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
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
same City of Antioch In the Year 346 Euphrates Bishop of Cologne was also depos'd by a Council Assembled in the same City for an impiety much like that of Paul of Samosatia for he denied that Jesus Christ was God It was on the same ground that in the Ancient Church Pelagius Celestius Julian and their followers Nestorius Eutyches and many others were Anathematiz'd not to speak of what was done against Arrius in the first Council of Nice I do not here make mention of scandalous vices for which Ministers deserve to be depos'd because I shall speak of them in the following Articles I will only add that the 45th Canon of the Apostles deprives of the Communion the Bishop Priest and Deacon which do so much as pray with Hereticks that is to say according to Balsamons interpretation If they have any Communication with them but he deposes them if they permit them to do any Ecclesiastical Function and the 46th if they allow of their Baptism and Oblation XLVIII Those shall not be depos'd who through Sickness Age or other the like accident shall be incapable of doing their Office in which case they shall still enjoy the Honour and shall be recommended to their Churches for a maintenance being provided of another which shall perform their Office CONFORMITY Old Age and Sickness being no lawful cause of deposition it is with good reason they here except them out of the Number of those things for which Bishops and Deacons are wont to be degraded and to turn them into the Rank of Lay-men from the which they were before distinguish'd as for Old Age it is certain that in the Primitive Church when a Pastor was well stricken in years and that by reason thereof he could not perform all things relating to his Office some other was chosen to assist him but in continuing to him the Honour of his Office and a competent Maintenance Euseb Hist Eccles l. 6. c. â— It was so practised at the beginning of the 3d Century in regard of Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem Aged 116 years for there was by consent of the Neighbouring Bishops given to assist him in that weighty employment Alexander who had been Bishop in Capadocia It was for the same reason that Theotecnus Id. ib. l. 7. c. â—2 p. 288. Bishop of Caesarea of Palestine Consecrated one Anatolius Bishop with whom he divided the care of his Disocess which they govern'd both together for some time These are the two Ancientest Examples of Coadjutors of Bishops as is spoke at this time they were at first introduced for the ease of Ministers who for their extreme Age could not discharge the Duties of their Pastoral Office but since that time Favour and Ambition has had a much greater share in establishing these kind of Coadjutors than Necessity although the Council of Antioch in the year 341 expresly defends it in the 23. Canon which practise St. Austin was a stranger to when Valerius made him his Coadjutor and designed him his Successor as Possidonius observes in the eighth Chapter of his Life where he takes if I be not deceived the Council of Antioch for that of Nice the fourth Canon of which prescribes only the manner of Promotion of Bishops whereas the 23. of Antioch absolutely prohibits a Bishop to establish himself a Successor and by the same means a Coadjutor I come now to Sicknesses and other like accidents for the which we do not think fit a Minister should be deposed we do not indeed in the first Ages of the Church find any Rule on this subject because in all likelihood as yet none were found that would dispute to a Pastor who by reason of Sickness could not discharge the Duties of his Calling the name and quality of Pastor no more than things necessary for his subsistence In the time of Gregory the First things having in all likelihood changed face in this regard this Prelate made a Constitution which is yet to be seen in the 11th Book of his Letters Indict 6. Ep. 7 8. by which he appoints that a Coadjutor shall be provided for the Bishop who by reason of Sickness cannot take care of his Congregation which nevertheless shall be bound to maintain him as before it is much after this sort he deals by the Bishop of Rimini who by his own confession a great pain in the head rendered incapable of discharging his Episcopal Office for which cause he desired to be absolutely discharged that another might be put in his place which could not have been done without his consent but only to have given him a Coadjutor The Bishops of France did otherwise in regard of Heriman or Herman Bishop of Nevers who was troubled with a mighty head-ach but he stoutly resisted them as also Vvemlen Bishop of Sens his Metropolitan for they would have put another in his place against his will but having writ to Pope Nicholas the First in the year 862 he disapproved what they did in the case Tom. â— Cone Gal. Ann. 862. p. 87 88 politickly avoiding the question they put to him touching the forged Decretal of Melchiades In the Appendix at the end of the Letters of Loup Abbot of Ferriers of the last Edition there 's a Letter of Innocent the Third to the Archbishop of Tours writ in the year 1209 whereby he will have the Bishop of Perigueux to resign his Bishoprick to another because he was uncapable and unfit to discharge the Office and that moreover he wasted the Treasure of the Churches altho he judges the former reason sufficient cause for the resignation But Innocent the Sixth in the sixth year of his Popedom that is about the year of Christ 1360 writes to Girlac Archbishop of Mayence to appoint a Coadjutor to Salvian Bishop of Worms by reason of his great age and sickness without leaving the Coadjutor any hopes of succeeding him after his death the Letter is to be seen in the same Appendix Mark Patriarch of Alexandria Apud Beaureg Annot. in Can. Apost To. 2. Pandect p. 37. having demanded of Balsaman the famous Greek Canonist that liv'd in the Twelfth Century If a man that had but one hand or but one eye were worthy the honour of Priesthood and whether 't were permitted to him that after Ordidination chanc'd to be dismembered in any part of his body to celebrate Divine Service or not Balsaman after having alledged the 77 and 78 Canons of those which go in the Apostles names to resolve the difficulty proposed to him adds That those ought not to be established in Ecclesiastical Offices which by reason of their sickness and infirmities are incapable of doing their Duties but as for those which since their Ordination are faln into any mischance he declares That if their inconvenience don't hinder them from discharging their calling they are permitted to continue in it and to celebrate Divine Service but if the inconvenience be such as that it hinders them he will that they
him and if he appears and that he confesses or is convicted of the crime he is accused of they shall declare what punishment he has deserved but if being summoned he don't appear it requires to send two Bishops to cite him a second time and if he fails again that two others be sent to cite him a third time and if through contempt and rebellion he refuses to appear after those three Citations it requires the Synod to pronounce against him what they shall think fit fearing lest flying from judgment he may think to have gained his Cause I almost forgot to have spoke a word of Dancing and other Disorders which are prohibited to our Ministers in the 47th Article which is very conformable to the 45th Canon of the Council of Laodicea especially if also one considers the 35th of the same Council L. If a Minister be convicted of enormous and notorious Sins he shall speedily be deposed by the Consistory calling unto it the Colloque or in default of it two or three unsuspected Ministers And in case the guilty Pastor complains of wrong and injury the whole matter shall be reported to a Provincial Synod If he has Preached Heretical Doctrine he shall presently be suspended by the Colloque the Consistory or two or three Ministers thereunto called as above until such time as the Provincial Synod has determin'd the case and all sentences of suspension for whatsoever it be shall nevertheless admit of appeal until final judgment be given CONFORMITY Altho this Article hath been already explained in what has been deliver'd in the preceding ones yet I will add something for the fuller clearing of it I say then it was so done in regard of Paul of Samosatia Bishop of Antioch who being convicted of Heresy was presently Depos'd as Eusebius informs us The 25th Canon of the Apostles ordains to inflict the same punishment on Bishops on Priests and Deacons which shall be convicted of Fornication of Perjury and of Robbery and a Council of Lerida of which we have already made mention shews no more favour against Church-men convicted of enormous and crying sins alledging for a reason That their vicious examples are a scandal to the People of God The second Council of Sevill in the Year 619. decrees in the 6th Canon That it should be done by authority of the Synod to which it refers as our Discipline does the definitive Judgment of these Depositions Tom. 4. Conc. Pag. 559. LI. The Reasons of the Dposition shall not be divulg'd to the People if necessity don't require it whereof those which shall have judged of the Depositions shall do as they shall think convenient CONFORMITY This Establishment in regard of deposed Ministers is like that of Pope Leo I. in regard of those who were to do publick Penance for being inform'd that in several parts of Italy the Bishops caused publickly to be rehers'd