Baptism We may observe likewise that as he recommends to Believers the consideration of these Words sursum Corda at the Moment of their receiving these Mysteries so he doth not own that any receive the Body of Christ besides those that fear him and who by Faith are made the Sanctuary of God thus he argues in his Commentaries upon Psal 21 132. As for Faustus Bishop of Riez whatever Contests he had with those who defended the Doctrine of St. Augustin in the matter of Grace which made Pope Gelasius condemn his Writings yet certain it is that France has always had the highest esteem for him possible and his Name is registred in the Catalogue of her Saints in the Roman Martyrology till it was expunged by Molanes in the last Century Neither hath this hindred but that to this Day he is honoured and prayed unto as a Saint in the Diocess of Riez His Doctrine is as follows 1. He rejects the Merits of good Works and Works of Supererrogation as particularly as if he had had an Eye to the Papists Wherefore saith he though we endeavour with all Labours of Soul and Body though we exercise our selves with all the might of our Obedience yet nothing of all this is of sufficient Worth to be rendred or offer'd up by us as a deserving Recompence for Heavenly-good Things No temporal Obedience whatsoever can be equivalent to the Joys of Eternal Life Though our Limbs may be wearied with Watchings and our Faces discolour'd with Fastings yet when all is done the Sufferings of this time will never be worthy to be compared with that Glory which shall be revealed in us He discourseth much at the same rate concerning Grace and Free-will 2. We see clearly that he did not own the Existence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist in the manner of a Spirit because he maintains all Creatures to be corporeal and that the Soul is distinctly in a certain place because if it were otherwise we must conclude it to be every where That which is very strange is that Mamertus who hath refuted him doth yet more directly thwart this Doctrine of Rome by the various Hypotheses which he proposeth when he confutes this Faustus Bishop of Riez But this Century hath detain'd me too long I proceed now therefore to consider the State of these Diocesses in the Sixth Century CHAP. VI. The State of these Diocesses in the Sixth Century WE do not find so many Authors of these Diocesses in the Sixth Century as we have had in the foregoing but however those we have of them are sufficient to inform us what their State was I begin with St. Caesarius Bishop of Arles who assisted at the Council of Agde in the year 502 and died in 542 so that he reach'd almost the middle of this Century This great Man fully represents the Notion that he had of the Eucharist when he shews that in Baptism there is the same Change and the same Presence of the Blood of Jesus Christ which he owns in the Eucharist as appears in his 4 th and 5 th Homily But in his 7 th Homily he speaks in such a manner as needs no Commentary And therefore since he was now about to withdraw his assumed Body from our Eyes and carry it up to Heaven it was needful that the same day he should consecrate for us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood that he might continually be remembred by the Mystery which was once offer'd up for our Redemption that so seeing his Intercession for the Salvation of Man was daily and continual the offering up of our Redemption might be perpetual also that this everlasting Sacrifice might live in our Memory and be always present by Grace 2. Though he speaks of the Eucharist as changed into the Body of Jesus Christ by the Power of God yet he maintains that it is by Faith and by the Acts of Understanding that we can partake thereof See how he speaks to a Christian who hath been regenerated by Baptism Wherefore as without any bodily feeling having laid aside what before thou esteemedst advantageous thou art suddenly become clothed with a new Dignity and as it is not thy Eyes but thy Understanding that persuades thee that God hath healed what was wounded in thee blotted out thy Sins and wash'd away thy Stains so when thou goest up to the venerable Altar to be satisfied with Food thou may'st see the sacred Body and Blood of thy God by Faith admire it with Reverence reach it with thy Mind receive it with thy Heart and above all take it in with thy Soul 3. He expresly asserts that the Body which the Priest distributes is as well in a little Part as in the Whole which agrees only with the Sacrament and not with the natural Body of Jesus Christ 4. He maintains that the Oblation of the Bread and Wine made by Melchizedeck did typically signify the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ which is absolutely false if it be true that the Consecration destroys the Nature of the things offered as the Church of Rome believes Hear what he saith He therefore in Melchizedeck whose Genealogy or Original was unknown to those of that time by the offering of Bread and Wine did foreshew this Sacrifice of Christ of whom the Prophet pronounceth Thou art a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedeck And Blessed Moses also speaking of this Mystery signifies the Wine and Blood with one Word Long before pointing at the Lord's Passion in the Blessing of the Patriarch he shall wash his Garment in Wine and his Clothes in the Blood of the Grape Mark how evidently it appears that the Creature Wine is called the Blood of Christ Consider what thou art further to enquire