History of the progress and suppression of the reformation in Spain in the sixteenth century

Contents

Page.

PREFACE 5

Chapter I. Review Of The Ecclesiastical History Of Spain Before The Era

OF THE REFORMATION. .---..- 9

CHAPTER H.

OF THE STATE OF LITERATURE IN SPAIN BEFORE THE ERA OF THE

REFORMATION. - ---.--.46

CHAPTER HI.

OF THE INQUISITION, AND OTHER OBSTACLES TO THE REFORMATION

CHAPTER IV.

INTRODUCTION OF THE REFORMED DOCTRINE INTO SPAIN. - - 97

CHAPTER V.

CAUSES OF THE PROGRESS OF THE REFORMED DOCTRINF. I^, SPMN'. |35

CHAPTER VI. , . ; ,\ >'.

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN SPAIN. - - , ' . 156

4 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.

Page.

SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION IN SPAIN. - - - 179

CHAPTER VIII.

PROTESTANT EXILES FROM SPAIN. 256

CHAPTER IX.

EFFECTS WHICH THE SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION PRODUCED

ON SPAIN. 276

• - • . , . 1. • * • ■ •

Preface

The following work is a sequel to that which I lately published on the Reformation in Italy, and completes what I intended as a contribution to the history of that memorable revolution in the sixteenth century, which, in a greater or less degree, affected all the nations of Europe.

More than twenty years have elapse since I inserted, in a periodical work, a short account of the introduction of the reformed opinions into Spain, and the means employed to extirpate them. The scanty materials from which that sketch was formed have gradually increased in the course of subsequent reading and research. My earliest authority is Reynaldo Gonzalez de Montes, a Protestant refugee from Spain, who in 1567 published at Heidelberg, in Latin, a Detection of the Arts of the Spanish Inquisition, interspersed with anecdotes of his countrymen who had embraced the Protestant faith, and containing an account of such of them as suffered at Seville. That work was immediately translated into English, and underwent two editions, to the last of which is subjoined an account of

PREFACE.

Protestant martyrs at Valladolid. Another contemporary authority is Cypriano de Valera, who left Spain for the sake of rehgion about the same time as De Montes, and has given various notices respecting his Protestant countrymen in his writings, particularly in a book on the Pope and the Mass, of which also an English translation was published during the reign of Ehzabeth.

These early works, though well known when they first made their appearance, fell into oblivion for a time, together with the interesting details which they furnish. As a proof of this it is only necessary to mention the fact, that the learned Mosheim translated the meagre tract of our countryman Dr. Michael Geddes, entitled, The Spanish Protestant Martyrology, and published it in Germany as the best account of that portion of ecclesiastical history with which he was acquainted.

Additional light has been lately thrown on the fate or Protestantism in Spain by the Critical History of the Spanish Inquisition, compiled by Don Juan Antonio Llorente, formerly secretary to the Inquisition at Madrid. Though confusedly written, that work is very valuable, both on account of the new facts which the official situation of the author enabled him to bring forward, and also because it verifies, in all the leading features, the picture of that odious tribunal

PREFACE.

drawn by De Montes and other writers, whose representations were exposed to suspicion on account of their presumed want of information, and the prejudices which, as Protestants, they were supposed to entertain. Llorente was in possession of documents from which I might have derived great advantage; and it certainly reflects Httle honour on Protestants, and especially British Protestants, that he received no encouragement to execute the proposal which he made, to publish at large the trials of those who suffered for the reformed religion in his native country.

The other sources from which I have drawn my information, including many valuable Spanish books lately added to the Advocates Library, will appear in the course of the work itself.

My acknowledgments are due to Dr. Friedrich Bialloblotzky, who kindly furnished me, from the University Library of Gottingen, with copious extracts from the dissertation of Biisching, De Vestigiis Lutheranismi in Hispania, a book which I had long sought in vain to procure. For the use of a copy of De Valera's Dos Tratados, del Papa y de la Missa^ now become very rare, as well as of other Spanish books, I am indebted to the politeness of Samuel R. Block, Esquire, London.

The general prevalence, both among Span-

8 PREFACE.

iards and others, of the mistaken notion that the Spanish Church was at an early period dependent on the See of Rome, has induced me to enter into minuter details in the preliminary part of this work than I should otherwise have thought necessary.

Edinburgh, 23d October ^ 1829.

