is the very establishment of this Polity for a duty or obligation common to several Societies supposes one Government common to them all to which every Society is accountable for the discharge of its Duty Every passage that recommends Union among the Members of that Body of which Christ is Head is an express Command to this Duty for he is Head of the Catholique Church and the Catholique Church is his whole Body and therefore particular Churches are only Members of it and therefore as such they are obliged by such Precepts to keep the Unity of the whole If our Learned Author mean that this Communion was not establisht between all Churches in the Apostles time I will grant it because it was impossible that it should till the settlement of Christianity in the World was brought to some perfection and till then such a Confederation in Discipline could not be established in all places For some of them travelling into remote Parts and Founding Churches there such distant Churches could not keep up any common Discipline among themselves for want of convenient Correspondence But as far as this design could be put in practice it was pursued by the Apostles keeping Peace and Unity among all Neighbour Churches But Thirdly The Fathers make the Unity of the Church to consist only in the Unions of Faith Charity Peace not in this Political Union First suppose they do yet if a Political Union be necessary to preserve those other Unions that must be implyed in them But Secondly What Fathers make it to consist only in those Unions Does any Father affirm that there is no other Union in the Church but only of Faith Charity and Peace that were to the purpose but because they sometime speak of those Unions to conclude that they affirm that there is no other only shews a miserable scantiness of proof and yet beside this the chief Passages that he alledges out of them refer to this Political Union His first Instance of the Church of Rome's refusing to receive Marcion to Communion because he was Excommunicated by his own Father the Bishop of Sinope a small Diocess in Pâ—ntus is the most remarkable Precedent of this Unity of Discipline that he could have pitched upon in all the Records of the Ancient Church for if they were â— bliged not to admit him into Communion in one Church when he was Excommunicate in another then they were under some Law of Government common to both how else should the Church of Rome be obliged to put in execution a censure of the little remote Church of Synope And yet too without this obligation the Discipline of the Church would be utterly defeated for what had become of that if it had not been of force at Rome and every where else as well as at home And of the same nature is the known and famous case of Synesius who when he had Excommunicated Andronicus and his Companions requires of all Bishops in the World not to receive them to Communion under pain of Excommunication as dividing that Unity of the Church which Christ has appointed Though this was only for the greater caution for though he had not given this notice they were all obliged under the same penalty of Excommunication not to admit them to Communion without their Bishop's Certificate or Communicatory Letters and as long as that rule was observed which was till the time of the Usurpation the Discipline of every particular Church was without any trouble effectual in all Churches all the World over But to return to Marcion the reason says our Author why the Roman Church refused Communion to Mercion when he was Excommunicated by his Father was because his Father and they were of one Faith and one Mind And let it be the reason if he pleases for what can follow thence then that Unity of Faith obliges to Unity of Discipline And that too is expresly enough infer'd in the following words which he has omitted We cannot i. e. we ought not to act contrary to our fellow Minister But after all we need only refer this whole matter to our Learned Author 's own decision who has given his judgment of it in these words It is a rule grounded upon apparent Equity and frequently declared by Ecclesiastical Canons that no Church shall admit into its Protection or Communion any Persons who are Excommunicated by another Church or who do withdraw themselves from it And this he proves by the Canon of the African Fathers against Appeals to Rome by the proceedings against Marcion by St. Cyprian's repulse of Maximus and Novatian and Cornelius of â—aelicissimus by the punishment of Dioscorus who was deposed for it and by the Mandate of Synesius to all Christian Churches against Andronicus And what can we desire more then this That as this Rule was a standing Law of the Christian Church so it was grounded upon apparent Equity and such Laws are Obligatory all the World over because their Violation is apparent Iniquity in short it was no Arbitrary Rule but such an one as was its own obligation by its own intrinsick Goodness and Usefulness As for our Authors Passages out of Tertullian they do him as little Service as this Precedent of Marcion For they expresly assert this Unity of Discipline in the Catholique Church We are one Body by our agreement in Religion our Unity of Discipline and our being in the same Covenant of hope What can be more evident then that he makes the Unity of the Christian Body to consist in an Unity of Discipline as well as of Faith And to the same purpose are all his other Passages out of the Ancients that from the Unity of Faith in all Churches infer this Unity of Discipline as is obvious to any one that will but peruse them The Fourth Argument is only a Repetition of the two first and therefore is already consider'd And so is the fifth viz. That this Unity could not comport with the Apostolical State of the Church when Christian Churches were founded in such distant places as could not with