the Sins of those which were to do Penance Ep. 80. he condemns this practice and expresly forbids to do so for the future Ep. Can. 2. Cap. 34. and a long time before Leo St. Basil declares That the Fathers had prohibited to divulge to the People the Women which were guilty of Adultery either by their own Confession or after having been convicted of it LII The National Synods shall be advertis'd by the Provincial ones of those which shall be Deposed to the end they should not receive them CONFORMITY In the Primitive Church when any Pastor was Deposed advice was given to all the Churches to the end that none should receive him Ersel Hist l. 7. c. 30. according to which after the Synod of Antioch had Deposed Paul of Samosatia in the 3d Century for Heresy it wrote a long fair Letter to all the Bishops and to all the Churches in general to inform them at large of all that had passed in the Condemnation of this great Heretick Alexander Bishop of Alexandria having Condemned Arrius and his adherents he also writ to all the Catholick Bishops To the end Secrat Hist Eccles lib. 1. c. 6. p. 13. ult Edit Pag. 27. Paris 1598. saith he that you should not receive him if by chance he should have the confidence to go to you and that you should not give credit to what Eusebius or any one else may write to you in his behalf St. Hillary Bishop of Poictiers informs us in his Fragments That the Western Bishops Assembled at Sirmium in the year 350. having Anathematiz'd the Heretick Photin they sent into the East the Decree of his Condemnation to inform them after the usual manner of what they had done against him Lib. 4. c. 9. Theodoret has preserv'd to us in his Ecclesiastical History the Letter of a Council of Bishops in Illyria writ about the Year 370. by which amongst other things they inform the Churches of God and the Bishops of the Diocesses of Asia of the Deposing of certain Clergy-men Tom. 3. Concil p. 468. infected with the Impiety of Arrius whose Names they express Accordingly the Fathers of Chalcedon say in their Relation to the Emperors that the Sardick Synod gave notice into the East of what they had done against the remains of Arrius as the Eastern Bishops did those of the West of their Decree against Apollinarius They went yet further for they published these Sentences of Deposition in the Churches which had been advertis'd of it In short St. Austin in his 3d Book against Petilien Chap. 39. makes mention of a Deacon called Splendonius which had been Depos'd in part of Germany and the Decree of his degradation was read in the Churches of Africa when they had received notice of it by the Prelates which had condemn'd him LIII Ministers which have been Depos'd for Crimes which deserve signal punishment or that bear marks of Infamy cannot be restored to their Office what acknowledgment soever they make As for other less faults after due acknowledgment made they may be restor'd by the National Synod however to serve in another Church and not otherwise CONFORMITY The 28th Canon of those ascribed to the Apostles appoints to separate wholly from the Communion of the Church the Bishop the Priest or Deacon which having been Depos'd for notorious Crimes has nevertheless the confidence to reassume the Ministry which had been committed to him the 4th of the Council of Antioch leaves him no hope at all of being re-establish'd no not so much as liberty to defend himself or plead his Cause in another Synod The 5th Canon treats not more favourably Rebels and Schismaticks the 14th and 15th confirms the judgment of the Provincial Synod unless in case the Opinions were divided in which Case they prescribe to call other Judges of some adjacent Province The 29th of the Council of Chalcedon speaking of Bishops which from the Episcopal Degree are descended to that of Presbytery it declares That if they are condemn'd for just Cause they are not worthy of the Honour of Priesthood it self
justifie the Prohibition here made them of Preaching the Word of God and administring the Sacraments because they were not thereunto appointed as Oecumenius has observed on Chap. 6. of the Acts of the Apostles the words whereof we have alledged in examining the precedent Article I know very well that Philip one of the Seven Deacons established by the Apostles Preached the Gospel but I say it was not in quality of a meer Deacon that he Preached but by vertue of a particular vocation whereby God made him a Herald of his Grace and a dispencer of his Mysteries therefore he is qualified with the Title of Evangelist in the 21. Chap. ver 8. of the Acts Act. 21.8 I do not here mention his Preaching Christ at Samaria after the great Persecution raised against the Church of Jerusalem upon the death of St. Stephen because he did nothing therein but what the others which were scattered abroad did elsewhere by vertue of a general vocation which each Believer has right to exercise at certain times and in certain places As for Baptizing and instructing the Queen of Aethiopia's Eunuch Ibid. the Sacred History informs us that Philip had an express command by the Ministry of an Angel to do it In the Primitive Church a Deacon was not permitted to Preach the Word whilst they were Deacons they must at the least pass from the Order of Deacon to that of Priesthood to be qualified to Preach I said at the least for if in the East Priests were suffered to Preach it was otherwise in the West where Bishops only performed that function for several Ages The first Priest that Preached publickly in Africa was St. Austin by the power granted to him by Valerius his Bishop who was by Birth a Grecian which was found to be irregular because 't was contrary to the use and practice of the Churches of Africa as is observed by Possidonius in the Life of St. Austin If amongst us there 's found a Deacon that was capable and had a desire to exercise the Ministry he was made to pass from one degree to another and then might Preach the Word and administer the Sacraments whereas Deacons were not instituted at first to do the one nor the other In effect if their first Institution permitted them not to Preach neither did it suffer them to administer the Sacraments for these two commonly go together so that if prohibiting them Preaching they were afterwards in process of time suffered to administer the Sacraments besides that things which were joyned together were separated they passed beyond the bounds of their Vocation Thence it is that Oecumenius a Writer of the tenth or eleventh Century which I already have cited several times Ubi supra confesses that the Deacons of his time were quite different from those established by the Apostles and an Order quite another thing than the first In the days of Justin Martyr Apolog. 2. that is to say in the second Century the Deacons distributed the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament after being Consecrated by the Pastor which in all likelihood proceeded from a false Interpretation given of these Tables for the service of which Deacons were appointed for they were not Eucharistical Tables but common Tables where distribution was made of things necessary for the Maintenance of Widows and Orphans and other poor People and where perhaps Christians made their Feasts of Charity which for a time was practised in the Church Tertullian something later than Justin Martyr De Coron c 3 p. 102. testifies the Eucharist was received only from the hand of those which presided that is of Bishops and Pastors in all likelihood 't was at that time the practice of the Churches of Africa and a custom which was not observed in all places The third Canon of the Council of Ancyra in the year 314 suffers Deacons which have done nothing unworthy their degree to distribute both the Symbols But in the same year the Council of Arles prohibits them in the 15th Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. Ibid. Canon by that term to offer which he emplies is taken to administer according to the Explication which is given it by the 15th Canon of the second Council of Nice on the same place The year 462 the great Council of Nice forbids them simply to give the Eucharist to Priests Can. 18. The 25th Canon of that of Laodicea seems to forbid them absolutely to distribute the Bread and the Cup It ought not to be that Ministers saith the Council should distribute the Bread nor that they should bless the Cup. At that time the term of Ministers implied commonly the name of Deacons but in the Canons of this Council it denotes a more inferior Order viz. Subdeacons In conclusion it must be granted that we have innovated nothing in the Deaconship and that our Deacons have always kept within the just bounds of their first Institution which was to serve at Tables and to take care of Widows as St. Jerome observes in his 85 Epistle VI. The Elders and Deacons may be present at the Lectures and Propositions of the Word of God made by Ministers besides the ordinary Preaching Or by those made by young Students and even at the censures made there and give their advice thereon but the decision of the Doctrine is principally reserved to Ministers and Doctors in Divinity duly called to their Offices CONFORMITY Besides the usual Sermons Ministers Preach in the Churches they were wont to Preach by turns in the Colloques they held several times a year and those Exercises were called Propositions much like to those our young Studens in Divinity are wont to make to fit them for Preaching therefore these kinds of Exercises are subject to the Censures of those before whom they are made for they were instituted to judge of the Progress which Ministers as well as Students did make in their Studies and because there are Deacons as well as Elders that sometimes are present either in the Colloques in the quality of Deputies or in the Consistory whereof they are Members they are permitted to speak their opinion which ought not to be thought strange after all which has hitherto been said by the Ancients seeing also the decision of Doctrines is reserved to the Ministers VII The Office of Elders and Deacons as it is at present used amongst us is not perpetual nevertheless inasmuch as 't is prejudicial to change they shall be exhorted to continue in their office as long as may be and if they will be discharged it cannot be without consent of their Churches CONFORMITY The setling of Elders and Deacons depending of the will of the Church in which originally lyes all the Right and Power of Government and the Church not having thought convenient to make these Employments perpetual fearing it might not find persons that would accept them for life she hath yielded to those which accept of them the liberty to be discharged provided they do