HISTORY

OF THE

REFORMATION IN SPAIN.

CHAPTER I.

REVIEW OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF SPAIN BEFORE THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION.

Erroneous opinions as to their early history, originating in vanity, and fostered by ignorance and creduUty, have been common among almost every people. These are often harmless ; and while they afford matter of good-humoured raillery to foreigners, excite the more inquisitive and liberal-minded among themselves to exert their talents in separating truth from fable, by patient research, and impartial discrimination. But they are sometimes of a very different character, and have been productive of the worst consequences. They have been the means of entailing political and spiritual bondage on a people, of rearing insurmountable obstacles in the way of their improvement, of propagating feelings no less hostile ta their domestic comfort than to their national tranquillity, and of making them at once a curse to themselves and a scourge to all around them.

If the natives of Spain have not advanced those extravagant pretensions to high antiquity which have made the inhabitants of some other countries ridiculous, they have unhappily fallen under the influence of national prejudices equally destitute of truth, and far more pernicious in their tendency. Every true Spaniard is disposed to boast of the purity of his blood, or, in the established language of the country, that he is "an Old Christian, free from all stain of bad descent." The meanest peasant or artizan in Spain looks upon it as a degradation to have in his veins the least mixture of Jewish or Moorish blood, though transmitted by the remotest of his known ancestors, in the male or female line. To have descended from that race, "of which, as concerning the flesh, Christ came," or from Christians who had incurred the censure of a tribunal whose motto is the reverse of his who "came not to destroy men's lives but to save them," is regarded as a greater disgrace than to have sprung from savages and pagans, or from those who had incurred the last sentence of justice for the most unnatural and horrid crimes. "I verily believe," says a modern Spanish writer who sometimes smiles through tears at the prejudices of his countrymen, "that were St. Peter a Spaniard, he would either deny admittance into heaven to people of tainted blood, or send them into a corner, where they might not offend the eyes of the Old Christian."* We might go further, and say that if a Spaniard had the ke^^s of heaven in his keeping, St. Peter, and all the apostles with him, would be "removed into a corner." It is easy to conceive what misery must have been felt by persons and families who have incurred this involuntary infamy in their own estimation, or in that of their neighbours; and what bitter and rancorous feelings must have been generated in the hearts of individuals and races of men living together or contiguously, both in a state of peace and of warfare.

But when the records of antiquity are consulted, the truth turns out to be, that in no other country of Europe has there been such an intermixture of races as in Spain — Iberian, Celtic, Carthaginian, Roman, Greek, Gothic, Jewish, Saracennic, Syrian, Arabian, and Moorish. With none are the Spaniards more anxious to disclaim all kindred than with Jews and Moors. Yet anciently their Christian kings did not scruple to form alliances with the Moorish sovereigns

* Letters from Spain, by Leucadio Doblado, p. 30.

of Grenada, to appear at their tournaments, and even to fight under their banners. Down to the middle of the fifteenth century, the Spanish poets and romancers celebrated the chivalry of " the Knights of Grenada, gentlemen though Moors."'* It was no uncommon occurrence for the Christians in Spain to connect themselves by marriage with Jews and Moors ; and the pedigree of many of the grandees and titled nobility has been traced up to these "cankered branches" by the Tizon de Espana^ or Brand of Spain , a book, which neither the influence of the government, nor the terror of the Inquisition, has been able completely to suppress.t Nor is greater credit due to the opinion which has long been prevalent in the Peninsula, that its inhabitants have uniformly kept themselves free from all stain of heretical pravity, and preserved the purity of the faith inviolate since their first reception of Christianity.

The ancient state of the church in Spain is but little known. Modern writers of that nation have been careful to conceal or to pass lightly over those spots of its history which are calculated to wound the feelings or abate the prejudices of their countrymen. Shut out from access to original documents, or averse to the toil of investigating them, foreigners have generally contented themselves with the information which common books supply. And knowing that the Spaniards have signalized their zeal for the See of Rome and the catholic faith during the three last centuries, the public as if by a general agreement, have come to the hasty conclusion that this was the fact from the beginning. To correct such mistakes, and to furnish materials for an accurate judgment, it may be proper to take a more extensive view of the state of religion in Spain before the Reformation, than would otherwise have been necessary to our undertaking.