convenience correspond That is to say it was not reduced to practice till it was practicable and that I must acknowledge it was not in all places till after the Apostles but as far as it could be obtain'd it was carefully observed from the beginning The Sixth Argument taken from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or liberty of particular Churches to govern themselves I have answered in the foregoing Discourse by shewing its Consistency with its Subjection to the Catholique Church because as our Learned Author here very well observes The Peace of the Church was preserved by Communion of all parts together not by the subjection of the rest to one part But the truth is in prosecuting this Argument he has not only answered that but all the rest by confessing the absolute necessity of this Political Verity so that without it Christianity must have perished by referring the judgment of the
them were nicely and religiously observed by both Governments The first evidently appears from the Emperour 's summoning so many Councils to gratifie his own Will For his only design was to amend and reform the Nicene Creed for the reconciling of all Parties which if he had thought that he might have done by his own Imperial Authority to what purpose need he have broke up all the High-ways in Christendom by conveying Bishops to and from Councils He might have proclaimed down the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one Imperial Rescript if he had supposed that a proper Authority for it So that when he summoned such Variety of Councils by the Countenance of their Authority to compass his Will that demonstrates it to be a fixt Principle with him that the Controversies of the Church ought to be decided by the Authority of the Church And therefore though it was scarce ever more oppressed or abused by any Prince then himself yet his very illegal Actions are the highest acknowledgement that is upon record of that religious reverence that is due to that power that was setled by our Saviour upon his Apostles and the Bishops their Successours forever For though it so frequently crost his own design yet he durst never directly invade or usurp it but was forced from time to time to solicite their compliance with his own wicked Will or rather misinform'd judgement And though he carried things with so rough a violence yet he would never attempt any thing against the Liberties of the Church unless he could bear himself out by the Authority of a Council But if he so much own'd that how comes it to pass that the Ancients charge him so highly for usurping it particularly Athanasius Hosius St. Hilary and Liberius who freely and boldly reproved him for it to his own face And so they did and that too upon very just grounds for though he did not challenge the Authority of the Church to himself yet he endeavoured to over-rule it by down-right force and violence which is in effect to destroy it And that is the ground of their complaints that they were not allowed freedom in Council but that himself and his Prefects took upon them to forestall the Judgement of the Church by Restraints and Threatnings This is the standing complaint of Athanasius and all the Orthodox Bishops in all their Writings It is the grievance insisted upon by the Synod of Alexandria in their Synodical Epistle in behalf of Athanasius against the Tyrian Council With what forehead could they call that a Council over which a temporal Lord presided and where Spies and Notaries were placed where his Lordship determined and the Officers of the Church were silenced or rather lacquied to his Decree Where what was voted by the Bishops was over-ruled by him He carried all things by Power we were govern'd by the Guards or rather the pleasure of the Eusebians whose Tool and Instrument was the Secular President And a little after These worthy Eusebians shelter their forgeries speaking of the Villany of Arsenius under the pretence of a Council where all things were carried by the Emperour's Will where one of his Lords presided and the Bishops were under the custody of the guard and compell'd to say whatever the Emperour commanded The very same Complaint is made by Athanasius himself against the Council of Antioch in his Epistle to the Monks of Egypt That when upon the Appeal or rather Reference made to Rome by the Eusebians he had repair'd thither and the time of hearing the cause was appointed as soon as they heard they were likely to meet with an Ecclesiastical judgement where the Secular Governour was not to be present nor the Guards to keep the Council doors nor all things to be overul'd by the Commands of Caesar by which methods and no other they had hitherto born down the Bishops and without which security they durst never have made any appearance were so astonisht and surprised that they had no way of escape but to shift off their own Appeal And this is the Account that he gives of their lying off from the Synod of Sardica That when they had brought the Emperours Officers along with them and trusted to do what they pleased by their Authority but finding that all things were resolved to be managed there fairly and freely according to the Ecclesiastical Rule they quite baulkt the Council And to transcribe no more the same complaint is perpetually repeated by him in all his Writings as the fundamental miscarriage v. p. 833. 844. 845. 861. 