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
we Examine That of Charanton I say in the year 1623. enjoins Exactly to Examine as well the Attestations as those which have them to have from their own mouth testimony of their Religion and Instruction As for the Order our Discipline prescribes to give and renew from Church to Church the Recommendatory Letters it is the same in substance of that establish'd by the Synod of Sardis An. Dom. 347. in the 8 9 10 and 11. Canons and particularly in the last where it appoints Bishops which are on the way to Examine these Letters of Recommendation and to ask of those which have them the Cause and Reason of their Travelling or to subscribe their Letters if they are just and to refuse them Communion if they have fraudulently got them CHAP. V. Of CONSISTORIES ARTICLE I. IN each Church there shall be a Consistory compos'd of persons which shall have the conduct of it to wit of Pastors and Elders and the Ministers in this company are to preside as also in all other Ecclesiastical Assemblies CONFORMITY From the very first Establishing of Christian Churches there was in each of them a certain number of Persons to whom the Government of it was committed and who were distinguish'd from the rest of the People by the Offices which they Exercis'd and by the choice which had been made of them for supervising the whole Flock and 't is what we call Consistory Origen calls it the Ecclesiastical Senate and makes it parallel with the Politick Senate of each City to shew that the Ecclesiastical Senate very much surpasses the other being compos'd of Persons of more virtue and knowledg than those which are Members of Politick Senates in Cities The Ecclesiastical Senate or Consistory is compos'd amongst us of Ministers and Elders and it ought not to be thought strange that we joyn Elders with the Ministers after all we have said on the 3d Chapter particularly on the 1st Article where we have at large prov'd that the Elders have had share for several Centuries in the Government of the Churches and that they in all likelihood would have still continued if the ambition of Bishops and their Clergy had not insensibly abolish'd this laudable practise The Deacon Hillary as has been shewn complained of it in his time But altho' the Elders partake with the Ministers in Governing the Flocks yet the right of precedency appertains to the Ministers therefore in these testimonies we have alledged to prove that the Church has had great advantage in the first Ages of Lay-Elders like ours they are for the most part named after the Clergy II. As for Deacons seeing the Churches for the necessity of the times hath to this day happily employed them in Governing the Church as Exercising also the Office of Elders those which hereafter shall chuse such or continue them they shall with the Pastors and Elders bear a part in the Governing the Church and therefore shall frequently be with them in the Consistory yea even at the Colloques and Synods if they are thither sent by the Consistories CONFORMITY The care of the Poor making one of the most considerable parts of the Church-Government it is with great reason we therein admit the Deacons because they were properly instituted to attend on this thing as has been above proved at large III. In places where the Exercise of Religion is not setled Christians shall be exhorted by the Colloques to have Elders and Deacons and to follow the Ecclesiastical Discipline and at the said Colloques they shall be inform'd to what Church to joyn themselves for their convenience and exercise of their Ministry from whence also they may not depart without communicating it also to the said Colloques CONFORMITY In the places where there is no publick exercise of our Religion although there are a considerable number of Families which profess it care must be taken they do not live without Discipline and to this purpose there must be Establish'd amongst them Deacons and Elders to take care of the Poor and to watch over the Life and Conversation of private persons whereof they shall give account at the Church-Consistory to the which they shall be joyn'd for the publick Exercises of Piety and the Service of God and there 's no question to be made but something of this Nature was done in the Primitive Church Apolog. p. 98. for instance in the days of St. Justin Martyr that they Assembled from the Country and Cities unto one place which sheweth plainly these Assemblies were not made every where although according to all appearance there was in all places one and the same Order for the conduct of Christians to the end they should do nothing unworthy the holiness of their Profession IV. There shall be but one Consistory in each Church and it shall not be permitted to Establish other Council for any Church-business whatever If in any Church there shall any other Council be established different from the Consistory it shall forthwith be suppress'd Nevertheless the Consistory can sometimes call to its aid such of the Church as shall be thought convenient when occasion