■■i;J!f.^>J?:: 
 
 
 -*g;il5;' 
 
 
 
 
PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 No. Case,/ ^''j!^^- 
 
 ^0. Shelf, SertioM 
 
 No. Book, ' i^. 
 
 Tfic John M. Krebs Donation. 
 
 Mosheim, Johann Lorenz , 
 
 16947-1755. 
 
 An ecclesiastical history, 
 
 ancient an d mo dern 
 — r^i 
 
 see 
 
 t ■ V.I 
 
AN 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN; 
 
 THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND VARIATIONS OF CHURCH POWER, ARE CONSIDERED IN THEIR 
 
 CONNEXION WITH THE STATE OF LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY, AND THE 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF EUROPE DURING THAT PERIOD J 
 
 BY THE LATE LEARNED 
 
 JOHN LAURENCE MOSHEIM, D D. 
 
 CUAMCiiLLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTTINGEN, 
 
 TRANSLATEO rROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN, 
 AMD ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES, CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES, AND AN APPENDIX, 
 
 BY ARCHIBALD MACLAINE, D. D. 
 
 A NEW EDITION— IN TWO VOLUMES, 
 
 CONTINUED TO THE YEAR 1826. 
 BY CHARLES COOTE, L. L. D. 
 
 AHD PCRNISHED WITH 
 
 A DISSERTATION ON THE STATE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 
 
 BY THE RIGHT REV. 
 
 DR. GEORGE GLEIG, OF STIRLING. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 BALTIMORE. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY PIIEONIX N. WOOD & CO. 
 
 1832. 
 
THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 1 CANNOT persuade myself, that the complaints which we hear frequently 
 of the frivolous nature of the public taste in matters of literature, are so far 
 to be relied on, as to make me despair of a favourable reception of the fol- 
 lowing work. A History of the Christian Church, composed with judgment, 
 taste, and candour, drawn with uncommon discernment and industry from the 
 best sources, enriched with much useful learning and several important dis- 
 coveries, and connected with the history of arts, piiilosophy, and civil 
 government, is an object that will very probably attract the attention o( many, 
 and most undoubtedly excite the curiosity of the judicious and the wise. A 
 work of this nature will be considered by the philosopher, as an important 
 branch of the history of the human mind; and I need not mention a multitude 
 of reasons that render it peculiarly interesting to tiie (Christian. Besides, 
 there has not hitherto appeared, in English, any complete history of the 
 church, that represents its revolutions, its divisions, and doctrines, with im- 
 partiality and truth, exposes the delusions of popish legends, breathes a spirit 
 of moderation and freedom, and, keeping perpetually in the view of the 
 reader the true nature and design of the Christian religion, points out those 
 deviations from its beautiful simplicity, which have been too frequent among 
 all orders of men and in all ages of the world.* 
 
 ***«■*« * 
 
 How far justice has been done to this excellent work, in the following 
 translation, is a point that must be left to the decision of those who may think 
 proper to peruse it with attention. I can say, with the strictest truth, that I 
 have spared no pains to render it worthy of their gracious acceptance; and 
 this consideration gives me some claim to their candour and indulgence, for 
 any defects they may find in it. I have endeavoured to render my translation 
 faithful, but never proposed to render it entirely literal. The style of the 
 original is by no means a model to imitate, in a work designed for general 
 use. Dr. Mosheim affected brevity, and laboured to crowd many things into 
 few words; thus his diction, though pure and correct, became sententious and 
 harsh, without that harmony which pleases the ear, or those transitions 
 which make a narration flow with ease. This being the case, I have some- 
 times taken considerable liberties with my author, and followed the spirit of 
 his narrative without adhering stricUy to the letter. Where, indeed, the 
 Latin phrase appeared to me elegant, expressive, and compatible with the 
 English idiom, I have constantly followed it; but, in all other cases, I have 
 departed from it, and have often added a few sentences, to render an observa- 
 tion more striking, a fact more clear, a portrait more finished. Had I been 
 translating Cicero or Tacitus, I should not have thought such freedom par- 
 donable. The translation of a classic author, like the copy of a capital pic- 
 ture, must exhibit not oidy the subject but also the manner of the original: 
 this rule, however, is not applicable to the work now uiuler consideration. 
 
 When I entered upon tliis undertaking, T proposed rendering the additional 
 notes more numerous and ample, than the reader will find them. I soon 
 perceived that the prosecution of my original plan would render this work 
 too voluminous; and this induced me to alter my purpose. The notes I have 
 given are not, however, inconsideral)le in number; I wish I coidd say as much 
 with respect to their merit and importance. I would only hope that some of 
 them will be looked upon as not altogether unnecessary. 
 
 Hague, Dec 4, 1764. 
 
 * We omit llie intervpning part of Dr. Maclainc's Preface, berause itt lusertion ia randered 
 unnecessary bv the bioi?raphic-al sketch which the Editor tias given 
 
THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 In every civilized country, the ministers of religion, from the nature of 
 their education, may be expected to be conversant in literature: but in no 
 country do they appear to be so fond of imparting their thoughts to the world, 
 by the medium of the press, as in Germany. The greater part of their pro- 
 ductions, indeed, pass silently into the gulf of oblivion, while some remain, 
 and excite continued attention. To the latter class may be assigned the His- 
 tory of the Christian Church, written by Dr. John Laurence von Mosheim. 
 
 Academical honours and ecclesiastical dignities have frequently been ob- 
 tained by persons who were born in the lowest sphere of life; and it may 
 therefore be supposed that Mosheim might have obtained such honours and 
 rewards by his abilities and erudition, even if he had been the son of an 
 ordinary tradesman, of a low mechanic, or a rude peasant: but that was not 
 his fate; for he was born (in the year 1695) of a family that boasted of high 
 rank and noble blood. Lubeck was the place of his birth; but, in the short 
 accounts of him which have fallen under our notice, the scene of his academi- 
 cal education is not mentioned. He gave early indications of a promising 
 capacity, and of a strong desire of mental and literary improvement; and, 
 when his parents proposed to him the choice of a profession, the church 
 suggested itself to him as a proper department for the exercise of that zeal 
 which disposed him to be useful to society. 
 
 Being ordained a minister of the Lutheran church, he soon distinguished 
 himself as a preacher. His eloquence was impressive: he could wield with 
 force the weapons of argumentation; and his language was neat, perspicuous, 
 and accurate. He did not bewilder his auditors in the refinements of doctrine, 
 or the profundities of speculation, but generally contented himself with stating 
 the chief doctrinal points of Christianity, while he enforced the useful pre- 
 cepts of practical religion, recommending pious feelings, benevolent affections, 
 an orderly demeanour, correct morals, and virtuous habits. 
 
 His reputation as a preacher, however high, was local and confined: but 
 the fame of his literary ability diffused itself among all the nations of Chris- 
 tendom. The Danish court invited him to Copenhagen, and rewarded his 
 merit by the grant of a professorship in the university of that capital. The 
 duke of Brunswick-Wolffenbuttel afterwards patronised him; and, having 
 solicited his return to Germany, not only procured for him the theological 
 chair at Helmstadt, but appointed him counsellor to the court in the affairs of 
 the church, and invested him with authority over all the seminaries of learn- 
 ing in the duchy. Even king George the Second, who, though a respectable 
 prince, was not distinguished as an encourager of literary merit, entertained 
 a high opinion of the character of Dr. Mosheim, and selected him for the 
 dignified office of chancellor or president of the university of Gottingen. He 
 discharged the duties of that station with zeal and propriety, and his conduct 
 gave general satisfaction. His death, therefore, was sincerely lamented by 
 all ranks of people, ])articularly as it did not occur in the extremity of age; 
 for he had not completed his sixty-first year. 
 
 His literary labours were principally connected with his theological profes- 
 sion. He wrote, in the language of ancient Rome, an account of the affairs 
 and state of the Chrir.tians before ihe reign of Constantine the Great; — a vin- 
 dication of the early discipline ol those votaries of pure religion; — a narrative 
 of the chief incidents of the life of the unfortunate Servetus, the martyr of 
 
THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. ^ 
 
 Calvinistic bigotry; — dissertations on various subjects of a sacred nature; 
 
 and a translation of the celebrated work of Dr. Ralph Cudworth upon the 
 intellectual system of the universe, accompanied with erudite remarks and 
 judicious illustrations. 
 
 His history of the church was at first a small work, which appeared under 
 the title of Institutiones Ilistoria; Christianic, and passed through several 
 editions. He was repeatedly urged by his learned friends to extend a work 
 which they represented as too meagre for the importance of tiie subject. He 
 acknowledged the applicability of the objection; but alleged various avoca- 
 tions, as an excuse for non-compliance. To the wish of the public he at 
 length acceded; and, having employed two years in the augmentation and im- 
 provement of his history, he published it in tlie year 1755, with a dedication 
 to Burchard Christian baron Behr, one of the counsellors of regency to his- 
 Britanic majesty for the electorate of Hanover. In the preface, he solemnly 
 thanked God for having given him strength and ability to finish a difTicult and 
 tedious work (optts difficile, non una de causa, e.t. tredii plenum.) He, at the 
 same time, lamented that he was almost worn out witli labours and cares. 
 Thus did he seemingly predict his speedy dissolution; and, before the end of 
 that year, his honourable and useful life was closed by the will of Providence, 
 
 Being desirous of procuring, for a work so replete with information, a more 
 general perusal than its Latin dress would allow, Dr. Madaine, a learned 
 minister of the English church in Holland, undertook the task of translating 
 it; and the attempt was by no means unsuccessful. For his translation there 
 is a permanent demand; and a new edition is therefore submitted to the public 
 eye, after that revision and correction which appeared to be necessary. A 
 continuation is subjoined, that the reader might not regret the want of a re- 
 ligious and ecclesiastical history of recent times; and the translator's appendix 
 has been enriched with a judicious essay, the offspring of the spontaneous 
 zeal of a distinguished divine of the Episcopal church in Scotland. 
 
 C. COOTE. 
 
 May\5, 1826. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 The different editions of my Elements of the Christian History met with 
 such a favourable reception, and so great was the demand for them, that they 
 were soon out of print. On this occasion, the worthy person, at whose ex- 
 pense they had been presented to the public, advised that a new edition should 
 be given of the same work, improved and enlarged. The other occupations in 
 which I was engaged, and a prudent consideration of the labour I must undergo 
 in the correction and augmentation of a work in which I myself perceived 
 so many imperfections, prevented my yielding, for a long time, to his earnest 
 solicitations. But the importunities of my friends at length prevailed upon 
 me to undertake the difficult task; and I have assiduously employed my hours 
 of leisure, during two years, in bringing tlie work to as high a degree of per- 
 fection as I am capable of giving to it; so that now tliese Elements of Eccle- 
 siastical History appear under a new form, and the changes they have under- 
 gone are certainly advantageous in every respect. I have still retained the 
 division of the whole into certain periods; for, though a continued narration 
 would have been more agreeable to my own taste, and had also several cir- 
 cumstances to recommend it, yet the counsels of some learned men who have 
 experienced the great advantages of this division, engaged me to prefer the 
 former to every other method; and indeed, when we examine this matter with 
 due attention, we shall be disposed to allow, that the author, who proposes 
 comprehending in one work all the observations and facts which are necessary 
 to an acquaintance with the state of Christianity in the different ages of the 
 church, will find it impossible to execute this design, without adopting cer- 
 tain general divisions of time, and others of a more particular kind, naturally 
 pointed out by the variety of objects that demand a place in his history. And, 
 as this was my design in the following work, I have left its primitive form 
 entire, and made it my principal business to correct, improve, and augmeiU it 
 in such a manner, as to render it more instructive and entertaining to the reader. 
 
 My principal care has been employed in establishing upon the most solid 
 foundations, and confirming by the most respectable authority, the credit of 
 the facts related in this history. For this purpose, 1 have drawn from the 
 fountain-head, and have gone to those genuine sources from which the pure 
 and uncorrupted streams of evidence flow. I have consulted the best authors 
 of every age, and chiefly those who were contemporary with the events 
 which they record, or lived near the periods in which they happened; and 
 I have endeavoured to report their contents with brevity, perspicuity, and 
 precision. Abbreviators, generally speaking, do little more than reduce to a 
 short and narrow compass those large bodies of history, which have been 
 compiled from original authors. This method may be, in some measure, 
 justified by several reasons, and therefore is not to be entirely disapproved: 
 hence, nevertheless, it happens, that the errors, which almost always abound 
 in large and voluminous productions, are propagated with facility, and, pass- 
 ing from one book into many, are unhappily handed down from age to age. 
 This I had formerly observed in several abridgements: and I had lately the 
 mortification to find some instances of this in my work, when I examined it 
 by the pure lamps of antiquity, and compared it with those original records 
 which are considered as the genuine sources of sacred history. It was then 
 that I perceived the danger of confiding implicitly even in those who are the 
 most generally esteemed on account of their fidelity, penetration, and dili- 
 
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. vii 
 
 gence; and it was then also that I became sensible of the necessity of adding, 
 suppressing, changing, and correcting several tilings in the small work (al- 
 ready mentioned) which I formerly published. In the execution of this 
 necessary task, I can afllnn with truth, that I have not been deficient in per- 
 severance, industry, or attention; and yet, with all tiiese, it is exceedingly 
 difficult to avoid mistakes of every kind, as tliose who are acquainted with 
 the nature of historical researches abundantly know. IIovv far I have ap- 
 proached to that inaccessible degree of exactness, which is chargeable with 
 no error, must be left to the decision of those wliose extensive knowledge of 
 the Christian history entitles them to pronounce judgment in this matter. 
 That such may judge with the greater facility, I have mentioned the aivlhors 
 who have been my guides; and, if I have in any respect misrepresented their 
 accounts or their sentiments, I must confess that I am much more inexcusable 
 than some other historians, who have met with and deserved the same re- 
 proach, since I have attentively perused and compared the various authors to 
 whose testimony I appeal, having formed a resolution of trusting to no au- 
 thority inferior to that of the original sources of historical truth. In order 
 to execute, with some degree of success, the design I formed of rendering 
 my abridgement more perfect, and of giving the history of the church as it 
 stands in the most authentic records, and in the writings of those whose 
 authority is most respectable, I found myself obliged to make many changes 
 and additions. These will be visible through the whole of the following 
 work, but more especially in the third book, which comprehends the history 
 of the Christian, and particularly of the Latin or western church, from 
 Charlemagne to the rise of Luther and the commencement of the Reforma- 
 tion. This period of history, though it abound with shining examples, 
 though it be unspeakably useful as a key to the knowledge of the political as 
 well as religious state of Europe, though it be singularly adapted to unfold the 
 origin and explain the reasons of many modern transactions, has nevertheless 
 been hitherto treated with less perspicuity, solidity, and elegance, than any 
 other branch of the history of the church. Many writers have attempted to 
 throw light upon this interesting period; but the barbarous style of one part 
 of the number, the profound ignorance of some, and the partial and factious 
 spirit of others, are such as render them by no means inviting; and the enor- 
 mous bulk and excessive price of the productions of some of the best of these 
 writers must necessarily make them scarce. It is farther to be observed, that 
 some of the most valuable records that belong to the period now under con- 
 sideration, remain yet in manuscript in the collections of the curious (or the 
 opulent, who are willing to pass for such,) and are thus concealed from public 
 view. Those who consider these circumstances will no longer be surprised, 
 that, in this part of the subject, the most learned and laborious writers have 
 omitted many things of consequence, and treated others without success. 
 Amongst these, the analists and other historians, so highly celebrated by the 
 church of Rome, such as Baronius, Raynaldus, Bzovius, Manriques, and 
 Wadding, though they were amply furnished with ancient manuscripts and 
 records, have nevertheless committed more faults, and fallen into errors of 
 greater consequence, than other writers, who were far inferior to Iheni in 
 learning and credit, and had much less access to original records than they 
 were favoured with. 
 
 These considerations induce me to hope, that tiie work which I now pre- 
 sent to the public will neither appear superfluous nor be found useless. For, 
 as I have employed many years in the most laborious researches, in order to 
 acquire a thorough acquaintance with the history of Christianity from the 
 eighth century downwards, and as I flatter myself that, by the aid both of 
 printed works and manuscripts too little consulted, I have arrived at a more 
 certain and satisfactory knowledge of that period than is to be found m the 
 
viii THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 generality of writers, I cannot bnt think that it will be doing real service to 
 this branch of history to produce some of these discoveries, as this may en- 
 courage the learned and industrious to pursue the plan that I have thus begun, 
 and to complete the history of the Latin church, by dispelling the darkness 
 of what is called the Middle Age. And indeed I may venture to affirm, that 
 I have brought to liglit several things hitherto unknown; corrected from 
 records of undoubted authority accounts of other things imperfectly known, 
 and expressed with perplexity and confusion; and exposed the fabulous nature 
 of many pretended events that deform the annals of sacred history. I here 
 perhaps carry too far that self-praise, which the candour and indulgence of the 
 public are disposed either to overlook as the infirmity, or to regard as the 
 privilege of old age. Those, however, who are curious to know how far 
 this self-applause is just and well grounded, have only to cast an eye on the 
 illustrations I have given on the subject of Constantine's donation, as also 
 with respect to the Cathari and Albigenscs, the Beghards and Beguines, the 
 Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit (whose pestilential fanaticism was a 
 public nuisance to many countries in Europe during a period of four hundred 
 years,) the Fratricelli or Little Brethren, the controversies between the Fran- 
 ciscans and the Roman pontifls, the history of Berenger and the Lollards, and 
 other matters. When my illustrations of these subjects and points of history 
 are compared with what we find concerning them in other writers, it will 
 perhaps appear, that ray pretensions to the merit of some interesting dis- 
 coveries are not entirely without foundation. 
 
 The accessions to ecclesiastical history could not be exhibited with the 
 same brevity that I have observed in treating other subjects, which had been 
 amply enlarged upon by others; for this would have been incompatible with 
 the information of the curious, who would have received imperfect and con- 
 fused notions of these subjects, and would have made me, perhaps, pass for a 
 fabulous writer, who advanced novelties, without mentioning cither my guides 
 or my authorities. I have, therefore, not only explained all those points of 
 history which carry with them an air of novelty or recede considerably from 
 the notions commonly received, but have also confirmed them by a sufficient 
 number of observations and icstimonies, so as to establish their credibility on 
 a solid foundation. The illustrations and enlargements, which, generally 
 speaking, have an appearance of disproportion and superfiuity in an historical 
 abridgement, were absolutely necessary in the present case. 
 
 These reasons engaged me to change the plan laid down in my former 
 work, and one peculiar consideration induced me to render the present history 
 more ample and voluminous. The elements before mentioned, were princi- 
 pally intended for the use of those who are appointed to instruct the studious 
 youth in the history and vicissitudes of the Christian Church, and who stand 
 in need of a compendious text to give a certain order and method to their 
 prelections. In this view I treated each subject with the utmost brevity, and 
 left, as was natural and fitting, much to the learning and abilities of those 
 who might think proper to make use of these elements in their course of 
 instruction. But, in reviewing this compendious work with an intention of 
 presenting it anew to the public, I imagined it might be rendered more ac- 
 ceptable to many, by such improvements and enlargements as might adapt it 
 not only to the use of those who teach others, but also of those who are de- 
 sirous of acquiring, by their own application, a general knowledge of eccle- 
 siastical history. It was with this view that I made considerable additions 
 to my former work, illustrated many things that had been there obscurely ex- 
 pressed for the sake of brevity, and reduced to a regular and perspicuous 
 order a variety of facts, the recital of which had been more or less attended 
 with perplexity and confusion. Hence it is, that, in the following work, the 
 history of the calamities, in which the Christians of the first ages were in 
 
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. i^^ 
 
 volved, and the origin and progress of the sects and heresies which troubled 
 the church, are exhibited with an uncommon degree of accuracy and 
 precision. 
 
 Hence the various forms of religion, which have sprung from the excessive 
 love of novelty, are represented without prejudice or partiality, and with all 
 possible perspicuity and truth. It is also in consequence of this change of 
 my original design, that I have taken the utmost pains to state more clearly 
 religious controversies, to estimate tlieir rcspeclivo moment and importance, 
 and to exhibit the arguments alleged on both sides; nor must I omit mention- 
 ing the care and labour I have employed in giving an exact narration of the 
 transactions, wars, and enterprising measures, of the Roman pontiffs, from 
 the reign of Charlemagne to the present time. 
 
 Those, therefore, who are prevented from applying themselves to a regu- 
 lar study of ecclesiastical history through want of leisure, or by not having 
 at hand the sources of instruction, and are nevertheless desirous of acquiring 
 a distinct knowledge of certain events, doctrines, or ceremonies, may consult 
 the following work, in which they will find the information they want; and 
 those who are inclined to push their inquiries still farther, will see the course 
 they must pursue, and find the authors mentioned whom it will be proper for 
 them to consult. 
 
 It would betray an unpardonable presumption in me to imagine, that in a 
 work, whose plan is so extensive, and whose contents are so various, I have 
 never fallen into any mistakes. But, as I am conscious to myself of having 
 conducted this undertaking with the most upright intentions, and of having 
 employed all those means which are generally looked upon as the best pre- 
 servatives against the seductions of error, I would hope that the mistakes I 
 may have committed are neither so frequent nor so momentous as to be pro- 
 ductive of any pernicious effects. 
 
 I might add more; but nothing more 'is necessary to enable those to judge 
 of this work, who judge with knowledge, impartiality, and candour. I there- 
 fore conclude, by offering the just tribute of my gratitude to Almighty God, 
 who, amidst the infirmities of my advanced years and other pressures under 
 which I have laboured, has supplied me with strength to bring this difficult 
 work to a conclusion. 
 
 Gottingen, March 23, 1755. 
 
 Vol. 1.— 2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. The Ecclesiastical History of the New Testament is a clear and faithful narration of the 
 transactions, revolutions, and events, tliat relate to tliat large community, which bears the name 
 of Jesus Christ, and is commonly known under the denomination of the Church. It com- 
 prehends both the external and internal condition of this community, and so coimects each 
 event with the causes from which it proceeds, and the instruments wliich have been concerned 
 in its production, that the attentive reader may be led to observe tlie displays of providential 
 wisdom and goodness in the presei-vation of the church, and thus find his piety improved, as 
 well as his knowledge. 
 
 II- The cliurch, founded by the ministry and deatli of Christ, cannot be represented with 
 grea.ter perspicuity and propriety than under the notion of a society subjected to a lawful do- 
 minion, and governed by certain laws and institutions, mostly of a moral and spiritual ten- 
 dency. To such a society many external events must liappen, which will advance or oppose 
 its interests, and accelerate or retard its progress toward perfection, in consequence of its un- 
 avoidable connexion with the course and revolutions of human affairs. Moreover, as nothing 
 is stable and uuifonn where the imperfections of humanity take place, this religious society^ 
 besides the vicissitudes to wliich it must be exposed from tlie influence of external events, mast 
 be liable to various changes in its internal constitution. In tliis view of things, then, it ap- 
 pears, that the history of the churcli, like that of the state, maybe divided with propriety into 
 two general branches, which we may call its External and Internal History. 
 
 III. The External Histm-y of the Cliurch comprehends all the changes, vicissitudes, and 
 events, that have diversified the external state and condition of this sacred community. And 
 as all public societies have tjieir periods of lustre and decay, and are exposed to revolutions 
 both of a happy and calamitous nature, so this fii-st branch of Ecclesiastical History may be 
 subdivided into two, comprehending, respectively, the prosperous and calamitous events thtt 
 have happened to the church. 
 
 IV. The prosperous events that have contributed to extend the limits, or to augment the in- 
 fluence, of the Christian church, have proceeded either from its rulers and leaders, or from the 
 subordinate members of this great community. Vndjer tlie former class, we rank its public 
 rulers, such as princes, magistrates, and pontiifs, who, by their autliority and laws, their liber- 
 ality, and even tiieir arms, have maintained its cause and extended its borders; as also, its 
 more private leaders, its learned and pious doctors, whose wise counsels, pious exploits, emi- 
 nent examples, and distinguislied abilities, have contributed most to promote its true prosperity 
 and lustre. Under tlie latter class, we may compreliend the advantages which the cause of 
 Christianity has derived from the active faith, the invincible constancy, the fervent piety, and 
 extensive charity, of its genuine professors, who, by the attractive fuslre of these amiable vir- 
 tues, have led many into the way of trutii, and engaged them to submit themselves to the em- 
 pire of the Messiah. 
 
 V. Under the calamitous events that have liappened to the church, may he comprehended 
 the injuries it has received from the vices and passions of its friends, and the bitter opposition 
 and insidious stratagems of its enemies. The professors of Christianity, and more especially 
 the doctors and rulers of the cliurch, have done unspeakable detriment to the cause of religion, 
 by their ignorance and sloth, their luxury and ambition, their uncharitable zea.l,. saiimosities 
 and contentions, of which many shocking examples will be exliibited in tlie course of this liis- 
 tory. Christianity had public enemies to encounter, even princes and magistrates, who oppos- 
 ed its progress by penal laws, and blood-thirsty persecution; it had also private and inveterate 
 adversaries in a certain set of philosophers, or rather sophists, who, enslaved by superstition,, 
 or abandoned to atlieism, endeavoured to blast the rising church by their perfidious accusa- 
 tions, and their virulent writings. 
 
 VI. Such then are the events that are exhibited to our vie^v in the external history of the 
 church. Its Internal History comprejiends the changes and vicissitudes that have happened in 
 its inward constitution, in that system of disciphne and doctrine by which it stands distinguish- 
 ed from all other religious societies. Tliis branch may be properly termed the History of the 
 Christian Religion. The causes of these internal changes are to be sought principally in the 
 conduct and measures of those Who have presided and borne rule in the church. It has been 
 too frequently their practice to interpret the truths and precepts of religion in a manner ac- 
 commodated to their particular systems, or even to their private interests; and, while they have 
 found, in some, implicit obedience, tliey have met with warm opposition from others. Hence 
 have proceeded theological broils and civil commotions, in wliich the cause of religion has 
 often been defended at tlie expense both of justice and humanity. All these things must be 
 observed with the strictest attention by an ecclesiastical historian. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 VII. The first Uiing, therefore, that should be natiira] I}' treated in t)ie Internal History oC the 
 church, is the history of its ministers, rulers, and form ol" ^ovemiiiont. When we loolc back 
 to the coiTimencement of the Christian church, we find its government administered jointly 
 by the pastors and tlie people. But, in process of time, the scene changes, and we see these 
 pastors affecting an air of pre-eminence and superiority, trampling upon the rights and privi- 
 leges of the community, and assuming to them.selves a supreme authority, both in civil and 
 religious matters. This invasion of the rights of the peoj)le was at lenfftli carried to such a 
 height, that a single man administered, or at least claimed a right to administer, the affairs 
 of the whole church with an unlimited sway. Among the doctors of these early times, there 
 were some who acquired, by their learned labours, a shining reputation and an universal in- 
 fluence; they were regarded as oracles; their decisions were handed down to posterity as sacred 
 rules of faith and practice; and they thus deserve to be mentioned, with particular distinction 
 among the governors of the church, though no part of its public administration was actually 
 in their hands.* 
 
 VIII. After giving an account of the rulers and doctors of the church, the ecclesiastical 
 historian proceeds to exhibit a view of the laws tliat are peculiar to this sacred community 
 which form, as it were, its centre of miion, and distinguish it from all other religious societies. 
 These laws are of two kinds. The first arc properly called dicliie, because they are immedi- 
 ately enacted by God himself, and are contained in tlioso sacred books, which carry the most 
 striking marks of a divine origin. They consist of those doctrines that are the objects of faith 
 and reason, and those precepts which are addressed to the heart and the affections. To the 
 second kind belong tiiose laws which are merely of human institution, and derive their au- 
 thority only from the injunctions of tlie rulers of the church. 
 
 IX. In that part of the sacred history wiiich relates to the doctrines of Christianity, it is 
 necessary, above all things, to inquire particularly into the degree of authority that has been 
 attributed to the sacred writings in the different periods of the church, and also into the man- 
 ner in which tlie divine doctrines they contain, have been explained and illustrated. For the 
 true state of religion in every age can only be learned from the point of view in which these 
 celestial oracles were considered, and from the manner in which they were expounded to the 
 people. As long as they were the only rule of faith, religion preserved its native purity; and, 
 in proportion as their decisions were either neglected or ])ostponed to the inventions of men, 
 it degenerated from its primitive and divine sinliplicity. It is farther necessary to show, under 
 this head, what was the fate of the pure laws and doctrines of Christianity — how they were 
 interpreted and explained — how they were defended against the enemies of the Gospel — how 
 they were corrupted and adulterated by the ignorance and licentiousness of men. And, finally, 
 it will be proper to inquire here, how far tlie lives and manners of Christians have been con- 
 formable to the dictates of these sacred laws, and to tlie inlluence that these sublime uoctrines 
 ought to have upon the hearts of men; as also to examine the rules of discipline prescribed by 
 the spiritual governors of the church, in order to correct and restrain the vices and irregulari- 
 ties of its members. 
 
 X. The Human Laws, that constitute a part of ecclesiastical government, consist in pre- 
 cepts concerning the external worship of the Deity, and in certain rites, either confirmed by 
 custom, or introduced by positive and express authority. Riles and ceremonies regard religion 
 either directly or indirectly; by the former, we understand those which are used in the imuie- 
 diate worship of the Supreme Being, whether in public or in private; by the latter, such pious 
 and decent institutions as, beside direct acts of worship, have prevailed in the church. This 
 part of sacred history is of a vast extent, both on account of the great diversity of these cere- 
 monies, and the frequent changes and modifications through which they have passed. This 
 consideration will justify our treating them with brevity, in a work which is only intended for 
 a compendious view of ecclesiastical hi.story. 
 
 XI. As bodies j)olitic are sometimes distracted with wars and seditions, so has the Christian 
 church, though designed to be the mansion of charity and concord, been unhappily perplexed 
 by intestine divisions, occasioned sometimes by points of doctrine, at others by a variety of 
 sentiments about certain rites and ceremonies. The principal authors of these divisions have 
 been stigmatized with the title of Heretics, and their jieculiar opinions of consequence distin- 
 guished by the appellation of Heresies.] The nature therefore and progressx)f these intestine 
 divisions or heresies are to be carefully unfolded; f.nd, if tliis be done with judgment and im- 
 partiality, it must prove useful and interesting in the highest degree, though at the same time 
 it must be observed, that no branch of ecclesia».tical history is so painful and difficult, on ac- 
 count of the sagacity, candour, and api)Ucalion that it requires, in order to its being treated in a 
 satisfactory manner. The dilliculty of arriving at the truth, in researches of this nature, is 
 extreme, on account of the injurious treatment that has been shown to the heads of religious 
 sects, and the unfair representations that have been made of their tenets and opinions; and thisi 
 difficulty has been considerably augmented by this particular circumstance, that the greatest 
 part of the writings of those who were branded with the name of heretics have not reached 
 
 * By these our author means the Fathers, whose writings form still a rule of faith in the Romish church, while, 
 in the Proteslaiit churches, their authority dimiuishes from day to day. 
 
 t A term innocent in its primitive signification, though become odious by the enormity of some errors, to whicli 
 it has been applitd, and also by the use that has been made of it, to give vent to the malignity of CDlhusiaiti aud 
 hiffots. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 our times. It is therefore tlie duty of a candid historian to avoid attaching to this temi the 
 invidious sense in wliich it is too often used, since it is the invective of all contending parties, 
 and is employed against truth as frequently as against error. The wisest method is to take 
 the word Heretic in its general signihcation, as denoting a person, who, either directly or in- 
 directly, has been the occasion of exciting divisions and dissensions among Christians. 
 
 XII. After thus considering what constitutes the matter of Ecclesiastical History, it will be 
 proper to bestow a few thoughts on the manner of treating it, as this is a point of too much 
 importance not to deserve some attention. And here we may observe, that, in order to ren- 
 der both the External and Internal History of the Church truly interesting and useful, it is 
 absolutely necessary to trace etfects to their causes, and to connect events with the circum- 
 stances, views, principles, and instruments that have contributed to their existence. A bare 
 recital of facts can at best but enrich the memory, and fnrnislia certain degree of amusement; 
 but the liistorian who enters into the secret springs that direct the course of outward events, 
 and views things in their various relations, connexions, and tendencies, gives thus a proper ex- 
 ercise to the judgment of the reader, and administers, on many occasions, the most useful les- 
 sons of wisdom and prudence. It is true, a high degree of caution is to be observed here, lest, 
 in disclosing the secret springs of public events, we substitute imaginary causes in the place of 
 real, and attribute the actions of men to principles they never professed. 
 
 XIII. In order to discover the secret causes of public events, some general succours are to 
 be derived from the History of the Times in which they happened, and the Testimonies of the 
 Authors by whom they are recorded. But, beside these, a considerable acquaintance with hu- 
 man nature, founded on long observation and experience, is extremely useful in researches of 
 this kind. Tlie liistorian, who has acquired a competent knowledge of the views that occupy 
 the generality of men, who has studied a great vaiiety of cliaracters, and attentively observed 
 the force and violence of human passions, together witli the infirmities and contradictions they 
 produce in the conduct of life, will find, in tiiis knowledge, a key to the secret reasons and 
 motives which gave rise to many of the most important events of ancient times. An acquaint- 
 ance also with the manners and opj)no7is of tiie persons concerned in the events that are related, 
 will contribute much to lead us to the true origin of things. 
 
 XIV. There are, however, beside these general views, particular considerations, which will 
 assist us still farther in tracing up to their true causes the various events of sacred history. 
 We must, for example, in the external history of the church, attend carefully to two things; 
 first, to the political state of those kingdoms and nations in which the Christian religion has 
 been embraced or rejected; and, secondly, to their religious state, i. e. the opinions they have 
 entertained concerning the divine nature, and the worship that is to be addressed to God. For 
 we shall then perceive, with greater certainty and less ditRculty, the reasons of the different 
 reception Christianity has met with in different nations, when we are acquainted with the re- 
 spective forms of civil government, the political maxims, and the public forms of religion that 
 prevailed in those comitries and at those periods in which the Gospel received encouragement, 
 or met with opposition. 
 
 XV. With respect to the Internal History of the Church, nothing is more adapted to lay open 
 to view the hidden springs of its various changes, than an acquaintance with the History of 
 Learning and Philosophy in ancient times. For it is certain, that human learning and philo- 
 sophy have, in all times, pretended to modify the doctrines of Christianity; and that these pro- 
 tensions have extended farther than belongs to the province of philosophy on the one hand, or 
 is consistent with the purity and simplicity of the Gospel on tlie other. It may also be ob- 
 served, that a knowledge of the forms of civil government, and of the superstitious rites and 
 institutions of ancient times, is not only useful, as we remarked above, to illustrate several 
 things in the external history of the church, but also to render a satisfactory account of its in- 
 ternal variations, both in point of doctrine and worship. For the genius of human lawse, and 
 the maxims of civil rulers, have undoubtedly had a great influence in forming the constitution 
 of the church; and even its spiritual leaders have, in too many instances, from an ill-judged 
 prudence, modelled its discipline and worship after the ancient superstitions. 
 
 XVI. We cannot be at any loss to know the sources fiom which this important knowledge 
 is to be derived. The best writers of every age, who make mention of ecclesiastical afVairs, 
 and particularly those who were contemporary witii the events they relate, are to be carefully 
 consulted, since it is from credible testimonies and respectable authorities that history derives 
 a solid and permanent foundation. Our esteem for those writers, who may be considered as 
 the sources of historical knowledge, ouglit not however to lead us to treat with neglect the 
 historians and annalists, who have already made use of these original records, since it betrays 
 a foolish sort of vanity to reject the advantages that may be derived from the succours and 
 labours of those who have preceded us in their endeavours to cast light upon points that have 
 been for many ages covered with obscurity.* 
 
 XVII. From all this we shall easily discern the qualifications that are essential to a good 
 writer of ecclesiastical history. His knowledge of human afiairs iiuist be considerable, and 
 his learning extensive. He must be endowed with a spirit of observation and sagacity; a habit 
 of reasoning with evidence and fixcility; a faithful memory; and a judgment matured by ex- 
 
 * The various writers of ecclesiastical history are enumerated by Sever. Walt. Sluterus, in his Propylaeum His- 
 toric Christiana?, published at Lunenburg, in 4lo., in the year 1696; and by Gasp. Sagittarius, in his lutroductio ad 
 Historian! Ecclcsiasticani, singulasque ejus partes. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 3 
 
 perience, and" strenfftliened by exercise. Such are flie intellectual eiidownienl.-^ that are re- 
 quired in the character of a wood historian; and llie moral qualities necessary to complete it, 
 are, a persevering and inflexible attachment to truth anrl virtue, a freedom from the servitude 
 of prejudice and passion, and a laborious and patient turn of mind. 
 
 XVIII. Those who undertake to write the history of the Christian church are exposed to 
 the reception of a bias from three dilVerent sources; from times, persoiis, and (yplnions. 7'he 
 tiinrs, in which we live, have often so great an influence on our manner of judging, as to make 
 us consider the events which happen in our days, as a rule by which we arc to estimate the 
 probability or evidence of tliose tliat are recorded in tlie history of past ages. The persons, on 
 whose testimonies we think we have reason to depend, acquire an imperceptible authority over 
 our sentiments, that too frequently seduces us to adopt their errors, especially if these persons 
 have been distinguislied by eminent degrees of sanctity and virtue. And an attachment to 
 fii vourite iipinimis, leads autliors sometimes to pervert, or, at lea*;t, to modify, facts in favour of 
 those who have embraced tlicse opinions, or to the disadvantage of such as have opposed 
 them. These kinds of seduction arc so much the more dangerous, as those whom they de- 
 ceive are, in innumerable cases, insensible of their delusion, and of the false rei)resentations 
 of things to which it leads them. It is not necessary to observe the solemn obligations that 
 bind an historian to guard against these three sources of error with the most delicate circum- 
 spection, and the most scrupulous attention. 
 
 XIX. It is well known, nevertheless, how far ecclesiastical historians, in all ages, have de- 
 parted from these rules, and from others of equal evidence and importance. For, not to men- 
 tion those who lay claim to a high rank among the writers of history in consequence of a 
 happy memory, loaded with an ample heap of materials, or those whose ])ens are rather guided 
 by sordid views of interest than by a generous love of truth, it is too evident, how few in num- 
 ber the unprejudiced and impartial historians are, whom neither the influence of the sect fo 
 which they belong, nor the venerable and imposing names of antiquity, nor the spirit of the 
 times and the torrent of prevailing opinion, can turn aside from the rigid pursuit of truth 
 alone. In the present age, more especially, the spirit of the times, and tlie influence of pre- 
 dominant ojjinions, have gained with many an incredible ascendenc}'. Hence we find fre- 
 quently in the writings, even of learned men, such wretched arguments as these: — Such an 
 opinion is true; therefore it mnst of necessity have he.en adopted by the primitive. Christians. — Christ 
 has commanded us to live in such a manner; therefore it is uniloxihtedly certain, that the Christian.<! 
 of ancient times lived so. — Jl certain custom does not laUe place now; therefore it did not prevail in 
 former times. 
 
 XX. If those who apply themselves to the composition of Ecclesiastical History be careful 
 to avoid the sources of error mentioned above, their labours will be eminently useful to man- 
 kind, and more especially to those who are called to the important office of instructing others 
 in the sacred truths and duties of Christianity. The history of the church presents to our 
 view a variety of objects that are every way adapted to confirm our fiith. When we con- 
 template here tlie discouraging obstacles, united efforts of kingdoms and cnqiires, and the 
 dreadful calamities which Christianity, in its very infmcy, was oljliged to encounter, and over 
 which it gained an immortal victory, this will be sutlicient to fortify its true and zealous pro- 
 fessors against all the threats, cavils, and stratagems, of profane and impious men. The great 
 and shining examples also, vvhicli display their lustre, more or less, in every period of the 
 Christian history, must have an admirable tendency to inflame our piety, and to excite, even 
 in the coldest and most insensible hearts, the love of God and virtue. Those amazing revo- 
 lutions and events that distinguished every age of the church, and often seemed to arise from 
 small beginnings, and causes of little consequence, proclaim, with a solenni and respectable 
 voice, the emi)ire of Providence, and also the inconstancy .and vanity of human all'airs. And, 
 among the many advantages that arise from the study of Ecclesiastical History, it is none of 
 tiie least, that we shall see therein the origin and occasions of those ridiculous rites, absurd 
 opinions, foolish sujierstitions, and pernicious errors, with which Christianity is yet disfigured 
 in too many parts of the world. This knowledge will naturally lead us to a view of the truth 
 in its beautiful simplicity, will engage us to love it, and render us zealous in its defence; not 
 to mention the i)leasure and satisfaction that we must feci in researches and discoveries of such 
 an interesting kind. 
 
 XXI. They, more especially, who are appointed to instruct the youth in the public univer- 
 sities, and also such as are professionally devoted to the service of the churcii, will derive froni 
 this study the most useful lessons of wisdom and prudence, to direct them in tlie discharge of 
 their resjjective olfices. On tlie one hand, the inconsiderate zeal and temerity of others, and 
 tlic pernicipus consequences witli which they have been attended, will teach circumspection; 
 and in the mistakes into which even men of eininent merit and abilities have fallen, they will 
 often see the things they are obliged to avoid, and the sacrifices it will be prudent to make, in 
 order to maintain peace and concord in tlie chinch. On the other hand, illustrious exanijiles 
 and salutary measures will hold forth to tiiem a rule of conduct, a lamp to show tli(>in the 
 paths they must pursue. It may be farther observed, that, if we except the arms whicli Scrip- 
 ture and reason furnish against superstition and error, there is nothing that will enable us to 
 combat them with more elllcacy tlian the view of their deplorable eflects, as they are repre- 
 sented to us in the history of tiie church. It would be endless to enumerate all the advanta- 
 ges that result from the study of Hcclesiastical History; experience alone can display these in 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 all their extent; nor shall we mention the benefits that may be derived from it by those who 
 have turned their views to other sciences than that of theology, and its more peculiar utility 
 to such as are en^ao-ed in the study of the civil law. All this would lead us too far from our 
 present design. 
 
 XXII. As the history of tlie church is External or Internal, so the manner of treating it must 
 be suited to that division. As to the first, when the narration is long, and the thread of the 
 history runs through a great number of ages, it is proper to divide it into certam periods, which 
 will onve tlie reader time to breathe, assist memory, and also introduce a certain method and 
 order into the worli. In the following liistory the usual division into centuries is adopted in 
 preference to all otliers, because most generally approved, though it may be attended with dif- 
 ficulties and inconveniences. 
 
 XXIII. A considerable part of these inconveniences will be however removed, if, beside this 
 smaller division into centuries, we adopt a larger one, and divide the space of timetlaat elapsed 
 between the birth of Clirist and our days into certain grand periods, which were distinguished 
 by signal revolutions or remarkable events. It is on tliis account that we have judged it ex- 
 pedient to comprehend the following History in Four Books, which will embrace four remark- 
 able periods. The First will be employed in exhibiting the state and vicissitudes of the Chris- 
 tian church, from its commenceme)\t to the time of Constantine the Great. The Second will 
 compreliend the period that extends from the reign of Constantine to that of Charlemagne, 
 which produced such a remarkable change in the face of Europe. The Third will contain the 
 History of the Cluirch, from the time of Charlemagne to the memorable period wiien Luther 
 arose in Germany, to oppose the tyranny of Rome, and to deliver divine truth from the dark- 
 ness that covered it. And the Fourth will carry down the same history, from the rise of Lu- 
 ther to the present times. 
 
 XXIV. We have seen above, that the sphere of Ecclesiastical History is extensive, that it 
 comprehends a great variety of objects, and embraces political as well as religious matters, so 
 far as the former are related to the latter, either as causes or effects. But, however great the 
 diversity of these objects may be, they are closely connected; and it is the particular business 
 of an ecclesiastical historian to obsen'^e a method that will sliow this connexion in the most 
 conspicuous point of view, and form into one regular ichole a variety of parts that seem hete- 
 rogeneous and discordant. Difterent writers on this subject have followed difterent methods, 
 according to the diversity of their views and their peculiar manner of thinking. The order I 
 have observed will be seen above in that part of this Introduction, which treats of the subject- 
 matter of Ecclesiastical History; the mention of it is therefore omitted here, to avoid imne- 
 ces.sary repetitions. • 
 

 "^ p T T"^ n ■" "- 
 
 )i:«!Ci:i!!8lliS^ICAL HISTORY. 
 
 r\ '~\ J n 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CONTAINING THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, FROM ITS 
 ORIGIN, TO THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 COMPREHENDING THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Cmtcernin^ the Civil and ReUgioii,s State of the 
 World at the Birth of Christ. 
 
 I. A GREAT part of the world was subject 
 to the Roman empire, when Jesus Christ 
 made his appearance upon earth. The re- 
 moter nations which liad submitted totlie yoke 
 of this mighty empire, were ruled either by 
 Roman governors invested vvitli temporary 
 commissions, or by their own princes and laws, 
 m subordination to the republic, whose sove- 
 reignty was to be acknowledged, and from 
 which the conquered kings, who were continued 
 in their dominions, derived their borrowed 
 majesty. At the same time, the Roman j)eo- 
 ple and tlieir venerable senate, though tlicy 
 had not lost all shadow of liberty, were in 
 reality reduced to a state of servile submis- 
 sion to Augustus Cfesar, who, by artifice, per- 
 fidy, and bloodshed, had ac(iuired an enor- 
 mous degree of power, and united in his own 
 person the pompous titles of emperor, sove- 
 reign pontiff, censor, tribune of tiie people, 
 proconsul; in a word, all the great offices of 
 tiie state.* 
 
 II. The Roman government, considered both 
 with respect to its form and its laws, was 
 certainly mild and equitable.} But the in- 
 justice and avarice of tiie pra;tors and pro- 
 consuls, and the ambitious lust of conquest 
 and dominion, wliich was the predominant 
 passion of the Roman peoi)le, together witli 
 the rapacious proceedings of the publicans, by 
 whom the taxes of the empire were levied, 
 were the occasions of perpetual tumults and in- 
 supportable grievances; and among the many 
 
 * See for this purpose the learned work of Augnstiii 
 Campiaiius, entitled, De Oflieio et Potestate Magistratuum 
 Roinanorum et Jurisdictiaue, lib. i. cap. i. p. 3, 4, &c. 
 Geueyae, 1725. 
 
 t See Moylc's Essay on the Constitution of the Roman 
 Government, in the poslhumoui works of that author, 
 vol. i. as also Scip. Maffei Verona illustrata, lib. ii. 
 
 evils which thence arose we may justly reckon 
 the formidable armies, that were necessary to 
 support these extortions in tlie provinces, and 
 the civil wars which frequently broke out be- 
 tween the oppressed nations anil their haughty 
 conquerors. 
 
 III. It must, at the same time, be acknow- 
 ledged, that tliis supreme dominion of one 
 people, or ratlior of one man, over so many 
 kingdoms, was attended witli many considera- 
 ble advantages to mankind in general, and to 
 the propagation and advancement of Christi- 
 anity in particular; for, by the means of this 
 almost universal empire, many nations, differ- 
 ent in tlieir languages and their manners, were 
 more intimately united in social intercourse. 
 Hence a passage was opened to the remotest 
 countries, by tlic communications wliich the 
 Romans formed between the conquered pro- 
 vinces.* Hence also the nations, whose man- 
 ners were savage and barbarous, were civilized 
 by the laws and commerce of tiic Romans. 
 And by this, in short, tiie benign influence of 
 letters and p]nloso])liy was spread abroad in 
 countries which had lain before under the 
 darkest ignorance. All tliis contributed, no 
 doubt, in a singular manner, to facilitate the 
 progress of tiie Gos]iel, and to crown tiie la- 
 bours of its first ministers and heralds witli 
 success, t 
 
 IV. The Roman empire, at the birth of 
 Christ, was less agitated by wars and tumults, 
 tiian it liad been for many years before; for, 
 thoiigli I cannot assent to the oiiinion of tiiosc 
 who, followinir the account of Orosius, main- 
 tain tiiat tlio temple of Janus was tiien shut, 
 and tiiat wars and discords absolutely ceased 
 
 * See, for an illustration of this point, Histoirc its 
 grands Cheniius de I'Empire Roinairi, par IVicol. Ber- 
 gicr, printed in the year I7'28. See also the very learned 
 Everard Otto, De tutela Viaruin publicarum,part li. 
 
 j Origcn, among others, makes particular mention of 
 this, in the tccoud book of his anstrer to CeUiu. 
 
16 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 throughout tlie world,* yet it is certain, that 
 the period, in which our Saviour descended 
 upon eartli, may be justly styled the Pacific 
 . %e, if we compare it with the preceding times; 
 and indeed the trani(nillity that then reigned, 
 was necessary to enable the ministers of Christ 
 to execute, with success, their sublime com- 
 mission to the human race. 
 
 V. The want of ancient records renders it 
 nnpossiblo to say any thing satisfactory or cer- 
 tain concerning the state of those nations, 
 who did not receive the Roman yoke; nor, in- 
 deed, is tiieir history essential to our present 
 purpose. It is sufficient to observe, witli re- 
 spect to them, that those who inhabited the 
 eastern regions were strangers to the sweets 
 of liberty, and groaned under the burthen of 
 an oppressive yoke. Their softness and effemi- 
 nacy, both in point of manners and bodily 
 constitution, contributed to make tiiem sup- 
 port their slavery with an unmanly patience; 
 and even the religion they professed riveted 
 their chains. On the contrar}--, the northern 
 nations enjoyed, in their frozen dwellings, the 
 blessings of sacred freedom, whicli their go- 
 vernment, their religion, a robust and vigorous 
 frame of body and spirit, derived from the in- 
 clemency and severity of their climate, all 
 united to preserve and maintain. f 
 
 VI. All these nations lived in the practice 
 of the most abominable superstitions; for, 
 though the notion of one Supreme Being was 
 not entirely effaced in the human mind, but 
 sliowed itself frequently, even through the 
 darkness of the grossest idolatry; yet all na- 
 tions, except that of the Jews, acknowledged 
 a number of governing powers, whom they 
 called gods, and one or more of which they 
 supposed to pTeside over each particular pro- 
 vince or people. They worshipped these ficti- 
 tious deities with various rites; they considered 
 them as widely difterent from each other in 
 sex and power, in their nature, and also in 
 
 ^ their respective offices; and they appeased 
 ^them by a multiplicity of ceremonies and of- 
 ferings, in order to obtain their protection and 
 favour; so that, however diflerent the degrees 
 of enormity miglit be, with which this absurd 
 and impious tlieology appeared in diiferent 
 countries, yet there was no nation, whose sa- 
 cred rite§ and religious worship did not dis- 
 cover a manifest abuse of reason, and very 
 striking marks of extravagance and folly. 
 
 VII. Every nation then had its respective 
 gods, over which presided one more excellent 
 than the rest, yet in such a mamier that this 
 supreme deity was himself controlled by the 
 rigid empire of the fates, or what the philoso- 
 ohers called Eternal J^''cct'ssity. The gods of 
 
 Vy/M^he East were dilfercnt from those of the 
 ^ xGauls, the GermaiLS, and other northern na- 
 tions. The Grecian divinities differed widely 
 from those of the Egyptians, who deified plants, 
 animals, and a great variety of the produc- 
 
 * Sec Jo. Massoni Tcmphim Jaui, Christo nascente, 
 rescratutn, Roterodami, 1706. 
 
 t " Fere itaque imperia (says Seneca) penes eos fuere 
 populos, qui mitiore coelo utuiitur: in frigora septeintri- 
 onemqiie veri;entibu3 immansueta ingeuia sunt, ut ait 
 poeta. suoque simiUima coelo." Seneca de Ira, lib. i' 
 cap. x?i. 
 
 tions both of nature and art * Each people 
 also had a particular manner of worshipping 
 and appeasing their respective deities, entirely 
 different from the sacred rites of other coun- 
 tries. In process of time, however, the Greeks 
 and Romans became as ambitious in their re- 
 ligious pretensions, as in their political claims. 
 They maintained that tlieir gods, though un- 
 der ditferent names, were the objects of reli- 
 gious worship in all nations, and tlierefore they 
 gave the names of their deities to those of 
 other countries.! This pretension, whether 
 supported by ignorance or other means, intro- 
 duced inexpressible darkness and perplexity 
 into tlie history of the ancient superstitions, 
 and has been also the occasion of innumera- 
 ble errors in the writings of the learned. 
 
 VIII. One. thing, indeed, which, at first 
 sight, appears very remarkable, is, that this 
 variety of religions and of gods neither pro- 
 duced wars nor dissensions among the different 
 nations, the Egyptians excepted.]; Nor is it, 
 perhaps, necessary to except even them, since 
 their wars undertaken for their gods cannot, 
 with propriety, be considered as wholly of a 
 religious nature. § Eacli nation suffered its 
 neighbours to follow their own method of wor- 
 ship, to adore their own gods, to enjoy their 
 own rites and ceremonies; and discovered no dis- 
 pleasure at their diversity of sentiments in re- 
 ligious matters. There is, however, little 
 wonderful in this spirit of mutual toleration, 
 when we consider, that they all looked upon 
 the world as one great empire, divided into 
 various provinces, over every one of which a 
 
 See the discourse of Atlianasius, entitled, Oratio 
 contra Gcutes, in tlie first volume of his works. 
 
 f This fact affords a satisfactory account of the vast 
 number of gods who bore the name of Jupiter, and the 
 multitudes that passed under those of Mercury, Ve- 
 nus, Hercules, Juno, &c. The Greeks, when they found, 
 ill other countries, deities that resembled their own, 
 persuaded the worshippers of these foreign gods, that 
 their deities were the same with those who were honour- 
 ed in Greece, and were, indeed, themselves convinced 
 that this was the case. In consequence of this, they gave 
 the names of their gods to those of other nations, and 
 the Romans in this followed their example. Hence we 
 find the names of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, &c. 
 frequently mentioned in the more recent monuments and 
 inscriptions which liave been found among the Gauls and 
 Germans, though the ancient inhabitants of those coun- 
 tries worshipped no gods under such denominations. I 
 cannot think that this method of the Greeks and Romans 
 has introduced so much confusion into mythology as Dr. 
 Mosheim here imagines. If indeed there had been no 
 resemblance between tlie Greek and Roman deities, and 
 those of other nations, and if the names of the deities of 
 the former had been given to those of the latter in an 
 arbitrary and undistinguishing manner, the reflection of 
 our historian would be undeniably true. But it has been 
 alleged by many learned men, with a high degree of 
 probability, that the principal deities of all nations resem- 
 bled each other extremely in their essential characters; 
 and if so, their receiving the same names could not in- 
 troduce much confusion into mythology, since they were 
 probably derived from one common source. If the Thor 
 of the ancient Celts was the same in dignity, character, 
 and attributes, with the Jupiter of the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, where was the impropriety of giving the same 
 name? 
 
 \ Ingenious observations are to be found upon this head 
 iu the Expositio Mensa; Isiaeas of Piguorius. 
 
 ^ The religious wars of the Egyptians were not under- 
 taken to compel others to adopt their worship, but to 
 avenge the slaughter that was made of their gods, such 
 as crocodiles, &c., by the neighbouring nations. They 
 were not offended at their neighbours for serving other 
 divinities, but could not bear that they should put theirs 
 lo death. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 IT 
 
 certain order of divinities presided; and that, 
 therefore, none could behold with contempt the 
 gods of other nations, or force strangers to pay 
 homage to theirs. The Romans exercised this 
 toleration in the aini)lest manner; for, though 
 they would not allow any changes to be made 
 in the religions that were publicly professed in 
 the empire, nor any new form of worship to 
 be openly introduced, yet they granted to their 
 citizens a full liberty of observing, in private, 
 the sacred rites of other nations, and of 
 honouring foreign deities (whose worship con- 
 tained notiiing inconsistent witli the interests 
 and laws of the republic) with feasts, temples, 
 consecrated groves, and the like testimonies 
 of homage and respect.* 
 
 IX. The deities of almost all nations were 
 either ancient heroes, renowned for noble ex- 
 ploits and beneficent deeds, or kings and gene- 
 rals who had founded empires, or women 
 rendered illustrious by remarkable actions or 
 useful inventions. The merit of these distin 
 guished and eminent persons, contemplated by 
 their posterity witii an enthusiastic gratitude, 
 was the reason of their being exalted to ce- 
 lestial honours. The natural world furnished 
 another kind of deities, who were added to 
 these by some nations; and as the sun, moon, 
 and stars, shine forth with a lustre superior to 
 that of all other material beings, so it is cer- 
 tain, that they particularly attracted the atten- 
 tion of mankind, and received religious hom- 
 age from almost all the nations of the world. f 
 From these beings of a nobler kind, idolatry 
 descended into an enormous multiplication of 
 inferior powers; so that, in many countries, 
 mountains, trees, and rivers, the earth, the sea, 
 and the winds, and even virtues, vices, and 
 diseases, had their shrines attended by devout 
 and zealous worshippers.]; 
 
 X. These deities were honoured with rites 
 and sacrifices of various kinds, according to 
 their respective nature and otiiccs.§ The rites 
 used in their worship were absurd and ridicu- 
 
 * Seeconceniing this interesting subject, a very curious 
 and learned treatise of the famous Bynkershoek, entitled, 
 Dissertatio de cuitu pcrcgrinae religionis apud Romaiios. 
 This dissertation is to be found in the Opuscula of that 
 excellent author, which were published at Leyden in the 
 year 1719. 
 
 t The ingenious editor of the Ruins of Balbec has 
 given us, in the preface to that noble work, a very curi- 
 ous account of the origin of the religious worship that 
 was offered to the heavenly bodies by the Syrians and 
 Arabians. In those uncomfortable deserts, where the 
 rfat/ presents nothing to the view, but the uniform, tedi- 
 ous, and melancholy prospect of barren sands, the ri/ijA< 
 discloses a most delightful and magnificent spectacle, and 
 appears arrayed with charms of the most attractive kind; 
 for the most part unclouded and serene, it exhibits to 
 the wondering eye the host of heaven, in all their amaz- 
 ing variety and glory. In the view of this stupendous 
 scene, the transition from admiration to idolatry was too 
 easy to uninstructcd minds; and a people, whose climate 
 offered no beauties to contemplate but those of the 
 firmament, would naturally be disposed to look thither 
 for the objects of their worship. The form of idolatry, 
 in Greece, was different from that of the Syrians; and 
 Mr. Wood ingeniously attributes this to that smiling and 
 variegated scene of mountains, valleys, rivers, groves, 
 woods, and fount,Tins, which the transiiorted imagination, 
 in the midst of its pleasing astonishment, supposed to be 
 the seats of invisible deities. See a farther account of 
 this matter in the elegant work above mentioned. 
 
 { See the learned work of .J. G. Vossius, de idololalria. 
 
 ^ See .1. Saubertus, de sacrificiis velerum. Lug. Bat. 
 1699. 
 
 Vol. I.— 3 
 
 Ions, and frequently cruel and obscene. Most 
 nations offered animals, and some proceeded 
 to the enormity of human sacrifices. As to 
 their prayers, they were void of piety and 
 sense, both with respect to their matter and 
 their form.* Pontitls, priests, and ministers, 
 distributed into several classes, presided in this 
 strange worship, and were appointed to pre- 
 vent disorder in the performance of the sacred 
 rites; but, pretending to be distinguished by 
 an immediate intercourse and friendship with 
 the gods, they abused th.eir authority in the 
 basest manner, to deceive an ignorant and 
 wretched people. 
 
 XI. The religious worship we have now 
 been considering, was confined to stated times 
 and places. Tlie statues and other represen- 
 tations of the gods were placed in the temples,! 
 and supposed to be animated in an incompre- 
 hensible manner; for the votaries of these 
 fictitious deities, however destitute they might 
 be of reason in other respects, avoided carcftilly 
 the imputation of worshipping inanimate be- 
 ings, such as brass, wood, and stone, and 
 therefore pretended that the divinity, repre- 
 sented by the statue, was really present in it, 
 if the dedication was duly and properly made.| 
 
 XII. But, besides the public worsliip of the 
 gods, to which all without exception were ad- 
 mitted, certain rites were practised in secret by 
 the Greeks and several eastern nations, to 
 which a very small number had access. These 
 were commonly called imjxteries ; and the per- 
 sons who desired to be initiated therein, were 
 obliged previously to exhibit satisfactoiy proofs 
 of their fidelity and patience, by passing 
 through various trials and ceremonies of the 
 most disagreeable kind. These secrets were 
 kept in the strictest manner, as the initi- 
 ated could not reveal any thing that passed on 
 those occasions, without exposing their lives 
 to the most imminent danger;§ and that is the 
 reason why, at this time, we are so little ac- 
 quainted with the true nature, and the real 
 design of these hidden rites. It is, however, 
 well known, that in some of those mysleries, 
 many things were transacted which were con- 
 trary both to real modesty and outward de- 
 cency, .^nd, indeed, from the whole of the 
 pagan rites, the intelligent few might easily 
 learn, that the divinities generally worshi|)ped 
 were rather men famous for their vices, than 
 distinguislied by virtuous and worthy deeds. || 
 
 XIll. It is, at least, certain, tiiat this reli- 
 gion had not the least influence towards ex- 
 citing or nourishing solid and true virtue in 
 the minds of men. For the gods and goddesses, 
 to whom public homage was paid, exhibited to 
 their worshippers rather examples of egregious 
 crimes, than of useful and illustrious vir- 
 
 * Sec M. Brouerius a Niedeck, de adorationibus vete- 
 rum Populorum, printed at Utrecht in 1711. 
 
 t Some nations were without temples, such as the Per- 
 sians, Gauls, Germans, and Britons, who performed their 
 religious worship in the open air, or in the shadowy re- 
 treats of consecrated groves. 
 
 } See Arnobius adv. Gentes, lib. vi.— Augustin de civi- 
 tate Dei, lib. vii. cap. xxxiii. and the Misopogon of the 
 Emperor Julian. 
 
 i SeeClarkson on the Liturgies, sect. iv. andMeursius 
 de Mysleriis Eleusiniis. 
 
 II Sec Cicero, Disput. Tusculan. lib. ii. cap. xiii 
 
18 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 tues.* The gods, moreover, were esteemed 
 superior to men in power and immortality; 
 but, in every thing else, they were considered 
 as their equals. — The priests were little solicit- 
 ous to animate the people to a virtuous con- 
 duct, either by their precepts or their exam- 
 ple. They plainly enough declared, that 
 whatever was essential to the true worship of 
 the gods, was contained only in the rites and 
 institutions which the people had received by 
 tradition from their ancestors.! And as to 
 what regarded the rewards of virtue and the 
 punishment of vice after the present life, the 
 general notions were partly uncertain, partly 
 licentious, and often more calculated to ad- 
 minister indulgence to vice, tlian eiicourage- 
 ment to virtue. Hence, the wiser part of 
 mankind, about the time of Christ's birth, 
 looked upon this whole system of religion as a 
 just object of ridicule and contempt. 
 
 XIV. The consequences of this wretched 
 theology were a universal corruption and de- 
 pravity of manners, which appeared in the 
 impunity of the most flagitious crimes. + Ju- 
 venal and Persius among the Latins, and Lu- 
 cian among the Greeks, bear testimony to the 
 justice of this heavy accusation. It is also 
 well known, that no public law prohibited the 
 sports of the gladiators, the exercise of un- 
 natural lusts, the licentiousness of divorce, 
 the custom of exposing infants, and of pro- 
 curing abortions, or the frontless atrocity of 
 publicly consecrating ste\vs and brothels to 
 certain divinities. § 
 
 XV. Such as were not sunk in an unac- 
 countable and brutish stupidity, perceived the 
 deformity of these religious systems. To 
 these, the crafty priests addressed two conside- 
 rations, to prevent their incredulity, and to 
 dispel their doubts. The first was drawn from 
 the miracles and prodigies which they pre- 
 tended were daily wrought in the temples, be- 
 fore the statues of the gods and heroes that 
 were placed there; and the second was de- 
 duced from oracles and divination, by which 
 they maintained, that the secrets of futurity 
 were unfolded through the interposition of 
 the gods. In both these points the cunning 
 of the priests imposed miserably upon the 
 ignorance of the people; and, if the discerning 
 
 * There is a very remarkable passage to this purpose 
 in the Tristia of Ovid, lib. ii. 
 
 " Quis locus est templis august>or? haec quoque vitet, 
 In culpain si qua: est iiigeniosa suam. 
 
 Cum stelerit Jovis a;de, Jovis succurret in sede, 
 Q,uam multas raatrcs fecerit ille Deus. 
 
 Proxima adoranti Junonia templa subibit, 
 Fellicibus multis hane doluisse Dcam. 
 
 Pallade eoiispecta, natum de crimine virgo 
 Sustulerit quare quxret Erichthonium." 
 
 f See Barbcjrac's Preface to his French translation of 
 Puffendorf 's System of the Law of Nature and Nations, 
 sect. vi. 
 
 } The corrupt manners of those who then lay in the 
 darkness of idolatry are described in an ample and af- 
 fecting manner, in the first of Cyprian's epistles. See 
 also, on this subject, Cornel. Adaini Exereitatio de malis 
 Romanorum ante praedicationem Evangelii moribus. This 
 rs the fifth discourse of a collection published by that 
 learned writer at Groningen, in 1710. 
 
 ^ See Dr. John Leland's excellent account of the re- 
 hcious sentiments, moral conduct, and Inlure prospects 
 of the pagans, in his large work entitled, The Advantage 
 and IVteessity of the Christian Revelation. 
 
 few saw the cheat, they were obliged, from a 
 regard to their own safety, to laugh with cau- 
 tion, since the priests were ever ready to ac- 
 cuse, before a raging and superstitious multi- 
 tude, those who discovered their religious 
 frauds, as rebels against the majesty of the 
 immortal gods. 
 
 XVI. At the time of Christ's appearance 
 upon earth, the religion of the Romans, as 
 j well as their arms, had extended itself over a 
 I great part of the world. This religion must 
 be known to those who are acquainted with 
 the Grecian superstitions.* In some things, 
 indeed, it differs from them; for the Romans, 
 beside the institutions which Nunia and others 
 had invented with political views, added seve- 
 ral Italian fictions to the Grecian fables, and 
 gave also to the Egyptian deities a place 
 among their own.f 
 
 XVII. In tlie provinces subjected to the Ro- 
 man government, there arose a new kind of 
 religion, formed by a mixture of the ancient 
 rites of the conquered nations with those of 
 the Romans. These nations, who, before their 
 subjection, had their own gods, and their own 
 particular religious institutions, were persuad- 
 ed, by degrees, to admit into their worship a 
 great number of the sacred rites and customs 
 of their conquerors. The view of the Romans, 
 in this change, was not only to confirm their 
 authority by the powerful aid of religion, but 
 also to abolish the inhuman rites which were 
 performed by many of the barbarous nations 
 who had received their yoke; and this change 
 was effected partly by the prudence of the 
 victors, partly by the levity of the vanquished, 
 and by their ambition to please their new 
 masters. 
 
 XVIII. When, from the sacred rites of the 
 ancient Romans, we pass to a review of the 
 other religions that prevailed in the world, we 
 shall find, that the most remarkable may be 
 properly divided into two classes. One of 
 these will comprehend the religious systems 
 that owed their existence to political views; 
 and the other, those which seem to have been 
 formed for mUitary purposes. — In the former 
 class may be ranked the religions of most of 
 the eastern nations, especially of the Persians, 
 Egyptians, and Indians, which appear to have 
 been solely calculated for the preservation of 
 the state, the support of tlie royal authority 
 and grandeur, the maintenance of public peace, 
 and the advancement of civil virtues. Under 
 the military class may be comprehended the 
 religious system of the northern nations, since 
 all the traditions that we find among the Ger- 
 mans, the Britons, the Celts, and the Goths, 
 concerning their divinities, have a manifest 
 tendency to excite and nourish fortitude and 
 ferocity, an insensibility of danger, and a 
 contempt of life. An attentive inquiry into 
 the religions of these respective nations, will 
 abundantly verify what is here asserted. 
 
 XIX. None of these nations, indeed, ever 
 arrived at such a universal excess of barbarism 
 and ignorance, as not to have some discerning 
 
 * See Dionysius Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. lib. vit. cap. 
 Ixxii. 
 
 \ See Petit ad leges Alticas, Lb. i. tit. >. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 19 
 
 men among them, who were sensible of tlie 
 extravagance of all these religions. But, of 
 these sagacious observers, some were destitute 
 of the weight and authority that were neces- 
 sary to remedy tiioso overgrown evils; and 
 others wanted the will to exert themselves in 
 such a glorious cause. And the truth is, none 
 of them had wisdom equal to such a solemn 
 and arduous enterprise. This appears mani- 
 festly from the laborious but useless efforts of 
 some of the Greek and Roman philosophers 
 against the vulgar superstitions. Tliese venera- 
 ble sages delivered, in their writings, many 
 sublime things concerning the nature of God, 
 and the duties incumbent upon men; they dis- 
 puted with sagacity against the popular reli- 
 gion; but to all this they added such chimeri- 
 cal notions and such absurd subtilties of their 
 own, as may serve to convince us that it be- 
 longs to God alone, and not to man, to reveal 
 the truth without any mixture of impurity or 
 error. 
 
 XX. About the time of Christ's appearance 
 upon earth, there were two kinds of philoso- 
 phy which prevailed among the civilized na- 
 tions. One was the philosophy of the Greeks, 
 adopted also by the Romans; and the other, 
 that of the orientals, which had a great num- 
 ber of votaries in Persia, Syria, Chaldea, 
 Egypt, and even among the Jews. The for- 
 mer was distinguished by tlie simple title of 
 philosophy. The latter was honoured with the 
 more pompous appellation of science or know- 
 ledge,* since those who embraced the latter 
 sect pretended to be the restorers of the know- 
 ledge of God, which was lost in the world. f 
 The followers of both these systems, in conse- 
 quence of vehement disputes and dissentions 
 about several points, subdivided themselves 
 into a variety of sects. It is, however, to be 
 observed, that all the sects of the oriental phi- 
 losophy deduced their various tenets from one 
 fundamental principle, which they held in com- 
 mon; whereas the Greeks were much divided 
 even about the first principles of science. 
 
 As we shall have occasion hereafter to speak 
 of the oriental philosoph)', we shall confine 
 ourselves here to the doctrines taugiit by the 
 Grecian sages, and shall give some account 
 of the various sects into which they were 
 divided. 
 
 XXI. Of the Grecian sects, some declared 
 openly against all religion; and otliers, though 
 they acknowledged a deity, and admitted a re- 
 ligion, yet cast a cloud over tlie truth, in.stead 
 of exhibiting it in its genuine beauty and 
 lustre. 
 
 Of the former kind were the Epicureans 
 and Academics. The Epicureans maintained, 
 " That the world arose from chance; that tlie 
 gods (whose existence they did not dare to 
 deny) neitber did nor could e.xtend their provi- 
 dential care to human affairs; that the soul 
 
 * Tvj«<ri; (gnosis) in the Greek signifies science or 
 knowledge; and hence came the title of Gnostics, which 
 this presumptuous sect claimed as due to their superior 
 light and penetration in divine things. 
 
 t St. Paul mentions and condemns both these kinds of 
 philosophy; the Greek, in the F.pistle to the Colossians, 
 ii. 8., and the Oriental, or Gnosis, iu the First Kpislle to 
 Timothy, vi. 30. 
 
 was mortal; that pleasure* was to be reorarded 
 as the ultimate end of man; and that virtue 
 was neitlier worthy of esteem nor of choice, 
 but with a view to its attainment." The 
 Academics asserted the impossibility of arriving 
 at truth, and held it uncertain, " whetlier 
 the gods existed or not; whether the soul was 
 mortal or innnorlal; whether virtue ought to 
 be preferred to vice, or vice to virtue." These 
 two sects, thougli they struck at the founda- 
 tions of all religion, were the most numerous 
 of all at tlie birtii of Christ, and were particu- 
 larly en corn-aged by the liberality of the rich, 
 and the protection of those who were in 
 power. t 
 
 XXII. We observed in the preceding section, 
 that there was another kind of philosophy, in 
 which leligion was admitted, but whicii was, 
 at the same time, deficient by the obscurity it 
 cast upon truth. Under the philosophers of 
 this class, may be reckoned the Platonists, the 
 Stoics, and the followers of Aristotle, whose 
 subtile disputations concerning God, religion, 
 and the social duties, were of little solid use 
 to mankind. The nature of God, as it is ex- 
 plained by Aristotle, resembles the principle 
 that gives motion to a machine; it is a nature 
 hap[)y in the contemplation of itself, and en- 
 tirely regardless of human affairs; and such a 
 divinity, who differs but little from the god of 
 Epicurus, cannot reasonably be the object 
 cither of love or fear. With respect to the 
 doctrine of this philosopher concerning the 
 human soul, it is uncertain, to say no more, 
 whether he believed its immortality or not.+ 
 What then could be expected from such a 
 philosophy? could any thing solid and satisfac- 
 tory, in favour of piety and virtue, be hoped 
 for from a system which excluded from the 
 universe a divine Providence, and insinuated 
 the mortality of the human soul? 
 
 XXIII. The god of the Stoics has some- 
 what more majesty than the divinity of Aris- 
 totle; nor is he represented by tliose philoso- 
 phers as sitting above the starry heavens in a 
 supine indolence, and a perfect inattention to 
 the affairs of the universe. Yet he is described 
 as a corporeal being, united to matter by a 
 necessary connexion, and subject to the de- 
 tenninations of an immutable fate, so that 
 neither rewards nor pujiishments can properly 
 
 * The ambiguity of this word has produced many dis- 
 putes in the explication of the Epicurean system. If 
 by jileusiirc be understood only sensual gralilications, the 
 tenet here advanced is indisj>utably monstrous. But if 
 it be taken in a larger sense, and extended to intellectual 
 and moral objects, in what does the scheme of Epicurus, 
 with respect to virtue, difl'er from the opinions of those 
 Christian philosophers, who maintain that self-love is the 
 ordij spring of all human aft'ccliims and actions.' 
 
 + Tl»€ Epicurean sect was, however, the more numerous 
 of the two, as appears from the testimony of Cicero de 
 Finibus, &cc. lib. i. cap. vii. lib. ii. cap. xiv. Disput. Tus- 
 culan. lib. v. cap. x. Hence the complaint which Juvenal 
 makes in his xiiith Satire, of the atheism that prevailed at 
 Rome, in those excellent words: 
 
 " Sunt in fortuua; qui casibus omnia ponant, 
 Et nullo credant mundum rectore moveri, 
 Natura volvente vices et lucisetanni; 
 Atque ideo intrepidi quiecunque altaria laneunl." 
 
 } See the Notes upon Cud worth's Intellectual System 
 of the Universe, which Dr. Mosheim subjoined to hii 
 Latin translation of that learned work, vol. i. p. 66, 500; 
 vol. ii. p. 1171. .Sec also, upon the same subject, Mour- 
 guc\ Plan Theologique du Pythagorisme, toui. i. 
 
20 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 proceed from him.* The learned also know 
 that, in the philosophy of this sect, the exist- 
 ence of the soul was confined to a certain pe- 
 riod. Now it is manifest, that these tenets re- 
 move, at once, the strongest motives to virtue, 
 and the most powerful restraints upon vice; 
 and, therefore, the Stoical system may be con- 
 sidered as a body of specious and pompous doc- 
 trine, but, at the same time, as a body without 
 nerves, or any principles of consistency and 
 vigour. 
 
 XXIV. Plato is generally looked upon as 
 superior to all the other philosophers in wis- 
 dom; and this eminent rank does not seem to 
 have been undeservedly conferred upon him. 
 He taught that the universe was governed by 
 a Being, glorious in power and wisdom, and 
 possessing perfect liberty and independence. 
 He extended also the views of mortals beyond 
 the grave, and showed them, in futurity, pros- 
 pects adapted to excite their hopes, and to 
 work upon their fears. His doctrine, however, 
 besides the weakness of tiie foundations on 
 which it rests, and the obscurity with which it 
 is often expressed, has other considerable de- 
 fects. It represents the Supreme Creator of 
 the world as destitute of many perfections,! 
 and confined to a certain determinate portion 
 of space. Its decisions, with respect to the 
 soul and daemons, seem calculated to beget and 
 nourish superstition. Nor will the moral phi- 
 losophy of Plato appear worthy of such a high 
 degree of admiration, if we attentively exam- 
 ine and compare its various parts, and reduce 
 them to their i)rinciples.J 
 
 XXV. As then, by these difl'erent sects, tliere 
 were many things maintained tiiat were highly 
 unreasonable and absurd, and as a contentious 
 spirit of opposition and dispute prevailed among 
 them all, some men of true discernment, and 
 of moderate characters, were of opinion, that 
 none of these sects ought to be adhered to in 
 all points, but that it was rather wise to choose 
 and extract out of each of them such tenets 
 and doctrines as were good and reasonable, and 
 
 *Thus is the Sloical doctrine o[ futc geneially repre- 
 sented, but not more (generally than unjustly. TheiryVr- 
 turn, when carefully and attentively examined, seems to 
 have signified no more in tlie intention of tlie wisest of 
 that sect, than the plan of government formed originally 
 in the divine mind, a plan all-wise and perfect, and from 
 which, of consequence, the Supreme Being, morally speak- 
 ing, can never depart; so that, when Jupiter is said by the 
 Stoics to be subject to immutableyute,tiiis means no more 
 than that he is subject to the wisdom of his own counsels, 
 and ever acts in conformity with his supreme perfections. 
 The following remarkable passage of Seneca, drawn from 
 the .5th chapter of his book de Providentia, is sulficient to 
 confirm the explication we have here given of the Stoical 
 Jate. " llle ipse omnium conditor et rector scri]>sit qui- 
 dem fata, sed sequitur. Semper parct, semel jussit." 
 
 fThis accusation seems to be carried too far by Dr. 
 Mosheim. It is not strictly true, that the doctrine of 
 Plato represents the Supreme Being as destitute of inaiiy 
 perfections. On the contrary, all the divine perfections 
 are frequently acknowledged by that jihilosophcr. What 
 probably gave occasion to this aniinadversion of our learn- 
 ed author, was the erroneous notion of Plato, concerning 
 the invincible malisvify and corruption of matter, vihich 
 the divine power had not been sufficient to reduce entirely 
 to order. Though this notion is, indeed, injurious to the 
 omnipotence of God, it is not sufficient to justify the cen 
 sure now under consideration. 
 
 } There is an ample account of the defects of the Pla 
 tonic philosophy in a work entitled Defense des Peres ac 
 fuses de Platonismi , par Franc. Baltus; but there is more 
 learnin^j than accuracy in tliat pcrformanci; 
 
 to abandon and reject the rest. Tliis gave rise 
 to a new form of philosophy in Egypt, and 
 principally at Alexandria, which was called 
 the Eclectic, whose founder, according to some, 
 was Potamon, an Alexandrian, though this 
 opinion is not without its difficulties. It ma- 
 nitestly appears from the testimony of Philo, 
 the Jew, who was himself one of this sect, that 
 this philosophy was in a flourishing state at 
 Alexandria, when our Saviour was upon the 
 earth. The Eclectics held Plato in the highest 
 esteem, though they made no scruple to join, 
 with his doctrines, whatever they thought con- 
 formable to reason in the tenets and opinions 
 of the other philosophers.* 
 
 XXVI. The attentive reader will easily con- 
 clude, from the short view which we have here 
 given of the miserable state of the world at the 
 birth of Christ, that mankind, in this period of 
 darkness and corruption, stood highly in need 
 of some divine teacher to convey to the mind 
 true and certain principles of religion and wis- 
 dom, and to recall wandering mortals to the 
 sublime paths of piety and virtue. The con- 
 sideration of this wretched condition of man- 
 kind will be also singularly useful to those who 
 are not sufficiently acquainted with the advan- 
 tages, the comforts, and the support which the 
 sublime doctrines of Christianity are so proper 
 to administer in every state, relation, and cir- 
 cumstance of life. A set of miserable and un- 
 thinking creatures treat with negligence, and 
 sometimes with contempt, the religion of Jesus, 
 not considering that they are indebted to it for 
 all the good things which they so ungratefully 
 enjoy. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Civil and Religious State of the 
 Jewish J^alion at the Birth of Christ. 
 
 I. The state of the Jews was not much bet- 
 ter than that of the other nations at the time 
 of Christ ''s appearance in the world. They 
 were governed by Herod, who was himself a 
 tributary to the Roman people. This prince 
 was surnamed the Great, surely from no other 
 circumstance than the greatness of his vices; 
 and his government was a yoke of the most 
 vexatious and oppressive kind. By a cruel, sus- 
 picious, and overbearing temper, he drew upon 
 himself the aversion of all, not excepting those 
 who lived upon his bounty. By a mad luxury 
 and an ati'ectatioa of magnificence far above 
 his fortune, together with tlie most profuse and 
 immoderate largesses, he exhausted the trea- 
 sures of that miserable nation. Under his ad- 
 ministration, iind by his means, the Roman 
 luxury was received in Palestine, accompanied 
 with the worst vices of that licentious people.f 
 In a word, Judea, governed by Herod, groaned 
 under all that corruption, which might be ex- 
 pected from the authority and the example of 
 
 * See Godof. Olearius de Philosophia Eclectica, Jac. 
 Bruckcr, and others. 
 
 f See, on this subject, Christ. Noldii Historia Idumjea, 
 which is anfiexed to Havercamp's edition of Josephus, 
 vol. ii. p. 333. Sec also Basnage, Histoire Des Juifs, torn, 
 i. part i. — Noris, Cenotaph. Pisan. — PrideauY, History 
 of the Jews. — Cellarius, Historia Herodum, in the first 
 part of his Academical Dissertations, and, above all, Jo- 
 sephus the Jewish historian. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE JEWS. 
 
 21 
 
 a prince, who, though a Jew in outward pro- 
 fession, was in point of morals and practice, a 
 contemner of all laws, divine and liuman. 
 
 II. After the death of tiiis tyrant, the Ro- 
 mans divided the government of Palestine 
 among his sons. In this division, one half of 
 Judea was given to Arclielaus, witli the title of 
 exarch; and the other was divided between his 
 brotiiers, Anti])as and Philip. Arclielaus was 
 a corrupt and wicked prince, and followed the 
 example of his father's crimes in such a man- 
 ner, that the Jews, weary of his iniquitous ad- 
 ministration, laid their complaints and griev- 
 ances before Augustus, who delivered them 
 from their oppressor, by banishing him from his 
 donnnions, about ten years after the death of 
 Herod the Great. Tiie kingdom of this de- 
 tiiroued prince was reduced to the form of a 
 province, and added to tlie jurisdiction of the j 
 governor of Syria, to the great detriment of 
 the Jews, whose heaviest calamities arose from 
 this change, and whose final destruction was 
 its undoubted effect in the appointment of Pro- 
 vidence. 
 
 III. However severe was the authority which 
 the Romans exercised oVer the Jews, it did not 
 extend to the entire suppression of their civil 
 and religious privileges. — The Jews were, in 
 some measure, governed by their own laws; 
 and they were tolerated in the enjoyment of 
 the religion they had received from the glori- 
 ous founder of their church and state. The 
 administration of religious ceremonies was com- 
 mitted, as before, to the high priest, and to the 
 sanhedrim, to the former of whom tlie priests j 
 and Levites were in the usual subordination; 
 and the form of outward worship, except in a 
 very few points, had suffered no visible change. 
 But, on the other hand, it is impossible to ex- 
 press the inquietude and disgust, the calamities 
 and vexations, which this unhappy nation suf- 
 fered from the presence of the Romans, whom 
 their religion obliged them to loolv ujjon as a 
 polluted and idoltitrous people, and in a more 
 particular manner, from the avarice and cruel- 
 ty of the priEtorsand the frauds and extortions 
 of the ])ublicans; so thut, all things considered, 
 the condition of those who lived under the go- 
 verimient of the other sons of Herod, was much 
 moie supportable than the state of those who 
 were immediately subject to the Roman juris- 
 diction. 
 
 IV. It was not, however, from the Romans 
 alone, that the calamities of this miserable peo- 
 ()le i)roceoded. Their own rulers multiplied 
 their vexations, and hindered them from enjoy- 
 ing any little comforts that were left to tliem 
 by the Roman ma<ristrates. Tlie leaders of the 
 people, and the chief priests, were, according 
 to the account of Josephus, prolligate wretches, 
 who had ]nircliased their places by bribes, or by 
 acts of ini(]uity, and who maintained tiieir ill 
 acquired authority by the most flagitious and 
 abominable crimes. The subordinate and in- 
 ferior meuibers were infected with the corrup- 
 tion of the head; the [iriests, and those who 
 possessed any shadow of authority, were disso- 
 hite and abandoned to the highest degree; 
 while the people, seduced by these corrupt ex- 
 amples, ran headlong into every sort of iniqui- 
 ty, and by their endless seditions, robberies, and 
 
 I extortions, armed against them both the jus- 
 tice of God and the vengeance of men. 
 
 V. Two religions flourished at this time in 
 Palestine, viz. the Jewish and the Samaritan, 
 whose respective followers beheld those of the 
 opposite sect with the utmost aversion. The 
 Jewisii religion stands exposed to our view in 
 the books of the Old Testament; but, at the 
 time of Christ's apjiearancc, it had lost much 
 of its original nature and of its primitive as- 
 pect. Errors of a very pernicious kind had in- 
 fected the whole body of the people, and the 
 more learned part of the nation were divided 
 upon points of the highest consequence. All 
 looked for a deliverer, but not for such a one 
 as God had promised. Instead of a meek and 
 spiritual Saviour, they expected a formidable 
 and warlike prince, to break off their chains, 
 and set them at liberty from the Roman yoke. 
 All regarded the whole of religion, as consisting 
 in the rites appointed by Moses, and in the per- 
 formance of some external acts of duty to- 
 wards the Gentiles. They were all horribly 
 unanimous in excluding from the hopes of 
 eternal life all the other nations of the world; 
 and, as a consequence of this odious S3'stem, 
 they treated them with the utmost rigour and 
 inhumanity, when any occasion was offered. 
 And, besides these corrupt and vicious princi- 
 ples, there prevailed among them several ab- 
 surd and superstitious notions concerning the 
 divine nature, invisible powers, magic, &c. 
 which they had partly brought with them from 
 the liabj-lonian captivity, and partly derived 
 fi'om the Egyptians, Syrians, and Arabians, 
 who hved in their neighbourhood. 
 
 VI. Religion had not a better fate among 
 tlie learned than among the multitude. The 
 supercilious doctors, who vaunted tiieir pro- 
 found knowledge of tlie law, and their deep 
 science in spiritual and divine things, were con- 
 stantly siiowiug tlicir fallibility and their igno- 
 rance by their religious dill'erences, and were 
 divided into a great variety of sects. Of these 
 sects, three in a great measure eclipsed the 
 rest, both by the umnber of their adherents, 
 and also by the weight and authority which 
 tiiey acquired. These were the Pharisees, the 
 Sadducees, and the Esscnes.* There is fre- 
 (juent mention made of the two former in the 
 sacred writings; but the knowledge of the rites 
 and doctrines of the last, is to be derived from 
 Josephus, Philo, and other historians. Those 
 three illustrious sects agreed in the fundamen- 
 tal j)rinciples of the Jewish religion, and, at 
 the same time, were involved in endless dis- 
 putes upon points of tlie highest importance, 
 and about matters in whicii the salvation of 
 mankind was directly concerned; and their 
 controversies could not but !)C highly detri- 
 mental to the rude and illiterate multitude, as 
 every one must easily perceive. 
 
 VII. It may not be improper to mention 
 here some of the principal matters that were 
 
 \ 
 
 * Besides these more illustrious seets, there were seve- 
 ral of inferior note, \vlii«li (irrvailed among the Jews at 
 the time of Christ's appearance. The Herodiaiis are 
 mentioned by the sacred writers, the (laiilonitis by Jose- 
 phus, and others by Epipliaiiius and Hepesippiis in Euse- 
 biuD; and we cannot reasonably look upon all these sects 
 as fictitious. 
 
22 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 debated amoiig these famous sects. A main 
 point of controversy was, whether the written 
 laio alone was of divine authority. The 
 Pharisees added to this law another, which had 
 been received by oral tradition. This the 
 Sadducees and Essenes rejected as of no au- 
 thority, and adhered to the written law as the 
 only divine rule of obedience. They differed 
 also in their opinions concernincr the true sense 
 of the law. For, while the Pharisees attributed | 
 to the sacred text a double sense, one of which 
 was obvious, regarding only the rcords, and 
 another mysterious, relating to the intimate 
 nature of the tilings e.xprcssed; and while the 
 Sadducees maintained that nothing farther was 
 delivered by the law, than that which was con- 
 tained in the signification of the words; the 
 Essenes, at least the greatest part of that sect, 
 entertained an opinion diiferent from both of 
 these. They asserted, in their jargon, that 
 the words of the law were absolutely void of 
 all power, and that the things expressed by 
 them, were the images of holy and celestial 
 objects. These litigious subtilties and unin- 
 telligible wranglings, about the nature and 
 sense of the divine word, were succeeded by a 
 controversy of the greatest moment, concern- 
 ing the rewards and punishments of the law, 
 particularly with respect to their extent. The 
 Pharisees were of opinion, that these rewards 
 and punishments extended both to the soul and 
 body, and that their duration was prolonged 
 beyond the limits of this transitory state. The 
 Sadducees assigned to them the same period 
 that concludes this mortal life. The Essenes 
 differed from both, and maintained that future 
 rewards and punishments extended to the soul 
 alone, and not to the body, which they con- 
 sidered as a niass of malignant matter, and as 
 the prison of tlie immortal spirit. 
 
 VIII. These differences, in matters of such 
 high importance, among the three famous 
 sects above mentioned, produced none of those 
 injurious and malignant effects which are too 
 often seen to arise from religious controver- 
 sies. — But such as have any acquaintance with 
 the history of tliese times, will not be so far 
 deceived by this specious appearance of mode- 
 ration, as to attribute it to noble or generous 
 principles. They will look tlirough the fair 
 outside, and see that mutual fears were the 
 latent cause of this apparent cliarity and re- 
 ciprocal forbearance. The Sadducees enjoyed 
 the favour and protection of tlie great: the 
 Pharisees, on the otlier hand, were exceedingly 
 high in the esteem of the multitude; and hence 
 they were both secured against the attempts 
 of each other, and lived in peace, notwith- 
 standing the diversity of their religious senti- 
 ments. The government of the Romans con- 
 tributed also to tlie maintenance of this mutual 
 toleration and tranquillity, as they were ever 
 ready to suppress and punish whatever had 
 the appearance of tumult and sedition. We 
 may add to all this, that the Sadducean prin- 
 ciples rendered that sect naturally averse to 
 altercation and tumult. Libertinism has for 
 Its objects ease and pleasure, and chooses 
 rather to slumber in the arms of a fallacious 
 secuiity, than to expose itself to the painful 
 
 activity, which is required both in the search 
 and in the defence of truth. 
 
 IX. The Essenes had little occasion to quar- 
 rel with the other sects, as they dwelt gene- 
 rally in rural solitude, far removed from the 
 view and commerce of men. — This singular 
 sect, which was spread abroad thiough Syria, 
 Egypt, and the neighbouring countries, main- 
 tained, that religion consisted wholly in con- 
 templation and silence. — By a rigorous absti- 
 nence also, and a variety of penitential exer- 
 cises and mortifications, which they seem to 
 have borrowed from tlie Egyptians,* they en- 
 deavoured to arrive at still higher degrees of 
 e.xcellence in virtue. There prevailed, how- 
 ever, among the members of this sect, a con- 
 siderable ditfereiice both in point of opinion 
 and discipline. — Some passed their lives in a 
 state of celibacy, and employed their time in 
 educating the children of others. Some em- 
 braced the state of matrimony, which they 
 considered as lawful; when contracted with 
 the sole view of propagating the species, and 
 not to satisfy the demands of lust. Those of 
 the Essenes who dwelt in Syria, held the pos- 
 sibility of appeasing the Deity by sacrifices, 
 though in a manner quite different from that 
 of the Jews; by which, however, it appears 
 that they had not utterly rejected the literal 
 sense of the Mosaic law. But those who 
 wandered in the deserts of Egypt were of 
 very different sentiments; they maintained, 
 that no offering was acceptable to God but 
 that of a serene and composed mind, intent 
 on the contemplation of divine things; and 
 hence it is manifest that they looked upon the 
 law of Moses as an allegorical system of 
 spiritual and mysterious truths, and renounced 
 in its e.xplication all regard to the outward 
 letter.! 
 
 X. The Therapeutse, of whom Philo the 
 Jew makes particular mention in his treatise 
 concerning contemplative life, are supposed to 
 have been a branch of this sect. From this 
 notion arose the division of the Essenes into 
 theoretical and practical. The former of these 
 were wholly devoted to contemplation, and 
 are the same with the Therapeutae, while tiie 
 latter employed a part of their time in the per- 
 formance of the duties of active life. Whether 
 tliis division be accurate or not, is a point 
 wiiich I will not pretend to determine. But I 
 see nothing in the laws or manners of the 
 Therapeutae, that should lead us to consider 
 them as a branch of the Essenes; nor, indeed, 
 has Philo asserted any such thing. There may 
 have been, surely, many other fanatical tribes 
 among the Jews, besides that of the Essenes; 
 nor should a resemblance of principles always 
 induce us to make a coalition of sects. It is, 
 however, certain, that the Therapeutae were 
 neither Christians nor Egyptians, as some 
 have erroneously imagined. Tliey were un- 
 doubtedly Jews: they gloried in that title, and 
 styled themselves, with particular affectation, 
 
 * See the Annotations of Holstenius upon Porphyry's 
 Life of Pythagoras, p. 11. of Kuster's edition. 
 
 f See MosheiTn's observations on a small treatise, writ- 
 ten by the learned Cudworth, concerning the true notion 
 of the Lord's Supper. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE JEWS. 
 
 23 
 
 the true disciples of Moses, thongli their man- 
 ner of hfe was equally repugnant to the insti- 
 tutions of that great lawgiver and to the dic- 
 tates of right reason, and showed tliem to be 
 a tribe of melancholy and wrong-headed en- 
 thusiasts.* 
 
 XI. None of these sect.<!, indeed, seemed to 
 have the interests of real and true piety at 
 heart; nor were their principles and discipline 
 at all adapted to the advancement of pure and 
 substantial virtue. The Pjiarisees courted 
 popular applause by a vain ostentation of pre- 
 tended sanctity, and an austere metiiod of 
 living, while, in reality, they were strangers 
 to true holiness, and vi^ere inwardly defiled 
 with the most criminal dispositions, with which 
 our Saviour frequently reproaches them. They 
 also treated with greater veneration the com- 
 mandments and traditions of men, than the 
 sacred precepts and laws of God.f The Sad- 
 ducees, by denying a future state of rewards 
 and punishments, removed, at once, tlie most 
 powerful incentives to virtue, and the most 
 effectual restraints upon vice, and thus gave 
 new vigour to every sinful passion, and a full 
 encouragement to the indulgence of every ir- 
 regular desire. As to the Essenes, they were 
 a fanatical and superstitious tribe, who placed 
 religion in a certain sort of seraphic indolence, 
 and looking upon piety to God as incompati- 
 ble with any social attachment to men, dis- 
 solved, by this pernicious doctrine, all the 
 great bonds of human society. 
 
 XII. While such darkness, such errors and 
 dissensions, prevailed among those who as- 
 sumed the character and authority of persons 
 distinguished by their superior .sanctity and 
 wisdom, it will not be difficult to imagine, how 
 totally corrupt the religion and morals of the 
 multitude must have been. They were, ac- 
 cordingly, sunk in the most deplorable igno- 
 rance of God and of divine things, and had 
 no notion of any other way of rendering them- 
 selves acceptable to the Supreme Being, than 
 by sacrifices, ablutions, and the other external 
 ceremonies of the Mosiac law. Hence pro- 
 ceeded that laxity of manners, and that profli- 
 gate wickedness, which prevailed among the 
 Jews during Christ's ministry upon eartli; and 
 hence the Divine Saviour compares that peo- 
 ple to a flock of sheep which wandered with- 
 out a shepherd, and their doctors to men who, 
 though deprived of sight, yet pretended to 
 show the wa}^ to others.! 
 
 XIII. To all these corruptions, both in point 
 of doctrine and practice, which reigned among 
 the Jews at the time of Clirist's coming, we 
 may add the attachment which many of them 
 discovered to the tenets of the oriental philoso- 
 phy concerning the origin of the world, and 
 to the doctrine of the Cabiiala, which was im- 
 doubtedly derived from that system. That 
 considerable numbers of the Jews had imbibed 
 the errors of this fantastic theory, evidently 
 appears both from the books of the New Tes- 
 
 * The principal writers, who have given accounts of 
 the Therapcuta:, are mentioned by Jo. Albert Fabricius, 
 in the fourth chapter of his Lux Salutaris Evangelii 
 toto orbe exoriens. 
 
 ♦ Matt, xxiii. 1.3—30. 
 
 i Mall. X. 6; xv. -24. John ix. 39. 
 
 tament, and from the ancient history of the 
 I Christian church,* and it is also certain, that 
 j many of tlie Gnostic sects were founded by 
 Jews. Those among tliat degenerate people, 
 who adopted tiiis chimerical philosophy, jnust 
 I have widely differed from the rest in their 
 I opinions concerning the tJod of the Old Tes- 
 tament, the origin of the world, tlie character 
 and doctrine of Moses, and the nature and 
 ministr}' of tlie Messiah, sinc'c they maintained 
 that the creator of this world was a being dif- 
 ferent from the Supreme God, and that iiis 
 I dominion over the human race was to be de- 
 stro\-ed by the Messiah. Every one must see 
 that this enormous system was fruitful of er- 
 rors, destructive of the very foundations of 
 I Judaism. 
 
 XIV. If any ])art of the Jewish religion was 
 less disfigured and corrupted than tlie rest, it 
 was, certainly, the form of external worsliip, 
 which was established by the law of INIoses. 
 And yet many learned men have observed, that 
 a great variety of rites were introduced into 
 the service of the temple, of which no traces 
 are to be found in the sacred writings. These 
 additional ceremonies manifestly proceeded 
 from those changes and revolutions which ren- 
 dered the Jews more conversant witli the 
 neiglibouring nations, than they had fomierly 
 been; for, when they saw t!ie sacred rites of 
 the Greeks and Romans, they were pleased 
 with several of the ceremonies that were used 
 in the worship of the heathen deities, and did 
 not hesitate to adopt them in the service of 
 the true God, and add them as ornaments to 
 the rites which they had received by divine ap- 
 pointment, f 
 
 XV. But whence arose such enormous de- 
 grees of corruption in that very nation which 
 God had, in a peculiar manner, separated from 
 an idolatrous world to be tlie depository of di- 
 vine trutW Various causes may be assigned, 
 in order to give a satisfactory account of this 
 matter. In the first place, it is certain, tliat 
 the ancestors of those Jews, who lived in the 
 time of our Saviour, had brought, from Chal- 
 dea and the neighbouring countries, many ex- 
 travagant and idle fancies, which were utterly 
 unknown to the original founders of the na- 
 tion.]; The conquest of Asia by Alexander 
 the Great, was also an event from which we 
 may date a new accession of errors to the 
 Jewish system, since, in consequence of that 
 revolution, the manners and opinions of the 
 Greeks began to spread themselves among the 
 Persians, S3Tians, Arabians, and likewise 
 among the Jews, who before tliat period, were 
 entirely unacquainted with letters and piiiloso- 
 phy. We may, farther, rank among the 
 causes that contributed to corrupt the religion 
 and ma,nners of the Jews, their voyages into 
 tiie adjacent countries, especially Egypt and 
 
 * See Joli. Chr. Wolf. Biblioth. Ebraica, vol. ii. lib. 
 vii. cap. i. sect. ix. 
 
 t See the learned work of Spencer, De Lrgibus Heb- 
 rieorum, in the fourth book of which he treats expressly 
 of those Hebrew riles which were borrowed from the 
 Gentile worship. 
 
 \ See Gale's observations on Jamblichus, de Myjteriij 
 ^gyptiorum, p. 206. Josephus acknowledges the same 
 thing in his Jewish Antiquities, book iii.chap. vii. sect. 2. 
 
24 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Phcenicia, in pursuit of wealth; for, with the 
 treasures of those corrupt and superstitious 
 nations, they brouglit home also tlieir pernici- 
 ous errors, and their idle fictions, wliich were 
 imperceptibly blended witli their religious sys- 
 tem. Nor ouglit we to omit, in tliis enumera- 
 tion, the pestilential influence of the wicked 
 reig-ns of Herod and his sons, and the enor- 
 mous instances of idolatry, error, and licen- 
 tiousness, whicli this unhappy people liad con- 
 stantly before tlieir eyes in tlie religion and 
 manners of the Roman governors and soldiers, 
 whicli, no doubt, contributed much to tiie pro- 
 gress of their national superstition and corrup- 
 tion of manners. We might add here many 
 other facts and circumstances, to illustrate more 
 full}' the matter under consideration; but these 
 will be readily suggested to such as have the 
 least acquaintance with tlie Jewish history from 
 the time of the Maccabees. 
 
 XVI. It is indeed worthy of observation, 
 that, corrupted as the .Tews were with the er- 
 rors and superstitions of the neighbouring na- 
 tions, they still preserved a zealous attachment 
 to the law of Moses, and were exceedingly 
 careful that it sliould not suffer any diminution 
 of its credit, or lose the least degree of the ve- 
 neration due to its divine authority. Hence 
 synagogues were erected througliout the pro- 
 vince of Judea, in wliich the people assembled 
 for the purposes of divine worsliip, and to hear 
 their doctors interpret and explain the holy 
 scriptures. There wore besides, in the more 
 populous towns, public scliools, in which learn- 
 ed men were appointed to instruct the youth in 
 the knowledge of divine tilings, and also in 
 other branches of science.* And it is beyond 
 all doubt, that these institutions contributed to 
 maintain the law in its primitive authority, and 
 to stem the torrent of abounding iniquity. 
 
 XVII. The Samaritans, who celebrated di- 
 vine worship in the temple that \va.s built on 
 mount Gerizim, lay under the burthen of the 
 same evils that oppressed the Jews, with whom 
 they lived in the bitterest enmity, and were 
 also, like them, higlily instrumental in increas- 
 ing their own calamities. We learn from the 
 most authentic histories of those times, that the 
 Samaritans suffered as much as the Jews, from 
 troubles and divisions fomented by the intrigues 
 of factious spirits, though their religious sects 
 were yet less numerous than those of the latter. 
 Their religion, also, was much more corrupted 
 than that of the Jews, as Christ himself de- 
 clares in his conversation with the woman of 
 Samaria, thougli it appears, at the same time, 
 that their notions concerning the offices and 
 ministry of tlie Messiah, were much more just 
 and conformable to truth, than those which 
 were entertained at Jerusalem.! Upon tlie 
 
 * See Camp. Vitrinca. de Synagoga vetere, lib. iii. cap. 
 V. and lib. i. cap. v. vii. 
 
 f Christ insinuates, on the contrary, in the strongest 
 manner, the superiority of the Jewish worship to that of 
 the Samaritans, John iv. 22. See also, on this head, 2 
 Kings xvii. 29. The passage to which Dr. Mosheim re- 
 fers, as a proof that the Samaritans had juster notions of 
 the Messiah than the Jews, is the 2olh verse of the chap- 
 ter of St. John already cited, where the woman of Sama- 
 ria says to Jesus, "I know that Messiah cometh, which 
 is called Christ; when he is come, he will tell us all 
 things." But this passage seems much too vague to jus- 
 tify the conclusion of our learned historian. Besides the 
 
 whole, it is certain that the Samaritans mixed 
 the profane errors of the Gentiles with the sa- 
 cred doctrines of the Jews, and were excessive- 
 ly corrupted by the idolatrous customs of the 
 pagan nations.* 
 
 XVIII. The Jews multiplied so prodigiously, 
 that the narrow bounds of Palestine were no 
 longer sufficient to contain them. They pour- 
 ed, tlierefore, their increasing numbers into the 
 neighbouring countries with such rapidity, that, 
 at the time of Christ's birth, there was scarcely 
 a province in the empire, where they were not 
 found carrying on commerce and exercising 
 other lucrative arts. They were maintained, 
 in foreign countries, against injurious treatment 
 and violence, by the special edicts and protec- 
 tion of the magistrates;! and this, indeed, was 
 absolutely necessary, since, in most places, the 
 remarkable difference in their religion and man- 
 ners, from those of the other nations, exposed 
 them to the hatred and indignation of the ig- 
 norant and bigoted multitude. All this ap- 
 jiears to have been most singularly and wisely 
 directed by the adorable liand of an interposing 
 Providence, to the end that this people, which 
 was the sole depository of the true religion, and 
 of the knowledge of one Supreme God, being 
 spread abroad through the vi'hole earth, might 
 be every where, by the force of e-\ainple, a re- 
 proach to superstition, might contribute in some 
 measure to check it, and thus prepare the way 
 for that yet fuller discovery of divine truth, 
 which was to shine upon the world from the 
 ministry and Gospel of the Son of God. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Concerning; the Life and .Actions of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 I. The errors and disorders that we have 
 now been considering, required something far 
 above human vi'isdoin and power to dispel and 
 remove tliem, and to deliver mankind from the 
 miserable state to which they were reduced by 
 them. Therefore, towards the conclusion of 
 the reign of Herod the Great, the Son of God 
 descended upon earth, and, assuming the hu- 
 man nature, appeared to men under the sublime 
 characters of an infallible teacher, an all-suffi- 
 cient mediator, and a spiritual and immortal 
 king. The place of his birth was Rethlehem, 
 in Palestine. The year in which it happened, 
 has not hitherto been ascertained, notwitli- 
 standing the deep and laborious researches of 
 the learned. There is nothing surprising in 
 this, when we consider that the first Christians 
 laboured under the same difficulties, and were 
 divided in their opinions concerning the time 
 
 confession of one person who may possibly have had some 
 singular and extraordinary advantages, is not a proof that 
 the nation in general entertained the same sentiments, es- 
 pecially since we know that tlie Samaritans had corrupted 
 the service of God by a profane mixture of the grossest 
 idolatries. 
 
 * Those who desire an exact account of the principal 
 authors who have writteai concerning the Samaritans, will 
 find it in the learned work of Jo. Gottlob Carpzovius, en- 
 titled, Critica S. Vet. Testam. part ii. cap. iv. 
 
 f See the account published at Leyden, in 1712, by 
 James Gronovius, of the Roman and Asiatic edicts in fa- 
 vour of the Jews, allowing them the free and secure ex- 
 ercise of their religion in all the eitirt of Asia Minor 
 
t!HAP. in. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE JEWS. 
 
 35 
 
 of Christ's birth.* That which appears most 
 probable, is, that it happened about a year and 
 six months before the death of Herod, in the 
 year of Rome 748 or 749. f The uncertainty, 
 however, of this point, is of no great conse- 
 quence. We know that vthe Sun of Riglite- 
 ousness has shined upon the's^vorld; and though 
 we cannot fix the precise period in which he 
 arose, this will not preclude us from enjoying- 
 the direction and influence of his vital and sa- 
 lutary beams. 
 
 n. Four inspired writers, who have trans- 
 mitted to us an account of the life and actioits 
 of Jesus Christ, mention particularly his birth, 
 lineage, family, and parents; bat they say very 
 little respecting his infancy and his early youth. 
 Not long after his birth, he was conducted by 
 his parents into Egypt, that he might be out of 
 the reach of Herod's cruelty. J; At the age of 
 twelve years, he disputed in the temple, with 
 the most learned of the Jewish doctors, con- 
 cerning the sublime truths of religion; and the 
 rest of his life, until the thirtieth year of his 
 age, was spent in the obscurity of a private 
 condition, and consecrated to the duties of filial 
 obedience. § This is all that the wisdom of God 
 hatli permitted us to know, with certainty, of 
 Christ, before he entered upon his public minis- 
 try; nor is the story of his having followed the 
 trade of his adoptive father Joseph built upon 
 any sure foundation. There have been, indeed, 
 several writers, who, either througli the levity 
 of a wanton imagination, or with a view of ex- 
 citing the admiration of the multitude, have 
 invented a series of the most extravagant and 
 ridiculous fables, in order to give an account 
 of tliis obscure part of the Saviour's life.|| 
 
 III. Jesus began his public ministry in the 
 thirtieth year of his age; and, to render it more 
 solemn and aflfecting to the Jews, a man, whose 
 name was John, the son of a Jewish priest, a 
 person of great gravity also, and much respect- 
 ed on account of the austere dignity of his life 
 and manners, was commanded by God to pro- 
 claim to the people the coming of the long pro- 
 mised Messiah, of whom this extraordinary 
 man called himself the forerunner. Filled 
 with a holy zeal and a divine fervour, he cried 
 aloud to the Jews, exliorting them to depart 
 from their transgressions, and to purify their 
 hearts, that they might thus partake of tlie 
 blessings which the Son of God was now come 
 to offer to the world. The exhortations of this 
 respectable messenger were not witliout effect; 
 and those who, moved by his solemn admoni- 
 tions, had formed the resolution of correcting 
 their evil dispositions, and amending their lives, 
 were initiated into the kingdom of the Re- 
 deemer by the ceremony of immersion, or bap- 
 tism.H Clirist himself, before he began his mi- 
 nistry, desired to be solemnly baptized by John 
 in the waters of Jordan, that he might not, in 
 
 * The learned John Albert Fabricius has collected all 
 the opinions of the learned, concerning the year of Christ's 
 birth, iu his Bibliograph. Antiqnar. cap. vii. sect. x. 
 
 t Matt. iii. 2, &,c. John i. 22, Stc. 
 
 j Matt. ii. 13. 
 
 § Luke ii. 51,52. 
 
 II See the account which the above mentioned Albert 
 Fabricius has given of these romantic triflers, in his Co- 
 dex Apocryphus Novi Testaraenli, torn. i. 
 
 IT Matt. iii. 6. John i. 22. 
 
 Vol. I.— 4 
 
 any point, neglect to answer the demands of 
 the Jewish law. 
 
 IV. It is not necessary to enter here into a 
 detail of the life and actions of Jesus Christ. 
 All Christians must be perfectly acquainted 
 with thein. They must know, that, during the 
 space of tiiree years, and amidst the deepest 
 trials of affliction and distress, he instructed the 
 .Tcwish nation in the will find counsels of the 
 iMost High, and omitted nothing in the course 
 of his ministry, that could contribute either to 
 gain the multitude or to charm tJie wise. Every 
 one knows, that his life was a continued scene 
 of perfect sanctity, of the purest and most ac- 
 tive virtue; not only without spot, but also be- 
 yond the reach of sus{)icion; and it is also well 
 known, that by miracles of the most stupen- 
 dous kind, and not more stupendous than salu- 
 tary and beneficent, he displayed to the uni- 
 verse the truth of that religion which he 
 brougjit with him from above, and demonstrat-. 
 ed in the most illustrious manner the reality of 
 his divine commission. 
 
 V. As this system of religion was to be pro- 
 pagated to the extremities of the eartli, it was 
 necessary that Clirist should choose a certain 
 number of persons to accompany him constant- 
 ly through the whole course of his ministry; 
 that thus they might be faitliful and respecta- 
 ble witnesses of the sanctity of his life, and the 
 grandeur of his miracles, to the remotest na- 
 tions; and also transmit to the latest posterity 
 a genuine account of his sublime doctrines, 
 and of the nature and end of the Gospel dis- 
 pensation. Therefore Jesus chose, out of the 
 multitude that attcn<led his discourses, twelve 
 persons whom he separated from the rest by 
 the name of ^ipostles. These men were illite- 
 rate, poor, and of mean extraction; and such 
 alone were truly proper to answer his views. 
 He avoided making use of the ministry of per- 
 sons endowed with tlic advantages of fortune 
 and birth, or enriched with the treasures of elo- 
 quence and learning, lest the fruits of this em- 
 bassy, and the progress of the Gospel, should 
 be attributed to human and natiu-al causes.* 
 These apostles were sent but once to preach to 
 the Jews during the life of Christ. f He chose 
 to keep them about his own person, that they 
 might be thoroughly instructed in the affairs of 
 his kingdom. That tlie multitude, however, 
 might not be destitute of teachers to enlighten 
 them with the knowledge of the truth, Clirist 
 appointed seventy disciples to preach tlie glad 
 tidings of eternal life throughout the whole 
 province of Judca.J 
 
 VI. The researches of the learned have been 
 employed to find out the reason of Christ's fLx- 
 ing the number of the apostles to twelve, and 
 that of the disciples to seventy; and various 
 conjectures have been applied to the solution 
 of this question. But since it is manifest from 
 his own words,§ that he intended tlie number 
 of the twelve apostles as an allusion to that of 
 the tribes of Israel, it can scarcely be doubted, 
 that he was willing to insinuate by this ap- 
 pointment that he was the supreme lord and 
 high-priest of the twelve tribes into which the 
 
 *lCor. i. 21. fMatt. X. 7. 
 
 5 Matt. xii. 2S. Luke xxii. 30. 
 
 (Lukex. i. 
 
26 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Jewish nation was divided; and, as the num- 
 ber of disciples answers evidently to that of the 
 senators, of whom the council of the people 
 (or the sanhedrim) was composed, there is a 
 high degree of probability in the conjecture of 
 those, who think that Christ, by the choice of 
 the seventy, designed to admonish the Jews 
 that the authority of their sanhedrim was now 
 at an end, and that all power, with respect to 
 religious matters, was vested in him alone. 
 
 VII. The ministry of Jesus was confined to 
 the Jews; nor, while he remained upon earth 
 did he permit his apostles or disciples to ex- 
 tend their labours beyond this distinguished na- 
 tion.* At the same time, if we consider the 
 illustrious acts of mercy and omnipotence that 
 were performed by Christ, it will be natural to 
 conclude that his fame must have been very 
 soon spread abroad in other countries. We 
 learn from writers of no small note, that Ab- 
 gajus, king of Edessa, being seized with a se- 
 verfe and dangerous illness, wrote to our bless- 
 ed Lord to implore his assistance; and that Je- 
 sus not only sent him a gracious answer, but 
 also accompanied it with his picture, as a mark 
 of his esteem for that pious prince. f These 
 letters, it is said, are still extant. But they are 
 justly looked upon as fictitious by most writers, 
 who also go yet farther, and treat the whole 
 story of Abgarus as entirely fabulous, and im- 
 worthy of credit. J I will not pretend to as- 
 sert the genuineness of these letters; but I see 
 no reason of sufficient weight to destroy the 
 credibility of that story which is supposed to 
 have given occasion to them.§ 
 
 VIII. A great number of the Jews, influ- 
 enced by those illustrious marks of a divine 
 authority and power, which shone forth in the 
 ministry and actions of Christ, regarded him as 
 the Son of God, the true Messiah. The rulers 
 of the people, and more especially the chief 
 priests and Pharisees, whose licentiousness and 
 
 * Matt. X. 5, 6; xv. 24. 
 
 f Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. i. xiii. — Jo. Albert Fabric. Co- 
 dex Apocryphus N. T. torn. i. p. 317. 
 
 J See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, vol. i. cap. xviii. — 
 also Theoph. Sigef. Bayerus, Historia Edessena et Osroe- 
 na, lib. iii.— Jos. Simon Assemanus, Biblioth. Oriental. 
 Clement. Vatican, torn. i. 
 
 ^ There is no author who has discussed this question 
 (concerning the authenticity of the letters of Christ and 
 Abgarus, and the truth of the whole story) with such 
 learning and judgment, as the late Mr. Jones, in the se- 
 cond volume of his excellent work, entitled, A New and 
 FuU Method of settling the Canonical Authority of the 
 New Testament. Notwithstanding the opinions of such 
 celebrated names, as Parker, Cave, and Grabe, in favour 
 of these letters, and the history to which they relate, 
 Mr. Jones has offered reasons to prove the whole ficti- 
 tious, which seem unanswerable, independent of the 
 authorities of Rivet, Chemnitius, Walther, Simon, Du- 
 Pin, Wake, Spanheim, Fabricius, and Le Clerc, which 
 lie opposes to the three above mentioned. It is remarka- 
 ble that the story is not mentioned by any writer before 
 Eusebius; that it is little noticed by succeeding authors; 
 that the whole affair was unknown to Christ's apostles, 
 and to the Christians, their contemporaries, as is mani- 
 fest from the early disputes about the method of receiving 
 Gentile converts into the church, which this story, had 
 it been true, must have entirely decided. As to the let- 
 ters, no doubt can be made of their spuriousness, since, 
 jf Christ had written a letter to Abgarus, it would have 
 been a part of sacred Scripture, and would have been 
 placed at the head of all the books of the New Testa- 
 ment. See Lardner's Collection of Ancient Jewish and 
 Heathen Testimonies, vol. i. p. 297, &c. It must be ob- 
 served in behalf of Eusebius, that he relates this story as 
 dravfn from the archives of Edessa. 
 
 hypocrisy he censured with a noble and gene- 
 rous freedom, laboured with success, by the 
 help of their passions, to extinguish in their 
 breasts the conviction of his celestial mission; 
 or at least, to suppress the effects it vi'as adapt- 
 ed to produce upon their conduct. Fearing 
 also that his ministry might tend to diminish 
 their credit, and to deprive them of the advan- 
 tages they derived from the impious abuse of 
 their authority iai religious matters, they laid 
 snares for his life, which, for a considerable 
 time, were without effect. They succeeded, 
 at length, by the infernal treason of an apos- 
 tate disciple, by the treachery of Judas, who 
 discovering the retreat which his divine master 
 had chosen for the purposes of meditation and 
 repose, delivered him into the merciless hands 
 of a brutal soldiery. 
 
 IX. In consequence of this, Jesus was pro- 
 duced as a criminal before the Jewish high- 
 priest and sanhedrim, being accused of having 
 violated the law, and blasphemed the majesty 
 of God. Dragged thence to the tribunal of 
 Pilate the Roman praetor, he was charged witi\ 
 seditious enterprises, and with treason against 
 Caesar. Both these accusations were so evi- 
 dently false, and destitute even of every ap- 
 pearance of truth, that they must have been 
 rejected by any judge, who acted upon the prin- 
 ciples of common equity. But the clamours 
 of an enraged populace, inflamed by the impi- 
 ous instigations of their priests and rulers, in- 
 timidated Pilate, and engaged him, though 
 with the utmost reluctance, and in opposition 
 to the dictates of his conscience, to pronounce 
 a capital sentence against Christ. The Re- 
 deemer of mankind behaved with inexpressi- 
 ble dignity under this heavy trial. As the end 
 of his mission was to make expiation for the 
 sins of men, so when all things were ready, 
 and when he had finished the work of his glo- 
 rious ministry, he placidly submitted to the 
 death of the cross, and, with a serene and vo- 
 hmtary resignation, committed his spirit into 
 the hands of the Father. 
 
 X. After Jesus had remained three days in 
 the sepulchre, he resumed that life which he 
 had volimtarily laid down; and, rising from the 
 dead, declared to the universe, by that trium- 
 phant act, that the divine justice was satisfied, 
 and the paths of salvation and immortality 
 were rendered accessible to the hiunan race. 
 He conversed with his disciples during forty 
 days after his resurrection, and employed that 
 time in instructing- them more fully with regard 
 to the nature of liis kingdom. Many wise and 
 important reasons prevented his showing him- 
 self publicly at Jerusalem, to confoimd the ma- 
 lignity and unbelief of his enemies. He con- 
 tented himself with manifesting the certainty 
 of his glorious resurrection to a sufficient num- 
 ber of faithful and credible witnesses, being 
 aware that, if he should appear in public, those 
 malicious unbelievers, who had formerly attri- 
 buted his miracles to the power of magic, would 
 represent his resurrection as a phantom, or vi- 
 sion, produced by the influence of infernal 
 powers. After having remained upon earth 
 during the space of time above mentioned, and 
 given to his disciples a divine conmiission to 
 preach the glad tidings of salvation and im 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 27 
 
 mortality to the human race, he ascended into 
 heaven, in their presence, and resumed tlie en- 
 joyment of that glory which he liad posses.sed 
 before the worlds were created. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the prosperoii,s Events that luippcned 
 to the Church during this Centw-y. 
 
 I. Jesus, having ascended into heaven, soon 
 showed the afflicted disciples, that, tliough in- 
 visible to mortal e3'es, he was still their om- 
 nipotent protector, and their benevolent guide. 
 About fifty days after his departure from them 
 he gave them the first proof of that majesty 
 and power to which he was exalted, by the ef- 
 fusion of the Holy Ghost upon them according 
 to his promise.* The consequences of this 
 grand event were surprising and gloriovis, in- 
 finitely honourable to the Cluistian religion, 
 and the divine mi.ssion of its triumphant au- 
 thor. For no sooner had the apostles received 
 this precious gift, this celestial guide, than 
 their ignorance was turned into light, their 
 doubts into certainty, tlieir fears into a firm 
 and invincible fortitude, and their former back- 
 wardness into an ardent and inextinguishable 
 zeal, which led them to undertake their sacred 
 office with the utmost intrepidity and alacrity 
 of mind. This marvellous event was attended 
 with a variety of gifts; particularly the gift of 
 tongues, so indispensably necessary to qualify 
 the apostles to preach the Gospel to tlie dif- 
 ferent nations. These holy apostles were also 
 filled with a perfect persuasion, founded on 
 Ciirist's express promise, that the Divine pre- 
 sence would perpetually accompany them, and 
 show itself by miraculous interpositions, as of- 
 ten as the state of tlieir ministry should ren- 
 der this necessary. 
 
 II. Relying upon these celestial succours, the 
 apostles began their glorious ministry, by 
 preaching the Gospel, according to Christ's 
 positive command, first to the Jews, and by 
 endeavouring to bring that deluded people to 
 the knowledge of the truth. f Nor were their 
 labours unsuccessful, since, in a very short time, 
 many thousands.were converted, by the influ- 
 ence of their ministry, to the Christian faith. J; 
 From the Jews, they passed to the Samaritans, 
 to whom they preached with such ofiicacy, that 
 great numbers of that nation acknowledged 
 the Messiah. § And, when they liad exercised 
 their ministry, during several years, at Jerusa- 
 lem, and brought to a sufficient degree of con- 
 sistence and maturity tlie Cliristian churches 
 which were founded in Palestine and the adja- 
 cent countries, they extended tlieir views, car- 
 ried the divine lamp of the Gospel to all the 
 nations of the world, and saw their labours 
 crowned almost every where, with the most 
 abundant fniits. 
 
 III. No sooner was Christ exalted in the 
 heavens, than the apostles determined to ren- 
 der their number complete, as it had been fixed 
 by their divine Master, and accordingly to 
 choose in the place of Judas, who had dcspe- 
 
 * Acu ii. 1, &c. 
 
 f Luke xxiv. 47. Acts i. 8; xiii. 46. 
 
 t AcU ii. 41; ir. 4. ^ AcU i. 8; riii. 14. 
 
 rately perished by his own liands, a man en- 
 dowed witli such degrees of sanctity and wis- 
 dom, as were necessary in a station of such 
 high importance. When therefore they had 
 assembled the Christians who were then at 
 Jerusalem, two men remarkable for their piety 
 and faith, were proposed as the most worthy 
 to stand candidates for this sacred office. 
 These men were Matthias and Barnabas, the 
 former of whom was, either by lot, (which is 
 the most general opinion,) or by a plurality of 
 voices of the assembly there present, chosen 
 to the dignity of an apostle.* 
 
 IV. All these apostles were men without 
 education, and absolutely ignorant of letters 
 and philosophy; and yet in the infancy of the 
 Christian church, it was necessary that there 
 sliould be at least, some one defender of the 
 Gospel, who, versed in the learned arts, might 
 be able to combat tlie Jewish doctors and the 
 pagan philosophers with their own arms. For 
 this purpose, Jesus himself, by an extraordinary 
 voice from heaven, called to his service a 
 thirteenth apostle, wiibse name was Saul (af- 
 terwards Paul,) and whose acquaintance both 
 with Jewish and Grecian learning was very 
 considerable.! This extraordinary man, who 
 had been one of the most virulent enemies of 
 the Christians, became their most glorious 
 and triumpliant defender. Independently of 
 the miraculous gifts with which he was en- 
 riched, he possessed an invincible courage, an 
 amazing force of genius, and a spirit of pa- 
 tience, which no fatigue could overcome, and 
 which no sufferings or trials could exhaust. 
 To these the cause of the Gospel, under the 
 divine appointment, owed a considerable part 
 of its rapid progress and surprising success, as 
 the acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles of St. 
 Paul, abundantly testify. 
 
 V. The first Christian church, founded by 
 tlie apostles, was that of Jerusalem, the minlel 
 of all those which were afterwards erected 
 during the first century. This church was, 
 indeed, governed by the apostles themselves, 
 to whom both the elders, and those who were 
 entrusted with the care of the poor, even the 
 deacons, were subject. The people, though 
 they had not abandoned the Jewish worship, 
 held, however, separate assemblies, in which 
 they were instructed by the apostles and elders, 
 prayed together, celebrated the holy Supper in 
 remembrance of Christ, of his death and suf- 
 ferings, and the salvation offered to mankind 
 through him; and at the conclusion of these 
 meetings, they testified their mutual love, 
 partly by their liberality to the poor, and partly 
 by sober and friendly repasts,], which thence 
 were called feasts of charity. Among the 
 virtues which distinguished the rising church 
 in this its infancy, that of charity to the poor 
 and needy shone in the first rank, and with 
 the brightest lustre. The rich supplied tlio 
 wants of their indigent brethren with such 
 liberality and readiness, that, as St. Luke telL? 
 us, among the primitive disciples of Christ, all 
 things were in common.^ This expression has, 
 however, been greatly abused, and has been 
 
 * Acts i. 26. 
 t Actij ii. 42. 
 
 \ Acts ix. 1. 
 
 ^ Act» ii. 44; iv. ."H. 
 
28 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part. 1 
 
 made to signify a community of rights, goods, 
 or possessions, than wliicli interpretation nothing 
 is more groundless or more false; for, from a 
 multitude of reasons, as well as from the ex- 
 press words of St. Peter,* it is abundantly 
 manifest that the community, which is im- 
 plied in mutual xise and mutual liberality, is 
 the only thing intended in this passage. i 
 
 VI. The apostles, having finished their work 
 at Jerusalem, went to diffuse their labours 
 among other nations, visi^d with that intent a 
 great part of the known world, and in a short 
 time planted a vast number of churches among 
 the Gentiles. Several of these are mentioned 
 in the sacred writings, particularly in the Acts 
 of the Jipostles;\ though these are, midoubtedly, 
 only a small part of the churches which were 
 founded, either by the apostles themselves, or 
 by their disciples under their immediate direc- 
 tion. The distance of time, and the want of 
 records, leave us at a loss with respect to many 
 interesting circumstances of the peregrinations 
 of the apostles; nor have we any certain or 
 precise accounts of the limits of their voyages, 
 of the particular countries where they so- 
 journed, or of the times and places in which 
 they finished their glorious course. The stories 
 that are told concerning their arrival and ex- 
 ploits among the Gauls, Britons, Spaniards, 
 Germans, Americans, Chinese, Indians, and 
 Russians, are too romantic in their nature, and 
 of too recent a date, to be received by an im- 
 partial inquirer after truth. The greatest 
 part of these fables were forged after the time 
 of Charlemagne, when most of the Christian 
 churches contended about the antiquity of their 
 origin with as much vehemence as the Arcadi- 
 ans, Egyptians, Greeks, and other nations, dis- 
 puted formerly about their seniority and pre- 
 cedence. 
 
 VII. At the same time, the beauty and ex- 
 cellence of the Cliristian religion excited the 
 admiration of the reflecting part of mankind, 
 wherevej the apostles directed their course. 
 Many, who were not willing to adopt the 
 whole of its doctrines, were, nevertheless, as 
 appears from undoubted records, so struck with 
 the accoimt of Christ's life and actions, and so 
 charmed with the sublime purity of his pre- 
 cepts, that they ranked him in the number of 
 the greatest heroes, or even among the gods 
 themselves. Great numbers kept with the ut- 
 most care, in their houses, pictures or images 
 of the divine Redeemer and his apostles, 
 which they treated with the highest marks of 
 veneration and respect. § And so illustrious 
 was the fame of his power after his resurrec- 
 tion, and of the miraculous gifts shed upon 
 
 * Acts V. 4. 
 
 f This is proved with the strongest evidence by Dr. 
 Mosheim, in a dissertation concerning the true nature of 
 that community of goods, which is said to have taken 
 place in the church of Jerusalem. This learned dis- 
 course is to be found in the second volume of our author's 
 incomparable work, entitled, Dissertationes ad Historiam 
 Ecclesiasticam pertinentes. 
 
 I The names of the churches planted by the apostles 
 in different countries, are specified in a work of Phil. 
 James Hartman,de rebus gestis Christianorum sub Apos- 
 tolis, cap. vii. and also in that of F. Albert Fabricius, en- 
 titled, Lux Evangelii toti orbi exoriens, cap. v. 
 
 § This is particularly mentioned by Eusebius, Hist. 
 JJscl. lit, vii, cap. xviii. and by Irenaeus lib i. c, xxv. 
 
 his apostles, that the emperor Tiberius is said 
 to have proposed his being enrolled among the 
 gods of Rome, which the opposition of the 
 senate prevented from taking effect. Many 
 have doubted of the truth of this story: there 
 are, however, several authors of the first note 
 who have declared, that the reasons alleged 
 for its truth are such as have removed their 
 doubts, and appeared to them satisfactory and 
 conclusive.* 
 
 VIII. When we consider the rapid progress 
 of Christianity among the Gentile nations, 
 and the poor and feeble instrmnents by which 
 this great and amazing event was inmiediately 
 effected, we must naturally have recourse to 
 an omnipotent and invisible hand, as its true 
 and proper cause. For, unless we suppose 
 here a divine interposition, how was it possible 
 that men, destitute of all human aid, without 
 credit or riches, learning or eloquence, could, 
 in so short a time, persuade a considerable part 
 of mankind to abandon the religion of their 
 ancestors? How was it possible, that a hand- 
 ful of apostles, who, as fishermen and publi- 
 cans, must have been contemned by their own 
 nation, and as Jews, must have been odious to 
 all others, could engage the learned and the 
 mighty, as well as the simple and those of 
 low degree, to forsake their favourite preju- 
 dices, and to embrace a new religion which 
 was an enemy to their corrupt passions ? And, 
 indeed, there were undoubted marks of a ce- 
 lestial power perpetually attending their mi- 
 nistry. Their very language possessed an in- 
 credible energy, an amazing power of sending 
 light into tlie understanding and conviction 
 into the heart. To this were added, the com- 
 manding influence of stupenduous miracles, 
 tlia foretelling of future events, the power of 
 discerning the secret thoughts and intentions 
 of the heart, a magnanimity superior to all 
 difficulties, a contempt of riches and honours, 
 a serene tranquillity in the face of death, and 
 an invincible patience imder torments still 
 more dreadful than death itself; and all this 
 accompanied with lives free from stain, and 
 adorned with the constant practice of sublime 
 
 * See Thcod. Hasaeus, de decreto Tiberii, quo Chris- 
 tum referre voluit in numerum Deorum; as also a very 
 learned letter, written in defence of the truth of this 
 fact, by the celebrated Christopher lelius, and published 
 in the Bibliotheque Germanique, torn, xxxii. [We may 
 add to this note of Dr. Mosheim, that tlie late learned 
 professor Altmann published at Bern, in 1755, an ingeni- 
 ous pamphlet on this subject, entitled, Disquisito Histori- 
 co-critjca de Epistola Pontii Pilati ad Tiberium, qua 
 Christi Miracula, Mors, et Resurrectio, recensebantur. 
 This author makes it appear, that though the letter, 
 which some have attributed to Pilate, and which is extant 
 in several authors, be manifestly spurious, yet it is no 
 less certain, that Pilate sent to Tiberius an account of the 
 death and resurrection of Christ. See the Biblioth. des 
 Sciences et des beaux Arts, published at the Hague, tome 
 vi. This matter has been examined with his usual dili- 
 gence and accuracy by the learned Dr. Lardner, in the 
 third volume of his Collection of Jewish and Heathen 
 Testimonies to the truth of the Christian Religion. He 
 thinks that the testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertul- 
 lian, who, in apologies for Christianity, presented or at 
 least addressed to the emperor and senate of Rome, or 
 to magistrates of high authority in the empire, af5rm, 
 that Pilate sent to Tiberius an account of the death and 
 resurrection of Christ, deserve some regard; though 
 some writers, and particularly Orosius, have made such 
 alterations and additions in the original narration of Ter- 
 tullian, as tend to diminish the credibility of the whole. J 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 29 
 
 virtue. Thus were the messengers of Christ, 
 the heralds of his spiritual and immortal king- 
 dom, furnished for their glorious work, as the 
 vuianimous voice of ancient liistory so loudly 
 testifies. The event sufficiently declares tliis; 
 for, without these remarkable and extraordi- 
 nary circumstances no rational account can be 
 given of the rapid propagation of the Gospel 
 throughout the world. 
 
 IX. What indeed contributed still farther to 
 this glorious event, was the power vested in 
 the apostles of transmitting to their discij)les 
 these miraculous gifts; for many of the first 
 Christians were no sooner baptized according 
 to Christ's appointment, and dedicated to the 
 service of God by solemn prayer and the im- 
 position of hands, than they spoke languages 
 which they had never known or learned before, 
 foretold future events, healed the sick by pro- 
 nouncing the name of Jesus, restored the dead 
 to life, and performed many things above the 
 reach of hmnan power.* And it is no wonder 
 if men, who had the power of communicating 
 to others these marvellous gifts, appeared great 
 and respectable, wherever they exercised their 
 glorious ministry. 
 
 X. Such then were the true causes of that 
 amazing rapidity with which the Christian re- 
 ligion spread itself upon the earth; and those 
 who pretend to assign other reasons of this 
 surprising event, indulge themselves in idle 
 fictions, which must disgust every attentive 
 observer of men and things. In vain, there- 
 fore, have some imagined, that the extraordi- 
 nary liberality of the Christians to their poor, 
 was a temptation to the more indolent and 
 corrupt part of the multitude to embrace the 
 Gospel. Such malignant and superficial rea- 
 soners do not consider, that those who em- 
 braced this divine religion exposed their lives 
 to great danger; nor have they attention 
 enough to recollect, that neither lazy nor vi- 
 cious members were suffered to remain in the 
 society of Christians. Equally vain is the 
 fancy of those, who imagine, that the profli- 
 gate lives of the Heathen priests occasioned 
 the conversion of many to Christianity; for, 
 though this might indeed give them a disgust 
 to the religion of those unworthy ministers, 
 yet it could not, alone, attach them to that of 
 Jesus, which offered them from the world no 
 other prospects than those of poverty, infamy, 
 and death. The person who could embrace 
 the Gospel, solely from the motive now men- 
 tioned, must have reasoned in this senseless and 
 extravagant manner: " The ministers of that 
 religion which I have professed from my in- 
 fancy, lead profligate lives: therefore, I will 
 become a Christian, join myself to that body 
 of men who are condemned by the laws of 
 the state, and thus expose my life and fortune 
 to the most imniinent danger." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Concerning the Calamitous Extents that happened 
 to the Church. 
 I. The innocence and virtue that dis- 
 tinguished so eminently the lives of Christ's 
 
 * See Pfanner's learned treatise, De Cbarismatibus 
 sive Donis miracuJosis antiquse Ecclesix, published at 
 prancfort, 1683. 
 
 servants, and the spotless purity of the doc- 
 trine they taught, were not sufficient to defend 
 them against tlie virulence and malignity of 
 the Jews. The priests and rulers of tliat 
 abandoned peo])Ic, not only loaded with inju- 
 ries and reproaches the apostles of Jesus, and 
 their disciples, but condemned as many of 
 them as tiiey could to death, and executed in 
 the most irregular and barbarous manner their 
 sanguinary decrees. The murder of Stephen, 
 of James tlie son of Zebedee, and of James, 
 surnamed the Just, bishop of Jerusalem, fur- 
 nish dreadful examples of the truth of what 
 we here advance.* This odious malignity of 
 the Jewish doctors, against tlie heralds of the 
 Gospel, undoubtedly originated in a secret ap- 
 prehension that the progress of Christianity 
 would destroy the credit of Judaism, and lead 
 to the abolition of tlieir pompous ceremonies. 
 
 II. The Jews who lived out of Palestine, 
 in the Roman provinces, did not yield to those 
 of Jerusalem in point of cruelty to the inno- 
 cent disciples of Christ. We learn from the 
 history of the Acts of the Apostles, and other 
 records of unquestionable authority, that they 
 spared no labour, but zealously seized every 
 occasion of animating the magistrates against 
 the Christians, and instigating the multitude 
 to demand their destruction. The high priest 
 of the nation, and the Jews who dwelt in 
 Palestine, were instrumental in exciting the 
 rage of these foreign Jews against the infant 
 church, by sending messengers to exhort them, 
 not only to avoid all intercourse with the 
 Christians, but also to persecute them in the 
 most vehement manner. f For this inhuman 
 order, they endeavoured to find out the most 
 plausible pretexts; and, therefore, they gave 
 out, that the Christians were enemies to the 
 Roman emperor, since they acknowledged the 
 authority of a certain person whose name was 
 Jesus, whom Pilate had punished capitally as 
 a malefactor by a most righteous sentence, and 
 on whom, nevertheless, they conferred the 
 royal dignity. These perfidious insinuatioru? 
 had the intended effect, and the rage of the 
 Jews against the Christians was conveyed 
 from father to son, from age to age; so that 
 the church of Christ had, in no period, more 
 bitter and desperate enemies than the very 
 people, to whom the immortal Saviour was 
 more especially sent. 
 
 III. The Supreme Judge of the world did 
 not suffer the barbarous conduct of this perfi- 
 dious nation to go unpunished. The most sig- 
 nal marks of divine justice pursued them; and 
 the cruelties which they had exercised upon 
 Christ and his disciples, were dreadfully aveng- 
 ed. The God, who had for so many ages pro- 
 tected the Jews with an outstretched arm, 
 withdrew his aid. He permitted Jerusalem, 
 with its famous temple, to be destroyed by Ves- 
 pasian and his son Titus, an innumerable mul- 
 titude of this devoted people to perish by the 
 
 * Tbe martyrdom of Stephen is recorded in the acts of 
 the Apostles, vii. 55; and that of James the son of Zebe- 
 dee, Acts xii. 1, 9; that of James the Just is mentioned 
 by Joscphus iu his Jewish Antiquities, book \x. chap. viii. 
 and by Eusebius, in his Ecclcs. History, book ii. chap, 
 xxiii. 
 
 \ Sec the Dialogue of Justin Martyr, with Trypho 
 the Jew. 
 
30 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 sword, and the greatest part of those that re- 
 mained to groan under the yoke of a severe 
 bondage. Nothing can be more affecting than 
 the account of this terrible event, and the cir- 
 cumstantial description of the tremendous ca- 
 lamities which attended it, as they are given by 
 Josephus, himself a Jew, and also a spectator 
 of this horrid scene. From this period the 
 Jews experienced, in every place, the hatred 
 and contempt of the Gentile nations, still more 
 than they had formerly done; and in these 
 their calamities, the predictions of Christ were 
 amply fulfilled, and his divine mission farther 
 illustrated. 
 
 IV. However virulent the Jews were against 
 the Christians, yet, on many occasions, they 
 wanted power to execute their cruel purposes. 
 This was not the case with the heathen na- 
 tions; and, therefore, from them the Christians 
 suffered the severest calamities. The Romans 
 are said to have pursued the Christians with 
 the utmost violence in ten persecutions;* but 
 this number is not verified by the ancient his- 
 tory of the church; for if, by these persecutions, 
 such only are meant as were extremely severe 
 and universal throughout the empire, then it is 
 certain, that these amount not to the number 
 above mentioned; and, if we take the provin- 
 cial and less remarkable persecutions into the 
 account, they far exceed it. In the fifth cen- 
 tury, certain Christians were led by some pas- 
 sages of the Scriptures, and by one especially 
 in the Revelations,! to imagine that the church 
 was to suffer ten calamities of a most grievous 
 nature. To this notion, therefore, they en- 
 deavoured, though not all in the same way, to 
 accommodate the language of history, even 
 against the testimony of those ancient records, 
 from which alone liistory can speak with au- 
 thority.j: 
 
 V. Nero was the first emperor who enacted 
 laws against the Christians. In this he was 
 followed by Domitian, Marcus Antoninus the 
 philosopher, Severus, and the other emperors 
 who indulged the prejudices they had imbibed 
 against the disciples of Jesus. All the edicts 
 of these different princes were not, however, 
 equally unjust, nor framed with the same views, 
 or for the same reasons. Were they now ex- 
 tant as they were collected by the celebrated 
 lawyer Domitius, in his book concerning the 
 duty of a proconsul, they would undoubtedly 
 cast a great light upon the history of the 
 church, under the persecuting emperors. § At 
 present, we must, in many cases, be satisfied 
 with probable conjectures, for want of certain, 
 evidence. 
 
 VI. Before we proceed in this part of our 
 history, a very natural curiosity calls us to in- 
 
 * The learned J. Albert Fabricius has given us a list of 
 the authors who have written concerniDg these persecu- 
 tions, in his Lux Evangelii toti Orbi exoriens, cap. vii. 
 
 f Rev. xvii. 14. 
 
 t See Sulpitius Severus, book ii. ch. xxxiii. as also Au- 
 gustin, de Civitate Dei, book xviii. ch. lii. 
 
 § The collection of the imperial edicts against the 
 Christians, made by Domitius, and now lost, is mentioned 
 by Lactantius, in his Divine Institutes, book v. chap. xi. 
 Such of these edicts as have escaped the ruins of time, are 
 learnedly illustrated by Franc. Balduinus, in his Com- 
 ment, ad Edicta veterum Frincipum Romanorum de 
 Cbriitianis. 
 
 quire, how it happened that the Romans, who 
 were troublesome to no nation on account of 
 its religion, and who suffered even the Jews to 
 live under their own laws, and follow their own 
 method of worship, treated the Christians alone 
 with such severity. This important question 
 seems still more difficult to be solved, when we 
 consider, that the excellent nature of the Chris- 
 tian religion, and its admirable tendency to pro- 
 mote both the public welfare of the state, and 
 the private felicity of the individual, entitled 
 it, in a singular manner, to the favour and pro- 
 tection of the reigning powers. A principal 
 reason of the severity with which the Romans 
 persecuted the Christians, notwithstanding 
 these considerations, seems to have been the 
 abhorrence and contempt felt by the latter for 
 the religion of the empire, which was so inti- 
 mately comiected with the form, and indeed, 
 : with the very essence of its political consti- 
 I tution; for, though the Romans gave an un- 
 limited toleration to all religions which had 
 nothing in their tenets dangerous to the com- 
 monwealth, yet they would not permit that of 
 their ancestors, which was established by the 
 laws of the state, to be turned into derision, 
 nor the people to be drawn away from their at- 
 tachment to it. These, however, were the two 
 things wliich the Christians were charged with, 
 and that justly, though to their honour. They 
 dared to ridicule the absurdities of the pagan 
 superstition, and they were ardent and assidu- 
 ous in gaining proselytes to the truth. Nor 
 did they only attack the religion of Rome, but 
 also all the different shapes and forms under 
 ; which superstition appeared in the various 
 countries where they exercised their ministry. 
 Hence the Romans concluded, that the Chris- 
 tian sect was not only insupportably daring 
 and arrogant, but, moreover, an enemy to the 
 public tranquillity, and ever ready to excite 
 civil wars and commotions in the empire. It 
 is probably on this accoimt, that Tacitus re- 
 proaches them with the odious character of 
 haters of mankind,* and styles the religion of 
 Jesus a destructive superstition; and that Sueto- 
 nius speaks of the Christians, and their doc- 
 trine, in terms of the same kind.f 
 
 VII. Another circumstance that irritated the 
 Romans against the Christians, was the simpli- 
 city of their worship, which resembled in no- 
 thing the sacred rites of any other people. 
 They had no sacrifices, temples, images, ora- 
 cles, or sacerdotal orders; and this was suffi- 
 cient to bring upon them the reproaches of an 
 ignorant multitude, who imagined that there 
 could be no religion without these. Thus they 
 were looked upon as a sort of atheists; and, by 
 the Roman laws, those who were chargeable 
 with atheism were declared the pests of human 
 society. But this was not all: the sordid in- 
 
 * Annal. lib. xv. cap. xliv, 
 
 f In Nerone, cap. xvi. These odious epithets, which 
 Tacitus gives to the Christians and their religion, as like- 
 wise the language of Suetonius, who calls Christianity a 
 poisonous or malignant superstition (malcfica supersti- 
 tio,) are founded upon the same reasons. A sect, which 
 could not endure, and even laboured to abolish, the reli- 
 gious practices of the Romans, and also those of all the 
 other nations of the universe, appeared to the short-sight- 
 ed and superficial observers of religious matters, as the 
 determined enemies of mankind. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 31 
 
 terests of a multitude of lazy and selfish priests 
 were immediately connected with the ruin and 
 oppression of the Christian cause. Tlie public 
 worship of such an immense number of deities 
 was a source of subsistence, and even of riches, 
 to the whole rabble of priests and augurs, and 
 also to a multitude of merchants and artists. 
 And, as the progress of the gospel tlireatencd 
 the ruin of that religious traffic, this consider- 
 ation raised up new enemies to the Christians, 
 and armed the rage of mercenary superstition 
 against their lives and tlieir cause.* 
 
 VIII. To accomplish more speedily the ruin 
 of the Christians, all those persons whose in- 
 terests were incompatible with the progress of 
 the gospel, loaded them with the most oppro- 
 brious calumnies, which were too easily re- 
 ceived as truth, by the credulous and unthinfc 
 ing multitude, among whom they were dis- 
 persed'with the utmost industry. We find a 
 sufficient account of these perfidious and ill- 
 grounded reproaches in the writings of the first 
 defenders of the Christian cause. | And these, 
 indeed, were the only arms the assailants had 
 to oppose the truth, since the excellence of the 
 Gospel, and the virtue of its ministers and fol- 
 lowers, left to its enemies no resources but ca- 
 lumny and persecution. Nothing can be ima- 
 gined, in point of virulence and fury, that they 
 did not employ for the ruin of the Christians. 
 They even went so far as to persuade the mul- 
 titude, that all the calamities, wars, tempests, 
 and diseases that afflicted mankind, were judg- 
 ments sent down by the angry gods, because 
 the Christians, who contemned their authority, 
 were suffered in the empire. J 
 
 IX. The various kinds of punishment, both 
 capital and corrective, which were employed 
 against the Christians, are particularly describ- 
 ed by learned men who have written profess- 
 edly on that subject. § The forms of proceed- 
 ing, used in their condemnation, may be seen 
 in the Jlds of the Martyrs, in the letters of 
 Pliny and Trajan, and other ancient monu- 
 ments. || These judicial forms were very dif- 
 ferent at different times, and changed, natu- 
 rally, according to the mildness or severity of 
 the laws enacted by the different emperors 
 against the Christians. Thus, at one time, we 
 observe appearances-of the most diligent search 
 after the followers of Christ; at another, we 
 find all perquisition suspended, and positive ac- 
 cusation and information only allowed. Under 
 one reign we see them, on their being proved 
 Chnstians, or their confessing themselves such, 
 immediately dragged away to execution, miless 
 
 * This observation is verified by the story of Demetrius 
 Ihe silversmith, Acta xix. 25, and by the following pas- 
 sage in the 97th letter of the xth book of Pliny's epistles; 
 " The temples, which were almost deserted, begin to be 
 frequented again; and the sacred rites, which have been 
 long neglected, are again performed. The victims, which 
 have had hitherto /ei«/)urc/iasers, begin to come again to 
 the market," &c. 
 
 f See the laborious work of Christ. Kortholt, entitled, 
 Paganus Obtrectator, seu de Calumniis Gentilium in 
 Christianos; to which may be added, Jo. Jac. Hnldricus, 
 de Calumniis Gentilium in Christianos, published at Zu- 
 rich in 1744. 
 
 } Sec Arnobius contra Gentes. 
 
 II See for this purpose Ant. Gallonius and Gasp. Sagit- 
 tarius, de Cruciatibus Martyrum. 
 
 (j See Bohmer, Juris Eccles, Protestant, torn. iv. lit. v. 
 Decretal, tit. 1. sec. 32. 
 
 they prevent their punishment by apostacy; 
 under another, \vc see inhuman magistrates 
 endeavouring to compel them, by all sorts of 
 tortures, to renounce ihcir religious profession. 
 X. All who, in the perilous times of the 
 church, fell by the hand of bloody persecution, 
 and expired in the cause of the divine Saviour, 
 were called martyrs; a term borrowed from the 
 sacred writings, signifying icitnesses, and thus 
 expressing the glorious testimony wjiicli these 
 magnanimous believers bore to the truth. The 
 title of confessor was given to such, as, in the 
 face of death, and at the expense of honours, 
 fortune, and all the other advantages of the 
 world, had confessed with fortitude, before the 
 Roman tribunals, their firm attachment to the 
 religion of Jesus. Great was the veneration 
 that was paid both to martyrs and confessors; 
 and there was, no doubt, as much wisdom as 
 justice in treating with profound respect these 
 Christian heroes, since nothing was more adapt- 
 ed to encourage otiiers to suffer with cheerful- 
 ness in the cause of Christ. But, as the best 
 and wisest institutions are generally perverted, 
 by the weakness or corruption of men, from 
 their original purposes, so the authority and 
 privileges granted, in the beginning, to mar- 
 tyrs and confessors, became in process of time, 
 a support to superstition, an incentive to en- 
 thusiasm, and a source of innumerable evils 
 and abuses. 
 
 XI. The first three orfouragesof thechurcb 
 were stained with the blood of martjTS, who 
 suffered for the name of Jesus. The greatness 
 of their num.ber is acknowledged by all who 
 have a competent acquaintance with ancient 
 history, and who have examined that matter 
 with any degree of impartiality. It is true^ 
 the learned Dodwell has endeavoured to inva- 
 lidate this unanimous decision of the ancient 
 historians,* and to diminish considerably the 
 number of those who suffered death for the 
 gospel; and, after him, several writers have 
 maintained his opinion, and a.sserted, that 
 whatever may have been the calamities which 
 the Christians, in general, suffered for their 
 attachment to the Gospel, very few were put 
 to death on that account. This hypothesis 
 has been warmly opposed, as derogating from 
 that divine power which enabled Christians to 
 be faithful even unto death, and a contrary one 
 embraced, which augments prodigiously the 
 nimiber of these heroic sufferers. It will be 
 wise to avoid both these extremes, and to hold' 
 the middle path, wliich certainly leads nearest 
 to the truth. The martyrs were less in num- 
 ber than several of the ancient modern writers 
 have supposed them to be, but much more nu- 
 merous than Dodwell and his followers are 
 willing to believe; and this medium will be 
 easily admitted by such as have learned from 
 the ancient writers, that, in the darkest and 
 most calamitous times of the church, all Chris- 
 tians were not equally or promiscuously dis- 
 turbed, or called before the public tribunals. 
 Those who were of the lowest rank of the peo- 
 ple, escaped the best; their obscurity, in some 
 measure, screened them from the fury of per- 
 
 •See Dodwell's Dissertation, de Paucitate Martyrum^ 
 in his DissertatiouesCyprianic3e. 
 
32 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Paut I. 
 
 Becution. Tlie learned and eloquent, the doc- 
 tors and ministers, and chiefly the rich, for the 
 confiscation of whose fortunes tlie rapacious 
 magistrates were perpetually gaping, were the 
 persons most exposed to the dangers of tlie 
 times. 
 
 XII. The actions and sayings of these holy 
 martyrs, from the moment of tlieir imprison- 
 ment to tlieir last gasp, were carefully recorded, 
 in order to be read on certain days, and thus 
 proposed as models to future ages. Few, 
 however, of these ancient acts have reached 
 our times;* the greatest part of them having 
 been destroyed during that dreadful persecu- 
 tion which Diocletian carried on ten years 
 witli such fury against the Christians: for a 
 most diligent search was then made after all 
 their books and papers; and all of them that 
 were found were committed to the flames. 
 From the eighth century downwards, several 
 Greek and Latin writers endeavoured to make 
 up this loss, by compiling, with vast labour, 
 accounts of the lives and actions of the an- 
 cient martyrs. But most of them have given 
 us scarcely any thing more than a series of 
 fables, adorned with a profusion of rhetorical 
 flowers and striking images, as the wiser, even 
 among the Romisli doctors, frankly acknow- 
 ledge. Nor are those records, which pass mi- 
 der the name of martyi'ology, worthy of supe- 
 rior credit, since tliey bear the most evident 
 marks both of ignorance and falsehood; so 
 that, upon the whole, this part of ecclesiastical 
 liistory, for want of ancient and authentic 
 monuments, is extremely imperfect, and neces- 
 sarily attended with much obscurity. 
 
 XIII. It would have been surprising, if, un- 
 der such a monster of cruelty as Nero, the 
 Christians had enjoyed the sweets of tranquil- 
 lity and freedom. This, indeed, was far from 
 being the case; for the perfidious tyrant ac- 
 cused them of having set fire to the city of 
 Rome, that horrid crime which he himself had 
 committed vs^ith a barbarous pleasure. In 
 avenging this crime upon the innocent Chris- 
 tians, he ordered matters so, that the punish- 
 }nent should bear some resemblance to the 
 offence. He therefore wrapped up some of 
 them in combustible garments, and ordered 
 fire to be set to them when the darkness came 
 on, that thus, like torches, they might dispel 
 the obscurity of the night: while others were 
 fastened to crosses, or torn to pieces by wild 
 beasts, or put to death in some such dreadful 
 manner. This horrid persecution was set on 
 foot in the month of November,! in the 64th 
 year of Christ: and in it, according to some 
 ancient accounts, St. Paul and St. Peter suf- 
 fered martyrdom, tliough the latter assertion is 
 contested by many, as being absolutely irrecon- 
 
 * .Such of those acts as are worthy of credit have been 
 collected by the learned Ruiiiart, into one volume in 
 folio, of a moderate size, entitled, Selectaet sincera Mar- 
 tyrum Acta, Amstelod. 1713. The hypothesis of Dod- 
 well is amply refuted in tlie author's preface. 
 
 f See for a farther illustration of this point of chrono- 
 logy, two French Dissertations of the very learned Al- 
 phouse de Vignoles, concerning the cause and the com- 
 mencement of the persecution under Nero, which are 
 printed in Massou's llislcire critique de la Republique 
 des Lcttres, torn. viii. p. 74 — 117; torn. ix. p. 172 — 186. 
 See also Toiuard ad Lactantium de Mortibus Persenuut 
 p. 398. 
 
 cilable with chronology.* The death of Nero, 
 who perished miserably in the year 68, put an 
 end to the calamities of tliis first persecution, 
 under which, dtu'ing the space of four years, the 
 Christians suffered every sort of torment and 
 affliction, which the ingenious cruelty of their 
 enemies could invent. 
 
 XIV. Learned men are not entirely agreed 
 with regard to the extent of this persecution 
 under Nero. Some confine it to the city of 
 Rome, while others represent it as having 
 raged through the whole empire. The latter 
 opinion, which is also the more ancient, f is 
 undoubtedly to be preferred, as it is certain, 
 that the laws enacted against the Christians 
 were enacted against the whole body, and not 
 against particular churches, and were conse- 
 quently in force in the remotest provinces. 
 The authority of Tertullian confirms this,, 
 who tells us, that Nero and Domitian had en- 
 acted laws against the Christians, of which 
 Trajan had, in part, taken away the force, and 
 rendered them, in some measure, without ef- 
 fect. j We shall not have recourse for a con- 
 firmation of this opinion, to that famous Por- 
 tuguese or Spanish inscription, in which Nero 
 is praised for having purged that provinqe fi-om 
 the new superstition; since that inscription is 
 justly suspected to be a mere forgery, and the 
 best Spanish authors consider it as such.§ We 
 may, however, make one observation, which 
 will tend to illustrate the point in question, 
 namely, that since the Christians were con- 
 demned by Nero, not so much on accomit of 
 their religion, as for the falsely-imputed crime 
 of burning the city, || it is scarcely .to be im- 
 agined, that he would leave unmolested, even 
 beyond the bounds of Rome, a sect whose 
 members were accused of such an abominable 
 deed. 
 
 XV. Though, immediately after the death- 
 of Nero, the rage of tliis first persecution 
 against the Cliristians ceased, yet the flamo 
 broke out anew in the year 93 or 94, imder 
 Domitian, a prince little inferior to Nero in 
 
 * See Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, torn. i. p. 
 504. — Baratier, de Successione Romanor. Pontif. cap. v. 
 
 t This opinion was first defended by Franc. Balduin, 
 in his Comm. ad Edicta Imperatorum in Christianos. 
 After him Launoy maintained the same opinion in his 
 Dissert, qua Sulpitii Sevcri locus dc prima Martyrum 
 Gallise Epocha vindicatur, sect. i. p. 139, 140; torn. ii. 
 part i. oper. This opinion is still more acutely and learn- 
 edly defended by Dodwell, in the xith of his Disser- 
 tationes Cyprianicse. 
 
 I Apologet. cap. iv. 
 
 (> This celebrated inscription is published by the learn- 
 ed Gruter, in the first volume of his Inscriptions. It 
 must, however, be observed, that the best Spanish wri- 
 ters do not venture to defend the genuineness and au- 
 thority of this inscription, as it was never seen by any 
 of them, and was first produced by Cyriac of Ancona, a 
 person universally known to be utterly unworthy of the 
 least credit. We shall add here the judgment which the 
 excellent historian of Spain, Jo. de Ferreras, has given 
 of this inscription; "Je ne puis m'empecher (says he) 
 d'observer que Cyriac d'Ancone fut le premier qui pub- 
 lia cette inscription, et que c'est de lui que les autres I'ont 
 tiree; mais eommc la foi de cet ecrivain est suspecte au 
 jugement de tons les scavans, que d'ailleurs il n'y a ni 
 vestige ni souvenir de cette inscription dans les places ou 
 I'on dit qu'elle s'cst trouvee, et qu'on ne scait ou !a 
 prendre a present, chacun peut en porter le jugement 
 qu'ii voudra." 
 
 II See Thcod. Ruinart, VixC. ad Acta Martyrum sin- 
 cera et selecia, f. 31, ftc, 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 STATE OF LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 33 
 
 wickedness.* This persecution was occasioned, 
 if we may give credit to Hegesijjpus, by Do- 
 rnitian's fear of losing the einpirc;t for he had 
 been informed, that, among the relatives of 
 Christ, a man should arise, wlio, possessing a 
 turbulent and ambitious spirit, was to excite 
 commotions in the state, and aim at supreme 
 dominion. However that may have been, the 
 persecution renewed by this unworthy prince 
 u'as extremely violent, though his untimely 
 death soon put a stop to it. Flavins Clemens, 
 
 * Prsef. ad Acta Martyrum, &c. f. 33— Thorn. Ittigii 
 Select. Ilistor. Eccl. Capit. sa;c. i. cap. vi. sect. ]1. 
 t Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. cap. six. xx. 
 
 a man of consular dignity, and Flavia Domi- 
 tilla, his niece, or, as some say, his wife, were 
 the principal martyi's that "suffered in this 
 per.secution, in which also the apostle John 
 was banished to the isle of Patmos. TertuUian 
 and otlier writers infonn us, that, before his 
 banishment, he was thrown into a caldron of 
 boiling oil, from which he came forth, not only 
 living, but even unhurt. This story, however, 
 is not attested in such a manner as to preclude 
 all doubt.* 
 
 ■ Sec Moshcim's Syntagma Dissert, ad Historiam 
 Eccles. pertinentium, p. 497 — 54fj. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Containing an Jlcanml of the Stale of Learning 
 and Plulosopluj. 
 
 I. If we had any certain or satisfactory ac- 
 comit of the doctrines which were received 
 among the wiser of the eastern nations, when 
 the light of the Gospel first rose upon the 
 world, this would contribute to illustrate many 
 importiint points in the ancient history of the 
 church. But the case is quite otherwise: the 
 fragments of the ancient oriental philosophy 
 that have come down to us, are, as every one 
 knows, few in number, and, such as they are, 
 they yet require the diligence, erudition, and 
 sagacity of some learned man, to collect them 
 into a body, arrange them with method, and 
 explain them with perspicuity.* 
 
 II. The doctrine of the magi, who believed 
 the universe to be governed by two principles, 
 the one good, and the other evil, flourished in 
 Persia. Their followers, however, did not ail 
 agree with respect to the nature of these prin- 
 ciples;t but this did not prevent the propaga- 
 tion of the main doctrine, which was received 
 throughout a considerable part of Asia and 
 Africa, especially among the Chaldeans, As- 
 syrians, Syrians, and Egyptians, though witli 
 dift'erent modifications, and had even infected 
 the Jews themselves.j I'he Arabians at that 
 tiige, and even afterwards, were more remarka- 
 ble for strength and courage, than for genius 
 and sagacity; nor do they seem, according to 
 their own coniession,§ to have acquired any 
 great reputation for wisdom and philosophy 
 before the time of Mohammed. 
 
 * The history of the oriental philosophy by Mr. Stan- 
 ley, though it is not void of all kind of merit, is yet ex- 
 tremely defective. That learned author is so far from 
 having exhausted his subject, that he has left it, on the 
 contrary, in many places, wlioUy untouched. The liistory 
 of philosophy, published iu Germany by the very learned 
 Mr. Brucker, is vastly preferable to Mr. Stanley's work; 
 and the German author, indeed, much superior to the 
 English one, both in point of genius and of erudition. 
 
 f See Hyde's History of tlie Religion of tlic Ancient 
 Persians, a work full of erudition, but indigested and in- 
 terspersed with conjectures of the most improbable kind. 
 
 { Sec Wolf's Mauichaeismus ante Manichseos. 
 
 ^ See Abulpharagius de Moribui Aiabum, published 
 bj Pocoek. 
 
 Vol. I.— 5 
 
 III. From the earliest times, the Indiana 
 were distinguished by their taste for sublime 
 knowledge and wisdom. We might, perhaps, 
 be able to form a judgment of their pliilosoplii- 
 cal tenets, if tliat most ancient book, which 
 they deemed particularly sacred, and which 
 they called veda, or the law, should be brought 
 to light, and translated into some known lan- 
 guago. But the accounts which are given of 
 this remarkable book, by those who have been 
 in the Indies, arc so various and irreconcilable 
 with each other, that we must yet wait for 
 satisfaction on tliis head.* As to the Egyp- 
 tians, they were divided, as every one luiows, 
 into a multitude of sects and opinions. f — 
 Fruitless, therefore, are the labours of those 
 who endeavour to roilucc the philosophy of 
 this people to one system. 
 
 IV. But of afl the systems of philosophy 
 that were received in Asia and Africa about 
 the time of our Saviom-, no one was so detri- 
 mental to the Clu'istian religion, as that whicji 
 was styled gnosis, or science, i. e. the way to 
 the true knowledge of the Deity, and wiiicli 
 we have above called the oriental doctrine, in 
 order to distinguish it from the Grecian phi- 
 losophy. It was from the bosom of this pre- 
 tended oriental wisdom, that the chiefs of 
 those sects, which, in the three first centuries 
 perplexed and afflicted the Christian church 
 originally issued. These supercilious doctors, 
 endeavouring to accommodate to the tenets of 
 their fantastic philosophy, the pure, simple, 
 and sublime doctrines of tlie Son of God, 
 brought forth, as the result of this jarring 
 composition, a nmltitude of idle dreams and 
 fictions, and imposed upon their followers a 
 sj'stcm of opinions which were partly ludi- 
 crous and partly perplexed with intricate sub- 
 tilties, and covered with impenetrable obscuri- 
 ty. The ancient doctors, both Greek and 
 
 Some parts of the Veda have been published; or, it 
 may rather be said that pretended portions of it have ap- 
 peared; but, whatever may be alleged by oriental en- 
 thusiasts, these Brahminical remains do not evince the 
 "sublime knowledge or wisdom" which many writers 
 attribute to the ancient inliabitanls of India. — tjlU. 
 
 t See Dr. Moshcim's Observations on Cudwortli't 
 Systtm 
 
34 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Latin, who opposed these sects, considered 
 them as bo many branches that derived their 
 origin from the Platonic philosophy. But this 
 was mere illusion. An apparent resemblance 
 between certain opinions of Plato, and some 
 of the tenets of the eastern schools, deceived 
 these good men, who had no knowledge but 
 of the Grecian philosophy, and were absolute- 
 ly ignorant of the oriental doctrines. Who- 
 ever compares the Platonic with the Gnostic 
 philosophy, will easily perceive the wide dif- 
 ference that exists between them. 
 
 V. The first principles of the oriental philo- 
 sophy seem to be perfectly consistent with the 
 dictates of reason; for its founder must un- 
 doubtedly have argued in the following man- 
 ner: " There are many evils in this world, and 
 men seem impelled by a natural instinct to the 
 practice of those things which reason con- 
 demns; but that eternal mind, from which all 
 spirits derive their existence, must be inacces^ 
 sible to all kinds of evil, and also of a most 
 perfect and beneficent nature; therefore the 
 origin of those evils, with which the imiverse 
 abounds, must be sought somewhere else than 
 in the Deity. It camiot reside in him who is 
 all perfection; and therefore it must be loithoul 
 him. Now, there is notliing loithout or beijond 
 the Deity, but matter; therefore matter is the 
 centre and source of all evil, of all vice." 
 Having taken for granted these principles, they 
 proceeded to affirm that matter was eternal, 
 and derived its present form, not from the will 
 of the Supreme God, but from tlie creating 
 power of some inferior intelligence, to whom 
 the world and its inhabitants owed their exist- 
 ence. As a proof of this assertion they alleg- 
 ed, that it was incredible, that the Supreme 
 Deity, perfectly good, and infinitely removed 
 from all evil, should eithtr create or modify 
 matter, which is essentially nialignant and cor- 
 rupt, or bestow upon it, in any degree, the 
 riches of his wisdom and libeiality. They 
 were, however, aware of the insuperable dif- 
 ficulties that lay against their system; for, when 
 they were called to explain in an accurate and 
 satisfactory manner, how this rude and corrupt 
 matter came to be arranged into such a regu- 
 lar and hannonious frame as that of the uni- 
 verse, and, particularly, how celestial spirits 
 were joined to bodies formed out of its malig- 
 nant mass, they were sadly embarrassed, and 
 found, that the plainest dictates of reason de- 
 clared their system incapable of defence. Li 
 this perplexity they had recourse to wild fic- 
 tions and romantic fables, in order to give an 
 account of the formation of the world and the 
 origin of mankind. 
 
 VI. Those who, by mere dint of fancy and 
 invention, endeavour to cast a light upon ob- 
 scure points, or to solve great and intricate dif- 
 ficulties, are seldom agi-eed abont tlie methods 
 of proceeding; and, by a necessary consequence, 
 separate into diiferent sects. Such was the 
 case of the oriental philosophers, when they 
 set themselves to explain tlie difficulties men- 
 tioned above. Some imagined two eternal 
 princi])les from which all things proceeded, one 
 presiding over light and the other over matter; 
 and, by their perpetual conflict, explained the 
 mixture of good and evil, apparent in the uni- 
 
 verse. Others maintained, that the being 
 which presided over matter was not an eter- 
 nal principle, but a subordinate intelligence, 
 one of those whom the Supreme God produced 
 from himself They supposed that this being 
 was moved by a sudden impulse to reduce to 
 order the rude mass of matter which lay ex- 
 cluded from the mansions of tlie Deity, and 
 also to create the human race. A third sort 
 devised a system different from the two pre- 
 ceding, and formed to themselves the notion of 
 a triumvirate of beings, in which the Supreme 
 Deity was distinguished both from the mate- 
 rial evil principle, and from the creator of this 
 sublunary world. Tliese, then, were the three 
 leading sects of the oriental philosophy, which 
 were subdivided into various factions, by the 
 disputes that arose when they came to explain 
 more fully their respective opinions, and to 
 pursue them into all their monstrous conse- 
 quences. These multiplied divisions were the 
 natural and necessary consequences of a sys- 
 tem whicli had no solid foundation, and was no 
 more, indeed, than an airy phantom, blown up 
 by the wanton fancies of self-sufficient men. 
 And that tliese divisions did really subsist, the 
 history of the Christian sects that embraced 
 this philosophy abundantly testifies. 
 
 VII. It is, however, to be observed, that, as 
 all these sects were fomided upon one connnon 
 principle, their divisions did not prevent their 
 holding, in common, certain opinions concern- 
 ing the Deity, the universe, the human race, 
 and several other subjects. They were all, 
 therefore, mianimous in acknowledging the ex- 
 istence of a higli and eternal nature, in whom 
 dwelt the fulness of wisdom, goodness, and all 
 other perfections, and of whom no mortal was 
 able to form a complete idea. This great be- 
 ing was considered by them as a most pure and 
 radiant light, diff"used through the immensity 
 of space, which they called pleroma, a Greek 
 word tJiat signifies fulness; and they taught the 
 following particulars concerning him, and his 
 operations: " The eternal natme, infinitely per- 
 fect, and infinitely happy, having dwelt from 
 everlasting in a profomid solitude, and in a 
 blessed tranquillit}% produced, at length, from 
 itself, two minds of a diflTerent sex, which re- 
 sembled their supreme parent in the most, per- 
 fect manner. From the prolific union of tliese 
 two beings others arose, which were also i^ 
 lowed by different generations; so that, in pjp- 
 cess of time, a celestial family was formed*in 
 the pleroma.* This divme progeny, being im- 
 mutable in its nature, and above the power of 
 mortality, was called by the philosophers (Eon,"t 
 
 * It appears highly probable that the apostle Paul had 
 an eye to this fantastic mythology, when, in his First 
 Epistle to Timothy, he exhorts him not to "give heed to 
 fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions," 
 &c. 
 
 fThe word aitoi/, or <ron, is commonly used by the 
 Greek writers, but in different senses. Its signification 
 in the Gnostic system is not very evident, and several 
 learned men have despaired of finding out its true mean- 
 ing. Aituv, or <£0?i, among the ancients, was used to sig- 
 nily the age of man, or the duration of human life. In 
 after-times, it was employed by philosophers to express 
 the duration of spiritual and invisible beings. These phi- 
 losophers used the word xp^^'?, as the measure of corpo- 
 real and changing objects; and aiicv, as the measure of 
 such as were immutable and eternal; and, as God is the 
 chief of those immutable beings which are spiritual, and. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 STATE OF LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 35 
 
 a term wliich signifies, in tlie Greek language, 
 an eternal nature. How many in number 
 these (tons were, was a point much controvert- 
 ed among the oriental sages. 
 
 VIII. " Beyond the mansions of light, where 
 dwells the Deity with his celestial offspring, 
 there lies a rude and unwi(^ldy mass of matter, 
 agitated by innate, turbulent, and irregular 
 motions. One of tlic celestial natures de- 
 scending from the pleroma, cither by a fortui- 
 tous impulse, or in consequence of a divine 
 commission, reduced to order tliis unseemly 
 mass, adorned it with a rich variety of gifts, 
 created men, and inferior animals of different 
 kinds, to store it with inhabitants, and correct- 
 ed its malignity by mixing with it a certain 
 portion of light, and also of a matter celestial 
 and divine. This creator of tlie world is dis- 
 tinguished from the Supreme Deity by the 
 name of demiurge. His character is a com- 
 pound of shining qualities and insupportable 
 arrogance; and his excessive lust of empire 
 effaces his talents and his virtues. He claims 
 dominion over the new world which he has 
 formed, as his sovereign right; and, excluding 
 totally the Supreme Deity from all concern in 
 it, he demands from mankind, for himself and 
 his associates, divine honours." 
 
 IX. " Man is a compound of a terrestrial 
 and corrupt body, and a soul which is of celes- 
 tial origin, and, in some measure, an emana- 
 tion from the divinity. This nobler part is 
 miserably weighed down and encumbered by 
 the body, which is the seat of all irregular 
 lusts and impure desires. It is this body that 
 seduces the soul from the pursuit of truth, and 
 not only turns it from the contemplation and 
 worship of God, so as to confine its homage 
 and veneration to the creator of this world, 
 but also attaches it to terrestrial objects, and 
 to the immoderate pursuit of sensual pleasures, 
 by which its nature is totally polluted. The 
 sovereign mind employs various means to de- 
 liver his offspring from this deplorable servi- 
 tude, especially the ministry of divine messen- 
 gers, whom he sends to enlighten, to admonish, 
 and to reform the human race. In the mean- 
 time, tlie imperious demiurge exerts his power 
 in opposition to the merciful purpose of the 
 
 consequently, not to be perceived by our outward senses, 
 his infinite and eternal duration was expressed by tlie 
 term aoii; and that is the sense in which this word is now 
 commonly understood. It was, liowever, afterwards at- 
 tributed to other spiritual and invisible beings; and llie 
 oriental philosophers, who lived about the time ofChrist's 
 appearance upon earth, and made use of the Greek lan- 
 guage, undf rstood by it the duratioii of eternal and im- 
 mutable things, or the period of time in which they exist. 
 Nor did the variations, through which this word passed, 
 end here; from expressing only the duration of beings, it 
 was, by a metonymy, employed to signify the beings them- 
 selves. Thus (Jiid was called <ron, and the angels were 
 distinguished also by the title of <ron$. All this will lead 
 us to the true meaning of that word among the Gnostics. 
 They had formed to themselves the notion of an invisible 
 and spiritual world, composed of entities or virtues, pro- 
 ceeding from the Supreme Being, and succeeding each 
 other at certain intervals of time, so as to form an eternal 
 cAai'ii, of which our world was the terminating link; a 
 notion of eternity very different from that of the Platon- 
 ists, who represented it as stable, permanent, and void of 
 succession. To the beings that formed thiseternal chain, 
 the Gnostics assigued a certain term of duration, and a 
 certain sphere of action. Their terms of duralion were 
 first called trons, and they themselves were aflerwards 
 metonymically distinguished by that title. 
 
 Supreme Being, resists the influence of those 
 solemn invitations by which he exhorts man- 
 kind to return to him, and labours to efface the 
 knowledge of God in the minds of intelligent 
 beings. In this conflict, such souls as, throw- 
 ing off the yoke of the creators and rulers of 
 tliis world, rise to their Supreme Parent, and 
 subdue the turbulent and siiiful motions which 
 corrupt matter excites within tliem, shall, at the 
 dissolution of their mortal bodies, ascend di- 
 rectly to the pleroma. Those, on the contrary, 
 who remain in the bondage of servile supersti- 
 tion and corrupt matter, shall, at the end of 
 this life, pass into new bodies, until they awake 
 from their sinful lethargy. In the end, how- 
 ever, God shall come forth victorious, triumph 
 over all opposition, and, having delivered from, 
 their servitude the greatest part of those souls 
 that are imprisoned in mortal bodies, shall dis- 
 solve the frame of this visible world, and in- 
 volve it in a general ruin. After this solemn 
 period, primitive tranquillity shall be restored 
 in the universe, and God shall reign with happy 
 spirits, in undisturbed felicity, through ever- 
 lasting ages." 
 
 X. Such were the principal tenets of the 
 oriental philosophy. The state of letters and 
 of pliilosophy among the Jews comes next un- 
 der consideration; and of this we may form 
 some idea from what has been already said con- 
 cerning that nation. It is chiefly to be observ- 
 ed, that the dark and hidden science which 
 they called the kabbala, was at this time taught 
 and inculcated by many among that supersti- 
 tious people.* This science, in many points, 
 bears a strong resemblance to the oriental phi- 
 losophy; or, to speak more accurately, it is in- 
 deed that same philosophy accommodated to 
 the Jewish religion, and tempered with a cer- 
 tain mixture of truth. Nor were the doctrines 
 of the Grecian sages imknown to the Jews at 
 the period now before us; since, from the time 
 of Alexander the Great, some of them had 
 been admitted, even into the Mosaic religion. 
 We shall say nothing concerning the opinions 
 which they adopted from the pliilosophical and 
 theological sj'stcms of the Chaldeans, Egyp- 
 tians, and Sj'rians.f 
 
 XI. The Greeks, in the opinion of most 
 I writers, were yet in possession of the first rank 
 (among the nations that cultivated letters and 
 1 philosophy. In many places, and especially at 
 
 • Athens, there were a considerable number of 
 'men distinguished by their learning, acuteness, 
 ' and eloquence; philosophers of all sects, who 
 I taught the doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, 
 i and Epicurus; rhetoricians also, and men of 
 I genius, who instructed the youth in the rules 
 ; of eloquence, and formed their taste for the 
 '■ liberal arts; so tliat those who had a passion for 
 ! the study of oratory, resorted in multitudes to 
 i the Grecian schools, in order 1o perfect tliem- 
 ' selves in that noble science. Alexandria, in 
 I Egypt, was also much frequented for the same 
 i purpose, as a great number of the Grecian phi- 
 losophers and rhetoricians dwelt in that city. 
 
 ■ * See Jo. Franc. Buddei Intrmluctio in Historiam 
 I Philos. Hcbra:orum; and also the works which 13. Wolf 
 ' mentions, with encomiums, in his Bibliotheca Hebraic*, 
 I torn. iii. 
 I \ See the same publicatious. 
 
36 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 XII. The Romans also, at this time, made a 
 shining figure among the pohshed and learned 
 nations. All the sciences flourished at Rome. 
 The youth of a higlier rank were early instruct- 
 ed in the Greek language and eloquence. From 
 those pursuits they proceeded to the study of 
 philosophy, and the laws of their country; and 
 they finished their education by a voyage into 
 Greece, where tliey not only gave the last de- 
 gree of perfection to their philosophical studies, 
 but also acquired that refined wit and elegance 
 of taste, which served to set off their more 
 solid attainments in the most advantageous 
 manner.* None of the philosophical sects 
 were more in vogue among the Romans than 
 the Epicureans and the Academics, which were 
 peculiarly favoured by the great, who, soothed 
 by their doctrines into a false security, indulg- 
 ed their passions without remorse, and continu- 
 ed in their vicious pursuits without terror. 
 During the reign of Augustus, the culture of 
 polite learning, and of the fine arts, was holden 
 in great honour, and those who contributed 
 with zeal and success to this, were eminently 
 distinguished by that prince. But after his 
 death, learning languished without encourage- 
 ment, and was neglected, because the succeed- 
 ing emperors were more intent upon the arts 
 of war and rapine, than those more amiable 
 arts and inventions which are the fruits of lei- 
 sure and peace. 
 
 XIII. With respect to the other nations, such 
 as the Germans, Celts, and Britons, it is cer- 
 tain, that they were not destitute of learned 
 and ingenious men. Among the Gauls, the 
 people of Marseilles had long acquired a shi- 
 ning reputation for their progress in the scien- 
 ces;! ii-nd there is no doubt that the neighbour- 
 ing countries received the benefit of tlieir in- 
 structions. Among the Celts, the Druids, who 
 were priests, philosophers, and legislators, were 
 highly remarkable for their wisdom; but tlieir 
 writings, at least sucli as are yet extant, are not 
 sufficient to inform us of the nature of their 
 philosophy. J The Romans, indeed, introduced 
 letters and philosophy into all the provinces 
 which submitted to their victorious arms, in 
 order to soften the rough maimers of the sa- 
 vage nations, and form in them, imperceptibly, 
 the sentiments and feelings of humanity. § 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors ami Ministers of the 
 Church, and its Form of Government. 
 
 I. The great end of Christ's mission was to 
 form an universal church, gathered out of all 
 the nations of the world, and to extend the 
 limits of this great society from age to age. 
 But, in order to this, it was necessary, first, to 
 appoint extraordinary teachers, who, convert- 
 
 * See Paganini Gaudentii Liber de Philosopliiae apud 
 Romanes initio et progressu, in tertio fascieulo Nova; 
 CoUectionis Variorum Seriptorum. Halae 1717. 
 
 ■t See the Histoire Literairc de la France par des Reli- 
 gieux Benedictins. Dissert. Prelim, p. 42, &c. 
 
 \ Martin, Religion des Gaulois. 
 
 ^Juvenal, Sat. xv. ver. 110. 
 
 " Nunc totus Graias nostrasque habet orbis Atheuas: 
 Gallia caussidicos docuit facunda Britannos: 
 De conducendo loquitur jam rhetore Thule." 
 
 ing the Jews and Gentiles to the truth, should 
 erect, every where. Christian assemblies; and 
 then, to establish ordinary ministers, and in- 
 terpreters of the divine will, who should repeat 
 and enforce the doctrines delivered by the for- 
 mer, and maintain the people in tlieir holy pro- 
 fession, and in the practice of the Christian 
 virtues; for the best system of religion must 
 necessarily either dwindle to notliing, or be 
 egregiously corrupted, if it be not perpetually 
 inculcated and explained by a regiilar and 
 standing ministry. 
 
 II. The extraordinaiy teachers whom Christ 
 employed to lay the foundations of his ever- 
 lasting kingdom, were the twelve apostles, and 
 the seventy disciples, of whom mention has 
 been made above. To these the Evangelists 
 are to be added, by which title those were dis- 
 tinguished whom the apostles sent to instruct 
 the nations, or who, of their own accord, aban- 
 doned every worldly attachment, and conse- 
 crated themselves to the sacred office of propa- 
 gating the Gospel.* In this rank, also, we 
 must place those to whom, in the infancy of 
 tlie church, the marvellous power of speaking 
 in foreign languages which they had never 
 learned, was communicated from above; for the 
 person to whom the divine omnipotence and 
 hberality had imparted the gift of tongues, 
 might conclude, with the utmost assm-ance, 
 from the gift itself, (which a wise being would 
 not bestow in vain,) that he was appouited by 
 God to propagate the truth, and employ his 
 talents in the service of Christianity.! 
 
 III. Many have undertaken to write the his- 
 tory of the apostles;^ a history which we find 
 loaded with fables, doubts, and difficulties, 
 when we pursue it fartlier than the books of 
 the New Testament, and the most ancient wri- 
 ters in the Cliristian church. In order to have 
 a just idea of the nature, privileges, and au- 
 thority of the ajiostolic function, we must con- 
 sider an apostle as a person who was honoured 
 with a divine commission, invested with the 
 power of making laws, of restraining the wick- 
 ed, when that was expedient, and of working 
 miracles, when necessary; and sent to mankind, 
 to unfold to them the divine will, to open to 
 them the paths of salvation and immortali- 
 ty, and to separate from the multitude, and 
 unite in the bonds of one sacred society, those 
 who were attentive and obedient to the voice 
 of God, addressed to men by their ministry.§ 
 
 IV. The accounts we have of the seventy 
 disciples are still more obscure than those of 
 the apostles, since the former are only once 
 mentioned in the New Testament, Luke, x. 1 . 
 Tlie illustrations that we have yet remaining, 
 
 * See St. Paul-s Epistle to the Ephesians, iv. 11; and 
 also Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xxxvii. 
 
 1 1 Cor. xiv. 22. 
 
 \ The authors who have given accounts of the apostles, 
 are enumerated by Sagittarius in his Introduction to Ec- 
 clesiastical History, and by Buddeus in his treatise de Ec- 
 clesia Apostolica. 
 
 § See Fred. Spanlieim, de Apostolis et Apostolatu, torn, 
 ii. op. p. 289. It is not without weighty reasons, and 
 without having considered the matter attentively, that I 
 have supposed the apostles invested with the power of 
 enacting laws. I am sensible that some very learned men 
 among the moderns have denied this power; but I appre- 
 hend they differ from me rather in words than in any in*- 
 terial point, 
 
Chap. H. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 37 
 
 relative to their cliaracter and office, were cer- 
 tainly composed by tJie more modern Greeks, 
 and, tlierotbre, can have little autliority or 
 credit.* Tlicir commission extended no far- 
 ther than the Jewisji nation, as appears from 
 the express words of St. LidvC, though it is 
 highly probable, that, after Christ's ascension, 
 they performed the function of Evangeli.sts, 
 and declared the glad tidings of salvation, and 
 the means of obtaining it, through ditforent 
 nations and provinces. 
 
 V. Neither Clirist himself, nor his lioly apos- 
 tles, have commanded any thing clearly or ex- 
 pressly concerning tlie external form of the 
 church, or the precise method according to 
 which it should be governed.! Hence we may 
 
 * These accounts are to be seen at the end of three 
 books concerning the life and dfath of Moses, which were 
 discovered and illustrated by Gilb. Gaulminus, and re- 
 published by Kabricius in his Biblioth. Grasc. 
 
 f Those who imagine, that Christ himself, or the 
 apostles by his direction and authority, appointed a cer- 
 tain fixed form of church government, have not deter- 
 mined what that form was. The principal opinions that 
 have been adopted upon this head may be reduced to the 
 four following: The first is that of the Roman Catholics, 
 ■who maintain, " That Christ's declared intention was, 
 that his followers should be collected into one sacred em- 
 pire, subjected to the government of St. Peter and his 
 successors, and divided, like the kingdoms of this world, 
 into several provinces; that, in consequence thereof, 
 Peter fixed the seat of ecclesiastical dominion at Rome, 
 but afterwards, to alleviate the burthen of his office, di- 
 vided the church into three great provinces, according to 
 the division of the world at that time, and appointed a 
 person to preside in each, who was dignified with the 
 title of ■patriarch; that tlie European patriarch resided 
 at Rome, the Asiatic at Antioch,and the African at Alex- 
 andria; that the bishops of each province, among whom 
 also there were various ranks, were to reverence the au- 
 thority of their respective patriarchs, and that both 
 bishops and patriarchs were to be passively subject to 
 the supreme dominion of the Roman pontiff." [*J This 
 romantic account scarcely deserves a serious refutation. 
 The second opinion concerning the government of the 
 church, makes no mention of a supreme head, or of 
 patriarchs, constituted by divine authority, but supposes 
 that the apostles divided the Roman empire into as many 
 ecclesiastical provinces as there were secular or civil ones; 
 that the metropolitan bishop, i. e. the prelate who re- 
 sided in the capital city of each province, presided over 
 the clergy of tliat province, and that the other bishops 
 were subject to his authority. This opinion has been 
 adopted by some of the most learned of the Romish 
 church, [t] and has also been favoured by some of the 
 most eminent British divines. [{] Some Protestant wri- 
 ters of note have endeavoured to prove that it is not sup- 
 ported by sufficieut evidence. [^] The third opinion is that 
 of those who acknowledge, that, when the Cliristians be- 
 gan to multiply exceedingly, metropolitans, patriarchs, 
 and archbishops, were indeed created, but only by human 
 appointment and authority, though they confess, at the 
 same time, that it is consonant to the orders and intentions 
 of Christ and his apostles, that, in every Christian church 
 there should be one person invested with the highest au- 
 thority, and clothed with certain rights and privileges 
 above the other doctors of that assembly. This opinion 
 has been embraced by many English divines of the first 
 rank in the learned world, and also by many in other 
 countries and communions. The fourth or last opinion 
 is that of the Presbyterians, who affirm, that Christ's in- 
 tention was, that the Christian doctors and ministers 
 should all enjoy the same rank and authority, without 
 
 [*] See Leo Allatius, de perpetua conseus. Eccles. Ori- 
 ent, et Occident, lib. i. cap. ii. — Morinus, Exercitat. Ec- 
 clesiast. lib. i. exer. i. 
 
 [f] Petrus de Mai'ca, de concord, saccrdot. et imperii, 
 lib. vi. cap. i. — Morinus, Exerc. Eccl. lib. i. ex. xviii. — 
 Pagi Critica in annal. Baronii ad an. xxxvii. 
 
 [}] Hammond, Diss, de Episcop. — Bevercgii Cod. 
 Canon. Vet. Eccles. Vindic. lib. ii. cap. v. torn. ii. Patr. 
 Apost. — Usser. de Origine Episcop. ct Metropol. 
 
 [i] Basnage, Hist, de I'Eglise, tome i. liv. i. cap. viii. — 
 Bohmer. Aiiuot. ad Felruni de Marca de coucordia sacerd. 
 «t imperii. 
 
 infer, that the regulation of this was, in some 
 measure, to be acconmiodated to the time, and 
 left to the wisdom and prudence of the chief 
 rulers, botli of the state and of tlie clmrch. If, 
 however, it be true, that the apostles acted by 
 divine inspiration, and in conformity with the 
 commands of their blessed Master, (and this no 
 Christian can call in question,) it follows, that 
 the forin of govcrmneiit which tlie primitive 
 clnu-ches borrovvcd from tliat of .Jerusalem, 
 the fust Cliristian assembly establislied by tlie 
 apostles themselves, must be esteemed as of 
 divine institution. But from this it would be 
 wrong to conclude tliat such a form is immu- 
 table, and ought to be invariably observed; for 
 this a great variety of events may render im- 
 possible. In those early times, every Christian 
 church consisted of the people, their leaders, 
 and the ministers or deacons; and these, in- 
 deed, beloirg essentially to every religious 
 society. Tlie people were, undoubtedly, the 
 first in authority; for the apostles showed, by 
 their own example, that nothing of moment 
 was to be earned on or detcnnined witliout the 
 consent of tlie assembly;* and such a method 
 of proceeding was both prudent and nccessaiy 
 in those critical times. 
 
 VI. It was, therefore, the assembly of the 
 people, which chose rulers and teachers, or 
 received them by a free and authoritative con- 
 sent, when recommended by others. The same 
 people rejected or confirmed, by their suffrages, 
 the laws tliat were proposed by their rulers to 
 the assembly; excommunicated profligate and 
 unworthy members of the church; restored the 
 penitent to their forfeited privileges; passed 
 judgment upon the dift'erent subjects of con- 
 troversy and dissension, that arose in their 
 community; examined and decided the dis- 
 putes which happened between the elders and 
 deacons; and, in a word, exercised all that au- 
 thority which belongs to such as are invested 
 with sovereign power. The people, indeed, 
 had in some measure purchased these privi- 
 leges, by administering to the support of their 
 
 any sort of pre-eminence or subordination, any distinction 
 of rights and privileges. The reader will find an am- 
 ple account of these opinions with respect to church 
 government in Dr. Mosheim's Larger History of tlie 
 first Century. This learned and impartial writer, who 
 condemns with reason the fourth opinion, as it is ex- 
 plained by those bigoted Puritans, who look upon all 
 subordination and variety of rank among the doctors of 
 the church as condemnable and antichristian, observes, 
 however, with equal reason, that this opinion may be ex- 
 plained and modified so as to reconcile the moderate ad- 
 vocates of the episcopal discipline with the less rigid 
 Presbyterians. The opinion, modified by Dr. Mosheim, 
 amounts to this: " That the Christian doctors arc equal 
 in this sense: that Christ has left no positive and special 
 decree which constitutes a distinction among them, nor 
 any rfii'tne commandment by which those who, in conse- 
 quence of the appointments of human wisdom, are in the 
 higher ranks, can demand by divine right the obedience 
 and submission of the inferior doctors or ministers, their 
 abstaining from the exercise of certain functions," &c. 
 
 The truth is, that, Christ, by leaving this matter un- 
 determined, has left to Christian societies a discretionary 
 power of modelling the government of the church in such 
 a manner, as the circumstantial reasons of limes, places, 
 &c. may require; and, therefore, the wisest govcrnmeut 
 of the church is the best and most divine; and every 
 Christian society has a right to make laws for itself, pro- 
 vided that these laws be consistent with charity and peac^ 
 and with the fundamental doctrines and principle* ci 
 Christianity. 
 
 * Acts i. 15; vi. 3; xv. 4; xxi. 22. 
 
38 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 rulers, ministers, and poor, and by offering large 
 and generous contributions, wlien the safety 
 or interests of tlie community rendered them 
 necessary. In tliese supplies, each bore a part 
 proportioned to his circumstances; and the 
 various gifts which were tluis brought into the 
 public assemblies, were called oblations. 
 
 VII. There reigned among the members of 
 the Christian church, however distinguished 
 they were by worldly rank and titles, not only 
 an amiable harmony, but also a perfect equality. 
 This appeared by the feast of charity, in which 
 all were indiscriminately assembled; by the 
 names of hrdhrtn and sisters, with wliich they 
 saluted each other; and by several circum- 
 stances of a like nature. Nor, in this first 
 century, was the distinction made between 
 Christians, of a more or less perfect order, 
 which took place afterwards. Whoever ac- 
 knowledged Christ as the Saviour of mankind, 
 and made a solemn profession of his confi- 
 dence in him, was immediately baptized and 
 received into the church. But, when the 
 church began to flourish, and its members to 
 increase, it wJls thought prudent and necessary 
 to divide Christians into two orders, dis- 
 tinguished by the names of believers and cate- 
 clmmens. The former were those who had 
 been solemnly admitted into the church by 
 baptism, and, in consequence thereof, were 
 instructed in all the mysteries of religion, had 
 access to all tlie parts of divine worship, and 
 were authorized to vote in the ecclesiastical 
 assemblies. The latter were such as had not 
 yet been dedicated to God and Christ by bap- 
 tism, and were, therefore, neither admitted to 
 the public prayers nor to the holy communion, 
 nor to the ecclesiastical assemblies. 
 
 The rulers of the church were called either 
 presbyters,* or bishops, — titles which, in the new 
 Testament, are undoubtedly applied to the 
 same order of men.f These were persons of 
 eminent gravity, and such as had distinguished 
 themselves by their superior sanctity and 
 merit.J: Their particular functions were not 
 always the same; for, while some of them 
 confined their labours to the instruction of the 
 people, others contributed in difi^erent ways to 
 the edification of the church. Hence the dis- 
 tinction between teacliing and ruling presby- 
 ters has been adopted by certain learned men. 
 But if ever this distinction existed, which I 
 neither affirm nor deny, it certainly did not 
 continue long, since it is manifest that St. 
 Paul requires, that all bishops or presbyters be 
 qualified, and ready to teach and instruct.^ 
 
 IX. Among the first professors of Chris- 
 tianity, there were few men of learning; few. 
 
 * The word Presbyter, or elder, is taken from the Jew- 
 ish institution, and signifies rather the venerable pru- 
 dence and wisdom of old age, than age itself. 
 
 t Acts XX. 17, 28. Phil. i. 1. Tit. i. 5, 7. 1 Tim. iii. 1. 
 
 jlTim. iii. 1. Tit. 1. 5. 
 
 § 1 Tim. iii. 2, &c. See, concerning the word Pres- 
 byter, the illustrations given by the learned Vitringa, de 
 Syiiagoga vetere, lib. iii. cap. i. p. 609; and by the vene- 
 rable Jo. Bened. Carpzovius, in his Exerc. in Epist. ad 
 Hebraeos ex Philonc, p. 499. As to the presbyters 
 themselves, and the nature of their office, the reader will 
 receive much satisfaction from the accounts given of that 
 order by Buddeus, de Ecclesia Apostoliea, cap. vi. p. 719, 
 and by the most learued Ffaffius de Origiuibus Juris 
 Eccles. p. 49. 
 
 who had capacity enough to insinuate, into the 
 minds of a gross and ignorant multitude, the 
 knowledge of divine things. God, tlierefore, 
 in his infinite wisdom, judged it necessary to 
 raise up, in many clmrches, extraordinary 
 teachers, who were to discourse in the public 
 assemblies, upon the various points of the 
 Christian doctrine, and to treat with the peo- 
 ple, in his name, as guided by liis direction, 
 and clothed with his authority. Such were 
 the prophets of the New Testament,* an or- 
 der of men, whose commission is too much 
 limited by the writers who confine it to the 
 interpretation of the books of the Old Testa- 
 ment, and especially the prophecies;! for it is 
 certain, that they, who claimed the rank of 
 propliets, were invested with the power of 
 censuring publicly such as had been guilty of 
 any irregularity: but, to prevent the abuses 
 that designing men might make of this insti- 
 tution, by pretending to this extraordinary 
 character, in order to execute miwortliy ends, 
 there were always present, in the public audi- 
 tories, judges divinely appointed, who, by cer- 
 tain and infallible marks, were able to distin- 
 guish the false prophets from the true. The 
 order of prophets ceased, when the want of 
 teachers, which gave rise to it was abundantly 
 supplied. 
 
 X. The church was, undoubtedly, provided 
 from the beginning with inferior ministers or 
 deacons. No society can be without its ser- 
 vants, and still less such societies as those of 
 the first Christians were. And it appears not 
 only probable but evident, that the young men, 
 who carried away the dead bodies of Ananias 
 and Sapphira, were the subordinate ministers, 
 or deacons, of the church of Jerusalem, who 
 attended the apostles to execute their orders.J 
 
 *Rom. xiii.6. 1 Cor. xii. 28; xiv. 3, 29. Eph. iv. 11. 
 
 f See Mosheim's Dissertation de illis qui Prophetse 
 vocantur in Novo Fcedere, whicli is to be found in the 
 second volume of his Syntagma Dissertationum ad Histo- 
 riam Eccles. pertinentium. 
 
 t Acts v. 6, 10. 
 
 Those who may be surprised at my affirming that the 
 young men, mentioned in the passage here referred to, 
 were the deacons or ministers of the church of Jerusa- 
 lem, are desired to consider that the words vna-rspoi, 
 viKvio-y.oi, i. e. young men, are not always used to deter- 
 mine the ages of the persons to whom tliey are applied, 
 but are frequently employed to point out their offices, or 
 functions, both by the Greek and Latin writers. The 
 same rule of interpretation, that diversifies the sense of 
 the word presbyter (which, as all know, signifies some- 
 times the age oi^ a person, and, at other times his func- 
 tion,) is manifestly applicable to the words before us. As, 
 therefore, by the title of presbyters, the rulers of a so- 
 ciety are pointed out, without any regard to their ages 
 so, by the expression young men, we are often to under- 
 stand ministers, or servants, because such are generally 
 in the flower of youth. This interpretation may be con- 
 firmed by examples taken from the New Testament. 
 Christ himself seems to attribute this sense to the word 
 vtaiTE^oc, Luke xxii. 26. S /xsi^uiv tv vfiiv,yti'>i<r$u> <»■; o 
 vsiuTtfOs. He explains the term fcai^-xiv, by the word 
 tiyt'fiivos, and it therefore signifies a presbyter, or ruler; 
 he also substitutes, a little after, o Siaxova,!/ in the place 
 of v£ooT£f 5;, which confirms our interpretation in the 
 most unanswerable manner: so that ft't^ov and i'smtejo; 
 are not here indications of certain ages, but of certain 
 functions, and the precept of Christ amounts to this: 
 "Let not him wlio performs the office of a presbyter or 
 elder among you, think himself superior to the ministers 
 or deacons." The passage of 1 Pet. v. 5. is still more ex- 
 press to our purpose: 'O^uoac, I'soirs^oi, v-tnxyifTt 
 Toif H-fir^luTSfoi;. It is evident from the preceding 
 verses, that presbyter here is the name of an office, and 
 points out a ruler or teacher of the church; and that the 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNxMENT, &c. 
 
 39 
 
 These first deacons, being cliosen from among 
 the Jews who were born in Palestine, were 
 suspected by the foreign Jews of partiahty in 
 distributing the offerings which were jjresentcd 
 for the support of the poor.* To remedy this 
 disorder, seven other deacons were chosen, by 
 order of the apostles, and eniploj'ed in the ser- 
 vice of that part of the church at Jerusalem, 
 which was composed of the foreign Jews con- 
 verted into Christianity. Of these new minis- 
 ters six were foreigners, as appears by their 
 names; the seventh was chosen out of the pro- 
 selytes, of whom there were a certain nmnber 
 among the first Qiristians at Jerusalem, and to 
 whom it was reasonable that some regard 
 should be shown, in the election of the dea- 
 cons, as well as to the foreign Jews. All the 
 other Christian churches followed the example 
 of that of Jerusalem, in whatever related to 
 the choice and office of the deacons. Some, 
 particularly the eastern churches, elected dea- 
 conesses, and chose for that purpose matrons or 
 widows of eminent sanctity, who also minis- 
 tered to the necessities of the poor, and per- 
 formed several other offices, that tended to the 
 maintenance of order and decency in the 
 church, t 
 
 XI. Such was the constitution of the Chris- 
 tian church in its infancy, when its assemblies 
 were neither nmnerous nor splendid. Tlu-ee 
 or four presbyters, men of remarkable piety 
 and wisdom, ruled these small congregations in 
 perfect harmony; nor did they stand in need of 
 any president or superior to maintain concord 
 and order where no dissensions were known. 
 But the nimiber of the presbyters and deacons 
 increasing with that of the churches, and the 
 sacred work of the ministry growing more 
 painful and weighty, by a numlx;r of additional 
 duties, these new circumstances required new 
 regulations. It was then judged necessary, 
 that one man of distinguished gravity and wis- 
 dom should preside in the comicil of presby- 
 ters, in order to distribute among his colleagues 
 their several tasks, and to be a centre of union 
 to the whole society. This person was, at 
 first, styled the angell of the church to which 
 he belonged, but was afterwards distinguished 
 by the name of bishop, or inspector; a name 
 borrowed from the Greek language, and ex- 
 pressing the principal part of the episcopal 
 function, which was to inspect and superintend 
 
 term vsuirsf o; is also to be interpreted, not a i/oimg man 
 in point of age, but a minister or servant of llie church. 
 St. Peter, having solemnly exhorted the presbyters not to 
 abuse the power that was committed to them, addresses 
 his discourse to the ministers: " But likewise, ye younger, 
 i. e. deacons, despise not the orders of the presbyters or 
 elders, but perform cheerfully whatsoever they command 
 you." In the same sense St. Luke employs this term. 
 Acts V.6, 10. and his isciTSfoi and vixvic-y.'^i arc undoubt- 
 edly the deacons of the church of Jerusalem, of whom 
 the Greek Jews complain afterwards to the apostles, (Acts 
 vi. 1, &c.) on account of the partial distribution of the 
 alms. I might confirm this sense of the words youn^ men, 
 by numberless citations from Greek and Roman writers, 
 and a variety of authors, sacred and profane; but this is 
 not the proper place for dcmouslralions of this nature. 
 
 * Acts vi. 1, &c. 
 
 t For an ample account of the deacons and deaconesses 
 of the primitive church, see Zcigler, dc Diaconis et Dia- 
 conissis, cap. xix. p. 347.— Basnagii Annal. Polit. EccKs. 
 ad an. xxxv. torn. i. p. 450.— Bingham, Orig. Ecclcs. lib. 
 ii. cap. XX. 
 
 } Rev. ii. 3. 
 
 the affairs of the chin-ch. It is liighly proba- 
 ble that the church of Jerusalem, grown con- 
 siderably numerous, and deprived of the minis- 
 try of the apostles, who were gone to instruct 
 tJie otiier nations, was the first which chose a 
 president or bishop; and it is no less probable, 
 that the other churches followed by degrees 
 such a respectable example. 
 
 XII. Let none, however, confoimd the bish- 
 ops of this primitive and golden period of the 
 church with those of wliom we read in the fol- 
 lowing ages; for, though they were both dis- 
 tinguished by the same name, yet they differed 
 in many respects. A bishop during the first 
 and second century, was a person who liad the 
 care of one Clu"istian assembly, which, at that 
 time was, generally speaking, small enough to 
 be contained in a private house. In this as- 
 sembly he acted, not so much with the author- 
 ity of a master, as with the zeal and diligence 
 of a faithful servant. He instructed the people, 
 performed the several parts of divine worship, 
 attended the sick, and inspected the circum- 
 stances and supplies of the poor. He charged, 
 indeed, the presbyters with the performance of 
 those duties and services, which the multipli- 
 city of his engagements rendered it impossible 
 for him to fulfil; but he had not the power to 
 decide or enact any thing without the consent 
 of the presbyters and people; and, though the 
 episcopal office was both laborious and singu- 
 larly dangerous, yet its revenues were extreme- 
 ly small, since the church had no certain in- 
 come, but depended on the gifts or oblations of 
 the multitude, which were, no doubt, inconsi- 
 derable, and were moreover to be divided 
 among the bishops, presbyters, deacons, and 
 poor. 
 
 XIII. The power and jurisdiction of the 
 bishops were not long confined to these narrow 
 limits, but were soon extended by the follow- 
 ing means. The bishops, who lived in the 
 cities, had, either by their own ministry, or 
 that of their presbyters, erected new churches 
 in the neighbouring towns and villages. These 
 churches, continuing under the inspection and 
 rpinistry of the bishops, by whose labours and 
 counsels they had been engaged to embrace the 
 Gospel, grew imperceptibly into ecclesiastical 
 provinces, which the Greeks afterwards called 
 dioceses. But, as the bishop of the city could 
 not extend his labours and inspection to all 
 these churches in tlie country and in the villa- 
 ges, he appointed certain suffragans or deputies 
 to govern and to instruct these new societies; 
 and they were distinguished by the title of 
 chm-episcopi, i. c. country bishops. This order 
 held the middle rank between bishops and 
 presbyters. 
 
 XIV. The churches, in those early times, 
 were entirely independent, none of them being 
 subject to any foreig-n jurisdiction, but each go- 
 verned by its own rulers and its own laws; for, 
 though the churches founded by the apostles 
 had this pai-ticular deference sliown to them, 
 that they were consulted in difficult and doubt- 
 ful cases, yet they had no jtn-idiral authority, 
 no sort of supremacy over the others, nor the 
 least right to enact laws for them; Nothing, 
 on the contrary, is more evident than the per- 
 I feet equality that reigned among the primitive 
 
40 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 churches; nor does there even appear, in this 
 first century, the smallest trace of that associa- 
 tion of provincial churches, from which coun- 
 cils and metropolitans derive their origin. It 
 was only in the second century that the custom 
 of holding coimcils commenced in Greece, 
 whence it soon spread through the other pro- 
 vinces.* 
 
 XV. The principal place among the Chris- 
 tian Doctors, and among those also, who by 
 their writings were instrumental in the pro- 
 gress of the truth, is due to the apostles and 
 some of their disciples, who were set apart and 
 inspired by God, to record the actions of Christ 
 and his apostles. The writings of these holy 
 men, which are comprehended in tlie books of 
 tlie New Testament, are in the hands of all 
 who profess themselves Christians. Those 
 who are desirous of particular information with 
 respect to the history of these sacred books, 
 and the arguments which prove their divine 
 authority, their genuineness, and purity, must 
 consult the learned authors who have written 
 professedly upon that head.f 
 
 XVI. The opinioixs, or rather the conjec- 
 tures of the learned, concerning the time when 
 the books of the New Testament were col- 
 lected into one volume, as also about the au- 
 thors of that collection, are extremely differ- 
 ent. This important question is attended with 
 great and almost insuperable difficulties to us 
 in these latter times.| It is, however, suffi- 
 cient for us to know, tliat, before the middle of 
 the second century, the greatest part of the 
 books of the New Testament were read in 
 every Christian society throughout the world, 
 and received as a divine rule of faith and man- 
 ners. Hence it appears, that these sacred 
 writings were carefully separated from several 
 human compositions upon the same subject, 
 eitlier by some of the apostles themselves, who 
 lived so long, or by their disciples and succes- 
 sors. § We are well assured, || that the four 
 Gospels were formed into a volume diu-ing the 
 life of St. Jolm, and that the three first receiv- 
 ed the approbation of this divine apostle. And 
 why may we not suppose that the other boolts 
 of the New Testament were collected at the 
 same time? 
 
 * The meeting of the church of Jerusalem, mentioned 
 in the xvth chapter of the Acts, is commonly considered 
 as the first Christian council. But this notion arises from 
 ■1 manifest abuse of tlie word council. That meeting was 
 only of one cliurch; and, if such a meeting be called a 
 council, it will follow that there were innumerable coun- 
 cils in the primitive times. But, every one knows, that a 
 council is an assembly of deputies, or commissioners, sent 
 from several churches associated by certain bonds in a ge- 
 neral body, and therefore the supposition above mention- 
 ed falls to the ground. 
 
 I For the history of the books of the New Testament, 
 see particularly Jo. Alb. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gra;c. lib. 
 iv. cap. V. p. 122 — 227. The same learned author has 
 given an accurate list of the writers, who have defended 
 the divinity of these sacred books, in his Delectus Argu- 
 raentorum ct Syllabus Scriptorum pro verit. relig. Chris- 
 tiana;, cap. xxvi. p. 509. 
 
 \ See Jo, Ens, Bibliotheca S. seu Diatriba de librorum 
 N. T. Canone, published at Amsterdam in 1710; as also 
 Jo. iVIill. Prolegomen. ad Nov. Test. sect. 1. 
 
 § See Fricklus, de Cura Veteris Ecclesiae circa Canon, 
 cap. iii. 
 
 II This is expressly affirmed by Eusebius, in the xxivih 
 chapter of the third book of his Eeclesiaitical Histoiy. 
 
 XVII. What renders this highly probable is, 
 that the most urgent necessity required its be- 
 ing done; for, not long after Ciirist's ascension 
 into heaven, several histories of his life and 
 doctrines, full of pious frauds and fabulous 
 wonders, were composed by persons, whose in- 
 tentions, perhaps, were not bad, but whose 
 writings discovered the greatest superstition 
 and ignorance. Nor was tliis all: productions 
 appeared which were imposed upon the world 
 by fraudulent men, as the writings of the holy 
 apostles.* These apocryphal and spurious 
 writings must have produced a sad confusion, 
 and rendered both the history and the doctrine 
 of Christ micertain, had not the rulers of the 
 church used all possible care and diligence in 
 separating the books that were truly apostoli- 
 cal and divine from all that sj)urious trash, and 
 conveying them down to posterity in one vo- 
 lume. 
 
 XVIII. The writer, whose fame surpassed 
 that of all others in this century, the apostles 
 excepted, was Clemens, bishop of Rome. The 
 accounts which remain of his life, actions, and 
 deatli, are for the most part micertain. f Two 
 Epistles to the Corinthians,^ written in Greek, 
 have been attributed to him, of which the se- 
 cond is deemed spurious, and the first genuine, 
 by many learned writers. § But even this 
 seems to have been corrupted and interpolated 
 by some ignorant and presumptuous author, 
 who appears to have been displeased at ob- 
 serving a defect of learning and genius in the 
 writings of so great a man as Clemens. || 
 
 XIX. The learned are now unanimous in 
 regarding the otlier writings which bear the 
 name of Clemens, viz. the Apostolic Canons, 
 the Apostolic Constitutions, the Recognitions 
 of Clemens and Clementina,§ as spurious pro- 
 
 * Such of these writings as are yet extant have been 
 carefully collected by Fabricius, in his Codex Apocry- 
 phus Novi Testainenti. Many ingenious and learned ob- 
 servations have been made on these spurious books by the 
 celebrated Beausobre, in his Histoire Critique des Dog- 
 mes de Manichee. 
 
 f After TiUemont, Cotelerius and Grabe have given 
 some accounts of this great man; and all that has been 
 said concerning him by the best and most credible writers, 
 has been collected by Rondinini, in the former of two 
 books publisl ed at Rome, in 1706, under the following 
 title, Libri Duo de S. Clemente, Papa, et Martyre, ejus- 
 que Basilica in urbe Roma. 
 
 I J. A. Fabricius, in the fourth book of his Bibliotheca 
 Graeca, mentions the editions that have been given of St. 
 Clements' epistles. To this account we must add the edi- 
 tion published at Cambridge, in 1718, which is prefera- 
 ble to the preceding ones in many respects. 
 
 (J(p» 6 See the ample account that is given of these two 
 Greek epistles of Clemens, by Dr. Lardner, in the first 
 volume of the second part of his valuable work, entitled, 
 the Credibility of the Gospel History. 
 
 II See J. Bapt. Cotelerii Fatres Apost, tom. i.; and Ber- 
 uardi Adnotatiunculse in Clementem, in the last edition 
 of these fathers of the church, published by Le Clerc. 
 The learned Wotton has endeavoured, though without 
 success, in his observations on the epistles of Clemens, to 
 refute the annotations above mentioned. 
 
 OU" IT Beside these writings attributed to Clemens, we 
 may reckon two epistles which the learned Wetstein 
 found in a Syriac version of the New Testament, which 
 he took the pains to translate from Syriac into Latin. He 
 has subjoined both the original and the translation to his 
 famous edition of the Greek Testament, published in 
 1752; and the title is as follows: " Dnx EpistolK S. de- 
 mentis Romani, Discipuli Petri Apostoli, quas ex Codice 
 Manuscripto Novi Test. Syriaci nunc primum erutas,cum 
 veisione Latinaadposita,edidit Jo. Jacobus Wctstenius." 
 The manuscript of the Syriac version, whence these cpis 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 Doctors, church government, &c. 
 
 41 
 
 ductions ascribed by some impostor to this ve- 
 nerable prelate, in order to procure tiicm a high 
 degree of authority.* The Apostolical Canons, 
 which consist of eighty-five ecclesiastical laws, 
 contain a view of the church government and 
 discipline received among the Greek and ori- 
 ental Christians in the second and third centu- 
 ries. The eight books of Apostolical Consti- 
 tutions are the work of some austere and me- 
 lancholy author, who, having taken it into his 
 head to reform the Clu'istian worship, which 
 he looked upon as degenerated from its original 
 purity, made no scruple to prefix to his rules 
 the names of the apostles, that thus they might 
 be more speedily and favourably received.] 
 The Recognitions of Clemens, which differ 
 very little from the Clementina, are the witty 
 and agreeable productions of an Alexandrian 
 Jew, well versed in philosophy. They were 
 written in the third century, with a view of an- 
 swering, in a new mamier, the objections of 
 the Jews, philosophers, and Gnostics, against 
 the Christian religion; and tlie careful perusal 
 of them will be exceedingly useful to such as 
 are desirous of infonnation with respect to the 
 state of the Christian chmxh in tiie primitive 
 times. + 
 
 XX. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, succeeds 
 Clemens in the list of the apostolic fathers, 
 among whom were placed such Ctiristian doC' 
 tors as had conversed with the apostles them- 
 selves, or their disciples. This pious and ve- 
 nerable man, who was the disciple and familiar 
 friend of the apostles, was, by the order of Tra- 
 jan, exposed to wild beasts in the public tliea- 
 tre at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom 
 with the utmost fortitude. § There are yet ex- 
 tant several epistles, attributed to him, con- 
 cerning the authenticity of which there Iiave 
 been, however, tedious and warm disputes 
 among the learned. Of these epistles, seven 
 are said to have been written by this eminent 
 martyr, during his journey from Antioch to 
 Rome; and these the majority of learned men 
 acknowledge to be genuine, as they stand in 
 the edition that was published in the seven- 
 teenth century, from a manuscript in the Me- 
 
 tleswere taken, was procured by the good offices of Sir 
 James Porter, a judicious patron of literature, who, at 
 that time, was British ambassador at Coiistantino]>le. 
 Their authenticily is boldly maintained by Wctstein, and 
 learnedly opposed by Dr. Lardiier. The celebrated pro- 
 fessor Venema, of Franeker, also considered them as 
 spurious. See an account of his controversy willi Wtt- 
 stein on that subject, in the Bibliothcque des Sciences ct 
 des Beaux Arts, torn. ii. 
 
 * For an account of the fate of these writings, and the 
 editions that have been given of them, it will be proper 
 to consult two dissertations of the learned Ittigius; one 
 de Patribus Apostolicis, which he has prefixed to his 
 Bibliothfca Patrum Apostolicorum; and the other, d 
 Pseudepigraphis Apostolicis, which he has subjoined to 
 the Appendix of his book de Hacresiarchis JEvi Apos- 
 tolici. See also Fabrieius, Bibliotheca Graeca, lib. v. 
 cap. i., and lib. vi. cap. i. 
 
 f Buddeus has collected the various opinions of the 
 learned concerning the Apostolical Canons and Constitu- 
 tions, in his Isagoge in Thcologiam. 
 
 t See, for a full account of this work, Mosheim's Dis. 
 serlation, de turbata per recentiores Platonicos Ecclesia, 
 sect. 34. {}(7^This Disssertation is in the first volume of 
 that learned work which our author published under the 
 title of Syntagma Dissertationum ad Historiam Ecclesias- 
 ticam pertinenlium. 
 
 ^ See Tillemont's Memoires pour scrvir a I'Histcirc 
 de I'Eglise, torn. ii. 
 
 Vol. I.— 6 
 
 dicean library. The others are generally re- 
 jected as spurious. As to my own sentiments 
 of this matter, though I am willing to adopt 
 this opinion as preferable to any other, I can- 
 not help looking upon the authenticity of tiie 
 Epistle to Polycarp as extremely dubious, on 
 account of the difi'erence of style; and indeed, 
 the whole question relating to the epistles of 
 St. Ignatius in general, seems to me to labour 
 under much obscurity, and to be embarrassed 
 with many diinculties.* 
 
 XXI. The Epistle to the Philippians, which 
 is ascribed to Polycarp bishop of Smyrna, who, 
 in the middle of the second century, suffered 
 martyrdom in a venerable and advanced ao-e, 
 is considered by some as genuine; by others, as 
 spurious; and it is no easy matter to determine 
 this question.f The Epistle of Barnabas was 
 the production of some Jew, who, most pro- 
 bably, lived in this century, and whose mean 
 abilities and superstitious attachment to Jewish 
 fables, show, notwitlistanding the uprightness 
 of his intentions, that he nmst have been a 
 very different person from the true Barnabas, 
 who was St. Paul's companion. J The work 
 which is entitled the Shepherd of Ilermas, be- 
 cause the angel, who bears the principal part 
 in it, is represented in the form and habit of a 
 shepherd, was composed in the second century 
 by Hernias, who was brother to Pius, bishop of 
 Rome.§ This whimsical and visionary writer 
 has taken the liberty of inventing several dia- 
 logues or conversations between God and the 
 angels, in order to insinuate, in a more easy 
 and agreeable manner, the precepts which he 
 thought useful and salutary, into the minds of 
 his readers. But indeed, the discourse, which 
 he puts into the mouths of those celestial be- 
 ings, is more insipid and senseless, than what 
 we commonly hear among the meanest of the 
 multitude. II 
 
 XXII. We may here remark in general, 
 that these apostolic fathers, and the other wri- 
 ters, who, in the infancy of the churcli, em- 
 ployed their pens in the cause of Christianity, 
 were neither remarkable for their learning nor 
 for their eloquence. On the contrary, they 
 express the most pious and admirable senti- 
 ments in the plainest and most illiterate style.U 
 This, indeed, is rather a matter of honour than 
 
 * For an account of this controversy, it will be proper 
 to consult the Bibliotheca Gra;ca of Fabrieius, lib. v. cap. i. 
 
 t Fur an account of this martyr, and of the epistle at- 
 tributed to him, sec Tillemont's Memoires, torn, ii., and 
 Fabricii Bibtioth. Grieca, lib. y. 
 
 J See Tillemont's Memoires, and Ittigius' Select. Hist. 
 Eccles. Capita, s^c. i. 
 
 § This now appears with the utmost evidence from a 
 very ancient fragment of a small book, concerning the 
 canon of the Scriptures, which the learned Luil. Aotoo. 
 Muratori published from an ancient manuscript in the 
 library at Milan, and which is to be found in tlic Autiq. 
 Italic, medii JF^vi, torn. iii. diss, xliii. 
 
 II We are indebted for the best edition of the Shepherd 
 of Hermas, to Fabrieius, who has added it to the third 
 volume of his Codex Apocryphus N. Teslamenti. We 
 find also some account of this writer in the Biblioth. 
 Grsca of the same learned author, book v. chap. ix.,and 
 also iu Ittigius' dissertation de Patribus AiMstolicis, 
 sect. .5.5. 
 
 ir All the writers mentioned in this chapter are usually 
 called apostolic fulhers. Of the works of these authors, 
 Jo. Bap. Cotclerius, and after him Le CIcrc, have pub- 
 lished a collection in two volumes, accompanied with 
 their own auuolations, and the remarks of other learned 
 men. 
 
42 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 of reproach to the Christian cause, since we 
 see, from the conversion of a great part of 
 mankind by the ministry of weak and ilhtc- 
 rate men, that the progress of Christianity is 
 not to be attributed to human means but to a 
 divine power. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the. Christian Church 
 
 in this Century. 
 
 I. The whole of the Christian rehgion is 
 comprehended in two great points, one of 
 which regards what we are to beHeve, and the 
 other relates to our conduct and actions; or, in 
 a shorter phrase, the Gospel presents to us ob- 
 jects of faith and rules of practice. The apos- 
 tles express the former by the term mystery, or 
 the truth, and the latter by that of godliiuss, or 
 piety.* The rule and standard of both are 
 those books which contain the revelation that 
 God made of his will to persons chosen for 
 that purpose, whether before or after the birth 
 of Christ; and these divine books are usually 
 called the Old and J^hv Testament. 
 
 II. The apostles and their disciples took all 
 possible care, in the earliest times of the church, 
 that these sacred books might be in the hands 
 of all Christians, that they might be read and 
 explained in the assemblies of the faitliful, and 
 thus contribute, both in private and in public, 
 to excite and nourish in the minds of Chris- 
 tians a fervent zeal for the truth, and a firm at 
 tachment to the ways of piety and virtue 
 Those who performed the office of interpreters 
 studied above all things plainness and perspi- 
 cuity. At tlie same time it must be acknow- 
 ledged, that, even in this century, several 
 Christians adopted the absurd and corrupt cus- 
 tom, used among the Jews, of darkening the 
 plain words of the Holy Scriptures by insipid 
 and forced allegories, and of drawing them vio- 
 lently from their proper and natural meanino-g, 
 in order to extort from them mysterious and 
 hidden significations. For a proof of this, we 
 need go no farther than the Epistle of Barna- 
 bas, which is yet extant. 
 
 III. The method of teaching the sacred 
 doctrines of religion was, at this time, most 
 sim])le, far removed from all the subtle rules 
 of philosophy, and all the precepts of human 
 art. This appears abundantly, not only in the 
 writings of the apostles, but also in all those 
 of the second century, which have survived 
 the ruins of time. Neither did the apostles, 
 or their disciples, ever think of collecting into 
 a regular system the principal doctrines of the 
 Christian religion, or of demonstrating them 
 in a scientific and geometrical order. The 
 beautiful and candid simplicity of these early 
 ages rendered such philosophical niceties un- 
 necessary; and the great study of those who 
 embraced the Gospel was rather to express its 
 divine influence in their dispositions and ac- 
 tions, than to examine its doctrines with an ex- 
 cessive curiosity, or to explain them by the 
 rules of human wisdom. 
 
 IV. Tiiere is extant, indeed, a brief sum- 
 mary of the principal doctrines of Christianity 
 
 ITim. hi. 9; vi.3. Tit, i. 1. 
 
 in that form which bears the name of tlie 
 Jlpostles'' Creed, and which, from the fourth 
 century downwards, was almost generally con- 
 sidered as a production of the apostles. All, 
 however, who have the least knowledge of an- 
 ti(juity, look upon this opinion as entirely false, 
 and destitute of all foundation.* There is 
 much more reason in the opinion of those who 
 tliink, that this creed was not all composed at 
 once, but, from small beginnings, was imper- 
 ceptibly augmented in proportion to the growth 
 of heresy, and according to the exigencies and 
 circumstances of tlie church, from which it 
 was designed to banish the errors that daily 
 arose.f 
 
 V. In the earliest times of the church, all 
 who professed firmly to believe that Jesus was 
 the only redeemer of the world, and who in 
 consequence of this profession, promised to 
 live in a mamier conformable to the purity of 
 his holy religion, were immediately received 
 among the disciples of Christ. This was all 
 the preparation for baptism then required; and 
 a more accurate instruction in the doctrines 
 of Christianity was to be administered to them 
 after their reception of that sacrament. But, 
 when Christianity had acquired more consist- 
 ence, and churches rose to the true God and 
 his eternal Son, almost in every nation, this 
 custom was changed for the wisest and most 
 solid reasons. Then baptism was administered 
 to none but such as had been previously in- 
 structed in the principal points of Christianity, 
 and had also given satisfactory proofs of pious 
 dispositions and upright intentions. Hence 
 arose the distinction between catechumens, who 
 were in a state of probation, and under the in- 
 struction of persons appointed for that pur- 
 pose; and believers, who were consecrated by 
 baptism, and thus initiated into all the myste- 
 ries of the Christian faith. 
 
 VI. The methods of instructing the cate- 
 chumens differed according to their various 
 capacities. To those, in whom the natural 
 force of reason was small, only the fundamen- 
 tal principles and truths, which are, as it were, 
 the basis of Christianity, were taught. Those, 
 on the contrary, whom their instructors judg- 
 ed capable of comprehending, in some measure, 
 the whole system of divine truth, were fur- 
 nished with superior degrees of knowledge; 
 and notliing was concealed from them, which 
 could have any tendency to render them firm 
 in their profession, and to assist them in arriv- 
 ing at Christian perfection. The care of in- 
 structing such WBS committed to persons who 
 were distinguished by their gravity and wis- 
 doin, and also by their learning and judgment. 
 Hence the ancient doctors generally divide 
 their flock into two classes; the one compre- 
 hending such as were solidly and thoroughly 
 
 See Buddei Isagoge ad Theologium, lib. i. cap. ii. 
 sect. 2. p. 441, as also Walchii Inlroduetio in libros Sym- 
 bolicos, lib. i. cap. ii. p. 87. 
 
 f This opiuioii is confirmed in the most learned and in- 
 genious manner by Sir I'eler King, in his history of the 
 Apostles' Creed. Such, however, as read this valuable 
 work with pleasure, and with a certain degree of pre- 
 possession, would do well to consider that iU author, 
 upon several occasions, has given us conjectures instead 
 of proofs; and also, that liis conjectures are not always' 
 so happy as justly to command our assent. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 43 
 
 instructed; tlie other, tlioso who were ac- 
 quainted witli Httle more than the first princi- 
 ples of religion; nor do they deny tlwt the 
 methods of instruction applied to these two '• 
 sorts of persons were extremely difl'erent. i 
 
 VII. The Christians took all possihlc care 
 to accustom their children to the st\idy of the 
 Scriptures, and to instruct tiiem in the doc- 
 trines of their holy religion; and schools were 
 every where erected for this purpose, even 
 from the very commencement oi' the Christian 
 church. We must not, however, confound the i 
 schools designed only for children, with the { 
 gytnnasia or academies of the ancient Chris- ' 
 tians, erected in several large cities, in which 
 persons of riper years, especially such as as- , 
 pired to be public teachers, were instructed in | 
 the different branches, both of human learn- ; 
 ing and of sacred erudition. We may, un-: 
 doulitedly, attribute to the apostles themselves, : 
 and to the injunctions given to their disciples, 
 the excellent establishments, in which the 
 youth destined to the holy ministry received i 
 an education suitable to the solemn office they j 
 were to undertake.* St. John erected a scliool i 
 of this kind at Ephesus, and one of the same 
 nature was founded by Polycarp at Smyrnaif | 
 but these were not in greater repute than that ' 
 which was established at Alexandria,^ com- | 
 monly called the catechetical school, and gene- 
 rally supposed to have been erected by St. ! 
 Mark.§ i 
 
 VIII. The ancient Christians are supposed 
 by many to have had a secret doctrine; and if | 
 by this be meant, that they did not teach all ; 
 in the same manner, or reveal all at once, and | 
 to all indiscriminately, the sublime mysteries \ 
 of religion, there is nothing in this that may ; 
 not be fully justified. It would have been I 
 improper, for example,' to propose to those who 
 were yet to be converted to Christianity, the ' 
 more difficult doctrines of the Gospel, which ! 
 surpass the comprehension of imperfect mor- 
 tals. Such were, therefore, first instructed in j 
 those points whidi are more obvious and plain, 
 until they became capable of higher and more i 
 difficult attainments in religious knowledge. 
 And even those who were already admitted 
 into the society of Christians, were, in point 
 of instruction, dilVcrently dealt with according 
 to their respective capacities. Those who con- 
 sider the secret doctrine of this century in any 
 other light, or give to it a greater extent than 
 what we have here attributed to it, confound 
 the superstitious practices of the following 
 
 * 2 Tim. ii. 2. 
 
 f Ircnxus, adv. Haeres. lib. ii. cap. xxii. Eusebius, Hist. 
 Ecclts. lib. V. cap. xx. 
 
 QQ=- \ The Alexandrian School was renowned for a 
 succession of learned doctors, as wc find by the accounts 
 of Eusebius and St. Jerom; for, after St. Mark, Pan- 
 tsenus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and many others, 
 taught in it the doctrines of the Gospel, and rendered it 
 a famous seminary for Christian philosophy and religious 
 knowledge. There were also at Home, Aniioeh, Ciesa- 
 rea, Edessa, and in several other cities, schools of the 
 same nature, though not all of equal reputation. 
 
 ^ See the dissertation of Schmidius, de Sehola Catc- 
 chetica Alexandrina; as also .\ulisius, dcllc Scuole Sacre, 
 book ii. ch. i. ii. xxi. The curious reader will find a 
 learned account of the more famous Christian schools iu 
 the eastern parts, at Edessa, Nisibis, and Seleucia; and, 
 indeed, of the ancient schools in general, in Assemani 
 Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vaticana:, torn. iii. par. ii. 
 
 ages, with the simplicity of that discipline 
 which prevailed at the time of wliich we 
 write. ^ 
 
 IX. The lives and manners of the Chris- 
 tians in this century are highly celebrated by 
 most autliors, and recommended to succeeding 
 generations as unspotted models of piety and 
 virtue; and, if these encomiums be confined 
 to the greater part of those who embraced 
 Christianity in the infancy of the church, they 
 are certainly distributed with justice: but many 
 run into extremes upon this head, and, estimat- 
 ing the lives and manners of all by the illus- 
 trious examples of some eminent saints, or the 
 sublime precepts and exhortations of certain 
 pious doctors, fondly imagine, that every ap- 
 pearance of vice and disorder was banished 
 from the first Christian societies. The greatest 
 part of those authors who have treated of the 
 innocence and sanctity of the primitive Chris- 
 tians, have fallen into this error; and a gross 
 error indeed it is, as the strongest testimonies 
 too evidently prove. 
 
 X. One of the circumstances which contri- 
 buted chiefly to preserve, at least, an external 
 appearance of sanctity in the Christian church, 
 was the right of excluding from it, and from 
 all participation of tjie sacred rites and ordi- 
 nances of the Gospel, sucli as had been guilty 
 of enormous transgressions, and to whom re- 
 peated e.xliortations to repentance and amend- 
 ment had been administered in vain. This 
 right was vested in the ciuirch from the ear- 
 liest period of its existence, by the apostles 
 themselves, and was exercised by each Cliris- 
 tian assembly upon its respective members. 
 The rulers, or doctors, denounced the persons 
 whom they thought unworthy of the privileges 
 of church communion; and the people, freely 
 approving or rejecting their judgment, pro- 
 noimced the decisive sentence. It was not, 
 however, irrevocable; for such as gave un- 
 doubted signs of their sincere repentance, and 
 declared their solemn resolutions of future re- 
 formation, were re-admitted into the church, 
 however enormous their crimes had been; but, 
 in case of a rela])se, their second e.vclusion be- 
 came absolutely irreversible.! 
 
 XI. It will easily be imagined, that unity 
 and peace could not reign long in the church, 
 since it was composed of Jews and Gentiles, 
 who regarded each other with the bitterest 
 aversion. Besides, as the converts to Chris- 
 tianity could not extirpate radically the pre- 
 judices which had been formed in their minds 
 by education, and confirmed by time, they 
 brought with thom into the bosom of the 
 church more or less of the errors of their for- 
 mer religion. Thus the seeds of discortl and 
 controversy were early sown, and could not 
 fail to spring up soon into animosities and dis- 
 sensions, which accordingly broke out, and di- 
 vided the church. The first of these contro- 
 versies arose in the church of Antiocii. It re- 
 garded the necessity of observing the law of 
 
 * Many learned observations upon the secret discijiUne 
 have been collected by the celebrated Chrisloph. Matt. 
 Pfaffius, in his Dissert, poster, de Pra!judicii» Theolug. 
 sect. 13, p. 149, &c. in Primiliis Tnhiiigpusibus. 
 
 t See Morinus, Comm. de Disciplina Puenitentix, lib. 
 ix. cap. xix. p. 670. 
 
44 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Moses; and its issue is mentioned by St. Luke 
 in the Acts of the Apostles.* This controversy 
 was followed by many others, eitlier with the 
 Jews, who were violently attached to the wor- 
 ship of their ancestors, or witli the votaries of 
 a wild and fanatical sort of phiJosopIiy, or 
 with such as, mistaking the true genius of the 
 Christian religion, abused it monstrously to tlie 
 encouragement of their vices, and the indul- 
 gence of their appetites and passions.f St. 
 Paul and the other apostles have, in several 
 places of their writings, mentioned these con- 
 troversies, but with such brevity, that it is dif- 
 ficult, at this distance of time, to discover the 
 true state of the question in these various 
 disputes. 
 
 XII. The most weighty and important of all 
 these controversies, was that which some Jew- 
 ish doctors raised at Rome, and in other 
 Christian churches, concerning the means of 
 justification and acceptance with God, and the 
 method of salvation pointed out in the word 
 of God. The apostles, wherever they exer- 
 cised their ministry, had constantly declared 
 all hopes of acceptance and salvation delusive, 
 except such as were founded on Jesus the Re- 
 deemer, and his all-sufficient merits, while the 
 Jewish doctors maintained the works of the 
 law to be the true efiicient cause of tlie souPs 
 eternal salvation and felicity. The latter sen- 
 timent not only led to other errors prejudicial 
 to Christianity, but was particularly injurious 
 to the glory of its divine author; for tliose who 
 looked upon a course of life conformable to the 
 law, as a meritorious title to eternal happiness, 
 could not consider Christ as the Son of God, 
 and the Saviour of mankind, but only as an 
 eminent prophet, or a divine messenger, sent 
 from above to enlighten and instruct a darken- 
 ed world. It is not, therefore, surprising, that 
 St. Paul took so much pains in his Epistle to 
 the Romans, and in his other writings, to ex- 
 tirpate such a pernicious and capital error. 
 
 Xni. The controversy that had been raised 
 concerning the necessity of observing tlie cere- 
 monies of the Mosaic law, was detennined by 
 the apostles in the wisest and most prudent 
 manner.}; Their authority, however, respec- 
 table as it was, had not its full effect; for the 
 prejudices, which the Jews, especially those 
 who lived in Palestine, entertained in favour 
 of the Mosaic law and their ancient worship, 
 were so deeply rooted in their minds, that they 
 could not be thoroughly removed. The force 
 of these prejudices was indeed, somewhat di- 
 minished after the destruction of Jerusalem 
 and the ruin of the temple, but not entirely 
 destroyed. And hence, as we shall see in its 
 place, a part of the judaizing Christians sepa- 
 rated themselves from the rest, and formed a 
 particular sect, distinguished by their adhe- 
 rence to the law of Moses. 
 
 * Chap. XV. 
 
 t See, for an illustration of these points, Witsius' 
 Missellanea Sacra, torn. ii. Ksercit. xx. xxi. xxii. p. 668., 
 and also Camp. Vitringa, Observ. Sacrae, lib. iv., cap. ix. 
 X. xi., p. 952. 
 
 } Acts xr. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The Christian rehgion was singularly 
 commendable on account of its beautiful and 
 divine simplicity, which appears from its two 
 great and fundamental principles — faith and 
 charity. This simplicity was not, however, 
 incompatible with external ceremonies and 
 positive institutions, which, indeed, are neces- 
 sary, in this imperfect state, to keep alive a 
 sense of religion in the minds of men. The 
 rites instituted by Christ himself were only two 
 in number; and these were intended to con- 
 tinue to the end of the church here below, 
 without any variation. These rites were bap- 
 tism and the holy supper, which are not to be 
 considered as mere ceremonies, nor yet as sym- 
 bolic representations only, but also as ordinan- 
 ces accompanied with a sanctifying influence 
 upon the heart and the affections of true 
 Christians. And we cannot help observing 
 here, that since the divine Saviour thought fit 
 to appoint no more than two plain institutions 
 in his church, this shows us that a great num- 
 ber of ceremonies are not essential to his reli- 
 gion, and that he left it to the free and pru- 
 dent choice of Cluistians to establish such rites 
 as tlie circumstances of the times, or the exi- 
 gencies of the church, might require. 
 
 II. There are several circumstances, how- 
 ever, which incline us to tliink, that tlie friends 
 and apostles of our blessed Lord either tolerat- 
 ed through necessity, or appointed for wise 
 reasons, many other external rites in various 
 places. At the same time, we are not to ima- 
 gine that they ever conferred upon any person 
 a perpetual, indelible, pontifical authority, or 
 that they enjoined the same rites in all churches. 
 We learn on the contrary, from authentic re- 
 cords, that the Christian worship was, from the 
 beginning, celebrated in a different manner in 
 different places, undoubtedly by the orders, or 
 at least with the approbation of the apostles 
 and their disciples. In those early times it was 
 both wise and necessary to show, in the esta- 
 blishment of outward forms of worship, some 
 indulgence to the ancient opinions, manners, 
 and laws of the respective nations to which 
 the Gospel was preached. 
 
 III. Hence it follows that the opinion of 
 those who maintain that the Jewish rites were 
 adopted every where, in the Christian churches, 
 by order of the apostles, or their disciples, is 
 destitute of all foimdation. In those Christian 
 societies, which were totally or principally com- 
 posed of Jewish converts, it was natural to re- 
 tain as much of the Jewish ritual as the genius 
 of Christianity would suffer; and a multitude 
 of examples testify that this was actually done. 
 But that the same translation of Jewish rites 
 should take place in Cliristian churches, where 
 there were no Jews, or a very small and incon- 
 siderable number, is utterly incredible, because 
 such an event was morally impossible. In a 
 word, the external forms of worship used in 
 ancient times, must necessarily have been r?- 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 45 
 
 in those perilous times, attended their transpor 
 tatiou from one place to another. And then, 
 probabl}', the places of meeting, that had for- 
 merly belonged to private persons, became the 
 property of the whole Christian conununity.* 
 These few remarks are, in my opinion, suf- 
 ficient to detenninc that question, which 
 has been so long, and so tediously debated, — 
 whether the fust Christians had churclies or 
 not;t since if any are pleased to give the name 
 of cliurch to a house, or the part of a house, 
 which, though appointed as the place of reli- 
 gious worship, was neither separated from com- 
 mon use, nor considered as holy in the opinion 
 of the people, it will be readily granted, that 
 the most ancient Christians had churches. 
 
 VI. In these assemblies the holy scriptures 
 were publicly read, and for that purpose were 
 divided into certain portions or lessons. This 
 part of divine service was followed by a brief 
 exhortation to the people, in which eloquence 
 and art gave place to the natural and lerveut 
 expression of zeal and charity. If any de- 
 clared themselves extraordinarily animated by 
 the Spirit, they were permitted to explain sue 
 cessively the divine will, while the other pro- 
 phets who were present decided how much 
 weight and authority were to be attributed to 
 what they said. J The prayers, which formed 
 a considerable part of the public worship, were 
 introduced at the conclusion of these discour- 
 ses, and were repeated by the people after the 
 bishop or presbyter, who presided in the ser- 
 vice. § To these were added certain hymns, 
 which were simg, not by the whole assembly, 
 but by persons appointed for that purpose, dur- 
 ing the celebration of the Lord's supper, and 
 the feasts of charity. Such were the essential 
 parts of divine worship which were observed in 
 all Christian churches, though, perhaps the 
 method and order in which they were perform- 
 ed were not the same in all.|| 
 
 VII. The prayers of the first Christians were 
 followed by oblations of bread, wine, and other 
 things; and hence both the ministers of the 
 cliurch and the poor, derived their subsistence. 
 Every Christian, who was in an opulent con- 
 dition, and indeed every one, according to his 
 circimistances, brought gifts and offered them, 
 as it were, to the Lord.lF Of the bread and 
 wine presented in these offerings, such a quan- 
 tity was separated from the rest as was requir- 
 ed in the administration of the Lord's supper; 
 this was consecrated by certain prayers pro- 
 nounced by the bishop alone, to wliich the 
 
 gulated and modified according to the cliarac- 
 ter, genius, and manners of the different na- 
 tions on which tiie light of the Gosi>cl arose 
 
 IV. Since then there was such a variety 
 in the ritual and discipline of the primitive 
 churches, it must be very difficult to give such 
 an account of the worship, manners, and in- 
 stitutions, of the ancient Christians, as will 
 agree with what was practised in all those 
 countries where the Gospel flourished. There 
 are, notwithstanding, certain laws, whose au- 
 thority and obligation were universal and in- 
 dispensable among Christians; and of these we 
 shall here give a brief account. All Clmstians 
 were unanimous in setting apart the first day 
 of the week, on which the triumphant Saviour 
 arose from the dead, for the solemn celebra- 
 tion of public worship. This pious custom, 
 which was derived from the example of the 
 church of Jerusalem, was founded upon the 
 express appointment of the apostles, who con- 
 secrated that day to the same sacred purpose, 
 and was observed luiiversally throughout the 
 Christian churches, as appears from the united 
 testimonies of the most credible writers.* The 
 seventh diiy of the week was also observed as 
 a festival,! not by the Christians in general, 
 but by such churches only as were principally 
 composed of Jewish converts; nor did the other 
 Christians censure this custom as criminal or 
 unlawful. It appears, moreover, that all the 
 Christian churches observed two great, anniver- 
 sary festivals; one in memory of Christ's glo- 
 rious resurrection, and the other to commemo- 
 rate the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the 
 apostles.| To these we may add the days on 
 which the blessed martyrs laid down their lives 
 for the truth, which days were probably digni- 
 fied with particular solemnities and marks of 
 veneration from the earliest times. 
 
 V. The places in which the first Christians 
 assembled to celebrate divine worsliip, were, no 
 doubt, the houses of private persons. But, in 
 process of time, it became necessary, that these 
 sacred assemblies should be confined to one 
 fixed place in which the books, tables, and 
 desks, required in divine service, might be con- 
 stantly kept, and the dangers avoided, which 
 
 * Phil. Jac. Hartmannus, de rebus gestis Christianorum 
 sub Apostolis, cap. xv. p. 387. Just. Hen. Bohmer, Dis- 
 sert. 1. Juris Eccles. Autiqui de slato die Christianor. 
 p. 20, &c. 
 
 t Stcph. Curcellsu?, Diatriba de Esu Sanguinis, Ope- 
 rum Theolog. p. 958. Gab. Albaspinaus, Observat. Ec- 
 cles. lib. i. Observ. xiii. It is in vain that many learned 
 men have laboured to prove, that, in all the primitive 
 churches, both the first and last day of the week were 
 observed as festivals. The cliurches of Bilhynia, of which 
 riiny speaks in his letter to Trajan, had only one stated 
 day for tlie celebration of public worship; and that was, 
 undoubtedly, the first day of the week, or what we call 
 the Lord's day. 
 
 { There are, it is true, learned men, who look upon 
 it as a doubtful matter whether the day of Pentecost was 
 celebrated as a festival so early as the first century. See 
 Bingham's Antiquities of the Cliristian Church, book 
 XX. chap. vi. But, notwithstanding this, there are some 
 weighty reasons for believing that this festival was as 
 ancient as that of Easter, which was celebrated, as all 
 agree, from the very first rise of the church. It is also 
 probable that Friday, the day of Christ's crucifixiou, was 
 early distinguished by particular honours from the other 
 days of the week. Sec Jac. Godofred, in Codicem 
 Theodosii, torn. i. Asseman. Biblioth. Oriental, Vatican, 
 torn. i. Marteuue, Thesaur. Anccdot, torn. v. 
 
 * See Camp. Vilringa, de Synagoga vetere, lib. i. par. 
 iii. cap. i. p. 432. 
 
 f See Blondel, de Episcopis et Presbyteris, sect. iii. p. 
 216, 243, 246. Just. Hen. Bohmer, Dissert, ii. Juris 
 Eccles. Antiqui, de Antelucanis Christianorum Costibus, 
 sect. 4. Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, 
 book viii. chap. i. 
 
 t 1 Cor. xiv. 6. 
 
 § See Justin Martyr's second Apology, p. 98, &c. 
 
 II This must be understood of churches well established, 
 and regulated by fixed laws; for, in the first Christian 
 assemblies, which were yet in an imperfect and fluctuating 
 state, one or other of these circumstances of divine wor- 
 ship may possibly have been omitted. 
 
 IT See the dissertations of the venerable and learned 
 Pfaff, de Oblatione et Consicratione Eucharistica, 
 which are contained in his Syntagma Dissertation. Theo- 
 logic, published at Stutgard in ITiO. 
 
46 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 people assented, by saying Amen.* Tlie holy 
 supper was distributed by tlie deacons; and 
 this sacred institution was followed by sober 
 repasts, denominated (from the excellent pur- 
 pose to wliich they were directed,) agapoi, or 
 feasts of charity. t Many attempts have been 
 made to fix precisely the nature of these social 
 feasts. But here it must be again considered, 
 that the rites and customs of the primitive 
 Christians were very different in different 
 countries, and that consequently these feasts, 
 like otiier institutions, were not every where 
 celebrated in the same manner. This is the 
 true and only way of explaining all the diffi- 
 culties that can arise upon this subject. 
 
 VIII. The sacrament of baptism was ad- 
 ministered in this century, without the public 
 assemblies, in places appointed and prepared 
 for tliat purpose, and was performed by an im- 
 mersion of the whole body in the baptismal 
 font.J At fi:-st it was usual for all who labour- 
 ed in the propagation of the Gospel, to be 
 present at that solemn ceremony; and it was 
 also customary, that the converts should be 
 baptized and received into the church by those 
 under whose ministry they had embraced tlie 
 Christian doctrine. But tiiis custom was soon 
 changed. When the churches were well esta- 
 blished, and governed by a system of fixed laws, 
 then the right of baptizing the converts was 
 vested in the bishop alone. This right, in- 
 deed, he conferred upon the presbyters and the 
 chorepiscopi (country bishops,) when the bounds 
 of the church were still farther enlarged; re- 
 serving, however, to himself the confirmation 
 of that baptism which was administered by a 
 presbyter. § There were, doubtless, several 
 circmnstantial ceremonies observed in the ad- 
 ministration of this sacrament for the sake of 
 order and decency. Of these, however, it is 
 not easy, nor perhaps is it possible to give a 
 certain or satisfactory accomit, since, on this 
 subject we are too much exposed to tlie illu- 
 sion wliich arises from confounding the customs 
 of tlie primitive times with those of succeeding 
 ages. 
 
 IX. Persons who were visited with violent 
 or dangerous disorders, sent, according to tlie 
 apostle's direction, II for the rulers of the church, 
 and, after confessing their sins, were recom- 
 mended by them to the divine mercy, in prayers 
 full of piety and fervour, and were also anoint- 
 ed with oil. This rite has occasioned many 
 debates, and, indeed, they must be endless. 
 
 ♦ Justin Martyr, Apologia secunda. The several au- 
 thors who have investigated the manner of celebrating 
 the Lord's supper, are mentioned by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, 
 in his Bibliograph. Autiquar. cap. xi. 
 
 t The authors who have described the agapa are men 
 tioned by Ittigius, in his Selecta Historia; Eccles. Capita, 
 Saee. ii. cap. iii.; and also by Pfaff, de Originibus Juris 
 Eccles. p. 68. 
 
 \ See the learned dissertation of Jo. Gerard Vossius 
 concerning baptism, Disp. i. Thes. vi. p. 31, Sic. The 
 reader will also find, in the xith chapter and xxvth section 
 of the Bibliogr. Antiquar. of Fabricius, an account of the 
 authors who have written upon this subject. 
 
 Ij These observations will illustrate, and, perhaps, de- 
 cide the question concerning the right of administering 
 baptism, which has been so long debated among tlie learn- 
 ed, and with such ardour and vehemence. See Bohmer, 
 Dissert, xi. Juris Eccles. p. 500; and also Le Clerc, 
 Biblioth. UniverscUe et Historinue, torn. iv. p. 93. 
 
 11 James v. 14. 
 
 since the silence of the ancient writers upon 
 that Jiead renders it impossible to decide the 
 matter with certainty. The anointing of the 
 sick is very rarely mentioned in the ancient 
 records of the church, though there is no rea- 
 son to doubt that it was an universal custom 
 among Christians.* 
 
 X. Neither Christ nor his apostles enacted 
 any law concerning fasling. A custom, how- 
 ever, prevailed among many Christians, of 
 joining abstinence with their prayers, espe- 
 cially when they were engaged in aflairs of - 
 extraordinary importance.! As this custom 
 was authorized by no public law, the time that 
 was to be employed in these acts of abstinence 
 was left to every one's private judgment; nor 
 were those looked upon as criminal, who con- 
 tented tliemselves with observing the rules of 
 strict temperance, without going farther. J In 
 the most ancient times we find no mention of 
 any public and solemn fasts, except on the an- 
 niversary of Christ's crucifixion. But, in pro- 
 cess of time, days of fasting were gradually 
 introduced, first by custom, and afterwards by 
 positive appointment, though it is not certain 
 what those days were, or whether they were 
 observed in the first century. Those, however, 
 who affu-m, that in the time of the apostles, 
 or soon after, the fourth and sixth days of the 
 week were observed as fasts, are not, it must 
 be acknowledged, destitute of specious argu- 
 ments in favour of their opinion.^ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Conccrnins; the Divisions and Heresies ichich 
 troubled the Church during this Century. 
 I. The Christian church was scarcely form- 
 ed, when, in different places, there started up 
 certain pretended reformers, who, not satisfied 
 with the simplicity of that religion which was 
 taught by the apostles, meditated changes of 
 doctrine and worship, and set up a new reli- 
 gion, drawn from their own licentious imagi- 
 nations. This we learn from the writings of 
 the apostles, and particularly from the epistles 
 of St. Paul, where we fmd, that some were in- 
 clined to force the doctrines of Christianity into 
 a conformity witii the philosophical systems 
 they had adopted, || while others were as studi- 
 ous to blend with these doctrines the opinions, 
 customs, and traditions of the Jews. Several 
 of these are mentioned by the apostles, such as 
 Hpnenaeus, Alexander, Philetus, Hermogenes, 
 Demas, and Diotrephes; though the four last 
 are rather to be considered as apostates from 
 the truth, than as corrupters of it.H 
 
 * The accounts which the ancient authors have given 
 of this custom are the most of them collected in a treatise 
 published by Launoy, de Sacramentis Unctionis infirmo- 
 rum, cap. i. p. 444. in the first volume of his works. 
 Among these accounts there are very few drawn from 
 the writers of the first ages, and some passages applica- 
 ble to this subject have been omitted by that learned au- 
 thor. 
 
 f 1 Cor.vii. 5. 
 
 I See the Shepherd of Hermas,booli iii. Similitud. v. 
 § See Beverege's Vindication of the Canon, in the 
 
 second volume of his edition of the Apostolic Fathers. 
 
 II 1 Tim. vi. 20. 1 Tim. i. 3, 4. Tit. iii. 9. Col. ii. 8. 
 
 TT 2 Tim. ii. 18; and in other places. See also the ac- 
 curate accounts given of these men by Vitringa, ObserV. 
 Sacr. hb. iv. cap. ix. p. 952. Ittigius, de Haeresiarchis 
 jEvi Apostol. seel. i. cap. viii. Buddeus, de Ecclesia 
 Apostolica, cap. v. 
 
Cha^. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 47 
 
 II. Tho influence of these new teachers was 
 at first inconsiderable. During the Hves of the 
 apostles, their attempts toward tlie perversion 
 of Christianity were attended witli htlle suc- 
 cess, and they had a very small number of fol- 
 lowers. They, however, accpnred credit and 
 strength by degrees; and, even from the first 
 dawn of the Gospel, imperceptibly laid the 
 foundations of those sects, whose animosilic^i 
 and disputes produced afterwards such trouble 
 and perplexity in tho Christian chmcli. The 
 true state of these divisions is more involved 
 in darkness than any other part of ecclesiasti' 
 cal history; and this obscurity proceeds, partly 
 from the want of ancient records, partly from 
 the abstruse and unintelligible nature of the 
 doctrines tliat distinguished these various sects; 
 and, finally, from the ignorance and prejudices 
 of those, who have transmitted to us the ac- 
 counts of them, which are yet extant. Of one 
 thing, indeed, we are certain, and that is, that 
 the greater part of these doctrines were chime- 
 rical and extravagant in the highest degree; 
 and, far from containing any thing that could 
 recommend them to a lover of truth, they ra- 
 ther deserve to occupy a place in the history of 
 human delusion and folly.* 
 
 III. Among the various sects that troubled 
 the tranquillity of the Christian church, the 
 leading one was that of the Gnostics. These 
 enthusiastic and self-sufficient philosophers 
 boasted of their being able to restore mankind 
 to the knowledge (gnos'is) of the true and Su- 
 preme Being, which had been lost in the world. 
 They also foretold the approaching defeat of 
 the evil principle, to vvliom they attributed the 
 creation of this globe, and declared, in the most 
 pompous terms, the destruction of his associ- 
 ates, and the ruin of his empire. An opinion 
 has prevailed, derived from the authority of 
 Clemens the Alexandrian, that the first ap- 
 pearance of the Gnostic sect is to be dated 
 after the death of the apostles, and placed in 
 the reign of the emperor Adrian; and it is also 
 alleged, that, before this time, the church en- 
 joyed a perfect tranquillity, undisturbed by dis- 
 sensions, or sects of any kind. But the small- 
 est degree of attention to the language of the 
 Scriptures, not to mention the authority of 
 other ancient records, will prevent us from 
 adopting this groundless notion. For, from 
 several passages of the sacred writings,! it evi- 
 dently appears, that, even in the first century, 
 the general Christian meeting was deserted, 
 and separate assemblies were formed in several 
 
 * Certain authors have written professedly of the sects 
 that divided the cliureh in this, and tlie following century, 
 such as Ittigius, in his treatise de Hseresiarchis JFj\i 
 Apostolici et Apostolico proximi,and also in the Appendix 
 to the same work; Renatus Massuet, in his Dissertations 
 prefixed to Irensus, and Tillemont, in his Menioirts 
 pour servir a I'llistoire de I'Eglise. But these authors, 
 and others whom we shall not mention, have ratlier col- 
 lected the materials from which a history of the ancient 
 sects may be composed, than written their history. 
 HinckelmaUjTliomasius, Dodwell, Horbius, and 13aiii:igi-, 
 have some of them promised, others of them attempti d 
 such a history; but none of tlicm finished this useful de- 
 sign. It is therefore to be wished that some eminent 
 writer, who, with a competent knowledge of ancient 
 philosophy and literature, also possesses a penetrating 
 and unbiassed judcraeut, would uiideilakc this difficult 
 but interesting work. 
 
 t 1 John ii. 18. 1 Tim. vi. 20. Col. ii. 8, 
 
 l)laccs, by persons infected with the Gnostic 
 heresy; thougli, at the same time, it must be 
 acknowledged, that this pernicious sect was 
 not cons()icuous, either for its ininibcr, or its 
 reputation, before the time of Adrian. It is 
 proper to observe here, that, under the general 
 appellation of Gnostics, are com])rehendc<l all 
 those who, in the first ages of Christianity, cor- 
 rupted the doctrine of the Gospel by a profane 
 mixture of the tenets of the oriental philoso- 
 phy (concerning the origin of evil and the 
 creation of the world,) with its divine truths. 
 IV. It was from this oriental philosophy, of 
 which the leading principles have been already 
 mentioned, that the Christian Gnostics deriv- 
 ed their origin. If it was one of the chief 
 tenets of this philoso])hy, that rational souls 
 were imprisoned in corrupt matter, contrary to 
 the will of the Supreme Deity, there were, 
 however, in this same system, other doctrines 
 which promised a deliverance from tliis deplo- 
 rable state of servitude and darkness. Tlie 
 oriental sages expected the arrival of an extra- 
 ordinary messenger of the Most High upon 
 earth; a messenger invested with a divine au- 
 thority, endowed with the most eminent sanc- 
 tity and wisdom, and peculiarly commissioned 
 to enlighten, with the knowledge of the Su- 
 pretne Being, the darkened minds of miserable 
 mortals, and to deliver them from the chains of 
 the tyrants, and usurpers of this world. Wlien, 
 therefore, some of these philosophers perceived 
 that Christ and his followers wrought miracles 
 of tlie most amazing kind, and also of the most 
 salutary nature to mankind, they were easily 
 induced to believe that he was the great Mes- 
 senger expected from above, to deliver men 
 from the power of the malignant genii, or 
 spirits, to which, according to their doctrine, 
 the world was subjected, and to free their souls 
 from tlie dominion of corrupt matter. — This 
 supposition once admitted, they interpreted, or 
 rather corrupted, all the precepts and doctrines 
 of Christ and his apostles, in such a manner as 
 to reconcile them with their own pernicious 
 tenets. 
 
 V. From the false principle above mention- 
 ed, arose, as it was natural to expect, a multi- 
 tude of sentiments and notions, most remote 
 from the tenor of the gospel doctrines, and tho 
 nature of its precepts. The Gnostic doctrine, 
 concerning the creation of the world by one or 
 more inferior beings, of an evil, or, at least, of 
 an imperfect nature, led that sect to deny the 
 divine authority of the books of the Old Tes- 
 tament, whose accounts of the origin of things 
 so palpably contradictetl this idle fiction. — 
 Through a frantic aversion to these sacred 
 books, they lavished their encomiiuns upon the 
 sei-jient, the first author of sin, and held in ve- 
 neration some of the most impious and profli- 
 gate persons of whom mention is made in sa- 
 cred liistory. The pernicious iiilluence of 
 their fundamental principle carried them to all 
 sorts of extravagance, filled them with an ab- 
 horrence of Moses and the religion he taught, 
 and induced them to assert, tiiat in imposing 
 such a system of disagreeable and severe laws 
 upon the Jews, he was only actuated by the 
 maligirant author of this world, who consulted 
 his own glory and authority, and not the real 
 
48 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OI' THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 advantage of men. Their persuasion that evil 
 resided in matter, as its centre and source, pre- 
 vented their treating the hody with the regard 
 that is due to it, rendered tliem inifavourable 
 to wedlock, as the means by which corporeal 
 beings are multiplied, and led them to reject 
 the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, 
 and its future re-union with the immortal 
 spirit. Their notion that malevolent genii pre- 
 tsided in nature, and that from them proceeded 
 all diseases and calamities, wars and desola- 
 tions, induced them to apply themselves to the 
 study of magic, to weaken the powers or sus- 
 pend the influences of these malignant agents. 
 I omit the mention of several other extrava- 
 gances in their system, the enumeration of 
 which would be incompatible with the charac- 
 ter of a compendious history. 
 
 VI. The notions of this sect concerning Je- 
 sus Christ were impious and extravagant. For, 
 though they considered him as the Son of the 
 Supreme God, sent from the pleroma, or habi- 
 tation of the Everlasting Father, for the hap- 
 piness of miserable mortals, yet they enter- 
 tained unworthy ideas, both of his person and 
 offices. They denied his deity, looking upon 
 him as the mere Son of God, and consequent- 
 ly inferior to the Father; and they rejected his 
 humanity, upon the supposition that every 
 thing concrete and corporeal is, in itself, essen- 
 tially and intrinsically evil. Hence the great- 
 est part of the Gnostics denied that Christ was 
 clothed with a real body, or that he suffered 
 really, for the sake of manliind, the pains and 
 sorrows which he is said to have sustained in 
 the sacred history. They maintained that he 
 came to mortals with no other view, than to 
 deprive the tjrrants of this w"orld of their influ- 
 ence upon virtuous and heaven born souls, and, 
 destroj'ing the empire of these wicked spirits, 
 to teach mankind how they might separate the 
 divine mind from the impure body, and render 
 the former worthy of being united to the Fa- 
 ther of spirits. 
 
 VII. Their doctrine, relating to morals and 
 practice, was of two kinds, which were ex- 
 tremely different from each other. The great- 
 est part of this sect adopted rules of life that 
 were full of austerity, recommended a strict 
 and rigorous abstinence, and prescribed the 
 most severe bodily mortifications, from a notion 
 that these observances had a happy influence 
 in purifying and enlarging the mind, and in 
 disposing it for the contemplation of celestial 
 things. As they looked upon it to be the un- 
 happiness of the soul to have been associated, 
 at all, to a malignant, terrestrial body, so they 
 imagined that the more the body was extenu- 
 ated, the less it would corrupt and degrade the 
 mind, or divert it from pursuits of a spiritual 
 and divine natm-e: all the Gnostics, however, 
 were not so severe in their moral discipline. 
 Some maintained that there was no moral dif- 
 ference in human actions; and thus confound- 
 ing right and wrong, they gave a loose rein 
 to all the passions, and asserted the innocence 
 of following blindly all their motions, and of 
 living by their tumultuous dictates.* There 
 
 See the Stromola of Clemens .\lexandiinus, lib. iii. 
 
 cap. V. 
 
 1 is nothing surprising or unaccountable in this 
 j difference between the Gnostic moralists; for, 
 i when we examine the matter with attention, 
 we shall find, that the same doctrine may very 
 naturally have given rise to these opposite sen- 
 timents. As they all deemed the body the 
 centre and source of evil, those of that sect, 
 who were of a morose and austere disposition, 
 would be hence naturally led to mortify and 
 combat the body as the enemy of the soul; and 
 those who were of a voluptuous turn, might 
 also consider the actions of the body as having 
 no relation, either of congruity or incongruity, 
 to the state of a soul in communion with God. 
 VIII. Such extraordinary doctrines had cer- 
 tainly need of an undoubted authority to sup- 
 port them; and, as this authority was not to 
 be found in the writings of the evangelists or 
 apostles, recourse was had to fables and strata- 
 (gems. When the Gnostics were challenged 
 I to produce the sources whence they had drawn 
 such strange tenets, and an authority proper to 
 justify the confidence with which they taught 
 them, some referred to fictitious writings of 
 Abraham, Zoroaster, Clirist, and his apostles; 
 others boasted of their having drawn these 
 opinions from certain secret doctrines of Clirist, 
 which were not exposed to vulgar eyes; others 
 affirmed, that they had arrived at these sub- 
 lime degrees of wisdom by an innate force 
 and vigour of mind; and some asserted, that 
 they were instructed in these mysterious parts 
 of theological science by Theudas, a disciple 
 of St. Paul, and by Matthias, one of the friends 
 of our Lord. As to those among the Gnostics 
 who did not utterly reject the books of the 
 New Testament, it is proper to observe, that 
 they not only interpreted those sacred books 
 most absurdly, by neglecting the true spirit of 
 the words and the intention of the writers, but 
 also corrupted them, in the most perfidious 
 manner, by curtailing and adding, in order to 
 remove what was unfavourable, or to produce 
 something conformable to their pernicious and 
 extravagant system. 
 
 IX. It has been already observed, that the 
 Gnostics were divided in their opinions before 
 they embraced Christianity. This appears- 
 from the account which has been given above 
 of the oriental philosophy; and hence we may 
 see the reason why they were formed into so 
 many different sects after their receiving the 
 Christian faith. For, as all of them endea- 
 voured to force the doctrines of the Gospel 
 into a conformity with their particular senti- 
 ments and tenets, so Christianity must liave 
 appeared in various forms, among the different 
 members of a sect, which passed, however, 
 under one general name. Another circum- 
 stance, whicTi contributed to this diversity of 
 sects, was, tliat some, being Jews by birth (as 
 Ccrintluis and otliers,) could not so easily as- 
 sume that contempt of Moses, and tliat aver- 
 sion to his liistory, which were so virulently 
 indidged by tliose who had no attachment to 
 the Jewisli nation or to its religious institu- 
 tions. We may also observe, that the whole 
 Gnostic system was destitute of any sure or 
 solid foundation, and depended both for its ex- 
 istence and support, iijion tlic airy suggestions 
 of genius and fancy. This consideration alone 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 49 
 
 is a sufficient key to explain the divisions that 
 reigned in this sect, since uniforiniUi can never 
 subsist, with assurance, but upon the basis of 
 evident and substantial truth; and varietii must 
 naturally introduce itself into those systems 
 and institutions which are formed and conduct- 
 ed by the sole powers of invention and fancy. 
 
 X. As then the Christian religion was, in its 
 rise, corrupted by the mixture of an impious 
 and chimerical pliilosophy with its pure and 
 sublime doctrines, it will be proper to mention 
 here the heads of those sects, who, in the hrst 
 century, cast a cloud upon the lustre of the 
 rising church. Among tiiesc, many have given 
 the first place to Dositheus, a Samaritan. It 
 is certain, that, about the time of our Saviour, 
 a man so named, lived among the Samaritans, 
 and abandoned that sect; but all the accounts 
 we have of him tend to show, that he is im- 
 properly placed among mere heretics, and 
 should rather be ranked among tlio enemies of 
 Christianity; for this delirious man sot himself 
 up for the Messiah, whom God had promised 
 to the Jews, and disowning, in consequence, 
 the divine mission of Christ, could not be said 
 to corrupt his doctrine.* 
 
 XL The same observation is applicable to 
 Simon Magus. This impious man is not to 
 bo ranked among those who corrupted with 
 their errors the purity and simplicity of the 
 Christian doctrine; nor is he to be considered 
 as the parent and chief of the heretical tribe, 
 in which point of light he has been injudi- 
 ciously viewed by almost all ancient and mo- 
 dern writers. He is rather to be placed in'the 
 innnber of those who were enemies to the pro- 
 gress and advancement of Christianity; for it 
 is manifest, from all the records wc have con- 
 cerning him, that after his defection from the 
 Christians, he retained not the least attachment 
 to Christ, but opposed himself openly to that 
 divine personage, and assumed to himself blas- 
 phemously the title of the supreme power of 
 Gorf.f 
 
 XH. The accounts which ancient writers 
 give us of Simon the magician, and of his 
 opinions, seem so diilerent and indeed so in- 
 consistent with each otlier, that several learn- 
 ed men have considered them as regarding two 
 different persons, bearing the name of Simon; 
 the one a magician, and an apostate from Chris- 
 tianity; the other a Gnostic philusoplier. This 
 opinion, which supposes a fact, without any 
 other proof than a seeming dillerence in the 
 narration of tiie ancient historians, ought not 
 to be too lightly adopted. To depart from the 
 authority of ancient writers in this matter is 
 by no means jn'udcnt: nor is it necessary to re- 
 concile the dilferent accounts already mention- 
 ed, whose inconsistency is not real, but appa- 
 rent only. Simon was by birth a Samaritan, 
 or a Jew: when he had studied philosophy at 
 Alexandria,^ he made a public profession of 
 magic (which was not a very uncommon cir- 
 cumstance at that time,) and peiisuadod the 
 Samaritans, by fictitious miracles, that he had 
 
 * See Basnagc, Histoire des Juifs, lib. ii. cap. xiii. and 
 Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliothequc des Auteuis 
 Ecclesiastiquea de M. Du-Tin, torn. iii. cap. xiii. 
 
 t Origen adv. Celsura, lib. v. 
 
 i CUuieiitiua Homil. ii. p. 633, torn. ii. Pr. Apost. 
 Vol,. I.— 7 
 
 received from God the power of commanding' 
 and restraining those evil beings by wliich 
 mankind were tormented.* Having seen the 
 miracles which I'hilip wrought by a divine 
 power, he joined himself to liiis n|)(jsllp, and 
 embraced the doctrine of Christ, hut with no 
 other design than to receive the power of work- 
 ing miracles, in order to promote a low inte- 
 rest, and to preserve and increase his impious 
 authority over the minds of men. Then St 
 Peter pointed out to him solemnly the impiety 
 of his intentions and the vanity of his hopes, 
 in that severe discourse recorded in the eighth 
 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles: then the 
 vile impostor not only returned to his former 
 ways by an entire defection from the Chris- 
 tians, but also opposed, wiierevcr he came, 
 the progToss of the Gospel, and even visited 
 dilferent countries witJi that odious intent. 
 Many things are recorded of this impostor, of 
 his tragical end, and of the statue erected to 
 him at Rome, wtiicii the greatest part of the 
 learned reject as fabuknis. 'J'hey are at least 
 uncertain, and destitute of all probability. t 
 
 XIII. It is beyond all doubt, that Simon 
 was in the class of those philosophers, who not 
 only maintained the eternity of matter, but 
 also the existence of an evil bcini; who presid- 
 ed, and thus shared the empire of the miiverse 
 with the supreme and beneficent Mnd; and, 
 as there was a considerable variety in the sen- 
 timents of the ditt'crcnt mcmbei"s of this sect, 
 it is more than probable, that Simon embraced 
 the opinion of those who held that matter 
 moved from eternity by an intrinsic and ne- 
 cessary activity, had, by its innate force, pro- 
 duced at a certain period, from its own sub- 
 stance, the evil principle which now exercises 
 dominion over it, with all his nmnerous train 
 of attendants. From this ])crnicious doctrine, 
 the other errors attributed to him concerning 
 fate, the indifterencc of human actions, the 
 impurity of the hiunan body, the power of 
 magic, and the like extravagances, flow natu- 
 rally, as from their true and genuine source.! 
 But this odious magician still proceeded to 
 more shocking degrees of enonnity in his mon- 
 
 ' Acts viii. 9, 10. 
 
 t See Beausobre, Histoire de Manich. p. 20.3, 395.- 
 Van Dale's Dissertation, de Statua Sinionis, subjoined to 
 his discourse concerning the ancient oracles; — Dellingius, 
 Observat. Sacr. lib. i. oliserv. xxxvi. Tillemont, Mc- 
 moires pour servir a I'Histoire de I'Eglisc, toin. i. p. 3t0. 
 (tjj- The circumstances of Simon's tragical end; his 
 having pretended to fly by a miraculous power, in order 
 to please the emperor iVero, who was fond of magic; his 
 falling to the ground, and breaking his limbs, iu conse- 
 quence of the prayers of St. Feler and St. Paul; and his 
 putting himself to death, through shame and despair, at 
 having been thus defeated by the ^Hperio^ power of the 
 apostles; all these romantic fictions have derived their 
 credit from a set of ecclesiastical writers, who, on many 
 occasions, prefer the marvellous to the truth, as favoura- 
 ble to a system of religion, or rather superstition, which 
 truth and reason loudly disown. 
 
 { The dissertation of Horbius, concerning Simon, the 
 mngician, which was published not long ago in the Bibli- 
 olh. Haeresiologica of Voiglius, torn. i. part ill. seems 
 preferable to any thing else upon that subject, though it 
 be a juvenile performance, and not sufficiently finished. 
 He follows the steps of his master, Tiiomasius, who, with 
 admirable penetration, discovered the true source of that 
 multitude of errors with which the Gnostics, and par 
 ticularly Simon, were so dismally polluted. Voigtius 
 gives a list of the other authors who have ouide mention 
 of this impostor. 
 
50 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 strous fictions; for he pretended, that in his 
 person resided the greatest and most powerful 
 of the divine teons; that another a^on of the 
 female sex, the mother of all human souls, 
 dwelt in the person of his mistress Helena,* 
 and that he came, by the command of God 
 upon earth, to abolish the empire of those who 
 had formed this material world, and to deliver 
 Helena from their power and dominion. 
 
 XIV. Anotlier wrong-headed teacher, named 
 Menander, a Samaritan also by birth, appear- 
 ed in this century. He is said to have been in- 
 structed by Simon; but this opinion has no 
 other foundation than the groundless notion, 
 that all the Gnostic sects derived tlieir origin 
 from that magician. He ought rather to be rank- 
 ed With tlie lunatics, than with the heretics of 
 antiquity, since he also took it into his head to 
 exhibit himself to the world as the promised 
 Saviour; for it appears, by the testimonies of j 
 Irenfeus, Ju-stin, and Tertullian, that he pre- 
 tended to be one of the ffions sent from the i)le- 
 roma or celestial regions, to succour the souls 
 that lay groaning under bodily oppression and 
 servitude, and to maintain thein against the vio- 
 lence and stratagems of tlie dsemons who held 
 the reins of empire in this sublunary world. 
 As this doctrine was built upon the same foun- 
 dation witli that of Simon Magus, tlie ancient 
 writers looked upon him as tlie instructor of 
 Menander. 
 
 XV. If then we separate these three persons 
 now successively mentioned, from the heretics 
 of the first century, we may rank anaong the 
 chief of the Christian sectaries, and particu- 
 larly those who bear the general name of Gnos- 
 tics, the Nicolaitans, whom Christ himsclfmen- 
 tions with abhorrence by the mouth of his apos- 
 tle. f It is true, indeed, that the divine Saviour 
 does not reproach them with erroneous opinions 
 concerning the deity, but with the licentious- 
 ness of their practice, and tlie contempt of 
 that solemn law whicli the apostles liad enact- 
 ed (Acts, XV. 29.) against fornication, and the 
 use of meats offered to idols. It is, however, 
 certain, that the writers of the second and tlie 
 following centuries, Irenseus, Tertullian, Cle- 
 mens, and others, affirm, that the Nicolaitans 
 adopted the sentiments of the Gnostics con- 
 cerning the two principles of all things, the 
 aeons, and the origin of this terrestrial globe. 
 The authority of these writers would be en- 
 tirely satisfactory in this matter, were there 
 not some reason to imagine that tkey con- 
 founded, in their narrations, two sects very 
 different from each other; that of the Nicolai- 
 tans, mentioned in tlie Revelations; and an- 
 other, founded by a certain Nicolaus, in the 
 second centLiry, upon the principles of tlie 
 Gnostics. But this is a matter of too doubtful 
 a nature to justify a positive decision on cither 
 side. 
 
 XVI. There is no sort of doubt, that Ce- 
 renthus may be placed with propriety among 
 
 * Some very learned mea have given an allegorical ex- 
 plication of what the ancient \»riter3 say concerning 
 Helena, the mistress of this magician, and imagine, that 
 by the name Helena is signified either matter or spirit. 
 But nothing is more easy than to show upon what slight 
 foundations this opinion is built. 
 
 i Rev. li. 6, 11, 15. 
 
 the Gnostics, though the learned are not en- 
 tirely agreed whether he belongs to the here- 
 tics of the first or the second century.* This man 
 was by birth a Jew, and, having applied him- 
 self to letters and philosophy at Alexandria, f 
 attempted at length, to form a new and singu- 
 lar system of doctrine and discipline, by a mon- 
 strous combination of the doctrines of Christ 
 witli the opinions and errors of the Jews and 
 Gnostics. From the latter he borrowed the 
 pleroma, their teons, their demiurge, &c. and 
 so modified and tempered these fictions, as 
 to give thom an air of Judaism, which must 
 have considerably favoured the progress of his 
 heresy. He taught "that tlie Creator of this 
 world, whom he considered also as the sovereign 
 and lawgiver of the Jewish people, was a be- 
 ing endowed with the greatest virtues, and de- 
 rived his birth from the Supreme God; that 
 lie fell by degrees, from his native virtue and 
 his primitive dignity; tliat God in consequence 
 of this determined to destroy his empire, and 
 sent upon earth, for this purpose, one of the 
 ever-happy and glorious a;ons, whose name 
 was Christ; that this Christ chose for his ha- 
 bitation the person of Jesus, a man of the 
 most illustrious sanctity and justice, the son of 
 Joseph and Mary, and, descending in the fom? 
 of a dove, entered into him while he was re- 
 ceiving baptism from John in the waters of 
 Jordan: that Jesus, after his union with Christ, 
 opposed himself with vigour to the God of the 
 Jews, and was by his instigation, seized and 
 crucified by tlie Hebrew chiefs; and that, 
 when Jesus became a prisoner, Christ ascend- 
 ed into heaven, so that the man Jesus alone 
 was subjected to the pains of an ignominious 
 death." Cerenthus required of his followers, 
 that they should worship the Father of Christ, 
 even the Supreme God, in conjunction with 
 the Son; that they should abandon the law- 
 giver of the Jews, whom he looked upon as 
 the Creator of the world; that they should re- 
 tain a part of the law given by Moses, but 
 should, nevertheless, employ their principal 
 attention and care to regulate their lives by 
 the precepts of Christ. To encour;tge them to 
 this, he promised them the resurrection of this 
 mortal body, after which was to commence 
 a scene of the most exquisite delights, during 
 Christ's earthly reign of a tliousand yeai-s, 
 which would be succeeded by a. happy and 
 never-ending life in the celestial world; fixr he 
 held, that Christ will one day return upon 
 earth, and, renewing his former union with the 
 man Jesus, will reign with his people in the 
 land of Palestine during a thousand years. 
 
 XVII. It has been already observed, that the 
 church was troubled with early disputes con- 
 cerning the law of Moses and tlie Jewish rites. 
 Those, however, who considered the obser- 
 vance of the Mosaic rites as necessary to sal- 
 vation, had not, in this first century, proceed- 
 ed so far as to break off all communion with 
 
 * See .Satn. Basnage, Annal. Polit. Eccles. torn, ii.; 
 and Faydit, Eclaircissemens sur I'Histoire Eccles. de» 
 deux premiers Siecles, cap. v. The opinion of these two 
 learned men is opposed by Buddeus,de Eccles, Apostolica, 
 cap. V. 
 
 f Theodcret. Fabul. Hxret. lib. ii. cap. iii. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 51 
 
 such as differed from them hi tliis matter; 
 therefore tliey were still regarded as brethren, 
 thoup^h of the weaker sort. Hut wlien, after 
 the second destruction of Jerusalem, under the 
 emperor Adrian, these zealots for the .Jewish 
 rites deserted the ordinary assemblies of Chris- 
 tians, and established separate meetiuirs among 
 themselves, they were numbered with those 
 sects who had departed from the pure doctrine 
 of Clirist. Hence arose the names of Naza- 
 
 renes and Ebionites, by which the judaizinif 
 Christians were distinguished froni tiiose who 
 looked up(m the Mosaic worship and ceremo- 
 nies as entirely al)olished by the appearance of 
 Christ upon earth. We shall only observe far- 
 ther under this head, that though the Nazarenea 
 and I'bioniles are generally placed among the 
 sects of the apostolic age, they really belong 
 to the second century, which was the" earliest 
 period of their e.xistence as a sect. 
 
 THE SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning Out jn-ospermis Events thai happened 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. In this century, the Roman sceptre wa's, 
 for the most part, swayed by princes of a mild 
 and moderate turn. Trajan, though too ea- 
 gerly bent upon the pursuit of glory, and not 
 always sufliciently attentive to his conduct, or 
 prudent in his measures, was nevertheless en- 
 dowed with many virtues; and the predomi- 
 nant lines of his character were clemency and 
 benevolence. Adrian was of a more harsh and 
 intractable temper, yet fixr from deserving the 
 odious appellation of a wicked or unjust prince. 
 He was of a mixed character, chargeable with 
 several vices, and estimable on account of some 
 excellent qualities. The Antonines were il- 
 lustrious models of humanity, goodness, and 
 sublime virtue. Severus himself, in whose 
 character and disposition such an unexpected 
 and disadvantageous change was eftecteil, was, 
 in the beginning of his reign, unjust toward 
 none; and even tlie Christians were treated by 
 him with equity and mildness. 
 
 H. This lenity of the emperors proved ad- 
 vantageous to those Christians who lived un- 
 der the Roman sceptre; it sometimes suspend- 
 ed their siilfering, and alleviated the burthen 
 of their distresses; for, thoitgh edicts of a se- 
 vere nature were issued out against tliem, and 
 the magistrates, animated by tlie priestetind by 
 the multitude, shed tlicir biood with a cruelty 
 which frequentJy exceeded even the dictates of 
 the most barbtrous laws, yet there was always 
 some remedy ttifit accompanied these evils, and 
 .softened their severity. Trajan, however con7 
 demnable in other respects, on account of his 
 conduct toward the Ciiristians, was yet engag- 
 ed, by the representation tliat Pliny the younger 
 gave of them, to forbid all search to be made 
 after them. He also prohibited all anonymous 
 libeh and accusations, by which they had so 
 
 often been perfidiously exposed to the greatest 
 sufferings.* Antoninus Pius went so far as to 
 enact penal laws against their accusers;! and 
 others, by various acts of beneficence and com- 
 passion, defended them from the injurious 
 treatment of the priests and people. Hence 
 it came to pass, that, in this century, the limits 
 of the church were considerably enlarged, and 
 the number of converts to Christianity prodi- 
 giously augmented. Of the truth of this, we 
 have the most respectable and authentic testi- 
 monies in the writings of the ancients; testi- 
 monies, whose evidence and authority are 
 every way superior to the vain attempts which 
 some have made to obscure and weaken them. J 
 HI. It is not easy to point out particularly 
 the different countries on which the light of 
 celestial truth first rose in this age. The an- 
 cient records that yet remain, do not give us 
 information sufficient to determine that point 
 with certainty; nor is it, indeed, a matter of 
 high importance. Wo are, however, assured, 
 by the most unexceptionable testimonies, that 
 Christ was worsliij)ped as God almost through- 
 out the whole East, as also among the Ger- 
 mans, Spaniards, C«lts, Britons, and many 
 other nations;^ but which of them received the 
 Gospel in the first century and which in the 
 second, is a question unansv.'orable at this dis- 
 tance of time. PantiBuus, tlie head of the 
 Alexandrian school, is said to have conveyed 
 to the Indians the knowledge of Christ. || But, 
 
 * Sec Pliny's epistles, booli x. let. xcviii. 
 
 t Eusebius, Ecol. Hist. lib. iv. cap. xiii. 
 
 { See Moylc's letters concern iiit; the thundering legion, 
 with the reuKirks wliich Dr. Mosheim has annexed to his 
 Latin translation ol' (hem, published at the end of a 
 work entitled, Syntagma Dissert, ad .Sanctiores Discipli 
 nas pertinentinm. See also the Dialogue between Justin 
 Martyr and Trypho the Jew. 
 
 ^ lrena:us contra Hares, lib. i.cap. x. -Terlnllian adv. 
 Judjcos, cap. vii. 
 
 II Kiisebius, Hist. Eccl. b. v. e. x.- Jerome, C«tAl, 
 Script. Eccl. c. xixvi. 
 
52 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 after an attentive examination of the account 
 which Eusebius gives of this point, it will ap- 
 pear that these supposed Indians were Jews, 
 inhabitants of the happy Arabia, whom Bar- 
 tholomew the apostle had before instructed in 
 the doctrines of Christianity; for, according to 
 the account of St. Jerome, Pantsenus found 
 among this people tlie Gospel of St. Matthew 
 which they had received from Bartholomew, 
 their first t&icher. 
 
 IV. The Christian relignon, having penetrat- 
 ed into the province of Gaul, seems to have 
 passed thence into that part of Germany 
 which was subject to the Romans, and after- 
 wards into Britain.* Certain German churches, 
 indeed, are fondly ambitious of deriving their 
 origin from St. Peter, and from the compan- 
 ions of the other apostles. The Britons also 
 are willing to believe, upon the authority of 
 Bede, that in this century, and imder the reign 
 ■of Marcus Antoninus, their king Lucius ad- 
 dressed himself to Eleutherns, the Roman pon- 
 tiff, for doctors to instruct him in the Chris- 
 tian religion, and, having obtained his request, 
 embraced the Gospel. f But, after all, these 
 traditions are extremely doubtful, and are, in- 
 deed, rejected by such as have learning suffi- 
 cient to weigh the credibility of ancient nar- i 
 rations. 
 
 V. It is very possible that the light of Chris- 
 tianity may have reached Trans- Alpine Gaul, ! 
 now called France, before the conclusion of 
 the apostolic age, either by the ministry of the 
 apostles themselves, or their unrnediate succes- 
 sors. But we have no records that mention, ; 
 with certainty, the establishment of Christian \ 
 churches in this part of Europe before the se- 
 cond century. Pothinus, a man of exemplary 
 piety and zeal, set out from Asia in companj' 
 with Irena3us and others, and laboured in the 
 Christian cause with such success among the 
 Gauls, that churches were established at Lyons 
 and Vienne, of which Pothinus him.self be- 
 came the first bishop.]: 
 
 VI. The writers of this century attribute 
 this rapid progress of Christianity to the power 
 of God, to the energy of divine truth, to the 
 extraordinary gifts which were imparted to the 
 first Christians, and the miracles and prodi- 
 gies that were wrought in their behalf, and at 
 their command; and they scarcely ascribe any 
 part of the amazing success that attended the 
 preaching of the Gospel, to the intervening 
 succours of human means, or second causes. 
 
 * Ursinus, Bebelius and others, have written learnedly 
 eoncerning the origin of the German oliurches, whicii 
 Tertullian and Irenaiuii mention as erected in lliis cen 
 tiiry. Add to these the ample illustrations of this subject, 
 which are to be found in Liron's Siugnlarites Hislor. et 
 Liter, torn. iv. Tlie celebrated Dom. Calmet has judi- 
 ciously refuted tlie common and popular accounts of the 
 fust Christian doctors in Germany, in his Hist, de la 
 Lorraine, torn. i. Diss, sur les Evcqnes de Treves, par 
 lii. iv. See also Bollandus, Act. Sanctor.,and Hontheim, 
 Diss, de jEra Episcop. Trcvir. torn. i. 
 
 f See Usher's Antiq. Ecclts. Britann. cap. i.; as also 
 Godwin, de Conversione Britan. cap. i.; and Rapin's 
 History of England. 
 
 \ See the epistle of Peter de Marea, concerning the 
 rise of Christianity in France, pnblished among the dis- 
 sertations of that author, and also by Valcsius, in his 
 edition of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History. See also 
 Histoire Literaire de la Fr.iucc, torn, i., and Liron's 
 Singularites Histor. et Literaires, vol. iv. 
 
 But this is carrying the matter too far. The 
 wisdom of human counsels, and the useful ef- 
 forts of learning and prudence, are too incon- 
 siderately excluded from this account of things; 
 for it is beyond all doubt, that the pious dili- 
 gence and zeal, with which many learned and 
 worthy men recommended the sacred writings, 
 and spread them abroad in translations, so as 
 to render them useful to those who were io-no- 
 rant of the language in which they were writ- 
 ten, contributed much to the success and pro- 
 pagation of the Christian doctrine. Latin ver- 
 sions of these sacred books were multiplied by 
 the pious labours of the learned, with particu- 
 lar diligence, because that language was now 
 more general than any other.* Among these 
 versions, that which was distinguished by the 
 name of the Italic obtained universally the pre- 
 ference, and was followed by the Syriac, Egyp- 
 tian, and iEthiopic versions, whose dates it is 
 impossible to fix with certainty. f 
 
 VII. Among the obstacles that retarded the 
 progress of Christianity, the impious calum- 
 nies of its enemies were the most considerable. 
 The persons, the characters, and religious sen- 
 timents of the first Christians, were most un- 
 justly treated, and most perfidiously misrepre- 
 sented to tlie credulous multitude,]; who were 
 restrained by this oftly from embracing the 
 Gospel. Those, therefore, who, by their apo- 
 logetic writings for the Christians, destroyed 
 the poisonous influence of detraction, render- 
 ed, no doubt, signal service to the doctrine of 
 Christ, by removing the chief impediment to 
 its progress. Nor were the .writings of such 
 as combated with success the ancient heretics 
 witliout their use, especially in the early periods 
 of the church; for the insipid and extravagant 
 doctrines of these sectaries, and the gross im- 
 moralities with which they were chargeable, 
 were extremely prejudicial to the Christian re- 
 ligion, by disgusting many at v/hatever bore 
 the Christian name; but, when it was known 
 by the writings of those who defended Chris- 
 tianity, that these corrupt heretics were held 
 in aversion, instead of being patronized by the 
 true followers of Chri.st, the clouds that were 
 cast over the religion of Jesus were dispersed, 
 and the prejudices tliat had been raised against 
 it were fully removed. 
 
 VIII. It is easier to conceive than to ex- 
 press, how much the mmiculouf; pcnvcrs and ex- 
 traordinary s;ifts, which were displayed in the 
 ministry of the first heralds of tlie Gospel, con- 
 tributed to enlarge the bounds of the church. 
 These gifts, however, which were bestowed for 
 wise and important reasons, began gradually 
 to diminish in proportion as the reasons ceased 
 for which they were conferred. And, accord- 
 
 * See Augustin. de doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. cap. \i. 
 
 t See Jo. Gottlob Carpzov. Critica sacra Vet Test, 
 p. 663. 
 
 {jS^ \ Nothing more injurious can be conceived than 
 the terms of contempt, indignation, and reproach, v\hich 
 the Heathens employed in expressing their hatred against 
 the Christians, who were called by them atheists, because 
 they derided the heathen Polytheism; maglrians, because 
 they wrought miracles; self-murderers, because they suf- 
 fered martyrdom cheerfully for the truth; haters of ttie 
 /I'sA/, because, to avoid the fury of the persecutions raised 
 against them, they were obliged, at fust, to hold their 
 religious assemblies in the night. See Bingham's An- 
 tiquities of the Christian Church, book i. cap. ii. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 prosprroijs events. 
 
 53 
 
 ingly, when almost all nations were enlighten- 
 ed with the truth, and the number of Cliris- 
 tian churrhes daily increased, tiic niiraculons 
 gift of tongues began gradually to decrease. 
 It appears at the same time, fi'oni unexception- 
 able testimonies, that the otiier extraordinary 
 gifts with which the omnipotence and wisdom 
 of the Most TJigh had so richly endowed the 
 rising clnirch, were in several places continued 
 during this century.*' 
 
 IX. We cannot indeed place, with certainty, 
 among the effects of a miraculous power yet 
 remaining in the church, the story of the 
 f'iiristian legion, wlio, by their prayers, drew 
 from lieaven a refresliing shower upon the army 
 of Marcus Antoninus, ready to perisli with 
 thirst, when that emj)eror was at war witlithe 
 Marcomanni. This remarkable event (which 
 gave to the Christians, to whom it was attri- 
 buted, the name of tlie llumdmnj^- legion, on 
 account of'tiie thunder and liglitning that de- 
 stroyed the enemy, while the shower revived 
 the fainting Romans) has been mentioned by 
 many writers. But wlietlier it was really mi- 
 raculous or not, has been much disputed 
 among learned men. Some think that the 
 Christians, by a pious sort of mistake, attribut- 
 ed tJiis unexpected and seasonable shower, 
 which saved the Roman army, to a miraculous 
 interposition; and this opinion is, indeed, sup- 
 ported by the weiglitiest reasons, as well as by 
 the most respectable authorities.! 
 
 X. Let us distinguisli wliat is doubtful in 
 tiiis story, from that which is certain. It is 
 undoubted, that the Roman troops, enclosed 
 by the enemy, and reduced to the most deplo- 
 rable and even desperate condition, by the 
 thirst under which they languislied in a parch- 
 ed desert, were revived by a sudden and un- 
 expected rain. It is also certain, that both the 
 Heathens and the Christians considered this 
 event as extraordinary and miraculous; the 
 former attributing it to Jupiter, Mercury, or 
 the power of magic; tlie latter to Christ, inter- 
 posing thus unexpectedly, in conse(picnce of 
 their prayers. It is equally indisputable, that 
 
 * Pfaiincr, de donis miraciilosis; Speiicor. Not. ad 
 Orig. contra Celsuin; Mammachius, Origines et Aiitiqui- 
 tat. (3liristiaii. toni. i. 
 
 j Sneli readers as are desirous to know what learned 
 miM have. alUced on both sides of this curious question, 
 may consult Witsius' Disserlat. de Legioiie Fulniinatrice, 
 whicli is subjoined lo his iKgyptiaca, in defence of this 
 miracle; as also what is alleged against il by Dan. I. a 
 Roijue, in a discourse upon tliat subject subjoined to tlie 
 Adversaria Sacra of Matth. La Roque, his liilher. But, 
 above all, the controversy between Sir Peter King [*j 
 and Mr. Walter Moyle, upon this subject, is worthy of 
 111!' attention of the curious; and likewise tlie dissertation 
 of the learned Jablonski, inserted in the eighth volume 
 of (be Misi:ellanea Lipsiensia, p. 417, under the title of 
 .Spicilegium de Legione Fulniinatrice. The last men- 
 tioned author investigates, with great acnteness, the rea- 
 sons and motives which induced the Christians lo place 
 so inconsiderately this s/ioit'cr in the list of miracles. 
 
 5lj=[*] It is by mistake that Dr. Mosheim confounds Sir 
 Peter King, lord ("liauci llor of Kngiand,wilh the person 
 who carried on the controversy with Moyle, concerning 
 the thundering legion. Moylc's adversary was Mr. 
 King, rector ol" Topshani, near Kxcter, which was the 
 place of his nativity, and also that of the famous chancel- 
 lor who bore his name. See the htters addressed to the 
 Kev. Mr. King, iiftlie posthumous collection of Locke's 
 Letters, published by Collins. Sec also Lardner's Col- 
 lection of Heathen and Jewish Testimonies, Sic, vol. ii. 
 
 a considerable number of Christians served at 
 this time in the Roman armj'; and it is ex- 
 ceedingly probable, that, in sucli trying cir- 
 cumstances of calamity and distress, they im- 
 plored the merciful interposition and succour 
 of their God and Saviour; and, as tlie C'hris- 
 tians of those times looked upon all extraordi- 
 nary events as miracles, and ascribed to their 
 prayers all tlie uncommon occurrences of an 
 advantageous nature tliat hapjicned to the 
 Roman empire, it will not appear surprising, 
 tliat, on the present occasion, they attributed 
 tlie deliverance of Antoninus and his army to 
 a miraculous interposition which tliey liad ob- 
 tained from above. Rut, on the other hand, 
 it must be carcfidly oliscrved, that it is an in- 
 variable maxim, universally adopted by the 
 wise and judicious, that no events are to be es- 
 teemed miraculous, whicji may be rationally 
 atti-ibuted to natural causes, and accounted for 
 liy a recourse to the ordinary dispensations of 
 Providence; and, as the unexpected siiower, 
 which restored the expiring force of the Ro- 
 mans, may be easily explained without rising 
 beyond the usual and ordinary course of nature, 
 the conclusion is manifest; nor can it be doubt- 
 ful in what light we are to consider that re- 
 markable event. 
 
 XI. The Jews were visited with new calami- 
 ties, first mider Trajan, and then under Adrian, 
 when, under the standard of I'arcoclicbas, who 
 gave himself out for the Messiah, they rose in 
 rebellion against the Romans. In consequence 
 of this sedition, prodigious numbers of that 
 miserable people were put to the sword; and a 
 new city, called /Elia CapitoJina, was raised 
 upon the ruins of Jerusalem, into which no 
 Jew was permitted to enter.* Tliis defeat of the 
 .lews tended to confirhi, in some measure, tlio 
 external tranquilhty of tlie C'liristian Church; 
 for that turbulent and perfidious nation jiad 
 hitherto vexed and oppressed the Christians, 
 not only by presenting everywhere to the Ro- 
 man magistrates complaints and accusations 
 against tlieni, but also by treating them in the 
 most injurious manner in Palestine and the 
 neighbouring countries, because they refused 
 to succour them against the Romans. Rut 
 this new calamity, which fell upon that sedi- 
 tious nation, put it out of tlicir jiower to exer- 
 cise their malignity against the discii>lcs of Je- 
 sus, as the}' had forinoily done. 
 
 XII. Among other accessions to the s])len- 
 dom- and force of the growing churcii, we may 
 reckon tlic learned and ingenious labours of 
 those philosophers and literati, who were con- 
 verted to Christianity' in this century. I am 
 sensible that the advantages iience arising to 
 tlie cause of true religion will be disputed liy 
 many; and, indeed, when tiie ((ucslion is thus 
 proposed, whether, upon the whole, the inte- 
 rests of Christianity have gained or lost by the 
 writings of the learned, and the speculations 
 of jihilosophers wlio liave been employed in 
 its defence, I confess myself incapalile of .solv- 
 ing it in a satisfactory mannt^r; for notiiing is 
 more manifest tlian this truth, tliat tlie noble 
 simplicity and dignity of religion were sadly 
 corrupted in many jdaces, when the piiiloso- 
 
 * Justiu Mart. Dial, cum Tr) phone, p. 49,278. 
 
51 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 phers blended their opinions with its pure doc- 
 trines, and were so audacious as to submit that 
 divine system of faith and piety to be scruti- 
 nized and modified by the fallible rules of im- 
 perfect reason. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Concerning the calamitous Events that happened 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. In the beginning of this century, there 
 were no laws in force against the Ciiristians; 
 for tlie senate had annulled the cruel edicts of 
 Nero, and Nerva had abrogated the sanguinary 
 laws of his predecessor, Domitian. But not- 
 withstanding this, a horrid custom prevailed, 
 of persecuting the Christians, and even of put- 
 ting them to death, as often as sanguinary 
 priests, or an outrageous populace instigated 
 by those ecclesiastics, demanded their destruc- 
 tion. Hence it happened, that, even under the 
 reign of the good Trajan, popular clamours* 
 were raised against the Christians, many of 
 whom fell victims to the rage of a merciless 
 multitude. Such were the riotous proceed- 
 ings that happened in Bithynia, under the ad- 
 ministration of Pliiiy the 3'ounger, who, on 
 that occasion, wrote to the emperor, to know 
 in what manner he was to conduct himself 
 toward the Ciiristians. The answer which he 
 received from Trajan amounted to this, " That 
 the Christians were not to be officiously sought 
 after,t but that such as were accused and con- 
 victed of an adherence to Christianity were to 
 be put to death as wicked citizens, if they did 
 not return to the religion of their ancestors."! 
 
 II. This edict of Trajau, being registered 
 among the public and solemn laws of the Ro- 
 man empire, set bounds, indeed, to the fury of 
 those who persecuted the Christians, but was 
 the occasion of martvrdom to many, even un- 
 der the best emperors. For, as often as an ac- 
 cuser appeared, and the person accused of an 
 adherence to Christianity confessed the truth of 
 the charge, the alternative was apostasy or 
 death, since a magnanimous perseverance in 
 the Christian faith was, according to the edict 
 of Trajan, a capital crime. And, accordingly, 
 the senerable and aged Simeon, son of Cleo- 
 phas, and bishop of Jerusalem, was, by this 
 very law, crucified in consequence of an accu- 
 sation formed against him by the Jews.j: By 
 the same law, also, was the great and pious 
 Ignatius, bisliop of Antioch, ordered by Trajan 
 himself to expire in the Roman theatre, ex- 
 posed to the rapacity of furious beasts;§ for, 
 as the law simply denounced death to such as 
 were convicted of an attachment to Christ, 
 tlie kind of punishment was left by the legis- 
 lator to the choice of the judge. 
 
 III. Such of the Christians as could conceal 
 their profession were indeed sheltered under 
 the law of Trajan, which was, tlierefore, a dis- 
 agreeable restraint upon the heathen priests. 
 
 * EusebiuSjHist. Er-clcs. lib. iii. cap. xxxii. 
 
 f See Pliny's Letlirs, book x. let. xcvir. and xcviii., 
 which have been illustrated by many Ifarned men, such 
 as Vossius, Bohnicr, Baldwin, Heunian, and others. 
 
 J Eusebius, Hi^l. Eccles. lib. iii. rap. xxxii. p. 103. 
 
 ^ See the Acta Maityrii lt;natiani, published by Ru- 
 inart, and also in the Collection of the Apostolic Fathers. 
 
 who breathed nothing but fury against the dis- 
 ciples of Jesus. The office of an accuser was 
 also become dangerous, and very few were dis- 
 posed to undertake it, so that the sacerdotal craft 
 was now inventing new methods to oppress the 
 Christians. The law of Trajan was therefore 
 artfully evaded under the reign of his succes- 
 sor Adrian. The populace, set in motion by 
 the priests, demanded of the magistrates, with 
 one voice, during the public games, the de- 
 struction of the Christians; and the magis- 
 trates, fearing that a sedition might be tlie 
 consequence of despising or opposing these 
 popular clamours, were too much dispos<;'a to 
 indulge them in their request. During these 
 commotions, Serenus Granianus, proconsul of 
 Asia, represented to the emperor how barba- 
 rous and unjust it was to sacrifice, to the fury 
 of a lawless multitude, persons who had been 
 convicted of no crime. Nor were his wise and 
 equitable remonstrances fruitless; for Adrian, 
 by an edict issued out to these magistrates, 
 prohibited the putting the Christians to death, 
 unless they were regularly accused and con- 
 victed of crimes committed against the laws; 
 and this edict appears to have been a solemn 
 renewal of the law of Trajan.* The modera- 
 tion of the emperor, in this edict, may, per- 
 haps, have been produced by the admirable 
 apologies of Quadratus and Aristides, in fa- 
 vour of the Christians, which were every way 
 proper to dispel the angry prejudices of a mind 
 that had any sense of equity and humanity left. 
 But it was not from the Romans alone, that 
 the disciples of Christ were to feel oppression; 
 Barcochebas, the pretended king of the Jews, 
 whom Adrian afterwards defeated, vented 
 against them all his fury, because they re- 
 ftised to join his standard, and second his 
 rebellion.! 
 
 IV. The law of Adrian, according to its na- 
 tural sense, seemed to cover the Christians 
 from the fury of their enemies, since it ren- 
 dered them punishable on no other account 
 than the commission of crimes, and since the 
 magistrates refused to interpret their religion 
 as the crime mentioned in the ituperial edict. 
 Therefore their enemies invented a new method 
 of attacking them under the reign of Antoninus 
 Pius, even by accusing them of impiety and 
 atheism. This calumny was refuted in an 
 apology for the Christians, presented to the em- 
 peror by Justin Martyr; in consequence of 
 which, this equitable prince ordered that all 
 proceedings against them should be regulated 
 by tlie law of Adrian.]: This, however, was 
 not sufficient to suppress the rage of blood- 
 thirsty persecution; for some time after this, 
 on occasion of some earthquakes which hap- 
 pened in Asia, the people renewed their vio- 
 lence against the Christians, whom they con- 
 sidered as the authors of those calamities, and 
 treated consequently in the most cruel and in- 
 jurious manner. The emperor, informed of 
 tliese unjust and barbarous proceedings, ad- 
 dressed an edict to the whole province of Asia, 
 in which he denoimced capital punishment 
 
 * Compare Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. ix. with 
 Balduinus ad Edicta Princip. in Christianos, p. 73. 
 t Justin Mart. Apologia secunda, p. 72, edit. Colon, 
 j Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xxvi. p. 148. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 55 
 
 against such as should, for the future, accuse 
 the Christians, without being able to prove 
 them guilty of any crime.* 
 
 V. This vvortiiy prince was succeeded by 
 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the philosoplu;)-, 
 whom most writers have celebrated beyond 
 measure on account of his extraordinary wis- 
 dom and virtue. It is not, however, in his 
 conduct toward the Christians tliat we must 
 look for tiie reasons of tiiese pompous encomi- 
 ums; for, here the clemency and justice of that 
 emperor sutler a strange eclipse, lie did not, 
 indeed, revoke the edict of Antoninus Pius, or 
 abrogate tiie laws which the preceding empe- 
 rors had enacted in favour of the Christians; 
 but he did what was equally pernicious fo 
 them. Without examining impartially their 
 cause, he lent an easy and attentive ear to the 
 most virulent insinuations of their enemies, 
 especially to the malignant calumnies of the 
 philosophers, who accused them of the most 
 horrid crimes and the most monstrous impiety, 
 and charged tliem with renewing the shocking 
 feasts of Thyestes, and the incestuous amours of 
 the Theban prin e; so that, if we except that of 
 Nero, there was i o reign under which the Chris- 
 tians were more injuriously and cruelly treated, 
 tlian under that of the v;ise and virtuous Marcus 
 Aurelius; and yet there was no reign under 
 which such numerous and victorious ./lpolop;i('s 
 were published in their behalf. Those which 
 Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Tatian, 
 wrote upon this oci asion, are still extant. 
 
 VI. This emperor issued against the Chris- 
 tians, whom he regarded as a vain, obstinate, 
 and vicious set of men, edicts,! wliicli, upon 
 the whole, were very unjust; though we do 
 not know, at this distance of time, their i)ar- 
 ticular contents. In conseqTieucc of these im- 
 perial edicts, the judges and magistrates re- 
 ceived the accusations, which even slaves, and 
 the vilest of the perjured rabble, brought 
 against the followers of Jesus; and the Chris- 
 tians were put to the most cruel tortures and 
 were condemned to meet death in the most 
 barbarous forms, notwithstanding their perfect 
 innocence, and their persevering and solemn 
 denial of the horrid crimes laid to tlieir charge. 
 The imperial edicts were so positive and ex- 
 press against inflicting punishment upon sucli 
 of the Cliristians as were guilty of no crime, 
 that the corrupt judges, who, through motives 
 of interest or pojiularity, desired their destruc- 
 tion, were obliged to suborn fiilse accusers to 
 charge them with actions that might bring 
 them within the reach of the laws. Hence 
 
 * Euscbius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xiii. p. 126. 
 5lJ=Il is proper to be observed, that the word crime, iii 
 several Ibrmcr edicts, had not been sufficiently determin- 
 ed in its signification; so that we find the enemies of the 
 Christians, and even the Roman magistrates, applying this 
 term to the profession of Christianity. But the equitable 
 edict of Uiisgood emperor decided that point on the side 
 of humanity and justice, as appears from tlic letter lie 
 addressed to the province of Asia, in favour of the per- 
 secuted Christians, and which concludes with the follow- 
 ing words: " If any one, for the future, shall molest the 
 Christians, and accuse them merely on account of their 
 religion, let the person thus accused be discharged, 
 though he is found to be a Christian, and the accuser 
 be punished according to the rigour of the law." 
 
 \ See Melitoap. Euscb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. can. jtxvi. 
 p. 147. 
 
 many fell victims to cruel superstition and po- 
 pular fury, seconded by the corruption of a 
 wicked magistracy, and the connivance of a 
 priiu(% who, with respect to one set of men, 
 f<)rg(it those principles of justice and clemency 
 which directed ins conduct toward all others. 
 Among these victims, there were many men of 
 illustrious i)iety, and some of eminent learning 
 and abilities, such as the holy and venerable 
 Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and Ju.stin .Mar- 
 tyr, so deservedly renowned for his erudition 
 and philosophy.* Many churches, jiarticularly 
 those of Lyons and Viennc, were almost en- 
 tirely destroyed, during tliis violent persecu- 
 tion, which raged in the year m, and will be 
 an indelible stain upon the memory of the 
 prince by wiiose order it was carried on.f 
 
 VII. During the reign of Commodus, the 
 Christians sufil'red very little; no general per- 
 secution raged against them; and any cruelties 
 which they endured wero confined to a sm.all 
 number, who had newly abandoned the Pagan 
 superstitions.! But the scene changed toward 
 the latter end of this century, when Severns 
 was declared emperor. Then Egypt and other 
 provinces were dyed with the blood of martyrs, 
 as appears from the testimonies of Tertullian, 
 Clemens of Alexandria, and other writers. 
 Those, therefore, arc not to be followed, who 
 affirm, that the ("hrislians suti'ered nothing 
 under Severus, before the begimiing of the 
 third century, which was distinguished by tiie 
 cruel edicts of this emperor against their lives 
 and fortunes; for, as the imperial laws against 
 the Christians weie not abrogated, and the 
 iniquitous edicts of Trajan and Marcus Anto- 
 ninus were still in liirce, there was a door, ii> 
 consequence, open to the fury and injustice of 
 corrupt magistrates, as oilen its they were 
 pleased to exercise them upon the church. It 
 was this series of calamities, under which it 
 groaned toward the conclusion of the second 
 century, which engaged Tertullian to write his 
 Apology, and several other books, in defence 
 of the Christians. 
 
 VHI. It is very easy to account for the suf- 
 ferings and calamities with which the disci[)les 
 of Jesus were loaded, when we consider how 
 they were blackened and rendered odious by 
 tiie railings, the calumnies, and libels of the 
 Heathen priests, and the otiier defenders of a 
 corrupt and most ai)ominable system of super- 
 stition. Tile injurious imputations, the horrid 
 cliarges, of which we took notice above, are 
 mentioned l)y all tiiose who have written in 
 defence of the Christians, and ought indeed, 
 to stand always upon record, iis proofs both of 
 the weakness and wickedness of their adversa- 
 ries JVothing can be more frivolous and in- 
 significant than the objections with which the 
 mo.st famous defenders of Paganism assailed 
 Cliristianity at this time; and such as desire a 
 convincing proof of tliis assertion, have only 
 
 * A full account of their martyrdom is to be found in 
 the valuable work of Ruinarl, entitled, Acta Sincera 
 Martyrum. 
 
 t See the letter of the Christians at Lyons concerning 
 this persecution, which is to be found in Eusebius' Ec- 
 clesiastical History, book v. chap. ii. and also in Fox'» 
 Martyrology, vol. i. 
 
 X Eusfbius, lib. V. 
 
50 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 to read the arguments of Celsus on tliat sub- 
 ject. This philosopher wrote against tlie 
 Christians during the reign of Adrian, and was 
 admirably refuted, in the following century, by 
 Origen, who rejiresents him as an Epicurean, 
 (a mistake which has been almost generall\' 
 followed;) whereas it appears with the utmost 
 proljability, that he was a Platonic philosopher 
 of the sect of Ammonius.* Be that as it will, 
 
 (jX^ * The learned Dr. Lardner does not think it pos- 
 sible that Celsus could liave been of the sect of Am- 
 monius, since the former lived and wrote in the second 
 century, whereas the latter did not flourish before the 
 third. And indeed we learn from Ori2;en himself, that 
 he knew of two only of the name of Celsus, one who 
 lived in the time of Wero, and the other in the reign of 
 Adrian, and afterwards. The latter was the philosopher 
 who wrote against Christianity, 
 
 Celsus was a trifling caviller, as is manifest 
 from the answer of Origen; nor do his writings 
 iiffainst Christianity serve any other purpose, 
 than to show his malignant and illiberal turn 
 of mind. 
 
 Fronto, the rhetorician, and Crescens, the 
 Cynic philosopher, made also soine wretched 
 attempts against Christianity The efforts of 
 the former are only known by the mention that 
 is made of them by Minutius Felix;* and the 
 enterprises of the latter were confined to a ve- 
 heinent zeal for the ruin of the Christians, and 
 a virulent persecution of Justiti Martyr, which 
 ended in the cruel death of that eminent saint. f 
 
 * Octavius, p. 266, edit. Heraldi. 
 t Justin Mart. Apologia secunda, p. 21. — Tatian, Oral, 
 contra Grscos. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the state of Letters aiul Philosophy 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. Under the reign of Trajan, letters and 
 philosophy came forth from the retreat where 
 they had languished during tlie savage tyranny 
 of his predecessors, and, by the auspicious pro- 
 tection of that excellent prince, were in soine 
 measure restored to their former lustre.* Tliis 
 happy revolution in the republic of letters, was 
 indeed of a short duration, as it was not sup- 
 ported by the following emperors, who were, 
 for the most part, averse to literary pursuits. 
 Even Marcus Antoninus, who surpassed them 
 all in learning, gave protection and encourage- 
 ment to the Stoics alone, and, after the exam- 
 ple of that su])ercilious sect, treated the arts 
 and sciences with indifference and contempt. j 
 And here we see tlie true reason why the wri- 
 ters of this century are, in general, so much 
 inferior to those of the former in point of ele- 
 gance and purity, eloquence and taste. 
 
 II. It intist be observed, at the same time, 
 that this degeneracy of erudition and taste did 
 not amount to an utter extinction of the one 
 and the other; for, even in this century, there 
 were, both among the Greeks and Romans, 
 men of eminent genius and abilities, who set 
 oft", in the most advantageous manner, the 
 learning of the times in which they lived. 
 Among the learned Grecians, the first place is 
 due to Plutarch, a man of vast erudition, whose 
 knowledge was various, but indigested, and 
 whose philosophical taste was corrupted by the 
 sceptical tenets of the acadeinics. There were, 
 likewise, in all the more considerable cities of 
 the Roman empire, rhetoricians, sophists, and 
 grammarians, who, by a variety of learned ex- 
 ercises, seemed zealous in forming the youth 
 to their arts of eloquence and declamation, and 
 
 * Plin. epist. lib. iii. ep. 18. 
 
 t In the first book of his Meditations, sect. 7, 17. 
 
 in rendering them fit, by their talents and their 
 acquisitions, to be useful to their country. But 
 the instruction acquired in these schools was 
 more specious than solid; and the youth who 
 received their education in them, distinguished 
 themselves, at their entrance upon the active 
 stage of life, more by empty declamation, than 
 by true eloquence; more by pompous erudition, 
 than by wisdom and dexterity in the manage- 
 ment of public affairs. The consequence of 
 this was, that the rhetoricians and sophists, 
 though agreeable to the corrupt taste of the 
 tiiue, which was iircapable, generally speaking, 
 of perceiving the native charms of truth, yet 
 fell into contempt among tlie prudent and the 
 wise, who held in derision the knowledge and 
 education acquired in their auditories. Beside 
 the schools now mentioned, there were two 
 public academies in the empire; one at Rome, 
 founded by Adrian, in which all the sciences 
 were taught; and the other at Berytus in Phoe- 
 nicia, which was principally destined for the 
 education of youth in the science of law.* 
 
 III. Many philosophers of all the different 
 sects flourished at this time, whose names we 
 do not think it necessary to mention. f Two, 
 however, there were, of such remarkable and 
 shining merit, as rendered them real orna- 
 inents to the Stoic philosophy; which the me- 
 ditations of Marcus Antoninus and the manual 
 of Epictetus abundantly testify. These two 
 great men had more admirers than disciples 
 and followers; for, in this century, the Stoical 
 sect was not in the highest esteem, as the rigour 
 and austerity of its doctrine were by no means 
 suited to the dissolute manners of the times. 
 The Platonic schools were more frequented for 
 several reasons, and particularly for these two, 
 
 * See the Meditations of Marcus Antoninus, book i. 
 sect. 7, 10. 
 
 t Justin Mart. Dialog, cum Tryphone, op. p. 218, &c. 
 We find also many of these philosophers mentioned in 
 the meditations of Marcus Antoninus. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 57 
 
 that their moral precepts were less rigorous and 
 severe than those of the Stoics, and their doc- 
 trines more conformable to, or ratlier less in- 
 compatible with, the common opinions con- 
 cerning- the gods. But, of all the philosophers, 
 the Epicureans enjoj'cd the greatest reputa- 
 tion, and liad undoubtedly the greatest num- 
 ber of followers, because their opinions tended 
 to encourage the indolent security of a volup- 
 tuous and efteminute liie, and to banish the re- 
 morse and terrors that haunt vice, and natu- 
 rally incommode the wicked in their sensual 
 pursuits.* 
 
 IV. Toward the conclusion of this century, 
 a new sect of philosophers suddenly arose, 
 spread with amazing rapidity through the 
 greatest part of the Roman empire, swallowed 
 up almost all other sects, and proved extremely 
 detrimental to the cause of Christianity. Alex- 
 andria in Egypt, which had been, for a long 
 time, the seat of learning, and, as it were, the 
 centre of all the liberal arts and sciences, gave 
 birth to this new philosophy. Its votaries 
 chose to be called Platonists, though, far from 
 adlicring to all the tenets of Plato, they col- 
 lected from the ditlerent sects such doctrines as 
 they thought conformable to truth, and formed 
 tliereof one general system. The reason, then, 
 why they distinguished themselves by the title 
 of Platonists, was, that they thought the senti- 
 ments of Plato, concerning that most noble 
 part of philosophy, which has the Deity and 
 things invisible for its objects, much more ra- 
 tional and sublime than those of the other phi- 
 losophers. 
 
 V. What gave to tliis new philosophy a su- 
 perior air of reason and dignity, was, the mi- 
 prejudiced spirit of candour and impartiality on 
 which it seemed to be founded. Tiiis recom- 
 mended it particularly to those real sages, 
 whose inquiries were accompanied with wis- 
 dom and moderation, and who were hick of 
 those arrogant and contentious sects, which re- 
 quired an invariable attaclnnent to their parti- 
 cular systems. And, indeed, nothing could 
 have a more engaging aspect tlian a set of men, 
 who, abandoning all cavil, and all prejudices 
 in favour of any party, professed searching after 
 the trutli alone, and were ready to adopt, irom 
 all the ditlerent systems and sects, such tenets 
 as they thougiit agreeable to it. Hence also 
 they were called Eclectics. It is, however, to 
 be observed, as we hinted in the former section, 
 that thougii these philosopliers were attached 
 to no particular sect, yet they j)roferred, as ap- 
 pears from a variety of testimonies, the sub- 
 lime Plato to all other sages, and approved 
 most of his opinions concerning the Deity, tlie 
 universe, and the human soul. 
 
 VI. Tiiis new species of Platonism was em- 
 braced by such of tlie Alexandrian Christians 
 as were desirous of retaining, with the pro- 
 fession of the Gospel, the title, the dignity, and 
 the habit of philosophers, [t is also said to 
 iiave had the particular approbation of Athe- 
 nagoras, Panta;nus, Clemens the Alexandrian, 
 and of all those who, in ih's century, were 
 charged with the care of the public schoolj 
 
 *Lucian's Pseudomant. p. 7ti3. torn. i. op. 
 t The title and dignity of philosophers delighted so 
 much these honest men, that though they were advanced 
 
 Vol. I.— 8 
 
 which the Christians had at Alexandria. These 
 sages were of opinion, that true philosophy, 
 the greatest and most salutary gift of God to 
 mortals, was scattered in various portions 
 tiu'ough all tiie ditlerent sects; and that it was, 
 consequently, the duty of every wise man, and 
 more especially of every Christian doctor, to 
 gather it from the several corners where it lay 
 dispersed, and to employ it, thus re-united, in 
 the delence of religion, and in destroying the 
 dominion of impiety and vice. The Christian 
 Eclectics had this also in common with the 
 others, that they preferred Plato to the other 
 philosophers, and looked upon his opinions con- 
 cerning God, the human soul, and things in- 
 visibh;, as conformable to the spirit and genius 
 of the Christian doctrine. 
 
 VII. This philosophical system underwent 
 some changes, when Ammonius Saccas, who 
 taught, with the highest applause, in the Alex- 
 andrian school about tlie conclusion of this 
 century, laid the ibundalions of that sect which 
 was distinguished by the name of the New 
 Platonists. This learned man was born of 
 Christian parents, and never, perhaps, gave up 
 entirely the outward profession of that divine 
 religion in which he had been educated.* As 
 his genius was vast and comprehensive, so 
 were his projects bold and singular. For lie 
 
 in the church to the rank of presbyters, they would not 
 abandon the philosophers' cloak. See Origeu, Epist. ad. 
 Eusebium, toni. i. op. edit, de la Rue. 
 
 ' Porjihyry, in his third book against the Chrfstians, 
 mainlaius, that Ammonius deserted the Christian religion 
 and went over to Paganism as soon as hec.irae to that time 
 of life when the mind is capable of making a wise and 
 judicious choice. Eusibiua, on the other hand, denies 
 this assertion; maintaining, that Ammonius persevered 
 constantly in the profession of Christianity; and he is 
 followed in this opinion by Valesius, Baylc, basnage, and 
 others. The learned Fabricius is of opinion, that Euse- 
 bius confounded two persons who bore the name of Am- 
 monius, one of whom was a Christian irriter, and the 
 other a heathen philosopher. See Fahric. Bibiioth. 
 Graica, lib. iv. cap. xxvi. The truth of the matter 
 seems to have been, that Ammonius Saccas was a Chris- 
 tian, who adopted with such dexterity the doctrines of 
 the pagan philosophy, as to appear a Christian to the 
 Christians, and a Pagan to tlie Pagans. See Brucker's 
 Historia Crilica Philosophic, vol. li. and iii. Since the 
 first edition of this work appeared, the learned Dr. 
 Lardiier has maintained, not without a certain degree of 
 asperity, which is unusual in his valuable writings, the 
 opinion of Fabricius, against Eusebius, and particularly 
 against Dr. Mosheim. See his Collection of Heathen 
 and Jewish Testimonies, vol. iii. Dr. Mosheim was 
 once of the same opinion with Fabricius, and he main- 
 taint'd it in a Dissertation, de ecclesia turbala per re- 
 cenlioren Platonicos; but he afterwards saw reason to 
 change his mind. His reasons may be seen in his book, 
 de rebus Christianorum, ante Const. Mag. p. 281, &c. 
 They indeed weigh little with Dr. Lardner, who, how- 
 ever, opposes nothing to them but mere assertions, uo- 
 sujuwrted by the smallest glimpse of evidence. For the 
 letter of Origen, which he quotes friim Eusebius, is SO 
 far from proving that Ammonius was mertJi/ a Heathen 
 philosopher, and not a Christian, that it would not be 
 suHicient to demonstrate (hat there was ever such a per- 
 son as Ammonius in the world, since he is not so much as 
 named in that letter. But allowing with Valesius that 
 it is Ammonius whom Origen has in view, when he talks 
 of the philosophical master from whom he and Hercules 
 received instruction, it seems very whimsical to conclude 
 from this circumstance, that Ammonius was no Christian. 
 The coalition between Platonism and Christianity, in the 
 second and third centuries, is a fact too fully proved to 
 be rendered dubious by mere affirmations. The notion, 
 therefore, of two persons bearing the name of Ammo- 
 nius, the one a Heathen philosopher, and the other a 
 Christian writer, of which Dr. Lardner seems so fond, 
 rests upon little more than an hypothesis formed to re- 
 move an imaginary difficulty. 
 
58 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 attempted a general reconciliation or coalition 
 of all sects, whether philosophical or religious, 
 and taught a doctrine which he looked upon 
 as proper, to unite thein all, the Christians not 
 excepted, in the most perfect harmony. And 
 herein lies the difference between this new sect 
 and the Eclectics, who had, before this time, 
 flourished in Eg3'pt. The Eclectics held, that, 
 in every sect, there was a mixture of good and 
 bad, of truth and falsehood; and, accordingly, 
 they chose and adopted, out of each of them, 
 such tenets as seemed to tliem conformable to 
 reason and truth, and rejected sucli as they 
 thought repugnant to both. Ammonius, on 
 the contrary, maintained, that the great prin- 
 ciples of all philosophical and religious truth 
 were to be found equally in all sects; that they 
 differed from each other only in their method 
 of expressing them, and in some opinions of 
 little or no importance; and tliat, by a proper 
 interpretation of tlieir respective sentiments, 
 they might easily be united into one body. It 
 is farther to be observed, tiiat the pi'opensity 
 of Ammonius to singularity and paradox, led 
 him to maintain, that all the Gentile religions, 
 and even tlie Christian, were to be illustrated 
 and explained by the principles of this univer- 
 sal philosophy; but that, in order to this, the 
 fables of the priests were to be removed from 
 Paganism, and the comments and interpreta- 
 tions of the disciples of Jesus from Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 VIII. This arduous design, which Ammo- 
 nius had formed, of bringing about a coalition 
 of all the philosophical sects, and all the s^'s- 
 tems of religion that prevailed in the world, 
 required many difficult and disagreeable things 
 in order to its execution. Every particular 
 sect or religion must have several of its doc- 
 trines curtailed or distorted, before it could en- 
 ter into the general mass. The tenets of the 
 philosophers, the superstitions of the Heathen 
 priests, the solemn doctrines of Christianity, 
 were all to suffer in this cause, and forced al- 
 legories were to be employed with subtilty in 
 removing the difficulties with which it was at- 
 tended. How this vast project was effected by 
 Ammonius, the writings of his disciples and 
 followers, that yet remain, abundantly testify. 
 In order to the accomplishment of his purpose, 
 he supposed, that true philosophy derived its 
 origin and its consistence from the eastern na- 
 tions; that it was taught to the Egyptians by 
 Hermes; that it was brought from them to the 
 Greeks, by whose vain subtilties, and litigious 
 disputes, it was rendered somewhat obscure 
 and deformed; but was however, preserved in 
 its original purity by Plato, who was the best 
 interpreter of Hermes, and of the other orien- 
 tal sages. He maintained, that all the differ- 
 ent religions which prevailed m the world, 
 were, in their original integrit}', contormable 
 to the genius of this ancient philosophy; but 
 that it unfortunately happened, that the sym- 
 bols and fictions, under which, according to 
 the eastern manner, the ancients delivered 
 their precepts and their doctrines, were, in pro- 
 cess of time, erroneously miderstood both by 
 priests and people in a literal sense; that, in 
 consequence of this, the invisible beings and 
 demonSj whom the Supreme Deity had placed 
 
 ' in the different parts of the universe as the 
 ministers of his providence, were, by the sug- 
 gestions of superstition, converted into gods, 
 and worshipped with a multiplicity of vain cere- 
 monies. He therefore insisted, that the reli- 
 gions of all nations should be restored to their 
 original purity, and reduced to their primitive 
 standard, viz. " The ancient philosophy of the 
 east;" and he affirmed, that this his project 
 was agreeable to the intentions of Jesus Christ, 
 whose sole view, in descending upon earth, 
 was, to set bounds to the reigning superstition, 
 and to remove the errors that had crept into 
 all religions, but not to abolish the ancient 
 theology from which they were derived. 
 
 IX. Taking these principles for granted, 
 Ammonius adopted the doctrines which were 
 received in Egypt, the place of his birth and 
 education, concerning the universe and the 
 Peity, considered as constituting one great 
 whole; as also concerning the eternity of the 
 world, the nature of souls, the empire of Pro- 
 vidence, and the government of this world by 
 demons. For it seems evident, that the Egyp- 
 tian philosophy, which was said to be derived 
 from Hermes, was the basis of that of Ammo- 
 nius; or, as it is otherwise called, of modern 
 Platonism; and the book of Jamblichus, con- 
 cerning the mysteries of the Egyptians, puts 
 the matter beyond dispute. Ammonius, there- 
 fore, associated the sentiments of the Egyp- 
 tians with the doctrines of Plato, which was 
 easily done by adulterating some of the opin- 
 ions of the latter, and forcing liis expressions 
 from their obvious and natural sense; and, to 
 finish this conciliatory sclieme, he so interpret- 
 ed the doctrines of the other philosophical and 
 religious sects, by the violent succours of art, 
 invention, and allegory, that they seemed, at 
 length , to bear some resemblance to the Egyp- 
 tian and Platonic systems. 
 
 X. To this monstrous coalition of heteroge- 
 neous doctrines, its fanatical author added a 
 rule of life and mamiers, which carried an as- 
 pect of high sanctity and uncommon austerity. 
 He, indeed, permitted the people to live ac- 
 cording to the laws of their country, and the 
 dictates of nature; but a more sublime rule 
 was laid down for the wise. They were to 
 raise, above all terrestrial things, by the tow- 
 ering efforts of holy contemplation, those souls 
 wliose origin was celestial and divine. They 
 were ordered to extenuate, by liunger, thirst, 
 and other mortifications, the sluggish body, 
 which confines the activity, and restrains the 
 liberty of tlie immortal spirit; that tlius, in this 
 life, they might enjoy communion with the 
 Supreme Eeing, and ascend after death, active 
 and unencumbered, to the universal Parent, to 
 live in his presence for ever. As Ammonius 
 was born and educated among the Christians, 
 he embellished these injunctions, and even gave 
 them an air of authority, by expressing them 
 partly in terms borrowed from the sacred scrip- 
 tures, of which we find a vast number of cita- 
 tions also in the writings of his disciples. To 
 tliis austere discipline, he added the pretended 
 art of so purging and refuiing that faculty of 
 the mind which receives the images of things, 
 as to render it capable of perceiving the de- 
 mons, and of performing many marvelloufl 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CliURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 59 
 
 things, by their assistance. Tliis art, which 
 the disciples of Ammonius called! thiurgy, was 
 not, however, conimimicated to all the schools 
 of this fanatical philosopher, but only to those 
 of the first rank. 
 
 XI. Tlie extravagant attempts of Ammoni- 
 us did not cease here. To reconcile the popu- 
 lar religions of different countries, and parti- 
 cularly the Christian, with this new system, he 
 fell upon the following inventions; 1st, He 
 turned into a mere allt'H;ory tlic whole liistory 
 of the gods, and maintained, that those heinns 
 whom the priests and people dignified with tiiis 
 title, were no more than celestial ministers, to 
 whom a certain kind of worship was due, but 
 a worship inferior to that which was to be re- 
 served for the Supreme Deity. 2dly, He ac- 
 knowledged Christ to be a most excellent man, 
 the friend of God, the admirable tlicurgc; he 
 denied, however, that Jesus intended to abol- 
 ish entirely the worsJii]) of demons, and of tlie 
 other ministers of divine Providence; and af- 
 firmed, on the contrary, that his only intention 
 was to purify the ancient religion, and that his 
 followers had manifestly corrupted tJie doc- 
 trine of their divine master.* 
 
 XII. This new species of philosophy, im- 
 prudently adopted by Origcn and many other 
 Christians, was extremely prejudicial to the 
 cause of tlie Gospel, and to the beautiful sim- 
 plicity of its celestial doctrines. For hence it 
 was, that the Christian doctors began to intro- 
 duce their perplexed and obscure erudition into 
 the religion of Jesus; to involve, in the dark- 
 ness of a vain philosophy, some of the princi- 
 pal truths of Christianity, that had been re- 
 vealed with the utmost plainness, and were in- 
 deed obvious to the meanest capacity; and to 
 add, to the divine precepts of our Lord, many 
 of their own, which had no sort of foundation 
 in any part of the sacred writings. From the 
 same source arose that melancholy set of men, 
 who have been distinguished b}' the name of 
 Mystics, whose system, when separated from 
 the Platonic doctrine concerning the nature 
 and origin of the soul, is but a lifelesG mass, 
 without any vigour, form, or consistence. Nor 
 did the evils, which sprang from this Ammo- 
 nian philosophy, end here. For, under the 
 specious pretext of the necessity of contempla- 
 tion, it gave occiLsion to that slothful and indo- 
 lent course of life, which continvies to be led 
 by myriads of monks retired in cells, and se- 
 questered from society, to which they are nei- 
 ther useful by their instructions, nor by their 
 examples. To this philosophy we may trace, 
 as to their source, a multitude of vain and 
 foolish ceremonies, calculated only to cast a 
 veil over truth, and to nourisli superstition; 
 and which are, for the most part, religiously 
 observed by many, even in the times in which 
 
 * What we have here mentioned concerning: the doc- 
 trines and opinions of Ammonius, is gathered from the 
 writings and disputationsof his disciples, who arc known 
 by the name of the Modern Platonisls. This pliiloso- 
 pher has left nothing in writing behind him. He even 
 imposed a law upon iiis disciples not to divulge his doc- 
 trines among the multitude; which law, however, llity 
 made no scruple to neglect and violate. Sec Porpliyr. 
 Vit. Plotini, cap. iii. At the same time, there is no sort 
 of doubt, that all these inventions belong properly to Am- 
 monius, whom all the later Platonists arltnowledgc as the 
 fuuoder of this sect, and the autlior of their philosophy. 
 
 we live. It would be endless to enumerate all 
 the pernicious consequences that may be justly 
 attributed to this new philosophy, or rather to 
 this monstrous attempt to reconcile falsehood 
 with truth, and liglit with darkness. Some of 
 its most fatal effects were, its alienating the 
 minds of many, in tlie following ages, from the 
 Cliristian religion; and its substituting, in the 
 place of the pure and sublime simplicity of the 
 Crospel, an unseemly mixture of Platonisin 
 and Christianity. 
 
 XII J. The number of learned men among 
 the Cluistians, which was very small in the 
 preceding century, increased considerably in 
 this. Among these there were few rhetori- 
 cians, sophists, or orators. The majority were 
 philosophers attached to the Eclectic system, 
 though they were not all of the same senti- 
 ments concerning the utility of letters and phi- 
 losophy. Those who were themselves initiat- 
 ed into the depths of philosophy, were desi- 
 rous that others, particularly such as aspired to 
 the offices of bishops or doctors, should apply 
 themselves to the study of human wisdom, in 
 order to their being the better qualified for de- 
 fending the truth with vigour, and instructing 
 the ignorant with success. Others were of a 
 quite different way of thinking upon this sub- 
 ject, and were for banishing all argumentation 
 and philosophy from the limits of the church, 
 from a notion that erudition might prove detri- 
 mental to the true spirit of religion. Hence 
 the early beginning-s of that unhappy contest 
 between /f»t//i and reason, religion and philoso- 
 phy, piety and genius, wliich increased in the 
 succeeding ages, and is prolonged, even to our 
 times, with a violence that renders it extremely- 
 difficult to be brought to a conclusion. Those 
 who maintained that learning and philosoph}' 
 were rather advantageous than detrimental to 
 the cause of religion, gained, by degrees, the 
 ascendant; and, in consequence thereof, laws 
 were enacted, which excluded the ignorant and 
 illiterate from tlie office of public teachers. 
 The opposite side of the question was not, 
 however, without defenders; and the defects 
 and vices of learned men and philosophers con- 
 tributed much to increase their number, aa will 
 appear in the progress of this history. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning Ihe Doctors and Ministers of the 
 Church, and the Form of its Government. 
 
 I. The form of ecclesiastical government, 
 whose commencement we have seen in the last 
 century, was brought in this to a greater de- 
 gree of stabilitj' and consistence. One inspec- 
 tor, or bishop, presided over each CRristian as- 
 sembly, to which oflice he was elected by the 
 voices of the whole ]>eoyle. In this jiost ho 
 was to be watchful and provident, attentive to 
 the wants of the church, and careful to supply 
 them. To assist hiin in this laborious pro- 
 vince, he formed a council of presbyters, which 
 was not confined to any fixed number; and to 
 each of tlicse he distributed his task, and ap- 
 pointed a station, in which he was to promote 
 the interests of the church. To the bishops 
 and presbyters, the ministers or deacons wore 
 
60 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 subject; and the latter were divided into a va- 
 riety of classes, as the state of the church re- 
 quired. 
 
 II. During a great part of this century, the 
 Christian churclies were independent with re- 
 spect io each other; nor were they joined by 
 association, confederacy, or any other bonds 
 than those of charity. Each Christian assem- 
 bly was a little state, governed by its own laws, 
 which were either enacted, or at least, approv- 
 ed by the society. But, in process of time, 
 all the Christian churches of a province were 
 formed into one large ecclesiastical body, 
 which, like confederate states, assembled at 
 certain times in order to deliberate about the 
 common interests of the whole. This institu- 
 tion had its origin among tlie Greeks, with 
 whom nothing was more common than this 
 confederacy of independent states, and the re- 
 gular assemblies which met, in consequence 
 thereof, at fixed times, and were composed of 
 the deputies of each respective state. But 
 these ecclesiastical associations were not long 
 confined to the Greeks ; their great utility was 
 no sooner perceived, than they became univer- 
 sal, and were formed in all places where the 
 gospel had been planted.* To these assem- 
 blies, in which the deputies or commissioners 
 of several churches consulted together, the 
 names of synods was appropriated by the 
 Greeks, and that of councils by the Latins; 
 and the laws that were enacted in these gene- 
 ral meetings, were called canons, i. e. rules. 
 
 III. These co!(7ici/s of which we find not the 
 smallest trace before the middle of this century, 
 changed the whole face of the church, and 
 gave it a new form: for by them the ancient 
 privileges of the people were considerably di- 
 minished, and the power and authority of the 
 bishops greatly augmented. The humilitjr, 
 indeed, and prudence of these pious prelates, 
 prevented their assuming all at once the power 
 with which they were afterward invested. At 
 their first appearance in these general councils, 
 they acknowledged that they were no more 
 tnan the delegates of their respective churches, 
 and that they acted in the name, and by the 
 appointment of their people. But they soon 
 changed this humble tone, imperceptibly ex- 
 tended the limits of their authority, turned 
 their influence into dominion, and their coun- 
 sels into laws; and openly asserted, at length, 
 that Christ had empowered them to prescribe 
 to his people authoritative rules oF faith and 
 manners. Anotlicr effect of these councils 
 was, the gradual abolition of that perfect 
 equality which reigned among all bishops in 
 the prnnitive times. For the order and de- 
 cency of tl^ese assemblies required, tiiat some 
 one of the provincial bishops, meeting in coun- 
 cil, should be invested witli a superior degree 
 of power and authoBity; and hence the rights 
 of Metropolitans derive their origin. In the 
 mean time the bounds of tlie church were en- 
 larged; the custom of holding councils was 
 followed wherever the sotmd of the Gospel 
 had reached; and the universal church had 
 now the appearance of one vast lepublic, 
 formed by a combination of a great num- 
 
 • Tcrtullian, Lib. de JejuuJis, cap. xiii. p. 711. 
 
 ber of little states. This occasioned the cre- 
 ation of a new order of ecclesiastics, who 
 were appointed, in different parts of the world, 
 as heads of the church, and whose office it was 
 to preserve the consistence and union of that 
 immense body, whose members were so widely 
 dispersed throughout the nations. Such were 
 the nature and office of the patriarchs, among 
 whom, at length, ambition, having reached 
 its most insolent period, formed a new dig- 
 nity, investing the bishop of Rome, and his 
 successors, with the title and authority of 
 pi-ince of the patriarchs. 
 
 IV. The Christian doctors had the good for- 
 tune to persuade the people, that the ministers 
 of the Christian church succeeded to the cha- 
 racter, rights, and privileges, of the Jewish 
 piiesthood; and tliis persuasion was a new 
 source both of honours and profit to the sacred 
 order. This notion was propagated with in- 
 dustry some time after the reign of Adrian, 
 when the second destruction of Jerusalem had 
 extinguished among the Jews all hopes of see- 
 ing their government restored to its former 
 lustre, and their country arising out of ruins. 
 And, accordingly, the bishops considered them- 
 selves as invested with a rank and character 
 similar to those of the high priest among the 
 Jews, while the presbyters represented the 
 priests, and the deacons the Levites. It is, 
 indeed, highly probable, that they who first in- 
 troduced this absurd comparison of offices, so 
 entirely distinct, did it rather through igno- 
 rance and error, than through artifice or de- 
 sign. The notion, however, once entertained, 
 produced its natural effects; and these effects 
 were pernicious. The errors to which it gaye 
 rise were many; and we may justly consider, 
 as one of its immediate consequences, the es- 
 tablishment of a greater difference between the 
 Christian pastors and their flock, than the ge- 
 nius of the Gospel seems to admit. 
 
 V. From the government of the church, let 
 us turn our eyes to those who maintained its 
 cause by their learned and judicious writings. 
 Among these we may mention Justin, a man 
 of great piety and considerable learning, who, 
 from a pagan philosopher, became a Christian 
 martyr. He had frequented all the different 
 sects of philosophy in an ardent and impartial 
 pursuit of truth; and finding, neither among 
 Stoics nor Peripatetics, neither in the Pythago- 
 rean nor Platonic schools, any satisfactory ac- 
 count of the perfections of the Supreme Be- 
 ing, and the nature and destination of the hu- 
 man soul, he embraced Christianity on account 
 of the light which it cast upon these interest- 
 ing subjects. — We have yet remaining his two 
 Apologies in behalf of the Christians, which 
 are highly esteemed, as they deserve to be, al- 
 though, in some passages of them, he shows 
 himself an incautious disputant, and betrays a 
 want of acquaintance with ancient history. 
 
 Irenteus, bishop of Lyons, a Greek by birth, 
 and probably born of Christian parents, a dis- 
 ciple also of Polycarp, by whom he was sent 
 to preach the Gospel among the Gauls, is ano- 
 ther of the writers of this century, whose la- 
 bours were remarkably useful to the church. 
 He turned his pen against its internal and do- 
 mestic enemies, by attacking the monstrou.s 
 
Chap. ITT. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 61 
 
 errors which had been adopted by many of the 
 primitive Christians, as appears by liis five 
 Books against Heresies, wliicli are yet preserv- 
 ed in a Latin translation,* and are considered 
 as one of the most precious monuments of an- 
 cient erudition. 
 
 Athenagoras also deserves a place among 
 the estimable writers of this age. He was a 
 philosopher of no mean reputation; and his 
 apology for the Christians, and his treatise upon 
 the Resurrection, afford striking proofs of his 
 learning and genius. 
 
 The works of Thcophilus, bishop of Antioch, 
 are more remarkable for their erudition, than 
 for their order and method; this, at least, is 
 true of his three Books in Defence of Chris- 
 tianity, addressed to Autolycus.f But the 
 most illustrious writer of this century, and the 
 most justly renowned for his various erudition, 
 and his perfect acquaintance with the ancient 
 sages, was Clemens, the disciple of Pantsenus, 
 and the head of the Alexandrian school, des- 
 tined for the instruction of the catechumens. 
 His Stromata, Pedagogue, and Exhortation, 
 addressed to the Greeks, which are yet extant, 
 abmidantly show the extent of his learning and 
 the force of his genius, though he is neither to 
 be admired for the precision of his ideas, nor 
 for the perspicuity of his style. It is also to 
 be lamented, that his excessive attachment to 
 the reigning philosophy led him into a variety 
 of pernicious errors. 
 
 Hitherto we have made no mention of the 
 Latin writers, who employed their pens in the 
 Christian cause. And, indeed, the only one 
 of any note we find in this century, is Tertul- 
 lian, by birth a Carthagenian, who, having first 
 embraced the profession of the law, became 
 afterwards a presbyter, and concluded by adopt- 
 ing the heretical visions of Montanus. He was 
 a man of extensive learning, of a fine genius, 
 and highly admired for his elocution in the 
 Latin tongue. We have several works of his 
 yet remaining, which were designed to explain 
 and defend the truth, and to nourish pious af- 
 fections in the hearts of Christians. There 
 was, indeed, such a mixture in the qualities of 
 this man, that it is difficult to fix his real cha- 
 racter, and to determine which of the two pre- 
 dominated — his virtues or his defects. He was 
 endowed with a great genius, but seemed defi- 
 cient in point of judgment. His piety was 
 warm and vigorous, but, at the same time, me- 
 lancholy and austere. His learning was ex- 
 tensive and profound; and yet his credulity and 
 superstition were such as could only have been 
 expected from the darkest ignorance. And 
 with respect to his reasonings, thoy had more 
 of the subtilty that dazzles the imagination, 
 
 QQ= * Tlie first book is yet extant in the original 
 Greek; of the rest, we have only a Latin version, through 
 the barbarity of which, though excessive, it is cisy to i 
 discern the eloquence and erudition that reign through- 
 out the original. See Hist. Litcraire de la Krance. 
 
 (SQ" \ Tneophilus was the author of several works, 
 beside those mentioned by Dr. Mosheim, particularly of 
 K commentary upon the Proverbs, another upon the Four 
 Kyangelists, and of some short and pathetic discourses, 
 which he published from time to time for the use of his 
 flock. He also wrote against Marcion and Hcrmogcnes, 
 and, in refuting the errors of these heretics, be quotes 
 ieveral passages of the Revelations. 
 
 than of that solidity which brings light and 
 conviction to the mind.* 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Concerning the Doctiine of the Chiistian Church 
 in this Century. 
 
 I. The Christian system, a."? it was hitherto 
 taught, preserved its native and bcautifiil sim- 
 plicity, and was comprehended in a small num- 
 ber of articles. The public teachers inculcat- 
 ed no other doctrines, than those which are 
 contained in what is commonly called the 
 Apostles' Creed; and in the method of illus- 
 trating them, all vain subtilties, all mysterious 
 researches, every thing that was beyond tlie 
 reach of common capacities, were carefully 
 avoided. This will not appear surprising to 
 those who consider that, at this time, there was 
 not the least controversy about those capital 
 doctrines of Cln-istianity, which were after- 
 wards so keenly debated in the church; and 
 who reflect, th.at the bishops of these j)rimitive 
 times were, for the most part, plain and illite- 
 rate men, remarkable rather for their piety and 
 zeal, than for their learning and eloquence. 
 
 n. This venerable sini])licity was not, in- 
 deed, of a long duration; its beauty was ffra- 
 dually effaced by the laborious efforts of hu- 
 man learning, and the dark subtilties of ima- 
 ginary science. Acute researches were em- 
 ployed upon several religious subjects, con- 
 cerning wliich ingenious decisions were pro- 
 nounced; and, what was worst of all, several 
 tenets of a chimerical philosophy were impru- 
 dently incorporated into the Christian system. 
 This disadvantageous change, this unhappy 
 alteration of the primitive simplicity of the 
 Christian religion, arose partly from ])ride, and 
 partly from a sort of necessity. The former 
 cause was the eagerness of certain learned men 
 to bring about a imion between the doctrines 
 of Chiistianity and the ojiinions of the philo- 
 sophers; for they thought it a very fine accom- 
 plishment, to be able to express the precepts of 
 Christ in the language o( iihilosophtrs, civilian!!, 
 and rabbis. Tiie other reason that contributed 
 to alter the simplicity of the Christian religion, 
 was, the necessity of having recourse to logical 
 definitions and nice distinctions, in order to 
 confound the sophistical arguments wliicli the 
 infidel and the heretic employed, one lo over- 
 turn the Christian system, and the other to 
 corrupt it. ^^:^ These philosophical arms, in 
 the hands of the judicious and wise, were both 
 honourable and useful to religion; but, when 
 they were handled by every ignorant and self- 
 sufficient meddler, as was afterwards the case, 
 they produced nothing but perplexity and con- 
 fusion, under which genuine Christianity al- 
 most disappeared. 
 
 HL Many examples might be alleged, which 
 verify the observations we have now been 
 
 * It is proper to point out, to such as are desirous of a 
 more particular account of the works, as also of the ex- 
 cellencies and defects of these ancient writers, the au- 
 thors who have professedly written of them; and the 
 principal are those who follow: Jo. Alb. Fabricius, in 
 Biblioth. Grsc. et Latin. — Cave. Hist. Liter. Scriptor. 
 Eccl. — Du-Pin et Cellicr, Bibiioth. des Auleurs Eccleii- 
 asliques. 
 
62 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 making; and, if the reader is desirous of a 
 striking one, he has only to take a view of the 
 doctrines which began to be taught in this cen- 
 tury, concerning the state of the soul after the 
 dissolution of the body. Jesus and his disci- 
 ples had simply declared, that the souls of good 
 men were, at their departure from their bodies, 
 to be received into heaven, while those of the 
 wicked were to be sent to hell; and this was 
 sufficient for the first disciples of Christ to 
 know, as they had more piety t.lian curiosity, 
 and were satisfied with the knowledge of this 
 solemn fact, without any inclination to pene- 
 trate its manner, or to pry into its secret rea- 
 sons. But this plain doctrine was soon dis- 
 guised, when Platonism began to infect Chris- 
 tianity. Plato had taught that the souls of 
 heroes, of illustrious men, and eminent philo- 
 sophers alone, ascended after death into the 
 mansions of light and felicity, while those of 
 the generality, weighed down by their lusts 
 and passions, sunk into the infernal regions, 
 whence they were not permitted to emerge 
 before they were purified from their turpitude 
 and corruption.* This doctrine was seized 
 with avidity by the Platonic Christians, and 
 applied as a commentary upon that of Jesus. 
 Hence a notion prevailed, that only the mar- 
 tyrs entered upon a state of happiness imme- 
 diately after death, and that, for the rest, a 
 certain obscure region was assigned, in which 
 they were to be imprisoned until tlie second 
 coming of Christ, or, at least, until they were 
 purified from their various pollutions. This 
 doctrine, enlarged by the irregular fancies of 
 injudicious men, became a source of innmne- 
 rable errors, vain ceremonies, and monstrous 
 superstitions. 
 
 IV. But, however the doctrines of the Gos- 
 pel may have been abused by the commenta- 
 ries and interpretations of different sects, all 
 were unanimous in regarding the Scriptures 
 with veneration, as the great rule of faith and 
 manners; and hence arose the laudable and 
 pious zeal of adapting them to general use. 
 We have mentioned already tlie translations 
 that were made of them into different lan- 
 guages, and it will not be improper to say 
 sometliing here concerning those v/ho employ- 
 ed their useful labours in explaining and inter- 
 preting them. Pantffinus, tlie head of the 
 Alexandrian school, was probably the fir.st who 
 enriched the church with a version of the sa- 
 cred writings, which has been lost among the 
 ruins of time. The same fate attended the 
 cominenta7-ij of Clemens the Alexandrian, upon 
 the canonicril epistles; and also another cele- 
 brated workf of the same author, in which he 
 is said to have explained, in a compendious 
 manner, almost all the sacred writings. The 
 Harmony of the Erangdisls, composed by Ta- 
 tian, is yet extant. But the Exposition of the 
 Revelations, by Justin Martyr, and of the four 
 Gospels by Theophihis bishop of Antioch, toge- 
 tlier with several illustrations of the Mosaic 
 
 * See an ample account of the opinions of (lie Platon- 
 ists and other ancient philosophers on this subjecl, in the 
 notes which Dr. Mosheim has added to his Latin transla- 
 tion of Cndworth's Intellectual System., vol. ii. 
 
 t Viz. Clementis Ilypotyposes. 
 
 history of the creation, by other ancient wri- 
 ters, are lost. 
 
 V. The loss of these ancient productidns is 
 the less to be regretted as we know, with cer- 
 tainty, their vast inferiority to the expositions 
 of the holy Scriptures that appeared in suc- 
 ceeding times. Among the persons already 
 mentioned, none deserved the name of an able 
 and judicious interpreter of the sacred text. 
 They all attributed a double sense to the words 
 of Scripture; the one obvious and literal, the 
 other hidden and mysterious, which lay con- 
 cealed, as it were under the veil of the outward 
 letter. The former they treated with the ut- 
 most neglect, and, turned the whole force of 
 their genius and application to unfold the lat- 
 ter; or, in other words, they were more studi- 
 ous to darken the Scriptures with their idle 
 fictions, than to investigate their true and na- 
 tural sense. Some of them also forced the ex- 
 pressions of sacred writ out of their obvious 
 meaning, in order to apply them to the sup- 
 port of their philosophical systems; of which 
 dangerous and pernicious attempts, Clemens 
 of Alexandria is said to have given the first 
 example. With respect to the expositors of 
 the Old Testament in this century, we shall 
 only make this general remark, that their ex- 
 cessive veneration for the Alexandrian version, 
 commonly called the Septuagint/which they 
 regarded almost as of divine authority, con- 
 fined their views, fettered their critical spirit, 
 and hindered them from producing any thing 
 excellent in the way of sacred criticism or in- 
 terpretation. 
 
 VI. If this age was not very fertile in sacred 
 critics, it was still less so in expositors of the 
 doctrinal parts of religion; for hitherto there 
 was no attempt made, at least that has come 
 to our knowledge, to compose a system or com- 
 plete view of the Christian doctrine. Some 
 treatises of Arabians, relative to this subject, 
 are indeed mentioned; but, as they are lost, 
 and seem not to have been much known by 
 any of the writers whose works have survived 
 them, we can form no conclusions concerning 
 them. The books of Papias, concerning the 
 sayings of Christ and his apostles, were ac- 
 cording to the account which Eusebius gives 
 of them, rather an historical commentary, than 
 a theological system. Melito, bisliop of Sardis, 
 is said to have written several treatises; one 
 concerning faith, another on the creation, a 
 third respecting the church, and a fourth for 
 the illustration of truth; but it does not ap- 
 pear from the titles of these writings, whether 
 they were of a doctrinal or controversial na- 
 ture.* Several of the polemic writers, indeed, 
 have been naturally led, in the course of con- 
 trovers}', to explain amply certain points of 
 religion. But those doctrines which have not 
 been disputed, are very rarely defined with 
 
 Q(p= * Melito, beside his Apology far the Christians, 
 and the treatises mentioned by Dr. Mosheim, wrote a 
 discourse upon Esther and several other dissertations, of 
 vvliich we have only some scattered fragments remaining; 
 but what is worthy of remark here, is, that he is Ihe 
 first Christian writer who has given us a catalogue of the 
 books of the Old Testament. His catalogue, also, is 
 perfectly conformable to that of the Jews, except in thii 
 point only, that be has omitted it in the book of Either, 
 
Chap. IH. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 63 
 
 such accuracy, by the ancient writers, as to 
 point out to us clearly what their opinions 
 concerning them were. Hence it ought not 
 to appear surprising, that all the dillerent sects 
 of Christians pretend to find, in the vvrilincrs 
 of the fathers, decisions favourahle to their 
 respective tenets. 
 
 Vn. The controversial writers, who shone 
 in this century, had three diHercnt sorts of ad- 
 versaries to combat; the Jews, the Pagans, and 
 those who, in tlie bosom of Christianity, cor- 
 rupted its doctrines, and produced various sects 
 and divisions in the church. Justin Martyr, 
 and Tertullian, embarked in a controversy with 
 the Jews, whicli it was not possible for tliem to 
 manage with the highest success and dexterity, 
 as they were very little acquainted with the 
 language, the history, and the learning of tlie 
 Hebrews, and wrote with more levity and in- 
 accuracy, than such a subject would justify. 
 Of those who managed the cause of Christi- 
 anity against the Pagans, some performed this 
 tnportant task by composing apologies for the 
 Cliristians, and others by addressing patlietic 
 exliortations to the Gentiles. Among the for- 
 mer were Athenagoras, Melito, Quadratus, 
 Miltiades, Aristides, Tatian, and Justin Mar- 
 tyr; and among tlie latter, Tertullian, Cle- 
 mens, Justin, and Theophilus bishop of An- 
 tioch. All these writers attacked, with judg- 
 ment, dexterity, and success, the pagan super- 
 stition, and also defended the Christians, in a 
 victorious manner, against all the calumnies 
 and aspersions of their enemies. But they did 
 not succeed so well in unfolding the true na- 
 ture and genius of Chiistiaiiity, nor were the 
 arguments adduced by them to demonstrate its 
 truth and divinity so full of energy, so strik- 
 ing and irresistible, as those by which they 
 overturned the pagan system. In a word, both 
 their explication and defence of many of the 
 doctrines of Christianity are defective and un- 
 satisfactory in several respects. As to those 
 who directed their polemic eiforts against the 
 heretics, their number was prodigious, though 
 few of their writings have come down to our 
 times. IreiiEBus refuted the whole tribe in a 
 work destined solely for that purpose. Cle- 
 mens,* Tertullian,! and Justin Martyr, wrote 
 also against all the sectaries; but the work of 
 the last, upon that subject, is not extant. It 
 would be endless to mention those who com- 
 bated particular errors; of whose writings also, 
 many have disappeared amidst the decays of 
 time, and the revolutions that have happened 
 in the republic of letters. 
 