concerning this twofold Species seeing the Lord himself witnesseth Except saith he you shall eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you which Testimony is a most evident and strong Argument against the Blasphemies of Pelagius who impiously presumes to maintain that Baptism ought to be conferred upon Infants not to obtain Life but to attain the Kingdom of Heaven For by these Words of our Lord pronounced by the Evangelist You shall not have Life in you is plainly understood that every Soul that hath not been baptized is not only deprived of Glory but Life also Lastly In the same Sermon he saith in Conformity with the Notion of St. Cyprian about the Mixture of the Water with the Wine in the Chalice that by the Water is represented the Figure of the Nations and by the Wine the Blood of the Passion of our Saviour which supposeth the Subsistence of the Wine as well as of the Water and utterly overthrows the Doctrine of Transubstantiation 2. He overturns the Notion of the Romish Purgatory and follows here also the Sentiments of those of the Ancients who removed Purgatory to the last Day of Judgment
dead with the triumph of Merits but they are not to be ador'd with Divine Worship for that very reason because it is Divine Worship Seeing therefore saith he that God alone is to be worshipp'd the Martyrs and all other Saints are rather to be venerated than worshipped as we have said before in this Book And the same thing we meet with also cap. 28. towards the end 6. It appears clearly from what he saith concerning the means whereby we obtain Remission of Sins that he own'd no other Sacraments of the Church besides Baptism and the Eucharist for indeed he mentions only these two 7. He was so far from owning either the Infallibility of the Pope or of a Council which the Pope hath approved that he maintains it was a piece of Folly to look upon the 2 d Council of Nice as universal and calls it a Council of one Part of the Church only and he afterwards censures the Fathers of that Council for giving it the Title of Universal whereas it had been conven'd without the Participation and Consent of many Catholick Churches This Remark made such an Impression upon the Learned Jesuit Sirmondus that he seems not to own the second Council of Nice as a general Council 8. The Fathers of the second Nicene Council having made a Comparison between the Eucharist and Images and used these following Expressions which are not to be found at present in the Copies of that Council As the Body of our Saviour passeth from the Fruits of the Earth into an excellent Mystery so Images formed by the Industry of Artificers pass to the Veneration of those Persons according to whose Likeness they have been wrought Charlemain doth censure those who had made a Parallel between Images and the Eucharist in such a manner as shews that he knew nothing of Romish Transubstantiation He saith That the Eucharist is made by the Hand of the Priest and by calling upon the Name of God both Priest and People joining their Prayers in the Consecration thereof whereas Images stand in no need of Consecration but are made at the Discretion of the Painter He saith that Melchizedeck did not present an Image as a Type of the Body and Blood but Bread and Wine that Moses commanded a Lamb to be eaten as a Type of our Saviour wholly rejecting the Custom of worshipping Images That the Psalmist who sang that Men should eat the Bread of Angels that is Jesus Christ hath also declared that the Makers of Images are like unto the Images they have made That the Sacrament is of Divine Institution whereas the insolent Use of Images is not only without Scripture but also directly contrary to the Writings of the Old and New Testament That our Saviour never instituted the Memory of his Suffering to be kept up by the Works of Artificers and worldly Arts but by the Consecration of his Body and Blood that he was not willing that his Faith and his Confession should be express'd by Pictures but by the Mouth and the Heart We are carefully to take notice that the Authors of this Book who desired to exalt the Sacrament of the Eucharist with all their Might never give the least hint that Jesus Christ had instituted it to make it an Object of Adoration They say that the Eucharist according to the Judgment of St. Paul is preferable almost to every other Sacrament that it is made invisibly by the Spirit of God and consecrated by the Priest who calls upon God that it is carried by the Hands of Angels and laid upon the Altar of God in Heaven that it can neither increase nor be diminished that it is confirmed by the Old and New Testament that it is the Life and Nourishment of Souls that by its Manducation it leads to the Entrance of the Heavenly Kingdom that it can never be abolished no not in the time of Persecution and that no body can be saved without receiving of it Whereas Images are visibly made by the Hand of the Workman painted by the Art of the Painter placed on the Walls by the Hands of Men that by them if Men inconsiderately abuse them Sins are increased that they can increase and diminish in Beauty according to the Ability of the Workman that Age spoils them that they only feed the Eye that they only bring to remembrance things past by looking upon them that they may be spoiled by taking wet that they who keep to the true Faith are saved without having any Regard to Images And to exaggerate the Folly of their Anathema's pronounced against those that did not worship them they conclude that