The same Year Celestine writ to Perigenes of Corinth, Donatus of Nicopolis in Epirus, and Basil of Larissa in Thessaly, all Three Metropolitans of Illyricum, recommending to them an intire Submission to the See of Rome, and to that of Thessalonica; Rufus, who presided there, having been appointed by him to determine, in his Name, all Disputes that might arise among them. He lets them know, that, in virtue of the Submission, which they owed to the See of Thessalonica, and he required of them, they were to ordain no Bishops, assemble no Councils, without the Knowledge and Consent of Rufus; which was restraining to the See of Thessalonica, that is, engrossing to himself (for the Bishop of Thessalonica acted only as his Vicar), the Privileges, which the Council of Nice had granted to all Metropolitans. It is observable, that in this very Letter Celestine affects an intire Obedience to the Canons of the Church. We ought, says he, to subject our Will to the Rules, and not the Rules to our Will; we ought to conform to the Canons, and strictly observe what they prescribe^[1604]. But he did not govern himself by this Maxim upon other Occasions.

The following Year 428, he wrote a long Letter to the Bishops of the Provinces of Vienne and Narbonne, against several Abuses that prevailed in those Parts. This Letter he begins quite in the Style of a modern Pope: As I am, says he, appointed by God to watch over his Church, it is incumbent upon me every-where to root out evil Practices, and introduce good ones in their room; for my Pastoral Vigilance is restrained by no Bounds, but extends to all Places, where Christ is known and adored. Thus, under the Name of Pastoral Vigilance he extends, at once, his Authority and Jurisdiction over all the Churches of the Christian World. The first Abuse he complains of was a particular Dress assumed by some Bishops, wearing, in Imitation of the Monks, a Cloke and Girdle. |Bishops not distinguished formerly by their Dress from the Laity.| With this Novelty Celestine finds great Fault, and exhorts the Bishops to distinguish themselves from the People by their Doctrine, and not by their Garments, by the Sanctity of their Manners, and not by the Mode of their Dress, by the internal Purity of their Souls, and not by the external Attire of their Bodies. What a large Field would the so many different and ridiculous Habits of the Monks and Friers, the costly Attire of Bishops and Cardinals, and, above all, the gorgeous and stately Apparel of Celestine’s own Successors, have opened for his Zeal, had he lived in our Days! He pleasantly adds, that if they understood, in a literal Sense, the Words of our Saviour, Let your Loins be girded about^[1605], they ought to interpret other Passages after the same manner, and never appear without Lamps and Staves in their Hands. And was not this condemning, at least ridiculing, the Monkish Habits, an essential Part of which is the Girdle^[N72]? The other Abuses, which Celestine wanted to have redressed, have nothing new in them, or that has not been mentioned before in this History; and therefore I omit repeating them here.

