of the old Religion in the day time and openly This political regard was one grand motive for the permission of the open practise of all Religions that so their vanity or impiety might be notorious to all Besides hereby they prevented all private complotments against the State all practices that were bestial or repugnant to Morality Nihil est scil velandis fraudibus sceleribus tam idoneum quam privatae amicitiae privatique congressus qui merito dominantibus suspecti Nam ab nullo genere non aeque summum periculum est si coetus concilia secretas consultationes esse sinas quod Cato apud Livium lib. 34 dicebat Sic olim jam prospectum Nequa sacra fierent in operto Livius lib. 39. Sic Tiberius ut Suetonius memorat cap. 63. Haruspices Secreto sine testibus consuli vetuit Hinc est igitur ista nunc Sacrificiorum c. Nocturnorum prohibitio nempe quia seeleri favere tenebrae videntur Unde illa apud Horatium improba vota Noctem peccatis fraudibus obiice nubem Notumque illud Prudentii Nec teste quisquam lumine Peccare constanter potest Item Tacitus lib. 14. Quod perditissimus quisque per diem concupiverit per tenebras audeat Eaque ratione fingunt Poetae Noctem generasse dolos fraudem mendacia Constantine having thus prohibited all private Cenventicles and secret Meetings and impowred those of any Religion or Sect publickly to profess and hold their Assemblies for divine worship and mutual instruction the Empire yields us this prospect of affairs The old Religion or Heathenisme continued in its former lustre the Temples Revenues Pontifical Offices and Solemnities all or most remained in being and under the Protection of the Emperour as appears by a multitude of Laws in the Theodosian Code All the great offices of the Empire in the Senate and Armies were equally to be communicated unto them and the Christians The Jews were in a very flourishing condition under their Hierarchy of Patriarchs Primats Presbyters and Rulers of Synagogues All which were by Constantine exempted from all personal and civil charges which carried much of trouble and expense and were unsuitable to their Function As to the Christians it is most certain that all Sects had their liberty of Profession and their particular Church-Governments under their Bishops c. So that in 325. when Constantine did summon a general Council at Nice against Arius the Writers of the Eastern Church do avow that there convened 2048 Bishops of several Sects who having tendered their Confessions apart unto the Emperour he fixed upon that of the 318. perhaps not all Bishops and those composed that Council and enacted its decrees whereunto the Primitive Emperours and Fathers so often refer themselves As to those that were Schismaticks and Hereticks of separate Churches amongst the Christians of those times the Emperour Constantine did thus demean himself Whereas the Laws of the Empire during his Predecessours had not exempted the Christian Clergy from the trouble and expense of civil Offices Constantine did free the Catholick Clergy from that burthen leaving the Hereticks subject thereunto many of which Offices were such as any Christian could hardly comply with as the attendance upon and defraying of the lustral Sacrifices the Watch and Ward for the Security of the Pagan Temples The discharge of such employments did contribute very much to the overthrow of the Schismaticks and Hereticks who had not the opportunity thereby either to qualifie themselves or to mind their Churches or to avoid many evident Scandals which the Catholicks enjoyed Whereas the Christian Churches under His Predecessours were incapable of any Legacies or publick endowments by the Imperial Laws He continued the said Hereticks under those Laws and made the Catholick Churches exempt from them The Lands which were given either by the Emperour His Mother Helena or the Charity of others unto the Catholick Churches were exempted by Him whilest the Church was poor for when it seemed rich enough neither was this priviviledge valid nor could it receive Legacies from Widowes c. from Taxes and Tributes As it was His care that the Catholick Bishops should be men of sound doctrine and exemplary life and charity so did He likewise provide that they should be universally reverenced by His Officers throughout the Empire Their Bishops their Presbyters their Churches were mentioned with peculiar Elogies and veneration in all imperial Decrees whereas the Hereticks were either simply named or with an addition of detestation and infamy And after that the Nicene Council had reduced the Church into some form under a special regulation and distinct Creed in opposition to the Arians then did Constantine by this general Law exclude all Sectaries and Hereticks from participating of those priviledges which were granted unto the Catholicks and the followers of Meletius and Arius were particularly aimed at in the Constitution who till then had enjoyed the priviledges due to Catholicks Cod. Theodos. lib. 16 tit 5 lege 1. A. D. 326. Those Priviledges which are indulged upon the account of Religion ought to avail only such as adhere unto the Catholick Law It being our will and pleasure that the Hereticks and