this Anathema strikes at the Saints of old of whom we never read that they adored them that the same was levell'd at the Martyrs who from the Baptismal Font passed immediately to the Kingdom of Heaven without any Adoration of Images and lastly that it is darted against little Infants who cannot worship them and of whom notwithstanding the Son of God saith Suffer little Children to come to me c. I own that Charlemain censureth Gregory Bishop of Neocaesaria for giving to the Eucharist the Name of the true Image of Jesus Christ For after having made out that no Artificer can form a true Image of Jesus Christ he adds when he speaks of the Eucharist That Jesus Christ did not offer up to God the Father for us in Sacrifice any Image or Prototype but himself and that he who of old had been foretold by visible Resemblances under the Shadow of the Law in the Immolation of the Lamb and in some other things as being the Sacrifice that was to be offered by truly accomplishing the things that had been prophesied of him in the Oracles of the Prophets did offer up himself to God the Father for a saving Sacrifice and bestowed upon us the Shadows of the Law being past away not some imaginary Sign but the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood For the Mystery of the Blood and Body of our Lord must not now be called an Image but the Truth not the Shadow but the Body not a Type of things to come but that whith had been prefigured by the Types of old For now according to the Song of Songs the Day is risen and the Shadows are gone now Jesus Christ the End of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes is come he hath now fully accomplished the Law Now upon those who sat in the Region of the Shadow of Death a great Light is risen Now the Vail is taken off from the Face of Moses and the Vail of the Temple being rent hath opened to us all Secrets and Things hid Now the true Melchizedeck Christ the King of Righteousness and King of Peace hath bestowed upon us not Sacrifices of Beasts but the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood and hath not said This is the Image of my Body and of my Blood but This is my Body which shall
But if neither in our Tribulations we bless God nor redeem our Sins by good Works we shall so long abide in that Purgatory till all our lesser Sins be consumed like Wood Hay and Stubble But some body may say What matter is it how long I stay there so I may but at last pass through into eternal Life Let no Man say so most dear Brethren for as much as this Purgatory Fire is more painful than any thing that can be thought seen or felt in this World And seeing it is writ of the Day of Judgment that it shall be one Day how can any one know whether he may be Days Months or even Years in passing through it 3. In his 12 th Homily he exhorts the People not to go out of the Church on Sundays before the Celebration of the Eucharist and makes the Prayers of the Priest to appear ridiculous when there are no Communicants to receive To whom saith he shall the Priest say Sursum corda But we are especially to observe that when he presses the Greatness of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Adoration due to the Sacrament he says never a Word of what some Popish Orator would represent to us on the like Occasion 4. In the 20 th Homily he exhorts the Country People to read the Scriptures and removes all Excuses which they might make to avoid this Duty with as much Earnestness as those of the Church of Rome express'd when they would disswade their Auditors from the reading of it 5. The 38 th Homily is a Collection of several places of Scripture treating of the means by which Remission of Sins is granted to us He reckons up there twelve several means where we are to take notice 1 st That he doth not speak one Word of confessing to a Priest nor of the Power God hath bestowed on them to pardon Sins as Judges which at present is the great and only mean to obtain the Pardon of Sin those other whereof St. Caesarius speaks being of no use without the Pardon 's pronounced by the Priest in the Tribunal of Confession That which is here peculiar is that tho he has said a very great deal about the Efficacy of Contrition for the Remission of Sins in his 29 th Homily he has not been able to avoid the cautè lege of the Romish Censors as we may see in the Bibliotheca Patrum of the Paris Edition 2 dly We are to observe that whereas the Church of Rome pretends to find the Sacrament of Extreme Unction and Auricular Confession in the 5 th Chapter of St. James's Epistle Caesarius discovers nothing there but the Christian Duty of praying one for another proceeding from the Charity we owe to our Neighbour Ruricius was Bishop of Limoges from the Year 535. in which he assisted at the first Council of Auvergne He assisted also at the 4 th Council of Orleans in 541. and at the 5 th in 549. We have nothing left us of this Prelate save his two Books of Epistles though even there we can inform our selves about several very important Matters which demonstrate what the Faith was that was then received and imbraced in Aquitain 1. He takes for granted that dying Persons are immediately taken up into Heaven so far is he from mentioning Purgatory See in what manner he comforts Namacius and Ceraunia for the Loss of their Son Indeed you have reason to take a great deal of Comfort from the Will of Christ since untimely Death was his Lot that he has been pleased to take him away in that State to which he pronounceth