862. This was the enormity of his Reign though he fell not so grosly into it till after the overthrow of Magnentius or the Murther of Gallus They were the Actions of that time that these good men particularly complain of and no wonder when he did all things more like a Mad-man then a Prince and Govern'd both the State and himself too as wildly as the Church As his Extravagance at that time is described by Ammianus Marcellinus Quo ille Studio blanditiarum exquisito sublatus immunemque se deinde fore ab Immortalitatis incommodo existimans confestim a justiti◠declinavit it a intemperanter ut AEternitatem meam aliquoties assereret ipse dictando scribendoque propriâ manu Orbis totius se Dominum appellare Upon the news of the death of Gallus he was so bloated by the flatteries of his Courtiers for his success against all his Enemies that he forgot himself and his own Mortality and sunk after so prodigious a rate from all sense of Justice that he was often wont in dictating Letters to subscribe himself My Eternity and Lord of the whole World They I say were the actions of this mad time that these good Men particularly complain of and as for all the time before he gave the Church reasonable fair usage and though the Eusebians drew him in to pack Councils yet he never proceeded so high himself as to forestall or over-rule their Decrees As for the Council of Antioch that was the meer contrivance of the Nicomedian Eusebius and his Eunuchs to prevent the Council at Rome in the cause of Athanasius In which it does not appear that the Emperor had any other concernment farther then to put their Sentence in Execution And was in all probability imposed upon as the good Bishops of the Council were in the Condemnation of Athanasius For it was all grounded upon the Acts of the Tyrian Council and had they been legal his Deposition had been but just so that their validity being as here it was supposed no wonder that the Bishops Vote so freely against him though for the most part neither Arians nor Eusebians The Council at Sardica was a full and free Council and though the Eusebians were forced to be cross and peevish in their own defence yet all things were managed in the Council it self fairly and candidly without any appearance of force or fraud in the Emperor insomuch
that when the banisht Bishops were restored to the Exercise of their Function by the Decree of the Council he restored them too to the possession of their Bishopricks by his Imperial Rescript The first Synod at Milan was wholly Western and under the Jurisdiction of the Emperour Constans where they had all free liberty both of debating and determining as they pleased So that hitherto all Powers Priviledges and Jurisdictions in the Church were preserved as far as the Emperours were concern'd but after the death of Constans the overthrow of Magnentius and the murther of Gallus when Constantius run mad either through guilt or insolence we read of nothing but Fury and Tyranny For in the year 355 when Gallus was murthered he summons or rather musters a Council at Arles for the Condemnation of Athanasius commands the Bishops to subscribe it and banishes Paulinus of Trevers for refusing the Subscription In the same year meets the second Council at Milan and that for the same purpose in which Eusebius of Verselles Liberius of Rome and at last Hosius of Corduba are sent on the same Errand after Paulinus for the same Offence In the year 357 follows the Council of Sirmium where as we have seen all things were carried by Force Then comes the Council of Ariminum in the year 359 where a Council of near 400 Bishops are compelled to subscribe and submit to the pleasure of Valens and his fifty Men. The Council of Seleucia came to the worst end of all being only a contest between the Eusebians and Acacians who finding themselves over-numbred appeal to the Emperor and are received by him draw up a new Creed in which they not only cashiere the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as they phrased them all other Exotick words And this indefinite Faith is imposed upon all Christian Bishops by an Imperial Rescript upon pain of banishment by which the Acacians outed the Eusebians and so got themselves into the best and fattest Preferments In the year 360 comes the last Conventicle of Antioch in which Meletius Bishop of Antioch was deposed for asserting the Nicene Creed and that against the Publick Faith of the Emperour given him under Hand and Seal for his Security These were wild actings in the Church but they all followed the Magnentian and Gallian madness and that is the excuse that is made for him by Athanasius himself that after that he was not himself but was entirely govern'd by other Men that as he expresses it had no more brains in their Skuls then in their Toes But before this time of outrage and distraction he kept up that reverence and regard that is due to that Authority that our Blessed Saviour has committed to his Church Nay even after this loosing himself and his understanding by getting the whole World he kept up that respect to our Saviour's Institution as at least to Warrant all his irregular Proceedings by a shew of its Authority For though he endeavour'd to carry all things by force and violence yet he never attempted any thing without a pretended Council This was the Interval of time in which the Ancients complain of his invading the Power of the Church and as it were by these wild Practices thrusting himself into the Evangelical Priest-hood Thus was it in the year 355 immediately after the mad Council at Milan when the Dialogue between the Emperour and Liberius Bishop of Rome pass't in which Liberius insists upon that one Proposal that the Emperour would be pleased to call a free Council and not over-aw it by his own Sovereign Power Let there be an Ecclesiastical Synod Summon'd but not to Court where neither the Emperor himself nor any of his Lords or Judges commands by threatning but where the fear of God alone determines all things And for sticking to this Proposition and refusing to act in an Ecclesiastical Sentence till it was granted he is sent into banishment In the same year and upon the same occasion it was that the wise Hosius gave him that famous advice Tibi Deus Imperium commisit nobis quae sunt Ecclesiae concredidit Et quemadmodum qui tuum