About this time the Pelagian Doctrine began to prevail, almost universally, in Britain, being preached here either by the Natives, who had adhered to their Countryman Pelagius abroad, and were returned home, or by others, who, finding themselves, in virtue of the Imperial Laws, every-where persecuted on the Continent, had fled to this Island for Shelter. The leading Man of the Party here was one Agricola, the Son of a British Bishop named Severianus^[1606]. But that Severianus himself, or any of his Collegues, countenanced their Doctrine, is not touched by any of the Antients. Fastidius indeed, a British Writer, who flourished at this time, betrays, in his Writings, a strong Byas to the Pelagian Tenets. But it may be justly questioned whether he was a Bishop. For in the Treatise which he wrote on the Duties of a Christian Life, he makes Excuses for taking upon him to instruct others; which a Bishop would hardly have done, that being his Province and Duty^[N73]. However, if the British Bishops did not countenance the Pelagian Doctrine, neither did they oppose it, at least with the Vigour they might; else it had never made, in so short a time, the Progress it did. |The Britons recur to the Gallican Bishops, who send Germanus and Lupus into Britain.| The Catholics, having no Prospect of Relief from their own Pastors, had recourse to those of Gaul; who, being affected with their Complaints, immediately summoned a great Council, and chose, with one Voice, St. Germanus Bishop of Auxerre, and St. Lupus Bishop of Troyes, to pass over into Britain, and there maintain the Catholic Cause^[1607]. Thus Constantius, a Presbyter of Lyons, who lived in this Century, and after him Bede. But Prosper, who flourished likewise in this Century, writes, that the Two Prelates were sent into Britain by Celestine^[1608]. The Gallican Bishops, perhaps, acquainted the Pope with the Choice they had made, and he approved it; which was enough for Prosper, a notorious Flatterer of the Popes, to ascribe the Whole to Celestine. |Their Journey.| The Two Missionaries set out for Britain in the Latter-end of the Year 429. and, passing through Paris, had an Interview there with the famous St. Genevieve, who, at the Persuasion of St. Germanus, to whom her future Sanctity was revealed, promised to consecrate her Virginity to Jesus Christ. From Paris they pursued their Journey to the Sea-side, and embarqued; but were very near being cast away by a Storm, before they reached the British Coast. This Storm the Author supposes to have been raised by the Devil; but we may more reasonably suppose it to have been raised by himself, that he might have an Opportunity of displaying the Power of his Imagination in describing it, and make room for the Miracle by which it was laid. |Miracles wrought by them on the Sea, and after their Landing.| For St. Germanus, who had slept the whole time, being awaked by the Mariners just as the Vessel was on the point of sinking, first reprimanded the Sea, as Neptune did of old the Winds, for attempting to defeat their pious Undertaking; and then pouring into it a few Drops of Oil, asswaged at once the Fury of the Waves, and miraculously restored the wished for Calm. Upon their Landing, the People flocked to them from all Parts; and, being convinced of the Truth which they preached, by the Miracles which they wrought, abjured daily by Thousands the Pelagian Doctrine, which they had so rashly embraced. But their Teachers and Leaders kept out of the Way: they were unwilling to enter the Lists with Men, whom Heaven had endowed with such miraculous Powers. However, as the Whole of their Cause was now at stake, they agreed, at last, to meet the Two Prelates, and met them accordingly. But this Meeting proved fatal to the Pelagian Cause; for the Pelagians declining to undertake the Cure of a blind Girl that was presented to them, St. Germanus, by applying to her Eyes some Reliques, which he always carried about with him, cured her at once of her Blindness, and with her the whole Island^[1609]. |The whole Island reclaimed.| But these Miracles were soon forgotten: according to the same Author, the Pelagian Heresy took root again, and new Miracles were wanted to check its Growth. |Germanus returns anew, and utterly roots out the Pelagian Heresy.| Germanus therefore, in the Year 447. returned to Britain; exerted here anew his wonder-working Power, confounded his Antagonists, and, not leaving behind him the least Shoot of so poisonous a Weed, returned in Triumph to Gaul^[1610]. In his second Journey into Britain he is said to have been attended by St. Severus, Bishop of Treves.

The following Year, 430. is one of the most remarkable Years in the Annals of the Church. For it was in that Year that the famous Dispute began between Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople, and St. Cyril Bishop of Alexandria, which rent the whole Church into Two opposite and irreconcileable Factions. |What occasioned this Dispute.| What gave Occasion to that Dispute was, the Title of Mother of God, which began at this time to be commonly given to the Virgin Mary. Such a Title Nestorius thought very improper, derogatory to the Majesty of the Eternal Creator, and only calculated to lead the Unwary into gross Mistakes concerning the Mystery of the Incarnation, and the Nature of Christ. For he argued, that it could not be said, without a kind of Blasphemy, that God was born of a Woman, that God had suffered, that God had died, nor, consequently, that the Virgin Mary was the Mother of God. We must not imagine, said he, that God, or the Word, was born of the Virgin Mary; but we ought to believe, that God, or the Word, was united to him, who was born of the Virgin Mary^[1611]. The Title of Mother of Christ was that which he thought should be given to the Virgin, as containing all that was meant by the other, without the Impropriety and Offence of the Expression, and without Danger of confounding the Divine Nature of Christ with the Human. This Doctrine was received, and maintained with great Warmth by some, both Ecclesiastics and Laymen, and with no less Warmth opposed by others. The latter thought it was calling in question the Divinity of Christ, and degrading the Virgin Mary, to rob her of the glorious Title of the Mother of God; and her Glory was now become one of their highest Concerns. |The Characters of Cyril and Nestorius.| At the Head of these was St. Cyril, a Man of a most haughty and imperious Temper, impatient of Contradiction, obstinately wedded to his own Opinion, passionate, revengeful, and more eagerly bent, at least in the present Dispute, upon conquering his Adversary, than discovering the Truth. In some of there Qualities he was well matched by Nestorius; but the latter was not so eager for Victory, so tenacious of his own Opinion, or rather of his own Terms (for the whole Dispute was about Terms), as not to be ready to explain them; which had he been allowed to do, an End had been put at once to the Quarrel. But Cyril would hearken to no Explanations. |Cyril will not allow Nestorius to explain his Meaning. He defames him, and writes against him to the Emperor.| He peremptorily required Nestorius to acknowlege and confess the Virgin Mary to be the Mother of God, without any Distinction or Explanation; and because he would not comply, he defamed him all over the East, as a Reviver of the Heresy of Paul of Samosata, denying the real Union between the Human and the Divine Nature in the Person of Christ; stirred up the People of Constantinople, his own Flock, against him; and spared no Pains to discredit him with the Emperor, and other great Persons at Court. For he writ Three Letters to Court; one to the Emperor Theodosius, to his Wife Eudoxia, and to his Sister Pulcheria; another to the Queen’s Virgins, and Brides of Christ, that is, to Pulcheria and her Sisters; and a third to the Empresses, that is, to Eudoxia and Pulcheria. The Purport of these Letters was to prove, that the Virgin Mary was, and ought to be styled, the Mother of God; that to dispute such a Title was rank Heresy; and that whoever disputed it was unworthy of the Protection of the Imperial Family.

