quoted by _Ferrandus_, from the Letter of _Syricius_, and approved, as is said there, by the Council of _Tela_; _viz._ That _no Bishop should be ordained by a single Bishop, the Church of_ Rome _excepted_. This Exception is not to be found in the Letter ascribed to _Syricius_, from which they make _Ferrandus_ quote it; and, besides, the Bishops of _Rome_ were never ordained by a single Bishop, nor did they ever take upon them to ordain Bishops alone. Footnote N28.1: Leo, ep. 78. Footnote N28.2: Concil. t. 1. p. 1577. ----- I find no farther Mention made of _Syricius_, in the antient Writers, till the Year 390. when he condemned the Doctrine of _Jovinian_; and cast him and his Followers out of the Church. _Jovinian_ was by Profession a Monk, by Birth a _Latin_, as _Jerom_ observes, and the first who infected that Language with Heresy; all, or rather almost all, the Heresies that, for the first Four hundred Years, had disturbed the Peace of the Church, having been broached by _Greeks_, _Chaldæans_, or _Syrians_[1273]. He had formerly practised great Austerities, going bare-footed, living upon Bread and Water, covered with a tattered black Garment, and earning his Livelihood with the Sweat of his Brow, his Hands being callous with long and hard Labour[1274]. The Doctrine he taught is, by _Jerom_, reduced to the Four following Heads: 1. That those, who, with a lively Faith, have been regenerated by Baptism, cannot afterwards be overcome by the Devil. 2. That for all those, who shall preserve their Baptism; an equal Reward is reserved in Heaven. 3. That there is no Difference of Merit between abstaining from some Meats, and using them with Thanksgiving. 4. and lastly, That Virgins, Widows, and married Women, are in a State of equal Merit; and, consequently, that all Difference in Merit can only arise from their different Actions. That the Two last were then counted Heresies, shews that the Church began, in this Century, to be tainted with Doctrines that border on Popery, and no-ways consist with the Liberty of the Gospel[1275]. Besides these Tenets, _Jovinian_ taught, as _Ambrose_ and _Austin_ inform us, that the Virgin _Mary_ preserved her Virginity in conceiving our _Saviour_, but lost it in bringing him forth, pretending to prove by Arguments, _false, but ingenious enough_, say they, that we should otherwise be obliged to own, with the _Manichees_, the Body of _Christ_ not to have been real, but aereal[1276]. He, besides, charged the Catholics with _Manicheism_, on account of their preferring the State of Virginity to that of Matrimony[1277]. Both _Jerom_ and _Ambrose_ tell us, that, together with his Doctrine, he changed his Manners, renouncing his former Austerities, and giving himself up to all manner of Debauchery, to redeem, as it were, the Time he had lost[1278]. But perhaps this Charge was not well founded, but rather supposed as a Consequence of his undervaluing Celibacy, and the Merit ascribed to it,