Church History of the Government of Bishops and Their Councils, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
Councils held about the Monothelites, with others.
§ 1. BEing come to the Reign of Pope Honorius at Rome, who was condemned by 2 or 3 General Councils for a Monothelite Heretick, (as Vigilius was by his own Bishops for an Eutychian) and having shewed you what work both the heretical and hereticating Bishops and Council made in the world about (not only foreign, but) foreign, one Nature, and the condemning of dead men; I shall next shew you what work they made also about the words, [One Operation, and One Will,] or [Two Operations, and Two Wills.] Reader, Wouldst thou think that there were venom enough in one of these words, to poyson almost all the Bishops in the world with the Plagues of Heresie, or Heretication and Contention?
§ 2. The old Controversie still keeping the Churches all in pieces, some being for two Natures after Union, and for the Calcedon Council, and others against it, and but for one Nature after Union: Cyrus, Bishop of Alexandria, was told, that it would unite them all, if they would confess One Operation, and One Will in Christ, or at least lay by the talk of One and Two, and use the words, [Dei virilis Operatio.] The Operation (and Will) of Godman. CXCVII. He therefore called a Synod at Alexandria, in which this was decreed (called Satisfaction.) For they said that Dei virilis signified two Natures, and so they thought they had at last hit the way of concord, which neither the General Council of Ephes. 1. Ephes. 2. Constant. 2. Calcedon. Constant. 3. had found out: but all set the Bishops but more by the ears.
Cyrus sent his Decrees to Sergius Bishop of Constantinople, Sophronius Bishop of Ierusalem persuaded the silencing of the names of [One] or [Two] Operations or Wills. Sergius sent the Case to Honorius to Rome; Honorius rationally persuaded them to use neither the one word, nor the other, (One or Two) foreseeing that a new quarrel was arising in these words, and (little knowing how for this he was by General Councils to be Hereticated, when he was dead) persuaded them to a silent Peace. It is but few Popes that were so wise and peaceable; and this one must be a Heretick for it, or General Councils be fallible, and much worse.
§ 3. Because (knowing the effect of the old unhealed Cause) I foresee that such men will go near to Hereticate me also when I am dead, for condemning Hereticating Incendiaries in the Nestorian, Eutychian, and Monothelite quarrels; I will recite the words of Binnius himself, who saith the same that I have said from the beginning, (though I justifie him not from self-contradiction.)
Tom. 2. p. 992. [Honorius, fearing (which after came to pass, and which he knew had fallen out in former Ages about the word Homoousion ☜ and many others) lest that Contention should grow to some great Schism, and seeing withall that Faith might be safe without these words, he was willing to reconcile both Opinions, and withall to take out of the way the matter of Scandal and Contention. Writing therefore to Sergius, he advised him to abstain from the word [One Operation] lest they should seem with Eutyches to assert but One Nature in Christ; and yet to forbear the word [Two Operations] lest with Nestorius, they seemed to assert Two Persons. (A Slander contrary to his words.) I again say, If all the Hereticating Bishops and Councils had followed this discretion and moderation, O what had the Church escaped!
Yet they are fain to stretch their wits to excuse his words elsewhere, [Unde & Unam Voluntatem fatemur Domini nostri Iesu Christi.] But it's certain that in some sense it is One, and in another sense Two.
§ 4. The Emperor Heraclius interessed himself in the Controversie, Binnius saith by the fraud of Anastasius Patriarch of the Iacobites, he was deceived, Animo defend…ndi Concilium Calcedonense. The Iacobites were Eutychians, the greatest enemies of the Calcedon Council; and it's strange then how they deceived him, to defend it by destroying it.
But, saith he, [While he, besides his place and office, by the persuasion of the Devil, was wholly taken up in defending questions of Faith by his own judgment, &c.] Here you may see what the Papists Clergy would make of Kings and all Lay-men: If they be wholly taken up in defending questions of Faith by their own judgment, they pronounce them to be persuaded to it by the Devil. Error is from the Devil; but sollicitous searching after the defence of Truth, is liker to be of God. But they must not do it by their own judgment: By whose then? By the Bishops no doubt; What Bishops? General Councils. And had not the Emperors long enough followed Councils, and banished such as they condemned, till, while they almost all condemned one another, the world was scandalized at the odious Divisions and Cruelties of the Church? But must they follow Bishops without using their own judgments about the Case? What, as their meer Executioners? Must the Princes of the world act as Brutes, or Idiots, or Lictors? Was this the old Doctrine, Let every Soul be subject to the higher Power, &c?
