business wherefore should it not permit two Provincial Synods to choose a third to judge of their differences the First and Second Cannon of the Council of Turin in the Year 397 are yet more positive in this matter XII The Synods in each Province shall represent the Widows and Children of Ministers which died in the Service of their Church to be supported and maintained at the common charge of each Province as necessity shall require And where the Province shall be Ingrateful the Deputy thereof shall report it to the National Synod to take care therein CONFORMITY This Article is not only grounded on Christian Charity but also on the acknowledgment which the Churches owe to Ministers dead in their Service whereof they should shew the marks to their Families especially when there is occasion for it XIII Deputies of Churches shall not be gone from Synods without leave and till they carry along with them the Decisions which shall there be made CONFORMITY There are two things to be consider'd in this Article First That Deputies are not suffer'd to depart from the Synod without leave The Second Council of Arles made this Decree in its 19 Cannon Anno Dom. 452 If any one thinks he may abandon the Assembly of his Brethren before the dissolution of the Council Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 105. let him know that he is deprived of the Communion of his Brethren and that he cannot be thereunto received until he be first of all absolv'd in the following Synod There may be seen in the Fourth Tome of Councils certain Fragments attributed to a Council of Sevil in Spain assembled about the time of Pope Gregory the I. in the X. of which is to be found word for word the Decree of the Synod of Arles which makes me believe that Burchardus pag. 521. from whom Garsias has taken this Cannon was mistaken when he attributed it to the Council of Sevil and I the rather believe it when I consider that the compilation of Cannons made by this Writer are full of this kind of mistakes The Fourth Council of Toledo assembled in the year 633 does defend also in the Fourth Cannon to depart from the Council until all things are decided by the major Votes and Signed by all the Bishops Tom. 4. Conc. p. 583. The Sixteenth of that of Worms of the year 868 prescribes the same thing To. 6. Conc. pag. 695. The Second thing our Discipline prescribes those which are Deputies to Synods is to carry along with them the Decisions which shall be made I find the same thing practic'd in the Antient Church in Effect it may be seen by the 29th Cannon of the First Council of Orange in the year 451 that each Bishop carried away with him a Copy of the Acts and Resolutions made in the Assembly and that the like was sent even to those as were absent to advertise them of their Duty by the Ministry of the Metropolitan and in the year 431 the First Oecumenical Council of Ephesus permitted each Metropolitan to take a Copy of the Acts whereof his Brother Bishops might have Communication by his means The Eighth Cannon where this power is granted to Metropolitans saying expresly that it is for their own surety that is to say for Conservation of the Rights of their Provinces and by consequence the Rights of all the Suffragan Bishops See what shall be said on the Tenth Article of the following Chapter XIV The Authority of Provincial Synods is inferiour to that of National Synods CONFORMITY There is no difficulty at all in this Constitution especially after what we have observed on the Tenth Article where I have prov'd by the Authority of several Cannons of Constantinople of Calcedon and the African Code that Appeals were made from Provincial Synods to those of the whole Diocess to which our National ones at this time do agree XV. Colloques and Provincial Synods shall be regulated according to the several Governments so that one may not pretend to be greater than another and for the present this shall be the Distribution of Provincial Synods 1 The Isle of France Country of Chartrain Piccardy Champagne and Brie 2 Normandy 3 Brittany 4 Orleans Blesois Dunois Nivernois Berry Bourbonnois and La Marche 5 Tourain Anjou Loudunois Le Maine Vandomois and le Perche 6 Vpper and Lower Poictou 7 Zantonge Aunis City and Government of Rochell Angoulmois 8 Lower Guyen Perrigord Gascogne and Limosin 9 Vpper and Lower Vivarez with the Uclay and Forest 10 Lower Languedock viz Nimes Usez Montpelier to Beziers inclusively 11 The rest of Languedock Vpper Guyen Tholouse Carcassona Quercy Rouergue Armagnack Vpper Auvergne 12 Bourgundy Lyonnois Beaujolois Bresse Low Auvergne Gex 13 Provence 14 Dauphine and the Principality of Orange 15 The Churches of the Soveraignty of Bearn 16 The Sevennes and Givaudan If it so falls cut for the convenience of Churches that one or two should be parted or to unite several in one it may be done in the Provincial Synod whereof notice shall be given to the National Synods CONFORMITY Those who please to read the Second Cannon of the First Universal Council of Constantinople and the Eighth of that of Ephesus will easily perceive our Discipline agrees exactly with the practice of the Primitive Christians And as for the dividing one Church into two or joyning several into one when necessity requires there is Examples to be seen in Antient Records As for joyning several into one Tom. 5. Conc. p. 430. the Eighth Letter of the Second Book of Gregory the Great gives us an Example and the Fathers of the Sixteenth Council of Toledo An. 693 in the V. Cannon Authorises the joyning and dividing and declares also in what manner it must be done The Emperour Charles the Bald in his Capitularies Anno 844 gives power to the Bishops to divide a Church into two when the Necessity and Edification of the People require it and if it gives them power to divide Churches Tom. 2. capit c. 7. p. 23. Edit Balux 1677 there 's no question to be made but it gives them power also to join several in one for good and lawful causes In process of time the Popes have assumed to themselves this power of Joyning and Dividing Churches although in France they are not permitted to exercise it without the consent of our Kings as the late Mr. de Marca has well observed in the Thirteenth chap. of the Fourth Book of the Liberties of the Gallcian Church where he treats of these matters XVI A Minister deputed by a Provincial Synod to go to a Synod or Colloque of another Province for some publick Affairs may have a deliberative Vote and that not only for the business he is come about but also during the whole sitting if his particular Affair be not in agitation CONFORMITY I do not think any need question but the same thing was practis'd in the Primitive Church Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 27.
of our Lord 693. I confess that the tenth of the Council of Galcedon forbids Clerks to inrole themselves in two Churches at once but that of Toledo is formal on the matter I examin That there be not granted to one Priest several Churches because he cannot do service in all nor help the People in the Priestly Functions Since that time this sort of prohibitions have been frequent in the West as may be easily made appear were this the place to do it it shall suffice to alledg at present the demand which Charles the Ninth caused to be made by his Ambassadors at the Council of Trent That but one Benefice be conferr'd on one person in taking away as to what regards Plurality the difference of Benefices Compatibles or Incompatibles because this distinction which is new and unknown to ancient Decrees has also occasion'd great Evils to the Catholick Church and that Regular Benefices be given to Regulars and Secular ones to Seculars and that for those which at present enjoy two or more either that they hold only that which they shall make choice of in a little time or that they suffer the punishments inflicted by the ancient Canons However it be zeal being grown cold and Pastors abating in the care they formerly took in the Edification and Salvation of those committed to their charge there was an absolute necessity of making Laws to enjoyn Residence whereas formerly they did it of their own free-will and inclination to discharge their Consciences of the Duties of their calling Pope Eugenius the Second seeing in the Ninth Century they dispensed themselves from dwelling with their flock Coll. Rom. p. 2. c. 6 7 p. 23 24. made a Decree in a Synod held at Rome having this Title That Bishops do not live out of their Diocesses the Canon is conceiv'd in these terms Bishops should keep always at their Churches to labour with Piety for their edification because the absence of the Bishop many times becomes the misfortune of the People And in the following Canon he will have Cloisters built near the Churches for the Dwellings of inferior Clerks to the end they may give attendance to the study of Ecclesiastical Discipline The Council of Meaux Anno 845 Tom. 3. Conc. Gal. c. 36 p. 42. made another Ordinance much like it That Priests be not suffer'd to lodg abroad where they list but that they keep always at their Churches by reason of Divine Mysteries and to yield to Litanies the services they owe to them and that they have not liberty to dwell elsewhere After abuses had in this regard crept into the Church it cannot be doubted but many Settlements were made to restore things to the ancient Model and to shew the necessity and importance of it because in truth the Obligation of Residency is greater than most people are aware of seeing that Pastors are obliged wholly to their Flocks and all the parts of their Ministry is destin'd for them Nevertheless whatever Decrees have been made to establish the ancient Discipline it could not be prevented but in these latter ages an extream negligence has succeeded in the practice of so holy and sacred a custom therefore in the days of our forefathers the question of Non-residence was debated with much heat in the Council of Trent Hist du Conc. lib. 6. p. 592. ad 600. p. 621. ad 616. avec le livre 2. p. 309 310 311. â— Troys 1627. insomuch that the Spanish Prelates were so stiff that they declared it was Jure Divino of Divine Institution which alarm'd the Legates and gave a furious shock also to the Court of Rome for 't was foreseen if this Article should pass a part of the Pope's Authority should be retrenched the Plurality of Benefices which has occasioned so great mischief in the Church should be abolished and the Cardinals should be depriv'd of that which supported the splendor of their Purple Robes in depriving them of Benefices for Non-residence but means were found to allay these heats and to compose matters to the satisfaction of the Bishop of Rome and his Court However this same Council in the 24th Session and in the Decree of Reformation seems to have prescribed some remedy to the evil which arises by Non-residence but it did it in such a manner as it left the door open to the abuse which far from diminishing has increased more and more But that there may not be any contest on occasion of our Discipline enjoyning Ministers and their Families to make actual residence in their Churches that is with their Wives and Children as if the Ancient Bishops were never Married and as though they never lived in their Churches with their Families it 's necessary to justify our Practise by some Examples The first shall be that of the venerable old Cheremon Bishop of Nile in Egypt for Eusebius mentions in the 42d Chapter of the 6th Book of his Ecclesiastical History That when the Persecution of Decius raged he retired into a Mountain with his Wife who never forsook him And in the 9th Chapter of the 8th Book he makes mention of Phileas Bishop of Thmuis in Thebaide who suffer'd Martyrdom under Dioclesian although the Judge which condemn'd him did what he could possible to make him renounce Jesus Christ in exhorting him especially to have pity of his Wife and Children Spyridion Bishop of Trimythunte in the Isle of Cyprus in the days of the Emperor Constantine liv'd in his Church with his Wife and Children as is witnessed by Zozomen L. 5. c. 11. It 's only needful to Read the 22d Chapter of the 5th Book of Socrates his Ecclesiastical History to see sundry Examples of Bishops that were Married and liv'd with their Wives It cannot be doubted but Synesius did so seeing he accepted not the Bishoprick of Ptolemais but on those terms as he himself tells us in his Hundred and fifth Letter And 't is very likely the greatest number of the Eastern Bishops lived in their Churches with their Wives and Children until the end of the 7th Century That the 6th Council appointed that they should put away their Wives and that they should no longer cohabit with them Can. 12. which they were ever permitted to do before this Decree according to the remark of the Frier Blastares in Syntagm Alphab Litt. G. Cap. 16 17. Besides that in this same Canon the Fathers acknowledg'd that there were several Bishops in Lybia in Africa and elsewhere that lived with their Wives which agreed very well with the 5th Canon called the Apostles which forbids Bishops Priests and Deacons under pain of Suspension and even of Deposing to separate from their Wives under pretext of Religion XV. Those to whom God has given the talent of writing are admonish'd to do it in a modest way and befitting the Majesty of Heaven and consequently not to write in a ridiculous and injurious manner the which gravity and modesty they shall also observe in their