requires and that Ecclesiastical matters be treated of only in the place where the Consistory doth Assemble CONFORMITY There was not anciently in each Christian Church any more than one Ecclesiastical Senate as we have heard by Origen and this Senate was not properly any thing else but what we call Consistory which is a company of Persons which the Church does invest with her Rights and Power to Govern the Flock V. It is in the Power of the Consistory to admit of Father and Son or of two Brothers in the same Consistory unless there was some other reason to the contrary of which the Colloque or Provincial Synod shall take cognizance CONFORMITY The Church being the Spouse of Jesus Christ and by consequence the Mistress of all the Power and of all the Ecclesiastical Authority which resides in Her as in its Fountain and in the Consistories as in Societies which she establishes for the use and exercise of this Power She may then have authoris'd the Ecclesiastical Senate and the Consistory to admit into its Body the Father and Son or two Brothers provided they are agreeable to the Church which has in general given this Power to the Consistory VI. It is also refer'd to the discretion of Consistories to call unto them young Students although they have no Office in the Church but not without weighty causes and considerations and when their Wisdom is known the said Students shall be there present not to have any voice in what Affairs shall be debated but that by their presence there they may the sooner become fit and proper to Govern the Church when it shall please God lawfully to call them thereunto Nevertheless it shall be at the Pastor's free choice to demand their Judgment to make tryal of their abilities which shall be done with great prudence and caution and promise not to make
left off as he doth testifie in his 80 Letter It may be thought that the Synod of Ries in Province had given some slight endeavour to the first practice Tom conc Gal. p. 69. Ibid. p. 74. in the year 439 when it confirms it in the Eighth Cannon but under condition that times were quiet That of Orange explains it self fuller in the year 441 Cannon 29 saying it was difficult to assemble twice a year by reason of sad and difficult times The Second thing I mean to observe is Ibid. p. 173. Ib. p. 268 284. That the Synod of Agde in Languedock made a Decree in the 71 Cannon by which it reduces these Synodal Assemblies to hold once a year and it declares in the same Cannon which is of the year 506 that it does so according to the constitution of the Fathers having respect it may 〈◊〉 to the Cannons of Orange and Ries but just now cite The 37 of the 4 of Orleans of the year 541 the 23 an◠〈◊〉 of the year 549 on the same with that of Agde 〈◊〉 â—he 18 of the 3 of Tolledo alleges for a reason in the 〈◊〉 589 the length of the way and poverty of the Churches To. 4 Conc. pa. 505 506. II. Ministers shall bring along with them one or two Elders at the most chosen by the Consistory and the said Ministers and Elders shall shew their Deputations If a Minister comes alone no heed shall be taken of the Certificates he brings along with him no more than there shall be of those an Elder shall produce if he comes alone without a Pastor which Rule shall be of force in all Ecclesiastical Assemblies If they cannot come they shall make their excuse by Letters of the which the Brethren there present shall be Judges and shall send their Memoirs signed by a Pastor and an Elder Those who shall fail of being present at Colloques and at Provincial Synods without lawful Excuse shall be sensur'd and the said Colloques and Provincial Synods may finally judge their Cause and dispose of their Persons CONFORMITY There are in this Establishment several things to be consider'd in the first place the deputing of our Elders with the Pastors to Synods which is very agreeable to the practice of the Antient Church which admitted the Layity into their Synods after the Example of the Apostles who in the Synod of Jerusalem make mention of the Church in distinguishing it not only from themselves but also from ordinary Persons which they design by the term of Elders Acts 15.22 to shew that by the Church they meant the faithful People which assisted at that Holy Assembly according to which the Fathers in the Council of Antioch distinguishes also the Churches of God Aâ—d Euseb l. â— c. 30. from Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Letter wrote to Dennis Bishop of Rome to Maximus Bishop of Alexandria and to all the Churches to inform them of the deposing of this Arch Heretick not that 't is necessary to think that the intire Churches assisted at this Council which was assembled from sundry Provinces but they assisted by some of their Body which represented them that is by some of the Body of the People But to say something more to the purpose I have shewn on the First Article of the Third chap. by Authority of Fermillian and of the African Code that the Elders such as ours were deputed to Synods with the Pastors against whom they sometimes pleaded the right of the