* Sismondi, Hist, of the Literature of the South, vol. i. 99. iii. 113, 214.

t Llorente, Hist. Crit. de I'lnquisition, torn. i. pref, p. xxvi. Doblado's Letters, 30, 31.

The ecclesiastical history of Spain during the three first centuries may be comprised in two facts — that the Christian religion was early introduced into that country : and that churches were erected in various parts of it, notwithstanding the persecution to which they were exposed at intervals. All beside this is fable or conjecture. That the gospel was first preached to their ancestors by St. James, the son of Zebedee, is an opinion which has been long so popular among the Spaniards, and so identified with the national faith, that such of their writers as were most convinced of the unsound foundation on which it rests have been forced to join in bearing testimony to its truth. The ingenuity of the warm partizans of the popedom has been put to the stretch in managing the obstinate fondness with which the inhabitants of the Peninsula have clung to a prepossession so hazardous to the claims of St. Peter and of Rome. They have alternately exposed the futility of the argument produced in its support, and granted that it is to be received as a probable opinion resting on tradition. At one time they have urged that the early martyrdom of the apostle precludes the idea of such an expedition; and at another time they have tendered their aid to relieve the Spaniards from this embarrassment, and to "elude the objection,^' by suggesting, with true Italian dexterity, that the Spirit might have carried the apostle from Palestine to Spain, and after he had performed his task, conveyed him back with such celerity that he was in time to receive the martyr's crown at Jerusalem.* By such artful managements, they succeeded at last in settling the dispute, after the following manner; that agreeably to the concurring voice of antiquity, the seven first bishops of Spain were ordained by St. Peter, and sent by him into the Penin-

sula: but that as it is probable, they, had been converted to the Christian faith by S^. James, who despatched them to Rome to receive holy orders from the prince of the apostles ; from which the inference is, that St. James was the first who preached the Gospel to the Spaniards, but St. Peter was the founder of the Church of Spain.* Leaving such fabulous accounts, which serve to no other purpose than to illustrate human credulity, and the ease with which it is wrought upon by artifice and cunning we proceed to the period of authentic history.

The facts which we have to bring forward may be arranged under three heads: — the doctrine of the ancient church of Spain ; her government ; and her worship.

I. Sentiments which by common consent have been regarded as heretical, without as well as within the pale of that church which arrogates to herself the title of catholic, sprang up repeatedly in Spain, and in some instances overran the whole country. In the fourth century, Priscillian, a native of Gallicia, founded a new sect, which united the tenets of the Manichgeans and Gnostics. It made many converts, including persons of the episcopal order, and subsisted

* Ibid. Diss. i. cap. 2. A curious specimen of the managements referred to in the text is to be seen in the alterations made on the Roman Calendar. Cardinal Quignoni obtained the following insertion in the Rubric, referring to St. James the elder : " He went to Spain, and preached the Gospel there, according to the authority of St. Isidore." (Breviarum Paul III.) A change more agreeable to the Spaniards was afterwards made: "Having travelled over Spain, and preached the Gospel there, he returned to Jerusalem." (Brev. Pii V.) This having given offence to Cardinal Baronius and others at Rome, the following was substituted : "That he visited Spain and made some disciples there, is the tradition of the churches of that province." (Brev. Clementis VIII.) If the former mode of expression gave great offence at Rome, this last gave still greater in Spain. The whole kingdom was thrown into a ferment; and letters and ambassadors were despatched by his Catholic Majesty to the Pope, exclaiming against the indignity done to the Spanish nation. At last the following form was agreed upon, which continues to stand in the Calendar ; " Having gone to Spain, he made some converts to Christ, seven of whom being ordained by St. Peter were sent to Spain as its first bishops." (Brev. Urbani VIII.)

in Spain for two himdred years.* When they boast of the pure blood of the Goths, the Spaniards appear to forget that their Gothic ancestors were Arians, and that Arianism was the prevaihng and estabhshed creed of the country for nearly two centuries.! Nor did Spain long preserve her faith uncontaminated, after she had adopted the common doctrine under Reccared, who reigned in the close of the sixth century. To pass by the spread of Nestorianism and some tenets of less note,:}: she gave birth in the eighth century, to the heresy called the adoptionarian, because its disciples held that Christ is the adopted Son of God. This opinion was broached by Elipand, archbishop of Toledo, who was at the head of the Spanish church; it was vigorously defended by Felix, bishop of Urgel, a prelate of great ability ; and maintained itself for a considerable time, in spite of the decisions of several councils, supported by the learning of Alcuin and the authority of Charlemagne. §