the truth of Faith Tom. 5. Spirit pag. 203. which the forty six Cannon of Laodicea also prescribes St. Owen writes in the VIII Chap. of the 2d Book of the Life of St. Eloy Bishop of Noyon That he baptised every year at Easter those which in the compass of the year he could Convert that is to say those he could turn from the darkness of Paganism to the Light of the Gospel Paulinus Arch-bishop of York did the like in the same Century that is in the 7th as is related by Beda in his Ecclesiastical History of England Theodulph Bishop of Orleans follows the same method in his 1 chap. of his Treatise of Baptism Epist 104 105. Aleuin who approved not the Saxons should be constrained to be baptised by force alledged for a Reason that they ought first of all to be Instructed But to descend to the last Century Cardinal Borrome in the Fifth Council of Mâ—llan of which place he was Arch Bishop An 1579 Tom. 9. Conc. pag. 6.6 requires two things of Adults which are to be baptized First that they know the Rudiments of the Christian Religion Secondly That they repent of their Sins past I will add to all I have hitherto observ'd the practice of the Primitive Church which instructed the Catecumeny a long while before they Honour'd them with Holy Baptisme There is in our Discipline at the end of the Chapter we examine a Form of Baptisme of those which shall be converted to the Christian Faith And in the Thirteenth Century Nicetas Choniates composed one for Mahometans which desired to embrace Christianity Tom. 12. Bibl. Pat. p. 527. cum 531 532. The VI. Council of Paris Authorizes the Decree which it makes in the Year 829. Cannon the Sixth Book the First by the Practice of the Primitive Church To. 2. Conc. Gall. pag. 846. IV. The Children of Fathers and Mothers of the Romish Church and of Excommunicate Persons cannot be admittisme in the Reformed Churches though they were presented by believing Godfathers unless their Father and Mother consent to it and desire it and resign their Authority in quitting and yielding up to the Godfathers their right as to Instructing them with promises their Children shall be Educated in the true Religion CONFORMITY This Article is grounded on that Children depend of their Father and Mother without whose consent they cannot be disposed of nor christned against their Will into a Communion whereof they are not Members otherwise it were a Forcing People to be Baptized which the Church has ever condemn'd Hist lib. 6. cap. 17 King Chilperick as is related by Gregory of Touers commanded to Baptise the Jews that is to say he constrain'd several to be Baptiz'd which Pope Gregory the First did not approve as appears by the Letter he wrote to Virgilius and Theodorus the former being Bishop of Arles the other of Marsellia and is the Forty Fifth of the First Book So also when King Sisibute had done in Spain after the same manner as Chilperick had done in France Tom. 4. Conc. pag. 593. the Fourth Council of Toledo in the year 633 changed their violent practice in its 56 Cannon the Decree is contained in these terms As for Jews the Synod has Ordain'd that henceforwards no body shall be forced to believe for God has compassion on whom he will and harden whom he pleases and such should not be saved by force but voluntarily to the end to preserve intirely the way of Justice for as Man was ruin'd by voluntarily obeying the Serpent he is also saved by believing and converting to God when he calls him by his Grace let perswasion there be used and not violence to incline them to be converted truly and without any constraint Ib. p. 603 And 't is to be observ'd that the Ordinance of this Prince comprehended Children Hist Gothor in si se buto and Domesticks therefore St. Isidore Bishop of Sevil wrote of him having regard to this Edict That he had a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge And we have already seen on the precedent Article that Alcuin Tutor to Charlemain did by no ways approve the force was put on the Saxons in those times Read his Letters in 104 and 105 and you 'l see the truth hereof insomuch as he deplored at the beginning of the former the misfortune of that People which as he saith often lost the Sacrament of Baptisme because they never had in their hearts the Sacrament of Faith Thence it is he teacheth in both of them that one must begin by Instruction that Faith is a thing voluntary and not forced that a Man cannot be forced to believe that which he does not believe But that it may not be thought the Subject I examin is of little importance and that it might be put amongst things indifferent to be done or left undone at pleasure it must be shewn there is nothing more contrary to the tenour of the Gospel than to constrain Men to imbrace the profession of it Jesus Christ the Author of this Heavenly Doctrine and the Soveraign Doctor of this Truth never imployed force nor violence to have it received he was content in Exhortations and Instructions which he accompanied with a hidden and secret vertue in regard of those he intended to call to his Communion and which he drew with efficacy but also at the same time with Sweetness with Cords of Love and Bands of Humanity and Charity The Apostles exactly followed his Example Exhorting Men to repent and believe the Gospel and praying them in the Name of Jesus Christ to be reconciled to God The Christians which succeeded the Apostles did just after the same manner cap. 24.28 Tertullian in his Appollogetick declares positively that the Liberty of Religion cannot be taken away nor deny Men the choice of the Divinity which they adore without rendring themselves guilty of the crime of Impiety and Irreligion because he pretends the Service of God ought to have a willing mind for its first principle And in his Book to Scapula he saith That 't is no Act of Religion to force the Religion which one should imbrace of free will and not by constraint Lactantius in the 20th chap. of the Fifth Book of his Divine Institutions saith There is nothing so voluntary as Religion which ceases to be p. 82. G. Par. 1544 at the very moment one has any aversion or hatred to it St. Hilary of Poictiers in his First Book to the Emperour Constantius Pag. 82. G Paris 1544. writes That God has taught the Knowledge Men have of him before he required it Authorising his Commandments by his Miracles not desiring a forced Obedience nor an unwilling Confession And in his Book against Auxentius Ib. p. 84. he reproaches the Arrians to have imployed Prisons and banishment to constrain Men to be of their side and to enter into their Communion St. Athanasius was of the same Opinion as he shews
of time t was left to the Liberty of the Bishop to suffer it provided that the consent of his Clergy also interven'd It is what may be seen in the Decree of Gratian cap. 16.9 1. c. 35. Moreover these Baptizing Churches which were otherwise named Plebes and Oracula were in so great consideration above others that Charlemain in his Capitulary in the year 793 chap. 2. will not have them possessed by Lay-Men to whom he forbids to grant them under the Title of Bennifice although that was not alwayes observ'd And it may be the Names of Plebes and Oracula was given to these Churches because all the People were wont there to resort to hear the Oracles of God that is to say the Word of his Gospel Inasmuch as our Discipline suffers Ministers to baptise out of the Assemblies when it is impossible to have them it agrees very well with the Seventh Cannon of the Council apud Vernum which I cited above where 't is permitted in case of Necessity to Baptize out of the places where publick Fonts were erected Moreover Vernum Palatium was one of the Kings Pallaces betwixt St. Dennis and Compeigne at least many do think so VII Seeing we have no command of Christ to take Godfathers and Godmothers to present our Children at Baptisme there cannot an express Law be impos'd on Persons to do so Nevertheless because it is an Antient Custom and introduced for a good end to with to testifie the belief of the Godfathers and the Baptisme of the Infant and also to maintain the Society of Believers in Friendship and Amity those which desire not to follow it but would present their Children themselves shall be earnestly exhorted not to be contentious but to conform to the Ancient Custom which is good and profitable CONFORMITY The Custom of Godfathers and Godmothers to present Children at Baptisme is very Ancient seeing Tertullian makes mention of it in his Book of Baptisme chap. 18. St. Austin in his Twenty Third Epistle saith they are presented by their Father or Mother or by others Tom. 2. cap. 2. 7. p. 215 216. 217 361. Paris 1644. the pretended Dennis the Areopagite in his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy speaks but of Godfathers which should be faithful and chosen by those which are to be Christned if they are Adults or by the Fathers and Mothers if they are young Children and he would also make the Reader believe that 't was instituted by the Apostles Gregory the First in his Book of Sacraments doth not also forget those which present Children at Baptisme As for Cesarius of Arles he declares in the Twelfth of his Homilies given us by Monsieur Baluze that the Father and Mother are to be answerable the VI. Cannon of the Council of Metz in the year 888 Tom. 3. Conc. Gall. p. 526. ordains that the Father or Mother of the Child receives it when it comes out of the Baptismal Fountain so great Liberty has been us'd by the Church in these things Read the Three last Testimonies I have mentioned on the Twelfth Article VIII Women shall not be admitted to present Children to Baptisme unless accompanied with a Godfather and after having made profession of the Christian Religion CONFORMITY In all Antiquity there is few or no Examples to be found of a Woman that presented a Child to be Baptized without a Godfather and much less of an unbelieving Woman in effect we have seen on the Seventh Article That those which presented Children should be believers What I alleadged of the Council of Metz on the same Seventh Article not destroying what I say on this if one reads all the Cannon besides that it has sometimes been suffer'd amongst us upon some Considerations as appears by the National Synod of Poictiers in the Year 1560 that 's to be understood in regard of believing Women though this sufferance is not at present in use IX No Godfather coming from another Church shall be suffer'd to present a Child to Baptisme without bringing a Certificate from his Church CONFORMITY Anciently no Stranger was received without a Testimony from his Church it is the Order of the Seventh Cannon of the Council of Antioch in the year 341. Let no Stranger be received without Pacifick Letters It is what appears also by the Fifty Eighth chap. of the Second Book of Apostolical Constitutions where we read that neither Brother nor Sister of another Church was to be received without Letters of Recommendation X. Those which present Children to be baptized must be of competent Age as of Fourteen years old having received the Sacrament Or if they are more advanc'd in Years and have not received the Lords Supper promise faithfully to do it and are duly catechised CONFORMITY Herraud Bishop of Touers in his Capitulary of the Year 858 makes this Ordnance Tom. 3. Conc. Gall. cap. 55. pag. 113. That none shall receive any at the Baptismal Fountain unless he knows by heart in his own Language and understands the Lords Prayer and the Apostles Creed and that all know the Covenant they have made with God Ibid. pag. 526. The Sixth Cannon of the Council of Metz prescribes the same in substance in the Year 888 Tom. 9. Conc. pag. 548. and 615. Cardinal Borrome Arch-Bishop of Millan in the Fourth and Fifth Councils which he there caused to be held in the Year 1573 and 1579 orders the very same marking also as well as our Discipline the Age of Fourteen Years and to observe the exactness of our Discipline with that of the Antients it is to be known that we admit none to participate of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist till after he has given sufficient proof of his being well-instructed and of his knowledge in the Misteries of Salvation The Sixth Council of Paris precedent to all the Testimonies I have hitherto cited seeing it was assembled in the Year of our Lord 829 This Council complains in the Seventh Cannon Book the First That those which present others to Baptisme Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. pag. 487. and 521. have not knowledge sufficient to instruct them which he attributes to the negligence of Conducters and in the Fifty Fourth Cannon he will by all means have them taught to be able to answer for the Instruction of those which they present even serving themselves in the Seventh Cannon of some words of a Sermon of St. Austins to confirm what he sayes 163 de Temp. XI Those which are suspended from the Lords Supper cannot as Godfathers present Children to be baptized whilst their suspension holds CONFORMITY This same Council of Paris which I but now cited prohibits in the last of its Cannons that is to say the Fifty Fourth it forbids those which for some Crime is under Pennance and by consequence excluded from the Sacrament not to present any Body at Baptisme until such time as they are reconcil'd to the Church Cardinal Borrome in his First Council of Millan Tom. 9. Conc.