 VIII. If the primitive defenders of Ciiris- 
 tianity were not always happy in the choice of 
 their arguments, j'et they discovered more can- 
 dour and probity than those of the following 
 ages. The artifice of sophistry, and the habit 
 of employing pious frauds in support of the 
 truth, had not, as yet, infected the Christians. 
 And this, indeed, is all that can be said in tiicir 
 behalf; for they are worthy of little admiration 
 on account of the accuracy or depth of their 
 reasonings. The most of them appear to have 
 been destitute of penetration, learning, order, 
 
 * In his work entitled, Stromata. 
 
 t In his Prscscriptiones adrersus Hxreticos 
 
 application and force. They frequently make 
 use of arguments void of all solidity, and much 
 more proper to dazzle the fancy, than to en- 
 lighten and convince the mind. One, laying 
 aside tiie sacred writings, from which all the 
 wcijions of religious controversy ought to be 
 drawn, refers to the decisions of those bishops 
 who ruled the apostolic churches. Another 
 thinks, that the antiquity' of a doctrine is a 
 mark of its truth, and pleads prescription 
 against iiis adversaries, as if he was maintain- 
 ing his property before a civil magistrate; than 
 which method of disputing notliing can be 
 more pernicious to the cause of truth. A third 
 imitates those wrong-headed disputants among 
 the Jews, who, infatuated with their cabalistic 
 jargon, olfered, as argimionts, tlie imaginary 
 powers of certain mystic words and chosen 
 numbers.* Nor do they seem to err, who are 
 of opinion, that, in this century, that vicious 
 niethodf of disputing, vviiich afterwards ob- 
 tained the name of tKconomical, was first intro- 
 duced, j; 
 
 IX. The principal points of morality were 
 treated bj- Justin INIartyr, or, at least, by the 
 writer of the Epistle to Zena and Serenus, 
 which is to be found among the works of that 
 celebrated author. Many other writers con- 
 fined themselves to particular branches of the 
 moral system, which they handled with much 
 attention and zeal. Thus Clemens of Alexan- 
 dria wrote several treatises concerning calum- 
 ny, patience, continence, and other virtues, 
 which discourses have not reached our times. 
 Those of Tertullian upon chastity, upon flight 
 in the time of persecution, as also upon fast- 
 ing, shows, female omainents, and pra3-er, 
 have survived the waste of time, and might 
 be read with much fruit, were the style in 
 which they are written less laboured and diffi- 
 cult, and the spirit they breathe less melan- 
 choly and morose. 
 
 X. Learned men are not unanimous with 
 regard to the degree of esteem that is due to 
 the authors now mentioned, and the other an- 
 cient moralists. Some represent them as the 
 most excellent guides in the paths of piety and 
 virtue; while others place them in the lowest 
 rank of moral writers, consider them as the 
 worst of all instructers, and treat their pre- 
 cepts and decisions as perfectly insipid, and, in 
 many respects, pernicious. We leave the de- 
 termination of this point to such as are more 
 capable of pronouncing decisively upon it, 
 than we pretend to be.§ It, however, appears 
 
 * .Several examples of this senseless method of reason- 
 ing are lobe found in different writers. See particularly 
 Uasnage, llistoire des Jnifs, lorn. iii. p. 660, 694. 
 
 Ol5= t Tlie {economical method of disputing was that 
 in whicli the disputants accommodated themselves, as far 
 as was possible, to the taste and prejudices of those 
 whom Ihey were endeavouring to gain over to the truth. 
 Some of the first Christians carried this condescejision 
 too far, and abused St. Paul's example, (1 Cor. in. 20, 
 •JI,ihJ.) to a degree inconsistent with the purity and sim- 
 plicity of the Clirislian doctrine. 
 
 { Rich. Simon, Histoire Criliijue des principaux Com- 
 mentateurs du N. T. cap. ii. p. 21. 
 
 ^ This question was warmly and learnedly debated be- 
 tween the deservedly celebrated Barbeyrac and Cellier, 
 a Benedictine monk. Buddeus has given us a history of 
 this controversy, with his own judgment of it, in hia lia- 
 eoge ad Theologiam, lib. ii. cap. iv. p. 620, &c. Bar- 
 ueyrac, however, publishf d after this a particular treatise 
 
64 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part IL 
 
 to us incontestable, that in the writings of the 
 primitive fathers, there are several sublime sen- 
 timents, judicious thoughts, and many things 
 Uiat are naturally adapted to form a religious 
 temper, and to excite pious and virtuous affec- 
 tions; while it must be confessed on the other 
 hand, that they abound still more with pre- 
 cepts of an excessive and unreasonable auste- 
 rity, with stoical and academical dictates, 
 vague and indeterminate notions, and what is 
 yet worse, with decisions that are absolutely 
 false, and in evident opposition to the precepts 
 of Christ. Before the question mentioned 
 aljove concerning the merit of the ancient fa- 
 thers, as inoralists, be decided, a previous ques- 
 tion must be determined, namely, What is 
 meant by a bad director in point of morals? 
 and, if by such a person be meant, one who 
 has no determinate notion of the nature and 
 limits of the duties incumbent upon Clu'istians, 
 no clear and distinct ideas of virtue and vice; 
 who has not penetrated the spirit and genius of 
 those sacred books, to which alone we must 
 appeal in every dispute about Cliristian virtue, 
 and who, in consequence thereof, fluctuates 
 often in uncertainty, or falls into error in ex- 
 plaining the divine laws, though he may fre- 
 quently administer sublime and pathetic in- 
 structions; if, by a bad guide in morals, such a 
 person, as we have now delineated, be meant, 
 then it must be confessed, that this title belongs 
 indisputably to many of the fathers. 
 
 XI. The cause of morality, and indeed, of 
 Christianity in general, sutfered deeply by a 
 capital error which was received in this centu- 
 ry; an error admitted without any sinister 
 views, but yet with great imprudence, and, 
 which, through every period of the church, 
 even until the present time, has produced other 
 errors without number, and multiplied the evils 
 mider which tiie Gospel has so often groaned. 
 Jesus Christ prescribed to all his disciples one 
 and the same rule of life and manners. But 
 certain Christian doctors, either through a de- 
 sire of imitating the nations among whom they 
 lived, or in consequence of a natural propensi- 
 ty to a life of austerity (which is a disease not 
 uncommon in Syria, Egypt, and other Eastern 
 provinces,) were induced to maintain, that 
 Christ had established a double rule of sanctity 
 and virtue, for two different orders of Chris- 
 tians. Of these rules one was ordinary, the 
 other extraordinary; one of a lower dignity, 
 the other more sublime; one for persons in the 
 active scenes of life, the other for those who, 
 in a sacred retreat, aspired to the glory of a ce- 
 lestial state. In consequence of this wild sys- 
 tem, they divided into two parts all those mo- 
 ral doctrines and instructions which they had 
 received, either by writing or tradition. - One 
 of these divisions they called frecepts and the 
 other comiscls. They gave the name of pre- 
 cepts to those laws which were obligatory upon 
 
 in defence of the severe sentence he had pronounced 
 against the fathers. This ingenious performance was 
 printed at Amsterdam in 1720, under the title of Traite 
 6Ur la Morale des Peres; and is highly worthy of the pe- 
 rusal of those who have a taste for this interesting branch 
 of literature, though they will find in it some imputa- 
 tions cast upon the fathers, against which they may be 
 easily defended. 
 
 all orders of men; and that of counsels to such 
 as related to Christians of a more sublime rank, 
 who proposed to themselves great and glori- 
 ous ends, and aspired to an intimate commu- 
 nion with the Supreme Being. 
 
 XII. This double doctrine suddenly produc- 
 ed a new set of men, who made profession of 
 uncommon degrees of sanctity and virtue, and 
 declared their resolution of obeying all the 
 counsels of Christ, that they might enjoy com- 
 munion with God here; and also, that, after 
 the dissolution of their mortal bodies, they 
 might ascend to him with greater facility, and 
 find nothing to retard their approach to the 
 supreme centre of happiness and perfection. 
 They looked upon themselves as prohibited 
 from the use of things which it was lawful for 
 other Christians to enjoy, such as wine, flesh, 
 matrimony, and trade.* They thought it their 
 indispensable duty, to extenuate the body by 
 watchings, abstinence, labour and hunger. — 
 They looked for felicity in solitary retreats, in 
 desert places, where, by severe and assiduous 
 efforts of sublime meditation, they raised the 
 soul above all external objects and all sensual 
 pleasures. Both men and women imposed 
 upon themselves the most severe tasks, the 
 most austere discipline; all which however the 
 fruit of pious intention, was, in the issue, ex- 
 tremely detrimental to Christianity. These 
 persons were called Ascetics, S7rs^:tioi, 'Ex;>.£xtoi, 
 and philosophers; nor were they only distin- 
 guished by tlieir title from other Christians, 
 but also by their garb.f In this century, in- 
 deed, such as embraced this austere kind of 
 life, submitted themselves to all these mortifi- 
 cations in private, without breaking asunder 
 their social bonds, or withdrawing themselves 
 from the concourse of men. But, in process 
 of time, they retired into deserts; and after the 
 example of the Essenes and TherapeutEe, they 
 formed themselves into certain companies. 
 
 XIII. Nothing is more obvious than the rea- 
 sons that gave rise to this austere sect. One 
 of the principal was, the ill judged ambition of 
 the Christians to resemble the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, many of whose sages and philosophers 
 distinguished themselves from the generality 
 by their maxims, by their habits, and, indeed, 
 by the whole plan of life and manners which 
 they had formed to themselves, and by which 
 they acquired a high degree of esteem and au- 
 thority. It is also well known, that, of all 
 these philosophers, there were none whose sen- 
 timents and discipline were so well received by 
 the ancient Christians as those of the Platon- 
 ists and Pythagoreans, who prescribed in their 
 lessons two rules of conduct; one for the sages, 
 who aspired to the sublimest heights of virtue; 
 and another for the people, involved in the 
 cares and hurry of an active life.;^ The law 
 of moral conduct, which the Platonists pre- 
 scribed to the philosophers, was as folh)ws: — 
 
 * Athenagoras, Apologia pro Christian, cap. xxviii. 
 
 t See Saluias. Comm. in Tertullianum de Pallio. 
 
 I These famous sects made an irajiortant distinction 
 between living according to nature, Z>tv xxtx cpvtriv, and 
 liitirlg above nature, Z»iu u^se <f'J'^"'- The former was 
 the rule prescribed to the vulgar; the latter, that which 
 was to direct the conduct of the philosophers, who aimed 
 at superior degrees of virtue. See Aueas Grazeus in 
 ThcophrasU 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 65 
 
 "The soul of the wise man ought to be remov- 
 ed to the greatest possible distance from the 
 contagious influence of the body; and, as the 
 depressing weight of the body, the force of its 
 appetites, and its connexions with a corrupt 
 world, are in direct opposition to this sacred 
 obligation, all sensual pleasures are to l)e care- 
 fully avoided; the body is to be suj)iK>rt,ed, or 
 rather extenuated, by a slender diet; solitude is 
 to be sought as the true mansion of virtue, and 
 contemplatiun to be employed as the moans of 
 raising the soul, as far as is possible, to a sub- 
 lime freedom from all corporeal ties, and to a 
 noble elevation above all terrestrial things.* 
 The person who lives in this manner, shall en- 
 joy, even in the present state, a certain degree 
 of communion with the Deity; and, when the 
 corporeal mass is dissolved, shall immediately 
 ascend to the sublime regions of felicity and 
 perfection, without passing tjirough that state 
 of purification and trial, which awaits the ge- 
 nerality of mankind." It is easy to perceive, 
 that this rigorous discipline was a natiu\il con- 
 sequence of the peculiar opiruons which these 
 philosophers, and some others who resembled 
 them, entertained concerning the nature of the 
 soul, the influence of matter, the operations of 
 invisible beings, or demons, and the formation 
 of the world; and, as these opinions were 
 adopted by the more learned among the Chris- 
 tians, it was natural that they should embrace 
 also tiie moral discipline which flowed from 
 them. 
 
 XIV. There is a particular consideration 
 that will enable us to render a natural account 
 of tiie origin of those religious severities of 
 which we have been now speaking, and that is 
 drawn from the genius and temper of the peo- 
 ple by whom they were first practised. It was 
 in Egypt that this morose discipline had its 
 rise. That country, we may observe, has in 
 all times, as it were by an immutable law, or 
 disposition of nature, abounded with persons 
 of a melancholy complexion, and produced, in 
 proportion to its extent, more gloomy spirits 
 than any otiier part of the world. f It was 
 here that the Essenes and Therapeutse, those 
 dismal and gloomy sects, dwelt principally, 
 long before the coming of Christ; as also many 
 otiiers of the Ascetic tribe, who, led by a me- 
 lancholy turn of mind, and a delusive notion 
 of rendering themselves more acceptable to the 
 Deity by their iiusterities, withdrew themselves 
 from human society, and from all the innocent 
 pleasures and comforts of life.t From Egypt, 
 this sour and insocial discipline passed into Sy- 
 ria, and the neighbouring countries, which also 
 abounded with persons of the same dismal con- 
 stitution witli that of the Egyptians;§ and 
 thence, in process of time, its infection reach- 
 ed the European nations. Hence arose that 
 train of austere and superstitious vows and 
 
 * The reader will find the principles of this fanatical 
 discipline, in Porphyry's book fsf xtt-.^ii;, t'. e. con- 
 cerning abstinence. That celebrated Platonist has ex- 
 plained at large the respective duties that belong to active 
 and contemplative life, book i. sect. 27, and 41. 
 
 t See Maillet, Description dc I'Egypte, torn. ii. 
 
 } Herodot.Histor. lib. ii. — Epiphanius, Expo«it. Fidei, 
 sect. U.— TertuUian, de Exhortatione Castitat. cap. liii. 
 — Athaoas. Vita Antonii. 
 
 ^ Voyages en Perse, par Jean Chardin, torn, iv. 
 
 Vol. I.— 9 
 
 rites, that still, in many places, throw a veil 
 over the beauty and simplicity of the Christian 
 religion. Hence the celibacy of the priestly 
 order, tlie rigour of unprofiUible penances and 
 mortifications, the innumerable swarms of 
 monks, who, in the senseless pursuit of a vi- 
 sionary sort of pcriection, refused their talents 
 and labours to society. Hence also that dis- 
 tinction between the theorelical and mystical 
 life, and many other fancies of a like nature, 
 which we shall have occasion to mention in 
 the course of this history. 
 
 XV. It is generally true, that delusions tra- 
 vel in a train, and that one mistake produces 
 many. The Christiiuis who adopted this aus- 
 tere system had certainly made a very false 
 step, and done much injury to their excellent 
 and most reasonable religion. But they did 
 not stop here; another erroneous practice was 
 adopted by them, which, thougli it was not so 
 general as the other, was yet extremely perni 
 cious, and proved a source of numberless evils 
 to the Christian church. The Platonists and 
 Pythagoreans held it as a maxim, that it was 
 not only lawful, but even praisewortliy, to de- 
 ceive, and even to use the expedient of a lie, 
 in order to advance the cause of truth and 
 piety. The Jews, wlio lived in I'gypt, had learn- 
 ed and received tliis maxim fiom them, before 
 the coming of Christ, as ajijjears incontestably 
 from a multitude of ancient records; and 
 the Christians were infected from both these 
 sources with the same pernicious error, as ap- 
 pears from the number of books attributed 
 falsely to great and venerable names, from the 
 Sibylline verses, and several supposititious pro- 
 ductions which were spread abroad in this and 
 the following century. It does not indeed 
 seem probable, tliat all these pious frauds were 
 chargeable upon the professors of real Chris- 
 tianity, upon those who entertained just and 
 rational sentiments of the religion of Jesus. 
 The greatest part of these fictitious writings 
 undoubtedly flowed from the fertile invention 
 of the Gnostic sects, though it amnot be af- 
 firmed that even true Christians were entirely 
 innocent and irreproachable in this respect. 
 
 XVI. As the boundaries of the church were 
 enlarged, the niunbcr of vicious and irregular 
 persons who entered into it, received a pro- 
 portional increase, ;is appears from the many 
 complaints and censures that wc find in tlio 
 writers of this century. Several methods were 
 practised to stem the torrent of iniquity. Ex- 
 communication was peculiarly employed to 
 prevent or piuiish the most heinous and enor- 
 mous crimes, and tiie crimes deemed such, 
 were murder, idolatry, and adtiltery, which 
 terms, however, we must here understand in 
 their more full and extensive sense. In some 
 places, the commission of any of these sins ir- 
 revocably cut otF tlie criminals from all hopes 
 of restoration to the privileges of church com- 
 munion; in others, after a long, laborious, and 
 painful course of probation and discipline, they 
 were re-admitted into the bosom of the church.* 
 
 * By this distinction, we may easily reconcile the dif- 
 ferent opinions of the learned concerning the rfiects of 
 excommunication. See Morinus,de Disciplina PoenitCDt. 
 lib. ix. cap. xix. p. 67. — Sirmond, Hisloria roenitentiie 
 publics, cap. i. — Joseph, Auguslin, Orsi, Dissert, do 
 
66 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 XVII. It is here to be attentively observed, 
 that the fomi, used in the exclusion of heinous 
 offenders from the society of Christians, was, 
 at first, extremely simple. A small number 
 of plain, j'et judicious rules, made up the 
 whole of this solemn institution, which, how- 
 ever was imperceptibly altered, enlarged by an 
 addition of a vast multitude of rites, and new- 
 modelled according- to the discipline used in the 
 Heathen mysteries.* Those who have any ac- 
 quaintance with the singular reasons that 
 obliged the Cbristians of those ancient tunes 
 to be careful in restraining the progress of 
 vice, will readily grant, that it was incumbent 
 upon the rulers of the church to pejfect their 
 discipline, and to render tlio restraints upon 
 inicjuity more severe. They will justify the 
 rulers of the primitive church in their refusing 
 to restore excommunicated members to their 
 forfeited privileges, before they had given in- 
 contestable marks of the sincerity of their re- 
 pentance. Yet it remains to be examined, 
 whether it was expedient to borrow from tiie 
 enemies of tlie truth the rules of this salutary 
 discipline, and thus to sanctify in some mea- 
 sure, a part of the Heathen superstition. But, 
 however delicate such a question may be, 
 when determined with a view to all the indi- 
 rect or immediate consequences of the matter 
 in debate, the equitable and candid judge will 
 consider principally the good intentions of those 
 from whom these ceremonies and institutions 
 proceeded, and will overlook the rest from a 
 charitable condescension and indulgence to 
 human weakness. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Ceremonies used in the Church during 
 this Cenlnry. 
 I. There is no institution so pure and ex- 
 cellent which the corruption and folly of man 
 will not in time alter for the worse, and load 
 with additions foreign to its nature and origi- 
 nal design. Such, in a particular manner, 
 was the fate of Christianity. In this century 
 many unnecessary rites and ceremonies were 
 added to the Christian worship, the introduc- 
 tion of which was extremely oflensive to wise 
 and good men.'f These changes, while they 
 destroyed the beautiful simplicity of the Gos- 
 pel, were naturally pleasing to the gross mul- 
 titude, who are more delighted with the pomp 
 and splendour of external institutions, than 
 with the native charms of rational and solid 
 piety, and who generally give little attention 
 to any objects but those whicii strike their 
 outward senses.j: But other reasons may be 
 
 Criminum tapilalium jxr tria priora Ssecula Absolutioiie, 
 published at Milan in 1730. 
 
 " See Fabricius, Bibliograph. Antiquar. p. 397, and 
 Morinus, de Poeriitcntia, lib. i. cap. xv, &c. 
 
 f TertuUiau, Lib. de Creatioue, p. 792, op. 
 
 (Jj^ X It is not improper to remark here, lliat this at- 
 tachment of the vulgar to the pomp of ceremonies, is a 
 circumstance that has always been favourable to the am- 
 bitious views of the Romish clergy, since the pomp of 
 religion naturally casts a part of its glory and magnifi- 
 cence upon its ministers, and thereby gives them, imper- 
 ceptibly, a vast aseenili ney over the minds of the people. 
 The late lord Bolingbroke, being present at the elevation 
 of the host in the cathedral at I'aris, expressed to a no- 
 bleman who stood near him, his surprise that the king of 
 France should commit the performance of such an august 
 and striking ceremony to any subject. How far ambi- 
 
 added to this, which, though they suppose no 
 bad intention, yet manifest a considerable de- 
 gree of precipitation and imprudence. 
 
 II. And here we may observe, in the first 
 place, that there is a high degree of probability 
 in the notion of those who think that the 
 bishops augmented the number of religious 
 rites in the Christian worship, by way of ac- 
 commodation to the infij-mities and prejudices, 
 both of .lews and heathens, in order to facili- 
 tate their conversion to Christianity. Both 
 Jews and heathens were accustomed to a great 
 variety of pompous and magnificent ceremo- 
 nies in their religious service. And as they 
 deemed these rites an essential part of religion, 
 it was natural that they should behold with 
 indifference, and even with contempt, the sim- 
 plicity of the Christian worship, which was 
 destitute of those idle ceremonies that rendered 
 their service so specious and striking. To re- 
 move then, in some measure, this prejudice 
 against Christianity, the bishops thought it ne- 
 cessary to increase the number of ceremonies, 
 and thus to render tlie public worship more 
 striking to the outward senses.* 
 
 III. This addition of external rites was also 
 designed to remove the opprobrious calumnies 
 which the .Jewish and pagan priests cast upon 
 the Christians on account of the simplicity of 
 their worship, considering them as little better 
 than atheists, because they had no temples, al- 
 tars, victims, priests, nor any mark of that ex- 
 ternal pomp in whicli the viilgar are so prone 
 to place the essence of religion. The rulers 
 of the church adopted, therefore, certain ex- 
 ternal ceremonies, that thus they might cap- 
 tivate the senses of the vulgar, and be able 
 to refute the reproaches of their adversaries. 
 §:^This, it must be confessed, was a very 
 awkward, and indeed, a very pernicious stra- 
 tagem; it was obscuring the native lustre of 
 the Gospel, in order to extend its influence, 
 and making it lose, in point of real excellence, 
 what it gained in point of popular esteem. 
 Some accoinmodations to the infirmities of 
 mankind, some prudent instances of conde- 
 scension to their invincible prejudices, are ne- 
 cessary in ecclesiastical, as well as in civil in- 
 stitutions; but they must be of such a nature 
 
 tion may, in this and the succeeding ages, have con- 
 tributed to the accumulation of gaudy ceremonies, is a 
 question not easily determined. 
 
 * A remarkable passage in the life of Gregory, sur- 
 named Thaumaturgus, i. c. the wonder worker, will il- 
 lustrate this point in the clearest manner. The passage 
 is as follows: " Cum animadvertisset (Gregorius) quod 
 ob corporeas deleetationes et voluplates simplex et im- 
 peritun\ valgus in simulacrorum cultus errore perma- 
 neret — permisit eis, ut in memoriam et recordationem 
 sanctorum martyrum sese oblectarent, et in laititiam ef- 
 funderentur, quod successu tcmporis aliquando futurcm 
 esset, ut sua sponte ad houestiorum et accuratiorem vitse 
 rationem transirent." i. e. "When Gregory perceived 
 that the ignorant multitude persisted in their idolatry, 
 on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications 
 which they enjoyed at the pagan festivals, he granted them 
 a permission to indulge themselves in the like pleasures, 
 in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs, hoping 
 that, in process of time, they would return of their own 
 accord, to a more virtuous and regular course of life." 
 There is no sort of doubt, that, by this permission, 
 Gregory allowed the Christians to dance, sport, and feast 
 at the tombs of the martyrs, upon their respective festi- 
 vals, and to do every thing which the pagans were ac- 
 customed to do in their temples, during the feasts cele- 
 brated in honour of their gods," 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 67 
 
 as not to inspire ideas, or encouraore preju- 
 dices, incompatible with just sentiments of the 
 great object of rehgious worship, and of the 
 fundamental trutlis which God has imparted 
 by reason and revelation to tlie human race 
 How far tliis rule has been disregarded and vi- 
 olated, will appear too plainly in the progress 
 of this history. 
 
 IV. A third cause of tlio multiplication of 
 ceremonies in the Christian church, may be 
 deduced from the abuse of certain titles that 
 distinguished the sacerdotal orders among the 
 Jews. Every one knows, that many terms 
 used in the New Testament to express the dif- 
 ferent parts of the Christian doctrine and wor- 
 ship, are borrowed troni the .Jewish lavv-, or 
 bear a certain analogy to the forms and cere- 
 monies instituted by Moses. The Christian 
 doctors not only imitated this analogical man- 
 ner of speaking, but even extended it farther 
 than the apostles had done; and though in tiiis 
 there was nothing that deserved reproach, yet 
 the consequences of this metliod of speaking 
 became, through abuse, detrimental to the pu- 
 rity of the Gospel; for, in process of time, 
 many asserted, (whether through ignorance or 
 artifice is not easy to determine.) that these 
 forms of speech were not figurative, but highly 
 proper, and exactly suital»le to the nature of 
 the things thej' were designed to express. The 
 bishops, by an innocent allusion to the Jewisii 
 manner of speaking, had been called chief 
 priests; the elders, or presbyters, had received 
 the title of priests, and tiie deacons that of Le- 
 vites. But, in a little time, these titles were 
 abused by an aspiring clergy, who thouglit 
 proper to claim the same rank and station, the 
 same rights and privileges, that were conferred 
 with those titles upon the ministers of religion 
 under the Mosaic dispensation. Hence the 
 rise of tilhes, first-fruits, splendid garments, and 
 many other circumstances of external gran- 
 deur, by which ecclesiastics were eminently 
 distinguished. In like manner the comparison 
 of the Christian olilations with the JewisJi vic- 
 tims and sacrifices, produced a multitude of 
 unnecessary rites, and was the occasion of in- 
 troducing that erroneous notion of the euelia- 
 rist, whicii represents it as a real sacrifice, and 
 not merely as a commemoration of the great 
 otlering tliat was once made upon the cross for 
 the sins of mortals. 
 
 V. The profound respect that was ]>ai(l to 
 the Greek and.Roman mysteries, and the ex- 
 traordinary sanctity that was attributed to 
 them, were additional circumstances that in- 
 duced the Christians to give their religion a 
 mystic air, in order to put it upon an equal 
 footing, in point of dignity, with that of tlie 
 Pagans. For tiiis jiurpose, they gave the name 
 of mysteries to tile institutions of the Gospel, 
 and decorated particularly the holy sacrament 
 with that solemn title. They used in that sa- 
 cred institution, as also in that of baptism, se- 
 veral of the terms employed in the Heathen 
 mysteries, and proceeded so far, at length, as 
 even to adopt some of the ceremonies of which 
 those renowned mysteries consisted.* This 
 
 ' See, for many examples of tliis, Isaac Casaubon, 
 ^xercitaU xvi. in Auiial. Cardiii. Baronii, p. 38{<, edit. 
 
 imitation began ui the eastern provinces; but, 
 after tiio time of Adrian, who first introduced 
 the mysteries among the Lntius,* it was fol- 
 lowed by tile Christians who dwelt in the west- 
 ern parts of tlie empire. A great i)art, there- 
 fore, of the service of the Church, in tliis cen- 
 tury, had a certain air of the I leathcn myste- 
 ries, and resembled them considerably in many 
 particulars. 
 
 VI. It may be farther observed, that the cus- 
 tom of teaching their religious doctrines by 
 images, actions, signs, and otiier scnsiiile repre- 
 sentations, which prevailed among the Egyp- 
 tians, and, indeed, in almost all the eastern na- 
 tions, was another cause of tlie increase of ex- 
 ternal rites in the church. As there were many 
 persons of narrow capacities, whose compre- 
 hension scarcely extended beyond sensible ob- 
 jects, the Clirislian doctors tliouglit it advisable 
 to instruct such in the essential trutlis of the 
 Gospel, by placing these truths as it were, be- 
 fore their eyes, under sensible images. Thus 
 they administered milk and honey, tlic ordinary 
 food of infants, to such as were newly received 
 into the cliurch, showing by this sign, that by 
 their baptism they were born again, and were 
 bound to manifest the simplicity and innocence 
 of infants in their lives and conversation. — 
 Certain military forms were borrowed to ex- 
 press the new and solemn engagements, by 
 which Christians attached themselves to Christ 
 as their leader and their chief; and the ancient 
 ceremony of manumission was used to signify 
 the liberty of which they were made partakers, 
 in consequence of their redemption from the 
 guilt and dominion of sin, and their deliver- 
 ance from the power of the prince of dark- 
 ness. f 
 
 VII. If it be considered, in the first place, 
 that the Christians who composed the church, 
 were Jews and Heathens, accustomed from 
 their birth, to various insignificant ceremonies 
 and superstitious rites, — and if it be also con- 
 sidered, that such a long course of custom and 
 of education forms prejudices that are extreme- 
 ly obstinate and ditficult to be conquered — it 
 will then ajipear, that nothing less than a con- 
 tinued miracle could have totally prevented the 
 entrance of all superstitious mixtures into the 
 Christian worship. A single exanijile will tend 
 to the illustrations of this matter. J5efi)re the 
 coming of Christ, all the eastern nations jxer- 
 formed divine worship with their faces turned 
 ,o tliat part of the heavens where the sun dis- 
 plays liis rising beams. 'J'liis cnsloni was 
 founded ujion a general opinion, that God, 
 whose essence they looked uium to be liu;kt,a.n(i 
 whom they considered as being circumscribed 
 within certain linrits, dwelt in that part of tiie 
 firmament, from which he sends forth the sun, 
 the bright image of his benignity and glory. 
 The Christian converts, indeed, rejected this 
 gross error; but they retained the ancient and 
 universal custom of worshipping toward the 
 east, which sprang from it. Nor is that cus- 
 tom abolished even in our times, but still pre- 
 
 Genev. 16.54. Tollius, Insign. itincris It.ilici, not. p. 
 l.'Jlj 163. — Spanheim's notes to his French translation of 
 Julian's Ctrstirs, p. \'Xi. — Clarkson on LUttrgies. 
 
 * .Sparlian, Vit. Iladriaui, c. xiii. 
 
 f Set Kdui. .Verillii Oliterval. lib. iii. cap. iii. 
 
68 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 vails in a great number of Christian churches. 
 From the same source arose various rites 
 among the Jews, wliich many Cliristians, espe- 
 cially those who live in the eastern countries, 
 observe religiously at this very day.* 
 
 VIII. We shall take no more than a brief 
 view of these rites and ceremonies, since a par- 
 ticular consideration of them would lead us 
 into endless discussions, and open a field too 
 vast to be comprehended in such a compen- 
 dious history as we here give of the Christian 
 church. The first Cliristians assembled for the 
 purposes of divine worship, in private houses, 
 in caves, and in vaults, where the dead were 
 buried. Their meetings were on the first day 
 of the week; and, in some places, they assem- 
 bled also on the seventh, which was celebrated 
 by the Jews. Many also observed the fourth 
 day of the week, on which Christ was betrayed; 
 and the sixth, which was the day of his cruci- 
 fixion. The hour of the day appointed for 
 holding these religious assemblies varied ac- 
 cording to the different times and circumstan- 
 ces of the church; but it was generally in the 
 evening after smi-set, or in the morning before 
 the dawn. During these sacred meetings, 
 prayers were repeated;t the holy scriptures 
 were publicly read; short discourses, upon the 
 duties of Christians, were addressed to the 
 people; hymns were sung; and a portion of tlie 
 oblations, presented by the faitliful was em- 
 ployed in the celebration of the Lord's Supper 
 and the feast of charity. 
 
 IX. The Christians of this century celebrat- 
 ed anniversary festivals in commemoration of 
 the death and resurrection of Christ, and of 
 the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the apos- 
 tles. The day whiclv was observed as the an- 
 niversary of Christ's death was called the pas- 
 chal day, or passover, because it was looked 
 upon to be the same with that on which the 
 Jews celebrated the feast of tliat name. In 
 the manner, however, .of observing this solemn 
 day, the Christians of Asia Minor differed much 
 from the rest, and in a more especial manner 
 from those of Rome. They both indeed, fast- 
 ed during the gi-eat week (so that was called in 
 which Clirist died,) and afterwards celebrated, 
 like the Jews, a sacred feast, at which they dis- 
 tributed a paschal lamb in memory of the holy 
 supper. But the Asiatic Christians kept this 
 feast on the fourteenth day of the fij'st Jewisli 
 month, vi^hen the Jews celebrated their passo- 
 ver, and, three days after, commemorated the 
 resurrection of the triumphant Redeemer. — 
 They affirmed, that they had derived this cus- 
 tom from the apostles John and Philip; and 
 pleaded, moreover, in its behalf, the exatnple of 
 Christ himself, who held his paschal feast on 
 the day of the Jewish passover. The western 
 churches observed a different method; they 
 celebrated their paschal feast on the night that 
 preceded the anniversary of Christ's resurrec- 
 tion, and thus connected the commemoration 
 of his crucifixion with that of his victory over 
 
 * See Spencer de Legibus ritualibus Hchrctorum, Pro- 
 legom. 
 
 f There is an excellent account given of these prayera, 
 and of the Christian worship in general, in TurtuUian's 
 Apology, chap, xxxix. which is one of the most noble 
 productions of ancient times. 
 
 death and the grave. Nor did they differ thai 
 from the Asiatics, without pleading also apos- 
 tolic authority for what they did; for they al- 
 leged that of St. Peter and St. Paul, as a jus- 
 tification of their conduct in this matter. 
 
 X. The Asiatic rule for keeping the paschal 
 feast, was attended with two great inconveni- 
 ences, to which the Christians at Alexandria 
 and Rome, and all the western churclies, refus- 
 ed to submit; for, in the first place, as the Asia- 
 tics celebrated their festival on the same day 
 that Christ is said to have eaten the paschal 
 lamb with his disciples, this occasioned an ine- 
 vitable interruption in the fast of the great 
 loee.k, which the otlier churches looked upon as 
 almost criminal, at least as highly indecent. 
 Nor was tliis the only inconvenience arising 
 from this rule: for, as they celebrated the me- 
 mory of Christ's resurrection, precisely on the 
 third day after their paschal supper, it happen- 
 ed for the most part, that this great festival 
 (which afterwards was called by the Latins 
 pascha, and to which we give the name of jEos- 
 ter) was holden on other days of the week than 
 the first. This circumstance was extremely 
 displeasing to the greatest part of the Chris- 
 tians, who thought it unlawful to celebrate the 
 resurrection of our Lord on any day but Sun- 
 day, as that was the day on which this glorious 
 event happened. Hence arose sharp and ve- 
 hement contentions between the Asiatic and 
 western Christians. About the middle of this 
 century, during the reign of Antoninus Pius, 
 the venerable Polycarp went to Rome to con- 
 fer with Anicet, liishop of that see, upon this 
 matter, with a view to terminate the warm dis- 
 putes which it had occasioned. But this con- 
 ference, though conducted with great decency 
 and moderation, was without effect. Polycarp 
 and Anicet only agreed in this, that the bonds 
 of charity were not to be broken on account of 
 this contr /Versy; but they respectively conti- 
 nued, at tlie same time, in their fonner senti- 
 ments; nor could tlie Asiatics be engaged by 
 any arguments to alter the rule which they 
 pretended to have received by tradition from 
 St. John.* 
 
 XI. Toward tlie conclusion of this century, 
 Victor, bishop of Rome, endeavoured to force 
 the Asiatic Christians by the pretended autho- 
 rity of his laws and decrees, to follow the rule 
 whicli was observed by the western churches 
 in this point. Accordingly, after having taken 
 the advice of some foreign bishops, he wrote 
 an imperious letter to the Asiatic prelates com- 
 manding them to imitate the example of tlie 
 western Cliristians with respect to the time of 
 celebrating the festival of Easter. The Asi- 
 atics answered this lord!)' requisition by the 
 pen of Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, who de- 
 clared in tlieir name, with great spirit and reso- 
 lution, tjiat they would by no means depart, in 
 this manner from the custom handed down to 
 them by their ancestors. Upon this the thun- 
 der of excommunication began to roar. Vic- 
 tor, exasperated by this resolute answer of the 
 Asiatic bishops, broke communion with them 
 pronounced them unworthy of the name of his 
 brethren, and excluded them from all fellow- 
 
 Eu&ebius, Hist. Eccles. lib- iv. v- 
 
€hap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 m 
 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, according to 
 tho express command of our Hlessed Lord. Af- 
 ter baptism, tliey received the sip^n of the cross, 
 were anointed, and by prayers and imposition 
 of hands, were solcmenly recommended to the 
 mercy of God, and dedicated to his service; in 
 consequence of which tlicy received milk and 
 honey, which concluded the ceremony.* The 
 reason.s of this particular ritual coincide with 
 what we have said in general concerning the 
 origin and causes of the multiplied ceremonies 
 that crept from time to time into the church. 
 
 Adult persons were prepared for baptism by 
 abstinence, prayer, and other pious exercises. 
 It was to answer for them that sponsors, or 
 godfathers, were first instituted, tiiougli they 
 were afterwards admitted also in the baptism 
 of infants.! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Heresies and Divisions that trou- 
 bled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. Among the many sects which divided the 
 Christian church during this century, it is na- 
 tural to mention, in the first place, that which 
 an attachment to the Mosaic law separated 
 from the rest of their Christian brethren. Tho 
 first rise of this sect is placed under the reign 
 of Adrian; for, when this emperor had, at 
 length, razed Jerusalem, entirely destroyed 
 even its very foundations, and enacted laws 
 of the severest kind against tho whole body of 
 the Jewish peo])le, the greatest part of tjie 
 Christians, who lived in Palestine, to prevent 
 their being confounded witli the Jews, aban- 
 doned entirely the Mosaic riles, and chose a 
 bishop named Mark, a foreigner by nation, and 
 consequentl)' an alien from the conniionwcalth 
 of Israel. This step was highly shocking to 
 those, whose attachment to the Mosaic rites 
 was violent and invincible; and such was the 
 case of many. These, therefore, separated 
 themselves from the ])rethren, and Ibunded in 
 Peraea, a country of Palestine, and in the 
 neighbourning parts, particular assemblies, in 
 which the law of Moses maintained its primi- 
 tive dignity, authority, and lustre.]; 
 
 II. This body of judaizing Christians, which 
 set Christ and Moses upon an equal fooling, in 
 point of authority, afterwards divided itsoli" into 
 two sects, extreuK'ly diU'erenl both in their 
 rites and in their opinions, and distingiiislied 
 by the names of Nazarenes and I'^bionitcs. The 
 former arc not placed by the ancient Christians 
 in the heretical register;^ but the latter were 
 considered as a sect, whose tenets were de- 
 structive of the fimdamental principles of liie 
 
 ship with the church of Rome. This excom- 
 munication, indeed, extended no fartlier: nor 
 could it cut oft' the Asiatic bishops from com- 
 munion with the other churclies, whose bishops 
 were far from approving the conduct of Vic- 
 tor.* The progress of this violent dissension 
 was stopped by the wise and moderate remon- 
 strances, which Irenseiis, bishop of Lyons, ad- 
 dressed to tiie Roman prelate on this occasion, 
 in which he showed him the imprudence and 
 •injustice of the step he had taken, and also by 
 the long letter which the Asiatic Christians 
 wrote in their own justification. In conse- 
 quence therefore of this cessation of arms, the 
 combatants retained each their own customs, 
 until the fourth century, when the council of 
 Nice abolished that of the Asiatics, and ren- 
 dered the time of the celebration of Easier the 
 8ame through all the Christian churches. f 
 
 XII. In these times, the sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper was celebrated, for the most 
 part, on Sundays, and the ceremonies observed 
 upon that occasion were such as follow. Of 
 the bread and wine, which were presented 
 among the other oblations of tiie faithful, a 
 part was separated from the rest, and conse- 
 crated by the prayers of the bishop. The 
 wine was mixed with water, and the bread 
 was divided into several portions. A part of 
 the consecrated bread and wine was carried 
 to the sick or absent members of the church, 
 as a testimony of fraternal love, sent to them 
 by the whole society. J It appears by many and 
 undoubted testimonies, that this holy rile was 
 looked upon as essential to salvation; and, 
 when this is duly considered, we shall be less 
 disposed to censure, as erroneous, the opinion 
 of those who have aftirmed, thai tho Lord's 
 Supper was administered to infants during this 
 century.^ The feasts of charity, tliat followed 
 the celebration of the Lord's Supper, have 
 been already mentioned. 
 
 XIII. The sacrament of baptism was ad- 
 ministered publicly twice every year, at the 
 festivals of Easter and Pentecost or Whitsun- 
 tide, || either by the bishop, or, in consequence 
 of his authorization and appointment, by tjie 
 presbyters. The persons that were to be bap- 
 tized, after they had repeated the Creed, con- 
 fessed and renounced their sins, and particu- 
 larly the devil and his pompous allurements, 
 were immersed under water, and received into 
 Christ's kingdom by a solenm invocation of 
 
 * This whole affair furnishes a striking argument, 
 among the multitude that may be drawn from ecclesiasti- 
 cal history, against the supremacy and universal au- 
 thority of the bishop of Rome. 
 
 QCf' t Dr. Mosheim, in a note, refers us for a more 
 copious account of this controversy to his Commen'ar. 
 de rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum M. He had 
 said in that work, that Faydit had perceived the error of 
 the common opinion, concerning tlie disputes which arose 
 in the church about the time of keeping Easter. But 
 here he retracts this encomium, and, after a second 
 reading of Faydit's book, finds himself obliged to declare, 
 that this writer has entirely missed the true state of the 
 question. See the account of this controversy, given by 
 the learned Heuman,inoneuf the treatises of his Sylloge, 
 or collection of small pieces. 
 
 \ Henricus Rixnerus, de n'lUVdj reterum Christiano- 
 rum circa Eucharistim. 
 
 § Set Jo. Frid. Mayer, Diss, de Eucharistia Infantum; 
 as also Zornius, Histor. Eucharist. Infantum. 
 
 II Se* Wall's History of Infaut Baptism, and Vice- 
 comes de Ritibus Baptismi. 
 
 * See Tertullian on Baptism. 
 
 t See Ger. a Maestrichl, de Susceploribus Infantiiim 
 ex Baptismo; though he is of a dilTereiit opinion in thit 
 matter, and thinks that sjwnsors were not used in llic 
 baptism of adult persons. See also Wall's ilislory of 
 Infant Baptism. 0(7- See moreover, upon this subject, 
 IsaaciJundt, Arg.de Susceptorum Baptismalium Origine 
 Commenlatio, published in 1755, of which an account 
 may be seen in the Biblioth. dts Sciences el dcs Beaux 
 .\rts, tom. vi. 
 
 } See Sulpitius Severus, Hist. Sacr. lib. ii. cap. xixi. 
 
 § Epiphanius was the first writer who placed the Naza- 
 renes in the list of heretics. He wrote in the fourth 
 century, but is very far from being remarkable, either 
 for his fidelity or judgment. 
 
70 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Christian religion. These sects made use of a 
 gospel, or history of Ciirist, different from that 
 which is received among us, and concernin 
 which there have been many disputes among 
 the learned.* The term Nazarine was not 
 originally the name of a sect, in that which 
 distinguished tlie disciples of Jesus but general; 
 and, as those whom the Greeks called Chris 
 tians, received the name of Nazarenes among 
 the Jews, tlie latter name was not considered 
 as a mark of ignominy or contempt. Those, 
 indeed, who, after their separation from tlieir 
 brethren, retained the title of Nazarenes, dif- 
 fered much from the true disciples of Christ, 
 to whom that name had been originally given: 
 " they held, that Christ was born of a virgin, 
 and was also in a certain manner united to the 
 divine nature; they refused to abandon the 
 ceremonies prescribed by the law of Moses, but 
 were far from attempting to impose the obser- 
 vance of these ceremonies upon tlie Gentile 
 Christians; and they rejected all those addi- 
 tions which had been made to the Mosaic in- 
 stitutions, by the Pharisees and the doctors of 
 the law;"t and hence we may easily see the 
 reason why the greatest part of the Christians 
 treated the Nazarenes with a more than ordi- 
 nary degree of gentleness and forbearance. 
 
 III. It is doubtful whether the Ebionites de- 
 rived their name from one of their principal 
 doctors, or from their poverty.]; One thing, 
 however, is certain, that their sentiments and 
 doctrines were much more pernicious than those 
 of the Naz,arenes;§ for, though they believed 
 the celestial mission of Christ, and his partici- 
 pation of a divine nature, yet tliey regarded 
 him as a man born of Joseph and Mary, ac- 
 cording to the ordinary course of nature. 
 They also asserted, that the ceremonial law, 
 instituted by Moses, was not only obligatory 
 upon the Jews, but upon all otliers, and that 
 the observance of it was essential to salvation; 
 and as St. Paul had very different sentiments 
 from them, concerning the obligation of the 
 ceremonial law, and had opposed the observ- 
 ance of it in the warmest manner, so, in con- 
 sequence, they held this apostle in abliorrence, 
 and treated his writings witli the utmost dis- 
 respect. Nor were they only attached to tlie 
 rites instituted by Moses: they went still far- 
 
 (ilj- * Tliis gospel, which was called iiuliscriminately 
 the gospel of the Na/.arenes, or Hebrews, isccilainly the 
 same with the gospel of the Ebionites, and that of the 
 twelve apostles, and is probably that which Si. Paul re- 
 fers to, Galatians, ch. i. ver. 6. Dr. Mosheim refers his 
 readers, for an account of this gospel, to Kaliricins, in 
 his Codex, Apocryph. Nov. Test. torn. i. p. 355, and to 
 a work of his owu, entitled Vindiciffi contra Tolandi 
 Nazarenum. The reader will, however, find a still more 
 accurate and satisfactory account of this gospel, in the 
 first volume of the learned and judicious Mr. Jones' in- 
 comparable Method of settling the Canonical Authority 
 of the New Testament. 
 
 t See Mich, le Quien, Adnot. ad Damascenum, torn. 
 i. as also a dissertation of the same author, de Nazarenis 
 et eorum Fide, which is the seventh of those that he has 
 subjoined to his edition of the works of Damascenuf. 
 
 \ See Fabric, ad Philostr. de Hseresibus; and Itigius, de 
 Haeresibus JE\\ Aposlolici. 
 
 {J(^ (j The learned Mr. .Jones looked upon these two 
 sects as differing very little from one another. He at 
 tributes to them both much the same doctrines, and al- 
 ledges, that the Ebionites had only made some small ad- 
 ditions to the old Nazarene system. 
 
 ther, and received, with an equal degree of 
 veneration, the superstitions of their ancestors, 
 and the ceremonies and traditions which the 
 Pharisees presumptuously added to the law.* 
 
 IV. These obscure and mifrequented here- 
 tical assemblies were very little detrimental to 
 the Cliristian cause, which suffered much more 
 from those sects, whose leaders explained the 
 doctrines of Christianity in a manner confor- 
 mable to the dictates of the oriental pjiilosopliy 
 concerning the origin of evil. The oriental 
 doctors, who, before this century, had lived in 
 tlie greatest obscurity, came forth from theii 
 retreat under the reign of Adrian, f exposed 
 themselves to public view, and collected, in 
 various provinces, assemblies, whose numbers 
 were very considerable. The ancient records 
 mention a great number of these demi-chris- 
 tian sects, many of which are no farther known 
 tlian by their distinguishing names: which per- 
 haps, is the only circumstance in which they 
 ditier from each other. One division, how- 
 ever, of these oriental Christians, may be men- 
 tioned as real and important, since the two 
 branches it produced were considerably superi- 
 or to the rest in reputation, and made more 
 noise in the world than the other multiplied 
 subdivisions of this pernicious sect. Of this 
 famous division, one branch which arose in 
 Asia, preserved the oriental doctrine concern- 
 ing the origin of the world, unmixed with otiier 
 sentiments and opinions; while the otlier, which 
 was formed in Egypt, made a motley mixture 
 of this philosophy with the tenets and prodi- 
 gies adopted in tlie religious system of that 
 su])erstitious country. The doctrine of the 
 former surpassed in simplicity and perspicuity 
 tliat of the latter, which consisted of a vast 
 variety of parts, so artfully combined, that the 
 explication of them became exceedingly diffi- 
 cult. 
 
 V. Among the doctors of the Asiatic brancli, 
 the first place is due to Elxai, who, during the 
 reign of Trajan, is said to have formed the 
 sect of the Elcesaites. This heretic, tliough a 
 Jew, attached to the worship of one God, and 
 full of veneration for Moses, corrupted the re- 
 ligion of his ancestors, by blending with it a 
 multitude of fictions drawn from the oriental 
 philosophy. Pretending also, after tlie exam- 
 ple of the Essenes, to give a rational explica- 
 tion of the law of Moses, he reduced it to a 
 mere allegory. It is, at the same time, proper 
 to observe, that some have doubted whether 
 tlie Elcesaites are to be reckoned among the 
 Christian or the Jewish sects; and Epiphanius 
 who was acquainted with a certain production 
 of Elxai, expresses his uncertainty in this mat- 
 ter. Elxai, indeed, in that book, mentions 
 Christ with tlie highest encomiums, without, 
 however, adding any circumstance from which 
 it might be concluded with certainty, that Je- 
 
 * Iren^us, lib. i. contra Haeres. cap. xxvi. p. 105, edit. 
 Massueti. Epiphanius gives a large account of the Ebio- 
 nites, Haeres. xxx. But he deserves little credit, since he 
 confesses, (sect. 3, p. 127, and sect. 4, p. 141,) that he 
 had confounded the Sampsseans and Elcesaites with the 
 Ebionites, and also acknowledges that the first Ebionites 
 were strangers to the errors with which he charges them. 
 
 t Stromata of Clemens Alex. lib. viii. cap. xvii. p. 898. 
 Cypriani epist. Ixxv. 
 
 1 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 71 
 
 sus of Nazareth was the Christ of whom he 
 spoke.* 
 
 VI. If, tlien, Elxai be improperly placed 
 among the leaders of the sect now under con- 
 sideration, we may place at it.s head Satiiriii- 
 niis of Antiocli, who is one of the first Gnostic 
 chiefs mentioned in hif;tor}^ He licld the doc- 
 trine of two principles, from which proceeded 
 all tilings; one a wise and benevolent deity; 
 and the other, a principle essentially evil, 
 which he supposed to be under the superinten- 
 dence of a certain intelligence of a malignant 
 nature. " Tlie world and its first iiiliabitants 
 were (according to the system of this raving 
 philosopher) created by seven angels, who pre- 
 sided over the seven planets. This work was 
 carried on without the knowledge of the bene- 
 volent deity, and in opposition to the will of 
 the material ])rinciple. The former, however, 
 beheld it with approbation, and honoured it 
 with several marks of his beneficence. He en- 
 dowed with rational souls the beings who in- 
 liabited this new system, to whom their crea- 
 tors had imparted nothing more than the mere 
 animal life; and, having divided the world into 
 seven parts, he distributed them among the 
 seven angelic architects, one of whom was the 
 god of the Jews, and reserved to himself the 
 supreme empire over all. To these creatures, 
 whom the benevolent principle had endowed 
 with reasonable souls, and with dispositions 
 that led to goodness and virtue, the evil being, 
 to maintain his empire, added another kind, 
 whom he formed of a wicked and malignant 
 character; and hence arose the difference ob- 
 servable among men. When the creators of 
 the world fell from their allegiance to the Su- 
 preme Deity, God sent from lieaven, into our 
 globe, a restorer of order, whose name was 
 Christ. This divine conqueror came clothed 
 with a corporeal appearance, but not with a 
 real body; he came to destroy the empire of the 
 material principle, and to point out to virtuous 
 souls the way by which they must return to 
 God. This way is beset with difficulties and 
 sufferings, since those souls, who propose re- 
 turning to the Supreme Being after the disso- 
 lution of this mortal body, must abstain from 
 wine, flesh, wedlock, and, in short, from every 
 thing that tends to sensual gratification, or even 
 bodily refreshment." Saturninus taughtthese 
 e.xtravagant doctrines in Syria, but principally 
 at Antioch, and drew after him many disciples 
 by the pompous appearance of an extraordina- 
 ry virtue! 
 
 VII. Cerdo the Syrian, and Marcion, son to 
 the bishop of Pontus, belong to the Asiatic 
 sect, though they began to establish their doc- 
 trine at Rome, and, having- given a turn some- 
 what different to the oriental superstition, may 
 themselves be considered as the heads of anew 
 sect, which bears their names. Amidst the 
 obscurity and doubts that render so uncertain 
 the history of these two men, the following 
 fact is uicontestable, viz. That Cerdo had been 
 
 * Euseb. Hist. Ecclrs. lib. vi. cap. xKiviii.— Epipha- 
 nius, Haercs. xix. sect. iii. Thtodoretus. Kabul. Hsret. 
 lib. ii. cap. vii. 
 
 f Irenaeus, lib. i. c. xxiv.— Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. 
 cap. vii. — Theodoret. Kabul. Haerct. lib. i. cap. ii. — 
 Epiphan. Haeres. ixxiii. 
 
 spreading his doctrine at Rome before the ar- 
 rival of Marcion there; and that the latter hav- 
 ing, through his own misconduct, forfeited a 
 I place to wliich he aspired in the church of 
 I Rome, atLacitod himself tlirougii resentment to 
 j the impostor Cerdo, and pro[>agated his impi- 
 jous doctrines with an astonishing success 
 i throughout the world. " Allcr the example of 
 J tlie oriental doctors, they held the existence of 
 I two principles, the one [)crfectly good, and the 
 j other perfectly evil. Between tbese, they im- 
 agined an intermediate kind of deity, neither 
 perfi.'ctly good nor ])erfectly evil, but of a mix- 
 ed nature (so Marcion expres.';es it,) and so far 
 just and powerful, as to administer rewardsand 
 inlhct punishments. This middle deity is the 
 creator of this inferior world, and the god and 
 legislator of the Jewi.-h nation; he wages per- 
 petual war with the evil princijjle, and one and 
 the other aspire to the place of the Supreme 
 Being, and ambitiously attcmj>t to reduce un- 
 der their authority all the iniiabitants of the 
 world. The .Tews are the subjects of that pow- 
 erful genius, who formed this globe; the other 
 nations, who worship a variety of irods, are 
 under the empin? of the evil principle. Both 
 these conflicting powers exercise oppressions 
 upon rational and innnortal souls, and keep 
 them in a tedious and miserable captivity. — 
 Therefore the Supremo God, in order to ter- 
 minate this war, and to deliver from their bond- 
 age those souls whose origin is celestial and 
 divine, sent to the Jews a being most like to 
 himself, even his son Jesus Christ, clothed with 
 a certain shadowy resemblance of a body, that 
 thus he migiit be visible to mortal ej'es. The 
 connnission of this celestial messenger was to 
 destroy the ein])ire both of the evil principle, 
 and of the author of this world, and to bring 
 back wandering souls to God. On this ac- 
 count, he was attacked with inexpressible vio- 
 lence and fury by the prince of darkness, and 
 by the god of the Jews, but without eifect, 
 since, having a body only in appearance, he 
 was thereby rendered incapable of suflering. 
 Those who follow the sacred directions of this 
 celestial conductor, mortify tlie body by fast- 
 ings and austerities, call off' their minds from 
 the allurements of sense, and, renouncing the 
 precepts of the god of the Jews, and of the 
 prince of darkne&s, turn their eyes toward the 
 Supreme Being, shall, after death ascend to 
 the mansions of felicity and jjcrfection." In 
 consequence of all this, the rule of marmers 
 which Marcion prescribed to his followers, was 
 excessively austere, containing an express pro- 
 hibition of wedlock, of the use of wine, flesh, 
 and of all the external comforts of life. Not- 
 withstanding tlie rigor of this discipline, great 
 numbers einl)raced the doctrines of Marcion, 
 of whom Lucan (called also Lucian,) Severus, 
 Blastes, and [irincipally Apelles, are said to 
 have varied, in some things, from the opinions 
 of their master, and to have formed new sects.* 
 VIII. Bardesanes and Tatian are commonly 
 
 * Sec Irena;us, Epiphanius, and particularly Tertul- 
 liaii's Kive Books against the Marcionilcs, with his Poetn 
 against Marcion, and the Dialogue apainst the Marcion- 
 ites, which is generally ascribed to Origen. See alio 
 Tillemoufs Memo, and Beaiisobre's Hist, du M&oi- 
 cheisme, torn. ii. 
 
72 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 supposed to have been of the school of Valen- 
 tine, the Egyptian. But this notion is entirely 
 without foundation, since their doctrine differs 
 in many things from that of the Valentinians, 
 approaching nearer to that of the oriental phi- 
 losophy concerning the two principles. Bar- 
 desanes, a native of Edessa, was a man of a 
 very acute genius, and acquired a shining re- 
 putation by his writings, which were in great 
 number, and valuable for the profound erudi- 
 tion they contained. Seduced by the fantastic 
 charms of the oriental philosophy, he adopted 
 it with zeal, but, at the same time, with certain 
 modifications, that rendered his system less ex- 
 travagant than that of the Marcionites, against 
 whom he wrote a very learned treatise. The 
 sum of his doctrine is as follows: There is a 
 Supreme God, pure and benevolent, absolutely 
 free from all evil and imperfection; and there 
 is also a prince of darkness, the fountain of all 
 evil, disorder and misery. God created the 
 world without any mixture of evil in its com- 
 position; he gave existence also to its inhabi- 
 tants, who came out of his forming hand, pure 
 and incorrupt, endued with subtile etherial 
 bodies, and spirits of a celestial nature. But 
 when, in process of time, the prince of dark- 
 ness had enticed men to sin, God, permitted 
 tliem to fall into sluggish and gross bodies, 
 formed of corrupt matter by the evil principle; 
 he permitted also the depravation and disorder 
 wliich this malignant Ijeing introduced, both 
 into the natural and the moral world, design- 
 ing, by this permission, to punish the degene- 
 racy and rebellion of an apostate race; and 
 hence proceeds the perpetual conllict between 
 reason and passion in the mind of man. It 
 was on tliis account, tliat Jesus descended from 
 the upper regions, clothed, not with a real, but 
 with a celestial and aerial body, and taught 
 mankind to subdue tliat body of corruption 
 which they carry about with them in this mor- 
 tal life, and, by abstinence, fasting and contem- 
 plation, to disengage themselves from the ser- 
 vitude and dominion of that malignant matter 
 which chained down the soul to low and igno- 
 ble pursuits. Tiiose, vv'ho hear the voice of 
 this divine instructor, and submit themselves 
 to his discipline, sliall, after the dissolution of 
 this terrestrial body, moimt up to the mansions 
 of felicity, clothed with ethereal vehicles, or 
 celestial bodies." Such was the doctrine of 
 Bardesanes, who afterwards abandoned the 
 chimerical part of this system, and returned to 
 a better mind; though his sect subsisted a long 
 time in Syria.* 
 
 IX. Tatian, by birth an Assyrian, and a dis- 
 ciple of Justin Martyr, is more distinguished, 
 by the ancient writere, on account of his ge- 
 nius and learning, and the excessive and in- 
 credible austerity of his life and manners, than 
 by any remarkable errors or opinions which he 
 taught his followers. It appears, however, 
 from the testimony of credible writers, that Ta- 
 tian looked upon matter as the fountain of all 
 evil, and therefore recommended, in a particu- 
 
 * See the writers who have given accounts of the an- 
 cient heresies, as also Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 
 x%x. — Origen, Dial, contra Marcionitas, sect. iii. — F. 
 Strunzius, Hist. Bardesanis. — Beauiobre, Hist, du Ma- 
 nieh. vol. ii. 
 
 lar manner, the mortification of the body; that 
 he distinguished the creator of the world from 
 the Supreme Being; denied the reality of 
 Christ's body; and corrupted the Christian 
 religion with several other tenets of the orien- 
 tal philosophy. He had a great number of 
 followers, who were, after him, called Ta- 
 tianists,* but were, nevertheless, more fre- 
 quently distinguished from other sects by 
 names relative to the austerity of their man- 
 ners; for, as they rejected, with a sort of hor- 
 ror, all the comforts and conveniences of life, 
 and abstained from wine with such a rigorous 
 obstinacy, as to use nothing but water even at 
 the celebration of the Lord's Supper; as they 
 macerated their bodies by continual fastings, 
 and lived a severe life of celibacy and absti- 
 nence, so they were called Encratites, [*] Hy- 
 droparastates, [f] and Apotactites. [].] 
 
 X. Hitherto, we have only considered the 
 doctrine of the Asiatic Gnostics. Those of 
 the Egyptian branch differ from them in gene- 
 ral in this, that they blended into one mass the 
 oriental philosophy and the Egyptian theology; 
 the former of which the Asiatics preserved un- 
 mixed in its original simplicity. The Egyp- 
 tians were, moreover, particularly distinguish- 
 ed from the Asiatic Gnostics by the following 
 difference in their religious system, viz. 1. 
 That though, beside the existence of a deity, 
 they maintained that also of an eternal matter, 
 endued with life and motion, yet they did not 
 acknowledge an eternal principle of darkness, 
 or the evil principle of the Persians. 2. They 
 supposed that our blessed Saviour was a com- 
 pound of two persons, of the man Jesus, and 
 of Christ, the Son of God; that the divine 
 nature entered into the man Jesus, when ho 
 was baptized by John in the river Jordan, and 
 departed from him when he was seized by the 
 Jews. 3. They attributed to Christ a real not 
 an imaginary body; though it must be confessed, 
 that they were much divided in their sen- 
 timents on this head. 4. Their discipline, with 
 respect to life and manners, was much less se- 
 vere than that of the Asiatic sect, and seems, 
 in some points, to have been favoiirable to the 
 corruption and passions of men. 
 
 XI. Basilides has generally obtained the first 
 place among the Egyptian Gnostics. " He 
 acknowledged the existence of one Supreme 
 God, perfect in goodness and wisdom, who 
 produced from his own substance seven beings, 
 or ffions, of a most excellent nature. Two of 
 these aeons called Djmamis and Sophia (power 
 and wisdom,) engendered the angels of the 
 highest order. These angels formed a heaven 
 for their habitation, and brought forth other 
 angelic beings, of a nature somewhat inferio- 
 to their own. Many other generations of an 
 gels followed these and new heavens were also 
 created, until the number of angelic orders, 
 and of their respective heavens amounted to 
 three hundred and sixty-five, and thus equalled 
 
 * We have yet remaining of the writings of Tatian, 
 an Oration addressed to the Greeks. As to his opinions 
 they may be gathered from Clemens Alexandrinus, Stro- 
 mat. lib. ji. p. 460.— Epiphanius, Haeres. xlvi. cap. i p. 
 391. Origen de Oratione, cap. xiii. None, however, 
 of the ancients wrote professedly coDceming the doctrine 
 of Tatian. 
 [*] Temperate, [fj Drinkers of water. [{] Renouocers. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 73 
 
 the days of the year. All these arc under 
 the empire of an omnipotent Lord, wliom Ba- 
 silides called Abraxas."* Tliis word (which 
 was certainly in use among- the Egyptians be- 
 fore his time) contains numeral letters to the 
 amount of 36o, and thereby expresses the num- 
 ber of heavens and angelic orders above-men- 
 tioned. " The inhabitants of the lowest hea- 
 vens, which touched upon the borders of the 
 eternal, malignant, and self-animated matter, 
 conceived the design of forming a world from 
 that confused mass, and of creating an order 
 of beings to people it. This design was car- 
 ried into execution, and was approved by the 
 Supreme God, who, to the animal life with 
 which only the inhabitants of tliis new world 
 were at first endowed, added a reasonable soul, 
 giving, at the same time, to tlie angels, the em- 
 pire over them." 
 
 XII. " These angelic beings, advanced to 
 the government of the world which they had 
 created, fell, by degrees, from their original 
 purity, and manifested the fatal marks of their 
 depravity and corruption. They not only en- 
 deavoured to efface from the minds of men the 
 knowledge of the Supreme Being, tliat they 
 might bo worshipped in his stead, but also be- 
 gan to wai* against one another, with an am- 
 bitious view to enlarge, every one, the boimds 
 of his respective dominion. The most arro- 
 gant and turbulent of all these angelic spirits, 
 was that which presided over the Jewish na- 
 tion. Hence God, beholding with compassion 
 the miserable state of rational creatures, who 
 groaned under the contests of these jarring 
 powers, sent from heaven his son Nus, or 
 Christ, the chief of the teons, that, joined in a 
 substantial union with the man Jesus, he miglit 
 restore the knowledge of the Supreme Being, 
 and destroy the empire of those angelic na- 
 
 * We have remaining a great nunfiber of gems, and 
 receive more from Egypt from time to time, on which, 
 beside other figures of Egyptian taste, we find the word 
 Abraxas engraven. See, for this purpose, a work en- 
 titled, Macarii Abraxas, sen de Gemmis Basilidianis 
 Disquisitio, which was published at Antwerp with seve- 
 ral improvements, by M. Chi/Het, in 1657. See also 
 Montfaucon, Palajograph Graee. lib. ii. cap. viii. All 
 these gems are supposed to come from Basilides, and 
 therefore bear his name. Most of them, however, con- 
 tain the marks of a superstition too gross to be attributed 
 even to a half-Christain, and bear also emblematic char- 
 acters of the Egyptian theology. It is not, therefore, 
 just to attribute them all to Basilides (who, though erro- 
 neous in many of his opinions, was yet a follower of 
 Christ,) but such of them only as exhibit some mark of 
 
 the Christian doctrine and discipline. There is no 
 
 doubt that the old Egyptian word Abraxas was appropri- 
 ated to the governor or lord of the heavens, and that 
 Basilides, having learned it from the philosophy of his 
 nation, retained it in his religious system. See Beauso- 
 bre, Hist, du Manicheisme. vol. ii. p. 51., and also Jo. 
 Bapt. Passerius, in his Dissert, de Gemmes Basilidianis, 
 which makes a part of the splendid work that he pub- 
 lished at Florence, 1750, de Gemmis stelliferis, tom. ii. 
 p. 221. See also the sentiments of the learned Jablon- 
 ski, concerning the signification of the word Abraxas, as 
 they are delivered in a dissertation inserted in the seventh 
 volume of the Miscell. Leips. Nova. Fesserius affirms, 
 that none of these gems can properly be said to relate to 
 Basilides, but that they concern only magicians, »'. e. 
 sorcerers, fortune-tellers, and the like adventurers. 
 Here, however, this learned man seems to go too far, since 
 he himself acknowledges (p. 2:25,) that he had sometimes 
 found, on these gems, vestiges of the errors of Basilides. 
 These famous monuments stand yet in need of an inter- 
 preter; but it must be one who can join circumspection 
 to diligence and erudition. 
 
 Vol. I.— 10 
 
 tures which presided over the world, and par- 
 ticularly that of the arrogant leader of the 
 Jcwisii people. The god ot the Jews, alarmed 
 at this, sent forth his ministers to seize the man 
 Jesus, and put him to death. They executed 
 his commands; but their cruelty could not ex- 
 tend to Cluist, against whom their efforts were 
 vain.* Those souls, who obey the precepts 
 of the Son of God, sliall, after the dissolution 
 of their mortal frame, ascend to the Father, 
 while their bodies return to the corrupt mass 
 of matter from which they were formed. Dis- 
 obedient spirits, on tlie contrary, shall pass 
 successively into other bodies." 
 
 XIII. The doctrine of Basilides, in point of 
 morals, if we may credit the account of most 
 ancient writers, was favourable to the lusts 
 and passions of mankind, and permitted the 
 practice of all sorts of wickedness. But those 
 whose testimonies are the most worthy of re- 
 gard, give a quite different account of this 
 teacher, and represent him as recommending 
 the practice of virtue and piety in the strongest 
 maimer, and as having condemned not only 
 the actual commission of iniquit}^, but even 
 every inward projiensity of the mind to a 
 vicious conduct. It is true there were, in his 
 precepts relating to the conduct of life, some 
 points which gave great offence to all real 
 Christians; for he affirmed it to be lawful for 
 them to conceal their religion, to deny Christ, 
 when their lives were in danger, and to par- 
 take of the feasts of the Gentiles that were in- 
 stituted in consequence of the sacrifices offered 
 to idols. He endeavoured also to diminisli the 
 glory of those who suHbred martyrdom for the 
 cause of Christ impiously maintaining, that 
 they were more heinous sinners tliau others, 
 and that their sufferings were to be looked 
 upon as a punishment inflicted upon them by 
 the divine justice. He was led into this enor- 
 mous error, by an absurd notion tliat all the 
 calamities of this life were of a penal nature, 
 and that men never suffered but in conse- 
 quence of their iniquities. This rendered his 
 principles greatly suspected; and the irregular 
 lives of some of his disciples seemed to justify 
 the unfavourable opinion that was entertained 
 of their master.f 
 
 XIV. But whatever may be said of Basilides, 
 it is certain, that he was far surpassed in im- 
 piety by Carpocrates, who was also of Alex- 
 andria, and who carried the Gnostic blasphe- 
 mies to a more enormous degree of extrava- 
 gance than they had ever been brought by any 
 of that sect. His philosophical tenets agree, 
 in general, with those of the Egj'ptian Gnos- 
 tics. He acknowledged the existence of a 
 Supreme God, and of the aeons derived from 
 
 * Many of the ancients have, upon the authority of 
 Ircnaeus, accused Basilides oi denying the realily of 
 Christ's body, and of maintaining that Simon the Cyrc- 
 nian was crucified in his stead. But this accusation ii 
 entirely groundless, as may be seen by consulting the 
 Commentar. de rebus Christian, ante Constant, where it 
 is demonstrated, that Basilides considered the divine 
 Saviour as compounded of the man Jesus, and Christ 
 the Son of God. It may be true, indeed, that some of 
 the disciples of Basilides entertained the opinion which 
 is here unjustly attributed to their master. 
 
 t For a farther account of Basilides, thr reader m«y 
 consult Ren. Massuet, Dissert, iu Ircnzum, and Beauso- 
 bre Hist, du Manicheitmc, vol, ii. 
 
74 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 him by successive generations. He maintain- 
 ed tlie eternity of a corrupt matter, and the 
 creation of the world from it by angehc pow- 
 ers, as also the divine origin of souls unhap- 
 pily imprisoned in mortal bodies, &c. But, 
 beside these, he propagated sentiments and 
 maxims of a horrid kind. He asserted, that 
 Jesus was born of Joseph and Mary, according 
 to the ordinary course of nature, and was dis- 
 tinguished from the rest of mankind by nothing 
 but his superior fortitude and greatness of soul. 
 His doctrine, also, with respect to practice, was 
 licentious in the highest degree; for he not 
 only allowed his disciples a full liberty to sin, 
 but recommended to them a vicious course of 
 life, as a matter both of obligation and neces- 
 sity; asserting, that eternal salvation was only 
 attainable by those who had committed all 
 sorts of crimes, and had daringly filled up the 
 measure of iniquity. It is almost incredible, 
 that one who maintained the existence of a 
 Supreme Being, who acknowledged Clu-ist as 
 the Saviour of mankind, could entertain such 
 monstrous opinions. One might infer, indeed, 
 from certain tenets of Carpocrates that he 
 adopted the common doctrine of the Gnos- 
 tics concerning Christ, and acknowledged also 
 the laws which this divine Saviour imposed 
 upon his disciples. Notwithstanding this, it is 
 beyond all doubt, that the precepts and opinions 
 of this Gnostic are full of impiety, since he 
 held, that lusts and passions being implanted 
 in our nature by God himself, were conse- 
 quently void of guilt, and had notliing crimi- 
 nal in them; that all actions were indifferent 
 in their own nature, and were rendered good 
 or evil only by the opinions of men, or by the 
 laws of the state; that it was the will of God 
 that all things should be possessed m common, 
 the female sex not excepted; but that hiunan 
 laws, by an arbitrary tyranny, branded those 
 as robbers and adulterers, who only used their 
 natural rights. It is easy to perceive, that, by 
 these tenets, all the principles of virtue were 
 destroyed, and a door opened to tlie most hor- 
 rid licentiousness, and to the most profligate 
 and enormous wickedness.* 
 
 XV. Valentine, who was likewise an Egyp- 
 tian by birth, was eminently distinguised from 
 all his brethren by the extent of his fame, and 
 the multitude of his followers. His sect, which 
 took rise at Rome, grew up to a state of con- 
 sistence and vigour in the isle of Cyprus, and 
 spread itself tlirough Asia, Africa, and Europe, 
 with an amazing rapidity. The principles of 
 Valentine were, generally speaking, the same 
 with those of the Gnostics, whose name he 
 assumed; yet, in many points, he entertained 
 opinions that were peculiar to himself. " He 
 placed, for instance, in the pleroma (so the 
 Gnostics called the habitation of the Deity) 
 thirty seons, of which the one half were male, 
 and the other female. To these he added four 
 others, which were of neither sex, viz. Horus, 
 who guarded the borders of the pleroma, Christ, 
 the Holy Ghost, and Jesus. The youngest of 
 the aeons, called Sophia (i. e. wisdom,) con- 
 ceiving an ardent desire of comprehending the 
 
 * See Iren. contra Hseres. cap. xxv. Clemeotis Alex. 
 Slromata, lib, iii. p. 511. 
 
 nature of the Supreme Being, and by force of 
 this propensity, brought forth a daughter, 
 named Acliamoth, who, being exiled from the 
 pleroma, fell down into the rude and undigest- 
 ed mass of matter, to which she gave a certain 
 arrangement, and, by the assistance of Jesus, 
 produced the demiurge, the lord and creator of 
 all things. Tliis demiurge separated the sub- 
 tile or animal matter from that of the grosser 
 or more terrestrial kind; out of the former he 
 created the superior world, or the visible hea- 
 vens; and out of the latter he formed the infe- 
 rior world, or this terraqueous globe. He also 
 made man, in whose composition the subtile, 
 and also the grosser matter, were both united 
 in equal portions; but Acliamoth, the mother 
 of the demiurge, added to these two substan- 
 ces, of which the human race was formed, a 
 spiritual and celestial substance." This is the 
 sum of that intricate and tedious fable, which 
 the extravagant brain of Valentine imposed 
 upon the world for a system of religious phi- 
 losophy; and from this it appears that, though, 
 he explained the origin of the world and of 
 the human race, in a more subtile manner than 
 the Gnostics, he did not differ from them in 
 reality. His imagination was more wild and 
 inventive than that of his brethren; and this 
 is manifest in tlie whole of his doctrine, which 
 is no more than Gnosticism, set out with some 
 supernumerary fringes, as will farther appear 
 from what follows. 
 
 XVI. " The Creator of this world, accord- 
 ing to Valentine, arrived, by degrees, at such 
 a pitch of arrogance, that he either imagined 
 himself to be God alone, or, at least, was de- 
 sirous that mankind should consider him as 
 such. For this purpose he sent forth prophets 
 to the Jewish nation, to declare his claim to 
 the honour that is due to the Supreme Being; 
 and in this point the other angels who preside 
 over the different parts of the universe imme- 
 diately began to imitate his ambition. To 
 chastise this lawless arrogance, and to illumi- 
 nate the minds of rational beings with the 
 knowledge of the true and Supreme Deity, 
 Christ appeai'ed upon earth, composed of an 
 animal and spiritual substance, and clothed 
 moreover, with an aerial body. This Redeemer, 
 in descending upon earth, passed through the 
 womb of Mary, as the pure water flows through 
 the untainted conduit. Jesus, one of the su- 
 preme aeons, was substantially united to him, 
 when he was baptized by Jolm in the waters of 
 Jordan. The creator of this world, when he 
 perceived that the foundations of his empi/e 
 were shaken by this divine man, caused him to 
 be apprehended and nailed to the cross. But 
 before Cluist submitted to this punishment, 
 not only Jesus the Son of God, but also the 
 rational soul of Christ ascended on high, so 
 that only the animal soul and the ethereal body 
 suffered crucifixion. Those who abandoning 
 the service of false deities, and the worslrip of 
 the God of the Jews, live according to the pre- 
 cepts of Clirist, and submit the animal and sen- 
 sual soul to the discipline of reason, shall be 
 truly happy; their rational and also their sen- 
 sual souls shall ascend to those glorious seats 
 of bliss which border on the pleroma; and 
 when all the parts of the divine nature, or ali 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 75 
 
 souls are purified thoroughly, and separated 
 from matter, tlien a raging fire, let loose from 
 its prison, shall spread its flames throughout 
 the universe, and dissolve the frame of this cor- 
 poreal world." Such is the doctrine of Va- 
 lentine and the Gnostics; such also are the 
 tenets of the oriental philosophy, and they may 
 be suimned up in the following propositions; 
 " This world is a compound of good and evil. 
 Whatever is good in it, comes down from tiic 
 Supreme God, the Father of ligiit, and to him 
 it shall return; and then the world shall be en- 
 tirely destroyed."* 
 
 XVII. We learn from ancient writers, that 
 the Valentinian sect was divided into many 
 branches. One was the sect of the Ptolemites, 
 so called from their chief Ptolemy, who differ- 
 ed in oj)inion from his master Valentine, with 
 respect both to the number and nature of the 
 scons, another was the sect of the Sccundians, 
 whose chief Secundus, one of the principal 
 followers of Valentine, maintained the doc- 
 trine of two eternal principles, viz. light and 
 darkness, whence arose the good and evil that 
 are observable in the universe. From the same 
 source arose the sect of Heracleon, from whose 
 writings Clemens and Origen have made many 
 extracts; as also that of the Marcosians, whose 
 leaders, Marc and Colarbasus, added many ali- 
 surd fictions to those of Valentine; though it is 
 certain, at the same time, that many errors 
 were attributed to them, which they did not 
 maintain.! I omit the mention of some other 
 sects, to which the Valentinian heresy is said 
 to have given rise. Whether, in reality, they 
 all sprang from this source, is a question of a 
 very doubtful kind, especially if we consider 
 the errors into which the ancients have fallen, 
 in tracing out the origin of the various sects 
 that divided the church. | 
 
 XVIII. It is not necessary to take any parti- 
 cular notice of the more obscure and less con- 
 siderable of the Gnostic sects, of which the 
 ancient writers scarcely mention any thing but 
 
 * It is proper to observe, for the information of those 
 who desire a more copious account of the Valentinian 
 heresy, that many ancient writers have written upon this 
 subject, especially Irenaeus, TertuUian, Clemens Alex. 
 &c. Among the moderns, see the dissertation of J. K. 
 Buddeus de ha:resi Valentiniana, which gave occasion to 
 many disputes concerning the origin of this heresy. 
 Some of the moderns have endeavoured to reconcile, 
 with reason, this obscure and absurd doctrine of the 
 Valentinians, See, for this purpose, the following au- 
 thors: Souverain, Platonisme devoile, ch. viii. Camp. 
 Vitringa, Observ. Sacr. lib. i. cap. ii. Beausobre, Histoirc 
 du Manicheisme, p. 548. Jac. liasnagc, Hist, des Juifs, 
 tom. iii. p. 'i'20. Pierre Faydil, Eclaircissemens sur 
 I'Hist. Ecclesiast. des deux premiers Siecles. How 
 vain all such endeavours are, might easily be shown: and 
 Valentine himself has determined the matter, by ac- 
 knowledging that his doctrine is absolutely and entirely 
 different from that of other Christians. 
 
 Ql^ t Marc did not certainly entertain all the opinions 
 that arc attributed to him. Those, however, which 
 we are certain that he adopted, arc sufficient to convince 
 U9 that he was out of his senses. He maintained, among 
 other crude fancies, that the plenitude and perfection of 
 truth resided in the Greek Alphabet, and alledges thai 
 as the reason why Jesus Christ was called the Alpha and 
 the Omega. 
 
 } Concerning these sects, the reader will find some- 
 thing fuller in Irenxus and the other ancient writers, 
 and a yet more learned and satisfactory account in 
 Grajbe's Spicilegium Patr. ct Hxreticor. sec. 2. There 
 i>an ample account of the Marcosians in Irenaeus, contra 
 Hser. lib. i. 
 
 the name, and one or two of their distinguish- 
 ing lenels. Such were the Adamites, who are 
 said to have professed an exact imitation of the 
 primitive state of innocence; the Cainites, who 
 treated as saints, with the utmost marks of ad- 
 miration and respect, Cain, Cora, Dathan, the 
 inhabitants of Sodom, and even the traitor 
 Judas. Such also were the Abelites, who en- 
 tered into the bonds of matrimony, but Jieg- 
 lected to fulfil its princijjal end, even the pro- 
 creation of offspring; the Sethitcs, who honour- 
 ed Setli in a particular manner, and looked 
 upon him as the same person witli Christ; the 
 Florinians, who had Florinus and Blastus for 
 their chiefs,* and several others. It is highly 
 probable that the ancient doctors, deceived by 
 the variety of names that distinguished the 
 heretics, may with too much precipitation have 
 divided one sect into many; and it may be far- 
 ther questioned, whether they have, at all 
 times, represented accurately the nature and 
 true meaning of several opinions concerning 
 which they have written. 
 
 XIX. The Ophites, or Serpentinians, a ridi- 
 culous sort of heretics, who had for their leader 
 a man called Euphrates, deserve not the lowest 
 place among the Egyptian Gnostics. This 
 sect, which had its origin among the Jews, was 
 of a nwre ancient date than the Christian re- 
 ligion. A part of its followers embraced the 
 Gospel, while the rest retained their primitive 
 superstition; and hence arose the division of 
 the Ophites into Christian and anti-Christian. 
 The Ciiristian Ophites entertained almost the 
 same fantastic opinions that were holden by 
 the other Egyptian Gnostics, concerning the 
 teons, the eternal matter, the creation of the 
 world in opposition to the will of God, the 
 rulers of the seven planets that presided over 
 this world, the tyranny of the demiurge, and 
 also respecting Christ united to the man Jesus, 
 in order to destroy the empire of this usurper. 
 But, beside these, they maintained the follow- 
 ing particular tenet (whence they received the 
 name of Ophites); " That the serpent, by which 
 our first parents were deceived, was either 
 Christ himself, or Sophia, concealed under the 
 form of that animal;" and, in consequence of 
 this opinion, they are said to have nourished a 
 certain number of serpents, which they looked 
 upon as sacred, and to which they offered a 
 sort of worship, a subordinate kind of divine 
 honours. It was no difficult matter for those, 
 who made a distinction between the Supreme 
 Being and the Creator of the world, and vvlio 
 looked upon every thing as divine, which was 
 in opposition to the demiurge, to fall into these 
 extravagant notions. 
 
 XX. The schisms and commotions that arose 
 in the church, from a mixture of the oriental 
 and Egyptian philosophy with the Christian 
 religion, were, in the second century, increased 
 by those Grecian piiilosopliers who embraced 
 the doctrine of Christ. The Christian doc- 
 trines concerning the Fatlier, Son, an d Ilol y 
 
 * Here Dr. Mosheim has fallen into a slight inaccuracy 
 in confounding the opinions of these two heretics, since 
 it is certain, that Blastus was for restoring the Jewish 
 religion, and celebrating the passover on the fourteenth 
 day; whereas Florinus was p Valentinian, and maintained 
 the doctrine of the two principles, with other Onostu 
 errors. 
 
76 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H. 
 
 Ghost, and the two natures united in our I 
 blessed Saviour, were by no means reconcila- 1 
 ble with the tenets of the sages and doctors of 
 Greece, who therefore endeavoured to explain 
 them in such a manner as to render them i om 
 prehensible. Praxeas, a man of genius and 
 learning, began to propagate these explications 
 at Rome, and was severely persecuted for the 
 errors they contained. He denied any real 
 distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, and maintained that the Father, sole 
 creator of all things, had united to himself the 
 human nature of Christ. Hence his followers 
 ■were called Monarchians, because of their de- 
 nying a plurality of persons in the Deity; and 
 also Patripassians, because, according to Ter- 
 tullian's account, they believed that the Father 
 was so intimately united with the man Christ, 
 his son, that he suffered with him the anguisli 
 of an afflicted life, and the torments of an ig- 
 nominious death. However ready many may 
 have been to embrace this erroneous doctrine, 
 it does not appear, that this sect formed to it- 
 self a separate place of worship, or removed 
 from the ordinary assemblies of Christians.* 
 
 XXI. An opinion highly resembling that 
 now mentioned, was, about the same time, pro- 
 fessed at Rome by Theodotus, who, though a 
 tanner, was a man of profound learning, and 
 also by Artemas, or Artemon, from whom the 
 sect of the Artemonites derived their origin. 
 The accounts given of these two persons, by 
 the ancient writers, are not only few in num- 
 ber, but are also extremely ambiguous and ob- 
 scure. Their sentiments, however, as far as 
 they can be collected from the best records, 
 amount to this; " That, at the birth of the man 
 Christ, a certain divine energy, or portion of the 
 divine nature (and not the person of the Fa- 
 ther, as Praxeas imagined,) united itself to 
 him." 
 
 It is impossible to decide with certamty 
 which of the two was the more ancient, Theo- 
 dotus, or Artemon; as also whether they both 
 taught the same doctrine, or differed in their 
 opinions. One thing, indeed, is certain, that 
 the disciples of both applied the dictates of 
 philosophy, and even the science of geometry, 
 to the explication of the Christian doctrine. 
 
 XXII. A like attaclunent to the dictates of a 
 presumptuous philosophy, induced Hermoge- 
 nes, a painter by profession, to abandon the 
 doctrme of Christianity concerning the origin 
 of the world, and the nature of the soul, and 
 thus to raise new troubles in the church. Re- 
 garding rtiatter as the fountain of all evil, he 
 could not persuade himself that God had cre- 
 ated it from nothing, by an almighty act of his 
 will; and therefore he maintained, that the 
 world, with whatever it contains, as also the 
 souls of men, and other spirits, were formed by 
 the Deity from an uncreated and eternal mass 
 of corrupt matter. In this doctrine there were 
 many intricate things, and it manifestly jarred 
 with the opinions commonly received among 
 Christians relative to that difficult and almost 
 unsearchable subject. How Hermogenes ex- 
 plained those doctrines of Christianity which 
 
 * Tertulliani lib. contra Praxeam; as also Petri Wes- 
 tsliogii Probabilia, cap. xxrj. 
 
 opposed his system, neither Tertullian, who re- 
 futed it, nor any of the ancient writers, inform 
 us.* 
 
 XXIII. These sects, which we have now 
 been slightly surveying, may be justly regarded 
 as the offspring of philosophy. But they were 
 succeeded by one in which ignorance reigned, 
 and which was the mortal enemy of philoso- 
 phy and letters. It was formed by Montanus, 
 an obscure man, without any capacity or 
 strength of judgment, and who lived in a 
 Phrygian village called Pepuza. This weak ' 
 man was so foolish and extravagant as to ima- 
 gine and pretend, that he was the paraclete, or 
 comforter,! whom the divine Saviour, at his 
 departure from the earth, promised to send to 
 his disciples to lead them to all truth. He 
 made no attempts upon the peculiar doctrines 
 of Christianity, but only declared, that he was 
 sent with a divine commission, to give, to the 
 moral precepts delivered by Christ and his apos- 
 tles, the finishing touch that was to bring them 
 to perfection. He was of opinion, that Christ 
 and his apostles made, in their precepts, many 
 allowances to the infirmities of those among 
 whom they lived, and that this condescending 
 indulgence rendered their system of moral laws 
 imperfect and incomplete. He therefore added 
 to the laws of the Gospel many austere deci- 
 sions; inculcated the necessity of multiplying 
 fasts; prohibited second marriages as unlawful; 
 maintained that the church should refuse abso- 
 lution to those who had fallen into the com- 
 mission of enormous sins; and condemned all 
 care of the body, especially all nicety in dress, 
 and all female ornaments. The excessive au- 
 sterity of this ignorant fanatic did not stop 
 here; he showed the same aversion to the no- 
 
 * There is yet extant a book written by Tertullian 
 against Hermogenes, in which the opinions of the latter 
 concerning matter, and the origin of the world, are 
 warmly opposed. We have lost another work of the 
 same author, in which he refuted the notion of Hermo- 
 genes concerning the soul. 
 
 t Those are undoubtedly in an error, who have assert- 
 ed that Montanus gave himself out for the Holy Ghost. 
 However weak he may have been in point of capacity, he 
 was not fool enough to push his pretensions so far. 
 Neither have they, who inform us that Montanus pre- 
 tended to have received from above the same spirit or 
 paraclete which formerly animated the apostles, inter- 
 preted with accuracy the meaning of this heretic. It is, 
 therefore, necessary to observe here, that Montanus 
 made a distinction between the paraclete promised by 
 Christ to his apostles, and the Holy Spirit that was shed 
 upon them on the day of Pentecost; and understood, by 
 the former, a divine teacher pointed out by Christ, as a 
 comforter, wlio was to perfect the Gospel by the addi- 
 tion of some doctrines omitted by our Saviour, and to 
 cast a full light upon others which were expressed in an 
 obscure and imperfect manner, though for wise reasons 
 which subsisted during the ministry of Christ; and, in- 
 deed, Montanus was not the only person who made this 
 distinction. Other Christian doctors were of opinion, 
 that the paraclete promised by Jesus to his disciples, was 
 a divine ambassador, entirely distinct from the Holy 
 Ghost which was shed upon the apostles. In the third 
 century. Manes interpreted the promise of Christ in this 
 manner. He pretended, moreover, that he himself was 
 the paraclete, and that, in his person, the prediction was 
 fulfilled. Every one knows, that Mohammed entertained 
 the same notion, and applied to himself the prediction 
 of Christ. It was, therefore, this divine messenger that 
 Montanus pretended to be, and not the Holy Ghost. 
 This will appear with the utmost evidence, to those who 
 read with attention the account given of this matter by 
 Tertullian, who was the most famous of all the disciples 
 of Montanus, and the most perfectly acquainted Willi 
 every point of his doctrinci 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 77 
 
 blest employments ot the mind, that he did to 
 the innocent enjoyments of life; and gave it 
 as his opinion, that philosophy, arts, and what- 
 ever savoured of polite literature, should be 
 mercilessly banished from tiie Christian church. 
 He looked upon those Christians as guilty of a 
 most heinous transgression, who saved their 
 lives by flight, from the persecuting sword, or 
 who ransomed them by money, from the handa 
 of their cruel and mercenary judges. I might 
 mention many other precepts of the same 
 teacher, equal to these in severity and rigour. 
 
 XXIV. It was impossible to suffer, within 
 the bounds of the church, an enthusiast, who 
 gave himself out for a commLuiicator of pre- 
 cepts superior in sanctity to those of Christ 
 himself, and who imposed his austere discipline 
 upon Christians, as enjoined by a divine au- i 
 thority, and dictated by the oracle of celestial i 
 wisdom, which spoke to the world through 
 him. Besides, his dismal predictions concern- 
 ing the disasters that were to happen in the 
 empire, and the approaching destruction of tlie 
 Roman republic, might be expected to render | 
 him obnoxious to the governing powers, and 
 also to excite their resentment against the 
 church, which nourished such an inauspicious 
 prophet in its bosom. Montanus, therefore, 
 first by a decree of certain assemblies, and af- 
 terwards by the unanimous voice of the whole 
 church, was solemnly separated from the body i 
 of the faithful. | 
 
 It is, however, certain, that the very severity I 
 
 of liis doctrines gained him the esteem and con- 
 fidence of many, vv'ho were far from bcino- of 
 the lowest order. The mo.st eminent among 
 those were Priscilla and Maxiniilla, ladies more 
 remarkable for their opulence than for their 
 virtue, and who fell with a high degree of 
 warmth and zeal into the visions of tlieir fa- 
 natical chief, prophesied like him, and imitated 
 the pretendeii i)araclcte in all the variety of 
 his extravagance and folly. Hence it became 
 au easy matter for Mont aims to erect a new 
 church, which was first established at Pepuza, 
 and afterwards spread abroad through Asia, 
 Africa, and a part of Europe. The most emi- 
 nent and learned of all the followers of this 
 rigid enthusiast was TertuUian, a man of great 
 learning and genius, but of an austere and 
 melancholy temper. This great man, by adopt- 
 ing the sentiments of Montanus, and maintain- 
 ing his cause with fortitude, and even vehe- 
 mence, in a multitude of books written ujjon 
 thatoccasion, has exhibited a mortifying spec- 
 tacle of the deviations of which human nature 
 is capable, even in those in whom it seems to 
 have approached the nearest to perfection.* 
 
 * For an account of the Montanists, see Euseb. Eccles. 
 History, book v. ch. xvi., and all the writers ancient and 
 moilern (especially Terlullian) who have professedly 
 written of the sects of the earlier ages. The learned 
 Theophilus Werusdorff published, in 1751, a most inge- 
 nious exposition of whatever regards the sect of the 
 Montanists, under the following title: Commentatio de 
 Montanists Sasculi secundi, vulgo creditis Haereticis. 
 
 THE THIRD CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Wliich contains the Prosperous Events that hap- 
 pened to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. That the Christians suffered, in this cen- 
 tury, calamities and injuries of the most dread- 
 ful kind, is a matter that admits no debate; nor 
 was there, indeed, any period in which they 
 were secure or free from danger. For, not to 
 mention the fury of the people, set in motion 
 so often by the craft and zeal of their licentious 
 priests, the evil came from a higher source; the 
 prastors and magistrates, notwithstanding the 
 ancient laws of the emperors in favor of the 
 Christians, had it in their power to pursue them 
 W'ith all sorts of vexations, as often as avarice, 
 cruelty, or superstition roused up the infer- 
 nal spirit of persecution in their breasts. At 
 the same time, it is certain that the rights and 
 
 privileges of the Christians were multiplied, in 
 this century, much more than some are apt to 
 imagine. In the army, at court, and, indeed, 
 in all the orders of the nation, there were many 
 Christians who lived entirely unmolested; and, 
 what is still more, the profession of Christi- 
 anity was no obstacle to the public preferment 
 under most of the emperors that reigned in 
 this century. It is also certain, that the Chris- 
 tians had, in many places, houses where they 
 assembled for the purposes of divine worship 
 with the knowledge and connivance of the em- 
 perors and magistrates. And though it be 
 more than probable, that this liberty wa.«, upon 
 various occasions, and even for the most part, 
 purchased at a high rate, yet it is manifest, 
 that some of the emperors were very favour- 
 ably inclined toward the Christians, and were 
 far from having any aversion to their religion. 
 
78 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 n. Caracalla, tlie son of Severus, was prO' 
 claimed emperor in tlie year 211, and, during' 
 the six years of liis government, he neither 
 oppressed the Christians himself, nor permitted 
 any others to treat them with cruelty or injus- 
 tice. Heliogabalus also, thougli in other re- 
 spects the most infamous of all princes,* and, 
 perhaps, the most odious of all mortals, show- 
 ed no marks of bitterness or aversion to the 
 disciples of Jesus. His successor, Alexander 
 Severus, who was a prince distinguished by a 
 noble assemblage of the most excellent and il- 
 lustrious virtues, did not, indeed, abrogate the 
 laws that had been enacted against the Chris- 
 tians; and this is the reason why we have some 
 examples of martyrdom under his administra- 
 tion. It is nevertheless certain, that he show- 
 ed them, in many waj's, and upon every occa- 
 bion that was offered to him, the most mi- 
 doubted marks of benignity: he is even said to 
 have gone so far as to pay a certain sort of 
 worship to the divine author of our religion. | 
 The friendly inclination of tliis prince toward 
 the Christians probably arose, at first, from the 
 instructions and counsels of his mother, .Tulia 
 Mammaea, for whom he had a high degree of 
 love and veneration. Julia had very favour- 
 able sentiments of the Cluistian religion: and, 
 being once at Antioch, sent for the famous 
 Origen from Alexandria, in order to enjoy the 
 pleasure and advantage of his conversation and 
 instructions. Those who assert, that Julia, 
 and her son Alexander, embraced the Chris- 
 tian religion, are by no means furnished with 
 unexceptionable testimonies to confirm this 
 fact, though we may affirm, with confidence, 
 that this virtuous prince looked upon Christi- 
 anity as meriting, beyond all other religions, 
 toleration and favour from the state, and con- 
 sidered its author as worthy of a place among 
 those who had been distinguished by their sub- 
 lime virtues, and honoured with a commission 
 from above. J 
 
 III. Under Gordian, the Christians lived in 
 tranquillity. His successors the Philips, father 
 and son, proved so favourable, and even 
 friendly to them, that these two emperors 
 passed, in the opinion of many, for Christians; 
 and, indeed, the arguments alleged to prove that 
 they embraced, though in a secret and clandes- 
 tine manner, tlie religion of Jesus, seem to ren- 
 der this point highly probable. But, as these ar- 
 gimnents are opposed by others equally specious, 
 the famous question, relating to the religion of 
 Philip the Arabian and his son, must be left 
 undecided. § Neither side offers reasons so 
 
 * Larapridius, Vita Elagabali. 
 
 f Lamprid. di Vita Severi, cap. xxix. Vide Carol 
 Heiir. Zeibichii Dis. de Christo ab Alexandro in larario 
 culto, in Miscellan. Lips. nov. torn. iii. 
 
 \ Vide F. Spanhemii Dis. de Lucii, Britouum Regis, 
 Juliae Mammaese et Philipporum, conversionibus, torn. 
 ii. op. p. 400. Item, Paul Jablonski, Dis de Alexandro 
 Severe sacris Christianis per Gnosticos initiate, in Mis- 
 cellan. Lips. nov. torn. iv. 
 
 (JlJ= § The authors of the Universal History have de- 
 termined the question which Dr. Moshcim leaves here 
 undecided; and they think it maybe affirmed, that Philip 
 and his son embraced the Gospel, since that opinion is 
 built upon such respectable authority as that of Jerom, 
 Chrysostom, Dionysius of Alexandria, Zonaras, Nice- 
 phorus, Cedreuus, Ruffinus, Syncellus, Orosius, Jor- 
 nandes, Ammianus Marcellinus, the learned cardinal 
 Bono, VinceotiuB Lirineneis, Huelius, and others. Dr. 
 
 victorious and unanswerable, as to produce a 
 full and complete conviction; and this is there- 
 fore one of those many cases, where a suspen- 
 sion of judgment is both allowable and wise. 
 With respect to Gallienus, and some other em- 
 perors, of this century, if they did not pro- 
 fessedly favour the progress of Christianity, 
 they did not oppress its followers, or retard its 
 advancement. 
 
 IV. This clemency and benevolence, which 
 the followers of Jesus, experienced from great 
 men, and especially from those of imperial dig- 
 nity, must be placed, without doubt, among 
 the human means that contributed to multij>ly 
 the number of Christians, and to enlarge the 
 boimds of the church. Other causes, how- 
 ever, both divine and human, must be added 
 here, to afford a complete and satisfactory ac- 
 count of this matter. Among the causes which 
 belong to the first of these classes, we do not 
 only reckon the intrinsic force of celestial truth, 
 and the piety and fortitude of those who de- 
 clared it to the world, but also that especial and 
 intei-posing providence, which, by such dreams 
 and visions as were presented to the minds of 
 many, who were either inattentive to the Chris- 
 tian doctrine, or its professed enemies, touched 
 their hearts with a conviction of its ttuth and 
 a sense of its importance, and engaged them, 
 without delay, to profess themselves the dis- 
 ciples of Christ.* To this may also be added, 
 the healing of diseases, and other miracles, 
 which many Christians were yet enabled to 
 perform by invoking the name of the divine 
 Saviour.f The number of miracles, however, 
 we find to have been much less in this than in 
 the preceeding century; nor must this altera- 
 tion be attributed only to the divine wisdom, 
 which rendered miraculous interpositions less 
 frequent in pjoportion as they became less ne- 
 cessary, but also to that justice which was 
 provoked to diminish the frequency of gifts, 
 because some did not scruple to pervert them 
 to mercenary purposes. J 
 
 V. If we turn our view to the human means 
 that contributed, at this time, to multiply the 
 number of Christians, and extend the limits of 
 the church, we shall find a great variety of 
 causes imiting their influence, and contributing 
 jointly to this happy purpose. Among these 
 must be reckoned the translations of the sacred 
 writings into various languages, the zeal and 
 labours of Origen in spreading abroad copies 
 of them, and the different works that were 
 published, by learned and pious men, in de- 
 fence of the Gospel. We may add to this, that 
 the acts of benificence and liberality, perform- 
 ed by the Christians, even toward persons 
 whose religious principles they abhorred, had a 
 
 Mosheim refers his readers, for an account of this mat- 
 ter, to the following writers: Spanheim, de Christianis- 
 mo Philip, torn. ii. op. p. 400.— Entretiens Historiques 
 sur le Christianisme de TEmpereur Philippe, par P. De 
 L. F. — Mammachii Origineset Antiqu. Christianas, torn, 
 ii. p. 252.— Fabric, de Luce Evang. &c. p. 252. 
 
 * See, for an account of this matter, the following au- 
 thors: Origen, lib. i. adv. Cclsum, p. 35. Homil. in Lucse 
 vii. p. 216, torn. ii. op. edit. Basil.— as also TertuUian, de 
 Anima, cap. xiv. and Eusebius, lib. vi. cap. v. 
 
 f Origen, contra celsum, lib. i. Euseb. lib. v. cap. vii. 
 Cypriani Ep. i. ad Donat. and the notes of Baluze upon 
 that passage. 
 
 } Spencer, not in Origen. contra Celsum. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 79 
 
 great influence in attracting the esteem, and 
 removing the prejudices of many, who were 
 thus prepared for examining with candour the 
 Christian doctrine, and, consequently, for re- 
 ceiving its divine hght. The adorers of the 
 pagan deities must have been destitute of every 
 generous affection, of every humane feeling, if 
 tJie view of that boundless charity, which the 
 Christians exercised toward the poor, the love 
 they ex-pressed even to their enemies, the ten- 
 der care they took of the sick and infu-m, the 
 humanity they discovered in the redemption of 
 captives, and the other illustrious virtues, which 
 rendered them so worthy of universal esteem, 
 had not touched their hearts, dispelled their 
 prepossessions, and rendered them more fa- 
 vourable to the disciples of Jesus. If, among 
 the causes of the propagation of Christianity, 
 there is any place due to pious frauds, it is cer- 
 tain that they merit a very small part of the 
 honour of having contributed to this glorious 
 purpose, since they were practised by lew, and 
 that very rarely. 
 
 VI. That the limits of the church were ex- 
 tended in this century, is a matter beyond all 
 controversy. It is not, however, equally cer- 
 tain in what manner, by what persons, or in 
 what parts of the world, this was effected. 
 Origen, invited from Alexandria by an Arabian 
 prince, converted, by his assiduous labours, a 
 certain tribe of wandering Arabs to the Chris- 
 tian faith.* The Goths, a fierce and warlike 
 people, who inhabited the countries of Moesia 
 and Thrace, and who, accustomed to rapine, 
 harassed the neighbouring provinces by perpe- 
 tual incursions, received the knowledge of the 
 Gospel by the means of certain Christian doc- 
 tors sent thither from Asia. The holy lives of 
 these venerable teachers, and the miraculous 
 powers with which they were endowed, attract- 
 ed the esteem, even of a people educated to 
 nothing but plunder and devastation, and ab- 
 solutely micivilized by letters or science; and 
 their authority and influence became so great, 
 and produced, in pro'cess of time, such remark- 
 able effects, that a great part of this barbarous 
 people professed themselves the disciples of 
 Clirist, and put off, in a niamier, that ferocity 
 which had been so natural to them.f 
 
 VII. The Christian assemblies, founded m 
 Gaul by the Asiatic doctors in the preceding 
 century, were few in number, and of very small 
 extent; but both their number and their extent 
 were considerably increased from the time of 
 the emperor Decius. Under his sway, Diony- 
 sius, Gatian, Trophimus, Paul, Saturninus, 
 Martial, Stremonius, men of exemplary piety, 
 passed into this province, and, amidst dangers 
 and trials of various kinds, erected churches 
 at Paris, Tours, Aries, and several other places. 
 This was followed by a rapid progress of the 
 Gospel among the Gauls, as the disciples of 
 these pious teachers spread, in a short time, the 
 knowledge of Christianity through the wlicle 
 country. J We must also place in this century 
 
 * Eusebius; Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xix. p. 221. 
 
 t Sozomenus, His. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. vi. Taulus 
 Ciaconus, Hist. Miscel. lib. ii. cap. xiv. Philostorgius, 
 Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. v. p. 470. 
 
 \ See the historj- of the Frauks by Gregory of Tours, 
 book i. ch. Hviii. Theodor. Ruinart, Acta Martyr. 
 tiucera, p. 109, 
 
 the origin of several German churches, such 
 as those of Cologne, Treves, Mentz, and others, 
 of which Eucharius, Valerius, Matcrnus, and 
 Clemens, were the principal founders.* The 
 hi.storians of Scotland inform us, that the light 
 of Christianity arose tipon that country during 
 this century; but, thougli there be nothing im- 
 probable in this assertion, yet it is not built 
 upon incontestable authority.! 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Concerning the Calamitous Events which hap- 
 pened to the Church in this Century. 
 I. In the beginning of this century, the 
 Christian church suffered calamities of various 
 kinds throughout the provinces of the Roman 
 empire. These sufferings increased in a terri- 
 ble manner, in consequence of a law made, in 
 the year 203, by the emperor Severus (who, 
 in other respects, was certainly no enemy to 
 the Christians,) by which every subject of the 
 empire was prohibited from changing the reli- 
 gion of his ancestors for the Christian or Jew- 
 ish faith. I This law was, in its effects, most 
 prejudicial to the Christians; for, though it did 
 not formally condemn them, and seemed only 
 adapted to put a stop to the progress of the 
 Gospel, yet it induced rapacious and unjust 
 magistrates to persecute even mito death the 
 poorer sort among the Christians, that thus the 
 richer might be led, tlirough fear of the like 
 treatment, to purchase their tranquillity and 
 safety at an expensive rate. Hence many of 
 the disciples of Clirist, in several parts of Asia, 
 also in Egypt and other parts of Africa, were 
 put to death in consequence of this law. — 
 Among these Leonidas, the father of Origen, 
 Perpetua and Felicitas (those two famous 
 African ladies, whose acts § are come down to 
 our times,) Potamiena INlarcella, and other 
 martyrs of both sexes, acquired an' illustrious 
 name by the magnanimity and tranquillity with 
 which they endured the most cruel sufferings. 
 II. From the death of Severus to the reign 
 of Maximin, the condition of the Christians 
 was, in some places, prosperous, and, in all, 
 supj)ortable. But with Maximin the face of 
 affairs changed. Tliis unworthy emperor, hav- 
 ing animated the Roman soldiers to a.ssa.s.sinate 
 Alexander Severus, dreaded the resentment of 
 the Cliristians, whom that excellent prince had 
 favoured and ])rotected in a distinguished man- 
 ner; and, for this reason, he ordered the bishops, 
 whom he knew that Alexander had always 
 treated as his intimate friends, to be seized aiid 
 put to death. II During his reign, the Chris- 
 tians sutVcrcd in tiie most barbarous manner; 
 for, though the edict of this tyrant extended 
 only to the bishops and leaders of the Chris- 
 tian church, yet its shocking effects reached 
 much farther, as it animated the heathen 
 
 * See Au:;. Calmet, Hist, dc Lorraine, torn. i. dissert, 
 i. p. 7. Jo. Nicol. ab Honlhcim, Historia Trerircnsis, 
 torn. i. ubi. Diss, de a;ra fiindati Episcopatiis Trevirensis. 
 
 t Sec Usher and Stillinglleet, Antiiiuit. et Origin. 
 Ecclesiar. Brit. See also Sir George Mackenzie, de 
 Regali Scotonim prosapia, cap. viii. p. 119. 
 
 t Eusebius, Histor. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. i. Spartianiu 
 io Severo, cap. xvi. xvii. 
 
 iTheod. Ruinart, Acta Martyr, p. 90. 
 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xxviii. p. 525. 
 Orosius, Hist, lib. rii. cap. xix. p. 509, 
 
80 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 priests, the magistrates, and the multitude, 
 against Christiana of every rank and order.* 
 
 HI. This storm was succeeded by a calm, in 
 which the Christians enjoyed a happy tranquil- 
 lity for many years. The accession of Decius 
 Trajan to the "imperial throne, in the year 249, 
 raised a new tempest, in which the fury of per- 
 secution fell in a dreadful manner upon the 
 church of Christ; for this emperor, either from 
 an illgrounded fear of the Christians, or from 
 a violent zeal for the superstition of his ances- 
 tors, published most terrible and cruel edicts; 
 by which the prsetors were ordered, on pain 
 of death, either to extirpate the whole body of 
 Christians without exception, or to force them, 
 by torments of various kinds, to return to the 
 pagan worship. Hence, in all the provinces 
 of the empire, multitudes of Christians were, 
 in the course of two years, put to death by the 
 most horrid punislunentsf which an ingenious 
 barbarity could invent. Of all these cruelties 
 the most mihappy circumstance was, their fa- 
 tal influence upon tlie faith and constancy of 
 many of the sutlerers; for as this persecution 
 was much more terrible than all those which 
 preceded it, so a great number of Christians, 
 dismayed, not at the approach of death, but at 
 the aspect of those dreadful and lingering tor- 
 ments, which a barbarous magistracy had pre- 
 pared to combat their constancy, fell from the 
 profession of their faith, and secured them- 
 selves from pmiishment, either by offering sa- 
 crifices, or by burning incense, before the 
 images of the gods, or by purchasing certificates 
 from the pagan priests. Hence arose the op- 
 probrious names of Sacrificati, given to those 
 who sacrificed; Thuriftcati, to those who burn- 
 ed incense; and Libellatici, to those who pro- 
 duced certificates.! 
 
 IV. This defection of such a prodigious 
 number of Christians under Decius, was the 
 occasion of great commotions in the church, 
 and produced debates of a very difficult and 
 delicate nature; for the lapsed, or those who 
 had fallen from their Christian profession, were 
 desirous of being restored to the church-com- 
 munion, without submitting to that painful 
 course of penitential discipline, which the ec- 
 clesiastical laws indispensably required. The 
 bishops were divided upon this matter: some 
 were for showing the desired indulgence, while 
 others opposed it with all their might.§ In 
 
 * Origen, torn, xxviii. in Matth. op. torn. i. p. 137. See 
 also Firinilianus in Cypriani Epistolis, p. 140. 
 
 ■f Eusebius, lib. vi. cap. xxxix. xli. Grcgorius Nys3. 
 in vita Thaumatiirgi. Cyprianus, de Lapsis. 
 
 X These certificales were not all equally criminal; nor 
 did all of them indicate a degree of apostacy equally 
 enormons. It is therefore necessary to inform the rea- 
 derof the following distinctions omitted by Dr. Mosheim; 
 these certificates were sometimes no more than a permis- 
 sion to abstain from sacrificing, obtained by a fee given 
 to the judges, and were not looked upon as an act of 
 apostacy, unless the Christians who demanded them had 
 declared to the judges that they had conformed them- 
 selves to the emperor's edicts. But, at other times, they 
 contained a profcsBion of paganism, and were either of- 
 fered voluntarily by the apostate, or were subscribed by 
 him, when they were presented to him by the persecuting 
 magistrates. Many used certificates, as letters of security 
 obtained from the priests, at a high rate, and which dis- 
 pensed them from either professing or denying their sen- 
 timents. See Spanheim's Historia Christiana, p. 732. 
 See also Prud. Maranus in vita Cypriani, sect. 6. 
 
 5 Eusebius, hb. vi, cap. xliv. Cypr. Epistolae. 
 
 Africa, many, in order to obtain more speedily 
 the pardon of their apostacy, interested the 
 martyrs in their behalf, and received from them 
 letters of reconciliation and peace, i. e. a for- 
 mal act, by which they (the martyrs) declared 
 in their last moments, that tliey looked upon 
 them as worthy of their communion, and de- 
 sired, of consequence, that they should be re- 
 stored to their place among the brethren. Some 
 bishops and presbyters re-admitted into the 
 church, with too much facility, apostates and 
 transgressors, who produced such testimonies 
 as these. But Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, 
 a man of severe wisdom and great dignity of 
 character, acted in quite another way. Though 
 he had no intention of derogating from the au- 
 thority of tlie venerable martyrs, yet he op- 
 posed with vigour this unreasonable lenity, and 
 set limits to the efficacy of these letters of re- 
 conciliation and peace. Hence arose a keen 
 dispute between him and the martyrs, confes- 
 sors, presbyters, and lapsed, seconded by tlie 
 people: and yet, notwithstanding this formida- 
 ble multitude of adversaries, the venerable 
 bishop came off victorious.* 
 
 V. Gallus, the successor of Decius, and 
 Volusianus, son of the former, re-animated the 
 flame of persecution, which was beginning to 
 burn with less fury;] and, beside the sufferings 
 which the Christians had to undergo in con- 
 sequence of their cruel edicts, they were also 
 involved in the public calamities that prevailed 
 at this time, and suffered grievously from a 
 terrible pestilence, which spread desolation 
 througli many previous of the empire. J This 
 pestilence also was an occasion which the pa- 
 gan priests used with dexterity to renew the 
 rage of persecution again.';t them, by persuad- 
 ing the people that it was on account of the 
 lenity used towards the Christians, that the 
 gods sent down their judgments upon the na- 
 tions. In the year 234, Valerian, being de- 
 clared emperor, made the fury of persecution 
 cease, and restored the church to a state of 
 tranquillity. 
 
 VI. The clemency and benevolence which 
 Valerian showed to the Christians, continued 
 until the fifth year of his reign. Then the 
 scene began to change, and the change indeed 
 was sudden. Macrianus, a superstitious and 
 cruel bigot to paganism, had gained an entire 
 ascendency over Valerian, and was chief coun- 
 sellor in every tiling that related to tlie affairs 
 of government. By the persuasion of this im- 
 perious minister, the Cliristians were prohibited 
 from assembling, and their bishops and doctors 
 were sent into banishment. This edict was 
 published in the year 257, and was followed, 
 the year after, by one still more severe; in con- 
 sequence of which, a considerable number of 
 Christians, in tlie different provinces of the 
 empire, were put to death; and many of these 
 were subjected to such cruel modes of execu- 
 tion, as were more terrible than deatli itself 
 Of those who suffered in this persecution, the 
 
 * The whole history of this controversy may be gather- 
 ed from the epistles of Cyprian. See also Gabr. Albas- 
 pinsEus, Observat. Eccles. lib. i. observ. xx. aud Dallsus, 
 de Poenis et Satisfactionibus humanis, lib. vii. cap. xvi. 
 
 t Euseb. lib. vii. cap. i. Cypriani. Epist. Ivii, Iviii. 
 
 j Vid. Cypriani Lib. ad Demetrianum. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAJIITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 81 
 
 most eminent were Cyprian, bishop of Car- 
 thage; Sixtus, bishop of" Rome; and Lauren- 
 tius, a Roman deacon, who was barbarously 
 consumed by a slow and liniroring' lire. An 
 unexpected event suspended, lor awhile, the 
 sufferings of the Christians. Valerian was 
 made prisoner in tiie war against the Persians; 
 and his son Gallieiius, in the year 260, restor- 
 ed peace to the church.* 
 
 V'll. The condition of the Christians was 
 ratiier supportable than happy, under the reign 
 of Gallienus, which lasted eight years; as also 
 under the short administration of his successor 
 Claudius. Nor did tliey suffer nmcli daring 
 the first four years of the reign of Aurelian, 
 who was raised to the empire in the year 270. 
 But the fifth year of this emperor's administra- 
 tion would have proved fatal to them, had not 
 his violent death prevented the execution of 
 his cruel purposes; for while, instigated by the 
 imjust suggestions of his own superstition, or 
 by the barbarous counsels of a bigoted priest- 
 hood, he was preparing a formidable attack 
 upon the Christians, he was obliged to march 
 into Gaul, where lie was murdered, in the year 
 275, before his edicts were published through- 
 out the empire, t Few, therefore, suffered 
 martyrdom under his reign; and indeed, during 
 the remainder of this century, the Christians 
 enjoyed a considerable measure of ease and 
 tranquillity. They were, at least, free from 
 any violent attacks of oppression and injustice, 
 except in a small number of cases, where the 
 avarice and superstition of the Roman magis- 
 trates interrupted their tranquillity. J 
 
 VIII. While the emperor, and proconsuls 
 employed against the Christians the terror of 
 unrighteous edicts, and tiie edge of the destroy- 
 ing sword, the Platonic philosophers, who have 
 been described above, exhausted against Chris- 
 tianity all the force of their learning and elo- 
 quence, and all the resources of their art and 
 dexterity, in rhetorical declamations, subtile 
 writings, and ingenious stratagems. These 
 artful adversaries were so much the more dan- 
 gerous and formidable, as they had adopted 
 several of the doctrines and institutions of the 
 Gospel, and, with a specious air of moderation 
 and impartiality, were attemjjting, after the 
 example of their master Amuionius, to recon- 
 cile paganism with Christianity, and form a 
 sort of coalition of the ancient and the new 
 religion. These philosophers had at their 
 head, in this century. Porphyry (a Syrian, or, 
 as some allege, a Tyrian, by birtii,) who wrote 
 against the Christians a long and laborious 
 work, which was destroyed afterwards by an 
 imperial edict. § He was, undoubtedly, a wri- 
 ter of great dexterity, genius, and erudition, 
 as those of his works which yet remain suffi- 
 
 * Euseb. Hist. EccUs. lib. vii. cap. x. xi. p. 255. Acta 
 Cypriani,as ihcy arc to be found in Iliiinarti Act. Marty- 
 rum, p. 216. Cypriani Epi^t. Ixxvii. Ixxjiii. 
 
 t Eiistbius, lib. vii. Lactantius, de mortibus Prrse- 
 ciiutor. 
 
 } Among these vexations may be reckoned the cruehy 
 of Galerius Maximiam, who, toward the conclusion of 
 this century, persecuted the ministers of his court, and 
 the soldiers of his army, who had professed Christianity. 
 See Eusebius, lib. viii. 
 
 ^ See Holstenius dc vita Porphyr. cap. xi. Fabric. 
 Lux Evang. p. 154. Buddeus, leagoge in Theologiuin, 
 torn. ii. 
 
 Vol. I— 11 
 
 ciently testify. But those very works, and the 
 history of his life, show us, at the same time, 
 that he was a nmch more virulent, than formi- 
 dable enemy to the Christians; for by them it 
 appears, that he was much more attentive to 
 the suggestions of a superstitious spirit, and 
 the visions of a lively fancy, than to the sober 
 dictates of right reason and a sound judgment; 
 and it may be more especially observed of the 
 remaining fragments of his work against the 
 Christians, that they are equally destitute of 
 judgment and equity, and are utterly unworthy 
 of a wise and a good man.* 
 
 IX. Many were the deceitful and perfidious 
 stratagems by which this sect endeavoured to 
 obscure the lu.strc, and diminish the authority 
 of the Cliristian doctrine. None of these seem- 
 ed to be more dangerous than the seducing ar- 
 tifice with which they formed a comparison be- 
 tween the life, actions, and miracles of Christ, 
 and the history of the ancient pliilosoi)hers, and 
 placed the contending parties in such fallacious 
 points of view, as to make the pretended sages 
 of antiquity appear in nothing inferior to the 
 divine Saviour. With this view, Archytas of 
 Tarentum, Pytliagoras, of whom Porphyry 
 wrote the life, Apollonius Tyanceus, a PytJia- 
 goreau j)hilosophcr, whose miracles and pere- 
 grinations were highly celebrated by the vul- 
 gar, were brouglit upon the scene, aiid exliibit- 
 ed as divine teachers, and rivals of the glory 
 of the Son of God. Philostratus, one of the 
 most eminent rhetoricians of this age, compos- 
 ed a pompous history of the life of Apollonius, 
 who was little better than a cunning knave, 
 and did nothing but ape the auslerity and sanc- 
 tity of Pythagoras. This history appears ma- 
 nifestly designed to draw a parallel between 
 Christ and the philosopher of Tyana; but the 
 impudent fictions and ridiculous fables, with 
 which this work is filled, must, one would 
 think, have rendered it incapable of deceiving 
 any who possessed a sound mind; any, but 
 such as, through the corruption of vicious pre- 
 judices, were willing to be deceived. f 
 
 X. But as there are no opinions, however 
 absurd, and no stories, however idle and im- 
 probable, that a weak and ignorant multitude, 
 more attentive to the pomp of ivords than to 
 the irutli of thino;s, will not easily swallow; so 
 it happeni'd, that many were ensnared by the 
 absurd attempts of these insidious ]>hilosophers. 
 Some were induced by these perfidious strata- 
 gems to abandon the Cliristian religion, which 
 
 5(7= * This work of Porphyry against the Christians 
 was burned, by an edict of Conslantiue the Great. It was 
 divided into fifteen books, as we find iu Eiiscbtus, and 
 contained the blackest calumnies against the Christians. 
 The first book treated of the contradictions nhich he 
 pretended to have found iu the sacred writings. The 
 greatest part of the twelfth is employed is fixing the time 
 wlicn the prophecies of Daniel were written; for Por- 
 phyry himself found these predictiiins so clearly and 
 evideully fullilled, that, to aroid the force of the irgu- 
 ment, thence dediicible in faror of Christianity, he was 
 forced to have reconrse to the absurd supposition, that 
 these prophecies had been published under the name of 
 Daniel by one who lived in the tinve of Antiochus, and 
 wrote after the arriral of the events foretold. Metho- 
 dius, Eusebius, and Apoliinaris, wrote against Porphyry; 
 but their refutations have been long since lost. 
 
 t See Olerius' preface to the Life of Apollonius by 
 Philostratus; as also Mosheim's notes to his Latin trans- 
 lation of Cudworth's Intellectual Systeai, p. 304, kc. 
 
82 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 they had embraced. Otliers, when tliey were 
 taught to beheve that true Christianity (as it 
 was inculcated by Jesus, and not as it was af- 
 terwards corrupted by liis disciples) difi'ered in 
 few points from the jjagan system, properly ex- 
 plained and restored to its primitive purity, 
 determined to remain in tlie religion of their 
 ancestors, and in the worship of their gods. 
 A third sort were led, by these comparisons 
 between Clirist and the ancient philosophers, 
 to form to themselves a motley system of reli- 
 gion composed of the tenets of both parties, 
 whom they treated with the same veneration 
 and respect. Such was, particularly, tlie me- 
 thod of Alexander Severus, who paid indis- 
 criminately divine honours to Christ and to 
 Orpheus, to Apollonius, and the other philo- ■ 
 sophers and heroes whose names were famous i 
 in ancient times. j 
 
 XI. The credit and power of the Jews were ' 
 now too much diminished to render them as i 
 capable of injuring the Christians, by tiieir m- 1 
 fluence over the magistrates, as they had for- 1 
 merly been. This did not, however, discour- 1 
 
 age their malicious efforts, as the books which 
 Tertullian and Cyprian have written against 
 them abundantly show, with several other 
 writings of the Christian doctors, who com- 
 plained of the malignity of the Jews, and of 
 their sinister machinations.* During the per- 
 secution under Severus, a certain person call- 
 ed Dominus, who had embraced Christianity, 
 deserted to the Jews, doubtless to avoid the 
 punishments that were decreed against the 
 Christians; and it was to recall this apostate to 
 his duty and his profession, that Serapion, 
 bishop of Antioch, wrote a particular treatise 
 against the Jews.f We may easily conclude, 
 from tliis instance, that, when the Christians 
 were persecuted, the Jews were treated with 
 les.s severity and contempt, on account of their 
 enmity against the disciples of Jesus. From 
 the same tiict we may also learn, that, though 
 they were in a state of great subjection and 
 abasement, they were not entirely deprived of 
 all power of oppressing the Christians. 
 
 * Hippolytus, Serm. in Susann. ct Daniel, torn. i. op. 
 t Eusebius. Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xii. p. 213. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the State of Letters and Plulosophij 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. The arts and sciences, which, in the pre- 
 ceding century, were in a declining state, seem- 
 ed, in this, ready to expire, and had lost all 
 their vigour and lustre. The celebrated rheto- 
 rician Longinus, and the eminent historian Dio 
 Cassius, with a few others, were tlie last among 
 the Greeks, who stood in the breach against 
 the prevailing ignorance and barbarism of the 
 times. Men of learning and genius were still 
 less numerous in the western provinces of the 
 empire, thougli tiiere were in several places 
 flourishing schools, appropriated to the ad- 
 vancement of tiie sciences and the culture of 
 taste and genius. Ditferent reasons contri- 
 buted to this decay of learning. Few of the 
 emperors patronised the sciences, or encour- 
 aged, by the prospect of their favour and pro- 
 tection, that enuilation which is the soul of 
 literary excellence. Besides, the civil wars 
 that ahnost always distracted the emjnre, were 
 extremely unfavourable to the pmsuit of sci- 
 ence; and tile perpetual incursions of the bar- 
 barous nations interrupted that leisure and 
 tranquillity which are so essential to the pro- 
 gress of learning and knowledge, and extin- 
 guished, among a people accustomed to the 
 din of arms, all desire of literary acquisitions.* 
 
 II. If we turn our eyes toward the state of 
 philosophy, the prospect will appear somewhat 
 less desolate and comfortless. There were, as 
 
 * See the Literary History ot France, by the Benedic- 
 tine monks, vol. i. part ii. 
 
 yet, in several of the Grecian sects, men of 
 considerable knowledge and reputation, of 
 whom Longinus has mentioned the greatest 
 part.* But all these sects were gradually 
 eclipsed by the scliool of Ammonius, whose 
 origin and doctrines have been considered 
 above. This victorious sect, which was form- 
 ed in Egypt, issued thence with such a rapid 
 progress, that, in a short time, it extended 
 itself almost throughout the Roman empire, 
 and drew into its vortex the greatest part of 
 tliose who applied themselves, through incli- 
 nation, to the study of philosophy. This 
 amazing progress was due to Plotinus, the 
 most eminent disciple of Ammonius, a man of 
 a most subtile invention, endowed by nature 
 with a genius capable of the most profound 
 researches, and equal to the' investigation of 
 the most abstruse and difficult subjects. This 
 penetrating and sublime philosopher taught 
 publicly, first in Persia, and afterwards at 
 Rome, and in Campania; in all which parts 
 the youth flocked in crowds to receive his in- 
 structions. Pie comprehended the precepts of 
 his philosophy in several books, most of which 
 are yet extant.f 
 
 III. The number of disciples, formed in the 
 school of Plotinus, is almost beyond credibility. 
 The most famous was Porphyry, J who spread 
 
 * In his life of Plotinus, epitomised by Porphyry, 
 cli.xx. 
 
 t See Porphyrii vita Plotini, of which Fabricius has 
 given an edition iu his Bibliotheca (jrseca, torn. iv. — 
 Bayle's Diction, torn. iii. — and Brucker's Historia 
 Critica Fhilo«ophiae. 
 
 (ttj" } Porphyry was first the disciple of Longinus, au- 
 thor of the justly celebrated Treatise on the Sublime; 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 83 
 
 abroad through Sicily, and many other coun- 
 tries, the doctrine of his master, revived with 
 great accuracy, adorned with the graces of a 
 flowing and elegant style, and enriclied with 
 new inventions and curious improvements.' 
 From tlie time of Ammonius, until the sixtii 
 century this was almost the only system of 
 philosophy that was publicly taught at Alex- 
 andria. A certain philosopher, whose name 
 was Plutarch, having learned it there, brought 
 it into Greece, and renewed, at Athens, the 
 celebrated Academy, from which issued a set 
 of illustrious philosophers, whom we shall 
 have occasion to mention in the progress of 
 this work.f 
 
 IV. We have unfolded, above, the nature 
 and doctrines of this pliilosophy, as far as was 
 compatible with the brevity of our present de- 
 sign. It is, however, proper to add here, tliat 
 its votaries were not all of the same senti- 
 ments, but thought very ditl'erently upon a va- 
 riety of subjects. This ditiereuce of opinion 
 was the natural consequence of that funda- 
 mental law, which the whole sect was obliged 
 to keep constantly in view, viz. That truth 
 was to be pursued witli the utmost liberty, and 
 to be collected from all the different systems in 
 which it lay dispersed. Hence it happened, 
 that the Athenians rejected certain opinions 
 that were entertained by the philosophers of 
 Alexandria: yet none of those who were am- 
 bitious to be ranked among these new Plato- 
 nists, called in question the main doctrines 
 which formed the groundwork of their singu- 
 lar system; those, for example, whicli regard- 
 ed the existence of one God, the fountain of 
 all things; the eternity of the world; the de- 
 pendence of matter upon the Supreme Being; 
 the nature of souls; the plurality of gods; the 
 method of interpreting the popular supersti- 
 tions, &c. 
 
 V. The famous que.stion concerning the 
 excellence and utility of human learning, was 
 now debated with great warmtli among the 
 ('hristians; and the contending parties, in tliis 
 controversy, seemed hitherto ol" equal force 
 in point of number, or nearly so. Many re- 
 commended the study of philosophy, and an 
 acquaintanci! with the Greek and Jloman lite- 
 rature; while others maintained, that these 
 were pernicious (« the interests of genuine 
 Christianity, and the progress of true piety. 
 The cause of letters and philosopliy triumphed, 
 liowever, by degrees; and those wlio wished 
 well to tliem, continued to gain ground, till at 
 length the superiority was manifestly decided 
 in their fiivour. This victory was principally 
 due to the iuHuence and authority of Origen, 
 who, having been early instructed in the new 
 kind of Platonism already mentioned, blendid 
 it, though unha])i)ily, with tiie purer and more 
 sublime tenets of a celestial doctrine, and re- 
 commended it, in the warmest manner, to 
 the youth who attended his public lessons. 
 The fame of this philosoper increased daily 
 
 but, haviiij; passed from Greece to Rome, where lie 
 heard Plotinus, he was so charmi-d with the genius and 
 penetration of this philosoplier, that he attacht-d himself 
 entirely to him. See Plotin. vit. p. 3. F.unap. c. ii. p. 17. 
 
 * Ilolsliiiius, vit. Porphyrii, republished by Fabricius. 
 
 i Marini vita Procii, cap. xi. xii. 
 
 among the Christians; and, in proportion to 
 his rising credit, his method of proposing and 
 explaining the doctrines of Cliristianity gained 
 authorit}', till it became almost universal. Be- 
 sides, some of the di.sciples of Plotinus havino- 
 embraced C'hristianity, on condition that they 
 should be allnwed to retain such of the opinions 
 of their ma.ster as they thought of superior 
 excellence and merit,* this must also have con- 
 tributed, in some measure, to turn the balance 
 in favour of the sciences. These Christian 
 philosophers, preserving still a fervent zeal for 
 the doctrines of their Heathen chief, would 
 naturally embrace every opportunity of .spread- 
 ing them abroad, and instilling them into the 
 minds of tlie ignorant and the unwary. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Resprcting the DoHms and Ministers of the 
 Chxirch, and itft Fm-m of Governnunl, during 
 this Century. 
 
 I. The form of ecclesiastical government 
 that had been adopted by Christians in general, 
 had now accpiirctl greater degrees of stability 
 and force, both in particular ciiurches, and in 
 the general society of Christians. It appears 
 incontestable, from the most authentic records 
 and the best histories of tliis century, that, in 
 the larger cities, there was, at the head of each 
 church, a person to whom was given the title 
 of Inshop, who ruled this sacred community 
 with a certain sort of authority, in concert, 
 however, with the body of presbyters, and con- 
 sulting, in matters of moment, the opinions 
 and the voices of the whole assembly.] It is 
 also equally evident, that, in every province, 
 one bishop was invested with a certain stipe- 
 riority over the rest, in point of rank and au- 
 thority. This was necessary to the mainte- 
 nance of that association of churches which 
 had been introduced in the preceding centm-y; 
 and it contributed to facilitate the holding of 
 general councils, and to give a certain degree 
 of order and consistoncy to their proceedings. 
 It nuist, at the same time, be cart^iully observ- 
 ed, that the rights and privileges of these 
 primitive bisho])s were not every where accu- 
 rately fixed, nor determined in such a manner 
 as to prevent encroachmuiits and disputes; nor 
 does it appear, that the chief authority in the 
 proviiu'e was always conferred upon that bishop 
 wlio [jresided over the church established in 
 the metropolis. It may also bo noticed, as a 
 matter beyond all dispute, that tiic bishops of 
 Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, considered as 
 rules of primitive and aposlijiic <;hurches, had 
 .1 kiial of ])ro-eminence over all others, and 
 were not only consulted frequently in affairs of 
 a didicult and momentous naturo, but were 
 also distinguished by peculiar rights and pri- 
 vileges. 
 
 11. With respect, particularly, to the bishop 
 of Rome, he is supposed by Cyprian to have 
 had, at this time, a certain pre-eminence in 
 
 * Augustinus, Epistola Ivi. ad Dioscor. p. S60, torn, 
 ii. op. 
 
 t A satisfactory account of this matter may be seen in 
 Blondelli Apologia pro S#'ntentia Hirroh)u)i dc Episco- 
 pis ct Presbylens, p. 136, as that author has collected all 
 I the testimonies of the ancients relative to that subject. 
 
84 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the church;* nor does he stand alone in this 
 opinion. But it ought to be observed, that 
 even those, who, with Cyprian, attributed this 
 pre-eminence to the Roman prelate, insisted, at 
 the same time, with the utmost warmth, upon 
 the equality, in point of dignity and authority, 
 that subsisted among all the members of the 
 episcopal order. In consequence of this opin- 
 ion of an equality among all Christian bishops, 
 they rejected, with contempt, the judgment of 
 the bishop of Rome, when they thought it ill- 
 founded or unjust, and followed their own 
 sense of things with a perfect independence. 
 Of this Cyprian himself gave an eminent ex- 
 ample, in his famous controversy with Stephen 
 bishop of Rome, concerning the baptism of 
 heretics, in which he treated the arrogance of 
 that imperious prelate with a noble indigna- 
 tion, and also with a perfect contempt. Who- 
 ever, therefore, compares these particulars, will 
 easily perceive, that tlie only dignity which the 
 bishop of Rome could justly claim was a pre- 
 eminence of order and (tssocialion,'\ not of 
 poiver and authority. Or to explain the matter 
 yet more clearly, the pre-eminence of the bishop 
 of Rome, in the universal church, was such as 
 that of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was in 
 the African churches; and every one kll0^vs, 
 that the precedency of this latter prelate di- 
 minished in nothing the equality that subsisted 
 among the African bishops, and invalidated in 
 no instance their rights and liberties, but gave 
 only to Cyprian, as the president of their ge- 
 neral assemblies, a power of calling councils, 
 of presiding in them, of admonishing his bre- 
 thren in a mild and fraternal manner, and of 
 executing, in short, such offices as the order 
 and purposes of these ecclesiastical meetings 
 necessarily required. | 
 
 III. The face of things began now to cliange 
 in the Christian church. The ancient method 
 of ecclesiastical government seemed, in general, 
 still to subsist, while, at tlie same time, by im- 
 perceptible steps, it varied from the primitive 
 rule, and degenerated toward tlie form of a re- 
 ligious monarchy; for the bishops aspired to 
 higher degrees of power and authority than 
 they had formerly possessed, and not only vio- 
 lated the rights of the people, but also made 
 gradual encroachments upon the privileges of 
 the presbyters; and that tliey might cover tliese 
 usurpations with an air of justice, and an ap- 
 pearance of reason, they publislied new doc- 
 trines concerning the nature of tlie churcli, and 
 of the episcopal dignity, which, however, were 
 in general so obscure, that they themselves 
 seemed to have understood them as little as 
 those to whom they were delivered. One of 
 the principal authors of this change, in the go- 
 
 * Cyprian, Ep. Iv. et Ixxiii. etiam de Unitate Eeclesise, 
 p. 195, edit. Baluzii. 
 
 Ojj- f So I have translated Prjjicipattis ordinis et con- 
 sociationis, which could not be otherwise rendered with- 
 out a long circumlocution. The pre-eminence here men- 
 tioned, signifies the right of convening councils, of pre- 
 siding in them, of collecting voices, and such other things 
 as were essential to the order of these assemblies. 
 
 I See Steph. Baluzii adno. ad Cypriani Epistolas, p. 
 387, 389, 400. Consult particularly the seveniy-first and 
 seventy-third epistles of Cyprian, and the fifly-fiflh, ad- 
 dressed to Cornelius, bishop of Rome, in which letters 
 the Carthaginian prelate pleads with warmth and vehe- 
 mence for the equality of all Christian bishops. 
 
 vernment of the church, was Cyprian, who 
 pleaded for the power of the bishops with more 
 zeal and vehemence than had ever been hith- 
 erto employed in that cause, though not with 
 an unshaken constancy and perseverance; for, 
 in difficult and perilous times, necessity some- 
 times obliged him to yield, and to submit seve- 
 ral things to the judgment and authority of the 
 church. 
 
 IV. This change in the form of ecclesiasti- 
 cal government, was soon followed by a train 
 of vices, which dishonoured the character and 
 authority of those to whom the administration 
 of the church was committed; for, though se- 
 veral yet continued to exhibit to the world il- 
 lustrious examples of primitive piety and Chris- 
 tian virtue, yet many were sunk in luxury and 
 voluptuousness, puffed up with vanity, arro- 
 gance, and ambition, possessed with a spirit of 
 contention and discord, and addicted to many- 
 other vices that cast an imdeserved reproach 
 upon the holy religion, of which they were the 
 unworthy professors and ministers. This is 
 testified in such an ample manner, by the re- 
 peated com])laints of many of the most re- 
 spectable writers of this age,* that truth will 
 not permit us to spread the veil, which we 
 should otherwise be desirous to cast over such 
 enormities among an order so sacred. The 
 bishops assumed, in many places, a princely 
 authority, particularly those who had the great- 
 est number of churches under their inspection, 
 and who presided over the most opulent assem- 
 blies. They appropriated to tlieir evangelical 
 function the splendid ensigns of temporal ma- 
 jesty; a throne, surrounded with ministers, ex- 
 alted above his equals the servant of the meek 
 and humble Jesus; and sumptuous garments 
 dazzled the eyes and the minds of the multi- 
 tude into an ignorant veneration for this usurp- 
 ed authority. An example which ought not 
 to have been followed, was ambitiously imitated 
 by the presbyters, who, neglecting the sacred 
 duties of their station, abandoned themselves 
 to the indolence and delicacy of an effeminate 
 and luxurious life. The deacons, beholding 
 the presbyters thus deserting their fimctions, 
 boldly invaded their riglits and privileges; and 
 tlie effects of a corrupt ambition were spread 
 through every rank of the sacred order. 
 
 V. From what has been now observed, we 
 may come, perhaps, at the true origin of minor 
 or inferior orders, which were, in this century, 
 added every where to tliose of the bishops, 
 presb3'ters, and deacons; for, certainly, the titles 
 and offices of suhdeacons, acohjthi, ostlarii, or 
 door-keepers, readers, exorcists, and cnpiatce, 
 would never have been heard of in the church, 
 if its rulers had been assiduously and zealously 
 employed in promoting the interests of truth 
 and piety, by their labours and their example. 
 But, when Uie honors and priviliges of the 
 bishops and presbyters were augmented, the 
 deacons also began to extend their ambitious 
 views, and to despise those lower functions and 
 employments which they had hitherto exer- 
 cised with such humility and zeal. The ad- 
 ditional orders that were now created to di- 
 
 * Origen. Comm. in Matthaeum, par. i. op. p. 420,443. 
 Eusebius, Hiit. Ecdes. lib. viii. cap. i. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 85 
 
 minish the labours of the pre-sent rulers of the 
 church, had functions allotted to them, wliich 
 their names partly explain.* l"he institution 
 of exorcists was a consequence of the doctrine 
 of the New Platonists, which the Christians 
 adopted, and which taupht, that the evil genii, 
 or spirits, were continually hovering over hu- 
 man bodies, toward which they were carried 
 by a natural and veliement desire; and that 
 vicious men were not so much impelled to sin 
 by an innate depravity, or by the seduction of 
 example, as by the internal suggestions of some 
 evil daemon. I'lie copiaUe were employed in 
 providing for the decent interment of the dead. 
 VI. Marriage was permitted to all tlie va- 
 rious ranks and orders of the clergy. Those, 
 however, who continued in a state of celibacy, 
 obtained by this abstinence a higher reputation 
 of sanctity and virtue than others. This was 
 owing to an almost general persuasion, that 
 they, who took wives, were of all others the 
 most subject to the influence of malignant 
 dtemons.f And as it was of infinite impor- 
 tance to the interests of the church, that no 
 mipure or malevolent spirit should enter into 
 the bodies of such as were appointed to govern, 
 or to instruct others, so the people were de- 
 sirous that the clergy should use their utmost 
 efforts to abstain from the pleasures of the con- 
 jugal life. Many of the sacred order, espe- 
 cially in Africa, consented to satisfy the desires 
 of the people, and endeavoured to do this in 
 such a manner as not to otter an entire violence 
 to their own inclinations. For this purpose, 
 they formed connexions witli those women wJio 
 had made vows of per])etual chastity; and it 
 was an ordinary thing for an ecclesiastic to ad- 
 mit one of these fair saints to the participation 
 of his bed; but still under the most solemn 
 
 (tl^*Thesub-(lf aeons were designed to ease the deacons 
 of tlie meanest part of their worlt. Their offiee, conse- 
 quently, was to prepare tlie sacred vessels of the altar, 
 and to deliver them to the deacons in time of divine ser- 
 vice; to attend the doors of the church during the com- 
 munion service; to go on the bishop's embassies, witli his 
 letters or messages to foreign cliurches. In a word, Ihcy 
 were so subordinate to the superior rulers of the church, 
 that by a canon of the council of Laodicea, they were 
 forbidden to sit in the presence of a deacon without his 
 leave. The order of ucolythi was peculiar to the Latin 
 church; for there was no such order in the Greek church, 
 during the four first cenluriis. Their name signifies (tt 
 teiulants; and their principal office was to light the can- 
 dles of the church, and to attend the ministers with 
 wine for the eucharist. The ostiarii, or door-keepers, 
 w I re appointed to open and shut the doors, as officers 
 and servants under the deacons and snb-deacons; to give 
 notice of the times of prayer and church assemblies, 
 wliich, in time of persecution, required a private signal 
 f)r fear of discovery; and that, probably, was the first 
 reason for instituting this order in the church of Rome, 
 whose example, by degrees, was soon followed by other 
 churches. — The readers were those who were directed 
 to read the scripture in that part of divine service to 
 which the catechumens were admitted. — The cxorcixts 
 were appointed to drive out evil spirits from the bodies 
 of persons possessed; they had been long known in the 
 church, but were not erected into an ecclesiastical order 
 before the latter end of the third century. — The copiatrr, 
 or fo^sarii, were an order of the inferior clergy, whose 
 business it was to take care of funerals, and to provide 
 for the decent interment of the dead. In vain have Ba- 
 ronius and other Romish writers assserted, that these in 
 ferior orders were of apostolical institution. The con- 
 trary is evidently proved, since these offices are not men- | 
 lioued by authentic writers as having taken place before J 
 the third century, and the origin can be traced no higher 
 than the fourth. 
 
 t Porphyrias, ti{> *7rt.-/,>ti, lib- iv. p. 417. I 
 
 declarations, that nothing passed in this com- 
 merce that was contrary to the rules of chas- 
 tity and virtue.* These holy concubines were 
 called, by the Greeks, i;vvf.iy.itT'..; and by the 
 I Latins, Mulieres subintroductce. This indecent 
 [custom alarmed the zeal of the more pious 
 I among the bishops, who employed the utmost 
 eftbrts of their severity and vigilance to abolish 
 it, though it was a long time before they en- 
 tirely effected this laudable purpose. 
 
 VII. Thus we have given a siiort, tliough 
 not a very pleasing view of the rulers of the 
 church during this century; and we ought now 
 to mention the principal writers who distin- 
 guished ihemselves in it by their learned and 
 pious productions. Tlie most eminent of tliese, 
 whether we consider the extent of his fame, or 
 the multiplicity of his labours, was Origen, a 
 presbyter and catechist of Alexandria, a man 
 of vast and uncommon abilities, and tlie rrreat- 
 est luminary of the Christian world that this 
 age exhii)itcd to view. Had the soundness of 
 liis judgment been equal to tlie immensity of 
 his genius, the fervour of his piety, his inde- 
 fatigable patience, his extensive erudition, and 
 liis other eminent and superior talents, all en- 
 comiums must have fallen short of his merit. 
 Yet such as he was, his virtues and his iaboiu-s 
 deserve the admiration of all ages; and his 
 name will be transmitted with honour tlirough 
 the annals of time, as long as learning and se- 
 niiis shall be esteemed among nien.f 
 
 The second in renown, among the writers of 
 this century, was Julius Africanus, a native of 
 Palestine, a man of the most profound erudi- 
 tion, but the greatest part of whose learned 
 labours are unhappily lost. 
 Hippolytus, whoso history is much involved in 
 darkness, + is also esteemed among the inosl 
 celebrated authors and martyrs of this age; but 
 those writings which at present bear his name, 
 are justly looked upon by many as either ex- 
 tremely corrupted, or entirely spurious. 
 
 (rregory, bishoj) of New-Ctesarea, acquired, 
 at this time, the title of Tliauinalurgus, i. e. 
 wonder-worker, on account of the variety of 
 great and signal miracles, which he is said to 
 have wrought during the course of his niini.s- 
 try. Few of his works liave come down to 
 our times, and his miracles are called in ques- 
 tion by many, as unsupported iiy stillicient evi- 
 dence. § 
 
 It is to be wished that we had more of the 
 writings of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, 
 than those which have survived tiie ruins of 
 time, since the i'ew remaining fragments of liis 
 works display the most coiisiiriimate wisdom 
 and prudence, and the most amiable spirit of 
 moderation and candor, and thus abundantly 
 
 ' Crediit Judtvus ^pella. Sec however I1odwell,Di«s. 
 tertia Cyprianica, and Lud. .\n. Miiratorius, Diss, de 
 Syiiisactis et Agapetis, in his Anccdot. Grace, p. 218; as 
 also Baliizius ad Cypriani Epistol. 
 
 t See a very learned and useful work of the famous 
 Huet, bishop of Avranches, entitled, Origeniana. See 
 also, Doucin, Histoire d'Origene et des Aiouvemens ar- 
 rives dans I'Eglise au sujet dc sa Doctrine; and Baylc't 
 Dictionary. 
 
 I The benedictine monks have, with great labour and 
 erudition, endeavoured to dispel this darkness in their 
 Histoire Literairc de la Kranre, tom. i. p. 361. 
 
 ^ See Van-Dale's preface to his Latin treatise concern 
 ing Oracles. 
 
86 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 vindicate from all suspicion of flattery, the an^ 
 cients who mentioned him under the title of 
 Dionysius tlie Great.* 
 
 Methodius appears to have been a man of 
 great piety, and iiighly respectable on account 
 of his eminent virtue; but those of his works 
 wliich are yet extant, evince no great degree 
 of penetration and acnteness in handling con- 
 troversy and weighing opinions. 
 
 VIII. Cyprian, bisliop of Carthage, a man 
 of the most eminent abilities and flowing elo- 
 quence, stands foremost in the list of Latin 
 writers. His letters, and indeed the greater 
 part of his works breathe such a nol)le and pa- 
 thetic spirit of piety, that it is impossible to 
 read them without the warmest feelings of en- 
 thusiasm. We must however observe, that he 
 would have been a better writer, had he been 
 less attentive to the ornaments of rhetoric; and 
 a better bishop, had he been able to restrain 
 the vehemence of his temper and to distinguish 
 with greater acuteness, between truth and 
 falsehood. 
 
 The dialogue of Minuci us, Felix, which bears 
 tlie title of Octavius, effaces vi^ith such judg- 
 ment, spirit and force, the calumnies and re- 
 [iroachcs that were cast upon the Christians 
 by their adversaries, that it deserves an atten- 
 tive perusal from those who are desirous of 
 knowing the state of the church during this 
 century. 
 
 The seven books of Arnobius, the African, 
 written against the Gentiles, form a still more 
 copious and ample defence of the Christians, 
 and, tliough obscure in several places, may yet 
 be read with pleasure and with profit. It is true, 
 that this rhetorician, too little instructed in the 
 Christian religion, when he wrote this work, 
 has mingled great errors with solemn and im- 
 portant truths, and has exhibited Christianity 
 under a certain philosophical form, very dif- 
 ferent from that in which it is commonly re- 
 ceived. 
 
 We refer onr readers, for an account of tlie 
 authors of inferior note, who lived in this cen- 
 tury, to those who have professedly given his- 
 tories or enumerations of the Christian writers. 
 
 CHAPTER HL 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Chrifitian Church 
 in this Century. 
 I. The principal doctrines of Cln-istianit}' 
 were now explained to the people in their na- 
 tive purity and simplicity, without any mixture 
 of abstract reasonings or subtile inventions; nor 
 were the feeble minds of the multitude loaded 
 with a great variety of precepts. f But the 
 Christian doctors who had applied themselves 
 to the study of letters and ])]iilosophy, soon 
 abandoned the freqnentfid paths, and wandered 
 in the devious wilds of fancy. The Egyptians 
 distinguished themselves in this new method 
 of explaining the truth. They looked upon it 
 as a noble and a glorious task to bring the doc- 
 trines of celestial wisdom into a certain subjec- 
 
 * The history of Dinnysius is particularly illustrated 
 by Jaques Basnage, in his Histoire de I'Eplise, tom. i. 
 
 t See Origeii, in Prscf. Libro. de Principiis, tom. i. op. 
 p. 40, and lib. i. de Principiis, cap. ii. See also the Ex- 
 positio Fidei by Gregorius Neocsesariensis. 
 
 tion to the precepts of their philosophy, and to 
 make deep and profound researches into the 
 intimate and hidden nature of those truths 
 which tlie divine Saviour had delivered to his 
 disciples. Origen was at the head of this 
 speculative tribe. This great man, enchanted 
 by the charms of the Platonic philosophy, set 
 it up as the the test of all religion, and imagin- 
 ed tliat tlie reasons of each doctrine were to be 
 found in that favorite philosophy, and their 
 nature and extent to be determined by it.* It 
 must be confessed tliat he handled this matter 
 with modesty and caution; but he still gave 
 an exam])le to his disciples, the abuse of which 
 could not fail to be pernicious, and under the 
 authority of which, they would naturally in- 
 dulge themselves without restraint in every 
 wanton fancy. And so, indeed, the case was; 
 for the disciples of Origen, breaking forth from 
 the limits fixed by their master, interpreted, in 
 the most licentious manner, the divine truths 
 of religion according to the tenor of the Pla- 
 tonic philosophy. From tliese teachers the 
 philosophical, or scholastic theology, as it is call- 
 ed, derived its origin; and, proceeding hence,- 
 passed through various forms and modifications 
 according to the genius, turn, and erudition of 
 those who embraced it. 
 
 II. The same principles gave rise to another 
 species of theology, wluch was called mystic- 
 And what must seem at first sight sui-prising 
 here, is, that this mystic theology, though form- 
 ed at the same time, and derived from the same 
 source with the scholastic, had a natural ten- 
 dency to overturn and destroy it. Tlie authors 
 of this mystic science are not known; but the 
 [irinciples from which it sprang are manifest. 
 Its first promoters argued from tlmt known 
 doctrine of the Platonic school, which also 
 was adopted by Origon and his disciples that tlie 
 divine nature was diffused through all human 
 souls; or in other words that the faculty of 
 reason, from whic.li the health and vigour of 
 the mind proceed, was an emanation from God 
 into the human soul, and comprehended in it 
 tlie principles and elements of all truth, human 
 and divine. They denied that men could, by 
 labour or study, excite this celestial flame in 
 their breasts; and, therefore, they highly dis- 
 ajjproved the attempts of those who, by defi- 
 nitions, abstract theorems, and profound spe- 
 culations, endeavourtd to fonn distinct notions 
 of truth, and to discover its hidden nature. 
 On the contrary, they maintained, that silence, 
 tranquillity, repose, and solitude, accf>mpanied 
 with such acts of mortification as might tend 
 to extenuate and exhaust tlie body, were the 
 means by which the internal word was excited 
 to produce its latent virtues, and to instruct 
 men in the knowledge of divine things. For 
 tlins they reasoned: "'They who behold with 
 a noble contempt all human affairs, the}' who 
 turn away their eyes from terrestrial vanities, 
 and shut all the avenues of the outward senses 
 against the contagious iniiuences of a material 
 world, must necessarily return to God, when 
 the spirit is thus disengaged from the impedi- 
 ments that ])revented that happy union; and 
 
 * This is manifest from what remains of his Stromala; 
 as also from his books de Principiis, which are still pre- 
 served in a Latin translation of them by Rufinus, 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 87 
 
 in this blessed frame, they not only enjoy in- 
 expressible raptures from their communion 
 with the Supreme Beinfr, but are also invested 
 with the inestimable privilege of contemplating 
 truth, undisguised and uncorrnpted, in its na- 
 tive purity, while others behold it in a vitiated 
 and delusive form." 
 
 III. This method of reasoning produced 
 strange effects, and drove many into caves and 
 deserts, where tliey macerated their bodies 
 with hunger and thir.st, and submitted to all 
 the miseries of tlic severest discipline that a 
 gloomy iniagiualion could |)rescribe; and it is 
 not improbable, that Paul, liie fust hermit, was 
 rather engaged by this fanatical system, than 
 by the persecution under Decius, to fly into the 
 most solitary deserts of Thobais, where he led, 
 during the space of ninety years, a life more 
 worthy of a savage animal than of a rational 
 being.* it is, however, to be observed, tiiat 
 though Paul is placed at the head of the order 
 of Hermits, yet that insocial manner of life 
 was very common in Egypt, Syria, India, and 
 Mesopotamia, not only long before his time, 
 but even before the coming of Christ; and it is 
 still practised among the JNIohammedans, as 
 well as the Christians, in those arid and burn- 
 ing climates;! for the glowing atmosphere, tiiat 
 surrounds these countries, is a natural cause of 
 that love of solitude and repose, of that indo- 
 lent and melancholy disposition, which are re- 
 markably common among their languid inha- 
 bitants. 
 
 IV. But let us turn away our eyes from 
 these scenes of fanaticism, which are so oppro- 
 brious to human nature, and consider some 
 other circumstances that belong more or less 
 to tiie history of the Christian doctrine during 
 this century. And here it is proper to mention 
 tiie useful labours of those who manifested 
 their zeal for the holy scriptures by the care 
 they took to have accurate copies of them mul- 
 tiplied every where, and oflbrcd at such mode- 
 rate prices, as rendered them of easy purchase; 
 as also to have them translated into various 
 languages, and published in correct editions. 
 Many of the more opulent among tiio Chris- 
 tians generously contributed a great part of 
 their substance to the prosecution of these pi- 
 ous and excellent undertakings. Pierius and 
 Hesychius in Egypt, and Lucian at Antioch. 
 employed much pains in correcting the copies 
 of the Septuaginl; and Paniphilus of Cajsarea 
 laboured with great diligence and success in 
 works of the same nature, until a glorious 
 martyrdom finisiied his course. But Origen 
 surpassed all others in diligence and assiduity; 
 and his famous Hexapla, though almost entire- 
 ly destroyed by the waste of time, will, even 
 in its fragments, remain an eternal monument 
 of the incnuliblc application with which that 
 great man laboured to remove those obstacles 
 which retarded the progress of the Gospel.]: 
 
 V. After the encomiums we have given to 
 Origen, who has an undoubted right to the first 
 
 * The life of this lurinit was wiitlen by Jerome. 
 
 f See the travels of Lucas, in 1714, vol. ii. 
 
 t The fragments that yet remain of Origen's Hexapla, 
 were collected and piiblishtd, by the learned Montfaupon, 
 in folio, at Paris, in 1713. See also upon this head 
 Buddei Isagoge iu Theoloe- torn li. and Carpzovii Ciiiic. 
 Sacr. Veter. Testam. p. 574. 
 
 place among the interpreters of the Scriptures 
 in this century, it is not without a deep concern 
 that we are obliged to add, that he also, by an 
 uniiappy method, opened a secure retreat for 
 all sorts of errors that a wild and irregular 
 imagination could bring forth. Having enter- 
 tained a notion that it was extremely ditlicult, 
 if not impossible, to defend every tJiing con- 
 tained in the sacred writings from the cavils of 
 heretics and infidels, so lung as they were e.\- 
 plained literally, according to the real import 
 of the terms, he had recourse to the fecundity 
 of a lively imagination, and maintained, that 
 they were to be interpreted in the same allego- 
 rical manner in which the Platonists explained 
 the history of the gods. In consequence of 
 this pernicious rule of interpretation, he alleg- 
 ed, that the words of Scripture were, in many 
 places, absolutely void of sense; and that 
 tliough in others there were, indeed, certain 
 notions conveyed under the outward terms ac- 
 cording to their literal force <and import, yet it 
 was not in these that the true meanings of the 
 sacred writers were to be sought, but in a mys- 
 terious and hidden sense, arising from the na- 
 ture of the things themselves.* This hidden 
 sense he endeavours to investigate throughout 
 his commentaries, neglecting and despising, for 
 the most part, the outward letter; and in this- 
 devious path he displays the most ingenious 
 strokes of fmcy, though generally at the ex- 
 pense of truth, whose divine simplicity is rare- 
 ly discernible through the cobweb veil of alle- 
 gory. f Nor did the inventions of Origen end 
 here. He divided this hidden sense, which he 
 pursued with such eagerness into moral and 
 nuistical, or spiritual. The moral sense of 
 Scripture displays those doctrines that relate 
 to the inward state of the soul and the conduct 
 of life. The mystical or spiritual sense repre- 
 sents the nature, the laws, and the history of 
 the spiritual or my.stical world. We are not 
 yet at the end of the labyrinth; for he subdi- 
 vided this mystical world of his own creatiou 
 into two distinct regions, one of which hecall- 
 
 * For a farther illustration of this matter, the reader 
 may consult the excellent preface of M. de la Rue, to the 
 sicoiid volume of the works of Origen, published at 
 Paris in 1733. An accurate and full account of Origen'* 
 method of interpreting the Scripture may be found in th« 
 work entitled Commeutar. de rebus Christian, ante Con- 
 stautinum M. p. 629; where the philosophy and theology 
 of that great man, and his controversy wilh Demetriu* 
 bishop of Alexandria, arc treated of professedly, and at 
 large. 
 
 t Origen, in his Slromata, book n., expresses himself 
 in the following manner: " The source of manjr evils lie» 
 in adhering to the carnal or external part of Scrijiture. 
 Those who do so, shall not attain to the kingdom of God. 
 Let us, therefore, seek after the spirit and the substantial 
 fruit of the word, which are hidden and mysterious. '> 
 And again, " The Scriptures are of little use to those 
 who understand them as they are written." One woulrf 
 think it impossible that such expressions should drop 
 from the ptii of a wise man. But the [ihilosophy, which 
 this great man embraced with such r.eal, was one of the 
 sources of his delusion. He could not find in the bible, 
 the opinions he had adopted, as long as he interpreted 
 that sacred book according to its literal sense. But Plato, 
 Aristotle, Zeno, and, indeed, the whole philosophical 
 tribe, could not fail to obtain, for their sentiments, a 
 place in the Gospel, when it was interpreted by the wan- 
 ton inventions of fancy, and upon the supposition of a 
 hidden sense, to which it was possible to give all sorts 
 of forms. Hence all who desired to model Christianity 
 according to their fancy, or their favourite .system of phi- 
 losophy, embraced Origen's method of interprelalioix. 
 
88 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 ed the superior, i. e. heaven, and the other the 
 inferior, by which he meant the church. This 
 led to another division of the mystical sense 
 into an earthly or allegorical sense, adapted to 
 the inferior world, and a celestial or analogical 
 one, adapted to tlie superior region. This chi- 
 merical method of explaining the Scripture 
 was, before Origen, received by many Chris- 
 tians, who were deluded into it by the example 
 of the Jews. But, as this learned man reduced 
 it into a s^'stem, and founded it upon fixed and 
 determined rules, he is, on that account, com- 
 monly considered as its principal author. 
 
 VI. A prodigious number of interpreters, 
 both in this and the succeeding ages, followed 
 the method of Origen, tliough with some va- 
 riations; nor could the few, who explained the 
 sacred writings with judgment and a true 
 spirit of criticism, oppose with success the tor- 
 rent of allegory that was overflowing the 
 church. The commentaries of Hippolytus, 
 which are yet extant, show manifestly, that 
 this good man was entirely addicted to the sys- 
 tem of Origen, and the same judgment may be 
 hazarded concerning Victorinus' explications 
 of certain books of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment, though these explications are, long since, 
 lost. Tiie translation of the Ecclesiastes by 
 Gregory Thaumaturgus, which is yet remain- 
 ing, is not chargeable with this reproach, not- 
 withstanding the tender and warm attachment 
 of its author to Origen. The book of Genesis 
 and the Song of Solomon were explained by 
 Methodius, wliose work is lost; and Ammonius 
 composed a Harmony of the Gospels. 
 
 VII. The doctrinal part of theology employ- 
 ed the pens of many learned men in this cen- 
 tury. In his Stromata, and his four books of 
 Elements, Origen illustrated the greatest part 
 of the doctrines of Cliristianity, or, to speak 
 more properly, rather disguised them under 
 the lines of a vain philosophy. These books 
 of elements, or principles, were the first sketch 
 that appeared of the scholastic or philosophi- 
 cal theology. Something of the same nature 
 was attempted by Theognostus, in his seven 
 books of Hypotyposes, which are only known 
 at present by the extracts of tlieni in Photius, 
 w"ho represents them as tlie work of one who 
 was infected with the notions of Origen. — 
 Gregory Thaumaturgus drew up a brief sum- 
 mary of the Christian religion, in his Exposi- 
 tion of the Faith; and many treated, in a more 
 ample manner, particular points of doctrine in 
 opposition to the enemies and corruptors of 
 Christianity. Thus Hippolytus wrote of the 
 Deity, the resurrection, Anti-Christ, and the 
 end of the world; Methodius, of free-will; and 
 Lucian, of faith. It is doubtful in what class 
 these productions are to be placed, as most of 
 them have perished among the ruins of time. 
 
 VIII. Among the moral writers, the first 
 place, after Tertullian, of whom we have al- 
 ready spoken, is due to Cyprian, a prelate of 
 eminent merit, who published several treatises 
 concerning patience, mortality, works, alms, as 
 also an exhortation to martyrdom. In these 
 dissertations there are many excellent things; 
 but they are destitute of order, precision, and 
 method; nor do we alwaj's fiiid solid proofs in 
 
 favour of the decisions they contain.* Origen 
 has written many treatises of this kind, and, 
 among others, an exhortation to suffer martyr- 
 dom for the truth; a subject handled by many 
 authors in this centur}', but with unequal elo- 
 quence and penetration. Methodius treated 
 of chastity, in a work entitled, Symposium 
 Virgimun, or, the Feast of Virgins: but this 
 treatise is full of confusion and disorder. — 
 Dionysins handled the doctrine of penance and 
 temptations. The other moral writers of this 
 period are too obscure and trivial to render the 
 mention of them necessary. 
 
 IX. The controversial writers were exceed- 
 ingly numerous in this century. The Pagans 
 were attacked, in a victorious manner, by Mi- 
 nucius Felix, in his dialogue called Octavius; 
 by Origen; in his writings against Celsus; by 
 Arnobius in his seven books against the Gen- 
 tiles; and by Cyprian, in his treatise concern- 
 ing the vanity of idols. The chronicle of Hip- 
 polytus in opposition to the Gentiles, and the 
 work of Methodius against Porphyr}', that bit- 
 ter adversary of the Christians, are both lost. 
 
 We may also reckon, in the number of the 
 polemic writers, those who wrote agamst the 
 philosophers, or who treated any subjects that 
 were disputed between different sects. Such 
 was Hippolytus, who wrote against Plato, and 
 who also treated the nicest, the most difficult, 
 and the most controverted subjects, such as 
 fate, free-will, and the origin of evil, which 
 exercised, likewise, the pens of Methodius and 
 other acute writers. What Hippolytus wrote 
 against the .Tews, has not reached our times; 
 but the work of Cyprian, upon that subject, yet 
 remains.! Origen, Victorinus, and Hippoly- 
 tus, attacked, in general, the various sects and 
 heresies that divided the church; but their la- 
 bours in that immense field have entirely dis- 
 appeared; and as to those who only turned 
 their controversial arms against some few sects 
 and particular doctrines, we think it not neces- 
 sary to enumerate them here. 
 
 X. It is, however, proper to observe, that the 
 methods now used of defending Christianity, 
 and attacking Judaism and idolatry, degenerat- 
 ed much from the primitive simplicity, and the 
 true rules of controversy. The Christian doc- 
 tors, who had been educated in the sciioals of 
 the rhetoricians and sophists, raslily employed 
 the arts and evasions of their subtile masters 
 in the service of Christianity; and, intent only 
 upon defeating the enemy, they were too little 
 attentive to the means of victory, indifferent 
 whether they acquired it by artifice or plain 
 dealing. This method of disputing, which the 
 ancients called ceconoinical,l and which had 
 victory for its object, rather than truth, was in 
 consequence of the prevailing taste for rhetoric 
 and sophistry, almost universally approved. 
 The Platonists contributed to the support and 
 encouragement of this ungenerous method of 
 
 * See Barbbeyrac, de la Morale des Peres, chap. viii. 
 
 {igt-f This work is entitled Testimonia contra Judaeos. 
 
 } Sou?erain, Platonisme deyoile, p. 244. Daille, de 
 vet, usu Palrum, lib. i. p. 160. Jo. Clirist. Wolfii Casau- 
 bon. p. 100. With regard to the t'amous rule, to do a 
 thine, y-xr' oixovo^ixv, or economically, see particularly 
 the ampk illustrations of Gataker, ad Marc. Antoninum. 
 lib. xi. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 89 
 
 disputing, by that maxim which asserted the 
 innocence of defending the truth by artifice and 
 falsehood. This will appear manifest to those 
 who have read, with any manner of penetra- 
 tion and judgment, the arguments of Origcn 
 against C'elsus, and those of the other Cliris- 
 tian disputants against the idolatrous Gentiles. 
 The metiiod of Tertullian, who used to plead 
 prescri[)tion against erroneous doctrines, was 
 not, perhaps, unfair in this century; but they 
 must be unacquainted both with tlie times, and, 
 indeed, with the nature of things, who imagine 
 that it is always allowable to employ this 
 method.* 
 
 XI. This disingenuous and vicious method 
 of surprising their adversaries by artifice, and 
 striking them down, as it were, by lies and fic- 
 tions, produced among other disagreeable ef- 
 fects, a great number of books, which were 
 falsely attributed to certain great men, in order 
 to give these spurious productions more credit 
 and weight; for, as the greatest part of man- 
 kind are less governed by reason than by au- 
 thority, and prefer, in many cases, the de- 
 cisions of fallible mortals to the unerring dic- 
 tates of the divine word, the disputants, of 
 whom we are now speaking, thought they 
 could not serve the truth more effectually than 
 by opposing illustrious names and respectable 
 authorities to the attacks of its adversaries. 
 Hence arose the book of ciinons, which certain 
 artful men ascribed falsely to the apostles; 
 hence, the apostolical constitutions, of which 
 Clement, bishop of Rome, is said to have 
 formed a collection; hence the reccgnitions 
 and the Clementina, which are also attributed 
 to Clement,! and many other productions of 
 that nature, which, for a long time, were too 
 much esteemed by credulous men. 
 
 Nor were the managers of controversy the 
 only persons who employed these stratagems; 
 the Mystics had recourse to the same pious 
 frauds to support their sect. And accordingly, 
 when they were asked from what chief their 
 establishment took its rise, to get clear of this 
 perplexing question, they feigned a chief, and 
 chose, for that purpose, Dionysius the Areopa- 
 gite, a man of almost apostolical weight and 
 authority, who was converted to Christianity, 
 in the first century, by the preaching of St. 
 Paul at Athens. To render this fiction more 
 specious, they attributed to this great man va- 
 rious treatises concerning the monastic life, the 
 mystic theology, and other subjects of that na- 
 ture, which were the productions of some sense- 
 less and insipid writers of afler-times. Thus 
 it happened, through the pernicious influence 
 
 (J(J^ * We scarcely know any case in which the plea 
 of prescription can be admitted as a satisfactory argument, 
 in favour of religious tenets, or articles of faith, unless by 
 prescription be meant, a doctrine's being established in 
 the time, and by the authority of the apostles. In all 
 other cases, prescription is no argument at all: it cannot 
 recommend error, and truth has no need of its support. 
 
 (jt^ 1 1' '' lot with the utmost accuracy that Dr. 
 Mosneim places the recognitions among the spurious 
 works of antiquity, since they are quoted by Origen, 
 Epiphanius, and Kufinus, as the work of Clement. It is 
 Irue, indeed, that these writers own them to have been 
 altered in several places, and falsified by the heretics; and 
 Epiphanius particularly, tells us, that the Ebionites 
 f carcely left any thing sound in them. As to the Clemeo- 
 lina, they were undoubtedly s«uriou5. 
 
 Vol. I.— 12 
 
 of human passions, which too of\en mingle 
 themselves with the execution of the best pur- 
 poses and the most upright intentions, that 
 they, who were desirous of surpassing all 
 others in piety, looked upon it as lawful, and 
 even laudable, to advance the cause of piety 
 by artifice and fraud. 
 
 XII. The most famous controversies that 
 divided the Christians during this century, 
 were those concerning the Millennium, or reign 
 of a thousand years; the baptism of heretics, 
 and the doctrine of Origen. 
 
 Long before this period, an opinion had pre- 
 vailed, that Christ was to come and reiorn a 
 tliousand years among men, before the entire 
 and final dissolution of tliis world. This 
 opinion, which had hitherto met with no op- 
 position, was variously interpreted by diflferent 
 persons: nor did all promise themselves the 
 same kind of enjoyments in that future and 
 glorious kingdom.* But, in this century, its 
 credit began to decline, principally through the 
 influence and authority of Origen, who op- 
 posed it with the greatest warmth, because it 
 was incompatible with some of his favourite 
 sentiments. t Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, en- 
 deavoured to restore this opinion to its former 
 credit, in a book written against the JIllrc:;orists, 
 for so he called, by way of contempt, the ad- 
 versaries of the Millennarian system. This 
 work, and the hypothesis it defended, were ex- 
 ceedingly well received by great numbers in 
 the canton of Arsinoe; and among others by 
 Coracion, a presbyter of no mean influence 
 and reputation. But Dionysius of Alexandria, 
 a disciple of Origen, stopped the growing pro- 
 gress of this doctrine by his private discourse, 
 and also by two learned and judicious disser- 
 tations concerning the divine promises. J 
 
 XIII. The disputes concerning the baptism 
 of heretics were not carried on ^'ith that ami- 
 able spirit of candour, moderation, and impar- 
 tiality, with which Dionysius opposed the doc- 
 trine of the Millennium. The warmth and 
 violence that were exerted in this controversy, 
 were far from being edifying to such as were 
 acquainted with the true genius of Christianity, 
 and with that meekness and forbearance that 
 should particularly distinguish its doctors. 
 
 As there was no express law which deter- 
 mined the manner and form, according to 
 which those who abandoned the heretical sects 
 were to be received into the communion of the 
 church, the rules practised in thus matter were 
 not the same in all Christian churches. Many 
 of the Oriental and African Christians placed 
 recanting heretics in the rank of catechumens, 
 and admitted them, by baptism, into the com- 
 munion of the faithful; while the greatest part 
 of the European churches, considering the 
 baptism of heretics as valid, used no other 
 
 (flj~ * See the learned Treatise concerning Me true 
 Millennium, which Dr. Whitby has subjoined to the 
 second volume of his commentary upon the New Testa- 
 ment. See also, for au account of the doctrine of the 
 ancient Millennarians, the fourth, fifth, seventh, aud 
 ninth volumes of Lardner's Credibility, &c. 
 
 t See Origen, de Principiis, lib. ii. cap. xi. p. 104. torn. 
 1. op. 
 
 } See Eusebius. Hist. Eecles. lib. vii. cap. Tiir. p. 271, 
 as also Gcnnadiut, d« dogmatibus Ecclesiaiticis, cap. It. 
 p. 33. edit. Elmenhorst. 
 
90 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 fonn in their reception than the imposition of 
 hands, accompanied with solemn prayer. This 
 diversity prevailed for a long time without 
 exciting contentions or animosities. But, at 
 length, charity waxed cold, and the fire of ec- i 
 clesiastical discord broke out. In this century, | 
 the Asiatic Christians came to a determination I 
 in a point that was hitlierto, in some measure | 
 undecided; and in more than one council cs- j 
 tablished it as a law, that all heretics were to 
 be re-baptised before their admission to the 1 
 communion of the true church.* When Ste- | 
 phen bishop of Rome, was informed of this ; 
 determination, he behaved with the most un- ; 
 christian violence and arrogance toward the ! 
 Asiatic Christians, broke communion with I 
 them, and excluded them from the commu- j 
 nion of the church of Rome. These haughty ! 
 proceedings made no impression upon Cyprian . 
 bishop of Carthage, who, notwithstanding the [ 
 menaces of the Roman pontitf, assembled a I 
 council on this occasion, adopted with the rest | 
 of the African bishops, the opinion of the Asiat- 
 ics, and gave notice thereof to the imperious 
 Stephen. The fury of the latter was redoubled 
 at this notification, and produced many threat- 
 enings and invectives against Cyprian, who 
 replied with great force and resolution, and in 
 a second council holden at Carthage, declared 
 the baptism, administered by lieretics, void of 
 all efficacy and validity. Upon this the wrath 
 of Stephen was inflamed beyond measure; and, 
 by a decree full of invectives, which was re- 
 ceived with contempt, he excommunicated the 
 African bishops, whose moderation on the one 
 hand, and the death of their imperious antago- 
 nist on the other, put an end to tiie violent 
 contest, t 
 
 XIV. The controversy concerning Origen 
 was set in motion by Demetrius, bishop of 
 Alexandria, animated as some say, by a princi- 
 ple of envy and hatred against that learned 
 man, with whom he had formerly lived in an 
 intimate friendship. The assertion, however 
 of those who attribute the opposition of De- 
 metrius to this odious principle, appears more 
 than doubtful; for, in the whole of his conduct 
 toward Origen, there are no visible marks of 
 envy, though many mdeed of passion and ar- 
 rogance, of violence and injustice. Tlie oc- 
 casion of all this was as follows. In the year 
 228, Origen having set out for Achaia, was in 
 his journey thither, received with singular 
 marks of affection and esteem by the bishops 
 of Csesarea and Jerusalem, who ordained him 
 presbyter by imposition of hands. This pro- 
 ceeding gave high offence to Demetrius, who 
 declared Origen unworthy of the priesthood, 
 because he liad castrated himself, and main- 
 tained, at the same time, that it was not law- 
 ful to advance, to a higher dignity, the princi- 
 pal of the Alexandrian school, which was 
 under his episcopal inspection, without his 
 knowledge and approbation. A conclusion, 
 however was put to these warm debates, and 
 
 * Euseb. lib. vii. cap. r. vii. Firmilianus, Epistol. ad 
 Cyprianum, printed among Cyprian's LeUers. 
 
 t Cyprian, Epist. Ixx. Ixxiii.— Augustin, de Baptismo 
 eontra Donatistas, lib. v. vii. torn. ix. op. where are to be 
 found the acts of the council of Carthage, A. D. 256.— 
 Prud. Marani vita Cypriini, p. 107. 
 
 Origen returned to Alexandria. This calm 
 was indeed, but of short duration, being soon 
 succeeded by a new breach between him and 
 Demetrius, the occasion of which is not known, 
 but which grew to such a height as obliged 
 Origen, in the year 231, to abandon his charge 
 at Alexandria and retire to Casarea. His ab- 
 sence, however, did not appease the resent- 
 ment of Demetrius, who continued to perse- 
 cute him with the utmost violence. To satisfy 
 fully his vengeance against Origen, he assem- 
 bled two councils, in the first of which he con- 
 demned him unheard, and deprived him of his 
 office, and, in the second, procured his deirra- 
 dation from the sacerdotal dignity. It is pro- 
 bable, that in one of these councils, especially 
 the latter, Demetrius accused him of erroneous 
 sentiments in matters of religion; for it was 
 about this time tliat Origen publislied his Book 
 of Principles, containing several opinions of a 
 dangerous tendency.* The greatest part of 
 the Christian bishops aj>}>roved the proceedings 
 of the Alexandrian council, against which the 
 bishops of the cliurclies of Achaia, Palestine, 
 PlioBnicia, and Arabia, declared at the same 
 time the highest displeasure. f 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies wed in the 
 
 Church during this Century, 
 
 I. All the records of this century mention 
 the multiplication of rites and ceremonies in 
 the Christian church. Several of the causes 
 that contributed to this, have been already 
 pointed out; to which we may add, as a prin- 
 cipal one, the passion which now reigned for 
 the Platonic pliilosophy, or, rather, for the po- 
 pular Oriental superstition concerning demons, 
 adopted by the Platonists, and borrowed from 
 them, unhappily, by the Christian doctors. 
 For there is not the least doubt, that many of 
 the rites, now introduced into the church, de- 
 rived their origin from the reigning opinions 
 concerning the nature of demons, and the 
 powers and operations of invisible beings. — 
 Hence arose the use of exorcisms and spells, 
 the frequency of fasts, and the aversion to 
 wedlock; hence the custom of avoiding all con- 
 nexion with those who were not as yet baptized, 
 or who lay under tlie penalty of excommuni- 
 cation, as persons supposed to be under the 
 
 (fQ~ * This work, which vi'as a sort of introduction to 
 theolugy, has only come down to us in the translation of 
 Rufinus, who corrected and maimed it, in order to ren- 
 der it more conformable to the orthodox doctrine of the 
 church than Origen had lel't it. It contains, however, 
 even in its present form, several bold and singular 
 opinions, such as the pre-existeuce of souls, and their 
 fall into mortal bodies, in consequence of their deviation 
 from the laws of order in their first state, and the final 
 restoration of all intelligent beings to order and happi- 
 ness. Hufinus, in his apology for Origen, alleges, that 
 his writings were maliciously falsified by the heretics; 
 and that, in consequence thereof, many errors were at- 
 tributed to him which he did not adopt; as also, that the 
 opinions, in which he differed from the doctrines of the 
 church, were only proposed by him as curious conjectures. 
 
 t The accounts here given of the persecution of Origen, 
 are drawn from the most early and authentic sources, — 
 from Eusebius' History, the Bibliotheca of Photius, 
 Jerome's Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Authors, and Origen 
 himself; and they differ in some respects from those which 
 common writers, such as Doucin, lluet, and others, give 
 of this matter. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 91 
 
 dominion of some malignant spirit; and hence 
 the rigour and severity of the penance imposed 
 upon those who had incurred by their immo 
 rahties, the censures of the church.* 
 
 II. In most of the provinces there were, at 
 this time, some fi.\ed places set apart for public 
 worship among the Christians as will appear 
 evident to every impartial inquirer into these 
 matters. Nor is it absolutely improbable, that 
 these churches were, in several places, embel- 
 lished with images and otlier ornaments. 
 
 With respect to the form of divine wor.ship, 
 and the times appointed for its celebration, 
 there were few innovations made in this cen- 
 tury. Two things, however, deserve to be 
 noticed here: the first is, that the discourses, 
 or sermons, addressed to tlie people, were very 
 different from those of the earlier times of the 
 church, and degenerated much from the an- 
 cient simplicity; for, not to say any thing of 
 Origen, who introduced long sermons, and was 
 the first who explained the Scriptures in his 
 discourses, several bishops, who had received 
 their education in the schools of the rhetori- 
 cians, were e.xactly scrupulous in adapting tJieir 
 public exhortations and discourses to the rules 
 of Grecian eloquence; and tins method gained 
 such credit, as to be soon almost universally 
 followed. The second thing that we proposed 
 to mention as worthy of notice, is, that about 
 this time, the use of incense was introduced, 
 at least into many churches. This has been 
 denied by some men of eminent learning; the 
 fact, however, is rendered evident by the most 
 unexceptionable testimonies.! 
 
 III. Several alterations were now intro- 
 duced in the celebration of the Lord's supper, 
 by those who had the direction of divine wor- 
 ship. The prayers, used upon this occasion, 
 were lengthened; and the solemnity and pomp, 
 with which this important institution was cele- 
 brated, were considerably increased; no doubt, 
 with a pious intention to render it still more 
 respectable. Those who were in a penitential 
 state and those also who had not received the 
 sacrament of baptism, were not admitted to 
 this holy supper; and it is not difficult to per- 
 ceive, that these exclusions were an imitation 
 of what was practised in the heathen myste- 
 ries. We find, by the accounts of PrudentiusJ 
 and others, that gold and silver vessels were 
 now used in the administration of the Lord's 
 supper; nor is there any reason why we should 
 not adopt this opinion, since it is very natural 
 to imagine, that those churches, which were 
 composed of the most opulent members, would 
 readily indulge themselves in tiiis piece of re- 
 ligious pomp. As to the time of celebrating 
 this solemn ordinance, it must be carefully ob- 
 served, that there was a considerable variation 
 in different churches, arising from their differ- 
 ent circumstances, and founded upon reasons 
 
 * For a more ample account of this matter, the reader 
 may consult Porphyry's treatise concerning abstinence, 
 ana compare what that writer has 6aid on the subject, 
 with the customs received among the Christians. Several 
 curious tilings are also to be found in Theodoret and 
 Cusebius upon this head. 
 
 t See Bishop Beverege ad Canon, iii. Apostol. p. 461; 
 as also another work of the same author, entitled, Codex 
 Cauon. vindicatus, p. 78. 
 
 \U((t i$fxv. Hymn ii. n. 60, edit, Heinsii. 
 
 of prudence and necessity. In some, it was 
 celebrated in the morning; in others, at noon; 
 and in others, in tlie evening. It was also 
 more frequently repeated in some churches, 
 than in others; but was considered in all as of 
 the highest importance, and as essential to sal- 
 vation; for which reason it was even thoucrht 
 proper to administer it to infants. The sacred 
 feasts, wliich accompanied this venerable in- 
 stitution, preceded its celebration in some 
 churches, and followed it in others. 
 
 IV. There were, twice a year, stated times 
 wiien baptism was administered to such as, 
 after a long course of trial and preparation, 
 offered themselves as candidates for the pro- 
 fession of Christianity. This ceremony was 
 performed only in tlKj presence of such as 
 were already initiated into the Christian mys- 
 teries. The remission of sin was thought to 
 be its immediate and happy fruit; while the 
 bishop, by prayer and the imposition of hands, 
 was supposed to confer those sanctifying gifts 
 of the Holy Ghost, wliich are necessary to a 
 life of righteousness and virtue.* We have 
 already mentioned the principal rites that were 
 used in t'le administration of^ baptism; and we 
 have only to add, that no persons were admitted 
 to this solemn ordinance, until, by the me- 
 nacing and formidable shouts and declamation 
 of the exorcist, they had been delivered from 
 the dominion of the prince of darkness, and 
 consecrated to the service of God. The origin 
 of this superstitious ceremony may be easily 
 traced, when we consider the prevailing opi- 
 nions of the times. The Christians, in gene- 
 ral, were persuaded, that rational souls, deriv- 
 ing their existence from God, must conse- 
 quently be in themselves pure, holy, and en- 
 dowed with the noble principles of liberty and 
 virtue. But, upon this supposition, it was dif- 
 ficult to account for the corrupt propensities 
 and actions of men in any other way, than by 
 attributing them either to the malignant na- 
 ture of matter, or the influence and impulse of 
 some evil sjnrit, who was perpetually compell- 
 ing them to sin. The former opinion was em- 
 braced by the Gnostics, but was rejected by 
 true Christians, who denied the eternity of mat- 
 ter, considered it as a creature of God, and 
 therefore adopted the latter notion, tliat in all 
 vicious persons there was a certain evil being, 
 the author and source of their corrupt dispo- 
 sitionu and their unrighteous deeds. f The ex- 
 
 * That such was the notion prevalent at this time, i> 
 evident from testimonies of suMicirnt weight. And as 
 (his point is of great consequence, in orofcr to our un- 
 dcrsUinding the theology of the ancients, which diA'ers 
 from uurs in many respects, we shall mention one of 
 these testimonies, even tliat of Cyprian, who, in his 73d 
 letter, expresses himself thus: "It is manifest where, 
 and by whom the remission of sin, conferred in baptism, 
 is administered. — They who are presented to the rulers 
 of the church, obtain, by our prayers and imposition of 
 hands, the Holy Ghost." See also Euseb. lib. vii. 
 cap. viii. 
 
 t It is demonstrably evident, that exorcism was added 
 to the other baptismal riles in the third century, after 
 the introduction of the Platonic philosophy into the 
 church; for, before this time, we hear no mention made 
 of it. Justin Martyr, in his second apology, and Ter- 
 tullian, in his book concerning the military crown, give 
 us an account of the ceremonies used in baptism during 
 the second century, without any mention of exorcism. 
 This is a very strong argument of its being posterior to 
 these two great men; and is every way proper to per>utd« 
 
92 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II 
 
 pulsion of this demon was now considered as 
 an essential preparation for baptism, after the 
 administration of which, the candidates re- 
 turned home, adorned with crowns, and array- 
 ed in white garments, as sacred emblems; the 
 former, of their victory over sin and the world; 
 the latter, of their inward purity and inno- 
 cence. 
 
 V. Fasting began now to be held in more 
 esteem than it had formerly been; a high de- 
 gree of sanctity was attributed to this prac- 
 tice, and it was even looked upon as of mdis- 
 pensable necessity, from a notion that the 
 demons directed their stratagems principally 
 against those who pampered themselves with 
 delicious fare, and were less troublesome to 
 the lean and hungry, who lived under the 
 severities of a rigorous abstinence.* The Latins, 
 contrary to the general custom, fasted on the 
 seventh day of the week; and, as the Greeks 
 and Orientals refused to follow their example 
 in this respect, a new subject of contention 
 arose between them. 
 
 The Christians offered up their ordinary 
 prayers at three stated times of the da)% viz. 
 at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hour, ac- 
 cording to the custom observed among the 
 Jews. But, beside these stated devotions, true 
 believers were assiduous in their addresses to 
 the Supreme Being, and poured forth fre- 
 quently their vows and supplications before his 
 throne, because they considered prayer as the 
 most essential duty, as well as the noblest em- 
 ployment, of a sanctified nature. At those 
 festivals, which recalled the memory of some 
 joyful event, and were to be celebrated with 
 expressions of thanksgiving and praise, tliey 
 prayed standing, as they thought that posture 
 the fittest to express their joy and their confi- 
 dence. On days of contrition and fasting, 
 they presented themselves upon their knees 
 before the throne of the Most High, to express 
 their profound humiliation and self-abasement. 
 Certain forms of prayer were, undoubtedly, 
 used in many places both in public and in pri- 
 vate; but many also expressed their pious feel- 
 ing in the natural effusions of an unpremedi- 
 tated eloquence. 
 
 The sign of the cross was supposed to ad- 
 minister a victorious power over all sorts of 
 trials and calamities, and was more especially 
 considered as the surest defence against the 
 snares and stratagems of malignant spirits; 
 and, hence it was, that no Christian undertook 
 any thing of moment, without arming liimself 
 with the influence of tliis triumphant sign. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and Hei-esies tliat troitr 
 bled the Church during this Centwij. 
 
 I. The same sects that, in the former ages, 
 had produced such disorder and perplexity in 
 the Christian church, continued, in this, to 
 create new troubles, and to foment new divi- 
 sions. The Montanists, Valentinians, Mar- 
 cionites, and the other Gnostics, continued 
 
 us, that it made its entrance into the Christiiin church in 
 the third century, and probably first in Egypt. 
 
 * Clementin. Homil. is. sect. 5. Porphyr. de abstincn- 
 tia, lib. ir. 
 
 still to draw out their forces, notwithstanding 
 the repeated defeats they had met with; and 
 their obstinacy remained even when their 
 strength was gone, as it often happens in reli- 
 gious controversy. Adelphius and Aquilinus, 
 who were of the Gnostic tribe, endeavoured to 
 insinuate themselves and their doctrine into the 
 esteem of the public, at Rome, and in other 
 parts of Italy.* They were, however, check- 
 ed, not only by the Christians, but also by Plo- 
 tinus, the greatest Platonic philosopher of this 
 age, who, followed by a numerous train of dis- 
 ciples, opposed these two chimerical teachers, 
 and others of the same kind, with as much vi- 
 gour and success as the most enlightened Chris- 
 tians could have done. The philosophical 
 opinions which this faction entertained con- 
 cerning the Supreme Being, the origin of the 
 world, the nature of evil, and several other 
 subjects, were entirely opposite to the doctrines 
 of Plato. Hence the disciples of Jesus, and 
 the followers of Plotinus, united tjieir efforts 
 against the progress of Gnosticism: and tliere 
 is no doubt that their conjunct force soon de- 
 stroyed the credit and authority of this fantas- 
 tic sect, and rendered it cont-emptible in the 
 estimation of the wise.f 
 
 II. While the Christians were struggling 
 with these corrupters of the truth, and upon 
 the point of obtaining a complete and decisive 
 victory, a new enemy, more vehement and odi- 
 ous than the rest, started up suddenly, and en- 
 gaged in the contest. This was Manes (or 
 Manichseus, as he sometimes is called by his 
 disciples,) by birth a Persian; educated among 
 tlie iVTagi, and himself one of that number, be- 
 fore he embraced the profession of Christianity. 
 Instructed in all those arts and sciences, which 
 the Persians, and the neiglibouring nations, 
 held in the highest esteem, he had penetrated 
 into the depths of astronomy in the midst of a 
 rural life; studied the art of healing, and ap- 
 plied himself to painting and philosophy. His 
 genius was vigorous and sublime, but redun- 
 dant and ungoverned; and his mind, destitute 
 of a proper temperature, seemed to border on 
 fanaticism and madness. He was so adventu- 
 rous as to attempt an amalgamation of the 
 doctrine of the Magi with the Christian sys- 
 tem, or rather the explication of one by the 
 other; and, in order to succeed in tliis audaci- 
 ous enterprise, he affirmed that Christ had left 
 the doctrine of salvation unfinished and imper- 
 fect, and tliat he was the comforter whom the 
 departing Saviour had promised to his disci- 
 ples to lead tliem into all trutli. Many were 
 deceived by the eloquence of this enthusiast, 
 by tlie gravity of his countenance, and the in- 
 nocence and simplicity of his manners; so that, 
 in a short time, lie formed a sect not utterly 
 inconsiderable in point of number. He was 
 put to death by Varanes I. king of the Persians; 
 tliough historians are not agreed with respect 
 to the cause, time, and manner, of his execu- 
 tion.! 
 
 ♦Porphyr. vita Plotini, cap. ivi. p. 118. 
 
 } Plotinus' book against the Gnostics is extant in his 
 work, Ennead. ii. lib. ix. 
 
 9lJ» \ Some allege, that Manes, having undertaken to 
 cure tlie son of the Persian monarch of a dangerous dis- 
 ease, by his medicinal art or his miraculous power, failed 
 
That. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 !)3 
 
 III. The doctrine of Manes was a motley 
 mi.\ture of the tenets of Christianity with the 
 ancient philosophy of the Persians, in which 
 he had been instructed during his youth. He 
 combined these two systems, and applied and 
 accommodated to Jesus Christ the characters 
 and actions which the Persians attributed to 
 the god Mithras. The principal doctrines of 
 Manes are comprehended in the following sum- 
 mary: 
 
 " There are two principles from which all 
 things proceed; the one is a most pure and sub- 
 tile matter, called Light; and the other a gross 
 and corrupt substance, called Darkness. Both 
 are subject to the dominion of a superintend- 
 ing being, whose existence is from all eternity. 
 The being who presides over the light, is call- 
 ed (lod; he that rules the land of darkness, 
 bears the title of Hyle or Demon. The ruler 
 of the light is supremely happy; and, in con- 
 sequence thereof, benevolent and good; the 
 prince of darkness is unhappy in himself; and, 
 desiring to render others partakers of his misery, 
 is evil and malignant. These two beings have 
 produced an immense multitude of creatures, 
 resembling themselves, and distributed them 
 through their respective provinces. 
 
 IV. "The prince of darkness knew not, for 
 a long series of ages, that light existed in the 
 universe; and he no sooner perceived it, by the 
 means of a war that was kindled in his domin- 
 ions, than he bent his endeavours toward the 
 subjection of it to his empire. The ruler of 
 the light opposed to his etforts an army com- 
 manded by the first man, but not with the high- 
 est success; for the generals of the prince of 
 darkness seized a considerable portion of the 
 celestial elements, and of the light itself, and 
 mingled them in the mass of corrupt matter. 
 The second general of the ruler of tlie light, 
 whose name was the living spirit, made war 
 with greater success against the prince of dark- 
 ness, but could not entirely disengage the pure 
 particles of the celestial matter, from the cor- 
 rupt mass through which they had been dis- 
 persed. The prince of darkness, after his de- 
 feat, produced the first parents of the human 
 race. The beings engendered from this origi- 
 nal stock, consists of a body formed out of the 
 corrupt matter of the kingdom of darkness, 
 and of two souls; one of which is sensitive and 
 lustful, and owes its existence to the evil prin- 
 ciple; the other rational and immortal, a par- 
 
 iii the attempt, precipitated the death of the prince, and, 
 thus incurring the indignation of the king his father, 
 was put to a cruel death. This account is scarcely proba- 
 ble, as it is mentioned by none of the Oriental writers 
 cited by M. d'Herbelot, and as liar-Hcbrseus speaks of it 
 in terms which show that it was only an uncertain ru- 
 mour. The death of Manes is generally attributed to 
 another cause by the Oriental writers. They tell us, 
 that (after having been protected in a singular manner by 
 HormizJas, who succeeded Sapor on the Persian throne, 
 but who was not able to defend him, at length, against the 
 united hatred of the Chri^ians^, the Magi, the Jews, and 
 the Pagans) he was shut up m a strong castle, which 
 Hormizdas had erected between Bagdad and Susa, to 
 nerve him as a refuge against those who persecuted him 
 on account of his doctrine. They add, that after the 
 death of Hormizdas, Varanes I., his successor, first pro- 
 tectod Manes, but afterwards gave him up to the fury of 
 the Magi, whose resentment against him arose from his 
 having adopted the Sadduccin principles, as so/ne say, 
 while others attributed it to his having mijigled th.c teucts 
 of the Magi with the doctrines of Chrislianity, 
 
 tide of that divine light, which was carried 
 away by the army of darkness, and immersed 
 into the mass of malignant matter. 
 
 V. " Mankind being thus formed by the 
 prince of darkness, and those minds which 
 were the productions of the eternal light, be- 
 ing united to their mortal bodies, God created 
 the earth out of the corrupt mass of matter, 
 by that living spirit, who had vanquished the 
 prince of darkness. The design of this crea- 
 tion was to furnish a dwelling for the human 
 race, to deliver, by degrees, the captive souls 
 from their corporeal prisons, and to extract the 
 celestial elements from the gross substance in 
 which they were involved. In order to carry 
 this design into execution, God produced two 
 beings of eminent dignity from his own sub- 
 stance, who were to lend their auspicious suc- 
 cour to imprisoned souls; of these sublime en- 
 tities one was Christ; and the other, the Holy 
 Ghost. Christ is that glorious intelligence 
 which the Persians called Mithras: he is a most 
 splendid substance, consisting of the brightness 
 of the eternal light; subsisting in and by him- 
 self, endowed with life, and enriched with in- 
 finite wisdom; and his residence is in the sun. 
 The Holy Ghost is also a luminous and ani- 
 mated body, dilfused throughout every part of 
 the atmosphere which surrounds this terrestrial 
 globe. This genial principle warms and illu- 
 minates the minds of men, renders also the 
 earth fruitful, and draws forth gradually from 
 its bosom the latent particles of celestial lire, 
 which it wafts up on high to their primitive 
 station. 
 
 VI. "When the Supreme Being had, for a 
 long time, admonished and exhorted the cap- 
 tive souls, by the ministry of the angels, and 
 of the holy men, appointed for that purpose, 
 he ordered Christ to leave the solar regions, 
 and to descend upon earth, in order to accele- 
 rate the return of those iinprisoned spirits to 
 their celestial country. In obedience to this 
 divine command, Ciirist appeared among the 
 Jews, clothed witli the shadowy form of a hu- 
 man body, and not with tlie real substance. 
 During his ministry, he taught mortals how to 
 disengage the rational soul frohi the corrupt 
 body, and to conquer the violence of malignant 
 matter; and he demonstrated his divine mission 
 by stupendous miracles. On the otiier hand, 
 the prince of darkness used every method to 
 inflame the Jews against this divine messen- 
 ger, and incited them at lengtii to put him to 
 death with ignominy upon a cross; wliioh pun- 
 ishment, however he suffered not in reality, 
 but only in appearance, and in tlie opinion of 
 men. When Christ liad fulfilk^d tlic purposes 
 of his mission he returned to his tlirone in the 
 sun, and appointed a certain number of cho- 
 sen apostles to propagate through the world 
 the religion he had taught during the course 
 of his ministry. But before his doparlure, he 
 promised, that, at a certain time, he would 
 send an apostle superior to all oMiers in emi- 
 nence and dignity, whom he called the para- 
 clete or comforter, who should add many things 
 to the precepts he had delivered, and dispel all 
 the errors under which his servants labom-ed 
 concerning divine things. Tiiis comforter, tlius 
 expressly promised by Christ, is Manes, the 
 
94 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Persian, who, by the order of the Most High, 
 declared to mortals the whole doctrine of sal- 
 vation, without exception, and without con- 
 cealing any of its truths under the veil of 
 metaphor or any other covering. 
 
 V^II. " Those souls, who believe Jesus Christ 
 to be the Son of God, who renounce tiie wor- 
 ship of the God of the Jews (the prince of 
 darkness,) obey tl)c laws delivered by Christ 
 as they are enlarged and illustrated by the 
 comforter, Manes, and combat, with perse- 
 vering fortitude, the lusts and appetites of a 
 corrupt nature, derive from this faith and obe- 
 dience the inestimable advantage of being gra- 
 dually purihed from the contagion of matter. 
 The total purification of souls cannot, indeed 
 be accomplished during this mortal life. Hence 
 it is, that the souls of men, after death, must 
 pass through two states more of probation and 
 trial, by water and tire, before thej' can ascend 
 to the regions of light. They mount, there- 
 fore, first into the moon, which consists of be- 
 nign and salutary water; whence, after a lus- 
 tration of fifteen da3's, they proceed to the 
 sun, whose purifying fire entirely removes their 
 corruption, and effaces all their stains. The 
 bodies, composed of malignant matter, which 
 they have left behind them, return to their 
 first state, and enter into their original mass. 
 
 V^III. " On the other hand, those souls who 
 have neglected the salutary work of their pu- 
 rification, pass, after death, into the bodies of 
 animals, or other natures, where they remain 
 until they have expiated their guilt, and ac- 
 complished their probation. Some, on account 
 of their peculiar obstinacy and perverseness, 
 pass through a severer course of trial, being 
 delivered over, for a certain time, to the power 
 of serial spirits, who torment them in various 
 ways. When the greatest part of the captive 
 souls are restored to liberty, and to the regions 
 of light, then a devouring fire shall break forth 
 at the divine command, from the caverns in 
 which it is at present confined, and, shall de- 
 stroy and consume the frame of the world. 
 After this tremendous event, the prince and 
 powers of darkness shall be forced to return to 
 their primitive seats of anguish and misery, in 
 which they shall dwell for ever; for, to prevent 
 their ever renewing this war in the regions of 
 light, God shall surround the mansions of dark- 
 ness with an invincible guard, composed of 
 those souls who have fallen irrecoverably from 
 the hopes of salvation, and who, set in array, 
 like a military band, shall surround tliose 
 gloomy seats of wo, and hinder any of tlieir 
 wretched inhabitants from coming forth again 
 to the light." 
 
 IX. In order to remove the strongest obsta- 
 cles that lay against the belief of this mon- 
 strous system. Manes rejected almost all the 
 sacred books into which Christians look for 
 the sublime truths of their holy religion. He 
 affirmed, in the first place, that the Old Testa- 
 ment was not the word of God, but of the 
 prince of darkness, who was substituted by the 
 Jews in the place of the true God. He main- 
 tained farther that the Four Gospels, which 
 contain the history of Christ, were not written 
 by the apostles, or, at least, that they were 
 corrupted and interpolated by designing and 
 
 artful men, and were augmented with Jewish 
 fables and fictions. He therefore supplied their 
 place by a gospel wliich he said was dictated to 
 him by God himself, and which he distinguish- 
 ed by the title of Erteng. He rejected also 
 the Acts of the Apostles; and though he ac- 
 knowledged the epistles, that are attributed to 
 St. Paul, to be the productions of that divine 
 apostle, yet he looked upon them as grossly 
 corrupted and falsified in a variety of passages. 
 We have not any certain account of the judg- 
 ment which he formed concerning the other 
 books of the New Testament. 
 
 X. The rules of life and manners that Manes 
 prescribed to his disciples were extravagantly 
 rigorous and austere. He commanded them 
 to mortify and macerate the body, which he 
 looked upon as intrinsically evil, and essen- 
 tially corrupt; to deprive it of all those objects 
 which could contribute either to its conveni- 
 ency or delight; to extirpate all those desires 
 that lead to the pursuit of external objects; 
 and to divest themselves of all the passions 
 and instincts of nature. Such were the unna- 
 tural rules of practice which this absurd fana- 
 tic prescribed to his followers; but foreseeing, 
 at the same time, that his sect could not be- 
 come numerous, if this severe manner of liv- 
 ing should be imposed without distinction upon 
 all his adherents, he divided his disciples into 
 two classes; one of which comprehended the 
 perfect Christians, under the name of the elect; 
 and the other, the imperfect and feeble, under 
 the title of hearers. The elect were bound to 
 a rigorous and entire abstinence from flesh, 
 eggs, milk, fish, wine, all intoxicating drink, 
 wedlock, and all amorous gratifications, and 
 were required to live in a state of the sharpest 
 penury, nourisliing their shrivelled and emaci- 
 ated bodies with bread, herbs, pulse, and 
 melons, and depriving themselves of all the 
 comforts that arise from the moderate indul- 
 gence of natural passions, and also from a va- 
 riety of innocent and agreeable pursuits. The 
 discipline, appointed for the hearers, was of a 
 milder nature. They were allowed to possess 
 houses, lands, and wealth, to feed upon flesh, 
 and to enter into the bonds of conjugal ten- 
 derness; but this liberty was granted to them 
 with many limitations, and under the strictest 
 conditions of moderation and temperance. 
 
 The general .Manicliean assembly was head- 
 ed by a president, who represented Jesus 
 Christ. There were joined to him twelve 
 rulers, or masters, who were designed to re- 
 present the twelve apostles; and these vi'ere 
 followed by seventy-two bishops, the images of 
 the seventj^-two disciples of our Lord. These 
 bishops had presbyters and deacons under 
 them, and all the members of these religious 
 orders were chosen out of the class of the 
 elect.* 
 
 XI. The sect of the Hieracites was formed 
 in Egypt, toward the conclusion of this century, 
 by Hierax of Leontium, a bookseller by pro- 
 fession, distinguished eminently by his e.xten- 
 sive learning, and a venerable air of sanctity 
 and virtue. Some have considered this as a 
 
 * See all this amply proved in the wnrk entitled Com- 
 mentarii dc rebus ('hristianorum ante ConstaQtinuc 
 
 Magnum, 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 96 
 
 branch of the Maiiichsan sect, but without 
 foundation ; since, notwithstanding- the agree- 
 ment of Manes and Hierax in some points of 
 doctrine, it is certain tliat they differed in many 
 respects. Hierax maintained, that the prin- 
 cipal object of Christ's oflioe and ministry was 
 the promnliTation of a now law, more severe 
 and perfect tlian that of Moses: and hence he 
 concluded, tliat the use of (Ifs'i and wine, wed- 
 lock, and other t liintjs affreoahle to the outward 
 senses, which had been permitted under the 
 Mosaic dispensation, were absolutely proiiibit- 
 ed and abroo-ated by Clirist. If, indeed, we 
 look attentively into his doctrine, we shall find, 
 that, like Manes, he did not think that these 
 austere acts of self-denial were imposed by 
 Christ indiscriminately upon all, but on such 
 only as were ambitious of aspirintr to tlie high- 
 est summit of virtue. To this leading error 
 he added some others, which were partly tiic 
 consequences of this illusion, and were, in 
 part, derived from other sources. He excluded, 
 for example, from the kingdom of heaven, chil- 
 dren who died before they had arrived at the 
 use of reason, upon the supposition that God 
 was bound to administer the rewards of futu- 
 rity to those only who had fairly finished their 
 victorious conflict with tlie body of its lusts. 
 He maintained also, that Melchizedec, king of 
 Salem, who blessed Abraham, was the Holy 
 Ghost ; denied the resurrection of the body ; 
 and cast a cloud of obscurity over the sacred 
 scriptures by his allegorical fictions.* 
 
 XII. The controversies relating to the divine 
 Trinity, which took their rise in the former 
 century, from tlie introduction of the Grecian 
 philosophy into the Christian church, were now 
 spreading with considerable vigor, and pro- 
 duced various methods of explaining that in- 
 explicable doctrine. One of the first who en- 
 gaged in this idle and perilous attempt of ex- 
 plaining what every mortal must acknowledge 
 to be incomprehensible, was Noetus of Smyrna, 
 an obscure man, and of mean abilities. He 
 affirmed, that the Supreme God, whom he 
 called the Father, and considered as absolutely 
 indivisible, united himself to the man Christ, 
 whom he colled the Son, and was born, and 
 crucified with him. From this opinion, Noetus 
 and his followers were distinguished by the 
 title of Patripassians, i. e. persons who believe 
 that the Supreme Father of the universe, and 
 not any other divine per.son, had expiated the 
 guilt of the human race; and, indeed, tiiis ap- 
 pellation belongs to them justly, if the accounts 
 which ancient writers give us of their opinions 
 be accurate and impartial. f 
 
 XIII. About the middle of this century arose 
 Sabeilius, an African bishop or presbyter, who 
 m Pentapolis, a, province of Cyrenaica, and in 
 Ptolemais or Barre, its principal city, explain- 
 ed, in a manner very little different from that 
 of Noetus, the doctrine of Scripture concern- 
 ing the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This 
 dogmatist had a considerable number of fol- 
 lowers, who adliered to him, notwithstanding 
 
 *.Epiphan. Hwros. Ixvii. Hipracitarum, p. 710. &c. 
 
 t Sec the discourse of llippolytiis aaainst the 
 Heresy of Noi-tus, in the secoml vohime of his works, 
 published by Fabricius, as also Epiphaii. Hieres. Ivii. 
 torn, i.; and Theodoret. Haeret. Fabul. lib. iii rap. lii. 
 
 that his opinions were refuted by Dionysius, 
 bishop of Alexandria. His sentiments were, 
 in some respects, different from those of Noe- 
 tus; for the latter was of opinion, that the 
 person of the Father had assumed the human 
 nature of Christ; whereas Sabeilius maintain- 
 ed, that a certain energy only, proceeding from 
 the Supreme Parent, or a certain portion of 
 the divine nature, was united to the Son of 
 God, the man Jesus; and he considered, in the 
 same manner, the Holy Ghost, as a portion of 
 the everlasting Father.* Hence it appears, 
 tliat the SabcUians, tiiough they might with 
 justice be called Patripassians, were yet called 
 so by the ancients in a diiferent sense from that 
 in which this name was given to the Noetians. 
 
 XIV. At this same period, Beryllus an Ara- 
 bian, bishop of Bozrali, and a man of eminent 
 piety and learning, taught that Christ, before 
 his birth, had no proper suDsistence, nor any 
 other divinity, than that of the Father; wiiich 
 opinion, when considered with attention, 
 amounts to this: that Christ did not exist be- 
 fore Mary, but that a sjiirit issuing from God 
 himself, and therefore superior to all human 
 souls, as being a portion of tlie divine nature, 
 was united to him, at tiie time of his birth. 
 Beryllus, however, was refuted by Origen, 
 with such a victorious power of argument and 
 zeal, that he yielded up the cause, and returned 
 into the bosom of the church. f 
 
 XV. Paul of Samosata. bishon of Antioch. 
 and also a magistrate, or civil judge, was very 
 different from the pious and candid Beryllus, 
 both in point of morals and doctrine. He was 
 a vain and arrogant man, whom riches had ren- 
 dered insolent and self-sufficient. j: He intro- 
 duced great confusion and trouble into the 
 eastern churches, by his new explication of the 
 doctrine of tlie Gospel concerning the nature 
 of God and Christ, and left beliind him a sect, 
 that assumed the title of Paulians, or Paulian- 
 ists. As far as we can judge of his doctrine, 
 by the accounts of it that have been transmit- 
 ted to us, it seems to have amounted to this : — 
 " That the Son and the Holy Ghost exist in 
 God, in the same maimer as the faculties of 
 reason and activity do in man; that Christ was 
 born a mere man; but that the reason or wis- 
 dom of the Father descended into him, and by 
 him wrought miracles upon earth, and instruct- 
 ed the nations ; and finall)', that, on account 
 of this union of the divine word with the man 
 Jesus, Christ might, though improperly, be 
 called God." 
 
 Such were the real sentiments of Paul. He 
 involved them, however, in such deep obscu- 
 rity, by the ambiguous forms of speech with 
 which he affected to explain and defend them, 
 tliat, in several councils convoked for an inqui- 
 
 * Almost all the historians, vvhopive accounts of 
 the ancient heresies, have made particular mention 
 (if Sabeilius. Among others, see Euseb. Hist Eccles. 
 lib. vi. cap. vi. p. 252. Athiinus. Lib. de sententia 
 Uionysii. All the passaces of the ancient authors, re- 
 lating to Sabeilius, are carefully collected by the learn- 
 ed Christopher Wormius, in his Historia Pabelliana. 
 
 t Euseb. lib. vi. cap. xx. xx.\iii. Hieronyin. Catalog. 
 Scriptor. Eccles. cap. Ix. Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. 
 iii. cap. vii.; and, among the moderns, le Clerc, Ars 
 Critica, vol. i. part ii. sect. i. cap xiv. Chauffepied, 
 Nouveau Diction. HJst. et Grit. torn. i. 
 
 \ Euseb. lib. vii. cap. xxx. 
 
96 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 ry into his errors, he could not be convicted of 
 heresy. At length, however, a council was 
 assembled in the year 269, in which Malchion, 
 the rhetorician, drew him forth from his obscu- 
 rity, detected his evasions, and exposed him in 
 his true colours; in consequence of which he 
 was degraded from the episcopal order.* 
 
 XVI. It was not only in the point now men- 
 tioned, that tlie doctrine of the Gospel suffer- 
 ed, at this time, from the erroneous fancies of 
 wrong-headed doctors; for there sprang up 
 now, in Arabia, a certain sort of minute phi- 
 losophers, the disciples of a master, whose ob- 
 scurity has concealed him from tlie knowledge 
 of after-ages, who denied the immortality of 
 the soul, and believed tliat it perished with the 
 body; but maintained, at the same time, that it 
 vi^as to be recalled to life with the body, by the 
 power of God. The pliilosophers, who held 
 this opinion, were denominated Arabians from 
 their country. Origen was called from Egypt, 
 to make head against this rising sect, and dis- 
 puted against them, in a full council, with such 
 remarkable success, that they abandoned their 
 erroneous sentiments, and returned to the re- 
 ceived doctrine of the church. 
 
 XVII. Among the sects that arose in this 
 century, we place that of the Novatians the 
 last. This sect cannot be charged with having 
 corrupted the doctrine of Christianity by their 
 opinions; their crime was, that, by the unrea- 
 sonable severity of their discipline, they gave 
 occasion to the most deplorable divisions, and 
 made an unhappy schism in the church. No- 
 vatian, a presbyter of the church of Rome, a 
 man of uncommon learning and eloquence, 
 but of an austere and rigid character, enter- 
 tained the most unfavourable sentiments of 
 those who had been separated from the com- 
 munion of the church. He indulged his in- 
 clination to severity so far, as to deny that such 
 as had fallen into the commission of grievous 
 transgressions, especially those who had apos- 
 tatised from the faith, under the persecution 
 set on foot by Decius, were to be again receiv- 
 ed into the bosom of the church. The great- 
 est part of the presbyters were of a different 
 opinion in this matter, especially Cornelius, 
 whose credit and influence were raised to the 
 highest pitch by the esteem and admiration 
 which his eminent virtues so naturally excited. 
 Hence it happened, that when a bishop was to 
 be chosen, in the year 250, to succeed Fabianus 
 in the see of Rome, Novatian opposed the 
 election of Cornelius, with the greatest activity 
 and bitterness. His opposition, however, was 
 in vain; for Cornelius was chosen to that emi- 
 
 * Epistol. Concil. Antioch. ad Paulum in Bibliotheca 
 Patrum, torn. xi. p. 302. Dionysii Alex. Ep. ad Paulum. 
 Pecem Pauli Samosateiii Q,uaestioDcs. 
 
 nent office of which his distinguished merit 
 rendered him so highly worthy. Novatian, 
 upon this, separated himself from the jurisdic- 
 tion of Cornelius, who, in his turn, called a 
 council at Rome, in the year 251, and cut off 
 Novatian and his partisans from the commu- 
 nion of the church. This turbulent man, be- 
 ing thus excommunicated, erected a new so- 
 ciety, of which he was the first bishop; and, 
 which, on account of the severity of its discip- 
 line, \vas followed by many, and flourished, 
 until the fifth century, in the greatest part of 
 those provinces which had received f:ne Gospel. 
 The chief person who assisted him in this en- 
 terprise was Novatus, a Carthagenian presby- 
 ter, a man of no sound principles, who, during 
 the heat of this controversy, had come from 
 Carthage to Piome, to escape the resentment 
 and excommunication of Cyprian, his bishop, 
 with whom he was higlily at variance. 
 
 XVIII. There was no difference, in point 
 of doctrine, between the Novatians and other 
 Christians. What peculiarly distinguished 
 them, was their refusing to re-admit, to the 
 communion of the church, those who, after 
 baptism, had fallen into the commission of 
 heinous crimes, though they did not pretend, 
 that even such were excluded from all possi- 
 bility or hopes of salvation. They considered 
 the Christian church as a society where virtue 
 and innocence reigned universally, and none 
 of whose members, from their entrance into, it, 
 had defiled themselves with any enormous 
 crime; and, in consequence, they looked upon 
 every society, which re-admitted heinous of- 
 fenders to its communion, as unworthy of the 
 title of a true Christian Church. For that 
 reason, also, they assumed the title of Cathari, 
 i. e. the pure; and what showed a still more 
 extravagant degree of vanity and arrogance, 
 they obliged such as came over to them from 
 the general body of Christians, to submit to be 
 baptised a second time, as a necessary prepa- 
 ration for entering into their society; for such 
 deep root had their favourite opinion concern- 
 ing the irrevocable rejection of heinous of- 
 fenders taken in their minds, and so great was 
 its influence upon the sentiments they enter- 
 tained of other Christian societies, that they 
 considered the baptism administered in those 
 churches, which received the lapsed to their 
 communion, even after the most sincere and 
 undoubted repentance, as absolutely divested 
 of the power of imparting the remission of 
 sins.* 
 
 ' Eusebius, lib. ri. cap. xliii. Cyprianus, in variis 
 Epistolis, xlix. &c. Albaspinaeus, Observat. Eccles. lib. 
 ii. cap. XX. xxi. Jos. Aug. Orsi, de Criminum capital, 
 inter veteres Christianos Absolutione, p. 254. Kenckel, 
 de Hatred Novatiana. 
 
AN 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL, HISTORY; 
 
 BOOK THE SECOND, 
 CONTAINING THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 FROM THE TIME OF 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT TO CHARLEMAGNE. 
 
 THE FOURTH CENTURY, 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the prosperous and calamitous Events 
 which happened to the Church during this 
 Century. 
 
 I. That I may not separate facts, which are 
 intimately connected with each other, I have 
 judged it expedient to combine, in the same 
 chapter, the prosperous and calamitous events 
 that happened to the church during this cen- 
 tury, instead of treating theni separately, as I 
 have hitherto done. This combination, which 
 presents things in their natural relations, as 
 causes or elTects, is undoubtedly the principal 
 circumstance that renders history truly interest- 
 ing. In following, however, this plan, the or- 
 der of time shall also be observed witli as much 
 accuracy as the combination of events will 
 allow. 
 
 In the beginning of the century, the Roman 
 empire was under the dominion of four chiefs, 
 of whom two, Diocletian and Maximian Her- 
 culius, were of superior dignity, and were se- 
 verally distinguished by the title of Augustus; 
 while the other two, Constantius Chlorus and 
 Maximian Galcrius, were in a certain degree 
 of subordination to the former, and were ho- 
 noured witii the appellation of (!a3sars. Under 
 these four emperors, the church enjoyed an 
 agreeable calm.* Diocletian, though much ad- 
 dicted to superstition, did not entertain any 
 aversion to the Christians; and Constantius 
 Chlorus, who, following the dictates of reason 
 alone in the worship of the Deity, had abandon- 
 ed the absurdities of polytheism, treated them 
 
 * Eusebius, lib. viii "ap. i p 291, &c 
 
 Vol. I.— 13 
 
 with condescension and benevolence. This 
 alarmed the pagan priests, whose interests were 
 so closely connected with the continuance of the 
 ancient superstitions, and who apprehended, 
 not v/ithout cause, that to their great detri- 
 ment the Christian religion would become 
 daily more general and triumphant throughout 
 the empire. Under these anxious fears of the 
 downfall of tlieir authority, they addressed 
 themselves to Diocletian, whom they knew to 
 be of a timorous and credulous disposition, and 
 by fictitious oracles, and other perfidious stra- 
 tagems, endeavoured to engage him to perse- 
 cute the Christians.* 
 
 II. Diocletian, however, stood for some time 
 unmoved by the treacherous arts of these self- 
 ish and superstitious priests, who, when they 
 perceived the ill success of their cruel efforts, 
 addressed themselves to Maximian Galerius, 
 one of the Caisars, and also son-in-law to Dio- 
 cletian, in order to accomplish their unrighte- 
 ous purposes. This prince, whose gross igno- 
 rance of every thing but military affairs was 
 accompanied with a fierce and savage temper, 
 was a proper instrument for e.xecuting their 
 designs. Set on, therefore, by the malicious 
 insinuations of the heathen priests, the sug- 
 gestions of a superstitious mother, and the fe- 
 rocity of his own natural disposition, ho soli- 
 cited Diocletian, with such urgent and inde- 
 fatigable importunity, for an edict against the 
 Christians, that he, at length, obtained his 
 horrid purpose; for in the year 303, when this 
 emperor was at Nicomedia, an order was ob- 
 
 * Eusebius, de vita Constantini, lib. ii. cap. i. p. 467. 
 Lactaatii Institut. divio. lib. ir. cap. xxvii. et de Morti- 
 bu9 rerjK^uutorum, cap. i. 
 
98 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 tained from him to pull down the churches of 
 the Christians, to burn all their books and 
 writings, and to take from them all their civil 
 rights and privileges, and render them incapa- 
 ble of any honours or civil promotion.* This 
 first edict, though rigorous and severe, extend- 
 ed not to the lives of the Christians, for Dio- 
 cletian was extremely averse to slaughter and 
 bloodshed; it was, however, destructive to 
 many of them, particularly to those who re- 
 fused to delivier the sacred books uito the hands 
 of the magistrates-t Many Christians, there- 
 fore, and among them several bishops and 
 presbyters, seeing the consequences of this re- 
 fusal, delivered up all the religious books, and 
 other sacred things that were in their posses- 
 sion, in order to save their lives. This con- 
 duct was highly condemned by the most steady 
 and resolute Christians, who looked upon this 
 compliance as sacrilegious, and branded those 
 who were giiilty of it with the ignominious 
 appellation of traditors.l 
 
 111. Not long after the publication of this 
 first edict against the Christians, a fire broke 
 out twice in the palace of Nicomedia, where 
 Galerius lodged with Diocletian. The Chris- 
 tians were accused, by their enemies, as the 
 authors of this conflagration;^ and the credu- 
 lous Diocletian, too easily persuaded of the 
 truth of this charge, caused vast numbers of 
 them to suffer, at Nicomedia, the punishment 
 of incendiaries, and to be tornnented in the 
 most inhuman and infamous manner. || About 
 the same time, there arose tumults and sedi- 
 tions in Armenia and in Syria, which were 
 also attributed to the Christians by their irre- 
 concilable enemies, who took advantage of 
 those disturbances to inflame the emperor's 
 fury. And, accordingly, Diocletian, by a new 
 edict, ordered all the bishops and ministers of 
 the Christian church to be thi-own into prison. 
 Nor did his inhuman violence end here; for a 
 third edict was soon issued, by which it was or- 
 dered, that all sorts of torments should be em- 
 ployed, and the most insupportable punish- 
 ments invented, to force these venerable cap- 
 tives to renounce their profession, by sacrificing 
 to the heathen gods;1I for it was hoped, that, if 
 the bishops and doctors of the church could be 
 brought to yield, their respective flocks would 
 be easily induced to follow their example. An 
 immense number of persons, illustriously dis- 
 tinguished by their piety and learning, became 
 the victims of this cruel stratagem through the 
 whole Roman empire, Gaul excepted, which 
 was under the mild and equitable dominion of 
 
 ' Laotaiitius, de Mortibus PcTsequutorum, c. xi. Eu5c- 
 bi IS, lib. viii. cap. ii. 
 
 j Augiistinus, Brev. collat. cum Donatistis, cap. xv. 
 xvii. Baluzii Miscellaii. torn. li. 
 
 J Optatus Milevit. de Schismate Donatistarum, lib. i. 
 sect. xiii. 
 
 (J35- § Laetantius assures us, that Galerius caused fire 
 to be privately set to the palace, that he might lay the 
 blame of it upon the Christians, and thus incense Diocle- 
 tian still more against them; in which horrid stratagem 
 he succeeded; for never was any persecution so bloody 
 and inhuman, as that which this credulous emperor now 
 «t on foot against them. 
 
 11 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. cap. vi. Lactant. de 
 Mortibus Perscquut. cap. xis. Constant. Mag. Oratio ad 
 eanctor. CcEtum, cap. xxv. 
 
 ^ Euseb. Hist, Ercles. lib. viii. cap. vii. et de Martyri- 
 l>ue PaJ^stiUcE. 
 
 Constantius Chlorus.* Some were punished 
 in such a shameful manner, as the rules of de- 
 cency oblige us to pass in silence; some were 
 put to death after having had their constancy 
 tried by tedious and inexpressible tortures; and 
 some were sent to the mines to draw out the 
 remains of a miserable life in poverty and 
 bondage. 
 
 IV. In the second year of this horrible per- 
 secution, the 304th of the Christian sera, a 
 fourth edict Wcis published by Diocletian, at the 
 instigation of Galerius, and the other invete- 
 rate enemies of the Christian name. By it the 
 magistrates were ordered and commissioned to 
 force all Christians, without distinction of rank 
 or sex, to sacrifice to the gods, and were au- 
 thorised to employ all sorts of torments, in or- 
 der to drive them to this act of apostasy.] — 
 The diligence and zeal of the Roman magis- 
 trates, in tiie execution of this inhuman edict, 
 nearly proved fatal to the Christian cause. J 
 
 Galerius now made no longer a mystery of 
 the ambitious project which he had been re- 
 volving in his mind. Finding his scheme ripe 
 for exectition, he obliged Diocletian and Maxi- 
 mian Herculius to resign the imperial dignity, 
 and declared himself emperor of the east; 
 leaving in the west Constantius Chlorus, with 
 the ill state of whose health he was well ac- 
 quainted. He chose colleagues according to 
 his own fmcy; and rejecting the proposal of 
 Diocletian, who recommended Maxentius and 
 Constantino (the son of Constantius) to that 
 dignity, he made choice of Severus and Daza, 
 his sister's son, to whom he had a little before 
 given the name of Maximin.§ This revolu 
 tion restored peace to those Christians who 
 lived in the western provinces, under the ad- 
 ministration of Constantius;|| while those of 
 the east, under the tyranny of Galerius, had 
 their sufferings and calamities dreadfully aug- 
 mented. IT 
 
 V. Tlie divine providence, however, was 
 preparing more serene and happy days for the 
 church. In order to this, it confounded the 
 schemes of Galerius, and brought his counsels 
 to nothing. In the year 306, Constantius 
 Chlorus dying in Britain, the army saluted, 
 with the title of Augustus, his son Constan- 
 tine, surnamed afterwards the Great on account 
 of his illustrious exploits, and forced him to 
 accept the purple. This proceeding, which 
 must have stung the tyrant Galerius to tlie 
 heart, he was, nevertheless, obliged to bear with 
 patience, and even to confirm with the out- 
 ward marks of his approbation. Soon after, 
 a civil war broke out, the occasion of which 
 was as follows: Maximian Galerius, mwardly 
 enraged at the election of Constantine by the 
 soldiers, sent him, indeed, the purple, but gave 
 him only the title of Ceesar, and created Seve- 
 rus emperor. Maxentius, the son of Maxi- 
 mian Herculius, and son-in-law to Galerius, 
 provoked at the preference given to Severus, 
 
 * Lactantius, cap. xv. — Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. 
 cap. xiii. xviii. 
 
 f Eusebius, de Martyribus Patestinae, cap. iii. 
 \ Lactantius, histitut. divin. lib. v. cap. xi. 
 § Lactant. de Mortibus fersequut. cap. xvii. x\. 
 II Euseb. de Martyribus Paleestinse, cap. xtii. 
 TT Lactant. cap. xxi. 
 
Chap. 1. 
 
 PROSPEROUS AND CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 99 
 
 assumed the imperial dignity, and found the 
 less difficulty in making good tliis usurpation, 
 as the Roman people hoped, by his means, to 
 deliver themselves from the insupportable ty- 
 ranny of Galerius. Having caused himself 
 to be proclaimed emperor, he chose his father 
 Maximian for his colleague, who, receiving the 
 purple from the hands of his son, was univer- 
 sally acknowledged in that character by the 
 senate and the people. Amidst all these trou- 
 bles and commotions, Constantine, beyond all 
 human expectation, made his way to the impe- 
 rial throne. 
 
 The western Christians, tliose of Italy and 
 Africa excepted,* enjoyed some degree of tran- 
 quillity and liberty during tliese civil tumults. 
 Those of the east seldom continued for an}' 
 considerable time in the same situation. They 
 were subject to various changes and revolu- 
 tions; their condition was sometimes adverse 
 and sometimes tolerably easy, according to the 
 different scenes that were presented by the fluc- 
 tuating state of public affairs. At length, 
 however, Maximian Galerius, who had been 
 the author of their heaviest calamities, being 
 brought to the brink of the grave by a most 
 dreadful and lingering diseaswf whose compli- 
 cated horrors no language (;an express, pub- 
 lished, in the year 311, a solemn edict, order- 
 ing the persecution to cease, and restoring free- 
 dom and repose to the Christians, against 
 whom he had exercised such horrible cruelties.]: 
 
 VI. After the death of Galerius, his domin- 
 ions fell into tlie hands of Maximin and Lici- 
 nius, who divided between them tiie p;-ovinces 
 he had possessed. At the same time, Maxen- 
 tius, who had usurped the government of 
 Africa and Italy, determined to inake war upon 
 Constantine (who was now master of Spain 
 and Gaul,) with tlie ambitinue view of reduc- 
 ing, under his dominion, the whole western 
 empire. Constantine, apprised of this design, 
 marched with a part of his army into Italj', 
 eave battle to Maxentius at a small distance 
 from Rome, and totally defeated that abomi- 
 nable tyrant, who, in liis ]trecipitat« fligiit, fell 
 into the Tiber, and was drowned. After this 
 victory, which happened in the year 31..', Con- 
 stantine, imd his colleague Licinlus, immedi- 
 ately gra> ted to the Christians a full power of 
 living according to their own laws and institu- 
 tions; which power was specified still more 
 clearly in another edict, drawn up at Milan, in 
 the foUowing )'ear.§ Maximin, indeed, who 
 ruled in the ta.st, was preparing new calami- 
 ties for the Christians, and threatening also 
 R'ith destruction tiie western emperors. But 
 his projects were disconcerted by the victory 
 which Licinius gained over his army, and, 
 through distraction and despair, he ended his 
 life by poison, in the year 313. 
 
 VII. About the same time, Constantine the 
 Great, wlvo had hitherto manifested no reli- 
 gious principles of any kind, embraced Chris- 
 
 Q(J- * The reason of this exception i«, that the pro- 
 vinces of Italy and Africa, though nominally under the 
 government of Severus, were yet in fact ruled by Galerius 
 with an iron sceptre. 
 
 {JQH t See a lively description of the disease of Ga- 
 lerius in the Universal History. 
 
 Eust.h. lib. viii. cap. xvi. Lactantim, cap. xitiii. 
 
 9 Euseb. lib. X. tap. v.— Lactaut. cap. xlviii. 
 
 tianity, in consequence, as it is said, of a mi- 
 raculous cross, which appeared to him in the 
 air, as he was marching toward Rome to at- 
 tack Maxentiiis. But that this extraordinary 
 event was the reason of his conversion, is a 
 matter that has never yet been placed in such 
 a light, as to dispel all doubts and difficulties. 
 For the first edict of Constantine in favour of 
 the Christians, and many other circumstances 
 tiiat might be here alleged, show, indeed, that 
 he was well-disposed to them and to their wor- 
 ship, but are no proof that ho looked upon 
 Christianity as the only true religion; which, 
 however, would have been the natural effect 
 of a miraculous conversion. It appears evi- 
 dent, on the contrary, that this emperor con- 
 sidered the other religions, and particularly 
 that which was handed down from the an- 
 cient Romans, as also true and useful to 
 mankind; and declared it to be his intention and 
 desire, that tliey should all be exercised and 
 professed in the empire, leaving to each indi- 
 vidual the liberty of adhering to that which 
 he thought the best. It is true that he did not 
 remain always in this state of indifference. In 
 process of time, he acquired more extensive 
 views of the excellence and importance of the 
 Christian religion, and gradually arrived at an 
 entire persuasion of its bearing alone the sa- 
 cred marks of celestial truth and a divine origin. 
 Hfi was convinced of the falsehood and im- 
 piety of all other religious institutions; and, 
 acting in consequence of this conviction, he 
 exhorted earnestly all his subjects to embrace 
 the Gospel, and at length employed all the 
 force of his authority in the abolition of the 
 ancient superstition. It is not, indeed, easj', 
 nor perhaps is it possible, to fix precisely the 
 time when the religious sentiments of Constan- 
 tine were so far changed, as to render all re- 
 ligions, but that of Christ, the objects of his 
 aversion. All that we know, with certainty, 
 concerning this matter is, that this change was 
 first published to the world by the laws and 
 edicts* which he issued in the year 324, when, 
 after the defeat and deatji of Licinius, he 
 reigned as the sole lord of the Roman empire. 
 His designs, however, with respect to the abo- 
 lition of the ancient religion of the Romans, 
 and the toleration of no other form of worship 
 tlian tlie Christian, wore only made known 
 toward the latter end of his life, by his edicts 
 for destroying the heathen temples, and pro- 
 hibiting sacrifices.! 
 
 VIlI. The sincerity of Constantine's zeal 
 for Christianity can scarcely be doubted, unless 
 it be maintaino(l,that the outward actions of 
 men are, in no degree, a proof of their inward 
 sentiments. It must, indeed, bo confessed, 
 tiiat the life and actions of this prince were not 
 such as the Christian religion demands from 
 those who profess to believe its sublime doc- 
 trines. It is also certain, that, from his con- 
 version to the last period of his life, he con- 
 tinued in the state of a catechumen, and was 
 not received by baptism into the number of the 
 faithful, until a few days before his death, when 
 that sacred rite was administered to him &t 
 
 * Eusebius, de vita Constant, lib. ii. cap. xx., xllv. 
 t Sec Godofred ad f'odii:. Throdosiau. tom, vi. part i. 
 
100 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Nicomedia, by Eusebius, bishop of tliat place.* 
 But these circumstances are not sufficient to 
 prove that he doubted the divinity of Die Chris- 
 tian religion, or that his professkin of the G os- 
 pel was an act of mere dissimulation; for it 
 was a custom with many, in this century, to 
 put off their baptism to the last hour, that thus, 
 immediately after receiving by this rite the re- 
 mission of their sins, they might ascend pure 
 and spotless to the mansions of life and immor- 
 tality. Nor are the crimes of C'onstantine any 
 proof of the insincerity of his profession, since 
 nothing is more evident, though it be strange 
 and unaccountable, than that many wlio be- 
 lieve, in the firmest manner, the trutli and di- 
 vinity of tlie Gospel, violate its laws by 
 repeated transgressions, and live in contradic- 
 tion to their ovi'n inward principles. Another 
 question of a dilTerent nature might be propos- 
 ed here, viz. Whether motives of a worldly 
 kind did not contribute, in a certain measure, 
 to give Christianity, in the esteem of Constan- 
 tino, a preference to all other religious systems? 
 It is indeed probable, that this prince perceived 
 the admirable tendency of the Christian doc- 
 trine and precepts to promote the stability of 
 government, by preserving the citizens in their 
 obedience to the reigning powers, and in the 
 practice of those virtues which render a state 
 happy; and he must naturally have observed, 
 how defective the Roman superstition was in 
 this important point.f 
 
 IX. The doubts and difficulties that natu- 
 rally arise in the mind, concerning the miracu- 
 lous cross that Constantine solemnly declared 
 he had seen, about noon, in the air, are many 
 and considerable. It is easy, indeed, to refute 
 the opinion of those who look upon this pro- 
 digy as a cunning fiction, invented by the em- 
 peror to animate his troops in the ensuing bat- 
 tle, or who consider the narration as wholly 
 fabulous. I The sentiment also of tliose, who 
 imagine that this pretended cross was no more 
 
 i than a natural phsnomenon in a solar halo, is, 
 ! perhaps, more ingenious, than solid and con- 
 j vincing.* Nor, in the third place, do we think 
 I it sufficiently proved, that the divine power in- 
 j terposed here to confirm the wavering faith of 
 Constantine by a stupendous miracle. The 
 only hypothesis, then,t which remains, is, that 
 we consider this famous cross as a vision repre- 
 sented to the emperor in a dream, with the re- 
 markable inscription, Hac vince, i. e. In this 
 conquer; and this opinion is maintained by 
 authors of considerable weight. J 
 
 X. The joy with which the Christians were 
 elated on account of the favourable edicts of 
 Constantine and Licinius, was soon interrupt- 
 ed by the war whicli broke out between these 
 princes. Licinius, being defeated in a pitched 
 battle, in the year 314, concluded a treaty of 
 peace with Constantine, and observed it during 
 the space of nine years. But his turbulent 
 spirit rendered him an enemy to repose; and 
 his natural violence, seconded, and still farther 
 incen.sed, by the suggestions of the heathen 
 priests, armed him against Constantine, in the 
 year 324, for the second time. During this 
 war, he endeavoured to engage in his cause all 
 who remained attaclied to the ancient supersti- 
 tion, that thus he might oppress his adversary 
 
 * Eusebius, de vita Constantini, lib. iv. cap. Ixi. Ixii. 
 Those who, upon tlie authority of certain records 
 (whose date is modern, and whose credit is extremely du- 
 bious) affirm, that Constantine was baptised in the year 
 324, at Rome, by Sylvester, the bishop of that city, are 
 evidently in an error. Those, even of the Romish 
 church, who are the most eminent for their learning and 
 sagacity, reject this notion. See Noris, Hist. Donatist. 
 torn. iv. op. p. 6.50. Thorn. Mariae Mamachii Origin, et 
 Antiquit. Christian, torn. ii. p. 232. 
 
 f Eusebius, de vita Constant, lib. i. cap. jixvii. 0(J= ll 
 has been sometimes remarked by the more eminent wri- 
 ters of the Rojnan historj', that the superstition of that 
 people, contrary to what Dr. Mosheim here observes, 
 had a great influence in keeping them in their subordina- 
 tion and allegiance. It is more particularly observed, 
 that in no other nation was the so]g:mn obligation of an 
 oath treated with such respect, or fulfilled with such a 
 religious circumspection, and such an inviolable fidelity. 
 But, notwithstanding all this, it is certain, that supersti- 
 tion, if it maybe dexterously turned to good purposes, 
 may be equally employed to bad. The artifice of an au- 
 gur could have rendered superstition as useful to the in- 
 fernal designs of a Tarquin and a Catiline, as to the noble 
 and virtuous purposes of a Fublicola, or a Trajan. But 
 true Christianity can animate or encourage to nothing 
 except what is just and good. It tends to support go- 
 vernment by the principles of piety and justice, and not 
 by the ambiguous flight of birds, or the like delusions. 
 
 { Hornbeck. Comment, ad Bullain Urbani viii. de 
 Imagin. cuitu, p. 182. Oiselius, Thesaiir. JVumism. 
 Antiq. p. 463. Tollius, Preface to the French Transla- 
 tion of Longinus, as also his Adnot. ad Lactantium de 
 Mort. Perscquut. cap. xliv. Chr.iil. Thomasius, Observat. 
 Hallens. turn. i. p. 380. 
 
 * Jo. And. Schmidius, Disser. de luna in Cruce visa. 
 Jo. Alb. Fabricius, Disser. de Cruce a Constantino visa. 
 
 Ojy» f This hypothesis of Dr. Mosheim is not more 
 credible than the real appearance of a cross in the air. — 
 Both events are recorded by the same authority; and, if 
 the veracity of Constantine or of Eusebius be questioned 
 with respect to the appearance of a cross in the day, they 
 can scarcely be confided in with respect to the truth of 
 the nocturnal vision. It is very surprising to see the 
 learned authors of the Universal History adopt, without 
 exception, all the accounts of Eusebius, concerning this 
 cross, which arc extremely liable to suspicion, which 
 Eusebius himself seems to nave believed but in part, and 
 for the truth of all which he is careful not to make him- 
 self answerable. (See that author's Life of Constantine, 
 lib. ii. cap. ix.) 
 
 This whole story is attended with difficulties which 
 render it, l>:tth as a miracle and as a fact, extremely dubi- 
 ous, to say no more. — It will necessarily be asked, whence 
 it comes to pass, that the relation of a fact, which is said 
 to have been seen by the whole army, is delivered by 
 Eusebius, upon the sole credit of Constantine.' This is 
 the more unaccountable, as Eusebius lived and conversed 
 with many who must have been spectators of this event, 
 had it really happeued, and whose unanimous testimony 
 would have prevented the necessilv of Constantine's con- 
 firming it to him by an oath. The sole relation of one 
 man, concerning a public appearance, is not sufficient to 
 give complete conviction; nor does it appear, that this 
 story was generally believed by the Christians, or by 
 others, since several ecclesiastical historians, who wrote 
 after Eusebius, particularly Rufin and Sozomen, make no 
 mention of this appearance of a cross in the heavens. 
 The nocturnal vision was, it must be confessed, more 
 generally known and believed; u|X)n which Dr. Lardnci- 
 makes this conjecture, that when Constantine first in- 
 forn)ed the people of the reason that induced him to make 
 use of the sign of the cross in his army, he alleged 
 nothing but a dream lor that purpose; but that, in the 
 latter part of his life, when he was acquainted with 
 Eusebius, he added (he other particular, of a lumiiwus 
 cro^s. seen someuliere by him and his army in the day- 
 time (for the place is not mentioned;) and tliat, the empe- 
 ror having related this in the most solemn manner, Eu- 
 sebius thought himself obliged to mention it. 
 
 I All the writers, who have given any accounts of Con- 
 stantine the Great, are carefullyenumerated by J. A. Fa- 
 bricius, in his Lux Salut. Evang. toti Orbi exor. cap. xii. 
 p. 260, who also mentions, cap. xiii. p. 237, the laws con- 
 cerning religious matters, which were enacted by this 
 emperor, and digested into four parts. For a full ac 
 count of these laws, see Jac. Gndofred. Adnotat. ad 
 Codic. Theodos., and Balduinus in his Constantiu. Magu 
 seu de L'fibiii Cuuslanliui eccleii. ct civilibus. lib. ii. 
 
ClIAP. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS A^'D CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 ini 
 
 with numbers; and, in order to tliis, he perse- jj himself master, by force, of several places be- 
 cuted the Christians in a cruel manner, and i! longing to Constans, this occasioned a war 
 
 put to death many of tlieir bishoj)s, after try- 
 ing them with torments of the most barbarous 
 nature.* But all his enterprises proved abor- 
 tive; for, after several unsuccessful battles, he 
 was reduced to the necessity of throvvijig him- 
 self at the victor's feet, and imploring his cle- 
 menc}'; which, iiowever, he did not long enjoj'; 
 for he was strangled, by the order of Constan- 
 tine, in the year 325. After the defeat of Li- 
 cinius, the empire was ruled by Constantine 
 alone until his death; and the Christian cause 
 experienced, in its happy progress, the eilects 
 of his auspicious admiuislration. This zealous 
 prince employed all the resources of his genius, 
 all tlie authority of his laws, and all the engaging 
 charms of his munificence and liberality, to 
 efface, by degrees, the superstitions of Pagan- 
 ism, and to propagate Christianity in every 
 corner of tiie Roman empire. He had learn- 
 ed, no doubt, from the disturbances continually 
 excited by Licinius, that neither himself nor 
 the empire could enjoy a fi.ved state of tran- 
 quillity and safety as Ions; as the ancient super- 
 stitions subsisted; and therefore, from this 
 period, he openly opposed the sacred rites of 
 Paganism, as a religion detrimental to the in- 
 terests of the state. 
 
 XI. After the death of Constantine, which 
 happened in the year 33T, his three sons, Con- 
 stantine II. Constantius, and Constans, were, 
 in consequence of his appointment, put in pos- 
 session of the empire, and were all saluted as 
 emperors and Jlu^iisti by the Roman senate. 
 There were yet living two brothers of the late 
 emperor, namely, Constantius Dalmatius and 
 Julius Constantius, and they had many sons. 
 These the sons of Constantine ordered to be 
 put to death, lest their ambitious views sliould 
 e.xcite troubles in tlie empire;! and they all fell 
 victims to this barbarous order, except Gall us 
 and Julian, the sons of Julius Constantius, the 
 latter of whom rose afterwards to the imperial 
 dignity. The dominions allotted to Constan- 
 tine were Britain, Gaul, and Spain; but he did 
 not possess them long; for, when he had made 
 
 • Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. x. cap. viii. et de vit^i 
 Constant ini, hb. i. cap. xlix. Julian fiiinsell', whose bit- 
 ter aversion to Cunstariliiie gives a singular degree of 
 credibility to his testimony in this matter, could nut lulii 
 confessing that Licinius was an infamous lyranl and a 
 profligate, abandoned to all sortsof wickedness. See the 
 Caesars of Julian. .\nd here 1 beg leave lo make a re- 
 mark which has escaped the learned. Aiirelius Victor, 
 in his book de Caesaribns, cap. xli. has mentiimed the 
 persecution under Licinius in the following terms: " Li- 
 cinio ne insontiiim quidcm ac nobilium ]>hilosophorum 
 rervili more cruciatns adhibiti nioduni fi'cere." The 
 |)hilosophcrs, whom Licinius is here said to have tor- 
 mented, were, doubtless, the Christians, whom many, 
 through Ignorance, looked upon as a philosophical sect. 
 This passage of .^urelius has not been touched by the 
 commentators, who are generally more intent upon the 
 knowledge of words than of things. 
 
 (S(^ i It is more probable that the principal de«ign of 
 this massacre was to recover the provinces of Thrace, 
 Macedon, and .\chaia, which, in the division of the em- 
 pire, Constantine the Great had given to young Uahnalius, 
 son to his brother of the same name; and also I'ontusand 
 Cappadocia, which he had granted to Annibalianus, the 
 brother of young Dalmatius. Be that as it will. Dr. 
 Mosheim has attributed this massacre equally to the 
 three sons of Constantine; whereas, alnmsl all authors 
 agree, that neither young Constantine, tior Coustaiis, had 
 any concern in it. 
 
 between the brothers, in the year 340, in which 
 Constantine lost his life. Constans, who had 
 received at first, for his portion, Illyricum, 
 Italy, and Africa, added now the dominions of 
 the deceased prince to liis own, and tiius be- 
 came solo master of all the western provinces. 
 He remained in possession of this vast territory 
 until the year 350, when he was cruelly assas- 
 sinated by the order of Magnentius, one of 
 Jiis commanders, who had revolted and de- 
 clared liimsolf emperor. Magnentius, in hi.s 
 turn, met with the fate he deserved: transport- 
 ed with rage and despair at his ill success in 
 the war against Constantius, and apprehend- 
 ing the most terrible and ignominious death 
 from the just resentment of the conqueror, he 
 laid violent hands upon himself Thus Con- 
 stantius, who had, before this, possessed the 
 provinces of Asia Minor, SjTia, and Eo-ypt, 
 became, in the year 353, sole lord of the Ro- 
 man empire, which he ruled until the year 361, 
 when he died at Mopsucrene, on the borders 
 of Cilicia, as he was marching against Julian. 
 None of tiiese three brothers possessed the 
 spirit and genius of their father. They all, 
 indeed, followed his example, in continuing to 
 abrogate and efface the ancient superstitions 
 of the Romans and other idolatrous nations, 
 and to accelerate the progress of the Christian 
 religion tliroughout the empire. This zeal 
 was, no doubt, laudable; its end was e.Kcel lent; 
 but, in the means used to accomplish it, there 
 were many things not altogether laudable. 
 
 XII. Tliis nourishing progress of the Chris- 
 tian religion was greatly interrupted, and the 
 church reduced to the brink of destruction, 
 when Julian, the son of Julius Constantius, 
 and the only remaining branch of the imperial 
 family, was placed at the head of affairs. This 
 active and adventurous prince, after having 
 been declared emperor by tlie armv, in tiisi 
 year 360, in ctjn.sequcncc of his exploits among 
 the Gauls, was, tipon the death of Constantius, 
 in the following year, confirmed in the undi- 
 vided possession of the empire. No event 
 could be less favourable to the Christians; for, 
 though he had been educated in the principles 
 of Christianity, he apostatised from that divine 
 religion, and employed all his ellbrts to restore 
 the expiring superstitions of polytheism to 
 their former vigour, credit, and lustre. His 
 apostasy was imputable, partly to his aversion 
 to the Constantine family, who had mtu'derod 
 his father, brother, and kinsmen; and partly to 
 the artifices of tlie Platonic philoisophers, who 
 abused his credulity, and tlattcred his ambi- 
 tion, by fictitious miracles, and pompous pre- 
 dictions. It is true, this prince seemed averse 
 to the use of violence, in propagating super- 
 stition, and suppressing the trutii: indeed, he 
 carried tlie appearances of moderation and im- 
 parliahty so far, as to allow his subjects a full 
 power of judging for themselves in religious 
 matters, and of worshipping the Deity in the 
 manner they thought the most rational. But, 
 under this mask of moderation, he attacked 
 Cliristianity with the utmost bitterness, and, at 
 the same time, with the most consummate de.x- 
 terity Ty art and stratfltfem lie undermined 
 
102 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part 1. 
 
 the church, annulling the privileges wliich had 
 been oranted to Cliristians and their spiritual 
 rulers; shutting up the schools in wliich they 
 taught philosophy and the liberal arts; en- 
 couraging the sectaries and schismatics, who 
 brouo-ht dishonour upon the Gospel by their 
 divisions; composing books against the Chris- 
 tians, and using a variety of other means to 
 bring the religion of .lesns to ruin and con- 
 tempt. Julian extended his views yet farther, 
 and was meditating projects of a still more for- 
 midable nature against the Christian church, 
 which would have felt, no doubt, the fatal or 
 ruinous effects of his inveterate hatred, if he 
 liad returned victorious from the Pereian war, 
 into which he entered immediately after his 
 accession to the empire. But in this war, 
 which was rashly undertaken and imprudently 
 conducted, he iell by the lance of a Persian 
 soldier, and expired in his tent in the 32d year 
 of his age, having reigned, alone, after the 
 death of Constantius, twenty months.* 
 
 XIII. It is to me just matter of surprise, to 
 find Julian placed, by many learned and judi- 
 cious writers,! among tlie greatest heroes that 
 sliine forth in the annals of time, and even ex- 
 alted above all the princes and legislators who 
 liave been distinguished by the wisdom of their 
 government. Such writers must either be too 
 far blinded bv prejudice, to perceive the truth; 
 ,')r they cannot have perused, with any degree 
 of attention, those works of Julian which are 
 still extant; or, if neither of these be their 
 case, they must, at least, be ignorant of that 
 v.'hich constitutes true greatness. The real 
 character of Julian has few lines of that un- 
 common merit which has been attributed to it; 
 for, if we set aside his genius, of which his 
 works give no very high idea; if we except, 
 moreover, his military courage, his love of let- 
 ters, and his acquaintance vi'ith that vain and 
 fanatical philosophy which was known by the 
 name of modern Platonism, we sliall find 
 nothing remaining, that is in any measure 
 worth)' of praise, or productive of esteem. 
 Besides, the qualities now mentioned, were, 
 in him, counterbalanced by the most oppro- 
 brious defects. He was a slave to supersti- 
 tion, than which nothing is a more evident 
 mark of a narrow soul, of a mean and abject 
 spirit. His thirst of glory and eagerness for 
 popular applause were excessive, even to pue- 
 rility; his credulity and levity surpass the 
 I)owers of description; a low cunning, and a 
 profound dissimulation and duplicity, had ac- 
 quired, in his mind, the force of predominant 
 habits; and all this was accompanied with a 
 total iirnorance of true philosophy.^ so that. 
 
 * For a full accmint of this emperor, it will be proper 
 to consult (beside Tilleinont and other common writers) 
 La Vie de Julieii, par I'Abbe Bleterie, which is a most 
 accurate and elegant production. See also The Lile and 
 Character of Julian, illustrated in seven Dissertations by 
 Des-Voeus; Eiech. Spanheim, Prsefat. et adnot. ad op. 
 Juliani; and Fabricius, Lux E\angel. toti orbi exoriens, 
 cap. xiv. p. 294. 
 
 ■f Montesquieu, in chap. x. of the twenty-fourth book 
 of his work, entitled, L'Esprit des Loix, speaks of Julian 
 in the following terms: " 11 n'y a point eu apres lui de 
 prince plus digne de gouvcrner des hommes." 
 
 JJ^ j Nothing can afford a more evident proof of Juli- 
 an's iijnoranee of tlie true philosophy, than his known 
 attachment to the >tudy of magic, which Dr. Mosheim 
 
 though, in some things, Julian may be allow- 
 ed to have excelled the sons of Constantine 
 the Great, yet it must be granted, on the other 
 hand, that he was, in many respects, inferior 
 to Constantine himself, whom, upon all occa- 
 sions, he loads with the most licentious invec- 
 tives, ajid treats with the utmost disdain. 
 
 XIV'. As Julian affected, in general, to ap- 
 pear moderate in religious matters, unwilling 
 to trouble any on account of their faith, or to 
 seem averse to any sect or party, so to the Jews, 
 in particular, he extended so far the marks of 
 his indulgence, as to permit them to rebuild 
 the temple of Jerusalem. The Jews set about 
 this nnportant work; from which, however, 
 they were obliged to desist, before they had 
 even begun to laytlte foundations of the sacred 
 edifice; for, while they were removing the rub- 
 bish, formidable balls of fire, issuing out of the 
 ground with a dreadful noise, dispersed both 
 the works and the workmen, and repeated 
 earthquakes filled the spectators of this phee- 
 nomenon with terror and dismay. This signal 
 event is attested in a manner that renders its 
 evidence irresistible,* though, as usually hap- 
 pens in cases of that nature, the Christians 
 have embellished it by augmenting rashly the 
 number of the miracles which are supposed to 
 have been wrought upon that occasion. The 
 causes of this phtenomenon may furnish matter 
 of dispute; and learned men have, in effect, 
 been divided upon that point. All, however, 
 who consider tlie matter vcith attention and 
 impartiality, will perceive the strongest rea- 
 sons for embracing the opinion of those who 
 attribute this event to the almighty interposi- 
 tion of the Supreme Being; nor do the argu- 
 ments offered by some, to prove it the effect of 
 natural causes, or those alleged by others to 
 persuade us that it was the result of artifice 
 and imposture, contain any thinff that may not 
 be refuted with the utmost facility. f 
 
 XV. Upon the death of Julian, the suffrages 
 of the army were united in favour of Jovian, 
 who, accordingly, succeeded him in the impe- 
 rial dignity. After a reign of seven months, 
 Jovian died in the year 364, and, therefore, 
 had not time to execute any tiling of import- 
 ance. + The emperors who succeeded him, in 
 this century, were \'alentiiiian I., Valens, Gra- 
 tian, Valentinian II., and Honorius, who pro- 
 fessed Christianity, promoted its progress, and 
 endeavoured, though not all with equal zeal, 
 to root out entirely the Gentile superstitions. 
 In this they were all surpassed by the last of 
 
 has omitted in his enumeration of the defects and extra- 
 vagances of tliis prince. 
 
 * See Ju. Alb. Fabricii Lux Evang. toti orbi exorieni, 
 p. 124, where all the testimonies of this remarkable event 
 are carefully assembled; see also Moyle's Posthumous 
 Works. 
 
 t Tlie truth of this miracle is denied by the famous 
 Basnage, Hisloire des Juifs, torn, iv., against whom 
 Cujier has taken the affirmative, and defended it in his 
 Letters publislied by Bayer. A most ingenious discourse 
 was published, in defence of this miracle, by the learned 
 Dr. Warburton, under the title of Julian, or a Discourse 
 concerning the Earthquake and Fiery Eruption, &c., in 
 which the objections of Basnage are particularly ex- 
 amined and refuted. 
 
 t See Bleterie, Vie de Jovien, vol. ii. in which the 
 Life of Julian, by the same author, is farther illustrated, 
 and some productions of that emperor are traushtcd into 
 French. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS AND CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 1 03 
 
 rangucs, and Eunapius, in hi.s lives of the plii- 
 losopliers, exhausted all their rage and bitter- 
 ness in their ellorts to defame the Christiarj 
 religion, while the calumnies that abounded ia 
 the discourses of the one, and the writings of 
 the other, passed unpunished. 
 
 XVIII. The prf^Judice which the Christian 
 cause received in this century, from the stra- 
 tagems of these philosophers and rhetoricians, 
 who were elated with a presum])tuou.s notion 
 of their knowledge, and prepossessed with a 
 bitter aversion to the Gospel, was certainly 
 very considerable. Many examples concur to 
 prove this point; and particularly that of Ju- 
 lian, who was seduced l)y the artifices of these 
 corrupt sophists. The effects of their disputes 
 and declamations were not, indeed, the same 
 upon all; some who assuinwl the appeajance 
 of superior wisdom, and wha, cither from mo- 
 deration or indifference, professed to pursue a 
 middle way in these religious controversies, 
 composed matters in the following manner: 
 they so far listened to the interpretations and 
 discourses of the rhetoricians, as to form to 
 themselves a middle kind of religion, between 
 the ancient theology and the new doctrine thai 
 was now propagated in the empire; and they 
 persuaded themselves, that the same truths 
 which Christ taught, had been for a long time 
 concealed by the priests of the gods, under 
 the veil of ceremonies, fables, and allegorical 
 representations.* Of this number were Ain- 
 mianus Marcellinus, a man of singular merit; 
 Themistius, an orator highly distinguished by 
 his uncommon eloquence and the eminence of 
 his station; Chalcidius, a philosopher, and 
 others, who were all of opinion, that the two 
 religions, when properly interpreted and under- 
 stood, agreed perfectly welli in the main points, 
 and that, therefore, neither tlie religion of 
 Christ, nor that of the gods, ought to be treated 
 with contempt. 
 
 XIX. The zeal and diligence with which 
 Constantine and his successors exerted them- 
 
 the emperors who reigned in this century, viz. 
 Theodosius the Great, who began to reign in 
 the year 379, and died in 39.'). As long as 
 this prince lived, he exerted himself, in the 
 most vigorous and effectual manner, for the 
 extirpation of tlie pagan superstitions through- 
 out all the provinces, and enacted .severe laws 
 and penalties against sucli as adhered to them. 
 His sons, Arcadius and Honorius, pursued 
 with zeal, and not without success, the same 
 end; so that, toward the conclusion of this 
 century, the Gentile religions declined apace, 
 and had also no prospect left of recovering 
 their primitive authority and s])lendour. 
 
 XVI. It is true, tliat, notviithstanding all 
 this zeal and severity of the Christian empe- 
 rors, there still temained in several places, and 
 especialh^ in the remoter provinces, temples 
 and religious rites, consecrated to the service 
 of the pagan deities. And, indeed, when we 
 look attentively into the matter, we shall find, 
 that the execution of those rigorous laws, 
 which were enacted against the worshippers of 
 the gods, was rather levelled at the multitude, 
 than at persons of eminence and distinction; 
 for it appears, that, both during the reign, and 
 after the death of Theodosius, many of the 
 most honourable and important posts were 
 filled by persons, whose aversion to Christi- 
 anity and attachment to Paganism were suffi- 
 ciently known. The example of Libanius 
 alone is an evident proof of this, since, not- 
 withstanding his avowed and open enmity to 
 the Christians, he was raised by Theodosius 
 himself to the high dignity of prajfect, or chief 
 of the Prtntorian guards. It is extremely pro- 
 bable, therefore, that, in the execution of the 
 severe laws enacted against the Pagans, there 
 was an exception made in favour of philoso- 
 phers, rhetoricians, and military leaders, on ac- 
 count of the important services which they were 
 supposed to render to the state, and that they 
 of consequence enjoyed more liberty in reli- 
 gious matters, than tlie inferior orders of men. 
 
 XVII. This peculiar regard shown to the 
 philosophers and rhetoricians will, no doubt, 
 appear surprising when it is considered, that 
 all the force of their genius, and all the re- 
 sources of their art, were employed against 
 Christianity; and that those very sages, whose 
 schools were reputed of such utility to the 
 state, were the very persons who opposed the 
 progress of the truth with the greatest vehe- 
 mence and contention of mind. Ilierocles, 
 the great ornament of the Platonic school, 
 wrote, in the beginning of this century, two 
 books against the Christians, in which he went 
 fio far as' to draw a parallel between Jesus 
 Christ and Apollonius TyansEus. This pre- 
 sumption was chastised with great spirit, by 
 Eusebius, in a treatise written expressly in an- 
 swer to Hierocles. Lactantius takes notice 
 of another philosopher, who composed three 
 books to delect the protended errors of the 
 Christians,* but does not mention his name. 
 After the time of Constantine the Great, 
 beside the long and laborious work which 
 Julian wrote against the followers of Christ, 
 Himeriusf and Libanius, in their public ha- 
 
 * h.^titut. Divin. lib. v. rap. li. p. 53.5. 
 
 t S'e Photius, Bibliotli. Cod. cap. Ixv. p. 355. 
 
 (tt7=- * This notion, absurd M id is, has been revived, 
 in tlie most extravagant manner, in a wojk published at 
 Ilardervvjk, in 1757, by Mr. Slruchtmeycr, professor of 
 eloqnencc and languages in that university. In this work, 
 which bears the title of the Symbolieal Hercules, the 
 learned but wrong-headed author maintains (as he had 
 also done in a preceding work, entitled, An Explication 
 of the Pagan Theology,) that all the doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity were emblematically represented in the Hcatheo 
 mythology; and not only so, but that the inventors of that 
 mythology knew that the Son of God was to descend 
 upon earth; believed in Christ as the only fountain of 
 salvation; were persuaded of his future incarnation, 
 death, and resurrection; and had acquired all this know- 
 ledge and faith by the perusal of a Bible much older than 
 either the time ef Moses or Abraham, &c. The pagan 
 doctors, thus instructed (according to Mr. Slruchtmeyer) 
 in the mysteries of Christianity, taught these truths un- 
 der the veil of emblems, types, and figures. Jupiter re- 
 presented the true God; Juno, who was obstinate and 
 ungovernable, was the emblem of the ancient Israel; 
 the chaste Diana was a type of the Christian church; 
 Hercules was the figure or foir runner of Christ; Am- 
 phitryon was Joseph; the two Serpents, killed bv Her- 
 cules in his cradle, were the Pharisees and Sadducces, 
 &c. Such are the principal tines of Mr. Siruchtmeyer'a 
 system, which shows the sad havock that a warm imagi- 
 nation, undirected by a just and solid judgment, make* 
 in religion. It is, however, honourable perhaps to the 
 present age. that a system, from which Ammianus Mar- 
 cellinus and other ancient philosophers derived applause, 
 will be generally looked upon, at present, as entitling lU 
 restorer to a place in Bethlehem hospital. 
 
104 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 selves in the cause of Christianity, and in ex- 
 tending the limits of the church, prevent our 
 surprise at the number of barbarous and un- 
 civilised nations, which received the Gospel.* 
 It appears liighly probable, from many circum- 
 -stances, that both the Major and the Minor 
 Armenia were enliglitened with the know- 
 ledge of the trutli, not long after the promulga- 
 tion of Christianity. Tlie Armenian church 
 was not, however, completely formed and es- 
 tablished before this century, in "the com- 
 mencement of which, Gregory, theson of Anax, 
 who is commonly called the Enlighlener, from 
 his having dispelled the darkness of the Arme- 
 nian superstitions, converted to Cliristianity 
 Tiridates, king of Armenia, and all the nobles 
 of his court. In consequence of this, Gregory 
 was consecrated bishop of the Armenians, bv 
 Leontius, bishop of Cappadocia; and his minis- 
 try was crowned with such success, that the 
 whole province was soon converted to the Chris- 
 tian faith. t 
 
 XX. Toward the middle of this century, a 
 certain person, named Frumentius, went from 
 Egypt to Abyssinia or Ethiopia, whose inhabi- 
 tants derived the name of Axumitse from 
 A.xuma, the capital city of that country. He 
 made known among this people the Gospel of 
 Christ, and administered the sacrament of bap- 
 tism to their king, and to several persons of the 
 first distinction at his court. As he was re- 
 turning into Egypt, he received consecration, 
 as the first bishop of the Axumitse, or EtJiiopi- 
 ans, from Atlianasius; and this is the reason 
 why the Ethiopian church has, even to our 
 times, been considered as the daugliter of the 
 .Alexandrian, from which it also receives its 
 bishop. + 
 
 The light of the Gospel was introduced into 
 Iberia, a province of Asia (now called Georgia,) 
 in the following manner: a certain woman was 
 carried into that country as a captive, durin 
 the reign of Constantine; and by the grandeur 
 of her miracles, and the remarkable sanctity 
 of her life and manners, she made such an im- 
 pression upon the king and queen, that they 
 abandoned their false gods, embraced the fait! 
 of the Gospel, and sent to Constantinople for 
 proper persons to give them and their people a 
 more satisfactory and complete knowledge of 
 the Christian religion. § 
 
 XXI. A considerable part of the Goths, who 
 iiad inhabited Thrace, Mcesia, and Dacia, had 
 received the knowledge and embraced the doc- 
 trines of Christianity before this century; and 
 Theophilus, their bishop, was present at the 
 
 * Gaudent. viia Philastrii, sect. 3. Philast. de haeres. 
 Pricf. Socrat. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. xix. Georg. 
 Cedren. Chronograph. 
 
 f Narratio de rebus Armenia! in Franc. Comdefisii 
 .A.uctario Biblioth. Patrum Graecor. torn. ii. p. 287. Mich. 
 Lequien, Orieiis Christi.inus, torn. i. p. 419, 1356. Jo. 
 Joach. .Schrod. Thrsaur. linguae Armenics, p. 149. 
 
 { Athanasius, Apolog. ad Constanlium, torn. i. op. part 
 ii. p. 315, edit. Benedict. Socrates et Sozomen, Hist. 
 Eccles. buok i. chap, xix.of the former, book ii. ch. xxiv. 
 of the latter. Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. xxiii. 
 p. 54. Ludolf, Comment, ad Hist, ^thiopic. p. 281. 
 Hier. Lobo, Voyage d'Abyssinie, torn. ii. p. 13. Justus 
 Fontaninus, Hist. Liter. Aquileiae, p. 174. 
 
 § Rutinus, Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. x. Sozomen, Hist. 
 Eccles. lib. ii. cap. v. Lequien, Oriens Christ, tom. i. p. 
 1333. 
 
 council of Nice. Constantine, after having 
 vanquished them and the Sarmatians, engaged 
 great numbers of them to become Christians:* 
 yet a large body continued in tlieir attachment 
 to their ancient superstition, until the time of 
 the emperor Valens. This prince permitted 
 them, indeed, to pass the Danube, and to in- 
 habit Dacia, Moesia, and Thrace; but it was 
 on condition that they should live in subjec- 
 tion to the Roman laws, and embrace the pro- 
 fession of Christianity;! which stipulations 
 were accepted by their king Fritigern. The 
 celebrated Ulphilas, bishop of those Goths 
 who dwelt in Mcesia, lived in this century, and 
 distinguished himself by his genius and piety. 
 Among other eminent services which he ren- 
 dered to his country, he invented a set of let- 
 ters for their peculiar use, and translated the 
 Scriptures into the Gothic language.]; 
 
 XXII. There remained still, in the Euro- 
 pean provinces, an incredible number of per- 
 sons who adhered to the worship of the gods; 
 and though the Christian bishops continued 
 their pious efforts to gain them over to the Gos- 
 pel, yet the success was, by no means, propor- 
 tionable to their diligence and zeal, and the 
 work of conversion went on but slowly. In 
 Ganl, the great and venerable Martin, bishop 
 of Tours, set about this important work with 
 tolerable success; for, in his various journeys 
 among tlie Gauls, he converted many, every 
 where, by the energy of his discourses, and 
 by the power of his miracles, if we may rely 
 upon the testimony of Sulpitius Severus. He 
 destroyed also the temples of the gods, pulled 
 down their statues, § and on all these accounts 
 merited the high and honourable title of Apos- 
 tle of the Gauls. 
 
 XXIII. There is no doubt that the victories 
 of Constantine, the fear of punishment, and 
 the desire of pleasing this mighty conqueror 
 and his imperial successors, were the weighty 
 arguments that moved whole nations, as well 
 as particular persons, to embrace Christianity. 
 None, however, tiiat have any acquaintance 
 with the transactions of this period of time, 
 will attribute the whole progress of Christi- 
 anity to these causes; for it is undeniably mani- 
 fest, that the indefatigable zeal of the bishops 
 and other pious men, the innocence and sanc- 
 tity which shone forth with such lustre in the 
 lives of many Christians, the translations that 
 were published of tlie sacred writings, and the 
 intrinsic beauty and excellence of the Chris- 
 tian religion, made as strong and deep impres- 
 sions upon some, as worldly views and selfish 
 considerations did upon otliers. 
 
 As to the miracles attributed to Antony, 
 Paul the Hermit, and Martin, I give them up 
 without the least difficulty, and join with those 
 who treat these pretended prodigies with the 
 
 * Socrat. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. xviii. 
 
 f Socrat. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xxxiii. Lequien, 
 Oriens Christ, tom. i. p. 1240. Eric. Benzelius, Praef. 
 ad Quatuor Evangelia Gothica, quae Ulphilae tribuuntur, 
 cap. V. p. 18, published at Oxford, in 1750. 
 
 } Jo. Jac. Mascovii Historia Germanorum, tom. i. p. 
 317; tom. ii. not. p. 49. Acta SS. Martii, tom. iii. p. 
 619. Benzelius, cap. viii. 
 
 § See Sulpit. Severus, Dial. i. de Vita Martini, cap. 
 xiii. XV. xvii. et Dial. ii. 
 
Chap. I 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 105 
 
 contempt they deserve.* I am also willing to 
 grant, that many events have been rashly 
 deemed miraculous, which were the result of 
 the ordinary laws of nature; and also, that 
 pious frauds were sometimes used, for the pur- 
 pose of giving new degi'ees of weight and dig- 
 nity to the Christian cause. But 1 cannot, on 
 the other hand, assent to the opinions of those 
 who maintain, that, in tliis century, miracles 
 had entirely ceased; and that, at this period, 
 the Christian church was not favoured with 
 any extraordinary or supernatural mark of a 
 divine power engaged in its cause. f 
 
 XXIV. The Christians, who lived under the 
 Roman government, were not afflicted witli 
 any severe calanlities from the time of Con- 
 stantine, except ' those which they sufiered 
 during the troubles and commotions raised by 
 Licinius, and under tlic transitory reign of Ju- 
 lian. Their tranquillity, however, was, at dif- 
 ferent times, disturbed in several places. — 
 Among others, Athanaric, king of the Goths, 
 persecuted, for some time, with great bitter- 
 ness, that part of the Gothic nation which had 
 embraced Christianity. + In the remoter pro- 
 vinces, the Pagans often defended their ancient 
 
 * Hier. a Prato, in his Preface to Sulpitius Severus, 
 disputes warmly in favour of the miracles of Martin, and 
 also of the other prodigies of tifis century. 
 
 t See Eusebius' book against Hicrocles, chap. iv. and 
 Henry Dodvvell's Diss. ii. in Ireuaiuni, sect. 55, p. 195. 
 CX?- See Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry into (he Miracu- 
 lous Powers which are said to liave subsisted in the 
 Christian Church, &c. in which a very ditferent opinion 
 is maintained. Sec, however, on the other side, the 
 answers of Church and Dodwell to Middleton's Inquiry. 
 
 t See Acta Martyr, sincera, published by Ruinart, and 
 (in that collection,) Acta S. Saba;, p. 598. 
 
 superstitions by the force of arms, and massa- 
 cred the Christians, who, in the propagation 
 of their religion, were not always sufficiently 
 attentive, either to the rules of prudence, or 
 the dictates of humanity.* The Christiiins 
 who lived beyond the limits of the Roman em- 
 pire, had a harder fate: Sapor II., king of Per- 
 sia, vei:ted his rage against those of his domin- 
 ions, in three dreadful persecutions. The first 
 of these happened in the eighteenth year of 
 the reign of that prince; tiie second, in the 
 thirtieth; and the tliird in the thirty-first year 
 of the same reign. This last was the most 
 cruel and destructive of the tliree; it carried 
 ofl:' an incredible number of Christians, and 
 continued during the space of forty years, hav- 
 ing commenced in the year 3.30, and ceased 
 only in 370. It was not, however, the religion 
 of the Christians, but the ill-grounded suspi- 
 cion of their treasonable designs against the 
 state, that drew upon them this tcrrijjle calam- 
 ity; for the Magi and the Jews persuaded the 
 Persian monarch, tliat all the Christians were 
 devoted to the interest of tlie Roman emperor, 
 and that Simeon, archbishop of Seleucia and 
 of Ctesiphon, sent to Constantinople intelli- 
 gence of all that passed in Persia.f 
 
 * See Ambrosius, de Officiis, lib. i. cap. xlii. sect. 17. 
 
 f See Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. i. xiii. There 
 is a particular and express account of this persecution in 
 the Bibliothec. Oriental. Clement. Vatican, toni. i. p. 6, 
 16, 181; tom. iii. p. 52; with which it will be proper to 
 compare the preface to the .\cta Martyrum Orientalium 
 et Occideutalium, by the learned Assemani, who has 
 published the Persian Martyrology in Syriac, with a 
 Latin translation, and enriched this valuable work <vUVk 
 many excellent observations. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Wliich contains the History of Learning and 
 Philosophy. 
 
 I. Philology, eloquence, poetry, and his- 
 tory, were the branches of learning particu- 
 larly cultivated at this time, by those among 
 the Greeks and Latins, who were desirous of 
 acquiring fame. But, though several persons 
 of both nations obtained reputation by their 
 literary pursuits, they came all far short of tiie 
 simmiit of fame. The best poets of tiiis pe- 
 riod, such as Ansonius, appear insipid, harsh, 
 and inelegant, when compared with the sub- 
 lime bards of the Augustan age. The rheto- 
 ricians, departing now from the noble simpli- 
 city and majesty of the ancients, instructed the 
 youth in the fallacious art of pompous decla- 
 mation; and the majority of historical writers 
 were more intent upon embellishing their nar- 
 rations with vain and tawdry ornaments, than 
 upon rendering them interesting by their order, 
 perspicuity, and truth. 
 
 II. Almost all the philosophers of this age 
 were of that sect which we have already dis- 
 
 VoL. I.— 14 
 
 tinguished by the title of Modern Platonists. 
 It is not therefore surprising, that we find the 
 principles of Platonism in all the writings of 
 the Christians. Of these philosophers, how- 
 ever, the number was not so considerable in the 
 west as in the eastern countries. Jamblichus 
 of Chalcis explained, in Syria, the philosophy 
 of Plato, or rather propagated his own parti- 
 cular opinions under that respectable name. 
 He was an obscure and credulous man, and his 
 turn of mind was highly superstitious and chi- 
 merical, as his writings abundantly testify.* 
 His successors were, ^Edesius, Maxinius, and 
 others, whose follies and puerilities are exposed 
 at length by Eunapius. Hypatia, a female 
 philosopher of distinguished merit and learn- 
 ing, Isidorus, Olympiodorus, Synesius, after- 
 wards a Semi-Christian, with others of infe- 
 rior reputation, were the principal persons con- 
 
 * Dr. Mosheim speaks here of only one Jamblichus, 
 though there were three persons who bore that name. 
 It is not easy to determine which of them wrote the 
 works that have reached our times under the name of 
 Jamblichus; but, whoever it was, he does not certainly 
 deserve so mean a character as our learned historian here 
 gives him. 
 
lee 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II 
 
 cerned in propagating this new niodilication of 
 Platonisni. 
 
 III. As the emperor Jiihan was passionately 
 attached to this sect (which his writings abun- 
 dantly prove,) he employed every method to 
 increase its authority and lustre; and, for that 
 purpose, engaged in its cause several men of 
 learning and genius, who vied witii each other 
 in exalting its merit and excellence.* But, 
 after his death, a dreadful storm of persecution 
 arose, in the reign of Valentinian, against the 
 Platonists; many of whom, being accused of 
 magical practices, and other heinous crimes, 
 were capitally convicted. During these com- 
 motions, Maximus, the master and favourite of 
 Julian, by whose persuasions this emperor had 
 been engaged to renounce Christianity, and to 
 apply himself to the study of magic, was put 
 to deatli with several others, f It is probable, 
 indeed, that the friendship and intimacy tiiat 
 had subsisted between the apostate emperor 
 and these pretended sages were greater crimes, 
 in the eye of Valentinian, than either their 
 philosophical system or their magic arts; and 
 hence it happened, that such of the sect as 
 lived at a distance from the court, were not in- 
 volved in tlie dangers or calamities of this per- 
 secution. 
 
 IV. From the time of Constantine the Great, 
 the Christians applied themselves with greater 
 zeal and diligence to the study of philosophy 
 and of the liberal arts, than they had formerly 
 done. The emjjerors encouraged this taste for 
 the sciences, and left no means unemployed to 
 excite and maintain a spirit of literary emula- 
 tion among the professors of Christianity. For 
 this purpose, scliools were established in many 
 cities: libraries were also erected, and men of 
 learning and genius were nobly recompensed 
 by the honours and advantages that were at- 
 tached to the culture of the sciences and arts.j 
 All this was indispens;ibly necessary to the suc- 
 cessful execution of the scheme that was laid 
 for abrogating, by degrees, the worship of the 
 gods; for the ancient religion was maintained, 
 and its credit supported by the erudition and 
 talents vvhicli distinguished in so many places 
 the sages of Paganism; and there was just rea- 
 son to appreliend, that the truth might sutfer, 
 if the Christian youth, for want of proper mas- 
 ters and instructors of their own religion, 
 should have recourse, for their education, to 
 the schools of tlie pagan philosophers and rhe- 
 toricians. 
 
 V. From what has been here said concern- 
 ing the state of learning among tlie Christians, 
 let not any reader conclude, that an acquaint- 
 ance with the sciences had become universal in 
 the church of Cln-ist; for, as yet, there was no 
 law enacted, which excluded the ignorant and 
 
 * See the learned Spanheim's Prelaee to tl>e works of 
 Julian; and that also which he has prefixed to his French 
 translation of Julian's Caesars, and his Annotations to the 
 latter; see also Bleterie, Vie de I'Empcreur Julien, lib. 
 i. n. 26. 
 
 T Ammian. Marcellin. Hist. lib. xxix. cap. i. p. ."556. 
 edit. Valesii. Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 30—155, 159, 
 and Vie de Jovien, torn. i. p. 194. 
 
 } See Godofred. ad Codicis Theodos. titulos de Profes- 
 soribus et Artibus Liberaiibus. Franc. Balduinus in 
 Constantino M. p. 192. Herm. Conring. Dissert, de 
 Stiidiis Roniie el Constantinop. at the end of his Antiqui- 
 talti Acadeniicx. 
 
 illiterate from ecclesiastical preferments and 
 offices, and it is certain tliat the greatest part, 
 both of the bishops and presbyters, were men 
 entirely destitute of learning and education. 
 Besides, that savage and illiterate party, who 
 looked upon all sorts of erudition, particularly 
 that of a philosophical kind, as pernicious, and 
 even destructive of true piety and religion, in- 
 creased both in number and authority. The 
 ascetics, monks, and hermits, augmented the 
 strength of this barbarous faction; and not only 
 the women, but also all who took solemn looks, 
 sordid garments, and a love of solitude, for real 
 piety (and in this number we comprehend the 
 generality of mankind,) were vehemently pre- 
 possessed in their favour. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Government of the Church, and 
 the Christian Doctors, dwing this Century. 
 
 I. Constantine the Great made no essen- 
 tial alterations in the form of government that 
 took place in the Christian cluirch before his 
 time; he only corrected it in some particulars, 
 and gave it a greater extent. Although he per- 
 mitted the church to remain a body-politic, dis- 
 tinct from that of the state, as it had forinerly 
 been, yet he assumed to himself the supreme 
 power over this sacred body, and the right of 
 modelling and governing it in such a manner as 
 should be most conducive to the public good. 
 This riglit he enjoyed without any opposition, 
 as none of the bishops presumed to call his au- 
 thority in question. The people therefore con- 
 tinued, as usual, to choose freely their bishops 
 and their teachers. The bishop governed the 
 clmrch, and managed the ecclesiastical affairs 
 of the city or district, where he presided in 
 council with the presbyters, not without a due 
 regard to the suffrages of the whole assembly 
 of the people. The provincial bishops also 
 deliberated together upon those matters which 
 related to the interests of the churches of a 
 wliole province, as also concerning religious 
 controversies, the forms and rites of divine ser- 
 vice, and other things of like moment. To 
 these minor councils, which were composed of 
 the ecclesiastical deputies of one or more pro- 
 vinces, were afterwards added acumenical coun- 
 cils, consisting of commissioners from all the 
 churches in the Christian world, and which, 
 consequently, represented the church universal. 
 These were establislied by the authority of the 
 emperor, who assembled the first of these coun- 
 cdsat Nice. This prince thought it equitable, 
 that questions of superior importance, and such 
 as intimately concerned the interests of Chris- 
 tianity in general, should be examined and de- 
 cided in assemblies that represented the whole 
 body of the Christian church; and in this it is 
 highl}' probable, that his judgment vs'as direct- 
 ed by that of the bishops. There were never,, 
 indeed, any councils holden, which could, with 
 strict propriety, be called universal; those, 
 however, whose laws and decrees were approv- 
 ed and admitted by the universal church, or the 
 greatest i>art of that sacred body, are connnon- 
 ly called cecrunenical or general councils. 
 
 II. The rights and privileges of the several 
 ecclesiastical orders were, however, gradually 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 changed and diminished, from the time that 
 the church began to be torn with divisions, and 
 agitated with those violent dissensions and tu- 
 mults, to which the elections of bishops, the 
 diversity of religioiLs opinions, and other things 
 of a like nature, too frequently gave rise. In 
 these religious quarrels, the weaker generally 
 fled to the court for protection and succour; 
 and thereby furnished the emperors with op- 
 portunities of setting limits to the power of the 
 bishops, of infringing the liberties of the peo- 
 ple, and of modifying, in various ways, the an- 
 cient customs according to tlieir pleasure. — 
 And, indeed, even the bisliops themselves, 
 whose opulence and authority were considera- 
 bly increased since the reign of Constantine, 
 began to introduce innovations into the forms 
 of ecclesiastical discipline, and to change the 
 ancient government of the church. Their first 
 step was an entire exclusion of tlie people 
 from all part in the administration of ccclesi- i 
 astical affairs; and, afterwards, they by degrees 
 divested even the presbyters of their ancient | 
 privileges, and their primitive authority, that 
 they might have no importunate protesters toj 
 control their ambition, or oppose their proceed- j 
 ings; and, principally, that they might either 
 engross to tlicmselves, or distribute as they | 
 thought proper, the possessions and revenues i 
 of the church. Hence, at the conclusion of j 
 this centur)', there remained no more than a 
 mere shadow of the ancient government of the 
 church. Many of the privileges which had 
 formerly belonged to the presbyters and people, 
 were usurped by the bishops; and many of tb.o 
 rights, which had been formerly vested in the 
 universal church, were transferred to the em- 
 perors, and to subordinate officers and magis- 
 trates. 
 
 III. Constantine, in order to prevent civil 
 commotions, and to fix his authority upon solid 
 and stable foundations, made several changes, 
 not only in the laws of the empire, but also in 
 the form of the IJoman government;* and as 
 there were many important reasons, which in- 
 duced him to suit tlic administration of the 
 church to these changes in the civil constitu- 
 tion, this necessarily introduced, among the 
 bishops, new degrees of eminence and lank. 
 Three prelates had, before this, enjoyed a cer- 
 tain degree of pre-eminence over the rest of 
 the episcopal order, riz. the bishops of Rome, 
 Antioch, and Alexandria; and to these the 
 bishop of Constantinople was added, when the 
 imperial residence was transferred to that city. 
 These four prelates answered to the four Prae- 
 torian prffifects created by Constantine; and it 
 is possible that, in this very century, they were 
 distinguished by the Jewisli title of patriarchs. 
 After these, followed the exarchs, who had the 
 inspection over several provinces, and answer- 
 ed to the appointment of certain civil officers 
 who bore the same title. In a lower class 
 were the metropolitans, who had only the go- 
 vernment of one province; under whom were 
 the archbishops, whose inspection was confined 
 to certain districts. In this gradation, the 
 bishops brought up the rear; the sphere of their 
 
 * See Bos, Histoire de la Monarchie Francoisc, torn. 
 1. p. 64. Giamione, Historia di IVapoli, vol. i. 
 
 _L2Z 
 
 authority was not, in all places, equally exten- 
 sive; being iu some considerably ample, and in 
 others confined within narrow limits. To these 
 various ecclesiastical orders, we might add that 
 of the clinrephco])i, or superintondants of the 
 country churches; but this order was, in most 
 places, suppressed by the bishops, with a desiffii 
 to extend tiicir own authority, and enlarge the 
 sphere of their power and jurisdiction.* 
 
 IV. The administration of the church was 
 divided, by Constantine himself, into an exter- 
 nal and an internal inspection. f The latter, 
 wiiich was committed to bishops and councils, 
 related to religious controversies, the forms of 
 divine worship, the offices of the priests, the 
 vices of the ecclesiastical orders, &c. The ex- 
 ternal administration of the church, the em- 
 peror assumed to himself This comprehended 
 all tiiose things which relate to the outward 
 state and discipline of the church; it likewise 
 extended to all contests and debates that miirht 
 arise among the ministers of the church, supe- 
 rior as well as inferior, concerning tlieir pos- 
 sessions, their reputation, their rights and pri- 
 vileges, their offisnces against the laws, and 
 things of a like nature;}; but no controversies 
 that related to matters purely religious were 
 cognisable by this external inspection. In con- 
 sequence of this artful division of the ecclesi- 
 astical government, Constantine and his suc- 
 cessors called councils, presided in them, ap- 
 pointed the judges of religious controversies, 
 terminated the difforcnces which arose between 
 the bishops and tlie people, fixed the limits of 
 the ecclesiastical provinces, took cognisance of 
 the civil causes that subsisted between the 
 ministers of the church, and punished the 
 crimes committed against the laws by the or- 
 dinary judges appointed for that purpose; leav- 
 ing all causes purely ecclesiastical to the cog- 
 nisance of bishops and councils. Rut this fa- 
 mous division of the administration of the 
 church was never explained with perspicuity, 
 or determined with a sufficient degree of accu- 
 rac}^ and precision; so that, both in this' and 
 the following centuries, we find many transac- ' 
 tions that seem absolutely inconsistent with 
 it. We find the emperors, for example, fre- 
 quently determining matters purely ecclesias- 
 tical, which belonged to the internal jurisdic- 
 tion of the church; and, on the other hand, 
 nothing is more frequent than the decisions of 
 bishops and cotmcils concerning things that 
 relate merely to the external form and govern- 
 ment of the church. , 
 
 V. In the episcopal order, the bishop of 
 Rome was the first in rank, and was distin- 
 gnislied by a sort of pre-eminence over all 
 other prelates. Prejudices, arising from a great 
 variety of causes, contrii)uted to establish this 
 superiority; but it was chiefiy owing to certain 
 circumstances of grandeur and opulence, by 
 which mortals, for the most part, form their 
 ideas of pre-eminence and dignity, and which 
 they generally confound with the reasons of a 
 
 * Tliis appears from several passages in the useful work 
 of Lud. Ttiomassinus, entitled, Disciplina Ecclcsise ret. 
 el novae circa Bcnefiria, torn. i. 
 
 t Euseb. de vita Constantini, lib. iv. cap. xxiv. p. S36. 
 
 t See the imperial laws both in Justinian's Code, and 
 in the Thcodosian; asalso Godofred. ad Codic. Tlieodns. 
 torn. vi. 
 
108 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 just and legal authority. The bishop of Rome 
 surpassed all his brethren in the magnificence 
 and splendour of the church over which he 
 presided; in the riches of his revenues and pos- 
 sessions; in the number and variety of Ins 
 ministers; in his credit with the people; and 
 in his sumptuous and splendid manner of liv- 
 ing.* These dazzling marks of human power, 
 these seeming proofs of true greatness and fe- 
 licity, had such a mighty influence upon the 
 minds of the multitude, that the see of Rome 
 became, in this century, a most seducing ob- 
 ject of sacerdotal ambition. Hence it hap- 
 pened, that when a new pontiff was to be 
 elected by the suffrages of the presbyters and 
 the people, the city of Rome was generally 
 agitated with dissensions, tumults, and cabals, 
 whose consequences were often deplorable and 
 fatal. The intrigues and disturbances that 
 prevailed in that city in the year 366, when, 
 upon the death of Liberius, another pontiff 
 was to be chosen in his place, are a sufficient 
 proof of what we have now advanced. Upon 
 this occasion, one faction elected Damasus to 
 that high dignity, while the opposite party 
 chose Ursicinus, a deacon of the vacant church, 
 to succeed Liberius. This double election gave 
 rise to a dangerous schism, and even to a civil 
 war within the city of Rome, which was car- 
 ried on with the utmost barbarity and fury, 
 and produced the most cruel massacres and 
 desolation. This inhuman contest ended in 
 the victory of Damasus; but whether his 
 cause was more just than that of Ursicinus, 
 is a question not so easy to determine. f To 
 neither, indeed, can we attribute such princi- 
 ples as constitute a good Christian, much less 
 tliat exemplary virtue which should distinguish 
 a Christian bishop. 
 
 VI. Notwithstanding the pomp and splen- 
 dour that surrounded the Roman see, it is cer- 
 tain that the bishops of that city had not ac- 
 quired, in this centurj', that pre-eminence of 
 power and jurisdiction in the church which 
 ,lhey afterwards enjoyed. In the ecclesiastical 
 commonwealth, they were, indeed, the most 
 eminent order of citizens; but still they were 
 citizens, as well as their brethren, and subject, 
 like them, to the edicts and laws of the em- 
 perors. All religious causes of extraordi- 
 nary importance were examined and deter- 
 mined, either by judges appointed by the em- 
 perors, or in councils assembled for that pur- 
 pose, while those of inferior moment were 
 decided, in each district, by its respective 
 bishop. The ecclesiastical laws were enacted, 
 either by the emperor, or by councils. None 
 of the bishops acknowledged that they derived 
 their authority from the permission and ap- 
 pointment of the bishop of Rome, or that they 
 were created bishops by the favour of the apos- 
 tolic see. On the contrary, they all main- 
 tained, that they were the ambassadors and 
 ministers of Jesus Christ, and that their au- 
 thority was derived from above.]; It must, 
 
 " Ammianus Marcelliiius gives a striking description of 
 the luxury in which the hishops of Rome lived. See 
 his Hist. lib. xxvii. cap. iii. 
 
 f Among tlie other writers of the papal history, see 
 Bower's History of the Popes, vol. i. 
 
 J Those w'no desire a more ample account of this 
 matter, may consult Pet. dc Marca, de Concordia Sacer- 
 
 however, be observed, that, even in this cen- 
 tury, several of those steps were laid, by which 
 the bishops of Rome mounted afterwards to 
 the summit of ecclesiastical power and despo- 
 tism. These steps were partly laid by the 
 imprudence of the emperors, partly by the 
 dexterity of the Roman prelates themselves, 
 and partly by the inconsiderate zeal and pre- 
 cipitate judgment of certain bishops.* The 
 fourth canon of the council, holden at Sardis 
 in the year 347, is considered, by the votaries 
 of the Roman pontiff, as the principal step to 
 his sovereignty in the church; but, in my 
 opinion, it ought by no means to be looked 
 upon in this point of view; for, not to insist 
 upon the reasons that prove the authority of 
 this council to be extremely dubious, or upon 
 those which have induced some to regard its 
 laws as grossly corrupted, and others, to con- 
 sider them as entirely fictitious and spurious,! 
 it will be sufficient to observe the impossibility 
 of proving, by the canon in question, that 
 the bishops of Sardis were of opinion, that, in 
 all cases, an appeal might be made to the bishop 
 of Rome, in quality of supreme judge:*; but if 
 we suppose, for a moment, that this was their 
 opinion, what would follow.' Surely that pre- 
 text for assuming a supreme authority, must 
 be very slender, which arises only from the 
 decree of one obscure council. 
 
 VII. Constantine the Great, by removing 
 the seat of the empire to Byzantium, and 
 building the city of Constantinople, raised up, 
 in the bishop of this new metropolis, a formi- 
 dable rival to the Roman pontiff, and a bul- 
 wark which menaced his growing authority 
 with vigorous apposition; for, as the emperor, 
 in order to render Constantinople a second 
 Rome, enriched it with all the rights and privi- 
 leges, honours, and ornaments, of the ancient 
 capital of the world; so its bishop, measuring 
 his own dignity and rank by the magnificence 
 of the new city, and by its eminence, as the 
 
 dotii et Imperii; Du-Pin, de antiqua Ecclesise disciplina; 
 and the very learned and judicious work of Blondel, de 
 la Frimaute dans I'Eglise. 
 
 * (t(3= Tlie imprudence of the emperor, and the pre- 
 cipitation of the bishops, were singularly discovered in 
 the following event, which favoured extremely the rise 
 and the ambition of the Roman pontiff. About the year 
 372, Valentinian enacted a law, empowering the occu- 
 pant of the see of Rome to examine and judge other 
 l)ishops, that religious disputes might not be decided by 
 profane or secular judges. The bishops assembled in 
 council at Rome in 378, not considering the fatal conse- 
 quences that must arise, from this imprudent law, both 
 to themselves and to the church, declared their appro- 
 bation of it in the strongest terms, and recommended 
 the execution of it in an address to the emperor Gratian. 
 — Some think, indeed, that this law authorised the Ro- 
 man prelate to judge only the bishops within the limits 
 of his jurisdiction,!, e. those of tlie suburbicarian pro- 
 vinces. Others are of opinion, that this power was 
 given only for a time, and extended to those bishops 
 alone, who were concerned in the present schism. The 
 latter notion seems probable: but still this privilege was 
 an excellent instrument iu tVie hands of sacerdotal am- 
 bition. 
 
 f See Mich. Geddes, Diss, de Canonibus Sardicensibus, 
 among his Miscellaneous Tracts, tom. ii. 
 
 t Ov?" The fourth canon of the council of Sardis, sup- 
 posing it genuine and authentic, related only to the par- 
 ticular «ase of a bishop's being deposed by the neigh- 
 bouring prelates, and demanding permission to make his 
 defence. In that case, this canon prohibited the election 
 of a successor to the deposed individual, before the pou- 
 tilThad examined the cause, and pronounced sentence. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 109 
 
 august residence of the emperor, assumed an 
 equal degree of dignity with the bishop of 
 Rome, and claimed a superiority over all the 
 rest of the episcopal order. Nor did the em- 
 perors disapprove these hi<rh pretensions, since 
 they considered their own digtiity as connected, 
 in a certain measure, with tliat of the bishop 
 of their imperial city. Accordingly, in a coun- 
 cil convoked at Constantino[>le in the year 381, 
 by the authority of Theodosius the Great, the 
 bishop of that city was, during the alisence of 
 the bishop of Alexandria, and against the con- 
 sent of the Roman prelate, placed, by tlie thii-d 
 canon of tiiat council, in the first rank after 
 the bishop of Rome, and, consequently, above 
 those of Alexandria and Antioch. Nect.arius 
 was the firet who enjoyed these new honours 
 accumulated upon the see of Constantinople. 
 His successor, the celebrated John Chrysos- 
 tom, extended the privileges of that see, and 
 subjected to its jurisdiction all Thrace, Asia 
 Minor, and Pontus;* nor were the succeeding 
 bishops of that imperial city destitute of a fer- j 
 vent zeal for the augmentation of tiieir privi- ' 
 leges and the extension of their dominion. 
 
 This sudden revolution in the ecclesiastical 
 government, and tliis unexpected promotion | 
 of the bishop of Byzantium to a higher rank, i 
 to the detriment of other prelates of the first | 
 eminence in the cluircii, were productive of the 
 most disagreeable eftccts; for this promotion 
 not only filled the bishops of Alexandria with i 
 the bitterest aversion to those of Constantino- , 
 pie, but also excited those deplorable conten- ; 
 tions and disputes between the latter and the t 
 Roman pontilTs, wliich were carried on, for] 
 many ages, with such various success, and 
 concluded, at length, in tlie entire separation j 
 of the Latin and Greek cliurches. 
 
 VIII. The additions made by the emperors I 
 and others to tlie wealth, honours, and advan- 
 tages of the clergy, were followed by a pro- 
 portionable augmentation of vices and luxury, 
 particularly among those of that sacred order, 
 who lived in great and opulent cities; and that 
 many such additions were made to that order 
 after the time of Constantine, is a matter that 
 admits no dispute. The bishops, on one 
 hand, in the most scandalous manner, mu- 
 tually disputed the extent of jurisdiction; while, 
 on the other, they trampled upon the rights of 
 the people, violated the privileges of the infe- 
 rior ministers, and imitated, in their conduct 
 and in their manner of living, the arrogance, 
 voluptuousness, and luxury of magistrates and 
 princes. t This pernicious exam])lc was soon 
 imitated by the several ecclesiastical orders. 
 The presbyters, in many places, assumed an 
 equality with the bishops in point of rank and 
 
 * See Pet. de Marca, Diss, de Constantinop. Patriar- 
 chatus Institutioiie, subjoined to his book de Concordia 
 Sacerdotii et Imperii; and Mich. Lcquitn, OrieiisCliris- 
 tianus, lorn. i. S<ee aUo an Account of the Government 
 of the Christian Church for tlie first six hundred years, 
 by Dr. Parker, bishop of Oxford. 
 
 t See Sulpit. Sever. Hist. Sacr. lib. i. cap. xxiii. lib. ii. 
 cap., xxxii. Dialog, i. cap. xxi. Add to this the account 
 given by Clarkson (in his Discourse upon Liturgies) of 
 the corrupt and profligate manners of the clergy, and, 
 particularly, of the unbounded ambition of the prelates, 
 to enlarge the sphere of their inllucuce and authority. 
 
 I authority. We find also many complaints 
 { made, at this time, of the vanity and efl'emi- 
 na.cy of the deacons. Those presbyters and 
 i deacons, more particularly, who filled the fu-st 
 stations of these orders, carried their preten- 
 sions to an extravagant length, and were of- 
 fended at the notion of being placed upon an 
 i equal footing witli their colleagues. For this 
 j reason, they not only assumed the titles of 
 I archpresbyters and archdeacons, but also claim- 
 ed a degree of authority and power much su- 
 I perior to that which was vested in the other 
 I members of their respective orders. 
 I IX. Several writers of great reputation lived 
 in this century, and were shining ornaments to 
 the countries to which they belonged. Among 
 those who flourished in Greece, and in the 
 eastern provinces, the following seem to de- 
 serve the first rank: 
 
 Eusebius Pampliilus, bishop of Csesarea in 
 Palestine, was a man of immense reading, 
 justly famous for his profound knowledge of 
 ecclesiastical history, and singularly versed in 
 other branches of literature, more especially 
 in all the different parts of sacred erudition. 
 These eminent talents and acquisitions were, 
 however, accompanied with errors and defects, 
 and he is said to have inclined toward the sen- 
 timents of those, who looked upon the three 
 persons in the Godhead as ditlerent from each 
 other in rank and dignity. Some have repre- 
 sented this learned prelate as a thorough Arian, 
 but without foundation, if by an Arian be 
 meant one who embraces the doctrine taught 
 by .\rius, presbyter of Alexandria.* 
 
 Peter of Alexandria is mentioned by Euse- 
 bius with the highest encomiums, j 
 
 Athana.sius, patriarch of Alexandria, is cele- 
 brated on account of his learned and pious la- 
 bours, and particularly fiimous for his warm 
 and vigorous opposition to the Arians.J 
 
 Basil, surnamed the Great, bishop of Caesa- 
 rea, in point of genius, controversial skill, and 
 a rich and flowing eloquence, was surpas.sed 
 by very few in this century. § 
 
 Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, left some cate- 
 chetical discourses, which he delivered in that 
 city: he has been accused by many of intimate 
 connexions with the Semi-Arians.|| 
 
 John, surnamed Chrysostom on accoiuit of 
 
 * No writer has accused Eusebius of Arianism, with 
 more bitterness and erudition, than Le Clerc, in the second 
 of his Epist. Eccles. el Crit. and Natalis Alexander, Hist. 
 Eccles. Nov. T. Sa;c. iv. All, however, that these wri- 
 ters prove, is, that Eusebius maintained that a certain 
 disparity and subordination subsisted between (he per- 
 sons of the Godhead, if we suppose Ibis to have been 
 his opinion, it will not thence follow that he was an 
 Arian, unless that word be taken -n a very extensive and 
 improper sense. iVothing is more common than the 
 abusive application of this term to persons, who have en- 
 tertained opinions opposite to those of Arius, though 
 perhaps they may have erred in other respects. 
 
 t Hist. Eccles. lib. ix. cap. vi. 
 
 i Eusebius Reuaudot, in his History of the Patriarchs 
 of Alexandria, has collected all the accounts which the 
 Oriental writers give of Alhanasius.of whose works the 
 learned and justly celebrated Benedictine, Bernard de 
 Montfaucon, gave a splendid edition. 
 
 ^ The works of Basil were published at Paris by Julian 
 Gamier, a learned Benedictine. 
 
 II The later editions of the works of this prelate, are 
 those published by Mr. Millesand by Augustus Toulee, 
 a Benedictine monk. 
 
110 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 his extraordinary eloquence, a man of a noble 
 genius, governed successively the churches of 
 Antioch and Constantinople,* and left several 
 monuments of his profound and extensive eru- 
 dition; as also discourses! which he had preach- 
 ed with great applause. 
 
 Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, in the isle of 
 Cyprus, wrote a booji: against all the heresies 
 that had sprang up in the church until his 
 time. This work has little or no reputation, 
 as it is full of inaccuracies and errors, and be- 
 trays in almost every page the levity artd ig- 
 norance of its author. J 
 
 Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory of Nyssa 
 have obtained a very honourable place among 
 the celebrated theological and polemic writers 
 of this century, and not without foundation, 
 as their works sufficiently testify. § Their re- 
 putation, indeed, would have been yet more 
 confirmed, had they been less attached to the 
 writings of Origen,|| and less infected with the 
 falseTind vicious eloquence of the sophists. 
 
 Ephraim the Syrian acquired an immortal 
 name by the sanctity of his conversation and 
 manners, and by tlie multitude of those excel- 
 lent works in whicli he combated the sectaries, 
 explained the sacred writings, and unfolded 
 the moral duties and obligations of Christians. IT 
 
 Beside the learned men now mentioned, 
 there are several others, of whose writings but 
 a small number have survived the ruins of time; 
 such as Pamphilus, a martyr, and an intimate 
 friend of Eusebius; Diodorus, bishop of Tarsus; 
 Hosius, of Cordova; Didymus, of Alexandria; 
 Eustathius, bishop of Antioch; Amphilochius, 
 bishop of Iconium; Palladins, the writer of the 
 Lausiac History;** Macarius, the older and the 
 younger; Apollinaris the elder; and some others, 
 who are frequently mentioned on account of 
 their erudition, and the remarkable events in 
 wliich they were concerned. 
 
 X. The Latins also v>'ere not without wri- 
 ters of considerable note, the principal of whom 
 we shall point out here. 
 
 * It must not be understood by this, that Chrysostom 
 was bishop of both these churches; he was preacher 
 at Aniiocli (a function, indeed, which before hiiii was al- 
 ways attached to the episcopal dignity,) and afterwards 
 patriarch of Coi\s(anlinople. 
 
 t The best edition of the works of Chrysostom, is that 
 published by Montfaucon, in eleven volumes folio. 
 
 I The works of Eiiiphauius were translated into Latin, 
 and published with notes, by the learned Petan. His 
 life, written by Gcrvase, ajipt ared at Paris in 1738. 
 
 ^ There are some good editions of these two writers, 
 which we owe to the care and industry of two learned 
 French editors of the seventeenth century, — JjJ- namely, 
 the abbot Billy, who published the works of Gregory 
 Na/.ianzen at Paris, in 1609, with a Latin translation and 
 learned notes, and father Fronton du Due, who published 
 those of Gregory c)f Nyssa in 1605. 
 
 QlJ=- II The charge of Origenism seems to have been 
 adduced by the aucieut writers only against Gregory of 
 Nyssa. 
 
 ir There is a large and accurate account of this excel- 
 lent writer in the Biblioth. Oriental. Vatic, of Joseph 
 Simon Asseman, torn. i. Several works of Kphraim 
 were published at Osford in Greek; and of these Gerard 
 Vossius has given a Latin translation. An edition of the 
 same works, in t^yriac, appeared at Rome, under the 
 auspices of Steph. Euod. Asseman. 
 
 (tij-'" This is the history of the solitaries, or hermits, 
 which derived the name of Lausiac history from Lausus, 
 governor of Cappadocia, at whose request it was com- 
 posed, and to whom it was dedicated by Palladius. 
 
 Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, acquired a name 
 by twelve books concerning the Trinity, whiclt 
 he wrote against the Arians, and several other 
 productions. He was a man of penetration 
 and genius; notwithstanding which, he has, for 
 tlie most part, rather copied in his writings 
 Tertullian and Origen, than given us the fruits 
 of his own study and invention.* 
 
 Lactantius,t the most eloquent of the Latin 
 writers in tills century, exposed the absurdity 
 of the pagan superstitions in his Divine insti- 
 tutions, which are written with uncommon 
 purity and elegance. He wrote also upon other 
 subjects, but was much more successful in re- 
 futing the errors of others, than careful in ob- 
 serving and correcting his own. J 
 
 Ambrose, praefect, and afterwards bishop of 
 Milan, was not destitute of a certain degree of 
 elegance both of genius and style; his senti- 
 ments of things were, by no means, absurd; 
 but he did not escape the prevailing defect of 
 that age, a want of solidity, accuracy, and 
 order.§ 
 
 Jerome, a monk of Palestine, rendered, by 
 his learned and zealous labours, such eminent 
 services to the Christian cause, as will hand 
 down his name with honour to the latest pos- 
 terity. But this superior and illustrious merit 
 was accompanied, and, in some measure, ob- 
 scured, by very great defects. His complexion 
 was excessively warm and choleric, his bitter- 
 ness against those who differed from him ex- 
 tremely keen, and his thirst of glory insatiable. 
 He was so prone to censure, that several per- 
 sons, whose lives were not only irreproachable, 
 but even exemplarjr, became the objects of his 
 unjust accusations. All this, joined to his su- 
 perstitious turn of mind, and the enthusiastic 
 encomiums which he lavished upon a false and 
 degenerate sort of piety which prevailed in his 
 time, sunk his reputation greatly, even in the 
 esteem of the candid and the wise. His writ- 
 ings are voluminous, but not all equally adapt- 
 ed to instruct and edify. His interpretations 
 of the holy scriptiu-es, and his epistles, are 
 those of his productions which seem the most 
 proper to be read with profit. || 
 
 The fame of Augustin, bishop of Hippo in 
 Africa, filled the whole Christian world; and 
 not without reason, as a variety of great and 
 
 * There is a very accurate and ample account of Hilary, 
 in the Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. i. The best 
 edition we have of his works is that published by the 
 French Benedictines. 
 
 t See a complete account of Lactautius, Histoire Lite- 
 raire de la France, tom. i. 
 
 {{(^ } Lactautius considers Christ's mission as having 
 no other end, than that of leading mankind to virtue by 
 the most sublime precepts and the most perfect example. 
 The charge of Manicheism, brought against this eminent 
 writer, is refuted in the most evident and satisfactory 
 manner by Dr. Lardner, in the seventh volume of his 
 Credibility of the Gospel History, where the reader may 
 find an ample and interesting account of his character and 
 writings. Among those who have been editors of the 
 works of Lactantius, the most reputed are Bunemann, 
 Heumann, Walchius, and Lenglet du Fresnoy. 
 
 § The works of St. Ambrose have been published, by 
 the Benedictines, in two volumes in folio. 
 
 II The defects of Jerome are exposed by Le Clerc, iu 
 his Q.ua;sl. Hieronym. published at Amsterdam in 1700. 
 The Benedictine monks have given an edition of the 
 works of this ftther in five volumes, republished at Ve- 
 roua by Vallarsius with considerable additions. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Ill 
 
 shining qualities were united in the chamcter 
 of that ilhistrious man. A siibhme genius, an 
 uninterrupted and zealous pursuit of truth, an 
 indefatigable apphcation, an invincible pa- 
 tience, a sincere piety, and a subtile and lively 
 wit, conspired to cstabhsh his fame upon the 
 most lasting foundations. It is, however, cer- 
 tain, that the accuracy and solidity of his judg- 
 ment were, by no moans, proportionable to tlie 
 eminent talents now mentioned; and that, on 
 many occasions, he was more guided by the 
 violent impulse of a warm imagination, than 
 by the cool dictates of reason and prudence. 
 Hence arose that ambiguity which appears in 
 his writings, and which has sometimes render- 
 ed the most attentive readers uncertain with 
 respect to his real sentiments; and hence also 
 the just complaints which many have made of 
 the contradictions that are so frequent in his 
 works, and of the levity and precipitation witli 
 which he set himself to write upon a variety 
 of subjects, before he had examined them with 
 a sufficient degree of attention and dilig-ence.* 
 
 Optatus, bishop of Milcvi in Numidia, ac- 
 quired no small degree of reputation, by a work 
 which he wrote against the schism of the Do- 
 natists.f 
 
 Paulinus, bishop of Nola, wrote some poems 
 and epistles, which are still extant. They are 
 not remarkable eitlier for their excellence or 
 their meanness. + 
 
 Rufinus, presbyter of Aquileia, is famous on 
 account of his Latin translations of Ongen 
 and other Greek writers, his commentaries on 
 several books of the holy scriptures, and his 
 bitter contest with Jerome. He would have 
 obtained a very honourable place among the 
 Latin writers of this century, had it not been 
 his mistbrtune to have tlie powerful and foul- 
 mouthed Jerome for his adversary. § 
 
 As to Philastrius, Damasus, Juvencus, and 
 other writers of that obscure class, we refer the 
 reader, for an account of them, to those au- 
 thors whose principal object is to give an e.xact 
 enumeration of the Christian writers. We 
 shall add, nevertheless, to the list already given, 
 Sulpitius Severus, by birth a Gaul, and the 
 most eminent historical writer of this century;|| 
 as also Prudentius, a Spaniard, a poet of a 
 happy and elegant genius. 
 
 * All accurale and splendid edition of the works of 
 St. Augustin, lias been given by llie Benedictines, since 
 that of the divines of Louvain. This elegant edition 
 bears the title of .\ntwerp, wliere it was published, with 
 some augmentations, by Le Clerc, under the fictitious 
 name of Jo. Phcveponus. The Jesuits, however, pretend 
 to have found many defects in this edition. 
 
 t Since the edition of Optatus, published by Albas- 
 pinseus, another has appeared, which we owe to the care 
 and industry of M. Du-Pin, doctor of the Sorbonne. 
 
 { The best edilion of Paulinus is that which was pub- 
 lished at Paris, in 1085, by Le Brun. 
 
 glj= ^ Kufiniis and Jerome had lived for many years in 
 the most intimate and tender friendship, which ended in 
 a violent rupture, on occasion of a translation which the 
 former made ofsomcof the worksof Origen, particularly 
 his Book of Principles. For an account of Rufinus, see 
 Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliothuque des Anteurs 
 Eccles. par M. Du-Pin, torn. i. .\n ample account of 
 the same writer is given by Justus Kontaninus, Hist. Lite- 
 rar. Aquilcicns. lib. v. 
 
 II See Histoire Litcraire de la France, torn, ii.; and 
 consult also Hieron. a Prato, who has written, with great 
 accuracy the life of this historian. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church 
 in this Century. 
 
 I. The fundamental principles of the Chris- 
 tian doctrine were preserved liitherto incorriip* 
 and entire in most cimrches, though it must be 
 confessed, that they were often explained and 
 defended in a manner that discovered the great- 
 est ignorance, and an utter confusion of ide<is. 
 The disputes carried on in the council of Nice, 
 concerning the three persons in the Godhead, 
 afford a remarkable example of this, jjarticu- 
 larly in the language and explanations of those 
 who approved the decisions of that council. 
 So little liglit, precision, and order, reigned in 
 their discourses, that they appeared to substi- 
 tute three gods in the place of one. 
 
 Nor did the evil end here; for those vain fic- 
 tions, which an attachment to the I'latonic phi- 
 losophy, and to popular opinions, had engaged 
 the greatest part of the Christian doctors to 
 adopt, before the time of Const:intinc, were 
 now confirmed, eidarged, and embellished, in 
 various ways. Hence arose that extravagant 
 veneration for departed saints, and those ab- 
 surd notions of a certain ^j'e destined to purify 
 separate souls, that now prevailed, and of 
 which the public marks were every where to be 
 seen. Hence also the celibacy of priests, the 
 worship of images and relics, which, in pro- 
 cess of time, almost utterly destroyed the Chris- 
 tian religion, or at least eclipsed its lustre, and 
 corrupted its very essence in the most deplora- 
 ble manner. 
 
 II. An enormous train of different supersti- 
 tions were gradually substituted for true reli- 
 gion and genuine piety. Tiiis odious revolu- 
 tion proceeded from a variety of causes. A 
 ridiculous precipitation in receiving new opin- 
 ions, a preposterous desire of imitating the 
 pagan rites, and of blciKJing tlieui with the 
 Christian worship, and that idle propensity, 
 wliich the generality of mankind have toward 
 a gaudy and ostentatious religion, all contribut- 
 ed to establish the reign of superstition upon 
 the ruins of Christianity. Accordingly, fre- 
 quent pilgrimages were imdertaken to Pales- 
 tine, and to the tombs of the martyrs, as if 
 there alone the sacred i)rinciples of virtue and 
 the certain hope of salvation, were to be ac- 
 quired.* The reins being once let loose to su- 
 perstition, whicii knows no bounds, absurd no- 
 tions and idle ceremonies nuiltiplied almost 
 everyday. Quantities of dust and earth brought 
 from Palestine, and other places remarkable 
 for their supposed sanctity, were handed about 
 as the most powerful remedies against the vio- 
 lence of wicked spirits, and were sold and 
 bought every where at enormous prices.f The 
 public processions and supplicatiims, by whicli 
 the Pagans endeavoured to appease their gods, 
 
 * See Gregor. Nysseni Orat. ad cos qui Hierosolymam 
 adeuntjtom. iii. op. — Hieronym. Epist. xlii. ad Paulinum 
 de instituto Monachi, tom. i. — Jac. Godofrcd. ad Codicem 
 Theodosian. tom. vi.— Petri WesselinEii Dissertat. de 
 causis Percgrinal. Hierosolymit. quam Itinerario Burdi- 
 galensi prxmisit, inter Vetera Komaiior. Itincraria, p. 
 537. 
 
 I Auguslinus, de Civilatc Dei, lib. xxii. cap. viii. secl.6. 
 
112 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part IJ. 
 
 were now adopted into the Christian worship, 
 and celebrated in many places with great pomp 
 and magnificence. The virtues which had for- 
 merly been ascribed to the heathen temples, 
 to their lustrations, to the statues of their gods 
 and heroes, were now attributed to Christian 
 churches, to water consecrated by certain forms 
 of prayer, and to the images of holy men. 
 And the same privileges, that the former en- 
 joyed under the darkness of Paganism, were 
 conferred upon the latter under the light of the 
 Gospel, or, rather, under that cloud of super- 
 stition which was obscuring its glory. It is 
 true, that, as yet, images were not very com- 
 mon; nor were there any statues at all. But 
 it is, at the same time, as undoubtedly certain, 
 as it is extravagant and monstrous, that the 
 worship of the martyrs was modelled, by de- 
 grees, according to the religious services that 
 were paid to the gods before the coming of 
 Christ.* 
 
 From these facts, which are but small speci- 
 mens of the state of Christianity at this time, 
 the discerning -reader will easily perceive what 
 detriment the church received from the peace 
 and prosperity procured by Constantine, and 
 from the imprudent methods employed to al- 
 lure the different nations to embrace the Gos- 
 pel. The brevity we have proposed to observe 
 in this history, prevents our entering into an 
 ample detail of the dismal effects that arose 
 from the progress and the baneful influence of 
 superstition, which had now become universal. 
 
 111. This, indeed, among other unhappy ef- 
 fects, opened a wide door to the endless frauds 
 of those odious impostors, who were so far des- 
 titute of all principle, as to enrich themselves 
 by the ignorance and errors of the people. 
 Rumors were artfully spread abrwid of prodi- 
 gies and miracles to be seen in certain places 
 (a trick often practised by the heathen priests;) 
 and the design of these reports was to draw 
 the populace, in multitudes, to these places, 
 and to impose upon their credulity. These 
 stratagems were generally successful; for the 
 ignorance and slowness of apprehension of the 
 people, to whom every thing that is new and 
 singular appears miraculous, rendered them 
 easily the dupes of this abominable artifice. | 
 Nor was tliis all; certain tombs were falsely 
 given out for the sepulchres of saints]: and con- 
 ifessors; the list of the saints was augmented 
 with fictitious names, and even robbers were 
 converted into martyrs. § Some buried the 
 bones of dead men in certain retired places, 
 and then affirmed, that they were divinely ad- 
 monished, by a dream, that the body of some 
 friend of God lay there. || Many, especially of 
 the monks, travelled through the different pro- 
 vinces; and not only sold, with the most front- 
 less impudence, their fictitious relics, but also 
 deceived the eyes of the multitude with ludi- 
 crous combats with evil spirits or genii.H A 
 
 * Kor a full account of Ihis matter, see Beausobre, 
 Hist, du Manicheisine, toin. ii. 
 
 f Henry Dodwell, Dissert, ii. in Irenaeum, sect. 56. 
 LeClerc, in his Appendix Aiigustinian. p. 492, 550,575. 
 
 \ Concil. Cartliag. v. Can. xiv. 
 
 § Sulpitius Severus, de vita S. Martini, cap. viii. 
 
 II .\ugustin. Serm. cccxviii. sect. i. torn. v. op. 
 
 IT See Godofred. ad cod. Thtod. torn. iii. — Augustin. 
 de opere Monachor. cap. xiviii. sect. 36. — Hieronymi. 
 Epist. ad Rusticuin, torn. i. op. 
 
 whole volume would be requisite to contain an 
 enumeration of the various frauds which artful 
 knaves practised, with success, to delude the 
 ignorant, when true religion was almost en- 
 tirely superseded by horrid superstition. 
 
 IV. Many of the learned, in this century, 
 undertook translations of the Scriptures; but 
 few succeeded in this arduous enterprise. — 
 Among the many Latin versions of the sacred 
 books, that of Jerome was distinguished by its 
 undoubted superiority.* The same ingenious 
 and indefatigable writer, whose skill in the lan- 
 guages was by no means inconsiderable, em- 
 ployed much pains upon the Greek version of 
 the seventy interpreters, in order to give a more 
 coiTect edition of it tlian had appeared before 
 his time; and it is said, that Eusebius, Athana- 
 sius, and Euthalius, had embarked in an un- 
 dertaking of the same nature. f Of interpre- 
 ters the number was very considerable, among 
 whom Jerome, Hilary, Eusebius, Diodorus of 
 Tarsus, Rufinus, Ephraim the Syrian, Theo- 
 dore of Heraclea, Chrysostom, Athanasius, 
 and Didymus, are generally esteemed worthy 
 of the first rank. It is however certain, that, 
 even of these first-rate commentators, few have 
 discovered a just discernment, or a sound judg- 
 ment, in their laborious expositions of the sa- 
 cred writings. Rufinus, Theodore, and Dio- 
 dorus, with some others, have, indeed, follow- 
 ed the natural signification of the words;}: the 
 rest, after the example of Origen, are labori- 
 ous in the search of far-fetched interpretations^ 
 and pervert the expressions of Scripture, which 
 they very imperfectly understand, by applying 
 them, or rather straining them, to points with 
 which they have no connexion. § St. Augus- 
 tin and Tychonius endeavoured to establish 
 plain and wise rules for the interpretation of 
 Scripture; but their efforts were unsuccessful. || 
 
 V. The doctrines of Christianity had not a 
 better fate than the sacred writings irom which 
 they are drawn. Origen was the great model 
 whom the most eminent of the Christia,n doc- 
 tors followed in their explications of the truths 
 of the Gospel, which were consequently ex- 
 plained, according to the rules of the Platonic 
 philosophy, as it was corrected and m.odified 
 by tliat learned father for the instruction of the 
 youth. Those who desire a more ample and 
 accurate account of this matter, may consult 
 Gregorj' Nazianzen among the Greeks, and 
 Augustin among the Latins, who were follow- 
 ed, for a long time, as the only po.tterns worthy 
 of imitation^ and who, next to Origen, may be 
 considered as the parents and supporters of the 
 philosophical or scholastic theology. They w^ere 
 both zealous Platonists; and holding, for cer- 
 tain, all the tenets of that philosopher which 
 were not totally repugnant to the truths of 
 Christianity, they laid them down as funda- 
 mental principles, and drew from them a great 
 
 '' Jo. Franc. Buddei Uagoge ad Theologiam, torn. ii. 
 
 t Frickius, de Canone N. T. 
 
 { Simon, Critique de la Bibliotheque des Auteurs Ec- 
 clesiast. par Du-Pin, torn. i. iv. as also Hist. Critique des 
 principaux Commentateurs du N. T. cap. vi. 
 
 § See Gregor. Nazianz. Carmen de Seipso, in Tollius' 
 Insignia Itineris Italici. 
 
 II This may be seen in the six books which Augustin 
 wrote concerning the Christian doctrine, and in the rules 
 of interpretation laid down by Tychonius, which are to 
 be found in the Biblioth. Patr. Maxim, torn. vi. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 113 
 
 variety of subtile conclusions, which neither 
 Clirist nor Plato ever thought of. 
 
 This, however, was not the only sect tliat 
 flourished at this time. That order of fana- 
 tics, who maintained that the knowledge of 
 divine truth was to be acquired, not by reason- 
 ing, but by still contemplation, and by turniiig 
 the eye of the mind upon itself in an entire 
 absence from all external and sensible objects, 
 became now much more numerous. This ap- 
 pears from many circumstances, particularly 
 from the swarms of monks that almost over- 
 spread the Christian world, and also from the 
 books of Dionvsius, the pretended cliief of 
 the Mystics, whicli seem to have been forged 
 in this century, under that venerable name, by 
 some member of that fanatical tribe. 
 
 VI. Among the writers of this century, who 
 published expositions of the Christian doctrine, 
 the first place is due to Cyril of Jerusalem, 
 justly celebrated for his catechetical discourses, 
 which nothing but a partial blindness to tiie 
 truth could have induced any to attribute to a 
 more modern author.* Some have ranked 
 Lactantius in the class of writers now under 
 consideration, but without reason, since it is 
 well known, that the laboiu-s of that eloquent 
 author were rather employed in refuting tlie 
 errors of idolatry, than in explaining the truths 
 of the Gospel. The system of Doctrine ad- 
 dressed to the Clergy and Laity, which, by 
 many, has been attributed to Atlianasius, 
 seems to be of a much later date. There are, 
 however, many things in the works of Chry- 
 sostom, Atlianasius, the Gregories, and others, 
 by which we may be enabled to form a just 
 idea of the manner in wliich the principal 
 points of the Cliristian doctrine were explain- 
 ed by learned men in this century. We may 
 more particularly be assisted in this matter 
 by tiie twelve books of Hilary, concerning the 
 Trinity; the Ancoratus of Epiphanius, in which 
 the doctrine of Scripture, concerning Christ 
 and the Holy Ghost, is explained at large; the 
 treatise of Pacian, concerning baptism, ad- 
 dressed to the catechnmens; and the two books 
 of Chrysostom on the same subject. We need 
 not mention here the various works of Jerome 
 and Augustin, in which appear the laborious 
 and noble efforts of those great men to inspire 
 into the minds of the people just notions of 
 religion, and to detect and refute the errors of 
 those wlio were enemies of the truth. 
 
 VII. The controversial writings, that were 
 levelled against those wlio were considered as 
 heretics, were entirely destitute of that ancient 
 simplicity, which is the natural and the beau- 
 tiful garb of truth. That simplicity was now 
 succeeded by logical subtilties, acute sophisms, 
 sharp invectives, and other disingenuous arts, 
 more worthy of the patrons of error, than of 
 the defenders of tiiat " wisdom which is from 
 above." We find, accordingly, many great 
 and eminent men complaining of this abuse, 
 and endeavouring in vain to oppose the rnuddy 
 torrent of scurrility and dialectic that was 
 overflowing the Cliristian schools. I I pass in 
 
 * See Jo. Fechtii Comment, de Origine Missarum in 
 Honorem Sanctorum, p. 404. 
 
 f Methodius apud Epiphanium, Haeres. Ixiv. torn. i. op. 
 — Gregor. Naiian. in many places; and others. 
 Vol.. I— 15 
 
 silence those rhetorical figures and ornaments 
 by which many evaded the arguments of their 
 adversaries, and artfully perplexed the true 
 state of the case; that odious custom, also, 
 observed by some, of exciting the popular re- 
 sentment against those who ditfered from tliem, 
 and the total want of order and of perspicuity, 
 chargeable upon almost all. Several writers 
 of this age are so far from disowning these in- 
 decorous qualities, tliat tlicy seem, on the con- 
 trary, to glory in tliem. It must, indeed, be 
 observed, that the adversiiries of the truth 
 used the same inglorious arms, tliough this 
 does not in the least diminish tlie reproach 
 whicli is on that account due to its friends. 
 
 VIII. New methods of disputing were also 
 added to those which were practised in former 
 times: for the trutli of a doctrine was now 
 proved by the number of martyrs that had 
 professed it, by miracles, by the confession of 
 dccmons, i. e. of persons possessed with evil 
 spirits. The suiallest degree of discernment 
 will persuade any one how ambiguous this 
 method of reasoning was; how dangerous to 
 the truth, by furjiishing innumerable occasions 
 for the exercise of fraud and imposture; and 1 
 apprehend, that the greatest part of those- who 
 used sucli arguments, however illustrious and 
 respectable they may have been, will be found, 
 upon examination, chargeable with the dan- 
 gerous and criminal design of imposing upon 
 their brethren. Ambrose, in his disputes with 
 the Arians, produced men possessed with 
 devils, who, on tlie approach of the relics of 
 Gervasius and Protasius, were obliged to ac- 
 knowledge, with loud cries, that the doctrine 
 of the council of Nice, concerning the three 
 persons of the godhead, was true; and that of 
 the Arians not only false, but also of most 
 dangerous consequence. This testimony of 
 the prince of darkness was regarded, by Am- 
 brose, as an unexceptionable argument in fa- 
 vour of his hypothesis. The Arians, on the 
 other hand, held this prodigy in the utmost de- 
 rision, and maintained tliat Ambrose had sub- 
 orned these infernal witnesses by a weighty 
 bribe;* and I make no doubt, that many will 
 be more disposed to believe the Arians, than 
 to credit Ambrose, though he be enrolled in 
 the order of the saints, and they stigmatised in 
 the list of heretics.] 
 
 IX. There were, in this century, several 
 controversialists of considerable note; for, be- 
 side Apollinaria, Gregory Nazianzen, Cyril of 
 Alexandria, and others who distinguislied them- 
 selves in the lists agtiinst tho emperor Julian, 
 many others disputed, with victorious force and 
 a happy success, against the worshippers of the 
 gods. Of this number were, Lactantius, Atha- 
 nasius, Julius Firmicus Matemus, ApoUinaris 
 the younger, whose excellent writings against 
 Porpliyry are unhappily lost; Augustin, in 
 those books of the City of G(||, and in the 
 tliree books against the Pagans, which have 
 also perished; and, above all, Eusehius of 
 Ctesarea, in his Evangelical Preparation, and 
 his book against Hierocles. Eusebius Emese- 
 
 * Ambros. Epist. xxii. Paulinus, vita Ambrosii, p. 81. 
 
 t See Le Clerc, Appendix Augustiniana,|i. 375. Grejjor. 
 Nyss. vitaGregorii Neocaesariensis, torn. li. op. Sulpitius 
 Scverus, Hist. Sacr. lib. ii. cap. uxriii. 
 
114 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 nus, Diodorus of Tarsus, and St. Chrysostom, 
 whose treatise on the subject is still extant, 
 employed their learned labours to bring- over 
 the Jews to the profession of Christianity. 
 Ephraim the Syrian,* James of Kisibis, Didy- 
 mus and Audentius, attacked the whole body 
 of heretics; as did also Epiplianius, in his vo- 
 luminous work concerning lieresies, entitled 
 Panarium, and Gregory Nazianzen with more 
 brevity in his discourse concerning faith. Tl)e 
 books of Augustin and Philastrius, on the 
 same subject, contain rather a list than a refu- 
 tation of the several sects. 
 
 X. If the growth and perfection of a science 
 were to be estimated by the multitude of wri- 
 ters it produces, that of «io)-aZs must have flour- 
 ished greatly at this time; for a very consider- 
 able number of persons applied themselves to 
 that excellent study. Among the eastern wri- 
 ters, James, bishop of Nisibis,t and Ephraim, 
 bishop of Syria, became eminent for their zeal 
 and assiduity in inculcating the precepts of 
 morality. The writings of Basil the Great, 
 Gregory of Nj-ssa, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Au- 
 gustin, and several others, upon moral subjects, 
 are neither wortiiy of high encomiums, nor of 
 entire contempt, as they contain a strange mix- 
 ture of excellent reflections, and insipid details, 
 concerning the duties of the Christian life. 
 Among the productions of these writers, many 
 give the preference to the three books of Am- 
 brose, concerning the duty of the ministers of 
 the church, which are written in the manner 
 of Cicero, and are justly commended for the 
 pious intention they discover, and the beauti- 
 ful sentiments they contain, though tliere be 
 many things m them worthy of reprehension. 
 But Macarius, an Egyptian raonk,;t undoubt- 
 edly deserves the first rank among the practi- 
 cal writers of this time, as his works display, 
 some few things excepted, § the brightest and 
 most lovely portraiture of sanctity and virtue. 
 
 XI. It must, however, be observed, that al- 
 most all the writers of this class are defective 
 in several respects. They have been entirely 
 negligent of order in their compositions, and 
 have taken no sort of care to treat with method 
 and precision the subjects they undertook to 
 explain. The}' seldom defiue their terms, and 
 pour out their pious but incoherent ideas in for- 
 tuitous combinations, just as tliey ofler them- 
 selves. They, moreover, neglect deducing the 
 duties of mankind from their true principles, 
 and even sometimes derive them from doctrines 
 and precepts which are either manifestly false, 
 or, at least, -whose nature and meaning are not 
 determined with any degree of accuracy. And 
 hence it is, that tlie greatest part of them are 
 
 * See Jos. Sim. Asseinan. Bibliolli. Orit-iiLdl. Cle- 
 ment. Vatic, torn. i. p. 118, 125. From the extract*, 
 which this learned compiler has given of the works of 
 Ephraim, it appears, that he was more distinguished by 
 his pieij' and geuius, than by his skill in the mnnagement 
 of controversy, i 
 
 t Jos. Sim. Assemanus,in the work quoted in the pre- 
 ceding note, torn, i., thinks, that the writings attributed 
 to the bishop of Nisibis, belong rather to the bishop of 
 Saruga; he however corrects, in some measure, this no- 
 tion in his Addenda, p. 558. 
 
 } Sec the Acta Sanctorum, tom. i. Januar. p. 1005. 
 
 (K^^The things here excepted by Dr. Mosheim, are 
 bome superstitious tenets that are to be found in the 
 writings ol" Macarius, and also certain opinions that teem 
 tainted with Oris^enism 
 
 extremely defective, when they come to de- 
 monstrate the obligations of virtue, and the in- 
 congruity and unfitness of vice. These pre- 
 tended demonstrations, instead of being deduc- 
 ed by proper conclusions from the reason of 
 things and tlie divine laws, are notliing more 
 than a collection of airy fancies, cold and in- 
 sipid allegories, quaint and subtile conceits, 
 vvliicJ! are more proper to afford amusement 
 to the imagination, than light to the under- 
 standing, or conviction to the judgment. 
 
 XII. But, however defective tliis method of 
 inculcating the duties of morality may have 
 been, it was much more tolerable than that 
 which was followed by the amphibious disci- 
 ples of Christ and Plato, those Alexandrian 
 philosophers, of whom Ammonius Sacca was 
 the chief. The double doctrine of morals 
 which they invented, and which was com- 
 pounded of two systems, one surpassing the 
 other in perfection, gained much ground in this 
 century, to the great detriment of true reli- 
 gion. A circumstance that strongly tends to 
 convince us of the growth and progress of this 
 fanatical sect is, tiiat those who in former 
 times had inculcated a secret doctrine concern- 
 ing divine things, totally different from that 
 which was publicly propagated among the mul- 
 titude, gave now the finishing touch to this 
 doctrine, and formed it into a system. The 
 famous Grecian fanatic, who declared himself 
 to be Dionysius the Areopagite, disciple of St. 
 Paul, and who, under the protection of this 
 venerable name, gave laws and instructions to 
 such as were desirous of raising their souls 
 above all human things, in order to unite them 
 to their great source by sublime contemplation, 
 lived most probably in this centurj', though 
 some place him before, others after the present 
 period.* No sooner were the writings and in- 
 structions of this fanatic handed about among 
 the Greeks and Syrians, and particularly 
 among the solitaries and monks, than a gloomy 
 cloud of religious darkness began to spread it- 
 self over the minds of many. An incredible 
 number of proselytes joined those chimerical 
 sectaries, wlio maintained that communion 
 with God was to be sought by mortifying the 
 senses, by witlidrawing the mind from all ex- 
 ternal objects, by macerating the body with 
 hunger and labour, and by a holy sort of indo- 
 lence, which confined all the activity of the 
 soul to a lazy contemplation of things spiritual 
 and eternal. 
 
 XIII. The progress of this sect appears evi- 
 dently from the prodigious number of solitary 
 monks and sequestered virgins, which, upon 
 the return of tranquillity to the church, had 
 
 * Those who have written concerning this impostor, 
 are enumerated by Jo. Franc. Buddeus, in his Isagoge ad 
 Theologiam, lib. ii. cap. iv. See also Jo. Launou Ju- 
 dicium de Scriptis Dionysii, tom. ii. op. part i. La Croze 
 (in hisHistoiredu Christianisme d'Ethicpie,) endeavour* 
 to prove, that Synesius, an Egyptian bisljop, and also the 
 most celebrated philosopher of the fifth century, com- 
 posed the writings attributed to Diouysius, inorder to 
 defend the doctrine of those who held, that Christ only 
 possessed one nature. The arguments, however, of La 
 Croze are weak. Nor are those more satisfactory, which 
 the learned Baratier has employed, in a dissertation added 
 to his book de Successione Rom. Episcop. p. 286, to prove 
 that Dionysius of Alexandria was the true author of 
 the writings in question. 
 
 I 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 IIS 
 
 overrun the whole Christian world with an 
 amazing rapidity. Many of this order of men 
 had, for a long time, been known among the 
 Christians, and had led silent and solitary lives 
 in tlie deserts of Egypt; but Antony was the 
 first who formed them into a regular body, en- 
 gaged them to live in society with ea,ch other, 
 and prescribed rules to them for the direction 
 of their conduct.* These regulations, which 
 Antony brought forward in F,gypt, in 305, 
 were, in the year following, introduced into 
 Palestine and Syria, by his disciple Hilarion. 
 Almost about the same time, Aones and Euge- 
 nius, with their companions, Gaddanas and 
 Azyzus, instituted the monastic order in Meso- 
 potamia and the adjacent countries;! and their 
 example was followed with such rapid success, 
 that, in a short time, the east was filled with a 
 lazy set of mortals, who, abandoning all hu- 
 man connexions, advantages, pleasures, and I 
 concerns, wore out a languishing and misera- 
 ble life, amidst the hardships of want and va- 
 rious kinds of suffering, in order to arrive at 
 a more close and rapturous communion witli 
 God and angels. The Christian clnu-cli would 
 never have been disgraced by tins cru'l and 
 insocial enthusiasm, nor would any have .jhcu 
 subjected to those keen torments of mind and 
 body to which it gave rise, had not many Chris- 
 tians been unwarily caught by the specious ap- 
 pearance and the pompous sound of lliat maxim 
 of the ancient philosophy, "That, in order to 
 the attainment of true felicity and communion 
 with God, it was necessary that tlie soul should 
 be separated from the body, even here below, 
 and that the body was to be macerated and 
 mortified for tliis purpose." 
 
 XIV. From the east this gloomy institution 
 passed into the west, and first into Italy, and 
 its neighbouring islands, though it is utterly 
 uncertain who transplanted it thither.}: ^''t. 
 Martin, tlie celebrated bishop of Toiu-s, erect- 
 ed the first monasteries in Gaul, and recom- 
 mended this religious s<-ilitude with such power 
 and eflicacy, both by his instructions and his 
 example, tliat his funeral is saiil to have been 
 attended by no less than two thousand monks. § 
 Thence, the monastic discipline gradually ex- 
 tended its progress through the other provinces 
 and countries of Europe. 
 
 It is, however, proper to observe, that there 
 
 * For a full account of .\ntony, and the discipline es- 
 tablished by him, sec the Acta Sanctorum, torn. ii. Jauuar. 
 ad d. 17. 
 
 t See Jos. Siinon. Asscman. Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. 
 Vatican, torn. iii. part ii. 
 
 [ Most writers, following the opinion of Baronius, 
 maintain that St. Athanasius brought the monastic insti- 
 tution from Kgypt into llaly, about the year M40, and was 
 lilt first who built a monxstcry at Rome. See Mabillon, 
 
 Praif. ad .\cta Sanctorum Ord. Bcued. torn. i. The 
 
 learned Muratori ( Aniiq. Ilal. torn, v.) combats this opin- 
 ion, and pretends thai the first monastery, known in Eu- 
 rope, was erected at Milan; and Just. Kontaninus, in his 
 Hist. Liter. Aquilcicns. affirms, that the first society of 
 monks was formed at Aquileia. But these writers do not 
 produce unexceptionable evidence for their opinions. If 
 we may give credit to the Ballerini (Dissert, ii. ad Zeno- 
 uem Veronensem,) the first convent of nuns was erected 
 toward the end of this century, at Verona, by Zeno, 
 bishop of that city. 
 
 <) See Sulpit. Sever, de vita Martiui, cap. x. p. 17, edit. 
 Veron., where the method of living, used by the Mar- 
 tinian mouks, is accurately described. See also Histoire 
 Literaire de la France, torn. i. part ii. p. 4-2. 
 
 was a great difference in point of austerity be- 
 tween the western and oriental monks; the for- 
 mer of whom could never be brought to bear 
 the severe rules to which the latter voluntarily 
 submitted. And, indeed, the reason of this 
 difference may be partly derived from the na- 
 ture of the respective climates in which they 
 dwelt. The European countries abound not 
 so much with delirious fanatics, or with persons 
 of a morose and austere complexion, as those 
 arid regions that lie toward the burning east; 
 nor are our bodies capable of supporting that 
 rigid and abstemious method of living, wliich 
 is familiar and easy to those who are placed 
 under a glowing firmament, and breathe in a. 
 sultry and scorching atmosphere. It was, there- 
 fore, rather the name only than the thing itself, 
 which was tran.sported into the European coun- 
 tries,* though this name was indeed accompa- 
 nied with a certain resemblance or distant imi- 
 tation of the monastic life instituted by Anto- 
 ny and others in the east. 
 
 XV^. The monastic order, of which we have 
 been taking a general view, was distributed 
 into several classes. It was first divided into 
 two distinct orders, of which one received the 
 ilciiornination of Coenobites, the other that of 
 Eremites. Tlie former lived together in a fix- 
 ed habitation, and made up one large commu- 
 nity under a chief, whom they called fatlier, or 
 abbot, which signifies tlie same thing in the 
 Egyptian language. The latter drew out a 
 wretched life in perfect solitude, and were scat- 
 tered here and tliere in caves, in deserts, in the 
 cavities of rocks, sheltered from the wild beasts 
 only by the cover of a miserable cottage, in 
 which each lived sequestered from the rest of 
 his species. 
 
 The Anachoretes were yet more excessive 
 in the austerity of their manner of living than 
 the Eremites. They frequented the wildest 
 deserts witliout either tents or cottages; nour- 
 islied themselves with the roots and herbs 
 which grew spontaneously out of the unculti- 
 vated ground-, wandered about witliout hav- 
 ing any fixed abode, reposing wherever the ap- 
 proach of night happened to find them; and all 
 this, that they might avoid the view and the 
 society of mortals.f 
 
 Another order of monks were those wan- 
 
 * This ditference between the discipline of the eastern 
 and western monks, and the cause of it, have been in 
 geniously remarked by Sulpitius Severus, Di:il. i. de Vila 
 Martini, where one of the interlocutors, in the dialogue, 
 having mentioned the abstemious and wretched diet of 
 the Egyptian monks, adds what follows: " I'lacclne libi 
 prandium, fasciculus herbarum et pauis dimidius vir-i 
 quinque.'" To this question tlie Gaul answers, " Faci\ 
 too more, qui nuIL'im occasionera omittis, quiii nos (i.e.) 
 (the Gallic monks) edacitalis fatiges. Sed facis in- 
 humane, qui nos GaJlos homines cogiscxemploangelorum 
 Tivcre — Sed contentus sit hoc [j^xunrfio] Cj reiien>i» ille, 
 cui vel nercssitas vel natura est esurire: iios, ^uorf libi 
 sape tcstittussum, Galli sumits." The same speaker, 
 in the above mentioned dialogue, cap. viii. reproaches 
 Jerome with having accused the monks of gluttony; and 
 proceeds thus: "Sentio de orientalibus ilium poliui 
 monachis, quam de occidentalibus dispulasse; nam edaci- 
 tas in Grajcis et Orientalibus gula est, in Gallis natura." 
 It appears, therefore, that, immediately after the intro- 
 duction of the monastic order into Europe, the western 
 differed greatly from the eastern monks in their manners 
 and discipline, and were, in consequence of this, accu«ed 
 by the latter of voraciousness and gluttony. 
 
 t See Sulpit. Sever. Dial. i. de vita Martini, cap. x. 
 
116 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 dering fanatics, or rather impostors, whom tlie 
 Egyptians called Sarabaites, wlio, instead of 
 procuring a subsistence by honest industry, 
 travelled through various cities and provinces, 
 and gained a maintenance by fictitious mira- 
 cles, by selling relics to the multitude, and 
 other frauds of a like nature. 
 
 Many of the Coenobites were chargeable 
 with, tnrious and scandalous practices. This 
 ord«r, however, was not so generally corrupt 
 as that of the Sarabaites, who were for the 
 most part profligates of the most abandoned 
 kind. As to the Eremites, they seem to have 
 deserved no other reproach than that of a de- 
 lirious and extravagant fanaticism.* All these 
 different orders were hitherto composed of tlie 
 laity, and were subject to the jurisdiction and 
 the inspection of the bishops. But many of 
 them were now adopted among the clergy, 
 even by the command of the emperors; and 
 the fame of monastic piety and sanctity became 
 so genera], that bishops were frequently chosen 
 out of that fanatical order.f 
 
 XVI. If the enthusiastic phrensy of the 
 monks exaggerated, in a manner pernicious to 
 the interests of morality, the discipline that is 
 obligatory upon Christians, the interests of vir- 
 tue and true religion suffered yet more griev- 
 ously by two monstrous errors which were 
 almost universally adopted in this century, and 
 became a source of innumerable calamities 
 and mischiefs in the succeeding ages. Of these 
 maxims one was, " That it was an act of vir- 
 tue to deceive and lie, when by such means 
 the interests of the church might be promoted;" 
 and the second, equally horrible, though in 
 another point of view, was, that errors in re- 
 ligion, when maintained and adhered to after 
 proper admonition, were punishable with civil 
 penalties and corporal tortures." Of these 
 erroneous maxims the former was now of a 
 long standing; it had been adopted for some 
 ages past, and had produced an incredible num- 
 ber of ridiculous fibles, fictitious prodigies, and 
 pious frauds, to the unspeakable detriment of 
 that glorious cause in which they were em- 
 ployed. And it must be franlvly confessed, 
 that the greatest men, and most eminent saints 
 of this century, were more or less tainted with 
 the infection of this con-upt principle, as will i 
 appear evidently to such as look with an at- ' 
 tentive eye into their writings and their ac- 
 tions. We would willingly except, from this j 
 charge, Ambrose and Hilary, Augustin, Gre- 
 gory Naziauzen, and Jerome ; but truth, 
 which is more respectable tlian these vener- i 
 able fathers, obliges us to involve them in \ 
 the general accusation. We may add also, 
 that it was, probably, the contagion of this : 
 pernicious maxim, that engaged Sulpitius Se- i 
 verus, who is far from being, in general, a i 
 puerile or credulous historian, to attribute so 
 '. '. ' — "■ ^ 
 
 * Whoever is desirous of a more ample account of the 
 vices of the monks in this century, may consult the above 
 mentioned dialogue of Sulp. Sever, cap. viii. p. 69, 70. 
 cap. xxi. p. 88, where he particularly chastises the arro- 
 gance and ambition of those who aspired to clerical 
 honours. See also Dial. ii. cap. viii. and also cap. xv., 
 and Consultat. Apollonii et Zachaei, published by Dache- 
 rius, Spicilec;. tom. i. lib. iii. cap. iii. 
 
 f See J. Godofred. ad Codicem Tbeodosianum, tom. vi. 
 
 many miracles to St. Martin. The other 
 maxim, relating to the justice and expediency 
 of punishing error, was introduced in those 
 serene and peaceful times which the accession 
 of Constantino to the imperial throne procured 
 to the church. It was from that period ap- 
 proved by many, enforced by several examples 
 durincr the contests that arose with the Priscil- 
 lianists and Donatists, confirmed and establish- 
 ed by the authority of Augustin, and thus 
 transmitted to the following ages. 
 
 XVII. When we cast an eye toward the 
 lives and morals of Christians at this time, we 
 find, as formerly, a mi.xture of good and evil; 
 some eminent for their piety, others infamous 
 for their crimes. The number, however, of 
 immoral and unworthy Christians began so to 
 increase, that the examples of real piety and 
 virtue became extremely rare. When the ter- 
 rors of persecution were totally dispelled; 
 when the church, secured from the efforts of 
 its enemies, enjoyed the sweets of prosperity 
 and peace; when the major part of the bishops 
 exhibited to their flock the contagious exam- 
 ples of arrogance, lu.xury, effeminacy, animos- 
 ity, and strife, with other vices too numerous 
 to mention; when the inferior rulers and doc- 
 tors of the church fell into a slotloful and op- 
 probrious negligence of the duties of their 
 respective stations, and employed, in vain 
 wranglings and idle disputes, that zeal and at- 
 tention which vi'ere due to the culture of piety 
 and to the instruction of their people; and 
 when (to complete the enormity of this horrid 
 detail) multitudes were drawn into the profes- 
 sion of Christianity, not by the power of con- 
 viction and argument, but by the prospect of 
 gain or by the fear of punishment; then it was, 
 indeed, no wonder that the church was con- 
 taminated with shoals of profligate Christians, 
 and that the virtuous few were, in a manner, op- 
 pressed and overwhelmed by the superior num 
 hers of the wicked and licentious. It is true, 
 tliat the same rigorous penitence, which hao 
 taken place befoj-e the time of Constantino 
 continued now in full force against flagrant 
 transgressors; but, when the reign of corruption 
 becomes universal, the vigour of the law yields 
 to its sway, and a weak execution defeats the 
 purposes of the most salutaiy discipline. Such 
 was now unhappily the case: the age was gra- 
 dually sinking from one period of corruption 
 to another; the great and the powerful simied 
 with impunity; and the obscure and the indi- 
 gent alone felt the severity of the laws. 
 
 XVIII. Religious controversies among Chris- 
 tians were frequent in this century; and, as it 
 often happens in the course of civil affairs, ex- 
 ternal peace gave occasion and leisure for the 
 excitation of intestine troubles and dissensions. 
 We shall mention some of the principal of these 
 controversies, which produced violent and ob- 
 stinate schisms, not so much, indeed, by their 
 natural tendency, as by incidental occurrences. 
 
 In the beginning of this century, about the 
 year 306, arose the famous Meletian contro- 
 versy, so called, from its author, and whicii, 
 for a loner time, divided the church. Peter, 
 bishop of Alexandria, had deposed, from the 
 episcopal office, Meletius, bishop of Lycopolis 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 117 
 
 in the Upper Egypt. The reasons that occa- 
 sioned this violent act of authority, have not 
 been sufFiciently explained. 
 
 The partisans of Peter allege, that Mnletius 
 had sacrificed to the gods, and ciiargc him also 
 with various crimes;* while others affirm, that 
 his only failing was an excessive severity 
 against the lapsed. f However that may be, 
 Meletius treated the sentence of Peter with 
 the utmost contempt, and not only continued 
 to perform all tiic duties of tlie episcopal func- 
 tion, but even assumed the right of consecrat- 
 ing presbyters; a privilege, which, by the laws 
 of Egypt, belonged only to the bishop of Alex- 
 andria. The venerable gravity and eloquence 
 of Meletius drew many to his party; and, 
 among others, a considerable number of monks 
 adhered to his cause. The council of Nice 
 made several ineffectual attempts to heal this 
 breach; the Meletians, on the other hand, *vhose 
 chief aim was to oppose the authority of the 
 bishop of Alexandria, joined themselves to the 
 Arians, who were his irreconcilable enemies. 
 Hence it happened, that a dispute, which had 
 for its first object the authority and jurisdic- 
 tion of the bishop of Alexandria, gradually de- 
 generated into a religious controversy. The 
 Sleletian party was yet subsisting in the fifth 
 century. J 
 
 XIX. Some time after this, a certain person 
 named Eustathius, was the occasion of great 
 disorders and divisions in Armenia, Pontus, 
 and the neighbouring countries; and he was 
 consequently condemned and excommunicated 
 by the council of Gangra, which soon follow- 
 ed that of Nice. Whether tb.is was the same 
 Eustathius, who was bishop of Sebastia in Ar- 
 menia, and the chief of the Semi-Arians; or 
 whether the ancient historians have confound- 
 ed two different persons of the same name, is 
 a matter extremely difficult to determine. § 
 However that may be, the leader of the Eusta- 
 thian sect does not seem so much chargeable 
 with the corruption of any religious doctrine, 
 as with having set up a fanatical form of sanc- 
 tity, an extravagant system of practical dis- 
 cipline, destructive of the order and liappiness 
 of society; for he prohibited marriage, the use 
 of wine and flesh, feasts of charity, and other 
 things of that nature. He prescribed imme- 
 diate divorce to those who were joined in wed- 
 lock, and is said to have granted to ciiildren 
 and servants the liberty of violating the com- 
 mands of their parents and masters upon pre- 
 texts of a religious nature. || 
 
 XX. Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, 
 a man remarkable for his prudence, the aus- 
 terity of his character, and the steadiness of 
 his resolution and courage, was banished by 
 the emperor Constantius, for having defended 
 the Nicene doctrine, concerning the three per- 
 
 * Athanasiiis, Apologia seciinda, torn. i. op. 
 
 t Epiphanius, Hajrcs. Ixviii. torn. i. op. Sre also Dion. 
 Petavms, Not. in Epiplianiuin, torn. ii. and Sam. Bas- 
 nagii Excrpitat. de Rebus sarris contra Baronium. 
 
 {Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. vi. p. 14. Theodo- 
 ret. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. viii. p. ,548. 
 ■ § See Sam. Basnage, Annnl. Polit. Eccles. torn. ii. 
 
 II Socrates, lib. i. cap. xliii. — So/.omen, lib. iii.cap. xiv. 
 lib. iv. cap. xxiv. — Epiphan. Hssrcs. Ixvi. — Philostorgius, 
 Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xvi. — Wolfg. Oundling, Not. 
 ad Convilium Gangrense. 
 
 sons in the Godhead. He broke the bonds of 
 fraternal communion with Eusebius, bishop of 
 Verceil, in the year 361?, because the latter had 
 consecrated Paulinus, bishop of Antioch; and 
 he afterwards separated liimself from the 
 whole church, on account of the absolution 
 which it had decreed in favour of those who, 
 under Constantius, liad deserted to the Arians.* 
 The small tribe, at least, that followed this pre- 
 late, under the title of Luciferians, scrupu- 
 lously and obstinately avoided all commerce 
 and fellowship, both with those bishops who 
 had declared themselves in favour of the Arians, 
 and with those also who consented to an abso- 
 lution for such as returned from this desertion, 
 and acknowledged their error; and thus of con- 
 .sequence they dissolved the bonds of their com- 
 munion with the church in general. f The Lu- 
 ciferians are also said to have entertained erro- 
 neous notions concerning the human soul, 
 whose generation the}' considered as of a car- 
 nal nature, and maintained, that it was trans- 
 fused from the parents into the children. + 
 
 XXI. About this time jErius, a presbyter 
 monk, and a Somi-.\rian, erected a new sect, 
 and e.xcited divisions throughout Armenia, 
 Pont as, and Cappadocia, by propagating opin- 
 ions different from those which were com- 
 monly received. His principal tenet was, that 
 bishops were not distinguished from presbyters 
 by any divine right, but that, according to the 
 institution of the New Testament, their offices 
 and authority were absolutely the same. How 
 far jErius pursued this opinion, through its na- 
 tural consoquences, is not certainly known; but 
 we know, with certainty, that it was highly 
 agreeable to many good Christians, who were 
 no longer able to bear the tyranny and arro- 
 gance of the bishops of this century. Tliere 
 were other things in which .■Erius differed from 
 the common notions of the time; he condemn- 
 ed prayers for the dead, stated fasts, the cele- 
 bration of Easter, and other rites of that na- 
 ture, in which the multitude erroneously ima- 
 gine that the life and soul of religion consists. § 
 His great purpose seems to have been that of 
 reducing Christianity to its primitive simplicity; 
 a purpose, indeed, laudable and noble when con- 
 sidered in itself, though the principles whence 
 it springs, and the means by which it is exe- 
 cuted, may in some respects deserve censure. || 
 
 * Rulin. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. xxx. — Socrates, lib. 
 iii.cap. ix. .See also Tillemont's Memoires poor servir 
 a I'Histoire de I'Eglise, torn. vii. 
 
 t See, in the works of Sirmond, a book of Prayers, 
 addressed to Tlieodosius by Marcelliiius and Faustiiius, 
 who were Luciferians. 
 
 I Augustin. do Haercs. cap. Ixxxi.with the observations 
 of Lamb. Dana:us, p. 346. 
 
 § Epiphauitis, Hreres. Ixxv. p. 90,5. — Augustin. de 
 Hipres. cap. liii. 
 