Schismaticks shall not reap any benefit thereby but be also liable unto several Duties and Offices Notwithstanding the precedent Decrees it is but equitable that I inform the Inquisitive Reader that the force of them did not extend unto the Sèct of the Novatians These were a sort of Schismaticks who about the Year 250. did separate from the Catholicks as having generally Apostatized and Lapsed unto Paganism during the Persecution under Decius They were of the number of those which had been Martyrs or Confessors in those Calamitous times and would not Communicate with nor be ordained by those Bishops of Italy who had Revolted from the Faith and were Returned again and Admitted of others that had Lapsed upon easie terms They had an Hierarchy of Bishops and Presbyters within themselves derived from those that had not Apostaztied They were very severe in their Discipline for they did exclude from their Communion though not from hopes of Mercy with God such as did fall into Apostacy or other enormous Crimes They called themselves Cathari or Puritans and their followers such as continued in the obedience of the Gospel They were strict in their Conversation Oxthodox and Zealous in their Religion but so averse from the mixt Congregations and the relaxed Discipline of the Catholicks that they Rebaptized such as came unto their Churches from the Communion of the Catholicks Yet so great a respect had Constantine and the Nicene Fathers for this Sect that a Bishop of theirs Acesius had his place in that General Council and a Canon was there made whereby such as came over from them unto the Catholicks should immediately be admitted to Communion according to the Ranck they held during their Novatianism as Laymen Presbyters
or Bishops And Constantine in the year following that Council made this Decree in favour of them Cod. Theodos. lib. 16. tit 5. lege 2. We have not found that the Novatians have been so absolutely condemned heretofore as that we should not grant unto them their Requests We do therefore Enact that they shall without Let or Molestation possess the Meeting-Houses appertaining unto their Church and their Burying-places That is such as they have either Bought or otherwise acquired to themselves since their Separation But care ought to be taken that they do not Usurp any of those which before their Schism did appertain unto the Churches retaining a perpetual Sanctity Given at Spoletum on the Calends of October Constantine A. 7. and Constantius Coss. 326. The Sect of the Novatians began abont Eighty years before this Law and upon their Separation they did Build to themselves sundry Churches Oratories and Caemiteries or Burying-places By reason of the Law against Hereticks and Schismaticks already recited some began to disquiet the Novatians in the Possession of those Places for Publick Worship which they had Purchased by ready Money or other Legal Titles as if they were declared Hereticks and known Schismaticks It is true that Eusebius doth produce a Law of Constantine wherein the Novatians are mentioned first before Valentinians Marcionists and Paulians and the Assemblies of them and of all others that Separate from the Church are Prohibited The same is Recorded by Sozomen And it is apparent that they had been condemned by Cornelius Bishop of Rome long before and others The Nicene Council seemed to have determined them to be Schismaticks and the Emperour himself in that Council did testifie unto Acesius when He there defended his Separation how much he disliked them But yet Constantine could not find that these Novatians were so rigorously to be censured or condemned as that they should be deprived of their publick Churches and Caemiteries And with this doth Sozomen agree who having compared the usage which the Hereticks met with under Constantine he expressly says That their condition was not so bad as that of the other Hereticks and that the Law of Constantine was not executed against them Their Rulers being men otherwise of peaceable Spirits and unblameable Lives and being Orthodox as to the Christian Faith they received no great prejudice by that Imperial Constitution Especially since it was not the intention of Constantine rigorously to put in Execution that Penal Law but only to shew his regard for the Catholicks and his aversion from Herefie and Schism as also to terrifie the Fanatical Factious and Turbulent whilst he willingly suspended all severe proceedings against the Consciencious and Moderate such as Acesius and his followers were In these proceedings of Constantine the Great we may observe sundry things which carry a parallel to the Intentions and Procedure of his Majesty 1. The General Declaration for Liberty of Conscience 2. The Prohibition of Private and Clandestine Conventicles 3 The Reservation of all publick Revenues and Endowments untothe Catholicks 4 The declaration of hisspecial favour unto and designs of the promoting of the Orthodox Catholicks 5. Upon the known wickedness of certain Sects as the Valentinians Cataphryges c. which couldnot have been evident but by giving them an open Toleration at first His Penal Laws against Schismaticks and Hereticks indefinitely