Tragedies CONFORMITY This Respect is due to the Holy Scriptures as not to make it serve for Subject nor Argument to these peeces of Theater which the Ancient Church has securely condemned forbidding her Children to be there present XIX Churches where there shall be Printers shall warn them not to print Books that shall concern Religion or Ecclesiastical Discipline without first having communicated them to the Consistory to prevent the mischeifs that have arisen thereby The Printers Stationers c. shall be warned not to sell any Books relateing to Idolatry that may be impious or scandalous or which may tend to the corrupting of good Manners CONFORMITY After what I have observed on the 2 3 and 16th Articles of this Chapter this doth not require any new interpretation XX. Although the Priests do wrongfully usurp Tythes by reason of their Administration nevertheless they ought to be paid in respect to the Kings command and to avoid sedition and giving offence CONFORMITY In that we pay Tythes to the Curate is an Effect of the obedience we owe to the Ordinance of our King and a mark of the care our Synods have had in accomodating in indifferent things with those from whom we have separated for meer Conscience sake and not for worldly considerations nor for private Interests XXI Believers shall be exhorted not to give any offence in working on fast days according to the Edict CONFORMITY It is also by a Principle of Obedience and submission that we observe Holy-days not to offend our Neighbours and to keep our selves up to the Edict under whose Rules we live XXII All Vsuries shall be very strictly prohibited because they are Exorbitants and many abuses is therein committed CONFORMITY The Ancient Cannons very strictly prohibited usury because it was cruel and many great crimes were therein committed Our Discipline follows a moderation in declaring that in matter of Lending one shall act according to the Kings Ordinance and moreover that the Rules of Charity be consulted XXIII All violence and unbecoming language against those of the Roman Church and even against Preists and Friers shall not onely be hinder'd but also wholly suppressed as much as possible may be CONFORMITY This Article is grounded on the Gospel which puts in the number of Murderers those which violate their Neighbours by injurious words and shews the disposition we have ever had to live peaceably with our Country-men not to instance in Cannons which forbid all manner of Outrages XXIV Swearers who through Custom or Anger take the Name of God in vain and others who prophane the Majesty of the Lord shall be grevously censur'd and after one or two admonitions if they desist not shall be suspended the Lords Table and outragious Blasphemers as also Damee's and the like shall by no meanes be tollerated in the Church but from the first offence shall be censured even to suspension from the Sacrament and if they persist they shall be publickly Excommunicated CONFORMITY The foundation of this Article is taken from the third Commandment of the first Table of the Law Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain After so strict a prohibition and so terrible a Commination our Discipline had Reason to establish punishments against the Infringers of this Commandment to avoid all blame and reproach L. 7. Ind. 2 Epist 6. Tom. 2. Spicil pag. 548. because as Gregory the first says Him that corrects not what should be taken away doth commit it Our King St. Lewis made an Ordinance in the year 1270 to bannish out of his Kingdom Blasphemies and Oaths whereby the Majesty of God is criminaly prophan'd XXV The Churches shall advertise Believers both Men and Women to use great Modesty especially in Apparel and shall give Order to abate the superfluity therein committed Nevertheless the said Churches shall make no Law thereabouts it being a thing appertaining to the Magistrate to do but shall give notice to all that the Kings Ordinances in those Cases shall be diligently observ'd CONFORMITY The remarks I have made on the 20th Article of the first Chapter will shew the Conformity of this with the Discipline of the Ancient Christians XXVI No body can be debarr'd from the Lords Table for wearing any kind of habit that shall be of Common use and Custom in this Kingdom but in this rank ought not to be comprehended those which leave the open marks of shame dissoluteness too much newness as Painting naked Breasts and the like the Consistories shall use all possible means to suppress such Dissolutions by Sensures and against obstinate Persons shall proceed to suspending them from the Lords Table CONFORMITY I say the same of this as of the former XXVII Dances shall be suppressed and those who make account to Dance or be present at Dancing after having been several times admonished shall be Excommunicated when they shall grow obstinate and Rebellious Consistories are strictly enjoyn'd to see this Article duely executed and to cause it to be publickly read in the name of the Synods and the Colloques exhorted to take Notice of Consistories which shall not take care to Sensure them CONFORMITY Can. 53. The Synod of Laodicea about the middle of the 4th Century made a Cannon against Dances contain'd in these Words Christians which go to Weddings must not Dance but let them Dine or Sup civilly as becomes Christians In the third Volume of the Councils a like Decree is attributed to the Council of Lerrida in the year 524. Though it s nothing but the same of that of Laodicea a little vary'd but just now mention'd Herrald Bishop of Tours in his Capitulary's of the year 858 Pag. 818. in the third Volume of the Councils of France forbids also Dances not only at Weddings Cap. 112 114. pag. 115. but also on other occasions the Frier Blastares has not in his Collection forgot the Cannon of Laodicea Chap. 7. of the Letter G. pag. 66. St. Eloy Bishop of Noyon in the 7th Century inveigh'd much against Dancing which he put in the number of Devilish Divertisments as is reported by St. Owen in the second Book of his life chap. 15. Tom. 5. spiril pag. 217. In the year 589 the third Council of Toledo had appointed in the 23d Tom. 4. conc pag. 507. Cannon to exterminate this prophane and Irreligious Custom from amongst the people who instead of attending diligently on Gods service on Holy-days spent the time in Dancing and singing filthy and impure Songs and the Fathers enjoyn the Bishops and Judges with care to clear Spain from this extravigance And about the beginning of the V. Century a Council of Africa had ordain'd in the 27th Cannon that the Emperors should be desir'd to prohibit Dances in the Streets on Days appointed for Celebrating the Memory of Martyrs Tom. 1. conc pag. 915. In the 6th Book of the Capitularies of our
the Word of God and by the Laws of our Invincible Monarch its very just severely to sensure Transgressors and all those which passing over the Laws of Heaven and Earth give way to these furies and passions which proceed from an insatiable desire of anger and revenge XXXIII These Articles here contained touching Discipline are not so setled amongst us but if the good of the Church require it they may be changed but it shall not be in the power of Ministers Consistories Colloques and Provincial Synods thereunto to add alter or diminish without the advice and consent of a Natiâ—nal Synod CONFORMITY Upon the least knowledge of Ecclesiastical Antiquity it is apparent that the Conducters of Christian Churches has on several occasions done what our Discipline tolerates in this last Article and after the manner it prescribes thence it is that when there was any question made of a point of Discipline which regarded the Churches of the Roman Empire all in general it was only an Oecumenical Council could determine it as I have made appear on the second Article of the 6th chap. to which I referr the Reader moreover it were easy to produce sundry examples of changes made at several times in the Ancient Discipline but as 't is a truth own'd by all the world I will only touch at the matter of pennance the practice whereof has been various according to the diversity of times Councils having therein made several changes as occasion has required as appeares by Reading the Ancient Cannons see what I have writ on the 19th Article of the 5th chap. which is that of Consistories However Ecclesiastical Discipline should allways be conformable to the genious of the Gospel and to the mind of Jesus Christ and have for its foundation this maxim of St. Paul That all things should be done decently and in order in the Church of God â—ib 2. de Bapt. c. 3. Tom. 7. p. 40. This being so the Chrch has allways had power to change what it thinks fit in matter of Discipline seeing that according to St. Austins remark the last Oecumenical Councils have often corrected the former its true he saith it ought to be done without arrogancy or pride without strife or contention wirh oâ— spirit of love and charity For the Rule of faith remaining entire saith Tertullian the rest which relates to Discipline admits the novelty of Correction by means of the grace of God which operates and makes farther progress in us to the end FINIS A TABLE of the Chapters contained in this Book Chap. 1 OF Ministers Page 1 Chap. 2 Of Schools Page 111 Chap. 3 Of Elders and Deacons Page 118 Chap. 4 Of Deaconship Page 138 Chap. 5 Of Consistories Page 146 Chap. 6 Of Vniting Churches Page 153 Chap. 7 Of Colloques Page 158 Chap. 8 Of Provincial Synods Page 161 Chap. 9 Of National Synods Page 181 Chap. 10 Of Exercises of Believers Page 191 Chap. 11 Of Baptisme Page 197 Chap. 12 Of the Lords Supper Page 239 Chap. 13 Of Marriage Page 250 Chap. 14 Of Particular Rules Page 289 FINIS Advertisment Liptines vulgarly Lestines was a Royal House in the Diocess of Cambray Vernum Palatium was another betwixt Compiegne and the Monastry of St. Dennys and if I have called it Vernum in some places of this Work it is because Vernum has more likeness to Vernon than to Verneuil In the main whatsoever it is called it is known 't is not Vernon on the River Sein Forum July Fruil in Austria Urbs Carnorum Editions of some BOOKS I have made use of The Library of the Fathers Paris 1664 The Tomes of General and particular Councils ibid. 1636 The Councils of France by Sirmond ibid. 1629 Supplement of the Councils of France ibid. 1666 The Code of the Canons of the Vniversal Church which Contain the Canons of the Council Nice of Auryra of Neoraesaria of Gangre of Antioch of Laodicea of Constantinople of Ephesus of Chalcedonia Paris 1661 The African Code ibid. 1661 Eusebius his Ecclesiastical History ibid. 1659 Socrates and Zosomen ibid. 1668 Theodoret Evagrius Theodous Lector ibid. 1673
