi His life is written by the Marquis D'Allegrette* and an extract of it is given by Le Clerc §. At the end of this century, the pragmatic sanction of St Louis, which had been established A. 1268* and afterwards neglected, was brought again into use, whereby the pontifical See was much damaged. For the GaUican church* adhering to the decrees of the councils of Constance and Basil, suffered not the pontiffs to proceed beyond the bounds fix* ed * Hist- de L'Acad- iv- 522- f See Bibl- Univ- vii. 71. f Smith, Miscel- Bibl- Univ. i- 68. Fabricius, B- G- x^oj- Moshsiiri, P917. || Corn. Agrippa- Cave, ii- 8- ult Append* $ Bibl A- & M- ii- 162- ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 385 ed by those fathers. At the same time indeed the Florentine council, which yielded an unlimited sub mission to all the pretensions of the popes, was receiv ed in Italy, and other western parts ; but yet so it was, that by the revival of letters and the knowledge of Christian antiquity, the system of apostolical pleni tude and papal omnipotence began to decline apace *. " In the eastern regions, the Christian religion dair ly lost ground by means of the Mahometans, both Turks and Tartars. In the Asiatic Tartary and its neighbouring nations, where Christianity once flourish ed, sordid superstition prevailed ; nor were there any traces left of true religion, except in China, where the small remains of Nestorianism cast a feeble light. For still, in this century, the supreme pontiff of the Nes torians who resided in Chaldaea, sent some of his cler gy to Cathay a and China, to supply the office of hi-*- shops amongst the congregations which dwelt, or ra ther lurked in the remoter provinces. But this hand ful of Christians is now no more f ." The Mahometan tyranny almost extinguished all literature amongst the Greeks and other eastern peo ple ; whilst, on the contrary, the liberal arts and sci ences flourished amongst the Latins. Before the arrival of the Greeks in Italy, Aristotle was the favourite philosopher, extolled beyond mea sure, and almost adored as a saint. But some of the learned Greeks taught their disciples to prefer to the wrangling science of the Peripatetics the placid, and polite, and divine wisdom, as they called it, of Plato. Hence arose two sects of philosophers in Italy, con tending whether Aristotle or Plato should have the vol. in. B b preference ; " Cave, ii- 102- Append. t Mosheim, p. 6o6- 386 REMARKS ON preference \ whilst others valued both equally, and endeavoured to reconcile their doctrines. The Aristotelics however were superior : and fol* lowing the notions pf Averroes, who held that all man-? kind participated of one common intellect, or soul; they craftily subverted the foundations of religion both na tural and revealed, and were very little distant from the impiety of those who think that God is the ro irur, or the universe, consisting of infinite matter, endued with an infinite power of cpgitation. When they were pressed by the inquisitors, they * distinguished between philosophical and theological truth, or reason and re velation, and said that a proposition might be philo sophically true, though theologically false. No eminent doctor or writer of this age can be named, who did n°t lament the miserable state of Christianity, and foretell its total ruin, unless the di vine providence interposed, The vices of the popes, and of the ecclesiastics in general, were so notorious, that no one dared to reprove such querulous writers or talkers. The superior clergy, who passed their days in sloth and debauchery, were obliged to hear with a placid countenance, and even to applaud those preachers who said that the church was mortally sick from the head to the feet, and stood in need of the mpst violent remedies. For he was reckoned to be the best and the honestest preacher, who used the greatest liberty in censuring the court of Rome, the pope ancl all his crew. All the attempts of the popes, from the taking of Constantinople to this day, to bring about an union between * Bayle adopted this same subterfuge, and made great use of it ; for be stood in great need of it- ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 387 between the Greeks and the Latins, have been quite rcseless. The former hate the Latins, and the Latin pontiffs more than ever, being persuaded that if the western Christians would have succoured them, they would not have fallen under the cruel dominion of the Turks*." A. 1501. " The Spaniards and Pbrtitiguese* if you will believe theinr own writers, have not been less suc cessful than sedulous in propagating the gospel in foreign parts* It must be owned indeed that a sort of Christianity* such as it is, hath been introduced by them into the one, and