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PART II.

tic life, though accompanied with no marks of sol- CENT. VII. id and genuine piety, was deemed sufficient to atone for all sorts of crimes, and was therefore hon. oured among the Latins with the title of the second baptism, which circumstance alone may serve to show us the miserable state of Christianity at this time. The greatest part of the Grecian and oriental monks laboured to arrive at a state of perfection by mere contemplation, and studiously endeavoured to form their temper and characters after the model of Dionysius, the chief of the mystics.

v. Theodore of Tarsus, a Grecian monk, restor. The renewal of penitential ed among the Latins the discipline of penance, as discipline. it is commonly termed, which had been for a long time almost totally neglected, and enforced it by a body of severe laws borrowed from the Grecian canons. This zealous prelate, being raised beyond his expectation to the see of Canterbury, A. D. 668, formed and executed several pious and laudable projects; and among other things reduced to a regular science that branch of ecclesiastical law, which is known by the name of penitential discipline. He published a penitential which was entirely new to the Latin world, by which the clergy were taught to distinguish sins into various classes, according as they were more or less heinous, private or public; to judge of them and determine the degrees of their guilt by their nature and consequences; the intention of the offender; the time and place in which they were committed; and the circumstances with which they were attended. This new penitential contained also the methods of proceeding with respect to offenders; pointed out the penalties that were suitable to the various classes of transgressions; prescribed the forms of consolation, exhortation, and absolution; and described, in an ample and accurate manner, the duties and obligations of those who were to receive the confes

PART II.

polemic theol

ogy.

CENT. VII. sions of the penitent. This new discipline, though of Grecian origin, was eagerly adopted by the Latin churches; and, in a short space of time, passed from Britain into all the western provinces, where the book of Theodore became the model of all other penitentials, and was multiplied in a vast number of copies. The duration of this discipline was but transitory; for in the eighth century it began to decline, and was at length entirely supplanted by what was called the new canon of indulgences. The state of vi. The doctors who opposed the various sects are scarcely worthy of mention, and would deserve still less an attentive perusal, did not their writings contribute to illustrate the history of the times in which they lived. Nicias composed two books against the Gentiles; and Photius informs us, that a certain writer, whose name is unknown, embarked in the same controversy, and supported the good cause by a prodigious number of arguments drawn from ancient records and monuments. Julian Pomerius exerted his polemic talent against the Jews. The views of Timotheus were yet more extensive; for he gave an ample description and a laboured confutation of all the various heresies that divided the church, in his book concerning the reception of heretics.

As to the dissensions of the catholic christians among themselves, they produced, at this time, few or no events worthy of mention. We shall therefore only observe, that in this century were sown the seeds of those fatal discords, which rent asunder the bonds of christian communion between the

The penitential of Theodore is yet extant, though maimed and imperfect, in an edition published at Paris in the year 1679, in 4to. by Petit; and enriched with learned dissertations and notes of the editor. We have also the cxx. Capitula Ecclesiast. Theodori, published in Daeaerius's Spicilegium, tom. ix. and in the Concilia Harduini, tom. iii. p.

1771.

Biblioth. Cod. clxx. p. 379.

РАК Г 11.

Greek and Latin churches; nay, these seeds had CENT. VIL already taken root in the minds of the Greeks, to whom the Roman power became insupportable, and the pretensions of the sovereign pontiff odious. In Britain, warm controversies concerning baptism, the tonsure, and particularly the famous dispute concerning the time of celebrating the Easter festival, were carried on between the ancient Britons, and the new converts to Christianity, which Augustin had made among the Anglo Saxons. The fundamental doctrines of Christianity were not at all affected by these controversies, which, on that account, were more innocent and less important than they would have otherwise been. Beside, they were entirely terminated in the eighth century in favour of the Anglo Saxons, by the benedictine monks.

• Cummani Epistola in Jac. Usserii Sylloge Epistolar. Hibernicar. p. 23. Bedæ Historia Ecclesiast. gentis Anglor. lib. iii. cap. xxv. Wilkins's Concilia Magne Britann. tom. i. p. 37, 42. Acta Sanctor. Februar. tom. iii. p. 21, 84. See also Dr. Warner's Ecclesiastical History of England, books ii. and iii. This history, which has lately appeared, deserves the highest applause, on account of that noble spirit of liberty, candour, and moderation, that seems to have guided the pen of the judicious author. It were at the same time to be wished, that this elegant historian had less avoided citing authorities, and been a little more lavish of that erudition which he is known to possess; for then, after having surpassed Collier in all other respects, he would have equalled him in that depth and learning, which are the only meritorious circumstances of his partial and disagreeable history.

f Mabillon, Præf. ad Sac. iii. Benedictinum p. 2. See also Dr. Warner's Ecclesiast. Hist. book iii.

CHAPTER IV.

CENT. VII.

Religious rites

CONCERNING THE RITES AND CEREMONIES USED IN THE CHURCH
DURING THIS CENTURY.

L. IN the council of Constantinople, which was PART 11 called Quinisextum, the Greeks enacted several laws concerning the ceremonies that were to be multiplied. observed in divine worship, which rendered their ritual, in some respects, different from that of the Romans. These laws were publicly received by all the churches, which were established in the dominions of the Grecian emperors; and also by those which were joined with them in communion and doctrine, though under the civil jurisdiction of barbarian princes. Nor was this all; for every Roman pontiff added something new to the ancient rites and institutions, as if it was an essential mark of their zeal for religion, and of their pious discharge of the ministerial function, to divert the multitude with new shows and new spectacles of devout mummery. These superstitious inventions were, in the time of Charlemagne, propagated from Rome among the other Latin churches, whose subjection to the Roman ritual was necessary to satisfy the ambitious demands of the lordly pontiff.

Some exam

ples of this ad

ritual.

n. It will not be improper to select here a few dition to the out of the many instances we could produce of the multiplication of religious rites in this century. The number of festivals, under which the church already groaned, was now augmented; a new festival was instituted in honour of the true cross on

8 This council was called Quinisextum, from its being considered as a supplement to the fifth and sixth councils of Constantinople, in which nothing had been decreed concerning the morals of christians, or religious ceremonies.

PAT II.

which Christ suffered, and another in commemo- CENT. VIL. ration of the Saviour's ascension into heaven. Boniface V. enacted that infamous law, by which the churches became places of refuge to all who fled thither for protection; a law which procured a sort of impunity to the most enormous crimes, and gave a loose rein to the licentiousness of the most abandoned profligates. Honorius employed all his diligence and zeal in embellishing churches, and other consecrated places, with the most pompous and magnificent ornaments; for as neither Christ nor his apostles had left any injunctions of this nature to their followers, their pretended vicar thought it but just to supply this defect by the most splendid display of his ostentatious beneficence. We shall pass in silence the riches and variety of the sacerdotal garments that were now used at the celebration of the eucharist, and in the performance of divine worship, as this would lead us into a tedious detail of minute and unimportant matters.

CHAPTER V.

CONCERNING THE DIVISIONS AND HERESIES THAT TROUBLED THE
CHURCH DURING THIS CENTURY.

of the ancient

1. THE Greeks were engaged, during this cen- The remains tury, in the most bitter and virulent controversy sects. with the paulicians, whom they considered as a branch of the manichean sect, and who were settled in Armenia and the adjacent countries. This dispute was carried to the greatest height under the reigns of Constans, Constantine Pogonatus, and Justinian II. and the Greeks were not only armed

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