he reckoning the most Orthodox of Schismaticks with the most Vile and Profligate Hereticks 6. His Relaxation and Suspension of all those Penal Laws as to the Novatians yet withall declaring that their Separation was a Discidium or Schism That the Catholicks or Orthodox Churches were Ecclesiae perpetuae Sanctitatis 17. That they should not attempt any way to possess themselves of the Pulpits or Churches of the Catholicks This was the posture of Religion in the time of Constantine the great in whose Reign we have nothing further to consider besides the great progress of the Orthodox Church and the decay of Paganism and Heresies unless it be some rigorous proceedings of His against the Donatists and Arians The Sect of the Donatists began about the year 311. The People of Carthage had elected into their Bishoprick which was vacant Caecilianus who was ordained by one Felix The Primate of Numidia called Secundus was greivously offended that Caecilianus had been consecrated by any but himself and joyned with many other Bishops to depose Him for that He had been ordained by some who had delivered up their Bibles in the Diocletian-persecution and that He being a Deacon had prohibited Victuals to be brought unto the Confessours in Prison Seventy Bishops agreed upon His condemnation elected and ordained Majorinus Bishop of Carthage and renounced all Communion with Caecilianus who refused to appear and vindicate himself before them Hereupon arose a great Schism in Africk and the People of Carthage divided against their Bishop Caecilianus The Proconsul Anulinus informed Constantine thereof who remitted the Examination and Decision of the matter unto a Council at Rome There Caecilia us was acquitted and communicated with the Roman Clergy The Donatists will not be concluded by this Arrest the Emperour refers the tryal unto the Gallicane Bishops at Aâ—…les These likewise acquit Caecilianus and receive him into their Communion The Donatists would not thus be satisfied whereupon the Emperour being angry commands both Parties before Him at Rome The Donatists did appear but Caecilianus failed Whereupon the Donatists desired that he might be sentenced as guilty But the Emperour did refuse to comply with them therein commanding both Parties to appear at Millain The Donatists hereupon concluded that the Emperour was partial in the Case and some of them withdrew from Court into Africk the rest were seised upon by the appointment of Constantine and reserved as Prisoners until the Audience at Millaine Upon a mature hearing of both sides Constantine pronounced Caecilianus to be innocent and the Donatists to have calumniated Him Those Schismaticks were very angry at this judgment of the Emperour and railed upon Him as corrupted by the insinuations of Hosius a Bishop much reverenced by the Emperour and a Friend unto Caecilianus Those which had fled before unto Africk defamed the Emperour and those about Him and such tumults were raised in those Parts as that the civil Peace was endangered and Domitius Celsus together with the other Imperial Officers found it difficult to allay those Seditions The Orthodox Clergy being perpetually affronted injured and oppressed by the numerous and prevailing Donatists fled unto the Emperour for protection who writ unto all the Catholick Bishops and People this Letter Constantine Aug. unto all the Bishops and People appertaining unto the Catholick Church in Africk YOu understand very well that I have done all things that our Faith requires our wisdom could and our purity enabled us to do by way of moderation and amicable means that according to the Precepts of our Law the holy Peace
was to be seen an Orthodox Bishop sometimes two as in the Schisme of Meletius and Paulinus at Antioch an Arian Apollinarist and Macedonian Bishop All of them having recovered the Churches which had been taken from them Some of the Catholick Bishops are famed for their condescension and desire of Peace and Unity in that they proferred unto the Arian Bishops who were possessed of the great Churches and Revenues that if they would consent unto an union of Congregations worship the Church should be jointly administred by both the Arians retaining the Precedence The Goths notwithstanding this Indulgence did so far prevaile as to over-run Thracia Scythia Mysia even as far as the Gates of Constantinople and Gratian found the Western Empire so unsetled by reason of the Almans that he could not attend unto the Wars of the East nor yet intrust the young Valentinian with such a burthen Hereupon He made Theodosius his Co-partner in the Government and sent him unto the East reserving unto himself the Government of France Spain and Britaine and unto his Brother Italy Illyricum and Africk in the year 379. Theodosius was no sooner acknowledged Emperour but he marches against the Enemy and in Macedonia gains sundry Victories over them and teturns triumphant in the end of 380 unto Constantinople where he finds that the principal Churches and their Revenues were at that time and had been so during 40 years possessed by the Arians and so were almost all the Churches of the East whilst the Catholick Bishops exercised