to the Antient Custom this being referred to the discretion of Provinces and there the Ministers shall meet with one Elder of each Church CONFORMITY Our Colloques do in a manner agree with the Diocesan Synods of each Bishop Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. like that of Anacharius Bishop of Auxer in the year 578 or to the Assemblies of some Neighbouring Bishops to decide the Differences which hapned in the adjacent Parts it is to what do amount the Cannons 11 20 28 125. Of the African Code of Mr. Justel However it be it appears by the 100 Cannon of the same Code that the Ecclesiastical Elders and of the Order of Layicks assisted at these sort of Judgments Apâ—d Cypr. contral p. Steph. pag. 144. I know not but Firmillian Bishop of Cesaria in Cappadocia had this Custom in his mind when he wrote to St. Cyprian We do meet every Year Pastors and Elders to regulate the things committed to our care II. Such Assemblies and Colloques shall be held to consider and compose Differences which shall happen in the said Churches as is appointed by the Discipline and generally to provide for what shall be known to be Expedient and Necessary for the good and support of the Churches CONFORMITY To this Second Article may be apply'd the Cannons of the African Code which I cited on the first and also joyn thereto the Fifth Cannon of the Council of Nice by which we find that one of the Motives of the Convocation of Ecclesiastical Assemblies was to appease Differences and to preserve Unity and Concord The Twentith of the Synod of Antioch tends to the same end III. There also Ministers shall Preach the Word of God every one by his turn to the end it may be known what care every one takes in exercising himself in the Study of the Holy Scriptures and in the Method and Form of treating of it CONFORMITY Ministers being Established for instructing of their Flocks it is the Duty of their Superiours to take cognisance of their Conduct and of the progress they make in the Study of Divinity and because it may be judged by their Preaching our Discipline has very well appointed That Ministers shall Expound the Word of God every one by turns in the Colloques IV. The Authority of Colloques is inferiour to that of Provincial Synods as those of Consistories are to Colloques CONFORMITY It appears by the 21 and 125 Cannons of the African Code that Appeals might be made from the Judgment of Neighbouring Bishops whose Assemblies were much the same of Colloques It appears I say that Appeals might be made to the Councils of Africa or to the Primates of their Provinces And it was by the Establishment of the same Discipline That Appeal was made from a Provincial Synod to a greater Synod such as was the Council of all the Provinces of a Diocess It is just what is prescribed by the Antient Cannons as the XII of Antioch the VI. of the first General of Constantinople the IX and XVII of that of Calcedon V. The Colloques and Synods shall deliberate of limiting the Extent of Places wherein each Minister shall Exercise his Ministry CONFORMITY This Establishment is also very conformable to the Antient Discipline of Christians according to which the Synod took cognisance of the Jurisdiction of Bishops and of its Extent as also of the places where they were to Exercise their Ministry from thence proceeds all the Prohibitions made them of undertaking nothing without the bounds prescribed them as has been shewn on the first Chapter VI. At the end of the Colloques amicable and brotherly Sensures shall be made as well by the Pastors as the Elders which shall be there present of all things which shall be thought fit to represent to them CONFORMITY The Fourth Council of Orleans in the Year 541. made a Rule like this in the 37 Cannon which requires that Metropolitans should once a year assemble their Synods to the end that whilst the Brethren are assembled the needful Sensures should be made with Charity which is also verified by the principal Motive of convocating this Assembly which was as I just now said to determine all Differences and to appease all Quarrels and Contests CHAP. VIII Of PROVINCIAL SYNODS ARTICLE I. IN each Province the Pastors of each Church shall assemble once a Year or twice as they may which is referred to the Prudence and Discretion of the Synod CONFORMITY Christians have ever esteemed Synods so necessary that they have been very careful to assemble them when the good of the Church required it for as Eusebius saith in the 51 chap. of the Book of the Life of Constantine Great Controversies cannot be determin'd but by Synods At the beginning and even during the heat of Persecution when there arrived any trouble in a particular Church all the others concern'd themselves in it and the Ministers by a meer movement of Charity and without any form of Convocation assembled of themselves to make Peace and to compose Differences And in these Assemblies Humane Passions being banished and Jesus Christ there presiding by his Holy Spirit they consulted together and resolv'd without Ceremonies and Formalities what was expedient It is much after this Method they proceeded against Paul of Samosatia Bishop of Antioch when he had published his Impiety Euseb Hist lib. 7. c. 27 28 29. the Pastors of Churches as Eusebius saith being run thither from all parts as against an Enemy which destroy'd the Flock of Christ And I can't tell if the Synod of Iconia in Phrygia mentioned by Fermillian Bishop of Caesaria in Cappadocia was not of the same kind of those held against Paul of Samosatia in the same Century Apud Cypr. contr Ep. Steph. p. 146. for he saith they were assembled in that place from Gallacia Cilicia and other adjacent Provinces to confirm what had already been concluded touching the reiteration of the Baptism of Hereticks But what Bishops did at first by a principle of Charity they were in time obliged to do also by Duty the Cannons requiring it of them In effect the V. Cannon of the First Council of Nice appoints to hold Synods twice a year in each Province The Twentieth of the Council of Antioch renews the same Decree and thence it is undoubtedly that him which forged the Cannons of the Apostles borrowed the 37 which contains the same Establishment The Nineteenth of Chalcedon having complained that in the Provinces was not celebrated the Synods prescribed by the Cannons it appoints they be held twice a year conformable to the Decrees of the Holy Fathers There 's a number of other Cannons which prescribe the same thing and which I forbear to alleage to observe two things which concern the matter which we examine the first that Auitus Bishop of Vienna in Dauphine which flourished about the end of the V. Century and at the beginning of the VI endeavour'd to restore the Antient Custom which insensibly was
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
practise but 't is much better to refer to the reader the liberty of judging of our innocence when he shall have Read the whole Treatise for besides that I cannot refute these injuries and slanders without discovering persons who have lately been forward this way unless I would write a Volume and not a Preface would I undertake to answer particularly to all the false accusations which they have alledged to render our Religion odious in censuring our Discipline Laying therefore apart these unjust Accusers 't is needful before ending this Preface that I speak a little of some others whose Learning and Reputation is better known and grounded and yet nevertheless going by a false Zeal or by some other motive unknown to me treading in the steps of the others do no less cruelly devour us I speak of those Gentlemen which accuse us of overthrowing the Morals of Jesus Christ by certain Doctrines which we teach an unjust accusation if ever there was one for if we destroyed the Sanctity of the Gospel it must needs follow of necessity that that which we follow must be pernicious And how can it be that our Morals should be corrupt seeing it produceth a Holy Discipline whose Rules and Directions are so many marks of the Maxims of true Morality I will not be the Judge I desire they would only read what I have writ to prove the resemblance of our Discipline with that of the Ancient Churches and I am perswaded that reading it without prejudice they will freely confess that my parallels are just and that I have drawn the Picture so like the Original that 't will be hard to know the one from the other there 's so much resemblance betwixt them after which I