§ 5. CXCVIII. King Sisenandus (the second that had all Spain) called a Council at Toletum of all his Kingdom, An. 633. of 70 Bishops, who made many good Canons for Faith, Order, and Reformation; the last is a large defence of the King against Rebellion: But they order that when a King is dead, the Prime Men of the whole Nation, with the Priests, by common consent, chuse another, that retaining the Concord of Unity, there should be no strife through Force or Ambition.
And they decree the Excommunicating of wicked Kings that live in great sin; which I doubt whether the fifth Commandment forbid them not to have done, it being a purposed dishonour.
§ 6. CXCIX. Another at Toletum was called 636, by King Chintillane, which went the same way; Kings were Rulers here, and not Popes.
§ 7. CC. Another at Toletum, An. 638. by the same King to the same purposes.
§ 8. The Emperor Heraclius published an Edict for the Monothelite Opinion, called his Echtesis; and Sergius Const. joined in it.
§ 9. Sergius dyeth, and Pyrrhus a Monothelite succeedeth him.
§ 10. Severinus is chosen Pope, but being not Confirmed (as was usual) by the Emperor's consent, he is plundered of his wealth.
§ 11. The Saracene Arabians conquer Persia, and the Eastern parts of the Empire.
§ 12. Sergius before his death called a Council at Constantinople, ☜which confirmed the Emperor's Faith, and the Monothelite Opinion.
§ 13. An. 640. Iohn 4th was made Pope, who condemned the Emperor's Echtesis; and, it's said, the Emperor disowned it, and said that Sergius made it, and desired it might be published in his name.
§ 14. Heraclius dyeth, Constantine succeedeth him, and dyeth in 4 months, Heracleo succeedeth: After six months the Senate depose him, and cut off his Nose, and cut out his Mother's Tongue, on suspicion that they poysoned Constantine, whose Son Constans is next set up.
§ 15. Pyrrhus, thought guilty of Constantine's death, flieth into Africa, and Paulus a Monothelite hath his place. Pyrrhus seemeth converted by Maximus in Africa, cometh to Rome, and is owned by the Pope against Paulus. Paulus persuadeth the Emperor to publish a Typus, requiring all the Bishops to lay by the Controversie and Name of One and of Two Wills and Operations of Christ. But this which was approved in Pope Honorius, is cryed down as Heretical in the Emperor.
Pyrrhus returneth to his Opinion, and Paul dying, he is again put in his place at Constantinople.
Binnius no better answereth the Objection, [that the Emperor's Edict said but what Pope Honorius said,] than by saying, that the time made the difference. It was good in Honorius's time, and bad after to be quietly silent in such a Case.
§ 16. They say there was a Council in Numidia, another at Byzacene, at Carthage another of 68 Bishops, about the Monothelites.
§ 17. CCI. Another Council was at Toletum u…der King Chindascrindus.
§ 18. CCII. The Pope, with one of his little Councils at Rome, (for the foresaid Italian Bishops yet disowned him, and obey the Patriarch of Aquileia) presumed to condemn Paulus Const. & Pyrrhus, and the Emperor's Edict, (Typus:) Wherefore his Agents at Constantinople were cast out, beaten, their Altar overthrown, &c.
§ 19. Martin is made Bishop at Rome: He condemneth the Emperor's Edict of Silence (as to Two Wills and Operations, or One.) The Emperor sendeth for him, he is brought Prisoner to Constantinople, laid in Irons under several Accusations; banished and dyed.
Here the Pope pretendeth that Truth must not be silenced: The Emperor saith, Peace must not be broken for needless words: Quer. Whether he be a Martyr that suffers for oppugning such Peace? § 20. CCIII. His Laterane Council, An. 642. is very larg…ly recorded, in which the Emperor's Edict, with Cyr…s, Alex, Sergius, Pyrrbus & Paulu… Constant. are condemned, and two Operations and Wills asserted.
§ 21. CCIV. (Passing by a Synod at Orleance) An. 653. another Council was held at Toletum against incontinent and ignorant Priests. Kings here used to preach to the Bishops by their Letters and Decrees. Dukes and Lords here subscribed.