People which deputed them The Second thing I observe on this Article is that the Deputies to Synods are obliged to be present there or to excuse themselves by Letter And if their Excuse be not sufficient they are sensur'd as shall be thought fit in the Colloques and in the Provincial Synods which have power to judge definitively of their Excuses and to dispose of their Persons which also is according to the practice of the Primitive Christians the Fortieth Cannon of the Council of Laodicea is conceiv'd in these terms The Bishops which are called to a Synod must not neglect to go thither and if any one does neglect he will condemn himself unless some Sickness doth hinder him The 19th of Calcedon requires that one should reprove in a brotherly way those which fail of coming although they are in good health and that they are hindred by any extraordinary business which might not be deferr'd In France no other Excuse will be admitted but that of Sickness as appears by a great many Cannons and amongst others by that of the First of Epaume by the 1 of the 2 of Orleans by the 80 Letter of Auitus Bishop of Vienna and by several other Decrees which I forbear to cite The Council of Agde in the 35 Cannon joyns to Sickness some command of the King next to which it deprives from the Communion of the Church till the next Synod those which have failed to be present at the former and as it deprives them for that time from the Communion of the Church it also deprives them from the Charity of their Brethren that is from the other Bishops to which the Council of Tarragona in the year 517 reduces in the VI. Cannon all the punishment of those Bishops which neglect to be present at the Synods where they have been called by the Metropolitans and excuses none but them which are hindred by Sickness The 15 of the 11 of Toledo assembled Anno 575 Excommunicates them for one year if they are not hinder'd by some Sickness or by some inevitable necessity the 76 of the African Code wills That they should be content with the Communion of their Church the V. Cannon of the Council of Merrida of which I will speak on the 10 Article of the IX chap. excuses those who are hindred by Sickness or by Order of the Prince As to what our Discipline saith That if the Pastor comes alone no heed shall be taken of the Memorials he shall bring nor of those the Elder brings if he comes without the Minister it agrees not ill with what we read in the 100 Cannon of the African Code where a Bishop complains of his Church but because the Elders the Church had deputed to defend its cause against the Bishop did not appear the Council referr'd the Judgment of this Affair to a certain Number of Bishops whereof some were nominated by the Bishop which was dissatisfied with his Flock and the rest were left to be named by the Elders although absent As for the Memorials whereof mention is made in this Article more may be seen of it in what I shall say on the Third Article of the Ninth Chapter III. Those Churches which have several Ministers shall depute them by turns to Colloques and Synods CONFORMITY This Article is grounded on that That Ministers may not pretend any Authority one over the other as I have made appear on the Sixteenth Article of the First Chapter and having no Power one
Superstitions of the Church of Rome And as for private Actions and the corrections proper thereunto it shall be what the Consistory shall judge convenient CONFORMITY The same may be said almost of this as I said of the Third and add withal That after our Separation from the Church of Rome for things which we do not approve we cannot with safe Conscience practice any of those things which have been the motive and cause of our Separation V. Notaries Secretaries and others who by their Offices are obliged to Sign and Seal things indifferently which are presented to them shall not be blamed for receiving Testaments passing Contracts and dispatching Letters of things which concern Idolatry nor Judges for judging causes concerning Ecclesiastical Matters and the Execution of Edicts CONFORMITY The Authors of our Discipline have prudently permitted those of our Communion in preferrence to those of the Church of Rome to do all things as may be done without prejudicing ones Conscience or indangering Salvation VI. Arbitrators shall not meddle with any Matters that concern Idolatry directly nor Indirectly CONFORMITY There needs no other Commentary on this Establishment then what I have remarked on the Tenth and Eleventh VII Advocates and Attorneys may not plead in causes which tend to taking away Preaching and setting up Mass and generally they shall not be suffered to give Council to the Romish Clergy in causes which tend directly or indirectly to the oppression of the Church and true Religion CONFORMITY There can be nothing more just than to forbid all Persons of our Religion to Establish what we do condemn and to destroy what we set up VIII Neither Bishops nor Officials nor Arch-Deacons such as they are at present have by right any Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical nor Civil Nevertheless because Believers are sometimes constrain'd to appear before them to gain their Right which otherwise were not to be obtain'd they may thither make their address being referr'd by the Magistrate to whom they are first to apply themselves CONFORMITY One may and ought also submit to all the Jurisdictions Established in a Country by Consent and Authority of the Sovereign especially when one is appointed so to do by Order of the Magistrate under this condition nevertheless That the Service of God be not thereby injur'd nor the Conscience concern'd IX Advocates that are Believers ought not to plead on any account whatsoever before Officials but only in cases for which one may prosecute their Right before them according to the precedent Article CONFORMITY This Article depending of the former its needless to look for any other Explication X. It is not a thing unlawful in it self to exercise Civil Jurisdictions and Procurations under Ecclesiastical Persons which do not at all concern that which they call the Spirituality CONFORMITY Seeing it is permitted to acknowledge the Jurisdictions of Ecclesiastical Persons on certain occasions and in the manner above established it may also be permitted to Exercise them XI Believers may not obtain nor publish Monitories nor Excommunications of the Roman Church CONFORMITY The Protestants not acknowledging the Popes Authority to be Legitimate they ought not to have recourse to it Directly nor Indirectly XII Inasmuch as it is not lawful nor expedient to go hear the Preachers of the Church of Rome or others that intrude themselves without being lawfully called the Flocks shall be hinder'd by the Ministers from going thither and those that will go shall be summon'd before the Consistory and sensur'd as the case shall require CONFORMITY It 's above Thirteen Hundred years ago that the Council of Laodicea made this Decree Those which are Members of the Church shall not be permitted to go to Church yards nor to Oratories of any Hereticks whatsoever either to Pray or to obtain the healing of any Sickness but the Believers that have so done shall for a time be deprived of the Holy Communion and upon confessing and repenting their fault shall afterwards be restor'd again XIII Lords Gentlemen and others shall be advertised not to entertain in their Houses scandalous and incorrigible Persons and especially if they suffer Priests singing Mass or discoursing to debauch their Servants or if they do anew take and receive such into their Service CONFORMITY This Establishment tends only to the purity of Life and preservation of true Religion which are things to which every body ought diligently to apply themselves XIV Fathers and Mothers shall be Exhorted to take great care in Teaching and Educating their Children which are the Seed and Nursery of the Church And those which send them to the Schools of Priests Friers Jesuits and Nuns shall be prosecuted by the severest Church Sensures Those also which put their Children to be Pages or otherwise to Lords and Gentlemen of the contrary Religion shall be advis'd how they do so CONFORMITY This proceeds from the same principle the other did and was made by the same Motives which are Motives very reasonable and very conformable to the practice of the Antient Church XV. Those who have Brothers Sisters and other Relations who having quitted Monasteries to serve God with a pure and good Conscience shall be Exhorted to assist them and to do according to the Laws of Humanity and Affinity CONFORMITY If Christians are obliged and they are obliged by the word of God and by the Ancient Cannons to exercise towards all Men Works of Charity of greater Reason should they do them to their near Friends and Relations especially when they are reduc'd to necessity for serving God with a good Conscience in departing from a Communion wherein they were fully perswaded they could not be saved XVI Ministers nor any else in the Church cannot Print Books made by themselves or others touching Religion nor any way publish them without communicating them to the Colloque or if need be to the Provincial Synod and if the matter require hast to the Accademies or to two Pastors which shall be nominated by the Synod and shall attest the Examination by them made of the said Writings CONFORMITY This Ordinance is very necessary to prevent all the evil consequences as may sometimes ensue without the Examination therein prescribed the same thing is done amongst the Papists whose works are commonly approved by some Doctors and at Rome by the Master of the Sacred Pallace See what I have said on the Fifteenth Article of the First Chapter XVII Those which take Pen in hand to treat the Histories of the Holy Scriptures in Meter are advertis'd not to mix therein any Poetical Fables and not to attribute to God the Name of false Gods and not to add nor diminish to the Holy Scriptures but to keep as near as may be to the Stile of it CONFORMITY This Article will find it self sufficiently explain'd by the things I have remarked on the Twelfth Article of the First Chapter whether I refer the Reader XVIII The Books of the Bible whether Cannonical or Appocriphal shall not be transformed into Comedies nor
