The first who published these Decretals was, according to Hincmarus, Riculphus Bishop of Mentz, who was supposed to have brought them from Spain; because the Name of Isidore was prefixed to the Collection, and a famous Writer of that Name, viz. Isidore Bishop of Seville, had flourished in Spain some Centuries before. But such a mean and scandalous Undertaking is altogether unworthy of so great a Prelate; and besides the Author of the supposed Decretals has copied, verbatim, some Passages from the Council of Toledo in 675. and from the Sixth Council in 681. whereas Isidore of Seville died in 636. The learned Ellies du Pin lays this Forgery at the Door of some German or Frenchman, the Letters being all written in the Style of the Germans and French, of the 9th Century, and many of them addressed to Persons of these two Nations. Hincmarus was mistaken, in supposing the forged Decretals to have been first published by Riculphus of Mentz; for in some of them are found Fragments of the Council held at Paris in 829. and he died in 814. They were first ushered into the World, and forged too, in all likelihood, by one Benedict, Deacon of the Church of Mentz, though, in his Preface to that Collection, he would fain make us believe, that Autcarius, the Successor of Riculphus, found them in the Archives of that Church, and that they had been placed there by Riculphus, who had brought them from Spain. Autcarius, in whose Time Benedict published his Collection, is thought to have been privy to the Imposture. The Name of Isidore, which was then very common in Spain, was prefixed to it, to persuade the World, that the Decretals were brought from that Country, and not forged at Mentz, where they first appeared. However, they were suspected by some, even in that dark Age, and absolutely rejected by Hincmarus of Rheims, as Writings of no Authority. But the Popes, whose Pretensions they were calculated to favour, exerting all their Authority to bring them into Repute, they were in the End universally received, and inserted into all the Collections of Canons. At present they are so universally exploded, that there is not a single Writer, no, not even in the Church of Rome, who is not ashamed to patronize or defend them. But the Work is done, for which they were intended; and now that the Edifice can stand by itself, no matter what becomes of the Stays that supported it, when it could not. These Decretals may be justly looked upon as a standing Monument of the Ignorance, Superstition, and Credulity, that universally prevailed in the Church, from the Beginning of the Ninth Century to the Time of the Reformation. I shall conclude with observing, that, from these Decretals, Anastasius the Bibliothecarian, and after him Platina, have chiefly copied what they relate of the first Popes, supposing them to have really done what, in those spurious Pieces, they are said to have done.
[1]. Bell. de Rom. Pont. l. 2. c. 14.
[2]. Nic. I. ep. 42.
| Domitian, Nerva, | CLEMENT, Third Bishop of Rome. | Trajan. |
Year of Christ 91.
Clement mentioned
by St. Paul.
Clement, the Successor of Anacletus, is, according to Origen[[105]], Eusebius[[106]], and all the Antients, the Person whom St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Philippians[[107]], names among those who had laboured with him in the Gospel, and whose Names were in the Book of Life. Hence Chrysostom concludes, that, together with St. Luke and Timothy, he attended the Apostle of the Gentiles in all his journeys[[108]]. Irenæus assures us, that he had not only seen the Apostles, and conversed with them; but that, when he was appointed Bishop of Rome, he still heard their Voices sounding in his Ears, still had before his Eyes the Rules and good Example they had given him[[109]]. Origen styles him the Disciple of the Apostles[[110]]; Ruffinus, almost an Apostle[[111]]; and Clement of Alexandria, an Apostle[[112]]. That he was well versed in every Branch of Learning, especially in polite Literature, descended of a Senatorian Family, and nearly related to the Cæsars, is what we read in Eucherius[[113]] and Nilus[[114]], who seem to have followed therein the Recognitions, a Book of no Authority. |Some confound
him with Flav-
ius Clemens.| Eucherius perhaps confounded, as others have done, Pope Clement with Flavius Clemens, who was Son to Flavius Sabinus, the only Brother of Vespasian, and suffered Death for the Christian Religion in the Persecution of Domitian[[115]]; for Pope Clement was, as himself seems to insinuate, rather of the Race of Jacob than of the Cæsars[[116]]. |Chosen Bishop
of Rome.| Upon the Death of Anacletus he was unanimously chosen by the People and Clergy of Rome to succeed him. He had been named, say some, to that Dignity by St. Peter himself, preferably to Linus and Anacletus[[117]]; but had declined it, finding that the Faithful were not all equally disposed to submit to the Judgment and Authority of St. Peter. He therefore withdrew; and, as he was of a mild and pacific Disposition, led a retired Life to the Death of Anacletus, when he was forced to accept of the Dignity, which he had before declined. Thus Ruffinus, upon the Authority of the Recognitions; which appears to me, I must own, a very improbable Tale. During his Pontificate happened an impious and detestable Division, to use his own Terms, among the Christians of Corinth, which obliged them to have recourse to other Churches, especially to that of Rome; |His famous Epistle
to the Corinthians.| and on this occasion was written that famous Epistle to the Corinthians, so much magnified by the Antients and publicly read, not only in the Church of Corinth, as Dionysius assures us, who was Bishop of that City in 180, but in many other Churches, to the Time of Eusebius, and St. Jerom[[118]], and perhaps long after. It was by some ranked among the Canonical Books of the Scripture, and by all reverenced next to them[[119]]. It was written in the Name of the whole Church of Rome, and to the whole Church it is, in express Terms, ascribed by Irenæus[[120]], and Clement of Alexandria, who calls it the Epistle of the Romans to the Corinthians[[121]]. However, it was composed by Clement, in the Name of the Church; for, in the primitive Times, Bishops did nothing by themselves, but every thing jointly with their Churches: We advise, We exhort, We recommend, &c. was their usual Style; which the Popes still observe, though they mean only themselves; for they scorn to join either with the People or Clergy. The Style of this excellent Letter is plain, clear, full of Energy, without any useless Ornaments; and the Whole written with the Simplicity, as Photius observes[[122]], that the Church requires in Ecclesiastical Writers. There is so great an Affinity, both as to the Sense and the Words, between this Epistle, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, that some have concluded Clement to have been the Translator, nay, and the Author of that Epistle[[123]]. |Unjustly criticized
by Photius.| In Clement’s Epistle Photius discovers, as he thinks, Three Faults; viz. that he supposes other Worlds beyond the Ocean; that he speaks of the Phœnix as a real Bird; and that he uses Words expressing the Humanity of our Saviour, and not his Divinity. But, as to the first of these Objections, there can be no Difficulty now, that we know for certain what was but doubtfully advanced by the Antients: in speaking of the Phœnix he complies with the Opinion universally received in those Days by the Learned, both among the Christians and Pagans. As to the Third Objection, Photius must not have observed, that he styles our Saviour’s Sufferings, the Sufferings of God, which was acknowleging his Divinity. |Thought lost, but
appears again.| This Epistle, the most precious and valuable Treasure the Church can boast, after the holy Scriptures, was for many Ages bewailed as lost; but, in 1633. it was again restored to the Christian World, by Patricius Junius, a North Briton, who published it from a Manuscript, written by an Egyptian Lady, named Thecla, about the Time of the great Council of Nice, and afterwards brought over into England[[124]]. That this Piece is genuine, appears from a great many Passages quoted out of it by the Antients.