their Councils abridged. z83 flian. ] SadPrelates that Nicetas (and Erasmus) could not call Chri- ftians. But theambition of Photius tempted them to their mutability: He caft out the Bishops that were against him, and presently forgave and reftored them if they would but conform. Yea, he dared to re- ordain thofe that Ignatius had ordained, fuppofing him no Bithop; but abhor- ring all that ftopt him in it. But he proceeded to confecrate anew the Church. Utenfils, and fay over certain Prayers (If, faith Nicetas, they be not rather to be called Curfes. ] And (faith he) to make his fin out ofmeafuresinful, when he ordained or preferred any,or changed Bá_hopricks, he made them conform by fwearing and fubfcribing tohim; thereby bind- ingall to him whom by Benefices he obliged *. So much out of Ni. havefuck Ceres. Oaths and Subfcrip- § 64. And nowReader, I leave it to thy judgment, whether Gregory tions been Nazianzen knew not what hePaid, when he wifht there were no [higher condemn- and lower] amongBishops; and when he fpake fo, much of their ambi- tion, levity and temerity, and of the evil effefts of their Councils in his And yet time. Whether Patriarchal dignity was not a great temptation, when alas ï to theSon of a Prince on one fide, and to the great and nobleSecretary of the Emperor on the other fide, it feemed a prize worth the ftriving for to the death ? And whether it have not been the calamity of the Church, when two fuch extraordinary men,far above the common rank of Bithops, shall fet an Empire and almost all the Christian Churches in- to Schifm, Contention, mutual Perfecution and Confafion, by fo lung striving Who shall be greateft? and drawing fo many hundred Bi- fhops into Faftion, Schifm, Perjury,and shameful mutations with them? And whether Chrift did not -( forefeeing fuch things ) far otherwifede- cide this question, Who_hall be greateF& ? in Luke 22. But if Pride turn- ed Angels into Devils, it is not much to be wondered, if it turn the Angels of the Churches into the Ministers of the Prince of Pride and Darknefs, and turnmany Churches into a Theatre of Contention , and a Field of War. § 65. Yet here is one thing further to be noted, viz. the forefaid Contention that rote about the Bulgarians. These two great Patriarchs of Rome and Conffantinople, were neither of them yet great enough,or fatisfied with their jurifdidtion, their delires being more boundlefs than Alexander's for the Empire ; nothing lets than all the world will fatisfie one of them at least. Nicetas faith, it was by Famine, and a Treaty, and kind words of the Emperor,that the Bulgarians turned Chrittians. Some Papifbs would give the honour to the Pope, without proof, and cannot tell us any thing how the Pope converted them. But when they were converted, they fent to Rome for force Inftruftors : The Pope Pent 0 o 2 them
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