Nestorius, being now sensible, that Cyril was determined to keep no Measures with him, resolved, in his Turn, to keep none with one, who had given him so great Provocation. |Nestorius excommunicates and deposes those who side with Cyril. Causes some of them to be imprisoned and whipt.| He therefore assembled a Council at Constantinople, and there, with the unanimous Consent of the Bishops, who composed it, he solemnly excommunicated the Laymen, and deposed the Ecclesiastics, who rejected his Doctrine^[1612]. He did not stop here; but caused several Ecclesiastics, Monks, and Laymen, the Friends of Cyril, to be apprehended, to be dragged to the public Prison, and to be there whipt very severely, as Disturbers of the public Peace, and Sowers of Heresy and Sedition. What chiefly provoked him, was a Paper posted up in a public Place of the City, declaring him a Heretic, and guilty of the Heresy formerly held by Paul of Samosata, denying a true Union between the Word and the Humanity in the Person of Christ; which was one of the many Calumnies broached against him by Cyril to blacken his Reputation.

Thus were the Christians in the East divided into two opposite Parties, irreconcileably incensed against each other, and reviling each other with all the opprobrious Names Malice and Rage could suggest. |Nestorius strives to gain Celestine and the Western Bishops.| But Cyril’s Party was by far the most numerous and powerful. Nestorius therefore, having strove in vain to strengthen his Party in the East, resolved in the End to try the West, being well apprised, that the Authority of the Bishop of Rome, and the other Western Bishops, would be abundantly sufficient to turn the Scale. He therefore writ a long Letter to Celestine, acquainting him with what had passed in the East, and explaining, without the least Disguise or Equivocation, the Doctrine he held; nay, he sent him all the Homilies, which he had preached on that Subject. In this Letter he owns his irreconcileable Aversion to the Words Mother of God, as raising Ideas, especially in the Minds of the Vulgar, inconsistent with the Majesty of the Supreme Being. He adds, that by disputing the Title of Mother of God, he only meant, that the Word was not born of the Virgin Mary^[1613].