 Oj^ II The desire of reducing religions worship to the 
 greatest possible simplicity, however rational it may ap- 
 pear in itself, when abstractedly considered, will be con- 
 siderably moderated in such as bestow a moment's atten- 
 tion upon the imperfection and infirmities of human na- 
 ture in its present state. Mankind, generally speaking, 
 have too little elevation of mind to be much affected with 
 those forms and methods of worship, in which there is 
 nothing striking to the outward senses. The great dif- 
 ficulty lies in determining the lengths, which it is pru- 
 dent to go in the. accommodation of religious ceremoniei 
 to human infirmity; and the grand point is, to fix a medium, 
 in which a due regard may be shown to the seD-ses and 
 imagination, without violating the dictates of right rea- 
 
118 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 XXII. Tlie progress of superstition in this 
 century, and the erroneous notions that pre- 
 vailed concerning the true nature of rehgion, 
 excited the zeal and the efforts of many to stem 
 the torrent. But their labours only exposed 
 them to infamy and reproach. Of these wor- 
 thy opposers of the reigning superstitions, the 
 most eminent was .Tovinian, an Italian monk, 
 who, toward the conclusion of this century, 
 taught first at Rome, and afterwards at Milan, 
 that all those who kept tlie vows they made to 
 Christ at their baptism, and lived according to 
 tlie rules of piety and virtue laid down in the 
 Gospel, had an equal title to the rewards of 
 futurity; and that, consequently, those who 
 passed their days in insocial celibacy, and se- 
 vere mortifications and fastings, were in no re- 
 spect more acceptable in the eye of God, than 
 those who lived virtuously in the bonds of mar- 
 riage, and nourished their bodies with modera- 
 tion and temperance. These judicious opin- 
 ions, which many began to adopt, were first 
 condemned by the church of Rome, and after- 
 wards by Ambrose, in a council holden at Mi- 
 lan in the year 390.* The emperor Honorius 
 seconded the authoritative proceedings of the 
 bishops by the violence of the secular arm, an- 
 swered the judicious reasonings of Jovinian by 
 the terror of coercive and penal laws, and ban- 
 ished this pretended heretic to the island of 
 Boa. Jovinian published his opinions in a 
 book, against which Jerome, in the following 
 century, wrote a most bitter and abusive trea- 
 tise, still extant. t 
 
 XX III. Among all the religious controver- 
 .sies that divided the church, tiiemost celebrat- 
 ed, both for their importance and tlieir dura- 
 tion, were those relating toOrigen and liis doc- 
 trine. 
 
 Tliis illustrious man, though he had been, 
 for a long time, charged with many errors, was 
 deemed, by the generality of Christians, an ob- 
 ject of high veneral ion; and his name was so 
 sacred as to give weight to the cause in which 
 it appeared. The Arians, who were sagacious 
 in searching for succours on all sides to main- 
 tain their sect, affirmed that Origen had adopt- 
 ed their opinions. In this they were believed 
 by some, who consequently included tliis great 
 man in tlie hatred which they entertained 
 against the sect of the Arians. But several 
 writers of the first learning and note opposed 
 this report, and endeavoured to vindicate the 
 honour of their master from these injurious in- 
 sinuations. Of these the most eminent was 
 
 son, or tariiis'iiing the purity of true religion. It has 
 been said, that the Romish church has gone thus far 
 solely ill condescension to the inlirmities of mankind; and 
 this is what the ablest defenders of its motley worsliip 
 have alleged in its behalf. But this observaliou is not 
 just: the church of Rome has not so much accommodated 
 itself to human weakness, as it has abused that weakness 
 by taking occasion from it to establish an absurd variety 
 of ridiculous ceremonies, destructive of true religion, 
 and only adapted to promote the riches and despotism of 
 the clergy, and to keep the multitude still hoodwinked 
 in their ignorance and superstition. How far a just 
 antipathy to the church puppet-shows of the Papists has 
 unjustly driven some Protestant churches into the op- 
 posite cvtreme, is a matter that I shall not now examine, 
 though it certainly deserve? a serious consideration. 
 
 * Hieronynius in Jovinianum, torn. ii. op. -Auguslin. 
 de Haeres. cap. Uxxii. — Ainbros. Epist. vi. 
 
 f Codex Tbeodcianus, torn. iii. vi. 
 
 Eusebius, bishop of Csesarea, as appears by his 
 learned work, entitled. An Apology for Ori- 
 gen. It is extremely probable, that these cla- 
 mours raised against the memory and reputa- 
 tion of a man, whom the whole Christian world 
 beheld with respect, would have been soon 
 liushed, had it not been for the rise of new 
 commotions, which proceeded from another 
 source, and of which we shall treat in the fol- 
 lowing section. 
 
 XXIV.. The monks in general, and the Egyp- 
 tian monks in particular, were enthusiastically 
 devoted to Origen, and spared no labour to 
 propagate his opinions in all places. Their 
 zeal, however, met with opposition, nor could 
 they convince all Christians of the truth and 
 soundness of the notions invented or adopted 
 by that eminent writer. Hence arose a con- 
 troversy concerning the reasons and founda- 
 tions of Origenism, which was at first manag- 
 ed in a private manner, but afterwards, by de- 
 grees, broke out into an open flame. Among 
 the numerous partisans of Origen, was John, 
 bishop of Jerusalem; which furnished Epipha- 
 nius and Jerome with a pretext to cast an 
 odium upon this prelate, against whom they 
 had been previously exasperated on other ac- 
 counts. But the ingenious bishop conducted 
 matters with such admirable dexterity, that, in 
 defending himself, he vindicated, at the same 
 time, the reputation of Origen, and di-ew to 
 his party the whole monastic body, and also a 
 prodigious number of those who were specta- 
 tors of this interesting combat. This was 
 merely the beginning of the vehement contests 
 concerning the doctrine of Origen, that were 
 carried on both in the eastern and western pro- 
 vinces. Tliese contests were particularly fo- 
 mented in the west by Rufinus, a presbyter of 
 Aquileia, who translated into Latin several 
 books of Origen, and insinuated, with suffi- 
 cient plainness, that he acquiesced in the sen- 
 timents they contained,* wliich drew upon liim 
 the implacable rage of the learned and choleric 
 Jerome. But these commotions seemed to 
 cease in the west after tlie death of Rufinus, 
 and in consequence of the etforts which men 
 of the first order made to check, both by their 
 authority and by their writings, the progress of 
 Origenism in those parts. 
 
 XXV. The troubles which the writings and 
 doctrines of Origen e.vcited in the east were 
 more grievous and obstinate. Theophilus, 
 bishop of Alexandria, irritated for several rea- 
 sons against the Nitrian monks, represented 
 tliera as infected with tlie contagion of Origen- 
 ism, and ordered them to give up and abandon 
 all the productions of Origen. The monks re- 
 fused obedience to this command, and alleged 
 in their defence two considerations: one was, 
 that the passages in the writings of this holy 
 and venerable man, wliich seemed to swerve 
 from the truth, were inserted in them by ill- 
 designing heretics; and the other, that a few 
 censurable things were not sufficient to justify 
 the condemnation of the rest. Matters were 
 more exasperated by this refusal of submission 
 to the order of Theophilus; for this violent pre- 
 
 * Sec Just. Fontaninus, Historia Literar. Aquileieusis, 
 lib. iv. cap. iii. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 119 
 
 late called a council at Alexandria, in the year 
 399, in which, having condemned the followers 
 of Origen, he sent a band of soldiers to drive 
 the monks from their residence on mount Ni- 
 tria. The poor monks, thus scattered abroad 
 by an armed force, fled first to Jerusalem, 
 whence they retired to Scythopolis; and, find- 
 ing that they could not live here in socin-ity 
 and peace, determined, at length, to set sail for 
 Constantinople, and there plead their cause in 
 presence of the emperor.* The issue of these 
 proceedings will come under the history of the 
 following century. 
 
 It is, however, necessary to observe here, 
 that we must not reduce to the same class all 
 those who are called Origenists in the records 
 of this century; for this ambiguous title is ap- 
 plied to persons who differed widely in tlieir 
 religious notions. Sometimes it merely signi- 
 fies such friends of Origen, as acknowledged 
 his writings to have been adulterated in many 
 places, and who were far from patronising the 
 errors of which he was accused; in other places, 
 this title is attributed to those who confess Ori- 
 gen to be the author of all the doctrines which 
 are imputed to him, and who resolutely sup- 
 port and defend his opinions; of which latter 
 there was a considerable number among the 
 monastic orders. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 
 Church during this Century. 
 
 I. While the Roman emperors were studi- 
 ous to promote the honour of Christianity by 
 the auspicious protection they afforded to the 
 church, and to advance its interests by their 
 most zealous efforts, the inconsiderate and ill- 
 directed piety of the bis]io|)s cast a cloud over 
 the beauty and simplicity of the Gospel, by the 
 prodigious number of rites and ceremonies 
 which they had invented to embellish it. And 
 here we may apply that well-known saying of 
 Augustin,f tiiat " tlie yoite under which the 
 Jews formerly groaned, wns more tolerable 
 than that imposed upon many Christians in his 
 time." The rites and institutions, by which 
 the Greeks, Romans, and other nations, had 
 formerly testified their religious veneration for 
 fictitious deities, were now adopted, v/ith some 
 slight alterations, by Christian bisliops, and 
 employed in the service of the true God. We 
 have already mentioned the reasons alleged for 
 this imitation, so likely to disgust all who have 
 a just sense of the native beauty of geimine 
 Christianity. These fervent heralds of tlic 
 Gospel, whose zeal outran their candour and in- 
 tegrity, imagined that the nations would re- 
 ceive Ciiristianity with more facility, wiien they 
 saw the rites and ceremonies to which they 
 were accustomed, adopted in the church, and 
 the same worship paid to Christ and liis mar- 
 tyrs, which thoy had formerly offered to tlicir 
 idol deities, llence it happened, that, in these 
 
 * See Pierre Daniel Huet, Origeniana, lib. ii. cap. iv. — 
 Louis Doucin, Histoire de I'On'Konisme, livr. iii. — Hier. 
 a Prato, Diss. vi. in Sulpitium Severum de Monarhis ob 
 Origcnis nomen ex Nitria totaque -Kgypto piilais, p. 273. 
 
 t Au^iistin. Epist. cxix. ad Jannarium, according to 
 the ancient division. 
 
 times, the religion of the Greeks and Romans 
 differed very little, in its external appearance, 
 from that of the Christians. They had both 
 a most pompous and splendid ritual. Gorge- 
 ous robes, mitres, tiaras, wa.x-tapers, crosiers,* 
 processions,! lustrations, images, gold and sil- 
 ver vases, and many such circumstances of pa- 
 giitt'itry, were equally to be seen in the heathen 
 temples and in the Christian churches. 
 
 II. No sooner had Constantino abolished the 
 superstitions of his ancestors, than magnificent 
 churches were every wliere erected for the 
 Christians, which were richly adorned with 
 pictures and images, and bore a striking re- 
 semblance to the pagan temples, both in their 
 outward and inward form.;J; Of these churches 
 some were built over the tombs of martyrs, 
 and were frequented only at staled times; while 
 others were set apart for the ordinary assem- 
 blies of Christians in divine worship. The 
 former were called Maiiyria, from the places 
 where they were erected; and the latter Tituli.^ 
 Both of them were consecrated with great 
 pomp, and with certain rites borrowed mostly 
 from the ancient laws of the Roman pontiflTs. 
 
 But our wonder will not cease liore; it will 
 rather be augmented when we learn, that, at 
 this time, it was looked upon as an essential 
 part of religion, to have in every country a 
 nultitude of churches; and here we must look 
 fur the true origin of what is called the right 
 of patronage, which was introduced among 
 Christians with no other view than to encour- 
 age the opulent to erect a great number of 
 churciies, by giving them the privilege of ap- 
 pointing the ministers that were to officiate in 
 them. II This was a new instance of that ser- 
 vile imitation of the ancient superstitions which 
 reigned at this time; for it was a very common 
 nt>tion among the people of old, that nations 
 and provinces were happy and i'ree from dan- 
 ger, in proportion to the number of fanes and 
 temples, which they consecrated to the worsliip 
 of gods and heroes, whose protection and suc- 
 cour could not fail, as it was thought, to be 
 
 (fij=- * The lituus, which, among the ancient Romans, 
 was the chief ensign of the augurs, and derived its naDK 
 from its resemblance to the military trumpet, became a 
 mark of episcopal dignity. We call it the crosier, or 
 bishop's staff. 
 
 (ilj- t The word supjdie'ilione.^, -which I hare rendered 
 by Ihal of processiojw, signified, among the pagans, those 
 solemn and public acts of gratiUidc for national blessings, 
 or deprecation of national calamities, which were ex- 
 pressed by the whole body of the people by a religious 
 approach to the temples of the gods, which, by a decree 
 of the senate, were open to all without distinction. See 
 Cic. Catil. iii. 6. Liv. x. 23. 
 
 } Sec Ezek.Spanhfim, Preuves snrlesCcsarsde Julien, 
 and particularly Le Brun's Explication litcrale et histori- 
 (|»e des (;ereinonies de la Messe, torn. ii. A description 
 of these churches may be found in Eusebius, devita Con- 
 stantini M. lib. iii. cap. xxxv. and an exact plan of their 
 interior structure is accurately engraven in bishop Bever- 
 ege's Adnolationes in Pandectas Canonum, torn, ii.aiid in 
 Frederic Spanheim's Institut. Hist. Eccles. It must 
 also be observed, that certain parts of the Christian 
 churches were formed ader the model of the Jewish tem- 
 ples. See Camp. Vitringa de Synagoga vetere, lib. iii. 
 
 ^ Jo. Mabillon, Mus. Ital. torn. li. in Comment, ad 
 ordin. Roman, p. xvi. (tij- The Tituli were the smaller 
 churches, so called from this circumstance, that the 
 presbyters, who officiated in them, were called by the 
 names of the places where they were erected, t. e. re- 
 ceived titles, which fixed them to those particular cures. 
 
 II Just. Hen. Bohmeri Jus Eccles. Protestant, torn. iii. 
 p. 466.— Bibliotheque Italique, torn. v. p. 166. 
 
120 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 shed abundantly upon those who worshipped 
 them with sucli zeal, and honoured them with 
 so many marks of veneration and respect. The 
 Christians unhappily contracted the same erro- 
 neous way of thinking. The more numerous 
 were the temples which tliey erected in honour 
 of Christ, and his chosen friends and followers, 
 the more sanguine did their expectations gii^-v 
 of powerful succours from them, and of a pe- 
 culiar interest in the divine protection. They 
 were so weak as to imagine, that God, Christ, 
 and celestial intelligences, were delighted with 
 tiiose marks and testimonies of respect, which 
 captivate the hearts of wretched mortals. 
 
 III. The Christian worship consisted in 
 hymns, prayers, the reading of the Scriptures, 
 and a discourse addressed to the people; and 
 concluded with the celebration of the Lord's 
 supper. To these were added various rites, 
 more adapted to please the eyes, and strike the 
 imagination, than to kindle in the heart the 
 pure and sacred flame of genuine piety.* We 
 are not, however, to think, that the same 
 method of worship was uniforml3' followed in 
 every Christian society; for this was far from 
 being the case. Every bishop, consulting his 
 own private judgment, and taking into consi- 
 deration the nature of the times, the genius of 
 the country in which he lived, and the character 
 and temper of those whom he was appointed 
 to rule and instruct, formed such a plan of di- 
 vine worship as he thought the wisest and the 
 best. Hence arose that variety of liturgies 
 which were in use, before the bishop of Rome 
 had usurped the supreme power in religious 
 matters, and persuaded the credulous and un- 
 thinking, that the model, both of doctrine and 
 worship, was to be given by the mother-church, 
 and to be followed implicitly tliroughout the 
 Christian world. 
 
 IV. It would be almost endless to enter into 
 a minute detail of all the diiferent parts of 
 public worship, and to point out the disadvan- 
 tageous changes they underwent. A few ob- 
 servations will he sufficient upon this head. 
 The public prayers had lost much of the solemn 
 and majestic simplicity that characterised them 
 in the primitive times, and which now began 
 to degenerate into a vain and swelling bom- 
 bast. The Psalms of David were now receiv- 
 ed among the public hymns that were smig as 
 a part of divine service-! The sermons, or 
 public discourses addressed to the people, were 
 composed according to the rules of human 
 eloquence, and rather adapted to excite the 
 stupid admiration of the populace, who delight 
 in vain embellishments, than to enlighten the 
 understanding, or to reform the heart. It 
 would even seem as if all possible means had 
 been industriously used, to give an air of folly 
 and extravagance to the Christian assemblies; 
 for the people were permitted, and e-ren ex- 
 horted by the preacher himself, to crown his 
 
 * For a full account of the forms of public worship, or 
 the liturgies of this century, the reader will do well to 
 consult the twenty-second catechetical discourse of Cyril 
 of Jerusalem, and the apostolical constitutions, which 
 are falsely attributed to Clement of Rome. These wri- 
 ters are most learnedly illustrated and explained by 
 Pierre Le Brun, in his Explication literale et historique 
 de laMessc, tom. ii. 
 
 f Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 614. 
 
 talents with clapping of hands and loud accla- 
 mations of applause;* a recompense that was 
 liitherto peculiar to the actors on the theatre, 
 and the orators in the forum. How men, set 
 apart by their profession to exliibit examples 
 of the contempt of vain glory, and to demon- 
 strate to others the vanity and emptiness of all 
 temporal things, could indulge such a senseless 
 and indecent ambition, is difficult to be con- 
 ceived, though it is highly to be deplored. 
 
 V. The first day of the week, which was the 
 ordinary and stated time for the public assem- 
 blies of Christians, was, in consequence of a 
 peculiar law enacted by Constantino, observed 
 with greater solemnity than it had formerly 
 been.f The festivals celebrated in most of the 
 churches, were five in number. They were ap- 
 pointed in conuuemoration of the birth, the 
 sutferings and death, the resurrection and the 
 ascension of the divine Saviour; and also the 
 effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles 
 and first heralds of the Gospel on the day of 
 Pentecost. Of these festivals, the Christians 
 kept none with so much solemnity and respect 
 as the fourteen days that were appointed for the 
 coimueraoration of the resurrection. + 
 
 The eastern Christians celebrated the memo- 
 ry of Christ's birth and baptism in one festival, 
 which was fixed on the sixth of January; and 
 this day was by them called the Epiphany, as 
 on it tiie immortal Saviour was manitested to 
 the world. § On the other hand, the Christians 
 of the west seem to have always celebrated the 
 birth of our Lord on the 25th of December; 
 for there appears to be very little certainty 
 in the accounts of those who allege, that the 
 Roman pontiif, Julius I., removed the festival 
 of Christ's birth from the 6 th of January to the 
 26th of December. II 
 
 The unlucky success which some had in dis- 
 covering the carcasses and remains of certain 
 holy men, multiplied the festivals and com- 
 memorations of the martyrs in the most extra- 
 vagant manner. The increase of these festivals 
 would not have been oifensive to the wise and 
 the good, if Christians had employed the time 
 they took up, in promoting their spiritual in- 
 terests, and in forming habits of sanctity and 
 virtue. But the contrary happened. These 
 days, which were set apart for pious exercises, 
 were squandered away in indolence, voluptu- 
 ousness, and criminal pursuits, and were less 
 consecrated to the service of God, than em- 
 ployed in the indulgence of sinful passions. It 
 is well known, among other things, what op- 
 portunities of sinning were offered to the licen- 
 tious, by what were called the vigils of Easter 
 and Whitsimtide, or Pentecost. 
 
 VI. Fastingwas considered, in this century, 
 as the most effectual and powerful means of 
 repelling the force, and disconcerting the strat- 
 agems of evil spirits, and of appeasing the an- 
 ger of an offended Deity. Hence we may 
 easily understand what induced the rulers of 
 
 * Franc. Bern. Ferrarius, de Veterum Acclainationi- 
 bus et Plausu, p. 66. 
 
 t Jac. Godofred. ad Codicem Theodos. tom. i. p. 135. 
 
 } Godofred. tom. i. p. 143. 
 
 \ Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 693. 
 
 II See Jos. Sim. Asseman. Biblioth. Orient. Clement. 
 Vatican, tom. ii. and Alph. des Vignoles, Diss, dans la 
 Bibliotheqne Germanique, torn. ii. 
 
Chap. V 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 121 
 
 the church to estabUsh this custom by express 
 laws, and to impose, as an indispensable duty, 
 an act of humiliation, the observance of which 
 had hitherto been left to every one's choice. 
 The Quadragesimal or Leiit-fast was regarded 
 as more sacred than all the rest, though it was 
 not yet. confined to a fixed number of days.* 
 We must, however, remark, that the fasts ob- 
 served in this century, were very different from 
 those which were solemnised in the preceding 
 times. Formerly those who submitted them- 
 selves to the discipline of fasting abstained 
 wholly from meat and drink; but now a mere 
 abstinence from flesh and wine was, by many, 
 judged sufficient for the purposes of fasting,! 
 and the latter opinion prevailed from this time, 
 and became universal among the Latins. 
 
 VII. Baptismal fonts were now erected in 
 the porch of each church, for the more com- 
 modious administration of that initiating sa- 
 crament. Baptism was administered during 
 the vigils of Easter and Whitsuntide, v.'ith 
 lighted tapers, by the bishop, and the presby- 
 ters commissioned by liim for that purpose. 
 In cases, however, of urgent necessity, and in 
 such only, a dispensation was granted for per- 
 forming this sacred rite at other times than 
 those now mentioned. In some places salt was 
 employed, as a symbol of purity and wisdom, 
 and was thrown, with this view, into the mouth 
 of tiie person baptised; and a double unction 
 was everywhere used in the celebration of tliis 
 ordinance, one preceding its administration, 
 and the other following it. The persons who 
 were admitted into the church by baptism, 
 were obliged, after the celebration of that holy 
 ordinance, to go clothed in white garments 
 during the space of seven days. Many other 
 rites and ceremonies might be mentioned here; 
 but, as they neither acquired stability by their 
 duration, nor received the sanction of univer- 
 sal approbation and consent, we shall pass them 
 over in silence. 
 
 VIII. The institution of catechumens, and 
 the discipline through wiiich they passed, suf- 
 fered no variation in this century, but contiim- 
 ed upon its ancient footing. It appears far- 
 ther, by innumerable testimonies, that the 
 Lord's supper was administered, (in some pla- 
 ces two or three times in a week, in others on 
 Sunday only,) to all those who were assem- 
 bled to worship God. It was also sometimes 
 celebrated at the tombs of martyrs and at fu- 
 nerals; which custom, undoubtedly, gave rise 
 to the masses, that were afterwards performed 
 in lionour of the saints, and for the benefit of 
 the dead. In many places, the bread and wine 
 were holden up to view before their distribu- 
 tion, that they might be seen by the people, 
 ajid contemplated witii religious respect; and 
 hence, not long after, the adoration of the sym- 
 bols was unquestionably derived. Neither 
 catechumens, i>enitents, nor those who were 
 supposed to be under the influence and impulse 
 of evil spirits, were admitted to this holy or- 
 dinance; nor did the sacred orators in their 
 public discourses ever dare to unfold its true 
 and genuine nature with freedom and simpli- 
 
 * Jo. Dallxiis, de Jejuniis et Quadragesima, lib. it. 
 f See Barbeyrac, de la Morale des Peres, p. 250, 
 
 Vol. I.— 16 
 
 citj'. The reason of thus concealing it from 
 the knowledge and observation of many, was a 
 very mean and shameful one, as we have al- 
 ready observed: many, indeed, ofler a much 
 more decent and satisfactory argument in fa 
 vour of this custom, wlien they allege, that, 
 by these mysterious proceedings, the desire of 
 the catechumens would naturally bum to pene- 
 trate, as soon as was possible, the sublime se- 
 cret, and that they would thereby be animated 
 to prepare themselves with double diligence 
 for receiving this privilege. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Conceiiiing the Divisions and Heresies that trou- 
 bled the Church durivg this CeiifrnT/. 
 
 I. The sects which had sprung up in the pre- 
 ceding ages, transmitted their contagious prin- 
 ciples to this century. Many of them yet re- 
 mained, particularly in the east, and, notwith- 
 standing their absurdity, continued to attract 
 followers. The Manichean faction surpassed 
 the rest in its influence and progress. The 
 very turpitude and enormity of its doctrines 
 seemed to seduce many into its snares; and, 
 what is still more surprising, men of genius 
 and penetration were deluded by its enchant- 
 ments, as the example of Augustin sufficiently 
 testifies. It is true, the wisest and most learn- 
 ed writers of the times (and, among others, 
 Augustin, when he returned from his errors,) 
 endeavoured to oppose the growth of this 
 spreading pestilence; nor were their efforts en- 
 tirely unsuccessful. But the root of tins hor- 
 rible disease was deep; and neither tlie force of 
 argument, nor the severity of the most rigour- 
 ous laws, were suflicient to extirpate it tho- 
 roughly.* For some time, indeed, it seemed 
 to disappear, and many thought it utterly era- 
 dicated; but it gathered force secretly, and 
 broke out afterwards viith new violence. To 
 avoid the severity of the laws, the Manicheans 
 concealed themselves under a variety of names, 
 whicli they adopted successively, and changed, 
 in proportion as they were discovered under 
 them. Thus they assumed the names of En- 
 cratites, Apotactics, Saccophori, Hydroparas- 
 tates. Solitaries, and several others, under 
 which they lay concealed for a certain time, 
 but could not long escape the vigilance of their 
 enemies.f 
 
 II. The state had little danger to apprehend 
 from a sect, which the force of severe laws and 
 of penal restraints could not fail to undermine, 
 gradually, throughout the Roman empire. But 
 a new and much more formidable faction start- 
 ed up in Africa, which, though it arose from 
 small beginnings, afflicted most grievously both 
 the church and state for more than a century. 
 Its origin was as follows: 
 
 Mensurius (bishop of Carthage) dying in 
 
 * The severe laws enacted by the emperors against the 
 Manicheans, are to be found in the Theodosian code, vol. 
 vi. part i. In 372, Valcntinian the elder prohibited their 
 assemblies, and imposed heavy penalties on their doctor*. 
 In 381, Thcodosius the Great branded them with infamy, 
 and deprived thera of all the rights and privileges of 
 citizens. Add, to these, several edicts more dreadful, 
 which may be seen in pages 137, 138, 170, of the above- 
 mentioned work. 
 
 \ See the law of Theodojius, torn. ti. p. IS'l, !ic. 
 
122 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the year 311, the greatest part of the clergy 
 and the people chose, in liis place, the arcli- 
 deacon Ccecilianns, who, without waiting for 
 the assembly of the Niimidian bishops, was 
 consecrated by those of Africa Minor alone. 
 This hasty proceeding was the occasion of 
 much trouble. The Numidian prelates, who 
 had always been present at the consecration of 
 the bishops of Carthage, were highly offended 
 at their being excluded from this solemn cere- 
 mony, and. a.ssembling at Carthage, called Cte- 
 cilianus before them, to give an account of his 
 conduct. The flame, thus kindled, was greatly 
 augmented by several Cartliagiiiian presbyters, 
 who were competitors with Caecilianus, parti- 
 cularlj' Botrus and Celesius. Lucilla, also, an 
 opulent lady, who had been reprimanded by 
 Cfficilianus for her superstitious practices, and 
 had conceived against him a bitter enmity on 
 that account, was active in exasperating the 
 spirits of his adversaries, and distributed a large 
 sura of money among the Numidians, to en- 
 courage them in their opposition to the new 
 bishop. In consequence of all this, Cascilianus, 
 refusing to submit to the judgment of the Nu- 
 midjans, was condemned in a council, assem- 
 bled by Secundus, bishop of Tigisis, consisting 
 of seventy prelates, who, with the consent of 
 a considerable part of tlie clergy and people, 
 declared him unwortliy of the episcopal dig- 
 nity, and chose his deacon Majorinus for his 
 successor. By this proceeding, the Carthagi- 
 nian church was divided into two factions, and 
 groaned under the contests of two rival bish- 
 ops, Caecilianus and Majorinus. 
 
 III. The Numidians alleged two important 
 reasons to justify their sentence against CfEci- 
 lianus; first, that Felix of Aptungus, the cliief 
 of the bishops who assisted at his consecration, 
 was a traditor (i. e. oue of those who, daring 
 the persecution under Diocletian, had deliver- 
 ed the sacred writings and the pious books of 
 the Christians to the magistrates in order to be 
 burned;) and tliat, as he had thus apostatised 
 from the service of Clirist, it was not possible 
 that he could impart the Holy Ghost to the 
 new bishop. A second reason for their sen- 
 tence against Ca3cilianus was drawn from tlie 
 harshness and even cruelty that he had discov- 
 ered in his conduct, while he was a deacon, to- 
 wards the Cliristian confessors and martyrs 
 during the persecution above-mentioned, whom 
 he aba)idoned, in the most merciless manner, 
 to all the extremities of hunger and want, 
 leaving them without food in their prisons, and 
 precluding the grant of relief from those who 
 were willing to succour them. To these accu- 
 sations they added the insolent contumacy of 
 the new prelate, who refused to obey their sum- 
 mons, and to api)ear before them in council to 
 justify his conduct. 
 
 There was none of the Numidians who op- 
 posed Csecilianus witii such bitterness and ve- 
 hemence, as Donatus, bishop of Casee Nigrse, 
 and hence the whole faction was called after 
 him, as most writers think; though some are 
 of opinion, that they derived this name from 
 another Donatus, wliom the Donatists surnam- 
 ed the Great.* This controversy, in a short 
 
 * In the taction ol" the DouatisU, there were two emiueut 
 
 time, spread far and wide, not only throughout 
 Numidia, but even through all the provinces 
 of Africa, which entered so zealously into this 
 ecclesiastical war, that in most cities there were 
 two bishops, one at the head of CiEcilianus's 
 party, and the other acknowledged by the fol- 
 lowers of RIajorinus. 
 
 IV. The Donatists having brought this con- 
 troversy before Constantine, that prince, in the 
 year 313, connnissioned Melchiades, bishop of 
 Rome, to examine the matter, and named threo 
 bishops of Gaul to assist him in this inquiry 
 The result of this examination was favourablfs 
 to Caecilianus, wlio wa^ entirel}' acquitted of 
 the crimes laid to his charge. The accusations 
 adduced against Felix, by whom he was conse- 
 crated, were at that time left out of the ques- 
 tion; but, in the year 314, the cause of that 
 prelate v»as examined separately by JClian, pro- 
 consul of Africa, by whose decision he was ab- 
 solved. The Donatists, whose cause necessa- 
 rily suffered by tliese proceedings, complained 
 niucli of the judgment pronounced by Melchi- 
 ades and iElian. The small number of bish- 
 ops, that had been appointed to examine their 
 cause jointly with Melchiades, excited, in a par- 
 ticular manner, their reproaches, and even their 
 contempt. Tiiey looked upon the decision of 
 seventy venerable Numidian prelates as infi- 
 nitely more respectable than that pronounced 
 by nineteen bishops (for such was the number 
 assembled at*^ Rome,) who, besides the infe- 
 riority of their number, were not sufficiently 
 acquainted with tlie African affairs to be com- 
 petent judges in the present question. The in- 
 dulgent emperor, willing to remove these spe- 
 cious complaints, ordered a second and a much 
 more numerous assembly to meet at Aries in 
 the year 314, composed of bishops from vari- 
 ous provinces, from Italy, Gaul, Germany, and 
 Spain. Here again the Donatists lost their 
 cause, but renewed tlieir efforts by appealing 
 to the immediate judgment of the emperor, who 
 condescended so far as to admit their appeal; 
 and, in consequence thereof, examined the 
 whole affair himself in the year 316, at Milan, 
 in presence of the contending parties. The 
 issue of this third trial was not more favourable 
 to the Donatists than that of the two preceding 
 councils, whose decisions the emperor confirm- 
 ed by the sentence he pronounced. f Hence 
 
 persons of the name of Donatus; one was a Numidian, 
 and bishop of Casse-Nigrre; the other succeeded Majori- 
 nus, oishop of Cartilage, as leader of the Donatists, and 
 received from this sect, on account of his learning and vir- 
 tue, the title of Donatus tlie Great. Hence it has been a 
 question among the learned, from which of these the sect 
 derived its name? The arguments that support the dif- 
 ferent sides of this trivial question are nearly of equal 
 force; and why may we not decide it by supposing that 
 the Donatists were so called from them both.' 
 
 (p^ * The emperor, in his letter to Melchiades, named 
 no more than three prelates, viz. Maternus, Rheticius, 
 and Marinus, bishops of Cologne, Autun, and Aries, to 
 sit with him as judges of this controversy; but afterward* 
 he ordered seven more to be added to the number, and as 
 many as could soon and conveniently assemble; so that 
 there were at last nineteen in all. 
 
 t The proofs of the supreme power of the emperors, in 
 religious matters, appear so incontestable in this contro- 
 versy, that it is amazing it sliould ever have been called 
 in question. Certain it is, that, at this time, the notion 
 of a supreme judge set over the church universal, by the 
 appointment of Christ, never had entered into any inie's 
 head. The assemblies of the clergy at Rome and Arlei 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 ri3 
 
 this perverse sect loaded Constantine with tlie 
 bitterest reproaches, and mahciously complain- 
 ed that Osius, bishop of Cordova, who was 
 lionoured with his friendship, and was inti- 
 mately connected with Cieciliaiius, had, by cor- 
 rupt insinuations, engaged him to pronounce 
 an unrighteous sentence. The emperor, ani- 
 mated with a just indig-nation at sucli odious 
 proceedings, deprived tiie Donatists of their 
 churches in Africa, and sent into banishment 
 their seditious bisliops; and he carried his re- 
 sentment so far as to put some of them to death, 
 probabl}' on account of the intolerable petu- 
 lance and malignity they discovered, l>oth in 
 their writings and in their discourses. Hence 
 arose violent commotions and tumults in Africa, 
 as the Uonatists were exceedingly powerful and 
 numerous in that part of tlie empire. Con- 
 stantine endeavoured, by ambassies and nego- 
 tiations, to allay these disturiiances; but his ef- 
 forts were fruitless. 
 
 V. These unhappy commolirms gave rise, no 
 doubt, to a horrible confederacy of desperate 
 ruffians, who passed under the name of Cir- 
 cumcelliones. This furious, fenrlcss, and bloody 
 set of men, composed of the rough and savage 
 populace, who embraced the party of t!ie Do- 
 natists, maintained their cause by the force of 
 arms, filled the African provinces with slaugh- 
 ter and rapine, and committed the most enor- 
 mous acts of perfidy and cruelty against tb.e 
 followers of Ceeciliaiius. This outrageous 
 multitude, whom no prospect of sutT'erings 
 could terrify, and who, upon urgent occasions, 
 faced death itself witli the most audacious 
 temerity, contributed to render tlie sect of the 
 Donatists an object of the utmost abhorrence; 
 though it cannot be proved, by any records of 
 undoubted authority, that tb.e bishops of that 
 faction (those, at least, Vv'ho had any reputation 
 for piety and virtue) either approved the pro- 
 ceedintrs, or stirred up the violence of tliis 
 odious rabble. In the mean time, the flame of 
 discord gathered strength daily, and seemed to 
 portend tlie approaching horrors of a civil war; 
 to prevent wiiich, Constantine, having tried in 
 vain every other method of accommodation, 
 abrogated at last, by the advice of tiie govern- 
 ors of Africa, the laws that had been enacted 
 against the Donatists, and allowed to the peo- 
 ple a full liberty of adhering to that party 
 which they in their minds preferred. 
 
 VI. After the death of Constantine the 
 Great, his son Constans, to whom Africa was 
 allotted in the division of the empire, sent Ma- 
 earins and Paulus into that province, witii a 
 view to heal this deplorable schism, and to en- 
 gage the Donatists to conclude a peace. Their 
 principal bishop opposed all methods of recon- 
 ciliation with t!ie utmost vehemence, and his 
 example was followed by the other prelates of 
 the party. Tlie Circumcelliones also continued 
 to support tiie cause of the Donatists by assas- 
 sinations and massacres, e.Kecuted with the 
 most unrelenting fur3^ They were, however, 
 stopped in their career, and were defeated by 
 Macarins in the battle of Bagnia. Upon this, 
 the affairs of the Donatists rapidly declined: 
 
 are commonly called council':, but improperly, since, in 
 reality, they were nothing more than meetings of judges 
 or commias^irics appointed by the emperor. 
 
 I and Macarius no longer used the soft voice of 
 persuasion to engage them to an accommoda- 
 ! tion, but employed his authority for that pur 
 1 pose. A few submitted; the greatest part saved 
 I themselves by flight; numbers were sent into 
 1 banishment, among whom was Donatns the 
 Great; and many of them were punished with 
 the utmost severity. During these troubles, 
 i which continued near thirteen years, several 
 steps were taken against the Donatists, \Vhich 
 the equitable and impartial will be at a loss to 
 reconcile with the dictates of humanity and 
 ! justice; nor, indeed, do the Catliolics tlicm- 
 ' selves deny the truth of this assertion.* Such 
 ' treatment naturally excited, among the Dona- 
 tists, loud complaints of the cruelty of their ad- 
 I vorsaries.f ' 
 
 I VII. Theemperor Julian, upon his accession 
 ! to th.-^ throne in the year 362, permitted the 
 I exiled Donatists to return to their country, and 
 restored them to the enjoyment of their former 
 liberty. This step so far renewed their vigour, 
 that they brought over, in a short time, the 
 majority of the African provincials to their in- 
 I tercsts. (iratian, indeed, published several 
 edicts against them, and, in the year 377, de- 
 prived tbem of tlieir churches, and prohibited 
 ' all their assemblies public and private. But the 
 fury of the Circumcelliones, who may be con- 
 sidered as the soldiery of the Donatists, and 
 ! the apprehension of intestine tumults, prevent- 
 ed, no doubt, the vigorous execution of these 
 laws. This appears from the number of 
 churches which this people had in Africa to- 
 ward the conclusion of the century, and which 
 were served by no less tlian four hundred 
 bishops. Two things, however, diminished 
 I considerably tiie power and lustre of this flour- 
 I ishing sect, and made it decline apace about the 
 lend of this century: one was, a violent divi- 
 j sion tiiat arose among them, on account of a 
 person named Maximin; and this division, so 
 i proper to weaken tlie common cause, was tlie 
 most effectual instrument the Catholics could 
 I use to combat the Donatists. But a second 
 circumstance which i>recipitated their decline, 
 j was the zealous and fervent opposition of Au- 
 ' gustin, fir.st presbyter, and afterwards bishop 
 of Hippo. This learned and ingenious prelate 
 ' attacked the Donatists in every way. In liis 
 j writings, in his public discourses, and in his 
 j private conversation, lie exposed the dangerous 
 ' and seditious principles of this sect in the 
 strongest manner; and as he was of a warm 
 and active spirit, he animated against them the 
 whole Christian world, as well a-s the imperial 
 court. 
 
 VIII. The doctrine of the Donatists was 
 
 * The testimony of Optatus of Milevi is beyond eierp- 
 lion in this mitttcr; it is quoted from the third book of 
 his treatise, de Schismale Donatistarum, and runs thus: 
 " Ab operariis Unitatis (i'. c. the emperor's ambassadors 
 Macarius and Paulus) multa quidem aspere ijesia snnt. 
 Kusrerunt omnes episcopi cum clericis suis; aliqui >unt 
 mortuitqiii fortiores fuerunt,capli ellonge relegatisunl." 
 Optatus, through the whole of this work, endeavour* to 
 excuse the severities committed against the Uonatists, of 
 which he lays the principal fault upon that sect itself, 
 confessing, however, that, in some instances, the proceed- 
 ings against them were too rigorous to deserve approba- 
 tion, or admit an excuse. 
 
 ) See CoUat. Carthag. diei tertiae, lect. 2o8, «t the eni 
 of Optatus. 
 
124 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part 11- 
 
 conformable to that of the church, as even 
 their adversaries confess; nor were their hves 
 less exemplary than those of other Christian 
 societies, if we except the enormous conduct 
 of the Circumcelliones, which the greatest part 
 of the sect regarded with the utmost detesta- 
 tion and abhorrence. The crime, therefore, of 
 the Donatists lay properly in the following 
 points; in their declaring the church of Africa, 
 which adhered to Csecilianus, fallen from the 
 dignitj' and privileges of a true church, and 
 deprived of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, on ac- 
 count of the offences with which the new 
 bishop, and Felix, who had consecrated him, 
 were charged; in their pronouncing all the 
 churches, which held communion with that of 
 Africa, corrupt and polluted; in maintaining, 
 that the sanctity of their bishops gave their 
 community alone a full right to be considered 
 as the true, the pure, and holy church; and in 
 their avoiding all communication with other 
 churches, from an apprehension of contracting 
 their impurity and corruption. This erroneous 
 principle was the source of that most shocking 
 uncharitableness and presumption which ap- 
 peared in their conduct to other churches. 
 Hence they pronounced the sacred rites and in- 
 stitutions void of all virtue and efficacy among 
 those Christians who were not precisely of 
 their sentiments, and not only re-baptised those 
 who came over to their party from other 
 churches, but, even with respect to those who 
 had been ordained ministers of the Gospel, 
 they observed the severe custom, either of de- 
 priving them of their office, or obliging tliem 
 to be ordained a second time. This schismatic 
 pestilence was almost wholly confined to Afri- 
 ca: for the few pitiful assemblies, which the 
 Donatists had formed in Spain and Italy, had 
 neither stability nor duration.* 
 
 IX. The faction of the Donatists was not 
 the only one that troubled the church during 
 this century. In the year 317, a contest arose 
 in Eg3'pt upon a subject of much higher im- 
 portance, and its consequences were of a yet 
 more pernicious nature. The subject of this 
 warm controversy, which kindled such deplo- 
 rable divisions throughout the Christian world, 
 was the doctrine of three persons in the God- 
 head; a doctrine which, in the three preceding- 
 centuries, had happily escaped the vain curiosi- 
 ty of human researches, and been left undefin- 
 ed and undetermined by any particular set of 
 ideas. The church, indeed, had frequently 
 jlecided, against the Sabellians and others, 
 that there was a real difference between the 
 Father and tlie Son, and that the Holy Ghost 
 was distinct from both; or, as we commonly 
 speak, that three distinct persons exist in the 
 Deity; but the exact relation of these persons 
 to each other, and the nature of the distinction 
 
 " A more sniple account of the Donatists will be found 
 in the following writers; Henr. Valesius, dissert, de 
 Schismate Donatistarum, (subjoined to his edition of the 
 ecclesiastical history of Eusebius.) — Thorn. Utigius' His- 
 tory of Donatism, published in the Appendix to his book 
 concerning the Heresies of the apostolic age. — Herm. 
 Witsius, Miscellanea Sacra, torn. i. lib. iv.; Henr. Noris, 
 Hist. Donat. augmented by the Ballerini, op. torn. iv. — 
 Long's History of the Donatists, London, 1677. These 
 are the sources whence we have drawn the accounts that 
 we halt givtn of this troublesome sect. 
 
 that subsists between them, are matters that 
 hitherto were neither disputed nor explained, 
 and with respect to which the church had, con- 
 sequently, observed a profound silence. No- 
 ttiing was dictated on this head to the faith of 
 Christians, nor were there any modes of ex- 
 pression prescribed as requisite to be used in 
 speaking of this mystery. Hence it happened, 
 that the Christian doctors entertained different 
 sentiments upon this subject without giving 
 the least offence, and discoursed variously, con- 
 cerning the distinctions in the Godhead, each 
 following his respective opinion with the utmost 
 liberty. In Egypt, and the adjacent countries, 
 the greatest part embraced, in this as well as 
 in other matters, the opinion of Origen, who 
 held that the Son was, in God, that which rea- 
 son is in man, and that the Holy Ghost was 
 nothing more than the divine energy, or active 
 force. Tliis notion is attended with many dif- 
 ficulties; and, when it is not proposed with the 
 utmost caution, tends, in a particular manner, 
 to remove all real distinction between the per- 
 sons in the God-head, or, in other words, leads 
 directly to Sabellianism. 
 
 X. In an assembly of the presbyters of Alex- 
 andria, the bishop of that city, whose name 
 was Alexander, expressed his sentiments on 
 this subject with a high degree of freedom and 
 confidence, maintaining, among other things, 
 that the Son was not only of the same emi- 
 nence and dignity, but also of the same essence, 
 with the Father.* This assertion was opposed 
 by Arius, one of the presbyters, a man of a 
 subtile turn, and remarkable for his eloquence. 
 Whether his zeal for his own opinions, or per- 
 sonal resentment against his bishop, was the 
 motive that influenced him, is not very certain. 
 Be that as it will, he first treated, as false, the 
 assertion of Alexander, on account of its affi- 
 nity to the Sabellian errors, which had been 
 condemned by the church; and then, rushing 
 into the opposite extreme, he maintained, that 
 the Son was totally and essentially distinct 
 from the Father; that he was the first and no- 
 blest of tliose beings, whom God had created 
 out of nothing, the instrument by whose sub- 
 ordinate operation the Almighty Father form- 
 ed the universe, and therefore inferior to the 
 Father, both in nature and in dignity. His 
 opinions concerning the Holy Ghost are not so 
 well known. It is however certain, that his 
 notion concerning the Son of God was accom- 
 panied and connected with other sentiments, 
 that were very different from those commonly 
 received among Christians, though none of the 
 ancient writers have given us a complete and 
 coherent system of those religious tenets which 
 Arius and his followers really held.f 
 
 * See Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. v. and Theodo- 
 ret, lib. i. 
 
 t For an account of the Arian controversy, the curious 
 reader must consult the Life of Constantine, by Eusebins; 
 the various libels of Athanasius, which are to be found 
 in the first volume of his works; the Ecclesiastical Histo- 
 ries of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, the sixty ninth 
 Heresy of Epiphanius, and other writers of this and the 
 following age. But, among all these, there is not one to 
 whom the merit of impartiality can be attributed with 
 justice; so that the Arian history stands yet in need of a 
 pen guided by integrity and candour, and unbiassed by 
 affection or hatred. Both sides have deserved reproach 
 upon this head; aud those who have hitherto written the 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 125 
 
 XI. The opinions of Arius were no sooner 
 divulged, than they found in Eg'vpt, and the 
 neighbouring provinces, a multitude of abet- 
 toi-s, and, among these, many wlio were distin- 
 guished as much by the superiority of their 
 learning and genius, as by the eminence of 
 their rank and station. Alexander, on the 
 other hand, in two councils assembled at Alex- 
 andria, accused Arius of impiety, and caused 
 him to be expetled from the communion of the 
 cluirch. Arius received this severe and igno- \ 
 minious shock with great firmness and constan- 
 cy of mind; retired into Palestine; and thence 
 wrote several letters to the most eminent men 
 of those times, in which he endeavoured to 
 demonstrate the truth of his opinions, and that 
 witii such surprising success, that vast numbers 
 were drawn over to his party; and among 
 these Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, a man 
 distinguished in the church by his influence and 
 authority. The emperor Constantine, looking 
 upon the subject of this controversy as a mat- 
 ter of small importance, and as little connect- 
 ed with the fundamental and essential doctrines 
 of religion, contented himself at first with ad- 
 dressing a letter to the contending parties, in 
 which he admonished them to put an end to 
 their disputes. But when the prince saw tliat 
 his admonitions were without efl'ect, and that 
 the troubles and commotions, which the pas- 
 sions of men too often mingle with religious 
 disputes, were spreading and increasing daily 
 throughout the empire, he convoked, in the 
 year 325, a great council at Nice in Bithynia, 
 hoping and desiring that the deputies of tlic 
 church universal would put an end to this con- 
 troversy. In this general assembly, after many 
 keen debates, and^ violent efforts of the two 
 parties, the doctrine of Arius was condemned; 
 Christ was declared consnbstnntial* or of the 
 same essence with the Father; the vanquished 
 presbyter was banished among the Illyrians, 
 and his followers were compelled to give tiieir 
 assent to the creed, f or confession of faith, 
 which was composed on this occasion. 
 
 XII. The council assembled by Constantine 
 at Nice, is one of the most famous and interest- 
 ing events that are presented to us in ecclesias- 
 tical history; and yet, what is most surprising, 
 scarcely any part of the history of the church 
 has been unfolded with such negligence, or ra- 
 ther passed over with such rapidity. + The an- 
 cient writers are neither agreed with respect to 
 the time or place in which it was assembled, 
 
 history of the Arlan controversy liave only espied the 
 faults of one side; e. ». it is a common opinion, that Arius 
 was too much attached to the opinions of Plato and Ori- 
 gen (see Petav. Dogm. Tlieol. lorn. ii. lib. i. cap. viii.;) 
 but this common opinion is a \ulgar error. Oripen and 
 Plato entertained notions entirely different from (hose of 
 Arius; whereas .Alexander, his antagonist, undoubtedly 
 followed the manner of Origcn,in explaining the doctrine 
 of the three persons. See Cudworth's Intellectual Sys- 
 tem of the Universe. 
 
 * 'O.«0»o-< = ,-. 
 
 t John Christ. Suicer has illustrated this famous 
 creed from several important and ancient records, in a 
 >ery learned book published at Utrecht in 1718. 
 
 {-See Ittigius, Hist. Concilii Nicsni.— Le Clerc, Bibli- 
 olheque Histor. et Universelle, torn. x. xxii. — Beausobre, 
 Ilistoire du Manicheismc, tiun. i. The accounts, which 
 the Oriental writers h.ive given of this council, have been 
 collected by Kuseb. RenauUot, in his history of the 
 Palriarchs of .VlexaiKlria. 
 
 the nuinber of those who sat in the council, 
 nor the bishop who presided in it; and no au- 
 thentic acts of its famous sentence are now ex- 
 tant.* 
 
 The eastern Christians differ from all others 
 both with regard to the number and the nature 
 of the laws which were enacted in this cele- 
 brated council. The latter mention only twen- 
 ty canons; but, in the estimate of the former, 
 they amount to a much greater number. f It 
 appears, however, by those laws which all par- 
 ties have admitted as genuine, and also from 
 other authentic records, not only that Arius 
 was condemned in tiiis council, but that some 
 other points were determined, and certain mea- 
 sures agreed upon, to calm the religious tu- 
 mults tliat had so long troubled the church. — 
 The controversy concerning the time of cele- 
 brating Easter was terminated;! the troubles 
 which Novatian had excited, by opposing the 
 re-admission of the lapsed to the communion 
 of the cimrch, were composed; the Meletian 
 schism was condemned, § and the jurisdiction 
 of the greater bishops preci.sely defined and de- 
 termined, || with several other matters of alike 
 nature. But, while these good prelates were 
 employing all their zeal and attention to cor- 
 rect tlie errors of others, they were upon the 
 point of falling into a very capital one them- 
 selves; for they had almost come to a resolu- 
 tion of imposing upon the clergy the yoke of 
 perpetual celibacy, whenPaphnutius put a stop 
 to their proceedings, and warded off that un- 
 natural law.1I 
 
 XIII. But, notwithstanding all these deter- 
 minations, the commotions excited by this con- 
 troversy remained yet in the minds of many, 
 
 * See the annotations of Valesius upou the Ecclesiasti- 
 cal History of Eusebius, and Jos. Sim. Asseman. Bibl. 
 Oriental. Clement. Vatican, torn. i. The history of thi» 
 oniincil was written by Maruthas, a Syrian, but is lon^ 
 since lost. 
 
 I Th. Ittigius, Supplem. op. Clement. Alex. — J. S. 
 Asseman. torn. i. — Euseb. Renaudot. 
 
 (J(^ { Tlie decision, with respect to Easier, was in 
 favour of the custom of the western churches; and ac- 
 cordingly all churches were ordered to celebrate that 
 festival on the Sunday which immediately followed Q\e 
 14th of the first moon that happened after the vernal 
 equinox. 
 
 {iCr' 5 Meletius, bishop of Lycopolis in Egypt, was 
 accused and convicted of having offered incense to idols; 
 and, in consequence thereof, was deposed by Peter, bishop 
 of Alexandria, whose jurisdiction extended over all 
 Egypt. Meletius, upon this, became the head of a schism 
 in tlie church, by assuming to himself the power of 
 ordination, which was vested in the bishopof Alexandria, 
 and exercised by him in all the Egyptian churches.-— 
 Epiphanius attributes the dissensions between Mcletias 
 and Peter to another cause (Hser. 68.:) he alleges, that 
 the vigorous proci-ediiigsof Peter against Meletius were 
 occasioned by the latter's refusing to readmit into the 
 church those who had fallen from the faith during Dio- 
 cletian's persecution, before (heir penitential trial was 
 entirely Hnished. Tlie former opinion is maintained by 
 Socrates and Theodorel, whose authority is certainly 
 more respectable than that of Epiphanius. 
 
 (jij- II The confusion that Meletius introduced, by pre- 
 suming (as was observed in the preceding note) to violate 
 the jurisdiction of Peter, the .netropolitan of .Alexandria, 
 by conferring ordination in a province where he alone 
 had a right to ordain, was rectified by the council of 
 Nice, which determined, (hat the metropolitan bishops, 
 in their respective provinces, should have the same power 
 and authority that the bishops of Rome exercised over 
 the suburbicarian churches and countries. 
 
 U Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. viii. compared 
 with Franc. Balduinus, in Constant. Magn. and tieorge 
 Calixtus, de Conjugio Clericorum. 
 
126 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 and the spirit of dissension triumphed both 
 over the decrees of the council and the authori- 
 ty of the emperor. For tliosc who, m the main, 
 were far from being attached to the party of 
 Arius, found many things reprehensible, both 
 in the decrees of the council, and in the forms 
 of expression which it employed to explain the 
 controverted points; wliile the Arians, on the 
 other hand, left no means untried to heal their 
 wounds, and to recover their place and their 
 credit in the church. And their efforts were 
 crowned with tlie desired success: for, a few 
 years after the council of Nice, an Arianpriest, 
 who had been recommended to the emperor, in 
 the d3ing words of his sister Constantia, found 
 means to persuade him, that the condemnation 
 of Arius was utterly unjtjst, and was rather 
 occasioned by the malice of his enemies, than 
 by their zeal for the truth. In consequence of 
 this, the emperor recalled him from banish- 
 ment in the year 330,* repealed the laws that 
 had been enacted against him, and permitted 
 his chief protector Eusebiusof Nicomedia, and 
 his vindictive faction, to vex and oppress the 
 partisans of the Nicene council in various 
 ways. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, was 
 one cf those who suffered most from the vio- 
 lent measures of the Arian parly. Invincibly 
 firm in his purpose, and deaf to the most pow- 
 erful solicitations and entreaties, he obstinately 
 refused to restore Arius to his former rank and 
 otiiee. On this account he was deposed, by the 
 council liolden at Tyre, in the year 336, and 
 was aJ'tcrwards banished into Gaul, while Arius 
 and his followers were, with great solemnity, 
 reinstated in their privileges, and received into 
 the communion of the church. The people of 
 Alexandria, unmoved by these proceedings in 
 favour of Arius, persisted in refusing to grant 
 Iiim a place among tiieir presbyters; upon which 
 the emperor invited him to Constantinople in 
 tiie year 336, and ordered Alexander, tlie bishop 
 of that city, to admit him to his communion. 
 But, before this order could be put in execu- 
 tion, Arius died in the imperial city in a very 
 dismal manner;! and his sovereign did not long 
 survive him. 
 
 ((IJ=* The precise time in which Anus was recalled from 
 banishment, has not bien lixed with such perfect certainty 
 as to prevent a diversity of sentiment on lliat head. The 
 Annotationsof the learned Valesius (or Valois) upon Sozo- 
 meu's History, will throw some light upon this matter, 
 and make it probable, that Dr. Mosheim has placed the 
 reciU of Arius too lale, at least by two years. Valesius 
 has proved, from the authority of Philostorgius, and from 
 other most respectable monuments and records, that 
 Kusebius of Nicomedia, and I'heognis. who were ba- 
 nished by the emperor about three mouths after the 
 council of Nice {i. e. in 3-J5) were recalled in 328. Now, 
 in the writing by which they obtained their return, they 
 pleaded the restoration of Arius, as an argument for 
 theirs, which proves that he was recalled before the year 
 330. The same Valesius proves, that Arius, the first 
 head of the Arian sect, was dead before the council of 
 Tyre, which was transferred to Jerusalem; and that the 
 letters which Constantine addressed to that council in 
 favour of Arius and his followers, were in behalf of a 
 second chief of that name, who put himself at the head 
 of the Arians, and who, in conjunction with Kuzoins, 
 presented to Constantine such a confession of thfn- faith, 
 as made him imagine their doctrine to be orthodox, and 
 procured their reconciliation with the church at the 
 council of Jerusalem. 
 
 (j(^ f The dismal manner in which Arius is said to 
 have expired, by his entrails falling out as he was discharg- 
 ing one of the natural functions, is a fact that has Ictu cail- 
 
 XIV. After the death of Constantine the 
 Great, one of his sons, Constantius, who, in the 
 division of the empire, became ruler of the east, 
 was warmly attached to the Arian party, whose 
 principles were also zealously adopted by the 
 empress, and, indeed, by the whole court. On 
 the other hand, Constantine and Constans, em- 
 perors of the west, maintained the decrees of 
 the council of Nice in all tiie provinces over 
 which their jurisdiction extended. Hence 
 arose endless animosities and seditions, treache- 
 rous plots, and open acts of injustice and vio- 
 lence between the contending parties. Council 
 was assembled against council; and their jar- 
 ring and contradictory decrees spread perplex- 
 ity and confusion through the Cliristian world. 
 In the year 350, Constans was assassinated; 
 and, about two years after this, a great part of 
 the western empire, particularly Rome and 
 Italy, fell into the hands of Constantius. This 
 change was extremely unfavourable to those 
 who adhered to the decrees of the coimcil of 
 Nice. The emperor's attachment to the Ari- 
 ans animated him against their adversaries, 
 whom he involved in various troubles and ca- 
 lamities; and he obliged many of them, by 
 threats and punishment, to come over to the 
 sect which he esteemed and protected. One 
 of tliese forced proselytes was Liberius, the 
 Roman pontiff, wlio was compelled to embrace 
 Arianism in the year 357. The Nicene party 
 meditated reprisals, and waited only a conve- 
 nient time, a fit place, and a proper occasion, 
 for executing their resentment. Thus the his- 
 torj' of the church, under the emperor Con- 
 stantius, presents to the reader a perpetual 
 scene of tumult and violence, and the deplora- 
 ble spectacle of a war, carried on between 
 brothers, without religion, justice, or humanity. 
 XV. Tiie death of Constantius, jn the year 
 36i, changed considerably the face of religious 
 affairs, and diminished greatly tlie strength and 
 influence of the Arian party. Julian, who, b}' 
 his principles, was naturally prevented from 
 taking a part in tlie controversy, bestowed his 
 protection on neither side, but treated them 
 both with an impartiality which was the result 
 of a perfect indifference. Jovian, his succes- 
 sor, declared himself in favour of the Nicene 
 doctrine; and immediately the whole west, 
 with a considerable part of the eastern pro- 
 vinces, changed sides, conformed to the decrees 
 of the council of Nice, and abjured the Arian 
 system. 
 
 The scene, however, changed again in the 
 year 364, when Valcntinian, and his brother 
 Valens, were raised to the empire. Valentinian 
 
 ed in question by some modern writers, though without 
 foundation, since it is confirmed by the unexceptionable 
 lestimouiesof Socrates, Sozomen, Athanasius, and others. 
 The causes of this tragical death have, however, furnish- 
 ed much matter of dispute. The ancient writers, who 
 considered this event as a judgment of Heaven, miracu- 
 lously drawn down, by the prayers of the just to punish 
 the impiety of Arius, will find little credit in our times, 
 among such as have studied with attention and impar- 
 tiality tne history of Arianism. After having considered 
 this matter with the utmost care, it appears to me ex- 
 tremely probable, that this unhappy man was a victim to 
 the resentment oi^ his enemies, and was destroyed by poi- 
 son, or some such violent method. A blind and fanatical 
 zeal for certain systems of faith, has in all ages produced 
 such horrible acts of cruelty aud injustice. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND TfERESIES. 
 
 127 
 
 adhered to the decrees of the Nicene council; 
 and hence the Arian sect, a few churches ex- 
 cepted, suffered extirpation in the west. Va- 
 lens, on the other hand, favoured theArians; 
 and his zeal for their cause exposed tliuir ad- 
 versaries, the Nicenians, in the eastern pro- 
 vinces, to many severe trials and sufferings. 
 These troubles, however, ended with the rei^n 
 of this emperor, who fell in a battle which was 
 fought against the Goths in the year 318, and 
 was succeeded by Gratian, a friend to the Nice- 
 nians, and tlie restorer of their tranquillity. His 
 zeal for tlieir interests, though fervent and ac- 
 tive, was surpassed by that of his successor, 
 Theodosius the Great, who raised the secular 
 arm against the Arians, with a terrible degree 
 of violence; drove them from their ciuuchcs; 
 enacted laws, whose severity exposed them to 
 the greatest calamities;* and rendered, through- 
 out his dominions, the decrees of the council 
 triumphant over all opposition; so that the 
 public profession of the Arian doctrine was 
 confined to the barbarous and unconquered na- 
 tions, such as the Burgundians, Goths, and 
 Vandals. 
 
 During this long and violent contest be- 
 tween the Nicenians and Arians, the attentive 
 and impartial will acknowledge, that unjustifi- 
 able measures were taken, and great excesses 
 committed on both sides: so that when, ab- 
 stractedly from the merits of the cause, we 
 only consider with what temper, and by what 
 means the parties defended their respective 
 opinions, it will be difficult to determine which 
 of the two exceeded most the bounds of pro- 
 bity, charity, and moderation. 
 
 XVI. The efforts of the Arians to maintain 
 their cause, would have been much more pre- 
 judicial to the church than tliey vvere in effect, 
 had not the members of that sect been divided 
 among themselves, and torn into factions, 
 which viewed each other with the bitterest 
 aversion. Of these the ancient writers make 
 mention under the names of Semi- Arians, Eu- 
 sebians, Aetians, Eunomians, Acacians, Psathy- 
 rians, and others; but they may all be ranked 
 with propriety in three classes. The first of 
 these were the primitive and genuine Arians, 
 who, rejecting all those forms and modes of ex- 
 pression which the moderns had invented to 
 render their opinions less shocking to the 
 Nicenians, taught simply, " That the Son was 
 not begotten of the Father (i. e. produced out 
 of his substance,) but was only created out of 
 nothing." This class was opposed by the 
 Semi-Arians, who, in their turn, were aban- 
 doned by the Eunomians, or Anoinseans, the 
 disciples of Aetius and Eunomius, of whom 
 the latter was eminent for his knowledge and 
 penetration. The Semi-Arians held, that the 
 Son was -uoivti ,, i. e. similar to the Father in 
 his essence, not by nature but by a jjcculiar 
 privilege; and the leading men of this i)arty 
 were George of Ijaodicea and Basilius of An- 
 cyra.f The Eunomians, who were also called 
 Aetians and Exucontians, and may be reckon- 
 ed in the number of pure Arians, maintained. 
 
 * See the Tlifodosian Code, torn. vi. p. 5, 10, 130, 146; 
 at also Godofred's annotations upon it. 
 
 t See Priid. Maran's Dissert, siir les Semi-Arians, pub- 
 lished in Voigt's Biblioth. H«rcsiolog. torn. ii. 
 
 that Christ was -rspoBtnci., or Ki-.t<'i-,, i. e. un- 
 like the Father, as well in his essence, as in 
 other respects.* Under this general division, 
 many other subordinate sects were compre- 
 hended, whose subtilties and refinements have 
 not been clearly developed by the ancient 
 writers. The Arian cause suffered as much from 
 tiic discord and animosities that reigned among 
 these sects, as from the laboured confutations 
 and the zealous elforts of the orthodox party. 
 
 XVII. The Arian controvers)'- produced 
 new sects, occasioned by the indiscreet lengths 
 to which the contending parties pusjied their 
 respective opinions; and such, indeed, are too 
 generally the unliappy effects of disputes, in 
 whicli human passions have so lai^ge a part. 
 Some, while they were careful in avoiding, and 
 zealous in opposing, the sentiments of Arius, ran 
 headlong into systems of doctrine of an equal- 
 ly dangerous and pernicious nature. Others, 
 in defending the Arian notions, went farther 
 than their chief, and thus fell into errors much 
 more extravagant than those which he main- 
 tained. Thus does it generally happen in re- 
 ligious controversies: the human mind, amidst 
 its present imperfection and infirmity, and its 
 unhappy subjection to the empire of imagina- 
 tion and the dictates of sen.se, rarely follows 
 the middle way in the search of truth, or con- 
 templates spiritual and divine things with that 
 accuracy and simplicity, that integrity and 
 moderation, which alone can guard against 
 erroneous extremes. 
 
 Among those who fell into such extremes 
 by their inconsiderate violence in opposing the 
 Arian system, ApolliHaris the younger, bishop 
 of Laodicea, may be justly placed, though 
 otherwise a man of distingaislied merit, and 
 one whose learned labours had rendered to reli- 
 gion the most important services. lie streim- 
 ously defended the divinitij of Christ against 
 the Arians; but, by indulging himself too freely 
 in philosopliical distinctions and subtilties, ho 
 was carried so far as to deny, in some measure, 
 his kumanity. He maintained, that tiie body 
 which Christ assumed, was endowed with a 
 sensitive, and not a rational, soul; and that the- 
 Divine Nature performed the functions of rea- 
 son, and supplied the place of what we call the 
 mind, the sjjiritual and intellectual principle in 
 nan; and from tiiis it seemed to follow, as a. 
 natural consequence, that the divine nature in 
 Christ was blended with the human, and sufler- 
 ed with it the pains of crucifixion and death 
 itselft This great man was led astray, not 
 only by his love of disputing, but also by an 
 immoderate attachment to the Platonic doc- 
 trine, concerning the two-fold nature of the 
 soul, whicii was too generally adopted by the 
 divines of this age; and which, undoubtedl)', 
 perverted their judgment in several respects, 
 
 * Sec Basnage's Dissert, dc Eunomio, in the Lectiones 
 Antiquae of Canisius, loin. i. where we find the confes- 
 sion and apoloRy of Eunomins yet extant. See also Jo. 
 Alb. Fabric. Bibliotheca Gra;c. vol. riii. and the Codex 
 Theodos. toin. vi. 
 
 (Xr^ t However erroneous the hypothesis of ApoUina- 
 ris may have been, the consequences here drawn from it 
 are not entirely just; for if it is true, that the human «ou) 
 does not, in any respect, suflVr death by the dissolution 
 of the body, the same must hold good with respect to lh« 
 divine nature. 
 
128 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 and led them into erroneous and extravagant 
 decisions on various subjects. 
 
 Other errors, beside that now mentioned, 
 are imputed to Apollinaris by certain ancient 
 writers; but it is not easy to determine how far 
 they deserve credit upon tliat head.* Be that 
 as it may, liis doctrine was received by great 
 numbers in ahnost all the eastern provinces, 
 though, by the ditlerent explications tliat were 
 given of it, its votaries were subdivided into 
 various sects. It did not, however, long main- 
 tain its ground; but, being attacked at the 
 same time by the laws of the emperors, the de- 
 crees of councils, and the writings of the learn- 
 ed, it siuik by degrees under their united force. 
 
 XVIII. Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra, in Ga- 
 latia, may be ranked in the same class with 
 Apollinaris, if we are to give credit to Euse- 
 bius of Caesarea, and the rest of his adversa- 
 ries, who represent his explication of the doc- 
 trine of the Trinity as bordering upon the Sa- 
 belliaii and Samosatenian errors. Many how- 
 ever are of opinion that this Eusebius, and 
 that bishop of Nicomcdia who bore the same 
 name, represented with partiality the senti- 
 ments of Marcellus, on account of the bitter- 
 ness and vehemence which he discovered in 
 his opposition to the Arians, and their protec- 
 tors. But though it should be acknowledged, 
 that, in some particulars, tlie accusations of his 
 enemies carried an aspect of partiality and re- 
 sentment, yet it is manifest that they were far 
 from being entirely groundless; for, if the doc- 
 trine of Marcellus be attentively examined, it 
 will appear, that he considered the Son and the 
 Holy Ghost as two emanations from the Di- 
 vine Nature, which, after performing their re- 
 spective offices, were at length to return into 
 the substance of the Father; and every one 
 will perceive, at first sight, how incompatible 
 this opinion is with the belief of three distinct 
 Persons in the Godhead. Beside this, a parti- 
 cular circumstance, which augmented consider- 
 ably the aversion of many to Marcellus, and 
 strengthened the suspicion of his erring in a 
 capital manner, was his obstinately refusing, 
 toward the conclusion of his life, to condemn 
 the tenets of his disciple Photinus.f 
 
 XIX. Photinus, bishop of Sirmium, may, 
 with propriety, be placed at the head of those 
 whom the Arian controversy was the occasion 
 of seducing into the most extravagant errors. 
 This prelate published, in the year 343, his 
 opinions concerning the Deity, which were 
 equally repugnant to the orthodox and Arian 
 systems. His notions, which have been ob- 
 scurely, and indeed sometimes inconsistently 
 represented by the ancient writers, amount to 
 this, when attent\vely examined: " That Jesus 
 Christ was born of the Holy Ghost and the 
 Virgin Mary; that a certain divine emanation, 
 
 * See Basnage's Historia Haeres. Apollin., published 
 by Voigt in his Bibliotheca Haeresiologica, torn. i. I'ascic. 
 1. p. 1 — 96, and improved by some learned and important 
 additions. See also tom. i. fascic. iii. and p. 607 of the 
 latter work. The laws, enacted against the followers 
 of Apollinaris, are extant in the Theodosian Code, torn. 
 vi. See an account of Apollinaris, and his heresy, in the 
 English edition of Bayle's Dictionary. 
 
 t Sec Montfaucon's Diatriba de Causa Marcclli in 
 Nova Collectione Patrum Graecorum, torn. ii. p. 51; ai 
 also Gervaise, Vie de S. Epiphane, p. 42. 
 
 or ray (which he called the wcrrd) descended 
 upon this extraordinary man; that, on account 
 of the union of the divine word with his human 
 nature, .Tesus was called the Son of God, and 
 even God himself; and that the floly Ghost 
 was not a distinct person, but a celestial virtue 
 proceeding from the Deity." The temerity of 
 this bold innovator was chastised, not only by 
 the orthodo.x in the councils of Antioch* and 
 Milan, holden in the years 345 and 347, and in 
 that of Sirmium, whose date is uncertain, but 
 also by the Arians in one of their assemblies at 
 Sirmium, convoked in 351. In consequence 
 of all this, Photinus was degraded from the 
 episcopal dignity, and died in exile in 312. f 
 
 XX. After him arose Macedonius, bishop of 
 Constantinople, a very eminent Semi-Arian 
 doctor, who, through the iniluence of the Eu- 
 nomians, was deposed by the council of Con- 
 stantinople, in 360, and sent into exile, where 
 he formed the sect of the Macedonians, or 
 Pneumatomachians. In his exile, he declared 
 with the utmost freedom those sentiments 
 which he had formerly either concealed, or, at 
 least, taught with much circumspection. He 
 considered the Holy Ghost as " a divine energy, 
 diffused throughout the universe, and not as a 
 person distinct from the Father and the Son. "J 
 This opinion had many partisans in the Asiatic 
 provinces; but the council assembled by Theo- 
 dosius, in 381, at Constantinople, (to which 
 the second rardc, among the oecumenical or 
 general councils, is commonly attributed,) put 
 a stop by its authority to the growing evil, and 
 crushed this rising sect before it had arrived at 
 maturity. A hmidred and fifty bishops, who 
 were present at this council, gave the finishing 
 touch to what the council of Nice had left im- 
 perfect, and fixed, in a full and determinate 
 manner, the doctrine of three persons in one 
 God, which is still received among the gene- 
 rality of Christians. This venerable assembly 
 did not stop here; they branded, with infamy, 
 all the errors, and set a mark of execration, 
 upon all the heresies, that were hitherto known; 
 they advanced the bishop of Constantinople, 
 on account of the eminence and extent of the 
 city in which he resided, to the first rank after 
 the Roman pontiff, and determined several 
 other points, which they looked upon as essen- 
 tial to the well-being of the church in general. § 
 
 XXI. The phrensy of the ancient Gnostics, 
 which had been so often vanquished, and in ap- 
 pearance removed, by the various remedies that 
 had been used for that purpose, broke out anew 
 in Spain. It was transported thither, in the 
 beginning of this century, by a certain person 
 named ftlarc, of Memphis in Egypt, whose con- 
 verts at first were not very numerous. They 
 increased, however, in process of time, and 
 
 * According to Dr. Lardner's account, this council of 
 Antioch, in 34.'i, was holden by the Arians, or Eusebians, 
 and not by the orthodox, as our author affirms. See 
 Lardner's Credibility, &c. vol. ix. p. 1.3; see also Athanas. 
 de Synod. IV. vi. vii. compared with Soerat. lib. ii. cap. 
 xviii. xix. 
 
 t Or in 375, as is concluded from Jerome's Chronicle. 
 — Matt. Larroque, de Photino, et ejus multiplici con- 
 demnatione. — Thom. Ittigius, HistoriaPliotini,in Ap. ad 
 librum de Haeresiarchis M\i Apostolici. 
 
 J Soerat. Hist. Eccles. lib. IV. cap. iv. 
 
 § Soerat. lib. v. cap. viii. Soromen, lib. vii. cap. vii. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 129 
 
 counted in their number several persons highly 
 eminent for their learning and piety. Among 
 others, Prisuillian, a layman, distingiiishod by 
 his birth, fortune and eloquence, and after- 
 wards bishop of Abiki, was infected with this 
 odious doctrine, and became its most zealous 
 and ardent defender. Hence he was accused 
 by several bishops, and, by a rescript obtained 
 from tlie emperor Gratian, he was banished 
 with liis followers from Spain;* but he was re- 
 stored, some time after, by an edict of tlic same 
 prince, to his country and his fimctions. His 
 sud'erings did not end here; for he was accused 
 a second time, in .384, j before Maximus, who 
 had procured the as.sas,sination of Gratian, and 
 made himself master of Gaul; and, by the or- 
 der of that prince, he Wias put to deatli at Tre- 
 ves with some of his associates. The agents, 
 however, by whose barbarous zeal this sentence 
 was obtained, were justly regarded with the ut- 
 most abhorrence by tlie bishops of Gaul and 
 Italy;| for Christians had not yet learned, that 
 giving over heretics to be punished by the ma- 
 gistrates, was either an act of piety or justice. § 
 [No: this abominable doctrine was reserved 
 for those times, when religion was to become 
 an instrument of despotism, or a pretext for j 
 the exercise of pride, malevolence, and ven- 1 
 geance.] j 
 
 Tlie death of Priscillian was less pernicious 
 to the progress of his opinions, than might na- ! 
 turally have been expected. His doctrine not 
 only survived him, but was propagated through • 
 tlie greatest part of Spain and Gaul; and even 
 so far down as the sixth century, the followers 
 of this unhappy man o-ave much trouble to the 
 bishops and clergy in fhose provinces. 
 
 XXII. No ancient writer has given an accu- 
 rate account of the doctrine of the Priscil- 
 lianists. Many authors, on the contrary, by 
 their injudicious representations of it, have 
 highly distigured it, and added new degrees of 
 obscurity to a system whi(;h was before suffi- 
 ciently dark and perplexed. It apjjcars, how- 
 ever, from authentic records, that the dilfer- 
 
 (t(^ * This banishment was the effect of a sentence 
 pronounced ag;ain5t Priscillian, and sonic of his followers, 
 by a synod convened at Saragossa in 380; in consequence 
 oi" which, Idaoius and Uhacius, two cruel and persecuting 
 ecclesiastics, obtained from Gralian the rescript above- 
 mentioned. Sec Sulpit. Sever. Hist. Sacr. lib. ii. cap 
 xlvii. 
 
 QQ' t Upon the death of Gratian, who had favoured 
 Priscillian toward the latter end of his reign, Ithacius 
 presented to Maximns a petition against him; whereupon 
 I his prince appointed a council to be holden at Bour- 
 dcaux, from which Priscillian appealed to the prince 
 himself Sulp. Sever, lib. ii. cap. xlix. p. 287. 
 
 (K7~ t I' may be interesting to the reader to hear the 
 rharacttr of the first person that introduced civil per- 
 secution into the Christian church. " He was a man 
 abandoned to the must corrupt indolence, and without the 
 least tiiicturcof true piety. He was talkative, audacious, 
 iinpudenl, luxurious, and a slave to his belly. He ac- 
 cused as heretics, and as protectors of Priscillian, all 
 those whose lives were consecrated to the pursuit of 
 piety and knowledge, or distinguished by acts of mortifi- 
 cation and abstinence," Stc. Such is the character 
 which Sulpitius Severus, who had an extreme aversion 
 to the sentiments of Priscillian, gives us of Ithacius, 
 bishop of Sossuba, by whose means he was put to death. 
 
 ^See Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacr. edit. Leips. 1709, whore 
 Martin, the truly apostolical bishop of Tours, says to 
 Maximus, " novum esse et inauditum nefas ut causam 
 ecclesise judex seculi judicaret." See also Dial. iii. dc i 
 vita Martini, cap. xi. p. 495. 1 
 
 Vol. I.— n 
 
 ence between their doctrine, and that of the 
 Manicheans, was not very considerable. For 
 " tiiey denied the reality of Christ's birth and 
 incarnation; maintained, that the visible uni- 
 ver.se was not the production of tiie Supreme 
 Deity, but of some duMnoii, or malignant prin- 
 ciple; adopted the doctrine of a!ons, or emana- 
 tions from the divine natin-e; considered human 
 bodies as prisons formed by the autiior of evil, 
 to enslave celestial minds; condemned mar- 
 riage, and disbelieved tlie resurrection of the 
 body." Their rules of life and manners were 
 rigid and severe; and tlic accounts vvliich many 
 have given of their lasciviousness and intem- 
 perance deserve not the least credit, as tiiey are 
 totally destitute of evidence and authority. 
 That the Priscillianists were guilty of dissimu- 
 lation upon some occasions, and deceived their 
 adversaries by cunning stratagems, is true; but 
 that they held it as a maxim, that lying and 
 perjury were lairful, is a most notorious false- 
 liood, without even the least shadow of proba- 
 bility,* however commonly this odious doctrine 
 lias been laid to tiieir charge. In the heat of 
 controversy, the eye of passion and of preju- 
 dice is too apt to confound tlw; principles and 
 opinions of men with their practice. 
 
 XXIII. To what we have here said concern- 
 ing those sects which made a noise in tiie world, 
 it will not be iin]iroper to add some account of 
 tiiose of a less considerable kind. 
 
 Audseus, a man of remarkable virtue, bein^ 
 excommunicated in Syria, on account of the 
 freedom and importunity witli which he cen- 
 sured the corrupt and licentious manners of 
 the clergy, formed an assembly of tliose who 
 were attached to him, and became, by his own 
 appointment, their bishop. Banished into 
 Scythia by the emperor, he went among the 
 Goths, where his sect flourislied, and augment- 
 ed consideral)ly. Tlie ancient writers are not 
 agreed abottt tlie time in which we are to date 
 tiie origin of this sect. With respect to its re- 
 ligious institutions, we know that they differed 
 in some points from those observed iiy other 
 Christians; and, particularly, tliat the followers 
 of Audteus celebrated Easter, or the Paschal 
 feast, with the Jews, in repugnance to the ex- 
 press decree of tiie council of Nice. With re- 
 spect to tiieir doctrine, several errors have been 
 imputed to thein,t and this, among others, that 
 they attributed to the Deity a human form. 
 
 XXIV. Tiie Grecian and Oriental writers 
 place, in this century, the rise of the sect of 
 the Messalians, or Euchites, whose doctrine 
 and discipline were, indeed, much more an- 
 
 * See Simon de Vrics, Dissert. Critica dc Priscilliaii- 
 istis, printed at Utrecht, in 174.5. The only defect in 
 this dissertation is the implicit manner in which the 
 author follows Beausobre's History of the Manicheans, 
 taking every thing for granted which is atfirmed in that 
 viork. See also Franc. Girvesii Historia Priscillianista 
 rum Chronolouiiea, published at Rome in 1750. We find, 
 moreover, in Ine twenty-seventh volume of the Opuscula 
 Scieutifiea of Angelus Calogcra, a treatise entitled Bachi- 
 arius Illustratus, seu de Pnscilliana Ha;resi Dissertatio; 
 but this dissertation seems rather intended to clear up 
 the aliairof Bachiarius, than to give a full account of the 
 Priscillianists and their doctrine. 
 
 f Epiphanius, Haeres. Ixx. p. 811.— .\ugustin. de 
 Haeres. cap. 1.— Theodoret. Fabul. Haeret. lib. iv. cap. 
 ix. — J. Joach. Schroder, Dissertat. de Andxanis, pub- 
 lished in Voigl's BihliothecaHistorixHairesiolog. tom.i. 
 
130 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part 11. 
 
 cient, and subsisted, even before the birth of 
 Christ, in Syria, Egypt, and other eastern 
 countries, but who do not seem to have been 
 formed into a relig-ious body before the latter 
 part of the century of which we now write. 
 These fanatics, who lived after the monkish 
 fashion, and withdrew from all commerce and 
 society with their fellow creatmes, seem to 
 have derived their name from their habit of 
 continual prayer. " They imagined that tlie 
 mind of every man was inhabited by an evil 
 daemon, whom it was impossible to expel by 
 any other means than by constant prayer and 
 singing of hymns; and that, when this malig- 
 nant spirit was cast out, the pure mind return- 
 ed to God, and was again united to the divine 
 essence from which it had been separated." 
 To this leading tenet they added many other 
 enormous opinions, which bear a manifest re- 
 semblance to the Manichean doctrine, and are 
 evidently drawn from the same source whence 
 the Manicheans derived tlieir errors, even from 
 the tenets of the Oriental philosophy.* In a 
 word, the Euchites were a sort of Mystics, who 
 imagined, according to the Oriental notion, 
 that'^ two souls resided in man, the one good, 
 and the other evil; and who were zealous in 
 hastening the return of the good spirit to God, 
 
 * EpiphaJiius, Hseres. Ixjx. p. lOlj?.— Theodoret. 
 Haeret. Fabul. lib. iv. rap. n. p. 672.— Tiraotlieus, Pres- 
 byter, de receptione Hseieticor. published in the third 
 volume of Cotelerius' Monamenta Eccles. Graecae.— - 
 lac. ToUii Insignia Itineris Italic!, p. 110. — Assemani 
 Bibliotheca Oritntalis Vaticana, torn. i. et iii. 
 
 by contemplation and prayer. The external 
 air of piety and devotion, which accompanied 
 this sect, imposed upon many, while the Greeks, 
 on the other hand, opposed it with vehemence 
 in all succeeding ages. 
 
 It is proper to observe here, that the title of 
 Massalians or Euchites had a very extensive 
 application among the Greeks and the Orien- 
 tals, for they gave it to all those who endea- 
 voured to raise the soul to God by recalling 
 and withdrawing it from terrestrial and sensi- 
 ble objects, however these enthusiasts might 
 differ from each other in their opinions upon 
 other subjects. 
 
 XXV. Toward the conclusion of this centu- 
 ry, two opposite sects involved Arabia and the 
 adjacent countries in the troubles and tumults 
 of a new controversy. These jarring factions 
 went by the names of Antidico-Marianites and 
 Collyridians. The former maintained, that the 
 Virgin Mary did not always preserve her imma- 
 culate state, but received the embraces of her 
 luisband Joseph after the birth of Christ. The 
 latter, on the contrary, (who were singularly 
 favoured by the female sex,) running into the 
 opposite extreme, worshipped the Blessed Vir- 
 gin as a goddess, and judged it necessary to 
 appease her anger, and seek her favour and pro- 
 tection, by libations, sacrifices, oblations of 
 cakes (collyridce,) and the like services.* 
 
 Other sects might be mentioned here; but 
 they are too obscure and inconsiderable to de- 
 serve notice. 
 
 See Epiphan. Hasres. Ixxviii. Ixxix. 
 
THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concemi'ng the Prosperous Events that happened 
 to the Church. 
 
 I. In order to arrive at a true knowledge of 
 the causes to which we are to attribute the out- 
 ward state of the church, and flie events which 
 happened to it during the fifth century, we 
 must keep in view the civil history of this pe- 
 riod. It is, therefore, proper to observe, that, 
 in the beginning of tliis centurj^ the Roman 
 empire was divided into two sovereignties; one 
 of whicli comprehended the eastern provinces, 
 the other tiiose of tlie west. Arcadius, the em- 
 peror of tiie east, reigned at Constantinople; 
 and Honorius, who governed tiie western pro- 
 vinces, chose Raveima for the place of his re- 
 sidence. The latter prince, remarkable only 
 for the sweetness of his temper and the good- 
 ness of his heart, neglected the great affairs of 
 the empire; and, inattentive to the weighty 
 duties of his station, held the reins of govern- 
 ment with an unsteady hand. The Goths, 
 taking advantage of this criminal indolence, 
 made incursions into Italy, laid waste its fair- 
 est provinces, and sometimes carried their de- 
 solations as far as Rome, which they ravaged 
 and plundered in the most dreadful manner. 
 These calamities, which fell upon the western 
 part of the empire from the Gothic depreda- 
 tions, were followed by otiiers still more dread- 
 ful under the succeeding emperors. A fierce 
 and warlike people, issuing from Germany, 
 overspread Italy, Gaul, and Spain, the noblest 
 of all the Kurope3,n provinces, and erected now 
 kingdoms in these fertile countries; and Odoa- 
 cer, at last, at the head of the Heruli, having 
 conquered Augustulus, in 476, gave the mor- 
 tal blow to the western empire, and reduced all 
 Italy under his dominion. About sixteen years 
 after this, Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, 
 made war upon these barbarian invaders, at the 
 request of Zeno, emperor of the cast; con- 
 t^uered Odoacer in several battles; and obtain- 
 ed, as the fruit of his victories, a kingdom for 
 the Ostrogoths in Italy, which subsisted under 
 various turns of fortune from the year 493 to 
 562.* 
 
 These new monarchs of the west pretended 
 to acknowledge the supremacy of the empe- 
 rors who resided at Constantinople, and gave 
 some faint external marks of a disposition to 
 reign in subordination to them; but, in reality, 
 
 * See, for » fuller illuslratiouof this branch of history, 
 the learned work of M. de Bos, entitled, Histoire Criti- 
 que de la Monarchie Francoise, torn. i. p. 2.'>8" as also 
 Masco« '3 History of the Gernian.«. 
 
 I they ruled with an absolute independence, in 
 j their respective governments; and, as appears 
 I particularly from the dominion exercised by 
 j Theodoric in Italy, they left nothing to the 
 eastern emperors but a mere shadow of power 
 and authority.* 
 
 I II. These constant wars, and the inexpressi- 
 I ble calamities with which they were attended, ~ 
 were undoubtedly detrimental to the cause and 
 progress of C!hristianity. It must, however, 
 be acknowledged that the Christian emperors, 
 especially those who ruled in the east, were ac- 
 tive and assiduous in extirpating the remains 
 of the ancient superstitions. Theodosius the 
 yomiger, distinguished himself in this pious 
 and noble work, and many remarkable monu- 
 ments of his zeal are still preserved;! such as 
 the laws which enjoined either the destruction 
 of the heathen temples, or the dedication of 
 them to Christ and his saints; the edicts, by 
 which he abrogated the sacrilegious rites and 
 ceremonies of Paganism, and removed from all 
 offices and employments in the state such a.s 
 persisted in their attachment to the absurdities 
 of Polytheism. 
 
 This spirit of reformation appeared with less 
 vigour in tlie western empire. There the feasts 
 of Saturn and Pan, the combats of tlie gladia- 
 tors, and other rites that were instituted in 
 honour of the pagan deities, were celebrated 
 with the utmost freedom and impunity; and 
 persons of tiie highest rank and authority pub- 
 licl}' {Hxifcssed the religion of their idolatrous 
 ancestors.]: This hberty was, however, from 
 time to time, reduced within narrower limits; 
 and all those public sports and festivals, which 
 were more peculiarly incompatiiilo willi the 
 genius and sanctity of the Christian religion, 
 were every where abolished. § 
 
 III. Tlie limits of the church continued to 
 extend tiicmsclves, and gained ground daily 
 upon the idolatrous nations, both in the eastern 
 and western empires. In the east, the inhabi- 
 
 * Car. du Frcsne, Dissert, xxiii. ad Histor. Ludovici S. 
 )). y80.— Muratori, Antiq. Ital. torn. ii. p. 578, 832.— 
 Cilaniione, Historia di Napoli, torn. i. p. 207.— Vita 
 Theodorici OstrOROthornm Regis, a Johanne Cochlaeo, 
 printed in 1699, wilh the observations of Peringskiold. 
 
 f See the Theodosian code, torn. vi. p. 327. 
 
 } See the Saturnalia of Macrobius, lib. i. — Scipio 
 Maffei delli Anfiteatri, lib. i. p. 56. — Pierre le Brun, Hist. 
 Critique des Pratiques superstitieuses, torn. i. p. 237; and, 
 above all, Montfaucon's Diss, de Moribus Tempore 
 Theodnsii M. et Arcadii, which is to be found in Latin, 
 in the eleventh volume of the works of St. Chrysostcm, 
 and in French, in the twentieth volume of the Mcmoire:>de 
 I'Academic des Inscriptions el des Belles Letlres, p. 197. 
 
 tj Anastasius prohibited, toward the conclusion of this 
 century, the combats with the wild beasts, and other 
 shows.' Asseman. Biblioth. Orient. Vatic, torn. i. p. 246. 
 
132 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 tants of the mountains Libanus and Anti-Li- 
 banus, being dreadfully infested with wild 
 beasts, implored the assistance and counsels of 
 the famous Simeon the Stylite, of whom we 
 shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Simeon 
 gave them for answer, that the only effectual 
 method of removing this calamity was, to aban- 
 don the superstitious worship of their ancestors, 
 and substitute the Christian religion in its 
 place. Tiie docility of this people, joined to 
 the e.xlremities to which they were reduced, 
 engaged them to follow the counsels of this 
 holy man. They embraced Christianity, and, 
 in consequence of their conversion, they liad 
 the pleasure of seeing their savage enemies 
 abandon tlieir habitations, if we may believe 
 the writers who affirm the truth of this pro- 
 digy. The same Simeon, by his influence and 
 authority, introduced the Christian worship 
 into a certain district of the Arabians- some 
 allege, that this also was effected by a miracle, 
 which to me appears more than doubtful.* To 
 these instances of the progress of the Gospel, 
 we may add the conversion of a considerable 
 number of Jews in the isle of Crete: finding 
 themselves grossly deluded by the impious pre- 
 tensions of an impostor, called Moses Creten- 
 sis,t who gave himself out for the Messiah, 
 they opened their eyes upon the truth, and 
 spontaneously embraced the Christian religion. J 
 IV. The German nations, who rent in pieces 
 the Roman empire in the west, were not all 
 converted to Christianity at tlie same time. 
 Some of them had embraced the truth before 
 the time of their incursion; and such, among 
 others, was the case of the Goths. Others, 
 after having erected their little kingdoms in the 
 empire, embraced the Gospel, that they might 
 thus live with more security amidst a people, 
 who, in general, professed the Christian reli- 
 gion. It is, however, uncertain (and likely to 
 continue so) at what time, and by wliose min- 
 Lstry, the Vandals, Sueves, and Alans, were 
 converted to Christianity. With respect to the 
 BuriTundians, who inhabited the banks of the 
 Rhine, and thence passed into Gaul, we are in- 
 formed, by Socrates,§ that they embraced the 
 Gospel of their own accord, from a notion that 
 Christ, or the God of the Romans, who liad 
 been represented to them as a most powerful 
 beincr, would defend them against the rapines 
 and Tncursions of the Huns. They afterwards 
 sided with the x\rian party, to which also the 
 Vandals, Sueves, and Gotlis, were zealously 
 attached. All these fierce and warlike nations 
 considered a religion as e.Kcellent, in proportion 
 
 ■* Vide idem Opus, torn. i. p. 246. 
 
 Q{J^ t We shall give the relation of Socrates, concern- 
 ing this impostor, in the words of the learned and esti- 
 mable author of the Remarks on Ecclesiastical History. 
 "In the time of Theodosius the younger, an impostor 
 arose, called Moses Cretensis. He pretended to be a 
 second Moses, sent to deliver the Jews who dwelt in 
 Crete, and promised to divide the sea, and give them a 
 safe passage through it. They assembled togetlier, with 
 their wives and children, and followed him to a promon- 
 tory. He there commanded them to cast themselves into 
 the' sea. Many of tliem obeyed, and perished in the 
 waters; and many were taken up and saved by fisher- 
 men. Upon this, the deluded Jews would have torn the 
 impostor to pieces; but he escaped them, and was seen no 
 more." See Jortin's Remarks, vol. iii. 
 
 { Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. xxiviii. p. 383. 
 
 ^ Socral. lib. vii. cap. xxx. p. 37L 
 
 to the success which crowned the arms of those 
 who professed it; and, therefore, when they 
 saw the Romans in possession of an empire 
 much more extensive than that of any other 
 people, they concluded that Christ, their God, 
 was of all others the most worthy of religious 
 homage. 
 
 V. It was the same principle, as well as the 
 same views, that engaged Clovis,* king of the 
 Salii, a nation of the Franks, to embrace 
 Christianity. This prince, whose signal valour 
 was accompanied with barbarity, arrogance, 
 and injustice, founded the kingdom of the 
 Franks in Gaul, after having made himself 
 master of a great part of that country, and 
 meditated with remarkable eagerness and avi- 
 dity the conquest of the whole. His conver- 
 sion to the Christian religion is dated from the 
 battle he fought with the Alemans, in 496, at a 
 village called Tolbiacum;t in which, when the 
 Franks began to give ground, and their affairs 
 seemed desperate, he implored the assistance of 
 CJhrist (whom his queen Clotildis, daughter of 
 the king of the Burgundians, had often repre- 
 sented to him, in vain, as the Son of the true 
 God,) and solemnly engaged himself, by a vow, 
 to worship him as his God, if he would render 
 him victorious over his enemies. Victory de- 
 cided in favour of the Franks; and Clovis, 
 faithful to his engagement, received baptism at 
 Rheims,+ toward the conclusion of the same 
 year, after having been instructed by Remigius, 
 bisliop of that city, in the doctrines of Christi- 
 anity. § The example of the king had such a 
 powerful effect upon the minds of his subjects, 
 that three thousand of them immediately fol- 
 lowed it, and were baptized with him. Many 
 are of opiiiHon, that tlie desire of extending his 
 dominions principally contributed to render 
 Clovis faithful to his engagement, though some 
 influence may also be allowed to the zeal and 
 exhortations of his queen Clotildis. Be that as 
 it will', nothing is more certain than that his 
 profession of Christianity was, in effect, of 
 great use to him, both in confirming and en- 
 larging his empire. 
 
 Tlie miracles, which are said to have been 
 wrought at the baptism of Clovis, arc unwor- 
 thy of the smallest degree of credit. Among 
 others, the principal prodigy, that of the phial 
 full of oil said to have been brought from hea- 
 ven by a milk-white dove during the ceremony 
 of baptism, is a fiction, or rather, perhaps, an 
 imposture; a pretended miracle contrived by 
 artifice and fraud. 11 Pious frauds of this na- 
 
 (tl5» * Beside the name of Clovis, this prince was also 
 called Clodovseus. Hludovicus, Lujovicus, and Ludicin. 
 
 (tl^t Tolbiacum is thought to be the present Zulpick, 
 which is about twelve miles from Cologne. 
 
 I See Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, lib. ii. 
 cap. xxx. xxxi. — Count Bunau's Historia Imperii Ro- 
 mano-Germanici, torn. i. ]>. 588.— Du Bos' Hisloire 
 Critirjue de la Monarchie Francoise, torn. ii. p. 340. 
 
 (bj- § The epitomiser of the history of the Franks 
 tells us, that Remigius having preached to Clovis, and 
 those who had been baptised with him, a sermon on the 
 passion of our Saviour, the king, in hearing him, could 
 not forbear crying out, " If I had been there with my 
 Franks, that should not have happened." 
 
 II The truth of this miracle has been denied by the 
 learned John James Chiflet, in his book De Ampulla 
 Rhemensi, printed at Antwerp, in 1651; and it has been 
 affirmed by Vertot, in the Memoires de I'Academie des 
 Inscriptions et dcs Belles Letlres, tftm. iv. p. 350. After 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS?. 
 
 133 
 
 turewere very frequently practised in Gaul and 
 in Spain at this time, in order to captivate, 
 with more facility, the minds of a rude and 
 barbarous people, who were scarcely suscepti- 
 ble of a rational conviction. 
 
 The conversion of C'lovis is looked upon by 
 the learned as the origin of the titles of most 
 Christian King, and Eldest Son of the Church, 
 which have been so long attributed to the kings 
 of France;* for, if we except this prince, all the 
 kings of those barbarous nations, who seized 
 the Roman provinces, were either yet involved 
 in the darkness of Paganism, or infected with 
 the Arian heresy. 
 
 VI. Celestine, the Roman pontiff, sent Pal- 
 ■Ia(li\is into Ireland, to propagate the Christian 
 religion among the rude iuhnbitants of that 
 island. This first missionf was not attended 
 with much fruit; nor did the success of Palla- 
 dius bear any proportion to his laborious and 
 pious endeavours. After his death, the same 
 pontiff employed, in this mission, Succatlius, a 
 native of Scotland, whose name he changed 
 into that of Patrick, and wlio arrived among 
 the Irish in 43i. The success of his ministry, 
 and the number and importance of his pious 
 exploits, stand upon record as undoubted proofs, 
 not only of his resolution and patience, but 
 also of his de.vterity and address. Having at- 
 tacked, with much more success than his pre- 
 decessor, the errors and superstitions of that 
 uncivilized people, and brought great numbers 
 of them over to the Christian religion, he 
 founded, in 4't2, the archbishopric of Armagh,^ 
 
 a mature consideration of what has been alleged on both 
 sides of the question, I can scarcely venture to deny the 
 fact: I am therefore of opinion, that, in order to confirm 
 and fix the wavering faith of this barbarian prince, Re- 
 migiiis had prepared his incai^ures before-hand, and 
 trained a pigeon, by great application and dextrrily, in 
 such a manner, that, during the baptism of Clovis, it de- 
 scended from the roof of the church with a phial of oil. 
 Among the records of this century, we find accounts of 
 many such miracles, gij- There is one circumstance, 
 which obliges me to differ from Dr. Mosheim upon this 
 point, and to look upon the story of the famous phial 
 rather as a mere fiction, than as a pious fraud, or pre- 
 tended miracle brought about by artifice; and that cir- 
 cumstance is, that Gregory of Tours, from whom we 
 have a full account of the conversion and baptism of 
 Clovis, and who, from his proximity to this time, may 
 almost be called a contemporary writer, has not made the 
 least mention of this famous miracle. This omission, in 
 a writer whom the Roman catholics themselves consider 
 as an over-credulous historian, amounts to a proof, that, 
 in his time, this fable was not yet invented. 
 
 ♦See Gab. Daniel et Dc Camps, Dissert, de Titnio 
 Regis Christianissimi, in the Journal des Scavans for tlie 
 year 1720, p. 943, 336, 4(i4,448.— Memoircs de I'Acade- 
 mie des Inscriptions, torn. xx. p. 406. 
 
 (p[J=- \ ¥ rota the fragments of the lives of some Irish 
 bishops who are said to have converted many of their 
 countrymen in the fourth century. archbishop Vsher con- 
 cludes, that Talladius was not the first bishop of Ireland 
 (see his Antiquities of the British Church:) but it has been 
 evidently proved, among others by Bollandus, that thesi 
 fragments are of no earlier date than the twelfth century, 
 and are besides, for the most part, fabulous. Dr. Mo 
 sheim's opinion is farther confirmed by the authority of 
 Prosper, which is decisive in this matter. 
 
 } See the Acta Sanctor. torn. ii. Martii, p. .')17, tom. iii. 
 Februar. p. 131, 179; and the Hibernia Sacra of Sir 
 James Ware, printed at Dublin in 1717. The latter 
 published at London, in 16.50, the Works of St. Patrick. 
 Aeeountsof the synods, that were holdcn by this eminent 
 missionary, are to be found in WilUins' Concilia Maijnse 
 Brit, et Hiberniac, torn. i. With respect to the famous 
 cave, called the Purgatory of St. Patrick, the reader may 
 
 which has over since remained the metropoli- 
 tan see of tlie Irish nation. Hence this famous 
 missionary, though not the first who brought 
 among that people the light of the (iospel, has 
 yet been justly entitled the Apostle of the 
 Irish, and the father of the Hibernian church, 
 and is still generally acknowledged and revered 
 in that honourable character. 
 
 VII- The causes and circiunstances by which 
 these ditfercnt nations were engaged to aban- 
 don the superstition of their ancestors, and to 
 embrace tlie religion of Jesus, may be easily 
 deduced from the facts we have related in the 
 histor}' of their conversion. It would, indeed, 
 be an instance of the blindest and most per- 
 verse partiality, not to acknowledge, that the 
 labotirs and zeal of great and eminent men con- 
 tributed to this ha]ipy purpose, and viere the 
 means by which tlie darkness of many was 
 turned into light. But, on the other hand, 
 they must be very inattentive and superficial 
 observers of things, who do not perceive that 
 tlie fear of punishment, the prospect of honours 
 and advantages, and the desire of obtaining 
 succour against their enemies from the coun- 
 tenance of the Ciiristians, or the miraculous 
 influences of their religion, were the prevailing 
 motives that iirduced the greatest part to re- 
 nounce the service of their impotent gods. 
 
 How far tliese conversions were due to real 
 miracles attending the ministry of the early 
 preachers, is a matter extremely difficult to be 
 determined; for, though I am persuaded that 
 those pious men, wlio, in the midst of many 
 dangers, and in t!ie face of obstacles seemingly 
 invincible, endeavoured to spread the light of 
 Christianity among tlie barbarous nations, were 
 sometimes accompanied with the more peculiar 
 presence and succours of the Most High,* yet 
 I am equally convinced, that the greatest part 
 of the prodigies, recorded in the histories of 
 this age, are liable to the strongest suspicions 
 of falsehood or imposture. The simjdicity and 
 ignorance of the generality in those times fur- 
 nished the most favourable occasion for the e.K- 
 ercise of fraud, and tlie imptideiice of impos- 
 tors, in contriving false miracles, vi'as artfully 
 proportioned to the credulity of the vulgar, j 
 while the sagacious and the wise, who perceiv- 
 ed these cheats, were overawed into silence by 
 the dangers that threatened their lives and for- 
 tunes, if tliey should expose the artifice. | Thus 
 does it generally happen in human lite, that, 
 when danger attends the discovery and pro- 
 fession of the truth, the prudent are silent, the 
 multitude believe, and impostors triumph. 
 
 consult Lc Brun, Histoirc Critique def^ Pratiques super- 
 stitieuses, tom. iv. p. 34. 
 
 * There is a remarkable passage, relating to the mira- 
 cles of this century, in the dialogue of vKneas Gaza^uj 
 concerning the immortality of the soul, enlilkd Theo- 
 phrastit-i. See the controversy concerning the time when 
 miracles ceased in the church, that wascarried on about 
 the middle of the eighteenth century, on occasion of Dr. 
 Middlrton's Free Inquiry. 
 
 f This is ingenuously confessed by the Benedictine 
 monks in their Literary History of France, tonuii. p. 
 33, and happily expressed by Livy, Hist. lib. xxiv. cap. 
 X. sect. 6. " Prodigia muila nuntiata sunt, quae quo 
 magis credcbant simplices et religiosi homines, eo plura 
 nuntiahantur." 
 
 { SulpitiusSevrrus, Dial. i. p. 438. Ep. i. p.4.'>7. DU]. 
 iii. cap. ii. p. 487. 
 
134 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Concerning the Calamitous Events which hap- 
 pened to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. It has been already observed, that the 
 Goths, Heruli, Franks, Huns, and Vandals, 
 with other fierce and warlike nations, for the 
 most part strangers to Christianity, had in- 
 vaded the Roman empire, and rent it asunder 
 in the most deplorable manner. Amidst tliese 
 calamities, the Christians were grievous (we 
 may venture to say, the principal) sufferers. 
 It is true, these savag-e nations were much 
 more intent upon the acquisition of wealth and 
 <iominion, than upon the propagation or sup- 
 port of the pagan superstitions; nor did their 
 cruelty and opposition to the Christians arise 
 from any religious principle, or from an enthu- 
 siastic desire to ruin the cause of Christianity; 
 it was merely by the instigation of the Pagans 
 who remained yet in the empire, that they 
 were excited to treat with such severity and 
 violence the followers of Christ. The painful 
 consideration of their abrogated rites, and the 
 liopes of recovering their former liberty and 
 privileges by the means of their new masters, 
 induced the worsliippers of the gods to seize 
 with avidity every opportunity of inspiring 
 them with the most bitter aversion to the 
 Christians. Their endeavours, however, were 
 without the desired effect, and their expecta- 
 tions were entirely disappointed. The greatest 
 part of these barbarians embraced Christianity, 
 though it be also true, that, in the beginning 
 of their usurpations, the professors of that re- 
 ligion suffered heavily under the rigour of 
 tlieir government. 
 
 II. To destroy the credit of the Gospel, and 
 to excite the hatred of the multitude against 
 the Christians, tiie Pagans took occasion, from 
 the calamities and tumults which distracted 
 the empire, to renew the obsolete complaint of 
 their ancestors against Christianity, as the 
 source of these complicated woes. They al- 
 leged, that, before the coming of Christ, tlie 
 world was blessed with peace and prosj)erity; 
 but that, since the progress of his religion everj? 
 where, the gods, filled with indignation to see 
 their worship neglected and their altars aban- 
 doned, had visited the earth with those plagues 
 and desolations, which increased every day. 
 This feeble objection was entirely removed by 
 Augustin, in his book de Civitate Dei; a work 
 exceedingly rich and ample in point of matter, 
 and filled with the most profound and diversi- 
 fied erudition. It also drew a complete confu- 
 tation from the learned pen of Orosius, who, 
 in a history written expressly for that purpose, 
 showed, with the strongest evidence, tliat not 
 only the same calamities now complained of, 
 but also plagues of a much more dreadful kind, 
 had alHicted mankind before the Christian re- 
 ligion appeared in the world. 
 
 The misfortunes of the times produced still 
 more pernicious effects upon the religious sen- 
 timents of the Gauls. They introduced among 
 tiiat j)eo])le the most desperate notions, and led 
 many of tliem to reject the belief of a super- 
 iiitonding- providence, and to exclude the Deity 
 
 from the government of the universe. Against 
 these phrenetic infidels, Salvian wrote his book 
 concerning the divine government. 
 
 III. Hitherto we have given only a general 
 view of the sufferings of the Christians; it is, 
 however, proper, that we should enter into a 
 more distinct and particular accoimt of those 
 misfortunes. 
 
 In Gaul, and the neighbouring provinces, 
 the Goths and Vandals (whose cruel and sacri- 
 legious soldiery respected neither the majesty 
 of religion, nor the rights of humanity) com- 
 mitted acts of barbarity and violence against a 
 multitude of Christians. 
 
 In Britain, a long series of tumults and divi- 
 sions involved the Christians in many troubles. 
 When the affairs of the Romans declined in 
 that country, the Britons were tormented by 
 the Picts and Scots, nations remarkable for 
 their violence and ferocity. Hence, after many 
 sufferings and disasters, they chose, in 445, 
 Vortigern for their king. This prince, finding 
 himself too weak to make head against the ene- 
 mies of his country, called the Anglo-Saxons 
 from Germany to his aid, about the year 449. 
 The consequences of this measure were perni- 
 cious; and it soon appeared, that the warriors, 
 wli0 came as auxiliaries into Britain, oppressed 
 it with calamities more grievous than those 
 which it had suffered from its enemies; for the 
 Saxons aimed at nothing less than to subdue 
 the ancient inhabitants of the country, and to 
 reduce the whole island under their dominion. 
 Hence a most bloody and obstinate war arose 
 between the Britons and Saxons, which, after 
 having been carried on, during a hundred and 
 thirty years, with various success, ended in the 
 final defeat of the Britons, who were at length 
 constrained to seek a retreat in Wales. During 
 these commotions, the state of the British 
 church was deplorable beyond expression; it 
 was almost totally overwhelmed and extin- 
 guished by the Anglo-Saxons, who adhered to 
 the worship of the gods, and put an immense 
 number of Christians to the most cruel deaths.* 
 
 IV. In Persia, the Christians sufl'ered griev- 
 ously by the imprudent zeal of Abdas, bishop 
 of Susa, who pulled down the Pyrseum, which 
 was a temple dedicated to fire; for, when this 
 obstinate prelate was ordered by the king (Yez- 
 dejird) to rebuild tliat temple, he refused to 
 comply; for which he was put to death in 414, 
 and the cluirches of the Christians were demo- 
 lished. This persecution was not, however, of 
 long duration, but seems to have been extin- 
 guished soon after its commencement. 
 
 Warharan or Bahram, the son of the mo- 
 uarcli already mentioned, treated the Chris- 
 tians, in 421, in a manner yet more barbarous 
 and inhimian, to whicli he was led partly by 
 the instigation of the Magi, and partly by his 
 keen aversion to the Romans, with whom he 
 was at war; for, as often as the Persians and 
 the Romans were at variance, the Christians, 
 who dwelt in Persia, felt new and redoubled 
 effects of their monarch's wrath; and this from a 
 prevailing notion, not perhaps entirely ground- 
 
 * Sec, lipside Bcdc and Gildas, archbishop Usher'? 
 Antiquilat. EcpIesiK Britannicje, cap. xii. p. 415, aud 
 Rapiii's llisloire d'Angleteiic, torn. i. livr. ii. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 135 
 
 ■less, that they favoured the Romans, and ren- 
 dered real services to their empire.* [n this 
 persecution, a prodigious number of Christians 
 perished in the most exquisite tortures, and by 
 various kinds of punishment, f But they were, 
 at length, delivered from these cruel oppres- 
 sions by the peace that was made in 1-*", be- 
 tween \Varliaran and the emperor Theodosius 
 the younger. I 
 
 It was not from the Pagans only that the 
 Christians were exposed to suffering and per- 
 secution; they were also harassed and oppress- 
 ed in a variety of ways by the Jews, who lived 
 in great opulence, and enjoyed a higli degree 
 of favour and credit in several parts of the 
 east.§ Among these, none treated them with 
 greater rigour and arrogance than Gamaliel, 
 the patriarch of tliat nation, a man of tlie great- 
 est power and influence, whose authority and 
 
 * Thcodoret, Hist. Eccles. lib. v. cap. xxin. p. 215. 
 Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Abdas. Barbeyrac, de 
 la Morale des Peres, p. 3-JO. 
 
 ■) Jos. Sim. Assemaui Bibliolh. Oriental. Vatican, torn, 
 i. p. 182, 248. 
 
 \ Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. xx. 
 
 § Socrat. lib. vii. cap. xiii. xvi. Codex Theodos. torn. 
 Ti. p. 965. 
 
 violence were, on that account, restrained, ii 
 415, by an express edict of Tlieodosius.* 
 
 V. It does not api)ear, from extant records, 
 that any writings against Christ and his follow 
 ers were published in this century, unless we 
 consider as such tlie histories of 01ympiodorus'^ 
 and Zosimus, of whom the latter loses no op 
 portunity of reviling tiie Christians, and load- 
 ing them with tiie most unjust and bitter re- 
 proaches. But, tliough so few books weiii 
 written against Christianity, we arc not to sup 
 pose that its adversaries had laid aside tlie spirif 
 of opposition. The schools of the philoso 
 phersand rhetoricians were j'et open in Greece 
 Syria, and Rgypt; and there is no doubt that 
 these artful teachers laboured assiduously to 
 corrupt the minds of the youth, and to insti? 
 into them, at least some of the principles of 
 the ancient superstition. J. The history of these 
 times, and the writings of several Christians 
 who lived in this century, exJiibit evident proofs 
 of these clandestine methods of opposing the 
 progress of the Gospel. 
 
 * Codex Theodos. tom. vi. p. 262, 
 
 t Photii Biblioth. cod. Ixxx. 
 
 } Zacliarias Mitylen. de Opificio Dei 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the State of Learning cwwi Philosophy. 
 
 I. Though, in this century, the illiterate 
 and ignorant were advanced to eminent and 
 important stations, both ecclesiastical and civil, 
 yet we must not thence conclude, that tlie sci- 
 ences were treated with universal contempt. 
 The value of learning, and the excellence of 
 the fine arts, were yet generally acknowledg- 
 ed among the thinking part of mankind. — 
 Hence public schools were erected in almost 
 all the great cities, such as Constantinople, 
 Rome, Marseilles, Edessa, Nisibis, Cartilage, 
 Lyons, and Treves; and public instructors of 
 capacity and genius were set apart for the edu- 
 cation of the youth, and maintained at the ex- 
 pense of the emperors. Several bishops and 
 monks contributed also to the advancement of 
 knowledge, by imparting to others their small 
 stock of learning and science. But the infe- 
 licity of the times, the incursions of the bar- 
 barous nations, and the scarcity of great ge- 
 niuses, rendered the fruits of these excellent 
 establishments much less important than their 
 generous founders and promoters expected. 
 
 II. In the western provinces, and especially 
 in Gaul, there were indeed some men eminent- 
 ly distinguished by their learning and talents, 
 and every way proper to serve as models to the 
 lower orders in the republic of letters. Of 
 this we have abundant proof in the writings of 
 IVHcrobius, Salvian, Vinccntius bisiiop of Liris, 
 Ennodius, Sidonius Apollinaris, Claudian, Ma- 
 niertus, Dracontius, and others, wiio, though 
 
 in some respects inferior to the celebrated au- 
 thors of antiquity, are j'ct far from being des- 
 titute of elegance, and discover in their pro- 
 ductions a most laborious application to liter.a- 
 ry researches of various kinds. But tlie bar- 
 barous nations, which either spread desolation, 
 or formed settlements in the Roman territories, 
 clicked the growth of those genial seeds, which 
 tlie hand of science had sown in more auspici- 
 ous times. These savage invaders, who pos- 
 sessed no other ambition than that of conquest, 
 and considered military courage as the only 
 source of true virtue and solid gloiy, beheld, 
 in consequence, the arts and sciences with the 
 utmost contempt. ^Vherever therefore they 
 extended their conquests, ignorance and dark- 
 ness followed their steps; and the culture of 
 science was confined to the priests and monks 
 alone; and even among these, learning dege- 
 nerated from its primitive lustre, and put on 
 the most tmsnemly and fantastic form. Amidst 
 the seduction of corrupt examples, the alarms 
 of pcr[)etual danger, and tiie horrors and de- 
 vastations of war, the sacerdotal and monastic 
 orders gradually lost all taste for solid science, 
 in the place of which they substituted a life- 
 less spectre, an enormous phantom of bariia- 
 rous erudition. They indeed kept public 
 schools, and instructed the youth in what they 
 called the seven liberal arts;* but these, as we 
 learn from Augustin's account of them, con- 
 sisted only of a certain number of dry, subtile, 
 
 (t(^ * These arts were grammar, rhetoric, logic, 
 arithmetic, music, geometry, and astrouomy. See cent. 
 ?iii. part ii. ch. ii. in this volume. 
 
136 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 and useless prerepts, and were consequently 
 more adapted to load and perplex the memory, 
 than to improve and strengtlien the judgment: 
 so that, toward the conclusion of this century, 
 the sciences were almost totally extinguished; 
 at least, what remained of them was no more 
 than a shadowy form, without solidity or con- 
 sistence. 
 
 III. The few who applied tliemselves to the 
 study of pliilosophy in this age, had not yet 
 embraced tlie doctrine or method of Aristotle. 
 They looked upon the sj-stem of this eminent 
 philosopher, as a labyrinth beset with thorns 
 and tliistles;* and yet, liad tliey been able to 
 read and understand his works, it is probable 
 that many of them would have become his fol- 
 lowers. The doctrine of Plato had a more 
 established reputation, which it had enjoyed 
 for several ages, and was considered, not only 
 as less subtile and ditiicult tlian that of the 
 Stagirite, but also as more conformable to the 
 genius and spirit of the Christian religion. 
 Besides, the most valuable of Plato''s works 
 were translated into Latin by Victorinus, and 
 were thus adapted to general use;t and Sido- 
 nius Apollinarjsj: informs us, that all those, 
 among the Latins, who had any inclination to 
 the study of truth, fell into the Platonic no- 
 tions, and followed that sage as their philoso- 
 phical guide. 
 
 IV. The fate of learning was less deplora- 
 ble ainong the Greeks and Orientals, than in 
 the western provinces; and not only the seve- 
 ral branches of polite literature, but also the 
 more solid and profound sciences, were culti- 
 vated by them with tolerable success. Hence 
 we find among them more writers of genius 
 and learning than in other countries. Those, 
 who were inclined to the study of law, resort- 
 ed generally to Berytus, famous for its learned 
 academy, § or to Alexandria, || which was fre- 
 quented by the students of physic and chemis- 
 try. The professors of eloquence, poetry, phi- 
 losophy, and the other liberal arts, taught the 
 youth in public schools, which were erected in 
 almost every city. Those however of Alexan- 
 dria, Constantinople, and Edessa, were deem- 
 ed superior to all others, both in point of eru- 
 dition and method.fl^ 
 
 V. The doctrine and sect of the modern 
 Platonics, or Platonists, retained, among the 
 Syrians and Alexandrians, a considerable part 
 of their ancient splendour. Olympiodorus, 
 Hero,** and other philosophers of the first rank, 
 added a lustre to the Alexandrian school. That 
 of Athens was rendered famous by tl]e talents 
 and erudition of Theophrastus, Plutarch, and 
 his successor Syrianus. These were the instruc- 
 
 * The passages of different writers, that prove what is 
 here advanced, are collected by Launoy, in his book, rfe 
 varia ^ristotelis Fortuna in Jltadeinia Parisiensi. 
 
 t See Augustini Confess, lib. i. cap. ii. sect. i. p. 105, 
 106. torn. i. op. 
 
 t See his Epistles, book iv. cp. iii. xi. book ix. ep. is. 
 
 tj See Hasaei Lib. de Academia Jureconsultorum Eery- 
 teuai; as also Mitylenaeus, de Opificio Dei, p. 164. 
 
 II Mitylenaeus de Opificio Dei, p. 179. 
 
 IT MnestS Gazaeus in Theophrasto. 
 
 ** MarinuSj Vita Procli, cap. ix. 
 
 tors of the renowned Proclus, who far surpassed 
 the Platonic philosophers of this century, and 
 acquired such a high degree of the public es- 
 teem, as enabled him to give new life to the 
 doctrine of Plato, and restore it to its former 
 credit in Greece.* Marinus, of Neapolis, Arn- 
 monius the son of Hermias, Isidorus and Da- 
 mascius, the disciples of Proclus, followed, 
 with an ardent emulation, the traces of their 
 master, and formed successors who resembled 
 j them in all respects. But the imperial laws, 
 i and the daily progress of the Christian reli- 
 [ gion, gradually diminished the lustre and au- 
 thority of these philosophers;t and, as there 
 were many of the Cliristian doctors who 
 adopted the Platonic system, and were suffi- 
 ciently qualified to explain it to the youth, 
 this naturally prevented the schools of these 
 heathen sages from being so much frequented 
 as tliey had formerly been. 
 
 VI. The credit of the Platonic philosophy, 
 and the preference that was given to it, as 
 more excellent in itself, and less repugnant to 
 the genius of the Gospel than other systems, 
 did not prevent the doctrine of Aristotle from 
 coming to light after a long struggle, and 
 forcing its way into the Clu'istian church. 
 The Platonists themselves interpreted, in their 
 schools, some of the writings of Aristotle, par- 
 ticularly his Dialectics, and recommended that 
 work to such of the youth as had a taste for lo- 
 gical discussions, and were fond of disputing. 
 In this, tiie Christian doctors imitated the man- 
 ner of the heathen schools; and this vi'as the 
 first step to that universal dominion, which the 
 Stagirite afterwards obtained in the republic 
 of letters. A second and yet larger stride to- 
 ward this universal empire was made by the 
 Aristotelian philosophy during the controver- 
 sies which Origen had occasioned, and the 
 Arian, Eutychian, Nestorian, and Pelagian dis- 
 sensions, which, in this century, were so fruit- 
 ful of calamities to the Christian church. Ori- 
 gen, as is well known, was zealously attached 
 to the Platonic system. When, therefore, he 
 was publicly condemned, many, to avoid the 
 imputation of his errors, and to preclude their 
 being reckoned among the number of his fol- 
 lowers, adopted openly the philosophy of Aris- 
 totle, which was entirely different from that of 
 Origen. The Nestorian, Arian, and Eutychian 
 controversies were managed, or rather drawn 
 out, on both sides, by a perpetual recourse to 
 subtile distinctions and captious sophisms; and 
 no philosophy was so proper to furnisli such 
 weapons, as that of Aristotle; for that of Plato 
 was far from being adapted to form the mind 
 to the polemic arts. Besides, the Pelagian doc- 
 trine bore a striking' resemblance to the Plato- 
 nic opinions concerning God and the human 
 soul; and this was an additional reason which 
 engaged many to desert the Platonists, and to 
 assume, at least, the name of Peripatetics. 
 
 * The life of Proclus, written by Mirinus, was publish- 
 ed at Hamburg, in 1700, by John Albert Fabricius, and 
 was enriched by this famous editor, with a great ouintier 
 of learned observations. 
 
 j See .Eneas Gazaeus la Theophrasto, 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 Christian Church, and its form of Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 I. Sevkral causes contributed to brinir 
 about a change in tlie external form of ecclesi- 
 astical iroverninent. The power of the bishops, 
 particularly those of the first order, was some- 
 times augmented, and sometimes diminislied, 
 according as tlie times and the occasions offer- 
 ed; and in all these changes the intrigues of 
 the court and the political state of the empire 
 had much more influence, than the rules of 
 equity and wisdom. 
 
 These alterations were, indeed, matters of 
 small moment. But an affair of much greater 
 consequence now drew the general attention; 
 and this was the vast augmentation of honours 
 and rank, accumulated upon' the bishops of 
 Constantinople, in opposition to the most vigour- 
 ous etforts of the Roman pontiff. In the pre- 
 ceding century, tlie council of Constantinople 
 had, on account of the dignity and privileges 
 of that imperial city, conferred on its bishops a 
 place among the lirst rulers of the Christian 
 church. This new dignity added fuel to their 
 ambition, they extended their views of authori- 
 ty and dominion; and, encouraged, no doubt, 
 bv the consent of the emperor, reduced the 
 provinces of Asia Minor, Thrace, and Pontus, 
 under their spiritual jurisdiction. In this cen- 
 tury, they grasped at still farther accessions of 
 power; so that not only the whole eastern part 
 of Illyricum was added to their former acquisi- 
 tions, but they were also exalted to the highest 
 summit of ecclesiastical authorit}'; for, by the 
 28th canon of the council liolden at Chalcedon 
 in 451, it was resolved, that the same rights 
 and honours, which had been conferred upon 
 the bishop of Rome, were due to the bishop of 
 Constantinople, on account of the equal digni- 
 ty and lustre of the two cities, in which these 
 prelates exercised their authority. The .same 
 council confirmed also, by a solemn act, the 
 bishop of Constantinople in the spiritual gov- 
 ernment of tiiose provinces over which he had 
 ambitioiLsly usurped the jurisdiction. Pope Leo 
 tlie Great, bishop of Rome, opposed with ve- 
 hemence the passing of these decrees; and his 
 opposition was seconded by that of several 
 other prelates. But their efforts were vain, cas 
 the emperors threw their weight into the bal- 
 ance, and thus supported the decisions of the 
 Grecian bishops.* In consequence then of the 
 decrees of this famous council, the prelate of 
 Constantinople began to contend obstinately 
 for the supremacy with the Roman pontiff", and 
 to crush the bishops of Alexandria and An- 
 tioch, so as to npi^kc them feel the op[)ressivc 
 effects of his [uclcnded superiority; and no one 
 distinguished himself more by his ambition and 
 arrogance in this affair, tiian Acacius.f 
 
 II. It was much about this time that Juvenal, 
 bishop of .Jerusalem, or rather of iElia, at- 
 tempted to witlidraw himself and his church 
 
 * Le Quien, Oriens Chriat. torn. i. p. 36. 
 t See Bayle'i Dictionaire Historique, at the artirle 
 Acacius. 
 
 Vol. I.— 18 
 
 from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Ccesarea, 
 and aspired to a place among the first prelates 
 of the Christian world. The high degree of 
 veneration and esteem, in whicli the church of 
 Jerusalem was holden among all other Chris- 
 tian societies (on account of its rank among 
 the apostolical churches, and its title to the ap- 
 pellation of mother-ch}irch, as having succeeded 
 the first Christian assembly founded by the 
 ajiostles,) was extremely favourable to the am- 
 bition of Juvenal, and rendered his project 
 much more practicable than it would otherwise 
 have been. Encouraged by this, and animated 
 by the favour and protection of the younger 
 Theodosius, the aspiring prelate not only as- 
 sumed the dignity of patriarch of all Palestine,* 
 a rank that rendered liim supreme and inde- 
 pendent of all spiritual authority, but also in- 
 vaded the rights of the bishop of Antioch, and 
 usurped his jurisdiction over the provinces of 
 Phcenicia and Arabia. Hence arose a warm 
 contest between Juvenal and Maximus, bishop 
 of Antiocli, which tlie council of Chalcedon 
 derided, by restoring to the latter the provinces 
 of PhoGuicia and Arabia, and confirming the 
 former in the spiritual possession of all Pales- 
 tine,! and in the high rank which he had as- 
 sumed in the church. J Thus were created, in 
 the fifth century, five superior rulers of the 
 churcli, who were distinguished from the rest 
 by the title of Patriarclis.§ The oiiontal his- 
 torians mention a si.xth, viz. the bishop of Se- 
 leucia and Ctcsiplion, to whom, according to 
 their account, the bishop of Antioch vohrnta- 
 rily ceded a part of his jurisdiction. |! But this 
 addition to the number of t!ie pat; iarclis is un- 
 worthy of credit, as the only proof of it is drawn 
 from the Arabic laws of the council of Nice, 
 which are notoriously destitute of all authority. 
 III. The patriarchs were distinguished by 
 considerable and ervt.onsive rights and privile- 
 ges, that were annexed to their high station. 
 They alone consecrated the bishops, who lived 
 in the provinces that belonged toJ.heir jurisdic- 
 tion. They assembled yearly in council the 
 clergy of their respective districts, in order to 
 regulate the affairs of the Church. The cog- 
 nisance of all important causes, and the deter- 
 mination of the more weighty controversies, 
 were referred to the jiatriarch of the province 
 where they arose. They also pronounced a 
 decisive judgment in those cases, where accu- 
 sations were brought against bishops; and, last- 
 
 0(J= * By all Palestine, the reader is desired to imder- 
 jtand three distinct provinces, of which each bore the 
 name of Palestine; and accordingly the original is thus 
 expressed, Trium Pakcstinarum Episcopum scu Patrv- 
 archam. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the face 
 of Palestine was almost totally changed; and it was so 
 parcelled out and wasted by a succession of wars and in- 
 vasions, that it scarcely preserved any trace of its former 
 condition. Under the Christian emperors there were 
 three Palestincs formed out of the ancient country of that 
 name, each of which was an episcopal see; and it was of 
 these three dioceses that Juvenal usurped ;ind maintained 
 the jnrisdiclion. See, for a farther account of tlie three 
 Palestincs, Spanhemii Geographia Sacra. 
 
 t See also, for an account of the Three Palestincs, Ca- 
 roli a S. Paulo Geographia Sacra, p. 307. 
 
 } See Mich. Lc Q,uien, Oriens Christianus, tom. iii. 
 
 § See the authors who have written of the patriarchs, 
 mentioned and recommended by the learned Fabriciiu, in 
 his Bibliograph. Antiquar. cap. xiii. p. 453. 
 
 II Assemani Biblioth. Orient. Vatican, tom. i. 
 
138 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part 11. 
 
 ly, they appointed vicars,* or deputies, clothed 
 with their authority, for the pjescrvation of 
 order and tranquillity in the remoter provinces. 
 Such were the great and distinguishing privi- 
 leges of the patriarchs; and they were accom- 
 panied with others of less moment, which it is 
 needless to mention. 
 
 It must, however, be carefully observed, that 
 the aiitljority of the patriarchs was not acknow- 
 ledged through all the provinces without ex- 
 ception. Several districts, both in the eastern 
 and western empires, were exempted from their 
 jurisdiction.! The emperors, who reserved to 
 themselves the supreme power in the Christian 
 hierarchy, and received, with great facility and 
 readiness, the complaints of those vt'ho consid- 
 ered themselves as injured by the patriarchs; 
 and the councils also, in which the majesty and 
 legislative power of the church immediately 
 resided; were obstacles to the arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings of the patriarchal order. 
 
 IV. "This constftution of ecclesiastical go- 
 vernment was so far from contributing to tl:e 
 peace and prosperity of the Christian church, 
 that it proved, on the contrary, a perpetual 
 source of dissensions and animosities, and was 
 productive of various inconveniences and griev- 
 ances. The patriarchs, who, by their exalted 
 rank and extensive authority, were equally able 
 to do much good and much miscjiief, began to 
 encroach upon the rights, and trample upon 
 the prerogatives of their bishops, and thus in- 
 troduced, gradually, a sort of spiritual bondage 
 into the church; and that they might invade, 
 without opposition, the rights of the bishops, 
 they permitted the latter, in their tiun, to tram- 
 ple with impunity, upon the ancient rights and 
 privileges of the people; for, in proportion as 
 the bishops multiplied their privileges and ex- 
 tended their usurpations, the patriarchs gained 
 new accessions of power by the despotism which 
 they exercised over the episcopal order. They 
 fomented also divisions among the bisiiops, and 
 excited animosities between them and the other 
 ministers of the church. They went still far- 
 ther, and sowed the seeds of discord between 
 the clergy and tlie people, that all these com- 
 bustions might furnish them with perpetual 
 matter for the exercise of their authority, and 
 procure them a multitude of clients and de- 
 pendents. They left no artifice unemployed 
 to strengthen their own authority, and to raise 
 opposition against the prelates from every quar- 
 ter. For this purpose it was that they engaged 
 in their cause by the most alluring- promises, 
 and attached to their interests by the most mag- 
 nificent acts of liberality, whole swarms of 
 monks, who served as intestine enemies to the 
 bishops, and as a dead weight on the side of 
 patriarchal tyramiy. The efforts of tlicse mo- 
 nastic hirelings contributed more than any other 
 means to ruin the ancient ecclesiastical discip- 
 line, to diminish the authority of the bishops, 
 and raise, to an enormous and excessive height. 
 
 * Dav. Blondcl, de la Primaute de I'Eglise, chap. xxv. 
 p. 332. Theod. Ruinart, de Pallio Archi-Episcopali, p. 
 445; torn. ii. of the posthumous works of Mabilliai. 
 
 f Brerewood's Dissert, de veleris Ecclesiac Gubertia 
 tione patriarchal!, printed at the end of archbishop 
 Usher's b.ioltj entitled, Opusculuin de Origiue Episco- 
 Dorum et Metropolitanorum. 
 
 the power and prerogatives of their insolent 
 and ambitious patrons. 
 
 V. To these lamentable evils, were added 
 the ambitious quarrels, and the bitter animosi- 
 ties, that rose among the pat rlarcb.s themselves, 
 and which produced the most bloody wars, and 
 the most detestable and horrid crimes. The 
 patriarch of Constantinople distinguished him- 
 self in these odious contests. Elate with the 
 favour and proximity of the imperial court, he 
 cast a liaughty eye on all sides, where any ob- 
 jects were to be found on which he might ex- 
 ercise his lordly ambition. On one hand, he 
 reduced under his jurisdiction the patriarchs of 
 Alexandria and Antioch, as prelates only of the 
 second order; and, on theotlier, he invaded the 
 diocese .of the Roman pontiff, axid despoiled 
 him of several provinces. The two former pre- 
 lates, though they struggled with vehemence, 
 and raised considerable tumults by their oppo- 
 sition, laboured ineffectually, both for want of 
 strength, and likewise on accom)t of a variety 
 of unfavourable circumstances. But the pope, 
 far superior to them in wealth and power, con- 
 tended also with more vigour and obstinacy, 
 and, in his turn, gave a deadly wound to the 
 usurped supremacy of the Byzantine patriarch. 
 
 The attentive inquirer into ihe affairs of the 
 church, from this period, will find, in the events 
 now mentioned, the principal source of those 
 most scandalous and deplorable dissensions, 
 which divided first the eastern church into va- 
 rious sects, and afterwards separated it entirely 
 from that of the west. He will find, that these 
 ignominious schissns flowed chiefly from the 
 unchristian contentions for dominion and su- 
 premacy, which reigned among those who set 
 themselves up for the fathers and defenders of 
 the church. 
 
 VI. No one of the contending bishops found 
 the occurrences of the times so favourable to 
 his ambition, as the Roman pontiff'. Notwith- 
 standing the redoubled efi'orts of the bishop of 
 Constantinople, a variety of circumstances con- 
 curred to augment his power and authority, 
 though he had not yet assumed the dignity of 
 supreme lawgiver and judge of the whole Chris- 
 tian church. The bishops of Alexandria and 
 Antiocl>, unable to make head against the lord- 
 ly prelate of Constantinople, often fled to the 
 Romair pontiff' for sitccour against his violenca; 
 and the inferior order of bishops used the same 
 method, when their rights were invaded by the 
 prelates of Alexandria and Antioch: so that 
 the bishop of Rome, by taking all these pre- 
 lates alternately under his protection, daily M 
 added new degrees of influence and' authority ■ 
 to the Roman see, rendered it every where re- " 
 spected, and was thus imperceptibly establish- 
 ing its supremacy. Such were the means by 
 which that pontiff' extended his dominion in 
 
 the east. In the west its increase arose from 
 other causes. The declining power and the 
 supine indolence of the emperors, left the au- 
 thority of the bishop, who presided in their 
 capital, almost without control. The incur- 
 sions, moreover, and triumphs of the barbari- 
 ans were so far from being prejudicial to his 
 rising dominion, that they rather contributed 
 to its advancement; for the kings, who pene- 
 trated into the empire, were only solicitoiis 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 139 
 
 about the methods of giving a sufficient degree 
 of stability to their respective governments; 
 and when they perceived tlie subjection of the 
 multitude to the bishops, and the dependence 
 of the latter upon the Roman pontitf, they im- 
 mediately resolved to reconcile this ghostly 
 ruler to their interests, by loading him with be- 
 nefits and honours of various kinds. 
 
 Among all the prelates who ruled the church 
 of Rome during this century, there was not 
 one who asserted his authority and pretensions 
 with such vigour and success, as Leo, surnam- 
 ed the Great. It must however be observed, 
 that neither he, nor the other promoters of the 
 same claims, were able to overcome all the ob- 
 stacles that were laid in their way, or the vari- 
 ous checks which were given to their ambition. 
 Many examples might be alleged in proof of 
 this assertion, particularly the case of the Afri- 
 cans, whom no threats or promises could en- 
 gage to submit the decision of their controver- 
 sies, and the determination of their causes, to 
 the Roman tribunal.* 
 
 VII. The vices of the clergy were now car- 
 ried to the most enormous excess; and all the 
 writers of this century, whose probity and vir- 
 tue render them worthy of credit, are unani- 
 mous in their accounts of the luxury, arro- 
 gance, avarice, and voluptuousness of the sa- 
 cerdotal orders. The bishops, and particular!}' 
 those of the first rank, created various dele- 
 gates, or ministers, who managed for them tlie 
 affairs of their dioceses; and courts were gra- 
 dually formed, where these pompous ecclesias- 
 tics gave audience, and received the homage of 
 a cringing multitude. The office of a presby- 
 ter was looked upon of such a high and emi- 
 nent nature, that Martin, bishop of Tours, au- 
 daciously maintained, at a public entertain- 
 ment, that the emperor was inferior, in dignity, 
 to one of that order.f As to the deacons, their 
 pride and licentiousness occasioned many and 
 grievous complaints, as appears from the de- 
 crees of several councils. + 
 
 These opprobrious stains, in the char.acters 
 of the clergy, would never have been endured, 
 had not the greatest part of mankind been 
 sunk in superstition and ignorance, and people 
 in general formed their ideas of t!ie rights and 
 liberties of Christian mini.<ters from the model 
 exiiibited by the sacerdotal orders among the 
 Hebrews, during the prevalence of the law of 
 Moses, and among the Greeks and Romans in 
 the darkness of paganism. The barbarous na- 
 tions also, wliicli, on the ruin of the Romans, 
 divided among themselves the western empire, 
 bore, with the utmost patience and moderation, 
 boti) the dominion and vices of the bi.sliojisand 
 priests, because, upon their conversion to Chris- 
 tianity, they became naturally subject to their 
 jurisdiction; and still more, because they con- 
 sidered the ministers of Christ as invested with 
 the same rigiits and privileges, which distin- 
 guished the priests of their fictitious deities. 
 
 * Du-Pin, de Antiqua Ecclesiae Disciplina, Di«s. ii. p. 
 166. Mtlfh. Leydeck. Historia Eccles. .\lricaniE, torn. ii. 
 Diss. ii. p. 505. 
 
 f Sulpitius Sevcrus, de Vita Martini, cap. xx. p. 339, 
 compared with Oialoiv. jj. cap. vi. p. 457. 
 
 { Sec Dav. Blonde!. Apologia pro Senteiitia Hieronymi 
 de Episeopis et Presbyteris, p. HO. 
 
 VIII. The corruption of an order, appointed 
 to promote, by doctrine and e.xample, the sa- 
 cred interests of piety and virtue, will appear 
 less surprising when we consider, that multi- 
 tudes of people were in every country admit- 
 ted, without examination or choice, into tiie 
 body of the dergy, the greatest part of whom 
 had no other view, than the enjoyment of a 
 lazy and inglorious repose. Many of these 
 ecclesiastics were confined to no fixed places or 
 assemblies, and had no employment of any 
 kind, but sauntered about wherever they 
 pleased, gaining their maintenance bj' imposing 
 upon the ignorant multitude, and sometimes 
 b}' mean and dishonest practices. But if any 
 should ask, how this account is reconcileable 
 with the number of saints, who, according to 
 the testimonies both of the eastern and west- 
 ern writers, are said to have shone forth in this 
 century, the answer is obvious; these saints 
 were canonised by the ignorance of the times; 
 for, in an age of darkness and corruption, 
 those who distinguished themselves from the 
 multitude, either by their genius, their writings, 
 or their eloquence, by their prudence and dex- 
 terity in conducting affiiirs of importance, or 
 by their meekness and moderation, and the as- 
 cendenc}' which they had gained over their re- 
 sentments and passions, were esteemed some- 
 thing more than men; they were reverenced as 
 gods; or, to speak more properly, they appear- 
 ed to others as men divinely inspired, and f'lll 
 of the Deity. 
 
 IX. The monks, who had formerly lived 
 only for themselves in solitary retreats, and 
 had never thought of assimiing any rank 
 among tlie sacerdotal orders, were now gradu- 
 ally distinguished from the populace, and were 
 endowed with such opulence and such honour- 
 able privileges, that they found themselves in a 
 condition to claim an eminent station among 
 tha supports and pillars of the Christian com- 
 munity.* The fame of their piety and sanctity 
 was at first so great, that bishops and presby- 
 ters were often chosen out of their order;t and 
 the passion of erecting edifices and convents, 
 in which the monks and holy virgins might 
 serve God in the most commodious manner, 
 was at th.is time carried beyond all bounds. J 
 
 The monastic orders did not all observe the 
 same rule of discipline, or the same manner of 
 living. Some followed the rule of Augustine, 
 others that of Basil, others that of Antony, 
 otliers that of Athanasius, others that of Pa- 
 chomius; but they must all have become ex- 
 tremely negligent and remiss in observing the 
 laws of their respective orders, since the licen- 
 tiousness of the monks, even in this century, 
 was even proverbial, § and they are said to have 
 excited in various places the most dreadful tu- 
 mults and seditions. All the monastic orders 
 were under the protection of the bishops in 
 whose provinces they lived; nor did the patri- 
 archs claim any authority over them, as ap- 
 
 * Epiphanius, Exposit. Fidei, toin. i. op. p. 1094. — 
 Mabi'.loii's Repoiisc aux Chanoiues Reguliers. 
 
 fSeveras, de Vita Martini, cap. x. p. 320. Dial. i. 
 cap. xxi. p. 426. 
 
 t .Severus, Dial. i. p. 419. — Norisius, Histor. Pelaff. 
 lib. i. cap. iii. p. 273. torn. i. op. — Histoirc Lilerair« il» 
 la France, torn. ii. p. .T.'i. 
 
 § Sulp. Severus, Dial, i cap. viii. p 399. 
 
140 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 pears with the utmost evidence from the de- 
 crees of the councils liolden in this century.* 
 
 X. Several writers of considerable merit 
 adorned this century. Among the Greeks and 
 Orientals, tiie first place is due to Cyril, bishop 
 of Alexandria, so famous for his learned pro- 
 ductions, and the various controversies in 
 wliich he was engaged. It would be unjust to 
 derogate from the praises which are due to this 
 eminent man: but it would betray, on tlie other 
 hand, a criminal paitiality, if we sliould pass 
 uncensured the turbulent spirit, the litigious 
 and contentious temper, and other defects, 
 which are laid to his charge. f 
 
 After Cyril, we may place Theodoret, bishop 
 of Cyrus (or Cyropolis,) an eloquent, copious, 
 and learned writer, eminent for his acquaint- 
 ance with all the brandies of sacred erudition, 
 but unfortunate in his attachment to some of 
 the Nestorian errors. t 
 
 Isidore, of Pelusium, was a man of uncom- 
 mon learning and sanctity. A great nnmber§ 
 of his epistles are yet extant, and discover more 
 piety, genius, erudition, and wisdom, than are 
 to be found in the voluminous productions of 
 many other writers. || 
 
 Theophilus, bisliop of Alexandria, few of 
 whose writings are now extant, acquired an 
 immortal name, by his violent opposition to 
 Oiigen and his folio wers.H 
 
 Palladius deserves a rank among the better 
 sort of authors by his Lausiac History and his 
 Life of Chrysostom. 
 
 Theodore of Mopsuestia, though accused af- 
 ter his death of the greatest errors, was one of 
 the most learned men of his time. Those who 
 have read, with any attention, the fragments 
 of his writings, which are to be found in Pho- 
 tius, will lament the want of these excellent 
 compositions, which are either entirely lost, or, 
 if any remain,** are only extant among the 
 Nestorians, and in the Syriac language.jt 
 
 * See Jo. Launoii Inquisitio in Chartam Immunitatis B. 
 Germani. op. torn. iii. part ii. p. 3. In the ancient 
 records, posterior to this century, the monks are fre- 
 quently called Clerks. (See Mabiiloa's Frsf. ad Saic. ii. 
 Actor. Sanctor. Ord Benedicti.) And this shows, that 
 they now began to be ranked among the clergy, or minis- 
 ters of the church. 
 
 t The works of Cyril were published at Paris by 
 Aubert, in six volumes, folio, in 1638. 
 
 ; The Jesuit Sirmond gave at Paris, in 164=2, a noble 
 edition of the works of this prelate in four volumes; a 
 fifth was added by Gamier, in 1685. (Jg- We must ob- 
 serve, in favour of this excellent ecclesiastic, so renowned 
 for the sanctity and simplicity of his manners, that he 
 abandoned the doctrines of Nestorius, and thus effaced 
 the stain he had contracted by his personal attachment to 
 that heretic, and to John of Antioch. 
 
 {JtJ- § These epistles amount to 2012, and are divided 
 into five books. They are short, but admirably written, 
 and are equally recommendable for the solidity of the 
 matter, and the purity and elegance of their style. 
 
 II The best edition of Isidore's Epistles, is that which 
 was published by the Jesuit Scott, at Paris, in 1638. 
 
 IT See Euseb. Renaudot, Historia Patriarchar. Alexan- 
 drinor. p. 103. _ 
 
 ** See Assemani Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vatic, 
 torn. iii. part ii. p. 227. , „ 
 
 ttrp" ft It appears by this account of the works of 
 Theodore, that Dr. Mosheim had not seen the Disserta 
 tions of the late dnke of Orleans, in one of which that 
 learned prince has demonstrated, that the commentary 
 upon the Psalms, which is to be found in the Chain or 
 Collection of Corderius, and which bears the name of 
 Theodore, is the production of Theodore of Mopsuestia. 
 There exists, aUo, beside the frafnients that are to be 
 
 Nikis, disciple of Chrysostom, composed se- 
 veral treatises of a practical and pious kind; 
 but these performances derive more merit from 
 the worthy and laudable intention of their au- 
 thor than from any other circumstance. 
 
 We pass over in silence Basilius of Seleucia, 
 Tlieodotus of Ancyra, and Gelasius of Cyzi- 
 cuin, for the sake of brevity. 
 
 XI. A Roman pontiff, Leo I. surnamed the 
 Great, shines forth at the head of the Latin 
 writers of tiiis century. He was a man of un- 
 common genius and eloquence, which he em- 
 ployed however too much in extending his au- 
 thority; a point in which his ambition was both 
 indefatigable and excessive.* 
 
 Orosius acquired a considerable degree of re- 
 putation by the History which he wrote to re- 
 fute the cavils of the Pagans against Christi- 
 anity, and by his books against the Pelagians 
 and Priscillianists.j 
 
 Cassian, an illiterate and superstitious man, 
 inculcated in Gaul, both by his discourse and 
 his writinos, the discipline and manner of liv- 
 ing which prevailed among the Syrian and 
 Egyptian monks, and was a sort of teacher to 
 those who were called Semi-Pelagians. J 
 
 Maximus of Turin published several Homi- 
 lies, which are yet extant, and, though short, 
 are for the most part recommended both by 
 elegance and piety. 
 
 Eucherius, bisliop of Lyons, was one of the 
 most considerable moral writers that flourished 
 among the Latins in this century. § 
 
 Pontius of Nola,|| distinguished by his emi- 
 nent and fervent piety, is also esteemed for his 
 poems, and other good performances. 
 
 Peter, bishop of Piavenna, obtained by his 
 eloquence the title of Chrysologus; nor are his 
 discourses entirely destitute of genius. T 
 
 Salvian was an eloquent, but, at the same 
 time, a melancholy and sour writer, who, in 
 his vehement declamations against the vices of 
 his times, unwarily discovers the defects of his 
 own character.** 
 
 found in Photius, a manuscript commentary of thi's illus- 
 trious author upon the twelve minor prophets. 
 
 ' All the works of Leo were published at Lyons, in 
 1700, by the care of the celebrated Q.uesnel of the 
 Oratory. 
 
 f See Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Orosius. A 
 valuable edition of this author, enriched with ancient 
 coins and medals, was published at Leyden, in 1738, by 
 the learned Havercamp. 
 
 I Histoire Literaire de la France, torn. ii. p. 215. — 
 Simon, Critique de la Biblioth. Ecclesiastique par Du- 
 Pin, torn. i. p. 156. — The works of Cassian were pub- 
 lished at Frankibrt, in 1722, with a copious Commentary 
 by Alardus Gazaeus. 
 
 !) See a satisfactory account of this prelate, in the 
 Histoire Literaire de la France, torn. ii. p. 275. 
 
 ((j^ II This pious and ingenious ecclesiastic is more 
 generally known by the name of Paulin. See the Histoire 
 Literaire de la F" ranee, torn. ii. p. 179. The best edition 
 of his works is that published by Le Brun, at Paris, in 
 1685. 
 
 IT Agnelli Liber Pontificalis EccJesiae Ravennatis, torn, 
 i. p. 321. 
 
 ** Hist. Liter, de la France, tom. ii. p. 517. (ft?- The 
 authors of the history here referred to, give a different 
 account of Salvian's character. They acknowledge, that 
 his declamations against the vices of the age, in his 
 Treatise against Avarice, and his Discourse concerning 
 Providence, are warm and vehement; but they represent 
 him, notwithstanding, as one of the most humane and 
 benevolent men of his time. It is, however, beyond all 
 doubt, that he was extravagantly austere in the rules he 
 prescribed for the conduct of life. Far what is more 
 
Chap. IH. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 141 
 
 Prosper of Aquitaine, and Marius Mcrcator, 
 are abundantly known to such as liave employ- 
 ed any part of tlieir time and attention in tlie 
 study of the Pelagian disputes, and the other 
 controversies that were ajritated in this century. 
 
 Vincent of Lerins gained a lasting reputa- 
 tion by his short, but excellent treatise against 
 the sects, entitled Comnionitorium.*" 
 
 Sidonius Apollinaris. a tumid writer, though 
 not entirely destitute of eloquence; Vigiliusof 
 Tapsus; Arnobius the younger, who wrote a 
 commentary on the book of Psalms; Draeon- 
 tius, and otliers of that class, are of too little 
 consequence to deserve more particular notice. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Church during 
 this Century. 
 
 I. Mavy points of religion vi'ere more largely 
 explained, and many of its doctrines determin- 
 ed with more accuracy and precision, than they 
 had been in the preceding ages. This was one 
 result of the controversies that were multi- 
 plied, at this time, throughout the Christian 
 world, concerning the person and nature of 
 Christ; the innate corruption and depravity of 
 man; the natural ability of men to live accord- 
 ing to the dictates of the divine law; the ne- 
 cessity of the divine grace in order to salvation; 
 the nature and existence of human liberty; and 
 otlier such intricate and perplexing questions. 
 The sacred and venerable simplicity of the 
 primitive times, which required no more than 
 a true faith in the word of God, and a sincere 
 obedience to his holy laws, appeared little bet- 
 ter than rusticity and ignorance to the subtile 
 doctors of this quibbling age. Yet so it hap- 
 pened, that many of tiie over-curious divines, 
 who attempted to explain the nature, and re- 
 move the difficulties of these intricate doctrines, 
 succeeded very ill in this matter. Instead of 
 leading men into the paths of humble faith and 
 genuine piety, they bewildered them in the la- 
 byrinths of controversy and contention, and 
 rather darkened than illustrated the sacred 
 mysteries of religion by a thick cloud of unin- 
 telligible subtilties, ambijruous terms, and ob- 
 scure distinctions. Hence arose nevi'^ matter 
 of animosity and dispute, of bigotry and un- 
 charitableness, which flowed like a torrent 
 tiirough succeeding ages, and which all human 
 efforts seem unable to vancpiish. In these dis- 
 putes, the heat of passion, and the excessive 
 force of religious antipathy and contradiction, 
 
 unnatural than to recommend to Christians, as a necessary 
 condition of salvation, their leaving their whole substance 
 to the poor, to the utter ruin of their children and rela- 
 tions? It must, however, be confessed, that his austerity 
 in jioint of discipline was accompanied with the most 
 amiable moderation toward those who difl'ered from hirn 
 in articles of faith. There is a most remarkable passage 
 to this purpose, in his Treatise concernini' Providence, 
 book V. p. 100. 
 
 (Xr" * This work of Vincent, which is commended by 
 our author, seems scarcely worthy of such applause. 1 
 see nothing in it, but that blind veneration fur ancient 
 opinions, which is so faUil to the discovery and progress 
 of truth, and an attempt to prove that nothing hut the 
 voice of tradition is to be consulted in fixing the sense 
 of the Scriptures. 
 
 An ample account of Vincent, Prosper, and Arnobius, 
 is to be found in the Histoire Lileruirc dela France, torn. 
 ii. p. 305, 342, 389, 
 
 frequently hurried the contending parties into 
 the most dangerous and disgraceful extremes. 
 II. If, before this tiine, the lustre of religion 
 was clouded with superstition, and its divine 
 precepts were adulterated with a mixture of 
 hmnan inventions, this evil, instead of dimin- 
 ishing, increased daily. The happy souls of 
 departed Christians were invoked by numbers, 
 and their aid implored by assiduous and fervent 
 prayers, while none stood up to censure or op- 
 pose this preposterous worship. The question, 
 how the prayers of mortals ascended to the ce- 
 lestial spirits (a question whi(;h afterwards pro- 
 duced much wrangling, and many idle fancies,) 
 did not yet occasion any difficulty; for the 
 Christians of this century did not imagine that 
 the souls of the saints were so entirely confin- 
 ed to the celestial mansions, as to be deprived 
 of the privilege of visiting moitals, and tra- 
 velling, when they pleased, through various 
 countries. They were farther of opinion, that 
 the places most frequented by departed spirits 
 were those where the bodies which they had 
 formerly animated were interred; and this opin- 
 ion, borrowed bj^ the Christians from the Greeks 
 and RoiTians, rendered the sepulchres of the 
 Saints the general rendezvous of suppliant mul- 
 titudes.*' 'i'he ima-ires of those who, during 
 their lives, had acquired the reputation of un- 
 common sanctity, were now honoured with a 
 particular worship in several places; and many 
 imao-intHl tliat this worship drew down into the 
 images the propitious presence of the saints or 
 celestial beings they represented; deluded, per- 
 iiaps, into t!iis idle fancy by the crafty fictions 
 of the heathen priests, who had jjublished tiie 
 same things concerning the statues of Jupiter 
 and Mercury. f A singular and irresistible ef- 
 ficacy was also attributed to the bones of mar- 
 tyrs, and to the figure of tlie cross, in defeat- 
 ing the attempts of Satan, removing all sorts 
 of calamities, and in healing, not only the dis- 
 eases of the body, but also tho.se of the mind.+ 
 Wesluill not enter into a particular account of 
 the public supplications, the holy pilgrimages, 
 the superstitious .services paid to departed souls, 
 the nmltiplication of tetnplcs, chapels, altars, 
 penitential garments, and a multitude of other 
 circumstances, that showed the decline of gen- 
 uine piety, and the corrupt darkness that was 
 eclipsing the lustre of primitive Christianity. 
 As none in these times forbade the Christians 
 to retain the opinions of their pagan ancestors 
 concerning departed .souls, heroes, demons, 
 temples, and other things, or even to transfer 
 them into their religious services; and as, in- 
 stead of entirely abolishing the rites and insti- 
 tutions of ancient times, these institutions were 
 still observed, with only some slight altcralions; 
 all this swelled of necessity the torrent of su- 
 perstition, and deformed the beauty of the 
 
 * Sec the Institutioncs Divinse of Lactantius, lib. i. p. 
 11)4, and Hcsiod's Op. et Dies, ver. 122. — Compare with 
 these, Sulp. Severus, Epist. ii. p. 371. Dial. li. cap. xiii. 
 p. 474. Dial. iii. p. .">12.— j^Oncas Gaza-us, in Theo- 
 phrasto. — Macarius in Jac. Tollii Insignibus Jtineris 
 Italici,and other writers of this age. 
 
 t Clementina, Ilomil. x. p. 697, torn. i. PP. Apostolic. 
 — Arnobius adv. Geiites, lib. vi. p. 254. — Casp. Barlliiuj, 
 ad Rutilium Numantian. p. 250. 
 
 } Prudentius, Hymn xi. dc Coronis, p. 1,'iO.— Sulp. 
 Severus, Ep. i. p. ^4. — JF.ne^- CJazaeus, in Theophraslo. 
 
142 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Christian religion and vvorsliip with those cor- 
 rupt remains of paganism, which still subsist 
 in a certain church. 
 
 It will not be improper to observe here, that 
 the famous pagan doctrine, concerning the pu- 
 rification of departed souls, by means of a cer- 
 tain kind of fire, was now more amply explain- 
 ed and established tlian it had formerly been.* 
 Every one knows, that this doctrine proved an 
 inexhaustible source of riches to the clergy 
 through the succeeding ages, and that it still 
 enriches the Romish church with its nutritious 
 streams. 
 
 in. The interpretation of the Scriptures 
 employed fewer pens in this century than in 
 the preceding age, in which the Christian doc- 
 tors were less involved in the labyrinths of con- 
 troversy. Yet, notwithstanding the multipli- 
 cation of religious disputes, a considerable j 
 number of learned men undertook this useful 
 and important task. We shall not mention 
 those who confined their illustrations to sogae 
 one, or a few books of the divine word, such 
 as Victor of Antioch, Polychronius, Philo Car- 
 pathius, Isidore of Cordova, Salonius, and An- 
 drew of Caesarea. We must not, however, 
 pass over in silence Theodoret and Theodore, 
 bishops of Cyrus and Mopsuestia, the two most 
 famous expositors of this age, who illustrated 
 a great part of the Scriptures by their pious 
 labours. They were truly eminent, both in j 
 point of learning and genius; and, i'ree and nn- 
 pi'ejudiced in their search after truth, they fol- ' 
 lowed the explications given by their predeces- i 
 sors, only as far as they found them agreeable | 
 to reason. The commentaries of Theodoret 
 are yet extant, and in the hands of the learn- j 
 ed;t those of Theodore are concealed in the ' 
 east among the Nestorians, though on many j 
 accounts worthy to sec the light. + Cyril, of 
 Alexandria, deserves also a place among the ' 
 commentators of this century; but a still higher i 
 rank, among that useful and learned body, is | 
 due to Isidore of Pelusium, whose epistles con- \ 
 tain many observations, which cast a consider- j 
 able degree of light upon several parts of Scrip- 
 ture. § 
 
 IV. It is, however, to be lamented, that the 
 greatest part of the commentators, both Greek 
 and Latin, following the idle fancies of Ori- 
 
 * See, particularly concerning this matter, Aiigustin's 
 book de viii. Qnaestionibus ad Dulcitium, N. xiii. torn, 
 vi. op. p. 128; de fide et operibus, cap. xvi. p. 182; de 
 fide, spe , elcliarilate, sect. 118, p. 2122. Enarratione Psal. 
 xxw. sect. 3, &c. 
 
 t S>ee Simiin's Hisloire critique des principaux Com- 
 nienlateurs du N. Test. chap. xxii. p. :il4; as also his 
 Crilicjuc de laBililiolh. Ecclesiast. de M. Du-Piii. torn. i. 
 p. 180. Jj{^ Theodoret wrote Commentaries upon the 
 five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, 
 Kings, Chronicles, the Psalms, the Canticles, Isaiah, 
 Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations, Ezekitl, Daniel, the 12 
 minor Prophets, and St. Paul's 14 Epistles. 
 
 } Asseman's Bibliolh. Orient. Clem. Vatic, torn. iii. 
 sect. 2. p. 227. — Simon's Critique de la Biblioth. Eceles. 
 torn. i. p. 108,677. (ll^We are assured by Fabricius, 
 upon the testimony of Lambeeius, that Theodore's com- 
 mentary upon the twelve Projdiets is still extant in iVtS. 
 in the emperor's library at Vienna. Sec Fabr. Bibl. 
 Graee. torn. ix.p. 162. See also, for an ample and learned 
 account of the writings of this author, Lardner's Credi- 
 bility, vol. ix. p. 389. 
 
 ^ See, for an account of these two authors, Simon's 
 Histoire des principaux Commentateurs du Nouveau 
 Testament, ch. \xi p 300. 
 
 gen, overlooked the true and natural sense of 
 the words, and hunted after subtile and hidden 
 significations, or mysteries (as the Latins then 
 termed them,) in the plainest precepts of the 
 Scriptures. Several of the Greeks, and parti- 
 cularly Theodoret, laboured, with success and 
 precision, in illustrating the books of the New 
 Testament; and their success in that task is to 
 be principally attributed to their perfect know- 
 ledge of the Greek language, which they had 
 learned from their infancy. But neither the 
 Greeks nor Latins threw much light upon the 
 Old Testament, whicli was cruelly tortured by 
 the allegorical pens of almost all who attempt- 
 ed to illustrate and explain it; for nothing is 
 more common, than to see the interpreters of 
 the fifth century straining all the passages of 
 that sacred book, either to typifj^ Christ, and 
 the blessings of his kingdom, or Antichrist, 
 and the wars and desolations which he was to 
 bring upon the earth, — without the least spark 
 of judgment, or the smallest air of probability. 
 
 V. A few chosen spirits, superior to the 
 others in sagacity and wisdom, were bold 
 enough to stand up against these critical delu- 
 sions, and to point out a safer and plainer way 
 to divine truth. This we learn from the epis- 
 tles of Isidore of Pelusium, w'ho, though he 
 was not himself entirely free from this allego- 
 rical contagion, censures judiciously, in many 
 places, such as abandoned the historical sense 
 of the Old Testament, and applied its narra- 
 tions and predictions to Christ alone. But 
 none went greater lengths in censuring the fan- 
 ciful followers of Origen, than Theodore of 
 Mopsuestia, who not only wrote a book con- 
 cerning allegory and history, against Origen,* 
 but also, in his commentary on the prophets, 
 did not hesitate to apply the greater part of 
 their predictions to various events in ancient 
 history. t This manner of interpreting Scrip- 
 ture was very ill received, and contributed, per- 
 haps, more to raise the general cry against 
 him, than all the erroneous doctrines with 
 which he was charged.]; The Nestorians fol- 
 lowed the example of this remarkable and emi- 
 nent man;§ and they continue to consider him 
 as a saint of the first order, and to preserve his 
 writings with the utmost care, as precious 
 monuments of his piety and learning. 
 
 VI. The doctrines of religion were, at this 
 time, understood and represented in a manner 
 that savoured little of their native purity and 
 simplicity. They were drawn out by labom'sd 
 commentaries beyond the terms in which the 
 
 *Facundus Hermianensis, de tribus Capitulis, lib. iii. 
 cap. vi. — Libcralus in Breviario, cap. xxiv. 
 
 f .\cla Concilii Conslantinopol. II. sen (Ecu?nenici V. 
 torn. iii. Conciliorum, p. .58, edit. Harduini. 
 
 Q(^ \ Theodore, after his death, was considered as the 
 parent of the Pelagian and JVestorian heresies, though 
 during his life he was an object of the highest esteem, 
 and died in the commuuion of the church. 
 
 ^ This appears by the testimony of Cosmas Indicopleus- 
 les, a writer of the sixth century, who was undoubtedly 
 a Nestorian; for this author, in the fifth book of his 
 Christian Topography, which Montfaucon published m 
 his new collection of the Greek fathers, maintains that, 
 of all the Psalms of David, four only are applicable to 
 Christ; and, to confirm this opinion, he boldly asserts, 
 that the writers of the New Testament, when they apply 
 to Jesus the prophecies of the Old, do this by a mere ac- 
 commodation of the words, without any regard to their 
 true and genuine sense. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRIISTE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 143 
 
 divine wisdom had thought fit to reveal them; 
 and were examined with that minuteness and 
 subtilty which were only calculated to cover 
 tliem with obscurity; and (what was still worse) 
 the theological notions that generally prevail- 
 ed, were proved rather by the authorities and 
 logical discussions ot' the ancient doctors^ than 
 by the unerring dictates of the divine word. It 
 does not appear that in this century any. at- 
 tempted to form a complete system of theolo- 
 gy, unless we give that title to six books of in- 
 struction, which Nicipas is said to have com- 
 posed for the use of the Neophytes.* But, as we 
 have already observed, the principal branches 
 of religion were laboriously explained in the 
 various books that were written against the 
 Nestorians, Eutychians, Pelagians, and Arians. 
 
 Vn. The number of those who disputed in 
 this century against paganism and infidelity, 
 was very considerable, yet not greater than the 
 exigency of the times, and the frequent attacks 
 made upon Christianity, rendered necessar}'. 
 Theodoret in his ingenious and learned trea- 
 tise, de curandis GriEcorum Atfectionibus, 
 Orientius in his Commonitorium,and Evagrius 
 in his Dispute between Zacha3us and Apollo- 
 nius, opposed, with fortitude and vigour, those 
 who worshipped images, and who offered their 
 religious services to the pagan deities. | To 
 these we may add Philip Sidetcs and Philostor- 
 gius, of whom the latter attacked Porphyry, 
 and the former Julian. Basilius of Selcucia, 
 Gregentius in his Controversy witli Herbanus, 
 and Evagrius in his Dialogue between Theo- 
 philus and Judaeus, exposed and refuted the 
 errors and cavils of the Jews. Voconius the 
 African, Syagrius in his book concerning 
 Faith, Gennadius of Marseilles, who deserves 
 to be placed in the first rank, and Theodoret in 
 his Treatise concerning the Fables of the Her- 
 etics, opposed all the ditferent sects; not to 
 mention those who wrote only against the 
 errors of one or other party of sectaries. 
 
 Vlll. Those who disputed against the Chris- 
 tian sects, observed a most absurd and vicious 
 method of controversy. They proceeded ra- 
 ther according to the rules of the ancient so- 
 phists, and, what is still more surprising, ac- 
 cording to the spirit of the Roman law, than 
 by the examples and instructions of Christ and 
 his apostles. In the Roman courts, matters of 
 a difficult and doubtful natiu-e were decided by 
 the authority of certain aged lawyers, who 
 were distinguished by their abilities and expe- 
 rience; and, when they happened to differ in 
 opinion, the point was determined either by a 
 plurality of voices, or by the sentiments of the 
 more learned and illustrious members of that 
 venerable body, j; This procedure of the Roman 
 tribunals, was, in this century, admitted as a 
 standing law, both in the deliberations of coun- 
 cils, and in the management of religious con- 
 troversy, to the great and unspeakable detri- 
 ment of truth; for, by this, reason, and even 
 common sense, were in some measure excluded 
 
 * Gennadius Massiliensis, de Scriptor. Ecclesiast. cap. 
 xxii. 
 
 t See, for an account of Orientius and Evagrius, the 
 HiBloire Literaire de la France, torn. ii. p. 121, and 252. 
 
 } Sec the Codex Theodos. lib. i. lit. iv. de responsis 
 prudentum. 
 
 from every question; and that was determined 
 as right and true, which appeared such to the 
 greatest immber, or had been approved bj' doc- 
 tors of the greatest note in preceding times. 
 The acts of tiie various councils, which are yet 
 extant, manifestly show that tliis was the case; 
 and this circumstance, combined with what wo 
 have already observed with respect to the dis- 
 putants of the age now under consideration, 
 will make it easy for us to imagine the various 
 defects that must have prevailed in the methods 
 of defending truth, and opposing error. 
 
 IX. This absurd imitation of the Roman 
 law in the manaircment of religious controver- 
 sy, and this preposterous method of deciding 
 truth by human authorities, were fruitful 
 sources of spurious and supposititious produc- 
 tions; for many audacious impostors were 
 hence encouraged to pul)lish their own writings 
 mider the names of ancient Christian worthies, 
 and even under the sacred names of Christ 
 himself and his holy apostles, fhat thus, in the 
 deliberations of councils, and in the course of 
 controversy, they might have authorities to 
 oppose to authorities in defence of their re- 
 spective opinions. The whole Christian church 
 was, in this centijrj', overwhelmed with these 
 spurious productions, these infamous imposi- 
 tions. This is said to have engaged Gelasius, 
 the Roman pontiti", to call a coimcil, comj)osed 
 of the bishops of the Latin church; in which 
 assembly, after a strict examination of those 
 writings which appeared under great and vene- 
 rable names, the famous decree passed, that 
 deprived so many apocryphal books of their 
 borrowed authority. That something of this 
 kind really happened, it would be, perhaps, an 
 instance of temerity to deny: but many learn- 
 ed men assert, that the decree attributed to 
 Gelasius, labours under the same imputation 
 with the books which it condemns, and was b}' 
 no means the production of that pontitF, but of 
 some deceiver, who usurped clandestinely his 
 name and authority.* 
 
 X. Eucherius, Salvian, and Nilus, shine with 
 a superior lustre among the moral writers of 
 this century. The epistle of Eucherius, con- 
 cerning the Contempt of the World and the 
 secular Philosophy, is an excellent perform- 
 ance, both in point of matter and style. The 
 works of Mark the hermit breathe a spirit of 
 fervent piety, but arc highly defective in many 
 respects: the matter is ill chosen, and is treat- 
 ed without order, perspicuity, or force of rea- 
 soning. Fastidius composed several discourses 
 concerning moral duties; but they have not 
 .survived the ruins of time. The works that are 
 yet extant of Diadochus, Prosper, and Scve- 
 rian, are extremely pleasing, on account of 
 the solidity and elegance which are to bo 
 found, for the most ])art, in tlieir moral sen- 
 tences, though they afford but indifferent en- 
 tertainment to such as are desirous of preci- 
 sion, method, and sound argumentation; and 
 indeed this want of method in the distribution 
 and arrangement of their matter, tand a con- 
 stant neglect of tracing their subject to its first 
 
 * Pearson, Vindiciae Ignatianae, part i. cap. iv. p. 189. — 
 Cave, Hist. Liter. Scriptor. Ecclesias. p. 260.— Urb. 
 Godofr. Sibeni!, Prsefat. ad Enchiridion Sexti, p. 79. 
 
144 
 
 INTERJf AL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 principles, are defects common to almost all the 
 moral writers of this century- 
 
 XI. Had this, indeed, been their only de- 
 fect, the candid and impartial would have sup- 
 ported it with patience, and attributed it chari- 
 tably to the infelicity of tlie times. But many 
 of the writers and teachers of this age did un- 
 speakable injury to the cause of true piety by 
 their crude and enthusiastic inventions. The 
 Mystics, v/ho pretended to higher degrees of 
 perfection than other Christians, drew every 
 where to their party, particularly in the eastern 
 provinces, a vast number of the ignorant and 
 inconsiderate multitude, liy the striking ap- 
 pearance of tlieir austere and singular piety. It 
 is impossible to describe the rigour and severi- 
 ty of the laws which these senseless fanatics 
 impo.sed upon themselves, in order, as they al- 
 leged, to appease the Deity, and to deliver the 
 celestial spiiit from the bondage of this mortal 
 body. They not only lived among the wild 
 beasts, but also lived after the manner of these 
 savage animals; they ran naked through the 
 lonely deserts with a furious aspect, and with 
 all the agitations of madness and phrensy; they 
 prolonged the existence of their emaciated 
 bodies by tlie wretclied noifc-ishment of grass 
 and wild herbs, avoided the sight and conver- 
 sation of men, remained motionless in certain 
 places for several years, exposed to the rigour 
 and inclemenc}^ of the seasons; and, toward 
 the conclusion of their lives, shut themselves 
 up in narrow and miserable huts; and all this 
 was considered as true piety, the only accepta- 
 ble method of worshipping the Deity, and ren- 
 dering him propitious.* The major part of tlie 
 Mystics were led into the absurdities of this 
 extravagant discipline, not so much by the pre- 
 tended force of reason and argument, as by a 
 natural propensity to solitude, a gloomy and 
 melancholy cast of mind, and an implicit and 
 blind submission to the authority and examples 
 of others; for the diseases of the mind, as well 
 as those of the body, are generally contagious, 
 and no pestilence spreads its infection with a 
 more dreadful rapidity than superstition and 
 enthusiasm. Several persons have committed 
 to writing the precepts of this severe discipline, 
 and reduced its absurdities into a sort of sj's- 
 tem, such as Julianus Pomerius among the 
 Latins,! and many among the Syrians, whose 
 names it is needless to mention. 
 
 XII. Of all the instances of superstitious 
 phrensy that disgraced this age, none obtained 
 higher veneration, or excited more the wonder 
 of the multitude, than that of a certain order 
 of men, who were called Stylites by the Greeks, 
 and Sancti Columnares, or Pillar Saints, by the 
 Latins. These were persons of a most singu- 
 lar and extravagant turn of mind, who stood 
 motionless upon the tops of pillars, expressly 
 raised for this exercise of their patience, and 
 remained there for several years, amidst the 
 admiration and applause of the stupid popu- 
 lace. The inventor of this strange and ridicu- 
 lous discipline was Simeon Sisanites, a Syrian, 
 
 * See the Pratum Spirituale of Moschus, the Lausiac 
 History of Palladius, and Sulpitius Severus, Dial. i. 
 
 {^(J> \ Pomerius wrote a treatise, de Vita Contem- 
 plativa, in which the doctrines and precepts pf the Mys- 
 tics were carefullv collected. 
 
 who began his follies by changing the agreea- 
 ble employment of a shepherd for the senseless 
 austerities of the monkish life. But his enthu- 
 siasm carried him still greater lengths; for, in 
 order to climb as near heaven as he could, he 
 passed thirty-seven years of his wretched life 
 upon five pillars, of the height of six, twelve, 
 twenty-two, thirty-six, and forty cubits, and 
 thus acquired a most shining reputation, and 
 attracted the veneration of all about him.* 
 Many of the inhabitants of Syria and Pales- 
 tine, seduced by a false ambition, and an utter 
 ignorance of true religion, followed the exam- 
 ple of this fanatic, though not with the same 
 degree of austerity;t and (what is almost in- 
 credible) this superstitious practice continued 
 in vogue until the twelfth century, when, how- 
 ever, it was totally suppressed. | 
 
 The Latins had too much wisdom and pru- 
 dence to imitate the Syrians and Orientals in 
 this whimsical superstition; and when a certain 
 fanatic, or impostor, named Wulfilaicus, erect- 
 ed one of these pillars in the country of Treves, 
 and proposed living upon it after the manner 
 of Simeon, the neighbouring bishops ordered 
 it to be pulled down, and thus nipped this spe- 
 cies of superstition in the bud.§ 
 
 XIII. The Mystic rules of discipline and 
 manners had a bad effect upon the moral wri- 
 ters, and those who were set apart for the in- 
 struction of Christians. Thus, in instructing 
 the catechumens and others, tliey were more 
 diligent and zealous in inculcating a regard for 
 the external parts of religion, and an attach- 
 ment to bodily exercise, than in forming the 
 heart and the affections to inward piety and 
 solid virtue. They even went so far, as to pre- 
 scribe rules of sanctity and virtue little differ- 
 ent from the unnatural rigour and fanatical 
 piety of the Mystics. Salvian, and other cele- 
 brated writers, gave it as their opinion, that 
 none could be truly and perfectly holy, but 
 those who abandoned all riches and honours, 
 abstained from matrimony, banished all joy and 
 cheerfulness from their hearts, and macerated 
 their bodies with various sorts of torments and 
 mortifications: and, as all could not support 
 such inordinate degrees of severity, those mad- 
 men, or fanatics, whose robust constitutions 
 and savage tempers were the best adapted to 
 this kind of life, were distinguished by the pub- 
 
 * See the Acta Sanctorum Mensis Januarii, torn. i. p. 
 961 — 277, where the reader will fiud the account we have 
 given of this whimsical discipline. Theodoret, indeed, 
 had before given several hints of it, alleging, among 
 other things, that Simeon had gradually added to the 
 height of his pillar, in the hope of making nearer approach- 
 es to heaven. See Tillemont's Memoires pour servir a 
 I'Histoire de I'Eglise, tom. xv. See also the Acts of 
 Simeon the Stylite, in Assemani Act. Marlyrum, vol. ii. 
 
 ^Xr" t The learned Frederic Spanheim, in his Ecclesi- 
 astical History, p. 1154, speaks of a second Simeon the 
 Stylite (mentioned by Evagrius,) who lived in the sixth 
 century. This second fanatic seems to have carried his 
 austerities still farther than the chief of the sect: for he 
 remained upon his pillar sixty-eight years, and from it, 
 like the first Simeon, he taught, or rather deluded the 
 gazing multitude, declaimed against heresy, pretended to 
 cast out devils, to heal diseases, and to foretell future 
 events. 
 
 } See Urb. Godofr. Siberi Diss, de Sanctis Columna- 
 ribus, and Caroli Majelli Diss, de Stylitis, published in 
 Assemani Act. IVIartyr. tom. ii. p. 246. 
 
 § Gregor. Turonens. Histor. Francor. lib. viii. cap. ir. 
 p. 387. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 145 
 
 lie applause, and saw their influence and au- 
 thority daily increase. Thus saints started up 
 like mushrooms in altiiost every place. 
 
 XIV. A small number of ecclesiastics, ani- 
 mated by the laudal)le spirit of reformation, 
 boldly attempted to pluck up the roots of tliis 
 frrowing superstition, and to bring back the de- 
 luded multitude from this vain and chimerical 
 discipline to the practice of solid and genuine 
 piety. But the votaries of supers! itioii, who 
 were superior in number, reputation, and au- 
 thority, soon reduced them to silence, and ren- 
 dered their noble and pious eftbrts utterly in- 
 effectual.* We have an example of this in the 
 case of Vigilantius, a man remarkable for his 
 learning and eloquence, who was born in fiaul, 
 and thence went to Spain, where lie perform- 
 ed the functions of a presbyter. This ecclesi- 
 astic, on his return from a voyage he had made 
 into Palestine and Egypt, began, about the 
 commencement of tliis century, to propagate 
 several doctrines, and to publish repeated ex- 
 hortations quite opposite to the opinions and 
 manners of the times. Among other things, 
 he denied that the tombs and the bones of the 
 martyrs ought to be honoured with any sort of 
 homage or worship, and tlierefore censured the 
 pilgrimages that were made to places which 
 were reputed holy. He turned into derision 
 the prodigies which were said to be wrought in 
 the temples consecrated to martyrs, and con- 
 demned the custom of performing vigils in 
 them. He asserted, and indeetl vvitli reason, 
 that the custom of burning tapers at the tombs 
 of the martyrs in broad day, was imprudently 
 borrowed from the ancient superstition of the 
 Pagans. He maintained, moreover, that pray- 
 ers addressed to departed saints were void of 
 all efficacy; and treated with contempt fasting 
 and mortifications, the celibacy of the clergy, 
 and the various austerities of the monastic lite; 
 and, finally, he affirmed, that the conduct of 
 those who, distributing their substance among 
 the indigent, submitted to the hardships of a 
 voluntary poverty, or sent a part of their trea- 
 sures to Jerusalem for devout purposes, had 
 nothing in it acceptable to the Deity. 
 
 There were among tlie Gallic and Spanish 
 bishops several who approved the opinions of 
 Vigilantius: but Jerome, the great monk of tlie 
 age, assailed this bold reformer of religion with 
 such bitterness and fury, that tlic honest pres- 
 byter soon found that nothing but his silence 
 could preserve his life from the intemperate 
 rage of bigotry and superstition. This project 
 then of reforming the corruptions, which a fii- 
 natical and superstitious zeal liad introduced 
 into the church, was choked in its birth;! and 
 the name of the good Vigilantius remains still 
 in that list of heretics, which is acknowledged 
 as authentic by those who, without any regard 
 to their own judgment or the declartations of 
 Scripture, blindly follow the decisions of an- 
 tiquity. 
 
 * Auf ustin complains of this, in his famous epistle to 
 Januarius, No. 119. 
 
 t Baylc's Dictionary, at the article Vigilantius. — Bar- 
 bcyrac, dc la Morale des Peres, p. 252. — Ger. Jo. Vos 
 sius, Theses Historico-Theologicae, p. 170. — Histoire 
 Literaire de la France, torn. ii. p. 57. 
 
 Vol. I.— 19 
 
 XV. The controversies, which had been 
 I raised in Egypt, concerning Origen and his 
 doctrine, toward the conclusion of the preced- 
 ing century, were now renewed at Constanti- 
 nople, and carried on without either decency or 
 prudence. The Nitrian monks, banished from 
 Egypt on account of their attachment to Ori- 
 gen, took refuge at Constantinople, and were 
 treated by John Chrysostom, the bishop of that 
 city, with clemency atid benignity. This no 
 sooner came to the knowledge of Theophilus, 
 patriarch of Alexandria, than he formed a per- 
 fidious project against the eloquent prelate, and 
 sent the famous Epiphani us, with several other 
 bishops, to Constantinople, to compass his fall, 
 and deprive him of his e[>iscopal dignity. No 
 time could be more favourable for the exBCU- 
 tion of this project than that in which it was 
 formed; for Chrysostom, by his austerity, and 
 his vehement declamations against the vices of 
 the people, and the corrupt manners of the la- 
 dies of the court, had incurred the displeasure 
 of many, and had also excited, in a more par- 
 ticular manner, the resentment and indigna-' 
 tion of the empress Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius. 
 This violent princess sent for Theophilus and 
 the Egyptian bishops, who, pursuant to her 
 orders, repaired to Constantinople, and, having 
 called a council, inquired into the religious sen- 
 timents of C^hrysostom, and examined his mo- 
 rals, and the whole course of his conduct and 
 conversation, with the utmost severity. This 
 council, wliich was holden in the suburbs of 
 Chalcedon, in 403, with Theophilus at its head, 
 declared Chrysostom unwortJiy of his high 
 rank in tlie church, on account of his favoura- 
 ble inclinations toward Origen and his follow- 
 ers; and, in consequence of this decree, con- 
 demned him to banishment. The people of 
 Constantinople, who were tenderly attached to 
 their pious and worthy bishop, rose in a tu- 
 multuous manner, and prevented the execution 
 of this unrighteous sentence.* When this tu- 
 mult was entirely hushed, the same unrelent- 
 ing judges, in order to satisfy their vindictive 
 rage and that of Eudoxia, renewed tlieir sen- 
 tence, in the following year, imder another pre- 
 text,! ''^^ with greater effect; for the pious 
 Clirysostom, yielding to the redoubled efforts 
 of his enemies, was banished to Cucusus, acity 
 of Cilicia, where he died about tliree years 
 after. + 
 
 The exile of this illustrious man was follow- 
 ed by a terrible sedition of the Johannists (so 
 ills votaries were called,) which was calmed, 
 though with much difficulty, by the edicts of 
 
 OjP" * This is not quile exact; for it appears, by the 
 accounts of the best histoiians, that this sentence was 
 really executed, and that the emperor confirmed the de- 
 cree of this first synod, by banishing Chrysostom into 
 Bithynia; or, as others allege, by ordering him to retire 
 into the country. X violent earthquake and a terrible 
 shower of hail, which were looked ujion by the multitude 
 as judgments occasioned by the unrighteous ]>ersecution 
 of their jiious bishop, alarmed the court, and engaged 
 them to recall Chrysostom to his office. 
 
 8(5" t This new pretext was the indecent manner, in 
 which Chrysostom is said to have declaimed against Eu- 
 doxia, on account of her having erected her statue in 
 silver near the church. 
 
 { See Tillemont and Hermant, who have both written 
 the life of Chrysostom; as also Bavle'i Dictionary, at the 
 article ^caciuf. 
 
146 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Arcadius.* It is heyoiid all doubt, that the 
 proceedings against Chrysostoni were cruel and 
 unjust; in this however he was to blame, that 
 he assumed the authority and rank, which had 
 been granted by the council of Constantinople 
 to the bishops of that city, aiid even acted as 
 a judge of the controversy between Theophi- 
 lus and the Egyptian monks, which the Alex- 
 andrian prelate could not behold without the 
 utmost impatience and resentment. These 
 monks, when they lost their protector, were 
 restored to the favour of Theophilns; but the 
 faction of the Origenists continued, notwith- 
 standing all this, to flourish in Egypt, Syria, 
 and the adjacent countries, and held their chief, 
 residence at Jerusalem. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 
 Church during this Centwj. 
 
 I. To enumerate the rites and institutions 
 that were added, in this century, to the Chris- 
 tian worship, would require a volume of a con- 
 siderable size. The acts of councils, and the 
 records left us by the most celebrated ancient 
 writers, are the sources from which the curious 
 may draw a particular and satisfactory account 
 of this matter; and to these we refer such as 
 are desirous of something more than a general 
 view of the subject under consideration. Seve- 
 ral of these ancient writers, uncorrupted by the 
 contagious examples of the times in which 
 they lived, have ingenuously acknowledged, 
 that true piety and virtue were smothered, as 
 it were, under that enormous burthen of cere- 
 monies under which they lay groaning in this 
 century. This evil was owing, j)artly to the 
 ignorance and dishonesty of the clergy, partly 
 to the calamities of the times, which were ex- 
 tremely unfavourable to the pursuit of know- 
 ledge, and to the culture of the mind; and 
 partly, indeed, to the natural depravity of im- 
 perfect mortals, who are much more disposed 
 to worship with the eye than with the heart, 
 and are more ready to offer to the Deity the 
 laborious pomp of an outward service, than 
 the nobler, yet simple oblation of pious dispo- 
 bitions and holy affections. 
 
 II. Divine worship was now daily rising 
 from one degree of pomp to another, and de- 
 generating more and more into a gaudy spec- 
 tacle, only calculated to attract the stupid ad- 
 miration of a gazing populace. The sacerdo- 
 tal garments were embellished with a variety 
 of ornaments, with a view of exciting in the 
 minds of the multitude a greater veneration 
 for the sacred order. New acts of devotion 
 were also celebrated. In Gaul, ])articularly, 
 the solemn prayers and supplications, which 
 usually precede the anniversary of Christ's as- 
 cension, were now instituted for the first time-j 
 In other places, perpetual acclamations of 
 praise to God were performed both night and 
 day by successive singers, so that the service 
 
 * See Cyrilli Vita Sabae in Cotelerii Monument. Ec- 
 cles. Graec. torn. ii. p. 274. Jos. Sim. Asseinan. Bibltolh. 
 Oriental. Vatican, t.^m. ii. p. 31. 
 
 1 See Sirtonius .\poUinaris, Epist. lib. v. Epist. jvi. 
 lib. vi. Epist. I i as also Martenne, Thesaurus Anecdote 
 rum, torn. t. 
 
 suffered no interruption;* as if the Supreme 
 Being took pleasure in such noisy and turbu- 
 lent shouting, or received any gratification 
 from the blandishments of men. The riches 
 and magnificence of the churches exceeded all 
 bound.s.t They were also adorned with costly 
 images, among which, in conseque.ice of the 
 A^estorian controversy, tliat of the Virgin Ma- 
 r}', holding the child Jesus in her arms, obtain- 
 ed the principal place. The altars, and the 
 chests in which the relics were preserved, were 
 in most places made of solid silver; and from 
 this we may easily imagine the splendour and 
 expenses that were lavished upon the other 
 utensils which were employed in the service of 
 the church. 
 
 III. On the other hand, the agapcE, or feasts 
 of charity, were now suppressed on accoimt of 
 the abuses to which they gave occasion, amidst 
 the daily decline of that piety and virtue, 
 which had rendered these meetings useful and 
 edifying in the primitive ages. 
 
 A new method also of proceeding with peni- 
 tents was introduced into the Latin church; for 
 grievous offenders, who had formerly been 
 obliged to confess their guilt in the face of the 
 congregation, were now delivered from tliis 
 mortifying penalty, and obtained, from Leo the 
 Great, a permission to confess their crimes pri- 
 vately to a priest a]5pointed for that purpose. 
 By this change of the ancient discipline, one 
 of the greatest restraints upon licentiousness 
 (and the only remaining barrier of chastity,) 
 was entirely removed, and the actions of Chris- 
 tians wore subject to no other scrutiny than 
 that of the clergy; a change, which was fre- 
 quently convenient for the sinner, and also ad- 
 vantageous in many respects to the sacred 
 order. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Dissensions and Heresies that 
 troubled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. Several of those sects, which had di- 
 vided the church in the preceding ages, renew- 
 ed their efforts at this time, to propagate their 
 respective opinions, and introduced new tu- 
 mults and animosities among the Christians. 
 We shall say nothing of the Novatians, Mar- 
 cionites, and Manicheans, those inauspicious 
 and filial names which disgrace the earlier an- 
 nals of the church, though it is evident, that 
 those sects still subsisted, and were even nu- 
 merous in many places. We shall confine our- 
 selves to an account of the Donatists and Ari- 
 ans, who were the pests of tlie preceding cen- 
 tury. 
 
 The Donatists had hitherto maintained 
 themselves with a successful obstinacy, and 
 their alfairs were in a good state. But, about 
 the beginning of this century, the face of things 
 changed nuich to their disadvantage, by the 
 means of St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo. 
 The catholic bishops of Africa, animated by 
 the exhortations, and conducted by the coun- 
 sels of this zealous prelate, exerted themselves 
 with the utmost vigour in the destruction of 
 
 J 
 
 * Gervais, Histoire de Suger, torn. i. p. 03. 
 
 f .See Zacharias of Mitjlene, de Opificio Mundi, p. 165. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 147 
 
 those seditious sectaries, whom they justly 
 looked upon, not only as troublesome to the 
 church by their obstinacy, but also as a nui- 
 sance to the state by the brutal soldiery* which 
 they employed in their cause. Accordingly 
 deputies were sent, in 404, from the council of 
 Cartilage to the emperor Honorius, to request, 
 that the laws enacted against lierctics, by the 
 preceding emperors, might have force against 
 the Donatists, who denied that they belonged 
 to the heretical tribe; and also to desire, that 
 bounds might be set to tlic barbarous fury of 
 the Circumcelliones. Tiie first step that the 
 emperor took, in consequence of this request, 
 was to impose a fine upon all the Donatists 
 who refused to return into the bosom of the 
 church, and to send their bishops and doctors 
 into banishment. In tlie following year, new 
 laws, much more severe than tlie former, were 
 enacted against this rebellious sect, under the 
 title of Acts of Uniformity; and, as the magis- 
 trates were remiss in the execution of them, 
 the council of Carthage, in 407, sent a second 
 time deputies to tlie emperor, to desire that 
 certain persons might be appointed to execute 
 the new edicts with vigour €and impartiality; 
 and this request was granted. 
 
 II. The Douatist faction, thougli much bro- 
 ken by these repeated shocks, was yet far from 
 being totally extinguislied. It recovered a| 
 part of its strength in 40S, after Stilicho had: 
 been put to death hy the order of Honorius, j 
 and gained an accession of vigoiu' in tiie fol-i 
 lowing )'ear, in which the emperor published a i 
 law in favour of liberty of conscience, and pro- 
 hibited all compulsion in matters of religion, j 
 This law, however, was not of long duration. | 
 It was abrogated at the earnest and repeated 
 solicitations of the council, which met at Car- 
 thage in 419; and Marcellinus the tribtnie was 
 sent by Honorius into .\frica, with full power 
 to bring to a conclusion this tedious and un- 
 happy contest. Marcellinus, therefore, held at 
 Carthage, in 411, a solemn conference, in 
 which he examined the cause with much at- 
 tention, heard the contending parties during 
 the .space of three days, and, at length, pro- 
 nounced sentence in favour of the catholics. f 
 Tlie catholic hi.shops, who were present at this 
 conference, w«re 286 in nuuiber, and those of 
 the Donati.'^ts weve 279. The latter, u[)on their 
 defeat, appealed to the emperor, but without 
 effect. The glory of their defeat was due to 
 Augustine, who bore the principal part in this 
 controversy, and who, indeed, by his writings, 
 «oua«els, and admonitions, governed almost 
 
 * The CircumceUlonea alnaJy mentioned. 
 
 ( See Franc. Balduin, Hist. Collalionis Carlhag. in 
 Optat. Milev. Piuian. p. 337. It is proper to observe 
 here, that lliis meeting, holden by Marcellinus, is very 
 improperly termed a conference {eolhttio;) for there was 
 no dispute carried on at this meeting, between the catho- 
 lics and the Donatists, nor did any of the parlies en- 
 deavour to gain or ucleat the other by superiority of ar- 
 gument. This conference, then, was properly a judicial 
 trial, in which Marcellinus »">• •'•• "r.z emperor, ap- 
 pointed judge, or arbiter, o, tnis religious controversy, 
 and accordingly pronounced sentence after a proper hear- 
 ing of the cause. It appears, therefore, from this event, 
 that the notion of a supreme spiritual judge of contro- 
 versy, and ruler of the church appointed by Christ, had 
 nnt yet entered into any one's head, since we see the Afri- 
 can bishops themselves appealing to the emperor iu the 
 prebeut religious question. 
 
 the whole African church, and also the princi- 
 pal and most illustrious heads of that extensive 
 province. 
 
 HI. This conference greatly weakened the 
 party of the Donatists; nor could they ever get 
 the better of tliis terrible shock, tliough the 
 face of aH'airsch.-tnged afterwards in a manner 
 that seemed to revive tlieir hopes. The greatest 
 part of tliein, through the fear of punislnnent, 
 submitted to the emperor's decree, and return- 
 ed into the bosom of the church; while the se- 
 verest penalties were inflicted upon those who 
 remained obstinate, and persisted in their re- 
 bellion. Fines, banishment, confiscation of 
 goods, were the ordinary punishments of the 
 obstinate Donatists; and even the pain of death 
 was inflicted upon such as surpassed the rest in 
 perversciicss, and were the seditious ringleaders 
 of that stubborn faction. Some avoided these 
 penalties hy flight, others by concealing them- 
 selves, and some were so desperate as to seek 
 deliverance by self-murder, to which the Do- 
 natists had a shocking propensity. In the mean 
 time, the Circumcelliones used more violent 
 methods of warding off the execution of the 
 sentence that was pronounced against their 
 sect; for they ran up and down through the 
 province of Africa in the most outrageous 
 manner, committing acts of great cruelty, and 
 defending themselves by force of arms. 
 
 The Donatists, indeed, recovered afterwards 
 their former liberty and tranquillity by the suc- 
 cour and ])rot,e(?tion they received from the 
 Vandals, who invaded Africa, with Genseric 
 at their head, in 427, and took that province 
 out of the hands of the Romans. The wounds, 
 however, wliicli this sect had received from the 
 vigourous execution of the imperial laws, were 
 so deep, that, though it began to revive and 
 multiply by the assistance of the Vandals, it 
 could never regain its former strength and 
 lustre. 
 
 IV. The Arians, oppressed and persecuted 
 by the imperial edicts, took refuge among those 
 fierce and savage nations, who were gradually 
 overturning the western empire, and found 
 among the Goths, Suevi, Heruli, Vandals, and 
 Burgundians, a fi.xed residence and a peaceful 
 retreat; and, as their security animated their 
 courage, they treated the catholics with the 
 same violence which the latter had employed 
 against them and other heretics, and harassed 
 and persecuted in various ways such as profess- 
 ed their adherence to the Nicene doctrines. 
 The Vandals, who reigned in Africa, surpass- 
 ed all the other savage nations in barbarity and 
 njustice toward the catholics. Tlie kings of 
 this fierce people, particularly Genseric and 
 Huneric his son, pulled down the churches of 
 those Christians who acknowledged the divini- 
 ty of Ciirist, sent their bishops into exile, and 
 naimed and tormented such as were nobly 
 firm and inflexible in the profession of their 
 faith.* They however declared, that, in using 
 these severe and violent methods, they were 
 authorised by the example of the einperoi-s, 
 who had enacted laws of the same rigorous 
 nature against the Donatists, the Arians, and 
 
 See Victor Viteus. lib. iii. dePersequutione Vandali- 
 ea, >¥hich Theod. Ruiuart published at Paris in 1694, 
 with his own history of the same persecution. 
 
148 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 other sects who differed in opinion from the 
 Christians of Constantinople.* 
 
 We must not here omit mentioning the st>i- 
 pendous miracle, which is said to have been 
 wrought during these persecutions in Africa, 
 and by which tlie Supreme Being is supposed 
 to have declared his displeasure against the 
 Arians, and his favour toward their adversa- 
 ries. TTliis miracle consisted in enabling those 
 catholics, whose tongues had been cut out by 
 the Arian tyrant Huneric, to speak distinctly, 
 and to proclaim aloud the divine majesty of 
 the Saviour of the world. This remarkable 
 fact can scarcely be denied, since it is support- 
 ed by the testimony of the most credible and 
 respectable witnesses;! but whether it is to be 
 
 * See the edict of Huneric, in the history of Victor, 
 lib. iv. cap. ii. p. 64. 
 
 OlJ" t These witnesses, who had thenaselves ocular de- 
 monstration of the fact, were Victor of Utica, ^neas of 
 Gaza (who examined the mouths of the persons in question, 
 and found that their tongues were entirely rooted out,) 
 Proeopius, Mareellinus the count, and the emperor Jus- 
 tinian. Upon the authority of such respectable testimo- 
 nies, the learned ALbadie formed a laboured and dexter- 
 ous defence of t\ie miraculous nature of this extraordinary 
 fact, in his work entitled, La Triomphe de la Providence, 
 vol. iii. p. 255, where all the fire of his zeal, and all the 
 subtilty of his logic, seem to have been exhausted. Dr. 
 Berriman, in his Historical Account of the Trinitarian 
 Controversy, as also in his sermons, preached at Lady 
 Moyer's Lectures, in 1725, and Dr. Chapman, in his Mis- 
 cellaueous Tracts, have maintained the same hypothesis. 
 To the former, an answer was published by an anonymous 
 writer, under the following title: "An Enquiry into the 
 Miracle said to have been wrought in the fifth century, 
 upon some orthodox Christians, in favour of the Doctrine 
 of the Trinity, &c. in a Letter to a Friend." We may 
 venture to saj-, that this answer is utterly unsatisfactory. 
 The author of it, after having laboured to invalidate the 
 testimony alleged in favour of the fact, seems himself 
 fccarcely convinced by his own arguments; for he ac- 
 knowledges at last the possibility of the event, but per- 
 sists in denying the miracle, and supposes, that the cruel 
 operation was so imperfectly performed upon these con- 
 fessors, as to leave in some of them such a share of the 
 tongue, as was sufficient for the use of speech. Dr. JMid- 
 dleton, (to whom some have attributed the above-men- 
 tioned answer) maintains the same hypothesis, in his Free 
 Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers, &c. supposing, that 
 the tongues of the persons in question were not entirely 
 rooted out, which he corroborates by the following con- 
 sideration, that two of the sufferers are said to have ut- 
 terly lost the laculty of speaking; for, though this might 
 be ascribed to a peculiar judgment of God, puuishing the 
 immoralities of which they were afterwards guilty, yet 
 this appears to be a forced and improbable solution of the 
 matter, in the opinion of the doctor, who imagines that 
 he solves it better by supposing, that they had not been 
 deprived of their entire tongues. He goes yet farther, 
 and produces two cases from the Memoirs of the Academy 
 of Sciences at Paris, which prove, in his opinion, " That 
 this pretended miracle owed its whole credit to our igno- 
 rance of the powers of nature." The first is that of " a 
 girl born without a tongue, who yet talked as easily and 
 distinctly, as if she had enjoyed the full benefit of that 
 organ;" and the second, that of "a boy, who, at the age 
 of eight or nine years, lost his tongue by a gangrene, or 
 ulcer, and yet retained the faculty of speaking." See 
 Middletou's Free Inqiiiry, p. 183, 184. 
 
 This reasoning of the sceptical doctor of divinity ap- 
 peared superficial and unsatisfactory to the judicious Mr. 
 Dodwell, who (saying nothing about the case of the two 
 Trinitarians who remained dumb, after their tongues 
 were cutout, and whose dumbness is but indifferently ac- 
 counted for by their immorality, since gifls have been 
 often possessed without grace) confines himself to the 
 consideration of the two parallel facts drawn from the 
 Academical Memoirs already mentioned. To show that 
 these facts prove little or nothing against the miracle in 
 question, he justly observes, that though, in one or two 
 particular cases, a moulh may be so singularly formed as 
 to utter articulate sounds, without the usual instrument 
 of speech, (some excrescence probably supplying the de- 
 fect,) yet it cannot be any thing less tliau miraculous. 
 
 attributed to a supernatural and miraculous 
 power, is a point which admits dispute.* 
 
 V. A new sect, which was the source of 
 most fatal and deplorable divisions in the 
 Christian church, was fonned by Nestorius, 
 a Syrian bishop of Constantinople, a disciple 
 of the cele"brated Theodore of Mopsuestia, and 
 a man remarkable for his learning and elo- 
 quence, which were, however, accompanied 
 with much levity, and with intolerable arro- 
 gance. Before we enter into a particular ac- 
 count of the doctrine of this sectary, it is pro- 
 
 that this should happen to a considerable number of per- 
 sons, whose tongues were cut out to prevent their preach- 
 ing a discountenanced doctrine. To deny the miracle 
 in question, we must maintain, that it is as easy to speak 
 without a tongue, as with it. See Mr. Dodwell's Free 
 Answer to Dr. Middletou's Free Inquiry, p. 96. 
 
 Mr. Toll, who defended Middletou's hypothesis, has 
 proposed an objection, a ■priori, as it may be justly call- 
 ed, to the truth of this miracle. He observes, that the 
 occasion on which it was wrought was not of sufficient 
 ronsequenee or necessity to require a divine interposition; 
 for it was not wrought to convert infidels to Christianity, 
 but to bring over the followers of Arius to the Athanasian 
 faith; it was wrought, in a word, for the explication of a 
 doctrine, which both sides allowed to be founded in the 
 New Testament. Now, as the Scriptures are a revela- 
 tion of the will of God, "it seems, (says Mr. Toll) to 
 casta reflection on his wisdom, as if he did things by 
 halves, to suppose it necessary for him to work miracles, 
 in order to ascertain the sense of those Scriptures. This 
 (continues he) would be multiplying miracles to an in- 
 finite degree; — besides, it would destroy the universal 
 truth of that proposition from which we cannot depart, 
 namely, That the Scriptures are sufficiently plain in all 
 things necessary to salvation." See Mr. Toll's Defence 
 of Dr. Middletou's Free Inquiry, against Mr. Dodwell's 
 Free Answer. To this specious objection Mr. Dodwell 
 replies, that ou the doctrine in dispute between the Ari- 
 ans and the orlliodox, the true notion, as well as the im- 
 portance and reality of our salvation, may be said to de- 
 pend; that the doctrines, duties, and motives of Chris- 
 tianity, are exalted or debased, as we embrace one or 
 the other of those systems; that, on the divinity of Christ, 
 the meritoriousness of tlie propitiation otTered by him 
 must entirely rest; and that, therefore, no occasion of 
 greater consequence can be assigned on which a miracle 
 might be expected. He adds, that the disputes which 
 men have raised about certain doctrines, are no proof 
 that these doctrines are not plainly revealed in Scrip- 
 ture, since this would prove that no truth is there suffi- 
 ciently revealed, because, at one lime or other, they have 
 been all disputed; and he observes iudiciously, that the 
 expediency of interposing by miracles, is what we always 
 are not competent judges of. since God alone knows the 
 times, seasons, and occasions, in which it is proper to al- 
 ter the usual course of nature, in order to maiiitaiu the 
 truth, to support the oppressed, and to carry on the 
 great purposes of his gos|iel kingdom. It is enough, that 
 the present interposition be not incredible, to remove Mr. 
 Toll's objection, without considering its particular use, 
 and the unexceptionable nianuer in which it is attested. 
 See Mr. Dodwell's Full and final Reply to Mr. Toll's 
 Defence, p. 270. 
 
 We must observe here that the latter objection and 
 answer are merely hypothetical, t. e. they draw their 
 force only from the different opinions, which the ingeni- 
 ous Mr. Toll and his learned antagonist entertain con- 
 cerning the importance of the doctrine, in favour of 
 which this pretended miracle is said to have been wrought. 
 The grand question, whose decision alone can finish this 
 controversy, is, whether the tongues of these African 
 confessors were entirely rooted out. or not. The case 
 of the two who remained dumb furnishes a shrewd pre- 
 sumption, that the cruel operation was not equally per- 
 formed upon all. The immorality of these two, and the 
 judgment of God, suspending with respect to them the 
 influence of the miracle, do not solve this difficulty en- 
 tirely, since (as we observed above) many have possessed 
 supernatural gifts without grace; and Christ tells us, that 
 many have cast out devils in his name, whom at the last 
 day he will not acknowledge as his faithful servants. 
 
 * See Ruinarti Histor. Persequut. Vandal, part ii. cap. 
 vii. p. 482. See Bibliotheque Britannique, torn. iii. part 
 ii. p. 339. torn. v. part i. p. 171. 
 
 I 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 149 
 
 per to observe, that though, by the decrees of I jtroversy against the Arians, than it had for- 
 
 former councils, it had been clearly and pe- 
 remptorily determined, that Christ was, at the 
 same time, true God and true man, yet no 
 council had hitherto decreed any tiling con- 
 cerning the maimer and rffert of this imion of 
 the two natures in the divine Saviour; nor had 
 
 merly been, and was a favourite term with the 
 followers of Apollinaris. He, at the same 
 time, gave it as his opinion, that the Holy Vir- 
 gin was rather to be called XeijoToz:;, j. e. 
 mother of Christ, since the Deity can neither 
 be born nor die, and, of consi^quence, tlie son 
 
 this point yet become a tojtic of inquiry or dis- i of man alone could derive his birth from an 
 pate among Cliristians. The consequence of i earthly parent. Nestorius applauded these 
 this was, that the Christian doctors expressed L sentiments, and explained and defended them 
 themselves diflerently on the subject of this [i in several discourses."* But both he and his 
 mystery. Some used sucii formsof expression I! friend Anastasius were keenly opposed by cer- 
 as seemed to widen the difference between the [[tain monks of Constantinople, wlio maintain- 
 Son of God and the son of man, and thus to j ed that the son of Mary was God incarnate, 
 divide the nature of Christ into two distinct |; and excited the zeal and fury of the populace 
 
 persons. Others, on the contrary, seemed to 
 confound too much the Son of God witli the 
 son of man, and to suppose the nature of Christ 
 composed of his divinity and humanity blended 
 into one. 
 
 The heresy of Apollinaris had given occa- 
 sion to these different ways of speaking; for 
 he maintained tliat the man Christ was not en- 
 dowed with a human soul, but with the divine 
 nature, which was substituted in its place, and 
 performed its functions; and tliis doctrine mani- 
 festly supposed a confusion of the two natures 
 in the Messiah. The Syrian doctors, there- 
 fore, that they might avoid the errors of Apol- 
 linaris, and exclude his followers from the 
 
 to maintain this doctrine against Ne.storius. 
 Notwithstanding all this, the discourses of the 
 latter were extremely well received in many 
 ])laces, and had the majority on their side. The 
 Egyptian monks had no sooner perused them, 
 than tliey wore persuaded, by the weight of 
 the arguments tliey contained, to embrace the 
 opinions of Nestorius, and accordingly ceased 
 to call the Blessed Virgin the mother of God. 
 VII. The prelate who tjien ruled the see of 
 Alexandria, was Cyril, a man of a hauglity, 
 turbulent, and imperious temper, and painfully 
 jealous of the rising power and authority of 
 the bishop of Constantinople. As soon as this 
 controversy came to his knowledge, he censur 
 
 communion of the clun-ch, were careful ines-led the Enfvptiau monks and Nestorius; and, 
 tablishing an accurate distinction between the ; finding the latter little disposed to submit to 
 divine and the human nature in the Son of ] his censure, lie proceeded to violent measures; 
 God; and for this purpose they used such forms j took counsel with Celestine, bisiiop of Rome, 
 of expression as seemed to favour tlie notion j whom he had engaged on his side; assembled 
 
 of Christ's being composed of two distinct per 
 sons. The manner of speaking, adopted bj' 
 the Alexandrians and Egyptians, had a diiier- 
 ent tendency, and seemed to countenance the 
 doctrine of Apollinaris, and, by a confusion of 
 the two natures, to blend tiiem into one. Nes- 
 torius, who was a Syrian, and had adopted the 
 sentiments of the divines of his nation, was a 
 violent enemy to all the sects, but to none so 
 much as to the Apollinarian fiction, at whose 
 ruin he aimed with an ardent and inextinguish- 
 able zeal. He therefore discoursed of the two 
 natures in Christ after tlie Syrian manner, and 
 commanded his disciples to distinguisii careful- 
 ly between the actions and perce])tions* of the 
 Son of God, and those of the son of man-.f 
 
 VI. Tlie occasion of this disagreeable con- 
 troversy was furnished by the presbyter Anas- 
 tasius, a friend of Nestorius. This ecclesias- 
 tic, in a public discourse, delivered in 428, de- 
 claimed warmly against the title of w;5t=/.c;, or 
 vwlher of God, which was now more frequent- 
 ly attributed to the Virgin Mary, in the con- 
 
 OjJ- * The original word perpessio, wliich signifies 
 pro|i(Tly suffering or poKsion, wc have here translated by 
 llic neneral term, jieric/id'o?!, because siifierini,' or passion 
 cannot be, in any sense, atlribuled to the divine nature. 
 
 t The .Jesuit bnucin pnbli>hedat Paris, in 1716, a His- 
 tory of IVeslorianism: but it is such a history as inij;l)t 
 he expected Irom a writer, who was obliged, by his pro- 
 fession, to place the arrogant Cyril amontj the saints, and 
 Nestorius among the heretics. The ancient writers, on 
 both sides of this contro\trsy, are mentioned by Jo. 
 Fi*anc. Buddeus, in his Isaernge in Theologiam, torn. ii. 
 The accounts jriven of this dispute by tlie oriental writers, 
 are collected by Renaudot, in his Historia Patriarch, 
 Alexandrin. ana by Jos. Sim. Assi nianus, in his Gibiioth. 
 Orient. Vaticaui. 
 
 a council at Alexandria in 430; and hurled 
 twelve anathemas at the head of Nestorius. 
 The tiiunderstricken prelate did not sink under 
 this violent shock; but, seeing himself unjustly 
 accused of derogating from the majesty of 
 Christ, he retorted the same accusation upon 
 his adversary, ciiarged him with the Apollina- 
 rian heresy, with confounding the two natures 
 in Christ, .and loaded Cyril with as many ana- 
 themas as he li.nd received from him. This 
 unhappy contest between prelates of the first 
 order, proceeded rather from corrupt motives 
 of jealousy and ambition, than from a sincere 
 and disinterested zeal for the truth, and was 
 the source of unnumbered evils and calamities. 
 Vill. When the spirits were so exasperated 
 on botli sides, by reciprocal excommunications 
 and polemic writings, that tliere was no pros- 
 pect of an amicable issue to this unintelligible 
 controversy, Theodosius the younger called a 
 council at Ephesus, in 43 1 , whicli was the third 
 general council in the annals of the church. 
 [n this council Cyril presided, though he was 
 the party concerned, and the avowed enemy 
 of Nestorius; and he proposed examining and 
 determining the matter in debate before John 
 of Antioch and the other eastern bishops ar- 
 rived. Nestorius objected to this proceeding, 
 as irregular and unjust; but, his remonstrances 
 being without elVect, he refused to comply with 
 the summons which called him to appear be- 
 fore the council. Cyril, on the other hand, 
 pushing on matters with a lawless violence, 
 
 * See Harduini Concilia, torn. 
 Orient. Vatican, lorn. iii. 
 
 and the Biblioth. 
 
150 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Nestorius was judged without being heard; 
 and, during the absence of a great number of 
 those bishops wljo belonged to tlie council, he 
 was compared witli the traitor .Judas, charged 
 with blasphemy against the divine majesty, 
 deprived uf liis episcojjal dignity, and sent into 
 exile, where he finished his days.* Tlie trans- 
 actions of this council will appear to the can- 
 did and equitable reader in the most unfavour- 
 able light, as full of low artifice, contrarj' to 
 all the rules of justice, and even destitute of 
 the least air of common decency. The doc- 
 trine, however, that was established in it con 
 cerning Clu-ist, was that which has been al- 
 ways acknowledged and adopted by the major- 
 ity of Christians, viz. "That Christ was one 
 divine person, in whom two natures were most 
 closely and intimately united, but without be- 
 ing mixed or confounded." 
 
 IX. Nestorius, among accusations of less 
 moment, was charged with dividing the nature 
 of Christ into two distinct persons, and with 
 having maintained, that the divine nature was 
 superadded to the human nature of Jesus, after 
 it was formed, and was no more than an aux- 
 iliary support to the man Christ, through the 
 whole of his life. Nestorius denied this charge 
 even to the last, and solemnly professed his 
 entire disapprobation of this doctrine.] Nor 
 indeed was this opinion ever proposed by him 
 in any of his writings: it was only charged 
 upon him by his iniquitous adversaries as a con- 
 sequence drawn from some incautious and am- 
 biguous terms he used, and particularly from 
 his refusing to call the Virgin Mary the mother 
 of God-l Hence many, and indeed the major- 
 ity of writers, both ancient and modern, after 
 a thorough examination of this matter, have 
 positively concluded, that the opinions of Nes- 
 torius, and of the council which condemned 
 them, were the same in effect; that their dif- 
 ference was in words only, and that the whole 
 blame of this unhappy controversy was to be 
 charged upon tiie turbulent spirit of Cyril, and 
 his aversion to Nestorius. § 
 
 * Those who desire a more ample account of this coun- 
 cil, may consult the Variorum Palrum Epistolae ad Con- 
 cilium Ephesinum perlinentes, published at Louvain in 
 1689, from some Vatican and otiier manuscripts by 
 Christian Lupus. Nestorius, in consequence of the sen- 
 tence pronounced against him in this council, was first 
 banished to Petra in Arabia, and aderwards to Oasis, a 
 solitary place in the deserts of Egypt, where he died in 
 435. The accounts given of his tragical death by Eva- 
 grius, in his Eccl. Hist. lib. i. cap. vii. and by Theodo- 
 rns the Reader, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. p. ."iSo, are entirely 
 fabulous. Q(j= Dr. Mosheim's account of the time of 
 Nestorius' death is perhaps inexact; for it appears that 
 Nestorius was at Oasis, when Socrates wrote, Ihat is, in 
 439. Sec Socrat. lib. vii. cap. xxxiv. 
 
 t See Garnier's edition of the works of Marius Mer- 
 cator, torn. ii. p. 23t5. See also the fragments of some 
 letters from Nestorius, which are to be found in the 
 Bibliolh. Oriental. Vatican, lom. ii. 
 
 (SJ= { It is remarkable, that Cyril would not hear the 
 explanations which Nestorius offered to give of his doc- 
 trine. The laltir even oflered to grant the title of Mo- 
 ther of God to the Virgin Mary, i)rovided that notliing 
 else was thereby meant, but that the man born of her 
 was united to the divinity. See Socrat. lib. vii. cap. 
 xxxiv. 
 
 I) Luther was the first of the modern writers who 
 "■— zght thus; and he inveighed against Cyril, v.ith the 
 ^.Jitest bitterjiess, in his book de Conciliis, torn. viii. op. 
 Altenb. p. 965, 266, 273. See also Bayle's Dictionary, 
 it the articles Nestorius and Kodon. — Christ. August. 
 
 This judgment maj' be just upon the whole; 
 but it is, however, true, tliat Nestorius com- 
 mitted two faults in the course of tliis contro- 
 versy. The first was, his giving offence to 
 many Christians by abrogating a trite and in- 
 nocent term;* and the second, his presumptu- 
 ously attempting to explain, by uncouth com- 
 parisons and improper expressioiis, a mystery 
 which infinitely surpasses the extent of our im- 
 perfect reason. If to these defects we add the 
 despotic spirit and the excessive warmth of this 
 persecuted prelate, it will be difficult to decide 
 who is most to be blamed, as the principal fo- 
 menter of this violent contest, Cyril or Nesto- 
 rius. j 
 
 X. The council of Ephesus, instead of heal- 
 ing these divisions, only inflamed them more 
 and more, and almost destroyed all hope of 
 restoring concord and tranquillity in the church. 
 John of Antioch, and the other eastern bish- 
 ops, for whose arrival Cyril had refused to wait, 
 met at Ephesus, and pronounced against him 
 and Memnon, the bishop of that city, who was 
 his creature, as severe a sentence as they had 
 thundered against Nestorius. Hence arose a 
 new and obstinate dissension between Cyril 
 and the Orientals, with the bishop of Antioch 
 at their head. This flame indeed abated in 
 433, after C'yril had received the articles of 
 faith drawn up by John, and abandoned cer- 
 tain phrases and expressions, of which the li- 
 tigious might make a pernicious use. But the 
 commotions, which arose from this fatal con- 
 troversy, were more durable in the east. J No- 
 thing could oppose the progress of Nestorian- 
 ism in those parts. The disciples and friends 
 of the persecuted prelate carried his doctrine 
 through all the Oriental provinces, and erect- 
 ed every where congregations which professed 
 an invincible opposition to the decrees of the 
 ccuncil of Ephesus. The Persians, among 
 others, opposed Cyril in the most vigorous man- 
 ner, maintained tliat Nestorius had been un- 
 justly condemned at Ephesus, and charged Cy- 
 ril with removing that distinction which sub- 
 sists between the two natures in Christ. But 
 
 Salig, de Eutychianisrao ante Eutychen, p. 200. — Otto 
 Fred. Schutzius, de Vita Chytrsei, lib. ii. cap. xxix. p. 
 190, 191. — Jo. Voigt Biblioth. Historiae Hsresiologicae, 
 torn. i. part iii. p. 4.57. — Paul. Ernest. Jablonsky, Exerc. 
 de Nestoriauismo. — -Thesaur. Epistolic. Crozianus,_tom. 
 i. p. 184, tom. iii. p. 175.— La Vie de la Croze, par Jor- 
 dan, p. 231, and many others. As to the faults that have 
 been laid to the charge of Nestorius, they are collected 
 by Asseman in his Biblioth. Orient. Vatican, tom. iii. 
 part ii. p. 210. 
 
 {^ * The title of Mother of Gorf, applied to the Vir- 
 gin Mary, is not perhaps .so innocent as Dr. Mosheim 
 takes it to be. To the judicious and learned it can pre- 
 sent no idea at all; and to the ignorant and unwary it 
 may present the most absurd and monstrous notions. The 
 invention and use of such mysterious terms, as have no 
 place in Scripture, are undoubtedly pernicious to true 
 religion. 
 
 ^Xr" t There is no difficulty at all in deciding this 
 question. Nestorius, though possessed of an arrogant 
 and persecuting spirit in general, yet does not seem to 
 deserve, in this particular case, the reproaches that are 
 due to Cyril. Anastasius, not Nestorius, was the first 
 who kindkd the flame; and Nestorius was the suffering 
 and persecuted party from the beginning' of the contro- 
 versy to his death. His offers of accommodation were 
 refused, his explanations were not read, his submission 
 was rejected, and he was condemned unheard. 
 
 \ See Christ. Aug. Salig, de Eutychianisrao ante Euty- 
 chem p. 243. 
 
Ohap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 151 
 
 nothing tended so much to propagate with ra- 
 pidity tlie doctrina of Nestorius, as its being 
 received in the famous school which had for a 
 long time flourished at Edessa. For the doe- 
 tors of this renowned academy not only in- 
 structed the youth in the Ncstorian tenets, but 
 translated from the Greek into the Syriac lan- 
 guage the books of Nestorius; of his master 
 Theodorus of Mopsuestia, and the writings also 
 of Uiodorus of Tarsus, and sjjread them abroad 
 throughout Assyria and Persia.* 
 
 XI. Of all the promoters of the Nestorian 
 cause, there was not one to whom it has such 
 weighty obligations as to the famous Barsumas, 
 who was removed from his place in the school 
 of Edessa, and created bishop of Nisibis in 
 435. This zealous prelate laboured with incre- 
 dible assiduity and dexterity, from tlie year 
 440 to 485, to procure, for tlie Nestorians, a 
 solid and permanent settlement in Persia; and 
 he was vigorously seconded in this undertak- 
 ing by Maanes bishop of Ardascira. So re-i 
 markable was the success which crowned the | 
 labours of Barsumas, that his fame extended 
 throughout the east; and those Nestorians who 
 still remain in Chaldaea, Persia, Assyria, and 
 tlie adjacent countries, consider him alone, and 
 not without reason, as their parent and foun- 
 der. This indefatigable ecclesiastic not only 
 persuaded Firouz, the Persian monarch, to ex- 
 pel from his dominions such Christians as had 
 adopted the opinions of the Greeks, and to ad- 
 mit the Nestorians in their place, but he even 
 engaged him to put the latter in possession of 
 tlie principal seat of ecclesiastical authority in 
 Persia, the see of Seleucia, which the Patri- 
 arch, or Catholic of tiie Nestorians, has always 
 filled even down to our time.f Tlie zeal and 
 activity of Barsumas did not end here: he 
 erected a famous school at Nisibis, whence is- 
 sued those Nestorian doctors, who, in this and 
 the following century, spread abroad their te- 
 nets through Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, Tar- 
 tary, and China. j; 
 
 XII. The Nestorians, before their affairs 
 were thus happily settled, had been divided 
 among themselves with respect to the method 
 of explaining their doctrine. Some maintain- 
 ed, that the manner in which tlie two natures 
 were united in Christ, was absolutely unknown; 
 others tliat the union of tlie divine nature with 
 the man Jesus was only an union of will, ope- 
 ration, and dignity. § This dissension, hovv- 
 
 * See Assemaiii Biblioth. torn. i. p. 351; torn. iii. part 
 ii. p. 69. This learned author may b« advantageously 
 used to correct what Renaudot has said (in the second 
 tome of his Liturgiie Oritntales, p. 99,) concernitifj l!ie 
 rise of the Nestorian doctrine in the eastern provinces. 
 Sec also the Kcciesiaslical History of Tlieodorus the 
 Reader, book ii. p. 55i3. 
 
 QlJ=- t The bisliop of Seleucia was, by the twenty-third 
 canon of the council of Nice, honoured with piculiar 
 marks of distinction, and amone; others with the title of 
 Catholic. He was invested with the power of ordaining 
 archbishops (a privilege which belonged to the patriarchs 
 alone,) eiilted above all the Grecian Bishops, honoured 
 as a patriarch, and, in the oecumenical councils, was the 
 sixth in rank after the bishop of Jerusalem. See Acta 
 Concilii Nicxni Arab. Alphons. Tisan. lib. iii. cap. 
 xxiii. xxxiv. 
 
 j See, for an ample account of this matter, Asscmani 
 Bii)lioth. torn. iii. part ii. p. 7?. 
 
 () Leoutius Bysaiit. adversus, Nestorian. et Lutychiau. 
 p. 537, torn. i. Lection. Antiquar. Henr. Canisii. — Jac. 
 nasDagr, Prolrgomen. ad Canisium, torn, i.cap. ii. p. 19. 
 
 ever, entirely ceased, when the Nestorians were 
 gathered into one religious community, and 
 lived in tranquillity tinder their own ecclesias- 
 tical government and laws. Their doctrine, as 
 it was tlien determined in several councils as- 
 sembled at Seleucia, amounts to what follows: 
 " That in the Saviour of the world, there 
 were tivo persons, or vtoc /.t.u; of which 
 one was divine, even the eternal word; and 
 the other, which was human, was the man 
 Jesus; that these two persons had only one 
 aspect;* that the union between the Son of 
 God and the son of man, was formed in the 
 moment of the \'irgin''s conception, and was 
 never to be dissolved; that it was not, how- 
 ever, an union of nature or of person, but only 
 of will and affection; that Christ was, there- 
 i'ore, to bo carefully distinguished from God, 
 who dwelt in him as in his temple; and that 
 Mary was to be called tlie mother of Christ, 
 and not the mother of God." 
 
 The abettors of this doctrine hold Nestorius 
 in the highest veneration, as a man of singular 
 and eminent sanctity, and worthy to be had in 
 perpetual remembrance: but they maintain, at 
 the same time, that tiie doctrine he taught was 
 much older than himself, and had been handed 
 down from the earliest times of the Christian 
 church; and for this reason they absolutely re- 
 fused the title of Nestorians; and, indeed, if 
 we examine the matter attentively, we shall 
 find, that Barsumas and his followers, instead 
 of teaching their disciples precisely the doc- 
 trine of Nestorius, rather polished and im- 
 proved his uncouth system to their own taste, 
 and added to it several tenets of which the 
 good man never dreamed. 
 
 XIII. A violent aversion to the Nestorian 
 errors led many into the opposite extreme. 
 This was the case with the famous Eutyches, 
 an abbot at Clonstantinople, and founder of a 
 sect, which was in direct opposition to that of 
 Nestorius, yet equally prejudicial to the inter- 
 ests of the Christian church, by the pestilential 
 discords and animosities it produced. The 
 opinions of this new faction shot like lightning 
 tlirough the east: and it acquired such strength 
 in its progress, as to create much uneasiness, both 
 to the Greeks and Nestorians, whose most vi- 
 gorous elibrts were not sufficient to prevent 
 its rising to a high degree of credit and splen- 
 dour. Eutyches beg;in these troubles in 448, 
 when he was ftir advanced in years; and, to- 
 exert his utmost force and vehemence in op- 
 posing the progress of the Nestorian doctrine, 
 he expressed his senthiients concerning the 
 person of Christ, in the very terms which the 
 Egyptians made use of for that purpose, and 
 taught, that in Christ there was only one na- 
 ture, namely, that of the incarnate word.f 
 
 (1(7=- * This is the only way I know of translating the 
 word liarsopd, wliich was the term used by Nestorius, 
 and which the Greeks render by the term p iruiriii. — 
 The word person would have done better in this unin- 
 telligible phrase, had it not been used immediately before 
 in a different sense from that which Nestorius would 
 convey by the obscure term aspect. 
 
 t That Cyril expressed himself in this manner, and ap- 
 pealed, for his justification in so doing, to the authority 
 of Athanasius, is evident beyond all possibility of contra- 
 diction. But it is uncertain whether this manner of ex- 
 pression was adopted by Athanasius or not, since many 
 are of opinion, that the book, in which U is found. ha» 
 
152 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CPIURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Hence he was thought to deny the existence of 
 the human nature in Christ, and was accused 
 of this, hy Eusebius of Dorylfeuni, in the coun- 
 cil that was assembled by Flavianus at Con- 
 stantinople, probably in this same year. By a 
 decree of this council he was ordered to re- 
 nounce the above mentioned opinion, which he 
 obstinately refused to do, and was, on this ac- 
 count, excommunicated and deposed: unwill- 
 ing, however, to acq'iiesce in this .sentence, he 
 appealed to tlie decision of a general council. 
 XIV. In consequence of this appeal, the 
 emperor Theodosius assembled an oecumenical 
 council at Eph.esus, in -149, at the head of 
 which he placed Dioscorus, bishop of Alexan- 
 dria, the successor of Cyril, the faithful imita- 
 tor of his arrogance and fury, and a declared 
 enemy to the bishop of Constantinople. Ac- 
 cordingly, by the influence and cabalhng of 
 this turbulent man, matters were carried on in 
 this assembly with the same want of equity 
 and of decency that had dishonoured a former 
 Ephesian council, and characterised the pro- 
 ceedings of Cyril against Nestorius. Diosco- 
 rus, in whose church a doctrine, almost the 
 same with that of the Eutychians, was con- 
 stantly taught, confounded matters with such 
 artifice and dexterity, that the doctrine of one 
 incarnate nature triumphed, and Eutycheswas 
 acquitted of the charge of error that had been 
 brought against him. Flavianus, on tlie other 
 hand, was, by the order of this unrighteous 
 council, pubhclj' scourged in the most barba- 
 rous manner, and banished to Epipas, a city of 
 Lydia, where he soon after ended his days.* 
 The Greeks called this Ephesian council, a 
 band or assemhlij of rohhers, <ruy:>:^v /.i^Trpi/.i;v, to 
 signify that every thing was carried in it by 
 fraud or violence;! and many councils, indeed, 
 both in this and the following ages, arc equally 
 entitled to the same dishonourable appellation. 
 XV. Aflairs soon changed, and assumed an 
 aspect utterly unfavourable to that party which 
 the Ephesian council had rendered triumphant. 
 Flavianus and his followers not only engaged 
 Leo the Great, bishop of Rom 3, in their in- 
 terests (for the Roman pontiff was the ordi- 
 nary refuge of the oppressed and conquered 
 party in tliis century,) but also remonstrated 
 to the emperor, that a matter of such an ardu- 
 ous and important nature required, in order to 
 its decision, a council composed out of the 
 church univer.sal. Leo seconded the latter re- 
 
 been falsely attributed to him. See Mich. Le Quien, 
 Dissert, ii. in Daniascenum; and "Christ. Aug. Salig, de 
 Eutychianismo ante Eutychen, p. 112. It appears, by 
 what we read in the Biblloth. Orient., that the Syrians 
 expressed themselves in this manner before Eutyches, 
 without intending thereby to broach any new doctrine, 
 but rather without well knowing what they said. We 
 are yet in want of a solid and accurate history of the 
 Eutychian troubles, notwithstanding the labours of the 
 learned Salig upon that subject. 
 
 * See the Concilia Jo. Harduini, torn. i. p. 82. — Li- 
 berati Breviarium, cap. xii. p. 76 — -Leonis M. Epist. 
 iciii. — Nici'phori Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. xiv. cap. Ixvii. 
 
 (tj^ f Though Flavianus died soon after the council of 
 Ephesus, of the bruises he had received from Dioscorus, 
 and the other bishops of his party in that horrid assem- 
 bly, yet, before his death, he had appealed to Leo; and 
 this appeal, pursued by the pontiff, occasioned the coun- 
 cil; in which Eutyches was condemned, and the san 
 gumary Dioscorus deposed. 
 
 ! quest, and demanded of Theodosius a general 
 j council, which no entreaties could persuade 
 j this emperor to grant. Upon his death, how- 
 I ever, his successor Marcian consented to Leo's 
 j demand, and called, in 451, the council of 
 Chalcedon,* which is reckoned the fourth ge- 
 I neral or oecumenical council. The legates of 
 I Leo, who, in his famous letter to Flavianus, 
 had already condemned tlie Eutychian doc- 
 trine, presided in this grand and crowded as- 
 sembly. Dioscorus was condemned, deposed, 
 and banished into Paphlagonia; the acts of the 
 council of Ephesus were annulled; the epistle 
 of Leo was received as a rule of faith ;t Euty- 
 ches, who had been already sent into banish- 
 ment, and deprived of his sacerdotal dignity 
 by the emperor, was now condemned, though 
 absent; and the following doctrine, which is at 
 this time almost generally received, was incul- 
 cated upon Christians as an object of faith, viz. 
 " That in Christ two distinct natures were unit- 
 ed in one person, without any change, mixture, 
 or confusion." 
 
 XVI. The remedy applied by this council, 
 to heal the wounds of a torn and divided 
 church, proved really worse than the disease; 
 for a great number of Oriental and Egyptian 
 doctors, though of various characters and dif- 
 ferent opinions in other respects, united in op- 
 posing, with the utmost vehemence, the coun- 
 cil of Chalcedon and the epistle of Leo, which 
 that assembly had adopted as a rule of faith, 
 and were unanimous in maintaining an unity 
 of nature, as well as of person, in Jesus Clirist. 
 Hence arose deplorable discords and civil wars, 
 whose fury and barbarity were carried to the 
 most excessive and incredible lengths. On the 
 death of the emperor Marcian, the populace 
 assembled tumultuously in Egypt, massacred 
 Prolerius, the successor of Dioscorus, and sub- 
 stituted in his place Timotheus iElurus, who 
 was a zealous defender of the Eutychian doc- 
 trine of one incarnate nature in Christ. This 
 latter, indeed, was deposed and banished by the 
 emperor Leo; but, upon his death, was restor- 
 ed by Basilicus both to his liberty and episco- 
 pal dignity. After the death of jEIurus, the 
 defenders of the council of Chalcedon chose, 
 as his successor, Timotheus, surnamed Salo- 
 phaciolus, while the partisans of the Eutychi- 
 an doctrine elected schism atically Peter Mog- 
 gus to the same dignity. An edict of the em- 
 peror Zeno obliged the latter to yield. The 
 triumph, however, of the Chalcedonians, on 
 this occasion, was but transitory; for, on the 
 death of Timotheus, John Talaia, whom they 
 had chosen in his place, was removed by the 
 
 Q(j=- * This council was first assembled at Nice, but 
 afterwards removed to Chalcedon, that the emperor, who, 
 on account of the irruption of the Kuns into lllyricum, 
 was unwilling to go far from Constantinople, might as- 
 sist at it in person. 
 
 (!(^ t This was the letter which Leo had written to 
 Flavianus, after having been informed by him of what 
 had passed in tlie council of Constantinople. In this 
 epistle, Leo approves the decisions of that council, de- 
 clares the doctrine of Eutyches heretical and impious, 
 and explains, with gnat appearance of perspicuity, the 
 doctrine of the catholic church upon this perplexed sub- 
 ject; so that this letter was esteemed a masterpiece, both 
 of logic and eloquence, and was constantly read, during 
 the Advent, in the western churches. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 153 
 
 same emperor;* and Moggus, or Moiigus, by 
 an imperial edict, and tlie favour oi' Acacius, 
 bisliop of Constantinople, was, in 4S2, raised 
 to the see of Alexandria. 
 
 XVII. The abbot Barsunias (whom the reader 
 must be careful not to confound with Barsu- 
 mas of Nisibis, the famous promoter of the 
 Nestorian doctrines,) jiaving been condemned 
 by the coiincil of Chalcedon,f propagated the 
 Eutychian opinions in Syria, and, by the min- 
 istry of his disciple Samuel, spread them 
 amongst the Armenians about the year 460. 
 Tiiis doctrine, Ifawever, as it was commonly 
 explained, had something so harsh and shock- 
 ing in it, that the Syrians were easily engaged 
 to abandon it by the exhortations of Xenaias, 
 otherwise called Philoxenus, bishop of Hiera- 
 polis, and the famous Peter Fullo. These doc- 
 tors rejected the opinion, attributed to Euty- 
 ches, that the human nature of Christ was ab- 
 sorbed by the divine, j; and modified matters so 
 as to form the following hypothesis: " That in 
 the Son of God there was one nature, which, 
 notwithstanding its unity, was double and com- 
 pounded.'''' This notion was not less repug- 
 nant to the decisions of the council of Chal- 
 cedon than the Eutychian doctrine, and was 
 therefore strongly opposed by those who ac- 
 knowledged the authority of that council. § 
 
 XVIII. Peter, surnamed Fullo, from the 
 trade of a fuller, which he exercised in his mo- 
 nastic state, had usurped the see of Antioch, 
 and, after having been several times deposed 
 and condemned on account of the bitterness of 
 his opposition to the council of Chalcedon, was 
 at last fixed in it, in 48i, by the authority of 
 the emperor Zeno, and the favour of Acacius, 
 bishop of Constantinople. II This troublesome 
 and contentious man excited new discords in 
 the church, and seemed ambitious of forming 
 a new sect under the name of Theopaschites;TI 
 for, to the words, " O God most holy," &c. 
 in the famous hymn which the Greeks called 
 Tris-ag'ium, he ordered the following phrase to 
 be added in the eastern ciuirches, " who hast 
 suffered for us upon the cross. ''^ His design in 
 this was manifestly to raise a new sect, and 
 also to fix more deeply, in the minds of the 
 people, the doctrine of one nature in Christ, to 
 which he was zealously attached. His adver- 
 saries, and especially Felix tlie Roman pontiff, 
 
 * S«e Liberati Breviarium, cap. xvi. xvii. Tviii. — Evagr. 
 Hist. Ercles. lib. ii. cap. viii. lib. iii. cap. iii. — Le-^uien, 
 Oriens Cliristianus, torn. ii. p. 410. 
 
 (t(j~ t The Barsumas, here mentioned, was he who as- 
 sistrd the bishop of Alexandria (Dioscorus) and the sol- 
 diers, in beating Flavianus to death in the council ofEphe- 
 sus, and to shun whose fury, the orthodox bishops were 
 forced to creep into holes, and hide themselves under 
 benches, in that pious ivisembly. 
 
 (ffj^ \ Eutyches never affirmed what is here attributed 
 to him; he maintained simply, that the two natures, 
 which existed in Christ before his incarnation, became 
 one after it, by the hypostatical union. This miserable 
 dispute about words was nourished by the contending 
 parties h.iving no clear ideas of the terms person and 
 nature, as also by an invincible ignorance of the subject. 
 
 (f Asscmaui Biblioth. Orient. Vat. tom. ii.; and the 
 Dissertation of the same author, de IVIonophysitis. 
 
 II Valesii Disaertatio de Pet. Kullone, etde Synodis ad- 
 versus eum collectis, which is added to the third volume 
 of the Scriptor. Hist. Ecclesiast. 
 
 {t(J-Tr This word expresses the enormous error of those 
 frantic doctors, who imagined that the Godhead suffered 
 in and with Christ. 
 
 Vol. I.— 20 
 
 inter|)ieted this addition to the above-mention- 
 ed hymn in a quite difl'erent manner, and charg- 
 ed hiin with maintaining, that all the three 
 persons of the Godhead wero crucified; and 
 hence those who approved his addition were 
 called Tlieupaschites. The consequence of this 
 dispute was, that the western Christians reject- 
 ed the addition inserted by Fullo, which they 
 judged relative to the whole Trinity, while the 
 Orientals used it constantly atler this period, 
 without giving the least olfeiice, because they 
 applied it to Christ alone.* 
 
 XIX. To put an end to this controversy, 
 which had produced the most unhappy divi- 
 sions both in church and state, tlie emperor 
 Zeno, by the advice of Acacius, bishop of Con- 
 stantinople, published, in 48J, the famous He- 
 noHcon, or Decree of Union, which was de- 
 signed to reconcile the contending parties. — 
 This decree repeated and confirmed all that 
 had been enacted in the councils of Nice, Con- 
 stantinople, Ephesus, and Clialeedon, against 
 the Arians, Nestorians, and Eutychians, with- 
 out making any particular mention of the coun- 
 cil of Chalcedon;t for Acacius had persuaded 
 the emperor, that the present opposition was 
 not carried on against the decrees that had 
 passed in the council of Chalcedon, but against 
 the assembly itself; with respect to which, 
 therefore, an entire silence was undoubtedly 
 prudent in a proposal, which, instead of reviv- 
 ing, was designed to put an end to all disputes, 
 and to reconcile the most jarring principles. 
 In the mean time, Mongus and Fullo, who 
 filled the sees of Alexandria and Antioch, and 
 headed the sect of the Monophysites,| sub- 
 scribed this Decree of Union, which was also 
 approved by Acacius, and by all those of the 
 two contending parties who were at all re- 
 markable tor their candour and moderation. 
 But there were on all sides violent and obsti- 
 nate bigots, who opposed, with vigour, these 
 pacific measures, and complained of the He- 
 noticon as injurious to the honour and authori- 
 ty of the most holy council of Chalcedon. § 
 Hence arose new contests and new divisions 
 not less deplorable than those which the de- 
 cree was designed to suppress. 
 
 XX. A considerable body of the Monophy- 
 sites, or Eutychians, looked upon the conduct 
 of Mongus, who had subscribed the decree, as 
 highly criminal, and consequently formed them- 
 selves into a new faction, under tl»e title of 
 Acephali, i. e. headless, because, by trfe submis- 
 sion of Mongus, they had been deprived of 
 their cliief.|| This sect was afterwards divided 
 into three others, who were called Anthropo- 
 morphites, Barsanui)hites, and Esaianists; and 
 these again, in the following century, were the 
 
 * See Norris, t.ib. de uiio ex Triiiitalc came passo, 
 tom. iii. op. diss. i. cap. iii. 782. — Asscman. Biblioth. 
 Orient. Vatican, tom. i. p. 51S; tom. ii. p. 36, 180. 
 
 t Evagrii Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xiv. — Liberati 
 Breviarium, cap. xviii. 
 
 OC^ t This word expresses the doctrine of those who 
 believed, that in Christ there was but one nature, and is, 
 in most respects, the same with the term Eutychians. 
 
 ^ See Facuad. Hermiau. Defens. trium Capitulor. lib. 
 xii. cap. iv. 
 
 II Evagr. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xiii. — Leontius By- 
 zant. de f^ectia, tom. i. Lection. Antiq. Canisii, p. 537. — 
 Timoth. in Cotelerii Monument. E^clcaiae Graecae, torn, 
 iii. p. 409. 
 
154 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 unhappy occasion of new factions, of which 
 the ancient writers make frequent mention.* 
 It is, however, necessary to observe here, for 
 the information of tiiose whose curiosity in- 
 terests them in inquiries of this nature, tliat 
 these subdivisions of the Eutychian sect are 
 not to be adoi)ted with too much facihty. — 
 Some of them are entirely fictitious; others are 
 characterised by a nominal, and not by a real 
 dilFerence; the division is in rcoi'ds, and not in 
 things; while a third sort are distinguished, 
 not by their peculiar doctrines, but by certain 
 rites and institutions, and matters of a merely 
 circumstantial nature. Be that as it will, these 
 numerous branches of the Eutychian faction 
 did not flourish long; they declined gradually 
 in the following century; and the influence 
 and authority of the famous Baradasus contri- 
 buted principally to their total extinction by 
 the union he established among the members 
 of that sect. 
 
 XXI. The Roman pontitf, Felix II., having 
 assembled an Italian council, composed of six- 
 ty-seven bishops, condemned and deposed Aca- 
 cius, and excluded him from the communion 
 of the church, as a perfidious enemy to the 
 truth. Several articles were alleged against 
 him, to furnish a pretext for the severity of this 
 sentence; such as his attachment to the Mono- 
 physites, and their leaders Mongus and Fullo, 
 the contempt with which he treated the coun- 
 cil of Chalcedon, and other accusations of a 
 like nature. But the true reasons of these pro- 
 ceedings, and of the irreconcileable hatred 
 which the Roman pontiffs indulged against 
 him, were his denying the supremacy of the 
 bishop of Rome, his opposing it throughout the 
 whole course of his ministry,! and his ambi- 
 tious efforts to enlarge, beyond all bounds, the 
 authority and prerogatives of the see of Con- 
 stantinople. The Greeks, however, defended 
 the character and memory of their bishop 
 against all the aspersions which were cast upon 
 him by the Romans. Hence arose a new 
 schism, and a new contest, which were carried 
 on with great violence, until the following 
 century, when the obstinacy and perseverance 
 of the Latins triumphed over the opposition 
 of the oriental Christians, and brought about 
 an agreement, in consequence of which, the 
 
 * These sects are enumerated by Basnage, in his Pro- 
 legotn. aJ Canisii Lection. Antiq. cap. iii. and by Asse- 
 man. in his Disserlatio de Moaophysitis. 
 
 Ol^ \ This again is ohc of the periods of erclesiaslical 
 history, ill which we find a multitude of events, wliich 
 are so many proofs liow far the supremacy of the pope 
 was from being universally acknowledged. Felix U. de- 
 poses and excommunicates Acacius the palriaxch of Con- 
 stantinople, who not only receives this sentence with 
 contempt, but, in his turn, anathematises and excommuni 
 cates the pope, and orders his name to be stri^oUen out of 
 the diptychs. This conduct of Acacius is approved by 
 the emperor, the church of Constantinople, by almost all 
 the eastern bishops, and even by Aiidreasof Thessalonica, 
 who was at that time the pope's vicar for East lUyricum. 
 This was the occasion of that general schism, which con- 
 tinued for twenty-five years, between the eastern and west- 
 ern churches. 11 is here worthy of observation, that the 
 eastern bishops did not adhere to the cause of Acacius, 
 from any other principle, as appears from the most au- 
 thentic records of those times, than a persuasion of the 
 illegality of bis excommunication by the Roman pontiff, 
 who, in their judgment, had not a right to depose the 
 first bishop of the east, without th» consent of a general 
 council. 
 
 names of Acacius and Fullo were erased from 
 the diptychs, or sacred registers, and thus 
 branded with perpetual infamy.* 
 
 XX II. These de|)lorable dissensions and con- 
 tests had, for their object, a matter of the 
 smallest importance. Eutyches was generally 
 supposed to have maintained, "That the di- 
 vine nature of Christ had absorbed the human, 
 and that, consequently, in him there was but 
 one nature, namely, the divine;" but the truth 
 of tiiis supposition is destitute of sufficient 
 evidence. However that may have been, this 
 opinion, and also Eutyches, its pretended au- 
 thor, were rejected and condemned by those 
 who opposed the council of Chalcedon, and 
 principally indeed by Xenaias and Fullo, who 
 are, therefore, improperly called Eutychians, 
 and belong rather to the class of the Monophy- 
 
 i sites. They, wiio assumed this latter title, 
 I held, " That the divine and human nature of 
 Christ were s<j united, as to form only one na- 
 ture, yet without any change, confusion, or 
 mixture, of the two natures:" and that this 
 caution might be carefully observed, and their 
 meaning be well understood, they frequently 
 expressed themselves thus: " In Christ there is 
 one nature; but that nature is two-fold and 
 compounded. "j They disowned all relation and 
 attachment to Eutyches; but regarded, with 
 the highest veneration, Dioscorus, Barsumas, 
 Xenakis and Fullo, as the pillars of their sect; 
 and rejected, not only the Epistle of Leo, but 
 also the decrees of the council of Chalcedon. 
 The opinion of the Monophysites, if we judge 
 of it by the terms in which it is here delivered, 
 does not seem to differ in reality, but only in 
 the manner of expression, from that which was 
 established by the council.]; But, if we attend 
 carefully to the metaphysical arguments and 
 subtilties which the former employed to con- 
 firm their doctrine, § we shall, perhaps, be in- 
 duced to think, that the controversy between 
 the Monophysites and Chalcedonians is not 
 merely a dispute about words. 
 
 XXIII. A new controversy arose in the 
 church during this century, and its pestilential 
 effects extended themselves through the follow- 
 ing ages. The authors of it were Pelagius and 
 Ccelestius, both monks; the former a Briton, 
 and the latter a native of Ireland. |j They lived 
 
 * Hen. Valesius, Dissert, de Synodis Roman, in quibus 
 damnatus est Acacius, ad calcem, torn. iii. Scriptor. Ec- 
 cles. p. 179. — BasDage, Histoire de PEjIise, torn. i. p. 
 301, 380, aSl.— Bayle's Dictionary.— David Blondel, de 
 la Pi-iinautc dans I'Eglise, p. 279. — Acta Sanctorum, torn, 
 iii. Febraar. p. 503. 
 
 t Seethe passages drawn from the writings of the Mo- 
 nophysites by the most learned, and, frequently, impar- 
 tial Asseman, in his Biblioth. Orient. Vatic, torn. iii. p. 
 25, 26, 29, &c. 
 
 { Many learned men treat this eontroversy as a mere 
 dispute about words. Gregory Abulpharajius, himself a 
 Monopliysite, and Ihe most learned of the sect, declares 
 this as his opinion. See the Biblioth. Italique, torn. xvii. 
 p. 285. — La Croze, Histoire du Christianisme des Indes, 
 p. 23; and the Histoire du Christianisme d'Ethiopie, 
 p. 14. Assemaa, though a Roman by birth and by reli- 
 gion, seems, in a good measure, to have adopted the same 
 way of thinking, as appears by p. 297 in his second 
 volume. 
 
 § See the subtile argumentation of Abulpharajius, in 
 the Biblioth. Orient, torn. ii. p. 288. 
 
 Q(p= II Nothing very certain can be advanced with re- 
 spect to the native country of Ccelestius, which some say 
 was Scotland, and others Campania in Italy. We know 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 155 
 
 fit Rome in the greatest reputation, and were 
 universally esteemed for their extraordinary 
 piety and virtue.* These monks looked upon 
 the doctrines, which were commonly received, 
 " concerning the original corruption of human 
 nature, and the necessity of divine grace to 
 enlighten the understanding, and purify the 
 heart, as prejudicial to the progress of holiness 
 and virtue, and tending to lull mankind in a 
 presumptuous and fatal security. They main- 
 tained, that these doctrines were as false as 
 they were pernicious; that the sins of our first 
 parents were imputed to them alone, and not 
 to their postei'ity; that we derive no corrup- 
 tion from their fall, but are born as pure and 
 unspotted as Adam came out of the forming 
 hand of his Creator; that mankind, therefore, 
 are capable of repentance and amendment, and 
 of arriving at the higiiest degrees of piety and 
 virtue by the use of their natural faculties and 
 powers; that, indeed, external gnce is neces- 
 sary to excite their endeavours, but that they 
 have no need of the internal succours of the 
 divine Spirit." These notions, and others in- 
 timately connected with them,! were propa- 
 gated at Rome, though in a private manner, by 
 the two monks already mentioned, who, retir- 
 ing from that city, in 410, upon the approach 
 of the Goths, went first into Sicily, and after- 
 Vv^ards into Africa, where they published their 
 doctrine with greater freedom. From Africa 
 I'elagius passed into Palestine, vvliile C'a'lestius 
 remained at Carthage with a view to prciijr- 
 inent, desiring to be admitted among tiie pres- 
 byters of that city. But the discovery of his 
 opinions having blasted his hopes, and iiis er- 
 rors being condemned in a council holdon at 
 Carthage, in 412, he departed from that city, 
 and went into the east. It was from this time 
 that Augustin, the famous bishop of Tlippo, 
 began to attack the tenets of Pelagius and 
 Coslestius in his learned and eloquent writings; 
 and to him, indeed, is principally due the glory 
 of having suppressed tliis sect in its very birth, j 
 
 however, that he was descended of an illustrious lamily; 
 and that, after having applied himself to the study of the 
 law for some time, he rftired from the world, and em- 
 braecd the monastic life. See (iennad. de Script. Ecclcs. 
 cap. \liv. 
 
 (tiy^ * The learned and furious Jerome, who never 
 once thought of doing common justice to tho.se who had 
 the misfortune to dili'er from him in opinion, accused 
 Pelagius of gluttonyaiid inlemperance, after he had heard 
 of his errors, though he had admired him before for his 
 exemplary virtue. Augustin, more candid and honest, 
 bears impartial testimony lo the truth; and, even while 
 he writes against this heretic, acknowledges (hat he had 
 made great progress in virtue and piety, that his life was 
 chaste and his manners were blameless; and this, indeed, 
 is the truth. 
 
 (trj- t The doctrines that were more immediately con- 
 nected with the main principles of Pelagius, were, that 
 infant baptism was not a sign or seal of the remission of 
 sins, but a mark of admission to the kingdom of heaven, 
 which was only open to the pure in heart; that good 
 works were meritorious, and the only conditions of salva- 
 tion; — with many others too tedious to mention. 
 
 } The Pelagian controversy has been historically treat- 
 ed by many learned writers, such as Usher, in his Anti- 
 quit. Ecclcs. Britannica;; Laet; Ger. Vossius; Norris; 
 Garnier, in his Supplement. Oper. Theodoreti; .Janse- 
 nius in Augustino,and others. Lonpueval also, a French 
 Jesuit, wrote a History of the Pelagians. See the preface 
 to the ninth volume ofhis Hisloria F.ccles, Gallieam. 
 After all, it must be confessed, that these learned writers 
 have not exhausted this interesting subject, or treated it 
 Willi a sufficient degree of impartiality. 
 
 XXIV. Things went more smoothly with 
 Pelagius in the east, where he enjoyed the pro- 
 tection and favour of John, bishop of Jerusa- 
 lem, whose attachment to the sentiments of 
 Origen led him naturally to countenance those 
 of Pelagius, on account of the conformity that 
 seemed to exist between these systems. Under 
 the shadow of this powerful protection, Pela- 
 gius made a public profession of his opinions, 
 and formed disciples in several places; and 
 thougl), in 415, lie was accused by Orosius, a 
 Spanish presbyter, whom Augustin had sent 
 into Palestine for that purpose, before an as- 
 sembly of bishops who met at Jerusalem, yet 
 he was dismissed witiiout the least censure; 
 and not only so, but was soon after fully ac- 
 quitted of all errors by the council of Dios- 
 polis.* 
 
 This controversy was brought to Rome, and 
 referred by Ccelestius and Pelagius to the deci- 
 sion of ZosimiiSjt wlio was raised to the ponti- 
 ficate in 417. The new pontiff, gained over 
 by the ambiguotts and seemingly orthodo.x con- 
 fession of faith, that Caelestius, who was now 
 at Rome, had artfully drawn up, and also by 
 the letters and protestations of Pelagius, pro- 
 nounced in favour of tiiese monks, declared 
 them sound in the faith, and unjustly perse- 
 cuted by their adversaries. The African bishops, 
 with Augustin at their head, little affected with 
 this declara*ion, continued obstinately to main- 
 tain the judgment they had pronounced in this 
 matter, and to strengtiien it by their exhorta- 
 tions, tlieir letters, and their writings. Zosimus 
 yielded to the perseverance of the .\fricans, 
 changed his inind, and condemned, with the 
 utmost severity, Pelagius and Cftlestius, whom 
 he had honoured with his approbation, and 
 covered with liis protection. This was followed f 
 by a train of evils, which pursued these two 
 monks without interruption. Tiiey were con- 
 demned by the same Epliesian council which 
 had launched its thunder at the head of Nes- 
 torius; in short, the Gauls, Uritons, and Afri- 
 cans, by their councils, and tiic emperors, by 
 their edicts and penal laws, demolished this 
 sect in its infancy, and suppressed it entirely 
 before it had acquired any tolerable degree of 
 vigour or consistence.]: 
 
 XXV. The unhappy disputes about the opin- 
 ions of Pelagius occasioned, as usually hap- 
 pens, other controversies equally jirejudicial to 
 
 * See Daniel, Ilisloire du Concile de Diospolis, which 
 is to be found in the Opuseula of that eloquent and learn- 
 ed Jesuit, published at Paris in 1704. Diospolis was a city 
 of Pah^stiue, known in .Scripture by the name of Lyd- 
 da; and the bishop who presided in this council was Eu- 
 logius of Ctesarea, metropolitan of Palestine. 
 
 3(7" t To preserve the thread of the history, and pre- 
 vent the reader's being surprised lo find Pelagius and 
 Coeleetius appealing lo Rome after having been acquitted 
 at Diospolis, it is necessary to observe, that these monks 
 were condemned anew, in 416, by the African bishops as- 
 sembled at Carthage, and those of Numidia assembled at 
 Milevum; upon which they appealed to Rome. 
 
 J See the Hisloria Pelagiana of Ger. J. Vossius, lib. i. 
 cap. Iv. p. 130; as also the learned observations that have 
 been made upon this controversy, iu the Bibliotheque 
 Italique, lorn. v. p. 74. The writers on both sides are 
 mentioned by Jo. Kranc. I!uddeus,in his Isagoge ad The- 
 ologiani, torn. ii. 1071 . The learned Wall, in his History 
 of Infant Baptism, vol. i. chap. xix. has given a coucisc 
 and elegant account of the Pelagian controversy; an ac- 
 count which, though imperfect in several respects, 
 abounds with solid and useful erudition. 
 
156 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the peace of the church, and the interests of 
 true Christianity. In the course of this dis- 
 pute, Augustin had dehvered his opinion, con- 
 cerning the necessity of divine grace in order 
 to our salvation, and the decrees of God with 
 respect to the future conditions of men, with 
 out being always consistent with himself, or 
 intelligible to otliers. Hence certain monks 
 of Adrumetum, and others, were led into a no- 
 tion, "That God not only predestinated the 
 wicked to eternal punishment, but also to the 
 ^uilt and transgression for which tliey are pun- 
 ished; and that tlius both the good and bad ac- 
 tions of all men were determined from eterni- 
 ty by a divine decree, and fixed by an invinci- 
 ble necessity." Those wlio embraced this opin- 
 ion, were called Predestinarians. Augustin 
 used his utmost influence and authority to pre- 
 vent the spreading of this doctrine, and ex- 
 plained his true sentiments with more perspi- 
 cuity, that it might not be attributed to him. 
 His efforts were seconded by the councils of 
 Aries and Lyons, in which t.lie doctrine in 
 question was publicly rejected and condemn- 
 ed.* But we must not omit observing, that the 
 existence of this Predestinarian sect has been 
 denied by many learned men, and looked 
 upon as an invention of the Semi-Pelagians, 
 designed to decry tjie followers of Augustin, by 
 attributing to them unjustly this dangerous and 
 pernicious error.f 
 
 XXVI. A new and different modification 
 was given to the doctrine of Augustin by the 
 monk Cassian, who came from the east into 
 France, and erected a monastery near Mar- 
 seilles. Nor was he the only one who attempt- 
 ed to fix upon a certain temperature between 
 the errors of Pelagius and the opinions of tlie 
 i African oracle; several persons embarked in 
 this undertaking about tlie year 430, and hence 
 arose a new sect, the members of which were 
 called, by their adversaries, Semi-Pelagians. 
 
 The opinions of this sect have been misre- 
 presented, by its enemies, upon several occa- 
 sions; such is usually the fate of all parties in 
 religious controversies. Their doctrine, as it 
 has been generally explained by the learned, 
 amounted to this: "'J 'hat inward preventing 
 grace was not necessary to form in the soul the 
 beginnings of true repentance and amendment; 
 that every one was capable of producing these 
 
 * See Jac. Siririondi Hisloiia PrEedestinatiana, torn. iv. 
 op. p. 271.— Basnage, Histoire de I'Eglisp, torn. i. livr. 
 xii. cap. ii. p. 698. Dion. Petaviiis, Dogmat. Theol. torn, 
 vi. p. 168, 174, &c. 
 
 1 See Gilb. Maiiguini Fabiila Prsedestinatiana confu- 
 tata, which he subjoined to the second tome of his learned 
 work, entitled, CoUeetio variorum Scriptonim qui Saec. 
 ix. de PrKdestinatione et Gratia scripserunt. — Fred. 
 Spanhemius, Introd. ad Historiam Eccles. torn. i. op. p. 
 993. — Jac. Basuag. Adnot. ad Prosperi Chronicon et 
 Prsef. ad Faustum Regiensem, torn. i. Lection. Anliqu. 
 Canisii, p. 31.5, 348. Granet (who wrote the life of Lau- 
 noy) observes, that Sirmond had solicited Launoy to 
 write against Mauguin, who denied the existence of the 
 predestinarian sect; but that the former, having examined 
 the matter with care ard application, adopted the senti- 
 ment of Mauguiu. The whole dispute about the ex- 
 istence of this sect will, when closely looked into, appear 
 to be little more, perhaps, than a dispute about words. 
 (fg- It may be very true, that, about this time, or even 
 from the time of St. Paul, certain persons embraced the 
 predestinarian opinions here mentioned; but there is no 
 solid proof, that the abettors of these opinions ever form- 
 ed themjelvxi into a sect. See Basnae^e, torn. i. p. 700. 
 
 by the mere power of his natural faculties, as 
 also of exercising faith in Christ, and forming 
 the purposes of a holy and sincere obedience." 
 But they acknowledged, at the same time, 
 " That none could persevere or advance in that 
 holy and virtuous course which they had the 
 power of beginning, without the perpetual sup- 
 port and the powerful assistance of the divine 
 grace."* The disciples of Augustin, in Gaul, 
 attacked the Semi- Pelagians with the utmost 
 vehemence, without being able to extirpate or 
 overcome them.f The doctrine of this sect 
 was so suited to the capacities of the generali- 
 ty of men, so conformable to the way of think- 
 ing that prevailed among the monastic orders, 
 and so well received among the gravest and 
 most learned Grecian doctors, that neither the 
 zeal nor industry of its adversaries could stop 
 its rapid and extensive progress. Add to its 
 other advantages, that neither Augustin, nor 
 his followers, liad ventured to condemn it in 
 all its parts, or to brand it as an impious and 
 pernicious heresy. 
 
 XXVII. This was the commencement of 
 those unhappy contests, those subtile and per- 
 plexing disputes concerning grace, or the na- 
 ture and operation of that divine power, which 
 is essentially required in order to salvation, 
 that rent the cliurch into the most deplorable 
 divisions througli the whole course of the suc- 
 ceeding age, and which, to the deep sorrow and 
 regret of every true and generous Christian, 
 have been continued to the present time. The 
 doctrine of Augustin, who was of opinion, that, 
 in the work of conversion and sanctification, 
 all was to be attributed to a divine energy, and 
 nothing to human agency, had many followers 
 in all ages of the churcli, though his disciples 
 have never agreed entirely about the manner 
 of explaining what he taught on that head.J 
 The followers of Cassian were, however, much 
 more numerous; and his doctrine, though va- 
 riously explained, was received in the greatest 
 part of the monastic schools in Gaul, whence 
 it spread itself throttgh other parts of Europe. 
 As to tiie Greeks, and other Eastern Christians, 
 they had embraced the Semi-Pelagian doctrine 
 before Cassian, and still adhere firmly to it. 
 The generality of Christians looked upon the 
 opinions of Pelagius as daring and presumptu- 
 
 ()j3=» * The leading princi])les of the Semi-Pelagians 
 were the five following: 1. That God did not dispense 
 his exnce to one, more than another, in consequence of 
 predestination, i. e. an eternal and absolute decree, but 
 was willing (o save all men, if they complied with the 
 terms of his Gospel; 9. That Christ died for all men; 3. 
 That the grace purchased by Christ, and necessary to 
 salvation, was offered to all men; 4. That man, before he 
 received grace, was capable of failh and holy desires; 5. 
 That man, born free, was consequently capable of resist- 
 ing the influences of grace, or complying with its sug- 
 gestions. See Basnage, torn. i. livr. xii. 
 
 f Basnage, torn. i. livr. xii. — Hist. Literaire de la 
 France, tom. ii. prsf p. 9. — Vossii Histor. Pclagiana, lib. 
 V. p. 538. — Scipio Maffei (under the fictitious name of 
 Irenseus Veroncnsis,) de Hseresi Palagiana, tom. xxix. — 
 Opuscul. .Scicntif. Angeli Calogera;, p. 399. 
 
 QS^ \ ll 's well known that the Jansenists and Jesuits 
 both plead the authority of St. Augustin, in behalf of 
 their opposite systems with respect to predestination and 
 grace. This knotty doctrine severely exercised the pre- 
 tended infallibility of the popes, and exposed it to the 
 laughter of the wise upon many occasions; and the fa- 
 mous bull Uni^enitus set Clement XI. in direct opposi- 
 tion to several of the most celebrated Roman pontiffs. 
 Which are we to be'.ieve-' 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 157 
 
 ous; and even to those who adopted them in 
 secret, thoy appeared too free and too far re- 
 moved from the notions rommonly received, 
 to render the public profession of them advise- 
 able and prudent. Certain, however, it is, that 
 
 in all aoes of the chiircJi there have been se- 
 veral persons, who, in conformity with the doc- 
 trine attributed to this heretic, have believed 
 mankind endowed with a natural power of pay- 
 ing to the divine laws a perfect obedience. 
 
 THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the Prosperous Events ivhich happen- 
 ed to the Church dwing this Century. 
 
 I. The zeal of the bishops of Constantino- 
 ple, seconded by the protection and influence 
 of the Grecian emperors, increased the num- 
 ber of Christians in the east, and contributed 
 to the conversion of some barbarous nations; 
 of those, particularly, who lived upon the bor- 
 ders of the Euxine sea, as appears from the 
 most authentic records of Grecian history. 
 Amonflf these nations were the Abasjri, vvho in- 
 habited the country lying; between tlie coast of 
 tlie Eu.xine and mount Caucasus, and who em- 
 braced C'iiristianity under the reiffn of Justi- 
 nian;* the Heruli, who dwelt beyond tlie 
 r3anube, and wiio were converted in the same 
 reign;! is also the Alans, l^azi, and Zani, with 
 other uncivilised people, whose situation, at 
 this time, is only known by va;^ue and imper- 
 fect conjectures. These conversions, indeed, 
 however pompously they may sound, were ex- 
 tremely sii|)erficial and imperfect, as wc learn 
 from the most credible accounts that have been 
 given of them. All that was required of these j 
 darkened nations amounted to an oral jirofes- ' 
 sion of their faith in Christ, to their abstaining i 
 from sacrifices to the gods, and their commit- 
 ting to memory certain forms of doctrine, while : 
 little care was taken to enrich tiieir minds with | 
 pious sentiments, or to cultivate in their hearts 
 virtuous affections; so that, even after their; 
 conversion to Christianity, they retained their] 
 primitive ferocity and savage manners, and 
 continued to distinguish themselves by horrid 
 acts of cruelty and rapine, and the practice of 
 all kinds of wickednes.?. In the greatest part 
 of the Grecian provinces, and even in the ca- 
 pital of the eastern empire, there were .still 
 multitudes who preserved a secret attachment 
 to the pagan religion. Of these, however, vast 
 numbers were brougiit over to Christianity un- 
 der the reign of .Tustin, jjy the ministerial la- i 
 hours of John, bishop of Asia. J I 
 
 * Procopius, (Ic Bello Golhico, lib. iv. cap. iii. — Le 
 Qiiiea, Orieiis Cliristianus, (oni. i. p. 13.51. I 
 
 } Procopius, lib. ii. cap. xiv. 
 4 Asseman. Eibliolli. Orieiil. Valic. torn ii. p. B.'i. 
 
 Ili In the western parts, Remigius, or Remi, 
 bishop of Rheims, who is commonly called the 
 Apostle of the Gauls, signalised his zeal in the 
 conversion of those who still adhered to the 
 ancient superstitions;* and his success was con- 
 siderable, partirularh' after that auspicious pe- 
 riod when Clovis, king of tlie Franks, embrac- 
 ed the Gospel. 
 
 In Britain, several circumstances concurred 
 to favour the ]>ropagation of Christianity.— 
 Etholbert, king of Kent, the most considerable 
 of the Anglo-Saxon princes, among whom that 
 island was at this time divided, married Bertha, 
 daughter of Clierebert, king of Paris, toward 
 the conclusion of this century. This princess, 
 partly by her own influence, and partly by the 
 pious eflbrts of the clergy who followed her 
 into Rrifain, gradually formed, in the mind of 
 Ethelbert, an inclination to the ('hristian reli- 
 gion. While the king was in this favourable 
 disposition, Gregory the Great, in 596, .sent 
 over forty Benedictine monks, with Augustin 
 at their head,| in order to bring to perfection 
 what the pious queen had so liappily begun. 
 This monk, seconded by the zeal and assist- 
 ance of Bertha, converted the king, and the 
 greatest part of the inhabitants of Kent, and 
 laid anew the foundations of the British 
 church.]; 
 
 The labours of Columbus, an Irish monk, 
 were attended with success among tlie Picts 
 and Scots, many of whom embracc^d the Gos- 
 pel. § 
 
 In Germany, the Bohemians, Thuringiana, 
 and Boii, are said to have abandoned, in thia 
 century, their ancient superstitions, || and to 
 
 * Ilistoire Litrraire dc la France, torn. iii. p. liK). 
 
 {fij' t This British apostle was prior ol" the Beiiedie- 
 linc monastery of St. Andrew at Home. After his arri- 
 val in Enarland, he converted the heathen temples into 
 places of Christian worship, erected Christ-Church into 
 a cathedral, opened a seminary of learning, founded the 
 abbey of St. Augustin, received episcopal ordination from 
 ihc primate of Aries, was invested by pope Gregory with 
 power over all the British bishops and Saxon prelates, 
 and was the first archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 J Bede's Histor. Eccles. Gentis Anglor. lib. i. cap. 
 xxiii.— Rapin's History of England.— Acta Sanctor. torn, 
 iii. Kebruar. p. 470. 
 
 ^ Bede's Histor. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. iv. 
 
 II Henr. Canisii Lection. Antiqux, lorn. iii. part ii. p. 
 208.— Aventin. ^ii?ia/. Boionmi. 
 
158 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 have received tlie light of divine truth; but 
 this assertion appears extremely doubtful to 
 many. 
 
 All these conversions and sacred exploits 
 will lose much of their importance in the es- 
 teem of sucli as examine with attention the 
 accounts whicli have been given of them by 
 the writers of this and the succeeding ages; 
 for by these accounts it appears, that the con- 
 verted nations now mentioned, retained a great 
 part of their former impietj', superstition, and 
 licentiousness, and that, attached to Christ by 
 a mere outward and nominal profession, tliBy, 
 in eti'ect, renounced the purity of his doctrine, 
 and the authority of his Gospel, by their flagi- 
 tious lives, and tlie superstitious and idolatrous 
 rites and institutions which they continued to 
 ob.serve.* 
 
 III. A vast multitude of Jews, converted to 
 Christianity in several places, were added to 
 the church during the course of this century. 
 Many of that race, particularly the inhabitants 
 of Borium in Libya, were brought over to the 
 truth by the persuasion and influence of the 
 emperor Justinian. f In the west, the Zealand 
 autliority of the Gallic and Spanish monarehs, 
 the oftbrts of Gregory the Great, and the la- 
 bours of Avitus, bishop of Vienne, engaged 
 numbers to receive the Gospel. It must, how- 
 ever, be acknowledged, that, of these conver- 
 sions, the greatest part arose from the liberali- 
 ty of Christian princes, or the fear of punish- 
 ment, ratlier than from the force of argument 
 or the love of truth. In Gaul, the Jews were 
 compelled by Childeric to receive the ordinance 
 of baptism; and the same despotic mode of 
 conTOrsion was practised in Spain. | Tliis me- 
 thod, however, was entirely disapproved by 
 Gregory the Great, who, tliough extremely se- 
 vere upon the heretics, would siifter no vio- 
 lence to be ofi'ered to the Jews.§ 
 
 IV. If credit is to be given to the writers of 
 this century, the conversion of these uncivilis- 
 ed nations to Christianity was principally ef- 
 fected by the prodigies and miracles which the 
 heralds of tlie Gospel were enabled to work in 
 its behalf. But tlie conduct of tlie converted 
 nations is sutficient to invalidate the force of 
 these testimonies; for certain!}', if such mira- 
 cles had been wrought amonof them, their lives 
 would have been more suital)le to their profes- 
 sion, and their attachment and obedience to the 
 doctrines and laws of tlie Gospel more stedfast 
 and exemplary than they appear to liave been. 
 Besides (as we have already had occasion to 
 observe,) in abandoning their ancient supersti- 
 tions, the greatest part of them were more in- 
 
 * This is insjeiiuously confessed by the Benedictine 
 monks, in the Histoire Lileraire de la Fiance, lorn. iii. 
 Introduc. See also the orders given to tlie Anglo-Saxons 
 by Gregory the Great, in his Episl. lib. xi. Ixxvi. where 
 we find him permitting them to sacrifice to the saints, on 
 their respective holidays, the victims which tliey had for- 
 merly offered to the gods. Sec also Wilkins' Concilia 
 Magna Britanniae, torn. i. 
 
 t Procopius, de jKdificiis Justiniani, lib. vi. cap. ii. 
 
 j Greg. Turon. Histor. Francor. lib. vi. cap. xvii. — 
 Launoius, de veteri More baptir.andi Judges et Inlideles, 
 cap. i. p. 700, 704, tom. ii. part ii. op. 
 
 1^ .See his Epistles, particularly those which lie wrote 
 to Vigilius of .^rles, Theodore of Marseilles, and Peter 
 of Terracina. 
 
 fluenced by the example and authority of their 
 princes, than by force of argument, or the power 
 I of a rational conviction; and, indeed, if we 
 i consider the wretched manner in which many 
 ! of the first Christian missionaries performed 
 '. the solemn task they had undertaken, we shall 
 ' perceive tliat they wanted not many arguments 
 j to enforce the doctrines they taught, and the 
 ' discipline they recommended; for tliey required 
 nothing of these barbarous people that was 
 dithcult to be performed, or that laid any re- 
 markable restraint upon their appetites and 
 passions. The principal injunctions they im- 
 posed upon these rude proselytes were, that 
 they should get by heart certain summaries of 
 doctrine, and pay to the images of Christ and 
 the saints the same religious services which 
 they had formerly offered to the statues of the 
 gods. Nor were they at all delicate or scrupu- 
 lous in choosing the means of establishing their 
 credit; for they deemed it lawful, and even 
 meritorious, to deceive an ignorant and inat- 
 tentive multitude, by repiesenting, as prodi- 
 gies, things that were merely natural, as we 
 learn from the most authentic records of these 
 times. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the calamitous Events which happen- 
 ed to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. Though the abjuration of Paganism was, 
 by the imperial laws, made a necessary step to 
 preferment, and to the exercising of all public 
 offices, yet several persons, respected for their 
 erudition and gravity of manners, persisted in 
 their adherence to the ancient superstition. 
 Tribonian, the famous compiler of the Roman 
 law, is thought, by some, to have been among 
 tlie number of those who continued in their 
 prejudices against the Christian religion; and 
 such also, in the opinion of many, was the case 
 of Procopius, the celebrated historian. It is at 
 least certain, that Agathias, who was an emi- 
 nent lawyer at Smyrna, and who had also ac- 
 quired a considerable reputation as an histori- 
 cal writer, persevered in his attachment to the 
 pagan worship. These illustrious Gentiles 
 
 , were e.wmpted from the severities which were 
 frequently employed to engage the lower or- 
 ders to abandon the service of the gods. The 
 rigour of the laws, as it usually happens in 
 human life, fell only upon those who had 
 neither rank, fortune, nor court-favour, to ward 
 off their execution. 
 
 II. Surprised as we maybe at tlie protection 
 granted to the persons now mentioned, at a 
 time when the Gospel was, in many instances, 
 propagated by unchristian methods, it will ap- 
 pear still more astonishing, that the Platonic 
 philosophers, whose opposition to Christianity 
 was universally known, should be permitted, 
 in Greece and Egypt, to teach publicly the te- 
 nets of their sect, which were absolutely in- 
 compatible with the doctrines of the Gospel. 
 These doctors indeed afi'ected (generally speak- 
 ing) a high degree of moderation and pru- 
 dence, and, for the most part, modified their 
 expressions in such a manner, as to give to the 
 pagan system an evangelical aspect, extremely 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 adapted to deceive the unwary, as the exam- 
 ples of Chalcidius,* and Alexander of Lyco- 
 polis, abundantly testify. f Some of them, iiow- 
 ever, were less modest, and carried their auda- 
 cious efforts against Christianity so far as to 
 revile it publicly. Damascius, in the life of 
 Isidorus, and in other places, casts upon the 
 Christians the most ignominious aspersions;+ 
 Simplicius, in his illustrations of the Aristote- 
 lian philosophy, throws out several malignant 
 insinuations against the doctrines of the Gos- 
 pol; and the Epicheiremata of Proclus, written 
 e.\pressly tigainst the disciples of Jesus, were 
 universally read, and were, on that account, 
 accurately refuted by Philoponus.§ All this 
 shows, that many of the magistrates, who were 
 witnesses of these calumnious attempts, were 
 not so much Christians in reality, as in appear- 
 ance; otherwise they would not have permitted 
 the slanders of these licentious revilers to pass 
 without correction or restraint. 
 
 (R^ * The religion of Chalcidius has been much dis 
 puled among the learned. Cave seems inclined to rank 
 him among the Christian writers, though he expresses 
 some uncertainty about the matter. Huet, G.J. Voseius, 
 Fabricius, and Beausohre, decide with greater assurance 
 that Chalcidius was a Christian. Some learned men have 
 maintained, on the contrary, that many things in the 
 writings of this sage entitle him to a place among the pa- 
 gan philosophers. Our learned author, in his notes to 
 his Latin translation of Cudv^■o^th's Intellectual System, 
 and in a Dissertation "deturbata per recentioresPlatoni- 
 cos Ecclesia," lays down an hypothesis, which holds the 
 middle way between these extremes. He is of opinion 
 that Chalcidius neither rejected nor embraced the whole 
 system of the Christian doctrine, but selected, out of the 
 religion of Jesus and the tenets of Plato, a bodyofdivini 
 ty, in which, however, Platonism was predominant; and 
 tiiat he was one of those Syncretist or Eclectic philoso- 
 phers, who abounded in the fourth and fifth cenlnries, 
 and who attempted to unite Paganism and Christianity 
 into one motley system. This account of the matter, 
 however, appears too vague to the celebrated author of 
 the Critical History of Philosophy, M. Brucker. This 
 excellent writer agrees with Dr. Mosheim in this, that 
 Chalcidius followed the motley method of the eclectic 
 Platonists, but does not see any thing in this inconsistent 
 with liis having publicly professed the Christian religion. 
 The question is not, whether this philosopher was a sound 
 and orthodox Christian, which M. Brucker denies him to 
 have been, but whether he had abandoned the pagan 
 rites, and made a public profession of Christianity; and 
 this our philosophical historian looks U|>on as evident; 
 for though, in the commentary upon Plato's Timaius, 
 Chalcidius teaches several doctrines that seem to strike at 
 the foundations of our holy religion, yet the same may be 
 said of Origen, Clemens Alexandrinus, Arnobius, and 
 others, who are, nevertheTess, reckoned among the pro- 
 fessors of Christianfty. The reader will find an excellent 
 view of the different opinions concerning the religion of 
 Chalcidius, in the third volume of Bruokcr's History. 
 The truth of the matter seems to be this, that the Eciec- 
 tiqs, before Christianity became the religion of the state, 
 enriched their system from the Gospel, but ranged them- 
 selves under the standards of Plato; and that they repair- 
 ed to those of Christ, without any considerable change 
 of their system, when the examples and authority of the 
 emperors rendered the profession of tl>e Christian reli- 
 gion a matter of prudence, as well as its own excellence 
 rendered it most justly a matter of choice. 
 
 5(p- f Alexander wrote a treatise against the Mani- 
 chaeans, which is published by Combefis, in the second 
 tome of his Auctor. Noviss. Biblioth. PP. Photius, Com- 
 befis, and our learned Cave, looked upon Alexander .is a 
 proselyte toChristianity; but Beausohre has demonstrated 
 the contrary. See the Histoire du Manicheisme, part ii. 
 Discours Preliminaire, sect. J3, p. 236. 
 
 j Photii Bibliothcca, cod. ccxlii. p. 1027. 
 . I See J. A. Fabricii Bibliotheca Graeca, vol. iii. p. 522. 
 
 159 
 
 III. Notwithstanding the extensive progress 
 of the Gospel, the Christians, even in this cen- 
 tury, suffered grievously, in several countries, 
 from the savage cruelty and bitterness of their 
 enemies. 'J'he Anglo-Sa.vons, who were mas- 
 ters of the greater part of Britain, involved a 
 multitude of its ancient inhabitants, who pro- 
 fussed Christianity, in the deepest distresses, 
 and tormented them with all that variety of 
 sullering, which the injurious and malignant 
 spirit of persecution could invent.* The Huns, 
 in their irruptions into Thrace, Greece, and the 
 otiier iirovinces, during the reign of Justinian, 
 treated the Christians with great barbarity; not 
 so much, perhaps, trom an aversion to Christi- 
 iiiiity, as from a spirit of hatred against the 
 Greeks, and a desire of overturning and de- 
 stroying their empire. The face of affairs was 
 totally changed in Italy, about the middle of 
 this century, by a grand revolution which hap- 
 pened in the reign of Justinian J. This empe- 
 ror, by the arms of Narses, overturned the 
 kingdom of the Ostrogotlis, which had subsist- 
 ed ninety years; and subdued all Italy. The 
 political state, however, which this revolution 
 introduced, was not of a very long duration; 
 for the Lombards, a fierce and warlike people, 
 headed by Alboinus their king, and joined by 
 several other German nations, issued from Pan- 
 nonia, in 66.S, under the reign of Justin; in- 
 vaded Italy; and, having made themselves 
 masters of the whole country, except Rome 
 and Ravenna, erected a new kingdom at Tici- 
 num. Under the.se new tyrants, wlio, to the 
 natural ferocity of their characters, added an 
 aversion to the religion of Jesus, the Christians, 
 in the beginning, endured calamities of every 
 kind. But the fliry of these savage usurpers 
 gradually subsided; and their manners con- 
 tracted, from time to time, a milder character. 
 Autharis, the third monarch of the Lombards, 
 embraced Christianity, as it was professed by 
 the Arians, in 587; but his successor Agilulf, 
 who married his widow Theudelinda, was per- 
 suaded by that princess to abandon Arianism, 
 and to adopt the tenets of the Nicene catho- 
 lics. f 
 
 But the calamities of the Cljristians, in all 
 other countries, were light and inconsiderable 
 in comparison of those which they suffered in 
 Persia under Chosroes, the inhuman monarch 
 of that nation This monster of impiety aim- 
 ed his audacious and desperate efforts against 
 heaven itself; for he publicly declared, that he 
 would make war not only upon Justinian, but 
 also upon the God of the Christians; and, in 
 consetiucnce of this blasphemous menace, he 
 vented his rage against the followers of Jesus 
 in the most barbarous manner, and put multi- 
 tudes of them to the most cruel and ignomin- 
 ious deaths. i ^ 
 
 * Usher's Chronological Index to his Autiquit. Eccle*. 
 Britann. ad annum !>[)§. 
 
 t Psul. Diacon. de Gestis Longobardornm, lib. ii. cap. 
 ii. xxvii. — Muratorii Antiq. Italiae,lom. i. ii. — Giannone, 
 Historia di Napoli, lom. i. 
 
 J Proeopius, de Hello Persico, lib. ii. cap. xxvi. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concernins; the. State of Letters and Philosophy, 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. The incursions of the barbarous nations 
 into the greatest part of tlie western provinces 
 were extremely prejudicial to the interests of 
 learning and philosophy, as must be known to 
 all who have any acquaintance witli the histo- 
 ry of those unhappy times. During those tu- 
 multuous scenes of desolation and horror, the 
 liberal arts and sciences would have been total- 
 ly extinguished, had they not found a place of 
 refuge, such as it was, among the bishops, and 
 the monastic orders. Here they assembled 
 their scattered remains, and received a degree 
 of culture which just served to keep them from 
 perishing. Those churches, which were dis- 
 tinguished by the appellation of cathedrals, had 
 schools erected under their jurisdiction, in 
 which the bishop, or a certain person appointed 
 by him, instructed the youth in the seven libe- 
 ral arts, as a preparatory introduction to the 
 study of the Scriptures.* Persons of both 
 sexes, who had devoted themselves to the mo- 
 nastic life, were obliged, by the founders of 
 their respective orders, to employ daily a cer- 
 tain portion of their time in reading the an- 
 cient doctors of the churcli, whoso writings 
 were looked upon as the rich repertories of ce- 
 lestial wisdom, in which all the treasures of 
 theology were centred. f Hence libraries were 
 formed in all the monasteries, and the pious 
 and learned productions of the Christian and 
 other writers were copied and dispersed by the 
 diligence of transcribers appointed for that 
 purpose, who were generally such monks as, 
 by weakness of constitution, or other bodily 
 infirmities, were rendered incapable of more 
 severe labour. To these establishments we 
 owe the preservation and possession of all the 
 ancient authors, sacred and profane, who es- 
 caped in this manner the savage fury of Gothic 
 ignorance, and are happily transmitted to our 
 times. It is also to be observed, that, beside 
 the schools annexed to the cathedrals, semina- 
 ries were opened in the greater part of the mo- 
 nasteries, in which the youth who were set 
 apart for the monastic life were instructed by 
 the abbot, or some of his ecclesiastics, in the 
 arts and sciences. J 
 
 II. But these institutions and establishments, 
 however laudable, did not produce such happy 
 effects as might have been expected from them. 
 For, not to speak of the indolence of certain 
 abbots and bishops, who neglected entirely the 
 duties of their stations, or of the bitter aver- 
 sion which others discovered towards every 
 
 * Fleury, Discours sur I'Histoire Eocles.— Histoire 
 Liter, de la Frauce, torn. iii. — Herm. Conringii Antiq. 
 Academicse. 
 
 t Benedict. Anianensis Concordia Regulariim, lib. ii. 
 lii.— Jo. Mabillon, Prxf. ad Saec. i. Act. SS. Ord. Beued. 
 p. 44. 
 
 } Benedict. Concord. Reg. lib. ii. p. 232.— Mabillon,, 
 Acta Ord. Bened. torn, i. 
 
 sort of learning and erudition, which they con- 
 sidered as pernicious to the progress of piety;* 
 not to speak of the illiberal ignorance wliich 
 several prelates atliDcted, and which they inju- 
 diciously confounded with Christian simplicity;] 
 even those who applied themselves to the stu- 
 dy and propagation of the sciences, were, for 
 the most part, extremely unskilful and illite- 
 rate; and the branches of learning taught in 
 the schools were inconsiderable, both as to 
 their quality and their number. J Greek litera- 
 ture was almost every where neglected; and 
 those who, by profession, had devoted them- 
 selves to the culture of Latin erudition, spent 
 their time and labour in grammatical subtilties 
 and quibbles, as the pedantic examples of Isi- 
 dorus and Cassiodorus abundantly show. Elo- 
 quence was degraded into a rhetorical bom- 
 bast, a noisy kind of declamation which was 
 composed of motley and frigid allegories and 
 barbarous terms, as may even appear from se- 
 veral parts of the writings of those superior 
 geniuses who surpassed their contemporaries in 
 precision and elegance, such as Boethius, Cas- 
 siodorus, Ennodius, and others. As to the 
 otiier liberal arts, they sliared the common ca- 
 lamity; and, from the mode in which they 
 were now cultivated, they had nothing very 
 liberal or elegant in their appearance, consist- 
 ing entirely of a few dry rules, which, instead 
 of a complete and finished system, produced 
 only a ghastly and lifeless skeleton. 
 
 III. The state of philosophy was still more 
 deplorable tlian that of literature; for it was 
 entirely banished from those seminaries which 
 were under the inspection and government of 
 the ecclesiastical order. The greatest part of 
 these zealots looked upon the study of philoso- 
 phy, not only as useless, but even pernicious to 
 those who had dedicated themselves to the ser- 
 vice of religion. The most eminent, indeed 
 almost the only Latin philosopher of this age, 
 was the celebrated Boethius, privy counsellor 
 to Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths. This 
 illustrious senator had embraced the Platonic 
 philosophy, § and ap[)roved also, as vi^as usual 
 among the modern Platonists, the doctrine of 
 Aristotle, and illustrated it in his writings; and 
 it was undoubtedly in consequence of the dili- 
 gence and zeal with which he explained and 
 recommended the Aristotelian philosophy, that 
 it rose now among the Latins to a higher de- 
 gree of credit than it had before enjoyed. 
 
 IV. The stale of the liberal arts, among the 
 
 * Gregory the Great is said to have been of this num- 
 ber, and to have ordered a multitude of the productions 
 of pagan writers, and among others Livy's History, to be 
 committfd to the flames. See Lirou's Singularites Hist, 
 et Lit. torn. i. 
 
 f Mabillon, Praef. ad Ssec. i. Benedict, p. 46. 
 
 t See M. Aur. Cassiodori Liber de septem Disciplinis, 
 which is extant among his works. 
 
 ^ This will appear evident to such as, with a competent 
 Ifnowledge of modern Ptatonism, read attentively the 
 books of Boethius, de Consolatione, &c. See also, on 
 this subject, Renat. Vallin. p. 10, 50. Holstenius in Vit. 
 Porphyrii, and MascoT. Histor Germanor. torn. ii. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 161 
 
 Greeks, was, in several places, much more 
 flourishing than that in which we have left 
 them among the Latins: and the emperors 
 raised and nourished a spirit of literary emula- 
 tion, by the noble rewards and the distinguish- 
 ed honours which they attached to the pursuit 
 of all the various branches of learning.* It is, 
 however, certain, that, notwithstanding these 
 encouragements, the sciences were cultivated 
 with less ardour, and men of learning and ge- 
 nius were less numerous than in the preceding 
 century. In the beginning of tliis, the modern 
 Platonists yet maintained tlieir credit, and their 
 philosophy was in vogue. The Alexandrian 
 and Athenian schools flourished under the di- 
 rection of Damascius, Isidorus, Simplicius, Eu- 
 lamius, Hermias, Priscianus, and others, who 
 were placed on the highest summit of literary 
 glory. But when the emperor Justinian, by a 
 particular edict, prohibited the teaching of piii- 
 losophy at Athens, f (which edict, no doubt, 
 was levelled at the modem Platonism already 
 mentioned,) and when his resentment began 
 to flame out against those who refused to aban- 
 don the pagan worship, all these celebrated 
 philosophers took refuge among the Persians, 
 who were at that time tiie enemies of Rome-j 
 They, indeed, returned from their voluntary 
 exile, when the peace was concluded between 
 the Persians and the Romans in 533;§ but they 
 could never recover their former credit, and 
 they gradually disappeared from the public 
 schools and seminaries, which ceased, at length, 
 to be under their direction. 
 
 Thus expired that famous sect, which was 
 distinguished by the title of the Modern or 
 Later Platonic; and which, for a series of ages, 
 had produced such divisions and tumults in the 
 Christian church, and been, in other respects, 
 prejudicial to the interests and progress of tlie 
 Gospel. It was succeeded by tlie Aristotelian 
 philosophy, which arose imperceptibly out of 
 its obscurity, and was placed in an advantage- 
 ous light by the illustrations of the learned, 
 but especially and principally by the celebrated 
 commentaries of Philoponus; and, indeed, tlie 
 knowledge of this philosophy was necessiiry 
 for the Greeks, since it was from the depths of 
 this peripatetical wisdom, that the Monophy- 
 sites and Nestorians drew the subtilties with 
 which they endeavoured to overwhelm the 
 abettors of the Ephesian and Chalcedonian 
 councils. 
 
 V. The Nestorians and Monophysites, who 
 lived in the east, equally turned their eyes to- 
 ward Aristotle, and, in order to train their re- 
 spective followers to the field of controversy, 
 and arm them with the subtilties of a conten- 
 tious logic, translated the principal books of 
 that deep pliilosopher into their native langua- 
 ges. Sergius, a Monophysite and philosoplier, 
 
 * See the Codex Theodos. torn. ii. lib. vi. and Hcrm. 
 Conringius, de Studiis Urbis Romae et Constaiitiiiop. in 
 a Dissertation subjoined to his Antiquitales Acadeinicx. 
 
 t Johannes Malala, Historia Chronica, part ii. p. 187, 
 edit. Oxon. Another testimony concerning this matter 
 is cited from a certain Chronicle, not yet published, by 
 Nic. Alemaiinus,ad Procopii Histor. Arcanam, cap. xxvi. 
 
 \ Agathias, de Rebus Justiniani, lib. ii. 
 
 I See Wesselingii Observat. Var. lib. i. cap. iviii. 
 
 Vol. I— 21 
 
 translated the books of Aristotle into Syriac* 
 Uranius, a Syrian, propagated the doctrines of 
 this philosopher in Persia, and disposed in their 
 favour Chosroes, the monarch of that nation, 
 who became a zealous abettor of tlie peripate- 
 tic system. t The same prince received from 
 one of the Nestoriaii faction (which, after hav- 
 ing procured the exclusion of the Greeks, tri- 
 umphed at this time unrivalled in Persia) a 
 translation of the Stagirite's work* into the 
 Persian language. + 
 
 It is, however, to be observed, that among 
 these eastern Ciiristians tliere were some who 
 rejected both the Platonic and Aristotelian doc- 
 trines, and who, unwilling to be obliged to 
 others for their philosophical knowledire, in- 
 vented systems of their own, which were in- 
 expressibly chimerical and pregnant with ab- 
 surdities. Of this class of original philoso- 
 phers was Cosmas, a Nestorian, commonly call- 
 ed Indicopleustes, whose doctrines are singular, 
 and resemble more the notions of the Orientals 
 than the opinions of the G reeks. § Such also 
 was the writer, from whoee Exposition of the 
 Octateuch Photius has drawn several citations.|| 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 
 Church. 
 
 I. The external form of cliurch govern- 
 ment continued without any remarkable alter- 
 ation during the course of this century. But 
 the bishops of Rome and Constantinople, who 
 were considered as the most eminent and prin- 
 cipal rulers of the Cliristian church, were en- 
 gaged in perpetual disputes about the extent 
 and limits of their respective jurisdictions; and 
 both seemed to aim at tlic supreme authority 
 in ecclesiastical affairs. Tlie latter prelate not 
 only claimed an unrivalled sovereignty over tlie 
 eastern churches, but also maintained, that his 
 church was, in point of dignity, no way infe- 
 rior to that of Rome. Tlie Roman pontiffs 
 beheld, with impatience, these lordly preten- 
 sions, and warmly asserted the pre-eminence 
 of their church, and its superiority over that 
 of Constantinople. Gregory the Great distin- 
 guished himself in this violent contest; and 
 the following event furnished him with an op- 
 portunity of exerting his zeal. In 588, John, 
 bishop of Constantinople, siiniamed the Faster, 
 on account of his extraordinary abstinence, and 
 austerity, assembled a council, by his own au- 
 thority, to inquire into an accusation, brought 
 against Peter, patriarch of Antioch; and, on 
 this occasion, assumed the title of oecumenical 
 or universal bishop.H Now, although this title 
 
 ' See the Histor. Dynastiarnni,by Abulpharajius, pub- 
 lished by Dr. Pocock, p. 94, 17i>. 
 
 t Set; Ae;athias, de Rebus Justiniani, lib. ii. p. 48. — 
 That Uranius made use of the Aristotelian philosophy in 
 the Eulychiau controversy, is evident IVom this circum- 
 stance, that Agathias represents hiin disputing concerning 
 the passibilily and immiscibilily of God (<»' to .•7-m6>|t<iw 
 
 } Agathias, ibid. 
 
 § Bernard de Montfauron, Praefat. ad Cosmam, p. 10, 
 torn. ii. Collectionis novae Patrum Graecorum. 
 
 II Biblioth. cod. xxxvi. 
 
 QC^^ We cannot avoid taking notice of some mistakes 
 which have slipped from the pen of Dr. Mosheim, in hif 
 
162 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 had been formerly enjoyed by the bishops of 
 Constantinople, and was also susceptible of an 
 interpretation that might have prevented its 
 giving umbrage or oft'ence to an}^* yet Grego- 
 ry suspected, both from the time and tlie oc- 
 casion of John's renewing his claim to it, that 
 he was aiming at a supremiicy over all tlie 
 Christian churches; and therefore he opposed 
 his claim in the most vigorous manner, in let- 
 ters to that purposo, addressed to the emperor, 
 and to such persons as he judged proper to se- 
 cond his opposition. But all his efforts were 
 without effect; and the bishops of Constanti- 
 nople continued to assume the title in question, 
 though not in the sense in which it had alarm- 
 ed the pope.f 
 
 II. This pontiff, however, adhered tenaci- 
 ously to his purpose, opposed with vehemence 
 the bishop of Constantinople, raised new tu- 
 mults and dissensions among tlie sacred order, 
 and aimed at no less than an unlimited supre- 
 macy over the Christian church. This ambi- 
 tious design succeeded in the west; while, in 
 the eastern provinces, his arrogant pretensions 
 were scarcely respected by any but those who 
 were at enmity with the bishop of Constanti- 
 nople; and this pi-eiate was always in a condi- 
 tion to make head against the progress of his 
 authority in the east. How much the opinions 
 of some were favourable to the lordly demands 
 of the Roman pontiffs, may be easily imagin- 
 ed from an expression of Ennodiu's, that infa- 
 mous and extravagant flatterer of Symmachus, 
 who was a prelate of ambiguous fame. This 
 parasitical panegyrist, among other impertinent 
 assertions, maintained, that the pontiff was 
 constituted judge in the place of God, which 
 he filled as the vicegerent of the Most High.| 
 On the other hand, it is certain, from a variety 
 of the most authentic records, that both the 
 emperors and the nations in general were far 
 from being disposed to bear with patience the 
 yoke of servitude, which the popes were im- 
 posing upon the Christian church. § The Gothic 
 princes set bounds to the power of those arro- 
 
 narration of tliis event. First, the council here men- 
 tioned ^vas holden under the pontificate of Pelagius II. 
 and not of Gregory the Great, who was not chosen 
 bishop of Rome hefort' the year 590. Secondly, the per- 
 son accu-ed before tliis council was not Peter, but Gregory, 
 bishop of Antioch. Thirdly, it does not appear iha\ the 
 council was summoned by John of Constautinnplc, but 
 by the emperor Mauricius, to whom Gregory had ap- 
 pealed from the governor of the east, before whom he 
 was first accused. 
 
 QjJ'' * The title of universal bishop, which had been 
 given by Leo and Justinian to the Patriarch of Coustanti- 
 Dople, was not attended with any accession of power. 
 
 t Gregor. Magni Epist. lib. iv. v. vii. All tlie passa 
 ges in these epistles that relate to this famous conlrst, 
 have been extracted and illustrated by Launoy, in his As- 
 sertio in Frivileg. S. Medardi, torn. iii. op. part ii. p. 
 266. See also Lequien, Oriens Christianus, torn. i. p. 
 67. Pfaffi Dissertatio de Titulo (Ecunien. in the Tempe 
 Helvetica, torn. iv. p. 99. 
 
 \ See his Apologeticum pro Synodo, in the svth volume 
 of the Bibliolheca Magna Patrum. (1(7- One would think 
 that this servile adulator had never read the 4lh verse of 
 the 2d chapter of St. Paul's 9d Epistle to the Thessaloni- 
 ans, where the Anti-Clirist, or man of sin, is described 
 in the very terms in which he represents the authority 
 of the pontiff Symmachus. 
 
 § See particularly the truth of this assertion, with 
 respect to Spain, in Geddes' Dissertation on the Papal 
 Supremacy, chiefly with relation to the ancient Spanish 
 Church, whicli is to be found in the second volume of 
 his MiscellaneouE Tracts. 
 
 gant prelates in Italy, permitted none to be 
 raised to the pontificate without their approba- 
 tion, and reserved to themselves the right of 
 judging of the legality of every new election.* 
 They enacted spiritual laws, called the religi- 
 ous orders before their tribunals, and summon- 
 ed councils by their legal authority.! In con- 
 sequence of all this, the pontiffs, amidst all 
 their high pretensions, reverenced the majesty 
 of their kings and emperors, and submitted to 
 their authority with the most profound humili- 
 ty; nor were they yet .so lost to all sense of 
 shame, as to aim at the subjection of kings and 
 princes to their spiritual dominion.]. 
 
 III. The rights and privileges of the clergy 
 were very considerable before this period, and 
 the riches, v/hich they had accumulated, im- 
 mense: and both received daily augmentations 
 from the growth of superstition in this century. 
 The arts of a rapacious priesthood were prac- 
 tised upon the ignorant devotion of the simple; 
 and even the remorse of the wicked was made 
 an instrument of increasing the ecclesiastical 
 treasure; for an opinion vi'as propagated with 
 industry among the people, that a remission of 
 sin was to be purchased by their liberalities to 
 the churches and monks, and that the prayers 
 of departed saints, whose efficacy was victori- 
 ous at the throne of God, were to be bought 
 by ofterings presented to the temples, which 
 were consecrated to these celestial mediators. 
 But, in proportion as the riches of the church 
 increased, the various orders of the clergy were 
 infected with those vices which are too often 
 the consequences of an affluent prosperity. — 
 This appears, with the utmost evidence, from 
 the imperial edicts and the decrees of councils, 
 which were so frequently levelled at the immo- 
 ralities of those who were distinguished by the 
 appellation of cleria; for, what necessity would 
 there have been for the enactment of so many 
 laws to restrain the vices, and to preserve the 
 morals of the ecclesiastical orders, if they had 
 fulfilled even the obligations of external decern 
 cy, or shown, in the general tenor of their lives, 
 a certain degree of respect for religion and vir- 
 tue.' Be that as it will, the effect of all these 
 laws and edicts was so inconsiderable as to be 
 scarcely perceived; for so high was the venera- 
 tion paid, at this time, to the clergy, that their 
 most flagitious crimes were corrected by the 
 slightest and gentlest punishments; an unhappy 
 circumstance, which added to their presump- 
 tion, and rendered them more daring and au- 
 dacious in iniquity. 
 
 IV. The bishops of Rome, who considered 
 themselves as the chiefs and fathers of the 
 Christian church, are not to be excepted from 
 this censure, any more than the clergy who 
 were under their jurisdiction. We may form 
 some notion of their humility and virtue by that 
 long and vehement contention, which arose in 
 498, between Symmachus and Laurentius, who 
 were, on the same day, elected to the pontifi- 
 
 * See Mascovii Histor. Germanor. tom. ii. not. p. 113. 
 
 t Basnage, Histoire des Eglises Reformees, tom. i. p. 
 381. 
 
 I See the citations from Gregory the Great, collected 
 by Launoy, de regia Poteslate in Matrimon. tom. i. op. 
 part ii. p. 691, and in his Assertio in Privilegium S. 
 !VIedardi,p.272; tom. iii. op. part ii. See also Giannone, 
 Historia di Napoli, tom. ii. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 163 
 
 cate by different parties, and whose dispute 
 was, at length, decided by Theodoric king of the 
 Goths. Eacii of these ecclesiastics maintained 
 obstinately the validity of his election; they 
 reciprocally accused each otlier of the most de- 
 testable crimes; and, to their mutual dishon- 
 our, their accusations did not appear, on eitlier 
 side, entirely destitute of foundation. Three 
 different councils, assemhlod at Rome, endea- 
 voured to terminate this odious schism,* but 
 without success. A fourtii was summoned, ])}' 
 Theodoric, to examine the accusations brought 
 against Symmachus, to whom this prince had, 
 at the beginning of the schism, adjudged the 
 papal chair. This council met about the com- 
 mencement of the century; and in it the Ro- 
 man pontiff was acquitted of the crimes laid 
 to his charge. But the adverse party refused 
 to acquiesce in this decision; and this gave oc- 
 casion to Ennodius of Ticinum (now Pavia,) 
 to draw up his adulatory Apology for the Coun- 
 cil and Symmachus. t In this apology, which 
 disguises the truth under the seducing colours 
 of a gaudy rhetoric, the reader will perceive 
 that the foundations of that enormous power, 
 which the popes afterwards acquired, were now 
 laid; but he will in vain seek, in this laboured 
 
 which they propagated, with such success, the 
 contagion of this monastic devotion, that, in a 
 short time, Ireland, Gaul, Germany, and Swit- 
 zerland, swarmed with those lazy orders, and 
 were, in a manner, covered with convents. 
 The most illustrious disciple of the abbot now 
 mentioned, was Columban, whoso singular rule 
 of discipline is )'et extant, and surpasses all the 
 rest in simplicity and brevity.* Tiie monastic 
 orders, in general, abounded with fanatics and 
 profligates; the latter were more numerous 
 than the former in the western convents, while, 
 in those of the east, the fanatics were predomi- 
 nant. 
 
 VI. A new order, which in a manner ab- 
 sorbed all the others that were established in 
 • the west, was instituted, in 529, by Benedict 
 of Nursia, a man of piety and reputation, for 
 the age he lived in. From his rule of discipline, 
 which is yet extant, we learn that it was not his 
 intention to impose it upon all the monastic so- 
 cieties, but to form an order whose discipline 
 should be milder, establishment more solid, and 
 manners more regular, than those of the other 
 monastic bodies; and whose members, during 
 the course of a holy and peaceful life, were to 
 divide their time between prayer, reading, the 
 
 production, any satisfactory proof of the injus-!] education of youth, and other pious and learn- 
 tice of the charge brought against Symma- jj ed labours. f But, in process of time, the fol- 
 chus.J lowers of this celebrated ecclesiastic degener- 
 
 V. The number, credit, and influence of the hated sadly from the piety of their founder, and 
 monks augmented daily in all parts of the ' lost sigiit of the duties of their station, and the 
 Christian world. They multiplied so prodi- ,; great end of their establisliment. Having ac- 
 
 giously in the east, that whole armies might 
 have been raised out of the monastic order, 
 without any sensible diminution of that enor- 
 mous body. The monastic life was also higlily 
 honoured, and had an incredible number of pa- 
 trons and followers in all the western pro- 
 vinces, as appears from the rules which were 
 prescribed in this century, by various doctors, 
 for directing tlie conduct of the cloistered 
 monks, and the holy virgins, who had sacri- 
 ficed their capacity of being useful in the world, 
 to the gloomy charms of a convent. § In Great 
 Britain, a certain abbot, named Congal, is said 
 to have persuaded an incredible number of per- 
 sons to abandon the affairs, obligations, and 
 duties of social life, and to spend the remain- 
 der of their days in solitude, under a rule of 
 discipline, of which he was the inventor. || His 
 disciples travelled through many countries, in 
 
 (tfr' * This schism may be truly termed odious, as it 
 was carried on by assassinations, massacres, and all the 
 cruel proceedings of a desperate civil war. See Faulus 
 Diaconus, lib. xvii. 
 
 \ This apolo£(y may be seen in the fifteenth volume of 
 the Magn. Bibl. Patrum, p. 248. 
 
 QC^ { That Symmachus was never fairly acquitted, 
 may be presumed from the first, and proved from the 
 second of the following circumstances: first, that The- 
 odoric, who was a wise and equitable prince, and who 
 had attentively examined the charge brought against him, 
 would not have referred the decision to the bishops, if 
 the matter had been clear, but would have pronounced 
 judgment himself, as he had formerly done with respect 
 to the legality of his election. The second circumstance 
 is, that the council acquitted him without even hearing 
 those who accused him, and he himself did not appear, 
 though frequently summoned. 
 
 ^ These rules are extant in Holstenius' Codex Regu- 
 larnm, part ii. published at Rome in 1661. See also 
 Edm. Martenne et Ursin. Durand. Thesaur. Anecdot. 
 Nov. torn. i. p. 4. 
 
 ]| Archbishop Usher's Antiq. Rcclcs. Britau. 
 
 j quired immense riches from the devout liberali- 
 j ty of the opulent, they sank into luxury, intem- 
 ! perance, and sloth, abandoned themselves to all 
 sorts of vices, extended their zeal and atten- 
 , tion to worldly affairs, insinuated themselves 
 into the cabinets of princes, took part in politi- 
 ' cal cabals and court factions, made a vast aug- 
 I mentation of superstitious ceremonies in their 
 order, to blind the inultitude, and supply the 
 place of their expiring virtue; and, among 
 otlier meritorioufi enterprises, laboured most 
 ardently to swell the arrogance, by enlareing 
 tlie power and authority of the Roman pontiff. 
 The good Benedict never dreamed that the 
 great purposes of his institution were to be thus 
 perverted; much less did he give any encour- 
 agement or permission to such flagrant abuses. 
 His rule of discipline was neither favourable to 
 luxury nor to ambition; and it is still celebrated 
 on account of its excellence, though it has not 
 been observed for many ages. 
 
 It is proper to remark here, that tlie institu- 
 tion of Benedict changed, in several re.spects, 
 the obligations and duties of the monastic life, 
 as it was regulated in the west. Among other 
 things, he obliged those who entered into his 
 order to promise, at the time of their being re- 
 ceived as novices, and afterwards at their ad- 
 mission as members of the society, to persevere 
 in an o!)edience to the rules he had laid down, 
 wiliiout attempting to change them in any re- 
 spect. As he was exceedingly solicitous about 
 
 * Usserii Sylloge Antiquar. Epistolar. Hibernicar. p. 
 5 — 1,5. — Holstenii Codex Regularum, torn. ii. p. 48. — 
 Mabillon, Praef. ad .Ssecnlum li. Benedictinum, p. 4. 
 
 f See Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened. Sa-o. i.and 
 Annales Ordin. Ben. lorn. i. See also Helyot, and the other 
 writers who have given accouots of the monastic orderj, 
 
164 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the stability of his institution, this particular 
 regulation was wise and prudent; and it was so 
 much the more necessary, as, before his time, 
 the monks made no scruple of altering the 
 laws and rules of their founders whenever they 
 thought proper.* 
 
 VII. This new order made a most rapid 
 progress in the west, and soon arrived at the 
 most flourishing state. In Gaul, its interests 
 were promoted by St. Maurus; in Sicily and 
 Sardinia, by Placidus; in England, by Augus- 
 tin and Mellitus; in Italy, and other countries, 
 by Gregory the Great, who is himself report- 
 ed to have been for some time a member of this 
 society;! and it was afterwards received in 
 Germany by the means of Boniface. + This 
 amazing progress of the new order was ascribed 
 by the Benedictines to the wisdom and sancti- 
 ty of their discipline, and to the miracles 
 wrought by tlieir founder and his followers. 
 But a more attentive view of things will con- 
 vince the impartial observer, that the protec- 
 tion of the pontitfs, to tlie advancement of 
 whose grandeur and authority the Benedic- 
 tines were most servilely devoted, contributed 
 much more to the lustre and influence of their 
 order, than any other circumstances, and in- 
 deed more than all other considerations united. 
 But, however general their credit was, tliey did 
 not reign alone; other orders subsisted in seve- 
 ral countries until the ninth century. Tlien, 
 however, the Benedictines absorbed all the 
 other religious societies, and held, unrivalled, 
 the reins of the monastic empire. § 
 
 VIII. The most celebrated Greek and Ori- 
 ental writers that flourished in this century, 
 were the following: 
 
 Procopius of Gaza, who interpreted with 
 success several books of Scripture. || 
 
 Maxentius, a monk of Antioch, who, beside 
 several treatises against the sects of his time, 
 composed Scholia on Dionysius the Areopagite- 
 
 Agapetus, whose Selieda Regia, addressed 
 to the emperor Justinian, procured him a place 
 among the wisest and most judicious writers 
 of this century. 
 
 Eulogius, a presbyter of Antioch, who was 
 the terror of heretics, and a warm and strenu- 
 ous defender of the orthodox faith. 
 
 John, patriarcli of Constantinople, who, on 
 account of his austere method of life, was sur- 
 named the Faster, and who acquired a certain 
 degree of reputation by several little produc- 
 tions, and more particularly by his Penitential. 
 
 Leontius of Byzantium, whose book against 
 the sects, and other writings, are yet extant. 
 
 Evagrius, a scholastic writer, whose Ecclesi- 
 astical History is, in many places, corrupted 
 with fabulous narrations. 
 
 * .See Mabilloji, Fra:f. ad Saec. iv. Benedict. 
 
 f See Mabillon's preface last mentioned, and his Dis- 
 sertation de Vita Monast. Gregorii JVI. This circum- 
 stance, however, is denied by some writers; and among 
 others by Gallonius, concerning whose book upon that 
 subject, see Simtm'sLettres Choisies, torn. iii. p. 63. 
 
 } Anton. Dadini Alteserra;, Origines rei Monasticae, 
 lib. i. cap. ix. The propagation of the Benedictine order, 
 through the difl'erent provinces of Europe, is related by 
 Mabillon, Prsf. ad S-cc.i. et ad Saec. iv. 
 
 § L'Enfant, Histoire du Concile de Constance, torn. ii. 
 
 II See Simon's Critique de la Bibliotheque Ecclesiasti- 
 que de M. Du-Pin,tom. i. p. 197. 
 
 Anastasius of Sinai, whom most writers con- 
 sider as the author of a trifling performance, 
 written against a sort of heretics called Ace- 
 phali, of whom we shall have occasion to 
 speak hereafter.* 
 
 IX. Among the Latin ^vriters the following 
 are principally worthy of mention: 
 
 Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, who 
 united the most inconsistent and contradictory 
 qualities; as in some cases he discovered a 
 sound and penetrating judgment, and in others 
 the most shameful and superstitious weakness; 
 and in general manifested an extreme aversion 
 to all kinds of learning, as his Epistles and 
 Dialogues sufficiently testify. f 
 
 Csesarius of Aries, who composed some moral 
 writings, and drew up a i-ule of conduct and 
 discipline for the Holy Virgins. J 
 
 Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspina, who attack- 
 ed with great warmth the Arians and Pelagi- 
 ans in Africa; but whose style and manner 
 were harsh and uncouth, as was generally the 
 case of the African writers. § 
 
 Ennodius, bishop of Ticinum, who was not 
 one of the meanest authors of this century, 
 whether we consider his compositions in prose 
 or in verse; though he disgraced his talents, 
 and dishonoured liis eloquence, by his infamous 
 adulation of the Roman pontiff", whom he so 
 exalted above all mortals, as to maintain that 
 he was answerable to none upon earth for his 
 conduct, and subject to no human tribunal. |j 
 
 Benedict of Nursia, who acquired an im- 
 mortal name, by the rules he laid down for the 
 order whicli he instituted, and the multitude of 
 religious societies that submitted to his discip- 
 line. 
 
 Dionysius, who was surnamed the Little, on 
 account of his extraordinary humility, and was 
 deservedly esteemed for his Collection of the 
 Ancient Canons, and also for his Chronologi- 
 cal Researches. 
 
 Fulgentius Ferrandus, an African, who ac- 
 quired a considerable degree of reputation by 
 several treatises, but especially by his Abridge- 
 ment of tlie Canons, though his style and dic- 
 tion were entirely destitute of harmony and 
 elegance. 
 
 Facimdus, a strenuous defender of the Three 
 Chapters, of which we shall give an account 
 in their place. 
 
 Arator, who translated, with tolerable suc- 
 cess, the Acts of the Apostles into Latin verse. 
 Primasius of Adrumetiun, whose Commen- 
 tary upon the Epistles of St. Paul, as also his 
 book concerning Heresies, are yet extant. 
 
 Liberatus, whose Compendious History of 
 the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies, 
 must entitle him to an eminent rank among 
 the writers of this century. 
 
 * See, for an account of this book, Simon, torn. i. p. 
 2^; as also Barat. Bibliotheque Choisie, torn. ii. p. 21. 
 
 ] A splendid edition of the works of Gregory was 
 published at Paris, in 1705, by father St. Marthe, a 
 Benedictine monk. See an account of this pontiff, Acta 
 Sanctor. torn. ii. Martii, p. 121. 
 
 t Of this writer, the Benedictine monks have given a 
 learned account, in their Histoire Literaire de la France, 
 torn. iii. p. 190. 
 
 § See, lor an account of Fulgentius, the Acta Sanctorum, 
 torn. i. Januar. p. 32, &c. 
 
 II Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. iii. p. 96 
 
Chap. m. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 165 
 
 Fortunatus, a man of various erudition, and 
 whose poetic compositions are far from being 
 destitute of genius.* 
 
 Gregory of Tours, who is esteemed the fa- 
 ther of Gallic history; and wlio would have 
 descended with honour to posterity, did not his 
 Annals of the Franks, and the rest of his writ- 
 ings, carry so many marks of levity, credulity, 
 and weakness.! 
 
 Gildas, tlio most ancient of the British wri- 
 ters, who composed a book concerning the de- 
 struction of Britain, in which there are several 
 tilings not altogether unworthy of the curiosity 
 of the learned. 
 
 Columban, a native of Ireland, who became 
 ■famous on account of the monastic rules he 
 prescribed to his followers, his zeal for esta- 
 blishing religious orders, and his poetical pro- 
 ductions.! 
 
 Isidore, bishop of Seville, whose grammati- 
 cal, theological, and historical productions, dis- 
 cover more learning and pedantry, than judg- 
 ment and taste. 
 
 We may conclude this enumeration of the 
 Latin writers with the illustrious names of 
 Boethius and Cassiodorus, who far surpassed 
 all their contemporaries in learning and know- 
 ledge. The former shone forth with the bright- 
 est lustre in the republic of letters, as a philo- 
 sopher, an orator, a poet, and a divine, and 
 both in elegance and subtilty of genius had no 
 superior, nor indeed any equal in this century; 
 the latter, though in many respects inferior to 
 him, was nevertheless far from being destitute 
 of merit.§ Several productions of these wri- 
 ters have been transmitted to our times. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Concemi7\g the Doctrine of the Church during 
 this Century. 
 I. When once the ministers of the church 
 had departed from the ancient simplicity of re- 
 ligious worship, and sullied the native purity 
 of divine truth by a mot(ey mixture of human 
 inventions, it was difficult to set bounds to this 
 growing corruption. Abuses were daily mul- 
 tiplied, and superstition drew from its horrid 
 fecundity an incredible number of absurdities, 
 which were added to the doctrine of Christ and 
 his apostles. The controversial writers in the 
 eastern provinces continued to render perplexed 
 and obscure some of the principal doctrines of 
 Christianity, by the subtile distinctions wliich 
 they borrowed from a vain and chimerical phi- 
 losophy. The public teachers and instructors 
 of the people grievously degenerated from the 
 apostolic character. They seemed to aim at 
 nothing else, than to sink the multitude into 
 the most opprobrious ignorance and supersti- 
 
 * Histoire Literaire de la France, torn. iii. p. 464. 
 
 f The life of Gregory of Tours is to be found in the 
 work last quoted, and his faults are mentioned by Pai(i, 
 in his Dissert, de Diouysio Paris, sect. 25, which is added 
 to the fourth tome of the Breviarium Pontif. Romanor. 
 Launoy defends tliis historian in many things in his 
 works, torn. i. part ii. p. l.'il. 
 
 t No writers have given more accurate accounts of 
 Gildas and Columban, than the learned Benedictines, in 
 the Hist. Lit. de la France, torn. iii. p. 279,50.1. 
 
 ^ See Simon's Critique de la Bibliothequc de M. Du- 
 Pin, torn. i. p. 2U. 
 
 tion, to efface from their minds all sense of the 
 beauty and excellence of genuine piety, and to 
 substitute, in the place of religious principles, 
 a blind veneration for the clergy, and a stupid 
 zeal for a senseless round of ridiculous ceremo- 
 nies. This, perhaps, will appear less surprising, 
 when we consider, that " the blind led the 
 blind;" for the public ministers and teachers 
 of religion were, for the most part, grossly ig- 
 norant; indeed, almost as much so as the peo- 
 ple whom they were appointed to instruct. 
 
 II. To be convinced of the truth of the dis- 
 mal representation we have here given of the 
 state of religion at this time, nothing more is 
 necessary than to cast an eye upon the doc- 
 trines now taught concerning the worship of 
 images and saints, tiie fire of purgatory, the 
 efficacy of good works, i. e. the observance of 
 human rites and institutions, toward the at- 
 tainment of salvation, the power of relics to 
 heal the diseases of body and mind; and the 
 like sordid and miserable fancies, which are in- 
 culcated in many of the superstitious produc- 
 tions of this century, and particularly in the 
 epistles and other writings of Gregory the 
 Great. Nothing could be more ridiculous on 
 one hand, than the solemnity and liberality 
 with which this good, but silly pontiff, distri- 
 buted the wonder-working relics; and nothing 
 more lamentable on the other, than the stupid 
 eagerness and devotion with which the deluded 
 multitude received them, and suffered them- 
 selves to be persuaded, that a portion of ran- 
 cid oil, taken from the lamps which burned at 
 the tombs of the martyrs, had a supernatural 
 efficacy to sanctify its possessors, and to defend 
 them from all dangers both of a temporal and 
 spiritual nature.* 
 
 III. Several attempts were made in this cen- 
 tury to lay down a proper and judicious method 
 of explaining the Scriptures. Of this nature 
 were the two books of Junilius the African, 
 concerning the various parts of the divine 
 law;f a work destitute of precision and method, 
 and from which it appears that the author had 
 not sufficient knowledge and penetration for 
 tlie task he undertook. 
 
 Cassiodorus also, in his two books concern- 
 ing the divine laws, has delivered several rules 
 for the right interpretation of the Scriptures. 
 Philoxcnus the Syrian translated, into his 
 native language, the Psalms of David, and the 
 Books of the New Testament.]: 
 
 Interpreters were numerous in this century. 
 Those who made the greatest figure among the 
 Greeks in this character, were Procopius of 
 Gaza, Severus of Antioch, Julian, and a few 
 others; the first was an expositor of no mean 
 abilities. § The most eminent rank, among the 
 Latin commentators, is due to Gregory the 
 Great, Cassiodorus, Primasius,|| Isidore of Se- 
 ville,ir and Bellator. 
 
 IV. It must, however, be acknowledged, 
 
 Seethe List of sacred Oils which Gregory the Great 
 sent to the queen Theudelinda, in the work of Ruinar- 
 tus, entitled. Acta Martyrum sincera et selecla, p. 619. 
 
 t See Simon's Critique, torn. i. p. ^9. 
 
 \ Asseman. Biblioth. Orient. Vatican, torn. ii. p. 83. 
 
 if See Simon's Lettres Choisies, torn. iv. 
 
 II Simon's Critique, tom. i. p. 206; and his Histoire its 
 principauxCommentaleurs du N. T. chap. ixiv. p. 337. 
 
 H Snnon'i Critique, lorn. i. p. 259. 
 
166 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II 
 
 that these writers scarcely deserve the name 
 of expositors, if we except a small number of 
 tliem, and among these tlie eastern Nestorians, 
 who, following the example of Theodore of 
 Mopsuestia, were careful in exploring the true 
 sense and the native energy of tlie words em- 
 ployed in the Scriptures. We may, therefore, 
 divide the commentators of this age into two 
 classes. In the first, we rank those who did 
 nothing more tlian collect the opinions and in- 
 terpretations which had been received by the 
 ancient doctors of the church; which collec- 
 tions were afterwards called chains by tlie 
 Latins.* Such were tlie chains of Olympio- 
 dorus on Job, and of Victor of Capua on the 
 four Gospels; and the commentary of Prima- 
 sius on the Epistle to the Romans, which was 
 compiled from the works of Augustin, Jerome, 
 Ambrose, and others. Even Procopius of 
 Gaza may be ranked in this class, though not 
 with so much reason as the mere compilers now 
 mentioned, since, in many cases, he has con- 
 sulted the dictates of his own judgment, and 
 not followed, with a servile and implicit sub- 
 mission, the voice of antiquity. To the se- 
 cond class belong those fanciful e.xpositors, 
 who, setting up Origen as their great model, 
 neglect and overlook entirely the sense of the 
 words employed by the sacred writers, lose 
 themselves in spiritual refinements and allego- 
 rical digressions, and, by the aid of a lively and 
 luxuriant imagination, draw from the Scrip- 
 tures arguments in favour of every whim they 
 have tliought proper to adopt. Such was 
 Anastasius the Siuaite, whose Mysterious Con- 
 templations, upon the six-days' Creation, f be- 
 tray the levity and ignorance of their author. 
 Such also was Gregory the Great, whose Mo- 
 ral Observations upon the Book of Job, for- 
 merly met with unmerited commendations. 
 Such were Isidore of Seville and Primasius, as 
 manifestly appears from that Book of Allego- 
 ries upon the Holy Scriptures,! which was in- 
 vented by the former, and froti the Mystical 
 Exposition of the book of the Revelation,^ 
 which was imagined by the latter. 
 
 V. It would be needless to expect, from the 
 divines of this century, an accurate view, or a 1 
 clear and natural explanation, of the Ciiristian ' 
 doctrine. Tlie greatest part of tliem reasoned > 
 and disputed concerning the trutlis of tlie Gos- i 
 pel, as the blind would argue about light and [ 
 colours; and imagined that they had acquitted 
 themselves niihly, when they liad thrown out 
 a heap of crude and indigested notions, and 
 overwhelmed their adversaries with a torrent 
 of words. 
 
 We may perceive, however, in the writers 
 of tliis age, evident marks of the tiiree differ- 
 ent methods of explaining and inculcating the 
 doctrines of religion which are yet practised 
 among the Greeks and Latins; for some col- 
 lected a heap, rather than a system of theolo- 
 gical opinions, from the writings of the ancient 
 doctors, from the decrees of councils, and from 
 
 * Le Moyne, Prolegomena ad varia Sacra, p. 53.— 
 F-.bricii Biblioth. Graeea, lib. v. cap. xvii. 
 
 f Tlie tide isCoiitempIationes Aiiagogicse in Hexaeme- 
 rou. 
 
 } Libcr Allceoriarum in Scripluram Sacraui. 
 
 \ Expositio Mystiea in .^pocalypsin. 
 
 I the Scriptures; such were Isidore of Seville 
 among the Latins (whose three books of sen- 
 tences or opinions are still extant,) and Leon- 
 tius the Cyprian among the Greeks, whose 
 common-place book of divinity was much es- 
 teemed. These authors gave rise to that spe- 
 cies of divinity, which the Latins afterwards 
 distinguished by the name of ■positive theology. 
 
 Others endeavoured to explain the various 
 doctrines of Christianity by reasoning upon 
 their nature, their excellency and fitness; and 
 thus it was, with the strong weapons of reason 
 and argument, that many of the Christian 
 doctors disputed against the Nestorians, the 
 Eutyehians, and the Pelagians. These meta- 
 physical divines were called schoolmen, and 
 their writings were afterwards characterised 
 by the general term of scholastic divinity. 
 
 A third class of theological teachers, ver}' 
 different from those already mentioned, com- 
 prehended a certain species of fanatics, who 
 maintained that the knowledge of divine truth 
 was only to be derived from inward feeling and 
 mental contemplation. This class assumed 
 the appellation of mystics. These three me- 
 thods of deducing and unfolding the doctrines 
 of the Gospel have been transmitted down to 
 our times. No writer of this century compos- 
 ed a judicious or complete system of divinity, 
 though several branches of that sacred science 
 were occasionally illustrated. 
 
 VI. Those who consecrated their pious la- 
 bours to the advancement of practical religion 
 and moral virtue, aimed at the accomplishment 
 of this good purpose, partly by laying down 
 precepts, and partly by exhibiting edifying ex- 
 amples. They who promoted the cause of 
 piety and virtue in the former way, modified 
 their instructions according to the state and 
 circumstances of the persons for whom they 
 were designed. Peculiar precepts were ad- 
 dressed to those who had not abandoned the 
 connexions of civil society, but lived amidst the 
 Imrry of worldly affairs; while different rules 
 were administered to those who aspired to 
 higher degrees of perfection, and lived in a 
 state of seclusion from the contagion and vani- 
 ties of the world. The precepts, addressed to 
 tlie former, represent the Christian life, as con- 
 sisting in certain external virtues and acts of 
 religion; as appears from the Homilies and 
 Exhortations of Csesarius, the Capita Parsene- 
 tica of Agapetus, and especially from the For- 
 mula honestae Vitffi, i. e. the Summary of a 
 Virtuous Life, drawn up by Martin, archbishop 
 of Braga.* The rules administered to the lat- 
 ter sort of Christians, were more spiritual and 
 sublime: they were exhorted to separate, as far 
 as was possible, the soul from the body by di- 
 vine contemplation; and, for that purpose, to 
 enervate and emaciate the latter by watching, 
 fasting, perpetual prayer, and singing of 
 psalms; as we find in the dissertation of Ful- 
 gentius upon fasting, and those of Nicetius, 
 concerning the vigils of the servants of God, 
 and the good effects of psalmody. The Greeks 
 adopted for their leader, in this mystic laby- 
 rinth, Dionysius, falsely called the Areopagite, 
 whose pretended writings John of Scythopolis 
 
 * See the Acta Sanctor. Martii, torn. iii. p. S6 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 167 
 
 illustrated with annotations in this century. 
 We need not be at any pains in pointing out 
 the defects of these injudicious zealots; the 
 smallest acquaintance willi that rational reli- 
 gion, vvhirh is contained in the Gospel, will bo 
 sufficient to open the eyes of the impartial to 
 the absurdities of that chimerical devotion we 
 have now been describing'. 
 
 Vn. They who enforced tlie duties of Chris- 
 tianity, by exhibiting' examples of piety and 
 virtue to the view of those for whom their in- 
 structions were designed, wrote, for this pur- 
 pose, the Lives of the Saints; and there was a 
 considerable number of this kind of biogra- 
 phers both among the Greeks and Latins. £n- 
 nodius, Eugypius, Cyril of Scythopolis, Diony- 
 sius the Little, Cogitosus and others, are to be 
 ranked in this class. But, however pious the 
 intentions of these biographers may have been, 
 it must be acknowledged, that they executed 
 their task in a most contemptible manner. No 
 models of rational piety are to be found among 
 those pretended worthies, whom they propose 
 to Christians as objects of imitation. They 
 amuse their readers with gigantic fables and 
 trifling romances; the examples they exhibit 
 are those of certain delirious fanatics, whom 
 they call saints, men of a corrupt and pervert- 
 ed judgment, who ofiered violence to reason 
 and nature by the horrors of an extravagant 
 austerity in their own conduct, and by the se- 
 verity of those singular and inliuman rules 
 which they prescribed to others. For, by what 
 means were these men sainted.' By starving 
 themselves with senseless obstinacy, and bear- 
 ing the useless hardships of hunger, thirst, and 
 inclement seasons, with stedfastness and perse- 
 verance; by running about the country, like 
 madmen, in tattered garments, and sometimes 
 lialf-naked, or shutting themselves up in a nar- 
 row space, where they continued motionless; 
 by standing for a long time in certain postures, 
 with their eyes closed, in the enthusiastic ex- 
 pectation of divine light. All this was " saint- 
 like and glorious;" and the more any ambi- 
 tious fanatic departed from the dictates of rea- 
 son and common sense, and counterfeited the 
 wild gestures and the incoherent conduct of an 
 idiot or a lunatic, the surer was his prospect of 
 obtaining an eminent rank among the heroes 
 and demi-gods of a corrupt and degenerate 
 church. 
 
 VIII. Many writers laboured with diligence 
 to terminate the reigning controversies, but 
 none with success. Nor shall we be much 
 surprised, that these eftbrts were ineticctual, 
 when we consider how tliey were conducted; 
 for scarcelj' can wo name a single writer, whose 
 opposition to the Eutychiaiis, Nestorians, and 
 Pelagians, was carried on with probity, mode- 
 ration, or prudence. Primasius and Philopo- 
 nus wrote concerning all the sects, but their 
 works are lost; the treatise of Lcontius, upon 
 tiie same extensive subject, is still extant, but 
 is scarcely worth ])erusing. Isidore of Seville, 
 and Leontiusof Neapolis, disputed against the 
 Jews; but with what success and dexterity will 
 be easily imagined by those who are acquaint- 
 ed with the learning and logic of these times. 
 We omit, therefore, any farther mention of the 
 miserable disputants of this century, from a 
 
 persuasion that it will be more useful and enter- 
 taining to lay before the reader a brief account 
 of the controversies tliat now divided and trou- 
 bled the Christian church. 
 
 IX. Though the credit of Origen, and his 
 system, seemed to lie expiring under the blowj 
 it had received from the zeal of the orthodox, 
 and the repeated thunder of synods and coun- 
 cils, yet it was very far from being totally sunk. 
 On the contrary, this great man, and his doc- 
 trine, were held by many, and especially by the 
 monks, in the highest veneration, and cherish- 
 ed witli a kind of enthusiasm which became 
 boundless and extravagant. In the west, Bcl- 
 lator translated the works of Origen into the 
 Latin language. In the eastern provinces, and 
 particularly in Syria and Palestine, which were 
 the principal seats of Origenism, the monks, 
 seconded by several bishops, and chiefly by 
 Tlieodore of CiEsarea in Cappadocia, defended 
 the truth and authority of the doctrines of Ori- 
 gen against all his adversaries with incredible 
 vehemence.* The cause was, at length, brought 
 before Justinian, who, in a long and verbose 
 edict, addressed to Mennas, patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople,! passed a severe condemnation 
 upon Origen and his doctrine, and ordered it 
 to be entirely suppressed. ;(: The effects of this 
 edict were more violent than durable; for, upon 
 the breaking out of the controversy concerning 
 the three chapters,^ soon after this time, Origen- 
 ism not only revived in Palestine, but even re- 
 covered new vigour, and spread itself far and 
 wide. Hence many commotions were raised 
 in the churcli, which were, however, termi- 
 nated by the fifth general council, assembled at 
 Constantinople by Justinian, in 533, in which 
 Origen and his followers were again con- 
 demned. || 
 
 X. This controversy produced another, v.'hich- 
 continued much longer, was carried on with 
 still more excessive degrees of animosity and 
 violence, and the subject of which was of much 
 less moment and importance. The emperor 
 Justinian was eagerly bent upon extirpating 
 that violent branch of the Monoph\-sites, which 
 was distinguished by the name of Acephalij 
 and consulted, upon this matter, Theodore, 
 bishop of Cffisarea, who was a Monophysite, 
 and, at tlie same time, extremely attached ta 
 the doctrine of Origen. The artful prelate con- 
 
 ■* Cyril. Scythop. Vit. Sabae, which is to be found in 
 Cotelerius, Monumenta Ecclesise GriECSE,p. 370. — Henr. 
 Norris, Disserlat. de Synodo Quinta, cap. i. ii. p. 554. 
 torn. i. op. 
 
 t This edict is published in Harduini Concilia, torn, 
 iii. p. 243. 
 
 (ij=- \ This edict was procured by the solicitation of 
 Pclagius, who was legate of Vigilius at the court of 
 Cimstantinople, with a view to confound the Acephali, 
 who were admirers of Origen, and particularly to vei 
 Theodore, of whose credit with the emperor Pelagius 
 was extremely jealous. It was (o return this affront, as 
 well as to effect the purposes mentioned in the following 
 section, that Theodore set on foot the controversy con- 
 cerning the three chapters, which produced such tedious, 
 cruel, and falal dissensions in the church. Sec Basnage, 
 Histoire dc I'Kglise, livr. x. eh. vi. p. .520. 
 
 <} For an explication of what is meant by the three 
 chapters, see note of the xth section. 
 
 II See Harduini Concilia, torn. iii. p. 283.— Evagrius, 
 Hist. Eccl. lib. iv. cap. xxxviii.— Basnage, livr. x. chap, 
 vi. p. 517, &c.— Pet. Dan. Huetii Orieeniana, lib. ii. p. 
 224.— Doucin's Singular. Dis. eubjoined to Ki« Hiitoria 
 Origeniana, p. 345. 
 
168 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 sidered this as a favourable occasion for procur- 
 ing repose to the followers of Origen by excit- 
 ing a new controversy, as also for throwing a 
 reproach upon the council of Chalcedon, and 
 giving a mortal blow to the Nestorians and 
 their cause. In order to effect these three im- 
 portant purposes, he persuaded the emperor, 
 that the Acephali would return to the bosom 
 of the church, under the following easy and 
 reasonable conditions; namely, " That those 
 passages in the acts of the council of Chalce- 
 don, in which Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theo- 
 doret of Cyrus, and Ibas of Edessa, had been 
 pronounced orthodox, should be effaced; and 
 that the productions of these prelates, which 
 were known by the appellation of tiie tlwee 
 chapters,* as also other writings of theirs, which 
 discovered a manifest propensity toward the 
 Nestorian errors, should be condemned and 
 prohibited." The emperor lent a propitious ear 
 to the counsels of this prelate; and, by an 
 edict, published in 644, ordered the three chap- 
 ters to be condemned and effaced, without any 
 prejudice, however, to the authority of the 
 council of Chalcedon. t This edict was warm- 
 ly opposed by the African and western bishops, 
 and particularly by Vigilius, the Roman pon- 
 tiff, who considered it as highly injurious not 
 only to the authority of the council now men- 
 tioned, but also to the memory of those holy 
 men whose writings and characters it covered 
 with reproach. J Upon this, Justinian ordered 
 Vigilius to repair immediately to Constantino- 
 ple, that, having him in his power, he might 
 compel him with greater facility to acquiesce 
 in tlie edict, and reject the three chapters; and 
 this method was attended with success; for the 
 pontiff yielded. On the other hand, the bishops 
 of Africa and Illyricum obliged Vigilius to re- 
 tract his judicatum, by whicli, in a council of 
 seventy bishops, he had condemned the three 
 chapters in obedience to tlie emperor; for they 
 separated themselves from the communion of 
 this pope, refused to acknowledge him as one 
 of their bretliren, and even treated him as an 
 apostate, until he approved what he had been 
 obliged to condemn. The effect of this retrac- 
 tion redoubled the zeal and violence of Justi- 
 nian, who, by a second edict, published in 551, 
 condemned anew the three chapters. 
 
 XI. After many cabals, commotions, and dis- 
 sensions, which were occasioned by this trifling 
 controversy, it was thought proper to submit 
 
 (Jj^ * The pieces that were distinguished by the ap- 
 pellation of the tliree chnptcrs, were, 1. The writings of 
 Theodore of Mopsuestia; 2. The books which Thtodo- 
 ret of Cyrus wrote against the twelve Anathemas, which 
 Cyril had published against the Nestorians; 3. The letter 
 which Ibas of Edessa had written to one Maris, a Persian, 
 concerning the council of Ephesus and the condemnation 
 of Nestorius. These writings were supposed to favour 
 the Nestorian doctrine, and such indeed was their ten- 
 dency. It is, however, to be observed, that Theodore of 
 Mopsuestia lived before the time of Nestorius, and died, 
 not only in the communion of the church, but also in the 
 highest reputation for his sanctity. Nor were the writ- 
 ings of the other two either condemned or censured by 
 the council of Chalcedon; indeed, the faith of Theodoret 
 and of Ibas was there declared entirely orthodox. The 
 decision of the council of Constantinople, in opposition 
 to this, shows that councils, as well as doctors, differ. 
 
 t See Harduini Concilia, torn. iii. p. 287.— Evagrius, 
 Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. iv. cap. xxxviii. p. 412. 
 
 } Hen. Norris, de Synodo quinta, cap. x. p. 579, torn. i. 
 op.— Basnage, torn. i. livr. x. cap. vi. 
 
 the final decision of it to an assembly of the 
 universal church. This assembly was accord- 
 ingly convoked at Constantinople by Justinian, 
 in 553, and is considered as the fifth cecumenical 
 or general council. The emperor now gained 
 his point; for, beside the doctrines of Origen,* 
 the three chapters, the condemnation of which 
 he had solely in view, were, by the bishops of 
 the east (for there were very few western pre- 
 lates present at this council,) declared hereti- 
 cal and pernicious. Vigilius, who was now at 
 Constantinople, refused his assent to the de- 
 crees of this council; for which reason, after 
 having received various affronts, he was sent 
 into exile. He was not permitted to return be- 
 fore he had acquiesced in the decisions of this 
 assembly,! and, changing his sentiments for the 
 fourth time, bad declared the opinions contained 
 in the three chapters to be execrable blasphe- 
 mies. His successor Pelagius, and all the Ro- 
 man pontiffs that have since lolled in the papal 
 chair, adhered to the decrees of this council; 
 but neither their authority, nor that of the em- 
 peror, could prevail upon the western bishops 
 to follow their example in this respect. Many 
 of these, on the contrary, carried matters so far 
 as to separate themselves flrom the communion 
 of the pope on this account; and the divisions, 
 that hence arose in the church, were too vio- 
 lent to admit an expeditious or easy reconcilia- 
 tion, and could only be healed by length of 
 time.:j; 
 
 XII. Another controversy, much more im- 
 portant, had been carried on before this period 
 among the Greeks; it was first kindled in the 
 year 519, and it arose upon the following ques- 
 tion; Whether it could be said with propriety, 
 that one of the Trinity suffered on the cross' 
 This was designed to embarrass the Nestori- 
 ans, who seemed to separate too much the tv/a 
 natures in Christ; and the Scythian monks, 
 who seconded this design, and to whom the rise 
 of this controversy is principally to be imputed, 
 maintained the affirmative of this nice and dif 
 ficult question. Others asserted, on the contra 
 ry, that this manner of speaking ought by no 
 
 (f!J= * We do not find in the acts of this council any 
 one which condemns the doctrines of Origen. It is, 
 however, generally imagined, that these doctrines were 
 condemned by this assembly; and what gave rise to this 
 notion was probably the fifteen Greek canons yet extant, 
 in which the principal errors of Origen are condemned, 
 and which are entitled. The canons of the 160 fathers 
 assembled in the council of Constantinople. The tenets 
 of Origen, which gave the greatest offence, were the 
 following: 1. That, in the Trinity, the Father is greater 
 than the Son, and the Son than the Holy Ghost; 2. The 
 pre-existence of souls, which Origen considered as sent 
 into mortal bodies for the punishment of sins committed 
 in a former state of being; 3. That the soul of Christ 
 was united to the word before the incarnation; 4. That 
 the sun, moon, and stars, &c. were animated and en- 
 dowed with rational souls; 5. That after the resurrection 
 all bodies will be of a round figure; 6. That the torments 
 of the damned will have an end; and that, as Christ had 
 been crucified in this world to save mankind, he is to be 
 crucified in the next to save the devils. 
 
 t See Petr. de Marca, Dissert, de Decreto Vigilii pro 
 Confirmalione Synodi V. which is to be found among the 
 Dissertations subjoined to his learned work, de Concordia 
 Sacerdotii et Imperii. 
 
 t The best account of this matter is to be found in 
 Norris, de Synodo quinta oecumeniea, though even this 
 excellent author cannot be vindicated from the imputa- 
 tion of a certain degree of partiality. See also Christ. 
 Lupus, Not. ad Concilium quintum, in his Adnotat. sd 
 Concilia. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 169 
 
 means to be adopted, since it bordered upon 
 the erroneous expressions and tenets of the 
 Theopasehites, who composed one of the sects 
 into which the Eutychians were subdivided.* 
 The latter opinion was confirmed by Ilormis- 
 das the Roman pontiff, to whom tlie Scythian 
 monks had appealed in vain; but this, instead 
 of allaying the heat of the present controver- 
 sy, only added nuw fuel to tlie flame. John II., 
 who was one of the successors of Hormisdas, 
 approved the proposition which tlie latter had 
 condemned; and, confirming the opinion of 
 the Scythian monks, exposed the decisions of 
 the papal oracle to the laughter of tlie wise. 
 His sentence was afterwards sanctioned by the 
 fifth general council; and thus peace was re- 
 stored to the church by the conclusion of these 
 unintelligible disputes. f 
 
 With the question now mentioned, there was 
 another closely and intimately connected, 
 namely. Whether the person of Christ could 
 be considered as compounded? Of this ques- 
 tion the Scythian monks maintained the af- 
 firmative, and their adversaries the negative. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning' the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 
 Church during this Century, 
 
 I. In this century the cause of true religion 
 sunk apace, and the gloomy reign of supersti- 
 tion extended itself in proportion to tlie decay 
 of genuine piety. This lamentable decay was 
 supplied by a multitude of rites and ceremo- 
 nies. In the east the Nestorian and Eutychian 
 controversies gave occasion to the invention of 
 various rites and external institutions, which 
 were used as marks to distinguish the contend- 
 ing parties. The western churclies were load- 
 ed with rites by Gregory the Great, who had a 
 marvellous fecundity of genius in inventing, 
 and an irresistible force of eloquence in recom- 
 mending superstitious observances. Nor will 
 this appear surprising to tliose who know, that, 
 in the opinion of this pontiff, the wm-ds of the 
 sacred writings were imoges of mysterious and 
 invisible things; for such as embrace this chi- 
 merical system will easily be led to express all 
 the doctrines and precepts of religion by exter- 
 nal rites and symbols. Gregory, indeed, is 
 worthy of praise in this, that he did not pre- 
 tend to force others to the obsers'ance of his 
 inventions; though this forbearance, perhaps, 
 was as much occasioned by a want of power, 
 as by a principle of moderation. 
 
 II. This prodigious augmentation of rites 
 
 Qjp- * The deacon Victor, and those who opposed the 
 Scythian monks, expressed their opinion in the following 
 proposition: viz. One person of the Trinity suffered in 
 the flesh. Both sides received the council of Chaleedon, 
 acknowledged two natures in Christ, in opposition to 
 Eutyches, and only one person in opposition to Nestorius; 
 and yet, by a torrent of jargon, and a long chain of un- 
 intelligible syllogisms, the Scythian monks accused their 
 adversaries of Nestorianism, and were accused by them 
 of the Eutychian heresy. 
 
 f See Historia Controversial deuno ex Trinitate passo, 
 by -Norris, torn. iii. op. p. 771. The ancient writers 
 who mention this controversy, call the monks who set it 
 on foot, Scythians. But La Croze (Thesaur. Epist. torn, 
 iii.) imagines, that the country of th<se monks was Egypt, 
 and not Scythia; and this conjecture is supported by rea- 
 jons which carry in Iheni, at least, a high degree of 
 probability. 
 
 Vol. L— 22 
 
 and ceremonies rendered an augmentation of 
 ' doctors and interpreters of these mysteries in- 
 [ dispensably necessary. Hence a new kind of 
 science arose, which had, for its object, the ex- 
 plication of these ceremonies and the investiga- 
 tion of tile causes and circumstances whence 
 they derived their origin. But most of those, 
 who entered into these researches, never went 
 to tlie fountain-head, to the true sources of 
 these idle inventions. They endeavoured to 
 seek their origin in reason and Christianity; 
 but in this they deceived themselves, or, at 
 least, deluded others, and delivered to the world 
 their own fancies, instead of disclosing the true 
 causes of things. Had they been acquainted 
 with the opinions and customs of remote anti- 
 quity, or studied the pontifical law of the 
 Greeks and Romans, they would have discov- 
 ered the true origin of many institutions, which 
 were falsely looked upon as venerable and 
 sacred. 
 
 III. The public worship of God was still ce- 
 lebrated by every nation in its own language, 
 but was enlarged, from time to time, by the ad- 
 dition of various hymns, and other things of 
 that nature, which were considered as proper 
 to enliven devotion by the power of novelty. 
 Gregory the Great prescribed a new method 
 of administering tlie Lord's supper, with a 
 magnificent assemblage of pompous ceremo- 
 nies. This institution was called the canon of 
 the mass; and, if any are unwilling to give it 
 the name of a new appointment, they must at 
 least acknowledge, that it was a considerable 
 augmentation of tlie ancient canon for cele- 
 brating the eucharist, and occasioned a remark- 
 able change in the administration of that ordi- 
 nance. Many ages, however, passed before 
 this Gregorian canon was adopted by all the 
 Latin churches.* 
 
 Baptism, except in cases of necessity, was 
 administered only on great festivals. We omit 
 mentioning, for the sake of brevity, the lita- 
 nies that were addressed to the saints, the dif- 
 ferent sorts of supplications, the stations or as- 
 semblies of Gregory, the forms of consecration, 
 and other such institutions, which were con- 
 trived, in this century, to e.xcite a species of 
 external devotion, and to engage the outward 
 senses in religious worship. An inquiry into 
 these topics would of itself deserve to be made 
 the subject of a separate work. 
 
 IV. An incrediljle number of temples arose 
 in honour of the saints, during this century, 
 both in the eastern and western provinces. 
 The places set apart for public worship were 
 already very numerous; but it was now that 
 Christians first began to consider these sacred 
 edifices as the means of purchasing the favour 
 and protection of the saints, and to be persuad- 
 ed that these departed spirits defended and 
 guarded, against evils and calamities of every 
 kind, the provinces, lands, cities, and villages, 
 in which they were honoured with temples. 
 The number of festivals, which were now ob- 
 served in the Christian church, and many of 
 which seem to have been instituted upon a 
 pagan model, nearly equalled the amount of the 
 temples. To those that were celebrated in the 
 
 * See Thcod. Chr. Lilienthal, de Canone Missx Grc- 
 goriano. 
 
170 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 * See Photius, Biblioth. cod. cxiv. p. 291. 
 
 t See his Epistles, lib. iv. ep. xxxiv. xxxv. p. 714, 715, 
 lib. vi. ep. Ixv. p. 841, ep. xxxvii. p. 821, lib. ix. ep. liii. 
 p. 972, lib. ii. ep. xlviii. p. 611, torn. ii. op. 
 
 preceding century, were now added the festival 
 of the purification of the blessed Virgin (in- 
 vented with a design to remove the uneasiness 
 of the heathen converts on account of the loss 
 of their Lupercalia or feasts of Pan,) the fes- 
 tival of the immaculate conception, the day 
 set apart to commemorate the birth of St. 
 John, and others less worthy of mention 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and Heresies that trovr 
 bled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The various sects which had fomented 
 divisions among Christians in the early ages 
 of the church, were far from being effectually 
 suppressed or totally extirpated. Though they 
 had been persecuted and afflicted with a variety 
 of hardships, trials, and calamities, yet they 
 still subsisted, and continued to excite dissen- 
 sions and tumults in many places. The Mani- 
 cheans are said to have gained such a degree 
 of influence among the Persians, as to have 
 corrupted even the son of Kobad, the monarch 
 of that nation, who repaid their zeal in making 
 proselytes with a terrible massacre, in which 
 numbers of that impious .sect perished in the 
 most dreadful manner. Nor was Persia the 
 only country which was troubled with the at- 
 tempts of the Manicheans to spread their odi- 
 ous doctrine; otlier provinces of the empire 
 were, undoubtedly, infected with their errors, 
 as we may judge from the book that was writ- 
 ten against them by Heraclian, bishop of Chal- 
 cedon.* In Gaul and Africa, dissensions of a 
 different kind prevailed; and the controversy 
 between the Semi-Pelagians and the disciples 
 of Augustin continued to divide the western 
 churches. 
 
 II. The Donatists enjoyed the sweets of 
 freedom and tranquillity, as long as the Van- 
 dals reigned in Africa; but the scene was great- 
 ly changed with respect to them, when the em- 
 pire of these barbarians was overturned in 634. 
 They, however, still remained in a separate 
 body, and not only held their church, but, to- 
 ward the conclusion of this century, and par- 
 ticularly from the year 591, defended them- 
 selves with new degrees of animosity and vi- 
 
 vgour, and were bold enough to attempt the 
 multiplication of their sect. Gregory, the Ro- 
 man pontiff, opposed these efforts with great 
 spirit and assiduity; and, as appears from his 
 epistles, t tried various methods of depressing 
 this faction, which was pluming its wings anew, 
 and aiming at the revival of those lamentable 
 divisions which it had formerly excited in the 
 church. Nor was the opposition of the zeal- 
 ous pontiff without effect; it seems on the con- 
 trary to have been attended with the desired 
 success, since, in this century, the church of 
 the Donatists dwindled away to nothing, and 
 after this period no traces of it are to be found. 
 
 III. About the commencement of this cen- 
 tury, the Arians were triumphant in several 
 parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Many of 
 the Asiatic bishops favoured them secretly. 
 
 while their opinions were openly professed, and 
 their cause maintained, by the Vandals in Afri- 
 ca, the Goths in Italy, the Spaniards, the Bur- 
 gundians, the Suevi, and the greatest part of 
 the Gauls. It is true, that the Greeks, who 
 had received the decrees of the council of Nice, 
 persecuted and oppressed the Arians wherever 
 their influence and authority could reach; but 
 the Nicenians, in their turn, were not less ri- 
 gorously treated by their adversaries, particu- 
 larly in Africa and Italy, where they felt, in a 
 very severe manner, the weight of the Arian 
 power, and the bitterness of hostile resent- 
 ment.* 
 
 The triumphs of Arianism were, however, 
 transitory, and its prosperous days were entire- 
 ly eclipsed, when the Vandals were driven out 
 of Africa, and the Goths out of Italy, by the 
 arms of Justinian;! for the other Arian princes 
 were easily induced to abandon, themselves, 
 the doctrine of that sect; and not only so, but 
 to employ the force of laws and the authority 
 of councils to prevent its progress among their 
 subjects, and to extirpate it entirely out of 
 their dominions. Such was the conduct of 
 Sigismond king of the Burgundians; also of 
 Theodimir king of the Suevi, who had settled 
 in Lusitania; and Recared king of Spain. — 
 Whether this change was produced by the 
 force of reason and argument, or by the influ- 
 ence of hopes and fears, is a question which we 
 sliall not pretend to determine. One thing, 
 however, is certain, that, from this period, the 
 Arian sect declined apace, and could never af- 
 ter recover any considerable degree of stability 
 and consistence. 
 
 IV. The Nestorians, after having gained a 
 firm footing in Persia, and established the pa- 
 triarch or head of their sect at Seleucia, ex- 
 tended their views, and spread their doctrines, 
 with a success equal to the ardour of their zeal, 
 through the provinces situated beyond the 
 limits of the Roman empire. There are yet 
 extant authentic records, from which it ap- 
 pears, that throughout Persia, as also in India, 
 Armenia, Ars.bia, Syria, and other countries, 
 there were vast numbers of Nestorian churches, 
 all under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of 
 Seleucia. J It is true, indeed, that the Persian 
 raonarchs were not all equally favourable to 
 this growing sect, and that some of them even 
 persecuted, with the utmost severity, all those 
 who bore the Christian name throughout their 
 dominions;^ but it is also true, that such of 
 these princes, as were disposed to exercise mo- 
 deration and benignity toward the Christians, 
 were much more indulgent to the Nestorians, 
 than to their adversaries who adhered to the 
 council of Ephesus, since the latter were con- 
 
 * Procopius, de Bello Vandal, lib. i. cap. viii. and de 
 Bello Gothico, lib. ii. cap. ii. — Evagrius, Hist. Ecclesiast. 
 lib. iv. cap. xv. 
 
 t See Mascovii Historia German, torn. ii. p. 76, 91. 
 See also an account of the barbarian kings, who aban- 
 doned Arianism, and received the doctrines of the JVi- 
 cene council, in the Acta Sanctorum, torn. ii. Martii, p, 
 275, and April, p. 134. 
 
 J Cosmas Indicopleustes, Topograph. Christian, lib. ii. 
 p. 125, which is to be found in Montfaucon's CoUectio 
 nova PP. Graecorum. 
 
 6 Asseman. Biblioth. Orient. Vatic, torn. iii. part i. p. 
 109, 407, 411, 441, 449; torn. iii. part ii. cap. v. sect. li. 
 p. 83. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 171 
 
 sidered as spies employed by the Greeks, with 
 whom they were connected by the ties of reli- 
 gion. 
 
 V. The Monopliysites, or Eutychians, flour- 
 ished also in this century, and had gained over 
 to their doctrine a considerable part of the 
 eastern provinces. The emperor Anastasius 
 was warmly attached to the doctrine and sect 
 of the Acephali, who were reckoned among 
 the more rigid Monophysites;* and, in 513, he 
 created patriarch of Antioch (in the room of 
 Flavian, whom he had expelled from that see,) 
 Severus, a learned monk of Palestine, from 
 whom the Monophysites were called Severi- 
 ans.f This emperor axerted all his influence 
 and authority to destroy the credit of the coun- 
 cil of Chalcedon in the east, and to maintain 
 the cause of those who adhered to the doctrine 
 of one nature in Christ; and, by the ardour 
 and vehemence of his zeal, he excited the most 
 deplorable seditions and tumults in the church. J 
 After the death of Anastasius, which happen- 
 ed in 518, Severus was expelled in his turn; 
 and the sect whicli the late emperor had main- 
 tained and propagated with such zeal and assi- 
 duity, was every where opposed and depressed 
 by his successor Justin, and the following em- 
 perors, in such a manner, that it seemed to be 
 on the very brink of ruin, notwithstanding that 
 it had created Sergius patriarch in the place of 
 Severus. § 
 
 VI. When the affairs of the Monophysites 
 were in such a desperate situation, that almost 
 all hope of their recovery had vanished, and 
 their bishops were reduced, by death and im- 
 prisonment, to a very small number, an obscure 
 man whose name was Jacob, and who was dis- 
 tinguished from others so called, by the sur- 
 name of BaradfBus, or Zanzalus, restored this 
 expiring sect to its former prosperity and lus- 
 tre. || This poor monk, the greatness of whose 
 views rose far above the obscurity of his sta- 
 tion, and whose fortitude and patience no dan- 
 gers could daunt, nor any labours exhaust, was 
 ordained to the episcopal office by a handful of 
 captive bishops, travelled on foot through the 
 whole east, established bishops and presbyters 
 every where, revived the drooping .spirits of 
 the Monophysites, and produced such an as- 
 tonishing change in their affairs by the power 
 of his eloquence, and by his incredible activity 
 and diligence, that when he died bishop of 
 Edessa, in 5T8, he left his sect in a most flour- 
 ishing state in Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, 
 
 * Evagrius, Hist. Ecclesiasl. lib. iii. cap. xxx. xliv., 
 (ftc. Theodori Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. ii. p. .562. See also 
 the Index Operum Severi, as it stands oolleeled from 
 ancient MSS. in Montfaucon's Bibliotheca Coisliniana, 
 p. 53. 
 
 t See Asseman. Bihliotli. Orient. Vatican, torn. ii. p. 
 47, ."HI. — Euseb. Reuaudot, Historia Patriarch. Alexan- 
 drinor. p. 127, &.C. 
 
 t Evagrius, Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. lii. cap. xxxiii. — Cy- 
 rillus, vita Saba; in Jo. Bapt. Cotelerii Monument. Ec- 
 clesiae Graecae, torn. iii. p. 312. — Baylc's Dictionary, at 
 the article Anastasius. 
 