may be permitted to infer from the Holiness of our Discipline the sanctity of our Morals and from the holiness of our Morals and of our Discipline the truth of our Doctrine and by consequence the purity of our Religion I know 't is not absolutely impossible but that there might be a corrupt Moral with a good Doctrine for altho ordinarily these things march together and that the sanctity of the one is followed with the purity of the other nevertheless it may so happen that some may undertake to joyn a pure Doctrine with a corrupt Moral or a holy Moral with dangerous Doctrines Nevertheless because the Moral naturally follows the Doctrine that for the most part an Orthodox Doctrine produces a virtuous Moral and that when the Doctrines are true the Laws of the Moral are just I allow that those which belch out false accusations against us as Enemies of the Morals of Jesus Christ I desire they would judge of our Doctrines by our Morals because then they would judge of our Morals by our Discipline for there 's nothing more just than to judge of the one by the other If our Discipline then be pure 't will follow that our Moral is holy and by consequence our Doctrine is true by their own confession If they say that our Discipline is not pure they accuse of impurity that of the Primitive Church seeing ours is a faithful Copy and Representation of it if they confess it is good then they must confess that all our Religion is pure seeing its Doctrine is true the Moral holy and the Discipline blameless They may forbear then writing such great Volumes to vent untruths nor take such wide circuits to build on ill Principles and to draw false and unjust consequences for there 's nothing falser than what they write that we destroy the Moral of Jesus Christ by our Doctrine of Justification I say illegitimate for if the very consequences they impute to us might be drawn from our Doctrine which cannot be yet they could not in equity be imputed to us because that far from owning them to be ours we abhor them with our Souls What have we done to those Gentlemen that we should be the object of their malice and spight Where is the gentleness and moderation which the Spirit of Jesus Christ inspires Where is that Christian Charity that thinks no harm Would they recover at our charge what they have lost Would they be receiv'd into favour by our prejudice and make us a Sacrifice to appease a Party that would suppress them and against which they are no longer able to resist Must they needs quarrel with us because they could not succeed in their designs Heaven does not prosper mens endeavours when the flesh has as great a share in it as the Spirit when we mingle our Interest with those of God when we make Religion serve the World and when we go about to make I know not what mixtures of the Onions and Garlick of Egypt with the Milk of Canaan The time will come when we shall all appear before the dreadful Tribunal upon which shall sit an Incorruptible Judge who reading in our hearts and searching into the bottom of our Souls will make us give an account of our most secret thoughts of our words and our actions and happy will those be whose Conduct was sincere and whose actions had Faith and Charity for their Principle and the glory of God for their End ADVERTISEMENT THE Stationer hath in his hands the Attestation of Monsieur Cartaut and Monsieur Le Page Ministers at Diep and another of Monsieur Le Gendre Minister at Rouen declaring they have examined this Work and that they have found nothing in it contrary to their Religion In honorem ejus qui ex Anglorum genere natus hoc opus ex Gallorum idiomate in Anglicum transtulit ANte oculos posuit nostros Celeberrimus Author Lumina quae priscos dant prope quosque patres Hique Patre sacrum Domini dant tempore Coetum Quique eadem nostri tempora Coetus habet Os avidum Romae potuit sic claudere clave Ille decus per me perferat egregium Est alius quisquam divino Numine fretus Primam cui generis praebuit ipsa Diem Magna Britannia qui pugnaces quos-ve Britannos Edocet hoc verum voce suâ Patriae Inter eos igitur sit gloria utrique vicissim Eximioque Patri Praesidioque gravi Desaguliers M. Dom. Domino Walkero in Versionem Disciplinae Ecclesiarum Reformatarum apud Gallos QUae tibi plus debet Walkere Britannia forté Gallia forté Tuus seruit utrique labor Nostrorum scripta exornas Sermone diserto Externis anges divitiis patriam L. Rivall Sur le même pour Explication en Francois Sonnet L'Autheur de cet Ouvrage ij paroit dés la France Excellent tout à fait met devant nos yeux Avec beaucoup de soin beaucoup de prudence Les Péres de se siécle ceux du siécle vieux Son travail clairement montre que nôtre Enfance Est celle des Vicillars qui possedent les Cieux Rome tu dois bannir ta Lache médisance Pour la dissiper toute on ne peut faire mieux L'Autheur mérite
Rochester Lib. 3. Cap. 20. alone of himself Consecrated two Arch-Bishops of Canterbury one after another successively I now proceed to the second Head of this Article which concerns the Testimonies those are to produce who are to be Consecrated to the Holy Ministry Pastors being to be an example to their flock in word and conversation it is very fitting there should be good testimonies of their Life and Doctrine before they are established in this Divine Office insomuch as St. Paul desires that they may have a good report of those which are without fearing lest they should fall into shame and the snare of the Devil therefore the Church has ever used after this manner admitting unto this trust only those which had good and sufficient testimonies as well for their capacity as for their good Conduct it is whereunto amounted the proof St. Clement Disciple of the Apostles and Tertullian have already made mention thence it is St. Cyprian will * Ep. 67. ult Edit That the Pastor be established in the presence of all the people who perfectly know the life of each person and that have narrowly observ'd his conversation to the end that having discover'd his vertues or vices the Ordination made by the consent and approbation of all may be just and legitimate * Id. Ep. 33. And elswhere he saith to the people That he is wont to advise with them when he is about to Ordain any Clerk to the end they may examin and try altogether the life and good qualities of each one Saint Basil complaining of the relaxation of Discipline T. 3. Ep. 181. Paris 1638. and the slighting of the Canons which in time might occasion great confusions in the Church he saith That the ancient custom of Christians was carefully to search and to make very strict inquiry into the life and conversation of those who were admitted into the Ministry to find out if they were Slanderers Drunkards Fighters if they carry'd themselves soberly and if they could walk stedfastly in the ways of Sanctification without which no one shall see God Moreover this custom appear'd so good and holy to him that he will absolutely have the use of it reviv'd throughout all his Diocess that he will have the Church purg'd of all those that were enter'd into it by any other manner as being unworthy to serve in it and that for the future none should be admitted but those which were first duly examin'd and accounted worthy the Employments intended for them I will not here repeat what I alledged of the fourth Council of Carthage upon the first Article I will only say that in the third Tome of the Library of the Fathers and in the Pandect of the Cannons Printed at Oxford of late years there is a Canonical Epistle of Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria the sixth Canon of which treats of Ordinations wherein he desires the Election and consent of the Clergy the examination of the Bishop and the testimony of the people In the Book of Sacraments of Gregory the first P. 236. Paris 1642. the Bishop is to signifie to the People the Names of those which are to be chosen to the end that if any there present know any thing that might hinder the Ordination they might declare it freely and with a safe conscience thence it is that Leo the first desires in these Occasions the testimony of the People as he explains himself in his 89 Epistle And Pope Eugenius II. in a Synod assembled at Rome about the year of our Lord 826 and which is to be seen in the second part of the Roman Collection of Holstenius Printed at Rome 1642 I say with the Synod prescribes in the very terms of the Apostle Cap. 1. the manner of Ordination that is to say that he requires that he which desires to receive it may be adorn'd with the Qualities recommended by St. Paul and that he may be acceptable to all the world by his good Works The Emperor Alexander Severus so highly approv'd this use and practise as also the publishing which was made of those which were to be admitted into the Ministry of the Church whereof I shall speak on the tenth Article Aelius Lampri in Alex. Sev. that he would have it be put in practice in establishing Governours of Provinces of the Empire and other Magistrates The Fathers of the first Council of Nice in the Letter they wrote to the Church of Alexandria and which has been transmitted to us by Socrates and Theodoret these Fathers term this L. 1. c. 9. Offering to the People the Names of those which were to be advanced to any Dignity in the Church St. Chrysostome in the 18th Homily upon the 2 Epist to the Corinthians Establishes and confirms this custom by the Example of the Apostles which us'd the same when Mathias was to be chosen and also by that of the Seven Deacons Something of the same kind is to be seen in 61 and 76 Epistles of Synesius according to which Nicetas in the