But it was a favourable case, because the priests' were but few, and the sacrifices were very numerous and if it be (as the Greek expression is lawful, χαλάσαι τι τῆς ακριβείας, "to loose a little of the exactness" of the rituals of the di vine appointment, it is certain, where the man is the lawgiver, he can much more use the liberty. But it is not good to do all that is lawful.

RULE VII.

It is not lawful for the ecclesiastical Power to excommunicate Christian Princes, or the supreme civil Power.

1. In the sentence and penalty of the lesser excommunication, as it is used in the church, there are three portions of evil. In one, the bishop is the author or minister,—in the other, the people,—and in the third, the prince. The first is a denying to minister the holy mysteries. The other is, a withdrawing from the communion and conversation of such a person: which although it be done most of all in the greater excommunication, yet it is done also in some proportion in the less, for emendation of the erring brother; not for extermination, as appears in the apostolical precept given to the church of Thessalonica". And the last is, supervening temporal punishments, by which princes use to verify the just sentences of the church against refractory criminals.

2. Concerning the last, it is certain it wholly is owing to the power and favour of the prince; who, by that favour, is not supposed to lay violent hands upon himself, who, if he did, could quickly take them off again: however, the church inflicts not them by her own authority, but by that of the prince, who will not, like the tree in the fable, lend a stick to the hatchet, to be hewn down or hurt by it afterward.

3. But then concerning that part which is inflicted by the people, which is abstinence from the society of the offender till he repent and make amends, and get his pardon,it is infinitely certain that the church cannot inflict that on kings; because it is destructive of the duty which the people

1 Levit. i. 5. 2 Chron. xxix. 24. xxx. 17.

VOL. XIII.

m 2 Thess. iii. 6. 14. 15.

owe to their prince,-and of the rights, which the prince hath from God independently from the religion.

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4. Besides this, nothing ought to be done to the dishonour of the supreme power, to whose happy government fame is almost as necessary as power: and the imposing upon them disgraceful penalties is κρίσις βλασφημίας, σε a note of dishonour and blasphemy;" for they are to esteem their king as a heathen and a publican, from whose society they are to estrange themselves as from a pestilence. "Inviso semel principe, seu bene seu male facta premunt," saith Tacitus". If he once fall into such a calamity and dishonour, whether he do well or ill afterward, it shall be evil to him.

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5. And yet further; the power of assemblies and public meetings is wholly by the laws and permission of kings; and nothing is more unreasonable, than that any man should interdict kings from public meetings, by whom himself hath leave to meet publicly. And therefore we find imperial laws making provisions in this very particular, and so far from being subject to any thing of this nature, that the emperors gave orders and strict measures to the bishops when they should, and whom they should or should not, separate from churches and communions". For even in those actions of bishops, in which themselves have liberty and divine authority, yet the supreme civil power hath external jurisdiction. Thus Mauritius the emperor commanded Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, to communicate with John of Constantinople; and anciently, in France, the princes were wont to compel the clergy to officiate; and when the pope had interdicted the kingdom of England, the king compelled the priests and bishops to open their churches: so it is in Holland, and so in Venice, and so in all places, where kings know their power and their interest and their duty.

6. For if excommunication be only an act of caution and prudence, it is very great prudence not to involve kings in it, lest they be provoked by the evil usages of the church; and if it be nothing else, certainly it cannot be necessary to be done at all. But if it be an act of external jurisdiction,

n Histor. 1. cap. 7. Valp. ed. vol. 3. pag. 14.

• As is to be seen lib. 30. Cod. de Episc. et Clericis, and in the 123d novel of Jus

tinian.

it derives from kings, and therefore they are not under it, but over it: for no coercion in the hands of man ought to touch those, who are reserved only for the judgment of God. Apud Serenissimum Regem opus est exhortatione potius quam increpatione, consilio quam præceptis, doctrina quam virga," said Hildebertus the bishop: "The king is to be exhorted, not reproved; counselled, not commanded; and to him not a rod, but doctrine is to be used:" and Ivo, bishop of Chartres P, said the same thing. Kings, if they abuse their power, are not to be provoked; but in case they refuse the admonition of bishops, they are to be left to the divine judgment; where they will be punished the more severely, by how much they were the less obnoxious to human monitions. So Gregorius Turonensis; "Si tu excesseris, quis te corripiet? Si autem nolueris, quis te damnabit, nisi is qui se pronunciat esse justitiam ?" He spake to King Chilperic :-“ If thou beest exorbitant, who shall correct thee? If thou refusest, who shall condemn thee, but he only who is the everlasting righteousness?" For if St. Paul gave in charge to Timothy, that each person should receive an impression and emanation from the pastoral charge according to his quality, and commanded that he should" not rebuke an elder, but entreat him as a father;" much less would he have permitted any to have punished the father of the country and his own superior, and him who is less than none but God, and by whom himself can rule others in external actions, and who, in these very administrations, is superior, and can give laws, and inflict penalties, and is judge and the remedy of all abuses.