Imperium malignis oculis carpit contradicit ordinationi divinae Ita tu cave ne quae sunt Ecclesiae ad te trahens magno crimini obnoxius fias neque enim fas est nobis in terris Imperium tenere neque tu thymiatum sacrorum potestatem habes Imperator God has committed the Empire to you the Church to us and as he would rebel against God that should malign your Authority so take heed left by drawing the Affairs of the Church to your self you prove guilty of the same Rebellion for as it is a sin in us to challenge any temporal Authority so know O Emperor that you have not the power of the holy Function This was plain dealing and but necessary at that time when he had made so foul an inrode upon the Jurisdictions and Liberties of the Church and overborn all its Divine Authority by Military force and sury So that his meaning was not as the Romanists would have it to cut off the Emperor from all interposing in Church Affairs because he that had been so much employed in them under Constantine could not think it unlawful in it self But though that be no fault but a duty yet to use his Authority with meer force and violence to destroy the Judgment of the Governors of the Church by compulsion in matters of Faith and to take upon himself the determination of them as he had in effect done and that in contradiction to the Authority of a General Council was such a bold contempt of our Saviour's Institution and such an Invasion of the rights of his Kingdom that the good Bishop could do no less then threaten it with the Terrors of the last day About the same time St. Hilary address't his Apology in behalf of the Catholicks to the Emperor where among divers other abuses that he Petitions to be redress't this is none of the least Provideat decernat Clementia vestra ut omnes ubique Judices quibus Provinciarum administrationes creditae sunt ad quos sola cura solicitudo publicorum negotiorum pertinere debet à religiosa se observantia abstineant neque posthac praesumant atque usurpent putent se causas cognoscere Clericorum innocentes homines variis afflictationibus minis violentià terroribus frangere atque vexare That was the deplorable State of the Church at that time that the Emperor's Prefects and Officers took upon them a Power of Summoning the Orthodox Clergy to their Tribunals to give an account of their Faith and to banish them if they refused compliance with the Emperor's Will and not only so but to take the Accusations of their Enemies against them and right or wrong and without any regard to Justice or understanding the merit◠of the Cause inflict upon them their own Arbitrary punishments This just
by the Roman Writers as his being then but a Novice in the Faith and not sufficiently inform'd of the Discipline of the Church or his being tired out by the restless importunity of the Donatists so that he could enjoy no quiet till he yielded to it These things may be true but they are needless for though it may not be proper for a Lay-man to judge in Ecclesiastical Causes yet it may not be altogether unlawful especially when the Peace of the State depends upon them and that was the Emperour's case at this time all Africa was in an Uproar and in danger to be lost by the Sedition and therefore it highly concern'd him to exert his own Power as he would secure so great a part of his Empire and upon that reason he might take the Judgment upon himself thereby to restrain the Donatists from raising Disturbances and Seditions in the State Though when all is done it is certain that the Emperour never accepted the Appeal nay that he protested against it as an affront to the Divine Authority and setting up his own Power above God's appears not only from his Epistle to the Bishops at Arles but his perpetual Declarations of it And therefore it is not to be supposed that he would be prevail'd with to take upon himself a Judgment that he so solemnly disavowed And therefore his design in hearing the Cause after Judgment was not to judge but to expose the Schismatiques or to suffer them to expose themselves For the cause was already so fully and clearly determin'd at the Council that it could not admit any Review but because they were so restless to have it re-heard before the Emperour himself he at last seem'd to condescend to their importunity when he knew it would prove their fatal overthrow for it is observable that he would not meddle with the business at all till he had the discovery of Ingentius his Forgery in his Pocket with which they were so surprised that instead of following their Suit it utterly dispersed them And for the very same reason he gave them other Hearings after his own Imperial Judgment only to give them the greater scope to lay open themselves and their dishonesty to the World as will appear anon in the foul discovery of Nundinarius the Deacon §. III. But after the Imperial Sentence against them instead of submitting to so great an Authority and such clear Conviction they raise high clamours of injustice and oppression and when they return home put the People into Riots and Tumults and seize a Church in Numidia belonging to the Catholicks and of the Emperors own Foundation Of which when complaint was made to the Empeperor by the Bishops of the Province such was then the fury of the Schismaticks and the disorder of the times that at that time he could send them no other relief then by exhorting them to patience and bestowing a new Church upon them not daring to inflict any punishment upon the Offenders for so long a Train of Sedition but leaving them as himself speaks to the Judgment of God And as he had not long before witten to his Lieutenant Celsus that he should forbear them a while till himself could have leisure to visit Africa sâ—re now assures them that when he comes the Schismaticks shall feel the Event of his Abused Patience and that he doubted not