Nor were there wanting in the early ages Spaniards who held some of the leading opinions afterwards avowed by the protestant reformers. Claude, bishop of Turin, who flourished in the ninth century, and distinguished himself by his valuable labours in the illustration of the Scriptures, was a native of Spain. His decided condemnation of the worship of images, and of the veneration paid to the relics and sepulchres of the saints, together with his resistance to the ecclesiastical

* Sulpitius Severus, Hist. Sacra, lib. ii. c. 60. Nicol. Antonius, Bihliotheca Hispana Vetus, curante Franc. Perez Bayerio, torn. i. p. 168—172. Cenni de Antiq. Eccl. Hisp. Diss. torn. i. p. 212.

t Gregor. de Turon. Hist. Franc, lib. viii. cap. 46. Nic. Antonius, ut supra, p. 294. Cenni Diss. iii. cap. 1 and 2.

§ Rodriguez de Castro, Bibliotheca Espanola, torn. ii. p. 406 — 411. Nic. Antonius, ut supra, p. 440 — 446. Mosheim supposed Felix to be a French bishop, and placed his diocese in Septimania. (Eccl. Hist. cent. viii. part. ii. chap. v. sect. 3.) Septimania was an ancient province of Gallia Narbonnensis, now called Languedoc ; but Urgel is a city of Catalonia, and the Counts of Urgel made no small figure in the predatory warfare of the middle ages, (Vaisette, Hist. Gen. de Languedoc, torn. iii. p. 108, 145. Preuves, p. 206.)

authority which imposed these practices, has exposed the memory of this pious and learned divine to the deadly hatred of all the devotees of superstition and spiritual despotism.* In support of his principal tenet, Claude could plead the authority of one of the most venerable councils of his native church, which orordained that there should be no pictures in churches, and that nothing should be painted on the walls which might be worshipped or adored.t

Galindo Prudentio, bishop of Troyes, was a countryman and contemporary of Claude. His learning was superior to that of the age in which he lived; and the comparative purity of his style bears witness to his familiarity with the writings of the ancient classics. Having fixed his residence in France, he enjoyed the confidence of Charlemagne, who employed him in visiting and reforming the monasteries. In the predestinarian controversy which divided the French clergy of that time, he took part with Goteschalcus against Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, and the noted schoolman, Joannes Scotus, surnamed Erigena. The sentiments which Prudentio held on that subject bear a striking resemblance to those which the church of Rome has since anathematized in the writings of Luther and Calvin. J

II. The Spanish church, at the beginning of the fourth century, acknowledged no other officers than

* Nicolas Antonio reckons it necessary to make a formal apology for giving Claude a place in his general biography of Spanish writers, and calls him "pudendum genti nostras plusquam celebrandum, hominis Hispani nomen." (Bibl. Hisp. Vet. torn. i. p. 458.) An exact and full account of Claude's works, both printed and in manuscript, is given by Alb. Fabricius, in his Bibliotheca Mediae etInfimsB Aetatis, torn. i. p. 388.

t " Placuit picturas in Ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colltur vel adoratur, in parietibus pingatur." (Concil. Illiberit. can. xxxvi. anno 305.)

t Duchesne, Hist. Francor. Script, tom. iii. p. 212. Barthii Adversaria, lib, xviii. cap. 11, lib. xliv. cap. 19. The controversial works of Galindus Prudentius remained in MS. until some of them were published, during the Jansenian dispute, by Gilbert Mauguin, in a collection of curious and valuable tracts, under the title : Veterum Auctorum, qui nono seculo de praedestinatione et gratia scripserunt, Opera et Fragmenta^ 2 tom. Paris, 1650; a work less known by divines than it ought to be.

bishops, presbyters, and deacons.* She was equally a stranger to the superior orders of metropolitans and archbishops, and to the inferior orders of sub-deacons and lectors. Her discipline was at that time characterized by great strictness and even rigour, of which there was a palpable relaxation when the government of the church came to be formed upon the model of the empire, after Constantine had embraced Christianity.! This change was, however, introduced more slowly into Spain than into some other countries. The church of Africa was careful to guard the parity of episcopal power against the encroachments of the metropolitans; and the Spanish bishops, who appear from an early period to have paid great deference to her maxims and practices, continued for a considerable time to evince the same jealousy. J To the supremacy of the bishops of Rome the ancient church of Spain was a stranger, and there is no good evidence that she acknowledged, during the eight first centuries, their right to interfere authoritatively in her internal affairs.

