Justin the younger,[[228]] who succeeded Justinian, published an edict soon after his advancement, by which he sent all bishops to their respective sees, and to perform divine worship according to the usual manner of their churches, without making any innovations concerning the faith. As to his personal character, he was extremely dissolute and debauched, and addicted to the most vile and criminal pleasures. He was also sordidly covetous, and sold the very bishoprics to the best bidders, putting them up to public auction. Nor was he less remarkable for his cruelty;[[229]] he had a near relation of his own name, whom he treacherously murdered; and of whom he was so jealous, that he could not be content till he and his empress had trampled his head under their feet.[[230]] However, he was very orthodox, and published a new explication of the faith, which for clearness and subtlety exceeded all that went before it. In this he professes, that “he believed in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the consubstantial Trinity, one deity, or nature, or essence, and one virtue, power and energy, in three hypostases or persons; and that he adored the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, having a most admirable division and union; the Unity according to the essence or deity; the Trinity according to the properties, hypostases or persons; for they are divided indivisibly; or, if I may so speak, they are joined together separately. The godhead in the three is one, and the three are one, the deity being in them; or to speak more accurately, which three are the deity. It is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, when each person is considered by itself, the mind thus separating things inseparable; but the three are God, when considered together, being one in operation and nature. We believe also in one only begotten Son of God, God the Word—for the holy Trinity received no addition of a fourth person, even after the incarnation of God the Word, one of the holy Trinity. But our Lord Jesus Christ is one and the same, consubstantial to God, even the Father, according to his deity, and consubstantial to us according to his manhood; liable to suffering in the flesh, but impassible in the deity. For we do not own that God the Word, who wrought the miracles, was one, and he that suffered another; but we confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, was one and the same, who was made flesh and became perfect man; and that the miracles and sufferings were of one and the same: for it was not any man that gave himself for us, but God the Word himself, being made man without change; so that when we confess our Lord Jesus Christ to be one and the same, compounded of each nature, of the godhead and manhood, we do not introduce any confusion or mixture by the union—for as God remains in the manhood, so also nevertheless doth the man, being in the excellency of the deity, Emanuel being both in one and the same, even one God and also man. And when we confess him to be perfect in the godhead, and perfect in the manhood, of which he is compounded, we do not introduce a division in part, or section to his one compounded person, but only signify the difference of the natures, which is not taken away by the union; for the divine nature is not converted into the human, nor the human nature changed into the divine. But we say, that each being considered, or rather actually existing in the very definition or reason of its proper nature, constitutes the oneness in person. Now this oneness as to person signifies that God the Word, i. e. one person of the three persons of the godhead, was not united to a pre-existent man, but that he formed to himself in the womb of our holy Lady Mary, glorious mother of God, and ever a virgin, and out of her, in his own person, flesh consubstantial to us, and liable to all the same passions, without sin, animated with a reasonable and intellectual soul.—For considering his inexplicable oneness, we orthodoxly confess one nature of God the Word made flesh, and yet conceiving in our minds the difference of the natures, we say they are two, not introducing any manner of division. For each nature is in him; so that we confess him to be one and the same Christ, one Son, one person, one hypostasis, God and man together. Moreover, we anathematize all who have, or do think otherwise, and judge them as cut off from the holy Catholic, and apostolic church of God.” To this extraordinary edict, all, says the historian, gave their consent, esteeming it to be very orthodox, though they were not more united amongst themselves than before.
Under Mauritius,[[231]] John bishop of Constantinople, in a council held at that city, stiled himself oecumenical bishop, by the consent of the fathers there assembled; and the emperor himself ordered Gregory to acknowledge him in that character. Gregory absolutely refused it, and replied, that the power of binding and loosing was delivered to Peter and his successors, and not to the bishops of Constantinople; admonishing him to take care, that he did not provoke the anger of God against himself, by raising tumults in his church. This pope was the first who stiled himself, Servus Servorum Dei,[[232]] servant of the servants of God; and had such an abhorrence of the title of universal bishop, that he said, “I confidently affirm, that whosoever calls himself universal priest is the forerunner of Antichrist, by thus proudly exalting himself above others.”