§ 22. Eugenius is Pope, and dyeth; Vitalianus succeedeth him: Constans the Emperor cometh to Rome, giveth them gifts, and communicateth with them. It's said he kill'd his Brother Theodosius, and after was kill'd himself: Mezentius usurpeth the Empire. Constantine Pogonatus, Son to Constans, conquereth him, and reigneth. Pope Vitalianus helpeth him, and therefore expecteth his help. Rome stood so much between the Eastern Empire, and the Western Kings (Goths, Lombards, Franks, &c.) that both sides flattered the Roman Clergy, (though they oft suffered from both.) The Empire to keep them from turning to the Goths, &c. and the Goths to keep them from turning to the Empire. And they that had most need of the Popes, most advanced them; and they that had least need and most dominion, kept them under.
§ 23. CCV. Another Council at Toletum, An. 655. called by K. Recessuinthus, (not the Pope,) made divers good Canons for Church-order; among which the tenth is, that because all the Canons oft made, could not keep Bishops and Priests from Lechery, they tryed this additional way, to decree that all their Children begotten of their Servants, Maids, &c. should be uncapable of inheritance, and should live in continual servitude to the Church.
King Recaredus made a Law, that Bishops and Priests Concubines should be whipt with an hundred Stripes; and others, that they should be sold for Slaves.
§ 24. CCVI. The King of France (Clodoveus) called his Bishops together at a Village called Clypiacum, and made a Sermon to them, and they applauded him.
§ 25. CCVII. He called another Synod at Cabilone for Church-order,☞ where Can. 10. it was decreed, that all Ordination of Bishops should be null, that was otherwise made than by the election of the Comprovincials, the Clergy, and the Citizens. (A threefold Lock is not easily pickt) Let England understand this, to be the old Canons and Custom.
§ 26. CCVIII. A Concil. Emeritense, called by King Recessuinthus, made more Orders for regulating Bishops and Priests, &c.
§ 27. CCIX. A Synod at Rome justified a Bishop of Crete, wronged by his Archbishop.
§ 28. CCX. Another at Toletum under King Wamban, An. 675. sought to reform the Bishops and Clergy.
§ 29. CCXI. An. 675. the same King Wamban had a Synod at Braccara, for reforming the Clergy. Can. 5. was to correct the Bishops that had turned Piety into Pride and Vanity; going to the Solemnities of the Martyrs, with Reliques hanged about their necks, carried in Chairs by Deacons in white, &c. O what hath the Pride of Prelates done in the world!
§ 30. Pope Adeodatus, and after him Donus reigned at Rome, and the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch were Monothelites, and Constantine needing the West, having lost the East, took part with Rome.
After Donus came Agathy, in whose time the Bishop of Ravemia, after☜ long rejecting the Bishop of Rome as heretical, returned to communion with him. Constantine sent to Rome, to require the Bishop to keep Missionary Legates at Constantinople, and intreated them to lay by Philosophical Controversies, and preach the pure Scripture, that the Churches at last might have Peace. (But alas how long was that counsel vain!)
§ 31. CCXII. Beda saith, an English Council met, An. 679. under Theodorus, to own the Catholick Faith, Bed. l. 4. c. 13.
§ 32. CCXIII. The same year 679. A Council at Milan told the Emperor their opinion for Two Wills and Operations.
§ 33. CCXIV. A Synod at Rome prepared matter for the General Council against the Monothelites. This tended to please the separating Bishops of Italy that divided from the Pope, for seeming to desert the Calcedon Council by condemning the tria Capitula.
§ 34. CCXV. Now cometh the 3d Council of Constantine, called the 6th General Council, in which 289 Bishops condemned the Monothelites, that were for One Will and Operation. Constantine Pog. being against them; Macarius Patriarch of Antioch was the chief of them, who would have consented to name neither One nor Two, but when they had done all, professed that he would be cast into the Sea, before he would say there were in Christ two Wills and Operations; thinking that he held to Cyril, and the first Ephesian Council against Nestorius. George Bishop of Constantinople deserted him, and he was deposed and banished (to Rome; no hard Banishment but for ill company.)
§ 35. A long stir there was among them, perusing former Writings; Macarius and his Party producing many, which others said were falsified (so little certainty is there oft of Copies.) The Epistles of Sergius Const. & Honor. Rom. are read, which I should think peaceable and honest; but the General Council damned and cursed them both as Hereticks. The Papists say, General Councils may err in matter of Fact: How much more then in matter of Faith, which is more obscure? and matter of Fact is much of the matter of our Faith.
