A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

HONORIUS SOLITARIUS A Scholastick Divine of the Church of Autun.

HONORIUS, a Priest and Scholastick Divine of the Church of Autun sirnam'd the Soli∣tary, flourish'd under the Emperor Henry V. A. D. 1120. We have little account of his * 1.1 Life, but many of his Works are still extant.

The most considerable, is his Treatise of the Lights of the Church, or of the Ecclesiastical Writers, first published by Suffridus, and afterwards by Aubertus Miraeus in their Collections of Authors, who wrote those that treated of Ecclesiastical Affairs. Honorius has divided this Work into four Books, the Three first of which are only an Abridgment of the Treatises on the Ecclesiastical Writers by St. Jerom, Gennadius and Isidorus. He gives an account, in the last, of some Authors since Venerable Bede to his time. This Treatise contains almost nothing else but the Names and Characters of the Authors, and the Titles of their Works: It is fol∣low'd by another Treatise of the same Nature, containing the Names of the ancient Here∣ticks and their principal Doctrines Printed at Basil in 1544. To these two Treatises may

be added a Chronological Table of the Popes, from St. Peter to Innocent II. which is extant among the other Works of this Author.

The Treatise call'd, The Pearl of the Soul; or, Of the Divine Offices, is divided into four Books. In the First, he treats of the Sacrifice of the Mass; Of its Ceremonies and Prayers; Of the Church; Of its Parts and Ornaments; Of the Ministers of the Altar and their Ha∣bits, &c. In the Second, he discourses of the Canonical Hours, and of the Ecclesiastical Of∣fices for the Day and Night. In the Third, of the principal Festivals of the Year; And in the Fourth, of the Concord or Agreement of the Offices of the whole Year, with the particu∣lar Days and Times on which they are celebrated. These Books are full of a great number of Arguments and mystical Explications that have no other Grounds but the Author's Imagina∣tion. They were printed at Lipsick, A. D. 1514. and in the Collections of the Writers who have treated of Ecclesiastical Offices.

The Treatise of the Image of the World is divided into three Books: In the First of these, he treats of the World and of its Parts: In the Second, of Time and its Parts; and the Third is a Chronological Series of Emperors, Kings and other Sovereign Princes, from the Creation of the World to the Emperor Frederick Barberossa.

The Piece that bears the Title of The Philosophy of the World, divided into four Books, is a Treatise of the System of the World, and of its principal Parts: It is follow'd by another Tract of the same Nature, touching the Motion of the Sun and Planets.

The Treatise of Predestination and of Free-will, is written in form of a Dialogue, and has for its Subject the Explication of that common Question, How can Free-will be recon∣ciled with the Certainty of Predestination? He defines Predestination to be an eternal pre∣paration to Happiness, or Misery of those that have done Good or Evil: He affirms, That it imposes no necessity of doing either; because God does not predestinate to Happiness or Misery, but with respect to the Merits of the Person: He rejects the Opinion of those who assert, That Free-will consists in the Power of doing Good or Evil, and defines it to be a Capacity of performing Righteousness voluntarily and without constraint: He maintains, That Man by his Nature, is endued with a Power to act according to the Rule of Righteousness, although he stands in need of Grace to do it, and is capable of resisting that Grace: He says, That God made all reasonable Creatures for his Glory, but that he left them free to do either Good or Evil by their own Will, and that he would have all Men to be sav'd, but that 'tis their free Will, which is the cause of their Damnation. Afterwards he explains, why God made Creatures, when he foreknew that they would sin against him, and that they would be damned: Why the Word was incarnate: Upon what account, Mankind having deserved nothing but Punishment, after the committing of Sin, God leaves some in the Mass of Per∣dition, who are damned by their free Will, and saves others by his special Grace, which they by no means deserv'd: And how Salvation ought rather to be attributed to Grace than to free Will, although free Will co-operates with Grace. He observes, That Children, that incur Damnation, are justly condemn'd to that Punishment; and that those who attain to Salvation, are sav'd by Grace, which they never merited: And as for adult Per∣sons, that they are sav'd by Grace and free Will, and that those who are damned, are doom'd to that Sentence by Justice, and by their free Will: That Predestination neither saves nor damns any Person by force; although all the Elect are infallibly sav'd, and the Re∣probates infallibly damned: But forasmuch as 'tis not known, whether one be of the num∣ber of the Elect or of the Reprobates, that 'tis requisite to use all possible endeavours for the at∣taining to Salvation: And that the number of the Elect is certainly determined, because God from all Eternity, knew those who would die in that State. He adds, That Man since Adam's Transgression, may fall by his free Will, but that he cannot rise again but by Grace; and that God sometimes denies that Grace, to those who are too Presumptuous: That every Thing which happens in the World, ought to be referr'd to God; either because he does it, or be∣cause he permits it, or in regard that he does not prevent it; that he causes all things to tend to the promoting of his own Glory; that he shews Mercy on whomsoever he thinks fit, by af∣fording them his Grace; that he hardens others at his Pleasure, by leaving them in their Wickedness and in the State of Reprobation. Lastly, after having made some Moral Re∣flections, our Author concludes this Work, with a Recapitulation of the Principles that he had already establish'd.

In the Catalogue of the Works of Honorius of Autun, no mention is made of certain Que∣stions relating to the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but they come very near his particular Style and Genius.

His Commentary on the Canticles is preceded by a Preface, concerning the different senses of Holy Scripture, the Division of the Sacred Books, and the general Questions which re∣late to that Book in particular. He explains the Text of it according to the four Senses ex∣pressed in his Preface, viz. the Historical, the Allegorical, the Tropological and the Anago∣gical.

This Treatise is follow'd by another call'd. The Seal of the blessed Virgin Mary; in which he applies to Jesus Christ and to the blessed Virgin, what is express'd in the Book of Canti∣cles, concerning the Bridegroom and the Spouse.

All these Works were collected by Andreas Schottus and Joan. Covenius, and printed in the Twelfth Tome of the Bibliotheca Patrum of the Colen Edition, and in the Twentieth of that of Lyons.

The following Works compos'd by the same Author are lost, viz. An Illustration divided into three Books, the first of which treats of Jesus Christ; the second of the Church, and the third of Eternal Life. It cannot be that which is attributed to St. Ansehn, and which is ex∣tant amongst his Works, because the Subject of the three Books written by the latter, is alto∣gether different: The Mirror of the Church consisting of Moral Discourses: A Treat se call'd, The Scandal raised by the Incontinency of Priests: An Historical Abridgment: A Treatise of the Eucharist: The Knowledge of Life; or a Treatise of God, and of Eternal Life: The Ladder of Heaven, or the Degrees of Vision: Some Extracts out of St. Augustin, in form of a Dialogue between God and the Soul: A Treatise of the Pope and the Emperor: A Com∣mentary on the Books of Psalms and Canticles: Certain Homilies on those Gospels that were not explain'd by St. Gregory: The Key of natural Philosophy, concerning the Nature of Things: The spiritual Nutriment, about the Festivals of our Saviour and the Saints, and some Letters. Mention is made of these Works; and of those that are still extant, in the end of his Treatise of Ecclesiastical Writers, and in Trithemius.

In the end of the Works of Honorius of Autun, is annexed a certain Commentary on the Canticles, that is more Moral than Mystical, and which some attribute to him; but it is not his genuine Commentary. This Author is not of good esteem, upon account of his Style or Accuracy, but for his Industry, and the Pains he has taken in making Enquiries.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Honorius Solitarius, a Schola∣stick Di∣vine of Autun.