the Kingdom of Heaven to belong that at the same time you might have a Patron instead of a Son and leave off deploring him as lost whom you see the Lord hath taken to himself And in another place Wherefore let your Faith wipe off your Tears since we believe that those who are dear to us do not lose their Life but change it they leave this World full of Sorrows and hasten to the Region of the Blessed and take their leave of this painful Pilgrimage that they may arrive at the Land of Rest 2. He supposeth Abraham's Bosom and Heaven to be the same thing when he brings in a young Woman that enjoyed the Glory of Heaven speaking after this manner Wherefore my loving Parents rather bewail your own Sins and seriously think of redeeming your own Crimes that if you love me in Christ you may be thought worthy to be admited into the Patriarch's Bosom where the Lord acording to the Purity of my Innocence and his great Kindness has placed me c. 3. He exhorts a Lady of his Acquaintance to the reading of Holy Scripture when he sent her a Painter But saith he you ought to look for more perfect and great Instruments in those Divine Writings from whence these are taken if ever you desire to perfect what you have begun or attain what is promised you If you thus seek the Lord will give you both Knowledg and Strength to understand what you read and keep what you understand St. Ferreolus Bishop of Vzez must not be forgot by us he was chosen in the Year 553. and died in 581. We find in the Rule that he writ for Monks that he setled in his Diocess an uncommon Strain of Piety 1. We do not find him to demand the Approbation of this his Rule at Rome as has been done for some Ages since He sends to the Bishop of Die to desire his Advice and afterwards published it with the Approbation only of that Bishop without troubling himself about any other Authority 2. He orders his Monks to work with their Hands that they might not be chargeable to the Publick as all the Orders of Mendicants are at this time 3. He receives none but such as are come to Mens Estate and will have them tried before they be admitted whereas St. Bennet ordained that those whom their Parents had presented to a Monastery should from their Infancy be received and abide there 4. He will have the great Employment of the Monks to be the reading of the Psalms which he will have them go through every Week 5. He will have them on Anniversary Days of the Martyrdom of the Saints to read the Acts of their Martyrdom for a worthy Celebration of the Memory of their Passion but not a Word of incouraging the Monks to offer up Prayers to them on these solemn Days 6. Above all he requires of every Monk daily to read the Scripture and not to dispense with it upon any Pretence or because of any other Business whatsoever Fortunatus was born in Italy but coming into France in the Year 575. he stayed there in the Service of St. Radegunda and was ordained Priest at Poictiers where he lived in great Reputation till the end of that Century Some will have him to have been raised to the Episcopal Dignity in the same City but this appears to
concerning the Eucharist that the Papists have never been able to return any pertinent Answer to it save only this that the Passage we quote is supposititious The Person we speak of is Christianus Druthmarus Monk of Corbie whom it seems God was willing to oppose to the corrupt Notions of Paschasius Radbertus his Abbot The Passage is this And as they were at supper Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it After that he had fulfilled the Command concerning the old Passover and put an end to the old Shadows he makes a beginning of new Grace and of a new Sacrifice He took Bread which strengthens the Heart of Man and which doth most of all support Mens Bodies and in it placeth the Sacrament of his Love but much more doth that spiritual Bread fully strengthen and comfort all sorts of Creatures because in him we move and have our Being First he blessed it because in himself who was Man he blessed all Mankind for having taken humane Nature upon him from the Blessed Virgin he thereby demonstrated that the Blessing and Power of the Divine Immortality was really therein He brake the Bread himself because he voluntarily offer'd up himself to suffer and that he might fill and satisfy us he made no difficulty to break the Mansion of his Soul as himself said I have Power to lay down my Life and have Power to take it up again And gave it to his Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body He gave to his Disciples the Sacrament of his Body for the Remission of Sins and Preservation of Charity that they remembring this Act of his might always perform that in a Figure which he was now about to do for them and might not forget that This is my Body that is in the Sacrament And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and gave it to them saying Forasmuch as amongst all sorts of Food Bread and Wine are found to be the most effectual to strengthen and refresh our weak Bodies he with good reason thought fit by these two to ratify and confirm the Ministry of his Sacrament for Wine not only exhilarates but also encreases Blood and therefore is the Blood of Christ very properly typified thereby because whatsoever comes to us from him doth enliven us with a true Joy and encreaseth all our good And lastly As when a Person that is to take a far Journey leaves to his Friends that love him some Pledg or Token of his Love upon this Condition that they use it every