PART II.

tiff, far superior to them in wealth and power, con- CENT. V. tended also with more vigour and obstinacy, and in his turn, gave a deadly wound to the usurped supremacy of the Byzantine patriarch.

The attentive inquirer into the affairs of the church, from this period, will find, in the events now mentioned, the principal source of those most. scandalous and deplorable dissensions, which divided, first, the eastern church into various sects, and afterward separated it entirely from that of the west. He will find, that these ignominious schisms flowed chiefly from the unchristian contentions for dominion and supremacy, which reigned among those who set themselves up for the fathers and defenders of the church.

VI. None of the contending bishops found the The power of the bishop of occurrences of the times so favourable to his am- Rome. bition as the Roman pontiff. Notwithstanding the redoubled efforts of the bishop of Constantinople, a variety of circumstances united in augmenting his power and authority, though he had not, as yet, assumed the dignity of supreme lawgiver and judge of the whole christian church. The bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, unable to make head against the lordly prelate of Constantinople, fled often to the Roman pontiff for succour against his violence; and the inferior order of bishops used the same method, when their rights were invaded by the prelates of Alexandria and Antioch. So that the bishop of Rome, by taking all these prelates alternately under his protection, daily added new degrees of influence and authority to the Roman see, rendered it every where respected, and was thus imperceptibly establishing its supremacy. Such were the means by which the Roman pontiff extended his dominion in the east. In the west its increase was owing to other causes. The declining power and the supine indolence of the emperors, left the authority of the bishop who presided

PART II.

CENT. V. in their imperial city almost without control. The incursions moreover, and triumphs of the barbarians were so far from being prejudicial to his rising dominion, that they rather contributed to its advancement. For the kings, who penetrated into the empire,were only solicitous about the methods of giving a sufficient degree of stability to their respective governments. And when they perceived the subjection of the multitude to the bishops, and the dependence of the bishops upon the Roman pontiff, they immediately resolved to reconcile this ghostly ruler to their interests, by loading him with benefits and honours of various kinds.

Among all the prelates who ruled the church of Rome during this century, there was none who asserted, with such vigour and success, the authority and pretensions of the Roman pontiff, as Leo, commonly sirnamed the Great. It must be however observed, that neither he, nor the other promoters of that cause, were able to overcome all the obstacles that were laid in their way, nor the various checks which were given to their ambition. Many examples might be alleged in proof of this point, particularly the case of the Africans, whom no threats nor promises could engage to submit the decision of their controversies, and the determination of their causes to the Roman tribunal.y The vices of VII. The vices of the clergy were now carried to the most enormous lengths; and all the writers of this century, whose probity and virtue render them worthy of credit, are unanimous in their accounts of the luxury, arrogance, avarice, and voluptuousness of the sacerdotal orders. The bishops, and particularly those of the first rank, created various delegates, or ministers who managed for

the clergy.

y Lud. El. Du Pin, De antiqua Ecclesie Disciplina, Diss. ii. p. 166. Melch. Leydeckeri, Historia Eccles. Africana, tom. ii. Diss. ii. p. 505.

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them the affairs of their dioceses, and a sort of CENT. V. courts were gradually formed, where these pompous ecclesiastics gave audience, and received the homage of a cringing multitude. The office of a presbyter was looked upon of such a high and eminent nature, that Martin, bishop of Tours, was so audacious as to maintain, at a public entertainment, that the emperor was inferior in dignity, to one of that order. As to the deacons, their pride and licentiousness occasioned many and grievous complaints, as appears from the decrees of several councils.a

These opprobrious stains, in the characters of the clergy, would never have been endured, had not the greatest part of mankind been sunk in superstition and ignorance, and all in general formed their ideas of the rights and liberties of christian ministers from the model exhibited by the sacerdotal orders among the Hebrews, the Greeks, and Romans, during the law of Moses, and the darkness of paganism. The barbarous nations also, those fierce and warlike Germans, who, after the defeat of the Romans, divided among them the western empire, bore, with the utmost patience and moderation, both the dominion and vices of the bishops and priests, because, upon their conversion to Christianity, they became naturally subject to their jurisdiction; and still more, because they looked upon the ministers of Christ as invested with the same rights and privileges, which distinguished the priests of their fictitious deities.

from whence

VIII. The corruption of that order, who were ap- The sources pointed to promote, by their doctrine and exam- proceeded the ples, the sacred interests of piety and virtue, will clergy.

z Sulpitius Severus, De vita Martini, cap. xx. p. 539, compared with Dialog. ii. cap. vi. p. 457.