St. Cyril, being informed that Nestorius had written to Celestine, summoned a Council at Alexandria; and, by their Advice, writ the famous Letter to Celestine, which has reached our Times. In that Letter he acquaints him with the State of Affairs in the East, and the Disturbances raised there by Nestorius, as if himself had been no-ways concerned in them; tells him that it is absolutely necessary, that all the Bishops of the Church should unite as one Man against that Prelate; that the Bishops in the East are well disposed to join in the common Cause; and that they only waited to know from him, whether they were to communicate with Nestorius, or openly renounce his Communion. At the same time Cyril sent to Rome the Homilies of Nestorius, the Letters which he had written to him, his Answers, and with them a Writing containing the Sentiments of the Fathers concerning the Mystery of the Incarnation. For the Gospel, the Testimony of Christ, was already laid aside, and the Testimony of Men taken, in most Disputes, for the Rule and Standard of the Christian Belief. |The Popish Writers have no Occasion to boast of the Recourse had by Cyril to Celestine.| The Roman Catholics have no Reason to boast, as they do, of the Recourse had by St. Cyril on this Occasion to the Pope. For Posidonius, one of Cyril’s Deacons, who was dispatched with the above-mentioned Papers to Rome, was directed, in his private Instructions, not to deliver them, but to bring them back to Alexandria, if he found that Nestorius had not applied to Celestine^[1614]; so that if Nestorius had not recurred to the Pope, Cyril never would. Posidonius found, upon Inquiry, that Nestorius had written to Celestine; and therefore delivered to him, pursuant to his Instructions, all the Papers with which he was charged. Cyril writ in Latin, and even caused the Homilies of Nestorius to be translated into that Language, with his own Comments upon them; whereas Nestorius had sent them in the original Greek, and writ his Letters in the same Tongue; which had obliged Celestine to send them into Gaul, to be translated there by the famous Cassian, who was a Native of Thrace, and lived then at Marseilles, there being none, it seems, in Rome or Italy, sufficiently qualified for that Task. Cyril having thus got the Start of his Antagonist, though he writ the last, Celestine was, by his Writings, prejudiced to such a Degree against Nestorius, before he had heard what he had to offer in his Defence, that all he did or could offer afterwards availed him nothing. Celestine indeed perused all his Papers as soon as they were translated and sent back from Gaul, but perused them with the strong Prejudices which he had imbibed from the Writings of Cyril; so that he discovered in each Homily, nay, in every Line, Heresies, Impieties, and Blasphemies, not to be uttered or heard.

A Council was therefore assembled at Rome, to condemn, rather than to examine, the new Doctrine. At this Council assisted most of the Western Bishops^[1615]; Celestine presided; the Homilies were read, and with them the Letters both of Cyril and Nestorius. Celestine made a long Speech, to prove not only by the Passages which Cyril had suggested to him out of the Fathers, but by others from St. Hilarius, from Pope Damasus, and from a Hymn which St. Ambrose had caused to be yearly sung by his People on Christmas-Day, that the Virgin Mary was truly the Mother of God^[1616]. When he had done, Nestorius was declared the Author of a new and very dangerous Heresy, Cyril was highly extolled for opposing it, his Doctrine was applauded by all as strictly orthodox, and Sentence of Deposition pronounced against such Ecclesiastics as should refuse to sign it.

Before the Council broke up, Celestine writ to Nestorius, acquainting him with the judgment of the Western Bishops upon this Dispute; and at the same time warning him, that if, in the Term of Ten Days after the Receipt of that Letter, he did not publicly condemn the Doctrine which he had hitherto taught, and teach the Doctrine which he had hitherto condemned, he should be deposed without any further Delay, and cut off from the Communion of the Church^[1617]. This Letter is dated the 11th of August of this Year 430. He writ several other Letters, all bearing the same Date, viz. one to Cyril; one to the Clergy, Monks, and People of Constantinople; one to each of the Bishops of the chief Sees; and one to the Church of Antioch. All these Letters were to the same Effect, viz. to acquaint those, to whom they were addressed, with the Sentence pronounced by the Council of Rome against Nestorius, and encourage them to be assisting in the Execution of it. |Celestine appoints Cyril his Vicegerent.| His Letter to Cyril deserves particular Notice: for he there appoints him to act in the present Affair, that is, in excommunicating and deposing Nestorius, as his Vicegerent, in the Name, and with the Authority, of his See^[1618]. It must be observed here, that the Bishops of Rome, neither alone, nor jointly with the whole Body of the Western Bishops, had, or even claimed at this time, the Power of deposing the Bishop of Constantinople, or indeed any other Bishop in the East, without the Consent and Concurrence of the Eastern Bishops. This Cyril well knew; and therefore, lest Celestine should, on that Consideration, decline giving Judgment against Nestorius, he made him believe, that the Eastern Bishops were all disposed to join against the pretended Heresiarch; that they waited only his Determination, and were ready to concur, to a Man, in executing the Judgment which he should give. This was making Celestine believe, that the Eastern Bishops had chosen him for their Judge in the present Dispute, and agreed to acquiesce in his Decision. It was upon this Presumption that Celestine pronounced the above-mentioned Sentence against Nestorius, and appointed Cyril to act in his room, with the Authority which he falsely supposed to have been granted him on this Occasion. |He is imposed upon by Cyril.| I say, falsely; for what Cyril writ to him was absolutely false, viz. that all the Bishops in the East were ready to join him against Nestorius, and concur in executing the Sentence which he should pronounce. Several Bishops had declared for Nestorius, and not one, that we know of, against him, at the time Cyril writ, besides Cyril himself, and the other Egyptian Bishops, who were intirely governed by him; nay, the Sentence pronounced at Rome was Matter of great Surprize to all, but more especially to John of Antioch, and Juvenal of Jerusalem, who could not help censuring, with some Sharpness, the Western Bishops, as acting rashly in an Affair that required the most mature Deliberation. But Cyril was chiefly to blame, who, to engage the Western Bishops on his Side, and by their means compass the Ruin of his Antagonist, had represented the State of Affairs very differently from what it really was.