No Man's name had so strange a Fate against Hereticaters, as the great Hereticater Cyril's; who (in this Council in Cyrus artic. and many others) was fully proved to assert One Nature of God incarnate after the Union] and yet called Orthodox, and those that said as he, and much less, were damned Hereticks.
Some that confessed two Natures, yet denying two Wills after the Resurrection,☜ supposing the Humane Will called Natural had been laid by, were here damned with the rest.
§ 36. CCXVI. An. 681. King Ervigius held another Council at Toletum, for the Royal Power, and reforming the Clergy.
The Pope had so little to do, and the Kings so much in all these Spanish Councils, that it's strange Spain is now become so servile to the Pope. Binnius is forced to confess here (To. 3. p. 110.) that [The study and labor of chusing fit men to be made Bishops, was in the power or hands of the Gothish Kings, which by the indulgence of the Roman Popes is in the Spanish Kings even to our times] which he proveth. (O indulgent Popes, who let go what they cannot keep!)
An. 682. Some Synods in France did, we know not what.
§ 37. Leo 2d is made Pope by the Emperor; and because he confirmed the Acts of this Council, which damns Honorius as an Heretick, the Papists know not which way to turn themselves.☞ Baronius would have Leo's Epistle forged. Binnius will have either the Acts corrupted by Theodore Const. before they were sent to Leo, or that necessity compelled him to this hard condition by the iniquity of the times, and that Heresie else would have revived, &c. so that by their reckoning, they that relie all on Tradition and Fathers, leave not Fathers, Councils or Traditions certain for one Age.
§ 38. CCXVII. An. 683. K. Ervigius had another Synod of 48 Bishops at Toletum, for restoring some guilty of Treasons, securing the King, &c.
§ 39. Constantine Pogon. restored to Rome the power of making Popes without the Emperor, which the Gothish Kings and other Emperors had long denied them.
§ 40. Benedict 2d is made Pope: A new Controversie in his time is raised. The Spanish Bishops write an Epistle, in which they assert Three Substances in Christ, his Divinity, his Soul and his Body, and say withall that a Will begat a Will, Bin. pag. 127.that is, the Divine Will begat the Humane. The numbers of One, Two, and Three, had so confounded Men in those times, that the words frightned the Pope, and he expostulated and warned them to take heed in what sense they used them; which hath made it a question whether this Pope were not erroneous himself.
§ 41. CCXVIII. Another Council at Toletum against the Monothelites.
§ 42. Pope Iohn 5th was the first Consecrated without the Emperor since the liberty granted.
Theodoric King of France called a Council, An. 685. in which he deposed several Bishops.
§ 43. Constantine Pog. dying, Iustinian 2d his Son is Emperor. Binnius saith, he was not sound in the Faith (a hard thing then!) And that he repented of the liberty granted in chusing Popes, and so ordered that the Exarch of Ravenna approve them, by which Bribery was used with the Exarchs. And while the Soldiers, and Clergy could not agree, they were fain to consent to a third, Conon, to be Pope.
§ 44. Conon being dead, Theodore and Paschal strove for the Popedom, and got their Parties to stand it out for them. Paschal promised the Exarch a great Sum of Gold to make him Pope. When they could not agree, Sergius a third was chosen. The Exarch forced him to pay the Gold, and so he got the Soldiers love and the Popedom.
§ 45. CCXIX. An. 688. Another Toletan Council writ a defence of their assertion, that Christ had three Substances, and that Voluntas genuit Voluntatem.
§ 46. CCXX. A Council at Caesar-Augusta, made five Canons; the last was, that when the Kings dyed, the Queens should lay by their civil Habits, and be put into a Monastery, and profess Chastity.
