Religion and loyalty, the second part, or, The history of the concurrence of the imperial and ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the government of the church from the beginning of the reign of Jovian to the end of the reign of Justinian / by Samuel Parker ...

§ IV. In the year following, i. e. Anno 374. a Council was held at Valentia in France, for reforming some Abuses and Corruptions, that had crept into that Church, and restoring the force of some ancient useful Canons In the same year hapned that strange Election of St. Am∣brose to the Bishoprick of Milan after this manner. (o) Upon the Death of Auxen∣tius,

the Emperor Valentinian hapning to be then at M••lan, calls the Bishops to∣gether, and Exhorts them to take care to choose a Person of eminent Abilities for so great a See. They in all humility re∣fer it to his Majestie's own choice, No, says he, that is a Province not proper for me to undertake, but to you that are in∣lightned by the Divine Spirit, most pro∣perly belongs the Office of choosing Bishops. Upon this the Bishops take time to de∣bate among themselves, but whilst they are consulting, the People of each Faction flock together into the Market-place, and there, as it usually happens in popular Assemblies, from Disputing proceed to Tumult. St. Ambrose being Governor of the Place, flies according to his Office to appease the Multitude. Who no sooner appears, than they all cry out, An Am∣brose, an Ambrose for their Bishop; at which he being astonish't, ascends the Tribunal with an austere Countenance, as if he were resolved to put some of them to Death, but they still cry the louder. Up∣on that he accuses himself of such scanda∣lous Crimes, as by the Canons of the Church render him uncapable of the Epis∣copal Office, but that is all one to them, neither will they believe him. And there∣fore in the last place, he betakes himself

to flight by Night, and designs for Ticinum, but having wandred all Night, and think∣ing himself near his Journeys end, he found in the Morning that he had walkt in a Circle, and was just entring into one of the Gates of Milan, at which being sur∣prized, and fearing lest there should be something of the hand of God in it, he returns home and submits; they acquaint the Emperor with it for his consent, (p) because by the Constitution of Constantine the Great, they were forbidden to take any Officers either Civil or Military into the Clergy without it, lest the Common∣wealth should be left destitute of able Men. But the Emperor is highly pleased with the Election, and is proud of his own choosing such Magistrates as are fit to be made Bi∣shops, and through this odd concurrence of Circumstances, is he made Bishop con∣trary to the (q) Canons, for he was then no more than a Catechumene, which Learned Men think may be excused by the miraculousness of the thing, as if it had been immediately brought about by the special Interposition and Authority of God himself, and for such extraordinary cases the Canon it self has provided an Excep∣tion, adding this Clause at the end of it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, unless it be done by the special favour of God. And

that this was so done, all Parties concern'd in it, thought they had good reason to conclude, from so great a Conjunction of Wonders. (r) Soon after this, Valenti∣nian dies of an Apoplexy or some suddain Death, upon which Ammianus Marcelli∣nus reads a Lecture with as much Gravity, as if he were President of the College of Physicians, as he takes all Opportunity of shewing his Knowledge in all sorts of Learning, a fondness very incident to all half-learned Men. But in the mean time Valens goes on in his old road, as his Eu∣nuchs are pleased to drive him, (s) till Gregory Nazianzen solicites his ingenious Friend Themistius, a great Philosopher, and a great Man in the State, to take him off from his Fury, which he might the more easily do, as being unconcern'd in the quarrel, and like a Gentleman he un∣dertakes it, and in his Speech entituled 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 perswades the Emperor for some time to lay aside his Bigotry for the Eudoxian Faction. And to say the truth of him, he was both a Gentleman and a Philosopher, he was first made Prefect of the City by Julian, who was possess't with a vehement Ambition of preferring Lear∣ned Men, he was always a Friend to the Catholicks for their Integrity, and as much as a Man of his Temper and Principles

could be, an Hater of the Eusebians of all sorts for their shuffling and dishonesty, saying in his Oration to Jovian (t) that they Worship't not God, but the Imperial Purple. And after the overthrow of Pro∣copius, he out of pure good Nature inter∣cedes with the Emperor for Mercy and Clemency to the vanquisht, (u) and with∣al advises him to beware of listning to Whisperers and Flatterers, by whom he means his Eudoxian Courtiers, that thrust him upon all his extravagant Actions. So now here at the request of his Friend Na∣zianzen, he rubs up the Emperor's good Nature in behalf of the Catholicks. And for the sweetness and gentleness of his tem∣per, he was a Favourite to all the Emperors from Julian to Theodosius the Great, be∣tween whom, notwithstanding the diffe∣rence of their Religion, and the distance of their Station, there was a particular Friend∣ship and Endearment cemented purely by the likeness of their Tempers, in so much that the Emperor Theodosius left him the Guardianship of his young Son Arcadius.

