A Christian Directory, Part 3: Christian EcclesiasticsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 3: Christian Ecclesiastics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
When the emperor Constantius would by violence force the orthodox to
hold communion with the Arians, he did but make the breach the wider.
Read Lucifer Calaritanus _de non conveniendo cum hæreticis_ (in
Biblioth. Patr. tom. ix. p. 1045, &c.). The emperor saith, that the
orthodox were enemies to peace, and unity, and brotherly love, and
that he was resolved to have unity and peace in his dominions:
therefore he imprisoned the orthodox and banished them. _Propterea
odis nos, quia concilium vestrum malignantium execremur; propterea in
exilio sumus; propterea in carcere necamur; propterea nobis solis
prohibetur conspectus; idcirco reclusi in tenebras custodimur ingenti
custodia: hujus rei causa nullus ad nos visendos admittitur hominum;
quia videlicet noluerimus vobiscum impiis sacrilegis ullam scelerum
vestrorum habere societatem._ Ibid. p. 1050. Which stirred up this
bishop in particular to go too far from free communion even with the
penitent Arians, and heap up more scriptures against that communion
which the emperor commanded, than any had done before. _Nobis dicebas,
Pacem volo fieri; et in corde tuo manens adversarius religionis
nostræ, cogitabat per te facere nos idololatras, &c._ p. 1051.
_Consilia vestra contra suam prolata ecclesiam reprobat Deus: nec enim
potest odire populum suum, hæreditatem suam, et amare vos filios
pestilentiæ, vos persecutores servorum suorum: dixisti, Facite pacem
cum episcopis sectæ meæ Arrianis, et estote in unum; et dicit Dei
Spiritus, vias impiorum noli exequi, neque æmuleris viam iniquorum.
&c.----Dulce quibusdam videtur, quo tibi regi in amicitias jungantur
suscipiendo hæresin tuam: sed amarius felle sensuri cum tecum in
perpetuum cœperint in perpetua gehenna sentire, qui tecum esse
deligerunt, tunc dicturi, Væ nobis, qui Constantium Imperatorem Deo
præposuerimus._ Abundance more he writeth to prove that the emperor
being a heretic, they must have no communion with him or his bishops.
And when the emperor complained hereupon, that they wronged and
dishonoured him whom they should honour, the said Lucifer wrote his
next book, _de non parcendo in Deum delinquentibus_; which beginneth,
_Superatum te, Imperator, a Dei servis ex omni cum conspexisses parte,
dixisti passum te ac pati a nobis contra monita sacrarum Scripturarum
contumeliam: dicis nos insolentes extitisse, circa te quem honorari
decuerit. Si quisquam Dei cultorum pepercit apostatis, sint vera quæ
dicis de nobis_; and so he heapeth up as many texts for rough dealing
with offending kings; I give this one instance to show the fruits of
violence, as pretended for peace and unity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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