| Dioclesian, Maximian, | MARCELLINUS, Twenty-eighth Bishop of Rome. | Constantius, Galerius. |
Year of Christ 296.
Marcellinus unjustly
aspersed by the
Church of Rome.
Marcellinus succeeded Caius on the 30th of June 296. and governed Eight Years, Three Months, and Twenty-five Days, according to the most antient Records[[493]]: so that he must have died on the 24th of October 304. The Love of Truth, which an Historian ought never to swerve from, obliges me to undertake the Defence of this Pope against the Church of Rome herself, and most of her Divines, who, joining the Donatists of Africa, have endeavoured to blacken his Memory with Aspersions equally wicked and groundless. For the Church of Rome tells us, both in her Breviary and Martyrology, and her Divines must chime in with her, that Marcellinus being apprehended during the Persecution of Dioclesian, he was persuaded by that Prince to deliver up the Holy Scripture to be burnt by the Pagans, agreeably to a late Edict, and at the same time to offer Incense to the Gods. This they found on the Acts of the Council of Sinuessa, which is supposed to have been summoned on that Occasion, and before which Marcellinus is said to have been convicted by Seventy-two Witnesses of the above-mentioned Crimes. That such a scandalous Story, invented by the Donatists of Africa, as St. Austin affirms[[494]], should not only have been credited, but industriously propagated, by the Successors of Marcellinus, must seem very strange and surprising to those, who recollect with how much Zeal they have strove on other Occasions to conceal or excuse the least Imperfections in their Predecessors. If therefore they not only readily own the Apostasy of Marcellinus, but are the first to divulge it, and take care to make it known in the Breviary to those who scarce know any thing else, we may be well assured there is a Snake hid in the Grass; the more as it is certain almost beyond doubt, that no such Council was ever held; and consequently that the Acts upon which alone that Apostasy is founded, are supposititious. To unravel the Whole, the Reader must know, that the Fall of Marcellinus made such a Noise in the Church, as we read in those Acts, that immediately a grand Council met, composed of no fewer than 300 Bishops. Before this Council Marcellinus appeared; but, at his first Appearance, the Bishops, struck with Horror at the very Thought of judging the Head of the Church, the Judge of all, cried out with one Voice, The first See is to be judged by nobody: accuse yourself, judge yourself, condemn yourself. |Their View, therein.| To this Testimony, so favourable to the ambitious Views of the Bishops of Rome, is intirely owing the Sanction which they have given to such Fables, highly injurious to the Memory of one of their best Predecessors. Without this Lenitive the Acts of the pretended Council of Sinuessa, supposing the Apostasy of a Pope, had been condemned; the Absurdities and Contradictions, which it is wholly made up of, had been set forth in a proper Light; and the Testimonies of Theodoret and St. Austin had been alleged to vindicate the Character of Marcellinus: |Marcellinus com-
mended and vindicated
by the Antients.| for of these two Writers the former tells us, that he acquired great Glory by his Conduct during the Persecution[[495]]; and the latter, in writing against Petilian the Donatist, has the following Words: Why should I answer the Calumnies with which he loads the Bishops of Rome? Why should I clear them from the Crimes which he lays to their Charge? Marcellinus, and his Presbyters Melchiades, Marcellus, and Sylvester, are accused by him as if they had delivered up the sacred Books, and offered Incense to the Gods: Are they therefore to be thought guilty? Does he prove what he advances against them? He brands them with the Epithets of wicked, and sacrilegious; but I say they are innocent: And why should I produce Reasons to support my Defence, since he brings none to make good his Charge[[496]]? But a solemn Declaration, that the See of Rome is to be judged by nobody, made in those early Times, by 300 Bishops, carries with it such Marks of Truth, as quite invalidate the Testimonies of Theodoret and St. Austin, and render the Apostasy of Marcellinus, which gave room to that Declaration, undeniable! St. Austin looks upon the Apostasy of Marcellinus, and his Presbyters Melchiades, Marcellus, and Sylvester, who were all afterwards Bishops of Rome, as a mere Calumny, as an Invention of the Donatists; but their Successors, trampling upon all Authority that stands in the Way of their Ambition, chuse rather to have Four of their Predecessors thought Apostates and Idolaters, than part with the Decree of that pretended Council, exalting them so high above all other Bishops.
The Acts of the
Council of
Sinuessa fabulous.