But notwithstanding this learned Gen∣tlemans advice to Valens, his Officers proceed in their old Track of Violence in the East, whilst his Nephew the young Emperor Gratian in the West, steers the contrary course, for being sensible of the

great disorders in the Church and Com∣mon-Wealth, by reason of his Father Va∣lentinian's remisness, he thought it high time to settle things better by a stricter Government, for though Valentinian was a wise Prince, and Orthodox in the Faith, yet he was possest with one unhappy Principle, that spoil'd his reign, that in∣deed has been most fatal to Princes in all Ages, and that is, as (w) Ammianus de∣scribes it. Post••emò hoc moderamine prin∣cipatus inclaruit, quod inter religionum di∣versitates medius stetit: nec quenquam in∣quietavit, neque ut hoc coleretur impera∣vit, aut illud, neque interdictis mina••ibus subjectorum cervicem, ad id, quod ipse vo∣luit, inclinabat; sed intemeratas reliquit has partes, ut reperit.

He excelled in the moderation of his Government, in that he stood unconcern'd among all the diversities of Religions, and never disturb'd any Man, neither commanded this or that way of Worship, nor forced his Subjects necks to look which way he pleased, but left these Matters alto∣gether inviolated.

But by the Souldi∣ers leave, who was not bound to be an accurate Lawyer, this is not universally true, for there is extant in the Theodo∣sian Code (x) a particular Law of his own making against the Donatists, to for∣bid

their rebaptising upon pain of Depo∣sition; and there is another under the title de Haereticis (y) against the Mani∣chees, though indeed they were rather Villains than Heretiques, who taught and practised all kinds of Vice and Wick∣edness, as the Principles of their Sect, and therefore no wonder if they were excep∣ted out of his Clemency, but otherwise it extended equally to all. By which means the Christian Church was not on∣ly over-run with Heresies, and its disci∣pline utterly defeated, as we have seen in the case of that wicked Man Auxentius, who though he were so justly deposed by the Judgment of the Catholick Church, yet it took no effect, because Valentinian was withheld by this Principle, from do∣ing the Office of a Christian Emperor, in abetting the legal Decrees of the Church, and such an one he himself thought that against Auxentius. But be∣side this Calamity within the Church, Heathenism hereby gain'd great ground, and appear'd publickly in the World, e∣specially by his Edict to restore the hea∣then Priests to their ancient Immunities, and for the sake of this it is, that Ammia∣nus commends this Emperor's moderati∣on; for it is the most certain rule of Go∣vernment, that all Parties that are under

most are for this Principle, because it is the only ground, that can give them ad∣vantage to mount uppermost. But the young Emperor Gratian a Prince of great Wisdom and Vertue, finding things in so great a disorder by it, he at his first com∣ing to the Crown, takes particular care for the Churches Peace and Settlement. (z) And publishes a Rescript against the publick Meetings of all Hereticks, i. e. (as the Law it self defines it) all Parties whatsoever, that did not join in Commu∣nion with the Catholicks, under punish∣ment of Confiscation of their meeting Pla∣ces, whether Fields or Houses, and be∣cause by reason of the connivance or cor∣ruption of his Officers it was not execu∣ted, he reinforces it two years after, with a threatning Injunction to his Judges, to neglect its execution at their Peril. And yet Valens perishing soon after in the East, and that part of the Empire falling to this Emperor, who left the Western Parts, that were better settled to his younger Brother Valentinian, when he came thither, he found things in such confusion by Valens his mis-government, that he was forced to submit to the ne∣cessity of the Times, and for that reason publisht an Edict at Sirmium, granting the liberty of publick Assemblies to all

Sects, excepting only Manichees, Photi∣nians and Eunomians. (a) This the Hi∣storians Socrates and Sozomen set down as the first act of his Government, but they were ignorant of what he had enacted in the West. (b) As for Theodoret, he is quite lost in the whole story, turning this act of Indulgence into a severe Law, but the apparent ground of his Mistake is, his confounding this Rescript with a∣nother of Theodosius de fide Catholicâ, (c) that bears this Emperor's Name, though enacted by Theodosius alone. For that was the custom, that though the Law were made by one Emperor, it was publisht in the name of all. But to proceed with Gratian, he having setled things as well as he could in the East, and returning the year after into the West, publishes (d) a Rescript at Milan to cancel the Sirmian indulgence, and forbid the Assemblies of all Sects that had been adjudged Here∣ticks by the Church and Imperial Laws; thus we may see what Princes are fre∣quently forced to do as to their Penal Laws by the necessity of the Times, and vary their Edicts as the present temper of the World will bear them. But now this Emperor having by this seasonable Law given check to the Hereticks, in the next place he restores the effectual