their Religion in obscure Conventicles Theodosius was a Spaniard descended from Christian Parents educated in the Nicene Faith and baptized by Acholius or Ascholius a most holy and worthy Bishop at Thessolonica zealous for the same Doctrine The Emperour determined to cause the Council of Nice to be universally received in the East but considering how long those Heresies had infested those Countries how numerous and potent the Hereticks were the splendour and riches of the Arian Churches the magnificence of their Service and the poverty of the Catholicks he thought it most prudential to proceed by degrees and not to attempt so great a work at once The bloody battels which he had fought the conquests which he had made over those barbarous Goths Huns and Alans had gained him the affection of the Souldiery and general Love of the Country The glory of his exploits had imprinted awe and reverence for him in the most remote parts and any Declaration from such an Emperour would have great influence on the minds of men Whereupon he published this Manifesto Cod. Theodos. lib. 16. tit 1. lege 2. The Emppp. Gratianus Valentinianus and Theodosius A. A. A. unto the People of the City of Constantinople We will and require that all those People who are Subject unto the moderate Government of our Clemency should profess and live in that Religion which the successive Tradition unto this day shews to have been at first taught the Romans by the Apostle St. Peter and which it is evident that Pope Damasus doth adhere unto and which is owned by Peter Bishop of Alexandria a person of Apostolical Sanctity That according to the Apostolical discipline and Evangelical Doctrine we may all beleive the Unity of Godhead together with the equal Majesty and sacred â—…rinity of the Father Son and Holy Ghost They that follow this Creed we commanded to assume constantly the name of Catholick Christians but those others extravagant and mad Fellows let them be accounted infamous Hereticks Let not their Conventicles be termed Churches and let them expect due punishment from God in the first place and in the second place from Us according as divine Providence shall direct our Counsels Given at Thessolonica Gratian V. and Theodosius 1. A. A. Coss. Anno Dom. 310. This being promulgated He went to Constantinople and there sends to the Arian Bishop to perswade Him to re-establish the Union and concord of the Church by Subscribing unto the Nicene Creed but Demophilus refusing to Conforme the Emperour commanded Him since He would not leave His Factiousness to leave His Church A. D. 380. The which He did and retir'd into the Suburbs where the Arians ever after as long as they continued did hold their Assemblies After this the Emperour resolved to call a Synod at Constantinople and to essay if He could by parties draw off the Sectaries and Hereticks unto the Catholick Church whereupon He most amicably invites 36 of the Macedonians Bishops thereunto and 150 Catholicks The difference between the Macedonians and Catholicks did not seem great or irreconcileable and they were Men of a Mortifi'd life and popular Sanctity But they declined all accommodation Whereupon He issued out a Decree forbidding any Sectaries or Hereticks to retain any publick Churches or hold any Meetings within any City A. D. 381. But that all Churches there should be surrendred up to the Catholick Bishops By his order a second Convention of Bishops was held and strict orders were given for the observation of the Ecclesiastical Canons and such persons were the Bishops He chose for their exemplary life sound doctrine and pious government that the People and generality reverenced them and were readily disposed to follow such men in the true Faith and most expedite way to the Emperours favour honour and riches After this He made another Essay to unite the several Sects and Heresies into the Catholick Church but the project succeeded not Whereupon He made several rigorous decrees against them forbidding them to Ordain any new Bishops to hold any Assemblies in City or Countrey Depriving them of the Franchises of Citizens and of the liberty to make any Wills or Testaments and in a manner Out lawing them But these Lawes were by Him suspendâ—…d and not put in execution For it was the method of Theodosius to enforce His Lawes with grievous penalties but not to execute them He did not intend to Persecute His Subjects but to affright them into the same Sentiments with Himself concerning the Deity And He did particularly commend those who voluntarily did embrace the Nicene Faith For the truth of this Assertion let us consider how Theo-dosius dealt with the Novatians For If to separate from the Cathelicks If to condemne their Churches as dâ—…filed and impure If to re-baptise such as revolt thence to Novatianisme can be sufficient incentives for penal Laws then were these men lyable thereunto and concluded under their rigour It is unanimously avowed that the Novatian Bishops were all this time highly valued and consulted with by Theodosius and Nectarius his Bishop of Constantinople It is also affirmed that the Novatians were not excluded from the Cities but permited to hold their Assemblies there And the Emperour admiring the Harmony of their Confession with that of the Catholicks did Enact that they should securely retain their Oratories and that their Churches should enjoy the same Priviledges which those of the Catholicks did As