Life of St. Ignatius Patriarch of Constantinople in the IX Century which is contain'd in the Preliminaries of the eighth Council of Constantinople which the Latins hold for Oecumenical but is rejected by the Greeks Tom. 6. Concil pa. 872. Nicetas observes that several were named to sill the vacant Chair and that St. Ignatius was preferred before the rest V. The Examination of him that shall be presented shall in the first place be made by Propositions out of the Word of God upon the Texts of Scripture which shall be given to him the one in French of necessity the other in Latin if it be thought expedient by the Colloque for each of which he shall be allowed 24 hours time to prepare himself if therein he satisfies the Company it shall be farther known by a Chapter in the New Testament which shall be assign'd him whether he is skilful in the Greek so as to interpret it and as for Hebrew it will be requisite to know if he understands it so far as to make choice of good Books for the better understanding the Scriptures whereunto shall be added an Essay of his Industry and skill on the most necessary Parts of Philosophy all in Charity without affectation of difficult and unnecessary Questions To conclude there must be requir'd of him a short confession of Faith in Latin upon which he shall be examin'd by way of Dispute and if after this trial he shall be found capable the Company representing to him the obligation of the Office whereunto he is called shall declare to him the power which is given to him in the Name of Jesus Christ of Administring as well the Word as the Sacraments after his intire Ordination into the Church whereunto he is appointed the which shall have notice of his Election by Acts and Letters of the Synod or Colloque carried and read by one of the Elders CONFORMITY After what I have hitherto said it cannot
end that if his way of Preaching please the People he may be confirm'd in his Ministry but on the other hand if all the People or the major part of them declare That they are not satisfied with his Preaching and that his Teaching is not to their liking Our Discipline doth very prudently Order that all shall surcease In effect as a Minister cannot be forced to yield his Service to a Church for the which he has no inclination so in like manner a Church cannot be obliged to make use of the Ministry of a Man whose Conduct and Preaching is not acceptable It is a kind of Wedlock which requires the reciprocal liking of both Parties Tom. 1. Orat. 8. p. 148. Paris 1630. There is nothing more firm and profitable said to this purpose Gregory Nazianzen than to receive freely the oversight of those you receive as your Teacher or Guide and see here the Reason he alledges for it Our Law saith he speaking of the Canons of the Church requires not that People should be led by force it desires that all should be done of free-will and without constraint And because it often happens that Ministers give no cause on their part for the refusal made of their Ministry by the Churches although 't was appointed for them and that this refusal has no other ground but the humour of an inconstant People the Ancient Canons have provided in declaring that these Pastors shall partake of the Honour of the Office and Function of a Minister and that the Provincial Synods shall provide them some settlement elsewhere The 18th Canon of the Council of Antioch in the Year of our Lord 341. is clear in the Case If a Bishop go not to the Church for which he was Consecrated and that it don't happen through his fault but by the opposition of the People or for some other subject for which he is not the Cause Let him partake of the Honour and of the Ministry provided he causes not any trouble to the Church whither he retires and let him take what the Synod of the Province shall judge convenient All the difference there is to be seen betwixt this Canon and the Article of our Discipline is That then the Pastors which were sent to the Churches had already received Ordination whereas amongst us it is to be receiv'd in the Church it self whither one is sent Nearer to which there cannot a greater Conformity be desired The 36th Canon of those father'd on the Apostles prescribes in effect the same as that of Antioch After all by this Order of the Canons Pastors could not be imposed on the Churches against their liking so it is that Pope Celestin writes in the 5th Century to the Bishops of the Provinces of Vienna and of Narbona Let no Bishop be given to those which oppose his Establishment Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 57. and let the consent of the Clergy and People be first had to know if they desire to have him for their Pastor Leo the 1st Successor to Celestin after Sixtus the 3d writes near hand the same to Anastatius Bishop of Thessalonica p. 84. c. 5. Lyon 1652. and pretends That the Bishop be desired by the Clergy and the People and that without it he ought not to be sent fearing lest the People having received against their will a Bishop that they had no liking to might slight or hate him and not being able to have him they desired to have they out of measure decay in Piety and Religion The 5th Council of Orleans in the Year 549. renews in the xi Canon the Ancient Decrees and pronounces Sentence of Deposition without hope of Restoration against those which intrude into the Ministry any other way and that do by violence usurp the Conduct of a Church against the Will of the Clergy and People whereof it is compos'd and without having been called unto it by any lawful Ordinance And the 3d of Paris Assembled Anno Dom. 557. Emplies also to this same effect Ibid. The 8th Canon contained in terms no less strong than that of Orleans There would never be an end should one undertake to cite all the Testimonies of the Ancients touching the part Believers had in Election of their Conducters for besides what I have hitherto writ there are a great many proofs of this Truth For instance L. 6. c. 43. p. 245. That which is said by Cornelius Bishop of Rome in Eusebius of the Ordination of Novatian unto the Office of Priest for 't is easily collected out of this Relation That the People were wont to give their Voices and Consent in these occasions The Fathers of the 1st Council of Nice speak fully of the Choice of the People Apud Theodor. l. 1. c. 9. Ibid. 1.20 p. 50. in the Letter which they wrote to the Church of Alexandria The Emperor Constantine writing to those of Nicomedia he says That 't is in their power to make choice of what Pastor they please and that it depends freely of their Judgment The Council of Calcedon in the xi Action speaking of the Church of Ephesus saith Tom. 3. Concil p. 410. 462. That a Bishop shall be given them as shall be Elected by the consent of all those which he is to feed And in the 16th Action there is also mention made of the suffrage of the People Those that will take the pains to read the 20th Chapter of the 4th Book of Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History the 15th of the 5th Book of that of Socrates the 19th of the 8th of Zozomen the 12th of the 2d of that of Evagrius with the 67th and 76th of Synesius will find several Examples of the Practice which I Examine The IX Century affords us a Treatise expresly about Elections of Bishops written by Florus Deacon of the Church of Lyons the which is contain'd at large in the 2d Volume of the Works of Agobard Bishop of the same place of the last Edition for which we are beholding to the care of Mr. Baluze Pa. 254 c. This excellent Writer Establishes throughout the whole Treatise the Right of the People and proves That they ever had their part in the Vocation of their Pastors and that this was also practised in his time and also in the Roman Church To conclude The Vocation of a Minister was not thought Legitimate if the Voice of the Clergy and People had not interven'd which practise continued also in the XIIth Century at least in the West as appears by a Treatise of Arnulph Arch-Deacon of Siez and afterwards Bishop of Lisieuz against Gerrard Bishop of Angouleme Tom. 2. p. 343 363. for he saith in the 2d Chapter That there 's no likelihood that the Clergy nor the People had any part in his Election And in the 7th wherein he reproaches him to have usurped the Archbishoprick of Bourdeaux he speaks after this manner The desire of the People did not precede no more than the
