qui Synodorum historias legerunt; nec certe vanus Ενθ' ἔρις, ἔνθα μέθος τε, καὶ αἴσχεα κρυπτὰ πάροιθεν, Nunquam ego sedebo in Synodis anserum aut gruum temere pugnantium. Illic contentio, illic rixa, et probra antea latentia sævorum hominum in unum locum collecta. Visne aliam Notionem Abstractam? Lege quæ de Ecclesia repræsentativa, ut solet vocari, a plurimis olim et nuper scripta sunt; illà nihil sanctius, nihil doctius, nihil amantius veri excogitari potest. Sed cave ne Abstractæ Notioni similem ullam in rerum natura quæras, nisi frustra esse velis. Si rem in qua reperiri oporteret, quod tantis laudibus ornatur, inspicias, delabêris forte ad opinionem Gasparis Scioppii, insignis Grammatici, qui Ecclesiam repræsentativam definiebat, mandram, sive gregem, aut multitudinem jumentorum, sive asinorum; et benigne atque amice locutum esse judicabis, quod ferarum non dixerit. Nec aliter de iis sensit Josephus Scaliger, cujus est hoc insigne judicium, in Scaligeranis: Christianis orientalibus Græcis, Syris, hodie nihil pejus; et olim Episcopi Græci fuerunt nequissimi et superbissimi. Eorum Concilia fuerunt mera conspirationes. Latina Ecclesia longe honestius se gessit, quamvis intus multa et clam pessime fecerint. Clericus Art. Crit. i. P. 430. This description of general councils gave offence to many persons, whose reverence for those assemblies was at least as great as Le Clerc's and Scaliger's disregard. But thus much is certain, that by paying little deference to general councils few inconveniences arise, compared with those which inevitably follow a blind and tame submission, in points of faith, to hu man decisions, and to public wisdom, as some of our controversial doctors have loved to call it, which may be public folly. Public wisdom is a mere Proteus, and, not to consider it in Pagan or Mohammedan countries, amongst the Jews it once was the wisdom of Ahab and Jezabel, and afterwards of Annas and Caiaphas ; and in Christian regions it hath appeared in an hundred shapes. It sets out with a great shew of religion: it begins with the Gospel according to St Matthew and it often ends in the Gospel according to Mr Hobbes. Ecclesiastical government, in some form, is absolutely necessary, without which no discipline and order can be preserved, and no religious society can well subsist, and which none can be more willing to obey than I am : Yet, Call no man your Father upon earth; for one is your Father, who is in heaven. Neither be ye called Masters; for one is your Master, even Christ. Deus dedit omnibus pro virili portione sapientiam ;nec quia nos illi temporibus antecesserunt, sapientia quoque antecesserunt. Que si omnibus æqualiter datur, occupari ab antecedentibus non potest.-Sapientiam sibi adimunt, qui sine ullo judicio inventa Majorum probant, et ab aliis pecudum more ducuntur, Sed hoc eos fallit, quod Majorum nomine posito, non putant fieri posse ut aut ipsi plus sapiant, quia Minores vocantur, aut illi desipuerint, quia Majores nominantur, Lactantius Div. Inst. ii. 7. Valesius is a strenuous defender of the sacred authority of general councils. Quid per spiritualem legem [TH] @revpaling roμoleria] Theodoritus intelligat, obscu¬ rum est. Ego Nicene Fidei Symbolum intelligi puto, quo quo definitum est, Filium Patri conbstantialem esse. Decreta enim Synodorum, leges sunSpiritus Sancti. Nota sunt verba Apostolorum quæ legitur in Actibus, cap. xv. Visum est enim Spiritui Sato et nobis, &c. Ad Theodor. v. 13. Valesius was obliged to maintair such principles, or to give up his religion: and ever Protestant who admits these principles, ought byall means to admit the conclusion, and to go over to the church of Rome. The fourth general council of Chacedon, A. D. 451. was also divinely inspired and infallile, as we learn from no less a voucher than Symeon Stylite—διὸ καγώ—ἐγνώρισα τὴν ἐμὴν πρόθεσιν, τὴν περὶ τὴν πίσιν τῶν ἀγων πατέρων των ἐν Καλχηδόνι συνεληλυθότων εξακοσίων τριάκοντα, ιμένων και υποστηριζόμενος ὑπ ̓ αὐτῆς τῆς ὑπὸ τὸ ἁγία Πνεύματος φιερωθείσης, εἰ γδ μεταξὺ δύο ή τριών συνελθόντων