when he came to convince them of such manifest Villany that would utterly spoil all their Glory of Martyrdom For that they gave out to justifie their stubborness against the Imperial Edicts that whatever punishments the Emperor decreed against them they were ready to undergo as Martyrs for the truth of God and therefore that they were so far from dreading any severity that they desired the Execution of Penal Laws against them And so they persist railing at the Emperor for denying Justice and reviling the Catholicks for inciting him to Persecution Till at length he is forced to Enact severe Laws against them and first of all all their Meeting-houses are confiscated to the Crown and accordingly seized on and it hapned very luckily at that time that one Nundinarius a Deacon of the Donatists who was privy to the first contrivance of the Schism at their meeting at Cirta discovers the whole Conspiracy to Zenophilus the Pro-Consul of Numidia and proves both by publick Records and a great number of Witnesses that Silvanus whom they had made Bishop of Cirta and the most factiâ—â—s man of the whole Party was a Traditor and that my Lady Lucilla had given the Numidian Bishops a great sum of Money to depose Caecilian and bestow his Bishoprick upon her Ladyships Chaplain And this discovery being signified by Zenophilus to the Emperor together with a Catalogue of the Seditious Practices of Silvanus he condemns both Silvanus and all the other Ring-leaders of the Faction to perpetual Banishment and that is the utmost severity that he ever proceeded to for though some of them were sentenced to death yet such was his natural Clemency that he turn'd it into banishment and thus by seising their Conventicles and sending away their Leaders he gave himself ease and quiet for some time from their disturbances But now behold the constant ingenuity of all Schismaticks to be sure to beleager the State when ever they find it in any distress and to gain their own ends out of the publick Necessities and to make what demands they please when the Government is not in a condition to contend with them And thus about this time the War between Constantine and Licinius breaking out the Donatists presently accost the Emperor with a bold Petition both for granting liberty of Conscience and recalling Silvanus and his Collegues from Banishment are so confident as to tell him in broad expression that they would suffer a thousand deaths before they would be reconciled to that Prelatical Knave of his Caecilian And yet so involved were the Emperors Affairs at that time that he was forced to grant whatever they demanded and orders Verinus his Vice-Roy in Africk to leave them to their own Liberty And that they used with all manner of Insolence whilst the Civil War lasted neither now would they be satisfied with their own Liberty at home but endeavour to spread their Schism into all parts of the Catholick Church and poyson all the Emperors Dominions with the Spirit of Faction and Sedition What Emissaries they sent into other Churches is not so well known but to Rome they send one Victor as Titular Bishop of that See who took upon himself all â—piscopal Authority over his Party and had many Successors in his Usurpation but not having Liberty to keep their publick meetings in the City they betook themselves to Field Conventicles and Assembled in the Roks and Mountains and from thence were commonly call'd Montenses Campitae and Rupitani This is all that we have recorded of them in this Emperors Reign for he having overcome Licinius and being Master of the
declared against the great Arian Assertions especially of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Sum of all that Heresie that he should be charged not only for an Heretick but a Prevaricator Though the hardest piece of disingenuity is his turning Eusebius his ingenuous confession into guile and falshood but with what justice or candor I dare leave the Reader to judge from the words themselves as I have oâ—ted them above that give as far as I can discern as prudent and rational account of the true State of the Controversie as any that we have upon Record But Petavius has met with his own Measure for after all the pains that he has taken against the Arian Heresie he stands vehemently suspected of Treachery to his own Undertaking Sandius is very proud of his company and lays no small stress upon the assistance of his Authority And though this Rhapsodist whoever he was was apparently a thing of no judgment yet others that want not understanding complain That he has done the Doctrine of the Trinity no great kindness by his defence of it but has betrayed the constant Tradition of the Church about it and it is what I have often heard objected by some that would be learned Men in common Discourse though upon what ground I cannot devise unless it be that some Men pass their censures upon Books only by skimming over Indexes and Contents of Chapters instead of perusing the Books themselves for I am sure no Man that has Examin'd Petavius his performance upon this Argument can ever suspect him of a design to betray his cause that he has defended with so much Judgment Learning and Industry but so it is that some Body turning over the heads of the Chapters finds a Catalogue of Fathers before the Council of Nâ—ce that held different Opinions from the Catholique Rule Saltem loquendi usu as he speaks from thence it is shrewdly insinuated that he leaves them under suspition of Arianism which is so far from being true that he had before-hand cleared them from all such suspition as to the substance of the Doctrine and proved the constant Tradition of it through all Ages of the Church from the Apostles And sums up his Evidence of the whole matter in this one positive Assertion Omnes in eo Scriptores illi conveniunt esse unum Deum unamque Deitatem non autem