 Ij See Abulpharajii Series Patriarch. Antiochen. in 
 Biblioth. Orient. Vatican, torn. ii. 
 
 II See Bibliotli. Orient. &c. torn. ii. cap. viii. p. 62, 72, 
 326,331,414. Eusebii Renaud.Hist. Patriarch. Alexandr. 
 p. 119, 133, 425, and the Liturgiae Orient, torn. ii. p. 333, 
 342. — Faustus Nairoqus, Euoplia Fidei Catholica; ex 
 Syrorum Monumentis, part i. p. 40, 41. 
 
 Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and other countries.* 
 This dexterous monk h<ad prudence to contrive 
 the means of success, as well as activity to put 
 them in execution; for he almost totally extin- 
 guished all the animosities, and reconciled all 
 the factions, that had divided the Monophy- 
 sites; and when their churches grew so nume- 
 rous in the east, that they could not all be con- 
 veniently comprehended under the sole juris- 
 diction of the patriarch of Antioch, he appoint- 
 ed, as his assistant, the primate of the east, 
 whose residence was at Tagritis, on the bor- 
 ders of Armenia. t The laborious efforts of 
 Jacob were seconded, in Egypt and the adja- 
 cent countries, by Theodosius bishop of Alex- 
 andria; and he became so famous, that all the 
 Monophysites of the east considered him as 
 their second parent and founder, and are to 
 this day called Jacobites, in honour of their 
 new chief. 
 
 VII. Thus it happened, that, by the impru- 
 dent zeal and violence which the Greeks em- 
 ployed in defending the truth, the Monophy- 
 sites gained considerable advantages, and, at 
 length, obtained a solid and permanent settle- 
 ment. From this period their sect has been 
 imder the jurisdiction of the patriarchs of 
 Alexandria and Antioch, who, notwithstand- 
 ing the difference of opinion which subsists, 
 with respect to some points, between the Syrian 
 and Egyptian Monophysites, are exceedingly 
 careful to maintain communion with each 
 other, both by letters, and by the exchange of 
 good offices. The Abyssinian primate is sub- 
 ject to the patriarch of Alexandria; and the 
 primate of the east, who resides at Tagritis, is 
 under tlie jurisdiction of the patriarch of An- 
 tioch. The Armenians are ruled by a bishop 
 of their own, and are distinguished by certain 
 opinions and rites from the rest of the Mono- 
 physites. 
 
 VIII. The sect of the Monophysites, before 
 it was thus happily established, was torn with 
 factions and intestine disputes, and suffered, in 
 a particular manner, from that nice and subtile 
 controversy concerning the body of Christ, 
 which arose at Alexandria. Julian, bishop of 
 Halicarnassus, affirmed, in 519, that the divine 
 nature had so insinuated itself into the body 
 of Christ, from the very moment of the Vir- 
 gin's conception, that the body of our Lord 
 changed its nature, and became incorruptible. 
 Tliis opinion was also embraced by Caianus, 
 bishop of Alexandria; from whom those who 
 adopted it were called Caianists. They were, 
 however, divided into three sects, two of which 
 debated this question, whether the body of 
 Christ was created or uncreated, while the third 
 asserted, ihat our Lord's body was indeed cor- 
 ruptible, but never actually corrupted, since 
 the energy of the divine nature must have pre- 
 vented its dissolution. 
 
 This sect was warmly opposed by Severus 
 of Antioch, and Damianus, who maintained 
 
 * With regard to the Nubians and Abyssinians, see the 
 Biblioth. Orient, lorn. ii. p. 330. — Lobo, Voyage d'Abyj- 
 sinie, torn. ii. p. 36. — Ludolph. Commeutar. ad Historiam 
 ^thiopicam, p. 451. 
 
 t Asseman. Biblioth. Orient, torn. ii. p. 410. See alic 
 this learned writer's Disscrtatio de MoDophysitia. 
 
172 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 that the body of Christ, before his resurrection, 
 was truly corruptible, i. e. subject to the affec- 
 tions and changes with which human nature is 
 generally attended. Those who embraced the 
 opinion of Julian, were called Aphtliartodo- 
 cetae, Docetse, Pliantasiasts, and even Mani- 
 cheans, because it was supposed to follow from 
 their hypothesis, that Christ did not suffer in 
 reality, but only in appearance, hunger and 
 thirst, pain and death; and that he did not ac- 
 tually assume the common affections and pro- 
 perties of human nature. On the other hand, 
 the votaries of Severus were distinguished by 
 the names PhthartolatroB, Ktistolatras, and Cre- 
 aticolffi. This miserable controversy was car- 
 ried on with great warmth under the reign of 
 Justinian, who favoured the AphthartodocetsB; 
 soon after, it subsided gradually; and, at length, 
 was happily hushed in silence.* Xenaias of 
 Hierapolis struck out an hypothesis upon this 
 knotty matter, which seemed equally remote 
 from those of the contending parties; for he 
 maintained that Christ had, indeed, truly suf- 
 fered the various sensations to which humanity 
 is exposed, but that he suffered them not in his 
 nature^ but by a submissive act of his will.] 
 
 IX. Some of the Corrupticoloe (for so they 
 were called who looked upon the body of Christ 
 to be corruptible,) particularly Themistius, a 
 deacon of Alexandria, and Theodosius, a bishop 
 of that city, were led by the inconsiderate heat 
 of controversy into another opinion, which 
 produced new commotions in the church to- 
 ward the conclusion of this century. They 
 affirmed, that to the divine nature of Christ all 
 things were known, but that from his human 
 nature many things were concealed. The rest 
 of the sect charged the authors of this opinion 
 with imputing ignorance to the divine nature 
 of Christ, since they held, that there was but 
 one nature in the Son of God. Hence the 
 votaries of this new doctrine were called Ag- 
 noetiE;|; but their sect was so weak and ill-sup- 
 ported, that, notwithstanding their eloquence 
 and activity ,wliich seemed to promise better suc- 
 cess, it gradually declined, and came to nothing. 
 
 * Timotheus,de Receptione H3ereticorum,in Cotelerii 
 Monumcntis Ecclesise Graecae, torn. iii. p. 409. — Libera- 
 tus, in Breviario Controv. cap. xx. — Forbesii lustruc- 
 tiones Hiatorico-Theologicse, lib. iii. cap. xviii. p. 108. — 
 Asseman. Biblioth. Oi-ieiital. torn. iii. part ii. p. 457. 
 
 t Biblioth. Orient, torn. ii. p. !S, and 168. 
 
 I Cotelerius, ad Monuinenta Ecclesiae Graecae, torn. iii. 
 p. 641. — Mich, le Q,uien, ad Damascenum de Haeresibus, 
 torn. i. p. 107. — Forbes, Instructiones Historieo-Theolog. 
 lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 119— Photius, Biblioth. Cod. 230. 
 
 X, From the controversies with the Mono- 
 physites arose the sect of the Tritheists, whose 
 chief was John Ascusnage, a Syrian pliiloso- 
 pher, and, at the same time, a Monophysite.* 
 Tliis man imagined in the Deity three natures, 
 or substances, absolutely equal in all respects, 
 and joined together by no common essence; to 
 wliich opinion his adversaries gave the name 
 of Tritiieism. One of the warmest defenders 
 of this doctrine was John Philoponus, an Alex- 
 andrian philosopher, and a grammarian of the 
 highest reputation; and hence he has been con- 
 sidered by many as the author of this sect, 
 whose members have consequently derived 
 from him the title of Philoponists.f 
 
 This sect was divided into two parties, the 
 Philoponists and the Cononites; the latter of 
 whom were so called from Conon bishop of 
 Tarsus, their chief.J They agreed in the doc- 
 trine of three persons in the Godhead, and dif^ 
 fered only in their manner of explaining what 
 the Scriptures taught concerning the resurrec- 
 tion of the body. Philoponus maintained, that 
 the form and matter of all bodies were gener- 
 ated and corrupted, and that both therefore 
 were to be restored in the resurrection. Conon 
 held, on the contrary, that the body never lost 
 its form: that its matter alone was subject to 
 corruption and decay, and was consequently to 
 be restored when " Uiis mortal shall put on im- 
 mortality." 
 
 A third faction was that of the Damianists, 
 who were so called from Damian bishop of 
 Alexandria, and whose opinion concerning the 
 Trinity was different from those already men- 
 tioned. They distinguished the divine essence 
 from the three persons, and denied that each 
 person was God, when considered in itself, ab- 
 stractedly from the other two; but affirmed 
 that there was a common divinity, by the joint 
 participation of which each was God. They 
 therefore called the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, hypostases, or persons, and the Godhead, 
 which was common to them all, substance or 
 nature.^ 
 
 * See Gregor. Abulpharajius, in Biblioth. Orient, torn, 
 i. p. 3-28. 
 
 t See Fabricii Biblioth. Graec. lib. v. cap. xxxvii. p. 
 358. — Harduini Concilia, torn. iii. p. 1288. — Timotheuj, 
 de Receptione Haereticorum, apud Cotelerii Monumenta 
 Ecclesiae Graecae, torn. iii. p. 414. — Jo. Damascenus, de 
 Haeresibus, torn. i. op. 
 
 } Photii Biblioth. Cod. x<iv.— Biblioth. Orient, torn, ii 
 p. 329. 
 
 ^ Biblioth. Orient, torn. ii. p. 78,332, &e. 
 
THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the prosperous Events which happen- 
 ed in the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. In this century the progress of CFiristiani- 
 ty was greatly accelerated both in the eastern 
 and western hemispheres; and its divine light 
 was widely diffused through the darkened na- 
 tions. The Nestorians who dwelt in Syria, 
 Persia, and India, contributed much to its pro- 
 pagation in the east, by the zeal and diligence, 
 the laborious efforts and indefatigable assidui- 
 ty, with which they preached it to those fierce 
 and barbarous nations, who lived in the remot- 
 est regions and deserts of Asia, and among 
 whom, as we learn from authentic records, their 
 ministry was crowned with remarkable suc- 
 cess. It was by the labours of this sect, that 
 the light of the Gospel first penetrated into the 
 immense empire of China, about the year 636, 
 when Jesuiabas of Gadala was at the head of 
 the Nestorians, as will appear probable to those 
 who consider as genuine the famous Chinese 
 monument, which was discovered at Siganfu 
 by the Jesuits during the last century.* Some, 
 indeed, look upon this monument as a mere 
 forgery of the Jesuits, though, perhaps, without 
 reason: there are, however, some unexception- 
 able proofs, that the northern parts of China, 
 even before this century, abounded with Chris- 
 tians, who, for many succeeding ages, were un- 
 der the inspection of a metropolitan sent to 
 them by the Chaldean or Nestorian patriarch. f 
 
 * This celebrated monument has been published and 
 explained by several learned writers, particularly by Kir- 
 cher, in his China lllustrata; by Muller, in a treatise pub- 
 lished at Berlin in 1672; by Renaudot, in his Relations 
 anciennes des Indes et de la Chine, de deux Voyacjeurs 
 Mahometans, p. 228— 271, published at Paris in 1718; and 
 by Assemanus, in his Biblioth. Orient, torn. iii. in part ii. 
 cap. iv. sect. 7. p. 533. A still more accurate edition of 
 this famous monument was promised to us by the learned 
 Theoph. Sigefred Bayer, the greatest proficient of this 
 age in Chinese erudition; but his death has blasted our 
 expectations. For my part, I see no reason to doubt the 
 genuineness of this monument; nor can I understand what 
 advantage could redound to the Jesuits from the inven- 
 tion of such a fable. See Liron, Singularites Historiques 
 et Literaires, tom. ii. p. 500. 
 
 f Sec Renaudot, p. 56, 68, &c. also Assemani Biblioth. 
 cap. ix. p. 52J; the learned Bayer, in the Preface to his 
 Museum Sinicum, assures us, that he had in his hands 
 such proofs of the truth of what is here affirmed, as put 
 the matter beyond all doubt, {tfj- See on this subject a 
 very learned dissertation published by M. de Guignes in 
 the thirtieth vol. of the Mcmoircs de Literature, tires des 
 Registres de I'Academie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles 
 Lettres, in which he proves that the Christians were set- 
 tled in China so early as the seventh century. He re- 
 marks indeed, that the Nestorians and other Christians 
 were for a long time confounded in the Chinese annals 
 ■with the worshippers of Fo, an Indian idol, whose rites 
 were introduced into China about 65 years after the birth 
 
 II. The attention and activity of the Greeks 
 were so entirely occupied by their intestine di- 
 visions, that they were little solicitous about the 
 progress of Christianity. In the west, Augus- 
 tin laboured to extend the limits of the church, 
 and to spread the light of the Gospel among 
 the Anglo-Saxons; and, after his death, other 
 monks were sent from Rome, to exert them- 
 selves in the same glorious cause. Their ef- 
 forts were attended with the desired success: 
 and the efficacy of their labours was manifest- 
 ed in the conversion of the six Anglo-Saxon 
 kings, who had hitherto remained under the 
 darkness of the ancient superstitions, to the 
 Christian faith, which gained ground by de- 
 grees, and was, at length, embraced universal- 
 ly in Britain.* We are not, however, to ima- 
 gine, that this general change in favour of 
 Christianity was wholly due to the discourses 
 of the Roman monks and doctors; for other 
 causes were certainly instrumental in accom- 
 plishing this great event; and it is not to be 
 doubted that the influence which some Chris- 
 tian queens, and ladies of high distinction, had 
 over their husbands, and the pains they took to 
 convert them to Christianity, as also the severe 
 and rigorous laws that were afterwards enacted 
 against idolaters,! contributed much to the pro- 
 gress of the Gospel. 
 
 III. Many of the British, Scotish, and Irish 
 ecclesiastics travelled among the Batavian, Bel- 
 gic, and German nations, with the pious inten- 
 tion of propagating the knowledge of the 
 truth, and of erecting churches, and forming 
 religious establishments. This was the true rea- 
 son which induced the Germans, in after-times, 
 to found so many convents for the Scotch and 
 Irish, of which some yet remain. J 
 
 Columban, an Irish monk, seconded by the 
 labours of a few companions, had happily ex- 
 tirpated, in the preceding century, the ancient 
 superstitions in Gaul, and the parts adjacent, 
 where idolatry had taken the deepest root; he 
 also carried the lamp of celestial truth among 
 the Suevi, the Boii, the Franks, and other Ger- 
 
 of Christ; and that this circumstance has deceived De la 
 Croze, Beausobre, and lome other learned men, who liave 
 raised specious objections against the hypothesis that 
 maintains the early introduction of Christianity into this 
 great empire. A reader, properly informed, will pay lit- 
 tle or no attention to the account given of this matter by 
 Voltaire in the first volume of his Essai sur I'Histoire 
 Generale. A poet, who recounts facts, or denies them, 
 without deiguinc to produce his authorities, must not ex- 
 pect to meet with the credit that is due to an historian. 
 
 * Beds Historia Ecclcsiast. Gentis Anglor. lib. ii. cap. 
 ii. xiv. lib. iii. cap. xxi.— Rapin de Thoyras, tom. i. 
 
 t Wilkins' Concilia Magns Brilanniac, tom. i. p. QSR. 
 
 ( See the Acta Sanctorum, tom. ii. Febr. p. 369, 
 
174 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 man nations,* and persevered in these pious 
 and useful labours until his death, which hap- 
 pened in 615. St. Gal, who was one of his 
 companions, preached the Gospel to the Hel- 
 vetii, and the Suevi.f St. Kilian set out from 
 Scotland, the place of his nativity, and exer- 
 cised the ministerial function with such success 
 among the eastern Franks, that vast numbers of 
 them embraced Christianity. J Toward the con- 
 clusion of this century, the famous Willebrod, 
 by birth an Anglo-Saxon, accompanied with 
 eleven of his countrymen, viz. Suidbert, Wig- 
 bert, Acca, Wilibald, Unibald, Lebwin, the two 
 Ewalds, Werenfrid, Marcellin, and Adalbert, 
 crossed over into Batavia, which lay opposite to 
 Britain, in order to convert the Friselanders to 
 the religion of Jesus. Hence, in 692, they went 
 into Fosteland, which most writers look upon 
 to have been the same with the isle of Heligo- 
 land, or Heilgiland; but, being cruelly treated 
 there by Radbod, king of the Friselanders, who 
 put Wigbert, one of the company, to death, they 
 departed thence for Cimbria, and the adjacent 
 parts of Denmark. They, however, returned 
 to Friseland in 693, and were much more suc- 
 cessful than they had formerly been in oppos- 
 ing the ancient superstitions, and propagating 
 the knowledge of divine truth. Willebrod was 
 ordained, by the Roman pontiff, archbishop of 
 Wilteburg, now Utrecht, and died among the 
 Batavians in a good old age, while his associ- 
 ates continued to spread tlie light of the Gos- 
 pel among the Westphalians and the neigh- 
 bouring nations. § 
 
 IV. These voyages, and many others, under- 
 taken in the cause of Christ, carry, no doubt, 
 a specious appearance of piety and zeal; but 
 the impartial and attentive inquirer after truth 
 will find it impossible to form the same favour- 
 able judgment of them all, or to applaud, 
 without distinction, the motives that animated 
 these laborious missionaries. That the designs 
 of some of them were truly pious, and their 
 characters without reproach, is unquestionably 
 certain; but it is equally certain, that this was 
 not the case of them all, or even of the great- 
 est part of them. Many of them discovered, 
 in the course of their ministry, the most turbu- 
 lent passions, and dishonoured the glorious 
 cause in which they were engaged, by their ar- 
 rogance and ambition, their avarice and cru- 
 elty. They abused the power which they had 
 received from the Roman pontiffs, of forming 
 religious establishments among the supersti- 
 tious nations; and, instead of gaining souls to 
 Clrrist, they usurped a despotic dominion over 
 their obsequious proselytes, and exercised a 
 princely authority over the countries where 
 their ministry had been successful. Nor are 
 we to consider, as entirely groundless, the sus- 
 picions of those who allege that many of the 
 
 * MabilloD, Acta Sanctor. Ordinis Benedicti, lorn. ii. 
 iii.— Adanian. lib- iii. de S. Columbano, in Canisii Lec- 
 tion. Antiq. torn. i. . . „ ^ , 
 
 t Walafridi Strabonis Vit. S. Galli in Actis S. Ord. 
 Benedict, torn, ii.— Canisii Lection. Antiq. torn. i. 
 
 t Vita S. Kiliani in Canisii Lection. Antiq. torn, in.— 
 Jo. Pet. de Ludewig, Scriptores Kerum Wurzburgens. 
 p. 966. 
 
 6 Alcuini Vita Willebrodi in Mabillon, Act. SS. Ord. 
 Benedict, and Molleri Cimbria Literata,tom. ii. p. 980. 
 
 monks, desirous of rule and authority, conceal- 
 ed their vices under the mask of religion, and 
 endured for a time the austerities of a rigid 
 mortification and abstinence, merely with a 
 view to rise to the episcopal dignity. 
 
 V. The conversion of the Jews seemed at a 
 stand in this century; for few or none of tha 
 obstinate nation embraced the Gospel in cons; 
 quence of an inward conviction of its truth, 
 though in many places they were barbarously 
 compelled, by the Christians, to make an out- 
 ward and feigned profession of their faith in 
 Christ. The emperor Heraclius, incensed 
 against that miserable people by the insinua- 
 tions, as it is said, of the Christian doctors, per- 
 secuted them in a cruel manner, and ordered 
 multitudes of them to be inhumanly dragged 
 into the Christian churches, in order to be bap- 
 tized by violence and compulsion.* The same 
 odious method of converting was practised in 
 Spain and Gaul, by the monarchs of those na- 
 tions, against which even the bishops of Rome 
 expressed their displeasure and indignation. 
 Such were the horrid and abominable prac- 
 tices to which an ignorance of the true spirit 
 of Christianity, and the barbarous genius of 
 this age, led the heralds of that divine religion, 
 which was designed to spread abroad charity 
 upon earth, and to render mankind truly and 
 rationally free. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the calamitous Events that happened 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The Christians suffered less in this, than 
 in the preceding centmies. They were some- 
 times persecuted by the Persian monarchs, but 
 ususally recovered their former tranquillity af- 
 ter transitory scenes of violence and oppres- 
 tion. In England, the new converts to Cliris- 
 tianity suffered various calamities under the 
 petty kings, who governed in those boisterous 
 times; but these kings embraced the Gospel 
 themselves, and then the sufferings of the Chris- 
 tians ceased. In the eastern countries, and par- 
 ticularly in Syria and Palestine, the Jews, at 
 certain times, attacked the Christians with a 
 merciless fury,| but with so little success, that 
 they always had reason to repent of their te- 
 merity, which was severely chastised. It is 
 true, the church had other enemies, even those 
 who, under the treacherous profession of Chris- 
 tianity, were laying secret schemes for the re- 
 storation of Paganism; but they were too weak 
 and too inconsiderable to form any attempts 
 that could endanger the Christian cause. 
 
 II. But a new and most powerful enemy to 
 the Christian cause started up in Arabia in 6 12, 
 under the reign of Heraclius. This was Ma- 
 homet, or Mohammed, an illiterate man,J but 
 
 * Eutychii Annales Eccles. Alexandr. torn. ii. p. 212. 
 
 f Eutychii Annales, torn. ii. p. 236. Jo. Henr. Hot- 
 tingeri Historia Orientalis, lib. i. cap. iii. p. 129. 
 
 J Mohammed himself expressly declared, that he was 
 totally ignorant of all branches of learning and science, 
 and was even unable either to write or read: and his fol- 
 lowers have drawn from this ignorance an argument id 
 favour of the divinity of his mission, and of the religion 
 he taught. It is, however, scarcely credible, that his ig- 
 norance was such as it is here described; and several ol 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 175 
 
 endowed by nature with the most flowing and 
 attractive eloquence, and with a vast and pene- 
 trating genius,* distinguished also by the ad- 
 vantages he enjoyed from the place of his birth, 
 which added a lustre to his name and his un- 
 dertakings. This adventurous impostor pub- 
 licly declared, that he was commissioned by 
 God to destroy polytheism and idolatry, and 
 then to reform, first the religion of the Arabi- 
 ans, and afterwards the Jewish and Christian 
 worship. For these purposes he delivered a 
 new law, which is known by the name of the 
 Ko)-an, i. e. the book, by way of eminence;! and, 
 having gained several victories over his ene- 
 mies, he compelled an incredible multitude of 
 persons, both in Arabia and the neighbouring 
 nations, to receive his doctrine, and range 
 themselves under his standard. Elate with this 
 rapid and imexpected success., he greatly ex- 
 tended his ambitious views, and formed the 
 vast and arduous project of founding an em- 
 pire. Here again success crowned his adven- 
 turous efforts; and his plan was executed with 
 such intrepidity and impudence, that he died 
 master of all Arabia, beside several adjacent 
 provinces. 
 
 III. It is, perhaps, impossible, at this time, 
 to form such an accurate judgment of the cha- 
 racter, views, and conduct of Mohammed, as 
 would entirely satisfy the curiosity of a saga- 
 cious inquirer after truth. To give entire cre- 
 dit to the Grecian writers in this matter, is 
 neither prudent nor safe, since their bitter re- 
 sentment against this hostile invader led them 
 to invent, without scruple or hesitation, fables 
 and calumnies to blacken his character. The 
 Arabians, on the other hand, are as little to be 
 
 his sect have called in question the declarations of their 
 chief relating to this point. See Chard in 's Voyages en 
 Perse, torn. iv. If we consider that he carried on, for a 
 considerable time, a successful commerce in Arabia and 
 the adjacent countries, this alone will convince us. that he 
 must liave been, in some measure, instructed in the arts 
 of reading, writing, and arithmetic, with the knowledge 
 of which a merchant cannot dispense. 
 
 * The writers, to whom we are indebted for the ac- 
 counts of the life and religion of Mohammed, are enu- 
 merated by Fabricius, in his Delectus et Syllabus Argu- 
 mentorum, pro Veritate Religionis ChristianiE; to which 
 we may add Boulaiiivilliers' Vie de Mahomet, published 
 at London in 1730, which, however, deserves rather the 
 character of a romance, than of a history; Gagnier's Vie 
 de Mahomet, printed at Amsterdam in 1732, and com- 
 mendable both for the learning and candour with which 
 it appears to have been composed; and, above all, the 
 learned and judicious Sale's Preliminary Discourse, pre- 
 fixed to his English translation of the Koran, sect. ii. p. 
 
 t For an account of the Koran, see principally Sale's 
 preface. See also Vertot's Discours sur I'Alcoran, sub- 
 joined to the third volume of his History of the Knights 
 of Malta, and Chardin's Voyages en Perse, torn. ii. p. 
 281. The book which the Mohammedans call the Koran, 
 is composed of several papers and discourses of the im- 
 postor, which were discovered and collected after his 
 death, and is by no means that same law whose excellence 
 he vaunted so highly. That some parts of the true Koran 
 may be copied in the modern one, is indeed very possible; 
 but that the Koran, or Law, given by Mohammed to the 
 Arabians, is entirely distinct from the modern Koran, is 
 manifest from this, that, in the latter, he appeals to, and 
 extols the former, and therefore they must be two differ- 
 ent compositions. May it not be conjectured, that the 
 true Koran was an Arabic poem, which he recited to his 
 'bllowers without giving it to them in writing, ordering 
 them only to commit it to memory? Such were the laws 
 of the Druids in Gaul and Britain, and such also those of 
 the Indians, which the Bramins receive by oral tradition, 
 and get by heart. 
 
 trusted to, as their historians are destitute of 
 veracity and candoiu-; they conceal the vices 
 and enormities of their chief, and represent him 
 as the most divine person that ever appeared 
 upon earth, and as the best gift of God to the 
 world. Add to this, that a considerable part 
 of his life, indeed, the part of it that would be 
 the most proper to lead us to a true knowledge 
 of his character, and of the motives from which 
 he acted, is absolutely unknown. It is highly 
 probable, that he was so deeply affected with 
 the odious and abominable superstition which 
 dishonoured his country, that it threw him in- 
 to a certain fanatical disorder of mind, and 
 made him really imagine that he was superna- 
 turally commissioned to reform the religion of 
 the Arabians, and to restore among them the 
 worship of one God. It is, however, at the 
 same time, undoubtedly evident, that, when he 
 saw his enterprise crowned with the desired 
 success, he made use of impious frauds to es- 
 tablish the work he had so happily begun, de- 
 luded the giddy and credulous multitude by 
 various artifices, and even forged celestial vi- 
 sions to confirm his authority, and remove the 
 difficulties that frequently arose in the course 
 of his affairs. This mixture of imposture is 
 by no means incompatible with a spirit of en- 
 thusiasm; for the fanatic, through the unguided 
 warmth of zeal, looks often upon the artifices 
 that are useful to his cause as pious and accep- 
 table to the Supreme Being, and therefore de- 
 ceives when he can do it with impunity.* The 
 religion which Mohammed taught, is certainly 
 different from what it would have been, if he 
 had met with no opposition in the propagation 
 of his opinions. The difficulties he had to en- 
 counter obliged him to yield, in some respects, 
 to the reigning systems; the obstinate attach- 
 ment of the Arabians to the religion of their 
 ancestors, on one hand, and the fond hope of 
 gaining over to his cause both the Jews and 
 Christians on the other, engaged, no doubt, 
 this fanatical impostor to admit into his system 
 several tenets, which he would have rejected 
 without hesitation, had he been free from the 
 restraints of ambition and artifice. 
 
 IV. The rapid success which attended the 
 propagation of this new religion, was produced 
 by causes that are plain and evident, and must 
 remove, or rather prevent our surprise, when 
 they are attentively considered. The terror of 
 Mohammed's arms, and the repeated victories 
 which were gained by him and his successors, 
 were, without doubt, the irresistible argument 
 that persuaded such multitudes to embrace his 
 religion, and submit to his dominion. Besides, 
 his law was artfully and wonderfully adapted to 
 the corrupt nature of man, and, in a more par- 
 ticular manner, to the manners and opinions 
 of the eastern nations, and the vices to which 
 they were naturally addicted; for the articles 
 of faith which it proposed were few in num- 
 ber, and extremely simple; and the duties it re- 
 
 * This, perhaps, is the best way of adjusting the con- 
 troversy that has been carried on by some learned men 
 upon this curious question, — whether Mohammed was 
 a fanatic or an impostor. See Bayle's Dictionary; also 
 Ocklcy's Conquest' of Syria, Persia, and Egypt, by the 
 Saracens, vol. i.; and Sale's Preface to his Translation 
 of the Koran, sect. ii. 
 
176 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H. 
 
 quired were neither many nor difficult, nor such I 
 as were incompatible with tlie empire of appe- 
 tites and passions.* It is to be observed far- 1 
 ther, that the gross ignorance, under which the | 
 Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest; 
 part of the eastern nations, laboured at tliis ; 
 time, rendered many an easy prey to the arti- . 
 fice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. [ 
 To these causes of the progress of the Moham- j 
 medan faith, we may add the bitter dissensions 
 and cruel animosities that reigned among the 
 Christian sects, particularly the Greeks, Nes- 1 
 torians, Eutychians, and Mono phy sites, dissen- j 
 sions that filled a great part of the east with j 
 carnage, assassinations, and such detestable 
 enormities, as rendered the very name of Chris- 
 tianity odious to many. We might add here, 
 that the Monophysites and Nestorians, full of 
 resentment against the Greeks, from whom 
 they had suffered the bitterest and most inju- 
 rious treatment, assisted the Arabians in the 
 conquest of several provinces,! into which, 
 consequently, the religion of Mohammed was 
 afterwards introduced. Other causes of the 
 sudden progress of that religion, will naturally 
 occur to such as consider attentively its spirit 
 and genius, and the state of the world at that 
 time. 
 
 V. After the death of the pseudo-prophet, 
 which happened in 632, his followers, led on 
 by an amazing intrepidity and a fanatical fury, 
 and assisted, as we have already observed, by 
 those Christians whom the Greeks had treated 
 with such severity, extended their conquests 
 beyond the limits of Arabia, and subdued Sy- 
 ria, Persia, Egypt, and other countries. On 
 the other hand, the Greeks, exhausted with 
 civil discord, and wholly occupied by intestine 
 troubles, were unable to stop these intrepid 
 conquerors in their rapid career. 
 
 For some time these enthusiastic invaders 
 used their prosperity with moderation, and 
 treated the Christians, particularly those who 
 rejected the decrees of the councils of Ephesus 
 and Chalcedon, with the utmost indulgence 
 and lenity. But, as an uninterrupted course 
 of success and prosperity renders, too general- 
 ly, corrupt mortals insolent and imperious, so 
 the moderation of this victorious sect degene- 
 
 * See Reland, de Religione Mahumedica; also Sale's 
 Preliminary Discourse. 
 
 t See Ockley's Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt, 
 by the Saracens. 
 
 rated by degrees into severity, and they treated 
 the Christians, at length, rather like slaves 
 than citizens, loading them with insupportable 
 taxes, and obliging them to submit to a variety 
 of vexatious and oppressive measures. 
 
 VI. The progress, however, of this trium- 
 phant sect received a considerable check by the 
 civil dissensions which arose among them im- 
 mediately after the death of Mohammed. — • 
 Abubeker and Ali, the former the father-in- 
 law, and the latter the son-in-law, of this pre- 
 tended prophet, aspired to succeed him in the 
 empire which he had erected. Upon this arose 
 a tedious and cruel contest, whose flame reach- 
 ed to succeeding ages, and produced that 
 schism which divided the Mohammedans into 
 two great factions, whose separation not only 
 gave rise to a variety of opinions and rites, but 
 also excited the most implacable hatred and 
 the most deadly animosities. Of these factions, 
 one acknowledged Abubeker as the true khalif, 
 or successor of Mohammed, and its members 
 were distinguished by the name of Sonnites; 
 while the other adhered to Ali, and received 
 the appellation of Shiites.* Both, however, 
 adhered to the Koran as a divine law, and as 
 the rule of faith and maimers; to which, in- 
 deed, the former added, by way of interpreta- 
 tion, the sonna, i. e. a certain law which they 
 looked upon as derived from Mohammed by 
 oral tradition, and which the Shiites refused to 
 admit. Among the Sonnites, or followers of 
 Abubeker, we are to reckon the Turks, Tar- 
 tars, Arabians, Africans, and the greatest part 
 of the Indian Moslems; whereas the Persians, 
 and the subjects of the great Mogul, are gene- 
 rally considered as the followers of Ali; though 
 the latter indeed seem rather to observe a strict 
 neutrality in this contest. 
 
 Beside these two grand factions, there are 
 several subordinate sects among the Moslems, 
 which dispute with warmth upon several points 
 of religion, though without violating the rules 
 of mutual toleration. t Of these sects there 
 are four, which far surpass the rest in point of 
 reputation and importance. 
 
 * See Reland, de Religione Turcica, lib. i. p. 36, 70, 
 74, 85; and Chardin's Voyages en Perse, torn. ii. p. 236. 
 
 t For an account of the Mohammedan sects, see Hot- 
 tingeri Histor. Orient, lib. ii. cap. vi. p. 340.— Ricaut'* 
 Etat de I'Empire Ottoman, liv. ii. p. 242.— Chardin'» 
 Voyages en Perse, torn, ii.; and Sale's Preliminary Di»- 
 course, sect. viii. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the State of Letters and Philosophy 
 during this Century, 
 I. Nothing can equal the ignorance and 
 darkness that reigned in this century; the most 
 impartial and accurate account of which will 
 appear incredible to those who are unacquaint- 
 
 ed with the productions of this barbarous pe- 
 riod. Any remains of learning and philosophy 
 that yet survived, were, a few particular cases 
 excepted, to be found principally among the 
 Latins, in the obscure retreats of cloistered 
 monks. The monastic institutions prohibited 
 the election of any abbot to the government 
 of a convent, who was not a man of learning, 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 177 
 
 or, at least, endowed with some share of tlie 
 erudition of the times. The monks were 
 obHged to consecrate certain hours every day to 
 reading and study: and, that they might im- 
 prove this appointment to tlie most advantage- 
 ous purposes, there were, in most of the monas- 
 teries, stated times marked out, at which they 
 were to assemble, in order to communicate to 
 each other the fruits of their studies, and to 
 discuss the matters upon which they had been 
 reading.* The youth also, who were destined 
 for the service of the church, were obliged to 
 prepare themselves for their ministry by a di- 
 ligent application to study; and in this they 
 were directed by the monks, one of whose prin- 
 cipal occupations it was to preside over the 
 education of the rising priesthood. 
 
 It must, however, be acknowledged, that all 
 these institutions were of little use to the ad- 
 vancement of solid learning, or of rational 
 theology, because very few in those days were 
 acquainted with the true nature of the liberal 
 arts and sciences, or with the important ends 
 which they were adapted to serve; and the 
 greatest part of those who were looked upon 
 as learned men, threw away their time in read- 
 ing the marvellous lives of a parcel of fanati- 
 cal saints, instead of employing it in the peru- 
 sal of well-chosen and excellent authors. They, 
 who distinguished themselves most by their 
 taste and genius, carried their studies little far- 
 ther than the works of Augustin and Gregory 
 the Great; and it was of scraps collected out 
 of these two writers, and patched together 
 without much uniformity, that the best produc- 
 tions of this century were composed. 
 
 II. The sciences enjoyed no degree of pro- 
 tection, at this time, from kings and princes; 
 nor did they owe any thing to men of high and 
 eminent stations in the empire. On the other 
 hand, the schools which had been committed 
 to the care and inspection of the bishops, whose 
 ignorance and indolence were now become 
 enormous, began to decline apace, and had, in 
 many places, fallen into ruin.f The bishops 
 in general were so illiterate, that few of them 
 were capable of composing the discourses which 
 they delivered to the people. Such prelates as 
 were not totally destitute of genius composed, 
 out of the writings of Augustin and Gregory, 
 a certain number of insipid homilies, which 
 they divided between themselves and their stu- 
 pid colleagues, that tlicy might not be obliged 
 through incapacity to discontinue preacliing 
 the doctrines of Christianity to the people, as 
 appears from the examples of Cffisarius bishop 
 of Aries, and Eloi bishop of Noyon.J There 
 is yet extant a summary of theological doc- 
 trine, which v;as unskilfully compiled byTaion 
 bishop of Saragossa, from the writings of Au- 
 gustin and Gregory; and which was so highly 
 
 * Mabillon, Acta Sanct. Ord. Benedicti, torn. ii. p. 
 479, 513. 
 
 t Histoire Literaire de la France, torn. iii. p. 428. 
 
 QQ- \ In the original we read Eligius IS'oviomagensis, 
 which is a mistake either of the author, or printer, it is 
 probable that Noviomagensis slipped from the pen of Dr. 
 Moihe'im, in the place of Novioduncnsis; for Eloi was 
 biihop of Novon, and not of Nimeguen. 
 Vol. I.— 2? 
 
 extolled in this illiterate age, that its author 
 was called, by the rest of the bishops, the tnit 
 salt of the earth, and a divine light that was 
 sent to illuminate the world.* Many such in- 
 stances of the ignorance and barbarity of this 
 century will occur to those who have any ac- 
 quaintance with the writers it produced. Eng- 
 land, it is true, was happier in this respect than 
 the other nations of Europe, which was princi- 
 pally owing to Theodore of Tarsus, of whom 
 we shall have occasion to speak afterwards, 
 who was appointed archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and contributed much to introduce, among the 
 English, a certain taste for literary pursuits, 
 and to excite in that kingdom a zeal for the ad- 
 vancement of learning.! 
 
 III. In Greece, the fate of the sciences was 
 truly lamentable. A turgid eloquence, and an 
 affected pomp and splendour of style, which 
 cast a perplexing obscurity over subjects in 
 themselves the most clear and perspicuous, now 
 formed the highest point of perfection to which 
 both prose writers and poets aspired. The 
 Latin eloquence was still very considerably be- 
 low that of the Greeks; it had not spirit enough 
 even to be turgid, and, a few compositions ex- 
 cepted, it had sunk to the very lowest degree 
 of barbarity and corruption. Both the Greek 
 and Latin writers, who attempted historical 
 compositions, degraded most miserably that 
 important science. Moschus and Sophronius 
 among the former; and among the latter Brau- 
 lio, Jonas an Hibernian, Audoenus, Dado, and 
 Adamannus, wrote the lives of several saints, 
 or rather a heap of insipid and ridiculous fa- 
 bles, void of the least air of probability, and 
 without the smallest tincture of eloquence. 
 The Greeks related, without discernment or 
 choice, the most vulgar reports that were hand- 
 ed about concerning the events of ancient 
 times: and hence arose that multitude of ab- 
 surd fables, which the Latins afterwards copied 
 from them with the utmost avidity. 
 
 IV. Among the Latins philosophy was at its 
 lowest ebb. If there were any that retained 
 some faint reluctance to abandon it entirely, 
 such confined their studies to the writings of 
 Boethius and Cassiodorus, from which they 
 committed to memory a certain number of 
 phrases and sentences; and that was all their 
 philosophical stock. The Greeks, abandoning 
 Plato to the monks, gave themselves entirely 
 up to the direction of Aristotle, and studied, 
 with eagerness, the subtiltics of his logic, which 
 were of signal use in the controversies carried 
 on between the Monophysites, the Nestorians, 
 and Monothelites. All these different sects 
 called the Stagirite to their assistance, when 
 they were to plead their cause, and to defend 
 their doctrines. Hence it was that James, 
 bishop of Edessa, who was a Monophysite, 
 translated, in this century, the dialectics of 
 Aristotle into the Syriac language.| 
 
 ' Mabillon, Analecta veteris JKy't, torn. ii. p. 77. 
 
 t Wilkins' Concilia Magnae Britannise, torn. i. p. 42 
 
 Conringii Antiquitat. Academica:, p. 277. 
 
 t See Assemani Biblioth. Oriental. Vatican, torn. i. p. 
 498. 
 
178 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 Church, and its Form of Government during 
 this Centiiry. 
 
 I. The disputes about pre-eminence, that 
 had so long subsisted between the bishops of 
 Rome and Constantinople, proceeded, in this 
 century, to such violent lengths, as laid the 
 foundation of that deplorable schism, which 
 afterwards separated the Greek and Latin 
 churches. The most learned writers, and 
 those who are most remarkable for their know- 
 ledge of antiquity, are generally agreed that 
 Boniface IH. engaged Phocas, that abomina- 
 ble tyrant, who waded to the imperial throne 
 through the blood of the emperor Mauritius, 
 to take from the bishop of Constantinople the 
 title of cecumenical or universal bishop, and to 
 confer it upon the Roman pontiff. They re- 
 late this, however, upon the sole authority of 
 Baronius; for none of the ancient writers have 
 mentioned it. If, indeed, we are to give credit 
 to Anastasius and Paul the Deacon,* some- 
 thing like what we have now related was trans- 
 acted by Phocas: for, when the bishops of Con- 
 stantinople maintained that their church was 
 not only equal in dignity and authority to that 
 of Rome, but also the head of all the Christian 
 churches, this tyrant opposed their pretensions, 
 and granted the pre-eminence to the church of 
 Rome: and thus was the papal supremacy first 
 introduced. 
 
 II. The Roman pontiffs used all sorts of 
 methods to maintain and enlarge the authority 
 and pre-eminence which they had acquired by 
 a grant from the most odious tyrant that ever 
 disgraced the annals of history. We find, 
 however, in the most authentic accounts of the 
 transactions of this century, that not only se- 
 veral emperors and princes, but also whole na- 
 tions, opposed the ambitious views of the bish- 
 ops of Rome. The Byzantine history, and the 
 Formulary of Marculfus, contain many proofs 
 of the influence which the civil magistrate yet 
 retained in religious matters, and of the subor- 
 dination of the Roman pontiffs to the regal 
 authority. It is true, the Roman writers af- 
 firm, that Constantino Pogonatus abdicated the 
 privilege of confirming, by his approbation, the 
 election of the bishop of that city; and, as a 
 proof of this, they allege a passage of Anasta- 
 sius, in which it is said, that according to an 
 edict of Pogonatus, the pontiff, uiho should be 
 elected, was to be ordained immediately, and with- 
 out the least delay.'\ But every one must see, 
 that this passage is insufficient to prove what 
 these writers assert with such confidence. It 
 is however certain, that this emperor abated, 
 some say remitted, the sum which, from the 
 time of Theodoric, the bishops of Rome had 
 been obliged to pay to the imperial treasury 
 before they could be ordained, or have their 
 election confirmed. J 
 
 * Anastasius, de vitis Poutificum. Paul. Diacon. de 
 rebus gestis Longobard. lib. iv. cap. xxxvii. apud Mura- 
 torii Scriptor. rerum Italicar. torn. i. p. 465. 
 
 * Anastasii vit. Pontif. in Bened. p. 146, in Muratorii 
 Scriptor. rcrum Italicar. torn. iii. 
 
 } Anastas. vit. Pontif. in Agathone, p. 144, compared 
 with MaECOvii Hist, German, torn. ii. p. 121, in the au- 
 
 The ancient Britons and Scots persisted long 
 in the maintenance of their religious liberty; 
 and neither the threats nor promises of the le- 
 gates of Rome could engage them to submit 
 to the decrees and authorit}' of the ambitious 
 pontiff, as appears manifestly from the testi- 
 mony of Bede. The churches of Gaul and 
 Spain attributed as much authority to the 
 bishop of Rome, as they thought suitable to 
 their own dignity, and consistent with their in- 
 terests: even in Italy, his supreme authority 
 was obstinately rejected, since the bishop of 
 Ravenna, and other prelates, refused an impli- 
 cit submission to his orders.* Beside all this, 
 multitudes of private persons expressed pub- 
 licly, and without the least hesitation, their ab- 
 horrence of the vices, and particularly of the 
 lordly ambition of the Roman pontiffs: and it 
 is highly probable, that the Valdenses or Vau- 
 dois had already, in this century, retired into 
 the valleys of Piedmont, that they might be 
 more at liberty to oppose the tyranny of those 
 imperious prelates. f 
 
 III. Tlie progress of vice, among the subor- 
 dinate rulers and ministers of the church, was 
 at this time truly deplorable: neither bishops, 
 presbyters, deacons, nor even the cloistered 
 monks, were exempt from the general conta- 
 gion, as appears from the unanimous confes- 
 sion of all the writers of this century that are 
 worthy of credit. In those very places, that 
 were consecrated to the advancement of piety, 
 and the service of God, there was little to be 
 seen but spiritual ambition, insatiable avarice, 
 pious frauds, intolerable pride, and a supercili- 
 ous contempt of the natural rights of the peo- 
 ple, with many other vices still more enormous. 
 There reigned also in many places the most 
 bitter dissensions between the bishops and the 
 monks. The former had employed the greedy 
 hands of the latter to augment the episcopal 
 treasure, and to draw the contributions from all 
 parts to support them in their luxury, and the 
 indulgence of their lusts. The monks perceiv- 
 ing this, and also unwilling to serve the bish- 
 ops in such a dishonourable character, fled for 
 refuge to the emperors and princes, under whose 
 civil jurisdiction they lived; and afterwards, for 
 their farther security, had recourse to tlie pro- 
 tection of the Roman pontiff. J This protec- 
 tion they readily obtained; and the imperious 
 pontiffs, always fond of exerting their authori- 
 ty, exempted, by degrees, the monastic orders 
 from the jurisdiction of the bishops. The 
 monks, in return for this important service, de- 
 voted themselves wholly to advance the inte- 
 rests, and to maintain the dignity of the bishop 
 
 notations. (fC^ It will not be improper to observe here, 
 that by the same edict, which diminished the ordination- 
 money paid by the bishops of Rome to the emperor, Con- 
 stantine resumed the power of confirming the election of 
 the pope, which his predecessors had invested in the ex- 
 archs of Ravenna; so tliat the bishop elect was not to be 
 ordained till his election was notified to thecourt of Con- 
 stantinople, and the imperial decree confirming it was re- 
 ceived by the electors at Rome. See Anastasius, in his 
 life of Agatho. 
 
 * See Geddes' Miscellaneous Tracts, torn. ii. p. 6. 
 
 t See Antoine Leger's Histoire des Eglises Vaudoises, 
 liv. i. p. 15. 
 
 } See Launoii Assertio Inquisitionis in Chartam Immu- 
 nitatis S. Germani, op. torn. iii. par. i. p. 50. Baluzii 
 Miscellan. torn. ii. p. 159; tom. iv. p. 108. Muratorii 
 Antiq. Italic, tom. ii. p. 944, 949. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 179 
 
 of Rome. They made his cause their own, 
 and represented him as a sort of god to the ig- 
 norant multitude, over whom they had gained 
 a prodigious ascendency by the notion tiiat ge- 
 nerally prevailed of the sanctity of the monas- 
 tic order. It is, at the same time, to be ob- 
 served, that this humanity toward the monks 
 proved a fruitful source of licentiousness and 
 disorder, and occasioned the greatest part of 
 the vices with which they were afterwards so 
 justly charged. Such, at least, is the judg- 
 ment of the best writers upon this subject.* 
 
 IV. In the mean time the monks were every 
 where in high repute, and their cause was ac- 
 companied with the most surprising success, 
 particularly among the Latins, through the 
 protection and favour of the Roman pontiff, 
 and their pharisaical affectation of uncommon 
 piety and devotion. The heads of families, 
 striving to surpass each other in their zeal for 
 the propagation and advancement of monkery, 
 dedicated their children to God, by shutting 
 them up in convents, and devoting them to a 
 solitary life, which they looked upon as the 
 highest felicity;! nor did they fail to send with 
 these innocent victims a rich dowry. Aban- 
 doned profligates, who had passed their days 
 in the most vicious pursuits, and whose guilty 
 consciences filled them with terror and remorse, 
 were comforted with the delusive hopes of ob- 
 taining pardon, and making atonement for their 
 crimes, by leaving the greatest part of their 
 fortune to some monastic society. Multitudes, 
 impelled by the unnatural dictates of a gloomy 
 superstition, deprived their children of fertile 
 lands and rich patrimonies, in favour of tlie 
 monks, by whose prayers they hoped to render 
 tlie Deity propitious. Several ecclesiastics 
 laid down rules for tiie direction of the monas- 
 tic orders. Those among the Latins, who un- 
 dertook this pious task, were Fructuosus, Isi- 
 dore, Johannes Gerundinensis, and Columban. J 
 The rule of discipline, prescribed by St. Bene- 
 dict, was not yet universally followed, so as to 
 exclude all others. 
 
 V. The writers of this age, who distinguish- 
 ed themselves by their genius or erudition, 
 were very few in number. Among the Greeks, 
 tlxe first rank is due to Maximus, a monk, who 
 disputed with great obstinacy and warmth 
 against the Monothelites, composed some illus- 
 trations upon the Holy Scriptures, and was, 
 upon the whole, a man of no mean capacity, 
 though unhappy through the impatience and 
 violence of his natural temper. 
 
 Isychius, bishop of Jerusalem, explained se- 
 veral books of Scripture;^ and left several hom- 
 ilies, and some productions of less importance. 
 
 Dorotheus, abbot of Palestine, acquired a 
 considerable name by his Ascetic Dissertations, 
 in which he laid down a plan of monastic life 
 and maimers. 
 
 * See Lannoii Eramen Privilegii S. Gcrmani, torn. iii. 
 par. i. p. 28:2. WilUins' Concilia Magna; Britannix, torn. 
 I. p. 43, 44, 49, &c. 
 
 t Gervais, Histoire de I'Abbe Suger, torn. i. p. 9 — 16. 
 
 SLucae HoUlenii Codex Regular, torn. ii. p. 2-25. 
 See Simon's Critique de la Bibliotheque dcs Autcurs 
 Ecclesiastiques de M. Du-Pin, torn. i. p. 261. 
 
 Antiochus, a monk of Saba in Palestine, and 
 a monk of a very superstitious complexion, 
 composed a Pandect of the Holy Scriptures, 
 i. e. a summary or system of the Christian 
 doctrine, which is by no means worthy of high 
 commendation. 
 
 Sophronius, bishop of Jerusalem, was ren- 
 dered illustrious, and attracted the veneration 
 of succeeding ages, by the controversies he 
 carried on against those who, at this time, were 
 branded with the name of heretics; and partic- 
 ularly against the Monothelites, of whose doc- 
 trine he was the first opposer, and also the fo- 
 raenter of the dispute which it occasioned.* 
 
 There are yet extant several homilies, attri- 
 buted to Andrew, bishop of Crete, which are 
 destitute of true piety and eloquence, and 
 which are, moreover, considered by some wri- 
 ters as entirely spurious. 
 
 Gregory, surnamed Pisides, deacon of Con- 
 stantinople, beside the History of Heraclius 
 and the Avares, composed several poems, and 
 other pieces of too little moment to deserve 
 mention. 
 
 Theodore, abbot of Raithu, published a book 
 which is still extant, against those sects who 
 seemed to introduce corrupt innovations into 
 the Christian religion, by their doctrine relat- 
 ing to the person of Clirist. 
 
 VI. Among the Latin writers, a certain num- 
 ber were distinguished from the rest by their 
 superior abilities. Ildefonso, archbishop of 
 Toledo, was in repute for his learning; the 
 Spaniards, however, attribute to him without 
 foundation certain treatises concerning the Vir- 
 gin Mary.f 
 
 We have yet extant two books of Epistles, 
 written by Desiderius, bishop of Cahors, and 
 published by the learned Canisius. 
 
 Eligius, or Eloi, bishop of Limoges, left be- 
 hind him several homilies, and some other pro- 
 ductions. 
 
 Marculf, a Gallic monk, composed two 
 books of ecclesiastical forms, which are highly 
 valuable, as they are extremely proper to give 
 us a just idea of the deplorable state of reli- 
 gion and learning in this century. J 
 
 Aldhelm, an English prelate, composed se- 
 veral poems concerning the Christian life, 
 which exhibit but indifferent marks of genius 
 and fancy. § 
 
 Julian Pomerius confuted the Jews, and ac- 
 quired a name by several other productions, 
 which are neither worthy of much applause 
 nor of utter contempt. To all these wo might 
 add Cresconius, whose Abridgement of the 
 Canons is well known; Fredegarius the histo- 
 rian, and a few others. 
 
 * See the Acta Sanctorum, torn. ii. Martii ad d. xi. p- 
 65. 
 
 f See the Acta Sanctorum, Januar. torn. ii. p. 535. 
 
 t Histoire Literaire de la France, torn. iii. p. 565. 
 
 Ql^^ This prelate certainly deserved a more honoura- 
 ble mention than is here made of him by Dr. Masheim. 
 His poetical talents were by no means the most distin 
 guishinc part of his character. He was profoundly ver» 
 ed in the Greek, Latin, and Saxon languages. He ap 
 peared also willi dignity in the paschal controversy, that 
 so long divided the Saxon and British churches. See Coir 
 lier't Ecclesiastical Hist. vol. i. 
 
180 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church 
 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. In this barbarous age, religion lay expir- 
 ing under a motley and enormous heap of su- 
 perstitious inventions, and had neither the 
 courage nor the force to raise her head, or to 
 display her native charms, to a darkened and 
 deluded world. In the earlier periods of the 
 church, the Christian worship was confined to 
 the one Supreme God, and his Son Jesus 
 Christ: but the Christians of this century mul 
 tiplied the objects of their devotion, and paid 
 homage to the remains of the true cross, to the 
 images of the saints, and to bones, whose real 
 owners were extremely dubious.* The primi- 
 tive Christians, in order to excite men to a 
 course of piety and virtue, set before them that 
 heavenly state, and those mansions of misery, 
 which the Gospel has revealed as the different 
 portions of the righteous and the wicked; while 
 the Christians of this century talked of nothing 
 else but a certain fire which effaced the stains 
 of vice, and purified souls from their corruption 
 The former taught that Christ, by his suiFer- 
 ings and death, had made atonement for the 
 sins of mortals; the latter seemed, by their su- 
 perstitious doctrine, to exclude, from the king- 
 dom of heaven, such as had not contributed, 
 by their offerings, to augment the riches of the 
 clergy or the church, f The former were only 
 
 * It will not be amiss to quote here a remarkable pas- 
 sage out of the Life of St. Eligius. or Eloi, bishop of 
 Noyon, which is to be found iu M. d'Acherj''s Spicilegi- 
 um veter. Scriptor. torn. ii. p. 92. This passage, which 
 is very proper to give us a just idea of the piety of this 
 age, is as follows: " Huic sauctissimo viro, inter cetera 
 rirtutum suarum miracula, id etiam a Domino concessum 
 erat, ut sanctorum martyrum corpora, qua per tot specu- 
 la abdiia populis hactenus habebantur, eo investigante ac 
 nimio ardore ficlei indagantc, patefacta proderentur." It 
 appears by this passage, that St. Eloi was a zealous rflie- 
 hunter; and, if we may give credit to the writer of his 
 life, he was very successful at this kind of game; for he 
 smelt and nnkeiinelled the carcasses of St. Q,uintin, St. 
 Plato, St. Crispin, St. Crispinian, St. Lucian, and many 
 more. The bishops of tliis age, who were either ambi- 
 tiously desirous of popular applause, or intent upon accu- 
 mulating rii;hes, and filling their coffers with the oblations 
 of a superstitions people, pretended to be endowed with 
 a miraculous sa;;.icity in discovering the bodies of saints 
 and martyrs.[*] 
 
 t St. Eloi expresses himself upon this matter in the 
 following manner- " Bonus Christianus est, qui ad eccle- 
 •iam frequenlius vinit, et oblationem, quse in allari Deo 
 offeratur, exhibet; qui de fructibus suis non gustat, nisi 
 prius Deo aliquid offerat; qui, quoties sanctae soleinnita- 
 tes adveniuni, ante dies plures castitatem etiam cum pro- 
 pria more cusiodit, ut secura conscientia Domini altare 
 accedere possit; qui postremo symbolum velorationemDo- 
 
 [*] That much ini|)osition was practised m this respect, 
 even the catholics must admit. The biographer of Eloi 
 says, that "some relies were honoured with popular 
 worsliip in placi-s where they did not exist, while no one 
 knew, to a cerlainty,in what spot they were to be found." 
 To supply this deTwicncy of knowledge, it became expe- 
 dient, iu the opinion of the clerical zealots, to point out 
 the places of intermenl; and thus relics were wantonly 
 multiplied, many saints hnving two or three heads found 
 for each person, and a great number of arms and legs. 
 This reminds us of the remark of a lady, who, having 
 seen at a museum a relic which was said to be Crom- 
 well's scull, asked the keeper of another repository, 
 whether he could produce a scull of the same great per- 
 sonage. " No, Madam," he replied; " we have nothing 
 of the kind." — -'That seems very odd," said the lady; 
 •' I saw one at Oxford, and I should have thought that 
 you would have had another.''— Kirf. 
 
 studious to attain a virtuous simplicity of life 
 and manners, and employed their principal zeal 
 and diligence in the culture of true and genu- 
 ine piety, while the latter placed the whole of 
 religion in external rites and bodily exercises. 
 The methods also of solving the diflaculties, 
 and dissipating the doubts, which often arose 
 in inquisitive minds, were of a piece with the 
 rest of the superstitious system that now pre- 
 vailed. The two great and irresistible argu- 
 ments against all doubts, were the authority of 
 
 minicam memoriter tenet. — Redimite animas veslras de 
 pcena,dum habetis in potestate rcmedia; oblationes et de- 
 cimas ecclesiis offerte, luminaria Sanctis locis, juxta quod 
 habetis, exhibete; ad ecclesiam quoque frequentius conve- 
 uite, sanctorum patrocinia humiliter expelite; quod si ob- 
 servaveritis, securi in die judicii ante tribunal seterni judi- 
 cis venientes dicetis, Da, Domine, quia dedimus." {JlJ» We 
 see here a large and ample description of the character of 
 a "good Christian," in which there is not the least men- 
 tion of the love of God, resignation to his will, obedience 
 to his laws, or of justice, benevolence, and charity to- 
 ward men; and in which the whole of religion is made to 
 consist in coming often to the church, bringing offerings 
 to the altar, lighting candles ia consecrated places, and 
 the like vain services. [*J 
 
 f *J Some modern writers of the Romish persuasion have 
 exclaimed against these strictures in terms of severe repre- 
 hension; and Dr. Lingard, in particular, says, " This 
 citation from the writings of St. Eloi holds a distinguish- 
 ed place in every invective which has beer, published 
 against the clergy of former ages; and this definition of 
 a good Christian has been re-echoed a thousand times 
 by the credulity of writers and their readers;" but it ap- 
 pears, upon due investigation, he adds, that the " bishop 
 of Noyon has been foully calummatcd;" for his defini- 
 tion of a good Christian is of the following tenor: " Non 
 vobis sufficit, charissimi, quod Christianum nomenaccep- 
 istis, si opera Christiana non facitis. Illi enim prodest, 
 quod Christianus vocatur, qui semper Christ! pracepta 
 mente retinet, et opere perficit; qui furtum, scilicet, non 
 facit; qui falsum testimonium nondicit; qui nee meatitnr, 
 nee pejerat; qui adulterium non committit; qui nullum 
 hominem odit, sed omnes sicut semetipsum diligit; qui 
 inimicis suis malum non reddit, sed magis pro ipsis orat; 
 qui litcs non concitat, sed discordes ad concordiam revo- 
 cat." "It is not sufficient for your characters or your 
 credit, my dearest friends, that you merely bear the name 
 of a Christian; you must perform the acts and duties of a 
 Christian. He alone is worthy of the name, who retains 
 in his mind the precepts of religion, and carries them in- 
 to effect; who avoids, as a crime, the commission of theft; 
 who shuns the guilt of perjury or falsehood; who does 
 not commit adultery; who hates no one, but is ready to 
 serve even his enemies; and who is so far from promoting 
 strife, that he is eager to prevent all disputes, and allay 
 all animosities." These and other evidences of the Chris- 
 tian character and temper, in the century to which Dr. 
 Mosheim refers, are given by the catholic historian in the 
 words of Audoenus (St. Ouen,) bishop of Rouen, who 
 wrote the life of St. Eloi; and we are bound to state, be- 
 cause we have ascertained the point, that he has quoted 
 the original fciirly and correctly, according to the best 
 edition of the Spicilegium. (Paris, 1723, 3 vols, folio.) 
 We are induced to mention this circumstance, because 
 some protestant divines have been so eager to exculpate 
 Dr. Mosheim, that they have accused Dr. Lingard of fol- 
 lowing a spurious edition, in which various interpolations 
 might have been made by the Romanists to support the 
 credit of the early churcli. We are aware that papists 
 seem to have a fellow-feeling with their religious ances- 
 tors, and are frequently hurried by their zeal into misre- 
 presentation, and sometimes into gross deviations from 
 truth; but it is certainly illiberal to suspect them without 
 cause, or to condemn them without inquiry. 
 
 In the present case, we cannot conscientiously decide iu 
 favour of Dr. Mosheim. His general impartiality we rea- 
 dily admit; but he did not, on this occasion, strictly at- 
 tend to that duty. In the very page from which he ex- 
 tracted the unfavourable passage, he must, wc think, have 
 seen (for he was usually keen in his researches) the de- 
 tail of religious and moral duties quoted by Dr. Lingard, 
 and he ought to have given one as well as the other. 
 Some blame is also imputable to the translator, for not 
 making due inquiry into the validity of Dr. Mosheim's 
 charge against the churchmen of the seventh century. — 
 Editor 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 181 
 
 the church and the working of miracles, and 
 the production of these prodigies required no 
 extraordinary degree of de.\terity in an age of 
 such gross and universal ignorance. 
 
 II. Few, either of the Greeks or Latins, ap- 
 plied themselves to the interpretation of the 
 Scriptures during this century. There are yet 
 extant some commentaries of Isychius, bishop 
 of Jerusalem, upon certain books of the Old 
 Testament, and upon the Epistle to the He- 
 brews. Maximus published a solution of sixty- 
 five questions relating to the Scriptures, and 
 other productions of the same nature. .Julian 
 Pomerius attempted, but without success, to 
 reconcile the seeming contradictions that are 
 to be found in the sacred writings, and to ex- 
 plain the prophecy of Nahum. All these wri- 
 ters were manifestly inferior to the meanest ex- 
 positors of modern times. The Grecian doc- 
 tors, particularly those who pretended to be 
 initiated in the most mysterious depths of theo- 
 logy, were continually hunting after fantastic 
 allegories, as is evident from the Questions of 
 Maximus already mentioned. The Latins, on 
 the contrary, were so diffident of their abili- 
 ties, that they did not dare to enter these alle- 
 gorical labyrinths, but contented themselves 
 with what flowers they could pluck out of the 
 rich collections of Gregory and Augustin. Of 
 this we see a manifest example in Paterius' 
 Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 
 which is entirely compiled from the writings of 
 Gregory the Great.* Among the interpreters 
 of this century, we must not forget Thomas, 
 bishop of Heraclea, who gave a second Syriac 
 version of the New Testament. ■( 
 
 III. While philosophy and theology had 
 scarcely any remains of life, any marks of ex- 
 istence among the Latins, the Greeks were 
 wholly occupied with fruitless controversies 
 about particular branches of religion, and did 
 not think of reducing all the doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity into one regular and rational system. 
 It is true, Antiochus, a monk of Palestine, com- 
 posed a short summary of the Christian doc- 
 trine, which he entitled, the Pandect of the 
 Holy Scriptures. It is, however, easy to per- 
 ceive what sort of an author he was, how void 
 of dignity and true judgment, from many cir- 
 cumstances, and particularly from that rueful 
 poem which is subjoined to his work; in. which 
 he deplores, in lamentable strains, the loss of 
 that precious fragment of the true cross, whicli 
 is said to have been carried away, by the Per- 
 sians, among other spoils. The most elegant 
 and judicious summary of theology that ap- 
 peared among the Latins in this century, was 
 the treatise of Ildefonso, de Cognitione Bap- 
 tism!, which was saved by Baluze from the 
 ruins of time; a work, indeed, which is not 
 extremely necessary, since the ignoble frauds 
 of superstition have been so fully brought to 
 light, though it contains remarkable proofs, 
 that many of the corrupt inventions and prac- 
 tices, which disfigure Christianity in the popish 
 
 * This useless produclion has been usually published 
 with the works of Gregory the Great; in cousequence 
 of which, the Benedictine monks have inserted it in their 
 splendid edition of the works of that pontiff, torn. iv. 
 part n. 
 
 t Assemani Bibliolh. Orient. Vatican, torn. ii. p. 93,94. 
 
 churches, were not contrived till after this pe- 
 riod.* The dry and insipid body of divinity 
 composed by Taio, or Tago, bishop of Sara- 
 gossa, under the title of Five Books of Sen- 
 tences, and compiled from the writings of Gre- 
 gory and Augustin, is scarcely worthy of men- 
 tion, though, in this century, it was considered 
 as an admirable and immortal work.f 
 
 Several particular branches of doctrine were 
 treated by the theological writers of this age: 
 thus Maximus wrote of the nature of Theolo- 
 gy, and the Manifestation of the Son in the 
 Flesh, and also upon the Two Natures in Christ; 
 and Theodore Raithu composed a treatise con- 
 cerning Christ's Incarnation. But a small ac- 
 quaintance with the state of learning and reli- 
 gion at this period, will enable us to form a 
 just, though disadvantageous idea of the merit 
 of these performances, and also of their au- 
 thors. 
 
 IV. The moral writers of this century, and 
 their miserable productions, show too plainly 
 to what a wretched state that noble and impor- 
 tant science was now reduced. Among these 
 moralists, the first rank is due to Dorotheus 
 (author of tlie Ascetic Dissertations,) Maxi- 
 mus, Aldhelm, Hesychius, Thalassius, and 
 some others: yet, even in their productions, 
 what grovelling notions do we find! what rub- 
 bish, what a heap of superstitious fancies! and 
 how many marks of extravagance, perplexity, 
 and doubt! Besides, the laity had little reason 
 to complain of the severity of their moral di- 
 rectors, whose custom it was to reduce all the 
 obligations of Christianity to the practice of a 
 small number of virtues, as appears from Aid- 
 helm's Treatise concerning the eight principal 
 Virtues. Nor was the neglect of these duties 
 attended with such penalties as were proper to 
 restrain offenders. The false notions also, 
 which prevailed in this age, tended much to 
 diminish a just sense of the nature and obliga- 
 tion of virtue; for the solitude of the monastic 
 life, though accompanied with no marks of 
 solid and genuine piety, was deemed sufficient 
 to atone for all sorts of crimes, and was there- 
 fore honoured among the Latins with the title 
 of the second baptism; which circmnstance 
 alone may serve to show us the miserable state 
 of Christianity at this time. The greatest part 
 of the Grecian and Oriental monks laboured 
 to arrive at a state of perfection by mere con- 
 templation, and studiously endeavoured to form 
 their tempers and characters after the model 
 of Dionysius, the chief of the Mystics. 
 
 V. Theodore of Tarsus, a Grecian monk, 
 restored among the Latins the. discipline of 
 penance, as it is commonly termed, which had 
 been for a long time almost totally neglected, 
 and enforced it by a body of severe laws bor- 
 
 * See Baluzii Miscellanea, torn. vi. p. 1. From the 
 work of Ildefonso it appears evident, that the monstrous 
 doctrine of Transubstantiation was absolutely unknown 
 to the Latins in this century, and that the Scriptures were 
 in the hands of all Christians, and were perused by them 
 without the least molestation or restraint. Ildefonso, it 
 is true, is zealous for banishing reason and philosophy 
 from religious matters; he, however, establishes the 
 Scriptures, and the writings of the ancient doctors, a» 
 the supreme tribunals before which all theological opin- 
 ions are to be tried, p. 14, 22. 
 
 f See MabilloD's AnalecU veteris .^^vi, torn. ii. p. 6* 
 
182 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 r*ART II. 
 
 rowed from the Grecian canons. This zealous 
 prelate, being raised beyond his expectation to 
 the see of Canterbury, in 668, formed and exe- 
 cuted several pious and laudable projects; and, 
 among other things, reduced to a regular sci- 
 ence that branch of ecclesiastical law, which 
 is known by the name of penitential discipline. 
 He published a Penitential, which was entirely 
 new to the Latin world, by which the clergy 
 were taught to distinguish sins into various 
 classes, according as they were more or less 
 heinous, private or public; to judge of them, 
 and determine the degrees of their guilt by 
 their nature and consequences, by the intention 
 of the offender, the time and place in which 
 they were committed, and the circumstances 
 with which they were attended. This new 
 Penitential contained also the methods of pro- 
 ceeding with respect to offenders; pointed out 
 the penalties that were suitable to the various 
 classes of transgressions; prescribed the forms 
 of consolation, exhortation, and absolution; 
 and described, in an ample and accurate man- 
 ner, the duties and obligations of those who 
 were to receive the confessions of the penitent.* 
 This new discipline, though of Grecian origin, 
 was eagerly adopted by the Latin churches; 
 and, in a short space of time, passed from Bri- 
 tain into all the western provinces, where the 
 book of Theodore became the model of all 
 other penitentials, and was multiplied in a vast 
 number of copies. The duration of this dis- 
 cipline was transitory; for, in the eighth cen- 
 tury, it began to decline, and was, at length, 
 entirely supplanted by what was called the new 
 canon of indulgences. 
 
 VI. The doctors who opposed the various 
 sects are scarcely worthy of mention, and would 
 still less deserve an attentive perusal, did not 
 their writings contribute to illustrate the histo- 
 ry of the times in which they lived. Nicias 
 composed two books against the Gentiles; and 
 Photius informs us, that a certain writer, whose 
 name is unknown, embarked in the same con- 
 troversy, and supported the good cause by a 
 prodigious number of arguments drawn from 
 ancient records and monuments, f Julian Po- 
 merius exerted his polemic talent against the 
 Jews. The views of Timotheus were yet more 
 extensive; for he gave an ample description 
 and a laboured confutation of all the various 
 heresies that divided the church, in his book 
 concerning the reception of Heretics. 
 
 As to the dissensions of the catholic Chris- 
 tians among themselves, they produced, at this 
 time, few or no events worthy of mention. — 
 We shall, therefore, only observe, that in this 
 century were sown the seeds of those fatal dis- 
 cords, which rent asunder the bonds of Chris- 
 tian communion between the Greek and Latin 
 churches: indeed, these seeds had already taken 
 root in the minds of the Greeks, to whom the 
 Roman power became insupportable, and the 
 pretensions of the sovereign pontiff odious. 
 
 * The Penitential of Theodore is yet extant, though 
 maimed and imperfect, in an edition published at Paris in 
 1679, by Petit, and enriched with learned dissertations 
 and notes of the editor. We have also the cxx Capitula 
 Eeclesiastica Theodori, published in the Spicilegium of 
 M- d'Achery,and in the Concilia Harduini. 
 
 { BibliotU. cod. clxx. p. 379. 
 
 In Britain, warm controversies concerning 
 baptism and the tonsure, and particularly the 
 famous dispute concerning the time of celebrat- 
 ing the Easter festival, were carried on between 
 the ancient Britons, and the new converts to 
 Christianity, which Augustin had made among 
 the Anglo-Saxons.* The fimdamental doc- 
 trines of Christianity were not at all afiected 
 by these controversies, which, on that account, 
 were more innocent, and less important than 
 they would have otherwise been. Besides, 
 they were entirely terminated in the eighth 
 century, in favour of the Anglo-Saxons, by the 
 Benedictine monks, f 
 
 CHAPTER IV. ' 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 
 Church during this Century. 
 
 I. In the council of Constantinople, which 
 was called Q,uinisextum,X the Greeks enacted 
 several laws concerning the ceremonies that 
 were to be observed in divine worship, which 
 rendered their ritual, in some respects, different 
 from that of the Romans. These laws were 
 publicly received by all the churches, which 
 were established in the dominions of the Gre- 
 cian emperors; and also by those which were 
 joined with them in communion and doctrine, 
 though under the civil jurisdiction of barba- 
 rian princes. Nor was this all: for every Ro- 
 man pontiff added something new to the an- 
 cient rites and institutions, as if each supposed 
 it to be an essential mark of zeal for religion, 
 and of a pious discharge of the ministerial 
 functions, to divert the multitude with new 
 shews and new spectacles of devout mumme- 
 ry. These superstitious inventions were, in 
 the time of Charlemagne, propagated from 
 Rome among the other Latin churches, whose 
 subjection to the Roman ritual was necessary 
 to satisfy the ambitious demands of the lordly 
 pontiff. 
 
 II. It will not be improper to select here a 
 few, out of the many instances we could pro- 
 duce of the multiplication of religious rites in 
 this century. The number of festivals under 
 which the church already groaned, was now 
 augmented; a new festival was instituted in 
 honour of the true cross on which Christ suf- 
 fered, and another in commemoration of the 
 Saviour's ascension into heaven. Boniface V. 
 
 * Cummani Epistola in Jac. Usserii Sylloge Epistolar. 
 Hibernicar. p. 23. — Bedae Historia Ecclesiast. gentis An- 
 glor. lib. iii. cap. xxv.— Wilkins' Concilia Magnae Bri- 
 tann. torn. i. p. 37, 42. — Acta Sanctor. Februar. torn. iii. 
 p. 21, 84. QtJ' See also Dr. Warner's Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory of England, books ii. and iii. This history, which 
 has lately appeared, deserves the highest applause, on ac- 
 count of the noble spirit of liberty, candour, and modera- 
 tion, that seems to have guided the pen of the judicious 
 author. It is, at the same time, to be wished, that thi, 
 elegant historian had less avoided citing authorities, and 
 been a little more lavish of that erudition which he C 
 known to possess: f»r then, after having surpassed Collie 
 in all other respects, he would have equalled him in tha' 
 depth of learning, which is the only meritorious circum- 
 stance of his partial and disagreeable history. 
 
 t Mabillon, Pra:f. ad Ssc. iii. Benedictinum, P- 'i- 
 dip- See also Dr. Warner's Ecclesiastical Hist, book iii. 
 
 QQ~ \ This council was called Q^uinisextum, from iti 
 being considered as a supplement to the fifth and sixth 
 councils of Constantinople, in which nothing had beea 
 decreed concerning the morals of Christians, or religiout 
 ceremonies. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 183 
 
 enacted that infamous law, by which the 
 churches became places of refuge to all who 
 fled thither for protection; a law which procur- 
 ed a sort of impunity to tlie most enormous 
 crimes, and gave indulgence to the licentious- 
 ness of the most abandoned profligates. Ho- 
 norius employed all his diligence and zeal in 
 embellishing churches, and other consecrated 
 places, with the most pompous and magnifi 
 cent ornaments; for, as neither Christ nor his 
 apostles had left any injunctions of this nature 
 to their followers, their pretended vicar thought 
 it but just to supply this defect by the most 
 splendid display of his ostentatious beneficence. 
 We shall pass in silence the richness and va- 
 riety of the sacerdotal garments that were now 
 used at the celebration of the eucharist, and in 
 the performance of divine worship, as this 
 would lead us into a tedious detail of minute 
 and unimportant matters. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Concerning the Divisions and Heresies that trou- 
 bled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The Greeks were engaged, during this 
 century, in the most bitter and virulent con- 
 troversy with the Paulicians of Armenia, and 
 the adjacent countries, whom they considered 
 as a branch of the Manichean sect. This dis- 
 pute was carried to the greatest height under 
 the reigns of Constans, Constantino Pogonatus, 
 and Justinian II.; and the Greeks were not 
 only armed with arguments, but were also aid- 
 ed by the force of military legions, and the ter- 
 ror of penal laws. A certain person, whose 
 name was Constantine, revived, under the 
 reign of Constans, the drooping faction of the 
 Paulicians, now ready to expire; and propa- 
 gated with great success its pestilential* doc- 
 trines. But this is not the place to enlarge 
 upon the tenets and history of this sect, whose 
 origin is attributed to Paul and John, two 
 brothers, who revived and modified the doc- 
 trine of Manes. As it was in the ninth cen- 
 tury that the Paulicians flourished most, and 
 acquired strength sulficient to support the ri- 
 gours of an open and cruel war with the Greeks, 
 we shall reserve a more particular account of 
 them for our history of that period. 
 
 II. In Italy, the Lombards preferred the 
 opinions of the Arians to the doctrine which 
 was established by the coimcil of Nice. In 
 Gaul and in England, the Pelagian and Semi- 
 Pelagian controversies continued to excite the 
 warmest animosities and dissensions. In the 
 eastern provinces, the ancient sects, which had 
 been weakened and oppressed by the imperial 
 laws, but not extirpated or destroyed, began 
 in many places to raise their heads, to recover 
 their vigour, and gain proselytes. The terror 
 of penal laws had obliged them, for sometime, 
 to seek safety in obscurity, and therefore to 
 conceal their opinions from the public eye; but, 
 as soon as they saw the fury or the power of 
 their adversaries diminish, their hopes return- 
 ed, and their courage was renewed. 
 
 * Photius, lib. i. contra Maoich. p. 61. — Petri Siculi 
 Historia Manich, p. 41. — Georg. Cedrenus, Compfnd. 
 Hist. 
 
 III. The condition, both of the Nestorians 
 and Monophysites, was much more flourishing 
 under the Saracens, who had now become lords 
 of the east, than it had been hitherto under 
 the Christian emperors, or even the Persian 
 monarchs. These two sects met with a distin- 
 guished protection from their new masters, 
 while the Greeks suiTered under the same 
 sceptre all the rigours of persecution and ban- 
 ishment. Jesuiabas, the sovereign pontiflT of 
 the Nestorians, concluded a treaty, fiist with 
 Mohammed, and afterwards with Omar, by 
 which he obtained many signal advantages for 
 his sect.* There is yet extant a testamentary 
 diploma of the pseudo-prophet, in which he 
 promises and bequeaths to the Christians, in 
 his dominions, the quiet and undisturbed en 
 joyment of their religion, together with their 
 temporal advantages and possessions. Some 
 learned men have, indeed, called in question 
 the authenticity of this deed; it is, however, 
 certain, that the Mohammedans unanimously 
 acknowledge it to be genuine. f Accordingly, 
 the successors of Mohanuned in Persia em- 
 ployed the Nestorians in the most important 
 affairs, both of the cabinet and of the provin- 
 ces, and suSered the patriarch of that sect 
 alone to reside in the kingdom of Bagdad. J 
 The Monophysites enjoyed in Syria and Egypt 
 an equal degree of favour and protection. — 
 Amrou, having made himself master of Alex- 
 andria, in 644, fixed Benjamin, the pontiff of 
 
 * Asscmani Biblioth. Orient. Vatican, torn. iii. part ii. 
 
 94. 
 
 I This famous Testament was brought from the east id 
 the seventeenth century, by Pacificus Scaliger, a Capu- 
 chin monk, and was published first in Arabic and Latin 
 at Paris, by Gabriel Sionita, in 1630; afterwards in Latin 
 by the learned Fabricius, in 1638; and also by Hinckelman, 
 in 1690. See Henr. Hottinger. Hist. Orient, lib. ii. cap. 
 XX. p. 237. — Assemani Biblioth. torn. iii. part ii. p. 95; 
 and Renaudot, Histor. Patriarchar. Alexandr. p. 168. — 
 They who, in conformity with the opinion of Grolius, 
 reject this testament, suppose it to have been forged by 
 the Syrian and Arabian monks, with a view to soften the 
 Mohammedan yoke under which they groaned, and to 
 render their despotic masters less severe. Nor is this 
 representation of the matter at all incredible; for it l» 
 certain, that the monks of mount Sinai formerly shewed 
 an edict attributed to Mohammed, of the same nature 
 with the one now under consideration, which they pre- 
 tend was drawn up by him while he was yet in a private 
 station. This edict was extremely advantageous to them, 
 and was, undoubtedly, an artful piece of forgery. The 
 fraud was plain; but the Moslems, in consequence of 
 their ignorance and stupidity, believed it to be a genuine 
 production of their chief, and continue still in the same 
 opinion. There is an account of this fraud given by 
 Cantemir, in his Histoire de I'Empire Ottoman, torn. ii. 
 p. 269. The argument therefore which Renaudot and 
 others draw in favour of the testament in question, from 
 the acknowledgement which the Mohammedans make of 
 its authenticity, is of little or no weight, since those infi- 
 dels of all others are the most liable to be deceived in 
 things of this nature, by their gross and unparalleled ig- 
 norance. On the other hand, several of the argumenlf 
 used by those who deny its authenticity, arc equally un- 
 satisfactory; that, particularly, which is drawn from the 
 difference between the style of this deed and that of the 
 Koran, proves absolutely nothing at all, since it is not es- 
 sential to the genuineness of this testament to suppose it 
 penned by Rlohammcd himself, because the impostor 
 might have employed a secretary to compose it. But, 
 whether it be genuine or spurious, it is certain that its 
 contents were true, since many learned men have fully 
 proved, that the pseudo-prophet, at his first setting out, 
 prohibited, in the «trougest manner, the commission of 
 all sorts of injuries against the Christians, and especially 
 the Nestorians. 
 
 JAsseman, p. 97.— Benaud. Histor. Patriarch. Alei- 
 andr. p. 163, 169. 
 
184 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the Monophysites, in the episcopal residence 
 of that noble city; and, from this period, the 
 Melchites* were without a bishop for almost a 
 whole century. t 
 
 IV. Though the Greek church was already 
 torn asunder by the most lamentable divisions, 
 yet its calamities were far from being- at an end. 
 A new sect arose, in 630, under the reign of 
 the emperor Heraclius, which, in a short course 
 of time, excited such violent commotions, as 
 engaged the eastern and western churclies to 
 unite their forces" in order to its extinction. 
 The source of this tumult was an unseasona- 
 ble plan of peace and union. Heraclius, con- 
 sidering, with pain, the detriment which the 
 Grecian empire had suffered by the emigration 
 of the persecuted Nestorians, and their settle- 
 ment in Persia, was ardently desirous of re- 
 uniting the Monophysites to the bosom of the 
 Greek church, lest the empire should receive a 
 new wound by their departure from it. He 
 therefore held a conference daring the Persian 
 war, in 622, with Paul, a man of great credit 
 and authority among the Armenian Monophy- 
 Bites; and another, at Hierapolis, in 629, with 
 Athanasius, the Catholic or bishop of that sect, 
 upon the methods that seemed most proper to 
 restore tranquillity and concord to a divided 
 church. Both these persons assured the em- 
 peror, that they who maintained the doctrine 
 of one nature might be induced to receive the 
 decrees of the council of Chalcedon, and there- 
 by to terminate their controversy with the 
 Greeks, provided that the latter would give 
 their assent to the truth of the following pro- [ 
 position, namely, that in Jesus Christ there ex- 
 isted, after the union of the two natures, but 
 one will, and one operation. Heraclius com- 
 municated this suggestion to Sergius, patriarch 
 of Constantinople, who was a Syrian by birth, 
 and whose parents adhered to the doctrine of 
 the Monophysites. This prelate gave it as his 
 opinion, that the doctrine of one will and one 
 operation, after the union of the two natures, 
 might be safely adopted without the least inju- 
 ry to truth, or the smallest detriment to the 
 authority of the council of Chalcedon. In con- 
 sequence of this, the emperor published an 
 edict, in 630, in favour of that doctrine, and 
 hoped, by this act of authority, to restore 
 peace and concord, both in church and state. J 
 
 V. The first reception of this new project 
 was promising, and things seemed to go on 
 smoothly; for, though some ecclesiastics re- 
 fused to submit to the imperial edict, Cyrus and 
 Athanasius, the patriarchs of Alexandria and 
 Antioch, received it without hesitation; and the 
 see of Jerusalem was at that time vacant. § As 
 to the Roman pontiff, he was entirely overlook- 
 
 {(ij- * The Melchites were those Christians in Syria, 
 Egypt, and the Levant, who, though not Greeks, follow- 
 ed the doctrines and ceremonies of the Greek church. 
 They were called Melchites, i. e. Royalists, by their ad- 
 versaries, by way of reproach, on account of their im- 
 plicit submission to the edict oi' the emperor Marcian, in 
 favour of the council of Chalcedon. 
 
 f Renaud. Hist. Patriarch. Alexandr. p. 168. 
 
 } The authors, who have written of this sect, are men- 
 tioned by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, in his Biblioth. Grsec. vol. 
 T. p. 204. The account which I have here given is drawn 
 from the fountain head, and is supported by the best au- 
 thorities. 
 
 § See Lequien Oriens Chri»tianu», torn. iii. p. 264. 
 
 ed in the matter, as his consent was not deem- 
 ed necessary in an affair that related only to 
 the eastern church. In the mean time, Cyrus, 
 who had been promoted by Heraclius from the 
 see of Pliasis to that of Alexandria, assembled 
 a council, by the seventh decree of which, the 
 doctrine of Monothelitism, or one will, which 
 the emperor had introduced by the edict alrea- 
 dy mentioned, was solemnly confirmed. This 
 new modification of the doctrine of the coun- 
 cil of Chalcedon, which seemed to bring it 
 nearer to the Eutychian system, had the desired 
 effect upon the Monothelites, and induced great 
 numbers of them, who were dispersed in Egypt, 
 Armenia, and other remote provinces, to re- 
 turn into the bosom of the church. They, 
 however, explained the perplexed and ambigu- 
 ous doctrine of one will in Christ, in a manner 
 peculiar to theinselves, and not quite confor- 
 mable to the true principles of their sect. 
 
 VI. This smiling prospect of peace and con- 
 cord was, however, but transitory, and was un- 
 happily succeeded by the most dreadful tu- 
 mults, excited by a monk of Palestine, whose 
 name was Sophronius. This monk, being pre- 
 sent at the council assembled at Alexandria by 
 Cyrus, in 633, had violently opposed the de- 
 cree, which confirmed the doctrine of one will 
 in Christ. His opposition, which was then 
 treated with contempt, became more formidable 
 in the following year; when, raised to the pa- 
 triarchal see of Jerusalem, he summoned a coun- 
 cil, in which the Monothehtes were condemn- 
 ed as heretics, who had revived and propagated 
 the Eutychian errors concerning the mixture 
 and confusion of the two natures in Christ. 
 Multitudes, alarmed at the cry of heresy raised 
 by this seditious monk, adopted his sentiments; 
 but it was Honorius, the Roman pontiff, that 
 he laboured principally to gain over to his side. 
 His efforts, however, were vain: for Sergius, 
 the patriarch of Constantinople, having inform- 
 ed Honorius, by a long and artful letter, of 
 the true state of the question, determined that 
 pontiff in favour of the doctrine, which main- 
 tained one will and one operation in Christ.* 
 Hence arose those obstinate contests, which 
 rent the church into two sects, and the state 
 into two factions. 
 
 VII. In order to put an end to these com- 
 motions, Heraclius promulgated, in 639, the 
 famous edict composed by Sergius, and called 
 the Ecthesis, or exposition of the faith, by 
 which all controversies upon the question, 
 whether in Christ there were two operations, or 
 
 * The Roman catholic writers have employed all their 
 art and industry to represent the conduct of Honorius in 
 such a manner, as to save his pretended infallibility from 
 the charge of error in a question of such importance. 
 (See, among others, Harduin, de Sacramento Altaris, 
 published in his Opera Selecta, p. 255.) And, indeed, it 
 is easy to find both matter of accusation and defence in 
 the case of tliis pontiff. On one hand, it would appear 
 that he himself knew not his own sentiments, nor at- 
 tached any precise and definite meaning to the expres- 
 sions he used in the course of this controversy. On the 
 other hand, it is certain, that he gave it as his opinion, 
 that in Christ there existed only one will and one opera- 
 tion. It was for this that he was condemned in the coun- 
 cil of Constantinople; and he must consequently have 
 been a heretic, if it is true, that general councils cannot 
 err. See Bossuet's Defence of the Declaration made by 
 the Gallican Clergy, in the year 1682, concerning Eccle- 
 siastical Power; and also Basnage, torn. i. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 185 
 
 only one, were strictly prohibited, though in 
 the same edict the doctrine of one will was 
 plainly inculcated. A considerable number of 
 the eastern bishops declared their assent to this 
 new law, which was also submissively received 
 by their chief Pyrrhus, who, on the death of 
 Sergius in 639, was raised to the see of Con- 
 stantinople. In the west, the case was quite 
 different. John, the fourth pontiff of that 
 name, assembled a council at Rome in 639, in 
 which the Ecthesis was rejected, and the Mo- 
 nothelites were condemned. Nor was this all: 
 for, in the progress of this contest, a new edict, 
 known by the name of Type or Formiilanj, was 
 published in 648 by the emperor Constans, by 
 the advice of Paul of Constantinople,* by 
 which the Ecthesis was suppressed, and the 
 contending parties were commanded to termi- 
 nate their disputes concerning one will and one 
 operation in Christ, by observing a profound 
 silence upon that difficult and ambiguous sub- 
 ject. This silence, so wisely commanded in a 
 matter which it was impossible to determine to 
 the satisfaction of the contending parties, ap- 
 peared highly criminal to the angry and con- 
 tentious monks. They, therefore, excited 
 Martin, bishop of Rome, to oppose his authori- 
 ty to an edict which hindered them from pro- 
 pagating strife and contention in tlie church; 
 and their importunities had the desired effect; 
 for this prelate, in a comicil of a hundred and 
 five bishops assembled at Rome, in 649, con- 
 demned both the Ecthesis and the Type, though 
 without any mention of the names of the em- 
 perors who had published those edicts, and 
 thujidered out the most dreadful anathemas 
 against the Monothelites and their patrons, 
 who were solemnly consigned to the devil and 
 his angels. 
 
 VIII. The emperor Constans, justly irritated 
 at these haughty and impudent proceedings of 
 Martin, who treated the imperial laws with 
 such contempt, ordered him to be seised and 
 carried into the isle of Naxos, where he was 
 kept prisoner a whole year. This order, which 
 was followed by inuch cruel treatment, was 
 executed by Calliopas, exarch of Italy, in 650; 
 and, at the same time, Majtimus, the ring- 
 leader of the seditious monks, was banished to 
 Bizyca; and other rioters of the same tribe 
 were differently punished in proportion to the 
 part they had acted in this rebellion. These 
 resolute procccdiiig-s rendered Eiigenius and 
 Vilalianus, tlie su(;cceding bishops of Rome, 
 more moderate and prudent than their prede- 
 cessor had been; especially the latter, who re- 
 ceived Constans, on his arrival at Rome in 663, 
 with the highest marks of distinction and re- 
 spect, and used the wisest precautions to pre- 
 vent the flame of that unhappy controversy 
 from breaking out a second time. And thus, 
 for several years, it seemed to be extinguished; 
 but it was so only in appearance; it was a lurk- 
 ing flame, which spread itself secretly, and 
 
 OtT" » It is proper to observe here, that Paul, wlio was 
 B Moirothclite in his heart, and hail maintained the F,r- 
 thesis with great zeal, devised this prudent measure Hitli 
 ttvicw to appea<c the Roman pontiff and the African 
 bishops, who were incensed against him to the highest 
 degree, on account of his attachment to the doclriue of 
 one will. 
 
 Vol. I.— 24 
 
 gave reason, to those who examined things 
 with attention, to dread new commotions both 
 in church and state. To prevent these, C^n- 
 stantine Pogonatus, the son of Constans, in 
 pursuance of the advice of Agatho,the Roman 
 pontift', summoned, in 680, the sixth oecumeni- 
 cal or general council, in which he permitted 
 the Monothelites, and pope Honorius himself, 
 to be solemnly condemned in presence of the 
 Roman legates, who represented Agatho in 
 tliat assembly, and confirmed the sentence pro- 
 nounced by the council, by the sanction of 
 penal laws enacted against such as should dare 
 to oppose it. 
 
 IX. It is difficult to give a clear and accu- 
 rate accoimt of the sentiments of those who 
 were called Monothelites; nor is it easy to 
 point out the objections of their adversaries. 
 Neither of the contending parties express 
 themselves consistently with what seem to 
 have been their respective opinions; and they 
 botli disavow the errors with which they re- 
 ciprocally charge each other. The following 
 observations contain the clearest notion we can 
 form of the state of this subtile controversy. 
 1. The Monothelites declared, that they had 
 no connexion with the Eutychians and Mono- 
 physites; but maintained, in opposition to these 
 two sects, that in Christ there were two distinct 
 natures, which were so united, though without 
 the least mixture or confusion, as to form by 
 their union only one person: 2. They ac- 
 knowledged that the soul of Christ was en- 
 dowed with a will, or faculty of volition, 
 which it still retained after its union with the 
 divine nature; for they taught that Christ was 
 not only perfbct God, but also perfect man; 
 whence it followed, that his soul was endowed 
 with the faculty of volition: 3, Tliey denied 
 that this faculty of volition in the soul of 
 Christ was absolutely inactive, maintaining, 
 on the contrary, that it co-operated with the 
 divine will: 4. They, therefore, in effect, at- 
 tributed to our Lord two wills, and these, 
 moreover, operating and active: 5. They, how- 
 ever, aftlrmed, that, in a certain sense, only 
 one will and one manner of operation were in 
 Christ. 
 
 X. We must not indeed imagine, that all, 
 who were distinguished by the title of Mono- 
 tiielites, were unanimous in tlieir sentiments 
 with respect to the points now mentioned. 
 Some, as appears from undoubted testimonies, 
 meant no more than this, that the two wills in 
 Christ were one, i. e. in perfect harmony; that 
 the human will was in perpetual conformity 
 with the divine, and wa.s, consequently, always 
 holy, just, and good; in whicli opinion there 
 is notiiing reprehensible. Otliers, more nearly 
 ap|)roaching the sentiment of the Monophy- 
 sites, imagined that the two wills or faculties 
 of volition in Christ were blended into one, 
 in that which they called tlie personal iinion: 
 acknowledging, at tlie same time, that the dis- 
 tinction between these wills was perceivable 
 by reason, and that it was also necessary to 
 distinguish carefully in this matter. The great- 
 est part of this sect, and lliose who were also 
 the most remarkable for their subtilty and 
 penetration, were of opinion, that the human 
 will of Christ was the instriunent of the di- 
 
186 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 vine; or, in other words, never operated or 
 acted of itself, but was always ruled, influenc- 
 ed, and impelled by the divine will; in such a 
 manner, however, that, when it was once set 
 in motion, it decreed and operated with the 
 ruling principle. The doctrine of one will, 
 and of one operation in Christ, which the Mo- 
 nothelites maintained with such invincible ob- 
 stinacy, was a natural consequence of this hy- 
 pothesis, since the operation of an instrument 
 and of the being who employs it, is one simple 
 operation, and not two distinct operations or 
 energies. According to this view of things, 
 the Eutychian doctrine was quite out of the 
 question; and the only point of controversy to 
 be determined, was, whether the human will 
 in Christ was a self-moving faculty determined 
 by its own internal impulse, or derived all its 
 motion and operations from the divine. 
 r" In the mean time, we may learn from this 
 I controversy, that nothing is more precarious, 
 and nothing more dangerous and deceitful, 
 than the religious peace and concord which 
 are founded upon ambiguous doctrines, and 
 cemented by obscure and equivocal proposi- 
 tions, or articles of faith. The partisans of 
 the coimcil of Chalcedon endeavoured to en- 
 snare the Monophysites, by proposing their 
 doctrine m a manner that admitted a double 
 explication; and, by this imprudent piece of 
 cunning, which showed so little reverence for 
 the truth, they involved both the church and 
 state in tedious and lamentable divisions. 
 
 XI. The doctrine of the Monothelites, con- 
 demned and exploded by the council of Con- 
 stantinople, found a place of refuge among the 
 Mardaites, a people who inhabited the mounts 
 Libanus and Anti-Libanus, and who, about the 
 conclusion of this century, were called Maron- 
 ites, from Maro their first bishop, a name which 
 they still retain. No ancient writers give any 
 certain account of the first person who instruct- 
 ed these mountaineers in the doctrine of the 
 Monothelites; it is probable, hovirever, from 
 several circumstances, that it was John Maro, 
 whose name they liad adopted.* One thing, 
 indeed, we know, with the utmost certainty, 
 from the testimony of Tyrius and other unex- 
 ceptionable witnesses, as also from the most 
 authentic records, — that the Maronites retain- 
 ed the opinions of the Monothelites until the 
 twelfth century, when, abandoning and re- 
 nouncing the doctrine of one will in Christ, 
 they were re-admitted, in 1 182, to the commu- 
 nion of .the Romish church. The most learn- 
 ed of the modern Maronites have left no me- 
 thod unemployed to defend their church against 
 this accusation; they have laboured to prove, 
 by a variety of testimonies, that their ances- 
 tors always persevered in the Catholic faith and 
 in their attachment to the pope, without ever 
 adopting the doctrines, either of the Mono- 
 physites or Monothelites. But all their efforts 
 are insufficient to prove the truth of these as- 
 
 * This ecclesiastic received the uauie of Maro, from his 
 having lived in the character of a monk in the famous con- 
 vent of St. Maro, upon the borders of the Orontes, be- 
 fore his settlement among the Mardaites. For an ample 
 account of this prelate, sec Assemani Biblioth. Orient. 
 Clement. Vatic, lorn. i. p. 496. 
 
 sertions to such as have any acquaintance with 
 the history of the church, and the records of 
 ancient times; for, to all such, the testimonies 
 they allege will appear absolutely fictitious and 
 destitute of authority.* 
 
 XII. Neither the sixth general council, in 
 which the Monothelites were condemned, nor 
 the fifth, which had been assembled in the pre- 
 ceding century, had determined any thing con- 
 cerning ecclesiastical discipline, or religious 
 ceremonies. To supply this defect, a new 
 episcopal assembly was holden in pursuance of 
 the order of Justinian II. in a spacious hall of 
 the imperial palace called Trullus, i. e. Cupola, 
 from the form of the building. This coimcil, 
 which met in 692, was called Quinisextiun, as 
 we had occasion to observe formerly, from its 
 being considered, by the Greeks, as a supple- 
 ment to the fifth and sixth oecumenical coun- 
 cils, and as having given to the acts of these 
 assemblies the degree of perfection which they 
 had hitherto wanted. There are yet extant a 
 hmidred and two laws, which were enacted in 
 this coimcil, and which related to the external 
 celebration of divine worship, the government 
 of the church, and the lives and maimers of 
 Christians. Six of these are diametrically 
 opposite to several opinions and rites of the 
 Romish church; for which reason the pontiffs 
 have refused to adopt, without restriction, the 
 decisions of this council, or to reckon it in the 
 number of those called oecumenical, though 
 they consider the greatest part of its decrees as 
 worthy of applause, f 
 
 * The cause of the Maronites has been pleaded by the 
 writers of that nation, such as Abraham Ecchellensis, Ga- 
 briel Sionita, and others; but the most ample defence of 
 their uninterrupted orthodoxy was made by Faustus Nai- 
 ron, partly in his Dissertatio de Origiue, Nomine, ac Re- 
 ligione Marouitarum, published at Rome in 1679, and 
 partly in his Euoplia Fidei Catholicse ex Syrorum et 
 Chaldaiorum Mouumentis, published in 1694. None of 
 the learned, however, appeared to be persuaded by his ar- 
 guments, except Pagi [*] andLa Rocque, of whom the lat- 
 ter has given us, in his Voyage de Syrie et de Mont-Li- 
 ban, torn. ii. p. 28 — 128, a long dissertation concerning 
 the origin of the Maronites. Even the learned Assema- 
 nus, himself a Marouite, and who has spared no pains to 
 defend his nation [t] against the reproach in question, inge- 
 nuously ackuowledges, that among the arguments used by 
 Nairon and others in favour of the Maronites, there are 
 many destitute of force. See Jo. Morinus, de Ordinat. 
 Sacris, p. 380. — Rich. Simon, Histoire Critique des Chre- 
 tiens Orientaux, chap. xiii. p. 146. — Euseb. Renaudot, 
 Historia Patriarchar. Alexaudrinor. p. 179., and Fraf. ad 
 Liturgias Orientales. — Le Brun, Explication de laMesse, 
 torn. li. The arguments of the contending parties are 
 enumerated impartially, in such a manner as leaves the 
 decision to the reader, by Le Q,uien, in his Oriens Chris- 
 tiauus, torn. iii. 
 
 t See Franc. Pagi Breviar. Fontif. Roman, torn. i. p. 
 486., and Christ. Lupus, Dissertat. de Concilio Trulliano, 
 in Notis et Dissertat. ad Concilia, tom. iii. op. p. 168. — 
 The Roman Catholics reject the following decisions of 
 this council: — 1. The fifth canon, which approves the 
 eighty-five apostolical canons commonly attributed to 
 Clement: — 2. The thirteenth, which allows the priests to 
 marry: — 3. The fifty-fifth, which condemns the Sabbath 
 fast, that was an institution of the Latin church: — 4. The 
 sixty-seventh, which prescribes the most rigorous absti- 
 nence from blood and things strangled: — 5. The eighty- 
 second, which prohibits the representing of Christ under 
 the image of a lamb: — 6. The thirty-sixth, concerning 
 the equal rank and authority of the bishops of Rome and 
 Constantinople. 
 
 f*] See Critica Baroniana ad A. 694. 
 t] Sec Biblioth. Oriental. Vatican, tom. i. p. 4%. 
 
AN 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY; 
 
 BOOK THE THIRD, 
 CONTAINING THE fflSTORY OF THE CHURCH 
 
 CHARLEMAGNE TO THE REFORMATION BY LUTHER. 
 
 THE EIGHTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART L 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the Prosperous Events which happen- 
 ed to the Church in this Century. 
 
 I. While the Mohammedans were infesting 
 with their arms, and adding to their conquests, 
 the most flourishing provinces of Asia, and ob- 
 scuring, as far as their influence could extend, 
 the lustre and glory of the rising church, the 
 Nestorians of Chaldea were carrying the lamp 
 of Christianity among those barbarous nations, 
 called Scythians by the ancients, and by the 
 moderns, Tartars, who, unsubjected to the Sa- 
 racen yoke, had fixed their habitations within 
 the limits of mount Imaus.* It is now well 
 known, that Timotheus, the Nestorian pontiff, 
 who had been raised to that dignity in 778, 
 converted to the Christian faith, by the minis- 
 try of Subchal Jesu, whom he had consecrated 
 bishop, first the Gelaj and Dailamites by whom 
 a part of Hyrcania was inhabited; and after- 
 wards, by the labours of other missionaries, 
 the rest of the nations, who had formed settle- 
 ments in Hyrcania, Bactria, Margiana, and 
 Sogdia-t It is also certain, that Christianity 
 enjoyed, in these vast regions, notwithstanding 
 occasional attacks from the Mohammedans, the 
 
 dtj^ * The southern regions of Scythia were divided 
 by the ancients (to whom the northern were unknown) 
 into three parts, namely, Scythia within, and Scythia be- 
 yond Imaus, and Sarmatia. It is of the first of these 
 three lliat Dr. Moshcim spcaUs, as enlightened at this time 
 with the knowledge of the Gospel; and it comprehended 
 Turkestan, the Mongol, Usbeck, Kalmuck, and Nogaian 
 Tartary, which were peopled by the Bactrians, Sogdians, 
 Gandari, Sacs, and Massagetes, not to mention the land 
 of Siberia, Samoicdia, and Nova Zcmbia, which were 
 uninhabited in ancient times. 
 
 t Thomas Margcnsis, Historia Monastics, lib, iii, in 
 AiMoiani Bibliotb. Orient, V lie, torn, iii. 
 
 advantages of a firm and solid establishment 
 for a long course of ages; while the bishops, 
 by whose ministry it was propagated and sup- 
 ported, were all consecrated by the sole au- 
 thority of the Nestorian pontiff". 
 
 II. If we turn our eyes toward Europe, we 
 find many nations that were yet unenlightened 
 with the knowledge of the Gospel. Almost 
 all the Germans, (if we except the Bavarians, 
 who had embraced Christianity under Theodo- 
 ric, or Thierry, the son of Clovis, and the 
 eastern Franks, with a few other provinces) 
 lay buried in the grossest darkness of pagan 
 superstition. Many attempts were made, by 
 pious and holy men, to infuse the truth into 
 the minds of these savage Germans; and va- 
 rious efforts were used for the same purpose by 
 kings and princes, whose interest it was to pro- 
 pagate a religion that was so adapted to miti- 
 gate and tame the ferocity of those warlike 
 nations; but neither the attempts of pious zeal, 
 nor the efforts of policy, were attended with 
 success. This great work was, however, ef- 
 fected in -this century, by the ministry of Win- 
 fred, a Benedictine monk, bom in England of 
 illustrious parents, and afterwards known by 
 the name of Boniface. This famous ecclesias- 
 tic, attended by two companions of his pious 
 labours, passed over into Friseland in 715, to 
 preach the Gospel to the people of that coun- 
 try; but this first attempt was imsucccssful; 
 and a war breaking out between Radbod, the 
 king of that country, and Charles Martel, our 
 zealous missionary returned to England. He 
 resiuned, however, his pious imdertaking in 
 719; and being solemnly empowered by the 
 Roman pontiff, Gregory II., to preach the 
 Gospel, not only in Friseland, but all over Ger- 
 
188 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 many, he performed the functions of a Chris- 
 tian teacher among the Thuringians, Frise- 
 landers, and Hessians, with considerable suc- 
 cess.* 
 
 III. This eminent missionarywas, in 723, con- 
 secrated bishop by Gregory II., who changed 
 the name of Winfred into that of Boniface: 
 seconded also by the powerful protection, and 
 encouraged by the liberality of Charles Martel, 
 mayor of the palace to Chilperic, king of 
 Franc*, he resumed his ministerial labours 
 among the Hessians and Thuringians, and 
 finished with glory the task he had undertaken, 
 in which he received considerable assistance 
 from a number of pious and learned men, 
 who repaired to him from England and 
 France. As the Christian churches erected by 
 Boniface were too numerous to be governed 
 by one bishop, this prelate was advanced to 
 the dignity of archbishop, in 738, by Gregory 
 III., by whose authority, and the auspicious 
 protection of Carloman and Pepin, the sons of 
 Charles Martel, he founded the bishoprics of 
 Wurtzburg, Buraburg, Erfort, and Eichstadt, 
 to which he added, in 744, the famous monas- 
 tery of Fulda. His last promotion (the last 
 recompense of his assiduous labours in the 
 propagation of the truth) was his advance 
 ment to the archiepiscopal see of Mentz, in 
 746, by Zachaiy, bishop of Piome, by whom 
 he was, at the same time, created primate of 
 Germany and Belgium. In his old age, he 
 returned to Friseland, that he might finish his 
 ministry in the same place where he had en- 
 tered first upon its functions; but his piety was 
 ill rewarded by that barbarous people, by whom 
 he was murdered in 755, while fifty ecclesias- 
 tics, who accompanied him in his journey, 
 shared the same unhappy fate. 
 
 IV. Boniface, on account of his ministerial 
 labours and holy exploits, was distinguished 
 by the honourable title of the Apostle of the 
 Germans; nor, if we consider impartially the 
 eminent services he rendered to Christianity, 
 will this title appear to have been midescrvedly 
 bestowed. But it is necessary to observe, that 
 this eminent prelate was an apostle of modern 
 fashion, and had, in many respects, departed 
 from the excellent model exhibited in the con- 
 duct and ministry of the primitive and true 
 apostles. Beside his zeal for the glory and 
 authority of the Roman pontiti", which equalled, 
 if it did not surpass, his zeal for the service 
 of Christ and the propagation of his religion,! 
 many other things unworthy of a truly Chris- 
 tian minister are laid to his charge. In com- 
 bating the pagan superstitions, he did not al- 
 ways use those arms with which the ancient her- 
 alds of the Gospel gained such victories in be- 
 
 * An ample account of lliis eminent man is to be found 
 in a learned dissertation of Gudenius, de S. Bonifacio 
 Germanorum Apostolo, published at Hclmstadt in 1723. 
 See also Fabricii Biblioth. Latina medii jEvi, torn. i. p. 
 709. — Hist. Liter, dc la France, torn. iv. p. 92, and Ma- 
 billon, in Annalibus Benedictinis. 
 
 t The French Benedictine monks intjenuously confess 
 that Boniface was an ovcr-ztalous partisan of the Roman 
 pontifT, and allributed more authority to him than was 
 just and reasonable. Their words, in their Histoire 
 Literaire de la France, ton:, iv. p. 106, are as follow: 
 " U exprime son devouement pour le Saint Sie^e en des 
 tcrmes qui ne sont pas assez proportionnes a la dignite du 
 caractere episcopal.'- 
 
 half of the truth; but often employed violence 
 and terror, and sometimes artifice and fraud, 
 in order to multiply the number of Christians. 
 His epistles, moreover, discover an imperious 
 and arrogant temper, a cunning and insidious 
 turn of mind, an excessive zeal for increasing 
 the honours and pretensions of the sacerdotal 
 order, and a profound ignorance of many 
 things of which the knowledge was absolutely 
 necessary in an apostle, and particularly of 
 the true nature and genius of the Christian re- 
 ligion. 
 
 V. The famous prelate, of whom we have 
 been now speaking, was not the only Christian 
 minister who attempted to deliver the German 
 nations from the miserable bondage of pagan 
 superstition; several others signalised their 
 zeal in the same laudable and pious undertak- 
 ing. Corbinian, a F'rench Benedictine monk, 
 after having laboured with great assiduity and 
 fervour in planting the Gospel among the Ba- 
 varians, and in other countries, became bishop 
 of Freysingen.* Firmin, a Gaul by birth, 
 preached the Gospel under various kinds of 
 sufliering and opposition in Alsatia, Bavaria, 
 and Helvetia, now Switzerland, and had in- 
 spection over a considerable number of monas- 
 teries.f Lebuin, an Englishman, laboured with 
 the most ardent zeal and assiduity to engage 
 the fierce and warlike Saxons, and also the 
 Friselanders, Bolgse, and other nations, to re- 
 ceive the light of Cliristianity: but his minis- 
 try was attended with very little fruit. | We 
 pass over in silence several apostles of less 
 fame; nor is it necessary to mention Willibrod, 
 and others of superior reputation, who persist- 
 ed now with great alacrity and constancy in 
 the labours they had undertaken in the preced- 
 ing century, in order to the propagation of di- 
 vine truth. 
 
 VI. A war broke out at this time between 
 Charlemagne and the Saxons, which con- 
 tributed much to the propagation of Chris- 
 tianity, though not by the force of a rational 
 persuasion. The Saxons of that age were a 
 numerous and formidable people, who inhabit- 
 ed a considerable part of Germany, and were 
 engaged in perpetual quarrels with the Franks 
 concerning their boundaries, and other matters 
 of complaint. Hence Charlemagne turned 
 his arms against this powerful nation, in 772, 
 with a design, not only to subdue that spirit of 
 revolt with which they had so often troubled 
 the empire, but also to abolish their idolatrous 
 worship, and engage them to embrace the 
 Christian religion. He hoped, by their con- 
 version, to vanquish their obstinacy, imagining 
 that the divine precepts of the Gospel would 
 assuage their impetuous and restless passions, 
 mitigate their ferocity, and induce them to 
 submit quietly to the government of the 
 Franks. These projects were great in idea, 
 but difficult in execution; a£cordingly, the first 
 
 Baronius, Annal. Eecles. torn. viii. ad annum 716. 
 sect. 10. Car. Maichelbeck, HistoriaFrisingensis, torn. i. 
 
 t Herm. Bruschii, Chronologia Monaster. German, p. 
 30. Anton. Pagi Critica in Aunales Baronii, torn. ii. ad 
 annum 759, sect. ix. Histoire Literaire de la France, torn, 
 iv. p. 124. 
 
 } Hucbaldi Vita S. Lebuini in Laur. Surii Vitis Sane- 
 tor, d. 12. Nov. p. 277.— Jo. MoUeri Cimbria Literata, 
 torn. ii. p. 464. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 189 
 
 attempt to convert tlie Saxons, after having 
 Bubdued them, was unsuccessful, because it 
 was made, without tlie aid of violence or 
 threats, by the bishops and monks, whom the 
 victor had left among that conijuered people, 
 whose obstinate attachment to idolatry no ar- 
 gimients or exhortations could overcome. More 
 forcible means were afterwards used to draw 
 them into the pale of the church, in the wars 
 which Charlemagne carried on, in the years 
 I'lb, '776,and 780, against that valiant people, 
 whose love of liberty was excessive, and whose 
 aversion to every species of sacerdotal authori- 
 ty was inexpressible.* During these wars, 
 their attaclunent to the superstition of their 
 ancestors was so warmly combated by the al- 
 lurements of reward, by the terror of punish- 
 ment, and by the imperious language of vic- 
 tory, that they suffered themselves to be bap- 
 tised, tliough with inward reluctance, by the 
 missionaries whom the emperor sent among 
 them for that purpose. f Fierce seditions, in- 
 deed, were soon after renewed, and fomented 
 by Witekind and Albion, two of the most 
 valiant among the Saxon chiefs, who attempt- 
 ed to abolish the Christian worship by the same 
 violent methods which had contributed to its 
 establishment. But the courage and liberality 
 of Charlemagne, alternately employed to sup- 
 press this new rebellion, engaged these chiefs 
 to make a public and solemn profession of 
 
 * It will be proper here to transcribe, from the epistles 
 of the famous Alcuin, once abbot of Canterbury, a re- 
 markable passage, which will show us the reasons that 
 contributed principally to give the Saxons an aversion to 
 Christianity, and at the same time will expose the absurd 
 and preposterous manner of teaching used by the ecclesi- 
 astics who were sent to convert them. This passage in 
 the 104th epistle, and the 1647th page of his works, is as 
 follows: "Si tanta instantia leve Christi jugum et onus 
 ejus levc durissimo Saxonum populo pradicarentur, 
 quanta decimarum redditi vel legalis pro parvissimis qui- 
 buslibct culpis ediotis necessitas exigebatur, forte baptis- 
 malis sacramenta nan abhorrerent. Sint taudcm aliquan- 
 do doctores fidei apostolicis eruditi exemplis: sint pra;di- 
 catore9,non prsdatorcs." Here the reader maysec a live- 
 ly picture of the kind of apostles that flourished at this 
 time: apostles who were more zealous in exacting tithes, 
 and extending tlieir authority, than in propagating the 
 sublime truths and precepts of the Gospel; ami yet these 
 very apostles arc said to have wrought stupendous miracles. 
 
 f Alcuinus apud Gul. Malmesbur. de Gestis Regum 
 Anglorum, lib. i. cap. iv, p. 23, inter Rer. Anglic. Script, 
 edit. Francof. 1601. In this work we find the following 
 passage, which proves what we have said with respect to 
 the unworthy methods that were used in converting tlie 
 Saxons. " Antiqui .Saxoues et omnes Fresonum populi, 
 instaute rege Carolo, alios prremiis et alios minis solici- 
 tante,ad fiuemChrisli convcrsi sunt." Sec also two pas- 
 sages in the Capitularia Regum Francor. torn. i. p. 21fi 
 and 2.52. From the first we learn, that those Saxons who 
 abandoned the pagan superstitions were " restored to the 
 liberty they had forfeited by the fate of arms, and freed 
 from the obligation of paying tribute;" and, in the se- 
 cond, we find the following severe law, that " every Saxon 
 who contemptuously refused to receive the sacrament of 
 baptism, and persisted in his adherence to Paganism, was 
 to be punished with dealh." While such rewards and 
 punishments were employed in the cause of religion, 
 there was nooccasion for miracles to advance its progress; 
 for these motives were su/tlcieut to draw all mankind to 
 an hypocritical and external profession of the Gospel; but 
 it is easy to imagine what sort of Christians the Saxons 
 must have been, who were dragooned into the church in 
 this abominable manner. Compare, with the authors 
 mentioned in this note, Launoius, de veteri More bapti- 
 landi Judajos et Infideles, cap. v. vi. p. 703, torn. ii. op. 
 part ii. This author assures us, that Adrian, the first Ro- 
 man pontiff of that name, honoured with his approbation 
 Charlemagne's method of converting the Saxons. | 
 
 Christianity in 785, and to promise an adher- 
 ence to that divine religion for the rest of their 
 days.* To prevent, however, the Saxons from 
 renouncing a religion which they had embrac- 
 ed with reluctance, many bishops were ap- 
 pointed to reside among them, schools also 
 were erected, and monasteries founded, that 
 the means of instruction might not be wanting. 
 The same precautions were employed among 
 the Htms in Pannonia, to maintain in the pro- 
 fession of Christianity that fierce people whom 
 Charlemagne had converted to the faitli, when, 
 exhausted and dejected by various defeats, they 
 were no longer able to make head against his 
 victorious arms, and chose rather to be Chris- 
 tians than slaves.'\ 
 
 VII. Succeeding generations, filled with a 
 grateful sense of the exploits which Charle- 
 magne had performed in the service of Chris- 
 tianity, canonised his memory, and turned this 
 bloody icrn'rior into an eminent saint. In the 
 twelfth century, Frederic I. emperor of the 
 Romans, ordered Paschal II. whom he had 
 raised to the pontificate, to enroll the name of 
 this mighty conqueror among the tutelary saints 
 of the church;]: and indeed Charlemagne mer- 
 ited this honour, according to the opinions 
 which prevailed in that dark period; for, to 
 have enriched the clergy with large and mag- 
 nificent donations, § and to have extended the 
 boundaries of the church, no matter by what 
 methods, were then considered as the highest 
 merits, and as sufficient pretensions to the hon- 
 our of saintsldp; but, in the esteem of those 
 who judge of the nature and characters of 
 sanctity by the decisions of the Gospel upon 
 that head, the sainted emperor will appear to 
 have been utterly unworthy of that dignity; 
 for, not to enter into a particular detail of his 
 vices, the number of which counterbalanced 
 that of his virtues, it is undeniably evident, 
 that his ardent and ill-conducted zeal for the 
 conversion of the Huns, Friselanders, and Sax- 
 ons, was more animated by the suggestions of 
 ambition, than by a prijiciple of true piety; and 
 that his main view, in these religious exploits, 
 was to subdue the converted nations under his 
 dominion, and to tame them to his yoke, which 
 they supported with impatience, and shook off" 
 by frequent revolts. It is, moreover, well 
 known, that this boasted saint made no scru- 
 ple of seeking the alliance of the infidel Sara- 
 cens, that he might be more effectually enabled 
 to crush the Greeks, notwithstanding their pro- 
 fession of the Christian religion. || 
 
 VITI. The many and stupendous mirajcles 
 which are said to have been wrought by the 
 Christian missionaries, who were sent to con- 
 vert the barbarous nations, have lost, in our 
 times, the credit they obtained in former ages. 
 
 * Eginhartus, de VitaCaroli M. — Adam Bremcnsis,1ib' 
 i. cap. viii. See also the writers of the history and ex- 
 ploits of Charlemagne, enumerated by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, 
 m his Bibliotheca Latina medii iEvi, tom. i. p. 9.iO. 
 
 f Vita S. Rudberti in Henric. Canisii Lectionibus an- 
 tiquis, tom. iii. part ii. p. 340. — Pauli Debreceni Historia 
 Ecclcsia; Reformat, in Hungar. et Transylvania, a Lam- 
 pio edita, cap. ii. p. 10. 
 
 t Henr. Canisii Lect. tom. iii. par. li. p. 207. — Wal- 
 chii Dissert, de Caroli Magni Canonizatione. 
 
 ^ Vid. Caroli Testamentum in Steph. Baluzii Capitula- 
 ribus Regum Francor. tom. i. p. 487. 
 
 II See Basnagc, Histoirc dcs Juils, tom. ix. cap. ii. p. 40 
 
190 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 The corrupt discipline that then prevailed, ad- 
 mitted those fallacious stratagems, which are 
 very improperly called pimis frauds; nor did 
 the lieralds of the Gospel think it at all unlaw- 
 ful to terrify or allure to the profession of 
 Christianity, by fictitious prodigies, those obdu- 
 rate hearts, which they could not subdue by 
 reason and argument. It is not, however, to 
 be supposed, that all those, who acquired re- 
 nown br their miracles, were chargeable with 
 this fanatical species of artifice and fraud; for 
 as, on one hand, those ignorant and supersti- 
 tious nations were disposed to look upon, as 
 miraculous, every event which had an unusual 
 aspect, so, on the other, the Christian doctors 
 themselves were so uninstructed and superfi- 
 cial, so httle acquainted with the powers of 
 nature, and the relations and connexions of 
 things in their ordinary course, that uncommon 
 events, however natural, were considered by 
 them as miraculous interpositions of the Most 
 High. This will appear obvious to such as 
 read, without superstition or partiality, the Jlds 
 of the Saints who flourished in this and the fol- 
 lowing centuries. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the calamitous Events that happened 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 I. The eastern empire had now fallen from 
 its former strength and grandeur through the re- 
 peated shocks of dreadful revolutions, and the 
 consuming power of intestine calamities. The 
 throne was now become the seat of terror, in- 
 quietude, and suspicion; nor was any reign at- 
 tended with an uninterrupted tranquillity. In 
 this century three emperors were dethroned, 
 loaded with ignominy, and sent into banish- 
 ment. Under Leo the Isaurian, and his son 
 Constantine, surnamed Copronymus, arose that 
 fatal controversy about the worship of images, 
 which proved a source of innumerable calami- 
 ties and troubles, and weakened, almost incre- 
 dibly, the force of the empire. These troubles 
 and dissensions left the Saracens at liberty to 
 ravage the provinces of Asia and Africa, to 
 oppress the Greeks in the most barbarous man- 
 ner, and to extend their territories and domin- 
 ion on all sides, as also to oppose every where 
 the progress of Christianity, and, in some 
 places, even to extirpate it. But the troubles 
 of the empire, and the calamities of the church, 
 did lot end here: for, about the middle of this 
 centary, they were assailed by new enemies, 
 still more fierce and inhuman than those whose 
 usurpations they had hitherto suffered. These 
 were '.he Turks, a tribe of the Tartars, or at 
 least their descendants, who, breaking forth 
 from the inaccessible wilds about mount Cau- 
 
 casus, overspread Colchis, Iberia, and Albania, 
 rushed into Armenia, and, after having subdu- 
 ed the Saracens, turned their victorious arms 
 against the Greeks, whom, in process of time, 
 they reduced under their dominion. 
 
 II. In 7 14, the Saracens crossed the sea 
 which separates Spain from Africa, dispersed 
 the army of Roderic king of the Spanish 
 Goths,* whose defeat was principally occasion- 
 ed by the treachery of their general Julian, 
 and made themselves masters of the greatest 
 part of the territories of this vanquished prince. 
 At that time the empire of the Visigoths, which 
 had subsisted in Spain above three hundred 
 years, was totally overturned by these fierce 
 and savage invaders, who also took possession 
 of all the maritime parts of Gaul, from the 
 Pyrenean mountains to the river Rhone, 
 whence they made frequent excursions, and 
 ravaged the neighbouring coxmtries with fire 
 and sword. 
 
 The rapid progress of these bold invaders 
 was, indeed, checked by Charles Martel, who 
 gained a signal victory over them in a bloody 
 action near Poictiers, in 732. f But the van- 
 quished spoilers soon recovered their strength 
 and their ferocity, and returned with new vio- 
 lence to their devastations. This engaged 
 Charlemagne to lead a formidable army into 
 Spain, in the hope of delivering that whole 
 country from the oppressive yoke of the Sara- 
 cens: but this grand enterprise, though it did 
 not entirely miscarry, was not attended vsdth 
 the signal success that was expected from it.J 
 
 The inroads of this warlike people were felt 
 by several of the western provinces, beside 
 those of France and Spain. Several parts of 
 Italy suffered from their incursions; the island 
 of Sardinia was reduced under their yoke; and 
 Sicily was ravaged and oppressed by them in 
 the most inhuman manner. Hence the Chris- 
 tian religion in Spain and Sardinia suffered in 
 expressibly under these violent usurpers. 
 
 In Germany, and the adjacent countries, the 
 Christians were assailed by another sort of ene- 
 mies; for all such as adhered to the pagan su- 
 perstitions beheld them with the most inveter- 
 ate hatred, and persecuted them with the most 
 unrelenting violence and fury.§ Hence, in se- 
 veral places, castles and various fortifications 
 were erected to restrain the incursions of these 
 barbarian zealots. 
 
 * Jo. Mariana, Rerun) Hispaniearum Hist. lib. vi. cap. 
 xxi. — Renaudot, Historia Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 253. 
 — Jo. de Ferreras, Hist, de Espana, torn. ii. p. 425. 
 
 t Paulus Diaconus, de Gestis Longobard. lib. vi. cap. 
 xlvi. liii. — Mariana, lib. vii. cap. iii. — Bayle's Dictionary, 
 at the article Abderamus. — Ferreras, torn. ii. p. 463. 
 
 } Henr. de Bunau, Teutsche Keyser-und-Reichs-His 
 torie, torn. ii. p. 392. — Ferreras, torn. ii. p. 506. 
 
 § Servati Lupi Vita Wigberti, p. 304. 
 
PART 11. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the State of Letters and Philosophy 
 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. Among the Greeks of this age were some 
 men of genius and talents, who might have 
 contributed to prevent the total decline of 
 literature; but their zeal was damped by the 
 tumults and desolations that reigned in the 
 empire; and while both church and state were 
 menaced with approaching ruin, the learned 
 Were left destitute of that protection which 
 gives both vigour and success to the culture of 
 the arts and sciences. Hence few or none of 
 the Greeks were famous, either for elegance of 
 diction, true wit, copious erudition, or a zeal- 
 ous attachment to the study of philosophy, and 
 the investigation of truth. Frigid homilies, in- 
 sipid narrations of the exploits of pretended 
 saints, vain and subtile disputes about inessen- 
 tial and trivial subjects, vehement and bom- 
 bastic declamations for or against the erection 
 and worship of images, and histories composed 
 without method or judgment, were the monu- 
 ments of Grecian learning in this miserable 
 age. 
 
 II. It must, however, be observed, that the 
 Aristotelian philosophy was taught every where 
 in the public schools, and was propagated in 
 all places with considerable success. The doc- 
 trine of Plato had lost all its credit in the 
 schools, after the repeated sentences of con- 
 demnation that had been passed upon the 
 opinions of Origen, and the troubles which 
 the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies had 
 excited in the church; so that Platonism now 
 was almost confined to the solitary retreats of 
 the monastic orders. Of all the writers in this 
 century, who contributed to the illustration 
 and progress of the Aristotelian philosophy, 
 the most eminent was John Damascenus, who 
 composed a concise, yet comprehensive view 
 of the doctrines of the Stagiritc, for the in- 
 struction of the more ignorant, and in a man- 
 ner adapted to common capacities. This lit- 
 tle work excited numbers, both in Greece and 
 Syria, to the study of that philosoj)hy, whose 
 proselytes increased daily. The Nestorians 
 and Jacobites were also extremely diligent in 
 the study of Aristotle's writings; and from this 
 repository they anned themselves with sophisms 
 and quibbles, which they employed against the 
 Greeks in the controversy concerning the na- 
 ture and person of Christ. 
 
 III. The literary history of the Latins ex- 
 hibits innumerable instances of llie grossest 
 ignorance,* which will not, however, appear 
 surprising to such as consider, witli attention, 
 the state of Europe in this century. If we 
 except some poor remains of learning, which 
 were yet to be found at Rome, and in certain 
 cities of Italy ,■! the sciences seemed to have 
 
 ' See Steph. Baluz. Obscrval, ad Rcginoncm Prumicu- 
 (em, p. 540. 
 
 t Lud. Ant. Muratorij Antiq. Italicae medii JE\i, torn 
 iii. p. 811, 
 
 abandoned the continent, and fixed their resi- 
 dence in Britain and Ireland.* Those, there- 
 fore, of the Latin writers, who were distin- 
 guished by their learning and genius, were all 
 (a few French and Italians excepted) either 
 Britons or Hibernians, such as Alcuin, Bede, 
 Egbert, Clemens, Dungallus, Acca, and others. 
 Charlemagne, whose political talents were 
 embellished by a considerable degree of learn- 
 ing, and an ardent zeal for the culture of the 
 sciences, endeavoured to dispel the profound 
 ignorance that reigned in his dominions; in 
 which excellent undertaking he was animated 
 and directed by the counsels of Alcuin. "With 
 this view he drew, first from Italy, and after- 
 wards from Britain and Ireland, by his liberali- 
 ty, eminent men, who had distinguished them- 
 selves in the various branches of literature; 
 and excited the several orders of the clergy and 
 monks, by various encouragements, and the 
 nobility, and others of eminent rank, by his 
 own example, to the pursuit of knowledge in 
 all its branches, human and divine. 
 
 IV. In the prosecution of this noble design, 
 the greatest part of the bishops erected, by the 
 express order of the emperor, cathedral schools 
 (so called from their contiguity to the princi- 
 pal church in each diocese,) in which the 
 youth, set apart for the service of Christ, re- 
 ceived a learned and religious education. 
 Those abbots also, who had any zeal for the 
 cause of Christianity, opened schools in their 
 monasteries, in which the more learned of the 
 fraternity instructed sucli as were designed for 
 the monastic state, or the sacerdotal order, in 
 the Latin language, and other branches of 
 learning, suitable to their future destination. 
 It was formerly believed that the university of 
 Paris was erected by Charlemagne; but this 
 opinion is rejected by such as have studied, 
 with impartiality, the history of this age, 
 though it is undeniably evident, that this great 
 prince had the honour of laying, in some mea- 
 sure, the foundation of that noble institution, 
 and that the beginnings from which it arose 
 may be ascribed to him.t However this ques- 
 tion be decided, it is certain, that the zeal of 
 this emperor, for the propagation and advance- 
 ment of letters, was very great, and manifest- 
 ed its ardour by a considerable number of excel- 
 lent establishments; nor among others must 
 we pass with silence the famous Palatine 
 school, which he erected with a view to banish 
 ignorance from his court, and in which the 
 princes of the blood, and the children of the 
 nobility, were educated by the most learned 
 and illustrious masters of the times.J 
 
 * Jac. Usserius, Praef. ad Syllogtn EpislolaruniHiber 
 nicarum. 
 
 f The reasons that have been used, to prove Charle- 
 magne the founder of the university of Paris, are accu- 
 rately collected by Du Boulay, Historia Acadcmise Paris, 
 torn. i. p. 91. But they have been refuted by the follow- 
 ing learned men in a victorious manner, viz. MabilloD, 
 Act. Sanct. Ord. Benedict, tom. v. Praef. sect. 181, 182. 
 Launoy. Claud. Joly, de Srholis. 
 
 } Boulay, torn, i. p. 281.— MabiUon, tect. 179. 
 
192 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 V. These establishments were not, liovvever, 
 attended with the desired success; nor was the 
 improvement of the 3'outh, in learning and 
 virtue, at all proportioned to the pains that 
 were taken, and the bounty that was bestowed 
 to procure them a liberal education. This, in- 
 deed, will not appear surprising, when we con- 
 sider, that the most learned and renowned 
 masters of these times were men of very little 
 genius and abilities, and that their system of 
 erudition and philosophy was nothing more 
 than a lean and ghastly skeleton, equally unfit 
 for ornament and use. The whole circle of 
 science was composed of, what they called, 
 the seven liberal arts, viz. grammar, rhetoric, 
 logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astro- 
 nomy;* the three former of which they distin- 
 guished by the title of trivium, and the four 
 latter by that of quadrivium. No tiling can be 
 conceived more wretchedly barbarous than the 
 manner in which these sciences were taught, 
 as we may easily perceive from Alcuin's trea- 
 tise concerning them,j and from the disserta- 
 tions of St. Augustin on the same subject, 
 which were in the highest repute at this time. 
 In the greatest part of the schools, the public 
 teachers ventured no farther than the trivium, 
 and confined their instructions to grammar, 
 rhetoric, and logic: they, however, who, after 
 passing the trivium and also the quadrivium, 
 were desirous of rising yet higher in their lite- 
 rary pursuits, were exhorted to apply them- 
 selves to the study of Cassiodore and Boethius, 
 as if the progress of human knowledge had 
 been bounded by the discoveries of those two 
 learned writers. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 Church, and its Form of Government duriiig 
 this Century. 
 
 I. That corruption of manners, which dis- 
 honoured the clergy in the former century, in- 
 creased, instead of diminishing, in this, and dis- 
 covered itself under the most odious charac- 
 ters, both in the eastern and western provinces. 
 In the east there arose the most violent dissen- 
 sions and quarrels among the bishops and doc- 
 tors of the church, who, forgetting the duties 
 of their stations, and the cause of Christ in 
 v.hich they were engaged, threw the state into 
 combustion by their outrageous clamours and 
 their scandalous divisions, and even went so 
 far as to stain their hands with the blood of 
 their brethren, who differed from them in opin- 
 ion. In the western world, Christianity was 
 not less disgraced by the lives and actions of 
 those who pretended to be the luminaries of 
 the church, and who ought to have been so in 
 reality, by exhibiting examples of piety and 
 virtue to their flock. The clergy abandoned 
 themselves to their passions without modera- 
 tion or restraint: they were distinguished by 
 
 * Herm. Conringii Antiquitat. Academic*, Diss. iii. p. 
 80. — Jac. Thomasii Programmala, p. 3C8.— Observat. 
 Halens. torn. vi. Obs. xiv. p. 118. 
 
 t Alcuini Opera, par. ii. p. 1245, edit. Quercetani. It 
 is, howeTcr, to be observed, that the treatise of Alciiiu, 
 here referred to, is not only imperfect, but is almost en- 
 tirely transcribed from Cas;iodore. 
 
 their luxury, their gluttony, and their lust; they 
 gave themselves up to dissipations of various 
 kinds, to the pleasures of hunting, and, what 
 seemed still more remote from their sacred 
 character, to military studies* and enterprises. 
 They had also so far extinguished every prin- 
 ciple of fear and shame, that they became in- 
 corrigible; nor could the various laws enacted 
 against their vices by Carloman, Pepin, and 
 Charlemagne, at all contribute to set bounds to 
 their licentiousness, or to bring about their re- 
 formation. i 
 
 II. It is, indeed, amazing, that, notwith- 
 standing the shocking nature of such vices, es- 
 pecially in a set of men whose profession re- 
 quired them to display to the world the attrac- 
 tive lustre of virtuous example; and notwith- 
 standing the perpetual troubles and complaints 
 which these vices occasioned; the clergy were 
 still thought worthy of the highest veneration, 
 and honoured, as a sort of deities, by the sub- 
 missive multitude. This veneration for the 
 bishops and clergy, and the influence and au- 
 thority it gave them over the people, were, in- 
 deed, carried much higher in the west than in 
 the eastern provinces; and the reasons of this 
 difference will appear manifest to such as con- 
 sider the customs and manners that prevailed 
 among the barbarous nations, which were, at 
 this time, masters of Europe, before their con- 
 version to Christianity. All these nations, 
 during their continuance under the darkness of 
 paganism, were absolutely enslaved to their 
 priests, without whose counsel and authority 
 they transacted nothing of the least impor- 
 tance, either in civil or military affairs.;}; On 
 their conversion to Christianity, they, there- 
 fore, thought proper to transfer, to the minis- 
 ters of their new religion, the rights and privi- 
 leges of their former priests: and the Christian 
 bishops, in their turn, were not only ready to 
 
 * Sleph. Baluzius, ad Reginon. Pruraieusem, p. 563.— 
 Wilkiiis' Concilia Magnae Britanniae, torn. i. p. 90. 
 
 f Steph. Baluz. Capitular. Regum Francor. torn. i. p. 
 1S9, 208, 275, 493, &c. 
 
 \ Julius Csesarjrfe hello Gallico, lib. vi. cap. 13. " Dru 
 ides magno sunt apud eos honore: nam fere de omnibus 
 controversiis, publicis privatisque,constituunt;et, si quod 
 est admissum facinus, si cades facta, si de hsereditate, si 
 de finibus coutroversia est, iidem decernunt, prsemia 
 poenasque constituunt: si quis aut privatus aut publicus 
 eorum decreto non stetit, sacrificiis interdicunt. — Druides 
 a bello abesse consueverunt, ueque tributa una cum reli- 
 quis pendunt: militise vacationem, omniumque rerum 
 habent immunilatem. Tantis excitati praeniiis, et sua 
 sponte multi in disciplinam conveniunt, et a parentibus 
 propinquisque mittuntur." Tacitus (de Mor. Germano- 
 runi, cap. 7.) expresses also the power and authority of 
 the priests or Druids in the following terms: " Nequc 
 enini animadvertere, neque vincire, ueque vcrberare qui- 
 dem, nisi sacerdotibus permissum, non quasi in poenani, 
 nee ducis jussu, sed velut Deo imperante;" and again, 
 cap. ii. " Silentium per sacerdotcs, quibus et turn coercendi 
 jus est, iinperatur." Helmoldus (Chron. Sclavoruin,lib. 
 i. cap. xxxvi.) expresses himself to the same purpose. 
 " Major flaminis quam regis, apud ipsos, veneratio est;" 
 and again, lib. ii. cap. xii. " Rex apud eo? modicae aesti- 
 uiationis est comparatione flamiuis; ille euim rcsponsa per- 
 quirit; — rex et populus ad illius uutum pendent." This 
 ancient custom of honouring their priests, and submitting 
 in all things to their decisions, was still preserved by the 
 Germans, and the other European nations, after their 
 conversion to Christianity; and this furnishes a satisfac- 
 tory answer to the question, how it came to pass tliat the 
 Christian priesthood obtained in the west that enormous 
 degree of authority, vshich is so contrary to the positive 
 precepts of Christ, and the nature and genius of his di- 
 vine religion. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 193 
 
 accept the offer, but used all their diligence 
 and dexterity to secure and assert, to them- 
 selves and their successors, the dominion and 
 authority which the ministers of paganism had 
 usurped over an ignorant and brutish people. 
 
 III. The honours and privileges, wliich the 
 western nations had voluntarily conferred upon 
 the bishops and other doctors of the churcli, 
 were now augmented with new and immense 
 accessions of opulence and authority. The en- 
 dowments of the clmrch and monasteries, and 
 the revenues of tlie bishops, were hitherto con- 
 siderable; but in this century a new and inge- 
 nious method was found out of acquiring much 
 greater riches to the church, and of increasing 
 its wealtli through succeeding ages. An opin- 
 ion prevailed universally at this time, though 
 its authors are not known, that the punishment 
 which the righteous judge of the world has re- 
 served for the transgressions of the wicked, was 
 to be prevented and annulled by liberal dona- 
 tions to Nod, to the saints, to the churches and 
 clergy. In consequence of this notion, the 
 great and opulent, who were, generally speak- 
 ing, the most remarkable for their flagitious 
 and abominable lives, oflercd, out of the abun- 
 dance which they had received by inheritance 
 or acquired by rapine, rich donations to de- 
 parted saints, their ministers upon earth, and 
 the keepers of the temples that were erected to 
 their honour, in order to avoid the suft'erings 
 and penalties annexed by the priests to trans- 
 gression in tills life,* and to e.'^cape the misery 
 denounced against tiie wicked in a future state. 
 Tliis new and commodious method of making- 
 atonement for iniquity, was the principal source 
 of those immense treasures, which, from this 
 period, began to flow in upon the clergy, the 
 churches, and monasteries, and continued to 
 enrich them through succeeding ages down to 
 the present time.j 
 
 IV'. But here it is highly worthy of observa- 
 tion, that the donations which prmces and per- 
 sons of the first rank presented, in order to 
 make expiation for their sins, and to satisfy the 
 justice of Nod and the demands of the clergy, 
 did not merely consist of those private posses- 
 sions, which every citizen may enjoy, and with 
 which the churches and convents were already 
 abundantly enriched; for these donations were 
 carried to a much more extravagant length, 
 and the church was endowed witli several of 
 those public grants, wliicli are peculiar to 
 princes and sovereign states, and which are 
 commonly called regalia, or royal domams. 
 Emperors, kings, and princes, signalised their 
 
 * The temporal penalties here mentioned were rigorous 
 fasts, bodily pains and mortitications, long and frequent 
 prayers, pilgrimages to the tombs of saints and martyrs, 
 and the like austerities. These were the penalties which 
 the priests imposed upon such as had confessed their 
 crimes; and, as ihcy were singularly grievous to those who 
 had led voluptuous lives, and were desirous of continuing 
 in the same course of licentious pleasure, effeminacy, 
 and ease, the richer sort of transgressors embraced eager- 
 ly this new method of expiation, and willingly gave a 
 part of their substance to avoid such severe and rigor- 
 ous penalties. 
 
 t Hence, by a known form of speech, they who offered 
 donations lo the church or clergy were said to do this for 
 the redemption of their souls; and the gifts themselves 
 were generally called the price of tranxgression. See 
 Lud. Ant. Muratori Diss, de Redemptione Fecalonim, 
 in his Antiquitates Italics medii JEvi, torn. t. p. 712. 
 Vol. I.— 26 
 
 superstitious veneration for the clergy, by in- 
 I vesting bishops, churches, and monasteries, 
 1 with princely possessions. Those who, by their 
 I holy profession, were appointed to proclaim to 
 ' the world the vanity of human grandeur, and 
 jto inspire the minds of men, by their instruc- 
 ] tions and their example, with a noble contempt 
 ] of sublunary things, became themselves scan- 
 dalous .spectacles of worldly pomp, ambition, 
 I and splendour; were created dtdtes, counts, and 
 I marquises, judges, legislators, and sovereigns; 
 and not only gave laws to nations, but also, 
 i upon many occasions, gave battle to their ene- 
 mies at the head of numerous armies of their 
 own raising. It is here that we are to look for 
 the source of those dreadful tumults and ca- 
 lamities that spread desolation through Europe 
 in after-times, particularly of those bloody wars 
 concerning investitures, and those obstinate 
 contentions and disputes about the regalia. 
 
 V. The excessive donations that were made 
 to the clergy, and the extravagant liberality 
 tluit augmented daily the treasures of the Eu- 
 ropean churches (to which those donations and 
 '.] this liberality were totally confined) began in 
 ji tills century; nor do we find any examples of 
 the like munificence in preceding times. Hence 
 we may conclude, that these donations were 
 owing to customs peculiar to the European na- 
 tions, and to the maxims of policy which were 
 established among those warhke people. The 
 kings of these nations, who were employed 
 either in usurpation or self-defence, endeavour- 
 ed, by all means, to attach warmly to their in- 
 terests those whom they considered as their 
 friends and clients; and, for this purpose, they 
 distributed among them extensive territories, 
 cities, and fortresses, with the various rights 
 and privileges belonging to them, reserving to 
 themselves only the supreme dominion, and 
 the military service of their powerful vassals. 
 This then being the method of governing cus- 
 tomary in Europe, it was esteemed by princes 
 a high instance of political prudence to distri- 
 bute among the bishops, and other Christian 
 doctors, the same sort of donations that they 
 had formerly made to their generals and cli- 
 ents; for it is not to be believed, that supersti- 
 tion alone was always the principle that drew 
 fortli their liberality. They expected greater 
 fidelity and loyalty from a set of men who were 
 bound by the obligations of religion, and con- 
 secrated to the service of Nod, than from a 
 body of nobility, composed of fierce and impe- 
 tuous warriors, and accustomed to little else 
 but bloodshed and rapine; and they hoped also 
 to check the seditious and turbulent spirits of 
 tlieir vassals, and maintain them in their obedi- 
 ence, by the influence and authority of the 
 bishops, whose commands were highly respect- 
 ed, and whose spiritual thunderbolts, rendered 
 formidable by ignorance, struck terror into the 
 boldest and most resolute hearts.* 
 
 * The account here giren of the rise of the clergy to 
 such enormous degrees of opulence and authority, is cor- 
 robated by the folfiiwing remarkable passage of William 
 of Malmesbury (lib. v. de Rebus gestis Rrguni Angliae.) 
 " Carolus Magnus, pro contundenda gentiunm illarum fe- 
 rocia, omnes pene terras ecclesiis contulerat, consiliosij- 
 sime perpendens, nolle sacri ordinife homineSj tarn facile 
 quam laicos, fidelitatem Domini rejicere; prieterca, ti 
 
194 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 VI. This prodig-ious accession to the opu- 
 lence and authority of the clergy in the west 
 began with their head, the Roman pontiff, and 
 spread gradually from him among tlie inferior 
 bishops, and also among the sacerdotal and 
 monastic orders. The barbarous nations, who 
 received the Gospel, looked upon the bishop 
 of Rome as the successor of their chief druid, 
 or high priest. And as this tremendous druid 
 had enjoyed, under the darkness of paganism, 
 a boundless authority, and had been treated 
 with a degree of veneration, that, throug-h its 
 servile excess, degenerated into terror; so the 
 barbarous nations, on their conversion to Chris- 
 tianity, thought proper to confer upon the chief 
 of the bishops the same honours and the same 
 authority that had formerly been vested in 
 their arch-druid.* The pope received, with 
 something more than a mere spiritual delight, 
 these august privileges; and lest, upon any 
 change of affairs, attempts might be made to 
 deprive him of them, he strengthened his title 
 to these extraordinary honours, by a variety of 
 passages drawn from ancient history, and 
 (what was still more astonishing) by argu- 
 ments of a religious nature. This conduct of 
 a superstitious people swelled the arrogance of 
 the Roman druid to an enormous size, and 
 gave to the see of Rome, in civil and political 
 affairs, a high pre-eminence and a despotic au- 
 thority, unknown to former ages. Hence, 
 among other unhappy circumstances, arose 
 that monstrous and most pernicious opinion, 
 that such persons as were excluded from the 
 communion of the church by tiie {wntitf him- 
 self, or any of the bishops, forfeited thereby 
 not only their civil rights and advantages as 
 
 laici rebellarent, illos posse excommunicationis auctori- 
 tate et potentiae severitate compescere.'* This is, doubt- 
 less, the true reason why Charlemagne, who wm Jar from 
 being a superstitious prince, or a slave to the clergy, aug 
 mented so vastly the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff in 
 Germany, Italy, and tl)e other countries where he had 
 extended his conquests, and accumulated upon the bish- 
 ops such ample possessions. He expected more loyalty 
 and submission from the clergy, than from the laity; and 
 he augmented the riches and authority of the former, in 
 order to secure his throne against the assaults of the latter. 
 As the bishops were universally held in the highest vene- 
 ration, he made use of their influence in checking the re- 
 bellious spirit of his dukes, counts, and knights, v^'ho 
 were frequently very troublesome. For instance, he had 
 much to fear from the dukes of Benevento, Spoleto, and 
 Capua, when the government of the Lombards was over- 
 turned; he therefore made over a considerable part of 
 Italy to the Roman pontiff, whose ghostly authority, opu- 
 lence, and threatenings, were so proper to restrain those 
 powerful and vindictive princes from seditious insurrec- 
 tions, or to quell such tumults as they might venture to 
 eicite. Nor was he the only prince who honoured the 
 clergy from such political views; the other kings and 
 princes of Europe acted much in the same manner, and 
 from the same principles, as will appear evident to all who 
 consider, with attention, the forms of government, and 
 the methods of governing, that took place in this century: 
 to that the excessive augmentation of sacerdotal opulence 
 sud authority, which many look upon as the work of su 
 perstition alone, was, in many instances, an effect of poli- 
 tical prudence. We shall consider, presently, the terrors 
 of excommunication, which William of Malmesbury 
 touches but cursorily in the latter words of the passage 
 above quoted. 
 
 * Cajsar speaks thus of the chief or arch-druid: "His 
 omnibus druidibus praeest unus, qui summam inter eos 
 (Celtas) habet anctoritatem. Hoc morluo, si qui ex re 
 liquis excellit dignitate, succedit. At, si sunt plures pa 
 res, suffragio Druidum adlegitur: nonuunquain etiam ar 
 misde principatu conlendunt." Jul. Casar, de Belle Gal- 
 lico, lib. vi. cap. liii. 
 
 citizens, but even the common claims and pri- 
 vileges of humanity. This horrid opinion, 
 which was a fatal source of wars, massacres, 
 and rebellions without number, and which con- 
 tributed more than any other means to aug- 
 ment and confirm the papal authority, was, 
 unhappily for Europe, borrowed by Christians, 
 or rather by the clergy, from the pagan super- 
 stitions." 
 
 VII. We observe, in the annals of the 
 French nation, the following remarkable and 
 shocking instance of the enormous power that 
 was, at this time, vested in the Roman pontiff. 
 Pepin was mayor of the palace to Childeric 
 111., and, in the exercise of that high office, 
 possessed in reality the royal power and au- 
 thority; but, not content with this, he aspired 
 to the titles and honours of majesty, and form- 
 ed the design of dethroning his sovereign. For 
 this purpose, the states of the realm were as- 
 sembled by Pepin, in 751; and though they 
 were devoted to the interests of this ambitious 
 usurper, they gave it as their opinion, that the 
 bishop of Rome was previously to be consult- 
 ed, whetiier the execution of such a project 
 was lawful or not. In consequence of this, 
 ambassadors were sent by Pepin to Zachary, 
 the reigning pontiff, with the following ques- 
 tion: Whether the divine law did not permit a 
 valiant and warlike people to dethrone a pu- 
 sillanimous and indolent monarch, who was in- 
 capable of discharging any of the functions of 
 royalty, and to substitute in his place one more 
 
 * Though excommunication, from the time of Constan- 
 tine the Great, was, in every part of the Christian world, 
 attended with many disagreeable effects, yet its highest 
 terrors were eu;ifined to Europe, where its aspect was 
 truly formidable and hideous. It acquired also, in the 
 eighth century, new accessions of terror; so that, from 
 that period, the excommunication practised in Europe 
 differed entirely from that which was in use in otherparts 
 of Cliristendom. Excommunicated persons were indeed 
 considered, in all places, as objects of aversion both to 
 God and men; but they were not, on this account, robbed 
 of the privileges of citizens, or of the rights of humanity; 
 much less were those kings and princes, whom an inso- 
 lent bishop had thought proper to exclude from the com- 
 munion of the church, supposed to forfeit, on that ac- 
 count, their crown or their territories. But, from this 
 century, it was quite otherwise in Europe; excommuni- 
 cation received that infernal power which dissolved all 
 connexions; so that those whom the bishops, or their 
 chief, excluded from church communion, were degraded 
 to a level with the beasts. Under this horrid sentence, 
 the king, the ruler, the husband, the father, and even the 
 man, forfeited all their rights, all their advantages, the 
 claims of nature, and the privileges of society. What 
 then was the origin of this unnatural power wiiich excom- 
 munication acquired.' It was briefly as follows: On the 
 conversion of the barbarous nations to Christianity, those 
 new and ignorant proselytes confounded the excommuni- 
 cation in use among Christians, with that which had been 
 practised in the tnnes of paganism by the priests of the 
 gods, and considered both as of the same nature and ef- 
 fect. The Roman pontiffs on the other hand, were too 
 artful not to countenance and encourage this error; and, 
 therefore, employed all sorts of means to gain credit to 
 an opinion that tended to gratify their ambition, and to 
 aggraiidise, in general, the episcopal order. That this is 
 the ti-ue origin of the extensive and horrid influence of 
 the European and papal excommunication, will appear 
 evident to such as cast an eye upon the fijUowing passage 
 of Caesar, de Bello Gallico, lib. vi. cap. xiii. " .Si quis 
 aut privatus aut publicus Druidum decreto non stetit, sa- 
 crificiis ioterdicunt. Haec poena est apud eos gravissima. 
 Q,uibu8 ita est interdictum, ii numero impiorum et scele- 
 ratorum habentur, iisomnesdectdunt, aditum eorum ser- 
 monemque defugiunt, ue quid ex contagione inconimodi 
 accipiant; neque iis petentibue jui redditur, neque hoDOs 
 uUus rommunicatur."' 
 
 4 
 
Chap. II- 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 195 
 
 worthy to rule, and who had already rendered 
 most important services to the state? The 
 situation of Zachary, who stood much in need 
 of the aid of Pepin against the Greeks and 
 Lombards, rendered his answer such as the 
 usurper desired. When this favourable deci- 
 sion of the Roman oracle was publislied in 
 France, the unhappy Childeric was stripped of 
 royalty without the least opposition; and Pepin, 
 without the smallest resistance from any quar- 
 ter, stepped into the throne of his master and 
 his sovereign. Let the abettors of the papal 
 authority see, how they can justify, in Christ's 
 pretended vicegerent upon earth, a decision 
 which is so glaringly repugnant to the laws 
 and precepts of the divine Saviour.* This de- 
 cision was solemnly confirmed by Stephen II., 
 the successor of Zachary. He undertook a 
 journey into France, in 754, in order to solicit 
 assistance against the Lombards; dissolved the 
 obligation of the oath of fidelity and allegi- 
 ance which Pepin had sworn to Childeric, and 
 violated by his usurpation; and, to render his 
 title to the crown as sacred as possible, anoint- 
 ed and crowned him, with his wife and two 
 sons, for the second time.f 
 
 VIII. This compliance of the Roman pon- 
 tiff's proved an abundant source of opulence 
 and credit to the cliurch, and to its aspiring 
 ministers. When that part of Italy which was 
 yet subject to the Grecian empire, was involv- 
 ed in confusion and trouble, by the seditions 
 and tumults which arose from the imperial 
 edicts], against the erection and worshi]) of 
 images, the kings of the Lombards employed 
 the united influence of their arms and negotia- 
 tions in order to terminate these contests. 
 
 » See Le Cointe, Mezeray, Daniel, and other Gallic and 
 German historians, concerning this important event; but 
 particularly Bossuet, Del'ens. Declarationis Glcri Gallieani, 
 part i. p. 2-25. — -Pelr. Rival, Dissertations Histor. et Criti- 
 ques sur divers Sujets, Diss. ii. ji. 70; Diss. iii. p. 156. — 
 Hcnr. de Bunau, Historia Imptrii Germanici, torn. ii. p. 
 288. This remarkable event is not, indeed, related in the 
 same manner by all historians, and it is generally represent- 
 ed under false colours by those who, from a spirit of blind 
 zeal and excessive adulation, seize every occasion of ex- 
 alting the dignity and authority of the bishops of Rome. 
 Such writers assert, that it was by Zachary's authority 
 as pontiff, and not in consequence of his opinion as a ca- 
 luist or divine, that the crown was taken from the head 
 of Childeric, and placed upon tliat of Pepin. But tliij 
 the French absolutely and justly deny. Had it, however, 
 been so, the crime of the pontiff would have been much 
 greater than it was in reality. 
 
 (((J»t Pepin had been anointed by the legate Boniface 
 at Soissons, soon after his election; but, thinking that the 
 performance of such a ceremony by the pope would re- 
 commend him more to the respect of his subjects, he de- 
 sired that the unction should be administered anew by 
 Stephen. Pepin was the first French monarch who re- 
 ceived this unction as a ceremony of coronation, at least 
 according to the reports of the most credible historians. 
 His predecessors were proclaimed by being lifted up on a 
 shield; and the holy phial ol Clovis is now universally re- 
 garded as fabulous. The custom of anointing kings at 
 their coronation was, however, more ancient than the 
 time of Pepin, and was observed long before that period 
 both in Scotland and Spain. See Edmund Martcnne, dc 
 Antiq. Eceles. Ritib. lom. iii. cap. \.; and also Bunau, 
 Historia Imperii Germanici, torn. ii. p. 301,366. 
 
 QC^ \ The author has here in view the edicts of Leo 
 Isauricus and Constanline Copronymus. The former 
 published, in 726, a famous edict against the worship of 
 images, which occasioned many contests and much dis- 
 turbance both in church and state; and the l.itttr asstjn- 
 bled at Constantinople, in 754, a council of 35ti bishops, 
 who unanimously condemned, not only the worship but 
 even the use of images. 
 
 Their success, indeed, was only advantageous 
 to themselves; for they managed matters so as 
 to become, by degrees, masters of the Grecian 
 provinces in Italy, which were subject to the 
 exarch who resided at Ravenna. One of these 
 monarch.s, named A islulplms, carried his views 
 still farther. Elate with these accessions to 
 his dominions, he meditated the conquest of 
 Rome and its territory, and formed the ambi- 
 tious project of reducing all Italy under the 
 yoke of the Lombards. Stephen now address- 
 ed himself to liis powerful patron and protec- 
 tor Pepin, represented to him his deplorable 
 condition, and implored his assistance. The 
 French monarch embarked with zeal in the 
 cause of the terrified and suppliant pontitf; 
 crossed the Alps, in '754, with a numerous 
 army; and, having defeated Aistulphus, oblig- 
 ed him, by a solemn treaty, to deliver up to 
 the see of Rome the exarchate of Ravenna, 
 Pentapolis, and all the cities, castles, and ter- 
 ritories which he had seized in the Roman 
 dukedom. It was not, however, long before 
 the Lombard prince violated, without remorse, 
 an engagement which he had contracted with 
 reluctance. In 755, he laid siege to Rome for 
 the second time, but was again obliged to sue 
 for peace by the victorious arms of Pepin, who 
 returned into Italy, and, forcing the Lombard 
 to execute the treaty he htid so audaciously 
 violated, made a new grant of the exarchate* 
 and of Pentapolis to the pontift" and his suc- 
 cessors. And thus was the bishop of Rome 
 raised to the rank of a temporal prince. 
 
 LX. After the death of Pepin, a new attack 
 was made upon the patrimony of St. Peter, 
 by Dideric, king of tiie Lombards, who invad- 
 ed the territories that had been granted by the 
 
 * See Car. Sigonius, de Regno Italia;, lib. iii. p. 202, 
 tom. ii. op. — Bunau, Historia Imperii (jermanici, torn, 
 ii. p. 301, 366. — Muratori Annales Italise, tom. iv. p. 310. 
 The real limits of the exarchate granted by Pepin to the 
 Roman pontiff, liave been much controverted among the 
 learned, and have, particularly in our times, employed 
 the researches of several eminent writers. The bishops 
 of Rome extend the limits of this territory as far as they 
 can with any appearance of decency or probability, while 
 their adversaries are as zealous in contracting this famous 
 grant within narrower bounds. See Lud. Ant. Murator. 
 Droits de I'Empire sur I'Etat Eeclesiastiqiie, cap. i. ii.; 
 as also his Antiquitat. Ital. medii TEvi, tom. i. p. 64, 68, 
 9^6, 987. The same author treats the matter with more 
 circumspection, tom. v. p. 790. This controversy can 
 only be terminated with facility by an inspection of Pe- 
 pin's grant of the territory in question. Kontanini, in 
 liis first Defence of the tem^ioral Jurisdiction of the See 
 of Rome over the City of Cojnmachio, written in Italian, 
 intimates that this grant is yet extant, and even makes use 
 of some phrases that are said to be contained in it (see 
 the pages 242 and 346 of that work.) This, however, 
 will scarcely be believed. Were it indeed true, that such 
 a deed remains, its being published to the world would 
 be, undoubtedly, unfavoura<>le to the pretensions and in- 
 terests of the church of Rome. It is at least certain, 
 that, in the dispute between the emperor Joseph 1. and 
 the Roman pontiff concerning Commachio, the partisans 
 of the latter, though frequently called upon by those of 
 the emperor to produce this grant, refused constantly to 
 comply with this demand. On the other hand, it must be 
 confessed, that Bianchini, in his Prolegom. ad Anastasium 
 de Vitis Pontif Rom., has given us, from a Farnesian ma- 
 nuscript, a specimen of this grant, which seems to carry 
 the marks of remote antiquity. Be that as it may, a multi- 
 tude of witnesses unite in assuring us, that the remorse 
 of a wounded conscience was the source of Pepin's libe- 
 rality, and that his grant to the Roman pontiff was the 
 superstitious remedy by which he hoped to expiate his 
 enormities, and particularly his horrid perfidy to nit mu 
 ter Childeric. 
 
196 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H- 
 
 French monarch to the see of Rome. In this 
 extremity, pope Adrian I. fled for succour to 
 Charles, the son of Pepin, who, on account of 
 his heroic exploits, was afterwards distinguish- 
 ed by the name of Charlemagne. This prince, 
 whose enterprising genius led him to seize with 
 avidity every opportunity of extending his 
 conquests, and whose veneration for the Roman 
 see was carried very far, as much from the 
 dictates of policy as superstition, adopted im- 
 mediately the cause of the trembling pontiff. 
 He passed the Alps with a formidable army, in 
 774; overturned the empire of the Lombards 
 in Italy, which had subsisted above two hun- 
 dred years; sent their exiled monarch into 
 France, and proclaimed himself king of the 
 Lombards. These conquests offered to Charle- 
 magne an occasion of visiting Rome, where he 
 not only confirmed the grants which had been 
 made by his father to that see, but added to 
 them new donations, and ceded to the Roman 
 pontiffs several cities and provinces in Italy, 
 which had not been contained in Pepin's grant. 
 What those cities and provinces were, is a 
 question difficult to be resolved at this period, 
 as it is perplexed with much obscurity, from 
 the want of authentic records.* 
 
 * See Car. Sigonius, de regno Italiae, lib. iii. p. 223, 
 torn, ii.op. — Buiiau, Hisloria Imperii Germaiiici, torn. ii. 
 p. 368. — Petr. de Marca, de Concordia Sacerdotii et Im- 
 perii, lib. i. cap. xii. p. 67. — Lud. Anton. Muratori Droits 
 de I'Empire sur I'Etat Ecelesiastique, cap. ii. p. 147. — 
 Couringius, de Imperio Roman. German, cap. vi. The 
 extent of Charlemagne's grant to the see of Rome is as 
 much disputed as the magnitude of Pepin's donation, be- 
 tween the partisans of the pope, and those of the emperor. 
 They who plead the cause of the Roman see, maintain that 
 Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the territory of Sabino, the 
 duchy of Spoleto, and several other districts, were solemn- 
 ly granted by Charlemagne to St. Peter and his successors. 
 They, on the other hand, who assert the rights of the 
 emperor, diminish as tar as they can the munificence of 
 Charles, and confine this new grant within narrow limits. 
 The reader may consult upon this subject the authors of 
 the present age, who have published their opinions of the 
 pretensions of the emperors and the popes to tlie cities of 
 Commachio and Florence, and the duchies of Parma and 
 Placentia; but, above all, the learned Berret's excellent 
 treatise, entitled, Dissertatio Chorographica de Italia 
 medii Avi, f. 33. The spirit of party seems, in this con- 
 troversy, as in many others, to have blinded the dispu- 
 tants on both sides of the question; and this, together 
 with the difficulty of avoiding mistakes upon a pomt in- 
 volved in such deep obscurity, has, in many cases, ren- 
 dered the truth invisible to both the contending parties. 
 With respect to the motives that induced Charlemagne 
 to make this grant, they are much less doubtful than the 
 extent of the grant itself. Adrian affirms, that the 
 monarch's view was to atone for his sins by this act of 
 liberality to the church, as we see in a letter from that 
 pontiff to Charlemagne, which is published in Muratori's 
 Scriptores Rerum Italicar. torn. iii. part ii. p. 265, and of 
 which ttie following passage is remarkable: "Venientes 
 ad nos de Capua, quam bealo Petro apostolorum principi 
 pro mercede anima; vestrae atque sempitcrna memoria 
 cum ceteris civitatibiis obtulistis." Is it not indeed im- 
 probable, that Charlemagne, who affected that kind of 
 piety which was the characteristic of this barbarous age, 
 mentioned this superstitious motive in the act of cession 
 by which he confirmed his donation to the church; but 
 such as are acquainted with the character of this prince, 
 and the history of this period, will be cautious in attribut- 
 ing his generosity to this religious principle alone. His 
 grand motive was, undoubtedly, of an amliitious kind; he 
 was obstinately bent upon adding the western empire to 
 his dominions; and the success of this grand projeet de- 
 pended much upon the consent and assistance of the pope, 
 whose approbation, in those times, was sufficient to sane 
 tify the most iniquitious projects. Thus Charlemagne 
 lavished gifts upon the bishops of Rome, that, by their 
 assistance, he might as'ume, with a certain air of de- 
 cency, the empire of the west, and confirm his new do- 
 
 X. By this act of liberality, which seems to 
 carry in it the contradictory characters of poli- 
 cy and imprudence, Charlemagne opened for 
 himself a passage to the empire of the west, 
 and to the supreme dominion over the city of 
 Rome and its territory, upon which the western 
 empire seemed then to depend.* He had, no 
 doubt, been meditating for a considerable time 
 this arduous project, which his father Pepin 
 had probably formed before him; but the cir- 
 cumstances of the times obliged him to wait 
 for a favourable occasion of putting it in execu- 
 tion. This was offered him in 800, when the 
 afiairs of the Greeks were reduced to extremity 
 after the deatli of Leo III. and the barbarous 
 murder of his son Constantine, and while the 
 impious Irene held the reins of empire. This 
 opportunity was seized with avidity by Charles, 
 who set out for Rome, where he was received 
 with lively demonstrations of zeal by the sove- 
 reign pontiff,! who had entered into his views, 
 and persuaded the people, elate at this time 
 with high notions of their independence and 
 elective power, to unite their suffrages in favour 
 of this prince, and proclaim him emperor of 
 the west. I 
 
 XI. Charles, on his elevation to the empire 
 of the west and the government of Rome, 
 seems to have reserved to himself the supreme 
 dominion, and the inalienable rights of majesty, 
 while he granted to the church of Rome a 
 subordinate jurisdiction over that great city 
 and its annexed territory. § This grant was 
 
 minion in Italy. Of this policy we have already taken 
 notice, and it must aj)pear manifest to all who view things 
 with the smallest degree of impartiality and attention. 
 
 * Charles, iu reality, was already emperor of the west, 
 that is, the most powerful of the European monarehs. 
 He wanted, therefore, nothing more than the title of 
 emperor, and the supreme dominion in Rome and its 
 territory, both of which he obtained by the assistance of 
 Leo. HI. 
 
 t Leo III. 
 
 \ See the historians who have transmitted to us ac- 
 counts of this century, and more especially Bunau, in his 
 Hist. Imperii Rcnnano-German. torn. ii. p. 537. The 
 partisans of the Roman pontiffs generally maintain, that 
 Leo HI. by a divine right, vested in him as bishop of 
 Rome, transferred the western empire from the Greeks 
 to the Franks, and conferred it upon Charlemagne, the 
 monarch of the latter. Hence they conclude, that the 
 Roman pontiff, as the vicar of Christ, is the supreme lord 
 of the whole earth, and, in a particular manner, of the 
 Roman empire. The temerity of these pretensions, and 
 the absurdity of this reasoning, are exposed with much 
 learning and judgment by the celebrated Fred. Span- 
 heim, de ficta translatione Imperii iu Carolum M. per 
 Leonem III. torn. ii. op. p. 557. 
 
 § That Cliarlemagne, in effect, preserved entire his 
 supreme authority over the city of Rome and its adjacent 
 territory, gave law to the citizens by judges of his own 
 appointment, punished malefactors, enjoyed the preroga- 
 tives, and exercised all the functions of royalty, has been 
 demonstrated by several of the learned in the most ample 
 and satisfactory manner, and confirmed by the most un- 
 exceptionable and authentic testimonies. To be convinc- 
 ed of this, it will be sufllcient to consult Muratori's Droits 
 de I'Empire sur I'F.tat Ecelesiastique, cap. vi. p. 77. 
 And, indeed, they must have a strange power of resisting 
 the clearest evidence, who are absurd enough to assert, 
 as does Fontanini, in his treatise, entitled, Dominio della 
 S. Sede sopra Commachio, Diss. i. c. 95, 96, that Charles 
 sustained at Rome the character of the advocate of the 
 Roman church, and not that of its sovereign or its lord, 
 the dominion of the pontiff being unlimited and univer- 
 sal. On the other hand, we must acknowledge ingenu- 
 ously, that the power of the pontiff, both in the city of 
 Rome and its annexed territory, was very great, and that, 
 in several rases, he seemed to act with a princely autho- 
 ritv. Bui the extent and the foundations of that authori- 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 197 
 
 undoubtedly suggested to him by the ambitious 
 pontiff" as a matter of sacred and indispensable 
 obligation; and many fictitious deeds were 
 probably produced to make out the jtreten- 
 sions, and justify the claims of the cliurch to 
 this high degree of temporal authority and 
 civil jurisdiction. In order to reconcile the 
 new emperor to this grant, it was without 
 doubt alleged, that Constantino the Great, his 
 renowned predecessor, wiien he removed the 
 seat of empire to Constantinople, delivered up 
 Rome, the old metropolis, with its adjacent 
 territories, commonly called the Roman duke- 
 dom, to be possessed and governed by tiie 
 church, with no other restriction, than that 
 this should be no detriment to his supreme 
 dominion; and it was insinuated to Charles, 
 that he could not depart from the rule estab- 
 lished by that pious emperor, without incur- 
 ring tlie wrath of God, and the indignation of 
 St. Peter.* 
 
 ty are concealed in the deepest obscurity, and have given 
 occasion to endless disputes. Muratori maintains, in liis 
 work above cited, p. 103, that the bishop of Rome dis- 
 charged the function oCci-nrch, or i-icitr, to the emperor; 
 an opiuitin vvhicli Clemeiil XI. rejected as injurious to 
 the papal dignity, and which, indeed, does not a])pear to 
 have any solid foundation. After a careful cvaniiualion 
 of all the circumstances that can contribute toward the 
 solution of this perplcred question, the most probable ac 
 count of the matter seems lo be this: That the Xtunian 
 pontiff possessed the city of Rome and its territory, by 
 the same right by which he held the exarchate of Raven- 
 na, and the other lands granted by Charlemagne; that is 
 to say, he possessed Rome by a feudal tenure, though 
 charged with fewer marks of dependence than other fiefs 
 generally are, on account of the lustre and dignity of a 
 cMty which had been so long the capital of the empire. 
 This opinion derives much strength from what we shall 
 have occasion to observe in the following note, and it has 
 the peculiar advantage of reconciling the jarring testi- 
 monies of ancient writers, and the various records of an- 
 tiquity relating to this point. 
 
 *Mo9t writers are of opinion, that Constantine's pre- 
 tended grant was posterior to this period, and was forged 
 in the tenth century. It appears to me, on the contrary, 
 that this fictitious grant was in being in the eighth cen- 
 tury; and it is extremely probable, that both Adrian and 
 his successor Leo 111. made use of it to persuade Charle- 
 magne to that donation. In favour of this opinion we 
 have the unexceptionable testimony of Adrian himself in 
 his letter to Charlemagne, which is published in Muralo- 
 ri's Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, tom. iii. part ii. p. 194, 
 and which is extremely worthy of an attentive perusal. 
 In this letter, Adrian exhorts Charles, before his eleva- 
 tion to the empire, to order the restitution of all the 
 grants and donations that had formerly been made to St. 
 Peter and to the chinch of Rome. In this demand also 
 he distinguishes, in the plainest manner, the donation of 
 Constantine from those of the other princes and empe- 
 rors, and what is particularly remarkable, from the ex- 
 archate which was the gill of Pepin, and even from the 
 additions that Charles had already made to his father's 
 grant; whence we may justly conclude, that by the dona- 
 tion of Constantine, Adrian meant the city of Rome, and 
 its annexed territory. He speaks first of this grant in 
 the following terms; " Deprecamur vestram excelkntiain 
 . . . ]iro Dei amore et ipsius clavigeri rcgni cceloruni 
 . . . ut secundum promissioncm <pjam pollioiti eslis 
 eidem Dei apostolo pro aniina; vestr.T; mercede et stabili- 
 tate regni vestri, omnia noslris temporibus adiinplere ju- 
 beatis . . . et sicut temporibus beati Silvestri Romani 
 pontifjcis, asancta: recordationis piissimo Constantino M. 
 imperatorc, per ejus largitalem (here Constantine's dona- 
 lion is evidently mentioned) sancta Dei catholica et apos- 
 toliea Romana ecelesia elcvata atquc exaltata est, et po- 
 testatcm in his HesperiiE partibus largiri dignatus est; 
 ita et in his vestris felicissimis temporibus atqiie nostris 
 sancta Dei ecelesia germinet . . . et ampliiis alque amplius 
 exaltata permaneat . . . (juia ecce iiovus Christiauissimus 
 Dei gratia Constantinus im|ierator (here we see Charles, 
 who at that time was only a king, styled emperor by the 
 pontifT, and compared with Constantine) his temporibus 
 •urreiit, per quern omnia Deus sancta; sua; ecelesia' . . . 
 
 XII. While the power and opulence of the 
 
 Roman pontiff's were rising to the greatest 
 iicigiit by the events which we have now been 
 relating, they received a mortifying check in 
 consequence of a quarrel which broke out be- 
 tween those haughty priests and the Grecian 
 emperors. Leo the Isaurian, and his son Con- 
 stantine Copronynms, incensed at the zeal 
 which Gregory II. and Hi. discovered for the 
 worship of images, not only confiscated tlie 
 treasures and lands which the church of Rome 
 possessed in Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia, but 
 also withdrew the bishops of tjicse countries, 
 and likewise the various provinces and churches 
 of Illyricuni, from tlie jurisdiction of the Ro- 
 man sec, and subjected them to the spiritual 
 dominion of the bishop of Constantinople. And 
 so inliexibly were the Grecian emperors bent 
 upon humbling the arrogance of the Roman 
 pontiff's, that no intreaties, supplications, or 
 threats, could engage them to aliandon their 
 purpose, or to restore this rich and signal por- 
 tion of St. Peter's patrimony to his greedy suc- 
 cessors.* It is here that we mtist look for the 
 original source, and the principal cause of that 
 vehement contest between tlie Roman pontiff 
 and the bishop of Constantinople, which, in the 
 following century, divided the Greek and Latin 
 churches, and proved so pernicious to the in- 
 terests and advancement of true Christianity. 
 These lamentable divisions, which wanted no 
 new incident to foment them, were neverthe- 
 less augmented by a controversy which arose, 
 in this century, concerning the derivation of 
 the Holy Spirit, which we shall have occasion 
 to mention more largely in its proper place. 
 It is more than probable that tiiis controversy 
 would have been terminated with the utmost 
 facility, had not the spirits of the contending 
 parties been previously exasperated by disputes 
 founded upon avarice and ambition, and car- 
 ried on, without either moderation or decency, 
 by the holy patriarchs of Rome and Constanti- 
 nople, in defence of their respective preten- 
 sions. 
 
 XIII. The monastic discipline was extremely 
 relaxed at this time botii in the eastern and 
 western provinces, and, as appears by the con- 
 
 largiri dignatus est." So much for that part of the letter 
 that relates to Constantine's grant: as lo the other dona- 
 tions which the pontiff evidently distinguishes from it, 
 observe what follows: " Sed et cuncia alia quae jier di- 
 versos imperatores, patricios, eliam et alios Drum linien- 
 tes, pro eorum anima; mercede et venia delictornm, in 
 partibus Tusciae, Spoleto, seu Benevento, atque Corsica, 
 simul et Pavinensi patrimonio, beato Petro apostolo con- 
 eessa sunt, el per uefandam geiilem Longobardorum per 
 annorum spatia abslracta et ablata sunt, vestris tempori- 
 bus restitiiantur." (The pontiff intimates farther, that 
 all these grants were carefully preserved in the office of 
 the Lateran, and that he sends them to Charles by his le- 
 gates.) " Unde ct plures donationes in sacro nostro scri- 
 nio Laleranensi reconditas liabemus, tamen et pro satis- 
 factione Chrislianissimi regni vestri, per jam fatos viros, 
 ad demonstrandum eas vobis, direximus, et pro hoc peti- 
 mus eximiani pra;eellentiam vestram, ut in integro ipsa 
 pairimonia beato Petro et nobis restitnere jubeatis. " By 
 this it appears that Constan linn's grant was now in being 
 among the archives of the Lateran,and was sent lo Char- 
 lemagne with the other donations of kings and princes, 
 whose examples were adduced with a view of exciting his 
 liberality to the church. 
 
 * See Mich. Lequien's Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p. 
 fW. Among the Greek writers also Thcophanes and 
 others acknowledge the fact; but they are not entirely 
 agreed about the reasons to which it is to be attributed. 
 
INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 198 
 
 curring testimonies of the writers of this cen- 
 tury, had fallen into a total decay. The only 
 monks who escaped this general corruption, 
 were those who passed their days in the deserts 
 of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, amidst the 
 austerities of a wretched life, remote from all 
 the comforts of human society: yet the merit 
 of having preserved their discipline was sadly 
 counterbalanced by the gross ignorance, the 
 fanatical madness, and the sordid superstition 
 that reigned among these miserable hermits. 
 Those of the monastic orders, who lived nearer 
 to cities and populous towns, frequently dis- 
 turbed the public tranquillity by tlie tumults 
 and seditions they fomented among the multi- 
 tude, so that it became necessary to check their 
 rebellious ambition by the severe laws that 
 were enacted against them by Constantine Co- 
 pronymus, and other emperors. The greatest 
 part of the western monks followed, at this 
 time, the rule of St. Benedict; though there 
 were every where convents which adopted the 
 discipline of other orders.* But, as they m- 
 creased in opulence, they lost sight of all rules, 
 and submitted, at length, to no other discipline 
 than that of intemperance, voluptuousness, 
 and sloth. f Charlemagne attempted, by vari- 
 ous edicts, to put a stop to this growing evil; 
 but his efforts were attended with little success. + 
 XIV. This general depravity and corruption 
 of the monks gave rise to a new order of priests 
 in the west, a sort of middle order between 
 the monks or regulars, and the secular clergy. 
 This new species of ecclesiastics adopted the 
 monastic discipline and manner of life, so far 
 as to have their dwelling and their table in 
 common, and to assemble at certain hours for 
 divine service; but they entered not into the 
 vows which were peculiar to the monks, and 
 they were also appointed to discharge the minis- 
 terial functions in certain churches which were 
 committed to their pastoral direction. These 
 ecclesiastics were at first called fratres dominici, 
 but soon after received the name of canons.^ 
 The common opinion attributes the institution 
 of this order to Chrodegangus, bishop of Metz; 
 nor is this opinion destitute of truth;|( for 
 though, before this time, there were in Italy, 
 Africa, and other provinces, convents of eccle- 
 siastics, who lived after the manner of the ca- 
 
 Part II. 
 
 * See Mabillon, Prief. ad acta SS. Ord. Benedict!, S;ec. 
 i. p. 24, and Saec. iv. part i. p. 26. 
 
 t The author, mentioned in the preceding note, dis- 
 courses with a noble frankness and courage concerning 
 the corruption of the monks, and its various causes, in 
 the same work, Pr^f. ad Siec. iv. part i. p. 64. 
 
 I .See the Capitularia Caroli. puhMshed by Balvize, torn. 
 i. p. 148, 157, 237, 35.5, '.m, 37.5, .503. Laws so severe, 
 and so often repeated, shew evidently that the corruption 
 of the monks must have been truly enormous. 
 
 ^ See Le Baeuf, Memnires sur I'Hisloire d'Auxerre, 
 torn. i. p. 174, the Paris edition, published in 1743. 
 
 II See, for an account of Chrodegangus, the Histoirc 
 Literaire de la France, toin. iv. p. 108. — Calmct, His- 
 toire de Lorraine, tom. i. p. 513. — .\cta Sanctor. torn. i. 
 Martii, p. 452. The rule which li« prescribed to his 
 canons, may be seen in Le Coinle's Annales Francor. 
 Eccles. tom. v. ad An. 7.57, sect. .'5; as also in the Con- 
 cilia Labbei, tom. vii. 1444. He is not, however, the 
 author of the rule which is published in his name, in the 
 Spicilegium veter. Scriptor. tom. i. p. 56,5. Longueval, 
 in his Histoire de I'Eglise Gallicane, tom. iv. p. 4.35, has 
 given a neat and elogaut abridgement of the rule of Cliro- 
 aegangua 
 
 nons,* yet Chrodegangus, who, toward the 
 middle of this century, subjected to this rule 
 the clergy of Metz, not only added to their 
 religions ceremonies the custom of singing 
 hymns and anthems to God, at certain hours, 
 and probably a variety of rites, but also, by 
 his example, excited the Franks, the Italians, 
 and the Germans, to distinguish themselves by 
 their zeal in favour of the canons, to erect col- 
 leo-es for them, and to introduce their rule into 
 their respective countries. 
 
 XV. The supreme dominion, over the church 
 and its possessions, was vested in the emperors 
 and kings, both in the eastern and the western 
 world. The sovereignty of the Grecian em- 
 perors, in this respect, has never been contest- 
 ed; and though the partisans of the Roman 
 pontiff's endeavour to render dubious the supre- 
 macy of the Latin monarchs over the church, 
 yet this supremacy is too manifest to be dis- 
 puted by such as have considered the matter at- 
 tentively;1 ^'id it is acknowleged by the wisest 
 and most candid writers, even of the Romish 
 communion. Adrian I., in a council of bish- 
 ops assembled at Rome, conferred upon Char- 
 lemagne and his successors the right of elec- 
 tion to the see of Rome;], and though neither 
 Charlemagne, nor his son Louis, were willing 
 to exercise this power in all its extent, by 
 naming and creating the pontiff upon every 
 vacancy, yet they reserved the right of ap- 
 proving and confirming the person who was 
 elected to that high dignity by the priests and 
 people: nor was the consecration of the elect- 
 ed pontiff of the least validity, unless perform- 
 ed in presence of the emperor's ambassadors.^ 
 The Roman pontiffs obeyed the laws of the 
 emperojs, received their judicial decisions as 
 of indispensable obligation, and executed them 
 with the utmost punctuality and submission. || 
 The kings of the Franks appointed extraordi- 
 nary judges, whom they called envoys, to in- 
 spect the lives and manners of the clergy, su- 
 perior and inferior, take cognisance of their 
 contests, terminate their disputes, enact laws 
 concerning the public worship, and punish the 
 crimes of the sacred order, as well as those of 
 the other citizens.lT All churches also, and 
 monasteries, were obliged to pay to the public 
 treasury a tribute proportioned to their respec- 
 tive lands and possessions, e.xcept such as, by 
 
 * Murator. Antiq. Italicas, tom. v. p. 185; as also Lud. 
 Thomassin's Disciplina Rcclesite Vet. et Nov. part i. lib. 
 iii. The design of this institution was truly excellent. 
 The authors of it, justly shocked at the vicious manners 
 of a licentious clergy, hoped that this new institution 
 would have a tendency to prevent the irregularities of 
 that order, by delivering its members from the cares, 
 anxieties, and occupations of this present life. But the 
 event shewed how much these pious views have been dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 f For an accurate account of the rights of the Grecian 
 emperors in religious matters, we refer the reader to Le- 
 quien's Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p. 136. 
 
 j This act is mentioned by Anastasius; it has been pre- 
 served by Yvo and Gratian, and has been the subject of a 
 multitude of treatises. 
 
 ^ See Mabillon, Comm. in Ordinem Romanum, in Mu- 
 seo ItaV tom. ii. p. 113. — Muratori, Droits de I'Empire 
 sur I'Etat F.cclesiastique, p. 87. 
 
 II This has been amply demonstrated by Baluze, in his 
 Prsef. ad Capitularia Regum Francorum, sect. 21. 
 
 IT See Muratori Antiq. Ital., tom. i. Diss. ix. p. 470 
 
 Franc, de Roye, de Missis Dominicis, cap. x. p. 44; cap. 
 viii. p. 118, 134, 168, 195. 
 
Chap. 11. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 199 
 
 the pure favour of the supreme powers, were 
 graciously exempted from this general tax.* 
 
 XVI. It is true, indeed, that the Latin em- 
 perors did not assume to themselves the admin- 
 istration of the church, or tiie cognisance and 
 decision of controversies that were purely of a 
 religious nature. They aclcnowledged on the 
 contrary, that these affairs belonged to the tri- 
 bunal of the Roman pontitV and to the ecclesi- 
 astical councils.) But tiiis jurisdiction of the 
 pontitF was confined witliin narrow limits; he 
 could decide nothing by his sole authority, but 
 was obliged to convene a council when any 
 religious diflercnces were to lie terminated by 
 an authoritative judgment. Nor did the pro- 
 vinces, when any controversy arose, wait for 
 the decision of the bishop of Rome; but as- 
 sembled, by their own authority, their particu- 
 lar councils, in which the bishops gave their 
 thoughts with the utmost freedom upon the 
 points in debate, and voted often in direct op- 
 position to what was known to be the opinion 
 of the Roman pontiff'; all which is evident 
 from what passed in tlie councils assembled by 
 the Franks and Germans, in order to deter- 
 mine the celebrated controversy concerning 
 the use and worship of images. It is farther 
 to be observed, that the power of convening 
 councils, and the right of presiding in them, 
 were the prerogatives of the emperors and 
 sovereign princes, in whose dominions these 
 assemblies were holden; and that no decrees 
 of any council obtained the force of laws, un- 
 til they were approved and confirmed by the 
 supreme magistrate. J Thus was the spiritual 
 authority of Rome wisely bounded by the civil 
 power; but its ambitious pontiffs fretted under 
 the imperial curb, and, eager to loosen their 
 bonds, left no means unemployed for that pur- 
 pose. They even formed projects which seem- 
 ed less the effects of ambition than of phrensy: 
 for they claimed a supreme dominion, not only 
 over the church, but also over kings them- 
 selves, and pretended to reduce the whole uni- 
 verse under their ghostly jurisdiction. How- 
 ever extravagant these pretensions were, they 
 were followed by the most vigorous eflbrts; 
 and the wars and tumults that arose in tlie 
 following century, contributed much to render 
 these efforts successful. 
 
 XVII. If we turn our eyes toward the wri- 
 ters of this century, we shall find very few that 
 stand distinguished in the lists of fame, eitlier 
 on account of erudition or genius. Among 
 the Greeks, the following only seem worthy 
 of mention. 
 
 Germanus, bishop of Constantinople, the 
 
 * See Muratori Antiq. Ital., torn. i. Diss. xvii. p. 9"^6. 
 See also the collection of the various pieces that were 
 published on occ-asion of the dispute between Louis XV. 
 and his clergy, relating to the immunities of that order 
 in France. These pieces were printed in 1751, under the 
 following title: Kcrits pour et conlre les Immunitcs prc- 
 teudues par le Clerge de France. 
 
 f See the Dissertation of Charlemagne, de Imaginibus, 
 lib. i. cap. iv. 
 
 ■} All this is fully and admirably demonstrated by Ba- 
 luze, in his preface to the Capitularia, or laws of the 
 kings of the Franks, and is also amply illustrated in that 
 work. See also J. Basnage, Hiftoire de I'Kglise, tern. i. 
 p. 270. 
 
 greatest part of whose high renown was due 
 to his violent zeal for image worship.* 
 
 Cosmas, bishop of Jerusalem, who acquired 
 some reputation by his lyric vein, consecrated 
 to the service of religion, and employed in 
 composing hymns for public and private devo- 
 tion. 
 
 George Syncellus and Theophanes, who are 
 not the least considerable among the writers 
 of the Byzantine history, thougli they be in 
 all respects infinitely below the ancient Greek 
 and Latin historians. 
 
 But the writer, who surpassed all his con- 
 temporaries among the Greeks and Orientals, 
 was John Daniascenus, a man of genius and 
 elotpience, who, in a variety of productions 
 full of erudition, explained tiie Peripatetic phi- 
 losophy, and illustrated the capital points of 
 the Christian doctrine. It must, however, be 
 acknowledged that the eminent talents of tliis 
 great man were tainted with that sordid super- 
 stition and that excessive veneration for the 
 ancient fathers, which were the reigning de- 
 fects of tlie age he lived in, not to mention his 
 wretched method of explaining the doctrines 
 of the Gospel according to the principles of 
 the Aristotelian philosophy.! 
 
 XVIII. The first place, among the Latin 
 writers, is due to Ciiarlemagne, whose love of 
 letters formed one of the brightest ornaments 
 of his imperial dignity. The laws which are 
 known by the title of Capitularia, with several 
 Epistles, and a Book concerning Images, are 
 attributed to this prince; though it seems highly 
 probable that most of these compositions were 
 drawn up by other pens.]; 
 
 After this learned prince, we may justly 
 place the venerable Betle, so called from his 
 illustrious virtues;^ Alcuin,|| the preceptor of 
 Charlemagne; Paulinusof Aqui]eia;1 who were 
 all distinguished by their laborious apphcation, 
 and their zeal for the advancement of learn- 
 ing and science, and who treated the various 
 branches of literature, known in this century, 
 in such a manner as to convince us, that it 
 was the infelicity of the times, rather than the 
 want of genius, that prevented them from 
 rising to higher degrees of perfection than 
 what they attained to. Add to these, Boni- 
 face, of whom we have already spoken: Egin- 
 hard, the celebrated author of the Life of 
 Charlemagne, and other productions; Paul, 
 the deacon, who acquired a considerable and 
 lasting reputation by his History of the Lom- 
 bards, his Book of Homilies, and his miscella- 
 neous labours; Ambrose Authpert, who wrote 
 
 * See Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliotheque Eccle- 
 siastique de M. Du-Pin, torn. i. p. 270. 
 
 t Bayle, Diction, torn. ii. p. 950; as also the account of 
 the writings of John Damascenus, which is published in 
 Le Quien's edition of his works, and was composed by 
 Leo Allatius. 
 
 t See Jo. A. Fabricii Bibliotheca medii M,vi Lat. torn, 
 i. p. 9.'i6. Histoire Literairede la France, torn. iv. p. 368. 
 
 ^ See the Acta Sanctorum, torn. i. April, p. 866, and 
 the Gen. Dictionary, at the article Bedc. A list of the 
 writings of this venerable Briton, composed by himself, is 
 published by Muratori, in his Antiq. Italic, medii aevi, 
 torn. iii. p. 325. 
 
 II Hist. Liter, de la France, torn. iv. p. 295.— Gen. Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 IT See Hist. Literaire, *ic, tom. iv. p. 286.— Acta Sanet. 
 torn. i. Januar. p. 713. 
 
200 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 a commentary on the Revelations; and Theo- 
 dulphus, bishop of Orleans; and thus we shall 
 have a complete list of all the writers who ac- 
 quired any degree of esteem in this century by 
 their literary productions, either sacred or pro- 
 fane. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church 
 during this Centurij. 
 
 I. The fundamental doctrines of Christian- 
 ity were, as yet, respected and preserved in the 
 theological writings, both of the Greeks and 
 Latins, as seems evident from the discourse of 
 John Damascenus concerning' the orthodox 
 faith, and the confession of faith which was 
 drawn up by Charlemagne.* The pure seed 
 of celestial truth was, however, cholted by a 
 monstrous and incredible quantity of noxious 
 weeds. The rational simplicity of the Chris- 
 tian worship was corrupted by an idolatrous 
 veneration for images, and other superstitious 
 inventions, and the sacred flame of divine cha- 
 rity was e.xtinguished by the violent conten- 
 tions and animosities whicii tiie progress of 
 these superstitions occasioned in tlie churcli. 
 All acknowledged the efficacy of our Saviour's 
 merits: and yet all, in one way or another, 
 laboured, in effect, to diminisli the persuasion 
 of this efficacy in the minds of men, by teach- 
 ing, that Christians miglit appease an offended 
 Deity by voluntary acts of mortification, or by 
 gifts and oblations lavished upon the church, 
 and by exhorting such as were desirous of sal- 
 vation to place their confidence in the works 
 and merits of the saints. Were we to enlarge 
 upon all the absurdities and superstitions wliich 
 were invented to flatter the passions of the 
 misguided multitude, and to increase, at the 
 expense of reason and Christianity, the opu- 
 lence and authority of a licentious clerg}^, 
 such an immense quantity of odious materials 
 would swell this work to an enormous size. 
 
 II. The piety in vogue, during this and some 
 succeeding ages, consisted in building and em- 
 bellisliing churches and chapels, in endowing 
 monasteries, erecting basilics, hunting after 
 the relics of saints and martyrs, and treating 
 them witli an e.xcessive and absurd veneration, 
 in procuring the intercession of the saints by 
 rich oblations or superstitious rites, in worship- 
 ping images, in pilgrimages to those places 
 vvhicli were esteemed holy, and chiefly to 
 Palestine, and the like absurd and extravagant 
 practices and institutions. The pious Chris- 
 tian, and the profligate transgressor, showed 
 equal zeal in the performance of these super- 
 stitious services, which were looked upon as of 
 the highest etiicacy in order to the attainment 
 of eternal salvation: they were performed iiy 
 the latter as an expiation for his crimes, and a 
 mean of appeasing an offended Deity; and by 
 
 * See the treatise of this prince concerning images, 
 book iii. The reader may also consult Mich. Syncellus' 
 Confession of Faith, published by Monlfaucon, in his Bib- 
 liotheca Coisliniana, p. 90: and, among the Latins, an Ex- 
 position of the principal Doctrines of the Christian Reli- 
 eion, composed by Benedict, abbot of Aniane, and pub- 
 lished by Baluze in his Miscellanea, torn. v. p. 5G; as also 
 the Creed of Leo iii., published in the same work, torn. 
 vii. p. 18. 
 
 tlie former with a view to obtain, from above, 
 the good things of this life, and an easy and 
 commodious passage to life eternal. The true 
 religion of Jesus, if we except a few of its doc- 
 trines contained in the Creed, was utterly un- 
 known in this century, not only to the multi- 
 tude in general, but also to the doctors of the 
 first rank and eminence in the church; and the 
 consequences of this corrupt ignorance were 
 fatal to the interests of virtue. All orders of 
 men, regardless of the obligations of morality, 
 of the duties of the Gospel, and of the culture 
 and improvement of their minds, rushed head- 
 long with a perfect security into all sorts of 
 wickedness, from the delusive hopes, that by the 
 intercession and prayers of the saints, and the 
 credit of the priests at the throne of God, they 
 niiglit easily obtain the remission of their enor- 
 mities, and render the Deity propitious. This 
 dismal account of the religion and morals of 
 the eighth century is confirmed by the unani- 
 mous testimony of all the liistorians who have 
 written of the affairs of that period. 
 
 III. The Greeks were of opinion, that the 
 holy scriptures had been successfully interpret- 
 ed and explained by the ancient commentators, 
 and therefore imagined, that they rendered a 
 most important service to the students in di- 
 vinity, when, without either judgment or 
 choice, they extracted or compiled from the 
 works of these admired sages their explanatory 
 observations on the sacred writings. The 
 commentary of John Damascenus upon the 
 epistles of St. Paul, which was taken from the 
 writings of Chrysostom, is alone sufficient to 
 serve as a proof of tlie little discernment with 
 which tliese compilations were generally made. 
 
 The Latin expositors may be divided into 
 two classes, according to the different nature 
 of their productions. In tlie first, wo place 
 those writers who, after the example of tlie 
 Greeks, employed their laliour in collecting 
 into one body the interpretations and commen- 
 taries of the ancients. Bede distinguished him- 
 self among the expositors of this class by his 
 explication of the epistles of St. Paul, drawn 
 from the writings of Augustin and others.* 
 Still more estimable are the writers of the se- 
 cond class, who made use of their own pene- 
 tration and sagacity in investigating the sense 
 of the holy scriptures. Such were Alcuin, 
 Ambrose Authpert, the expositor of the Reve- 
 lations, and Bede also, who belongs, in reality, 
 to both classes. It must, however, be acknow- 
 ledged, that all these commentators were desti- 
 tute of the qualities that are essential to the 
 sacred critic; for we find them in their explica- 
 tions neglecting the natural sense of the words 
 of Scripture, and running blindfold after a cer- 
 tain hidden and mystical meaning, which, to 
 use their jargon, they usually divided into alle- 
 goi'ical, analogical, and Iropological;] and thus 
 they delivered their own rash fictions and crude 
 fancies, as the true and genuine sentiments of 
 the sacred writers. Of this we are furnished 
 
 * See, for an account of the commentaries of Bede, 
 Rich. Simon's Critique de la Biblioth. Ecclesiast. de M. 
 Du-Pin, torn. i. p. 280. See also Bedae Explicatio Gene- 
 seos ex Patribus, in Martenne's Thesaur. Anecdot. torn. 
 V. p. HI, 116, 140, and his interpretation of Habakkuk, 
 ibid. p. 29.S. 
 I f See Caroluj Magnus de Imaginibus, lib. i. p. 138. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 201 
 
 with many examples in Alcuin's Commentary 
 on St. John, Bede's allegorical illustrations 
 of the Books of Samuel, and Charlemagne's 
 Book concerning Images, in which various pas- 
 sages of the lioly scriptures are occasionally 
 explained according to the taste of the times.* 
 
 IV. The veneration of Charlemagne for the 
 Bacred writings was so excessive,! as to induce 
 him to suppose, that they contained the latent 
 seeds and principles of all arts and sciences; 
 an opinion, no doubt, which he early imbibed 
 from the lessons of his preceptor Alcuin, and 
 the other divines who frequented his court. 
 Hence arose the zeal with which that prince 
 excited and encouraged the more learned 
 among the clergy to direct their pious labours 
 toward the illustration of the holy scriptures. 
 Several laws which he published to encourage 
 this species of learning are yet extant, as also 
 various monuments of his deep solicitude about 
 the advancement and propagation of Christian 
 knowledge. J And lest the faults that were to 
 be found in several places of the Latin trans- 
 lation of the Scriptures should prove an obsta- 
 cle to the e.xecution and accomplishment of 
 his pious views, he employed Alcuin in cor- 
 recting these errors, § and is said, in the last 
 years of his life, to have spent a considerable 
 part of his time in the same learned and pious 
 work. II It is also to his encouragement and 
 direction, that some writers attribute the first 
 German translation of the sacred writings, 
 though others contend that this honour is due 
 to his son and successor Louis, surnanied the 
 Debonnaire. 
 
 V. This zeal and industry of the emperor 
 contributed, no doubt, to rouse from their sloth 
 a lazy and ignorant clergy, and to raise up a 
 spirit of application to literary pursuits. We 
 cannot, however, help observing, that this la- 
 borious prince imprudently established certain 
 customs, and confirmed others, which had a 
 manifest tendency to defeat, in a great mea- 
 sure, his laudable design of promoting Chris- 
 tian knowledge. He confirmed the practice 
 already in use, of reading and explaining to 
 the people, in the public assemblies, certain 
 portions only of the Scriptures; and reduced 
 the different methods of worship, followed in 
 different churches, into one fixed rule, which 
 w£is to be observed with the most perfect uni- 
 formity in all.lT Persuaded also that tew of 
 
 * See the same imperial author, book i. p. 84, 91, 123, 
 127, 131, 133, 136, 138, 145, 160, 164, 165, &c. 
 
 t See Carolus Magnus, de Imagin. lib. i. p. 231, 236. 
 
 J Jo. Frickius, de Canone Scripturse Sacrae, p. 184. 
 
 ^Baroniiis, Annal. ad A. DCCLXXVIII. n. xxvii.— Jo. 
 A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Lat. mcdii JEvi, torn. i. p. 950. — 
 Hist. Lit. de la France. 
 
 II J. A. Fabricius, torn. i. p. 950. — Usserius, de sacris 
 Scripturis vernacul. p. 110. 
 
 IT They who imagine that the portions of Scripture 
 which arc still explained, every year, to Christians in 
 their religious assemblies, were selected lor that purpose 
 by the order of Charlemagne, are undoubtedly in an er- 
 ror; since it is manifest, that in the preceding ages there 
 were certain portions of Scripture set apart for each day 
 of worship iu the greatest part of the Latin churches. 
 See Jo. Henr. Thameri Schediasma de Origine et Digni- 
 tate Pericoparum qua; Evangelia et Epistolae vulgo vocan- 
 tur. See also Jo. Franc. Buddei Isagoge ad Theologiam, 
 torn. ii.p. 1640. It must, however, be confessed, that Char- 
 lemagne introduced some new regulations into this part 
 of divine service; for whereas, before his time, the Latin 
 churches differed from each other in several circumstan- 
 ces of the public worship, and particularly in this, that 
 Vol. I.— 26 
 
 the clergy were capable of explaining with 
 perspicuity and judgment the portions of Scrip- 
 ture, which are distinguished in the ritual by 
 the name of epistle and gospel, he ordered 
 Paul the deacon, and Alcuin, to compile (from 
 the ancient doctors of the church) homilies or 
 discourses upon the epistles and gospels, which 
 a stupid and ignorant set of priests were to 
 commit to memory, and recite to the people. 
 This gave rise to that famous collection, which 
 went by the title of the homiliarium of Char- 
 lemagne," and which, being followed as a 
 model by many productions of the same kind, 
 composed by private persons from a principle 
 of pious zeal, contributed much to nourish the 
 indolence, and to perpetuate the ignorance of 
 a worthless clergy, f The zeal and activity of 
 this great prince did not stop here; for he or- 
 dered the lives of the principal saints to be 
 written in a moderate volume, of which copies 
 were dispersed throughout his dominions, that 
 the people might have, in the dead, examples 
 of piety and virtue, wiiicli were no where to 
 be found among the living. All these projects 
 and designs were certainly formed and execut- 
 ed with upright and pious intentions, and, con- 
 sidering the state of things in this century, 
 were, in several respects, both useful and ne- 
 cessary; they, however, contrary to the empe- 
 ror's intention, contributed, undoubtedly, to 
 encourage the priests in their criminal sloth, 
 and their shameful neglect of the study of the 
 Scriptures. For the majority of them era- 
 ployed their time and labour only upon those 
 parts of the sacred writings, which the empe- 
 ror had appointed to be read in the churches. 
 
 the same portions of Scripture were not read and explain 
 ed in them all, he published a solemn edict, commanding 
 all the religious assemblies within his territories to con- 
 form themselves, iu that respect, to the rules established 
 in the church of Rome. With respect to the portions of 
 Scripture which we call the epistles and gospels, and 
 which, from the time of Charlemagne down to us, con- 
 tinue to be used iu divine worship, it is certain that they 
 were read in the church of Rome so early as the sixth 
 century. It is also certain, that this prince was extremely 
 careful in reforming the service of the Latin churches, 
 and appointed the form of worship used at Rome to be 
 observed in all of them. Hence the churches which did 
 not adopt the Roman ritual, have different epistles and 
 gospels from those which are used by us and the other 
 western churches, who were commanded by Charlemagne 
 to imitate the Roman service. The church of Corbetta 
 is an example of this, as may be seen in Muratori's Antiq. 
 Hal. tom. iv. p. 836; and also the churchof Milan, which 
 follows the rite of St. Ambrose. If any are desirous to 
 know what epistles and gospels were used by the Franks 
 and other western churches before the time of Charle- 
 magne, they have only to consult the Calendars published 
 by Martenue, in his Thesaur. Anecdot. tom. v. p. 66, the 
 Discourses of Bede published in the same work, tom. v. 
 p. 339, and Mabillon, de Antiqua Liturgia Gallicana; to 
 all which may be added Peyrat, Antiquites de la Chapelle 
 du Roi de France, p. 566. 
 
 * See, for an account of this book of Homilies, the 
 learned .Seelen's SelectaLiteraria, p. 252. 
 
 t Alan, abbot of Farfa in Italy, wrote in this century a 
 very copious Book of Homilies, the preface to which is 
 published by Bernard Pe/.ius, in the Thesaur. Anecdot. 
 torn. vi. part i. p. 83. In the following age several worka 
 under the same title were composed by learned men; one 
 by Haymo, of Halberstadt, which is still extant; another 
 by Rabanus Maurus, at the request of the emperor Lo- 
 thaire; and a third by Hericus, mentioned by Pezius in 
 the work above quoted, p. 93. All these were written in 
 Latin. The famous Ottfrid, of Weissenburg, was the 
 first who composed a Book of Homilies in the Teutonic 
 language; for an account of this work, which was written 
 in {he ninth century, see Lambecius, de Biblioth. Vindo- 
 bon. August, tom. ii. cap. v. p. 419, 
 
202 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 and explained to the people; and never at- 
 tempted to exercise their capacities upon the 
 reBt of the divine word. The greatest part of 
 the clergy also, instead of composing them- 
 eelves the discourses they recited in public, 
 confined themselves to the book of homilies, 
 published by the authority of their sovereign, 
 and thus suffered their talents to lie unoulti- j 
 vated and unemployed. 
 
 VI. None of the Latins carried their tjieolo- i 
 gical enterprises so far as to give a complete, j 
 connected, and accurate S3'stem of the various | 
 doctrines of Christianity. It would be absurd i 
 to comprehend, under this title, the various 
 discourses concerning the person and nature of; 
 Christ, which were designed to refute the er- 
 rors of Felix* and Elipand, or to combat the 
 opinions wliich were now spread abroad con- 
 cerning the origin of the Holy Ghost, f and 
 several other points; since these discourses af- 
 ford no proofs either of precision or diligence 
 in their authors. The labours and industry of 
 the divines of this age were vi'holly employed 
 in collecting the opinions and authorities of 
 the fathers, by whom are meant the theologi- 
 cal writers of the first six centuries; and so 
 blind and servile was their veneration for these 
 doctors, that they regarded their dictates as in- 
 fallible, and their writings as the boundaries of 
 truth, beyond which reason was not permitted 
 to push its researches. The Irish, or Hiber- 
 nians, who in this century were known by the 
 name of Scots, were the only divines who re- 
 fused to dishonour their reason by subjecting 
 it implicitly to the dictates of authority. Na- 
 turally subtile and sagacious, they applied their 
 philosophy (such as it was) to the illustration 
 of the truth and doctrines of religion; a me- 
 thod which was almost generally abhorred and 
 exploded by all other nations.J 
 
 Q(^ * The doctrine taught by Felix, bishop of Urge], 
 and his disciple Elipand. archbishop of Toledo, was, tliat 
 Jesus Christ was the .Son of God, not by nature, but by 
 adoption. This doctrine was also intimately connected 
 with the Nestorian hypothesis, and was condemned, in 
 this century, by the synod of Ratisbon, and the councils 
 of Frankfort and Frioul. 
 
 {(U-fThe error now p\iblished relating to the Holy 
 Ghost was, that it proceeded from the Father only, and 
 not from tlie Father and the Son. 
 
 J That the Hibernians, who were called Scots in this 
 sentury, were lovers of learning, and distinguishf d theni- 
 •elvcs, in those times of ignorance, by the culture of the 
 sciences beyond all the other European nations, travelling 
 through the most distant lands, both with a view to im- 
 prove and to communicate their knowledge, is a fact with 
 which I have long been acquainted, as we see them, in the 
 most authentic records of antiquity, discharging, with 
 the highest reputation and applause, the doctorial lunc- 
 tion in France, Germany, and Italy, both during this and 
 the following century. But that these Hibernians were 
 the first teachers of the scholastic theology in Europe, and, 
 so early as the eighth century, illustrated the doctrines of 
 religion by the principles of philosophy, I learned but 
 lately from tl\e testimony of Benedict, abbot of Aniane, 
 who lived in this period. This learned abbot, in his Let- 
 ter to Guarnarius, p. 54, expresses himself thus: " Apud 
 mode'rnos scholasticos (i. e. public teachers, or school- 
 masters) maxime apud Scotos est syllogismus delusionis, 
 ut dicant, Trinitatem, sicut personarum, ita esse substan- 
 tiarum;" (by this it appears, that the Irish divines made 
 use of a certain syllogism, which Benedict calls delusive. 
 t. e. fallacious and sophistical, to demonstrate that the per- 
 sons in the Godhead were substances; a captious syllo- 
 gism this, as we may see from what follows, and also every 
 way proper to throw the ignorant into the greatest per- 
 plexity) " quatenus si adsenserit illectus auditor, Trinita- 
 tem e«8e trium sabstantianim Deum,trium derogetur cul- 
 
 The Greeks were not so destitute of syste- 
 matical divines as the Latins. John Damasce- 
 nus co.mposed a complete body of the Chria- 
 tian doctrine in a scientifical method, under 
 the title of Four Books concerning the Ortho- 
 dox Faith. The two kinds of theology, which 
 the Latins termed scholastic and didactic, were 
 united in this laborious performance, in which 
 the author not only explains the doctrines he 
 delivers by subtile and profound reasoning, but 
 also confirms his explications by the authority 
 of the ancient doctors. This book was receiv- 
 ed among the Greeks with the highest ap- 
 plause, and was so excessively admired, that at 
 length it came to be acknowledged among that 
 people as the only rule of divine truth. Many, 
 however, complain of this applauded writer, 
 as having consulted more, in his theological 
 system, the conjectures of human reason and 
 the opinions of the ancients, than the genuine 
 dictates of the sacred oracles, and of having, 
 in consequence of this method, deviated from 
 the true source and the essential principles of 
 theology.* To the work of Damascenus now 
 mentioned, we may add his Sacred Parallels, 
 in which he has collected, with uncommon 
 care and industry, the opinions of the ancient 
 doctors concerning various points of the Chris- 
 tian religion. We may, therefore, look upon 
 this writer as the Thomas and Lombard of the 
 Greeiis. 
 
 VII. None of the moral writers of this cen- 
 tury attempted to form a complete system of 
 the duties and virtues of the Christian life. 
 John, surnamed Carpathius, a Greek writer, 
 composed some e.xhortatory discourses, in 
 whicli there are scarcely any marks of judgment 
 or genius. Among the monastic orders no- 
 thing was relished but the enthusiastic strains 
 of the Mystics, and the doctrines of Dionysius 
 the Areopagite, their pretended chief, whose 
 si;ppositilioiis writings were interpreted and 
 explained by Johannes Darensis out of com- 
 plaisance to the monks. t The Latin writers 
 confined their labours in morality to some ge- 
 neral precepts concerning virtue and vice, 
 which seemed rather intended to regulate the 
 external actions of Christians, than to purify 
 their inward principles, or to fix duty upon its 
 proper foundations. Their precepts also, such 
 
 tor Dcorum: si autem abnuerit, personarum denegator 
 culpetur." It was with such miserable sophistry, that 
 these subtile divines puzzled and tormented their disciple» 
 and hearers, accusing those of Tritheism who admitted 
 their argument, and casting the reproach of Sabellianism 
 upon those who rejected it. For thus they reasoned, or 
 rather quibbled; "You must eitlier affirm or deny that 
 the three Persons in the Deity are three substances. If 
 you affirm it, you are undoubtedly a Tritheist, and wor- 
 ship three Gods: if you deny it, this denial implies that 
 they are not three distinct persons, and thus you fall into 
 Sabellianism." Benedict condemns this Hibernian sub- 
 tilty, and severely animadverts upon the introduction of 
 it into theology; lie also recommends in its place that ami- 
 able simplicity which is so conformable to the nature and 
 genius of the Gospel: — "Sed haec de fide (says he) et om- 
 nis callidilatis versutia, simplicitate fidei catholicae et pu- 
 ritate, vitanda, non captiosa interjectione linguarum, scae- 
 va impact ione interpolanda. " Hence it appears, that the 
 philosophical or scholastic theology, among the Latins, is 
 of more ancient date than is commonly imagined. 
 
 *Jo. Henr. Hottinger. Bibliothecar. Quadripart. 
 lib. iii. cap. ii. sect. lii. p. 372. — Mart. Chcmnitius, d» 
 Usu et Utilitate Locor. Commun.p. 26. 
 
 f Aesemani Biblioth. Oriental. Vatican, torn. ii. p. 120. 
 
Cbap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 203 
 
 as they were, and their manner of explaining 
 them, had now imbibed a strong tincture of 
 the Peripatetic philosophy, as appears from 
 certain tracts of Bade, and the treatise of Al- 
 cuin concerning virtue and vice." That the 
 people, however, might be animated to the 
 pursuit of virtue by tiie commanding power of 
 example, Bede, FJorus, Alcuin, Marcellinus, 
 Ambrose, Autiipert, and others, employed tiieir 
 pious industry in writing tlie lives of such as 
 had been eminent for their piety and worthy 
 deeds. 
 
 VIII. Tne controversies that turned upon 
 the main and essential points of religion were, 
 during this century, few in number, and 
 scarcely any of tliem were managed with tole- 
 rable sagacity or judgment. The greatest part 
 of the Greeks were involved in the dis])ute 
 concerning images, in which their reasonings 
 were utterly destitute of precision and perspi- 
 cuity, while the Latins employed their chief 
 zeal and industry in confuting and extirpating 
 the doctrine of Elipand concerning the person 
 of Christ. John Damascenus exposed the er- 
 rors of all the different sects in a short but 
 useful and interesting treatise; he also attack- 
 ed the Manichffians and Nestorians with a par- 
 ticular vehemence, and even went so far in his 
 polemic labours, as to combat the erroneous 
 doctrines of the Saracens. In these composi- 
 tions we find several proofs of subtilty and ge- 
 nius, but very little of that clearness and sim- 
 plicity that constitute the cliief merit of po- 
 lemic writings. The Jews were left almost 
 unmolested, as the Christians were sufficient!}' 
 employed by the controversies that had arisen 
 among themselves: Anastasius, abbot of Pales- 
 tine, however, made some attempts to subdue 
 the infidelity of that obstinate people. 
 
 IX. Of all the controversies which agitated 
 and perplexed the Christian church during this 
 century, that which arose concerning tiie wor- 
 ship of images in Greece, and was thence car- 
 ried into both the eastern and western pro- 
 vinces, was tiie most unhappy and pernicious 
 in its consequences. The first sparks of this 
 terrible flame, which threatened ruin both to 
 the interests of religion and government, had 
 already appeared under the reign of Philippi- 
 cus Bardanes, who was created emperor of the 
 Greeks soon after the commencement of this 
 c«ntury. This prince, with the consent of 
 John patriarch of Constantinople, ordered a 
 picture, which represented the sixth general 
 council, to be pulled down from its place in the 
 church of Sophia, in '12, because this council 
 had condemned the Monothelites, whose cause 
 the emperor espoused with the greatest ardour 
 and vehemence. Nor did Bardanes stop here; 
 but sent immediately an order to Rome to re- 
 move all representations of that nature from 
 the churches and other places of worship. His 
 orders, however, were far from being received 
 with submission, or producing their designed 
 effect: on the contrary, Constantino, the Ro- 
 man pontiff, not only rejected, by a formal pro- 
 test, the imperial edict, but resolved to express 
 his contempt of it by his actions as well as his 
 
 * This treatise is extant in the works of Alcuin, pub- 
 lulicd by Quercetanus, torn. ii. p. 1218. 
 
 words. He ordered six pictures, representing 
 the six general councils, to be placed in the 
 porch of St. Peter's church; and that no act 
 of rebellion or arrogance might be left unem- 
 ployed, he assembled a council at Rome, in 
 whicli he caused the emperor himself to be 
 condemned as an apostate from the true reli- 
 gion. These first tumults were quelled by a 
 revolution, which, in the following year, de- 
 prived Bardanes of the imperial throne.* 
 
 X. Tlie dispute, however, broke out with 
 redoubled fury under Leo the Isaurian, a prince 
 of the greatest resolution and intrepidity; and 
 the new tumults which it excited were both 
 violent and durable. Leo, unable to bear any 
 longer the excessive height to which the 
 Greeks carried their superstitious attachment 
 to tlie worship of images, and the sharp raille- 
 ries and serious reproaches which tliis idola- 
 trous service drew upon the Christians from 
 the Jews and Saracens, resolved, by the most 
 vigorous proceedings, to root out at once this 
 growing evil. For this purpose he issued an 
 edict in 726, by which it was ordered, not only 
 that the worship of images should be abrogat- 
 ed and relinquished, but also that all the im- 
 ages, except that of Christ's crucifixion, should 
 be removed out of the churches.] In this pro- 
 ceeding the emperor acted more from the im- 
 pulse of his natural character, which was warm 
 and vehement, than from the dictates of pru- 
 dence, which avoids precipitancy where preju- 
 dices are to be combated, and destroys and un- 
 dermines inveterate superstitions rather by 
 slow and imperceptible attacks, than by open 
 and violent assaults. The imperial edict pro- 
 duced such effects as might have been expect- 
 ed from the frantic enthusiasm of a supersti- 
 tious people. A civil war broke out in the 
 islands of tite Archipelago, ravaged a part of 
 Asia, and afterwards reached Italy. The peo- 
 ple, partly from their own ignorance, but prin- 
 cipally in consequence of the perfidious sug- 
 
 j gestions of the priests and monks, who had 
 I artfully rendered the worship of images a 
 [source of opulence to their churches and clois- 
 ! ters, were led to regard the emperor as an apos- 
 t tate; and hence they considered themselves as 
 I freed from their oath of allegiance, and from 
 
 all the obligations which attach subjects to 
 
 their lawful sovereign. 
 
 XI. The Roman pontiffs, Gregory II. and 
 III., were the authors and ringleaders of these 
 civil connnotions and insurrections in Italy. 
 The former, on the emperor's refusing to re- 
 voke his edict against images, declared him, 
 
 * See Fred. Spauhemii Historia Iinaginuni restituta; 
 aUo llie Annalis Italinc by Muratori, vol. iv. — Maim- 
 bourg's history of this controversy is full of the most 
 absurd and malignant fictions. 
 
 {)t7"t In tli's account of the imperial edict. Dr. Mo 
 sheim follows the opinions of Baroiiius, Fleury, and Le 
 Sueur. Others affirm, with greater probability, that this 
 famous edict did not enjoin the pulling down images every 
 where, and casting them out of the churches, but only 
 proliibiltd the paying to tliem any kind of adoration or 
 worship. It would seem as if Leo was not, at first, averse 
 to the use of images, as ornaments, or even as helps to 
 devotion and memory; for, at the same time that he for- 
 bade them to be worshipped, he ordered them to be placed 
 higher in the churches, some say, to avoid this adoration; 
 but afterwards finding that they were the occasion of 
 idolatry, he caused them to be removed from the ohurche* 
 and broken. 
 
204 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part IL 
 
 without hesitation, unwortiiy of the name and 
 privileges of a Christian, and thus excluded 
 him from the communion of the church; and 
 no sooner was this formidable sentence made 
 public, than the Romans, and otlier Italian 
 communities, that were subject to the Grecian 
 empire, violated their allegiance, and, rising 
 in arms, either massacred or banished all the 
 emperor's deputies and officers. Leo, exaspe- 
 rated by these insolent proceedings, resolved 
 to chastise the Italian rebels, and to make the 
 haughty pontiff feel in a particular manner tlie 
 effects of his resentment; but he failed in the 
 attempt. Doubly irritated by this disappoint- 
 ment, he vented his fury against images, and 
 their worshippers, in 730, in a much more ter- 
 rible manner than he had hitherto done; for, 
 in a council assembled at Constantinople, he 
 degraded from his office Germanus, the bishop 
 of that imperial city, who was a patron of im- 
 ages, put Anastasius in his place, ordered all 
 the images to be publicly burned, and inflicted 
 a variety of severe punishments upon such as 
 were attached to that idolatrous worship. These 
 rigorous measures divided the Christian church 
 into two violent factions, whose contests were 
 carried on with an ungoverned rage, and pro- 
 duced nothing but mutual invectives, crimes, 
 and assassinations. Of these factions, one 
 adopted the adoration and worship of images, 
 and were on that account called Iconoduli or 
 IconolatriE; while the other maintained that 
 Buch worship was unlawful, and that nothing 
 was more worthy of the zeal of Christians, 
 than to demolish and destroy the statues and 
 pictures that were the occasions and objects of 
 this gross idolatry; and hence they were dis- 
 tinguished by the titles of Iconomachi and 
 IconoclastsB. The furious zeal which Gregory 
 II. had shewn in defending the odious super- 
 stition of image-worship, was not only imita- 
 ted, but even surpassed by his successor, who 
 was the third pontiff of that name; and though, 
 at this distance of time, we are not acquainted 
 with all the criminal circumstances that at- 
 tended the intemperate zeal of these insolent 
 prelates, we know with certainty that it was 
 their extravagant attachment to image-wor- 
 ship that chiefly occasioned the separation of 
 the Italian provinces from the Grecian empire.* 
 
 • The Greek writers tell us, that both the Gregories 
 carried their insolence so far as to excommunicate Leo 
 and his son Coustantine, to dissolve the obligation of llie 
 oath of allegiance, ■yvliich the people of Italy had taken 
 to these princes, and to prohibit their paying tribute to 
 them, or showing them any marks of submissiou and obe- 
 dience. These facts are also acknowledged by many of 
 the partisans of the Roman pontISs, such as Baronius, 
 Sigonius, and their numerous followers. On the otlier 
 hand, some learned writers, particularly among the 
 French, alleviate considerably the crime of the Gregories, 
 and positively deny that they either excommunicated the 
 emperors above-mentioned, or called off the people from 
 their duty and allegiance. See Launoius, Epist. lib. vii. 
 Ep. vii. p. 456. lorn. v. op. par. ii. — Nat. Alexander, Se- 
 lect. Histor. Ecclesiast. Capit. Siec. viii. dissert, i. p. 456. 
 Dc Marca, Concordia Sacerdotii et Imperii, lib. iii. cap. 
 xi. — Bossuet, Defens. Declarationis Cleri Giallic. de Po- 
 testate Eccles. par. i. lib. vi. cap. xii. p. 197. — Giannone, 
 Historiadi A^apoli,vol. i. All these found their opinions, 
 Boncerning the conduct of the Gregories, chiefly upon the 
 authority of the Latin writers, such as Anastasius, Paul 
 the Deacon, and others, who seem to have known nothing 
 of that audacious insolence, with which these pontiffs are 
 laid to hare opposed the emperors, and even represent 
 
 XII. Constantino, to whom the furious tribe 
 of the image-worshippers had given by way of 
 derision the name of Copronymus,* succeeded 
 his father Leo in the empire, in 741, and, ani- 
 mated with an equal zeal and ardour against 
 the new idolatry, employed all his influence 
 for the abolition of the worship of images, in 
 opposition to the vigorous efforts of the Ro- 
 man pontiffs and the superstitious monks. His 
 manner of proceeding was attended with 
 greater marks of equity and moderation, than 
 had appeared in the measures pursued by Leo: 
 for, knowing the respect which the Greeks had 
 for the decisions ol^ general councils, whose 
 authority they considered as supreme and un- 
 hmited in religious matters, he assembled at 
 Constantinople, in 754, a council composed of 
 the eastern bishops, in order to have this im- 
 portant question examined with the utmost 
 care, and decided with wisdom, seconded by a 
 just and lawful authority. This assembly, 
 which the Greeks regard as the seventh oecu- 
 menical council, gave judgment, as was the 
 custom of those times, in favour of the opin- 
 ion embraced by the emperor, and solemnly 
 condemned the worship and also the use of 
 images.! But this decision was not sufficient 
 to vanquish the blind obstinacy of superstition: 
 many adhered still to their idolatrous worship; 
 and none made a more turbulent resistance to 
 the wise decree of this council than the monks, 
 who still continued to excite commotions in 
 the state, and to blow the flames of sedition 
 and rebellion among the people. Their ma- 
 lignity was, however, chastised by Constan- 
 tino, who, filled with a just indignation at 
 their seditious practices, pimished several of 
 them in an exemplary manner, and by new 
 laws set bounds to the violence of monastic 
 rage. Leo IV., who, after the death of Con- 
 stantino, was declared emperor, in 775, adopt- 
 ed the sentiments of his father and grandfa- 
 ther, and pursued the measures which they 
 had concerted for the extirpation of idolatry 
 out of the Christian churcli; for, having per- 
 ceived that the worshippers of images could 
 not be engaged by mild and gentle proceed- 
 ings to abandon this superstitious practice, he 
 had recourse to the coercive influence of penal 
 laws. 
 
 XIII. A cup of poison, administered by the 
 impious counsel of a perfidious wife, deprived 
 Leo IV. of his life, in 7S0, and rendered the 
 idolatrous cause of images triumphant. The 
 profligate Irene, after having thus dismissed 
 her husband from the world, held the reins of 
 empire during the minorit}' of her son Con- 
 
 them as having given several marks of their submission 
 and obedience to the imperial authority. Such are the 
 contrary accounts of the Greek and Latin writers; and 
 the most prudent use we can make of them is, to suspend 
 our judgment with respect to a matter, which the obscu- 
 rity that covers the history of this period renders it im- 
 possible to clear up. All tfiat we can know with certainty 
 is, that the zeal of the tv^•o pontiffs above-mentioned for 
 the worship of images, furnished to the people of Italy 
 the occasion of falling from their allegiance to the Gre- 
 cian emperors. 
 
 (t(^ * This nick-name was given to Constantine, from 
 his iiaviug defiled the sacred font at his baptism. 
 
 (}C^ f The authority of this council is not acknowledg 
 ed by the Roman catholics, who also disregard the obli 
 gation of the second commandment, which they have pru 
 dently struck out of the decalogue. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 stantine; and, to establish her authority on 
 more soHd foundations, entered into an alh- 
 ance with Adrian, bishop of Rome, in 786, 
 and summoned a council at Nice in Bithynia, 
 which is known by the title of the second Ni- 
 cene council. In this assembly the imperial 
 laws concerning the new idolatry were abro- 
 gated, the decrees of the council of Constanti- 
 nople reversed, the worshij) of images and of 
 the cross restored, and severe punishments de- 
 nounced against such as maintained tliat God 
 was the only object of religious adoration. It 
 is impossible to imagine any thing more ridi- 
 culous and trilling tlian the arguments upon 
 which the bishops, assembled in this council, 
 founded their decrees.* Tlie Romans, how- 
 ever, held sacred the authority of these de- 
 crees; and the Greeks considered in the light 
 of parricides and traitors all such as refused to 
 submit to them. The other enormities of the 
 flagitious Irene, and her deserved fate, cannot, 
 with propriety, be treated of here. 
 
 XIV. In these violent contests, the greater 
 part of the Latins, such as the Britons, Ger- 
 mans, and Gauls, seemed to steer a middle 
 way between the opposite tenets of the con- 
 tending parties. Tliey were of opinion that 
 images might be lawfully preserved, and even 
 placed in the churches; but, at the same time, 
 they looked upon all worship of them as highly 
 injurious and offensive to the Supreme Being. f 
 Such, particularly, were the sentiments of 
 Charlemagne, who distinguished himself in j 
 this important controversy. By the advice of 
 the French bishops, who were no friends to j 
 this second council of Nice, he ordered some I 
 learned and judicious divine to compose Four 
 Books concerning Images, which lie sent, in 
 790, to Adrian, the Roman pontiff, with a 
 view of engaging him to withdraw his appro- 
 bation of the decrees of that council. In this 
 performance the reasons alleged by the Nicene 
 bishops to justify the worship of images, are 
 refuted with great accuracy and spirit. J They 
 were not, however, left without defence: — 
 Adrian, who was afraid of acknowledging 
 even an emperor for his master, composed an 
 answer to the four books mentioned above; but 
 neither his arguments, nor his authority, were 
 sufficient to support the superstition he endea- 
 voured to maintain; for, in 794, Charlemagne 
 
 * Mart. Chemnitius, Exaraen Concilii Tridentini, par. 
 IT. lib. ii. cap. v. p. 52.— L'Enfant, Preservatif contre la 
 Reunion avec le Siege de Rome, par. iii. lettre xvii. p. 446. 
 
 t The aversion the Britons had to the worship of ima- 
 ges, may be seen in .Spelman, Concil, Maguae Brilanniae, 
 torn. i. p. 73. 
 
 {The books of Charlemagne concerning Images, which 
 deserve an attentive perusal, are yet extant; and, whin 
 they were extremely scarce, were republished at Hanover, 
 in 1731, by the celebrated Christopher Aug. Heuman, 
 who enriched this edition with a learned preface. These 
 books are adorned with the venerable name of Charle- 
 magne; but it is easy to perceive that they are the produc- 
 tions of a scholastic divine, and not of an emperor. .Seve- 
 ral learned men have conjectured, that Charlemagne com- 
 posed these books with the assistance of his preceptor Al- 
 cuin; see Heuman's Pref. p. 51; and Bunau'sHistoria Im- 
 perii German, torn. i. p. 490. This conjecture, though 
 Ur from being contemptible, cannot be admitted without 
 hesitation, since Alcuiu was in England when these book,s 
 were composed. We learn from the history of his life, 
 that he went into England in 789, and did not thence re- 
 turn before 792. 
 
 205 
 
 assembled, at Frankfort on the Maine, a coun- 
 cil of three hundred bishops, in order to re-ex- 
 amine this important question; in which the 
 opinions contained in the four books were so- 
 lemnly confirmed, and the worship of images 
 unanimously condemned.* Hence we may 
 conclude, that in this century the Latins deem- 
 ed it neither impious, nor unlawful, to dissent 
 from the opinion of the Roman pontiff, and 
 even to cliarge that prelate with error. 
 
 XV. While the controversy concerning ima- 
 ges was at its Iieight, a new contest arose 
 among the Latins and Greeks about the source 
 whence the Holy Gliost proceeded. The Latins 
 affirmed, that this divine Spirit proceeded 
 from the Father and the Son: the Greeks, on 
 the contrary, asserted, that it proceeded froni 
 the Father only. The origin of tiiis contro- 
 versy is r;overed with perple.xity and doubt. It 
 is, however, certain, that it was agitated in the 
 council of Gentilli, near Paris, in 767, in pre- 
 sence of the emperor's legates;| and from this 
 we may conclude, with a high degree of pro- 
 bability, that it arose in Greece at that time 
 when the contest about images was carried on 
 with the greatest vehemence. In this contro- 
 versy the Latins alleged, in favour of their 
 opinions, the creed of Constantinople, which 
 tlie Spaniards and French had successively 
 corrupted (upon what occasion is not well 
 known,) by adding the words filio-que to that 
 part of it which contained tlie doctrine con- 
 cerning tlie Holy Ghost. The Greeks, on the 
 other hand, made loud complaints of this cri- 
 minal attempt of the Latins to corrupt by a 
 manifest interpolation a creed, which served as 
 a rule of doctrine for the church universal, and 
 declared tiiis attempt impudent and sacrile- 
 gious. Thus, the dispute changed at length its 
 object, and was transferred from the matter to 
 tlie interpolated words above mentioned.]; In 
 the following century it was carried on with 
 still greater vehemence, and added new fuel to 
 the dissensions which already portended a 
 
 *This event is treated with a degree of candour, not 
 more laudable than surprising, by Mabillon, in Prsef. ad 
 Si^culum iv. Actorum SS. CJrd. Benedict, part v. See 
 also Jo. Georg. Dorscheus, Collat. ad Concilium I'Vanco- 
 fordiense. 
 
 f See Le Cointe, Annates Eccles, Francorum, lorn. v. 
 p. 698. 
 
 } Learned men generally iniaginc that this controversy 
 began about the words jilio-qiipf which some of the Latins 
 had added to the creed that had been drawn up by the 
 council of Constantinople, and that from llie words the 
 dispute proceeded to the doctrine itself; see Mabillon 
 (Act. Sanotor. Ord. Bened. Sa^c. iv. part i. Praef. p. iv.) 
 who is followed by many in this particular. But this 
 opinion is certainly erroneous. The doctrine was the 
 first subject of controversy, which afterwards extended 
 to the words filio-qtie, con.sidercd by the Greeks as a ma- 
 nifest interpolation. Among other proofs of this, the 
 council of Gentilli shows evidently, that the doctrine con- 
 cerning the Holy Spirit had been, for a considerable time, 
 the subject of controversy when the dispute arose about 
 the words now mentioned. Pagi, in his Critica in Baro- 
 nium, torn. iii. p. 323, is of opinion, that this controversy 
 had both its date and its occasion iVom the ilispute con- 
 cerning images; for, when the Latins treated the Greeks 
 as heretics, on account of their opposition to image-wor- 
 ship, the Greeks in their turn charged the Latins also 
 with heresy, on account of their maintainii]g that the 
 Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and the Son. 
 The learned critic has, however, advanced this opinion 
 without sufficient proof; and we must therefore consider 
 it a.s no more than a probable conjecture. 
 
206 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II 
 
 schism between the eastern and western 
 churches.* 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies tuied in the 
 
 Church during this Ceniurij. 
 
 I. The religion of this century consisted 
 almost entirely in a motley round of external 
 rites and ceremonies. We are not, therefore, 
 to wonder that more zeal and diligence were 
 employed in multiplying and regulating these 
 outward marks of a superstitious devotion, 
 than in correcting the vices and follies of men, 
 in enlightening their understandings, a«d form- 
 ing their hearts. The administration of the 
 Bacrament of the Lord's sapper, which was 
 deemed the most solemn and important branch 
 of divine worship, was no«' every where em- 
 bellished, or rather deformed, with a variety 
 of senseless fopperies, which destroyed the 
 beautiful simplicity of that affecting and salu- 
 tary institution. We also find manifest traces, 
 in this century, of that superstitious custom of 
 celebrating what were called solitary masses,] 
 though it be difficult to decide whether they 
 were instituted by a public law, or introduced 
 by the authority of private persons.}; Be that 
 as it may, this single custom is sufficient to 
 give us an idea of the superstition and dark- 
 ness that sat brooding over the Christian 
 church in this ignorant age, and renders it un- 
 necessary to enter into a farther detail of the 
 absurd rites with which- a designing priesthood 
 continued to disfigure the religion of Jesus. 
 
 IL Charlemagne seemed disposed to stem 
 this torrent of superstition, which gathered 
 force from day to day; for, not to mention the 
 zeal with which he opposed the worship of 
 images, there are other circumstances that bear 
 testimony to his intentions in this matter, such 
 as his preventing the multiplication of festi- 
 vals, by reducing them to a fixed and limited 
 number, his prohibiting the ceremony of con- 
 secrating the church bells by the rite of holy 
 aspersion, and his enactment of other ecclesi- 
 astical laws, which redound to his honour. 
 Several circumstances, however, concurred to 
 render his designs abortive, and to blast the 
 success of his worthy purposes; and none more 
 than his excessive attaclunent to the Roman 
 pontiffs, who were the patrons and protectors 
 of those who everted themselves in the cause 
 of ceremonies. This vehement pa.5sion for the 
 lordly pontifl' was inherited by the great prince 
 of whom we are now speaking, from his father 
 Pepin, who had already commanded the man- 
 ner of singing, and the kind of church-music 
 
 * .See Pithaii Hist. Conlrov. ie Prr'ccssione Spiritns S. 
 at the end of his Cod. Canon. Eroles. Uomari. p. SS.*). — 
 Le Quicn, Oriens Chrislian. torn. iii. p. 3.54. — Oer. J. 
 Vosiiua, de Tnbiis Symboli?, Diss. iii. p. 6.'i; and, above 
 all. Jo. Georg. Walchiu?, Hislor. Controv. de Processione 
 Spirilu.s S. published at Jena in 17j1. 
 
 t^IJ- t Solitary or private masses were snch as were cele- 
 brated by the priest alone in behalf of souls detained in 
 purg.itory, as well as on some other particular occasions. 
 These masses were prohibited by the laws of the church; 
 but they were a rich source of profit to the clergy. They 
 were condemned by the canons of a synod assembled at 
 Mentz under Charlemagne, as criminal innovations, and 
 as the fruits of avarice and sloth. 
 
 } See the Treatise concerning Images, attributed to 
 Charlemagn*, p. 245; aa also George Calixtus, de Missis 
 Solitariis, sect. 13. • 
 
 in use at Rome, to be observed in all Christian 
 churches. It was in conformity with his exam- 
 ple, and in compliance with the repeated and 
 importunate solicitation of the pontiff Adrian, 
 that Charlemagne laboured to bring all the 
 Latin churches to follow, as their model, the 
 church of Rome, not only in the article now 
 mentioned, but also in the whole form of their 
 worship, in every circumstance of their reli- 
 gious service.* Several churches, however, 
 among which those of Milan and Corbetta dis- 
 tinguished themselves eminently, absolutely 
 rejected this proposal, and could neither be 
 brought, by persuasion or by violence, to 
 change their usual method of worship. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and Heresies that trou- 
 bled the Church during this Centuuj. 
 
 T. The Arians, Manicheans, and Marcion- 
 ites, though often depressed by the force of 
 penal laws and the power of the secular arm, 
 gathered strength in the east, amidst the tu- 
 mults and divisions with which the Grecian 
 empire was perpetually agitated, and drew 
 great numbers into the profession of their opin- 
 ions, f The Monothelites, to whose cause the 
 emperor Philippicus, and many others of the 
 first rank and dignity, were most zealous well- 
 wishers, regained their credit in various coun- 
 tries. The condition also both of the Nestori- 
 ans and Monophysites was easy and agreeable 
 under the dominion of the Arabians; their 
 power and influence were considerable; nor 
 were they destitute of means of weakening 
 the Greeks, their irreconcileable adversaries, 
 of spreading their doctrines, and extensively 
 multiplying the number of their adherents. 
 
 II. In the church which Boniflice had newly 
 erected in Germany, he himself tells us, that 
 there were many perverse and erroneous repro- 
 bates, who had no true notion of religion; and 
 his friends and adherents confirm this assertion. 
 But the testimony is undoubtedly partial, and 
 unworthy of credit, since it appears from the 
 most evident proofs, that the persons here ac- 
 cused of errors and heresies were Irish and 
 French divines, who refused that blind sub- 
 inission to the church of Rome, which Boni- 
 face was so zealous to propagate every where. 
 Adalbert, a Gaul, and Clement, a native of 
 Ireland, were the persons whose opposition 
 gave the most trouble to the ambitious legate. 
 The former procured himself to be consecrated 
 bishop, without the consent of Boniface; ex- 
 cited seditions and tumults among the eastern 
 Franks; and appears, indeed, to have been both 
 flagitious in his conduct, and erroneous in hia 
 opinions. Among other irregularities, he was 
 the forgerj; of a letter to the human race, 
 which was said to have been written by Jesua 
 Christ, and to have been brought from heaven 
 by the arch-angel Michael. § As to Clement, 
 
 * See the Treatise concerning Images, p. 52; and Egin- 
 hard, de Vita Caroli Magni, cap. 26. 
 
 t In Europe also Arianism prevailed greatly among the 
 barbarous nations that embraced the Christian faith. 
 
 J See the Histoire Literairc de !a France, torn. iv. p. 82. 
 
 ^ There is an edition of this letter published by the 
 learned Baluze in the Capitularia Regum Fraucoriun, 
 torn. ii. p. 1396. 
 
 i 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 207 
 
 part of the Latin doctors, looked upon this 
 opinion as a renovation of the Nestorian here- 
 sy, by its representing Christ as divided into 
 two distinct persons. In consequence of this, 
 Felix was successively condemned by the coun- 
 cils of Narbonne, Ratisbon, Frankfort on the 
 Maine, and Rome, and was finally obliged, by 
 the council of Ai.\-la-C'hapelle, to retract his er- 
 ror, and to change his opinion.* The change he 
 made was, however, rather nominal than real, 
 the common shift of temporising divines; for 
 he still retained his doctrine, and died in the 
 firm belief of it at Lyons, to which city he had 
 been banished by C'iiarlemagne.j Elipand, on 
 the contrary, lived secure in Spain under the 
 dominion of the Saracens, far removed from 
 the thunder of synods and councils, and out 
 of the reach of that coercive power in reli- 
 gious matters, wJiose utmost efi'orts can go no 
 farther than to make the erroneous, hypocrites 
 or martyrs. Many are of opinion, that the 
 disciples of Felix, who were called Adoplians, 
 departed much less from the doctrine generally 
 received among Christians, than is commonly 
 imagined; and that what chiefiy distinguished 
 their tenets were the terms they used, and their 
 manner of expression, rather than a real diver- 
 sity of sentiments. J But, as this sect and their 
 chief thought proper to make use of singular 
 and sometimes of contradictory expressions, 
 this furnished such as accused them of Nesto- 
 rianism, with plausible reasons to support their 
 charge. 
 
 his character and sentiments were maliciously 
 misrepresented, since it appears, by the best 
 and most autlientic accounts, that he was 
 much better acquainted with the true princi- 
 ples and doctrines of Christianity than Boni- 
 face himself; and hence he is considered by 
 many as a confessor and sufferer for tlie truth 
 in this barbarous age.* Be that as it will, 
 both Adalbert and Clement were condemned, 
 at the instigation of Boniface, by the pontiff 
 Zachary, in a council assembled at Rome, in 
 748, t and were committed to prison, where, in 
 all probability, they concluded their days. 
 
 111. Religious discord ran still higher in 
 Spain, France, and Germany, toward tlie con- 
 clusion of tins century; and the most unhappy 
 tumults and commotions were occasioned by a 
 question proposed to Felix bishop of Urgel, by 
 Elipand, archbishop of Toledo, who desired to 
 know in what sense Clirist was the son of 
 God. The answer given to this question, was, 
 that Christ, considered in his divine nature, 
 was truly and essentially the Son of God; butj 
 that, considered as a man, he was only so, 
 nominally and by adoption. This doctrine | 
 was spread abroad by the two prelates; Eli- 
 pand propagated it in the difi'erent provinces 
 of Spain, and Felix throughout Septimania, 
 while the pontiff Adrian, and the greatest 
 
 *Wc find an enumeration of the erroneous opinions 
 of Clement in the letters of Boniface, Epistol. cxxxv. p. 
 139. See also Usserii Sjllcige Kpistolaruin Hibernica- 
 rum, p. 12. JN'ouveau Diclionnaire Histor. et Critique, 
 torn. i. p. 133. (t(^ The zealous Bonilace was too Ignorant 
 to be a proper judge of heresy, as appears by his condemn- 
 ing Vigilius for believing that there were antipodes. The 
 great licresy of Clement seems to have been his preferring 
 the decisions of Scripture to the decrees of councils and 
 the opinions of the fathers, which he took the liberty to 
 reiect when they were not conformable to the word of 
 GlA. 
 
 (iC^t This is the true date of the council assembled by 
 Zaciiary for the condemnation of .\dalbert and Clement, 
 and not the year 745, as Fleury and JVlabillon have pre- 
 tended; in which error they are followed by Mr. Bower, 
 in his History of the Popes. The truth is, that the letter 
 of Boniface, in consequence of which this council was 
 tieembled, must have been written in 748, since he de- 
 clares in that letter, that he had been near thirty years 
 legate of the holy see, into which commission he entered, 
 ai all authors agree, about the year 719. 
 
 ^PJ'* The council of Narbonne, which condemned 
 Felix, was holden in 768, that of Ratisbon in 792, that of 
 Frankfort in 794, that of Rome in 799. 
 
 t The authors, who have written of the sect of Felix, 
 are mentioned by Fabricius, Bibliolh. Lat. mtdii /tTvi, 
 lorn. ii. p. 482. Add to these I'etrus de Marca, in his 
 Marca Hispanica, lib. iii. cap. xii. p. 368. — Jo. de Ferre- 
 ras, Historia de Espaiia, torn. ii. — MabiUou, I'raf. ad 
 Saec. iv. Actor. SS. Ord. Benedict!, part ii. There are 
 also very particular accounts given of Felix by Dom. Co- 
 Ionia, in his Histoire Literaire de la Ville de Lyon, torn, 
 li. and by the Benedictine monks in their Histoire Lite- 
 raire de la France, torn. iv. 
 
 } Jo. G. Dorscheus, Collat. ad Concilium Francofurt, 
 p. 101. — Werenfels, de Logomachiis Eruditoruin, p. 459. 
 Basnagius, Praef. ad Elherium in Canisii Lection, auliquit, 
 torn. ii. part i. p. 284. — G. Calixtus, Singul. Diss. 
 
THE NINTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning tke Prosperous Events lohich happen- 
 ed to the Church in this Century. 
 
 I. The reign of Charlemagne had been sin- 
 gularly auspicious to the Christian cause; the 
 life of that great prince was principally em- 
 ployed in the most zealous etForts to propagate 
 and establish the religion of Jesus among the 
 Huns, Saxons, Friselanders, and other unen- 
 lightened nations; but his piety was mixed 
 with violence, his spiritual conquests were ge- 
 nerally made by the force of arms, and this 
 impure mixture tarnishes the lustre of his no- 
 blest exploits. His son Louis, undeservedly 
 surnamed the Debonnaire, or the Meek, in- 
 herited the defects of his father without his 
 virtues, and was his equal in violence and cru- 
 elty, but greatly his inferior in all worthy and 
 valuable accomplishments. Under his reign a 
 very favourable opportunity was offered of pro- 
 pagating the Gospel among the northern na- 
 tions, and particularly among the inhabitants 
 of Sweden and Denmark. A petty king of 
 Jutland, named Harald Klack, being driven 
 from his kingdom and country, in 826, by 
 Regner Lodbrock, threw himself at the em- 
 peror's feet, and implored his succours against 
 the usurper. Louis granted his request, and 
 promised the exiled prince his protection and 
 assistance, on condition, however, that he 
 would embrace Christianity, and admit the 
 ministers of that religion to preach in his do- 
 minions. Harald submitted to these condi- 
 tions, was baptised with his brother at Mentz, 
 m 826, and returned into his country attended 
 by two eminent divines, Ansgar or Anschaire, 
 and Authbert; the former a monk of Corbey 
 m Westphalia, and the latter belonging to a 
 monastery of the same name in France. — 
 These venerable missionaries preached the 
 Gospel with remarkable success, during the 
 course of two years, to the inhabitants of 
 Cimbria and Jutland. 
 
 n. After the death of his learned and pious 
 companion Authbert, the zealous and indefati- 
 gable Ansgar made a voyage into Sweden, in 
 828, where his ministerial labours were also 
 crowned with distinguished success. Return- 
 mg into Germany, in 831, he was loaded by 
 Louis with ecclesiastical honours, being creat- 
 ed archbishop of the new church at Hamburg, 
 and also of the whole north, to which dignity, 
 m 844, the superintendence of the church at 
 Bremen was added. The profits attached to 
 this high and honourable charge were very hi- 
 considerable, while the perils and labours, in 
 which it involved the pious prelate, were truly 
 formidable. Accordingly he travelled fre- 
 
 quently among the Danes, Cimbrians, and 
 Swedes, in order to promote the cause of 
 Christ, to form new churches, and to confirm 
 and establish those which he had already in- 
 corporated; in all which arduous enterprises 
 he passed his life in the most imminent dan- 
 gers, until, in 865, he concluded his glorious 
 course.* 
 
 III. About the middle of this century the 
 Moesians,t Bulgarians, and Gazarians, and 
 after them the Bohemians and Moravians, 
 were converted to Christianity by Methodius 
 and Cyril, two Greek monks, whom the em- 
 press Theodora had sent to dispel the darkness 
 of those idolatrous nations. J The zeal of 
 Charlemagne, and of his pious missionaries, 
 had been formerly exerted in the same cause, 
 and among the same people, § but with so little 
 success, that any faint notions which they had 
 received of the Christian doctrine were entirely 
 effaced. The instructions of the Grecian doc- 
 tors had a much better, and also a more per- 
 manent effect; but, as they recommended to 
 their new disciples the forms of worship, and 
 the various rites and ceremonies used among 
 the Greeks, II this was the occasion of much 
 religious animosity and contention in afler- 
 times, when the lordly pontiffs exerted all their 
 vehemence, and employed all the means which 
 they could devise, though with imperfect suc- 
 cess, for reducing these nations under the dis- 
 cipline and jurisdiction of the Latin church. 
 
 IV. Under the reign of Basilius, the Mace- 
 donian, who ascended the imperial, throne of 
 the Greeks in 867, the Sclavonians, Arentani, 
 and certain communities of Dalmatia, sent a 
 solemn embassy to Constantinople to declare 
 their resolution of submitting to the jurisdic- 
 tion of the Grecian empire, and of embracing, 
 at the same time, the Christian religion. This 
 
 * The writers to whom we are indebted for accountt 
 of this pious and illustrious prelate, the founder of the 
 Cimbrian, Danish, and Swedish churches, are mentioned 
 by Fabricius in his Biblioth. Latin, medii M\i, torn. i. 
 p. 292, as also in his Lux Evangelii Orbi Terrarum exo- 
 riens, p. 425. Add to these the Benedictine monks, in 
 their Histoire Lit. de la France, torn. v. p. 277. — Acta 
 Sanctor. Mens. Februar. torn. i. p. 391. — Erici Pontoppi- 
 flani Aunales Eccles. Danicae Diplomat, torn. i. p. 18. — 
 Molleri Cimbria Literata, torn. iii. These writers give 
 us also circumstantial accounts of Ebbo, Withmar, Rem- 
 bert, and others, who were either the fellow-labourers or 
 successors of Ansgar. 
 
 ([Jp» t We have translated thus the term Mysi, -which 
 is an error in the original. Dr. Mosheira, like many 
 others, has confounded the Mysians with the inhabitants 
 of Moesia, by giving to the latter, who were Europeans, 
 the title of the former, who dwelt in Asia. 
 
 { Jo. George Stredowsky, Sacra Moraviae Historia, lib. 
 ii. cap. ii. p. 94, compared with Pet. Kohlii Introduct. in 
 Historiam et Rem liter. Slavorum, p. 124. 
 
 ^ Stredowsky, lib. i. cap. ix. p. 55. 
 
 II L'Enfant, Histoire de la Guerre des Hussites, livr, i. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 209 
 
 proposal was received with admiration and joy; 
 and it was also answered by a suitable ardour 
 and zeal for the conversion of a people that 
 Beemed so ingenuously disposed to embrace the 
 truth: accordingly, a competent number of 
 Grecian doctors were sent among tiiem to in- 
 struct them in the knowledge of the Gospel, 
 and to admit them by baptism into the Chris- 
 tian church.* Tlie vvarlilce nation of the Rus- 
 sians were converted under the same emperor, 
 but not in the same manner, or from tiie same 
 noble and rational motives. Having entered 
 into a treaty of peace with tliat prince, tliey 
 were engaged by various presents and promises 
 to embrace the Gospel, in consequence of 
 which they received not only the Christian 
 ministers that were appointed to instruct them, 
 but also an archbishop, whom the Grecian 
 patriarch Ignatius had sent among them, to 
 perfect tlieir conversion and establisli their 
 church. t Such were the beginnings of Chris- 
 tianity among tlie bold and warlike Russians, 
 who were inhabitants of the Ukraine, and who, 
 before their conversion, had fitted out a formi- 
 dable fleet, and, setting sail from Kiow for 
 Constantinople, had spread terror and dismay 
 through the whole empire. | 
 
 V. It is proper to observe, with respect to 
 the various conversions which we have novi^ 
 been relating, that they were undertaken upon 
 much better principles, and executed in a more 
 pious and rational manner, than tliose of the 
 preceding ages. The ministers, who were now 
 sent to instruct and convert the barbarous na- 
 tions, did not, like many of tlieir predecessors, 
 employ the terror of penal laws, to affright 
 men into the profession of Christianity; nor, in 
 establishing churciies upon the ruins of idola- 
 try, were they principally attentive to promote 
 the grandeur and e.xtend the authority of tlie 
 Roman pontiffs; their views were more noble, 
 and their conduct more suitable to the genius 
 of the religion they professed. They had 
 
 * We are indebted for this account of the conversion 
 of the Scliivonians to the treatise de administraiida Impe- 
 rio, composed by the learned emperor Constantine I'or- 
 phyrogeneta, and published by Bandurius in his Imprr. 
 Orient, torn. i. Constantine »ives Ihc same account of this 
 event in the life of his grandfather Basilius, the Macedo- 
 nian, sect. ,'54, published iu the Corpus Scripturum By- 
 zantinorum, torn. xvi. 
 
 f Constantinus Forph. iu Vita Basilii Maccdonis, sect. 
 96. p. 157. Corp. Byzant. See also the Narratio de 
 Ruthenorum Conversione, published both in Greek and 
 Latin by Bandurius, in his Irr.per. Orient. 
 
 t The learned Lequien in his Oriens Chrislianns, torn. 
 i. p. 1257, gives a very inaccurate account of those Rus- 
 sians who were converted to Christianity under the reign 
 of Basilius the Macedonian; and in this he does no more 
 than adopt the errors of many who wrote before him 
 upon the same subject. Nor is he consistent with him- 
 self; for in one place he affirms, that the people here spo- 
 ken of were the Russians who lived in the neighbour- 
 hood of the Bulgarians, while in another he mainlains, 
 that by these Russians we are to understand the Gazari- 
 ans. The only reason he alleges to support the latter 
 opinion is, that, among the Christian doctors sent to in- 
 struct the Russians, mention is made of Cyril, who con- 
 verted the Gazari to Christianity. This reason shows, 
 that the learned writer had a most imperfect knowledge 
 both of these Russians and the Gazari. He is also guilty 
 of other mistakes upon the same subject. There is a 
 much better explanation of this matter given by the very 
 learned Theoph. Sigifred Bayer, Dissert, de Russorum 
 prima Expeditione Constantinopolitana, which is publish- 
 ed in the sixth volume of the Commentaria Acad. Scien- 
 tiar. Petropolitanae. 
 
 Vol. I.— 27 
 
 chiefly in view the happiness of mankind, en- 
 deavoured to promote tlie gospel of truth and 
 peace by rational persuasion, and seconded 
 their arguments by the victorious power of ex- 
 emplary lives. It must, however, be confess- 
 ed, tiiat the doctrine they taught was far from 
 being conformable to tlie pure and e.xcellent 
 rules of faith and practice laid down by our 
 divine Saviour and liis holy apostles; for their 
 religious system was corrujiteci by a variety of 
 superstitious rites, and a multitude of absurd 
 inventions. It is farther certain, tiiat there 
 remained among these converted nations too 
 many traces of the idolatrous religion of their 
 ancestors, notwithstanding the zealous labours 
 of their Christian guides: and it appears also, 
 that these pious missionaries were content with 
 introducing an e.xternal profession of tlie true 
 religion among their new proselytes. It would 
 be, iiowever, unjust to accuse them on this ac- 
 count of negligence or corruption in the dis- 
 charge of their ministry, since in order to gain 
 over these fierce and savage nations to the 
 church, it may have been absolutely necessary 
 to indulge them in some of their infirmities 
 and prejudices, and to connive at many things, 
 which pious missionaries could not approve, 
 and which, in other circumstances, they would 
 have been careful to correct. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Calamitous Events that happened 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The Saracens had now extended their 
 usurpations with amazing success. Masters 
 of Asia, a few provinces excepted, they pushed 
 their conquests to the extremities of India, and 
 obliged a great part of Africa to receive their 
 yoke; nor were their enterprises iy the west 
 without effect, since Spain and Sardinia sub- 
 mitted to their arms, and fell under their do- 
 minion. But their conquests did not end here; 
 for, in 827, by the treason of Euphemius, they 
 made themselves masters of the rich and fertile 
 island of Sicily; and, toward the conclusion of 
 this century, an army of those barbarians, pro- 
 ceeding from Asia, seized several cities of Ca- 
 labria, and spread the terror of their victorious 
 arms even to the very walls of Rome, while 
 Crete, Corsica, and other islands, were either 
 joined to their possessions, or ravaged by their 
 incursions. It is easy to comprehend that this 
 overgrown prosperity of a nation accustomed 
 to bloodshed and rapine, and which also beheld 
 the Christians with the utmost aversion, must 
 have been every where detrimental to the pro- 
 gress of the Gospel, and to the tranquillity of 
 the church. In the east, more especially, a 
 prodigious number of Christian families em- 
 braced the religion of their conquerors, that 
 they might live in the peaceful enjoyment of 
 their possessions. Many, indeed, refused this 
 base and criminal compliance, and with a pious 
 magnanimity adhered to their principles in the 
 face of persecution: but such were gradually 
 reduced to a miserable condition, and were not 
 only robbed of the best part of their wealth, 
 and deprived of their worldly advantages, but, 
 what was still more deplorable, they fell by 
 degrees into such incredible ignorance and stu- 
 
210 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 pidity, that, in process of time, there were 
 scarcely any remains of Christianity to be found 
 among tliem, beside the mere name, and a few 
 external rites and ceremonies. The Saracens 
 who had fixed themselves in Europe, particu- 
 larly those who were settled in Spain, were of a 
 much milder disposition, and seemed to have 
 put oft' tlie greatest part of their native feroci- 
 ty; so that the Christians, generally speaking, 
 lived peaceably under their dominion, and 
 were permitted to observe the laws, and to 
 enjoy the privileges of tiieir holy profession. 
 It must, however, be confessed, that this mild 
 and tolerating conduct of the Saracens was 
 not without some few exceptions of cruelty.* 
 II. The European Christians had tlie most 
 cruel sutfcrings to undergo from another quar- 
 ter, — even I'rom the insatiable fury of a swarm 
 of barbarians that issued out from the northern 
 provinces. The Normans, under which gene- 
 ral term are comprehended the Danes, Norwe- 
 gians, and Swedes, whose habitations lay along 
 the coasts of the Baltic sea, were a people ac- 
 customed to carnage and rapine. Their petty 
 kings and chiefs, who subsisted by piracy and 
 plunder, had already, during the reign of Char- 
 lemagne, infested with their fleets the coasts 
 of the German ocean, but were restrained by 
 the opposition they met with from the vigi- 
 lance and activity of that warlike prince. In 
 this century, however, they became more bold 
 and enterprising, made frequent irrujjtions into 
 Germany, Britain, Friseland, and Gaul, and 
 carried along with them, wherever they went, 
 fire and sword, desolation and horror. The 
 impetuous fury ol' these savage barbarians not 
 only spread desolation through the Spanish 
 provinces,! but even penetrated into the very 
 
 * See, for example, the account that is given of Eulo- 
 gius, who suffered martyrdoiu at Cordova, in the Acta 
 Sanctorum ad d. xi. Marlii, torn. ii. p. 88; as also of Ro- 
 deric and Solomon, two .Spanish martyrs of this century. 
 Ibid, ad d. xiii. Martii, p. 328. 
 
 t Jo. de Ferreras, Hisloria de Espana, vol. ii. Piracy 
 was esteemed among the northern nations a very lionoura- 
 ble and noble profession; and hejice the sons of kings, and 
 the young nobility, were trained up to this species of rob- 
 bery, and made it their principal business to perfect them- 
 
 heart of Italy; for, in 857, they ravaged and 
 plundered the city of Luna in the most cruel 
 manner; and, about three years after, Pisa, and 
 several otlier towns of Italy, met with the same 
 fate.* The ancient histories of the Franks 
 abound with the most dismal accounts of their 
 horrid exploits. 
 
 III. The first views of these savage invaders 
 extended no farther than plunder; but, charm- 
 ed at length with the beauty and fertility of 
 the provinces which they were so cruelly de- 
 populating, they began to form settlements in 
 them; nor were the European princes in a con- 
 dition to oppose their usurpations. On the 
 contrary, Charles the Bald was obliged, in 850, 
 to resign a considerable part of his dominions 
 to the powerful banditti;! and a few years 
 after, under the reign of Charles the Gross, 
 emperor and king of France, the famous Nor- 
 man chief Godofred entered with an army into 
 Friseland, and obstinately refused to sheath his 
 sword before he was master of the whole pro- 
 vince. j Such, however, of the Normans as 
 settled among tlie Christians, contracted a more 
 gentle turn of mind, and gradually departed 
 trom their primitive brutality. Their marri- 
 ages Willi the Christians contributed, no doubt, 
 to civilize them; and engaged them to abandon 
 the superstition of their ancestors with more 
 facility, and to embrace the Gospel with more 
 readiness than they would have otherwise done. 
 Thus the proud conqueror of Friseland solemnly 
 embraced the Christian religion after he had 
 received in marriage, from Charles the Gross, 
 Gisela, the daughter of Lothaire the younger. 
 
 selves in it. Nor will this appear very surprising to such 
 as consider the religion of these nations, and the barba- 
 rism of the times. See Jo. Lnd. Holberg, Historia Da- 
 norum et Norvegorum JVavalis, in Scriptis Societatis 
 Scientiar. Hafnieusis, torn. iii. p. 349, in which there are 
 a multitude of curious and interesting relations concern- 
 ing the ancient piracies, drawn from the Danish and 
 Norwegian annals. 
 
 ' See the Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, published by 
 Muralori. 
 
 t Annales incerti Auctoris, in Pithsei Scriptor. Fraucic. 
 p. 45. 
 
 } Reginonis Prumiensis Anual. lib. ii, 
 
 PART IL 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the State of Letters and Philosophy 
 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. The Grecian empire, in this century, was 
 in circumstances seemingly calculated to ex- 
 tinguish all taste for letters and philosophy, 
 and all zeal for the cultivation of the sciences. 
 The liberality, however, of the emperors, some 
 of whom were men of learning and taste, and 
 the wise precautions taken by the patriarchs 
 of Constantinople, among whom Pholius de- 
 Berves the first rank in point of erudition, con- 
 tributed to attach a certain number of learned 
 men to that imperial city, and thus prevented 
 the total decline of letters. Accordingly, we 
 
 find in Constantinople, at this time, several per- 
 sons who excelled in eloquence and poetry; 
 some who displayed, in their writings against 
 the Latins, a considerable knowledge of the 
 art of reasoning, and a high degree of dexterity 
 in the management of controversy; and others 
 who composed the history of their own times 
 with accuracy and elegance. The controversy 
 with the Latins, when it grew more keen and 
 animated, contributed, in a particular manner, 
 to excite the literary emulation of the dispu- 
 tants; rendered them studious to acquire new 
 ideas, and a rich and copious elocution, adorn- 
 ed with the graces of elegance and wit; and 
 thus roused and invigorated talents that were 
 ready to perish in indolence and sloth. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 211 
 
 II. We learn from Zonaras, that the study 
 of philosophy lay for a long time neglected in 
 this age; but it was revived, with a zeal for the 
 sciences in general, under the emperor The- 
 ophilus, and his son Michael III. This revival 
 of letters may principally be ascribed* to the 
 encouragement and protection which the learn- 
 ed received from Bardas, who had been declar- 
 ed by Ca;sar, himself an illiterate man, but a 
 warm friend of the celebrated Pliotius, the 
 great patron of science, by whose counsel he 
 was, undoubtedly, directed in this matter. At 
 the head of all the learned men to whom Bar- 
 das committed the culture of the sciences, he 
 placed Leo, surnamed the Wise, a man of the 
 most profound and uncommon eriuiition, and 
 who afterwards was consecrated bishop of 
 Thessalonica. Photius explained the Catego- 
 ries of Aristotle, while Michael Psellus gave a 
 brief exposition of the better works of that 
 great philosopher. 
 
 III. The Arabians, who, instead of cultivat- 
 ing the arts and sciences, had thought of no- 
 thing hitherto, but of extending their territo- 
 ries, were now excited to literary pursuits by 
 Almamoun, otherwise called Abu Giafar Ab- 
 dallah, whose zeal for the advancement of let- 
 ters was great, and whose munificence toward 
 men of learning and genius was truly royal. 
 Under the auspicious protection of this cele- 
 brated khalif of Sj'ria and Egypt, the Arabi- 
 ans made a rapid and astonishing progress in 
 various kinds of learning. This excellent prince 
 began to reign about tlie time of the deatli of 
 Charlemagne, and died in 833. He erected 
 the famous schools of Bagdad, Cufa, and Basra, 
 and established seminaries of learning in seve- 
 ral other cities; he drew to his court men of 
 eminent parts by his extraordinary liberality, 
 set up noble libraries in various places, caused 
 translations to be made of the best Grecian 
 productions into the Arabic language at a vast 
 expense, and employed every method of pro- 
 moting the cause of learning, that became a 
 great and generous prince, whose zeal for the 
 sciences was attended with knowledge.! It 
 was under the reign of this celebrated khalif, 
 that the Arabians began to take pleasure in the 
 Grecian learning, and to propagate it, by de- 
 grees, not only in Syria and Africa, but also in 
 Spain and Italy; and from tiiis period they 
 give us a long catalogue of celebrated philoso- 
 phers, physicians, astronomers, and mathema- 
 ticians, who Were ornaments to their nation 
 through several succeeding ages;J and in this 
 certainly they do not boast without reason, 
 though we are not to consider, as literally true, 
 all tiie wonderful and pompous things which 
 the more modern writers of the Saracen his- 
 tory tell us of these illustrious pliilosophers. 
 
 After this period the European Christians 
 profitted much by the Arabian learning, and 
 were highly indebted to the Saracens for im- 
 provement in tlie various sciences; for the 
 
 * Zonar. Annal. torn- ii. lib. xvi. 
 
 t Abulpharajius, Historia Dyuasliar. p. 246. — Georg. 
 F.lmacin. Histor. Sarac«n. lib. ii. p. 139. — Herbclot, Bib- 
 lioth. Orient, article Mamun, p. .')45. 
 
 { See the treatise of Leo Africamis, de Mediois et Phi- 
 losophis Arabibu.i, published by Fabriciui in his Biblio 
 theca Grseca, torn. xii. p. 259. 
 
 mathematics, astronomy, physic, and philoso- 
 phy, that were tauglit in Europe from the tenth 
 century, were, for the most part, drawn from 
 the Arabian schools that were established in 
 Spain and Italy, or from the writings of the 
 Arabian sages. Hence the Saranens may, in 
 one respect, Ikj justly considered as the restorers 
 of learning in i'-urope. 
 
 IV^. In that j)art of Europe whicli was sub- 
 ject to the dominion of the Franks, Charle- 
 magne laboured with incredible zeal and ardour 
 for the advancement of useful learning, and 
 animated his subjects to the culttire of the 
 sciences in all their various brandies: so that, 
 had his successors been disposed to follow his 
 example, and capable of acting upon the noble 
 plan which he formed, the empire, in a little 
 time, would have liecn entirely delivered from 
 barbarism and ignorance. It is true, this great 
 prince left in his family a certain spirit of emu- 
 lation, which animated his immediate succes- 
 sors to imitate, in some measure, his zeal for 
 the prosperity of the republic of letters. Louis 
 the Debonnaire both formed and executed se- 
 veral designs that were extremely conducive 
 to the progress of the arts and sciences;* and 
 his zeal, in this respect, was surpassed by the 
 ardour with which his son Charles the Bald 
 exerted himself in the propagation of letters, 
 and in exciting the emulation of the learned 
 b}' the most alluring marks of his protection 
 and favour. This great patron of the sciences 
 drew the literati to his court from all parts, 
 took a particular delight in their conversation, 
 multiplied and embellished the seminaries of 
 learning, and protected, in a more especial 
 manner, the Aulic school, of which mention 
 has already been made, and which was first 
 erected in the seventh century, for the educa- 
 tion of the royal family and the first nobility.) 
 His brother Lothaire endeavoured to revive in 
 Italy the drooping sciences, and to rescue them 
 from that state of languor and decay into 
 which the corruption and indolence of the 
 clergy had permitted them to fall. For this 
 purpose he erected schools in the eight princi- 
 pal cities of Italy, in 823,]; but with little suc- 
 cess, since that country appears to have been 
 entirely destitute of men of learning and ge- 
 nius during the ninth century. § 
 
 In England learning had a better fate under 
 the auspicious protection of king Alfred, who 
 acquired an immortal name, not onl}' by the 
 admirable progress he made in all kinds of ele- 
 gant and useful knowledge, || but also by the 
 care he took to multiply men of letters and 
 genius in his dominions, and to restore to the 
 
 * See the Histoire Littraire de la France, torn. iv. p. 
 58.'!. 
 
 \ Herman. Conringii Antiquit. AcademieiE, p. 300. — 
 Ca:s. Eg. du Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. i. p. 178. — 
 Launoy, de Scholis Caroli M. cap. xi, xii. p. 47. — His- 
 toire Liter, de la France, torn. v. p. 483. 
 
 } See the edict for that purpose among the Capitularia, 
 published by Muratori in the first volume of his compila- 
 tion de Rebus Italivis. 
 
 6 See Muratori's Antiq. Ital. medii jEvi, torn. iii. p. 
 829. 
 
 II See Ant. Wood. Hist, et Antiquit. Academ. Oxonicns. 
 lib. i. p. 13.— Boulay, Hist. Acad. Parie. torn. i. p. 211. — 
 General Dictionary, at the article Alfred. (This prince, 
 among other pious and learned labours, translated the 
 Pastoral of Gregory L, Boetius de Consolatione, and 
 Bede's Ecclesiastical History.) 
 
212 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II- 
 
 sciences, sacred and profane, the credit and 
 lustre which they so eminently deserve.* 
 
 V. But the infelicity of tJie times rendered 
 the effects of all this zeal and all these projects 
 for the advancement of learning much less 
 considerable than might have otherwise been 
 •expected. The protectors and patrons of the 
 learned were themselves learned; their authori- 
 ty was respectable, and their munificence was 
 boundless; and yet the progress of science to- 
 ward perfection was but slow, because the in- 
 terruptions arising from the troubled state of 
 Europe were frequent. The discords that 
 arose between Louis and his sons, which were 
 succeeded by a rupture between the latter, re- 
 tarded considerably the progress of letters in 
 the empire; and the incursions and victories 
 of the Normans, which afflicted Europe during 
 the whole course of this century, were so in- 
 imical to the culture of the arts and sciences, 
 that, in most of the regions of this part of the 
 world, and even in France, there remained but I 
 a small number who truly deserved the title of \ 
 learned men.f The wretched and incoherent 
 fragments of erudition that yet remained 
 among the clergy were confined to the monas- 
 teries, and to the episcopal schools; but the 
 zeal of the monkish and priestly orders for the 
 improvement of the mind, and the culture of 
 the sciences, diminished in proportion as their 
 revenues increased, so that their indolence and 
 ignorance grew with their possessions. 
 
 VI. It must, however, be confessed, that se- 
 veral examples of learned men, whose zeal for 
 science was kindled by the encouragement and 
 munificence of Charlemagne, shone forth with 
 a distinguished lustre through the darkness of 
 this barbarous age. Among these, the first 
 rank is due to Rabanus Maurus, whose fame 
 was great through all Germany and France, 
 and to whom the youth resorted, in prodigious 
 numbers, from all parts, to receive his instruc- 
 tions in the liberal arts and sciences. The 
 writers of history, whose works have deserved- 
 ly preserved their names from oblivion, are 
 Eginhard, Freculph, Thegan, Haymo, Anas- 
 tasius, Ado, and others of less note. Florus, 
 Walafridus Strabo, Bertharius, and Rabanus, 
 excelled in poetry. Smaragdus and Bertharius 
 were eminent for their skill in grammar and 
 languages, as was also the celebrated Rabanus 
 already mentioned, who acquired a very high 
 degree of reputation by a learned and subtile 
 treatise concerning the causes and the rise of 
 languages. The Greek and Hebrew erudition 
 was cultivated with considerable success by 
 
 {}IJ^* This excellent prince not only encouraged by his 
 protection and liberality such of his own subjects as made 
 any progress in the liberal arts and sciences, but invited 
 over from foreign countries men of distinguished talents, 
 whom he fixed in a seminary at Oxford, and, in conse- 
 quence, may be looked upon as the founder of that noble 
 university. Johannes Scotus Erigena, who had been in 
 the service of Charles the Bald, and Grimbald,a monk of 
 St. Bertin in France, were the most famous of those 
 learned men who came from abroad: Asserius, Werefrid, 
 Plegmund, Dunwuf, Wulfsig, and the abbot of St. Ncot's, 
 deserve the first rank among the English literati who 
 adorned the age of Alfred. See Collier's Ecclesiastical 
 History, vol. i. book iii., and Rapin's History of England, 
 t Servati Lupi Op. Epist. xxxiv. p. 69. — Conringii An- 
 tiq. Acad. p. 322. — Histoire Liter, jle la France, torn. iV. 
 p. 25!. 
 
 William, Servatus Lupus, Scotus, and others. 
 Eginhard, Agobard, Hincmar, and Servatus 
 Lupus, were famed for the eloquence which 
 appeared both in their discourses and in their 
 writings.* 
 
 VII. The philosophy and logic that were 
 taught in the European schools during this 
 century, scarcely deserved such honourable 
 titles, and were little better than an empty jar- 
 gon. There were, however, to be found in 
 various countries, particularly among the Irish, 
 men of acute parts and extensive knowledge, 
 who were perfectly well entitled to the appel- 
 lation of philosophers. Of these, the chief 
 was Johannes Scotus Erigena,! a native of 
 Ireland, the friend and companion of Charles 
 the Bald, who delighted so much in his con- 
 versation as to honour him with a place at his 
 table. Scotus was endowed with an excellent 
 and truly superior genius, and was considera- 
 bly versed both in Greek and Latin erudition. 
 He explained to his disciples the philosophy of 
 Aristotle, for which he was singularly well 
 qualified by his thorough knowledge of the 
 Greek language; but, as his genius was too 
 bold and aspiring to confine itself to the au- 
 thority and decisions of the Stagirite, he push- 
 ed his philosophical researches yet farther, 
 dared to think for himself, and ventured to 
 pursue truth without any other guide than his 
 own reason. We have yet extant of his com- 
 position, five Books concerning the Division 
 of Nature; an intricate and subtile production, 
 in which the causes and principles of all things 
 are investigated with a considerable degree of 
 sagacity, and in which also the precepts of 
 Christianity are allegorically explained, yet in 
 such a manner as to show, that their ultimate 
 end is the union of the soul with the Supreme 
 Being. He was the first who blended the 
 scholastic theology with the mystic, and form- 
 ed both into one system. It has also been 
 imagined, that he was far from rejecting the 
 opinions of those who consider the union of 
 God and nature, as similar to the imion that 
 subsists between the soul and the body, — a no- 
 tion much the same with that of many ancient 
 philosophers, who looked upon the Deity as 
 the soul of the world. But it may, perhaps, 
 be alleged, and not without reason, that what 
 Scotus said upon this subject amounted to no 
 more than what the Realists,], as they are call- 
 
 * Such as are desirous of a more circumstantial ac- 
 count of these writers, and of their various productions, 
 may consult the Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. iv. 
 p. 2.t1 Io 971; or the more ample account given of them 
 by the celebrated Le Bceuf, in his Etat des Sciences en 
 trance depuis Charlemagne, jusqu'au Roi Robert, which 
 is published in his Recueil de divers Ecrits pour servir 
 d'Eclaircisscment a I'Histoire de France, tom. ii. 
 
 (fC^i Erigena signifies properly a native of Ireland, as 
 Erin was (he ancient name of that kingdom. 
 
 {Ij^JThe Realists, who followed the doctrine of Aris- 
 totle with respect to universal ideas, were so called in oj>- 
 position to the Nominalists, who embraced the hypothesis 
 of Zeno and the Stoics upon that perplexed and intricate 
 subject. Aristotle held, against Plato, that previous to, 
 and independent of matter, there were no universal ideas 
 or essences; and that th« ideas, or exemplars, which the 
 latter supposed to have existed in the divine mind, and to 
 have been the models of a!! created things, had been eter- 
 nally impressed upon matter, and were coeval with, and 
 inherent in, their objects. Zeno and his followers, de- 
 parting both from the Platonic and Aristotelian systems, 
 maintained that tliesc pretended universals had neither 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 213 
 
 ed, maintained afterwards, though it must be western provinces, the bishops were voluptu- 
 allowed that he has expressed himself in aj'ous and effeminate in a very high degree, 
 very perplexed and obscure manner.* This! They passed their lives amidst the splendour of 
 celebrated philosopher formed no particular j courts and the pleasures of a luxurious indo- 
 sect, at least as far as we know; and this will j! lence, which corrupted their taste, extinguish- 
 be considered, by those who are acquainted l|ed their zeal, and rendered them incapable of 
 with the spirit of the times in which he lived, i; performing the solemn duties of tiieir funC' 
 
 as a proof that his immense learning was ac- 
 companied with meekness and modesty. 
 
 About this time a certain person named Ma- 
 carius, a native of Ireland, propagated in 
 France that enormous error, which was after- 
 wards adopted and profossed by Averroes, tiiat 
 one individual intelligence, one soul, perform- 
 ed tlie spiritual and rational functions in all 
 
 tions;* wliile tlie inferior clergy were sunk in 
 licentiousness, minded nothing but sensual gra* 
 tifications, and infected with the most heinous 
 vices the flock, wliom it was the very business 
 of their ministry to preserve, or to deliver from 
 the contagion of iniquity. Besides, the igno- 
 rance of the sacred order was, in many places, 
 so deplorable, that few of them could eitlier read 
 
 the human race. This error was confuted by | or write; and still fewer were capable of express- 
 Ratram, a famous monk of Corbey.f Before ''. ing tiieir wretched notions with any degree of 
 these writers flourished, Dungal, a native of ,|metliod or perspicuity. Hence it happened, 
 Ireland also, who left his country, and retired [ that, when letters were to be penned, or any 
 into a French monastery, where he lived dur- ji matter of consequence was to be committed to 
 '.ng the reigns of Charlemagne and his son |j writing, they commonly had recourse to some 
 Louis, and taught pliilosophy and astronomy ; person who was supposed to be endowed with 
 with the greatest reputation. + Heric, a monk i, superior abilities, as appears in the case of Ser 
 
 of Auxerre, made likewise an eminent figure 
 among tiie learned of this age; he was a man 
 of uncommon sagacity, was endowed with a 
 great and aspiring genius, and is said, in many 
 things, to have anticipated the famous Descar- 
 tes in the manner of investigating truth. § 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Concerning the Doctors and J\Iinisters of the 
 Church, and its Form of Government daring 
 this Century. 
 
 I. The impiety and licentiousness of the 
 greatest part of the clergy arose, at this time, 
 to an enormous height, and stand upon record, 
 in the unanimous complaints of the most can- 
 did and impartial writers of this century. || In 
 the east, tumult, discord, conspiracies, and trea- 
 son, reigned uncontrolled, and all things were 
 carried by violence and force. These abuses 
 appeared in many things, but particularly in 
 the election of the patriarchs of Constantino- 
 ple. The favour of the court was now the only 
 etep to that high and important office; and, 
 as the patriarch's continuance in that eminent 
 post depended upon such an uncertain and pre- 
 ;arious foundation, nothing was more usual 
 than to see a prelate pulled down from his 
 episcopal throne by an imperial decree. In the 
 
 form nor essence, and were no more than mere lerms and 
 nominal represenlations of their particular objects. The 
 doctrine of Aristotle prevailed until the eleventh cen- 
 tury, when RosccUinus embraced the Stoical system, and 
 founded the sect of the IVoniinalists, whose sentiments 
 were propagated with f;rcat success by the famous Abe- 
 lard. Tliese two sects uiflered considerably among Ihem- 
 lelves, and explained, or rather obscured, tiieir respective 
 tenets in a variety of ways. 
 
 * The work here alluded to was published by Mr. 
 Thomas Gale, in 1681. The learned Heuman has made 
 leveral extracts from it, and has given also an ample ac- 
 count of Scotus, in his Acts of the Philosophers, writtea 
 in German, torn. iii. p. 858. 
 
 \ Mabillon, Pnf part ii. Actor. SS. Ord. Beuedicti, 
 tect. 1.56. p. 5^. 
 
 iHistoire Literaire de la France, torn. iv. p. 493. 
 Le Boeuf, Memoires pour I'Histoire d'Auxerre, tom. 
 ii. p. 4P1. — .\cla Sanctorum, tom. iv. M. Junii ad d. 
 xx'iv. p. 829, et ad d. ixxi. Jul. p. 249; for this philoso- 
 pher has obtained a place among the saintly order. 
 
 II See Agobardus, de Privilegiis et Jure Sacerdotii, 
 MCt. 13. 
 
 vatus Lupus.f 
 
 II. Many circumstances concurred, particu- 
 larly in the European nations, to produce and 
 augment this corruption and licentiousness, so 
 shameful in an order of men, who were set 
 apart to exhibit examples of piety to the rest 
 of the world. Among these we may reckon, 
 as the chief sources of the evil under considera- 
 tion, the calamities of the limes, the bloody 
 and perpetual wars that were carried on be- 
 tween Louis the Debonnaire and his family, 
 the incursions and conquests of tlie barbarous 
 nations, the gross and incredible ignorance of 
 the nobility, and tlie riches that flowed in upon 
 the churches and religious seminaries from 
 all quarters. Many other cause."? also contri- 
 buted to dishonour tlie churcii, by introducing 
 into it a corrupt ministry. A nobleman, who, 
 tlirough want of talents, of activity, or cour- 
 age, was rendered incapable of appearing with 
 dignity in the cabinet, or with honour in the 
 lield, immediately turned his views toward the 
 church, aimed at a distinguished place among 
 its chiefs and rulers, and became, in conse- 
 qaence, a contagious example of stupidity and 
 vice to the inferior clerffy.t The patrons of 
 churches, in whom resided the rigiit of elec- 
 tion, unwilling to submit their disorderly con- 
 duct to the keen censure of zealous and upright 
 pastors, industriously looked for the most ab- 
 ject, ignorant, and worthless ecclesiastics, to 
 whom they committed the care of souls.§ But 
 one of the circumstances, which contributed in 
 a particular manner to render, at least, the 
 higher clergy wicked and depraved, and to 
 take off" their minds from the duties of their 
 
 * The reader will be convinced of this by consultine 
 Agobard, passim, and by looking over the laws enacted 
 in the Latin councils for restraining the disorders of the 
 clergy. See also Servatus Lupus, Kpist. txtv. p. 73, 
 281, and Sleph. Balnze, in Adnot. p. 378. 
 
 f See the works of Servatus Lupus, Epist. xcviii. xcii. 
 p. 126, 142, 148; as also his Life. See also Rodolphi 
 Bituriccnsis Capitula ad Clerum suum, in Baluzii Mis- 
 cellancis, tom. vi. p. 139, 148. 
 
 \ Hincmarus, in Opere Posteriore contra Godeschal- 
 cum, cap. xixvi. tom. i. op. p. 318. — Servatus Lupus, 
 Epist. Ixxix. p. 120. 
 
 § Agobardus, de Privilegiis et Jure Sacerdotii, cap. xi 
 p. 341. tom. i. op. 
 
214 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 station, was the obligation of performing cer- 
 tain services to tiieir sovereigns, in consequence 
 of the' possessions they derived from the royal 
 bounty. The bishops and heads of monaste- 
 ries held many lands and castles by a feudal 
 tenure; and, being thereby bound to furnish 
 their princes with a certain number of soldiers 
 in time of war, were obliged also to take the 
 field themselves at the head of these troops,* 
 and thus to act in a spliere that was utterly in- 
 consistent witli the nature and duties of their 
 sacred character. Beside all this, it often hap- 
 pened that rapacious princes, in order to satis- 
 fy the craving wants of their soldiers and do- 
 mestics, boldly invaded the possessions of the 
 church, wliich they distributed among their ar- 
 mies; in consequence of which the priests and 
 monks, in order to avoid perishing through 
 hunger, abandoned themselves to the practice 
 of violence, fraud, and all sorts of crimes, con- 
 sidering these acts as the only remaining 
 means by which they could procure a subsist- 
 ence. f 
 
 III. The Roman pontiffs were raised to that 
 high dignity by the suffrages of the sacerdotal 
 order, accompanied by the voice of the people; 
 but, after their election, the approbation of the 
 emperor was necessary, in order to their conse- 
 cration. + An edict, indeed, is yet extant, sup- 
 posed to have been published, in 817, by Louis 
 the Debonnaire, in which he abolishes this im- 
 perial right, and grants to the Romans, not 
 only the power of electing their pontiff, but also 
 the privilege of installing and consecrating him 
 when elected, without waiting for the consent 
 of the emperor. § But this grant will not de- 
 ceive those who inquire into the affair with 
 any degree of attention and diligence, since 
 several learned men have proved it spurious 
 by the most irresistible arguments. || It must, 
 however, be confessed, that, after the time of 
 Charles the Bald, a new scene of things arose; 
 and the important change above-mentioned 
 was really introduced. That prince, having 
 obtained the imperial dignity by the good offi- 
 ces of the bishop of Rome, returned this emi- 
 nent service by delivering the succeeding pon- 
 tiffs from the obligation of waiting for the con- 
 sent of the emperors, in order to their being in- 
 stalled in their office; and thus we find, that 
 from the time of Eugenius III. who was raised 
 
 * Steph. Baliizii Appendix Aetor. ad Servatum, p. 
 508.— Muratori Antiq. Ital. medii iEvi, torn. ii. p. 4-lt). 
 Mabilloii, Annal. Bcntdicl. torn. vi. p. 587. — Du-Fresne, 
 ad Joinvillii Hist. Ludovici S. p. 75, 76. 
 
 f Agobardus, dc Dispens. Rerum Ecclesiast. sect, 
 iv. — Flodoardus, Hislor. Ecclfs, Rhemensis, lib. iii. cap. 
 iK. — Scrvaius Lupus, Epist. xlv. p. 87, 4.'i7, &.c. — Mura- 
 tori, loin. vi. Anliq. Ital. p. 302. — Lud. Tliomassin, Dis 
 ciplina Ecclesiae vet. et iiovee circa Beneticia, par. ii. 
 lib. iii. cap. xi. These corrupt measures prevailed also 
 among the Greeks and Lombards, as may be seen in the 
 OricHs Christianus of Lequien, torn. i. p. 142. 
 
 } Se« De Bunau, Histor. Imper. German, torn. iii. 
 
 tj Harduiai Concilia, torn. iv. p. 1336. — Le Cointe, 
 Anuales Eccles. Fraiicor. torn. vii. ad An. S17. «ect. €. 
 Baluzii Capitular. Regum Francor. torn. i. p. .^>91. 
 
 II Muratori, Droits de I'Empire s«r I'Etal Ecclesiast. 
 p. 54, and Anti<j. Ital. lorn. iii. p. 29, 30, in which that 
 learned man conjectures, that this edict was forged in 
 the eleventh century. Bunau, Hist. Imper. German, 
 torn. iii. p. 34. The partisans, however, of the papal 
 authority, such as Fontanini and others, plead strenuous- 
 ly, though ineffectually, for the authenticity of the edict 
 in question. 
 
 to the pontificate in 884, the election of the 
 pope was carried on without the least regard 
 to law, order, and decency, and was generally 
 attended with civil tumults and dissensions, 
 until the reign of Otho the Great, who put a 
 stop to these disorderly proceedings. 
 
 IV. Among the pontiffs of this century, there 
 were very few who distinguished themselves 
 by their learning, prudence, and virtue, or who 
 were studious of those particular qualities which 
 are essential to the character of a Christian 
 bishop. On the contrary, the greatest part of 
 them are only known by the flagitious actions 
 that have transmitted their names with infamy 
 to our times; and all seem to have vied with 
 each other in their ambitious efforts to extend 
 their authority, and render their dominion im- 
 limited and universal. It is here that we may 
 place, with propriety, an event which is said 
 to have interrupted the much-vaunted succes- 
 sion of regular bishops in the see of Rome, 
 from the first foundation of that church to the 
 present times. Between the pontificate of Leo 
 IV., who died in 855, and that of Benedict III., 
 a certain woman, who artfully disguised her 
 sex for a considerable time, is said, by learning, 
 genius, and dexterity, to have made good her 
 way to the papal chair, and to have governed 
 the church with the title and dignity of pontiff 
 about two years. This extraordinary person 
 is yet known by the title of Pope Joan. Dur- 
 ing the five succeeding centuries this event was 
 generally believed, and a vast number of wri- 
 ters bore testimony to its truth; nor, before 
 the reformation undertaken by Luther, was 
 it considered by any, either as incredible in it- 
 self, or as disgraceful to the church.* But, in 
 the last century, the elevation, and indeed tlie 
 existence of this female pontiff, became the 
 subject of a keen and learned controversy; and 
 several men of distinguished abilities, both 
 among the Roman catholics and protestants, 
 employed all the force of their genius and eru- 
 dition to destroy the credit of this story, by in- 
 validating, on the one hand, the weight of the 
 testimonies on which it was founded, and by 
 showing, on the other, that it was inconsistent 
 with the most accurate chronological compu- 
 tations. f Between the contending parties, 
 
 * The arguments of those who maintained the truth 
 of this extraordinary event are collected in one striking 
 point of view, with great learning and industry, by 
 Fred. Spanheim, in his Exercitatio de Papa Foemina, 
 torn. ii. op. p. 577. This dissertation was translated into 
 French by the celebrated L'Enfant, who digested it into 
 a better method, and enriched it with several additions. 
 
 t The arguments of those who reject the story of 
 Pope Joan as a fable, have been collected by David Blou- 
 del, and after him with still more art and erudition by 
 Bayle, in the third volume of his Dictionary, at the arti- 
 cle Papessc. Add to these Jo. Georg. Eccard. (Histor. 
 Francise Oriental, tom. ii. lib. xxx. sect. 119. p. 436,) 
 who has adopted and appropriated the sentiments of 
 the great Leibnitz, upon the matter in question. See 
 also Lequien 's Oriens Christian, tom. ii. p. 777, and 
 Heuman's Sylloge Dissert. Sacr. torn. i. part ii. p. 352. 
 The very learned Jo. Christoph. Wagenselius has given 
 a just and a<^curate view of the arguments on both 
 sides, wliich may be seen in the Amoenitates Literariae 
 of Schelhornius, part i. p. 146; and the same has been 
 done by Basnage in his Histoire de I'Eglise, tom. i. p. 
 408. A list of the other writers, who have employed 
 their labours upon this intricate question, may be seen in 
 Casp. SagiUarius' Introd. in Hist. Eccles. tom. i. cap. 
 xxv! p. 676, and in the Bibljoth. Brtmenf tom. viii. part 
 V. p. 935. 
 
Chap. II 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 215 
 
 some of the wisest and most learned writere 
 have judiciously steered a middle course; they 
 grant that many fictitious and fabidous circum- 
 stances have been interwoven with this story; 
 but they deny that it is entirely destitute of 
 foundation, or that the controversy is yet end- 
 ed, in a satisfactory manner, in favour of those 
 who dispute the truth; and, indee<l, Upon a de- 
 liberate and impartial view of this whole mat- 
 ter, it will appear more than probable, tJiat 
 some unusual event must have happened at 
 Rome, from which this story derived its origin, 
 because it is not at all credible, from any prin- 
 ciples of moral evidence, that an event should 
 be universally believed and related in the same 
 manner by a multitude of historians, during 
 five centuries immediately succeeding its sup- 
 posed date, if that event had been absolutely 
 destitute of all foundation. But what it was 
 that gave rise to this story is yet to be disco- 
 vered, and is likely to remain uncertain.* 
 
 V. The enormous vices, that must have co- 
 vered so many pontiffs with infamy in the judg- 
 ment of the wise, formed not the least obsta- 
 cle to their ambition in these miserable times, 
 nor hindered them from extending their influ- 
 ence, and augmenting their authority, both in 
 church and state. It does not, indeed, appear 
 from any authentic records, that their posses- 
 sions increased in proportion to the progress of 
 their authority, or that any new grants of land 
 were added to what they had already obtained 
 from the liberality of the kings of France. — 
 The donations, which Louis the Debonnaire 
 is reported to have made to them, are mere in- 
 ventions, equally destitute of truth and proba- 
 bility;! and nothing is more groundless than 
 the accounts of those writers who affirm that 
 Ciiarles the Bald divested himself, in 815, of 
 his right to the city of Rome and its territory, 
 in favour of the pontiffs, whom he at the same 
 time enriched witli a variety of noble and cost- 
 ly presents, in return for the good services of 
 Jolin VIII., by whose assistance he had been 
 raised to the empire. Be that as it may, it is 
 certain, that the authority and affluence of the 
 bishops of Rome increased greatly from the 
 time of Louis, but more especially from the 
 accession of Charles the Bald to the imperial 
 throne, as all the historical records of that 
 period abundantly testify.]; 
 
 VI. After the death of Louis II. a fierce and 
 dreadful war broke out between the posterity 
 of Charlemagne, among which there were seve- 
 ral competitors for the empire. This furnished 
 the Italian princes and pope John VIII. with 
 
 * Such is the opiuioii of Paul Sarpi, in his Lcttere 
 Italiaiie, Lett. Ixxxii. p. 452; of L'Eiifatit, Biblioth. Gcr- 
 Dianique, torn. x. p. 27; of Theod. Hasaus, Biblioth. 
 Bremens. torn. viii. part v. p. 935; and of the ceK-brated 
 Pfaff, Instit. Histor. Eocles. p. 402; to whom we might 
 add Wernsdorf, Boeder, Holberg, and many others, 
 were such an enumeration necessary. Without assum- 
 ing the character of a judge in this intricate contro- 
 versy, concerning which so many decisions have been 
 confidently pronounced, I shall only take the liberty to 
 observe, that the matter in debate is yet dubious, and has 
 not, on either side, been represented in such a light as to 
 bring conviction. 
 
 t See above, sect. 3. 
 
 } Bunau Histor. Imperii Rom. German, torn. ii. p. 
 482. — Jo. George Eccard, Histor. Franciae Orient, tom. 
 ■i. lib. mi. p. t>06. 
 
 an opportunity of assuming the right of nomi 
 nating to the imperial throne, and of excluding 
 from all concern in this election the nations 
 who had formerly the right of suffrage; and, as 
 the occasion was favourable, it was seized with 
 avidity, and improved with the utmost dexte- 
 rity and zeal. Their favour and interest were 
 earnestly soHcited by Charles the Bald, whose 
 intreaties were rendered effectual by rich pre- 
 sents, prodigious sums of money, and most 
 pompous promises, in consequence of which he 
 was proclaimed, in S'i6, by the pope and the 
 Italian princes assembled at Pavia, king of 
 Italy and emperor of the Romans. Carloman 
 and Charles tiie Gross, who succeeded him in 
 tlie kingdom of Italy, and in the Roman em 
 pire, were also elected by the Roman pontiff" 
 and the princes of Italy. After the reigrif 
 of those potentates, the empire was torn in 
 pieces: the most deplorable tumults and com 
 motions arose in Italy, France, and Germany, 
 which were governed or rather subdued and 
 usurped by various chiefs; and, in this confused 
 scene, the highest bidder was, by the aid of the 
 greedy ponti ffs, generally rai.sed to the govern- 
 ment of Italy, and to the imperial throne.* 
 
 Vll. Thus the power and influence of the 
 pontiffs, in civil affairs, rose in a short time to 
 an enormous height, through the favour and 
 protection of the princes, in whose cause they 
 had employed the influence which superstition 
 had given them over the minds of the people. 
 The increase of their authority, in religious 
 n)atters, was not less rapid or less considerable; 
 and it arose from the same causes. The wisest 
 and most impartial among the Roman catholic 
 writers, not only acknowledge, but have even 
 taken pains to demonstrate, that, from the time 
 of Louis the Debonnaire, tiie ancient rules 
 of ecclesiastical government were gradually 
 changed in Europe by tlic counsels and instiga- 
 tion of the court of Rome, and new laws sub- 
 stituted in their place. The European princes 
 suffered themselves to be divested of the su- 
 preme authority in religious matters, which 
 they had derived from CTiarlemagne; the epis- 
 copal power was greatly diminished, and even 
 the authority of both provincial and general 
 councils began to decline. The Roman pon- 
 tiff's, elate with tiieir overgrown prosperity 
 and the daily accessions that were made to 
 their authority, were eagerly bent upon per- 
 suading all, and had, indeed, the good fortune 
 to persuade many, that the bisliop of Rome 
 was constituted, by Jesus Christ, supreme legis- 
 lator and judge of the churcii universal; and 
 that, therefore, the bishops derived all their au- 
 thority from the pope, nor could the councils 
 determine any thing without his permission and 
 consent.! This opinion, which was inculcated 
 
 * This matter is amply illustrated by Sigonius, in bis fa- 
 mous book de Regno Italia;, and by the other writers of 
 German and Italian history. 
 
 I See the excellent work of an anonymous and unknown 
 author, who signs himself D. B. and whose book is enti- 
 tled, Histoire du Droit Ecclesiastique public Francois, 
 published first at London, in 1737, and lately republished 
 m a more splendid edition. The author of this perform- 
 ance shows, in a judiciousand concise manner, the various 
 steps by which the papal au'hority rose to such a mon- 
 strous height. His account of the ninth century may be 
 seen in the first volume of his work, at the 160lh page. 
 
216 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 with the utmost zeal and ardour, was opposed 
 by such as were acquainted with the ancient 
 ecclesiastical constitutions, and the government 
 of the church in the earher ages; but it was 
 opposed in vain. 
 
 VJIl. In order to gain credit to this new ec- 
 clesiastical system, so ditferent from the ancient 
 rules of church government, and to support the 
 haughty pretensions of the pontitfs to supre- 
 macy and independence, it was necessary to pro- 
 duce the autl)ority of ancient deeds, to stop the 
 mouths of sucii as were disposed to set bounds 
 to their usurpations. The bishops of Rome 
 were aware of this; and as those means were 
 deemed the most lawful that tended best to the 
 accomplishment of tlieir purposes, they em- 
 ployed some of their most ingenious and zealous 
 partisans in forging conventions, acts of coun- 
 cils, epistles, and the like records, by which it 
 might appear, that, in the first ages of the 
 church, tlie Roman pontiffs were clothed with 
 the same spiritual majesty and supreme autho- 
 rity which they now assumed.* Among these 
 fictitious supports of the papal dignity, the fa- 
 mous Decretal Epistles, as they are called, said 
 to have been written by the pontiffs of the 
 primitive time, deserve chiefly to be stigma- 
 tised. They were the productions of an obscure 
 writer, who fraudulently prefixed to them the 
 name of Isidore, bisliop of fcieville,! to make the 
 world believe tiiat they had been collected by 
 this illustrious and learned prelate. Some of 
 thein had appeared in the eighth century ,| but 
 they were now entirely drawn from their ob- 
 scurity, and produced, with an air of ostentation 
 and triumph, to demonstrate the supremacy of 
 the Roman pontiffs. § The decisions of a cer- 
 
 * There is just reason to imagine, that these decretals, 
 and various other acts, such as the grants of Charlemagne 
 and his son Louis, wtre I'orged with the knowledge and 
 consent of the Roman pontiff-, since it is utterly incredi- 
 ble, that these pontiffs sliould, for many ages, liave con- 
 stantly appealed, in support of their pretended rights and 
 privileges, to acts and records that were only the Ilctions 
 of private persons, and should with such weak arms have 
 stood out against kings, princes, councils, and bishops, 
 who were unwilling to receive their yoke. Acts of a pri- 
 vate nature would have been useless here, and public deeds 
 were necessary to accomplish the views of papa! ambition. 
 Such forgeries were in this century deemed lawful, on 
 account of their supposed tendency to promote the glory 
 of God, and to advance the prosperity of the church: and, 
 therefore, it is not surprising, that the good pontiffs should 
 feel no remorse in imposing upon the world frauds and 
 forgeries, that were designed to enrich the patrimony of 
 St. Peter, and to aggrandise his successors in the apostolic 
 tte. 
 
 \ It is certain that the forger of the decretals was ex- 
 tremely desirous of persuading the world, that they were 
 collected by Isidore, the celebrated bishop of Seville, who 
 lived in the sixth century. See Fabricii Biblioth. Latin. 
 medii JEvi, torn. v. p. 561. It was a custom among the 
 bishops to add, from a principle of humility, the epithet 
 pecccUor, i. e. sinner, to their titles; and, accordingly, this 
 forger has added the word peccator after the name of Isi- 
 dore: but this some ignorant transcribers have absurdly 
 changed into the word mercator; and hence it happens 
 that one Isidorus Mercator passes for the fraudulent col- 
 lector, or forger of the decretals. 
 
 I See Calinet, Histoire de Lorraine, tom. i. p. 528. — B. 
 Just. Hen. Bohmer, Praef. ad novam Edit. Juris Canon, 
 tom. i. p. X. xix. Not. 
 
 ^ Beside the authors of the Centuria; Magdeburgenses 
 and other writers, the learned Blondel has demonstrated, 
 in an ample and satisfactory manner, the spuriousness of 
 the decretals, in his Fseudo-Isidorus et Turrianus vapu- 
 lantes; and in our time the imposition is acknowledged 
 tven by the Roman catholics, at least by such of them as 
 poiseu some degree of judgment and impartiality. See 
 
 tain Roman council, which is said to have been 
 holden during the pontificate of Sylvester, were 
 likewise alleged in behalf of the same cause; 
 but this council had not been heard of before 
 the present century, and the accounts now 
 given of it proceeded from the same source 
 with the decretals, and were equally authentic. 
 Be tliat as it may, the decrees of tliis pretended 
 council contributed much to enrich and aggran- 
 dise the Roman pontiffs, and exalt them above 
 all human authority and jurisdiction.* 
 
 IX. There were, however, among the Latin 
 bishops, some men of prudence and sagacity, 
 wjio saw through these impious frauds, and 
 perceived the cliains that were forging both for 
 them and for the church. The French bishops 
 distinguished tliemselves, in a particular and 
 glorious manner, by the zeal and vehemence 
 witli which they opposed the spurious decretals, 
 and other fictitious monuments and records, and 
 protested against their being received among 
 the laws of the church. But the obstinacy of 
 the pontiffs, and particularly of Nicolas I., 
 conquered tliis opposition, and reduced it to 
 silence. And as tiie empire, in the periods 
 tliat succeeded this contest, fell back into the 
 grossest ignorance and darkness, there scarcely 
 remained any who were capable of detecting 
 these odious impositions, or disposed to support 
 the expiring liberty of the church. The history 
 of the following ages shows, in a multitude 
 of deplorable examples, the disorders and ca- 
 lamities that sprang from the ambition of the 
 aspiring pontiffs; it represents these despotic 
 lords of the church, labouring, by the aid of 
 their impious frauds, to overturn its ancient 
 government, to undermine the autliority of its 
 bishops, to engross its riches and revenues into 
 their own hands; and, what is still more horri- 
 ble, it represents them aiming perfidious blows 
 at the tlirones of princes, and endeavouring to 
 lessen their power, and to set bounds to their 
 dominion. All this is unanimously acknow- 
 ledged by such as have looked, witii attention 
 and impartiality, into the history of the times 
 of which we now write, and is ingenuously 
 confessed by men of learning and probity, who 
 are well atiected to the Romish ciiurch and its 
 sovereign pontiff.f 
 
 X. Tiie monastic life was now universally 
 in the highest esteem; and nothing could equal 
 the veneration that was paid to such as devoted 
 themselves to the sacred gloom and indolence 
 of a convent. The Greeks and Orientals had 
 been long accustomed to regard the monkish 
 orders and discipline with the greatest admira- 
 tion; but it was only from tlie beginning of the 
 eighth century, that tliis holy passion was in- 
 dulged among the Latins to such an extrava- 
 gant length. In the present age it went beyond 
 all bounds: kings, dukes, and counts, forgot 
 their true dignity, even the zealous discharge^ 
 
 Buddeus' Isagoge in Theologiam, tom. ii. p. 726; as also 
 Petr. Constantius' Prolegom. ad Epistolas Fontificum, 
 tom. i. p. 30; and a dissertation of Fleury, prefixed to the 
 sixteentn volume of his Ecclesiastical History. 
 
 * See J. Launoy. de cura Ecelesiae erga pauperes et 
 miseros, cap. i. Observat. i. p. 576. torn. ii. part li. op. 
 
 t See the above-mentioned author's treatise entitled, 
 Regia Potestas in Causis Matrimonial, tom. i. part ii. 
 op. p. 764; as also Petr. Constantiui, Frsf. ad Epist 
 Romanor. Pontif. tom. i. p. 127. 
 
Chap. II 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 817 
 
 of the duties of their high stations, and affected 
 that contempt of the world and its grandeur, 
 which they took for magnanimity, though it 
 was really the result of a narrow and super- 
 stitious sj)irit. They abandoned their thrones, 
 their honours, and their treasures, and shut 
 tliemselves up in monasteries witli a view of 
 devoting themselves entirely to God. Several 
 examples of this fanatical extravagance were 
 exhibited in Italy, France, Germany, and 
 Spain, both in this and in tlie preceding cen- 
 tury; and if tlie allurements of worldly pleasures 
 and honours had too much power over the minds 
 of many, to permit their separating themselves 
 from human society during tiieir lives, such 
 endeavoured to make amends for this in their 
 last hours; for, when they perceived death ap- 
 proaching, they demanded the monastic habit, 
 and actually put it on before their departure, 
 that they might be regarded as of the fraternity, 
 and be in consequence entitled to the fervent 
 prayers and other spiritual succours of their 
 ghostly brethren. 
 
 But nothing affords such a striking and re- 
 markable proof of the excessive and fanatical 
 veneration that was paid to the monastic order, 
 as the conduct of several kings and emperors, 
 who drew numbers of monks and abbots from 
 their cloisters, and placed them in stations en- 
 tirely foreign to their vows and their character, 
 even amidst the splendour of a court, and at 
 the head of affairs. The transition, indeed, 
 was violent, from the obscurity of a convent, 
 and the study of a liturgy, to sit at the helm 
 of an empire, and manage the political interests 
 of nations. But such was the case; and pious 
 princes alleged, as a reason for this singular 
 choice, that the government of a state could 
 never be better placed than in the hands of such 
 holy men, who had subdued all irregular ap- 
 {)etites and passions, and were so divested of 
 the lusts of pleasure and ambition, as to be m- 
 capable of any unworthy designs, or any low, 
 sordid, or selfish views. Hence we find, in the 
 history of these times, frequent examples of 
 monks and abbots performing the functions 
 of ambassadors, envoys, and ministers of state, 
 and displaying their talents witb various suc- 
 cess in these high and eminent stations. 
 
 XI. The morals, however, of the monks, 
 were far from being so pure as to justify the 
 reason alleged for their promotion. Their 
 patrons and protectors, who loaded them with 
 honours and preferment, were sensible of the 
 irregular and licentious lives that many of them 
 led, and used their utmost efforts to correct their 
 vices, and to reform their manners. Louis the 
 Debonnaire distinguished his zeal in the exe- 
 cution of this virtuous and noble design; and, 
 to render it more effectual, he employed the 
 pious labours of Benedict, abbot of Aniane, in 
 reforming the monasteries, first in Aquitaine, 
 and afterwards throughout the whole kingdom 
 of France, and in restoring, by new and salu- 
 tary laws, the monastic discipline, which had 
 been so neglected as to fall into decay. This 
 worthy ecclesiastic presided, in 8111, in the 
 council of Aix-la-Chapelle, where several wise 
 measures were taken for removing the dis- 
 orders that reigned in the cloisters; and, in 
 consequence of the unlimited authority he had 
 Vol- I.— 2S 
 
 received from the emperor, he subjected all the 
 monks, without exception, to the rule of the- 
 famous Benedict abbot of Mont-Cassin, an- 
 nulled the variety of rites and customs that 
 had prevailed in the diflerent monasteries, pre- 
 scribed to tliem*ll one uniform method of liv- 
 ing, and thus united, as it were, into one general 
 body or society, tlie various orders which had 
 hitherto been connected by no common bond.* 
 This admirable discipline, which acquired to 
 Benedict of Aniane the highest reputation, and 
 occasioned him to be revered as the second 
 father of the western monks, flourished during 
 a certain time, but afterwards declined through 
 various causes, until the conclusion of this 
 century, when, under the calamities that op- 
 pressed both the church and the enjpire, it al- 
 most entirely disappeared. 
 
 XII. The same emperor, who had appeared 
 with such zeal, both in protecting and reform- 
 ing the monks, gave also distinguished marks 
 of his favour to the order of canons, which 
 Ciirodegangus had introduced in several places 
 during the last century. He distributed them 
 through all the provinces of the empire, and 
 instituted also an order of canonesses, the first 
 female convent known in the Christian world. f 
 For each of these orders the zealous emperor 
 had a rule drawn up, in 817, in the council of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, sub.stituting it for that which 
 had been appointed by Chrodegangus; and this 
 new rule was observed in most of the monas- 
 teries and convents of the canons and canon- 
 esses in the west until the twelfth century, 
 although it was disapproved by the court of 
 Rome. J The author of the rule, framed for 
 the canons, was undoubtedly Amalarius, a 
 presbyter of Metz; but it is not so certain 
 whether that which was drawn up for the ca- 
 nonesses, was composed by the same liand.^ 
 Be that as it may, the canonical order grew 
 into high repute; and from this time a great 
 number of convents were erected for its mem- 
 bers in all the western provinces, and were 
 
 * Jo. MabilloD, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Benedict. Saec. iv. 
 jiar. i. Prffif. p. xxvii. aud Praef. ad. Sa;e. v. p. xxv. ct 
 fjusdem Annales Ordiii. S. Benedict, torn. ii. p, 430. — 
 Calinet, Hist, de Lorraine, torn. j. p. .596. For a par- 
 ticular account of Benedict of Aniane, and his illustrious 
 virtues, see the Acta Sanctor, torn. ii. Febr. 606; and the 
 Histoire Lit. de la France, torn. iv. p. 447. 
 
 t See Mabillon, Anual. Ordin. S. Benedict!, torn. ii. 
 p. 4-38. 
 
 j This rule was condemned in a council held at Rome, 
 A. I). 1059, under the pontilV Nicolas Ii. The pretexts 
 Used by the pontiff and the assembled prelates, to justify 
 Iheir disapprobation of this rule, were, that it permitted 
 the canons to enjoy the possessions they had before their 
 VOH9, and allowed to each of them too large a portion of 
 bread and wine; but the true reason was, that this order 
 had been instituted by an emperor without either the con- 
 sent or Imowledge of the Roman pontiff. For an account 
 of the rule aud discipline of these canons, see Fleury'j 
 Hist. Eccles. torn. x. p. 163, 164, &c. Brussels edition 
 in l'2mo. 
 
 ^^ Lud. Thomassin, Disciplin. Eccles. Vet. et Novse, 
 part i. lib. iii. cap. xlii, xliii. — Mnratori, Antiq. Ital. 
 niedii Kvi, torn. v. p. 186, 540. No accounts of the 
 Canons are less worthy of credit, than those which are 
 given by writers, who have been themselves members of 
 that order, such as Kaymond Chapponel's Histoire det 
 Chanoines, published at Paris in 1699; for these writers, 
 from fond prejudices in favour of their institution, and 
 an ambitious desire of enhancing its merit and rendering 
 it respectable, derive the origin of the canonical order 
 from Christ and his apostles, or trace it up. at leatt, to 
 the first ages of the Christian church. 
 
218 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 richly endowed by the liberality of pious and 
 opulent Christians. But this institution de- 
 generated in a short time, like all others, from 
 its primitive purity, and ceased to answer the 
 laudable intention and design of its worthy 
 founders.* 
 
 XIII. Of the theological writers who flou- 
 rished among the Greelvs, the following are the 
 most remarkable: 
 
 Photius, patriarch of Constantinople, a man 
 of most profound and universal erudition, whose 
 Bibliotheca,"f Epistles, and other writings, are 
 yet valuable on many accounts. 
 
 Nicephorus, also a patriarch of the above- 
 mentioned city, who, among other productions, 
 published a warm defence of the worship of 
 images against the enemies of that idolatrous 
 service. j; 
 
 Theodorus Studites, who acquired a name 
 chiefly by his warm opposition to the Icono- 
 clasts, and by the zeal with which he wrote in 
 favour of image worship. § 
 
 The same cause has principally contributed 
 to transmit to after-ages tlie names of Theo- 
 dorus Graptus, Methodius, who obtained the 
 title of Confessor for his adherence to image- 
 worship in tlie very face of persecution, Theo- 
 dorus Abucara,|[ Petrus Siculus, Nieetas David, 
 and others, who would probably have been long 
 since buried in oblivion, had not the various 
 contests between the Greek and Latin church- 
 es, and the divisions of the former among them- 
 selves upon the question concerning images, 
 excited the vehemence of these inconsiderable 
 writers, and furnished them with an occasion 
 of making some noise in the world. 
 
 Moses Barcepha, a Syrian bishop, far sur- 
 passed all vvliom we have now been mentioning, 
 and deserved the shining reputation which he 
 has obtained in the republic of letters, as what 
 we have yet extant of his works discover marks 
 of true genius, and an uncommon acquaintance 
 with the art of writing.li 
 
 XIV. Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mentz, 
 is deservedly placed at the head of the Latin 
 writers of this age; the force of his genius, the 
 extent of his knowledge, and the multitude of 
 productions that flowed from his i>en, entitle 
 him to this distinguished rank, and render im- 
 proper all comparison between him and his 
 contemporaries. He may be called tlie great 
 light of Germany and France, since it was from 
 the prodigious fund of knowledge he possessed, 
 that those nations derived principally their re- 
 ligious instruction. His writings were every 
 where in the hands of the learned,** and were 
 
 • Calmet, Hist, de Lorraine, torn. i. p. 591. — Hist. 
 Lit. de la France, torn. iv. p. 536. 
 
 t See Camusat, Hisloire des Journaux, torn. i. p. 87. 
 
 \ Acta Saiictor. torn. ii. Martii ad d. xiii. p. 293. — Ou- 
 dinus, Scriptor. Eccles. torn. ii. p. 2. 
 
 {7(3- ^ Theodore Studites was one of the most volumi- 
 nous writers of this century, and would certainly have 
 been known as a man of genius and learning in after-ages, 
 even if the controversy concerning images had never ex- 
 isted. There are of his writings, yet extant, 265 letters, 
 several treatises against the Iconoclasts, 124 epigrams in 
 iambics, and a large manuscript, which contain^ a course 
 of catechetical instruction concerning the duties of the 
 monastic life. 
 
 II See Bayle's Dictionary, vol. i. 
 
 % Assemani Biblioth. Orient. Vatican, torn. li. p. 127. 
 
 ** See, for a particular account of the life and writings 
 of Rabanus Maurus, the Histoire Literaire de la France, 
 
 holden in such veneration, that, during foiur 
 centuries, the most eminent of the Latin di- 
 vines appealed to them as authority in religious 
 matters, and adopted almost universally the 
 sentiments they contained. After this illus- 
 trious prelate, tlie writers who are most worthy 
 of mention are, 
 
 Agobard, arclibishop of Lyons, a man of 
 wisdom and prudence, and far from being des- 
 titute of literary merit; but whose reputation 
 has deservedly suffered by his vindicating, and 
 even fomenting the rebellion of Lothaire and 
 Pepin against Louis the Debonnaire, their fa- 
 ther and their sovereign.* 
 
 Hilduin, abbot of St. Denis, who acquired no 
 small reputation by a work entitled Areopa- 
 gitica.f 
 
 Eginhard, abbot of Selingestadt, the cele- 
 brated author of the Life of Charlemagne, re- 
 markable for the beauty of his diction, the 
 perspicuity and elegance of his style, and a 
 variety of otlier literary accomplishments.]; 
 
 Claudius, bishop of Turin, whose e.\position 
 of several books of Scripture, § as also his Chro- 
 nology, gained him an eminent and lasting 
 reputation. II 
 
 Freculph, bishop of Lisieux, whose Chroni- 
 cle, which is no more tiian a heavy compilation, 
 is yet extant. 
 
 Servatus Lupus, of whose composition we 
 have several epistles and treatises: and who, 
 though a copious and subtile writer, is yet de- 
 fective in point of elegance and erudition. 11 
 
 Drepanius Florus, who left behind him seve- 
 ral poems, an exposition of certain books of 
 Scriptine, and other performances less worthy 
 of attention.** 
 
 Christian Druthmar, the author of a Com- 
 mentary upon St. Matthew's Gospel. If 
 
 Godeschalc, a monkof Orbais, who rendered 
 his name immortal by the controversy which 
 he commenced concerning predestination and 
 free grace. 
 
 Paschasius Radbert,iJ a name famous in the 
 contests concerning the real presence of Clirist's 
 body in tlie eucharist; and w^ho, to pass in si- 
 lence his other writings, composed a book upon 
 
 tom. v. p. 151; as also the Acta Saoctor. torn. i. Febr. p. 
 500. 
 
 * See Colonia, Hist. Liter, de la ville de Lyon, tom. ii. 
 p. 93. — General Dictionary, at the article Agobard — Hist. 
 Lit. de la France, tom. iv. p. 567. [Agobard opposed 
 with great zeal both the worship and the use of images, 
 in his famous book, de Picturis et Imagiuibus, a work 
 which has greatly embarrassed the doctors of the Romish 
 church.] 
 
 t Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. iv. p. 607, 
 
 { Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. iv. p. 550. See also the 
 Life of Charlemagne, the best editioji of which is that 
 published by Schminkius, at Utreclit, in 1711. 
 
 d^^ § This prelate, who was famous for h;s knowledge 
 of the holy Scriptures, composed HI books of commenta- 
 ries upon Genesis, 4 upon Exodus, and several upon Le- 
 viticus. He wrote also a commentary upon the Gospel of 
 St. Matthew, in which there are many excellent things, 
 and an exposition of all the Epistles of St. Paul. His com- 
 mentary on the Epistle to the Galatiaus is printed, but all 
 the rest arc in manuscript. 
 
 Il See Simon, Critique de la Biblioth. Eccles. de M. Du- 
 Pin, tom. 1. p. 284. 
 
 5r Histoire Lit. de la France, tom. v. p. 255. 
 
 ** Colonia, Histoire Liter, de Lyon, tom. ii, p. 135, — 
 Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. v. p. 213. 
 
 tt Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. v. p. 84. 
 
 jj For an account of Radbert, see the work last quoted, 
 tom, V. p. 267. 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 219 
 
 this very subject, which furnished abundant 
 matter of dispute throughout this century. 
 
 Bertram, or Ratram, a monk of Corby, who 
 deserves the first rank among the writers that 
 refuted the doctrine of Radbert; and wliose 
 book concerning the sacrament of the Lord's 
 supper, composed by the order of Charles the 
 Bald, gave occasion to many contests among 
 learned divines.* 
 
 Haymo, bishop of Ilalberstadt, the laborious 
 author of several treatises upon various sub- 
 jects, and who is more to be esteemed for his 
 industry and diligence, than for his genius and 
 learning.! 
 
 Walafridus Strabo, who acquired no mean 
 reputation by his Poems, his Lives of the 
 Saints, and his e-xplications of many of the 
 more difficult passages of Scripture. J 
 
 Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, a man of 
 an imperious and turbulent spirit, but who de- 
 serves a distinguislied place among the Latin 
 writers of this century, since his works discover 
 an aspiring genius, and an ardent zeal in the 
 pursuit of truth, and tend, in a singular man- 
 ner, to throw light, both upon the civil and 
 ecclesiastical history of the age in which he 
 lived. § 
 
 Johannes Scotus Erigena, the friend and 
 companion of Charles the Bald, an eminent 
 philosopher, and a learned divine, whose eru- 
 dition was accompanied with uncommon marks 
 of sagacity and genius, and whose various per- 
 formances, as well as his translations from the 
 Greek, gained him a shining and lasting repu- 
 tation. || 
 
 It is sufficient barely to name Remigius 
 Bertharius, Ado, Aimoin, Heric, Regino, abbot 
 of Prum, and others, of whom the most common 
 writers of ecclesyastical history give ample ac- 
 counts. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Concei-ning the doctrine of the Chnstian Church 
 during this Century. 
 I. The zeal of Charlemagne for the interests 
 of Christianity, and his liberality to the learned, 
 encouraged many to apply themselves dili- 
 gently to the study of the Scriptures, and to the 
 pursuit of religious truth: and, as long as this 
 eminent set of divines remained, the western 
 provinces were happily preserved from many 
 errors, and from a variety of superstitious prac- 
 tices. Tims we find among the writers of this 
 age several men of eminent talents, whose pro- 
 ductions show that the lustre of true erudition 
 and theology was not yet totally eclipsed. But 
 these illustrious luminaries of tlic cliurcii dis- 
 appeared one after another; and barbarism and 
 ignorance, encouraged by their departure, re- 
 
 * We shall have occasion to speak more particularly of 
 Bertram, and his book, in the I'ullowing chapter. 
 
 t It is proper to observe, that a great part of the writings 
 that are attributed to Haymo, bishopof HalberstadI, were 
 composed by Remi, or Remigius, of Auxerre. Sec Casi- 
 mir Oudinus, Comment, dc Soriptor. Kccles. tom. ii. p. 
 330.— Hisloire Literaire dc la F'rance, tom. v. p. Ill, 
 tom. vi. p. 106. — Le Boeuf, Recucil de Diss, sur I'Histoire 
 de la France, tom. i. p. 278. 
 
 \ See the Histoire de la France, tom. v. p. 644. 
 
 ^ The same work, tom. v. p. 416. 
 
 II See Herm. Couringius, Antiq. Academics, p. 309, 
 and the Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. T. p. 416. 
 
 sumed their ancient seats, and brought, in their 
 train, a prodigious multitude of devout follies, 
 odious superstitions, and abominable errors. 
 Nor did any encourage and propagate with 
 more zeal and ardour these superstitious inno- 
 vations, than the sacerdotal orders, the spiritual 
 guides of a deluded people; and if we inquire 
 how it came to pass, tliat the clergy were so 
 zealous in sucii an inglorious cause, we shall 
 find tiiat this zeal was, in some, the effect of 
 ignorance, and, in others, the fruit of avarice 
 and ambition, since much was to be gained, 
 both ill point of authority and opulence, from 
 the progress of superstition. Among tiie Greeks 
 and Orientals, Christianity was almost in the 
 same declining and deplorable state, though 
 there arose, from time to tiine, in the eastern 
 provinces, men of superior abilities, who en- 
 deavoured to support the cause of true religion, 
 and to raise it from the pressures under which 
 it laboured. 
 
 II. The causes of this unhappy revolution, 
 that covered the Christian church with super- 
 stition and darkness, will appear evident to such 
 as are at all acquainted with the history of 
 these times. The Oriental doctors, miserably 
 divided among themselves, and involved in the 
 bitterest contentions and quarrels with the 
 western churches, lost all notion of the true 
 spirit and genius of Christianity, and, corrupted 
 and biased by the prejudices and passions that 
 are generally excited and nourished by ill-ma- 
 naged controversy, became incapable of pro- 
 moting the true and essential interests of reli- 
 gion. Intent also upon defending the excellence 
 and divine authority of their doctrine, and dis- 
 cipline against the Latin doctors, and in main- 
 taining among themselves the worship of 
 images, which began to be warmly opposed, 
 they advanced, in the course of these disputes, 
 many things that were highly erroneous; and, 
 as one error follows another, their number in- 
 creased from day to day. The savage and un- 
 natural lives of the monks and hermits, whoso 
 number was prodigious, and whose authority 
 was considerable, — who haunted the woods and 
 deserts, the gloomy scenes of their extravagant 
 devotion, — contributed much, amonor otiier 
 causes, to the decay of solid and rational piety. 
 Add, to all this, the irruptions of the barbarous 
 nations into the west, the atrocious exploits of 
 usurping princes, the drooping and neglected 
 condition of the various branches of learninir 
 the ambitious phrensy of the Roman pontiffs, 
 (who were incessantly gaping after new acces- 
 sions of authority and dominion,) the frauds 
 and tricks of the monastic orders carried on 
 under the specious mask of religion; and then 
 we sliall .see the true causes tfiat founded the 
 empire of superstition and error, upon the ruin 
 of virtue, piety, and reason. 
 
 III. The ignorance and corruption that dis- 
 honoured the Christian church, in this century, 
 were great beyond measure; and if there were 
 no other e.xamples of their enormity upon re- 
 cord, than the single instance of the stupid 
 veneration that was paid to the bones and car- 
 casses of departed saints, this would be sufficient 
 to convince us of the deplorable progress of 
 superstition. Tliis idolatrous devotion was now 
 considered as the most sacred and momentous 
 
220 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 branch of religion; nor did any dare to entertain 
 the smallest hopes of finding the Deity propi- 
 tious, before they had assured themselves of tlie 
 protection and intercession of some one or other 
 of the saintly order. Hence it was that every 
 church, and indeed every private Christian, had 
 their particular patron among the saints, from 
 an apprehension that tlieir spiritual interests 
 would be but inditferently managed by those, 
 who were already employed about tlie souls of 
 others; for they judged, in this respect, of the 
 saints as they did of mortals, whose capacity is 
 too limited to comprehend a vast variety of 
 objects. This notion rendered it necessary to 
 multiply prodigiously the number of the saints, 
 and to create daily new patrons for the deluded 
 people; and this was done with the utmost zeal. 
 The priests and monks set their invention at 
 work, and peopled, at discretion, the invisible 
 world with imaginary protectors. They dis- 
 pelled the thick darkness which covered the 
 pretended spiritual exploits of many holy men; 
 and invented both names and histories of saints* 
 that never existed, that they might not be at a 
 loss to furnish the credulous and wretched mul- 
 titude with objects proper to perpetuate their 
 superstition, and to nourish their confidence. 
 Many chose their own guides, and committed 
 their spiritual interests either to phantoms of 
 their own creation, or to distracted fanatics, 
 whom they esteemed as saints, for no other rea- 
 son than tlieir having lived like madmen. 
 
 IV. The ecclesiastical councils found it ne- 
 cessary, at length, to set limits to the licentious 
 superstition of those ignorant wretches, who, 
 with a view to have still more friends at court, 
 (for such were their gross notions of things,) 
 were daily adding new saints to the list of their 
 celestial mediators. They, accordingly, de- 
 clared by a solemn decree, that no departed 
 Christian should be considered as a member of 
 the saintly order before the bishop, in a provin- 
 cial council, and in the presence of the people, 
 had pronounced him vv^ortliy of that distin- 
 guished honour. f This remedy, feeble and 
 illusory as it was, contributed, in some mea- 
 sure, to restrain the fanatical temerity of the 
 saint-makers: but, in its consequences, it was 
 the occasion of a new accession of power to the 
 Roman pontiff. Even so early as this century, 
 many were of opinion, that it was proper and 
 expedient, thougli not absolutely necessary, 
 that the decisions of bishops and councils should 
 be confirmed by the consent and authority of 
 the pope, whom they considered as the supreme 
 and universal bishop; and this will not appear 
 surprising to any who reflect upon the enormous 
 strides which the bishops of Rome made toward 
 unbounded dominion in this barbarous and su- 
 perstitious age, whose corruption and darkness 
 were peculiarly favourable to their ambitious 
 pretensions. It is true, we have no example 
 of any person solemnly sainted by the bishop 
 of Rome alone, before the tenth century, J when 
 
 [* See Dr. Middleton's Letter from Rome, in which we 
 find the names of St. Baccho, St. Viar. St. Amphibolus, 
 Euodia, &.O.] 
 
 j Mabillon, Act. Sanctor. Ord. Benedict!, Saec. v. Pra;f 
 p. 44. — Launoy, dc Lazari, IWagdalena!, et Martha? in 
 rrovinciam Apjuilsn, cap. i. sect. xii. — Franc. Pagi Bre- 
 viarum Pontif Rom^nor. torn. ii. p. ?i)9, torn, iii, p. 30. 
 
 \ See Dan. Fapebruchiiis, de wleuniuni Cauouizationum 
 
 Udalric, bishop of Augsburg, received this dig- 
 nity in a formal manner from John XV. It is, 
 however, certain, that before that time the 
 pontiffs were consulted in matters of that na- 
 ture, and their judgment respected in the choice 
 of those who were to be honoured with saint- 
 ship;* and it was by such steps as these, that 
 the church of Rome engrossed to itself the crea- 
 tion of these tutelary divinities, which at length 
 was distinguished by the title o{ canonization. 
 
 V. This preposterous multiplication of saints 
 was a new source of abuses and frauds. It was 
 thouglit necessary to write the lives of these 
 celestial patrons, in order to procure for them 
 the veneration and confidence of a deluded 
 multitude; and here lying wonders were in- 
 vented, and all the resources of forgery and fa- 
 ble exhausted, to celebrate exploits which had 
 never been performed, and to perpetuate the 
 memory of holy persons who had never exist- 
 ed. We have yet extant a prodigious quanti- 
 ty of tiiese trifling legends, the greatest part 
 of which were, luidoubtedly, forged after the 
 time of Charlemagne, by the monastic writers, 
 who had both the inclination and leisure to 
 edify the church by these pious frauds. The 
 same impostors, who peopled the celestial re- 
 gions witli fictitious saints, employed also their 
 fruitful inventions in embellishing, with false 
 miracles and various other impertinent forge- 
 ries, the histories of those who had been really 
 martyrs or confessors in the cause of Christj 
 tliese fictions, however, did not pass without 
 animadversion, but were severely censured by 
 some of the most eminent writers of the times. | 
 Various were the motives that engaged differ- 
 ent persons to propagate these impositions, and 
 countenance their authors. Some were incited 
 to this by the seductions of a false devotion, 
 which reigned in this perverse and ignorant 
 age, and made them imagine, that departed 
 saints were highly delighted with the applause 
 and veneration of mortals, and never failed to 
 crown, with peculiar marks of their favour and 
 protection, such as were zealous in honouring 
 their memories, and in celebrating their ex- 
 ploits. The prospect of gain, and the ambi- 
 tious desire of being reverenced by the multi- 
 tude, engaged otliers to multiply the number, 
 and to maintain the credit of the legends, or 
 saintly registers. The churches, that were de- 
 dicated to the saints, were perpetually crowded 
 
 Initiis et Progress, in Propylseo Actor, SS. mens. Mail, 
 p. 171; and the other authors who have written upon this 
 subject, of which there is an ample list in the Bibliogra- 
 phia Autiqiiar. of Fabricius, cap. vii. sect. 25. 
 
 * See the candid and impartial account that is given of 
 this matter by the late pope Benedict XIV. in his labo- 
 rious work, de Servorum Dei Beatilicatione et Beatorum 
 Canonizatione, lib. i. cap. 7. p. 50, torn. i. op. It is to be 
 wished, that historians of the church of Rome would leara 
 to imitate the prudence, moderation, and equity of that 
 illustrious pontiff. 
 
 t See Servatus Lupus' Vita Maximini, p. 275, and the 
 candid and learned observations upon this subject that are 
 to be found in various places of the works of the cele- 
 brated Launoy: e. g. in his Dispunctio Epistolse Petri de 
 Marca, de Tempore quo in Gallia Christi Fides recepta, 
 cap. xiv. p. 110, in hisDiasertationesdeprimis Christians 
 Rclig. in Gallia Initiis, diss. ii. 142, 144, 145, 147, 168, 
 169, 181. — De Lazari, Magdal. et Marthse, in Galliam 
 Appulsu, p. 340. — De duobus Dionysiis, p. 527, 529, 530, 
 torn. ii. part i, op. — See also Martenne, Thesaurus Anec- 
 dotor. torn. i. p. 151. — Histoire Lit. de la France, torn. iv. 
 p.. 273. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 with supplicants, who llocked to them with 
 ricli presents, in order to obtain succour under 
 the alHictions tliey suli'ered, or deHverance Irom 
 tlie dangers wliicli they had reason to appre- 
 hend; and it was regarded also as a very great 
 honour to be the more immediate ministers of 
 these mediators, vvlio, as it is likewise i)roper 
 to observe, were esteemed and }Ve(iiienled in 
 proportion to their anticjuity, and to tae num- 
 ber and importance ot' the pretended miracles 
 tliat iiad rendered their lives illustrious. The 
 latter circumstance ottered a strong temptatioji 
 to such as were employed by the various 
 churches in writing tlie lives ol' their tutelar 
 saints, to supply by invention the delects ot" 
 truth, and to embellish their legends with ticti- 
 tious prodigies; indeed, they were not only 
 tempted to this imposture, but were even obli- 
 ged to make use of it in order to swell the 
 tiirne of their respective patrons.* 
 
 Vl. But even all this was insufficient to sa- 
 tisty the demands of superstition, nourished by 
 the stratagems of a corrupt and designing 
 priesthood, and fomented by the zeal of tlie 
 more ignorant and stupid sons of tiie church. 
 It was not enough to reverence departed saints, 
 and to conride in their mtercession and suc- 
 cours; it was not enough to clothe tliem with 
 an imaginary power of liealing diseases, woik- 
 ing miracles, and delivering from all sorts of 
 calamities and dangers; their bones, their 
 clothes, tlie apparel and furniture they had pos- 
 sessed during their lives, tlie very ground wliich 
 they had touched, or in which their putritied 
 carcasses were laid, were treated with a stupid 
 veneration, and supposed to retain the power 
 of healing all disorders both of body and mind, | 
 and of detending such as possessed lliem against 
 all the assaults and devices of Satan. The con- 
 sequence of this absurd notion was, that every 
 one was eager to provide himself with these 
 salutary remedies; for which purpose great 
 numbers undertook fatiguing and perilous voy- 
 ages, and subjected themselves to all sorts of 
 hardships, while others made u.se of this delu- 
 sion to accumulate riches, and to impose upon 
 the miserable multitude by the most imj)ious 
 and shocking inventions. As the demand for 
 relics was prodigious and universal, the clergy 
 employed all their dexterity to satisly these de- 
 mands, and were far from being scrupulous in 
 the methods they used for that end. The bod- 
 ies of the saints were sought by fasting and 
 prayer, instituted by the priest in order to ob- 
 tain a divine answer and an infallible direction, 
 and this pretended direction never failed to ac- 
 complish their desires; the holy body was al- 
 ways found, in consequence, as they impiously 
 gave out, of the suggestion and inspiration of 
 God himself. Each discovery of this kind was 
 attended with e.xcessive demonstrations of joy, 
 and animated the zeal of these devout seekers 
 to enrich the church still more and more with 
 this new kind of treasure. Many travelled 
 with this view into the eastern provinces, and 
 frequented the places which Christ and his dis- 
 cipleg had honoured with their presence, that, 
 
 * Of a)l the lives of the saints written in this century, 
 those which were drawn up by the monks of (ircat Bri- 
 tain, and of Bretagne in Fiance, seem tube the mcisl liable 
 to suspicion. Mabillun, Praef. ad Sasc. i. Beuedictio. 
 
 _^____ ^ 
 
 with the bones and other secret remains of the 
 first heralds of the Gospel, they might comfort 
 dejected minds, calm trembling consciences, 
 save sinking states, and defend their inhabit- 
 ants from all sorts of calamities. Nor did these 
 pious pilgrims return home with empty hands; 
 for the craft, dexterity, and knavery of the 
 Greeks found a rich prey in the stupid creduli- 
 ty of the Latin relic-hunters, and made profit- 
 able commerce of this new devotion. The lat- 
 ter paid considerable sums for legs and arms, 
 sculls and jaw-bones (several of which were 
 pagan, and some not human,) and other things 
 tliat were supposed to have belonged to the 
 primitive worthies of the Christian church; and 
 thus the Latin cliurches came to the posses- 
 sion of those celebrated relics of St. Mark, St. 
 James, St. Bartholomew, Cyprian, Pantaleon, 
 and others, which they show at this day with 
 so much ostentation. But there were many, 
 who, unable to procure for themselves these 
 spiritual treasures by voyages and prayer, had 
 recourse to violence and theft; for all sorts of 
 means, and all sorts of attempts in a cause of 
 this nature, were considered, when successful, 
 as pious and acceptable to the Supreme Beinc.* 
 VI [. The study of the Scriptures languish- 
 ed much among the Greeks in this century. 
 Photius, who composed a book of Questions,! 
 relating to various passages of Scripture, an 
 exposition of the Epistles of St. Paul, and other 
 productions of the same nature|, was one of 
 the few who employed their talents in the illus- 
 tration of the sacred writings. He was a man 
 of great sagacity and gen.ius, who preferred the 
 dictates of reason to tiie decisions of authority; 
 notwithstanding all which, he cannot be recom- 
 mended as a model to other commentators. — 
 The other Greek writers, who attempted to 
 explain the Scriptures, did little more than 
 compile and accumulate various passages from 
 the commentators of the preceding ages; and 
 this method was the origin of those Catena, or 
 chains of commentaries, so much in voo-ue 
 among the Greeks during this century, of 
 which a considerable number have come down 
 to our times, and which consisted entirely in a 
 collection of the explications of Scripture that 
 were scattered up and down in the ancient au- 
 thors. The greatest part of tiie theological 
 writers, finding themselves incapable of more 
 arduous undertakings, confined their labours to 
 this compilatory practice, to the great detri- 
 ment of sacred criticism. 
 
 VIII. The Latin commentators were greatly 
 superior in number to those among the Greeks, 
 
 * See Muratori (Antiq. Ital. torn, v.,) who gives exam- 
 ples of the truth of this assertion. 
 
 OlJ- t This work, which is entitled Amphilochia, from 
 its having been addressed to Amphilochius, bishop of Cy- 
 zicum, consists of 308 questions, and answers to them; a 
 sixth part of which, at least, are (o be found in the Epis- 
 tles of Photius, published in 1651 by bishop Montague. 
 The greater part of these questions relate to different 
 texti of the Old and New Testament; but these are inter- 
 spersed with others of a philosophical and literary kind. 
 This work is still extant in manuscript in the Vatican, 
 Barberinian, and Bavarian libraries. 
 
 (tQf- \ Such as a catena (a chain) of commentaries on 
 Ihebookof Psalms, compiled from the writings of Athana- 
 sius, Basil, Chrysostom, &c., and a commentary upon the 
 Prophets, hoth of which are yet extant in manuscript, the 
 former in the Bibliotheca Segueriana or Coiiliuiana, and 
 the latter in the Vatican library. 
 
222 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 in consequence of the zeal and munificence of 
 Charlemagne, who, both by his liberality and 
 by his example, had excited and encouraged the 
 doctors of the preceding age to the study of 
 the Scriptures. Of these expositors there are 
 two, at least, who are worthy of esteem, — 
 Christian Drutlimar, whose Commentary on 
 St. Matthew has reached our times;* and the 
 abbot Bertharius, whose Two Books concern- 
 ing Fundamentals are also said to be yet ex- 
 tant. The rest seem to have been unequal to 
 the important office of sacred critics, and may 
 be divided into two classes, which we have 
 already had occasion to mention in tlie course 
 of this history; the class of those who merely 
 collected and reduced into a mass the opinions 
 and explications of the ancients, and that of a 
 fantastic set of expositors, who were always 
 limiting after mysteries in the plainest expres- 
 sions, and labouring to deduce a variety of ab- 
 struse and hidden significations from every pas- 
 sage of Scripture, all which they did, for the 
 most part, in a very clumsy and uncouth man- 
 ner. At the head of the first class was Raba- 
 nus Maurus, who acknowledges tliat he bor- 
 rowed from the ancient doctors tlie materials 
 of which he made use in illustrating the Gos- 
 pel of St. Matthew and the Epistles of St. 
 Paul. To this class also belonged Walafrid 
 Strabo, who borrowed his explications chiefly 
 from Rabanus; Claudius of Turin, who trod 
 in the footsteps of Augustin and Origen; Hinc- 
 mar, whose Exposition of the four Books of 
 Kings, compiled from the fathers, we still pos- 
 sess; Remigius of Auxerre, who derived from 
 the same source his illustrations of the Psalms 
 and other books of sacred writ; Sedulius, who 
 explained in the same manner the Epistles of 
 St. Paul; Floras, Haymo bishop of Halber- 
 stadt, and others, whom for the sake of bre- 
 vity, we pass in silence. 
 
 IX. Rabanus Maurus, whom we introduced 
 above at the head of the compilers from the 
 fathers, deserves also an eminent place among 
 the allegorical commentators, on account of 
 his difi^'use and tedious work, entitled Scripture 
 Allegories. To this class also belong Smarag- 
 dus, Haymo, Scotus, Paschasius llaribert, and 
 many others, whom it is not necessary to par- 
 ticularize. The fundamental and general prin- 
 ciple, in which all the writers of this class 
 agree, is, tliat, beside tlie literal signification 
 of each passage in Scripture, there are hidden 
 and deep senses wliich escape the vulgar eye; 
 but they are not agreed about the number of I 
 these mysterious significations. Some attri- 
 bute to every phrase three senses, others four, 
 and some five; and the number is carried to 
 seven by Angelome, a monk of Lisieux, an 
 acute, though fantastic writer, whc is far from 
 deserving the meanest rank among the exposi- 
 tors of this century. t 
 
 * See R. Simon, Histoire critiijue des principaux Com- 
 mentateurs du Nouv. Teslamont. cli«p. x\v. p. 348; as 
 also his Critique de la Bibliothcijue Kcclesiastique de M. 
 Du-Pin, torn. i. p. 293. 
 
 f See tlie preface to his Commentary on the Book of 
 Kings, in the Bibliotheca Patrum Maxima, torn. xv. p. 
 308. The commentary of Angelone upon tlie book of 
 Genesis was published by Bernard Pezius, in his Thesau- 
 rus Anecdotorum, tom. i. part i.; but, indeed, the loss 
 would not have been great, if it had never seen the light. 
 
 X. The teachers of theology were still more 
 contemptible than the commentators; and the 
 Greeks, as well as the Latins, were extremely 
 negligent both in unfolding the nature, and 
 proving tlie truth of the doctrines of Christian- 
 ity. Their method of inculcating divine truth 
 was dry and unsatisfactory, and more adapted 
 to fill the memory with sentences, than to en- 
 lighten the understanding, or to improve the 
 judgment. The Greeks, for the most part, fol- 
 lowed implicitly Damascenus, while the Latins 
 submitted their hoodwinked intellects to the au- 
 thority of Augustine. Authority became the 
 test of truth, and supplied in arrogance what it 
 wanted in argument. That magisterial deci- 
 sions were employed in the place of reason, ap- 
 pears manifestly from the Colkdaneum de trir 
 bus Q^iutstionibus of Servatus Lupus; and also 
 from a treatise of Remigius, concerning the 
 necessity of holding fast the truths of the Gos- 
 pel, and of maintaining inviolable the sacred 
 authority of the holy and orthodox fathers. — 
 If any deigned to appeal to the authority of 
 the Scriptures in defence of their systems, they 
 either explained them in an allegorical man- 
 ner, or understood them in the sense that had 
 been given to them by the decrees of councils, 
 or in the writings of the fathers; from which 
 senses they thought it both unlawful and impi- 
 ous to depart. The Irish doctors alone, and 
 particularly Johannes Scotus, had the courage 
 to spurn the ignominious fetters of authority, 
 and to explain the sublime doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity in a manner conformable to the dictates 
 of reason, and the principles of true philoso- 
 phy. But this noble attempt drew upon them 
 the malignant fury of a superstitious age, and 
 exposed them to the hatred of the Latin theo- 
 logians, who would not permit either reason 
 or philosophy to interfere in religious matters.* 
 
 XI. The important science of morals suffer- 
 ed, like all others, in the hands of iafnorant 
 and unskilful writers. The labours of some 
 were wholly emploj'ed in collecting from the 
 fathers an indigested heap of maxims and sen- 
 tences concerning religious and moral duties; 
 and such, among others, was the work of Al- 
 varus, intitled ScintUlce. Patrum. Others wrote 
 of virtue and vice, in a more systematic man- 
 ner; such as Halitgarius, Rabanus Maurus, and 
 Jonas,, bishop of Orleans; but the representa- 
 tions they gave of one and the other were very 
 different from those which we find in the Gos- 
 pel. Some deviated into that most absurd and 
 delusive method of instructing the ignorant in 
 the will of God by a fantastic combination of 
 figures and allegories; and several of the Greeks ^1 
 began to turn their studies towards the solution ^| 
 of Cases of conscience,! in order to remove the •" 
 difficulties that arose in scrupulous and timorous 
 minds. We pass in silence the writers of ho- 
 milies and books of penance, of which a consi- 
 derable number appeared in this century. 
 
 XII. The doctrine of the mystics, whose ori- 
 gin is falsely attributed to Dionysius the Are- 
 
 * For an account of the persecution and hatred thai 
 Johannes Scotus suffered in the cause of reason and liberty, 
 see Du Boulay, Hist. Aeadem. Paris, tom. i. p. 182; as 
 also Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened. saec. v. p. 392. 
 
 t Sfe Nicfiihori Chartophylac. Epistolae Duas, in th» 
 Bibliotheca Magna Patrum, tom. iii. p. 413. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 223 
 
 opagagite, and whose precepts were designed 
 to elevate the soul above all sensible and ter- 
 restrial objects, and to unite it to the Deity 
 in an inetfable manner, had been now for a 
 long time in vogue among the Greeks, and 
 more especially among the monastic orders; 
 and to augment the credit of this fimatical 
 sect, and multiply its followers, Michael Syn- 
 cellus and Methodius composed the most pom- 
 pous and eloquent panegyrics upon the memo- 
 ry of Dionysius, in which his virtues were ce- 
 lebrated \Vith the utmost exaggeration. The 
 Latins were not yet bewitched with the spe- 
 cious appearance, and the illusory charms of 
 the mystic devotion, whicli was equally adapt- 
 ed to affect persons of a lively fmcy and those 
 of a more gloomy turn of mind. They lived 
 in a happy ignorance of this contagious doc- 
 trine, when the Grecian emperor Michael Bal- 
 bus sent to Louis the Debonnaire, in 824, a co- 
 py of the pretended works '^ of Dionysius the 
 Areopagite, wliich fatal present immediately 
 kindled the holy flame of mysticism in the 
 western provinces, and filled the Latins with 
 the most enthusiastic admiration of this new 
 religion. The translation of these spurious 
 works into Latin by the express order of the 
 emperor,t who could not be easy while his sub- 
 jects were deprived of such a valuable trcasiu-e, 
 contributed much to tlie progress of mysticism. 
 By the order of the same emperor,Hilduin, abbot 
 of St. Denys, composed an accoimt of the life, 
 actions, and writings of Dionysius, midcr the 
 title of Aereopagitica, in which work, among 
 other impudent fictions, usual in those times 
 of superstition and imposture, he maintained, 
 m order to exalt the honour of his nation, that 
 Dionysius the Areopagite, and Dionysius the 
 bishop of Paris, were one and the same per- 
 son.J This fable, which was invented with 
 unparalleled assurance, was received with tlie 
 most perfect and unthinking credulity, and 
 
 * Usserii Sylloj;(; Ep. Hibernicar. p. 54, 55. iU" The 
 spuriousiiess of these works is now admitted by the 
 most learned and impartial of the Koman Catholic 
 writers, as tliey contain accounts of many events 
 that happened several aces after the time of Diony- 
 sius, and were not at all mentioned until after the 
 fifth century. See Floury, Hist. Eccles. liv. 54. tom. 
 xi. p. 5-iH. eilit. Bruxelles. 
 
 t That these books were translated by the order 
 of Louis, a|ipv:irH manifestly from the Epistle to that 
 emperor, which llildiiin prefixed to his Areopagitica, 
 and in which we find the following passage: " de no- 
 titia librorum, quos (Dionysius) patrio sermone coii- 
 scripsit, et puibus petentibus illos composuit, lectio 
 nobis per Dei gratiam et Vestram ordinationem, cii- 
 jus dispenaatione interpretatos, scrinia nostra eos 
 petentibus reserat, satisfacit." From this passage, 
 it is evident that they are in an error, who affirm 
 that the Latin translation of the works of Diony- 
 sius was not executed before the time of Charles the 
 Bald. And they err also, who, with Mabillon, (An- 
 nal. Benedict, tom. ii. lib. xxix. sect. 5U. p. 488,) and 
 the authors of the Hist. Lit. de la France (tom. v. p. 
 425.) inform us, that Michael Balbus sent these 
 works already translated into Latin to tlw! emperor 
 Louis. It is amazing how men of learning roiild 
 fall into the latter error, after niading the followini.' 
 passage in the Epistle above quoted: " Aut'ienticos 
 " namque eosdem (Dionysii) librosGrajca lingua con- 
 " scriptos, cum tBconomus ecclesite Constantinopoli- 
 " tanse et ceteri missi Michaelis legatione — funrti 
 " sunt — pro munere magno suscepimus." 
 
 t Launoy, Diss, de Discrimine Dionysii Areopag. 
 et Parisiensis, cap. iv. p. 38. torn. ii. p. i. op.; as also 
 the writings of tlii? great man concerning boih those 
 divines. 
 
 made such a deep and permanent impression 
 upon the minds of the French, that the repeat- 
 ed demonstrations of its falsehood have not yet 
 been suflicient entirely to ruin its credit. As 
 the first translation of the works of Dionysius 
 that had been executed by order of Louis, 
 was probably in a barbarous and obscure style, 
 a new and more elegant one was given by the 
 famous Johannes Scotus Erigena, at the re- 
 quest of Charles the Bald, the publication of 
 which increased considerably the partisans of 
 the mystic theology among the French, Ital- 
 ians, and Germans. Scotus himself was so 
 enchanted with this new doctrine, that he in- 
 corporated it into his philosophical system, and 
 upon all occasions cither accommodated his 
 philosophy to it, or explained it according to 
 the principles of his philosophy. 
 
 XIII. The defence of Christianity, against 
 the Jews and Pagans, was greatly neglected 
 in this century, in which the intestine disputes 
 and dissensions that divided the church, gave 
 sufficient employment to such as had an incli- 
 nation to controversy, or a talent of managing 
 it with dexterity and knowledge. Agobard, 
 however, as also Anmlo and Rabanus Maurus, 
 chastised the insolence and malignity of the 
 Jews, and exposed their various absurdities and 
 errors, while the emperor Leo, Theodorus Abu- 
 cara, and other writers, whose performances 
 are lost, employed their polemic labors against 
 the progress of the Saracens, and refuted their 
 impious and extravagant system. But it may 
 be observed in general of those who wrote 
 against the Saracens, that they reported many 
 things, both concerning Mohammed and his 
 religion, wliich were far from being true; and 
 if, as there is too much reason to imagine, they 
 did this designedly, knowing the falsehood, or 
 at least the uncertainty of their allegations 
 against these infidels, we must look upon their 
 writings rather as intended to deter the Cluis- 
 tians from apostasy, than to give a rational re- 
 futation of the Saracen doctrine. 
 
 XIV. The contests of the Christians among 
 themselves were carried on with greater eager- 
 ness and animosity than the disputes in which 
 they were engaged with the common enemies 
 of their faith; and these contests were daily 
 productive of new calamities and disorders, 
 which dishonoured their profession, and threw 
 a heavy, though undeserved reproach upon the 
 cause of true religion. After the banishment 
 of Irene, the controversy, concerning Images 
 broke out anew among the Greeks, and was 
 carried on by the contending parties, during 
 the half of this century, with various and im- 
 certain success. The emperor Nicephorus, 
 though he did not abrogate the decrees of the 
 council of Nice, or order the images to be tak- 
 en out of the churches, deprived the patrons 
 of image-worship of all power to molest or in- 
 jure their adversaries, and seems upon the 
 whole to have been an enemy to that idola- 
 trous service. But his successor Michael Cu- 
 ropalates, surnamed Rhangebe, acted in a very 
 different manner. Feeble and timorous, and 
 dreading the rage of the priests and monks 
 who maintained the cause of images, he fa- 
 voured that cause during his short reign, and 
 persecuted its adversaries with the greatest bit- 
 
224 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 terness and cruelty. The scene changed again, 
 upon the accession of Leo the Armenian to 
 the empire, wlio abolished the decrees of the 
 Nicene council relating to the use and wor- 
 ship of images, in a council assembled at Con- 
 stantinople, in 814;* without however enacting 
 any penal laws against their idolatrous wor- 
 shippers. This moderation, far from satisfy- 
 ing the patriarch Nicephorus, and the other 
 partisans of image-worship, only served to en- 
 courage their obstinacy, and to increase their 
 insolence; upon which the emperor removed 
 the haughty prelate from his office, and chas- 
 tised the fury of several of his adherents with 
 a deserved punishment. His successor Mi- 
 chael, surnamed Balbus, or the Stammerer, 
 was obliged to observe the same conduct, and 
 to depart from the clemency and indulgence 
 which, in the beginning of his reign, he had 
 discovered toward the worshippers of images, 
 whose idolatry, however, he was far from ap- 
 proving. The monks more especially pro- 
 voked his indignation by their fanatical rage, 
 and forced him to treat them with particular 
 severity. But tlie zeal of his son and succes- 
 sor Theophilus, in discouraging this new ido- 
 latry, was still more vehement; for he opposed 
 the adorers of images with great violence, and 
 went so far as to put to death some of the more 
 obstinate ringleaders of that impetuous faction. 
 XV. On tlie death of Theophilus, which 
 happened in 84"2, the regency was entrusted to 
 the empress Theodora during her son's mino- 
 rity. Tliis superstitious princess, fatigued witJi 
 the importunate solicitations of tlie monks, 
 deluded by tiieir forged miracles, and not a lit- 
 tle influenced also by their insolent threats, 
 assembled, in the year above-mentioned, a 
 council at Constantinople, in which the de- 
 crees of the second Nicene council were rein- 
 stated in their lost authority, and the Greelis 
 were indulged in their corrupt propensity to 
 image-worsiiip by a law which encouraged 
 that wretched idolatry;| so that, after a con- 
 troversy, which had been carried on dm'ing 
 the space of a hundred and ten years, the 
 cause of idolatry triumphed over the dictates 
 of reason and Christianity; the whole east, the 
 Armenians excepted, bowed down before the 
 victorious images; nor did any of the succeed- 
 ing emperors attempt to cure the Greeks of 
 this superstitious phrensy, or restram them in 
 the performance of this puerile worship. The 
 council that was holden at Constantinople un- 
 der Photius, in 879, and which is reckoned by 
 the Greeks the eighth general council, gave a 
 farther degree of force and vigor to idolatry, 
 by maintaining the sanctity of images, and 
 approving, confirming, and renewing the Ni- 
 cene decrees. The superstitious Greeks, who 
 were blind-led by the monks in the most igno- 
 minious manner, esteemed this coimcil as a 
 most signal blessing derived to them from the 
 immediate interposition of Heaven, and ac- 
 cordingly instituted, in commemoration there- 
 
 tr^ * Fleury and some other visiters place the 
 meeting of this council in 815. 
 
 t See Fred. Spanheim, Historia Imaginum, sect. 
 viii. p. 845, torn. ii. op.— L'Enfant, Preservatif con- 
 tre la Reunion avec le Siege de Rome, torn iii. lett. 
 xiv. p. 147 ; lett. xviii. xix. p. 509. 
 
 of, an anniversary festival, which was called 
 the Feast of Orthodoxy.* 
 
 XVI. The triumph of images, notwithstand- 
 ing the zealous efforts of the Roman pontiffs 
 in their favour, was obtained with much more 
 difficulty among the Latins, than it had been 
 among the Greeks; for the former yet main- 
 tained the inalienal)le privilege of judging for 
 themselves in religious matters, and were far 
 from being disposed to submit tiieir reason im- 
 plicitly to the decisions of the pontiff, or to 
 regard any thing as infallible and true, which 
 had autliority for its only foundation. The 
 greater part of the European Cliristians, as we 
 have seen already, steered a middle course 
 between the idolaters and the Iconoclasts, be- 
 tween those who were zealous for tlie worship 
 of images on tlie one hand, and those who 
 were averse to all use of them on the other. 
 They were of opinion, that images might be 
 suffered as the means of aiding the memory of 
 tiie faitliful, and of calling to their remem- 
 brance the pious exploits and the virtuous ac- 
 tions of the persons they represented; but they 
 detested all thoughts of paying them the least 
 marks of religious homage or adoration. Mi- 
 chael Balbus, when he sent, in 824, a solemn 
 embassy to Louis the Debonnaire, to renew 
 and confirm the treaties of peace Jlnd friend- 
 ship which had been concluded between his 
 predecessors in the empire and Charlemagne, 
 charged liis ministers, in a particular maimer, 
 to bring over the king of the Franksf to the 
 party of the Iconoclasts, that they might gra- 
 dually suppress, by their united influence, the 
 worsiiip of images, and thus restore concord 
 and tranquillity to the church. Louis, on thiR 
 occasion, assembled a council at Paris, in 824,]: 
 in order to examine the proposal of the Grecian 
 emperor; in which it was resolved to adhere to 
 the decrees of the comicil of Frankfort, which 
 allowed the use of images in the churches, bat 
 severely prohibited tlie treating of them with 
 the smallest marks of religious tcorship. But 
 in process of time the European Christians de- 
 parted gradually from the observance of this 
 injunction, and fell imperceptibly into a blind 
 submission to the decisions of the pope, whose 
 influence and authority daily became more 
 formidable; so that, toward the conclusion of 
 
 * See Gretser's Observat. in (>idjnuni de Otficiis 
 AulcE et Eccles. Constantinopolitans, lib. iii. cap. 
 viii.; as also the Ceremoniale Byzantinum, pub 
 lishod by Reisk, lib. i. c. ssviii. p. 92. 
 
 itj- 1 So Michael and his son Theophilus style Louis 
 in their letter to him, refusing hini the title of em- 
 peror, to which, however, he had an undoubted 
 right in consequence of the treaties which they now 
 desired to renew. 
 
 nJ' X Fleury, Le Sueur, and other historians, una- 
 nimously place this council in 825. It may be pro- 
 per to observe, that the proceedings of this council 
 evidently show, that the decisions of the Roman 
 pontitfwere by no means looked upon at this time 
 either as obligatory or infallible; for, when the let- 
 ter of pope Adrian, in favour of images, was read 
 in the council, it was almost unanimously rejected, 
 as containing absurd and erroneous opinions. The 
 decrees of the second council of Nice, relating to 
 image-worship, were also censured by the Gallican 
 bishops; and the authority of that council, though 
 received by several popes as an oecumenical one. 
 absolutely rejected; and what is remarkable is, that 
 the pope did not, on this account, declare the Galli- 
 can bisho(is heretics, or exclude them from the com- 
 munion of the apostolic see. See Fleury, liv. xlvii. 
 