The titles of pope or father, apostolical bishop, and bishop of the apostolic see, were at first given promiscuously to all who were invested with the episcopal office. § After they came to be used in a more restricted sense, they were still applied to a number in common. II The bishops of Rome early acquired

* Concil. lUiberit. can. 18, 19; anno 305.

t " Ut primoe sedis Episcopus non appelletur princeps saccrdotum, aut summus sacerdos, aut aliquid hujusmodi, sed tantum primae sedis Episcopus." (Cod. African, can. 39.) To this agrees the language of the fathers of Toledo : " Statuirnus, ut frater, et coepiscopus noster, Montanus, qui in Metropoli est," &c. (Concil. Tolet. II. can. 5.)

§ Thomassinus, De Benefic. part. i. lib. i. cap. 4. Pope Cyprian, pope Augustine, pope Alipius, pope Athanasius, &c. are expressions of frequent recurrence in the writings of the fathers. Cenni, unable to deny this fact, has recourse to the desperate shift, that those who gave this title to a bishop meant to say, that his merits were such as to entitle him to be advanced to the dignity of supreme pontiff. (De Antiq. Eccl. Hisp. ii. 53.)

II The names of ka^oxikoi Qgovo/, and oiKHjuivoi B^ovot, catholic thrones, and ecumenical thrones, were given, in the eighth century, to the sees of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. (Theophanes, apud Salmasii Apparat. de Primatu, p. 278.)

high consideration among their brethren, founded on the dignity of the city in which they had their residence, the number of the clergy over whom they presided, and the superior sanctity of hfe by which some of their hue had been distinguished; to which must be added the opinion, which soon became general, that they were the successors of St. Peter. In matters which concerned religion in general, or in difficult questions relating to internal managements, it was a common practice to ask the advice of foreign and even transmarine churches. On these occasions the bishops of Rome were consulted, but not to the exclusion of others. The African bishops, in a council held at Carthage, agreed to take the advice of Siricius, bishop of Rome, and Simplician, bishop of Milan, on the affair of the Donatists; and in a subsequent council, they agreed to consult Anastasius and Venerius, who at that time filled the same sees, on the controversy respecting the validity of the baptism of heretics.* With this the practice of the Spanish church agreed.t Indeed, the bishops of Rome, in those days, disclaimed the pretensions which they afterwards put forth with such arrogance. Gregory the Great himself, when in danger of being eclipsed by his eastern rival, acknowledged this in the memorable words, which have so much annoyed his successors and their apologists. Speaking of the title of universal patriarch, which the bishop of Constantinople had assumed, he says : — " Far from the hearts of Christians be this name of blasphemy, which takes away the honours of the Avhole priesthood, while it is madly arrogated by one ! — None of my predecessors would ever consent to use this profane word, because if one patriarch is called universal, the rest are deprived of the name of patriarchs.^' J

But there is positive evidence that the ancient church of Spain maintained its independence, and

* Salmasii Apparatus ad Libros de Primalu Papae, p. 277. Ccnni, i. 159. f *f

t Concil. Tolet. i. sent, definit. Constant. Annot. in Epist. 2. Innocent.

t Gregorii Epp. 32, 36.

guarded against the interference of the Roman See, or any other foreign authority. Whatever judgment we form concerning the disputed canon of the council of Sardis, as to references to the bishop of Rome,* it is certain that an African council, which met at Mela in the year 416, decreed that if any of the clergy had a dispute with his bishop, he might bring it before the neighbouring bishops ; but if he thought proper not to rest in their decision, it should be unlawful for him to make any appeal except to an African council, or to the primates of the African churches.t In accordance with the spirit of this canon, with some variation in particulars, the ninth council of Toledo, in the year 655, determined that appeals should lie from a bishop to a metropolitan, and from a metropolitan to the royal audience; a regulation which was confirmed by a subsequent council held in the same city 4 In the fifth and sixth centuries Arianism was predominant in Spain. During that period the bishops who adhered to the orthodox faith being few in number, discountenanced by the royal authority, and rarely allowed to assemble in provincial councils, were naturally induced to turn their eyes to Rome for counsel and support ; while the popes laid hold of the opportunity which the circumstances afibrded them to extend their influence over that country, by holding correspondence v/ith the dissenting clergy, and conferring on some of them the title of apostolical vicars. § But, strange as the assertion may appear to some, this intercourse ceased as soon as Spain embraced the catholic faith.