plures Deos aut Deitates Deinde tres esse qui Divinitatem illam habent quique singula quâ nomen ipsum obtinent Dei quâ proprietates ut Groeci Philoâ—ophi nominant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae nulli alteri quà m soli ac verè proprieque dicto Deo tribuuntur Sic in eo rurfus congruunt ut unum de tribus fontem originem caeterorum constituant eumque patrem nuncupent illius qui proximè ab hoc numeratur appellaturque filius qui genitus ab illo dicitur ac tum Deus est tum homo pro Nativitate duplici quarum una seculis est anterior omnibus ab solo patre Deo Altera in tempore sola itidem ex Matre foeminâ Haec fere de Deo ac Trinitate profiteri sigillatim illos reperies idque alios aliis clarius ac disertius eloqui Quae si sola considerentur ex iis reliqua deinceps necessariò sequuntur quae de hoc mysterio post Nicaenam Synodum in Ecclesia sancita sunt post vehementes ac diuturnos conflictus ad convincendos ac refutandos Arianos aliosque religionis hostes idonea sunt ex sese Now if all the Fathers agreed as he says they did in this Confession of Faith it is impossible to charge them with the least suspition of Arianism only because some of them Platonised too much in some Forms of Expression and when he says as he does once that they were of the same Opinion with Arius it is when he makes Arius not of the same Opinion with himself and thinks him a Genuine Platonist but if he were that was not his proper Heresie the peculiar poison whereof consisted in this That the Son of God was created 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as Sozomen declares and Petavius too no Man ever affirm'd before Arius so that if he were a Platonist he might be in another Error but that was not Arianism and if any of the Ancients might seem to come too near him in some Platonick Expressions yet they are all clear by Petavius his account from all suspition of Arianism This I thought good to interpose in behalf of Petavius that so learned a Man might not be loaded with such a disingenuous surmise for no other reason that I can see then that he has deserved better of his Argument then any other Writer whatsoever excepting only the great Athanasius himself But to return to Constantine and the Nicene Council after the Condemnation of Arius the other Controversie concerning the time of Easter was easily decided the very same day and all Churches are commanded to observe the Festival in the same form and time And here the difference that St. Athanasius has observed between these two Decrees of the Council is very observable That when they Enact concerning the Paschal Controversie they say it seems good to the Council c. And set down the day of the Month and the year of the Council in which it was Enacted thereby intimating that the way of observing Easter became Obligatory by the Authority of their Decree But when they set down their Faith they neither say it seems good nor add any date but express it in this Form that so and so the Catholique Church believes thereby declaring That it is not a New but an Apostolical Faith and therefore to be received by all Christians And this is seconded by a Rescript from the Emperor and recommended partly as a thing fit and decent that the practice of almost the whole Catholique Church should over rule the Customs of particular Churches and in pursuance of this general Decree it was farther Enacted That on all Sundays in the year and on all days from Easter to Whitsontide Christians should every where pray not kneeling but standing a Custom that had been practised in the Church from the Beginning and 't is reckoned by the Fathers among their immemorial Traditions as a Symbol of our Saviour's Resurrectâ—on at that time which being not observed by those Churches who kept Easter after the manner of the Jews thereby to distinguish themselves from other Christians the Custom therefore of standing is here injoin'd to be observed uniformly in all places and so the Council expresses the intent of their Decree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all things may be performed with Uniformity in all Dâ—ocesses But the main thing that the Emperour enforces its Practice with is the Divine Authority of the Councils determination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore matters standing thus it is requisite that
Christian Religion they could have no ground or provocation to persecute it because it was not only by its Laws but by its very Constitution in the first place tender of all the Rights of Civil Government but if notwithstanding that they were resolved to proceed against them they had nothing more to say or do for themselves then to lay down their Lives with all possible meekness in submission to their Royal Will and Pleasure and hoped they would not take it for any piece of stubbornness or affected disobedience that they would not Renounce their Faith nor quit their hopes in the Kingdom of Heaven out of compliance with their Commands when they saw them so much in good earnest as to be ready to lay down their Lives out of pure submission to their Authority Such a competition as this cannot be avoided upon the supposition of the real Truth of Christianity but then upon supposition of its Nature it is impossible that it can be any way prejudicial to Civil Government to which by its obligation to peaceable suffering under it it cannot avoid to discharge its whole duty of subjection to it If it be said that though this is the real state of Christianity in it self it cannot be expected that its Professors should be so perfect and so free from passion but that they may be provoked to resistance by Oppression To this it is easily answered that how much soever the Christian Religion allows for other infirmities of Flesh and Blood this is open defiance and contradiction to it so that the Man that