present it only saith That 't is requisite there should several be assisting or that should consent by their Letters The 1st of the Canons attributed to the Apostles requires That a Bishop should be establish'd by two or three Bishops Thence it is that though according to the direction of most part of the Canons Three Bishops were usually employed for the Ordaining a Pastor nevertheless Examples are found different from this Custom Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria was Ordain'd by two Bishops Tom. 3. Concil p. 539. nevertheless the Fathers of the Council of Calcedon acknowledg'd him for a Legitimate Bishop before his being depos'd and frequently term'd him the Most Reverend Bishop Hist Eccles l. 5. c. 23. Theodoret Writes that Evagrius was Consecrated Bishop of Antioch by Paulin only and by this means chose him his Successor before his death yet this did not hinder but Siricius and Innocent L. 7. c. 32. p. 288. the 1st Bishops of Rome and almost all those of the West esteemed him as a Lawful Minister Anatolius as Eusebius writes in his Ecclesiastical History received the Imposition of Hands by Theoteckna Bishop of Caesaria in Palâ—stine and in making him Bishop made him also his Coadjutor by reason of his great Age it not appearing that any other Bishop was present at this Ceremony although it had been easie to have called others to it it 's true this hapned before the 1st Council of Nice but besides that the other Examples we have alledged are after this Council it needs only to read the 4th Chapter of the 5th Book of Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History where will be seen sundry Instances of Bishops being Ordain'd by laying on of Hands of one Minister to which may be added the 19th Chapter of his Religious History and the 19th of the 8th Book of Zozomen's History which makes mention of two several Ordinations made or ready to be done without any great necessity by one sole Bishop a great while after this Council of Nice It is not then to be thought strange if our Discipline mentions but two seeing also these two do represent the Synod or Colloque which deputed them and that they do nothing but by virtue of the Power and Authority wherewith those Bodies has invested them and that moreover one alone may suffice for a due Ordination as we have just now proved But before ending this matter one difficulty which offers must be resolv'd to wit if Hands may be laid on two Ministers at once for it sometimes happens in our Churches that two are called together and some are in doubt and desire to know if one Minister can give them both Ordination at the same moment To which I answer That if one consider the Original of this Ceremony and the Nature of the thing it self one may safely agree to lay hands on two Ministers at once As for the Original and the Ceremony every body knows it comes from Jesus Christ or rather from the Patriarchs which practised it before their Children were Masters of Judea and 't is not to be doubted but Jesus Christ and the Apostles derived this Custom thence when they us'd it If it appears then that any of the Patriarchs blessed two persons at once in putting one hand on the head of the one and the other hand on the head of the other it seems to me one is sufficiently Authoris'd to give Imposition of Hands to two Ministers at the same time Now to know if the Patriarchs did so you need only read Genesis 48. where Jacob blessed the two Sons of Joseph purposely setting his right hand on the head of Ephraim which was the younger and his lest on the head of Manasseh which was the elder Brother But to remove all doubt and scruple it needs only cast an eye on the nature of the thing it self that 's to say on the Prayer which is indeed what is the essential part of these kind of Actions the imposing of the hand or hands being only a bare exterior gesture to design those for whom the Blessing of God is implor'd that it may rest upon them as one may so speak much after the same way as the hands do stay on their heads now no body does question but that one may pray for two as well as for one thence it is that in Eusebius his History there is mention made L. 1. c. 13. p. 34. to receive Prayers by the hand to signifie to receive the Blessing of God by Prayer and the laying on of Hands so that in effect 't is as if he had said To receive the Blessing of God by Prayer and the imposition of Hands as he speaks in Chap. 1. Book 2. To conclude The Ancients called this Ceremony which they practised on sundry occasions Tom. 7. l. 2. c. 26. de pecc mor. rem I say they called it Prayers by the hand or Prayers of the hand or hands Or as St. Austin explains himself in some of his Writings The Prayer of Imposition of Hands IX Those which are Elected shall subscribe the Confession of Faith settled amongst us and the Ecclesiastical Discipline as well in the Churches where they are Ordain'd as in those whither they may be sent CONFORMITY The former part of this Article which regards the Confession of Faith which those are to sign which are established in the Ministry of the Church relates in the first place to what was practised in the Primitive Church where when one received the Office of Bishop or Minister one was absolutely obliged to subscribe to the Confession of Faith of the Council of Nice and by consequence to what was determin'd in the three following Oecumenical Councils touching the Divinity of the Holy Ghost and touching the Person and two Natures of Jesus Christ Secondly It refers also to the mutual Letters which the New Bishops wrote to the others to assure them they were of the same Communion and that they had one and the same belief See here a famous instance and of the first Antiquity that is of the 3d Century whereof Eusebius has preserved us the memory in his Ecclesiastical History L. 7. c. 30. p. 282. in his preserving the Letter which the Fathers of the Council of Antioch where Paul of Samosatia was condemned wrote to all the Churches In this Letter amongst other things they give advice of the Ordination of Domnus into the Church of Antioch instead of a Heretick which they had deposed and they give this intimation That one may write to Domnus which was the lawful Bishop and that Communicatory Letters might be receiv'd from him St. Cyprian at the end of his 67th Letter to Pope Stephen Let us know saith he who has been setled at Arles instead of Marcion to the end we may know to whom to recommend our Brethren and to whom to write Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria advertises at the end of his 1st and 3d Paschal Letters all the Bishops of Egypt of the
the Creed proportionable to the Capacity of those whom he instructed to put them into a state fit to receive Baptism and to be plung'd in the Mystical Waters of this Sacrament of our Regeneration But to ascend higher than St. Cyril Euseb Hist l. 5. c. 10. l. 6. c. 6. Can. 3. c. 26. Can. 15 29. from the very first beginning of Christian Religion there were publick Schools at Alexandria and places appointed for this Exercise and where the rudiments of Faith was taught or as the Apostle speaks The rudiments of the first beginning of the word of God In the 2d Century Pantenus an Eminent Philopher kept this School and then exercis'd the Office of Catechist Clement of Alexandria succeeded him and he had Origen for his Successor aged but 18. years Origen left the Conduct of this School to Heraclas and Heraclas to Dennis and these two last were successively Bishops of Alexandria The Authors of our Discipline had therefore good reason to exhort the Churches to have frequent Catechising which is of great benefit and singular edification XIV Ministers with their Families shall actually reside in their Churches or Parishes under pain of being depos'd from their Office CONFORMITY In the first Ages Pastors were so full of zeal for the Glory of God and so industrious for the Edification of their Flock that 't was superfluous to exhort them to Residence seeing they had no other thoughts but to do it in the places assigned to their care and where the Families lived which were committed to their conduct neither do we find in those times any Canons which enjoyn them to this Residence because they themselves of their own free will were inclin'd to do it and that 't was not heard of that a Pastor did not dwell in the midst of the Flock to whom he owed his care and presence De Lapsis St. Cyprian complained of certain Bishops which incumbring themselves with secular affairs abandoned their Churches and the care of that holy administration whereof they were to render an account to our Saviour And in his 56 Epistle to those of Thibari he sheweth that in the present conjuncture he could not safely leave his Church and the People God had committed to his Charge St. Ambrose sufficiently testifies that he was really persuaded of the necessity of Residence when he wrote to the Emperor Theodosius that if the dread he had of the Tyrant Eugenius had oblig'd him to quit Millan for a little time yet he returned thither as soon as the storm was past over Lib. 7. Ep. 58. To. 5. p. 322. Pâ—r. 1632. I hastned saith he to return as soon as ever I heard that him whose presence I thought I was bound to shun was gone for I forsook not the Church of Millan which the Providence of God committed to my care but I desir'd not to see him that made himself guilty of Sacriledg He speaks of Eugenius who usurped the Empire after having cruelly put to death the Emperor Valentinian the younger This holy Doctor elsewhere represents the damages occasioned to the Church by the absence of its Pastor especially when he observes the People omit frequenting the Holy Exercises and not only the People but also the Clergy themselves become more remiss in things of Piety and Religion St. Austin declares plainly in the 138 and 227 Epistles that he never forsook his Church but upon indispensible necessity In a request presented by some Friers to the Emperors Theodosius the Younger and Valentinian the Third against Nestorius they accuse him amongst other things That for the executing his outrages he employed foreign Clerks which he made come from other parts that is to say other Clergy besides his own Tom. 2. Conc. pag. 222. Altho according to the Ecclesiastical Canons say they they are not permitted to live in another Diocess or in another Church but only in those places and Cities where they received Ordination by the Imposition of hands there to reside peaceably It is not easie to affirm with certainty if the Canons whereof they speak were reduced into writing or rather if they were not customs and uses setled in the Churches by long practice for this term of Canon or Rule has sometimes this signification in the writings of the Ancients and what induces me to think so is That till the Fifth Century