But, how ever modest Gregory was in refusing and condemning this arrogant title, Boniface III.[[233]] thought better of the matter, and after great struggles, prevailed with Phocas, who murdered Mauritius the emperor, to declare that the see of the blessed apostle Peter, which is the head of all churches, should be so called and accounted by all, and the bishop of it oecumenical or universal bishop. The church of Constantinople had claimed this precedence and dignity, and was sometimes favoured herein by the emperors, who declared, that the first see ought to be in that place which was the head of the empire. The Roman pontiffs, on the other hand, affirmed, that Rome, of which Constantinople was but a colony, ought to be esteemed the head of the empire, because the Greeks themselves, in their writings, stile the emperor Roman emperor, and the inhabitants of Constantinople are called Romans, and not Greeks; not to mention that Peter, the prince of the apostles, gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to his successors, the popes of Rome. On this foundation was the superiority of the church of Rome to that of all other churches built; and Phocas, who was guilty of all villanies, was one of the fittest persons that could be found to gratify Boniface in this request. Boniface, also, called a council at Rome, where this supremacy was confirmed, and by whom it was decreed, that bishops should be chosen by the clergy and people, approved by the prince of the city, and ratified by the pope with these words, “Volumus & jubemus,” for this is our will and command. To reward Phocas for the grant of the primacy, he approved the murder of Mauritius, and very honourably received his images, which he sent to Rome. And having thus wickedly possessed themselves of this unrighteous power, the popes as wickedly used it, soon brought almost the whole Christian world into subjection to them, and became the persecutors general of the church of God; proceeding from one usurpation to another, till at last they brought emperors, kings and princes into subjection, forcing them to ratify their unrighteous decrees, and to punish, in the severest manner, all that should presume to oppose and contradict them, till she became “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,[Jesus,] Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth.”
The inquisition is the master-piece of their policy and cruelty; and such an invention for the suppression of religion and truth, liberty and knowledge, innocence and virtue, as could proceed from no other wisdom but that which is “earthly, sensual, and devilish.” And as the history of it, which I now present my reader with a faithful abstract of, gives the most perfect account of the laws and practices of this accursed tribunal, I shall not enter into the detail of popish persecutions, especially as we have a full account of those practised amongst ourselves in Fox and other writers, who have done justice to this subject. I shall only add a few things relating to the two other general councils, as they are stiled by ecclesiastical historians.
Under Heraclius,[[234]] the successor of Phocas, great disturbances were raised upon account of what they called the heresy of the Monothelites, i. e. those who held there were not two wills, the divine and human, in Christ, but only one single will or operation. The emperor himself was of this opinion, being persuaded into it by Pyrrhus patriarch of Constantinople, and Cyrus bishop of Alexandria. And though he afterwards seems to have changed his mind in this point, yet in order to promote peace, he put forth an edict, forbidding disputes or quarrels, on either side the question. Constans, his grandson, was of the same sentiment, and at the instigation of Paul bishop of Constantinople, grievously persecuted those who would not agree with him. Martyn,[[235]] pope of Rome, sent his legates to the emperor and patriarch to forsake their errors, and embrace the truth; but his holiness was but little regarded, and after his legates were imprisoned and whipped, they were sent into banishment. This greatly enraged Martyn, who convened a synod at Rome of 150 bishops, who decreed, that whosoever should “not confess two wills, and two operations united, the divine and the human, in one and the same Christ, should be anathema,” and that Paul bishop of Constantinople should be condemned and deposed. The emperor highly resented this conduct, and sent Olympius hexarch into Italy to propagate the Monothelite doctrine; and either to kill Martyn, or send him prisoner to Constantinople. Olympius not being able to execute either design, Theodorus was sent in his room, who apprehended the pope, put him in chains, and got him conveyed to the emperor, who after ignominiously treating him, banished him to Pontus, where he died in great misery and want. The bishops of Constans’s party[[236]] were greatly assistant to him in this work of persecution, and shewed more rage against their fellow-Christians, than they did against the very barbarians themselves.
SECT. VIII.
The third council at Constantinople; or sixth general council.