day that they may not forget him So likewise hath God commanded us having spiritually changed his Body into Bread and the Wine into Blood by these two to remember what he hath done for us with his Body and Blood and not to be unthankful to his most endearing Love and Charity And because Water is mingled with the Sacrament of his Blood it represents his People for whom he was pleased to die And neither is the Wine without Water nor the Water without Wine because as he died for us so must we die for him or for our Brethren that is for the Church Wherefore also Water and Blood came forth from his Body And whereas he saith This is my Blood of the New Testament this is added in contradistinction to that of the Old Testament which by the Blood of Goats could not purge away Sin from those who were still in bondage to Sin But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this Fruit of the Vine until that day when I shall drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom The Vine is Judaea the Wine that of the Patriarchs Prophets and other Elect. For till that time Judaea had brought forth Clusters of Grapes from whence Wine flowed forth that is Works done in Faith but from the Death of our Lord wild Grapes only until the time that Enoch and Elias shall carry them up into the Kingdom that is the Church of Christ at the end of the World Or else more simply the Words may be thus taken That from the hour of his supping with his Disciples he would drink no more Wine until he was become immortal and incorruptible after his Resurrection Whereas also he was pleased not to administer the Sacrament of his Body and Blood to his Disciples till after they had supp'd and that we are not commanded to take it Fasting this may be the reason the Lord had a mind to shew that the figurative Testament was only commanded till the true was come and he had now put an end to the Old Testament and instituted a New One and therefore it was that he celebrated the Old before the New The Apostles also for a long time continued the same Custom and after their other Food took this by the Lord 's Appointment but afterwards when many Jews came to communicate it was enjoined in a Synod that every one if he was cleansed from other Sins should first take the Repast of Spiritual Bread before he took that of the Temporal This place which contains an exact Commentary upon the Institution of the Holy Supper has much enrag'd the Papists and they have wrested it into all Senses to avoid the threatning Blow Sixtus Senensis tells us that in another Copy after the words This is my Body that is in a Sacrament was added truly subsisting But this Copy was never yet produc'd though they who reprinted the Work of Druthmarus in the Bibliotheca Patrum of the Cologne Edition have been pleas'd to put this Falsification of Sixtus Senensis in the Margent Cardinal Perron who was as able as any Man of France to justify the fair dealing of Sixtus Senensis in the business of this Manuscript of Lions but did not care to concern himself about it hath boldly maintained that he might with the more ease slip his Neck out of the Collar that this Passage of Druthmarus had been corrupted by the Protestants But it hath already shewn that the Edition published in 1514 by Wimfelingius before Luther begun to write against Leo X. of which the Reverend Dr. Tenison hath a Copy in his Library with the Priviledg of the Emperor Maximilian and the Arms of Pope Leo X. contains this Passage whole and entire So that it is obvious to judge that Druthmarus who was born in Aquitain taught nothing at Corbie but what he had learned from his Infancy and that which was the common Doctrine before Paschasius had undertaken to publish his Extravagancies which he did not till the year of our Lord 835. We ought also here to take notice of an Action that hapned in this Century concerning the Eucharist In the year 844 Bernard Earl of Barcelona and Duke of Septimania made a Treaty with King Charles the Bald near the City of Tholouse in the Abby of St. Saturninus where they mingled the Blood of the Eucharist with some Ink to sign the Treaty they had agreed upon The thing has been published by the famous Baluzius
in France and Germany he might be look'd upon as the Apostolical Vicar and so by his means the Decrees of the Apostolical See might be made known to the Bishops and on the other hand that any Matters of importance might by him be communicated to the Apostolick See and that all Affairs of moment and difficulty might by his Suggestion be recommended to the Apostolick See to be cleared and determined Whereupon the Emperor demanded of the Bishops what Answer they designed to return to these Apostolical Letters who answer'd to this effect That saving the Right and Priviledges of each Metropolitan according to the sacred Canons and the Decrees of the Popes of the See of Rome promulg'd from the said sacred Canons they would obey the Apostolical Commands of Pope John And when the Emperor and the Apostolical Legats had done their utmost Endeavours to perswade the Bishops to an absolute Answer that they would obey without reserve in accepting of Ansegisus for their Primate as the Pope had written yet could they never draw from them any other Answer Then the Emperor commanded a Chair to be set above all the Bishops of his Cisalpine Kingdom next to John Bishop of Tusculanum who sat at his Right-hand and commanded Ansegisus to take place of all the Bishops that had been ordained before him and to sit down