prudence and piety there is not any of their projects no nor all of them summed together which may compare with the Declaration of His Majesty in order to the preserving at present and re-setling for the future the Church of England If the Primitive Emperours did publish their own judgments concerning the Orthodox Church thereby to insinuate unto their subjects which way they wished and desired them to conform their Opinions If they did extend several priviledges and emoluments of Revenue and Legacies unto the Catholicks which the Sectaries were not to receive Behold what His most Sacred Majesty doth declare In the first place We Declare our express Resolution Meaning and Intention to be That the Church of England be preserved and remain entire in its Doctrine Discipline and Government as now it stands Established by Law And that This be taken to be as it is the Basis Rule and Standard of the General and Publick Worship of God and that the Orthodox Conformable Clergy do receive and enjoy the Revenues belonging thereunto and that no person though of a different Opinion and Perswasion shall be exempt from paying his Tythes or other Dues whatsoever Hitherto the Ancient Politicks concur with the modern prudence of His Majesty yet there is this advantage on the part of the Church of England above what the Primitive Christians had that the Revenues of the Conformists are better settled and greater by far then the Nicene Fathers then the Hillary's the Basil's and the Nazianzen's could pretend unto And the power and dignity which our Bishops hold as Spiritual Lords not to mention their influence upon the subordinate Clergy hath nothing parallel to it in the four first Centuries except we should seek for particular instances in Rome and Alexandria Here are no Pagan Pontifices Sacerdotales Agrorum Hierophantae c. to rival much less transcend them No Jewish Patriarchs Primates Archisynagogi c. that equal them in Titles and are to be respected and exempted by Franchisements equal unto theirs The common Schools and Universities are not now as Athens in the time of Nazianzen and generally the Professors and Sophistae devoted to Gentilisme but managed by the Church The Parliament as of old the Senate doth not consist of Paynims or Arians c. Those which sway in our Councils and in the Magistracy are now no such kind of Men as heretofore From whence it is easie to conclude that If the Orthodox Church did advance it self in the Primitive Ages amidst those circumstances there is no fear that the Church of England which takes that Antiquity for its pattern as to Doctrine and Discipline should be ruined amidst much better conditions His Majesty doth further adde That no person shall be capable of holding any Benefice Living or Ecclesiastical Dignity or Preferment of any kind in this Our Kingdom of England who is not exactly Conformable This is conform unto the Presidents of Constantine Theodosius c. who did require an exact Subscription to the Niâ—…ene Council Thus Athanasius and S. Hilary c. urge an unalterable Conformity to the Decrees of the Three hundred and eighteen Bishops at Nice From thence the Fathers never would reeede And when the Emperour Constantius at the Councils of Sirmium Ariminum c. had formed sundry Comprehensional Creeds whereunto both Arians and Catholicks might saving their sundry judgments subscribe the best of the Fathers totally rejected the contrivance and those which out of a desire for the Union of the Church had assented thereunto did soon repent themselves for thereby the Orthodox Church received extraordinary prejudice The Nicene Fathers and the Catholicks seemed to have condemned the practices of their Chief Prelates and of themselves in making so great a Schisme and fulminating out Anathema's against their Brethren for needless words and forms which the Church might want and which they now expunged The Arians triumphed every where as Victors the whole World seemed to follow them and the rest appeared to be justly exiled and scorned who had raised such Divisions and Animosities in the Church and State about Trifles Hereupon the Comprehension was utterly dissolved and never resumed again in old Christendome as the most foolish and impracticable design that could be Upon this precedent did the D. of Saxony rather proceed by a special form of Concord then by any General and Comprehensional course â—…hus did the Calvinists in the Synod of Dort The Romanists in the Council of Trent Q. Elizabeth in her Subscriptions Thus have all wise Princes done except Charles V. who by an ill-favoured Interim tried the other way but with so bad success that 't is no president for His Majesty How Orthodox soever the Novatians were yet were they ranked alwayes amongst the Hereticks and Schismaticks nor did the Church ever project a Comprehension for them It is true the Primitive Emperors did grant them the same priviledges with the