reasonably be doubted but that in all times those have been Examin'd in the Church which were to Labour for her Instruction and Edification and which were to serve in Preaching the Word and Administring the Sacraments I grant this Examination may differ according to the diversity of Places and Persons which were to do the Office of Examiners some doing it with more Exactness and Severity and others with more Mildness and Charity and I can't tell if ever there has been seen on this Subject a more strict and exact establishment than that which our Discipline doth prescribe Whatever it is it is most certain that is That the Examination of Life and Doctrine however 't was perform'd always preceded Ordination The 19th Canon of the 1st Council of Nice the 12th of that of Laodicea and the 1st and 4th of Carthage ordaining it should be so although the latter makes it more ample than the two others and declares distinctly the Questions which were to be made and the Articles upon which those were to be Interrogated which were to be called to be Bishops and I make no question but 't was with regard to this Examination That Gregory the first condemn'd in his Pastoral Part. 1. c. 1. T. 1. Paris 1586. The temerity of those which being ignorant and destitute of knowledg would presume to take on them the Office of Pastors never considering that the Conduct of Souls is the Art of Arts That is to say the Noblest and most Excellent of all the Sciences and withal the most Difficult the most Intricate and most Laborious and by consequence requires more Study and Care than any other whatsoever What a shame would it be for a Pastor to speak yet with the same St. Gregory Part. 2. cap. 11. in the same Treatise If he should go about to learn in the time that he should resolve the difficulties should be propos'd to him Whereas he ought always to be ready to give to Believers the satisfaction which they desire upon things which concern Conscience and Salvation This laudable Custom continued a long while after the Death of Gregory but since the Ninth Century the Examination of Pastors was insensibly brought to so mean a State that there needed not much Learning to Answer the Questions that were propos'd And to conclude The greatest part of the Vocation and Consecration of those to whom the Care and Conduct of Souls was committed consisted only in Shew and Ceremony or at least so little heed was taken of their Judgment and Capacity that there was seen to grow in a little time from a practise so different from that of the Primitive Christians that gross Ignorance which was the Spring and Cause of most part of the Evils and Disorders which have befaln the Western Church Not but that several Rules have been made to redress this great Mischief but it had got too deep root Besides Favour and Authority had a greater share in these promotions than the Glory of God and the Instruction of the People especially the Power of the Bishops of Rome who by degrees had gain'd to themselves the greatest part of Ecclesiastical Power bethought themselves about the XI Century to cause to be demanded or demanded themselves of the Bishops which were Examined and in the very moment of their Examination if they did not promise subjection and fealty in all things to St. Peter Tom. 10. Probl. Pat. p. 107. and to his Church to his Viear and to his Successors as appears by the Roman Order which in all likelihood was writ about that time and where is to be seen at this day amongst the Questions made to the Bishop which was Examin'd those which regard the Obedience and Fidellity which I but now mentioned and there is to be seen in the Roman Pontifical Printed at Venice in the Year 1582. Page 25. the Form of the Oath they were made to take and whereunto they ingaged themselves in doing it which are things quite different from the Discipline of the Primitive Christians I know very well that about the year 722. Boniface Archbishop of Mayence made an Oath to Pope Gregory the II. at the time of his Ordination and Promotion to the Prelacy but this Oath did properly contain no more but a Profession of Faith and the Essential Duty of an Apostollical Legat and of a Vicar of the Holy See as they express it which is to make Bishops observe the Canons and to give the Pope Information of the great difficulties which is therein I know also this Prelat Assembled a Council as he recites it in his 105. Letter to the Bishop Cuthbert wherein he made alike profession to the Bishops which there assisted but besides that all this was done but only by Order of the Princes and Bishops of the Kingdom as may be gathered from the very Letter of Boniface and from the 1st Canon of the Synod of Leptines where Prince Carloman protests That by advice of the Bishops and Nobles of the Kingdom he setled Bishops in all Cities and gave them for Chief and Superiour the Archbishop Boniface Legat of the Holy See Besides this I say