in that Chair the Archbishop of Rheims protesting against it in the hearing of them all as a thing directly contrary to the sacred Canons In like manner the day before the Ides of July the same Letter concerning the Primacy of Ansegisus was read a second time at the Emperor's Command and the Bishops Answer demanded thereupon Whereupon the Archbishops answered severally for themselves That as their Predecessors had been regularly obedient to his Predecessors so would they be to his Decrees So likewise at the Command of the Apostolical Legats that the Bishops should meet the 17 th day before the Kalends of August the Emperor entred the Synod at nine a Clock in the Morning being accompanied by the Apostolical Legates and all took their Places as before Then Johannes Aretinus read a certain Paper which had neither Reason nor Authority Afterwards Odo Bishop of Beauvais read some Articles set down by the Apostolical Legats and by Ansegisus and Odo without the Knowledg of the Synod between containing nothing to the purpose and besides void of all Reason and Authority which for that reason are not here added And then again a Motion was made concerning the Primacy of Ansegisus who after all could obtain no more this last time than he did at the first day of the Synod From which account it is most evident that notwithstanding all the pains Charles the Bald took to oblige the Pope whose Friendship he had occasion for and whose Ambition he maintain'd by trampling upon the Ecclesiastical Laws and the Rights of the Prelats of France yet the Bishops continued firm in their Judgments and would not suffer themselves to be enslaved as the Pope would fain have had them This hapned in the year 876. In particular we may justly observe concerning these Parts where the Albigenses have appear'd with the greatest lustre 1 st That the greatest part of these Diocesses being rent off from the Empire after the year 409 when Alaric made Tholouse the Seat of the Kingdom of the Visi-Goths it continued so divided till it was again reduc'd under the Power of the French by Clovis in the year of our Lord 507. 2 dly That since that time we find that these parts of France have been almost always united with the Churches of Spain as appears from the Subscriptions of the Synods held in Spain 3 dly That they were never to speak properly re-united with the Body of the Churches of France till the Reign of the Emperor Charlemain 4 thly That the Power of the Popes in France hath been so very inconsiderable that a Legat of the Pope having undertaken to consecrate a Chappel in Anjou by the Duke's Order but without consent of the Bishop Radulphus Glaber who relates this History could not forbear exclaiming against this Encroachment Baronius on the other hand storms against Glaber but the one of them writ what those of his time thought and spoke concerning it whereas the other gave himself entirely up to the Power of Prejudice and followed the Design he had undertaken of accommodating antient History with the Interest of the Court of Rome on which he had his Dependance But we are especially to observe that the Popes never began to exercise their absolute Power there till they had setled their Legats in those Parts and had brought all Causes to be tried at their Tribunal Thus Paschal II. appointed Girard Bishop of Angoulesm to be his Vicar in the Provinces of Bourges Bourdeaux Tours and Britain in the year 1107 as appears by the Commission granted by Paschal II. to Girard Bishop of Angoulesm published by D' Achery Thus the Legantine Power in the Diocess of Ausch was given after the year 1102 to William Archbishop of Ausch as De Marca shews on the Council of Clermont What I have just now observed is so certain that Mezeray hath publickly own'd it in his Chronological Abridgment From the time of the 8 th Century the Popes found ways to lessen the Power of Metropolitans by obliging them by the Decree of a Council held at Mentz by St. Boniface which forced them to receive the Pallium at Rome and to subject themselves and be canonically obedient in all Points to the Church of Rome which Profession was afterwards changed into an Oath of Fidelity under Gregory VII They also attributed to themselves excluding all others the Power of annulling the Spiritual Marriage which a Bishop contracts with his Church and to give him the liberty to espouse another They had extended their Patriarchal Jurisdiction all over the West by obliging the Bishops to take Confirmation from them for which they paid certain Dues which in process of time were changed into what they call Annates and by taking cognizance of those things which belonged to the Bishops only Nay what is more they had in a manner wholly abolished the Provincial Councils in taking away their Soveraignty by nulling of their Decrees so that these Assemblies were at last wholly left off as useless because they afforded nothing to those who assisted at them save the Displeasure of frequently seeing their Determinations made void at Rome without once hearing their Reasons Gregory VII established it for a Rule of Common Right that no Body should dare to condemn any Person who had appeal'd to the Holy See But they never made a greater Breach upon the Liberties of the Gallican Church than when they introduced this Opinion that no Council could be assembled without their Authority and when after several Attempts to establish perpetual Vicars in Gaul they found the way of having their Legats received there To this purpose they