Catholicks which I believe did help to continue their Schisme so long But herein the Judgment of His Majesty seems more clear and elevated in that He doth not imbolden any Pretenders unto Orthodoxy to be Schismaticks by communicating with them His publick favours c. equal emoluments with the true Sons of the Church of England As we do now reckon all Separatists whatever under the Name of Non-Conformists albeit they differ as much as Novatians Basilidians and Manichees so did the Antient prudence esteem them all Hereticks and Schismaticks And if the hopes of preferment if the honour of a publick Church be not motives sufficient to make some men Proselytes to the Church of England It is rational to think that the being indiscriminately mixed in such a loathsome company and character may operate upon the minds of many to abate of their preciseness It follows We do in the next place Declare Our Will and Pleasure to be That the Execution of all and all manner of Penal Laws in Matters Ecclesiastical against whatsoever sorts of Non-Conformists or Recusants be immediately suspended and they are hereby suspended His Majesty herein writes after the Copy of the Primitive Times The Penal Laws are suspended the Defaults the Heresie the Schisme are not authenticated The punishment is taken off the guilt is not None is encouraged hereby unto Separation but indulged if he do separate They are still Non-Conformists to the Church of England They are still Recusants as to the Law They may assemble publickly but 't is under this ignominious denomination What power properly belongs to the Church is entirely reserved unto it by His Majesty Ecclesia enim jus Judicii habet Imperii minimè They are Spiritual Fathers and Judges their Authority their Censures are not suspended The Parliamentary and Secular Laws are invalidated for a season which is conformable to the Ancient Proceedings It is not declared that They are not Hereticks or Schismaticks but that They shall be tolerated though such It is one thing to encounter an Heresie or Schisme
did the Festivals of Bacchus or as it is usual to proceed against Traitors I think I may now put a period unto the Discourse about Indulgence which I have so managed as becomes a Son and a Friend unto the Church of England as well as a lover of the peace and welfare of his Native Countrey I have not debated the point of Prerogative in particular partly because what was said heretofore about the Deity is true concerning these Gods on earth It is dangerous to tell even the truth concerning their Essence partly because I could not do it without offending if not prejudicing the Church of England I do not think it convenient or seasonable that we should minutely inquire whether All the Power which was owned to be in the Pope at the Lateran Councill were vested in K. Henry VIII Or to examine strictly what the purport of those words are that The Kings of this Realme shall be taken accepted and reputed the onely Supreame Head on Earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia and shall have and enjoy annexed and united unto the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the title and stile thereof as all Honours Dignities Preheminences Jurisdictions Priviledges Authorities Immunities Profits and Commodities to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the same Church belonging and appertaining Our Laws doe likewise tell us that the King is the onely and undoubted supream Headof the Church of England and Ireland to whom by Holy Scripture all Authority and power is wholly given to hear and determine all manner of causes Ecclesiastical Which passages whosoever shall discreetly consider He will esteem of these Arcana Imperii as matters which no wise man will search into that affects the tranquillity of these Realms To exemplify this further did not Q. Elizabeth dispense with the Act for coming to Church and connived at the Popish Service in private Houses in a manner without punishment although it were prohibited by the Law under a pecuniary mulct This Indulgence she used for thirteen years And when the Statute was made against the bringing in of Bulls Agnus Dei's and hallowed grains c. privy tokens of Papal obedience or to reconcile any man unto the Church of Rome yet was there no man in full six years proceeded against by that Law What imports it whither a Law be suspended by Practice or Declaration Her Reign doth afford some instances of Toleration as also do the Primitive Times which I have declined to mention But yet they are instances of what a Prince may do upon Reason of State and against which I have not met with any Father Bishop or Lawyer that hath protested I thought to put an end here unto this Preface which is grown prolixe beyond my intention But I met lately with a Book written by an English Lawyer in 1640. and tendered to the Parliament which requires some Animadversions thereupon The Case is about Ship-Money but there is an excursion against the English Soveraignty of the Brittish Seas the which since I have so perspicuously asserted against the Dutch it seems necessary that I do not suffer it to be betrayed by the English I am sorry