It was doubtless a very extraordinary Thing for a Bishop of Alexandria to accept the Commission of Vicegerent or Deputy to the Bishop of Rome; and Celestine would hardly have thought of offering him such a Commission, if he had not been sensible that, from the Heat of his Passion upon this Occasion, he would be willing to act in any Capacity, that would impower him to hurt his Antagonist. So ably did the Popes, from the earliest times, avail themselves of every Circumstance that could give them the Means to promote and extend their Jurisdiction!

The above-mentioned Letters from Celestine were all sent to Cyril, who was to convey them to those they were addressed to; which he did accordingly, accompanying them with Letters of his own, all calculated to inflame his Collegues and the rest of the Clergy, as well as the Laity, against Nestorius, as an Enemy to the Mother of God and the Catholic Church. As for the Letter to Nestorius himself, he dispatched Four Bishops with it to Constantinople, who chose to deliver it to him while he was assisting at Divine Service, in the great Church, with his Clergy, and many Persons of Distinction belonging to the Court. His View in this was to render their Legation the more solemn, and thereby alarm the Populace, who hitherto had taken no Part in the Quarrel. |and requires him to retract his pretended Errors, on pain of being deposed.| With Celestine’s Letter they delivered to him one from Cyril, peremptorily requiring him to retract his Errors, to confirm his Retractation with a solemn Oath, and publicly to anathematize Twelve Propositions contained in the Letter. and extracted out of his Works. Cyril let him know, that if he did not comply with his Demand, before the time prefixed by Celestine was expired, he would take care to have the Sentence of the Western Bishops executed with the utmost Rigour and Severity. Nestorius received the Letters, and desired the Legates to meet him the next Day at his own House; but when they came, he did not admit them; nor did he return any Answer either to Celestine or Cyril. |Nestorius inclined to yield for the sake of Peace.| However, in a Sermon which he preached Six Days after, that is, on Saturday the 13th of December, he declared, that, to maintain the Peace and Tranquillity of the Church, to put an End to the present Dispute, which might be attended with greater Evils than his Enemies seemed to be aware of, he was ready to grant the Title of Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, provided nothing else was thereby meant; but that the Man born of her was united to the Divinity^[1619]. This Sermon, and another which he preached the next Day, the 14th of December, on the same Subject, he sent to John Bishop of Antioch, one of the most eminent Prelates both for Piety and Learning at that time in the Church. John perused them with great Attention, and finding nothing in them that was not, in his Opinion, intirely agreeable to the Catholic Doctrine, he concluded the present Dispute to be happily ended. But Cyril was not yet satisfied; he peremptorily required Nestorius to anathematize the Twelve Propositions which I have mentioned above; and to anathematize them was, in the Opinion of the Bishop of Antioch, and of almost all the Bishops of his Patriarchate, anathematizing the Doctrine of the Church, and approving that of the Apollinarists, which had been condemned by the Church. |The Doctrine of Cyril judged impious by the Orientals.| For Cyril, in combating the Distinction maintained by Nestorius between the Two Natures in Christ, seemed to have run headlong into the opposite Doctrine confounding the Two Natures; insomuch that John of Antioch thought himself not only obliged to warn his Collegues in the East, by a circular Letter, against such impious Doctrines, but to cause them to be confuted in Writing, by Two of the most learned Prelates of his Patriarchate^[1620]. They were answered by Cyril, incapable of yielding, or ever giving up a Cause, which he had once undertaken to defend. Thus a new Quarrel broke out between Cyril and the Bishops of the Patriarchate of Antioch, of which it is foreign to my Purpose to give here an Account.