CONFORMITY OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE OF THE Reformed Churches OF FRANCE With that of the PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS Written by M. LA ROCQUE Minister of Quevilly near Rouen With his Learned Commentaries on each ARTICLE Render'd into English by JOS. WALKER LONDON Printed for THO. COCKERILL at the Three-Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCXCI LICENS'D August 10. 1691. J. FRASER To the Truly HONOURED CHARLES STAYNINGS Esq Of Honycault in Somersetshire SIR WHen one enters your Neat Habitation which for Conveniencies bear parallel with the proudest Palaces there appears a Scene of sundry Varieties A Cambden or Dugdale would be requisite to display the Antiquities of the many Honourable Families whereunto yours is related by Affinity and Marriage out of which Alliances has issued several who have been Famous in their Generations for their Heroick Actions in Peace and War which laudable Qualities have always been conspicuous in your self Sir Your Love of Learning and happy Familiarity and Intimacy with the Muses your constant Courtesie and Hospitality to Strangers and all your Friends and Acquaintance which I have several times personally Experimented as also your uninterrupted Love and Zeal for the Honour of God and the good and safety of your Countrey for which you have more than once Buckled on your Armour and appeared in the Field of Mars makes you like another Vespasian to be the delight of all that are happy in your acquaintance You have heretofore Sir been pleased favourably to accept and approve some of my weak Essays when I had the Honour of Living in your Neighbourhood near the famous Orchard Wyndham and knowing your deference for Pristine Learning and Purity I thought the Dedicating to you a Piece of that Nature and Stamp would not be excluded your Society and a place amongst the Venerable Fathers and Councils near your Chappel in your Library God has bless'd us with another King David to Fight our Battels and a Venerable * His Grace Dr. Tillotson Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Jehojada to Rule our Church so that I hope Peace and Truth will revive and flourish in our Days which is the hearty desire of Dear SIR Your ever bounden Friend and Most Humble Servant JOS. WALKER Covent-Garden Octob. 25. 1691. To the MINISTERS and ELDERS of the CONSISTORY which meet at Be'gle near Bourdeaux Gentlemen and much Honoured Brothers ALthough I have undertaken this Work for the Edification of all our Churches nevertheless I offer it to you in particular as a testimony of my due resentments for the Honour you formerly did me in inviting me to you I should willingly have imbraced your offer if my Conscience could have dispenced with it for besides that the Employment had been honourable and profitable to me it would have drawn me also a little nearer to my own Country for which I still retain an Inclination But the Providence of God which orders our Persons and Affairs as he pleases having otherways dispos'd of my Ministry bestowing it on a Church where I found a second Native Countrey by the marks of kindness I daily receiv'd of the goodness of those whereof it is compos'd I lose by little and little the hopes of ever seeing my Native Countrey and by consequence of assuring you by word of mouth the true sentiments of my heart But Gentlemen if I am at a distance from you in Body I desire you to be assured that I am present with you in Spirit seeing you are always in my remembrance and that I shall ever ardently beseech God that he will generally and in particular bestow on you his blessings Moreover the Work which I present to you will doubtless administer to you joy and comfort in manifesting the Antiquity of the Discipline under whose Maxims you live for as it scatters the false Aspersions of Novelty wherewith we are branded and the unjust reproaches wherewith you are dayly accus'd you will therein find such lively Marks and Characters of the Discipline of the Ancient Christians that you will bless God for seeing that your Fathers have walked so Religiously in that as well as in the Doctrine which their Ancestors had professed that is to say of those which had lived in the purest and happiest Ages of Christianity And indeed if you please to give your selves the trouble to compare together these two Disciplines you will soon find they are Children of one Father productions of the same Spirit and that drawing their Original from Heaven it is also their scope to direct men to Heaven in building them up in Sanctification and Holiness After which let men if they please blame your Ecclesiastical Policy hence-forwards you will have sufficient ground to stop the mouth of Envy and wherewithal to confound those which endeavour to censure it To justifie it 't will be enough to shew the Conformity there is betwixt it and that of the Primitive Church and this you may easily do because I think I have so fully evinced this resemblance that it will be visible to all those who will read this Treatise with an unbiass'd mind and that are not prepossess'd with malice against us As for us Gentlemen let us faithfully keep the holy trust our Fathers have transmitted to us let us diligently exercise this Discipline and carefully practise it but especially let us to our power conform to the Exercise of these Precepts by the Holiness of our Lives and the purity of our Actions this will be the ready way of baffling the many Volumes that attack your Morals and shew to all the World that these Instructions have no other scope but Justice and Piety Actions are of greater demonstration than Words and the Arguments drawn from Practice are more convincing than those that are borrowed from Discourse It was never better proved That there was motion in Nature than it was done by the Philosopher that walked about to convince him that deni'd it We cannot better justifie the purity of the Maxims of our Morals and Discipline than in living well seeing 't is very difficult if not impossible to live well under Masters which only teach Debauchery and that ingage persons in Extravagance Those who please to look on your Society will be convinced of what I say when they shall see in your wise conduct to shine forth the marks and effects of the innocency of your Discipline and the equity of its Maxims and Laws I hope you will favourably accept this Book which I Dedicate to you seeing its chiefest aim is to shew That 't is the same with the Discipline of the Primitive Christians for which all have so much respect and veneration The Father of Lights from whom comes every good and perfect gift be pleas'd to establish you more and more in his Love abundantly bless your persons preserve the Flock committed to your care and cause therein all Christian Vertues to abound to the end that you may be a pattern to others and that your Faith and Piety may be renowned
endeavoured to be inspir'd in Believers amongst us by the directions which has been made about the administration of Baptism and the Celebration of the Lord's Supper There has no less care been had in preserving the Holiness of Matrimony from whence has been removed all manner of filthiness and impurity and all imaginable precaution used to render it legitimate To conclude As for the Advertisements which regard particular persons it has been made known to all the world that nothing else was intended but to dispose Christians to Piety and Holiness and generally to all Virtues which are worthy the name they bear and of the Religion they profess Behold here the substance of our Discipline which how innocent soever it be nevertheless has found adversaries who being animated with a spirit contrary to that of Christianity have traduc'd it and still daily rail against it declaiming against it in their Pulpits endeavour to render it odious by the calumnies they accuse it of and by the unjust reproaches they load it with as if those which composed it and which have reduced it to the form wherein we find it had no other design but to open the door to Licentiousness to foment Vice and to incourage Debauchery and Excess but let them say what they list God which bringeth to light the secrets of all hearts will be the Judge of our Innocence and will one day cover with confusion and shame those which so cruelly censure and injure us Nevertheless I trust with the blessing of his Grace that the reading of this Treatise will better inform them and that finding therein an intire Conformity betwixt our Discipline and that of the Primitive Christians they shall be forc'd to change their notes lest that condemning the one they also condemn the other they resemble one another too much not to approve and like of both 'T is true that the better to discern this resemblance Conscience must be consulted silence must be imposed on the Passions and all prejudice which blinds our sight and darkens our judgment must be laid aside by this means the Conformity here proposed will be easily discerned and having discovered it they will declare for us for there would be no reason to make that pass for blasphemy in our mouths which was esteemed Oracles in the mouth of the ancient Fathers neither to reject this rule of our conduct seeing it is the same that theirs was It is what I undertake to prove in this Book and to make the thing the more evident I have examined from first to last all the Articles one after another that none might think I had a design to cast a mist over the Eyes of the Readers in establishing a Conformity in too large and general a way and that to save the credit of our Discipline I would not descend to a particular search and examination In effect the first thing I do is to produce the Text of each Article then I cite the Decrees of Councils and Testimonies of Fathers as much as may be necessary to justifie the resemblance which is in dispute from this Article I pass to another and so go on unto the last and I can say with a safe Conscience that in this work I have not used fraud nor artifice that there will be seen throughout the whole Book a great deal or plainness and if in some parts more of art and skill be required I am perswaded that there never will be cause to desire more of fidelity because I had so particular a view of resembling these two Disciplines and to represent so plainly the features and lineaments that the one might easily be taken for the other as it often happens to two Twins and to find in ours a true Copy of the Prototype and of the true Original Moreover I warn the Reader that having done as I have now mention'd nevertheless I have dispensed my self in reciting at large all that I alledg of Antiquity fearing to deform the Edition because the whole Work is but a continued tissue of Canons and Testimonies therefore I have only done it when I thought it necessary and in those places which absolutely requir'd it Secondly The Reader may take notice I do not always write the whole Decrees but just what relates to the matter I examine reserving the rest for clearing some other Article if it be proper for it And to conclude In the things which are evident and approv'd of all I have not oblig'd my self exactly in all places to cite the proper terms of Authors but just the sense and substance which nevertheless I have done in such a way that none will have cause to blame my Conduct if they will please to compare with the Originals what I have transcribed Although what I have hitherto writ be more than sufficient to stop the mouth of Calumny and to justifie our Ecclesiastical Government nevertheless there are some such untoward and cross spirits and withal so full of prejudice against us that they make pass for Criminal the things which are most innocent and easily condemn what is well worthy the Esteem and Love of the best of Men For instance If we forbid Dancing Comedies the Play of Hazard Mummeries the liberties of Shrovetide Carnivals and other Follies of this kind They say we are Leaders of the blind and they injuriously compare us to those Hypocrites in the Gospel to whom our Saviour says They strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel never considering that in acting after this manner they lessen the Glory of the Fathers which have so highly reproved the same things and pronounced severe Censures against all those which allowed themselves in these worldly pleasures were they not blinded with prejudice they would speak after another manner and they would infer from the severity of these Laws That those which made them were guided by the Spirit of God which inspir'd them with so great a Love to Virtue and so great a Hatred to Vice That they forbid those which lived under their Authority and Conduct the use of those things which were capable to infect the purity of their Lives and to stop the course of their Piety and Sanctification But the Censurers of our Discipline stop not there they pretend it favours Libertinisme because it permits those which separate for the cause of Adultery to Marry some other person and it may be said That this sole Article opens to the Preachers of the Roman Church a wide Field to declaim against us and that they take occasion or rather a pretext to accuse us as if we were favourers of Vice and enemies of Virtue There are also amongst them persons considerable for the Rank they bear which treat us with no less injustice for that having but little or no knowledg of the Ancient Discipline of Christians they imagine it was no way different from that which they at this time follow and on this wrong ground they look on them as Libertines which teach