Chap. IH. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 225 
 
 this century', tlie GaJlican clergy began to pay 
 a certain kind of religious homage to the 
 saintly images, in which their example was 
 followed by the Germans and other nations.* 
 
 XVII. Notwithstanding this apostasy, the 
 Iconoclasts were not destitute of adherents 
 among the Latins. Of these, the most eminent 
 was Claudius, bishop of Turin, by birth a Spa- 
 niard, and also a disciple of Felix, bishop of 
 Urgel. This zealous prelate, as soon as he 
 had obtained the episcopal dignity through the 
 favour of Louis the Debonnaire, began to ex- 
 ercise the duties of his function in 823, by 
 ordering all images, and even the cross, to be 
 cast out of the churches, and committed to the 
 flames. The year following he composed a 
 treatise, in which he not only defended these 
 veliement proceedings, and declared against 
 the use, as well as the worship, of images, but 
 also broached several other opinions, tliat were 
 quite contrary to the notions of the multitude, 
 and to the prejudices of the times. He denied, 
 among other things, in opposition to the 
 Greeks, that the cross was to be honoured with 
 any kind of worship; he treated relics with the 
 utmost contempt, els absolutely destitute of the 
 virtues that were attributed to them, and cen- 
 sured with great freedom and severity those 
 pilgrimages to the holy land, and those jour- 
 neys to tlie tombs of the saints, which, in this 
 century, were looked upon as extremely salu- 
 tary, and particularly meritorious. This noble 
 stand, in the defence of true religion, drew 
 upon Claudius a multitude of adversaries; the 
 sons of superstition rushed upon him from all 
 quarters; Theodemir, Dungallus, Jonas of Or- 
 leans, and Walafrid Strabo,t combined to 
 overwhelm him with their voluminous an- 
 s^vers. But the learned and venerable prelate 
 maintained his ground, | and supported his 
 cause with such dexterity and force, that it 
 remained triumphant, and gained new credit; 
 and hence it happened, that the city of Turin 
 and the adjacent country were, for a long 
 time after the death of Claudius, much less 
 infected with superstition than the other parts 
 of Europe. 
 
 XVIII. The controversy that had been car- 
 ried on in the preceding centmy concerning 
 the procession (if we may be allowed to use 
 that term) of the Holy Gliost from the Father 
 and the Son, and also concerning the words 
 Jilio-que, foisted by the Latins into the creed of 
 Constantinople, broke out now with redoubled 
 vehemence, and from a private dispute became 
 a flaming contest between the Greek and 
 Latin churches. The monks of Jerusalem 
 distinguished themselves in this controversy, 
 and complained particularly of the interpola- 
 tion of the words J'dio-que, i. e. and from the 
 
 * Mabillon, Aiinal. Bencflictin. torn. ii. p. -l.-f^, ct 
 Act. Sanctorum Ord. Bened. src. iv. — Lo Coiiite, 
 Annal. Ecclcs. Francor. torn. iv. ad Annum B'iA. 
 
 flj" t In order to do justice to tho adversaries of 
 Claudius here mentioned, it is necessary to observe, 
 that they only maintained the innocence and use- 
 fulness of images, without pretending to represent 
 th»!m as objects of religious worship. 
 
 I Mabillon, Annal. Benediclin. torn. ii. p. 488. — 
 Praef. ad saec. iv. Actor. 9S. Ord. Benedict, p. 8. — His- 
 toirfi Liter, de la France, torn. iv. p. 491, and tom. v. 
 p. 27, 54. — Baenage, Histoire des Eglises Reformees, 
 torn. i. 
 
 Vol. I.— 29 
 
 son, in the above mentioned symbol ; nor did 
 they stop here, but despatched to Charle- 
 magne, in 809, a certain ecclesiastic of their 
 order, whose name was John, to obtain satis- 
 faction in this matter.* The affair was de- 
 bated in due form, in a council assembled in 
 tliat year at Ai.x-la-Chapelle, and also at 
 Rome, in the presence of pope Leo III., to 
 whom the emperor had sent ambassadors for 
 that purpose. Leo adopted the doctrine which 
 represented the Holy Gliost as proceeding 
 from the Father and the Son, but he con- 
 demned the addition tliat had been made to 
 the symbol,! find declared it as his opinion, 
 that fdio-que, being evidently an interpolation, 
 ought to be omitted in reading the symbol, 
 and at length stricken out of it entirely, not 
 every where at once, but in such a prudent 
 maimer as to prevent disturbance. His suc- 
 cessors were of the same opinion ; the word, 
 however, being once admitted, not only kept 
 its place in opposition to the Roman pontiffs, 
 but was by degrees added to the symbol in all 
 the Latin churches. J 
 
 XIX. To these disputes of ancient origin 
 were added controversies entirely new, and 
 particularly that famous one concerning the 
 manner in which the body and blood of Christ 
 were present in the eucharist. It had been 
 hitherto the unanimous opinion of the church 
 that the body and blood of Christ were admin- 
 istered to those who received the sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper, and that they were conse- 
 quently present at that holy institution ; but 
 the sentiments of Christians concerning the 
 nature and manner of this presence were vari- 
 ous and contradictory, nor had any council 
 determined with precision that important 
 point, or prescribed tlie manner in which this 
 pretended presence was to be understood. Both 
 reason and folly were hitherto left free in this 
 matter ; nor had any imperious mode of faith 
 suspended the exercise of the one, or restrained 
 the extravagance of the other. But, in this 
 century, Paschasius Radbert, a monk, and af- 
 terwards abbot of Corbey, pretended to ex- 
 plain with precision, and to determine with 
 certainty, the doctrine of the church on this 
 head ; for which purpose he composed, in 831, 
 a treatise concerning the sacrament of the 
 body and blood of Clirist.§ A second edition 
 of this treatise, revised with care, and consi- 
 derably augmented, was presented in 845 to 
 Charles the Bald ; and it principally gave oc- 
 casion to the warm and important controversy 
 that ensued. The doctrine of Paschasius 
 
 * See Steph. Baluzii Miscellanea, tom. vii. p. 14. 
 
 il5* t This addition of filioque to the symbol of 
 Nice and Constantinople, was made in the fifth and 
 sixth centuries by the churches of Spain ; and their 
 c.\ample was followed by most of the Gallican 
 churches, where the symbol was read and sung with 
 this addition. 
 
 J See Le Cointe, Annal. Eccles. Francor. tom. iv. 
 ad a. 809.— Longueval, Histoire de IKgli.^c GallicaBe, 
 tom. V. p. 151. 
 
 § See Mabillon, Annales Benedict, ii. p. 539. An 
 accurate edition of Kadbert's book was published by 
 Martenne, in the si.xth volume of his Aiiipli^s. Col- 
 lect, veter. Scriptor. p. 3';8. The life and .ictions of 
 this wrong-headed divine are treated of at large by 
 Mabillon, in his Acta Sanctor Ord. Benedict. S«bc. 
 iv. part II. 126, and by the Jesuits, in the Acta SS. 
 Antwerp, ad d. xxvi Aprilis. 
 
226 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 amounted, in general, to the two following 
 propositions : first, that, after the consecration 
 of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, 
 nothing remained of these symbols but the 
 outward figure, under wliich the body and 
 blood of Christ were really and locally present ; 
 and, secondly, that t!ie body of Christ thus 
 present in the eucharist was the same body 
 that was born of the Virgin, that suftered upon 
 the cross, and was raised from the dead. This 
 new doctrine, and more especially the second 
 proposition now mentioned, excited, as might 
 well be expected, the astonislmient of many. 
 Accordingly it was opposed by Rabanns Mau- 
 rus, Heribald, and others, though they did not 
 all refute it in tlie same method, or on the 
 same principles. Charles the Bald, on this 
 occasion, ordered the famous Ratram and 
 Johannes Scotus to draw up a clear and ra- 
 tional explication of that important doctrine 
 which Radbert seemed to have so egregiously 
 corrupted.* These learned divines executed 
 with zeal and diligence tlie orders of the em- 
 peror. The treatise of Scotus perished in the 
 ruins of time ; but that of Ratram is still ex- 
 tant,! which furnished ample matter of dis- 
 pute, bo til in the last and present century.]: 
 
 XX. It is remarkable that in this controver- 
 sy each of the contending parties were almost 
 as much divided among themselves as they 
 were at variance with their adversaries. Rad- 
 bert, who began the dispute, contradicts him- 
 self in many places, departs from his own 
 principles, and maintains, in one part of his 
 book, conclusions that he had disavowed in 
 another. His principal adversary Bertram, 
 or Ratram, seems in some respects liable to 
 the same charge ; he appears to follow in gen- 
 eral the doctrine of tliose, who deny that the 
 body and blood of Christ are really present in 
 the "holy sacrament, and to affirm on the con- 
 trary that they are only represented by the 
 bread and wine as their signs or symbols. 
 There are, however, several passages in his 
 book which seem inconsistent with this just 
 and rational notion of the eucharist, or at least 
 are susceptible of different interpretations, and 
 have therefore given rise to various disputes. 
 Johannes Scotiis, whose philosophical genius 
 rendered him more accurate, and shed through 
 his writings that logical precision so much 
 wanted, and so highly desirable in polemical 
 productions, was the only disputant in this 
 contest who expressed his sentiments with 
 perspicuity, metliod, and consistency, and de- 
 clared plainly that the bread and wine were 
 
 * For an account of llatiam, or Rertrara, and liis 
 famous book which made so much noisu in the 
 world, see the Biblioth. Lat. of Fabricius, torn. i. p. 
 1G61. 
 
 jCf" t A new En<;lish translation of the book of 
 Bertram, (who was a priest and monk of Corbey) 
 concerning' the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the 
 Sacrament, was published at Dublin in 1752: to 
 which is prefixed a very learned and judicious his- 
 torical dissertation respecting this famous author and 
 his works, in which both are ably defended ajjainst 
 the calumnies and fictions of the Roman Catholic 
 writers. 
 
 t There is an account, but a partial one, of this 
 controversy in Mabilloii's Prsef. ad Seec. iv. part ii. 
 Benedict, "p. viii. which the curious reader will 
 therefore do well to compare with Basnage'a His- 
 toire de rEglise, torn, i 90!». 
 
 the signs and symbols of the absent body and 
 blood of Christ. All the other theologians of 
 his time fluctuate and waver in their opinions, 
 express themselves with ambiguity, and em- 
 brace and reject the same tenets at different 
 times, as if they had no fixed or permanent 
 principles on this subject. Hence it evidently 
 appears, that there was not yet in the Latin 
 church any fixed or universally received opin- 
 ion concerning tlie niamier in which the body 
 and blood of Clirist are present in the eucha- 
 rist. 
 
 XXI. The disputants in this controversy 
 charged each other reciprocally with the most 
 odious doctrines, which each party drew by 
 way of consequences from the tenets they op- 
 posed, — a method of proceeding as unjust, as 
 it is common in all kinds of debate. Hence 
 arose the imaginary heres}', that, on the trium- 
 phant progress of the doctrine of transubstan- 
 tiation in the eleventh century, was branded 
 with the title of Stercm-anism, and of which the 
 true origin was as follows : They who, em- 
 bracing the opinion of Paschasius Radbert, be- 
 lieved that tiie bread and wine in the sacra- 
 ment were substantially changed after the con- 
 secration, and preserved only their external 
 figure, drew a most mijust conclusion from 
 the opinion of their adversaries, who main- 
 tained on the contrary, that the bread and 
 wine preserved their substance, and that 
 Christ's body and blood were only figuratively, 
 and not really, present in the eucharist. They 
 alleged that the doctrine of the latter implied, 
 tliat tlie body of Christ was digested in the 
 stomach, and was thrown out with the other 
 excrements. But this consequence was quick- 
 ly retorted upon those that imagined it ; for 
 tliey who denied the conversion of the bread 
 and wine into the real body and blood of 
 Christ, charged the same enormous conse- 
 quence upon their antagonists who believed 
 tliis transmutation ; and the charge certainly 
 was much more applicable to the latter than 
 to the former. The truth is, that it was nei- 
 ther truly applicable to one nor to the other ; 
 and their mutual reproaches, most wretchedly 
 founded, show rather a spirit of invective, than 
 a zeal for the truth. The charge of Stercora- 
 nism is but a malignant invention; it can 
 never, without the most absurd impudence, be 
 brought against those who deny the transmu- 
 tation of the bread into the body of Christ ; it 
 may indeed be charged upon such as allow 
 this transmutation, though it be a consequence 
 that none of them, except those whose intel- 
 lects were unsound, perhaps ever avowed.* 
 
 XXII. While this controversy was at its 
 greatest height, another of a quite different 
 kind, and of much greater importance, arose, 
 whose unhappy consequences are yet felt in 
 the reformed churches. The subject of this 
 new contest was the doctrine of predestination 
 and divine grace, and its rise is universally at- 
 tributed to Godeschalcus, an illustrious Saxon, 
 who had entered involuntarily into the mo- 
 
 * For an account of the Stercoranists, see Mabillon, 
 Pr.Tf. ad Ssec. iv. Benedict, part ii. p. 21.— J. Bas. 
 nage, Ilistoire de I'Eglise, torn. i. p. 92ti. an<I a Trea- 
 tise of the learned Dr. PfatT, published at Tubingen 
 in 1750. 
 
 I 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 227 
 
 nastic order in the convent of Fulda, whence 
 he removed to the monastery of Orbais, in tlic 
 diocese of Soissons, wliere he prosecuted his 
 tlieolbgical studies, not only with great assi- 
 duity, bnt also with an insatiable desire of 
 sounding the deepest mysteries, and of being 
 " wise above what is written." This eminent 
 ecclesiastic, upon his return from Rome in 
 847, took up his lodging for some time with 
 count Eberald, one of tlie principal noblemen 
 at the court of the emperor Lothaire, where 
 he discoiu-sed largely of the intricate doctrine 
 of predestination in the presence of Nothiiigiis, 
 bishop of Verona, and maintained that God, 
 from all eternity, had pre-ordained some to 
 everlasting life, and others to everlasting 
 punishment and misery. Rabanus Maurus, 
 wlio was by no means his friend, being in- 
 formed of the propagation of this doctrine, op- 
 posed him witli great vigor. To render his 
 opposition more successful, he began by repre- 
 senting Godeschalcus as a .corrupter of the 
 true religion, and a forger of monstrous here- 
 sies, in some letters addressed to count Eberald 
 and to the bishop of ^'erona■, and when the 
 accused monk came from Italy into Germany 
 to justify himself against these clamours, and 
 for that purpose appeared at Mentz, of which 
 Rabanus his accuser was archbishop, he was 
 condemned in a council assembled by the latter 
 in that city, in 848, and sent thence to Hinc- 
 mar, archbishop of Rheims, in whose diocese 
 he had received the order of priesthood. Ilinc- 
 mar, who was devoted to tlie interests of Ra- 
 banus, assembled a council at Quiercy in 849, 
 in which Godeschalcus was condemned a se- 
 cond time, and was also treated in a manner 
 equally repugnant to the principles of religion 
 and the dictates of humanity. Because he was 
 firm in maintaining his doctrine, which he 
 affirmed, and indeed with truth, to be the doc- ! 
 trine of St. Augustine, the imperious Hincmar | 
 degraded him from the priesthood, and was so \ 
 barbarous as to order him to be scourged with j 
 the utmost severity, until the force of liis pain j 
 overpowering his constancy obliged him, ac- 
 cording to the commands of his reverend execu- 
 tioners, to burn with his own hands that justi- 
 fication of his opinions which he had presented 
 to the council of Mentz. After these barbarous 
 proceedings, the unfortunate monk was cast 
 into prison in the monastery of Hautvilliers, 
 where he ended his misery and his days in 
 868, or the following year, maintaining with 
 his last breath the doctrine for which he had 
 suffered. 
 
 XXIII. Wliile Godeschalcus lay in prison, 
 his doctrine gained him followers; his suffer- 
 ings excited com])assion; and both together 
 produced a considerable schism in the Latin 
 church. Ratram, monk of Corbey, Pruden- 
 tius, bishop of Troyes, Loup, or Lupus, abbot 
 of Ferrieres, Florus, deacon of Lyons, llemi, 
 archbishop of tlie same city, with his wliole 
 church, and many other ecclesiastics, whom it 
 would be tedious to mention, pleaded with the 
 utmost zeal and vehemence, both in their writ- 
 ings and in their discourse, the cause of this 
 unhappy monk, and of his condemned opini- 
 ons. Some, indeed, confined themselves prin- 
 cipally to the defence of his person and con- 
 
 duct, while others went farther, and employed 
 all their zeal, and all their labour, in the vin- 
 dication of his doctrine. On the opposite side 
 of the question were Hincmar, his unrighteous 
 judge, Amalarius, the celebrated Johannes 
 Seotus, and others, who all maintained, tliat 
 Godeschalcus and his opinions had received 
 the treatment they deserved. As the spirit of 
 controversy ran hitrh between tliese contending 
 parties, and grew more vehement from day to 
 day, Charles t!ie Bald summoned a new coun- 
 cil, or synod, which met at Quiercy in 853, in 
 which, by the credit and inlluence of Hinc- 
 mar, tlie decrees of the former council were 
 confirmed, and in consequence Godeschalcus 
 was again condemned. But the decrees of this 
 council were declared null; and decisions of a 
 diiferent kind, by which he and his doctrine 
 were vindicated and defended, were enacted 
 in a comicil assembled at Valence in Dau- 
 pliine, in 855. This council was composed of 
 the clergy of Lyons, Vienne, and Aries, with 
 Remi, archbishop of Lyons at their head; and 
 its decrees were confirmed, in 859, by the 
 council of Langres, in which the same clergy 
 were assembled, and in 860, by the council of 
 Tousi, in which the bishops of fourteen pro- 
 vinces supported tlie cause of the persecuted 
 monk, whoso death allayed the heat of this in- 
 tricate controversy.* 
 
 XXIV. If we attend to the merits of this 
 caase, we sliall find tliat tlie debate still sub- 
 sists in all its force, and tliat the doctrine of 
 Godeschalcus has in our days both able de- 
 fenders and powerful adversaries. He un- 
 doubtedly maintained a two-fold predestina- 
 tion, one to everlasting life, and the other to 
 eternal death. He held also, " that God did 
 " not desire or will the salvation of all man- 
 " kind, but that of the elect only; and that 
 " Christ did not suffer death for the whole hu- 
 " man race, but for those persons only whom 
 " God has predestinated to eternal salvation." 
 These decisions, which carry a severe and 
 rjoorous aspect, are softly and favouredly in- 
 terpreted by the followers of Godeschalcus. 
 They deny, for example, that their leader re- 
 presents God as predestinating, to a necessary 
 course of iniquity, those whom he has previ- 
 ously predestinated to eternal miserj'; and, ac- 
 cording to them, the doctrine of Godeschalcus 
 amounts to no more than this: " That God 
 "has, from all eternity, doomed to everlasting 
 " misery such as he foresaw would go on im- 
 " penitent in a sinful course, and has decreed 
 "their ruin in consequence of their sins freely 
 " committed and eternally foreseen: that the 
 " salutary effects of the mercy of God, and the 
 " sufferings of Christ, extend indeed only to 
 " the elect, and are made good to them alone; 
 " though tliis mercy and these sufferings, con- 
 " sidcred in themselves, belong equally to all 
 " mankind." But this contradictory jargon 
 
 * Bositle the common writ(^rs, who spvak of this 
 controversy, the curious reniler will do well to con- 
 sult the more learned .ind impartial accounts he will 
 find of it in Boiilay's Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. i. p. 
 178.— Mabillon's Prsef ad Sa>c. iv. Benedict, part ii. 
 p. xlvii.— Tfist. Literaire de la France, torn. v. p. 
 ;!.52. — Usserii Ilistoria Oodeschaici— ficrard, Job. 
 Vossii Historia Pelajiiana, lib. vii. cap. iv. — Fabricii 
 Biblioth. Latin, medii JEvi, torn. iii. p. 210. 
 
228 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 did not satisfy the adversaries of the predesti- 
 nariaa monk; they maintained, on the con- 
 trary, that, under ambiguous terms and per- 
 plexed sentences, Godesclialcus had concealed 
 the most enormous errors, propagating it assi- 
 duously as an article of faith, " That God had 
 " not only by an original decree predestinated 
 *' one part of mankind to eternal damnation, 
 " but had also pushed them on by an irresisti- 
 " ble necessity, by a propellent force, to those 
 " crimes and transgressions which were proper 
 "to render that damnation just."* Without 
 determining any thing upon such an intricate 
 and incomprehensible subject, with respect to 
 which silence is the truest wisdom, we shall 
 only observe, that the private quarrels, and 
 mutual hatred, that prevailed between Raba- 
 nus Maurus and Godeschalcus, were the real 
 source of the predestinarian controversy, and 
 of all the calamities in which it involved the 
 unfortunate monk.f 
 
 XXV. Another, though less important, con- 
 troversy arose about this time, concerning the 
 concluding words of a very ancient hjrmn, 
 which runs thus: te, trina Ddtas unaque, posci- 
 mus, which may be thus translated, " O God, 
 who art three, and at the same time but one, 
 we beseech thee," &c. Hincmar wisely prohi- 
 bited the singing of these words in the churches 
 that were under his jurisdiction, from a per- 
 suasion that they tended to introduce into the 
 minds of the multitude notions inconsistent 
 with the unity and simplicity of the Supreme 
 Being, and might lead them to imagine that 
 there were three Gods. But the Benedictine 
 monks refused to obey this mandate, and Ber- 
 tram, who was one of the most eminent of that 
 order, wrote a copious work to prove the ex- 
 pression trina Deltas, or threefold Deity, ortho- 
 
 * The cause of Godeschalcus has been very learn- 
 edly defended by the celebrated Maguin, who pub- 
 lished also a valuable edition of all the treatises that 
 were composed on both sides of this intricate con- 
 troversy. This interesting collection, which was 
 printed at Paris in 1G50, bears the following title: 
 ' veteruni Auctorum qui Nono Sfeculo de Prcedesti- 
 ' natione et Gratia scripserunt, Opera et Fragmenta, 
 'cum Historia et gemina PriEfatione.' Cardinal 
 Norris maintained also the cause of the predestina- 
 rian monk with more brevity, but less moderation 
 than Maguin. This brief vindication may be seen 
 in the Synopsis Historic Godeschalcanae, which is 
 inserted in the 4th volume of the works of that car- 
 dinal, p. 677. All the Benedictines, Jansenists^, and 
 Augustin monks maintain, almost without e.xccp- 
 tion, that Godeschalcus was most unjustly perse- 
 cuted and oppressed by Rabanus Maurus. The Jesu- 
 its are of a different opinion; they assert in general, 
 and Louis Cellot, one of their order, has in a more 
 particular manner laboured to demonstrate, in his 
 Historia Godeschalci Prsedestinationis, published at 
 Paris in 1655, that the monk in question was justly 
 condemned, and deservedly punished. 
 
 t The parents of Godeschalcus consecrated him to 
 God, by devoting him from his infancy, as was the 
 custom of the times, to the monastic life in the mo- 
 nastery of Fulda. The young monk, however, hav- 
 ing arrived at a certain age, seemed much disposed 
 to abandon his retreat, to shake off his religious fet- 
 ters, and to return into society; but he was pre- 
 vented from the execution of this purpose by Raba- 
 nus Maurus, who kept him against his will in his 
 monastic bonds. Hence a violent contest arose be- 
 tween these ecclesiastics, in which Louis the De- 
 bonaire was obliged to interpose; and hence pro- 
 ceeded the furious disputes concerning predestina- 
 tion and grace. See CenturiiB Magdeb. Cent. ix. c. 
 10.— Mabiilon, Annal. Bened. torn. ii. ad annum 829. 
 p 523. 
 
 dox, from the authority of fathers, esteemed 
 the only criterion of truth in those miserable 
 times. Godeschalcus, who now lay in prison, 
 heard of this dispute, entered warmly into it, 
 and in a laboured di.ssartation supported tho 
 cause of his Benedictine brethren; on which, 
 account Hincmar accused him of tritheism, and 
 drew up a treatise to prove the charge, and to 
 refute that impious and enonnous heresy. 
 This controversy, however, was but of a short 
 duration; and the exceptionable passage of the 
 hymn in question maintained its credit, not- 
 withstanding' all the efforts of Hincmar, and 
 continued, as before, to be sung in the 
 churches.* 
 
 XXVI. A vain curiosity, and not any design 
 of promoting useful knowledge and true piety, 
 was the main source of the greatest part of 
 the controversies that were carried on in this 
 century; and it was more especially this idle 
 curiosity, carried to an indecent and most ex- 
 travagant length, that gave rise to the contro- 
 versy concerning the manner in which Christ 
 was bom of the Virgin, which began in Ger- 
 many, and made its way from that country 
 into France. Certain Germans maintained, 
 that Jesus proceeded from his mother's womb 
 in a manner quite different from those general 
 and uniform laws of nature that regulate the 
 birth of the human species; which opinion was 
 no sooner known in France, than it was warmly 
 opposed by the famous Ratram, who wrote a 
 book expressly to prove that Christ entered 
 into the world in the very same way with 
 other mortals, that his Virgin mother bore 
 him, as other women bring forth their ofi'spring. 
 Paschasius Radbert, who was constantly em- 
 ployed, either in inventing or patronising the 
 most extravagant fancies adopted the opinion 
 of the German doctors, and composed an ela- 
 borate treatise to prove that Christ was bom, 
 without his mother's womb being opened, in 
 the same manner as he came into the chamber 
 where his disciples were assembled after his 
 resurrection, though the door was shut. He 
 also charged those who held the opinion of Ra- 
 tram with denying the virginity of Mary. 
 This fruitless dispute was soon hushed and 
 gave place to controversies of superior mo- 
 ment. f 
 
 XXVII. Of all the controversies that divid- 
 ed Christians in this century, the most inter- 
 esting, though at the same time the most la- 
 mentable, was that which occasioned the fatal 
 schism between the Greek and Latin churches. 
 A vindictive and jealous spirit of animosity 
 and contention had loiig prevailed between the 
 bishops of Rome and Constantinople, and had 
 sometimes broken out into acts of violence and 
 rage. The ambition and fury of these con- 
 tending prelates became still more keen and 
 vehement about the time of Leo the Isaurian, 
 when the bishops of Constantinople, seconded 
 by the power and authority of the emperors, 
 withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Roman 
 pontiffs many provinces, over which they had 
 
 * An account of this controversy is given by the 
 writers of the life, actions, and doctrines of Godei- 
 chalcus. 
 
 t See the Spicilegiura veterum Scriptorum, pub- 
 lished by M. d'Acheri, torn. i. p. 396.— Mabiilon, 
 Proef. ad SiEC. iv. Benedict, part ii. p. 51. 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 229 
 
 hitherto exercised a spiritual dominion.* In 
 this century the contest rose to an enormous 
 height, and hroke forth into a most dreadful 
 flame, in 858, f vvlicn the learned Photius was 
 chosen patriarch of Constantinople, by the em- 
 peror Michael, in the place of Ignatius, wliom 
 that prince had driven from his see and sent 
 into exile. This violent proceeding, though it 
 was vindicated and even applauded by a coun- 
 cil assembled at Constantinople in 861, was 
 far from being attended with a general appro- 
 bation. Igiiatius appealed from this council to 
 pope Nicolas I., w!io espoused his interests, 
 and, in a council assembled at Rome in 862, ex- 
 communicated Photius as unlawfully elected, 
 and his abettors for having been concerned in 
 such an unrighteous cause. The new patri- 
 arch, however, was so far from being terrified 
 or dejected by this excommunication, that he 
 returned the compliment to the pope, and, in 
 a council assembled at Constantinople, in 866, 
 he declared Nicolas unworthy of the place he 
 held in the church, and also of being admitted 
 to the communion of Christians. 
 
 XXVIII. The Roman pontiff alleged a spe- 
 cious pretext for his acting with such violence, 
 aiid exciting such unhappy commotions in the 
 church. This pretence was the innocence of 
 Ignatius, whom, upon an accusation of trea- 
 son, whether true or false, the emperor had de- 
 graded from his patriarchal dignity. This, 
 however, was not the true reason; ambition 
 and interest were the real though secret springs 
 that directed the motions of Nicolas, who 
 woidd have borne with patience, and viewed 
 with inditierence, tlie unjust sufferings of Ig- 
 natius, if he could have recovered from the 
 Greeks, the provinces of Illyricum, Macedo- 
 nia, Epirus, Achaia, Thessaly, and Sicily, 
 which the emperor and Photius had removed 
 from the jurisdiction of tlie Roman pontiff". 
 Before he engaged in the cause of Ignatius, he 
 sent a solemn embassy to Constantinople, to 
 demand the restitution of the provinces; but 
 his demand was rejected with contempt. — 
 Hence, under pretence of avenging the inju- 
 ries committed against Ignatius, he indulged 
 without restraint his own private resentment, 
 and thus covered with the mask of justice the 
 fury of disappointed ambition and avarice. 
 
 XXIX. While affairs were in this troubled 
 state and tlie flame of controversy was grow- 
 ing more violent from day to day, Basilius the 
 Macedonian, who, by tiie murder of his prede- 
 cessor, had paved his way to the imperial throne, 
 calmed at once these tumults, and restored 
 peace to the church, by recalling Ignatius from 
 exile to tlie high station from which he had 
 been degraded, and by confining Photius in a 
 monastery. This act of authority was so- 
 lemnly approved and confirmed by a council 
 assembled at Constantinoi)le, in 869, in which 
 the legates of pope Adrian II. had great influ- 
 ence, and were treated with the highest marks 
 
 * See Giannone, Ilistnria di Napoli, torn. i. — Petr. 
 de Marca, de Concordia Sacerdotii et Imperii, lib. i. 
 cap. i. p. 6. — Lequien, Oriens Christianas, torn. i. 
 p. 96. 
 
 n3" t In tlip orifrinal, we find the date of R-iS; but, 
 as this is probably an error of the press, the transla- 
 tor has taken the liberty to correct it in the text. 
 
 of distinction." The Latins acknowledge this 
 assembly as the eighth oecumenical council; 
 and in it the religious contests between them 
 and tlie Greeks were concluded, or at least 
 hushed and suspended. But the controversy 
 concerning the authority of the pontitTs, the li- 
 mits of their just power, and particularly their 
 jurisdiction in Bulgaria, still subsisted; nor could 
 all the efforts of papal ambition engage either 
 Ignatius or the emperor to give up Bulgaria, or 
 any other province, to tlie sec of Rome. 
 
 XXX. The contest that had arisen between 
 the Greeks and Latins concerning the eleva- 
 tion of Photius, was of such a nature as to ad- 
 mit an easy and effectual remedy. But the 
 haughty and ambitious spirit of this learned 
 and ingenious patriarch led the flame of dis- 
 cord instead of extinguishing it, and unhappily 
 prolonged the troubles and divisions of the 
 Christian church. In the year 866, he added 
 to the see of Constantinople the province of 
 Bulgaria, with which Nicolas had formed the 
 design of augmenting his spiritual dominion. 
 While the pope was most bitterly provoked at 
 missing his aim, Photius went yet farther, and 
 entered into measures every way unworthy of 
 his character and station: for he not only sent 
 a circular letter to the oriental patriarchs to 
 engage them to espouse his private cause, as 
 the public and momentous cause of the church, 
 but drew up a most violent charge of heresy 
 against the Roman bishops, who had been sent 
 among the newly converted Bulgarians, and 
 against the church of Rome in general. The 
 articles of corrupt doctrine, or lieresy, which 
 this imperious and exasperated prelate brought 
 against the votaries of the Romish system, 
 were as follow: first, that they fasted on the 
 Sabbath, or seventh day of the week: secondly, 
 that in the first week of Lent they permitted 
 the use of milk and cheese: thirdly, that they 
 prohibited their priests from marrying, and se- 
 parated from their wives such as had been mar- 
 ried when they entered into orders:f fourthly, 
 that they represented the bishops alone as au- 
 thorised to anoint with the holy chrism baptiz- 
 ed persons, and, in consequence, obliged those 
 who had been anointed by presbyters, to re- 
 ceive that unction a second time from the hand 
 of a bishop: lastly, that they had adulterated the 
 symbol or creed of Constantinople, by adding 
 to it the words filic^qiie, i. e. and from the son, 
 and were therefore of opinion that the Holy 
 Spirit did not proceed from tlie Father only, 
 but also from the Son.J Nicolas I. finding the 
 
 * The writers on both sides of this controversy 
 are enumerated by Fabricius, in hisUiblioth. Urxca, 
 vol. iv. c. xxxviii. p. 372. 
 
 t I'liolius attributes to this forced and unnatural 
 celibacy of the clergy, that multitude of children 
 whose fathers were unknown. Kemarkable to this 
 purpose is the followine passage from a b.jok of Al- 
 varo lVlagio,'bishop of Sylva in Portugal, de Planctu 
 Kcclcsitr: " It is to be wished," says lie, " that the 
 clergy had never vowed chastity, especially the cler- 
 gy of Spnin, where the tons of the laity are not 
 much more numerous than the sons of the clergy." 
 
 I See the letter of Photius in the collection pub- 
 lished by bishop Montague, N. ii. p. 47. (Itlier wri- 
 ters mention ten heads of accusation brought against 
 Photius; but such do not distinguish between the 
 first and second controversy that arose between the 
 Greeks and Latins, and they add to the articles, 
 with which this patriarch was charged, those that 
 
230 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Roman church thus attacked, sent the articles 
 of this accusation to Hincmar and the other 
 Galhcan bisliops in 867, desiring them to as- 
 semble their respective sutfragans in order to 
 examine and answer the reproach of Photius. 
 In pursuance of this exhortation of the pon- 
 tiff, Odo, iEiieas, and Ado, bishops of Beau- 
 vais, Paris, and Vienne, as also the celebrated 
 Ratram, stepped fortli gallantly into the field 
 of controversy against the Greeks, answered 
 one by one the accusations of Photius, and em- 
 ployed the whole force of their erudition and 
 zeal in maintaining the cause of the Latin 
 chm-ch.* 
 
 XXXI. On the death of Ignatius, which hap- 
 pened in STS, the emperor took Photius into fa- 
 vour, and placed him again at the head of the 
 Greek church. This restoration of the de- 
 graded patriarch was agreed to by the Roman 
 pontiff John VIII. on condition, however, that 
 Photius would permit the Bulgarians to come 
 under the jurisdiction of the see of Rome. 
 The latter promised to satisfy in this the de- 
 mands of the pontiff, to which the emperor 
 also seemed to consent;! and hence it was that 
 John VIII. sent legates to the council holden 
 in 889 at Constantinople, by whom he declar- 
 ed his approbation of the acts of that assem- 
 bly', and acknowledged Photius as his brother 
 in Christ. Tiie promises, however, of the em- 
 peror and the patriarch, were far from being 
 accomplished; for after this council the former, 
 most probably by the advice, or at least with 
 the consent of the latter, refused to transfer 
 the province of Bulgaria to the Roman pontitf; 
 and it must be confessed that this refusal was 
 founded upon most weighty and important 
 reasons. The pope was highly irritated at this 
 disappointment, and sent Alarinus to Constan- 
 tinople in the character of legate, to declare 
 that he had changed his mind with reference 
 to Photius, and tliat he entirely approved the 
 sentence of excommunication that had been 
 formerly given against him. The legate, upon 
 delivering this disagreeable message, was cast 
 into prison by the emperor, Init was afterwards 
 liberated; and, being raised to the pontificate 
 upon the death of John VIIL, recalled the re- 
 membrance of tliis injurious treatment, and le- 
 velled a new sentence of condemnation against 
 Photius. 
 
 XXXII. This sentence was treated with con- 
 tempt by the haught}' patriarch; but, about 
 six years after tiiis period, he experienced anew 
 the fragility of sublunary grandeur and eleva- 
 tion, by a fall which concluded his prosperous 
 days; for, in 886, Leo, surnamed tlie philo- 
 sopher, the son and successor of Basilius, de- 
 posed him from the patriarclial see, and con- 
 fuied him in an Armenian monastery, where 
 he died in 891. The death of Photius, who 
 was the only author of the schisms that divided 
 the Greeks and Latins, might have been an 
 occasion of removing these unhappy contests, 
 
 were drawn up in the time of Michael Ccrnhiriiis. 
 Certain it is, that in the epistle of Photius, which 
 relates only to the first controversy, ami is the only 
 criterion by which we ought to judge of it, there are 
 no more heads of accusation than the five which we 
 have enumerated in the text. 
 
 * Mabillon, Praef. ad Saec. iv. Bened. part ii. p. .55. 
 
 t Mich. leQuien, Orieiis Christianas, tom. i. p. 103 
 
 and of restoring peace and concord in the 
 churcli, if the Roman pontiffs had not been 
 regardless of the demands of equity as well aa 
 of the duty of Christian moderation. But 
 these imperious lords of the church indulged 
 their vindictive zeal beyond all measure, and 
 would be satisfied with notliing of less moment 
 than the degradation of all the priests and bi- 
 sliops, who had been ordained by Photius. 
 The Greeks, on the other hand, were shocked 
 at the arrogance of these unjust pretensions, 
 and would not submit to them on any condi- 
 tions. Hence a spirit of resentment and irri- 
 tation renewed the rage of dispute, which had 
 been happily declining; religious as well as ci- 
 vil contests were again set on foot; new con- 
 troversies were added to the old, until the fa- 
 tal schism took place, which produced a lasting 
 and total separation between the Greek and 
 Latin chm'ches. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 Church during this Century. 
 
 I. That religious rites and ceremonies were 
 progressively multiplied, evidently appears 
 from the labours of those writers, who began 
 in this centilry to explain to the ignorant mul- 
 titude their origin, their nature, and the pur- 
 poses they served; for the multiplicity alone 
 of these religious rites could render the expli- 
 cation of them necessary. Johannes Scotus, 
 Angelome, Remi or Remigius, bishop of Aux- 
 erre, and Walafrid Strabo, were the principal 
 autliors who distinguished themselves in this 
 species of sacred literature, to whom we may 
 add Amalarius, many of whose explanations 
 were, however, refuted by Agobard and Flo- 
 rus. Their works are generally entitled De 
 Officiis Divinis; for in the style of this age re- 
 ligious ceremonies were called by that name. 
 The labours of these pious and learned men 
 in illustrating the ritual were imdoubtedly un- 
 dertaken witli good intentions; but their uti- 
 lity may be well called into question; and it 
 would be bold to affirm that they were not as 
 prejudicial to the chiu-eh in some respects, as 
 they might be advantageous to it in others. 
 Their l)ooks afforded, indeed, a certain sort of 
 spiritual nourishment to the minds of Chris- 
 tians in their attendance upon public worship; 
 but this nourishment was both coarse and un- 
 wholesome. The reasons alleged for the cere- 
 monies in vogue at this time in the church, 
 and the purposes they were supposed to an- 
 swer, were, for the most part, not only far- 
 fetched, childish, and ridiculous, but also bore 
 the strongest marks of forgery and fiction. It 
 is also farther observable, that these illustra- 
 tions not only encouraged, but augmented pro- 
 digiously, to the detriment of real piety, the 
 veneration and zeal of the multitude for exter- 
 nal rites and ceremonies; for who would dare 
 to refuse their admiration and reverence to in- 
 stitutions, which they were taught to consider 
 as full of the most mysterious wisdom, and 
 foimded upon the most pious and affecting 
 reasons.' 
 
 II. It would be endless to enter into an ex- 
 act enumeration of the various rites and cere- 
 
 \ 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 231 
 
 monies, which were now introduced, for the 
 first time, and of which some were adopted by 
 the whole body of Christians, and others only 
 by certain churches. We shall therefore dis- 
 miss this matter with the general account 
 which follows, and point out in the notes the 
 sources from which the carious reader may de- 
 rive a more particular knowledge of the absur- 
 dities of this superstitious age. The carcases 
 of the saints transported from foreign coun- 
 tries, or discovered at home by tiie industry 
 and diligence of pious or designing priests, not 
 only obliged the rulers of the church to aug- 
 ment the mmiber of festivals or holidays al- 
 ready established, but also to diversity the 
 ceremonies in such a manner, that each saint 
 might have his peculiar worsliip ; and, as the 
 authority and credit of tlie clergy depended 
 much upon the higli notion whicli was gene- 
 rally entertained of the virtue and merit of the 
 saints whom they had canonised, and presented 
 to the multitude as objects of religious venera- 
 tion, it was necessary to amuse and surprise 
 the people by a variety of pompous and strik- 
 ing ceremonies, by images and the like inven- 
 tions, in order to keep up and nourish their 
 stupid admiration for the saintly tribe. Hence 
 arose tlie splendor and magnificence that were 
 lavished upon the churches in this century, and 
 the prodigious number of costly pictures and 
 images with which they were adorned ; hence 
 the stately altars, which were enriched with 
 the noblest inventions of painting and sculp- 
 ture, and illuminated with innumerable tapers 
 at noon-day ; hence the multitude of proces- 
 sions, tlie gorgeous and splendid garments of 
 the priests, and the masses that were cele- 
 brated in honor of the saints.* Among other 
 novelties, the feast of All-Saints was added, in 
 this century, by Gregory IV. to the Latin 
 calendar;! and the festival of St. Michael, 
 which had been long kept with the greatest 
 marks of devotion and respect by the Orien- 
 tals and Italians, began now to be observed 
 more zealously and universally among the 
 Latin Christians.]. 
 
 III. Nor was it only in the solemn acts of 
 religious worship that superstition reigned 
 with an unlimited sway ; its influence extended 
 even to the affairs of private life, and was ob- 
 servable in the civil transactions of men, par- 
 ticularly among the Latin Christians, who re- 
 tained witii more obstinacy than the Greeks a 
 multitude of customs, which derived their ori- 
 gin from the sacred rites of paganism. The 
 barbarous nations, which were converted to 
 Cliristianity, could not support the thoughts of 
 abandoning altogether the laws and manners 
 of their ancestors, however inconsistent they 
 might be with the indispensable demands of 
 the Gospel : on the contrary, they persuaded 
 the Christians among whom they lived to imi- 
 tate their extravagant superstition in this re- 
 spect; and this was the true and original 
 
 * ^ec the work of J. Fecht, de Missis in Honorem 
 Smirtornin. 
 
 t See Mahillnn, deRe Diplomatica. p. 537. 
 
 I The hnliilny-Kir festivals of t ho saints were yet but 
 few in nuinber nninne the liatins, as appears from a 
 poem of Flonip, published by Martenne in the fifth 
 volume of his Thesaurus Anecdotornm. 
 
 source of the barbarous institutions that pre- 
 vailed among the Latins, during this and the 
 following century ; such as the various methods 
 by which it was usual for persons accused to 
 prove their innocence in doubtful cases, either 
 by the trial of cold water,* by single combat,! 
 by the fire ordeal,], and by the cross.§ It is no 
 
 QiJ^ * All these were presumptuous attempts to 
 force the divine providence to declare itself miracu- 
 lously in favor of the truth. lu the trial of cold 
 water, the person accused had the rif^lit foot and left 
 hand hound together, and was, in this posture, 
 thrown uaked into the water. If he sunk, he was 
 acquitted ; but, if he floated upon the surface, this 
 was considered as an evidence of guilt. The most 
 respectable authors, ancient and modern, attribute 
 the invention of this superstitious trial to pope Eu- 
 genius II., and it is somewhat surprising that Mr. 
 Bower has taken no notice of it in his history of that 
 pontiff. Baluze has inserted, in the second volume 
 of liis Capitnlaria, the solemn forms of prayer and 
 protestation, which Eugenius bad caused to be drawn 
 up as an introduction to this superstitious practice ; 
 and both Fleury and Spanheim look upon that pon- 
 till' as its inventor. Un the other liand, father Le 
 Brun, a priest of the oratory, maintains in his His- 
 toire Critique des Pratiques Superstitieuses, tom. ii., 
 that this custom was much more ancient than Eu- 
 genius, and his reasons are not unworthy of atten- 
 tion. Be that as it may, this custom was condemn- 
 ed and abrogated at the request, or rather by the au- 
 thority of Louis the Debonnaire. about the year 829. 
 It was, however, revived afterwards, and was prac- 
 tised in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, 
 as we shall see in the progress of this history. For 
 an account of this mode of trial. Dr. Mosheim refers 
 us, in a note, to Mabillon's Analecta veteris .^vi, 
 torn. i. p. 47, and Roye's work de Missis Dominicis, 
 p. ]5a. 
 
 t The trial by duel, or single combat, was intro- 
 duced toward the conclusion of the fifth century by 
 Gondebald, king of the Burgundians, when the abuse 
 of oaths had occasioned the most horrible perjuries, 
 and opened a door to all sorts of injustice. The duel 
 was then added to the oath by Gondebald; the suc- 
 cessful combatant was supposed to be in the right, 
 and this barbarous test of truth and justice was, in 
 spite of humanity and conunon sense, adopted by 
 the Lombards, French, and Germans, and borrowed 
 from them by other nations. It was first prohibited 
 in b'55, in the third council of Valence. 
 
 J: The fire ordeal was practised in various ways. 
 The accused either held a burning ball of iron in his 
 hand, or was obliged to walk barefooted upon heated 
 [ilouwhshares, whose number was increased in pro- 
 portion to the number or enormity of the crimes im- 
 puted to him : and sometimes a glove of red-hot iron 
 was used on this occasion, as we see in the tenth 
 book of the history of Denmark, by Sa.\o the Gram- 
 marian. If in these trials the person impeached re- 
 mained tuihurt, and discovered no signs of pain, he 
 was discharged as innocent ; otherwise he was pun- 
 ished as guilty. The first account we have of Chris- 
 tians appealing to this kirrd of trial as a proof of 
 their innocence, is that of Simplicius, bishop of 
 Autun, who lived in the fourth century. This pre- 
 late, as the story goes, before his promotion to the 
 episcopal order, had entered into the matrimonial 
 slate; and his fond wife, unwilling to quit him after 
 his advancement, continued to sleep in the same 
 chamber with her spouse. The sanctity of Simplicius 
 suli'ired, at least in the voice of fame, by the con- 
 stancy of his wife's affection ; ami it was rumored 
 tliat the holy man, though a bishop, persisted in op- 
 position to the ecclesiastical canons to taste the 
 sweets of matrimony ; up<m which the dame, in the 
 presence of a great conc<iurse of people, took up a 
 considerable quantity of burning coals, which she 
 hold in her clothes, aiid applied to her breasts, with- 
 out the least hurt to her person or damage to her 
 garments, as the legend says, and her example being 
 followed by her husband with like success, the silly 
 multitude admired the miracle, and proclaimed the 
 innocence of the loving pair. Bricius, or St. Brice. 
 (whom Mr. Collier, in his Ecclesiastical History of 
 England, represent a by mistake as the first Christian 
 who endeavoured to clear himself in this way) 
 
232 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 longer a question in our days, from what 
 source these methods of deciding dubious cases 
 and accusations derived tlieir origin ; all agree 
 that they were mere delusions, drawn irom 
 the barbarous rites of paganism,* and not only 
 opposite to the precepts of the Gospel, but ab- 
 solutely destructive of the spirit of true reli- 
 gion. The pontitis, however, and the inferior 
 clergy, encouraged these odious superstitions, 
 and went so far as to accompany tlie practice 
 of tlicm vidth the celebration of the Lord's 
 Supper and other rites, in order to give them 
 a Christian aspect, and to recommend them to 
 the veneration and confidence of tlie multitude. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Co7icerning the Divisioiis and Heresies that trou- 
 bled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I The sects, that had sprung up in the 
 earlier ages of the church, subsisted still, with 
 little change in their situations or circum- 
 stances. Such of them as were considerably 
 numerous, fixed their settlements beyond the 
 limits both of the Greek and Latin empires, 
 and thus out of the reach of their enemies. 
 The Nestorians more especially, and the 
 Monophysitcs, secure under the protection of 
 the Arabians, were extremely industrious in 
 maintaining their credit, and also discovered a 
 warm and active zeal in the propagation of 
 Christianity among those who were yet unac- 
 quainted with that divine religion. Some 
 learned men are of opinion, that it was only 
 in this century that the Abyssinians or Ethio- 
 pians embraced the sentiments of the Mono- 
 physitcs, in consequence of the exhortations 
 addressed to tiiem by the doctors of that sect 
 who resided in Egypt. But this is undoubted- 
 ly an erroneous account of the matter ; for it 
 is certain, that the Abyssinians, who were ac- 
 customed to receive their spiritual guides 
 from the bishop of Alexandria, commenced 
 Monophysitcs in the seventh century, if not 
 sooner ; for in tliat period the Arabians made 
 
 playud a trick of much the same nature in the fifth 
 century. 
 
 The trial by the cross was made by obliging the 
 contending parties to stretch out their arms, and he 
 that coiiti}iued the longest in this posture gained his 
 cause. 
 
 Jo. Loccenii Antiquit. Sueo-Gothicae, lib. ii. cap. 
 vii. viii. p. 144. This barbarous method of deciding 
 controversies by duel was practised even by the 
 clergy. See Just. Hen. Bohmeri Jus Eccles. Protes- 
 tantium, tom. v. p. 88. 
 
 Petr. Lambecius, Res Hamburg, lib. ii. p. 39. — 
 Ueserii Sylloge Epistol. Hibernic. p. 81. — Johnson. 
 Leges Eccles. Britannis. — Michael de la Roche, Me- 
 moires loiter, de la Grande Bretagne, tom. viii. p. 
 391. 
 
 § See Agobardus, contra Judicium Dei, tom. i. op. 
 et contra Legem Gundobaldi, cap. ix. p. 114. — Hier. 
 Bignonius, ad Formulas Marculphi, cap. .\ii. — Balu- 
 zius, ad Agobarduni, p. 104. 
 
 * Strabo" tells us, in the fifth book of his Geogra- 
 phy, that, while the sacred rites of the goddess Fero- 
 na were celebrated in a grove not far from mount 
 Soracte, several persons, transported with the ima- 
 ginary presence of this pretended divinity, fell into 
 fits of enthusiasm, and walked hare-footed over 
 heaps of burning coals without receiving the least 
 damage. The historian adds, that a spectacle so ex- 
 traordinary drew a prodigious concourse of people to 
 tbis annual solemnity. Pliny relates something of 
 the same nature concerning the Hirpii. See his Nat. 
 Hie! book vii. chap. ii. 
 
 themselves masters of Egypt, oppressed the 
 Greeks, and granted to the Monophysitcs such 
 a powerful protection, as enabled them to re- 
 duce under their jurisdiction almost all the 
 churches that had been established in Egypt.* 
 
 II. The Greeks, during the greatest part 
 of this century, were engaged in a most bitter 
 controversy, or, to speak more properly, in a 
 bloody and barbarous war with the Paulicians, 
 a sect tliat may be considered as a branch of 
 the Manichaeans, and which resided principally 
 in Armenia. This pernicious sect is said to 
 have been formed by two brothers, Paul and 
 John, sons of Callinices, and uihabitants of 
 Samosata, fi-orn the former of whom it derived 
 its name ; though others are of opinion that 
 the Paulicians were so called from another 
 Paul, an Armenian by birth, who lived under 
 the reign of Justinian II. f Be that as it may, 
 a certain zealot called Constantine revived, in 
 the seventh century, tmder the government of 
 Constans, this drooping faction, which had suf- 
 fered deeply from the violence of its adversa- 
 ries, and was ready to expire tmder the severity 
 of the imperial edicts, and of those penal laws 
 which were executed against its adherents 
 with the utmost rigor. Constans, Justinian 
 II., and Leo the Isaurian, exerted their zeal 
 against the Paulicians with a peculiar degree 
 of bitterness and fury, left no method of op- 
 pression imemployed, and neglected no means 
 of accomplishing their ruin ; but their efforts 
 were ineffectual, nor could all their power, or 
 all their barbarity, exhaust the patience or 
 conquer the obstinacy of that inflexible people, 
 who, with a fortitude worthy of a better cause, 
 seemed to despise the calamities to which their 
 erroiteous doctrine exposed them. The face 
 of things changed, however, to their advantage 
 toward the commencement of this century ; 
 and their affairs wore a more prosperous aspect 
 tmder the protection of the emperor Nicepho- 
 rus, who favoured them in a particular man- 
 ner, and restored to them their civil privileges, 
 as well as their religious liberty.| 
 
 III. Their tranquillity, however, was but 
 of short duration ; it was a transient scene that 
 was soon to be succeeded by yet more dreadful 
 suff'erings than they had hitherto experienced. 
 The cruel rage of persecution, which had for 
 some years been suspended, broke fortli with 
 redoubled violence under the reigns of Michael 
 Curopalates, and Leo the Armenian, who 
 caused the strictest search to be made after 
 the Paulicians in all the provinces of the Gre- 
 cian empire, and inflicted capital punishment 
 upon such of them as refitsed to return to the 
 bosom of the church. This rigorous decree 
 turned the afflictions of the Paulicians, who 
 dwelt in Annenia, into vengeance, and drove 
 them into the most desperate measm-es. They 
 massacred Thomas, bishop of New Ceesarea, 
 and also the magistrates and judges whom the 
 emperors had established in Armenia : and, 
 
 * Nouveaux Memoiros de la Compagnie de Jesus 
 dans le Levant, tom. iv. p. 283, 284.— Le Grand, 
 Dissert, iv.— Lobo, Voyage Historiquede I'Abyssinie, 
 tom. ii. p|. 18. 
 
 t Pholius, lib. i. contra Manichaeos, p. 74, in B. 
 Wolfiii Anecdotis Gracis, tom. i. 
 
 I See Georg. Cedrenus, Compend. Historiar. tom. ii. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 233 
 
 after avenging tliemselvcs thus cruelly, they 
 took refuge in the countries that were governed 
 by the Saracens, and thence infested the 
 neighbouring states of Greece with perpetual 
 incursions.* After these reciprocal acts of 
 cruelty and vengeance, the Paulicians, as it 
 would seem, enjoyed an interval of tranquillity, 
 and returned to their habitations in the Gre- 
 cian provinces. 
 
 IV. But the most dreadful scene of persecu- 
 tion that was exhibited against these wretched 
 heretics, arose from the furious and inconsi- 
 derate zeal of the empress Theoilora. This 
 impetuous woman, who was regent of the em- 
 pire during the minority of her son, issued out 
 a decree, which placed the Paulicians in the 
 perplexing alternative either of abandoning 
 their principles, or of perishing by fire and 
 sword. The decree was severe; but the cru- 
 elty with which it was put in execution by 
 those who were sent into Armenia for that 
 purpose, was horrible beyond expression; for 
 these ministers of wrath, after confiscating the 
 goods of above a hundred thousand of that 
 miserable people, put their possessors to death 
 in the most barbarous mamier, and made 
 them expire slowly in a variety of the most 
 exquisite tortures. Such as escaped destruc- 
 tion fled for protection and refuge to the Sa- 
 racens, who received them with compassion 
 and humanity, and permitted them to build 
 a city for their residence, whicli was called 
 Tibrica. Upon this they entered into a league 
 with the Saracens; and, clioosing for their 
 chief an ofiicer of the greatest resolution and 
 valour, whose name was Carbeas, they declared 
 against the Greeks a war which was carried 
 on with the utmost vehemence and fury. 
 This war continued during the whole century; 
 the victory seemed ot'ten doubtful, but the 
 slaughter was terrible, and the numbers that 
 perished on both sides prodigious. Many of 
 the Grecian provinces felt, in a more particu- 
 lar mamier, the dire effects of tliis cruel con- 
 test, and exhibited the most aflecting scenes 
 of desolation and misery, j During these com- 
 motions, some Paulicians, toward the conclu- 
 sion of the century, spread abroad among the 
 
 * Phntius, lib. i. contra Manichoeos, p. 1'25. — Petri 
 Siculi Historia Manichujoruiii, p. 71. 
 
 t Georg. Cedronus, Compend. Hist. p. 511, edit. 
 Paris.— Zonoras, Annal. lib. xvi. The principal au- 
 thors who have given accoinUs of the Paulician.'! are 
 Photiiis, lib. i. contra Manich.'cos, and Petrns 8icu- 
 lu.'i, whose history of the Manichieaiis Matth. Kade- 
 rus published in Greek and Latin in 1G04. By the 
 account of Petrus Siculus that is Riven by himself, 
 we learn that, in 870, under the reign of Basilius the 
 Mace<lonian, he was sent ambassador to the Pauli- 
 cians at Tibrica, to treat with them for the exchange 
 of prisoners, and lived among them during the sp.iee 
 of nine months; this is sufficient to give us a high 
 idea of the power and prosperity of the Paulicians 
 at that time. It is from this eminent writer that 
 f 'i (Iriiins seems to have taken what he has advanced 
 
 111 Ins Coiiii d. Histor. p. 431. What we learn 
 
 concerning the Paulicians from the more modern 
 writers, (such as Bayle, in his Dictiimary, and B. 
 Jo. Christ. Wolfius, in his ManichaMsmus ante Ma- 
 nichaeos, p. 247.) seems to be derived from Bossiiet's 
 Hfstoire des Variations des Eglises Protestantes, 
 lorn. ii. p. 12Vt. But this authority is highly excep- 
 tionable; for Bossuetdid not consult the true sources 
 nf knowledge upon this point; and, what is still 
 worse, the spirit of party seems to have led him into 
 foluntari/ errors. 
 
 Vol. I.— 30 
 
 Bulgarians their pestilential doctrines, which 
 were received with docility, and took root 
 speedily, as ntight naturally be expected, 
 among a barbarous people, recently converted 
 to tlie Christian faith.* 
 
 V. The Greeks treated the Paulicians, of 
 whom we have now been speaking, as Mani- 
 chaeans; though, if we may credit the testi- 
 mony of Photius, the Paulicians expressed the 
 utmost abhon-ence of Manes and his doctrine. f 
 Most evident it is, that they were not altoge- 
 ther Manichaeans, thougli they embraced some 
 opinions that resembled certain tenets of that 
 abominable sect. Tliey had not, like the Ma- 
 nichaeans, an ecclesiastical government admi- 
 nistered by bishops, priests, and deacons: they 
 had no sacred order of men distinguished by 
 tlieir manner of life, their habit, or any other 
 circumstance from the rest of the assembly; 
 nor had coimcils, synods, or tlie like institu- 
 tions, any place in their religious polity. They 
 had certain doctors whom they called Si/nec- 
 demi, i. e. companions in the journey of life, 
 and also Mtarli. Among these, there reigned 
 a perfect equality; and they had no peculiar 
 rites or privileges, nor any external mark of 
 dignity to distinguish tliem from the people. { 
 The only singularity that attended their pro- 
 motion to t)ie doctorial rank was, that they 
 changed their lay-names for Scripture ones, 
 as if there had been something peculiarly ve- 
 nerable in the names of the holy men, whose 
 lives and actions are recorded in the sacred 
 writings. They received all the books of the 
 New Testament, except tlie two Epistles of 
 St. Peter, which they rejected for reasons un- 
 known to us; and their copies of the Gospel 
 were exactly the same with those used by all 
 other Christians, without the least interf)ola- 
 tion of the sacred text; in which respect also 
 they differed considerably from the Mani- 
 chEeans.§ They moreover recommended to 
 tlie people without exception, with the most 
 affecting and ardent zeal, the constant and as- 
 siduous perusal of the Scriptures, and ex- 
 pressed the utmost indignation against the 
 Greeks, who allowed to priests alone an access 
 to these sacred fountains of divine knowledge. |( 
 In explaining, however, the doctrines of the 
 Gospel, they often departed from the literal 
 sense and the natural signification of the 
 words, and interpreted them in a forced and 
 allegorical manner, when they opposed their 
 favourite opinions and tenets;1I and such more 
 especially were the delusive and erroneous ex- 
 plications which they gave of what is said con- 
 
 * It is not improbable that there are yet, in 
 Thrace and Bulgaria, Paulicians, or Paiilians as 
 they are called by some. It appears at least certain, 
 that in the seventeenth century some of that sect 
 still subsisted, and dwelt at Nicopolis, as we learn 
 from the testimony of IJrb. Cerri, who tells us, in 
 his Etat present de I'Eglise Roinaine, that Peter 
 Deodati, archbishop of Sophia, caused them to aban- 
 don their errors, and return to the Catholic faitb; 
 but whether the latter part of the account be true or 
 false, is more than we shall pretend to determine. 
 
 t Photius, lih. i. contra Manichaeos, p. 17, 51), C5. 
 Petr. Siculus, Hist. Manich. p. 43. 
 
 I Photius, I. c. p. 31, 32.— Petr. Sicul. p. 44.— Ce- 
 drenus, I. c. p. 431. 
 
 § Photius, p. 11.— Petr. SiCUl. p. 19. 
 
 5 Photius, p. ini.— Petr. Siciil. p. 57. 
 
 IT Photius, p. 12. 
 
234 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 cerning the institutions of baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper, and the divine authority of the 
 Old Testament, all which tliey obstinately re- 
 jected. Beside the books of the New Testa- 
 ment, tJiey treated witli a particular veneration 
 certain epistles of Sergius, the most eminent 
 and illustrious doctor of their sect. 
 
 VI. Tho Greek writers, instead of giving a 
 complete view of the Paulician system, which 
 was midoulitcdly composed of a great variety 
 of tenets, content themselves with mentioning 
 six monstrous errors, which, in their estima- 
 tion, rendered the Paulicians miworthy of en- 
 joying either the comforts of this world, or the 
 happiness of the next. These errors are as 
 follow: 1. "Tliey denied that this inferior 
 " and visible world was the production of the 
 " Supreme Being, and they distinguislied the 
 " Creator of this world, and of limnan bodies, 
 " from the most high God, who dwells in the 
 "heavens." It was principally on account 
 of this odious doctrine, which was, however, 
 adopted by all the Gnostic sects, that the 
 Paulicians were deemed Manicheeans by the 
 Greeks. But what their sentiments were con- 
 cerning tlie creator of this world, and whether 
 they considered him as a being distinct from 
 the evil principle, are matters that no writer 
 has hitherto explained in a satisfactory man- 
 ner. We learn only from Photius, that, ac- 
 cording to the Paulician doctrine, the evil 
 principle was engendered by darkness and 
 fire; whence it plainly follows that he was 
 neither self-originated, nor eternal.* 2. "They 
 "treated contemptuously the Virgin Mary;" 
 that is to say, according to the manner of 
 speaking usual among tiie Greeks, they re- 
 fused to adore and worship her. They main- 
 tained, indeed, that Ciirist was the son of 
 Mary, and was born of her (although they 
 maintained, as appears from the express testi- 
 mony of their adversaries, that the divine Sa- 
 viour brought with him from heaven liis hu- 
 man nature, and that INIary, after the birth of 
 Christ, had other children by Joseph;) they 
 
 * Photius, lib. ii. contra Manichsos, p. 147. It is 
 evident, iM'vond all contradiction, tliat the Pauli- 
 cians, in imitation of the oriental philosophers from 
 whom the CJnostic and Manichsana derived their 
 origin, coiisider(?d eternal matter as the seat and 
 source of all evil; but they believed, at the same 
 time, like many of the Gnostics, that this matter, 
 endued from all eternity with life and motion, had 
 produced an active principle, which was the foun- 
 tain of vice, misery, and dis,arder. This principle, 
 according to them, is the author of all material sub- 
 stances, while God is the Creator and Father of spi- 
 rits. These tenets re.semble, no doubt, tho Mani- 
 chseau doctrine; yet they differ from it in .several 
 points. Till! Paulicians seem to have emanated 
 from one of the old Gnostic sects, and to have been 
 very numerous and diversified; and, thougli perse- 
 cuted and (ippressed from age to age in the most 
 rigorous manner by many emperors, they could never 
 be entirely suppressed, or extirpated. 
 
 only fell into the sentiments of the Valenti- 
 nians, and held, that Christ passed through 
 the womb of the Virgin, as the pure stream 
 of hmpid water passes through a conduit, and 
 that Mary did not preserve her virginity to 
 the end of her days; all which assertions the 
 Greeks rejected with the utmost antipathy 
 aiid abhorrence. 3. " They refused to cele- 
 " brate the holy institution of the Lord's Sup- 
 " per;" for, as they imagined many precepts 
 and injunctions of the Gospel to be of a merely 
 figurative and parabolical nature, so they im- 
 derstood, by the bread and wine which Christ 
 is said to have administered to his disciples at 
 his last supper, the divine discourses and ex- 
 hortations of the Saviour, which are a spiritual 
 food and nourishment to the soul, and fill it 
 with repose, satisfaction, and delight.* 4. 
 " They loaded the cross of Christ with con- 
 " tempt and reproach;" by which we are only 
 to understand, that they refused to follow the 
 absurd and superstitious practice of the 
 Greeks, who paid to tiie pretended wood of 
 the cross a certain sort of religious homage. 
 As the Paulicians believed that Christ was 
 clothed with an ethereal, impassable, and ce- 
 lestial body, tliey could by no means grant 
 that he was really nailed to the cross, or that 
 he expired, in effect, upon that ignominious 
 tree: and hence naturally arose that treatment 
 of the cross, of which the Greeks accused 
 them. 5. "They rejected, after the example 
 "of the greatest part of the Gnostics, the 
 " books of the Old Testament, and looked 
 " upon the writers of that sacred history as in- 
 " spired by the Creator of this world, and not 
 "by the Supreme God." 6. " They entirely 
 " excluded presbyters and lay-elders from the 
 "administration of the church." By this, 
 however, no more can be meant, than that 
 they refused to call their doctors by the name 
 of presbyters, a name which had its origin 
 among the Jews, and was peculiar to that odi- 
 ous people, who persecuted Jesus Christ, and 
 attempted, as the Paulicians speak, to put 
 him to death.j 
 
 * Tho Greeks do not charge the Paulicians with 
 any error concerning baptism; it is, however, cer- 
 tain, that the accounts of that sacred institution, 
 which are given in Scripture, were allegorically ex- 
 plained by this extravagant sect; and Photius, in his 
 first book against the Manichaeans, expressly asserts 
 that the Paulicians treated baptism as a mere alle- 
 pori<al ceremony, and by the baptismal water un- 
 der.'itood the Gospel. 
 
 t Tlioi^e .-^i.x famous errors of the Paulicians I have 
 taken from the Manichaean history of Petrus Sicu- 
 lus, with whom Photius and Cedrenus agree, al- 
 though their accounts of these opinions be less per- 
 spicuous and distinct. The explanatory remarks 
 that I have added, are the result of my own reflec- 
 tions upon the Paulician system, and the doetrrne 
 of t lie Greeks. 
 
THE TENTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THK CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concernitig the Prosperous Events which hap- 
 pened to the Church during thii Century. 
 
 I. The deplorable state of Christianity in 
 this century, arising partly from tjiat astonisli- 
 ing ignorance tliat gave a loose rein both to 
 superstition and immorality, and partly from 
 an unhappy concurrence of causes of another 
 kind, is unanimously lamented by the various 
 writers, who have transmitted to us the his- 
 tory of these miserable times. Yet, amidst 
 all this darkness, some gleams of light were 
 perceived from time to time, and several oc- 
 currences happened, which deserve a place in 
 the prosperous annals of the church. The 
 Nestorians in Chaldcea extended their spiritual 
 conquests beyond mount Imaus, and intro- 
 duced the Christian religion into Tartary, 
 (properly so called,) whose inhabitants had 
 hitherto lived in their natural state of igno- 
 rance and ferocity, uncivilized and savage. 
 The same successful missionaries spread, by 
 degrees, the knowledge of tlie Gospel among 
 tiiat most powerful nation of the Turks, or 
 Tartars, which went by the name of Karit, 
 and bordered on Kathay, or the northern part 
 of China.* The laborious industry of tliis 
 Beet, and their zeal for the propagation of the 
 Christian faith, deserve, no doubt, the highest 
 encomiums; it must, however, be acknow- 
 ledged, that the doctrine and worship, which 
 they introduced among these barbarians, were 
 far from being, in all respects, conformable to 
 the true spirit and genius of the Christian re- 
 ligion. 
 
 II. The prince of that country, wliom the 
 Nestorians converted to the Clirislian faith, as- 
 sumed, if we may give credit to tlie vulgar tra- 
 dition, the name of John after his baptism, to 
 which ho added the surname of Presbyter, 
 froin a principle of modesty. Hence it was, 
 as Pome learned men imagine, that the succes- 
 sors of this monarch retained these names un- 
 til the time of Genghiz-Khan, who flourished 
 in the fourteenth century,! and wore eacii of 
 them called Prester JoJm.J; But all this has a 
 very fabulous air; at least it is .advanced with- 
 out any solid proof; it even appears evident, 
 on the contrary, that the famous Prester John, 
 who made so mucli noise in the world, did not 
 begin to reign in that part of Asia bcfcjro the 
 conclusion of the eleventii century. It is, 
 however, certain beyond all contradiction, tiiat 
 
 * Asscmaiii Biblinllicca Orirnl.-il. Vatic, toiii. iii 
 part ii. p. 482. — Herbelot, Bil)liothe(!ue Orientalo, p. 
 25(5. 
 
 t Dr. Moslinim, and his translator, ought to have 
 Baid, the thirtRcnth century. Enrr. 
 
 I Sue Asseniunl Uibliuth. torn. iii. part ii. p. 282 
 
 the monarclis of the nation called Karit (which 
 makes a largo part of the empire of the Mo- 
 gul, and is by some denominated a tribe of the 
 Turks, and, by others, of the Tartars,) em- 
 braced Cliristianity in this century; and that 
 a considerable part of Tartary, or Asiatic Scy- 
 thia, lived under the spiritual jurisdiction of 
 bishops who w-ere sent among them by the 
 Nestorian pontiff.* 
 
 III. If we turn our ej'cs to the western 
 world, we sliall find the Gospel making its 
 way with- more or less rapidity among the 
 most rude and imcivilized nations. Tlie fa- 
 mous arch-pirate Rollo, son of a Norwegian 
 count, being banished from his native land,j 
 had, in the preceding century, put himself at 
 the head of a resolute band of Normans, and 
 seized one of tlie maratime provinces of France, 
 whence he i)ifested the neigidiouring country 
 with perpetual incursions and depredations. 
 In 9 Ii,', this valiant chief, with his whole anny, 
 embraced the Christian faitli, on the following 
 occasion. Charles the Simple, who wanted 
 both resolution and power to drive this warlike 
 and intrepid invader out of his dominions, was 
 obliged to have recourse to negotiation. Pie 
 accordingly offered to make over to Rollo a 
 considerable part of his territories, on condi- 
 tion that the latter would consent to a peace, 
 espouse his daughter Gisela,J and embrace 
 Christianity. These terms were accepted by 
 Rollo witliout the least hesitation; and his 
 army, following the example of their leader, 
 professed a religion of which they were totally 
 ignorant. § Tliese Norman pirates, as appears 
 from many authentic records, were absolutely 
 without religion of any kind, and therefore 
 were not restrained, by the power of jirejndice, 
 from embracing a religion which presented to 
 them the most advantageous prospects. They 
 knew no distinction between interest and duty, 
 and they estimated truth and virtue only Ijy 
 the profits with which tliey were attended. It 
 
 ♦The late learned Si^refred [iaycr, in liis Preface 
 to the Museum Sinicuni, p. 145, inrnrnie.l iis of his 
 desitju to give the world an accurate account of 
 IhR Nestorian churches estahlished in Tartary and 
 China, drawn from some curious anci'Mit records 
 and monuments, that have not been as yet made 
 public. His work was to have been entitled Historia 
 liicclesiarum Sinicarum, et Septentrionalis Asiae; but 
 death prevented the execution of this interest inij 
 plan, and also of several others, which this great 
 niiiu had formed, and which would uiufoubtedly have 
 thrown a new light upon the history of the A.siatic 
 Christians. 
 
 t Holbergi Historia Danorum Navalis in Scriptis 
 t?ocietat. Scient. Hafniens. part iii. p. :i.57. 
 
 0(^1 Other writers more politely ri'present the of- 
 fer of <![)sela as one of the methods thattjharles em- 
 ployed to obtain a peace with Ifollo. 
 
 ^ Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, (om. i. p. 296 - Oaniel, 
 Hist, de France, torn. ii. p. 587. 
 
238 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 was from this Rollo, who received at his bap- 
 tism the name of Robert, that the famous hne 
 of Norman dukes derived its origin; for the 
 province of Bretagne, and a part of Neustria, 
 which Charles the Simple conveyed to his son- 
 in-law by a solemn grant, were from this time 
 known by the name of Normandy,* which 
 they derived from their new possessors. 
 
 IV. The Christian religion was introduced 
 into Poland by the zealous efforts of female pi- 
 ety. Dambrowska, daughter of Boleslaus, 
 diike of Bohemia, persuaded, by the force of 
 repeated exhortations, her husband Micislaus, 
 duke of Poland, to abandon paganism; and, 
 in 965, he embraced tlie Gospel. The account 
 of this agreeable event was no sooner brought 
 to Rome, than the pontiff, John XIII., sent into 
 Poland ^gidius, bishop of Tusculum, attend- 
 ed with a numerous train of ecclesiastics, in 
 order to second the pious efforts of the duke 
 and duchess, who desired, with impatience, the 
 conversion of their subjects. The exhorta- 
 tions and endeavours of these devout mission- 
 aries, who were miacquainted with the lan- 
 guage of the people they came to instruct, 
 would have been entirely without effect, had 
 they not been accompanied with the edicts and 
 penal laws, the promises and threats of Mi- 
 cislaus, which dejected the courage, and con- 
 quered the obstinacy of the reluctant Poles. 
 When therefore the fear of pmiishment, and 
 the hope of reward, had laid the foundations 
 of Christianity in Poland, two national arch- 
 bishops and seven bishops were consecrated to 
 the ministry, whose zeal and labours were fol- 
 lowed with such success, that the whole body 
 of the people abandoned, by degrees, their an- 
 cient superstitions, and made public profession 
 of the religion of Jes^is.f It was, indeed, no 
 more than an external profession; for that in- 
 ward change of affections and principles, which 
 the Gospel requires, was far from being an ob- 
 ject of attention in this barbarous age. 
 
 V. The Cliristian religion was established in 
 Russia by means similar to those that had oc- 
 casioned its propagation in Poland; for we must 
 not lay any stress upon the proselytes tliat 
 were made to Christianity among the Russians 
 in the preceding century, since tliose conver- 
 sions were neither permanent nor solid, and 
 since it appears evidently, that such of that na- 
 tion, as, mider the reign of Basilius the Mace- 
 donian, had embraced the doctrine of the 
 Greek church, relapsed soon after into the su- 
 perstition of their ancestors. Wlodomir, duke 
 of Russia and Moscovy, married, in 96 1, Anne, 
 sister of Basilius, the second Grecian emperor 
 of that name; and this zealous princess, by her 
 repeated entreaties and her pious importunity, 
 at length persuaded her reluctant spouse to re- 
 ceive the Christian faith, and he was accord- 
 ingly baptized, in 987, assuming on that occa- 
 sion the name of Basilius. Tlie Russians spon- 
 taneously followed the example of their prince; 
 
 (^ * It was Neui-tria, and not Bretagne, that re- 
 ceived the name of Normandy, from the Noriuans 
 who chose Rollo for their chief. 
 
 t Duglossi Historia Polonica, lib. ii. p. 91, lib. iii. 
 p. 95, 21)9. — Regenvolscii Historia Eccles. Slavon. lib. 
 ii.cap. i. p. 8.— Ilenr. Canisii Lectiones Antique, torn. 
 iii. part i. p. 41. — Solignac, Hist, de Pologne, torn. i. 
 p. 71. 
 
 we have, at least, no account of any compul- 
 sion or violence being employed in their con- 
 version;* and this is the true date of the entire 
 establishment of Christianity among that peo- 
 ple. Wlodomir and his duchess were placed 
 in the highest order of the Russian saints, and 
 are still worshipped at Kiow (where they were 
 interred) with the greatest devotion. The La- 
 tins, however, paid no such respect to the me- 
 mory of Wlodomir, whom they represented as 
 absolutely unworthy of saintly honours.j 
 
 VI. The Hungarians and Avari had receiv- 
 ed some faint notions of Christianity imder tlie 
 reign of Charlemagne, in consequence of the 
 measures that had been taken by that zealous 
 prince for the propagation of the Gospel. — 
 Tliese notions, however, were soon and easily 
 extinguished by various circumstances, which 
 took their rise from the death of Charlemagne: 
 and it was not before the century of which we 
 now write that the Cliristian religion obtained 
 a fixed settlement among these warlike na- 
 tions.]: Toward the middle of this century, 
 Bulosudes and Gyula or Gylas, two Turkish 
 cliiefs, whose govermnents lay upon the banks 
 of the Danube, § made public profession of 
 Christianity, and were baptized at Constanti- 
 nople. The former apostatized soon after to 
 the religion of his ancestors, while the latter 
 not only persevered steadfastly in his new pro- 
 fession, but also showed the most zealous con- 
 cern for the conversion of his subjects, who, 
 in consequence of his express order, were in- 
 structed in tlie doctrines and precepts of the 
 Gospel by Hierotheus, a learned prelate, by 
 wliom he had been accompanied in his journey 
 to Constantinople. Sarolta, the daughter of 
 Gylas, was afterwards given in marriage to 
 Geysa, the chief of the Hungarian nation, 
 whom she persuaded to embrace the divine re- 
 ligion in which she had been educated. The 
 faith, however, of this new convert was feeble 
 and unsteady, and he retained a strong propensi- 
 ty to the superstition which he had been engag- 
 ed to forsake; but his apostasy was prevented 
 by the pious remonstrances of Adalbert, arch- 
 bishop of Prague, who went into Hungary to- 
 ward the conclusion of this century, and by 
 whom also Stephen, the son of Geysa, was 
 baptized with great pomp and solemnity. It 
 was to tliis young prince that the Gospel was 
 principally indebted for its propagation and es- 
 tablishment among the Hungarians, whose ge- 
 neral conversion was the fruit of his zeal for 
 the cause of C'hrist; for he perfected what his 
 father and grandfather had only begun; fixed 
 bishops, with large revenues, in various places; 
 erected magnificent temples for divine worship; 
 and, by the influence of instructions, threaten- 
 iiigs, rewards, and punishments, brought his 
 subjects, almost witliout exception, to aban- 
 don the wretched superstition of their idola- 
 
 * See Anton. Pajri Critica in Baron, torn. iv. ad 
 annum Wi, p. ,i.i, et. ad an. 1015, p. 110. — Car. du 
 Fresne, Famil. Byzant. p. 143. 
 
 t Ditmari. Merseb. Episcopi. Chronic, lib. vii. Ca- 
 ronic. p. 417, torn. i. Scriptor. Briinsvic. Leibnitii. 
 
 X Pauli Debrezeni Historia Eccles. Reformator. in 
 Unfiaria, part i. cap. iii. p. 19. 
 
 § The Hungarians and Transylvanians were, at 
 thi.i time, known to the Grecians by the name of 
 Turks. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 237 
 
 trous ancestors. These viijorous proceedings, 
 by which Stephen introduced the reliifion of 
 Jesus among the Hungarians, procured liini 
 the most distinguished honours of saintship in 
 succeeding ages.* 
 
 VII. The Christian religion was in a very 
 unsettled state among the Danes under the 
 reign of Gormon; and, notwithstanding the 
 protection it received from his queen, who pro- 
 fessed it publicly, it was obliged to struggle 
 with many difficulties, and to encounter much 
 opposition. The face of tilings changed, in- 
 deed, after the death of Gormon. His son 
 Harald, surnamed Blaatand, being defeated by 
 Otho the Great, in 949, embraced the Gospel, 
 and was baptized, together with his consort and 
 his son Sueno or Swein, by Adaldagus, arch- 
 bishop of Hamburg, or, as others allege, by 
 Pop])on a pious ecclesiastic, who attended the 
 emperor in this expedition. It is probable that 
 Harald, educated by his mother Tyra, who 
 was a Cliristian, was not extremely averse to 
 the religion of Jesus; it appears, however, cer- 
 tain, that his conversion was less the effect of 
 his own choice, than of the irresistible com- 
 mands of his victorious enemy; for Otho, per- 
 suaded that the Danes would never desist 
 from their hostile incursions and rapines, while 
 they persevered in the religion of their ances- 
 tors, which was calculated to nourish a ferocity 
 of temper, and to animate to military exploits, 
 made it the principal condition of the treaty 
 of peace, which he concluded with Harald, 
 that he and his subjects should receive the 
 Christian faith. | On the conversion of this 
 prince, Adaldagus and Poppon employed their 
 ministerial labours among the Cimbrians and 
 Danes, in order to engage them to imitate 
 such an illustrious example; and tlieir exhor- 
 tations were crowned with remarkable success, 
 to which the stupendous miracles performed 
 by Poppon are said to have contributed in a 
 particular manner. These miracles, indeed, 
 were of such a kind, as manifestly shows that 
 
 * The Greeks, Germans, Bnliemians, and Poles, se- 
 verally claim the honour of having heen the foiin- 
 clers of the Christian religion in Hungary; and their 
 respective pretensions have introduced not a little 
 cib.scurity into this matter. The Germans allege, 
 that the Christian religion was brought into Hun- 
 gary by Gisela, sister to their emperor Henry II., 
 who, being given in marriage to Stephen, tin: king 
 of that nation, persuaded that prince to embrace the 
 (Jospel. The Bohemians tell us, on the other h.iriil, 
 that it was by the ministry of Adalbert, archbishop 
 of I'rague, that Stephen was C(uivertod. 'J"he I'olis 
 affirm, that Geysa, having married a Christian prin- 
 cess of their nation, viz. Adelheid, sister to Micis- 
 laus, duke of Poland, was induciMJ by herremon-stran- 
 ces and exhortations to make profession of Christi- 
 anity. In consequence of a careful examination of 
 all these pritensions we have followed the senti- 
 ments and decisions of the Greek writers, after hav- 
 ing diligently compared them with the Hungarian 
 historians; and we are encouraged in this by the au- 
 thority of the learned Gabriel de Ju.vl.i Hornail. who, 
 in his Initia Ueligionis Christian.e inter Hungaros 
 Ecclesim oriental! adserta, published in 1741), de- 
 cides this (piesticm in favour of the Greeks. All 
 other accounts of the matter are extremely imper- 
 fect, and subject to many doubts and difficulties. 
 
 t Adami lirem. Hist. lib. ii. cap. ii. iii. p. l(i, cap. 
 XV. p. 20, in Lindenbrogii Scriptoribus rerum Septen- 
 trional. — Alb. Kranzii VVandalia, lib. iv. cap. xx. — 
 Ludwigii Reli(iuii« Manuscriptor. torn. ix. p. 10. — 
 Pontoppidani Annales Kcclcsia; Diplomatici, torn. i. 
 p. 59. 
 
 they derived their origin from human art, and 
 not from a divine interposition.* As long 
 as Harald lived, he used every wise and pro- 
 i)able method of conlinning hissul)jects in the 
 religion they had embraced. For this purpose 
 he established bishops in several parts of his do- 
 minions, enacted excellent laws, abrogated su- 
 perstitious customs, and imposed severe re- 
 straints upon all vicious and itnmoral practices. 
 But, after all these pious efforts, and salutary 
 measures, which promised such fair prospects 
 to the rising church, his son Sueno, or Swein, 
 apostatized from the truth, and, during a cer- 
 tain time, involved the Christians in the deep- 
 est calamity and distress, and treated them 
 with the greatest cruelty and injustice. This 
 persecuting tyrant felt, however, in his turn, 
 the heavy strokes of adversity, which produc- 
 ed a salutary change in his conduct, and hap- 
 pily brought him to a better mind; for, being 
 driven from his kingdom, and obliged to seek 
 his safety in a state of exile among the Scots, 
 he embraced anew the religion he had aban- 
 doned, and, on his restoration to his dominions, 
 exerted the most ardent and exemplary zeal in 
 the cause of Christianity, which he endeavour- 
 ed to promote to the utmost of his power. j 
 
 VIII. It was in this century, that the first 
 dawn of the Gospel arose upon the Norwegi- 
 ans, as we learn from the most authentic re- 
 cords. The conversion of that people was at- 
 tempted, in 933, by their monarch, Hagan 
 Adalsteen, who had been educated among the 
 English, and who employed certain ecclesias- 
 tics of that nation to instruct his subjects in 
 the doctrines of Christianity. But his pious 
 efforts were rendered fruitless by the brutal ol)- 
 stinacy, with which the Norwegians persever- 
 ed in their ancient prejudices; and the assidu- 
 ity and zeal with whicii his successor Harald 
 Graufeldt pursued the same plan of refonna- 
 tion, were also without effect. J The succeed- 
 ing princes, far from being discouraged by these 
 obstacles, persisted firmly in their worthy pur- 
 pose; and Haco, among others, yielding to the 
 intreaties of Harald, king of Denmark, to 
 whom he was indebted for the Norwegiah 
 crown, embraced, himself, the Christian reli- 
 gion, and recommended it with the greatest 
 fervour to his subjects, in an assembly of the 
 people, hoklcn in 945. § This rocomnwnda- 
 lion, notwithstanding the solemnity and zeal 
 with which it was accompanied, made little 
 impression upon the minds of this fierce and 
 barbarous people; nor were they entirely gain- 
 ed over by the zealous endeavours of Olaus to 
 convert them to Christianity, though the pious 
 diligence of that prince, wiiich procured him 
 the honour of saintship, was not alloorcther 
 without effect.|| But that which gave tiie fin- 
 ishing stroke to the conversion of the Norwe- 
 
 * Jo. .\dolph. Cypra>i Annales Episcopor. Slesvic. 
 cap. xiii. p. 'f'. — Adam Hreniens. lib. ii. cap. xxvi. p. 
 •2i. cap. xliv. p. 28. — .lo. Stephan. ad Saxonem Gram- 
 mat, p. 207.— Molleri Introduct. nd Hisloriam Cher- 
 sones. Cimbric. part ii. cap. iii. sect. 14. 
 
 t Saxon. Gramm. Ilistor. Dan. lib. x. |). 130.— Pon- 
 toppidan. de Gestis et Vestigiis Danorum extra Da- 
 niam, torn. ii. cap. i. sect. 1, 2. 
 
 t Kric. Pontoppidan. Annales Eccles. Danica) di- 
 plomat, torn. i. p. OG. 
 
 J Torfiei Historia Norvegica, torn. ii. p. 18.3, 214. 
 
 \i Torfstls p. 457. 
 
238 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part i. 
 
 gians was tlieir subjection to Sueno, or Swein, 
 king of Sweden, who, liaving defeated their 
 monarch Olans Tryg-gueson, became master 
 of Norway, and obhged its inhabitants to aban- 
 don the gods of their ancestors, and to embrace 
 universally tiie religion of Jesus.* Among the 
 various doctors who were sent to instruct this 
 barbarous people, the most eminent, both in 
 merit and authority, was Guthebald, an En- 
 glish priest. t From Norway, Christianity 
 spread its salutary light through tlie adjacent 
 countries, and was preached, with success, in 
 the Orkney islands, which were, at that time, 
 subject to the Norwegian kings, and also in 
 Iceland and Old Groenland ; for it is evident, 
 from many circumstances and records of im- 
 doubted authority, that the greatest part of the 
 inhabitants of these countries received the Gos- 
 pel in this century. J 
 
 IX. In Germany the pious exploits of Otho 
 the Great contributed, in a signal manner, to 
 promote the interest of Christianity, and to fix 
 it upon solid foundations throughout the em- 
 pire. This truly great prince, whose pious 
 magnanimity clothed him with a lustre infinite- 
 ly superior to that which he derived from his 
 imperial dignity, was constantly emploj'ed in 
 extirpating the remains of the ancient super- 
 stitions, and in supporting and confirming the 
 infant church, which in several provinces had 
 not yet attained any considerable degree of 
 consistence and vigor. That there might be 
 rulers and pastors to govern the church, and to 
 contribute both by their doctrine and example 
 to the reformation and improvement of an un- 
 polished and illiterate people, he established 
 
 (tij=' * Dr. Mosheim attributes here to Swein the 
 honor which is due to his predecessor Olaus Tryg- 
 gueson; if it can be deemed an lionour to have pro- 
 moted a rational and divine religion by compulsion 
 and violence, by tire and sword. Olaus, who had ab- 
 jured Paganism in England during his youth, in con- 
 sequence of a warm and pathetic discourse which he 
 had heard from a British priest, returned to Norway 
 with a firm resolution to propagate t'hristianity 
 throughout his dominions. For this piii puse he tra- 
 veled from one province to anotlier, .Ttteiidcd by a 
 chosen band of soldiers, and, sword in iiand, per- 
 formed the functions of missionary and apostle. — 
 His ministry, thus enforced, was followed with the 
 desired success throughout all the provinces, except 
 that of Drontheiin, which rose in rebellion agiiiiisi 
 him, and attacked Christianity with the same kind 
 of arguments that Olaus employed in establishing 
 it. This opposition occasioned several bloody bat- 
 tles, which en<ied, however, in the defeat of The re- 
 bels, and of the god Thor, their tutelar deity, whose 
 statue Olaus dragged from its place, and burned pub- 
 licly in the sight of his worshippers. This event de- 
 jected the courage of the inhabitants of Drontbeim 
 who submitted to the religion and laws of their con- 
 queror. And thus, before the reign of Sueno, at 
 least before the defeat of Olaus by that prince, Nor- 
 way was Christian. See the History of Denmark, 
 published in French by M. Mallet, vol. i. p. 52, 53. 
 
 t Chron. Danicum a Ludewigio editum in Keli- 
 quiis Manuscriptorum, torn. i.\. p. 11, l(i, 17. 
 
 I On the subject of the conversion of the inhabi- 
 tants of the Orkneys, see Torfaji Historia Rerum 
 Orcadens, lib. i. p. 22, and, for an account of the Ice- 
 landers, the reader may consult Arngrim Jonas' Cry- 
 raogaja, lib. i. and Arius' Multis. in Schedis Islandice; 
 as also Torfa;ns, Histor. Norveg. tom. ii. p. 378, 379, 
 417; and Gabriel Lirou's Singularites Historiques et 
 Literaires, tom. i. p. 138. — The same Torf^us gives 
 a full account of the introduction of Christianity 
 into Groenland, in his Histor. Norveg. torn. ii. p. 
 374, and also in his Groenlandia Antiqua, c. xvii. 
 p. 127. 
 
 bishops in several places, and generously 
 erected and endowed the bishoprics of Bran- 
 dcnljurg, Havelberg, Meissen, Magdeburg, and 
 Naumburg ; by which excellent establishments 
 the church was furnislied with eminent doctors 
 from various parts, whose instructions were the 
 occasion of raising up new laborers in the 
 spiritual harvest, and of thus multiplying the 
 ministers of Christ from time to time. It was 
 also through the mimificcnce of the same 
 prince, that many convents were erected fpr 
 those who, in conformity with the false piety 
 of the times, chose to finish their Christian 
 course in the indolent sanctity of a solitary 
 life ; and it was by his express order that 
 schools were established in almost every city 
 for the education of the youth. All this may 
 serve to show us the generosity and zeal of this 
 illustrious emperor, whose merit would have 
 surpassed the highest encomiinns, had his pru- 
 dence and moderation been equal to the fer- 
 vor of his piety and the uprightness of his in- 
 tentions. But the superstition of his empress,* 
 and the deplorable ignorance of the times, de- 
 luded this good prince into the notion, that he 
 obliged the Deity in proportion as he loaded 
 the clergy with riches and honors, and that 
 nothing was more proper to draw down upon 
 him the divine protection, than the exercise of 
 a boundless liberality to his ministers. In con- 
 sequence of this idle and extravagant fancy, 
 Otho opened the sources of his opulence, 
 which flowed into the church like an over- 
 grown torrent, so that the bishops, monks, and 
 the religious fraternities in general, wallowed 
 in wealth and abimdance. But succeeding ages 
 perceived the unliappy efliects of this excessive 
 and ill-judged mmiificence, when the sacred 
 orders employed this opulence, which they had 
 acquired without either merit or labor, in grati- 
 fying their passions, in waging war against all 
 who opposed their ambitious pretensions, and 
 in purchasing the various pleasures of a luxu- 
 rioiLS and effeminate life. 
 
 X. It was no doubtful mark of the progress 
 and strength of the Christian cause, that the 
 European kings and princes began so early as 
 this century to form the project of a holy war 
 against the Mohammedans, who were masters 
 of Palestine. They considered it as an intol- 
 erable reproach upon Christians, that the very 
 land in which the divine author of their reli- 
 gion had received his birth, had exercised his 
 ministry, and made expiation for the sins of 
 mortals, should be abandoned to the enemies of 
 the Christian name. They also looked upon it 
 as highly just, and suitable to the majesty of 
 the Christian religion, to avenge the calamities 
 and injuries, the persecution and reproach, 
 which its professors had suflered tmder the 
 Mohammedan yoke. The bloody signal was 
 accordingly given toward the conclusion of this 
 centiirj', by Sylvester II. in the first year of 
 his pontificate ; and this signal was an epistle, 
 written in the name of the church of .Jerusa- 
 lem, to the church universal throughout the 
 world, t in which the European powers were 
 
 •* See the life of the empress, whose name was 
 .\delaide, in the Lectiones .\ntiquie of Henry Cani- 
 sius, tom. iii. 
 
 t This is the twenty-eighth Epistle in the first part 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 239 
 
 solemnly exhorted and entreated to succour 
 and deliver the Christians in Palestine. The 
 pope's exhortations, liowcvnr, wore without 
 effect, cxce))t upon tlic inhabitants of'Pisa, wlio 
 are said to have obeyed tiie suinniotis with the 
 utmost alacrity, and to have prepared them- 
 selves immediately for a holy campaign.* 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Calamitous Events that happened 
 
 to the Church during this Ccnlury. 
 
 I. The Christian reliifion suft'cred less in 
 this century from the cruelty of its enemies, 
 than from the defection of its friends. Of all 
 the pagan monarchs, imdcr whose govermnent 
 the Christians lived, none behaved to them in 
 a hostile manner, or tormented them with tlie 
 execution of compulsive edicts or penal laws, 
 except Gormon and Swein, kinos of Denmark. 
 Notwithstanding this, their atl'airs were far 
 from being either in a fixed or flourishing state ; 
 and their situation was full of micertainty and 
 peril, both in the eastern and western provinces. 
 The Saracens in Asia and Africa, amidst the 
 intestine divisions mider which they groaned, 
 and tiie calamities that overwhelmed them 
 from different quartei's, were extremely assidu- 
 ous in propagating the doctrines of Moham- 
 med ; nor were their efforts unsuccessful. 
 Multitudes of Christians fell into their snares ; 
 and the Turks, a valiant and fierce nation, 
 who iniiabited the nortliern coast of the Cas- 
 pian sea, received their doctrine. Tlie uni- 
 formity of religion did not, however, produce 
 a solid union of interest between the Turks and 
 Saracens; on the contrary, their dissensions 
 and quarrels were never more violent than 
 from the time that Mohammed became their 
 common chief in religious matters. The Per- 
 sians, whose country was a prey to the ambi- 
 tious usurpations of the latter, implored the 
 aid of the former, by whom succours were 
 granted with the utmost alacrity and readi- 
 ness. The Turks accordingly fell upon the 
 Saracens in a furious manner, drove them out 
 of the whole extent of the Persian territories, 
 and afterwards, witli incredible rapidity and 
 success, invaded, seized, and plundered the 
 otiier provinces that belonged to that pooi)le, 
 whose desolation, in reality, came on like a 
 whirlwind. Thus tiie powerful empire of the 
 Saracens, which its enemies had iijr so many 
 years attempted in vain to overturn, fell at 
 last by the hands of its allies and friends. The 
 Turks accomplisiied wliat the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans ineiVc('tu;illy aimed at; they struck sud- 
 denly that dri'adt'ul blow, which ruined at once 
 the affairs of the Saracens in Persia, and then 
 deprived them by degrees of their other do- 
 minions ; and thus the Ottoman empire, which 
 is still an ol)ject of terror to the Christians, 
 was esttablished upon the ruins of the Saracen 
 dominion.! 
 
 II. In the western provinces, the Christians 
 
 of the coll(>ction of the; loiters of Sylvester II. pub- 
 lished by Du-Chesne, in the third volume of his 
 Scriptor. Tlistor. Franc. 
 
 '''Sec Muratori, Scriplores Kerura Italicarum, toiii. 
 iii. p. 400. 
 
 t For a more ample account of these revolutions, 
 
 had much to suffer from the hatred and cruelty 
 of those who remained under the darkness of 
 paganism. The Normans, during a great part 
 of this century, cotnmitled, in several parts of 
 France, the most barbarous hostilities, and in- 
 volved the ("hristians, wherever they carried 
 their victorious arms, in numberless calamities. 
 The Sarmatians, Sclavonians, Bohemians, and 
 others, who had either conceived an aversion 
 for the Gospel, or were sunk in a stupid igno- 
 rance of its intrinsic excellence and its immor- 
 tal blessings, not only endeavoured to extir- 
 pate Christianity out of their own territories 
 by tlie most barbarous efforts of cruelty and 
 violence, but infested the adjacent countries, 
 wliere it was professed, with fire and sword, 
 and left, wherever they went, the most dread- 
 ful marks of their unrelenting fury. The 
 Danes, moreover, did not cease to molest the 
 Christians, until they were subdued by Otho 
 the Great, and thus, from being the enemies, 
 became the friends of the Christian cause. The 
 Hmigarians also contributed their part to the 
 sufferings of the church, by their incursions 
 into several parts of Germany, which tliey 
 turned into scenes of desolation and misery ; 
 while the fierce Arabs, by their tyranny in 
 Spain, and their depredations in Italy and the 
 neighbouring islands, spread calamity and op- 
 pression all around them, of which, no doubt, 
 the Clu-istians established in those parts had 
 the heaviest portion. 
 
 III. Whoever considers the endless vexa- 
 tions, persecutions, and calamities, which the 
 Christians suffered from the nations that con- 
 tinued in their ancient superstitions^ will easily 
 perceive the reason of tliat fervent and inextin- 
 guishable zeal, which Christian princes disco- 
 vered for the conversion of those nations, 
 wliose impetuous and savage fury they expe- 
 rienced from time to time. A principle of self^ 
 preservation, and a prudent regtird to their 
 own safety, as well as a pious zeal for the 
 propagation of the Gospel, engaged them to 
 put in practice every method that miglit open 
 the eyes of their barbarous adversaries, from a 
 rational and well-grounded hope that the pre- 
 cepts of Clu'istianity would mitigate, by de- 
 gTees, the ferocity of these nations, and soften 
 tlieir rugged and intractable tempers. Hence 
 it was, that Ciiristian kings and emperors left 
 no means unemployed to draw these infidels 
 within the pale of the church. For this pur- 
 pose, they proposed to their chiefs alliances of 
 marriage, and offered them certain distncts 
 and territories, with auxiliary troops to main- 
 tain them against their enemies, upon condi- 
 tion that they would abandon the superstition 
 of their ancestors, which tended to nourish 
 their ferocity, and to increase their passion for 
 blood and carnage. These offers were attend- 
 ed with the desired sticcess, as they induced 
 the infidel chiefs not only to lend an ear them- 
 selves to the instructions and exhortations of 
 tlie Christian missionaries; but also to oblige 
 their subjects and armies to follow their exam- 
 ples in this important respect. 
 
 see the Annales Turcici of Lennrlavius. and Elma- 
 cini Historia Saracenica. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Concerning the State of Letters and Philosophy 
 during this Century. 
 I. The deplorable ignorance of this barba- 
 rous age, in wliicia the drooping arts were to- 
 tally neglected, and the sciences seemed to be 
 on the pointof expiring for want of encourage- 
 ment, is unanimously confessed and lamented 
 by all the writers who have transmitted to us 
 any accomits of this period. Nor, indeed, will 
 this fatal revolution, in the republic of letters, 
 appear astonishing to such as consider, on one 
 hand, the terrible vicissitudes, tumults, and 
 wars, that threw all things into confusion both 
 in the eastern and western world, and, on the 
 other, the ignominious stupidity and dissolute- 
 ness of those sacred orders which had been ap- 
 pointed as the guardians of truth and learning. 
 Leo, surnamed the Philosopher, who ascended 
 the imperial throne of the Greeks toward the 
 commencement of this century, was himself an 
 eminent lover of learning, and an auspicious 
 and zealous protector of such as distinguished 
 themselves in the culture of the sciences.* 
 This noble and generous disposition appeared 
 with still greater lustre in his son Constantino 
 Porpliyrogeneta, who evinced the greatest ar- 
 dor for the revival of the arts and sciences in 
 Greece, t and employed what he deemed the 
 most effectual measures for the accomplish- 
 ment of this excellent purpose. It was with 
 this view that he spared no expense in draw- 
 ing to his court, and supporting in his domin- 
 ions, a variety of learned men, each of whom 
 excelled in some of the ditlerent branches of 
 literature, and in causing the most diligent 
 search to be made for the writings of the an- 
 cients. With this view, also, he liecame him- 
 self an author,J and thus animated by his ex- 
 am]>le, as well as by his protection, men of 
 genius and abilities to enrich the sciences with 
 their learned productions. He employed, 
 moreover, a considerable number of able pens, 
 in making valuable extracts from the commen- 
 taries and other compositions of the ancients ; 
 which extracts were preserved in certam places 
 for the benefit and satisfaction of the ciuious ; 
 and thus, by various exertions of liberality and 
 zeal, this learned prince restored the arts and 
 sciences to a certain degree of life and vigor. § 
 But there were few of the Greeks who followed 
 
 * See Jo. Alb. Fabricii Biblioth. GrEC. lib. v. part 
 ii. cap. V. p. 363. 
 
 t Fabriciiis, lib. v. part ii. cap. v. p. 486. 
 
 OU- I We have yet remaining the following pro- 
 ductions of this prince : The Life of the Emperor 
 Basilius; — a Treatise upon the Art of Governing, in 
 which he investigates the origin of several nations, 
 treats of their power, their progress, their revolu- 
 tions, and their decline, and gives a series of their 
 princes and rulers;— a Discourse concerning the 
 Manner of forming a Land Army and Naval Force 
 in Order of Battle; — Two Books concerning the eas- 
 tern and western Provinces, which may be consider- 
 ed as an account of the state of the empire in the 
 time of this prince. 
 
 § All this appears evident from the accounts left 
 upon record by Zonaras, in his Annalcs, tom. iii. 
 
 this great and illustrious example ; nor did any 
 of the succeeding emperors equal these two 
 excellent princes in zeal for the advancement 
 of learning, or in lending, by protection and 
 encouragement, an auspicious hand to raise, 
 out of obscurity and dejection, neglected and 
 depressed genius. But (what is still more re- 
 markable) Constantino Porphyrogeneta, whom 
 we have now been representing as the restorer 
 of letters, and whom the Greeks unanimously 
 admire in this character, is supposed by some 
 to have done considerable prejudice to the cause 
 of learning by the very means he employed to 
 promote its advancement ; for, by employing 
 learned men to extract from the writers of an- 
 tiquity what they thought might contribute to 
 the improvement of the various arts and 
 sciences, he gave too much occasion to neglect 
 the sources, and flattered the indolence of the 
 effeminate Greeks, who confined their studies 
 to these extracts, and neglected, in effect, the 
 perusal of the writers from whom they were 
 drawn. Hence it unfortunately happened, 
 that many of the most celebrated authors of 
 antiquity were lost, at this time, through the 
 sloth and negligence of the Greeks. 
 
 II. This method, as the event manifestly 
 showed, was really detrimental to the pro- 
 gress of true learning and genius. And ac- 
 cordingly we find among the Greek writers 
 of this century only a small number, who ac- 
 quired a distinguished and shining reputation 
 in the republic of letters; so that the fair and' 
 engaging prospects which seemed to arise in 
 the cause of learning from the munificence 
 and zeal of its imperial patrons, vanished in a 
 short time; and though the seeds of science 
 were richly sown, the natural expectations of 
 an abundant harvest were ursliappily disap- 
 pointed. Nor did the cause of philosophy 
 succeed better than that of literature. Philo- 
 sophers indeed there were', and some of them 
 were not destitute of genius and abilities; but 
 not one of them rendered his name immortal 
 by productions that were worthy of being 
 transmitted to posterity. A certain number of 
 rhetoricians and grammarians, a few poets 
 who were above contempt, and several histo- 
 rians who, without deserving the highest en- 
 comiums, were not totally destitute of merit, 
 were the members tliat composed, at this 
 time, the republic of letters in Greece, whose 
 inhabitants seemed to take pleasure in those 
 kinds of literature alone, in which industry, 
 imagination, and memory are concerned. 
 
 III. Egypt, though at this time it groaned 
 imder a heavy and exasperating yoke of op- 
 pression and bondage, produced writers, who, 
 in genius and learning, were no-wise inferior 
 to the most eminent of the Grecian literati. 
 Among the many examples we might mention 
 to prove the truth of this assertion, we shall 
 confine ourselves to that of Eutychius, bishop 
 of Alexandria, who cultivated the sciences of 
 physic and theology with the greatest success, 
 and cast a new light upon them both by his 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 241 
 
 excellent writings. The Arabians, during this 
 whole century, preserved that noble passion 
 for the arts and sciences, which had been 
 kindled among them in the preceding age; and 
 hence their country abounded with physicians, 
 mathematicians, and philosophers, whose 
 names and characters, togctlier with an ac- 
 count of their respective abilities and talents, 
 are given by Leo Africanus and otlier literary 
 liistorians. 
 
 IV. The Latins present to us a spectacle of 
 a very diftcrent kind. Tiiey were almost with 
 out exception sunk in the most brutish and 
 barbarous ignorance; so that, according to the 
 unanimous accounts of the most credible writ- 
 ers, nothing could be more melancholy and 
 deplorable than the darkness that reigned in 
 the western world during this century, which, 
 with respect to learning and philosophy at 
 least, may be called the Iron Jlge of the Lat- 
 ins.* Some learned men of modern times 
 have, we confess, ventured to call this in 
 question: but their doubts are certainly with- 
 out foundation, and the matter of fact is too 
 firmly established by unquestionable authori- 
 ties to lose any part of its credit in conse- 
 quence of the objections they allege against 
 it.f It is true, there were public schools 
 fomided in most of the European provinces, 
 some of which were erected in tlie monaste- 
 ries, and tiie rest in those cities where the 
 bishops resided. It is also true, that through 
 this dismal night of ignorance there shone 
 forth from time to time, and more especially 
 toward the conclusion of this century, some 
 geniuses of a superior order, who eyed with 
 ardour the paths of science, and cast some 
 rays of light upon the darkness of a barbarous 
 age. But they were very few in number, and 
 their extreme rarity is a sufficient proof of the 
 infelicity of the times in which they appeared. 
 In the seminaries of learning, such as they 
 were, the seven liberal arts were taught in the 
 most unskilful and miserable manner by the 
 monks, who esteemed the arts and sciences no 
 farther than as they were subservient to the in- 
 
 * The testimonies llial prove the ignorance 
 which prevailed in the tenth century, are collected 
 by Du lionlay, in his Historia Acad. Paris, torn. i. p. 
 idP; and also hy Liid. Ant. Muratori, in his Ami- 
 quitat. Ital. meilii ^Evi, torn. iii. p. 831, et toui. ii. p. 
 141, &c. 
 
 t The famous Leibnitz, in his preface to the Cod. 
 Juris Nat. et (Pentium Diplomat, atfirms that more 
 knowledge and lianiinir existed in the tenth Cen- 
 tury, than in the siiccerdin;,' aj;es, particularly in the 
 twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But this is wash 
 ing the Kthiopian; it is an extravagant assertion, 
 and borders upon paradox. We shall be luitir di 
 reeled in our notions of this matter by Mabillon, in 
 his Pra-fat. aA Act. Bened. Quint. Sa^c. p. 2, by the 
 authors of the Flistoire Literaire de la Franrc, and 
 by Le Bceufs Disscirtat. de Statu Literarum in Fran- 
 cia, a Carolo M. ad Regem Robertum; who all agree 
 in acknowledging thi' gross ignorance of this cen- 
 tury, though they woulil engage us to believe tli;it 
 its barbarism and darkness were not so hideous as 
 they are connuonly represented. There are, indeed, 
 several considerations that render the reasons and' 
 testimonies even of these writers not a little di tec 
 live; but we agree with them so far, as to grant lli.it 
 all learning and knowleri<;e were not absolutely ex- 
 tinguished in Europe at this time, and that, iii the 
 records of this century, we shall find a few chosen 
 spirits, who pierced through the cloud of ignorance 
 that covered the multitude. 
 Vol. I.— 31 
 
 terests of religion, or, to speak more properly, 
 to the views of superstition. 
 
 V. They who were the most learned and 
 judicious among the monastic orders, and who 
 were desirous of employing usefully a part of 
 their leisure, applied tliemselves to the com- 
 position of annals and histories, which savoured 
 of tlie ignorance and barbarism of the times. 
 Such were Abo, Luitprand, Wittekind, Ful- 
 cuin, Jolianncs Capuanus, Ratherius, Flo- 
 doard, Notkcr, Ethelbert, and others, who, 
 though very difl'erent from each other in their 
 respective degrees of merit, were all ignorant 
 of the true nature and rules of historical com- 
 position. Several of the poets of this age 
 gave evident marks of true genius; but they 
 were strangers to the poetic art, which was 
 not indeed necessary to satisfy a people utterly 
 destitute of elegance and taste. The gram- 
 marians and rhetoricians of these unhappy 
 times are scarcely worthy of mention; their 
 method of instructing was full of absurdities; 
 and tlieir rules were trivial, and, for the most 
 part, injudicious. The same judgment may 
 be fonned in gx'ueral of the geometry, arith- 
 metic, astronomy, and music, which were 
 more or less taught in the public schools, and 
 of which a more particular account would be 
 iminstructive and insipid. 
 
 VI. The philosophy of the Latins extended 
 no farther tlian the single science of logic or 
 dialectics, which they looked upon as the sum 
 and substance of all human wisdom. But this 
 logic, which was so highly admired, was 
 drawn without the least perspicuity or method 
 from a book of Categories, which some have 
 unjustly attributed to Augustin, and others to 
 Porphyry. It is true, indeed, that the Timajus 
 of Plato, the Topica of Cicero and Aristotle, 
 and the book of the latter concerning inter- 
 pretation, with other compositions of the 
 Greeks and Romans, were in the hands of se- 
 veral of the doctors of this century, as we 
 learn from credible accomits; but the same ac- 
 counts inform us, that the true sense of these 
 excellent authors was scarcely understood by 
 any of those who daily perused them.* It will 
 appear, no doubt, surprising, that in such an 
 ignorant age such a subtile question as that 
 concerning miiversal ideas should ever have 
 been thought of; true however it is, that the 
 famous controversy, whether universal ideas 
 belonged to the class of objects or of mere 
 names (a controversy which perplexed and 
 bewildered the Latin doctors in succeeding 
 times, and gave rise to the opposite sects of the 
 Nominalists and Realists,) was started for the 
 first time in this century. Accordingly we 
 find, in several passages of the writers of this 
 period, tlie seeds and beginnhigs of this tedious 
 and intricate dispute. f 
 
 * Gunzo. Epistol. ad Monaehos Augienses in Mar- 
 fenne's Collect. Ampliss. Monumentor. Veter. torn, 
 iii. p. :i04. 
 
 t This appears evident from the following remark- 
 able passage, which the reader will find in the SO-lth 
 page of the work cited in the preceding note, and in 
 wliuii the learned Gunzo e.xpnsses himself in the 
 following manner: " Aristoteles, •;enus, speciem, 
 "differentiam, propriuni et accidens, subsistere de- 
 "negavit, qus Platont snbsistenlia persuasit. Aris- 
 " toteli an Platoni magis credendum putatis? Magna 
 " est utriusque auctoritas, quatenus \\\ audeat quis 
 
242 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 VII. The drooping sciences found an emi- 
 nent and illustrious patron, toward the conclu- 
 sion of this century, in the learned Gerbert, a 
 native of France, who, upon his elevation to 
 the pontificate, assiuiied the title of Sylvester 
 II. The genius of this famous pontiff was ex- 
 tensive and sublime, embracing all the branches 
 of literature; but its more peculiar bent was 
 turned toward mathematical studies. Mecha- 
 nics, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and 
 every other kind of knowledge that had the 
 least affinity to these important sciences, were 
 cultivated by this restorer of learning with the 
 most ardent zeal, and not without success, as 
 his writings abundantly testify; nor did he stop 
 here, but employed every method that was 
 proper to encourage and aiumate others to the 
 culture of the liberal arts and sciences. The 
 eifects of this noble zeal were visible in Ger- 
 many, France, and Italy, both in this and in 
 the following century; as by the writings, ex- 
 ample, and exhortations of Gerbert, many 
 were incited to the study of physic, mathema- 
 tics, and philosophy, and in general to the 
 pursuit of science in all its branches. If, in- 
 deed, we compare this learned pontiff with the 
 mathematicians of modern times, his merit, in 
 that pouit of view, will almost totally disap- 
 pear under such a disadvantageous compari- 
 son; for his geometry, though it be eas}' and 
 perspicuous, is merely elementary and superfi- 
 cial.* Yet, such as it was, it was marvellous 
 in an age of barbarism and darkness, and sur- 
 passed the apprehension of tliose pygmy philo- 
 sophers, whose eyes, under the auspicious di- 
 rection of Gerbert, were just beginning to 
 open upon the light. Hence it was, that the 
 geometrical figures, described by tliis matlie- 
 matical pontiff", were regarded by the monks 
 as magical operations, and the pontilF himself 
 was treated as a magician and a disciple of 
 Satan. t 
 
 VIII. It was not however to tlie fecundity 
 of his genius alone, that Gerbert was indebted 
 for the knowledge with which he now began 
 to enlighten the European provinces; he had 
 derived a part of his erudition, particularly i)i 
 physic, mathematics, and pliilosophy, from the 
 writings and instructions of the Arabians, who 
 were settled in Spain. Thither he had re- 
 paired in pursuit of knowledge, and had spent 
 some time in the seminaries of learning at 
 Cordova and Seville, with a view of hearing 
 the Arabian doctors;! and it was, perhaps, by 
 his example, that the Europeans were directed 
 and engaged to have recourse to this source 
 of instruction in after times; for it is undenia- 
 bly certain, tliat from the time of Gerbert, 
 
 " alteram alteri digrnitate prsferro." Here vvc see 
 plainly the .'seeds of disrord sown, and the fminda- 
 tion laid tor that knotty dispute which puzzled the 
 metaphysical brains of the Latin doctors in after- 
 times. Gnnzo was not adventurous enough to at- 
 tempt a solution of this intricate question, v\liichhe 
 leaves undecided; others were less modest, without 
 beino; more successful. 
 
 * This work was published by Peziiis, in his The- 
 saurus Anecdotorum, tom. iii. part ii. p. 7. 
 
 t See the Hist. Liter, de la France, tom. vi. p. 
 558.— Du Houlay, Hist. Acad. Paris, tom. i. p. 314, 
 319. — Naude, Apolo^ie pour les Grands Honimes 
 faussement acxuses de la Magie, chap. xix.. sect. 1. 
 
 t Du Boulay, tom. i. p. 311. 
 
 such of the Europeans as were ambitious of 
 making any considerable progress in physic, 
 arithmetic, geometry, or philosophy, enter- 
 tained the most eager and impatient desire of 
 receiving instruction either from the academi- 
 cal lessons, or from the writings of the Arabian 
 philosophers, who had founded schools in se- 
 veral parts of Spain and Italy. Hence it was, 
 that the most celebrated productions of these 
 doctors were translated into Latin; their tenets 
 and systems were adopted with zeal in the 
 European schools; and numbers went over to 
 Spain and Italy to receive instruction from the 
 mouths of these famous teachers, which were 
 supposed to utter nothing but tire deepest mys- 
 teries of wisdom and knowledge. However 
 excessive this veneration for the learned Ara- 
 bians may have been, it must be owned, that 
 all the knowledge, whether of physic, astro- 
 nomy, philosophy, or mathematics, which 
 flourished in Europe from the tenth century, 
 was originally derived from them: and that the 
 Spanisli Saracens, in a more particular man- 
 ner, may be looked upon as the fathers of Eu- 
 ropean philosophy. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 Church, and its Form of Government during 
 this Century. 
 
 I. To those who consider the primitive di^ 
 nity and the soleirm nature of the ministerial 
 character, the corruptions of the clergy must 
 appear deplorable beyond all expression. 
 These corruptions had risen to the most enor- 
 mous height in that dismal period of the 
 church which we have now before us. Both 
 in the eastern and western provinces, the 
 clergy were, for the most part, a most worth- 
 less set of men, shamefully illiterate and stu- 
 pid, ignorant more especially in religious mat- 
 ters, equally enslaved to sensuality and super- 
 stition, and capable of the most abominable 
 and flagitioits deeds. This dismal degeneracy 
 of the sacred order, according to the most cre- 
 dible accounts, principally arose from the 
 scandalous examples of those who ought to 
 have presented models of good conduct, — 
 namely, the pretended chiefs and rulers of the 
 miiversal church, who indulged themselves in 
 tlie commission of odious crimes, and aban- 
 doned themselves to the lawless impulse of the 
 most licentious passions without reluctance or 
 remorse; who confomided, in short, all differ- 
 ence between just and imjust acts, to satisfy 
 their impious ambition; and whose spiritual 
 empire was such a diversified scene of iniquity 
 and violence, as never was exhibited under 
 any of those temporal tyrants, who have been 
 the scourges of mankind. We may form some 
 notion of the Grecian patriarchs from the sin- 
 gle example of Theophylact, who, according 
 to the testimonies of the most respectable 
 writers, made the most iinpious traffic of ec- 
 clesiastical promotions, and expressed no sort 
 of care about any thing but his dogs and 
 horses.* Degenerate, however, and licentious 
 
 fl^" *This exemplary prelate, who sold every ec- 
 clesiastical benefice as soon as jt became vacant 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 243 
 
 as these patriarchs might be, they were, in 
 ffeneral, less profligate and indecent than the 
 Roman pontiffs. 
 
 II. The history of the popes, who lived in 
 this century, is a history of so many monsters, 
 and not of men, and exhibits a horrible series 
 of the most flagitious, tremendous, and com- 
 plicated crimes, as all writers, even those of 
 the Romish communion, unanimously con- 
 fess. The source of these disorders must be 
 sought principally in the calamities that foil 
 upon the greatest part of Europe, and which 
 afflicted Italy in a particular manner, after 
 the extinction of the race of Charlemagne. On 
 the death of Benedict IV., in 903, Leo V. was 
 raised to the pontificate, which he enjoyed no 
 longer than forty days, being dethroned by 
 Christopher, and cast into prison. Christo- 
 pher, in his turn, was deprived of the pontifi- 
 cal dignity m the following year by Sergias 
 III., a Roman presbyter, seconded by the pro- 
 tection and influence of Adalbert, a most pow- 
 erful Tuscan prince, who had a supreme and 
 unlimited direction in all the affairs that were 
 transacted at Rome. Anastasius III., and 
 Lando, who, on the death of Sergius, in 911, 
 were raised successively to the papal dignity, 
 enjoyed it but for a short time, and did nothino- 
 that could contribute to render their names 
 illustrious. 
 
 III. After the death of Lando, which hap- 
 pened 914, Alberic,* marquis or count of Tus- 
 cany, whose opulence was prodigious, and 
 whose authority in Rome was despotic and 
 unlimited, obtained the pontificate for John 
 X., archbishop of Ravenna, in compliance with 
 the solicitation of Theodora, his mother-in-law, 
 whose lewdness was the principle that inter- 
 ested her in this promotion.! This infamous 
 election will not surprise such as know that the 
 laws of Rome were at this time absolutely si 
 lent ; that the dictates of justice and equity 
 were overpowered and suspended ; and that all 
 things were carried on in that great city by in- 
 terest or corruption, by violence or fraud. 
 John X., though in other respects a scandalous 
 example of iniquity and lewdness in the papal 
 chair, acquired a ccrtnin degree of reputation 
 by his glorious campaign against the Saracens, 
 whom he drove from the settlement which they 
 had made upon the banks of the Garigli- 
 
 had in liis stablo Jilxivf 2000 limiting; horses, \\ liich 
 he fed Willi piii-imt.'J. pislacliios, dates, dried grains, 
 and figs steeped in the most exquisite wines, to all 
 which he added thi; richest perfumes. On Holy 
 Thursday, as he was celebrating high-mass, his 
 groom brought him the joyful news that one of his 
 favourite mares had foaled; upon which ho tlirew 
 down the liturgy, left the church, and ran in rap- 
 tures to the stable, where having expressed his joy 
 at 'hat grand event, he returned to the altar lb 
 tinyih i\\v divine service, which he had left inter- 
 rupted during his absence. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. 
 livre Iv. 
 
 It^ * It was Albert oryAdalbert, of whom Dr. 
 Mosheim here speaks. Alberic was grandson to the 
 older Theodora, by her dauihtcr Marozia, who was 
 married to Albert. See Spanheim, Eccles. Hist. 
 Seoul. X. p. l-l'Ji.— Fleury, Hist, eccles. livre .'54. The 
 latter historian is of opinion, that it was the younger 
 Theodora, the sister of Marozia, who, from an amo- 
 rous principle, rai.sed John to the pontificate. 
 
 9l^ t Theodora, mistress of Rome, procured the 
 elevation of John, that she might continue the li- 
 centious commerce in which she had lived with that 
 cainal ecclesiastic for many years before. 
 
 ano.* Hedid not, however, long enjoy his glory; 
 for the enmity of Marozia, daughter of Theodora 
 and wife of Alberic, proved fatal to him; for 
 this inhuman female, having espoused Wido, 
 or Guy, marquis of Tuscany, after the death 
 of her first consort, engaged him to seize the 
 wanton pontifl', who was her mother's lover, 
 and to put him to death in the prison where he 
 lay confined. This licentious pontiff" was suc- 
 ceeded by Leo VI., who sat l)ut seven months 
 in the apostolic chair, which was filled after 
 him by Stephen VII. The death of the latter, 
 which happened in 931, presented to the am- 
 bition of NIarozia an object worthy of its grasp; 
 and accordingly she raised to the papal dignity 
 John XI., who was the fruit of her lawless 
 amours with one of the pretended successors 
 of St. Peter, Sergius III., whose adulterous 
 commerce with that infamous woman gave an 
 infaUible guide to the Romish church, j 
 
 IV. John XI., who was placed at the head 
 of the church by the credit and influence of 
 his mother, was pulled down from this summit 
 of spiritual grandeur, in 933, by Alberic his 
 half brother, who had conceived the utmost 
 aversion against him. His mother Marozia 
 had, after the death of Wido, entered anew 
 into the bonds of matrimony with Hugo, kino- 
 of Italy, who, having offended his step-son 
 Alberic, felt severely the weight of his resent- 
 ment, which vented its fury upon the whole 
 family; for Alberic drove out of Rome not 
 only Hugo, but also Marozia and her son the 
 pontiff", and confined them in prison, where the 
 latter ended his days in 936. The four pon- 
 tiffs, who, in their turns, succeeded John XL, 
 and filled the papal chair until the 3'ear 956, 
 were Leo VII., Stephen VIII., Marinus II., 
 and Agapet, whose characters were much 
 better than that of their predecessor, and 
 whose government, at least, was not attended 
 with those tumults and revolutions that had 
 so often shaken the pontifical throne, and ban- 
 ished from Rome the inestimable blessings of 
 peace and concord. On the death of Agapet, 
 which happened in 906; Alberic II., who to 
 the dignity of Roman consul joined a degree 
 of authority and opulence which nothing could 
 resist, raised to the pontificate his son Octo- 
 vian, who was yet in the early bloom of youth, 
 and destitute, besides, of every quality that 
 was requisite for discharging the duties of that 
 liigh and important othce. This unworthy 
 pontiff' assumed the name of John XII., and 
 thus introduced the custom that has since been 
 adopted by all his successors in the see of 
 
 {JlJ- * In the original we have Mmtcin Gnrilianum, 
 wliicli is, undoubtedly, a mistake, as the Carigliano 
 is a river in the kingdom of Naples, and not a moun- 
 tain. 
 
 t The character and conduct of Marozia are ac- 
 knowledged to have been most infamous by the gen- 
 eral testimony both of ancient and modern histori- 
 ans, who allirin, with one voice, that Jolm XI. was 
 tlie fruit of her carnal commerce with ^rrgius III. 
 Eccard alone (in his Origines Giielphir.T. tom. i. lib. 
 iii.)has ventured to clear her from this reproach, 
 and to assert, that Sergius, before his elevation to 
 the pontificate, was her lawful and first husband. 
 The attempt, however, is highly extravagant, if not 
 imprudent, to pretend to acquit, without the least 
 testimony or proof of her innocence, a woman who 
 is known to have been entirely destitute of every 
 principle of virtue. 
 
244 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Rome, of assuming another name upon the ac- 
 quisition of the pontificate. 
 
 V. The fate of John XII, was as unhappy 
 as his promotion had been scandalous. Una- 
 ble to bear the oppressive yoke of Berenger 
 II., king of Italy, he sent ambassadors, in 960, 
 to Otlio the Great, urging him to march into 
 Italy at the head of a powerful army, to deli- 
 ver the church and the people from the tyran- 
 ny mider which they groaned. To these en- 
 treaties the perplexed pontiff added a solemn 
 promise, that, if the German monarch would 
 come to his assistance, he would array him 
 with the purple and the other ensigns of sove- 
 reignty, and proclaim him emperor of the Ro- 
 mans. Otho received this ambassy with plea- 
 sure, marched into Italy at the head of a large 
 body of troops, and was accordingly saluted 
 by John with the promised title. The pontiff, 
 however, soon perceiving that he had acted 
 with too much precipitation, repented of the 
 step he had taken ; and, though he had sworn 
 allegiance to the emperor, as his lawful sove- 
 reign, in the most solemn manner, he broke 
 his oath, and joined with Adalbert, the son of 
 Berenger, against Otho. This revolt was not 
 left unpunished. The emperor returned to 
 Rome in 963 ; called a council, before which 
 he accused and convicted the pope of many 
 crimes ; and, after having degraded him in the 
 most ignominious manner from his high office, 
 he appointed Leo VIII. to fill his place. On 
 Otho's departure from Rome, John returned 
 to that city, and in a council, which he assem- 
 bled in 964, condemned the pontiff whom the 
 emperor had elected, and soon after died in a 
 miserable and violent manner. After his death 
 the Romans chose Benedict V., bishop of 
 Rome, in opposition to Leo ; but the emperor 
 annulled this election, restored Leo to the pa- 
 pal chair, and carried Benedict to Hamburg, 
 where he died in exile.* 
 
 VI. The prelates who governed the see of 
 Rome from Leo VIII., who died in 956, to 
 Gerbert, or Sylvester II., who was raised to 
 the pontificate toward the conclusion of this 
 century, were more happy in their administra- 
 tion, as well as more decent in their conduct, 
 than their infamous predecessors ; yet none of 
 them acted in so exemplary a manner as to 
 deserve the applause that is due to eminent 
 virtue. John XIII., who was raised to the 
 pontificate in 965, by the authority of Otho 
 the Great, was driven out of Rome in the be- 
 gimiing of his administration ; but in the fol- 
 lowing year, on the emperor's return to Italy, 
 he was restored to his high dignity, in the 
 
 * In the account I have here given of tlie pontifts 
 of tliis century, I have consulted Muiatori's Scrip- 
 tores Rerum Italicarum, as also Baronius, Peter ile 
 Marca, Si<;onius de Regno Italiae (wiili the learned 
 annotations of Ant. Saxius,) the same Muratori in 
 his Annales Italite, Pagi, and other writers, all of 
 whom had access to the fountain-head, and to seve- 
 ral ancient manuscripts, not yet published. The 
 narrations I have here given, are certainly true upon 
 the whole. It must, however, be confessed, that 
 many parts of the papal history lie yet in great ob- 
 scurity, and, therefore, require farther illustration ; 
 nor will I deny that a spirit of partiality has been 
 extremely detrimental to the history of the pontifls, 
 by corrupting it, and rendering it uncertain in a 
 multitude of places. 
 
 calm possession of which he ended his days in 
 972. His successor Benedict VI. was not so 
 happy. Thrown into prison by Crescentius, 
 son of the famous Theodora, in consequence 
 of the hatred which the Romans had conceived 
 both against his person and government, he 
 was loaded with all sorts of ignominy, and 
 was strangled in 974, in the apartment where 
 he lay confined. Unfortunately for him, Otho 
 the Great, whose power and severity had kept 
 the Romans in awe, died in 973 ; and with him 
 expired that order and discipline which he had 
 restored in Rome by salutary laws executed 
 with impartiality and vigor. That event 
 changed the aspect of aflfairs. Licentiousness 
 and disorder, seditions and assassinations, re- 
 sumed their former sway, and diffused their 
 horrors through that miserable city. After the 
 death of Benedict, the papal chair was filled 
 by Franco, who assumed the name of Boniface 
 VII., but enjoyed his dignity only for a short 
 time ; for scarcely a month had passed after 
 his promotion, when he was deposed from his 
 office, expelled from the city, and succeeded 
 by Donus II.,* who is known by no other cir- 
 cumstance than his name. Upon his death, 
 which happened in 975, Benedict VII. was 
 created pontiff; and, during the space of nine 
 years, ruled the church without much opposi- 
 tion, and ended his days in peace. This pecu- 
 liar happiness, without doubt, principally re- 
 sulted from the opulence and credit of the fa- 
 mily to which he belonged ; for he was nearly 
 related to the famous Alberic, whose power, 
 or rather despotism, had been unlimited in 
 Rome. 
 
 VII. His successor John XIV., who from 
 the bishopric of Pavia was raised to the ponti- 
 ficate, derived no support from his birth, which 
 was obscure ; nor did he continue to enjoy the 
 protection of Otho III., to whom he owed his 
 promotion. Unsupported as he thus was, ca- 
 lamities fell upon him with fury, and misery 
 concluded his transitory grandeur ; for Boni- 
 face VII., who had usurped the papal throne 
 in 974, and in a little time after had been ban- 
 ished from Rome, returned from Constantino- 
 ple (whither he had fled for refuge,) seized the 
 unhappy pontiff, threw him into prison, and 
 afterwards put him to death. Thus Boniface 
 resumed the government of the chm-ch ; but 
 his reign was also transitory ; for he died about 
 si.x months after his restoration.! He was suc- 
 ceeded by John XV., whom some writers call 
 John XVI., because, as they allege, there was 
 another John, who ruled the chm-ch during a 
 period of four months, and whom they conse- 
 quently call John X.V.\ Leaving it to the 
 reader's choice to call that John of whom we 
 speak, the XV th or the XVIth of that name, 
 
 gj" * Some writers place Donus II. before Bene- 
 dict VI. See the Tabulfe Synopticae Hist. Eccles. 
 by the learned Pfaff. 
 
 d?" t Fleury says, eleven months. 
 
 9[J=| Among these authors, is the learned Pfaff: 
 but the Roman Catholic writers, whom Dr. Mosheim 
 follows « ith good reason, do not reckon, among the 
 niimbRr of the pontilTs, that John who governed the 
 church of Rome, during the space of four months 
 after the death of Boniface VII., because he was 
 never duly invested, by consecration, with the papal 
 dignity. 
 
Chap. H. 
 
 we shall only observe that he possessed the 
 papal dignity from the year 985 to 996 ; that 
 his administration was as Imppy as the trou- 
 bled state of the Roman aflairs would permit ; 
 and that tlie tranquillity he enjoyed was not 
 80 much the effect of his wisdom and prudence, 
 as of his being a Roman l)y bijth, and a de- 
 scendant from noble and illustrious ancestors. 
 It is certain, at least, that his successor Greg- 
 ory v., who was a German, and who was 
 elected pontiff' by the order of Otho 111. in 
 996, met with a quite different treatment; for 
 Crescens, the Roman consul, drove him out of 
 the city, and conferred his dignity upon John 
 XV'I., formerly known by the name of Phila- 
 gathus. This revolution was not, however, 
 permanent in its effects ; for Otho III., alarmed 
 by these disturbances at Rome, marched into 
 Italy in 998, at the head of a powerful army ; 
 and, imprisoning the new pontiff', whom the 
 soldiers, in the first moment of their fury, had 
 maimed and abused in a most barbarous man- 
 ner, he re-instated Gregory in his former 
 honors. It was on the death of the latter pon- 
 tiff', which happened soon after his restoration, 
 that the same emperor raised to the papal dig- 
 nitj' his preceptor and friend, the famous and 
 learned Gerbert or Sj'lvester II., whose pro- 
 motion was attended with the universal appro- 
 bation of the Roman people.* 
 
 VIII. Amidst these frequent commotions, 
 and even amidst the repeated enormities and 
 flagitious crimes of those who gave themselves 
 out for Christ's vicegerents upon earth, the 
 power and authority of the Roman pontiff's 
 gradually and imperceptibly increased ; such 
 were the eff'ects of t!iat ignorance and super- 
 stition which reigned witliout control in these 
 miserable times. Otho the Great iiad indeed 
 published a solemn edict, prohibiting the elec- 
 tion of any pontiff" without the previous know- 
 ledge and consent of the emperor ; which de- 
 cree, as all writers unanimously agree, remain- 
 ed in force from the time of its publication to 
 the conclusion of this century. It is also to be 
 observed, that the same emperor (and likewise 
 his son and grandson, who succeeded him in 
 the empire) maintained, without interruption, 
 tlie right of supnnnacy over the city of Rome, 
 its territory, and its pontiff', as may be clearly 
 proved by a multitude of examples. It is, 
 moreover, equally certain that the German, 
 French, and Italian bishops, who were not ig- 
 norant of the nature of their privileges and the 
 extent of tlieir jurisdiction, were, during this 
 whole century, perpetually upon their guard 
 against every eventual attempt of the pope for 
 the exclusive assumption of a legislative au- 
 thority in tiie church. But, notwithstanding 
 all this, the bishops of Rome found the means 
 of augmenting their influence, and i)artly by 
 open violence, partly by secret and fraudulent 
 stratagems, encroached, not only upon tiie 
 privileges of the bishops, but also upon the ju- 
 
 )OCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 245 
 
 * The history of the poiUitfd uf this period is not 
 only extremely barren of interesting events, biU also 
 obscnre, anil uncertain in many respects. In the ac- 
 counts I have here s;iven of them, I have fi)lloweil 
 principally Lud. Ant. Muratori's Annales Italia?, and 
 the (.'onatus Chronologico-llistoricus de Komanis 
 Pontificihiis, which the learned Papi>brochius prefixed 
 to his Acta Sanctorum Mensis Maii. 
 
 risdiction and rights of kings and emperors.* 
 Their ambitious attempts were seconded and 
 vindicated by the scandalous adulation of cer- 
 tain mercenary prelates, who exalted the dig- 
 nity and prerogatives of, what they called, the 
 apostolic see, in the most pompous and ex- 
 travagant terms. Several learned writers have 
 observed, that in this century certain bishops 
 maintained publicly that the popes were not 
 only bishops of Rome, but of the whole world, 
 an assertion which hitherto none had ventured 
 to make ;t and that even among the French 
 clergy it had been affirmed by some, that the 
 authority of the bishops, thouglj divine in its 
 origin, was conveyed to them by St. Peter, tiie 
 prince of the apostles. + 
 
 IX. The adventurous ambition of the bish- 
 ops of Rome, who left no means unemployed 
 to extend their jurisdiction, exhibited an ex- 
 ample which the inferior prelates followed 
 with the most zealous and indefatigable emu- 
 lation. Several bishops and abbots had begun, 
 even from the time that the descendants of 
 Cliarlemagne sat on the imperial throne, to 
 enlarge tlieir prerogatives, and had actually 
 obtained, for their tenants and their posses- 
 sions, an immunity from the jurisdiction of the 
 counts and other magistrates, as also from 
 taxes and imposts of all kinds. But in this 
 century they carried their pretensions still 
 flirtlier ; aimed at the civil jurisdiction over the 
 cities and territories in which they exercised a 
 spiritual dominion, and even aspired to the 
 honors and authority of dukes, marquises, and 
 counts of the empire. Among the principal 
 circumstances that animated tlieir zeal in the 
 pursuit of these dignities, we may reckon tlie 
 perpetual and bitter contests concerning juris- 
 diction and other matters, tliat reigned between 
 the dukes and counts, who were governors of 
 cities, and the bishops and abbots, who were 
 their spiritual rulers. Tlie latter, therefore, 
 seizing the opportunity that was off'ered to 
 them by the superstition of the times, used 
 every method that might be eff'ectual to obtain 
 tliat high rank, which had hitherto stood in 
 the way of tlieir ambition ; and the emperors 
 and khigs to whom they addressed their pre- 
 sumptuous requests, generally granted them, 
 either from a dcsin; of pacifying the conten- 
 tions and quarrels that arose between civil and 
 military magistrates, or from a devout reve- 
 rence for the sacred order, or with a view to 
 augment their own authority, and to confirm 
 their dominion by the good services of the 
 bishops, whose influence was very great over 
 the minds of the people. Such were the diff'er- 
 ent motives that engaged princes to enlarge 
 the authority and jurisdiction of the clergy ; 
 and hence we see from this century down- 
 wards so many bishops and abbots invested 
 with characters, employments, and titles so 
 foreign to their spiritual offices and functions, 
 and clothed with the honors of dukes, mar- 
 quises, counts, and viscounts.§ 
 
 * Several examples of these usurpations may be 
 found in the Histoire du Droit Eccles. Francois, torn, 
 i. p. 217, edit, in 8 vo. 
 
 t Histoire Literaire de la France, torn. vi. p. 98. 
 
 i The same work, p. ]8ii. 
 
 § The learned Loui.s Thoniassin, in his book, de 
 Disciplina Ecclesix veteri et nova, torn. iii. lib. i. 
 
246 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 X. Beside the reproach of the grossest igno- 
 rance, which the Latin clergy in this century 
 so justly deserved,* they were also chargeable, 
 in a heinous degree, with two other odious 
 vices, even concubinage and simony, which the 
 greatest part of the writers of these unhappy 
 times acknowledge and deplore. As to the 
 former of these vices, it was practised too 
 openly to admit any doubt. The priests, and 
 what is still more surprising, even the sancti- 
 monious monks, fell victims to the triumphant 
 charms of the sex, and to the imperious domi- 
 nion of their carnal lusts; and, entering into 
 the bonds of wedlock or concubinage, squan- 
 dered away in a most luxurious manner, with 
 their wives and mistresses, the revenues of the 
 churcJi.j The other vice reigned with an equal 
 degree of impudence and licentiousness. Elec- 
 tions of bishops and abbots were no longer ad- 
 justed by the laws of the church; but kings 
 and princes, or their ministers and favoui'ites, 
 either conferred these ecclesiastical dignities 
 upon their friends and creatures, or sold them, 
 without shame, to the highest bidder.J Hence 
 it happened, that the most stupid and flagitious 
 wretches were frequently advanced to the most 
 important stations in the church; and that, 
 upon several occasions, even soldiers, civil ma- 
 gistrates, and counts, were by a strange meta- 
 morphosis converted into bishops and abbots. 
 Gregory VII. endeavoured, in the following 
 century, to put a stop to these two growing 
 evils. 
 
 XI. While the monastic orders, among th'e 
 Greeks and Orientals, still maintained an ex- 
 ternal appearance of religion and decency, the 
 Latin monks, toward the commencement of 
 this century, had so entirely lost sight of all 
 subordination and discipline, that the greatest 
 part of them knew not even by name tlie rule 
 of St. Benedict, which they were obliged to 
 observe. A noble Frank, whose name was 
 Odo, a man as learned and pious as the igno- 
 rance and superstition of the times would per- 
 
 cap. xxviii., has CDllected a uuiliitiide ol' (.■xauiples lo 
 prove that the titles and prerofratives of dukes and 
 counts were conferred upon certain prelates so early 
 as the ninth century ; and some bishops trace even 
 as far back as the eighth century the beginning of 
 that princely dominion which they now enjoy. But 
 notwithstanding all this, if I do not grossly err, 
 there cannot be produced any evident and indisputa- 
 ble example of this princely dominion, previous to 
 the tenth century. 
 
 * Ratherius, speaking of the clergy of Verona in 
 his Itinerarium, which is published in the Spicile- 
 gium of M. d'Acheri, torn. i. p. 3S1, says, that he 
 found many among them who could not even repeat 
 the Apostles' Creed. His words are, " Sciscitatus de 
 '■ fide illorum, inveni plurimos neque ipsum sapere 
 " Symbolum. qui fuisse creditur Apostnlorum." 
 
 t That this custom was introduced toward the 
 commencement of this century is manifest, from the 
 testimony of Ordericus Vitalis and other writers, 
 I and also from a letter of Mantio, bishop of Chalons 
 in Champagne, published by Mabillon, in his Ana- 
 lecta veterura. As to the charge brought against the 
 Italian monks, of their spending the treasures of 
 the church upon their wives or mistresses, see Hugo's 
 narrative de Monasterii Farfensis destructione, in 
 Muratori's Antiq. Ital. medii sevi, torn. vi. p. 278. 
 
 I Many infiimous and striking examples and 
 proofs of simoniacal practice may be found in the 
 work entitled Gallia Christiana, torn. i. p. 23, 37: 
 tom. ii. p. 173, 17!). Add to this Abbonis Apologeti- 
 cum, published at the end of the Codex Canon. 
 Pithsi, p 398, as also Mabillon's Annal. Benedict, 
 tom. v. 
 
 mit, endeavoured to remedy this disorder; nor 
 were his attempts totally unsuccessful. This 
 zealous ecclesiastic being created, in 927, ab- 
 bot of Cllugni, in the province of Burgundy, 
 on the death of Berno, not only obliged the 
 monks to live in a rigorous observance of 
 their rules, but also added to their disciphne a 
 new set of ceremonies, which, notwithstanding 
 the air of sanctity that attended them, were, 
 in reality, insignificant and trifling, and yet, at 
 the same time, severe and burthensome.* This 
 new rule of discipline covered its author with 
 glory, and, in a short time, was adopted in all 
 tiie European convents: for the greatest part 
 of the ancient monasteries, which had been 
 founded in France, Germany, Italy, Britain, 
 and Spain, received the rule of the monks of 
 Clugni, to which also the convents, newly es- 
 tablished, were subjected by their founders; 
 and thus it was, that the Order of Clugni, at- 
 tained that high degree of eminence and au- 
 thority, opulence and dignity, which it exhi- 
 bited to the Christian world in the following 
 century. t 
 
 XII. The more eminent Greek writers of 
 this century are easily numbered; among them 
 we find Simeon, high treasurer of Constanti- 
 nople, who, from his giving a new and more 
 elegant style to the Lives of the Saints, which 
 had been originally composed in a gross and 
 barbarous language, was distinguished by the 
 title of IVfetaphrast, or Translator.^ He did 
 not, however, content himself with digesting, 
 polishing, and embellishing the saintly chroni- 
 cle, but went so far as to augment it with a 
 
 * See Mabillon, Annal. Benedict, tom. iii. p. 386, 
 and Pr<ef. ad Acta Sanct. Ord. Benedict. Ssec. v. p.. 
 2(3. See also the Acta Sanctor. Bened. Sac. v. p. titj, 
 in which he speaks largely of Berno, the first abbot 
 of Clugni, who laid the foundations of that order, 
 and of Odo (p. 122,) who gave it a new degree of 
 perfection. The learned Helyot, in his Histoire des 
 Ordres Religienses, tom. v. p. iS4, has given a com- 
 plete and elegant history of the order of Clugni; and 
 the subsequent state of that famous monastery is 
 described by Martenne, in his Voyage Liter, de deux 
 Benedict, part i. p. 227. 
 
 t The inajority of ecclesiastical historians do not 
 appear to have perceived the true meaning and force 
 (if the word order in its application to the Cistertian 
 monks, those of Clugni, and other convents. They 
 imagine that this term signifies a new monastic in- 
 stitution, as if the Order of Clugni imported a new 
 sect of monks never before heard of. But this is ap- 
 parently a great error, into which they fall by con- 
 founding the ancient meaning of that term with the 
 sense in which it is used in modern times. The 
 word order, when employed by the writers of the 
 tenth century, signified no more at first than a cer- 
 tain form or rule of monastic discipline; but, from 
 this primitive signification, another (a secondary 
 one) was gradually derived: so that by the same 
 word is also understood, an association or confede- 
 racy of several monasteries, subjected to the same 
 rule of discipline under the jurisdiction and inspec- 
 tion of one common chief Hence we conclude, that 
 the Order of Clugni was not a new sect of monks, 
 such as were the Carthusian, Dominican, and Fran- 
 ciscan Orders; but signified, only, first, that new in- 
 stitution, or rule of discipline, which Odo had pre- 
 scribed to the Benedictine monks, who were settled 
 at Clugni, and, afterviards, that prodigious multi- 
 tude of monasteries throughout Europe, which re- 
 ceived the rule established at Clugni, and were 
 formed by association into a sort of community, of 
 which the abbot of Clugni was the chief. 
 
 X See Leo Allatius, de Simeonum Scriptis, p. i24.— 
 Jo. RoUandus, Prief. ad Acta Sanctorum Antwerp. 
 sect. iii. p. 6. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 247 
 
 multitude of trifling fables drawn from the te- 
 cundity of his own imagination. 
 
 Nicon, an Armenian monk, composed a 
 treatise concerning the Religion of tlie Arme- 
 nians, whicli is not altogether contemptible. 
 
 Some place in this century Olynipiodorus 
 and CEcmnenius,* vvlio distinguished them- 
 selves by those compilations which were 
 known by the name of Calencc, or Chains, and 
 of wliicli we have had occasion to speak more 
 than once in the course of this history. But it 
 is by no means certain, that tliese two writers 
 belong to the tenth century, and they are 
 placed there only by conjecture. 
 
 It is much more probable, that the learned 
 Suidas, author of tlie celebrated Greek Lexi- 
 con, lived in the period now before us. 
 
 Among the Arabians, no author acquired a 
 higher reputation than Eutycliius, bishop of 
 Alexandria, whose Annals, with several other 
 productions of his learned pen, are still extant. t 
 
 XIII. The most eminent of the Latin writers 
 of this century was Gerbert, or Sylvester II., 
 who has already been mentioned with tlie ap- 
 plause due to his singular merit- The other 
 writers of this age were not very eminent in 
 any respect. 
 
 Odo, who laid the foundations of the cele- 
 brated Order of Clugui, left several productions 
 m which the grossest superstition reigns, and 
 in whicli it is difficult to perceive the smallest 
 marks of true genius or solid judgment.]: 
 
 The learned reader will form a different 
 opinion of Ratlieir, bishoj) of Verona, whose 
 works, yet extant, afford evident proofs of sa- 
 gacity and judgment, and breathe throughout 
 an ardent love of virtue. § 
 
 Atto, bishop of Vercelli, composed a treatise, 
 depressuris Ecclesiasticis, i. e. concerning tlie 
 Sufferings and Grievances of the Church, 
 which shows in their true colours the spirit 
 and complexion of the times. || 
 
 Dunstan, the famous abbot of Glastonbury, 
 and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, com- 
 posed in favour of the monks a book de Con- 
 cordia Regularwn, i. e. concerning the Harmo- 
 ny of the Monastic Rules.H 
 
 Elfric, archbisliop of Canterbury, acquired a 
 considerable reputation, among the Anglo- 
 Saxons established in Britain, by various pro- 
 ductions.** 
 
 Burchard, bishop of Worms, is highly es- 
 teemed among the canonists on account of his 
 celebrated Decreta, divided into twenty books, 
 though a part of the merit of this collection of 
 canons may be considered as due to Olbert, 
 with whose assistance it was composed. ff 
 
 * For an account of Q^Icuuicnius, see Montfau 
 con's Biblioth. Coisliniuna, p. '274. 
 
 t See Jo. Allxjrt. Fabricii IJihliofrrapliia Antiqiia 
 ria, p. 179, — as also Euscbii Rcnamloti llistoria Pa 
 triarch. Alexandr. p. 347. 
 
 t Histoirc Literaire de la France, torn. vi. p. 22'J. 
 
 I Id. ibid. p. 33i». 
 
 i Id. ibid. p. 281. 
 
 HI?' IT See the ample account that is given of this 
 eminent prelate in Collier's Ecclesiastical History 
 of England, vol. i. cent. x. p. 181, 183, &.c. 
 
 jg=. *« We have a Grammar and a Dictionary com 
 posed by this learned prelate; as also an Aiiylo 
 Saxon translation of the lirst books of the Holy 
 Scripture, a History of the Church, and 180 sermons, 
 See Fleury, Hist. F,ccl. livre Iviii. 
 
 tt See the Chronicon Wormaliense in Ludvvig's 
 
 Odilo, archbishop of Lyons," was the author 
 of some insipid discourses, and other produc- 
 tions, whose mediocrity has almost sunk them 
 in a total oblivion. 
 
 As to the historical writers and annalists 
 who lived in this century, their works and abi- 
 lities have been already considered in their 
 proper place. 
 
 CHAPTER ni. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church 
 during this Centwy. 
 
 I. The state of religion in this century was 
 such as might be expected in times of prevail- 
 ing ignorance and corruption. The most im- 
 portant doctrines of Cliristianity were disfi- 
 gured and perverted in the most wretched 
 manner; and such as had preserved, in luiskil- 
 ful hands, their primitive purity, were never- 
 theless obscured with a multitude of vain opi- 
 nions and idle fancies, so that their intrinsic 
 excellence and lustre were little attended to. 
 This will appear evident to those who look 
 with the smallest degree of attention into the 
 writers of this age. Both Greeks and Latins 
 placed the essence and life of religion in the 
 worship of images and departed saints; in 
 seeking with zeal, and preserving with a de- 
 vout care and veneration, the sacred relics of 
 holy men and women, and in accumulating 
 riches upon the priests and monks, whose opu- 
 lence increased with the progress of supersti^ 
 tion. Scarcely did any Christian dare to ap- 
 proach the throne of God, without rendering 
 first the saints and images propitious by a so- 
 lemn round of expiatory rites and lustrations. 
 The ardour with whicli relics were sought 
 almost surpasses credibility; it had seized all 
 ranks and orders among the people, and had 
 become a sort of fanaticism and phrensy; and, 
 if the monks are to be believed, the Supreme 
 Being interposed, in a special and extraordi- 
 nary manner, to discover, to doting old wo- 
 men and bareheaded friars, the places where 
 the bones or carcases of the saints lay dis- 
 persed or interred. The fears of purgatory, 
 of that fire which was to destroy the remaining 
 iinpm'ities of departed souls, were now carried 
 to the greatest height, and far exceeded the 
 terrifying apprehension of infernal torments; 
 for they hoped to avoid the latter easily, by 
 dying enriched with the prayers of the clergy, 
 or covered with the merits and mediation of 
 the saints, while from the pains of purgatory 
 they thought there was no exemption. The 
 clergy, therefore, finding these superstitious 
 terrors admirably adapted to increase their 
 authority and to promote their interest, used 
 every method to augment them; and by the 
 most pathetic discourses, accompanied with 
 monstrous fables and fictitious miracles, they 
 laboured to establish the doctrine of purgatory, 
 and also to make it appear that they had a 
 mighty influence in that formidable region. 
 
 Keliquiie Manuscriptoruni, toni. ii. p. 43. — Histoire 
 Liter, de la France, toin. vii. p. 295. 
 
 LCI"* Odilo was abbot of C'lugni, and not archbi- 
 shop of Lyons; for he obstinately refused the latter 
 .station, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties em- 
 ployed both by pontiffs and emperors lo engage him 
 to accept It. See Fleiuy Hist. Ecel. livre lix. 
 
248 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H. 
 
 II. The contests concerning predestination 
 and grace, as also concerning the eucharist, 
 that had agitated the churcli in the preceding 
 century, were in tliis happily reduced to si- 
 lence. This was tlie result of the mutual tole- 
 ration that was practised by the contending 
 parties, who, as we learn from writers of un- 
 doubted credit, left it to each other's free 
 choice to retain, or to change their former 
 opinions. Besides, the ignorance and stupidity 
 of this degenerate age were ill suited to such 
 deep inquiries as these contests demanded; nor 
 was there any great degree of curiosity among 
 an illiterate multitude to know tlie opinions 
 of the ancient doctors concerning these and 
 other knotty points of theology. Thus it hap- 
 pened, that the followers of Angustin and Pe- 
 lagius flourished equally in this century; and 
 that, if there were many who maintained the 
 corporal presence of the body and blood of 
 Christ in the holy sacrament, there were still 
 more who either came to no fixed determina- 
 tion upon this point, or declared it publicly as 
 their opinion, that the divine Saviour was 
 really absent from the eucharistical sacrament, 
 and was received only by a certain inward im- 
 pulse of faith, in a manner wholly spiritual.* 
 This mutual toleration, as it is easy to con- 
 clude from what has been already observed, 
 must not be attributed either to the wisdom or 
 virtue of an age, which was almost totally 
 destitute of both. The truth of the matter is, 
 that the divines of this century wanted both 
 the capacity and the inclination to attack or 
 defend any doctrine, whose refutation or de- 
 fence required the smallest portion of learning 
 or logic. 
 
 III. That the whole Christian world was 
 covered, at this time, witli a thick and gloomy 
 veil of superstition, is evident from a prodi- 
 gious number of testimonies and examples, 
 which it is needless to mention. This horrible 
 cloud, which hid ahnost every ray of truth 
 from the eyes of tlie multitude, fm-nished the 
 priests and monks with many opportunities of 
 propagating absurd and ridiculous opinions, 
 which contributed not a little to confirm their 
 credit. Among these opinions, which so fre- 
 quently dishonoured the Latin church, and 
 produced from time to time such violent agita- 
 tions, none occasioned such a general panic, 
 or such dreadful impressions of terror or dis- 
 may, as a notion tliat now prevailed of the im- 
 mediate approach of the day of judgment. 
 This notion, which took its rise from a re- 
 markable passage in the Revelations of St. 
 
 * It is certain, that the Latin theologians of this 
 century differed much in their sentiments about the 
 manner in which the body and blood of Christ were 
 present in the eucharist; this is granted by such of 
 the Roman Catholic writers as have been ingenuous 
 enough to sacrifice the spirit of party to the love of 
 truth. That the doctrine of transubstantiation, as 
 it is commonly called, was unknown to the English 
 in this century, has been abundantly proved from 
 the public homilies, by Rapin de Thoyras, in his 
 History of England, vol. i. It is, however, to be 
 confessed, on the other hand, that this absurd doc- 
 trine was already adopted by several French and 
 German divines. Hi" For a more judicious account 
 of the opinions of the Anglo-Saxon church roncern- 
 ins the eucharist. see Collier's Ecclesiastical History 
 of Great Britain, vol. i. cent. x. 
 
 John,* and had been entertained by some doc- 
 tors in the preceding century, was advanced 
 publicly by many at this time; and, spreading 
 itself with an amazing rapidity through the 
 European provinces, it threw them into the 
 deepest consternation and anguish: for they 
 imagined that St. John had clearly foretold 
 that, after a thousand years from the birth of 
 Christ, Satan was t£> be let loose from his pri- 
 son; that Antichrist was to come, and the con- 
 flagration and destruction of the world were 
 to follow these great and terrible events. 
 Hence prodigious numbers of people abandon- 
 ed all their civil connexions and their parental 
 relations, and, giving over to the churches or 
 monasteries all their lands, treasures, and 
 worldly effects, repaired vyith the utmost pre- 
 cipitation to* Palestine, where they imagined 
 that Christ would descend from heaven to 
 judge the world. Others devoted themselves 
 by a solemn and voluntary oath to the service 
 of the churches, convents, and priesthood, 
 whose slaves they became, in the most rigor- 
 ous sense of that word, perfomiing daily their 
 heavy tasks; and all this from a notion that the 
 Supreme Judge would diminish the severity 
 of their sentence, and look upon them with a 
 more favourable and propitious eye, on ac- 
 count of their having made themselves the 
 slaves of his ministers. When an eclipse of 
 the sun or moon happened to be visible, the 
 cities were deserted, and their miserable inha- 
 bitants fled for refuge to deep caverns, and hid 
 themselves among the craggy rocks, and im- 
 der the benduig summits of steep mountains. 
 The opulent attempted to bribe the Deity, and 
 the saintly tribe, by rich donations conferred 
 upon the sacerdotal and monastic orders, who 
 were regarded as the immediate vicegerents 
 of heaven. Li many places, temples, palaces, 
 and noble edifices, both public and private, 
 were sufi'ered to decay, and were even delibe- 
 rately pulled down, from a notion that they 
 were no longer of any use, since the final dis- 
 solution of all things approached. In a word, 
 no language is sufficient to express the confu- 
 sion and despair that tormented the minds of 
 miserable mortals upon this occasion. This 
 general delusion was, indeed, opposed and 
 combated by the discerning few, who endea- 
 voured to dispel these groimdless terrors, and 
 to efface the notion from which they arose, in 
 the minds of the people. But their attempts 
 were ineffectual; nor could the dreadful ap- 
 prehensions of the superstitious multitude be 
 entirely removed before the conclusion of this 
 century. Then, when they saw that the 
 
 dts^* The passage here referred to, is in the twen- 
 tieth chapter of the Book of Revelations, at the 2d, 
 3<i, and 4th verses: "And he took hold of the dragon, 
 " that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and 
 " bound him a thousand years; — and cast him into 
 "the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal 
 " upon him, that he should deceive the nations no 
 " more till the thousand years should be fulfilled; 
 " and after that he must be loosed a little season. — 
 " And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
 "judgment was given unto them; and I saw the 
 " souls of them that were beheaded for the witness 
 "of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had 
 "not worshipped the beast, neither his image, nei- 
 " ther had received his mark upon their foreheads, or 
 " in their hands; and they lived and reigned with 
 "Christ a thousand years." 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 249 
 
 dreaded period had passed witliout the arrival 
 of any great calamity, tliey began to under- 
 stand tliat St. John had not really foretold 
 what they so much feared.* 
 
 IV. The number of the saints, who were 
 looked upon as ministers of the kingdom of 
 heaven, and wliose j)alronage was esteemed 
 such an unspeakable blessing, had now an ex- 
 traordinary increase ; and the celestial courts 
 were tilled with new legions of this species of 
 beings, some of which, as we have had former- 
 ly occasion to observe, had no existence but in 
 the imagination of their deluded clients and 
 worshippers. This multiplication of saints 
 may be easily accounted for, when we consider 
 that superstition, the source of fear, had risen 
 to such an enormous height in this age, as ren- 
 dered the creation of new patrons necessary to 
 cahn the anxiety of trembling mortals. Be- 
 sides, the corruption and impiety that now 
 reigned with a horrid sway, and the licentious- 
 ness and dissolution that had so generally in- 
 fected all ranks and orders of men, rendered 
 the reputation of sanctity very easy to be ac- 
 quired ; for, amidst such a perverse generation, 
 it demanded no great efforts of virtue to be 
 esteemed holy, and this, no doubt, contributed 
 to increase considerably the number of the ce- 
 lestial advocates. All those, to whom nature 
 had given an austere complexion, a gloomy 
 temper, or enthusiastic imagination, were, in 
 consequence of an advantageous comparison 
 with the profligate multitude, revered as the 
 favorites of heaven and the friends of God. 
 
 The Roman pontiff, who before this period 
 had pretended to the right of creating saints 
 by his sole authority, gave, in this century, the 
 fu'st specimen of this spiritual power ; for in 
 the preceding ages there is no example of his 
 having exercised this privilege alone. This 
 specimen was given in 993, by John XV., 
 who, with all the formalities of a solemn ca- 
 nonization, enrolled Udalric, bishop of Augs- 
 burg, in the number of the saints, and thus 
 conferred upon iiiin a title to the worship and 
 veneration of Christians.! We must not, how- 
 
 * Almosl all the donations that were made to tlic 
 church (luring this century, bear evident marks of 
 this groundless panic that had seized all the Euro- 
 pean nations, as the reasons of these donations are 
 cenorally expressed in the folfowiiig words: " Appro- 
 "pinquante mundi tcrmino," &c. i. e. "The end of 
 "the world being now at hand," &c. Among the 
 many undeniable testimonies that we have from 
 ancient records of this universal delusion, that was 
 80 profitable to the sacerdotal order, we shall confine 
 ours(!lves to the quotation of one very remarkable 
 passage in the Apologeticum of Ahl)o, abbot of 
 Fleury, adversns Arnulphum, i. e. Arnoul bishop (jf 
 Orleans: which apology is published by the learrnd 
 Francis Pithou, in the Codex Oanonum Ecclesix 
 Komanae, p. -lOl. The words of Ahbo are as follow: 
 '■ I)e fine quotpie mundi coram populo sermonem in 
 ecclcsia I'arisiorura adolescentulus audivi. quod sta- 
 tiin finito mille annorum numoro Antichristus ad- 
 venirct, et non longo post tempore \iniversale judi- 
 cium suroederet; cui pra;dicationi ex evangidiis, ac 
 apfM-alypsi, et lihro Danielis, qua potui virtute res- 
 titi. Deniqne et errorem, qui liv fine nnindi inolevit, 
 abbas mens beata; memoriae Richardns sagaci aninio 
 propulit, postquain literas a Loihariensibus acccpit, 
 quihiis me respondere .jnssit. Nam fama |)ri'uc tdtuin 
 mnndum impleverat, quod, quando Anunnciatio Do- 
 minica in Pnrasceve contigisset, absque ullo scru- 
 pulo finis sa-culi esset. 
 
 f Franc. Pagi Breviar Pontif Roman, torn. ii. p 
 259. 
 
 Vol. I.— 32 
 
 ever, hence conclude, that after this period the 
 privilege of canonizing new saints was vested 
 solely in the pontiff's ;* for there are several 
 examples upon record, which prove, that not 
 only provincial councils, but also several of the 
 first order among the bishops, advanced to the 
 rank of saints such as they thought worthy of 
 that high dignity, and continued thiLs to aug- 
 ment the celestial patrons of the church, with- 
 out consulting the pope, until the twelfth cen- 
 tury. | Then Alexander III. abrogated this 
 privilege of the bisho])s and councils, and 
 j)laced canonizatinn in tlie number of the more 
 important acts of authority,! which the sove- 
 reign pontiff alone, by a peculiar prerogative, 
 was entitled to exercise. 
 
 V. The expositors and commentators, who 
 attempted in this century to illustrate and ex- 
 plain the sacred writings, were too mean in 
 their abilities, and too unsuccessful in their 
 midertakings, to deserve more than a slight 
 and transient notice ; for it is extremely uncer- 
 tain, whether or no the works of Olympiodorus 
 and fficumenius are to be considered as the pro- 
 ductions of this age. Among the Latins, Remi, 
 or Remigius, bishop of Auxerre, continued 
 the exposition of the Scriptures, which he had 
 begun in the preceding century ; but his work 
 is highly defective in various respects; for he 
 took very little pains in explaining the literal 
 sense of the words, and employed the whole 
 force of his fantastic genius in unfolding their 
 pretended mystical signification, which he 
 looked upon as infinitely more interesting than 
 their plain and literal meaning. Besides, his 
 explications are rarely the fruit of his own ge- 
 nius and invention, but are, generally speak- 
 ing, mere compilations from ancient commen- 
 tators. As to the Moral Observations of Odo 
 upon the book of Job,§ they are transcribed 
 from a work of Gregory the G reat, which bears 
 the same title. We mention no more ; if, 
 however, any are desirous of an ample account 
 of those who were esteemed the principal com- 
 mentators in this century, they will find it in a 
 book written professedly upon tliis subject by 
 Notkcrus Balbulus. 
 
 VI. The science of theology was absolutely 
 abandoned in this century ; nor did either the 
 Greek or Latin church furnish any writer who 
 attempted to explain in a regular method the 
 doctrines of Christianity. The Greeks were 
 contented with the works of Damascenus, and 
 the Latins with those of Augiistin and Grego- 
 ry, v/ho were now considered as the greatest 
 doctors that had adorned the church. Some 
 added to these the writings of the venerable 
 Hede arid Rabanus Maurus. The moral science 
 was still more neglected than that of theology 
 in this wretched age, and was reduced to a 
 certain number of dry and insi[)id homilies, 
 and to the lives of the saints, which Simeon 
 among the Greeks and Hubald, Odo, and 
 
 •* This absurd opinion has been maintained with 
 warmth by Phil, lionanni, in his Niunismata Pon- 
 tif. liomanorum, torn. i. p. 41. 
 
 t i^ie I'rane. Pagi Breviar. torn. ii. p. 260 ; tom. iii. 
 p. ;tO. — Arm.de la Cha|x;lle, Biblioth. .\ngloise. tom. 
 X. p. 105. — Mabillon, Prii;fat. ad i^wc. v. Benedict p. 
 53. 
 
 t These were called the Cause Majores. 
 
 § Moxalia in Joburn. 
 
250 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 Stephen,* among- tlie Latins, liad drawn up 
 with a seducing eloqucnco that covered tlie 
 most impertinent fictions. Such was the mi- 
 serable slate of morals and theology in this 
 century; in which, we may add, there did not 
 appear any defence of tlie Christian religion 
 against its professed enciuies. 
 
 Vn. The controversies between t'lie Greek 
 and Latin churches, were now carried on with 
 less noise and impetuosity than in the prece- 
 ding century, on account of the troubles and 
 calamities of the times; yet they wore not en- 
 tirely reduced to silence. f The writers there- 
 fore who affirm, that this unhappy schism was 
 healed, and that the contending parties were 
 really reconciled to eacli other for a certain 
 space of time, have grossly mistaken the mat- 
 ter il tiiough it be, indeed, true, that tlie tu- 
 mults of tlie times produced now and then a 
 cessation of these contests, and occasioned sev- 
 eral truces, which insidiously concealed the 
 bitterest enmity, and served often as a cover to 
 the most treacherous designs. The Greeks 
 were, moreover, divided among themselves, 
 and disputed with great warmth concerning 
 the lawfulness of repeated^ marriages, to 
 which violent contest the cause of Leo, sur- 
 nanied the Philosopher, gave rise. I'liis em- 
 peror, having buried successively three wives 
 without having had by them any male issue, 
 espoused a fourth, whose name was Zoe C"ar- 
 binopsina, and who was born in the obscurity 
 of a mean condition. As marriages contracted 
 for the fourth time were pronounced impure 
 and milawful by the Greek canons, Nicolas, 
 the patriarch of Constantinople, suspended the 
 emperor, on this occasion, from the commu- 
 nion of the church. Leo, incensed at this 
 rigorous proceeding, deprived Nicolas of tlie 
 patriarchal dignity, and raised Euthymius to 
 that high office, who, though he re-admitted 
 the emperor to the basom of the church, op- 
 posed the law which he had resolved to enact 
 in order to render fourth marriages lawtul. 
 Upon this a schism, attended with the bitter- 
 est animosities, divided the clergy ; one part 
 of which declared for Nicolas, the other for 
 Euthymius. Some time after this, Leo died, 
 and was succeeded in the empire by Alexan- 
 der, who deposed Euthymius, and restored 
 Nicolas to his eminent rank in the churcji. No 
 sooner was this zealous patjiarch re-instated 
 in his office, than he began to load the memory 
 of the late emperor with the bitterest execra- 
 tions and the most opprobrious invectives, and 
 to maintain the unlawfulness of fourth mar- 
 riages with the utmost obstinacy. Li order to 
 appease these tumults, which portended num- 
 berless calamities to the state, ConsUintine 
 Porphyrogeneta, convoked an assembly of the 
 clergy of Constantinople, in 920, in which 
 
 * Bishop of Liege. 
 
 t Mich. Lequieii, Dissert, i. Damascenica de I'rn- 
 cessione Spiritus Saiicti, sect. .xiii. — p. 1-i. — Fred. 
 Spaiiheim, de perpetua Disseiisioiie Ecclesiie Orien- 
 tal, ct Occidental, part iv. sect, vii p. 5-2'J, toni. ii. 
 op. 
 
 t Leo Allatius, de perpetua Consensione Ecclesia; 
 Orient, et Occident, lib. ii. cap. vii., viii. p. liOO. 
 
 0(7- § Fourth marri.iges our author nudoulrtedly 
 means, -since second and third nuptials wcic allowed 
 on certain conditions. 
 
 fourth marriages were absolutely prohibited, 
 and marriages for the third time were permit- 
 ted on certain conditions ; and thus the public 
 tranquillity was restored.* 
 
 Several other contests of like moment arose 
 among the Greeks during this century ; and 
 they serve to convince us of the ignorance that 
 prevailed among that people, and of their blind 
 veneration and zeal for the opinions of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Conceraiitg the Rites and Ceremonies used in 
 the Church daring this Century. 
 
 I. In order to liave some notion of the load 
 of ceremonies under which the Christian reli- 
 gion groaned during this superstitious age, we 
 have only to cast an eye upon the acts of the 
 various councils which were assembled in Eng- 
 land, Germany, France, and Italy. The num- 
 ber of ceremonies increased in jiroportion to 
 that of the saints, which multiplied from day 
 to day ; for each new saintly jjatron had ap- 
 propriated to his service a new festival, a new 
 form of Worship, a new round of religious rites-, 
 and the clergy, notwithstanding their gross 
 stupidity in other matters, discovered, in the 
 creation of new ceremonies, a marvellous fer- 
 tility of invention, attended with the utmost 
 dexterity and artifice. It is also to be observed, 
 that a great part of these new rites derived 
 their origin from the various errors which the 
 barbarous nations had received from their an- 
 cestors, and still retained, even after their con- 
 version to Christianity. The clergy, instead 
 of extirpating these errors, either gave them a 
 Christian aspect by inventing certain religious 
 rites to cover their deformity, or by e.xplaining 
 them ill a forced allegorical manner ; and thus 
 they were perpetuated in the church, and de- 
 voutly transmitted from age to age. We may 
 also attribute a considerable number of the 
 rites and institutions, that dishonored religion 
 in this century, to absurd notions both con- 
 cerning the Supreme Being and departed 
 saints ; for it was imagined that God was like 
 the princes and great ones of the earth, who 
 are rendered propitious by costly presents, and 
 are delighted with those cringing salutations, 
 and other marks of veneration and homage, 
 which they receive from their subjects ; and 
 it was believed likewise, that departed spirits 
 were agreeably affected with the same kind of 
 services. 
 
 II. Tlie famous yearly festival that was 
 celebrated in remembrance of all departed 
 souls, was instituted by the authority of Odilo, 
 abbot of Clugni, and added to the Latin calen- 
 dar toward the conclusion of this century, f 
 Before this time, a custom had been introduced 
 in many places of offering up prayers on cer- 
 tain days, for the souls that were confined in 
 purg-atory; but these prayers were made by 
 each religious society, only for its own mem- 
 bers, friends, and patrons. The pious zeal of 
 
 * These facts are faithfully collected from Cedre- 
 nus, Leunclavius de Jure GrscoRom. tom. i. p. 104, 
 from Leo the Grammarian. Simeon the Treasurer, 
 and other writers of the Bvzantine history. 
 
 t In the year 998. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 Odilo could not be confined within such nar- 
 row limits ; and lie therefore extended the bene- 
 fit of tiicse prayers to all tlie souls that labored 
 under the pains and trials of purgatorj'.* To 
 this proceeding Odilo was prompted by the ex- 
 hortations of a Sicilian hermit, who pretended 
 to have learned, by an immediate revelation 
 from heaven, that the prayers of the monks of 
 Cluirni would be etlectual for the deliverance 
 of departed s]iirits from tlic e.vpiatory Hames 
 of a juiddlc state. 1 Accordingly this festival 
 was, at first, celebrated only by the congrega- 
 tion of C'lugni ; but, having afterwards received 
 the approbation of one of the popes, it was, by 
 iiis order, kept with particular devotion in all 
 the Latin churches. 
 
 III. The worship of the Virgin Mary, which, 
 before this century, had been carried to a very 
 high degree of idolatry, now received new ac- 
 cessions of solenmity and superetition. Near 
 the close of this century, a custom was intro- 
 duced among the Latins of celebrating masses, 
 and abstaining from flesh, in honor of the bless- 
 ed Virgin, every Sabbath day. After this, what 
 the Latins called the minor office was instituted 
 in honor of St. Mary, which was, in the fol- 
 lowing century, confirmed by Urban II. in the 
 council of Clermont. There are also to be 
 found in this ago manifest indications of the 
 institution of the rosary and crown of the Vir- 
 gin, by which her worshippers were to reckon 
 the number of prayers that they were to offer 
 to this new divinity ; for, though some place 
 the invention of the rosary in the thirteenth 
 century, and attribute it to St. Dominic, yet this 
 supposition is made without any foundation.]; 
 The rosary consists in fifteen repetitions of the 
 Lord's prayer, and a hundred and fifty saluta- 
 tions of the blessed Virgin ; while the crown, 
 according to the different opinions of the 
 learned concerning the age of the blessed Vir- 
 gin, consists in six or. seven recitations of the 
 Lord's prayer, and six or seven times ten salu- 
 tations. § 
 
 c:hapteii v. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and ficresies that trou- 
 bled the Church during this Centanj. 
 I. The profound ignorance and stupidity, 
 that were productive of so many evils in tliis 
 century, had at lea.st tins advantage attending 
 them, that they contributed nnich to the tran- 
 quillity of the church, and prevented the rise 
 of new sects and new commotions of a religious 
 kind. But, though no new inventions were 
 broached, the ancient errors still remained. 
 
 * See Mabillnn. Arta. SS. Onl. Hcned. S.it, vi. 
 part i. p. .'584. wliort- the rcailfT will find llic l/ifi- of 
 Odilo, with his ducree for the iiislitution of this fi'S- 
 lival. 
 
 t IJenedict XIV. was artful ciioiich to obsnrvc a 
 profound silence with respncl to the siiporstilioiis 
 and dishonorable origin of this anniversary festival, 
 in his treatise de Festis J Christi, Marisp, el Sane 
 tornm, lib iii rap xxii. p 671, toni x. oper and In 
 his silenec he has plainly sliouii to the world wlial 
 he tlic.nsilil of this absurd fe.«tival. This is not tin- 
 only mark of prudenre that is to be found in the 
 works of that famous pontiff. 
 
 t This is demonstrated hv Mabillon, Prtpf ad Arta 
 Sf? Ord. Uened. Sn-r. v. p. .V. 
 
 § In these words -Ave, M.irin ' 
 
 251 
 
 The Nestorians and Monophysites still lived 
 under the Arabian government: they were, 
 however, mu(;h more rigorously treated than 
 in former times, and were ofleti persecuted 
 with the utmost injustice and violence. But, 
 ns some of them excelled in medical know- 
 ledge, which was highly esteemed among the 
 Arabians, while others rendered themselves ac- 
 ceptable to tlie great, by the dexterous man- 
 agement of their domestic affairs, as overseers 
 and stewards, all this contributed to diminish 
 the violenre of the storms which arose against 
 tliem from time to time. 
 
 il. The Manicliajans or Paulicians, whose 
 errors have been already pointed out, gathered 
 considerable strength in Thrace under the 
 reign of John Tzimisces. A great part of this 
 restless and turbulent sect had been transported 
 into that province, by the order of Constantine 
 Copronymus, so early as the eighth century, 
 to put an end to the commotions which they 
 had excited in the east; but a still greater num- 
 ber of them were left behind, especially in 
 S^'ria and the adjacent countries. Hence it 
 was, that Theodore, bishop of Antioch, from a 
 pious apprehension of the danger to wh.ich his 
 flock lay exposed from the neighborhood of 
 such pernicious heretics, engaged the emperor, 
 by his ardent and importunate solicitations, to 
 send a new colony of these Manichieans from 
 Syria to Philippi.* From Thrace they passed 
 into Bulgaria and Sclavonia, where they long 
 resided under the jurisdiction of their own pon- 
 tile, or patriarch. After the council of Basil 
 had commenced its deliberations, these secta- 
 ries removed into Italy, and thence spreading 
 themselves through the other provinces of Eu- 
 rope, they became extremely troublesome to 
 the popes on many occasions. f 
 
 111. In the last year of this century arose a 
 certain teacher, whose name was Leutard, who 
 lived at Vcrtus, in the diocese of Chalons, and, 
 in a sliort time, drew after him a considerable 
 number of disciples. Tiiis new doctor could 
 not bear the superstitious worship of images, 
 which he is said to have opposed with the ut- 
 most vehemence, and even to have broken in 
 pieces an imnge of Ciirist, which he fbun<l in 
 a diurch where he went to perform his devo- 
 tions. He, moreover, exclaimed with the 
 greatest warmth against the ])ayment of tithes 
 to the priests, and in several other respects 
 showed that he was no cordial frienfl to the 
 sacerdotal order. But that which showed evi- 
 dently that he was a dangerous fanatic, was 
 his afiirming that in the prophecies of the Old 
 Testament there was a manifest mixture of 
 truth and falsehood. Gebouin, bishop of 
 Chalons, examined the pretensions whicii this 
 man made to divine inspiration, and exposed 
 his extravagance to the view of the imblic, 
 whom lie had so artfully seduced ; upon wiiich 
 ho threw himself into a well, and ended his 
 tlays like many other fanatics.| It is highly 
 probable, that this upstart doctor taught many 
 
 ~ ♦ Jo. Zonaras, Annal. lib. xvii. 
 
 ( It is extremely probable, as we have already hild 
 orrasion to observe, that the remains of this sect are 
 still to he found in Bulgaria 
 
 t All this is related by Glaber Radulphua, Hist. 
 lib ii rap. xi. 
 
252 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 other absurd notions beside those which we 
 have now mentioned, and that, after his death, 
 his disciples formed a part of the sect that was 
 afterwards known in France under the name 
 of the Albigenses, and which is said to have 
 adopted the Manichsean errors. 
 
 IV. There were yet subsisting some remains 
 of the sect of the Arians in several parts of 
 Italy, and particularly in the territory of Pa- 
 dua; but Ratherius, bisliop of Verona, had a 
 still more enormous heresy to combat in the 
 system of the Anthropomorphites, which was 
 revived in 939. In the district of Vicenza, a 
 considerable number, not only of the illiterate 
 multitude, but also of the sacerdotal order, 
 adopted that most absurd and extravagant no- 
 tion, that the Deity was clothed with a human 
 form, and seated, like an earthly monarch, 
 upon a throne of gold, and that his angelic 
 ministers were men arrayed in white garments, 
 and furnished with wings, to render them more 
 expeditious in executing their sovereign's or- 
 ders. This monstrous error will appear less 
 astonishing, when we consider that tlie stupid 
 and illiterate multitude had constantly before 
 
 tlieir eyes, in all the churches, the Supreme 
 Being and his angels represented in pictures 
 and images with the liuman figure. 
 
 The superstition of another set of blinded 
 wretches, mentioned also by Ratherius, was 
 yet more unaccountable and absurd than that 
 of the Antliropomorphites; for tliey imagined 
 that, every Monday, mass was performed in 
 heaven by St. Michael in the presence of 
 God; and hence, on that day, they resorted in 
 crowds to all the clmrchcs which were dedi- 
 cated to that highly honoured saint.* It is 
 more than probable that the avarice of the 
 priests, who officiated in the chm'ch of St. 
 Michael, was the real source of this extrava- 
 gant fancy; and that in this, as in many other 
 cases, the rapacity of the clergy took advant- 
 age of the credulity of the people, and made 
 them believe whatever tliey thought would 
 contribute to augment the opulence of the 
 church. 
 
 * Ratherii Epist. Synodira in Daclierii Spicilegio 
 Script. Voter, torn. ii. p. 294. — Sigeberti Gemblacens. 
 Cliron. aii annum 939. 
 
 THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerhing tlie Prosperous Events which hap- 
 pened to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. In the preceding century some faint no- 
 tions of the Christian religion, some scattered 
 rays of that divine liglit which it administers 
 to mortals, had been received among the Hun- 
 garians, Danes, Poles, and Russiatis; but the 
 rude and savage spirit of those nations, toge- 
 tiier with tlieir deplorable ignorance and tlieir 
 violent attachment to tlie superstitions of their 
 ancestors, rendered their total conversion to 
 Christianity a work of great difficulty, which 
 could not be very rapidly accomplished. The 
 zeal, however, witli wliich this important work 
 was carried on, did great honour to the piety 
 of the princes and goverrtors of these unpo- 
 lished countries, wlio united their influence 
 with the labours of tlie learned men whom 
 ttiey had invited into their dominions, to open 
 the eyes of their subjects upon the truth.* In 
 Tartary,t and tlie adjacent countries, the zeal 
 and diligence of the Nestorians gained over 
 considerable numbers, almost daily, to the pro- 
 fession of Christianity. It appears also evident 
 
 * For an account of the Poles, Russians, and Hun- 
 garians, see Romualdi Vita in Actis Sauctor. torn. 
 ii. Februar. 
 
 t Tartary is taken here in its most comprehensive 
 sense: for between the inhabitants of Tartary, pro- 
 perly so called, and the Calmucs, Mogols, and the 
 inhabitants of Tan''ut, there is a manifest difference. 
 
 from a multitude of unexceptionable testimo- 
 nies, tliat Metropolitan prelates, with a greater 
 number of inferior bishops under their jurisdic- 
 tion, were establislied at this time in tlie pro- 
 vinces of Casgar, Nuacheta, Turkestan, Gen- 
 da, and Tangut;* from which we may con- 
 clude, tliat, in this and the following century, 
 a prodigious number of Christians lived in 
 those very countries which are at present over- 
 run with idolatry, or with the Mohammedan 
 errors. All these Christians were undoubtedly 
 Nestorians, and lived luider the jurisdiction of 
 
 * Marcus Paul. Vcnetus do Regionibus Orientali- 
 bns, lib. i. cap. S8, 40, 4.5, 47, 48, 49, 02, ti3, 04, lib. ii, 
 rap. 3!l. — Euseb. Reuaiidot, Anciennes Relations des 
 Indes ct de la Chine, p. 420.— Assemani Biblioth. 
 Orient. Vatican, torn. iii. part ii. p. 502, &c. The 
 suee.ssful propagation of the Gospel, by the ministry 
 of tlie Nestorians, in Tartary, China, and the neigh- 
 bouring provinces, is a most important event, and 
 every way worthy to employ the researches and the 
 pen of some able writer, well acquainted with ori- 
 ental history. It must, indeed, be acknowledged, 
 that, if this subject be important, it is also diliicult 
 on many accounts. It was attempted, however, not- 
 wilh^taiidiiis: Its ditiiculty, by the most learned The- 
 opli. Siiiefreil Haver, who had collected a great quan- 
 tity of materials relative to this interesting branch 
 of the history of Christianity, both from the works 
 that have been published up(Ui this subject, and from 
 manuscripts that lie yet conrealed in the cabinets of 
 the curious. But. unhappily for the republic of let- 
 ters, the death of that excellent man interrupted his 
 labours, and prevented him from e.\ecuting a design, 
 which was worthy of his superior abilities, and his 
 well known zeal for the interests of religion. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 253 
 
 the patriarch of that sect, who resided in 
 Chaldoea. 
 
 II. Among the European nations that lay 
 yet grovening in their native darkness and 
 superstition, were the Sclavonians, the Obo- 
 triti,* the Venedi,t and the Prussians, whoso 
 conversion had been attempted, but with little 
 or no success, by certain missionaries, from 
 wliose piety and zeal better fruits might liave 
 been expected. Toward the conclusion of the 
 preceding century, Adalbert, bishop of Prague, 
 had endeavoured to instil, into the minds of 
 the fierce and savage Prussians, the salutary 
 doctrines of the Gospel; but he perished in the 
 fruitless attempt, and received, in 996, from 
 the murdering lance of Siggo, a pagan priest, 
 tiie crown of martyrdom. j; Boleslaus, king of 
 Poland, revenged the death of this pious apos- 
 tle by entering into a bloody war with the 
 Prussians; and he obtained, by the force of 
 penal laws and of a victorious army, what Adal- 
 bert coidd not effect by exhortation and argu- 
 ment. § He dragooned this savage people into 
 the Christian church; yet, beside this violent 
 method of conversion, others of a more gentle 
 kind were certainly practised by the attendants 
 of Boleslaus, who seconded the military argu- 
 ments of their prince by the more persuasive 
 influence of admonition and instruction. A 
 certain ecclesiastic of illustrious birth, whose 
 name was Boniface, and wlio was one of the 
 disciples of St. Romuald, undertook the con- 
 version of the Prussians, and was succeeded in 
 this pious enterprize by Brimo,|| who set out 
 from Germany with a company of eighteen 
 persons, who had entered with zeal into the 
 same laudable design. These were, however, 
 all barbarously massacred by the fierce and 
 cruel Prussians; and neither the vigorous ef- 
 forts of Boleslaus, nor of the succeeding kings 
 of Poland, could engage this rude and inflexi- 
 ble nation to abandon totally the idolatry of 
 their ancestors.T 
 
 III. Sicily had been groaning under the do- 
 minion of the Saracens from the ninth centmy; 
 nor had the repeated attempts of the Greeks 
 and Latins to dispossess them of that rich and 
 fertile counti-y, been hitherto crowned with the 
 desired success. But in tiiis century the face 
 of affairs changed entirely in that island; for, 
 in 1059, Robert Guiscard, who had formed a 
 settlement in Italy, at the head of a Norman 
 
 (t(J= * Till' Ohotriti were a groat and pov\nrfnl 
 liraiidi of till' Vandals, whoso kings rosidcd in tlic 
 country of Mickli'iilmrg, extending their dominion 
 along the coasts of the IJallio from the river i'oiie in 
 roinerania to the diirliy of llolstein. 
 
 (t(^ t '-The Veiieili dwelt upon tllc banks of the 
 VVeissel, or Vistula, in. what is at present called, 
 tlie Palatinate of .Marienburg. 
 
 t See the Acta ftiiictor. ad d. xxii. Aprilis, p. 174. 
 
 § Solignac's Mist, do Pologno, torn. i. p. KtS. 
 
 {)j7=- il Fleiiry Uilfers from Dr. Moshi-iin in his ac- 
 count of Hrnno, in two points. First, ho maintains, 
 that Honiface and Hrnno were one and the same per- 
 son, and here he is manifestly in the riL'tit; hnt ho 
 maiiitaiiis farther, that he sntlereil martyrdom in 
 Russia, which is an evident mistake. It is proper 
 farther to admonish the reader to distinguish care- 
 fully the Bruno here mentioned, from a monk of the 
 same name, who founded the order of the Carthusi- 
 ans. 
 
 IT Ant. Pagi Critica in Baroniiim, torn. iv. ad an- 
 num 1008, p. 07. — Christ. Hartknoch's Ecclesiastical 
 History of Prussia, book i. chap. i. 
 
 colony, and was afterwards created duke of 
 Apulia, encouraged by the exhortations of pope 
 Nicolas II., and seconded by the assistance of 
 his brother Roger, attacked with the greatest 
 vigour and intrepidity the Saracens in. Sicily; 
 nor did the latter chieftain sheath the victori- 
 ous sword before he had rendered himself mas- 
 ter of that island, and cleared it absolutely of 
 its former tyrants. As soon as this great work 
 was accomplished, which was not before the 
 year 1090, count Roger not only restored to 
 its former glory and lustre the Christian reli- 
 gion, which had been almost totally extin- 
 guished under the Saracen yoke, but also es- 
 tablished bishoprics, founded monasteries, 
 erected magnificent churches throughout that 
 province, and bestowed upon the clergy tho.se 
 distinguished honours which they still enjo\^ * 
 It is in the privileges conferred upon this vali- 
 ant cliief, that we find the origin of that su- 
 preme authority in matters of religion, which 
 is still vested in the kings of Sicily, within the 
 limits of their own territories, and which is 
 known by the name of the Sicilian monarchy; 
 for pope Urban 11. is said to have granted, in 
 1097, lay a special diploma, to Roger and his 
 successors, the title, authority, and preroga- 
 tives, of hereditary legates of the apostolic see. 
 The court of Roine aflirms, that this diploma 
 is not authentic; and hence warm contentions, 
 about the spiritual sajiremacy, have arisen 
 even in our times between the popes and the 
 kings of Sicily. The successors of Roger go- 
 verned that island, under the title of dukes, 
 imtil the twelfth century, when it was erected 
 into a kingdom.! 
 
 IV. The pontiffs, from the time of Sylvester 
 II., had been forming plans for extending the 
 limits of the church in Asia, and especially for 
 driving the Moslems out of Palestine; but the 
 troubles in which Europe was so long involved, 
 prevented the execution of these artluous de- 
 signs. Gregory VII., the most enterprizing 
 and audacious priest that ever sat in the a])os- 
 tolic chair, animated and inflamed by the re- 
 peated complaints which the Asiatic Chris- 
 tians inade of the cruelty of the Saracens, re- 
 solved to undertake in person a holy war for 
 the deliverance of tlie churcli; and above fifty 
 thousand men were speedily mustered to fiiUow 
 him in this bold expedition. J But his quarrel 
 with tlie emperor Henry IV., of which we 
 shall have occasion to speak hereafter, and 
 other unforeseen occurrences, obliged iiim to 
 relinquish a personal invasion of the lioiy land. 
 The project, however, was renewed toward 
 the conclusion of this century, by the enthusi- 
 astic zeal of an inhabitant of Amiens, who was 
 known by the name of Peter the Hermit, and 
 who suggested to Urban 11. the means of ac- 
 complishing what had been unfortunately sus- 
 pen(lod. This famous hermit, in a journey, 
 which he had made through Palestine in 1093, 
 had observed, with inexpressible anguish, the 
 vexations and persecutions which the C'hris- 
 
 * See Burigni's Hisloire Gcnerale de la Sicile, tom. 
 
 ). p. HHt). 
 
 t See Baronii Liber de Monarchia SicilifB. tom. xi. 
 Aiinal.; a.s also the Traitc de la Monarchic Sicili- 
 enne, by M. Dii-Pin. 
 
 I Gregorii VH. Kpist. lib. ii. 3, in Hardnini Con- 
 cil. tom. vi. 
 
EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 254 
 
 tians, who visited tlie holy places, suffered 
 from the barharotis and tyrannic Saracens. In- 
 flamed therefore with a lioly indignation and 
 a furious zeal, which he looked upon as the 
 effects of a divine impulse, he implored the 
 assistance of Simeon, patriarcli of Constanti- 
 nople, and also of the pope, but without ef- 
 fect. Far fro}n being discouraged by this, he 
 renewed liis efforts with the utmost vigour, 
 went tlu'ougli all the countries of Europe 
 sounding the alarm of tlie holy war against the 
 infidel nations, and exhorting all Christian 
 princes to draw tlie sword against the tyrants 
 of Palestine; nor did he stop iiere; but, with a 
 view to engage the superstitious and ignorant 
 multitude in his cause, he carried about with 
 him a letter, which he said was written in 
 heaven, and addressed to all true Christians, 
 to animate their zeal for the deliverance of 
 their brethren, who groaned under the oppres- 
 sive burthen of a Mohammedan yoke.* 
 
 V. Wlien Urban .saw the way prepared by 
 the exhortations of the hermit, who had put 
 the spirits of the people every where in a fer- 
 ment, and had kindled in their breasts a vehe- 
 ment zeal for that holy carnage which the 
 church had been so long meditating, he as- 
 sembled a grand and numerous council at Pla- 
 centia, in f096, and recommended warmly, for 
 the first time, tiie sacred expedition against 
 the Saraccns.j This arduous enterprize was 
 far from being approved by the greatest part 
 of this numerous assembly, notwithstanding 
 the presence of the emperor's legates, who, in 
 their master's name, represented most patheti- 
 cally how necessary it was to set limits to the 
 power of the victorious infidels, whose autho- 
 rity and dominion increased from day to day. 
 The pontiff's proposal was, however, renewed 
 with the same zeal, and witli the desired suc- 
 cess, some time after this, in the council as- 
 sembled at Clermont, where Urban was pre- 
 sent. The pompous and pathetic speech 
 which he delivered on this occasion, made a 
 deep and powerful impression upon the minds 
 of the French, whose natural character renders 
 them much superior to the Italians in encoun- 
 terincr difficulties, facing danger, and attempt- 
 ing the execution of tlie most perilous designs: 
 so that an innumerable multitude, composed 
 of all ranks and orders in the nation, offered 
 themselves as volunteers in tliis sacred expedi- 
 tion.]; Tliis numerous host was looked upon 
 as formidable in the highest degree, and equal 
 to the most glorious enterprizes and exploits, 
 while, in reality, it was no more than an im- 
 wieldy body without life and vigour, and was 
 weak and contemptible in every respect. This 
 will appear sufficiently evident when we con- 
 
 Part 1. 
 
 * This ciiciiiiistaiict! is iiu'iitioiieil by the abbot 
 Dodechinus, in his ContiTiiiat. Chronici Mariani 
 Scoti, apiid Scriptores Germanicos Jo. Pistorii, torn, 
 i. p. 40iJ. For an account of Peter, see Du-Fresne's 
 notes upon the Alexias of Anna Comneua. 
 
 (flj' t '''bis council was the most numerous of any 
 that hart been hitherto assembled, and was, on that 
 account, holdeu in the opiiii liidds. There were pre- 
 sent at it two liiuidred bislmps, four thousand eccle- 
 siastics, and three hundred thousand laj-men. 
 
 i Theod. Ruinart. in Vit. Urbani II. sect, ccxxv. 
 p. 2'24, 2-2i), iJlO, 272, &c. torn. iii. op. posthum. Ma- 
 billoni et Rninarti.— Jo. Hardnini Concilia, torn. xi. 
 part ii. p. 1720.— Baron. Annal. Eccles. torn. xi. ad 
 annum 1095, a. .\xxii. p. 048. 
 
 sider that this army was a motley assemblage 
 of monks, prostitutes, artists, labourers, lazy 
 tradesmen, merchants, boys, girls, slaves, male- 
 factors, and profligate debauchees, and that it 
 was principally composed of the lowest dregs of 
 the multitude, who were animated solely by 
 the prospect of spoil and plunder, and hoped to 
 make their fortunes by this holy campaign. 
 Every one will perceive how little discipline, 
 counsel, or fortitude, were to be expected from 
 such a miserable rabble. This expedition was 
 distinguished, in the French language, by the 
 name of croisade, and all who embarked in it 
 were called croises, croisards, or cross-bearers, 
 not only because the end of this holy war was 
 to wrest the cross of Clirist out of the hands 
 of the infidels, -i)ut also on account of the con- 
 secrated crossof various colours, which every 
 soldier wore upon his right shoulder.* 
 
 VI. In consequence of these grand prepara- 
 tions, eight hundred thousand men, in separate 
 bodies, and imder different commanders, set 
 out for Constantinople, in 1096, that, after re- 
 ceiving both assistance and direction from 
 Alexis Comnenius the Grecian emperor, they 
 might pursue their march into Asia. One of 
 the principal divisions of this great body march- 
 ed mider the guidance of Peter the Hermit, 
 tlie author and fomenter of the war, who was 
 girded with a rope, and continued to appear 
 with all the marks of an austere solitary. The 
 adventurers who composed this first division 
 committed the most flagitious crimes, which 
 so incensed the inhabitants of the comitries 
 tiirough which they passed, particularly those 
 of Himgary and Bulgaria, that they rose up in 
 arms and massacred the greatest part of them. 
 A like fate attended several other divisions of 
 the same army, who, imder the conduct of 
 weak and unskilful chiefs, wandered about like 
 an undisciplined band of robbers, plundering 
 tlie cities that lay in their way, and spreading 
 misery and desolation wherever they came. 
 The armies that were headed by illustrious 
 commanders, distinguished by their birth and 
 their military endowments, arrived more hap- 
 pily at the capital of the Grecian empire. 
 Tliat which was commanded by Godfrey of 
 Uouillon, duke of Lorraine, who deserves a 
 place among the greatest heroes, whether of 
 ancient or modern times,t and by his brother 
 Baldwin, was composed of eighty thousand 
 well chosen troops, horse and foot,J; and di- 
 
 * See Abrah. Bzovius, Continual. Annal. Baronii. 
 torn. XV. ad annum 1410, n. ix. p. 322, edit. Colon. — 
 1/Enfant, Histoire du Concile de Pise, torn. ii. lib. v. 
 p. (io. — The writers who have treated of this holy 
 war are mentioned by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, in his Lux 
 Evaneelii toto Orbe exorieus, cap. xxx. p. 518. 
 
 t The l{ene<lictine monks have given an ample 
 account of this maiinanimous chief, whose character 
 was a bright assemblage of all Christian, civil, and 
 heroic virtues, in their Histoire Literaire de la 
 France, torn. viii. p. 598. 
 
 (}I^ I The engaging and illustrious virtues of God- 
 frey had drawn from all parts a prodigious number 
 of volunteers, who were ambitious to fight under his 
 standard. The magnitude of this host, however, 
 perplexed the valiant chief, who, on that account, 
 divided it into several bodies, and, finding in Peter 
 the Hermit the same ambitious and military spirit 
 that had prevailed in him before his retre.-it from the 
 world, declared him the general of the first division, 
 which was detached from the rest, and ordered to 
 march immediately to Constantinople. By this inea- 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 255 
 
 reeled its march through Germany and Hun- 
 gary. Another liost, which was headed by 
 Raymond, earl of Toulouse, passed throiiffh 
 the Sclavonian territories. Jlohcrt, earl of" 
 Flanders, Robert, duke of Normandy,* Hug-li, 
 brothsr to Philip 1. king of France, embarked 
 their respective forces in a fleet which was as- 
 sembled at Brundisi and Tarento, whence they 
 were transported to Durazzo, or Dyrrhachimn, 
 as it was anciently called. These armies were 
 followed by Roemond, duke of Apulia and 
 Calabria, at the head of a chosen and numer- 
 ous body of valiant Normans. 
 
 VII. This army was the greatest, and, in 
 outward appearance, tlie most formidable, that 
 had been known in the memory of man; and 
 though, before its arrival at Constantinople, it 
 was diminished considerably by the dithcultics 
 and oppositions it had met with on the way, 
 yet, such as it was, it made the Grecian em- 
 peror tremble, and filled his mind with the 
 most anxious and terrible apprehensions of 
 some secret design against his dominions. His 
 fears, however, were dispelled, when he saw 
 these legions pass the straits of Gallipolis, and 
 direct their march toward Rithjrnia.f 
 
 The first successful enterprize,}; that was 
 formed against the infidels, was the siege of 
 Nice, the capital of Rithynia, which was taken 
 in 1097; thence the victorious army proceeded 
 into Syria, and in the following- year subdued 
 Antioch, which, with its fertile territory, was 
 granted, by the assembled chiefs, to Roemond, 
 duke of Apulia. Edessa fell next into the 
 hands of the victors, and became the property 
 of Baldwin, brother to Godfrey of Rouillon. 
 The conquest of Jerusalem, which, after a 
 siege of five weeks, submitted to their arms in 
 
 sure Godfrey freed liiiiiself fniin tlie dregs of that as- 
 tonishing niiiltitiide wliich liocked to his camp. 
 Father Mainiboiirg, notwillistandinghis iiiiiundcrale 
 zeal for the holy war, and that fabulous turn v\hiili 
 enabled him to represeat it in the most tavoinahle 
 points of view, acknovvli'dges frankly, that the tirs! 
 divisions of this prodiiiious army comniittiMl tlie 
 most abominable eiinrmities in the countries tliroupb 
 wliiili tliry passed, ami lliat there was no kind of 
 insoleiici', iii|ii>ti(e, impurity, barbarity, and vio- 
 lence, of which they were not guilty. Nothing per- 
 haps in the annalsof history can eijual the flagitious 
 deeds of this infernal rabble. See particularly Maim- 
 bonrg, Histoire des Croisades, toin. i. liv. i. p. o7, 58, 
 59, 00, 61. li'J, second edit, in 12nio. 
 
 (tt^ * Kldest son of William the Conqueror. 
 
 iXr" t Our author, for the sake of brevity, passes 
 over the contests and jealousies, that subsisted be- 
 tween the chief of the crusade and the Grecian cm 
 peror. The character of the latter is dillerently 
 painted by ditferent historians. Tlie warm defend 
 ers of the crusadi' represent him as a most per/idioiis 
 prince, who, under the show of friendship and zeal, 
 aimed at the destruction of (JiKlfrey's army. Others 
 consider him as a wise, prud<iit polilii ian, who, by 
 artifice and stratagem, warded olf ilic danger he liail 
 reason to apprehend from the formidable legions tliat 
 passed thron^'h bis domiiiions; and jjart of which, 
 particularly the army commanded by I'eter the Her- 
 mit, ravaged his most fruitful territories in the most 
 barbarous manner, and pillnt'ed (iveii the suburbs of 
 the capital of the empire, 'nie truth of the matter 
 is, that, if Ale.\is cannot Ixj vindicated from tlie 
 charge of p«;rfidy, th«! holy warriors are, on the <jther 
 hand, chargeable with many !«;ts of brutality and 
 injustice. See Maimbourg, Histoire des Croisades, 
 livre i. et ii. 
 
 {((^ t Before the arrival of Godfrey in Asia, -the 
 cTrmy, or rather rabble, commanded by Peter the 
 Hermit in such a ridiculous manner as might be ex- 
 (wcled from a wronc headed monk, received a ruin 
 ous defeat from the young Solniian. 
 
 1099, seemed to crown their e.xpedition with 
 the desired success. In this city were laid the 
 foundations of a new kingdom, at the head of 
 which was placed the famous Godfrey, whom 
 the army saluted king of Jerusalem with an 
 unanimous voice. 
 
 Rut this illustrious hero, whose other emi- 
 nent qualities were adorned with the greatest 
 modesty, refused that liigli title,* though he 
 governed Jerusalem vvitli that valour, equity, 
 and prudence, which have rendered Jiis name 
 immortal. Having chosen a small army to 
 support him in his new dignity, he permitted 
 the rest of the troops to return into Europe. 
 He did not, however, long enjoy the fruits of a 
 victory, in which his heroic valour had been 
 so gloriously displayed, but died about a year 
 after the conquest of Jerusalem, leaving his 
 dominions to his brother Baldwin, prince of 
 Edessa, who assiuned the title of king without 
 the least hesitation. 
 
 VIII. If we examine the motives that en- 
 gaged tlic popes, more particularly Urban II., 
 to kindle this holy war, which in its progress 
 and issue was so detrimental to almost all the 
 countries of Europe, we shall probably be per- 
 suaded that its origin is to be derived from the 
 corrupt notions of religion, which prevailed in 
 those barbarous times. It was thought incon- 
 sistent with the dut}' and character of Chris- 
 tians, to suffer that land which was blessed 
 with the ministr}', distinguished by the mira- 
 cles, and consecrated by tlie blood of the Sa- 
 viour of men, to remain under the dominion 
 of his most inveterate enemies. It was also 
 deemed a very important branch of true piety 
 to visit the holy places in Palestine; but such pe- 
 regrinations W'ere extremely dangerous, while 
 the despotic Saracens were in possession of 
 that country. Nor is it to be denied, that 
 these motives of a religious kind were accom- 
 panied and rendered more eflectual by an 
 anxious apprehension of the growing power 
 of the Turks, who had already subdued the 
 greatest part of the Grecian empire, and might 
 soon carry into Europe, and more particularly 
 into Italy, their victorious arms. 
 
 There are, it must be confessed, several 
 learned men who have accounted otherwise 
 for this pious, or rather fanatical, expedition. 
 They imagine that the Roman pontifis recom- 
 mended this sacred campaign with a view of 
 augmenting their own authority, and weaken- 
 ing the power of the Latin emperors and 
 jirinces; and that these jirinces countenanced 
 and encouraged it in hopes of getting rid, by 
 that measure, of their powerful and warlike 
 vassals, and of becoming masters of their 
 lands and possessions.! These conjectures, 
 
 (SiJ' * All the historians, who have written of this 
 holy war, applaud the answer wliich Godfrey re- 
 Inrned to the oiler that was made linn of a crown 
 of t-'old, as a mark of Ui.s accession to the throne of 
 .lerusalem; the answer was, that "he could not beai 
 'the thought of wearing a crown of g(dd in that 
 "city, where the King of kings had beiii crowned 
 " with thorns." This answer was sublime in the 
 eleventh century. 
 
 t The part of this hypothesis, that relates to the 
 views of the Roman pontifis, has been .idopted as an 
 (iiiduiibtcd truth, not only by many protestanl histo- 
 rians, but also by several writers of tlic Romish 
 communion. See Bened. Accoltus dc belle Sacro in 
 
256 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 however plausible in appearance, are still no 
 more than conjectures. The truth seems to 
 be this; that the pope and the European 
 princes were engaged at first in these crusades 
 by a principle of supei-stition only; but when, 
 
 Infideles, lib i. p. li>- — Basuage, Histoire des Ejrli- 
 ses Relbrmees, toin. i. period, v. p. 235.— Vertot, His- 
 toire des Chevaliers de Malthe, torn. i. liv. iii. p. 
 ;tO-2, :iOei; liv. iv. p. l-iri. — Baillet, Histoire des Derne- 
 le/. lie Boniface VIU. avec Philippe le Bel, p. 7tj. — 
 Histoire du Droit Ecclesiastiipie Francois, torn. i. p. 
 '2i)li, i! HI. To such, however, as consider matters at- 
 tentively, this hypothesiswill appear destitute of ar\y 
 solid t'onndation. Certain it is, that the pontifis could 
 never have either foreseen, or imagined, that so 
 many European princes, and such prodigious multi- 
 tudes of people, would take arms against the infi- 
 dels, and inarch into Palestine; nor could they he 
 assured befure-hand, that this e.xpedition would tend 
 to the advancement of their opulence and authority; 
 for all the accessions of influence and wealth, which 
 the popes, and the clergy in general, derived from 
 these holy wars, were of a much later date than 
 their origin, and were acquired by degrees, rather 
 by lucky hits, than by deep-laid schemes; and this 
 alone is sufficient to show, that the pontifl's, in form- 
 ing the plan, and exhorting to the prosecution of 
 these wars, had no thoughts of extending thereby 
 the limits of their authority. We may add, to this 
 consideration, another of no less weight in the mat- 
 ter before us; aiul that is the general opinion which 
 prevailed at this time, both among the clergy and 
 the people, that the conquest of Palestine would be 
 finished in a short time, in a single campaign; that 
 the Divine Providence would interpose, in a mira- 
 culous manner, to accomplish the ruin of the infi- 
 dels; and that, after the taking of Jerusalem, the 
 greatest part of the European princes would return 
 homo with their troops, which last circumstance 
 was by no means favourable to the views wliicli tlie 
 popes are supposed to have formcdof increasin;,' thrjr 
 opulence and extending their dominion. Of all the 
 conjectures that have been entertained upon this 
 subject, the most improbable and groundless is that 
 which supposes that Urban II, recommended, with 
 such ardour, this expedition into Palestine, with a 
 view of weakening the power of the emperor Henry 
 IV. with whom he had a violent dispute concerning 
 the investiture of bishops. They who adopt this 
 conjecture, must be little acquainted with the his- 
 tory of the.<e timi's; or at least they forget, that the 
 first armies that iniivrhed into Palestine against the 
 infidels, were chiclly cuiMposed of Franks and Nor- 
 mans, and that the Germans, who were the enemies 
 of Urban IL, were, in the beginning, extremely 
 averse to this sacred expedition. Many other con- 
 siderations might be added to illustrate this matter, 
 which, for the sake of brevity, I pass in silence. 
 
 That part of the hypothesis, which relates to the 
 kings and princes of Europe, and supposes that they 
 countenanced the holy war to get rid of their pow- 
 erful vassals, is as groundless as the other, which we 
 have been now refuting. It is, indeed, adopted by 
 several eminent writers, such as Vertot (Hist, de 
 Malthe, liv. iii. p. 309,) Boulainvilliers, and others, 
 who pretend to a superior and uncommon insight 
 into the policy of these remote ages. Tlie reasons, 
 however, which these great men employed to sup- 
 port their opinion, may be all comprehended in this 
 single argument, viz. "Many kings, especially 
 "among the Franks, becarne more opulent and pow- 
 " erful by the number of their vassals, who lost their 
 " lives and fortunes in this holy war; therefore, 
 "these princes not only permitted, but warmly 
 , "countenanced the prosecution of this war from 
 ""selfish and ambitious principles." The weakness 
 of this conclusion must strike every one at first 
 sight. We are wonderfully prone to attribute both 
 to the Roman pontiffs, and to the princes of this bar- 
 barous age, much more sagacity and cunning than 
 they really possessed; and we deduce from the 
 events the principles and views of the actors, which 
 IS a defective and uncertain manner of reasoning. 
 With respect to the pontiffs, it appears most proba- 
 Die that their immense opulence and authority were 
 acquired, rather by their improving dexterously the 
 opportunities that were ottered to them, than by the 
 schemes they had formed for extending their domi 
 nion, or filling their colTers. 
 
 in process of time, they learned by experience, 
 that these holy wars contributed much to in- 
 crease their opulence and to exteird their au- 
 thority, by sacrificing their wealthy and pow- 
 erful rivals, new motives were presented to 
 encourage these expeditions into Palestine, 
 and ambition and avarice seconded and en- 
 forced the dictates of fanaticism and supersti- 
 tion. 
 
 IX. Without determining any thing con- 
 cerning the justice or injustice* of these wars, 
 
 * I do not pretend to decide the question concerning 
 the lawfulness of the crusades; a question which, 
 when it is considered with attention and impartia- 
 lity, will appear not only extremely difficult, but also 
 hiC'hly doubtful. It is, however, proper to inform the 
 reader, that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries 
 tli(^ justice of this holy war was called in question, 
 and warmly disputed among Christians. The Wal- 
 denses and Albigenses, who were distinguished by 
 the name of C'athari, or Puritans, considered these 
 expeditions into Palestine as absolutely unlawful. 
 The reasons they alleged were collected and com- 
 bated by Francis Moneta, a Dominican friar of the 
 thirteenth century, in a book entitled Sunnna contra 
 Catharos et Waldenses, lib. v. cap. xiii. p. 531., 
 which was. published at Rome by Riccini. But nei- 
 ther the objections of the Waldenses, nor the an- 
 swers of Moneta, were at all remarkable for their 
 weight and solidity, as will appear evidently from 
 the following examples. Tlie former alleged, against 
 the holy war, the words of St. Paul, 1 Cor. x. 32. 
 " Give none offence; neither to the Jews nor to the 
 "Gentiles." By the Gentiles, said they, are to be 
 understood the Saracens. And theretbre the Euro- 
 pean Christians are to abstain from making war 
 upon the Saracens, lest they give otiiince to the Gen- 
 tiles. We shall give Moneta's answer to this argu- 
 ment in his own words: " We read," says he. Gen. 
 xii. 7, " that God said unto Abraham, Unto thy seed 
 " will I give this land:" Now we (Christians who 
 dwell in Europe) are the seed of Abraham, as the 
 apostle affirms, Galat. iii. 29. Therefore we are 
 heirs of the promise, and»the holy land is given to us 
 by the covenant as our lawful possession. Hence it 
 appears, that it is the duty of civil and temporal rul- 
 ers to use their nwst zealous etlbrts to put us in pos- 
 session of the promised land, while it is, at the same 
 time, incumbent upon the church and its ministers 
 to exhort these rulers in the most urgent manner to 
 the performance of their duty. A rare argument this 
 truly! but let us hear him out. " The church has no 
 design to injure or slaughter the Saracens, nor is 
 such the intention of the Christian princes engaged 
 in this war. Yet the blood of the infidels mu.st of 
 necessity be shed, if they make resistance and op- 
 pose the victorious arms of the princes. The church 
 of God therefore is entirely innocent and without 
 reproach in this matter, and gives no offence to the 
 Gentiles, because it does no more, in reality, than 
 maintain its undoubted right." Such is the subtile 
 reasoning of Jloneta, on which it is not necessary 
 to make any reflections. 
 
 (t(7=- Dr. Mosheim seems too modest, and even 
 timorous in his manner of arraigning the justice of 
 this holy war, which was so absurd in its principle, 
 and so abominable in the odious circumstances that 
 attended it. His respect, perhaps, for the Teutonic 
 crosses which abound in Germany, and are the 
 marks of an order that derives its origin from these 
 fanatical expeditions into Palestine, may have occa- 
 sioned that ambiguity and circumspection in his ex- 
 pressions, through which, however, it is easy to 
 perceive his disapprobation of the crusades. The 
 holy place jirofaned bv the dominion of infidels, was 
 tin:' apparent pretext for this fanatical war. What 
 holy place? Jerusalem, say the knights errant of Pa- 
 lestine. But they forget that Jerusalem was a city 
 which, by the conduct of its inhabitants and the 
 crucifixion of Christ, had become most odious in the 
 eye of God; that it was visibly loaded with a divine 
 malediction, and was the miserable theatre of the 
 most tremendous judgments and calamities that ever 
 were inflicted upon any nation. Had the case been 
 otherwise, we know of no right which Christianity 
 gives its professors to seize the territories, and in- 
 vade the possessions of unbelievers. Had tlie Jews 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 257 
 
 we may boldly affirm, that they were highly 
 prejudicial, both to the cause of religion, and 
 to the jivil interests of mankind; and that, in 
 Europe more especially, they occasioned innu- 
 merable evils and calamities, the elfects of 
 which are yet perceptible in our times. The 
 European nations were deprived of the great- 
 est part of their inhabitants by these ill-judged 
 expeditions; immense sums of money were ex- 
 ported into Asia for the support of the war; 
 and numbers of the most powerful and opulent 
 families either became extinct, or were in- 
 volved in the deepest miseries of poverty and 
 want. It could not easily be otherwise, since 
 the heads of the most illustrious houses either 
 mortgaged or sold their lands and possessions 
 in order to pay the expenses of their voyage,* 
 wiiile others imposed such intolerable burthens 
 upon their vassals and tenants, as obliged them 
 to abandon their houses and all their domestic 
 concerns, and to enlist then)selves, rather 
 through wild despair than religious zeal, under 
 the sacred banner of the cross. Hence the 
 face of Europe was totally changed, and all 
 things were thrown into the utmost confusion. 
 We pass in silence the various enormities tliat 
 were occasioned by these crusades, the mur- 
 ders, rapes, and robberies of the most infernal 
 nature, that were every where committed with 
 impunity by these holy soldiers of God and of 
 Christ, as they were impiously called; nor 
 shall we enter into a detail of the new privi- 
 leges and rights, to which these wars gave rise, 
 and which were often attended with the great- 
 est inconveniences.! 
 
 X. These holy wars were not less prejudicial 
 to the cause of religion, and the true interests 
 of the Christian chm-ch, than they were to the 
 temporal concerns of men. One of their first 
 
 attempted the conquest of Palestine, they would 
 have acted conformably with their ajiparent rights, 
 because it was formerly their country; and consist- 
 ently also with their rclisious principles, because 
 they expected a Messiah who was to bind the kings 
 of the Gentiles in chains, and to reduce the whole 
 world under the Jewish yoke. 
 
 * VV^e find many memorable examples of this in the 
 ancient records. Kolicrl. duke of Normandy, mort- 
 gagid his diirliy to his lircitln'r William kingof Ens- 
 land to (lirr:i\ llie e\pi-nses of his voyage to Pales- 
 tine See the llislnr. Major of iMalthew Paris, lib. i. 
 p. '24.— Odo, viscount of Hourges, sold his territory- 
 to the king of France. tJallia Christiana Beneilicti- 
 norum, toni. ii. p. 4.5. See, for many examples of this 
 kind. Car. du Fresne, Adnot. ail Joinvillii Vitam 
 Ludovici S. p. 52.— Houlainvilliers sur I'Origiue et 
 les Droits de la Noblesse, in Molefs Memoires dc 
 Literature et de I'llistoire, tom. ix. part i. p. OH.— .To. 
 George Cramer, d<! Jurihus et Pricrogalivis Nobilita- 
 lis, torn. i. p. 81, 409. From the commencement there- 
 fore of these holy wars, a vnst number of esliili^s, 
 belonging to the Kuropean nobility, were either 
 mortgaged, or totally transferred, some to kings and 
 princes, others to priests and monks, and not a few 
 to persons of a private condition, who, by possessing 
 considerable sums of ready money, wore enabled to 
 make advantagecnis purchases. 
 
 t Such persiins as entered into these expeditions, 
 and were distinguished by the badge of the military 
 cross, acquired ther<'by certain remarkable rights, 
 which were extremely prejudicial to Ihi' rest nf their 
 fellow-citizens. Hence it happenc'd, that when any 
 pf these liolij soldiers contracted any civil obliga- 
 tions, or entered into conventions of sale, purrluife, 
 or any such transactions, they were previously re- 
 quired to renounce all privileges and immunities, 
 which they had obtained, or might obtain in time to 
 comf, by assuming the cross. See Le BcBuf, Memoires 
 sur PHistoire d'Auxerre Append, tom. ii. p. 292. 
 Vol. I.— 33 
 
 and most i)emicious effects was the enormous 
 augmentation of the influence and authority 
 of the Roman pontiffs : they also contributed, 
 in various ways, to enrich the churches and 
 monasteries with daily accessions of wealth, 
 and to open new sources of opulence to all the 
 sacerdotal orders. For they, who assumed the 
 cross, disposed of their possessions as if they 
 were at the point of deatli, on account of the 
 great, and imnimenible dangers to which they 
 were to be exposed in their passage to the holy 
 land, and the opposition they were to cncoion- 
 ter there upon their arrival.* They therefore, 
 for the most part, made their wills before their 
 departure, and left a considerable part of their 
 possessions to the priests and monks, in order 
 to obtain, by these jilous legticies, the favor and 
 protection of the Deity. | Many examples of 
 these donations are to be found in ancient re- 
 cords. Such of the holy soldiers, as had been 
 engaged in suits of law with the priests or 
 monks, renounced their pretensions, and sub- 
 missively gave up whatever it was that had 
 been the subject of debate ; and others, who 
 had seized any of the possessions of the church- 
 es or convents, or had heard of any injury that 
 had been committed against the clergy by the 
 remotest of their ancestors, made the most li- 
 beral restitution, both for their own usurpa- 
 tions and those of their forefathers, and made 
 ample satisfaction, for the real or pretended in- 
 juries committed against the church, by rich 
 and costly donations. j: 
 
 Nor were these the only unhappy effects of 
 these holy expeditions, considered with respect 
 to their influence upon the state of religion, 
 and the affairs of the Christian cluirch ; for, 
 while whole legions of bishops and abbots 
 girded the sword to the thigh, and went as ge- 
 nerals, volunteers, or chaplains into Palestine, 
 the priests and monks, who had lived under 
 their jurisdiction, and were more or less awed 
 by their authority, threw off all restraint, led 
 the most lawless and profligate lives, and aban- 
 doned themselves to all sorts of licentiousness, 
 committing the most flagitious and extrava- 
 gant excesses without reluctance or remorse. 
 The monster superstition, which was already 
 grown to an enormous size, received new ac- 
 cessions of strengti) and influence from this holy 
 war, and exercised with greater vehemence 
 than ever its despotic dominion over the minds 
 of the Latins. To the crowd of saints and " 
 tutelar patrons, whose number was prodigious 
 before this period, were now added many fic- 
 titious saints of Greek and Syrian origin,^ 
 
 Qiy=- * The translator has here inserted, in the text, 
 the note (r) of the original, as it is purely historical, 
 and makes an interesting part of the narration. 
 
 t See Plessis, Hist, de ftleaux, tont. ii. p. 70, 79, 
 141.— Gallia Christiana, torn. ii. p. 1'.^, 139.— Le 
 lioBuf, Append, p. :n.— Du Fresne, Nota; ad Vitam 
 Ludovici Sancti, p. 5i. 
 
 X Du-Fresne, p. .W. 
 
 § The Roman Catholic historians acknowledge, 
 that, during the time of the crusades, many saints, 
 unknown to the Latins before that period, were im- 
 ported into Europe from Greece and the eastern pro- 
 vinces, and were treated with the utmost respect 
 and the most devout veneration. Among these new 
 patrons, there were some, whose exploits and even 
 existence are called in question. Such, among others, 
 wns St. Catherine, whom Haroiiiiis and Cassander 
 represent as having removed from Syria into Eu- 
 
258 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 hitherto unknown in Europe; and an incredi- 
 ble quantity of relics, the greatest part of which 
 were ridiculous in the higiiest degree, were 
 imported into the European chujches. The 
 armies, that returned from Asia after flic 
 taking of Jerusalem, brought with tliem a vast 
 number of these saintly relics, which they had 
 bought at a high price from the crafty Greeks 
 and Syrians, and which they considered us the 
 noblest spoils that could crown their return 
 from the holy land. These they committed to 
 the custody of the clergy in the churches and 
 monasteries, or ordered them to be most care- 
 fully preserved in their families from one ge- 
 neration to another.* 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Concerning the Calamitous Events that happened 
 to the Church during this Centunj. 
 
 I. The greatest opposition tliat Christians 
 met with, in this century, was from the Sara- 
 cens and Turks. To the latter the Christians 
 and Saracens were equally odious, and felt 
 equally the fatal consequences of their increas- 
 ing dominion. The Saracens, notwithstanding 
 their bloody contests with the Turks, which 
 gave them constant occupation, and the vigor- 
 ous, though ineflectual efforts they were con- 
 tinually making to set limits to the power of 
 
 rope. S::e B.ironius, ad Maityrol. lioiuan. p. 728. — 
 George Cassander, Sohol. ad Hyninos Ecclcsiie. It is 
 extremely doubtful, whether this Catherine, who is 
 honoured as the patrouess of learned men, ever e.\- 
 isted. 
 
 * The sacred treasures of musty relics which the 
 French, Germans, Britons, and other European na- 
 tions, preserved formerly with so much care, and 
 show even in our times with such pious ostentation, 
 are certainly not more ancient than these holy 
 wars, but were then purchased at a high rate from 
 the Greeks and Syrians. These cunning traders in 
 superstition, whose avarice and fraud were exces- 
 sive, frequently imposed upon tlie credulity of the 
 simple and ignorant Latins, by the sale of tictitious 
 relics. Richard, king of Kngiand, bought in 1191. 
 from the famous Saladin, all the relics that were to 
 be found in Jerusalem, as appears from the testimony 
 of Matthew Paris, who tells us also, that the Domi- 
 nicans brought from Palestine a white stone, in 
 vv'hich Jet^us Christ had left the print of his feet. The 
 Genoese pretended to have received from Baldwin, 
 second king of Jerusalem, the very dish in which the 
 paschal Inmb was served up to Christ and his disci- 
 ples at the last supper; though this famous dish ex- 
 cites the laughter of even father Labal, in his Voy- 
 ages en ]iSpagne et en Italie, tom. ii. P'or an ac- 
 count of the prodigous (juantity of relics, which St. 
 Louis brought from Palestine into France, wc refer 
 tile reader to the life of that prince composed by 
 Joinville, and published by Du-Fresne; as also to 
 Plessis, Histoire de I'Eglise de Meanx, tom. i. p. 1-20; 
 and Lancelot, Memoires pour la Vie de I'Abbe de 
 St. Cyran, tom. i. p. 175. Christ's handkerchief, 
 which is worsliipped at Besancon, was brought 
 thither from the holy land. See J. Jaques ('hiflet, 
 Visontii), part ii. p. 108; and de Lintcis Chrisli Se- 
 pulchralibus, c. ix. p. .'50. Many other examples of 
 this miserable superstition may be seen in Anton. 
 Matthsei Analecta veteria JEvi, torn. ii. p.' (i77.— Jo. 
 Mabillon, Annal. Bened. tom. vi. p. 52; and princi- 
 pally Chiflet's Crisis Historica de Linteis Christi Se- 
 pulchralibus, c. ix. x. p. SO, and also ,50, where we 
 find the following passage: "Sciendum est, vigeiite 
 •'immani et barbara Turcarum persecutione, et im- 
 "minente Christiana religionis in oriente naufra- 
 " gio, educta a sacrariis et per Christianos quovis 
 " modo recondita ecclesiarum pignora.— Hisce plane 
 'divinis opibus illecti prte aliis, sacra AjuJ-itix qua 
 " vi, qua prctio, a dctinentibus hac iliac extorse- 
 "runt." 
 
 that fierce nation, which was daily extending 
 the bounds of its empire, persisted in their 
 cruelty toward their Christian subjects, whom 
 they robbed, plundered, maimed, or murdered 
 in the most barbarous manner, and loaded 
 with all sorts of injuries and calamities. The 
 Turks, on the other hand, not only reduced 
 the Saracen dominion to very narrow bounds, 
 but also seized the richest provinces of the 
 Grecian empire, the fertile countries situated 
 upon the coasts of the Euxine sea, and subject- 
 ed them to their yoke, while they impoverished 
 and exhausted the rest by perpetual incursions, 
 and by the most severe and unmerciful exac- 
 
 i tions. The Greeks were not able to oppose 
 this impetuous torrent of prosperous ambition. 
 Their force was weakened by intestine dis- 
 cords, and their treasures were e.xhausted to 
 such a degree as rendered them incapable of 
 raising new troops, or of paying the armies 
 they had already in their service. 
 
 IJ. The Saracens in Spain opposed the pro- 
 gress of the Gospel in a different, yet still 
 more pernicious way. They used all sorts of 
 
 I methods to alitire the Christians into the pro- 
 fession of the Mohammedan faith. Alliances 
 of marriage, advantageous contracts, flatter- 
 ing rewards, were employed to seduce them 
 with too much success; for great numbers fell 
 into these fatal snares, and apostatized from 
 the truth;* and these alhn-enients would have, 
 undoubtedly, still continued to seduce mul- 
 titudes of Christians from the bosom of the 
 chiu-ch, had not the face of affairs been 
 changed in Spain by the victorious arms of 
 the kings of Arragon and Castile, and more 
 especially Ferdinand I.; for these princes, 
 whose zeal for Christianity was equal to their 
 military courage, defeated the Saracens in se- 
 veral battles, and deprived them of a great 
 part of their territories and possessions.! 
 
 Tite number of those among the Danes, 
 Hungarians, and other European nations, who 
 retained their prejudices in favour of the idola- 
 trous religion of their ancestors, was yet very 
 considerable; and they persecuted, with the 
 utmost cruelty, the neighbouring nations, and 
 also such of their fellow-citizens as had em- 
 braced the Gospel. To put a stop to this 
 barbarous persecution. Christian princes ex- 
 erted their zeal in a terrible manner, proclaim- 
 ing capital pmiishment against all wJio per- 
 sisted in the worsliip of the Pagan deities. 
 This dreadful severity contributed much more 
 toward the extirpation of paganism, than the 
 e.\hortations and instructions of ignorant mis- 
 sionaries, who were unacquainted with the 
 true nature of the Gospel, and dishonoured its 
 pure and holy doctrines by their licentious 
 lives and siiperstitious practices. 
 
 The Prussians, Lithuanians, Sclavonians, 
 Obotriti, and several other natioirs, who dwelt 
 in the lower parts of Germany, and lay still 
 grovelling in the darkness of paganism, con- 
 
 * Jo. Hcnr. Hottingeri Histor. Ecclesiast. Srec. .xi. 
 § ii. p. 452; and Michael Geddes' History of the Ex- 
 pulsion of the Morescoes out of Spain, which is to 
 be found in the Miscellaneous Tracts of that Author, 
 tom. i. 
 
 t For an account of these wars between the first 
 Christian kings of Spain and the Moslems or Moors, 
 see the Spanish histories of Mariana and Ferrerai 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 259 
 
 tinned to harass the Christians, who lived in 
 their neighbourhood, by perpetual acts of hos- 
 tility and violence, by frequent incursions into 
 their territories, and by putting numbers of 
 
 I them to death in the most inlmnian manner.* 
 
 I * IlflinoUli Chron. Slavorum, lib. t. ca)). xvi. p. 
 I 5.;.— Adaiiii Breinens. Histor. lib. ii. cap. xxvii. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerniug the State of Letters and Pk'dosophtj 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. The declining condition of the Grecian 
 empire was fatal to the progress of letters and 
 philosophy. Its glory and power diminished 
 from day to day under the insults and usui'])a- 
 tions of the Turks and Saracens; and, while i 
 the empire suffered by these attacks from with- 
 out, it was consumed gradually by the inter- 
 nal pestilence of civil discord, by frequent se- 
 ditions and conspiracies, and by those violent 
 revolutions which shook from time to time the 
 imperial throne, and were attended with the 
 sudden fall and elevation of those who held 
 the reins of government. So many foreign 
 invasions, so many internal troubles, so many 
 emperors dethroned, deprived the political 
 body of its strength and consistency, broke in 
 upon the public order, rendered all things pre- 
 carious, and, dejecting the spirits of the nation, 
 damped the fire of genius, and discouraged the 
 efforts of literary ambition.* There were, how- 
 ever, some emperors, such as Alexius Comne- 
 nus, who seemed to cherish and encourage the 
 drooping sciences, and whose zeal was second- 
 ed by several prelates, who were willing to 
 lend a supporting hand to the cause of letters. 
 The controversies also that subsisted between 
 the Greeks and Latins, impelled the former, 
 amidst all their disadvantages to a certain de- 
 gree of application to study, and prevented 
 them from abandoning entirely the culture of 
 the sciences. And hence it is, that we find 
 among the Greeks of this century some wri- 
 ters, at least, who have deserved well of the 
 republic of letters. 
 
 II. We pass in silence the poets, rhetori- 
 cians, and philologists of this century, who 
 were neither liigldy eminent nor absolutely 
 contemptible. Among the writers of history, 
 Leo the jrrammarian, .lolm Scylizes, Cedrenus, 
 and a few others, deserve to be mentioned 
 with some share of praise, notwithstanding the 
 palpable partiality with which they are charge- 
 able, and the zeal they discover for many of 
 the fabulous records of their nation. But the 
 greatest ornament of the republic of letters, at 
 this time, was Michael Psellus, a man illusti-i- 
 ous in every respect, and deeply versed in all 
 the various kinds of erudition that were known 
 in his age. Tliis great man recommended 
 warmly to his countrymen the study of phi- 
 
 (J(^ * The sentence which begins with the words 
 so many foreign, and cnd.s with the words literary 
 ambition, is added by the translator to render the 
 connexion with what follows more evidenl. 
 
 losophy, and particularly the system of Aristo- 
 tle, which he embellished and illustrated in 
 several learned and ingenious productions.* 
 If we turn our eyes toward tlie Aratiians, we 
 shall find that they still retained a high degree 
 of zeal for the culture of the sciences; as ap- 
 pears evidently from the number of physicians, 
 mathematicians, and a.stronomers, who flou- 
 risiied among them in this century. f 
 
 III. The arts and sciences seemed, in some 
 measure, to revive in the west, among the 
 clergy, at least, and the monastic orders; they 
 were not indeed cultivated by any other set 
 of men; and tiic nobility, if we e.xcept such of 
 them as were designed to fill certain ecclesias- 
 tical dignities, or had voluntarily devoted 
 themselves to a religious solitude, treated all 
 sorts of learning and erudition with indiffer- 
 ence and contempt. The schools of learning 
 flourished in several parts of Italy about the 
 year 1050; and of the Italian doctors, wiio ac- 
 quired a name by their writings or their aca- 
 demical lectures, several removed afterwards 
 into France, and particularly into Normandy, 
 where they instructed the youth, who had con- 
 secrated themselves to the service of the 
 church. { The French also, though they ac- 
 knowledge their obligations to the learned 
 Italians who settled in their provinces, exhibit, 
 at the same time, a considerable list of their 
 countrymen, who, without any foreign suc- 
 cours, cultivated the sciences, and contributed 
 not a little to the advancement of letters in 
 this century; they mention also several schools 
 erected in different parts of that kingdom, 
 which were in the higiiest reputation, both on 
 account of the flime of their masters, and the 
 nmltitude of disciples that resorted to them.§ 
 And, indeed, it is certain beyond all contra- 
 diction, that the liberal arts and sciences were 
 cultivated in I'rance, which abounded with 
 learned men, while the greatest part of Italy 
 lay as yet covered with a thick cloud of igno- 
 rance and darkness. For Robert, king of 
 France, son and successor of Hui^h Capet, dis- 
 ciple of the famous Gerbert (atterwards Syl- 
 vester II.,) and the great protector of the 
 sciences, and friend of the learned, reigned 
 
 * Leo AUatius, Diatribiude Psellis, p. 14, edit. 
 Fabricii. 
 
 I Klmaoini Historia Saracen, p. 231.— Jo. Henr. 
 Ilnltinf.'1'r, Ilistiir. J>clcs. Sa;c. xi. p. 4t'J. 
 
 I Sue JVIuratori, Antiijiiitates Ital. inedii aivi, torn. 
 iii.p. 871.— Giannone, Ili.st<iria di Napoli, vol. ii. 
 
 § Histoire Litcraire dc la France, toni. vii. at the 
 Introduction. — Du Boulay, Hist, .\cadeni. Paris. 
 torn. i.p. 353. — Lc Bcenf, Dies, sur I'Etat des Sciences 
 en France dcpuis la .Mort du Roi Robert, which is 
 published ainonK his Dissertations sur I'llistoire Eo- 
 clesiastique et Civile de Paris, torn. ii. part i. 
 
260 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 from the close of the preceding century to the 
 year 1031,* and exerted upon all occasions the 
 most ardent zeal for the restoration of letters; 
 nor were his noble etforts without success-j 
 The provinces of Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and 
 other southern parts of Italy, were indebted, 
 for the introduction of the sciences among 
 them, to tiie Normans, who became their mas- 
 ters, and who brouglit with them from France 
 the knowledge of letters to a people benighted 
 in tiie darkest ignorance. To the Normans 
 also was due the restoration of learning in 
 England. William the Conqueror, a prince 
 of uncommon sagacity and genius, and the 
 great Msecenas of his time, upon his accession 
 to the throne of England in the year 1066, en- 
 gaged, by tlie most alluring solicitations, a 
 considerable number of learned men, from 
 Normandy and other coimtries, to settle in his 
 new dominions, and exerted his most zealous 
 endeavours to dispel that savage ignorance, 
 which is always a source of innumerable evils. | 
 The reception of Christianity had polished and 
 civilized, in an extraordinary manner, the 
 rugged minds of the valiant Normans: for 
 those fierce wamors, who, under the darkness 
 of paganism, had manifested tlie utmost aver- 
 sion to all branches of knowledge and every 
 kind of instruction, distinguished themselves, 
 after their conversion, by their ardent applica- 
 tion to the study of religion and the pursuits 
 of learning. 
 
 IV. This vehement desire of knowledge, 
 that increased from day to day, and became at 
 length, the predominant passion of the politest 
 European nations, produced many happy ef- 
 fects. To it, more particularly, we must attri- 
 bute the considerable number of public schools 
 that were opened in various places, and the 
 choice of more able and eminent masters than 
 those who had formerly presided in the semi- 
 naries of learning. 'J'oward the conclusion of 
 the preceding age, there were no schools in 
 Europe but tliose which belonged to monaste- 
 ries, or episcopal residences: nor were there 
 any other masters, except the Benedictine 
 monks, to instruct the youth in the principles 
 of sacred and profane erudition. But, not 
 long after the commencement of this century, 
 the face of things was totally changed, in a 
 manner the most advantageous to the cause 
 of letters. In many cities of France and Ita- 
 ly, learned men, both among the clergy and 
 laity, undertook the weighty and important 
 charge of instructing the youth, and succeeded 
 much better in tliis worthy undertaking tjian 
 the monks had done, not only by comprehend^ 
 ing in their course of instruction more branches 
 of knowledge than the monastic doctors were 
 acquainted with, but also by teaching in a bet- 
 ter method, and with more perspicuity and 
 
 |l3' * Robert succeeded Hugh Cappt, and reigned 
 thirty five yours. 
 
 t Daniel, Hitstoire de la France, tnm. iii. p. 58. — 
 Du Bnulay, Hist. Academ. Paris, torn. i. p. tilUi ct 
 passim. 
 
 t See Hist. Liter, de In Fiance, torn. viii. p. 171.— 
 "The English," says Matthew Paris, " vvoro so il- 
 " literate and ignorant before the time of Willi.ini 
 "the Conqueror, that a man who understood the 
 " principles of grammar, was universally looked upon 
 " as a prodigy of learning." 
 
 precision, many of the same branches of sci- 
 ence, which the others had taught before them. 
 The most eminent of these new masters were 
 sucli as had either travelled into Spain with a 
 view to study in the schools of the Saracens 
 (wiiich was extremely customary in this age 
 among those who were ambitious of a distin- 
 guished reputation for wisdom and knowledge,) 
 or had improved their stock of erudition and 
 philosophy by a diligent and attentive perusal 
 of the writings of the Arabians, of which a 
 great number were translated into Latin; for 
 with tliese foreign succours they were enabled 
 to teacli philosoph)', mathematics, physic, as- 
 tronomy, and the other sciences that are con- 
 nected with them, in a much more learned and 
 solid manner tiian the monks or such as had 
 received their education from them alone. — 
 The scliool of Salernmn, in the kingdom of 
 Naples, was renowned above all others for the 
 study of physic in this century, and vast num- 
 bers crowded thither from all the provinces of 
 Europe to receive instruction in the art of heal- 
 ing: but the medical precepts which rendered 
 the doctors of Salerrmm so famous, were all 
 derived from the writings of the Arabians, or 
 from the schools of the Saracens in Spain and 
 Africa.* It was also from the schools and writ- 
 ings of the Arabian sages, that the absurd and 
 puerile tricks of divination, and the custom of 
 tbrctelling future events from the position of 
 the stars, the features of the face, and the lines 
 of the hand, derived their origin. These ridi- 
 culous practices, proceeding from so respecta- 
 ble a source, and moreover adapted to satisfy 
 the idle curiosit}' of impatient mortals, were 
 carried on in all the Em'opean nations and in 
 process of time tlie pretended sciences of as- 
 trology and divination acquired the highest re- 
 putation and autiiority. 
 
 V. The seven liberal arts, as they were now 
 styled, were taught in the greatest part of the 
 schools tliat were erected in this century for 
 the education of youth. The fii'st stage was 
 gramjuar, which was followed by rhetoric and 
 logic. Wlien the disciple, having learned 
 these three branches, which were generally 
 known by the name of trivium, extended his 
 amiiition, and was desirous of new improve- 
 ment in the sciences, he was conducted slowly 
 through the quadrivmm^ to the very summit 
 of literary fame. But this method of teaching, 
 which had been received in all the western 
 schools, was considerably changed toward the 
 latter end of this century; for, as the science 
 of logic, under which metaphysics were in 
 part comprehended, received new degrees of 
 perfection from the deep meditations and the 
 assiduous industry of certain acute thinkers, 
 
 * Mnratori, Antiq. Ital. torn. ii. p. 93.'i. — Giannone, 
 Hist, di Napoli, torn. ii. p. 151. Freind's History of 
 Physic. — It is well known, that the famous precepts 
 of the school of Salernum, for the preservation of 
 health, were cuniposed in this century, at the request 
 of the king of F.ngland. 
 
 (pj= t The trivium was a term invented in the 
 times of barbarism to express the three sciences that 
 were first learned in tlie schools, viz. grammar, rhe- 
 toric, and logic; and the schools in which these sci- 
 ences alnne were taught, were called Uiviales. The 
 iiuadriiuam comprehended the four mathematical 
 si^ieiices,— arithmetic, music, geometry, and astro- 
 nomy. 
 
Chap. I 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 261 
 
 and was taught with more detail and subtilty 
 than in former times, the greatest part of the 
 studious youth became so enamoured of this 
 branch of pliilosophy, as to abandon grammar, 
 rhetoric, and all the other lilieral arts, that they 
 might consecrate their whole time to the dis- 
 cussion of logical questions, and the pursuit 
 of mctapiiysical speculations. Nor was this 
 surprising, when we consider, that, according 
 to the opinion which now prevailed in the re- 
 public; of letters, a man who was well versed 
 in diakclics, i. e. in logical an<l metaphysical 
 knowledge, was reputed sutiiciently learned, 
 and was supposed to stand in need of no other 
 branches of erudition.* Hence arose that con- 
 tempt of languages and eloquence, of the more 
 elegant sciences, and the fine arts, which spread 
 its baneful intluenco tlirough the Latin pro- 
 vinces; and hence that barbarism and pedantic 
 sophistry which dishonoured, in succeeding 
 ages, the republic of letters, and deplorably 
 corrupted the noble simplicity of true theolo- 
 gy, and the pui'est systems of philosophical 
 wisdom. 
 
 VI. The philosophy of tlic Latins, in this 
 century, was absolutely confined within the 
 circle of dialectics, while the other philosoplii- 
 cal sciences were scarcely known by name.j 
 This dialectic, indeed, was miserably dry and 
 
 * See Boulay, toiu. i. p. 40t<, 511.— This is too likely 
 to become the prevailing ta.ste even in onr times: 
 hut it is an ancient taste, as wo may easily perceive, 
 by casting an eye upon the literary hist(jry of the 
 eleventh century; and to contirni .still larilier llie 
 truth of the vulgar saying, that there is nothing new 
 under the nun. we shall quote the following passage 
 from the Metalogiium of John of Salisbury, a wri- 
 ter of no nierin abilities, lib. i. cap. iii. " Poeta-, 
 hist(iri(it:iiiplii, habebanter infanies, ct si qiiis iiiciini- 
 bcl);it laliiiiiliiis antiquoruin, notabatur 'it noii iiioilu 
 ascllo Arcadia- tardior, sod obtusjor plunibo vel la- 
 pide, omnibus erat in risuui. Suis enim, aut magis- 
 tri sui, quisque incumbebat inventis. — Fiebant ergo 
 sunimi rcpeute philosophi; nam qui illiteraliis acces- 
 serat, fere non morabatur in scholis ulterius (piam 
 eo curriculo temporis, quo avium pulli plnmescunt. 
 Sed quid docebant novi doctores, et qui plussomnio- 
 runi cpiam vigiliaruni in scrulinio philosniiliiir con- 
 suniserant? Ecce nova Hidiaiit omnia: innovali.itiir 
 grammatica, jmnuitali:itur dialect ica, con t cm neliatur 
 rhetorica. et novas totius quadrivii vias, evacuali.s 
 priorum regulis, dc ipsis ])hilosophia; adytis pmfere- 
 bant. Solaiii convcnientiam sive ruliuiinii loipielian- 
 tur, argumentnm sonahat in ore ompiiiiMi— ac incp- 
 tuni nimis aut rude et a pliilosoplio ali>-Munj, iuipds 
 sibile credehatur conrrninilcr et ad rationis nonnam 
 quici|uarn diccro aut faccre, nisi coiivenicntiit: et ra- 
 tioniK menliii e.xprcssim esset inserta." Many more 
 passages of this nature are to be found in this au- 
 thor. 
 
 t We shall, indeed, find many, in the records of 
 this century, honoured will) the title of Phi/nsophrr.'i. 
 Thus wo hi'ar of IManegoldiis the I'hilosopher, .Ada- 
 lardus the Philosopher, &c. lint wr must not attri 
 bute to that term, when applied to llu'se irraniniari 
 nns, the si'iise which it liorc .-imong the ancient 
 (Ireeks and Latins, and which it still bears in onr 
 times. In the styb; of what wec.iU the middle ages, 
 every man of learning, of wliale\er kind his erudi- 
 tion might be, was called a philosopher; and this ti- 
 tle was also given to the interpret<Ts of Scriptnn', 
 though that set of men were, generally speaking, 
 destitute of true philosophy. See the (^hronicon Sa- 
 leriiit.ininn in Muratori's collection Scriptor. Ke- 
 rum llalicar. torn. ii. part ii. cap. c.\.\iv. p. 20.'>, wlnTe 
 we are told, that in the tenth century, in which the 
 sciences were almost totally extinguished in Italy, 
 there w(tre thirty-two philosophers at Benev<'nto. 
 We learn, however, by what follows, that these phi- 
 losophers were partly grannnarians, and partly per- 
 sons who were more or less versed in certani liberal 
 arts. 
 
 barren, as long as it was drawn from no other 
 source than the ten categories falsely attribut- 
 ed to St. Augustin, or from the e.vplications of 
 the Aristotelian philosophy, composed by Por- 
 phj-ry and Averroes. These, however, were 
 the only guides which the schools had to fol- 
 low in the beginning of tliis century; nor had 
 the public teachers either genius or courage 
 enough to enlarge the system, or to hnprove 
 upon the principles of these dictators in philo- 
 sophy, whose authority was treated iis infalli- 
 ble, and whose productions, for a long time, 
 were regarded as perfect, to the gr(;at detri- 
 ment of true science. But, about the year 
 1050, the face of philosophy began to change, 
 and the science of logic assumed a new aspect. 
 This revolution began in tVance, where several 
 of the books of Aristotle had been brought 
 froiu the schools of the Saracens in Spain; and 
 it was effected by a set of luen highly renown- 
 ed for their abilities and genius, such as Ber- 
 enger, Roscellinus, Hildebert, and after them 
 by Gilbert de la Porree, the famous Abelard, 
 and others. These eminent logicians, though 
 they followed the Stagirite as their guide, took 
 the liberty to illustrate and model anew his 
 philosophy, and to extend it far beyond its an- 
 cient limits. 
 
 VII. The philosophers of this age, who 
 were most famous for tlieir zealous and success- 
 ful endeavours to improve the science of logic, 
 and accommodate it to general use, were Lan- 
 franc, an Italian by birth, (who was abbot of 
 St. Steplien's at Caen, and was thence called 
 by Wilham tiie Conqueror to the see of Can- 
 terbury,) Anselm his successor, and Odo, whose 
 last promotion was the bishopric of Caiubray. 
 Lanfranc was so deeply versed in this science, 
 that lie M'as commonly called the Dialectician; 
 and he employed with great dexterity the sub- 
 tilties of logic in the controvers}' which was 
 carried on between him and the learned Berea- 
 ger, against whom he maintained the real pre- 
 sence of Christ's body and l)lood in the holy 
 sacrament. Anselm, in a very learned dia- 
 logue, throws nmch light upon the darkness 
 and perplexity in which the science of logic 
 had been so long involved; and, among other 
 things, he investigates, with no small sagacity, 
 the nature of substance, and mode or quality, 
 in order to convey more ju.st notions of these 
 metaphysical entities than had been hitherto 
 entertained.* This great prelate, who shone 
 with a distinguished lustre in several branches 
 of literature both sacred and profane, was the 
 first of the Latin doctors who dispelled tiie 
 clouds of ignorance and obscurity that hung 
 over the important sciences of metaphysics and 
 natural theology, as appears from two books 
 of his composition, wherein the truths con- 
 cerning the Deity, which are deducible from 
 the mere light of nature, are enumerated and 
 explained with a degree of sagacity whieli 
 could not well be expected from a writer of 
 this century. He was the inventor of that fa- 
 mous argument, vulgarly and erroneously at- 
 tributed to Des-Cartes, which demonstrates 
 the existence of God from the idea of an infi- 
 
 * This dialogue, de Orainmatiro, is to be fomul in 
 the works of Anselm, published by father Gerberon, 
 toni. i. p 143 
 
262 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 nitely perfect Being naturally implanted in the 
 mind of man, and which is to be found, with- 
 out exception in the breast of every mortal. 
 The solidity of tliis argument was, indeed, 
 called into question, almost as soon as it was 
 proposed, bj' Gaunilo, a French monk, whose 
 objections were answered by Anselm, in a trea- 
 tise professedly written for tliat purpose.* Odo 
 the third restorer of logic whom we mention- 
 ed above, taught that science with the great- 
 est applause, and illustrated it in three learned 
 productions, which have not survived the runis 
 of tinie.f 
 
 VIII. The restoration of logic was imme- 
 diately followed by a veliement dispute be- 
 tween its restorers and patrons, concerning the 
 object of that science; such was the term em- 
 ployed by the contending parties. This con- 
 troversy, which was long agitated in the schools, 
 was in its nature extremely trivial and unim- 
 portant: but, considered in its consequences, it 
 became a very serious and weiglity affair, 
 since the disputants on both sides made use of 
 their respective opinions in explaining the doc- 
 trines of religion, and reciprocally loaded each 
 other with the most odious invectives and the 
 most opprobrious accusations. In one point 
 only they were mianimous, acknowledging that 
 logic or dialectic had for its essential object the 
 consideration of miiver.sals in their various re- 
 lations and points of comparison, since par- 
 ticular and individual things, being liable to 
 change, could not be the objects of a sure and 
 immutable science. But the great question 
 was, whether these universals, which came 
 within the sphere of logical inquiries, belonged 
 to the class of real things, or that of mere de 
 numinations. One set of these subtile disput 
 ants maintained, that universals were undoubt- 
 ed realities, and supported their hypothesis by 
 the authority of Plato, Boetius, and other an- 
 cient sages; the other affirmed, that they were 
 mere words and .outward denominations, and 
 
 * Gaiiiiilo's Treatise is to be found in th(! works 
 of Anselm. with the answer of that leanieil prcI.Tte. 
 (ftj- As Ansflni makes such a shining figure in the 
 literary history of England, it will not be improper 
 to aild hi-re a more ample account of his character 
 and writings than that which is given by Dr. Mo- 
 sheini. His lite and manners were without reproach, 
 thongh his spii itiial ambition justly exposed him to 
 censure. His works are divid'd into three parts. 
 The first contains his dogmatiial tracts, and begins 
 with a discourse concerning the E\istenc(^ of God. 
 the Divine Attributes, and the Trinity. This dis- 
 course is called Monologia, because it is drawn up 
 in the form of a soliloquy. In this first part of the 
 works of Anselm, there are many cinious researches 
 upon subjects of a very difficult and mysterious na- 
 ture, such as the Fall of Satan, the Keason « liy God 
 created Man, the doctrine of Original Sin. and the 
 Manner of its (,'omnuiniration to Adam's Posterity, 
 the Liberty of the ^Vill. and the Consistency of 
 Freedom with the Diviiu' Prescience. The second 
 and third parts of the writings of this eminent pre- 
 late contain his practical and devotional perform- 
 ances, such as Homilies, I'oems, Prayers, &;c. and his 
 Letters, which are divided into four books. 
 
 t The titles of these three treatises are as follow: 
 de Sophista, de Comple.vionibus, de Re et Ente. The 
 learned Heriman, in his Narratio Restaurationis Ab- 
 batia- .Sti. Martini Tornacensis. which is published 
 in M. D'Acheri's Ppicilegium Scriptor. Veter. tmn. 
 ii. p. 88!), speaks of Odo in the following honourable 
 manner: " Cum Odo septem liberalium artium esset 
 peritus. prsccique tamen in dialertica eminebat, et 
 pro ipsa maxima clericorum frequentia eum e.\pe- 
 tebat." 
 
 pleaded in behalf of their cause the respecta- 
 ble sulfrages of Aristotle and Porphyry. The 
 I former were called Realists, on account of 
 I their doctrine, and the latter Nominalists, for 
 the same reason. The contending parties 
 were, in process of time, subdivided into vari- 
 [ ous sects, on accoimt of the different modes 
 I in vvliicli man}' explained the doctrine that was 
 the badge and characteristic of their sect.* 
 I This controversy made a prodigious noise in 
 all the schools throughout Europe during ma- 
 ny succeeding ages, and often produced unhap- 
 py contentions and animosities between philo- 
 sophers and divines. Some are of opinion, 
 that it derived its origin from the disputes be- 
 tween Bcrenger and his adversaries, concern- 
 ing the eucharist;! a notion which, though it 
 be advanced without authority, is by no means 
 destitute of probability, since tlie hypothesis of 
 the Nominalists might be very successfully em- 
 ployed in defending the doctrine of Bercnger, 
 concerning tlie sacrament of the Lord's supper. 
 IX. The Nominalists had for their chief a 
 person named John, who, on account of his 
 logical subtilty, was surnatned the Sophist, 
 wliich is the only circumstance we know of 
 his history. J His principal disciples were Ro- 
 bert of Paris, Roscelin of Compiegne, and 
 Arnoul of Laon, who propagated his doctrine 
 with industry and success; to whom we may 
 add, with some probability, Raimbert, the mas- 
 ter of a famous school at Lisle, who is said, ac- 
 cording to the quibbling humour of the times, 
 ' to have read nomimd k>gic to his disciples 
 while Odo (whom we have already had occa- 
 sion to mention) instructed his scholars in real- 
 ity.^ The most renowned of all the nominal 
 
 Tiie le.-irned Brucker (in his HistoriaCritica Phi- 
 losophic, tom. iii. p. 904) gives an ample account of 
 the sect of the Nominalists, and enlarges upon the 
 nature and circumstances of this logical coiUest: he 
 also mentions the various writers, who have made 
 this sect and its doctrine the object of their researches. 
 Among these writers, the principal was John Sala- 
 bert, presbyter in the diocese of Agen, who, in 1(1.51, 
 published a treatise entitled Philosophia Nominali- 
 um Vindicata. This book, which is extremely rare, 
 has been seen by none of the authors who have writ- 
 ten professedly concerning the sect of the Nominal- 
 . A copy of it, taken from the manuscript in the 
 French king's library, was communicated to mc, 
 from which it appears, that Salabert. who was cer- 
 tainly a very acute and ingenious logician, employed 
 his labour rather in defending the doctrine of the 
 Nominalists, than in giving an accurate account of 
 their sect. There are, however, several things to be 
 found in his book, which are far from being general- 
 ly known, even among the learned. 
 
 t Du Boulay. Histor. Acad. Parij. tom. i. p. 44!J.— 
 Ger. du Bois. Histor. Ecclesioe Paris, torn. i. 770. 
 
 1 This account we have from the unknown author 
 of the Fragnientum Historiae Francicse a Roberto 
 Rege ad Mortem Phillippi I. which is published in 
 Du Chesne's Scriptores Historia- Francicip, tom. iv. 
 His words are as follow: " In dialectica hi potentes 
 extiteriint sophista;, Johannes, qui arteni sophisti- 
 cam vocalem esse dissernit," &c.— Du Boulay conjec- 
 tures that this John the Sophist was the same per- 
 son with John of Chartres, surnamed the Deaf, who 
 was first physician to Henry I. king of France, and 
 had acquired a great degree of renown by his genius 
 and erudition. "The same author telle us. that John 
 had for his master Giraldns of Orleans, who was an 
 incomparable poet, and an e.xcellent rhetorician; but 
 he advances this without any proof Mabillon, on 
 the other hand, in his Annal. Benedict, tom. v. sup. 
 poses, that John the Nominalist was the same per- 
 son who made known to Anselm the error of Roscel- 
 linus concerning the Three Persons in the GodlTead. 
 
 § Tbepassagfiin the original is: "aui dialecticam 
 
Chap. 11. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 263 
 
 philosophers of this age was Roscelin: hence 
 many considered him as the chief and founder 
 of that sect, and he is still regarded as such by 
 several learned men. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 Church, and its Form of Government, daring 
 this Century. 
 
 I. All the records of tliis century loudly 
 complain of the vices that reigned among the 
 rulers of the church, and, in general, among 
 all the sacerdotal orders; they also deplore that 
 universal decay of piety and discipline, which 
 was the consequence of this corruption in a set 
 of men, who were bomid to support, by their 
 example, their authority, and their instruc- 
 tions, the sacred interests of religion and vir- 
 tue. The western bishops were no sooner ele- 
 vated to the rank of dukes, counts, and nobles, 
 and enriched with ample territories, than they 
 gave themselves up entirely to the donnnion 
 of pleasure and ambition, and, wholly employ- 
 ed in displaying the magnificence of their tem- 
 poral stations, frequented the courts of princes, 
 accompanied always with a splendid train of 
 attendants and domestics.* The inferior or- 
 ders of the clergy were also licentious in their 
 own way; few among them preserved any re- 
 mains of piety and virtue, we might add, of 
 decency and discretion. While their rulers 
 were wallowing in luxury, and, basking in the 
 beams of worldly pomp and splendour, they 
 were indulging themselves, without the least 
 sense of shame, in fraudulent practices, in im- 
 pure and lascivious gratifications, and even in 
 the commission of fiagitious crimes. The Gre- 
 cian clergy were less chargeable with these 
 shocking irregularities, as the calamities under 
 which their country groaned, imjiosed a re- 
 straint upon their passions, and gave a check 
 to their licentiousness. Yet notwithstanding 
 these salutary restraints, there were few ex- 
 amples of piety and virtue to be found among 
 them. 
 
 II. The authority and lustre of the Latin 
 church, or, to speak more properly, the power 
 and dominion of the Roman pontilTs, rose in 
 this century to the highest point, though they 
 rose by degrees, and luul nuich opposition and 
 many difficulties to concpier. In the preceding 
 age the pontitls had acquired a great degree 
 of authority in religious affairs, and in every 
 thing that related to the government of the 
 church; and their credit and influence increas- 
 ed prodigiously toward llic connncncemcnt of 
 this century. For tiien tiicy received the pom- 
 pous titles of ' masters of the world,' and 
 ' popes, i. e. universal fathers;' they presided 
 also every where in the councils by their le- 
 
 rlcricis siiis in vni-c li'ffi'hat, qiuim Oilo in re ilisiiipti- 
 lis Wf^otit. See llfriniaiiiiiis, Ilislor. Koslaurationis 
 Monasterii Sti. i\I,irtiiii Toriuiccna. in D'Aclieri's 
 Spiciloc- Vft. Scri|)toruiii, vol. iii. p. 88!'. 
 
 * Soe. amoiiK otluT c.vaiiiplcs of this rpiscnpal 
 eraildeur that of Adalbert, in Adarn. Urrmciis. lih. 
 iii. cap. x.\iii. p. M, lib. iv. cap. xxxv. p. .W. that of 
 Gunther, in the Lectionca Antiqiiae of Canisins, toni. 
 iii. part i. p. 1H5, and that of Manasses, in Miisonin 
 Ualicnm of iVtnhillon, torn. i. p. 114. Add to all 
 those Muralori'.=i Aritiq. Ilal. incdii jKvi, torn. vi. 
 p. 72. 
 
 gates; assumed the authority of supreme arbi- 
 ters in all controversies that arose concerning 
 religion or church discipline; and maintained 
 the pretended rights of the church against the 
 encroachments and usurpations of kings and 
 princes. Their authority, however, was con- 
 fined within certain limits; for, on one hand, it 
 was restrained by sovereign princes, that it 
 niiglit not arrogantly aim at civil dominion; 
 and, on the other it was opposed by the bishops 
 themselves, that it might not rise to a spiritual 
 desjjotism, and utterly destroy tlie liberty and 
 privileges of synods and councils.* From the 
 time of Leo IX. the popes employed every me- 
 thod which the most artful ambition could sug- 
 gest, to remove these limits, and to render their 
 dominion both despotic and universal. They 
 not only aspired to the character of supreme 
 legislators in tlie church, to an unlimited juris- 
 diction over all synods and councils, whether 
 general or provincial, to tlie sole distribution 
 of all ecclesia.stical honours and benefices, as 
 being divinely authorized and appointed for 
 that purpose; but they carried their insolent 
 pretensions so far as to give tliemselves out for 
 lords of the miiverse, arbiters of the fate of 
 kingdoms and empires, and supreme rulers 
 over the kings and princes of the earth. Be- 
 fore Leo. IX. no pope was so enormously im- 
 pudent as to claim this unbounded authority, 
 or to assume the power of transferring territo- 
 ries and provinces from their lawful possessors 
 to new masters. This pontitl'gave the exam- 
 ple of such an amazing pretension to his holy 
 successors, by granting to tiie Normans, who 
 had settled in Italy, the lands and territories 
 which they had already usurped, or were em- 
 ployed in forcing out of the hands of the 
 Greeks and Saracens.f The auibitious views, 
 however, of the aspiring popes were opposed 
 by the emperors, tiic kings of France, by Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror, wjio was now seated on 
 the throne of Englaiul, and was the boldest 
 asscrtor of the riglits and privileges of royalty 
 against the high claims of the apostolic see,f 
 
 * The very learned T.aiuioy (in his Assertio con- 
 tra I'livilegium Sti. Medanli, part ii. cap. xxxi. op. 
 rnni. ii. has piven as an accurate account of the ec. 
 desiaslical laws, and of the power of the hierarchy, 
 duriuff this century, which he collijcted from the let- 
 ters of pope Greiiory VII. from which account it ap- 
 pears, that Gregory, ambitious as lie was. did not 
 pretend to a supreme and despotic authority in the 
 church. 
 
 t See Gaiifr. Malaterra, Hist. Siciila, lib. i. rnp. 
 \iv. p. .">.").■!, ton). V. Scriptor. Ital. Muratori. {Jij- The 
 translator has here incorporated the note (s) of the 
 oriL'inal into the text. 
 
 I Sr(> I'.adnieri Historia Novoruin, which is pub- 
 lislied at the end of the works of Ansehn, archbishop 
 of Canterbury. It is proper to observe here, that, if 
 It is true on one hand, that William the Conqueror 
 iqip"-i'(l, on many occasions, with the utmost vehe- 
 mince and zeal, the Krowin;; power of the Roman 
 pnntilis. and of the aspirinc bishops, it is no less 
 certain, on the other, that, to acrouiplish his anibi- 
 lious views, he, like many other European princes, 
 had recourse to the intluence of the pontiti's upon 
 the nii?ulsof the multitude, and thircbv nourished 
 and encourajred the pride ami ambition of the court 
 of Rome. For, while he was jireparing all thinga 
 lor his e.\p(idition into Eiicland, he sent ambassa- 
 dors tn pope Alexander £1. " in order (as .Matthew 
 Paris says. Hist. Major, lib. i.) to have liis uiidcrlak- 
 i UK approved and ju.stitied by apostolical authority; 
 and the pope, having considered the claims of tha 
 contending parties, sent a standard to William a< 
 
264 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part ll. 
 
 and also by several other princes. Nor did the 
 bishops, particularly those of France and Ger- 
 many, sit tamely silent mider the papal yoke; 
 many of them endeavoured to maintain their 
 lights and the privileges of the church; but oth- 
 ers, seduced by tlie allurements of interesl or the 
 dictates of superstition, sacrificed their liber- 
 ties, and yielded to the pontiffs. Hence it hap- 
 pened, that these imperious lords of the church, 
 though they did not entirely gain their point, 
 or satisfy to the full their raging ambition, yet 
 obtained vast augmentations of power, and ex- 
 tended their authority from day to day. 
 
 III. The see of Rome, after the death of 
 Sylvester II. which happened in 1003, was 
 filled successively by John XVII., .John XVIII. 
 and Sergius IV., whose pontificates were not 
 distinguished by any memorable events. It 
 is, however, proper to observe, that these three 
 popes were confirmed in tlie see of Rome by 
 tlie approbation and authority of the emperors 
 under whose reigns they were elected to that 
 high dignity. Benedict VIII. who was raised 
 to the pontificate in 1012, being obliged by his 
 competitor Gregory to leave Rome, fled into 
 Germany for succour, and threw himself at 
 tlie feet of Henry II., by whom he was rein- 
 stated in the apostolic chair, which he pos- 
 sessed in peace uiatil the year 1 024. It was 
 dm-ing his pontificate, tJiat those Normans, 
 who make such a shining figure in history, 
 came into Italy, and reduced several of its 
 richest provinces under their dominion. Bene- 
 dict was succeeded by liis brother John XIX. 
 who ruled the church until the year 1033. 
 The five pontiffs whom we have now been 
 mentioning were not chargeable with disho- 
 nouring their high station by that licentious- 
 ness and immorality which rendered so many 
 of their successors infamous; their lives were 
 virtuous; at least their conduct was decent. 
 But their examples had little effect upon Be- 
 nedict IX., a most abandoned profligate, and 
 a wretch capable of the most horrid crimes, 
 whose flagitious conduct drew upon him the 
 just resentment of the Romans, who in 1038 
 removed him from his station. He was after- 
 wards indeed restored, by the emperor Conrad, 
 to the papal chair; but, instead of learning 
 circumspection and prudence from his former 
 disgrace, he became still more scandalous in 
 his life and manners, and so provoked the Ro- 
 man people by his repeated crimes, that they 
 deposed him a second time, in 1044, and elected 
 in his place John, bishop of Sabina, who as- 
 sumed the name of Sylvester III. About 
 three months after this new revolution, tlie 
 relatives and adherents of Benedict rose up in 
 arms, drove Sylvester out of tlie city, and re- 
 stored the degraded pontiff to his forfeited 
 honours, which, however, lie did not long en- 
 joy; for, perceiving that there was no possibi- 
 
 the omen of his approacliing royalty." It is highly 
 probable, that the Nonnans in Italy had made the 
 same humble request to Leo IX., and demanded liis 
 confirmation both of the possessions they had ac- 
 quired, and of those which they intended to usurp. 
 And when we consider all this, it will not appear so 
 surprising that the popes aimed at universal empire, 
 since they were encouraged in their views? by the 
 mean submissions and servile homage of the Euro- 
 pean princes. 
 
 lity of appeasing the resentment of the Ro- 
 mans, lie sold the pontificate to John Gratian, 
 arch-presbyter of Rome, who took the name 
 of Gregory VI. Thus the church had, at the 
 same time, two chiefs, Sylvester and Gregory, 
 whose rivalry was the occasion of much trou- 
 ble and confusion. This contest was termi- 
 nated in 1046, in the council holden at Sutri 
 by the emperor Henry III., who so ordered 
 matters, that Benedict, Gregory, and Sylves- 
 ter, were declared unworthy of the pontificate, 
 and Suidger, bishop of Bamberg, was raised 
 to that dignity, which he enjoyed for a short 
 time under the title of Clement II.* 
 
 IV. After the death of Clement II., which 
 happened in 1047, Benedict IX., though twice 
 degraded, aimed anew at tlie papal dignity, 
 and accordingly forced himself into St. Peter's 
 chair for the third time. But, in the following 
 year, he was obliged to surrender the pontifi- 
 cate to Poppo, bishop of Brixen, known by the 
 name of Damasus II., whom Henry II. elect- 
 ed pope in Germany, and sent into Italy to 
 take possession of that dignity. On the death 
 of Damasus, who ruled the see of Rome only 
 three and twenty days, the same emperor, in 
 the diet liolden at Worms in 1048, appointed 
 Bruno, bisliop of Tool, to succeed him in the 
 pontificate. This prelate is known in the list 
 of the popes by the name of Leo IX.; and his 
 private virtues, as well as his public acts of 
 zeal and piety in the govermnent of the church, 
 were deemed meritorious enough to entitle 
 him to a place among the saintly order. But 
 if we deduct from these pretended virtues his 
 zeal for augmenting the opulence and autho- 
 rity of the church of Rome, and his laudable 
 severity in correcting and punishing certain 
 enormous vices,! which were common among 
 the clergy during his pontificate, there will re- 
 main little in the life and administration of 
 this pontiff, that could give him any preten- 
 sion to such a distinction. It is at least cer- 
 tain, that many, who industriously conceal or 
 excuse the nimierous infirmities and failings 
 of the pontifi's, censure, with the utmost free- 
 dom, the temerity and injustice of the mea- 
 sures he took toward the conclusion of his 
 days. Such, among others, was" the war into 
 which he inconsiderately entered, in 1053, 
 with the Normans, whom he was grieved to 
 see in the possession of Apulia. His temerity, 
 indeed, was severely pimisjied by the issue of 
 this war, from which he derived the bitterest 
 fruits, being taken prisoner by the enemy, and 
 led captive to Benevcnto. Here dismal reflec- 
 tions upon his unliappy fate preyed upon his 
 spirits, and threw him into a dangerous ill- 
 ness; so that, after a year's imprisonment, he 
 
 * In this compendious account of the popes, 1 have 
 followed the relations of Francis and Anthony Pagi, 
 Papebnick, and also those of Muratori, in his An- 
 nalcs Italigp, persuaded that the learned and judi- 
 cious reader will justify my treating, with the ut- 
 most contempt, what Baronius and others have 
 alleged in favour of Gregory VI. 
 
 0(^ t In several councils which he assembled in 
 Italy, France, and Germany, he proposed rigorous 
 laws against simony, sodomy, incestuous and adul- 
 terous marriages, the custom of carrying arms 
 (which had become general among the clergy,) the 
 apostasy of the monks, who abandoned their habit 
 and renounced their profession, &c. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CJIURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 265 
 
 the sovereignty over that kingdom which the 
 Roman pontiffs constantly claim, and which 
 the Sicilian monarchs annually acknowledge. 
 
 VI. Before the pontificate of Nicholas II., 
 the popes were chosen not only by the suffrages 
 of the cardinals, but also by those of the whole 
 Roman clergy, the nobility, the burgesses, 
 and the assembly of the people. An election, 
 in which such a confused and jarring multitude 
 was concerned, could not but produce con- 
 tinual factions, animosities, and tumults. To 
 prevent these, as far as was possible, this artful 
 and provident pontiff had a law passed, by 
 which the cardinals, as well presbyters as 
 bishops, were empowered, on a vacancy in the 
 see of Rome, to elect a new pope, without any 
 prejudice to the ancient privileges of the Ro- 
 man emperors in this important matter.* Nor 
 were the rest of the clergy, with the burgesses 
 and people, excluded from all participation in 
 this election, since their consent was solemnly 
 demanded, and also esteemed of much weight.f 
 In consequence, however, of this new regula- 
 
 was sent to Rome, where he concluded his 
 days on the 19th of April, 1054.* 
 
 V. After the death of Leo the papal chair 
 was filled, in 1065, by Gebhard, bishop of 
 Eiclistadt, who assumed the name of Victor II. 
 and, after governing the church about three 
 years, was succeeded by Stephen IX. brother 
 to Godfrey, duke of Lorrain, who died a few 
 months after his election. Nothing memora- 
 ble happened imder the administration of 
 these two pontiffs. Gerard, bishop of Flo- 
 rence, who obtained the papacy in 1058, and 
 took the name of Nicolas II., makes a greater 
 figure in history than several of his prede- 
 cessors.! We pass in silence John, bishop 
 of Veletri, who usurped the pontificate, as 
 also the title of Benedict X., after the death 
 of Stephen, and who was deposed with igno- 
 miny, after having possessed about nine 
 months the dignity to which he had no other 
 title, than what he derived from lawless vio- 
 lence. Nicolas, on the removal of this usurper, 
 assembled a council at Rome in 1059, in 
 which, among many salutary laws for healing 
 the inveterate disorders that had afflicted the 
 church, one remarkable decree was passed for 
 altering the ancient form of electing the pon- 
 tiff. This alteration was intended to prevent 
 the tumults and commotions which arose in 
 Rome, and the factions which divided Italy, 
 when a new pope was to be elected. The 
 same pontiff' received the homage of the Nor- 
 mans, and solemnly created Robert Guiscard 
 duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, on con- 
 dition that he should observe, as a faithful vas- 
 sal, an inviolable allegiance to the Roman 
 church, and pay an annual tribute in acknow- 
 ledgment of liis subjection to the apostolic see. 
 By what authority Nicolas confirmed the Nor- 
 man prince in the possession of these pro- 
 vinces, is more than we know; certain it is, 
 that he had no sort of property in the lands 
 which he granted so liberally to the Normans, 
 who held them already by the odious right of 
 conquest.}: Perhaps the lordly pontiff founded 
 this right of cession upon the fictitious dona- 
 tion of Constantine, which has been already 
 noticed in the course of this history; or, pro- 
 bably, seduced by the artful and ambitious 
 suggestions of Hildebrand, who had himself an 
 eye upon tlie pontificate, and afterwards filled 
 it under the adopted name of Gregory VII., 
 he imagined, that as C'hrist's vicegerent, the 
 Roman pontiff was the king of kings, and had 
 the whole imivcrse for his domain. It is well 
 known that Hildebrand had a supreme ascend- 
 ancy over the mind of Nicolas, and that the 
 latter neither undertook nor executed any 
 thing without his direction. Be that as it may, 
 it was the feudal grant made to Guiscard by 
 this pope, that laid the foundation of the king- 
 dom of Naples, or of the two Sicilies, and of 
 
 * Sen thf! Acta S.inctoriim ail d. xix. Aprilis, torn. 
 iii. p. 042. — Hist. Litcrairo tie la France, torn. vii. p. 
 450. — (5iannonc, Historia di Napoli, torn. ii. 
 
 f-Bcsiile the accounts given of Nicolas II. by the 
 writers of the papal history, there is a particular and 
 accnrate history of this pontiff drawn up by the Be- 
 nedictine monks, in the Hist. Liter, de la France, 
 torn. vii. p. 515. 
 
 J See Muratori's Annali d'ltalia, torn. vi. p. 186.— 
 Baron. Annal. ad an. 1060. 
 Vol. I.— 34 
 
 ICf" * It does not appear, that Nicolas was at all 
 solicitous about the privileges of the emperor, and 
 his authority in the election of the bishop of Rome; 
 for the words of the decree in all the various copies 
 of it are to this import: "The cardinals shall first 
 " deliberate concerning the election of a pontifl' and 
 " the consent of the other clerpy and of the peoplo 
 " shall be required to confirm their choice. The pope 
 " shall be chosen out of the members that compose 
 " the church of Rome, if a proper person can be found 
 " among them: if not, he shall be elected elsewhere. 
 " all this without any prejudice to the honour of our 
 "dear son Henry (who is now king, and shall be 
 " soon emperor, as we liave already promised him,) 
 " or to the honor of his successors on whom the 
 " apostolic see shall confer personally and successive- 
 " ly the same high privilege." Here we see the good 
 pontifi'raanifestly taking advantage of the minority 
 of Henry IV. to depreciate and diminish the ancient 
 prerogatives of the imperial crown, and to magnify 
 the authority of the papal mitro; for he declares, a? a 
 personal right granted by the Roman see to each 
 emperor for himself, the privilege of confirming the 
 pope's election; whereas it is well known that this 
 privilege Ijad been vested in the emperors of Germa- 
 ny during many preceding ages. See rieury, Eccles. 
 Hist. vol. xiii, liv. Ix. It is proper to observe here, 
 that the cringing and ignoble submission of Charles 
 the Bald, who would not accept the title of emperor 
 before it was conferred upon him by the pontiff, oc- 
 casioned, in process of time, that absurd notion, 
 that the papal consecration was requisite in order 
 to qualify the kings of Germany to assume the title 
 of Roman emperors, though, without that consecra- 
 tion, these kings had all Italy under theirdominion, 
 and exercised in every part of it various rights and 
 prerogatives of sovereignty. Hence the kings of 
 Germany were first styled kings of the Franks and 
 liOmbards, afterwards kings of the Romans until the 
 year 1508, when Maximilian I. changed the title of 
 kivg into that of rmpcror. 
 
 t The decree of Nicolas concerning the election of 
 the pontiff is to be found in many authors, and par- 
 ticularly in the Concilia. But, upon comparing se- 
 veral copies of this famous decree, 1 found them in 
 many respects very difterent from each other. In 
 some copies the decree appears abridged; in others, 
 it is long and prolix. In some it seems favourable 
 to the rights and privileges of the emperors; in 
 others it appears to have the contrary tendency. 
 The most ample copy is that which wr fiud in llie 
 (^hionicon Farfense in Muratori's Srrijit. Rernm 
 Italicarum, tom. ii. part ii. p. (i-t.'i, which differs 
 however, in various circumstances, from that which 
 was publislied by Hugo Floriacensis, in his book de 
 regia Protcstate et sacerdotali Dignitale, in Balu7.ii 
 Miscellaneis, torn. iv. p. rr2. Notwithstanding the 
 diversity that exists in the copies of this famous de- 
 cree, they all agree in confirming the accounts wa 
 have given of the plans and pontificate of Nicolas 
 
266 
 
 INTERNAL fflSTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 tion, the cardinals acted the principal part in 
 the creation of the new pontiff, though they 
 suflFered for a long time much opposition both 
 from the sacerdotal orders and the Roman 
 citizens, who were constantly either reclaiming 
 their ancient rights, or abusing the privilege 
 they yet retained of confirming the election of 
 every new pope by their approbation and con- 
 sent. In the following century an end was 
 put to all these disputes by Alexander III., 
 who was so fortunate as to complete what 
 Nicolas had only begun, and who transferred 
 and confined to the college of cardinals the 
 right of electing to the apostolic see, excluding 
 the nobility, the people, and the rest of the 
 clergy, from all concern in this important 
 matter.* 
 
 It may not be improper here to give some 
 account of tlie origin of the cardinals,! and 
 the nature of their privileges and functions. 
 Many wxitersj; have treated tliis subject in an 
 ample manner, and have shed upon it a profu- 
 sion of erudition, which deserves, no doubt, 
 the highest applause; but they are, generally 
 speaking, defective in perspicuity and precis- 
 ion; nor do I know of any, who have confined 
 themselves to the true state of the question, 
 and investigated, in a satisfactory manner, the 
 origin of the office of cardinal, and the reasons 
 that occasioned the institution of that order of 
 ecclesiastics. Several learned men have em- 
 ployed much time and labour in fixing the 
 sense of the word cardinal, and in illustrating 
 its meaning from ancient monuinents and re- 
 cords; but, however worthy of a curious phi- 
 lologist those researches may be, they contri- 
 bute little to clear up the point in question, or 
 to convey an accurate and satisfactory notion 
 of the true origin of the college of cardinals, 
 and the nature of that ecclesiastical dignity. It 
 is certain, that the word in question, when ap- 
 plied to persons or things, and more especially 
 to the sacred order, was, in the language of 
 the middle ages, a term of dubious significa- 
 tion, and was susceptible of various senses. It 
 is also well known, that, in former times, this 
 title was by no means peculiar to the priests 
 and ministers of the church of Rome, but was 
 in use in all the Latin chm-ches, and that not 
 only the secular clergy, but also the regular, 
 such as abbots, canons, and monks, were capa- 
 ble of this denomination, though in different 
 senses. But, after the pontificate of Alexan- 
 der III., the common use of the tenn was 
 
 * See Mabillon, Comni. in Ord. Roman, torn, ii, 
 Musei Italiei, p. 114.— Constant. Cenni Pra;f. ad Con- 
 cilium Lateran. Stepliani iii. p. 18.— Franc. Pagi 
 Breviarium Ponlif. Romanor. torn. ii. p. 374. 
 
 tCpf t The translator has here incorporated into 
 the te,\t the long and important note (c) of the ori- 
 ginal concerning the cardinals. The citations and 
 references only are thrown into the notes. 
 
 J The authors who have written of the name, 
 nrjgin, and rights of the cardinals, are enumerated 
 by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, in his Bibliogr. Antiquar. p. 
 455. — Casp. Sagittarius, Introd. ad Historian! Eccle- 
 siast. cap. xxix. p. 771, et Jo. And. Schmidius in 
 Supplement, p. C44— Christ. Gryphius, Isagoge ad 
 Historiam Sseculi xvii. p. 430. Add to these Ludov. 
 Thoraassini Disciplina EcclesicE vetus et nova, torn. 
 1. lib. ii.cap. 115, 116, p. 016, and Lud. Ant. Murato^ 
 ri, whose learned dissertation, de Origine Cardina- 
 latus, is published in his Antiq. Ital. medii svi, 
 torn. V. 
 
 gradually diminished, and it was confined to 
 such only as were immediately concerned in 
 the election of the pope, and had the right of 
 suffrage in this weighty matter; so that, when 
 we inquire into the origin of the sacred college 
 at Rome, the question is not, who they were, 
 that in the remoter periods of the church were 
 distinguished, among the Latins in general, or 
 at Rome in particular, from the rest of the 
 clergy, by the name of cardinals; nor do we 
 inquire into the proper signification of that 
 term, or into the various senses in which it was 
 formerly employed. The true state of the 
 question is this: who the persons were that 
 Nicolas II. comprehended under that denomi- 
 nation, when he vested in the Roman cardi- 
 nals alone the right of electing the new pon- 
 titr, and excluded from that important privilege 
 the rest of the clergy, the nobility, the bur- 
 gesses, and the people .' When this is known 
 with certainty, we shall have a just notion of 
 the college of cardinals in its rise, and shall 
 also perceive the difference existing between 
 tlie first cardinals and those of our times. Now 
 this may easily be learned from the edict of 
 Nicolas II. which sets the matter in the clear- 
 est light. " We have thought proper to enact 
 (says the pontiff,) tliat, on the decease of the 
 bishop of the Roman Catholic, or universal 
 church, the affair of the election be treated 
 principally, and previously to all other delibe- 
 rations, among the cardinal bishops alone, who 
 shall afterwards call in to their council the car- 
 dinal clerks, and require finally the consent of 
 the rest of the clergy, and the people, to their 
 election."* Here we see that the pontiff di- 
 vides into two classes the persons who were to 
 have the right of suffrage in the election of his 
 successors. By the former we are manifestly 
 to understand the seven prelates who belonged 
 to the city and territory of Rome, whom Nico- 
 las calls, in the same edict, comprovinciales 
 episcopi (an epithet which had been used before 
 by Leo I.,) and who had been distinguished by 
 the title of cardinal bishops long before the 
 century of which we are treating. The words 
 of Nicolas confirmed this accomit of the mat- 
 ter, and place it beyond all possibility of con- 
 tradiction; for he declares, that by cardinal 
 bishops he understands those to whom it be- 
 longed to consecrate the pontiff elect; " Since 
 the apostolic see," observes the papil legisla- 
 tor, " cannot be under the jurisdiction of any 
 superior or metropolitan,! the cardinal bishops 
 must necessarily supply the place of a metro- 
 politan, and fix the elected pontiff on the sum- 
 mit of apostolic exaltation and empire. "| Now 
 
 H^" * The passage of the edict (which we have 
 here translated from Hugo Floriacus, in Baluzii 
 Miscel. torn. iv. p. 6'2.) runs thus in the original: 
 " Constituimus ut, obeunte hujus Romans univer- 
 " salis ecclesiie pontifice, imprimis, cardinales epis- 
 " copi diligentissima simul consideratione tractan- 
 " tes, mox sibi clericos cardinales adhibeant, sicque 
 " reliquus clerus et populus ad consensum nov«e elec- 
 " lionis accedant." 
 
 (ftj" t In the consecration of a new bishop in any 
 province, the metropolitan always bore the princi- 
 pal part: as therefore there was no metropolitan to 
 install the pope, cardinal bishops performed that 
 ceremony. 
 
 X Such are the swelling and bombastic terms of 
 the edict: " Quia sedes apostolica super se metropo 
 
 1 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 267 
 
 it is well known that the seven bishops of 
 Rome, above-mentioned, liad the privilege of 
 consecrating the pontiff. 
 
 All these things being duly considered, we 
 shall immediately perceive tlie true nature and 
 meaning of the famous edict, according to 
 which it is manifest, that, upon the death of a 
 pontiff, the cardinal bisliops were first to deli- 
 berate alone with regard to a proper successor, 
 Jind to examine the respective merit of the can- 
 didates who might pretend to this high dignity, 
 and afterwards to call in the cardinal clerks, 
 not only to demand their counsel, but also to 
 join with them in the election. The word clei'k 
 here bears the same sense with that of presby- 
 ter, and it is undeniably certain that the name 
 of cardinal presbyter was given to the ministers 
 of the eight and twenty Roman parishes, or prin- 
 cipal churches. All the rest of the clergy, of 
 whatever order or rank they might be, were, to- 
 gether with the people, expressly excluded from 
 the right of voting in the election of the pon- 
 tiff, though they were allowed what is called a 
 negative suffrage, and their consent was re- 
 quired to what the others had done; from all 
 which it appears that the college of electors, 
 who chose the Roman pontiff, and who after 
 this period were called cardinals in a new and 
 unusual acceptation of that term, consisted, 
 according to their original establishment by 
 Nicolas II., of only two orders, namely, cardi- 
 nal bishops and cardinal clerks or presbyters.* 
 
 It is necessary to observe, before we finish 
 this digression, that the famous decree of Ni- 
 colas could not obtain the force of a law. " It 
 " is evident (says Anselm, bishop of Luccaf) 
 "that the edict of Nicolas is, and always has 
 "been, without the smallest degree of weight 
 "or authority. But, in affirming this, I have 
 " not the least design to cast any reflection 
 " upon the blessed memory of that pontiff, or 
 " to derogate from the applause that is due to 
 " his virtues. ... As a man, however, he was 
 "fallible, and, through the weakness that is 
 " inseparable from humanity, was liable to be 
 "seduced into measures that were inconsistent 
 " with equity and justice." It is true, the 
 
 " litanuin habi>re non pfitcst, carrlinalns opiscopi me- 
 " tropolitaiii vice proculdiihin funpantur, qui elec- 
 " turn antistitein ad apostolici culminis apiccni 
 " provehant." 
 
 * We must therefore take care that we be not 
 misled by the error of Oiiuphr. Panvinius, who af- 
 firms, (*j that the cardinal bishops were not added to 
 the college of cardinals before the pontificate of 
 Alexander III. Nor are we to listen to the supposi- 
 tion of those writers, who imagine that certain dea- 
 cons were, from the besinniiifr, members of that 
 college of cardinals by whoni the popes were elected. 
 There were indeed, in the Roman church, loni; be- 
 fore the edict of Nicolas, (and there still remain) 
 cardinal deacons, i. e. superintendants of those 
 churches which have hospitals anne.ved to them, and 
 whose revenues are appropriated to the support of 
 the poor; but they were evidently excluded from the 
 election of the pope, which, by the edict of Nicolas, 
 was to be made by the cardinal bishops and clerks 
 alone. Hence wo find the cardinals plainly distin- 
 guished from the deacons in the diploma that was 
 drawn up for the election of Gregory VII. 
 
 t Anselm. Lucconsis, lib. ii. contra VVibertum 
 Antipapain et sequaces ejus, in Canisii Lectionib. 
 Antiquis. torn. iii. part i. p. 38;). 
 
 f*] See Mabillon, Comment, in Ordinem Rom. p. 
 US, torn. ii. Musei Italici. 
 
 prelate has here principally in view that part 
 of the edict in ^hich Nicolas acknowledges 
 and confirms tlie riglit of the emperors to ratify 
 the election of the Roman pontiff; yet what he 
 says is undoubtedly true of the whole edict in 
 all its parts. For the seven Palatine judges,* 
 who were excluded by tliis decree from the 
 important privilege they had formerly enjoyed 
 of voting in the election to the apostolic see, 
 complained loudly of the injury that was done 
 them; and, seconded in their complaints by the 
 various orders of the clergy, and by the cla- 
 mours of the army, the citizens, and the mul- 
 titude, they declared their opposition to the 
 execution of this edict, and gave much trouble 
 and uneasiness to the cardinals, who had been 
 constituted electors by Nicolas. To appease 
 these tumults, Alexander III. augmented the 
 college of the electing cardinals, by conferring 
 that dignity upon the prior, or arch presbyter, 
 of St. John Lateran, the arch presbyter of St. 
 Peter and St. Mary the Greater, the abbots of 
 St. Paul and St. Laurence witiiout the wall, 
 and lastly, upon the seven Palatine judges.f 
 By this dexterous stratagem, the higher order 
 of the clergy was defeated, and ceased to op- 
 pose the measures of the cardinal electors; nor, 
 indeed, could its opposition be of any signifi- 
 cancy, since its chiefs and leaders were become 
 members of the sacred college instituted by 
 Nicolas. The inferior clergy continued yet 
 obstinate; but their opposition was vanquished 
 in the same manner, and they were reduced 
 to silence by the promotion of their chiefs, the 
 cardinal deacons, to the dignity of electors. 
 Who it was (whether Alexander III. or some 
 other pontiff) that raised the principal Roman 
 deacons to the rank of cardinals, is not certain; 
 but nothing is more evident than that the de- 
 sign of this promotion was to put an end to the 
 murmurs and complamts of the inferior clergy, 
 who highly resented the violation of their pri- 
 vileges. 
 
 When the various orders of the clergy were 
 drawn off from the ojiposition, it was no diffi- 
 cult matter to silence tlie people, and to ex- 
 clude them from all part in the election of the 
 pontiff. And accordingly, when, upon the 
 death of Alexander III., it was proposed to 
 choose Lucius III. J as his successor, the con- 
 sent and approbation of the clergy and people, 
 which had hitherto been always esteemed ne- 
 cessary to ratify the election, were not even 
 demanded, and the affair was transacted by the 
 college of cardinals alone, who have continued 
 to maintain that exclusive and important pri- 
 vilege even to our times. Some writers affirm, 
 that Innocent II. had been elected in the same 
 manner, by the cardinals alone, without the 
 consent of the clergy or the people, several 
 years before the pontificate of Lucius;§ this 
 
 * Those judges were the Primiccrius, Sccundice- 
 rius, Jlrcarius, Sacccllarius, Protogcriniarius, Pri- 
 miccrius Difensorum, et Adminiculator; for a parti- 
 cular account of whose respective offices, services, 
 and privileges, see Grajvius, Du Caiig(% &c. 
 
 t t'enni Pra;f. ad Concil. Lateran. Stephan. iii. p. 
 19.— Mabillon, Comment, ad Ord. Roman, p. 115, ex 
 Panvinio. 
 
 (iCf- X In the original, instead of Lucius III., we 
 read Victor III. which was certainly a mistake of 
 inadvertency in the learned author. 
 
 § See Pagi Breviar. Pontif, Romanor. torn. ii. p. 615. 
 
268 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 PabtII. 
 
 may be true, but it is nothing to the purpose; 
 for, as the election of Innocent II. was irregu- 
 lar, it cannot properly be alleged in the case 
 before us. 
 
 Vn. From what has been observed in the 
 preceding section, we may conclude, that the 
 college of cardinals, and the extensive autho- 
 rity and important privileges they enjoy at this 
 day, derive their origin from the edict pub- 
 lished at the request and under the pontificate 
 of Nicolas II.; that, under the title of cardi- 
 nals, this pontiff comprehended the seven Ro- 
 man bishops, who were considered as his suffra- 
 gans, and of whom the bishop of Ostia was the 
 chief, as also the eight and twenty ministers, 
 who had inspection over the principal Roman 
 churches; and that to these were added, in 
 process of time, under Alexander III. and 
 other pontiffs, new members, in order to ap- 
 pease the resentment of those who looked upon 
 themselves as injured by the edict of Nicolas, 
 and also to answer other purposes of ecclesias- 
 tical policy. We see, also, from an attentive 
 view of this matter, that though the high order 
 of purpled prelates, commonly called cardi- 
 nals, had its rise in the eleventh century, yet 
 it does not seem to have acquired the firm and 
 undisputed authority of a legal council before 
 the following age and the pontificate of Alex- 
 ander III. 
 
 VIII. Though Nicolas II. had expressly ac- 
 knowledged and confirmed in his edict the 
 right of the emperor to ratify by his consent 
 the election of the pontiff, his eyes were no 
 sooner closed, than the Romans, at the insti- 
 gation of Hildebrand, arch deacon and after- 
 wards bishop of Rome, violated this imperial 
 privilege in the most presumptuous manner; 
 for tiiey not only elected to the pontificate 
 Anselm, bishop of Lucca, who assumed the 
 name of Alexander II. but also solemnly in- 
 stalled him in that high office without consult- 
 ing the emperor Henry IV. or giving him the 
 least information of the matter. Agnes, the 
 mother of the young emperor, no sooner re- 
 ceived an account of this irregular transaction 
 from the bishops of Lombardy, to whom the 
 election of Anselm was extremely disagreeable, 
 than she assembled a council at Basil, and, in 
 order to maintain the authority of her son, 
 who was yet a minor, caused Cadolaus, bishop 
 of Parma, to be created pope, under the title 
 of Honorius II. Hence arose a long and furi- 
 ous contest between the rival pontiffs, who 
 maintained their respective pretensions by the 
 force of arms, and presented a scene of blood- 
 shed and horror in tlie church of Christ, wliich 
 was designed to be the centre of charity and 
 peace. In tliis violent contention Alexander 
 triumphed, tliough he could never engage his 
 obstinate adversary to desist from his preten- 
 sions.* 
 
 IX. This contest, indeed, was of little con- 
 sequence when viewed in comparison with the 
 dreadful commotions which Hildebrand, who 
 succeeded Alexander, and assumed the name 
 
 * Ferdin. Ughelli Italia Sacra, torn. ii. p. 106 —Jo 
 .lac. Mascoviiis, de Robiis Imperii sub Henrico IV 
 fit V. lib. i. p. 7— Franc. Pagi Broviar. Pontificum 
 Romanor. torn. ii. p. 385 — Muratori, Annali d'ltalia, 
 torn vi. p. 214 
 
 of Gregory VII., excited both in church and 
 state, and nourished and fomented until the 
 end of his days. This vehement pontiff, who 
 was a Tuscan, bom of mean parents, rose, by 
 various steps, from the obsciue station of a 
 monk of Clugni, to the rank of arch deacon in 
 the Roman church, and, from the time of Leo 
 IX. who treated him with peculiar marks of 
 distinction, was accustomed to govern the 
 Roman pontiffs by his counsels, which had ac- 
 quired the highest degree of influence and au- 
 thority. In the year 1073, and on the same 
 day that Alexander was interred, he was raised 
 to the pontificate by the unanimous suffrages 
 of the cardinals, bishops, abbots, monks, and 
 people, without regard to the edict of Nicolas 
 II.; and his election was confirmed by the ap- 
 probation and consent of Henry IV. king of 
 the Romans, to whom ambassadors had been 
 sent for that purpose. This prince, indeed, had 
 soon reason to repent of the consent he had 
 given to an election, which became so preju- 
 dicial to his own authority and to the interests 
 and liberties of the church, and so detrimental, 
 in general, to the sovereignty and independ- 
 ence of kingdoms and empires.* Hildebrand 
 was a man of uncommon genius, whose ambi- 
 tion in forming the most arduous projects was 
 equalled by his dexterity in bringing them into 
 execution. Sagacious, crafty, and intrepid, he 
 suffered nothing to escape his penetration, de- 
 feat his stratagems, or daunt his courage: 
 haughty and arrogant beyond all measure, 
 obstinate, impetuous, and intractable, he look- 
 ed up to the summit of universal empire with 
 a wisliful eye, and laboured up the steep ascent 
 with uninterrupted ardour and invincible per- 
 severance: void of all principle, and destitute 
 of every pious and virtuous feeling, he suffered 
 little restraint in his audacious pursuits, from 
 the dictates of religion or the remonstrances 
 of conscience. Such was the character of 
 Hildebrand, and his conduct was every way 
 suitable to it; for no sooner did he find him- 
 self in the papal chair, than he displayed to the 
 world the most odious marks of his tyrannic 
 ambition. Not content to enlarge the juris- 
 diction, and to augment the opulence of the 
 see of Rome, he laboured indefatigably to ren- 
 der the universal church subject to the despotic 
 government and the arbitrary power of the 
 pontiff alone, to dissolve the jurisdiction which 
 kings and emperors had hitherto exercised over 
 the various orders of the clergy, and to exclude 
 them from the management or distribution of 
 the revenues of the church. The outrageous 
 pontiff even went farther, and impiously at- 
 tempted to subject to his jurisdiction the empe- 
 rors, kings, and princes of the earth, and to 
 
 * The writers who have given the most ample ac 
 counts of the life and exploits of Gregory VII. arc 
 enumerated by Casp. Sagittarius, in his Introd. ad 
 Hist. Ecclesiast. torn. i. p. 687, and by And. Schmi- 
 dius, in his Supplement, torn. ii. p. ()27.— See also the 
 Acta Sanctor. tnm. v. Maii ad d. x.w. p. 568, and 
 Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Orriin. Benedicti, SjecuI. vi. 
 p. 406. Add to these the Life of Gregory VII. pub 
 lished at Frankfort in 1710, by Just. Christopher 
 Dithmar, as also the authors who have written the 
 history of the contests that arose betwesn the em- 
 pire and the hierarchy of Rome, and of the wars that 
 were occasioned by the disputes concerning investi- 
 tures. 
 
Chap. H. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 269 
 
 render their dominions tributary to the see of 
 Rome. Such were the piotis and apostolic ex- 
 ploits that employed the activity of Gregory 
 VII. during his whole life, and which rendered 
 his pontificate a continual scene of tumult and 
 bloodshed. Were it necessary to bring farther 
 proofs of his tyranny and arrogance, his fierce 
 impetuosity and boundless ambition, we might 
 appeal to those famous sentences, v;hicli are 
 generally called, after him, the diet ales of Hil- 
 debrand, and which show, in a lively manner, 
 the spirit and cliaracter of this restless pontiff.* 
 X. Under the pontificate of Hildcfarand, the 
 face of the Latin church was entirely changed, 
 its government subverted, and tiie most im- 
 portant and valuable of those rights and pri- 
 vileges that had been formerly vested in its 
 councils, bishops, and sacred colleges, were 
 usurped by the greedy pontiff. It is, however, 
 
 * DictatJis Hildebrandini. By these are understood 
 twenty-seven apopiithegms, or short sentences, re- 
 lating to the supreme authority of the Roman pon- 
 tifls over the universal church and the Isingdoms of 
 the world, which are to be found in the second book 
 of the Epistles of Gregory VII. between the fifty-fiftli 
 and the fifty-sixth Epistle under iheiMeoi Dictatus 
 Papa, i. e. i)ictates of the Pope. See Harduini Con- 
 cilia, torn. vi. part i. p. 1304, and the various writers 
 of Ecclesiastical History, Baronius, Lupus [*] and 
 other historians, who have signalized, upon all oc- 
 casions, their vehement attachment to the Roman 
 pontiffs, maintain, that these Dictates were drawn 
 up by Gregory VII. and proposed as laws in a cer- 
 tain council; and hence the protestant writers have 
 ventured to attribute them to Hildebrand. But the 
 learned John Launoy, Natalis Alexander, Antony [t] 
 and Francis Pagi,[|J Elias Du-Pin, and other au- 
 thors of note, affirm in the most positive manner 
 that these sentences, or dictates, were a downright 
 forgery imposed upon the world under the name of 
 Gregory, by some perfidious impostor, who proposed 
 thereby to flatter the Roman pontitTs in their ambi- 
 tious pretensions. As a proof of this assertion, they 
 observe, that while some of these sentences express 
 indeed in a lively manner the ambitious spirit of 
 Gregory, there are others which appear entirely op- 
 posite to the sentiments of that pontiff, as they are 
 delivered in several parts of his Epistles. The French 
 writers have important reasons (which it is not ne- 
 cessary to mention here) for affirming that no Ro- 
 man pontiff ever presumed to speak of the papal 
 power and jurisdiction in such arrogant terms as arc 
 here put into the mouth of Gregory. It may be easily 
 granted, that these sentences, in their present form, 
 are not the composition of this famous pontift"; for 
 many of them are obscure, and they are all thrown 
 together without the least order, method, or con 
 nexion, and it is not to be imagined, that a man of 
 such genius, as Gregory discovered, would have ne- 
 glected cither perspicuity or precision in describing 
 the authority, and fixing what he looked upon to be 
 the rights and privileges of the bishops of Rome. 
 But, notwithstanding all this, if we consider the 
 matter of these sentences, we shall be entirely per- 
 suaded that they belonged originally to Hildebrand, 
 since we find the greatest part of them repeated 
 word for word in several places in his Epistles, and 
 since such of them as appear inconsistent with some 
 passages in these epistles, are not so in reality, but 
 may be easily explained in perfect conformity with 
 what they are said to contradict. The most probable 
 account of the matter seems to be this: that .some 
 mean author extracted these sentences, partly from 
 the extant epistlesof Gregory, partly from those that 
 have perished in the ruins of time, and published 
 them in the form in which they now appear, without 
 judgment or method. 
 
 [^*} Lupus, in his Nota; et Dissertationes in Con- 
 cilia, torn. vi. op. p. lt)4, has given us an ample com- 
 mentary on the Dictates of Hildebrand, which he 
 looks upon as both authentic and sacred. 
 
 ft] See Anton. Fagi Critica in Baroniiun. 
 
 [ijSee Franc. Pagi Breviar. Pontif. Roman, torn. 
 ii- p. 473. 
 
 to be observed, that the weight of this tyrannic 
 usurpation did not fall equally upon all the 
 European provinces, several of these provinces 
 preserved some remains of their ancient liber- 
 ty and independence, in the possession of 
 which a variety of circumstances happily con- 
 curred to maintain them. 
 
 But, ar we insinuated above, the views of 
 Hildebrand were not confined to the erection 
 of an absolute and universal monarchy in the 
 church; they aimed also at the establishment 
 of a civil monarchy equally extensive and 
 despotic; and tiiis aspiring pontiff', after having 
 drawn up a system of ecclesiastical laws for 
 the govenmient of the church, would have in- 
 troduced also a new code of political laws, had 
 he been permitted to execute the plan he had 
 formed. His purpose was to engage, in the 
 bonds of fidelity and allegiance to St. Peter, i. 
 e. to the Roman pontiffs, all the kings and 
 princes of the earth, and to establish at Rome 
 an annual assembly of bishops, by whom the 
 contests that miglit arise between kingdoms or 
 sovereign states were to be decided, the rights 
 and pretensions of princes to be examined, and 
 the fate of nations and empires to be deter- 
 mined. This ambitious project met, however, 
 with the wannest opposition, particularly from 
 the vigilance and resolution of the emperors, 
 and also from the British and French mon- 
 archs.* 
 
 That Hildebrand had formed this audacious 
 plan is undoubtedly evident, both from his 
 own epistles, and also from other authentic re- 
 cords of antiquity. The nature of the oath 
 which he drew up for the king or emperor of 
 the Romajis, from whom he demanded a pro- 
 fession of subjection and allegiance,! shows 
 abundantly the arrogance of his pretensions. 
 But his conduct toward the kingdom of France 
 is worthy of particular notice. It is well 
 known, that whatever dignity and dominion 
 the popes enjoyed were originally derived from 
 the French princes; ahd yet Hildebrand, or (as 
 we shall hereafter entitle him) Gregory Vll. 
 pretendefl that the kingdom was tributary to 
 the see of Rome, and commanded his legates 
 to demand yearly, in the most solemia manner, 
 the payment of that tribute;:^ their demands, 
 however, were treated with contempt, and the 
 tribute was never either acknowledged or of^ 
 fered. Nothing can be more insolent than the 
 
 33" * The long note (g) in the original, which con- 
 tains the ambitioiLs exploits of Hildebrand, is in- 
 serted in the following paragraph, except the cita- 
 tions, which are thrown into notes. 
 
 t See the ninth book of hi.=! epistles, Epist. iii. 
 The form of the oath runs thus: " Ab hac hora et 
 " deinceps fidelis ero per rcctani fidem B. Petro Apos- 
 " tolo, ejiisque vicario Papa; Gregorio . . . . et quod- 
 " cun(|ue ipse Papa pr<Tceperit sub his videlicet ver 
 " bis, per varam obedientiam, fideliter, sicut oportet 
 " Christianum, observnbo. Et co die, quando eum 
 " primitus videro, fideliter per manus meas miles 
 " Sancti Petri el illius elficiar." What is this but a 
 formal oath of allegiance? 
 
 J Epist. lib. viii. ep. xxiii. in Harduin's Concilia, 
 torn. vi. p. 147C. " Diccndum aiitcm est omnibus 
 "Gallis et per veram obedientiam prsccipiendum, ut 
 " unaqujeque domus saltern ununi denarium anniia- 
 " tim solvat Beato Petro, si eum rccognoscant pa- 
 " trem et pastorem suum more antiquo." Every one 
 knows that the demand made with the form, per 
 veram obedientiam, was supposed to oblige indispen- 
 sably 
 
270 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 language in which he addressed himself to 
 Philip I. king of France, to whom he recom- 
 mended an hmiible and obliging carriage, from 
 this consideration, that both his ' kingdom and 
 ' his soul were under the dominion of St. Pe- 
 ' ter (i. e. his vicar the Roman pontiiF,) who 
 ' had the power to bind and to loose him, both 
 ' in heaven and upon earth.'* Notliing es- 
 caped his all-grasping aml)ition; he pretended 
 that Saxony was a fief holden in subjection to 
 the see of Rome, to which it had been formerly 
 yielded by Charlemagne as a pious offering to 
 St. Peter. He also extended his pretensions 
 to the kingdom of Spain, maintaining in one 
 of his letters,! that it was the property of the 
 apostolic see from the earliest times of the 
 church, yet acknowledging in another,^ that 
 the transaction by which the successors of St 
 Peter had acquired this property, had been lost 
 among other ancient records. His claims, 
 however, were more respected in Spain than 
 they had been in France; for it is proved most 
 evidently by authentic records, that tlie king 
 of Arragon, and Bernard, count of Besalu, 
 gave a favourable answer to the demands of 
 Gregory, and paid him regularly an annual 
 tribute;! ^^^ their example was followed by 
 other Spanish princes, as we could show, were 
 it necessary, by a variety of arguments. The 
 despotic views of this lordly pontiff were at- 
 tended with less success in England, than in 
 any other country. William the Conqueror 
 was a prince of great spirit and resolution, ex- 
 tremely jealous of his rights, and tenacious of 
 the prerogatives he enjoyed as a sovereign and 
 independent monarch; and accordingly, when 
 Gregory wrote him a letter demanding the ar- 
 rears of the Peter-pence, \\ and at the same time 
 summoning him to do homage for the king- 
 dom of England, as a fief of the apostolic see, 
 William granted the former, but refused the 
 iatterlT with a noble obstinacy, declaring that 
 
 * Lib. vii. ppist. xx. in ftarduin's Concilia, torn, 
 vi. p. 1468. " Maxime enitere ut B. Petrum, in cujus 
 "potestate est regnum tuum et anima tua, qui te 
 " pote.st in ccelo et in terra ligare et absolvere, tibi 
 " facias debitorem." 
 
 t Lib. X. ep. vii. " Regnum Hispania ab antique 
 proprii juris S. Petri fuisse et soli apostolicte sedi ex 
 a^quo pertinere." 
 
 t Lib. X. epist. sxviii. 
 
 J See Peter de Marca, Histoire de Beam, liv. iv. 
 p. 331. 
 
 OlJ' II The impost of Peter-pence (so called from its 
 being collected on the festival of .St. Peter in Vivcu- 
 lis) was an .Tncient tax of a penny on each house, 
 first granted in 725, bylna, kingof the West Saxons, 
 for the establishment and support of an English col- 
 lege at Rome, and afterwards extended, in 794, by 
 Offa, over all Mercia and East Anglia. In process 
 of time it became a standing and general tax 
 throughout England; and, though it was for some 
 time applied to the support of the English college ac- 
 cording to its original design, the popes at length 
 found means to appropriate it to themselves. It was 
 rx)nfirmed by the laws of Canute, Edward the Con- 
 fessor, William the Conqueror, &c. and was never 
 totally abolished till the reign of Henry VIII. 
 
 IT The letter of William is extant in "the Miscella- 
 nea of Baluzius, torn. vii. p. 127; as also in Collier's 
 Ecclesiastical History, in the Collection of Records, 
 at the end of the first volume, p. 743, No. 12. " Hu 
 " bertus legatus tuus (says the resolute monarch to 
 " the audacious pontiff) admonuit me, quatenus tibi 
 " et successoribus tuis fidelitatem facerem, et de pe- 
 " cunia, quam antecessores raei ad ecclesiam mittere 
 " solebant, melius cogitarem. Unum admisi, alterum 
 " non admisi. Fidelitatem facere nolui nee voIo,"&c. 
 
 he held his kingdom of God only, and his own 
 sword. Obliged to yield to the obstinacy of 
 the English monarch, whose name struck ter- 
 ror into the boldest hearts, the restless pontiff 
 addressed his imperious mandates where he 
 imagined they would be received with more 
 facility. He wrote circular letters to the most 
 powerful of the German princes,* to Geysa, 
 king of Hungary,! and Swein, king of Den- 
 mark,! soliciting them to make a solemn grant 
 of their kingdoms and territories to the prince 
 of the apostles, and to hold them imder the ju- 
 risdiction of his vicar at Rome, as fiefs of the 
 apostolic see. What success attended his de- 
 mands upon these princes, we cannot say; but 
 certain it is, that in several countries his efforts 
 were effectual, and his modest proposals were 
 received with the utmost docility and zeal. 
 The son of Demetrius, czar of the Russians, 
 set out for Rome, in consequence of the pon- 
 tiff's letter,§ in order to " obtain, as a gift 
 " from St. Peter, by the hands of Gregory, 
 " after professing his subjection and allegiance 
 "to the prince of the apostles," the kingdom 
 wliich was to devolve to him upon the death 
 of his father; and his pious request was readily 
 granted by the officious pope, who was ex- 
 tremely liberal of what did not belong to him. 
 Demetrius Suinimer, duke of Croatia and 
 Dalmatia, was raised to the rank and preroga- 
 tives of royalty by the same pontiff in 1076, 
 and solemnly proclaimed king by his legate at 
 Salona, on condition that he should pay an 
 annual tribute of two himdred pieces of gold 
 to St. Peter at every Easter festival. || This 
 bold step was injurious to the authority of the 
 emperors of Constantinople, who, before this 
 time, comprehended the province of Croatia 
 within the limits of their sovereignty. The 
 kingdom of Poland became also the object of 
 Gregory's ambition, and a favourable occasion 
 was offered for the execution of his iniquitous 
 views: for, when Boleslaus II. had assassinated 
 Stanislaus, bishop of Cracow, the pontiff not 
 only excommunicated him with all the cir- 
 cumstances of infamy that he could invent, but 
 also hurled him from his throne, dissolved the 
 oath of allegiance which his subjects had taken, 
 and, by an express and imperious edict, pro- 
 hibited the nobles and clergy of Poland from 
 electing a new king without the pope's con- 
 sent H Many other examples might be alleged 
 of the phrenetic ambition of Gregory; but 
 those which have been already mentioned are 
 sufficient to excite the indignation of every im- 
 partial reader. Had the success of that pon- 
 tiff been equal to the extent of his insolent 
 
 * See, in Harduin's Concilia, his famous letter 
 (lib. ix. epist. iii.) to the bishop of Padua, exhorting 
 him to engage Welpho, duke of Bavaria, and other 
 German princes, to submit themselves and their do- 
 minions to the apostolic jurisdiction. " Admonere 
 " te volumus (says the pontitf) ducem Welphonem, 
 " ut fidelitatem B. Petro faciat. llluni enim totum 
 " in gremio Beati Petri coUocare desideramus, et ad 
 "ejus servitium specialiter provocare; quam volun- 
 "tatem si in eo,vel etiam in aliis potentibus viris, 
 " amore B. Petri ductis, cognoveris, ut perficiant 
 " elabora." 
 
 t Lib. ii. ep. Ixx. J Lib. ii. ep. li. 
 
 5 Lib. ii. ep. Ixxiv. 
 
 [ See Du Mont, Corps Diplomatique, torn. i. n. 88, 
 p. 53.— Jo. Lucius, de Regno Dalmatiae, lib. ii. p 85. 
 
 IT See Dlugossi Histor. Polon. torn. i. p. 295. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 271 
 
 views, all the kingdoms of Euroj)e would have 
 been at this day tributary to tiie Roman see, 
 and its princes the soldiers or vassals of St. 
 Peter, in the person of his pretended vicar upon 
 earth. But, though his most important pro- 
 jects were ineffectual, many of his attempts 
 were crowned witli a favourable issue; for, 
 from the time of his pontificate, the face of 
 Europe underwent a considerable change, and 
 the prerogatives of the emperors and other 
 sovereign princes were much diminished. It 
 was, particularly under tiie administration of 
 Gregory, that the emperors were deprived of 
 the privilege of ratifying, by their consent, the 
 election of the pope; a privilege of no small 
 importance, which they have never recovered. 
 XI. The zeal and activity which Grego- 
 ry employed in extending the jurisdiction 
 of the Roman see, and enriching the patrimo- 
 ny of St. Peter, met, in no part of Europe, 
 with such remarkable success as in Italy. — 
 His intimate familiarity with Matilda, the 
 daughter of Boniface, duke of Tuscany, and 
 the most powerful and opulent princess in that 
 country (who found by experience that neither 
 ambition nor grace had extinguished the ten- 
 der passions in the heart of Gregory,) contri- 
 buted much to this success; for he engaged 
 that princess, after the death of her husband 
 Godfrey, duke of Lorrain, and her mother 
 Beatrix, which happened in the years 10T6 and 
 1077, to settle all her possessions in Italy and 
 elsewhere upon the church of Rome, and thus 
 to appoint St. Peter and his pretended vicar 
 the heirs of her immense treasures. This rich 
 donation was, indeed, considerably invalidated 
 by the second marriage, which Matilda con- 
 tracted, in 1089, with Welph, or Guelph, the 
 son of the duke of Bavaria, not without the 
 consent of pope Urban II. She, however, re- 
 newed it in a solemn maimer in 1102, about 
 seven years after her separation from her second 
 husband, by wiiich she became again sole mis- 
 tress of her vast possessions.* But, notwith- 
 standing this new act, the popes did not re- 
 main in the peaceful possession of this splen- 
 did inheritance. It was warmly and power- 
 fully disputed, first by the emperor Henry V. 
 and afterwards by several other princes; nor 
 were the pontiffs so successful in this contest 
 as to preserve the whole inlieritance, though, 
 after various struggles and efforts, they re- 
 
 * Tho life and exploits of this heroic princess (who 
 was one of the strongest bulwarks of the Roman 
 church against the power of the emperors, and I he 
 most lender and obedient of all the s/)iri(Mn/ daugh- 
 ters of Gregory VII.) have been written by Boned. 
 Luchinu.'i, Uoniin. Mellinus, FeMx Contelorius, and 
 Jnlius de Puteo, but more amply by Francis Maria 
 of Florence, in his Records concerning the Countess 
 Matilda, written in Italian, and Bened. Bacchinius, 
 in his Historia Monasterii Podulironensis. Tlie fa- 
 mous Leibnitz, in his Scriptores Brunsvic. tom. i. p. 
 629, and Lud. Ant. Muratori, in his Scriptores Re- 
 runi Italic, tom. v. p. 3:t5. have published, with an- 
 notations, the ancient histories of the life of Matil- 
 da, com(K)SPd by Donizo, and another writer, whose 
 name is unknown, together with the copy of the se- 
 cond art of cession by which that princess confirmed 
 her former grant to the church of Rome. We may 
 add here, that nothing relating to this extraordinary 
 woman is more worthy of perusal than the accounts 
 that we find of her and her second husband, in the 
 Origines Guelphica;, torn, i lib iii cap. v. ettom. ii. 
 lib. V- 
 
 mained in the possession of a considerable part 
 of it, which they still enjoy.* 
 
 Xll. The plan that Gregory had formed for 
 raising the cliurch above all human authority, 
 to a state of perfect supremacy and indepen- 
 dence, had many kinds of opposition to en- 
 counter, but none more difficult to surmount 
 than that which arose from the two reigning 
 vices of concubinage and simony, that had in- 
 fected the whole body of tlie European clergy. 
 The pontifis, from the time of Stephen IX., 
 had combated with zeal and vehemence those 
 monstrous vices,f but without success, as they 
 
 * Many learned men conclude from the very act by 
 which this donation was conlirmed to the see of 
 Rome, that Matilda comprehended in the gift only 
 her allodial possessions, and not the territories which 
 she held as the tiefs of the empire, such as the mar- 
 quisate of Tuscany, and the duchy of Spoleto. For 
 
 the words of the act run thus: "Ego Mathildis 
 
 " dedi et obtuli ecclesia; S. Petri .... omnia mea bona 
 "jure proprietario, tam qu<E tunc habueram, quam 
 " ea qucB in antea acquisitura eram, sive jure sue- 
 " cessionis, sive alio quocunque jure ad me pertine- 
 " aut." See the Origines Guelphicie, tom. i. lib. iii. 
 p. 448. But it is much to be questioned, whether 
 this distinction is so evident as is pretended; for the 
 words jure proprietario, from which it is inferred 
 that Matilda disposed of only her allodial posses- 
 sions in favour of St. Peter, do not, in my opinion, 
 relate to the possessions of the testatrix, but to the 
 nature of the gift, and must be interpreted in con- 
 junction with the preceding verbs, " dedi et obtuli." 
 Tho princess does not say, " dedi omnia bona quae 
 " jure proprietario possideo et habeo," i. e. " I have 
 " granted that part of my property which I hold by a 
 " supreme and independent right," in which case the 
 opinion of the learned men above-mentioned would 
 be well founded; but she says, " dedi omnia bona 
 " mea ecclesijE jure proprietario," i. e. " my will is, 
 " that the church shall possess as its own property 
 " the inheritance I have left to it." Besides, the fol- 
 lowing words manifestly show, that the opinion of 
 these learned men is destitute of all foundation, 
 since Matilda would not have added, " sive jure sue- 
 cessionis, sive alio quocunque jure ad me pertineant," 
 i. e. " I grant all my possessions, under whatever ti- 
 tle I enjoy them, whether by right of succession, or 
 by any other right," &c. had she intended to confine 
 her donation to her allodial possessions. Certain it 
 is, that in this ample grant she excepts no part of 
 her property, but evidently comprehends in it her 
 whole substance. If it be objected to this, that the 
 pontifl's never afllrmed that the fiefs of the empire, 
 which Matilda possessed, were comprehended in this 
 grant to their church, and that they only claimed 
 her allodial and independent possessions, I answer, 
 by questioning the fact, since many circumstances 
 concur to prove, that they claimed the whole sub- 
 stance of Matilda, all her possessions without ex- 
 ception, as their undoubted right. But, suppose 
 for a moment that the case was otherwise, and 
 that tho Roman church had never made such an uni- 
 versal claim, this would, by no means invalidate the 
 opinion I here maintain, since the question under 
 consideration is not, how far the pontifts may have 
 moderated their pretensions to the territories of Ma- 
 tilda, but what is the true and genuine sense of the 
 words in which her donation is expressed. 
 
 t Monstrous vices we may justly call them; for, 
 though it be true, that, in the methods Gregory took 
 to extirpate these vices, he violated not only the 
 laws of religion, but also the dictate.s of natural 
 equity and j.istice, and, under the mask of a pious 
 zeal, committed the most abominable enormities, yet 
 it is certain, on the other hand, that these vices pro- 
 duced the most unhappy eftects both in church and 
 state, and that the suppression of them had now be- 
 come absolutely necessary. There were, indeed, 
 among the clergy several men of piety and virtue, 
 who lived in the bonds of wedlock, and these Gre- 
 gory ought to have spared. But there is no doubt 
 that a prodigious number of ecclesiastics through- 
 out Europe, not only of priests and canons, but 
 also of monks, lived in the bonds of a criminal 
 love; kent. und&r tbe titles of wives, mistreeses 
 
272 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 had become too inveterate and too general to 
 be extirpated without the greatest ditBculty 
 and the most extraordinary eiforts. Accord- 
 ingly Gregory, in the year 10'74, which was 
 the second of his pontificate, exerted himself 
 with much more vigour than his predecessors 
 had done in opposition to the vices already 
 mentioned. For this purpose he assembled a 
 council at Rome, in which all the laws of the 
 former pontiffs against simony were renewed 
 and coniirmed, and the purchase or sale of ec- 
 clesiastical benefices prohibited in the strictest 
 and severest manner. It was also decreed in 
 the same council, that the sacerdotal order 
 should abstain from marriage, and that such 
 priests as already had wives or concubines, 
 should immediately dismiss them, or quit their 
 office. These decrees were accompanied with 
 circular letters, written by the pontiff to all 
 the European bishops, enjoining the strictest 
 obedience to the decisions of this solemn comi- 
 cil, under the severest penalties. Gregory did 
 not stop here, but sent ambassadors into Ger- 
 many to Henry VI. king of the Romans, in or- 
 der to engage that prince to summon a coimcil 
 for the trial and punishment of such ecclesias- 
 tics as had been guilty of simoniacal practices. 
 
 whom they dismissed at pleasure, to enjoy the sweets 
 of a licentious variety; and not only spent, in the 
 most profuse and scandalous manner, the revenues 
 and treasures of the churches and convents to which 
 they belonged, but even distributed a great part of 
 them among their bastards. As to the vice of si- 
 mony, its general extent and its pernicious fruits ap- 
 pear evidently from those records, which the Bene- 
 dictine monks have published in several parts of 
 their Gallia Christiana, not to mention a multitude 
 of other ancient papers to the same purpose. One 
 or two examples will be sufficient to give the reader 
 an idea of this matter. We find in the first volume 
 of the admirable work now mentioned (in the Ap- 
 pend. Document, p. 5,) a public act by which Ber- 
 nard a viscount, and Froterius bishop of Albi, grant, 
 or rather sell, openly to Bernard Aimurd and his son, 
 the bishopric of Albi, reserving to themselves a con- 
 siderable part of its revenues. This act is followed 
 by another, in which count Pontius bequeaths to his 
 wife the same bishropic of Albi in the following 
 terms: " Ego Pontius dono tibi dilectse sponsae meiE 
 " episcopatum Albienaem— cum ipsa ecclesia et cum 
 " omni adjacentia sua— et medietatemde episcopatu 
 " Nemauso,— et medietatemde abbatiaSti. ^Egidii— 
 " post obitum tuum remaneat ipsius alodis ad infan- 
 " tcs qui de me erunt creati."— In the second volume 
 of the same learned work (in the Append, p. 173,) 
 there is a letter of the clergy of Limoges, beseeching 
 William, count of Aquitaino, not to sell the bishop- 
 ric, but to give them a pastor, and not a devourer of 
 the flock. "Rogaraus tuam pietatem, ne propter 
 " mundale lucrum vendas Sti. Stepani locum, quia, 
 "SI tu vendis episcopalia, ipse nostra manducabil 
 " communia. — Mitte nobis ovium custodem, non de- 
 " voratorem." Ademar, viscount of Limoges, la- 
 ments, (tom. ii. p. 17!t.,) that " he himself had for- 
 merly made tragic of the cure of souls by selling be- 
 nefices to simoniacal abbots." The barefaced im- 
 pudence of the sacerdotal orders, in buyini and sel- 
 ling benefices, exceeded all measure, and almost all 
 credibility; and they carried matters so far as to vin- 
 dicate that abominable traffic, as may be seen in a 
 remarkable passage in the Apologeticiim of Abbo. 
 which is added by Pithou to the Codex Can. Eccle- 
 sicE Romanse; this passage, which deserves to be 
 quoted, is as follows: " Nihil pene ad ecclesiam per- 
 " tinere videtur, quod ad pretium non largiatur, scili- 
 " cet episcopatus, presbyteratus, diaconatus, et ali- 
 " qui minores gradus, archidiaconatu? quoquc, deca- 
 "nia,prsepositura, thesauri cUstodia, baptisterium— 
 " et hujusmodi negotiatores subdola responsione so- 
 "lent astruere. non se emere bencdictioncm, qua 
 " percipitur gratia spiritus sancti, sod res ecdesia- 
 " rum vel posscssiones episcopi." An acute distinc- 
 tion truly! 
 
 XIII. These decrees, which were in part 
 equitable and just, and which were, in every 
 respect, conformable with the notions of reli- 
 gion that prevailed in this age, were looked 
 upon by the people as liighly salutary, since 
 they rendered a free election, and not a merce- 
 nary purchase, the way to ecclesiastical pro- 
 motion, and obliged the priests to abstain from 
 marriage, which was absurdly considered as 
 inconsistent with the sanctity of their office. 
 Yet botli these decrees were attended with the 
 most deplorable tumults and dissensions, and 
 were fruitful, in their consequences, of innume- 
 rable calamities. No sooner was the law con- 
 cerning the celibacy of the clergy published, 
 than the priests, in the several provinces of 
 Europe, who lived in the bonds of marriage 
 with lawful wives, or of lasciviousness with 
 hired concubines,* complained loudly of the 
 severity of this coimci], and excited dreadful 
 tumults in the greatest part of the European 
 provinces. Many of these ecclesiastics, espe- 
 cially the Milanese priests, chose rather to 
 abandon their spiritual dignities than their 
 sensual pleasures, and to quit their benefices 
 that they might cleave to their wives. They 
 went still farther: for they separated themselves 
 entirely from tlie church of Rome, and brand- 
 ed with the infamous name of Paterini,^ i. e. 
 
 * All the historians who give an account of this 
 century, mention the tumults excited by such priests 
 as were resolved to continue with their wives or 
 concubines. For an account of the seditions which 
 arose in Germany, upon this occasion, see Sigonius 
 de Regno ItaliiB, lib. ix. p. 557. tom. ii. as also Ten- 
 guagel's Collcctio Veter. Monument, p. 45, 47, 54. 
 Those which the priests excited in England, are 
 mentioned by M. Paris, in his Hist. Maj. lib. i. The 
 tumults occasioned by the same reason in the Belgic 
 and Gallic provinces, are described in the Epistola 
 Clericorum Cameracensium ad Remenses pro Ux 
 oribus suis, published in Mabillon's Annal. Bene- 
 dictin. torn. v. p. 034; and in the Epistola Novioma- 
 gensium Clericorum ad Cameracenses, published in 
 Mabillon's Museum Italicum, tom. i. p. 1528. Great 
 waj the flame which the laws of Gregory excited in 
 Italy, and particularly in the province of Milan, of 
 which we have an ample relation, given by Arnulph 
 and Landulph, two Milanese historians, whose works 
 were published with annotations by Muratori, in his 
 Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, tom. iv. p. 36. Both 
 these historians maintain, against Gregory and his 
 successors, the cause of the injured priests, and the 
 lawfulness of their marriages. 
 
 t Paterinus is one of the names by which the Pau- 
 licians or Manicha-ans (who came during this cen- 
 tury from Bulgaria into Italy, and were also known 
 by the title of Catharia, or Pure) were distinguished 
 among the Italians. But, in process of time, the 
 term Paterinus became a common name for all 
 kinds of heretics, as we might show by many ex- 
 amples taken from the writers of the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries. There are various opinions 
 concerning the origin of this word, the most probable 
 of which is that which supposes it derived from a 
 certain place called Paiaria, in which the heretics 
 held their assemblies; and it is well known, that a 
 part of the city of Milan is, to this very day, called 
 Patara. or Contrada de Patari. See Annotat. ad 
 Arnulphum Mediolanensem in Muratori's Scriptores 
 Rerum Italicar. tom. iv. p. 39; see also Saxius ad Sig- 
 oniii mde Regno Italiee, lib. ix. p. 53(5. An opinion (of 
 which, if I err not, Sigonius was the author) pre- 
 vailed, that the name in question was given to the 
 Milanese priests, who separated from the church of 
 Rome, and retained their wives in opposition to the 
 laws of the pontiffs. But this opinion is without 
 foundation; aiid it appears evidently from the testi- 
 mony of Arnulph and other historians, that not the 
 married priests, but the faction of the pontiffs, who 
 condemned their conjugal bonds, were branded with 
 the opprobrious name of Paterini. See Arnulph. lib. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 273 
 
 Manichceans, the pontiff and his adherents, 
 who condemned so unjustly the conduct of 
 such priests as entered into the bonds of a 
 lawful and virtuous wedlock. The proceed- 
 ings of Gregory appeared to the wiser part, 
 even of those who approved the celibacy of 
 the clergy, unjust and criminal in two respects: 
 first, because his severity fell indiscriminately, 
 and with equal fury, upon the virtuous hus- 
 band and the licentious rake; and he dissolved, 
 with a merciless hand, the chastest bonds of 
 wedlock, and thus involved husbands and 
 wives, with their tender offspring, in disgrace, 
 perplexity, anguish, and want.* The second 
 thing criminal in the measures taken by this 
 pontiff was, that, instead of cJiastising the 
 married priests with wisdom and moderation, 
 and according to the laws of the ecclesiastical 
 discipline, whose nature is wholly spiritual, he 
 gave them over to the civil magistrate, to be 
 punished as disobedient and unworthy sub- 
 jects, with the loss of their substance, and with 
 the most shocking marks of undeserved infamy 
 and disgrace. f 
 
 XIV. This vehement contest excited great 
 tumults and divisions, which, however, were 
 gradually calmed by length of time, and also 
 by the perseverance of the obstinate pontiff; 
 
 iii. c. X. — Anton. Pagi. Crit. in Ann. Bar. torn. iii. 
 ad an. 1057, sect. iii. Lufl. Ant. Muiatori Antiq. Ilal. 
 inedii JEvi, torn. v. p. 82, who have demonstrated 
 this in the most ample, learned, and satisfactory 
 manner. Nor need we, indeed, look any where else 
 for the origin of this word. It is abundantly known, 
 that the Manichsans, and their brethren the Pauli- 
 rians, were extremely averse to marriage, which 
 they looked upon as an institution invented by the 
 evil principle: they in consequence, who considered 
 the niarria<i;es of the clergy as lawful, employed the 
 ignominious name of Paterini, to show that the pon- 
 tiffs, who prohibited these marriages, were followers 
 of the odious doctrines of the Manichaeans. 
 
 * We must always remember that the priests, to 
 whom their wives or mistresses were much dearer 
 than the laws of the pontiffs, were not all of the 
 same character; nor were such of them as might be 
 justly deemed criminal, all criminal in the same de- 
 gree. The better sort of these ecclesiastics (among 
 which we may count the Belgic and Milanese clergy) 
 desired nothing more than to live after the manner 
 of the Greeks, maintaining that it was lawful for a 
 priest, before his consecration, to marry one virgin, 
 though a plurality of wives had been justly prohibit- 
 ed; and they grounded this their opinion upon the au- 
 thority of St. Ambrose. See Jo. Petri Puricelli Dis- 
 sertatio utrum S. Ambrosius Clero suo Mediolan. 
 permiserit, ut Virgini seniel nubere possent, repub- 
 lished by Muratori, in his Scriptores Italic, tom. iv. 
 p. 123. Gregory and his successors ought to have 
 dealt more gently with this kind of ecclesiastics (as 
 the warmest admirers of the pontiffs acknowledge) 
 than with those priests who were either the patrons 
 of concubinage, or who pretended to justify their 
 espousing of a plurality of wives. It was also un- 
 just to treat, in the same manner, the monks, who, 
 by the nature of their profession and vows, were 
 necessarily excluded from the nuptial state; and the 
 priests, who could not bear the thoughts of being torn 
 from the chaste partners of their beds, whom they 
 had espoused with virtuous sentiments and upright 
 intentions, or from the tender offspring which were 
 the fruit of virtuous love. 
 
 t Theodnrici Verdunensis Epistola ad Grcgorium 
 VII. in Martenne's Thesaur. Anecdotorura, tom. i. 
 p. 218. — " Faciem mcam in eo vel maxime confusione 
 ".perfundunt. quod legem de rlrrirorum incontinentia 
 ■per lairorum insanias coliibenda unquam suscep- 
 ■'erim — Nee putetis eos qui ila sentiunt. . . . eccle- 
 "siasticorum craduum inconlinentiam talibus de- 
 "fensionibusfoverevelle. Honestamconversationem 
 "in desiderio habent, nee aliter, quam oportet, 
 "eccIesiasticH-ultioniscensuram intentarigaudent." 
 Vol. I,— S6 
 
 nor did any of the European kings and princes 
 concern themselves so much about the marria- 
 ges of tlie clergy as to maintain their cause, 
 and thereby to prolong the controversy. But 
 the troubles wltich arose from the law that re- 
 garded the extirpation of simony were not so 
 easily appeased; the tumults it occasioned be- 
 came greater from day to day; the methods of 
 reconciliation more difficult; and it involved 
 both the church and state during several years 
 in the deepest calamities and in the most com- 
 plicated scenes of confusion and distress.* 
 Henry IV. received indeed graciously the le- 
 gates of Gregory, and applauded his zeal for 
 the extirpation of simony; but neither this 
 prince, nor the German bishops, would permit 
 these legates to assemble in council in Ger- 
 many, or to proceed judicially against those, 
 who, in time past, had been chargeable with 
 simoniacal practices. The pontiff, exasperated 
 at this restraint in the execution of his designs, 
 called another council to meet at Rome, in 
 1075, in which he pursued his adventuroua 
 project with greater impetuosity and vehe- 
 mence than ever; for he not only excluded 
 from the communion of the church several 
 German and Italian bishops and certain favour- 
 ites of Henry, of whose counsels that prince 
 was said to make use in the traffic of ecclesi- 
 astical dignities, but also pronounced, in a 
 formal edict, an " Anathema against whoever 
 " received the investiture of a bishopric or 
 " abbacy from the hands of a layman, as also 
 " against those by whom the investiture should 
 
 * We have extant a great number both of ancient 
 and modern writers, who have related the circum- 
 stances of this dispute concerning investitures, which 
 was begun by Gregory VII., was carried on by him 
 and his successors on the one side, and the emperors 
 Henry IV. and V. on the other, and became a source 
 of innumerable calamities to the greatest part of 
 Europe, But few or none of these writers have 
 treated this weighty subject with an entire impar- 
 tiality. They all pleaded either the cause of the 
 pontiffs, or that of the emperors, and decided the 
 controversy, not by the laws then in being (which 
 ought, no doubt, to be principally consulted,) or by 
 the opinions that generally prevailed at the time of 
 this contest, but by laws of their own invention, 
 and by the opinions of modern times. The famous 
 Gretser, in his Apologia proGrcgorio VII. (which is 
 published in the sixth volume of his works, and also 
 separately,) has collected the principal of (he ancient 
 writers who maintained the cause of the pontiff: in 
 opposition to whom, they who defended the cause of 
 Henry IV. are collected by Melchior Goldastus, in 
 his Replicatio contra Gretserum et Apologia pro 
 Henrico IV. Hanov. 1011, 4to. Among the modern 
 writers who have treated thissubject, we may reckon 
 the Centuriatores Magdeburgenses, Baronius, the 
 German and Italian historians, and those who have 
 written the life of the famous Matilda. But, besides 
 these, it will be highly proper to consult Jo. Schilte- 
 rus, de Libertate Ecclesia; Germanics!, lib. iv. p. 481. 
 — Christ. Thomasius, Historia Contentionis inter 
 Imperium et Sacerdolium — Hen. Meibomius, Lib. de 
 Jure Investiture Episcopalis, tom. iii. Scriptorum 
 Rer. Germanicar.— Just. Chr. Dithmarus, Historia 
 Belli inter Imperium et Sarerdotium, and. above all, 
 the famous cardinal Norris, who far surpasses in 
 point of erudition those whom we have mentioned, 
 and whose Istoria delle Investiture delle Dignita Ec- 
 clesiastiche, which was published at Mantua, alXer 
 his death, in 1711, is a most learned work, though it 
 be imperfect and probably maimed, and also ex- 
 tremely partial in favour of the pontiffs; which is 
 not surprising from the pen of a cardinal. See also 
 Jo. Jar. Mascovii Connnentarii de Rebus Imiicrii 
 Gerinanici sub Henrico IV. et V. 
 
274 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 " be performed."* This decree alarmed the 
 emperors, kings, and princes of Europe, wlio, 
 in consequence of a prevaihng custom, had the 
 rio-ht of conferring the more important eccle- 
 siastical dignities, and the government of mon- 
 asteries and convents, of which they disposed 
 in a solemn manner by the well known cere- 
 mony of the ring, and the staff or crosier, 
 which they presented to the candidate on 
 whom their choice fell. Tliis solemn investi- 
 ture was the main support of tliat power of 
 creating bishops and abbots, which tiie Euro- 
 pean princes claimed as their undoubted right, 
 and the occasion of that corrupt commerce 
 called simony, in consequence of which, eccle- 
 siastical promotion was sold to the highest 
 bidder; and hence arose the zeal and ardour 
 of Gregory for the annulment of these inves- 
 titures, that he might extirpate simony on the 
 one hand, and diminish the power of princes 
 in ecclesiastical matters on the other. 
 
 %i short digression concerning Investitures.'^ 
 
 It will not be improper to illustrate the 
 custom now mentioned of investing bishops 
 and abbots in their respective dignities by tlie 
 ceremony of the ring and crosier, since this 
 custom has been ill understood by some, and 
 imperfectly explained by others. Even the 
 learned cardinal Norris appears higlily defec- 
 tive here; for though, in his History of Inves- 
 titures,]: there are some pertinent hints and 
 remarks upon the reasons which engaged 
 Gregory to prohibit investitures altogether, 
 yet that learned prelate does not seem to have 
 had a complete notion of this important matter, 
 since he omits in his history certain points that 
 are necessary to the proper knowledge of it. 
 The investiture of bishops and abbots com- 
 menced, undoubtedly, at that period when the 
 European emperors, kings, and princes, made 
 grants to the clergy of certain territories, lands, 
 forests, castles, &,c. According to the laws 
 of those times (laws which still remain in 
 force) no persons were deemed as lawful pos- 
 sessors of the lands or tenements which tliey 
 derived from the emperors or other princes, 
 before they repaired to court, took the oath 
 orf" allegiance to their respective sovereigns, as 
 the supreme proprietors, and received from 
 their hands a solemn mark, indicating a trans- 
 fer of the property of their respective grants. 
 Such was the maimer in which the nobility, 
 and those who had distinguished themselves 
 by military exploits, were confirmed in the 
 possessions which they owed to the liberality 
 of their sovereigns. But the custom of invest- 
 ing the bishops and abbots with the ring and 
 the crosier, which are the ensigns of the sacred 
 function, is of a much more recent date, and 
 was then first introduced, when the European 
 emperors and princes, annulling the elections 
 that were made in the church according to the 
 ecclesiastical laws wliich had been from the 
 
 * Ant. Pagi Critica in Baronium, torn. iii. ad an. 
 1075 — Hen. Norris, Hist. Investiturarum, p. 39 — 
 Christ. Lupus, Scholia et Dissertation, ad Concilia, 
 torn. vi. op. p. 39 — 44. 
 
 t Here the translator has placed the note (r) of the 
 CTiginal in the text, under the form of a dissertation. 
 
 t Chap. iii. p -56. 
 
 earliest times established for that purpose, as- 
 sumed to themselves the power of conferring, 
 on whom they pleased, the bishoprics and 
 abbeys that became vacant in tlieir dominions, 
 and even of selling them to the highest bidder. 
 This power, then, being once usurped by the 
 kings and princes of Europe, they at first con- 
 firmed the bishops and abbots in their dignities 
 and possessions, with the same forms and cere- 
 monies that were used in investing the counts, 
 knights, and others, with their feudal tenures, 
 even by written contracts, and the ceremony 
 of presenting them with a wand or bough.* 
 And this custom of investing the clergy and 
 tiie laity with the same ceremonies would have 
 undoubtedly continued, had not the clergy, to 
 whom the right of electing bishops and ab- 
 bots originally belonged, artfully eluded the 
 usurpation of the emperors and other princes 
 by tiie following stratagem. When a bishop 
 or abbot died, they who looked upon them- 
 selves as authorised to fill up the vacancy, 
 elected immediately some one of their order 
 in the place of the deceased, and were careful 
 to have him consecrated without delay. The 
 consecration being tlius performed, the prince, 
 who had proposed to hunself the profit of sell- 
 ing the vacant benefice, or the pleasure of con- 
 ferring it upon one of his favourites, was 
 obliged to desist from his purpose, and to 
 consent to the election, which the ceremony 
 of consecration rendered irrevocable. Many 
 examples of the success of this stratagem, 
 which was practised both in chapters and 
 monasteries, and which disappointed the libe- 
 rality or avarice of several princes, might here 
 be alleged; they abound in the records of the 
 tenth century, to which we refer the curious 
 reader. No sooner did the emperors and 
 princes perceive this artful management, than 
 they turned their attention to the most proper 
 means of rendering it ineffectual, and of pre- 
 serving the valuable privilege they had usurp- 
 ed. For this purpose they ordered, that, as 
 soon aa a bishop expired, his ring and crosier 
 should be transmitted to the prince, to whose 
 jurisdiction his diocese was subject; for it was 
 by the solemn delivery of the ring and crosier 
 of the deceased to tire new bishop that his 
 election was irrevocably confirmed, and this 
 ceremony was an essential part of his conse- 
 cration; so that, when these two badges of the 
 episcopal dignity were in the hands of the 
 sovereign, the clergy could not consecrate the 
 person whom their suffrages had appointed to 
 fill the vacancy. Thus their stratagem was 
 defeated, as every election that was not con- 
 firmed by the ceremony of consecration might 
 
 * This appears from a passage in cardinal Hum- 
 bert's third book, adversus Simoniacos, wliich was 
 composed before Gregory had set on foot the dispute 
 concerning investitures, and which is published in 
 Martenne's Thesaur. Anecd. torn. v. p. 787. The 
 passage is as follows: " Potestas secularis primo 
 " ambitiosis ecclesiasticarum dignitatum vel posses- 
 " sionum cupidis favebat prece, dein minis, deinceps 
 " verbis concessivis; in quibus omnibus cernens sibi 
 "contradictorem neminem, nee qui moveret pennam, 
 " vel aperiret os et ganniret, ad majora progreditur, 
 " et ,iam sub nomine investiturs dare primo tabellas 
 " velqualescumque porrigere virgulas,dein baculos. 
 " — duod ma.ximum nefas sic inolevit ut id solum ca- 
 " nonicum credatur, nee qua; sit ecrlesiaslica regula 
 " sciatur aut attendatur. " 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 275 
 
 be lawfully annulled and rejected; nor was the 
 bishop qualified to exercise any of the episcopal 
 functions before the ])prforniancc of that im- 
 portant ceremony. As soon, therefore, as a 
 bishop drew his last breath, the magistrate of 
 the city in wlii('h he had resided, or the go- 
 vernor of the province, seized his ring and 
 crosier, and sent them to court.* The emperor 
 or prince conferred the vacant see upon the 
 person whom he had cliosen l)y delivering to 
 him these two badges of tlie episcopal ottice; 
 after which the new bishop, thus invested by 
 bis sovereign, repaired to his metropolitan, to 
 whom it belonged to perform the ceremony 
 of consecration, and delivered to him the ring 
 and crosier which he had received from his 
 prince, that he might receive them again from 
 his hands, and be thus doubly confirmed in his 
 sacred function. It appears, therefore, from 
 this account, that each new bishop and alibot 
 received twice the ring and the crosier; once 
 from the hands of the sovereign, and once from 
 those of the metropolitan bishop, by whom 
 they were consecrated, j 
 
 It is very uncertain by what prince this cus- 
 tom was orighially inti-oduced. If we may 
 believe Adam of Bremen,! this privilege was 
 exercised by Louis the Debonnaire, who, in 
 the ninth century, granted to the new bishops 
 the use and possession of the episcopal reve- 
 nues, and confirmed this grant by the cere- 
 mony now under consideration. But the ac- 
 curacy of this historian is liable to suspicion; 
 and it is probable that he attributed to the 
 transactions of ancient times the same form 
 that accompanied similar transactions in the 
 eleventh century, in which he lived; for it is 
 certain that, in the ninth century, the greatest 
 part of the European princes made no opposi- 
 tion to the right of electing the bishops, which 
 was both claimed and exercised by the clergy 
 and the people; and, consequently, there was 
 
 * We see tfiis fact coiifiiiucil in tlie I'ollowing pas 
 fiage in Ebbo's LiO; of Otlio, bisliup of B.uriburg, lib. 
 i. sect. 8, 9, ill Actis Sanctor. mensjs Jiilii, torn. i. p. 
 426. " Nee multo post aumiliis cum virga paslnrali 
 "Bremeiisis episcopi ad aiilam ri;siaiu traiishila est. 
 " Eo siquidem tempore erclitsiii lilifiaiii elcctiimciii 
 " nonlia bobat. . . . seil cinii qiiilibit :nitistfs vi.irn 
 "univcrsiE carnis iiiKiessiis fiiissct, ino\ cipilanri 
 "civitatis illins anniiluiii et vir^'am pasloi;ilc'iii ad 
 " Palatiuin traiisinittcbaiit, sic(pie i('j;i:i ,iiif Idj ilali, 
 " comiimnicato cum auli(;is coiisilio, orbata: plilii 
 "idonoiiin constitiud)at pra-siileiii, . . . Post paucns 
 " vero dies nirsinn aniiulus et virga pastoralis l!ab 
 "enbergensis episcopi domino iinperatoritraiisinissa 
 "est: quo aiidito, nmlti iiobib-s — ad aulam regiam 
 " confluebant, qui alteram hannn prece vel prctio 
 "sibi cnmpararc tentabaiit." 
 
 t This appears from a variety of ancient records. 
 See particularly Humbert, lib. iii. contra Simoiiiacos, 
 cap. vi. in Martenne's Tliesaur. Anecdot. torn. v. p. 
 771I, in which we find Uw following passage: "Sir 
 " encoEniatus(i.e. the bishop invested by the emperor) 
 " violentus invadit clerum, plebem et ordinem priiis 
 "domiriaturiis, quam ab eis cognoscatur, qu.Tratur, 
 " aut pctatur. Sic metropolitar.um aggreditur, non 
 "ab eo judicandiis. sed ipsiim judiraturus. — Quid 
 "enim sibi jam pertinet aut prodest baculuin et an- 
 " nulum, quos portat, reddere? Ninnqnid quia a laica 
 " persona ilati sunt? Cur redililur quod habetur, nisi 
 '■' ut aut denuo res erclesiastira sub hac specie jUs- 
 " sionis vel donationis vendatur, aut certe ut pran- 
 "sumptio laiCiC ordinatinnis pallietur colore et 
 " velaniento quodam disriplinie clericalis?" 
 
 \ In his Historia Ecclesiastica, lib. i. cap. x.\xii. 
 p. 10, xxxi.^. p. 12, published among the Scriplores 
 Peptentrionales of Lindcnbrogius. 
 
 then no occasion for the investiture mentioned 
 by Adam of Bremen.* We therefore choose 
 to adopt the supposition of cardinal Humbert,! 
 who places the commencement of the custom 
 now under consideration in the reign of Otho 
 the Great; for, though this opinion has not the 
 approbation of Louis Thomassin and Natalis 
 Alexander, yet these learned men, in their 
 deep researches into the origin of investitures,}; 
 have advanced nothing sutticient to prove it 
 erroneous. We learn also from Humbert,^ 
 that the emperor Henry III., the son of Conrad 
 II. was desirous of abrogating these investi- 
 tures, though a variety of circumstances con- 
 curred to prevent the execution of his design; 
 but he represents Hem-y I., king of France, in 
 a different point of light, as a turbulent prince, 
 who turned all things into confusion, and in- 
 dulged himself beyond all measure in simo- 
 niacal practices; and he therefore loads him with 
 the bitterest invectives. 
 
 In this method of creating bishops and ab- 
 bots, by presenting to them the ring and cro- 
 sier, there were two things that gave particular 
 offence to the Roman pontiffs. One was, that 
 by this the ancient right of election was totally 
 changed, and the power of choosing the rulers 
 of the church was usurped by the emperors 
 and other sovereign princes, and was confined 
 to them alone. This indeed was the most 
 l)lausible reason of complaint, when we con- 
 sider the religious notions of those times, 
 which were by no means favourable to the 
 conduct of the emperors in this affair. Another 
 circumstance that grievously distressed the 
 pretended vicars of St. Peter, was, to see the 
 ring and crosier, the venerable badges of spi- 
 ritual authority and distinction, delivered to 
 the bishop elect by the profane hands of im- 
 sanctificd laymen; an abuse which they looked 
 upon as little better than sacrilege. Humbert, 
 who, as we previously stated, wrote his book 
 against simony before the contest between the 
 emperor and Gregory had commenced, com- 
 plains|| heavily of tliis supposed profanation, 
 and shudders to think, that the .s^n^ which de- 
 notes the ghostly shepherd, and the ring which 
 seals the mysteries of heaven,1I deposited in 
 the bosoms of the episcopal order, should be 
 polluted by the unhallowed touch of a civil 
 
 * Add lo this the refutation of Adam of Xtremen, 
 by Daniel l'a}>ebroch, in the Acta Sanctorum, torn. 
 i. F.br. p. 5.57. 
 
 t Humbert, lib. iii. contra Simoniacos, cap. vii. p. 
 780, and rap. xi. p. 787. 
 
 1 See Ludov. Thomassini Di.sciplina Eccles. circa 
 Renef. tom. ii. lib. ii. p. 434; and Natal. Alexander, 
 Select. Ilistor. Eccles. Capit. Sac. xi, xii. Diss. iv. p. 
 72.5. 
 
 § Lib iii. cap. vii. 
 
 il See Humbert, lib. iii. contra Simoniac. cap. vi. 
 p. 770, 7!I5. His! words are, " (iuid ad laicas pertinet 
 " personas sacramenta ecclesiastica et pontificalem 
 "seu pasloralein graliam distribiierc, camyios scili- 
 "cet harulos et annulos, quibus pra-cique perticitur, 
 "militat et innititur tota episcopalis consecratio? 
 " Equidem in camyris baculis— desigiiatur, que eis 
 " committitur cura pastoralis.— Porro annulus signa- 
 "culum secrctorum coelestinm indicat, pramonena 
 " pra-dicatores, ut secretam Dei sapientiam cum 
 " apostolo dissignent. Uuicunque ergo his duobus 
 "ali(^uem initiant, proculdubio omnempastciralem 
 " aiictorilatem hoc pr.Tsumeiido sibi vendicant." 
 
 ir Humbert mistook the spiritual signification of 
 this holy ring, which was the emblem of a nuptial 
 bond between the bishop and his sec. 
 
276 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 magistrate; and that emperors and princes, by 
 presenting them to their favourites, should 
 thereby usurp the prerogatives of the church, 
 and exercise the pastoral authority and power. 
 This complaint was entirely consistent, as we 
 have already obsei-ved, with tlie opinions of 
 the times in which it was made; for, as the 
 ring and crosier were generally esteemed the 
 marks and badges of pastoral power and spi 
 ritual authority, so he who conferred these sa- 
 cred badges was supposed to confer and com- 
 municate with tiiem the spiritual authority of 
 which they were tlie emblems. 
 
 All these things being duly considered, we 
 shall immediately perceive what it was that 
 rendered Gregory VII. so averse to the pre- 
 tensions of the emperors, and so zealous in de- 
 priving them of the privilege they had assumed 
 of investing the bishops with the ceremony of 
 the ring and crosier. In the first council which 
 he assembled at Rome, he made no attempt, 
 indeed, against investitures, nor did he aim at 
 any thing farther than the abolition of simony, 
 and the restoration of the sacerdotal and mo- 
 nastic orders to their ancient right of electing 
 their respective bishops and abbots. But, when 
 he afterwards found that the affair of investi- 
 ture was inseparably connected with the pre- 
 tensions of the emperors, who seemed to con- 
 sider it as empowering them to dispose of the 
 higher ecclesiastical dignities and benefices, 
 he was persuaded that simony could not be 
 extirpated as long as investitures were in 
 being; and, therefore, to pluck up the evil by 
 the root, he opposed the latter custom with 
 the utmost vehemence. All this shows the 
 true rise of the war that was can-ied on be- 
 tween the pontiff and the emperor with such 
 bitterness and fury. 
 
 And to understand still more clearly the 
 merits of this cause, it will be proper to ob- 
 serve, that it was not investiture, generally 
 considered, that Gregory opposed with such 
 keenness and obstinacy, but that particular 
 species which prevailed at this time. He did 
 not pretend to hinder the bishops from swear- 
 ing allegiance to kings and emperors, or even 
 from becoming their vassals; and so far was he 
 from prohibiting that kind of investiture which 
 was performed by a verbal declaration or by a 
 written deed, that, on the contrary, he allowed 
 the kings of England and France to invest in 
 this manner, and probably consented to the use 
 of the sceptre in this ceremony, as did also 
 after him Cali.\tus II. But he could iiot bear 
 the ceremony of investiture that was performed 
 with the ensigns of the sacerdotal order, much 
 less could he endure the performance of the 
 ceremony before tlie solemn rite of consecra- 
 tion; but what rendered investitures most odious 
 to this pontiff, was their destroying entirely the 
 free elections of bishops and abbots. It is now 
 time to resume the thread of our history. 
 