Constantine, the eldest son of Constans, cut off his two younger brothers’ noses, that they might not share the empire with him; but, however, happened to be more orthodox than his predecessors; and by the persuasion of Agatho,[[237]] pope of Rome, convened the sixth general council at Constantinople, A. D. 680, in which were present 289 bishops. The fathers of this holy synod complimented the emperor with being “another David, raised up by Christ, their God, a man after his own heart; who had not given sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eye-lids, till he had gathered them together, to find out the perfect rule of faith.” After this they condemned the heresy of one will in Christ, and declared, “that they glorified two natural wills and operations, indivisibly, inconvertibly, without confusion, and inseparably in the same Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, i. e. the divine operation, and the human operation.” So that now the orthodox faith, in reference to Christ, was this; that “he had two natures, the divine and human; that these two natures were united, without confusion, into one single person; and that in this one single person, there were two distinct wills and operations, the human and divine.” Thus, at last, 680 years after Christ, was the orthodox faith, relating to his deity, humanity, nature and wills, decided and settled by this synod; who, after having pronounced anathemas against the living and dead, ordered the burning of heretical books, and deprived several bishops of their sees; procured an edict from the emperor, commanding all to receive their confession of faith, and denouncing not only eternal, but corporal punishments to all recusants; viz. if they were bishops, or clergymen, or monks, they were to be banished; if laymen, of any rank and figure, they were to forfeit their estates, and lose their honours; if of the common people, they were to be expelled the royal city. These their definitive sentences were concluded with the usual exclamation, of, “God save the emperor, long live the orthodox emperor; down with the heretics; cursed be Eutyches, Macarius, &c. The Trinity hath deposed them.”
The next controversy of importance was relating to the worship of images. The respect due to the memories of the apostles and martyrs of the Christian church, was gradually carried into great superstition, and at length degenerated into downright idolatry. Not only churches were dedicated to them, but their images placed in them, and religious adoration paid to them. Platina tells us, that amongst many other ceremonies introduced by pope Sixtus III. in the fifth century, he persuaded Valentinian the younger, emperor of the West, to beautify and adorn the churches, and to place upon the altar of St. Peter, a golden image of our Saviour, enriched with jewels. In the next century the images of the saints were brought in, and religious worship paid to them. This appears from a letter of pope Gregory’s, to the bishop of Marseilles, who broke in pieces certain images, because they had been superstitiously adored. Gregory tells him,[[238]] “I commend you, that through a pious zeal, you would not suffer that which is made with hands to be adored; but I blame you for breaking the images in pieces: for it is one thing to adore a picture, and another to learn by the history of the picture what is to be adored.” And elsewhere he declares,[[239]] that “images and pictures in churches, were very useful for the instruction of the ignorant, who could not read.” Sergius, after this, repaired the images of the apostles. John VII. adorned a great many churches with the pictures and images of the saints. And at length, in the reign of Philippicus, Constantine the pope, in a synod held at Rome, decreed, that images should be fixed up in the churches, and have great adoration paid them. He also condemned and excommunicated the emperor himself for heresy; because he erased the pictures of the fathers, which had been painted on the walls of the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople; and commanded that his images should not be received into the church; that his name should not be used in any public or private writings, nor his effigies stamped upon any kind of money whatsoever.
This superstition of bringing images into churches was warmly opposed, and gave occasion to many disturbances and murders. The emperor Leo Isaurus greatly disapproved this practice, and published an edict, by which he commanded all the subjects of the Roman empire to deface all the pictures, and to take away all the statues of the martyrs and angels out of the churches, in order to prevent idolatry, threatening to punish those who did not, as public enemies. Pope Gregory II.[[240]] opposed this edict, and admonished all Catholics, in no manner to obey it. This occasioned such a tumult at Ravenna in Italy, between the partisans of the emperor and the pope, as ended in the murder of Paul, exarch of Italy, and his son; which enraged the emperor in an high degree; so that he ordered all persons to bring to him all their images of wood, brass, and marble, which he publicly burnt; punishing with death all such as were found to conceal them. He also convened a synod at Constantinople; where, after a careful and full examination, it was unanimously agreed, that the intercession of the saints was a mere fable; and the worship of images and relicts was downright idolatry, and contrary to the word of God. And as Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, favoured images, the emperor banished him, and substituted Anastasius, who was of his own sentiments, in his room. Gregory III.[[241]] in the beginning of his pontificate, assembled his clergy, and by their unanimous consent, deposed him on this account from the empire, and put him under excommunication; and was the first who withdrew the Italians from their obedience to the emperors of Constantinople, calling in the assistance of Charles king of France. After this, he placed the images of Christ and his apostles in a more sumptuous manner than they were before upon the altar of St. Peter, and at his own expence made a golden image of the Virgin Mary, holding Christ in her arms, for the church of St. Mary ad Præsepe.