Discipline of the Church (e) by a Re∣script bearing date the year 376, that the same Custom should be observed in Eccle∣siastical Affairs, as was in Civil Causes, that Controversies belonging to Religion, should be judged by the Synod of the Diocess, but all criminal Causes should be reserved to the Audience of the Secu∣lar Governors. Not to inquire at pre∣sent into the particular occasion of this Law, which Gothofred conjectures was made in the controversy of punishing the Priscillianists with the Sword, it is a∣greeable with the practice of the Em∣pire, and so this learned Civilian divides all Controversies into Causes ecclesiasti∣cal and political, the Ecclesiastical into Controversies of Faith or Discipline, these, he says, appertain to the Church. The political are divided into Causes pecunia∣ry, or Causes criminal, and these, he says, appertain to the Civil Power. This I know is the common state of the bounds of Jurisdiction, and has made great con∣fusions in Christendom, whilst both Pow∣ers contend to keep their own ground: and especially since the power over the Catholick Church was swallowed up in∣to the papal Omnipotency, what troubles have the Popes given the Christian Empe∣rors, for daring to intermeddle with spi∣ritual

Matters? But this Argument of the bounds of Jurisdiction I shall fully state, when I have first set down the ex∣ercise of it in matter of Fact, and there∣fore though I need at present only say that it is a dangerous Mistake to divide them by the different Matters about which they are conversant, when they are both conversant about the same Mat∣ters, and unless they are so, both of them will be too weak to attain the ends of their Institution. Yet because it is the fundamental Mistake on both sides, and because I may never come to finish this wide undertaking, and lastly because I find it to be the great stumbling block to the wiser and more judicious Men of the Church of Rome, I shall here a little briefly consider its consequence. (f) The learned Petrus de Marca one of the wi∣sest Writers of that Church affirms, and believes the bounds of these two Juris∣dictions to be so plainly determin'd by the Matters themselves, about which they are imployed, that no Man can pos∣sibly miss their true boundaries, that does not industriously over-look them, in that it is so evident that the regal Power extends only to things secular, and the Ecclesiastical to things spiritual. Whereas on the contrary nothing is more

evident, than that all Actions are both Secular and Spiritual, the same Action as it relates to the peace of the World, and the Civil Government of Mankind is of a secular Nature, and as it is a moral Vertue, and required by the Law of God as a duty of Religion, so it is of a spiritu∣al Nature. And so on the other side, those things that are esteem'd Spiritual, yet as they have an influence upon the publick Peace (and nothing has a grea∣ter) they must come under the cogni∣zance of the civil Government. So that these Jurisdictions are so far from being distinguisht by the Objects about which they are conversant, that they are al∣ways both equally extended to the same Objects, so as that if we limit either to one sort of Actions, we destroy both. For to take Matters spiritual in their strictest acceptation, and as they are vulgarly un∣derstood, for the Offices of divine Wor∣ship, and especially the publick Devoti∣ons, that are performed by the Sacerdo∣tal Order in the publick Assemblies, yet if the Sacerdotal Power reach not be∣yond this to secular things, it can never reach its end, for that is to procure the future happiness of the Souls of Men, and that very much depends upon their good or bad behavior in the Affairs of

this life; so that if their spiritual Guides and Governors are barr'd from inter∣medling in all such Matters, they are cut off from the chief part of their Of∣fice, and what remains, will be too weak to attain its end, for when Men have been never so careful in all the Of∣fices of Religion, yet if care be not taken to regulate the Actions of humane inter∣course, all their Devotion will avail them very little in the World to come. So on the other side, when the Civil Power has done all that it can, to settle and se∣cure the quiet of the Common-Wealth, by the wisest Laws of Justice and Hone∣sty, yet if they may not take notice of what Doctrins are instill'd into their Sub∣jects by their Teachers, or what divisi∣ons or commotions are raised by them in the Church, they may soon be involved into disturbance or confusion, without a∣ny Power to relieve themselves. I am not at present concern'd to prove that this is now actually done by any Party of Men, it is enough to my present pur∣pose, that it is a possible thing to disturb the peace of Government, under Preten∣ces or by Mistakes of Religion, or to pray and preach Men into Rebellion. And if it be so, then the consequence is unavoidable that it must be subject to the