the other America* a part of Afric* and the maritime provinces; and islands of Asia, which they subdued in their naval expeditions;- and many of the inhabitants of these regions who had been either void of religion* or addicted to gross and frantic superstition, seem to profess themselves servants of Christ. But this increase of Christianity* far from deserving to be extolled, is rather to be lamented by those who consider that these unhappy people were compelled to renounce their old opinions by wicked laws and more than brutish cruelty ; and that their pjaesemt. religion consists in paying a blind obedience to their stupid teachers, practising some frivolous ceremonies, and uttering by rote a few words which they understand not. This is the judgment not. only pf those whom the church of Rome calls heretics, but of the worthiest persons of her communion, French, Germans, Italians, Spaniards* and others f." " Amongst those, who are supposed to have been enemies to all- religion, are placed Petrus Pompo- natius, Bodinus, Rabelais, Montagne, Des Perieres, b b 2 Doletus, * Mosheim, p. 608—634. t Mosheim, p. 686- &88 REMARKS OK Doletus, Charron, Leo X. Bembus, Politiantts/ Brunus, Ochinus,- Paracelsus, Taurellus. Some have affirmed that there were schools of impiety and atheism in France and in Italy, whence many pf these reprobates issued forth ; nOr will thisaccusation be thought groundless by persons versed in the his tory of those times. • Yet it will also appear, upon fair* inquiry* that many of those who were thus charged with irreligion were either innocent, or not1 altogether profane to such a degree *. " The most eminent amongst the learned were those who addicted themselves to publishing* correc ting, and explaining Greek and Latin authors,- study ing antiquities, and composing in verse and prose.i Their works are still held in high esteem* and shew the extensive knowledge, indefatigable industry,- ; and bright abilities of these men, who accounted all true wisdom, and the welfare, both of church and state, to' depend entirely upon such, studies. Though some of- them carried these notions- too far in behalf of their beloved occupations, yet it needs must be acknow-* ledged that polite literature tended to open and en large the mind, and to rescue reason and religion from the bondage under which they had so long la-1 boured. To these philologers are to be added the philoso phers, who may be ranged under two classes. Some pursued knowledge and the nature of things in the metaphysical way, others in the experimental way. And again, some followed the old guides and mas ters : others struck out systems for themselves. They who were disciples of the ancients adhered either to Plato, ¦ Mosheim, p. 688. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 383 Plato, Who still had many approvers, especially in Italy, or to Aristotle. Amongst the innovators were Cardan, Telesius, and Campanella ; whilst Paracelsus, and others like him, raised a new sect of men called Phihsophi per ignem, or Theosophi, who allowed very- little to human reason* or to metaphysical disquisi-' tions, but ascribed all to experimental and chemical philosophy, and to a divine illumination *. Luther's attack upon the Romanists obliged his adversaries to seek out new methods of defending themselves. The croisades could no longer be kept tip, and some other devices were necessary to supply that loss. The inquisition therefore was strengthened by new laws and regulations, and became still more formidable and tyrannical. Many, colleges Avere foun ded, in which young students were to be instructed in all the arts of religious controversy. Dangerous books' were suppressed or mangled by the Indices Ex- purgatorii. The clergy were exhorted to pursue learn ed studies ; and considerable rewards were conferred on those who signalized themselves that way. The Romish ecclesiastics would probably have slept in sloth and ignorance* if the heretics had not attacked them so warmly. At length arose the Jesuits, the pope's most zealous advocates and soldiers ; a sect founded by an illiterate fanatic and lunatic "j". A. 1503. Julius II. was made pope. I have given some J account of him ; and shall only add that even this detestable pontiff hath found a panegyrist in U- bcrtus * Mosheim, p. 6%. t See Mosheim, p. 697. &c- f. Life of Erasmus- S90 REMARKS ON, &C bertus Folieta, who was so void of shame as to extol and canonize this his countryman, in the Clarorum Liguruiii Elogia *. A. 1517. Luther now began the heroic work of the reformation ; and here I end my Remarks on Ec clesiastical History. * P- 28- Thomas Tumbull, Printer, 7 Edinburgh, 1804. 5 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 08866 3365 HIBIII ¦&