usual Sermons Those who have received the gift of Writing shall be chosen by the Provinces and if it happens any Book be Publish'd against the Orthodox Religion it shall be sent to them that they may answer it a Colloque being deputed in each Province to inspect what shall be Writ and Publish'd to dispose of the Copies as shall be thought fit CONFORMITY There was never greater Liberty of Writing than in the first Ages of the Church at which time every body writ in the manner which he thought best and most convenient without being obliged to communicate his Works to any to be Examin'd for their Approbation nevertheless seeing there has been at all times amongst Christians some Bishops and Pastors fitter for this purpose than others such were for the most part employ'd for the defence of the Truth against Schismaticks and Hereticks It was for this Cause that the Book of Phaebadius or Phaegadius Bishop of Agen in Guien written against the Arrians of the East and West holds the Degree of the Epistle of a Council of Vaison of the Year 358. P. 3. Paris 1666. and bears the Name in the Supplement of the Councils of France St. Austin even to his Death was the Pen of Africa against the Enemies of the Church particularly against the Donatists and Pelagians and St. Fulgentius in the following Age succeeded him in a manner in the same Office especially during the time that above Sixty African Bishops of which Number he was one was Exil'd into the Isle of Sardegnia for although he was the youngest of them all the Author of his Life does observe that he was the Mouth and Spirit And it may yet be said of these two famous Writers That they exactly observed the Modesty Sobriety and Decorum prescribed by our Discipline to all those who put Pen to Paper for the Defence and Vindication of Truth Examples which should be carefully imitated and in the mean time condemn the rashness of Agobard Bishop of Lyons who Writing in the 9th Century against Amalarius Fortunatus cruelly rails against him and much more that of Lucifer Bishop of Caillari against the Emperor Constantius in the Library of the Fathers Tom. 9. of the Edition of Paris 1644. XVI Ministers should not pretend Precedency one over the other CONFORMITY S. Jerom informs us in in his Commentaries upon the Epistle to Titus and in his Letter to Evagrius That at the beginning of Christianity the Churches were Govern'd by the joynt advice of the Priests or Elders and this form of Government lasted until that by the instinct of the Devil there arose Parties in Religion saith the same St. Jerom for then recourse must be had to Election so that to avoid Schisms and Divisions one of the Company was chose to whom Election gave the precedency to all the rest whereas before it was the time of promotion as is testified by the Deacon Hillary in his Commentaries upon the 4th Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians amongst the Works of St. Ambrose for he saith That at first the Priests were called Bishops and that the one being Dead the other Succeeded that is to say That it was granted to the Ancientest Priest in promotion to bear the first rank or place this primacy being a primacy of Order and not of Power and Authority over others the only primacy forbidden by our Discipline in effect the first admitted held the first place in the Pesbytery just as the Dean amongst Councellors of Parliament or as the Dean of Prebends in a Chapter From hence it is also that after the Establishing of the Hierarchy in the Church Equality was still observed amongst the Clergy except 't was in the Power of Metropolitans over the Bishops of their Provinces and also it was a very limitted Power seeing it consisted only in the right of calling the Synods of their Provinces to preside and to take notice of all Ecclesiastical matters which passed in the compass of their District only but could not decide nor determin without the consent of their Suffragans after the manner of speaking at this time As for all the rest they had no kind of prerogative but the Order according to the time of their Reception the which is punctually observ'd amongst us and accordingly St. Austin finds it strange that in the Letter which the Primate of Numidia writ to his Brother Bishops to Assemble them in a Synod I say he thinks it strange to see himself named the third in it knowing that there were several others before him which saith he is injurious to others and exposes me to envy Ep. 207 To. 2. And in the Life of St. Fulgentius Bishop of Rusp in Africa which the Jesuit Chifflet caus'd to be Printed at Dijon An. Dom. 1649. with the Works of the Deacon Forran it is observed Chap. 20. That in the Assemblies of Exil'd Bishops in Sardignia he was seated lowest of all although he was the most considerable in Worth and Value because he had been last of all Ordain'd to be Bishop Tom. 4. Conc. p. 422. The 86th Canon of the African Code so appoints it the 24th of the first Council of Prague in the Year 563. Ordains the same thing as also the 3d of the 4th Council of Toledo in the Year 633. and the 112th Letter of Gregory I. his 7th Book to which we may add the 6th Letter of Hincmar Chap. 16. in the 16th Tome of the Library of the Fathers Ibid. p. 581. Page 408. It is the Reason that in Africa one was enjoyn'd to observe the precise day of Promotion and the Consulat African Code Can. 89. which is the 14th of Mileva Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury held a Synod Anno 679. the 8th Canon whereof is conceiv'd in these terms Apud Bedan Hist l. 4. c. 5. Let no Bishop prefer himself before another through ambition but let every one know the Time and Order of their Ordination XVII Ministers shall preside in Order in their Consistories to the end that none might pretend superiority over each other and none of them shall give testimony of any matter of importance until they have first communicated it to the Ministers his Brethren and Companions CONFORMITY This Article is only a continuance of the former for if there is to be an Equality amongst Ministers so that they cannot pretend superiority one above the other it is just that when there are several in one Church that they should preside every one in his Turn and Rank in the Consistory and that none of them should do any thing of his own head without taking along the advice of his Brethren and even of all those who have share in the conduct of the Flock especially when there is question of any thing of importance XVIII Heed shall be taken to avoid the Custom practis'd in some places of deputing certain Ministers by the Provincial Synods to visit Churches the Order hitherto used being sufficient to have cognisance
several places were excluded from all hope of Pardon in the bosom of the Church as is made appear by the 16th Canon of the Synod of Ancyra in the year 314. XXVI Those which in a Church shall fall into Idolatry thereupon shall come to live in another Church where the fault is not known shall confess their fault only in Consistory on condition that returning to the said Church which they had offended they also acknowledg their fault publickly in it however referring to the discretion of the Consistory to do otherwise if they shall so think expedient for the Edification of the Churches The same Judgment shall be made of all other Faults which shall require publick Confession CONFORMITY Amongst the Primitive Christians when a Sinner had been Excommunicated in a Church when he had been cut off from its body or only debar'd from the Holy Table another Church was not permitted to receive him without the consent of that which had inflicted the punishment It was by this Principle that the Clergy of the Church of Rome the See being vacant after the death of its Bishop Hygin about the year of our Lord 150. would not receive Marcion to the Communion because he had been Excommunicated by his own Father who was Bishop for having debauch'd a young Woman We cannot say they Apud Epiphan Petau Haer. 42. p. 303. do this without the Order of your venerable Father In Theodoret Alexander Bishop of Alexandria complains to Alexander Bishop of Constantinople that some Bishops had received to the Communion some persons which he had Excommunicated The 5th Canon of the great Council of Nice expresly forbids it as also several others which 't is needless to alledge But when there was no Sentence given against a Sinner that he had not appeared before the Guides to acknowledg his Sin or to be convicted of it and that by consequence he had not been Excommunicated it is very probable that if he retired into another Church where the Fault was not committed he there would be treated according to the Rules of Christian Charity without paying the satisfaction which he owed to that which he had scandaliz'd in case he return'd to it It is just what is prescribed by our Discipline whereas there is not that I know of any positive Decree in the Ancient Canons on a matter of the Nature of that which we Examine although it may be reasonably thought there is by what was practis'd in other occasions XXVII All offences confessed and reparation made for them shall be struck out of the Consistory Books except those which being join'd with Rebellion have been censur'd with Suspension from the Lord's Supper or Excommunication CONFORMITY As there were only publick Faults and scandalous Sins which were to be satisfied for in the presence of the People there is great likelihood that in the first Ages the Ecclesiastical Senate kept not a Register of others of a less quality and which deserv'd not to suffer the pain of publick Penance or at least if they were wont to be written they were carefully expung'd after the Sinners had done what was requir'd of them in presence of the Conductors and that the necessary Censures had been applied to them otherwise what the Church has ever carefully distinguished had been confounded and embroil'd XXVIII Consistories shall not give Certificates to Magistrates by Act nor otherwise nor particular Members of Consistories shall discover unto any the Confessions of Penitents which voluntarily or by admonitions given them shall have confessed their faults unto them unless it be in Case of Treason CONFORMITY There is nothing more judicious than this Rule which enjoins to keep the secret of Confession made by Sinners of their faults either to the Bodies of Consistories or to any particular person whereof they are compos'd except the crime of Treason because in effect the Seal of Confession should not be regarded when there is question of the Sacred Persons of Kings and of the safety of their Estates there being no subject of what degree or quality soever he be that in this occasion is not bound in Conscience to disclose the secret which has been revealed to him otherwise he renders himself guilty in the sight of God and deserves to be exemplarily punish'd by the Laws of Men. XXIX Proceeding shall be made by Ecclesiastical Censures even to Excommunication against those which saying they are of the Religion shall cite Pastor and Elders or all the Consistory before the Magistrate to make them give Testimony against Delinquents which shall have confessed their faults before them CONFORMITY The 11th Canon of the Council of Antioch Anno Dom. 341. expresly prohibits Bishops and Priests to address themselves to the Emperor for any business without the consent and Letters of the Bishops