power of the Civil Magistrate, if that be any of its Office to take any care of the peace and quiet of the World. But in truth this distinction has been all along chiefly cherisht by the Bishops of Rome since the time of their Usurpation: be∣cause when they had got all the spiritu∣al Power of the Church into their own hands, their next care was to hug and keep it intire to themselves, and there∣fore they confin'd the Power of Princes wholly to Matters of State, but as for all things, that concern'd the Church, they were bound with all submission to resign themselves to his Holinesses Orders, and if they presumed to gain-say any of his E∣dicts, though never so prejudicial to their own Affairs, it was open defyance to Holy Church, and though the Popes never proceeded any farther against him, as none of them did, till Hilde∣brand, yet that alone was at that time a forfeiture of the Affections of his best Subjects, i. e. all those plain and good People, that have any real love or value for their Religion. And this one thing a∣lone gave the Popes of Rome, though they had never proceeded to the scandalous boldness of deposing Princes, an absolute Empire and Authority over all the Prin∣ces of Christendom. And it is observa∣ble

that they were the high flying Popes, that were the chief sticklers for the ad∣vancement of this distinction, as appears not only from the Collection of Gratian, Distinct. 69. where it is largely exempli∣fied, but from Petrus de Marca himself, warranting the truth of this Doctrin from the Authorities of Gelasius, Symmachus, Gregory the second, Nicolaus the first, In∣nocentius the third, who in their several high Contests with the Emperors, that indeavour'd to check and bridle their Ec∣clesiastical Insolence, still bid them mind their own business, and not presum•• to meddle with the Church, the Govern∣ment whereof was intrusted to St. Peter and his Successors. But their Adversa∣ries have been even with them, especial∣ly the Erastian Hereticks (for what grea∣ter Heresy can there be in the Church, than to take away the very Being of the Church) by distinguishing between the sacred Function, which they grant to be the proper office of the Church, and the Power over sacred things, which they annex intirely to the Civil Power, by which distinction they leave the Go∣vernors of the Church no other Power, than to administer the Offices of Religi∣on, without any Power of punishing Of∣fenders against the Laws of Religion, and

then they have none at all, for there can be no power without a Power of in∣flicting Penalties. And there lyes the true distinguishing point between these two Jurisdictions, not in the Matters a∣bout which their Power is imployed, but in the Penalties, by which it is in∣forced. Thus to be short and give one ex∣ample for all, whereas (g) Justinian leaves to the Church, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the sins committed against the Ec∣clesiastical Order by the Clergy, and to the State the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Sins against the Laws of the State. This di∣vision is so far from being true, that both Powers are equally concern'd in both Crimes, for if any Clergy-man disturb the Government, as the Donatists did by a Contest about a Canon of the Church, then though it were an Ecclesiastical sin, it concern'd the Civil Government to check the Mischief by the proper Penal∣ties of Sedition, as Honorius drove them into banishment, and thereby restored the long interrupted Peace of the Em∣pire. And on the other hand, if any Clergy-Man, let him be never so regular to the Laws and Rules of the Church, shall in a state-Faction ingage in a Rebellion against his Soveraign, that is properly a Political sin, the Church is

bound to inflict such Penalties upon him, as are denounced by the Laws of their Religion against all Traitors and Rebels, i. e. to cast him out of their Society, and the capacity of Salvation. And that is the only difference in the case, that when the King cuts a Traitor off for this life, the Church cuts him off ••or the next, and so it is in all other Crimes, where the Prince punishes for breach of the Laws of the Land, the Church puni∣shes proportionably for breach of the Laws of Religion. And as by the Laws of the Land the Penalty is proportiona∣ble to the Crime, so is it by the Laws of the Church: for as some Offences are Capital, and some only Penal in the State, so in the Church, some are punisht by Penance, some by utter excision or cutting off from the Kingdom of Hea∣ven, which is the same thing in its kind, as cutting off life in this World. So that the same Crimes are so far from belong∣ing to different Judicatures, that all be∣long to both, the only difference is, that one punishes here, and the other hereaf∣ter. And now this one observation of the difference of Penalties in the same cause being supposed, which cannot be be avoided, without destroying or in∣trenching upon the Rights of Church or