pretends to Christianity and yet can be prevail'd upon by any Temptation to entertain one thought of it is a Villain a Cut-throat a Traytor and a Rebel not only against his King but his Saviour And therefore whenever Princes are encountred with any pretences whatsoever of disturbance upon the account of Religion for that very reason alone they ought to cut them off as the most incorrigible and most unpardonable sort of Traytors And if they are Christians themselves and have any kindness for the honour of their Religion to make such shameless pretenders to it the Examples of their utmost severity it is the very top of all Blasphemy as well as Rebellion In short there can be nothing more evident then this that Christianity it self as it is founded upon the Doctrine of the Cross can never do any harm to Civil Government so if it be ever abused and prophaned to such designs they that do it are the worst of Villains that deserve the utmost punishment that can be inflicted upon them in this life and will be sure to meet with it in the life to come And that I think is all that it is possible for any Law to do to deterr those that it would oblige from offending against it by all the Penalties that God or Man can inflict §. VI. But secondly beside this general Doctrine of the Cross that cuts up the very Roots of all resistance to Lawful Powers there are great numbers of particular Laws peculiar to this Religion that lop off all its Branches and Pretences by advancing the Reverence that is due to Authority and requiring from all that profess any Obedience to that a more accurate Obedience and Subjection to their Governors then their Governors could have obliged them to by their own Authority So that of all Men the Christian must be the best Subject by his very profession so far is he from being brought under any probable Temptation of disrespect to his Superiours by his Christianity that by that be his Governours what they will Caligula's Nero's or Domitian's he is bound by a new obligation under no less penalty than the Divine displeasure to give them the highest honour and the lowest subjection It were an endless work to enumerate all passages in the Holy Scripture to this purpose it being more frequently and more earnestly urged then any other duty because as Mr. B. very well observes in his Book of the Lawfulness of Rebellion Every Man is naturally selfish and proud and apt to break the bounds that God hath set us and to be Kings and Laws to our selves This Rebelling disobedient disposition therefore should be first resisted and subdued as a greater Enemy to the Peace of Nations then the faults of Princes are And therefore I shall alledge one or two of the most pregnant Texts against it to shew both the Impudence and Impiety of those Men and himself in particular who dare Reconcile any Pretence to Christianity with the least disrespect to Sovereign Powers And whilst they lay claims to greater Holiness and Purity then their Neighbours are putting continual slights and affronts upon their Governours and whenever they can gain an opportunity by the assistance of the Rabble blush not with all their demureness to wrastle with them for their Supremacy Which is such a rank piece of Blasphemy such a bare-faced appearance of Antichrist Mahomet and Hildebrand as no good Christian can sufficiently abhor nor any wise Magistrate sufficiently punish Though the greatest affront of all is to the Holy Scriptures themselves for when they have so clearly and severely forbidden all Resistance to Supreme Powers when the Rules that they have given in this case are so absolute and universal to prevent all Evasion when beside the great Authority of the Command it self they enforce it by its own wisdom and reasonableness in a word when it is tyed upon us by all the strongest Obligations both of Power Interest and Ingenuity after all this to escape the force of a Law so carefully Enacted is to pass an open slight upon the Wisdom of the Legislator himself But to make these very Precepts that were given on purpose to cut off all pretences of Resistance so many Warrants and Commissions given to Subjects for raising Rebellion against their Sovereigns as has been done in our Age exceeds all the Impiety of Men nay of Devils too in all former Ages For what can be more clearly and fully express'd then St. Paul's Discourse to the Romans chap. 13 Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers for there is no Power but of God The Powers that now are are ordain'd of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation c. Here is no Restriction no Reservation 't is the Catholique Duty of all Mankind and stands upon such reasons as equally effect all And first from the Original of all Authority It is from God It is not said because those in Power were either the best or the wisest Men but be the Men what they will they have their Authority from God himself and for that reason he requires subjection to them as to himself and therefore looks upon all resistance to these his Vicegerents as an affront to the Authority of his own Commission Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And then no