Nestorius, foreseeing the Storm that the Dispute between him and Cyril was likely to raise in the Church, had, in order to prevent it, applied to the Emperor Theodosius for the assembling an Oecumenical Council, even before he received the Letters of Celestine and Cyril, which I have mentioned above; and, upon his Application, the Emperor had summoned a Council to meet at Ephesus by Whitsuntide of the following Year 431. The Letter, which Theodosius writ on that Occasion, was dated the 19th of November 430. and addressed to all the Metropolitans, who were thereby injoined to attend at the Place and Time appointed, and bring with them such of their Suffragans as might be well spared from the Service of the Churches in their respective Provinces. |His Letter to Cyril.| Besides the circular Letter to all Metropolitans in common, Theodosius writ to Cyril in particular, to let him know that he looked upon him as the sole Author of the present Disturbances, and therefore expected that he would not fail to attend the Council at the time appointed; that from him he would admit of no Excuse; that his punctual Compliance with the present Order was the only means of regaining his Favour, and inclining him to think that it was not any private Pique, or Animosity, but a Persuasion that he was defending the Truth, which had prompted him to act, as he had hitherto done, so contrary to all the Rules of Modesty and Discretion. In the same Letter he reproaches Cyril, and in the sharpest Terms, with Pride, Arrogance, and Presumption; and even charges him with having attempted to sow Divisions in the Imperial Family. But this Charge was groundless, having no other Foundation, but Cyril’s having written apart to Pulcheria and her Sisters, which the Emperor supposed to have been done with a Design to raise a Misunderstanding between him and them^[1621].

The Council met at the Time and Place appointed, pursuant to the Emperor’s Orders. But every thing was transacted in that Assembly so contrary to all the Rules of Justice, and even of Decency, with so much Prejudice and Animosity, that they seemed to be all actuated by the Spirit of Cyril, and to have met with no other View than to gratify his private Passion and Revenge. Cyril presided, who was the Party concerned, and the avowed Enemy of Nestorius. They began their Sessions before the Arrival of John of Antioch, and the Bishops of that Patriarchate, who were supposed to favour Nestorius, though they had certain Intelligence of their being within a sew Days Journey of Ephesus; nay, they would not even wait for the Pope’s Legates, and a good Number of Bishops who were coming from Italy, and the Island of Sicily. Nestorius, and Count Candidianus, whom the Emperor had sent to assist at the Council in his Name, earnestly begged them to put off the Sessions only for Four Days longer, assuring them that John and his Suffragans would reach Ephesus within that Time. But all in vain: they were determined to condemn Nestorius, right or wrong; and therefore could by no means be prevailed upon to wait the Arrival of those who, they apprehended, would oppose, and perhaps might intirely defeat the End for which alone they seemed to believe they had been assembled. Nestorius was summoned to appear the very next Day, and clear himself before the Council of the impious Doctrine with which he was charged. He refused to comply till the Orientals, that is, those of the Patriarchate of Antioch, were arrived; and, upon that Refusal, the Council met very early next Morning, read all his Letters and Homilies, condemned the Doctrine they contained, approved the Doctrine of Cyril, whose Letters were likewise read; and closed this very remarkable Session with pronouncing Sentence of Deposition and Excommunication against Nestorius, in the following Terms; |The Sentence they pronounced against Nestorius.| Our Lord Jesus Christ, against whom the most wicked Nestorius has leveled his Blasphemies, declares him, by the Mouth of this Council, deprived of the Episcopal Dignity, and cut off from the Communion of the Episcopal Order^[1622]. This Sentence was signed by all the Bishops who were present, pasted up in the most public Places of Ephesus, and notified to all the Inhabitants by the Criers of the City. It was no sooner known than the whole City resounded with loud Shouts of Joy, the Streets were illuminated, and the People, crouding to the Church where the Council was held, attended the Bishops, with lighted Torches in their Hands, and great Acclamations, to their respective Habitations, the Women walking before them, and burning Perfumes^[1623]. It had been as dangerous for Nestorius to shew himself in Ephesus, at this Juncture, as it was formerly for St. Paul, the Ephesians being no less devoted now to the Virgin Mary than they were in the Apostle’s Time to their great Diana, and their Superstition no less mischievous, though the Object was changed. The Virgin Mary was the Patroness of Ephesus, the Ephesians believing then that they possessed her Body. But it is now believed by the Church of Rome, that she was taken up Soul and Body into Heaven, and the Festival of her Assumption is kept with great Solemnity on the 15th of August, being preceded by a Vigil or Fast. |In what terms they acquainted Nestorius with the Sentence pronounced against him.| The Council took care to acquaint Nestorius with the Sentence which they had pronounced against him; and the Note, which they writ to him on that Occasion, shews but too plainly, that they were swayed in all they did by Passion alone. For the Note was thus directed; To Nestorius a second Judas^[1624].