 XV. The severe law that had been enacted 
 against investitures, by the influence and au- 
 thority of Gregory, made very little impression 
 upon Henry. He acknowledged, indeed, that 
 in exposing ecclesiastical benefices to sale, he 
 had acted improperly, and he promised amend- 
 ment in that respect; but he remained inflexi- 
 ble against all attempts that were made to 
 
 persuade him to resign his power of creating 
 bishops and abbots, and the right of investi- 
 ture, which was intimately connected with this 
 important privilege. Had the emperor been 
 seconded by the German princes, he might 
 have maintained this refusal with dignity and 
 success; but tliis was far from being the case; 
 a considerable number of these princes, and 
 among others the states of Saxony, were the 
 secret or declared enemies of Henry; and tliis 
 furnished Gregory with an opportunity of ex- 
 tending his authority, and executing his ambi- 
 tious projects. This was by no means ne- 
 glected; the imperious pontiff took occasion, 
 from the discords that divided the empire, to 
 insult and depress its chief; he sent, by his 
 legates, an insolent message to the emperor at 
 Goslar, ordering him to repair immediately to 
 Rome, and clear himself, before the council 
 that would be assembled there, of the various 
 crimes that were laid to his charge. The em- 
 peror, whose high spirit could not brook such 
 arrogant treatment, was filled with the warm- 
 est indignation at the view of that insolent 
 mandate; and, in the vehemence of his just 
 resentment, convoked without delay a council 
 of the German bishops at Worms. In that 
 assembly, Gregory was charged witli several 
 flagitious practices, and deposed from the pon- 
 tificate, of which he was declared miworthy; 
 and orders were given for the election of a new 
 pontiff. Gregory opposed violence to violence; 
 for no sooner had he received, by the letters 
 and ambassadors of Henry, an account of the 
 sentence that had been pronounced against 
 him, than, in a fit of vindictive phrensy, he 
 thundered his anathemas at the head of that 
 prince, excluded him both from the commu- 
 nion of the chiu'ch and from the throne of his 
 ancestors, and impiously dissolved the oath of 
 allegiance which his subjects had taken to him 
 as their lawful sovereign. Thus war was de- 
 clared on both sides; and the civil and ecclesi- 
 astical powers were divided into two great fac- 
 tions, of which one maintained the rights of 
 the emperor, while the other seconded the am- 
 bitious views of the pontiff. No terms are 
 sufficient to express the complicated scenes of 
 misery that arose from this deplorable schism. 
 XVI. At the entrance upon this war, the 
 Suabian chiefs, with duke Rodolph at their 
 head, revolted from Henry; and the Saxon 
 princes, whose former quarrels with tlie empe- 
 ror had been lately terminated by their defeat 
 and submission,* followed their example. 
 These united powers, being solicited by the 
 pope to elect a new emperor if Henr)' should 
 persist in his disobedience to the orders of the 
 church, met at Tribur, in 1076, to take coun- 
 sel together concerning a matter of such high 
 importance. The result of the deliberation was 
 far from being favourable to the emperor; for 
 they agreed, that the determination of the con- 
 troversy between him and them should be re- 
 ferred to the pope, who was to be invited for 
 
 Q(^ * Tliis same Rodolph had, the year before this 
 revolt, vanquished the Saxons, and obliged them to 
 submit to the emperor. Beside the Suabian and 
 Saxon chiefs, the dukes of Bavaria and Carinthia, 
 the bishops of Wurtzburg and Worms, and several 
 other eminent personages, were concerned in this 
 revolt. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 277 
 
 that purpose to a congress at Augsburg in the 
 following year, and that, in the mean time, 
 Henry should be suspended from his royal dig- 
 nity, and live in the obscurity of a private sta- 
 tion; to which rigorous conditions they also 
 added, that he was to forfeit iiis kingdom, if, 
 within the space of a year, he should not be 
 restored to the bosom of the cluurch, and deli- 
 vered from the anathema that lay upon his 
 head. When things were come to tiiis des- 
 perate extremity, and the faction, wliich was 
 formed against this unfortunate prince, grew 
 more formidable from day to day, his friends 
 advised him to go into Italy, and implore in 
 person the clemency of the pontiff. The em- 
 peror yielded to this ignominious counsel, 
 without, however, obtaining from his voyage 
 the advantages he expected. He passed the 
 Alps, amidst the rigour of a severe winter, and 
 arrived, in f^ebruary, 1077, at the fortress of 
 Canusium, where the sanctimonious pontiff re- 
 sided at that time with the yomig Matilda, 
 countess of Tuscany, tlie most powerful pa- 
 troness of the church, and the most tender and 
 affectionate of all the spiritual daughters of 
 Gregory. Here the suppliant prince, un- 
 mindful of his dignity, stood, during three 
 days, in the open air at the entrance of this 
 fortress, with his feet bare, his head uncovered, 
 and with no other raiment than a wretched 
 piece of coarse woollen cloth tluown over his 
 body to cover his nakedness. On the fourth 
 day, he was admitted to the presence of the 
 lordly pontiff, who with difhculty granted him 
 the absolution he demanded; but, as to his po- 
 litical restoration, he refused to determine that 
 point before the approaching congress, at 
 which he made Henry promise to appear, for- 
 bidding him, at the same time, to assume, dur- 
 ing this interval, the title of king, or to wear 
 the ornaments or exercise the functions of roy- 
 alty. This opprobrious convention justly ex- 
 cited the indignation of the princes and bishops 
 of Italy, who threatened Henry with all sorts 
 of evils, on account of his base and pusillani- 
 mous conduct, and would undoubtedly have 
 deposed him, had not he allayed their resent- 
 ment by violating the convention into which 
 he had been forced to enter with the imperious 
 pontiff, and resuming the title and other marks 
 of royalty which he had been obliged to re- 
 linquish. On the other hand, the confederate 
 princes of Suabia and Saxony were no sooner 
 informed of this unexpected change in the con- 
 duct of Henry, than they assembled at Forc- 
 heim in March, 107 7, and unanimously elected 
 Rodolph, duke of Suabia, emperor in his 
 place.* 
 
 XV'II. This rash step kindled a terrible 
 flame in Germany and Italy, and involved, for 
 a long time, those unhappy lands in the cala- 
 mities of war. In Italy, the Normans, who 
 
 * The ancirnt .inil inndorn writers of Italian .and 
 German history have given ample relations of all 
 these events, though not all with the same fidolity 
 and accuracy. In the brief account I have given of 
 these events, I have followed the genuine sources, 
 and those writers whose testimonies are the moat 
 respectable and sure, such as Sigonius, Pagi, Mara- 
 tori, Muscovius, Norris, &,c. who, though they dilT'er 
 in some minute circumstances, yet agree in those 
 matters which are of the most importance. 
 
 were masters of the lower parts of that coun- 
 try, and the armies of the powerful and valiant 
 Matilda, maintained successfully the cause of 
 Gregory against the Lombards, who espoused 
 the interests of Henry; while this unfortimate 
 prince, with all the forces he could assemble, 
 carried on the war in Germany against Ro- 
 dolph and tiie confederate princes. Gregory, 
 considering the events of war as extremely 
 doubtful, was at first afraid to declare for either 
 side, and therefore observed, during a certain 
 time, an appearance of neutrality; but, encou- 
 raged by the battle of Fladenheim, in which 
 Henry was defeated by the Saxons, in 1080, 
 he excommunicated anew that vanquished 
 prince, and, sending a crown to the victor Ro- 
 dolph, declared him lawful king of the Ger- 
 mans. The injured emperor did not suffer this 
 new insult to pass unpunished. Seconded by 
 the suffrages of several of the Italian and Ger- 
 man bishops, he deposed Gregory a second 
 time in a council which met at Mentz, and, in 
 a synod that was soon after assembled at 
 Brixen, in the province of Tirol, he raised to 
 the pontificate Guibert, archbishop of Raven- 
 na, who assumed the title of Clement III. 
 when he was consecrated at Rome in 1084, 
 four years after his election. 
 
 XVIII. This election was soon followed by 
 an occurrence which gave an advantageous 
 turn to the affairs of Henry: this event was a 
 bloody battle fought upon the banks of the 
 river Elster, where Rodolph received a mortal 
 wound, of which he died at Mersburg. The 
 emperor, freed from this formidable enemy, 
 marched into Italy, in the following year 
 (1081,) with a design to crush Gregory and 
 his adherents, whose defeat he imagined would 
 contribute effectually to put an end to the 
 troubles in Germany. Accordingly he made 
 several campaigns, with various success, 
 against the valiant troops of Matilda; and, after 
 having raised twice the siege of Rome, he re- 
 sumed with alacrity that bold enterprise, and 
 became, in 1084, master of the greatest part 
 of that city. His first step after this success 
 was to place Guibert in the papal chair: he 
 tlien received the imperial crown from the 
 hands of the new pontiff, was saluted emperor 
 by the Roman people, and laid close siege to 
 the castle of St. Angelo, whither his determin- 
 ed enemy, Gregory, had fled for safety. He 
 was, however, forced to raise the siege by the 
 valour of Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia 
 and Calabria, who lirought Gregory in triiunph 
 to Rome; but, not thinking him safe there, 
 conducted him afterwards to Salenium. Here 
 the famous pontift' ended his days in the suc- 
 ceeding year, and left Europe involved in those 
 calamities which were the fatal effects of his 
 boundless ambition. He was certainly a man 
 of extensive abilities, endowed with a most en- 
 terprising genius, and an invincible firmness 
 of mind; but it must, at the same time, be ac- 
 knowledged, that he was the most arrogant 
 and audacious pontift' that had hitherto filled 
 the papal chair. The Roman church worships 
 him as a saint, though it is certain that he was 
 never placed in that order by a regular canon- 
 ization. Paul v., abotit the beginning of the 
 Beventeenth century, appointed the twenty- 
 
278 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 fifth day of May, as a festival sacred to the 
 memory of this pretended saint;* but tlie empe- 
 rors of Germany, the kings of France, and 
 other European princes, have alwaj's opposed 
 the celebration of this festival, and have thus 
 effectually prevented its becoming universal. 
 In our times, the zeal of Benedict XIII. to se- 
 cure to Gregory the saintly iionours, occasion- 
 ed a contest, the result of which was by no 
 means favourable to his superstitious views.] 
 
 XIX. The death of Gregory neither restored 
 peace to the church, nor tranquillity to tlie 
 state; the tumults and divisions whicli he had 
 excited still continued, and they were aug- 
 mented from day to day by the same passions 
 to which they owed tlieir origin. Clement III. 
 who was the emperor's pontiff,J was master 
 of the city of Rome, and was acknowledged as 
 pope by a great part of Italy. Henry carried 
 on the war in Germany against the confeder- 
 ate princes. The faction of Gregory, supported 
 by tlie Normans, chose for liis successor, in 
 1086, Dideric, abbot of Motmt Cassin, who 
 adopted the title of Victor III. and was conse- 
 crated in the church of St. Peter, in 1087, when 
 that part of the city was recovered by the Nor- 
 mans from the dominion of Clement. But this 
 new pontiff was of a character quite opposite 
 to that of Gregory; he was modest and timor- 
 ous, and also of a mild and gentle disposition; 
 and finding the papal chair beset with factions, 
 and tlie city of Rome under the dominion of 
 liis competitor, he retired to his monastery, 
 where he soon after ended his days in peace. 
 But, before his abdication, he held a council 
 at Benevento, where he confirmed and renewed 
 the laws that Gregory had enacted for the 
 abolition of investitures. 
 
 XX. Otho, monk of Clugni, and bishop of 
 Ostia, was, by Victor's recommendation, cho- 
 sen to succeed him. This new pontiff" was 
 elected at Terracini, in 1088, and assumed the 
 name of Urban II. Inferior to Gregory in for- 
 titude and resolution, he was, however, his 
 equal in arrogance and pride, and surpassed 
 him greatly in temerity and imprudence. § The 
 commencement of his pontificate had a fair 
 aspect, and success seemed to smile upon his 
 undertakings; but on the emperor's return into 
 Italy, in 1090, the face of affairs was totally 
 changed; victory crowned the arms of that 
 prince, who, by redoubled efforts of valour, at 
 length defeated Guelph, duke of Bavaria, and 
 the famous Matilda, who were the formidable 
 
 * Sef! tlio Acta Sanctnr. Antwerp, ad d. xxv. Mali, 
 and Mabillon, Acta Saiict. Ord. Benedict. Saec. vi. 
 part II. 
 
 t The reader will find an ample and curious ac- 
 count of this matter in a French book published in 
 Holland in 174rt, under the following title: L'Avocat 
 du Diable, ou Memoires Historiques et Critiques sur 
 la Vie et sur la Le<;ende du Pape Gre^oire VII. 
 
 I This pontifi" died in 1100, as appears evidently 
 from the Chronicon Beneventanum, published by Mu- 
 ratori, in his Antiq. Ital. torn. i. p. 2(32. See also 
 Rutoi Historia Ravennat. lib. v. p. 307. 
 
 § We find in the Posthumous Works of Mabillon, 
 tom. iii. the Life of Urban II. composed by Theod. 
 Ruinart, with much learning and industry, but with 
 too little impartiality and fidelity, as we may natu- 
 rally suppose even from the name of its author, since 
 it is well known that no monkish writer durst at- 
 tempt to paint the pontiffs in their true colours. — 
 See also, for an account of Urban, the Ilist. Lit. do 
 la France tom. viii p. 514. 
 
 heads of the papal faction. The abominable 
 treachery of his son Conrad, who, yielding to 
 the .seduction of his father's enemies, revolted 
 against liim, and, by the advice and assistance 
 of Urban and Matilda, usurped the kingdom 
 of Italy, revived the drooping spirits of that 
 faction, who hoped to see tlie laurels of the 
 emperor blasted by this odious and unnatural 
 rebellion. The consequences, however, of this 
 event, were less mischievous to Henry, than 
 his enemies expected. In the mean time the 
 troubles of Italy still continued; nor could Ur- 
 ban, with all his efforts, reduce Rome under 
 his lordly yoke. Finding all his ambitious 
 measures disconcerted, he assembled a council 
 at Placentia, in 1095, where he confirmed the 
 laws and the anathemas of Gregory; and after- 
 wards undertook a journey into France, where 
 he held the famous council of Clermont, and 
 liad the pleasure of kindling a new war against 
 the infidel possessors of the holy land. In this 
 council, instead of endeavouring to terminate 
 the tumults and desolations that the dispute 
 concerning investitures had already produced, 
 this unworthy pontiff" added fuel to the flame, 
 and so exasperated matters by his imprudent 
 and arrogant proceedings, as to render an ac- 
 commodation between the contending parties 
 more difficult than ever. Gregory, notwith- 
 standing his insolence and ambition, had never 
 carried matters so far as to forbid the bishops 
 and the rest of the clergy to take the oath of 
 allegiance to their respective sovereigns. This 
 rebellious prohibition was reserved for the au- 
 dacious arrogance of Urban, who published it 
 as a law in the council of Clermont.* After 
 this noble expedition, the restless pontiflf re- 
 turned into Italy, where he made himself mas- 
 ter of the castle of St. Angelo, and soon after 
 ended his days, in 1099; he was not long sur- 
 vived by his antagonist, Clement III. who died 
 in the following year, and thus left Raynier 
 (a Benedictine monk, who was chosen succes- 
 sor to Urban, and assumed the name of Pascal 
 II.) sole possessor of the papal chair at the 
 conclusion of this century. 
 
 XXI. Among the eastern monks in this cen- 
 tury, there happened nothing worthy of being 
 consigned to the records of history, while those 
 of the west were concerned immediately in 
 transactions of great consequence, and which 
 deserve the attention of the curious reader. 
 The western monks were remarkable for their 
 attachment to the Roman pontiffs. This con- 
 nexion had been long formed, and it was ori- 
 ginally occasioned by the avarice and violence 
 of both bisliops and princes, who, imder vari- 
 ous pretexts, were constantly encroacliing upon 
 the possessions of the monks, and thus obliged 
 them to seek for security against these inva- 
 sions of their property in the protection of the 
 popes. This protection was readily granted 
 
 * To the fifteenth canon of this council the follow- 
 ing words were added: " Ne episcopus vel sacerdos 
 "regi vel alicui laico in manibus ligiam fidelitatem 
 " facial," i.e. '■ It is enacted, that no bishop or priest 
 " shall promise upon oath, liege obedience to any king 
 "or any layman." They are entirely in an error, who 
 affirm that Gregory prohibited the "bishops from tak- 
 ing oaths of allegiance to their respective sovereigns, 
 as cardinal Norris has sufficiently demonstrated in 
 his Istoria delle Investiture, chap. x. p. 279. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 879 
 
 by the pontiffs, who seized, vvitii avidity, every 
 occasion of enlarging their autliority; and the 
 monks, in return, engaged themselves to pay an 
 annual tribute to their ghostly patrons. But in 
 this century things were carried still farther; and 
 the pontiffs (more especially Gregory VII. who 
 was eagerly bent upon humbling the bishops, 
 and transferring their privileges to the Roman 
 see) enlarged their jurisdiction over the monks 
 at the expense of tlie episcopal order. They 
 advised and exhorted the monks to withdraw 
 themselves and their possessions from the ju- 
 risdiction of the bishops, and to place both un 
 der the inspection and dominion of St. Peter.* 
 Hence, from the time of Gregory, the number 
 of monasteries that had received immunities, 
 both from the temporal authority of the sove- 
 reign and the spiritual jurisdiction of the bi- 
 shops, increased beyond measure throughout 
 Europe; and the rights of princes, together 
 with the interests and privileges of the episco- 
 pal order, were violated and trampled upon, 
 or rather engrossed, to swell the growing des- 
 potism of the all-grasping pontiffs. f 
 
 XXII. All the writers of this age complain 
 of the ignorance, licentiousness, frauds, de- 
 baucheries, dissensions, and enormities, that 
 dishonoured the greatest part of the monastic 
 orders, not to mention the numerous marks of 
 their profligacy and impiety that have been 
 handed down to our times. J However aston- 
 ished we may be at such gross irregularities 
 among a set of men whose destination was so 
 sacred, and whose profession was so austere, we 
 shall still be more surprised to learn that this 
 degenerate order, far from losing aught of their 
 influence and credit on account of their licen- 
 tiousness, were promoted, on the contrary, to 
 the highest ecclesiastical dignities, and beheld 
 their opulence and authority increasing from 
 day to day. Our suqirise, indeed, will be di- 
 minished, when we consider the gross igno- 
 rance and superstition, and the unbounded li- 
 centiousness and corruption of manners, that 
 reigned in this century among all ranks and 
 orders of men.^ Ignorance and corruption 
 
 * A specimen of tliis may be seen in the seventh 
 Epistle of Gregory, in which he reduces the monks 
 of Redon under the jurisdiction of the Roman see, 
 by a mandate conceived in terms that had never 
 been used before liis time: see Martenne's Thesaur. 
 Anccdot. tom. i. p. 'J04. We may add, to this, seve- 
 ral similar mandates of Urban II. and the succeed- 
 ing pontiffs, wliich are to be found in the collection 
 now cited, and in others of that kind. 
 
 t There is not, perhaps, in Germany, a single in- 
 stanci! of this pernicious immunity before the time 
 of Gregory VII. 
 
 I See Jo. Launoi, Assert, in Privilcg. S. Medardi, 
 cap. xxvi. sect. vi. op. tom. iii. part II. p. 4'M; and 
 Simon, Biblioth. Critique, tom. iii. cap. x.\.\ii. p. 331. 
 
 § For an account of the astonishing corruption of 
 this age, see lilondel, de Formula, regnante Christo, 
 p. 14.— Boulainvilliera, de I'Origine ct dos Droits rie 
 la Noblesse, in Molet's Memoires de Literature et 
 d'HisloIre, tom. ix. part i. p. G3. The corruption and 
 violence that reigned with impunity in this horrid 
 age gave occasion to the institutions of chivalry or 
 knighthood, in consequence of which, a certain set 
 of e(iue.strian heroes undertook the defence of the 
 po.or and feeble, and particularly of the fair sex, 
 against the insults of powerful oppressors and ra- 
 vishers. This order of knights errant certainly he- 
 c.tnie very useful in these miserable times, when the 
 majesty of laws and government had fallen into 
 contempt, and when they who bore the titles of sove- 
 reigns and magistrates, had neither resolution nor 
 
 pervert the taste and judgment even of those 
 who arc not void of natural sagacity, and often 
 prevent their being shocked at the greatest in- 
 consistencies. Amidst this general deprava- 
 tion of sentimeTit and conduct, amidst the fla- 
 gitious crimes that were daily perpetrated, not 
 only by the laity, but also by the various or- 
 ders of the clergy, both secular and regular, 
 all such as respected the common rules of de- 
 cency, or preserved in their external demeanor 
 the least appearance of piety and virtue, were 
 looked upon as saints of the highest rank, and 
 considered as the peculiar favourites of Hea- 
 ven. This circumstance was, no doubt, fa- 
 vourable to many of the monks who were less 
 profligate than the rest of their order, and might 
 contribute more or less to support the credit of 
 the whole body. Besides, it often happened, 
 that princes, dukes, knights, and generals, 
 whose days had been consumed in debauchery 
 and crimes, and distinguished by nothing but 
 the violent exploits of unbridled lust, cruelty, 
 and avarice, felt, at the approach of old age, or 
 death, the inexpressible anguish of a wounded 
 conscience, and the gloomy apprehensions and 
 terrors it excites. In this dreadful condition, 
 what was their resource? What were the means 
 by which they hoped to disarm tlie uplifted hand 
 of divine justice, and render tlie governor of 
 the world propitious.'' They purchased, at an 
 enormous price, the prayers of the monks to 
 screen them from judgment, and devoted to 
 God and to the saints a large portion of the 
 fruits of their rapine, or entered into the mo- 
 nastic order, and bequeathed their possessions 
 to their new brethren. And thus it was that 
 monkery perpetually received new accessions 
 of opulence and credit. 
 
 XXIII. The monks of Clugni in France 
 surpassed all the other religious orders in the 
 renown they had acquired, from a prevailing 
 opinion of their emuient sanctity and virtue. 
 Hence their discipline was universally respect- 
 ed, and hence also their rules were adopted by 
 the founders of new monasteries, and the re- 
 formers of those that were in a state of de- 
 cline. These famous monks arose, by degrees, 
 to the highest summit of worldly prosperity, 
 by the presents which they received from all 
 quarters; and their power and credit grew, 
 with their opulence, to such a height, that, to- 
 ward tlie conclusion of this century, they were 
 formed into a separate society, which still sub- 
 sists, under the title of the Order or Congrega- 
 tion of Clugni.* And no sooner were tliey 
 thus established, than they extended their spi- 
 ritual dominion on all sides, reducing, under 
 their jurisdiction, all the monasteries which 
 they had reformed by their coimscls. The fa- 
 mous Hugo, si.xth abbot of Clugni, who was 
 in high credit at the court of Rome, and had 
 acquired the peculiar protection and esteem 
 of several princes, laboured with such success, 
 in extending the power and jurisdiction of hia 
 order, that, before the end ol" this century, he 
 
 power to maintain their authority, or to perform the 
 duties of their stations. 
 
 * For a particular account of the rapid and mon- 
 strous strides whicli the order of Clugni made to opu- 
 lence and dominion, see Stepli. Baluze, MisccUan. 
 tom. V. p. 343, and tom. vi. p. 436, as also Mabillon 
 Anna). Benedict torn v. passim. 
 
280 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II 
 
 saw himself at the head of five-and-thirty of 
 the principal monasteries in France, beside a 
 considerable number of smaller convents that 
 acknowledged him as their chief. Many other 
 religious societies, though thdj?^ refused to en- 
 ter into this new order, and continued to choose 
 their respective governors, yet showed such 
 respect for the abbot of Clugni, or the Arch- 
 Abbot, as he styled himself, that they regarded 
 him as their spiritual chief.* This enormous 
 augmentation of opulence and authority was, 
 however, fruitful of many evils; it increased 
 the arrogance of these aspiring monks, and 
 contributed much to the propagation of the 
 several vices that dishonoured the religious 
 societies of this licentious and superstitious 
 age. The monks of Clugni soon degenerated 
 from their primitive sanctity, and were distin- 
 guished by nothing but the peculiarities of their 
 discipline, from the rest of the monastic orders. 
 XXIV. The example of thes6 monks excited 
 several pious men to erect particular monastic 
 fraternities, or congregations, like that of 
 Clugni, tlie consequence of which was, that 
 the Benedictine order, which had been hither- 
 to one great and compact body, was now di- 
 vided into separate societies, which, thougii 
 they were subject to one general rule, ditfered 
 from each other in various circumstances, both 
 of their discipline and manner of living, and 
 rendered their division still more conspicuous 
 by reciprocal exertions of animosity and hatred. 
 In 1023, Romuald, an Italian fanatic, retired 
 to Camaldoli,t on the mount Apennine, and, 
 in that solitary retreat, founded the order, or 
 Congregation of the Camaldolites, which still 
 remains in a flourishing state, particularly in 
 Italy. His followers were distinguished into 
 two classes, the Cojnobites and the Eremites. 
 Both observed a severe discipline; but the Coe- 
 nobites gradually degenerated from their pri- 
 mitive au«terity.| Some time after this, Gual- 
 bert, a native of Florence, founded at Val- 
 Ombroso, amidst the Apennines, a congrega- 
 tion of Benedictine monks, who quickly pro- 
 pagated their discipline in several parts of Ita- 
 ly. § To these two Italian monasteries we may 
 add that of Hirsauge in Germany,|| erected by 
 William, an eminent abbot, who had reformed 
 many ancient convents, and was the founder 
 
 * Mabillon, Prcef. Act. SS. Ord. Bened. Sac. v.— 
 Hist. Geneiale de Bourgogne par les Moines Bene- 
 dictins, torn. i. p. 151, published at Paris, in 1739.— 
 Hist. Liter, de la France, toni. ix. p. 470. 
 
 t Otherwise called Campo-Malduli. 
 
 X The writers, who have given any satisfactory 
 accounts of the order of the Camaldolites, are enu- 
 merated by Jo. Alb. Fabricius in his Bibliotheca Lat. 
 medii JEvi, torn. i. p. 8il5.— Add to these Romualdi 
 Vita, in Actis Sanclor. Februar. torn. ii. p. 101, and 
 in Mabillon's Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened. Sebc. vi. 
 part I. p. 247.— Helyot, Hist, des Ordres, torn. v. p. 
 236.— Mabillon, Annal. Ord. Bened. torn. v. p. 2G1.— 
 Magnoaldi Zeigelbauer, Centifolium Canialdulense, 
 sive Notitia Scriptor. Camaldulensium, published at 
 Venice in 1750. 
 
 § See the life of Gualbert in Mabillon's Acta Sanc- 
 tor. Ord. Bened. Saec. vi. part ii. p. 273. See also 
 Helyot's Hist, des Ordres, torn. v. p. 208. Many in- 
 teresting circum^'.auces relating to the history of 
 this order have been published by the learned Larai, 
 in the Deliciae Eruditorum, torn. ii. where the ancient 
 laws of the order are enumerated. 
 
 II See Mabillon, part ii. p. 716,— Helyot, torn. v. p. 
 3.32. 
 
 of several new establishments. It is, however, 
 to be observed, that this monastery was rather 
 a branch of the congregation of Clugni, wliose 
 laws and manner of living it had adopted, than 
 a new fraternity. 
 
 XXV. Toward the conclusion of this centu- 
 ry,* Robert, abbot of Molesme in Burgimdy, 
 having in vain employed his most zealous ef- 
 forts to revive the decaying piety and discip- 
 line of his convent, and to oblige his monks to 
 observe, with greater exactness, the rule of St. 
 Benedict, retired, with about twenty monks, 
 who had not been infected with the dissolute 
 turn of their brethren, to Citeaux, in the dio- 
 cese of Chalons. In this retreat, which was 
 at that time a miserable desert, covered on all 
 sides with brambles and thorns, but which 
 bears, at present, a quite different aspect, Ro- 
 bert laid the foundations of the famous order, 
 or Congregation of Cistertians, which, like 
 that of Clugni, made a most rapid and aston- 
 ishing progress, was propagated through the 
 greatest part of Europe in the following centu- 
 ry, and was not only enriched with the most 
 liberal and splendid donations, but also ac- 
 quired the form and privileges of a spiritual 
 republic, and exercised a sort of dominion over 
 all the monastic orders.f The great and fun- 
 damental law of this new fraternity, was the 
 rule of St. Benedict, which was to be solemnly 
 and rigorously observed; to this were added 
 several other institutions and injunctions, 
 which wore designed to maintain the authority 
 of this rule, to ensure its observance, and to 
 defend it against the dangerous effects of opu- 
 lence, and those restless efforts of human cor- 
 ruption which render the best establisliments 
 imperfect. These injunctions were excessively 
 austere, and grievous to natiue, but pious and 
 laudable in the esteem of a superstitious age- 
 They did not, however, secure the sanctity of 
 this holy congregation; for the seductive charms 
 of opulence, that corrupted the monks of Clug- 
 ni much sooner than was expected, produced 
 the same effect among the Cistertians, whose 
 zeal in the rigorous observance of their rule 
 began gradually to diminish, and who, in pro- 
 cess of time, became as negligent and dissolute 
 as the rest of the Benedictines. J. 
 
 XXVI. Beside these convents, that were 
 foimded upon the principles, and might be con- 
 sidered as branches of the Benedictine order, 
 several other monastic societies were formed, 
 which were distinguished by peculiar laws, 
 and by rules of discipline and obedience, which 
 
 * In the year 1098. 
 
 OtJ' t In about a hundred years after its first estab- 
 lishment, this order boasted of 1800 abbeys, and hart 
 become so powerful, that it governed almost all Eu- 
 rope, both in spirituals and temporals. 
 
 I The principal historian of the Cistertian order, 
 is Ang. Manriquos, whose Annales Cistertienses (an 
 ample and learned work) were published in four 
 volumes folio, at Lyons, in the year 1642. After him 
 we may place Pierre le Nain, whose Essai de I'His- 
 toire de I'Ordre des Citeaux, was printed in the year 
 1696, at Paris, in nine volumes in 8vo. The other 
 historians, who have given accounts of tliis famous 
 order, are enumerated by Fabricius, in his Biblioth. 
 Latina medii aevi, tom. i. p. 1066. Add to these 
 Helyot's Hist, des Ordres, tom. v. p. 341, and Mabil- 
 lon, who, in the fifth and sixth volumes of his An- 
 nales Benedictini, has given a learned and accurate 
 accouut of the origin and progress of the Cistertians. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 281 
 
 they had drawn up for themselves. To many 
 of "those gloomy and fanatical monks, whose 
 austerity was rather the fruit of a bad habit of 
 body, than tlie result of a relij^ious principle, 
 tlie rule of Benedict appeared too mild; to 
 others it seemed incomplete and defective, and 
 not sufficiently accommodated to the exercise 
 of the various duties we owe to the Supreme 
 Being. Hence Stephen, a nobleman of Au- 
 vergne (who is called by some Stephen de 
 Muret, from the place where he first erected 
 the convent of his order,) obtained from Grego- 
 ry Vn., in 1073, the privilege of instituting a 
 new species of monastic discipline. His first 
 design was to subject his fraternity to the rule 
 of St. Benedict; but he changed his mtention, 
 and composed a code which was to be their 
 rule of life, piety, and manners. In his laws 
 there were many injunctions, that showed the 
 excessive austerity of their author. Poverty 
 and obedience were the two great points which 
 he inculcated with the warmest zeal, and all 
 his regulations were directed to promote and 
 secure them in this new establishment. For 
 this purpose it v\'as solemnly enacted that the 
 monks should possess no lands beyond the 
 limits of their convent; that the use of flesh 
 should be allowed to none, not even to the 
 sick and infirm; and that none should be per- 
 mitted to keep cattle, that they might not be 
 exposed to the temptation of violating their 
 frugal regimen. To these severe precepts 
 many others of equal rigour were added; for 
 this gloomy legislator imposed upon his frater- 
 nity th« solemn observance of a profound and 
 uninterrupted silence, and insisted so much 
 upon the importance and necessity of solitude, 
 that none but a few persons of tlie highest emi- 
 nence and authority were permitted to pass the 
 threshold of his monastery. He prohibited all 
 intercourse with the female sex, and, indeed, 
 excluded his order from all the comforts and 
 enjoyments of life. His followers were divided 
 into two classes, one of which comprehended 
 the clerks, and the other what he called the 
 converted brethren. The former were totally 
 absorbed in the contemplation of divine things, 
 while the latter were charged with the care 
 and administration of whatever related to the 
 concerns and necessities of the present life. 
 Such were the principal circumstances of the 
 new institution founded by Stephen, which 
 arose to the highest pitch of renown in this and 
 the following century, and was regarded with 
 the most profound veneration as long as its 
 laws and discipline were observed: but two 
 things contributed to its decline, and at length 
 brought on its ruin; the first was, the violent 
 contest which arose between the clerks and 
 the converts, on account of the pre-eminence 
 which the latter pretended over the former; 
 and the second was, the gradual diminution of 
 the rigour and austerity of Stephen's rule, 
 which was softened and mitigated from time 
 to time, both by the heads of the order and by 
 the pontiffs. This once famous monastic so- 
 ciety was distinguished by the title of the Or- 
 der of Grandmontains, as Muret, where they 
 were first established, was situated near Gram- 
 mont in the province of Limoges.* 
 
 • The origin of this order it related by Bernard 
 Vol. 1.-36 
 
 XXVII. In the year 1084,* was instituted 
 the famous order of Carthusians, so called 
 from Chartreux, a dismal and wild spot of 
 ground near Grenoble, surrounded with barren 
 mountains and craggy rocks. The founder 
 of this monastic society, which surpassed all 
 the rest in the extravagant austerity of its 
 manners and discipline, was Bruno, a native 
 of Cologne, and canon of the cathedral of 
 Rheims. This zealous ecclesiastic, who had 
 neither power to reform, nor patience to bear, 
 the dissolute manners of his archbishop Ma- 
 nasse, retired from his church with six of his 
 companions, and, having obtained the permis- 
 sion of Hugh, bishop of Grenoble, fixed his 
 residence in the miserable desert already men- 
 tioned. f He at first adopted the rule of St. 
 Benedict, to wliich he added a considerable 
 number of severe and rigorous precepts; his 
 successors, however, went still farther, and 
 imposed upon the Carthusians new laws, much 
 more intolerable than those of their founder, — 
 laws which inculcated the highest degrees of 
 austerity that the most gloomy imagination 
 could invent. J Yet it may be affirmed (and 
 the fact is remarkable,) tiiat no monastic so- 
 ciety degenerated so little from the severity of 
 its primitive institution and discipline as this 
 of the Carthusians. The progress of the order 
 was indeed less rapid, and its influence less 
 extensive in the different countries of Europe, 
 than the progress and influence of those mo- 
 nastic establishments, whose laws were less 
 rigorous, and whose manners were less aus- 
 
 Guidon, whose treatise on that subject is published 
 in the Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum I'hil. Labbei, 
 torn. ii. p. 275. For an account of the history of this 
 celebrated society, see Mabillon, Aniial. J3ened. torn. 
 V. p. 05, s. p. 99; torn. vi. p. llti; and Praef ad Acta 
 SS. Ord. Bened. Sxc. vi. part ii. 340; Heiyot, torn. vii. 
 p. 409.— Gallia Christ. Monachor. Bened. torn. ii. p. 
 045. — Baluzii. VitE Pontif Avenionens. torn. i. p. 
 158, et Miscellanea, torn. vii. p. 486.— Ci;?- The life 
 and spiritual exploits of the founder of this order, 
 are recorded in the Acta Sanctorum, torn. ii. Febr. 
 
 * Some place the institution of this order in 1080, 
 and others in 1086. 
 
 t The learned Fabricius mentions, in his Bibl. Lat. 
 medii Aivi, torn. iL p. 784, several writers who have 
 composed the history of Bruno and his order; but his 
 enumeration is incomplete, since there are yet ex- 
 tant many histories of the Carthusians, that have 
 escaped his notice. See Innocent. Massoni Annales 
 Carthus, published in 1687;— Petri OrlandiChronicon 
 Carthusianum, and the elegant, though imperfect 
 history of the order in question, which is to be found 
 in Helyot's IIi.~t. des Ordres, torn. vii. Many im- 
 portant illustrations of the nature and laws of this 
 famous society have been published by Mabillon, in 
 his Annales Benedict, tom. vi. and a particular and 
 accurate account of Bruno has been given by the 
 Benedictine monks in their Hist. Liter, de la France, 
 torn. ix. It was a current report in ancient times, 
 that the occasion of his retreat was the miraculous 
 restoration of a certain priest to life, who, during 
 the performance of the funeral service, raised him- 
 self up and said, " By the just judgment of God I am 
 " damned," and then expired anew. This story is 
 looked upon as fabulous by the most respectable 
 writers, even of the Roman church, especially since 
 it has been refuted by Launoy, in his treatise de 
 Causa Secessus P.runonis in Desertum. Nor does it 
 seem to preserve its credit among the Carthusians, 
 who arc more interested than others in this protend- 
 ed miracle. Such of them, at least, as atfirm it, do 
 it with a good deal of modesty and ditfidence. The 
 arauments on both sides are candidly and accurately 
 enumerated by C«s. Egasse du Boulay, in his Histor. 
 Academ. Paris, tom. i. p. 467. 
 
 t See Mabillon, Pref ad Sa>c. vi. part ii. Aetor. 
 93. Ord. Bened. 
 
282 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part ft.- 
 
 tere. It was a long time before the tender sex 
 could be engaged to submit to the savage rules 
 of this melancholy institution; nor had the 
 Carthusian order ever reason to boast of a mul- 
 titude of females subjected to its jurisdiction; 
 it was too forbidding to captivate a sex which, 
 though susceptible of the seductions of enthu- 
 siasm, is of a frame too delicate to support the 
 severities of a rigorous self-denial.* 
 
 XXVIII. Toward the conclusion of this cen- 
 tury, t the order of St. Antony of Vienne, in 
 Dauphine, was instituted for the relief and sup- 
 port of such as were seized with grievous dis- 
 orders, and particularly with the disease called 
 St. Antony's fire. All who were infected with 
 that pestilential disorder repaired to a cell built 
 near Vienne by the Benedictine monks of 
 Grammont, in which the body of St. Antony 
 was said to repose, that, by the prayers and 
 intercessions of this eminent saint, they might 
 be miraculously healed. Gaston, an opulent 
 nobleman, and his son Guerin, pretended to 
 have experienced, in their complete recovery, 
 the marvellous efficacy of the saint's interces- 
 sion, and, in consequence thereof, devoted 
 themselves and their possessions, from a prin- 
 ciple of pious gratitude, to his service, and to 
 the performance of generous and charitable 
 offices toward all such as were afflicted with 
 the miseries of poverty and sickness. Their 
 example was followed, at first, only by eight 
 persons; their community, however, was after- 
 wards considerably augmented. They were 
 not boimd by particular vows like the other 
 monastic orders, but were consecrated, in gen- 
 eral, to the service of God, and lived under the 
 jurisdiction of the monks of Grammont. In 
 process of time, growing opulent and powerful 
 by the multitude of pious donations which they 
 received from all parts, they withdrew them- 
 selves from the dominion of the Benedictines, 
 propagated their order in various comitries, 
 and at length obtained, in 129T, from Boniface 
 VIII. the dignity and privileges of an indepen- 
 dent congregation, under the rule of St. Au- 
 gustin.J 
 
 * The Carthusian nuns have not sufficiently at- 
 tracted the attention of the authors who have writ- 
 ten of this famous order; and several writers have 
 even gone so far as to maintain, that there was not 
 in this order a single convent of nuns. This notion, 
 however, is highly erroneous, as there were formerly 
 several convents of Carthusian virgins, of which, 
 indeed, the greatest part have not subsisted to our 
 times. In the year 1368, an extraordinary law was 
 enacted, by which the establishment of any more fe- 
 male Carthusian convents was expressly prohibited. 
 Hence there remain only five at this day; four in 
 France, and one at Bruges in Flanders. See the Va- 
 rietes Historiques, Physiques, etLiteraires, tom. i. p. 
 80, published in 1752. Certain it is, that the rigour- 
 ou3 discipline of the Carthusians is quite inconsistent 
 with the delicacy and tenderness of the female sex; 
 and, therefore, in the few female convents of this or- 
 der that still subsist, the austerity of that discipline 
 has been diminished, as well from necessity as from 
 humanity and wisdom; it was morn particularly 
 found necessary to abrogate those severe injunctions 
 of silence and solitude, that are so little adapted to 
 the known character and genius of the sex. 
 
 t In the year 1095. 
 
 i See Acta Sanctor. tom. ii. Januarii, p. 160.— 
 Helyot, tom. ii. p. 108.— Gabr. Penot. Histor. Canoni- 
 corum regular, lib. ii. cap. 70.— Jo. Erh. Kapu Diss, 
 de Fratribus S. Anton. From an account of the 
 jresent state of the principal hospital, or residence 
 ^this order wlMre the abbot remains, gee Martenae 
 
 XXIX. The licentiousness and corruption 
 which had infected all the other ranks and or- 
 ders of the clergy, were also remarkable among 
 the canons, who composed a middle sort of or- 
 der between the monks and secular priests, and 
 whose first establishment was in the eighth 
 century. In certain provinces of Europe, the 
 canons were corrupt in a very high degree, and 
 surpassed, in the profligacy of their manners, 
 all the other ecclesiastical and monastic orders. 
 Hence several pious and virtuous persons ex- 
 erted their zeal for the reformation of this de- 
 generate body; some pontiffs appeared in this 
 good cause, and more especially Nicolas II., 
 who, in a council holden at Rome in 1059, ab- 
 rogated the ancient rule of the canons, which 
 had been drawn up at Aix-la-Chapelle, and 
 substituted another in its place.* These lauda- 
 ble attempts were attended with considerable 
 success; and a much better rule of discipline 
 was established in almost all the canonical 
 orders, than that which had been formerly in 
 use. It was not, however, possible to regulate 
 them all upon the same footing, and to subject 
 them to the same degree of reformation and 
 discipline; nor indeed was this necessary. Ac- 
 cordingly, a certain number of these canonical 
 colleges were erected into communities, the 
 respective members of which had one common 
 dwelling, and a common table, which was the 
 point chiefly insisted upon by the pontiff's, as 
 this alone was sufficient to prevent the canons 
 from entering into the bonds of matrimony. It 
 did not, however, exclude them from the pos- 
 ses.sion or enjoyment of private property, for 
 they reserved to themselves the right of appro- 
 priating the fruits and revenues of their bene- 
 fices, and of employing them as they thought 
 expedient. Other canonical congregations sub- 
 jected themselves to a rule of life less agreea- 
 ble and commodious, in consequence of the 
 zealous exhortations of Ivo, bishop of Chartres, 
 renouncing all their worldly possessions and 
 prospects, all private property, and living in a ^ 
 
 manner that resembled the austerity of the m 
 monastic orders. Hence arose the well-known m 
 distinction between the secular and the regular m 
 canons; the former of which observed the de- m 
 
 cree of Nicolas II., while the latter, more prone 
 to mortification and self-denial, complied with 
 the directions and jurisdictions of Ivo; and, as _ 
 
 this austere prelate imitated St. Augustinf in ,H 
 the maimer of regtilating the conduct of his ^ 
 clergy, his canons were called, by many, " the 
 regular canons of St. Augustin."J 
 
 and Durand, Voyage Liter, de deux Benedictins do 
 la Congreg. de St. Maur, tom. i. p. 260. 
 
 * This decree, by which the primitive rule of the 
 canons was changed, is published by Mabillon among 
 the papers which serve as proofs to the fourth vol- 
 ume of his Annales Bened. and also in the annals 
 themselves. 
 
 Olj=- 1 St. Augustin committed to writing no parti- 
 cular rule for his clergy; but his manner of ruling 
 them may be learned from several passages in his 
 Epistles. 
 
 t See Mabillon, Annal. Bened. tom. iv. p. 586, et 
 Opera Posthuma, tom. ii. p. 102, 115.— Helyot, torn, 
 ii. p. 11.— Lud. Thomassini Disciplina Ecclesiae circa 
 Beneflcia, tom. i. part i. 1. iii. c. xi. p. 657.— Muratori, 
 Antiq. Ital. medii JEvi, tom. v. p. 257. In the Gallia 
 Christiana of the Benedictine monks, we find fre- 
 quent mention made both of this reformation of the 
 canons, and also of their division into seculars and 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 283 
 
 XXX. The most eminent Greek writers in 
 this century, w.ere, 
 
 Theophanes Cerameus, i. e. the potter, of 
 whom there is yet extant a volume of Homilies, 
 not altogether contemptible; 
 
 Nilus Doxopatrius, who was remarkable 
 for his knowledge in matters relating to eccle- 
 siastical polity; 
 
 Nicetas Pectoratus, who was a most strenu- 
 ous defender of the religious sentiments and 
 customs of the Greek church; 
 
 Michael Psellus, whose vast progress in va- 
 rious kinds of learning and science procured 
 him a most distinguished and shining reputa- 
 tion; 
 
 Michael Cerularius, bishop or patriarch of 
 Constantinople, who imprudently revived the 
 controversy between the Greeks and Latins, 
 which had been for some time nappily sus- 
 pended; 
 
 Simeon, the Younger, author of a book of 
 Meditations on the Duties of the Christian 
 Life, which is yet extant; 
 
 Theophylact, a Bulgarian, whose illustra- 
 tions of the sacred writings were received with 
 universal approbation and esteem.* 
 
 XXXI. The writers who distinguished them- 
 
 regulars. The regular canons are much displeased 
 with all the accounts that render the origin of their 
 community so recent; they arc extremely ambitious 
 of appearing with the venerable character of an an- 
 cient establishment, and therefore trace back their 
 rise, through the darkness of remote ages, to Christ 
 hijnself, or, at least, to St. Augustin. But the argu- 
 ments and testimonies, by which they pretend to 
 support this imagined antiquity of their order, are 
 proofs of the weakness of their cause and the vanity 
 of their pretensions, and are therefore unworthy of 
 eerious refutation. It is true, the title of canon is 
 undoubtedly of much more ancient date than the 
 eleventh century, but not as applied to a particular 
 order or institution; for at its rise it was used in a 
 very vague general sense (See Claud, de Vert, E.xpli- 
 cation des Ceremonies de la Messe, lorn, i.,) and 
 therefore the mere e.xistence of the title proves no- 
 thing. At the same time, it is evident, beyond all 
 possibility of contradiction, that we find not the 
 least mention made of the division of the canons into 
 reijular and secular before the eleventh century; and 
 it 13 equally certain that those canons who had no- 
 thing in common but their dwelling and table, were 
 called secular, while those who had divested them- 
 selves of all private property, and had every thing, 
 without exception, in common with their fraternity, 
 were distinguished by the title of regular canons. 
 
 (tlj- To Dr. IMosheim's account of the canons, it 
 may not be improper to add a few words concerning 
 their introduction into England, and their progress 
 and establishment among us. The order of regular 
 canons of St. Augustin was brought into England by 
 Adelwald, confessor to Henry I., who first erected a 
 priory of his order at Nostel in Yorkshire, and had 
 influence enough to have the church of Carlisle con- 
 verted into an episcopal see, and given to regular 
 canons, invested with the privilege of choosing their 
 bishop. This order was singularly favoured and pro- 
 tected by Henry I. who gave them, in the year 1107, 
 the priory of Dunstable; and by queen Matilda, who 
 erected for them, the year following, the priory of 
 the Holy Trinity in London, the prior of which was 
 always one of the twenty-four aldermen. They in- 
 creased so prodiiiously, that, beside the noble priory 
 of Merlon, which was founded for them, in the year 
 1117, by Gilbert, an earl of the Norman blood, they 
 had, under the reign of Edward I., fifty-three prio- 
 ries, as appears by the catalogue presented to that 
 prince, when he obliged all the monasteries to re- 
 ceive his protection, and to acknowledge liis jurisdic- 
 tion. 
 
 * For a more ample account of these Greek writ- 
 ers, the reader may consult the Bibliotheca Groeca 
 of Fabricius. 
 
 selves most among the Latins, were the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, eminent for his 
 love of letters, and his zeal for the education 
 of youth; as also for various compositions, 
 particularly his epistles; and famous for his 
 excessive and enthusiastic attachment to the 
 Virgin Mary;* 
 
 Humbert, a cardinal of the Roman church, 
 who far surpassed all the Latins, both in the 
 vehemence and learning which appeared in 
 his controversial writings against the Greeks;! 
 
 Petrus Damianus, who, on accoimt of his 
 genius, candour, probity, and various erudi- 
 tion, deserves to be ranked among the most 
 learned and estimable writers of this century, 
 though he was not altogether untainted with 
 the reigning prejudices and defects of the 
 times;J 
 
 Marianus Scotus, whose Chronicle and other 
 compositions are yet extant; 
 
 Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, a man 
 of great genius and subtilty, deeply versed in 
 the dialectics of this age, and most illustriously 
 distinguished by his profound and extraordi- 
 nary know^ledge in theology;§ 
 
 Lanfranc, also archbisliop of Canterbury, 
 who acquired a high degree of reputation by 
 his Commentary upon the Epistles of St. Paul, 
 as also by several other productions, || which, 
 considering the age in which he lived, discover 
 an uncommon measure of sagacity and erudi- 
 tion ;Tl 
 
 Brimo of Mount-Cassin, and the other fa- 
 mous ecclesiastic, of that name, who founded 
 tlie monastery of the Carthusians; 
 
 Ivo, bishop of Chartres, who was so emi- 
 nently distinguished by his zeal and activity in 
 maintaining the rights and privileges of the 
 church; 
 
 Hildebert, archbishop of Tours, who was a 
 philosopher and a poet, as well as a divine, 
 without being either eminent or contemptible 
 in any of these characters;** but, upon the 
 
 * For a farther account of this eminent man, see 
 the Hist. Liter, de la France, torn. vii. p. 261. 
 
 t See Martenne, Thesaurus Anecdot. torn. v. p. 
 629. — Hist. Liter, de la France, tom. vii. p. 527. 
 
 I Sec the Acta Sanctor. Febr. tom. iij. p. 406. Ge- 
 neral Dictionary, at the article Damien — Casim. 
 Oudini Diss, in tom. ii. Comm. de Scriptor. Ecclea 
 p. 080. 
 
 §See the Hist. Literairc de la France, tom. ix. p. 
 30y.— Rapin Thoyras, Hist. d'Angleterre, tom. ii. p. 
 65, 166, de I'ed. en 4to.— Colonia, Hist. Liter, de Lyon, 
 torn. ii. p. 210.— We have already given a more am- 
 ple account of the eminent abilities and learned 
 productions of Anselm. 
 
 {J(p- II Among these productions we may reckon 
 Lanfranc's Letters to pope Alexander IL to Hilde- 
 brand, while archdeacon of Rome, and to several 
 bishops in England and Normandy; as also a Com- 
 mentary upon the Psalms, a Treatise concerning 
 Confession, an Ecclesiastical History, which is not 
 extant, and a remarkable Dissertation concerning 
 the Body and Blood of Christ in the Euchari.st. In 
 this last performance, Lanfranc endeavours toprove, 
 against Berenger, the reality of a corporal presence 
 in the eucharist, though it is manifest that this opi- 
 nion was not the doctrine of the church of England 
 at the conclusion of the tenth, or the commencement 
 of the following century. See Collier's Eccles. His 
 tory of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 260, 2ti3. 
 
 ii Hist. Liter, de la France, torn. viii. p. 260. 
 
 ** The Benedictine monks published in folio, at 
 Paris, in the year 1708, the works of Hildebert, U 
 lustra ted by the observations of Beaugendre. 
 
284 
 
 INTERNAL fflSTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 whole, a man of considerable learning and ca- 
 pacity; 
 
 Gregory VII. that imperious and arrogant 
 pontiff, of whom we have several productions, 
 beside his Letters. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church 
 in this Century. 
 
 I. It is not necessary to draw at full length 
 the hideous portrait of the religion of this age. 
 It may easily be imagined, that its features 
 were full of deformity, when we consider that 
 its guardians Vvcre equally destitute of know- 
 ledge and virtue, and that the heads and rul- 
 ers of the Christian church, instead of exhibit- 
 ing models of piety, held forth in their conduct 
 scandalous examples of the most flagitious 
 crimes. The people were sunk in the grossest 
 puperstifion, and employed all their zeal in the 
 worship of images and relics, and in the per- 
 formance of a trifling round of ceremonies, im- 
 posed upon them by the tyranny of a despotic 
 priesthood. The more learned, it is true, re- 
 tained still some notions of the truth, which, 
 however, they obscured and corrupted by a 
 wretched mixture of opinions and precepts, of 
 which some were ludicrous, others pernicious, 
 and most of them equally destitute of truth 
 and utility. There were, no doubt, in several 
 places, judicious and pious men, who would 
 have willingly lent a supporting hand to the 
 declining cause of true religion; but the violent 
 prejudices of a barbarous age rendered all such 
 attempts not only dangerous, but even despe- 
 rate: and those chosen spirits, who had escaped 
 the general contagion, lay too much concealed, 
 and had therefore too little influence, to com- 
 bat with success the formidable patrons of im- 
 piety and superstition, who were very numer- 
 ous, in all ranks and orders, from the throne 
 to the cottage. 
 
 II. Notwithstanding all this, we find, from 
 the time of Gregory VII., several proofs of the 
 zealous efforts of those, who are generally 
 called, by the Protestants, the witnesses of the 
 truth; by whom are meant such pious and ju- 
 dicious Christians, as adhered to the pure reli- 
 gion of the Gospel, and remained uncorrupted 
 amidst the growth of superstition; who de- 
 plored the miserable state to which Christianity 
 was reduced, by the alteration of its divine 
 doctrines, and the vices of its profligate minis- 
 ters; who opposed, with vigour, the tyrannic 
 ambition, both of the lordly pontiff" and the 
 aspiring bishops; and in some provinces pri- 
 vately, ui others openly, attempted the re- 
 formation of a corrupt and idolatrous church, 
 and of a barbarous and superstitious age. This 
 was, indeed, bearing witness to the truth in 
 the noblest manner; and it was principally in 
 Italy and France that the marks of this heroic 
 piety were exhibited. ($J»Nor is it at all 
 surprising that the reigning superstition of the 
 times met with this opposition; it is astonishing, 
 on the contrary, that this opposition was not 
 much greater and more general, and that mil- 
 lions of Christians suffered themselves to be 
 hoodwinked with such a tame submission, and 
 closed their eyes upon the light with so little 
 
 reluctance.) For, notwithstanding the dark- 
 ness of the times, and the general ignorance 
 of the true religion, that prevailed in all ranks 
 and orders, yet the very fra^nents of the Gos- 
 pel (if we may use that term) which were still 
 read and explained to the people, were suffi- 
 cient, at least, to convince the most stupid and 
 illiterate, that the religion, which was now 
 imposed upon them, was not the true religion 
 of Jesus; that the discourses, the lives and mo- 
 rals of the clergy, were directly opposite to 
 what the divine Saviour required of his disci- 
 ples, and to the rules he had laid down for the 
 direction of their conduct; that the pontiflTs 
 and bishops abused, in a scandalous manner, 
 their power and opulence; and that the favour 
 of God, and the salvation exhibited in his 
 blessed Gospel, were not to be obtained by per- 
 forming a round of external ceremonies, by 
 pompous donations to churches and priests, or 
 by foimding and enriching monasteries, but 
 by real sanctity of heart and manners. 
 
 III. It must, indeed, be acknowledged, that 
 they who undertook, with such zeal and ardour, 
 the reformation of the church, were not, for the 
 most part, equal to this arduous and important 
 enterprise, and that, by avoiding, with more 
 vehemence than circumspection, certain abuses 
 and defects, they rushed unhappily into the 
 opposite extremes. They all perceived the 
 abominable nature of those inventions with 
 which superstition had disfigured the religion 
 of Jesus: but they had also lost sight of the 
 true nature and genius of that celestial reli- 
 gion, which lay thus disfigured in the hands of 
 a superstitious and dissolute priesthood. They 
 were shocked at the absurdities of the esta- 
 blished worship; but few of them were suffi- 
 ciently acquainted with the sublime precepts 
 and doctrines of genuine Christianity, to sub- 
 stitute in the place of that superstitious wor- 
 ship a rational service. Hence their attempts 
 of reformation, even where they were not 
 wholly unsuccessful, were very imperfect, and 
 produced little more than a motley mixture of 
 truth and falsehood, of wisdom and indiscre- 
 tion; of which we might allege a multitude of 
 examples. Observing, for instance, that the 
 corruption and licentiousness of the clergy 
 were, in a great measure, occasioned by their 
 excessive opulence and their vast possessions, 
 they raslily conceived the highest ideas of the 
 salutary effects of indigence, and looked upon 
 voluntary poverty as the most eminent and il- 
 lustrious virtue of a Christian minister. They 
 had also formed to themselves a notion, that the 
 primitive church was to be the standing and 
 perpetual model, according to which the rites, 
 government, and worship of all Christian 
 churches, were to be regulated in all the ages 
 of the world; and that the lives and manners 
 of the holy apostles were to be rigorously fol- 
 lowed, in every respect, by all the ministers of 
 Christ. [$:f' These notions, which were inju- 
 diciously taken up, and blindly entertained 
 (without any regard to the dilFerence of times, 
 places, circumstances, and characters; without 
 considering that the provident wisdom of 
 Christ and his apostles left many regulations 
 to the prudence and piety of the governors of 
 the church,) were productive of many pemi- 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 285 
 
 cious effects, and threw these good reformers, 
 whose zeal was not always according to know- 
 ledge, from the extreme of superstition into 
 the extreme of enthusiasm.] Many well-mean- 
 ing persons, whose intentions were highly laud- 
 able, fell into great errors in consequence of 
 these ill-grounded notions. Justly incensed at 
 the conduct of the superstitious multitude, 
 who placed the whole of religion in external 
 services, and hoped to secure their salvation 
 by the performance of a laborious round of 
 unmeaning rites and ceremonies, they rashly 
 maintained, that true piety was to be strictly 
 confined to the inward motions and affections 
 of the soul, and to the contemplation of spi- 
 ritual and divine things. In consequence of 
 this specious, yet erroneous principle, they 
 treated with the utmost contempt all the exter- 
 nal parts of religious worship, and even aimed 
 at the total suppression of sacraments, churches, 
 religious assemblies of every kind, and Clnis- 
 tian ministers of every order. 
 
 IV. Of the Greek and Latin writers of this 
 age, many employed their learned and pious 
 labours in the exposition and illustration of 
 the Scriptures. Among the Latins, Bruno 
 wrote a commentary on the Book of Psalma, 
 Lanfranc upon the Epistles of St. Paul, Be- 
 renger upon the Revelations of St. John, Gre- 
 gory Vll. upon the Gospel of St. Matthew, 
 and others upon other parts of the sacred writ- 
 ings. But all these expositors, in compliance 
 with the prevailing custom of tiie times, either 
 copied the explanations of the ancient com- 
 mentators, or made such wliimsical applica- 
 tions of certain passages of Scripture, both in 
 explaining the doctrines, and in inculcating the 
 duties of religion, that it is often difficult to pe- 
 ruse their writings without indignation or dis- 
 gust. The most eminent Grecian expositor 
 was Theophj'lact, a native of Bulgaria; though 
 he also is indebted to the ancients, and in a 
 particular manner to St. Chrysostom, for the 
 greatest part of his most judicious observa- 
 tions.* Nor must we pass in silence either 
 the commentary upon the Book of Psalms and 
 the Song of Solomon, that was composed by 
 the learned Michael Psellus, or the chain of' 
 commentaries upon the Book of Job, which 
 we owe to the industry of Nicetas. 
 
 V. All the Latin doctors, if we except a few 
 Hibernian divines, who blended, with the beau- 
 tiful simplicity of the Gospel, the perplexing 
 subtilties of an obscure philosophy, had hi- 
 therto derived their system of religion, and 
 their explications of divine truth, either from 
 the Scriptures alone, or from these sacred ora- 
 cles explained by the illustrations, and com- 
 pared with the theology, of the ancient doc- 
 tors. But in this century certain writers, and, 
 among others, the famous Berenger,t went 
 
 * For an account of Theophylact, see Rich. Simon's 
 Hist. Critique des principaux Couimentateurs du N. 
 T. cli. x.wiii. p. 390. Critique de la Bibliothoque des 
 Auteurs Ecclesiasliques, par Dul'in, torn. i. p. 310, 
 where he also speaks largely of Nicetas and O^cu- 
 raeiiius. 
 
 5CF" t Otherwise called Bcrengariua, and famous for 
 the noble opposition he made to the doctrine of Tran- 
 substantiation, which Lanfranc so absurdly pretended 
 to support upon philosophical principles. The at- 
 tempt of the latter to introduce the rules of logic into 
 
 much farther, and employed the rules of logic 
 and the subtilties of metaphysical discussion, 
 both in explaining the doctrines of Scripture, 
 and in proving the truth of their own particu- 
 lar opinions. Hence Lanfranc, the antagonist 
 of Berenger, and afterwards archbishop of 
 Canterbury, introduced into the field of reli- 
 gious controversy the same philosophical arms, 
 and seemed, in general, desirous of employing 
 the dictates of reason to illustrate and confirm 
 the truths of religion. His example, in this 
 respect, was followed by Anselm, his disciple 
 and successor in the see of Canterbury, a man 
 of a truly metaphysical genius, and capable of 
 giving tlie greatest air of dignity and import- 
 ance to the first philosopher. Such were the 
 beginnings of that philosophical theology, 
 which grew afterwards, by degrees, into a 
 cloudy and enormous system, and, from the 
 public schools in which it was cultivated, ac- 
 quired the name of scholastic divinity.* It is, 
 however, necessary to observe, that the emi- 
 nent divines, who first set on foot this new 
 species of theology, and thus laudably main- 
 tained that most noble and natural connexion 
 of faith with reason, and of religion with phi- 
 losophy, were much more prudent and mode- 
 rate than their followers, in the use and appli- 
 cation of this conciliatory scheme. They 
 kept, for the most part, within bounds, and 
 wisely reflected upon the limits of reason; 
 their language was clear; the questions they 
 proposed were instructive and interesting; they 
 avoided all discussions that were only proper 
 to satisfy a vain and idle curiosity; and. .in 
 their disputes and demonstrations, tney made, 
 generally speaking, a wise and sober use of 
 the rules of logic, and of the dictates of philo- 
 sophy.! [§^ Their followers, on the contrary. 
 
 religious controversy would have been highly lauda- 
 ble, had not he perverted this respectable science 
 to the defence of the most monstrous absurdities. 
 
 * See Chr. August. Heumanni I'rsfat. ad Tribbe- 
 chovii Librum de Doctoribus Scholasticis, p. 14. The 
 sentiments of the learned, concerning the first au- 
 tlior or inventor of the scholastic divinity, are col- 
 lected by Jo. Franc. Buddeus, in his Isagoge ad Tlie- 
 olog. tom. i. p. 38. 
 
 t We shall here transcribe a passage from the 
 works of Lanfranc, who is considered by many as 
 the father of the scholastic system, that the reader 
 may see how far the first schoolmen surpassed their 
 disciples and followers in wisdom, modesty, and can- 
 dour. We take this passage from that prelate's book 
 concerning the Body and Blood of Christ,* and it is 
 as follows: " Testis mihi Deus est et conscientia mea, 
 quia in tractatu divinarum hterarum nee proponere 
 nee ad propositas respondere cuperem dialecticas 
 quEestiones, vel earum solutiones. Et si qnando ma, 
 teria disputandi talis est, ut hujus art is regulis valeat 
 enucleatius explicari, in quantum possum, per a;qui- 
 pollentias propositionum tego artcm, ne vidcar ma- 
 gis arte, quam veritate sanctorunique patriim auc- 
 toritate, confidere." Lanfranc here declares, in the 
 most solemn manner, even by an appeal to God and his 
 conscience, that he was so far from having the least 
 inchnalion to propose or to answer logical questions 
 in the course of his theological labours, that, on the 
 contrary, when he was forced to have recourse to 
 the dialectic science, in order the better to illustrate 
 his subject, he concealed the succours he thence de- 
 rived with all possible care, lest he should seem to 
 place more confidence in the resources of art than in 
 the simplicity of truth and the authority of the holy 
 fathers. These last words show plainly the two 
 sources from which the Christian doctors had hither- 
 
 * Cap. vii. p. 236. Op. ed. Luc. Dacherii. 
 
286 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 ran with a metaphysical phrensy into the great- 
 est abuses, and, by the most mijustifiable per- 
 version of a wise and excellent method of 
 searching after, and confirming truth, they ba- 
 nished evidence from religion, common sense 
 from philosophy, and erected a dark and enor- 
 mous mass of pretended science, in which 
 words passed for ideas, and sounds for sense.] 
 
 VI. No sooner was this new method intro- 
 duced, than the Latin doctors began to reduce 
 all the doctrines of religion into one perma- 
 nent and connected system, and to treat theo- 
 logy as a science; an enterprise which had 
 hitherto been attempted by none but Taio of 
 Saragossa, a writer of the seventh century, and 
 the learned Damascenus, who flourished among 
 the Greeks in the following age. The Latin 
 doctors had hitherto confined their theological 
 labours to certain branches of the Christian 
 religion, which they illustrated only on certain 
 occasions. The first production which looked 
 like a general system of theology, was that of 
 the celebrated Anselm; this, however, was 
 surpassed by the complete and universal body of 
 divinity, which was composed, toward the 
 conclusion of this century, by Hildebert, arch- 
 bishop of Tours, who seems to have been 
 regarded both as the first and the best model 
 in this kind of writing, by the innumerable 
 legions of system-makers, who arose in suc- 
 ceeding times.* This learned prelate demon- 
 strated first the doctrines of his system by 
 proofs drawn from the Scriptures, and also 
 from the writings of the ancient fathers of the 
 church; and in this he followed the custom that 
 had prevailed in the preceding ages; but he 
 went yet farther, and answered the objec- 
 tions which might be brought against his doc- 
 trine, by arguments drawn from reason and 
 philosophy: this part of his method was en- 
 tirely new, and peculiar to the age in which 
 he lived. t 
 
 VII. The moral writers of this century, who 
 
 to derived all their tenets, and the arguments by which 
 they maintained them, viz. from the Scriptures, 
 which Lanfranc here calls the truth, and iVom the 
 writings of the ancient fathers of the church. To 
 these two sources of theology and augmentation, a 
 third was added in this century, even the science of 
 logic, which, however, was only employed by tlie 
 managers of controversy to repulse their adversa- 
 ries, who came armed with syllogisms, or to remove 
 difficulties which were drawn from reason and from 
 the nature of things. But, in succeeding times, the 
 two former sources were either entirely neglected or 
 sparingly employed, and philosophical demonstration 
 (or, at least, something that bore that name) was 
 regarded as a sufficient support to the truths of reli- 
 gion. , 
 
 * This body of divinity, which was the first com- 
 plete theological system that had been composed 
 among the Latins, is inserted in the Works of Hil- 
 debert, published by Beaugendre, who shows evi- 
 dently, in his preface, that Peter Lombard, PuUus, 
 and the other writers of theological systems, did no 
 more than servilely follow the traces of Hildebert. 
 
 t It may not be improper to place here a passage 
 which is taken from a treatise written by Anselm, 
 entitled, Cur Deus komo? since this passage was re- 
 spected, by the first scholastic divines, as an immu- 
 table law in theology; "Sicut rectus ordo exigit," 
 says the learned prelate, " ut profunda fidei Christi- 
 ans credamus, priusquain ea prssumamus ratione 
 discutere, ila negligentia niihi videtur, si, postquam 
 confirmati sumus in fide, non studemus quod credi- 
 mus intelligere:" which amounts to this, That we 
 must first believe without examination, but must 
 afterwards endeavour to understand what we believe. 
 
 undertook to unfold the obligations of Chris- 
 tians, and to delineate the nature, the extent, 
 and the various branches of true virtue and 
 evangelical obedience, treated this most ex- 
 cellent of all sciences in a manner quite un- 
 suitable to its dignity and importance. We 
 find sufficient proofs of this in the moral writ- 
 ings of Peter Damian,* and even of the learned 
 Hildebert. t Tlie moralists of this age generally 
 confined themselves to a jejime explication of, 
 what are commonly called, the four cardinal 
 virtues, to which they added the ten Com- 
 mandments, to complete their system. An- 
 selm, the famous prelate of Canterbury, sur- 
 passed, indeed, all the moral writers of his 
 time; the books which he composed with a 
 design to promote practical religion, and more 
 especially his Book of Meditations and Prayers, 
 contain many excellent remarks, and some 
 happy thoughts, expressed with much energy 
 and unction. [$;^ Nor did the mystic divines 
 satisfy themselves with penetrating, by ecstatic 
 thought and feeling, into the sublime regions of 
 beauty and love; they conceived and brought 
 forth several productions that were destined 
 to diffuse the pure delights of imion and com- 
 munion through enamoured souls.] Johannes 
 Johannellus, a Latin mystic, wrote a treatise 
 concerning Divine Contemplation;}; and Simeon 
 the younger, who was a Grecian sage of the 
 same visionary class, composed several dis- 
 courses upon subjects of a like nature. 
 
 VIII. In the controversial writings of this 
 century, we observe the eflects of the scholas- 
 tic method that Berenger and Lanfranc had 
 introduced into the study of theology. We 
 see divines entering the lists armed with syllo- 
 gisms which they manage awkwardly, and 
 aiming rather to confound their adversaries by 
 the subtilties of logic, than to convince them 
 by the power of evidence; while those who 
 were unprovided with this philosophical ar- 
 mour, made a still more wretched and despi- 
 cable figure, fell into the grossest and most 
 perverse blunders, and seem to have written 
 without either thinking of their subject, or of 
 the manner of treating it with success. Dami- 
 anus, already mentioned, defended the truth 
 of Christianity against the Jews; but his suc- 
 cess was not equal either to the warmth of his 
 zeal, or to the uprightness of his intentions. 
 Samuel, a convert from Judaism to Christi- 
 anity, wrote an elaborate treatise against those 
 of his nation, which is still extant. But the 
 noblest champion that appeared at this period 
 in the cause of religion, was the famous An- 
 selm, who attacked the enemies of Christianity, 
 and the audacious contemners of all religion, 
 in an ingenious work,§ which was perhaps, by 
 its depth and acuteness, above the compre- 
 hension of those whom it was designed to con- 
 vince of their errors. [^If' For it happened, 
 no doubt, in these earlier times, as it frequently 
 does in our days, that many gave themselves 
 out for unbelievers, who knew not the first 
 
 * See Petrus Darnianus, De Virtutibus. 
 
 t See Hildeberti Pliilosophia Moralis, et liibellua 
 de IV. Virtutibus honestse Vitae. 
 
 I See the Histoire Literaire de la France, torn, 
 viii. p. 48. 
 
 § This work was entitled, Liber adversua insipi- 
 entem, i. e. The fool refuted. 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 287 
 
 principles of reasoning, and whose incredulity 
 was the fruit of ignorance and presumption, 
 nourished by licentiousness and corruption of 
 heart.] 
 
 IX. The famous contest between the Greek 
 and Latin churches, which, though not de- 
 cided, had however been suspended for a con- 
 siderable time, was imprudently revived, in 
 1053, by Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople, a man of a restless and turbulent 
 spirit, who blew the flame of religious discord, 
 and widened the fatal breach by new invectives 
 and new accusations. The pretexts that were 
 employed to justify this new rupture, were, 
 zeal for the truth, and an anxious concern 
 about the interests of religion: but its true 
 causes were the arrogance and ambition of the 
 Grecian patriarch and the Roman pontiff". The 
 latter was constantly forming the most artful 
 stratagems to reduce the former under his im- 
 perious yoke; and for this purpose, he left no 
 means unemployed to gain over to his side the 
 bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, by with- 
 drawing them from the jurisdiction of the see 
 of Constantinople. The tumultuous and un- 
 happy state of the Grecian empire was appa- 
 rently favourable to his aspiring views, as the 
 friendship of the Roman pontiff" was highly 
 useful to the Greeks in their struggles with the 
 Saracens and the Normans, who were settled 
 m Italy. On the other hand, the Grecian 
 pontiff" was not only determined to refuse ob- 
 Btinately the least mark of submission to his 
 haughty rival, but was also laying schemes for 
 extending his dominion, and for reducing all 
 the Oriental patriarchs under his supreme ju- 
 risdiction. Thus the contending parties were 
 preparing for the field of controversy, when 
 Cerularius began the charge by a warm letter 
 written in his own name, and in the name of 
 Leo, bishop of Acrida, who was his chief 
 counsellor, to John, bishop of Trani, in Apulia; 
 in which he publicly accused the Latins of 
 various errors.* Leo IX., who was then in 
 the papal chair, answered this letter in a most 
 imperious manner; and, not satisfied with 
 showing his high indignation by mere words, 
 he assembled a council at Rome, in which the 
 Greek churches were solemnly excommuni- 
 cated.! 
 
 X. Constantine, sumamed Monomachus, 
 who was now at the head of the Grecian em- 
 pire, endeavoured to stifle this controversy in 
 its birth, and, for that purpose, desired the 
 Roman pontiff" to send legates to Constantino- 
 ple, to concert measures for restoring and 
 confirming the tranquillity of the church. 
 Three legates were accordingly sent from 
 Rome to that imperial city, who took witli 
 them letters from Leo IX. not only to the em- 
 peror, but also to the Grecian pontifl^. These 
 legates were cardinal Humbert, a man of a 
 high and impetuous spirit, Peter, archbishop 
 of Araalfi, and Frederic, archdeacon and chan- 
 cellor of the church of Rome. The issue of 
 this congress was unliappy in the highest de- 
 
 • See an account of thnse errors, sect. xi. 
 
 t These letters of Cerularius and Leo are published 
 in the Annals of Baronius, ad annum. 1053— The 
 former is also inserted by Canisius in his Lection. 
 Antiq. torn. iii. p. 2dl, ed. nov — Leoniis Concilia, &c. 
 
 gree, notwithstanding the propensity which 
 the emperor, for political reasons,* discovered 
 to the cause of the bishop of Rome. The ar- 
 rogance of Leo IX., and his insolent letters, 
 excited the highest indignation in the breast 
 of Cerularius, and produced a personal aver- 
 sion to this audacious pontiff", which inflamed, 
 instead of healing, the wounds of the church; 
 while, on the other hand, the Roman legates 
 gave many and evident proofs, that the design 
 of their embassy was not to restore peace and 
 concord, but to establish among the Greeks 
 the supreme authority and the ghostly domi- 
 nion of the Roman pontiff". Thus all hopes 
 of a happy conclusion of these miserable divi- 
 sions entirely vanished; and the Roman le- 
 gates, finding their efforts ineff'ectual to over- 
 come the vigorous resistance of Cerularius, 
 very imprudently and insolently excommuni- 
 cated, in the church of St. Sophia, in 1054, the 
 Grecian patriarch, with Leo of Acrida, and 
 all their adherents; and leaving a written act 
 of their inhuman imprecations and anathemas 
 upon the grand altar of that temple, they 
 shook the dust off their feet, and thus departed. 
 This violent step rendered the evil incurable, 
 which it was before not only possible, but per- 
 haps easy, to remedy. The Grecian patriarch 
 imitated the vehemence of the Roman legates, 
 and did from resentment what they had perpe- 
 trated from a principle of ambition and arro- 
 gance. He excommunicated these legates 
 with all their adherents and followers in a 
 public council, and procured an order of the 
 emperor for burning the act of excommunica- 
 tion which they had pronounced against the 
 Greeks. t These vehement measures were fol- 
 lowed on both sides by a multitude of contro- 
 versial writings, that were filled with the most 
 bitter and irritating invectives, and served no 
 other purpose than to add fuel to the flame. 
 
 XI. Cerularius added new accusations to 
 the ancient charges adduced by Photius against 
 the Latin churches; of which the principal 
 was, that they used unleavened bread in the 
 celebrltion of the Lord's supper. This accu- 
 sation (such were the times!) was looked upon 
 as a matter of the most serious nature, and of 
 the highest consequence; it was, therefore, de- 
 bated between the Greeks and Latins with the 
 utmost vehemence, nor did the Grecian and 
 Roman pontiff's contend with more fury and 
 bitterness about the extent of their power, and 
 the limits of their jurisdiction, than the Greek 
 and Latin churches disputed about the use of 
 unleavened bread. The otlier heads of accusa- 
 tion that were brought against the Latins by 
 
 Qsj" * He stood greatly in need of the acsislanco 
 of the Germans and Italians against the Normans, 
 and hoped to obtain it by the good otTices of the pope, 
 who was in high credit with the emperor Henry III. 
 
 t Beside Baronius and other writers, whose ac- 
 counts of this period of time are generally known, 
 and not always exact, see Mabillon, Annal. Bened. 
 torn. V. lib. Ix. ad an. 1053, el Pricf ;id Saec. vi. Actor. 
 SS. Benedicti, part ii. p. 1.— Leo Allatius, de libris 
 Gra-cor. Ecclesiast. Diss. ii. p. HiO, ed. Tabricii, ct de 
 perpetua Eccles. Orient, et Occident. Conscnsione, 
 lib. ii. cap. ix. p. 614.— Mich, le Ciuicn, Oriens Chris- 
 tianus, torn. i. p. 260, et Diss, namascena prima, 
 sect. xixi. p. 16.— Hermanni Historia Concertatio- 
 num de pane azymo et fermentato, p. 59, published 
 at Leipsic in the year 173SI.— Jo. Bapt. Cotclerius, 
 Monum. Ecclesie Grxcx, tom. ii. p. 103. 
 
288 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 the Grecian pontiff, discovered rather a ma- 
 lignant and contentious spirit, and a profound 
 ignorance of genuine Christianity, than a ge- 
 nerous zeal for tlie cause of truth. He com- 
 plains, for instance, in the heaviest manner, 
 that the Latins did not abstain from the use 
 of blood, and of things strangled; that their 
 monks used to eat lard, and permitted the use 
 of flesh to such of the brethren as were sick or 
 infirm: that their bishops adorned their fingers 
 with rings, as if they were bridegrooms; that 
 their priests were beardless: and that in the 
 ceremony of baptism they confined themselves 
 to one immersion.* Such were the miserable 
 and trifling objects that excited a fatal schism, 
 and kindled a furious war between the Greeks 
 and Latins, who carried their animosities to 
 the greatest lengths, and loaded each other 
 with reciprocal invectives and imprecations. 
 The attentive reader will hence form a just 
 idea of the deplorable state of religion both in 
 the eastern and western world at this period, 
 and will see, in this dreadful schism, the true 
 origin of the various sects that multiplied the 
 different forms of superstition and error in 
 these unhappy times. 
 
 XII. This vehement dispute, which the 
 Greeks had to carry on against the Latin 
 church, was nearly followed by a fatal division 
 among themselves. Amidst the straits and 
 difficulties to which the empire was now re- 
 duced by the expenses of war, and the ca- 
 lamities of the times, Alexius not only em- 
 ployed the treasures of the church, in order to 
 answer the exigencies of the state, but ordered 
 also the plates of silver, and the figures of that 
 metal that adorned the portals of the churches, 
 to be taken down and converted into money. 
 This measure excited the indignation of Leo, 
 bishop of Chalcedon, a man of austere morals, 
 and of an obstinate spirit, who maintained that 
 the emperor, in this step, was guilty of sacri- 
 lege; and, to prove tliis charge, he published 
 a treatise, in which he aSirmed, that in the 
 images of Jesus Christ, and of the saints, there 
 resided a certain kind of inherent sanctity, that 
 was a proper object of religious worship; and 
 that, therefore, the adoration of Christians ought 
 not to be confined to the persons represented 
 by these images, but extended also to the 
 images themselves. This new controversy ex- 
 cited various tumults and seditions among the 
 people; to suppress which, the emperor assem- 
 bled a council at Constantinople, in which the 
 question was terminated by the following de- 
 cisions: " That the images of Christ, and of the 
 " saints, were to be honoured only with a rela- 
 " tive worship,! which was to be offered, not 
 " to the substance or matter of which these 
 " images were composed, but to the form and 
 " features of which they bore the impression; 
 " that the representations of Clnrist, and of the 
 " saints, whether in painting or sculpture, did 
 " in no sense partake of the nature of the di- 
 
 * See Cerularii Epistola ad Johannem Tranensem 
 in Canisii Lection. Antiq. torn. iii. p. 281, where the 
 reader will also find the refutation of this letter by 
 cardinal Humbert.— See likewise Cerularii Epistola 
 ad Petrum Antiochens, in Cotelerii Monumentis 
 Ecclesiae GreEC. torn. ii. p. 138; add to these Martenne, 
 Thesaur. Aneedot. torn. v. p. 847. 
 
 " vine Saviour, or of those holy men, though 
 " they were enriched with a certain communi- 
 " cation of divine grace; and, lastly, that in- 
 " vocation and worship were to be addressed 
 " to the saints, only as the servants of Christ, 
 " and on account of their relation to him, 
 " as their master." These decisions, absurd 
 and superstitious as they were, were not sufla- 
 ciently so for Leo, the idolatrous bishop of 
 Chalcedon, who maintained his monstrous sys- 
 tem with obstinacy, and was, for that reason, 
 sent into banishment.* 
 
 XIII. The famous dispute concerning the 
 presence of Christ's body and blood in tlie eu- 
 charist was revived about the middle of this 
 century in the Latin church. Hitherto the 
 disputants on both sides had proposed their 
 jarring opinions with the utmost freedom, un- 
 restrained by the despotic voice of authority, 
 since no council had given a definitive sen- 
 tence upon this matter, or prescribed a rule of 
 faith to terminate all inquiry and debate.j 
 Hence it was, that, in the beginning of this 
 century, Leutheric, archbishop of Sens, af- 
 firmed, in opposition to the general opinion of 
 the times, that none but the sincere and upright 
 Christi; a, none but saints and real believers, 
 received the body of Christ in the holy sacra- 
 ment. This opinion, which was broached in 
 1004, seemed likely to excite commotions 
 among the people; but these its natural effects 
 were happily prevented by the influence of 
 Robert, king of France, and the wise coun- 
 sels of some prudent friends, who hindered 
 the fanatical prelate from disseminating this 
 whimsical invention.}; It was not so easy to 
 extinguish the zeal, or to stop the mouth of 
 the famous Berenger, principal of the public 
 school at Tours, and afterwards archbishop of 
 Angers, a man of a most acute and subtile 
 genius, and highly renowned both on account 
 of his extensive learning, and the exemplary 
 sanctity of his life and manners. § This emi- 
 nent ecclesiastic maintained publicly, in 1045, 
 the doctrine of Johannes Scotus; opposed 
 warmly the monstrous opinions of Paschasius 
 Radbert, which were adapted to captivate a 
 superstitious multitude by exciting their aston- 
 ishment, and persevered with a noble obstinacy 
 in teaching, that the bread and wine were not 
 changed into the body and blood of Christ in 
 the eucharist, but preserved their natural and 
 essential qualities, and were no more than 
 figures and external symbols of the body and 
 blood of the divine Saviour. This wise and 
 rational doctrine was no sooner published, 
 
 * An ample account of this whole matter is giver, 
 by Anna Comnena, in her Alexias, lib. v. p. 104, lib. 
 vii. p. 158, edit. Venet — The acts of this council, the 
 very mention of which is omitted by several histo- 
 rians of considerable note, are published by Mcnt- 
 faucon, in his Bibliotheca Coisliniana, p. 1U3. 
 
 t The various opinions concerning the sacramimt 
 of the Lord's supper, that were embraced during Ihia 
 century, are collected by Martenne from an ancient 
 manuscript, and published in his Voyage Literaire 
 de deux Benediclins de la Congregation de S. Maur, 
 torn. ii. p. 126. 
 
 t See Du Boulav, Histor. Acad. Paris, tom. i. p. 354. 
 
 § See the Life of Berenger in the Works of Hilde 
 bert, archdeacon of Mans^p. 132-1.— See also Histoire 
 Literaire de la France, tom. viii. p. 197.— Boulay, 
 Hist. Acad. Paris, tom. i. p. 304, and the authors 
 mentioned by Fabricius, Biblioth. Lat. medii sevi, 
 tom. i. p. 570. It is probably by an error of the 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OK THE CHURCH. 
 
 289 
 
 than it was opposed by certain doctors in 
 France and Germany. The pontiff Leo IX. 
 attaciicd it witli pecuhar vehemence and fury 
 in 1050; and, iu two councils, one assembled 
 at Rome, and the other at Vercelli, had the 
 doctrine of Berenger solemnly condemned, and 
 the book of Scotus, from which it was drawn, 
 committed to tiie llamcs. This example was 
 followed by the council of Paris, which was 
 summoned in the same year by Henry I. and 
 in which Berenger, and his numerous adlic- 
 rents, were menaced witli all sorts of evils, 
 both spiritual and temporal. The.se threats 
 were executed, in part, against tiiis unhappy 
 prelate, whom Henry deprived of all his reve- 
 nues; but neitiier threats, nor fines, norsynodi- 
 cal decrees, could shake the fii'umess of his 
 mind, or engage him to renounce tiie doctrine 
 he had embraced. 
 
 XIV. After these proceedings, the contro- 
 versy was for some years happily suspended, 
 and Berenger, whose patrons were as numerous 
 as his enemies were formidable,* enjoyed, for 
 a while, the sweets of liberty and peace. His 
 enemies, however, after the death of Leo IX. 
 rekindled the flame of religious discord, and 
 persuaded his successor Victor II. to examine 
 anew the doctrine of Berenger. The pontiff 
 complied, and sent his legates to two different 
 councils, that were assembled at Tours, in 
 1054, t for that purpose. In one of these coun- 
 cils the famous Hildebrand, who was after- 
 wards pontiff under the title of Gregory VII.. 
 appeared in the character of legate, and op- 
 posed the new doctrine with the utmost vehe- 
 mence. Berenger was also present at this as- 
 sembly, and, overpowered with threats, rather 
 than convinced by reason and argument, he 
 not only abandoned his opinions, but (if we 
 may believe his adversaries, to whose testimony 
 we are confined in this matter) abjured them 
 solemnly, and, in consequence of this humiliat- 
 ing step, made his peace with the church. 
 This abjuration, however, was far from beuig 
 sincere, and the docility of Berenger was no 
 more than an act of dissimulation; for, soon 
 after this period, he again taught, Ihougii with 
 more circumspection and prudence, the opin- 
 ions he had formerly professed. That this 
 conduct appears mean and dishonest, is indeed 
 evident; but we are not sufficiently acquainted 
 with the transactions of these councils to fix 
 precisely the degree of his guilt. 
 
 XV. The account of Berenger's perfidy 
 being brought to Nicolas II. the exasperated 
 pontiff summoned him to Rome, in 1058, and, 
 in the council which he held there the. follow- 
 ing year, so terrified the archdeacon, that he 
 declared his readiness to embrace and adhere 
 to the doctrines which that venerable assembly 
 should thmk proper to impose upon his faith. 
 Humbert was accordingly appointed unani- 
 mously by Nicolas and the council to draw 
 up a confession of faith for Berenger, who 
 signed it pubhcly, and confirmed his adherence 
 to it by a solemn oath. In this confession 
 
 press, that Hildeb«rt is styled archbishop instead of 
 archdeacon, by Pans, Hist. lib. i. p. 10, edit. Watts. 
 
 * Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, was his 
 most formidable rival and enemy. 
 
 Qf^ t Other historians mention but one council, 
 and place it in the year 1055. 
 Vol. I.— 37 
 
 there was, among other tenets equally absurd, 
 the following declaration, that " the bread 
 and wine, after consecration, were not only a 
 sacrament, but also the real body and blood 
 of Jesus Christ; and that this body and blood 
 were handled by the priest and consumed by 
 the faithful, not merely in a sjicramental sense, 
 but in reality and truth, as other sensible ob- 
 jects are." This doctrine was so monstrously 
 nonsensical, and was such an impudent insult 
 upon the very first principles of reason, that it 
 could have nothing alluring to a man of Be- 
 renger'sacute and philosophical turn; nor could 
 it become the object of his serious belief, as 
 appeared soon after this odious act of dissimu- 
 lation; for no sooner had he returned into 
 France, than, taking refuge in the counte- 
 nance and protection of his ancient patrons, 
 he expressed the utmost detestation and ab- 
 horrence of tlie doctrines he had been obliged 
 to profess at Rome, abjured them solemnly 
 both in his discourse and in his writings, and 
 returned zealously to the profession and de- 
 fence of his former, which had always been his 
 real opinion. Alexander II. employed the 
 seducing influence of soft and friendly expostu- 
 lation to engage Berenger to dissemble anew, 
 or, in other words, to return from his pretended 
 apostasy; but his remonstrances were ineffec- 
 tual, cliiefly because this rebellious son of a 
 superstitious church was powerfully supported 
 in the maintenance of his opinions. Hence 
 the controversy was prolonged, during many 
 years, by a multitude of writings on both sides 
 of the question, and the number of Berenger's 
 followers daily increased. 
 
 XVI. Gregory VII., whose enterprising 
 spirit no difficulties or opposition could dis- 
 courage, was no sooner raised to the pontifi- 
 cate than he undertook to terminate this im- 
 portant controversy, and, for that purpose, sent 
 an order to Berenger, in 1078, to repair to 
 Rome. If we consider tlie natural character 
 of this pontiff", we sliall be inclined to admit 
 that his conduct in this affair was highly lauda- 
 ble, and discovered a degree of unpartiality 
 and candour, which his proceedings on other 
 occasions gave little reason to expect. He 
 seems to have had a high esteem for Berenger; 
 and, in the particular points in which he was 
 obliged to oppose him, he did it with all possi- 
 ble mildness, and with a tenderness which 
 showed that he acted rather from a forced 
 compliance with the clamours of his adversa 
 ries, than from inclination or principle. In the 
 coimcil which he held at Rome toward the 
 conclusion of the year 1078, he permitted Be- 
 renger to draw up a new confession of hia 
 faith, and to renounce that which had been 
 composed by Humbert, though it had been so- 
 lemnly approved and confirmed by Nicolas II. 
 and a Roman council. The sagacious pontiff 
 perceived clearly the absurdity of Humbert's 
 confession, and therefore revoked it, though it 
 had been rendered sacred by papal autliority.* 
 
 * It is worthy /if observation, that Gregory, whoss 
 zea> :n extenriiuK the jurisdiction, and e.x.ilting th« 
 authority of the Roman pontilis, surpassed that of all 
 his predecessors, acknowledgfd, at least tacitly, by 
 this step, that a pope and council might err, and bad 
 erred in effect. He iv otherwise could he allow Be- 
 renger to renounce a confeBsionof faith that had been 
 
290 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 In consequence of this, the persecuted arch- 
 deacon made a second declaration, confirmed 
 by an oath, that he would adhere for the 
 future to the following propositions: Tliat 
 " the bread deposited upon the altar became, 
 after consecration, the true body of Christ, 
 which was born of the Virgin, suffered on the 
 cross, and now sits at the right-'aaiid of tlie , 
 Father: and tliat the wine placed upon the al- ' 
 tar became, after consecration, the true blood, 
 which flowed from the side of Christ." The 
 pontiff was satisfied with this declaration, 
 which was far from producing the same effect 
 upon the enemies of iierenger; they showed 
 that it was ambiguous, and so it was in reality; 
 and they insisted that Berenger sliould be 
 obliged not only to sign a declaration less vague 
 and equivocal, but should also be required to 
 prove his sincerity by the fiery trial. Gregory 
 absolutely refused the latter demand, and 
 would have equally refused tlie other, had not 
 his favourable intentions toward Berenger 
 yielded to the importunate clamours of his 
 enemies and persecutors. 
 
 XVII. The pontiff, therefore, granted that 
 part of their demand which related to a new 
 declaration; and in a council convoked at 
 Rome, in 1079, procured from the members a 
 third confession of faith, less absurd than the 
 first, though more harsh than the second; and 
 to this creed Berenger, after reading and sub- 
 scribing it in the midst of the assembly, was 
 obliged to declare his assent by a solemn oath. 
 By this assent, he professed to believe, " That 
 the bread and wine, by the mysterious influ- 
 ence of the holy prayer, and the words of our 
 Redeemer, were substantially changed into the 
 true, proper, and vivifying body and blood of 
 Jesus Christ:" and to remove all grounds of 
 suspicion, to dispel all doubt about the reality 
 of his attachment to this ridiculous system, he 
 added to his second confession* a solemn de- 
 claration, that " the bread and wine, after 
 consecration, were converted into the real body 
 and blood of Christ, not only in quality of ex- 
 ternal signs and sacramental representations, 
 but in their essential properties, and in sub- 
 stantial reality." No sooner had Berenger 
 made this strange declaration, than tlie pontiff 
 redoubled the marks of esteem which he had 
 formerly shown him, and sent him back to his 
 country loaded with the most honourable tes- 
 timonies of liberality and friendship. The dou- 
 ble-minded doctor did not, however, think 
 himself bound by this declaration, solemn as 
 it was; and therefore retracted publicly, upon 
 his return to his residence, what he had sub- 
 scribed as his real sentiments in the council of 
 Rome, and went even so far as to compose an 
 elaborate refutation of the doctrine to which 
 he had been engaged to profess his assent. 
 This new change excited a warm and vehe- 
 ment controversy, in which Lanfranc and 
 Guitmund endeavoured to perplex Berenger 
 with their sophistry, and to overwhelm him 
 with tlieir invectives. Gregory, to whose pa- 
 pal thunder the affronted council looked with 
 impatience, seemed neither surprised nor of- 
 
 Bolemnly apprnvei and coHfirmed by Nicolas TI. in 
 a Roman council? 
 * Mentioned in the preceding section. 
 
 fended at the inconstancy of Berenger; nor did 
 he take any step which could testity the small- 
 est mark of resentment against this pretended 
 apostate. Hence it appears more than proba- 
 ble, that the second confession had entirely 
 satisfied the pontiff, and that the violent impo- 
 sition of the third was by no means agreeable 
 to one who seems to have adopted, in a great 
 measure (if not wholly,) the sentiments of Be- 
 renger.* 
 
 * A remarkable treatise of Bereuger'a composition, 
 which has beuu published by Martenne in his The- 
 saar. Anecdot. toin. iv. p. 99. 10;l, will contribute to 
 throw a satisfactory light upon this whole affair, 
 and will fully unfold the real sentiineiUs of Gregory 
 coucerniiig the eiicharist. For from this piece it is 
 undoubtedly evident; 1st, That Berenger was es- 
 teemed ,Tnd favoured in a singular manner by Gre- 
 gory; 2Jly, That this pontiff was of the same opinion 
 with Berenger respecting theeucharist; it is certain, 
 at li^ast, that ho was for adhering to the words of 
 Scripture in this matter, and was eager in suppress- 
 ing all curious researches and all positive decisions 
 concerning the manner of Christ's presence in the 
 holy sacrament. This appears from the following 
 words which he addres.sed to Berenger before the 
 meeting of the last council of Rome, and in which he 
 speaks of his design to consult the Virgin Mary upon 
 the conduct which it was proper for hiin to observe 
 in the course of this controversy; " Ego plane te" 
 (says th; pontiff in the lO^th page of the work, cited 
 in the beginning of this note) " de Christi sacrilicio 
 secundum Scripturas bene sentire non dubito: tamen 
 quia coiisuetudinis mihi est, ad B. Mariam de his 
 q(i:e movent recurreie — imposui religioso cuidam 
 amico — a B. Maria obtinere, ut per eum mihi non 
 taceret, sed verbis commendaret, quorsum me de 
 iiugotio quod in nianibus habebam de Christi sacrifi- 
 cio reciperein, in quo immotus pcrsisterem." We see 
 here plainly, that Gregory e.xpresses a strong pro- 
 pensity to the sentiments of Berenger, not, however, 
 v\ ithniit some hesitation concerning the manner in 
 which he was to conduct himself, and also concern- 
 ing the precise doctrine, which it was necessary to 
 embrace in relation to the presence of Christ in the 
 eucharist. It was this hesitation which led him to 
 consult the Virgin Mary, whose answer the pontiff 
 gives in the following words: " B. Maria andivit el 
 h<\ me retulit, nihil de sacriticio Christi cogitandum, 
 nihil esse tenendum, nisi quod tenerent authentioB 
 Scriptnrs, contra quas Berengarius nihil habebat. 
 Hoc tibi rnanifestare volui, ut securiorem ad nos 
 fiduciam et alacriorem spem habeas." Here we see 
 an answer of the Virgin pronouncing, that it was 
 necessary to adhere to the express declarations of 
 Scripture concerning the presence of Christ in the 
 sacrament; and whether Gregory was fanatic enough 
 to confl'le in this answer as real, or rogue enough to 
 forge it, it is still certain, that ho confined his belief 
 respecting the point in debate to the language of 
 Scripture, and lield that tlie true body and blood of 
 Christ were e.xhibited in the sacrament of the Lord's 
 supper, though it was neither necessary nor expedi- 
 ent to inquire into the nature or manner of this 
 mysterious presence. 3dly, It appears manifest, from 
 the treatise already mentioned, that the assembling 
 of tiK' second council, and the imposition of another 
 confession of faith upon the conscience of Berenger, 
 were measures into which Gregory was forced by 
 the enemies of that ecclesiastic. " Dejectus est," 
 says Berenger, speaking of that pontilT, " importuni- 
 tate Paduani scurrrc. non episcopi, et Pisani non 
 episcopi, sed antichrist! . . . . ut permitteret calum- 
 uiatoribus veritatis in posteriori quadragesimali 
 oincilio .scriptum a se firniatum in priori mutari." 
 stilly. We see here the true reason why Gregory 
 showed not the smallest mark of resentment against 
 Berenger, when, upon his return to his own coun- 
 try, he violated the promise by which he had so so- 
 leiimly bound himself at the last council, and re- 
 futed the confession to which ho had sworn his as- 
 sent. For the pontiff was very far from adopting the 
 sentiments of those who had drawn up or suggested 
 that monstrous confession, and deemed it sufficient 
 to believe with Berenger, that the bf>dy and blood of 
 Jesus Christ were exhibited to Christians in the eu 
 charist. Hence he suffered the violent advarsuries 
 
cbap. in. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 291 
 
 XVIII. Amidst the clamours of his incensed 
 adversaries, Berenger observed a profound si- 
 lence, and was so prudent as to retiu-n no an- 
 swer to their bitter and repeated invectives. 
 Fatigued with a controversy, in which the first 
 prhiciples of reason were so impudently insult- 
 ed, and exhausted by an opposition which he 
 was unable to overcome, he abandoned all his 
 worldly concerns, and retired to the isle of St. 
 Cosme, in the neighbourhood of Tours, where 
 he spent the remainder of his days in tasting, 
 prayer, and pious exercises. In the year 1088, 
 death put an end to the alHiction he suffered m 
 his retirement, from a bitter reflection upon the 
 dissimulation he had been guilty of at Rome, 
 and to the penitential acts of mortification and 
 austerity, to which he seems to have submitted 
 with a view of expiating the enormity of his 
 criminal compliance, and the guilt of his 
 perjury.* He left in the minds of the people 
 a deep impression of his extraordinary sanctity, 
 and his followers were as numerous as his tame 
 was illustrious.! There have been disputes 
 among the learned about the real sentiments 
 of this eminent man: yet, notwithstanding the 
 art which he sometimes used to conceal his 
 opinions, and the ambiguity that is often re- 
 markable in his expressions, whoever examines 
 with impartiality and attention such of his 
 writings as are yet extant, will immediately 
 perceive, that he looked upon the bread and 
 wine in the sacrament as no more tlian the 
 signs or symbols of the body and blood of the 
 divine Saviour.| In this opinion Berenger per- 
 
 of his persecuted friend to murmur, scribble, bawl, 
 and refute, while he himself observed a profound si- 
 lence, and persisted in his resolution to put that 
 unhappy man to no further trouble. It is, however, 
 proper to observe, that, in the same book from which 
 these particulars arc taken, we find Berenger ad- 
 dressing himself, with the utmost humility, to the 
 divine niercy, for the pardon of the crime of dissimu- 
 lation and perjury he had committed at Rome, and 
 confessini^ that the fear fif death had extorted from 
 him oaths and declarations diametrically opposite to 
 his real senlinients, and engajed him to subscribe 
 to a set of tenets which he abhorred. "Dens omni- 
 potens," says he, " miserere, fous misericordiarum, 
 tantum sacrileciuni acnoscenti." 
 
 * This will appear evident to such as peruse the 
 treatise of his composition, which we have mention- 
 ed in the precedinj; note, as published in Marlenne's 
 Thesaur. Anecdot. torn. iv. 
 
 t The canons of the cathedral of Tours continue 
 to honour the memory of Berenger by an annual 
 procession, in which they perform a solemn service 
 at his tomb in the isle of St. Cosmo. See Moleon, 
 Voyaecs Liturgiquos, p. 130. 
 
 I'Mabillon and other Roman catholic writers, as 
 also a few Lutheran divines, are of opinion that 
 Berenger denied only the doctrine of Transubstantia- 
 tion, while he maintained, at the same time, the 
 real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the 
 eucharist; and this opinion will, indeed, appear 
 plausible to such as con.sider only the declaration he 
 signed in the first council at Rome, to which he was 
 summoned by Gregory VII. and which he never re- 
 tracted, without comparing this declaration with the 
 rest of his writings. On the other hand. Usher, Bas- 
 nage, and almost all the writers of the reformed 
 church, maintain, that the doctrine of Berenger was 
 exactly the same with that which Calvin afterwards 
 adopted; and I cannot help joining with them in 
 this opinion, when I peruse attentively the follow- 
 ing words of his Letter to Almannus, published in 
 Martenne's Thesaur. torn. iv. Constat, says Beren- 
 ger in express terms, " verum Christi corpus in ipsa 
 mensa proponi, sed spiritualiter interi^ri liomini ve- 
 rum in ea Christi corpus ab his duntaxat, qui Christi 
 membra sunt, incorruptuni, intaminatum, inattri- 
 
 severed to the last; nor have we any authentic 
 proof of his having departed from it before his 
 death, as some of the Romish writers vainly 
 pretend.* 
 
 lumque spiritualiter manducari." These words de- 
 monstrate so clearly, that, by the presence o/ Christ's 
 body in the eucharist, Berenger meant no more than 
 a spiritual presence, as to dispel all doubt about his 
 real Fenliments, though, upon other occasions, he 
 concealed these sentiments under dubious expres- 
 sions, to deceive his adversaries. 
 
 * It is will known what laborious efforts the Ro- 
 man catholic writers have employed to persuade us, 
 that Berenger, before his death, abandoned the opi- 
 nion he had so long arid so warmly defended, and 
 returned to the doctrine of the church of Rome con- 
 cerning the corporal presence of Christ in the eucha- 
 rist. But when we inquire into the reasons on 
 which this assertion is founded, we shall immedi- 
 ately perceive their weakness and insufficiency. 
 They allege, in the first place, that Berenger gave 
 an account of his doctrine and belief in the council 
 of Bordeaux, in 1087; and add to this, that the an- 
 cient \\riters applaud his penitential sentiments, 
 and afiirm that he di(!d in the catholic faith. In all 
 this, however, we see no proof of Berenger's retrac- 
 tion. He adhered, indeed, to the confession of faith, 
 which he had subscribed and adopted in the first of 
 the two Roman councils, to which he had been sum- 
 monejl by Gregory, and which that pontift' judged 
 sufiicient to clear him from the imputation of heresy: 
 and they who confined their attention to the literal 
 sense of the words of that confession, without consi- 
 derins their spirit, and the different meanings of 
 which they wi're susceptible, might easily imagine 
 that Berenger's confession was agreeable to the doc- 
 trine of the church. Gregory, in order to pacify 
 matters, confirmed them in this notion; and though 
 he was well informed of Berenger's having retracted 
 the confession which he had signed in the last Ro- 
 man council before which he appeared, and of his 
 opposing, with the utmost warmth, the opinion he 
 had there so solemnly professed, yet he sartered the 
 inconstant doctor to remain unmolested, and thereby 
 tacitly acquitted him of the crime and the error thai 
 were laid to his charge. 
 
 It, is of the utmost importance to observe here, 
 that the Roman church had not come, in this centu- 
 ry, to a fixed determination concerning the nature 
 and manner of Christ's presence in the eucharist. 
 This appears most evidently from the three confes- 
 sions which Berenger sign<;d by the order of three 
 eounfils; which confessions differed from each other, 
 not only in the terms and the turn of expression, 
 but also in the opinions and doctrines they contain- 
 ed. I'ope Nicolas II, and the council he assembled 
 at Rome, in 1050, obliged him to subscribe, as the 
 true arid orthodox doctrine of the church, the first 
 of these confessions, or that which cardinal Hum- 
 bert had composed. This confession was, however, 
 rejected, not only as harsh in point of expression, 
 but also as erroneous and unsound, by Gregory and 
 the two Roman councils, which lie had expressly 
 summoned to inquire into that matter: for. had 
 Humbert's declaration appeared to the pontiff to be 
 a just expression of the doctrine and sense of the 
 church concerning the eucharist, neither he nor the 
 succeeding councils would have permitted other 
 forms of doctrine to be substituted in its place. Ore- 
 gory, as we have already seen, was of opinion, that 
 it was highly itnpropor to pry with too much curio- 
 sity into the mysteries of the eucharist. and that, 
 laying aside all disputes concerning the manner ot 
 Christ's presence in that holy institution, it was 
 safest to adhere to the plain words of Scripture: and 
 as this was also the opinion of Berenger. and was 
 plainly expressed in his ccmfession of faith, the ju- 
 dicious pontiff pronounced him innocent. But a fol- 
 lowing council departed from this equitable sen- 
 tence of Gregory, who, though with much reluctance, 
 was induced to confirm their rigorous decision; and 
 hence arose a third confession, which was extremely 
 different from the two precedinr ones. We may re- 
 mark, by the bye, that in this controversy the coun- 
 cils seem plainly to have swayd the pontiffs, since 
 we see the obstinate, the invincible Gregory, yield- 
 ing, against his will, to one of these clamorous as- 
 semblies. Berenger had no sooner gotten out of the 
 hands of his enemies, than he returned to the second 
 
292 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 XIX. It is not rare to find, in the history of 
 the church, the most trifling objects exciting 
 the warmest and most vehement controver- 
 sies. Such was the dispute that arose in 
 France, in 1023, between the priests and 
 monks of Limoges, concerning the place that 
 was to be assigned in the pubhc liturgy to 
 Martial, the first bishop of that diocese. One 
 party, headed by Jordan, bishop of Limoges, 
 were for placing him among the confessors, 
 while Hugo, abbot of the monastery of St. 
 Martial, maintained, that the prelate in ques- 
 tion was to be ranked among the apostles, and 
 branded, with the opprobrious and heretical 
 title of Ebionites, all such as adhered to the 
 proposal of Jordan. This momentoiis affair 
 was debated, first, in a council holden at Poic- 
 tiers in 1023, and in another assembled at 
 Paris the year following; in which latter it 
 was determined that Martial was to be ho- 
 noured with the title of an apostle, and that 
 all who refused him this eminent rank were to 
 be considered as Ebionites, who, as is well 
 known, confined the number of the apostles to 
 twelve, that they miglit exclude St. Paul from 
 that sacred order. Tlie decree, however, of this 
 council did not produce the effects that were 
 expected fi-om it; for it exasperated, instead of 
 calming, the zeal and animosity of the con- 
 tending parties, so that this miserable dispute 
 became daily more general, and spread like a 
 contagion through all the provinces of France. 
 The matter was at length brought before the 
 tribunal of the Roman pontiff, John XIX. who 
 decided it in favour of the monks, and, in a 
 letter addressed to Jordan and the other bishops 
 of the nation, pronounced Martial worthy of 
 the title and honours of an apostle. This de- 
 cision produced the most substantial and per- 
 manent effects: for in a council assembled at 
 
 confession, which the poiititf had approved, and piib- 
 Jicly declaimed acainsttliat which had been imposed 
 upon him in the last Roman council before which he 
 had appeared, without receiving the least mark of 
 disappiiihation from Gregory. From this it was na- 
 tural to conclude, that although he opposed the de- 
 cree of that council, he adopted the opinion of the 
 pope and of the church. 
 
 In the account which I have here given of this 
 memorable controversy, I have not only consulted 
 the ancient records relating to that matter, which 
 have been made public (for several of them lie yet in 
 manuscript in the cabinets of the curious,) but have 
 also been assisted by the labours of those among the 
 learned, who have treated that important branch 
 of ecclesiastical history in tlie most accurate and 
 ample manner: such as, first, Franc, de Rove's 
 book, published at Angers in 1650; "Ad Can. Ego 
 Berengarius 41. de consecrat. distinct. 2. Ubi vita, 
 hieresis, et ptenitentia Berengarii Andegavensis 
 Archidiaconi, et ad Josephi locum de Christo," (a 
 book which is extremely curious, and very little 
 known.) Mabillon's Prsef. ad torn. ix. Act. SS. Ord. 
 Bened. seu Ssec. vi. part II. p. 4. et Dissert, demulti- 
 plici damnatioue, fidei professione et lapsu, which 
 is published in his Analecla veteris sevi, tom. ii. p. 
 456. Ue Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, torn. i. p. 404. 
 tom. ii. p. 4.52. The authors of the reformed church, 
 whom I have followed in this controversy, are, 
 archbishop Usher, de Successione Ecclesiar. Christi- 
 anar. in occidente, cap. vii. sect. 24. p. 1!I5. Basnage, 
 Hist, des Eglises Reformees, tom. i. p. 105, and Hist, 
 de I'Eglise, tom. ii. p. 1391.— Cas. Oudin, Dissert, de 
 Doctrina et Scriptis Berengarii in Comment, de 
 Scriptor. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. p. 624. There appears, 
 more or l^j?", a certain spirit of partiality in all 
 these writers; but this spirit is particularly notorious 
 among those of the church of Rome. 
 
 Limoges, in 1029, Jordan declared his acqui- 
 escence in the papal sentence; in a provincial 
 council at Bourges, two years after, Martial 
 was associated to the company of the apostles 
 with great solemnity, in consequence of the 
 decision of the Roman see; and about the 
 same time this controversy was completely and 
 finally terminated in a numerous council con- 
 voked at Limoges, in which the prayers that 
 had been consecrated to the memory of 
 the apostle Martial, by the zealous pontiff, 
 were publicly recited.* The warm contenders 
 for the apostleship of Martial asserted, that he 
 was one of the seventy disciples of Christ; 
 whence they concluded, that he had an equal 
 title with Paul and Barnabas to the honour of 
 an apostle. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in tht 
 
 Church durbig this Century. 
 
 I. The form of public worship, which was es- 
 tablished at Rome, had not yet been received 
 in all the western provinces. This was looked 
 upon by the imperious pontiffs as an insult 
 upon their authority, and therefore they used 
 tlieir utmost eftbrts to introduce universally 
 the Roman ceremonies, and to promote a per- 
 fect uniformity of worship in every part of the 
 Latin world. Gregorj' VII. employed all his 
 diligence, activity, and zeal in this enterprise, 
 as appears from several passages in his letters; 
 and he alone, perhaps, was equal to the execu- 
 tion of such an arduous attempt. The Span- 
 iards had long distinguished themselves above 
 all other nations, by their noble and resolute 
 resistance to the despotic attempts of the popes 
 upon this occasion; for they adhered to their 
 ancient Gothic liturgyf with great obstinacy, 
 and could not be brought to change it for the 
 method of worship established at Rome. Alex- 
 ander II. had indeed proceeded so far, in 1068, 
 as to persuade tlie inhabitants of Arragon into 
 his measures,! ^""^ *° conquer the aversion 
 which the Catalonians had discovered for the 
 Roman worship. But the honour of finishing 
 this dithcult work, and bringing it to perfec- 
 tion, was reserved for Gregory, who, without 
 interruption, exhorted, threatened, admonish- 
 ed, and intreated Sanchez and Alphonso, the 
 kings of Arragon and Castile, imtil, fatigued 
 with the importunity of this restless pontiff, 
 
 * See Boulay, tom. i. p. 372, 101. — J. Longueval, 
 Histoire de I'Eglise Gallicane, tom. vii. p. 188, 189, 
 231. — The Benedictine monks, in their Gallia Chris- 
 tiana, tom. ii. Append. Documentor, p. 162, have 
 published the Letter of Jordan to Pope Benedict 
 ■VIII. against the Apostleship of Martial. The de- 
 crees of the councils of Bourges and Limoges con- 
 cerning this matter are published by Labbe, in his 
 Biblioth. Nova Manuscriptor. tom. ii. p. 766. Mabil- 
 lon has given an ample account of Ademar, a monk 
 of St. Cybar, the first promoter of this ridiculous 
 controversy, in his Annal. Ord. S. Benedict, tom. iv. 
 p. 318, and, among the original papers subjoined to 
 that volume, has published a letter written by that 
 monk in favour of the apostleship of Martial. See 
 also the Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. vii. p. 
 301. 
 
 \ See IMabillon, de Lilurgia Gallicana, lib. i. cap. 
 ii. p. 10. — Jo. Bona, Res Liturg. lib. i. cap. xi. p. 
 220, op.— Pet. Le Brun, Explication des Ceremonies 
 de la Messe, tom. ii. Diss. v. p. 272. 
 
 t ?H. de Marca, Histoire de Beam, liv. ii. cap. ii. 
 
Ohap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 293 
 
 they consented to abolish tlie Gothic service 
 in their churclws, and to introduce the Roman 
 in its place. Sanchez was tiie first wlio com- 
 plied with the request of the pontitT; and, in 
 1080, his example was followed by Alphonso. 
 The metlwds which tlie nobles of Castile em- 
 ployed to decide the matter were very extra- 
 ordinary. First, thej' chose two champions, 
 who were to determine the controversy by sin- 
 gle combat, the one fighting for the Roman li- 
 turgy, the oK.her for the Gothic. This first 
 trial ended in favour of the latter; for the Go- 
 thic hero proved victorious. Recourse was 
 ne.\t had to the fiery trial for the decision of 
 the dispute: the Roman and Gothic liturgies 
 were committed to the flames, which, as tlie 
 ■story goes, consumed the former, while the lat- 
 ter remained unblemislied and entire. Thus 
 were the Gothic rites crowned with a double 
 victory, which, however, was not suflicient to 
 maintain them against the autliority of tlie 
 pope, and the influence of the queen Constan- 
 tia, who determined Alphonso in favour of the 
 Roman service.* 
 
 II. The zeal of the Roman pontiffs for intro- 
 ducing uniformity of worship into the western 
 churches may be, in some m.easure, justified; 
 but their not permitting every nation to cele- 
 brate divine worship in their mother tongue 
 was absolutely ine.xcusable. While, indeed, 
 the Latin language was in general use amongst 
 the western nations, or, at least, was unknown 
 only to a very small number, there was no rea- 
 son why it should not be employed in the pub- 
 lic service of the church. But when tlie decline 
 of the Roman empire drew on by degrees the 
 extinction of its language in several places, 
 and its decay in all the western provinces, it 
 became just and reasonable that each people 
 should serve the Deity in the language tlicy 
 understood, and which was peculiar to them. 
 This reasoning, however, evident and striliing, 
 had no sort of influence upon the Roman pon- 
 tiffs, who, neither in this nor in tlie following 
 centuries, could be persuaded to change the 
 established custom, but persisted, on the con- 
 trary, with the most senseless obstinacy, in re- 
 taining the use of the Latin language in the 
 celebration of divine worship, even when it 
 was no longer understood by the people. | This 
 strange conduct has been variously accounted 
 for by different writers, who have tortured their 
 inventions to find out its secj-et reasons, and 
 have imagined many that seem extremely im- 
 probable and far-fetched. A superstitious and 
 extravagant veneration for whatever carried 
 the hoary aspect of a remote antiquity, was 
 undoubtedly the principal reason that rendered 
 the pontiffs unwilling to abolisli the use of the 
 Latin language in the celebration of divine 
 worship. The same absurd principle produc- 
 ed a similar effect in tlie eastern churches; 
 thus the Egyptian Christians perfomi their re- 
 ligious service in the language of tiie ancient 
 Copts, the .Jacobites and the Nestorians, in the 
 Syriac, and the Abyssiiiians in the old Etliio- 
 
 * Bonn, Ri'.s Liturg. lib. i. cap. xi. p. 'Jlii. — Le 
 Brun, torn. li. p. 2'.li!.— Jo. de Ferrerais, Jlistoriii tie 
 EBpana, torn. tii. 
 
 t Usserii Historia Dogniatica de Scripturis et Sa- 
 cris Vernaculis, *b Hen. Whartono edita et aiicta, 
 Londini. 1690, in 4to. 
 
 pic, though all these languages have been long 
 since obsolete, and are consequently unintelli- 
 gible to the multitude.* 
 
 III. It would be tedious to enumerate, in a 
 circumstantial manner, the new inventions 
 tliat were imposed upon Christians, in this cen- 
 tury, under the specious titles of piety and 
 zeal, by the superstitious despotism of an im- 
 perious clergy. It also unnecessary to men- 
 tion the additions that were made to former 
 inventions, the multiplication, for example, of 
 the rites and ceremonies that were used in the 
 worship of saints, relics, and images, and the 
 new directions that were administered to such 
 as undertook pilgrimages, or other supersti- 
 tious services of that nature. We shall only 
 observe, that, during the whole of this century, 
 all the European nations were most diligentlj' 
 employed in rebuilding, repairing, and adorn- 
 ing their churches. f Nor will this appear sur- 
 prising, when we consider, that, in tlie preced- 
 ing century, all Europe was alarmed with a 
 dismal apprehension that the day of judgment 
 was at hand, and that the world was approach- 
 ing to its final dissolution; for, among the other 
 effects of this panic terror, the churches and 
 monasteries were suffered to fall into ruin, or 
 at least to remain witliout repair, from an idea 
 that they would soon be involved in the gene- 
 ral fate of all sublunary tilings. But, when 
 these apprehensions were removed, affairs im- 
 mediately assumed a new aspect; the totter- 
 ing temples were rebuilt; and the greatest 
 zeal, attended with the richest and most libe- 
 ral donations, was employed in restoring the 
 sacred edifices to their former lustre, or rather 
 in giving them new degrees of magnificence 
 and beauty. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and Heresies that trou- 
 bled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The state of the anciant sects, and par- 
 ticularly of the Nestorians and Monophj'sites, 
 who resided in Asia and Egypt, under the Mo- 
 hammedan government, was now much the 
 same as it had been in the preceding century, 
 neither extremely prosperous, nor absolutely 
 miserable. The case of the Manichseans, or 
 Paulicians, whom the Grecian emperors had 
 banished from the eastern provinces into Bul- 
 garia and Thrace, was mucli more unhappy on 
 account of the perpetual conflicts they had to 
 sustain with the Greeks, who persecuted and 
 oppressed them with much keenness and ani- 
 mosity. The Greeks, ;is usually happens on 
 the like occasions, laid the blame of their 
 violent measures upon the IVlanichaEans, whom 
 they represented as a turbulent, perfidious, 
 and sanguinary liiction, and as the declared and 
 inveterate enemies of the Grecian empire.! 
 This, however, is by no means to be rcceivea 
 
 * See Euseb. Koiiaiidot, Dissertaf. di'. l.itiirgiarum 
 Orietitalium ori^ine et antifiiiitatc, cap. vi. p. 40. 
 
 t Glab. Rodolph. Hist. lib. iii. cap. iv. in Duchesne's 
 Scriptor. Franc, torn. iv. p. 217. ■' Infra millesimum 
 tertio jam fere imminente aniiocoiitigit in universo 
 pene terraiuni orbe, pra^cipue tamen in Italia et in 
 Galliis, innovari ecclesiarnm basilicas." 
 
 \ See the Alexias of Anna Commena, lib. v. p. 
 105; lib. vi. p. 124, 145. 
 
294 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 as an impartial state of the case; at least, it 
 appears from many (.ircuiiistances, that, if the 
 Manichasans were exasperated against the 
 Greeks, their resentment was in some mea- 
 sure justified by the violent and injurious treat- 
 ment which they had received from them. 
 The Grecian pontiffs and clergy were far from 
 being destitute of the odious spirit of persecu- 
 tion; and it is certain that the emperors, insti- 
 gated Ijy them, had exhausted the patience of 
 the Paulicians by repeated vexations and cru- 
 elties, and alienated their affections by inflict- 
 ing upon them, without interruption, a variety 
 of pimishments, such as banishment, confisca- 
 tion of goods, and other marks of severity and 
 violence. \ 
 
 Alexius Comnenus, who, by his learning, 
 was an ornament to tlie imperial sceptre, per- 
 ceiving that the Manichajans were not to be 
 vanquished, without the greatest diiffculty, by 
 the force of arms, and observing also tliat 
 their numbers increased from day to day both 
 in Thrace and in the adjacent provinces, had 
 recourse to the power of reason and argument 
 to conquer their obstinacy, and spent whole 
 days at Philippopolis, in disputing with the 
 principal doctors of that pernicious sect. Many 
 of them yielded to the victorious arguments 
 of this royal disputant, and his learned associ- 
 ates; nor is this to be wondered at, since their 
 demonstrations were accompanied and enforced 
 by rewards and punishments. Such of the 
 Manicheeans as retracted tlieir errors, and re- 
 turned to the bosom of the Greek church, were 
 loaded with gifts, honours, and privileges, ac- 
 cording to their respective stations, while such 
 as stood firm against the reasoning of the em- 
 peror, were inhumanly condemned to per- 
 petual imprisonment.* 
 
 II. Many of the Paulicians, either from a 
 principle of zeal for the propagation of tlieir 
 opinions, or from a desire of relieving them- 
 selves from the persecution and oppression 
 they suffered under the Grecian yoke, retired 
 from Bulgaria and Tlirace, and formed settle- 
 ments in other countries. Their first migra- 
 tion was into Italy; whence, in process of time, 
 they sent colonies into almost all the other 
 provinces of Europe, and formed gradual!}' a 
 considerable number of religious assemblies, 
 who adhered to their doctrine, and were after- 
 wards persecuted witli tiie utmost vehemence 
 by the Roman portiffs-f It is difficult to fix 
 
 * There is an ample and circumstantial account of 
 this controverBv between the eniperor and the Mani- 
 cha;ans in the work mentioned in the preopriing 
 note, lib. xiv. p. 357. 
 
 t See Muratori, Antiquitat. Ital. niedii JEvi, tom. 
 V. p. 83.— Liniborch, llistoria Inqnl.sitionis, p. .31.— 
 Riccinii Dissertatio de Catharis. prefixed to the 
 Summa B. MonctEe contra Tatharos. We might also 
 refer, upon this occasion, to Glab. Rndulph. Hislor. 
 lib. iii. cap. viii. to Matth. Paris, and other ancient 
 writers. Certain Italian anthois, and among others 
 Riccini, seemed unwilling to acknowledge that the 
 Paulicians arrived first in Italy, and proceeded 
 thence into the other provinces of Europe; and 
 maintain, on the contrary, that their first settle- 
 ment was in France, whence they repaired to Italy. 
 These writers look upon it as ignominious to tlieir 
 country, to be considered as the first European nation 
 which fostered such a pernicious and impious sect in 
 its bosom. Be that as it may, their hypothesis is 
 favoured by Peter de Marca himself, a Frenchman, 
 who in his Histoire de Beam, livr. viii. cap. xiv. 
 
 the precise period when the Paulicians began 
 to take refuge in Europe; it is, however, certain, 
 from the most authentic testimonies, that a 
 considerable number of that sect were, about 
 the middle of this century, settled in Lombardy, 
 Insubria, and principally at Milan, and tliat 
 many of them led a wandering life in France, 
 Germany, and other countries, where they 
 captivated the esteem and admiration of the 
 multitude, by their sanctimonious looks, and 
 the unconamon air of piety, which they put on 
 with much affectation. In Italy they were 
 called Paterini and Cathari, or rather Gazari, 
 which latter appellation the Germans have 
 preserved, with a small alteration only, which 
 was proper to adapt it to the genius of their 
 language.* In France they were called Albi- 
 gensesj from the town of Albi, and Bulgarians 
 because they came from Bulgaria, and because 
 the head of their sect resided in that country; 
 as also Publicans, which was probably a corrupt 
 pronunciation of Paulicians , and boni homines 
 or ' good men,' with several other titles and 
 epithets. J 
 
 declares it as his opinion, that the Paulicians joined 
 themselves to the Gallic armies that returned from 
 the hilly war by the province of Bulgaria, and were 
 thus conducted into France. But that learned au- 
 thor alleges no proof to support this opinion: it ap- 
 pears on the contrary, from the records of the Inqui- 
 sition of Toulouse, published by Limborch, and from 
 other authentic pieces, that the Paulicians settled 
 first in Sicily, Lombardy, Liguria, and the Milanese, 
 and thence sent many doctors and missionaries into 
 France. See the Codex Tolosanus, passim. We 
 learn also from the Code of Toulouse, that the 
 French Paulicians, who were called Albigenses, had 
 no bishop to consecrate their Jlnciani (such was the 
 title they gave to their presbyters.) so that such of 
 them as were desirous of being placed in the order 
 of presbyters, were obliged to repair to Italy, in 
 order to their being regularly installed. 
 
 * The title of Paterini, which was given to this 
 sect in Italy, has been already explained in the 
 second chapter of the second part of this century, 
 sect. ^'^, note [t]- As to the term Catharus, it was un- 
 doubtedly, when applied to the Paulicians, the same 
 with GaV.arus, as I have elsewhere demon.strated. 
 See Histor. Ord. Apostol. p. 3G7. The country which 
 bore, in this century, the name of Gazaria, was what 
 we now call the Minor Tartary. 
 
 t That the Paulicians were called Albigenses in 
 France, and were a sect entirely distinct "from the 
 Waldenses and other heretics, appears evidently 
 from the Codex Iiiquisitionis Tolosans. They re- 
 ceived this name from a town in Aquitaine, called 
 Albigia, or Albi, where their errors were condemned 
 in a council which met in 1170. See Chatel's Me- 
 moires de I'Histoire de Langiiedoc, p. 305. It is, 
 therefore, a mistake to consider the Albigenses as a 
 sect so called from Albi's being the place of their 
 birth, their residence, or theseat of their principal as- 
 sembly, since that name was given them for no 
 other reason than their having been condemned in 
 a council holden in that town. There were, indeed, 
 several Paulicians among the various sects of dis- 
 senters from the church of Rome, that inhabited the 
 country about Albi; and it is also true, that the title 
 of Albigenses is usually extended to all the heretics, 
 of whatever sect or denomination they were, who 
 dwelt in those parts. 
 
 J The learned Du Fresne. in his Glosfearium Latin, 
 medii A^-vi, tom. i. p. 1338, has proved, in an ample 
 manner, that the Paulicians were called in France 
 Bulgares, and (by a corrupt pronunciation of that 
 word) Bougres. The same author, in his Observe- 
 tiones ad Villeharduini Historiani Constantinopolit., 
 has fully demonstrated, that the names Popolicani 
 and Publicani, that were imposed upon these Mani- 
 cha-ans. were no more than a corruption of the term 
 Pauliciani. ill pronounced. The appellation of Boni 
 Homives, or Los bos Homos, as the southern French 
 spoke at that time, was a title which the Patiliciani 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 295 
 
 III. The first religious assembly which the 
 Paulicians formed in Europe, is said to have 
 been discovered at Orleans, in 1017, under the 
 reign of Robert. A certain Italian lady is said to 
 have been at the head of this sect; its principal 
 members were twelve canons of the cathedral 
 of Orleans, men eminently distinguished by 
 their piety and learning, among whom Lisoius 
 and Stephen held the first rank; and it was 
 composed, in general, of a considerable number 
 of citizens, who were far from being of the 
 meanest condition. The impious doctrines, 
 professed by these canons, were discovered by 
 a certain priest named Heribert, and by Arifas- 
 tus, a Norman nobleman; upon which liobert 
 assembled a council at Orleans, and employed 
 the most effectual methods that he could devise 
 to bring these heretics to a better mind. But 
 all his endeavours were to no purpose; this 
 pernicious sect adhered obstinately to its prin- 
 ciples; and its members were at length con- 
 demned to be burned alive.* 
 
 It is difficult to come to a fixed determina- 
 tion with respect to the character and doctrine 
 of these sectaries; for, when we examine 
 matters attentively, we find that even their 
 enemies acknowledged the sincerity of their 
 piety, tliat they were blackened by accusations 
 which were evidently false, and that the opin- 
 ions for which they were punished ditfer widel}' 
 from the Manichsean system. f As far as we 
 can see into the case, it appears to us, that 
 these pretended Manichroans of Orleans were 
 a set of Mystics, who looked with contempt 
 upon all external worship, rejected all rites 
 and ceremonies, and even the Christian sacra- 
 ments, as destitute of any, even the least 
 spiritual efficacy or virtue; placed the whole 
 of religion in the internal contemplation of 
 God, and the elevation of the soul to divine 
 and celestial things; and, in their philosophical 
 Bpeculations concerning God, the Trinity, and 
 the human soul, soared above the comprehen- 
 sion of the age in which they lived. A like 
 set of men proceeded in vast numbers out of 
 Italy in the following ages, spread like an in- 
 undation througii all the European provinces, 
 and were known in Germany under the name 
 of the Brethren of the free Spirit, while they 
 were distinguished in other countries by the 
 appellation of Bcghards.J 
 
 attributed to theniseives. See the Codex Iritjuisil. 
 TolosancB. 
 
 * The accounts that the ancient writers have 
 given of these heretics are collected by lioulay, in his 
 Hist. Acad. Paris, toni. i. p. 3()4.— D'Arfjentre, Col- 
 lectio Judicior. de novis Krroribiis, torn. i. p. 5. — Jo. 
 Launoy, de Srhcilis cclibrioribus (Jaroli Magni, cap. 
 xxiv. p. ?iO. — The hi.-itory of the synod of Orleans, in 
 which thisscct w as roiidi inned, is given by U'Acheri, 
 in his Spicilcf;. Vcter. Srriptor. torn. i. p. (iOI. 
 
 t Hasnagc, in his llistnire des Epiises Reformees, 
 torn. i. period iv. p. Ul, iuid in his Hist, de I'Eplise, 
 torn. ii. p. i:iHH, pleads the cause of the canons of Or- 
 leans; but this learned and worthy man seems to have 
 been carried too far by his zeal for augnientinf; the 
 number of those who have been martyrs to the truth. 
 
 { We shall have occasion to Rive a more copious 
 account of these fanatics in the history of the 
 thirteenth century, in which they were first drawn 
 from tliiir obscurity, and condemned by many coun- 
 cils, psperially in Germany. It is, however, certain, 
 that they had a clandestine e,\istenee long before 
 that period, and that they piopapaled their tenets 
 secretly in several places. Their doctrine resembles, 
 in some particulars, that of the Manicha'ans; and 
 
 I IV. We find in history another branch of 
 I this numerous sect, whose errors were not ac- 
 companied with the crimes that were laid to 
 tlie cliarge of their brethren, and who were 
 j converted by a pathetic discourse that was ad- 
 I dressed to them by Gerard, bishop of Cambray 
 and Anas, in an assembly of the clergy, holden 
 in the latter city, in 1030. These honest Mys- 
 tics, who were equally remarkable for their 
 docility and their ignorance, had received the 
 doctrine they professed from the Italians, and 
 particularly from a certain eccentric doctor, 
 whose name was Gundulf They maintained, 
 in general, according to their own confession, 
 that the whole of religion consisted in the 
 study of practical piety, and in a course of ac- 
 tion conformable to the divine laws; and they 
 treated all external modes of worship writh the 
 utmost contempt. Their particular tenets may 
 be reduced to the following heads: 1. They 
 rejected baptism, and, in a more especial man- 
 ner, the baptism of infants, as a ceremony that 
 was in no respect essential to salvation: 2. 
 They rejected, for the same reason, the sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's supper: 3. They denied, 
 that the churches were endowed with a greater 
 degree of sanctity than private houses, or that 
 they were more adapted to the worship of God 
 than any other place: 4. They affirmed, that 
 the altars were to be considered in no other 
 light than as heaps of stones, and were there- 
 fore unworthy of any marks of veneration or 
 regard: 5. They disapproved the use of in- 
 cense and consecrated oil in services of a reli- 
 gious nature: 6. Tliey looked upon the use of 
 bells in the churches, as an intolerable super- 
 stition: 7. They denied, that the establishment 
 of bishops, presbyters, deacons, and other ec- 
 clesiastical dignities, was of divine institution, 
 and went so far as to maintain that the ap- 
 pointment of stated ministers in tlie church 
 was entirely unnecessary: 8. They affirmed, 
 that the institution of fimeral rites was an ef- 
 fect of sacerdotal avarice, and that it was a 
 matter of indifi'erence whctlier the dead were 
 buried in the churches, or in the fields: 9. 
 They looked upon the voluntary punishment, 
 called penance, so generally practised in this 
 century, as unprofitable and absurd: 10. They 
 denied that the sins of departed spirits could 
 be, in any measure, atoned for by the celebra- 
 tion of masses, the distribution of alms to the 
 poor, or a vicarious penance;* and they conse- 
 quently treated the doctrine of purgatory as a 
 ridiculous fable: 11. They considered marriage 
 as a pernicious institution, and absurdly con- 
 demned, without distinction, all connubial 
 bonds:t 12. They looked upon a certain sort 
 of veneration and worship as due to the apos- 
 tles and martyrs, from which, however, they 
 excluded such as were only confessors, in 
 
 hence it was natural for the ignorant divines of the 
 ase in which Ihey lived, to consider them as a branch 
 of that iiernicious sect. 
 
 fXf- * By a virariutis peiiaiirc is understood the 
 course of mortification and voluntary sufTering, that 
 one person undergoes in order to procure absolution 
 for another. 
 
 t This eleventh article is scarcely credible, at least 
 as it is here expressed. It is more reasonable to 
 suppose, that these Mystics did not abscdutely con- 
 demn marriage, but only held celibacy in higher es- 
 teem, as a mark of superior sanctity and virtue. 
 
296 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 which class they comprehended the saints, who 
 had not suffered death for the cause of Christ, 
 and whose bodies, in their esteem, had nothing 
 more sacred than any other human carcase: 
 13. They declared the use of instrumental 
 music in the churches, and other religious as- 
 semblies, superstitious and unlawful: 14. They 
 denied, that tlie cross on which Christ suffered 
 was in any respect more sacred than other 
 kinds of wood, and, in consecjuence, refused to 
 pay to it the smallest degree of religious wor- 
 ship: 15. They not only refused all acts of 
 adoration to the images of Christ, and of the 
 saints, but were also for having them removed 
 out of the churches: 16. They were shocked at 
 the subordination and distinctions that were 
 establislied among the clergy, and at the differ- 
 ent degrees of authority conferred upon the 
 different members of that sacred body.* 
 
 When we consider the corrupt state of reli- 
 gion in this century, and {Kirticularly the su- 
 perstitious notions tliat were generally adopted 
 in relation to outward ceremonies, the efficacy 
 of penance and the sanctity of churches, rehcs, 
 and images, it will not appjear surprising, that 
 many persons of good sense and solid piety, 
 running from one extreme to another, fell 
 into the opinions of thsse Mystics, in which, 
 among several absurdities, tliere were many 
 things plausible and specious, and some highly 
 rational. 
 
 V. A controversy, of a much more subtile 
 and difficult nature, arose in France, about the 
 year 1089. It had for its principal author 
 Iloscellinus, a canon of Compcigne, a profound 
 dialectician, and tlie most eminent doctor of 
 the sect called Nominalists. He deemed it in- 
 conceivable and impossible that the Son of 
 God should assume the human nature ^lone, 
 i. e. witliout the Father and the Holy Ghost 
 becoming incarnate also, unless by the three 
 persons in the godhead were n>eant three dis- 
 tinct objects, or natures existing separately 
 (such as three angels, or three distinct spirits,) 
 though endowed with one will, and acting by 
 one power. When it was insinuated to Ro»- 
 cellinus, that this manner of reasoning led 
 directly to Tritheism, or the doctrine of three 
 gods, he answered boldly, that the existence 
 of three gods might be asserted with truth,f 
 
 * See an account of the synod of Arras in the 
 Spicileffinm Scriptor. Veter. torn. i. p. 007 — tJ24; also 
 Car. Plessis D'Argentre, CoUectio Judieiorum de 
 JVoBts Erroribus, torn. i. 
 
 t Such is the account piven by John, the accuser 
 of this metaphysical ecclesiastic, in a letter to An- 
 gelin, archbishop of Canterbury, published by Balu- 
 zius, in his Miscellanea, torn. iv. The same account 
 is confirmed by Anselm himself, in the book de fide 
 Trinitatis, which he wrote against Roscellinus: see 
 Oper. tom. i. p. 41, 43, and lib. ii. Epistolar. ep. x.xxv. 
 p. 335, tom. ii. op. — and also by Fulco, bishop of 
 Beauvais, as may be seen in the second book of the 
 Epistles of Anselm, ep. xli. lib. ii. tom. ii. op. p. 357. 
 It must, however, be considered, that the learned 
 men now mentioned were the inveterate enemies of 
 Roscellinus, and that they perhaps comprehended his 
 meaning imperfectly, or p«;rverted it wilfully. Seve- 
 ral circumstances prove, that some of his adversaries 
 were in one or the other of these two cases. Anselm 
 nimself furnishes sufficient grounds for this suspi- 
 cion, since, notwithstanding his aversion to the 
 
 were not the expression harsh and contrary to 
 the phraseology generally received. He weis, 
 however, obliged to retract this error in a 
 council assembled at Soissons, in 1092; but he 
 resumed it when the council was dismissed, and 
 the danger over. Persecuted anew on account 
 of his doctrine, he took refuge in England, and 
 excited there divisions and contests of another 
 kind, by maintaining, among other things, that 
 persons born out of lawful wedlock ought to 
 be deemed incapable of admission to holy 
 orders. Tliis doctrine, which was by no means 
 suited to the times, procured Roscellinus many 
 enemies, and was in a great measure the occa- 
 sion of his involuntary removal from England. 
 Banislied thence, he returned to France, and, 
 taking up his residence at Paris, fomented 
 again the old dispute concerning the Trinity. 
 This, however, succeeded not according to his 
 hopes, but exposed him to much trouble and 
 vexation from the redoubled attacks of his ad- 
 versaries, who fiercely assailed him from all 
 quarters. Fatigued with their persecutions, 
 he retired at last into Aquitaine, where he ac- 
 quired universal esteem by his eminent piety, 
 and passed the rest of his days in tranquillity 
 and repose.* 
 
 Nouimalists, of whom Roscellinus was the chief, he 
 grants, in his book de Fide Trinitatis, cap. iii. that 
 the opinion of his antagonist may be admitted, or at 
 least tolerated, in acertain sense; and even frequently 
 intimates, that he is not perfectly assured of his un- 
 derstanding fully the meaning of Roscelliiius, and 
 that he believes the sentiments of that ecclesiastic 
 less pernicious than his accusers have represented 
 them. " Sed forsitan (says Anselm) ipse (Roscelli- 
 nus) non dicit, sicut sunt tres a-niraae aut tres Ange- 
 Ii; sed ille, qui mihi ejus mandavit qusstionem, hanc 
 ex suo posuit siniiLitudinem: sed solum modo tres 
 personas affirraat esse tres Res, sine additamento 
 alicujus similitudinis." The same Anselm (Episto- 
 lar. lib. ii. ep. xli. p. 357,) declares, that the account 
 which he had received of the opinions of Roscellinus 
 appears to him extremely dubious, " Quod tamen 
 (says he) absque dubietate credere non possum." 
 From all this it is evident, that Anselm was far 
 from having an entire confidence in the equity and 
 impartiality of the aecusers of Roscellinus. or from 
 looking upon that ecclesiastic as so bfack, as his 
 enemies had endeavoured to make hira. 
 
 As to the merits of the cause, it appears manifeat 
 to me, that this subtle dispute was a consequence of 
 the warm controversy that subsisted in this century, 
 between the Realists and the Nominalists. The 
 former attacked the latter by the dangerous conclu- 
 sions that seemed deducible from their principles 
 and reasoned thus: " If, as your doctrine supposes, 
 " universal substances are no more than mere 
 ■' sounds or denominations, and the whole science of 
 " logic is only conversant about words, it must of 
 " necessity follow, that the three persons in the 
 " Godhead are only three names, and noJ three reali- 
 " ties or things." — " We deny the conclusion," re- 
 plied Roscellinus; " the Father, Son, and Holy 
 " Ghost, are not placed by us in the rank of denomi- 
 " natrons, but in the class of realities, or things." 
 The subtile doctor here, as all must more or less do 
 after him, by avoiding Scylla fell into Cbarybdis, 
 and was charged by his adversaries with the intro- 
 duction of tritheism, bj' holding an opinion that sup- 
 posed the existence of three divine substances. 
 Were any of the writings of Roscellinus nowe.xtant, 
 they would help us to form a more just notion of 
 this controversy than we can have at present. 
 
 * Boulay, tom. i. p. 485.— Mabillon, Annal. tom. v. 
 p. 262. — Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. ix. p. 
 358. — Anton. Pagi, Critica in Baronium ad Annum 
 1094, tom. iv. p. 317.— Longueval, Hist, de I'EgliB* 
 Gallicane, tom. viii. p. 59. 
 
 I 
 
THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the Prosperous Events that happened 
 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 A coN-siDERABLE part of Europe lay yet in- 
 volved in pagan darkness, which reigned more 
 especially in the nortliern provinces. It was, 
 therefore, in these regions of gloomy supersti- 
 tion, that the zeal of the missionaries was prin- 
 cipally exerted in this century; though their 
 eribrts were not all equally successful, nor the 
 methods they employed for the propagation of 
 the Gospel equally prudent. Boleslaus, duke 
 of Poland, having conquered tlie Pomeranians, 
 offered them peace, upon condition that they 
 would receive the Christian teachers, and per- 
 mit them to exercise tlieir ministry iti that van- 
 quished province. This condition vi'as accept- 
 ed; and Otlio, bishop of Bamberg, a man of 
 eminent piety and zeal, was sent, in the year 
 1 124, to inculcate and explain the doctrines of 
 Christianity, among that superstitious and bar- 
 barous people. JNIany were converted to the 
 faith by his ministry, while great numbers 
 stood fu-m against his most vigorous efforts, 
 and persisted, with an invincible obstinacy, in 
 the religion of their idolatrous ancestors. — 
 Nor was this the only mortification which that 
 illustrious prelate received, in the execution of 
 his pious enterprise; for, upon his return into 
 Germany, many of those wliom he had engag- 
 ed in the profession of Christianity, apostatised 
 in his absence, and relapsed into tlieir ancient 
 prejudices: this obliged Otho to undertake a 
 second voyage into Pomerania, A. D. 1126, 
 in which, after much opposition and ditficulty, 
 his labours were crowned witii a happier issue, 
 and contributed much to enlarge the bounds of 
 the rising church, and to establish it upon so- 
 lid foundations.* From this period, the Chris- 
 tian religion seemed daily to acquire new de- 
 grees of stability among the Pomeranians, who 
 had hitherto refused to permit the settlement 
 of a bishop among them. They now received 
 Adalbert, or Albert, in that character, who 
 was accordingly tho first bishop of Pomerania. 
 
 II. Of all the northern princes of this cen- 
 tury, none appeared with a moro distinguished 
 lustre than Waldemar I. king of Denmark, 
 who acquired an immortal name by the glori- 
 ous battles he fought against tho pagan na- 
 tions, such as the Sclavonians, Venedi, Van- 
 
 * Sec Henr. Canisii Lpctiones Antiquae, toni. iii. 
 part ii. p :!4, where we find the hfo of Otho, who, A. 
 D. IIS'.I, was canonised by Clement III. See the Ac- 
 ta Smctor. Mensis Julii, tnin. i. p. 3411. Dan. Crame- 
 ri C'hr<inicon Eccles. Pomeraniae, lib. i. as also a 
 learned Dissertation concerning the conversion of 
 the Pomeranians by the ministry of Otho, written in 
 the German language, by Christopher Schotaen, and 
 published at Slargard, in the year 1724. Add to these 
 Mabillon, Annal. Benedict, torn vi. p. 123, 146, 323. 
 Vol. I.— 38 
 
 dais, and others, who, cither by their incur' 
 sious or by revolt, drew upon them the weight 
 of his victorious arm. He unsheathed his- 
 sword, not only for the defence and happiness 
 of his people, but also for the propagation and 
 advancement of Christianity; and wherever 
 his anns were successful, he pulled down the 
 temples and images of the gods, destroyed their 
 attars, laid waste their sacred groves, and sub- 
 stituted in their place tlie Christian worship, 
 which deserved to be propagated by better 
 means than the sword, by the authority of rea- 
 son, ratlier than by the despotic voice of 
 power. The island of Rugen, which lies in 
 the neighbourhood of Pomerania, submitted to 
 the victorious arms of Waldemar, A. D. 1168j 
 and its fierce and savage inhabitants, who 
 were, in reality, no more than a band of rob- 
 bers and pirates, were obliged, by that prince, 
 to hear tlie instructions of the pious and learn- 
 ed doctors that followed his army, and to re- 
 ceive the Christian worship. This salutary 
 work was brought to perfection by Absalom, 
 archbishop of Lunden, a man of superior ge- 
 nius, and of a most excellent character in every 
 respect, whose eminent merit raised him to th© 
 summit of power, and engaged Waldemar to 
 place him at the head of affairs.* 
 
 III. The Finlanders received the Gospel in 
 the same manner in which it had been propa- 
 gated among the iniiabitants of tlie isle of Ru- 
 gen. They were also a fierce and savage peo- 
 ple, who lived by plunder, and infested Swe- 
 den in a terrible manner by their perpetual 
 incursions, until, after many bloody battles, 
 they were totally defeated by Eric IX. styled 
 after his deatli the Saint, and reduced under 
 the Swedish yoke. Historians differ about the 
 precise time when this conquest was complet- 
 ed;t but they are all unanimous in their ac- 
 counts of its effects. The Finlanders were 
 commanded to embrace the religion of the con- 
 queror, which the greatest part of them did. 
 
 * SaxoGrammaticus, liistor. Danic. lib. xiv. p. 
 0:W. — Helinoldus, Chron. Sclavorum, lib. ii. cap. xii. 
 p. 234, and Henr. linngertus, ad h. 1. — Pontoppidani 
 Annales Ecclesiai Danica;, lom. i. p. 404. 
 
 Cff?' Beside the historians here mentioned by Dr. 
 Mdsheiin, we refer the curious reader to an excellent 
 history of Denmark, written in French, by M. Mai 
 \ft, professor at Copenh!*«;cn. In the first volume of 
 this history, the insrenius iiiid learned author has gi» 
 ven a very interesting account of the progress of 
 Christianity in the northern parts of Europe, and a 
 particular relation of the exploits of Absalom, who 
 was. at the same time, archbishop, general, admiral, 
 and prime minister, and who led the victorious Dane* 
 to battle, by sea and land, without net'lecling the cur» 
 of souls, or in the least diminishing bis pious labour* 
 in the propagation of the Gospfd abroad, and lit 
 maintenance and support at home. 
 
 t Most writers, with Baron i us, place this event ia 
 the year 1151. Difterent, howevpr. from this is tb# 
 chronology of Vastovius and Oernhielmius, th» for- 
 mer placing it in 1150, and the latter in 1157. 
 
298 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 though wdth the utmost reluctance.* The 
 founder (and ruler) of this new church was 
 Henry, archbishop of Upsal, who accompani- 
 ed the victorious monarch in that bloody cam- 
 paign. This prelate, wliose zeal was not suf- 
 ficiently tempered witli tlie mild and gentle 
 spirit of the religion ho taught, treated the 
 new converts witii great severity, and was as- 
 sassinated at last, in a cruel manner, on ac- 
 count of the heavy penance he imposed upon 
 a person of great authority, who had been 
 guilty of homicide. This melancholy event 
 procured Henry the honours of sajntship and 
 martyrdom, which were solemnly conferred 
 upon him by pope Adrian IV. f 
 
 IV. The propagation of the Gospel among 
 the Livonians was attended with much difficul- 
 ty, and also with horrible scenes of cruelty and 
 bloodshed. The first missionary, who attempt 
 ed the conversion of that savage people, was 
 Mainliard, a regular canon of St. Augustin, in 
 the monastery of Segeberg, who, toward the 
 conclusion of this century, | travelled to Livo- 
 nia, with a company of merchants of Bremen, 
 and improved this opportunity of spreading the 
 light of the Gospel in that barbarous region 
 of supei"stition and darkness. The instruc- 
 tions and exliortations of this zealous apostle 
 were little attended to, and produced little or 
 no effect upon that uncivilized nation; where- 
 upon he addressed hinaself to the Roman pon- 
 tiff, Urban III. who consecrated him bishop of 
 the Livonians, and, at the same time, declared 
 a holy v/ar against that obstinate people. This 
 war, which was at first carried on against the 
 inhabitants of tiie province of Esthonia, was 
 continued with still greater vigour, and render- 
 ed more general, by Berthold, abbot of Lucca, 
 who left his monastery to share the laboui-s and 
 laurels of Mainhard, whom he accordingly 
 succeeded in the see of Livonia. The new bi- 
 shop marched into that province at the head 
 of a powerful amiy wliich he had raised in 
 Saxony, preached tlie Gospel sword in hand, 
 and proved its truth by blows instead of argu- 
 ments. Albert, canon of Bremen, became the 
 third bishop of Livonia, and followed, with a 
 barbarous enthusiasm, the same military me- 
 thods of conversion that had been practised by 
 his predecessor. He entered Livonia, A. D. 
 1198, with a fresh body of troop's drawn out 
 of Saxony, and, encamping at Riga, instituted 
 there, by the direction of pope Innocent III., 
 the military order of the knights sword-bear- 
 ers, § who were commissioned to dragoon the 
 Livonians into the profession of Christianity, 
 and oblige them by force of arms to receive 
 the benefits of baptism. || New legions were 
 sent from Germany to second the efforts, and 
 add efficacy to the mission of these booted 
 apostles; and they, in concert with the knights 
 sword-bearers, so cruelly oppressed, slaughter- 
 
 * Oernliit'lmii Histor. Eccles. GmUis Suecorum, 
 lib. iv. cap. iv. sect. 1."}. — Jo. Loccenii Histor. Suecica, 
 lib. iii. p. 76, ed. Francof.— Erlanrti Vita Erici Sane- 
 ti, cap. vii. — Vastovii Vitis Aquiloiiia, p. G5. 
 
 t Vastovii Vitis Aquiloii. seu Viloe Saiictoriim 
 Regni Sueogothici, p. ffi. Eric. Benzelii Mounifiita 
 Ecclesia; Sueofiothicft;, part i. p. 33. 
 
 t In the year 118H. 
 
 5 Equestris Ordo Militmn Ensiferoruin. 
 
 It See Henr. Leonardi Scliurtzfleischii llialorta Or 
 iiinis EnHfeioriim Pq'ittum, 'WittenbeTg. 1701, ?vo. 
 
 ed, and tormented this wretched people, that, 
 exhausted at length, and unable longer to 
 stand firm against the arm of persecution, 
 strengthened still by new accessions of power, 
 they abandoned the statues of their pagan dei- 
 ties, and substituted in their places the images 
 of the saints. But, while they received the 
 blessings of the Gospel, they were deprived 
 of all earthly comforts; for their lands and 
 possessions were taken from them, with the 
 most odious circimistances of cruelty and vio- 
 lence, and the knights and bishops divided the 
 spoil.* 
 
 V. None of the northern nations had a more 
 rooted aversion to the Christians, or a more 
 obstinate antipathy to their religion, than the 
 Sclavonians, a rough and barbarous people. 
 who inhabited the coast of the Baltic sea. 
 This excited the zeal of several neighbouring 
 princes, and of a multitude of pious missiona- 
 ries, who united their efforts, in order to con- 
 quer the prejudices of this people, and to open 
 their eyes upon the light of the Gospel. Hen- 
 ry, duke of Saxony, surnamed the Lion, dis- 
 tinguished himself in a particular manner, by 
 the ardour which he discovered in the execu- 
 tion of this pious design, as well as by the 
 wise methods he employed to render it suc- 
 cessful. Among other measures that were 
 proper for this purpose, he restored from their 
 ruins, and endowed richly, three bishopries! 
 that had been ravaged and destroyed by these 
 barbarians, namely, the bishoprics of Ratze- 
 burg and Schwerin, and that of Oldenburg, 
 which was afterwards transplanted to Lubeck. 
 The most eminent of the Christian doctors, 
 who attempted the conversion of the Sclavo- 
 nians, was Vicelinus, a native of Hamelen, a 
 man of extraordinary merit, who surpassed 
 almost all his contemporaries in genuine piety 
 and solid learning, and who, after having pre- 
 sided many years in the society of the regular 
 canons of St. Augustin at Falderen, was at 
 length consecrated bishop of Oldenburg. — 
 This excellent man employed the last thirty 
 years of his life,! amidst numberless vexa- 
 tions, dangers and difficulties, in instructing 
 the Sclavonians, and exhorting them to com- 
 
 * See the Olivines Livoniae, seu Chronicon vetus 
 Livdiiiciim, published in folio, at Francfort, in the 
 year 17-10, by Jo. Daniel Gruberus, and enriched with 
 ample and learned observations and notes, in which 
 the laborious author enumerates all the writers of 
 the Livonian history, and corrects their mistakes. 
 
 Q(f' t Dr. Moshelm's account of this matter is very 
 dirt'erent from that which is given by Fleury, who 
 asserts, that it was Hartwick, archbishop of Bre- 
 men, who restored the three ruined sees, and conse- 
 crated Vicelinus bishop of Oldenburg; and that, as 
 he had done this without addressing himself to Hen- 
 ry, the duke seized the tithes of Vicelinus, until a 
 reconciliation was afterwards brought about between 
 till' ofteudcd prince and the worthy bishop. See Fleu- 
 ry, Hist. Eccles. liv. Ixix. p. t)65, (iti8. edit. Bruxelles. 
 Fleury, in this and other parts of his history, shows, 
 that he is but indifferently acquainted with the history 
 of Germany, and has not drawn from the best sources. 
 The authorities which Dr. Mosheira produces for his 
 account of the affair, are the OrigincsGuelphics, torn, 
 iii. p. IB, 19, 34, 55, 61, 03, 72, 82, with the celebrated 
 Preface of Scheidius, sect. .xiv. p. 41. Ludewig'sRe- 
 liquid Manuscriptorum, torn. vi. p. 230. Jo. Ern. de 
 Westphalen, Monumenta inedita Rerum Cimbrica 
 rum et Megapolens. torn. ii. p. 1998. 
 
 J That is, from the year 1134 tc the year 1154, in 
 which he died. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 299 
 
 ply with the invitations of the Gospel of 
 Clirist; and, as his pious labours were directed 
 by true wisdom, and carried on with the most 
 indefatigable industry and zeal, so were they 
 attended with much fruit, even among that 
 fierce and intractable people. Nor was his mi- 
 nistry among- the Sclavonians the only circum- 
 stance that redounds to the honour of his me- 
 mory; the history of his life and actions in ge- 
 neral furnishes proofs of his piety and zeal, suf- 
 ficient to transmit his name to the latest gene- 
 rations.* 
 
 VI. It is needless to repeat here the observa- 
 tion we have so often had occasion to make 
 upon such conversions as these, or to intimate 
 to the reader that tlie savage nations, wlio 
 were thus dragooned into the church, became 
 the disciples of Christ, not so much in reality, 
 as in outward appearance. [§:^-They pro- 
 fessed, with an inward reluctance, a religion 
 which was inculcated by violence and blood- 
 shed, which recalled to their remembrance no- 
 thing but scenes of desolation and misery; and 
 which, indeed, when considered in the repre- 
 sentations that were given of it by the great- 
 est part of the missionaries, was but a few de- 
 grees removed from the absurdities of pagan- 
 ism.] The pure and rational religion of the 
 Gospel was never presented to these unliappy 
 nations in its native simplicity; they Vvere only 
 taught to appease the Deity, and to render him 
 propitious, by a senseless round of trifling ce- 
 remonies and bodily exercises, which, in many 
 circumstances, resembled the superstitions they 
 were obliged to renounce, and might have been 
 easily reconciled with them, had it not been 
 that the name and history of Christ, the sign 
 of the cross, and some diversity between cer- 
 tain rites and ceremonies of the two religions, 
 opposed tliis coalition. Besides, the missiona- 
 ries whose zeal for imposing the name of 
 Christians upon this people was so vehement 
 and even furious, were extremely indulgent in 
 all other respects, and opposed their prejudices 
 and vices with much gentleness and forbear- 
 ance. They permitted them to retain several 
 rites and observances that were in direct oppo- 
 sition to the spirit of Christianity, and to the 
 nature of true piety. The tr^ith of the mat- 
 ter seems to have been tliis, that the leading 
 views of these Christian Iieralds, and propa- 
 gators of the faith, a smaller number excepted, 
 were rather turned toward the advancement of 
 their own interests, and the confirming and ex- 
 tending the dominion of the Roman pontiffs, 
 than toward the true conversion of these sa- 
 vage Pagans; that conversion which consists 
 in the removal of ignorance, the correction of 
 error, and the reformation of vice 
 
 VII. A great revolution in Asiatic Tartary, 
 which borders upon Catiiay, changed the face 
 of things in that distant region about the com- 
 
 * There is a particular and ample account of Vi- 
 celinus in the C'iinbrja I.itprataof Mollerus, torn. ii. 
 p. 910, and in the Res Hanihurf;. of Lambecius, lib. 
 fi. p. 12. See also upon thi? subject theOrigincsNi:- 
 omonaster. et Bordesholmens. of the most learned 
 and industrious Joh. Em. de VVestphalen, which are 
 published in the second tome of the Monumenta in- 
 edita Cimbrica, p. 2344, and the Preface to this tome, 
 p. 33. There is in this work a print of Vicelinus 
 well engraven 
 
 ! mencernent of this century, and proved, by its 
 j effects, extroniely beneficial to the Christian 
 t cause. Toward the conclusion of the preced- 
 ing century, died Koircmkhan, otherwise cal- 
 led Kenkhan, tiie most powerful monarch that 
 was known in the eastern regions of Asia; and, 
 while that mighty kingdom was deprived of 
 I its chief, it was invaded witli such unconmion 
 1 valour and success, bj' a Nestorian priest, 
 I whose name was John, tiiat it fell Itelbre his 
 ! victorious arms, and acknowledged this war- 
 I like and enlerprising presbyter as its monarch. 
 This was tlie famous Prester John (as he was 
 called,) whose territory was, for a long thne, 
 considered by the Europeans as a second para- 
 dise, as the seat of opulence and complete feli- 
 city. As he was a presbyter before iiis eleva- 
 tion to the royal dignity, many continued to 
 call him Presbyter John, even when he was 
 seated on the throne;* but his kingly name 
 was Unkhan. The hiijh notions which the 
 
 * The account I have here given of this famous 
 Presbyter, commonly called Prester John, who was, 
 for a long time, considered as the greatest and happi- 
 est of all earthly monarchs, is what appeared to me 
 the most probable among the various relations that 
 have been given of the life and adventures of that 
 extraordinary man. This account is moreover con- 
 firmed by the testimonies of contemporary writers, 
 wiiose knowledge and impartiality render them wor- 
 thy of credit; such as William of Tripoli, (see Du- 
 fresne's Adnot. ad Vitam Ludovici Sti, a Joinvillio 
 scriptam, p. 89.) as also a certain bishop of Gabala 
 mentioned by Otto Frising. Chronic, lib. vii. cap. 
 .wxii. See also Guillaume Rubruqui.i, Voyage, cap. 
 xviii. p. 30, in theAntiqua in Asiam Itinera, collect- 
 ed by father Bergeron, and Alberic in Chronico, ad 
 A. llCio, and 1]7(), in Leibnitii Accessionibus Histor- 
 icis, tuni. ii. p. .345, 355. It is indeed surprising, that 
 such aulhtntic records as these should have escaped 
 the iihsirvation of the learned, and that so many 
 difli'reiit opinions should have been advanced con- 
 cerning Prester John, and the place of his residence, 
 liut it is too generally the fate of learned men, to 
 overlook those accounts that carry the plainest 
 marks of evidence, and, from a passion for the mar 
 vellous. to plunge into the regions of uncertainty 
 and doubt. In the fifteenth century, John II. king 
 of Portugal, employed Pedro Covilliano in a labori- 
 ous inquiry into the real situation of the kingdom 
 of Prester" John. The curious voyager undertook 
 this task, and, for information in the matter, travel- 
 led with a few companions into Abyssinia; and ob- 
 serving in the emperor of the Abyssinians. or Ethi- 
 opians, many circumstances that resembled the ac- 
 counts which, at that lime, prevailed in Europe con- 
 cerning Prester John, he persuaded himself that he 
 had fulfilled his commission, and found out the resi- 
 dence of that extraordinary monarch, who was the 
 object of his researches. His opinion easily gained 
 credit in Europe, which had not yet emereed out of 
 its ignorance and barbarism. See Morinus, de Sa- 
 cris Eccles. Ordinationibus, part ii. p. 307. But a 
 new light was rast upon this matter in the seven- 
 teenth century, by the publication of several pieces, 
 which the industry of the curious drew forth from 
 their obscurity, aiid by which a great number of 
 learned men were engaged to abandon the Portu- 
 guese opinion, and were convinced that Prester John 
 reigned in Asia, though they still continued to dis- 
 pute about the situation of his kingdom, and other 
 particular circumstances. There are, notwithstand- 
 ing all this, some men of the most eminent learning 
 in our times, who maintain, that John was emperor 
 of the Abyssinians, and thus pnfer the Poitnguess 
 opinion, though destitute of aulhentic proofs and 
 tislimonies, to the other above mentioned, though 
 supported by the strongest evidence, and the most 
 un<iuc>stionable authorities, t'ee Euseb. Renaudot, 
 Hist. Patriarch. Alexandr. p. O-iS, 337. Jos. Franc. 
 Latitau, Hist. 6es Decouvertes des Portngais. torn. i. 
 p. ,58, and torn. iii. p. 57. Henr. le Grand. Dis. de 
 Johanne Presbyter© in Lobo's Voyage d'Abyssinie, 
 tome i p. 295. 
 
800 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part 1. 
 
 Greeks and Latins generally entertained of the 
 grandeur and magnificence of this royal pres- 
 Syter, were principally produced by tlie letters 
 he wrote to the Roman emperor Frederic I. 
 «.nd to Emanuel emperor of the Greeks, in 
 •which, puffed up with prosperity, and flushed 
 with success, he vaunted his victories over the 
 neighbouring nations that disputed his passage 
 to the throne; described, in the most pompous 
 and extravagant terms, tlie splendour of his 
 riches, the grandeur of his state, and the ex- 
 tent of his dominions; and exalted himself far 
 above all other earthly monarchs. All this 
 was easily believed; and the Nestorians w.ere 
 extremely zealous in confirming the boasts of 
 their vain-glorious prince. He was succeeded 
 by his son, or, as others think, his brother, 
 whose name was David, though, in common 
 discourse, he was also called IVester John, as 
 bis predecessor had been. The reign of Da- 
 vid was far from being happy, nor did he end 
 his days in peace; Genghiz Khan, the great 
 and warlike emperor of the Tartars, invaded 
 his territories toward tlie conclusion of this 
 century, and deprived him both of his life and 
 his dominions. 
 
 Vin. The new kingdom of Jerusalem, 
 which had been erected by the holy warriors 
 of France, near the close of the preceding cen- 
 tury, seemed to flourish considerably at the 
 beginning of this, and to rest upon firm and 
 •olid foundations. This prosperous scene was, 
 however, but transitory, and was soon succeed- 
 ed by the most terrible calamities and desola- 
 tions. For, wlien the Mohammedans saw 
 vast numbers of those who had engaged in 
 this holy war returning into Europe, and tlie 
 Christian chiefs that remained in Palestine di- 
 vided into factions, and every one advancing 
 his private interest, without any regard to the 
 public good, they resumed their courage, re- 
 covered from the terror and consternation into 
 which tliey had been thrown by the amazing 
 valour and rapid success of the European le- 
 gions, and, gatliering troops and soliciting suc- 
 cours from all quarters, they harassed and ex- 
 hausted the Christians by invasions and wars 
 without interruption. The Christians, on the 
 other hand, sustained these efibrts with their 
 usual fortitude, and maintained their ground 
 during many years; but when Atabeck Zen- 
 ghi,* after a long siege, made himself master 
 of the city of Edessa, and threatened Antioch 
 with the same fate, their courage began to tail, 
 and a diffidence in their own strength obliged 
 them to turn their eyes once more toward 
 Europe. They accordingly implored, in the 
 most lamentable strain, the assistance of the 
 European princes; and requested tliat a new 
 anny of cross-bearing champions might be 
 Bent to support their tottering empire in the 
 Holy Land. Their entreaties were favourablj' 
 received by the Roman ponlifls, who left no 
 method of persuasion unemployed, that might 
 
 ♦ Alabock was a title of honour {jivpn by the sul- 
 tana to the viceroys or lieutenants, whom they in- 
 trusted with the government of their provinces. 
 The Latin ituthors, wlio have written the history of 
 this holy war, and of whom Bongarsius has given 
 us a complete list, call this Atabeck Zcnnhi. Sangni- 
 nui. See Herbelot. Biblioth. Orient, at the word 
 At aback, p. 14^. 
 
 engage the emperor and other Christian princes 
 to undertake a new expedition into Palestine. 
 IX. This new expedition was not, however, 
 resolved upon with such unanimity and pre- 
 cipitation as the former had been; it was the 
 subject of long deliberation, and its expediency 
 was keenly debated both in the cabinets of 
 princes, and in the assemblies of the clergy and 
 the people. Bernard, the famous abbot of 
 Clairval, a man of the boldest resolution and 
 of the greatest authority, put an end to those 
 disputes under the pontificate of Eugenius III. 
 who had been his disciple, and who was wholly 
 governed by his counsels. This eloquent and 
 zealous ecclesiastic preached the cross, i. e. the 
 crusade, in France and Germany, with great 
 ardour and success; and in the grand parlia- 
 ment assembled at Vezalai, A. D. 1146, at 
 which Louis VII. king of France, his queen, 
 and a prodigious concourse of the principal 
 nobilit)', were present, Bernard recommended 
 this holy expedition with such a persuasive 
 power, and declared with such assurance that 
 he had a divine commission to foretell its glo- 
 rious success, that the king, the queen, and all 
 tlie nobles, immediately put on the military 
 cross, and prepared themselves for the journey 
 into Palestine. Conrad III. emperor of Ger- 
 man}', was, for some time, unmoved by the 
 exhortations of Bernard; but he was at length 
 gained over by the urgent solicitations of the 
 fervent abbot, and followed the example of the 
 French monarch. Tlie two princes, each at 
 the head of a numerous army, set out for Pa- 
 lestine, to which they were to march by difter- 
 ent roads. But, before their arrival in the 
 Holy Land, the greatest part of their forces 
 perished miserably, some by famine, some by 
 the sword of tlie Mohammedans, some by ship- 
 wreck, and a considerable number by the per- 
 fidious cruelty of the Greeks, who looked upon 
 the western nations as more to be feared than 
 the infidels themselves. Louis VII. left his 
 kingdom A. D. 1147, and, in the month of 
 March of the following year, he arrived at An- 
 tioch, with the wretched remains of his army, 
 dejected and exhausted by a series of hard- 
 ships. Conrad set out also in the year 1147, 
 in the month of May; and, in November fol- 
 lowing, he arrived at Nice, where he joined 
 the Frencli army, after having lost the great- 
 est part of his own by calamities of various 
 kinds. From Nice, the two princes proceeded 
 to Jerusalem, A. D. 1148; whence they led 
 back into Europe, the year following, the 
 miserable handful of troops, whicli had sur- 
 vived the disasters of the expedition. Such 
 was the unhappy issue of this second crusade, 
 whicli was rendered ineftectual by a variety of 
 causes, but more particularly by the jealousies 
 and divisions that reigned among the Christian 
 chiefs in Palestine. Nor was it more ineffec- 
 tual in Palestine than it was detrimental to 
 Europe, by draining the wealth of its fairest 
 provinces, and destroying a prodigious number 
 of its inhabitants.* 
 
 * Re^de the historians enumerated by Bongarsiiis, 
 see Mabillon, Aniial. Benedict, torn. vi. p. 399, 404, 
 407, 417, 451. Jac. Gervasii Histoire de I' Abbe 
 Suger, torn. iii. p. 104. 128, 173, 100, 239. This was 
 the' famous Siiger. abbot of St. Denys, who had se- 
 coudtid tlie exhortations of Bernard in favour of the 
 
Cukv. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 301 
 
 X. The unhappy issue of tliis second expe- 
 dition was not however suflicient, when con- 
 sidered alone, to render the affairs of the 
 Christians in Palestine entirely desperate. Had 
 their chiefs and princes relinquished their ani- 
 mosities and contentions, and attacked the 
 common enemy with their united force, they 
 would have soon repaired their losses, and re- 
 covered their glory. But this was far from 
 beina^ the case. A fatal corruption of senti- 
 ments and manners reigned among all ranks 
 and orders. Botii the people and their leaders, 
 and more especially the latter, abandoned 
 themselves without reluctance to all the ox- 
 cesses of ambition, avarice, and injustice; they 
 indulged themselves in the practice of all sorts 
 of vices; and by their intestine quarrels, jea- 
 lousies, and discords, they weakened their ef- 
 forts against the enemies that surrounded 
 them, and consumed their strength by thus 
 unhappily dividing it. Saladiu, viceroy or 
 ratiier sultan of Egypt and Syria,* and tlie 
 most valiant chief of whom the Mohammedan 
 annals boast, took advantage of tiiese lamenta- 
 ble divisions. He waged war against the 
 Christians with the utmost valour and success; 
 took prisoner Guy of Lusignan, king of Jeru- 
 salem, in a fatal battle fought near Tiberias, 
 A. D. 11S7; and, in the course of tiie same 
 year, reduced Jerusalem itself under his do- 
 minion.! The carnage and desolation that 
 accompanied this dreadful campaign, tlirew 
 the affairs of the Christians in the east into a 
 deplorable condition, and left them no glimpse 
 of hope, but what arose from the expected suc- 
 cours of the European princes. Succours were 
 obtained for them by the Roman pontiff's with 
 much difficulty, in consequence of repeated 
 solicitations and entreaties. But the event, 
 as we shall soon see, was by no means an- 
 swerable to the deep schemes that were con- 
 certed, or to the pains that were employed, 
 for the support of the tottering kingdom of Je- 
 rusalem. 
 
 XI. Tlie third expedition was undertaken, 
 A. D. 1189, by Frederic I. surnamed Barba- 
 rossa, emperor of Germany, who, with a pro- 
 digious army, marched through several Gre- 
 cian provinces, where he had innumerable 
 difficulties and obstacles to overcome, into 
 Asia Minor, whence, after having defeated the 
 Bultan of Iconiuni, he penetrated into Syria. 
 His valour and conduct promised successful 
 and glorious campaigns to the army he com- 
 manded, when, by an unhappy accident, he 
 
 crusade, and whom Louis appointed recent of France 
 during his ab.-icnce. Vcrtot, Histoire des Chevaliers 
 de Malte, torn. i. p. rifi. Joh. Jac. Mascovius, de 
 Rcbns Imperii sub Conrado llf. 
 
 Q(^ * Saladin, so called by the western writer?, 
 Salaha'ddin by the Orientals, was no loneer vizir 
 or viceroy of Enypt, when he undertook the siefie of 
 Jerusalem, but had usurped the sovereign power in 
 that country, and had also added to his dominions, 
 by rii"ht of conquest, several provinces of Syria. 
 
 t See the Life of Saladin by Bohao'ddin Rbii 
 Sheddad, an Arahiiui writer, whose history of lh:it 
 warlike sultan was published at Leyden in" the year 
 1732, by the late celebrated professor Albert Schul- 
 tens, and accompanied with an excellent Latin 
 translation. See also Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient, at 
 the article Salaha'ddin, p. 7li!, and Marigny's His- 
 toire des ArahpB, tome iv. p. 'Ml. (t[J~ Hut. above 
 all, gee the learned History of the Arabians in the 
 modern part of the Universal History. 
 
 i lost his life in the river Saleph,* which runs 
 I through Seleucia. The manner of his death 
 '< is not known with certainty; the loss however 
 ' of such an able chief dejected the spirits of his 
 I troops, so that considerable numbers of them 
 returned into Europe. Those who remained 
 ; continued the war under the command of 
 Frederic, son of tlie deceased emperor; but the 
 greatest part of them perished miserably by a 
 pestilential disorder, which raged with extra- 
 ordinary violence in the camp, and swept off 
 vast numbers every day. The new general 
 died of this terrible disease, A. D. 1191; those 
 who escaped its fury were dispersed, and few 
 returned to their own country. j 
 
 XII. The example of Frederic Barbarossa was 
 followed, in the year 1 190, by Philip Augustus 
 king of France, and the lion-hearted Ptichard, 
 king of England. These two nionarchs set 
 out from their respective dominions with a con- 
 siderable number of sliips of war and trans- 
 ports;]; arrived in Palestine in the year 1191, 
 each at the head of a separate army; and were 
 pretty successful in their first encounters with 
 the infidels. After the reduction of the strong 
 city of Acre or Ptolemais, which had been de- 
 fended by the Moslems with the most obsti- 
 nate valour, the French monarch returned 
 into Europe, in the month of July, 1191, leav- 
 ing, however, a considerable part of the army 
 whicii he had conducted into Palestine. After 
 his departure the king of England pushed the 
 war with the greatest vigour, gave daily marks 
 of his heroic intrepiditj' and military skill, and 
 not only defeated Saladin in several engage- 
 ments, but also made himself master of JaiVa^ 
 and Ca3sarca. Deserted, however, by the 
 French and Italians, and influenced by other 
 motives and considerations of the greatest 
 weight, he concluded, A. D. 1 19:2, with Saladin, 
 a truce of three years, three months, and as 
 many days, and evacuated Palestine with his 
 whole army. II Such was the issue of the third 
 expedition against the infidels, which nearly 
 exhausted England, France, and Germany, 
 both of menaaid money, without bringing any 
 solid advantage, or giving even a favourable 
 tin-n, to the affairs of tlie Christians in the 
 Holy Land. 
 
 XIII. These bloody wars between the C'hris- 
 tians and the Mohammedans gave rise to three 
 famous military orders, whose office it was to 
 
 (t(7» * Mainibonrff, in his Histoire des Croisades, 
 and Maricny in his Hist, du xii. Si.cle, say, that 
 Frederic perished in the Cydiuis, a river of Cilicia. 
 But they are easily to be reconciled with our author, 
 since, acconiiiiir to the descriptions Riven of the Sa- 
 leph by several learned >reoL'ra pliers, and ainons 
 othersby Roger the Annalist, it appears that the 
 Saleph and the Cydnus were the same river under 
 difl'erent names. 
 
 t See an ample and satisfactory account of this 
 unhappy campaign in the Life of Frederic L written 
 in German by Henry count Bunau, p. 27P, 2'.i3, 309. 
 
 {pj" I Thelearneii authors of the Modern I'niver- 
 sal History aflirm that I'hilip arrived in Palestine, 
 v\Tth a supply of men, money, &c. on boarri of six 
 ships, uhereas Renandot irientii>ns 100 sail as em- 
 ployed in this expedition. The fleet of Richard con- 
 sisted of 150 larye ships, beside ealleys, &c. 
 
 § More commonly known by the name of Joppa. 
 
 Ij Daniel, Histoire de France, tome iii. p. 430. — 
 Rapin Thoyras, Histoire d'Angleterre, tome ii. 
 Regne de Richard CtKur-de-Lion.— Marigny, Hii- 
 tolro des Arabes, tome iv. p. 285. 
 
EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 302 
 
 destroy the robbers that infested the pubhc 
 roads, to harass the Moslems by perpetual in- 
 roads and warlike achievements, to assist the 
 poor and sick pilgrims, whom the devotion of 
 the times conducted to the holy sepulchre, 
 and to perform otiier services that tended to the 
 general good.** The first order was that of the 
 Kniglits of St. John of Jerusalem, wlio de- 
 rived their name, and particularly that of Hos- 
 pitalers, from an hospital in that city, dedi- 
 cated to St. John the Baptist, in which certain 
 pious and charitable brethren were constantly 
 employed in relieving and refreshing with 
 necessary sujiplies the indigent and diseased 
 pilgrims, who were daily arriving at Jerusalem. 
 When this city became the metropolis of a 
 new kingdom, the revenues of the hospital 
 were so highly augmented by the liberality of 
 several princes, and the pious donations of such 
 opulent persons as frequented the holy places, 
 that they far surpassed the wants of those 
 whom they were designed to cherish and re- 
 lieve. Hence it was that Raymond du Puy, 
 who was the ruler of this charitable house, 
 offered to the king of Jerusalem to make war 
 upon the Mohammedans at his own expense, 
 seconded by his brethren, who served under 
 him in this famous hospital. Baldwin H. to 
 whom this proposal was made, readily accepted 
 it, and the enterprise was solemnly approved 
 and confirmed by the authority of the Roman 
 pontiff. Thus was the world surprised with 
 the strange translbrmation of a devout fra- 
 ternity, who had lived remote from the noise 
 and tumult of arms, in the performance of works 
 of charity and mercy, into a valiant and hardy 
 band of warriors. The whole order was upon 
 this occasion divided into three classes: the first 
 contained the knights, or soldiers of illustrious 
 birth, who were to unsheath tlieir swords in 
 the Christian cause; in the second were com- 
 prehended the priests, who were to officiate 
 in the churches that belonged to the order; 
 and in the third were the serving brethren, or 
 the soldiers of low condition. This celebrated 
 order gave, upon many occasions, eminent 
 proofs of resolution and valour, and acquired 
 immense opulence by heroic exploits. When 
 Palestine was irrecoverably lost, the knights 
 passed into the isle of Cyprus; tliey afterwards 
 made themselves masters of tJie isle of Rhodes, 
 where they maintained tliemselves for a long 
 time; but, being finally driven thence by the 
 Turks, tliey received from the esnperor Charles 
 V. a grant of the island of Malta. f 
 
 XIV. Another order, which was entirely of 
 a military nature, was that of the knights tem- 
 plars, so called from a palace, adjoining to 
 the temple of Jerusalem, wliicli was appro- 
 priated to their use for a certain time by 
 Baldwin II. The foundations of tliis order 
 were laid at Jerusalem, in the year 1118, by 
 
 * The writers, who have civeii the history of the^e 
 three orders, are eiuirueratert by Jo. Alb. Fahriciiis, 
 Bibhograph. Antiquar. p. 4ti5; but his eiiuiiieration 
 is not complete. 
 
 t The best and the most recent liistory of this 
 order is that which was composed by Vertot at the 
 request of the knights of Malta; it was first publish- 
 ed at Paris, and afterwards at Amsterdam, in five 
 volumes 8vo. in the year 1732. See also Helyot's 
 Hist, des Ordres, tome iii. p 72. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Hugues des Payens, Geoffrey of St. Aldemar, 
 or of St. Amour, as some will have it, and 
 seven other persons, whose names are un- 
 known; but it was not before the year 1228 
 that it acquired a proper degree of stability, 
 b\' being solemnly confirmed in the council of 
 Troyes, and subjected to a rule of discipline 
 drawn up by St. Bernard.* These warlike 
 templars were to defend and support the cause 
 of Christianity by force of arms, to have in- 
 spection over tlie public roads, and to protect 
 the pilgrims, wlio came to visit Jerusalem, 
 against the insults and barbarity of the Mos- 
 lems. The order flourished for some time, 
 and acquired, by the valour of its knights, im- 
 mense riches, and an eminent degree of military 
 renown; but, as their prosperity increased, their 
 vices were multiplied, and their arrogance, 
 luxury, and irdimnan cruelty, rose at last to 
 such a monstrous height, that their privileges 
 were revoked, and their order suppressed with 
 the most terrible circumstances of infamy and 
 severity, by a decree of the pope and of the 
 council of Vienne in Dauphine, as we shall see 
 in the history of the fourteenth century. f 
 
 XV. The third order resembled the first in 
 this respect, that, though it was a military in- 
 stitution, the care of the poor and relief of the 
 sick were not excluded from the services it 
 prescribed. Its members were distinguished 
 by the title of Teutonic Knights of St. Mary 
 of Jerusalem; and as to its rise, we cannot, 
 with any degree of certainty, trace it farther 
 back than the year 1190, during the siege of 
 Acre, or Ptolcmais, though there are histori- 
 ans adventurous enough to seek its origin 
 (which they place at Jerusalem) in a more re- 
 mote period. During the long and tedious 
 siege of Acre, several pious and charitable 
 merchants of Bremen and Lubeck, moved 
 with compassion at the sight of the miseries 
 which the besiegers suffered in the midst of 
 their success, devoted themselves entirely to 
 the service of the sick and wounded soldiers, 
 and erected a kind of hospital, or tent, where 
 tliey gave constant attendance to all such un- 
 happy objects as had recourse to their charity. 
 This pious undertaking was so agreeable to 
 the German princes, who were present at this 
 terrible siege, tliat they thought proper to 
 form a fraternity of German knights to bring 
 it to perfection. Their resolution was highly 
 approved by pope Celestine III. who confirmed 
 the new order by a bull issued on the twenty- 
 third of February, A. D. 1192. This order 
 was entirely appropriated to the Germans; and 
 even of them none were admitted as members 
 of it, but such as were of an illustrious birth. 
 The support of Clu-istianity, the defence of 
 the Holy Land, and the relief of the poor and 
 needy, wero tlie important duties and services 
 to which the Teutonic knights devoted them- 
 selves by a solemn vow. Austerity and fru- 
 gality were tlie first characteristics of this rising 
 
 * Sec Mabillon. Annal. Benedict, torn. vi. p. 159. 
 
 t See Matthew Paris, Histor. Major, p. 56, foi an 
 account of the comniencement of this order. See 
 also Piitean, Histoire de I'Ordre Militaire des Tem- 
 pliers, which was republished with considerable ad- 
 <litions, at Brussels, in 4to. in the year 1751: and 
 Nic. Gurtleri Historia Templariorum Militura, Am- 
 stelodam. 1691, in 8vo. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 303 
 
 order, and the equestrian garment,* bread, and 
 water, were the only rewards which the 
 knights derived from their generous labours. 
 But as, according to the fate of human things, 
 prosperity generates corruption, so it happened 
 that this austerity was of a short duration, and 
 diminished in proportion as tlie revenues and 
 possessions of the order were augmented. The 
 Teutonic knights, after their retreat from 
 Palestine, made themselves masters of Prussia, 
 Livonia, Courland, and Semigallia; but, in 
 process of time, their victorious arms received 
 several checks; and when tlie light of the re- 
 formation arose upon Germany, tliey were 
 deprived of the richest provinces which tliey 
 possessed in that country; though they still re- 
 tain there a certain portion of their ancient 
 territories.f 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Calamitous Events that happened 
 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The progress of Christianity in the west 
 had disarmed its most inveterate enemies, and 
 deprived them of the power of doing much 
 mischief, though tliey still entertained tlie same 
 aversion to the disciples of Jesus. The Jews 
 and Pagans were no longer able to oppose the 
 propagation of the Gospel, or to oppress its 
 ministers. Their malignity remained; but their 
 credit and authority were gone. The Jews 
 were accused by the Christians of various 
 crimes, whether real or fictitious we shall not 
 determine; but, instead of attacking their ac- 
 cusers, they were content to defend their own 
 lives, and secure their persons, without daring 
 to give vent to their resentment. Affairs were 
 in a somewhat different state in the northern 
 provinces. The Pagans were yet numerous 
 there in several districts; and wherever they 
 composed the majority, they persecuted the 
 Christians with the utmost barbarity, the most 
 unrelenting and merciless fury.]; It is true, 
 the Christian kings and princes, who lived in 
 the neighbourhood of these persecuting barba- 
 rians, checked by degrees their impetuous 
 rage, and never ceased to harass and weaken 
 them by hostilities and incursions, until at 
 length they subdued them entirely, and de- 
 prived them, by force, both of their independ- 
 ence and their superstitions. 
 
 II. The writers of this century complain 
 grievously of the inhuman rage witli which the 
 Saracens persecuted the Christians in the east; 
 nor can we question the trutii of what they re- 
 late on the subject of this severe persecution. 
 But they pass over in silence the principal rea- 
 
 * This garment was a white mantle with a black- 
 cross. 
 
 t See Raymond! Diiellii Histor. Ord. Teutonici, 
 published in folio at Vienna, in 1727.— Chron icon 
 Prussiae, by Peter Dulbnrg, public^hed in 4to. at Jena. 
 in the year 1()79. by Christoph. Hartknoch.— Helvot, 
 Hist, lies Ordres, tomeiii.p. 140.— Chronicon Ord'inis 
 Teutonici, in Anton. MatthiBi Analectis voteris 
 lEvi, toin. V. p. (i2], 658, ed. nov. — Privilepia Ordinis 
 Teutonici in Petr. a Ludewig Reliquiis Manuscrip- 
 tor. torn. vi. p. 43. 
 
 t Helniold, Chronic. Sclavor. lib. i. cap. x.xxiv. p. 
 ee, cap. .T.wv. p. 89, cap. xl p. 99.— Lindenbrogii 
 Scriptor. Seftentrional. p. 195, 19fl, 201.— Petri Lam- 
 berii Res Hamb\irg lib i. p. 23. 
 
 sons that inflamed the resentment of this 
 fierce people, and voluntarily forget that the 
 Christians were the aggressors in this dreadful 
 war. If we consider the matter with impar- 
 tiality and candour, the conduct of the Sara- 
 cens, however barbarous it may have been, 
 will not appear so surprising, particularly 
 when we reflect on the provocations they re<- 
 ceived. In the first place, they liad a right, by 
 the laws of war, to repel by force the violent 
 invasion of their country; and the Christians 
 could not e.xpect, without being chargeable 
 witli the most audacious impudence, that a 
 people whom tliey attacked with a formidable 
 army, and whom, in the fury of their misguid- 
 ed zeal, tliey massacred without mercy, should 
 receive insults with a tame submission, and 
 give up their lives and possessions without re- 
 sistance. It must also be confessed, though 
 with sorrow, that the Christians did not con- 
 tent themselves with making war upon the 
 Mohammedans in order to rescue Jerusalem 
 and the holy sepulchre out of their hands, but 
 carried their brutal fury to the greatest length, 
 disgraced their cause by the most detestable 
 crimes, filled the eastern provinces through 
 \vhich they passed with scenes of horror, and 
 made the Saracens feel the terrible effects of 
 their violence and barbarity wherever their 
 arms were successfiil. Is it then so surprising 
 to see the infidel Saracens committing, by way 
 of reprisal, the same barbarities that the holy 
 warriors had perpetrated without the least 
 provocation.' Is there any thing so new and 
 so extraordinary in this, that a people natu- 
 rally fierce, and exasperated, moreover, by the 
 calamities of a religious war, carried on against 
 them in contradiction to all the dictates of jus- 
 tice and humanity, should avenge themselves 
 upon the Cliristians who resided in Palestine, 
 as professing the religion which gave occasion 
 to the war, and attached, of consequence, to 
 the cause of their enemies and invaders.' 
 
 III. The rapid and amazing victories of the 
 great Genghiz-Klian, emperor of the Tartars, 
 gave an unhappy turn to the affairs of the 
 Christians in the northern parts of Asia, near 
 the close of this century. This warlike prince, 
 who was by birth a Mogul, and whose military 
 exploits raise him in the list of fame above al- 
 most all the commanders either of ancient or 
 modern times, rendered his name formidable 
 throughout all Asia, whose most flourishing 
 dynasties fell successively before his victorious 
 arms. David, or Unkhan, who, according to 
 some, was the son, or, as others will have it, 
 the brother, but who was certainly the succes- 
 sor, of the famous Prester John, and was him- 
 self so called in common discourse, was the 
 first victim that Genghiz sacrificed to his 
 boundless ambition. He invaded his territory, 
 and put to flight his troops in a bloody battle, 
 where David lost, at the same time, his king- 
 dom and his life.* The princes, who governed 
 
 * The Greek, Latin, and Oriental writers are far 
 from being agreed concerning the year in which the 
 emperor of the Tartars attacked and defeated Pres- 
 ter John. The greater part of the Latin writers 
 place this event in the year 1202, and consequently 
 in the thirteenth century. But Marcus Paulus Vene- 
 tuB (in his book de Regionibus Orientalibus, lib. i. 
 cap. li. lii. liii ) and other historians wh"se accounts 
 
304 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H. 
 
 the Turks, Indians, and the province of Ca- 
 thay, fell, in their turn, before the victorious 
 Tartar, and were all either put to deatli, or 
 rendered tributary; nor did Geiighiz stop here, 
 but proceeding into Persia, India, and Arabia, 
 he overturned tlie Saracen dominion in those 
 regions, and substituted that of tiie Tartars in 
 its place.* From this jjeriod the Christian 
 
 1 have followed as the mosl probable, place the defeat 
 of this second Prester Joliu in the year 1187. The 
 learned and illustrious Demetrius Cantemir (in his 
 Praf. ad Histor. Imperii Ottomaiiici, p. 45, torn. i. of 
 the French edition) gives an account of this matter 
 different from the two now mentioned, and affirms, 
 upon the authority of the Arabian writers, that Geng- 
 hiz did not invade the territoiies of his neighbours 
 before the year 1214. 
 
 * See Petit de la Croi.x Histoire de Genghiz-Can, p. 
 120, 121, published in 12mo. at Paris in the year 
 1711.— Herbelot, Biblioth. Oriental, at the article 
 Genghiz-Khan, p. 378. — Assemaui Biblioth. Oriental. 
 
 cause lost much of its authority and credit in 
 the provinces that had been ruled by Frester 
 John and his successor David, and continued 
 to decline and lose ground until it sunk en- 
 tirely under the weiglit of oppression, and was 
 succeeded in some places by the errors of the 
 Mohammedan faith, and in others by the su- 
 perstitions of paganism. We must except, 
 however, in this general account, the kingdom 
 of Tangut, the chief residence of Frester John, 
 in which his posterity, who persevered in the 
 profession of Christianity, maintained, for a 
 long time, a certain sort of tributary dominion, 
 which exhibited, indeed, but a faint shadow 
 of their former grandeur.* 
 
 Vatican, torn. iii. part i. p. lUl, and 2'J5. — Jean du 
 Plan Carpin, Voyage en Tartarie, ch. v. in the Re- 
 cueil des Voyages au Nord, tome vii. p. 350. 
 
 * Assemani Biblioth. Oriental. Vatiean, torn. iii. 
 part ii. p. 500. 
 
 PART IL 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAFTER I. 
 
 Concerning the state of Letters and Philosophy 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. NoTWiTHSTANDiKG the dechnc of the 
 Grecian empire, the calamities in which it was 
 repeatedly involved, and the frequent revolu- 
 tions and civil vvars that consumed its strength, 
 and were precipitating its ruin, the arts and 
 sciences still flourished in Greece, and covered 
 with glory such as cultivated them witli assi- 
 duity and success. Tliis may be ascribed, not 
 only to the liberality of the emperors, and to 
 the extraordinary zeal which the family of the 
 Cornneni discovered for the advancement of 
 learniug, but also to the provident vigilance 
 of the patriarclis of Constantinople, wlio took 
 all possible moasurss to prevent the clergy 
 from falling into ignorance and sloth, lest the 
 Greek churcli should thus be deprived of able 
 champions to defend its cause against the La- 
 tins. The learned and ingenious commenta- 
 ries of Eustathius, bishop of Thessalonica, 
 upon Homer and Dionysius the Geographer, 
 are sulRcient to show the diligence and labour 
 that were employed by men of the first genius 
 in the improvement of classical erudition, and 
 in the study of antiquity. And if we turn our 
 view toward the various WTiters who composed 
 in this century the history of their own times, 
 such as Cinnamus, Glycas, Zonaras, Nicepho- 
 rus, Briennius and others, we shall find in their 
 productions undoubted marks of learning and 
 genius, as well as of a laudable ambition to ob- 
 tain the esteem and approbation of future ages. 
 
 II. Nothing could equal the zeal and en- 
 thusiasm with which Michael Anchialus, pa- 
 triarch of Constantinople, encouraged the 
 study of philosophy by his munificence, and 
 still more by the extraordinary influence of his 
 illustrious example.* It seems, however, to 
 
 ' Theodorus Balsamon, Pref.ad Photii Nomocan- 
 
 have been the Aristotelian philosophy that was 
 favoured in such a distinguished manner by 
 this eminent prelate; and it was in the illustra- 
 tion and improvement of this profound and in- 
 tricate system that those Greeks who had a 
 philosophical turn were principally employed, 
 as appears from several remains of ancient 
 erudition, and particularly from the commenta- 
 ries of Eastratius upon the ethics and other 
 treatises of the Grecian sage. We axe not, 
 however, to imagme that the sublime wisdom 
 of Plato was neglected in this century, or that 
 his doctrines had fallen into disrepute. It ap- 
 pears, on the contrary, that they were adopted 
 by many. Such, more especially, as had im- 
 bibed the precepts and spirit of the Mystics, 
 preferred them infinitely to the Peripatetic 
 philosophy, vi'hich they considered as an end- 
 less source of sophistry and presumption, while 
 they looked upon the Platonic system as the 
 philosophy of reason and piety, of candour and 
 virtue. This diversity of sentiment produced 
 the famous controversy, which was managed 
 with such vehemence and erudition among the 
 Greeks, concerning the respective merit and 
 excellence of the Peripatetic and Platonic doc- 
 trines. 
 
 III. In the western world the pursuit of 
 knowledge was now carried on with incredible 
 emulation and ardour; and all branches of sci- 
 ence were studied with the greatest applica- 
 tion and industry. This literary enthusiasm 
 was encouraged and supported by the influ- 
 ence and liberality of some of the European 
 monarchs, and Roman pontitls, who perceived 
 the happy tendency of the sciences to soften 
 the savage manners of uncivilized nations, and 
 thereby to administer an additional support to 
 civil government, as well as an ornament to 
 human society. Hence learned societies were 
 formed, and colleges established, in which the 
 
 onem in Henr. Justelli Bibliotheca Juris canonic! 
 veteris, torn. ii. p. 814. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 305 
 
 liberal arts and sciences were publicly taught. 
 The prodigious concourse of students, who re- 
 eorted thither for instruction, occasioned, in 
 process of time, the enlargement of tiiese 
 schools, which had arisen from small begin- 
 nings, and their erection into universities, as 
 they were called, in the succeeding age. Tlie 
 principal cities of Europe were adorned with 
 establishments of this kind; but Paris surpassed 
 them all in the number and variety of its 
 schools, the merit and reputation of its public 
 teachera, and tlie immense multitude of the 
 studious youth that frequented its colleges. 
 And thus was exliibited in that famous city the 
 model of our present schools of learning; a 
 model indeed defective in several respects, but 
 which, in after-times, was corrected and im- 
 proved, and brought gradually to higher de- 
 grees of perfection.* About the same time the 
 famous school of Angers, in wiiich the youth 
 were instructed in various sciences, and parti- 
 cularly and principally in the civil law, was 
 founded by the zeal and industry of Ulgerius, 
 bishop of that city;t and the college of Mont- 
 pelier, where law and physic were taught with 
 great success, had already acquired a conside- 
 rable reputation. J The same literary spirit 
 reigned also in Italy. The academy of Bo- 
 logna, whose origin may be traced higher than 
 this century, was now in the highest renown, 
 and was frequented by great numbers of stu- 
 dents, and more especially by such as were 
 desirous of being instructed in the civil and 
 canon laws. The fame of this academy was, 
 in a great measure, established by tlie munifi- 
 cence of the emperor Lotharius II. who took it 
 under his protection, and enriched it with new 
 privileges and immunities. § In the same pro- 
 vince flourished also the celebrated school of 
 Salernum, where great numbers resorted, and 
 which was wholly set apart for the study of 
 physic. While this zealous emulation, in ad- 
 vancing the cause of learning and philosophy, 
 animated so many princes and prelates, and 
 discovered itself in the erection of so many 
 
 * Boiilay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 4(53.— Pas- 
 quier, Recherches de la France, liv. iii. ch. xxix. — 
 Petri Lambecii Ilistor. Biblioth. Vinrtubon. lib. ii. 
 cap. V. p. 200. — Ilistoire Liter, de la Franco, tome ix. 
 p. 60—80. 
 
 t Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 215. Poc 
 quel de la Livoniere, Dissert, sur I'Antiiiuite de 
 rUniversite d'Angers, p. 21, published in 4to. at An- 
 gers, 1736. 
 
 I Histoire Gen. de Languedoc, par les Beiiedictins, 
 tome ii. p. 517. 
 
 § The inhabitants of Bologna pretend, that their 
 academy was founded in the fifth century by Theo- 
 dosius II. and they pretend to show the diploma by 
 which that emperor enriched their city with this va- 
 luable establishment. But the greatest part of those 
 writers, who liave studied with attention and im- 
 partiality the records of ancient times, maintain, 
 that this diploma is a spurious production, and al- 
 lege weighty arguments to prove, that the academy 
 of Bologna is of no older date than the eleventh cen- 
 tury, and that in the succeeding age, particularly 
 from the time of Lotharius II. it received those im- 
 provements that rendered it so famous throughout 
 all Europe. See Sigonii Historia Bononiensis, as it 
 is published, with learned observations, in the works 
 of that excellent author.— Muratori Antiq. Italic, 
 medii svi, torn. ii. p. 23, 834, 898.— Just. Hen. Boh- 
 meri Pra-fat. ad Corpus Juris Canon, p. 9, as also the 
 elegant History of the Academy of Bologna written 
 in the German language by the learned Keufelius, 
 ■nd published at Helmstadt in 8vo. in the year 1750. 
 Vol. I.— 39 
 
 academies and schools of learning, the Roman 
 pontiff, Alexander III. was seized also with 
 noble enthusiasm. In a council holden at 
 Rome, A. D. 1 179, he caused a solemn law to 
 be published, for erecting new schools in the 
 monasteries and cathedrals, and restoring to 
 their primitive lustre those whicli, through the 
 sloth and ignorance of tlie niojiks and bishops, 
 had fallen into ruin.* 15ut tlie eflect which 
 this law was intended tu produce was pre- 
 vented by the growing fame of the newly- 
 erected academies, to whicii tlie youth resorted 
 from all parts, and left the epi,scopal and mo- 
 nastic sciiools entirely empty; so that they gra- 
 dually declined, and sunk, at last, mto a total 
 oblivion. 
 
 IV. Many were the signal advantages that 
 attended these literary establishments; and 
 what is particularly worthy of notice, they not 
 only rendered knowledge more general by 
 faciHtating the means of instruction, but were 
 also the occasion of forming a new circle of 
 sciences, better digested, and much more com- 
 prehensive than that which had been hitherto 
 studied by the greatest adepts in learning. 
 TJie whole extent of learning and philosophy, 
 before this period, was confined to the seven 
 liberal arts, as they were commonly called, of 
 which tliree were known by the name of the 
 trivium, which comprehended grammar, rhet- 
 oric, and logic; and tlie otlier four by the title 
 of quadriviuin, wliich included arithmetic, 
 music, geometry, and astronomy. The great- 
 est part of the learned, as we have formerly ob- 
 served, were satisfied, with their literary ac- 
 quisitions, when they had made themselves 
 masters of the triviiun, while such as with an 
 adventurous flight aspired to the quadrivium, 
 were considered as stars of the first magnitude, 
 as the great luminaries of the learned world. 
 But in this century the aspect of letters un- 
 derwent a considerable and an advantageous 
 change. The liberal arts and sciences were 
 multiplied; and new and unfrequented paths of 
 knowledge were opened to the emulation of 
 the studious youth. Theology was placed in 
 the number of the sciences; not that ancient 
 theology which had no merit but its simplicity, 
 and which was drawn, without the least order 
 or connexion, from diverse passages of the 
 holy scriptures, and from the opinions and in- 
 ventions of the primitive doctors, but that phi- 
 losophical or scholastic theology which, with 
 the deepest abstraction, traced divine truth to 
 its first principles, and thence followed it into 
 its various connexions and branches. Nor was 
 theology alone added to the ancient circle of 
 sciences; the studies of the learned languaget, 
 of the civil and canon law, and of physic.f 
 were now brought into high repute. Par- 
 ticular academies were consecrated to the 
 culture of each of these sciences, in various 
 places; and thus it was natural tn consider 
 them as important branches of erudition, and 
 an acquaintance with them as a qualification 
 
 * See B. Bohmeri Jus Eccles. Protciitant. tom. i», 
 
 p. 705. 
 
 ffj* t The word pkysica, though, according to its 
 etymology, it denotes the study of natural philosophy 
 in general, was, in the twelfth century, applied par- 
 ticularly to medicinal studies; and it has also pre- 
 served that limited sense in the English language. 
 
306 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 necessary to Buch as aimed at universal learning. 
 All this required a considerable change in the 
 division of the sciences hitherto received; and 
 this change was accordingly brought about. 
 The seven liberal arts were, by degrees, re- 
 duced to one general title, and were compre- 
 hended under the name of philosophy, to 
 which theology, jurisprudence, and physic, 
 were added. And hence originated the four 
 classes of science, or, to use the academic 
 phrase, the four faculties which prevailed in the 
 universities, in the following century. 
 
 V. A happy and unexpected event restored 
 in Italy the lustre and authority of tlie ancient 
 Roman law, and, at the same time, lessened 
 the credit of those systems of legislation which 
 had been received for several ages past. This 
 event was the discover}' of the original manu- 
 script of the famous Pandect of Justinian, 
 which was found in the ruins of Amalphi, or 
 Melfi, when that city was taken by Lotharius 
 II. in 113', and of which thai emperor made 
 a present to the inhabitants of Pisa, whose 
 fleet had contributed, in a particular manner, 
 to the success of the siege. This admirable 
 collection, which had been almost buried in 
 oblivion, was no sooner recovered, than the 
 Roman law became the grand object of the 
 •tudies and labours of the learned. In the 
 academy of Bologna, colleges were erected ex- 
 pressly for the study of the Roman jurispru- 
 dence; and these excellent institutions were 
 multiplied in several parts of Italy, in process 
 of time, and animated other European nations 
 to imitate so wise an exam.ple. Hence arose 
 a great revolution in the public tribunals, and 
 an entire change in their judicial proceedings. 
 Hitherto different systems of law had been fol- 
 lowed in different courts; and every person of 
 distinction, particularly among the Franks, 
 had the liberty of choosing that code of law 
 which was to be the rule of his conduct. But 
 the Roman law acquired such credit and au- 
 thority, that it superseded, by degrees, all 
 other laws in the greatest part of Europe, and 
 was substituted in the place of the SaHc, Lom- 
 bard, and Burgundian codes, which before this 
 period v/ere in the highest reputation. It is 
 an ancient opinion, that Lotharius II. pursuant 
 to tlie counsels and solicitations of Irnerius,* 
 principal professor of the Roman law in the 
 academy of Bologna, published an edict en- 
 joining the abrogation of all the statutes then 
 in force, and substituting in their place the 
 Roman law, by which, for the future, all with- 
 out exception were to modify their contracts, 
 terminate tlieir differences, and regulate their 
 actions. But this opinion, as many learned 
 men have abundantly proved,! is far from be- 
 ing supported by sufficient evidence. 
 
 * Otherwise called Werner. 
 
 t See Herm. Conringiusde Origine Juris Gerinauici, 
 cap. xxii.— Guirli) Grandus, Epist. de Pandectis, p. 
 21, 60, published at Florence, in 4to. in 1T37.— Henry 
 Brcncmann, llistoria Pandectar. p. 41.— Lud. Ant. 
 Muiatori, Praf. ad Leges Lan{;obardicas, apud 
 scriptor. reriun Ital. torn. i. part ii. p. 4, &c. Antiq. 
 Ual. medii aevi, torn. ii. p. 285. There was a warm 
 controversy carried on concernins; this matter be- 
 tween George Calixtiis and Barthol. Nihusius, the 
 latter of whom embraced the vulgar opinion concern- 
 ine the edict of Lotharius, obtained by the solicita. 
 »»on« of Irnerius, of tins controversy there is a cir- 
 
 VI. No sooner was the civil law placed in 
 the number of the sciences, and considered as 
 an important branch of academical learning, 
 than the Roman pontiffs, and their zealous 
 adherents, judged it, not only expedient, but 
 also highly necessary, that the canon law 
 should have the same privilege. There ex- 
 isted, before this time, certain collections of 
 the canons or laws of the church; but these 
 collections were so destitute of order and 
 method, and were so defective, both in respect 
 to matter and form, that they could not be 
 conveniently explained in the schools, or be 
 brought into use as systems of ecclesiastical 
 polity. Hence it was, that Gratian, a Bene- 
 dictine monk, belonging to the convent of 
 St. Felix and Nabor at Bologna, and by birth 
 a Tuscan composed, about the year 1130, for 
 the use of the schools, an abridgement, or 
 Epitome of Canon Law, drawn from the letters 
 of the pontiffs, the decrees of councils, and the 
 writings of the ancient doctors. Pope Euge- 
 nius III. was extremely pleased with this work, 
 which was also received with the highest ap- 
 plause by the doctors and professors of Bologna, 
 and was imaniinously adopted, as the text 
 they were to follow in their public lectures. 
 The professors at Paris were the first that fol- 
 lowed the example of those of Bologna, which, 
 in process of time, was imitated by the great- 
 est part of the European colleges. But, not- 
 withstanding the encomiums bestowed upon 
 this performance, which was commonly called 
 the decretal of Gratian,* and was entitled, by 
 the author himself, the re-union or coalition 
 of the jarring canons,! several most learned 
 and eminent writers of the Romish communion 
 acknowledge, that it is full of errors and de- 
 fects.| As, however, the main design of this 
 abridgement was to support the despotism, 
 and to extend the authority of the Roman 
 pontiffs, its innumerable defects were over- 
 looked, its merits were exaggerated; and, what 
 is still more surprising, it enjoys, at this day, 
 in an age of light and liberty, that high degree 
 of veneration and authority, which was incon- 
 siderately, though more excusably, lavished 
 upon it in an age of tyranny, superstition, and 
 darkness. § 
 
 cumstantial account in the Cimbria Literata of 
 Mollerus, toni. iii. p. 142. 
 
 * Decretuni Gratiani. 
 
 t Concordia Discordantinm Canonum. 
 
 X See, among others, Anton. Augustinus, De 
 Emendatione Gratiani, published in 8vo. at Arnheim, 
 A. D. 1678, with the learned observations of Steph. 
 Baluze and Ger. a Maestricht. 
 
 5 See Gerhard, a Maestricht, Historia Juris Eccle. 
 siastici, sect. 293, p. 32o. — B. Just. Hen. Bohmer'a 
 Jus Eccles. Protestant, torn. i. p. 100, and more par. 
 ticularlythe learned Preface, with which he enriched 
 the new edition of the Canon Law, published at 
 Halle in 4to. in the year 1747. See also Alex. 
 Machiavelli Observationes ad Sigonii Histor. Bonon- 
 iensem, torn. iii. Oper. Sigonii, p. 128. This writer 
 has drawn, from the Kalendarium Archl-Gymnasii 
 Bononiensis, several particularities concerning Gra- 
 tian and his work, which were generally unknown, 
 but whose truth is also much disputed. What in. 
 creases the suspicion of tlieir being fabulous is. that 
 this famous Kalendar, of which the Bolognese boast 
 so much, and which they have so often promised to 
 publish in order to dispel the doubts of the learned, 
 has never yet seen the light. Besides, in the frap- 
 ments that have appeared, there are manifest marks 
 of unfair dealing. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 307 
 
 VII. Such among the Latins as were am- 
 bitious of making a figure in the republic of 
 letters, apphed themselves to philosophy with 
 the utmost zeal and diligence. Taken in its 
 most extensive and general meaning, that 
 study comprehended, according to the method 
 which was the most generally received toward 
 the middle of this century, lour classes: it was 
 divided into theoretical, practical, mechanical, 
 and logical. The first class comprised natural 
 theology, mathematics, and natural philoso- 
 phy. In the second class were ranked ethics, 
 (Economics, and politics. The third contained 
 the seven arts that are more immediately sub- 
 servient to the purposes of life, such as naviga- 
 tion, agriculture, hunting, &c. The fourtli 
 was divided into grammar and composition, 
 the latter of which was subdivided into rhet- 
 oric, dialectics, and sophistry; and under the 
 term dialectic was comprehended that part of 
 the metaphysic science which treats of general 
 notions. This division was almost universally 
 adopted. Some, indeed, were inclined to 
 separate grammar and mechanics from philoso- 
 phy; a separation highly condemned by others, 
 who, under the general term philosophy, com- 
 prehended the whole circle of the sciences.* 
 
 VIII. The learned, who taught or who 
 cultivated these different branches of study, 
 were divided into various factions, which at- 
 tacked each other with the utmost animosity 
 and bitterness.f At this time, tliree methods 
 of teaching philosophy were practised by dif- 
 ferent doctors. The first was the ancient and 
 plain method, which confined its researches to 
 the philosophical notions of Porphyry, and the 
 dialectic system, commonly attributed to St. 
 Augustine, and in which was laid down this 
 general rule, that philosophical inquiries were 
 to be limited to a small number of subjects, 
 lest, by their becoming too extensive, religion 
 might suffer by a profane mixture of human 
 subtilty with its divine wisdom. The second 
 method was called the Aristotelian, because it 
 consisted in explications of the works of that 
 philosop]ier,J several of whose productioire, 
 being translated into Latin, were now almost 
 every where in the hands of the learned. 
 These translations were, indeed, extremely ob- 
 
 « Tliese literary anecdotes I fiave taken from se- 
 veral writers, particularly from Hugo a St. Victore, 
 Didascali Libro ii. cap. ii. p. 7. toni. i. op. and from 
 the Melalogicum of John of Salisbury. 
 
 t See Godof do St. Victore, (^armen de Sectis 
 Philosoph. published by Le Bfpnf, in his Di.ss. sur 
 I'Histoirc Ecclesiast. et Civile de Paris, tome Ii. p. 
 <J54. — Boiilay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 5tii, — 
 Ant. Wood, Antiq. Oxoniens. tom. i. p. 51. Jo. Saris- 
 buriensis Metnlog. et Pnlicrat. passim. 
 
 } Rob. de Monte, Append, ad Siffebertiim Gembla- 
 cens. published by d'Acheri, among the works of 
 Guibert, abbot of Nogent, ad annum 1128. p. 753. 
 " Jacobus Clericus rie Venetia transtulit de Gr<TCo in 
 Latinum quosdam libros Aristotelis et commentatus 
 est, scilicet Topica, Annal priores et posteriores et 
 elenchos; quamvis antiquior translatio super eosdcm 
 libros haberetur." Thorn Becket, Epistolar. lib. ii. 
 ep. xciii. p. 454. edit. Bruxell. 1682, in -Ito. " Itero 
 preces, quatenus libros Ari.stotelis, quns habetis, 
 mihi faciatis exscribi.— Precor etiani iterata suppli- 
 catione quatenus in opeiibus Arislotelis, ubi tliffi- 
 ciliora fuerint, notulas facialis, co quod interpretcm 
 aliquatenus suspectum habeo, quia, licet eloquene 
 fuerit aliaH. ut t^tepe audivi, minni tamen fuit In 
 grammatica inMitutus." 
 
 scure and incorrect, and led those who made 
 use of them in their academical lectures, into 
 various blunders, and often into such notions 
 as were not more absurd tJian whimsical and 
 singular. The third was termed the frea 
 method, employed by such as were bold enough 
 to search after truth, in the manner they 
 thought the most adapted to render their in- 
 quiries successful, and who followed the bent 
 of their own genius, without rejecting, how- 
 ever, tlie aid of^ Aristotle and Plato. Laudabla 
 as this method was, it became an abundant 
 source of sophistry and chicane, by the im- 
 prudent management of those who employed 
 it; for these subtile doctors, through a wanton 
 indulgence of their metaphysical fancies, did 
 little more than puzzle their disciples with vain 
 questions, and fatigue them with endless dis- 
 tinctions and divisions.* These different sys- 
 tems, and vehement contests that divided the 
 philosophers, gave to many a disgust against 
 philosopliy in general, and prompted them to 
 desire, with impatience, its banishment from 
 the public schools. 
 
 IX. Of all the controversies that divided the 
 philosophers in this century, there were none 
 carried on with greater animosity, and treated 
 with greater subtilty and refinement, than the 
 contest of the Dialecticians concerninp- univer- 
 sals. The sophistical doctors were wholly 
 occupied about the intricate questions relating 
 to genus and species, to the solution of which 
 they directed all their philosophical efforts, 
 and the whole course of their metaphysical 
 studies; but not all in the same metiiod, nor 
 upon the same principles. f The two leading 
 sects into which thty had been divided long be- 
 fore this period, and which were distinguished 
 by the titles of Realists and Nominalists, not 
 only still subsisted, but were subdivided, each 
 into smaller parties and factions, according as 
 the two opposite and leading schemes were 
 modified by new fancies and inventions. The 
 Nominalists, though they had their followers, 
 were nevertheless much inferior to the Real- 
 ists, both with respect to the number of their 
 disciples, and to the credit and reputation of 
 their doctrine. A third sect arose under the 
 name of Formalists, wlio pretended to termi- 
 
 * See Jo. Sarisburiensis Policrat. p 4.14, et Meta- 
 Idg. p. 814. &c, 
 
 t John of Salisbury, a very elegant and ingenious 
 writer of this age, censures, with no small degree of 
 wit, the crude and unintellicible speculations of these 
 sophists in his book intitled Policraticon, seu de 
 Nugis (Jurialium, lib. vii. p. 451. He observes, that 
 more time had been consumed in resolving the ques- 
 tion relating to genus and species, than the C^sars 
 had employed in making themselves masters of the 
 whole world; that the riches of Croesus were inferior 
 to the treasures which had been exhausted in this 
 controversy; and that the contending parties, after 
 havingspent their whole lives upon this single point, 
 had neither been so happy as to determine it to their 
 satisfaction, nor to make, in the labyrinths of 
 science where they had been groping, any discovery 
 that was worth the pains they had taken. His 
 words are: " Veterem paratus est solvere quKstionem 
 de gencrihuset speciebus (bespeaks here of a certain 
 philosopher) in qua laborans mundus jam senuit, in 
 qua plus temporis consumptum est, quam in acqui- 
 rendo et regendo orbis impcrio consumpscrit Csaarea 
 domus: plus eftusum pecuni.T, quam in omnibus di- 
 vitiiK suis poesederit Crcesus. Htec enim tarn diu 
 multos tenuit, ut cum hocunum tola vitaqunrerent, 
 tandem nee istud nee aliud invenirsnt," 
 
308 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 nate the controversy, by steering a middle 
 course between the jarring systems now men- 
 tioned; but, as the hypotlieses of these new 
 doctors were most obscure and unintelhgible, 
 they only perplexed matters more than they 
 had hitherto been, and furnished new subjects 
 of contention and dispute.* 
 
 Those among the learned, who turned their 
 pursuits to more interesting and beneficial 
 branches of science, tiian the intricate and puz- 
 zlino- doctrine of universals, travelled into the 
 different countries, where the kinds of jcnow- 
 ledge, which they wished to cultivate, chiefly 
 flourished. The students of physic, astronomy, 
 and mathematics, continued to frequent the 
 schools of the Saracens in Spain. Many of 
 the learned productions of the Arabians were 
 also translated into Latin;! ^or the high fame 
 which that people had acquired for erudition, 
 together with a desire of converting the 
 Spanish Saracens to Christianity, had excited 
 many to study their language, and to acquire 
 a considerable knowledge of their doctrine. 
 
 * See the above cited author's Policrat. lib. vii. p. 
 451, where he gives a succinct account of the For- 
 malists, Realists, and Nominalists, in the following 
 words: " Sunt qui more mathematicorum formasah- 
 strahunt,et ad illas quicquiddeuniversalibusdicitur 
 referunt." Such were the Formalists, who applied the 
 doctrine of universal ideas to what the mathemati- 
 cians call abstract forms. ■• Aliidiscutiunt Intellectus, 
 et eos universalium nominibns cenaeri confirmant." 
 Here we lind the Realists pointed out, who, under the 
 name of universals, comprehended all intellectual 
 povvera, qualities, and ideas. ' Fuerunt et qui voces 
 ipsas genera dicerent et species: sed eorum jam ex- 
 plosa sententia est, et facile cum auctore suo 
 evanuit. Sunt tamen adhuc, qui deprehenduntur 
 in vestiiiiis eorum, licet erubescant vel auctorem 
 vel scientiam profiteri, solis nominibus inhierentes, 
 quod rebus et intellectibus subtrahunt, sermonibus 
 ascribunt." This was a sect of the Nominalists, 
 who, ashamed (as this author alleges) to profess the 
 exploded doctrine of Roscellinus, which placed ge- 
 nus and species in the class of mere words, or sim- 
 ple denominations, modified that system by a slight 
 change of expression only, which did not essentially 
 distinguish their doctrine from that of the ordinary 
 Nominalists. It appears from all this, that the sect 
 of the Formalists is of more ancient date than John 
 Duns Scotus, whom many learned men consider as 
 its founder. See Jo. Sarisbur. Metalogic. lib. ii. cap. 
 xvii. p. 814. where that eminent author describes at 
 large the various contests of these three sects, and 
 sums up their differences in the following words: 
 " Alius consistit in vocibus, licet h»c opinio cum 
 Roscellino suo fere jam evanuerit; alius sermone.^ 
 intuetur: alius versatur in intellectibus," &c. 
 
 t Oerard of Cremona, who was so famous among 
 the Italians for his eminent skill in astronomy and 
 physic, undertook a voyase to Toledo, where he 
 translated into Latin several Arabian treatises; see 
 Muratori's Antiq. Ital. medii svi, tom. iii. p. 936, 
 937. — Mirmet, a French monk, travelled into Spain 
 and Africa, to learn geography among the Saracens. 
 See Luc. Darherii Spicileeium Scriptor. tom. ix. p. 
 443, ed. Antiq. — Daniel Morlach, an Englishman, 
 who was extremely fond of mathematical learning, 
 undertook a journey to Toledo, whence he brought 
 into his own country a considerable number of Ara- 
 bian books: Ant. VVood, Antiqiiit. Oxon. tom. i. p. 
 5.V — Peter, abbot of Clugni, surnamed the Venera- 
 ble, after having sojourned for some time among the 
 Spiiniards, in order to make himself master of the 
 Arabian l.inguage, translated into Latin the Koran, 
 and the Lite of IVIidiammed: see Mabillon, Annal. 
 Beneil. tom. vi. lib. Ixxvii. 345. This eminent eccle- 
 siastic, as appears from the Bibliotheca Cluniacen- 
 (is, p. 1169, found, upon his arrival in Spain, persons 
 of learning from England and other countries, who 
 applied themselves wiih extraordinary assiduity and 
 ardour to thf study of astrology. We might multiply 
 llie example* of ihosa who travelled in quasi of 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 Church, and its Form of Government, during 
 this Century. 
 
 I. Wherever we turn our eyes among the 
 various ranks and orders of the clergy, we pei^ 
 ceive, in this century, the most flagrant marks 
 of licentiousness and fraud, ignorance and 
 luxury, and other vices, whose pernicious ef- 
 fects were deeply felt both in chm-ch and state. 
 If we except a very small number, who re- 
 tained a sense of the sanctity of their vocation, 
 and lamented the corruption and degeneracy 
 of their order, it may be said, with respect to 
 the rest, that their whole business was to sa- 
 tisfy their lusts, to multiply their privileges by 
 grasping perpetually at new honours and dis- 
 tinctions, to increase their opulence, to dimi- 
 nish the authority and encroach upon the pri- 
 vileges of princes and magistrates, and, ne- 
 glecting entirely the interests of religion and the 
 cure of souls, to live in ease and pleasutre, and 
 draw out their days in an unmanly and luxu- 
 rious indolence. This appears manifestly from 
 two remarkable treatises of St. Bernard, in 
 one of which he exposes the corruption of the 
 pontiffs and bishops,* while he describes in the 
 other the enormous crimes of the monastic or- 
 ders, whose licentiousness he chastises with a 
 just severity.! 
 
 II. The pontiffs, who successively ruled the 
 Latin church, governed that spiritual and mys- 
 tical body by the maxims of worldly ambition, 
 and thereby fomented the warm contest that 
 had arisen between the imperial and sacerdotal 
 powers. On the one hand, the popes not only 
 maintained the opulence and authority which 
 they had already acquired, but extended their 
 views, and laboured strenuously to enlarge 
 both, thougli they had not all equal success in 
 this ambitious attempt. The European empe- 
 rors and princes, on the other hand, alarmed 
 at the strides which the pontiffs were making 
 to universal dominion, used their utmost ef- 
 forts to disconcert their measures, and to check 
 their growing opulence and power. These vio- 
 lent dissensions between the empire and the 
 priestliood (for so the contending parties were 
 styled in this century,) were most unhappy in 
 their effects, which were felt throughout all 
 the European provinces. Pascal II. who had 
 been raised to the pontificate about the con- 
 clusion of the preceding age, seemed now to 
 sit firm and secure in the apostolic chair, with- 
 out the least apprehension fi-om the imperial 
 faction, whose affairs had taken an unfavour- 
 able turn, and who had not the courage to 
 elect a new pope of their party in the place of 
 Guibert, who died in the year 1100.| 
 
 science during this century, but those now alleged 
 are sufficient for our purpose. 
 
 * In the work entitled, Considerationum Libri V. 
 ad Eugenium Pontiflcem. 
 
 t See his defence of the crusades, under the titla 
 of Apologia ad Gulielmum Abbatem; as also Gerho- 
 hus, de corrupto Ecclesiie Sntu, in Baluzii Miscell. 
 tom. V. p. 63.— Gallia Christiana, tom. i. p. 6. App. 
 torn. ii. p. 21)5, 273, &;c. Boulay'sHistor. Academ. Pa- 
 ris, tom. ii. p. 4110, 690. 
 
 0(7- I Dr. Mosheim'9 affirmation here muit be 
 somewhat modified in order to be true; it is certain 
 
Chap. U. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 309 
 
 Unwilling to let pass unimproved the pre- 
 sent success of the papal faction, Pascal re- 
 newed, in a council assembled at Rome, A. D. 
 1102, the decrees of his predecessors against 
 investitures, and the excommunications they 
 had thundered out against Henry IV. and used 
 his most vigorous endeavours to raise up on 
 all sides new enemies to that unfortunate em- 
 peror. Henry opposed, with great constancy 
 and resolution, the efforts of this violent pon- 
 tiff, and eluded, with much dexterity and vigi- 
 lance, his perfidious stratagems. But his heart, 
 wounded in the tenderest part, lost all its firm- 
 nes^and courage, when, in the year 1106, an 
 unnatural son, under the impious pretext of 
 religion, took up arms against his person and 
 his cause. Henry V. (so was this monster 
 afterwards named) seized his father in a most 
 treacherous manner, and obliged him to abdi- 
 cate the empire; after which the unhappy 
 Erince retired to Liege, where, deserted by all 
 is adherents, he shook off, in 1 106, the bur- 
 then of life and of misery. It has been a mat- 
 ter of dispute, whether it was the instigation 
 of the pontiff, or the ambitious and impatient 
 thirst of dominion, that engaged Henry V. to 
 declare war against his father; nor is it, per- 
 haps, easy to decide this question with a per- 
 fect degree of evidence. One thing, however, 
 is unquestionably certain, that Pascal 11. not 
 only dissolved, or rather impiously pretended 
 to dissolve, the oath of fidelity and obedience 
 that Henry had taken to his father, but adopt- 
 ed the cause, and supported the interests of 
 this unnatural rebel with tlie utmost zeal, assi- 
 duity, and fervour.* 
 
 III. The revolution that this odious rebel- 
 lion caused in the empire, was, however, much 
 less favourable to the views of Pascal, than 
 that lordly pontiff expected. Henry V. could 
 by no means be persuaded to renounce his 
 right of investing the bishops and abbots, 
 though he was willing to grant the right of 
 election to the canons and monks, as was usual 
 before his time. Upon this the exasperated 
 pontiff renewed, in the councils of Guastalla 
 and Troyes, the decrees that had so often been 
 promulgated against investitures; and the 
 flame broke out with new force. It was, in- 
 deed, suspended during a few years, by the 
 wars in which Henry was engaged, and which 
 prevented his b^inging the atlair to a decision. 
 But no sooner had he made peace with his 
 enemies, and composed the tumults that trou- 
 bled the tranquillity of the empire, than he set 
 out for Italy with a formidable army, A. D. 
 II 10, in order to put an end to this long and 
 unhappy contest. He advanced towards Rome 
 by slow marches, while the trembling pontiff, 
 seeing himself destitute of all succour, and re- 
 duced to tlie lowest and most defenceless con- 
 
 that, after tlie (teatli of Giiil)i,Tt, the imperial party 
 chose in his place a pi;rsoii nameil Albert, who, in- 
 deed, was seized and imprisoned on the day of liis 
 election. Theodorir, and Magnnlf were enccessively 
 chosen after Albert, bnl could not long support their 
 claims to the pontificate. See Flenry, Hist. Eccles. 
 liv. Ixv. vol. xiv. p. 10. BrusselH edition in tvo. 
 
 * These accounts are drawn from the most au- 
 thentic sources, and also from the eminent writers, 
 whose authority I made use of, and whose names I 
 mentioned, iji that part of the preceding century 
 which corrpsp<.)iids with the subject here treated. 
 
 dition, proposed the following conditions of 
 peace: That the emperor, on the one hand, 
 should renounce the right of investing with the 
 ring and crosier; and that the bishops and ab- 
 bots should, on the other hand, resign and give 
 over, to him and his successors, all the grants, 
 received from Charlemagne, of the rights and 
 privileges that belong to royalty, such as the 
 power of raising tribute, coining money, and 
 possessing independent lands and territories, 
 with other immunities of a like nature. Theso 
 conditions were agreeable to Henry, who ac- 
 cordingly gave a formal consent to them in the 
 year 1111; but they were extremely displeas- 
 ing to the Italian and German bishops, who 
 expressed their dissent in the strongest terms. 
 Hence a terrible tumult arose in the church of 
 St. Peter, where the contending parties were 
 assembled with their respective followers; upon 
 which Henry ordered the pope to be seized, 
 and t-o be confined in the castle of Viterbo. 
 After having remained there for some time, 
 the captive pontiff was engaged, by the un- 
 happy circumstances of his present condition, 
 to enter into a new convention, by which he 
 solemnly receded from the article of the for- 
 mer treaty that regarded investitures, and con- 
 firmed to the emperor the privilege of inaugu- 
 rating the bishops and abbots with the ring 
 and crosier. Peace being thus concluded, the 
 vanquished pontiff arrayed Henry with the 
 imperial diadem.* 
 
 IV. This tratisitory peace, which was the 
 fruit of violence and necessity, was followed 
 by greater tumults and more dreadful wars, 
 than had yet afflicted the church. Immedi- 
 ately after the conclusion of this treaty, Rome 
 was filled with the most vehement commotions; 
 and a loud clamour was raised against the 
 pontift', who was accused of having violated, 
 in a scandalous manner, the duties and dig- 
 nity of his station, and of having prostituted 
 the majesty of the church by his ignominious 
 compliance with the demands of the emperor. 
 To appease these commotions, Pascal assem- 
 bled, in the year 1112, a council in the Late- 
 ran church, and not only confessed, with con- 
 trition and humility, the fault he had com- 
 mitted in concluding such a convention with 
 Henry, but submitted the question to the de- 
 termination of the council, who accordingly 
 took that treaty into consideration, and so- 
 lemnly annulled it.j This step was followed 
 by many events that gave, for a long time, an 
 unfavourable turn to the affairs of the empe- 
 ror. He was excommunicated in many synods 
 and councils, both in France and Germany; 
 he was even placed in the black lists of here- 
 tics, a denomination which exposed him to the 
 greatest dangers in tliose superstitious and 
 barbarous times;J and, to complete his anxiety, 
 
 * Beside the writers already mentioned, see Ma- 
 billon, Annal. Henedict. tom. v. p. tiHl, and torn. vi. 
 p. 1, at the particular years to which the events here 
 noticed belong. 
 
 t Pascal, upon this occasion, ns Gregory VII. had 
 formerly done in the case of Berenger, submitted hit 
 proceedings and his authority to the judgment of a 
 council, to which, of consequence, he acknowledged 
 his subordination. That council even condemned 
 liis measures, and declared them bcandaloua. 
 
 ] See Gervaise, Diss, sur I'Herpiie dei Investi' 
 
310 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II 
 
 he saw the German princes revolting from his 
 authority in several places, and taking up arms 
 in the cause of the church. To put an end to 
 calamities that thus afflicted the empire on all 
 sides, Henry set out a second time for Italy, 
 with a numerous army, in the year 1116, and 
 arrived, in the following year, at Rome, where 
 he assembled the consuls, senators, and no- 
 bles, while the fugitive pontitf retired to Bene- 
 vento. Pascal, however, during this forced 
 absence, engaged the Normans to come to his 
 assistance; and, encouraged by the prospect 
 of immediate succour, prepared every thing 
 for a vigorous war against the emperor, and 
 attempted to make himself master of Rome. 
 But, in the midst of these warlike preparations, 
 which drew the attention of Europe, and por- 
 tended great and remarkable events, the mili- 
 tary pontiff yielded to fate, A. D. 1118. 
 
 V. A few days after the death of Pascal, 
 John of Gaieta, a Benedictine monk of Mont- 
 Cassin, and chancellor of the Roman Church, 
 was raised to the pontificate under the title of 
 Gelasius II. In opposition to this choice, 
 Henry elected to the same dignity Maurice 
 Burdin, archbishop of Braga, in Spain,* who 
 assumed the denomination of Gregory VIII. f 
 Upon this, Gelasius, not thinking himself safe 
 at Rome, or indeed in Italy, set out for France, 
 and soon after died at Clugni. The cardinals, 
 who accompanied him in his journey, elected 
 to the papacy, immediately after his departure, 
 Guy, archbishop of Vienne, count of Burgun- 
 dy, who was nearly related to the emperor, and 
 is distinguished in the list of the Roman pon- 
 tiffs by the name of Calixtus II. The eleva- 
 tion of this eminent ecclesiastic was, in the is- 
 sue, extremely fortunate both for the church 
 and state. Remarkably distinguished by his 
 illustrious birth, and still more by his noble and 
 heroic qualities, this magnanimous pontiff" con- 
 tinued to oppose the emperor with courage and 
 success, and to carry on the war both with the 
 Bword of the spirit, and with the arm of flesh. 
 He made himself master of Rome, threw into 
 prison the pontiff" who had been cliosen by the 
 emperor, and fomented the civil commotions 
 in Germanj'. But his fortitude and resolu- 
 tion were tempered with moderation, and ac- 
 companied with a spirit of generosity and 
 compliance which dift"ered much from the ob- 
 stinate arrogance of his lordly predecessors. 
 Accordingly, he lent an ear to prudent coun- 
 Bels, and was willing to relinquish a part of 
 the demands upon which the former pontirt"s 
 had so vehemently insisted, that he might re- 
 store the public tranquillity, and satisfy the ar- 
 dent desires of so many nations, who groaned 
 under the dism.al effects of these deplorable 
 divisions. I 
 
 It will appear unquestionably evident to 
 
 tures, which is the fourtti of the Dissertations pre- 
 fixed to his History of the Abbot Sugcr. 
 
 QQ" * Braga was the metropolis of ancient Gali- 
 cia, but at present is one of the three archbishoprics 
 of Portugal, in the province of Entre Duero e Minho. 
 The archbishop of that see claims the title of pri- 
 mate of Spain, which is annexed in Spain to the see 
 of Toledo. 
 
 t Sea Stephani Baluzii Vita Mauritii Burdini, in 
 Miacellaneis torn, iii p. 471- 
 
 QCf- I Tho paragraph following ia the note (t) of 
 Ihc original placed in the text. 
 
 every attentive and impartial observer of 
 things, that the illiberal and brutal manners 
 of those who ruled the church were the only 
 reason that rendered the dispute concerning 
 investitures so violent and cruel, so tedious in 
 its duration, and so unhappy in its effects. 
 I During the space of fifty-five years, the church 
 I wa.s governed by monks, who, to the obscurity 
 I of their birth, the asperity of their natural 
 tempers, and the unbounded rapacity of their 
 ambition and avarice, joined that inflexible ob- 
 1 stinacy which is one of the essential character- 
 ! istics of the monastic order. Hence arose 
 ; those bitter feuds, those furious efforts of am- 
 bition and vetigeance, that dishonourecF the 
 church and afflicted the state during the course 
 of this controversy. But as soon as the papal 
 chair was filled by a man of a more dignified 
 nature, and of a liberal education, the face of 
 things changed entirely, and a prospect of 
 peace arose to the desires and hopes of ruined 
 and desolate countries. 
 
 VI. These hopes were not disappointed; for, 
 after much contestation, peace was, at length, 
 concluded between the emperor and the pope's 
 legates, at a general diet, holden at Worms, 
 A. D. 1122. The conditions were as follow: 
 
 " Tliat for the future the bishops and abbots 
 " should be chosen by those to whom the right 
 " of election belonged;* but that this election 
 " should be made in presence of the emperor, 
 "or of an ambassador appointed by him for 
 " that purpose:! 
 
 " That, in case of a dispute among the eleo 
 "tors, the decision of it should be left to the 
 "emperor, who was to consult with the bi- 
 " shops upon that occasion: 
 
 " That the bishop or abbot elect should take 
 " an oath of allegiance to the emperor, receive 
 " from his hand the regalia, and do homage 
 " for them: 
 
 " That the emperor should no more confer 
 " the regalia by the ceremony of the ring and 
 " crosier, wliich were the ensigns of a ghostly 
 " dignity, but by that of the sceptre, which 
 " was more proper to invest the person elected 
 " in the possession of rights and privileges 
 " merely temporal. "J 
 
 This convention was solemnly confirmed in 
 the following year in tlie Lateran council, 
 and remains still in force in our times, though 
 the true sense of some of its articles has occa- 
 sioned disputes between the emperors and pon- 
 titfs.§ 
 
 VII. Calixtus did not long enjoy the fruits 
 of this peace, to which he had so much contri- 
 buted by his prudence and moderation. He 
 
 {)lj- * The expression is ambignous; but it signi- 
 fies that the elections of bishops and abbots were to 
 be made by monks and canons as in former times. 
 
 t From this period the people in Germany were 
 excluded from the right of voting in the election of 
 bishops. See Fetr. de Marca, de concordia sacerdo- 
 tii et imperii, lib. vi. cap. ii. sect. 9, p. 786, edit. Boh- 
 meri. 
 
 X SeeMuratori, Antiq. Ital. mediisevi.tom.vi. p. 76. 
 Schilterus, de Libertate Eccl. Germanics, lib. iv. cap. 
 iv. p. 545. — Cffisar Rasponus, de Basilica Lateranensi, 
 lib. iv. p. 295. 
 
 § It was disputed among other thing.s, whether the 
 consecration of the bishop elect was to precede or 
 follow the collation of the regalia. See Jo. Wilh 
 Hoflman, ad concord.itum Henrici V. et Caliati IL 
 Vitembergff, 1739, in 4to. 
 
Chap. H. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 died in the year 1124, and was succeeded by 
 Lambert, bishop of Ostia, who assumed the 
 title of Honorious II. and under whose ponti- 
 ficate nothing wortliy of mention was trans- 
 acted. His death, which happened A. D. 
 1130, gave rise to a considerable schism in the 
 church of Rome, or rather in the college of 
 cardinals, of whom one party elected, to the 
 papal chair, Gregory, a cardinal deacon of St. 
 Angelo, who was distinguished by the name of 
 [nnocent II. while the other chose, for succes- 
 sor to Honorius, Peter, the son of Leo, a Ro- 
 man prince, under the title of Anacletus II. 
 The friends of Innocent were far from being 
 numerous in Rome, or throughout Italy in ge- 
 neral, for which reason he judged it expedient 
 to retire into France, where he had many ad- 
 herents, and where he sojourned during the 
 space of two years. His credit was very great 
 out of Italy; for, beside the emperor Lotharius, 
 the kings of England, France, and Spain, with 
 other princes, espoused warmly the cause of 
 Innocent, principally by the influence of St. 
 Bernard, who was his intimate friend, and 
 whose counsels had the force and authority of 
 laws in almost all the countries of Europe. 
 The patrons of Anacletus were fewer in num- 
 ber, and were confined to the kings of Sicily 
 and Scotland. His death, in the year 1138, 
 terminated the contest, and left Innocent in the 
 entire and undisputed possession of the apos- 
 tolic chair. The surviving pontiff presided, in 
 the year 1139, at the second Lateran council, 
 and, about four years after, ended Ids days in 
 peace.* 
 
 VIII. After the death of Innocent, the Ro- 
 man see was filled by Guy, cardinal of St. 
 Mark, who ruled the church about five months, 
 under the title of Celestine II. If his reign 
 was short, it was, however, peaceable, and not 
 like that of his successor, Lucius II. whose 
 pontificate was disturbed by various tumults 
 and seditions, and who, about eleven months 
 after his elevation to the papacy, was killed in 
 a riot which he was endeavouring to suppress 
 by his presence and authority. He was suc- 
 ceeded by Bernard, a Cistortian monk, and an 
 eminent disciple of the famous St. Bernard, 
 abbot of Clairval. This worthy ecclesiastic, 
 who is distinguished among the popes by the 
 title of Eugenius III. was raised to that high 
 dignity in tlie year 1 145, and, during a period 
 of eight years, he was involved in tlie same pe- 
 rils and perple.\ities that had embittered the 
 government of his predecessor. Ho was often 
 obliged to leave Rome, and to save himself by 
 fligiit from the fury of the people;! and the 
 same reason engaged liim to retire into France, 
 where he resided for a considerable time. At 
 
 * Beside tho ordinary writers of the papal history, 
 eee Jean de Lanncs, Histoire du Pontilicut du Pape 
 Innocent II. Paris, 1741, in fvo. 
 
 00=- 1 There was a party formed in Rome at this 
 time, whose design was to restore the Roman senate 
 to its foruier privileges, and to its ancient splendour 
 and glory; and, for this purpose, to reduce the papal 
 revenues and prerogativiis to a narrower compass, 
 even to the tithes and oblations that were offered to 
 the primitive bishops, and to the spiritual govern- 
 ment of the church, attended with an utter exclu- 
 sion from all civil jurisdiction over the city of Rome. 
 It was this party that produced the feuds and sedi 
 lions to which Dr Mosheim hag an eye in thig eighth 
 i«ction. 
 
 311 
 
 length, exhausted by the opposition he met 
 with in supporting what he deemed the prero- 
 gatives of the papacy, he died in the year 
 1153. The pontificate of his successor Con- 
 rad, bishop of Sabino, who, after his elevation 
 to the see of Rome, assumed the title of Anas- 
 tasius IV., was less disturbed by civil commo- 
 tions; but it was not of long duration; forAnas- 
 tasius died about a year and four months after 
 his election. 
 
 IX. The warm contest between the empe- 
 rors and the popes, which was considered as 
 at an end ever since the time of Calixtus II., 
 was unhappily renewed under the pontificate 
 of Adrian IV. who was a native of England, 
 and whose original name was Nicolas Break- 
 spear. Frederic I. surnamed Barbarossa, be- 
 ing placed in 1152 on the imperial throne, 
 publicly declared his resolution to maintain 
 the dignity and privileges of the Roman em- 
 pire in general, and more particularly to ren- 
 der it respectable in Italy; nor was he at all 
 studious to conceal the design he had formed 
 of reducing the overgrown power and opu- 
 lence of the pontiffs and clergy within nar- 
 rower limits. Adrian perceived the danger 
 that threatened the majesty of the church and 
 the authority of the clergy, and prepared him- 
 self for defending both with vigour and con- 
 stancy. The first occasion of trying their 
 strength was ofl^ered at the coronation of tlie 
 emperor at Rome, in the year 1155, when the 
 pontiff insisted upon Frederic's performing the 
 office oi' equerry, and holding the stirrup to 
 his holiness. This humiliating proposal was 
 at first rejected with disdain by the emperor, 
 and was followed by contests of a more mo- 
 mentous nature, relating to the political inter- 
 ests of the empire. 
 
 These differences were no sooner reconciled, 
 than new disputes, equally important, arose in 
 the year 1158, when the emperor, in order to 
 put a stop to the enormous opulence of the 
 pontiffs, bishops, and monks, which increased 
 from day to day, enacted a law to prevent the 
 transferring of fiefs without the knowledge or 
 consent of the superior, or lord, in whose name 
 they were holden,* and turned the whole force 
 of his arms to reduce the little republics of 
 Italy under his dominion. An open rupture be- 
 tween the emperor and the pontiff, was expected 
 as the inevitable consequence of such vigor- 
 ous measures, when the death of Adrian, which 
 happened on the first of September, 1159, sus- 
 pended the storm. t 
 
 X. In tlie election of a new pontiff, the car- 
 dinals were divided into two factions. The 
 more numerous and powerful of the two parties 
 raised to the pontificate, Rowland, bishop of 
 Sienna, who assumed the name of Alexander 
 111. while the rest of the conclave elected to 
 
 * This prohibition of transferring the possession 
 of fiefs from one to another, without the consent of 
 the sovereign, or supreme lord, under whom they 
 were holden, together with other laws of a like na- 
 ture, formed the first effectual barrier that was op- 
 posed to the enormous and growing opulence and 
 authority of the clergy. See Muratori, Antiq. Ital. 
 medii svi, tom. vi. p. 2.'?9. 
 
 t See the accurate and circumstantial account of 
 this whole affair that is given by the illustrious and 
 learned count Bunau. in his history of Frederic I. 
 written in German, p 45, 49, 73, 99, 105, tc 
 
312 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H. 
 
 that high dignity Octavian, cardinal of St. 
 Cecilia, known by the title of Victor IV. The 
 latter was patronized by the emperor, to whom 
 Alexander was extremely disagreeable on 
 several accounts. The council of Pavia, which 
 was assembled by the emperor in the year 
 1160, adopted his sentiments, and pronounced 
 in favour of Victor, who thus became trium- 
 phant in Germany and Italy; so that France 
 alone was left open to Alexander, who accord- 
 ingly fled thither from Rome for safely and pro- 
 tection. Amidst the tumults and commotions 
 which this schism occasioned, Victor died at 
 Lucca, in tlie year 1 164; but his place was im- 
 mediately filled by the emperor, at whose de- 
 sire Guy, cardinal of St. Calixtus, was elected 
 pontiff under the title of Pascal III. and ac- 
 knowledged in that character by the German 
 princes assembled in the year 1 161, at the diet 
 of Wurtzburg. In the mean time Alexander 
 recovered his spirits, and, returning into Italy, 
 maintained his cause with uncommon resolu- 
 tion and vigour, and not without some promis- 
 ing hopes of success. He held at Rome, in 
 the year 11 6 T, the Lateran council, in which 
 he solemnly deposed the emperor (whom he 
 had, upon several occasions before this period, 
 publicly loaded with anathemas and execra- 
 tions,) dissolved the oath of allegiance which 
 his subjects had taken to him as their lawful 
 sovereign, and encouraged and exhorted them 
 to rebel against his authority, and to shake off 
 his yoke. But, soon after this audacious pro- 
 ceeding, Frederic made himself master of 
 Rome; upon which the insolent pontiff fled to 
 Benevento, and left the apostolic chair to 
 Pascal, his competitor. 
 
 XI. The affairs of Alexander seemed, soon 
 after, to take a more prosperous turn, when 
 (the greatest part of the imperial army being 
 consumed by a pestilential disorder) the empe- 
 ror was forced to abandon Italy, and when the 
 death of Pascal, which happened in the year 
 1168, delivered him from a powerful and for- 
 midable rival. But this fair prospect soon 
 vanished; for the imperial faction elected to 
 the pontificate John, abbot of Strum, under 
 the title of Calixtus III. whom Frederic, not- 
 withstanding his absence in Germany, and the 
 various wars and disputes in which he was 
 involved, supported to the utmost of his power. 
 When peace was in some measure restored to 
 the empire, Frederic marched into Italy, A. D. 
 1174, to chastise the perfidy of the states and 
 cities that had revolted during his absence, 
 and seized the first opportunity of throwring 
 off his yoke. Had this expedition been crown- 
 ed with the expected success, Alexander would, 
 undoubtedly, have been obliged to desist from 
 his pretensions, and to yield the papal chair 
 to Calixtus. But the event came far short of 
 the hopes which this grand expedition had 
 excited; and the emperor, afler having, during 
 the space of three years, been alternately de- 
 feated and victorious, was at length so fatigued 
 with the hardships he had suffered, and so de- 
 jected at a view of the difficulties he had yet 
 to overcome, that, in the year im, he con- 
 cluded a treaty of peace at Venice with Alex- 
 ander, and a truce with the rest of his ene- 
 
 mies.* Some writers affirm, that, upon this 
 occasion, the haughty pontiff trod upon the 
 neck of the suppliant emperor, while he kissed 
 his foot, repeating at the same time those 
 words of the royal Psalmist: " Thou shall 
 tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion 
 and the dragon slialt thou trample under feet."f 
 The greatest part, however, of modem authors 
 have called this event in question, and con- 
 sider it as utterly destitute of authority and 
 mivvorthy of credit. J 
 
 XII. Alexander III., who was rendered so 
 famous by his long and successful contest with 
 Frederic I., was also engaged in a warm dis- 
 pute with Henry II. king of England, which 
 was occasioned by the arrogance of Thomas 
 Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. In the 
 council of Clarendon, which that prince held 
 in the year 1164, several laws were enacted, 
 by which the king's power and jurisdiction 
 over the clergy were accurately explained, and 
 the rights and privileges of the bishops and 
 priests reduced within narrow bounds. § Becket 
 
 * All the circumstances of these conventions are 
 accurately related by count Bunau, in his History 
 of Frederic I. p. 115 — 242. — See also FortunatlOlmi 
 Istoria della Venuta a Venetia occultamente nel A. 
 1177, di Papa Alessandro III. Venet. 1029, in 4to.— 
 Muratorl, Antiq. Italics medii aevi, torn. iv. p. 2, 9. — 
 Origines GuelphiciE, torn. ii. p. 379. — Acta Sancto- 
 runj, torn. i. April, p. 40, in Vita Hugonis abbati* 
 Bon.-R-Vallis, & torn. ii. April, in Vita Galdini Me- 
 diolanensis, p. 596, two famous ecclesiastics, who 
 were employed as ambassadors and arbiters in the 
 treaty of peace here mentioned. 
 
 t Psalm xci. 13. 
 
 I See Bunau's Life of Frederic I. p. 242. — Heuman- 
 ni PcBciles. torn. iii. lib. i. p. 145. — Bibliotheqi>e 
 Italique, torn. vi. p. 5, as also the authors mentioned 
 by Caspar Sagittarius, in his Introduct. in Histor. 
 Eccles. torn. i. p. 030, torn. ii. 
 
 § See Matth. Paris, Histor. Major, p. 82, 83, 101, 
 114. Dav. VVilkins, Concilia MaguEe Britanniae, torn, 
 i. p. 434. 
 
 (}(^ Henry II. had formed the wise project of 
 bringing the clergy under the jurisdiction of the civil 
 courts, on account of the scandalous abuse they had 
 made of their immunities, and the crimes whicht 
 the ecclesiastical tribunals let pass with impunity. 
 The Constitutions of Clarendon, which consisted of 
 si.xteen articles, were drawn up for this purpose: 
 and, as they are proper to give the reader a just idea 
 of the prerogatives and privileges that were claimed 
 equally by the king and the clergy, and which occa- 
 sioned of consequence such warm debates between 
 state and church, it will not be altogether useless t<^ 
 transcribe them at length. 
 
 I. When any difterence relating to the right of 
 patronage arises between the laity, or between the 
 clergy and laity, the controversy is to be tried and 
 ended in the King's court. 
 
 II. Those churches which are fees of the crown, 
 cannot be granted away in perpetuity without the 
 king's consent. 
 
 III. When the clergy are charged with any mis- 
 demeanour, and summoned by the justiciary, they 
 shall be obliged to make their appearance in his 
 court, and plead to such parts of the indictment as 
 shall be put to them; and likewise to answer such 
 articles in the ecclesiastical courts as they shall be 
 prosecuted for by that jurisdiction; always provided, 
 that the king's justiciary shall send an oHicer to in- 
 spect the proceedings of the Court Christian. And 
 m case any clerk is convicted, or pleads guilty, he 
 is to forfeit the privilege of his character, and to be 
 protected by the church no longer. 
 
 IV. No archbishops, bishops, or parsons, are al- 
 lowed to depart from the kingdom, without a licence 
 from the crown; and provided they have leave to 
 travel, they shall give security, not to act or solicit 
 any thing during their passage, stay, o» return, to 
 the prejudice of the king or kingdom. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 313 
 
 refused obedience to these laws, wliich he 
 deqiftgd prejudicial to the divine rights of the 
 church in general, and to the prerogatives of 
 the Roman pontiffs in particular. Upon this 
 
 V. When any nf the laity aru prnseciitod in llie 
 ecclesiastical courts, the charge on-rht to be jircived 
 before the bishop by lejral and rcpntable witnfsst;:^; 
 and the course of the process is to be so inanagcil 
 that the archdeacon may not lose any part of liis 
 right, or the profits accruing to his office: and if any 
 offenders seem to have been screened from prosecu- 
 tion upon the score either of favour or quality, the 
 sheriff, at the bishop's instance, shall order twelve 
 sufficient men of the neiirhbourhood to make oath 
 before the bishop, that tliry will discover tlie truth 
 according to the best of tlii-ir know liilge. 
 
 VI. Excommunicated persons siiall not be obliged 
 to make oath, or give security to continue upon the 
 place where they live, but only' to abide by the judg- 
 ment of the church in order to their absolution. 
 
 VII. No person that holds in cliirf of the king, or 
 any of Ills barons, shall be cxcomniuNic alrd, nor any 
 of their estates put under an interdict, bi fore appli- 
 cation be made to the king, provided he be in the 
 kingdom; and if his highness be out of England, the 
 justiciary must be acquainted with the dispute, in 
 order to make satisfaction: and thus what belongs 
 to the cognizance of the king's court, must be tried 
 there; and that which belongs to the Court Chris- 
 tian, must be remitted to that jurisdiction. 
 
 VIII. In case of appeals in ecclesiastical causes, 
 the first step is to he made from the archdeacon to 
 the bishop, and from the bishop to the archbishop; 
 and, if the archbishop fails to do justice, recourse 
 may be had to the king, by whose order the contro- 
 versy is to be finally decided in the archbishop's 
 court. Neither shall it be lawful for either of the 
 parties to move for any farther remedy without leave 
 from the crown. 
 
 IX. When a difference happens to arise between 
 any clergyman and layman concerning a tenement, 
 and the clerk pretends that it is holden by frank 
 Almoine,* and the layman pleads it a lay fee, the 
 tenure shall be tried liy the inquiry and verdict of 
 twelve sufficient men of the neighbourhood, sum- 
 moned according to the custom of the realm. And, 
 if the tenement or thing in controversy shall be 
 found frank Almoine, the dispute concerning it shall 
 be tried in the ecclesiastical court. But if it is 
 brought in a lay-fee, the suit shall be followed in the 
 lung's courts, unless both the plaintiff anddefVndant 
 hold the tenemenV in question of the same bishop; 
 in which case the cause shall be tried in the court of 
 such bishop or baron, with this farther proviso, that 
 he who is seized of the thing in controversy, shall 
 not be disseized during the suit (pendente lite,) upon 
 the ground of the verdict above-mentioned. 
 
 X. With regard to one who holds of the king in 
 any city, castle, or borough, or resides upon any of 
 the demesne lands of the crown, in case he is cited 
 by the archdeacon or bishop to answer for any mis- 
 behaviour belonging to their cognizance; if he re- 
 fuses to obey their summons, and to stand to the 
 sentence of the court, it shall be lawful for the ordi- 
 nary to put him under an interdict, but not to ex- 
 communicate him, till the king's principal officer of 
 the town shall he pre-acquaintcd with the case, in 
 order to enjoin hiin to make satisfaction to the 
 church. And if such officer or magistrate shall fail 
 in his duty, he shall be fined by the king's judges. 
 And then the bishop may exert his discipline on the 
 refractory person as he thinks fit. 
 
 Xr. All archbishops, bishops, and ecclesiastical 
 persons, who hold of the king in chief, and by the 
 tenure of a barony, are for that reason fibliged to 
 appear before the king's justices and ministers, to 
 answer the duties of their tenure, and to observe all 
 the usages and customs of the realm; and, like other 
 barons, are hound to be present at trials in the 
 king's court, till sentence is to be pronounced for the 
 losins of life or limbs. 
 
 XII. When any archbishopric, bishopric, abbey. 
 or priory, of royal foundation, become vacant, the 
 king is to make .leizure; from which time all the 
 profits and issues are to be p.aid into the exchequer, 
 as if they were the demesne lands of the crown. 
 
 * i. R. A tenure by diviue set vice, as Briltun ex- 
 jtlains It. 
 
 Vol. I.— 40 
 
 there arose a violent debate between the reso- 
 lute monarch and the rebellious prelate, which 
 obliged the latter to retire into France, where 
 Alexander was at that time in a kind of 
 exile. This pontitl' and the king of France 
 interposed their good offices in order to com- 
 pose these differences, in which they succeeded 
 so far, after nmch trouble and difficulty, as to 
 encourage Becket to return to England, where 
 he was reinstated in his forfeited dignity. 
 But the generous and indulgent proceedings 
 of his sovereign toward him, were not sufficient 
 to subdue his arrogant and rebellious obsti- 
 nacy in maintaining what he called the privi- 
 leges of the church; nor could he be induced 
 by any means to comply with the views and 
 measiu-es of Henry. The consequences of this 
 inflexible resistance were fatal to tlie haughty 
 prelate; for he was, soon after his return into 
 England, assassinated before the altar while 
 he was at vespers in his cathedral by four 
 persons, who certainly did not commit this act 
 of violence without the king's knowledge and 
 connivance.* This event produced warm de- 
 
 And when it is determined that the vacancy shall be 
 filled up, the king is to summon the most considera- 
 ble persons of the chapter to court, and the election 
 is to be made in the chapel royal, with the consent 
 of our sovereign lord the king, and by the advice of 
 such persons of the government, as ins highness 
 sliall think fit to consult; at which time, the person 
 elected shall, before his consr^ration, be obliged to 
 do homage and fealty to the king, as his liege lord; 
 which homage shall be performed in the usual form, 
 with a clause saving the privilege of his order. 
 
 XIII. If any of the temporal barons, or great 
 men, shall encroach upon the rights or property of 
 any archbishop, bishop, or archdeacon, and refuse to 
 make satisfaction for wrong done by themselves, or 
 their tenants, the king shall do justice to the party 
 aggrieved. And if any person shall disseize the king 
 of any part of his lands, or trespass upon his preroga- 
 tive, the archbishops, bishops, and deacons, shall 
 call him to an account, and oblige him to make the 
 crown restitution; i. e. "They were to excommuni- 
 cate such disseizera and injurious persons, in case 
 they proved refractory and incorrigible." 
 
 XIV. The goods and chatties of those who lie un- 
 der forf(jitures of felony or treason are not to be de- 
 tained in any church or church-yard, to secure them 
 against seizure and justice, because such goods are 
 the king's property, whether they are lodged within 
 the precincts of a church or without it. 
 
 XV. All actions, and pleas of debts, though par- 
 ticularly solemn in the circumstances of the con- 
 tract, shall be tried in the king's courts. 
 
 XVI. The sons of copy-holders are not to be or- 
 dained without the consent of the lord of the manor 
 where they were born. 
 
 Such w'ere the articles of the conslitulions of Cla- 
 rendon, against the greatest part of which the pope 
 protested. They were signed by the English clergy, 
 and also by Becket. The latter, however, repented 
 of what he had done, and retiring from court, sus- 
 pended himself from his office in the chiirch for about 
 forty days, till he received absolution from Alexan- 
 der, who was then at Sens. His aversion to these 
 articles manifested itself by an open rebellion 
 against his sovereign, in which he discovered his 
 true character, as a most daring, turbulent, vindic- 
 tive, and arrogant priest, whose ministry was solely 
 employed in extending the despotic dominion of 
 Rome, and whose fixed purpose was to airsirandizB 
 the church upon the ruins of the slate. See (jollier's 
 Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. xiith ct;ntury. Rapin 
 de Thoyras. in the reign of Henry 11. 
 
 {J(p- * This assertion is in our opinion by much too 
 strong. It can only be founded upon certain inilis- 
 crete and passionate expressions, which the intole- 
 rable insolence and phrenetic obstinacy nf Becket 
 drew from Henry in an unguarded moment, when, 
 after having received new affronts, nolwithstandinif 
 the reconciliation he had effected viiih eo much 
 
314 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part D. 
 
 bates between the king of England and the 
 Roman pontiff, who gained his point so far as 
 to make the suppHant monarch undergo a 
 severe course of penance, in order to expiate 
 a crime of which he was considered as the 
 principal promoter, while the murdered pre- 
 late, in 1173, was solemnly enrolled in the 
 highest rank of saints and martyrs.* 
 
 XIII. It was not only by force of arms, but 
 also by uninterrupted efforts of dexterity and 
 artifice, by wise counsels and prudent laws, 
 that Alexander III. maintained the pretended 
 rights of the church, and extended the autho- 
 rity of the Roman pontiffs. For, in the third 
 Lateran council, liolden at Rome in 1179, the 
 following decrees, among many others upon 
 different subjects, were passed by his advice 
 and authority. 1st, In order to put an end to 
 the confusion and dissensions which so often 
 accompanied the election of the Roman pon- 
 tiffs, it was determined that the right of elec- 
 tion should be vested in the cardinals alone, 
 and that the person, in whose favour two- 
 thirds of the college of cardinals voted, should 
 be considered as tiie lawful pontiff. This law 
 is still in force; it was therefore from the time 
 of Alexander that the election of the pope ac- 
 quired that form which it still retains, and by 
 which, not only the people, but also the Ro- 
 man clergy, are excluded from all share in the 
 honour of conferring that important dignity. 
 
 trouble and condescension, lie expressed himself to 
 this purpose: ' Am I not unhappy, that, among the 
 numbers who are attached to my interests, and em- 
 ployed in my service, there is no one possessed of 
 spirit enough to resent the aftronts which I am con- 
 stantly receiving from a miserable priest?' These 
 words, indeed, were not pronounced in vain. Four 
 gentlemen of the court, whose names were Fitz- 
 Urse, Tracy, Brito, and Morville, murdered Becket 
 in his chapel, and thus performed, in a licentious 
 and criminal manner, an action which the laws 
 might have commanded with justice. But it is ex- 
 tremely remarkable, that, after the murder, the as- 
 sassins were afraid they had gone too far, and durst 
 not return to the king s court, which was then in 
 Normandy; but retired at first to Knaresborough in 
 Yorkshire, which belonged to Morville, whence they 
 repaired to Rome for absolution, and being admitted 
 to penance by Alexander, were sent by that pontiff 
 to Jerusalem, and passed the remainder of their lives 
 upon the Black Mountain in the severest acts of 
 austerity and mortitication. All this does not look 
 as if the king had been deliberately concerned in 
 this murder, or had expressly consented to it. On 
 the contrary, various circumstances concur to prove 
 that Henry was entirely innocent of this murder. 
 Mr. Hume mentions particularly one, which is 
 worthy of notice. The king, suspecting the design 
 of the four gentlemen above-mentioned, by some 
 menacing expressions they had dropped, "despatched 
 "(says Mr. Hume) a messenger after them, ordering 
 "them to attempt nothing against the person of the 
 " primate. But these orders came too late." See his 
 History of England, vol. i. p. 294. Rapin Thoyras, 
 Histoire d'Angleterre, Collier's Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory of England. The works to which Dr. Mosheim 
 refers for an account of this matter, are as follow: 
 Guiliel. Stephanida; Histnria Thoniae Cantuariensis 
 apud Scriptores rcrum Anglicarum, published in fo- 
 lio at London by Sparke, in the year 1723. — Christ, 
 liupi Epistola; et Vita Thoma; Cantuar. — Epistolje 
 Alexandri III. Ludovici VII. Henrici II. in hac 
 causa, ex M. S. Vaticano, Bruxelles, 1682, 2 vol. 
 4to. — Natalis Alexandri Select. Histor. Eccles Ca- 
 pita, Skc. xii. Diss. x. p. 833.— Thomas Stapletoni 
 Tres Thoma;, sen res gest» Thomse Apostoli, S. 
 Thorns Cantuariensis, et Thomse Mori. Coloniae, 
 1612, in 8vo. 
 
 * Boulay, Histor. Academ. Paris, torn. ii. p. 328, 
 el de Die Festo ejus, p. 397. Dom. Colonia, Histoire 
 Literaire de la Villa de Lyon, lorn. ii. p 249. 
 
 2dly, A spiritual war was declared against the 
 heretics, whose numbers, increasing considera- 
 bly about this time, created much distuiljance 
 in the church in general, and infested, in a 
 more particular manner, several provinces in 
 France, which groaned under the fatal dissen- 
 sions that accompanied the propagation of 
 their errors.* 3dly, The right of recommend- 
 ing and nominating to the saintly order was 
 also taken away from councils and bishops, 
 and canonization was ranked among the great- 
 er and more important causes, the cognizance 
 of which belonged to the pontiff alone. f We 
 must not forget to add, that the power of 
 erecting new kingdoms, which had been claim- 
 ed by the pontifis from the time of Gregory 
 VII., was not only assumed, but also exercised 
 by Alexander in a remarkable instance; for, 
 in the year 1179, he conferred the title of 
 king, with the ensigns of royalty, upon Al- 
 phonso I. duke of Portugal, who, imder the 
 ' pontificate of Lucius II., had rendered his pro- 
 vince tributary to the Roman see.]; 
 
 XIV. Upon the death of Alexander, Ubald, 
 bishop of Ostia, otherwise linown by the name 
 of Lucius III., was raised to the pontificate, 
 A. D. 1181, by the suffrages of the cardinals 
 alone, in consequence of the law mentioned in 
 the preceding section. The administration of 
 this new pontiff was embittered by violent tu- 
 mults and seditions; for he was twice driven 
 out of the city by the Romans, who could not 
 bear a pope that was elected in opposition to 
 the ancient custom, without the knowledge 
 and consent of the clergy and the people. In the 
 midst of these troubles he died at Verona in 
 the year 1185, and was succeeded by Hubert 
 Crivelli, bishop of Milan, who assumed the 
 title of Urban III. and who, without having 
 transacted any thing worthy of mention dtiring 
 his short pontificate, died of grief in the year 
 1187, upon hearing that Saladin had made 
 himself master of Jerusalem. The pontificate 
 of his successor Albert, § whose papal denomi- ^ 
 
 nation was Gregory VIII. exliibited a still ■ 
 more striking instance of the fragility of hu- % 
 man grandeur; for this pontiff yielded to fate 
 about two months after his elevation. He was 
 succeeded by Paul, bishop of Preneste, who 
 filled the papal chair above three years under 
 the title of Clement III. and died in 1191, 
 
 * See Natalis Alexander, Select. Histor. Eccles. 
 Capit. Saic. xii. Diss. ix. p. 819, where he treats par- 
 ticularly of this council. — See also tom. vi. part ii. 
 Concilioruni Harduini, p. 1671. 
 
 tjQ' Dr. Mosheim, as also Spanheim and Fleury, 
 call this the 'id Lateran council, whereas other his- 
 torians mention eight preceding councils holden in 
 the Lateran church, viz. those of the years 649, 864, 
 1105, 1112, 1116, 1123, 1139, 1167. Our author has 
 also attributed, to this council of 1179, decrees that 
 probably belong to a later period. 
 
 t See what has been observed already, under the 
 xth century, concerning the election of the popes, 
 and the canonization of saints. 
 
 t Baronius, Annal. ad. A. 1179.— Innocentii III. 
 EpistolfE liib. ep. xlix. p. 54, tom. i. ed. Baluz. 
 
 8!j=" Alphonso had been declared, by his victorious 
 army, king of Portugal, in the year 1136, in the 
 midst of the glorious exploits he had performed in 
 the war against the Moors; so that Alexander did 
 no more than confirm this title by an arrogant bull, 
 in which he treats that excellent prince as his vassal. 
 
 § This prelate, before his elevation to the papacy, 
 was bishop of Benevento, and chancellor of the Ro- 
 man church. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 315 
 
 without having distinguislied liis ecclesiastical 
 reigo by any memorable achievement, if we 
 except his zeal for draining Europe of its trea- 
 sures and inhabitants by the publication of new 
 crusades. Celestine III.* makes a more shin- 
 ing figure in history than the pontiffs we have 
 been now mentioning; for he thundered his 
 excommunications against the emperor Henry 
 VI. and Leopold, duke of Austria, on account 
 of their having seized and imprisoned Richard 
 I. king of England, as he was returning from 
 the Holy Land: he also subjected to the same 
 malediction Alplionso X. king of Gallicia and 
 Leon, on account of an incestuous marriage 
 into wliich that prince had entered; and com- 
 manded Philip Augustus, king of France, to 
 readmit to the conjugal state and honours In- 
 gelburga his queen, whom he had divorced for 
 reasons unknown; though this order, indeed, 
 produced little effect. f But the most illustri- 
 ous and resolute pontiff, that filled the papal 
 chair during this century, and whose exploits 
 made the greatest noise in Europe, was Lo- 
 tharius, count of Segni, cardinal deacon, other- 
 wise known by the name of Innocent III. The 
 arduous undertakings and bold achievements 
 of this eminent pontiff, who was placed at the 
 head of the church in the year 1198, belong to 
 the history of the following century. 
 
 XV. If, from the series of pontifls that ruled 
 the church in this century, we descend to the 
 other ecclesiastical orders, such as the bishops, 
 priests, and deacons, very unpleasing objects 
 will be e.xhibited to our view. The unani- 
 mous voice of the historians of tliis age, the 
 laws and decrees of synods and councils, loudly 
 declare the gross ignorance, odious frauds, and 
 flagitious crimes, that reigned among the dif- 
 ferent ranks and orders of the clergy now 
 mentioned. It is not therefore at all surpris- 
 ing, that the monks, whose rules of discipline 
 obliged them to a regular method of living, and 
 placed them out of the way of many tempta- 
 tions to licentiousness, and occasions of sinning, 
 to which the episcopal and sacerdortal orders 
 were exposed, were in higher estimation than 
 these were. The reign of corruption became, 
 however, so general, that it reached at last 
 even the convents; and the monks, who were 
 gaining with the most ardent efibrts the sum- 
 mit of ecclesiastical power and authority, and 
 who beheld both the secular clerks and the re- 
 gular canons with aversion and contempt,^ be- 
 gan, in many places, to degenerate from that 
 sanctity of manners, and that exact obedience 
 to their rules of discipline, by which they had 
 been formerly distinguished, and to exhibit to 
 the people scandalous examples of immorality 
 and vice.§ The Benedictines of Clugni, who 
 
 * Whose name was Hyacinth, a native of Rome, 
 and a cardinal deacon. 
 
 8(7=- 1 It vvas in consequence of the vigorous and 
 terrible proceedings of Innocent III. that the ro-union 
 between Philip and Ingelburga was accompli.=hed. 
 See L'Histoire de France, par I'Abbe Velly, torn, 
 iii. p. 367. 
 
 I See Ruperti Epistola in Martenne's Thesaur. 
 Anecd. torn. i. p. 285. This writer prefers the monks 
 to the apostles. 
 
 § See Bernardi Considerationes ad Eugenimn, lib. 
 iii. cap. iv. — See also the Speculum Stultorum, or 
 Brunelles, a poem, composed by Nigel Wiri'ker. an 
 English bard of no mean reputation, who lived about 
 
 tmdoubtedly surpassed, in regularity of con- 
 duct and purity of manners, all the monastic 
 orders who lived under their rule, maintained 
 their integrity for a long time, amidst the gene- 
 ral decay of piety and virtue: but they were 
 at length carried away with the torrent. Se- 
 duced by the example of their abbot Pontius, 
 and corrupted by the treasures that were pour- 
 ed daily into their convent by the liberality of 
 the opulent and pious, they fell from their pri- 
 mitive austerity, and following the dissolute 
 examples of the other Benedictines, they ' gave 
 themselves up to pleasure, and dwelt careless- 
 ly.'* Several of the succeeding abbots endea- 
 voured to remedy this disorder, and to recover 
 the declining reputation of their convent; but 
 their efforts were much less successful than 
 they expected, nor could the monks of Clugni 
 ever be brought back to their primitive sanc- 
 tity and virtue. t 
 
 XVI. The Cistertian Order, which was much 
 inferior to the monks of Clugni, both with re- 
 spect to the antiquity of its institution, and 
 tlie possessions and revenues of its convent, far 
 surpassed them in external regularity of life and 
 manners, and in a striking air of irmocence 
 and sanctity. Hence its members acquired 
 that high degree of reputation and authority 
 which the Order of Clugni had formerly en- 
 joyed; and the fraternity increased daily in 
 number, credit, and opulence. The famous 
 St. Bernard, abbot of Clairval, whose influ- 
 ence throughout Europe was incredible, whose 
 word was a law, and whose counsels were 
 regarded by kings and princes as so many or- 
 ders to whicii the most respectful obedience 
 was due, was the person who contributed most 
 to eru'icli and aggrandize the Cistertian order. 
 Hence he is justly considered as its second pa- 
 rent and founder; and hence the Cistertians, 
 not only in France, but also in Germany and 
 other countries, were distinguished by the title 
 of Bernardine monks, j: A hundred and sixty 
 religious communities derived their origin, or 
 their rules of discipline, from this illustrious 
 abbot; and he left, at his death, seven hundred 
 monks in the monastery of Clairval. The 
 churcli abounded with bishops and archbishops 
 who had been formed and prepared for the mi- 
 nistry by his instructions; and he also reckoned, 
 among the number of his disciples, Eugenius 
 III. one of tlie best and wisest of the Roman 
 pontiffs. 
 
 XVII. The growing prosperity of the Cister- 
 tian Order excited the envy and jealousy of 
 the monks of Clugni, and, after several dissen- 
 sions of less consequence, produced at length 
 an open rupture, a declared war, between these 
 opulent and powerful monasteries. They both 
 followed the rule of St. Benedict, though they 
 
 the middle of the xiith century. In this poem, of 
 which several editions have been published, the dif- 
 ferent orders of monks are severely censured; the 
 Carthusians alone have escaped the keen and viru- 
 lent satire of this witty writer. 
 
 * Isaiah, .xlvii.8. 
 
 t See Martenne's Amplissinia Collectio Monument 
 tor. Veter. torn. ix. p. 1119. 
 
 J See Jo. Mabillon, Annal. Ord. Benedict, torn. vi. 
 passim, in vita Sti. Bernardi, which he has prefixed 
 to his edition of the works of that saint. — See also 
 the Annales Cistercienscs, by Manriquez, torn. ii. 
 and iii. 
 
316 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part IL 
 
 differed in their habit, and in certain laws, 
 whicii the Cistertians more especially had ad- 
 ded to that rule. Tiie monks of Clugni accus- 
 ed the Cistertians of affecting' an extravagant 
 austerity in their manners and discipline; 
 while the Cistertians, on tjie other hand, charg- 
 ed them, upon very good grounds, with having 
 degenerated from their former sanctity and re- 
 gularity of conduct. St. Bernard, who was 
 the oracle and protector of the Cistertians, 
 wrote, in the year 1 127, an apology for his own 
 conduct with respect to the division that sub- 
 sisted between the two convents, and inveigh- 
 ed, with a just but not intemperate severity, 
 against the vices that corrupted the monks of 
 Clugni.* This charge was answered, tlioiigh 
 with uncommon moderation and candour, by 
 Peter Mauricius, abbot of Clugni; and hence 
 arose a controversy in form, which spread from 
 day to day its baneful influence, and excited 
 disturbances in several provinces of Europe. f 
 It was, however, followed by a much more ve- 
 hement and bitter contest concerning an ex- 
 emption from the payment of tithes, granted 
 among other privileges and immunities to the 
 Cistertians, A. D. 1132, by Innocent II. A 
 considerable part of the lands which the Cis- 
 tertians possessed, and to whicli the pontiff 
 granted this exemption, were subject to the 
 monks of Clugni, who consequently suffered 
 by this act of liberality, and disputed the mat- 
 ter, not only with tlie Cistertians, but with 
 the pope himself This keen dispute was, in 
 some measure, terminated in the year 1155; 
 but in what manner, or upon what conditions, 
 we do not precisely know. J 
 
 XVIII. The regular canons, who had been 
 formed into a fixed and permanent order in 
 the preceding century, employed their time in 
 a much more useful and exemplary manner 
 than the monastic drones, who passed tJieir 
 days in luxury and sloth. They kept jtublic 
 
 Qtf' » Tliis apology, as it is' called, of St. iVniard 
 is well worth the attontion of the curious reader, as 
 it exhibits a true and lively picture of monastic opu- 
 lence and luxury, and shows how the religious or- 
 ders in general lived in this century. The famous 
 abbot, in this performance, accuses the monks of 
 Clugni of luxury and intemperance at their table, of 
 Huperfluity and magnificence in their dress, their bed- 
 chambers, their furniture, equipage, and buildings. 
 He points out the pride and vanity of the abbots, 
 who looked much more like the governors of pro- 
 vinces, than the spiritual fathers of humble and holy 
 communities, whose original profession it was. to 
 be crucified and dead to the interests and pleasures, 
 the pomps and vanities of the present world. He de- 
 clares, with a pious concern, that he knew several 
 abbots, each of whom had more than sixty horses in 
 his stable, aiui such a prodigious variety of wines in 
 his cellar, that it was scarcely possible to taste the 
 half of them at a siuclo entertainment. See Fleury, 
 Hist. Ecclesiastiquc.liv. Ixxvii. torn. xiv. p. 351, edit. 
 Bruxellfis. 
 
 t See S. Bernardi Apolojia in Oper. tom. i p. 523 — 
 .133. The apology of Peter, abbot of Clugni, sur- 
 named the venerable, which is piiblisheil among his 
 Epistles, lib. i. ep. 2H, in the Bibliotlieca Cluniacon- 
 sis, tom. i. p. G57 — 1)95. See also the Dialogus inter 
 Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem, publislnd by IVIar- 
 tenne, in hisThesaur. Anecdot. toip. v. p. 157.3 — 1()13. 
 Compare with all these Mabillon, Annal. Benedict, 
 tom. vi. p. 80, and Manriquez, Annal. Cisterc. torn. 
 i p. 28. 
 
 t See Manriquez, Annal. Cistercienscs, torn. i. p. 
 232.— Mabillon, Annal. Benedict, torn. vi. p. 212, 479 
 and pra^fat. ad Opf-ra S. Bernarfli. — Jo. de Lannes, 
 Histoire dii Pontificat d'Innorent II. p. 68. — 79. — Jo. 
 Nie. Ilertii diss de exemptione Cisterc. a decimis. 
 
 schools for the instruction of youth, and exer- 
 cised a variety of ecclesiastical functions, which 
 rendered them extremely useful to the church.* 
 Hence they rose daily in credit and reputation, 
 received many rich and noble donations from 
 several persons, whose opulence and piety 
 rendered tliem able and willing to distinguish 
 merit, and were also often put in possession of 
 the revenues of the monks, whose dissolute 
 lives occasioned, from time to time, the sup- 
 pression of their convents. This, as might well 
 be expected, inflamed the rage of the monastic 
 orders against the regular canons, whom they 
 attac]\ed with the greatest fury, and loaded 
 with the bitterest invectives. The canons, in 
 their turn, were far from being backward in 
 making reprisals; they exclaimed, on the con- 
 trary, against the monks with the utmost vehe- 
 mence; enumerated their vices both in dis- 
 cotu-ses and in writings, and insisted upon their 
 being confined to their monasteries, sequestered 
 from human society, and excluded from all 
 ecclesiastical honours and functions. Hence 
 arose, between the monks and canons, a long 
 and warm contest for pre-eminence; in which 
 both parties carried their pretensions too high, 
 and exceeded the bounds of decency and 
 moderation. f The champions, who espoused 
 the interest of the monks, were the famous 
 Peter Abclard, Hugh of Amiens, Rupert of 
 Duytz; while the cause of the canons was de- 
 fended by Philip Harvengius, a learned abbot, 
 and several other men of genius and abilities.j 
 Tiie effects and remains of this ancient con- 
 troversy are yet visible in our times. 
 
 XIX. A new society of religious Benedic- 
 tines arose about the commencement of this 
 century, whose principal monastery was erect- 
 ed in a barren and solitary place, called 
 Fontevraud, between Angers and Tours; 
 whence the order derived its name. Robert 
 of Arbrisselles, its founder, who had been first 
 a hermit, and afterwards a monk, prescribed 
 to his religious of both sexes the rule of St. 
 Benedict, ainplified, however, by the addition 
 of several new laws, which were extremely 
 singular and excessively severe. Among other 
 singularities that distinguished this institution, 
 one was, that the several monasteries which 
 Robert had built, within one and the same inclo- 
 sure, for his monks and nuns, were all sub- 
 jected to the authority and government of one 
 abbess; in justification of which measure, the 
 example of Christ was alleged, who recom- 
 mended St. John to the Virgin Mary, and im- 
 posed it as an order upon that beloved disci- 
 ple, to be obedient to her as to his own mother.§ 
 
 * See the Histoire Literaire de la France, tom. ix 
 p. 112. 
 
 t See Lambert! Epistola in Martenne's Thesaur. 
 Anecdot. tom. i. p. 329. 
 
 X Abelardi Opera, p. 228. Paris, 1616, in 4to.— 
 Martenne's Thesaur. Anecdot. tom. v. p. 970 — 975, 
 l<il4, et Amplissima ejusdem CoUectio, tom. ix. p. 
 971, 972.— Phil. Harvengii Opera, p. 385. Duaci 
 1621. in folio. 
 
 § See the works of Abelard, p. 48, whose testimony 
 in this matter is confirmed by the present state and 
 constitution of this famous order; though Mabillon, 
 front an excessive partiality in favour of the Bene 
 dictines, has endeavoured to dimini.oh its credit in 
 his Annal. Benedict, tom. v. p. 423. For an account 
 of Robert and his order, see the Acta Sanctor. tom. 
 iii. Februar 0. 593.— Dion Sammarlhani Oallia 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 317 
 
 This new order, like all other novelties of that 
 kind, gained immediately a hijjh degree of 
 credit: the singularity of its disoipline, its form, 
 and its laws, engaged m\iltitndes to embrace 
 it; and thus the lahonrb of its founder were 
 crowned with remarkable success. [^I^ But 
 the association of vigorous monks and tender 
 virgins, in the same community, v/as an im- 
 prudent measure, and could not but be at- 
 tended witii many inconveniences. However 
 that may be, Robert continued his pious 
 labours, and tlie odour of his sanctity ])erfumcd 
 all the places where he exercised his ministry.] 
 He was, indeed, suspected by some, of too 
 great an intimacy with his female disciples; 
 and it was rumoured, tiiat in order to try his 
 virtue, by opposing it to the strongest tempta- 
 tions, he exposed it to an inevitable defeat by 
 the manner in wliich he conversed with these 
 holy virgins. It was affirmed, that their com- 
 merce was softened by something more tender 
 than divine love; against which charge his 
 disciples have used tlieir most zealous endea- 
 vours to defend their master.* 
 
 XX. Norbert, a German nobleman, wlio 
 took holy orders, and was afterwards arch- 
 bishop of Magdeburg, employed his most 
 strenuous etforts to restore to its primitive 
 severity the discipline of the regular canons, 
 which was extremely relaxed in some places, 
 and almost totally abolished- in others. This 
 eminent reformer founded, in the year 1121, 
 the Order of Premontre in Picardy, whose fame 
 spread throughout Europe witli an amazing 
 rapidity, and whose opulence, in a short space 
 of time, became excessive and enormous,! iii 
 
 Christiana, toin. ii. p. 1311. — Ii<-iy!i;'s Dictionary, at 
 the article Fontevrauil.— Ilelynt, Hist, des Onlres, 
 torn. vi. p. 83. — The present slate of this monastery 
 is descrilied by Moleon, in liis Voyages I^iturgiques, 
 p. 108, and by Martenne, in the second part of his 
 Voyage Literairede deu.\ Benedictitis. 
 
 * See the letters of GeofTry, abbot of Vcndome, 
 and of Marbnd, bishop of Kennes; in which Robert 
 is accnsed of lying in the same bed with the nuns. 
 How the grave abbot was defended against this ac- 
 cusation by the mcnibera of his order, may be .seen 
 in Mainferme's Clypeus Nascentis Ordiuis Fonte- 
 braldensis, published in 8vo. at Paris, in the year 
 1()H4; and also by another production of the same 
 author, entitled, Dissertationes in Kpislolam contra 
 Robertuni de Abrissello. Salmuiii, 1()82, in 8vo. 
 Bayle's account of ihis famous abbot, in which there 
 is such an admirable mi.xtnre of wit, sense, and 
 malice, has been also attacked by several writers; 
 see, among other works, the vih and vith tomes of 
 Mabillon's Annals, and the Dissertation Apologeti 
 que pour le bienheurenx Robert d'Arbrisselles snr 
 ce qu'en a dit M. Bayle, An vers 1701, in 8vo. 
 
 (^J" In the year 1177, some nuns of this order 
 were brought into England at the desire of Henry II. 
 who cave tlient the monastery of Ambresbnry, in 
 Wiltshire. They had two other houses here; one at 
 Eton, the other at VVestwood, in Worcestershire. 
 
 (t(J» t The religious of this order were at first so 
 poor, that thi-y had nothing they could call their 
 own, but a single ass, which served to carry the 
 wood they cut down every morning, and sent to 
 Laon in order to purchase bread. But in a short 
 time they received so many donations, and built so 
 many monasteries, that, thirty years after the foun- 
 dation of this order, theyliail above a huiulred ab- 
 beys in France and Germany. In process of time, 
 the order increased so prodigiously, that it had mo- 
 nasteries in all parts of riiristendoni, amounting to 
 1,000 abbeys, 300 provoslships, a vast number of 
 priories, and .100 nunneries. But (his number is now 
 greatly diminished. Besides what they lost in Pro- 
 testant countries, of f>5 abbeys, that they had in 
 Italy, there is not one now remaining. 
 
 consequence of the high esteem which the 
 monks of this community had acquired by the 
 gravity of theii manners, and their assiduous 
 application to the liberal arts and sciences. 
 But tiieir overgrown prosperity was the source 
 of tlicir ruin; it soon diminished their zeal for 
 the exercises of devotion, extinguished their 
 thirst after useful knowledge, and thus gradu- 
 ally plunged tlicm into all kinds of vice. The 
 rule which they followed was that of St. Au- 
 gustine, with some slight alterations, and an 
 addition of certain severe laws, whose au- 
 thorit}', however, did not long survive their 
 austere founder.* 
 
 XXI. About the middle of this century, a 
 Calabrian, whose name was Berthold, set out 
 with a Cow companions for mount Carmel, and, 
 upon the very spot where the prophet Elias is 
 said to have disappeared, built an humble cot- 
 tage, with an adjoining chapel, in which he 
 led a life of solitude, austerity, and labour. 
 Tiiis little colony subsisted, and the places of 
 those that died were more than filled by new- 
 comers; so that it was, at length,! erected into 
 a monastic community by Albert, patriarch of 
 .lerusalem. This austere prelate drew up, for 
 the new monks, a rule of discipline, which was 
 afterwards confirmed by the authority of the 
 Roman pontitfs, who modified and altered it 
 in several respects, and, among other correc- 
 tions, mitigated its excessive rigour.^ Such 
 was the origin of the famous Order of Carme- 
 lites, or, as they are commonly called, the 
 Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel, which 
 was afterwards transplanted from Syria into 
 i^urope, and obtained the principal rank 
 among the mendicant or begging orders. It is 
 true, the Carmelites reject, with the highest 
 indignation, an origin so recent and obscure, 
 and affirm to this very day, that the prophet 
 Elias was the parent and founder of their an- 
 cient community. § Very few, however, have 
 
 * See Helyot, Hist, des Ordres, torn. ii. p. 156 — 
 Chrysost. Vander Sterre, Vita S. Norberti PrEPmon- 
 stratensium Patriarchs, published in 8vo., at Ant- 
 werp, in lC5t). — iiouis Hughes, Vie de S. Norbert, 
 Luxeinb. 1704, in 4to. — Add to these, notwithstand- 
 ing his partiality, Jo. Launoy, Inquisit. in Privile- 
 gia Ordin. Prsmonstrat. cap. i. ii. Oper. torn. iii. 
 part i. p. 448. For an account of the present state 
 o) the Order of Premontre, see Martenne's Voyage 
 Literaire de deux Beiiedirtiiis, tom. ii. p. 59. 
 
 (t^ The Pricnionslrniriiscs, or monks of Pre- 
 montre, vulgarly calliil White Canons, came first 
 into England in the year 104t). Their first monastery, 
 called New House, was built in Lincolnshire, by 
 Peter de Saiilia, and dedicated to St. Martial. In 
 the reign of Edward I. the order in question had 27 
 monasteries in England. 
 
 t In the year 1'20.5. 
 
 { I have here principally followed Dan. Papebroch, 
 an accurate writer, and one who is always careful 
 to produce suflicient testimonies of the truth of his 
 narrations. See the Acta Sanctor. Antwerp. Mense 
 April, tom. iii. p. 774—80-2. It is well known, that 
 an accusation was brought against this learned Je- 
 suit, before the tribunal of the pii|ie, by the Carme- 
 lites, on account of his having called in question the 
 dignity and high anli(iuity of their order. We have 
 in Helyot's Hist, des Ordres (lorn. i. p. 282) an ac- 
 count of this long and tedious contest, which was so 
 far determined, or at least suspended, in the year 
 1698, by Innocent XII. thai silence was imposed upon 
 the contending parties. 
 
 § The most concise and accurate of all the Carme- 
 lite writers, who have treated ihis matter, iBTbornqs 
 Aquinas, a French monk, in his Disscrtatio Histor. 
 Theol. in qua Patriarchatus Ordinis Carmelitarum 
 
318 
 
 INTERNAL fflSTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part TI. 
 
 been engaged to adopt this fabulous and chi 
 merical account of the establishment, except 
 the members of the order; and many Roman 
 Catholic writers have treated their pretensions 
 to such a remote antiquity with the utmost con- 
 tempt.* [^I^ And scarcely, indeed, can any 
 thing be more ridiculous than the circumstan- 
 tial narrations of the occasion, origin, founder, 
 and revolutions of this famous order, which we 
 find in several ecclesiastical authors, whose 
 zeal for tliis fraternity has rendered them capa- 
 ble of adopting without reluctance, or, at 
 least, of reciting without shame, the most 
 puerile and glaring absurdities. They tell us 
 that Elias was introduced into the state of 
 monachism by the ministry of angels; that his 
 first disciples were Jonah, Micah, and also 
 Obadiah, whose wife, in order to shake off an 
 importunate crowd of lovers, who fluttered 
 about her at the court of Ahab after the depar- 
 ture of her husband, bound herself by a vow 
 of chastity, received the veil from the hands 
 of father Elias, and thus became the first ab- 
 bess of the Carmelite order. They enter into 
 a minute detail of the circumstances that relate 
 to the rules of discipline which were drawn up 
 for this community, the habit which distin- 
 guished its members, and the various altera- 
 tions which were successively introduced into 
 their rule of discipline. They observe, that 
 among other marks which were used to dis- 
 tinguish the Carmelites from the seculars, the 
 tonsure was one; that this mark of distinction 
 exposed them, indeed, to the mockeries of a 
 profane multitude; and that this furnishes the 
 true explication of the term bald-head, which 
 the cliildren addressed, by way of reproach, to 
 Elisha as he was on his way to Carmel.f They 
 also affirm, that Pythagoras was a member of 
 this ancient order; that he drew all his wisdom 
 from Mount Carmel, and had several conver- 
 sations with the prophet Daniel at Babylon, 
 upon the subject of the Trinity. They even 
 go farther into the region of fable, and assert, 
 that the Virgin Mary, and Jesus himself, as- 
 sumed the habit and profession of Carmelites; 
 and they loaded this fiction with a heap of ab- 
 surd circumstances, which it is impossible to 
 read without the highest astonishment.^ 
 
 Prophetffi Eliffi vindicatur, published in 8vo. at Paris 
 in the year lti3-2. The modern writers who have 
 maintained the cause of the Carmelites against 
 Papebroch, are extremely prolix and tiresome. 
 
 * See Harduini Opera Posthum. p. (552. — Labat, 
 Voyage en Espagne et Italie, torn. iii. p. 87. — Cou- 
 rayer, Examen des Defauts Theologiques, torn. i. p. 
 455. 
 
 t See 2 Kings ii. 23. 
 
 53" I For an ample account of all the absurd in- 
 ventions here hinted at. see a very remarkable 
 work, entitled, " Ordres Monastiques, Histoire ex- 
 " traite dc tons les Auteurs qui ont conserve a la 
 " Posterite ce qu'il y a de plus curieux dans chaque 
 " Ordre, enrichie d'un tres grand nombre de passages 
 " des memes Auteurs, pour servir de demonstration 
 " que ce qu'on y avance est eealement veritable et 
 "curieux." Tliis work, which was first printed at 
 Paris in 1751, under the title of Berlin, and which 
 was suppressed almost as soon as it appeared, is 
 written with great wit, eloquence, and learning: 
 and all the narrations it contains are confirmed by 
 citations from the most eminent authors, who have 
 given accounts of the religious orders. The author's 
 view seems to have been to expose the monks of 
 every denomination to the laughter of his readers; 
 and it is very remarkable, that, in the execution of 
 
 XXII. To this brief account of the religious 
 orders, it will not be amiss to add a list of the 
 principal Greek and Latin writers who flour- 
 ished in this century. The most eminent 
 among the Greeks were those that follow: 
 
 Philippus Solitarius, whose Dioptra, or 
 controversy between the soul and the body, 
 is sufficiently known; 
 
 Eustratius, who maintained the cause of 
 the Greek church against the Latins with 
 great learning and spirit, and who wrote com- 
 mentaries on certain books of Aristotle; 
 
 Euthymius Zigabenus, who, by his anti- 
 heretical Panoply, together with his commen- 
 taries upon several parts of the sacred writings, 
 acquired a place among the principal authors 
 of this centiu-y;* 
 
 Johannes Zonaras, whose Annals, with 
 several other productions of his learned pen, 
 are still extant; 
 
 Michael Glycas, who also applied himself to 
 historical composition, as well as to other 
 branches of learning;! 
 
 Constantius Haxmenopulus, whose com- 
 mentaries on the civil and canon laws are de- 
 servedly esteemed; 
 
 Andronicus Camaterus, who wrote with 
 great warmth and vehemence against the 
 Latins and Armenians; 
 
 Eustathius, bishop of Thessalonica, the most 
 learned of the Greeks in this century, and the 
 celebrated commentator upon the Iliad; 
 
 Theodorus Balsamon, who employed great 
 diligence, erudition and labour, in explaining 
 and digesting the civil and ecclesiastical laws 
 of the Greeks. J 
 
 XXIII. The most eminent among the Latin 
 writers were, 
 
 Bernard, abbot of Clairval, from whom the 
 Cistertian monks (as has been already observ- 
 ed) derived the title of Bemardins; a man who 
 was not destitute of genius and taste, and 
 whose judgment, in many respects, was just 
 and penetrating; but who, on the other hand, J 
 discovered in his conduct maiiy marks of su- fl 
 perstition and weakness, and what is still ^ 
 worse, concealed the lust of dominion imder 
 the mask of piety, and made no scruple of 
 loading, with false accusations, such as had 
 the misfortune to incur his displeasure;§ 
 
 his purpose, he has drawn his materials from the 
 gravest writers, and from the most zealous defenders 
 of monarchism. If he has embellished his subject, 
 it is by the vivacity of his manner, and the witty 
 elegance of his style, and not by imputing to the 
 monastic communities any practices which their 
 most serious historians omit or disavow. Tne 
 authors of the Bibliotheque des Sciences et des Beaux 
 Arts, at the Hague, have given several interesting 
 extracts from this work in the 2d, 3d, 4th, and 
 5th volumes of that literary journal. 
 
 (!l^ The Carmelites came into England in the 
 year 1240, and erected a vast number of monasteries 
 in that kingdom. See Broughton's Historical Li- 
 brary, vol. i. p. 208. 
 
 * See Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliotheque des 
 Auteurs Eccles. par M Du Pin, torn. i. p. 318, 324. 
 
 t Other historians place Glycas in the fifteenth 
 century. See Lami Dissertatio de Glyca, which is 
 prefixed to the first volume of his Delicis Virorum 
 eruditorum. 
 
 t See the Bibliotheca Graca of Fabricius. 
 
 § The learned Mabillon has given a splendid edi- 
 tion of the works of St. Bernard, and has not only, 
 in his preface, made many excellent observations 
 upon the life and history of this famous abbot, but 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 319 
 
 Iiuiocent ni. bishop of Rome, whose episs- 
 tles and other productions contribute to illus- 
 trate the religious sentiments, as also the dis- 
 cipline and morals, that prevailed in this cen- 
 tury;* 
 
 Anselni of Laon, a man of a subtile genius, 
 and deeply versed in logical disquisition; 
 
 Abelard, the disciple of Anselm, and most 
 famous in this century', on account of the ele- 
 gance of his wit, the extent of his erudition, 
 tlie power of his rhetoric, and the severity of 
 his fate;t 
 
 Geof&y of Vendome, whose Epistles and 
 Dissertations are yet extant; 
 
 Rupert of Duytz, the most eminent, per- 
 haps, of all the scriptural expositors who flou- 
 rished among the Latins during this century, 
 a man of a sound judgment and an elegant 
 taste;J 
 
 Hugh of St. Victor, a man distinguished by 
 the fecundity of his genius, who treated of all 
 the branches of sacred and profane erudition 
 that were known in his time, and composed 
 several dissertations that are not destitute of 
 merit;§ 
 
 Richard of St. Victor, who was at the head 
 of the Mystics in this century, and whose trea- 
 tise, entitled, The Mystical Ark, which con- 
 tains, as it were, the marrow of that kind of 
 theology, was received with the greatest avi- 
 dity, aaid applauded by the fanatics of the 
 times;|| 
 
 Honorius of Autun,1l no mean philoso- 
 pher, and tolerably versed in theological learn- 
 ing; 
 
 Gratian, a learned monk, who reduced the 
 canon law into a new and regular form, in his 
 vast compilation of the decisions of the ancient 
 and modem councils, the decretals of the pon- 
 tiffs, the capitularies of the kings of France, &c.; 
 
 William of Rheims, the author of several pro- 
 ductions, calculated to excite pious sentiments, 
 and contribute to the progress of practical re- 
 ligion; 
 
 Peter Lombard, who was commonly called, 
 in France, Master of the Sentences, because 
 
 has also subjoined to his works the accounts that 
 have been given, by the ancient writers, of his life 
 and actions. 
 
 * The Epistles of Innocent III. were published at 
 Paris, in two large volumes in folio, by Baluze, in 
 the year 1682. 
 
 t See Bayle's Dictionary, at the articles Abelard 
 and Paraclet. — Gervais, Vie de Pierre Abeillard, 
 Abbe de Ruys, et d'FIcloise, published at Paris in 
 two volumes 8vo., in the year 1728. The works of 
 this famous and unfortunate monk were published 
 at Paris in 1016, in one volume 4to., by Franc. Am- 
 boise. Another edition, much more ample, might 
 be given, since there are a great number of the pro- 
 ductions of Abelard that have never yet seen the 
 light. 
 
 J See Mabillon, Annal. Bened. torn. vi. p. 19, 42, 
 144, 168, 2<>1, 282, 296. He gives an ample account 
 of Rupert, and of the disputes in which he was in- 
 volved. 
 
 § See Gallia Christiana, torn. vii. p. 661. The works 
 of this learned man were published at Rouen, in 
 three folio volumes, in the year 1648. See, for a 
 farther account of him, Derlangii Dissert, de Ilugone 
 a S. Victore, Ilclmstadt, 1746, in 4to., and Slar- 
 tonne's Voyage Lileraire, tom. ii p. 91, 92. 
 
 II Gallia Christiana, tom. vii. p. 669. 
 
 V Such is the place to which Honorius is said to 
 have belonged. But I,e Boeuf proves him to have 
 been a German, in his Dissert, sur I'Hist. Francoise, 
 tom. i. p. 254. 
 
 he had composed a work so entitled, which 
 was a collection of opinions and sentences re- 
 lative to the various branches of theology, ex- 
 tracted from the Latin doctors, and reduced 
 into a sort of system;* 
 
 Gilbert de la Porree,j a subtile dialectician, 
 and a learned divine, who is, however, said to 
 have adopted several erroneous sentiments 
 concerning the Divine Essence, the Incarna- 
 tion, and the Trinity;]; 
 
 William of Auxerre, who acquired a consi- 
 derable reputation by his Theological System;§ 
 
 Peter of Blois,|| whose epistles and other 
 productions may yet be read with profit; 
 
 John of Salisbury, a man of great learning 
 and true genius, whose philosophical and theo- 
 logical knowledge was adorned with a lively 
 wit and a flowing eloquence, as appears in his 
 Metalogicus, and his book de Nugis Curialiimi; 
 
 Petrus Comestor, author of An Abridgement 
 of the Old and New Testament, which was 
 used in the schools for the instruction of the 
 youth, and called (probably from that circum 
 stance) Historia Scholastica. 
 
 A more ample account of the names and 
 characters of the Latin writers may be found 
 in those authors who have professedly treated 
 of that branch of literature. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church 
 
 in this Century. 
 
 I. When we consider the multitude of 
 causes which tmited their influence in obscur- 
 ing the lustre of genuine Christianity, and 
 corrupting it by a profane mixture of the in- 
 ventions of superstitious and designing men 
 with its pure and sublime doctrines, it will ap- 
 pear surprising, that the religion of Jesus was 
 not totally extinguished. All orders contri- 
 buted, though in different ways, to corrupt the 
 native purity of true religion. The popes led 
 the way; they would not suffer any doctrines 
 to prevail that had the smallest tendency to 
 diminish their despotic authority; but obliged 
 the public teachers to interpret the precepts 
 of Christianity in such a manner, as to ren- 
 der them subservient to the support of papal 
 dominion and tyranny. This order was so 
 much the more terrible, as those who refused 
 to comply with it, and to force the words of 
 scripture into significations totally opposite to 
 the intentions of its divine author (such, in a 
 word, as had the courage to place the authority 
 of the Gospel above that of the Roman pon- 
 tiffs, and to consider it as the supreme rule of 
 their conduct,) were answered with the formi- 
 dable arguments of fire and sword, and re- 
 ceived death in the most cruel forms, as the 
 
 * Gallia Christiana, tom. vii. p. 68. 
 
 t Called, in Latin, Gilbertus Porrotanus. 
 
 (K^ \ He held, among other things, this trifling 
 and sophistical proposition, that the divine essence 
 and attributes are not Go,l; a proposition that was 
 every way proper to exercise the quibbling spirit of 
 the scholastic writers. 
 
 § Le BoEuf, Dissert, sur la Somme Theologique de 
 Guillaumc d'Auxerrc, in Molafs Continuation des 
 Memoircs d'Histoire et de Literature, tom. iii. part 
 ii. p. 317. 
 
 II Petrus Bieaensis. 
 
320 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 fruit of their sincerity and resolution. The 
 priests and monks contributed, in tlieir way, 
 to disfigure the beautiful simplicity of religion; 
 and, finding it their interest to keep tlie people 
 in the grossest ignorance and darkness, daz- 
 zled their feeble eyes with the ludicrous pomp 
 of a gaudy worship, and led them to place the 
 whole of religion in vain ceremonies, bodily 
 austerities and exercises, and particularly in a 
 blind and stupid veneration for the clergy. 
 The scholastic doctors, who considered the de- 
 cisions of the ancients, and the precepts of the 
 Dialecticians, as tlie great rule and criterion 
 of truth, instead of explaining the doctrines of 
 the Gospel, undermined them by degrees, and 
 sunk divine truth in the ruins of a captious 
 philosophy; while the Mystics, running into 
 the opposite extreme, maintained, that the 
 souls of the truly pious were incapable of any 
 spontaneous motions, and could only be moved 
 by a divine impulse; and thus not only set 
 limits to the pretensions of reason, but exclud- 
 ed it entirely from religion and morality, if 
 they did not in some measure deny its very 
 existence. 
 
 II. The consequences of all this were super- 
 stition and ignorance, which were substituted 
 for true religion, and reigned over the multitude 
 with an universal sway. Relics, which were 
 for the most part fictitious, or at least uncer- 
 tain, attracted more powerfully the confidence 
 of the people, than the merits of Christ, and 
 were supposed by many to be more effectual, 
 than the prayers offered to heaven, through 
 the mediation and intcTcession of that divine 
 Redeemer.* The opulent, whose circumstan- 
 ces enabled them either to erect new temples, 
 or to repair and embellish the old, were consi- 
 dered as the happiest of all mortals, and as the 
 most intimate friends of the Most High; whilst 
 they, whom poverty rendered incapable of such 
 pompous acts of liberality, contributed to the 
 multiplication of religious edifices by their bo- 
 dily labours, cheerfully performed the services 
 in which beasts of burden are usually employ- 
 ed (such as carrying stones and drawing wa- 
 gons,) and expected to obtain eternal salvation 
 by these voluntary and painful efforts of mis- 
 guided zeal. I The saints had a greater num- 
 ber of worshippers, than the Supreme Being 
 and the Saviour of mankind; nor did these 
 superstitious worshippers trouble their heads 
 about that knotty question, which occasioned 
 much debate and many laborious disquisitions 
 in succeeding times, viz. How the inhabitants 
 of heaven came to the knowledge of the pray- 
 ers and supplications that were addressed to 
 them from the earth.' This question was pre- 
 vented in this century by an opinion, which the 
 Christians had received from their pagan an- 
 cestors, that the inhabitants of heaven descend- 
 ed often from above, and frequented the places 
 in which they had formerly taken pleasure 
 
 * See Guihert de Novisciito, de risnoiihiis, (so 
 were relics called) Sanctonini, in his' Works pub- 
 lished by d'Acheri, p. 327, where he attacks, with 
 judgment and dexterity, the superstition of these 
 miserable times. 
 
 t See Haynion's Treatise concerning this custom, 
 published by Mabillon, nt the end of the s-ixth tome 
 of his Annal. Benedict. Sec also those Annals, p. 
 392. 
 
 during their residence upon earth.* To finish 
 the horrid portrait of superstition, we shall 
 only observe, that the stupid credulity of the 
 people in this century went so far, that when 
 any persons, either through the plirenzy of a 
 disordered imagination, or with an intention 
 of deceiving, publislied the dreams or visions, 
 which they fancied or pretended they had from 
 above, the multitude resorted to the new ora- 
 cle, and respected its decisions as the com- 
 mands of God, who in this way was pleased, 
 as they imagined, to communicate comisel, in- 
 struction, and the knowledge of his will to 
 men. This appears (to mention no other ex- 
 amples) from the extraordinary reputation 
 which the two famous prophetesses Hildegard , 
 abbess of Bingen, and Elizabeth of Schonauge, 
 obtained in Germany. f 
 
 III. The general prevalence of ignorance 
 and superstition was dexterously, yet basely 
 improved, by the rulers of the church, to fill 
 their coffers, and to drain the purses of the de- 
 luded multitude: indeed each rank and order 
 of the clergy liad a peculiar method of fleec- 
 ing the people. The bishops, when they want- 
 ed money for their private pleasures, or for the 
 exigencies of the church, granted to their flock 
 the power of pmchasing the remission of the 
 penalties imposed upon transgressors, by a sum 
 of money, which was to be applied to certain 
 religious purposes; or, in other words, they 
 published indulgences, which became an inex- 
 haustible source of opulence to the episcopal 
 orders, and enabled them, as is well known, to 
 form and execute the most difficult schemes 
 for tlie enlargement of their authority, and to 
 erect a multitude of sacred edifices, which 
 augmented considerably the external pomp and 
 splendour of the church.J The abbots and 
 monks, who were not qualified to grant indul- 
 gences, had recourse to other methods of en- 
 riching their convents. They carried about 
 the country the carcases and relics of the 
 saints in solemn ])rocession, and permitted the 
 multitude to beiiold, touch, and embrace, at 
 fixed prices, these sacred and lucrative remains. 
 The monastic orders often gained as much by 
 this raree-show, as the bishops did by their in- 
 dulgences. § 
 
 IV. When the Roman pontiffs cast an eye 
 
 * As a proof that this assertion is not without 
 foundation, we shall transcribe the following re- 
 markable passage of the life of St. Altnian, bishop 
 of Padua, as it stands in Seb. Tengnagel's Collect. 
 Vet. Monumentor. p. 41. " Vos licet, sancti Domini 
 somno vestro requiescatis . . . haudtamen crediderim 
 spiritus vesfros deesse locis qua! viventes tanta de 
 votioue constru.xistia et dile.xistis. ("redo vos adesse 
 cunctis illic degentibus, astare videlicet orantibus, 
 succurrere laborantibus, et vota singuloruin in con 
 spectu divina" ma.jestatis promovere." 
 
 t See Mabillon, Aiinales Benedict, toin. vi. p. 431 
 .1-2;), 554. 
 
 J Stephanus Ohazinensis in lialuzii Miscellan. torn 
 iv. p. 130.— Mabillon, Annal. Benedict, tom. vi. p. 
 535, &c. 
 
 § We find in the records of this century innumera 
 ble examples of this method of extorting contribu 
 lions from the multitude. See the Chronicon Cen 
 tulense in Dacherii Spicilcgio Veter. Scriptor. tom 
 ii. p. 351.— Vita Stae. Roinanie, ibid. p. 137.— Mabil 
 Ion, ,\nnal. Benedict, toin. vi. p. 332, tU4.— Acta Sane 
 tor. Mensis Mali, torn. vii. p. 533, where we have an 
 account of a long journey made by the relics of St. 
 Marculus. Mabillon, Acia Sanctor. Ord. Benedict, 
 torn vi. p. 51!), 520; tom ii p. 732. 
 
Chap. IU. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 821 
 
 upon the immense treasures that the inferior 
 rulers of the church were accumulating by tlie 
 Bale of indulgences, they thought proper to li- 
 mit the power of tiie bishops in rcmittinir the 
 penalties imposed upon transgressors, and as- 
 sumed, almost entirely, this profitable traliic 
 to themselves. In consequence of this new 
 measure, the court of Rome became the gene- 
 ral magazine of indulgences; and the j)ontifis 
 when either the wants of the church, the emp- 
 tiness of their coft'crs, or the daemon of ava- 
 rice, prompted them to look out for new sub- 
 sidies, published not only a general, but also a 
 complete, or what they called a plenary remis- 
 sion of the temporal pains and penalties, an- 
 nexed by the church to certain transgressions. 
 They weni still farther; and not only remitted 
 the penalties, which the civil and ecclesiastical 
 laws had enacted against transgressors, but au- 
 daciously usurped the authority which belongs 
 to God alone, and impiously pretended to abo- 
 lish even the punishments which are reserved 
 in a future state for the workers of iniquity; a 
 step which the bishops, with all their avarice 
 and presumption, had never once ventured to 
 take.* 
 
 The pontiffs first employed this pretended 
 prerogative in promoting the holy war, and 
 shed abroad their indulgences, though with a 
 certain degree of moderation, in order to en- 
 courage the European princes to form new ex- 
 peditions for the conquest of Palestine; but, in 
 process of time, the charm of indulgence was 
 practised upon various occasions of much less 
 consequence, and merely with a view to base 
 lucre. t Their introduction, among other things, 
 destroyed the credit and authority of the an- 
 cient canonical and ecclesiastical discipline 
 of penance, and occasioned the removal and 
 suppression of the penitentials,}; by which tlie 
 reins were let loose to every kind of vice. 
 Such proceedings stood much in need of a 
 plausible defence; but this was impossible. To 
 vindicate in an authoritative manner these 
 scandalous measures of the pontiffs, an absurd 
 and even monstrous doctrine was now invent- 
 ed, which was modified and embellished by 
 St. Thomas in the succeeding century, and 
 which contained among others the following 
 enormities: " That there actually existed an 
 " immense treasure of merit, composed of the 
 "pious deeds, and virtuous actions, which 
 " the saints had performed beyond what was 
 " necessary for their own salvation, § and which 
 " were therefore applicable to the benefit of 
 " others; that the guardian and dispenser of 
 " this precious treasure was the Roman pon- 
 " tiff; and that consequently he was empovver- 
 
 * Morinus, de administrationc Sacramenti Poeni 
 tentiE, lib. x. cap. xx. xxi. x.\ii. p. 71)8. — Rich. Si- 
 mon, Hiblioth. Critique, torn. iii. cap. xxxiii. p. 371. 
 Mabillon, Prsef. ad Acta Sanctor. Saec. v. Acta Sane- 
 tor. Benedict, p. 54, not to sp^^^k of the protestant 
 writors, whom I desipnrdly puss over 
 
 t Miiratori, Antiq. It.ilic. inodii .-Bvi, torn. v. p. 701. 
 Franc. Pajri, Hrevinr. Rom. Pontif. torn. ii. p. tiO.— 
 Theod. Ruinarti Vita Urbani II. p. 231, torn. iii. Op. 
 Post hum. 
 
 Qtj- \ The Penitential was a book, in which the 
 degrees and kinds of penance, that were annexed to 
 different crimes, were registered. 
 
 {j^ § Thn.se works are known by the name of 
 Works of Supererogation. 
 Vol. I.— 41 
 
 " ed to assign, to such as he deemed proper ob- 
 " jects, a portion of tiiis inexliaustible source 
 " of merit, suitable to their respective guilt, 
 " and sufficient to deliver them from the pun- 
 " ishment due to their crimes." It is a most 
 deplorable mark of the power of superstition, 
 that a doctrine, so absurd in its nature, and so 
 pernicious in its effects, sliould yet be retained 
 and defended in the church of Rome. * 
 
 V. Nothing was more common in tliis cen- 
 tury than expositors and interpreters of the 
 sacred writings; but nothing was so rare, as to 
 find, in that class of authors, the qualifications 
 that are essentially required in a good com- 
 mentator. Few of these expositors were at- 
 tentive to search after the true signification of 
 the words employed by the sacred writers, or 
 to investigate the precise sense in which they 
 were used; and these few were destitute of the 
 succoiu-s which such researches demand. The 
 Greek and Latin commentators, blinded by 
 their enthusiastic love of antiquity, and their 
 implicit veneration for the doctors of the early 
 ages of the churcii, drew from their writings, 
 without discernment or choice, a heap of pas- 
 sages, which they were pleased to consider as 
 illustrations of the holy scriptures. Such were 
 the commentaries of Euthymius Zigabenus, 
 an eminent expositor among the Greeks, upon 
 tlie Psalms, the Gospels and Epi.stles; though 
 it must, at the same time, be acknowledged, 
 that this writer follows, in some places, the 
 dictates of his own judgment, and gives, upon 
 certain occasions, proofs of penetration and 
 genius. Among the Latins, we might give 
 several examples of the injudicious manner of 
 expounding the divine word tliat prevailed in 
 this century, such as the Lucubrations of Peter 
 Lombard, Gilbert de la Porree, and tlie famous 
 Abelard, upon the Psalms of David, and the 
 Epistles of St. Paul. Nor do tliose Latin 
 commentators who expounded the whole of the 
 sacred writings, and who are placed at the head 
 of the expositors of this age, (such as Gilbert, 
 bishop of London, surnamed the Universal, on 
 account of the vast extent of his erudition,! and 
 Hervey,]: a most studious Benedictine monk) 
 deserve a higher place in our esteem, than the 
 authors before mentioned. The writers tliat 
 merit the preference among the Latins are 
 Rupert of Duytz, and Anselm of Laon; the 
 former of whom expounded several books of 
 scripture, and the latter composed, or ratlier 
 compiled, a glossary upon the sacred writings. 
 
 {Jl3^ * For a satisfactory and ample account of the 
 onormoiisdoctrineof indulgences, see a very learned 
 and jiidicioiis work, entitled, Lettres sur les Jubiles, 
 publit^hed in the year 1751, in three volumes, 8vo. by 
 the Kev. Mr. Chais, minister of the French churcli 
 at Ihe Hiigiie, on occasion of tlie universal Jubilee 
 relebrated at Rome in the preceding year, by the or- 
 der of Itenedict XIV. In the second volume of this 
 excellent work, which we shall have frequent occa- 
 sion to ci>nsult in the course of this history, a clear 
 account .-iud a satisfactory refutation of the doctrine 
 may be found, with the history of that monstrous 
 l>rartice from its origin to Ihe present times. 
 
 t For ail account of this prelate, see Lc BcEuf, 
 Memoires concernant lUistoire dAuxerre, loin. ii. 
 p. 486. 
 
 t An ample account of this Icnrned Benedictine is 
 to be found in Gabr. Lirons SingiiJarites Ilistoriques 
 et Literaires, torn. iii. p. 29.— See also Mabillon, An- 
 nalcs Benedict, torn. vi. p. 477. 719. 
 
322 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part IL 
 
 As to those doctors who were not carried away 
 by an enthusiastical veneration for the ancients, 
 who had courage enough to try their own tal- 
 ents, and to follow the dictates of their own 
 sagacity, they were chargeable with defects of 
 another kind; for, disregarding and overlooking 
 the beautiful simplicity of divine truth, they 
 were perpetually bent on the search of all sorts 
 of mysteries in the sacred writings, and were 
 constantly on the scent after some hidden 
 meaning in the plainest expressions of scrip- 
 ture. The Mystics excelled peculiarly in this 
 manner of expounding; and, by their violent 
 explications, forced the word of God into a 
 conformity with their visionary doctrines, their 
 enthusiastic feelings, and the system of disci- 
 pline which they had drawn from the excur- 
 sions of their irregular fancies. Nor were the 
 commentators, who pretended to logic and 
 philosophy, and who, in effect, had applied 
 themselves to these profound sciences, free from 
 the contagion of mysticism in their explications 
 of scripture. That they followed the example 
 of those fanatics may be seen by the Allegori- 
 cal Exposition which Hugh of St. Victor gave 
 of the Old and New Testament, by the Mysti- 
 cal Ark of Richard of St. Victor, and by the 
 Mystical Commentaries of Guibert, abbot of 
 Nogent, on Obadiah, Hosea, and Amos;* not 
 to mention several other writers, who seem to 
 have been animated by the same spirit. 
 
 VI. The most eminent teachers of theology 
 resided at Paris, which city was, from this 
 time forward, frequented by students of divinity 
 from all parts of Europe, who resorted thither 
 in crowds, to receive instruction from these 
 celebrated masters. The French divines were 
 divided into different sects. The first of these 
 sects, who were distinguished by the title of 
 the Ancient Theologists, explained the doc- 
 trines of religion, in a plain and simple man- 
 ner, by passages drawn from the holy scrip- 
 tures, from the decrees of councils, and the 
 writings of the ancient doctors, and very rarely 
 made use of the succours of reason or philoso- 
 phy in their theological lectures. In this class 
 we place St. Bernard, Peter sumanied the 
 Chanter, Walter of St. Victor, and other theo- 
 logians, who declared an open and bitter war 
 against the philosophical divines. The doctors, 
 who were afterwards known by the name of 
 positive and sententiary teachers of religion, 
 were not, in all respects, different from these 
 now mentioned. Imitating the examples of 
 Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc, 
 Hildebert, and other doctors of the preceding 
 century, they taught and confirmed their sys- 
 tem of theology, principally by collecting the 
 decisions of the inspired writers, and the opin- 
 ions of the ancients. At the same time they 
 were far from rejecting the succoiu-s of reason, 
 and the discussions of philosophy, to which 
 tliey more especially had recourse, when diffi- 
 culties wero to be solved, and adversaries to be 
 refuted, but, in the application of which, all did 
 not discover the same degree of moderation 
 and prudence. Hugh of St. Victor is sup- 
 posed to have been the first writer of this 
 
 * The Prologus in Abdiam was published by Ma- 
 billon, in his Annales Benedict, torn. vi. p. 637. 
 
 century, who taught in this manner the doc- 
 trines of Christianity, digested into a regular 
 system. His example was followed by manyj 
 but no one acquired such a shining reputation 
 by his labours, in this branch of sacred erudi- 
 tion, as Peter, bishop of Paris, surnamed Lom- 
 bard from the country which gave him birth. 
 Tiie four books of Sentences of this eminent 
 prelate, which appeared in the year 1162,* 
 were not only received with general applause, 
 but acquired also such a high degree of au- 
 thority, as induced the most learned doctors 
 in all places to employ their labours in illua- 
 trating and expounding them. Scarcely was 
 there any divine of note that did not undertake 
 this popular task, except Heiu'y of Ghent, and 
 a few others;t so that Lombard, who was com- 
 monly called Master of the Sentences, on ac- 
 comit of the famous work now mentioned, be- 
 came truly a classic author in divinity.]; 
 
 VII. The followers of Lombard who were 
 called Sententiarii, though their manner of 
 teaching was defective in some respects, and 
 not altogether exempt from vain and trivial 
 questions, were always attentive to avoid en- 
 tering too far into the subtilties of the Dialec- 
 ticians, nor did they presmnptuously attempt 
 to submit the divine truths of the Gospel to the 
 uncertain and obscure principles of a refined 
 and intricate logic, which was rather founded 
 on the excursions of fancy than on the true 
 nature of things. They had for contempora- 
 ries another set of theologians, who were far 
 from imitating their moderation and pru- 
 dence in this respect; a set of subtile doctors, 
 who taught the plain and simple truths of 
 Christianity, in the obscure terms, and with 
 the perplexing distinctions used by the Dialec- 
 ticians, and explained, or rather darkened with 
 their imintelligible jargon, the subhme precepts 
 of that wisdom which emanates from above. 
 This method of teaching theology, which was 
 afterwards called the scholastic system, be- 
 cause it was in general use in the schools, had 
 for its author, Peter Abelard, a man of the 
 most subtile genius, whose public lectures in 
 philosophy and divinity had raised him to the 
 highest summit of literary renown, and who 
 was successively canon of Paris, and monk 
 
 * Erpoldi Lindenbrogii Scriptores Rerum Septen- 
 trionaliuni, p. 250. 
 
 t A list of the commentators who laboured in ex- 
 plaiuinjj the Sentences of Lombard, is given by An- 
 ton. Possevinus, in his Biblioth. Selecta, torn. i. lib, 
 iii. cap. xiv. p. 242. 
 
 OlJ* I The Book of Sentences, which rendered the 
 name of Peter Lombard so illustrious, was a compi- 
 lation of sentences and passages drawn from the 
 fathers, whose manifold contradictions this eminent 
 prelate endeavoured to reconcile. His work may be 
 considered as a complete body of divinity. It con- 
 sists of four books, each of which is subdivided into 
 various chapters and sections. In the first he treats 
 of the Trinity, and the Divine Attributes; in the so 
 cond, of the Creation in general, of the Origin of 
 Angels, the Formation and Fall of Man, of Grace 
 and Free Will, of Original Sin and Actual Trans- 
 gression; ill the third, of the Incarnation and Per- 
 fections of Jesus Christ, of Faith, Hope, and Charity, 
 of the (Jifls of the Spirit, and the Commandments of 
 God. The Sacraments, the Resurrection, the Last 
 Judgment, and the State of the Righteous in Hea- 
 ven, are the subjects treated in the fourth and last 
 book of this celebrated work, which was the wonder 
 of the twelfth century, but is little more than an ob- 
 ject of contempt in ours. 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 323 
 
 and abbot of Ruys.* The fame he acquired 
 by this new method engaged many ambitious 
 divines to adopt it; and, in a short space of 
 time, tlie followers of Abelard multiplied pro- 
 digiously, not only in France, but also in Eng- 
 land and Italy. Thus was the pure and 
 peaceable wisdom of the Gospel perverted into 
 a science of mere sopliistry and chicane; for 
 these subtile doctors never explained or illus- 
 trated any subject, but, on the contrary, dark- 
 ened and disfigured the plainest expressions, 
 and the most evident truths, by their laboured 
 and useless distinctions, fatigued both them- 
 selves and others with unintelligible solutions 
 of abstruse and frivolous questions, and, 
 through a rage for disputing, maintained 
 with equal vehemence and ardour the opposite 
 sides of the most serious and momentous 
 questions.! 
 
 VIII. From this period, therefore, an im- 
 portant distinction was made between the 
 Christian doctors, who were divided into two 
 classes. In the first class were placed those, 
 who were called by the various names of bib- 
 lici, i. e. bible-doctors, dogmatici, and positivi, 
 i. e. didactic divines, and also veteres, or an- 
 cients; and in the second were ranged the scho- 
 lastics, who were also distinguished by the titles 
 of Sententiarii, after the Slaster of the Sen- 
 tences, and Novi, to express their recent ori- 
 gin. The former expounded, though in a 
 wretched manner, the sacred writings in their 
 public schools, illustrated the doctrines of 
 Christianity, without deriving any succours 
 from reason or philosophy, and confirmed their 
 opinions by the united testimonies of Scrip- 
 ture and 'J'radition. The latter expounded, 
 instead of the Bible, the famous Book of Sen- 
 tences; reduced, under the province of their 
 eubtile philosopiiy, whatever the (iospel pro- 
 posed as an object of faith, or a rule of prac- 
 tice; and perplexed and obscured its divine 
 doctrines and precepts by a multitude of vain 
 questions and idle speculations. J The method 
 of the scholastics exhibited a pompous aspect 
 of learning, and these disputants seemed to 
 surpass their adversaries in sagacity and genius; 
 hence they e.xcited the admiration of tjje studi- 
 ous youth, who flocked to their scliools in multi- 
 tudes, while the biblici or doctors of the sacred 
 page, as they were also called, had the niorti- 
 £cation to see their auditories unfrequented, 
 and almost deserted. § The scholastic tlieo- 
 
 * Abelard acknowledges this himself, Epist. i. cap. 
 ix. p. 20, Oper. — See also Laiiiiny, de Scholis Caroli 
 M. p. 67, cap. Ii.\. torn. iv. op. part i. 
 
 t Caea. Egasse de Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, 
 lorn. ii. p. 201, 58:t.— Antim. Wood, Aniiquit. Oxo- 
 niens. toni. i. p. Sr*. — Launoy, do varia Aristoteli.s 
 Fortuna in Acad. Paris, cap. iii. p. 187, Edit. Els- 
 wichii, Vitem. 1720, in 8v'o. 
 
 1 Sen Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, torn. iii. p. 657. 
 
 § The Book of Sentences seemed to be at this time 
 in much greater repute than the Holy Scriptures; 
 and the compilations of Peter Lombard were pre- 
 ferred to the doctrines and precepts of .losiis Christ. 
 This appears evident from the follow ini; reiiiarkal)lc> 
 passage in Roger Bacon's <Jp. I\Iaj. ad ('iiininteiii 
 IV. Pontif. Rom. published in 17:t3 at Lonritm, by 
 Sara. Jebb, from the original MS. '• Baccalaureus 
 qui legit textum (acriptnra;) succumbit lectori sen- 
 tentiarum, et ubique in omnibus honoratur et prae- 
 fertur: nam ille, qui legit sententias, habet principa- 
 lem lioram legendi secundum suam voluntatem, 
 babet et socium ct cameram apud religiosoi: sod qui 
 
 logy continued in high repute in all the Euro- 
 pean colleges until the time of Luther. 
 
 IX. It must, however, be observed, that 
 those metaphysical divines had many difficul- 
 ties to encoimter, and much opposition to 
 overcome, before they could obtain tliat bound- 
 less authority in the European schools, which 
 they so long enjoyed. They were attacked 
 from different quarters; on the one hand, by 
 the ancient divines, or bible doctors; on the 
 other by the mystics, who considered true 
 wisdom and knowledge as imattainable by 
 study or reasoning, and as the fruit of mere 
 contemplation, inward feeling, and a passive 
 acquiescence in divine influences. Thus that 
 ancient conflict between faith and reason, that 
 had formerly divided the Latin doctors, and 
 had been for many years hushed in silence, 
 was now unhappily revived, and produced 
 various tumults, and bitter dissensions. The 
 patrons of the ancient theology, who attacked 
 the schoolmen, were Guibert, abbot of Nogent,* 
 Peter, abbot of Moustier-la-Celle,t Peter the 
 Chanter,! and principally Walter of St. Victor.§ 
 The mystics also sent forth into the field of con- 
 troversy, upon this occasion, their ablest and 
 most violent champions, such as Joachim abbot 
 of Flori, Richard of St. Victor, who loaded 
 with invectives the scholastic divines, and 
 more especially Lombard, though he was, un- 
 doubtedly, the most candid and modest doctor 
 of that subtile tribe. These dissensions and 
 contests, whose deplorable effects augmented 
 from day to day, engaged pope Alexander III. 
 to interpose his authority, in order to restore 
 tranquillity and concord in the church. For 
 this purpose he convoked a solemn and nume- 
 rous assembly of the clergy in the year 1164,|| 
 in whicii the licentious rage of religious dispu- 
 tation was condemned; and another in 1179, 
 in which some particular errors of Peter Lom- 
 bard were pointed out and censured.TT 
 
 X. But of all the adversaries that assailed 
 tlie scholastic divines in this century, no one 
 was so formidable as the famous St. Bernard, 
 whose zeal was ardent beyond all expression, 
 and whose influence and authority were equal 
 to his zeal. And, accordingly, we find this 
 
 legit Bibliam, caret his, et mendicat horam legendi 
 secundum quod placet lectori sententiarum: et qui 
 legit Rummas, disputat ubique et pro magistro habe- 
 tur; reliquus qui textum legit, noii potest riisputare, 
 sicut fuit hoc anno Bononiie, et in multis aliia locis, 
 quod est absurduni: manifestum est igitur, quod 
 lextus illius facultatis (sc. Theologicae) subjicitur uni 
 summte magistrali." Such was now the authority 
 of the scholastic theology, as appears IVom the words 
 of Bacon, who lived in the following century, and in 
 whose writings there are many things highly worthy 
 of the attention of the curious. 
 
 * In his Tropologia in O.seam, p. 203, op. 
 
 t Opuscul. p. 277.306. edit. Benedict. 
 
 I In his Verbum Abbreviat. cap. iii. p. 6, 7, pub- 
 lished at Mons in the year 163U, in 4to. by George 
 Galopin. 
 
 § In his Libri IV. contra Guatuor Francim Laby- 
 rinthos et novos Hipreticos. He called Abelard, 
 Gilbert de la Porreo, Lombard, and Peter of Poic- 
 tii'rs, who were the principal scholastic divines of 
 this century, the four Labyrinths of France. For 
 an account of this work, which is yet in manuscript, 
 see Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, tom. ii. p. 619, 659. 
 
 II Ant. Pagi, Critic, in Baronium, tom. iv. ad A. 
 11H4. p. 614, 61.5. 
 
 V Matth. Paris. Histor. Major, p. 115.— Boulay, 
 Histor. Acad. Paris, wm. ii. p. 402. 
 
324 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 illustrious abbot combating tlie Dialecticians, 
 not only in his writings and his conversation, 
 but also by his deeds; arming against them 
 synods and councils, the decrees of the church, 
 and the laws of tlie state. The renowned 
 Abelard, who was as much superior to St. 
 Bernard in sagacity and erudition, as lie was 
 his inferior in credit and authority, was one 
 of the first who felt, by a bitter experience, the 
 aversion of the lordly abbot to the scholastic 
 doctors: for, ia the year 1121, he was called 
 before the council of Soissons, and before that 
 of Sens in 1140; inboth of which assemblies he 
 was accused by St. Bernard of the most perni- 
 cious errors, and was finally condemned as an 
 egregious heretic* The charge brouglit against 
 tliis subtile and learned monk was, that he had 
 notoriously corrupted the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, blasphemed against the majesty of 
 the Holy Gliost, entertained unworthy and 
 false conceptions of the person and offices of 
 Christ, and the union of the two natures in 
 him; denied tlie necessity of the divine grace 
 to render us virtuous; and, in a word, by his 
 doctrines struck at the fundamental principles 
 of all religion. It must be confessed, by those 
 who are acquainted with the writings of Abe- 
 lard, tliat he expressed himself in a very singu- 
 lar and incongruous manner upon several 
 points of theology;! and this, indeed, is one of 
 the inconveniences to which subtile Refine- 
 ments upon mysterious doctrines frequently 
 lead. But it is certain, on the other hand, 
 that St. Bernard, who had much more genius 
 than logic, misunderstood some of the opin- 
 ions of Abelard, and wilfully perverted others: 
 for the zeal of this good abbot too rarely per- 
 mitted him to consult in his decisions the dic- 
 tates of impartial equity; and hence it was, that 
 he almost always applauded beyond measure, 
 and censured witliout mercy.J 
 
 XI. Abelard was not the only scholastic di- 
 vine who paid dearly for his metaphysical re- 
 finement upon the doctrines of the Gospel, 
 and whose logic exposed him to the unrelent- 
 ing fury of persecution; Gilbert de la Porree, 
 bishop of Poictiers, who had taught theology 
 and philosophy at Paris, and in other places, 
 with the highest applause, met with the same 
 fate. Unfortunat ely for him, Arnold and Ca- 
 
 * See Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Abelard. — 
 Gervais, Vie il' Abelard et d'Hcloise. — Mabillon, Au- 
 nal. Benedict, torn. vi. p. 63, 84, 395. — Martenne, 
 Tliesaur. Anecdotor. torn. v. p. 1139. 
 
 ffij" t He altirnied, for example, among other 
 things equally unintelligible and extravagant, that 
 the names, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were im- 
 proper terms, and were only used to e.vpress the 
 fulness of the sovereign good; that the Father was 
 the plenitude of power, the Son a certain power, and 
 the Holy Ghost no power at all; that the Holy Ghost 
 was the soul of the world, with other crude fancies 
 of alike nature, mingled, however, with bold truths. 
 
 X See Gervais, Vie d'Abelard, tom. ii. p. 162, — 
 Le Clerc, Biblioth. Ancieniie et IModerne. torn. ix. p. 
 352. — Dionys. Petav. Dogmata Theolog. tom. i. lib. v. 
 cap. vi. p. 217, as also the works of Bernard, passim. 
 Abelard, who, notwithstanding all his crude no- 
 tions, was a man of true genius, was undoubtedly 
 worthy of a better fate tlian that which fell to his 
 lot, and of a more enlightened age than that in 
 which he lived. After passing through the furnace 
 of persecution, and having sutfered afflictions of va- 
 rious kinds, of which he has transmitted the history 
 to posterity, he retired to the monastery of Clugni, 
 where he ended his days in the year 1142. 
 
 lo, two of his archdeacons, who had been edu- 
 cated in the principles of the ancient theology, 
 lieard him one day disputing, with more sub- 
 tilty than was meet, of the divine nature. 
 Alarmed at the novelty of his doctrine, they 
 brought a charge of blasphemy against him 
 before pope Eugenius III. who was at that 
 time in France; and, to give weight to their 
 accusation, they engaged St. Bernard in their 
 cause. The zealous abbot treated the matter 
 with his usual vehemence, and opposed Gil- 
 bert with the utmost severity and bitterness, 
 first in the council of Paris, A. D. 1147, and 
 afterwards in that which was assembled at 
 Rlieims in the following year. In the latter 
 council the accused bishop, in order to put an 
 end to the dispute, offered to submit his opi- 
 nions to the judgment of the assembly, and of 
 the Roman pontiff, by whom they were con- 
 demned. The errors attributed to Gilbert were 
 the fruits of an excessive subtilty, and of 
 an extravagant passion for reducing tlie doc- 
 trines of Christianity under the empire of 
 metaphysics and dialectics. He distinguished 
 the divine essence from the Deity, the proper- 
 ties of the tliree divine persons from the per- 
 sons themselves, not in reality, but by abstrac- 
 tion, in statu rationis, as the metaphysicians 
 speak; and, in consequence of these distinc- 
 tions, he denied the incarnation of the divine 
 nature. To these he added other opinions, 
 derived from the same source, which were ra- 
 ther vain, fanciful, and adapted to excite sur- 
 prise by their novelty, than glaringly false, or 
 really pernicious. These refined notions were 
 far above the comprehension of good St. Ber- 
 nard, who was by no means accustomed to 
 such profoimd disquisitions, to such intricate 
 researches.* 
 
 XII. Tiie important science of morality was 
 not now in a very flourishing state, as may be 
 easily imagined when we consider the genius 
 and spirit of that philosophy, which, in this 
 century, reduced all the other sciences under 
 its dominion, and of which we have given 
 some account in the preceding sections. The 
 only moral writer among the Greeks, worthy 
 of mention, is Philip, surnamed the Solitary, 
 whoso book, entitled Dioptra, which consists 
 of a dialogue between the body and the soul, 
 is composed with judgment and elegance, and 
 contains many remarks proper to nourish pious 
 and virtuous sentiments. 
 
 The Latin moralists of this age may be di- 
 vided into two classes, the scholastics and mya- 
 tics. The former discoursed about virtue, as 
 they did about truth, in the most unfeeling 
 jargon, and generally subjoined their arid sys- 
 tem of morals to what they called their didactic 
 theology. The latter treated the duties of mo- 
 rality in a quite different manner; their lan- 
 guage was tender, persuasive, and affecting, 
 and their sentiments were often beautiful and 
 sublime; but they taught in a confused and ir- 
 
 * See Du Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, tom. ii. p. 
 223, 232.— Mabillon, Annal. Benedictin. tom. vi. p. 
 343. 415, 433.— Gallia Christiana Benedictin. tom. ii. 
 p. 1175.— Matth. Paris, Histor. Major, p. 56.— Peta- 
 vii Dogmata Theologica, tom. i. lib. i. cap. viii. — 
 Longueval, Histoire de I'Eglise Gallicane, tom. ix. 
 p. 147. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 325 
 
 regular manner, without method or precision, 
 and frequently mixed tiie dross of" Platonism 
 with the pure treasures of celestial truth. 
 
 We miglit also plane in the class of moral 
 writers the greatest part of the commentators 
 and expositors of this century, who, laying 
 aside all attention to the signification of the 
 words used l)y the sacred writere, and scarcely 
 ever attempting to illustrate tiie truths which 
 they reveal, or the events which they relate, 
 turned, hy forced and allegorical explications, 
 every passage of S('ri])ture to practical uses, 
 and drew lessons of morality from every quar- 
 ter. We could produce many instances of this 
 way of connnenting, beside Guibert's Moral 
 Observations on the Book of Job, the Prophecy 
 of Amos, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah. 
 
 XIII. Both Greeks and Latins were seized 
 with that enthusiastic pas.sion for dialectical 
 researches, which raged in this century, and 
 were thus rendered extremely fond of captious 
 questions and theological contests; and, at the 
 same time, the love of controversy seduced 
 them from the paths that lead to truth, and 
 involved them in labyrinths of uncertainty and 
 error. The discovery of truth was not, in- 
 deed, the great object they had in view; their 
 principal aim was to perplex and embarrass 
 their adversaries, and overwhelm them with 
 an enormous heap of fine spun distinctions, an 
 impetuous torrent of words without meaning, 
 a long list of formidable authorities, and a spe- 
 cious train of fallacious consequences, embel- 
 lished with railings and invectives. The prin- 
 cipal polemic writers among tiie Greeks were 
 Constantinus Harmenopulus, and Euthymius 
 Zigabenus. The former published a short trea- 
 tise de Sectis Hcereticm'uni, i. e. concerning the 
 Sects of Heretics. The latter, in a long and 
 laboured work, entitled Panoplia, attacked all 
 the heresies and errors that troubled the 
 church; but, not to mention the extreme le- 
 vity and creduUty of this writer, his mode of 
 disputation was highly defective, and all his 
 arguments, according to the wretched method 
 that now prevailed, were drawn from the 
 writings of the ancient doctors, whose autho- 
 rity supplied the i)lace of evidence. Both tiiese 
 authors were sharply censured in a satirical 
 poem composed by Zonaras. The Latin writ- 
 ers were also employed in various branches of 
 religious controversy. Honorius of Autun 
 wrote against certain heresies; and Abelard 
 combated them all. The Jews, vviiosc credit 
 was now extremely low, and whose circmu- 
 stances were miserable in every respect, were 
 refuted by Gilbert de Castilione, Odo, Peter 
 Alfonsus, Rupert of Duytz, Peter Mauritius, 
 Richard of St. Victor, and Peter of Blois, ac- 
 cording to the logic of the times, while I^utliy- 
 mius and several other divines directed their 
 polemic force against the Saracens. 
 
 XIV. That contest between the Greeks and 
 Latins, the subject of which has been already 
 mentioned, was still carried on by both parties 
 with the greatest obstinacy and vehemence. 
 The Grecian champions were Euthymius, Ni- 
 cetas, and others of less renown; while the 
 cause of the Latins was vigorously maintained 
 by Anselm, bishop of Havelberg, and Hugo 
 Etherianus, who eminently distinguished them- 
 
 selves by their erudition in this famous contro- 
 versy.* Many attempts were made, both at 
 Rome and Constantinople, to reconcile these 
 difl'erences, and heal these divisions; and this 
 union was solicited, in a particular manner, by 
 the emperors of the Comnene family, who ex- 
 pected to draw great advantage from the friend- 
 ship and alliance of the Latins, toward the 
 support of tlie Grecian empire, which was at 
 tliis time in a declining, and almost in a des- 
 perate condition. But as the Latins aimed at 
 notliing less than a despotic supremacy over 
 the Greek church, and as, on the other hand, 
 the Grecian bishops could by no means be in- 
 duced to yield an implicit obedience to the Ro- 
 man pontifi', or to condemn the measures and 
 proceedings of their ancestors, the negotia- 
 tions, undertaken for the restoration of peace, 
 widened the breach instead of healing it; and 
 the terms proposed on both sides, but especially 
 by the Latins, exasperated, instead of calming, 
 the resentments and animosities of the con- 
 tending parties. 
 
 XV. Many controversies of inferior moment 
 were carried on among the Greeks, who were 
 extremely fond of disputing, and were scarcely 
 ever without debates upon religious matters. 
 We shall not enter into a circumstantial narra- 
 tion of these theological contests, which would 
 fatigue rather than amuse or instruct; but shall 
 confine ourselves to a brief mention of those 
 which made the greatest noise in the empire. 
 Under the reign of Emanuel Comnenus, whose 
 extensive learning was accompanied with an 
 excessive curiosity, several theological contro- 
 versies were carried on, in which he himself 
 bore a principal part, and which fomented such 
 discords and animosities among a people al- 
 ready exhausted and dejected by intestine tu- 
 mults, as threatened tJieir destruction. The 
 first question tliat exercised the metaphysical 
 talent of this over-curious emperor and his sub- 
 tile doctors, was this: — in what sense was it, 
 or might it be, affirmed that an incarnate God 
 was at the same time the offerer and the obla- 
 tion? When this knotty question had been 
 long debated, and the emperor had maintain- 
 ed, for a considerable time, that solution of 
 it which was contrary to the opinion generally 
 received, he yielded at length, and embrac- 
 ed tiie popular notion of that unintelligible 
 subject. The consequence of this step was, 
 tliat many men of eminent abilities and great 
 credit, who had differed from the doctrine of 
 tlie church upon this article, were deprived of 
 their honours and employments.! What the 
 emperor's opinion of this matter was, wc are 
 not satisfactorily informed; and we are equally 
 ignorant of the sentiments adopted by the 
 church in this question. It is highly probable 
 that Emanuel, followed by certain learned doc- 
 tors, differed from the opinions generally re- 
 ceived among the Greeks concerning the 
 Fiord's supper, and the oblation or sacrifice of 
 Christ in that holy ordinance. 
 
 XVI. Some years after this, a still more 
 warm contest arose concerning the sense of 
 these words of Christ, John xiv. 28. ' For 
 
 * See Leo Allatius, de perpetua Conneiisione Ec- 
 clesitc Oriental, et Occident, lib. ii. cap. xi. p. 644. 
 t Nicolas Choniates, Annal. lib. vii. sect. 5. 
 
326 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part H. 
 
 my Father is greater than I,' and divided the 
 Greeks into the most bitter and deplorable fac- 
 tions. To the ancient explications of that im- 
 portant passage new illustrations were now 
 added; and the emperor himself, who, from an 
 indifferent prince, had become a wi'etched di- 
 vine, published an exposition of that remark- 
 able text, which he obtruded, as the only true 
 sense of the words, upon a council assembled 
 for that purpose, and was desirous of having 
 received as a rule of faith by all the Grecian 
 clergy. He maintained that the words in 
 question related to the flesh that was hidden 
 in Christ, and that was passible, i. e. subject 
 to suffering,* and not only ordered this deci- 
 sion to be engraven on tables of stone in the 
 principal church of Constantinople, but also 
 published an edict, in which capital punish- 
 ments were denounced against all such as 
 should presume to oppose this explication, or 
 teach any doctrine repugnant to it.f This 
 edict, however, expired with the emperor by 
 whom it was issued; and Andronicus, upon his 
 accession to the imperial throne, prohibited all 
 those contests concerning speculative points 
 of theology, that arose from an irregular and 
 wanton curiosity, and suppressed, in a more 
 particular manner, all inquiry into the subject 
 now mentioned, by enacting the severest pe- 
 nalties against such as should in any way con- 
 tribute to revive tliis dispute. | 
 
 XVII. The same theological emperor trou- 
 bled the church with another controversy con- 
 cerning the God of Mohammed. The Greek 
 catechisms pronounced an anathema against 
 the Deity worshipped by that false prophet, 
 whom they represented as a solid and spherical 
 Being;^ for so they translated the Arabian 
 word elsemcd, which is applied in the Koran to 
 the Supreme Being, and which indeed is sus- 
 ceptible of that sense, though it also signifies 
 ete'r!rti.|| The emperor ordered this anathema 
 to be effaced in the catechism of the Greek 
 church, on account of the high offence it gave 
 to those Mohammedans, who had either been 
 already converted to Christianity, or were dis- 
 posed to embrace that divine religion, and who 
 were extremely shocked at such an insult of- 
 fered to the name of God, with whatever re- 
 strictions and conditions it might be attended. 
 The Christian doctors, on the other hand, op- 
 posed with resolution and vehemence this im- 
 perial order. They observed that the anathe- 
 ma, pronounced in the catechism, had no rela- 
 tion to the nature of God in general, or to the 
 true God in particular; and that, on the con- 
 trary, it was solely directed against the error 
 of Mohammed, against that phantom of a di- 
 vinity which he had imagined; for that impos- 
 tor pretended that the Deity could neither be 
 engendered nor engender, whereas the Christians 
 adore God the Father. After the bitterest dis- 
 putes concerning this abstruse subject, and va- 
 rious efforts to reconcile the contending par- 
 ties, the bishops assembled in council consent- 
 ed, though with the utmost difficulty, to trans- 
 
 t Nicetas Choniates, Annal. lib. vii. sect. 6, p. 113. 
 i Nicetas in Andronico, lib. ii. sect. 5, p. 175. 
 
 y Reland, ile religione Mohammedica, lib. ii. sect, 
 3, p. 142. 
 
 fer the imprecation of the catechism from the 
 God of Mohammed to the pseudo-prophet him- 
 self, his doctrine, and his sect.* 
 
 XVIII. The spirit of controversy raged 
 among the Latins, as well as among the 
 Greeks; and various sentiments concerning 
 the sacrament of the Lord's supper were pro- 
 pagated, not only in the schools, but also in 
 the writings of the learned; for, though all the 
 doctors of the church were now exceedingly 
 desirous of being looked upon as enemies to 
 the system of Berenger, yet many of them, and 
 among othersf Rupert of Duytz, differed very 
 little from the sentiments of that great man; 
 at least it is certain, that the famous contro- 
 versy, which had arisen in the church concern- 
 ing the opinions of Berenger, had still left the 
 manner of Christ's presence in the eucharist 
 undetermined. 
 
 Rupert had also religious contests of another 
 nature with Anselm, bishop of Laon, William 
 of Champeaux, and their disciples, who main- 
 tained their doctrine when they were no more. 
 The divine will and the divine omnipotence 
 were the subjects of this controversy; and the 
 question debated was, " Whether God really 
 " willed, and actually produced, all things that 
 "exist, or whether there are certain things 
 " whose existence he merely permits, and whose 
 " production, instead of being the effect of his 
 " inill, was contrary to it.'" The affirmative 
 of the latter part of this question was main- 
 tained by Piupert, while his adversaries affirm- 
 ed that all things were the effects, not only of 
 the divine power, but also of the divine will. 
 This learned abbot was also accused of having 
 taught that the angels were formed out ot 
 darkness; that Christ did not administer his 
 body to Judas, in the last supper; and several 
 other doctrines,! contrary to the received opi- 
 nions of the church. 
 
 XIX. These and other controversies of a 
 more private kind, which made little noise in 
 the world, were succeeded, about the year 
 1140, by one of a more public nature, con- 
 cerning what was called the Immaculate Con- 
 ception of the Virgin Mary. ^ Certain churches 
 in France began, about that time, to celebrate 
 the festival consecrated to this pretended con- 
 ception, which the English had observed be- 
 fore this period in consequence of the exhorta- 
 tions of Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, as 
 some authors report. The church of Lyons 
 was one of the first that adopted this new festi- 
 val, which no sooner came to the knowledge 
 of St. Bernard, than he severely censured the 
 canons on account of this innovation, and op- 
 posed the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin 
 with the greatest vigour, as it supposed her 
 being honoured with a privilege which be- 
 longed to Christ alone. Upon this a warm 
 contest arose; some siding with the canons of 
 Lyons, and adopting the new festival, while 
 
 * Nicet. Chnn. Annales, lib. vii. p. 113—116. 
 
 f Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 30. 
 
 I See the Epistle of Mengoz, published by Mar- 
 tenne, in his Thesaur. Anecdotor. torn. i. p. 290. — 
 Jo. Mabillon, Annal. Benedict, torn. vi. p. 19, 43, 1G8, 
 261. 
 
 OfJ- § The defenders of the Immaculate Conception 
 maintained, that the Virgin Mary was conceived in 
 the womb of her mother with the same purity that 
 I is attributed to Christ's conception in her womb. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 327 
 
 others adhered to the sentiments of St. Ber- 
 nard.* The controversy, however, notwith- 
 standing the zeal of the contending parties, 
 was carried on, during this century, with a 
 certain degree of decency and moderation. 
 But, in subsequent times, when the Domini- 
 cans were estal)hshed in the academy of Paris, 
 the contest was renewed witii tiie greatest ve- 
 hemence, and the same subject was debated, 
 on both sides, with the utmost animosity and 
 contention of mind. The Dominicans declar- 
 ed for St. Bernard, while the academy pa- 
 tronised the canons of Lyons, and adopted the 
 new festival. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The rites and ceremonies used in divine 
 worship, both public and private, were now 
 greatly augmented among the Greeks; and the 
 same superstitious passion for the introduction 
 of new observances, discovered itself in all the 
 eastern churches. The Grecian, Nestorian, 
 and Jacobite pontiffs, who were in any degree 
 remarkable for their credit or ambition, were 
 desirous of transmitting their names to poste- 
 rity by the invention of some new rite, or by 
 the introduction of some striking change into 
 the method of worship that had hitherto pre- 
 vailed. This was, indeed, almost the only 
 way left to distinguish themselves in an age 
 when, a due sense of the excellence of genuine 
 religion and substantial piety being almost 
 totally lost, the whole care and attention of an 
 ostentatious clergy, and a superstitious multi- 
 tude, were employed upon the round of exter- 
 nal ceremonies and observances substituted in 
 their place. Thus some attempted, though in 
 vain, to render their names immortal, by in- 
 troducing a new method of reading or reciting 
 the prayers of the churcli; others changed the 
 church music; some tortured their inventions 
 to find out some new mark of veneration, that 
 might be offered to the relics and images of the 
 saints; while several ecclesiastics did not dis- 
 dain to employ their time, with the most seri- 
 ous assiduity, in embellishing the garments of 
 the clergy, and in forming the motions and 
 postures they were to observe, and the looks 
 they were to assume, in the celebration of di- 
 vine worship. 
 
 II. We may learn from the book de Divinis 
 Officiis, composed by the famous Rupert, or 
 Robert, of Duytz, what were tiie rites in use 
 among the Latins during this century, as also 
 the reasons on whicli they were founded. Ac- 
 cording to the plan we follow, we cannot here 
 enlarge upon tlio additions that were made to 
 the doctrinal part of religion. We sliall there- 
 fore only obser\'e, tiiat the cntinisiastic vene- 
 ration for the Virgin Mary, whicii had l>een 
 hitherto carried to such an excessive height, 
 increased now instead of diminishing, since her 
 dignity was at this time considerably augment- 
 ed by the new fiction or invention relating to 
 
 * Sti. Bernard! Epistola IT'!.— Boulay, Hist. Acad. 
 Paris, torn. ii. p. 135. — Mabillon, Annal. Bened. torn. 
 vi. p. 327.— Dom. Colonia, Hist. Lit. de la Ville de 
 Lyon, torn. ii. p. 233. 
 
 her immaculate conception; for, though St. 
 Bernard and others opposed with vigour this 
 chimerical notion, yet their efforts were coun- 
 teracted by the superstitious fury of the de- 
 luded multitude, whose judgment prevailed 
 over the counsels of the wise; so that, about 
 the year 1138, there was a solemn festival in- 
 stituted in honour of this pretended conception, 
 though we neither know by whose authority 
 it was established, nor in what place it was 
 first celebrated.* 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and Heresies that trou- 
 bled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The Greek and eastern churches were 
 infested with fanatics of different kinds, who 
 gave them much trouble, and engaged them 
 in the most warm and violent contests. Some 
 of these fanatics professed to believe in a dou- 
 ble trinity, rejected wedlock, abstained from 
 flesh, treated with the utmost contempt the 
 sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, 
 as also all the various branches of external 
 worship; placed the essence of religion in in- 
 ternal prayer alone, and maintained, as it is 
 said, that an evil being, or genius, dwelt in the 
 breast of every mortal, and could be thence 
 expelled by no other metliod than by perpetual 
 supplications to the Supreme Being. The 
 founder of this enthusiastical sect is said to 
 have been a person called Lucopetrus. His 
 chief disciple was named Tychicus, who cor- 
 rupted, by false and fanatical interpretations, 
 several books of the sacred writings, and par- 
 ticularly the Gospel according to St. Mat- 
 thew. | It is well known, that enthusiasts of 
 this kind, who were rather wrong headed than 
 vicious, lived among the Greeks and Syrians, 
 especially among the monks, for many ages 
 before this period, and also in this century. 
 The accounts, indeed, that have been given 
 of them, are not in all respects to be depended 
 upon: and there arc several circumstances, 
 which render it extremely probable, that many 
 persons of eminent piety, and zeal for genuine 
 Cliristianity, were confounded by the Greeks 
 with these enthusiasts, and ranked in the list of 
 heretics, merely on account of their opposing 
 the vicious practices and tlie insolent tyranny 
 of the priesthood, and their treating with deri- 
 sion that motley spectacle of superstition which 
 was supported by public authority. In Greece, 
 and in all the eastern provinces, these fanatics 
 were distinguished by the general and invidi- 
 ous appellation of Massalians or Euchites,l as 
 
 * Mabillon. .Annal. Benedict, torn. vi. p. o27, 412.— 
 Gallia ChriFtiana, torn. i. p. 1108. 
 
 t Kuthvniii Triumph, de Secta Massalianoriim, in 
 Jac. Tollii Insignibus Itiiioris Italic!, p. 106 — 125. 
 
 (ttj- I Masfalians and Euchitcs aro di>noininations 
 that signify the same Hiinff, and denote, one in the 
 Hebrew, and the other in the Greek lanenajie, per- 
 sons ichoprny. A sect, under thisdeiioniination, arose 
 lurinj; the reign of the emperor Constanlius. about 
 the year 3G1, founded by certain monks of Mesopo- 
 tamia, who dedicated thiTji.'^ilves wholly to prayer, 
 and held many of the dorirines attrihulcd by Mo- 
 sheim to the Massalians ol the Iwelftli renlury. See 
 August, de Hcprcs. cap. Ivii. and 'I'hiod. H.-Bret. Fab. 
 lib. iv. Epiphanius speaks of another sort of Mas- 
 alians still more ancient, who were mere Gentiles, 
 acknowledged several gods, yet adored only one 
 
S28 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the Latins comprehended all the adversaries 
 of the Roman pontiff under the general terms 
 of Waldenses and Mbigenses. It is, however 
 necessary to observe, that the names above- 
 mentioned were very vague and ambiguous in 
 the way they were applied by the Greeks and 
 the Orientals, who made use of them to cha- 
 racterize, without distinction, all such as com- 
 plained of the multitude of useless ceremonies, 
 and of the vices of the clergy, without any re- 
 gard to the difference that existed between 
 Buch persons in point of principles and morals. 
 In short, the righteous and the profligate, the 
 wise and the foolish, were equally compre- 
 hended under the name of Massalians, when- 
 ever they opposed the raging superstition of 
 the times, or considered true and genuine piety 
 as the essence of the Christian character. 
 