to find a sort of Civil war betwixt the Temple and a faction in Lincolns-Inn and I wondered who had suggested unto the Dutch those principles of refusing the Flag and denying our Rights on the Sea until I found this Book to have given them a pretext thereunto If I be any thing sharp in my reflections thereon I may be pâ—…doned since those assertions are less to be endured in an English man then in an Hollander After the writings of Selden it is strange to find a Subject of the King of Great Britain that doubts Whether the Sea be a part of the King's dominions and adds But grant the Sea be a part of the King's Dominions to some purposes How is it a part Essential or equally valuable or how does it appeare that the Fate of the Land depends wholly upon the Dominion of the Sea France subsists without the Regiment of the Sea and why may not we as well want the same If England quite spend it self and poure out all its treasure to preserve the Seignory of the Seas it is not certain to exceed the Naval force of France Spain Holland c. And if it content it self with its antient strength of Shipping it may remain as safe as it hath formerly done Nay I cannot see that either necessity of ruine or necessity of dishonour can be truly pretended out of this that France Spain or Holland c. are too potent at Sea for Us. The Dominion of the Seas may be considered as a meer Right or as an Honour or as a Profit to us As a Right it is a Theame fitter for Scholars to whet their Wits upon then for Christians to fight and spill blood about And since it doth not manifestly appeare how or when it was first purchased or by what Law conveyed unto Us we take notice of it onely as matter of wit and disputation As it is an Honour to make others strike saile to us as They pass it is a glory fitter for women and children to wonder at then for Statesmen to contend about It may be compared to a Chaplet of Flowers not to a Diadem of Gold But as it is a profit unto Us to fence and enclose the Sea its matter of moment yet it concernes Us no more then it doth other Nations By too insolent contestations hereupon we may provoke God and dishonour our selves we may more probably incense our friends then quell our enemies we may make the Land a Slave to the Sea rather then the Sea a Servant to the Land I mention this passage to shew the Frenzy which possessed the Heà ds of many that would be reputed Patriots and Defenders of the Laws and Liberties of the English Nation in 1636 c. But there are some fatal periods amongst these Northern Regions when the Inhabitants do become so brutal and prejudicate that no obligations of Reason Prudence or Conscience and Religion can prevail over their passions especially if they are instigated by the Boutefeus of the Law in opposition to the Gospel of Peace and Obedience At another time it would have seemed strange that a Common-Lawyer should doubt whither the Sea be a part of the King's Dominions Whereas our Laws and Parliaments have alwayes decreed it to be so It is strange that one of that Robe should controvert our Right thereunto or scruple How it was purchased since in Vulgar Titles the Common Law looks no farther then Prescription and in explication thereof they are not so nice as the Civilians â—…or by the Civil Law there is required a Just Title which the Common Law requireth not And Bona fides which the Common Law requireth not and continual Possession which the Common Law only requireth And This He might have seen proved in Mr. Selden and Sir John Boroughs
his Officials to infest them contrary to the Rules and Practices of Orthodox Christians Julian at their Petition had re-setled them in their Lands Churches and Bishopricks and their specious Zeal together with the glory of their Sufferings had created in the People such a Reverence for them that they prevailed every were in that Province They Rebaptized such as they Converted from the Catholicks and esteemed none to be true Churches but theirs The Pagans were very numerous and powerful at Rome in Asrick and elsewhere retaining most of their Sacrifices and their Rural and City Pontificate Valentinian beholding the Posture of the Empire Decreed unto his Subjects an Universal Liberty of Conscience and though he did always manifest his own Judgment and Kindness unto those of the Nicene Faith yet did not he molest those of a different perswasion Such was his Demeanour unto the Arians and to the Pagans He did not so much as remove the Altar of Victory which stood at the entry into the Senate and where Sacrifices were offered and the Christian Senators were compelled to assist with their presence He did indeed prohibit Nocturnal Sacrifices but none else The first Laws of his concerning this Indulgence are lost but this following sufficiently speaks his Proceedings Cod. Theodos. lib. 9. tit 16. lege 9. The Emppp. Valentinianus Valens Gratianus A A A. Unto the Senate I do judge that Augury or Soothsaying is not to be ranked amongst those Maleficia or execrable Sorceries which are Prohibited Nor do I esteem either that or any other Religion tolerated by my Ancestors to be a Crime Those Laws which I enacted in the beginning of my Empire