Such is the Account which the Antients give us of the First Oecumenical Council of Ephesus, one of the Four, which Gregory the Great received with as much Veneration as the Four Gospels^[1625]. |The Council of Ephesus unworthy of that Name.| But notwithstanding his Authority, we may, perhaps, with more Truth, apply to this Council than to any other what Nazianzen writ of the Councils of his Time; viz. that he had never seen an Assembly of Bishops that ended well; that, by assembling, they had always heightened rather than cured the Evil; that in such Assemblies, Passion, Jealousy, Prejudice, Envy, the Desire of Victory generally prevailed; and that those who took upon them to judge others, were, generally speaking, swayed by some private Grudge, their Zeal being owing more to the Ill-will which they bore to the Criminals, than the Aversion which they had to their Crimes^[1626]. As to the present Assembly, it may be justly questioned whether it deserves the Name of a Council, or ought not rather to be styled a seditious and tumultuary Conventicle of Men, assembled with no other View but to revenge the private Quarrel of their Head and Leader. For they met against the Will of the Imperial Commissioner Count Candidianus, who represented the Person of the Emperor; nay, upon his acquainting them, that it was the Will of the Emperor they should wait the Arrival of the Oriental and Western Bishops, they drove him by Force out of the Assembly. |Is protested against by the Imperial Commissioner and Seventy-six Bishops.| Candidianus, seeing the Emperor’s Orders thus trampled under foot by the riotous Bishops, entered a Protest against their Proceedings, and declared them null. This Protest was addressed, To Cyril, and the Bishops assembled with him^[1627]. Nestorius likewise, Seven Bishops who were assembled with him, and Sixty-eight more, all protested against the Meeting of the Council till the Arrival of the Orientals: so that Seventy-six Bishops, who were then actually in Ephesus, protested against, and absented themselves from the Council. |They act contrary to all Rules of Justice and Religion.| As therefore neither the Orientals, nor the Western Bishops, were yet come, the Assembly was composed only of Egyptians and Asiatics, who were intirely devoted to Cyril. But how irregular soever their Meeting was, their Method of acting, after they met, was no less irregular. Cyril, who was the Party concerned, and the avowed Enemy of Nestorius, received the Depositions against him, examined the Witnesses, gave what Explication he pleased to his Words, and delivered his Opinion the first; which was acting in open Contradiction to the known Laws of Justice and Religion. In the first Session several Things were transacted, that might have given full Employment for several Sessions. How could they examine, in so short a time, the Twelve Propositions which Cyril required Nestorius to anathematize, Propositions that were capable of so many different Interpretations, that were afterwards so differently interpreted, and occasioned endless Quarrels and Disputes, some admitting them as Catholic, and rejecting the opposite Propositions as heretical; others admitting the opposite Propositions as Catholic, and rejecting them as heretical, without being able to agree in any thing else but in anathematizing and cursing each other? How could they compare the many Passages out of the Homilies of Nestorius, with the different Contexts, in order to find out his true Meaning? To examine so many different Propositions, all relating to a Subject above our Comprehension, and in Terms hardly intelligible to the most speculative Understanding, to declare which were Heterodox, and which Orthodox, which were agreeable, and which disagreeable, to the Doctrine of the Fathers (for the Scripture was out of the Question), and all this in a few Hours, was, it must be owned, a most wondrous Performance. But the Orientals were at hand: John of Antioch was a Man of great Credit: it was apprehended, that the many Bishops, who were then in Ephesus, and had absented themselves from the Council, might join him, and he Nestorius. Dispatch was therefore to be used, and the Business of many Sessions transacted in one, that Cyril might have his full Revenge before their Arrival.