these Examples now alledged went no farther if my memory fail me not before the time I mention VI. Him whose Ordination shall be signified to the Church shall Preach the Word Three several Sundays in publick but not Administer the Sacraments nor Celebrate Marriage in presence of all the People that they may observe his manner of Teaching The said People being expresly warn'd That if there be any one that know any just cause wherefore the Election of him so signified may not be fully ratified or that he be not liked of they may come and make it known to the Consistory who will patiently hear any one's Reasons to judge of the whole The silence of the People shall be look'd upon as a full consent But if there be murmuring and that the Party named is liked of the Consistory and not of the People or the major part of them his admission shall be deferred and the whole shall be reported to the Colloqui or the Provincial Synod to discern as well the Justification of the Person named as of his Reception and altho' the Person named was there justified yet he shall not be impos'd as a Pastor on the People contrary to their desire nor so much as to the dislike of the greatest part of them nor the Pastor in like manner against his will to the People and the difference shall be clear'd by order as abovesaid at the Charge and Expence of the Church which shall demand it CONFORMITY Although a Minister might be judged capable by the Synod or the Colloqui which have Examin'd him That is not sufficient to Establish him It is moreover requisite that the Flock that is appointed for him be satisfied with his Preaching therefore he is obliged to Preach Three several times before he receives the Imposition of Hands to the
condemns all Simoniacal Ordinations and deposes as well him which gives as he which takes Ordination for Money and serves no better those which intermeddle in this filthy and shameful Traffick The 29th of the Canons attributed to the Apostles is set down in these terms That the Bishop Priest or Deacon that has obtained this Dignity by money be deposed with him that gave him Imposition of Hands and debar'd from the Communion There 's an infinite number of other Canons no less severe to those which expose to sale the gift which can't be sold nor valued as the Fathers of Chalcedon express it The Combinations which our Reformers condemn and under which they comprehend the support and favour of great men whose credit and recommendation may contribute to the promotion of some one these contrivances I say are forbid by the ancient Discipline St. Chrysostom condemns them highly in his third Homily on Chap. 1. of the Acts of the Apostles St. Jerome does the like in his Commentary on the first Epist to Titus Tom. 3. Concil pag. 757. Pope Hormisda in his 25th Letter to the Bishops of Spain follows the steps of these two Illustrious Writers Gregory the first in several places of his Writings forbids to confer Orders or prefer to Church-Offices by motives of favour or consideration for persons of Quality so 't is they express themselves in the 22d and 24th of the second Book in the 56th of the fourth in the fifth of the seventh and in the fiftieth of the ninth Unto all these testimonies may be added what he writes in the fourth Homily upon the Evangelists Lib 9 c. 17 lib. 1â— c. 25. and in his Moral Exposition of Job the 30th Canon of those which go in the Apostles Names is formal in the case If a Bishop employ the great men of the times to obtain a Bishoprick let him be deposed and deprived of the Communion with all those that are concern'd with him Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 280. The Eleventh Canon of the Fifth Council of Orleans in the year 549 prescribes something of the same nature Quarelling and Violence which sometimes is of ill consequence are punished with deposition in the 65th Canon of the Apostles If any one of the Clergy having a difference with any other gives him a blow whereof he dies let him be deposed by reason of his rashness and too much passion And the 27th involves in the same punishment in general all those which fight and strike each other The ancient Discipline as well as ours deposed Ecclesiastical Usurers as appears by the 17th Canon of the first Council of Nice which plainly threatens with this punishment all those of the Clergy which shall be guilty of this Sin After the definition and prohibition of this great Synod to this Canon may be added the fourth of the Council of Laodicea though 't is not so positive and express the 44th of the Apostles is formal in the case The crime of Treason and Rebellion has not been omitted in our Discipline being it furnishes a just and more than sufficient cause of deposition If any one saith the 84th Canon of the Apostles offers to injure the King or the Prince let him be punished if he be of the Clergy let him be deposed and if a lay-lay-person let him be Excommunicated As for deserting their flocks by Pastors forsaking them without license it is punished by the same punishment by the third Canon of the Council of