of the Province especially of the Metropolitan and the 12th deprives them of the liberty of defending themselves and leaves them no hope of re-establishment if after having been Depos'd by their Synod they have recourse to the Emperor instead of addressing themselves to a greater Synod for example to that of the whole Diocess composed of the Bishops of several Provinces The Oecumenical Council of Constantinople Assembled in the year of our Lord 381. appoints in the 6th Canon not to receive the testimony of those which despising the Authority of Provincial Synods and of those of the whole Diocess have the confidence to implore Justice of the Emperor or of the Civil Magistrate because say the Fathers they do injury to the Canons and they overthrow all Ecclesiastical Discipline XXX As for Crimes which shall be disclos'd to Ministers by those which demand counsel and consolation Ministers are enjoin'd not to reveal them to Magistrates fearing lest blame should be drawn on the Ministry and Sinners should be discouraged for the future to come to Repentance and make Confession of their faults which shall stand good in all crimes confessed except it be Treason CONFORMITY What I have writ on the 28th Article sufficeth for explanation of this which in substance contains the same thing XXXI If one or more of the People stir up dissention to disturb the unity of the Church upon any point of Doctrine or of Discipline or of the form of Catechism the Administration of Sacraments or of Publick Prayers and the Order of Marriage and that hereto particular admonitions are not a sufficient Remedy the Consistory of the place shall endeavour with speed to dissolve and appease the whole matter without noise and with all mildness of the Word of God And if the opposers will not acquiesce the Consistory of the place shall desire the Colloque to assemble in time and place more convenient having first of all made the said Opposers expresly promise which shall be register'd That they shall not spread abroad their Opinions in any sort or manner whatever until the Convocating of the Colloque under pain of being censur'd as Schismaticks yet they may have liberty to
Fasts an order which we exactly follow and which is grounded in that Jesus Christ nor his Apostles have not prescrib'd in any place of the New Testament on what dayes one should or should not fast as St. Austin has observ'd in his 86 Epistle to Casulanus IV. Those Churches which have been accustom'd to make publick Prayers on certain dayes may keep the order they have for a long time happily used and others may conform thereunto according to the means which God shall please hereafter to give them and as their Edification shall require CONFORMITY This Article has no other Scope but to establish an intire Conformity in the Churches as to what regards the Exercises of Piety and Religion can 27. Tom. 1. conc Gal. p. 199. near hand as when the Council of Epaume in the year 517. ordain'd that in the out Provinces for celebration of Divine Offices the same Order should be observ'd as is by the Metropolitan the same thing was concluded the same year in Spain in the 1 Council of the Synod of Gironda can 55. To. 3. conc pag. 806 and Anno 633 in the 2 Cannon of the 4 of Tolledo To. 4. conc pag. 582. and in the year 465 a Council of Vannes had appointed that throughout the whole Province the same Order and Rule for Divine Offices and for singing of Psalms should be observ'd V. There shall no Prayer or Sermon nor publick Alms be given at Burials to shun Superstitions and those which accompany the Corps shall be exhorted to behave themselves with modesty during the time meditating according to the object before their Eyes as well the miseries and shortness of this life as the happiness of the life to come CONFORMITY All pretence towards superstition whereunto Men are too apt to incline is in this Article endeavour'd to be avoided VI. Because Mourning don 't consist in Apparel but in the Heart Believers shall be warned to demean them therein with all Modesty rejecting all Ambition Hypocrisie Vanity and Superstition CONFORMITY This last Article prescribes Modesty and excludes Hycoprisie and Ambition which were generously opposed by the Primitive Christians CHAP. XI Of BAPTISME ARTICLE I. BAptism administred by one that has no Vocation is absolutely Void CONFORMITY The Author of Apostolical Constitutions contents not himself to forbid Women to Baptise he also prohibits all Lay Persons because they are not called to it in effect having employ'd the Ninth Chapter of the Third Book to shew that Women should not Baptise he thus begins the Tenth Neither do we suffer a Lay Person to Exercise any Priestly Function as to offer Sacrifice that is to say to celebrate the Sacrament or to Baptise or impose hands or to give the Benediction whether more or less for none takes to him this honor but he enjoys it which is called of God St. Basil was of no other Mind as the Jesuit Petau confesses in his Notes upon St. Epiphanius where he says St. Basil seems to have believed that Baptism conferr'd by Lay persons was Null and to speak the Truth this Holy Doctor speaking of the Opinion of St. Cyprian of Firmilian Pag. 351. and others which taught that all those ought to be Re-Baptis'd which had been Baptis'd by Hereticks he saith Epist ad Ampluit can 1. To. 3. p. 21. That they had appointed they should be purisied anew by the true Baptism of the Church no more nor less then if they had been Baptis'd by Lay Persons St. Basil would not have spoke after this Manner had he not been perswaded that Baptism administred by Lay Men is not true Baptism As for Baptism administred by a Woman cap. 17. p. 231. Tertullian had before condemn'd it in his time in his Treatise of Baptism and had shewn that they were not permitted to teach nor to Baptise St. Epiphanius in the Heresie of the Collyridians which is the 79 in order inlarges much in proving the same thing to stop the rashness of Women who would undertake to Baptise pag. 1059 1060. observing also that the Holy Virgin had not this power for if she had it Jesus Christ might have been Baptis'd by her rather than by John Baptist The fourth Council of Carthage made this Decree Anno 398 That a Woman should not presume to Baptise It is not then to be wonder'd that St. Epiphanius in the forty two Heresie observes as a thing blameable Tom. 1. conc can 〈…〉 That the Arch-Heretick Marcion permitted Women to Baptise II. A Doctor in the Church cannot Preach nor administer the Sacraments unless he be both Doctor and Minister CONFORMITY This Article is but a continuance of the former for seeing a Doctor in quality of a meer Doctor hath no vocation to Preach the Word nor to administer the Sacraments it is unquestionable the Baptism which he shall confer shall be no other than that which shall be administred by a Meer Lay Man to do it Lawfully he must not only be a Doctor but also a Minister III. A Jew or Pagan of what Age soever he be ought not to be Baptised before being well Instructed in the Christian Religion and that it appears they are so by their Confession CONFORMITY There 's nothing in this Establishment but what was practis'd in the Antient Church St. Justin Martyr testifies in his second or rather his first Apology that the Christians of those times would not Baptise those who would turn to their Communion until after they had believed and were throughly perswaded of the Truth of their Doctrine and moreover promised to live conformable to the holiness of their Laws and profession Pope Victor the 1 ordain'd towards the end of the second Century as the Pontifical Book saith in his Life that in case of Necessity one may Baptise all those that turn from Paganism to Christianity either in a River or in the Sea or in a Fountain or in a Lake upon condition nevertheless that in the first place they should give an Account of the Christian Faith and make an open Confession of it The Ten Books of Recognitions falsly attributed to St Clement Disciple of the Apostles are very ancient but forged and writ before Origen who liv'd in the third Century in the VI of these Books at the end we read St. Peter Baptised near the Sea Those which had fully received the Faith of our Lord and Saviour that is to say those which believed in him and which had been Instructed in the knowledge of his Gospel St. Jerom expounding these words of our Saviour to his Apostles Math. 28.19 Go teach all Nations baptising them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost St. Jerom observes In cap. 28. Mat. Tom. 6. pag. 66. the Apostles taught them first and that after having instructed them they baptised them with Water for saith he It cannot be that the Body should receive the Sacrament of Baptism unless the Soul has first received
pag 453. which he held Anno 1565 forbids the same thing to all that are Excommunicated XII Ministers shall diligently warn Godfathers and Godmothers to weigh and consider the promises they make at the Celebration of Baptisme and Fathers and Mothers also to choose Godfathers and Godmothers well instructed in Religion and of good Life and Conversation and that may be of their Acquaintance as near as may be and that by their means there may be appearance in case of need the Children may be well Educated CONFORMITY The Author of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy Tom. 2. cap. 7. p. 361 362. under the name of Dennis the Areopagite prescribes just what is appointed by our Discipline Jonas Bishop of Orleans follows the same Steps in the Ninth Century and Establishes by the words of St. Austin the Duties wherein Godfathers and Godmothers stand bound to those which they present to be Baptized it is to what he imploys the Sixth Chapter of the First Book of Instruction of the Layity and the words of St. Austin he makes use of Tom. 1. Spicil pag. 19. are taken out of the Sermon 133 of Time which is in the Tenth Tome of his works Tom. 9. Conc. pag 453. Cardinal Borrome in his first Council of Millan Anno 1565 follows the same steps with the Antients ordering to warn Godfathers of their Duty towards their Neophytes Tom. 5. Spicil pag. 212. both as to Doctrine and Manners where Fathers and Mothers are wanting A long while before this Council of Millan St. Eloy had recommended the same thing to Godfathers and in the Second Book of Capitularies chap. 46. Godfathers are enjoyn'd to apply themselves to teaching Children they have presented in Baptism because they have answer'd for them It is also the subject of a Cannon of a Council of Reims in Reginon Lib. 1. cap. 272. XIII Those which by Trustees shall present Children to be Baptized in the Churches of Rome shall be severely sensur'd as consenting to Idolatry CONFORMITY In the Antient Church those which lived in a Communion separate from others never presented their Children to be baptized in those Societies whereof they were not Members and with whom they held no fellowship nor correspondence in matters relating to Religion and the service of God XIV As for Names given to Children Ministers shall reject as much as in them lies and as shall be expedient those that savour of Antient Paganisme and shall impose on the said Infants the Names attributed to God in the Church as Emanuel and the like and moreover shall admonish Fathers and Godfathers to choose Names approv'd in the Holy Scripture as much as may be possible If they have a desire to some other they may be admitted those abovesaid only excepted and such as may tend to indecency CONFORMITY Dennis Bishop of Alexandria observes in Eusebius That the Antient Christians were wont to give their Children the Names of Peter Paul and other Holy Men as well to shew the Love and Respect they bore those Holy Persons as to render their Children as dear in the sight of God as those Holy Men were St. Chrysostom writes that the Antiochians loved Miletius their Pastor so tenderly