State, the bounds of Jurisdiction are evi∣dent enough without splitting of Causes, and it is easy enough to understand how the same Causes belong to both Jurisdi∣ctions from their different ends, without setting any restraint to either Power. And thus having in this short digression, as briefly as I could, secured this point of the Controversy, which is the main Hinge upon which depends the disinge∣nuous Contention of both the extreme Parties, both Papal and Erastian, I now return to the course of the History, which was broke off at the year 376. (h) At which time, the Huns breaking into the Eastern Empire, and Valens being ex∣tremely distrest by them and the Goths at the same time, (i) St. Jerom and (k) Crosius say that he repented of his for∣mer severity, and upon it recall'd the Or∣thodox Bishops from banishment, (l) but Socrates only says, and that much more probably, that being otherwise imployed he desisted, and so the banisht Bishops, particularly Peter of Alexandria had op∣portunity of returning home And that I doubt was all, notwithstanding St. Je∣rom's lavish story of his Repentance, which good Father partly by his bold∣ness, partly by his eagerness, has occa∣sion'd the greatest Mistakes in the story

of the Church, and therefore when he is a single witness, his Testimony is not to be regarded in any Matter of Fact, unless when he speaks of his own know∣ledg, for he was an honest Man, and would not lye, yet he was so very hot-headed, that it often betrayed him into false-hoods, and therefore his single Au∣thority ought not to be trusted, unless in Matters of his own knowledg. And by relying upon it, and that contrary to the testimony of calmer Authors great dark∣ness has been brought upon the Records of the Church, and has particularly blemisht Baronius his Annals, who has very often followed his Authority not only without, but against all other Au∣thors, and by it run himself into a great many Mistakes against the best Records of the Church. And this I take to be one, though no material one, that Valens repented of his Persecution, and call••d back the banisht Bishops, for which there is no proof but only his saying so, and they that followed his Authority, other∣wise we do not find that they were so∣lemnly recall'd, till Gratian came into the East after his death, when indeed (k) all the Historians agree that they were re∣stored.

In the Year 377 a Council was held

at Antioch, for preventing or rather cu∣ring a Schism in that Church, that was first created by Julian's spiteful and trea∣cherous toleration to all Sects, for by that means 3 Bishops had been set up in one Church, Meletius who was first an Acacian, but afterwards revolting to the Nicene Faith, Euzoius was put in his place by the Acacian Faction, and Pauli∣nus set up by that hot Man Lucifer Ca∣laritanus, who would accept of none of Meletius his repentance, in opposition to both. With Meletius the Arian Con∣verts communicated, with Paulinus the old Orthodox, because Paulinus himself had ever been so, and as for Euzoius he presided over the Acacian Party. But he dying about this time, a Controversy a∣rose who should be the true and proper Bishop of the Place, in which not only the People of the City made Parties, but the Bishops of other Churches. St. Basil was zealous for Meletius, Pope Damasus for Paulinus, so that it became a Contro∣versy between the East and West. But at last this expedient was found out, that both during their lives should keep their own shares, but when ever one of them dyed, the surviver should govern the whole Church, and that the Schism might not be perpetuated, an Oath was ad∣ministred

to six of the eldest Presbyters of that Church, who were the only Can∣didates for the Election, to submit to the Decree, and this, for the present, ended the Quarrel. And yet when after this Meletius dyed, Flavianus one of the six Presbyters that had sworn never to invade the Bishoprick, whilst either of the pre∣sent Bishops survived, violently thrusts himself into the See, and sets up a Schism against Paulinus to the great and long di∣sturbance of the Church, as we shall af∣terward see, though Theodoret (l) either out of a picque to Paulinus or partiality to Flavianus, relates the whole Matter so awkerdly, as not only to pervert, but apparently to falsifie the whole Sto∣ry.

Notes

• (o)

  Theod. lib. 4. c. 6.
• (p)

  Cod. Theodos. de Episc & Cler. l. 3.
• (q)

  Can. Apost. 80.
• (r)

  Am. Marcel. lib. 30. C. 6
• (s)

  Epist. 140.
• (t)

  Soc. l. 3 c. 25.
• (u)

  Orat. 9
• (w)

  lib. 30.
• (x)

  Ne Bap∣tisma itere∣tur▪ l. 1.
• (y)

  l. 3.
• L. 75 de Decurioni∣bus.
• (z)

  de Hae∣ret. l. 4.
• (a)

  Soc. l. 5. c. 2. So∣zom. l. 7. c. 1.
• (b)

  Theod. l. 5.12.
• (c)

  l. 2.
• (d)

  de Hae∣ret. l. 5.
• (e)

  de E∣pist. l. 23.
• (f)

  de con∣cord. l. 2. c. 1. § 4.
• (g)

  Novel. 83.
• (h)

  Am. Marcel. l. 31.
• (i)

  in Cron.
• (k)

  l. 7. c. 33.
• (l)

  lib. 4.35. c. 37.
• (k)

  Soc. l. ••. c. 2. Soz. l. 7. c. 1. Theod. l. 5. c. 2.
• (l)

  lib. 3. c. 3. et c. 23.