§ 47. CCXXI. An. 692. Was the famous great Council called the Quini-Sextum at Constantinople, by Iustinian 2d's Order; why it should not be called a 7th General Council, I know not. It was called by the persuasion of Callinicus Constant. to make a full Body of Canons for Practice, because the 5th and 6th Councils made none. Binnius saith, It could not be a General Council,☜ because the Pope was not there by himself, or his Legates, and yet confesseth that neither was he or his Legates at the first Constantine Council, and yet it was universal. And why doth not another Bishops absence (E. G. Alexand. Ierusal. &c.) null a General Council as well as the Popes? The Papists rail at this Council as a Convention of Malignants, (Bin. p. 154.) and against Balsamon, that defendeth it as a wicked Greek Impostor; (the word [wicked] in these Mens writings is a term of art and interest, and no moral term.) They recited abundance of old Canons, many of great use. One would wonder whence the anger against them ariseth. It was per summam nequitiam, saith Binnius, that they called themselves a General Council: And the Holy Ghost was not with them, because the Pope was not with them, (p. 154, 155.) and they ordained many things contrary to Apostolical Constitutions, and the Canons of General Councils. Reader, you see here, 1. How little trust Papists lay on that part of Tradition which dependeth on Councils? 2. That it is the Pope (one Man) that is the certainty of Tradition and Iudgment, without whom Councils are nothing. 3. That if the Pope be absent, all the other Bishops assembled in Councils by the command of Emperors, may be called Knaves and wicked Malignants. Alas how few Bishops adhered to the Pope, (when Italy was not yet cured of Separation from him) in comparison of those that met in these Eastern Councils which they revile! 4. You see here, how far they are from truth, that say the Universal Church still cleaved to the Pope, when most (by far) of the Bishops in the world forsook him! you see Luther was not the first.
§ 48. Note that Tharasius Bishop of Constantinople, An. 692. in the 2d Council of Nice, tells them, that it was the same Bishops that met in the 6th General Council at Constantinople, who met again here under Iustinian. And were not the Bishops of the place so near the time competent Judges of the matters of so notorious Fact? And were the same Bishops an infallible General Council at the 6th Council, and yet all wicked Schismaticks or Knaves, and wicked Men, when they meet again but to make Church-Canons for Reformation? If this do not tell you how truly Binnius saith, in their own judgment [that Councils have just so much authority as the Pope giveth them] what can tell it you?
§ 49. Yea, Binnius makes this Council to be Monothelites: And were the same Men Orthodox in the 5th or 6th Council ten years before, and Hereticks in this? Is this the constancy of the Church and Bishops Faith?
§ 50. The 13th Canon is one that displeaseth them; in which the practice of the Church of Rome in separating Priests from their Wives,☞ is expresly renounced; and it is decreed that no Priest be required to separate from his Wife, (so be it they abstain at Fasts and necessary Seasons) nor any Priest endured to put away his Wife, on pretence of piety; else he must be deposed.
§ 51. Another is the 16th Canon, that maketh Deacons like Overseers of the Poor.
§ 52. The 22d is a hard Canon that Bishops and Priests, ordained with money, and not by examination and election, be deposed, and they that ordained them.
§ 53. The 36th Canon displeaseth them also, which confess the Church of Constantinople's Priviledges as equal with Rome.
§ 54. The 38th Canon containeth one great cause of the old Confusions, viz. That whatever alteration the Imperial Power makes on any City, the Ecclesiastical Order also follow it. Did God make this Law? Are not as many Souls in a Town that's no City as capable of being a Church as Citizens? It is in the Princes power to make and unmake Cities: May he accordingly make or unmake Churches? What if a King will have but one City in his Kingdom, must there be no more Churches or Bishops? What if there be no Cities (as in many American and Arabian Countries) must there be no Churches? What if the King will disfranchize most of the Cities, and another will make every Market Town a City; must Churches be altered accordingly? If so, O that our King would make us so many Cities, as the work and the souls of Men need true Bishops, that one might not have a thousand Parishes without any subordinate Bishop!. But if this hold, the Emperor might have taken down Rome, and set up Constantinople, or any other at pleasure.
§ 55. Can. 50. Forbad Clergy and Laity to play at Dice, on pain of Deposition, or Segregation.
And Can. 51. forbids going to Shews, Jesters, Stage-Plays, Huntings.
The 55th Canon commands the Church of Rome to amend their Customs, and not to fast on Sabbath-days.
Can. 62. Forbids Womens Publick Dancings, and Mens and Womens together, and their putting on Masquers or Players Apparel, or Persons, &c.
Can. 63. Commandeth the burning of false Histories of the Martyrs, as tending to bringing Religion into reproach. continual joyful Praises to God, and holy Exercises, and to use no Horse-Races, &c.
The 67th Canon is against eating Blood.
Can. 72. Nullifieth Marriage with Hereticks. (Alas, good Bishops, did you think the Papists would have Hereticated you as Monothelites, and nullified all Marriages with you by this Canon? But two Hereticks Marriage is not null.
Can. 78. Commandeth all the illuminate (baptized) to learn the Belief, and every Friday to say it to the Bishop and Presbyters. (How many Parishes or hundred Parishes had the Bishop then to hear? Not so many as ours.)