when this request was presented it was not very needful to make Canons to oblige Pastors to reside in their Churches if it be not that one may apply to this Residence the Canons which prohibit the Translation of Bishops from one place to another whereof we shall treat hereafter I know very well that the Council of Sardis had in the year 347 made some Decrees which in some fort regarded Residence but besides that these Canons were not much known in the East they were not properly made for establishing of Residence nor precisely to oblige Bishops thereunto but only to inform them in presupposing it as an indispensible Obligation in what occasions and for what time they were permitted lawfully to be absent from their Churches in effect in the eighth Canon the Fathers of Sardis allow Bishops may go to Court if the Emperor send for them or if the protection and defence of the Poor of Widows and Orphans oblige them to it It is true that in the ninth and tenth Canons they restrain the permission granted in the former and do not permit Bishops to go themselves to Court but when they are called by the Prince nevertheless they agree they may send one of their Deacons to obtain some favour in behalf of distressed persons but they consent to it upon prudent and judicious reasons and which are to be lookt upon as necessary precautions against the ambition of Bishops to whom the same Council positively forbid Can. 14 15. To be absent from their Churches above three Weeks unless some pressing necessity constrain them to it When under the second Branch of our Kings the Prince cast his eye on any Bishop to make him his Arch-Chaplain he was forced to demand leave of the Synod and Pope Con. Fran. cap. 55. Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. p. 217. the Bishops of Rome having already got great power in France I say he was forced in some sort to desire their leave to get him away from his Church to have him near his person because every body was then perswaded that Pastors were bound in Conscience to make their Residence in the midst of their Flocks I believe Plurality of Livings as is spoken at this time has given a mortal blow to the case of Residency and has by this means introduced ignorance into the Church and together with Ignorance Superstition which is the Daughter of Ignorance this wicked custom was a long while unknown amongst Christians seeing the first Canon which formally condemns it is if my memory fail not the fifth of the sixteen Council of Toledo assembled the year
neighbouring Churches shall join together that at least there might be a maintenance for each Colloque and that rather than fail the 5th Penny of the Alms-money be set apart for this use if it may be conveniently done CONFORMITY It appears by the 14th Canon of the Synod of Epaum Assembled in the Year 517 That it was practis'd at that time just as our Discipline prescribes for it appoints to him of the Clergy that shall have received any Gratification and Present from the liberality of the Church wherein he liv'd that he should return it back again if he be advanced to be Bishop of another Church it appears to me this cannot be understood but of the assistance was given him during the time of his studies seeing that from the very moment any one entred into the Service of a Church he was to have his support and maintenance from it It was in this regard Theodolphus Bishop of Orleans permitted the Priests of his Diocess in the Year 797. to send their Nephews or some of their Relations unto the School he names which they shall like best there to be Taught and Educated There 's something like this in the Seminaries which the 2d Council of Toledo as 't were founded in the Year 530. and the 4th of the same place An. 633. Can. 23 or 24. Tom. 4. Conc. Page 588. Not so much as the Council of Trent but made a Decree in the 29th Session Anno 1563. for the Establishing these Seminaries Tom. 9. Conc. Page 409. cap. 18. V. In each Church there shall be appointed Propositions of the Word of God amongst the Scholars according as the convenience of the place and persons shall permit where the Pastors shall be present as well to preside as to direct and help the said Students CONFORMITY The Exercises here prescrib'd have no other scope but to fit and prepare Students in Divinity for Preaching and to put them in a condition to Preach the Gospel to Edification with profit which agrees very well with the Establishments of the Synods of Chalons and Meaux which we cited on the first Article CHAP. III. Of ELDERS and DEACONS ARTICLE I. IN those places where the Order of Discipline is not yet Established the Election as well of Elders as of Deacons shall be made as well by the common voice of the People as of the Ministers but where the Discipline is already established it shall pertain to the Consistory with the Pastors to make choice of the fittest Persons by ardent Prayers to that effect And the Parties shall be expresly nominated publickly in the Consistory and to those which shall be chosen the Office shall be read to the end they may know the business they are to be employed in If they consent to it they shall afterwards be nominated to the People two or three Sundays that so the consent of the People may also intervene and if there be no opposition the third Sunday they shall be publickly admitted by solemn Prayers they standing before the Pulpit and so shall be setled in their Office subscribing the Confession of Faith and the Ecclesiastical Discipline but if there be opposition the Matter shall be decided in Consistory and if it cannot be there determin'd the whole shall be transmitted to a Colloque or Provincial Synod CONFORMITY Having treated of Ministers and the Schools where they ought to study to attain to the Office of the Holy Ministry it follows in order to speak of those which partake with them of the care in Governing the Flock That is of Deacons and Elders which amongst us are Secular persons serving in the Church and distinguished from Ministers or to speak with the Fathers from the Clergy it is then of these two sorts of Persons and of their Election that I am to treat in examining this Article according to the design and intention of the Compilers of our Discipline I 'll begin with the Deacons which as every body knows are of Apostolical institution In effect we find in the 6th Chapter of the Acts That the Apostles giving themselves up wholly to the Preaching of the Gospel they desir'd the Church of Jerusalem to chuse out certain persons of good repute for Wisdom and Piety that they might commit unto them the care of the Poor which they express by serving of Tables that by this means they might the more conveniently attend to Prayer and Preaching of the Word St. Chrysostom observes on this place that this was the first establishing of Deacons the very name not being till then known that is in the Christian Church as for the Jewish Church they had their Deacons as Epiphanius writes in the Heresie of the Ebeonites which is the 30th they were called Azanites and thence probably 't was that the Apostles took the Original of Christian Deacons and they called them so because they served at Tables and at the distributing of Money to the Poor It was to that time those which followed St. Chrysostom and wrote of the first institution of Deacons writing on the Acts of the Apostles as Beda and Orcumenius have refer'd it As for Lay-Elders such as ours be I do not find their institution in Scripture as that of the Deacons is found as for the Elders of the Christian Churches whereof there is mention made in several places in the New-Testament I am fully persuaded that by them is to be understood Pastors themselves which were called indifferently Elders or Priests and Bishops I do not except that famous passage chap. 5. vers 17. of the 1st Ep. to Timothy It is certain that these Elders were all of the same Order that is to say They were all Pastors but because there were several in the same Church and that some were sitter for Preaching the Word than others they gave them different employments according to the diversity of Gifts in my judgment there needs no other proof of this Truth than the right of Precedency which St. Paul attributes indifferently to all which he would not have done had they not been all of one Order the Greek word also which he uses ordinarily imports a precedency which is due only to Pastors which the Ancients frequently design by this name particularly Justin Martyr But notwithstanding this I make no question but the Original of our Elders is very Ancient and that it approaches very near to the Apostles days if they be not rather themselves the Founders of them and what confirms me in this Opinion is that they establish'd in the Church a Government like that of the Synagogue a Christian Presbytery instead of a Jewish one and as there were Elders amongst the Jews which had share in Governing the Synagogue it is very probable that there were also Elders amongst the Christians People which had part in that of the Church if not at the very first birth of Christianity at least there was as soon as the number of them was increased in so great a manner for then it was