If Marcellinus acquired great Glory during the Persecution, as Theodoret assures us; if his Apostasy was a mere Calumny, broached by the Donatists, as we read in St. Austin; the pretended Council of Sinuessa must be given up, since it is supposed to have been assembled on occasion of Marcellinus’s Fall: but, abstracting from the Fall of Marcellinus, the Circumstances attending that Council are in themselves so absurd and incredible, that there needs no other Argument to convince a Man, who has any Understanding, and dares to use it, that no such Council ever was, or could be held. |No such Council
ever held.| For who can conceive it possible, that, during the most cruel Persecution the Church ever suffered, 300 Bishops should assemble, not in Rome, where they might more easily have met unobserved, but in a small Country Town, where a much less numerous Assembly must immediately have been observed and suspected? But, after the Death of Fabianus, says Baronius[[497]], the Clergy of Rome, and the Bishops, met to chuse him a Successor, notwithstanding the Persecution that raged then. He ought to have said some Bishops, as St. Cyprian does[[498]], whom he quotes; but I shall say so for him, that his Argument may appear in its full Strength, and save me the Trouble of answering it; for it will then run thus: Some Bishops, perhaps 15 or 20, met unobserved in the great and populous City of Rome: Ergo, 300 might meet unobserved in a small Country Town; for such was Sinuessa.
The many Absurdities
contained in the Acts
of that Council.
This Council is supposed to have been held in a Grotto, or Cave, where there was no room but for 50 at a time; and yet they are all said to have been present when Marcellinus owned his Crime, and divested himself of his Dignity. And what a despicable Figure does he make on that Occasion! At first he denies the Charge; but, being convicted by 72 Eye-witnesses, he owns it at last, but in Terms more becoming a School-boy, trembling at the Sight of a Rod, than a penitent Bishop, before so grave an Assembly. But the most remarkable Passage in that Piece is the Dispute between Urbanus High Pontiff of Jupiter, and Marcellinus High Pontiff of the Christians. Urbanus, to convince his Fellow-Pontiff that he ought not to scruple offering Incense to Jupiter, alleges the Example of the Mages offering Incense to Christ. Marcellinus answers, That the offering of Incense on that Occasion was mysterious; and unravels the Mystery. Hereupon Urbanus, unacquainted with Mysteries, appeals to the Judgment of the Emperors Dioclesian and Maximian; to this Appeal Marcellinus agrees; and the Controversy is referred by both Pontiffs to be decided by the Two Emperors. They, no doubt, gave Sentence in favour of Jupiter and Urbanus; and then Dioclesian, taking Marcellinus with him into the Temple of Vesta, persuaded him there to offer Incense to Jupiter, Hercules, and Saturn. How these Three Deities came to have a Place in the Temple of Vesta, the Compiler of these Acts alone knows. Such are the Absurdities and Contradictions, of which that Piece is wholly made up. But it flatters the Ambition of the Successors of Marcellinus; on occasion of his Fall it exalts the See of Rome above all other Sees: its Authority therefore must not be called in question: all the Absurdities and Contradictions it contains, must be blindly believed; the Memory of Marcellinus most unjustly slandered; the Testimonies of Theodoret, and St. Austin, clearing him from all Guilt, disregarded and rejected. And may not this be interpreted as a tacit Declaration, that they had rather he had been guilty than innocent, provided his Guilt could any-ways contribute to the Aggrandizing of their See? What can we think their Ambition will spare, since they have thus sacrificed to it the Character of one of their Predecessors, whose Memory is revered by all Antiquity? The Church of Rome honours Marcellinus as a Saint; and, not withstanding his pretended Apostasy, allows him a Place amongst her Martyrs; probably by way of Reparation for the Injustice done him. |Marcellinus falsly
supposed to have died
a Martyr.| But his Martyrdom may be justly questioned; at least it seems to have been utterly unknown to St. Austin, who flourished not long after his Time, since he never mentions it, tho’ it would have afforded him the strongest Argument he could possibly use to silence the Donatists. His Martyrdom, 'tis true, is vouched by Bede, who tells us, that he was beheaded at Rome, by Dioclesian’s Order; but that Historian is often led into gross Mistakes by a Pontifical, supposed to have been written in the Sixth Century, which he frequently copies, with all its Anachronisms, and other Faults.
Vacancy of
Three Years.