 II. From the sect now mentioned, that of 
 the Bogomiles is said to have proceeded, whose 
 founder Basilius, a monk by profession, was 
 committed to the flames at Constantinople, 
 under the reign of Alexius Conmenus, after 
 all attempts to make him renomice his errors 
 had proved ineffectual. By the accounts we 
 have of this unhappy man, and of the errors he 
 taught, it appears sufficiently evident, that his 
 doctrine resembled, in a striking mamier, the 
 religious system of the ancient Gnostics and 
 Manichasans; though, at tlie same time, the 
 Greeks may have falsified his tenets in some 
 respects. Basilius maintained, that the world 
 and all animal bodies were formed, not by the 
 Deity, but by an evil demon, who had been 
 cast down fVom heaven by the Supreme Being; 
 whence he concludea, that the body was no 
 more than the prison of the immortal spirit, 
 and that it was, therefore, to be enervated by 
 fasting, contemplation, and other exercises, 
 that so the soul might be gradually restored to 
 its primitive liberty; for this purpose also wed- 
 lock was to be avoided, with many other cir- 
 cumstances which we have of"ten had occasion 
 to explain and repeat in the course of this his- 
 tory. It was in consequence of the same prin- 
 ciples, that this unfortunate enthusiast denied 
 the reality of Christ's body (which, like the 
 Gnostics and Manichseans, he considered only 
 as a phantom,) rejected the law of Moses, and 
 maintained that the body, upon its separation 
 by death, returned to the malignant mass of 
 matter, without either the prospect or possi- 
 bility of a future resurrection to life and feli- 
 city. We have so many examples of fanatics 
 of this kind in the records of ancient times, 
 and also in the history of this century, that it 
 is by no means to be wondered, that some "one 
 of them, more enterprising than the rest, should 
 found a sect among the Greeks. The name 
 of this sect was taken from the divine mercy, 
 which its members are said to have incessantly 
 implored; for the word bogomilus, in the Mcesian 
 language, signifies calling out for mercy from 
 above.* 
 
 whom they called Almighty, and had oratories in 
 which they assembled to pr.iy and sing hymns. This 
 resemblance between the Massalians and the Es- 
 senes, induced Scaliger to think that Epiphanius 
 confounded the former with the latter. 
 
 * See the Alexias of Anna Comnena, lib. xv. p. 
 384, edit. Venet. — Zonarae Annales, lib. xviii. p. 33G. 
 —Jo. Christ. Wolf Historia Bogomilorum, published 
 
 III. The Latin sects were yet more nume- 
 rous than those of tlie Greeks; and this Avill 
 not appear at all surprising to such as consider 
 the state of religion in the greatest part of the 
 European provinces. As the prevalence of 
 superstition, the vices of the clergy, the luxury 
 and indolence of the pontiffs and bishops, the 
 encouragement of impiety by the traffic of in- 
 dulgences, increased from day to day, several 
 pious, though weak men, who had the true re- 
 ligion of Christ at heart, easily perceived that 
 it was in a most declining and miserable state, 
 and therefore attempted a reformation in the 
 church, in order to restore Christianity to its 
 primitive purity and lustre. But the know- 
 ledge of these good men did not equal their 
 zeal; nor were their abilities in any proportion 
 to the grandeur of their undertakings. The 
 greater part of them were destitute both of 
 learning and judgment, and, being involved 
 in the general ignorance of the times, very 
 imperfectly understood the holy scriptures, 
 whence Christianity was derived, and by which 
 alone the abuses that had been mingled with 
 it could be reformed. In a word, few of these 
 well-meaning Christians were equal to an at- 
 tempt so difficult and arduous as an imiversal 
 reformation; and the consequence of this was, 
 that while they avoided the reigning abuses, 
 they fell into others that were as little consis- 
 tent with the genius of true religion, and carried 
 the spirit of censure and reformation to such 
 an excessive length, that it degenerated often 
 into the various extravagances of enthusiasm, 
 and engendered a nmnber of new sects, that 
 became a new dishonour to the Ciiristian 
 cause. 
 
 IV. Among the sects that troubled the 
 Latin church during this century, the principal 
 place is due to the Cathari or Catharists, whom 
 we have already had occasion to mention.* 
 This numerous faction, leaving their first resi- 
 dence, which was in Bulgaria, spread them- 
 selves throughout almost all the European 
 provinces, where they occasioned much tumult 
 and disorder; but their fate was unliappy; for, 
 wherever they were foimd, they were put to 
 death with the most unrelenting cruelty.j 
 Their religion resembled the doctrine of the 
 Manichajans and Gnostics, on which account 
 they commonly received the denomination 
 of the former, though they differed in many 
 respects from the genuine and primitive Mani- 
 chteans. They all indeed agreed in the fol- 
 lowing points of doctrine, viz. That matter 
 was the source of all evil; that the creator of 
 this world was a being distinct from the Su- 
 preme Deity; that Christ was neither clothed 
 with a real body, nor could be properly said 
 to have been born, or to have seen death; that 
 human bodies were the production of the evil 
 
 at Wittenbore, in 1712.— Sam. Andrefe Diss, de 
 l?o2omilis in Jo. Voigtii Bibliotheca Historic Hsere- 
 siologicae, torn. i. part ii. p. liJl. Chr. Aug. Heumanni 
 Dissertat. de Bogomilis. 
 
 * See Cent. III. Part II. Ch. V. sect, xviii.; but 
 principally, for the Catharists here mentioned, see 
 Cent. XI. Part II. Ch. V. sect. .i. 
 
 t See the account given of this unhappy and per- 
 secuted sect by Charles Plessis d'Argentre, in his 
 Collectio Judiciorum de novis Erroribus, torn. i. in 
 which, however, several circumstances are omitted. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 829 
 
 principle, and were extinguished without the 
 prospect of a new life; and that baptism and 
 the Lord's Supper were useless institutions, 
 destitute of all efficacy and power. They ex- 
 horted all who embraced their doctrine to a 
 rigorous abstinence from animal food, wine, 
 and wedlock, and recommended to tiieni in 
 the most j)athetic terms the most severe acts 
 of austerity and mortification. Tiiey more- 
 over treated witli tlie utmost contempt all the 
 books of the Old Testament, but expressed a 
 high degree of veneration for the New, par- 
 ticularly for the four Gospels; and, to pass 
 over many other peculiarities in tlieir doctrine, 
 they maintained, that human souls, endued 
 with reason, were shut up by an unliappy fate 
 in the dungeons of mortal bodies, from which 
 they could only be delivered by fasting, mor- 
 tification, and continence of every kind.* 
 
 V. These principles and tenets, tliough they 
 were adopted and professed by the whole sect, 
 were variously interpreted and modified by dif- 
 ferent doctors. Hence the Catharists were 
 divided into various sects, which, however, 
 on account of the general persecution in which 
 they were involved, treated each other with 
 candour and forbearance, disputed witli mode- 
 ration, and were thus careful not to augment 
 tlieir common calamity by intestine feuds and 
 animosities. Out of these factions arose two 
 leading and principal sects of the Catharists, 
 which were distinguished from the rest by the 
 number of their respective followers, and the 
 importance of their ditferences. The one, bor- 
 rowing hints from the Manichoean system, 
 maintained the doctrine of two eternal Beings, 
 from whom all things are derived, the God of 
 light, who was also tlie father of Jesus Christ, 
 and the principle of darkness, whom they con- 
 sidered as tlie author of tlie material world. 
 The other believed in one eternal principle, 
 the father of Christ, and the Supreme God, 
 by whom also they held that the first matter 
 was created; but they added to tliis, that the 
 evil being, after his rebellion against God and 
 his fall from heaven, arranged this original 
 matter according to his fancy, and divided it 
 into four elements, for the production of this 
 visible vi'orld. The former maintained, that 
 Clirist, clothed with the celestial body, de- 
 scended into the womb of the Virgin, and de- 
 rived no part of his substance from her; while 
 tlie latter taught, that he first assumed a real 
 body in the womb of Mary, though not from 
 her.f The sect which held the doctrine of two 
 principles, derived the name of Albanenses 
 from the place where their spiritual ruler re- 
 sided; and this sect was subdivided into two, of 
 which one took tlie name of Balazinansa, 
 bishop of Verona, and the other that of John 
 
 * Besi(l« the works which will be foon nicutioneil, 
 see the Disputatio inter Catholicuiii et Patoiiiiiiin, 
 published by Martenne, in his T/icsaur. jlnecclotor. 
 torn. V. p. 1703, as also Bonacursi Mauilestatio 
 Hicrcsis Catharorum, in d'Acheri'a Spicileg, torn. i. 
 p. 208. 
 
 t See Bern. IVIoneta, Siimma adversuF Calharos ct 
 VaUlenses, published at Rome in the year 1743, by 
 Thorn. August. Riccini, who prefixed to it a disscr- 
 tation concerning the Cathari, that ia by no means 
 worthy of the highest encomiums. Moncta was no 
 mean writer for the time in which he lived. See 
 lib. i. p. 2et .">. lib ii. p. 247, &.C. 
 Vol. I.— 42 
 
 de Lugio, bishop of Bergamo. The sect which 
 adhered to the doctrine of one eternal princi- 
 ple was also subdivided into the congregation of 
 Baioli, the capital town of the provmce, and 
 that of Concoregio, or Concorozzo. The Albi- 
 genses, who were settled in France, belonged 
 to the church or congregation of Baioli.* 
 
 VI. In the internal constitution of the 
 church tliat was founded by this sect, there 
 were many rules and principles of a singular 
 nature, wJiich we pass over in silence, as they 
 would oblige us to enter into a detail incon- 
 sistent witli our intended brevity. The govern- 
 ment of this church was administered by 
 bishops; and each of these had two vicars, of 
 whom one was called the elder son, and the 
 other the younger, while the rest of the clergy 
 and doctors were comprehended under the 
 general denomination of deacons.f The vene- 
 ration, which the people had for the clergy in 
 general, and more especially for the bishops 
 and their spiritual sons, was carried to a 
 height that almost exceeds credibility. The 
 discipline observed by this sect was so exces- 
 sively rigid and austere, that it was practica- 
 ble only by a certain number of robust and de- 
 termined fanatics. But that such as were not 
 able to midergo this discipline might not, on 
 that account, be lost to the cause, it was 
 thought necessary, in imitation of the ancient 
 Manicheeans, to divide this sect into two class- 
 es, one of wliicli was distinguished by the title 
 of the consolati (comforted,) while the other 
 received only the denomination of confederates. 
 The former gave themselves out for persons of 
 consummate wisdom and extraordinary piety, 
 lived in perpetual celibacy, and led a life of 
 the severest mortification and abstinence, 
 without allowing themselves the enjoyment of 
 any worldly comfort. The latter, if we except^ 
 a few particular rules which they observed, 
 lived like the rest of mankind, but at the same 
 time were obliged by a solemn agreement they 
 had made with the church, and which, in 
 Italian, they called la convenenza, to enter be- 
 fore their death, in their last moments, if not 
 sooner, into the class of the comforted, and to 
 receive the consolametitiun, or form of inaugu- 
 ration, by which they were introduced into 
 that fanatical order.J; 
 
 VII. A much more rational sect wz'j that 
 which was founded about the year 1110 in 
 Languedoc and Provence, by Peter de Bruys, 
 
 * Rainori Sachnni Summa de Catharis et Leonis. 
 tis, in Martenno's Thesaur. Anccdot. torn. v. p. 
 171)1, 17t)8. — Peregrinus Priscianus in Muratorii 
 Anliq. Ital. medii iGvi, tom. v. p. 93. who c.ihibits, 
 in a sort of table, these different sects, but errone- 
 ously places the Albigenses, who were a branch of 
 the Baiolenses, in tlie place of the Albanenses; this, 
 piThaps. may be an error of the press. Tiie opinions 
 of these Baiolenses or Bagnolenses, may be seen in 
 the Code.x Iiiquisitionis Tolosana, which Liniborch 
 published with his History of the Inquisition. Tho 
 account, however, which wc have in this history 
 (Book i. eh. viii.) of the opinions of the Albigenses, 
 is by no means accurate. A great variety of causes 
 have contributed to involve in darkness and per- 
 plexity the distinctive characters of these different 
 sects, whose respective systems we cannot enlarge 
 upon at present. 
 
 t See Sachoni Summa de Catharis, p. 1766. 
 
 I For a farther account of this sect, see the writers 
 mentioned befbrf, and particularly the Codex Inqui. 
 sitioni* Toloeanie. 
 
330 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 who made the most laudable attempts to re- 
 form the abuses and to remove the sujiersti- 
 tionsthat disfigured the beautiful simplicity of 
 the Gospel; but, after having engaged in his 
 cause a great number of followers, during a 
 laborious ministry of twenty years, he was 
 burned at St. Giles', in the year 1130, by an 
 enraged populace, instigated by the clergy, 
 whose traffic was in danger from the enter- 
 prising spirit of this reformer. The whole sys- 
 tem of doctrine, which this unhappy martyr, 
 whose zeal was not without a considerable 
 mixture of fanaticism, taught to the Pelrobnis- 
 sians, his disciples, is not known; it is however 
 certain, that the five following tenets made a 
 part of his system: 1. That no persons were to 
 be baptized before they had the fiill use of 
 their reason; 2. that it was an idle superstition 
 to build churches for the service of God, who 
 vpill accept a sincere worship wherever it is of- 
 fered; and that therefore such churches as had 
 already been erected were to be destroyed; 3. 
 that the crucifixes, as instruments of supersti- 
 tion, deserved the same fate; 4. that the real 
 body and blood of Christ were not exhibited in 
 the eucharist, but were merely represented in 
 that holy ordinance by figures and symbols; 6. 
 and, lastly, that the oblations, prayers, and 
 good works of the living, could in no respect 
 be advantageous to the dead.* 
 
 VIII. This innovator was succeeded by 
 another, who was an Italian by birth, and 
 whose name was Henry, tlie founder and pa- 
 rent of the sect called Henricians. It was, no 
 doubt, a rare thing to see a person, who was 
 at the same time monk and hermit, un- 
 dertaking to reform the superstitions of the 
 times; yet such was the case of Henry, who, 
 leaving Lausanne, a city in Switzerland, ti-a- 
 velled to Mans, and being banished thence, re- 
 moved successively to Poictiers, Bourdeaux, 
 and the neighbouring places, and at length to 
 Toulouse in the year 1147, exercising his min- 
 isterial function with the utmost applause 
 from the people, and declaiming with vehe- 
 mence and fervour against the vices of the 
 clergy, and the superstitions they had intro- 
 duced into the Clrristian church. At Toulouse 
 he was warmly opposed by St. Bernard, by 
 whose influence ho was overpowered, notwith- 
 standing his popularity, and obliged to save 
 himself by flight. But being seized by a pre- 
 late in his retreat, he was carried before pope 
 Eugenius III., who presided in person at a 
 council then assembled at Rheirns, and who, 
 in consequence of the accusations brought 
 against Henry, committed him, in the year 
 1148, to a close prison, where he soon ended 
 his days.f We have no satisfactory account 
 of the doctrines of this reformer. We merely 
 know that he rejected the baptism of infants, 
 censured with severity the corrupt and licen- 
 
 * See Petri Venerab. Lib. contra Petrobrussianos 
 in Bibliotheca Cluniensi, p. 1117.— Mabillon, Annal. 
 Benedict, torn. iv. p. 34ri.— Basnage, Histoiro des 
 Egliscs Rpformees, period iv. p. 140. 
 
 t Gesta Episcopofum Ccnomanens. in Mabillon, 
 Analect. veter. JEvi, p. 315. — Gauftidi Epistola in 
 lib. vi. Vita Sti. Bernardi, torn. ii. Op. Bernard, p. 
 1207— Mattli. Paris, Histor. M^j. p. 71.— Mabillon, 
 Prsf ad Opera Bernardi, sect vi el Annal. Benedict 
 torn, vi p. 318, 120, 4J4. 
 
 tious manners of the clergy, treated the festi- 
 vals and ceremonies of the church with the ut- 
 most contempt, and held clandestine assem- 
 blies, in which he explained and inculcated the 
 novelties he taught. Several writers affirm, 
 that he was the disciple of Peter de Bruys; but 
 I cannot see upon what evidence or authority 
 this assertion is grounded.* 
 
 IX. While the Henricians were propagating 
 their doctrines in France, an illiterate man, 
 called Tanquelin, or Tanquelm, arose in Bra- 
 bant about the year 1115, excited the most 
 deplorable commotions at Antwerp, and drew 
 after him a most numerous sect. If the ac- 
 cotmts given of this heresiarch by his adver- 
 saries may be at all depended upon, he must 
 either have been a monstrous impostor, or an 
 outrageous madman. For he walked in public 
 with the greatest solemnity, pretended to be 
 God, or, at least, the Son of God, ordered 
 daughters to be ravished in presence of their 
 mothers, and committed himself the greatest 
 disorders. Such are the enormities that are 
 attributed to Tanquelm; but they are absolute- 
 ly incredible, and cannot be true.f What 
 seems most worthy of credit in this matter is, 
 that this new teaclier had imbibed the opinions 
 and spirit of the Mystics; that he treated with 
 contempt the external worship of God, the sa- 
 crament of the Lord's Supper, and the rite of 
 baptism; and held clandestine assemblies to 
 propagate more eflectually his visionary no- 
 tions. But as, beside all this, he inveighed 
 against the clergy, like the other heretics al- 
 ready mentioned, and declaimed against their 
 vices with vehemence and intrepidity, it is 
 probable that these blasphemies were falsely 
 charged upon him by a vindictive priesthood. 
 Be that as it may, the fate of Tanquelm was 
 unhappy; for he was assassinated by an eccle- 
 siastic in a cruel manner. His sect, however, 
 did not perish with him, but acquired strength 
 and vigour under the ministry of his disciples, 
 until it was at length extinguished by the fa- 
 mous St. Norbert, the founder of the order of 
 Prfemonstratenses, or Premontres.J 
 
 X. In Italy, Arnold of Brescia, a disciple 
 of Abelard, and a man of extensive erudition 
 and remarkable austerity, but of a tm-bulent 
 and impetuous spirit, excited new troubles and 
 commotions both in church and state. He 
 was, indeed, condemned in the Lateran coun- 
 cil, A. D. 1139, by Iimocent II., and obliged 
 to retire into Switzerland; but, upon the death 
 of that pontiff", he returned into Italy, and 
 raised at Rome, during the pontificate of Eu- 
 
 * That Henry was the disciple of Peter de Bruys ia 
 not at all probable; since, not to insist upon other 
 reasons, the latter could not bear the sight of a cross, 
 and in all likelihood owed his death to the multitude 
 of crucifixes which he had committed to the flames; 
 whereas the former, when he entered into any city, 
 appeared with a cross in his hand, which he bore as 
 a standard, to attract the veneration of the people. 
 See Mabillon, Analecta, p. 316. 
 
 t Epistola Trajectens. Ecclesiae ad Fredericum 
 Episcopuni de Tanchelmo, in Seb. Tengnagelii Col- 
 lectione Veterum S'lonumentor. p. 368. — Boulay, 
 Histor. Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 98. — Argentre, Col- 
 lectio Judicior. de novis fjrroribus, torn. i. p. 10. 
 
 t Louis Hugo, Vie de S. Norbert, liv. ii. p. 126.— 
 rhrys. Vander Sterre Vita S. Norberti, cap. xxxvl. p. 
 164. et Polye. de Hertogh, ad illam Annotationes, p. 
 387. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 331 
 
 genius ill. several tumults and seditions among 
 the people, who changed, hy his instigalioii, 
 the government of the city, and insulted the 
 persons of the clergy in the most disorderly 
 manner. He fell however at last a victim to 
 the vengeance of his enemies; for, after vari- 
 ous turns of fortune, lie was seized in the year 
 1155, by a prefect of the city, by whom he was 
 crucified, and afterwards burned to ashes. This 
 unhappy man seems not to have adopted any 
 doctrines inconsistent with the spirit of true 
 religion; and the principles upon which he 
 acted were chiefly reprehensible from their be- 
 ing carried too far, applied witliout discern- 
 ment or discretion, and executed with a de- 
 gree of vehemence which was both imprudent 
 and criminal. Having perceived the discords 
 and animosities, the calamities and disorders 
 that sprang from the overgrown opulence of 
 the pontiffs and bishops, he was persuaded 
 that the interests of the church and the happi- 
 ness of nations in general required, that the 
 clergy should be divested of all their worldly 
 possessions, of all their temporal rights and 
 prerogatives. He, therefore, publicly main- 
 tained, that the treasures and revenues of 
 popes, bishops, and monasteries, ought to be 
 resigned and transferred to the supreme rulers 
 of each state, and that nothing was to be left 
 to the ministers of the gospel but a spiritual 
 authority and a subsistence drawn from tithes, 
 and from the voluntary oblations and contribu- 
 tions of the people.* This violent reformer, 
 in whose character and manners there were 
 several points worthy of esteem, drew after 
 him a great number of disciples, who derived 
 from him the denomination of Arnoldists, and, 
 in succeeding times, evinced the spirit and in- 
 trepidity of their leader, as often as any oppor- 
 tunities of reforming the church seemed to be 
 offered to their zeal. 
 
 XI. Of all the sects that arose in this cen- 
 tury, not one was more distinguished by the 
 reputation it acquired, by the multitude of its 
 votaries, and the testimony which its bitterest 
 enemies bore to the probity and innocence of 
 its members, than that of the Waldenses, so 
 called from their parent and founder Peter 
 Waldus. This sect was known by different 
 denominations. From the place where it first 
 appeared, its members were called Tlie poor 
 men of Lyons,] or Lyonists, and, from the 
 wooden shoes which its doctors wore, and a 
 certain mark that was imprinted upon these 
 
 *See Otlo Frisinfj. de Gestis Frcdorici I. lib. ii. 
 cap. XX. — S. Uornardus, Epist. IM, 19G, torn. i. p. 
 187. — Boiilay, Histor. Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 157. — 
 Muratori, Droits de TEinpire siir I'Etnt Ecclosias- 
 tique, p. 137. — Henr. de IJunaii, Vita Frederici I. p. 
 41. — ChaiitTeped, Nouveau Diction. Hist. Crit. torn. 
 i. p. 4S2. 
 
 t They wore called Lconists from Lr.ona, tlie an- 
 cient name of Lyons, where their sect took its rise. 
 The more eminent persons of that sect manifi'sttd 
 their progress toward perfection by the simplicity 
 and meanness of their external appearance. Hence, 
 among other things, they wore wooden shoes, which 
 in- the French lanKuagB are termed salwts, and liad 
 imprinted npon these shoes the sign of the cro.'-s, lo 
 distinc'ii^'i themselves from other Christians; and it 
 was on these acconnts that Ihey ncqnired the derio 
 mination o{ sabbatnli and iiisahbalati. See Dii Fresne, 
 Glossarium Latin, mcdii ^vi, vi. voce Salibalati. 
 Nicol. Eumerici Dircctoriuin luquisitorum, Part III. 
 N. 112, &c 
 
 shoes, they were called Insabbalati, or SahbU' 
 tali* The origin of this famous sect was as 
 follows: Peter, an opulent merchant of Lyons, 
 surnamed Valdmsis, or Validisius, from Vaux, 
 or Waldum, a town in the marquisate of Ly- 
 ons, being extremely zealous for the advance- 
 ment of true piety and Christian knowledge, 
 employed a certain priest, f about the year 
 1160, in translating from Latin into French 
 the Four Gospels, with other books of Holy 
 Scriptin-e, and tiie most remarkable sentences 
 of the ancient aoctors, which were so highly 
 esteemed in this century. But no sooner had 
 he perused these sacred books with a proper 
 degree of attention, than he perceived that the 
 religion, which was now taught in the Roman 
 church, differed totally from that which was 
 originally inculcated by Christ and his apos- 
 tles. Shocked at this glaring contradiction 
 between the doctrines of the pontiffs and the 
 truths of the Gospel, and animated with a 
 pious zeal for promoting his own salvation, 
 and tliat of others, he abandoned his mercan- 
 tile vocation, distributed his riches among the 
 poor,J and forming an association with other 
 pious men, who had adopted his sentiments 
 and his turn of devotion, he began, in the year 
 1 180, to assimie the quality of a public teacher, 
 and to instruct the multitude in the doctrines 
 and precepts of Christianity. The archbishop 
 of Lyons, and the other rulers of the church 
 in that province, opposed, with vigour, this 
 new doctor in the exercise of his ministry. But 
 tlieir opposition was unsuccessful; for the purity 
 and simplicity of that religion which these 
 good men taught, the spotless innocence that 
 shone forth in their lives and actions, and the 
 noble contempt of riches and honours mani- 
 fested in the whole of their conduct and con- 
 versation, appeared so engaging to all such 
 as had any sense of true piety, that the num- 
 ber of their disciples and followers increased 
 from day to day.§ They accordingly fonned 
 
 * See Steph. de Borbone, de septem donis Spiritus 
 Sancti, in Echard and Uuetif, Bibliotheca Scriptor. 
 Dominicanor. torn. i. p. l!l'2.— Anonym. Tractatiodo 
 Ila^resi Pauperum de Lugduno, in Martenue's Tlie- 
 saur. Anecdotor. torn. v. p. 1777. 
 
 t This priest was called Stephanus de Evisa. 
 
 i It was on this account that the Waldenses were 
 calli'd Pauvrcs de Lyons, or Poor Men of Lyons. 
 
 § Certain writers give different accounts of the 
 oriv'in of the Waldenses, and suppose they were so 
 called from the valleys in which they had resided for 
 many ages before the birth of Peter Waldus. But 
 these writers have no authority to support this as- 
 sertion; and, besides this, they are amply refuted by 
 the best historians. I do not mean to deny, that 
 there were in the valleys of Piedmont, long before 
 this period, a set of men who diflered widely from 
 the opinions adopted and inculcated by the church 
 of Rome, and whose doctrine resembled, in many 
 respects, that of the Waldenses; all that I maintain 
 is, that these inhabitants of the valleys above-men- 
 tioned are to bu carefully distinguished from the 
 Waldenses, who, according to the unanimou.s voice 
 of history, were originally inhabitants of Lyons, 
 and derived their name from Peter Waldus, their 
 founder and chief (py- We may venture to affirm 
 the contrary, with the learned Beza and other writ- 
 ers of note; for it seems evident from the best re- 
 cords, that Valdua derived his name from Uie true 
 Valden.ses of Piedmont, whose doctrine he adopted, 
 an<l who were known by the names of Vaudois and 
 Valdenses, before he or liis immediate followers ex- 
 isted. If the Valdenses had derived I heir name from 
 any eminent teacher, it would probably have been 
 from Valdo, who was remarkable for tlio purity of 
 
332 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 religious assemblies, first in France, and af- 
 terwards in Lombardy, whence they propa- 
 gated their sect through the otlier provinces 
 of Europe with incredible rapidity, and with 
 such invincible fortitude, that neither fire nor 
 sword, nor the most cruel inventions of mer- 
 ciless persecution, could damp their zeal, or 
 entirely ruin tlieir cause.* 
 
 XII. The attempts of Peter Waldus and his 
 followers vi'cre neither employed nor intended 
 to introduce new doctrines into the church, 
 nor to propose new articles of faith to Chris- 
 tians. All they aimed at was, to reduce the 
 form of ecclesiastical government, and the 
 lives and manners both of the clergy and peo- 
 ple, to that amiable simplicity, and that primi- 
 tive sanctity, which had characterised the 
 apostolic ages, and which appear so strongly 
 recommended in the precepts and injunctions 
 of the divine author of our holy religion. In 
 consequence of this design, they complained 
 that the Roman church had degenerated, un- 
 der Constantine the Great, from its primitive 
 purity and sanctity. They denied the supre- 
 macy of the Roman pontiff^, and maintained 
 that the rulers and ministers of the church 
 were obliged, by their vocation, to imitate the 
 poverty of the apostles, and to procure for 
 themselves a subsistence by the work of their 
 hands. They considered every Christian, as 
 in a certain measure qualified and authorized 
 
 his doctrine in the IXth century, and was the con- 
 temporary and chief counsellor of Berengariiis. But 
 the truth is, that they derive their name from their 
 valleys in Piedmont, which in their language are called 
 faux; hence Vaudois, their true name; hence Peter, 
 or (as others call him) John of Lyons, was called in 
 Latin, Valdus, because he had adopted their doc- 
 trine; and hence the term Valdenses and JValdcnses, 
 used by those who write in English or Latin, in the 
 place of Vaiidois. The bloody inquisitor Reinerus 
 Saeco, who exerted such a furious zeal for the de- 
 struction of the Waldenses, lived but about 80 years 
 after Valdus of Lyons, and must therefore be sup- 
 posed to have known whether he w'as the real 
 founder of the Valdcnses or Leonists; and yet it is 
 remarkable that he speaks of the Leonists (mention- 
 ed by Dr. Mosheim in this section, as synonymous 
 with Waldenses) as a sect that had flourished above 
 500 years, and even mentions authors of note, who 
 make their antiquity remount to the apostolic age. 
 See the account given of Sacco's book by the Jesuit 
 Gretser, in the Bibliotheca Patrum. I know not 
 upon what principle Dr. Mosheim maintains, that 
 the inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont are to be 
 carefully distinguished from the Waldenses; and I 
 am persuaded, that whoever will be at the pains to 
 read attentively the 2d, 25th, 26th, and 27th chapters 
 of the first book of Leger's Histoire Generale des 
 Eglisea Vaudoises, will iind this distinction entirely 
 groundless. — When the Papists ask us, where our 
 religion was before LiUher, we generally answer, in 
 the Bible; and we answer well. But to gratify their 
 taste for tradition and human authority, we may add 
 to this answer, and in the valleys of Piedmont. 
 
 * See the following ancient writers, who have 
 given accounts of the sect in question; namely, Sa- 
 choni Summa contra Valdenses — Monetfe Summa 
 contra Catharos et Valdcnses, published by Riccini. — 
 Tr. de Hffiresi Pauperum de Lugduno, published by 
 Martenne, in his Thesaur. Anecdot. tom. v. p. 
 1777.— Pilichdorfius contra Valdenses, t. xxv. B. 
 Max. Patr.— Add to these authors, Jo. Paul Perrin, 
 Histoire des Vandois. published at Geneva in 1619. — 
 Jo. Leger, Histoire Generale des Eglises Vaudoises, 
 liv. i. ch. xlv. p. 156.— Usher, de snccessione Ecclesi- 
 arum Occidentis, cap. viii. p. 209.— Jac. Basnagc, 
 Histoire des Eglises Reformees, tom. i. period iv. p. 
 389.— Thom. August. Riccini, Disscrtat. de Valden- 
 Bibus, prefixed to his edition of the Summa Monette, 
 p. 36. — Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, tom. ii. p. 292. 
 
 to instruct, exhort, and confirm the brethren 
 in their Christian course, and demanded the 
 restoration of the ancient penitential discipline 
 of the church, i. e. the expiation of transgres- 
 sions by prayer, fasting, and alms, which the 
 new-invented doctrine of indulgences had 
 nearly abolished. They at the same time af- 
 firmed, that every pious Christian was qualified 
 and entitled to prescribe to penitents the kind 
 and degree of satisfaction or expiation that 
 their transgressions required; that confession 
 made to a priest was by no means necessary, 
 since the humble offender might acknowledge 
 his sins and testify his repentance to any true 
 believer, and might expect from such the coun- 
 sels and admonitions that his case and circum- 
 stances demanded. They maintained, that the 
 power of delivering sinners from the guilt and 
 punishment of their offences belonged to God 
 alone; and that indulgences, in consequence, 
 were the criminal inventions of sordid avarice. 
 They looked upon the prayers, and other ce- 
 remonies that were instituted in behalf of the 
 dead, as vain, useless, and absiu-d, and denied 
 the existence of departed souls in an interme- 
 diate state of purification, affirming, that they 
 were immediately, upon their separation from 
 the body, received into heaven, or sent down 
 to hell. These and other tenets of a like na- 
 ture composed the system of doctrine propa- 
 gated by the Waldenses. Their rules of prac- 
 tice were extremely austere; for they adopted, 
 as the model of their moral discipline, the ser- 
 mon of Christ on the mount, which they in- 
 terpreted and explained in the most rigorous 
 and literal manner, and consequently prohi- 
 bited and condemned in their society all wars, 
 and suits of law, all attempts toward the ac- 
 quisition of wealth, the infliction of capital 
 punishments, self-defence against unjust vio- 
 lence, and oaths of all kinds.* 
 
 XIII. The government of the church was 
 committed, by the Waldenses, to bishops,! 
 presbyters, and deacons; for they acknowledg- 
 ed that these three orders were instituted by 
 Christ himself. But they deemed it absolutely 
 necessary, that all these orders should resemble 
 exactly the apostles of the divine Saviour, and 
 be, like them, illiterate, poor, destitute of all 
 worldly possessions, and fiirnished with some 
 laborious trade or vocation, in order to gain by 
 constant industry their daily subsistence.J The 
 laity were divided into two classes; one of 
 which contained the ■perfect, and the other the 
 imperfect Christians. The former spontane- 
 
 * See the Codex Inquisitionis Tolosanae, published 
 by Limborch, as also the Summa Monetae contra 
 Waldenses, and the other writers of the Waldensian 
 history. Though these writers are not all equally 
 accurate, nor perfectly agreed about the number of 
 doctrines that entered into the system of this sect, 
 yet they are nearly unanimous in acknowledging 
 the sincei"o piety and exemplary conduct of the Wal- 
 denses, and show plainly enough that their intention 
 was not to oppose the doctrines which were univer- 
 sally received among Christians, but only to revive 
 the piety and manners of the primitive tunes, and to 
 combat the vices of the clergy, and the abuses that 
 had been introduced into the worship and discipline 
 of the church. 
 
 t The bishops were also called majorales or elders. 
 
 I The greatest part of the Waldenses gained their 
 livelihood by weaving: hence the whole sect, in some 
 places, were called the sect af weavers. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 333 
 
 ously divested themselves of all worldly pos- 
 sessions, manifested their extreme poverty in 
 the wretchedness of their ai)parel, and ema- 
 ciated their bodies by frequent fasting. Tlic 
 latter were less austere, and approached the 
 method of living generally received, though 
 they abstained, like the graver sort of anabap- 
 tists in later times, from all appearance of 
 pomp and luxury. It is, however, to be ob- 
 served, that the VValdonses were not witliout 
 their intestine divisions. Such as resided in 
 Italy differed considerably in their opinions 
 from those who dwelt in France and the otlier 
 European countries. Tlie former considered 
 the church of Jlome as the church of Christ, 
 though much corrupted and sadly disfigured; 
 they also acknowledged the validity of its 
 seven sacraments, and solemnly declared that 
 they would ever continue in communion with 
 it, provided that they might be allowed to live 
 as they thought proper, without molestation 
 or restraint. The latter affirmed, on the con- 
 trary, that the church of Rome had apostatized 
 from Christ, was deprived of the Holy Spirit, 
 and was, in reality, the ivhore of Babylon men- 
 tioned in the Revelations of St. John.* 
 
 XIV. Beside these famous sects, which made 
 a great noise in the world, and drew after 
 them multitudes from the bosom of a corrupt 
 and superstitious church, there were religious 
 factions of less importance, which arose in 
 Italy, and more especially in France, though 
 they seem to have expired soon after their 
 birth. t In Lombardy, whicii was the principal 
 residence of the Italian heretics, there sprang 
 up a singular sect, known (for what reason 1 
 cannot tell) by the denomination of Pasagi- 
 niaiis, and also by that of the circumcised. 
 Like the other sects already mentioned, they 
 had the utmost aversion to the dominion and 
 discipline of the cliurcli of Rome; but they 
 were, at the same time, distinguislied by two 
 religious tenets, which were peculiar to them- 
 selves. The first was a notion, that tJie ob- 
 servance of the law of Moses, in every thing 
 except the offering of sacrifices, was obligatory 
 upon Christians; in consequence of whicli they 
 circumcised their followers, abstained from 
 those meats, tlie use of which was prohibited 
 under the Mosaic ceconomy, and celebrated the 
 Jewish sabbath. The second tenet that distin- 
 guished this sect was advanced in opposition 
 to the doctrine of three persons in the divine 
 nature; for the Pasaginians maintained tliat 
 Christ was no more than the first and purest 
 creature of God; nor will their adoption of this 
 opinion seem very surprising, if we consider the 
 prodigious number of Arians that were scat- 
 tered throughout Italy long before this period.]; 
 
 * Moneta; Sumiiia contra Catharng tt Valdenses, 
 p. 406, &,c. Tlu'y seem to have been also divided in 
 tlieir sentiments conrerniiiK tin? pos.sessinn of world- 
 ly ponds, as appears t'rnni tlie accounts of Stephauus 
 de Borbone, upiid Kcliardi Script. Doiuinjcan. toni. i. 
 This writer divides the VValdenses into two classes, 
 the poor men of Lyons, and tlie poor men of Lom- 
 bardy. The former rejected and prohibited all sorts 
 of possessions; the latter looki'd upon worldly pos- 
 sessions as lawful. This distinction is confirmed by 
 several passages of other ancient authors. 
 
 t For an account of these ob.scnrc sects, see Ste- 
 phauus de Borbone, cpud Echardi Script. Dominican, 
 torn. i. 
 
 t See F. Bonacursi Manifestatio heeresis Catharo- 
 
 XV. A sect of fanatics, called Caputiati, 
 from a singular kind of cap that was the badge 
 of tlieir faction, infested the province of Bur- 
 gundy, the diocese of Auxerre, and several 
 other parts of France, in all which places they 
 excited much disturbance among the people. 
 They wore upon their caps a leaden image of 
 the Virgin Mary; and they declared publicly, 
 that their purpose was to level all distinctions, 
 to alDrogate magistracy, to remove all subordi- 
 nation among mankind, and to restore that 
 primitive liberty, that natural equality, which 
 were the inestimable privileges of the first 
 mortals. Hugo, bishop of Auxerre, attacked 
 these disturbers of human society in the pro- 
 per manner, employing against them the force 
 of anus, instead of arguments.* 
 
 The sect of the apostolics, whom St. Ber- 
 nard opposed with such bitterness and fury, 
 and who were so called, as that zealous abbot 
 himself acknowledged, because they professed 
 to exhibit, in their lives and manners, the pie- 
 ty and virtues of the holy apostles, were very 
 different from the audacious heretics now men- 
 tioned. They were a clownish set of men, of 
 the lowest birth, who gained their subsistence 
 by bodily labour; yet, as soon as they formed 
 themselves into a sect, they drew after them a 
 multitude of adherents of all ranks and orders. 
 Their religious doctrine, as St. Bernard con- 
 fesses, was free from error, and their lives and 
 manners were irreproachable and exemplary: 
 but they were reprehensible on account of the 
 following pecularities: 1 . They held it milaw- 
 ful to take an oath; 2. They suffered their 
 hair and their beards to grow to an enormous 
 lengtli, so that their aspect was inexpressibly 
 extravagant and savage; 3. They preferred ce- 
 libacy to wedlock, and called themselves the 
 chaste brethren and sisters; notwithstanding 
 which, 4. Each man had a spiritual sister with 
 him, after the manner of the apostles, with 
 whom he lived in a domestic relation, lying in 
 the same chamber with her, though not in the 
 same bed.f 
 
 XVI. In the council assembled at Rheims, in 
 the year 1 148, in which pope Eugenius III. pre- 
 sided, a gentleman of the province of Bretagne, 
 whose name was Eon, and whose brain was 
 undoubtedly disordered, was condemned for 
 pretending to be the Son of God. Having 
 heard, in the form that was used for exorcising 
 malignant spirits, these words pronounced, per 
 Euin, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, 
 he concluded, from the resemblance between 
 the word Eum and his name, that he was the 
 person who was to come and judge both the 
 quick and the dead. This poor man should 
 rather have been delivered over to tlie physi- 
 cians than placed m the list of heretics. He 
 ended his days in a miserable prison, and lef\ 
 a considerable number of followers and adhe- 
 rents, whom persecution and death in the most 
 dreadful forms could not persuade to abandon 
 
 rum. in d'Acheri's Spicileg. Vetcr. Scriptor. torn. i. 
 p. 211. Gerard. Bergamensis contra Catharos el 
 Pasacios, in Lud. Anton. Muratorii Antiq. Ital. 
 medii a;vi, torn. v. p. 151. 
 
 * Jaques Le Bccijf, Mcmoires sur I'llistoire d'Aui- 
 erre, tom. i. p. 317. 
 
 t Sti. Bernardi Serm. Ixv. in Canticum, tom. »T. 
 op. p. 1495, edit. Mabillon. 
 
334 
 
 EXTERNAL fflSTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 PartL 
 
 his cause, or to renounce an absurdity, which 
 one would think could never have gained cre- 
 dit, but in a receptacle of lunatics.* This re- 
 
 * Matth. Paris, Historia Major, p. 68.— Guil. Neu- 
 brigensis, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, lib. i. p, 50.— 
 Boulay, Historia Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 241. 
 
 markable example is sufficient to show, not 
 only the astonishing credulity of the stupid 
 multitude, but also how far even the rtilers 
 of the church were destitute of judgment, 
 and unacquainted with true and genuine re- 
 ligion. 
 
 THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 Concerning the prosperous Events that happened 
 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. Though the successors of Genghiz-Khan, 
 the powerful emperor of the Tartars, or rather 
 of the Mogols, had carried their victorious 
 arms through a great part of Asia, and, having 
 reduced China, India, and Persia, under their 
 yoke, had involved in many calamities and suf- 
 ferings the Christian assemblies which were es- 
 tablished in those vanquished lands,* yet we 
 learn from the best accounts, and the most re- 
 spectable authorities, that in CMna, and in the 
 northern parts of Asia, the Nestorians conti- 
 nued to have a flourishing church, and a great 
 number of adherents. The emperors of the 
 Tartars and Mogols had no great aversion to 
 the Christian religion. It even appears from 
 authentic records, that several kings and gran- 
 dees of those nations had either been instruct- 
 ed in the doctrines of the Gospel by their an- 
 cestors, or were converted to Christianity by 
 the ministry and exliortations of the Nestori- 
 ans.f But the religion of Mohammed, which 
 was so calculated to flatter the passions of men, 
 gradually infected these noble converts, op- 
 posed with success the progress of the Gospel, 
 and at length so effectually triumphed over it, 
 that not the least remains of Christianity were 
 to be perceived in the courts of those eastern 
 princes. 
 
 IL The Tartars having made an incursion 
 into Europe, in the year 1241, and having laid 
 waste, with the most uiu-elenting and savage 
 barbarity, Hungary, Poland, Silesia, and the 
 adjacent countries, the Roman pontifl's thought 
 it incumbent upon them to endeavour to calm 
 the fury, and soften the ferocity, of these new 
 and formidable enemies. For this purpose, in 
 1245, Innocent IV. sent an embassy to the 
 Tartars, which consisted of Dominican and 
 
 * Gregor. Abulfaraj. Historia Dynastiar. p. 281, 
 edit. Pocock. 
 
 t See Marc. Paul. Venet. de Regionibus Oriental, 
 lib. i. c. iv. lib. ii. c. vi. — Haytho the Armenian's His- 
 tor. Oriental cap. xix. p. 3.5, cap. xxiii. p. 39, cap. 
 sxiv. — Jos. Sim. Assemani Bibliotli. Orient. Vatic. 
 torn. iii. part ii. See particularly the Ecclesiastical 
 History of the Tartars, published in Latin at Helm- 
 stadt, in 1741, under my auspices and inspection. 
 
 ' Franciscan friars.* In 1274, Abaca, the em- 
 peror of that fierce nation, sent ambassadors 
 to the coimcil of Lyons, which was holden im- 
 der the pontificate of Gregory X.f About 
 four years after this, pope Nicolas III. paid the 
 same compliment to Coblai, emperor of the 
 whole Tartar nation, to whom he sent a so- 
 lemn embassy of Franciscan monks, with a 
 view to render that prince propitious to the 
 Christian cause. The last expedition of this 
 kind that we shall mention at present, was that 
 of Johannes a Monte Corvino, who, in 1289, 
 was sent with other ecclesiastics to the same 
 emperor, by Nicolas IV., and who carried let- 
 ters to the Nestorians from that zealous pon- 
 tiff". This mission was far from being use- 
 less, since those spiritual ambassadors convert- 
 ed many of the Tartars to Christianity, en- 
 gaged considerable numbers of the Nestorians 
 to adopt the doctrine and discipline of the 
 church of Rome, and erected churches in va- 
 rious parts of Tartary and China. In order 
 to accelerate the propagation of the Gospel 
 among these darkened nations, Johannes a 
 Monte Corvino translated the New Testament 
 and the Psalms of David into the language of 
 the Tartars.J 
 
 ni. The Roman pontifis employed their 
 most zealous and assiduous efforts in the sup- 
 port of the Christian cause in Palestine, which 
 was now in a most declining, or rather in a 
 desperate state. They had learned, by a de- 
 lightful experience, how much these Asiatic 
 wars, imdertaken from a principle, or at least 
 carried on luider a pretext of religion, had con- 
 tributed to fill their coffers, augment their au- 
 thority, and cover them with glory; and there- 
 fore they had nothing more at heart than the 
 renewal and prolongation of these sacred expe- 
 
 i 
 
 * See Wadding, Annal. Minor, torn. iii. p. 116, 149, 
 179, 256. 
 
 t Wadding, torn. iv. p. 35. tom. v. p. 128. See par- 
 ticularly an accurate and ample account of the ne- 
 gotiations between the pontiffs and the Tartars, in 
 the Historia Ecclesiastica Tartarorum, already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 I Odor. Raynaldus, Annal. Ecclesiastic, torn. xiv. 
 ad annum 1278, sect. 17, and ad annum 1289, sect. 
 59.— Pierre Bergeron, Traite des Tartares, chap. xi. 
 See also the writers mentioned in the Historia Ec- 
 clesiastica Tartarorum. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 335 
 
 ditions.* Innocent III., therefore, sounded 
 the charge; but tlie greatest part of tlie Euro- 
 pean princes and nations were deaf to the 
 voice of tlie holy trumpet. At length, how- 
 ever, after many unsuccessful attempts in dif- 
 ferent countries, a body of French nobles en- 
 tered into an alliance with the republic of 
 Venice, and set sail for the east with an army 
 tliat was far from being formidable. The event 
 of this new expedition was by no means an- 
 swerable to the expectations of the pontiff. 
 The French and Venetians, instead of steer- 
 ing their course toward Palestine, sailed di- 
 rectly for Ganstantinople, and, in 1203, took 
 that imperial city by storm, with a design of 
 restoring to the tlirone Isaac Angel us, who 
 implored their succour against the violence of 
 his brother Alexius, the usurper of the empire. 
 In the following year a dreadful sedition was 
 raised at Constantinople, in which the empe- 
 ror Isaac was put to death, and his son, the 
 young Alexius, was strangled by Alexius 
 Ducas, the ringleader of this furious faction. f 
 The account of this atrocity no sooner came to 
 the ears of the chiefs of the crusade, than they 
 made themselves masters of Constantinople 
 for the second time, dethroned and drove from 
 the city the tyrant Dueas, and elected Baldwin, 
 count of Flanders, emperor of the Greeks. 
 Tliis proceeding was a source of new divisions; 
 for, about two years after this, the Greeks re- 
 solved to set up, in opposition to this Latin 
 emperor, one of their own nation, and elected, 
 for that purpose, Theodore Lascaris, who chose 
 Nice in Bithynia for the place of his imperial 
 residence. From this period until the year 
 1261, two emperors reigned over the Greeks; 
 one of their own nation, who resided at Nice; 
 and the other of Latin or French extraction, 
 who lived at Constantinople, the ancient me- 
 tropolis of the empire. But, in the year 1261, 
 the face of things was changed by the Grecian 
 emperor, Michael Palseologus, who, by the 
 valour and stratagems of his general, Cassar 
 Alexius, became master of Constantmople, and 
 forced the Latin emperor to abandon that city, 
 and save himself by flight into Italy. Thus fell 
 the empire of the Franks at Constantinople, 
 after a duration of fifty-seven years.J 
 
 IV. Another sacred expedition was under- 
 taken in 1217, under the pontificate of Hono- 
 rius III., by the confederate arms of Italy and 
 Germany. The allied army was commanded 
 in chief by Andrew, king of Hmigary, who 
 was joined by Leopold, duke of Austria, Louis 
 
 ♦ Tl.is is remarked by the writers of the twelfth 
 century, who soon perceived the avaricious and 
 despotic views of the pontiffs, in the encouragement 
 they gave to the crusades. See Matth. Paris, Hist. 
 Major. 
 
 ij(7- t The learned authors of the Universal Histo- 
 ry call this ringleader, by mistake, John Ducas. 
 
 t See, for a full account of this empire, Du Fresne, 
 HistoirederEmpirede Constantinople sous lesEmpc- 
 reiirs Francois; in the former part of which we find 
 the Histoire de la Conquete de la Villo de Constan- 
 tinople par lea Francois, written by Godfrey de 
 Villc-Harduin, one of the French chiefs concerned 
 in the expedition. This work makes a pari of the 
 Byzantine history. See also Claude Fonteiiny, His- 
 toire de I'Eglise Gallicane, torn. x. Guntheri Monachi 
 Histor. captffi a Latinis Constantinopoleos, in Henr. 
 Canisii Lort. Antiq, torn, iv.— Innocentii HI. Epis- 
 tol. a Baluzie edit. 
 
 of Bavaria, and several other princes. After 
 the lapse of a few months, Andrew returned 
 into Europe. The rerhaining chiefs carried on 
 the war with vigour, and, in 1220, made them- 
 selves masters of Damietta, the strongest city 
 in Egypt; but their prosperity was of a short 
 duration; for, in the following year, their fleet 
 was totally ruined by that of the Saracens, 
 their provisions were cut off, and their army 
 reduced to the greatest difficulties. This irre- 
 parable loss, being followed by that of Dami- 
 etta, blasted all their hopes, and removed the 
 flattering prospects which their successful be- 
 ginnings had presented to their expectations.* 
 V. The legates and missionaries of the court 
 of Rome still continued to animate the lan- 
 guishing zeal of the European princes in be- 
 half of the Christian cause in Palestine, and to 
 revive the spirit of crusading, which so many 
 calamities and disasters had almost totally ex- 
 tinguished. At length, in consequence of 
 their lively remonstrances, a new army was 
 raised, and a new expedition undertaken, 
 which excited great expectations, and drew the 
 attention of Europe so much the more, as it 
 was generally believed that this army was to 
 be commanded by the emperor Frederic II. 
 That prince had, indeed, obliged himself by a 
 solemn promise, made to the Roman pontiff, 
 to undertake the direction of this enterprise; 
 and what added a new degree of force to this 
 engagement, and seemed to render the viola- 
 tion of it impossible, was the marriage that he 
 had contracted, in 1223, with Jolanda, daugh- 
 ter of John, cotmt of Brienne, and king of 
 Jerusalem; by which alliance that kingdom 
 was to be added to his European dominions. 
 Notwithstanding these inducements, he post- 
 poned his voyage under various pretences, and 
 did not set out until the year 1228, when, 
 after having been excommimicated on account 
 of his delay, by the incensed pontiff Gregory 
 IX, t he followed with a small train of atten- 
 dants the troops, who expected, with the most 
 anxious impatience, his arrival in Palestine. 
 No sooner did he land in that disputed king- 
 dom, than, instead of carrying on the war with 
 vigour, he turned all his thoughts toward peace, 
 and, without consulting the other princes and 
 chiefs of the crusade, concluded, in 1229, a 
 treaty of peace, or rather a truce of ten years, 
 with Malec-al-Camel, sultan of Egypt. The 
 principal article of this treaty was, that Fred- 
 eric should be put in possession of the city 
 and kingdom of Jerusalem. This condition 
 was immediately executed; and tlie emperor, 
 
 * See Jac. de Vitriaco, Histor. Oriental, et Mari- 
 nas Sanutus, Secret, fidel. Crucis inter Bongarsianoa 
 de sacris bellis Scriptores,'seu Gesta Dei per Francos. 
 
 Q(^ t This papal excommunication, which was 
 drawn up in the most outrageous and indecent lan- 
 guage, was so far from e.\citing Frederic to accele- 
 rate his departure for Palestine, that it produced no 
 eltl'Ct upon him at all, and was, on the contrary, re- 
 ceived with the utmost contempt. He defended 
 himself by his ambassador at Rome, and showed that 
 the reasons of his delay were solid and just, and not 
 mere pretexts, as the pnpo had pretended. At the 
 same time, he wrote a remarkable letter to Henry 
 III. king of England, in whirh lie complained of the 
 insatiable avarice, the boundless ambition, the per- 
 fidious and hypocritical proceedings of the Roman 
 pontifls. See Fleury, Histoire Ecclesiastique, liv. 
 Ixxix. torn. xvi. 
 
336 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 entering the city with great pomp, accompanied 
 by a numerous train, placed the crown upon 
 his head with his own liands; and, having thus 
 settled affairs in Palestine, he retimied with- 
 out delay into Italy, to appease the discords 
 and commotions which the vindictive and am- 
 bitious pontiff had excited in his absence. 
 Notwithstanding all the reproaches that were 
 cast upon the emperor by the pope and his 
 creatures, this expedition was, in reality, the 
 most successful of any that had been under- 
 taken against the infidels.* 
 
 VI. The expeditions that followed this were 
 less important, and also less successful. In IS.SS, 
 Tlieobald VI., f comit of Champagne and king 
 of Navarre, set out from Marseilles for the 
 Holy Land, accompanied by several French 
 and German prmces, as did also, in the follow- 
 ing year, Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother to 
 Henry III., king of England. The issue of 
 these two expeditions by no means correspond- 
 ed with the preparations wliich were made to 
 render them successful. The former failed 
 through tlie influence of the emperor's| am- 
 bassadors in Palestine, who renewed the truce 
 with the Moslems; while on the other hand, a 
 considerable body of Christians were defeated 
 at Gaza, and such as escaped the carnage re- 
 turned into Europe. This fatal event was 
 principally occasioned by the discord that 
 reigned between the templars and the knights 
 of St. John of Jerusalem. Hence it came to 
 pass, that the arrival of Richard, which had 
 been industriously retarded by Gregory, and 
 which had revived, in some degree, the hopes 
 of the vanquished, was ineffectual to repair 
 their losses; and all that this prince could do, was 
 to enter, with the consent of the allies, into a 
 truce, upon as good conditions as the declining 
 state of their affairs would admit. This truce 
 was accordingly concluded with the sultan of 
 Egypt in 1241; after which Richard immedi- 
 ately set sail for Europe. § 
 
 VII. The affairs of the Christians in the east 
 daily declined. Intestine discords and ill-con 
 ducted expeditions had reduced them almost 
 to extremities, when Louis IX., king of France, 
 who was canonised after his death, and is still 
 worshipped with the utmost devotion, attempted 
 their restoration. It was in consequence of a 
 vow, which this prince had made in the year 
 1248, when he was seized with a dangerous 
 illness, that he undertook this arduous task; 
 and, in the execution of it, he set sail for 
 
 * See the writers who have composed the history 
 of the holy wars, and of the life and exploits of 
 Frederic II. See also Mura tori's Annales ItaliK, 
 and the various authors of the Germanic History. 
 
 (K^ t Dr- Mosheim calls him, by a mistake, Theo- 
 bald v., unless we attribute this fault to an error 
 of the press. 
 
 0^ I This was Frederic 11. who had a great party 
 in Palestine, and did not act in concert with the 
 clerpy and the creatures of his bitter enemy, Greco- 
 ry IX.; from which division the Christian cause suf- 
 fered much. 
 
 § AH these circumstances are accurately related 
 and illustrated by the learned George Clirist. Ge- 
 baureus, in his Historia Ricurdi Imperatoris, lib. i, 
 r- 34.— It appears, however, by the Epistols Petri de 
 Vineis, that Richard was created, by Frederic, his 
 lord lieutenant of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and 
 this furnishes a probable reason why Gregory used 
 all possible means to retard Richard's voyage." 
 
 Egypt with a formidable army and a numerous 
 fleet, from a notion that the conquest of this 
 province would enable him to carry on the 
 war in Syria and Palestine with greater facility 
 and success. The first attempts of the zealous 
 monarch were crowned with victory; for Da- 
 mietta, that famous Egyptian city, yielded to 
 his arms; but the smiling prospect was soon 
 changed, and the progress of the war presented 
 one uniform scene of calamity and desolation. 
 Tlie united horrors of famine and pestilence 
 overwhelmed the royal army, whose provisions 
 were cut off by the Mohammedans, in 1250; 
 Robert, earl of Artois, the king's brother, 
 having surprised the Saracen anny, and, 
 through an excess of valour, pursued them too 
 far, was slain in the engagement; and, a few 
 days after, Louis, two of his brothers,* and the 
 greatest part of his army, were made prisoners 
 in a bloody action, after a bold and obstinate 
 resistance. This valiant monarch, who was 
 endowed with true greatness of mind, and who 
 was extremely pious, though after the maimer 
 that prevailed in this age of superstition and 
 darkness, was ransomed at an immense price;t 
 and, after having spent about foiu: years in 
 Palestine, returned into France, in 1254, with 
 a handful of men,| the miserable remains of his 
 formidable army. 
 
 VIII. No calamities could deject the courage 
 or damp the invincible spirit of Louis; nor did 
 he look upon his vow as fulfilled by what he 
 had already done in Palestine. He therefore 
 resolved upon a new e.xpedition, fitted out a 
 formidable fleet, with which he set sail for 
 Africa, accompanied by a splendid train of 
 princes and nobles, and proposed to begin in 
 that part of the world his operations against 
 the infidels, that he might either convert them 
 to the Christian faith, or draw from their trea- 
 sures the means of carrying on more effectually 
 the war in Asia. Immediately after his arrival 
 upon the African coast, he made himself mas- 
 ter of the fort of Carthage; but this success 
 was soon followed by a fatal change in his af- 
 fairs. A pestilential disease broke out in the 
 fleet, in the harbour of Tunis, carried off the 
 greatest part of the army, and seized, at 
 length, the monarch himself, who fell a victim 
 to its rage, on the 25th of August, 12'70.§ 
 
 (JlJ" * Alphonsus, earl of Poictiers, and Charles, 
 earl of Anjou. 
 
 (t(J- t The ransom, which, together with the resto- 
 ration of Damietta, the king was obliged to pay for 
 his liberty, was 800,000 gold bezants, and not 80,000, 
 as Collier erroneously reckons. This sum, which 
 was equal then to 500,000 livres of French money, 
 would, in our days, amount to tlie value of 4,000,000 
 of livres, that is, to about 170,000/. sterling. 
 
 J Of 2,800 illustrious knights, who set out with 
 Louis from France, there remained about 100 when 
 he sailed from Palestine. See Joinville's Hist, de S. 
 Louis. 
 
 § Among the various histories that deserve to be 
 consulted for a more ample account of this last cru- 
 sade, the principal place is due to the Histoire de S. 
 Louis IX. du nom, Roy de France, ecrite par Jean 
 Sr. de Joinville, enrichie de nouvelles Dissertations 
 et Observations Historiques, par Charles du Fresne, 
 Paris, 1088. See also Filleau de la Chaise, Histoire 
 de S. Louis, Paris, 1C88, 2 vols. 8vo.— Menconis 
 Chronicon, in Ant. Matthsi Analect. veteris ivi, 
 torn, iii.— Luc. Wadding, Annales Minorum, torn. iv. 
 — Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn, iii.— Pierre Claude 
 Fontenay, Histoire de I'figljse Gallicane, torn. xi. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 3.;7 
 
 Louis was the last of the European princes 
 that embarked in the holy war; the dangers 
 and ditliculties, the calamities and disorders, 
 and the enormous expenses that accompanied 
 each crusade, disirusted the most zealous, and 
 discouraged tlie most intrepid j)romoters of 
 these fanatical expeditions. In consequence 
 of this, the Latin empire in the east declined 
 apace, notwithstanding the efforts of the Ro- 
 man pontiffs to maintain and support it; and 
 in the year 1291, after the taking of Ptolemais 
 jy the Mohammedans, it was entirely over- 
 thrown.* It is natural to inquire into the true 
 causes that contributed to this unhappy revo- 
 lution in Palestine; and these causes are evi- 
 dent. We must not seek for them eitlier in 
 the councils or in the valour of the infidels, 
 but in the dissensions that reigned in the 
 Christian armies, in the profligate lives of those 
 who called themselves the champions of the 
 cross, and in the ignorance, obstinacy, ava- 
 rice, and insolence, of the pope's legates. 
 
 IX. Christianity had not yet tamed the fe- 
 rocity, or conquered the pagan superstitions 
 and prejudices, that still prevailed in some of 
 the western provinces. Among others, the 
 Prussians, a fierce and savage nation, retained 
 tiie idolatrous worship of tiieir ancestors with 
 the most obstinate perseverance; nor did the 
 arguments and exhortations employed by the 
 ecclesiastics, who were sent from time to time 
 to convert them, produce the least effect upon 
 their stubborn and intractable spirits. The 
 brutish firnmess of tliese Pagans induced Con- 
 rad, duke of Masovia, to have recourse to 
 more forcible methods than reason and argu- 
 ment, in order to effect their conversion. For 
 this purpose, he addressed himself, in the year 
 1230, to the knights of the Teutonic order of 
 St. Mary, (wlio, after their expulsion from Pa- 
 lestine, had settled at Venice,) and engaged 
 them, by pompons promises, to imderlake the 
 conquest and conversion of the Prussians. The 
 knights accordingly arrived in Prussia, mider 
 the command of Herman de Saltza, and, after 
 a most cruel and obstinate war of fifty years 
 with that resolute people, obliged them to ac- 
 knowledge the sovereignty of the Teutonic or- 
 der, and to embrace the Christian faith. f After 
 having established Christianity, and fixed their 
 own dominion in Prussia, these booted apostles 
 made several incursions into the neighbouring 
 countries, and particularly into Lithuania, 
 where tlicy pillaged, burned, mass;icred, and 
 ruined all before them, until they forced the 
 inhabitants of that miserable province to pro- 
 fess a feigned submission to the Gospel, or 
 rather to the furious and unrelenting missiona- 
 ries, by whom it was propagated in a manner 
 so contrary to its divine maxims, and to the 
 benevolent spirit of its celestial author. J 
 
 ♦ Ant. Matlliici An.ilcct.T vcteris a:vi, torn, v.— 
 J.ir. l>hirili Scriptur. Doininiran. lorn, i.— Imola in 
 Dantpm. in Miiratorij Aiitiq. IlalictEniediiacvi, tom.i. 
 
 t See Miiltliaii Aiialccta vut. a;vi, toin. iii. p. ]8. 
 tnm- V. p. 684 — tiS'.i. — ("hronicon Prussian, by Peter of 
 Diiisburg.— Hartknock's History of the Priis.-;ian 
 Church, writtpii in the German langiiase, book i. 
 chap, i., and Aiitiqaitale.s Prussiae, Diss. xiv. — Uahi- 
 zii Miscellanea, torn. vii. — Wadding's Annalcs Mi- 
 nor, torn, iv.— Histoire do Pologne p,Tr Solignac, 
 torn. ii. 
 
 t Beside the authors menlioned m the preceding 
 Vol. I.— 43 
 
 X. In Spain the cause of the Gospel gained 
 ground. The kings of Castile, Leon, Navarre, 
 and Arragon, waged perpetual war with the 
 Saracen princes, who held still under their do- 
 minion the kingdoms of Valencia, Granada, 
 and Murcia, together with the province of 
 Andalusia; and this war was carried on with 
 such success, that the Saracen dominion de- 
 clined apace, and was daily reduced within 
 narrower bounds, while the limits of the church 
 were extended on every side. The princes 
 who chiefly contributed to this happy revolu- 
 tion were Ferdinand, king of Leon and Cas- 
 tile, who, after his deatii, obtained a place in 
 the kalendar, his father Alpiiotiso IX., king 
 of Leon, and James I., of Arragon.* The last, 
 more especially, distinguiscd himself eminently 
 by his fervent zeal for the advancement of 
 Christianity; for no sooner had he made him- 
 self nraster of Valencia, in the year 1236, than 
 he employed, with the greatest pains and as- 
 siduity, every possible method of converting to 
 the faith his Arabian subjects, whose expulsion 
 would have been an irreparable loss to his 
 kingdom. For this purpose he ordered the 
 Dominicans, of whose ministry he principally 
 made use in this salutary work, to learn the 
 Arabic tongue; and he founded public schools 
 at Majorca and Barcelona, in which a consi- 
 derable number of youths were educated in a 
 manner that might enable them to preach the 
 Gospel in that language. When these pious 
 efforts were found to be inefl'ectual, pope Cle- 
 ment IV. exliorted the king to drive the Mo- 
 hammedans out of Spain. The obsequious 
 prince attempted to follow the counsel of the 
 inconsiderate pontift'; in the execution of which, 
 however, he met with great difficulty, from the 
 opposition of the Spanish nobles on one hand, 
 and from the obstinacy of the Moors on the 
 other. t 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the Calamitous Events that happened 
 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. The accounts we have already given of 
 the Tartarian conqttests, and of the unhappy 
 issue of the crusades, will be sufficient to sug- 
 gest a lively idea of the melancholy condition 
 to which the Christians were reduced in Asia; 
 and, if the Saracens had been infected with the 
 s;ime odious spirit of persecution that possessed 
 the crusaids, there would not perhaps have re- 
 mained a single ('hristian in that part of the 
 world. Rut, though these infidels were charge- 
 able with various crimes, and had frequently 
 treated the Christians in a rigorous and injuri- 
 ous manner, they looked with horror upon 
 those scenes of persecution, which the Latins 
 exliibited as the exploits of heroic piety, and 
 considered it as the highest and most atrocious 
 mark of injustice and cruelty, to forte uniiappy 
 n»en, by fire and sword, to ai)andoii tlieir reli- 
 gious principles, or to put thent to death 
 merely because they refused to change their 
 
 note, see Ludwig'e Rehquiu- Maimscriptoruin omni* 
 ;evi, torn. i. 
 
 * See Job Ferreras. History of Spain, vol. iv. 
 
 t See Geddcp' History of the E.vpulsinn of the Mo- 
 rcscoes, in his Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. i. 
 
338 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I 
 
 opinions. After the destruction of the king- 
 dom of Jerusalem, many of tlie Latins remain- 
 ed still in Syria, and, retiring into the dark 
 and solitary recesses of mounC Libanus, lived 
 there in a savage manner, and lost, by degrees, 
 all sense of religion and humanity, as appears 
 from the conduct and ciiaracters of their de- 
 scendants, who still inhabit the same unculti- 
 vated wilds, and who seem almost entirely 
 destitute of all knowledge of God and religion.* 
 n. The Latin writers of this age complain 
 in many places of the growth of infidelity, of 
 daring and licentious writers, some of whom 
 publicly attacked the doctrines of Christianity, 
 while others went so far as atheistically to call 
 in question the perfections and govenunent of 
 tlie Supreme Being. These complaints, how- 
 ever they might have been exaggerated in 
 some respects, were yet far from being entirely 
 destitute of fomidation; and the superstition 
 of the age was too naturally adapted to create 
 a number of infidels and libertines, among men 
 who had more capacity than judgment, more 
 wit than solidity. Persons of this character, 
 when they fixed their attention only upon that 
 absurd system of religion, which the Roman 
 pontiffs and their dependants exhibited as the 
 true religion of Christ, and maintained by the 
 odious influence of bloody persecution, were, 
 for want of the means of being better instruct- 
 ed, unhappily induced to consider the Christian 
 religion as a fable, invented and proi)agatcd by 
 greedy and ambitious priests, in order to fill 
 their coffers, and to render their autliority re- 
 i^pectable. The philosophy of Aristotle, which 
 flourished in all the European schools, and was 
 looked upon as the very essence of right rea- 
 son, contributed much to supi)ort this delusion, 
 and to nourish a proud and presumptuous spi- 
 rit of infidelity. This quibbling and intricate 
 philosophy led many to reject some of the 
 most evident and important doctrines both of 
 natural and revealed religion, such as the doc- 
 trine of a divine providence governing the uni- 
 verse, the immortality of the soul, the scriptu- 
 ral accomit of the origin of the world, and 
 various points of less moment. Not only were 
 these doctrines rejected, but the most perni- 
 cious errors were industriously propagated in 
 opposition to Uiem, by a set of Aristotelians, 
 who were extremely active in gaining prose- 
 lytes to t heir impious jargon.j 
 
 * A certain tribe called Dorusi, or Drusi, who inha- 
 bit Ihe recesses of the mounts Liban and AntiLi- 
 baii, pretend to a descent from the ancient Franks, 
 who were once masters of Palestine. This deriva 
 tion is, indeed, doubtful. It is however certain, that 
 there still remain in tlicsc coutitries descendants of 
 those whom the holy war led from Europe into Pa- 
 lestine, Ihoush they do very little honour to their 
 ancestors, and have nothing of Christians but the 
 
 name. „ , „ 
 
 t See Sti. Thoms Summa contra Gcntes, and Ber- 
 nard! Mouctse Sunima contra Catharos ct Walden- 
 ses. The latter writer, in the work now mentioned, 
 combats, with great spirit, those enemies of Chris- 
 tianity who appeared in his time. In tlie fourth 
 chapter of the tifth book, p. 41f>, he disputes, in an 
 ample and copious manner, against those who af- 
 firmed, that the soul perished with the body; refutes, 
 in the' eleventh chapter, p. 477, those Aristotelian 
 philosophers, who held, that the world had existed 
 fVom all eternity, and would never have an end; 
 nnd, in the fifteenth chapter, p. 554, he attacks 
 those, who, despising the authority of the sacred 
 writings, deny the existence of human libeily, and 
 
 111. If the accusations brought against Fre 
 deric II. by pope Gregory IX. deserve any cre- 
 dit, that prince may be ranked among the most 
 inveterate and malignant enemies of the Chris- 
 tian religion, since he was charged by the 
 pontiff with having said, that the world had 
 been deceived by three impostors, Moses, 
 Christ, .and Mohammed.* Tliis charge was 
 answered by a solemn and public profession of 
 his faith, which the emperor addressed to all 
 the kings and princes of Europe, to whom also 
 had been addressed tiie accusation brought 
 against him. The cliarge, however, was foimd- 
 ed upon the testimony of Plenry Raspon, land- 
 grave of Thuringia, who declared that he had 
 heard the emperor pronounce the abominable 
 blasphemy above mentioned. f It is, after all, 
 difficult to decide with sufficient evidence upon 
 this point. Frederic, who was extremely pas- 
 sionate and imprudent, may, perhaps, in a fit 
 of rage, have suffered some such expression as 
 this to escape his reflection; and this is ren- 
 dered probable by the company he frequented, 
 and the number of learned Aristotelians who 
 were always about liis person, and might sug- 
 gest matter enough lor such impious expres- 
 sions, as that now under consideration. It was 
 this aftair that gave occasion, in after-times, to 
 the invention of that fabulous account, + which 
 supposes the detestable book concernmg the 
 three impostors to have been composed by the 
 emperor himself, or by Peter de Vineis, a native 
 of Capua, a man of great credit and authority, 
 whom that prince§ had chosen for his prime 
 minister, and in whom he placed the highest 
 confidence. 
 
 niaiutaiu, that all things, and even the crimes of the 
 wicked, are the effects of an absolute and irresistible 
 necessity. Add to these authors, Tenipier's Indicu- 
 lus Errorum, qui a nonnullis Magistris Lutetiae pulv- 
 lice privatinique docebantur. Anno l'J77, in Biblio- 
 tlioca Patruni Maxima, torn. xxv. p. 233; as also 
 Boulay's Hist. Acad. Paris, loin. iii. p. 433, and Ge- 
 rard du Bois' Hist. Eccles. Paris, torn. ii. p. 501. The 
 tenets of these doctors will, no doubt, appear of a 
 surprising nature; for they taught, "that there was 
 only one intellect among all the human race; that 
 all tilings were subject to absolute fate or necessity; 
 that the universe was not governed by a divine pro- 
 vidence; that the world was eternal and the soul 
 mortal;" and they maintained these and the like 
 monstrous errors, by arguments drawn from the 
 philosophy of Aristotle. But, at the same time, to 
 avoid the just resentment of the people, they held 
 up, as a buckler against their adversaries, that most 
 dangerous and pernicious distinction between theo- 
 logical and philosophical truth, which has been since 
 used, with tlie most cunning and bad faith, by the 
 more recent Aristotelians of the fifteenth and six- 
 teenth centuries. " Tliese things," say they, ^as we 
 learn from Tempier, who was bishop of Paris,) " are 
 true in philosopliy, but not according to the catholic 
 faith." Vera sunt hsc secundum philosophiam, non 
 secundum fidem catholicam. 
 
 * Matthew Paris, Historia Major, p. 408, 459.— 
 Petr. de Vineis Epistolar. lib. i. 
 
 t Herm. Gigantis Flores Teniporum, p. 126. — Chr. 
 Fred. Ayrmann, Sylloge Anecdotor. torn. •. p. 639. 
 
 f See Casim. Oudini Comment, de Scriptor. Eccle- 
 siasticis, tom. iii. p. 66. — Alb. Henr. de Sallengre, 
 Memoircs d'Histoire et de Literature, torn. i. part i. 
 p. 386. 
 
 (i(p- § The book entitled Liber de iii. Impostoribus, 
 sive Tractatus de Vanitate Religionum, is really a 
 book which had no existence at the time that the 
 most noise was made about it, and was spoken of by 
 multitudes before it had been seen by any one per- 
 son. Its supposed existence was probably owing to 
 an impious saying of Simon Tournay, doctor of di 
 vinity in the university of Paris in the thirteenth 
 
PART II 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerniiig tlie slate of Learning and Philosophy 
 (hiring Um Century. 
 
 I. The Greeks, amidst the dreadful calami- 
 ties, discords, and revolutions, that distracted 
 and perplexed their nnhap|iy country, had nei- 
 ther that spirit, nor that leisure, which arc ne- 
 cessary for the cultiu-e of the arts and sciences. 
 Yet, under all these disadvantages, tlicy retain- 
 ed a certain portion of their former spirit, and 
 did not entirely abandon the cause of learning 
 and philosophy, as appears from the writers 
 that arose among them during this century. 
 Their best historians were Nicetas Choniates, 
 Georgius Acrojjolita, Gregorius Pachymeres, 
 and Joel, whose Chronology is yet extant. We 
 learn from the writings of Gregory Pachymeres, 
 and Nicephorus Blcnnnida, that the Peripate- 
 tic philosophy was not without its admirers 
 among the Greeks, though the Platonic was 
 most in vogue. Tiie greatest part of the Gre- 
 cian philosophers, following the example of 
 the later Platonists, whose works were the 
 subject of their constant meditation, were in- 
 clined to reduce the wisdom of Plato and the 
 subtilties of the Stagirite into one system, and 
 to reconcile, as well as they could, their jarring 
 principles. It is not necessary to exhibit a 
 list of those authors, who wrote the lives and 
 discourses of the saints, or distinguished tliem- 
 selves in the controversy with the Latin church, 
 or of those who employed their learned labours 
 in illustrating the canon law of the Greeks. 
 The principal Syrian writer, which this ccn- 
 
 century, wliich amotnils to this: "That the Jews 
 were seduced out of their senses by Moses, the 
 Christians hy Jesus, and tlio Gentilea by Moliain- 
 ined." 'J'his, or some expressions of a similar kind, 
 were imputed to the emperor Frederic, and other 
 persona, perhaps without any real fouiid.ilion; and 
 Ihe imac;inary book to which they have piven rise, 
 has been attributeil by dilierent authors to Frederic, 
 to hi.s chancellor Pester de Vineis, to Alphonso, king 
 of Castile, to Boccace, Po^'fjio, the Aretins, IVunpo- 
 nace, Machiavcl, Erasmus, Ocliinus, Servetus, Jla- 
 belais, Giordano Brinio, Campanella, and many 
 others. In a word, the book vvas long spoken of be- 
 fore any such work i^xisted; hut the rumour that was 
 spread abroail encour;ii;e(l some prolligale traders in 
 licentiousness to rnuipnse. or rather compile, a bun- 
 dle of miserable rhapsnilies, under the famous title 
 of the Three luiposl<]rs, in order to impose upon such 
 as are fond of these prelended raritiiis. Accordinyly, 
 the Spaccio della |{estia Trioniphanle of Giordano 
 Bruno, and a wretched piece of impiety called the 
 Spirit of Spinoza, were the groundwork of mate- 
 rials from which these hireling compilers, by modi- 
 fying some passages, and adding others, drew the 
 book which now passes under the name of the Three 
 Impostors, of which I have seen two copies in ma- 
 nuscript, but no printed edit ion. See La Monnoye's 
 Dissertation sur le Livre des Trois Imposteurs, pub- 
 lished at Amsterdam in 171.5, at the end of the fourth 
 volume of the Menagiana. See also an answer to 
 this Pissertation, which was impudently exposed to 
 the public eye, in JTlti, from the press of Scheurleer 
 at the II.Tgue, and which contains a fabulous story 
 of the oripin of the book in question. Whoever is 
 desiroUH of a more ample and a very curious account 
 of this m.Ttter. will find it in Ihe late Prosper Mar- 
 chand's Dictionaire Historique, vol. ii. at the article 
 Imposteurs. 
 
 tury produced, vvas Gregory Abul-Faraj, pri- 
 mate of the Jacobites, a man of true geniu.8 
 and ujiivcrsal learning, wlio was a judicious 
 divine, an eminent historian, and a good phi- 
 losopher." George Elmacin, who composed 
 the history of the Saracens, vvas also a writer 
 of no mean reputation. 
 
 11. Tiie sciences carried a fairer aspect in 
 the western world, where every branch of eru- 
 dition was cultivated with assiduity and zeal, 
 and, in consequence, flourished with increas- 
 ing vigour. The European princes had learn-, 
 od, by a happy experience, how much learning 
 and the arts contribute to the grandeur and 
 happiness of a nation; and thereibre they in- 
 vited into their dominions learned men from 
 all parts of the world, nourished the arts in 
 their bosoms, excited the youth to the love of 
 letters, by crowning their progress with the 
 most noble rewards, and encouraged every ef- 
 fort of genius, by conferring, upon such as ex- 
 celled, the most honorable distinctions. Among 
 these patrons and protectors of learning, the 
 emperor, Frederic 11. and Alphonso X. king of 
 Leon and Castile (two princes as much distin- 
 guished by their own learning, as by the en- 
 couragement they granted to men of genius,) 
 acquired the highest renown, and rendered 
 their names immortal. The former founded 
 the academy of Naples, had the works of Aris- 
 totle translated into Latin, assembled about 
 his person all the learned men whom he could 
 engage by his munificence to repair to his 
 court, and gave other undoubted proofs of his 
 zeal for the advancement of the arts and sci- 
 ences.! The latter obtained an illustrious and 
 permanent renown by several learned produc- 
 
 * See Baylc's Dictionary, at the article Abulpha- 
 rage; as also Jos. Simon. Assemani Bibliotheca Ori- 
 entalis, Vatican, torn. ii. caput xlii. p. iJ4-}. 
 
 {(i7- Abulpharagius, or Abul-Faraj, was a native 
 of Malatia, a city in Armenia, near the source of 
 the river Euphrates, and acquired a vast reputation 
 in tin; east, on account of his extensive erudition, 
 lie composed an Abridgment of Universal History, 
 from the beginning of the world to his own times, 
 which he divided into t,en parts or dynasties. The 
 first comprehends the history of the ancient patri- 
 archs from Adam to Moses. The second, that of 
 Joshua and the other judges of Israel. The third, 
 fourth, fifth, and sixth, contain the history of the 
 kings of Israel, of the (;hnldean princes, of the Per- 
 sian Magi, and of the Grecian monarchs. The se- 
 venth relates to the Roman history; the eighth to 
 that of the Greek emperors of Constantinople. In 
 the ninth he treats of the Arabian princes; and in 
 the tenth of the Moguls. He is more to be depended 
 upon in his history of the Saracens and Tartars, than 
 in his accounts of other nations. The learned Dr. 
 Edward Pocock translated this work into Latin, and 
 published his translation in IGfi.'M, with a supple- 
 ment, which carri(!s on the history of the oriental 
 princes, where Abul-Faraj left it. The same learn- 
 ed translator had obliged the public, in 1650, with an 
 abridi'ment of the ninth dynasty, tinder the follow- 
 ing title: "Specimen Historiie Arabum, sive Grego- 
 rii Abulfuragii Malatiensis de Origine et Moribus 
 Arabum succincta Narralio." 
 
 t Boiilay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. iii. p. 115. Gi- 
 annone, Historia di Napoli, toin. ii. p. 4i'7. Add to 
 these the observations of Jo. Alb. Fabricius, Bibli- 
 oth. Latin, mcdii JE\i, torn. ii. p. 618. 
 
340 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II, 
 
 tions, but more especially by his famous As- 
 tronomical tables.* In consequence then of 
 the protection that was given to the sciences 
 in this century, academies were erected almost 
 in every city; peculiar privileges of various 
 kinds were crranted to the youtli that frequented 
 them; and these learned societies acquired, at 
 length, the form of political bodies; that is to 
 say, they were invested with a certain juris- 
 diction, and were governed by their own laws 
 and statutes. 
 
 III. In the public schools or academies that 
 were founded at Padua, Modena, Naples, Ca- 
 pua, Toulouse, Salamanca, Lyons, and Co- 
 logne, the whole circle of science was not 
 taught, as in our times. The application of 
 the youth, and the labours of their instructors, 
 were limited to certain branches of learning; 
 and thus the course of academical education 
 remained imperfect. The academy of Paris, 
 which surpassed all the rest, both with respect 
 to the number and abilities of its professors, 
 and the multitude of students by whom it was 
 frequented, was the first learned society which 
 extended tlie sphere of education, received all 
 the sciences into its bosom, and appointed mas- 
 ters for every branch of erudition. Hence it 
 was distinguished, before any other academy, 
 with the title of an university, to denote its 
 embracing the whole body of science; and, in 
 process of time, otlier schools of learning were 
 ambitious of forming tliemselves upon the same 
 model, and of being honoured with the same 
 title. In this famous university, the doctors 
 were divided into four colleges or classes, ac- 
 cording to Die branches of learning they pro- 
 fessed; and these classes were called, in after- 
 times, faculties. In each of these faculties, a 
 doctor was chosen by the suflrages of his col- 
 leagues, to preside during a fixed period in the 
 society; and the title of dean was given to 
 those who successively filled that eminent of- 
 fice.^ The head of the university, whose in- 
 spection and jurisdiction extended to all bran- 
 ches of that learned body, was dignified with 
 the name of cliancellor; and tiiat high and ho- 
 nourable place was filled by the bisliop of Paris, 
 to whom an assistant was afterwards joined, 
 who shared the administration witli him, and 
 was invested with an extensive authority.| 
 The college set apart for the study of divinity 
 was first erected and endowed, in tlie year 
 1250, by an opulent and pious man, whose 
 name was Robert de Sorboime, (a particular 
 friend and favourite of St. Louis,) whose name 
 was adopted, and is still retained by that theo- 
 logical society. § 
 
 » Nic. Aiitonii TJibliotlieca vetus Hispan. lib. viii. 
 c. V. p. -m. Jo. (le I'^iTfcras, HistoircirEspagno, toin. 
 iv. p. .147. , , 
 
 t This arraiigpmcnt was executoii about tne year 
 12G0. Si-e Du Hi)iilay, Ilistor. Acad. Paris, torn. iii. 
 p. .5.57, 51)4. ... . J ■ 
 
 t S,p Hcrni. Cnnnnpii Antiquitatcs AcanemicE. 
 a work, lionx-vir, siisccptiMi- of consirterahle im- 
 provi'iiiiMits. The iinpiirtaiit wnrk iiiantioned in 
 the precedinsr imti', and which is divided into six vo- 
 lumes, dps<^rves Id he principally consulted in this 
 point as wi-ll as in ;ill others that relate to the his 
 tory and trovernment of the university of Paris; add 
 to this, ("laud. Ileiueran Liber dp Acadeniia Parisi 
 cnsi, qualisprinio fiiil in insula etepiscoporuni scho 
 Us, Lutt.t. Ili;:7, in -llu. 
 
 § See Du Boulay, llisl. .\cad. Pans lorn lu. p 
 
 IV. Such as were desirous of being chosen 
 professors in any of the faculties or colleges of 
 this university, were obliged to submit to a long 
 and tedious course of probation, and to suffer 
 the strictest examinations, and to give, during 
 several years, undoubted proofs of their learn- 
 ing and capacity, before they were received 
 in the character of public teachers. This 
 severe discipline was called the academical 
 course; and it was wisely designed to prevent 
 the number of professors from multiplying be- 
 yond measure, and also to prevent such as 
 were destitute of erudition and abilities from 
 assuming an office, which was justly looked 
 upon as of high importance. They who had 
 satisfied all the demands of this academical law, 
 and had gone through the fonnidable trial 
 with applause, were solemnly invested with 
 the dignity of professors, and were saluted 
 masters with a certain round of ceremonies, 
 that were used in the societies of illiterate 
 tradesmen, when their company was aug- 
 mented by a new candidate. This vulgar 
 custom had been introduced, in the preceding 
 century, by the professors of law in the aca- 
 demy of Bologna; and, in this century, it was? 
 transmitted to that of Paris, where it was first 
 practised by the divinity-colleges, and after- 
 wards by the professors of physic and of the 
 liberal arts. In this account of the trial and 
 installation of the professors of Paris, we may 
 perceive the origin of what wo now call aca- 
 demical degrees, which, like all other human 
 institutions, have miserably degenerated from 
 the wise ends for which they were at first ap- 
 pointed, and grow more insignificant from day 
 to day.* 
 
 V. These public institutions, consecrated to 
 the advancement of learning, were attended 
 with remarkable success; but that branch of eru- 
 dition, which we call humanity or polite litera- 
 ture, derived less advantage from them than 
 the other sciences. The industrious youth 
 either applied themselves entirely to the study 
 of the civil and canon laws, which was a 
 sure patli to preferment, or employed their la- 
 bours in philosophical researches, in order to 
 the attainment of a shining reputation, and of 
 the applause that was lavished upon such as 
 were endowed with a subtile and metaphysi- 
 cal genius. Hence arose the bitter complaints 
 of the pontiffs and other bishops, of the neglect 
 and decline of the liberal arts and sciences; 
 and hence also the zealous, but unsuccessful 
 efforts they used to turn the youth from juris- 
 prudence and pliilosophy, to the study of hu- 
 manity and philology.! Notwitlistanding all 
 this, the thirteenth century produced several 
 writers, wiio were very far from being con- 
 tent pti l)lc ,sucha^_^illiam_^i^ 
 2-S.i.~Uu Fifsiii;'s Annotaliiuis upon the Life of St. 
 Louis, written by Joinville, p. 30. 
 
 * Beside the writers above mentioned, sec Jo. Chr. 
 Uterus, de Gradibus Academicis.— Just. Hen. Boh- 
 nier,' Prn'f. ad Jus Canonicum, p. 14.— Ant. Wood, 
 Antiquit. Oxoniens. toni. i. p. 24.— Boulay, Histor. 
 Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 25(1,08:2, &c. 
 
 t Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. iii. p. 2G5, where 
 there is an epistle of Innocent III., who seems to 
 take this matter seriously to heart.— Ant. Wood, 
 Antiq. Oxon. torn. i. p 124.— Imola in Danteni, m 
 Muratori's Antiquit. Ital. medii /lilvi, torn. i. p 1262 
 
 t See Hist, de P Acad, des Inscript el des Pclle» 
 Lettrcs, t. xvi p. 255. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 341 
 
 Mapes,* Matthew of Vendosiiic, Ahiin tie 
 risle,! Guntherus, James of Vitii, and seve- 
 ral others, who wrote witli ease, and were not 
 allog'cther destitute of cleg-ancc. Anion^r tlic 
 liistorians, the first place is due to Matthew 
 Paris, a writer of the hiffjiest merit, hotli in 
 point of knowledwc and prudence, to whom 
 we may add Rodcric Ximencs, Rigord,J; Vin- 
 cent of Bcauvais, Robert of St. Marino, § 
 Alartinus, a native of Poland, Gervasc of Til- 
 bury, || Conrad of Lichtcnau, and William 
 Naii^ius, whose names are worthy of being 
 preserved from oblivion. The writers who have 
 laboured to transmit to posterity the lives ar.d 
 exploits of the saints, liavc rather related the 
 superstitions and miseries of the times, than 
 the actions of those holy men. Among these 
 biographers, James of Vitri, mentioned above, 
 makes the greatest figure; he also composed a 
 History of the Lombards, that is full of in- 
 sipid and trifling stories.lT 
 
 VI. Roger Bacon,** John Balbi, and Robert 
 ■Cajjito, with other learned men, whose num- 
 ber, however, was inconsiderable, applied them- 
 selves to the study of Greek literature. The 
 Hebrew language and theology were much less 
 cultivated; though it appears that Bacon and 
 Capito, already mentioned, and Raymojid 
 Martin, author of an excellent treatise, en- 
 titled, Pugio Fidei Christianic, or, The Dagger 
 of the Ciiristian Faith, were extremely wcill 
 versed in tliat species of erudition. Many of 
 the Spaniards, and more jiarticularly the Do- 
 minican friars, made themselves masters of the 
 Arabian learning and language, as the kings 
 of Spain had charged the latter with the in- 
 struction and cxtnversion of the Jews and Sara- 
 cens who resided in their dominions. |f As to 
 the Latin gninnnarians, the best of them were 
 extremely barbarous and insipid, and equally 
 destitute of taste and knowledffe. To be con- 
 
 * Jo. Wolff, LiictioHCs lyiemorabil. tuiii. i. i). 4;i0. 
 
 t Called in Latin, Allinus ab Insulis. 
 
 } Soe the Ilistoirc de I'Acadeniie des Inscriplioiis 
 et des BeJIes Lettres, loin. xvi. p. 243, wliicli also 
 gives an ample account of William of Nangis, page 
 iiil'i. 
 
 § See Le Bwuf, Mcmoire.s pour I'Hi.^toire d'Anx- 
 (•rrc, torn. ii. p. 49(1, where there is al.so a learned ac- 
 fount of Vincent of Ueauvais, p. 404. 
 
 Q(J= II Gervasc of Tilliiiry wa.s nephew to Henry 
 II., king of England, and was in high credit with 
 the emperor Otlio IV., to whom he dedicated a de 
 Kcription of the world and a Chronicle, both cif wliiih 
 lie had himself composed. lie wrote also a History 
 of England, and one of the Holy Land, with several 
 treatises tipon different subjects. 
 
 V See Schelhornii Amcenitates, Literariae, lorn. .\i. 
 p. 324. 
 
 (Xr" ** This illustrious Franci.scan, in point of ge- 
 nius and universal learning, was one of the great- 
 est ornaments of the British natiim, and, in general, 
 of the republic of letters. Tlie ast<uiishing di.scove- 
 ries he made in astronomy, chemistry, optics, and 
 m.-itliematics, made liitn pass for a magician in the 
 igncir.'iiU and siipirslitinns times in wliirli he lived, 
 while hisprnfoiind knowledge in philosophy, theolo- 
 gy, and the Greek and Urieiital languages, pmcurrd 
 him, with more justice, the title of tin- iiihiiirah/c 
 or trnnderfttl doctor. Ainons; other iliscoveries, lie is 
 said to have made that of tlH' coniposifioii .-iiid luicc 
 of gunpowder, whiili he drsrrilics cip.uly in one of 
 his-letters; and he proposed iiiiich the same currer 
 tion of Ihi- ciili'udar, wliich was <'xecut(^d ahout ;tlMI 
 years after by Grei.'(iry 111. He composeil an extra 
 ordinary niiinber (d" books, of which a list may be 
 seen in the (Jeneral Dictionary. 
 
 tt See Rich. Simon's Lettres (^lu)isiep. torn. iii. p. 
 112, and Nic. Antonii Bibliothcca vetus Hispanica. 
 
 viiiced of this, we iiavc only to cast an eye 
 upon the productions of Alexander de Villa 
 Dei, who was looked upon as the most emi- 
 nent of them all, and whose works were read 
 in almost all the schools from this period until 
 the sixteenth century. This pedantic Fran- 
 ciscan composed, in the year 1240, what he 
 called a Doctriiialc, in Leonine verse, full of 
 the most wretched quibbles, and in which the 
 rules of grammar and criticism are delivered 
 witii the greatest confasion and obscurity, or, 
 rather, are covered with impenetrable dark- 
 ness. 
 
 VII. The various systems of philosophy that 
 were in vogue before this century, lost their 
 credit by degrees, and submitted to the trium- 
 phant doctrine of Aristotle, which erected a 
 new and despotic empire in the republic of 
 letters, and reduced the whole ideal world 
 under its lordly dominion. Several of the 
 works of this philosopher, and more especially 
 his metaphysical productions, had been, so 
 early as the beginning of this century, trans- 
 lated into Latin at Paris, and were from that 
 time exjilaincd to the youth in the public 
 schools.* But when it appeared, that Almericf 
 had drawn from these books his erroneous sen- 
 timents concerning the divine nature, they 
 were prohibited and condemned as pernicious 
 and pestilential, by a pubhc decree of the 
 council of Sons, in the year 1209.| The logic 
 of Aristotle, however, recovered its credit some 
 years after this, and was publicly taught in the 
 university of Paris in the year 1216; but the 
 natural philosophy and metaphysics of tha^ 
 great man were still under the sentence of 
 condemnation.^ It was reserved for the em- 
 peror Frederic II. to restore the Stagirite to 
 his former glory, which this prince cU'ected by 
 employing a nmiiber of learned men, whom 
 
 * Franc. Patricii Uiscussiones Peripatetics;, torn, 
 i. lib. xi. p. 14.5. Jo. Launoiiis de varia Aristof. 
 fortiina in Acad. Parisiensi, cap. i. p. 127, ed. KIs- 
 wich. It is commonly reported, that the books ui' 
 Aristotli! here mentioned, were translated from 
 Arabic into Latin. But we are told positively, that 
 these books were brought from Constantinople, and 
 translated from Greek into Latin. See Rigord's 
 work de pestis Philippi regis Franc, ad avnitm 1209, 
 in Aiidr. Chcsnii Scrip. Hist. Franc, p. Hit. 
 
 (t;^t Almeiic, or Ainauri, does not seem to have 
 entertained any enormous errors. He held, that 
 every Christian was obliged to believe himself a 
 member of Jesus Christ, and att.ached, perhaps, 
 some extravagant and fanatical ideas to that opin- 
 ion; but his t'olloxvers fell into more pernicious no- 
 tions, and adoptid the most odious tenets, maintain 
 ing, that the power of the F.itlnr continued no lon- 
 ger than the Mosaic disp<!nsatioii; that t lie einpi -e of 
 the Son extended only to the tliirteeiitli century; 
 and that then the reign of the Holy (ihost com 
 menced, when all sacraments and external worship 
 were to be abolished, and the salvation of Christiana 
 was to be accomplished merely by internal acts of 
 illiiminaliiig grace. Their morals al.so were as infa 
 moiis as their doctrine was absurd; and, under the 
 name of charity, they comprehenrled and committed 
 till,' most criminal acts of impurity and licentious- 
 ness. 
 
 il?' t Of- IWosIieim has fallen here into two slight 
 mistakes. It was at Paris, and not at Sens, and in 
 thi; year 1210, and not ]2(tn, that the metaphysical 
 books of Aristotle were condemned to the tiaines. 
 'J'lie works quoted here by onr author, are those of 
 Laiinoy, de varia Aristotelis fortiina in Acad. Paris, 
 rap. iv. p. \9'), and Syllabus rationiim quibus Uutnn- 
 di causa defenditnr, tom. i. op. 
 
 § Nat. Alexander, Select. Histor. Fcclesi.nst. Capi- 
 ta, loin. viii. cap. iii. sect. 7. page 7li. 
 
342 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 he liad cliosen with the grealest attention and 
 care,* and who were piolouudly versed in the 
 knowledge of the langiiag-es, to traiislatc into 
 Latin, from the Greek and Arabic, certain 
 books of Aristotle, and of other ancient sages. 
 This translation, which was recommended, in 
 a particular manner, to the academy of Bo 
 logna by the learned emperor, raised the credit 
 of Aristotle to the greatest Jieight, and gave 
 him an irresistible and despotic authority in all 
 the European schools. This authority was 
 still farther augmented by tlic translations 
 which were mode of some of tlie books of the 
 Grecian sage l)y several Latin interpreters, 
 such as Michael Scot, Philip of Tripoli, Wil- 
 liam Fleming, and others; though these men 
 were quite unequal lo the taslc they undertook, 
 and had neither such knowledge of the lan- 
 guages, nor such an acquaintance with phi- 
 losophy, as were necessary to the successful 
 execution of such a difficult enteriDrise.f 
 
 VIII. The Aristotelian philosophy received 
 the very last addition that could be made to 
 its autliority and lustre, when the Dominican 
 and Franciscan friars adopted its tenets, taught 
 it in their schools, and illustrated it in their 
 writings. These two mendicant orders were 
 looked upon as the chief depositories of all 
 learning, both human and divine; and were 
 followed, witii the utmost eagerness and as- 
 siduity, by all such as were ambitious of being 
 distinguished from the multitude by superior 
 knowledge. Alexander Hales, an English 
 Franciscan, who taught philosophy at Paris, 
 and acquired, by the strength of his metaphysi- 
 cal genius, the title of the Irrefragable Doctor, J 
 and Albert the Great, a German of the Do- 
 minican order, and bishop of Ratisbon, a man 
 of great abilities, and an universal dictator at 
 this time,§ were the first eminent writers wlio 
 Jllustrated, in their learned productions, the 
 Aristotelian system. But it was the disciple 
 of Albert, Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doc- 
 tor, and the great luminary of the scholastic 
 world, that contributed most to tiie glory of 
 the Sta^nritc,!! by inculcating, illustrating, and 
 
 * Petr.deVineis, Epist.lib. iii.op. Ixvii.p. 501!. This 
 epistle is adilressed "ad magistros et schol.ires Bo- 
 noniPiises;" i. e. " to the masters and scholars of the 
 academy of Bologna;" hut it is more than probable, 
 lli.Tt the emperor sent letters npon this occasion to 
 llie other Enropean sell mis. It is a common opin- 
 ion, that this learned prince iiad all the works of 
 Aristotle, that were then extant, translated into 
 L.itin abont the year 12iJ0; but this cannot be de- 
 duced from the letter above mentioned, or from any 
 other sufficient testimony that we know of. 
 
 t See Wood's account of the interpreters of Aris- 
 totle, in liis Antiipiitat. Oxou. loin. i. p. ll'J; as also 
 .lebb's preface to the ( (pus Majns of the famous Ro- 
 ger Bacon, publislKnl at London in folio, in the year 
 173.1. Wo shall yive here the opinion which Bacon 
 had of the translators of Aristotle, in the worrls of 
 that !;reat man, who expresses his contempt of these 
 wrctchi'il interpreters in the followinir manner: " S'i 
 halierein poteslatem supra libros Arisiotelis, (Latine 
 conversos,) ego facerem omnes cremari, quia non est 
 nisi temporis amissio studere in illis, et causa erro- 
 ris et multiplicalio ignorantiic, ultra id quod valet 
 cxplicari." 
 
 J See Wadding's Annales Minoruni, tom. iii. p. 
 233. Du Boulay, Histor. Acad. I'aris. tom. iii. p. 20U, 
 673. 
 
 § Jo. Alh. Fabricii Biblioth. Latina medii jEvi, 
 tom. i. p. 113. 
 
 11 The Dominicans maintain, that this Angelic 
 Doctor was the disciple of Albert the Great, and 
 
 enforcing his doctrines, both in his lectures and 
 in his writings; and principally by engaging 
 one of his learned colleagues to give, under 
 his inspection, a new translation of the works 
 of the Grecian sage, which far surpassed the 
 former version in exactness, perspicuity, and 
 elegance.* By these means the philosophy 
 of Aristotle, notwithstanding the hostile elforts 
 of several divines, and even of the Roman 
 pontiffs themselves, wiio beheld its progress 
 with an unfriendly eye, triumphed in all the 
 Latin schools, and absorbed all the other systems 
 that had flourished before this literary revo- 
 lution. 
 
 IX. There were, however, at this time in 
 Europe several persons of superior genius and 
 penetration, who, notwithstanding their re- 
 spect for Aristotle, considered the method of 
 treating philosophy, which his writings had in- 
 troduced, as dry, inelegant, and fit only to 
 confine and damp the efforts of the mind in 
 the pursuit of truth; and who, consequently, 
 were desirous of enlarging the sphere of sci- 
 ence by new researches and discoveries.! At 
 the head of these noble adventiu-ers we may 
 justly place Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar 
 of the English nation, known by the appella- 
 tion of the admirable doctor, who was renowned 
 on account of his most important discoveries, 
 and who, in natural philosophy, mathematics, 
 chemistry, the mechanic arts, and the learned 
 languages, soared far beyond the genius of the 
 times.J With him we may associate Arnold 
 
 their opinion seems to be founded in truth. See An- 
 toine Touron, Vie de St. Thomas, p. 99. The Fran- 
 ciscans, however, maintain as obstinately, that Al 
 exander Hales was the master of Thomas. See 
 Wadding's Annales Minoruni, tom. iii. p. 133. 
 
 * It has been believed by many, that William de 
 Moerbeka, a native of Flanders, of the Dominican 
 order, and archbishop of Corinth, was tlie author 
 of the new Latin translation of the works of Aris 
 totli!, which was carried on and finished under the 
 auspicious inspection of Tho^ias Aquinas. See J. 
 Ilch.ad, Scriiitorcs Dominican, tom. i. p. 388, 469 
 •Jasim. Oudinus, Comni. de Scriptor. Eccles. torn. iii. 
 p. 468. Jo. Franc. Foppens, Bibliotheca Belgica, 
 tom. i. p. 410. Others, however, suppose, though in- 
 deed with less evidence, that this translation was 
 composed by Henry Kosbcin, who was also a Domi 
 iiican. 
 
 t Bacon's contempt of the learning that was in 
 vogue in his time may be seen in the following pas- 
 sage, quoted by Jebb, in his preface to the Opus 
 I\IaJus of that great man: " Nuuquani fuit tanta ap- 
 parentia sapientia', nee tantuiii exercitium studii in 
 tot facultatibus, in tot regionibus, siciit jam a quad- 
 raginta annis: ubiqueenimdoctoressuntdispersi. . . . 
 in omni civitate, et in omni castro, et in omni bur- 
 go, praecipue per duos ordines studentes (he means 
 the Franciscans and Dominicans, who were almost 
 the only religious orders that distingui.shed them- 
 selves by an application to study) quod non accidit, 
 nisi a quadraginta annis nut circiter, cum tamen 
 nunquam fuit tanta ignorantia, tantus error . . . 
 Vulgus studenliuin languet et asininat circa mala 
 translata (by these wretched versions he understands 
 the works of Aristotle, which were most miserably 
 translated by ignorant bunglers) et tempus et stu- 
 dium amittit in omnibus et expensas. Apparentia 
 quidem sola tenet eos, et non curant quid sciant, sed 
 quid videantur scire coram multitudjne insensata." 
 Thus, according to Bacon, in the midst of the most 
 specious appearance of science, the greatest igno- 
 rance and the grossest errors reigned almost univer- 
 sally. 
 
 } That Bacon deserves this high rank in the 
 learned world appears evidently from bis book enti 
 tied Opus M.ijus, which was dedicated to pope Cle 
 ment IV., and which Jebb published at London iii 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 of Villa Nova, wliosc place of nativity is fixed 
 by some in France, by otliers in Spain, and 
 who acquired a sliining reputation by his 
 knowledge in chemistry, poetry, pliilowopliy, 
 languages, and physic;* as also I'eter d'Aliano, 
 a physician of Padua, who was surnained the 
 Reconciler, from a book wliicli he Vvrote in the 
 hope of terminating the dissensions and con- 
 tests that reigned among the philosopliers and 
 physicians,! and wlio was profoundly versed 
 in the sciences of philosophy, astronomy, 
 physic, and mathematics. J. It must, however, 
 be observed, to tlie eternal dishonour of the 
 age, that the only fruits which these great men 
 derived irom tiieir learned labours, and their 
 noble, as well as successful efforts fur the ad- 
 vancement of the arts and sciences, were the 
 furious clamours of an enraged and supersti- 
 tious multitude, who looked upon tliem as he- 
 retics and magiyicans, and thirsted so eagerly 
 after their blood, that they escaped with dith- 
 eulty the hands of the public executioner. 
 Bacon was confmed many years in a comfort- 
 less prison; and the other two were, after 
 their death, brought before the tribunal of the 
 inquisition, and declared worthy of being com- 
 mitted to the tlames for tlie novelties they had 
 introduced into the republic of letters. 
 
 X. The state of theology, and the method 
 of teaching and representing the doctrines of 
 Christianity that now prevailed, sliall be men- 
 tioned in their place. The civil and canon 
 laws held the lirst rank in the circle of tlie 
 sciences, and were studied with peculiar zeal 
 and application by almost all who were am- 
 bitious of literary glory. But these sciences, 
 notwithstanding the assiduity with which they 
 were cultivated, were far from being then 
 brought to any tolerable degree of perfection. 
 They were distigured by the jargon that reigned 
 in the schools, and were corrupted and render- 
 ed intricate by a multitude of trivial commen- 
 taries that were intended to illustrate and ex- 
 plain them. Some employed their labours in 
 collecting the letters of the Roman pontiffs, 
 which are conuiionly known under the title 
 of Decretals,^ and which were deemed a very 
 important branch of ecclesiastical law. Rai- 
 niond of Pennafort, a native of Barcelona, was 
 the most famous of all these compilers, and ac- 
 quired a considerable reputation by his collec- 
 
 17.13, from a manuscript that still exists in llic inii- 
 versity ofD'it'iii, fiirithiiig it with a Icariu^d prelacy 
 and a considiirable niimhfr of Judicious obsc.'rvations. 
 The other works of Biicon, which are very nunic- 
 rous, lie for the most part concealed in the libraries 
 of the curious. For a farther account of this emineni 
 man, see Wood's Antiq. Oxon. toin. i. p. i:t(i. — 
 Wadding, Annul. Minor, t. iv. p. Itil, t. v. p. 51. — 
 Thom. Gale, ad Janiblichum de Mysteriis iEgyptior. 
 p. 25.5.— General Hist, and Crit. Dictionary. 
 
 * See Nic. Antonii Biblioth. vetus ilispan. torn. ii. 
 lib. ix. c. i.— I'iurre Joseph, d'Arnaud Vie do Villi'- 
 neuve, Aix, J711K — Niceron, Memoires dos Ilonjnies 
 illuatres, torn, xxxiv.— Nicol. Kymerici Directoriuin 
 Ini|uisitorum, pae. 28J. where, among other thinys, 
 we have an account of his errors. 
 
 tThi.s book was entitled. Conciliator Differentia- 
 rum Philosophorum et Medicorum. 
 
 t There is a very accurate account of this philoso- 
 pher given by J(di. Maria Mn/.zuchelli, Notizic; rito 
 riche e Critiche intorno alia Vita di Pieiro d'Ahano, 
 in AngPli CalogcriE Opus. Scicntilici c Philologici, I. 
 xiii. 
 
 § Sco Bonlay, Hist. Acad. Taria. lora. iii. 
 
 343 
 
 tion of the Decretals in five books, which he 
 undertook at tho desire of Gregory IX., and 
 which has been since lionoiu-ed with the name 
 of that pontiff, who ordered it to be added to 
 tho Decretals of Gratian, and to be read in all 
 the Euro])ean colleges.* Toward the conclu- 
 sion of this century, Boniface VIII. caused a 
 new collection to be made, wliieh was entitled, 
 The Sixth Book of Decretals, because it was 
 added to the five already mentioned. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CMicerning the Doctors and Ministers of the 
 
 Church, and its Form of Govemmeiit, during 
 
 this Centunj. 
 
 I. Both the Greek and Latin writers, pro- 
 voked beyond measure by the flagitious lives 
 of their spiritual rulers and instructors, com- 
 plain loudly of their licentious manners, and 
 load them with the severest reproaches; nor 
 will these complaints and reproaches appear 
 excessive to such as are acquaintinl with the 
 history of this corrupt and superstitious age.f 
 Several eminent men attempted to stem this 
 torrent of licentiousness, which from the heads 
 of the church had carried its pernicious streams 
 through all the memliers; but their power and 
 influence were unequal to such a ditRcult and 
 arduous enterprise. The Greciiui emperors 
 were prevented from executing any project of 
 this kind by tlic infelicity of the times, and the 
 various calamitii's and tunmlts, whicli not only 
 reigned in their dominions, but even shook 
 their thrones, wiiile tho power and opulence 
 of the Roman pontiffs, and the superstition of 
 the age, prevented the Latins from accom- 
 I)lisliing, or even attempting, a reformation 
 in the churcji. 
 
 U. In the liistory of the popes, we meet with 
 a lively and liorrible picture of the compli- 
 cated crimes that dishonoured the ministers 
 of the church, who were peculiarly required, 
 by their sacred office, to exhibit to the world 
 distinguished models of piety and virtue. Such 
 members of the sacerdotal order as were ad- 
 vanced to places of authority in the church, 
 behaved rather like tyrants "than rulers, and 
 showed manifestly, in all their conduct, that 
 they aimed at an absolute and unlimited do- 
 minion. The popes, more esi)eciany, incul- 
 cated this pernicious ma.\im, " That the bishop 
 of Rome is the sui)remc lord of the miiverec, 
 and that neither princes nor bishops, civil 
 governors nor ecclesiastical rulers, have iiny 
 lawful power in churcli or state, but wliat they 
 derive from him." Tiiis extravairaiit maxim, 
 which was considered as the sum and substance 
 of papal jurisprudence, tho pontiftis obstinately 
 maintained, and left no means unemployed, 
 that perfidy or violence could suggest, to give 
 it the force of an univensil law. It wfis in 
 
 ■t (.'er. u Mae.>itriclit, Historia juris I^clesiaslici, 
 ect. H53.— Jo. Chilllet. de Juris ulrlu..ique Architec- 
 ti.^, cap. vi.— Echard et Uuetif, Scriptor. Dominican, 
 t. i.— Acta Sanctor. Antwerp, t. i. Januarii ad d. vii, 
 
 t Sec the remarkable letter of pope Gregory IX. to 
 the archbishop of liourjjes, whicli was written in 
 1227, with a design to reprove and reform the vices 
 which had infected all llie various orders of the 
 clergy, and which is published by Dion. Saminarllia- 
 nus, ill his Gallia riiristi.nna. toui ii in Append.— 
 See also Du Fic»iic, .Vnnoial. in Vilam LudoviciSti 
 
344 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 consequence of this arrogant pretension, tliat 
 they not only claimed the right of disposing 
 of ecclesiastical benefices, as they are com- 
 monly called, but also of conferring civil do- 
 minion, and of dethroning kings and emperors, 
 according to their good pleasure. It is true, 
 this maxim was far from being universally 
 adopted; many placed the authority of councils 
 above tiiat of the pdlitifFs, and such of the 
 European kings and princes as were not in- 
 gloriously blinded and enslaved by the super- 
 stition of the times, asserted their rights with 
 dignity and success, excluded the pontifTs from 
 all concern in their civil transactions, and even 
 reserved to themselves the supremacy over the 
 churches that were establislied in their domin- 
 ions.* In thus opposing the haughty preten- 
 sions of the lordly pontiffs, it was, indeed, ne- 
 cessary to proceed with mildness, caution, and 
 prudence, on account of the influence which 
 those spiritual tyrants had usurped over the 
 minds of the people, and the power they had 
 of alarming princes, by exciting their subjects 
 to rebellion. 
 
 III. In order to establish their authority, 
 both in civil and ecclesiastical matters, upon 
 the firmest foundations, the Roman pontitls 
 assumed to themselves the power of disposing 
 of the various ollices of the church, whether 
 of a lugher or more subordinate nature, and 
 of creating bishops, abbots, and canons, accord- 
 ing to their fancy. Thus we see the heads of 
 the church, who formerly disputed with such 
 ardour against the emperors in favour of the 
 free election of bishops and abbots, overturn- 
 ing now all the laws that related to the elec- 
 tion of these spiritual rulers, reserving for 
 themselves the revenues of the richest benefi- 
 ces, conferring vacant places upon their clients 
 and their creatures, and often deposing bishops 
 who had been duly and lawfully elected, and 
 substituting others for them with a high hand-j 
 The hypocritical pretexts for all these arbitrary 
 proceedings were an ardent zeal for the wel- 
 fare of the church, and an anxious concern, 
 lest devouring heretics should get a footing 
 among the flock of Christ. J The first pontiff 
 who usurped such an extravagant extent of 
 authority, was Innocent III., whose example 
 was followed by Ilonorius III., Gregory IX., 
 and several of their successors. But it was 
 keenly opposed by the bishops, who had hith- 
 erto enjoyed the privilege of nominating to the 
 smaller benefices, and still more effectually by 
 the kings of England and France, who em- 
 ployed the force of warm remonstrances and 
 vigorous edicts to stop the progress of this new 
 jurisprudence. § Louis IX. king of France, 
 
 * As a specuneii of this, the rearttr may piTusi^ fhc 
 letters of Innocent III. and the emperor Otho IV., 
 which have been collected by the learned Georce 
 Christ. Gebaucr, in his history of the enii>eror Rich- 
 ard, written in German. Other princes, and more 
 especially the kinps of England and France, dis- 
 played, in the defence of their rights and privileges, 
 the same zeal that animated Otho. 
 
 t Many examples of this may be taken from the 
 history of this century. Sec Steph. Baluzii Miscellan. 
 toni. vii. — Gallia Christiana tom. i. Append. — Wad- 
 ding, Aiinal. Minor, in Diplomat.— Wood, Antiquit. 
 Oxon. tom. i. 
 
 t See the Epistle of Innocent IV. in Bahiz Mi< 
 cellan. torn vii. 
 
 5 Boulav, (listor. Acad, ratis, tom. iii. iv. 
 
 now the tutelar saint of that nation, distin- 
 guished himself by his noble opposition to these 
 papal encroachments. In 1268, before he set 
 out for the Holy Land, he secured the rights 
 of tjie Galilean church against the insidious 
 attempts of the popes, by that famous edict, 
 known in France by the name of the prag- 
 matic sanction.* This resolute and prudent 
 measure rendered the pontiffs more cautious 
 and slow in their proceedings, but did not de- 
 ter them from the prosecution of their purpose. 
 For Boniface VIII. maintained, in the most 
 express and impudent terms, that the univer- 
 sal church was under the dominion of tho 
 pontiffs, and that princes and lay patrons, 
 councils and chapters, had no more power in 
 spiritual things, than what they derived from 
 Christ's vicar upon earth. 
 
 IV. The legates, whom the pontiffs sent in- 
 to the provinces, to represent their persons, 
 and execute their orders, imitated perfectly 
 the avarice and insolence of their masters. 
 They violated the privileges of the chapters; 
 disposed of the smaller, and sometimes of the 
 more important ecclesiastical benefices, in fa- 
 vour of such as had gained them by bribes, 
 or the like considerations;! extorted money 
 from the people, by the vilest and most iniqui- 
 tous means; seduced the unwary by forged let- 
 ters and other stratagems of that nature; ex- 
 cited timmlts among the multitude, and were, 
 themselves, the ringleaders of the most furious 
 and rebellious factions; carried on, in the most 
 scandalous manner, the impious traffic of relics 
 and indulgences, and dislinguished themselves 
 by several acts of profligacy still more heinous 
 than the practices now mentioned. Hence we 
 find the writers of this age complaining unani- 
 mously of the flagitious conduct and the enor- 
 mous crimes of the pope's legates.]; We even see 
 pope Alexander IV. enacting, in 1256, a severe 
 law against the avarice and frauds of these cor- 
 rupt ministers, § which, however, they easily 
 evaded, by their friends and their credit at the 
 court of Rome. 
 
 V. From tho ninth century to this period, 
 the wealth and revenues of the pontiffs had 
 not received any considerable augmentation; 
 but at this time they were vastly increased 
 under Innocent III., and Nicolas III., partly 
 by the events of war, and partly by the muni- 
 ficence of kings and emperors. Innocent, as 
 soon as he was seated in the papal chair, re- 
 duced under his jurisdiction the pra;fect of 
 Rome, who had hitherto been considered as 
 subject to the emperor, to whom he had taken 
 an oath of allegiance in entering upon his of- 
 fice. He also seized the territories of Ancona, 
 Spoleto, and Assisi, the town of Montebello, 
 and various cities and fortresses which had, ac- 
 cording to him, been unjustly alienated from 
 
 * Boulay, tom. iii. 
 
 t Sou Baluzii Miscellanea, tom. vii. 
 
 J See that judicious and e.\cellent writer Matth. 
 Paris, in his Historia Major, p. 313, 316, 540, and 
 particularly p. 637, where we find the following re- 
 markable words: " Semper solent legati, et onincs 
 nuncii pa pales, regna quie ingrediuntur depauperare 
 vel aliquo modo perturbare." See also Boulay, Hist 
 Acad. Paris, ton) iii p. 65!) 
 
 § This edict is published by Lami, in his Delirie 
 Eiuditorum, torn. ii. page 300. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH-GOVKRNMENT, &c.. 
 
 345 
 
 the patrimony of St. Puler.* On the otlicr 
 han<l, Frederic II., wlio was extremely desirous 
 tliat the pope should espouse his quarrel with 
 Ot.ho IV., loaded tiic Roman see witli the 
 richest marks of his munificence and libe- 
 rality, and not only made a noble present in 
 valualde lands to tlio po[ic's brother, | jjut also 
 permitted Richard, count of Fundi, to bc- 
 queatli all his possessions to the Roman sce,| 
 and confirmed tlio immense donation that had 
 formerly been made to it by the opulent Ma- 
 tilda. Such was the progress tliat Innocent 
 111. made, during his pontificate, in augmcnt- 
 iutr the s])lcndour and wealth of the church. 
 Nicolas 111. followed his example with the 
 warmest emulation, and, in 1278, gave a re- 
 markable pix)of of liis arrogance and obstinacy, 
 in refusing to crown the emperor Rodolphus 
 I. before he had acknowledged and confirmed, 
 by a solenm treaty, all the pretensions of the 
 Roman see, of which, if some were plausible, 
 many were altogether groundless, or, at least, 
 extremely dubious. This agreement, to which 
 all the Italian princes subject to the emperor 
 were obliged to accede, was no sooner con- 
 cluded, than Nicolas reduced under his tem- 
 poral dominion several territories in Italy, that 
 liad formerly been annexed to the imperial 
 crown, particularly Romania and Bologna. 
 It wa.s therefore under these two pontiffs that 
 the sec of Rome arrived, partly by force, and 
 partly by artifice, at that high degree of gran- 
 deur and opulence, which it yet maintains in 
 our times. § 
 
 VI. Iimocent III., who remained at the 
 head of the church until the year 1216, fol- 
 lowed the steps of Gregory VII., and not only 
 usurped the despotic government of the church, 
 but also claimed the empire of tiie world, and 
 entertained tlie extravagant idea of subjecting 
 all the kings and princes of the earth to his 
 lordly sceptre. He was a man of learning and 
 application; but his cruelty, avarice, and arro- 
 gance, || clouded the lustre of any good quali- 
 ties which his panegyrists have thought pro- 
 per to attribute to him. In Asia and Europe, 
 ho disposed of crowns and sceptres with the 
 most wanton ambition. In Asia, he gave a 
 king to the Armenians: in Europe, he usurped 
 the same exorbitant j)rivili-gc in 1 204, and con- 
 ferred the regal dignity upon Primislaus, duke 
 of Bohemia. 11 The same year, he sent to Jo- 
 hannicius, duke of Bulgaria and Wallachia an 
 extraordinary legate, who, in the name of the 
 pontiff, invested that prince with the ensigns 
 and honours of royalty, while, with his own 
 hand, he crowned Peter II., of Arragon, who 
 
 * See Franr. P.ifi. Brcviar. Romanor. Ponlif. toin. 
 III. p. nil. — Miiralori, Anlir|. Ilal. toiii. i. p. 3'J8. 
 
 t 'I'liis brolhir <>{' tin; ponlifl' was railed liicliard. 
 See, for an accDunt of lhi.s transaction, Muratori's 
 fifth volume, p. (),52. 
 
 I Otior. Xtaynaldus, Continual. Annal. Baronii, ad 
 annum I'2I2. 
 
 § Raynaldus ad annum 1278. The papal prrandeur 
 and opulence, however, were seriously impaired by 
 the fury of the French revolution, and, although the 
 success of the allied powers replaced the pontill' on 
 his throne, his power is now at a low ebb. — Edit. 
 
 II See Matth. Paris. Hist. Maj. 
 
 {)(J- TI Other historians affirm, that the emperor 
 Philip was the potcntatf who cpuf'-rred the royal 
 dignity upon Primislaus, in orrtei to strengthen his 
 paitv against Otho. 
 Vol. I.— 44 
 
 had rendered his dominions subject and tri- 
 butary to the cluirch, and saluted liim psblicly 
 at Rome, with the title of king.** Wo omit 
 many other examples of this phrenetic preten- 
 sion to universal empire, which might bo pro- 
 duced from the letters of tiiis arrogant pontiff, 
 and many other acts of despotism, which Eu- 
 rope beheld with asloiiisliment, but also, t» its 
 eternal reproach, with the ignominious silence 
 of a pa.ssive obedience. 
 
 VII. The ambition of tiiis pope was not sa- 
 tisfied with the distribution and government 
 of these petty kingdoms. He extended his 
 views farther, and resolved to render the power 
 and majesty of the Roman see formidable to 
 tlie greatest European kings, and even to the 
 haughty emperors themselves. When the em- 
 pire of Germany was disputed, about tlie com- 
 inenceinent of tliis century, between Philip, 
 duke of Suabia, and Otho IV. third son or 
 Henry the Lion, ho espoused at first the cause 
 of Otho, thundered out his excommmiieations 
 against Philip, and on the death of the latter 
 (whicii happened in 1 209,) placed the imperial 
 diadem upon the head of his adversary. But, 
 as Otho was by no means disposed to submit 
 to this pontiff's nod, or to satisfy to the full his 
 ambitious desires, lie incurred his lordly indig- 
 nation; and Innocent, declaring him, by a so- 
 lemn e.vcomniunication, imworthy of the em- 
 pire, raised in his pi. ice Frederic II. his pupil, 
 the son of Henry \'l. and king of tlie two Si- 
 cilies, to the imperial tiirone, in 12I2.f The. 
 same pontiff excommunicated Philip Augustus, 
 king of France, for having dissolved his marri- 
 age with Ingelburga, a jirincess of Denmark, 
 and espousad another in her place; nor did he 
 cease to pursue this monarch with his anathe- 
 mas, until he engaged him to receive the di- 
 vorced ([ueen, and to restore her to her lost 
 dignity. j 
 
 VIII. But of all the European princes, none 
 felt, in so dishonourable and severe a manner, 
 (he despotic fury of this insolent pontiff, as 
 John, surnanied Sans-Terrc, or Lackland, king 
 of England. This prince vigorously opposed 
 the measures of limoceiil, who had ordered 
 tiie monks of Caulerbury to choose Stepher* 
 Eangton (a Roman cardinal of English de- 
 scent) archbishop of tliat nee, notwithstanding 
 the election of John de Grey to that high dig- 
 nity, which had been regularly made by the 
 convent, and had been confirmed by royal au- 
 thority. § The pope after having consecrated 
 fjangton at Viterbo, wrote a soothing letter in 
 his favour to the king, accompanied with lour 
 
 * Miirat, Ant. Ital. medii JEvi, t. vi. J.deFerrcras, 
 Hist. d'Espagiie, t. iv. 
 
 t All this is amply illustrated in the Orig. Gael- 
 phio:e, tom. iii. lib. vii. 
 
 { Boulay, Histor. Acad. Pari.s. torn, iii.— Daniel, 
 Histoire de la France, tom. iii. — Gerard du Bois, His- 
 lor. Eccles. Paris, tom. ii. 
 
 (i(j- § Dr. Mosheira passes lightly over this rupture 
 between king John and Innocent III. mciitioniiip in 
 a few linos the interdict under which England was 
 laid by that pontilf, the exroinmuijicaiion of the 
 king's person, and the impious act by which the En» 
 glish were declared to be ab..iolved from their alle. 
 giance. The translator, however, thought this event 
 of too great importance to bo treated with such bre- 
 vity, and has, therefore, taken the liberty to enlarge 
 lon.sidcrably this cichth section, which contains only 
 twelve lines in the original. 
 
346 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 
 
 Fart II. 
 
 rings, and a mystical comment upon the pre- 
 cious Btonea with which tlioy were enriched. 
 But Uiis present was not Kufficient to avert the 
 just indignation of Iho oftendod monarch, and 
 he sent troops to drive out of the kingdom the 
 monks of Canterbury, who liad been engaged 
 by the pope's menaces to receive Langton as 
 their arclibisliop. He also declared to the pon- 
 tiff, that, if lie jKirsislad in imposing a prelate 
 upon the sec of Canterbury, in opposition to 
 a rei''ular election already made, the conse- 
 quences of such ])resumptuous obstinacy would, 
 in the issue, prove fatal to the papal authority 
 in England. Innocent was so tar from being 
 terrilicd by this menacing remonstrance, that, 
 in 120S, ho sent orders to the bishops of Lon- 
 don, Worcester, and Ely, to lay the kingdom 
 under an interdict, in case of tlie monarch's 
 refusal to yield, and to receive Langton. John, 
 alarmed at this terrible menace, and imwilling 
 to break entirely with the pope, declared his 
 readiness to confii'm the election made at 
 Rome; but hi the act that was drawn up for 
 this purpose, he wisely inserted a clause to 
 prevent any interpretation of this cornjiliance, 
 that might be prejudicial to his rights, dignity, 
 and prerogative. This exception was rejected, 
 and the interdict was proclaimed. A stop was 
 immediately put to divine service; the cliurclics 
 were sliut in every parish; all the sacraments 
 were suspended except that of bai)tism; the 
 dead were buried in the highways without the 
 usual rites or any funeral solemnity. But, 
 notwithstanding tliis interdict, the Cistertian 
 order continued to perform divine service; and 
 several learned and respectable divines, among 
 whom were tlie bishops of Winchester and 
 Norwich, protested against the injustice of the 
 pope's proceedings. 
 
 The interdict not producing the clTects that 
 were expected from it, the pontilf proceeded to 
 a still farther degree of severity and presumj)- 
 tion, and denouncetl a sentence of excommu- 
 nication against the person of the English mo- 
 narch. This sentence, which was issued in 
 1209, was followed about two years after by a 
 bull, absolving all his subjects from their oath 
 of allegiance, and ordering all persons to avoid 
 him, on pain of excommunication. But it was 
 in 1212, that Innocent carried his impious ty- 
 ranny to the most enormous length, when, as- 
 sembling a council of cardinals and prelates, 
 he deposed John, declared the throne of En- 
 gland vacant, and authorized Philip Augustus, 
 king of France, to execute this .sentence, un- 
 dertake the concjucst of England, and unite 
 that kingdom to liis dominions for ever. He, 
 at the same time, published another bull, ex- 
 horting all Christian princes to contribute 
 whatever was in their power to the success of 
 this expedition, and promising, to such as 
 would assist I'liilip in this grand enterprise, the 
 same indulgences that were granted to those 
 who carried arms against the infidels in Pales- 
 lino. The French monarch entered into the 
 views of the pontiff, and made immense pre- 
 parations for tlie invasion of England. John, 
 on the other hand, assembled hif forces, and 
 was putting himself in a posture of defence, 
 when Pandulf, tlie ])opo'3 legate, arrived at 
 Dover, and proposed a conlfiience m order to 
 
 prevent the approaching rupture, and to avert 
 tiie storm. This artful legate terrified the 
 king, who met him at that town, with an ex- 
 aggerated account of the armament of Philip 
 on the one h;uKl, and of the disaffection of the 
 English on the other; and persuaded him that 
 there was no possible way left of saving his 
 dominions from tiic formidable arms ol the 
 French king, but that of putting them under 
 tlie protection of the Roman see. John, find- 
 ing iiimself in such a perplexing situation, and 
 full of diffidence both in tlie nobles of his court 
 and in the ofhccrs of his army, complied with 
 this dishonourable proposal, did homage to In- 
 nocent, resigned his crown to the legate, and 
 then received it as a present from the see of 
 Rome, to which he rendered his kingdoms tri- 
 butary, and swore fealty as a vassal and feuda- 
 tory.* In the act by which he resigned, thus 
 scandalously, his kingdoms to the papal juris- 
 diction, he declared that he had neither been 
 compelled to this measure by fear nor by force; 
 but that it was his own volmitary deed, per- 
 formed by the advice, and with the consent, 
 of the barons of his kingdom. He obliged him- 
 self and his heirs to pay an amiual sum of se- 
 ven hundred marks for England, and three hun- 
 dred for Ireland, in acknowledgment of the 
 jwpe's supremacy and jurisdiction; and con- 
 sented that he or such of his successors as 
 should refiise to pay the submission now stipu- 
 lated, to the see of Rome,^ should forfeit all 
 right to the British crown.f " This shameful 
 ceremony was performed (says a modern his- 
 torian];) on Ascension-day, in the house of the 
 Templars at Dover, in the midst of a great 
 concourse of people, who beheld it with confu- 
 sion and indignation. John, in doing homage 
 to the pope, presented a sum of money to his 
 representative, which the proud legate tram- 
 pled under his feet, as a mark of the king's 
 depcndance. Every spectator glowed with re- 
 sentment, and the archbishop of Dublin esr 
 claiined aloud against snich intolerable inso- 
 lence. Pandulf, not satisfied with this morti- 
 fying act of sui>eriority, kept the crown and 
 sceptre five whole days, and then restored 
 them as a special favour of the Roman see. 
 John was despised before this extraordinary 
 resignation; but now he was looked upon as a 
 contemptible wretch, unworthy to sit upon a 
 throne, while he himself seemed altogetlier in- 
 sensible of his disgrace." 
 
 IX. Innocent 111. wassucceeded in the pon- 
 tificate by Cencio Savclli, who, assuming the 
 title of Honorius III., ruled the church above 
 ten years, and whose government, though not 
 signalized by such audacious exploits as those 
 of his predecessor, disclosed an ardent zeal for 
 niamtaining the pretensions, and supporting 
 the despotism, of the Roman see. It was in 
 consequence of this zeal that the new pontilf 
 opposed the measures, and drew upon himself 
 the indignation of Frederic II. that magnani- 
 
 * For a full .iccount of tliis shameful ceremony, 
 see Mattlicw Paris, Historia Major; Boulay's Hist. 
 Acad. Paris, torn. iii. and Rapin's Ilistoire d'Angle- 
 ttrre, torn. ii. 
 
 {0- \ Cadcl a jure rcgni, is tUe expression used in 
 llie charier of rrsifrnaiion, which may be seen a& 
 Itnt'ih in the Ilistoria Major of Matthew Faris. 
 
 i Dr. SmoUet. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 347 
 
 mous prinre, on wliose head he himselT liad 
 placed, in 1220, tho imperial crown. Tliis 
 spirited prince, following tho steps of his> illus- 
 trious grandfather, had formed the resohitiou 
 of confirming' tho authority, and extending tlie 
 jurisdiction of the emperors in Italy, of de- 
 pressing the small states of Lomhardy, and re- 
 ducing to narrower limits the immense credit 
 and opulence of the [lontilfs and hishops; and 
 it was with a view to tho execution of these 
 grand projects, that he deferred the execution 
 of the soienm vow, hy which he had engaged 
 himself to lead a formidable army against tho 
 infidels of Palestine. The pontitf, on the other 
 hand, urged with imjtortunity the emperor's 
 departure; encouraged, animated, and strength- 
 ened, by secret succours, tho Italian states that 
 opposed his pretensions; and resisted the pro- 
 gress of his power hy all tiie obstacles wiiich 
 the most fertile invention could suggest. These 
 contests, however, had not yet brought on an 
 open rupture. 
 
 X. In 1227, Hugolin, bishop of Ostia, wliose 
 advanced age had not e.xtinguished the fire of 
 his ambition, or diminished the firmness and 
 obstinacy of his spirit, was raised to the ponti- 
 ficate, assumed the title of Gregory IX., and 
 kindled the feuds and dissensions, that had al- 
 ready secretly subsisted between the church 
 and the empire, into an open and violent flame. 
 No sooner was he placed in the papal chair, 
 than, in defiance of justice and order, ho ex- 
 communicated the emperor for delaying his 
 expedition against the Saracens to another 
 year, though the postponement manifestly 
 arose from a fit of sickness, which seized that 
 prince when he was ready to embark for Pa- 
 lestine. In 1228, Frederic at last set out, and 
 arrived in the Holy Land; but, instead of car- 
 rying on tho war with vigour, as we have al- 
 ready had occasion to observe, he entered into 
 a truce witli Saladin, and contented himself 
 with the recovery of Jern.salem. The pretend- 
 ed vicar of Christ, forgetting (or rather unwil- 
 ling to persuade himself) that his master's 
 " kingdom was not of tiiis world," made war 
 upon tiio emperor in Apulia during his ab- 
 sence,* and used his utmost efibrls to arm 
 against him all the European powers. Frede- 
 ric, having received information of these per- 
 fidious and violent proceedings, returned into 
 Europe, in 1229, defeated the papal army, re- 
 took the places he had lost in Sicily and in 
 Italy, and, in the succeeding year, made his 
 peace with the pontitf, from whom he received 
 a public and solemn absolution. This peace, 
 however, was not of long duration; f)r the em- 
 peror could not tamely bear the insolent pro- 
 ceedings and the imperious temper of Gregory. 
 He therefore broke all measures with that 
 headstrong pontifi', distressed the states of 
 Lombardy that were in alliance with tho see 
 of Koine, seized the island of Sardinia, (which 
 Gregory regarded as a part of his spiritual pa- 
 trimony,) and erected it into a kingdom for 
 his son Entius. The.se, with otlier steps that 
 
 QU- * TJnclpr thp fuftile roi(,Mi of Henry HI. tJie 
 pope drew iiniiieiise sums oiil i>t" HiikI^ikI for llie sup 
 port of this impious war, and carrieil liis audorious 
 avarice .^o far, as to demaml a fifili pnrt of the cc 
 clesiastical revenues of llie whole knigdoiu. 
 
 were equally jirovoUing to (he pope's avarice 
 and ambition, drew the thunder of the Vatican 
 anew upon tho emperor's head. Frederic was 
 publicly excommunicated in 1239, with all the 
 circumstances of severity that vindictive rage 
 could invent, and was charged with the most 
 flagitious crimes, and tlie most impious blag- 
 pliomies, by tlio exnsjieratcd pontilf, who sent 
 a copy of this terrililo accusation to all the 
 courts of Europe. The emperor, on the Other 
 hand, defended his injured reputation by so- 
 lenni declarations in writing, while, by his vic- 
 torious arms, he avenged himself of his adver- 
 saries, maintained his ground, and retluced the 
 pontilf to the greatest difliculties. To extri- 
 cate himself from tliese perplexities, the latter 
 convened, in 1240, a general council at Rome, 
 with a view of deposing Frederic by the una- 
 nimous suflragcs of the carrlinals and prelates 
 who were to compose that assembly. Uut the 
 emperor disconcerted that audacious project 
 by defeating, in 1241, a Genoese fleet, on 
 board of which the greatest part of these pre- 
 lates were embarked, and by seizing, with all 
 their treasures, the reverend fathers, who were 
 all committed to close confinement. This dis- 
 ajt-pointment, attended with others which gave 
 an unhappy turn to his affairs, and blasted his 
 most promising expectations, dejected and con- 
 sumed the despairing pontifl', and apparently 
 contributed to the conclusion of his days, which 
 happened soon after tliis remarkable eveot.* 
 
 XI. Geortry, bishop of Milan, who succeed- 
 ed Gregory IX., under tlie title of Celcstine 
 [V., died before his consecration, and after a 
 vacancy of twenty montiis, the apostolic chair 
 was filled by Sinibald, one of the counts of 
 Fieschi, who was raised to the ponfificato in 
 1243, assumed tho denomination of Innocent 
 IV., and yielded to none of his predecessors in 
 arrogance and fury.f His elevation, however, 
 offercd at first a prospect of peace, as he had 
 formerly been attached to the interests of the 
 emperor; and accordingly the conferences were 
 opened, and a reconciliation was proposed; 
 l)ut the terms offercd by the new pope were 
 too imperious and extravagant, not to be re- 
 jected with indignation.} Henco it was that 
 Innocent, not thinking himeelf safe in any ])art 
 of Italy, set out from Genoa, the place of his 
 birth, for Lyons, in 1244, and assembling there 
 a council in the following year, dejiosed Fre- 
 deric, in presence of its members, though not 
 with their approbation, and declared the imp&- 
 
 * Beside tlio original and authentic writers col 
 lected by Muratori, in Ills Srriptorea rcrum Italioa 
 rum, and the (>orman and Italian historians, tew or 
 none of whom are absolutely free from partiality in 
 their nroountfl of these unhappy contests helween 
 till' empire and the papacy, see I'etrus de Vineis, 
 lOpistol. lib. i. and Matthew i'aris, in his llistoria 
 Major. Add to these Raynaldi Annal.— Muratori, 
 Annal. ItaliiC, toni. vii. et Antiquit. Italic, mcdii 
 Alvi, tom. iv. p. li'iS, .517. It must, however, bo ob- 
 sei-ved, that this tirnnch of history stands yet in need 
 of farther illustration. 
 
 t See the Hist. Maj. of Matlliew Paris, ad annum 
 12.5.1. 
 
 OlT" t These preliminary conditions were, 1st, 
 That the emperor should pive up entirely to the 
 church the inlieritnncc! which was left to it liy Matil- 
 da; and, 2dly, That lie would oblige himself to sub- 
 mit to whatever terms tlie pop«! stiould think fit to 
 propose, as conditions of peace. 
 
348 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 rial throne vacant.* This unjust and insolent 
 decree was regarded witli such veneration, and 
 looked upon as so weighty by the German 
 princes, seduced and blinded by the supersti- 
 tion of tbe times, that they proceeded instantly 
 to a new election, and raised first, Henry, land- 
 grave of Thuringia, and, after his death, Wil- 
 liam, count of Holland, to the head of the em- 
 pire. • Frederic, whose firm and heroic spirit 
 supported without dejection these cruel vicis- 
 situdes, continued to carry on the war in Italy, 
 until a violent dysentery put an end to his lile, 
 on the 13th of December, 1250. On the death 
 of his formidable and magnanimous adversary. 
 Innocent returned into Italy,! hoping now to 
 eojoy with security tiie fruits of his amiiition. 
 It was principally from this period, that the 
 two famous factions, called Guelphs and Gui- 
 beUines, of which the latter espoused the cause 
 of tlie emperors, and the former that of the 
 pontiffs, involved all the Italian states in the 
 most calamitous dissensions, though their ori- 
 gin is much earlier than this century. j; 
 
 XII. Raynald, count of Segni and bishop of 
 Ostia, was raised to the pontificate afler the 
 death of Innocent, in the year 1254, and is 
 distinguished in the list of the popes by the 
 name of Alexander IV. During the six years 
 and five months that he governed the see of 
 Rome, his time was less employed in civil af- 
 fairs, than in regulating the internal state of 
 the church, if we except the measures he took 
 for the destruction of Conradin, grandson of 
 Frederic II. and for composing the tumults 
 that had so long prevailed in Italy. The men- 
 dicant friars, in particular, and among them 
 the Dominicans and Franciscans, were much 
 favoured by this pontiff, and received several 
 marks of his peculiar bounty. 
 
 He was succeeded in tlie Roman see, A. D. 
 1261, by Urban IV. a native of Troyes, of ob- 
 scure birth, who, before his elevation to the 
 pontificate, was patriarch of Jerusalem, and 
 after that period was more distinguished by his 
 institution of tlie Festival of the Body of 
 Christ, tlian Ijy any other circumstance in the 
 course of his roign. He had, indeed, formed 
 several important projects; but their execution 
 was prevented by liis death, which happened in 
 1261, after a short reign of three years. His 
 successor, Guy Fulcodi, or Clement IV. a na- 
 tive of France, and l)ishop of Sabino who was 
 raised to the see of Rome in 1265, did not e^i- 
 joy much longer that high dignity. His name, 
 however, makes a greater figure in histoiy, 
 and was rendered fainoiLs in many respects, 
 and more especially by his conferring of tlie 
 kingdom of Nnples ujjon Cliarlcs of Anjou, 
 brother to Irfiuis IX. king of France. The 
 consequences of this donation, and the melan- 
 choly fate of C/onradiii, the last descendant of 
 Frederic IT., (who, after an unfortunate battle 
 fought against Charles, was publicly beheaded 
 by the barbarous victor, if not by the counsel, 
 
 * Tliis assembly is placoil in the list vi' wcumcriical 
 or general councils; Imt it is not acknovvleUgcd as 
 such by llio Gallicaii clmrcli. 
 
 t Uesiile llio writers alre.idy mentioned, see Nicol. 
 de Curbio, Vit. fnnocenlii IV. in Baluzii ivri?cellan. 
 toin. vii. 
 
 t See Minat Diss. deGiielpli ''t Oiiihel ni his Ant. 
 Ital med- ..Ev I iv. 
 
 yet certainly with the consent, of the Roman 
 pontiff,) are well known to such as have the 
 smallest acquaintance with tlie history of these 
 imhappy times. 
 
 XIII. Upon the death of Clement IV.,* 
 there arose warm and vehement contests among 
 the cardinals concerning the election of a new 
 pontiff. These debates, which kept the Ro- 
 man sec vacant during the space of almost 
 tlu-ee years, were at length terminated in fa 
 vour of Theobald, a native of Placentia, and 
 archbishop of Liege, who was raised to the 
 pontificate in 1271, and assumed the title of 
 Gregory X.f This devout ecclesiastic was in the 
 Holy Land when he received the news of his 
 election; and, as he had been an eye-witness 
 of the miserable condition of the Christians in 
 tiiat country, he had notliing so much at heart, 
 as the desire of contributing to their relief. 
 Hence it was, that, immediately after his con- 
 secration, he summoned a council at Lyons, in 
 1274, in which the relief and maintenance of 
 the Christians in Palestine, and the re-union 
 of the Greek and Latin churches, were the 
 two points that were to come principally un- 
 der deliberation. This assembly is acknow- 
 ledged as the fourteenth general council, and 
 is rendered particularly remarkable by the new 
 regulations that were introduced into the man- 
 ner of electing the Roman pontiff", and more 
 especially by the famous law, which is still in 
 force, and by which it was enacted, that the 
 cardinal electors should be shut up in the con- 
 clave during the vacancy of the pontificate. 
 With respect to the character and sentiments 
 of the new pope we shall only observe, that, 
 though he seemed to be actuated by a milder 
 spirit titan many of his predecessors, he incul- 
 cated, without the least hesitation, tlie odious 
 maxim of Gregory VII., which declared the 
 bishop of Rome lord of the world, and, in a 
 more particular manner, of tlie Roman em- 
 pire. It was in consequence of this presump- 
 tuous .system, that, in 1271, he wrote an impe- 
 perious and threatening letter to the German 
 princes; in which, deaf to the pretensions and 
 remonstrances of Alphonso, king of Castile,}; 
 he ordered them to elect an emperor without 
 delay, assuring them, that, if they did not do 
 it immediately, he would do it for them. This 
 letter produced the intended effect; an electo- 
 ral diet was assembled at Franckfort, and Ro- 
 dolphus, count of Hapsburg, was raised to the 
 imperial tlu'one. 
 
 XIV. Gregory X. was succeeded, in 1276, 
 by Peter of Tarentaise, of the Dominican or- 
 der, and bishop of Ostia, who assumed the 
 name of Innocent V., and died about four 
 montlis after his election. Ottoboni, a native 
 of Genoa, and cardinal of St. Adrian, was 
 chosen in liis place, took the title of Adrian 
 
 * Which happiMind in November, 1208. 
 
 t For records of this election, see Wadding, Annal. 
 Minor, t. iv. p. 330. 
 
 (ig- t Alphonso, king of Castile, had I>een elected 
 empiifor in l'2.5t), by the archbishop of Treves, the 
 duki! of Saxony, the margrave of Krandenburg, and 
 the king of Bohemia, in opimsition to Richard, earl 
 of Cornwall, who was at the same time raised to 
 the same dignity. by Ibc archbishops of Meniz and 
 C(dogne, the count .Palatine of the Rhine, and tfie 
 iliike of Bavaria. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHUR( H COVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 349 
 
 V.,* and, .after liaving" rulnd tlie clmrcii diiriiitj 
 live weeks, was succeeded by Peter .fiilian, l>i- 
 sliop ofTtisculum, wlio enjoyed tliat liiii;li dig- 
 nity about eiglit months, ;ind is distino-uislied 
 in tlie papal list by tlie name of Jolni XXI.f 
 The see of Rome continued vacant fur about 
 six montlis after the death of liio last-mention- 
 ed pontitf, but was at leugtji filled, in Novem- 
 ber, 1277, by JoJm Caietan, of the family of 
 Ursini, cardinal of St. Nicolas, wliose name 
 he adopted for his papal title. This famous 
 pontiff (as has been already observed) aug- 
 mented greatly both the opulence and autho- 
 rity of the bishops of Rome, and had formed 
 vast projects, which his undaunted courage 
 and liis remarkable activity would have ena- 
 bled liim, in all probability, to execute with suc- 
 cess, had not death Wasted his hopes, and di.-^- 
 conccrted his ambitious scliemes. 
 
 XV. He was succeeded, in 128], about six 
 months after liis departure from this li(b, by 
 Simon de Brie, who adopted the name of Mnr- 
 tin IV., and was not inferior to Nicolas 111. in 
 ambition, arrogance, and constancy of mind, of 
 which he gave several proofs duiung his pontifi- 
 cate. Michael Palaeologus, the Grecian empe- 
 ror, was one of tlie first princes whom this auda- 
 cious priest solemnly excommunicated; and the 
 pretext was, that he had broken the peace con- 
 cluded between the Greek and Latin Churches, 
 at the council of Lyons. J The same insult was 
 committed against Peter, king of Arragon, 
 whom Martin not only excluded from the bo- 
 som of the church, but also deposed from his 
 throne, on account of his atlniujit upon Sicily, 
 and made a grant of his kingdom, fiefs, and 
 possessions, to Charles, son of Philip the I5old,§ 
 king of France, it was during the execution 
 of such daring enterprises as these, and while 
 he was meditating still greater things for the 
 glory of the Roman hierarchy, that a sudden 
 death, in liST), obliged him to leave his schemes 
 unfmished. They were, however, prosecuted 
 with great spirit by his successor, James Sa- 
 velli, who chose the denomination of Mono- 
 rius IV., but was also stopped short in the 
 midst of his career, in 1287, having ruled the 
 church only two years. Jerome d'Ascoli, bi- 
 shop of Palestrina, who was raised to the pontifi- 
 cate in 1288, and is known by the denomination 
 of Nicolas IV., distinguished" himself, diu'ing 
 the four years that he remained at tlio head 
 of the church, by his assiduous a[)plication both 
 to ecclesiastical and political allairs. Some- 
 times we see the disputes of sovereign powers 
 left to his arbitration, and t(>rminated by his 
 •decision; at other times, we find liim maintain- 
 ing the pretensions and privileges of the church 
 with the most resolute zeal and the most ob- 
 stinate perseverance; and occasionally we s(>c 
 Jiini employing, with the utmost assiduity, 
 every probable method of propagating the G(j.s- 
 
 (pj- * W<; rcrtil, in tin; Latin, Adrian VI., wliich 
 is morn probably an error of Ihu press, tllan a fudll 
 of Ihi; .'luthor. 
 
 {pj- t I" Ilio nriiiinal, I)r. MoslKum observes, lliat 
 thoso thrpH siiccrssors of Gri'j;(>ry were; cbi-li.Ml mid 
 carried otr by death in lJ7i>; but hfro he has fallen 
 iiito a slight mistake; for John XXI. died on I In- Kith 
 of May, 1-277. 
 
 [ This ronncil had been liolden under the pontifi 
 cate of CieRory .\ 
 
 § Philippp le Harili, as he is railed by the Prenrh. 
 
 pel among the Tartars and other eastern na- 
 tions. But tiie object, which, of all others, 
 occupied most the thoughts of this vigilant and 
 zenJous pontifl", was the desperate state of the 
 ('liristians in Palestine, who were now reduced 
 to an extremity of mi.sery and weakness. His 
 laborious ollbrts wore therefore employed for 
 tiie restoration of their former grandeur; they 
 were however emj)loyed in vain; and his death, 
 which hap|)ene(l in 1292, disconcerted all the 
 projects he b.ad formed for that purpose. 
 
 XVI. The death of this pontiff was follow- 
 crl by a vacancy of two years in the see of 
 Rome, in consequence of the disputes which 
 arose among the cardinals about the election 
 f)f a new pope. These disputes were at length 
 terminated, and the contending parties united 
 their suffrages in fivour of Peter, surnamed 
 l)e Murrone, from a mountain where he iiad hi- 
 therto lived in the deepest solitude, and with 
 the utmost austerity, 'i'lns venerable old man, 
 who was in high renown on account of the re- 
 markable sanctity of his lifc and conversation, 
 was raised to the pontificate, in 1294, and as- 
 sumed the name of Celestine V. But the aus- 
 terity of his manners, being a tacit reproach 
 upon the corruption of the Roman court, and 
 more especially upon the luxury of the cardi- 
 nals, rendered him extremely disagreeable to a 
 degenerate and licentious clergy; and this dis- 
 like was so heightened by the whole course of 
 his administration, (which showed that he had 
 more at heart the reformation and purity of 
 the church, than the increase of its opulence 
 and the propagation of its authority,) that he 
 was almost universally considered as unworthy 
 of the pontificate. Hence it was, th.at several 
 of tho cardinals, and particularly Benedict 
 Caietan, advised him to abdicate the papacy, 
 wliich he had ar(;eptod with such reluctance; 
 and they had the pleasure of seeing their ad- 
 vice followed with the utmost docility. The 
 good man resigned his dignity in the fourth 
 month after his election, and died in 1296, in 
 the castle of Fumone, where his tyrannic and 
 suspicious successor kept him in caj)tivity, that 
 he might not be engaged, by the solicitations 
 of his friends, to attempt the recovery of his 
 abdicated honours. His memory was precious 
 to the virtuous part of the church, and he was 
 elevated to the rank of a saint by Clement V. 
 It was from him that the branch of the Bene- 
 dictine order, called Celcstincs, yet subsisting 
 in France and Italy, derived Its origin.* 
 
 XVII. Bent^dict Caietan, who had persuad- 
 ed tho good pontiff now mentioned to resign 
 his place, succeeded him in it, in 1294, with 
 the name of Boniface VIII. We may say, 
 with truth, of this unworthy prelate, that he 
 was born to be a jilagiie both to church and 
 state, a disturber of the repose of nations, and 
 that his attempts to extend and confirm the 
 despotism of the Roman pontiffs, were car- 
 ried to a length that ajiproached to phrensy. 
 As soon as ho entered upon his new dignity, 
 he claimed a supreme and irresistible domin- 
 ion over all the powers of the earth, both spi- 
 ritual and temporal, terrified kingtloms and 
 empires with tho thunder of his bulls, called 
 princes and sovereign states before his tribunal 
 
 ' llelyot, Hisloiro lie'' Ordres lorn vi. p 1,-U 
 
350 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II, 
 
 to decide Uieir quarrels, anfrmented the papal 
 jurisprudence with a new body of laws, enti- 
 tled the Sixth Bonk of the Decretals, declared 
 war against the illiistrions flimily of Colonna, 
 who disputed his title to the pontificate;* in a 
 word, exhibited to the church, and to Europe, 
 a lively image of the tyrannical administra- 
 tion of Gregory Vl(., whom he perhaps sur- 
 passed in arrogance. t Tliis was tlie pontitV 
 who, in 1300, instituted the famous jubilee, 
 whicli, since that time, has been regularly ce- 
 lebrated in the Roman chiu'ch at fixed periods. 
 But the consideration of this institution, which 
 was so favourable to the progress of licentious- 
 ness and corruption, as also the otlier exploits 
 of Boniface, and his deplorable end, belong to 
 the history of the following century. J 
 
 XVIII. In the Laterau council that was 
 holden in 1215, a decree had passed, by the 
 advice of Innocent III., to prevent the intro- 
 duction of new religions, by whicli were meant 
 new monastic institutions. This decree, how- 
 ever, seemed to be very little respected, cither 
 by that pontifl' or his successors, since several 
 religious orders, hitherto unknown in the Chris- 
 tian world, were not only tolerated, but were 
 distinguished by peculiar marks of approba- 
 tion and favour, and enriched with various pri- 
 vileges and prerogatives. Nor will this tacit 
 abrogation of the decree of Innocent appear 
 at all surprising to such as consider the state 
 of the cliurch in tins century; for, not to men- 
 tion many enormities tiiat contributed to the 
 suspension of this decree, we shall only ol)- 
 serve, that the enemies of Ciiristianity, and 
 the heretical sects, iiicreased dail}' every where; 
 and, on the otlier hand, the secular clergy 
 were more attentive to their worldly advanta- 
 ges than to the interests of the church, and 
 spent in mirth and jollity the opulence with 
 which the piety of tlieir ancestors had enrich- 
 ed that sacred body. The monastic orders 
 also had almost all degenerated from their pri- 
 mitive sanctity, and, exhibiting the most of- 
 fensive examples of licentiousness and vice to 
 public view, rendered by their flagitious lives 
 the cause of" heresy triumphant, instead of re- 
 tarding its progress. All these things being 
 considered, it was tliouglit necessary to encour- 
 age the establishment of new monastic socie- 
 ties, who, by the sanctity of their manners, 
 might attract the esteem and veneration of the 
 people, and diminisii the indignation which 
 the tyranny and ambition of tlie pontiffs had 
 so generally excited; and who, by their dili- 
 gence and address, their discourses and their 
 arguments, their power and arms, when these 
 violent means were required, might discover, 
 
 OU" * The rc:iKons wliirli thi\v allrge for disputiiii; 
 the till<; of Boniface to tlie ponlilicatc were, tliat the 
 re.sij,'nation of Celesticu' was not canonical, and that 
 it was brought ahout by frandnlenl nieanri. 
 
 t There is a history of this pontitf written liy Jo. 
 Rubens, a Benedictine monk, whose work, wtiicli is 
 entitled Bonifucius VIM. e Faniilia Caietanoruni 
 principuni Ronianus pontifex, was piiblislied at Rome 
 in the year 1051. 
 
 t In this account of the popes, I have chiefly fol- 
 lowed Daniel Papebtoch, Francis Pagi, and Nuratori, 
 in his Annales itali.-e, consulting at the same time 
 the original sources collected by the last mentioned 
 authorin his Rerum Italicanim Scriptores. 
 
 persectite, convert and vanquish, the growing 
 tribe of heretics. 
 
 XIX. Of the religious societies that aro.se in 
 this century, some are now entirely suppressed, 
 while othera continue to flourish, and are in 
 high repute. Among the former we may reck- 
 on the Ihimiliati, (a title expressive of great 
 humility and self-abasement,) whose origin 
 may bo traced to a much earlier period than 
 the present century, though their order was 
 confirmed and new-modelled by Innocent III., 
 wiio subjected it to the rule of St. Benedict. 
 These humble monks became so shockingly 
 licentious in process of time, that, in 1671, 
 pope Pius V. was obliged to dissolve their soci- 
 ety.* Wo may also place, in the list of sup- 
 pressed fraternities, the Jacobins, who wore 
 erected into a religious order by Innocent III.,t 
 and who, in this very century, not long after the 
 council of Lyons, were deprived of their char- 
 ter; and also the Valli-Scholares, or Scholars 
 of the Valley, so called from their being insti- 
 tuted by the scholarcs, i. e. the four professors 
 of divinity in tiie university of Paris, and from 
 a deep vale in the province of Champagne, in 
 which they assembled and fixed their residence 
 in 1231. 1 This society, whose foundation was 
 laid about the commencement of this century, 
 was formerly governed by the rule of St. Au- 
 gustin, but is now incorporated into the order 
 of the Regular Canons of St. Genevieve. To 
 the same class we inay refer the order of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, 
 which had its commencement in 12CC, and 
 was suppressed in 1274;^ the Knights of Faith 
 and (Jharity, who undertook to dispei-se the 
 bands of robijers that infested the public roads 
 in France, and who were favoured with the 
 peculiar protection and approbation of Gre- 
 gory IX;|| the Hermits of St. William, duke 
 of Aquitaine;^ not to mention tlie Brethren 
 of the Sack, the Bethlemites, and some orders 
 of inferior note, that started up in this centu- 
 ry, which, of all others, was the most remark- 
 able for the number and variety of monastic 
 establishments, that date their origin from it.** 
 
 XX. Among the convents that were founded 
 in this century, and still subsist, the principal 
 place is due to that of the Servites, i. e. the 
 Servants of the blessed Virgin, whose order 
 was first instituted, A. D. 1233, in Tuscany, 
 by seven Florentine merchants, and afterwards 
 made a great progress under the government 
 of Philip Benizi, its chief. This order, though 
 subjected to the rule of St. Augustin, was 
 erected in conunemoration of the most holy 
 
 * Helyot His. des Ord. t. vi. p. 1.52 
 
 t Mat. Paris. His. Maj. p. 101. 
 
 t Bonlay, Hist. Acad. Paris, totii. iii. p. 15.— Acta 
 Sanct. Mens. Febrnar. torn. ii. p. 4H2. 
 
 § Dion. Sanimarthani Gallia Christiana, torn. i. p 
 C53. 
 
 11 Gallia Christ, torn. i. Append, p. 105.— Martenne, 
 Voyage Liter, de deux Benedictins, torn. ii. 
 
 U .lo. Bolandi de ordine Ereniitar. S. Gulielmi Com 
 in actis SS. Februar. toin. ii. p. 472. 
 
 ** Matth. Paris, Hist. Major, p. 815, edit. Watts, 
 where, speaking of the prodigious number of con- 
 vents, founded in England during this century, he 
 expresselh himself thus: "Tot jam apparuerunt or- 
 dines in Anglia, ut ordinum confusio videretur inor- 
 dinate." 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &.c. 
 
 351 
 
 widowhood of the blessed Virgin; for which 
 reason its monks wear a black iiabit,* and ob- 
 serve Beveral rules iniknowii to other monaste- 
 ries. Tiie protlii;ious number ol' C'Inistians, 
 that were made prisoners by tiie Mohamme- 
 dans in I'alestine, gnxa rise, toward tlie con- 
 chision of the 12tli century, to tlio iiistitulion 
 of tiie order named the Fraternity of tiie 'J'ri- 
 nity, wliich, in tlie Iblkiwin;^ aye, received a 
 still greater degree of stabilily, initier the j»oii- 
 tilicate of I ionorius HI. and also of ('lenient IV. 
 The founders of this institution were John do 
 Rlatlia and Felix de Valois, two pious men 
 who led an austere and solitary life at ("er- 
 froy, in the diocese of Meanx. The monks of 
 this society arc called the Brethren of the Holy 
 Trinity, because all their churches are solemnly 
 dedicated to that profound mystery; they arc 
 also styled Mathuriiis, from having a monas- 
 tery at Paris, erected in a place where is a 
 chapel eonscciiitcd to St. Mathnrin, and bre- 
 thren of the Redemption of Captives,! because 
 the grand design of their institution was to 
 find out means for restoring liberty to the 
 Christian captives in the Holy Land, in wiiicli 
 chariUible work they were obliged to employ 
 a third part of their revenue. Their manner 
 of life was, at first, extremely abstemious and 
 austere; but its austerity has been from time 
 to time considerably mitigated by the indul- 
 gence and lenity of the pontitrs.| 
 
 XXI. The religious society that surpassed 
 all the rest in purity of manners, extent of 
 fame, number of privileges, and multitude of 
 members, was that of the Mendicant or beg- 
 ging friars, whose order was first esUiblislicd in 
 this century, and who, by the tenour of tiicir 
 institution, were to remain entirely destitute 
 of all fixed revenues and possessions. The pre- 
 sent state and circumstances of the church 
 rendered the establisliinent of such an order 
 absolutely necessary. Tlie monastic orders, 
 who wallowed in opulence, were, by the cor- 
 rupting influence of their ample pos.sessions, 
 lulled in a luxurious indolence. They lost 
 sight of all their religious obligations, trampled 
 upon the authority of their superiors, sulTered 
 
 * Hcsiile Ihc ordinary ^vriu•r^^ (if moua.slic hi.slury, 
 see Paiili Florciitiiii Uialog. de Orifjiiie Urdiiiis iScV- 
 vormii. in ijaniii Dclic. Eruditoriiin, loin. i. ]>. J — 48. 
 
 (il^ T Hr()ii<;lilon and Bonie older writers make a 
 distinction between the Order of the Kedeniption of 
 Captives, and llie Fraternity of llie liiily Trinity. 
 They allese, that the latter order was m.-ititulcd at 
 Rome by St. Philip Neri, in 1548, ahont 350 year.-^ ;if- 
 ter the first establishment of the former; and that 
 the monks who composed it, were obliged by their 
 vow to take care of the pilgrims who resorted from 
 all parts of the world to Kome, to visit the tombs of 
 St. I'eter and St. Paul. 
 
 t Beside Hclyot and the other writers of inona.«lit 
 history, see Touissaint de Plcssis, Hist, de I'Kglise 
 de Meati.v, torn. i. p. 172, and 5<i6. Boulay, liist. 
 Acad. Paris, torn. ii. p. 52.3. Ant. Wood, Anti(|. 
 Oxon. tom. i. p. i;}3. In the ancient records, this so 
 cicty is fre(inently styled tlic Order of Asses, on ac- 
 count of the prohibition of the use of horses, wliich 
 made a part of their rule, and wliich obliged the 
 mendicant monks to ride upon asses. See Car. du 
 Fresne's Notes upon Joinville's Life of St. Louis, p. 
 81. But at pre.sent, through the indulgence of the 
 Roman pontia's, tlu^y are pirmitted to make use of 
 horses when tliey find them necessary. An order of 
 the same kind was instituted in Spain, in 1228. by 
 Paul Nolasco, under the title of the Order of St. 
 Mary, for the Redemption of Cnptivrs. Sec the Acta 
 Sanctorum. Januat. tom li. p. 980. 
 
 heresy to trrumph unrestrained, and the secta- 
 ries to Ibrm various usscniblies; in short, Uiey 
 were incapable of promoting the true interests 
 of the church, and iibandoncd themselves, 
 without either slhiine or remorse, to all sorts 
 of crimes. On the other hand, the enemies 
 of the church, the sects which had left its com- 
 mimioii, I'oUowed certain austere rules of life 
 and conduct, wiiicji Ibrnied u stroiro; contrast 
 between them and (he religious orders, and 
 contributed to render tiie licentiousness of the 
 latter still more ofiiansive and shocking to the 
 people. These sects maintained, that volunta- 
 ry [loverty was the leading and essential qua- 
 lity in a servant of Christ; obliged their doc- 
 tors to imitate the simplicity of the apostles; 
 reproached the church with its overgrown opu- 
 lence, and tlie vices and corruptions of the 
 clergy, that flowed thence as from their natu- 
 ral source; and, Ijy their commendation of po- 
 verty and coiitem[(t of riches, ac<juired a high 
 degree of respect, and gained a prodigious 
 ascendancy over the minds of the multitude. 
 All tliis rendered it absolutely necessary to in- 
 troduce into the church a set of men, who, by 
 the austerity of tlieir manners, Uieir contempt 
 of riches, and the external gravity and sanctity 
 of their conduct and maxims, might resemble 
 those doctors who had gained such reputation 
 to the heretical sects, and who might rise so 
 fir above the allurements of worldly profit and 
 pleasure, as not to be seduced, by the promises 
 or threats of kings and princes, from the per- 
 formance oi'thc duties which they owed to the 
 church, or from persevering in tlieir subordi- 
 nation to the Roman pontilfs. Innocent HI. 
 was the first of the popes who perceived the 
 necessity of instituting such an order; and ac- 
 cordingly he treated such moiuistic societies as 
 made a profession of jioverty, with the most 
 distinguishing marks of his protection and fa- 
 vour. These associations were also encouraged 
 and patronised by the succeeding ponlitfs, 
 when experience had demonstrated their pub- 
 lic and extensive utility. But when it became 
 generally known, that they had such a pecu- 
 liar place in the esteem and protection of the 
 rulers of the chiu'ch, their number grew to 
 such an enormous and unwieldy multitude, 
 and swarmed so prodigiously in all the Euro- 
 pean provinces, that tlioy became a burthen, 
 not only to the people, but to the church itself. 
 XXII. The great inconvenience that arose 
 from the excessive multiplication of the mea- 
 dicant orders, was remedied by Gregory X., 
 in 1272, in a general council which he assem- 
 bled at Lyons; for here all the religious orders, 
 tiiat had sprung up after tlie council holden at 
 Rome in 12 15, under the pontificate of InnO' 
 cent HI., were sup[)ressed, and the? "extrava- 
 gant multitude of mendicants," as Gregory 
 called them, were reduced to a smaller num- 
 ber, and confined to the four following socie- 
 ties, or denominations, viz. the Uoininicans, 
 the Franciscans, tlie Carmelites, and tlie Her- 
 mits of St. Augustin.* The Carmelite order, 
 
 *CoMCil. J^iigd. II. A. 1271, Can. x.xiii. in Jo. Har- 
 duiiii Conciliis, imii. vii. p. 715. " Iniportuna peten- 
 tium iiiiiiatio F{(liL'iiiiiiiiii (so were tlie religious or- 
 ders cnlitledjimilti[iU(aiionein e.ilorsit, veruinetiam 
 aiinuoriim prir-MiiiptH":;,T trmeritan diversoriim ordi- 
 num, piceLipuc mcndicaniium . cfTisnatam multi- 
 
352 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 whicli had been instituted in Palestine during 
 tlie precedinor century, was, in this, trans- 
 planted into Europe, and, in 1'22G, waslavour- 
 ed by pope Honorius III. with a place among 
 the monastic societies, which enjoyed the pro- 
 tection and approbation of the cluirch. I'he 
 Hermits of St. Augustin had for their founder 
 Alexander IV.,* wlio, observing' tliat the her- 
 mits were divided into several societies, some 
 of which f jllovved tlio maxims of the famous 
 William, others the rule of St. Augustin, while 
 others again were distinguished by diflerent 
 denominations, formed the judicious project 
 of uniting them all into one religious order, and 
 subjecting them to the same rule of discipline, 
 even that whicli bears the name of St. Au- 
 gustin. This project was put in execution 
 in the year 1256. 
 
 XXI il. As the pontiffs allowed to tliesc four 
 Mendicant orders the liberty of travelling 
 wherever they thought proper, of conversing 
 with persons of all ranks, of instructing the 
 youth and the multitude wherever they went; 
 and as these monks exhibited, in tJieir out- 
 ward appearance and manner of life, more 
 striking marks of gravity and holiness, than 
 were observable in the other monastic so- 
 cieties, — they arose as it were at once to the 
 very sunnnit of fame, and were regarded with 
 the utmost esteem and veneration in all the 
 counti'ies of Europe. The enthusiastic attach- 
 ment to these sanctimonious beggars went so 
 fkr, that, as we learn from the most authentic 
 records, several cities were divided, or can- 
 toned out, into four parts, with a view to these 
 four orders; the lirst part was assigned to the 
 Dominicans, the second to the Franciscans, the 
 third to the Carmelites, and the iourth to tlie 
 Augustinians. The people were imwilling to 
 receive the sacraments from any other hands 
 than those of the Mendicants, to whose 
 cimrches they crowded to pcrfonn their devo- 
 tions, while living, and were extremely desi- 
 rous to deposit there also their remains after 
 dcatli; all which occasioned grievous com- 
 plaints among the ordinary priests, who, being 
 entrusted with the ciu'e of souls, considered 
 themselves as the spiritual guides of the multi- 
 tude. Nor did the influence and credit of the 
 Mendicants end here; for we find in the history 
 of this and of the succeeding ages, that they 
 were employed, not only in spiritual concerns, 
 but also in temporal and political aifairs of the 
 greatest consequence, in composing the difl'or- 
 enccs of princes, concluding treaties of peace, 
 concerting alliances, presiding in cabinet-coun- 
 cils, governing courts, levying taxes, and in 
 other occupations, not inerely remote from, 
 but absolutely inconsistent with, the monastic 
 character and profession. 
 
 XXIV. We must not however imagine, that 
 all the Mendicant friars attained the same de- 
 gree of reputation and authority; for the 
 power of the Dominicans and Franciscans 
 surpassed greatly that of the other two orders, 
 and rendered them remarkably conspicuous 
 
 tudinem adinvenit . . . Hinc nrdines Mendicantes 
 post dirtinn concilium {i. e. the Lateran council of 
 1215) adniventos . perpetua: prohibitioni subjici 
 iniis." 
 * This edict of pope Alexandei IV'. is to be found 
 
 in the eyes of the world. During three cen- 
 turies, these two fraternities governed, with an 
 almost universal and absolute sway, both 
 state and churcli, filled tlie highest posts eccle- 
 siastical and civil, taught in the imivorsities 
 and cimrches with an authority before which all 
 o{)position was silent, and maintained the pre- 
 tended majesty and prerogatives of the Roman 
 pontitts against kings, princes, bishops, and here- 
 tics, with incredible ardour and equal success. 
 The Dominicans and Franciscans were, before 
 the Reformation, what the Jesuits became after 
 tliat happy and glorious event, — the very soul 
 of the hierarchy, the engines of the state, the 
 secret springs of all the motions of both, and 
 the authors or directors of every great and im- 
 portant event both in the religious and politi- 
 cal world. Dominic, a Spaniard by birth, a 
 native of Calaroga, descendant of the illustri- 
 ous house of Guzman, and regular canon of 
 Osma, a man of a fiery and impetuous temper, 
 and veliernently exasiierated by the commo- 
 tions and contests which the heretics of differ- 
 ent denominations had excited in the church, 
 set out for France with a few companions, in 
 order to combat the sectaries who had multi- 
 plied in that kingdom. This enterprise he ex- 
 ecuted with the greatest vigour, and, we may 
 add, fiu-y, attacking the Albigenses and the 
 other enemies of the churcli with the power 
 of eloquence, the force of arms, the subtlety 
 of controversial vv'ritings, and the terrors of the 
 inquisition, which owed its form to this violent 
 and sanguinary priest. Passing thence into 
 Italy, he was honoured by the Roman pontiffs 
 Iimocent III. and Honorius III. with the most 
 distinguislied marks of tlieir protection and fa- 
 vour; and, after many labours in the cause of 
 the churcli, obtained from them the privilege 
 of erecting a new fraternity, whose principal 
 objects were the extirpation of error and the 
 destruction of heretics. The fii'st rule which 
 he adopted for this society was that of the 
 Canons of St. Augustin, to which he added 
 several austere precepts and observances. But 
 he afterwards changed the discipline of the 
 canons for that of the monks; and, holding a 
 chapter of the order at Bologna in 1220, he 
 obliged the bretliren to take a vow of absolute 
 jioverty, and to abandon all their revenues and 
 possessions. He did not live long enough to 
 see the consequences of this reformation; for 
 he died in the following year at Bologna.* 
 His monks were, at first, distinguished by the 
 denomination o^ itreaching friars, because pub- 
 lic instruction was tlie main end of their insti- 
 tution; but, in honour of him, they were after- 
 wards called Dominicans. t [§;^ Just before 
 
 i 
 i 
 
 ill the Bullai'iuiii Iloiiiaiiuni, torn. i. p. 110. — See also 
 Act.i Siiiictor. Mens. Feb. toni. ii. p. 472. 
 
 * See Jac. Echard and liuelif in Scriptoribus Ord 
 Dominic, toiii. i. p. 81.— Acta Sanctor. April, torn 
 iii. p. Sl'i. — Nicol. Jansenii Vita S. Dominiei. Add 
 to these the loiig list of writers mentioned by Fabri- 
 ciiis, in his Bibliotheca Lat. nied. jEvi, torn. ii. p. 
 137, and also Antonii Bremondi Bullarium Ordinis 
 Doniinicani. 
 
 t The Dominicans are called Fratres Majores in 
 several of the ancient records: see Ant. Matthsei 
 Analecta vet. JEvi. t. ii. p. 172. This appellation, 
 however, by which the Dominicans were set in op- 
 position to the Franciscans, who called themselves 
 Fratres Mtnorcs, was rather a term of derision than 
 a real name.— In Fiance the Dominicans were 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 353 
 
 his death, Dominic sent Gilbert de Fresnoy 
 with twelve of the brethren into England, 
 where they founded their first monastery at 
 Oxford, in 1221, and, soon after, another at 
 London. In 12T6, the mayor and aldermen 
 of London gave them two whole streets near 
 the river Thames, where they erected a very 
 comjTiodious convent, wiience that place still 
 bears the name of Black-Friars; for so the Do- 
 minicans were called in England.] 
 
 XXV. Francis, the founder of the celebrated 
 order that bears his name, was the son of a 
 merchant of Assisi, in the province of Umbria, 
 and led, in his youth, a most debauched and 
 dissolute life. Upon his recovery from a 
 severe fit of sickness, which was the conse- 
 quence and punishment of his licentious con- 
 duct, he changed his method of living, and, as 
 extremes are natural to men of warm imagi- 
 nations, fell into an extravagant kind of de- 
 votion, that looked less like religion than 
 alienation of mind. Some time after this,* 
 he happened to be in a church, where he heard 
 that passage of the Scripture repeated, in 
 which Christ addresses his apostles in tlie fol- 
 lowing rrvanner: " Provide neither gold, nor 
 silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for 
 your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, 
 nor yet staves; for the workman is worthy of 
 his meat."! This produced a powerful effect 
 upon his mind, made him consider a voluntary 
 and absolute poverty as the essence of the 
 Gospel and the soul of religion, and prescribe 
 this poverty as a sacred rule both to himself 
 and to the few who followed him. Such was 
 the commencement of the famous Franciscan 
 order, whose chief was undoubtedly a pious 
 and well-meaning man, though grossly igno- 
 rant, and manifestly weakened in liis intellect 
 by the disorder from which he had recently re- 
 covered. Nevertheless the new society, which 
 appeared to Innocent III. extremely adapted 
 to the present ^tate of the church, and proper 
 to restore its declining credit, was solemnly 
 approved and confirmed by Ilonorius III., in 
 1223, and had already made a considerable 
 progress when its devout founder, in 1226, was 
 called from this life. Francis, through an ex- 
 cessive humility, would not sufter the monks 
 of his order to be called Fratrcx, i. e. brethren 
 or friars, but Frateixidi, i. e. little brethren or 
 friars-minors, j; by which denomination they 
 continue to he distinguished. § [^^ The I'ran- 
 
 calloil Jarnhin.s, from the Run do s<t. Jaques, where 
 their first convent was erected at Paris. 
 
 * In 1-21(8. t Matthew x. 9, 10. 
 
 \ They were called Fratricclli by the Italians, 
 Frcrcs Mineurs by the French, and Fralres Minores 
 by the l.atin writers. 
 
 § Ronaventnra wrote a life of St. Francis, which 
 has p«ssed through several editions. Hut the most 
 ample and circumstantial accounts of this extraor- 
 dinary man are t'iven by Luke Wadding, in the first 
 volume of his Annal. Ord. Min. a work which con- 
 tains a complete history of the Franciscan order, 
 confirmed by a preat number of authentic records, 
 and the best edition of which is that published at 
 Rome in 1731, and the foUowin;; years, in eighteen 
 volumes in folio, by Joseph Maria Fonseca ah F.bora. 
 II is to the same VVaddiug that we are obliged for 
 the Oposcula Sti. Francisci, and the Bibliotheca Or- 
 dinis Minorum. the former of which appeared at 
 Antwerp in 1()23, and the latter at Rome in ItiSO. 
 The other writers, who have given accounts of the 
 Franciscan order, are mentioned by Jo. Alb. Fabn 
 Vol. I.— 45 
 
 ciscans came into England in the reign of 
 Henry III., and their first establishment was at 
 Canterbury.] 
 
 XXVI. These two orders restored the church ^- 
 from that declining condition in which it had 
 been languishing for many years, by the zeal 
 and activity with which t!iey set themselves to 
 discover and extirpate lieretics, to undertake 
 various negotiations and embassies for the in- 
 terest of tlie hierarchy, and to confirm the wa- 
 vering multitude in an implicit obedience to 
 the Roman pontiffs. These spiritual rulers, 
 on the other liand, sensible of their obligations 
 to the new monks, which, no doubt, were very 
 great, not only engaged tliem in the most im- 
 portant atlairs, and raised them to the most 
 eminent stations in the church, but also accu- 
 mulated upon them employments and privi- 
 leges, whicli, if tliey enriched them on the one 
 hand, could not iail to render them odious on 
 the other,* and to excite the envy and com- 
 plaints of otjier ecclesiastics. Such (among 
 many other extraordinary prerogatives) was 
 the permission they received from the pontiffs, 
 of preaching to tlie multitude, hearing confes- 
 sions, and pronouncing nbsolulion, without any 
 license from the bishops, and even without 
 consulting them; to which we may add the 
 treasure of ample and extensive iiididgcnces, 
 whose distribution was committed by the popes 
 to the Franciscans, as a means of subsistence, 
 and a rich indemnification for their voluntary 
 j)overty.j These acts of liberality and marks 
 of protection, lavished upon the Dominican 
 and Franciscan friars with such an ill-judged 
 profusion, as they overturned the ancient dis- 
 cipline of the church, and were a manifest en- 
 croachment upon the rights of the first and 
 second orders of tlie T3cclesiastical rulers, pro- 
 duced the most unhappy and bitter dissensions 
 between the Mendicant orders and the bishops 
 And these dissensions, extending their conta- 
 gious influence beyond the limits of the church, 
 excited in all the Euroj)can provinces, and 
 
 cins, in his Bililiotlioca Lat. medii JEvi, torn. ii. p. 
 573. 
 
 * The popes were so iiifatiiated with the Francis- 
 cans, that those wlioin Ihey could not employ more 
 honourably in thrir civil negotiations or domestic 
 aliairs, they m;iile their publicans, beadles, &c. See, 
 fur a confirmation of this, the following passages in 
 llic llistor. Major of Matthew Paris ' Fratres Mi- 
 uores et Prajdicatores (s.iys he) invitos, lit credi- 
 mus, jam suos fecit dominus pajia, non sine ordinis 
 eorum Itesione et scandalo, teloniarios et bedcllos,' 
 p. (VM. — ' Non cessavit papa pecuniam aggregare, 
 faciens de Fratribus PrEcdicatoribus, et Minoribiis, 
 etiain invitis, non jam piscatoribus hominum, sed 
 nuinmorum,' p. ti3!l. — ' Erant Minores et PriEiiica- 
 tores magnatum consiliatores et nuntii, etiam domi- 
 ni pap;B secretarii; nimis in hoc gratiam sibi secula- 
 rem comparantes;' ad an. 123(), p. 3.34. — ' Facti sunt 
 eo tempore Priedicatores et Minores regum consilia- 
 rii et nuntii s|ieciiiles. ut sicut quondam mollibiia 
 induti in riomihus rcL'Uin erant, ita tunc (|ni vilibus 
 vrsticliantnr in doniihus. cameris, et palatiis essent 
 principum:' ad an. |-j;i'.i. p. 4(i5. 
 
 t Sc>e Halu/.ii iMij^ridlan. torn. iv. p. 400, torn. vli. 
 p. 31li!. — It is well known, that no relicious order 
 had the distribution of so many and such ample in- 
 dulgences as the Franciscans. Nor could these good 
 friars live and multiply as they did, without some 
 source of profit, since, by their institution, they were 
 to he destitute of revenues and possessions of every 
 kind. I{ was therefore in the place of fixed revenues, 
 that such lucrative indulgences were put into their 
 hands. 
 
354 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 even in the city of Rome,* under the very eyes 
 of the pontiffs, the most dreadful disturbances 
 and tumults. The measures taken by the 
 popes to appease tliese tumults were various, 
 but ineffectual, because tlieir principal view 
 was to support the cause of their faithful ser- 
 vants and creatures, the Mendicant friars, and 
 to maintain tlieni in the possession of their 
 honours and advantages. f 
 
 XXVII. Among all the controversies which 
 were maintained by the Mendicants, whether 
 against the bishops, abbots, schools, or other 
 religious orders, that was the most famous 
 wlhcli arose in 122S, between the Dominicans 
 and tlie university of Paris, and was prolonged, 
 with various success, until the year 1269. The 
 Dominicans claimed, as their uoques-tionablc 
 right, two theological classes in that celebrated 
 university: one of these had been taken from 
 them, and an academical law had passed, im- 
 porting that no religious order should have 
 what the Dominicans demanded. Tiie latter, 
 however, persisted obstinately in reclaiming 
 the professorship they had lost; while tlie doc- 
 tors of the university, perceiving tho restless 
 and contentious spirit that animated their ef- 
 forts, excluded them from their society, and 
 formed themselves into a separate body. This 
 measure was considered as a declaration of 
 war; and, accordingly, the most vehement 
 commotions arose between the contending par- 
 ties. The debate was brought before the tri- 
 bunal of the Roman pontiff, in l-o.'j; and the 
 decision, as might have been expected, was in 
 favour of the monks. Alexander IV. ordered 
 the university of Paris not only to restore the 
 Dominicans to their former place in tliat learn- 
 ed society, but moreover to make a grant to 
 them of as many classes or professorships as 
 they should think proper to demand. This 
 unjust and despotic sentence was opposed by 
 the university with the utmost vigour; and 
 thus the contest was renewed with double fury. 
 But the magistrates of Paris were, at length, 
 so terrified and overwhelmed with the thun- 
 dering edicts and fonnidable mandates of the 
 exasperated pontiff, that, in 1259, they yielded 
 to superior force, and satisfied tlie demands 
 not only of the Dominican, but also of the 
 Franciscan order, in obedience to the pope, 
 and to the extent of his commands.! Hence 
 arose that secret enmity and silent ill-will, 
 which prevailed so long between the univer- 
 sity and the Mendicant orders, especially the 
 Dominicans. 
 
 * Baluzii Miscellan. tnm. vii. p. 441. 
 
 t See Jo. Laiinoii Explicata Ecclesis Traditio 
 circa Canonem, Omiiis utriusque Sexiis, torn. i. part 
 i. op. p. 247.— Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bihlio- 
 theque des Auteurs Ecclesiastiques, par M. Du-Pin, 
 torn. i. p. 326. — L'Enfaiit, Histoire du C'oucile de 
 Pise, torn. i. p. 310, toni. ii p. 8. — Echardi Scriptores 
 Dominican!, tom. i. p. 404. The circumstances of 
 these haming contests are mentioned by all the 
 writers, both of this and the following centuries. 
 
 X See CfBs. Egass. du Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, 
 tom. iii- 138,240, &c. — Jo. Cordesii, or (to mention 
 him by the name he assumed) Jo. Alitophili Prjef. 
 Histor. et Aijologetica ad Opera Giilielmi de S. 
 Amore— Antoine Touroii, Vie de S. Thomas, p. 
 i;j4.— Wadding, Annal. Minor, tom. iii. p 247, 366. 
 tom. iv. p. 14, 52, 106, 263.— Malth. Pari.s, Histor. 
 Ma.jor.adan. 1228.— NangisChronicon, apudd'Ache 
 ni Spicilegium, tom. iii. p. 38. 
 
 XXVIII. In this famous debate none pleaded 
 the cause of the university with greater spirit, 
 or asserted its rights with greater zeal and ac- 
 tivity, than Guillamne de St. Amour, doctor of 
 the Sorbonne, a man of true genius, worthy to 
 have lived in better times, and capable of 
 adorning a more enlightened age. This vigor- 
 ous and able champion attacked the whole 
 Mendicant tribe in various treatises with the 
 greatest vehemence, and more especially in a 
 book " concerning the perils of the latter 
 times." He boldly maintained, that their dis- 
 cipline was in direct opposition to the precepts 
 of the Gospel; and that, in confirming ajid 
 approving it, the popes had been guilty of te- 
 merity, and tho church was become chargeable 
 with error. What gave occasion to the re- 
 markable title of this celebrated work, was the 
 author's being entirely persuadetl that the pro- 
 phecy of St. Paul, relating to the " perilous 
 times that v/cre to come in the last days,"* 
 was fulfilled in tlie establishment of the Men- 
 dicant friars. This notion St. Amour main- 
 tained in the warmest matmer, and proved it, 
 principally from the book called the Everlast- 
 ing Gospel, which was publicly explained by 
 the Dominicans and Franciscans, and of which 
 we shall have occasion to speak more fully 
 hereafter. The fury and resentment of the 
 Mendicants were therefore kindled in a pecu- 
 liar manner against this formidable adversary, 
 whom they persecuted without interruption, 
 until, in 1266, the pope ordered his book to be 
 publicly burned, and banislied its author out 
 of France, lest he should excite the Sorbonne 
 to renew their opposition to these spiritual 
 beggars. St. Amour submitted to the p>apal 
 edict, and retired into his native province of 
 Franche-Comte; but, under the pontificate of 
 Clement IV., he returned to Paris, where he 
 illustrated the tenets of his famous book in a 
 more extensive work, and died esteemed and 
 regretted by all, except tho Mendicants.'^ 
 
 XXIX. While the pontiffs accumulated upon 
 the Mendicants the most honourable distinc- 
 tions, and the most valuable privileges which 
 they had to bestow, they exposed them still 
 more and more to the envy and hatred of the 
 rest of the clergy; and this hatred was consi- 
 derably increased by the audacious arrogance 
 that discovered itself every where in the con- 
 
 * 2 Timothy, iii. 1. 
 
 t The doctors of the university of Paris profess 
 still a high respect for the memory of St. Amour, es- 
 teem his book, and deny obstinately that he was 
 ever placed in the list of heretics. The Dominicans, 
 on the contrary, consider liim as a heretic of the first 
 magnitude, if we may use that e.xpression. Such of 
 his works as could be found were published in 1632, 
 at Paris, (though the title bears Conslantia:,) by Cor- 
 desius, who has introduced them by a long and learn- 
 ed preface, in which he defends the reputation and 
 ortiiodo.xy of St. Amour in a triumphant manner. 
 Tltis learned editor, to avoid the resentment and 
 fury of the Mendicants, concealed his real name, and 
 assumed that of Jo. Alitophilus. This did not, how- 
 ever, save his book from the vengeance of these fri- 
 ars, who obtained from Louis XIII. in 1633, an edict 
 for its suppression, which Touron, a Dominican 
 friar, has publislied in his Vie de. St. Thomas. — For a. 
 farther account of the life of this famous doctor, see 
 Wadding, Annal. Minor, tom. iii. p. 366. — Boulay, 
 Hist. Acad. Paris torn. iii. p. 266. -Nat. Alex. Hist. 
 Eccles. Scfc. XIII. cap. iii. art. vii. p. 95. — Rich. Si- 
 mon, Critique de la Biblioth. Eccles. de M. Du Pin, 
 t. i. p. 345. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 S55 
 
 duct of these supercilious orders. They had tlie 
 presumptiou to declare puhliply, that they had 
 a divine impulse and ronimission to illustrate 
 and maintain the religion of Jesus; they treat- 
 ed with the utmost insolence and contempt all 
 ranks and orders of the priesthood; they af- 
 firmed, without a blush, that the true method 
 of obtaining salvation was revealed to them 
 alone, proclaimed with ostentation the superior 
 efficacy and virtue of their indulgences, and 
 vaunted, beyond measure, their interests at 
 the Court of Heaven, and their familiar con- 
 nexions with the Supreme Beinjr, the Virgin 
 Mary, and the saints in glory. Ry these im- 
 pious wiles, they so deluded and captivated 
 the miserable and blinded multitude, that they 
 would not entrust any others but the Mendicants 
 with the care of their souls, their spiritual and 
 eternal concerns.* We may give, as a speci- 
 men of these notorious frauds, the ridiculous 
 fable, which the Carmelites impose upon the 
 credulous, relating to Simon Stockius, the ge- 
 neral of their order, who died about the begin- 
 ning of this century. To this ecclesiastic, they 
 tell us that the Virgin Mary appeared, and 
 gave him a solemn promise, that the souls of 
 such as left the world with the Carmelite 
 cloak or scapulary upou their shoulders, should 
 be infallibly preserved from eternal damna- 
 tion.! And here let it be observed to the as- 
 tonishment of all, in whom the power of su- 
 perstition has not extinguislicd the plainest 
 dictates of common sense, that this ridiculous 
 and impious fiction found patrons and defend- 
 ers even among the pontiffs. J 
 
 XXX. It is however certain, that the Men- 
 dicant orders, though tliey were considered as 
 the main pillars of the hierarchy, and the prin- 
 cipal supports of the papal authority, involved 
 the pontiffs, after the death of Dominic and 
 Francis, in many perplexities and troubles, 
 which were no sooner dispelled, than they 
 were unhappily renewed; and thus the church 
 was often reduced to a state of innninent dan- 
 ger. These tunmlts and perplexities began 
 with the contests between the Dominicans and 
 Franciscans about pre-eminence, in which 
 these humble monks mutually indulged them- 
 selves in the bitterest invectives and the se- 
 verest accusations both in their writings and 
 their discourses, and opposed each other's in- 
 terests with all tlie fury of disajipointed ambi- 
 tion. Many schemes were formed, and vari- 
 ous measures were employed, for terminating 
 these scandalous dissensions; but the root of 
 the evil still remained, and the flame was ra- 
 ther covered than extinguished. § Beside this, 
 the Franciscans were early divided among 
 themselves, and split into several factions, 
 which gathered strength and consistence from 
 
 * See Matth. Pari.s, ad an. 124H, Histnr. Maj. 
 
 ■f See Jo. Launoii lAh. de Viso Stockii, oper. torn. 
 ji. part ii. p. 379. — Acta Saiictor. torn. iii. Mensis 
 Mail ad diem xvi. — Theoph. Rainaudi Scapulare Ma- 
 rianum, loin. vii. op. p. til4. 
 
 ■ t Benedict XIV., notwitli.ttandinff Iiis pretended 
 freedom from superstition and priestly fraud, deipned 
 to appear among the supporters of this gross fiction, 
 though he defended it with his usii.-i) air of jK-udence 
 and timidity, in his book de Festis B. Maii;n Virg. 
 lib. ii. cap. vi. p. 472, t. x. op. edit. Rom. 
 
 § See the Alcoran des CordcUers, tom.i. p. 2.')fi, 21)6, 
 &c. Luc. Wadding, Annales Minor, tom. iii. p. 380. 
 
 day to day, and not only disturbed the tran- 
 quillity of the church, but struck at the su- 
 preme jurisdiction and prerogatives of the Ro- 
 man pontiffs. And whoei'er considers with at- 
 tention the serias of events that happened in i_x^^ 
 the Latin church from this remarkable period, 
 will be fully convinced that the Mendicant 
 orders (whether through imprudence or de- 
 sign we shall not determine) gave some very 
 severe blows to the authority of the church of 
 Rome, and excited in the minds of the people 
 those ardent desires of a reformation, which 
 produced, in after-times, such substantial and 
 such glorious ellects. 
 
 XXXI. The occasion of these intestine di- 
 visions among the Franciscans, was a dispute 
 about the precise meaning of their rule. Their 
 founder and chief had made absolute poverty 
 one of their indispensable obligations. The re- 
 ligious orders before his time were so consti- 
 tuted, that, though no single monk had any 
 personal property, the whole community, con- 
 sidered as one collective lx)dy, had possessions 
 and revenues, from which every member drew 
 the means of his subsistence. But the austere 
 chief of the Franciscans absolutely prohibited 
 both separate and collective property to the 
 monks of his order, not permitting either the 
 individual or the community to possess funds, 
 revenues, or any worldly goods.* This injunc- 
 tion appeared so severe to several of the friars- 
 minors, that they took the liberty to dispense 
 with it as soon as their founder was dead; and 
 in this they were seconded by pope Gregory 
 IX., who, in 1231, published an interpretation 
 of this rule, which considerably mitigated its 
 excessive rigour. 1 But this mitigation was far 
 from being agreeable to all the Franciscans; it 
 siiocked the austere monks of that order, those 
 particularly v^^ho were called the SpiritunlSyl 
 whose melancholy temper rendered them fond 
 of every thing harsh and gloomy, and whose 
 fanatical spirit hurried them always into ex- 
 tremes. Hence aro.se a warm debate, which 
 Innocent IV. decided, in 1245, in favour of 
 those who were inclined to mitigate the se- 
 verity of the rule in question. By his decree 
 it was enacted, that the Franciscan friars 
 should be permitted to possess certain places, 
 habitations, chattels, books, &c. and to make 
 use of them, but that the property of all these 
 tilings should reside in St. Peter or the Roman 
 church; so that without the pope's consent 
 they might neither be sold, bartered, nor 
 transferred, imder any pretext whatever. This 
 edict was considered by the gloomy part of the 
 order as a most pernicious depravation of their 
 holy rule, and was, consequently, opposed and 
 rejected by them with indignation. Hence 
 
 * The words of the rule itself relating to this point 
 are as follow: "Fratres sibi nihil approprieiit, nee 
 doinum, nee locum, nee aliqiiam rem sed, sicut per- 
 egrini et adveniB in hoc sieculo, in paiipertate el hu- 
 niililate famulantes Domino, vadant pro eleemosyna 
 confidenler . '. . . («. e. let them be .sturdy beggarfl) 
 . . . . Hxc est ilia celsitiido nitissima; paupertalis 
 qiiic voa carissinios meos fratres haredes et regcB 
 regni coelorum iiistituit." 
 
 t The bull was published by Emmanuel Rodericin 
 his Col led io I'ri vilegior u ni regulariuni Mendicant iura, 
 et non Mendicantium, tom. i. 
 
 J Liic. Wadding, Annal. Minor, tom. iii. p. 99: 
 Ihey were also called Zcjatorcs, and Ctesarians from 
 their chief t'Rsarlus. 
 
356 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 many of these spiritiud malcontents retired into 
 the woods and deserts, wliile others were ap- 
 prehended by Grescentius, the general of the 
 society, and sent into exile.* 
 
 XXXII. A chang'e, however, arose in their 
 favour, in 1247, when John of Parma was 
 chosen general of the order. This famous eccle- 
 siastic, who was zealously attached to the sen- 
 timents of the spiritual members, recalled them 
 from their exile, and inculcated upon all his 
 monks a strict and unliniited obedience to the 
 very letter of the rule that had been drawn up 
 by St. Francis. t By this reform, he brought 
 back the order to its primitive state; and the 
 only reward he obtained for his zealous la- 
 bours, was to be accused as a rebellious here- 
 tic at the tribunal of pope Alexander IV., in 
 consequence of which he was obliged to resign 
 his post. He had also the mortification to see the 
 monks who adhered to his sentiments thrown 
 into prison, which unhappy lot he himself es- 
 caped with great difficulty. + His successor, 
 the famous Bonavcntura, who was one of the 
 most eminent scholastic divines of this centu- 
 ry, proposed steering a middle course between 
 the contending factions, having nothing so 
 much at heart as to prevent an open schism. 
 Nevertheless, the measures he took to recon- 
 cile the jarring parties, and to maintain a 
 spirit of union in the order, were not attended 
 with the degree of success which he expected 
 from them; nor were they sufficient to hinder 
 the less austere part of the Franciscans from 
 soliciting and obtaining, in 1257, from Alexan- 
 der IV. a solemn renewal of the mild interpre- 
 tation wliicli Innocent IV. had given of the 
 rule of their founder.§ On the other hand, 
 those who adhered to the sentiments of John 
 of Parma maintained their cause with such 
 success, that, in an assembly of the order holden 
 in 1260, the explication of Innocent was abro- 
 gated and annulled, especially in those points 
 wherein it diH'ered from that which had been 
 formerly given by Gregory IX. |) 
 
 XXXllI. This disjjute concerning the true 
 sense of the rule of St. Francis was followed 
 by another of eijual moment, which produced 
 new and unhappy divisions among the monks 
 of that order. About the commencement of 
 this century, there were handed about in Italy 
 several pretended prophecies of the famous 
 Joachim, abbot of Sora in Calabria,11 whom 
 the multitude revered as a person divinely in- 
 spired, and equal to the most illustrious pro- 
 
 * Liic. Waiklin^, Aimal. Minor, toin. iii. iv. 
 
 t liUO. Waililiiii;, Auiwil. Minor, torn. iii. 
 
 i Wiidiliiis, loin. iv. 
 
 § Tliis flict of .Mi'xaiider IV. is piiblislied l)y 
 Wadiliii!.', Anrial. Miii. t. iv. among tlic Kccoids. 
 
 II Till' inti'r(iri-laiioM ol'(Vi-t'Koiy iiiitiL'ali'<l llie rule 
 of St. Francis; but lh:i1 of Innoivnt went iniicli far- 
 ther, and soenied to df'stroy its fnndainrntal princi- 
 pl>s. Sc'f Waddi'12, Amialcs Minor, torn. iv. The 
 Jamenfable divisions that rciuncd ainonif the monks 
 of this I'amoiis ordrr, are desoribeil, in an accurate 
 and lively niinner, by Honaventiira himself, in a 
 letter, which is extaiU in the work now cited. 
 
 Oty- IT The resenibiance bi'tvveen the words Sora 
 and Flora, has probably led Dr. Mosheini hen; into a 
 sliffht mistake. Sora is not in Calabria, bnl in the 
 provinc.' of (^apna. It must therefore have been 
 Flora. Ih.Tt on r;iithor intended to write, as Spanheim, 
 Fleury, and other ecclesiastical historians, have 
 ilone. 
 
 phets of ancient times. The greatest part of 
 these predictions were contained in a work en- 
 titled the Everlasting Gospel, which was also 
 usually called the Book of Joachim.* This 
 Joachim, (whether a real or fictitious person 
 we shall not pretend to determine,) among 
 many other future events, foretold the destruc- 
 tion of the church of Rome, whose corruptions 
 he censured with the greatest severity, and the 
 promulgation of a new and more perfect Gos- 
 pel in the age of the Holy Ghost, by a set of 
 poor and austere ministers, whom God was to 
 raise up and employ for that purpose. For he 
 divided the world into three ages, with refer- 
 ence to the three dispensations of religion. 
 The two imperfect ages, — namely, the age a([^ 
 the Old Testament, which was that of the 
 Father, and the age of the New, which was 
 under the administration of the Son, — had ac- 
 cording to the predictions of this fanatic, al- 
 ready expired, and the third age, that of the 
 Holy Ghost, had commenced. The Spiritual, 
 i. e. the austere Franciscans, who were, for 
 the most part, well-meaning but wrong-headed 
 enthusiasts, not only swallowed down, with 
 the most voracious and implicit credulity, the 
 prophecies and doctrines which were attributed 
 to Joachim, but applied those predictions to 
 themselves, and to tlie rule of discipline estab- 
 lished by their holy founder St. Francis;| for 
 they maintained, that he delivered to mankind 
 the true Gospel, and that he was the angel 
 whom St. Jolm saw flying in the midst of 
 heaven. J 
 
 XXXIV. When the intestine divisions among 
 the Franciscans were at the greatest height, 
 one of the Spiritual friars, wliose name was 
 
 * The Merlin of the English, the Malichi of the 
 Irish, and Nostradamus of the French, those pre- 
 tended soothsayers, who, under the illusory or feigned 
 persuasion of a divine impulse, san^ in uncouth 
 verse the future revolutions of church and state, 
 are just what we may suppose the Joachim of the 
 Italians to have been. Many predictions of thia 
 latter were formerly handed about, and are still to 
 be seen: they have passe<l through various editions, 
 and have been illustrated by the lucubrations of 
 several commentators. It is not to be doubted that 
 Joachim was the author of some predictions, and 
 tliat he, in a particular manner, foretold the refor- 
 mation of the church, of which he might easily see 
 the ab.solute necessity. It is however certain that the 
 greatest part of the predictions and writings, which 
 wi're formerly attributed to him, were composed by 
 others; and this we may affirm even of the Everlast- 
 ing Gospel, the work undoubtedly of some obscure, 
 silly, and visionary author, who thought proper to 
 adorn his ri'veries wiUi the celebrated name of Joa- 
 chim, in order to gain them credit, and to render 
 them more agreeable to the multitude. The title of 
 this senseless production is taken from Revelations, 
 .\iv. (), and it contained three books; the first was 
 entitled, Liher Concordiip. Veritatiif, i. e. the Book of 
 the Harmony of Truth; the second, Jlporalijpsiss JSTova, 
 or the New Revelation; and the third, Psalleritim 
 decern Clionlnnun, i. e. the Ten-stringed Harp. This 
 account was taken from a manuscript of that work 
 in the library of the Sorbonne, by Jac. Echard, who 
 has published it in his Scriptores Dominican, torn. i. 
 
 t This is acknowledged even by Wadding, not- 
 withstanding his partiality in favour of the spiritual 
 or austere Franciscans. See his Annal. Minor, 
 torn. iv. p. 3 — G. 
 
 X Revel, xiv. 6. ' ^nd I saw another angel fly in the 
 midst of heaven, hainng the Rrerlaating Oospel to 
 preach unto them that dwell on the earth.' See on thia 
 nbjecl Baliizii Miscellan. torn, i p i'21, 235.— Echardi 
 Scriptor. Dominic, toiu. i. p. 202.— Code.x Inquisit 
 TolosansE a Limborchio edit. p. 30J, 
 
Chap. IT. 
 
 DOCTORS, CPIURCPI GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 357 
 
 frerard, undertook the explication of the 
 Everlasting Gospel asorihed to .Toachim, in a 
 book wliicii appeared, in l-'oO, under the title 
 of introduction to the Everlasting Gospel.* In 
 
 * As tlie accounts given of tliis book, liy ancient 
 and nioilein writers, are not sufliciently nccnrate, it 
 may not be improper to oft"erhere some observations 
 that may correct their mistakes. 1. They almtjst 
 all confound tlie Everlasting Gospel, or the Gospel 
 of the Holy Ghost, (for so it is also called, as we are 
 told by Guil. de St. Amour, in his book de I'ericulis 
 noviss. Tenipornm,) with the Introduction to the 
 Everlastinj; (iospel. But these two productions must 
 l)e carefully distinguished from each other. The 
 Kverlasting Gospel was attributed lo the abbot Joa- 
 chim, and it consisted of three books, as has been al- 
 ready observed. But the Introduction to this Gospel 
 Was the work of a Franci.scan monk, who e.vplained 
 the obscure predictions of the pretended Gospel, and 
 applied tlirni to his order. The Everlasting Gospel 
 was neither ciunplained of by the university of 
 I'aris, nor condemned by the Roman pontiff, Alex- 
 ainler IV.; but the Introduction was complained of, 
 condemned, and burned, as appears evidently from 
 the letters of the above mentioned pontift' which are 
 lo be seen in Boulay's Histor. Academ. Paris, torn. 
 iii. p. 292. The former consisted, as productions of 
 that nature generally do, of ambiguous predictions 
 and intricate riddles, and was consequently despised 
 or neglected; but the latter was dangerous in many 
 respects. 2. It is farther to be observed, that the 
 ancient writers are not agreed concerning the author 
 of this Introduction. They are unanimous in at- 
 tributing it to one of the mendicant friars; but the 
 votaries of St. Francis maintain, that the author was 
 a Dominican, wliile the Dominican party affirm as 
 obstinately, that he was a Franciscan. The great- 
 est part of the learned, however, are of opinion, that 
 the author of the infamous work in question was 
 .lohn of Parma, general of the Franciscans, who is 
 known to have been most warmly attached to the 
 spiritual faction of that order, and to have main- 
 tained the sentiment.^ of the abbot Joachim with an 
 p.xcessive zeal. See Wadding, (Annal. Minor, torn, 
 iv.) who etuleavours to defend him against this ac- 
 cusation, though without succe.ss. (See also the Acta 
 Sanctorum, tom. iii. Marti i, p. 157; for John of Parma, 
 though he preferred the Gospel of St. Francis to that 
 of Christ, has, neverthi'lcss, nlifained a place among 
 the saints.) The le.irmd Kcliard is of a different 
 opinion, and has proved, (in his i^criptor. Dominican, 
 loni. i. p. 202,) from the curious manuscripts yet pre- 
 served in the Sorbonne, relating to the Everlasting 
 Gos|)el, that Gerard, a Franciscan friar, was the 
 author of tin; infamous Introduction to that book. 
 ThisG(,'rard. indeed, was the intimate friend and com- 
 panion to John of Parma, and not only maintained, 
 with th(! greatest obstinacy, the cause of the Kpirif- 
 Hills, but also embraced all th(! sentiments that u ere 
 attribute<l to the abbot Joachim, with such an anient 
 zeal, that he chose to remain 18 years in prison, 
 rather than to ;ihainlon them. See Wadding, tom. 4. 
 Those Franciscans who were called ohsernantcn, i.e. 
 vigilant, from their professing a more rigid obser- 
 vance of the rule <if their founder than was prnclised 
 liy the rest of their order, place (lerard among the 
 saints of the first rank, and impudently iiffuni. 
 that he was not only endowed with the gift of 
 prophecy, but also with the power of working 
 miracles. See Wadding, tom. iii. p. 213. It is to be 
 observed, 3dly, That whoever may have been the 
 writer of this detestable book, the whole mendicant 
 order, in the judgment of the greatest part of the 
 historians of this age, shared th(; guilt of its compo- 
 sition and publication, more especially llii' Domini 
 cans and Franciscans, who arc; supposed to have 
 fallen upon this iuqiious method <if deluding the 
 multitude into a high noticm of tliiir sanctity, in 
 order to establish their dominion, and lo e.xteinl 
 their authority beyond all bounds. This opinion, 
 however, is ill-founded, notwilhstanding the num- 
 bers by which it has been ailepti'd. The Fran- 
 ciscans alom? are chargeable \xitli the guilt of 
 this horrid production, as appears most evidently 
 from the fragments of the bonk itsilf, which yi'l re- 
 main: but we are obliged in justice to observe farther, 
 that this guilt does not lie upon all the Franciscans, 
 but only on the spiritual faction. Perhaps we might 
 go still farther, and allege, th.it the charge ought not 
 
 this book, the fanatical monk, amongr other 
 enormities, as insipid as impious, ineulcated 
 the follovvinjr detestable doctrine: " That St. 
 f>ancis, who was the angel mentioned in the 
 Revelations xiv. 6, had promulgated to the 
 world the true and everlasting gospel of God; 
 tliat the gospel of Christ was to be abrogated 
 in the year 1 260, and to give place to this new 
 and everlasting gospel, which was to be substi- 
 tuted in its room; and that the ministers of 
 this great reformation were to be humble and 
 bare-footed friars, destitute of all worldly 
 emoluments."* When this strange book was 
 published at Paris in 1254, it e.xcited in the 
 doctors of the church, and indeed in all good 
 men, the most lively feelings of horror and in- 
 dignation against the mendicant friars, who 
 had already, by other parts of their conduct, 
 incurred the displeasure of the public. This 
 general ferment engaged pope Alexander IV., 
 though much against his will, to order the 
 suppression of this absurd book in 1265; he, 
 however, took care to have this order executed 
 with the greatest possible mildness, lest it 
 should hurt the reputation of the mendicants, 
 and open the eyes of the superstitious multi- 
 tude. But the doctors of the university of 
 Paris, not being satisfied with these gentle and 
 timorous proceedings, repeated without inter- 
 ruption their accusation and complaints, until 
 the extravagant and obnoxious production was 
 publicly committed to the flames.f 
 
 XXXV. The intestine flame of discord, 
 which had raged among the Franciscans, and 
 was smothered, though not extinguished, by 
 the prudent management of Bonaventura, 
 broke out anew with redoubled fury after the 
 death of that pacific doctor. Those Franciscan 
 monks who were fond of opulence and ease, 
 renewed their complaints against the rule of 
 their founder as unreasonable and unjust, de- 
 
 to be extended even to all theniembersof this faction, 
 but to such alone as jilaced an idle and enthusiastic 
 confidence in Joachim, and gave credit to all his pre- 
 tended prophecies. Tluse observations are neces- 
 sary to the true understanding of what lias been 
 said concerning the Everlasting Gospel by the fol- 
 low ing learned men: Jo. Andr. Schmidius, Dissertat. 
 Ilelrnst. 1700. — Usserius, de Successione Kcclcsiar. 
 Orrii/ent. c. ix. sect. 20. — Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris. 
 tom. iii. p. 2'.t2. — Natal. Alexander, Histor. Eccle.s. 
 sa-c. XIII. artic. iv. — Wadding, Annal. Minor, tom. 
 iv.— lIpoTi the whole it may be affirmed, that the 
 book under consideration is not, as the greatest part 
 of the learned have imagined, a monument of the 
 arrogance of the mendicant orders in general, but 
 rather a proof of the impious fanaticism and extrava- 
 gance of a small number of Franciscans. 
 
 * See Guil. de St. Amour de I'ericulis noviss. Tern- 
 por. who observes thai the book under ccmsideration 
 was not indeed publisheil before the year 12.54, but 
 that the opinicms contained in it had ;in earlier ori- 
 gin, and were propagated even in the year 1200. 
 Several of the ancient writers have given large ex- 
 tracts from this infamous book. See Herm. Corneri 
 Chronicon, in Eccardi Corpore Histor. meilii .(1^'vi, 
 torn. Li. p. a50.— Chronicon Egmondnntim, in Ant. 
 Matlha'i Analectis veteris JEvi, tom. ii. p. 517. — 
 Hicobaldusapud EccariliCorp. torn p. i. 1215 —But be- 
 tween these extracts th<'re is a great difference, 
 which seems to have arisen from this, that some 
 drew their citations from the Everlasting Gospel of 
 Joachim, while others drew theirs from the Introduc- 
 tion of Gerard, not sntriciently distinguishing one 
 work from the other. 
 
 I See Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. iii. p. 299.— 
 Jordani Clironicon in Muratorii Anliq. Ital. loin. iv. 
 p. 9i)8, 
 
358 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 mantling what it was absolutely beyond the 
 power of man to pertorm. Tlieir complaints, 
 however, were without effect; and their 
 schemes were disconcerted by pope Nicolas 
 III., who leaned to the side of the austere 
 Franciscans, and who, in 1279, published that 
 famous constitution which confirmed the rule 
 of St. Francis, and contained an accurate and 
 elaborate explication of the maxims it recom- 
 mended, and the duties it prescribed.* By this 
 edict he renewed that part of the rule, which 
 prohibited all kinds of property among the 
 Franciscans, every tiling that bore the least 
 resemblance to a legal possession, or a fixed do- 
 main; but he granted to them, at the same 
 time, the use of things necessary, such as 
 houses, books, and other conveniences of that 
 nature, the property of which, in conformity 
 with tiie appointment of Innocent IV., was to 
 reside in the church of Rome. Nor did the 
 provident pontiff stop here; but prohibited, 
 under the severest penalties, all private expli- 
 cations of this new law, lest they should ex- 
 cite disputes, and furnish new matter of con- 
 tention; and reserved the power of interpreting 
 it to himself and his successors alone, j 
 
 XXXVI. However disposed Nicolas was to 
 satisfy tlie spiritual and austere part of the 
 Franciscan order, which had now become nu- 
 merous both in Italy and France, and particu- 
 larly in the province of Narbonne, the consti- 
 tution above mentioned was far from producing 
 that effect. The monks of that gloomy fac- 
 tion, who resided in Italy, received tlie papal 
 edict with a sullen and discontented silence. 
 Their brethren in France, and more especially 
 in tlie southern parts of that kingdom, where 
 the inhabitants are of a warm and sanguine 
 complexion, testified, in an open and tumul- 
 tuous manner, the disapprobation of this new 
 constitution; and having at their head a famous 
 Franciscan, whose name was Pierre Jean 
 d'Olive, they excited new dissensions and trou- 
 bles in the order.J Pierre was a native of 
 Serignan in Languedoc, who had acquired a 
 shining reputation by his writings, and whose 
 eminent sanctity and learning drew after him 
 a great number of followers; nor is it to be de- 
 nied, that there were many important truths 
 and wise maxims in the in.structions he deli- 
 vered. One of the great objects of which he 
 never lost sight in his writings, was the corrup- 
 tion of the church of Home, which he censured 
 with extraordinary freedom and severity, in a 
 work entitled Postiila, or a Commentary on 
 the Revelations, affirming boldly, that this 
 church was represented by the ' whore of 
 Babylon, the mother of harlots,' whom St. 
 
 * Some alliriii, tliat this constitution was issued 
 by Nicolas IV'.; but their opinion is rtfuted by Wad- 
 ding, in his Annal. Min. torn. v. 
 
 t Tliis constitution is yet extant in the Jus. 
 Canon, lib. vi. Decretal. Tit. xii. c. iii p. 1028. edit. 
 Bohm. and is vulgarly called the Constitution Eiiit, 
 from its bo<;innins with that word. 
 
 \ In some ancient records, this ring-leader is 
 called Petrus liiterrensis, i. e. Peter of Beziers, be- 
 cause he resideil for a long time in the convent of 
 Beziers, where he performed the functions of a pub- 
 lic teacher. By others, he is tiamed Petrus rie Ser- 
 ignano, from tlie place of his nativity. This remark 
 is so much the more necessary, as some authors have 
 taken these three denominations for three distinct 
 persona 
 
 John beheld sitting upon a scarlet-coloured 
 beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven 
 heads, and ten horns.* It is however to be 
 observed, that this severe censor of a corrupt 
 church, was himself a most superstitious fa- 
 natic in several respects, having imbibed the 
 greatest part of those monstrous opinions, 
 which the Spirituals pretended to have received 
 from the abbot Joachim; to which he added an 
 impious and extravagant veneration for St. 
 Francis, whom he considered as entirely trans- 
 formed into the person of Christ, j In the de- 
 bate concerning the sense of the rule of this 
 famous chief, he seemed to adhere to neither 
 of tlie contending parties; for he allowed to his 
 followers the bare use of the necessaries of 
 life; and being called upon, at different times, 
 by the authority of his superiors, to declare 
 his sentiments upon this head, he professed his 
 assent to the interpretation that had been given 
 of the rule in question by Nicolas III. He 
 leaned, nevertheless, to the side of those aus- 
 tere and spiritual Franciscans, who not only 
 opposed the introduction of property among 
 the individuals of the order, but also maintain- 
 ed, that the whole community, considered col- 
 lectively, was likewise to be excluded from 
 possessions of every kind. Great was his zeal 
 for these gloomy Franciscans, and he defended 
 their cause with warmth;J hence he is looked 
 upon as the chief of that faction, which disputed 
 so often, and so vehemently, with the Roman 
 pontiffs, in favour of the renunciation of pro- 
 perty, in consequence of the institution of St. 
 Francis. § 
 
 XXXVII. The credit and authority of Pierre 
 d'Olive, whom the multitude considered, not 
 only as a man of unblemished sanctity, but 
 also as a prophet sent from above, added new 
 force and vigour to the Spirituals, and encour- 
 aged them to renew the combat with redou- 
 bled fury. But the prudence of the heads of 
 the order prevented, for some time, the perni- 
 cious effects of these violent efforts, and so 
 over-ruled the impetuous motions of this en- 
 thusiastic faction, that a sort of equality was 
 preserved between the contending parties. — 
 But the promotion of Matthew of Aqua Spar- 
 ta, who was elected general of the order in 
 12S7, put an end to these prudential measures, 
 and changed entirely the face of affairs. This 
 
 * Revelations, xvii. 3, 5. 
 
 t Totum Christo configuratura. See the Litera 
 Magjstrorum, de Postiila Fratris P. Joh. Olivi, in 
 Baluzii IMiscellan. torn. i. p. 213.— Wadding, Annales 
 Minor, tom. v. p. 51. 
 
 I The real sentiments of Pierre d'Olive will be best 
 discovered in the last discourse he pronounced, which 
 is yet e.xtant in Boulay's Histor. Acad. Paris, torn, 
 iii. p. 535, and in Wadding's Annal. Min. t. v. p. 378. 
 
 § For an account of this famous friar, see not 
 only the common monastic historians, such as Ray 
 naldus, Alexander, and Oudinus, but also the follow- 
 ing: Baluzii Miscel. tom. i. p. 213. and his Vit. Pontif, 
 Avenion. tom. ii. p. 752. Car. Plessis d'Argentre, 
 CoUectio Judiciorum de novis .Ecclesise Erroribus, 
 tom. i. p. 22G. — Wadding, Annal. Minor, tom. v. p. 
 52, 108, 121, HO, 23(i, and more especially, p. 378, 
 where he makes an unsuccessful attempt to justify 
 this enthusiast. — Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, tom. iii. 
 p. 53.5. — Hchelhornii Amoenitates Literaris, tom. ix. 
 p. 678. Histoire Generale de Languedoc, par Ips 
 Moines Benedictins, tom. iv. p. 91, 179, 182. The 
 bones of Pierre d'Olive were taken up by the order 
 of pope John XXII. and burned publicly with his 
 writings, in the year 1325. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNl^lENT, &c. 
 
 359 
 
 new chief suffered the anciont disciphno of 
 the Franciscans to dwindle away to nothing, 
 indulged his monks in abandoning even tiie 
 very appearance of poverty, and thus drew 
 upon himself not only the indignation and rage 
 of the austere part of the spiritual Francis- 
 cans, but also the disap probation of the more 
 moderate members of that party. Hence 
 arose various tumults and seditions, first in 
 the marquisate of Ancona, and afterwards in 
 France, which tlie now general endeavoured to 
 supi)ress by imprisonment, exile, and corporal 
 punishments; but, finding all these means in- 
 effectual, he resigned his place in 1289.* His 
 succes.sor, Raymond Goffredi, employed his ut- 
 most efforts to appease these troubles. For 
 this purpose he recalled the banished friars, setat 
 liberty those who had been thrown into prison, 
 and put out of tlie way several of the austere 
 Franciscans, who had been the principal en- 
 couragers of those unhappy divisions, by send- 
 ing them into Armenia in the character of 
 missionaries. But the disorder was too far gone 
 to be easily remedied. The more moderate 
 Franciscans, who had a relish for the sweets 
 of property and opulence, accused the new ge- 
 neral of a partial attachment to the Spirituals, 
 whom he treated with peculiar affection and 
 respect, and therefore employed their whole 
 credit to procure his dismission from otKce, 
 which, with much difficulty, they at length ef- 
 fected, under the pontificate of Boniface VHI. 
 On the otiicr hand, the more rigid part of the 
 spiritual faction renounced all fellowship, even 
 with such of their own party as discovered a 
 pacific and reconciling spirit; and, forming 
 themselves into a separate body, protested puli- 
 licly against the interpretation which Nicolas 
 HI. had given of the rule of St. Francis. 
 Thus, from the year 1290, the affairs of the 
 Franciscans carried a dismal aspect, and por- 
 tended nothing but seditions and schisms in an 
 order which had been so famous for its pre- 
 tended disinterestedness and humility. j 
 
 XXXVIU. In the year 1-294, a certain num- 
 ber of Italian Franciscans, of the sj)iritual par- 
 ty, addressed themselves to Celestin V. for per- 
 mission to form a separate order, in which they 
 might not only profess, but also observe, in the 
 strictest manner, that austere rule of absolute 
 poverty, which St. PVancis had prescribed to 
 his followers. The good pontiff, who, before 
 his elevation to the supremacy of the church, 
 had led a solitary and austere life,J and was 
 fond of every thing that looked like mortifica- 
 tion and self-denial, granted with the utmost 
 facility the request of these friars, and placed, 
 at the head of the new order, a monk, whose 
 
 * VVaddinj;, Annalos Mill. tuin. v. p. 21(1, 235. 
 
 t Idem opii?, t. V. p. J08, 121, 110, anil more espe- 
 cially p. 2M, 2:w. 
 
 (H^ t TIlis iwpe, whose namf! was Pntcr Miieron, 
 had retired very young to a solitary inoiintain, in or- 
 der to devote himself entirely to prayer and niortiti- 
 cation. The fame of his piety brouRht many to see 
 him from a principle of curiosity, several of whom 
 renounced the world, and became the companions of 
 his solitude. With these he formed a kind of com- 
 munity, in 1254, which was approved by Urban IV. 
 in 12()4, and erected into a distinct order, called the 
 Hermits of St. Dainien. On his assumption of the 
 pontifical name of Oleslin V., his order, which must 
 not be confounded with the new Franciscan Cclcslin 
 Hermits, took the title of Celestins. 
 
 name was Liberatus, and who was one of the 
 greatest sell-tormentors of all the monastic 
 tribe.* Soon after this, Celestin, finding him- 
 eelf unfit for the duties of his high and impor- 
 tant office, resigned the pontificate, in which 
 he was succeeded by Boniface VIII. who an- 
 nulled all the acts of his jiredeccssor, and sup- 
 pressed, among other institutions, the new or- 
 der, which had assumed the title of the Celes- 
 tin Hermits of St. Francis.^ This di^race was, 
 as it were, the .-signal which drew upon them 
 the most furious attacks of their enemies. The 
 worldly-minded Franciscans persecuted tliein 
 with the most unrelenting bitterness, accused 
 thein of various crimes, and even cast upon 
 them the odious reproach of Manichcism, 
 Hence many of these unhappy fanatics retired 
 into Acliia, whence they passed into a small 
 island, where they imagined themselves secure 
 from the rage of their adversaries, and at li- 
 berty to indulge tlicmselves in all the austeri- 
 ties of that niisoral)le life, which they looked 
 upon as the perfection of holiness here below. 
 But no retreat was sufficient to screen them 
 from the vigilance and fury of their cruel per- 
 secutors, who left no means unemploj'ed to per- 
 petuate their miseries. In the mean time, the 
 branch of the spiritual Franciscans that re- 
 mained in Italy, continued to observe the ri- 
 gorous laws of tiieir primitive institution in 
 spite of Boniface VIII., who used his utmost 
 efforts to conquer their obstinacy. They erect- 
 ed societies of their order, first in the kingdom 
 of Naples, afterwards in the Milanese, and in 
 the marquisate of Ancona; and, at length 
 spreading themselves through the greatest part 
 of Europe, they continued in the most violent 
 state of war with the church of Rome, until 
 the Reformation changed the face of things. 
 In these conllicts they underwent trials and 
 sufferings of every kind, and multitudes of 
 them perished in the flames, as miserable vic- 
 tims to the infernal fury of the Inquisition.]: 
 
 * Wadding, Annales, torn. v. p. :i2t. 338. 
 
 t Wadding, Aiinales, toni. vi. — Bullariuin Mag- 
 num, Coiitiii. HI. IV. p. 108. 
 
 J The writers that serve generally as guides in 
 this part of the history of the church, and whom I 
 have been obliged to consult upon th(^ divisions of 
 the Franciscans, (whose history, as will soon appear, 
 is peculiarly interesting and important,) are far from 
 meriting the onroniiums which are due to perspi- 
 cuity and e.\actiiess. This part of the ecclesiastical 
 history of what is called the Middle Age, has not hi 
 tlierto been accurately illustrated by any writer, 
 tliimgh it be, evcjry way, worthy of the labours of 
 tlic learned, and of the attention of Christians. Its 
 principal merit consists herein, that it exhibits strik- 
 ing examples of piety and learning struggling against 
 till! power of superstition and ignorance, and against 
 that spiritual tyranny of which Ihc^y were the prin- 
 cip;il supports. And it may be observed, that these 
 rebellious Franciscans, though fanatical and super- 
 stitious in several ns[iriis. deserve an eminent rank 
 among those wln) pnparc^d llx: way for the reforma- 
 tion in Kurope, and wlio excited, in the minds of the 
 people, a just aversion to the church of Rome. Ray- 
 naldus, Bzovius, Sjiondanus, in their Annals, EjTiie- 
 ricus, in his Directoriiim Inquisitoruiu, aiMl Natalia 
 Alexander, in his Ecclesiastical History, relate the 
 revolutions that hajiiK'ncd in the Franciscan order, 
 and in the church in general, during this period; 
 but tlx'ir accounts are neither so accurate, nor so 
 ample, as the importance of the events deserved. 
 And as it is from these authors that the proteslant 
 historians have drawn then materials, we need not 
 to be surprised at the defects with which the latter 
 abound. Wadding, who merits high encomiums as 
 
360 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 Part II. 
 
 XXXIX. Toward the conclusion of this cen- 
 tury arose in Italy the enthusiastic sect of the 
 Fratricelli and Bizochi, which, in Germany 
 and France, received the denomination of 
 Be^hards. They were condemned by Boniface 
 VIII.,* and by several of his successors; and 
 the inquisitors were ordered by these despotic 
 pontiffs to pereecute them until they were ex- 
 tirpated, which commission they executed witli 
 their usual barbarity. The Fratricelli, or Lit- 
 tle Brethren, were Franciscan monks, who se- 
 parated themselves from the grand community 
 of St. Francis, with an intention of obeying 
 the laws of their parent and founder in a more 
 strict and rigorous manner than they were ob- 
 served by the other Franciscans, and who, ac- 
 cordingly, renounced every kind of possession 
 and property both common and personal, and 
 begged from door to door their daily subsist- 
 ence.! They alleged that neither Christ nor 
 
 a laborious ami learned writer, is yet an uncertain 
 guide, when lie treats of the matters now under con- 
 sideration. His attachment to one party, and his 
 fear of the others, subject him to restraints, that pre- 
 vent his declaring the truth with a noble freedom. 
 He shades his picture with dexterity. He conceals, 
 dissembles, excuses, acknowledges, and denies, with 
 such a timorous prudence and caution, that the truth 
 could not but sutTer considerably under his pen. He 
 appears to have been attached to the rigid Francis- 
 cans, and yet had not the courage to declare openly, 
 that they had been injured by the pontiffs. He saw, 
 oil the other hand, the tumults and perplexities in 
 which these rigid Franciscans had involved the 
 church of Rome, and the strokes which they had 
 aimed, with no small success, at the majesty of the 
 pontifls: hut he has taken all imaginable pains to 
 throw such a shade upon this part of their conduct, 
 as conceals its violence from the view of his readers. 
 Such then being the characters of the writers who 
 have handed down to us the history of the church in 
 this important period, I could not follow any one of 
 them as a sure or constant guide in all the events 
 they relate, the judgments they form, or the charac- 
 ters they describe. I have not, however, been desti- 
 tute of a clue to conduct me through the various 
 windings of this intricate labyrinth. The testimn- 
 nies of ancient authors, with several manuscripts 
 that have never yet been published, such as the Di- 
 plomas of the pontitTs and cmiicrcirs, the Acts of the 
 Inquisition, and other recnrils of that kind, are the 
 authentic sources from which 1 have drawn my ac- 
 counts of many things that have been very imper- 
 fectly represented by other historians. 
 
 * See Trithemius, An. Hirsaug. t. ii. p. 74, though 
 this author is defective in several respects, and more 
 especially in his accounts of the origin and senti- 
 ments of the Fratricelli. It is also to be observed, 
 that he confounds, through the whole of his history, 
 the sects and orders of this century one with ano- 
 ther, in the most ignorant and unskilful manner. 
 See rather Du Boulay, His. Acad. Paris, t. iii. p. 
 541, where the edict published in 1297, by Boniface 
 VIH. against the Bizochi or Beghards, is inserted; 
 as also Jnrdani Chronicon, in Muratorii Antiq. Ita- 
 liae, tom. iv. p. 1020. 
 
 t The Fratricelli resembled the Spirituals in many 
 of their maxims and observances: they, however, 
 were a distinct body, and differed from them in va- 
 rious respects. The Spirituals, for instance, conti- 
 nued to hold comnmnion with the rest of the Fran- 
 ciscans, from whom they differed in points of consi- 
 derable moment, nor did they ever pretend to erect 
 themselves into a particular and distinct order; the 
 Fratricelli. on the contrary, renounced all commu- 
 nion with the Franciscans, and, withdrawing their 
 obedience from the superiors of that society, chose 
 for themselves a new chief, under whom they formed 
 a new and separate order. The Spirituals did not 
 absolutely oppose their order's pos.sessing certain 
 goods jointly and in common, provided they re 
 nounced all property in these goods, and con fined their 
 pretensions to the mere use of them; whereas the 
 Fratricelli rejected every kind of possession, who 
 ther personal or in convmon and embraced that ab 
 
 his apostles had any possessions, either per- 
 sonal or in connnon; and that they were the 
 models, whom St. Francis commanded his fol- 
 lowers to imitate. After the example also of 
 their austere founder, they went about clothed 
 with sordid garments, or rather with loathsome 
 rags, declaimed against the corruption of the 
 church of Rome, and the vices of the pontifls 
 and bishops, foretold the reformation of the 
 church and the restoration of the true Gospel, 
 by the genuine followers of St. Francis, and 
 declared their assent to almost all the doc- 
 trines, which were published under the name 
 of the abbot Joacliim. They esteemed and 
 respected Celestin V., because, as has been al- 
 ready observed, he was, in some measure, the 
 founder of their society, by permitting them 
 to erect themselves into a separate order. But 
 they refused to acknowledge, as true and law- 
 ful heads of the church, his successor Boniface 
 and the subsequent pontiffs, who opposed the 
 Fratricelli, and persecuted their order.* 
 
 solute poverty and want which St. Francis had pre- 
 scribed in his Rule and in his last Testament. We 
 omit the mention of less important differences. 
 
 * The accounts of the Fratricelli, that are given 
 by ancient and modern writers, even by those who 
 pretend to the greatest exactness, are extremely 
 rr)nfused and uncertain. Trithemius, in his Aunal. 
 Hirsaug. tom. ii. p. 74, affirms, that they derived 
 their origin from Tanchelinus, and thus ignorantly 
 confounds them with the Catharists and other sects 
 that arose in those times. The Franciscans leave no 
 means unemployed to clear themselves from all re- 
 lation to this society, and to demonstrate that such 
 a pestilential and impious sect, as that of the Fra- 
 tricelli, did not derive their origin from the order of 
 St. Francis. In consequence of this, they deny that 
 the Fratricelli professed the Franciscan rule; and 
 maintain, on the contrary, that the society which 
 was distinguished by this title was a heap of rabble, 
 composed of persons of all kinds and all religions, 
 whom Herman Pongilup, toward the conclusion of 
 this century, assembled at Ferrara, and erected into 
 a distinct order. See Wadding's Annal. Minor, tom. 
 vi. p. 279. This author employs all his eloquence to 
 defend his order from the infamous reproach of hav- 
 ng given rise to that of the Fratricelli; but his ef- 
 forts are vain; for he acknowledges, and even proves 
 by unquestionable authorities, that this hated sect 
 professed and observed, in the most rigorous man- 
 ner, the rule of St. Francis; and nevertheless, he de- 
 nies that they wore Franciscans; by which he means, 
 and indeed can only mean, that they were not such 
 Franciscans as those who lived in subjection to the 
 general of the order, and adopted the interpretation 
 which the popes had given of the rule of their found- 
 er. All Wadding's boasted demonstration, there- 
 fore, comes to no more than this, that the Fratricelli 
 were Franciscans who separated themselves from 
 the grand order of St. Francis, and rejected the au- 
 thority of the general of that opder, and the laws 
 and interpretations, together with the jurisdiction 
 of the pontiffs; and this no mortal ever took into his 
 head to deny. Hermanns, or (as he is called by 
 many) Armanus Pongilup, whom Wadding and 
 others consider as the parent of the Fratricelli, lived 
 in this century at Ferrara, in the highest reputation 
 for his extraordinary piety; and when he died, in 
 1260, he was interred with the greatest pomp and 
 magnificence in the principal church of that city. 
 His memory was, for a long time, honoured with a 
 degree of veneration equal to that which is paid to 
 the most illustrious saints; and it was supposed that 
 the Supreme Being bore testimony to his eminent 
 sanctity by various miracles. But, as Pongilup had 
 been suspected of heresy by the Inquisitors of Here- 
 tical Depravity, on account of the peculiar austerity 
 of his life, which resembled that of the Catharists, 
 they made, even after his death, such an exact and 
 scrupulous inquiry into his maxims and morals, 
 that, many years after he was laid low in the grave, 
 his impiety was detected and published to the world. 
 Hence it was, that, in 1300, his tomb was destroyed; 
 
Chap. II 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 361 
 
 XL. As the Franciscan order acknowledged, 
 for its companions and associates, a set of men, 
 who observed the third rule that was prescrib- 
 ed by St. Francis, and were therefore coin- 
 
 liis bones wi;r(! diif; up, aiiri burned by tlie order of Bo- 
 niface VIU.,aiid the nuillituili; cfti'ctually cured of 
 the enthusiastic veneration they had for his nieniory. 
 The judicial acts of this remarkable event are re- 
 corded by Muratori, in his Antiquit. Italic, niedii 
 jEvi, torn. V. p. !i:i — 147, and it appears evidently 
 from them, that those learned men, who consider 
 Tongilup as the founder of the order of the Fratri- 
 celli, have fallen into a !»ross error. So far was he 
 from beinj; the founder of this sect, that he was dead 
 before it was in existence. The truth is, tliat this 
 famous enthusiast was a Catharist, infected with 
 Paulician or Manicheaii principles, and a member 
 of the sect entitled baffnolists, from a town of tiiat 
 name in Provence, where they resided. Some modern 
 writers, indeed, have seen so far into the truth, as 
 to perceive that the Fratricelli were a separate 
 branch of the ritfld and austere Franciscans; but they 
 err in this, tliat tlicy ccinsider them as the same sect 
 with the BegliMnls or Hiyuins, under a different de- 
 nomination, yucli is the opinion adopted by Lini- 
 borch, (in his Hist. Inquisit. lib. i. cap. xi.v.) who 
 seems to have been very little acquainted with the 
 matters now under consideration; by Baluze, in his 
 Miscellan. torn. i. p. I!t5, and Vit. I'ontif. Avenio- 
 nens. toni. i. p. 50!); by Beausobre, in his Disserta- 
 tion concerninf; the Aiiamites, subjoined to the His- 
 tory of the Wars of the Hussites, p. 380; and by 
 VVaddiniT, in his Annal. Minor, torn. v. p. 376. But, 
 notwithstanding the authorities of these learned 
 men, it is certain, as we shall show in its place, that 
 there was a real difference between the Fratricelli 
 and the Beghards, not indeed with respect to their 
 opinions, but in their rule of discipline and their 
 wanner of life. 
 
 The principal cause of the errors that have ob- 
 scured the history of the Fratricelli, is the ambiguity 
 in the denomination of tlieir order. Fratriccllus or 
 Fraterculus (Little Brother) was an Italian nick- 
 name, or terra of derision, that was applied in this 
 century to all those who, without belonging to any 
 of the religious orders, affected a monkish air in 
 their clothing, their carriage, and their manner of 
 living, and assumed a sanctimonious aspect of piety 
 and devotion. See Villani, Istorie Florentine, lib. 
 viii. c. 84. — Iinola in Dantem, p. 1121, in Muratori's 
 Antiq. Ital. torn. i. And as there were many vaga- 
 bonds of this kind during this century, it happened 
 that the general term of Fratricelli was applied to 
 them all, though they differed considerably from one 
 another in tlxur opinions and in their methods of 
 living. Thus the Catharists, the Waldenses, the 
 Apostles, and many other sects who hail invented 
 new opinions in religion, were marked with this de- 
 nomination by thf multitude; while the writers of 
 foreign nations, unac<)uainted with this ludicrous 
 application of the word, were puzzled in their inqui- 
 ries after the sect of the Fratricelli, (who had given 
 so much trouble to the Roman pontill's,') wiri' even 
 led into the grossest mistakes, and iniaciiied. .it one 
 time, that this order was that of the Catharists; at 
 another, that it was the sect of the Wabb^nses, &c. 
 But, in order to have distinct ideas of this matter, it 
 must be considered that the word Fralcnulus. or 
 I.iltle Brother, bore a quite different sense from the 
 ludicrous one now mentioned, when it was applied 
 to the austere part of the Franciscans, who main- 
 tained the necessity of observing, in the strirlcst 
 manner, the rule of their fouiidi'r. Instead of heiiig 
 a nick-name, or a term of derision when applied id 
 them, it was an honourable denomination in which 
 they delighted, and which they preferri'd infinitely 
 to all other titles. The import of Fratricelli corres- 
 ponds with Friars-Minors; and every one knows, 
 that the latter appellation was adopted by die Fran- 
 ciscans, as an expression of their e.vtraordinary hu- 
 mility and modesty. In assuming this title, there- 
 fore, these monks did not, properly speaking, assume 
 a new name, but only translated the anicierit name 
 of their order into the Italian language; for those 
 whom the Latins called Fralrcs Minores. the Italians 
 called Fratricelli. Of the many proofs we might 
 draw from the best authorsin favourof this arcount 
 of the matter, we shall only allege one. from the life 
 of Thorn. Aquinas, hv Guliclmus de Thoco in Acus 
 Vol. I.— 46 
 
 moiily called Tertiaries;* so likewise the order 
 of the Fratricelli, who were desirous of being 
 considered as the only genuine followers of St. 
 Francis, had a great number of Tertiaries at- 
 tached to their cause. These half-monks were 
 called, in Italy, /?i:oc/uand Bocasoti; in France, 
 Biguim; and in Germany Begivards, or Beg- 
 hards, which last was the de^iomination by 
 which they were commonly known in almost 
 all places. I They ditfered from the Fratri- 
 
 Sanctor. Martii, torn. i. cap. ii sect. xxi. "Destruiit 
 (says that biographer) er tertiuin pestiferum pravita- 
 tis errorem S. Thomas . . . cujus sectatores simul et 
 invcntores se iiotiiinanl fraterculo.i de vita paupere, 
 ut etiam sub hoc humilitatis sophistico nomine sira- 
 plicium corda seducant . . . contra ([uem errorem pes- 
 tiferum Johannes papa XXII. mirandani edidit de- 
 cretalem." 
 
 Now this very Decretal of John XXII. against the 
 Fratricelli, which Thoco calls admirable, is, to men- 
 lion no other testimonies, a sufficient and satisfac- 
 tory proof of what I have affirmed in relation to that 
 sect. In this .^ct (which is to be seen in the Extra- 
 vagantia Joh. XXII. Corp. Juris Canon, torn. ii. p. 
 1112, edit. Boluner) the pontiff expresses himself 
 thus: "Noniiulli profaiia> multitudinis viri, qui vul- 
 gariter Fratricelli seu Fratres de paupere vita, Bizo- 
 chi, sive IJeguiiii, nuncupaiitur in partibus Itahae, in 
 insula Sieilia; .... publice mendicare soleiit." He 
 afterwards dixides the Fratricelli into monks and 
 tertiaries, or (which amounts to the same thing, as 
 we shall show iu its place) into Fratricelli and Be- 
 guins. With respect to the Fratricelli, properly so 
 called, he expresses himself thus; " Plurinii regulain 
 seu ordinem Fratruin Minorum . . . . se profiteri ad 
 literam conservarc confingunt, jira^tendentes se a 
 sancta; memoria; C'celestino Papa tiuinto, prajdeces- 
 sore nostro, hujus status seu vita; privilegium ha- 
 buisse. Quod tameu etsi ostenderent, non valeret, 
 cum Honifacius papa octavusexcertis causisration- 
 abilibus omnia ab ipso Coelestino concessa .... viri- 
 hus penitiis evacuavcrit." Here he describes clearly 
 liiose Fratricelli, who, separating themselves from 
 the Fraiici.scans with a view to observe more strictly 
 the rule of Pt. Francis, were erected into a distinct 
 order by Celestin V. And in the following passage 
 he characterises, with the same perspicuity, the Bi- 
 zochi and Keguins, who entitled themselves of the 
 third order of tlK? penitents of St. Francis' " NonnulU 
 ex ipsis qsserentes se esse de tertio ordine beatl 
 Francisci pmnitentium vocato, pra"dictum statum et 
 ritum eorum sub vclaiuiiie talis nominis satagunt 
 palliare." 
 
 * Beside two very austere rules drawn up by St. 
 Francis, the one for the Friars-Minors, and the 
 other for the Poor Pistc-rs, called Clarisses, from St. 
 Clara their fnumler, this famous chief drew up a 
 third, whose demands were less rigorous, for such 
 as, without ali.indoiiing their worldly affairs or re- 
 signing tlieir possessions, were disposed to enter 
 \\ ith certain restrictions into the Franci.«can order, 
 and desirous of enjoying the privileges annexed to 
 it. This rule prescribed fasting, continence, hours 
 of devotion and prayer, mean and dirty apparel, 
 gravity of manners, and things of that nature; but 
 neither prohibited contracting marriage, acciitnulat- 
 ing wealth, filling civil employments, nor attending 
 to worldly atfairs. All the Franci.=can historians 
 have given accounts of this third rule, more espe- 
 cially Wadding, Annal. Min. torn. ii. — Helyot Hist. 
 (les Ordres, tom. vii. They who professed this ttiird 
 rule, were called Friars of the Penance of Christ, and 
 sometimes also, on account of the meanness of their 
 garments. Brethren of the Sack; but they were more 
 cenerally known by the dennmination of Tertiaries. 
 The greatest part of I he religious orders of the church 
 of Rome imilaled this institution of St. Francis, as 
 soon as tliev perreiveil the various advantages that 
 wire drdurilile from it. And lienre, at this day, 
 these orders ciiniiiiue to have llieir Tertiaries. 
 
 t The Tertiaries that were connected with the 
 order of the Fratricelli, arose about the year l-2<.ifi. in 
 the marquisate of Ancona and the neighbouring 
 countries, and were called Bizochi, as we learn from 
 (he edict issued acalnst them, in P2!)7, by Boniface 
 VIII.. and publL^ihed by Dii Boiilay, in his Historia, 
 Acad. Paris, tojn. iii. p. 541. They are mentioned 
 
362 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 celli, not in their opinions and doctrines, but 
 only in their manner of living. The Fratri- 
 celli were real monks, subjected to tlie rule of 
 St. Francis; while the Bizochi or Beguins, if 
 
 under the same title by John XXII. in the bull al- 
 ready cited. Add to all these authorities, that of the 
 learned Du-Fresne, who, in hisGlossar. Latinit. me- 
 diEP, observes, that this deiioniiiiation is derived from 
 Bizochus, which signifies in French une Bcsacc, i. e. 
 a sack or wallet, sucli as beggars in general, and 
 these holy bejgars in particular, were accustomed to 
 carry about with them. The term Bocasottis, (or 
 Vocasotus, as Du-Boulay writes it,) has without 
 doubt the same origin, and bears the same significa- 
 tion. It is used by Jordan, in his Chronicle, from 
 which wc shall cite a reniarkaWe passage in the fol- 
 lowing note. The denominations of Beghards and 
 Beguins, given to the Tertiaries in Fiance and Ita- 
 ly, are very frequently met with in the ecclesiastical 
 history of tlie middle ages. The accounts, however, 
 which both ancient and modern writers generally 
 give of these famous names, are so uncertain, and 
 so ditferent from each other, that we need not be 
 surprised to find the history of the Beghards and Be- 
 guins involved in greater pcrple.xity ami darkness, 
 than any otlwr part of the ecclesiastical annals of 
 the period now mentioned. It is therefore my pre- 
 sent object to remove this perplexity, and dispel this 
 darkness as far as that can be done in the short 
 space to whidi I am confined, and to disclose tiie 
 true origin of those denominations. 
 
 The words Bcghard or Bcggehard, Begutfa, Beg- 
 hiiius, and Beghind, which only differ in their termi- 
 nations, have all one and the same sense. The 
 German and Belgic nations wrote Bcghard and Be- 
 ffittte, which terminations are extremely common in 
 the language of the ancient Germans. But the 
 French substituted the Latin termination for the 
 German, and changed Bcghard into Bcghinvs and 
 Beghina; so that those who in Holland and Germa- 
 ny were called Beghard and Begnttc, were denomi- 
 nated, in France, Bcghini and BeghiiDC. Kven in 
 Germany and Holland, the Latin termination was 
 gradually introduced instead of the German, particu- 
 larly in the feminine term Bcgutta, of which change 
 we might allege several probable reasons, if this 
 were the proper place for disquisitions of that na- 
 ture. There are many diflfcrent opinions concerning 
 the origin and signification of these terms, which it 
 would be too tedious to mention, and still more so 
 to refute. Besides, I have done this in a large work 
 concerning the Beghards, wherein I have traced out, 
 with the utmost pains and labour, (from records, the 
 greatest part of which had never before seen the 
 light,) the history of all the sects to whom these 
 names have been given, and have, at the same time, 
 detected the errors into which many learned men 
 have fallen, in treating this part of the liistory of the 
 church. At present, therefTire, setting aside many 
 opinions ami conjectures, I stiall confiTie myself to a 
 brief incpiiry into the true origin and signification 
 of these words. They are undoubtedly derived t'rom 
 the old German word bcggcn or hcggeren, which sig- 
 nifies to seek any thing vvitli importunity, zeal, and 
 earnestness. In joining to this word the syllable 
 hard, which is the termination of many German 
 words, we have the term Beggchard, which is .ippli- 
 cable to a person who asks any thing with ardour 
 and importunity; and, therefore, common mendi- 
 cants, in the ancient German language, were called 
 Beghard, from which the English word beggar is 
 manifestly derived. Begutta signifies a female beg- 
 gar. — When Christianity was introduced into Ger- 
 many, the word hcggen, or hcggeren, was used in a 
 religious sense, and expres-sed the act of devout and 
 fervent prayer to the Supreme Being. Accordingly, 
 we find, in the Gothic translation of the Four Gos- 
 pels attributed to Ulphilas, the word beggen employ- 
 ed to express the duty of the earnest and fervent 
 prayer. Hence, when any person distinguished him- 
 self from otliers by the frequency and fervour of his 
 devotional service, he was called a Bcghartl, i. e. a 
 devout man; and the denomination of lirgutta was 
 given in the same sense, to women of uiiciiiMninn 
 piety. And as they who distinguislied lliiinselves 
 from others by the frequency of their prayers, thus 
 assumed a uiore striking air of external devotion 
 than the rest of their (ellow-Christians, all llio.«e who 
 were ambitious of appearing more religious and de- 
 
 we except their sordid habit, and certain ob- 
 servances and maxims, which they followed in 
 consequence of the injunctions of the famous 
 saint above mentioned, lived after the manner 
 
 vout than their neighbours, were called Beghardi or 
 Begutlu: 
 
 The observations we have hitherto made with re- 
 spect to the origin and signification of the words in 
 question, will serve as a clue to rescue the attentive 
 reader from that labyrinth of difficulties in which the 
 subject has been involved. They will also enable 
 him to account for the prodigious multitudes of Beg- 
 hards and Beguins that sprang up in Europe in the 
 thirteenth century, and will show liim how it hap- 
 pened, that these denominations were given to above 
 30 sects or orders, which differed widely from each 
 otljcr in their opinions, discipline, and manner of 
 living. The original signification of the word Beg- 
 hard, (or Beggert, as it was pronounced by the com- 
 mon people,) was importunate beggar. Therefore, 
 when the people saw certain persons, not only em- 
 bracing with resignation, but also with the most 
 voluntary choice, and under a pretext of devotion, 
 the horrors of absolute poverty, begging their daily 
 bread fi-om door to door, and renouncing all their 
 worldly pos.sessions and occupations, tiiey called all 
 such persons Beghards, or, if they were women. Be- 
 guttcs, without considering the variety of opinions 
 and maxims by wliioii thi'y were distinguished. The 
 sect called jlpost/ct<. tin- risid Franciscans, the bre- 
 thren of the free spirit (of wlK)m we shall speak 
 hereafter,) all embraced this sordid state of beggary; 
 and though among these orders there was not only a 
 wide difierence, but even the greatest opposition, 
 the Germans called tltem indiscriminately Beghards, 
 from the miserable state which they had all embrac- 
 ed. Nor is this to he wondered at; the character 
 which they possessed in common was striking, while 
 the sentiments and maxims that divided them es- 
 caped the observation of the multitude. 
 
 I5ut the word Bcghard acquired a second, and a 
 new signification, in this century, being employed, 
 as we have already observed, to signify a person who 
 prayed with uiicoinmon frequency, and who distin- 
 guished himself from those about him by an extra- 
 ordinary appearance of piety. The force of this 
 term, in its new signification, is the same with that 
 of the word Methodist, which is at present the deno- 
 mination of a certain sect of fanatics in Great Bri- 
 tain. Such, therefore, as departed from the manner 
 of living that was usual among their fellow-citizens, 
 and distinguished themselves by the gravity of their 
 aspect anil the austerity of their manners, were 
 comprehended under the general denomination of 
 Beghards and Bcgutfcs in Germany, and of Beguins 
 and Beguines in France. These terms, as we could 
 show liy many examples, comprehended at first even 
 the monks and nuns; but, in process of time, they 
 were confined to those who formed a sort of inter- 
 mediate order between the monks and citizens, and 
 who resembled the former in the manner of living, 
 without assuniing their name or contracting their 
 obligations. The Tertiaries, therefore, or half-monks 
 of the Dominican, Franciscan, and, in general, of all 
 the religious orders, were called Beghards; for 
 though, as lay-citizens, they belonged to the body 
 politic, yet they distinguished themselves by their 
 monkish dispositions, and their profession of extra- 
 ordinary piety and sanctity of manners. The fra- 
 ternity of weavers, the Brethren of St. Alexius, the 
 followers of Gerard the Great, in a word, all who 
 pretended to an uncommon degree of sanctify and 
 devotion, were caller! Beghards, although they pro- 
 cured the necessaries of life by honest industry, 
 without having recourse to the sordid trade of beg- 
 ging. 
 
 The denominations, therefore, of Beghards, Be- 
 euttes, Beguins, and Beguines, are rather honourable 
 than otherwise, when we consider their origin; and 
 they are mentioned as such, in several records and 
 deeds of this century, whose authority is most re- 
 spectable, particularly in the Testament of St. Louis, 
 king of France. But, in the sequel, these terms lost 
 gradually, as the case ol'len happens, their primitive 
 signification, and became marks of infamy and deri- 
 sion. For, among these religious beggars and these 
 sanctimonious pretenders to extraordinary piety, 
 there were many, whose piety was nothing more 
 than the mos*. senseless superstition; many, also, 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, 8tc. 
 
 3G3 
 
 of other men, and were therefore considered in 
 no other light, tlian as seculars and laymen.* 
 It is, however, to be observed, that the Hi/.ochi 
 were divided into two classes, whicli derived 
 their respective denominations of perfect and 
 imperfect, from tlic ditTeront deirrecs of austeri- 
 ty that they discovered in their manner of liv- 
 ing. The perfect lived upon alms, abstained 
 from wedlock, and had no fixed habitations. 
 The imperfect, on the contrary, had tiieir 
 houses, wives, and possessions, and were en- 
 gaged, like the rest of their fellow-citizens, in 
 the various affairs of life. f 
 
 XLI. We must not confound these Beguins 
 and Beguincs, who derive tlieir origin from 
 an austere branch of the Franciscan order, 
 with the German and Belgic Beguines, who 
 crept out of tiieir obscurity in this century, and 
 multiplied prodigiously in a very short time. J 
 
 whose .lustere devotion was accompanied with opi- 
 nions of a corrupt nature, entirely opposite to tlie 
 doctrine of the church; and (what was still more 
 horrible) many artful hypocrites, who, under the 
 mask of reli{j;ion, concealed the most abominable 
 principles, and committed the most enormous crimes. 
 These were the fools and knaves who broufjht the 
 denomination of ISeghard into disrepute, and ren- 
 dered it both ridiculous and iufanioiis; so that it was 
 only employed to sijinify idiots, heretics, or hypo- 
 crites. The denomination of Lollards, of which sect 
 we shall soon have occasion to speak, mot with the 
 same fate, and was rendered cimtemptible by the 
 persons who masked their iniquity under that spe- 
 cious title. 
 
 * See the Acta Inquis. Tolos. published by Lim- 
 borch, p. 298, 302, &c. Among the various passages 
 of ancient writijrs, which tend to illustrate the his- 
 tory of the Fratricelli and Beguins, I shall quote 
 only one, which is to be found in Jordan's Chroni- 
 con, published by Muratori, in his Antiq. Ital. medii 
 iEvi, tom. iv. p. 1(120, and confirms almost every 
 thing we have said upon that head; anno 12S14. 
 " Petrus de Macerata et I'etrus de Forftsempronio 
 apostatae fuerunt ordinis Minonnn et ha'retici. His 
 petentibus ercmitice viverc, ut regulam 11. Franrisci 
 ad literam servare pos.seiit; quibus plures Apostat.-i' 
 adh.Tseriint, qui statum coniniunitatisdamnabanl et 
 declarationes regul.T, et vocubant se Fratrcs 8. 
 Prancisci (he ought to have said Fratriccllos) Sa'cu- 
 lares, (i. e. the Tertiaries, who were the friends and 
 associates of the Fratricelli, without quitting, how- 
 ever, their secular stale, or entering into the monas- 
 tic order;) Sa^culares autem vocarunt liizocios aiit 
 Fratricellns vel Bocasotos." Jordan, however, errs in 
 alKrming, that the csu'culares were called Fratricelli; 
 for the latter name bclouged only to the true monks 
 of St. Francis, ami not to the Tc^rtiaries. The: other 
 circumstances of this .KTonnt are exact, and show 
 that the more austere priilcssurs of the Franei.-;can 
 rule were divideil into twoclasses, namely, friarsand 
 seculars, and that the l.ilter were railed liimrhi. "II 
 dogmatizabaut, <|un(l nulliis suinmus puntilix regu- 
 lam B. Francisci deilarare potuit. Item, (piod ange 
 his ahstulit a Nicolao tertio papatiis auctoritatem 
 . . . . Et quod ipsi soli.sinil in via Dei et vera eccle- 
 sia," &,r 
 
 t This division is mentioned, or supposed by seve 
 ral authors, anrl more especiallyiin the Acta Inqui- 
 sit. Tolosanw, p. :«):i, &c. 
 
 \ In the seventeenth century, there was a great de- 
 Imte carried on in the Netherlands on this sulijict. 
 In the course of this ciuitroversy it was proved, by 
 the most authentic and unr'xcepiionahle records and 
 diplomas, that, so early as the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries, there had been several societies of liecui 
 nes established in Holland and I'Linders. It is true. 
 that no more than threeof these authentic acts were 
 produced; the first was ilrawn up in Ill(i,'>, the seconrl 
 in 11*», the third in ll.'il; .iird they were all three 
 drawn up at Vilvorden by the Beguines. See Aub. 
 Mira^us, Opera DipKunatico-historica, tom. ii.c. x.vvi. 
 p. 948, and tom. iii. p. t>2:). -F.rycius Puteanus, de 
 Beghinarum apud Beliras Instituto. This treatise 
 of Puleanus is to be found with another of the same 
 author, and upon the same subject, in a work en- 
 
 Their origin was of earlier date than this cen- 
 tury; but it was only now tiiat they actjuired 
 a name, and -made a noise in the world. Their 
 primitive estajjlishinont was, undoubtedly, tlio 
 effect of virtuous dispositions and upriglit in- 
 tentions. A certain number of pious women, 
 botli virgins and widows, in order to maintain 
 their integrity, and preserve their principles 
 from the contagion of a vicious and corrupt 
 age, formed themselves into societies, each of 
 which had a fi.xed place of residence, and lived 
 under the inspection and government of a fe- 
 male head, ilere they divided their time be- 
 tween exercises of devotion, and works of 
 honest inchistry, reserving to themselves the 
 liberty of entering into tlie state of matrimony, 
 as also of rjuitting the convent, whenever they 
 thought proper. And as all those among tho 
 female sex, who made extraordinary profes- 
 sions of piety and devotion, were distinguished 
 by the title of Beguines, (i. c. persons who 
 were uncommonly assiduous in prayer,) that 
 title was given to tlie women of whom we are 
 now speaking.* The first regular society of 
 this kind that wo read of, was formed at Ni- 
 velle in Brabant, in 1226;t and it was followed 
 by so many institutTonS of a like nature in 
 France, Germany, Holland, and Flanders, 
 that, toward the middle of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, there was scarcely a city of any note, 
 that had not its beguinage, or vineyard, as it 
 was sometimes called in conformity to the style 
 of the Song of Songs.|; All these female so- 
 
 titled Josephi Gcldolphi a Ryckel Vita S. Beggs, 
 cum Adnotationibus, p. ti5 — 227. Duaci, 1031. Now, 
 though we grant that those writers have not fallen 
 into an error who place the rise of the Beguines in 
 the twelfth or thirteenth century, yet the small 
 number of authentic records, which they have to pro- 
 duce in favour of their antiquity, is an incontestable 
 |iroof of the obscurity in which they lay concealed 
 before the time in which these authors placed tiieir 
 origin, and may render it almost probable, that tlie 
 only convent of Beguines, that existed hcloru tliu 
 thirteenth century, was that of Vilvorden. 
 
 * All the Beghards and Beguines that yet remain 
 in the Netherlands, where their convents have al- 
 most entirely changed their ancient and primitive 
 form, affirm unanimously, that both their iiaiiii' and 
 institution di'rive their origin from St. ItegL'he, diich 
 ess of lirabaut, and daughter of I'epin, mayor of the 
 palace of the king of Auslrasia, who lived in the 
 seventh century, 'i'liis l.iily, therefore, they con- 
 sider as thiir p.ilrniuss, and honour her as a kind 
 of tutelar divinity with the dc^epest sentiments of 
 veneration ami respect. See Jos. Geld, a Ryckel, 
 Vit. S. Begga', a wink of great hulk and little merit, 
 and full of tin; ino.'-t silly and insipid fables. — Tho.sp 
 who are not widlwishers to the latise of the Be- 
 guines, adopt a quite diflercMit accoiiiil of their 
 origin, whicli they deduce from Lambert le |!igiic>, a 
 priest and native of Liege, who lived in tin luelfth 
 century, and wa.-; iiiMch csteenird for Ins eminent 
 piety. The learned I'eler Coens, canon ot Antwerp, 
 has defended this opinion with more erudition than 
 any other writer, in Ills Disqiiisitio Historicade Ori- 
 giiie Beghinarum (;t Beghinagiorum in Belgio, Leod. 
 11.72. 
 
 (aj^ \ Other liistorians say, in 1207. 
 
 ] See Matth. Paris, Histor. Major, ad An. 12-13 and 
 I2.')0, p. .'ilO, (i'.Hi. — Thomas flantipratensis in Bono 
 I'liiversali di; Apihiis, lib. ii. cap. li. — Pet.de Her- 
 eiith.il, in his Annals, from which we have a very 
 reui.irk.ible passage cited by Jos. Geld, a Kyckel, in 
 Ills Olifrrvationc^i ad Vilnm S. Brjr/rtr, sect. c.\cvi. 
 The origin anil charters of the convents ofBegni- 
 nes, that were founded during this and the following 
 century in Holland and Flanders, are tre.nted in an 
 ample m.inner by Aiib. Miracus, in his Opera Hiii- 
 loriro (lipbuiiatica, John Bapt. Grainniaye, in his 
 Antiquitntes Belgic», Anton. Sanders, in his Bra- 
 
S64 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 PartII 
 
 cieties were not governed by the same laws; 
 but, in the greatest part of them, the hours 
 that were not devoted to prayer, meditation, 
 or other rehgious exercises, were employed in 
 weaving, embroidering, and other manual la- 
 bours. The poor, sick, and disabled Beguines, 
 were supported by the pious liberality of such 
 opulent persons as were friends to the order. 
 
 XLII. This female institution was soon 
 imitated in Flanders by tlie other sex; and con- 
 siderable numbers of unmarried men, both 
 bachelors and widowers, formed themselves 
 into communities of the same kind with those 
 of the Beguines, under the inspection and go- 
 vernment of a certain cliicf, and with the same 
 religious views and purposes; reserving to 
 themselves, however, the liberty of returning 
 to their former mode of life.* These pious per- 
 sons were, in the style of this age, called Beg- 
 hards, and (by a corruption of that term usual 
 among the Flemish and Dutch) Bogarib; from 
 others they received the denomination of Lol- 
 lards: in France they were distinguished at 
 first by that of Bons Valets, or Bo7is Garcons, 
 and afterwards by that of Begxiins: they were 
 also styled the Fraternity of Weavers, from the 
 trade whicli the greatest part of them exer- 
 cised. The first Beghard society seems to have 
 been that which was establislied at Antwerp in 
 1228j and this establishment was followed by 
 many similar associations in Germany, France, 
 Holland, and Flanders, though, after all their 
 success, their congregations were less nume- 
 rous than those of the Bcguines-f It is worthy 
 of observation, that the Roman pontiffs never 
 honoured tlie societies of the Beghards and 
 Beguines with their solemn or explicit appro- 
 bation, or confirmed their establishments by 
 the seal of their authority. They, however, 
 granted them a full toleration, and even de- 
 fended them often against tiic stratagems and 
 violence of their enemies, who were many in 
 number. This appears by the edicts in favour 
 of the Beghards, which tlie pontiffs granted in 
 compliance with tlie solicitations of many il- 
 lustrious personages, wlio wished well to that 
 society. It did not, however, continue always 
 to flourish. The greatest part of the convents, 
 botii of the Beghards and Beguines, are now 
 either demolished, or converted to other uses. 
 In Flanders, indeed, a considerable number of 
 the latter still sul)sist, ])ut few of the former 
 arc to be found in any country. 
 
 XLIII. After the accounts hitherto given of 
 the rulers of the church, and of the religious 
 orders that were instituted or became famous 
 during this century, it will not be improper to 
 conclude this chapter, by mentioning briefly 
 
 bantia et Flandria ilUistrata, and by other writers 
 of the Belgic liistory. 
 
 * Matth. Paris, Hist. Major, ad An. 1253. 
 
 t See Uyckelit Vita S. Begga?, p. t)3.5.— Ant. San- 
 deri Flandria Ilhistrata, lib. iii. c. xvi. Jo. Bapt. 
 Graminaye's Antiqiiit. Flaiid. p. 22.— Aiib. Mirii'i 
 Opera Diploni. Hist. toni. iii.c. clxviii. — Helyot, ili.<t. 
 des Ordres, torn. vii. p. 248, who is nevertlii'less 
 chargeable with many errors.— Gerardns Antoninus, 
 Pater Minister (so the head of the order is calliil in 
 our times) Brghardorum Antwerpiensiuni, in Epis- 
 toia ad Kvckinin do Beghardoruni origine et futis 
 in Rvckelii Vila S. Bepga?, p. 489. This author, in- 
 deed, from a spirit of partiality to his order, conceals 
 the truth desiijnedly in various places 
 
 the Greek and Latin writers, who, durino- the 
 same period, acquired fame by their learned 
 productions. The most eminent among the 
 Greeks were, 
 
 Nicetas Acominatus, who composed a work, 
 entitled the History and Treasure of the Or- 
 thodox Faith; 
 
 Germanus, the Grecian patriarch, of whom 
 we have yet extant, among other productions 
 of less note, a Book against the Latins, and an 
 Exposition of the Greek Liturgy; 
 
 Tlieodorus Lascaris, who left behind him 
 several treatises upon various subjects of a re- 
 ligious nature, and who also entered the lists 
 against the Latins, which was the reigning 
 passion among such of the Greeks as were en- 
 dowed with tolerable parts, and were desirous 
 of showing their zeal for the honour of their 
 nation; 
 
 Nicephorus Blemmida, who employed his 
 talents in the salutary work of healing the 
 divisions between tlie Greeks and Latins; 
 
 Arsenius, whose Synopsis of the Canon Law 
 of the Greeks is far from being contemptible; 
 
 Georgius Acropolita, who acquired a high 
 degree of renown, not only by his historical 
 writings, but also by the transactions and ne- 
 gotiations in which he was employed by the 
 emperor Michael; 
 
 Johannas Beccus or Veccus, who involved 
 himself in much trouble, and e.xcited the odium 
 of many, by defending the cause of the Latins 
 against his own nation with too much zeal; 
 
 George Metochita, and Constantine Meli- 
 teniota, who employed, without success, their 
 most earnest efforts fo bring about a reconcilia 
 tion between the Greeks and Latins; 
 
 George Pachymeres, who acquired reputa 
 tion by his commentary upon Dionysius, the 
 pretended chief of the mystics, and by a history 
 which he composed of his own time; and, 
 
 George the Cyprian, whose hatred of the 
 Latins, and warm opposition to Veccus above- 
 mentioned, rendered him more famous than all 
 his other productions.* 
 
 XLIV. The prodigious number of JLatip 
 writers that appeared in this century, renders 
 it impossible for us to mention them all; we 
 shall therefore confine our account to those 
 among them, who were the most eminent, and 
 whose theological writings demand most fre- 
 (luently our notice in the course of this history. 
 Sucii were, 
 
 Joachim, abbot of Flora in Calabria, who 
 was a man of mean parts and of a weak judg- 
 ment, fiill of enthusiastic and visionary notions, 
 but was esteemed for his piety and supposed 
 knowledge, and was even considered, during 
 his life and after his death, by the miserable 
 and blinded multitude, as a prophet sent from 
 above. The pretended prophecies of this silly 
 fanatic arc abundantly known, and have been 
 frequently published;! 
 
 * For a more ample account of all these writers, 
 the reader may consult the Bibliotheca Grteca of 
 Fabricius. 
 
 t The life of Joachim was written in Italian by 
 Gregory di Lauro, and published at Naples in 1660 
 The first edition of his prophecies appeared at Venice, 
 in 1517; and it was followed by several new editions, 
 to satisfy the curiosity of the populace, great and 
 small 
 
 i 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH 
 
 365 
 
 Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 who wrote commentaries upon the greatest 
 part of tlie books of Scripture;' 
 
 Francis, tiie founder of the famous society 
 of Friars-minors, or Franciscans, whose wri- 
 tings were desisjued to toucFi tlie heart, and ex- 
 cite pious and devout sentiments, but discover 
 little genius, and less judgment. 
 
 Alan de I'Isle, a logician, who made no 
 mean figure among the disputatious tribe; who 
 applied himself also to the study of chemistry, 
 and published several moral discourses, in 
 whicli are many wise and useful exhortations 
 and precept,s;f 
 
 JacobiLs de Vitriaco, who acquired a name 
 by his Oriental History; and Jacobus de Vora- 
 gine, whose History of the Lombards^ was re- 
 •ceived with applause. 
 
 The writers of this century, who obtained 
 the greatest renown on account of tlieir labo- 
 rious researches in what was called philosophi- 
 cal or dialectical theology, were Albertus 
 Magnus, Tliomas Aquinas, and Bonaventura, 
 who respectively possessed an inquisitive turn 
 of mind, and a sublime and penetrating ge- 
 nius, accompanied with an uncommon talent 
 of exploring the most hidden truths, and treat- 
 ing with facility tiic most abstruse subjects, 
 though they are all chargeable with errors and 
 reveries that do little honour to their memo- 
 ries. § The other writers, who trod the same 
 intricate paths of metaphj'sical divinity, were 
 many in number, and several of them were 
 justly admired, tliough much inferior in re- 
 nown to the celebrated triumvirate now men- 
 tioned; such were Alexander Hales, the inter- 
 preter of Aristotle, William of Paris,|| Robert 
 CapitOjH Tliomas Cantipratensis, John of 
 Peckham, William Durand, Roger Bacon,** 
 Richard Middleton, Giles de Columna, Ar- 
 mand de Bello-Visu, and several others. 
 
 Hugo de St. Caro gained much applause by 
 his Concordance of the Holy Bible, jj 
 
 Qj^ * Langtoii was a Ipariifd and polite author 
 for the age in which he lived. To him we. am in- 
 debted for th(! division of the Bible into ch.Tpters. 
 He wrote coinnienturics upon all tlie books of the 
 Old Testament, and np(Ui iSt. Paul's Kpistles. 
 
 t Several of the name of Alan lived in this cen- 
 tury, who have been strangely confounded, botli by 
 ancient and modern writers. See Ja(i. le liteuf. Me- 
 moires surDlist. d'Aux(;rre, torn. i. and Dissert, sur 
 I'Hist. Civil, et Eccles. de Paris, tom. ii. 
 
 } Jac. Krhanii Scriptor. Uumin. t. i. — Bollandi 
 Pra^f a<l Acta Sanctor. 
 
 § For an account of Albert, see Echard. Script. 
 Doni. torn. i. — For an account of Thomas Acpiinas, 
 who was called the Jlnt^cl of the Schvlaslics amons 
 other splendid titles, see th(! Acta Sanctorum, torn 
 i. and Ant. Touron, Vie dc St.. T/iomas, Paris, 17U7. — 
 We have ai.^o a circumstantial relation of what- 
 ever concerns the life, writiiiKS, and exploits of 
 Bonav(!iitura, the tutelar saint of the Lyounois, in 
 France, in the two follciwini; books, viz. Colonia's 
 Histoire Literairu di; la Ville de I.yon, tom. ii. and 
 the Histoire de la Vie et du Culte de S. Honaventure, 
 par un Reli^teux Cordelier. 
 
 |( See the Gallia Christiana, published by the 
 Benedictines, torn. vii. 
 
 IT Anthony Wood has given an ample account of 
 Robert C'apito, in his Antiqnitat. O.xoniens. tom, i. 
 
 gj^ »* We are surprised to find Roger Bacon thrust 
 here into a crowd of vulgar literati, since that great 
 man, whose astonishing genius and universal learn- 
 ing have already been noticcul, was in every respect 
 superior to Albert and Bonaventura, two of the 
 heroes of Dr. IMosheim's triumvirate. 
 
 (it?' tt Hugo de St. Oaio, or St. Cher, composed also 
 
 Guillaume de St. Amour carried on with 
 great spirit and resolution, but with little suc- 
 cess, a literary and theological war against 
 those friars who looked upon begging as a. 
 mark of sanctity. 
 
 Humbert de Romania drew up a system of 
 rules and precepts, with a view of subjecting 
 to a better regulation the lives and manners of 
 the monastic orders. 
 
 William Perald arose in this century to a 
 high degree of literary renown, in consequence 
 of a system of morals he published under the 
 title of Summa Virtutum et Viliorum.* 
 
 Raymond Martin yet survives the oblivion 
 that has covered many of his contemporaries; 
 and his Pvgio Fidei, or Sword of Faith, which 
 he drew against tlie Jews and Saracens, has 
 escaped the ruins of time. 
 
 John of Paris deserves an eminent rank 
 among the glorious defenders of truth, liberty, 
 and justice, since he maintained the authority 
 of tlie civil powers, and the majesty of kings 
 and princes, against the ambitious stratagems 
 and usurpations of the Roman pontifls, and de- 
 clared openly his opposition to the opinion that 
 was commonly adopted with respect to the sa- 
 crament of the Lord's supper, and the presence 
 of Christ in that holy ordinance.! 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine qf the Christian Church 
 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. However numerous and deplorable were 
 the corruptions and superstitious abuses which 
 had hitherto reigned in the church, and deformed 
 the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel, they 
 were nevertheless increased in this century, 
 instead of being reformed; and tlie rehgion of 
 Christ continued to sutfcr under the growing 
 tyranny of fanaticism and superstition. The 
 progress of reason and of truth was retarded 
 among the Greeks and Orientals, by their im- 
 inf>derate aversion to the Latins, their blind 
 admiration of whatever bore the stamp of an- 
 tiquity, the indolence of their bishops, the stu- 
 pidity of their clergy, and the calamities of the 
 times. Among the Latins, many concurring 
 causes united to augment the darkness of that 
 cloud whicli had already been cast over the 
 divine lustre of genuine Christianity. On the 
 one hand, the Roman poiitilfs could not bear 
 the thought of any thing tiiat migiit iiave even 
 the remotest tendency to diminish their au- 
 thority, or to encroach upon their preroga- 
 tives; and therefore they laboured assiduously 
 to keep the multitude in the dark, and to bias' 
 every attempt that was made toward a refor- 
 mation in the doctrine or di.scipline of the 
 church. On the other hand, the school divines, 
 
 a very learned collection of the various readings of 
 the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin manuscripts of the 
 Bible. This work, which he eiUitled (Jorrectoriuir 
 liiblia;, is preserved in manuscript in the Sorbonne 
 Library. We must not forget to observe also, iha. 
 his Concordance is the first that ever was compiled. 
 
 * See Colonia, Histoire Literairc de la Ville de 
 Lyon, tom. ii. p. 322. 
 
 t We may learn his opinion concerning theenchar- 
 ist from his treatise entitled Determinatio de S. 
 (^cena, published at Lon(l<in,by the learned Dr.Allix, 
 in lljhC).— See also EchardiScriptor. Dominican, tom. 
 i. p. 001.— Baluzii Vitae Ponlif Avenionens. tom. i, 
 
366 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 PART H. 
 
 among whom the Dominican and Franciscan 
 monks made the greatest figure on account of 
 their unintelhgiblc jargon and subtlety, shed 
 perplexity and darkness over the plain truths 
 of religion by their intricate distinctions and 
 endless divisions, and by that cavilling, quib- 
 bling, disputatious spirit, which is the mortal 
 enemy both of truth and virtue. It is true that 
 these scliolastic doctors were not all equally 
 chargeable with corrupting the truth; the most 
 enormous and criminal corruptors of Christi- 
 anity wore those who led the multitude into 
 the two following abominable errors: that it 
 was in tjie power of man to perform, if he 
 wished, a more perfect obedience than God 
 required; and that the whole of religion con- 
 sisted in an external air of gravity, and in certain 
 composed bodily gestm-es. 
 
 II. It will be easy to confirm this general ac- 
 count of the state of religion by particular 
 facts. In the fourth Lateran council, convok- 
 ed by Innocent III., in 1215, and at which an 
 extraordinary number of ecclesiastics were as- 
 sembled,* that imperious pontiff, without deign- 
 ing to consult any body, published no less than 
 seventy laws or decrees, by which not only the 
 authority of the popes and tlic power of the 
 clergy were confirmed and extended, but also 
 new doctrines, or articles of faith, were impos- 
 ed upon Christians. Hitherto the opinions 
 of the Christian doctors, concerning the man- 
 ner in which the body and blood of Christ 
 were present in the eucharist, were extremely 
 different; nor had the church determined, by 
 any clear and positive decree, the sentiment 
 that was to be embraced in relation to that im- 
 portant matter. It was reserved for Innocent 
 to put an end to the liberty, which every Chris- 
 tian had hitherto enjoyed, of interpreting this 
 presence in tlie manner he thought most agree- 
 able to the declarations of Scripture, and to 
 decide in favour of the most absurd and mon- 
 strous doctrine that the phrensy of supersti- 
 tion was capable of inventing. This auda- 
 cious pontiff pronounced the opinion, which is 
 embraced at this day in the cliurch of Rome 
 with regard to that point, to be the only true 
 and orthodox account of the matter; and he 
 had the honour of introducing and establishing 
 the use of the term TransubUantialion, which 
 was hitherto absolutely unknown. f The same 
 pontiff placed, by his own authority, among 
 the duties prescribed by the divine laws, that 
 of auricular confession to a priest; a confession 
 that implied not only a general acknowledg- 
 ment, but also a particular enumeration of tiie 
 sins and follies of the penitent. Before this 
 period several doctors, indued, looked upon 
 this kind of confession as a duty inculcated 
 by divine authority; but this opinion was not 
 publicly received as the doctrine of tjie church; 
 for, though the confession of sin was justly 
 deemed an essential duly, yet it was left to 
 every Christian's choice, to make the confes- 
 sion mentally to the Supreme Being, or to ex- 
 press it in words to a spiritual confidant and 
 
 (t(j= * At this CDiiiicil tlioro wore prcsi-nl 412 bi- 
 shops, 800 abbiits and prims, beside lliu aiidiassadois 
 of almost all Hip European princes. 
 
 t See Edin. .Mburtinus, de Eucliaristia, lib iii. n. 
 972. 
 
 director.* These two laws, which, by the au- 
 thority of Innocent, were received as laws of 
 God, and consequently adopted as laws of the 
 church, occasioned a multitude of new injunc- 
 tions and rites, of which not even the smallest 
 traces are to be found in the sacred writintrs, 
 or in the apostolic and primitive ages; and 
 which were much more adapted to establish 
 and extend the reign of superstition, than to 
 open the eyes of the blinded midtitude upon 
 the enormous abuses of which it had been the 
 source. 
 
 III. There is nothing that will contribute 
 more to convince us of the miserable state of 
 religion in this century, and of the phrensy 
 that prevailed in the devotion of these unhap- 
 py times, than the rise of the sect called Fla- 
 gellantes, or Wliippers, which sprang up in Ita- 
 ly, in 1260, and thence diffused itself through 
 almost all the countries of Europe. The so- 
 cieties that embraced this new discipline, pre- 
 sented the most hideous and shocking specta- 
 cle that can well be conceived; multitudes, 
 composed of persons of both sexes, and of all 
 ranks and ages, ran tlu-ough the public places 
 of the most populous cities, and also through 
 the fields and deserts, with whips in their hands, 
 lasiiing their naked bodies with astonishing se- 
 verity, filling the air with their wild shrieks, 
 and beholding the firmament with an air of 
 distraction, ferocity, and horror; and all this 
 with a view to obtain the divine mercy for 
 themselves and others, by their voluntary mor- 
 tification and penance.f This method of ap- 
 peasing the Deity was perfectly conformable to 
 the notions of religion that generally prevailed 
 in this century; nor did these fanatical Flagel- 
 lators do any thing more, in this extravagant 
 discipline, than practise the lessons which they 
 had received from the monks, especially from 
 the mendicant fanatics. Hence they attracted 
 the esteem and veneration, not oidy of the po- 
 pulace, but also of their rulers, and were ho- 
 noured and revered by all ranks and orders, on 
 ai^count of their extraordinary sanctity and 
 virtue. Their sect, however, did not alwa)'s 
 continue in the same high degree of credit and 
 re|>utation; for, though the primitive whippers 
 were exemplary in pohit of morals, yet their 
 societies wore augmented, as might naturally 
 be expected, by a turbulent and furious rabble, 
 many of whom were infected with the most 
 ridiculous and even impious opinions. Hence 
 !)oth the emperors and pontifi's thought proper 
 to put an end to tiiis religious phrensy, by de- 
 claring all devout flagellation contrary to the 
 divine law, and prejudicial to tiie soul's eternal 
 interests. 
 
 IV. The Christian interpreters and commen- 
 tators of this century difler very little from 
 tho.se of tlic preceding times. The greatest 
 part of them prctenilcd to draw from the 
 depths of truth, (or rather of their imagina- 
 
 * See the book of the learned Daille, concerning 
 Auricnlar ("onfession. 
 
 t Christ. Scliotjxenii Ilislnria Flagellantium. — Ja 
 qiii>s IJoilean, llisloirc des Flaj;ellaiis, chap. i.x. We 
 liiive also a lively ))irtiire of this fanatical discipline 
 of the Whippers, exhibited in Miirtenne's Voyage 
 Ijiteraire de diMi.x Beiu'dictins, ton), ii. with which 
 the reader may compare Muratori's Aiilii]. Ital me- 
 dii ili^vi, torn, vi 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 367 
 
 tioiis,) what they called the internal juice and 
 marrow of the Scriptures, i. e. their liidden and 
 mysterious Bense; and this they did with so lit- 
 tle dexterity, so little ])lausibility and inven- 
 tion, that the greater part of their explications 
 must appear insipid and nauseous to such as 
 are not entirely destitute of judgment and taste. 
 If our readers be desirous of a proof of the 
 justice of this censure, or curious to try the 
 extent of their patience, they have only to pe- 
 ruse the explications that have been given by 
 Archbishop Langton, Hugh do St. Cher, and 
 Antony of Padua, of the v.arious books of the 
 Old and New Testament. The mystic doctors 
 carried this visionary method of interpreting 
 Scripture to the greatest height, and displayed 
 the most laborious industry, or rather the 
 most egregious folly, in searching for myste- 
 ries, where reason and common sense could 
 find nothing but plain and evident truths. 
 They were too penetrating and quick-aighted not 
 to perceive clearly in the holy scriptures all 
 those doctrines that were agreeable to their 
 idle and fantastic system. Nor were their ad- 
 versaries, the scjioolmen, entirely averse to this 
 arbitrary and fanciful manner of interpreta- 
 tion, though their ])rincipal industry was cm- 
 ployed rather in collecting the explications gi- 
 ven by the ancient doctors, than in inventing 
 new ones, as appears from the writings of 
 Alexander Hales, William Alvcrnus, and Tho- 
 mas Aquinas himself. We must not, however, 
 omit observing, that the scholastic doctors in 
 general, and more especially these now men- 
 tioned, had recourse often to the subtleties of 
 logic and metaphysics, to assist them in their 
 explications of the sacred writings. To faci- 
 litate the study and interpretation of these di- 
 vine books, Hugh de St. Cher composed his 
 Concordance,* and the Dominicans, under the 
 eye of their supreme chief, the learned .lordan, 
 gave a new edition of the Latin translation oi" 
 the Bible, carefully revised and corrected from 
 the ancient copics.f The Greeks contributed 
 nothing that deserves attention toward the il- 
 lustration of the Scriptures; the greatest part 
 of which were expomuled with great learning 
 by Gregory Abulpharaj, that celebrated Syrian, 
 whose erudition was famous throughout the 
 east, and whom we have already had occasion 
 to mention.! 
 
 V. Systems of theology and ethics were 
 multiplied exceedingly in this century; and of 
 those writers, who treated of the divine per- 
 fections and worship and of the practical rules 
 of virtue and obedience, the number is too 
 great to permit specification. All such as were 
 endowed with any considerable degree of ge- 
 nius and eloquence, employed their labours 
 upon these noble branches of sacred science, 
 more especially the academical and public 
 teachers, among whom the Dominicans and 
 Franciscans held the most eminent rank, it is, 
 indeed, unnecessary to mention the names, or 
 enumerate the productions of these doctors, 
 since whoever is aciiuainted with the charac- 
 
 * Echnrili Scriplor. Ord. Pra'dicalor. torn. i. p. !!•! 
 
 t Uich. Simon, Ci it. <lo la Uib. (Ilm Aut. Ecc. par 
 M.Dii I'm, t.i. p. 341. 
 
 t Jos. t^im Acjfinaiu bibliuili Orient. Vatican, 
 torn. li. p. 177 
 
 ters and writings of Albert the Great, and 
 Tliomas Aquinas, will know every thing that 
 is worthy of note in the rest, who were no 
 more than their echoes. The latter of these 
 truly great men, commonly called the Angel 
 of the Schools, or the Angelic Doctor, sat un- 
 rivalled at tlie head of the divines of this cen- 
 tury, and deservedly obtained the principal 
 place among those who digested the doctrines 
 of Christianity into a regular system, and il- 
 lustrated and explained them in a scientific 
 manner. For no sooner had his system, or 
 sum of theology and morals, seen the light, 
 than it was received almost tuiiversally with 
 the highest applause, placed in the same rank 
 with Lombard's famous IJook of Sentences, 
 and admitted as the standard of truth, and the 
 great rule according to which the public teach- 
 ers formed their plans of instruction, and the 
 youth their methods of study. Some writers, 
 hideed, have denied that Tliomas was the au- 
 thor of the celebrated system that bears his 
 name;* but the reasons which they allege in 
 support of this notion are destitute of evidence 
 and solidity. f 
 
 VI. The greatest part of these doctors fol- 'y 
 lowed Aristotle as their model, and made use 
 ot' the logical and metaphysical principles of 
 that subtle philosopher, in illustrating the doc- 
 trines of Christianity, and removing the diffi- 
 culties with which some of them were attend- 
 ed. In their philosophical explications of the 
 more sublime truths of that divine religion, 
 tliey followed the hypothesis of the Realists,^ 
 which sect, in this century, was much more 
 numerous and flourishing than that of the 
 J^'ominalists, on account of the lustre iind credit 
 it derived from the authority of Thomas 
 Aquinas and Aliwrt, its learned and venerable 
 patrons. Yet, notwithstanding all the subtlety 
 and penetration of these irrefragable, seraphic,, 
 and angelic doctors, as they wore usually 
 styled, they often appeared wiser in their own 
 conceit, than they were in reality, and fre- 
 quently did little more than involve in greater 
 obscurity the doctrines which they pretended 
 to place in the clearest light. For, not to men- 
 tion the ridiculous oddity of many of their ex- 
 pressions, the hideous barbarity of their style, 
 and their extravagant and presunqjtuous desire 
 of prying into matters that infinitely surpass 
 the comprehension of short-sighted mortals, 
 they were chargeable with defects in their man- 
 ner of reasoning, which every true philosopher 
 will, of all others, be most careful to avoid. 
 For they neither defined their terms accurately, 
 (and hence arose innuinerable disputes merely 
 about words,) nor did they divide their subjects 
 with perspicuity and precision; and hence they 
 generally treated it in a confused and unsatis- 
 factory manner. The great Angelic Doctor 
 
 * Sec Jo. Lauiuiii Traditio Kcclcsic circa Siinoui- 
 am, p. ^90. 
 
 t See Natalis Alexander, Histor. Eccles. Skc. xiii. 
 p. 3>.tl.— Echard and Unctif, Scriptor. Ordin. Praedi- 
 cator. Sjcc. xiii. loni. i. p. s;U3.— Ant. Touron, Vie de 
 St. Thomas, p. 604. 
 
 t In the original wc find Positivi in the n.'argin, 
 which is manifestly a fault; since the Positivi were 
 quite opposite, in their method of tcarhine, to the 
 schoolmen, and were the f'ame with the liiblici men- 
 tioned in the followiiia ^ci tiou. See above, Cent. 
 xii. Part ii. Ch. in. tWl. vui. 
 
368 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OP THE CHURCH. 
 
 PartH. 
 
 himself, notwithstanding his boasted method, 
 was defective in these respects; his definitions 
 are often vague, or obscure, and his plans or 
 divisions, though full of art, are frequently des- 
 titute of clearness and proportion. 
 
 VII. The method of investigating divine 
 truth by reason and philosophy remarkably 
 prevailed, and was followed with such ardour, 
 that the number of those who, in conformity 
 with the example of the ancient doctors, drew 
 their systems of theology from the holy scrip- 
 tures and the writings of the fathers, and who 
 acquired on that account the name ofBiblicisls* 
 diminished from day to day. It is true, indeed, 
 that several persons of eminent piety ,f and 
 even some of the Roman jjontitfs,!. exhorted 
 with great seriousness and warmth the scho- 
 lastic divines, and more especially those of the 
 university of Paris, to change their method of 
 teaching theology, and (relinquishing their 
 philosophical abstraction and subtlety) to de- 
 duce the sublime science of salvation from the 
 holy scriptures with that purity and simplicity 
 with which it was delivered by the inspired 
 writers. But these admonitions and exliorta- 
 tions were without effect; the evil was too in- 
 veterate to admit a speedy remedy, and the 
 passion for logic and metaphysics liad become 
 so general and so violent, tliat neither remon- 
 strances nor arguments could check its pre- 
 sumption or allay its ardour. In justice how- 
 ever to the scholastic doctors, it is necessary 
 to observe, that they did not neglect the dic- 
 tates of the Gospel or the authority of tradi- 
 tion, though it is sufficiently proved, by what 
 they drew from these two sources, that they 
 had studied neither with much attention or ap- 
 plication of mind. § And it is moreover certain, 
 that, in process of time, they committed to 
 others the care of consulting the sources now 
 mentioned, and reserved to themselves the 
 much-respected province of philosophy, and 
 the intricate mazes of dialectical chicane. 
 And, indeed, independent of their philosophi- 
 cal vanity, we may assign another reason for 
 this method of proceeding, drawn from the na- 
 ture of their profession, and the circumstances 
 in which they were placed. For the greatest 
 part of these subtle doctors were Dominican or 
 
 (tjj- * In the margin of the original, instead of 
 Biblkists, which we find in the text. Dr. Moshiem 
 has written Scntentiarii, which is undoubtedly an 
 oversight. The Sententiarii, or followers of Peter 
 Lombard, who is considered as the father of the 
 scholastic philosophy, are to be placed in the same 
 class with the philosophical divines, mentioned in the 
 preceding section, and were very different from the 
 Biblici, both in their manner of thinking and 
 teaching. 
 
 t See Du Bonlay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. iii. p. 9, 129, 
 180. — Ant. Wood, Antiq. Oxoniens. tom. i. p. 91. 
 
 X See the famous epistle of Gregory IX. to the 
 prof<-ssors in the university of Paris, published in 
 Du Boulay's Histor. Acad. Paris, tom. iii. The pon- 
 tiff concludes that remarkable epistle with the fol- 
 lowing words: " Mandamus et stricte prscipimus, 
 quateiius sine fermento mundanae scientire doceatis 
 theologicam puritatem, non adulterantcs verbum 
 Dei philosophorum figmentis .. . sed, content! termi- 
 nis a patribus inslitutis, mentes auriitorum vestro- 
 rum fructu cfBlestis eloquii saginetis, ut hauriant de 
 fontibus Salvatoris." 
 
 § Faydit, Alteration du Dogme Theologir|ne par 
 la Philosophie ri'Aristote, p. 289. — Richard Sunon, 
 Critique de la Bihiiotheque des Auteurs Eccles. par 
 M. Du Pin. tom. i. P' HO. 
 
 Franciscan friars; and, as the monks of these 
 orders had no possessions, not even libraries, 
 and led, besides, wandering and itinerant lives, 
 such of them as were ambitious of literary 
 fame, and of the honours of authorship, were, 
 for the most part, obliged to draw their mate- 
 rials from their own genius and memory, being 
 destitute of all other succours. 
 
 VIII. The opinions wliich these philosophi- 
 cal divines instilled into the minds of the youth, 
 appeared to the votaries of the ancient fathers 
 highly dangerous and even pernicious; and 
 lience they used their utmost efforts to stop 
 the progress of tliese opinions, and to diminish 
 the credit and influence of their authors. Nor 
 was their opposition at all ill-grounded; for the 
 subtle doctors of the school not only explained 
 the mysteries of religion in a manner confor- 
 mable to the principles of their presumptuous 
 logic, and modified them according to the 'dic- 
 tates of their imperfect reason, but also pro- 
 moted the most impious sentiments and tenets 
 concerning the Supreme Being, the material 
 world, the origin of tlie miiverse, and the na- 
 ture of the soul. And when it was objected 
 to these sentiments and tenets, that they were 
 in direct contradiction to the genius of Christi- 
 anity, and to the express doctrines of Scrip- 
 ture, these scholastic quibblers had recourse, 
 for a reply, or rather for a method of escape, 
 to that perfidious distinction which has been 
 frequently employed by modern deists, — that 
 these tenets were philosophically true, and 
 conformable to right reason, but that they 
 were, indeed, theologically false, and contrary 
 to the orthodox faith. This produced an open 
 war between the Biblicists and the scholastic 
 doctors; which was carried on with great 
 warmth throughout the whole course of this 
 century, particularly in the universities of Ox- 
 ford and Paris, where we find the former load- 
 ing the latter with the heaviest reproaches in 
 tlieir public acts and in their polemic writings, 
 and accusing them of corrupting the doctrines 
 of the Gospel, both in tlieir public lessons, and 
 in their private discourse.* Even St. Thomas 
 himself was accused of holding opinions con- 
 trary to the truth; his orthodoxy, at least, was 
 looked upon as extremely dubious by many 
 of the Parisian doctors. f He accordingly saw 
 a formidable scene of opposition arising against 
 him, but had the good fortune to ward off the 
 storm, and to escape untouched. Others, 
 whose autliority was less extensive, and whose 
 names were less respectable, were treated with 
 greater severity. The living were obliged to 
 confess publicly their errors; and the memo- 
 ries of the dead, who had persevered in them 
 to tlie last, were branded with infamy. 
 
 IX. But the most formidable adversaries 
 the scholastic doctors had to encotmter were 
 the Mystics, who, rejecting every thing that 
 bore the least resemblance to argumentation 
 or dispute about matters of doctrine and opin- 
 
 * See Matth. Paris, Histor. Major, p. 541.— Boulay. 
 Hist. Acad. Paris, tom. iii. p. 397, 430, &c. 
 
 t See J. Launoy, Histor. Gymnas. Navarreni, part 
 iii. lib. iii. chap. cxvi. tom. iv. op. part i. p. 485. — 
 Bnulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, tom. iv. p. 204.— -Petri 
 Zorni Opnscula Sacra, tom. i. p. 445. — B. Simon, 
 Lettres Choisies, tom. ii. p. 2B6.— Echardi Scriptor. 
 Ordin. rrsedicator. tom. i. p. 435. 
 
Chap. HI. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 369 
 
 ion, confined their endeavours to the advance- 
 ment of inward piety, and the propajration of 
 devout and tender feelings, and llnis acquired 
 the highest degree of popuhirity. Tlic people, 
 who are much more affected with what touciios 
 their passions, than with what is only addressed 
 10 tiieir reason, were attached to tlie Mystics 
 in the warmest manner; and this gave such 
 weight to the reproaches and invectives which 
 they threw out against the schoolmen, that the 
 latter thought it more prudent to disann these 
 favourites of the multitude by mild and sub- 
 missive measures, than to return their re- 
 proaches with indignation and bitterness 
 They accordingly set themselves to flatter the 
 Mystics, and not only extolled their sentimen- 
 tal system, but employed their pens in illus- 
 trating and defending it; they even associated 
 it with the schokistic philosophy, though they 
 were as different from each other as any two 
 things could be. It is well known that Bona- 
 ventura, Albert the Great, Robert Capito, 
 and Thomas Aquinas, contributed to this re- 
 conciliation between mysticism and dialectics 
 by their learned labours, and even went so far 
 as to write commentaries upon Dionysius, the 
 ciiief of the Mystics, whom these subtle doctors 
 probably looked upon with a secret contempt. 
 X. Both the schoolmen and Mystics of this 
 century treated, in their writings, of the obli- 
 gations of morality, the duties of the Christian 
 Lfe, and of the means that were most adapted 
 to preserve or deliver the soul from the servi- 
 tude and contagion of vice; but their methods 
 of liandling these important subjects were, as 
 may be easily conceived, entirely different. 
 We may form an idea of mystical morality from 
 the observations of George Pachymcres, upon 
 the writings of Dionysius, and from the Spirit- 
 ual Institutes, or Abridgment of Mystic The- 
 ology, composed by Humbert de Romanis, of 
 which productions the former was written in 
 Greek, and the second in Latin. As to the 
 scholastic moralists, they were principally em- 
 ployed in defining the nature of virtue and 
 vice in general, and the characters of the vari- 
 ous virtues and vices in particular; and hence a 
 prodigious number of sums, or systematic col- 
 lections of virtues and vices, appeared in this cen- 
 tury. The schoolmen divided the virtues into 
 two classes. The first comprehended the moral 
 virtues, which differ, in no respect, from those 
 which Aristotle recommended to his disciples. 
 The second contained the theological virtues, 
 which, in consequence of what St. Paul says, 
 (1 Corinth, xiii. 13,) they made to consist in 
 faith, hope, and charity. In explaining and 
 illustrating the nature of the virtues compre- 
 hended in these two classes, they seemed rather 
 to have in view the pleasures of disputing, than 
 the design of instructing; and they exhausted 
 all their subtlety in resolving difiiculties which 
 were of their own creation. Thomas Aquinas 
 6hone forth as a star of the first magnitude, 
 though, like tlie others, he was oflen covered 
 with impenetrable fogs. The second part of 
 his famous sum was wholly employed in lay- 
 ing down the principles of morality, and in 
 deducing and illustrating the various duties 
 that result from them; and this part of his 
 learned labour has had the honour and misfor- 
 VoL. I.— 47 
 
 tune of pas.sing through the hands of a truly 
 prodigious number of commentators. 
 
 XI. It is al)solutely necessary to observe 
 here, that the moral writers of this and the 
 following centuries must be read with the ut- 
 most caution, and with a perpetual attention 
 to this circumstance, that, though they employ 
 the same terms that we find in the sacred writ- 
 ings, yet they use them in a quite difierent 
 sense from that which they really bear in these 
 divine books. They speak of justice, charity, 
 faith, and holiness; but, from the manner in 
 which these virtues arc illustrated bj those 
 quibbling sophists, they differ much from the 
 amiable and sublime duties, which Christ and 
 his disciples inculcated under the same deno- 
 minations. A single example will be suffi- 
 cient to render this evident beyond contradic- 
 tion. A pious and holy man, according to the 
 sense annexed by our Saviour to these terms, 
 is one who consecrates his aflections and ac- 
 tions to the service of the Supreme Being, and 
 accounts it his highest honour and felicity, eis 
 well as his indispensable duty, to obey his laws. 
 But, in the style of the moral writers of this 
 age, that person was piov^ and holy, who de- 
 prived himself of his possessions to enrich the 
 .priesthood, to build churches, and found mo- 
 nasteries, and whose faith and obedience were 
 so implicitly enslaved to the imperious dictates 
 of the Roman pontiffs, that he believed and 
 acted without examination, as these lordly di- 
 rectors thought proper to prescribe. Nor were 
 the ideas which these writers entertained con- 
 cerning justice, at all conformable to tlie na- 
 ture of that virtue, as it is described in the holy 
 scriptures, since in their opinion it was lawful 
 to injure, revile, torment, persecute, and even 
 put to death, a heretic, i. e. any person who re- 
 fused to obey blindly the decrees of the pon- 
 tifis, or to believe all the absurdities which 
 they imposed upon the credulity of the multi- 
 tude. 
 
 XII. The writers of controversy in this cen- 
 tury were more numerous than respectable. 
 Nicetas Aconiinatus, who made a considera- 
 ble figure among the Greeks, attacked all the 
 difierent sects in his work entitled The Trea- 
 sure of the Orthodox Faith; but he combated 
 after the Grecian manner, and defended the 
 cause which he had espoused, rather by the 
 decrees of councils and the decisions of the 
 fathers, than by the dictates of reason and the 
 authority of Scripture. Raymond of Peima- 
 fort was one of the first among the Latins, who 
 abandoned the unchristian method of convert- 
 ing infidels by the force of arms and the ter- 
 rors of capital punishments, and who tmder- 
 took to vanquish the Jews and Saracens by 
 reason and argument.* This c-ngaged in the 
 siime controversy a considerai)le number of 
 able disputants, who were acquainted with the 
 Hebrew and Arabic languages; among whom 
 Raymond Martini, the celeijrated author of 
 the Sword of Faith, | is un(|uestionably enti- 
 tled to the first rank. Thomas Aquinas also 
 appeared with dignity among the Christian 
 
 * Echard and Quelif apud Scriptores OrdinisPrat- 
 dicator. torn. i. sect. xiii. 
 
 t Baylo's Diriionary. at the article Maitini. -Faull 
 Colomcsii Ilispaiua Orient, p. )iO\). 
 
370 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 champions; and hia boolc against the Gentiles* 
 is far from beinij (:onlcMi[)tilile: nor ought we 
 to omit mentioning a iearned book of Alan tie 
 risle, which was designed to refute the objec- 
 tions both of Jews and Pagans.f The writers, 
 who handled otlier (more particular) branches 
 of theological controversy, were far inferior 
 to those now mentioned in genius and abi- 
 lities; and their works seemed less calculated 
 to promote the truth, than to render their ad- 
 versaries odious. 
 
 XIII. The grand controversy between the 
 Greek and Lalin church, was still carried on; 
 and all the efforts that were made, during this 
 century, to bring it to a conclusion, proved in- 
 effectual. Gregory IX. employed the minis- 
 try of the Franciscan monks to bring about an 
 accommodation with the Greeks, and pursued 
 with zeal this laudable purpose from the year 
 1232, to the end of his pontificate, but without 
 the least appearance of success. J Innocent 
 IV. embarked in the same undertaking, in 
 1247, and with that view sent John of Parma, 
 with other Franciscan friars, to Nice; while 
 the Grecian pontift' came in person to Rome, 
 and was declared legate of tlie apostolic see.§ 
 But these previous acts of mutual civility and 
 respect, which excited the hopes of such as. 
 longed for the conclusion of these violent dis- 
 cords, did not terminate in the reconciliation 
 that was expected. New incidents arose to 
 blast the influence of these salutary measures, 
 and the flame of dissension gained new vigour. 
 Under the pontificate of Urban IV., however, 
 the aspect of tilings changed for the better, 
 and the negotiations for peace were renewed 
 with such success, as promised a speedy con- 
 clusion of these unhappy divisions; for Michael 
 Palaeologus had no sooner driven the Latins 
 out of Constantinople, then he sent ambassa- 
 dors to Rome to declare his pacific intentions, 
 that thus he might establish his disputed do- 
 minion, and gain over tlie Roman pontifl^to his 
 side. II But during tJio course of these nego- 
 tiations, Urban's death left matters unfinished, 
 and suspended once more the hopes and ex- 
 pectations of the public. Under the pontifi- 
 cate of Gregory X., proposals of peace were 
 again made by the same emperor, who, after 
 much opposition from his owiL clergy, sent am- 
 bassadors to the council of Lyons in the year 
 1274;ir and these deputies, with the solemn 
 consent of John Veccus, patriarch of Constan- 
 tinople, and several Greek bishops, publicly 
 agreed to the terms of accommodation proposed 
 by the pontiff.** This re-miion, however, was 
 
 * Jo. Alb. Fahriciiis, Deloct. Aigumentoriim et 
 Scriptor. pro vcritati; Kolij;. Christian, p. 270. 
 
 t Liber contra Jiidjeos et Paganos. 
 
 X See VVaililiiif, .Vniial. Minor, torn. ii. p. 279, 296; 
 and Echard, Scriptor. Ordiri. Praedicator. torn. i. p. 
 103, 911.— Add to these Matth. Paris, Histor. Major, 
 p. 380. 
 
 § See Raliizii Miscellan. torn. vii. p. 370, 388, 393, 
 497. — Wadding, Anna!. Minor, torn. iii. and iv. 
 
 II Wadding, toni. iv. p. IHl, 201, 223, 209,303. 
 
 IT See Wadding, .\nnal. Minor, torn. iv. p. 313, 371. 
 toMi. V. p. '.», 29, 02— Colon ia, Ilisl. Liter, de la Ville 
 de Lyon, loni. ii. |i. 2-<l. 
 
 ♦* Joseph (not Veccns:) was patriarch of Constan- 
 tinoplu, when tliu treaty was concluded. The I'oi 
 
 not durable; for the situation of affairs in 
 Greece and Italy being changed some years 
 after this convention, in such a manner as to 
 deliver the former from all apprehensions of a 
 Latin hivasion, Andronicus, the son of Mi- 
 chael, assembled a council at Constantinople, 
 in the palace of Blachernas, A. D. 1284, in 
 which, by a solemn decree, this ignominious 
 treaty was annulled, and the famous Veccus, 
 by whose persuasion and authority it had been 
 concluded, was sent into exile.* This resolute 
 measure, as may well be imagined, rendered 
 the divisions more violent than they had been 
 before the treaty was signed; and it was also 
 followed by an open schism, and by the most 
 unhappy discords among the Grecian clergy. 
 
 XIV. We pass over several controversies of 
 a more private kind, and of inferior moment, 
 wliich have nothing in their nature or circum- 
 stances to claim the attention of the ciuious; 
 but we must not forget to observe that the 
 grand dispute concerning the eucharist was 
 still continued in this century, not only in 
 France, but also in some other countries; for, 
 though Innocent III. had, in the Lateran 
 council of the year 1215, presumptuously 
 placed traiisubstanlialion among the avowed 
 ;ind regular doctrines of the Latin church, 
 yet the authority of this decree was called in 
 question by many, and several divines main- 
 tained the probability of the opinions that 
 were opposed to that monstrous doctrine. 
 Those indeed who, adopting the sentiments of 
 Berenger, considered the bread and wine m 
 no otlier light than as signs or symbols of the 
 body and blood of Christ, did not venture 
 cither to defend or profess this opinion in a 
 public manner; while many thought it suffi- 
 cient to acknowledge what was termed a real 
 presence, though tliey explained the inanner of 
 this presence quite otherwise than the doc- 
 trine of Innocent had defuied it.f Among 
 these, John, surnamed Pimgens Asinus,J a sub- 
 tle doctor of the university of Paris, acquired 
 an eminent and distinguislied name, and with- 
 out incurring the censure of his superiors, sub- 
 stituted consiibstantiatiun for Iransubstantiation 
 toward the conclusion of this century. 
 
 iner had bound himself by a soleinii oath never to con- 
 sent to a reconciliation between the Greek and Latin 
 clmrches; for which reason the emperor, when he 
 sent his ambassadors to Lyons, proposed to Joseph 
 llie following alternative: that, if they succeeded in 
 bringing about an accommodation, he should re- 
 nounce his patriarchal dignity; but if they failed in 
 their attempt, he was to remain patriarch, being ad- 
 vised, at the same time, to retire to a convent, until 
 the matter was decided. The ambassadors were suc- 
 cessful: Joseph was deposed, and Veccus elected in 
 his place; when, and not before, the latter ratified 
 the treaty in question by his solemn consent to the 
 iLMiominious article of supremacy and pre-eminence 
 which it confirmed to the Roman pontiff. 
 
 * Leo Allatius, de perpotua Consensione Eccles. 
 Orient, et Occident, lib. i. c. xv. xvi. p. 727. — Fred. 
 Spanheiin de Perpet. Dissensione Gra;cor. et Latin, 
 tom. ii. op. p. 188, &c. 
 
 t Pet. Allix. PrtEf. ad F. Johannis Dcterniinat.de 
 Sacramento Altaris, published at London in 1680. 
 
 I The book of this celebrated doctor was publish- 
 ed by the learned Allix above mentioned. See 
 Ralnzii Vit.-E Ponlif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 576.— 
 D'Arherii Spicileg. Veter. Scriptor. torn, iii p, 58. — 
 Echaidi Scriptoics Douiiiiic. lorn. i. p. 561 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 871 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites nnd Ceremonies xised in the 
 Christian Church during this Centuiij. 
 
 ' I. It would be endless (o oniimcr.atc the ad- 
 ditions that were made in this century to the 
 external part of divine worship, in order to in- 
 rrea.se its pomp and render it more strikinjr. 
 These additions were produced in part by the 
 public edicts of tlie Roman pontiffs, and partly 
 by the private injunctions of the sacerdotal and 
 mona.stic orders, who shared the veneration 
 which was excited in the multitude by the 
 splendour and magnificence of this religious 
 spectacle. Instead of mentioning these addi- 
 tions, we shall only observe in general, that 
 religion had now become a sort of a raree-show 
 in the hands of the rulers of the church, who, 
 to render its impressions more deep and last- 
 ing, thought proper to exhibit it in a striking 
 manner to the external senses. For this pur- 
 pose, at stated times, and especially upon the 
 principal festivals, the miraculous dispensations 
 of the divine wisdom in favour of the church, 
 and the more remarkable events in the (Chris- 
 tian history, were represented under allegorical 
 figures and images, or rather in a kind of 
 mimic show.* But these scenic representations, 
 in which there was a motley mixture of mirth 
 and gravity, these tragi-comical spectacles, 
 though they amused and affected in a certain 
 manner the gazing populace, were highly det- 
 rimental, instead of being useful to the cause 
 of religion; they degraded its dignity, and fur- 
 nished abundant matter of laughter to its ene- 
 mies. 
 
 II. It will not appear surprising that the 
 bread, consecrated in the sacrament of the 
 Lord's supper, became the object of religious 
 worship; for this was the natural consequence 
 of the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation. 
 But the effects of that impious and ridiculous 
 doctrine did not end here; it produced a series 
 of cereujonies and institutions, still used in the 
 church of Rome, in honour of that dtified 
 bread, as they blasphemously call it. Hence 
 arose those rich and sph^ndid receptacles 
 which were formed for the residence of God 
 under this new shape,! find the lamps and 
 other precious ornaments tiiat were designed to 
 beautify this habitation of the Deity; and 
 hence the custom that still prevails of carry- 
 ing about this divine bread in solemn pomp 
 through the public streets, when it is to bo ad- 
 
 * It is probable tliat this licontious custom of px- 
 hibitine mimic ri'iiriisontations of rolisioiis olyccts 
 derived its origin from tlii' Mciidirant friars. 
 
 Qi;^ t This blasplit-mous lan(;ii.iL'i\ which Dr. Mo- 
 sheim is obliged to use in rrprcsfiitiiii; the alisiirdi- 
 ties of the doctrine of irannuhManiinlian, is nothing 
 in comparison with the impious figures that were 
 used by the abettors of that monstrous tenet, to ac- 
 conunoilate it, in some measure, to the capacities of 
 the multitude. We need not wonder, that the Pagans 
 metamorphosed their Jupiter into a bull, a swan, 
 and other such figures, when we see the rulers of 
 the Christian church transforming the Son of God into 
 a piece of bread; a transformation so vile, and (even 
 were it not vile) so useless, that it is inconceivable 
 how it could enter into the head of any mort.il, and 
 equally so. how the bishops of Rome could conlide 
 so far in the credulity of the people as to risk their 
 authority by propagatinjg such a doctrine. 
 
 ministered to sick or dying persons, with many 
 other ceremonies of a like nature, which are 
 dislionourablc to religion, and opprobrious to 
 humanity. But tliat which gave the finishing 
 touch to this heap ol" absurdities, and displayeu 
 .superstition in its highest extravagance, was 
 the inslitulion of the celebrated annual Festi- 
 tival of the Holy Sacrament, or, as it is some- 
 times called, of the Body of Christ; the origin 
 of which was as fallows: a certain devout wo- 
 man, whose name was Juliana, and who lived 
 at Liege, declared that she had received a 
 revelation from heaven, intimating to her, that 
 it was the will of God, that a peculiar festival 
 should bo annually observed in honour of the 
 holy sacrament, or rather of the real presence 
 of Christ's body in that sacred institution. 
 Few gave attention or credit to this pretended 
 vision, the circumstances of which were ex- 
 tremely equivocal and absurd,* and which 
 would have come to nothing, had it not been 
 supported by Robert, bishop of Liege, who, in 
 1246, published an order for the celebration of 
 this festival throughout the province, notwith- 
 standing the opposition which he knew would 
 be made to a proposal founded only on an idle 
 dream. After the death of Juliana, one of her 
 friends and companions, whoso name was 
 Eve, adopted her cause with uncommon zeal, 
 and had sufficient credit with Urban IV. to 
 engage him to publish, in 1264, a solemn edict, 
 by which the festival in question was imposed 
 upon all the Christian churches. This edict, 
 however, did not produce its full effect, on ac- 
 count of the deatli of the pontiff, which hap- 
 pened soon after its publication; so that the 
 festival in question was not universally cele- 
 brated in the Latin churches before the ponti- 
 ficate of Clement V.,t who, in the council 
 whicli lie held at Vienne in Dauphine, in 1311, 
 confirmed the edict of Urban, and thus, in 
 spite of all opposition, established a festival, 
 which contributed more to render the doctrine 
 of transubstantiation agreeable to the people, 
 than the decree of the Lateran council under 
 Innocent III., or than all the exhortations of 
 his lordly successors. 
 
 III. About the conclusion of this century, 
 Boniface VIII. added, to the public rites and 
 ceremonies of the clmrch, the famous jubilee, 
 which is still celebrated at Rome, at a stated 
 period, with the utmost profusion of pomp and 
 magnificence. In 1299, a rumour was propa- 
 gated among the inhabitants of that city, im- 
 porting that all such as should visit, within the 
 limits of tlie following year, the church of St. 
 Peter, should obt;iin the remission of all their 
 sins, and that this privilege viras to be annexed to 
 
 (pj- * This fanatical woman declared, tlKitasonen 
 as she ,-iil(lri'..;sid liersclf to God, or to the saints in 
 prayiM', she saw the full moon with a small defect 
 or breach in it; and that, having long stuilied to find 
 out llie signification of this strange appearance, she 
 was itiwardlij informed by the Spirit, that the moon 
 signified the church, and that the defect orbreach was 
 the want of anannual festival in honour of the holy 
 sacrament. 
 
 t See Barthol. Fisen, Origo prima Festi Corporia 
 Christi ex Viso Sanctte Virgini Juliana; oblato, pub- 
 lished at Liege in 1619.— Dall^us,de(;ultus religiosi 
 objecto, p. 287.— Acta Sanctor. April, torn. i. p. 437, 
 903.— And above all Henedict XIV. I'ont. Max. de 
 FestiH Christi et Marie, lib. i. c. xiii. p. 360. torn. 
 X. op. 
 
372 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the performance of the same service once in 
 every period of one hundred years. Boniface 
 no sooner heard of this, than Jie ordered strict 
 inquiry to be made concerning tlie author and 
 the foundation of this report; and the result of 
 the inquiry was answ^erable to his views; for he 
 was assured, by many testimonies worthy of 
 credit,* (say the Roman-cathoHc historians) 
 that, from the remotest antiquity, this impor- 
 tant privilege of remission and indulgence was 
 to be obtained by the service above-mentioned. 
 No sooner had tlio pontiff received this infor- 
 mation, than he addressed to all Christians an 
 epistolary mandate, in whicli he enacted it as 
 a solemn law of the chnrcli, that those who, 
 in every hundredth or jubilee year, should con- 
 fess their sins, and visit, with sentiments of 
 contrition and repentance, the churches of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul at Rome, should obtain 
 thereby the entire remission of their various 
 oiFences.j Tlie successors of Boniface were 
 not satisfied with adding a multitude of new 
 rites and inventions, by way of ornaments, to 
 this superstitious institution; but, finding by 
 experience that it added to the lustre, and 
 augmented the revenues of the Roman church, 
 they rendered its return more frequent, and 
 fixed its celebration to every five-and-twenti- 
 eth year.J 
 
 5]3=" * These testimonies wnrihy of eredit have never 
 been produced by the Romish writers, unless we 
 rank, in that class, that ot" an old man, who liad 
 completed his lOTlh year, and who, being brought 
 before Boniface, declared (if we may believe the 
 abbe Fleury) that his father, who was a common 
 labourer, had assisted at the celebration of a jubilee, 
 a hundred years before that time. See Fleury's 
 Hist. Eccles. toward the end of the twelfth century. 
 It is, however, a very unaccountablething, if the in- 
 stitution of the jubilee year was not the invention 
 of Boniface, that there should he neither in the acts 
 of councils, nor in the records of history or writings 
 of the learned, any trace or the least mention of its 
 celebration before the year ]:!00. This, and other 
 reasons of an irresistible evidence, have persuaded 
 some Roman catholic writers to consider the insti- 
 tution of the jubilee year, as the invention of this 
 pontifT. who, to render it more respectable, pretended 
 that it was of a nuich earlier date. See Ghilen. et 
 Vietorell. apud Philippi Konanni Numism. Pontif. 
 Rom. torn. i. p. 2-2, 23. 
 
 t So the matter is related by James Caietan, car- 
 dinal of St. George, and neiihew to Boniface, in his 
 Relatio de Centesinio seu jiibil.-po anno, which is 
 published in his Magna Blbliotheca Vet. Patruni, 
 torn. vi. p. 420, and in the Bibliotheca Maxima Pa- 
 trum, tom. .\xv. p. 207. Nor is there any reason to be- 
 lieve that this account is erroneousandfalse, or that 
 Boniface acted the part of an impostor from a prin- 
 ciple of avarice upon this occasion. 
 
 (1(7- JV. B. It is not without astonishment, that we 
 hear Dr. Mosheim decidini; in this manner with re- 
 spect to the good faith of Boniface, and the relation 
 of his nephew. The character of that wicked and 
 ambitious pontifTis well known, and the relation of 
 the carihnal of St. George has been proved to be the 
 most ridiculous, fabulous, motley piece of stuti' that 
 ever usurped the title of an historical record. See 
 the excellent Lettres de M. Chais sur les Jubiles, 
 tom. i. p. 53. 
 
 X The v;irious writers who have treated of the in- 
 stitution of the Roman Jubilee, are enumerated by 
 Jo. Albert Fabricius in his Bibliogr. Antiqnar. p. 
 316. Among the authors that may be added to this 
 Jist, there is one whom we think it necessary to 
 mention particularly, viz. the Reverenil Charles 
 Chais, whose LettresHistoriques et Dogmatiques sur 
 les Jubiles ot les Indulsences, were published in IT.'il. 
 
 (ay- The;:.' letters of Mr. Chais (Minister of the 
 French rhurrli at tho Hague, and well known in the 
 republic of letters') contain the most full and accu- 
 rate account that has been ever given of the institii- 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and Heresies that trmi- 
 hled the Church during this Century. 
 
 I. We have no account of any new sects that 
 arose among the Greeks diu-ing this century. 
 Those of the Nestorians and Jacobites, estab- 
 lished in the remoter regions of the east, who 
 equalled the Greeks in their aversion to the 
 rites and jurisdiction of the Latin church, 
 were frequently solicited, by the Francis- 
 can and Dominican papal missionaries, to re- 
 ceive the Roman yoke. In 1246, Innocent 
 IV. used his utmost efforts to bring both tliese 
 sects under his dominion; and, in 1278, terms 
 of accommodation were proposed by Nicolas 
 IV. to the Nestorians, and particularly to that 
 branch of tiie sect which resided in the north- 
 em parts of Asia.* The leading men, both 
 among the Nestorians and Jacobites, seemed 
 to give ear to the proposals that were made to 
 them, and to wish for a reconciliation with the 
 church of Rome; but the prospect of peace 
 soon vanished, and a variety of causes con- 
 curred to prolong the rupture. 
 
 II. During the whole course of this century, 
 tlie Roman pontiffs carried on the most bar- 
 barous and inhuman persecution against those 
 
 tion of the Jubilee, and of the rise, progress, abuses, 
 and enormities, of the infamous traffic of indulgen- 
 ces. This account is judiciously collected from the 
 best authors of antiquity, and from several curious 
 records that have escaped the researches of other 
 writers; it is also interspersed with curious, and 
 sometimes ludicrous anecdotes, that render the work 
 equally producliveof entertainment and instruction. 
 In the first volume of these letters, the learned au- 
 thor lays open the nature and origin of the institu- 
 tion of the jubilee; he proves it to have been a hu- 
 man invention, which oweil its rise to the avarice 
 and ambition of the popes, and its credit to the igno- 
 rance and superstition of the people, and whose cele- 
 bration was absolutely nnknovvn before the thir- 
 teenth century, which is the true date of its origin. 
 He takes notice of the various changes it underwent 
 with respect to the time of its C(!lebration, the vari- 
 ous colours with which the ambitious pontiffs covered 
 it in order to render it respectable and alluring in 
 tho eyes of the multitude; and exposes these delusions 
 by many convincing arguments, whose gravity is 
 si^asoned with an agreeable and temperate mixture 
 of decent raillery. He proves, with the utmost evi- 
 dence, that the papal jubilee is an imitation of the 
 Secular Games, which were celebrated with such 
 pomp in pagan Rome. He points out the gross con- 
 tradictions that reign in the bulls of the different 
 popes, with respect to the nature of this insti- 
 tution, and the time of its celebration. Nor does 
 he pass over in silence the infamous traffic of in- 
 dulgences, the worldly pomp and splendour, the 
 crimes, debaucheries, and disorders of every kind, that 
 were observable at the return of each jubilee year. 
 He lays also before the reader an historical view of 
 all the jubilees that were celebrated from the ponti- 
 ficate of Boniface VIII. in the year 1300, to that of 
 Benedict XIV. in 1750, with an entertaining account 
 of the most remarkable adventures that happened 
 among the pilgrims who repaired to Rome on these 
 occasions. The second and third volumes of these 
 interesting letters treat of the indulgences that are 
 administered in the church of Rome. The reader 
 will find here their nature and origin explained, the 
 doctrine of tho Roman catholic divines relating to 
 them stated and refuteil, the history of this impious 
 traffic accurately laid down, and its enormities and 
 pernicious ellects circumstantially exposed, with 
 learning, perspicuity, and candour. 
 
 * Odor. Raynaldus, Annal. Eccles. tom. xiii. ad 
 Annum 1247, sect, xxxii.el tom. xv. ad A. 1303, sect, 
 xxii. et ad A. 1304, sect, xxiii.— Matth. Paris, Hist. 
 Major, p. 372. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 373 
 
 whom they branded with the denomination of 
 heretics; i. e. against all those who called tlieir 
 pretended autliority and jurisdiction in ques- 
 tion, or taught doctrines diirerciit from tliosc 
 which were adopted and propagated by tlic 
 church of Rome. For the sects of the C!a- 
 thari, Waldenses, Petrobrussians, &.c. gatliered 
 strength from day to day, spread imperceptibly 
 throughout all Europe, assembled numerous 
 congregations in Italy, France, Spain, and 
 Germany, and formed by degrees such a pow- 
 erful party as rendered them formidable to the 
 pontiffs, and menaced the papal jurisdiction 
 with a fatal revolution. To the ancient sects 
 new factions were added, which, though tiiey 
 differed from each other in various respects, 
 unanimously agreed in this point: " That the 
 public and established religion was a motley 
 system of errors and superstition, and that the 
 dominion which the popes had usurped over 
 Christians, as also the autliority they exercised 
 in religious matters, were unlawful and tyran- 
 nical." Such were the notions propagated by 
 the sectaries, who refuted tlie superstitions and 
 impostures of the times by arguments drawn 
 from the holy scriptures, and whose declama- 
 tions against the power, the opulence, and the 
 vices of tiie pontitfs and clergy, were extremely 
 agreeable to many princes and civil magis- 
 trates, who groaned under the usurpations of 
 the sacred order. The pontiffs, therefore, con- 
 sidered themselves as obliged to liave recourse 
 to new and extraordinary methods of defeating 
 and subduing enemies, who, both by their 
 number and their rank, were every way pro- 
 per to fill them with terror. 
 
 III. Of these dissenters from the church of 
 Rome, the number was no where greater than 
 in Narbonne Gaul,* and the countries adja- 
 cent, where they were received and protected, 
 in a singular manner, by Raymond VI. earl of 
 Toulouse, and other persons of the highest dis- 
 tinction; and where the bishops, either through 
 humanity or indolence, were so negligent and 
 remiss in the prosecution of heretics, that the 
 latter, laying aside all their fears, formed set- 
 tlements, and multiplied greatly from day to 
 day. Iimocent 111. was soon informed of all 
 these proceedings; and, about the commence- 
 ment of this centuiy, he sent legates extraor- 
 dinary into the southern provinces of France 
 to do what the bishops had left unilone, and to 
 extirpate heresy, in all its various forms and 
 modifications, without being at all scrupulous 
 in the adoption of such methods as might seem 
 necessary to effect this salutary purpose. The 
 persons charged with this conmiission were 
 Rainier,t a Cistertian monk, and Pierre de 
 Castelnau,J archdeacon of Maguelone, who 
 became also afterwards a Cistertian friar. 
 These eminent missionaries were followed by 
 
 * That part of FraiiCR, wliioli, in ancii'iit times, 
 was tfrnioil Narliniine Oaiil, cinnprelu-iiiliMl tlic jiro- 
 viiiccs of Savoy, Uuiiptune, ProvenciMiml l,.iiii;ii(il(ii-. 
 
 (fi^ t Instead of Kaiiiier, other historians nifnlinn 
 one Raoiil, or Kniph, as thn associati? of l'i(rr<^ di; 
 Castplnuii. See Fluury's Histoire Eccles. liv. l.wvi. 
 sect. xii. 
 
 t The greatpst part of the Roman writers consider 
 Pierre de Cast el nan ns the first in(|uisitor. It will 
 appear hereafter in what sense this assertion may 
 be admitted. For an arronnt of this legale, see the 
 Acta Sanctor. tuiii. i. Martii, p. 411. 
 
 several others, among whom was the famous 
 Spaniard, Dominic, founder of the order of 
 preachers, who, returning from Rome in 1206, 
 met with these delegates, embarked in their 
 cause, and laboured both by his exliortations 
 and actions in the extirpation of heresy. These 
 spirited champions, who engaged in this expe- 
 dition upon the sole authority of the pope, 
 without either asking the advice or demanding 
 the succours of the bishops, and who inflicted 
 capital punishment upon such of the heretics 
 as they could not convert by reason and argu- 
 ment, were distinguished in common discourse 
 by the title of Ituinlsilors; and from them the 
 formidable and odious tribunal, called the In- 
 quisition, derived its origin. 
 
 IV. W^hen this new set of heresy-hunters* 
 had executed their commission, and purged the 
 provinces to which thoy were sent of the great- 
 est part of the enemies of the Roman faith, the 
 pontiffs were so sensible of their excellent ser- 
 vices, that they established missionaries of a 
 like nature, or, in other words, placed Inqid- 
 sitois in almost every city, whose inhabitants 
 had the misfortune to be suspected of heresy, 
 notwithstanding the reluctance which the peo- 
 ple showed to this new institution, and the 
 violence with which they frequently expelled, 
 and sometimes massacred, these bloody offi- 
 cers of the popish hierarchy. The council 
 convoked at Toulouse, in 1229, by Romanus, 
 cardinal of St. Angelo, and pope's legate, went 
 .still farther, and erected in every city a set or 
 society of inquisitors, consisting of one pnest and 
 three lmjmen.\ This institution was, however, 
 superseded in 1233 by Gregory IX., who in- 
 trusted the Dominicans, or preaching friars, 
 with the important commission of discovering 
 and bringing to judgment the heretics who were 
 lurking in France, and in a formal epistle dis*- 
 charged the bishops from the burthen of that 
 painful office.;}; Immediately after this, the 
 bishop of Tournay, who was the pope's legate 
 in France, began to execute this new resolu- 
 tion, by appointing Pierre Cellan, and Guil- 
 laume Arnaud, inquisitors of heretical pravity 
 at Toulouse, and afterwards proceeded in 
 every city, where the Dominicans had a mo- 
 nastery, to constitute officers of the same na- 
 ture, selected from the monks of that celebrat- 
 ed order.§ From this period we are to date 
 the commencement of the dreadful tribunal of 
 the inquisitinn, whicii in this and the following Im- 
 ages subdued such a prodigious multitude of 
 heretics, part of whom were converted to tlie 
 church by terror, and the rest committed to 
 the flames without mercy. For the Domini- 
 cans erected, first at Toulouse and afterwards 
 at Carcasone and other places, a tremendous 
 
 QtJ= * The term of lieri'syhnnters. for which the 
 translator is respoiisilile, will not seem absurd, when 
 it is known, that [he. missionaries wlio were sent into 
 the provinces of France to extirpate heresy, and the 
 inquisitors who succeeded them, were bound by an 
 oath, not only to seek for the heretics in towns, 
 houses, cellars, and other lurking-places, but also in 
 woods, caves, fields, &c. 
 
 t See Harduini Concilia, tom. vii. p. 175. 
 
 \ Hern. Guido in Chronico I'ontif. apud Jac. Echar- 
 dum, Scriptor. Prieilirator. tom. i. p. 88. — Percini 
 Ilistoria Inquisit. Tolosame, subjoined to his Ilisto- 
 ria Conventus Frat. Priedicat. Tolosa-, 1B93.— His- 
 toire Generale de I^anguedoc, torn. iii. p. 394. 
 
 § Echard and Percinus, loc, citat. 
 
374 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 court, before whicli wore summoned not only 
 heretics, and persons suspected of heresy, but 
 likewise all who were accused of magic, sor- 
 cery, Judaism, witchcraft, and other crimes of 
 a spiritual kind. This tribunal, in process 
 of time, was erected in other countries of Eu- 
 rope, tliough not every where with the same 
 success.* 
 
 V. The method of proceeding in this court 
 of inquisition was at hrst simple, and almost 
 in every respect similar to that which was ob- 
 served in the ordinary courts of justice. f But 
 this simplicity was gradually changed by the 
 Dominicans, to whom experience suggested 
 several new methods of augmenting the pomp 
 and majesty of their spiritual tribunal, and 
 
 * The accounts wliich we have here given of the 
 rise of the Inqnisitiun, though founded upon the 
 most unexceptioiiahle testimonies and the most au- 
 thentic records, are yet very ditTerent from those 
 that are to be found in most authors. Some learned 
 men tell us, that the Tribunal of the Inquisition was 
 the invention of St. Uoininic, and was first erected 
 by him in the city of Toulouse; that he, of conse- 
 quence, was the first inquisitor; that the year of its 
 institution is indeed uncertain; but that it was un- 
 doubtedly confirmed in a solemn manner by inno- 
 cent 111. in the Lateran council of 1215. See Jo. Alli. 
 Fabricius, in his Lux Evangelii toti Orbi exoriens, 
 
 p. 5lj'.i Phil. Limborchi Ilisloria Inquisit. lib. i. c. x. 
 
 and the other writers mentioned by Fabricius. I 
 will not artirni. that the writers, who give this nc 
 count of the matter, have advanced all this without 
 authority; but this I will venture to say, that the 
 authors, wliom they have taken for their guides, arc 
 not of the first rate in point of merit and credibility. 
 Limborch, whose History of the Imjuisition is looked 
 upon as a most hnportant and capital work, is ge- 
 nerally followed by modern writers in their ac- 
 counts of that odious tribunal. But, however laud- 
 able that hi-storian may have been in point of fide- 
 lity and diligence, it is certain that he was little ac- 
 quainted with the ecclesiastical history of the middle 
 ages; that he drew his materials, not from the true 
 and original sources, but from writers of a second 
 class, and thus has fallen, in the course of his his- 
 tory, into various mistakes. His account of the ori- 
 gin of the inquisition is undoubtedly false; nor does 
 that which is given by many other writers approach 
 nearer to the truth. The circumstances of this ac- 
 count, which I have mentioned in the beginning of 
 this note, are more especially destitute of all founda- 
 tion. Many of the Dominicans, who, in our times, 
 have presided in the court of inquisition, and liave 
 extolled the sanctity of tliat pious institution, deny, 
 at the same time, that Dominic was its founder, as 
 also that he was the first inquisitor, or that he was 
 an inquisitor at all. They go still farther, and affirm, 
 that the court of inquisition was not erected during 
 the life of St. Dominic. Nor is all this advanced in- 
 considerately, as every impartial inquirer into the 
 proofs they allege will easily perceive. Nevertheless, 
 the question, whether or not St. Dominic was an 
 inquisitor, seems to be merely a dispute about words, 
 and drpends entindy npoti the different significa- 
 tions of which the "term iiirjuisitor is susceptible. 
 That word, accordiuL' to its oris;iual meaning, signi- 
 fied a person investi'd with tlir cummission and au- 
 thority of the (lope to extirpate heresyand oppose its 
 abettors, but not clothed with any judicial power. 
 But it soon acquired a diflereiit meaning, and signi- 
 fied a person appointed by the pontitTto proceed jn- 
 diciaUy against heretics and such as were suspected 
 of heresy, to pronounce sentence according to their 
 respective cases, and to deliver over to- the secular 
 arm such as persisted obstinately in their errors. In 
 the latter sense Dominic was not an inquisitor, 
 since it is well known that there were no papal 
 judges of this nature before the pontificate of Gre- 
 gory IX.; but he was undoubtedly an inquisitor in 
 the sense originally attached to that term. 
 
 t The records, published by the Benedictines in 
 their Histoire Gener. de Languedoc, torn. iii. p. 371, 
 6how the simplicity that reigned in the proceedings 
 of the inqui;iition at its first institution. 
 
 who made such alterations in the process, that 
 the manner of taking cognisance of heretical 
 causes became totally difl'erent from that which 
 was usual in civil alTairs. These friars were, 
 to vS.ay the truth, entirely ignorant of judicial 
 matters; nor were they acquainted with the 
 proceedings of any other tribunal, than that 
 which was called, in the Roman church, the 
 Tribunal of penaiice. It was therefore from 
 this, that they modelled the new court of In- 
 qiiisUion, as far as a resemblance was possible; 
 and hence arose that strange system of inqui- 
 sitorial law, which, in many respects, is so 
 contrary to the common feelings of humanity, 
 and the plainest dictates of equity and justice. 
 This is the important circumstance by which 
 we are enabled to account for the absurd and 
 iniquitous proceedings of the inquisitors, against 
 persons who are accused of holding, what they 
 call, heretical opinions. 
 
 VI. That nothing might be wanting to ren- 
 der this spiritual court formidable and tremen- 
 dous, the Roman pontiffs persuaded the Eu- 
 ropean princes, and more especially the em- 
 jieror Frederic II., and Louis IX. king of 
 France, not only to enact the most barbarous 
 laws against heretics, and to commit to the 
 flames, on pretence of public justice, those 
 who were pronoimced such by the inquisitors, 
 but also to maintain the latter in their office, 
 and grant them their protection in the most 
 open and solemn manner. The edicts to this 
 purpose issued by Frederic II. are well known; 
 edicts fit only to excite horror, and which ren- 
 dered the most illustrious piety and virtue in- 
 capable of saving from the most cruel death 
 such as had the misfortune to be disagreeable 
 to the inquisitors.* These execrable laws were 
 not, however, sufficient to restrain the just in- 
 dignation of the people against these inhuman 
 judges, whose barbarity was accompanied 
 with superstition and arrogance, with a spirit 
 of suspicion and- perfidy, and even with te- 
 merity and imprudence. Accordingly they 
 were insulted by the multitude in many places, 
 were driven in an ignominious manner out of 
 some cities, and were put to death in others; 
 and Conrad of Marpurg, the first German in- 
 quisitor, who derived his commission from Gre- 
 gory IX., was one of the many victims that 
 were sacrificed upon this occasion to the ven- 
 geance of the public,! which his incredible 
 
 * The laws of the emperor Frederic, in relation to 
 the inquisitors, may be seen in Limborch's History 
 of the Inquisition, as also in the Epistles of Pierre 
 de Vignes, and in Bzovius, Raynaldus, &c. The 
 edict of St. Louis, in favour of these spiritual judges, 
 is generally known under the title of Cupientcs; for 
 so it is called by the French lawyers, on account of 
 its beginning with that word. It was issued in 1229, 
 as the Benedictine monks have proved sufficiently in 
 their Hist. Generale de Languedoc, tom. iii. It is 
 also published by Catelius, in his Histor. Comit. To- 
 losanor, and by many other authors. This edict is 
 as severe and inhmnan, to the full, as the laws of 
 Frederic II.; for a great part of the sanctity of good 
 king Louis consisted in his furious and implacable 
 aversion to heretics, against whom he judged it more 
 expedient to employ the influence of racks and gib- 
 bets, than the power of reason and argument. See 
 Du Fresne, Vita Ludovici a Joinvillio scripta. 
 
 t The life of this furious .Tnd celebrated inquisitor 
 was composed from the most authentic records, and 
 al.'io from several valuable manuscripts, by the learn- 
 ed John Herman Schminckius. See also Wadding, 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 375 
 
 barbarities had raised to a dreadful degree of 
 vehemence and fury.* 
 
 VII. When Innocent III., perceived that 
 the labours of llie inquisitors were not imme- 
 diately attended vvitli such al>undant fruits as 
 he had fondly expected, he addressed liimself, 
 in 1207, to Piiilip Augustus, king of France, 
 and to the leading men of that nation, urging 
 them, by the alluring promise of the most 
 ample indulgences, to extirpate all, whom he 
 thought proper to call heretics, by fire and 
 sword. t This exhortation was repeated, with 
 new accessions of fervour and earnestness, in 
 the following year, when Pierre de C'astelnau, 
 the legate of this pontiff, and his inquisitor in 
 France, was put to death by the patrons of 
 the heretics.+ Not long after this, the Cister- 
 tian mord?s, in the name of this pope, pro- 
 claimed a crusade against the heretics through- 
 out France; and a storm seemed to be gather- 
 ing against them on all sides. Raymond VI., 
 earl of Toulouse, in whose territories Castel- 
 nau had been massacred, was solemnly excom- 
 municated, and, to deliver himself from this 
 ecclesiastical malediction, changed sides, and 
 embarked in the crusade now mentioned. In 
 1209, a formidable anny of cross-bearers 
 commenced against the heretics (who were 
 comprehended under the general denomination 
 of .llbigenses^) an open war, which they car- 
 ried on with the utmost exertions of cruelty, 
 though with various success, for several years. 
 The chief director of this war was Arnald, 
 abbot of the Cisterlians, and legate of the Ro- 
 
 An. Minor, t. ii. p. 151, 3.55, and Echard, Scrip. Do- 
 minican, t. i. p. 4B7. 
 
 0(p-*The abbe Floury acknowledges the brutal 
 barbarity of this unrelenting imiuisitor, who, umlcr 
 the pretext of heresy, not only committed to Ilie 
 flames a prodigious number of nobles, clerks, monks, 
 hermits, and lay-persons of all ranks, but moreover 
 caused them to be put to death on the very day when 
 they were accused, without appeal. See Fleury's 
 Hist. Eccies. liv. Ixxx. 
 
 t Innoceiitii Terlii Epistola;, lib. x. epist. 49. 
 
 j Iiuioc. Epist. lib. xi. p. 2G. — Acta Sanctor. Mart, 
 tom. i. p. 411. 
 
 § This term is used in two senses, of which one is 
 general, and the other more confined. In its more 
 general and e.vtensive sense it comprehends all the 
 various kinds of heretics who resided at that time 
 ii\ Narbonne Gaul, i. e. in the southern parts of 
 France. This appears from the following passaL'e 
 of Petrus Sarni'nsis, who, in the dedication of his 
 History of the Albigenses to Innocent III. expri'sscs 
 himself thus: " Tolosani et aliarum civit.itum rt 
 castrorum hairetici, et defensores eornni, giMier.ilitrr 
 Albigenses vocantur." The same author ilividcs 
 afterwards the Albigenses into various sects, (cap. 
 ii. p. 3, and 8.) of which he considers that of the 
 Waldenses as the least pernicious. ' Mali erant 
 Waldenses, sed comparatione aliorum ha^reticoruni 
 longe minus perversi." It was not, Iiowever, from 
 the city of Albigia, or Alhi, that the French heretics 
 were comprehended under the general title of Albi- 
 genses, but from another circumstance, namely, that 
 the greatest part of Narbonne Gaul was, in this cen- 
 tury, called Albigtsium, as the Benedictine monks 
 have clearly demonstrated in their Histoire Gcmtr- 
 ale de Languedoc, tom. iii. The term ^Ihipctisef:, in 
 its more confined sense, was used to denote those 
 heretics who inclined toward the Manicha^an sys- 
 tem, and who were otherwise known by the denom- 
 inations of Catharists, Publicans or Pauliciaiis, .md 
 Rulgarians. This apjtears evidently from in;iny in- 
 contestable nutlKnities, and iiion- e.-|ircj.illy from llie 
 Codex Ini|uisiti(>nis Tolosana', (published by 1,1m- 
 horch, in his History of the Inquisition,) in which 
 the Albigenses are careftilly distinguished from the 
 othct setts that made a iioisc in this century. 
 
 man pontitf; and the commander in chief ot 
 the troops employed in this noble expedition 
 was Simon, earl of Montfort. Raymond, who, 
 consulting his safety rather than his conscience, 
 had engaged in the crusade against the here- 
 tics, was now obliged to attack their persecu- 
 tors. For Simon, who had embarked in this 
 war, not so much from a principle of zeal for 
 religion, or of aversion to the heretics, as from 
 a desire of augmenting his fortune, cast a 
 greedy eye upon the territories of Raymond, 
 and his selfish views were seconded and ac- 
 complished by the court of Rome. After 
 many battles, sieges, and a multitude of other 
 exploits, conducted with the most intrepid 
 courage and the most abominable barbarity, 
 he received from the hands of Innocent, at the 
 Lateran council, A. D. 1215, the county of 
 Toulouse, and the other lands belonging to the 
 obnoxious earl, as a reward for his zeal in sup- 
 porting the cause of God and of the church. 
 About three years after this, he lost his life at 
 the siege of Toulouse. Raymond, his valiant 
 adversary, died in 1222. 
 
 VIII. Thus were the two chiefs of this de- 
 plorable war taken off the scene; but this re- 
 moval was far from extinguishing the infernal 
 flame of persecution on the side of the pon- 
 tiffs, or calming the restless spirit of faction on 
 that of the pretended heretics. Raymond 
 VII., earl of Toulouse, and Amalric, earl of 
 Montfort, succeeded their fathers at the head of 
 the contending parties, and carried on the war 
 with the utmost veiiemence, and with such 
 various success as rendered the issue for some 
 time doubtful. The fonner seemed at first 
 more powerful than his adversary; and pope 
 Honorius III., alarmed at the vigorous oppo- 
 sition he made to the orthodox legions, engaged 
 Louis VIII., king of France, by the most 
 pompous promises, to march in person with a 
 formidable army against tlie enemies of the 
 church. The obsefjuious monarch listened to 
 the solicitations of the lordly pontiff, and em- 
 barked with a considerable military force in 
 the cause of the church, but did not live to 
 reap the fruits of his zeal. His engagements, 
 however, with the court of Rome, and his fu- 
 rious designs against the heretics, were exe- 
 cuted with the greatest alacrity and vigour by 
 his son and successor Louis the Saint; so that 
 Raymond, pressed on all sides, was obliged, in 
 1229, to make peace upon the most disadvan- 
 tiigeous terms, even by making a cession of 
 tlie greatest part of his territories to the French 
 monarch, after having sacrificed a considera- 
 ble portion of them, as a peace-offering to the 
 church of Rome.* This treaty gave a mortal 
 
 0(7-* It was in consequence of this treaty (of 
 which the articles were drawn up at Manx, and 
 afterwards confirmed at Paris, in presence of Louis) 
 that the university of Toulouse was founded, Ray- 
 mond having bound liimself thereby to pay the sum 
 of 4000 silver marcs, toward the support of two pro- 
 fes.sors of divinity, two of canon law, two of gram- 
 mar, and si.\ of the liberal arts, during the space of 
 ten years. We must also observe, that what Dr. 
 Mosheim says of the cession that Kaymond made of 
 his lands is not sntnciently clear and accurate. 
 'I'liese lands were not to l)e transferred till at"ler hi» 
 death, and they were to be iransterred to the brother 
 of Loni.s IX. who, according to the treaty, was to 
 espouse the daughter of Raymond. See Flcury's Hill. 
 Etclcs. liv. Ixxix sect, 50. 
 
376 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part 11. 
 
 blow to the cause of heresy, and dispersed tlie 
 champions that had appeared in its defence: 
 the inquisition was establislied at Toulouse, 
 and the heretics were not only exposed to the 
 pious cruelties of Louis, but, what was still 
 more shocking, Raymond himself, who had 
 formerly been their patron, became their per- 
 secutor, and treated them upon all occasions 
 with the most inhuman severity. It is true, 
 this prince broke the engagements into which 
 lie had entered by the treaty above-mentioned, 
 and renewed the war against Louis and the in- 
 quisitors, who abused, in the most odious man- 
 ner, their victory and the power they had 
 acquired. But this new effort, in favour of 
 the heretics, was attended with little or no 
 effect, and the unfortunate earl of Toulouse, 
 the last representative of that noble and pow- 
 erful family, dejected and exliausted by the 
 losses he had sustained, and the perplexities in 
 which he was involved, died, in 1249, without 
 male issue. And thus ended a civil war, of 
 which religion had been partly the cause, and 
 partly the pretext, and which, in its conse- 
 quences, was highly profitable both to the kings 
 of France and to the Roman pontiffs.* 
 
 IX. The severity which the court of Rome 
 employed in the extirpation of heresy, and the 
 formidable arguments of hrc and sword, racks 
 and gibbets, with which the popes and their 
 creatures reasoned against the enemies of the 
 church, were not sufhcient to prevent the rise 
 of new and pernicious sects in different coim- 
 tries. Many of these sects were inconsidera- 
 ble in themselves, and transitory in tlieix dura- 
 tion, while some of them made a noise in the 
 world, and were suppressed with difficulty. 
 Among the latter we may reckon that of tlie 
 Brethren and Sisters of the free spirit, which 
 about this time gained ground secretly and al- 
 most imperceptibly in Italy, France, and Ger- 
 many, and seduced into its bosom multitudes 
 of persons of both sexes, by the striking ap- 
 
 * Many writers, both ancient and modern, have 
 related the circumstances of this reUgious war, car- 
 ried on against the earls of Toulouse and their con- 
 federates, and also against the heretics, whose cause 
 they maintained. But the historians, whom I have 
 consulted on this subject, have not treated it with 
 that impartiality which is so essential to the merit 
 of historic writing. The protestant writers, among 
 whom Basnage deserves an eminent rank, are too 
 favourable to Raymond and the Albigenses; the Ro- 
 man catholic historians lean with still more par- 
 tiality to the other side. Of the latter, the most re- 
 cent are Benedict, a Dominican monk, author of 
 the Histoire des Albigeois, des Vaudois, et des Barbels, 
 published at Paris in 1(591, and J. Bapt. L'Anglois, a 
 Jesuit, who composed the Histoire desCroisadcs con- 
 tre les Albigeois, published at Rouen in 1703, to 
 which wc must add Jo. Jac. Percini Moniimenta 
 Conventus Tolosani Ordinis Fratrnm Pr.-pdicator. in 
 quibus Historia hujus Conventus distribuilur, et re- 
 fertur totius Albigensium facti narratio, Tolosas, 
 1093. These writers are chargeable with tlie greatest 
 partiality and injustice for the reproaches and ca- 
 lumnies they throw out so liberally against the Ray- 
 monds and the Albigenses, while they disguise, with 
 a perfidious dexterity, the barbarity of Simon of 
 Montfort, and the ambitious views of extending 
 their dominions that engaged the kings of France 
 to enter into this war. The most ample and ac- 
 curate account of this expedition against the here- 
 tics is that which is given by the learned Benedic- 
 tines Claude le Vie and Joseph Vaisselte, in their 
 Histoire Gcneralc de Languerioc, torn. iii. in vhic,*!, 
 however, there are several omissions, which /ender 
 that valuable work defective. 
 
 pearance of piety that was observed in the 
 conduct of the members who composed it. 
 How far the councils of this century proceeded 
 against the new sect, we cannot say with cer- 
 tainty, because we have upon record only a 
 few of the decrees that were issued upon that 
 occasion. Perhaps the obscurity of the rising 
 faction screened it, in a great measure, from 
 public view. But this was not the case in the 
 following age; the Brethren and Sisters above- 
 mentioned issued from their retreats in propor- 
 tion as their numbers increased: they drew 
 upon them the eyes of the world, and particu- 
 larly those of the inquisitors, who committed 
 to the flames such of these mihappy enthu- 
 siasts as fell into their hands; while the coun- 
 cils, holden in Germany and other countries, 
 loaded them with excommunications and 
 damnatory edicts. 
 
 This sect took its denomination from the 
 words of St. Paul,* and maintained that the 
 true children of God were invested with the 
 privilege of a full and perfect /reerfoni from the 
 jurisdiction of the law.] They were called, by 
 the Germans and Flemish, Beghards and Be- 
 guttes, names which, as we have seen already, 
 were usually given to those who made an ex- 
 traordinary profession of piety and devotion. 
 They received from others the reproachful 
 denomination of Bicorni, i. e. Idiots. In 
 France, they were known by the appellation 
 of Beguins and Beguines, while the multitude 
 distinguished them by that of Turlupins, the 
 origin and reason of which title I have not 
 been able to learn.J Nothing carried a more 
 shocking air of lunacy and distraction than 
 their external aspect and manners. They ran 
 from place to place clothed in the most singu- 
 lar and fantastic apparel, and begged their 
 bread with wild shouts and clamours, rejecting 
 with horror every kind of industry and labour, 
 as an obstacle to divine contemplation, and to 
 the ascent of the soul toward the Father of 
 spirits. In all their excursions they were fol- 
 
 * Romans, viii. 2, 14. 
 
 t The accounts here given of these wretched fana- 
 tics are, for the most part, taken from authentic re- 
 cords, which have not been yet published, from the 
 decrees of synods and councils holden in France and 
 Germany, from the diplomas of the Roman pontiffs, 
 the sentences pronounced by the inquisitors, and 
 other sources of information to which I have had 
 access. I have also a collection of extracts from 
 certain books of these enthusiasts, and more es- 
 pecially from that which treated of the JVine Spirit- 
 ual Rocks, and which was in the highest esteem 
 among the free brethren, who considered it as a 
 treasure of divine wisdom and doctrine. As 1 can- 
 not here expose these records to the examination of 
 the curious reader, I beg leave to refer him to a long 
 and ample edict issued out against these brethren 
 by Henry I. archbishop of Cologne, and published in 
 the Statuta Coloniensia, anno 15.54. This edict is, 
 in every respect, conformable to those published on 
 the same occasion at Mentz, AschafTenburg, Pader- 
 born, Beziers, Treves, and other places. 
 
 t Many have written of the Turlupins, but none 
 with .accuracy and precision. See Beausobre's Dis- 
 sertation sur les Adamites, part ii. p. 384, where 
 that learned author has fallen into several errors, 
 as usually happens to him when he treats subjects 
 of this kind. I know not the origin of the word 
 Turlupin; but I am able to demonstrate, by the most 
 authentic records, that the persons so called, who 
 were burned at Paris and in other parts of France, 
 were no other than the Brethren of the free spirit, 
 who were condemned by the Roman pontifl's, and 
 aleo by vaiious councils. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 377 
 
 lowed by women, called Sisters, with whom 
 they lived in the most intimate familiarity " 
 They distributed, among the people, books 
 which contained the substance of tlieir doc- 
 trines; lield nocturnal assemblies in places re- 
 mote from public view; and seduced many 
 from frequenting the ordinary institutions of 
 divine worship. 
 
 X. These brethren, who gloried in tlie free- 
 dom which they pretended to Jiave obtained, 
 through the spirit, from the dominion and obli- 
 gation of the law, adopted a certain rigid and 
 fantastic system of mystic theology, built upon 
 pretended philosophical principles, which bore 
 a striking resemblance to the impious doc- 
 trines of the Pantiieists. They held, " That 
 all things flowed by emanation from God, and 
 were finally to return to tlieir divine source; 
 that rational souls were so many portions of 
 the Supreme Deity, and that the universe, 
 considered as one great whole, was God: 
 that every man, by the power of contempla- 
 tion, and by calling off his mind from sensible 
 and terrestrial objects, might be united to the 
 Deity in an inexplicable manner, and become 
 one with the Source and Parent of all things; 
 and that tbey, who, by long and assiduous 
 meditation, had plunged themselves, as it 
 were, into the abyss of the Divinity, acquired 
 a most glorious and sublime liberty, and were 
 not only delivered from the violence of sinful 
 lusts, but even from the connnon instincts of 
 nature." From these and the like doctrines, 
 the brethren drew this impious and horrid con- 
 clusion, " That the person who had ascended 
 to God in tliis manner, and was absorbed by 
 contemplation in the abyss of Deity, became 
 thus a part of tlie Godhead, commenced God, 
 was the Son of God in the same sense and man- 
 ner in which Christ was, and was thereby 
 raised to a glorious independence, and freed 
 from the obligation of all laws human and di- 
 vine." It was in consequence of all this, that 
 they treated with contempt the ordinances of 
 the Gospel, and every external act of religious 
 worship, looking upon prayer, fasting, baptism, 
 and the sacrament of the Lord's supper, as the 
 first elements of piety adapted to tlie state and 
 capacity of children, and as of no sort of use to 
 the perfect man, wliom long meditation had 
 raised above all external things, and carried 
 into the bosom and essence of the Deity.f 
 
 * Hence they were styl(;d, in Goririany, Schwrstri- 
 ones, as appears by the decrees of several coimcils. 
 
 t It may not be improper to introduce a certain 
 number of sentences, translated faithfully from seve- 
 ral of the more secret books of these heretics. The 
 following will be sntiicient to give the curious reader 
 a full idea of their impiety. 
 
 " Every pious and cood man is the only bepotten 
 Son of God, whom God engendered from all eternity: 
 (for these heretics maintained, that what the Scrip- 
 tures taught concerning the distinction of three per- 
 sons in the divine nature, is by no means to be un- 
 derstood literally, and therefore explained it accord- 
 ing to the principles of their mystical and fantastic 
 system.) 
 
 "All created tilings arc non-entities, or nothing: 
 I do not say that they are small or minute, but that 
 they arc absolutely nothing. 
 
 "There is in the soul of man something tli.it is 
 neither created nor susceptible of creation, and that 
 is, rationality, or the power of reasoning. 
 
 "God is neither good, nor better, nor best: whoso- 
 ever therefore calls the Deity good, speaks as fool- 1 
 Vol. I.— 48 
 
 XI. Among these fanatics there were seve- 
 ral persons of eminent probity, who had en- 
 tered into this sect with the most upright in- 
 tentions, and who extended that liberty of the 
 spirit, which they looked upon as the privilege 
 of true believers, no farther than to an ex- 
 emption from the duties of external worship, 
 and an immunity from the positive laws of the 
 church. The whole of religion was placed by 
 this class of men in internal devotion, and 
 they treated with the utmost contempt the 
 rules of monastic disciplme, and all other exter- 
 nal rites and institutions, as infinitely beneath 
 the attention of the perfect. Nor were their 
 e.xhortations and examples without effect; for, 
 about the middle of this century, they per- 
 suaded a considerable number of monks and 
 devout persons, in Suabia, " to live without 
 any rule, and to serve God in the liberty of 
 the spirit, which was the most acceptable ser- 
 vice that could be presented to the Deity."* 
 The inquisitors, however, stopped tliese poor 
 enthusiasts in tlie midst of tlieir career, and 
 committed several of them to the flames, in 
 which they expired, not only with the most 
 unclouded serenity, but even witli the most 
 triumphant feelings of cheerfulness and joy. 
 
 But we find among these Brethren of the 
 free spirit another class of fanatics very differ- 
 ent from these now mentioned, and mucli more 
 extravagant, whose system of religion was as 
 dangerous as it was ridiculous and absurd, 
 since it opened a door to the most licentious 
 manners. These wretched enthusiasts main- 
 tained, that, by continual contemplation, it was 
 possible to eradicate all the instincts of nature 
 out of the heaven-born mind, and to introduce, 
 into the soul a certain divine stupor, and holy 
 apathy, which they looked upon as tlie great 
 characteristics of Christian perfection. The 
 persons who adopted these sentiments took 
 strange liberties in consequence of their pre- 
 tended sanctity, and showed, indeed, by their 
 conduct, that they had little regard to external 
 appearances; for they held their secret assem- 
 blies in a state of nudity, and lay in the same 
 beds with their spiritual sisters, or, indiscrimi- 
 nately, with other women, witliout the smallest 
 scruple or hesitation. This shocking violation 
 
 ishly .as he who calls an object black which ba 
 ktiovvs to be white. 
 