that they call'd their Children by his Name for this end forgetting that of their Ancestors And in the Twenty First Homily on Genesis which is in the Second Volumne he Exhorts his Auditors not too lightly to impose all sorts of Names no not even those of their Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers and those which have been illustrious by Birth on their Children but rather the Names of these Holy Men which have been celebrated for their Vertues and in favour with God and elsewhere he complains of those which do otherwise according to which Eusebius speaks in his Book of the Martyrs of Pallestine chap. 11. of Five Martyrs that having quitted the Names they received from their Fathers because saith he they were it may be some Idol Names they took the Names of Elias of Jeremiah of Esaiah of Samuel and Daniel The Fourth Council of Millan whereof we spake on the Tenth Article requires this Custom to be followed I think therefore our Discipline does very well in keeping the medium betwixt too great a Severity and too great Indulgence whereunto the Establishments of our National Synods agree very well on this Article XV. Ministers shall warn their Flocks to behave them with all due Reverence when the Sacrament of Baptism is administred And to avoid the contempt most People make of Baptism either going out of the Assembly or behaving themselves in it irreverently when it is administred it has been thought good that for the future it be administred before singing the last Psalm or at least before the last Prayer and the People shall be warned to bear the same Reverence in the Administration of Baptism as of the Lords Supper seeing Jesus Christ with his benefits is offered us in the one as well as the other Sacrament CONFORMITY In the Fifth Action of the Council of Constantinople under Memma Tom. 4. Conc. pag. 109. which was its Bishop about the Year of our Lord 536 there is a request of the Church of Apamia where is shewn the profound respect one ought to have in the time of administring Baptism thence it is the Antient Doctors do call it a Mistery or terrible Misteries There is in the Euchology or Ritual of the Greek Church an excellent Oration to the Catecumeny which are on the point of receiving Baptisme Pag. 340. Par. 1647 in the which is represented in a touching and Pathetical manner the dignity of this August Sacrament with the reverence and holy fear one should have when one celebrates it Cardinal Borrome in his Fifth Council of Millan assembled Anno Dom. 1579. Appoints all Curates To warn frequently all those which assist at the Celebration of Holy Baptisme Tom. 9. Conc. pag. 616. to bring all manner of Piety Devotion and attention meditating secretly and with care the promises they have made to God when they were Baptized It is not therefore to be wonder'd if St. Chrysostom speaks of the Baptismal Fountain as of a redoubtable and desirable Pool both together In illud fiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 reg Caesor Patrisam Tom. 6. p. â—â—0 and if he Exhorts those which are going to be baptized to prostrate themselves as Captives before their King to cast themselves on their knees lifting up their hands to Heaven where the King of us all saith he is sitting on a Royal Throne because in effect we owe this respect and veneration to his Sacraments at all times that we are present when they are Celebrated XVI The Consistory shall have an Eye over those which without great Considerations keep their Children long from being Baptized CONFORMITY St. Cyprian Ep. 59. pag. 95. or rather a Synod of 66 Bishops of which he was Chief appointed that Infants newly born should be Baptised without deferring too long Baptising them and
condemned the Opinion of a certain Bishop called Fidus that would have it put off to the Eighth day as formerly to Circumcise them Pope Syricius in his Letter to Himerius Bishop of Tarragona Tom. 1. conc c. 2. pag. 689. writes towards the end of the 4th Century that he thinks convenient young Infants should speedily be Baptis'd The V. Cannon of the Council of Gironda in Catalonia assembled in the year 517 prescribes that they should be baptised the very same day they are born if it happen they are infirm which is very common Tom. 3. conc pag. 806. Peter Chrisologus Bishop of Ravenna shews sufficiently in his 10th Homily that care must be taken to administer Baptism to young Children Him that writ the forged Ecclesiastical Hierarchy in the name of Dennis the Areopagite Tom. 2. pag. 360 361. is of the same Mind and even attributes it to the Apostles although he determines not exactly the time I should never have done should I produce all the Testimonies of the Antients touching the Baptising young Children seeing it has always been practis'd in the Church my design is chiefly to shew that the Authors of our Discipline had reason when they appointed not to defer Baptising of young Children too long and I have sufficiently shewed that this practise is conformable to that of the Antient Church Nevertheless it is not to be thought this practise has always been so well establish'd in the Church that it has not found some Opposers Tertullian in the Eighteenth Chapter of his Treatise of Baptism would have their Baptism put off till they were of Age to give an account of their Faith Gregory of Nazianzen don't go quite so far Orat. 40. p. 658. To. 1. but at least it should seem convenient they should be of three or four years of Age before they receive the honour of Baptism because he thinks at that Age they may understand some questions as may be asked them and make answer thereunto The Christians of Thessaly referred the Christening of their Children till Easter whatever accident befell them so that a great many of them dyed without Baptism as Socrates observes in his Ecclesiastical History Chap. 12. Book 5. The more I consider all these things the more I approve the Conduct of our Discipline which prudently enjoyns Consistories to take care that the Baptising of Infants should not be deferr'd too long As for Adults it is well known that in the Primitive Church many deferr'd their Baptism a long while and many times to the end of their Life but it is also known that the Fathers have condemned those which did after this Manner XVII Although a believing Man has a Wife of the contrary Religion yet is he not excused if his Child be presented to be Baptis'd in the Romish Church and therefore shall not be admitted to the Lords Supper unless it be so that he has hinder'd it with all his might CONFORMITY Besides what I have said on the 13th Article it must be observed that the Father is Master of his Children and shall joyn to this remark the 14th Cannon of the Council of Calcedon which prescribes to Readers and Singers which are Married not to permit their Children to be Baptised elsewhere than in the Catholick Church if by chance their Wifes lived in another Communion and if unknown to them they have caused them to be Baptized in the Society whereof they are Members it enjoyns them that is to say the Husbands to bring them back into the bosom of the Church out of the which they have been Baptis'd XVIII Baptisms shall be Registred and carefully kept in the Church with the Names of Fathers and Mothers and Godfathers and Godmothers and Children baptised and the Fathers and Godfathers shall be bound to bring a Ticket wherein shall be contain'd the Name of the Child of the Father and Mother and Godfather and Godmother thereof and the Day of its Birth also shall be expressed CONFORMITY The Author of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy falsly attributed to Dennis the Areopagite makes mention of this Custom according to which was Register'd the Names of those which were Baptised Tom. 2. cap. 2. and of the Persons which presented them The Friar Maximus his Scholiast confesses it so in the VII Century As he fully explains himself in his Notes on the place we but now obser'd and Pachymeres who made a Paraphrâ—se on this same Writer in the 13th Century has not passed over this Circumstance in silence observing that the Priests and Deacons wrote on Holy Tables the Names of them who were Christened and of their Godfathers It 's true he was mistaken in thinking these Tables was that which in the Church was called the Book or the Diptyches of the Living for this publick Begister where the Names of the Baptised and those which presented them was a different thing from the Sacred Diptychs which were a kind of little Book of two Leaves in one of which was writ the name of the Living whereof there was commemoration made at the time of Celebrating the Eucharist However it be pag. 216. pag. 341.342 Tom. 9. conc pag. 412. cap. 2. de reform Matrim I make no question but the Greek Ritual makes allusion to the practise I Examin in a fine Exhortation which the Bishop makes to the Catechumeny on Good Friday The Council of Trent in the 24th Session Anno 1563. appoints Curats to write the Names of the Baptised and of the Godfathers and Godmothers Cardinal Borrome who glory'd to hold to the Decisions of the Council of Trent Ibid. p. 453. and to see them put in Execution failed not to prescribe to his Curats in the first Council of Millan held in the year 1565 Ibid. p. 548 549 674. to have a Book and therein to write the Names and Surnames of the baptised also of Father and Mother and Godfathers and Godmothers together with the day of the Childrens birth and of that when they are baptis'd which he also repeats in two other Councils held in the same place that is in the 4th and 5th XIX The Names of Fathers and Mothers of unlawful Children or Bastards shall be Register'd in the Church Book that they may be known except such as are born in Incest to the end to extinguish the remembrance of so heinous a Sin in which case it shall suffice to name the Mother with him or her that shall present the Child And in all illegitimate it shall be said that they are not born in Lawful Marriage CONFORMITY This Article is much the same with the precedent One saving only that there is question of Children born in unlawful Copulation which our Discipline requires to have their baptism Register'd on condition nevertheless that it shall be observed they are born bastards it is to what amounts the Ordinance of Cardinal Borrome in the place of the Council of Millan but just now cited for he enjoyns that it be marked in