διὰ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτό, ορεσιν ὁ Σωτὴρ, πῶς μετ Ταξὺ τοσέτων και τηλικούτων ἁγίων πατέρων εχώρει εἰ μὴ ἦν ἀπ' ἀρ χῆς μετ ̓ αὐτῶν τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα; Quaropter ego-animi mei sententiam significavi, de fide sxcentorum triginta sanctorum Patrum qui Chalcedone cogregati sunt persistens et fundatus in ea fide que a Spritu Sancto revelata Etenim si Servator noster, ubiluo tresve in nomine ipsius congregati sunt, adest in meco illorum, quomodo fieri posset inter tot et tantos sanctos Patres, ut Spiritus Sanctus cum illis non esset? est. Thus saith Symeon, apud Evagium ii. 10. The honest monk talks like an inhabitantof the middle region, who lived upon his pillar, and knew little of what passed below. The patrons of this doctrine are able to produce a large number of Symeons, and of ancient and modern teachers, who all agree in voting for the inspiration of synods, for it is a much easier thing to find monks than sons; but the former without the latter will be of sall service to them. After all, it ith happened sometimes that one council hath contidicted another; and this creates a terrible difficulty put of which neither Valesius nor Symeon himself an extricate us. We have a me certain rule by which we may judge of councils, rule given us by our Master, By their fruits ye shall now them. We need only survey their acts and monments, their behaviour, doctrines, decrees, and censures, and compare them impartially with the morality, the simplicity, the prudence, the charity, and the pity of the gospel. By this method we may form a toleable idea of them, though amongst the fathers of thos centuries there was no Father Paul to do them justice and to give us an account of their proceedings. "Athanasius ws made bishop, and successor to "Alexander, becuse whilst he was deacon he had "strenuously oppsed Arius. Philostorgius relates "many things of him not at all to his credit, which perhaps are not nore to be received than the reports "of the Homoousans concerning Arius, nor yet more "to be rejected, since prejudice and partiality were very prevalent a both sides. 66 66 "A. D. 330. The Nicene council by its determi"nations A. D. 35. could not appease the dissen"tions. Great were the contests and the quarrels in Egypt between the Arians and the Athanasians, and "the Homoousian writers so represent the affair, as to favour the latter, and to condemn the former in "all points. "This year a tumult was raised at Antioch on ac"count of the controversy. A. D. "A. D. 335. Athanasius was condemned by a "council held at Tyre, for having obtained the see of "Alexandria by unjustifiable methods, and for other "and worse misdemeanours, if Philostorgius may be credited, ii. 11. This historian, though a favourer "of the Arian cause, yet freely censures Arius where "he thought him reprehensible, and therefore might "be a fair relater of other points. 66 "In the following year Athanasius was accused again by the same bishops who had condemned him at Tyre, and who were now assembled at Constantinople, and the emperor Constantine banished him "into Gaul. 66 "About this time died Arius, by a wonderful judgment of God, as his adversaries afterwards said. But quarrels ran so high in those days, that there " is no confiding in the reports of either party. "A. D. 341. Athanasius, who had been honourably recalled from banishment by Constantine the younger, was condemned and deposed by the coun"cil of Antioch, consisting of about an hundred bishops, of whom a third part were Arians, and Gregory of Cappadocia † was put in his place. "Julius, bishop of Rome, called a council, and ac"quitted Athanasius, and condemned the council of "Antioch. 66 66 66 "Athanasius then returned to Alexandria. "Macedonius was appointed bishop of Constantinople, and Hermogenus the præfect endeavoured "to put him in possession, and to drive out Paul; "but Hermogenes was murdered by the Athanasian 66 See the remarks of Pagi, in Socrates, p. 84, not. a. populace, + Who came in like a tyrant, and committed many outrages. |