 "God still engenders his only begotten son, and 
 begets still the same son, whom lie had begotten 
 from eternity: for every operation of the Deity is 
 uniform and one; and therefore lie engender."! liis son 
 without any division. 
 
 " What the Scriptures say roncerning Christ is true 
 of every good, of every divine man: aiul every quality 
 of the divine nature belongs equally to every person 
 whose piety is genuine and sincere." 
 
 To these horrid passages we may add the following 
 sentences, in which John bishop of StrHsbourg (in an 
 edict he published against the Brethren of the free 
 spirit, in l.l]") discovers farther the Wasphemou* 
 doctrine of this impious sect. ' Deus (says these 
 heretics) est formaliter omne quod est. Cluilibet 
 homo pi-rfeetus est Christus per naluram. Homo 
 perfectus est liber in totum, nee tenetur ad servan- 
 dum pra'cepta ecclesiie data a Deo. Mulla sunt po- 
 etioa ill l''vangelio, qua- mm sunt vera; ct hoipines 
 credere magis debent coiiceptibus e.v aiiima sua Deo 
 juncia profcctis, quam Evangelio," &c. 
 
 * See Mart. Crusius, Ann.il. Suevicorum, part iii. 
 lib. ii. cap. xiv. ad annum 1201. — This .tuthor has 
 taken his materials from Felix Faber, an impartial 
 writer. 
 
378 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 of decency was a consequence of their perni- 
 cious system. Tliey looked upon decency and 
 modesty as marks of inw.ird corruption, as the 
 characters of a soid tlr.it waa still under the 
 dominion of the sensual, animal, and lascivi- 
 ous spirit, and that was not, as yet, re-unitcd 
 to the divine nature, its centre and source. 
 And they considered, as at a fatal distance from 
 the Deity, all such as cither felt the carnal 
 suggestions of nature, or were penetrated with 
 warm emotions at the view or approach of per- 
 sons of a different sex, or were incapahle of 
 vanquishijig and suppressing the rising fervour 
 of lust aad intemperance.* 
 
 There were, moreover, in this fanatical troop, 
 certain enthusiasts, who far surpassed in impi- 
 ety the two classes we have been now mention- 
 ing, who abused the system and doctrines of 
 the sect, so as to draw from tliem an apology 
 for all kinds of wickedness, and who audacious- 
 ly maintained, that the divine man, t*the be- 
 liever, who was intimately united to God, 
 could not sin, let his conduct be ever so horri- 
 ble and atrocious. This execrable doctrine 
 was not, indeed, cvplaiued in the same manner 
 by all the Brethren of the free spirit who were 
 so outrageous to adopt it. Some held that the 
 motions and actions of the body had no rela- 
 tion at all to the soul, which, by its union with 
 God, was blended with the divine nature: others 
 fell into a notion inlinitely injurious to the 
 Supreme Being, and maintained that the pro- 
 pensities and passions tliat arose in the soul of 
 the divine man after his union with the Deity, 
 were the propensities and affections of God 
 himself, and were therefore, notwithstanding 
 their apparent deformity and opposition to the 
 law, holy and good, since the Supreme Being 
 is infinitely exalted above all law and all obli- 
 gation.! It is necessary to observe, before we 
 
 * Certain writers, wliose principal zeal is employ- 
 ed in the defence of these heretics, and who liave 
 accustomed themselves to entertain a hi^rh idea of 
 the sanctity of all those who, in the middle ages, 
 separated tliemselves from the communion of the 
 churcli of Rome, suspect the inquisitors of having 
 attributed falsely tlie.se impious doctrines to the Bre- 
 thren of the free spirit, with a view to blacken these 
 pious men, and to render them odious. But this sus- 
 picion is entirely groundless; and the account of this 
 matter, which we have given in the text, is conform- 
 able to the strictest truth. The inquisitors have 
 been less fabulous in their accusations of these he- 
 retics, than many are apt to imagine. They ac- 
 knowledge that the Beghards, though destitute of 
 shame, were not in general chargeable with a breach 
 of the duties of chastity and abstinence. They were 
 indeed of opinion, that the firmness of mind, and in- 
 sensibility of heart, v hich rendered them proof 
 against female charms, ami deaf to the voice of na- 
 ture, were privileges granted to them by the devil; 
 for they adopted the opinion of honest Nieder, (For- 
 inicar. lib. iii. cap. v.) and affirmed that it was in the 
 power of that evil spirit to render men cold, and to 
 extinguish the warm and lascivious solicitations of 
 nature; and that Satan wrought this miracle upon 
 his friends and adherents, in order to procure them a 
 high reputation for sanctity, and make them appear 
 superior in virtue to the rest of mankind. " Credo 
 (saith Nieder, who was both a Dominican and an in- 
 quisitor) quosdam ex eis diumonis opera aftectos fu 
 isse, ne moverentur ad nat\irales actus incuutiuentiai 
 Facillimum enim est d;emonibus infrigidare." 
 
 t This account will be confirmed by the ftdlowing 
 passage, which is faithfully translated from the fa- 
 mous book of the JVine ftorA-,;, written originally in 
 German: " Moreover the divine man operates and 
 engenders whatever the Deity operates and engen- 
 ders: for in God he produced and formed the heavens 
 
 leave this subject, that flagitious and impious 
 impostors mingled themselves sometimes with 
 this sect, and took the name of Beghards, that 
 by a feigned piety they might impose upon the 
 iimltitude, and deceive the simple into their 
 snares.* 
 
 XII. The famous Amalric, professor of logic 
 and theology at Paris, whose bones were dug 
 up and publicly burned in 1209, (although he 
 
 and the earth. He is also the father of the eternal 
 word. Neither could God produce any thing with- 
 out this divine man, who is therefore obliged to ren- 
 der his will conformable to the will of God, that 
 whatever may be agreeable to the Deity, may be 
 agreeable to him also. If therefore it be the will of 
 (jod tliat I should commit sin, my will must be the 
 same, and I must not even desire to abstain from 
 sill. This is true contrition. And although a man, 
 who is well and truly united to God, may have com- 
 mitted a thousand mortal sins, he ought not to wish 
 that he had not committed them: he should even be 
 ready to die a thousand deaths rather than omit one 
 of these mortal sins." Hence arose the accusation 
 brought by the inquisitors against this impious sect, 
 u liom they reproach with maintaining that the 
 " sin of a man united to God, is not sin, since God 
 works in him and with him whatever he does." Hen- 
 ry Suso, a Dominican monk, and one of the most ce- 
 lebrated Mystic writers, composed, in the following 
 century, another book concerning the Nine Rocks, 
 which is to be found in the edition of his works pub- 
 lished by Laurence Surius. But this book is entirely 
 different from that which was in such high esteem 
 among the Beghards, though it bears the same title. 
 Thi' latter is of much older date, and was in vogue 
 in Germany, among the Brethren of the free spirit, 
 long before Suso was born. There fell some time 
 ago into my hands an ancient manu.«cript, composed 
 in Alsace during the fifteenth century, containing 
 an account of various revelations and visions of 
 that age. In this manuscript I found a piece enti- 
 tled, Declaratio Religiosi cujusdam super Revela- 
 tione Carthusiano cuidam de Ecelesiaj per gladium 
 reformatione, Lcodii in anno 1-153 facta; and, almost 
 in the beginning of this declaration, I met with the 
 following passage relating to the book of the Nine 
 Rocks: " Homo (juidam devotissimus, licet laicus, li- 
 brum de uovem Rupibus conscripsit a Deo compul- 
 sus, ubi niulta ad prssens jiertinentia continentur 
 de Ecclesis renovatione et prsvia gravi persecu- 
 tione." These Nine Rocks signified, according to the 
 fanatical doctrine of this wrong-headed sect, the dif- 
 ferent steps by which the divine man ascended to the 
 Deity. 
 
 * The founder of this famous sect, the place of its 
 origin, and the time of its first appearance, are not 
 known with certainty. I have in my possession 
 eighty-nine Sentences of the Beghards, vulgarly call- 
 ed Schwestriones, but who style themselves Brethren 
 of the sect of the free spirit and of voluntary pover- 
 ty, with a refutation of the said sentences, written 
 at Worms toward the conclusion of this century by 
 one of the inquisitors. The "i'th sentence runs thus: 
 "To say that the truth is in Rhetia, is to fall into 
 the heresy of Donatus, who said that God was in 
 Africa, and not elsewhere." From these words it 
 appears evident, that Rhetia was the country where 
 the church of the Brethren of the free spirit was fix- 
 ed and established, and that from this province they 
 passed into Germany. I am not, however, of opin- 
 ion, that this sect had its origin in thai province; 
 but am rather inclined to think, that Italy was its 
 country, and that, being driven thence, it took re- 
 fuge in Rhetia. Nor is at all improbable, that Italy, 
 which saw so many religious factions arise in its bo- 
 som, was also the nursing mother of this blasphemous 
 sect. We shall be almost fully confinned in this 
 opinion, when we consider that, in a long letter 
 from Clement V. to Rainier bishop of Cremona, (pub- 
 lished by Odor. Raynaldus, Annal. torn. .xv. sm. 
 1311,) the zealous pontiff exhorts that prelate to sup- 
 press and extirpate, with all liis power, the sect of 
 the Brethren of the free spirit, who were settled in 
 several parts of Italy, and particularly in the pro- 
 vince of Spoleto and the coujUries adjacent. Such 
 are the terms of the pontiff's letter: " In nonnullis 
 ItaliEE partjbus, tarn Spoletanae ptovinriae, quam cir- 
 cumjacentium regionum." 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 379 
 
 had abjured his errors before his death,) and a 
 considerable number of whose disciples and 
 followers were conuniUcd to tlic flames on ac- 
 count of tiieir absurd and pernicious doctrine, 
 was undoubtedly of the same way of thinking 
 with the sect whose opinions we have been 
 now considering;* for, though the writers of 
 this barbarous age have given very different 
 and confused accounts of liis opinions, and even 
 attributed some doctrines to him which he 
 never maintained, it is nevertheless certain, 
 that he taught, that all things were the parts 
 of one substance, or, in other words, that the 
 universe was God, and that not only the fonns 
 of all things, but also their matter or substance, 
 proceed from the Deity, and must return to 
 the source from wliich they were derived. f 
 From these absurd and blasphemous principles 
 he deduced that chimerical system of fanatical 
 devotion, which we have already exposed to 
 the vievk' of the reader, pretended to demon- 
 strate the possibility of incorporating or trans- 
 lating the human nature into the divine, and 
 rejected all kinds of e.xtemal worship, as in- 
 significant and useless. The disciples of this 
 enthusiast were men of exemplary piety, were 
 distinguished by the gravity and austerity of 
 their lives and manners, and suffered death in 
 the most dreadful forms with the utmost reso- 
 lution and constancy. David of Dinant, a 
 Parisian doctor, was one of the most eminent 
 among these; and he usually expressed the fiui- 
 damental principle of his master in the follow- 
 ing proposition; " God is the primary matter 
 or substance of all tilings." He composed a 
 work entitled Quaternarii, with several other 
 productions, which were cliietly designed to 
 
 ♦ This did not escape the notice of the enemies of 
 the Beghards or Brethren of the free spirit in Ger- 
 many, niucli less that of the inquisitors, who, in 
 tlieir Refutation of the 89 sentences of the Beg- 
 hards, mentioned in the preceding note, express 
 themselves thus: (sent. C8.) " Dicere quod omnis 
 creaturaest Deus, hsresis Alexandri* est, qui dixit, 
 materiam primam et Deuni et hominem, hoc est 
 mentes, esse in substantia, quod postea qnidam Da- 
 vid de Dinanto sequutus est, qui tcniporibus nostris 
 de hac h;eresi de Francia fugatus est, et punitus 
 fuisset, si deprehensus fuisset," 
 
 SS' \ The account given by Fleury, in his Ecclesi- 
 astical History, of the opinions of Amalric, is very 
 dilTerent from that which is here given by Ur. Mo- 
 sheim. The former observes, that Amalric, or 
 Amauri, taught that ' every Christian was obliged 
 to believe luniself a member of Jesus Christ, and that 
 without tliis belief none could be saved;' and he ob- 
 eerves also, that his disciples introduced errors still 
 more pernicious, such as the following: "That the 
 power of the Father had continued only during the 
 Mosaic dispensation, that of the Son 1200 years 
 after his entrance upon earth, and that, in the thir- 
 teenth century, the age of the Holy Spirit com- 
 menced, in which the sacraments and all external 
 worship were to be abolished; that there would be 
 no resurrection; that heaven and hell were mere fic- 
 tions;" and many more sentiments of that nature, 
 which, as the learned Spanheim imagines, were 
 falsely imputed to Amalric, in order to render his 
 menuiry odious, because he had opjH)sed the worship 
 of saints and images. See Flfiiry, Hist. Eccles. livre 
 l.xxvi. sect. lix. — Dr. Mosheim considered Amalric as 
 a Pantheist; and many men of eminent learning are 
 of this opinion. See, among others, Joh. Gerson apud 
 Jac. Thomasium, and also Brucker's Hist. I'hilosoph. 
 torn. iii. p. ()H8. 
 
 * The person here mentioned is Ale.vander, the 
 Epicurean, of whom Plutarch siieaks in his Sympo- 
 sium, 
 
 affect and gain the multitude; but he was at 
 length obliged to save himsflfijy flight.* The 
 bishops, assembled in council at Paris, in 1209, 
 considered the philosophy of Aristotle as tlie 
 source of these im])ious doctrines, and, on that 
 account, proliil)ited all persons from reading 
 or explaining, either in public or private, the 
 metaphysical and other productions of the 
 Grecian sagc.j 
 
 XIII. If we may depend upon the accounts 
 given by certain writers, Amalric and his fol- 
 lowers received with the utmost docility and 
 faith the predictions, attributed to Joachim, 
 abbot of Flora, concerning the reformation 
 that was .soon to be brought about in the 
 church by the power of the sword, — the ap- 
 proaching Jlge of the ITolij Ghost, that was to 
 succeed those of the Father and the Son, — 
 and other things of that nature, which raised 
 the hopes and occupied the thoughts of the 
 Spiritual Franciscans. Whether these accounts 
 may be depended upon or not, we shall not 
 determine. To us they appear extremely 
 doubtful. It is, however, true, that certain 
 persons were so far deluded by tliese pretended 
 prophecies, as to form new sects with a view 
 to their accomplishment, and to declare war 
 against the established church, its system of 
 doctrine, and its forms of worship. Among 
 other fh,natical sectaries, there arose one of a 
 most extraordinary kind, a Bohemian woman, 
 named Wilhehnina, who resided in the terri- 
 tory of Milan. This delirious and wrong- 
 headed woman, having studied with attention 
 the predictions concerning the age of the Holy 
 Ghost, was so extravagant as to persuade her- 
 self, and (what is still more amazing) had 
 sufficient infltience to persuade others, that 
 the Holy Ghost had become incarnate in her 
 person, for the salvation of a great part of 
 mankind. According to her doctrine, " None 
 could be saved by the blood of Jesus, but true 
 and pious Christians; while the Jews, Sara- 
 cens, and unworthy Cliristians, were to obtain 
 salvation through the Holy Spirit which dwelt 
 in her; and, in consequence thereof, all that 
 had hapjjened to Christ, during his appearance 
 upon earth in tlte human nature, was to be 
 exactly renewed in her person,orrather in that 
 of the Holy Ghost which was united to her." 
 This mad woman died at Milan, in 1281, in 
 the most fragrant odour of sanctity; and her 
 memory was not only holden in the highest 
 veneration by her niunerous followers and the 
 ignorant multitude, but was also honoured 
 with religious worship both in public and in 
 private. Her sect was at length discovered by 
 the curious eye of persecution, in 1300, and 
 fell under the cognizance of the inquisitors, 
 who destroyed the magnificent monument that 
 had been erected to her honour, ordered her 
 bones to he committed to the flames, and in 
 the same fire consimicd the leaders of this 
 
 *St.'e Martenne's Tliesaur. Anecd. tom. iv. p. 163, 
 where there is an account of the heresies for which 
 sever.'il priests were burned alParisin 120'J.— Natal. 
 Ale.vander, Hist. Eccl. Sffic. xiii. cap. iii. art. ii. p. 
 7t).— DuBois, Hist. Eccl. Paris, t, ii. p.2-14.— Boulay, 
 Hist. Acad. Paris, t. iii. p. 24, 4H, 53.— Jac. Thoma- 
 sius, dc E.vustione Mundi Stoica, p. 199. 
 
 t I.aunoy, dc varia Aristot. furtuna in Acad. Paris. 
 p. 127. 
 
380 
 
 INTERNAL fflSTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 wretched faction, among whom were persons 
 of both sexes.* 
 
 XIV. It was upon predictions similar to 
 those mentioned in the preceding section, that 
 the sect of the ^fipostles founded its disciphne. 
 The members of this sect made Uttle or no al- 
 teration in the doctrinal part of the public re- 
 ligion; what they principally aimed at, was, to 
 introduce among Christians the simplicity of 
 the primitive times, and more especially the 
 manner of life that was observed by the apos- 
 tles. Gerard Sagarelli, the founder of this 
 sect, obliged his followers to go from place to 
 place as the apostles did, to wander about 
 clothed in white, with long beards, dishevelled 
 hair, and bare heads, accompanied with women 
 whom they called their Sisters. They were 
 also obliged to renounce all kinds of property 
 and possessions, and to preach in public the 
 necessity of repentance, while in their more 
 private assemblies they declared the approach- 
 ing destruction of the corrupt church of Rome, 
 and the establishment of a purer service, and a 
 more glorious church, which, according to the 
 prophecies of the abbot .Toachim, would cer- 
 tainly arise from its ruins. No sooner was the 
 ill-fated leader of this faction committed to the 
 flames,! than he was succeeded in that charac- 
 ter by a bold and enterprising fanatic, named 
 Dulcinus, a native of Novara, who published 
 his predictions with more courage, and main- 
 tained them with more zeal, than iiis prede- 
 cessor had done, and who did not hesitate to 
 declare that, in a short time, pope Bonifvce 
 VIII., the corrupt priests, and the licentious 
 monks, were to perisli by the hand of the em- 
 peror Frederic III., son of Peter, king of Ar- 
 ragon, and that a new and most holy pontiff 
 was to be raised to the head of the church. 
 These visionary predictions were, no doubt, 
 drawn from the dreams of Joachim, who is 
 said to have declared, among other things, that 
 an emperor called Frederic III., was to bring 
 to perfection what Frederic II. had left unfin- 
 ished. Be that as it may, Dulcinus appeared 
 with intrepid assurance at the head of the 
 apostles; and acting, not only in the character 
 of a prophet, but also in that of a general, he 
 assembled an army to maintain his cause, and 
 perhaps to accomplish, at least in part, his 
 predictions. He was opposed by Raynerius, 
 bishop of Vercelli, who defended the interests 
 of the Roman pontiff, and carried on, above 
 two years, a most sanguinary and dreadful 
 war against this chief of the apostles. The 
 issue of this contest was fatal to the latter, 
 who, after several battles fought with obstinate 
 courage, was at length taken prisoner, and 
 put to death at Vercelli in a most barbarous 
 manner, in 1307, together with Margaret, 
 whom he had chosen for his spiritual sister, 
 
 * The Milanese liistorianp, such as Bernardinus 
 Coriiis. and others, have related the adventures nf 
 this odd woman; but their accounts are very differ- 
 ent from those given by the learned Muratori, in 
 his Antiq. Italicae niedii Mvi, tom. v., and which he 
 has drawn from the judicial proceedings of the court, 
 where the extraordinary case of this temale fanatic 
 was examined. We are informed by the same ex- 
 cellent author, that ale,<jrned writer, named Puricolli, 
 composed a history of Wilhelmina, and of her sect. 
 
 t This unhappy man was burned alivo at Parma, 
 in 1300. 
 
 according to the custom of his sect. The ter- 
 rible end of Dulcinus was not immediately 
 followed by the extinction of his sect, which 
 still subsisted in France, Germany, and other 
 coantries, and stood firm against the most ve- 
 hement eiforts of its enemies, until the begin- 
 ning of the 15th century, when, under the 
 pontificate of Boniface IX., it was totally ex 
 tirpated.* 
 
 XV. This famous Joachim, abbot of Flora, 
 whose fanatical predictions turned the heads 
 of so many well-meaning people, and excited 
 tliem to attempt reforming tlie church by the 
 sword, and to declare open war against the 
 Roman pontifts, did not fill under the suspi- 
 cion of heresy on account of these predictions, 
 but in consequence of a new explication he had 
 given "of the doctrine of a Trinity of persons in 
 the Godhead. He had in an elaborate work 
 attacked very warmly Peter Lombard, the 
 master of the sentences, on account of the dis- 
 tinction which this writer had made between 
 tlie divine essence and the three persons in the 
 Godliead; for Joachim looked upon this doc- 
 trine as introducing a fourth object, even ari 
 essence, into the Trinity. But the good man 
 was too little versed in metaphysical matters, to 
 carry on a controversy of such a subtle natiu-e; 
 and he was betrayed by his ignorance so far 
 as to advance inconsiderately the most rash 
 and most exceptionable tenets. For he denied 
 tliat there was any tiling, or any essence, that 
 belonged in common to the tliree persons in 
 the Trinity, or was jointly possessed by them; 
 by which doctrine the substantial union, among 
 the three persons, was taken away, and the 
 union of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 was reduced from a natural, simple, and numeri- 
 cal unity, to a moral one only; that is, to such 
 an unity as reigns in the counsels and opinions 
 of different persons, who embrace the same 
 notions, and think and act with one accord. 
 Tliis explication of the Trinity was looked 
 upon by many as very little different from the 
 Arian system; and therefore pope Innocent III. 
 pronounced, in 1216, in the Lateran council, 
 a damnatory sentence against the doctrine of 
 Joachim; not extending, however, to the per- 
 son or fame of the abbot himself. Notwith- 
 standing this papal sentence, Joachim has at 
 tliis day a considerable number of adherents 
 and defenders, more especially among those 
 Franciscans who are called Observaixts. Some 
 of these maintain that the book of this abbot 
 was corrupted and interpolated by his enemies, 
 while the rest are of opinion that his doctrine 
 
 * I composed in the German language an accurate 
 history of this famous sect, which is very little 
 known in our times; and I have in my hands mate- 
 rials, that will furnish an interesting addition to that 
 history. That this sect subsisted in Germany, and 
 in some other countries, until the pontificate of 
 Boniface IX., is evident from the Chronicle of Her- 
 man Cornerus, published by Jo. George Echard, in 
 his Corpus Historicnm medii JEvi, tom. ii., and may 
 be sufficiently demonstrated by other authentic testi- 
 monies. In 1402, a certain member of this apostolic 
 sect, whose name was William, or Wilhelmus, was 
 burned alive at Lubec. The Germans, who were 
 accustomed to distinguish by the name of Beghards 
 all those who pretended to extraordinary piety, and 
 sought, by poverty and begging, an eminent reputa- 
 tion for sanctity and virtue, gave this title also to 
 the sect of the Apostles. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 
 
 3BI 
 
 was not thoroughly understood by those who 
 opposed it.* 
 
 * See Dan. Papebrocliiiis, Disqiiis. Histor. de FIo- 
 rensi Ordinc, Prophetiis, Doctriiia, B. Joacliiini, in 
 
 Artis Sanctorum, Maii, torn. vi. p. 4H6, which con- 
 tains the life of Joachim, written by SyilanEPus, and 
 several other pieces of consequence. See also Natal. 
 Alexander, Flist. Krrles. sa!C. xiii. dis. ii. d. 331. — 
 Luc. Wadding, Annal. Minor, torn. iv. 
 
 THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Concerning" the prosperous Events that happened 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 I. Several attempts were made by tlie 
 princes of the west, at the instigation of tlie 
 Roman pontiffs, to renew the war in Palestine 
 against the Turks and Saracens, and to deli- 
 ver the whole province of Syria from the op- 
 pressive yoke of those despotic infidels. The 
 succession of pontiffs tiiat resided in Avignon, 
 evinced the greatest zeal for the renovation of 
 this religious war, and left no artifice, no me- 
 thods of persuasion unemployed, that could 
 have the least tendency to engage the kings 
 of England and France in an expedition to the 
 Holy Land. But their success was not an- 
 swerable to their zeal; and, notwithstanding 
 the powerful influence of their exhortations 
 and remonstrances, something still happened 
 to prevent their producing the desired effect. 
 Clement V. urged tlie renewal of this holy war 
 with the greatest ardour in the years 1307 and 
 1308, and set apart a very large sum of money 
 for prosecuting it with alacrity and vigour.* 
 John XXn. ordered ten ships to be fitted out 
 in 1319, to transport an army of pious adven- 
 turers into Palestine,! and had recourse to the 
 power of superstition, that is, to the influence 
 of indulgences, for raising the funds necessary 
 to the support of this great enterprise. These 
 indulgences he offered to such as contributed 
 generously to the war, and appointed legates 
 to administer them in all the European coun- 
 tries that were subject to his spiritual jurisdic- 
 tion. But, under this fair show of piety and 
 zeal, John is supposed to have covered tlio 
 most selfish and grovelling views; and we find 
 Louis of Bavaria, who was at that time empe- 
 ror, and several other princes, complaining 
 loudly that this pontifi' made use o/ tiie holy 
 war as a pretext to disguise his avarice and 
 ambition;}; and indeed the character of this 
 pope was of such a stamp as tended to accredit 
 such complaints. Under the pontificate of 
 Benedict XII., a formidable army was raised, 
 in 1330, by Philip de Valois, king of France, 
 
 * Bnluzii Vita- I'ontif. Aveninn. torn. i. ji. 15, .Wl; 
 torn. ii. p. 55, 374, &c. Ant. Mattha.'i Analecta ve- 
 teris iEvi, torn. ii. p. 577. 
 
 t B.iluzii VitiB Pontif. Avenion. torn. i. p. 125; tom. 
 ii. p. 515. 
 
 t Bahizius, tom. i. p. 175, 786. Mattbxi Analecta 
 vet. ^vi, tom. ii. p. 595. 
 
 with a view, as was said, to attempt the deli- 
 verance of the Christians in Palestine;* but, 
 when he was ready to embark his troops, the 
 apprehension of an invasion from England 
 obliged him to lay aside this weighty enter- 
 prise. In 1345, Clement VI., at the request 
 of the Venetians, engaged, by the persuasive 
 power of indulgences, a prodigious number of 
 adventurers to embark for Smyrna, where 
 they composed a numerous army under the 
 command of Guido, or Guy, dauphin of 
 Vienne; but the want of provisions soon obliged 
 this army to return with the general into Eu- 
 rope. f This disappointment did not, however, 
 damp the spirits of the restless pontiff's; for 
 anotlier formidable army was assembled in 
 1363, in consequence of the zealous exhorta- 
 tions of Urban V., and vi'as to be employed in 
 a new expedition against the infidels, with 
 John, king of France, at its head; but the un- 
 expected death of that prince blasted the hopes 
 that many had entertained from this grand 
 project, and occasioned the dispersion of that 
 numerous body which had repaired to his 
 standard.]; 
 
 II. The missionaries who had been sent by 
 the Roman pontiffs into C!hina, Tartary, and 
 the adjacent countries, in tlie preceding cen- 
 tury, found their labours crowned with the de- 
 sired success, and established a great ruunber 
 of Christian churches among those unenlight- 
 ened nations. In 1307, Clement V. erected 
 Cambalu (which at that time was the celebrat- 
 ed metropolis of Cathay, and is, undoubtedly, 
 the same with Pekin, the capital city at pre- 
 sent of the Chinese empire,) into an archbi- 
 shopric, which he conferred upon John de 
 Monte Corvino, an Italian friar who had been 
 employed in propagating the Gospel in that 
 country for many years. Tlie same jrontiff 
 sent soon after, to assist this prelate in his 
 pious labours, seven other prelates of the Fran- 
 ciscan order.§ John XXII. exerted in this 
 
 * Ralnzius, torn. i. p. 200. 
 
 t Fra^nienta Histor. Komana;. in Murator. Antiq. 
 Ital. niedii JP,\i, torn. ili. p. 30H. 
 
 t Baluy.ii Vita; I'ontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 360,368, 
 371, -101. 
 
 § Waddinfj, Annal. Ordin. Minor, tom. vi. ad an. 
 I.m5, sect. xii. p. 69. ad an. 1307, p. 91, 368; tom. vii. 
 p. 53, 221; tom. viii. p. 235.— J. S. Asseman. Biblioth. 
 Orient. Vatican, tom. iii. sect. ii. p. 521. — J. Echard, 
 Scriptor. Prffidicator. tom. i. p. 537. — Acta Sanctor. 
 torn. i. Januarii, p. 984.— Moshcim, Historia Eccles. 
 Tartar. 
 
382 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 good catise tlie same zeal which had distin- 
 guished the pontificate of his predecessors. On 
 the death of John do Monto Corvino, in 1333, 
 he sent Nicolas of Bentra to fill the vacant 
 archhishopric of Cambalu, and charged him 
 with letters to the emperor of the Tartars, 
 who, at that time, was in possession of the 
 Chinese dominions. In 1338, Benedict XII. 
 sent new legates and missionaries into Tartary 
 and China, in consequence of a solemn em- 
 bassy* with which he was honoured at Avig- 
 non from the kahn of the Tartars. During the 
 time that the princes of the latter nation main- 
 tained themselves in the empire of China, the 
 Christian religion flourished in those vast re- 
 gions; and both Latins a!id Nestorians not 
 only made a public profession of their faith, 
 but also propagated it, without any apprehen- 
 sion of danger, through the northern provinces 
 of Asia. 
 
 III. There remained in this century scarcely 
 any European prince unconverted to Chris- 
 tianity, if we except Jagellon, duke of Lithua- 
 nia, who continued in the darkness of pagan- 
 ism, and worshipped the gods of his idolatrous 
 ancestors, until 1386, when he embraced the 
 Christian faith, received in baptism the name 
 of Ladislaus, and persuaded his subjects to 
 open their eyes upon the divine light of the 
 Gospel. We sliall not protend to justify the 
 purity of the motives that first engaged tliis 
 prince to renounce the religion of his fathers, 
 as they were accompanied, at least, with views 
 of policy, interest, and ambition. On the death 
 of Louis, king of Poland, which happened in 
 1382, Jagellon was named among the com- 
 petitors who aspired to the vacant throne; 
 and, as he was a rich and powerful prince, the 
 Poles beheld his pretensions and efforts with a 
 favourable eye. His religion was the only ob- 
 stacle to the accomplishment of his views. 
 Hedwige, the youngest daugliter of the de- 
 ceased monarch, who, by a decree of the se- 
 nate, was declared heiress of the kingdom, 
 was as little disposed to espouse, as the Poles 
 were to obey, a Pagan; and hence Jagellon 
 was obliged to make superstition yield to roy- 
 alty. f On the other hand, the Teutonic 
 knights and crusaders extirpated by fire and 
 sword all the remains of paganism that were to 
 be found in Prussia and Livonia, and effected, 
 by force, what persuasion alone ought to have 
 produced. 
 
 We find also in the annals of tliis century 
 many instances of Jews converted to the 
 Christian faith. The cruel persecutions they 
 suffered in several parts of Europe, particularly 
 in France and Germany, vanquished their ob- 
 stinacy, and bent their intractable spirits under 
 the yoke of the Gospel. The reportsj (whether 
 
 * Baliizii Vitae Ponliticum Aveiiionensiuni, torn. i. 
 p. 2J2. 
 
 f Oilor. Raynaldus, Annal. Eccles. ad an. 138(i, 
 sect. iv. Waddinj;, Annal. Minor, tnni. ix. p. 71. — 
 Solignac, Histnire de Pologne, loin. iii. p. 241. 
 
 (^ I It soeins more than probable that these re- 
 ports were insidiously for<.'ed out of aiiiino.sity 
 against the Jews, who had Itnii; been the peculiar 
 objects of freneral odimti. This will appear still 
 more evidently to have been the rase, when we con- 
 siderthat the popes Gregory IX. and Innocent IV.. 
 published, in the thirtet>nth century, declarations 
 calculated to de.-<troy the eflccl of several caiumnios 
 
 false or true, we shall not determine) that had 
 been industriously spread abroad, of their poi- 
 soning the public fountains, of their killing 
 infants and drinking their blood, of their pro- 
 faning, in the most impious and blasphemous 
 manner, the consecrated wafers that were used 
 in the celebration of the eucharist, with other 
 accusations equally enormous, excited every 
 where the resentment of the magistrates and 
 the fury of the people, and brought the most 
 terrible sufferings, that unrelenting vengeance 
 could invent, upon that wretched and devoted 
 nation. 
 
 IV. The Saracens still maintained a con- 
 siderable footing in Spain. The kingdoms of 
 Granada and Murcia, with the province of 
 Andalusia, were subject to their dominion; and 
 they carried on a perpetual war with the kings 
 of Castile, Arragon, and Navarre, in which, 
 however, they were not always victorious. 
 The African princes, and particularly the em- 
 perors of Morocco, became their auxiliaries 
 against the Christians. On the other hand, 
 the Roman pontiffs left no means unemployed 
 to excite the Christians to unite their forces 
 against the Moslems, and to drive them out of 
 the Spanish territories; presents, exhortations, 
 promises, — in short, all allurements that reli- 
 gion, superstition, or avarice, could render 
 powerful, — were made subservient to the exe- 
 cution of tills ariluous project. The Christians, 
 accordingly, united their counsels and efforts 
 for this end; and though for some time the diffi- 
 culty of the enterprise rendered their progress 
 inconsiderable, yet even in this century their 
 affairs wore a promising aspect, and gave them 
 reason to hope that they might one day triumph 
 over their enemies, and become sole possessors 
 of the Spanish dominions.* 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the calamitous Events that happened 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 I. The Turks and Tartars, who extended 
 their dominions in Asia with an amazing ra- 
 pidity, and directed their arms against the 
 Greeks, as well as against the Saracens, de- 
 stroyed wherever they went the fruits that had 
 sprung up in such a rich abundance from the 
 labours of the Christian missionaries, extir- 
 pated the religion of Jesus in several provinces 
 and cities where it had flourished, and substi- 
 tuted the impostitres of Mohammed in its 
 place. Many of the Tartars liad formerly pro- 
 fessed the Gospel, and still more had tolerated 
 the exercise of that divine religion; but, from 
 the beginning of this century, things put on a 
 new face; and that fierce nation renounced 
 
 which had been invented and dispersed to the disad- 
 vantajre of the Jews, and in the fourteenth century, 
 we fiiid Benedict XII. and Oleinent VI. giving simi- 
 lar proofs of their equity toward an injured people. 
 We find, in history, circular letters of the dukes of 
 Milan and Venice, and iniiierial edicts of Frederic 
 III. and Charles V., to tlie same purimse; and all 
 these circumstances materially detract from the ore 
 dibility of the reports mentioned by Dr. Moshiem. 
 
 * See J. de Perreras, Ilistoiro d'Espagne, tom. iv. v. 
 vi. — Fragmenta Histor. Uomanx, in Muratorii An 
 tii|. Ital. medii Mvi, tom. iii. p. 319, in which, how- 
 ever, there is a considerable mixture of fal.oehood 
 with truth.— Haluzii Misccllan. tom. ii p. 2ti7. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 383 
 
 overy otlier religious doctrine, except tliat of 
 the Koran. Even Tininr-Bcn, commonly call- 
 ed Tamerlane, their mighty emperor, embraced 
 the doctrlTic of Mohammed, thoufrh under a 
 form ditVercnl fnun that which was ado[itcd 
 by the Tartars in "feneral.* This formidahio 
 warrior, after having siilidned the greatest part 
 of Asia, having trimnplied over Bajazet (or 
 Bayezid) emjjurorof the Turks, and even tilled 
 Eiu^ope with terror at the approach of his vic- 
 torious arms, made use of his authority to 
 force multitudes of Christians to apostatise 
 from their holy faith. To the dictates of 
 authority he added the compulsive power of 
 violence and persecution, and treated the dis- 
 ciples of Christ with the utmost barbarity. 
 Persuaded, as we learn from the most credible 
 writers of his life and actions, that it was in- 
 cumbent upon the true followers of Moham- 
 med to persecute the Christians, and that the 
 most ample and glorious rewards were reserved 
 for such as were most instrumental in convert- 
 ing them to the religion of that supposed pro- 
 phet,! '"3 employed tlie most inhuman acts of 
 severity to vanquish the magnanimous con- 
 stancy of such as persevered in their attach- 
 ment to the Christian religion, of whom some 
 
 * This great Tamfrlaiie, whoso name seemed to 
 strike terror even when he was no more, adhered to 
 the sect of the Sonnitos, and professed the greatest 
 enmity against their adversaries, the Shiites. See 
 Petit Croix, Histoire Aa Timur-Bec, torn. ii. p. 151; 
 torn. iii. p. '228. It is, however, extremely doubtful, 
 what was, in reality, the relision of Tamerlane, 
 though he professed the Mohammedan faith. See 
 Mosheim, Hist. Eccles. Tarlaror. p. 124. 
 
 t Petit de la Croix, Histoire de Timur-Bec, lorn, 
 ii. p. 329; torn. iii. p. 137, 213, &c. 
 
 sulVered death in the most barbarous forms, 
 while others were condemned to perpetual sla 
 veiy.^ 
 
 J I. In those parts of Asia, which are inhabit- 
 ed by the Chinese, 'I'artars, Moguls, and other 
 natioiis still less known, the Christian religion 
 not oidy lost ground, but seemed to be totally 
 extirpated. It is, at least, certain, that we 
 have no account of any members of the Latin 
 church residing in those coimtries, later than 
 the year 1370; nor could we ever learn the fate 
 of the Franciscan missionaries sent thither 
 from Rome. Wc have, indeed, some records, 
 from which it would appear that there were 
 Nestorians residing in Cliina so far down as the 
 si.xleenlli century;f but these records are not so 
 clear as to remove all doubt. However that 
 may be, the abolition of Christianity in those 
 remote parts of the world may, without hesi- 
 tation, be imputed to the wars that were car- 
 ried on by the Tartars against the Chinese and 
 other Asiatic nations; for, in 1369, the last 
 emperor of the race of Genghiz-Khan was 
 driven out of Ciiina, and his throne filled by 
 the Mini family, who, by a solemn law, refused 
 to all foreigners the privilege of entering that 
 country. 
 
 * Many instances of this we find in the History of 
 Tinnir-Bec, written hya Persian named Shercfeddin; 
 published at Delft, in 1723.— See also Herbelot, Bib- 
 lioth. Oriental, at the article Timur, p. 877.--[The 
 work of Sherefeddin ip the same with that of M. de 
 la Croix, who only professed himself, in this in- 
 stance, a translator. Edit.] 
 
 f Nicol. Trigautius, de Christ. Exped. apnd Sinas, 
 lib. i. c. xi. — Jos. Sim. Assemani Bib. Orien. Vatic^ 
 t. iii.— Du HaJdc, Descrip. de la Chine, t. i. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the State of Letters and Philosophy 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. The Greeks, though dejected by the fo- 
 reign and intestine calamities in which they 
 were involved, Vv'ere far from withdrawing 
 their attention and zeal from the cause of lite- 
 rature, as is evident from the great number of 
 learned men who flourished among them dur-! 
 ing this period. In this honourable class we 
 may reckon Nicephorus (rrngoras, Manuel 
 Chrysoloras, Maximus Plamides, and many 
 others, who, by their indefatigable application 
 to the study of history, antiquities, and the 
 belles Icttrcs, acquireKl considerable reputation. 
 Omitting the mention of writers of inferior 
 note, we may observe, that Theodorus^Meto- 
 chita, John Cantacuzenus, and Niccpliorus 
 Gregoras, applied themselves to the coinposi- 
 tion of history, though with different success. 
 Nor otight wo to pass over in silence Nice- 
 phorus Callistus, who compiled an ecclesiasti- 
 cal history, which, notwithstanding its being 
 debased with idle stories and evident raarki 
 
 of superstition, is highly useful on accoimt of 
 its illustration of many important facts. 
 
 II. As no sage of this century had the pre- 
 sumption to set up for a leader in philosophy, 
 such of tlie Greeks as had a taste for philoso" 
 phical researches adhered to Aristotle, as their 
 cooductor and guide; but we may learn frons 
 the tracts of Theodorus Metochita in what 
 manner they explained the principles and te- 
 nets of the l^tagirite. Plato also had his fol- 
 lowers, es{)ccially among those who were fond 
 of mysticism, wliirh had for many ages been 
 holden in the highest veneration by the Greeks 
 In the sublime sciences of mathematics and as- 
 tronomy, Nicolas Cabasilas surpassed all his 
 contemporaries. Balaam adopted the senti- 
 ments and precepts of the Stoics with respect 
 to the obligations of morality and the dutiea 
 of life, and digested them into a work which 
 is known by the title of Ethica ex Stvicis.* 
 
 III. In all the Latin provinces, schemes 
 wore carried into execution with considerable 
 success, for promoting the study of letters, im- 
 
 * Henrici Cani?ii Lcctiones Antinuae, torn iv. p. 
 40i. 
 
384 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part IL 
 
 proving' taste, and dispelling tlie pedantic spi- 
 rit of the times. This laudable disposition 
 gave rise to the erection of many schools and 
 academies, at Cologne, Orleans, Cahors, Peru- 
 sia, Florence, and Pisa, in which all the liberal 
 arts and sciences, distributed into the same 
 classes that still subsist in those places, were 
 taught with assiduity and zeal. Opulent per- 
 sons founded and amply endowed particular 
 colleges, in the public universities, in which, 
 beside the monks, young men of narrow cir- 
 cumstances were educated in all the branches 
 of literature. Libraries were also collected, 
 and men of learning animated to aspire to 
 fame and glory, by the prospect of honourable 
 rewards. It must be acknowledged, indeed, 
 that the advantages arising to the church and 
 state, from so many professors and learned 
 men, did not wholly answer the expense and 
 care bestowed on this undeitaking by men of 
 rank and fortune; yet we are by no means to 
 conclude, as many have rashly done, that all 
 the doctors of this age, wiio rose gradually 
 from the lower to the higher and more honour- 
 able stations, were only distinguished by their 
 stupidity and ignorance. 
 
 IV. Clement V., who was now raised to the 
 pontificate, ordered the Hebrew and other 
 Oriental languages to be taught in the public 
 schools, that the church might never want a 
 sufficient number of missionaries properly qua- 
 lified to dispute with the Jews and Moham- 
 medans, and to diffuse the divine light of tlie 
 Gospel throughout the east;* in consequence 
 of which appointment, some eminent profi- 
 cients in these tongues, and especially in the 
 Hebrew, flourished during this age. The 
 Greek language, which hitherto had been 
 much neglected, was now revived, and taught 
 with general apoiause, first by Leontius Pila- 
 tus, a Calabrian, who wrote a commentary 
 upon Homer, and a few others, f but after- 
 wards, with far greater success and reputation, 
 by Manuel Chrysoloras,}; a native of Constan- 
 tinople. Nor were there wanting some extra- 
 ordinary geniuses, who, by their zeal and ap- 
 plication, contributed to the restoration of the 
 ancient and genuine eloquence of the Latins, 
 among whom the excellent and justly renown- 
 ed Petrarch held the first place,§ and Dante 
 Alighieri the second. Full of this worthy de- 
 sign, they both acted as if they had received 
 an extraordinary commission to promote the 
 reign of true taste and the progress of polite 
 learning; and their success was answerable to 
 the generous ambition that animated their ef- 
 forts; for they had many followers and admir- 
 
 159 
 
 See Ant. Wood, Antiq. Oxoniens. torn. i. p. 156, 
 
 t See Humph. Hody.de Gracis illustribus, LingUcE 
 GrjECcE Literarumqiie humanioruin Instauratoribus, 
 lib. i. — Calogera, Opusculi Scientifici, torn. xxv. p 
 958. 
 
 t Hody, lib. i. p. 10.— Calogera, p 348.— and more 
 especially Christ. Fred. Borner's Lib. de Gracis Li- 
 terariim GrcEcarum in Italia Instaurat. 
 
 § See Jac. Phil. Thomasini Vita Petrarcha in Jo. 
 Ger. Meuschen Vit. claror. Viror. torn. iv. who, in 
 his preface, enumerates all the other writers of his 
 life. Of the celebratprt poet Dante, several have 
 treated, particularly his translator Benvenuto of 
 Iraola, from whom Muratori has borrowed large ex- 
 tracts in his Antiquit. Ital. medii JEvi, torn i. 
 
 ers, not only among their countrymen, but also 
 amongthe French and Germans. 
 
 V. The writings of this age furnish us with 
 a long list of grammarians, historians, lawyers, 
 and physicians, of whom it would be easy to 
 speak more particularly; but, as such a detail 
 is unnecessary, it will be sufficient to inform 
 our readers, that there were few of this multi- 
 tude, whose labours were strikingly useful to 
 society. Great numbers applied themselves to 
 the study of the civil and canon laws, because 
 it was the readiest way to preferment both in 
 cliurch and state. Such as have any tolerable 
 acquaintance with history, cannot be entirely 
 strangers to the fame of Bartolus, Baldus, An- 
 dreas, and other doctors of laws in tliis centu- 
 ry, who reflected honour on the universities 
 of Italy. But, after all, it is certain that the 
 j urisprudence of this age was a most intricate, 
 disagreeable study, unenlivened either by his- 
 tory or style, and destitute of every allure- 
 ment that could recommend it to a man of ge- 
 nius. As for the mathematics, they were cul- 
 tivated by many; yet, if we except Thomas 
 Bradwardine, the acute and learned archbishop 
 of Canterbury, there were few who acquired 
 any degree of reputation by this kind of study. 
 
 VI. The vast number of philosophers, who 
 rather disgraced than adorned this century, 
 looked upon Aristotle as their infallible oracle 
 and guide, though they stripped him of all 
 those excellences that really belonged to him, 
 and were incapable of entering into the true 
 spirit of his writings. So great was the autho- 
 rity of the peripatetic philosophy, that, in w- 
 der to diff'use the knowledge of it as widely as 
 possible, even kings and emperors ordered the 
 works of Aristotle to be translated into the 
 native language of their respective dominions. 
 Among the most eminent of this class was 
 Charles V. king of France, who ordered all 
 the writings of the ancients, and especially 
 those of Aristotle, to be translated into French 
 by Nicolas Oresme.* Those, however, who 
 professed themselves philosophers, instead of 
 being animated by the love of truth, were in- 
 flamed by a rage of disputation, which led 
 them to perplex and deform the pure, simple 
 doctrines of reason and religion, by a multi- 
 tude of idle subtleties, trifling questions, and 
 ridiculous distinctions. It is needless to enlarge 
 either on the barbarity of their phraseology, 
 in which they supposed the chief strength of 
 their art consisted, or on that utter aversioa 
 to every branch of polite learning, in which 
 they foolishly gloried. Those who wish to be ac- 
 quainted with their methods of argumentation, 
 and whatever else relates to this wrangling 
 tribe, need only consult Jolm Scotus, or Wal- 
 ter Burlaeus. But, though they all followed 
 one common track, there were several points 
 on which they differed among themselves. 
 
 VII. The old disputes between the Realists 
 and Mminalists, which had lain dormant a long 
 time, were now revived, with an ardour seem- 
 ingly inextinguishable, by an English Francis- 
 can of the severe order, named William Oc- 
 
 * Launoy, Hist. Gygmnas. Navarr. torn. iv. op. 
 part i. p 504 — Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, tom. iv. 
 p. 3711.— Lc BoBuf, Dissert, sur I'Hist. EccleB. et Ci- 
 vile de Par. tom. iii. p. 456. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 385 
 
 cam, who was a follower of the great Scotus, 
 and a doctor of divinity at Paris. The Greeks 
 and Persians never fought against each other 
 witli more hatred and fury, than tliese two 
 discordant sects, whose angry disputations sub- 
 sisted without any abatement, till the appear- 
 ance of Luther, who soon obliged the scholas- 
 tic divines to terminate their mutual wrang- 
 lings, and to listen to terms of accommoda- 
 tion. The Realists despised their antagonists 
 as philosophers of a recent date, branding them 
 with the name of Moderns, while, through a 
 great mistake, they ascribed a very high anti- 
 quity to the tenets of their own party. The 
 Nominalists, on the other hand, inveighed 
 against them as a set of doting visionaries, 
 who, despising substantial matters, were pur- 
 suing mere shadows. The Nominalists had 
 the most eloquent, acute, and subtle doctors 
 of Paris, for their leaders, among whom, beside 
 Occam, the famous John Buridan* was very 
 eminent; the Realists, nevertheless, through 
 the countenance given them by successive 
 popes, prevailed; for, when Occam had joined 
 the party of the Franciscan monks, who stre- 
 nuously opposed John XXII., that pope him- 
 self, and his successors, left no means untried 
 to extirpate the philosophy of the Nominalists, 
 which was deemed highly prejudicial to the in- 
 terests of the church-.f and hence it was, that, 
 in 1339, the university of Paris, by a public 
 edict, solemnly condemned and prohibited the 
 philosophy of Occam, which was that of the 
 Nominalists. I But, as it is natural for men to 
 love and pursue what is forbidden, the conse- 
 quence was, that the party of the Nominahsts 
 flourished more than ever. 
 
 VIII. Among the philosophers of these times, 
 there were many who with their philosophy 
 mingled astrology, i. e. the art of telling for- 
 tunes by the aspect of the heavens and the in- 
 fluence of the stars; and, notwithstanding the 
 obvious folly and absurdity of this pretended 
 science, both the higher and lower ranks were 
 fond of it even to distraction. Yet, in spite of 
 all this popular prejudice in favour of their art, 
 these astrological pliilosophers, to avoid being 
 impeached of witchcraft, and to keep them- 
 selves out of tlie hands of the inquisitors, were 
 obliged to behave with great circumspection. 
 The neglect of this caution was remarkably 
 fatal to Ceccus Asculanus, a famous peripate- 
 tic philosopher, astrologer, and mathematician, 
 who first acted as physician to pope John 
 XXII. and afterwards to Charles Sineterra, 
 duke of Calabria. This unfortimale man, hav- 
 ing performed some experiments in mechanics, 
 that seemed miraculous to the vulgar, and hav- 
 ing also offended many, and among the rest 
 iiis master, by giving out some predictions, 
 which were said to have been fultilled, was 
 universally supposed to deal with infernal spi- 
 rits, and was committed to the flames, in 1327, 
 
 * Rob. GaRuin wroto a partinilar account of tliis 
 famDiis man, as we learn from l..aunoy, in his llisto- 
 riaGymnasii Navarreni, t(nn. iv. op. pari i. p. 722. 
 See also Boiilay, Hi.-^tor. Acad. Paris, torn. iv. p. 2<^2, 
 307, 341, &c. 
 
 t Steph. Baliizii Miscel. tom. iv. p. 532. 
 
 j Boulay, Hist. Acad. Pari.^. tom. iv. p. 257; tom. 
 V. p. 708.-^ar. PIcps. d'Argentre, Colleclio judicio- 
 rum de novis erroribus, tec. 
 Vol. I.— 49 
 
 by the inquisitors of Florence.* There is yet 
 extant his commentary upon the Sphere of 
 John dc Sacrobosco, otherwise named Holy- 
 wood, which shows him to have been deeply 
 tainted with superstition.! 
 
 IX. Raymond Lully was the author of a 
 new and singular kind of philosophy, which 
 he endeavoured to illustrate and defend by his 
 voluminous writings. He was a native of Ma- 
 jorca, and admirable for the extent and fecun- 
 dity of his genius; but was, at the same time, 
 a strange compound of reason and folly. Be- 
 ing full of zeal for the propagation of the Gos- 
 pel, and having performed many voyages, and 
 undergone various hardships to promote it, he 
 was slain at Bugia, in Africa, in 1316, by the 
 Mohammedans whom he was attempting to con- 
 vert. The Franciscans, to whose third order it 
 is said he belonged, extol him to the skies, and 
 have taken great pains to persuade several 
 popes to canonise him; while many, on the 
 contrary, and especially the Dominicans, in- 
 veigh bitterly against him, calling him a wild 
 and visionary chemist, a hot-headed fanatic 
 and heretic, a magician, and a mere compiler 
 from the works of the more learned Moslems. 
 The popes entertained different opinions of 
 him; some regarding liim as a harmless pious 
 man, while others pronounced him a vile he- 
 retic. But whoever peruses the writings of 
 Lully without prejudice, will not be biassed by 
 either of these parties. It is at least certain, 
 that he would have been a great man, had the 
 warmth and fertility of his imagination been 
 tempered with a sound judgnient.J 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 Conce7-ning the Doctors and Government of Ike 
 Church during this Century. 
 I. The governors of the church in this pe- 
 riod, from the highest to the lowest orders, 
 were addicted to vices peculiarly dishonoura- 
 ble to their sacred character. We shall say 
 nothing of the Grecian and Oriental clergy, 
 who lived, for the most part, undtr a rigid, 
 severe, and oppressive government, though 
 they deserve their part in this heavy and ig- 
 nominious charge. But, with regard to the 
 Latins, our silence would be me.xcusable, since 
 the flagrant abuses tliat prevailed among them 
 were attended with consequences equally per- 
 nicious to the interests of religion and the 
 well-being of civil society. It is, however, 
 necessary to observe, that there were, even in 
 these degenerate times, some pious and worthy 
 men, who ardently longed for a reformation of 
 the church, both in its head and members, as 
 
 * Paul Am. Appianiis wrote a defence of this tin- 
 h.Tppy man, which is inserted in Domen. Bernini Stu- 
 ria di tiilte I'Hercsie, tom. iii. sect. xiv. cap. iii. p. 
 21(1. We have also a farther account of him by 
 Giov. Maria Cre.scimhcni, Commenlari della volgar 
 Poesia, vol. ii. part ii. lib. iii. rap. xiv. 
 
 t Gabr. Nauda-iis, Apolojiie ponr les grands horn 
 moa qui out ete soiipconnoz de Mapie, p. 270. 
 
 I See John Salzinijers Preface to Kaymond Liilly's 
 works, which John VVilliani, elector Palatine, caused 
 to be collected at a en-al e.xiwnse, and to be publish- 
 ed in 1720. Luc. Waildiiiir, Annal. Minor, tom. iv. 
 p. 421; torn. v. p. 157, 31ti; torn. vi. p. 22i). Concern- 
 ing the famous invention of Lully, sec the Polyhis- 
 tor of Dan. George Morhoff, lib. ii. cap. v. p. 352. 
 
386 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 they used to express themselves.* To prevent 
 the accompHshment of these laudable desires, 
 many circumstances concurred; such as the 
 exorbitant power of the popes, so confirmed 
 by length of time that it seemed immovable, 
 and the excessive superstition that enslaved 
 the minds of the generality, together with the 
 wretched ignorance and barbarity of the age, 
 by which every spark of truth was stifled, as 
 it were, in its very birth. Yet, firm and last- 
 ing as the dominion of the Roman pontiff's 
 seemed to be, it was gradually undermined 
 and weakened, partly by the pride and rash- 
 ness of the popes themselves, and partly by un- 
 expected events. 
 
 II. This important change may be dated 
 from the quarrel which arose between Boni- 
 face VIII., who filled the papal throne about 
 the beginning of this century, and Pliilip the 
 Fair, king of France. This prince, who was 
 endowed with a bold and enterprising spirit, 
 soon convinced Europe, that it was possible to 
 Bet bounds to the overgrown arrogance of the 
 bishop of Rome, although many crowned 
 heads had attempted it without success. Boni- 
 face sent Philip the haughtiest letters ima- 
 
 finable, in which he asserted, that the king of 
 'ranee, and all other kings and princes, were 
 obliged, by a divine command, to submit to 
 the authority of the popes, as well in all politi- 
 cal and civil matters, as in those of a religious 
 nature. The king answered him with great 
 spirit, and in terms expressive of the utmost 
 contempt. The pope rejoined with more arro- 
 gance than ever; and, in that famous bull 
 (unam sanctum) which he published about this 
 time, asserted that Jesus Christ had granted a 
 twofold power to his church, or, in other 
 words, the spiritual and temporal swords; that 
 he had subjected the whole human race to the 
 authority of the Roman pontiff", and that all 
 who dared to dispute it, were to be deemed 
 heretics, and excluded from all possibility of 
 salvation. t The king, on the other hand, in 
 an assembly of the peers of his kingdom, 
 holden in 1303, ordered William de Nogaret, 
 a celebrated lawyer,^ to draw up an accusation 
 against the pope, in which he publicly charged 
 him with heresy, simony, and other vices and 
 crimes, demanding, at the same time, the con- 
 vocation of an oecumenical council, for the 
 speedy deposition of such an execrable pontiff. 
 The pope, in his turn, passed a sentence of 
 excommunication, in that very year, against 
 the king and all his adherents. 
 
 III. Philip, shortly after he received his 
 sentence, held an assembly of the states of the 
 kingdom, where he again employed some per- 
 
 * Matt. Flacius, Cataloc;. testium Veritatis, lib. 
 xiii. p. 1697. Jo. Launoius, de varia Fortuna Aris- 
 totelis p. 217. Jo. Henr. Hottinger, Historia Eccles. 
 EiEc. xiv. p. 754. 
 
 tThis buUiayet extant in the Corpus Juris Canon. 
 Extravagant. Commun. lib. i. tit. de majoritate et 
 obedientia. 
 
 X Of this distinguished man, who was the most 
 intrepid and inveterate enemy the popes ever had 
 before Luther, no writers have given us a more co- 
 pious account than the Benedictine mov.fcs, Hist. 
 Generale de Languedoc, torn. iii. p. 114, 117. Philip 
 made him chancellor of France for his resolute oppo- 
 sition to the pope* 
 
 sons of the highest rank and reputation to sit 
 in judgment upon the pope, and appeal to a 
 general council. After this, he sent William 
 de Nogaret with some others into Italy, to ex- 
 cite a sedition, to seize the pope's person, and 
 then to convey him to Lyons, where the king 
 was determined to hold the above-mentioned 
 council. Nogaret, being a resolute active man, 
 soon drew over to his assistance the powerful 
 Colonna family, (then at variance with the 
 pope,) levied a small army, seized Boniface, 
 who lived in apparent security at Anagni, and 
 treated him in the most shocking manner, 
 carrying his resentment so far as to wound him 
 on the head by a blow with his iron gauntlet. 
 The inhabitants of Anagni rescued him out 
 of the hands of this fierce and implacable ene- 
 my, and conducted him to Rome, where he 
 died soon after of an illness occasioned by the 
 rage and anguish into which these insults 
 had thrown him.* 
 
 IV. Benedict XL, who succeeded him, and 
 whose name, before his accession to the papal 
 chair, was Nicolas Boccacini, learned prudence 
 by this fatal example, and pursued more mode- 
 rate and gentle measures. He repealed, of his 
 own accord, the sentence of excommunication 
 which his predecessor had thundered out 
 against the king of France and his dominions; 
 but never could be prevailed upon to absolve 
 Nogaret of his treason against the spiritual 
 majesty of the pontificate. Nogaret, on the 
 other hand, set a small value upon the papal 
 absolution, and prosecuted, with his usual 
 vigour and intrepidity, in the Roman coiut, 
 the accusation that he had formerly adduced 
 against Boniface; and, in the name of his royal 
 master, insisted, that the memory of that pon- 
 tiff" should be branded with a notorious mark 
 of infamy. During these transactions, Benedict 
 died, A. D. 1304; upon which Philip, by hia 
 artful intrigues in tlie conclave, obtained the 
 see of Rome for Bertrand de Got, archbishop 
 of Bourdeaux, who was accordingly elected 
 to that high dignity, on the 5th of June, 1305. 
 This step was so much the more necessary, as 
 the breach between the king and the court of 
 Rome was not yet entirely healed, and (No- 
 garet not being absolved) might easily be re- 
 newed. Besides, the French monarch, in- 
 flamed with the desire of revenge, insisted upon 
 the formal condemnation of Boniface by the 
 court of Rome, the abolition of the order of 
 Templars, and other concessions of great im- 
 portance, which he could not reasonably ex- 
 pect from an Italian pontiff". Hence he looked 
 upon a French pope, in whose zeal and com- 
 phance he could confide, as necessary to the 
 execution of his designs. Bertrand assumed 
 the name>3f Clement V., and, at the king's re- 
 quest, remained in France, and removed the 
 papal residence to Avignon, where it continued 
 during the space of seventy years. This period, 
 
 * See the Acta inter Bonifacium VIII. Bened. XI. 
 Clement. V. et Philippum Pulchrum, published in 
 1614 by Peter Putcanus.— Adr. Baillet, Hist, des 
 Demelez du Pape Boniface VIII. avec Philippe le 
 Bel. — Jo. Rubeus, in Bonifacio, cap. xvi. p. 137. The 
 other writers on this subject are mentioned by 
 Baillet, in his Preface, p. 9.— See also Boulay, Hist 
 Acad. Paris, torn. iv. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 387 
 
 the Italians call, by way of derision, the Baby- 
 lonish captivity.* 
 
 V. There is no doubt, that the continued 
 residence of the popes in France greatly im- 
 paired the authority of the Roman see. For, 
 during the absence of the pontiffs from Rome, 
 the faction of the Ghibellines, their inveterate 
 enemies, rose to a jrreater height than ever; 
 and they not only invaded and ravaged St. 
 Peter's patrimony, but even attacked the pa- 
 pal authority by their writings. This caused 
 many cities to revolt from the popes: even 
 Rome itself was the grand source and fomenter 
 of cabals, tumults, and civil wars; insomuch, 
 that the laws and decrees sent thither from 
 France were publicly treated with contempt 
 by the populace, as well as by the nobles. f 
 The influence of this example was propagated 
 from Italy through most parts of Europe; it 
 being evident, from a vast number of instances, 
 that the Europeans in general were far from 
 paying so much regard to the decrees and 
 thunders of the Gallic popes, as they did to 
 those of Rome. This gave rise to various se- 
 ditions against the pontiffs, which they could 
 not entirely crush, even with the aid of the 
 inquisitors, who exerted themselves with the 
 most barbarous fury. 
 
 VI. The French pontiffs, finding that they 
 could draw only small revenues from their 
 Italian dominions, which were now torn in 
 pieces by faction and ravaged by sedition, were 
 obliged to contrive new methods of accumu-« 
 lating wealth. For this purpose, they not only 
 sold indulgences to the people, more frequent- 
 ly than they had formerly done, whereby they 
 made themselves extremely odious to several 
 potentates, but also disposed publicly of scan- 
 dalous licences, of all sorts, at an excessive 
 price. John XXII. was remarkably shrewd 
 and zealous in promoting this abominable traf- 
 fic; for, though he was not the first inventor 
 of the taxes and rules of the apostolic chan- 
 cery, the Romish writers acknowledge that he 
 enlarged and rendered them more extensively 
 profitable to the holy treasury. J It is certain, 
 that the origin of the tribute paid to the popes 
 under the name of Jlnnatcs, a tax which is ge- 
 nerally affirmed to have been first imposed by 
 him, is of a much earlier date.§ Beside the 
 abuses now mentioned, these Gallic popes, 
 having abolished the right of election, arro- 
 gated to themselves a power of conferring all 
 the offices of the church, whether great or 
 
 * For an account of the French popes, consiiU 
 chiefly Vitae Pontif. Avenionensium, published by 
 Baluze in 1693. The reader may also peruse, but it 
 must be with the utmost caution, Longucval's His- 
 tory of the Gallican Church, and the continuation 
 of that work. — Sec more especially torn. xii. This 
 Jesuit, and his successors, have shown great industry 
 and eloquence in the composition of this history; hut 
 they, for the most part, artfullyconceal the vices and 
 enormities of the Roman pontifis. 
 
 t See Baluze, Pontif Avenion. tom. ii. p. 200, 301, 
 309.— Muratori, Anliq. Ital. tom. iii. p. 397, 401, 
 &.C. — Giannone, Historia di Napoli, t. iii. 
 
 X Jo. Ciampinus, de Vice-Cancellario Ecclesiae 
 Rom. p. 39. — Chais, Lettres sur lea Jubiles, tom. ii. 
 p. 673. 
 
 § Bern, van Espen, Jus F.ccle.i. universale, tom. Ii. 
 p. 876.— Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris, tom. iv. p. 
 911. — Ant. Wood, Antiquit. Oxon. tom. i. p. 213. — 
 Guil. Franc. Berthier, Diss, sur lea Annatea, tom. xil. 
 Hist, de I'Eglise Gallic. 
 
 small, according to their fancy, by which they 
 soon amassed prodigious wealth. It was also 
 under their government that reserves, provi- 
 sions, expectatives, and other impositions of 
 the like odious nature, which had seldom, (if 
 ever) been heard of before, became familiar to 
 the public ear, and filled all Etu-ope with bit- 
 ter complaints.* These complaints exceeded 
 all bounds, when some of these pontiffs, parti- 
 cularly John XXII., Clement Vl., and Gre- 
 gory XI., openly declared that tliey had re- 
 served to themselves all churches and parishes 
 within their jurisdiction, and were determined, 
 in consequence of that sovereign authority and 
 plenitude of power which Christ had con- 
 ferred upon them, his vicars, to provide for 
 them, and dispose of them without exception.! 
 It was by these and other mean and selfish 
 contrivances, which had no other end than the 
 acquisition of riches, that these inconsiderate 
 and rapacious pontiffs excited a general hatred 
 against the Roman see, and thereby greatly 
 weakened the papal empire, which had been 
 visibly upon the decline firom the time of Bo- 
 niface. 
 
 VII. Clement V. was a mere creature of 
 Philip the Fair, and was absolutely directed 
 and governed by that prince as long as he 
 lived. William de Nogaret, the implacable 
 enemy of the late pontiff", although he was un- 
 der a sentence of excommunication, had the 
 boldness to prosecute his master's cause, and 
 his own, against Bonifkce, even in the pope's 
 court; an instance of assurance not easy to be 
 paralleled. Philip insisted, that the dead body 
 of Boniface sliould be dug up and publicly 
 burned; but Clement averted this infamy by 
 his advice and intreaties, promising implicit 
 obedience to the king in every thing else. In 
 order therefore to keep his word, he was 
 obliged to abrogate the laws enacted by Boni- 
 face, to grant the king a bounty of five years' 
 tithes, fully to absolve Nogaret of all his 
 crimes, on condition of his submitting to a 
 light penance, (which, however, he never per- 
 formed,) to restore the citizens of Anagni to 
 their reputation and honour, and to call a ge- 
 neral council at Vienne, in 1311, in order to 
 condemn the Templars, on whose destruction 
 Philip was most ardently bent. In this coim- 
 cil every thing was determined as the king 
 thought proper; for Clement, terrified by the 
 melancholy fate of Boniface, durst not venture 
 to oppose this intrepid and obstinate monarch. J 
 
 VIII. Upon Clement's death, which hap- 
 pened in 1314, fierce contentions arose in the 
 conclave about choosing a successor, the 
 French cardinals insisting upon a French, and 
 those of Italy demanding an Italian pope. 
 
 * Stpph. Baluz.ii Miscellan. tom. iii. p. 479, 518. — 
 Ejus V)t. Pontif. Avenion. tom. li. p. 60, 74, 154. — 
 Gallia Christiana Benedictinor. tom. i. Append, p. 
 13.— Wood, Antiquit. Oxon. tom. i. p. 14c<, 201.— 
 Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, tom. iv. p. 411. 
 
 t Baluzii Pontif Avenion. tom. ii. p. 873. tom. i. 
 p. 285, 311, 681.— Ant. Mattha»i Analecta vet. iEvi, 
 tom. v. p. 249.— Gallia Christiana, tom. i. p. 69, 
 1208. — Histoire du Droit Er.cks. Francois, tom. ii. p. 
 129. 
 
 t Beside the common writers already cited, see 
 Guil. Fran. Berthier, DiScours sur le Pontificat de 
 Clement V. tom. xiii. Hist. Eccles. Gallic— Colonia, 
 Hist. Liter, de Lyon, tom. i. p. 340.— GaUia Christi- 
 I ana, tom. i. ii. 
 
388 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part n. 
 
 After a contest, which continued two years, 
 the French party prevailed, and, in 1316, 
 elected James d'Euse, (a native of Cahors, and 
 cardinal bishop of Porto,) who assumed the 
 name of John XXII. He had a tolerable 
 share of learning, but was crafty, proud, weak, 
 imprudent, and covetous, which is allowed 
 even by those writers who, in other respects, 
 speak well of him. He is deservedly censured 
 on account of his temerity, and the ill success 
 that attended him, through his own impru- 
 dence, in many of his enterprises; but he is 
 more especially blamed for that calamitous 
 and unhaj)py war into which he entered against 
 Louis of Bavaria. This powerful prince dis- 
 puted the imperial throne of Germany with 
 Frederic, duke of Austria; and they had been 
 both chosen to that high dignity, in 1314, by 
 their respective partisans among the electors 
 and princes of the empire. John took it for 
 granted, that the decision of this contest came 
 under his spiritual jurisdiction. But, in 1322, 
 the duke of Bavaria, having vanquished his 
 competitor by force of arms, assumed the ad- 
 ministration of the empire without asking the 
 pope's approbation, and would by no means 
 allow, that the dispute, already determined by 
 the sword, should be again decided by the 
 pontiff's judgment. John interpreted this re- 
 fusal as a heinous insult upon his authority, 
 and, by an edict issued in 1324, pretended to 
 deprive the emperor of his crown. But this 
 impotent resentment was very little regarded; 
 and he was even accused of heresy by Louis, 
 who, at the same time, appealed to a general 
 council. Highly exasperated by these and 
 other deserved affronts, the pontiff presumed, 
 in 1327, to declare the imperial throne vacant 
 a second time, and even to publish a sentence 
 of excommimication against the chief of the 
 empire. This new mark of papal arrogance 
 was severely resented by Louis, who, in 1328, 
 published an edict at Rome, by which John 
 was declared unworthy of the pontificate, de- 
 posed fi-om that dignity, and succeeded in it by 
 one of his bitterest enemies, Peter de Corbieri, 
 a Franciscan monk, who assumed the name 
 of Nicolas v., and crowned the emperor at 
 Rome, in a solemn and public manner. But, 
 in 1330, this imperial pope voluntarily abdi- 
 cated the chair of St. Peter, and surrendered 
 himself to John, who kept him in close con- 
 finement at Avignon for the rest of his life. 
 Thus ended the contest between the duke of 
 Bavaria and John XXII., both of whom, not- 
 withstanding their efforts to dethrone each 
 other, continued in the possession of their re- 
 spective dignities.* 
 
 * The purticulais of this violent quarrel may be 
 learned from the Records (wbhshed by Steph. Baliize 
 in his Vit. Pontif Avenion. torn. ii. p. 512. — Edm. 
 Martenne, Thesaur. Anecdotor. torn. ii. p. 641. — Jo. 
 Georg. Herwart, in Ludovico Imperatore defense 
 contra Bzovium, et Christ. Gcwold. in Apologia pro 
 Ludovico Bavaro, against the same Bzovius, who, in 
 the Annals he had published, basely aspersed the 
 memory of the emperor. See also Wadding, in An- 
 nalib. Minor, torn. vii. p. 77, lOti, &c. Whoever at- 
 tentively peruses the history of thi> war, will per- 
 ceive that Louis of Bavaria followed the example of 
 Philip the Fair, king of France. As Philip brought 
 an accusation of heresy against Bonifare, so did 
 Louis with respect to John XXIL The French mo- 
 narch made use of Nogaret and other accusers 
 
 IX. The numerous tribes of the Fratricelli, 
 Beghards, and Spiritual Franciscans, adhered 
 to the party of Louis. Supported by his pa- 
 tronage, and dispersed through the greatest part 
 of Europe, they boldly attacked the reigning 
 pontiff, as an enemy to the true religion, and 
 loaded him with the heaviest accusations, and 
 the bitterest invectives, both in their writings 
 and in their ordinary conversation. These at- 
 tacks did not greatly affect the pontiff, as they 
 were made only by private persons, by a set of 
 obscure monks, wlio, in many respects, were un- 
 worthy of his notice; but, toward the conclu- 
 sion of his life, he incurred the disapprobation 
 and censures of almost the whole Catholic 
 church: for, in 1331, and the succeeding year, 
 he asserted, in some public discourses, that the 
 souls of the faithful, in their intermediate 
 state, were permitted to behold Christ as man, 
 but not the face of God, or the divine nature, 
 Ijefore their re-union with the body at the last 
 day. This doctrine highly offended Philip VI., 
 king of France, was opposed by the pope's 
 friends as well as by his enemies, and con- 
 demned in 1333 by the divines of Paris. This 
 favourite tenet of the pope was thus severely 
 treated, because it seemed highly prejudicial to 
 the felicity of happy spirits in their unembodi- 
 ed state; otherwise the point might have been 
 yielded to a man of his positive temper, with- 
 out any material consequence. Alarmed by 
 these vigorous proceedings, he immediately 
 ©ft'ered something by way of excuse for having 
 espoused this opinion; and afterwards, in 1334, 
 when he was at the point of death, though he 
 did not entirely renounce, he in some measure 
 softened it, by saying he believed that the un- 
 embodied souls of the righteous ' beheld the 
 divine essence as far as their separate state and 
 condition would permit.'* This declaration 
 did not satisfy his adversaries: hence his suc- 
 cessor, Benedict XII., after many disputes about 
 it, put an end to this controversy by an unani- 
 mous resolution of the Parisian doctors, order- 
 ing it to be received as an article of faith, that 
 the souls of the blessed, during their interme- 
 diate state, were capable of contemplating, 
 fully and perfectly, the divine nature.f Bene- 
 dict's publishing of this resolution could be in 
 no way injurious to the memory of John; for, 
 wlien the latter lay upon his death-bed, he sub- 
 mitted his opinion to the judgment of the 
 church, that he might not be deemed a heretic 
 after his decease. | 
 
 against one pontiff: Louis employed Occam and 
 the Franciscans, in that quality against the other. 
 Each insisted upon the convocation of a general 
 council, and the deposition of an obnoxious pontiff. 
 I omit other circumstances that might be alleged to 
 render the parallel more striking. 
 
 * See Steph, Baluzii Vit. Pontif. Avenion. torn. i. 
 p. 175, 182, 197, 221, 786, &c.— Luc. D'Acherii SpicU. 
 Scriptor. Veter. torn. i. p. 760, ed. vet. — Jo. Launoii 
 Historia Gymnas. Navarreni, part i. cap. vii. p. 319. 
 torn. Iv. part i. op. — Boulay, Histor. Acad. Paris. 
 torn. iv. p. 235, 250.— Wadding, Annal. Minor, torn, 
 vi. p. 371; torn. vii. p. 145.— Echard, Scriptor. Prtedi- 
 cator. torn. i. p. 599, 608. 
 
 t Baluzii Vit. Pontif. Avenion. torn. i. p. 197, 316, 
 221. 
 
 QC^ t All the heretical fancies of this pope about 
 the Beatific Vision were nothing in comparison with 
 a vile and most enormous practical heresy, that was 
 found in his coffers after his death, viz. five and 
 twenty millions of florins, of which there were eigh- 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 389 
 
 X. .lohn dying m 1334, new contentions 
 arose in the conclave between the French and 
 Italian cardinals, about the election of a pope; 
 but toward the end of the year they chose 
 James Foiu-nier, a Frenchman, and cardinal 
 of St. Prisca, who took the name of Benedict 
 XII. The writers of these times represent 
 him as a man of great probity, who was not 
 charg(!able with tliat avarice, or that ambition, 
 which had dishonoured so many of liis prede- 
 cessors.* He put an end to the papal quarrel 
 with the emperor Louis; and tliough he did 
 not restore him to the communion of the 
 church, because prevented, as it is said, by the 
 king of France, yet he did not attempt any 
 thing against him. He carefully attended to 
 the grievances of tlie church, redressed them as 
 far as was in his power, endeavoured to reform 
 the fundamental laws of the monastic socie- 
 ties, whether of the mendicant, or more opu- 
 lent orders; and died in 1342, while he was de- 
 vising the most noble schemes for promoting a 
 yet more extensive reformation. In short, if 
 we overlook his superstition, the prevailing 
 blemish of this barbarous age, it must be allow- 
 ed that he was a man of integrity and merit. 
 
 XI. He was succeeded by a man of a very 
 different disposition, Clement VI., a native of 
 France, whose name was Peter Roger, and 
 who was cardinal of St. Nereus and St. 
 Achilles, before liis elevation to the pontifi- 
 cate. Not to insist upon the most unexceptiona- 
 ble parts of this pontiff's conduct, we shall 
 only observe, that he trod faitlifully in the 
 steps of John XXII. in providing for vacant 
 churches and bishoprics, by reserviiig to him- 
 self the disposal of them, which showed his 
 sordid and insatiable avarice; that he conferred 
 ecclesiastical dignities and benefices of the 
 highest consequence upon strangers and Ita- 
 lians, which drew upon him the warm dis- 
 pleasure of the kings of England and France; 
 and lastly, that by renewing the dissensions that 
 had formerly subsisted between Louis of Ba- 
 varia and the Roman see, he exposed his 
 excessive vanity and ambition in the most odi- 
 ous colours. In 1343, he assailed the emperor 
 with his thundering edicts; and when he heard 
 that they were treated by that prince with the 
 utmost contempt, his rage was augmented, 
 and he not only threw out new maledictions, 
 and published new sentences of excommunica- 
 tion against him, in 1346, but also excited the 
 German princes to elect Henry VII., son of 
 Charles IV., emperor in his place. This vio- 
 lent measure woidd infallibly have occasioned 
 a civil war in Germany, had it not been pre- 
 vented by the death of Louis, in 1347. Cle- 
 ment survived him above five years, and died 
 near the close of the year 1352, famous for 
 nothing but his excessive zeal for extending 
 the papal authority, and for his having added 
 
 teen in specie, and the rest in plate, jewels, crowns, 
 mitres, and other precious baubles, which he had 
 squeezed out of the people and the inferior clergy 
 during liis pontificate. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. liv. 
 sciv. sect, xxxi-x. 
 
 * See the Fragmenta Histor. Roman, in Muratorii 
 Antiquit. Ital. tom. iii. p. 275. — Baluzii Vit. Pont. 
 Avenion. tom. i. p.205, 218, &c.—Boulay, Hist. Acad. 
 Par. tom. iv. 
 
 Avignon, which he purchased of Joan, queen 
 of Naples, to the patrimony of St. Peter. 
 
 XII. His successor. Innocent VI., whose 
 name was Stephen Albert, was much more re- 
 markable for integrity and moderation. He 
 was a Frenchman, and before his election had 
 been bishop of Ostia. He died in 1362, after 
 having governed the church for almost ten 
 years. His greatest blemish was, that he pro- 
 moted his relatives with an excessive partiality; 
 but, in other respects, he was a man of merit, 
 and a great encourager of pious and learned 
 men. He kept the monks closely to their duty, 
 carefully abstained from reserving churches, and, 
 by many good actions, acquired a great and 
 deserved reputation. He was succeeded by 
 William Grimoard, abbot of St. Victor at 
 Marseilles, who took the name of Urban V., 
 and was entirely free from all the grosser vices, 
 if we except those which cannot easily be sepa- 
 rated from the papal dignity. This pope, be- 
 ing prevailed on by the entreaties of the Ro- 
 mans, returned to Rome in 1367; but, in 1370, 
 he revisited Avignon, to reconcile the differ- 
 ences that had arisen between the kings of Eng- 
 land and France, and died there in the same year. 
 
 XIII. He was succeeded by Peter Roger, a 
 French ecclesiastic of illustrious descent, who 
 assumed the name of Gregory XL, a man who, 
 though inferior to his predecessors in virtue, 
 far exceeded them in courage and audacity. 
 In his time, Italy in general, and the city of 
 Rome in particular, were distressed with most 
 outrageous and formidable tumults. The Flo- 
 rentines carried on with success a terrible war 
 against the ecclesiastical state;* upon which, 
 Gregory, in hopes of quieting the disorders of 
 Italy, and also of recovering the cities and 
 territories which had been taken from St. 
 Peter's patrimony, transferred the papal seat, 
 in 1376, from Avignon to Rome. To this he 
 was in a great measure determined by the ad- 
 vice of Catharine, a virgin of Sens, who, in 
 this credulous age, was thought to be inspired 
 with the spirit of prophecy, and made a journey 
 to Avignon on purpose to persuade him to take 
 this step.f It was not, however, long before 
 Gregory repented that lie had followed her 
 advice; for, by the long absence of the popes 
 from Italy, their authority was reduced to so 
 low an ebb, that the Romans and Florentines 
 made no scruple to insult him with the grossest 
 abuse, which made him resolve to return to 
 Avignon; but, before he could execute his de- 
 termination, he was taken off by death, in 1378. 
 
 XIV. After the death of Gregory XL, the 
 cardmals were assembled to consult about 
 choosing a successor, when the people of Rome, 
 unwilling that the vacant dignity should be 
 conferred on a Frenchman, approached the 
 conclave in a tumidtuous manner, and with 
 great clamours, accompanied with outrageous 
 menaces, insisted that an Italian should be 
 advanced to the popedom. The cardinals, ter- 
 rified by this uproar, immediately proclaimed 
 
 * See Colucii Salutati Epistolm, written in the 
 name of the Florentines, parti. See also the preface 
 to the second part. 
 
 t See Longueval, Hist, de I'EgUse Gallicane, tom. 
 xiv. p. 159, 192. 
 
390 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Bartholomew Pregnane, who was a NeapoUtan, 
 and archbishop of Bari, and assumed the name 
 of Urban VI. This new pontiff, by his impo- 
 lite behaviour, injudicious severity, and intole- 
 rable arrogance, had entailed upon himself the 
 odium of people of all ranks, and especially of 
 the leading cardinals. These latter, therefore, 
 tired of his insolence, withdrew from Rome to 
 Anagni, and thence to Fondi, where they 
 elected to the pontificate Robert, count of 
 Geneva, (who took thenameof Clement VII.,) 
 and declared at the same time, that the elec- 
 tion of Urban was nothing more than a mere 
 ceremony, which tliey had found themselves 
 obliged to perform, in order to calm the turbu- 
 lent rage of the populace. Which of these 
 two we ought to consider as having been the 
 true and lawful pope, is to this day, a doubtful 
 point; nor will the records and writings, al- 
 leged by the contending parties, enable us to 
 adjust that point with certainty.* Urban re- 
 mained at Rome: Clement went to Avignon. 
 His cause was espoused by France, Spain, 
 Scotland, Sicily, and Cyprus, while all the 
 rest of Europe acknowledged Urban as the 
 true vicar of Christ. 
 
 XV. Thus the union of the Latin church 
 .under one head, was destroyed at the death of 
 Gregory XI., and was succeeded by that de- 
 plorable dissension, commonly known by the 
 name of the great xoesterti schism.^ This dis- 
 sension was fomented with such dreadful suc- 
 cess, and arose to such a shameful height, that, 
 for fifty years, the cliurch had two or three 
 different heads at the same time; each of the 
 contending popes fonning plots, and thunder- 
 ing out anathemas against their competitors. 
 The distress and calamity of these times are 
 beyond all power of description; for, not to in- 
 sist upon tlie perpetual contentions and wars 
 between the factions of the several popes, by 
 which multitudes lost tlieir fortunes and lives, 
 all sense of religion was extinguished in most 
 places, and profligacy rose to a most scanda- 
 lous excess. The clergy, while they vehe- 
 mently contended which of the reigning popes 
 ought to be deemed the true successor of 
 Christ, were so excessively corrupt, as to be 
 no longer studious to keep up even an appear- 
 ance of religion or decency: and, in consequence 
 of all this, many plain well-meaning people, 
 who concluded that no one could partake of 
 eternal life, unless united with the vicar of 
 Christ, were overwhelmed with doubt, and 
 plunged iato the deepest mental distress.;!: 
 
 * See the acts and documents in Boulay, Hist. 
 Acad. Paris, torn. iv. p. 463.— Luc. Wadding, Annal. 
 Minor, torn. i.\. p. 12.— Steph. Baluze, Vit. Pontif. 
 Aveiiion. torn. i. p. 442, 998.— Acta. Sanctor. torn. i. 
 April, p. 728. 
 
 t An account of this dissension may be seen in 
 Pierre du Pay, Histoire Generale du Schisme qui a 
 etc en I'Eglise depuis I'ao. 1378 jusqu' en I'an. 1428, 
 which, as we are informed in the preface, was com- 
 piled from the royal records of France, and is en- 
 tirely worthy of credit. Nor should we wholly reject 
 Louis Maimbourg's Histoire du grand Schisme d'Oc- 
 cident, though in general it be deeply tainted with 
 the leaven of party spirit. Many documents are to 
 be met with in Boulay's Histor. Acad. Paris, torn. 
 iv. and v.; and also in Martenne's Thesaur. Anecdo- 
 tor. torn. ii. I always pass over the common writers 
 upon this subject, such as Alexander, Raynald, 
 Bzovius, Spondanus, and Du-Pin. 
 
 t Of the mischievoua consequences of this ichism, 
 
 Nevertheless, these abuses were, by their con- 
 sequences, greatly conducive both to the civil 
 and religious interests of mankind; for, by these 
 dissensions, the papal power received an incu- 
 rable wound; and kings and princes, who had 
 formerly been the slaves of the lordly pontiffs, 
 now became their judges and masters; and 
 many of the least stupid among the people had 
 the courage to disregard and despise the popes, 
 on account of their odious disputes about do- 
 minion, to commit their salvation to God 
 alone, and to admit it as a maxim, that tlie 
 prosperity of the church might be maintained, 
 and the interests of religion secured and pro- 
 moted, without a visible head, crowned with a 
 spiritual supremacy. 
 
 XVI. The Italian cardinals, attached to the 
 interests of Urban VI., on the death of that 
 pope, in 1389, set up for his successor Peter 
 Thomacelli, a Neapolitan, who took the name 
 of Boniface IX.; and Clement VII., dying in 
 1394, the French cardinals raised to the ponti- 
 ficate Peter de Luna, a Spaniard, who assumed 
 the name of Benedict XIII. During these 
 transactions, various methods were proposed 
 and attempted for healing this melancholy 
 breach in the church. Kings and princes, 
 bishops and divines, appeared with zeal in this 
 salutary project. It was generally thought 
 that the best course to be taken was, what they 
 then styled, the Method of Cession: but neither 
 of the popes could be prevailed on, either by 
 entreaties or threats, to give up the pontificate. 
 The Galilean church, highly incensed at this 
 obstinacy, renoimced solemnly, in a council 
 holden at Paris, in 1397, all subjection and obe- 
 dience to both pontiffs; and, on the publication 
 of this resolution, in 1398, Benedict was, by 
 the express orders of Charles VI., detained 
 prisoner in his palace at Avignon.* 
 
 XVII. Some of the popes, particularly 
 Benedict XIL, were perfectly acquainted with 
 the prevailing vices and scandalous conduct 
 of the greatest part of the monks, which they 
 zealously endeavoured to rectify and remove; 
 but the disorder was too inveterate to be easily 
 cured, or effectually remedied. The Mendi- 
 cants, and more especially the Dominicans and 
 Franciscans, were at the head of the monastic 
 orders, and had, indeed, become the heads of 
 the church: so extensive was the influence 
 they had acquired, that all matters of impor- 
 tance, both in the court of Rome, and in the 
 cabinets of princes, were carried on under their 
 supreme and absolute direction. The multi- 
 tude had such a high notion of the sanctity of 
 these sturdy beggars, and of their credit witli 
 the Supreme Being, that great numbers of both 
 sexes, some in health, others in a state of infir- 
 mity, others at the point of death, earnestly 
 desired to be admitted into the Mendicant or- 
 der, which they looked upon as a sure and in- 
 fallible method of rendering Heaven propitious. 
 Many made it an essential part of their last 
 wills, that their carcasses, after death, should 
 be wrapped in ragged Dominican or Francis- ■ 
 
 we have a full account in the Histoire du Droit pub- 
 lic Eccles. Francois, tom. ii. p. 166, 193, 202. 
 
 * Beside the common historians, and Longueval'a 
 Histoire de I'Eglise Gallicane, t. xiv. see the acts of 
 this council in Boulay's Hist, t. iv. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 391 
 
 can habits, and interred among the Mendi- 
 cants; for, amidst the barbarous superstition 
 and wretched ignorance of this age, the gcne- 
 rahty of people believed that they might readily 
 obtain mercy from Christ at the day of judg- 
 ment, if they should appear before his tribunal 
 associated with the Mendicant friars. 
 
 XVIII. The high esteem attached to the 
 Mendicant orders, and the great authority 
 which they had acquired, only served to ren- 
 der them still more odious to such as had 
 hitherto been their enemies, and to draw upon 
 iheni new marks of jealousy and hatred from 
 the higher and lower clergy, tlie monastic so- 
 cieties, and the pul^c universities. So general 
 was this odium, that in almost every province 
 and university of Europe, bishops, clergy, and 
 doctors, were warmly engaged in opposition to 
 the Dominicans and Franciscans, who em- 
 ployed the power and authority they had re- 
 ceived from the popes, in undermining the an- 
 cient discipline of the church, and assuming to 
 themselves a certain superintendence in reli- 
 gious matters. In England, the university of 
 Oxford made a resolute stand against the en- 
 croachments of the Dominicans,* while Rich- 
 ard, archbishop of Armagh, Henry Cromp, 
 Norris, and others, attacked all the Mendicant 
 orders with great vehemence and severity.! 
 But Richard, whose animosity was much 
 keener against them than that of their other 
 antagonists, went to the court of Innocent VI., 
 in 1336, and vindicated the cause of the church 
 against them with the greatest fervour, both 
 in his writings and discourse, until the year 
 1360, in which he died. J They had also many 
 opponents in France, who, together with the 
 university of Paris, were secretly engaged in 
 contriving means to overturn their exorbitant 
 power: but John de Polliac set himself openly 
 against them, publicly denying the validity of 
 the absolution granted by the Dominicans and 
 Franciscans to those who confessed to them, 
 maintaining that the popes were disabled from 
 granting them a power of absolution by the 
 authority of the canon entitled Oinnis utm%Ls- 
 que sexus, and proving from these premises, 
 that all those who would be sure of their sal- 
 vation, ought to confess their sins to the priests 
 of their respective parishes, even though they 
 had been absolved by the monks. They suf- 
 fered little or nothing, however, from the ef- 
 forts of these numerous adversaries, being reso- 
 lutely protected against all opposition, whether 
 open or secret, by the popes, who regarded 
 them as their best friends and most effectual 
 supports. Accordingly, John XXII., by an 
 extraordinary decree, in 1321, condemned the 
 opinions of John de Polliac. § 
 
 XIX. But, among all the enemies of the 
 
 * See Wood's Antiquit. Oxon. torn. i. p. 150, 196, 
 &c. 
 
 t See Wood, torn. i. p. 181; torn. ii. p. 01.— Baluzii 
 VitJE Pontif. Aveiiion. torn. i. p. 338, 950.— Boulay, 
 torn. iv. p. 336.— Wadding, torn. viii. p. 126. 
 
 I See Simon's Lettres t'hoisies, torn. i. p. 104. I 
 liave in my possession a manuscript treatise of Bar- 
 tholomew de Brisac, entitled, " Solutiones oppositte 
 Ricardi, Armachani episcopi, propositionihus contra 
 Mendicantes in curia Romana coram Pontifice et 
 cardinalibus factis, anno 13()0." 
 
 J See Jo. Launoius, de Canono Omnis utriiisque 
 Sexus, torn. i. part i. op. p. 271, 287, &c,— Baluzii 
 
 Mendicant orders, no one has been transmitted 
 to posterity with more exalted encomiums on 
 the one hand, or black calumnies on the other, 
 than John Wickliff, an English doctor, profes- 
 sor of divinity at Oxford, and afterwards rector 
 of Lutterworth; who, according to the testi- 
 mony of the writers of these times, was a man 
 of an enterprising genius, and extraordinary 
 learning. In 1360, animated by the example 
 of Richard, archbishop of Aniiagh, he defend- 
 ed the statutes and privileges of the university 
 of Oxford, against all the orders of the Men- 
 dicants, and had the courage to throw out 
 some slight reproofs against the popes, their 
 principal patrons, which no true Briton ever 
 imputed to him as a crime. After this, in 
 1367, he was deprived of the wardenship of 
 Canterbury Hall, in the university of Oxford, 
 by Simon Langham, archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, who substituted a monk in his place; 
 upon which he appealed to pope Urban V., 
 who confirmed the sentence of the primate 
 against him, on account of the freedom with 
 which he had inveighed against the monastic 
 orders. Highly exasperated at this treatment, 
 he threw off all restraint, and not only attack- 
 ed all the monks, and their scandalous irregu- 
 larities, but even the pontifical power itself and 
 other ecclesiastical abuses, both in his sermons 
 and writings. He proceeded to yet greater 
 lengths, and, detesting the wretched supersti- 
 tion of the times, refuted, with great acuteness 
 and spirit, the absurd notions that were gene- 
 rally received in religious matters, and not only 
 exhorted the laity to study the Scriptures, but 
 also translated into English these divine books, 
 in order to render the perusal of them more 
 general. Though neither the doctrine of 
 Wickliff was void of error, nor his life with- 
 out reproach, yet it must be allowed, tliat the 
 changes he attempted to introduce, both in the 
 faith and discipline of the church, were, in 
 many respects, wise, useful, and salutary.* 
 
 XX. The monks, whom Wickliff had prin- 
 cipally exasperated, commenced a violent pro- 
 secution against him at the court of Gregory 
 XI., who, in 1377, ordered Simon Sudbury, 
 archbishop of Canterbury, to take cognizance 
 of the affair in a council convoked at London. 
 Imminent as this danger evidently was, Wick- 
 liff escaped it, by the interest of the duke of 
 Lancaster, and some other peers,who had a high 
 regard for him; and soon after the death of 
 Gregory, the fatal schism of the Romish 
 church commenced, during which there was 
 one pope at Rome, and another at Avignon; so 
 that of course the controversy lay dormant a 
 long time. The process against Wickliff was 
 afterwards revived, however, by William de 
 Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1385, 
 and was carried on with great vehemence in 
 two councils holden at London and Oxford. 
 The event was, that of the twenty-three opin- 
 
 Vit. Pontif. Avenion. torn. i. et ii. Ejus. Miscellanea, 
 torn. i. — D'Acherii Spicil. Scriptor. Veler. torn, i.— 
 Martenne, Tliesaur. Anecdotor. tom. i. 
 
 * A work of his was published at Leipsic and 
 Frankfort, in 1753, entitled, Dialogorum Libri qua- 
 tuor, which, though it does not contain all the 
 branches of his doctrine, yet shows sufficiently the 
 spirit of the man, and his way of thinking in ge- 
 neral. 
 
392 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 ions, for which Wickliff had been prosecuted 
 by the monks, ten were condemned as heresies, 
 and thirteen as errors.* He himself, however, 
 returned in safety to Lutterworth, where he 
 died peaceably in 1387. The latter attack was 
 much more dangerous tlian the former; but by 
 what means he got safely through it, whether 
 by the interest of the court, or by denying or 
 abjuring his opinions, is to this day a secret. f 
 He left many followers in England, and other 
 countries, who were styled Wickliffites and 
 Lollards, which last was a term of popular re- 
 ' proach translated from the Flemish tongue 
 into English. Wherever they could be found, 
 they were terribly persecuted by the inquisi- 
 tors, and other instruments of papal vengeance. 
 In the council of Constance, in 1415, the me- 
 mory and opinions of Wicklitf were condemn- 
 ed by a solemn decree; and, about thirteen 
 J 'ears after, his bones were dug up, and pub- 
 icly burned. 
 
 XXI. Although the Mendicants were thus 
 vigorously attacked on all sides, by such a con- 
 siderable nmnber of ingenious and learned ad- 
 versaries, they could not be persuaded to abate 
 any thing of their excessive pride, to set bounds 
 to their superstition, or to desist from imposing 
 upon the multitude, but were as diligent as 
 ever in propagating opinions highly detrimental 
 to religion in generaJ, and particularly injuri- 
 ous to the majesty of the Supreme Being. 
 The Franciscans, forgetting, in their enthusi- 
 astic phrensy, the veneration which they owed 
 to the Son of God, and animated with a mad 
 zeal for advancing the glory of their order and 
 its founder, impiously maintained, that the 
 latter was a second Christ, in all respects simi- 
 lar to the first, and that their institution, doc- 
 trine, and discipline, were the true Gospel of 
 Jesus. Yet, shocking as these foolish and im- 
 pious pretensions were, the popes were not 
 ashamed to patronise and encourage them by 
 their letters and mandates, in which they made 
 no scruple to assert, that the absurd fable of 
 
 O"* 111 the original, Dr. Moslieim says, that, of 
 eighteen articles imputed to Wickli 11' nine were con- 
 demned as heresies, and fifteen as errors. This 
 contradiction, which we have taken the liberty 
 to correct in the text, is an oversight of the learned 
 author, who appears to have confounded the eighteen 
 heresies and errors that were enumerated and re- 
 futed by William Woodford, in a letter to Arundel, 
 archbishop of Canterbury, with the twenty-three 
 propositions that had been condemned by liis pre- 
 decessor Courtenay at London, of which ten were 
 pronounced heretical, and thirteen erroneous. See 
 the very curious collection of pieces, entitled. Fas- 
 ciculus rerum expetendarum et fugiendarum Orthu- 
 ini Gratii, published first at Cologne by the compiler, 
 in 1.535, and afterwards at London, in 16(10, with an 
 additional volume of ancient pieces and fragments, 
 by the learned Mr. Edward Brown. The letter of 
 Woodford is at full length in the first volume of this 
 collection. 
 
 t We have a full and complete History of the Life 
 and Sufferings of John Wicklitl" piibllsiied at Lon- 
 don, in 1720, by Mr. John Lewis, v\ ho also published, 
 in 1731, Wickiiff's English translation of the New 
 Testament from the Latin version called the Vul- 
 gate. This translation is enriched with a learned 
 preface by the editor, in which he enlarges upon the 
 life, actions, and suft'erings, of that eminent reform- 
 er. The pieces, relative to the controversies which 
 were occasioned by the doctrines of Wickliff, are to 
 be found in the learned work of Wilkiiis, entitled, 
 Concilia M.ignre Britannife et Hibern. torn. iii. p. 
 116, 156. — See also Boulays Hist, torn iv. and 
 Wood'3 Antiq. torn. i. 
 
 the stigmas, or five wounds impressed upon 
 Francis by Christ himself, on mount Alvemus, 
 was worthy of credit, because matter of un- 
 doubted fact.* Nor was this all; for they not 
 only permitted to be published, without any 
 mark of their disapprobation, but approved, 
 and even reconunended, an impious piece, 
 stuffed with tales yet more improbable and ri- 
 diculous than either of the above-mentioned 
 fictions, and entitled, The Book of the Con- 
 formities of St. Francis with Jesus Christ, 
 which was composed, in 1385, by Bartholomew 
 Albizi, a Franciscan of Pisa, with the applause 
 of his order. This infamous tract, in which 
 the Son of God is put i^on a level with a 
 wretched mortal, is an eternal monument of 
 the outrageous enthusiasm and abominable ar- 
 rogance of the Franciscan order, and also of 
 the excessive imprudence of the pontiffs who 
 e.\tolled and recommended it.f 
 
 XXII. The Franciscans, who adhered to the 
 genuine and austere rule of their founder, and 
 opposed the popes who attempted to mitigate 
 the severity of its injunctions, were not in the 
 
 * The story of the marks, or stigmas, impressed on 
 Francis, is well known, as are also the letters of 
 the Roman pontiffs, which enjoin the belief of it, 
 and which VV adding has collected with great care, 
 and published in his Annates Minorum, tom. viii. 
 and ix. The Dominicans formerly made a public 
 jest of this ridiculous fable; but, being awed into 
 silence by the papal bulls, they are now obliged to de- 
 ride it in secret, while the Franciscans, on the other 
 hand, continue to propagate it with the most fervent 
 zeal. That St. Francis had upon his body the marks 
 or impressions of the five great wounds of Christ, is 
 not to be doubted, since this is a fact proved by a 
 great number of unexceptionable witnesses. But, 
 as he was a most superstitious and fanatical mortal, 
 it is undoubtedly evident that he imprinted on him- 
 self these holy wounds, that he might resemble 
 Christ, and bear about on his body a perpetual memo- 
 rial of the Redeemer's sufferings. It was customary 
 in these times, for such as were willing to be thought 
 more pious than others, to imprint upon their bodies 
 marks of this kind, that, having thus continually 
 before them a lively representation of the death of 
 Christ, they might preserve a becoming sense of it 
 in their minds. The words of St. Paul (Galat. vi. 17,) 
 were sufficient to confirm in this wretched delusion 
 an ignorant and superstitious age, in which the 
 Scriptures were neither studied nor understood. A 
 long list of these stigmatised fanatics might be ex- 
 tracted from the Acta Sanctorum, and other records 
 of this and the following century: nor is this ancient 
 piece of superstition entirely abolished, even in our 
 times. Be that as it may, the Franciscan monks, 
 having found these marks upon the dead body of 
 their founder, took this occasion of making him ap. 
 pear to the world as honoured by Heaven above the 
 rest of mortals, and invented, for this purpose, the 
 story of Christ's having miraculously transferred his 
 wounds to liim. 
 
 t For an account of Albizi and his book, see Wad- 
 ding, tom. ix. p. 158. — Fabricii Biblioth. Lat. medii 
 ^vi, tom. i. p. 131. — Schelhornii Amoen. Liter, tom. 
 iii. p. KiO. — Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Fran- 
 cois, and the Nouveau Dictionnaire Hist. Crit. at 
 the article Albizi. Erasmus Albert made several 
 e.xtracts from this book, and published them under 
 the title of the Koran of the Franciscans, which 
 was frequently printed in Latin, German, and 
 French. 
 
 0(7- The conformities between Christ and St. 
 Francis, are only carried to forty, in the book of 
 Albizi: but they are multiplied to 4000, by a Spanish 
 monk of the order of Observants, in a work publish- 
 ed, in 1651, under the following title, Prodigiosum 
 Naturs et Gratiae Portentum. The conformities 
 mentioned by Pedro de Alva Astorga, the austere 
 author of this most ridiculous book, are whimsical 
 beyond expression. See tha Bibl^des Sciences et de* 
 Beaux Arts, t. iv. p. 31& 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 393 
 
 least wiser than those of the order, who ac- 
 knowledged the jurisdiction and respected the 
 decisions of the Roman pontiffs. By those 
 antipapal Franciscans 1 mean the Fratricelli, 
 or Minorites, and the Tertiarios of that order, 
 otherwise called Beghards, together with the 
 Spirituals, who resided principally in France, 
 and embraced the opinions of Pierre d'Olive. 
 These monastic factions were turbulent and 
 seditious beyond expression; they gave incre- 
 dible vexation to the popes, and for a long 
 time disturbed, wherever they appeared, the 
 tranquillity both of church and state. About 
 the beginning of this century,'' the less austere 
 Franciscans were outrageous in their resent- 
 ment against the Fratricelli, who had deserted 
 their communion;! upon which such of the 
 latter as had the good fortune to escape the 
 fury of their persecutors, retired into France, 
 in 1307, and associated themselves with the 
 Spirituals, or followers of Pierre d'Olive, in 
 Provence, who had also abandoned the society. 
 Soon after this, the whole Franciscan order in 
 France, Italy, and other countries, formed two 
 parties. Those who embraced the severe dis- 
 cipline and absolute poverty of St. Francis, 
 were called Spirituals; such as insisted upon 
 mitigating the austere injunctions of their 
 founder, were styled the Brethren of the Com- 
 munity. The latter, being far more numerous 
 and powerful, exerted themselves to the ut- 
 most, to oppress the former, whose faction was 
 s^ll weak, and, as it were, in its infancy; yet 
 they cheerfully submitted to these hardships, 
 rather than return to the society of tliose who 
 had deserted the rules of cheir master. Pope 
 Clement V., having drawn the loaders of these 
 two parties to his court, took great pains to 
 compose these dissensions; nevertheless, his 
 pacific scheme advanced but slowly, on ac- 
 count of the inflexible obstinacy of each sect, 
 and the great number of their nuitual accu^sa- 
 tions. In the mean while, the Spirituals of 
 Tuscany, instead of waiting for the decision 
 of his holiness, chose a president and inferior 
 officers; while those of France, being in the 
 neighbourhood of Avignon, patiently expected 
 the papal determination. J 
 
 XXllI. After many deliberations, Clement, 
 in a general council at Vienne in Dauphine, 
 (where he issued the famous bull,§ Exivi de 
 paradiso,) proposed an expedient for healing 
 the breach between the jarring parties, by wise 
 concessions on both sides. Ho gave up many 
 points to the Spirituals, or rigid Franciscans, 
 enjoining upon the whole order tiic profes- 
 sion of absolute poverty, according to their 
 primitive rule, and the solemn renunciation of 
 all property, whether common or personal, 
 confining them to what was necessary fur their 
 immediate subsistence, and allowing them, 
 even for that, a very scanty pittance. He, 
 however, on the other hand, pcnnittod the 
 Franciscans, who lived in i)laccs where it was 
 
 . * In 130G and 1307. 
 
 t Waddinn, t. vi. ad an. 1307. 
 
 t Wadding, torn. iv. ad an. 1310, p. 217.— Eor.irdi 
 Corpus llistor. modii Mvi, torn. i. |). 1480.— lioiilay, 
 torn. iv. p. 12!).— Eccardi Scriplor. JVitdicitor. loin.i. 
 
 § This hull is inserted in the Jus t'.inonicnni inter 
 Clemen tin.i,^, lit. xi. de verbor. signif. torn. ii. p. 
 1095, Pdit. B.dinif ri. 
 Vol. I— 50 
 
 extremely difficult to procure by begging the 
 necessaries of life, to erect granaries and store- 
 houses, where they might deposit a part of 
 their alms as a stock, in case of want; and 
 ordered that all such repositories should be un- 
 der the inspection and management of over- 
 seers and store-keepers, who were to determine 
 what quantity of provisions should be laid up 
 in them. And, finally, in order to satisfy the 
 Brethren of tlie Connnunity, he condemned 
 some opinions of Pierre d'Olive.* These pro- 
 ceedings silenced tlie monastic commotions in 
 France; but the Tuscan and Italian Spirituals 
 were so exceedingly perverse and obstinate, 
 that they could not be brought to consent to 
 any method of reconciliation. At length, in 
 1313, many of them, not tliinliing themselves 
 safe in Italy, went into Sicily, where they met 
 with a friendly reception from Frederic, the 
 nobility, and bishops. f 
 
 XXIV. Upon the death of Clement V. the 
 tumult, which had been appeased by his autho- 
 rity, revived in France with as much fury as 
 ever. For, in 1314, a hundred and twenty of 
 the Spirituals made a violent attack upon the 
 Brethren of the Community, drove them out 
 of the convents of Narbonne and Beziers by 
 force of arms, and inflamed the quarrel in a 
 yet higher degree, by relinquishing their an- 
 cient habits, and assuming such as were short, 
 close, and mean. They were soon joined by 
 a considerable number from other provinces; 
 and the citizens of Narbonne, where Olive was 
 interred, enlisted themselves in the party. 
 John XXII., who was raised to the pontificate 
 in tlie year 1317, took great pains to heal this 
 new disorder. The first thing he did for this 
 purpose, was to publish a special bull, by 
 which he ordered the abolition of the Fratri- 
 celli or Minorites, and their Tertiaries, whether 
 Beguines or Beghards, who formed a body dis- 
 tinct from the Spirituals. | In the next place, 
 he admonished the king of Sicily to expel all 
 the Spirituals who had taken refuge in his do- 
 minions,§ and then ordered the French Spirit- 
 uals to appear at Avignon, where he exhorted 
 them to return to their duty, and as the first 
 step to it, to lay aside the short, close habits, 
 with the small hoods. The greatest part of 
 them obeyed; but Fr. Bernard Delitiosi, who 
 was the head of the faction, and twenty-four 
 of tiie brethren, boldly refused to submit to the 
 injimction. In vindication of their conduct, 
 they alleged that the rules prescribed by St. 
 Francis, were the same witli tlie Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ; that tlie popes therefore had no author- 
 ity to alter them; that the pontiffs had acted 
 sinfully in permitting the Franciscans to have 
 granaries and storehouses; and that they added 
 to thcirguilt in not allowing those habits to be 
 worn tiiat were enjoined by St. Francis. John, 
 highly exasperated by this opposition, gave 
 orders that these obstinate brethren should be 
 
 * VVaddinp, torn. vi. p. 194, 197, 199. 
 
 t Waddint', torn. vi. p. 213, 214.— lloulay, torn, 
 iv. p. 152, 1C5. — Ar(;entre,ColIeCtiojudicior. lie novis 
 error, torn. i. p. 392. 
 
 I 'I'liis law is called Sanfta Romana.ic. and is 
 to 1)1^ lound .nmong Iho E\travagante» Jolianuis 
 XXIf. tit. vii. de rcligiosis domibus, torn. ii. Jur. 
 Canon, p. 1112. 
 
 § Wadding, torn. vi. p. 965. 
 
394 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 proceeded against as heretics. And surely 
 nothing could make them appear viler heretics 
 in the papal eye, tlian their venturing thus 
 audaciously to oppose the authority and ma- 
 jesty of the Roman see. As for Delitiosi, Avho 
 is sometimes called Delli Consi, he was im- 
 prisoned, and died in his confinement. Four 
 of his adherents were condemned to the flames, 
 in 1318, at Marseilles;* and this horrible sen- 
 tence was accordingly executed without mercy. 
 
 XXV. Tiius these unliappy friars, and many 
 more of their fraternity, who were afterwards 
 cut otf by this cruel persecution, suffered 
 merely for their contempt of the decisions of 
 the pontiffs, and for maintaining that the in- 
 stitute of St. Francis, their founder, which 
 they imagined he had established under the 
 direction of an immediate inspiration, was the 
 very Gospel of Christ, and therefore ought not 
 to be altered by the pope's authority. The 
 controversy, considered in itself, was rather ri- 
 diculous than important, since it did not affect 
 religion in the least, but turned wholly on 
 these two points, the form of the habits to be 
 worn by the Franciscan order, and their grana- 
 ries and store-houses. The Brethren of the 
 Community, or the less rigid Franciscans, wore 
 long, loose, and good habits, with ample hoods; 
 but the Spirituals went in short, scanty, and 
 very coarse ones, which they asserted to be 
 precisely the dress enjoined by the institute of 
 St. Francis, and what therefore no power upon 
 earth had a right to alter. And whereas the 
 former, immediately after the ' harvest and 
 vintage, were accustomed to lay up a stock of 
 corn and wine in their granaries and cellars, 
 the latter resolutely opposed this practice, as 
 entirely repugnant to that profession of abso- 
 
 ■ lute poverty which had been embraced by the 
 Fratricelli or Minorites. In order to put an 
 end to these broils, the pope, in this very year, 
 
 })ublished a long mandatory letter, in which 
 le ordered the contending parties to submit 
 their disputes, upon the two points above- 
 mentioned, to the decision of their superiors.! 
 
 XXVI. The effects of this letter, and of 
 other decrees, were prevented by the unsea- 
 sonable and unpious severity of John, whose 
 cruelty was condemned and detested even by 
 his adherents. For the Spiritual Franciscans 
 and their votaries, being higlily exasperated at 
 the cruel death of^ their brethren, maintained, 
 that John, by procuring the destruction of 
 these holy men, had rendered himself utterly 
 imworthy of the papal dignity and was the 
 true Antichrist. They moreover revered their 
 four brethren, who were burned at Marseilles, 
 as so many martyrs, paying religious venera- 
 tion to their bones and ashes; and inveighed 
 yet more vehemently than ever against long 
 habits, large hoods, granaries, and store-houses. 
 The inquisitors, on the other hand, having, 
 
 * Baluze, Vitse Pontif. Avenion. torn. i. p. 116; 
 torn. ii. p. 341, et Miscellan. torn. i. p. 195,272. Wad- 
 ding, torn. vi. p. 267. Martenne.Tliusaur. Anecdotor. 
 torn. v. p. 175. Martinus Fiililensis, in Eccardi Cor- 
 pore Histor. medii ^Evi, torn. i. p. 1725, et Herm. 
 Corneriis, ibid. torn. ii. p. 981. Histoiregenerale 
 de Languedoc, torn. iv. p. 179. Argentre, CoUectio 
 Judicior. de novis errorib. torn. i. p. 294. 
 
 t It may be seen in the Jus Canon, among the Ex- 
 travag. coramunes de verbor. signif. See also Wad- 
 ding, torn, vi, 
 
 by the pope's order, apprehended as many of 
 these people as they could find, condemned 
 them to the flames, and sacrificed them with- 
 out mercy to papal resentment and fury: so 
 that from tJiis time a vast number of those zea- 
 lous defenders of the institute of St. Francis, 
 viz. the Minorites, Beghards, and Spirituals, 
 were most barbarously put to death, not only 
 in France, but also in Italy, Spain, and Ger- 
 many.* 
 
 XXVII. This dreadful flame continued to 
 spread till it invaded the whole Franciscan or- 
 der, which, in 1321, had revived the old con- 
 tentions concerning the poverty of Christ and 
 his apostles. A certain Beguin, or monk of 
 the third order of St. Francis, who was appre- 
 hended this year at Narbonne, taught, among 
 other things, " That neither Christ nor his apos- 
 tles ever possessed any thing, whether in com- 
 mon or personally, by right of property or do- 
 minion." John de Belna, an inquisitor of the 
 Dominican order, pronounced this opinion er- 
 roneous; but Berengarius Taloni, a Franciscan, 
 maintained it to be orthodox, and perfectly con- 
 sonant to the bull, Exiit qui seminal, of Nicolas 
 III. The judgment of the former was approv- 
 ed by the Dominicans; the determination of 
 the latter was adhered to by the Franciscans. 
 At length the matter was brought before the 
 pope, who prudently endeavoured to put an 
 end to the dispute. With this view he called 
 into his council Ubertinus de Casalis, the pa- 
 tron of the Spirituals, and a person of great 
 weight and reputation. This eminent monk 
 gave captious, subtle, and equivocal answers to 
 the questions that were proposed to him. The 
 pontifl', however, and the cardinals, persuaded 
 that his decisions, however ambiguous, might 
 contribute to terminate the quarrel, acquiesced 
 in them, seconded them with their authority, 
 and, at the same time, enjoined silence and mo« 
 deration on the contending parties. f 
 
 XXVIII. But the Dominicans and Francis- 
 cans were so exceedingly exasperated against 
 each other, that they could by no means be 
 brought to conform themselves to this order. 
 The pope, perceiving this, permitted them to 
 renew the controversy in 1322; and he himself 
 proposed to some of the most celebrated divines 
 of the age, and especially to those of Paris, 
 the determination of this point, namely, " Whe- 
 ther those were to be deemed heretics, who 
 maintained that Jesus Christ, and his apostles, 
 had no common or personal property in any 
 thing they possessed?" The Franciscans, who 
 held an assembly in that year at Perugia, hav- 
 ing gained intelligence of this proceeding, de- 
 creed that those who held this tenet were not 
 
 * Beside many other pieces that serve to ilhistrate 
 the intricate history of this persecution, I have in 
 my possession a treatise, entitled, Martyrologium 
 Spiritiialium et Fratricellorum, which was delivered 
 to the tribunal of the inquisition at Carcassone, A. 
 D. 1454. It contains the names of 113 persons of 
 both sexes, who, from the year 1318 to the time of 
 Innocent VI., were committed to the flames in 
 France and Italy, for their infle.xible attachment to 
 the poverty of St. Francis. I reckon that from these 
 and other records, published and unpublished, we 
 may make out a listof two thousand martyrs of this 
 kind. See Codex Inquis. Tolosana;. 
 
 t Wadding, torn. vi. p. 361. Baluzii Miscellan 
 torn. i. p. 307. Ger. du Bois, Histor, Eccles. Paris, 
 p. 611. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 395 
 
 heretics, but maintained an opinion that was 
 holy and orthodox, and perfectly agreeable to 
 the decisions and mandates of the popes. They 
 also sent a deputy to Avignon, to defend this 
 unanimous determination of their whole order 
 against all opponents wliatevcr. The person 
 whom they commissioned for this purpose was 
 F. Bonagratia, of Bergamo, who also went by 
 the name of Boncortese,* one of their fraterni- 
 ty, and a man famous for his extensive learning. 
 John, being higlily incensed at this step, issued 
 a decree, wherein he espoused an opinion dia- 
 metrically opposite to that of the Franciscans, 
 and declared them to be heretics, for obstinately 
 maintaining "that Christ and his apostles had 
 no common or personal property in wliat they 
 possessed, nor a power of selling or alienating 
 any part of it." Soon after, he proceeded yet 
 farther, and, in another constitution, exposed 
 the weakness and inefficacy of those argu- 
 ments, commonly reduced from a bull of Nico- 
 las III., concerning the property of the Fran- 
 ciscan possessions being transferred to the 
 church of Rome, whereby the monks were 
 supposed to be deprived of what we call right, 
 and were only allowed the simple use of what 
 was necessary for their immediate support. In 
 order to confute this plea, he showed that it 
 was absolutely impossible to separate right and 
 property from the lawful use of such things as 
 were immediately consumed by that use. He 
 also solemnly renounced all property in the 
 Franciscan effects, which had been reserved to 
 the church of Rome by former popes, their 
 churches and some other things excepted. 
 And whereas the revenues of the order had 
 been hitherto received and administered by 
 procurators, on the part of the Roman church, 
 he dismissed these officers, and abolished all 
 the decrees and constitutions of his predeces- 
 sors relating to this affair.f 
 
 XXIX. By this method of proceeding, the 
 dexterous pontiff entirely destroyed that boast- 
 ed expropriation, which was the main bulwark 
 of the Franciscan order, and which its founder 
 had esteemed the distinguishing glory of the 
 society. It was therefore natural, that tliese 
 measures should determine the Franciscans to 
 an obstinate resistance. And such indeed was 
 the effect they produced: for, in 1323, they 
 Bent their brother Bonagratia in the quality of 
 legate to the papal court, where he vigorously 
 and openly opposed the recent constitution of 
 John, boldly affirming, that it was contrary to 
 human as well as divine law. J The pope, on 
 the other hand, highly exasperated against this 
 audacious defender of the Franciscan poverty, 
 threw him into prison, and ordained, by a new 
 
 * I insert this caution, because I have observed 
 that some eminent writers, by not atteniling to this 
 circumstance, have taken these two names for two 
 different persons. 
 
 t These constitutions are recorded in the Corpus 
 Juris Canoniri, and also among the Extravasantns, 
 tit. xiv. de verbor. siffnific. cap. ii. iii. p. 11-21. For 
 ■ an account of the transaction itself, the reader should 
 chiefly consult that impartial writer, Alvarus I'ela- 
 cius, de Planctu Ecclesi®, lib. ii. cap. 60. as also Wad- 
 ding, tom. vi. p. 3D4. Both those atUhors blame pope 
 John. 
 
 J Wadding, tom. vii. p. 2, 22. — Alvar. Pelagius, dc 
 Planctu f'.cclesiir, lib. ii. p. Ifi7. — Trithemius, Annal. 
 Hirsaug. tom. ii. p. 157. — Theod.deNiem, in Eccardi 
 Ciorpore Histor. med. iGvi, t. vii. p. 1491. 
 
 edict, that all who maintained that Christ, and 
 his apostles, had no common or special proper- 
 ty in any of their possessions, should be deem- 
 ed heretics, and corrupters of the true religion.* 
 Finding, however, that the Franciscans were 
 not terrified in the least by this decree, he pub- 
 lished another yet more flaming constitution, 
 about the end of the year 1324, in which he 
 confirmed his former edicts, and pronounced 
 that tenet concerning the expropriation of 
 Christ and his apostles, ' a pestilential, errone- 
 ous, damnable, and blasphemous doctrine, hos- 
 tile to the catholic faitli,' and declared all such 
 as adhered to it, obstinate heretics, and rebels 
 against the church. f In consequence of this 
 merciless decree, great numbers of those who 
 persisted in assertbig that Christ and his apos- 
 tles were exactly such mendicants as Francis 
 would have his brethren to be, were apprehend- 
 ed by the Dominican inquisitors, who were im- 
 placable enemies of the Franciscans, and com- 
 mitted to the flames. The histories of France 
 and Spain, Italy and Germany, during this and 
 the following century, aboimd with instances 
 of this atrocious cruelty. 
 
 XXX. The zealous pontiff pursued this af- 
 fair with great warmth for several years; and, 
 as this contest seemed to have taken its rise 
 from the books of Pierre d'Olive, he branded 
 with infamy, in 1325, the Postilla and other 
 writings of that author, as pernicious and here- 
 tical. J The next step he took, was to sum- 
 mon to Avignon, some of the more learned 
 and eminent brethren of tlie Franciscan order, 
 of whose writings and eloquence he was par- 
 ticularly apprehensive, and to detain them at 
 his court: and then, to arm himself against the 
 resentment and indignation of this exasperated 
 society, and to prevent their attempting any 
 thing to his prejudice, he kept a strict guard 
 over them in all places, by means of his friends 
 the Dominicans. Michael of Cesena, who re- 
 sided in Italy, and was the head of the order, 
 could not easily dissemble the hatred lie had 
 conceived against the pope, who therefore or- 
 dered him to repair to Avignon, in 1327, and 
 there deprived him of his office. § But, pru- 
 dent as this rigorous measure might appear at 
 first sight, it served only to inflame the enrag- 
 ed Franciscans more than ever, and to confirm 
 them in their attachment to the scheme of ab- 
 solute poverty. For no sooner did the bitter 
 and well-known contest, between John XXII. 
 and Louis of Bavaria, break out, than the 
 principal champions of the Franciscan cause, 
 such as Marsilius of Padua, and John of Genoa, 
 fled to the emperor, and under his protection 
 published the most virulent pieces imaginable, 
 in which they not only attacked John person- 
 ally, but also levelled their satire at the power 
 
 * Waddine, tom. vii. p. .'!6. — Contin. de Nangis, in 
 D'Acliorii Spicilegio, tom. iii. p. 83.— Boulay, tom. 
 iv. p. 205.— Beaedictinor. Gallia Christiana, tom. ii. 
 p. 151.5. 
 
 t This constitution, and the two former already 
 mentioned, are published among the Extravagantea, 
 tit. xiv. de verbor. signif Wadding, (t. vii. p. 36,) 
 vigorously opposed this last; which is rather extraor- 
 dinary in a man so immoderately attached to the 
 cause of the popes as he was. 
 
 ♦ Wadding, torn- vii. p. 47.— Eccardi Corpus His- 
 tor. medii JEvi, tom. i. p. 592. and 1491. 
 
 § Wadding, torn. vii. p. 69, 74. 
 
396 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 and authority of the popes in general.* This 
 example was soon followed by otliers, particu- 
 larly by Michael of Cesena, and William Oc- 
 cam, who excolled most men of his time in 
 subtlety and acuteness of genius, and also by 
 F. Bonagratia of Bergamo. They made tlieir 
 escape by sea from Avignon, in 1328, went 
 first to the emperor, who was at that time in 
 Italy, and thence proceeded to Munich. They 
 were soon joined by many others, such as Be- 
 rengarius, Francis de Esculo, and Henry de 
 Halem, who were highly and deservedly 
 esteemed, on account of their eminent parts 
 and extensive learning. f All tliese learned 
 fugitives defended the institute of their founder 
 in long and laboured treatises, in wliich they 
 reduced the papal dignity and authority with- 
 in a very narrow compass, and loaded the pon- 
 tiffs with reproaches and invectives. Occam 
 surpassed them all in tlie keenness and spirit 
 of his satire; and hence his Dialogues, together 
 with his otlier productions, which were perus- 
 ed with avidity, and transmitted to succeeding 
 generations, gave a very severe blow to the 
 ambition and majesty of the Roman pontiffs. 
 
 XXXI. On the other hand, Louis, to ex- 
 press his gratitude to these his defenders, not 
 only made the cause of tlio Franciscans his 
 own, but also adopted their favourite sentiment 
 concerning the poverty of Christ and his apos- 
 tles; for, among the heresies and errors of 
 which he publicly accused John, and for which 
 he deprived him of the pontificate, the princi- 
 pal and most pernicious one, in tlie opinion of 
 the emperor, was his maintaining that the po- 
 verty of Clu-ist did not exclude all right and 
 property in what he used as a subsistence.! 
 The Fratricelli, Beghards, Beguines, and Spi- 
 rituals, then at variance with the pope, were 
 effectually protected b}' the emperor, in Ger- 
 many, against the attempts of the inquisitors; 
 so that, during his reign, that country was 
 overrun with shoals of Mendicant friars. 'Fhere 
 was scarcely a province or city in the empire 
 that did not abound with Beghards and Be- 
 guines; that is, monks and nuns who professed 
 the third rule of St. Francis, and placed the 
 chief excellence of the Christian life in a vol- 
 untary and absolute poverty. § The Domini- 
 cans, on the other hand, as enemies to the 
 Franciscans, and friends to the pope, were 
 treated with great severity by his imperial ma- 
 jesty, who banished tliem witli ignominy out 
 of several cities. |j 
 
 * Luc. D'Acherii Spjcilesium, torn. iii. p. 85. Bill- 
 lar. Roman, turn. vi. p. 107. Marteiine, Thesaur. 
 Anecdotor. tnm. ii. p. 6i)5, 704. Boulay, torn. iv. p. 
 S16. There is a very noted piece on tliis snbject 
 written by Marsilins of Padua, who was professor 
 at Vienna, and entitled. Defensor Pacis pro Ludovi- 
 co Bavaro adversus usurpatam Romani Tontiticis 
 jurisdictionem. 
 
 t Wadding, torn. vii. p. 81.— Martenne, Thesaur. 
 Anecdotor. torn. iii. p. 749, 757.— Trithemii Annal. 
 Hirsaue, lorn. ii. p. 167. — Boulay torn. iv. p, 217. — 
 
 Eccardi Corpus Histor. torn. ii. p. 1034 Baluzii Mis- 
 
 cellan, torn, i. p. 293, 31.'5.—The reader may also con- 
 Bult those writers who have compiled inde.ves and 
 collections of Ecclesiastical historians. 
 
 J See Processus Ludovici contra Johannem, an. 
 1328, d. 12. Dec. datus, in Baluzii Miscellaneis, t. ii. 
 p. 522, and also his Appellatio, p. 494. 
 
 § I have many pieces upon this subject that were 
 never published. 
 
 II Mart. Diefenbach, do mortis genere, quo Henri- 
 
 XXXII. The rage of the contending parties 
 subsided greatly from the year 132D. The 
 pope ordered a diet of the Franciscans to be 
 holden in that year at Paris, where, by means 
 of Cardinal Bertrand, who was president of the 
 assembly, and by tlie efforts of the Parisian 
 doctors, who were attached to his interests, he 
 so far softened the resentment of the greatest 
 part of the brethren, that they ceased to defend 
 the conduct of Michael of Cesena and his as- 
 sociates, and permitted another president, Ge- 
 rard Odo, to be substituted in his room. They 
 also acknowledged John to be a true and law- 
 ful pope; and then terminated the dispute con- 
 cerning the poverty of Christ in such an am- 
 biguous manner, tliat the constitutions and 
 edicts of Nicolas III. and John XXII., how- 
 ever contradictory, maintained their authority.* 
 But, notwithstanding tiiese pacific and mutual 
 concessions, there were great numbers of the 
 Franciscans in Germany, Spain, and Italy, 
 who would by no means consent to this recon- 
 ciliation. After the death of John, Benedict 
 XII. and Clement VI. took great pains to 
 close the breach, and showed some clemency 
 and tenderness toward such of the order as 
 thought the institute of their founder more sa- 
 cred tjian the papal bulls. This lenity had 
 some good effects. Many who had withdrawn 
 themselves from the society, were hereby in- 
 duced to return to it, in which number were 
 Francis de Esculo and others, who had been 
 some of John's most inveterate enemies.f 
 Even tliose who could not bo prevailed on to 
 return to their order, ceased to insult the popes, 
 observed the rules of their founder in a quiet 
 and inofiensive manner, and would have no 
 sort of connexion with those Fratricelli and 
 Tertiarics in Italy, Spain, and Germany, who 
 condemned the papal authority. J 
 
 XXXIII. The German Franciscans, who 
 were protected by the emperor Louis, held 
 out their opposition much longer than any of 
 the rest. But, in 1347, their imperial patron 
 being dead, the halcyon days of the Spirituals, 
 as also of their associates the Beghards or 
 Tertiaries, were at an end in Germany. For 
 Charles IV., who, by the interest of the pope, 
 had been declared king of the Romans in 
 1345, was ready, in his turn, to gratify the de- 
 sires of the court of Rome, and accordingly 
 supported, both by his edicts and by Ids arms, 
 the inquisitors who were sent by the Roman 
 pontiff against his enemies, and suffered them 
 to apprehend and put to death all obnoxious 
 individuals who came within their reach. 
 These ministers of papal vengeance acted 
 chiefly in the districts of Magdebul'g and Bre- 
 men, Thuringia, Saxony, and Hesse, where 
 they extirpated all the Beghards and Beguines, 
 or Tertiaries, the associates of those Francis- 
 cans, who held that Christ and his apostles had 
 no property in any thing. These severe mea- 
 
 cus VII. obiit, p. 145, and others.— Eccardi Corpus 
 Hist, t, i. p. 2103.— Boulay, t. iv. p. 220. 
 
 * Wadding, tom. vii. p. 94. — D'Acherii Spicilegium, 
 torn. iii. p. 91. 
 
 t Argcntre, Collectio Judicior. de novis erroribus, 
 torn. i. p. .343.— Boulay, tom. iv. p. 281.— Wadding, 
 tom. vii. p. 313. 
 
 X Wadding, tom. vii. p. 116, 126.— Argentre, tom. 1 
 p. 343, &c. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 397 
 
 sures were approved by Charles IV., who then 
 resided at Lucca, whence, in 1369, hr! issued 
 several edicts, commanding all the German 
 princes to extirpate out of their dominions the 
 Beghards and Beguincs, or, as he himself inter- 
 preted the names, the voluntary beggars,* as 
 enemies of the church, and of the Roman em- 
 pire, and to assist the inquisitors in their pro- 
 ceedings against them. By another edict, pub 
 lislied not long after, he gave the houses of 
 the Beghards to the tribunal of the inquisition, 
 ordering them to be converted into prisons for 
 heretics; and, at the same time, ordered all the 
 effects of the Boguines to be publicly sold, and 
 the profits thence arising, to be equally divided 
 among the inquisitors, the magistrates, and the 
 poor of those towns and cities where such sale 
 should take place. "f The Beghards, being re- 
 duced to great distress, by this and other man- 
 dates of the emperor, and by the constitutions 
 of the popes, sought a refuge in those provinces 
 of Switzerland that border upon the Rhine, 
 and also in Holland, Brabant, and various 
 parts of Germany. J But the edicts and man- 
 dates of the emperor, together with the papal 
 bulls and inquisitors, harassed them in their 
 most distant retreats; and, during the reign of 
 Charles IV., all Germany (except tlie pro- 
 vinces bordering upon Switzerland) was tho- 
 roughly purged of the Beghards, or rebellious 
 Franciscans, both perfect and imperfect. 
 
 XXXIV. But no edicts, bulls, or inquisitors, 
 could entirely pluck up the roots of this invet- 
 erate discord; for so ardently were many of 
 the brethren bent upon observing, in the most 
 perfect and rigorous manner, the institute of 
 St. Francis, that numbers were to be found in 
 all places, wiio either withstood the president 
 of the society, or at least obeyed him with re- 
 luctance. At once, therefore, to satisfy both 
 the lax and the rigid party, after various 
 methods had been tried to no purpose, a di- 
 vision of the order was agreed to. According- 
 ly, in 1368, the president consented that Pau- 
 lutius Fulginas, the chief of the more rigid 
 Franciscans in Italy, together with his asso- 
 ciates, who were numerous, should live sepa- 
 rately from the rest of the brethren, according 
 to the rules and customs they had adopted, 
 and follow the institutes of tiieir founder, in 
 the strictest and most rigorous mamier. The 
 
 * Called, in the German language, die wi/gen Ar- 
 
 t I have in my pos.session this edict, with other 
 laws of Charles IV. enactoil on this occasion, as also 
 many of the papal constitutions, and othrr records 
 which illustrate this affair, and which undoiihti'dly 
 deserve to s«e the light. It is certain that Charles 
 himself, in his edicts and mandates, clearly charac- 
 terizes those people, wliom he there styles Kciihards 
 and Beguines. as Franciscan Tertiaries, beloiifing to 
 that parly of the order then at variance with the 
 pope. " They are (to use the emperor's own words, 
 in hiR edict of the IHth of June, i:!ti'J) a pernicious 
 sect, who pretend to a sacrilegious and heretical 
 poverty, and who are under a vow, that they neither 
 ought to have, nor will have, any property, vvhothrr 
 special or common, in the goods they use;" (this is 
 the poverty of the Franciscan institute, whirli John 
 XXII. so strenuously opposed) "which they extend 
 even to their wretched habits." — For so the spirituals 
 and their associates used to do. 
 
 X See Odor. Raynaldus, Aiinal. Eccles. ad an. J372, 
 sect, xxxiv. See also the books of Felix Malleolus, 
 written in the following century against the Beghards 
 of Switzerland. 
 
 Spirituals and the followers of Pierre d'Olive, 
 whose scattered remains were yet observable 
 in several places, joined themselves gradually 
 and imperceptibly to tliis party. And, as the 
 number of those who were fond of the severe 
 discipline continually increased in many pro- 
 vinces, the popes thouo'ht proper to approve 
 that institute, and to give it the solenan sanc- 
 tion of their authority. In consequence of this, 
 the Franciscan order was divided into two 
 large bodies, namely, the Conventual Breth- 
 ren, and the Brethren of the regular observance. 
 Those who neglected the strict sense of the 
 expressions in which the institute of their 
 founder was conceived, and adopted the modi- 
 fications given of them by the pontiifs, were 
 called by the farmer name; and the council of 
 Constance conferred the latter upon those who 
 chose to be determined by the words of the 
 institute itself, rather than by any explications 
 of it.* But the Fratricelli and the Beghards 
 absolutely rejected this reconciliation, and per- 
 sisted in disturbing the peace of the church 
 during this and the following century, in the 
 marquisate of Ancona, and in other districts. 
 
 XXXV. This century gave rise to other re- 
 ligious societies, some of which did not long 
 subsist, and the rest never became famous. 
 John Colombini, a nobleman of Sienna, 
 founded in 1367, the order of the Apostolic 
 clerks, who, because they frequently pro- 
 nounced the name of Jesus, were afterwards 
 called Jesuates. This institution was confirmed 
 by Urban V., in the following year, and sub- 
 sisted till the seventeenth century, when it 
 was abolished by Clement IX.f The brethren 
 belonging to it professed poverty, and adhered 
 to the institute of St. Augustin. They were 
 not, however, admitted to holy orders, but as- 
 sisted the poor by their prayers and other pious 
 offices, and prepared medicines for them, 
 which they distributed gi-atis-l But tliese stat- 
 utes were in a manner abrogated when Cle- 
 ment dissolved the order. 
 
 XXXVI. Soon after the commencement of 
 this century, the famous sect of the Cellite 
 Brethren and Sisters arose at Antwerp; they 
 were also styled the Alexian Brethren and 
 Sisters, because St. Alexius was their patron; 
 and they were named Ccllites, from the cells 
 in which they were accustomed to live. As 
 the clergy of this age took little care of tl»e 
 sick and dying, and deserted such as were in- 
 fected with those pestilential disorders which 
 were then very frequent, some compassionate 
 and pious persons at Antwerp formed them- 
 selves into a society for the performance of 
 these religious offices, which the sacerdotal or- 
 ders so shamefully neglected. In the prosecu- 
 tion of this agreement, they visited and com- 
 forted the sick, assisted the dying with their 
 prayers and exhortations, took care of the in- 
 terment of those who were cut oft" by the 
 plague, and on that account forsaken by the 
 terrified clergy, and committed them to the 
 
 * See Wadding, tom. viii. ix. 
 .t In the year ItiGH. 
 
 t Helyot, Hist, des Ordres, tom. iii. p. 411.— Pagi 
 Breviar. Pontif. tom. iv. p. 189.— Bonanni, and 
 others, who have compiled histories of the religious 
 orders. 
 
398 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part U. 
 
 grave with a solemn funeral dirge. It was 
 with reference to this last office, that the com- 
 mon people gave them the name of Lollards.* 
 The example of these good people had such 
 an extensive influence, that in a little time so- 
 cieties of the same kind, consisting both of 
 men and women, were formed in most parts 
 of Germany and Flanders, and were supported, 
 
 * Many writers have given us copious accounts 
 concerning the sect and name of the Lollards; 
 yet none of them can be commended for their fidelity, 
 diligence, or accuracy, on this head. This I can con- 
 fidently assert, because I have carefully and expressly 
 inquired into whatever relates to the Lollards, and 
 from themostauthenticrecordsconcerning them, both 
 published and unpublished, have collected copious 
 materials from which their true history may be com- 
 piled. Most of the German writers, as well as those 
 of other countries, affirm, that the Lollards were a 
 particular sect, who ditfered from the church of Rome 
 in many religious points; a)id that Walter Lolhard, 
 who was burned in this century at Cologne, was 
 their founder. How so many learned men came to 
 adopt this opinion, is beyond my comprehension. 
 They indeed refer to Jo. Tritheraius as the author 
 of this opinion: yet it is certain, that no such account 
 of these people is to be found in his writings. I 
 shall therefore endeavour, with all possible brevity, 
 to throw all the light I can upon this matter, that 
 they who are fond of ecclesiastical history may have 
 a just notion of it. 
 
 The term Lollhard, or Lull/iard, (or, as the ancient 
 Germans wrote it, Lollert, Lullcrt,) is compounded 
 of the old German word lullen, lollen, lallxn, and the 
 well-known termination hard. Lollen, or lullen, signi- 
 fies to sing with a low voice. It is yet used in the 
 same sense among the English, who say, lull asleep, 
 which signifies to sing any one into a slumber with 
 a sweet indistinct voice. See Franc. Junii Etymo- 
 logicon Anglicanum. The word is also used in the 
 same sense among the Flemings, Swedes, and other 
 nations, as appears by their respective dictionaries. 
 Among the Germans, both the sense and pronuncia- 
 tion of it have undergone some alteration; for they 
 isay, /a//cre, which signifies to pronounce indistinctly, 
 or stammer. Lolhard, therefore, is a singer, or one 
 who frequently sings. For, as the word beggen, 
 which universally signifies to request any thing fer- 
 vently, is applied to devotional requests or prayers, 
 and, in the stricter sense in which it is used by the 
 Germans, denotes praying fervently to God; in the 
 same manner the word lollen, or lullen, is transferred 
 from a common to a sacred song, and signifies, in 
 its most limited sense, to sing a hymn. Lolhard, 
 therefore, in the vulgar tongue of the ancient Ger- 
 mans, denotes a person who is continually praising 
 God with a song, or singing hymns to his honour. 
 Hocsemius, a canon of Liege, has well apprehended 
 and e.\pressed the force of this word in his Gesta 
 Pontificum Leodiensium, lib. i. cap. xx.\i. in Jo. 
 Chapeauvilli Gestis Pontificum Tungrensium et 
 Leodiensium, tom. ii. p. 350. " In the same year," 
 (1309,) says he, "certain strolling hypocrites, who 
 were called Lollards, or praisers of God, deceived 
 some women of quality in Ilainault and Brabant." 
 Because those who praised God generally did it in 
 verse, to praise Qod, in the Latin style of the middle 
 ages, meant to sing to him; and such as were fre- 
 quently employed in acts of adoration, were called 
 religious singers; and, as prayers and hymns are re- 
 garded as a certain external sign of piety toward 
 God, those who aspire to a more than ordinary de- 
 gree of piety and religion, and for that purpose were 
 more frequently occupied in singing hymns than 
 others, were, in the popular language, called Loll- 
 hards. Hereupon this word acquired the same mean- 
 ing with the term Beghard, which denoted a per- 
 son remarkable for piety; for in all the old records, 
 from the eleventh century, these two words are 
 synonymous: so that all who were styled Beghards 
 are also called Lollards, which may be proved to a 
 demonstration from many authors. 
 
 The Brethren of the free spirit, of whom we have 
 already given a large account, are by some styled 
 Beghards, by others Lollards. The followers of 
 Gerard Groote, or Priests of the community, are fre- 
 quently called Lollard Brethren. The good man 
 
 partly by their manual labours, and partly by 
 the charitable donations of pious persons. The 
 magistrates and inhabitants of the towns, 
 where these brethren and sisters resided, gave 
 them peculiar marks of favour and protection 
 on account of their great usefulness to the 
 sick and needy. But the clergy, whose repu- 
 tation was not a little hurt by them, and the 
 
 Walter, who was burned at Cologne, and whom so 
 many learned men have unadvisedly represented as 
 the founder of the sect of the Lollards, is by some 
 called a Beghard, by others a Lollard, and by some 
 a Minorite. The Franciscan Tertiaries, who were 
 remarkable for their prayers and other pious exer- 
 cises, were frequently called Lollards; and the Cellite 
 Brethren, or Alexians, whose piety was very exem- 
 plary, no sooner appeared in Flanders, about the be- 
 ginning of this century, than the people gave them 
 the title of Lollards. A particular reason indeed for 
 their being distinguished by this name was, that they 
 were public singers, who made it their business to 
 inter the bodies of those who died of the plague, and 
 sang a dirge over them in a mournful and indistinct 
 tone as they carried them to the grave. Among the 
 many testimonies that might be alleged to prove 
 this, we shall confine ourselves to the words of Jo. 
 Bapt. Gramaye, a man eminently skilled in the 
 history of his country, in his work entitled Antwer- 
 pia, lib. ii. "The Alexians," says he, "who con- 
 stantly employed themselves about funerals, had their 
 rise at Antwerp; at which place, about the year 1300, 
 some honest pious laymen formed a society. On 
 account of their extraordinary temperance and mo- 
 desty, they were styled Matemanni, (or Moderatists,) 
 and also Lollards, from their attendance on funeral 
 obsequies. From their cells, they were named Cellite 
 brethren." To the same purpose is the following 
 passage in his work entitled Lovanium: " The 
 Alexians, who were wholly engaged in taking care 
 of funerals, now began to appear. They were lay- 
 men, who, having wholly devoted themselves to 
 works of mercy, were named Lollards and Mate- 
 manni. They made it their sole business to take 
 care of all such as were sick, or out of their senses. 
 These they attended both privately and publicly, and 
 buried the dead." The same learned author tells 
 thus, that he transcribed some of these particulars 
 from an old diary written in Flemish rhyme. Hence 
 we find in the Annals of Holland and Utrecht, in 
 Ant. Mattha-i Analect. vet. M\'\. tom. i. p. 431, the 
 following words: " Die Lollardtjes die brochten de 
 dooden by een, i. e. the Lollards who collected the 
 dead bodies;" which passage is thus paraphrased by 
 Matthaeus: " The managers of funerals, and carriers 
 of the dead, of whom there was a fixed company, 
 were a setof mean, worthless creatures, who usually 
 spoke in a canting mournful tone, as if bewailing the 
 dead; and hence it came to pass, that a street in 
 Utrecht, in which most of these people lived, was 
 called the LoUer street." The same reason that 
 changed the word Beghard from its primitive mean- 
 ing, contributed also to give, in process of time, a difTer- 
 ent signification to that of Lollard, even to its being 
 assumed by persons that dishonoured it; for, among 
 those Lollards who made such extraordinary pre- 
 tensions to piety and religion, and spent the great- 
 est part of their time in meditation, prayer, and the 
 like acts of piety, there were many abominable hypo- 
 crites, who entertained the most ridiculous opinions, 
 and concealed the most enormous vices, under the 
 specious mask of this extraordinary profession. But 
 it was chiefly after the rise of the Alexians, or Cel- 
 lites, that the name Lollard became infamous. For 
 the priests and monks, being inveterately exasperated 
 against these good men, propagated injurious suspi- 
 cions of them, and endeavoured to persuade the peo- 
 ple, that, innocent and beneficent as the Lollards 
 seemed to he, they were in reality the contrary, be- 
 ing tainted with the most pernicious sentiments of a 
 religious kind, and secretly addicted to all sorts of 
 vices. Thus by degrees it came to pass, that any 
 person, who covered heresies or crimes under the 
 appearance of piety, was called a Lollard. Hence it 
 is certain, this was not a name to denote any one 
 particular sect, but was formerly common to all per- 
 sons and all sects, who were supposed to be guilty 
 of impiety toward God and the church, under an ex- 
 ternal profession of extraordinary piety. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 399 
 
 Mendicant friars, who found their profits di- 
 minished by tiie growing credit of these stran- 
 gers, persecuted them vehemently, and accused 
 them to tlie popes of many vices and intolera- 
 ble errors. Hence it was, that the word Lol- 
 lard, wliich originally carried a good meaning, 
 became a term of reproacli, to denote a person 
 who, mider the mask of extraordinary piety, 
 concealed eitlier pernicious sentiments or enor- 
 mous vices. But the magistrates, by their re- 
 commendations and testimonials, supported 
 the Lollards against their malignant rivals, and 
 obtained several papal constitutions, by which 
 their institute was confirmed, and their per- 
 sons, exempted from the cognizance of the in- 
 quisitors, were subjected entirely to the juris- 
 diction of the bishops. But, as these measures 
 were insufficient to secure them from molesta- 
 tion, Charles, duke of Burgundy, in 1472, ob- 
 tained a solemn bull from pope Sixtus IV., or- 
 dering that the Cellites, or Lollards, should be 
 ranked among the religious orders, and deli- 
 vered from the jurisdiction of the bishops; and, 
 in 1506, Julius II. granted them yet greater 
 privileges. Many societies of this kind are 
 yet subsisting at Cologne, and in the cities of 
 Flanders, though they have evidently departed 
 from their ancient rules.* 
 
 XXXVII. Among the Greek writers of this 
 century, the following were the most eminent: 
 
 Nicephorus Callistus, whose Ecclesiastical 
 History we have already mentioned; 
 
 Matthew Blastares, who illustrated and ex- 
 plained the canon law of the Greeks; 
 
 Balaam, wlio was a very zealous champion 
 in behalf of the Grecian cause against the La- 
 tins; 
 
 Gregory Acindynus, an inveterate enemy 
 of the Palamites; 
 
 John Cantacuzenus, famous for his history 
 of his own time, and his confutation of the 
 Mohammedan law; 
 
 Nicephorus Gregoras, who compiled the 
 Byzantine history, and left some other monu- 
 ments of his genius to posterity; 
 
 Theophanes, bishop of Nice, a laborious de- 
 fender of the truth of Christianity against the 
 Jews, and the rest of its enemies; 
 
 Niius Cabasilas, Nilus Rhodius, and Nilus 
 Damyla, who most warmly maintained the 
 cause of their nation against the Latin writers; 
 
 Philotheus, several of whose tracts are yet 
 extant, and seem well adapted to excite a de- 
 votional temper and spirit; 
 
 Gregory Palamas, of whom more will be 
 said hereafter. 
 
 XXXVIII. From the prodigious number of 
 tlie Latin writers of this century, we shall only 
 select the most famous. Among the scholastic 
 doctors, who blended philosophy with divinity, 
 John Duns Scotus, a Franciscan, and the 
 great antagonist of Thomas, held the first 
 
 * Beside many others, whom it is unnecessary to 
 mention here, see iCgid. Gelenius, de admiranda 
 • sacra et civili mapnitudine urbis Colonian, lib. iii. 
 Syntajm. li.p.534, 508.— Jo. Bapt. Or.imaye, in Anti- 
 quit. Bolg — Anton. Sanderus, in Brabantia el Flan- 
 dria illnstrat. — Aub. Minrns, in Opcribus Diplo- 
 matiroHiatoricis, and many other writers of this 
 period in various places of their works. I may add, 
 that the Lollards are by many called die J^follbruder, 
 from noUen, an ancient German word. 
 
 rank; and, though not entitled to any praise 
 for his candour and ingenuity, was by no 
 means inferior to any of his contemporaries in 
 acuteness and subtlety of genius.* 
 
 After him, the most celebrated writers of 
 this class were Durand of St. Portian, who 
 combatted the commonly received doctrine of 
 the divine co-operation with the human will,t 
 Antonius Andreas, HerviEus Natalis, Francis 
 Mayronius, Thomas Bradwardine, an acute, in- 
 genious man,J Peter Aureolus, John Bacon, 
 William Occam, Walter Burlaeus, Peter de 
 Alliaco, Thomas of Strasburg, and Gregory 
 de Rimini. § 
 
 Among the Mystic divines, Jo. Tauler and 
 Jo. Ruysbrock, though not entirely fi-ee from 
 errors, were eminent for their wisdom and in- 
 tegrity; 
 
 Nicolas Lyranus, or de Lyra, acquired 
 great reputation by his Compendious Exposi- 
 tion of the whole Bible; 
 
 Rayner of Pisa, is celebrated for his Sum- 
 mary of Theology, and Astesanus for his Sum- 
 mary of Cases of Conscience. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Concerning the Doctrine of the Christian Church 
 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. All those who are well acquainted with 
 the history of these times, must acknowledge, 
 that religion, either as it was taught in the 
 schools, or inculcated upon the people as the 
 rule of their conduct, was so extremely adul- 
 terated and deformed, that there was not a sin- 
 gle branch of the Christian doctrine, which 
 retained its primitive lustre and beauty. Hence 
 it may easily be imagined, that the W^aldenses 
 and others, who ardently wished for a reforma- 
 tion of the church, and had separated them- 
 selves from the jurisdiction of the bishop of 
 Rome, though every where exposed to the fury 
 of the inquisitors and monks, yet increased 
 from day to day, and baffled all the attempts 
 that were made for their extirpation. Many 
 of these poor people, having observed, that 
 great nimibers of their party perished by the 
 flames and other punishments, fled out of Italy, 
 France, and Germany, into Bohemia, and the 
 adjacent coimtries, where they afterwards as- 
 sociated with the Hussites, and other separa- 
 tists from the church of Rome. 
 
 II. Nicolas Lyranus deservedly holds the 
 first rank among the commentators on the 
 Scriptures, having explained them in a man- 
 ner far superior to the prevailing taste and 
 spirit of his age. He was a perfect master of 
 
 * The very laborious and learned Wadding fa- 
 voured the public with an accurate edition of the 
 works of Scotus, printed at Lyons, KiStt, in twelve 
 volumes folio. See Wood, Antiq. O.xon. tom. i. — 
 Wadding, Annal. Minor, fratr. tom. vi.— Boulay, 
 tom. iv. 
 
 t See Launoy's treatise, entitled. Syllabus ratio- 
 num, quibus Durandi causa defenditur; also Gallia 
 Christ, tom. ii. 
 
 I Rich. Simon, liettrcs Choisies, tom. iv. p. 232; 
 and Critique de la Biblioth. des Auteurs Ecclesiast. 
 par M. Du-Pin, tom. i. p. 300. Steph. Souciet, in Ob- 
 servationibus ad h. I. p. 703.— Nouv. Diet. Hist, et 
 Crit. tom. ii. p. 500. He was archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. 
 
 § For a full account of all these persons, see His- 
 loirs d« I'Eglise Gallicane, tom. xiv. 
 
400 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 the Hebrew language, but not well versed in 
 the Greek, and was therefore much happier in 
 his exposition of tiie Old Testament, than in 
 that of the New.* All the other divines, who 
 applied themselves to this kind of writing, 
 were servile imitators of their predecessors. 
 They either culled choice sentences from the 
 writings of the more ancient doctors; or, de- 
 parting from the obvious meaning of the words, 
 tliey tortured the sacred writers to accommo- 
 date them to senses that were mysterious and 
 abstruse. They who are desirous of being 
 acquainted with tliis art, may have recourse to 
 Vitalis a Furno, in his Moral Mirror of the 
 Scriptures,! or to Ludolphus of Saxony, in his 
 Psalter Spiritualized. J The philosophers, who 
 commented upon the sacred writings, sometimes 
 proposed subtle questions, drawn from what 
 was called, in this century. Internal Science, 
 and solved them in a dexterous and artful man- 
 ner. 
 
 III. The greatest part of the doctors of this 
 century, both Greek and Latin, followed the 
 rules of the peripatetic philosophy, in expound- 
 ing and teaching the doctrines of religion; 
 and the Greeks, from their commerce with the 
 Latins, seemed to have acquired some know- 
 ledge of those methods of instruction which 
 were used in the western schools. Even to 
 this day, the Greeks read, in their own tongue, 
 the works of Thomas, and other capital writers 
 of the scholastic class, which in this age were 
 translated and introduced into the Greek 
 church by Demetrius Cydonius and others. § 
 Prodigious numbers among tlie Latins were 
 fond of this subtle method, in which John 
 Scotus, Durand of St. Portian, and William 
 Occam, peculiarly excelled. Some few had 
 recourse to the decisions of Scripture and tra- 
 dition in explaining divine truths, but they 
 were overborne by the immense tribe of logi- 
 cians, who carried all before them. 
 
 IV. This superiority of the schoolmen did 
 not, however, prevent some wise and pious 
 men among the Mystics, and in other sects, 
 from severely censuring this presumptuous 
 method of bringing before the tribunal of phi- 
 losophy matters of pure revelation. Many, 
 as it appears, were bold enough to oppose the 
 reigning passion, and to recall the youth de- 
 signed for the ministry, to the study of the 
 Scriptures, and the writings of the ancient 
 fathers. This proceeding kindled the flame of 
 discord almost every where; but this flame 
 raged with peculiar violence in some of the more 
 famous universities, especially in those of Paris 
 and Oxford, where many sharp disputes were 
 continually carried on against the philosophical 
 divines by those of the biblical party, who, 
 though greatly inferior to their antagonists in 
 point of number, were sometimes victorious. 
 For the philosophical legions, chiefly tutored 
 by Dominicans and Franciscans, were often 
 extremely rash in tlieir manner of disputing; 
 
 * Rich. Simon, Histoire ties princip;iux CoinmeiUa- 
 teuis du N. T. p. 447. and Critique dels Bililiotli. des 
 Anteurs Eccles. par M. Du-I'in, torn. i. p. 352. — Wad- 
 ding, torn. V. p. 21)4. 
 
 t Speculum Morale totius Srriptnraj. 
 
 1 Psalteiium jnxta siiiritiialriii t^cnsum. 
 
 § Rich. Simon. Creancp ({>■■ lEglise Orientale sur 
 la Transubstaiitiation, p. 106. 
 
 they defined and explained the principal doc- 
 trines of revealed religion in such a way, as 
 really tended to overturn them, and fell into 
 opinions that were evidently absurd and im- 
 pioiLS. Hence it came to pass, that some of 
 them were compelled to abjure their errors, 
 others to seek their safety in flight; some had 
 their writings publicly burned, and others were 
 thrown into prison.* However, when these 
 commotions were quelled, most of them re- 
 turned, though with prudence and caution, to 
 their former way of thinking, perplexed their 
 adversaries by various contrivances, and de- 
 prived them of their reputation, their profits, 
 and many of their followers. 
 
 V. It is remarkable, that the scholastic doc- 
 tors, or philosophical theologists, far from 
 agreeing among themselves, were furiously 
 engaged in disputations vi^ith each other con- 
 cerning many points. The flame of their con- 
 troversy was, in this century, supplied with 
 copious accessions of fuel, by John Duns Sco- 
 tus, a learned friar already mentioned, who, 
 animated against the Dominicans by a warm 
 spirit of jealousy, had attacked and attempted 
 to disprove several doctrines of Thomas Aqui- 
 nas. Upon this, the Dominicans, taking the 
 alarm, united from all quarters to defend their 
 favourite doctor, whom they justly considered 
 as the leader of the scholastics, while the Fran- 
 ciscans espoused with ardour the cause of Sco- 
 tus, whom they looked upon as a divine sage 
 sent down from heaven to enlighten bewil- 
 dered and erring mortals. Thus these power- 
 ful and flourishing orders were again divided; 
 and hence originated the two famous sects, 
 the Scotists and Thomists, which, to this day, 
 dispute the field of controversy in the liatin 
 schools. The chief points about which they 
 disagree are, the nature of the divine co-ope- 
 ration with the human will, the measure of 
 divine grace that is necessary to salvation, the 
 unity of form in man, or personal identity, and 
 other abstruse and minute questions, the enu- 
 meration of which is foreign to our purpose. 
 We shall only observe, that what contributed 
 most to exalt the reputation of Scotus, and to 
 cover him with glory, was his demonstration 
 and defence of what was called the Immacu- 
 late Conception of the Virgin Mary against 
 the Dominicans, who entertained different no- 
 tions of that point. t 
 
 VI. A prodigious number of the people, de- 
 nominated Mystics, resided, and propagated 
 tlieir tenets, in almost every part of Europe. 
 There were, undoubtedly, among them many 
 persons of eminent piety, who endeavoured to 
 wean men from an excessive attachment to 
 the external part of religion, and to form them 
 to the love of God, and the practice of genuine 
 
 * See Boulay, torn. iv. — In 1340, several opinions 
 of the schoolmen, concerning the Trinity and other 
 doctrines, were condemned, p. 206. — In 1347, M. Jo. 
 de Meicinia and Nic. de Ultricuria were obliged to 
 abjure their errors, p. 2!18, 308. — In 1348, one Simon 
 was convicted of some horrible errors, p. 322. — The 
 same fate, in 1354, befell Guido of the Augustine or- 
 der, p. 329. In 1362, the like happened to one Louis, 
 p. 374, to .To. de Calore, p. 377; in 136.5, to Dion. Soul- 
 liichat, p. 382. Oxford also had its share in transac- 
 tions of this nature. See Ant. Wood, torn. i. p. 153, 
 183. 
 
 t See Wadd'.riT, torn. vi. p. 53. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 401 
 
 virtue. Such, among otlicra, were Taulcrus, 
 Ruysbrockius, Suso, and Gerard of Zutplien,* 
 who, it must be allowed, liavo left many wri- 
 tings that are exceedingly well calculated to 
 excite pious dispositions in the minds of their 
 readers, though want of judgment, and a pro- 
 pensity to indulge enthusiastic visions, arc 
 failings common to them all. But there were 
 also some senseless fanatics belonging to this 
 party, who ran from one place to another, re- 
 commending a most unaccountable extinction 
 of all the rational faculties, whereby they idly 
 imagined the human mind would be transfused 
 into the divine essence, and thus led their 
 proselytes into a foolish kind of piety, that in 
 too many cases bordered nearly upon licen- 
 tiousness. The religious phrenzy of these en- 
 thusiasts rose to such a height, as rendered 
 them detestable to the sober sort of Mystics, 
 who charged their followers to have no con- 
 nexions with them.f 
 
 VII. It is needless to say much concerning 
 those who applied themselves to the study of 
 morality, as their spirit is nearly of the same 
 kind with that of the authors whom we have 
 already noticed; though it may be proper to 
 mention two circumstances, by which the rea- 
 der may ascertain the true state of this science. 
 The first is, that, about this time, more writers 
 than in any former century made it their busi- 
 ness to collect and solve, what they styled. 
 Cases of Conscience; by which Astesanus, an 
 Italian, Monaldus, and Bartholomew of St. 
 Concordia, acquired a reputation superior to 
 that of any of their contemporaries. This kind 
 of writing was of a piece with the education 
 then received in the schools, since it taught 
 people to quibble and wrangle, instead of 
 forming them to a sound faitii and a suitable 
 practice. A second tiling worthy of notice is, 
 that moral duties were explained, and their 
 practice enforced, by allegories and compari- 
 sons of a new and whimsical kind, even by ex- 
 amples drawn from the natures, properties, and 
 actions of the brute creation. These writers 
 began, for instance, by explaining the nature 
 and qualities of some particular animal, and 
 then applied their description to human life 
 and mamicrs, to characterize the virtues and 
 vices of moral agents. The most remarkable 
 productions of this sort arc Niedcr's Formica- 
 rius, a treatise concerning Bees by Thomas 
 Brabantinus, dissertations upon Beasts by 
 Hugh of St. Victor, and a tract by Thonuu) 
 Whalley, entillud, The Nature of Brute Ani- 
 Tiials moralizwl. 
 
 VIII. The defender;) of Chriylianity in Ihiu 
 age were, in general, unequal to the glohouu 
 cause they undertook to support; nor do their 
 writings discover any striking marks of genius, 
 dexterity, perspicuity, or candour. Some pro- 
 ductions, indeed, appeared from time to time, 
 
 • Oonceniing these authors, auu I'clr. Poiict, Dib- 
 lioth. Mysticuriini, ari<l Uoclofr. Ariiolii, Historiu et 
 Dcscriptio Thuol. Myatic;c. Of Taulerus and Suso, 
 Kchard treats expressly in his Scriptor. Pricdicat. 
 torn. i. p. (>5:i, 677. See alsu Acta tjaiiclor. Jaiiuar. 
 lorn. ii. p. 05-. 
 
 t Joh. Uiiyslirockius inveichcd liitterly acainsl 
 • hem, aa appears from hij VVorkJ, published by liUiir. 
 Siirius, p .'iO, :i78, and ulsii from his treatise dc vera 
 Coutemplnliiiiie, eap. xviii. p. C08. 
 Vol. I.— 61 
 
 that were not altogether unworthy of notice. 
 Tho learned Bradwardine, an Engliah divine, 
 advanced many pertinent and ingentoua re- 
 marks, tending to confirm the truth of Chris- 
 tianity, in a Book upon Providence. The 
 work, entitled, CoUyrium Fidci contra Ilrorc- 
 ticos, or, the " Eye-salve of Faith against the 
 Heretics," shows, tiiat its author, Alvaro Po- 
 lagio, was a well-meaning and judicious man, 
 though he has by no means exhausted the sub- 
 ject in this performance. Nicolas de Lyra 
 wrote against the Jews, as did also Porchctua 
 Salvaticus, whose treatise, entitled, " The 
 Triumph of Faith," is chioHy borrowed from 
 the writings of Raymond Martin. Both these 
 writers are much inferior to Thcophanes, 
 whoso " Book against the Jews, and his Har- 
 mony between the Old and New Testament," 
 contain many observations that are by no 
 means contemptible. 
 
 IX. During this century, there were some 
 promising appearances of a reconciliation be- 
 tween the Greeks and Latins. For the former, 
 apprehending that they might want assistance 
 to set bounds to the power of the Turks, 
 which about this time was continually increas- 
 ing, often pretended a willingness to submit to 
 the Latin canons. Accordingly, in 1339, An- 
 dronicus the Younger sent Balaam as his am- 
 bassador into the west, to desire a reconcilia- 
 tion in his name. In 1349, another Grecian 
 embassy was sent to Clement VI. for the same 
 purpose, and, in 1356, a third was dispatched 
 upon a Hke errand to Innocent VI. Nor was 
 this all; for, in 1367, the Grecian patriarch ar- 
 rived at Rome, in order to negotiate this im- 
 portant matter, and was followed, in 1369, by 
 the emperor hnnself, John Palajologus, who, 
 in order to conciliate the friendship and good- 
 will of the Latins, published a confession of his 
 faith, which was agreeable to the sentiments 
 of the Roman pontiff. But, notwitlistanding 
 these prudent and pacific measures, the major 
 part of tiie Greeks could not be persuaded by 
 any means to drop the controversy, or to be 
 reconciled to the church of Rome, though se- 
 veral of them, from views of interest or ambi- 
 tion, expressed a readiness to submit to its de- 
 mands; so that this whole century was spent 
 partly in furious debates, and partly in fruit- 
 less negotiations."* 
 
 X. In 1381, a furious controversy arose at 
 Paris, between the university and tho Domi- 
 nican order. The author of it was John de 
 Montcsono, a native of Arragon, a Dominican 
 friar and professor of divinity, who, in pursu- 
 ance of the decisions and doctrine of his order, 
 publicly denied that the blessed Virgin Mary 
 was conceived without any stain of original 
 sin; and moreover asserted, that all who be- 
 lieved the inmiaculate Conception were ene- 
 mies of the true faith. Tho quarrel occasioned 
 by this proceeding would certainly have been 
 soon comjironiiscd, had not John, in a public 
 discourse delivered in 138T, revived this opin- 
 ion with more violence than ever. For thiis 
 
 * See llcnr. Canisii Leelimirs Antiqucc, toin. iv. 
 p. 30'J. — Leo Allatiu3,dcperputuauonsensioiieccelcs. 
 Orient, ct Occident. Iili. li. cap. xvi. xvii. p. 782. — 
 Wadchng, toin. viii. p '20, 40, 107, 201, '2H3. Baluze, 
 Vila; rontif. Avcmon. torn. i. p. U9, 380, 403. 772. 
 
402 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 reason the college of divines, and afterwards 
 the whole university, condemned this, and 
 some other tenets of Montesonus. For it may 
 be proper to inform the reader, that the uni- 
 versity of Paris, principally induced thereto 
 by the discourses of John Duns Scotus, had, 
 from the beginning almost of this century, 
 publicly adopted tiie doctrine of the sinless 
 conception of the lioly Virgin.* Upon this, 
 the Dominicans, with their champion John dc 
 Montesono, appealed from the sentence of the 
 university to pope Clement VII. at Avignon, 
 and clamorously affirmed that St. Thomas 
 himself was condemned by the judgment passed 
 upon their brother. But, before the pope could 
 decide the affair, the accused friar fled from 
 the court of Avignon, went over to the party 
 of Urban VI., who resided at Rome, and, during 
 his absence, was excommunicated. Whether 
 the pope approved the sentence of the miiver- 
 sity of Paris, we cannot say. The Dominicans, 
 however, deny that he did, and affirm, that 
 the professor was condemned purely on ac- 
 coimt of his flight;! though there are many 
 others who assert, that his opinion was also 
 condemned; and, as the Dominicans would not 
 acknowledge the validity of the academic sen- 
 tence, they were expelled in 1389, and were 
 not restored to their ancient honours in the 
 university before the year 1404.1 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the 
 
 Church during this Century. 
 
 I. We must confine ourselves to a general 
 and superficial view of the alterations wliich 
 were introduced into the ritual of the church 
 during this century, since it cannot reasonably 
 be expected that we should insist largely upon 
 this subject within the narrow limits of such a 
 work as this. A principal circumstance that 
 strikes us here, is the change that was made 
 in the time of celebrating the jubilee. In 1350, 
 Clement VI., in compliance with the request 
 of the people of Rome, enacted that the jubi- 
 lee, which Boniface VIII. had ordered to be 
 celebrated in every hundreth year, should be 
 celebrated twice in every century. § In favour 
 of this alteration he might have assigned a 
 very plausible pretext, since it is well known 
 that the Jews, whom the Roman pontiffs were 
 always ready to imitate in whatever related to 
 pomp and majesty, celebrated this sacred so- 
 lemnity in every fiftieth year. But Urban VI., 
 Sixtus VI., and other popes, who ordered a 
 more fi-equent celebration of this salutary and 
 profitable institution,would have had more diffi- 
 culty in attempting to satisfy those who might 
 have demanded sufficient reasons to justify this 
 inconstancy. 
 
 II. Innocent V. instituted festivals, sacred 
 to the memory of the lance with which our 
 
 * See Wadiling's Annals, torn. vi. 
 
 t See Jac. Echardi Scriptor. l'ra;dicator. torn. i. p. 
 691. 
 
 t Boulay, torn. iv. p. 500, 618, 638.— Baluzii Vit. 
 Pom. Av. torn. i. p. 521; torn. ii. p. 002.— Argenlre, 
 Colleclio judicior. de novis errorib. torn. i. p. 61.— 
 Jac. dc Longueval, Hist, de I'Kglise GaUicane, torn 
 xiv. p. 347. 
 
 ^Baluze, torn. i. p. 247, 287, 312, 887— Muratori, 
 Auttquit. Ital. torn. iii. p. 344, 481. 
 
 Saviour's side was pierced, of the nails that 
 fastened him to the cross, and the crown of 
 thorns he wore at his death.* This, though 
 evidently absurd, may be deemed pardonable 
 upon the whole, if we consider the gross igno- 
 rance and stupidity of the times. But nothing 
 can excuse the impious fanaticism and super- 
 stition of Benedict XII., who, by appointing a 
 festival in honour of the marks of Christ's 
 wounds, which, the Franciscans tell us, were 
 imprinted upon the body of their chief and 
 founder by a miraculous interposition of the 
 divine jjower, gave credit to that grossly ridicu- 
 lous and blasphemous fable. John XXII., be- 
 side the sanction he gave to many other super- 
 stitions, ordered Christians to add to their 
 jjrayers those words with which the angel 
 Gabriel saluted the Virgin Mary. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Divisions and Heresies thai trou- 
 bled the Church during this Century. 
 I. During some part of this century, the 
 Hesychasts, or, as the Latins call them, the 
 Quietists, gave great trouble to the Oreek 
 church. To assign the true source of it, we 
 must observe that Barlaam, or Balaam, a na.- 
 tive of Calabria, who was a monk of St. Basil, 
 and afterwards bishop of Gierace in Calabria, 
 made a progress through Greece to inspect 
 the behaviour of the monks, among whom he 
 found many things highly reprehensible. He 
 was more especially offended at the Hesychasts 
 of mount Athos, in Thessaly, who were the 
 same with the Mystics, or more perfect monks, 
 and who, by a long course of intense contem- 
 plation, endeavoured to arrive at a tranquillity 
 of mind entirely free from tumult and pertur- 
 bation. These Quietists, in compliance with 
 an ancient opinion of their principal doctors, 
 (who imagined that there was a celestial light 
 concealed in the deepest recesses of the mind,) 
 used to sit in a solitary corner, during a certain 
 portion of every day, with their eyes eagerly 
 and immoveably fixed upon the middle region 
 of the belly, or navel; and boasted, that while 
 they remained in this posture, they found, in 
 effect, a divine light beaming forth from the 
 soul, which diffused through their hearts inex- 
 pressible sensations of pleasure and delight.f 
 
 * See Jo. Henr. a Seelen, Diss.de festo Lancese et 
 Clavoruin Chrisli. — Baluzii Miscell. torn. i. ct Vit. 
 Pontif. tom. i. 
 
 t We have no reason to be surprised at, and much 
 less to disbelieve, this account. For it is a funda- 
 mental rule with all those people in the eastern 
 world, whether Christians, Mohammedans, or Pa 
 gans, (who maintain the necessity of abstracting the 
 mind from the body, in order to hold communion 
 with God, wliich is exactly the same thing with the 
 contemplative and mystic life among the Latins,) 
 that the eyes must be steadily fixed every day for 
 some hours upon some particular object; and that he 
 who complies with this precept will be thrown into 
 an ecstasy, in which, being united to God, he will 
 see wonderful things, and be entertained with inef- 
 fable delights. See what is said of the Siamese 
 monks and Mystics by Engelb, Krempfer. in his His- 
 tory of Japan, tom. i. and also of those of India, in the 
 Voyages of Bernier, tom. ii. Indeed, I can easily 
 admit, that they who continue long in the above- 
 mentioned posture, will imagine they behold many 
 things which no man in his senses ever beheld or 
 thougiit of; for certainly the combinations they form 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 403 
 
 To such as inquired what kind of Hglit this 
 was, they repHed, hy way of illustration, that 
 it was the glory of God, the same celestial ra- 
 diance that surrounded Christ during his trans- 
 figuration on the mount. Balaam, entirely 
 unacquainted with the customs and manners 
 of the Mystics, looked upon all this as highly 
 absurd and fanatical, and therefore styled the 
 monks who adhered to this institution, Massa- 
 hans and Euchites,* and also gave them the 
 new name of Umbilicani-t On the other hand, 
 Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica, 
 defended the cause of these monks against 
 Balaam. J 
 
 II. In order to put an end to this dissension, 
 a council was convoked at Constantinople, in 
 1341, in which the emperor himself, Androni- 
 cus the younger, and the patriarch, presided. 
 Here Palamas and the monks triumphed over 
 Balaam, who was condemned by the council; 
 whereupon he left Greece, and returned to 
 Italy. Not long after this, another monk, 
 named Gregory Acindynus, renewed the con- 
 troversy, and, in opposition to the opinion 
 maintained by Palamas, denied that God dwelt 
 in an eternal light distinct from his essence, 
 as also that such a light was beheld by the dis- 
 ciples on mount Tabor. This dispute was now 
 no longer concerning the monks, but turned 
 upon the light seen at mount Tabor, and also 
 upon the nature and residence of the Deity. 
 Nevertheless, he was condemned as a follower 
 of Balaam, in another council holden at Con- 
 stantinople. Many assemblies were convened 
 about this affair; but the most remarkable of 
 them all, was that of the year 1351, in which 
 the Balaamites and their adherents received 
 such a fatal wound, in consequence of the se- 
 vere decrees enacted against them, that tliey 
 were forced to yield, and leave the victory to 
 Palamas. This prelate maintained, that God 
 was encircled, as it were, with an eternal 
 light, which might be styled his energy or 
 operation, and was distinct from his nature and 
 essence; and that he favoured the three dis- 
 ciples with a view of this light upon moimt 
 Tabor. Hence he concluded that this divine 
 operation was really different from the sub- 
 
 of the unconnected notions that arise to their fancy 
 while their minds arc in this odd and unnatural 
 state, must be most singular and whimsical; so miicli 
 the more, as the rule itself, which proscribes the con- 
 templation of a certain object as the means of ar 
 riving at a vision of the Deity, absolutely forbids all 
 use of the faculty of reason during that ecstatic and 
 sublime interval. Tliis total suspension of reason 
 and reflection, during the period of contemplation, 
 was not, however, peculiar to the eastern Ciuietists; 
 the Latin Mystics observed the same rule, and in- 
 culcated it upon their disciples. On a due e.\amina- 
 tion of the subject, we may safely conclude, that the 
 many surprising visions, of which these fanatics 
 boast, are fables utterly destitute of reason and pro- 
 bability. But this is not the proper place for enlarg- 
 ing upon prodigies of this nature. 
 
 Q(^ * The J[Iassalians (so called from a Hebrew 
 word which signifies prayer, aiul Euchites from a 
 Greek word of the same signification) formed them- 
 selves into a sect, during the fourth century, in the 
 reigri of Constantius. Their tenets resembled those 
 of the (iuietists in several respects. 
 
 f For an account of these two famous men, Ha- 
 laam and Gregory Talamas, see, in prefi-renre to all 
 other writers, Jo. Alb. Fabricius, niblioth. Ura:ca, 
 tom. X. p. 427, and 454. 
 
 stance of the Deity; and farther, that no being 
 could partake of the divine substance or es- 
 sence, but that finite natures might possess a 
 share of his divine light, or operation. The 
 Balaamites, on the contrary, denied these po- 
 sitions, affirming, that the properties and ope- 
 rations of the Deity were not different from 
 his essence, and that there was really no differ- 
 ence between the attributes and essence of God, 
 considered in themselves, but only in our con- 
 ceptions of them, and reasonings upon them.* 
 
 III. In the Latin church the inquisitors, those 
 active ministers and executioners of papal jus- 
 tice, extended their vigilance to every quarter, 
 and most industriously hunted out the remains 
 of those sects who opposed the religion of 
 Rome, even the Waldenses, the Calharists, 
 the Apostolists, and others; so that the history 
 of these times abounds with numberless instan- 
 ces of persons who were burned or otherwise 
 barbarously destroyed, by those imrelenting 
 instruments of superstitious vengeance. But 
 none of these enemies of the church gave the 
 inquisitors and bishops so much employment 
 of tliis sanguinary kind, as the Brethren and 
 Sisters of the free spirit, who went under the 
 common name of Beghards and Beguines in 
 Germany and the Netherlands, and were dif- 
 ferently denominated in other provinces. For, 
 as this sort of people professed an uncommon 
 and sublime species of devotion, endeavouring 
 to call off men's minds from the external and 
 sensible parts of religion, and to wui them over 
 to the inward and spiritual worship of God, 
 tliey were greatly esteemed by many plain, 
 well-meaning persons, whose piety and sim- 
 plicity were deceived by a profession so seduc- 
 ing; and thus they made many converts to tlieir 
 opinions. It was on this account that such 
 numbers of this turn and disposition perished 
 in the flames of persecution during this century 
 in Italy, France, and Germany. 
 
 IV. This sect was most numerous in the ci- 
 ties of Germany that lay upon the Rliine, 
 especially at Cologne; which circumstance in- 
 duced Henry I., archbishop of that diocese, to 
 publish a severe edict against them, A. D. 
 1306;! an example that was soon followed by 
 the bishops of Mentz, Treves, Worms, and 
 Strasburg.J And as there were some subtle 
 acute men belonging to this party, that emi- 
 nently keen logician, John Duns Scotus,§ waa 
 sent to Cologne, in 1308, to dispute against 
 them, and to vanquish them by dint of syllo- 
 gism. In 1310, the famous Margaret Poretta, 
 
 * See Jo. Cantacuzcnus, Hist. lib. ii. cap. .xxxLx. 
 p. 203, and the observations of Gregor. Pontanus; also 
 Nicephorus Gregoras, Hist. Byzant. lib. .\i. cap. x. p. 
 277, and in many other places. But these two wri- 
 ters disagree in severa! circumstances. Many mate- 
 rials relative to this cuiitriiversy are yet unpublished 
 (see Montfaucon,Bil)liotli.Coisliniana, p. 150,174, 404.) 
 Nor have we ever been favoured with an accurate 
 and well-digested history of it. In the mean time, 
 the reader may consult T.eo Allatius, de perpetua 
 consensione Orient, et Occid. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. 
 .\.\ii. p. 824.— Henr. Canisii I.cctioiies Antiquie, tom. 
 iv. p. SOI.— Dion Pctavius, Dogmat. Theol. tom. i. 
 lib. i. cap. xii.— Steph. de Altinmra, Panoplia contra 
 Schisma Grrecor. p. :tf 1, &c. 
 
 t See Statuta Colon lensia, published in 1554. 
 
 } Johannes, apud Scriptores rerum Moguntinar. 
 tom.iii. p.298.— Martenne.Thesaur. Anecdotor. torn, 
 iv. p. 250. 
 
 § Wadding, Annul. Minor, lorn. vi. p. 108. 
 
404 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 who made such a shining figure in this sect, 
 was committed to the flames at Paris with one 
 of tlie brethren. Slio had undertaken to de- 
 monstrate in an elaborate treatise, "That the 
 soul, when absorbed in the love of God, is free 
 from the restraint of every law, and may freely 
 gratify all its natural appetites, without con- 
 tracting any guilt."* Pope Clement V., exas- 
 perated by this and other instances of the per- 
 nicious fanaticism that prevailed among this 
 sect, published in a general council at Vienna, 
 A. D. 1311, a special constitution against the 
 Beghards and Begyines of Germany; and 
 though the edict only mentions imperfectly the 
 opinions of this sect, yet, by the numeration of 
 them, we may easily perceive that the Mystic 
 brethren and sisters of the free spirit are the 
 persons principally intended.! Clement, in 
 the same council, issued another constitution, 
 by which he suppressed another and a very 
 different sort of Beguines,J; who had hitherto 
 been considered as a lawful and regular society, 
 and lived in fixed habitations appropriated to 
 their order, but were now corrupted by the fa- 
 natics above mentioned; for the Brethren and 
 Sisters of the free spirit had insinuated them- 
 selves into the greatest part of the convents of 
 the Beguines, where they inculcated with 
 great success their mysterious and sublime 
 system of religion to these simple women; and 
 these credulous females were no sooner initia- 
 ted into this brilliant and chimerical system, 
 than they were captivated with its delusive 
 charms, and babbled, in the most absurd and 
 impious hianner, concerning the true worship 
 of the Deity. § 
 
 V. The Brethren of the free spirit, oppres- 
 sed by so many severe edicts and constitutions, 
 formed the intention of removing from Upper 
 Germany into the lower parts of the empire; 
 and this scheme was so far put in execution, 
 that Westphalia was the only province which 
 refused admission to these dispersed fanatics, 
 and was free from their disturbances. This 
 tranquillity was produced by the jyovident 
 measures of Henry, archbishop of Cologne, 
 \\'ho, having called a council, in 1322, serious- 
 ly admonished the bishops of his province of 
 the approaching clanger, and thus excited them 
 to exert their utmost vigilance to prevent any 
 of these people fi-om coming into Westphalia. 
 About the same time the Beghards|| upon the 
 Rhine, lost their chief leader and champion, 
 Walter, a Dutchman of remarkable eloquence, 
 and famous for his writings, who came from 
 Mentz to Cologne, where he was apprehended 
 
 * Luc. tl'Acherii Spicil. veter. Scriptor. torn. iii. p. 
 63. — J. Bale, de Scriptor. Britan. Centur iv. ii. 88. p. 
 .T67. 
 
 t It is extant in the Corpus Juris Canon, inter 
 Clementinas, lib. v. tit. iii. de Hsereticis, cap. iii. p. 
 1088. 
 
 t In Jure Canonico inter Clementinas, lib iii. tit. 
 xi. de relieiosis domibus, cap. i. p. 1075, edit. Bohmer. 
 
 § For this reason, in the German record.s of this 
 century, we often find a distinction of the Beguines 
 into those of the right and approved class, and those 
 of the sublime and free spirit; the former of whom 
 adhered to the public religion, while the latter were 
 corrupted by thi- opinions of the Mystics. 
 
 (fsj- 11 i'.y Beghards, here. Dr. Mosheim means par- 
 ticularly the Brethren of the Free Spirit who fre- 
 tiuently put-v^ed under this dei)oii)inat>OD 
 
 and burned.* The death of this person was 
 highly detrimental to the affairs of the Bre- 
 thren of the free spirit; it did not, however, 
 ruin their cause, or extirpate their sect. For 
 it not only appears from innumerable testimo- 
 nies, that, for a long time afterwards, they 
 held their private assemblies at Cologne, and 
 in many other parts of Germany, but also tliat 
 they had several men among them of high 
 rank and great learning, of which number 
 Henry Aycardus, or Eccard, a Saxon, was the 
 most famous. He was a Dominican, and also 
 the superior of that order in Saxony; a man of 
 a subtle genius, and one who had acquitted 
 himself with reputation as professor of di- 
 vinity at Paris. t In 1330, pope John XXII., 
 endeavoured to suppress this obstinate sect by 
 a new and severe constitution, in which the 
 errors of the sect of the free spirit are marked 
 out in a more distinct and accurate maimer 
 than in the Clementina. | But this attempt 
 was fruitless; the disorder continued, and was 
 combated both by the inquisitors and bishops 
 in most parts of Europe to the end of tliis cen- 
 tury. 
 
 VI. The Clementina, or constitution of the 
 council of Vienne against the Beguines, or the 
 female societies that lived together in fixed ha- 
 bitations, under a common rule of pious dis- 
 cipline and virtuous industry, gave rise to a 
 persecution of these people, which lasted till 
 the reformation by Luther, and ruined the 
 cause both of the Beguines and Beghards in 
 many places. For though tlie pope, in his last 
 constitution, had permitted pious women to 
 live as nuns in a state of celibacy, with or 
 without taking the vow, and refused a tolera- 
 
 * Jo. Trithemii Annal. Hirsaug. torn. ii. p. 155.— 
 Schateu, Annal. Paderborn. torn. ii. p. 250.— This is 
 that famous Walter, whom so many ecclesiastical 
 historians have represented as the founder of the 
 sect of the Lollards, and as an eminent martyr to 
 their cause. Learned men conclude all this, and 
 more, from the following words of Trithemius; ' That 
 same Walter Lohareus, (so it stands in my copy, 
 though I fancy it ought to have been Lolhardus, es- 
 pecially as Trithemius, according to the custom of 
 his time, frequently uses this word when treating of 
 the sects that dissented from the church,) a native 
 of Holland, was not well versed in the Latin tongue.' 
 I say, from this short passage, learned men have 
 concluded tliat Walter's surname was Lolhard; 
 whence, as from its founder and master, they sup- 
 posed his sect derived the name of Lollards. But it 
 is very evident, not only from this, but from other 
 passages of Trithemius, that Lolhard was no sur- 
 name, but merely a term of reproach applied to all 
 heretics who concealed the poison of error under the 
 appearance of piety. Trithemius, speaking of the 
 very same man, in a preceding passage, calls him. 
 ' the head of the Fratrjcelli, or Minorites;' but these 
 terms were very e.\tensive, including people of vari- 
 ous sects. This Walter embraced the opinions of 
 the Mytiljcs, and was the principal doctor among 
 those Brethren of the free spu-it, who lived on the 
 banks of the Rhine. 
 
 t See Echardi Scriptor. Praedicator. torn. i. p.507.— 
 Odor. Kaynaldus, Annal, torn. xv. ad an. 1329. sect. 
 l.\x. p. 389. 
 
 X This new constitution was never published en- 
 tire. It began with the words, ' in agro Dominico;* 
 and was inscribed thus, contra singnlaria, dubia,sus- 
 pecia, et temeraria, qui? Begkardi et Bcghin(ppriBdicant 
 et observant.' We are favoured with a summary of it 
 by Herm. Cornerus in Eccardi Corp. Histor. Medii 
 iEvi, torn. ii. p. 1035. It is also mentioned by Paul 
 Languis, in Chronico Citizens!, apud Jo. Pistorii 
 Scriptort's rermn German torn. i. p 1200. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 40& 
 
 tion only to such of tliem as were corrupted 
 with the opinions of the Brethren of tiie free 
 spirit, yet the vast number of enemies wliich 
 the Beguincs and Beghards liad, partly among 
 the mechanics, especially the weavers, and part- 
 ly among the priests and monks, took a handle 
 from the Clementina to molest them in their 
 houses, to seize and destroy their goods, and 
 offer them many otlier insults. John XXII. 
 afforded some relief under these oppressions, 
 in l3iJ4, by means of a special constitution, in 
 which he gave a favourable explication of the 
 Clementina, and ordered that the persons, 
 goods, and habitations, of the innocent Be- 
 guines, should be preserved from every kind 
 of violence and insult; — an example of clemen- 
 cy and moderation which" was aflerwards fol- 
 lowed by other popes. On the other hand, the 
 Beguines, in hopes of disappointing more ef- 
 fectually the malicious attempts of their ene- 
 mies, and avoiding their snares, embraced in 
 many places the third rule of St. Francis, and 
 of the Augustines. Yet all these measures in 
 their favour could not prevent the loss both of 
 their reputation and substance; for from this 
 time they were oppressed in several provinces 
 by the magistrates, the clergy, and the monks, 
 who had cast a greedy eye upon their trea- 
 sures, and were extremely eager to divide the 
 spoil.* 
 
 VII. Some years before the middle of this 
 century, while Grermany and many other parts 
 of Europe were distressed with various calami- 
 ties, the Flagellants, a sect forgotten almost 
 every where, and especially in Germany, made 
 their appearance anew, and, rambling through 
 many provinces, occasioned great disturbances. 
 These new Flagellants, whose enthusiasm in- 
 fected every rank, sect, and age, were much 
 worse than the old ones. They not only sup- 
 posed that God might be prevailed upon to 
 show mercy to those who underwent voluntary 
 punishments, but propagated other tenets 
 highly injurious to religion. They held, among 
 other things, "That Hagellation was of equal 
 virtue with baptism, and the other sacraments: 
 tliat it would procure from God the forgive- 
 ness of all sins, without the merits of Jesus 
 Christ: that the old law of Christ was soon to 
 be abolished, and that a new law, enjoining 
 the baptism of blood, to be administered by 
 whipping, was to be substituted in its place," 
 with other tenets more or less enormous than 
 these; whereupon Clement Vll. thundered out 
 anathemas against these sectaries, many of 
 whom were committed to the flames by the in- 
 human inquisitors. It was, however, found as 
 difficult to extirpate them, as it had been to 
 suppress the other sects of wandering fanatics, t 
 
 * I have collected a great number of particulars 
 relating to this long pt^rsecution of the lioguincs. 
 But the most copious of all the writers who have 
 publisheil any thing upon this subject (especially if 
 we consider his account of the persecution at Basil, 
 and of Mulborgius, the most inveterate enemy of 
 the Beguines,) is Christian VVurstisen, or Urstisius, 
 in hisChronicon Basiliense, written in German, lib. 
 iv. cap. ix. p. 201, published at Basil, l.'jSO. There are 
 now in my hands, and also in many libraries, manu- 
 script tracts of this ct^lebrated Mulbergius, written 
 against the Beguines in the following century. 
 
 t See KalU7.ii Vit. I'ontif. Avenion. torn. i. p. IfiO, 
 31C, and Miscellan. tom. i. p. 5U — Matth»i Aualccta 
 
 VIII. Directly the reverse of this melan- 
 choly sect was the merry one of the Dancers, 
 which, in 1373, arose at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 whence it spread through the district of Liege, 
 Hainault, and other parts of the Netherlands. 
 It was customary among these fanatics, for 
 persons of both sexes, publicly as well as in 
 private, suddenly to begin dancing, and, hold- 
 ing each other's hands, to continue their mo- 
 tions witli extraordinary violence, till, being 
 almost suffocated, they fell down breathless 
 together; and they affirmed, that, diuing these 
 intervals of vehement agitation, they were fa- 
 voured with wonderful visions. Like the 
 Flagellants, they wandered about from place 
 to place, had recourse to begging for their sub- 
 sistence, treated with the utmost contempt 
 both the priesthood and the public rites and 
 worship of the church, and held secret assem- 
 blies. Such was the nature of tliis new 
 phrcnsy, which the ignorant clergy of this age 
 looked upon as the work of evil demons, who 
 possessed, as they thought, this dancing tribe. 
 Accordingly, the priests of Liege endeavoured 
 to cast out the devils which rendered these 
 fanatics so merry, by singing hymns and ap- 
 plying fumigations of incense; and they grave- 
 ly tell us, that the evil spirit was entirely van- 
 quished by these powerful charms.* 
 
 IX. The most heinous and abominable tribe 
 of heretics that infected tliis century, (if tlie 
 enormities with which they stand charged be 
 true,) were the Knights Templars, who had 
 been established in Palestine about two hun- 
 dred years before this period, and who were 
 represented as enemies and deriders of all re- 
 ligion. Their principal accuser indeed was a 
 person whose testimony ought not to be ad- 
 mitted without caution. This was Philip the 
 Fair, an avaricious, vindictive, and turbulent 
 prince, who loudly complained to Clement V. 
 of their opinions and conduct. The pope, 
 though at first unwilling to proceed against 
 them, was under a necessity of complying with 
 the king's desire; so that, in 1307, on an ap- 
 pointed day, and for some time aflerwards, all 
 the knights, who were dispersed throughout 
 Europe, and not in the least apprehensive of 
 any impending evil, were seized and imprison- 
 ed. Such as refused to confess the enormities 
 of which they were accused, were put to death; 
 and those who, by tortures and promises, were 
 induced to acknowledge the truth of what was 
 laid to their charge, obtained their liberty. In 
 1311, the whole order was extinguished by the 
 council of Vienne. Of the rich revenues they 
 possessed, a part was bestowed upon other or- 
 ders, especially on the knights of St. Jolm, and 
 the rest confiscated to the respective treasuries 
 of the sovereign princes in whose dominions 
 their possessions lay. 
 
 vet. jEvi, tom. i. iii. iv,— Herm. Gygis Flores Tem- 
 por. p. 139. 
 
 * Ualuz. tom. i. p. 485 — Matth. Analecta, tom. i. 
 p. .51, where we find the following p.issage in the 
 Belgic Chronicle, which gives hut an obscure account 
 of the sect in question: A. 1374. Ginpcn de Dancers, 
 and then in Latin, Gens, impacata cnilit,rruciafa sal- 
 vat. Tlie French conviil.';ioni!'ts. (or prophets,) who, 
 in our age, were remarkable for the vehemence and 
 variety of their agitations, greatly resembled ihest 
 brethren and iisler dancers. 
 
406 
 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 PartL 
 
 X. The Kniglits Templars, if their judges 
 be worthy of credit, were a set of men vvlio 
 insulted the majesty of God, turned into de- 
 rision the Gospel of Christ, and trampled upon 
 the ohligation of all laws, human and divine. 
 For it is affirmed, that candidates, upon their 
 admission to this order, were commanded to 
 spit, as a mark of contempt, upon an image 
 of Christ; and that, after admission, they were 
 bound to worship either a cat, or a wooden 
 head covered with gold. It is farther affirmed, 
 that, among them, the odious and unnatural 
 act of sodomy was a matter of obligation; that 
 they committed to the flames the unhappy 
 fruit of their lawless amours; and added, to 
 these, other crimes too horrible to be mention- 
 ed, or even imagined. It will, indeed, be 
 readily allowed, that in this order, as in all 
 the other religious societies of this age, there 
 were shocking examples of impiety and wick- 
 edness; but that the Templars in general were 
 thus enormously corrupt, is so far from being 
 proved, that the contrary may be concluded 
 even from the acts and records, yet e.xtant, of 
 the tribunals before which they were tried 
 and examined. If to this we add, that some 
 
 of the accusations advanced against them, 
 flatly contradict each other, and that many 
 members of tliis unfortunate order solemnly 
 avowed their innocence, while languishing 
 under the severest tortures, and even with their 
 dying breath, it would seem probable, that 
 Philip set on foot this bloody tragedy, with a 
 view of gratifying his avarice, and glutting his 
 resentment against the Templars,* and espe- 
 cially against their grand master, who had 
 liighly offended him. 
 
 * See the Acts annexed to Putean's Histoire de la 
 Condemnation des Templiers, and other writings of 
 his relating to the history of France, published at 
 Paris, in 1654. The most valuable edition of the 
 history appeared at Brussels, in 1751, enlarged by the 
 addition of a great number of documents, by which 
 every diligent and impartial reader will be convinced 
 that the Templars were greatly injured. See also 
 Nicolai Gurtleri Historia Templarioruni. If the 
 reader has an opportunity, he would do well to con- 
 sult Steph. Baluzius, Vit. Pontif. Avenion. lorn. i. p. 
 8, 11, &c. Ger. du Bois, Hist. Eccles. Paris, torn. ii. p. 
 540. The principal cause of Philip's indelible hatred 
 against the Templars, was, that in his quarrel with 
 Boniface VIII. the knights espoused the cause of the 
 pope, and furnished him with money to carry on the 
 war; an offence which the king could never pardon, 
 
 THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Conco-ning the prosperous Events that happened 
 to the Chiirch during this Century. 
 I. The new subjects, that were added to the 
 kingdom of Christ in this century, were alto- 
 gether imworthy of that sublime title, unless 
 we prostitute it by applying it to those who 
 made an external and insincere profession of 
 Christianity. Ferdinand, surnamed the Catho- 
 lic, by the conquest of Granada, in the year 
 1492, entirely overturned the dominion of the 
 Moors or Saracens in Spain. Some time after 
 this happy revolution, he issued a sentence of 
 banishment against a prodigious multitude of 
 Jews, who, to avoid the execution of this se- 
 vere decree, dissembled their sentiments, and 
 feigned an assent to the Gospel;* and it is well 
 known that, to this very day, there are both in 
 Spain and Portugal a great number of that 
 dispersed and wretched people, who wear the 
 outward mask of Christianity, to secure them 
 against the rage of persecution, and to advance 
 their worldly interests. The myriads of Sa- 
 racens that remained in Spain after the disso- 
 lution of their government, were at first soli- 
 cited by e.xhortations and entreaties to embrace 
 the Gospel. When these gentle methods prov- 
 ed inefiectual to bring about their conversion, 
 
 * J. de Ferreras, Hist. Gencrale d'Espagne tom- 
 viii. p. 123, 132, &c 
 
 the famous Ximenes, archbishop of Toledo, and 
 prime minister of the kingdom, judged it ex- 
 pedient to try the force of the secular arm, in 
 order to accomplish that salutary purpose. 
 But even this rigorous measure was without 
 the desired effect: the greatest part of the Mo- 
 hammedans persisted, with astonishing obsti- 
 nacy, in their fervent attachment to their vo- 
 luptuous prophet.* 
 
 II. Tlie light of the Gospel was also carried 
 in this century among the Samogetffi [in Po- 
 land] and the neighbouring nations, but with 
 less fruit than was expected.f Toward the 
 conclusion of this age, the Portuguese, who 
 cultivated with ardoiK and success the art of 
 navigation, had penetrated as far as Ethiopia 
 and the Indies. In 1492, Christopher Colmn- 
 bus, by discovering the islands of Hispaniola, 
 Cuba, and Jamaica, opened a passage into 
 America;}; and, after him, Americus Vespu- 
 tius, a citizen of Florence, landed on the con- 
 tinent of that vast region.§ The new Argo- 
 nauts, who thus discovered nations hitherto 
 
 * Esprit Flechier, Histoire du Cardinal Ximenes, 
 p. 89.— Geddes' History of the Expulsion of the Mo- 
 rescoes, in his Miscellaneous Tracts, tom. i. 
 
 t Jo. Henry Hettinger, Hist. Ecclesiast. saec. XV. 
 p. 85G. 
 
 t See Charlevoix, Histoire de I'Isle de St. Domin- 
 gue, tom. i. p. 64. 
 
 § See the Life of Americus Vesputius, written in 
 Italian by the learned Angelo Maria Bandini. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CALAMITOUS EVENTS. 
 
 407 
 
 unknown to tlic inhabitants of Europe, deemed 
 it their duty to cnhghten tliem witii the know- 
 ledge of the truth. The first attempt of this 
 pious nature was made by the Portuguese 
 among those Africans who inhabited the king- 
 dom of Cxjngo, and who, with their uionarcli, 
 were suddenly converted to tlic Romisli faitli, 
 in 1491.'^ But what must we think of a con- 
 version eflfectcd with sucli astonishing rapidity, 
 and of a people who at once, without hesita- 
 tion, abandoned their inveterate prejudices? 
 Has not such a conversion, a ridiculous or ra- 
 ther an afHictive aspect.' After this religious 
 revolution in Africa, Alexander VI. gave a rare 
 specimen of papal presumption, in dividing 
 America between the Portuguese and Spaniards, 
 but showed at the same time his zeal for the 
 propagation of the Gospel, by the ardour with 
 which he recommended, to these two nations, 
 the instruction and conversion of the Ameri- 
 cans, both in the isles and on the continent of 
 that immense region. | In consequence of 
 this e.xliortation of the pontiff, a great number 
 of FVanciscans and Dominicans were sent into 
 those countries, to enlighten the darkness of 
 their inhabitants; and the success of the mis- 
 sion is abundantly known. | 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the calamilous Events that happetud 
 to the Church during this Century. 
 I. In the vast regions of the eastern world 
 Christianity daily lost ground; and the Mos- 
 lems, whether Turks or Tartars, united their 
 barbarous eflbrts to extinguish its bright and 
 salutary lustre. Asiatic Tartary, Mogolestan, 
 Tangut, and the adjacent provinces, where the 
 religion of Jesus had long flourished, were 
 now become the dismal seats of superstition, 
 which reigned among the people midcr the 
 vilest forms. Nor in these immense tracts of 
 land were there at this time any traces of 
 Christianity visible, except in China, where 
 the Nestorians still preserved some scattered 
 remains of their former glory, and appeared 
 like a faint and dying taper in the midst of a 
 dark and gloomy firmament. That some Ncs- 
 torian churches were still subsisting in these 
 regions of darkness, is undoubtedly certain; 
 for in this century the Nestorian pontiff, in 
 
 * Labat, Relation do I'Europc Occidentalc, torn. ii. 
 p. 36fi. — Jos. Franc. Lafitau, llistoire des Decouver- 
 tes dcs Fortugais dans Ic liuuvcau Monde, torn. i. 
 p. 72. 
 
 t See the Bull itself, in the Bullarium Romanuni, 
 torn. i. p. 4C6. 
 
 t See Thorn. Maria Mamachius, Orig. ct Antiqui- 
 tat. Christian, torn. ii. p. 32(), whore we Ikivi; an ac- 
 count of the gradual introduction of the Christian 
 religion into America.— Sec also Wadding, Anual. 
 Minor, torn. xv. p. 10. 
 
 Chaldea, sent missionaries into Cathay and 
 China, who were empowered to exercise the 
 autliority of bishops over the Christian asseni- 
 bhes, which lay concealed in the remoter pro- 
 vinces of those great empires.* It is, at tiie 
 same time, almost equally certain, that even 
 these assemblies did not survive this century. 
 
 II. The ruin of the Grecian emp>re was a 
 new source of calamities to the Christian 
 church in a considerable part of Europe and 
 Asia. When the Turks, conducted by Mo- 
 hammed II., an able prince and a formidable 
 warrior, had made themselves masters of Con- 
 stantinople, in 1453, the cause of Christianity 
 received a blow, from which it has not yet re- 
 covered. Its adherents in these parts had no 
 resources left, which could enable them to 
 maintain it against the perpetual insults of 
 their fierce and incensed victors; nor could 
 they stem that torrent of barbarism and igno- 
 rance which rushed in with the triumphant 
 arms of the Moslem prince, and overspread 
 Greece with a fatal rapidity. The Turks took 
 one part of Constantinople by force of arms; 
 the other surrendered upon terms.f Hence, in 
 the former division, the public profession of 
 the Gospel was prohibited, and every vestige 
 of Christianity eftaced; while the inliabitants 
 of the latter were permitted to retain their 
 churches and monasteries during tlie whole 
 course of this century, and to worship God ac- 
 cording to the precepts of the Gospel, and the 
 dictates of their consciences. This valuable 
 liberty was, indeed, considerably diminished in 
 the reign of Selim I., and the Christian wor- 
 ship was loaded with severe and despotic re- 
 strictions.J The outward form of the Chris- 
 tian church was not, indeed, eitlier changed or 
 destroyed by the Turks; but its lustre was 
 eclipsed, its strength was undermined, and it 
 was gradually attenuated to a mere shadow 
 mider their tyrannic empire. Pope Pius II. 
 wrote a warm and urgent letter to Mohammed 
 II. to persuade that prince to profess the Gos- 
 pel; but this letter is equally destitute of piety 
 and prudence. § 
 
 * Tliis circumstance was communicated to tlie au- 
 thor in a letter from the learned Mr. Tlieophiliis Sigc- 
 fred liayer, one of the greatest adci)ts in casJtern his- 
 tory and antiquities, that this or any other age has 
 produced. 
 
 5ri- 1 In this account Dr. Mosheim has followed 
 the Turkish writers. And indeed their account is 
 much more probable than that of the Latin and 
 Greek historians, who suppose that the whole city 
 was taken by force, and not by capitulation. The 
 Turkish relation diminishes the glory of the con- 
 quest, and therefore probably would not have been 
 adopted, had it not been true. 
 
 t iJeniet. Cantemir.HistoirederEmpirc Ottoman, 
 t. i. 11, 40, 54. 
 
 § Diclionnaire Hist, et Critique de Bayle. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Concerning the state of Letters and Philosophy 
 during this Century. 
 
 I. The Grecian and Oriental Muses lan- 
 guished under the despotic yoke of the Mo- 
 hammedans; their voices were mute, and their 
 harps unstrung. The republic of letters had 
 a quite different aspect in the Latin world, 
 where the liberal arts and sciences were culti- 
 vated with zeal and spirit, under the most 
 auspicious encouragement, and recovered their 
 ancient lustre and glory. Several of the popes 
 became their zealous patrons and protectors, 
 among whom Nicolas V. deserves an eminent 
 and distinguished rank; the munificence and 
 authority of kmgs and princes were also no- 
 bly exerted in this excellent cause, and ani- 
 mated men of learning and genius to display 
 their talents. The illustrious family of the 
 Medici in Italy,* Alphonso VI. king of Naples, 
 and the other Neapolitan monaxchs of the 
 house of Arragon,t acquired immortal renown 
 by their love of letters, their liberality to the 
 learned, and their ardent zeal for the advance- 
 ment of science. Under their auspices, or in 
 consequence of their example, many acade- 
 mies were founded in Germany, France, and 
 Italy, libraries were collected at a prodigious 
 expense, and honours and rewards were lavish- 
 ed on the studious youth, to animate their in- 
 dustry by the views of interest and the desire 
 of glory. To all these happy circumstances, in 
 favour of the sciences, was now added an ad- 
 mirable discovery, which contributed, as much 
 as any thing else, to their propagation, I mean 
 the art of Printing, (first with wooden, and 
 afterwards with metal types,) which was in- 
 vented about the year 1440, at Mentz, by John 
 Guttemberg. By the aid of this incomparable 
 art, the productions of the most eminent Greek 
 and Latin writers, which had lain concealed, 
 before this interesting period, in the libraries 
 of the monks, were now spread abroad with 
 facility, and perused by many, who could never 
 have had access to them under their primitive 
 form. J. The perusal of these noble composi- 
 
 * Wc have a full account of the obligations of the 
 republic of letters to the family of Medici, in a va- 
 luable work of Joseph Bianchini de Prato, dei pran 
 Duchi di Toscana delle reale Casa de Medici, Pro- 
 tettori delle Lettere e delle Belle Arti, Ragiona- 
 nienti Historici, published at Venice, in 1741. 
 
 t See Giannone, Historiadi Napoli, torn. iii. — An- 
 ton. Panormitani Dicta et Facta memorabilia Al- 
 phonsi I. denuo cdita a Jo. Ger. Meuschcnio, in Vit. 
 Erad. Viror. torn. ii. 
 
 (!lj- } Dr. Mosheim decides here, that Guttembero 
 of Mentz was the inventor of the art of printing 
 but this notion is opposed with zeal by several men 
 of learning. Of the many treatises tliat have been 
 published on this subject, nut one is composed with 
 greater erudition and judgment than that uf profes- 
 sor Schoepflin, of Strasbourg, in which the learned 
 author undertakes to prove that the art of printing, 
 by the means uf letters engraven on plate-s of wood, 
 was invented at Haerleiii, by Uoster; that the method 
 of printing, by moveable types, was the discovery 
 of John Guttemberg, a discovery made during hij 
 residence at Strasbourg; and that the still more per- 
 fect manner of printing with types of metal cast in 
 
 tions purified tlie taste, excited the emulation 
 of men of genius, and animated them with a 
 noble ambition of excelling in the same way.* 
 
 II. The ruin of the Grecian empire contri- 
 buted greatly to the propagation and advance- 
 ment of learning in the west. For, after the 
 reduction of Constantinople, the most eminent 
 of the Greek literati passed into Italy, and 
 were thence dispersed into the other coimtries 
 of Eiu-ope, where, to gain subsistence, these 
 venerable exiles instructed the youth in Grecian 
 erudition, and propagated tliroughout the 
 western world the love of learning, and a true 
 and elegant taste for the sciences. Hence it 
 was, that every distinguished city and uni- 
 versity possessed one or more of these learned 
 Greeks, who formed the studious youth to 
 literary piu-suits.| But they received no where 
 such encouraging marks of protection and 
 esteem as in Italy, where they were honoured 
 in a singular manner in various cities, and 
 were more especially distinguished by the fa- 
 mily of Medici, whose liberality to the learned 
 seemed to have no bounds. It was conse- 
 quently in Italy that these ingenious fugitives 
 were most numerous; and hence that country 
 became, in some measure, the centre of the 
 arts and sciences, and the general rendezvous 
 of all who were ambitious of literary glory.J 
 
 III. The learned men who adorned at this 
 time the various provinces of Italy, were prin- 
 cipally employed in publishing accurate and 
 elegant editions of the Greek and Latin clas- 
 sics, in illustrating these authors with useful 
 
 a mould, was the contrivance of John Schoeffer, and 
 was first practised at Mentz. This learned work, in 
 which the author e.\amines the opinions of Mar- 
 chand, Fournier, and other writers, was published 
 n 1760, under the following title: Jo. Danielis 
 Schuepflini Consil. Reg. ac Franciie His. Vindicise 
 Typographicae,* &c. 
 
 * Mich. Maittaire, AnnalesTypographici.— Prosp. 
 Marchand, Histoire de I'lmprimerie. 
 
 t Jo. Henr. Maii Vita Ueuchlini, p. 11, 19, 28, 152, 
 165.— Gasp. Barlhius ad Statiuni, torn. ii. p. 1008.— 
 Boulay, tom. v. p. 692. 
 
 t For a farther account of this interesting period 
 of tlie history of learning, the reader may consult 
 the learned work of Humphry Hody. de Grsecis illus- 
 tribus Literarum Graecarum in Italia Instauratori- 
 bus, to which may be added. Battler's Oration on 
 the same subject, published in the Museum Helveti- 
 cum, tom. iv. 
 
 Qlj' * So this note stands in the first edition of 
 this History, in 4to. Since that time, the learned 
 and ingenious Mr. Gerard Meerman, pensionary of 
 Rotterdam, has published his laborious and interest- 
 ing account of the origin and invention of the art 
 of printing, under the following title, " Origines Ty- 
 pographici," — a work which sets this matter in its 
 true light, by making certain distinctions unknown 
 to the writers who treated this subject before him. 
 According to the hypothesis of this writer, (an hy 
 pothesis supported by irresistible proofs,) Laurence 
 Cosier, of Haerlem, invented the moveable wooden 
 types;— Genfleisch and Guttemberg carved metallic 
 ty|)es at Mentz, wltich, though superior to the former, 
 were still imperfect, because often unequal; Schoeffer 
 perfected the invention at Strasbourg, by casting the 
 types in an iren mould, or matrix, engraven with a 
 puncheon. Thus the question is decided. Coster 
 w^g evidently the inventor of printing; the Others 
 imi>rovcd the art, or rendered it more perfect 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 409 
 
 commentaries, in studying them as their models, 
 both in poetry and prose, and in throwing Hglit 
 upon the precious remains of antiquity, tliat 
 were discovered from day to day. In all these 
 branches of literature, many arrived at sucii 
 degrees of excellence, as it is almost impossible 
 to surpass, and extremely difficult to equal. 
 Nor were the other languages and sciences ne- 
 glected. In the university of Paris there was 
 now a public professor, n(5t only of the Greek, 
 but also of tlie Hebrew tongue;* and in Spain 
 and Italy tlic study of that language, and of 
 Oriental learning and antiquities in general, 
 was pursued with the greatest success.f John 
 Reuchlin, otherwise called Capnion, and Trith- 
 emius, who had made an extraordinary pro- 
 gress, both in the study of the languages and 
 of the sciences, were the restorers of solid 
 learning among the Germans.]; Latin poetry 
 was revived by Antony of Palermo, who ex- 
 cited a spirit of emulation among the favourites 
 of the Muses, and had many followers in that 
 sublime art;§ while Cyriac of Ancona, by his 
 own example, introduced a taste for coins, 
 medals, inscriptions, gems, and other precious 
 monuments of antiquity, of which he himself 
 made a large collection in Italy. || 
 
 IV. It is not necessary to give here a pecu- 
 liar and minute account of the other branches 
 of literature that flourislied in this century; 
 nevertheless, the state of philosophy deserves 
 a moment's attention. Before the arrival of 
 the Greeks in Italy, Aristotle reigned there 
 without a rival, and captivated, as it were by 
 a sort of enchantment, all without exception, 
 whose genius led them to philosophical inqui- 
 ries. The veneration that was shown him, de- 
 generated into a foolish and extravagant en- 
 thusiasm; the encomiums with whicli he was 
 loaded, surpassed the bounds of decency; and 
 many carried matters so far as to compare him 
 with tiie respectable precursor of tlie Messiah.H 
 This violent passion for tlie Stagirite was how- 
 ever abated, or rather was rendered less gene- 
 ral, by the influence which the Grecian sages, 
 and particularly Gemistius Pletho, acquired 
 among the Latins, many of whom they per- 
 suaded to abandon the contentious and subtle 
 doctrine of the Peripatetics, and to substitute 
 in its place the mild and divine wisdom of 
 Plato. It was in the year 1439, about the 
 time of the famous council of Florence, that 
 this revolution happened in the empire of 
 philosophy. Several illustrious personages 
 among the Latins, charmed with the sublime 
 sentiments and doctrines of Plato, propagated 
 thera among the studious youth, and particu- 
 
 * R. Simon, Critique de la Bibl. Eccles. par M. 
 Du-Pin, torn. i. p. 502. Boulay, Hislor. Paris, torn. 
 V. p. Hi-i. 
 
 t Pauli Colomcsii Italia Orientalis, et Uispania 
 Orion talis. 
 
 I R. Simon, Lettres Choisies, torn. i. p. 262; torn. 
 
 XV. p. i:n, no 
 
 § Dictionnaire Hist, et Critique do Baylc. 
 
 II See the Itinerarium of Cyriac, published at Flo- 
 runco in 1742, by Meluis, from the original ui.inu- 
 script, together with a preface, annolation.s, and 
 several letters of that learned man, who may be 
 considered as the first antiquary that app€ar(!d in 
 Europe. — See also the Epistles of Leonardo Aretino, 
 torn. ii. lib. ix. p. 149. 
 
 V See Christ. A\igust. Heumanni Acta Philosopho 
 rum, torn. iii. p- 345. 
 Vol. L— 52 
 
 larly among those of a certain rank and figure. 
 The must eminent patron of this divine phi- 
 losophy, as it was termed by its votaries, was 
 Cosmo de' Medici, who had no sooner heard 
 the lectures of Pletho, than he formed the de- 
 sign of founding a Platonic aeademy at Flo- 
 rence. For this purpose, he ordered Marsilius 
 Ficinus, the son of his first physician, to be 
 carefully instructed in the doctrines of the 
 Athenian sage, and, in general, in the language 
 and philology of the Greeks, that he might 
 translate into Latin the productions of the 
 most renowned Platonists. Ficinus answered 
 well the expectations, and executed the inten- 
 tions of his illustrious patron, by translating 
 successively into the Latin language, the cele- 
 brated works of Hermes Trismegistus, Ploti- 
 nus, and Plato. The same excellent prince 
 encouraged by his mimificence, and animated 
 by his protection, many learned men, such an 
 Ambrose of Cainaldoli, Leonardo Bruno, 
 Poggio, and others, to undertake works of a 
 like nature, that the Latin literature might be 
 enriched with translations of the best Greek 
 writers. The consequence of all this wa«, 
 that two philosophical sects arose in Italy, who 
 debated for a long time (with the warmes. 
 animosity in a multitude of learned and con- 
 tentious productions) this important question, 
 which was the greatest philosopher, Aristotle 
 or Plato.* 
 
 V. Between these opposite factions, some 
 eminent men, among both Greeks and Latins, 
 thought proper to steer a middle course. To 
 this class belonged Johannes Picus de Miran- 
 dola, Bessarion, Hermolaus Barbarus, and 
 others of less renown, who, indeed, considered 
 Plato as the supreme oracle of philosophy, but 
 would by no means suifer Aristotle to be treated 
 with indiflerence or contempt, and who pro- 
 posed to reconcile the jarring doctrines of these 
 two famous Grecian sages, and to combine 
 them into one system. These moderate phi- 
 losophers, both in their manner of teaching, 
 and in the opinions they adopted, followed 
 the modern Platonic school, of which Ammo- 
 nius was the original founder.! This sect was, 
 for a long time, regarded with the utmost vene- 
 ration, particularly among the Mystics; while 
 the scholastic doctors, and all such as were in- 
 fected witli the itch of disputing, favoured the 
 Peripatetics. But, after all, these reconciling 
 Platonists were chargeable witli many errors 
 and follies; they fell into the most childish su- 
 
 * Boivin, dans I'Histoire de I'Academie des In- 
 scriptions et des Belles Lettres, torn. iv. p. 381. — 
 Launoy, de varia Fortuna Aristoteli.o, p. 225. 
 
 Loo Allalius, de Georgiis, p. 3111. — l^a Croze, En- 
 tretions sur divers Sujets, p. 3iS4. — Jo.eeph Bianchini, 
 doi Gran Duchi di Toscana. — Bruckeri Historia 
 Critica PhilosophicB, torn. iv. 
 
 Qt3~ It was not only the respective merit of these 
 two philosophers, considered in th.Tt point of light, 
 that wa.s debated in this controversy; the principal 
 question was, which system was most conformable 
 to the doctrines of Christianity? And here the Pla- 
 tonic certainly deserved the preference, as was abun- 
 dantly proved by Pletho and others. It is well known, 
 that many of the opinions of Aristotle lead directly 
 to atheism. 
 
 t See Bessarion'9 Letter in the Histoire de I'Aca- 
 demie des Inscriptions, tom. v. p. 4.5(3. — Thomasius, 
 de Syncretismo Peripatetico, in ejus Orationibus, p. 
 340. 
 
410 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 perstitions, and followed, vvithovit eitlicr re- 
 flection or restraint, tho extravagant dictates 
 of their wanton imaginations. 
 
 VI. Tlieir systoni of pliilosopliy was, how- 
 ever, mueli letJs pernicious than that of the 
 Aristotelians, their adversaries, who still main- 
 tained their superiority in Italy, and instruetotl 
 the youth in all the public schools oflcaniinj!:. 
 For these subtle doctors, and more especially 
 the followers of Averroes, (who maintained 
 that all the human race were animated by one 
 conmion soul,) impereei>libly sapped tlie Ibun- 
 dations both of natural and revealed religion, 
 and entertained sciitintcnts very little, if at all, 
 ditfercnt from that impious pantheistical sys- 
 tem, which confounds the Deity with the uni- 
 verse, and merely acknowledges o)ie sclf-ex- 
 istent being, composed of iiifmite matter and 
 mfinitc intelligence. Among this clabs of s<>- 
 phists, the most emiiu;nt was Peter Pompo- 
 nace, a native of Mantua, a man of a crally 
 turn, and an arrogant, enterprising' spirit, who, 
 notwithstanding tho jnirnicious tendency of 
 his writings (many of which are yet extant) to 
 undcnninc tho principles, and corrupt the doc- 
 trines of religion," was almost universally fol- 
 lowed by tho professors of philosophy in the 
 Italian academics. These intricate doctors 
 did not, however, escape the notice of the in- 
 quisitors, who, alarmed both by the rapid pro- 
 gress and dangerous tendency of their meta- 
 physical notions, took cognizance of tlicm,and 
 called the Aristotelians to give an account of 
 their principles. Tho latter, tempering their 
 courage with craft, had recourse to a mean and 
 perfidious stratagem to extricate themselves 
 from this embarrassing trial. They pretended 
 to establish a wide distinction between philo- 
 sophical and theological truth; and maintain- 
 ing that their sentiments were philosophically 
 tnie, and conformable to right reason, they al- 
 lowed them to be deemed IhcoUigicutly false, 
 and contrary to the declarations of the Gospel. 
 This miserable and impudent subterfuge was 
 condemned and prohibited in tho following 
 century, by Leo X. in a council winch he held 
 at the Latoran. 
 
 VII. The Realists and Nominalists contin- 
 ued their disputes in Franco and Germany 
 with more vigour and animosity than ever; 
 and, finding that reason and argument were 
 feeble weajrons, they had recourse to mutual 
 invectives and accusati(jns, penal laws, and 
 even to the force of arms; a strange method, 
 surely, of deciding a metaphysical question! 
 The contest was not only warm, but was very 
 general in its extent; for it infected, almost 
 without exception, the French and German 
 colleges. In most places, however, the Real- 
 ists maintained a manifest superiority over the 
 Nominalists, to whom they also gave the ap- 
 pellation of Terminists.j Wliile the iamous 
 Gerson and the most eminent of his disciples 
 were living, tho Nominalists wore in high es- 
 teem and credit in the university of Paris. 
 
 * Sec tho very learned Brucker'a Ilist. Crit. Pliilo- 
 sopliicB, t. iv. p. 15H. 
 
 t See Bruckci's tfistoiia Critica I'hilosnpliio;, toiii. 
 ill. p. 004. — Jo. Salabcrli I'liildsophia Noiiiiiiuliuin 
 Vimlicata, cap. i. — Ualu/.ii Mi8CeHaii. t. iv. p. ."i;)!, — 
 Argentic, Coll. Uocum. de iiov. Error, t. i. p. 'tlti. 
 
 But, on the death of these powerful and re- 
 spectable patrons, the scene was changed to 
 tiicir disadvantage. In 1473, Louis XL, by 
 the instigation of his confessor the bishop of 
 Avranches, issued a severe edict against the 
 doctrines of the Nominalists, and ordered all 
 their writings to be seized, and seciued in a 
 sort of imprisonmeid., that they might not be 
 perused by the people.* But the same mo- 
 narch mitigated this edict in the following 
 year, and permitted some of the books of that 
 sect to be delivered from their confinement.! 
 In 1 ISI, he went much farther; for he not only 
 granleil a lull liberty to the Nominalists and 
 their writings, but also restored that philo- 
 sophical sect to its former authority and lustre 
 in the university. J 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Vuiicerniiig the Doctors and Minialers of the 
 Church, and Us Forms of Government, during 
 Urn Century. 
 
 I. The most emmcnt writers of this century 
 unanimously lament the miserable condition to 
 which the Christian church was reduced by 
 the rorru(>tion of its ministers, and which 
 seemed to jtortcnd nothing less than its total 
 luin, if Providence should not interpose, by 
 extraortlinary means, for its deliverance and 
 preservation. The vices that reigned among 
 the Roman pontiffs, and, indeed, among all the 
 ecclesiastical orders, were so flagrant, that the 
 complaints of these good men did not appear 
 at all exaggerated, or their apprehensions ill- 
 founded; nor had any of the corrupt advocates 
 of the clergy the courage to call them to an 
 account ibr the sharpness of their censures and 
 of their complaints. The rulers of tho church, 
 who lived in lu.xurious indolence, and in the 
 infamous practice of all kinds of vice, were 
 even obligeil to hear with a jdacid counte- 
 nance, and even to connnend, these bold cen- 
 sors, who declaimed against the degeneracy of 
 tho chuicli, declared that there was scarcely 
 any thing sound either in its visible head or in 
 its members, and demanded the aid of the se- 
 cidar arm, and the destroying sword, to lop off* 
 the parts that were infected with this grievous 
 and deplorable contagion. Atlairs, in short, 
 were brought to such a pass, that those were 
 deemed the best Christians, and the most use- 
 ful members of society, who, braving the ter- 
 rors of persecution, and triumphing over the 
 fear of man, inveighed with the greatest free- 
 dom and fervour against the court of Rome, 
 its lordly pontiff, and the whole tribe of his 
 followers and votaries. 
 
 II. At the commencement of this century, 
 the Latin church was divided into two great 
 factions, and was governed by two contending 
 pontifis, Boniface IX. who remained at Rome, 
 and Benedict XIII. who resided at Avignon. 
 
 * Niiiide'n AiUlitions a I'Histoire de Louis XI. p. 
 l.'0:t.— l)u lioulay, Hist. Acad. Paris, torn. v. p. 678, 
 70.'). — L.iuiiny's ilistur. Gymnas. Navar. t. iv. op. 
 part i. p. 'JOl, 378. 
 
 t Itniilay, t. v. Ii. 710. 
 
 t Tlic pioiils cil tills wc find in Salcbert's Philo- 
 sopluii Nuiniual. vnidicalu, cap. i.— See also Boulay, 
 torn. v. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 411 
 
 Upon the death of the former, the oardinals of 
 ills party raisod to the pontificate, in M04, 
 Cosmo de Moliorati, who assumed the iiume 
 of lunorent VII.,* and hold that high dignity 
 during tiio short Bpaco of two years only. 
 After his decease, Angelo Corrario, a Vene- 
 tian cardinal, was chosen in liis room, and 
 ruled the Roman faction inidcr tlio title of 
 Gregory XII. A plan of reconciliation was 
 Jiowever formed, and the contending pontitls 
 bound tliemselves, each by an oatli, to make a 
 voluntary renunciation of the papal chair, if 
 that step should be deemed necessary to pro- 
 mote the peace and welfare of the church; but 
 both of them sctindalously violated this solemn 
 obligation. Benedict, besieged in Avignon 
 by the king of France, in 1408, saved himself 
 by flight, retiring first into Catalonia, his na- 
 tive country, and afterwards to Perpignan. 
 Hence eight or nine of the cardinals, who ad- 
 hered to his cause, seeing themselves deserted 
 by their pope, went over to the other side, and, 
 joining publicly with the cardinals who sup- 
 ported Gregory, they agreed to assemble a 
 council at Pisa on the 25tli of March, 1409, in 
 order to heal the divisions and factions that 
 had so long rent the papal empire. Tiiis coun- 
 cil, however, which was designed to close the 
 wounds of the church, had an clFoct quite con- 
 trary to that which was generally u-\poctcd, 
 and only served to open a new breach, and to 
 excite new divisions. Its proceedings, indeed, 
 were vigorous, and its measures were accom- 
 panied with a just severity. A heavy sentence 
 of condemnation was pronounced, on the .'ith 
 day of June, against the contending pontilfs, 
 who were declared guilty of heresy, perjury, 
 and contumacy, unworthy of the smallest to- 
 kens of honour or respect, and separated ipso 
 facto from the communion of the church. This 
 step was followed by the election of o)ie pontili' 
 in their place. Tlie election took ])lace on tlic 
 26th of June, and fell u|)on Peter of Candia, 
 known in the papal list by the name of Alex- 
 ander V.,t but all the decrees and proceedings 
 of this famous council were treated with con- 
 tempt by the condemned pontilfs, who con- 
 tinued to enjoy the piivilogcs and to perform 
 the functions of the papacy, as if no atlompls 
 had been made to remove tlusm from that dig- 
 nity. Renedict lield a council at Perpignan; 
 and Gregory assembled one near A<iuil(!ia. 
 The latter, however, apprehending the resent- 
 ment of the Venetians,! mado his csca|ie in a 
 clandestine manner from the territory of Aijui- 
 leia, arrived at Caicta, where he threw himself 
 upon the protection of Ladislaus, king of Na- 
 ples, and, in 1412, fled thence to Rimini. 
 III. Thus was the Christian church divided 
 
 * Resiilo till! ordinary writers, who have pivcn ns 
 an account of the transactions that hapiiencil midor 
 tho pontificate of Innocent VII., sot; Leon. Arelin. 
 EpiBtol. til), i. I'p. iv. v. et Colinc. Saliilnt. Kpi.-itnl. 
 lib. ii. — Wc have also an account of the (lontilicite 
 of Gregory, in the Epistles of the same Aretin, und 
 in Jo. hanii, Delic. Erndilorum, loin. i. 
 
 t See L'Enfant Histoire, du Concilc de I'ise. — F. 
 Pagi, Breviar. Pontif. Uonianorum, toin iv. — iind 
 Rossuet, Uefensio Decreli Uiillicuni de Potislate 
 Ecclpsiafltica, torn. ii. 
 
 Og- ) He had offi'nded the VenctianR liy deposing 
 their patriarch, Aiilony Piinciarini, and pullirij; An 
 tony (iu Pont the bishop of Concordia, in his place. 
 
 into three great factions, and its government 
 violently carried on by three contending chiefe, 
 who loaded each other with reciprocal male- 
 dictions, calumnieH, and excommunications. 
 Ale.wxnder V., who had been elected pontiff at 
 the council of Pisa, died at Bologna in 1410; 
 and the fn.xloen cardinals, who attended him in 
 that city, immediately filled up the vacancy, 
 by clioosing, a.s his successor, Balthasar Cossa, 
 a Neapolitan, destitute of all principles both 
 of religion and probity, who assumed the title 
 of .lohn XXIII. The duration of this schism 
 in tiie papacy was a source of many calami- 
 tics, and became daily more detrimental both 
 to the civil and religious interests of those na- 
 tions among whom the flame raged. Hence 
 it was that tho emperor Sigismund, the king 
 of France, and several other princes, employ- 
 ed all tlicir zeal and activity, and spared nei- 
 ther labour nor c.xjiense, in restoring the tran- 
 quillity of the church, and uniting it again un- 
 der one spiritual head. On the otlicr hand, tho 
 pontiffs could not be persuaded by any means 
 to prefer the peace of the church to the grati- 
 fication of their ambition; so that no other 
 method of accommodating this weighty mat- 
 ter remained, than the assembling of a general 
 council, in which the controversy might be ex- 
 amined, and terminated "by the judgment and 
 decision of the universal church. This coun- 
 cil was accordingly convoked at Constance, in 
 1414, by John XXIII. who was engaged in 
 this measure by the entreaties of Sigismund, 
 and also from an expectation, that the decrees 
 of this grand assembly would be favourable to 
 his interests. He appeared with a great num- 
 ber of cardinals luid bishops, at tliis famous 
 council, which was also honoured with the 
 presence of the emperor, of many German 
 jirinccs, and of the ambassadors of all the Eu- 
 ropean states, whose monarchs or regents could 
 ntd. be personally present at the decision of this 
 important controvei-sy.* 
 
 I v. The great object of tliig assembly was 
 tlw! hcalino- of the pcliisin that had so long rent 
 the papacy: and this purpose was happily ac- 
 complished. It was solemnly declared, in the 
 tniirlh Mild fifth ses-sions of this council, by two 
 decrees, that the Roman pontiff was iiiierior 
 and .subject to a general assembly of tho uni- 
 ver:;al church; and the same decrees vindicat- 
 ed and maintained, in the most elfectual man- 
 ner, the authority of councils.! This vigor- 
 
 ♦ The nets of thi.s f imous council were published 
 in six- vohnne.s in folio, at Frankfort, in 1700, by 
 llennan von dor llaidt. Thi.s colb^ction, however, 
 is ini|ierfert, notwilhstandine the pains that it cost 
 llie LiliiiiiouH editor. Many of the acts ;iri' <iinined, 
 .ind :i fire.il nuiiilicr of pieces are introduced which 
 by no nii'.in.s denerve ji place. Tho history of the 
 .'■aiMi' rniincil by 1,'Knfant, is composed with great 
 ai( ijr.icy :oid elegance; but tho supplement that was 
 HHi II to it by l!our«eois de Chastenel, a French 
 lawyer, ifi n perforniaiicc! of little merit; it is cnti- 
 ib.'d. ' IVciuvelle Hisloiie dii Conclle de Ooiiatance, ou 
 Ton fait voir combieii la France u conlribue a I'e.i- 
 tinclion ilii Hciii.snie.' 
 
 t For an account of these two famous decrees, 
 vvhirli set such wise limits to the supremacy of the 
 pniililfs, R(!e N.italis Ali.'.vand. Hist. Eccl. sajc. XV. 
 Diss, iv.— Uossui't, Defens. Si!ntciitin>CI«<riGallican. 
 di) Potest. Ecclesiast torn. ii. — L'Enfant, Dissert, 
 Historicpie ot Apologetiqiic pour Jean Grrson pt le 
 t%)ncile de CimBtance, wliich is Biibjoined to his his- 
 tory of that council. 
 
412 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 OU9 proceeding prepared the way for the de- 
 gradation of John, who, during the twelfth 
 session, was unanimously deposed from the 
 pontificate,* on account of several flagitious 
 crimes that were laid to his charge, and more 
 especially for the scandalous violation of a so- 
 lemn engagement which he had taken about 
 the beginning of the council, to resign the pa- 
 pal chair, if that measure should appear neces- 
 sary to the peace of the church; which engage- 
 ment he broke some weeks after by a clandes- 
 tine flight. In the same year (1415,) Grego- 
 ry sent Charles de Malatesta to the council to 
 make, in his name, a solemn and voluntary re- 
 signation of the pontificate. About two years 
 after this, Benedict was deposed by a solemn 
 resolution of the council,! and Otto de C'olon- 
 na raised, by the unanimous suifrages of tlie 
 cardinals, to the high dignity of head of the 
 church, which he ruled under the title of Mar- 
 tin V. Benedict, who still resided at Perpig- 
 nan, was far from being disposed to submit 
 either to the decree of the council which depos- 
 ed him, or to the determination of the cardi- 
 nals with respect to his successor. On the 
 contrary, he persisted until the day of his 
 death, which happened in the year 1423, in as- 
 suming the title, the prerogatives, and the au- 
 thority of the papacy. And when this obsti- 
 nate man was dead, a certain Spaniard, named 
 Giles Munoz, was chosen pope in his place by 
 two cardinals, under the patronage of Alphon- 
 po, king of Sicily, and adopted the title of 
 Clement VIII.; but this sorry pontiff", in 1429, 
 was persuaded to resign his pretensions, and 
 to leave the government of the church to Mar- 
 tin V. 
 
 V. If, from the measures that were taken in 
 this council to check the lordly arrogance of 
 the Roman pontiffs, we turn our eyes to the 
 proceedings against those who were called he- 
 retics, we shall observe in this new scene no- 
 thing worthy of applause, but several things, 
 on the contrary, that can only excite our indig- 
 nation, and which no pretext, no consideration, 
 can render excusable. Before the meeting of 
 this council, great commotions had been excit- 
 ed in several parts of Europe, and more espe- 
 cially in Bohemia, by contests on religious sub- 
 jects. One of the persons that gave occasion 
 to these disputes was John IIuss, who lived at 
 Prague in the highest reputation, both on ac- 
 count of the sanctity of his manners, and the 
 purity of his doctrine, who was distinguished 
 by his uncommon erudition and eloquence, and 
 performed, at the same time, the functions of 
 professor of divinity in the university, and of 
 ordinary pastor in the church of that famous 
 city. I This eminent ecclesiastic declaimed 
 
 » On the 21tth of May, 1415. 
 
 t On ihe idth of July, 1417. 
 
 QlJ' I A RnhciniHii Jesuit, wlin was f;ir from beinj; 
 favourable to John Huss, and who had the best op- 
 portunity of being aojuainted with his real character, 
 describi-s him thus: " He was more subtle than elo- 
 quent; but the gravity and austerity of his manners, 
 his frugal and exemplary life, his pale and meagre 
 countenaneo, his sweetness of temper, and liis un- 
 common affability toward persons of all ranks and 
 oonditions. from the higliest to the lowest, were 
 much more persuasive than any eloquence could be." 
 See Bohuslaus Palbinus, Kpitom. Hist. Rer. Bohem. 
 lib. iv cap v. p. 431. 
 
 with vehemence against the vices that had cor- 
 rupted the clergy of all denominations; nor 
 was he singular in this respect; for such re- 
 monstrances had become very common, and 
 were generally approved by the wise and the 
 good. Huss, however, went still farther; and, 
 from the year 1408, used his most zealous en- 
 deavours to withdraw the university of Prague 
 from the jurisdiction of Gregory XII., whom 
 the kingdom of Bohemia had hitherto acknow- 
 ledged as the true and lawful head of the 
 church. The archbisliop of Prague, and the 
 clergy in general, who were warmly attached 
 to the interests of Gregory, were greatly exas- 
 perated at these proceedings. Hence arose a 
 violent quarrel between the incensed prelate 
 and the zealous reformer, which tlie latter in- 
 flamed and augmented, from day to day, by 
 his warm exclamations against the conduct of 
 the court of Rome, and the corruptions that 
 prevailed among the sacerdotal order. 
 
 VI. Such were the circumstances that first 
 excited the resentment of the clergy against 
 John Huss. This resentment, however, might 
 have been easily calmed, and perhaps totally 
 extinguished, if new incidents of a more im- 
 portant kind had not arisen to keep up the 
 flame and increase its fury. In the first place, 
 he adopted the philosophical opinions of the 
 Realists, and showed his warm attachment 
 to their cause, in the manner that was usual in 
 this barbarous age, even by persecuting, to the 
 utmost of his power, their adversaries, the 
 Nominalists, whose number was great, and 
 whose influence was considerable in the imi- 
 versity of Prague.* He also multiplied the 
 number of his enemies, in 1408, by procuring, 
 through his great credit, a sentence in favour 
 of the Bohemians, who disputed with the Ger- 
 mans concerning the number of suffrages to 
 which their respective nations were entitled in 
 all points that were carried by election in the 
 universit}'. That the nature of this contest 
 may be better understood, it will be proper to 
 observe, that this famous university was divided, 
 by its founder Cliarles IV., into four nations, 
 namely, the Bohemians, Bavarians, Poles, and 
 Saxons; of which, according to the original 
 laws of the institutions, the first had three suf- 
 frages, and the otlier three, who were compre- 
 hended under the title of the German nation, 
 only one. This arrangement, however, had 
 not only been altered by custom, but was en- 
 tirely inverted in favour of the Germans, who 
 were vastly superior to the Bohemians in num- 
 ber, and assumed to themselves the three suf- 
 frages which originally belonged to the latter. 
 Huss, therefore, whether animated by a prin- 
 ciple of patriotism, or by an aversion to the 
 Nominalists, who were peculiarly favoured by 
 the Germans, raised his voice against this abuse. 
 
 * See the LiteriE Nominaliuni ad Regem Francije 
 Ludovicum VI., in Baluzii Miscellan. torn. iv. p. 534, 
 where we read the following passage: " Legimua 
 Nominales expulsos de Bohemia eo tempore, quo 
 hceretici voluerunt Bohemicum regnum suis h^Eresi- 
 bus inficere. — Quum dicti haeretici non possent dis- 
 putando superare, impetraveruiit ab Abbisseslao 
 ( fVence.-'lao) principe Bohemia;, ut gubernarentur sta- 
 dia Pragensia riiu Parisiensium; quo edicto coacti 
 sunt supradicli Nominales Pragam civitatem relin- 
 quere, et se transtulerunt ad Lipzicam civitatem, et 
 ibidem erexerunt universitatsm soleuinissimam." 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 413 
 
 and employed, with success, the extraordinary 
 credit he had obtained al court, by his flowing 
 and masculine eloquence, in depriving the 
 Germans of the privilege they had usurped, 
 and in reducing their three suffrages to one. 
 The issue of this long and tedious contest* 
 was so offensive to the Germans, that a prodi- 
 gious number of them, with John Hoffman, 
 the rector of the university, at their liead,t re- 
 tired from Prague, and repaired to Leipsic, 
 where Frederic the Wise, elector of Saxony, 
 erected for them, in 1409, that academic insti- 
 tution which still subsists in a flourishing state. 
 This event contributed greatly to render Huss 
 odious to many, and, by tlie consequences that 
 followed it, was certainly instrumental in bring- 
 ing on his ruin; for no sooner had the Germans 
 retired from Prague, than he began not only 
 to inveigh with greater freedom than he had 
 formerly done against the vices and corruptions 
 of the clergy, but even went so far as to re- 
 commend, in an open and public manner, the 
 writings and opinions of the famous Wickliffe, 
 whose new doctrines had already made such a 
 noise in England. Henee an accusation was 
 brought against him, in 1410, before the tribu- 
 nal of John XXII., by whom he was solemnly 
 expelled from the communion of the church. 
 He treated, indeed, this excommunication with 
 the utmost contempt, and, both in his conver- 
 sation and his writings, exposed the disor- 
 ders that preyed upon the vitals of the church, 
 and the vices that dishonoured the conduct of 
 its ministers;]: and the fortitude and zeal which 
 he discovered on this occasion were almost 
 universally applauded. 
 
 VII. This eminent man, whose piety was 
 truly fervent and sincere, though his zeal, per- 
 haps, was rather too violent, and his prudence 
 not always equally circimispect, was summon- 
 ed to appear before the council of Constance. 
 Obedient to this order, and thinking liiinself 
 secured from the rage of his enemies, by the 
 safe conduct which had been granted to him 
 by the emperor Sigismund, both for his journey 
 to Constance, his residence in that city, and 
 his return to his own country, John Huss ap- 
 peared before the assembled churchmen, to 
 demonstrate his innocence, and to i)rove tliat 
 the charge of his iiaving deserted tiie church 
 of Rome was entirely groundless. And it may 
 be affirmed with truth, that his religious opin- 
 ions, at least in matters of importance, were 
 conformable to the established doctrine of the 
 church in this age.§ He declaimed, indeed. 
 
 QlJ- * Wcnci'slaiis, kins nf Bohemia, who was 
 bribed by both nf the ronlendiiig partie.i, protracted 
 instead of abridL'ing this dispute, and used to sny 
 with a smile, that he liad found a good iroo.fe, whicii 
 laid every day a considerable number nf gold and sil- 
 ver e/rgs. This was playiiij; upon the word Huss, 
 which, in the German laiiKuage, signifies a goose. 
 
 Q(j- t Historians differ much in their accounts of 
 the number of Germans that retired from tlie uni- 
 versity of I'raeiie upon lliis occasion, jl-'neas Syl- 
 vius reckons .5000; Trithemius and others '2000. Dii- 
 bravius '24,000; liUpatius 44,000; Lauda (a contempo- 
 rary writer) :it),0O0. 
 
 I See Laur. Byzinii Diarium n<'lli Hussitiri, in 
 Ludewig's Reliquis Munusciptorum, torn. vi. p. Vi~. 
 
 (tl^§ It was observed in the preceding section, 
 that John Huss adopted with ze.il, and oponly re- 
 commended the writincs and opinions of Wickliffe; 
 but this must be understood of the writings and 
 
 with extraordinary veliemence against the Ro- 
 man pontifls, the bishops and monks: but this 
 freedom was deemed lawful in these times, 
 and it was used every day in the council of 
 Constance, where tlie tyranny of the court of 
 Rome, and the corruption of the sacerdotal 
 and monastic orders, were censured with the 
 utmost severity. The enemies, however, of 
 this good man, who were very numerous, co- 
 loured the accusation tliat was brought against 
 him with such artifice and success, that, by the 
 most scandalous breach of public faith, he was 
 thrown into prison, declared a heretic, because 
 he refused to obey the order of the council, 
 which commanded him to plead guilty against 
 the dictates of his conscience, and was burned 
 alive on the 6th of July, 1415; which dreadful 
 punishment he endured with unparalleled mag- 
 nanimity and resignation, expressing in his 
 last moments the noblest feelings of love to 
 God, and the most triumphant hope of the 
 accomplislmient of those transporting promises 
 with which the Gospel fortifies the true Chris- 
 tian at the approach of eternity. The same 
 unhappy fate was borne with the same pious 
 fortitude and constancy of mind by Jerome 
 of Prague, the intimate companion of John 
 Huss, who appeared at this council with the 
 generous design of supporting and seconding 
 his persecuted friend. Terrified by the pros- 
 pect of a cruel death, Jerome at first appeared 
 willing to submit to the orders of the council, 
 and to abandon the tenets and opinions which 
 it had condemned in his writings. This sub- 
 mission, however, was not attended with the 
 advantages he expected from it: nor did it 
 deliver him from the close and severe con- 
 finement in wliicli he was kept. He therefore 
 resumed his fljrtilude; professed anew, with an 
 heroic constancy, the opinions whicli he had 
 deserted for a while from a principle of fear, 
 and maintained them in the flames, in which 
 he expired on the 30th of May, 1416.* 
 
 Many learned men liave endeavoured to in- 
 vestigate the reasons that occasioned the pro- 
 nouncing of such a cruel sentence against 
 Huss and his associates; and, as no adequate 
 reasons for such a severe proceeding can be 
 found, either in the life or opinions of that 
 good man, they conclude that lie fell a victim 
 to the rage and injustice of his unrelenting 
 enemies. And indeed this conclusion is botii 
 natural and well-grounded; nor will it be dif- 
 ficult to show how it came to pass, that the 
 reverend fathers of tlie council were so eagerly 
 bent upon burning, as a heretic, a man who 
 neither deserved such an injurious title, nor 
 such a dreadful fate. In tlie first place, John 
 Huss had excited, both by his discourses and 
 by his writings, great commotions in Bohemia, 
 and had rendered the clergy of all ranks and 
 
 opinions of that great man in relation to the papal 
 hierarchy, the dcs|Kitisin of the court of Rome, and 
 the corruption of the clergy; for, in other respects, it 
 is certain that he adhered to the most sui>erstitiou8 
 doctrines of the church, as appenrs from varioua 
 passages in two sermons which he had prepared for 
 the council of Uonstance. 
 
 (JlT- * The translator has here inserted into the 
 text the long note (a) of Ihe original, which relates to 
 the circumstances that precipitated the ruin of these 
 two eminent reformers; and he has thrown the cita- 
 tions therein contained into several notes. 
 
414 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 orders extremely odious in tiio eyes of the peo- 
 ple. Tlio ijislio|)Fi, tiierefore, loirellior with 
 the sacerdotal and monastic orders, wore very 
 sensible that their honours and advantages, 
 their credit and authority, were in tlic greatest 
 danger of ])eing annihilated, if this reformer 
 should return to his country, and continue to 
 write and declaim against the clergy with the 
 same freedom which he had formerly exercis- 
 ed. Hence they left no means miemployed to 
 accomplish his ruin; they laboured night and 
 day, formed plots, bribed men in power; they 
 used, in short, every method that could have 
 any tendency to rid thein of such a formidable 
 adversary.* It may be observed, secondly, 
 that in the council there were many men of 
 great inlluence and weight, who looked upon 
 themselves as personally offended by him, and 
 demanded his life as the only sacrifice that 
 could satisfy their vengeance. Huss, as has 
 been already mentioned, was not only attach- 
 ed to the party of the Realists, but was pecu- 
 liarly severe in his opposition to their adversa- 
 ries. And now he was so unhapjjy, as to be 
 brought before a tribunal which was principal- 
 ly composed of the Nominalists, with tjie fa- 
 mous John Gerson at their head, who was the 
 zealous patron of that faction, and the mortal 
 enemy of Huss. Nothing could equal the vin- 
 dictive pleasure tlie Nominalists felt from an 
 event that put this unfortunate prisoner in 
 their power, and gave them an opportunity of 
 satisfying their vengeance to the full; and ac- 
 cordingly, in their letter to Louis, king of 
 France,! they do not pretend to deny "that 
 Huss fell a victim to the resentment of their 
 sect, which is also confirmed by the history of 
 the council. The animosities that always 
 reigned between the Realists and Nominalists, 
 were at this time carried to the greatest excess 
 imaginable. Uj)on every occasion that offer- 
 ed, Ihey accused each otiier of heresy and im- 
 piety, and constantly had recourse to corporal 
 punishments to decitlo the dispute. The No- 
 minalists procured the death nl" Huss, who was 
 a Realist; and the Realists, on the other hand, 
 obtained, in 14T9, the condcnmation of Jolm 
 of VVcsel, who was attaciied to the opposite 
 party. I Tliese contending sects carried their 
 blind fury so far as to charge each other with 
 
 * Till' liril)Hiy anil roiriiplidii lh:il wrrc rinplnycd 
 in luinjjiii!.' iilioiil tlm niiii nf .loliii Muss, arc iiiniii 
 fesl from tlir I'ollnuiMu roiiiarKaMi,' pa: s:ii,'.s nf tlic 
 Diaiiinn Iliissilicinii uf I,.iiir. I'.y/.iimis: " t'lcnis 
 pei'versiis, pr.TripiU' in rfjjnn niilninin'r'l ninrrliiona- 
 111 Miiiavia', criiidcinTialioni'in ipsiiis (llnssi) nmlri- 
 butiono pi'Cmiiaiuiii rt inodis aliis divcisia procura- 
 vit, (;t ad ipsiiis rdiiscnsil mtci iliini." "Clcnis per- 
 versus rcgni liidicniiii' el iiiaiiiiKinatiis Moraviie, d 
 priT!cipuo ipisfO|ii, alil)at(s, raimniri, plchani.ct ndi 
 piosi, ipsiiis tidoli-s an saliilili'ras adiiioniliinifs, nd- 
 hi)rtatii>n<^s, ipsdiiim ]Kinipain,siiiinni.iiii, nvaiiliajii, 
 fornir.atii)n(^ni, vilii'ipic di'li'staiida' alKJiiiiii.itinncni 
 dote^fnlcs, fcrri' nmx vnli'ndd, pcniiiiririnii rontiibii- 
 tinnos ad ipsius cxlinrtioncin Caciiiido pmcMiaiunt " 
 
 f Sec llalii/.ii Misccll. loin. iv. p. 5:i). Ill wliicl) we 
 fiinl lllr Inllinviii!; passai";: " Siisrilavil Dimih dricto- 
 res ralli.dicds, rclriiiii dc Alliaio, .Ioliaiiiii;iii do 
 persiiuo, ct aii^s ipiaiii pliircs dnciissiiiKis hiiinincs 
 Noiiiiiialcs, f|iir, rciMVorali ad (•iiiiciliiim (Jiiiistanti- 
 pnse, ad quod lilati fiiininl liaiciici, ct iioiiiinatini 
 HieroiiyniMS ct .lolianncs— diclos luprciicos per qua 
 dracinla dies dispulniido su])(.'ravcnnn." 
 
 ( ScHlhd ExaiiicM MaKistraleptTlicologipalo Mag. 
 Joli. de VVesalia, in Oitiiini Oriilli Fnsr.irulo icniin 
 expctend. et fugiendar Colon. VtXi. 
 
 the sin against the Holy Ghost,* and exhibited 
 the most miserable spectable of inhuman bi- 
 gotry to the Christian world. The aversion 
 which John Huss, and Jerome, his companion, 
 had against the Germans, was a third circum- 
 stance that contributed to determine their un- 
 happy fate. This aversion they declared pulj- 
 licly at Prague, on all occasions, both by their 
 words and actions; nor were they at any pains 
 to conceal it even in the council of Constance, 
 where they accused them of presumption and 
 despotism in the strongest terms, f The Ger- 
 mans, on the other hand, remembering the af- 
 front they had received in the university of 
 Prague, by the means of Jolm Huss, burned 
 with resentment and rage both against him 
 and his unfortunate friend; and, as their influ- 
 ence and autliority were very great in tho 
 council, there is no doubt that they employed 
 them, with the utmost zeal, against these two 
 formidable adversaries. Besides, John Hoff- 
 man, the famous rector of the university, 
 whom Huss had been the occasion of expelling 
 from that city, together with the Germans, 
 and who in consequence thereof became his- 
 most virulent enemy, was consecrated bishop 
 of Misnia, in 1413, and held in this council 
 the most illustrious rank among the delegates 
 of the German church. This circumstance 
 was also most unfavourable to Huss, and was, 
 without doubt, ultimately detrimental to his 
 cause. 
 
 The circumstances now mentioned, as con- 
 tributing to the unhappy fate of this good man, 
 are, as we see, all drawn from the resentment 
 and prejudices of his enemies, and have not the 
 least colour of equity. It must, however, be 
 confessed, that there appeared one mark qf he- 
 resy in the conduct of this reformer, which, ac- 
 cording to the notions that prevailed in this 
 century, might expose him to condemnation 
 with some shadow of reason and justice; I 
 moan, bin inllcxible obstinacy, which the church 
 of Rome always considered as a grievous 
 heresy, even in those whose errors were of lit- 
 tle moment. We must consider this man, as 
 called before a council, which was supposed 
 to represent the universal church, to confess 
 his faults and to abjure his errors. This ho 
 
 * In thi; Kiamcn incniionod in ihc prccedine note, 
 wi; liiiil the following striking passaj;e, which may 
 show us the exlravai;ant length to which the (lis 
 piili'9 between the Nominalists and Realists were 
 now carried; — " Qiiis nisi ipse diabolus seminavit 
 illani zizaniam inter philosophog el inter theologns, 
 lit lania sit dissensio, etiain animoriim, inter diversa 
 opinaiitcs? Aileo lit si iinivcrsalia ipiisiiuani realia 
 iicgaverit, exist iinctur in i^piritnni Sanctum pecca 
 vissc; imo suinnio ct maximo pcccalo plenuscreditur 
 contra Deiim, contra C'hristianain religionem, contra 
 iiisiiliam. contra oinnem poliliam, graviter deli- 
 <|iiiH:se. Vndii h:RC cfccitas mentis nisi a diabolo, fjui 
 plianlasias nostras illndil?" We .see by this pas- 
 sage, that the Realists charged their adversaries 
 (whose only crime was the absurdity of calling uni- 
 vrr^nl iilnis mere dciwminatiov.i) with sin against 
 till' Holy <iliosl, with transgression against God, and 
 ai;aiMsl the Christian religion, and with a violation 
 of all the laws of justice and civil polity. 
 
 t Sei? Tlieod. do Niem, Invectiva in Joh. XXIII., 
 in Hardtii Actis Concilii Constant, torn. ii. p. 450 
 " Iniproperabat etiam in publico AlamanniF, dicen- 
 do, (pioil essciit pra'sumptuosi, ot vcllent iibique per 
 
 orbeni dominari Sicquo factum fiiisset sspe in 
 
 Bohemia, iibi volentea etiain floniinari Alamanni 
 violcnter exinde repulni et male trartati fuiasent.' 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOV ERNMENT, &c. 
 
 415 
 
 obstinately refused to do, unless he was pre- 
 viously convicted of error; liuro, therefore, he 
 resisted tiic authority of the catholie church, 
 demanded a rational proof of tlie jutfti(re of tlio 
 sentence it had pronoiniced asjainst him, ami 
 intimated, with suHicient plainness, tliat he 
 looked upon the church as fuUible. All this 
 certainly was mo.«!t enormously criminal and 
 intolerably iieretical, according to tlie ireneral 
 opinion of the times; for it became a dutiful 
 son of the church to renounce his eye-sight, 
 and to submit his own judgment and will, with- 
 out any exception or reservation, to the judg- 
 ment and will of that holy mother, under a 
 firm belief and entire persuasion of the iidalli- 
 bility of all her decisions. This ghostly mo- 
 ther had, for many ages past, followed, when- 
 ever her unerring perfection and authority were 
 called in question, the rule which Pliny observ- 
 ed in his conduct toward the Christians: 
 " When they pereevered, (says he, in his let- 
 ter to Trajan,) 1 put my threats into execution, 
 from a persuasion that, whatever their con- 
 fessions might bo, their audacious and invinci- 
 ble obstinacy deserved an exemplary punish- 
 ment."* 
 
 VIII. Before sentence had been pronounced 
 against John Huss and Jerome of Pr.ague, the 
 famous Wicklilfe, whoso opinions they were 
 supposed to adoi)t, and who was long since 
 dead, was called from his rest before this spirit- 
 ual tribunal; and his memory was solenndy 
 branded with infamy by a decree of the coun- 
 cil. On the 4th day of May, in 1416, many 
 propositions, invidiously cnlleil out of his writ- 
 ings, were examined and condemned, and an 
 order was issued to commit all his works, to- 
 gether with his bones, to the flaincs. On tlie 
 14th of June following, the a.sscmbled fathers 
 passed the famous decree, which took the cup 
 from the laity in the celebration of the eucha- 
 rist; ordered " that the Lord's supper should be 
 received by them only in one kind, i. c. the 
 bread,'''' and rigorously ])roliibitcd the commu- 
 nion in both kinds. This decree was occa- 
 sioned by complaints that had been made of 
 the conduct of Jacobellns de Misa, curate of 
 the parish of St. Michael at Prague, who, 
 about a year before, had been persuaded by 
 Peter of Dresden, to administer the Lord's 
 supper in both kinds, and was followed in this 
 by several churches.f The council, being in- 
 formed of this matter by a Bohemian bishop, 
 thought proper to oppose with vigour the pro- 
 gress of this heresy; and therefore they enacted 
 the statute, which ordered " the comnmnion 
 to bo administered to the laity only in one 
 kind," and which obtained the force and au- 
 thority of a law in the church of Rome. 
 
 IX. In the same year, the opinion of John 
 Petit, a doctor of divinity at Paris,J who main- 
 tained, that every individual had ;ui undoubted 
 right to take away the life of a tyrant, was 
 brought before the council, and was condemned 
 
 * riin. Epist. lil). X. cp. !I7. " P(;r.«t!Vt'raiites duci 
 jUSRi. IVeqiio onim diiliitaliaiii, (|iiakcuin>|iir r'ssei 
 quod fatr'ninliir, pnrvirariam ccili; tl nUlcxiliilciii 
 obstinntinncm delii;rc puiiiri." 
 
 t Byzinii Diar. Huss. p. 12t. 
 
 {)(7» t Some histiiriaiis havp nrroneously rrprn- 
 sented I'ctit as a lawyer. Sec Dr. SmoUet's History 
 of England. 
 
 as an odious and detestable heresy; but both 
 tlie name and person of the author were 
 s|>aied, on account of the powerful patrons, 
 under whoso protection he had defended that 
 pernicious doctrine. John, duke of Burgundy, 
 had, in 1407, employed a band of riilHans lo 
 assassinate Imiuh duke of Orleans, only brother 
 of (Jharles VI. king of P'rancc. While the 
 wiiole city was in an uproar, in consequence 
 of this horrible deed. Petit vindicated it in a 
 ])ublic oration, in presence of the dauphin and 
 tile other princes of the blood, aflirining, that 
 the duke had done a laudable action, aiitl that 
 it was lawlul to put a tyrant to death, " in 
 any way, either by violence or fraud, without 
 any fonn of law or justice, and even in opposi- 
 tion to the most solemn contracts and oaths 
 of fidelity and alhigiance." It is, however, to 
 be observed, that by tyrmils, this doctor did not 
 mean the supreme rulers of nations, but tiiose 
 powerful and insolent silbjects, who abused 
 their opulence and credit to bring about mea- 
 sures that tended to the dishonour of their 
 sovereign and the ruin of their country.'' The 
 university of Paris pronounced a .severe and 
 rigorous sentence ajfainst the author of this 
 pernicious opinion; and the council of Con- 
 stance, after much deliberation and debate, 
 condemned the opinion without mcntionin"' 
 the author. This determination, though modi- 
 fied with the utmost clemency and mildness, 
 wiianot ratified by the new pontilf Martin V., 
 who dreaded too much the IbrmiJablc power 
 of the duke of Burgundy, to confirm a sentence 
 which he knew would be displeasing to that 
 ambitious prince.f 
 
 X. Atler these and other transactions of a 
 like nature, it was now time to take into con- 
 sideration a point of greater importance than 
 had yet been proposed, even the reformation 
 of the church in its head and in its members, 
 by setting bound to the despotism and corrup- 
 tion of the Roman pontiffs, and to the luxury 
 and immorality of licentious ecclesiastics. It 
 was particularly with a view to this important 
 object, that the eyes of all Europe were fixed 
 upon the council, from a general persuasion 
 of the necessity of this rcform;ition, and an 
 ardent desire of seeing it happily brought into 
 execution. Nor did the assembled fathers 
 deny, that this nsfonnation was the principal 
 end of their meeting. Yet this salutary work 
 had so many obstacles in the passions and in- 
 terests of those very persons by whom it was 
 to be ellected, that little could be expected, 
 and still less was done. The cardinals and 
 dignified clergy, whose interest it was that the 
 church should remain in its corrupt and dis- 
 ordered state, employed all their eloquence 
 and art to prevent its reformation; and observed, 
 among other artful pretexts, that a work of 
 
 * This appears iiianifnstly from tlw; vory discourse 
 nf I'etil, wliicli tliu reader may see in I/Enfant's 
 lli.flory of llio Council of Pisa, tom. ii. p. 303.* See 
 also Au^jiist. Lcyseri Diss, ipia Meinoriam J(di. Bur- 
 cuiidi ot Doctrinani Joli. Parvi de Ciede per Duel- 
 liuni viiidicat. 
 
 t Boulay, tom. v. — Arccntic, Collectio Jiidicior. 
 do iiovis lirroribus, tuin. i. part ii. — Gersonis Oi)cra, 
 edited by M. DuPiii, torn, v.— Uayle's Diction, torn. 
 
 0(7" * '^co also the same autliur's History of the 
 Council of Constance, book iii. sect xix. 
 
416 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 such high moment and importance could not 
 be undertaken with any prospect of success, 
 until a new pontilF sliould be elected. And, 
 what was still more shocking, Martin V. was 
 no sooner raised to that high dignity, than he 
 employed Jiis authority to elude and frustrate 
 every elfort that was made to set this salutary 
 work on foot, and made it appear most evi- 
 dently, by the laws he enacted, that nothing 
 was more foreign from his intention than the 
 reformation of the clergy, and the restoration 
 of the church to its primitive purity. Thus 
 this famous council, after sitting three years 
 and six months, was dissolved, on the 2 2d day 
 of April, 1418, without having effected its chief 
 ostensible object; and the members postponed 
 to a future assembly of the same kind, which 
 was to be summoned five years after this period, 
 that pious design of purifying a corrupt church, 
 which had been so long the object of the ex- 
 pectations and desirts of all good Christians. 
 
 XI. Not merely five years, but almost thir- 
 teen, elapsed without the promised meeting. 
 The remonstrances, however, of those whose 
 zeal for the reformation of the cliurch interest- 
 ed them in this event, prevailed at length over 
 the pretexts and stratagems whicli were em- 
 ployed to put it off from time to time; and 
 Martin summoned a council to meet at Pavia, 
 whence it was removed to Sienna, and thence 
 to Basil. The pontiff did not live to be a wit- 
 ness of the proceedings of this assembly, being 
 carried off by a sudden death on the 21st day 
 of February, 1431, just about the time when 
 the council was to meet. He was immediate- 
 ly succeeded by Gabriel Condolmerio, a na- 
 tive of Venice, and bishop of Sienna, who is 
 known in the papal list by the title of Euge- 
 nius IV. This pontiff approved all the mea- 
 sures of his predecessor, in relation to the as- 
 sembling of the council of Basil, which was 
 accordingly opened on tiie 23d of July, 1431, 
 under the superintendence of Cardinal Julian 
 Cesarini, who performed the functions of pre- 
 sident in the place of Eugenius. 
 
 The two grand points, proposed to the de- 
 liberation of this famous council, were, the 
 union of the Greek and Latin churches, and 
 the reformation of the church universal, both 
 in its head and in its members, according to 
 the resolution that had been taken in the late 
 council; for that the Roman pontiff, or the 
 head of the church, and the bishops, priests, 
 and monks, who were looked upon as its mem- 
 bers, had become excessively corrupt, and that, 
 to use the expression of the prophet in a simi- 
 lar case, the ' whole head was sick and the 
 whole heart faint,' were matters of fact too 
 striking to escape the knowledge of the obscur- 
 est individual. On the other hand, as it ap- 
 peared by the very form of the council,* by 
 its method of proceeding, and by the first de- 
 
 QtJ-* Rythe form of the council, Dr. Mosheim un- 
 doubtedly means the division of the cardinals, arch- 
 bishops, bishops, abbots, &c. into four equal classes, 
 without any regard to the nation or province by 
 which they were sent. This prudent arrangement 
 prevented the cabals and intrigues of the Italians, 
 whose bishops were much more numerous than those 
 of other nations, and who, by their number, might 
 have had it in their power to retard or defeat the 
 iKudable purpose which the council had in view, had 
 things been otherwise ordered. 
 
 crees that were enacted by its authority, that 
 the assembled fathers were in earnest, and 
 firmly resolved to answer the end and purpose 
 of their meeting, Eugenius was much alarmed 
 at the prospect of a reformation, which he 
 feared above all things; and beholding with 
 terror the zeal and designs of these spiritual 
 physicians, he twice attempted tlie dissolution 
 of the council. These repeated attempts were 
 vigorously opposed by the members, who 
 proved by the decrees of the late assembly, 
 and by other arguments equally conclusive, 
 that the council was superior in point of au- 
 thority to the Roman pontiff. This controver- 
 sy was terminated in November, 1433, by the 
 silence and concessions of the pope, who, in 
 the following month, wrote a letter from Rome, 
 expressing his approbation of the council, and 
 his acknowledgiBent of its authority.* 
 
 XII. These preliminary measures being 
 finished, the council proceeded with zeal and 
 activity to the accomplishment of the impor- 
 tant purposes for which it was assembled. 
 The pope's legates were admitted as members, 
 but not before they had declared, upon oath, 
 that they would submit to the decrees that 
 should be enacted in it, and more particularly 
 that they would adhere to the laws of the 
 council of Constance, in relation to the supre- 
 macy of general councils, and the subordina- 
 tion of the pontiffs to their authority and juris- 
 diction. These very laws, which the popes 
 beheld with such aversion and horror, were 
 solemnly renewed by the assembly in 1434; 
 and in the following year, the Annates (as they 
 were called) were publicly abolished, notwith- 
 standing the opposition that was made to this 
 measure by the legates of the Roman see. 
 On the 25th of March, 1436, a confession of 
 faith was read, which every pontiff was to 
 subscribe on the day of his election; it was vot- 
 ed tliat the number of cardinals should be re- 
 duced to twenty-foiu-; and the papal imposi- 
 tions, called E.vpectatives, Reservations, and 
 Provisions, were annulled. These measures, 
 with others of a like nature, provoked Eugenius 
 
 * The history of this grand and memorable council 
 is yet a desideratum. The learned Stephen Baluze, 
 (as we find in the Histoirede I'AcademJedes Inscrip- 
 tions et des Belles Lettres, toin. vi. p. 544,) and after 
 him M. I/Enfant, promised the world a history of 
 this council; but neither of these valuable writers 
 performed that promise.* The acts of this famous 
 assembly were collected with incredible industry, in 
 a great number of volumes, from various archives 
 and libraries, at the e.vpense of Rodolphus Augustus, 
 duke of Brunswick, by the very learned and laborious 
 Herman von der Hardt. They are preserved, as we 
 are informed, in the library of Hanover; and they 
 certainly deserve to be drawn from their retreat, and 
 published to the world. In the mean time, the curi- 
 ous may consult the abridgment of the acts of this 
 council, published at Paris, in 1512, of which I have 
 made use in this history, as also the following au- 
 thors: jEneK Sylvii Lib. duodeConcilioBasiliensi. — 
 Edm. Richerius, Histor. Concilior. General, lib. iii. 
 cap. 1. — Henr. Canisii Lectionea Antique, torn. iv. p. 
 447. 
 
 QQ' * Dr. Moshcim has here fallen into an error; 
 for L'Enfa.nt did in reality perform his promise, and 
 composed the History of the Council of Basil, which 
 he blended with his history of the war of the Hus- 
 sites, on account of the connexion between the«« 
 subjects, and also because his advanced age prevent- 
 ed his indulging himself in the hope of being able to 
 give, separately, a complete history of the council of 
 Basil. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 417 
 
 in tho liigliest degree, and induced him to form 
 the intention, either of removing this trouble- 
 some and enterprising council into Italy, or of 
 setting up a new assembly in opposition to it, 
 whicii might fix bounds to its zeal for the re- 
 formation of the church. Accordingly, on the 
 ■itii of May, 1437, tlie assembled fathers hav- 
 innf, on account of tlie Greeks, come to a reso- 
 lution of holding the new council at Basil, 
 Avignon, or some city in the duchy of Savoy, 
 the intractable pontiff opposed this motion, 
 and maintained that it should be transferred 
 into Italy. Each of tlie contending parties 
 persevered, with the utmost obstinacy, in tiie 
 resolution they had taken; and this occasioned 
 a warm and violent contest between the pope 
 and the council. The latter summoned Eu- 
 genius to appear at Basil, in order to give an 
 account of his conduct; but the pontiff, instead 
 of complying with the requisition, issued a de- 
 cree, by which he pretended to dissolve the 
 council, and to assemble another at Ferrara. 
 This decree, indeed, was treated with the ut- 
 most contempt by the council, which, with the 
 consent of the emperor, the king of France, 
 and several other princes, continued its deli- 
 berations, and pronounced a sentence of con- 
 tumacy against the rebellious pontiff, for hav- 
 ing refused to obey its order. 
 
 XIII. In the year 143S, Eugenius in person 
 opened the council, which he had summoned 
 to meet at Ferrara, and at the second session 
 tliundered out an excomnuuiication against 
 the fathers assembled at Basil. The principal 
 business that was now to be transacted, was 
 the proposed reconciliation between the Greek 
 and Latin churches; and, in order to bring this 
 salutary and important design to a happy issue, 
 the emperor John Palaiologus, the Grecian 
 patriarch Josephus, with the most eminent 
 bishops and doctors among the Greeks, arrived 
 in Italy, and appeared at Ferrara. The ex- 
 tremity to whii'h the Greeks were reduced by 
 the Turks, and the pleasing hope, that their 
 reconciliation with the Roman pontiti' would 
 contribute to engage the Latins in their cause, 
 seem to have animated, in a particular manner, 
 their zeal in this negotiation. Be that as it 
 may, there was little done at Ferrara, where 
 matters were carried on too slowly, to aflbrd 
 any prospect of an end of their dissensions: but 
 the negotiations were more successful at Flo- 
 rence, whither Eugenius removed the council 
 about the beginning of the year 1439, on ac- 
 count of the plague tiiat broke out at Ferrara. 
 On the other hand, the council of Basil, exas- 
 perated by the imperious proceedings of Euge- 
 nius, deposed him from the papacy on the -5th 
 of June, 1439; which vigorous measure was 
 not approved by the European kings and 
 princes. It may be ciisily conceived what an 
 impression this step made upon the allronted 
 pontirt'; he lost all patience; and devoted, for 
 the second time, to hell and damnation, the 
 members of the obnoxious council by a solemn 
 and most severe edict, in which also he de- 
 clared all their acts null, and all their proceed- 
 ings unlawful. This new peal of papal thun- 
 der wns held in derision by the council of Ba- 
 sil, whose members, persisting in their purpose, 
 elected another pontiff, and raised to that high 
 Vol. I.— 53 
 
 dignity Amadous, duke of Savoy, who then 
 lived in the most profound solitude at a charm- 
 ing retreat, called Ripaille, upon the borders 
 of the Leman Lake, and who is known in the 
 papal list by the name of Felix V. 
 
 XIV. This election was the occasion of tho 
 revival of that deplorable schism, which had 
 formerly rent the church, and which had been 
 terminated with so much difficulty, and after 
 so many vain and fruitless efforts, at the coun- 
 cil of Constance. Tho new breach was even 
 more lamentable than the former one, as tho 
 flame was kindled not only between rival pon- 
 tiffs, but also between the contending councils 
 of Basil and Florence. The greatest part of 
 the church submitted to the jurisdiction, and 
 adopted the cause of Eugenius; while Felix 
 was acknowledged, as lawful pontiff, by a 
 great number of universities, and, among 
 others, by that of Paris, as also in several king- 
 doms and provinces. The council of Basil 
 continued to deliberate, to enact laws, and pub- 
 lish edicts, until the year 1443, notwithstand- 
 ing the efforts of Eugenius and his adherents 
 to put a stop to their j)roceedings. And, though 
 in that year the members of the council re- 
 tired to their respective places of abode, yet 
 they declared publicly that the council was 
 not dissolved. 
 
 In the mean time, the council of Florence, 
 with Eugenius at its head, was chiefly em- 
 ployed in reconciling the ditferenres between 
 the Greeks an I Latins; which weighty busi- 
 ness was committed to the prudence, zeal, and 
 piety, of a select number of eminent men on 
 both sides. The most distinguished among 
 those whom the Greeks chose for tiiis purpose 
 was the learned Bessarion, who was after- 
 wards raised to the dignity of cardinal in the 
 Romish church. This great man, engaged 
 and seduced by the splendid presents and pro- 
 mises of the Latin pontiff, employed the whole 
 extent of his authority, and the power of his elo- 
 quence, and even had recourse to promises and 
 tlireats, to persuade the Greeks to accept tho 
 conditions of peace that were proposed by Euge- 
 nius. These conditions required their consent to 
 the following points: — " That the Holy Spirit 
 proceeded from the Son, as well as from the Fa- 
 ther; that dcparlt'd souls were purified in tho 
 infernal regions, by a certain kind of fire, be- 
 fore their admission to the presence and vision 
 of the Deity; — that unleavened bread might be 
 used in the administration of tlio Lord's sup- 
 per;" — and lastly, which was the principal 
 thing insisted upon by the Latins, that ' the 
 Roman pontiff was the supreme judge, the 
 true head of the universal church.' Such 
 were the terms of peace to which all the 
 Greeks were obliged to accede, except Mark 
 of Ephesus, whom neither entieatics nor re- 
 wards could move from his purjiosc, or engage 
 to submit to a reconciliation founded upon such 
 conditions. And indeed this reconciliation, 
 which had been brought about by various 
 stratagems, was much more specious than 
 solid, and had by no means stability sufficient 
 to insure its duration. We find, accordingly, 
 that the Grecian deputies had no sooner re- 
 turned to Constantinople, than tlioy declared 
 publicly, that all things had been x:arned on 
 
418 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CilURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 at Floieuoe by artifice and fraud, and renewed 
 the schism, wiiicli luid been so impert'eetly 
 healed. The council put an end to its delibe- 
 rations on the 26tli of April, 144-,* without 
 having executed any of the designs that were 
 proposed by it, in a satisfactory manner; for, 
 beside the affair of the Greeks, they pro])osed 
 bringinjj the Armenians, Jacobites, and more 
 particularly the Abyssinians, into tlie bosom 
 of the Romish church; but this project was at- 
 tended with as little success as tiie other. 
 
 XV. Eiigenius IV., who had been the occa- 
 sion of the new schism in the see of Rome, 
 died in February, 1447, and was succeeded, 
 in a few weeks, by Thomas de Sarzano, bishop 
 of Bologna, who filled the pontificate under 
 the denomination of Nsco-las V. This eminent 
 prelate had, in point of merit, the best preten- 
 sions possible to the papal throne. He was 
 distinguished by his erudition and genius; he 
 was a zealous patron and protector of learned 
 men; and, what was still more laudable, he 
 was remarkable for his moderation, and for 
 the meek and pacific s[)irit that discovered it- 
 self in all his conduct and actions. Under tiiis 
 pontificate, the European princes, and more es- 
 pecially the king of France, e.xerted their 
 warmest endeavours to restore tranquillity and 
 union to the Latin church; and tlieir efforts 
 were crowned with the desired success. For, 
 in 1449, Felix V., resigned the papal chair, 
 and returned to his delightful luuiiiitage at 
 Ripaille, while tlie fathers of tiie Council of 
 Basil, assembled at Lausanne,! ratified his 
 voluntary abdication, and, by a solemn decree, 
 ordered the universal church to submit to the 
 jurisdiction of Nicolas as their lawful pontiff. 
 On the other hand, Nicolas proclaimed this 
 treaty of peace with great pomp on the 18th 
 of June, in the same year, and set the seal of 
 his approbation and authority to the acts and 
 decrees of the council. This pontiff distin- 
 guished himself in a very extraordinary man- 
 ner, by his love of learning, and by his ardent 
 zeal for the propagation of the liberal arts and 
 sciences, which he promoted, with great suc- 
 cess, by the encouragement he granted to the 
 learned Greeks, who emigrated from Constan- 
 tinople into Italy. I The principal occasion of 
 his death was the fatal i-evolution that tlirew 
 this capital of the Grecian empire into the 
 hands of the Turks; tliis melancholy event 
 
 preyed upon his spirits, and hastened his death, 
 which happened on the 24th of March, 1465. 
 XVI. His successor Alplionso Borgia, who 
 was a native of Spain, and is known in the 
 papal list by the denomination of Cali.xtus III., 
 was remarkable for nothing but his zeal ui ani- 
 mating tiie Christian princes to make war upon 
 the Turks; his reign also was short, for he died 
 in 145S. iEiieas Sylvius Piccolomini, who 
 succeeded him in the pontificate in that same 
 year, under the title of Pius II., rendered his 
 name much more illustrious, not only by his 
 extensive genius, and the important transac- 
 tions tiiat were carried on during his adminis- 
 tration, but also by tlie various and usefiil pro- 
 ductions with which he enriched the republic 
 of letters. The lustre of his fame was, indeed, 
 tiiriiLslied by a scandillous proof which he gave 
 of his fickleness and inconstancy, or rather 
 perhaps of his bad faith; for, after having vi- 
 gorously defended, against the pontiffs, tlie 
 dignity and prerogatives of general councils, 
 and maintained, with peculiar boldness and 
 obstinacy, the cause of the cotmcil of Basil 
 against Eugenius IV., he ignomiiiiously re- 
 nounced these principles upon his accession to 
 the pontificate, and acted in direct opposition 
 to them during the whole course of his admi- 
 nistration. Thus, in 1460, he denied publicly 
 that the pope was subordinate to a general 
 council, and even prohibited all appeals to such 
 a council under the severest penalties. In the 
 ibUowing year he obtained from Louis XI., 
 king of France, the abrogation of the Pragmatic 
 Sancl'wn, wliich favoured, in a particvilar man- 
 ner, tlie pretensions of the general councils to 
 supremacy in the church.* But the most egre- 
 
 ♦ The history of this council, and of the franils and 
 stratagems that were practised in it. was composed 
 by that learned Grecian, Sylvester i^syropiilns, 
 whose work was published at the Hafiue. in ililiO, 
 with a Latin translation, a preliminary Discourse, 
 and ample notes, by the learned Robert Crci^'hton, 
 a native of Great Uritain. This history was refuted 
 by Leo Allatius, in a work entitled, Exercitationes 
 in Creightoni Apparatum, Versionem, et Notas ad 
 Historiam Concilii Florentini scriptam a Sgyropulo, 
 Romas, 1074. See the same anthor'.s Perpi'^tua Con- 
 sensio Ecclesia" Oriental, et Occident, p. 875, as also 
 Mabillon, Museum Italicum, torn. i. p. '2\'.i. — Span- 
 heim, de perpetua Dissensione Eccles. Orient, et 
 Occident, tom. ii. op. p. 491. — Hermann, Ilistoria 
 concertat. de Pane azymo, part ii. c. v. 
 
 t This abdication was made on the 9th of April, 
 1449, and was ratified on the IGth. 
 
 t See Dom. Georgii Vita Nicolai V. ad (idem vete- 
 mm Monumentorum; to which is added a treatise, 
 entitled, Disquisitio de Nicolai V erga Literag et 
 Literate* Vitos ratiociiiio, published at Rome, in 
 742. 
 
 r^y * There was a famous edict, entitled, The 
 Prairniatic Sanction, issued by Louis IX., who, though 
 he is honoured with a place in the Kalendar, was yet 
 azealims assertor of the liberty and privileges of the 
 (iailiran church, against the despotic encroachments 
 and pretensions of the Roman pontiffs. It was 
 against their tyrannical proceedings, and intolera- 
 ble extortioiiB, that this edict was chiefly levelled; 
 and though sojne creatures of the court of Rome 
 have thrown out insinuations of it.s being a spurious 
 production, yet the contrary is evident from its hav. 
 ing been registered, as the authentic edict of that pi- 
 ous monarch, hy the parliament of Paris, in 1461, 
 by the states of the kingdom assembled at Tours in 
 MH:t, and by the university of Paris, in 1491. — See, 
 for a farther account of this edict, the excellent His. 
 tory of France, (begun by the Abbe Velly, and con- 
 tinned by IW. Villaret,) vol. vi. p. 57. 
 
 The edict which Dr. Mosheim has in view here, ia 
 the Prn/rtnatic Snnctian that was drawn up at Bour. 
 cps, rri ]4;t8, by Charles VII. king of France, with 
 the consent of the most eminent prelates amd gran- 
 dees of the nation, who were assembled at that place. 
 This edict, (which was absolutely necessary in order 
 to dehver the French clergy from the vexations they 
 suffered from the encroachments of the popes, ever 
 since the latter had fixed their residence at Avignon) 
 consisted of twenty-three articles, in which, among 
 other salutary regiilatrons, the etections to vacant 
 benefices were restored to their ancieni purity and 
 freedom,* the annates and other pecuniary preten- 
 
 itF" * That is to say, these elections were wrested 
 out of the hands of the popes, who had usurped them; 
 and, by the new edict, every church had the privi- 
 lege of choosing its bishop, and every monastery its 
 abbot or prior. By the Concordat, or agreement, be- 
 tween Franci.^ I. and Leo X., (which was substituted 
 in the place of the Pragmatic Sanction.) the nomi- 
 nation of the hiahoprics in France, and the collation 
 of certain benefices of (he higher class, were vested 
 in the kings of France An ample and satisfactory 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, &c. 
 
 419 
 
 gious instance of impudence and perfidy that 
 he exhibited to the world was in 1463, when 
 he publicly retracted all that lie had written in 
 favour of the council of Basil, and declared 
 without either shame or hesitation, that, as 
 jffineas Sylvius, he was a damnable heretic, but 
 that, as Pius II., he was an orthodo.x pontiff. 
 This indecorous declaration was the last cir- 
 cumstance, worthy of notice, that happened 
 during his pontificate; for he died in July, 
 1464.* 
 
 XVII. Paul II., a Venetian by birth, whose 
 name was Peter Barbo, was raised to the head 
 of the church in 1464, and died in 1471. His 
 administration was distinguished by some mea- 
 sures, which, if we consider the genius of tiie 
 times, were worthy of praise; though it must 
 at the same time be confessed, that he did ma- 
 ny things which were evidently inexcusable, 
 (not to mention his reducing the jubilee circle 
 to twenty-five years, and thus accelerating the 
 return of that most absurd and superstitious 
 ceremony;) so that his reputation became at 
 least dubious in aftertimes, and was viewed in 
 different lights by different persons. f The fol- 
 lowing popes, Sixtus IV., and Innocent VIII., 
 whose names were Francis Albescola and Jolm 
 Baptist Cibo, were neither remarkable for their 
 virtues nor their vices. The former died in 
 1484, and the latter in 1492. Filled with the 
 most terrible apprehensions of the danger that 
 threatened Europe in general, and Italy in par- 
 ticular, from the growing power of the Turks, 
 l)oth these pontiffs attempted to put themselves 
 
 Fions and encroachments of tlie pontiffs abolished, 
 and the authority of a general council declared supe- 
 rior to that of the pope. This eihct was drawn up 
 in concert with the fathers of the council of Basil, 
 and the articles were taken from the decrees of that 
 council, though they were admitted by the Galilean 
 church with certain modifications, which the nature 
 of the times and the manners of the nation rendered 
 expedient. Such then was the Prasmatic Sanction, 
 which Pius II. engaaied Louis XI. (who received upon 
 that occasion, for himself and his successors, the ti- 
 tle of Most Christian) to abolish by a solemn decla- 
 ration; the full execution of which was, however, 
 prevented by the noble stand made by the university 
 of Paris in favour of the edict. The king also, per- 
 ceiving that he had been deluded into this declara- 
 tion by the treacherous insinuations of Geoffry, bi- 
 shop of Arras, (whom the po|)c had bribed with a 
 cardinal's cap, and large promises of a more lucra- 
 tive kind,) took no sort of pains to have it executed, 
 but published, on the contrary, new edicts against the 
 pecuniary pretensions and extortions of the court 
 of Rome; bo that in reality the Pragmatic Sanction 
 was not abolished before the adjustment of the Con 
 c.ordat or agreement, which was transacted between 
 Francis I. and Leo X. in 1.517, and was forced upon 
 the French nation in opposition to the united offorls 
 of the clergy, the university, the parliament, and the 
 people. See, for a farther account of this matter, 
 Du Clos. Histoire de Louis XI. vol. i. p. 115—132. 
 
 * Beside the writers of ecclesiastical history, see 
 Nouveau Diction. Histor. et Critique, toni. ii. at the 
 article Enee Sylvius. 
 
 t Paul II. has had the good fortune to find, in one 
 of the most eminent and learned men of this age, 
 (the famous cardinal CJuiriiii,) a zealous apologist. 
 See, among the productions of that illu.strious pre- 
 late, the piece entitled, " Pauli II. Vila, ex Codice 
 AnglicsB Bibliothecae desuinpta, precmissis ipsius Vin- 
 diciis adversus Platinam aliosque obtrectatores, Ro- 
 mm, 1740." 
 
 account of thisconvention may be seen in bishop Bur- 
 net's excellent History of the Reformation, vol. iii. 
 and in a book entitled, Histoire du Droit public Eccle- 
 Biaslique Francois, published in 1737. 
 
 in a posture of defence, and warmly exhorted 
 the European princes to check the progress of 
 that warlike people; but many obstacles arose, 
 which rendered their exhortations ineffectual. 
 The other undertakings that were projected or 
 carried on, during tlieir continuance at the 
 head of the ciuirch, are not of sufficient im- 
 portance to require particular notice. 
 
 XVIII. In the series of pontiffs that ruled 
 the church during this century, the last, in 
 order of time, was Ale-xander VI., a Spaniard 
 by birtli, whoso name w-as Roderic Borgia. 
 The 111(3 and actions of this man show, that 
 there was a Nero among the popes, as well as 
 among the emperors. The crimes and enor- 
 mities, tliat history has imputed to this papal 
 Nero, evidently prove him to have been not 
 only destitute of all religious and virtuoiia 
 principles, but even regardless of decency, and 
 hardened against the very feeling of shame; 
 and, though Uie malignity of his enemies may 
 have forged false accusations against him, and, 
 in some instances, exaggerated the horror of 
 his real crimes, yet we have upon record an 
 antlientic list of undoubted facts, which, both 
 by their number and their atrocity, are suffi- 
 cient to render the name and memory of Alex- 
 ander VI. odious and detestable, in the opinion 
 even of such as have the smallest tincture of 
 virtuous principles and feelings. An inordi- 
 nate affection for his children was the principal 
 source from which proceeded a great part 
 of the crimes he committed. He had four 
 sons by a concubine with whom he had lived 
 many years; among wliom was the infamous 
 Cffisar Borgia. A daughter, named Lucretia, 
 was likewise among the fruits of this unlawful 
 commerce. The tenderness of the pontiff for 
 his spurious offspring was e.TCessive beyond all 
 expression; his only aim was to load them 
 with riches and honours; and, in the execution 
 of this j)uri)ose, he trampled with contempt 
 upon every obstacle, which tlie demands of 
 justice, the dictates of reason, and the remon- 
 strances of religion, threw in his way.* Thus 
 he persisted in his profligate career until tha 
 year 1503, when the poison, which he and his 
 son Ctesar had mingled for others who stood 
 in the way of their avarice and ambition, cut 
 short, by a happy mistake, his own days.f 
 
 XIX. The monastic societies, as we learn 
 from a multitude of authentic records, and 
 from the testimonies of the best writers, were, 
 at this time, so many herds of lazy, illiterate, 
 profligate, and licentious Epicureans, whose 
 views in life were confined to opulence, idle- 
 ness, and pleasure. The rich monks, par- 
 ticularly those of the Benedictine and Augus- 
 tine orders, perverted their revenues to the 
 gratification of their lusts; and renouncing, 
 in their conduct, all regard to their respective 
 rules of discipline, drew upon themselves great 
 
 ♦ The life of this execrable tyrant was written in 
 English by Mr. Alexander Gordon; but the same 
 subject has been treated with greater moderation by 
 the ingenious and learned author of the Histoire du 
 Droit Publ. Eccles. Francois, to which work are sub- 
 joined the lives of Alexander VI. and Leo X. 
 
 t Such is the account which the best historians 
 have given of the death of Alexander VI. Not- 
 withstanding these authorities, Voltaire has pre- 
 tended to prove that this pontifl' died a natural 
 death. 
 
420 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 popular odium by their sensuality and licen- 
 tiousness.* This was matter of affliction to 
 many wise and good men, especially in France 
 and Germany, who formed the pious design of 
 stemming the torrent of monkish luxury, and 
 excited a spirit of reformation among that de- 
 generate order, f Among the German reform- 
 ers, who undertook tlie restoration of virtue 
 and temperance in the monasteries, Nicolas de 
 Mazen, an Austrian abbot, and Nicolas Dun- 
 kelspuhl, professor at Vienna, held the first 
 rank. They attempted, with unparalleled zeal 
 and assiduity, the reformation of the Benedic- 
 tines throughout Germany, and succeeded so 
 far as to restore, at least, a certain air of de- 
 cency and virtue in the conventual establish- 
 ments of Suabia, Franconia, and Bavaria.t 
 The reformation of the same order was at- 
 tempted in France by many, and particularly 
 by Guy Juvenal, a learned man, whose wri- 
 tings, upon that and on other subjects, were 
 received with applause. § It is, however, 
 certain, that the majority of the monks, both 
 in France and elsewhere, resisted, with obsti- 
 nacy, the salutary attempts of tiiese spiritual 
 physicians, and returned their zeal with the 
 worst treatment that it was possible to show 
 them. 
 
 XX. Wliile the opulent monks exhibited to 
 the world scandalous examples of luxury, ig- 
 norance, indolence, and licentiousness, accom- 
 panied with a barbarous aversion to every thing 
 that carried the remotest aspect of science, tlie 
 Mendicants, and more especially the Domini- 
 cans and Franciscans, were chargeable with 
 irregularities of another kind. Beside their 
 arrogance, which was excessive, a quarrelsome 
 and litigious spirit, an ambitious desire of en- 
 croachiing upon the rights and privileges of 
 others, an insatiable zeal for the propagation of 
 superstition, and the itch of disputing and of 
 starthig absurd and intricate questions of a re- 
 ligiotis kind, prevailed among them, and drew 
 upon them justly the displeasure and indigna- 
 tion of many. It was tliis wrangling spirit 
 that seriously protracted the controveries which 
 had subsisted so long between them and the 
 bishops, and, indeed, the whole sacerdotal or- 
 der; and it was their vain curiosity, and their 
 inordinate passion for novelty, tliat made tlie 
 divines, in the greatest part of the Eiu-opean 
 colleges, complain of the dangerous and de- 
 structive errors which they had introduced 
 into religion. These complaints were repeat- 
 ed, without interruption, in all the provinces 
 where the Mendicants had any credit; and the 
 same complaints were often presented to the 
 court of Rome, where they exercised sufficient- 
 ly both the patience and subtlety of the pope 
 and his ministers. The different pontiffs who 
 ruled the church during this century, were dif- 
 ferently affected toward the Mendicants; some 
 
 * See Martin Senging, TiiiliouosOrdiiiis S. Bone 
 dicti, sen Oratio in Concilio Bab-iliensi, an. 143^, 
 contra vitia Benedict, recitata, in Bern. Pezii Bib. 
 Ascetica, t. viii, 
 
 t See Leibnitii Prsf. ad t. ii. Script. Eruns. 
 
 I For an acr^innt of these reformers, see Martin 
 Kropf Bibliotlioca Mellirensis, sen de Vitis et Scrip. 
 Benedict. Mellirens. p. 143, 163, 203. 
 
 J See Lirons Sinijiilarites Ilistoriqnes et Lite 
 raires, toni. iii. p. 4'.). 
 
 patronised them, others opposed them: and 
 this circumstance frequently changed the as- 
 pect of affairs, and, for a long time, rendered 
 the decision of the contest dubious.* The 
 persecution that was carried on against the 
 Beguins became also an occasion of increasing 
 the odium tliathad been cast upon the begging 
 monks, and was extremely prejudicial to their 
 interests. For the Beguins and Lollards, to 
 escape the fury of their inverate enemies, the 
 bishops and otliers, frequently took refuge in 
 the third order of the Franciscans, Domini- 
 cans, and Augustinians, hoping that, in the 
 patronage and protection of these numerous 
 and powerful societies, they might find a se- 
 cure retreat from the calamities that oppressed 
 them. Nor were their hopes entirely disap- 
 pointed; but the storm that hitherto pursued 
 them, fell upon their new patrons and protec- 
 tors, the Mendicants; who, by affording a re- 
 fuge to a sect so odious to the clergy, drew 
 upon themselves tlie indignation of that sacred 
 order, and were thereby involved in various 
 difficulties and perplexities.! 
 
 XXI. The more austere and rebellious Fran- 
 ciscans, who, separating themselves from the 
 church, renounced their allegiance to the 
 Roman pontiff's, and were distinguished by the 
 appellation of Fratricelli or Minorites, con- 
 tinued, witli their Tertiaries, the Beghards, to 
 carry on an open war against the court of 
 Rome. Tlieir head-quarters were in Italy, in 
 tlie marquisite of Ancona and the neighbouring 
 countries; for it was there that their leader and 
 chief ruler resided. They were persecuted, 
 about the middle of this century, with the 
 greatest severity, by pope Nicolas V., who 
 employed every method he could devise to 
 vanquish their obstinacy, sending for that pur- 
 pose successively against them the Franciscan 
 monks, armed hosts, and civil magistrates, and 
 committing to the flames many of those who 
 remained unmoved by all these means of con- 
 version. + This heavy persecution was carried 
 on by tlie succeeding pontiffs, and by none 
 with greater bitterness and vehemence than 
 by Paul II., though it is said, that this pope 
 choso rather to conquer the headstrong and 
 stubborn perseverance of this sect by impri- 
 sonment and exile, than by fire and sword. § 
 The Fratricelli, on the other hand, animated 
 by the protection of several persons of great 
 influence, who became their patrons on ac- 
 count of the striking appearance of .sanctity 
 which they exhibited, had recourse to vio- 
 lence, and went so far as to put to death some 
 of the inquisitors, among whom Angelo of 
 Camaldoli fell a victim to their vengeance. || 
 
 * See Launoy, Lib. de Canoiie Utrinsque Sexu.s, 
 op. toni. i. part i. — Boulay, torn. v. — Ant. Wood, 
 torn. 1. 
 
 t See the history of the preceding century. 
 
 I Mauritius Sartius, de Antiqua Picentum civi- 
 tate Cupronioiitana, in Anjjeli Calogerfe RaccoUa di 
 Opusculi Scientifici, torn, .x.xxi.x. where we have 
 several extracts from tbe manuscript dialogue of 
 Jacobus de Marcbia against the Fratricelli. 
 
 § Ang. Mar. Ouirini Vita Pauli II. p. 78.— Jo. Tar- 
 gionins^ Praif ad claror. Venetor. Epistolas ad Mag- 
 liabechiiim, torn. i. p. 43, where we have an account 
 of the books that were written against the Fratri- 
 celli by Nicolas Palmerius and others under the pon- 
 tificate of Paul ir. and which are yet in manuscript. 
 
 ]| See the Acta Sanctor. toin. ii. Maii, p. ^Hd- 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOCTORS, CirURCH GOVIHINMENT, &c. 
 
 421 
 
 Nor were the commotions raised by tliis trou- 
 blesome sect confined to Italy; other countries 
 felt the effects of their ptslulunt zeal; and IJohc- 
 irnia and Silesia (where they preaclicd witii 
 warmth their favourite doctrine, " that tiie 
 true imitation of Cln-ist consisted in beirifary 
 and extreme poverty") became the tiiealriisof 
 the spiritual war.* The king of Hoheuiia was 
 well affected to these fanatics, granted them 
 liis protection, and was on that account ex- 
 communicatiid by Panl 11-1 In France, their 
 affairs were far from being' prosperous; such of 
 th^m as fell into the hands of the inquisitors, 
 were committed to tiie flames,;]: and they were 
 eagerly searclied after in the province of Tou- 
 louse and the adjacent countries, where great 
 numbers of them lay concealed, and endea- 
 voured to escape the vigilance of their enemies; 
 while several of their scattered parties removed 
 to England and Ireland. § Even the dreadful 
 series of calamities and persecutions that ha- 
 rassed this miserable sect did not entirely ex- 
 tinguisli it; for it subsisted to the time of the 
 reformation in (Jermany, when its remaining 
 votaries adopted the cause, and embraced the 
 doctrines and discipline of Lutlier. 
 
 XXII. Of the religious fraternities that were 
 founded in this century, not one deserves a 
 more honourable menti(jn than the Brethren 
 and C'/lerks of the common life, (as they called 
 themselves,) who lived under the rule of St. 
 Augustine, and were eminently useful in pro- 
 moting the cau.se of religion, learning, and 
 virtue. This .society had been formed in the 
 preceding age by Gerard Groote, a native of 
 De venter, (I remarkable for his fervent piety 
 and extensive erudition; it was not, however, 
 before the present century, that it received a 
 proper degree of consistence, and, having ob- 
 tained the approbation of the council of Con- 
 stance, flourished in Holland, the Lower Ger- 
 many, and the adjacent provinces. It vv'as di- 
 vided into two classes, tlie Lettered Bretliren 
 or Clerks, and the Illiterate, who, though tlicy 
 occupied separate habitatioJis, lived in tiie 
 finnest bonds of fraternal union. The Clerks 
 applied themselves with exemplary zeal and 
 assiduity to the study of polite literature, and 
 to the education of youth. Tliey composed 
 learned works for the instruction of their con- 
 temporaries, and erected schools and semina- 
 ries of learning wherever they went. The Il- 
 literate Brethren, on tiie other hand, were em- 
 ployed in manual labour, and exercised with 
 success the mechanic arts. No religious vows 
 restrained the members of either class; yet 
 they had all things in common, and this com- 
 mmiity was the great bond of their union. 
 The Sisters of this virtuous society lived much 
 in the .same manner, and employed the hours. 
 
 * Jo. Georgii SchLlliornii Acta Historica Eccles. 
 pRft i. 
 
 t auirini Vita Pauli It. p. 7.T 
 
 t I liave ill iiiaiMisrript llio acts or decrpos nt tlic 
 iiKinisitiuii agiiin.st Jiiliii Uiidiilchi do Custcdliiiiic 
 and Francis d'Arcliata, botliof tlium Fratricidli, wlm 
 were burned in Franco, in 14.'5I. 
 
 § Wood's Anliq. Dxonien.'!. torn. i. p. 2>i. 
 
 Il The lifo oftliis famous Uutr,liinan,<;or:ird firooto, 
 was vvritton by Thomas n Konipis, and i.-i to ho found 
 in hifl works. It stands at Iho bond of the lives of 
 eleven of bis contemporaries, composed by this emi 
 nent writer. 
 
 that were not consecrated to prayer and read- 
 ing, in tlie education of young females, and in 
 liniiiches of industry suitable to their sex. The 
 schools, that were erected by the clerks of this 
 fraternity, acfpiired a great and illustrious 
 rejiutation in this century. From thein issued 
 tliose immortal restorers of learning and taste 
 which gave a new face to the republic of let- 
 ters in Germany and Holland, such as Eras- 
 mus of Rotterdam, Alexander Ilegius, John 
 Murmelius, and several others.* But the in- 
 stitution of the order of Jesuits seemed to di- 
 minish the credit of these excellent schools, 
 which, from that period, began to decline. It 
 ought to be added, that the Brethren of the 
 common life, however encouraged by the pub- 
 lic, were exposed to the insults and opposition 
 of the clergy and monks, who had a strong 
 aversion to every tiling that bore the remotest 
 aspect of learning or taste, j 
 
 XXIII. Of the Greeks, who acquired fame 
 by their learned productions, the most eminent 
 were, 
 
 Simeon of Thessalonica, the author of seve- 
 ral treatises, and, among others, of a book 
 against tlie heresies that had troubled the 
 church; to whicli we may add his writings 
 against the Latins, which are yet cxtant;[ 
 
 Josephus Bryennius, who wrote a book con- 
 cerning the Trinity, and another .against the 
 Latins; 
 
 Macarius Macres, whose animosity against 
 the Latins was carried to the greatest height; 
 
 George Phranza, whose historical talent 
 makes a figure in tiie compilation of the By- 
 zantine historians; 
 
 Marcus Epliesius, wlio was an obstinate 
 enemy to the council of Florence;^ 
 
 Cardinal Bessarion, the illustrious protector 
 and supporter of the Platonic scliool, a man 
 of unjiaralleled genius and erudition; but much 
 hated by the Greelis, because he seemed to 
 lean to tiie party of the Latins, and proposed 
 an union of the two nations to tlie prejudice of 
 the former; II 
 
 George Sciiolarius, otherwise called Genna 
 dins, who wrote against the Latins, especially 
 
 * Accounts of this order have been niven by Auh 
 MiiKiis, in his Chronicoii, ad an. i:i8-l, and by Hclyot 
 in his Ilistoire d(!s Ordres, toni. iii. llut, in iha\ 
 whicli I have here fjiven, there are .-.onie rirriinistaii 
 cos taken from ancient records not yet puhli.-;hed. * 
 have in my possession several manuscripts, wtiicl 
 fiirnisli materials for a much more clear ,iiid circiini 
 stantial account of the institiiliuii and progress of 
 this order, than can bo derived from the books tha* 
 have hillierto appean^d on that siibjecl. 
 
 t We ri>ad frequently, in the reronls of this reii 
 lory, of si:liools crooted by the I,ollaiils, ami soiiii! 
 limes by the lieubards, at Devenler, lirunsvvick 
 Kiinini;sber^, and Mtinster, and many other places 
 Nciw these Lollards were the clerks of Ilu; cmnmon 
 lifo, who, on account of their virtue, industry, anft 
 b^arnin)!, whicli rendered them very useful in tllf 
 education of yoiitli, vveri! invited by the magistrates 
 of several cities to reside ainontr them. 
 
 J Jo. Alb. Fahricius, liibl. Oraic. vol. xiv. p. 40.— 
 Hich. SiiiKUi, Critique do la liibliothequo Eccles. pal 
 M. Du Tin, torn. i. p. 100. 
 
 S Kich. fJinion, toni. i. p. 431. 
 
 Il For an account of lie.ssarion and the other 
 learned iiieii here mentioned, see Bornerus and Hody, 
 in their histori4's of the restoration of lettersin Italy, 
 bv the Hreeks who took refuge there, after the lakiiig 
 oi" ronslantinople; add to these the Bibliolhera 
 Orteca nf Fahricius. 
 
422 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 against the council of Florence, with greater 
 learning, candour, and perspicuity, than the 
 rest of liis countrymen displayed;* 
 
 George Geinistius Pletho, a man of eminent 
 learning, who excited many of the Italians to 
 the study, not only of the Platonic philosophy 
 in particular, hut of Grecian literature in ge- 
 neral; 
 
 George of Trapesond, wlio translated seve- 
 ral of the most eminent Grecian authors into 
 Latin, and sujjported the cause of the Latins 
 against the Greeks hy his dexterous and elo- 
 quent pen; 
 
 George Codinus, of whom we have yet re- 
 maining several productions relating to the 
 Byzantine history. 
 
 XXIV. The tribe of Latin writers that 
 adorned or dishonoured this century, cannot 
 easily be numbered. We shall therefore con- 
 fine ourselves to the enumeration of those who 
 wrote upon theological points; and even of 
 these we shall only mention the most eminent. 
 At their head we may justly place John Ger- 
 son, chancellor of the university of Paris, the 
 most illustrious ornament that this age could 
 boast of, a man of the greatest influence and 
 authority, whom the council of Ck)nstance 
 looked upon as its oracle, the lovers of liberty 
 as their patron, and whose memory is yet pre- 
 cious to such among the French, as are zealous 
 for the maintenance of their privileges against 
 papal despotism.! This excellent man pub- 
 lished a considerable number of treatises that 
 were admirably adapted to reform the corrup- 
 tions of a superstitious worship, to excite a 
 spirit of genuine piety, and to heal the wounds 
 of a divided churcii; tiiough, in some respects, 
 he does not seem to have thoroughly under- 
 stood the demands and injunctions of the Gos- 
 pel. The most eminent among the other theo- 
 logical writers were, 
 
 Nicolas de Clemangis, a man of uncommon 
 candour and integrity, who, in the most elo- 
 quent and affecting strains, lamented the ca- 
 lamities of the times and the unhappy state of 
 the Christian church;}. 
 
 Alphonsus Tostatus, bishop of Avila, who 
 loaded the Scriptures with unwieldy and vo- 
 luminous commentaries, and also composed 
 other works, in which there is a great mixture 
 of good and bad; 
 
 Ambrose of C!amaldoli, who acquired a high 
 degree of reputation by his profound know- 
 ledge of the Greek language, and his uncom- 
 mon acquaintance with Grecian literature, as 
 also by tiie zeal and industry he discovered in 
 his attempts to effectuate a reconciliation be- 
 tween the Greeks and Latins; 
 
 Nicolas de Cusa, a man of vast erudition, 
 and no mean genius, thougli not liinied for the 
 
 * Rirli. Simon, Croyance de I'Eglise Orientale sur 
 la TraiisMbslaiitiatioii, p. 87. 
 
 t Si'c DiiPin's Gersimiaua, prefixed to the edition 
 of the works of Gcr.son, which we owe to that labori- 
 ous author, and which appeared at Aiiiweip in tive 
 vohuiies folio, in ITOti. See also Jo. I.aunoii His- 
 toria Gymnapii Kegii Navarreni, part iii. lib. ii. cap. 
 i. p. !>\i, toni. iv. p i. op. — Herni. von der Hardt, 
 Acta Concil. Constant, toni. i. part iv. 
 
 t See Launoii Hist, part iii. lib. ii. cap. iii I.on 
 
 gueval, Hist, de I'Evtlise Gallicane, toni. xiv. p. 43(5.— 
 The works of rieinancis were pulili.>-hed by Lydius 
 at Leyden, with a glossary, in KM 
 
 solidity of his judgment, as may appear from a 
 work of his, entitled, " Conjectures concerning 
 the last Day;"* 
 
 John Nieder, whose writings are very proper 
 to give us an accurate notion of the manners 
 and spirit of the age in which he lived, and 
 whose journeys and transactions have rendered 
 him famous; 
 
 John Capistran, who was in high esteem at 
 the court of Rome on account of the ardour 
 and vehemence with which he defended the 
 jurisdiction and majesty of the pontiffs against 
 all their enemies and opposers;| 
 
 Jolm Wesselus and Jerome Savanarola, 
 who may justly be placed among the wisest 
 and worthiest men of this age. The former, 
 who was a native of Groningen, and on ac- 
 count of his extraordinary penetration and sa- 
 gacity was called the Light of the World, 
 propagated several of those doctrines, which 
 Luther afterwards inculcated with greater evi- 
 dence and energy, and animadverted with 
 freedom and candour upon the corruptions of 
 the Romish church.J The latter was a Domi- 
 nican and a native of Ferrara, remarkable for 
 piety, eloquence, and learning; who touched 
 the sores of the church with a heavier hand, 
 and inveighed against the pontiffs with greater 
 severity. For this freedom he severely suffered. 
 He was committed to the flames at Florence 
 in 1498, and bore his fate with the most trium- 
 phant fortitude and serenity of mind;§ 
 
 Alphonsus Spina, who wrote a book against 
 the Jews and Saracens, which he called For- 
 talitium Fidei. 
 
 To all these we must join the whole tribe of 
 the scholastic writers, whose chief ornaments 
 were, John Capreolus, John de Turrecremata, 
 Antoninus of Florence, Dionysius a Ryckel, 
 Henry Gorcomius, Gabriel Biel, Stephen Bru- 
 lifer, and others. The most remarkable among 
 the Mystics were, Vincent Ferrerius, Henry 
 Harphius, Laurence Justinianus, Bemardine 
 of Sienna, and Thomas a Kempis, who shone 
 among these with a superior lustre, and to 
 whom the famous book, concerning the imita- 
 tion of Christ, is commonly attributed. || 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Co7icerning the State of Religion, and the Doc- 
 trine of the Church, during this Century. 
 
 I. The state of religion had become so cor- 
 rupt among the Latins, that it was utterly des- 
 
 * Bayle, Reponse aux Questions d'un Provincial, 
 torn. ii. rap. f xvii. 
 
 t I..'Eiifant's Histoire de la Guerre des Hussites, 
 toni. ii. Wadding, Annales Minorum, torn. ix. 
 
 t Jo. Ilenr. Mali Vita Reuchlini, p. 156. 
 
 § Jo Franc. Buddei Parerga Historico-Theologica. 
 The life of Savanarola was written by J. Francis 
 Picus, and published at Paris, with various annota- 
 tions, letters, and original pieces, by Qiietif, in 1674. 
 The same editor published also the Spiritual and 
 Ascetic Epistles of Savanarola, translated from the 
 Italian into Latin. See Echard, Scriptor. PriEdicator. 
 toni. i. p. 884. 
 
 II The late abbe Lenglet du Fresnoy promised the 
 world a demonstration thai this work, whose true 
 author has been so much disputed among the learn- 
 ed, was originally written in French by a person 
 named Gersen, or Gerson, and only translated into 
 Latin by Thomas a Kempis. See Granetus in Lau- 
 noianis, part ii. tom.iv. part ii. op. p. 414. The his 
 tory of this celebrated production is given by Vin 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THK DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 423 
 
 fitute of any thing llial could altrutt ftie 
 esteem of the truly virtuous and jtidicioirs p;irt 
 of mankind. This is a fact, vvliicii even tliosc 
 individuals wliose prejudices render thcni un- 
 willing to acknowledge it, will never presume 
 to deny. Among the Greeks and Orientals, 
 religion had scarcely a better aspect than 
 among the Latins; at least, if the difFerence 
 was in their favour, it was far from being con- 
 siderable. The worship of the Deity consist- 
 ed in a round of frivolous and insipid cere- 
 monies. The discourses of those who instruct- 
 ed the people in public, were not only destitute 
 of sense, judgment, and spirit, but even of pi- 
 ety and devotion, and were in reality nothing 
 more than a motley mixture of the grossest 
 fictions and the most extravagant inventions. 
 The reputation of Christian knowledge and 
 piety was easily acquired; it was lavished upon 
 those who professed a profound veneration fjr 
 the sacred order, and their spiritual head the 
 Roman pontiff, who studied to render the 
 .saints (i. e. the clergy, their ministers) propi- 
 tious by frequent and rich donations, who were 
 exact and regular in the ol>servance of the 
 stated ceremonies of the church, and who had 
 wealth enough to pay the fines which the pa- 
 pal quaestors had annexed to the commission 
 of all the different degrees of transgression; or, 
 m other words, to purchase indulgences. Such 
 were the ingredients of ordinary piety; but per- 
 sons who added to these a certain degree of 
 austerity and bodily mortification were placed 
 in the highest order of worthies, and consider- 
 ed as the peculiar favourites of Heaven. On 
 the other hand, the number of those who were 
 studious to acquire a just, notion of religion, to 
 investigate the true sense of the sacred writ- 
 ings, and to model their lives and manners 
 after the precepts and example of the divine 
 Saviour, was extremely small; and such had 
 much difficulty in escaping the flames, at a 
 time when virtue and sense were deemed he- 
 retical. 
 
 H. This miserable state of affairs, this enor- 
 mous perversion of religion and morality, 
 throughout almost all the western provinces, 
 were observed and deplored by many wise and 
 good men, who all endeavoured, though indif- 
 ferent ways, to stem the torrent of superstition, 
 and to reform a corrupt church. In England 
 and Scotland, the disciples of Wicklifle, whom 
 the multitude had stigmatized witli the odious 
 title of Lollards, continued to inveigh against 
 the despotic laws of the pontilTs, and the licen- 
 tious manners of the clergy.* The Waldcnses, 
 though persecuted and opjircsscd on all sides, 
 raised their voices even in the remote valleys 
 and lurking-places whither they were driven 
 by the violence of their enemies, and called 
 aloud for succour to the expiring cause of re- 
 ligion and virtue. Even in Italy, many, and 
 among others the famous Savanarola, had the 
 courage to declare, that Rome was become 
 the image of Babylon; and this notion was 
 soon adopted by multitudes of all ranks and 
 conditions. But the greatest part of the clergy 
 
 centius Thiiilluriiis, in the Opera Fosthuma Mabil 
 loni et Riiinarti. toin. in. p .54. 
 
 * See Wilknis. Concilia Magna: Britann el Hi 
 bern. torn, iv.— Wood, Aniiq. Oxon. lom i. 
 
 and monks, persuaded that their honours, in- 
 fhicncc, and riches, would diminish in propor- 
 tion to the increase of knowledge among the 
 pcopte, and would receive inexpressible detri- 
 ment from the downfall of superstition, vi- 
 gorously opposed every thing that had the re- 
 motest aspect of a reformation, and imposed 
 silence upon these importunate censors by the 
 formidable authority of fire and sword. 
 
 HI. The religious dissensions tliat had been 
 excited in Bohemia by tlie ministry of John 
 Hussand his disciple .Tacobellus de Misa, were 
 doubly inflamed by the deplorable fate of Hubs 
 and Jerome of Prague, and broke out into an 
 open war, which was carried on with unparal- 
 leled barbarity. The followers of Huss, who 
 pleaded for the administration of tlie cup to 
 the laity in the holy sacrament, being perse- 
 cuted and oppressed in various ways by the 
 emissaries and ministers of the court of Rome, 
 retired to a steep and high mountain in the 
 district of Becliin, in which they held their re- 
 ligious meetings, and administered the sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's supper under both kinds. 
 This mountain tliey called Tabor, from the 
 touts which they at JRrst erected there for their 
 habitation; and in process of time they rai.sed 
 a considerable fortification for its defence, and 
 adorned it with a well-built and regular city. 
 Forming more grand and important projects, 
 they chose for their chiefs Nicoliis of Hussinetz, 
 and the famous John Ziska, a Bohemian 
 knight, a man of the most undaunted courage 
 and resolution; and proposed, under the stand- 
 ards of tjiesc violent leaders, to revenge the 
 deatii of Hu.ss and Jerome upon the creatures 
 of the Roman pontiff, and obtain a liberty of 
 worshipping God in a mnre rational manner 
 than that which was prescribed by the church 
 of Rome. After the death of Nicolas, whiclr 
 happened in 1420, Ziska connnanded alone 
 this warlike body, and had the satisfaction to 
 see his army daily increase. During the first 
 tumults of this war, which were no more than 
 a prelude to calamities of a nnich more dread- 
 ful kind, Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, resign- 
 ed his breath in the year 1419.*^ 
 
 IV. The emperor Sigismund, who succeeded 
 him on the throne of Bohemia, employed not 
 only edicts and remonstrances, btit also the 
 terror of penal laws and the force of arms, to 
 put an end to these fain<mtable divisions; and 
 great numbers of the Hiisisites perished, by his 
 orders, in the maul Ixirlwrous manner. The 
 Bohemians, irritated by these inhuman pro- 
 ceedings, threw otf his des{)f)tic yoke in 1420, 
 and, with Ziska at their iic;id, made war against 
 tiieir sovereign. This famous leader, though 
 deprived of his .'<ight, discovered, in every step 
 he took, such an admirable mixture of pru- 
 dence and intrepidity, tliat his name became a 
 terror to his enemies. Upon his death, which 
 happened in 1424, the majority of the Hus- 
 
 ftfr-* Tins prince liad no sooner begun to execute 
 the decrees of the roiiiiril ot' Constance against the 
 Hussites, than the inhabitants of Prapne took fire 
 at the proreedinj. raised a luniiill, mnrdered the ma 
 pii^trales who p^bll^hed the order, and rommitted 
 other oiitrage.s, wliich filled the court of Wenceslaus 
 with conste>naii(in. anil so affi rted that pusillani 
 mou.^ monarch, that he u as seized with an apoplexy. 
 of which he died in a few days. 
 
424 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 sites chose for tlieir general Procopius Rasa, a 
 man also of undaunted courage and resolution, 
 who maintained their cause, and carried on the 
 war with spirit and success. The acts of bar- 
 barity, cgiminitted on both sides, were sliocking- 
 and terrible beyond expression; for, notwitli- 
 standing the irreconcilable opposition that ex- 
 isted between the religious sentiments of the 
 contending parties, both agreed in this one 
 horrible point, that it was innocent and lawful 
 to persecute and extirpate witli fire and sword 
 the enemies of the true religion; and such they 
 appeared to be in each otlicr's eyes. Tlie Bo- 
 hemians maintained, that Huss had been un- 
 justly put to death at Constance, and conse- 
 quently revenged, with the utmost fury, tlie 
 injury which he had suffered. They acknow- 
 ledged it, nevertheless, as an incontestable 
 principle, that heretics deserved capital punish- 
 ment; but they denied obstinately that Huss 
 was a heretic. This pernicious maxim, tlien, 
 was the source of that cruelty which disgraced 
 both parties in this dreadful war; and it is, per- 
 haps, difficult to determine, which of the two 
 carried this cruelty to the greatest height. 
 
 V. All those who undertook to avenge the 
 death of the Bohemian martyr, set out upon 
 the same principles; and, at the commence- 
 ment of the war, they seemed to agree both in 
 their religious sentiments, and in their demands 
 upon the church and government from wliich 
 they had withdrawn tliemselves. But, as their 
 numbers increased, their union diminished; and 
 their army being prodigiously augmented by a 
 confluence of strangers from all quarters, a 
 groat dissension arose among tliem, which, in 
 )420, came to an open rupture, and divided 
 this multitude into two great factions, which 
 were distinguislied by the titles of Calixtines 
 and Taljorites. The former, who were so call- 
 ed from their insisting upon the use of the 
 chalice, or cup, in the celebration of the 
 eucharist, were mild in their proceedings, and 
 modest in their demands, and showed no dis- 
 position to overturn tlie ancient system of 
 church government, or to make any consider- 
 able changes in tlie religion which was public- 
 ly received. All that they required, may be 
 comprehended under the four articles wliich 
 follow. They demanded, first, that the word 
 of God should be explained to the peo|)le in a 
 plain and perspicuous manner, without the 
 mixture of superstitious comments or inven- 
 tions; secondly, that the sacrament of the 
 Lord's supper should be administered in both 
 kinds; thirdly, that the clergy, instead of em- 
 ploying all their attention and zeal in the 
 acquisition of riches and power, should turn 
 their thoughts to objects more suitable to their 
 profession, and be ambitious of hving and act- 
 ing as became the successors of the holy apos- 
 tles; and, fourthly, tliat transgriissions of a 
 more heinous kind, or mortal sins, sliould be 
 punished in a manner suitable to their enormi- 
 ty. In this great faction, however, there were 
 some subordinate sects, who were divided upon 
 several points. The administration of the 
 Lord's supper was one occasion of dispute; 
 .Tacobellus de Mica, who had first proposed the 
 celebration of that ordinance uhder both kinds, 
 was of opimon, that mfants had a right to par- 
 
 take of it, and this opinion waa adopted by 
 many; while others maintained the contrary 
 doctrine, and confined the privilege in ques- 
 tion to persons of riper years.* 
 
 VI. The demands of the Taborites, who de- 
 rived their name from a mountain well known 
 in sacred history, were much more ample. 
 They not only insisted upon reducing the reli- 
 gion of Jesus to its primitive simplicity, but 
 required also, that the system of ecclesiastical 
 government should be reformed in the same 
 manner, the authority of the pope destroyed, 
 tlie form of divine worship changed: they de- 
 manded, in a word, the erection of a new 
 church, a new hierarchy, in which Christ alone 
 should reign, and all things should be carried 
 on by a divine impulse. In maintaining these 
 extravagant demands, the principal doctors of 
 this sect, (such as Martin Loquis, a Moravian, 
 and his followers) went so far as to flatter 
 themselves with the chimerical notion, that 
 Christ would descend upon earth, armed with 
 fire and sword, to extirpate heresy, and purify 
 the church from its multiplied corruptions. 
 These fantastical dreams they propagated in 
 different countries, and taught them even in a 
 public manner with unparalleled confidence 
 and presumption. It is this enthusiastic class 
 of the Hussites alone, that we are to look 
 upon as accountable for all those abominable 
 acts of violence, rapine, desolation, and mur- 
 der, which arc too indiscriminately laid to the 
 charge of the Hussites in general, and of their 
 two leaders Ziska and Procopius in particular.! 
 It must indeed be acknowledged, that a great 
 number of the Hussites had imbibed the niOBt 
 barbarous sentiments with respect to the obliga- 
 tion of executing vengeance upon their ene- 
 mies, against whom they breathed nothing but 
 bloodshed and fury, without any mixture of 
 humanity or compassion. 
 
 VII. In the year 1433, the council of Basil 
 endeavoured to put an end to this dreadful war, 
 and for that purpose invited the Bohemians to 
 the assembly. The Bohemians, accepting this 
 
 * Byziiiii Diarium Hussiticiim, p. 130. 
 
 t From thti following opinions and maxims of the 
 Taborites, vvhicli may be seen in the Diarium Hus- 
 siticiim of Byziniiis, we may form a just idea of their 
 detestable barbarity: " Omnes legis Christi adver- 
 sarii dcbent puniri septem plagis novissimis, ad qua- 
 rum executionem fideles sunt provocandi — In isto 
 tempore ultionis Christus in sua humilitate et mi- 
 seratione non est imitandus ad ipsos peccatores, sed 
 in zclo et furore et justa retributione. — In hoc tem- 
 pore ultionis, qihlibet fidelis, etiam presbyter, quan- 
 iKVicunquc spirilualis, est malcdictus , qui gladium 
 suum corporalemproliibet a sanguine adversarioruw 
 legis Christi, sed debet manus suas lavare in eornm 
 sanguine et sanctiticare." From men, who adopted 
 such liorrid and detestable maxims, what could be 
 expected but the most abominable acts of injustice 
 and cruelty? For an account of this dreadful and 
 calnniitous war, the reader may consult (beside the 
 ancient writers, such as Sylvius, Theobaldus, Coch 
 liius, and others') L'Enfant's Histoire de la Guerre 
 des Hussites, published at Amsterdam in 1731. To 
 this history it will, however, be advisable to add the 
 Diarium Belli Hussitici of Byzinius, a book worthy 
 of the hishest esteem, on account of the candour 
 and impartiality with which it is composed, and 
 which Mr. IVEnfant does not seem to have consult 
 ed. This valuable production was published, though 
 incomplete, in the sixth volume of the Reliquis 
 Manuscriptorum of the very learned John Peter 
 Ludwig, See also Beausobre's Supplement to the 
 Histoire de la Guerre des Hussitee, Lausanne, 1745. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 425 
 
 invitation, sent ambassadors, and among others 
 Procopius their leader, to represent them in 
 that council. But, after many warm debates, 
 these messeiiffcra of peace returned without 
 having affected any thing that might even pre- 
 pare the way for a reconcihation so long and 
 so ardently desired. The Cali.\tines were not 
 averse to peace; but no methods of persuasion 
 could engage the Taborites to yield. This 
 matter, however, was transacted with more 
 success by iEneas Sylvius and others, whom 
 the council sent into Bohemia to renew the 
 conferences; for these new legates, by allow- 
 ing to the Calixtines the use of the cup in the 
 holy sacrament, satisfied them in the point 
 which they had chiefly at heart, and thus re- 
 conciled them with the Roman pontiff. But 
 the Taborites adhered inflexibly to their first 
 principles; and neither the artifice nor the elo- 
 quence of Sylvius, nor the threats, sufferings, 
 and persecutions to which their cause exposed 
 them, could vanquish their obstinate perse- 
 verance. From this period, indeed, they began 
 to review their religious tenets, and their eccle- 
 siastical discipline, with a view of rendering 
 them more perfect. This review, as it was 
 executed with great prudence and impartiality, 
 produced a very good effect, and gave a ra- 
 tional aspect to the religion of these sectaries, 
 who withdrew themselves fi-om the war, aban- 
 doned the doctrines, which, upon serious ex- 
 amination, they found to be inconsistent with 
 the spirit and genius of the Gospel, and banish- 
 ed from tlieir communion all persons whose 
 disordered brains, or licentious manners, might 
 expose them to reproach.* The Taborites, 
 thus new-modelled, were the same with those 
 Bohemian Brethren (or Picards, i. e. Beghards, 
 as their adversaries called them) who joined 
 Luther and his successors at the reforma- 
 tion, and of vi^hom there are at tliis day many 
 of the descendants and followers in Poland 
 and other countries. 
 
 VIII. Among the greatest part of the inter- 
 preters of Scripture that lived in this century, 
 we fmd nothing worthy of applause, if we ex- 
 cept their zeal and their good intentions. Such 
 of them as aimed at something higher than 
 the character of mere compilers, and ventured 
 to draw their explications from their own sense 
 of things, did little more than amuse, or rather 
 delude, their readers, with mystical and alle- 
 gorical fancies. At the head of this class we 
 may place Alplionsus Tostatus, bishop of A vila, 
 whose voluminous commentaries upon the sa- 
 cred writings exhibit nothing remarkable but 
 their enormous bulk. Laurentius Valla is en- 
 titled to a more favourable judgment; and his 
 small collection of Critical and Grammatical 
 Annotations upon the New Testament is far 
 from being destitute of merit, since it pointed 
 out to succeeding authors the true method of 
 removing the difliculties that sometimes pre- 
 sent themselves to such as study with attention 
 the divine oracles. It is proper to observe 
 
 * See Adriani Regcnvolscii Ilistoria Eccles. pro- 
 vinciar. Sclavonicar. lib. ii. cap. viii. p. 105. — Joach. 
 Camerarii Historica Narralio dc Fralrum Ecclesiis 
 in Bohemia, Moravia, et Polonia. — Jo. Lasitii Ilis- 
 toria Fratrum Boheniicoriim, which I possess in 
 manuscript, and of which the eighth book was pub- 
 lished At Amsterdam, in 1649. 
 Vol. I.— 54 
 
 here, that these sacred books were, in almost 
 all the kingdoms and states of Europe, trans- 
 lated into the language of each nation, par- 
 ticularly in Germany, Italy, France, and Bri- 
 tain. This circumstance naturally e.xcited the 
 expectations of a considerable change in the 
 state of religion, and mado the thinking fev/ 
 hope, that the doctrine of the church would 
 be soon reformed by the light that could not 
 but arise from consulting the genuine sources 
 of divine truth. 
 
 IX. The schools of divinity made a misera- 
 ble figure in this century. They were filled 
 with teachers, who loaded their memory, and 
 that of their disciples, with unintelligible dis- 
 tinctions and unmeaning sounds, that they 
 might thus dispute and discourse, with an ap- 
 pearance of method, upon matters vi'hich they 
 did not understand. There were rlow few re- 
 maining, of those who proved and illustrated 
 the doctrines of religion by the positive declara- 
 tions of the holy scriptures, and the sentiments 
 of the ancient fathers, and who, with all their 
 defects, were much superior to the vain and 
 obscure pedants of whom we have been speak- 
 ing. The senseless jargon of the latter did 
 not escape the just and heavy censure of some 
 learned and judicious persons, who considered 
 their methods of teaching as highly detri- 
 mental to the interests of true religion, and to 
 the advancement of genuine and solid piety. 
 Accordingly, various plans were formed by 
 dirt'erent individuals, some of which had for 
 their object the abolition of this method, others 
 its reformation, while, in the mean time, the 
 enemies of the schoolmen increased from day 
 to day. The Mystics, of whom we shall have 
 occasion to spea k more largely hereafter, were 
 ardently bent upon banishing entirely this 
 scholastic theology out of the Christian church. 
 Others, who seemed disposed to act with 
 greater moderation, did not insist upon its 
 total suppression, but were of opinion, that it 
 was necessary to reform it, by abolishing all 
 vain and useless subjects of debate, by re- 
 straining the rage of disputing that had in- 
 fected the seminaries of theology, and by sea- 
 soning the subtlety of the schoolmen with a 
 happy temperature of mystic sensibility and 
 simplicity. This opinion was adopted by the 
 (iunous Gcrson, who laboured with the utmost 
 zeal and assiduity in correcting and reformintr 
 the disorders and abuses which the scholastic 
 divines had introduced into the seminaries,* as 
 also by Savanarola, Petrus dc Alliaco, and 
 Nicolas Cusanus, whose treatise concerning 
 Learned Ignorance is stiU extant. 
 
 X. The litigious herd of schoolmen found 
 a new class of enemies equally keen, in the 
 restorers of eloquence and letters, who were 
 not all, however, of the same oi>iiiion with re- 
 spect to the manner of treating these solemn 
 quibblers. Some of them covered the scho- 
 lastic doctrine witli ridicule, loaded it with 
 invectives, and demanded its suppression, as 
 
 * Rirli. Simon, liCttres Choisies, tom. ii. p. 269, 
 and Critique dc la liibliolhpqiic Ecclesia-stique de M. 
 Du-Pin, tom. i. p. 4!»1. — Thomasii Orifjinea HiBtor. 
 Philos. p. 56, and principally Gersonis Mctbodus 
 Theologiam studendi, in Launoii Historia Gymnat. 
 Navarreni, torn. iv. op. part i. p. 330. 
 
426 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 a moat trifling and absurd system, that was 
 highly detrimental to the culture and im- 
 provement of the mind, and could only pre- 
 vent the growth of genius and true science. 
 Others looked upon tins system as supportable, 
 and only proposed illustrating and pohshing 
 it by the powers of eloquence, thus to render 
 it more intelligible and elegant. Of this class 
 was Paulus Cortesius, who wrote, with this 
 view, a commentary on the Book of Proverbs, 
 in which, as we team from himself, he forms 
 a happy union between eloquence and theology, 
 and clothes tlie principal intricacies of scholas- 
 tic divinity with the graces of an agreeable 
 and perspicuous stylo.* After all, the scholas- 
 tic theology, supported by tiie extraordinary 
 credit and authority of the Dominicans and 
 Franciscans, maintained its ground against its 
 various opposers; nor could these two religious 
 orders, who excelled hi that litigious kind of 
 learning, bear the thought of losing tlie glory 
 they had acquired by quibbling and disputiiig 
 in the pompous jargon of the schools. 
 
 XI. This vain philosophy, however, grew 
 daily more contemptible in the esteem of the 
 judicious and the wise; while the Mystics ga- 
 thered strength, and saw their friends and ad- 
 vocates multiply on all sides. Among these 
 there were some men of distinguished merit, 
 who are chargeable with few of the errors and 
 extravagances that were mingled with the dis- 
 cipline and doctrine of that fatuous sect, such 
 as Thomas a Kempis, (the author of the Ger- 
 manic theology, so highly commended by 
 Luther,) Laurentius Justinianus, Savanarola, 
 and others. There are, on the other hand, 
 some writers of this sect, such as Vincentius 
 Ferrerius, Henricus, Ilarphius, and Bernaid 
 of Sienna, in whose productions we nmst care- 
 fully separate certain notions which were the 
 effects of a warm and irregular fancy, as also 
 the visions of Dionysius, whom the Mystics 
 consider as their chief, from the noble precepts 
 of divine wisdom with which they are mingled. 
 The Mystics were defended against their ad- 
 versaries, the Dialecticians, partly by the Pla- 
 tonists, who were in general highly esteemed, 
 and partly by some, even of the most eujijicnt 
 scholastic doctors. Tlie former considered Dio- 
 nysius as a person whose sentiments had been 
 formed and nourished by the study of Platon- 
 ism, and wrote commentaries upon his writ- 
 ings; of which we have an eminent example 
 in Marcilius Ficinus, whose mime adds a lus- 
 tre to the Platonic school. The latter attempt- 
 ed a certain sort of association between the 
 scholastic theology and that of the Mystics; 
 and in this class were John Gerson, Nicolas 
 Cusanus, Dionysius the Carthusian, and others. 
 
 XII. The controversy with the enemies of 
 < "luistianity was carried on with much more 
 vigour in this than in the preceding ages; and 
 several learned and eminent men seemed now 
 to e.xert themselves with peculiar industry and 
 zeal in demonstrating the truth of that divine 
 religion, and defending it against the various 
 objections of its adversaries. This appears 
 
 * This work was pubhshed at Rome in 1512, and 
 at Basil m 1513. 
 
 from the learned book of Marcilius Ficinus 
 concerning the Truth of Christianity, Savana- 
 rola's Triiunph of the Cross, the Natural The- 
 ology of Raymond de Sabunde, and other pro- 
 ductions of a like nature. The Jews were re- 
 futed by Perezius and Jerome de St. Foi, the 
 Saracens by Johannes de Turrecreinata; and 
 both these classes of unbelievers were op- 
 posed by Alphonso de Spina, in the Fortress 
 of Faith. Nor were these pious labourers in the 
 defence of the Gospel at all unseasonable or 
 superfluous: on the contrary, the state of 
 things at this time rendered them necessary. 
 For, on the one hand, the Aristotelian philo- 
 sophers in Italy seemed, in their public instruc- 
 tions, to strike at the foimdations of all reli- 
 gion; and, on the other hand, the senseless 
 subtleties and quarrels of the schoolmen, who 
 modelled religion according to their extrava- 
 gant fancies, tended to bring it into contempt. 
 Add to all this, that the Jews and Saracens 
 lived in many places promiscuously with the 
 Christians, who were therefore obliged, by the 
 proximity of the enemy, to defend themselves 
 with the utmost assiduity and zeal. 
 
 XIII. We have already taken notice of the 
 fruitless attempts which were made to heal the 
 unhappy divisions of the Greek and Latin 
 churches. After the comicil of Florence, and 
 tlio violation of the treaty of pacification by 
 the Greeks, Nicolas V. exhorted and entreated 
 them again to turn their thoughts towards the 
 restoration of peace and concord. But his ex- 
 hortations were without effect; and in about 
 the space of tiiree ycare after the writing of 
 this last letter, Constantinople was besieged 
 and taken by the Turks. And from that fatal 
 period to the present time, the Roman pontiffs, 
 in all their attempts to bring about a reconci- 
 liation, have always found the Grecian patri-? 
 archs more obstinate and intractable than they 
 were when their empire was in a flourishing 
 state. Nor is this circumstance so diSicult to 
 be accounted for, when all things are properly 
 considered. This obstinacy was the efffect of a 
 rooted aversion to the Latins and their pontiffs, 
 that acquired, from day to day, new degrees of 
 strength and bitterness in the hearts of the 
 Greeks; an aversion, produced and nourished 
 by a persuasion, that the calamities which 
 they sulfered under the Turkish yoke might 
 have been easily removed, if the western prin- 
 ces and the Roman pontiffs had not refused to 
 succour them against their haughty tyrants. 
 And accordingly, when the Greek writers de- 
 plore the calamities that fell upon their devot- 
 ed country, their complaints are always min- 
 gled with heavy accusations against the Latins, 
 whose cruel insensibility to their unhappy situ- 
 ation they paint in the strongest and most 
 odious colours. 
 
 XIV. We pass over in silence many trifling 
 controversies among the Latins, which have 
 no claim to the attention of our readers. But 
 we must not omit mentioning the revival of 
 that famous dispute concerning the kind of 
 worship that was to be paid to the blood of 
 Chiist, which was fiist kindled at Barcelona, 
 in 1351, between the Franciscans and Domi- 
 mcans, and had been left undecided by Cla ■ 
 
Chip. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 427 
 
 ment VI.* This controversy was renewed at 
 Brixen, in 1462, by James a Marchia, a ce- 
 lebrated Franciscan, wlio maintained publicly, 
 in one of his sermons, that tiie blood which 
 Christ shed upon the cross, did not belong to 
 the divine nature, and of consequence was not 
 to be considered as an object of divine and 
 immediate worship. The Dominicans rejected 
 this doctrine, and adopted witli such zeal the 
 opposite side of the question, that James of 
 Brixen, who performed the office of inquisitor, 
 called the Franciscan before his tribunal, and 
 accused him of heresy. Pope Pius II., having 
 made several inettectual attempts to suppress 
 this controversy, was at last persuaded to sub- 
 mit the affair to tiie examination and judgment 
 of a select number of able divines. But many 
 obstacles arose to prevent a final decision, 
 among which we may reckon, as the principal, 
 the influence and authority of the contending 
 orders, each of which had emljarked with zeal 
 in the cause of their respective champions. 
 Hence, after much altercation and cliicane, 
 the pontiff thought proper to impose silence on 
 both the parties in this miserable dispute, in 
 1464; declaring, at the same time, that " both 
 sides of the question might be lawfully main- 
 tained until Christ's vicar upon earth should 
 find leisure and opportunity for examining the 
 matter, and determining on which side the 
 truth lay." This Irisure and ojipmimnty Iiave 
 not yet been offered to the pontiffs. f 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the Ritex and Ceremonies thai were 
 used in the Church during this Century. 
 I. The state of religious ceremonies among 
 the Greeks may be learned from the book of 
 Simeon of Thcssalonica, concerning Rites and 
 Heresies,!; from which it appears, that the sub- 
 stance of religion was lost among that people; 
 that a splendid shadow of pomp and vanity 
 was substituted in its place by the rulers of 
 the church; and th.-it all the branches of divine 
 worship were ordered in such a manner as to 
 strike the imaginations, and captivate the 
 senses of the multitude. They pretended, in- 
 deed, to allege seveml reasons for multiplying, 
 as they did, the external rites and institutions 
 of religion, and throwing over the whole of 
 divine worship siicli a pompous garb of world- 
 ly splendour. But in these reasons, and in all 
 their explications of this gaudy ritual, subtlety 
 and invention are more apparent than truth 
 or good sense. The origin of these multiplied 
 rites, that cast a cloud over the native beauty 
 and lustre of religion, is often obscure, and 
 frequently dishonourable; and such as, by force 
 of ill-applied genius and invention, have en- 
 deavoured to derive honour to tliesc ceremo- 
 nies from the circumbtances that gave occasion 
 to them, have failed egrcgiously in this despe- 
 rate attempt. The deceit is too palpable to 
 seduce any mind that is void of prejudice, and 
 capable of attention. 
 
 * Luc. Wadding, Amial. Rliiior. torn, viii p .'iy.— 
 Jac. Echardi Scriptor. PrjEdicitor. torn. i. p. r,.'in. 
 
 t Waddinp, Annal. Minor, torn. xiii. p. 2()i;. — Nat. 
 Alexander. Hist. Ercles. Sapc. XV. 
 
 J .1. A. F'abriciiis has given an arroinit of the con- 
 tents of tliis book in liis Bibliolli Gra'ca, vol. xiv. 
 
 II. Though the more rational and judicious 
 of the Roman pontiffs complained of the mul- 
 tiplicity of ceremonies, festivals, temples, and 
 the like, and did not seem unwilling to have this 
 enormous mass diminished, they nevertheless 
 distinguished, every one his own pontificate, 
 by some new institution, and thought it their 
 duly to perpetuate their fame by some new 
 edict of this nature. Thus Calixtus III., to 
 immortnlize the remembrance of the delive- 
 rance of Belgrade from the powerful arms of 
 Mohammed II., wlio had been obliged to raise 
 the siege of that city, ordered, in 1456, the 
 festival in honour of the transfiguration of 
 Christ (which had been celebrated in some 
 places by private authority before this period) 
 to be religiously observed throughout the 
 western world. And Sixtns IV., in 1476, 
 granted indulgences, by a particular edict, to 
 all those who should devoutly celebrate an an- 
 nual festival in honour of the immaculate con- 
 ception of the blessed Virgin, with respect to 
 which none of the Roman pontiffs before him 
 had thought proper to make any express de- 
 claration, or any positive appointment.* The 
 other additions that were made to the Roman 
 ritual, relating to the worship of the Virgin 
 Mar}', public and private prayers, the traffic 
 of indulgences, and other things of that nature, 
 are of too little importance to deserve an exact 
 and circumstantial enumeration. We need 
 not such a particular detail to convince us, 
 that in this century religion was reduced to 
 mere sliow, to a show composed of pompous 
 absurdities and splendid trifles. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Concerning the Heresies, Sects, and Divisions, 
 thai troubled the Church during this Century. 
 I. Neither the severe edicts of pontiffs and 
 emperors, nor the barbarity and vigilance of 
 unrelenting inquisitors, could extirpate the re- 
 mains of the ancient heresies, or prevent the 
 rise of new sects. We have already seen the 
 Franciscan order at open war with the cliirrch 
 of Rome. In Bosnia, and the adjacent coun- 
 tries, the Manichffians or Paulicians, who were 
 the same with the sect named Catharists in 
 Italy, propagated their doctrines with confi- 
 dence, and held their religious assemblies with 
 impunity. It is true, indeed, that the great 
 protector of the Manichieans, Stephen Tho- 
 mascns, king of Bosnia, abjured their errors, 
 received baptism by the ministry of John Car- 
 vaial, a Roman cardinal, and, in consequence 
 thereof, expelled those hci-ctics from his do- 
 minions. IJut it is also certain, that he after- 
 wards cliangcd his mind; and it is well known, 
 that, toward the conclusion of this centurj-, 
 the Manioha^ans inhabited Bosnia, Servia, and 
 the neighbouring provinces. The Waldenses 
 also still subsisted m several European pro- 
 vinces, more especially in Pomerania, Bran- 
 denburg, the district of Magdeburgh, and 
 Thuringia, where they had a considerable 
 number of friends and followers. It appears, 
 however, from authentic records not yet pub- 
 
 * See Volalerrani Comment. Urbani, lib. viii. p. 
 2S9. — Apneas Sylvinsde Statu Europ.T sub Frederico 
 III. cap. X. in Frelieri Scriptor. Rerum Germanicar 
 torn. ii. p 10). 
 
428 
 
 INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Part IL 
 
 lished, that a great part of the adherents of 
 this unfortunate sect, in the countries now 
 mentioned, were discovered by the inquisitors, 
 and delivered over by them to the civil magis- 
 trates, who committed them to the flames. 
 
 11. The Brethren and Sisters of the free 
 spirit (who were called in Germany Beghards 
 or Schicestriones, and in France Turhipivs, 
 and whose distinctive character was a species 
 of mysticism that bordered upon phrenzy) 
 wandered about in a secret and disguised man- 
 ner in various parts of Frjince, Germany, and 
 Flanders, and particularly in Suabia and 
 Switzerland, where they spread the contagion 
 of their enthusiasm, and caught the unwary in 
 their snares. The search, however, that was 
 made after them, was so strict and well con- 
 ducted, that few of the teacliers and chiefs of 
 this fanatical sect escaped the hands of the in- 
 quisitors.* When the war between the Hus- 
 sites and the votaries of Rome broke out in 
 Bohemia, in 1418, a troop of these fanatics, 
 headed by a. person whose name was .John, re- 
 paired thither and held secret assemblies, first 
 at Prague, and afterwards in different places, 
 whence they at length retired to a certain 
 island, where they were less exposed to the 
 notice of their enemies. It was, as we have 
 already had occasion to observe, one of the 
 leading principles of this sect, that the tender 
 instincts of nature, with that bashfulness and 
 modesty which generally accompany them, 
 were evident marks of inherent corruption, and 
 showed, that the mind was not sufficiently 
 purified or rendered conformable to the divine 
 nature, whence it derived its origin. And 
 they alone were deemed perfect by tliese fana- 
 tics, and supposed to be united to the Supreme 
 Being, who could behold without any emotion, 
 the naked bodies of the sex to which they did 
 not belong, and who, in imitation of what was 
 practised before the fall by our first parents, 
 went entirely naked, and conversed familiarly 
 in this manner with males and females, with- 
 out feehng any of the tender propensities of 
 nature. Hence it was that the Beghards (whom 
 the Bohemians, by a change in the pronuncia- 
 tion of that word, called Picards,) when they 
 came into their religious assemblies, and were 
 present at the celebration of divine worship, 
 appeared without any veil or covering what- 
 ever. They had also constantly in their 
 mouths a maxim, which, indeed, was very 
 suitable to the genius of the religion they pro- 
 fessed; namely, ' that they were not free (i. c. 
 sufficiently extricated from the shackles of the 
 body) who made use of garments, particularly 
 such garments as covered the thighs and the 
 
 * Felix MnllCDlus (whose German name is //um- 
 wcrlehi) in liis account of the Lollards, snbjoinerl to 
 his book contra ralidos Mendiravtes, i. e. asrainst the 
 sturdy Beggars, has given ns a list, thongh a very 
 imperfect One, of the lieoharils who were; committed 
 to the flames in Switzerland and the adjacent 
 countries, riiirins; this century. This author, in his 
 books against the Beghards and Lollards, has (either 
 through desijzn, or by a mistake founded on the am- 
 biguity of the ternss) confounded three dillereut 
 classes of persons, who were usually known by the 
 appellations of Beghards and Lollards; as, 1st, the 
 Tertiaries, or third order of the more austere Fran- 
 ciscans; 2dly, the Brethren of the free spirit; and, 
 3dly, the Cellite or Alexian friars. Many writers 
 have fallen into the same error. 
 
 parts adjacent.' These tenets could not but 
 cast a deserved reproach upon this absurd sect; 
 and tliough in their religious assemblies nothing 
 passed that was contrary to the rules of vir- 
 tue, yet they were universally suspected of 
 the most scandalous incontinence, and of the 
 most lascivious practices. Ziska, the austere 
 general of the Hussites, gave credit to these 
 suspicions, and to the rtiinours they occasioned; 
 and, falling upon this miserable sect in 1421, 
 he put some to the sword, and condemned the 
 rest to the flames, which dreadful punishment 
 they sustained with the most cheerful fortitude, 
 and also with a contempt of death that was 
 peculiar to their sect, and which they possessed 
 in a degree that seems to surpass credibility.* 
 Among the various titles by which these ex- 
 travagant enthusiasts were distinguished, that 
 of Mainite was one; and it was given them on 
 account of their being so studious to imitate 
 the state of innocence in which the first man 
 was created. The ignominious term of Beg- 
 liards, or Picards, at first peculiar to the small 
 sect of which we now treat, was afterwards 
 applied to the IhissiUs, and to all the Bohemi- 
 ans who opposed tiie tyranny of the Romish 
 church. All these were called by their ene- 
 mies, and indeed by the multitude in general, 
 Picard friars. 
 
 III. A new sect, which made a great noise, 
 and infected the multitude with the contagion 
 of its enthusiasm, arose about the beginning 
 of this century. A priest whose name is not 
 known, descended from the Alps,t arrayed in 
 a wliite garment, and accompanied with a pro- 
 
 * See the Historia Fratrum Bohemorum. MS. lib. 
 ii. sect, l.xxvi. by Lasitins, who proves, in a satisfac- 
 tory and circumstantial manner, that the Hussites 
 ami the Bohemian Brethren were entirely distinct 
 from these Picards, and had nothing in common with 
 them. The other authors who liave written upon 
 this subject are honourably mentioned by Isaac de 
 Beausobre in liis Dissertation sur les Adamites de 
 Boheme, subjoined to L'Enfant's Histoire de la Ou- 
 erre dcs Hussites. This learned author has taken 
 groat pains to justify the Picards, or Bohemian 
 .■Adamites, whom he supposes to have been the sama 
 with the Waldenses, and a set of men eminent foi 
 their piety, whom their enemies loaded with tha 
 most groundless accusations. But this is manifestly 
 endeavouring to wash the .(Ethiopian white; for it 
 may be demonstrated, by the most unexceptionable 
 ami authentic records, that the accoinit I have given 
 of the matter is true. The researclies I have made, 
 and the knowledge they have procured me of the 
 civil and religious history of these times, entitle nic 
 perhajis to more credit in such a point as this, 
 than the laborious author from whom I difTer, who 
 was not profoundly acquainted with the history of 
 the middle ages, and was by no means exempt from 
 prejudice and partiality. 
 
 f^J- t Theodoric de Niem tells ns, that the sect 
 came from Scotland, and that its leader pave himself 
 out for the prophet Elias. Sigonius and Platinain- 
 form us, that this enthusiast came from France; that 
 he had white apparel, carried in his aspect the great- 
 est modesty, ami seduced prodigious numbers of peo- 
 ple of both se.\es, and of all ages; that his followers, 
 (called ^(CHiiyfrt/s,) among whom were several cardi- 
 nals and priests, were clothed in white linen down 
 to their heels, with caps, which covered their whole 
 faces, except their eyes; that they went in troops of 
 ten, twenty, and forty thousand persons, from one 
 city to another, calling out for mercy, and singing 
 hymns; that wherever they came they were received 
 with great hospitality, and madeinnuinerable prose- 
 lytes; that they fasted, or lived upon bread and water, 
 during the tiine of their pilgrimage, which continued 
 generally nine or ten days. See Annal. Mediol. ap. 
 Muratori.— Niem, lib. ii. cap. xvi 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 DIVISIONS AND HERESIES. 
 
 429 
 
 digious number of persons of both sexes, who 
 after the example of their chief, were also 
 clothed in white linen, whence they were dis- 
 tinguished by the name of Frab-es Jllbati, i. e. 
 White Brethren. This enthusiastic multitude 
 went in a kind of procession through several 
 provinces, following a cross, which their leader 
 held erected like a standard, and, by the strik- 
 ing appearance of their sanctity and devotion, 
 captivated to such a degree the minds of the 
 people wherever they went, that persons of all 
 ranks and orders flocked in crowds to augment 
 their number. Tiie new chief exhorted his 
 followers to appease the anger of an incensed 
 Deity, emaciated his body by voluntary acts 
 of mortification and penance, endeavoured to 
 persuade the Christian nations to renew the 
 war against the infidels in Palestine, and pre- 
 tended, that he was favoured with divine vis- 
 ions, which instructed him in the will and in 
 the secrets of Heaven. Boniface IX. appre- 
 hending that this enthusiast or impostor con- 
 cealed insidious and ambitious views,* ordered 
 him to be seized and committed to the flames; 
 upon which his followers were dispersed, and 
 his sect entirely extinguished. Whether a 
 punishment so severe was inflicted with reason 
 and justice, is a point that has been debated, 
 and yet remains uncertain; for several writers 
 of great credit and authority maintain the in- 
 nocence of the sectary, while others assert that 
 he was convicted of the most enormous crimes. f 
 IV. In the year 1411, a sect was discovered 
 in the Netherlands, and more especially at 
 Brussels, which owed its origin to an illiterate 
 man, whose name was ^iigidius Cantor, and to 
 William of Hildenissen, a Carmelite monlc; 
 and whose members were distinguished by the 
 title of J\Ien of Understanding. There were 
 many things reprehensible in tiie doctrine of this 
 sect, whicii seemed to be chiefly derived from 
 the theology of the Mystics. For they pretend- 
 ed to be honoured with celestial visions; de- 
 nied that any could arrive at a perfect know- 
 ledge of the Holy Scriptures, without the ex- 
 traordinary succours of a divine illumination; 
 declared the approach of a new revelation 
 from heaven, more complete and perfect than 
 the Gospel of Christ; maintained, that the re- 
 surrection was already accomplished in the 
 person of .Jesus, and that no other resurrection 
 was to be expected; aflirmed, that the inward 
 man was not defiled by the outward actions, 
 whatever they were; that the pains of hell 
 were to have an end, and that not only all 
 mankind, but even tiio devils themselves, were 
 to return to God, and be made partakers of 
 eternal felicity. 'J'his sect seems to have been 
 a branch of that of the Brethren and Sisters of 
 the free spirit; since they declared, that a new 
 
 tCj- * VVliat Dr. Mu.sln-im liiiits but (jl)scuroly hore. 
 is explained by Sii;ciiiiiisaii(l Pliitiiui. \\ hotel! us, that 
 the |)ilgrinis,iiiciilioii('(l iiithc priTcilin^' ii(ite,stiipp''(l 
 atViterbo, ami that Hmiiface, I'larin;.' that the priest 
 who headed them mi<;ht iMiilcavoiir by their assiK- 
 tance to seize the poiititicate, sent a body of troops 
 thither, who apprehended the false prophet, and 
 carried him to Rome, where he was bnrned. 
 
 t See L'Kntaul, Hist, dn Concile de Pise, torn. i. p. 
 102.— PoKci, Hist. Florentina. lib. iii. p. 1-22.— Marc. 
 Anton. Sahellicns in Enneadibns Rhapsodijp His. 
 Ennegid. ix. lib. ix. I. ii. op p. 83'.i, pub at Dasil in 
 1560. 
 
 dispensation of grace and of spiritual liberty 
 was to be pronmlgated to mortals by the Holy 
 Ghost. It must however be acknowledged, on 
 the other hand, that their absurdities were 
 mingled with several opinions, which showed, 
 that they were not totally void of understand- 
 ing; for they maintained, among other things, 
 " 1st, That Christ alone had merited eternal 
 life and felicity for the Imnian race, and that 
 therefore men could not acquire this inestima- 
 ble privilege by their own actions alone; 2dly, 
 That the priests, to whom the people confessed 
 their transgressions, had not tlie power of ab- 
 solving them, but that it was Christ alone in 
 whom this authority was vested; and 3dly, 
 That voluntary penance and mortification were 
 not necessary to salvation." Tliese proposi- 
 tions, however, and some others, were declared 
 heretical by Peter d'Ailiy, bishop of Cambray, 
 wlio obliged William of Hildenissen to abjure 
 them,* and opposed with the greatest vehe- 
 mence and success the progress of this sect. 
 
 V. The sect of the Flagellantes, or Whip- 
 pers, continued to excite commotions in Ger- 
 many, more especially in Thuringia and the 
 Lower Saxony; but tliese fanatics were very 
 different from the ancient heretics of the same 
 name, who ran wildly in troops through va- 
 rious provinces. The new Whippers rejected 
 not only the sacraments, but also every branch 
 of external worship, and placed their onl}' 
 hopes of salvation in faith and flagellation; to 
 which they added some strange doctrines con- 
 cerning tiie evil spirit, and other matters, which 
 are not explained in history with sufficient per- 
 spicuity. The person that appeared at the 
 head of this sect in Thiuingia was Conrad 
 Schmidt; and lie was committed to the flames, 
 witli many of his followers,! in 1414, by 
 Schonefeld, who was, at tliat time, inquisitor 
 in Germany, and rendered his name famous 
 by his industry and zeal in the extirpation of 
 heresy. Nicolas Schaden sufl'ered at Qued- 
 linburgh for his attachment to this sect; and, 
 tiiough Berthold Scliade, who was seized at 
 Halberstadt in 1481, escaped death, as appears 
 most probable, by abjuring their doctrine, J; we 
 find in the records of these unhappy times a 
 numerous list of the I'lagellantes, whom the 
 German inquisitors devoted to the flames. 
 
 * See the records of this iraiisaclion in Steph. 
 BaluK. Mi.-!collan. toin. ii. p. 277. 
 
 t Excerpta Monachi Pernensis, in Jo. Rurch. Men- 
 kenii Scriptor. Kenim Gerinanicar. torn. ii. p. 1521. — 
 Chroii. Monaster, in Anton. Matthiei Aiialect. vet, 
 yi'^.vi, toni. V. p. 71. — Chron. Magdeb. in Meiboniii 
 Pcriptor. Kernm (Jernian. torn. ii. p. 362.— From six- 
 teen artiili'S of t'uith adopted by this sect, which 
 were committed to writini; by a certain inquisitor 
 of iirandeiiberg in the year 1411, and which Conrad 
 t'rlimidt is said to have taken from the papers of 
 VValkenried, we may derive a tolerable idea of their 
 ddclrine, of which the substance is as fidlows: — 
 " 'I'hat the opinions adopted by the llonian church, 
 with respect to the efficacy of the sacraments, the 
 llariies of piireatory, praying for the dead, and seve- 
 ral oilier points, are entirely false and groundless; 
 anil that the person who believes what is contained 
 in the Apostles' Creed, repeats frequently the Lord's 
 prayer and the Ave Maria, and at certain times 
 lashes his body severely, as a voluntary punishment 
 t'or the transgressions he has committed, shall obtain 
 eternal .salvation." 
 
 I See the account of this matter, which is given by 
 the learned Jo. Ernest Kappius, in his Relat. dc re- 
 bus Theologicis Antiquis cl Novis, an. 1747, p. 475. 
 
■ ' 1 
 Date Due 
 
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