according to the Flesh the Divinity remaining impassible that he was buried that he rose again the third day that he ascended into Heaven and that he will come in glory to Judge the quick and the dead to conclude I confess and believe that the holy Virgin is preperly and truly Mother and the Mother of a God which made himself Man Those who desire to be more fully informed of what I have now discoursed may Read the formulary of Nicetas whereof I have made mention on the 3 article of this chapter and in the place I marked After all 't is most certain the Catechumeny were instructed on all the articles of the Symbol which comprehend the principal points of Christianity and the essential and capital points of Religion the Catechisms of St. Cyrill of Jerusalem shew so much seeing he there Explains all those saving truths which those ought to know which fitted themselves to receive holy Baptism in effect they often heard mention made of God the Father and the Work of Creation with the Titles of Father of Almighty and of Creator which are given to him of Jesus Christ and of the work of Redemption with his quality of only begotten Son of God of the Holy Ghost and the Work of Sanctification they were taught there were three Persons in Unity of One and the same Essence that the second Person of the Trinity took on him our Nature in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the Operation of the Holy Ghost to the end he might dye and by his death make Expiation for our Sins fully satisfie his Fathers Justice for us appease his Wrath and restore us into his Favour They often heard mention made of his Person of his two Natures Divine and Humane of his Imployments and Offices of the Misteries of his Incarnation the Wonders of his Birth the Holiness of his Life the Glory of his Miracles the meanness of his Cross the shame of his Sufferings the power of his Resurrection and the Glory of his Ascension and of his Triumph thence they proceeded to the Explication of the Article of the Holy Ghost whose Divinity and Operations were established Jesus Christ having sent Him from Heaven on the Apostles for the establishing his Kingdom and for Illuminating and Sanctifying those which he was effectually to call to the Communion of his Gospel To conclude they were made understand the Nature of the Holy Church which was to beget them anew unto God of the Graces he bestows on it in this Life and of the Glory he prepares for it in that which is to come All these thing are at large treated of in the Catechisms of S. Cyril which I have cited and they are seen more succinctly in the 7 chapter of the little Treatise of Theodulphus of whom I have also spake and in that of Amalarius Arch-Bishop of Treves Pag. 1151 Par. 1617 dedicated to Charlemain in the works of Alcuin Besides it must not be thought that in the ancient Church they satisfied themselves with explaining to the Catechumenies the things which I but now touched it was also necessary they should give an account in answering the questions put to them on each article according to which Eusebius makes mention in his Ecclesiastical History of a man Lib. 7. c. 9. which had assisted at the Baptism of those which had been newly Baptised and he said he heard their Questions and Answers St. Cyprian in his 70 Epistle speaks also of this custom when he saith the Question it self made at Baptism is witness of the Truth Firmillian Bishop of Cesaria in Cappadocia teaches us the same thing when speaking of a woman which boasted to be a Prophetess he saith that to give the more colour to her Delusions Apad Cypri Ep. 75. pag. 147. She Baptised several persons using the usual words which were wont to be implyed in the Interrogations to the end her Baptism should not seem to differ in any thing from the Ecclesiastical Rule seeing that neither the Symbol of the Trinity nor the usual and Ecclesiastical Interrogations was omitted by her It is to which doubtless the first Council of Arles had regard Tom. 1. conc Gal. pag. 6. when in the year 314 it appointed in the 8th of it's Cannons not to re-baptise Hereticks if after Examining them on the Creed one found that they had been Baptised in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but only those amongst them who being interrogated answered not this Trinity that is to say to the questions made them touching the Trinity of Persons and unity of their Essence St. Pag. 86. Par 1631 Cyril of Jerusalem has not forgot this Circumstance in his two Mystagogical Catechisms no more than Optatus of Mileua in his 5th Book against Parmenian nor St. Jerom in the 5th Chapter of his Dialogue against the Luciferians nor St. Austin in the 20th Chapter of the 5th Book against the Donatists and he even tells us in his 23th Epist to Bonifacius that when Little Children were Baptised those which presented them answered for them to all the Interrogations which were made and the Author of the Book of Ecclesiastical Dogma's in the Appendix of the 3d. Tome of his Works establishes the same Custom in the 52 Chap. The Author of the Book of Sacraments in the 4th Vol. of the Works of St. Ambrose also observes this Custom in the 7th Chap. of the 2d Book And a great while before Tertullian in the 3d. Chap. of the Book of the Crown had made mention of the Answers of those which were Baptised therefore he could have wished they had deferr'd the Baptism of Children until they were in a state of being able to give an account of their Faith which opinion St. Gregory of Nazianzen seemed also to approve In the book of Sacraments of Gregory I. Pag. 73. it is demanded of the Party to be baptised Do you believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth He answers I do believe Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord which was born and suffered I do believe Do you also believe in the Holy Ghost do you believe the holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the forgiveness of Sins the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting I do believe Do you desire to be Baptised I do Somthing to this purpose is to be read in the book of Sacraments whereof I made mention in the foregoing Section and in the place I noted Besides there 's great probability that St. Peter made Allusion to this practice when he said in the 3d. Chap. of his first Epistle that the Baptism whereby we are saved is not that whereby the filthiness of the Flesh is washed but the witness of a good Conscience in the sight of God the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The Greek Word which we have translated Witness signifies properly Interrogation I add for a Conclusion of these
same thing The Third Council of Toledo made a like Decree Thirty Two years after the Synod of Paris and 't is still to be seen in the Fourth Volumne of the Councils and in the Tenth Cannon it is to what amounts the 358 chap. of VII Book of the Capitularies of Charlemain and Lewis the Debonnaire Photius Patriarch of Constantinople saies the same in the Fifth of his Letters taken out of an Ancient Eastern Manuscript there is not so much as the very cheat that has forg'd Two Decrees in the Name of Pope Evaristas pag. 391. but has in the first of them taught the same Doctrine and word for word as it is expressed in the Capitulary but now cited so that of necessity one must have borrowed it of the other It is easie to judge after all I have hitherto said Whether the Council of Trent does march in the steps of the Antient Tradition when in the 24th Session which is the Eighth under Pius the Fourth in the Year 1563 and in the First chap. of the Decree touching the Reformation of Marriage Tom. 9. Conc. p. 411. It anathematises those which affirm Marriages contracted by Children without consent of the Father and Mother are void and that the Father and Mother may break or ratifie them a Condemnation wherein Pope Celestin the First is concern'd if we believe what Gratian reports of him in the First Volume of the Councils cap. 4. p. 910. Whereas our Discipline adds That if Fathers and Mothers should be so unreasonable as not to consent to so holy and profitable a thing the Consistory may advise the I arties to have their recourse to the Magistrate it says nothing therein but what is agreeable to the Antient Practice as we find by the Letter of Photius pag. 392. which I mention'd for he declares that then the Judge may take cognizance of the Marriage and declare it lawful in preferring the protection of the Children and their lawful desire before the perverseness of Father and Mother II. As for those which are of Age and in possession of their own Rights they shall be warned by the Ministers and Publick Assemblies of the Church not to make any promise of Marriage but in presence of their Parents Relations Neighbours and good Friends and those which do otherwise shall be sensur'd of their lightness and slight of the said warning and 't were to be wished the said promises of Marriage were made with invocation on the Name of God CONFORMITY This Establishment was made to prevent Clandestine Marriages there are put into the First Volume of the Council some Decrees attributed by Gratian to Pope Celestine the First which in the 4th ordains that Parents of both Sexes should be present to witness the Marriage Paulinus Bishop of Aquilea in the Council he caused to assemble in a part of his Diocess called forum-Julii desires the Neighbours and chief of the place should be present at Contracts of Marriage to prevent the mischiefs may ensue by Clandestine Marriages The Council of Trent in the 24th Session which I mention'd on the other Article and in the same Decree of Reforming Marriages chap. 1. Will That it be done in presence of the Curate or some other Priest that supplies his place and of Two or Three Witnesses Which thing is renewed by Cardinal Borrome in the Fifth and Sixth Councils of Millan III. Believers which are of Age although they have been marryed yet shall so far honour their Father and Mother as not to conclude upon Marriage without first communicating it to them and for not so doing shall be sensur'd by the Consistory CONFORMITY We have already seen on the First Article That Children under Power of Father and Mother cannot lawfully contract Marriage without their consent In this there is mention of those which have already been marryed and who being desirous to marry a second time ought in civility to impart it to them St. Ambrose in the Ninth chap. of the First Book touching Abraham requires that the Widow Woman which intends to re-marry should refer to Father and Mother to make choice of the Person which she ought to marry Balzamon and Zonaras explaining the 42 Cannon of St. Basils second Canonical Epistle distinguishes Widows which are under the power of any Relation from those which depend only of themselves And for these last they pretend they are at liberty to marry to whom they please so it be in the Lord and according to the Laws and Cannons but as for the others they think they ought to have the consent of those under whose Tuition they are and who without it have right to dissolve the Marriage There is in the Third Tome of the Councils a Decree Attributed to some Council of Arles pag. 823. where there 's mention of the Marriage of Widows and of the consent of Fathers and Mothers IV. Fathers and Mothers making profession of the Reformed Religion whose Idolatrous Children would contract Marriage with Idolatrous Wifes shall be warn'd as much as possible to divert their Children from such Marriages and especially when they are not too hasty the Fathers shall imploy their Paternal Power to hinder them if they cannot prevail with them being present when contract marriage is passing they shall declare to have abhorrence of the Idolatry wherein their Children do more and more plunge themselves which being done the said Fathers may consent to the promises and conditions concerning the Portion and the like and shall represent in Consistory the endeavours they have used to prevent such marriages CONFORMITY We shall see on the Twentieth Article that it was prohibited to the Orthodox to marry with Persons of a contrary Religion unless they promised to imbrace the Orthodox Religion and that they should accomplish their promise before Marriage therefore the Fathers and Mothers could not consent to such Marriages but under the Conditions enjoyned by the Cannons It cannot then be said that our Discipline differs from that of the Antient Christians in the Matter which we Examin and the which shall receive farther Explanation from what shall be said on the Twentieth Article V. Henceforward shall be used in promises and Contracts of Marriage terms of the Future Tense and the said words shall not be esteemed so binding as words of the Present seeing words of the Present do not promise Marriage but does it in effect nevertheless these promises by words of the Future shall not be dissolved without great and lawful causes CONFORMITY Of all the Articles of our Discipline there has scarce any one been so often touched by the National Synods as this by reason of the difference which is found betwixt the Ancient and Modern way of Marrying for formerly the promises of Marriage were made by words of the Present and now they are made by words of the Future Tense according to the Laws of the Kingdom and the Establishment of this same Discipline I find nothing in the first Ages of the