§ 56. The 82 Canon offends the Papists, forbidding the Picture of a Lamb to be made for Christ as the Lamb of God.
The 90th Canon is (an old one) Not to kneel on any Lord's-day, and that this begin on the evening before.
P. 155. Binnius reproveth them for calling Cyprian Archbishop, and he proveth that Africa then had no Archbishop or Primate.
§ 57. CCXXII. An. 693. was another Toletan Council, called by King Egica: Before it the King writeth a Sermon for them, wherein he tells them, That every Parish that have twelve Families, must have their proper Governor: But if less, it must be part of anothers charge.
§ 58. CCXXIII. An. 694. was another Toletan Council under the same King Egica: (One would wonder that the Legislative vertue of the Church should be continued to such fertility and multitude of Laws, as must follow if in all Countries there be every year a Council: How great must the Volumes of Laws be at last?☜) Binnius in his Notes on this Council tell us, That though Paul would have the believing Husband or Wife stay with the Unbeliever, in hope of Conversion, yet many hundred years experience hath taught us the contrary, (that it tendeth rather to hurt than good) and therefore now it must be otherwise, and they must separate.
§ 59. CCXXIV. Even to those days the number of Pagans and Infidels in most Countries was the greatest, and the care of good men was to convert them: (And therefore we read still of so many baptized at age.) A Council at Utrecht decreed (Willebrood (or Willifrid) and Suibert being Leaders) that the best Preachers should be sent from the Neighbor Churches to convert the Heathens, (that was better work, than striving who should be chief, or raging about hard words.)
§ 60. CCXXV. A Synod at Aquileia, An. 698. condemned the 5th General Council at Constantinople, ☜for condemning the tria Capitula of the Council of Calcedon. (O what Concord Councils caused!)
§ 61. Pope Sergius refusing to own the Council of Constant. at Trul. under Iustinian 2d, the Emperor commanded that he should be brought Prisoner to Constantinople. The Soldiers of Ravenna (Sergius having paid them the 100 l. of Gold) hearing of it, rose up and rescued him, and made the Emperor's Officer in fear beg for his life. By such Obedience Rome kept up.
§ 62. Tiberius the 2d deposed Iustinian the 2d, and cut off his Nose, and banished him. Iustinian was restored, and exposed Tiberius to scorn, and killed him, and banished Bishop Callinicus to Rome for unfaithfulness to his Prince. Iohn the 6th was now Pope.
§ 63. Iohn the 7th is made Pope (another Council at Toletum under King Witiza I pass by) he was a Greek. CCXXVI. He gather'd a Synod at Rome, to debate Iustinian's Order for the receiving the Trull. Concil. And our English Willifrid, accused by his King, was here justified, as a Son of that Church: And a Synod in England received him, when the King was dead.
§ 64. Sisumius made Pope lived but 20 days, and Constantine succeeded him, who was sent for to Constantinople, and honoured by Iustinian.
§ 65. About this time (An. 708.) Spain was conquered by the Saracens; ☞Binnius saith, Because King Witiza forsook the See of Rome. By which we still see that Rome was forsaken even by the best Church, such as Spain then was, and was not the Ruler of the World.
§ 66. Bardanes Philippicus by Rebellion deposed Iustinian, and was made Emperor; and within two years was so used himself by Anastasius, (his eyes put out, and he banished.)
§ 67. CCXXVII. The Emperor Philippicus and Iob. Constant. called General Council at Constantinople; I may well call it General, when Binnius saith, There were innumerable Bishops, which is not said of any other Council. They all condemned the 6th General Council, and their Opinion of two Wills, and two Operations. Where it is manifest,
1. How great a part of the Church regarded not the Authority of Rome.
2. Nor thought a General Council infallible, when innumerable Bishops are against both.
3. And how strong the Monothelite Party was.
4. And alas, how bad too many Bishops, that can change as fast as Emperors will have them. For saith Binnius (after Baronius) [Thus at the beck of the Emperor, and at the will of a Monothelite Patriarch, the holy sixth Synod is condemned, and what they decreed of two Wills in Christ, and two Operations, and all retracted by the Decree and Subscription of very many Oriental Bishops, that were in one moment turned from being Catholiques, to be Monothelites.] Is this the constancy of Bishops, and the certainty of their Tradition? But why have we not the, Acts of this great Council, as well as of the rest?