do attest this to be my sense I did thereby permit every man to pursue that way of worship which pleased him nor do wo regrâ—…hend Augury but allow the innocent use thereof Given at Triers Gratian A. 11. Probus Coss. Anno Dom. 371. The Charactr which Ammianus Marcellinus gives of him after his death is this His Reign was famous for the moderation used therein the Emperour carrying himself with an even hand amidst that diversity of Religions Neither did he molest any one nor commanded that he should believe and worship thus or thus neither did he by any menacing Edicts incline or â—…ffright his Subjects to embrace the Religion of their Prince But he left the several Parties untouched as he found them As for Valens he did give liberty of Conscience unto all but the Orthodox Churches whose Bishops he deposed banished and put to death punishing their Followers by Fines Imprisonment c. He tolerated all other Sects and Religions even unto open Paganisme except the Novatians who were subjected to like persecution with the Catholicks Were it possible for to extirpate by violence an inveterate and numerous Sect that Emperour had atcheived his designs But at last he found Divisions Discontents and Tumults to encrease at home and dangers to threaten him from abroad and by the perswasion of Themistius a Pagan Philosopher Senatour of Constantinople and Favourite of all the Christian Emperours of his Age he stayed his fury and left every man to adhere unto what Religion he pleased without any menaces or penalties unto the contrary It is probable that all Ecclesiastical Immunities and Priviledges were limited by Him unto the Arians and some say he did continue to send into Exile the Orthodox Clergy but whither all or some and whither upon a civil or Religious account t is uncertain But Themistius doth aver unto him that he did not by his persecution make any Converts unto Arianisme but Atheisme and brought men rather to worship the imperial Diadem then the true God Valenâ—…inian had two Sons Gratian and Valentinian the younger Their Father died Anno Dom. 375. Gratian was immediately proclaimed Emperour and though young Valentinian were at that time Augustus yet did not he share in the administration of the Empire until the death of Valens It is observed by the learned Gothofredus that during the Reign of Jovian Valentinian the Elder and Gratian there is not to be found one Law against Paganisme in order unto its suppression He did remove the Altar of Victory from the Senate-house He did withdraw those publick Revennues and confiscate the Lands which appertained unto the Priests and Vestals but neither ejected the Pagans out of the Senate and cheif commands Military or civil nor did he shut up or dispoile their Temples and Altars or render them incapable of Donations and Legacies In which last point by reason of a Law made by Valentinian in 370. the Pagan Preists and Temples were in a better condition then the Churches of the Catholicks Neither did he prohibite the Pagan Ceremonies but that the publick Sacrifices were continued at Rome until 391. As to the Heretical Christians it is apparent that in the beginning of his Reign and whilest he ruled onely in the West that he did make severe Laws against all Hereticks that they should forbear their Assemblies in City and Country and that all their Meeting-places or Churches should be confiscated The first Law in 370. is not recorded but the second runs thus Cod. Theodos. lib. 16 tit 5. lege 4. The Emppp. Valens Gratian and Valentinian A. A. A. unto Hesperius P F. P. We did heretofore in the behalf of the Catholick Religion that the Heretical Meetings might cease ordain that wheresoever any Assemblies were held in City or Country different from those of our Religion all such places should be seised upon and sold notwithstanding any pretenses to the contrary as if they were meerly set apart for the practise of a false Religion Whither the connivence and dissembling of the Magistrates or the refractoriness of those profane Persons shall hinder the execution thereof the same death shall be inflicted on those that give the occasion Given at Triers on the tenth of the Calends of May. Valens and Valentinian being Coss. A. D. 308. But notwithstanding that this penal Law was so strict and so rigorously enforced in the same year when Valens was dead the whole Empire devolved unto Gratian and he imbarked in a War with the Arian Goths in the East either out of reason of State to create a good opinion of him amongst his new Subjects to prevent Forreign correspondencies with his Enemies or the better to recal those from amongst the Goths who were banished or fled unto them from the fury of Valens or other motives as disliking the Proceedings of his Uncle in banishing such as were not of his judgement in point of Religion he by a Law bearing date at Sirmium did recal from banishment all those that were exiled for Religion and gave them free leave to profess what Religion they pleased and to assemble publickly in their seperate Churches Excepting the Manichees Photinians and Eunomians Hereupon many Orthodox Bishops did return to their Seas and in the same Town there