Antioch in the year 341 and by the tenth and twentieth of that of Chalcedon There remains something to be said of Schism which commonly is attended with Rebellion against the Ecclesiastical order and with a disregard of Caveats and Remonstrances made to the Authors of these Partialities and Divisions by those who have right and power to do it The sixth Canon of the Council of Ganges in Paphlagonia assembled Ann. Dom. 325. or as I think much later has this Decree If any shall hold private Assemblies out of the Church and if out of contempt to the Church they undertake to do that which should be done in the Church only without so much as having a Priest by consent of the Bishop let him be Anathema The 31st of the Canons which go in the Apostles Names pronounces sentence of deposition against a Priest who despising his Bishop altho he has done nothing contrary to Justice and Piety if he makes Assemblies apart and raises Altar against Altar doing after this manner he manifests his Tyranny and Ambition it 's true he advises he should be warn'd three times before he is degraded The fifth Canon of the Council of Antioch is too remarkable to pass it under silence If a Priest or Deacon says it slighting his Bishop and separating himself from the Church makes a Congregation apart and raises an Altar and refuses to hearken to his Bishop when he recalls him and don 't prepare to please and obey him at the first nor second time that he calls him let him absolutely be deposed without any remedy for his evil nor recovery of his place and dignity and if he continue to stir up troubles and seditions in the Church let him be punished by the Secular power as a seditious person The first Oecumenical Council of Canstantinople in the year 381 employs its sixth Canon against those which endeavour to confound and overthrow the Ecclesiastical Order And the first Council of Ephesus assembled in the year 431 deprives of all power over the Bishops of the Province and from all Ecclesiastical Communion the Metropolitan who separating himself from the holy Oecumenical Synod has or shall adhere to the Council and Assembly of Apostacy and Rebellion and moreover declares him incapable of exercising any Office subjects him to all the Bishops of the Province and to all the Neighbouring Metropolitans which make profession of the Orthodox Faith and to inhance his punishment it degrades him from the Episcopacy One may add to this Decree the 3 4 and 5th Canons of the same Council Howsoever it be Rebellion and the contempt of Remonstrances which for the most part accompany Schism and Divisions did not find in the Discipline of the Ancients more kind entertainment than in ours seeing that after two or three Advertisements and Summons they proceeded as has already been seen to the degrading of obstinate and rebellious Clergy-men So it was done to Nestorius who was cited three times before he was condemned as is evident by the Acts of the first Council of Ephesus It was also the manner of proceeding used against Macarius Bishop of Antioch a Monotholite towards the end of the seventh Century In the Sixth Oecumenical Council held at Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine Pogonat or the * Great Beard Hairy and it may be said 't was the usual practice of the Church The 74th Canon of the Apostles explains it self at large for it orders when a Bishop shall be accused the Bishops shall summon
confer with the Ministers and Elders if they have not been sufficiently instructed And in case the gainsaying Brethren refuse to make the said promises they shall be censur'd as Rebels according to the Discipline and the Colloque being assembled shall proceed as above And if the said Opposers have been patiently heard and refuted by consent the whole shall be Registred if not the Provincial Synod shall be desir'd to meet extraordinarily if need require at the time and place that the said Colloque shall judge most convenient after the Promise as above-mention'd reiterated by the said Opposers The Synod assembled shall first of all consider with good deliberation and consideration of the Matter the Places the Time and Persons whether it shall be expedient that the Conference with the said Opposers be made in presence of the People the Doors shut or open and that Audience be given to any of the Parties present that would speak or not and that in all Cases the decision should belong to others than to those called in the Province and the whole according to the Order contain'd in the Discipline And that then if the said gain-sayers will not obey they shall make the same Promise as above and shall be transmitted over to the National Synod ordinarily or if necessity require extraordinarily assembled the which shall hear them with all Holy Liberty and there the intire and final resolution shall be made by the Word of God to which if they refuse to acquiesce from Point to Point and with express dislike of their Errors Registred they shall be cut off from the Church CONFORMITY This Article shall be Explain'd in what I shall observe on that