wonder if the Judgment of God follow upon it And they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation But though this Argument from the Divine Original of Government be so strong an enforcement of this Duty yet the Apostle goes on to tye it harder and that is from its End the Good of the Subject For he is the Minister of God to thee for good And common Sense will tell us that submission to the worst Princes is much more the Interest of the Subject then Rebellion against them So that how much harm soever a Tyrannical Prince may bring upon a Common-wealth he does it more good though it were only by being a Bar against the Miseries of War and Confusion And common experience will confirm the Wisdom of St. Paul's Argument that be the Governors the worst that can be and so they were at that time yet their Government in spite of their own folly and wickedness is highly beneficial to the Common-wealth and in that every private mans Interest and Property is comprehended Now from both these Premises the conclusion is unavoidable Wherefore ye must needs be Subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake That is not only for fear of the King and his Laws but out of sense of duty to that God by whose Authority Kings Reign and who has bound upon our Consciences the duty of Subjection to them Now one would think it impossible for Men to escape from the obligation of so clear a Law and so it is till they lay aside the natural Sense and Ingenuity of Mankind and then indeed Mens Consciences are arm'd against all Conviction and so it happens among us that as once much learning made this great Apostle mad so now much Reliligion makes him a Fool. For so we are told that we must not think that he would be so silly as to abett the Wickedness of Tyrants Non ut Neronem aut Tyrannum quemvis alium supra omnem legem paenam constituendo crudelissimum unius Imperium in omnes mortales constabiliret that he would not set up Nero or any other Tyrant above all Law and Punishment and establish the cruel Dominion of one above all And therefore we must distinguish between the King's Person as a Man in Concreto to express it in Mr. Rutherford's words though it is the Sence of all the Monarchomachists and as a King and his Office in abstracto the Person may be resisted though not the Office because if the Person govern not by Law and Justice he ceases to be a Lawful Power But to what purpose is it for God to make Laws if Men may evacuate their force by such Metaphysical Nothings For how can we submit to the Office of a King but by submitting to the King himself If the Office it self could Govern without him then it might be the safest way to stick to the Abstract but seeing it cannot subsist without the Concrete he that commands to submit to the Office commands us to submit to the Man in whom it is or he commands us nothing So that this is really no better then prophane trifling with the Word of God when we are in plain and express terms commanded to make no Resistance to our Governors to get loose from so useful a Law by such childish and senseless Trifles as plainly contradict the Law it self For whereas the only design of such Laws is to preserve the Peace of humane Societies by such evasions as these all Men are left at liberty to disturb it as they please notwithstanding all the Laws in the World that ever were or ever can be made against it And therefore I would advise these Men that can cheat and lullaby their own Consciences with such Rattles as these either to lay aside their Metaphysicks or their Religion because such niceness and subtilty makes it a thing of no Use in the practice of the World For if there were no such Laws at all Men would be under no greater restraint from the Sin then they are now by the most effectual Laws that it is possible for God himself to lay upon them Men that can use such abusive and prevaâ—icating shifts to escape their plain Duty are arrived either to too great Prophaneness or too high Enthusiasm to be admitted to the Rights of common Christianity They serve their Saviour just as they do their Prince they obey him in abstracto and Rebell against him in concreto they submit to his Laws when themselves think it convenient but when they do not they then cease to be his Laws This is the unavoidable result of these thin and precarious distinctions that Religion if Men will shall be of no use or force in the practice of the World But secondly this is down-right Childrens play and make all Laws whatsoever ridiculous when it leaves it to those who are commanded absolute submission to judge when submission is sit and when not Do but once allow that Liberty and after that all the Laws injoyning this Duty can never command any thing For after they have commanded all that can be commanded every Man will be as much at liberty to do what he pleases as he was beâ—ore being sole Judge of the fitness of his Subjection But if he be Judge of that he is not bound and if he be bound he is not Judge but is absolutely bound In our present case what can the Apostles Command signifie when he peremptorily and indefinitly requires subjection to the Higher Powers i. e. say these Statesmen to all Powers that govern by Law and none else This makes the Subjects the Supreme Judges of the Government not the Governors themselves for by it whatever these do or Command it is of no Authority then as the Subjects judge it Legal and if they do not they are at liberty to Resist and Rebel And if this be so St. Paul would deserve to be laughed at for being so serious in enforcing a Law that can never bind whilst he commands Subjection or Non-resistance to higher Powers when the Subjects after that have full Power in themselves to determine to what higher Powers they will or will not resist Such Non-sence lyes at the bottom of all Rebellion for if Men are at all bound to submit to their Governours they are bound to submit to all if not to all then not to any because the Power of Resistance is by this poor Republican Principle at last wholly left to their own Judgment and then they are subject to no Authority but themselves and their own Wills But thirdly if a King ceases to be the higher Power or to be a Lawful King whenever he does not act according to Law or whenever his Subjects shall apprehend so how is it possible there should be any settled Government or Society among Mankind when it is so plainly impossible but that there must be miscarriages as long as Kings are Men and much more misapprehensions of the Government as long as the People