It was in this Light that the Conduct of Cyril and the other Bishops appeared to St. Isidore of Pelusium, a Prelate of great Learning and Sagacity, and one who professed a particular Friendship for Cyril. For, being informed of what had passed at Ephesus, he was so shocked at the Conduct of his Friend, that he could not help censuring it with great Severity. Your Conduct, said he, in a private Letter to him, and the Tragedy which you have lately acted at Ephesus, are Matter of great Surprise to some, and Diversion to others. It is publicly said, that you sought only to be revenged on your Enemies, and that you have therein imitated your Uncle Theophilus; and, indeed, though the Persons accused may be different, the Conduct of the Accusers is the same. You had better have continued quiet, than revenged your private Injuries at the Expence of the public Peace, and Tranquillity of the Church, by sowing Dissensions among her Members, under the Colour of Piety and Religion^[1628]. Theophilus, whom Isidore mentions in his Letter, was Bishop of Alexandria, Uncle to Cyril, and at the Head of the Faction that deposed Chrysostom^[1629].

Five Days after the Deposition of Nestorius, John of Antioch and the Orientals arrived; and great was their Surprize, when they were informed by Count Candidianus, who came to wait on them, of what had passed. John had always advised Nestorius to allow the Title of Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, for the sake of Peace; but could not think him an Heretic for disputing it. But, as to the Doctrine of Cyril, he looked upon it as rank Apollinarism; and, as such, had caused it to be confuted. |They insist upon the Points that had been so hastily decided, to be examined anew. Which being refused by Cyril, they assemble apart.| No wonder, therefore, if, upon hearing that the Doctrine of Cyril had been declared Catholic, that the Doctrine of Nestorius had been condemned as Heretical, and he excommunicated and deposed for holding it, he insisted, as he did, upon their agreeing to have those Points examined anew, and more maturely, before he would assist at the Council. This Demand he thought the more reasonable, as Cyril had assured him, by a Letter dated but Two Days before the Meeting of the Council, that they should not meet till his Arrival. But Cyril, as we may well imagine, would by no means consent to it; which so provoked John, that, after several expostulatory Letters between him and Cyril, he assembled, at last, his Orientals apart, and, with them, such as adhered to him, about Fifty in all. In this new Council, the Proceedings of the other were examined; and, being found repugnant to the Canons, and owing merely to Rancour and Passion, they were, by the whole Assembly, with one Voice, declared null. |The Two Councils
anathematize and
excommunicate one
another.| The Orientals did not stop here; but, after a strict Examination of the Doctrine of Cyril, they declared it Heretical; and, in virtue of that Declaration, pronounced Sentence of Excommunication and Deposition against him, against Memnon Bishop of Ephesus, a zealous Stickler for his Doctrine, and against all the Bishops who should communicate with either, till they had publicly retracted their Errors. The Blow was soon returned by Cyril, and those who sided with him; the Orientals were all declared Nestorians, and, with Nestorius, deposed, excommunicated, anathematized. |Both recur to
the Emperor.| War being thus declared between the Two Councils, Expresses were immediately dispatched, by both, to the Emperor, and their Friends at Court; for they were both sensible, that the Doctrine of those, who had most Friends there, would, in the End, prove the most Orthodox. The Emperor read, with great Attention, the Accounts transmitted to him by both Parties, and would have approved and confirmed the Proceedings of the Orientals, had he not been diverted from it, first by his Physician named John, and afterwards by Acacius Bishop of Berœa, who happened to be then at Court. |He approves the
Deposition of Nest-
orius, Cyril, and
Memnon.| For the present Theodosius contented himself with approving the Deposition of Nestorius, of Cyril, and of Memnon, who, he said, well deserved such a Punishment, as being the chief Authors of the present Disturbances; for, as to their Faith, he added, I believe they are all Three alike Orthodox. Which was true; and more than both Councils had been able to find out.