7. And if concerning this inquiry we consult the doctrine and practices of the fathers in the primitive and ancient churches, we shall find that they never durst think of excommunicating kings. They had no power, no right, to do it. "Nam sacerdotis tantum est arguere, et liberam præstare admonitionem," saith St. Chrysostom; "Priests can only reprove and argue, and give a free admonition :" and therefore the first supreme prince that ever was excommunicated by a bishop, was Henry the emperor, by Pope Hildebrand.

8. But against this that I say, now the doctors of the

church of Rome make a mighty outcry, saying that Philip the first Christian emperor was excommunicate and thrust amongst the penitents; that Babylas the bishop of Antioch thrust the emperor Decius with his hands against his breast from the doors of the church; that Athanasius excommunicated the prefect of Libya, and St. Basil commanded in his diocess that he should be avoided; that St. Ambrose did excommunicate the emperor Theodosius; that St. Chrysostom forbade Eudoxia the empress to enter into the church-doors; that Innocentius excommunicated Arcadius; so did Synesius to Andronicus the prefect, St. Austin to Bonifacius, Pope Symmachus to Anastasius the emperor, Pope Vigilius to Theodora the empress, Gregory II. to the Exarch, Gregory III. to Leo Isaurus. Instances enough, if they be right and true, to show that the fathers were of another mind than the rule pretends.

9. But in this heap I must separate what is true and certain from what is false and uncertain, and give an answer to them, and the rest will not trouble us. The story of the em

peror Philip is vehemently suspected: but if it were true, yet it was no excommunication, but his own submission to the discipline of penitents; to which, saith Eusebius, he was persuaded by the bishop.-And the same was the case of St. Ambrose to Theodosius: the prince was persuaded to it, but it was only to do his repentance after the manner of the penitents in those days; the bishop only refused to celebrate in the presence of the emperor, if he would not give testimony of his repentance towards God. This the emperor did, because he was a good man, and things were then in such a conjunction, that there was nothing amiss: but St. Ambrose could not have verified his power, if the emperor had been unwilling, and the emperor did no more than was necessary. But St. Ambrose said, that he had his warrant to use the emperor so, from a vision. His warrant was extraordinary: for he had no ordinary power or commission. The excommunications of the prefects by St. Athanasius, St. Basil,

Euseb. lib. 6. cap. 27.-Chrysost. adv. Gentes.-Basil. ep. 47.--Paulin. apud Baron. A. D. 387.-Theod. lib. 5. cap. 17.-Leo. Aug. Orat. de Vita Johan. Chrysostom. Niceph. lib. 13. cap. 34.-Aug. Epist. 6. in Append.-Greg. lib. 2. ep. 36.-Anastas. Biblioth. in Greg. II.

t Ultrò à communione abstinuisse Theodosium aiunt Ruffinus lib. 2. cap. 18. et Waremund. ab Erenb. cap. 2. de Subsid. Reg. n. 35. et seq.

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St. Austin, Synesius, and Gregory II., do not come home to the inquiry, because the prefects were but subjects, and had not the privilege of supreme princes. The fact of Babylas to Decius was not excommunication: for Decius was a heathen, and the church hath nothing to do with them that are without;' but Babylas was zealous and fierce, and acted with the spirit of a martyr, to which he hastened by his fervour. St Chrysostom indeed did that to Eudoxia which did not become him, and which he had leisure and cause enough afterward to repent: he did in anger, what himself, in the sober hours of his life, professed to be more than he could justify. That of Innocentius to Arcadius is of no credit, and so is that of Symmachus to Anastasius, as being only seen in the epistles of the popes of Rome; concerning which there is nothing certain, but that very many of them are certainly spurious. The pretended excommunication of Theodora by Vigilius hath no testimony. "Contra Theodoram et Acephalos Vigilius pronunciavit damnationis sententiam," said Gregory". But this was nothing but a condemnation or rejection of the heresy of the Acephali, with which she was a partaker. And the like was the case of Leo Isaurus; it was 'sententia damnatoria,' a condemnation of his opinion, called by Zonaras ανάθεμα συνοδικόν. But these things are only pretended to make noises. Pope Hildebrand was the first that ever did any thing of this nature; as is expressly affirmed by authors of great credit, by Otho Frisingensis, by Godefridus Viterbiensis, and by Onuphrius, who counted all the other pretences either fabulous or to no purpose.

10. But yet there is a third portion of excommunication, which is a denying to administer the holy communion to princes of a scandalous and evil life; and concerning this there is no question but the bishop not only may, but in some cases must, do it. "Nolite dare sanctum canibus," said Christ, "Give not that which is holy to dogs:" and cast not pearls before swine. But this is not an act of jurisdiction, punishment, or coercion, but of charity to the prince and duty in the bishop. It is just as if a physician should refuse to give drink to an hydropic patient; he may have it, if he will be willing to die; but if the other refuses his ministry u Lib. 2. ep. 36.