which follows XXXII A Pastor or Elder breaking the Vnity of the Church or stirring up contention about some Point of Doctrine or of Discipline which he has subscribed or of the form of Catechism or Administring the Sacraments or publick Prayers or Marriages refusing to obey what the Colloque has determin'd shall then be suspended from his Office to be farther proceeded against at the Provincial or National Synod CONFORMITY A Council of Africa Ep. 71. p. 121. ult Edit in the time of St. Cyprian Deposed those of the Clergy which by their Rebellions disturb'd the Concord and Unity of the Church St. Basil in his 1st Canon of his 1st Canonical Epistle to Amphilochius prescribes after what manner one should act not only against true Schismaticks but likewise against all those which stir up Divisions in the Church and which also make Conventicles and Assemblies apart He speaks in the same place of Hereticks and as these are three sorts of Persons very different one from another this Doctor doth also adjudge diversity of Punishments But besides what I have now remark'd we have also several Canons of Ancient Councils which do favour the Order of our Discipline the 6th of the 1st Universal Council of Constantinople is against those which endeavour to confound and overthrow the Ecclesiastical Order The VII first of the 1st of Ephesus which is the 3d Oecumenical were compos'd against all such of the Clergy as well as People which should depart from the Decrees of the Council and that should adhere to Revolt or Apostatize The 18th of Chalcedon forbids all sorts of Fraternities and Combinations against the Church observing That seeing this Crime is forbid by the Civil Laws that it ought much more to be defended in the Church It is for this Cause ought to be cited the 21st Canon of the 3d Council of Orleans in the year 538. Tom. 1. Conc Gal. p. 254. Ib. p. 480. and the second Decree made by the Synod of Rheims in the year of our Lord 630. XXXIII In each Church there shall Memorials be made of all remarkable things in Matters of Religion and a Minister shall be deputed to each Colloque to receive and carry them to the Provincial and from thence to the National Synod CONFORMITY Pope Fabian who finished his Days by a Glorious Martyrdom for the Cause of Jesus Christ during the Persecution of Decius about the year of Christ 250. Pope Fabian Tom. 1. Coâ—il p. 113â— I say Established persons to Collect the Acts of Martyrs as is to be seen in the Pontifical Book commonly attributed to Damasus and it may truly be said this was the principal subject our Discipline aimed at in the Article which we Examine as appears by this Establishment of the National Synod of Privas in the year 1612. The Provinces shall be exhorted carefully to recollect the Histories of Pastors and other Believers which in these last times have suffer'd for the Truth of the Son of God and such Memoirs shall be sent to Geneva to be made publick In the same Pontifical of Damasus Ubi supra p. 30. which I but now spoke of it is observ'd That St. Clement Disciple of the Apostles had a long time before Fabian divided the seven quarters of the City of Rome to seven faithful persons of the Church that each might exactly enquire in his District the Acts of Martyrs in the number of which he was put himself Ib. p. 110. about the year our Lord 100. Pope Anterus Predecessor to Fabian did near-hand the same as was done by Clement But if that was done in the Church of Rome it was also practised in divers others St. Cyprian testifies it was practised by that of Africa in his 37th Epistle where he ordains That the Day of the Death of Martyrs should be taken account of to the end to celebrate their Memory It is in this regard Tertullian speaks De Coron c. 13. des Fastes of the Feasts of the Church and the Letter of the Church of Smyrna touching the Martyrdom of St. Pollycarp gives us also a proof of the thing now in question and which ought to be looked upon as the Original of what we call Martyrologies which comprehend not the Martyrs of one Church only but generally of all as can be discover'd in which 't is thought Eusebius first laboured CHAP. VI. Of the Union of Churches ARTICLE I. NO Church can pretend Precedencie nor Domination over another nor one Province over another CONFORMITY Let the Reader see what I have said already on the Sixteen and Eighteen Articles of the first Chap. where he will find this Article Established and its conformity to the ancient Cannons II. No Church can transact any matter of great consequence wherein the Interest or Dammage of other Churches may be concern'd without the advice of the Provincial Synod if it be possible to assemble it and if the matter be pressing it shall communicate and have the advice of the other Churches of the Provinces at least by Letters CONFORMITY This Second Article is also very conformable to the Antient Discipline according to which the Affairs of each Province were administred by the Provincial Synods it is partly the Subject of the Second Cannon of the First Oecumenical Council of Constantinople