Spain is always spoken of as a catholic country from the time that she renounced Arianism under Reccared; and if we are to believe some of her wri-

* Concil. Sard. a. 347, can. 3 — 5. Mosheim, Cent. iv. part. ii. chap, ii. ^ 6. Dupin De Antiq. Discip. diss. ii. chap. i. § 3.

f Concil. Millevit, ii. chap. 22.

I Concil. Tolet. ix. capit. i.; xiii. capit. 12 : Harduiini. Collect, torn, iii. coll. 973. 1746.

§ Concil. Bracarense, i. passim. Cenni, i. 194. 200, 214. It is to be observed that in most of these instances we have not the letters of the Spanish bishops, but only those of the popes.

ters, her monarchs obtained, at that early period, the title of Catholic kings, which they retain to this day, as expressive of their devotion to the faith and authority of the Roman see. But this is a glaring mistake, originating in, or concealed by the equivocal use of a word which was anciently understood in a sense very different from its modern acceptation. It was by adopting the common doctrine received by the church at large, in opposition to the Arian and other errors condemned by the first ecumenical or universal councils, that Spain became catholic, and that her kings, bishops, and people, obtained this designation, and not by conforming to the rites of the church of Rome, or owning the supremacy of its pontiffs. Ecclesiastical affairs were managed in Spain without any interference on the part of the See of Rome, or any reference to it, during the whole of the century which elapsed after the suppression of Arianism. This is so undeniable, that those advocates of the pontifical authority who have examined the documents of that age, have been forced to admit the fact, and endeavour to account for it by saying, that such interference and reference was unnecessary during a peaceful state of the church; a concession which goes far to invalidate the whole of their claims.* The pall sent from Rome to Leander, bishop of Seville, forms no exception to the remark now made ; for, not to mention that it was never received, it was not intended to confer any prerogative upon him, but merely as a testimony to his sanctity, and a mark of personal esteem from pope Gregory who had contracted a friendship with him when they met at Constantinople. It was of the nature of a badge of honour conferred by a prince on a deserving individual belonging to another kingdom.! There is one piece of history which throws great light on the state of the Spanish church during the seventh century, and which I shall relate at some length, as it has been either passed over or very partially brought forward by later historians. The sixth ecumenical council, held at Constantinople in the year

680, condemned the heresy of the Monothehtes, or those who, though they allowed that Christ had two natures, ascribed to him but one will and one operation. In 683, Leo II., bishop of Rome, sent the acts of that council, which he had received from Constantinople, to Spain, requesting the bishops to give them their sanction, and to take measures for having them circulated through their churches. As a council had been held immediately before the arrival of the papal deputation, and a heavy fall of snow prevented the re-assembling of the members at that season, it was thought proper to circulate the acts among the bishops, who authorized Julian, archbishop of Toledo, to transmit a rescript to Rome, intimating in general their approbation of the late decision at Constantinople, and stating at considerable length the sentiments of the Spanish church on the controverted point. A council, convened in Toledo during the following year, entered on the formal consideration of this affair, in which they proceeded in such a manner as to evince their determination to preserve at once the purity of the faith and the independence of the Spanish church. They examined the acts of the council of Constantinople, at which it does not appear that they had any representative, and declared that they found them consonant with the decisions of the four preceding canonical councils, particularly that of Chalcedon, of Avhich they appeared to be nearly a transcript. " Wherefore (say they) we agree that the acts of the said council be reverenced and received by us, inasmuch as they do not differ from the foresaid councils, or rather as they appear to coincide with them. We allot to them therefore that place in point of order to which their merit entitles them. Let them come after the council of Chalcedon, by whose light they shine." The council next took into consideration the rescript which archbishop Julian had sent to Rome, and pronounced it "a copious and lucid exposition of the truth concerning the double will and operation of Christ;" adding, " wherefore, for the sake of general instruction, and the benefit of ecclesiastical discipline, we confirm and sanction it as entitled to equal honour and reverence, and to have the same permanent authority, as the decretal epistles.^^*