• See Dav. Blondel. Apologia, pro sententia Hieronymi de episcopis et presbyteris, p. 140.

vices of the

CENT. V.

PART II. appear less surprising when we consider, that multitudes of people of all kinds were every where admitted, without examination and without choice, into the body of the clergy, the greatest part of whom had no other view, than the enjoyment of a lazy and inglorious repose. Many of these ecclesiastics were confined to no fixed places or assemblies, had no employment of any kind, but sauntered about wherever they pleased, gaining their maintenance by imposing upon the ignorant multitude, and sometimes by mean and dishonest practices.

But if any should ask, how this account is reconcileable with the number of saints, who, according to the testimonies of both the eastern and western writers, are said to have shone forth in this century, the answer is obvious; these saints were canonized by the ignorance of the times. For, in an age of darkness and corruption, those who distinguished themselves from the multitude, either by their genius, their writings, or their eloquence, by their prudence and dexterity in managing matters of importance, or by their meekness and moderation, and the ascendant they had gained over their resentments and passions; all such were esteemed something more than men; they were reverenced as gods; or, to speak more properly, they appeared to others as men divinely inspired, and full of the Deity. The monks. IX. The monks, who had formerly lived only for themselves in solitary retreats, and had never thought of assuming any rank among the sacerdotal order, were now gradually distinguished from the populace, and were endowed with such opulence and such honourable privileges, that they found themselves in a condition to claim an eminent station among the supports and pillars of the christian community. The fame of their piety and sanc

Epiphanius, Exposit. fidei, tom. i. opp. p. 1094. Mabillon, Reponse aux Chanoines Regulieres, tom. ii. of his posthumous works, p. 115.

PART II.

tity was at first so great, that bishops and presby- CENT. V. ters were often chosen out of their order, and the passion of erecting edifices and convents, in which the monks and holy virgins might serve God in the most commodious manner, was at this time carried beyond all bounds.d

The monastic orders did not all observe the same rule of discipline, nor the same manner of living. Some followed the rule of Augustine, others that of Basil, others that of Antony, others that of Athanasius, others that of Pachomius; but they must all have become extremely negligent and remiss in observing the laws of their respective orders, since the licentiousness of the monks, even in this century, was become a proverb, and they are said to have excited the most dreadful tumults and seditions in various places. All the monastic or ders of all sorts were under the protection of the bishops in whose provinces they lived, nor did the patriarchs claim any authority over them, as appears with the utmost evidence from the decrees of the councils held in this century.

x. Several writers of considerable merit adorn- Greek writers. ed this century. Among the Greeks and orientals the first place is due to Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, so famous for his learned productions, and the various controversies in which he was engaged.

с

Sulpitius Severus, De vita Martini, cap. x. p. 320. Dial. i. cap. xxi. p. 426.

* Sulpitius Severus, Dial. i. p. 419. Norisius, Histor. Pelag. lib. i. cap. iii. p. 273, tom. i. opp. Histoire Litteraire de la France, tom. ii. p. 35.

Sulp. Severus, Dial. i. cap. viii. p. 399.

See Jo. Launoii Inquisitio in chartam immunitatis B. Germani, opp. tom. iii. part ii. p. 3. In the ancient records, posterior to this century, the monks are frequently called Clerks. See Mabillon. Præf. ad Sec. ii. Actor. Sanctor. Ord. Benedicti, p. 14. And this shows that they now began to be ranked among the clergy, or ministers of the church.