it in due form and with the leave of the Churches which called them to this Employment VIII Neither Deacons nor Elders can expect Superiority or Dominion one over another whether it be in being nominated to the People or in taking place or giving their judgment or any thing else relating to their office CONFORMITY If Ministers cannot pretend precedency one of another as we have fully shewed on Art 16. of Chap. 1. It would not be reasonable that Elders and Deacons should pretend any Soveraignty over their Companions and Equals IX The Elders and Deacons shall be deposed for the same causes as the Ministers of the Word of God in their degree It being condemned by the Consistory if they appeal they shall remain suspended from their Offices until things are determined by a Provincial Colloque or Synod CONFORMITY The Deacons and Elders making up with the Ministers one Body that is to say one Consistory and sharing with them the care of conducting the Flocks it is just they should be punished with the same pains as the Ministers when they commit the same Offences whereof we have treated at large on Articles the 47. and 49. of Chap. 1. to which I refer the Reader X. The restitution of Deacons and Elders which have been deposed shall not be done but in the same manner as the restoring of deposed Ministers is done CONFORMITY This Article is a necessary consequence of the former for if the Elders and Deacons are deposed for the same reasons as Ministers it is evident that the restitution ought to be made in the same manner Read what has been said on the 35. Art of Chap. 1. CHAP. IV. Of the Deaconry that is to say of Administring the Poor's Money by the Deacons ARTICLE I. THE Money for the Poor shall not be given out by any but by the Deacons by the Advice and Order of the Consistory CONFORMITY What I have said on the 4th Article of the 3d Chapter sufficeth for the explaining of this and to establish the Conformity of our Discipline with that of the Ancient Churches to which may be added the Order given by Pope Gregory I. to Anthemius his Sub-Deacon That he should take care of the Poor of those places whither he sent him II. In the common Distributions 't is requisite one or two Ministers should be present if it may be conveniently but especially at passing the Accounts CONFORMITY Although I might refer the Reader for the Explication of this Article where I did for the former nevertheless I will add to what I have said some Rules which are not incoherent to the Subject we Examine for Example the 7th and 8th Canons of the Council of Gangres assembled in the Year of our Lord 325. as is commonly said but 't was later where 't is forbid to dispose of the Church-Revenue without the consent of the Bishop or of him he has appointed to distribute these Alms. The 24th and 25th Canons of the Synod of Antioch Anno Dom. 341. Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. c. 47. p. 146. Orders the Bishop to make this distribution by advice of the Priests and Deacons Charlemain's Capitulary in the year 789. renews the prohibition of the Council of Gangres III. The People shall have notice of Passing the Accounts that so every one that please may be there present as well to discharge those who disburse the Money as to make known to every body the Necessities of the Church and the Poor thereby the more to incourage people to contribute towards their relief CONFORMITY St. Austin practis'd something of this kind as our Discipline doth here prescribe for when the Church-stock fail'd he gave notice to the Christian People that he had not wherewithal to supply the wants of the Poor which in all likelihood he would not have done if on the other hand he had not given them an account how he had dispos'd of their Charity and of the Money committed to his trust Aug. Tom. 1. p. 13. and which he consign'd over to the management of Persons as he deem'd fit for the purpose as is related at large by Possidonius in the 24th Chapter of his Life IV. To prevent the Inconveniences which dayly happen by Attestations given to the Poor every Church shall use their utmost endeavour to maintain their own Poor and in case any one for his necessary Affairs was forc'd to Travel Ministers shall in their Consistories Examine if the Cause be just and in that case shall give them recommendatory Letters to the next Church in the direct way from the place whither they go expressing the Name Age Stature Complexion the Place whither they go the cause of their Journey and the Assistance which has been given them and the date of the Day and Year shall not be omitted Which Letters the Churches shall keep to whom they were directed and shall give them others to the next Church And all Attestations before granted shall be Void and Null CONFORMITY It cannot be denied but great abuses are committed and that at all times there has been abuses committed in the Church upon account of Attestations and Testimonies granted to those of the same Communion which desire to go from one place to another to the end they might be known to be Members of the same Church and to be assisted in case of necessity The Primitive Christians endeavour'd to remedy these inconveniencies two ways The first By ordering that each Church should maintain their own Poor The second In using a great deal of caution in granting these Attestations which is exactly the two things prescrib'd by our Discipline As to the former of these two Means Can. 85 101. Tom. 1. Concil p. 730. the 4th Council of Carthage in the Year 398. declares That the Poor and Ancient people of the Church ought to be more assisted than any others and that young Widows who are weak of Body should be maintain'd at the charge of the Church to which they belong In the 2d Council of Tours assembled An. Dom. 567. the 5th Canon's Title is That each City shall maintain its Poor and runs in these terms That each City doth furnish according to its ability Provisions sufficient to all those of its Inhabitants which are poor and incommoded and that as well the Curates of Villages Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 332. as all the Farmers which dwell there do each nourish their own Poor to the end they may not stray and wander about to other Towns In the 3d Council of the same place assembled in the Year 813. there are several directions in this matter for the Fathers command in the 11.16 36. Canons Tom. 2. Conc. Gal. pag. 297 298 302. That Bishops shall be permitted to take out of the Church stores according to the Canonical Rules in presence of the Priests and Deacons what shall be necessary to maintain the Family and Poor of the Church That the Tythes which shall be given to particular Churches
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
Sevil about the same time in his second Book of Sentences Chap. 20. and in the third Ch. 46. these three have followed the steps of others It is with regard hereunto that the third Council of Carthage enjoins Bishops in the fourth Century Can. 31. Tom. 1. Conc pag. 711. to prescribe to Penitents according to the nature of sins the time of penance The Jesuit Petau in the 2 3 and 10th Chap. of his 6th Book of Publick Penance acknowledges against Mr. Arnauld That it was the practise of the ancient Church where only heinous and scandalous Crimes were publickly reproved he acknowledges the same thing in his Observations on St. Epiphamus where he has a dissertation on the ancient manner of Penance Tom 2. pag. 238. on occasion of the Heresie of the Novatians which is the 59th in order Father Sirmond of the same Society speaks in the same manner in his Treatise of Publick Penance Chap. 2. 4. In the main all I have said regards the usual Excommunication of the Primitive Church of which I have treated in the precedent Article and by the Laws whereof scandalous Sinners were not admitted to the Holy Table until they had passed through all the Degrees of Penance which was then in use XVII If by such suspensions the Sinners were not reclaimed but continued obstinate and impenitent after long expectation and that they have been several times admonished and intreated proceeding shall be made against them by giving publick admonitions to the People three several Sundays being named if need be by the Minister to make them more ashamed every body advertised to pray to God for them and endeavour by all means to bring them home by repentance of their sins to prevent Retrenchment and Excommunication to which one cannot proceed without sorrow But if for all this they will not repent but persevere in their obstinacy and impenitence on the fourth Sunday it shall be publickly said by the Pastor That 't is declared to the said scandalous and obstinate persons in naming them by their Names That they are not any longer acknowledged as Members of the Church cutting them off from it in the Name and Authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his Church And the form of the Excommunication shall be as follows The Form of the Excommunication Brethren see here the fourth time that we declare unto you that N. for having committed several Crimes and for having scandalized the Church of God and for shewing himself impenitent and a contemner of all admonitions which have beén made unto him by the Word of God has been suspended from the Holy Supper of the Lord the which suspension and causes of it has been signified to you to the end you may join your Prayers with ours that it might please God to soften the hardness of his heart and give him true Repentance drawing him from the way of perdition But having so long time waited for him prayed and exhorted and conjur'd him to be converted to God and endeavoured all means to bring him to repentance nevertheless perseveres in his impenitence and with an incor rigible obstinacy rebels against God and tramples under foot his Holy Word and the Order he has established in his Church and glorying in his sins is cause that the Church for so long time is disturbed and the Name of God blasphemed We Ministers of the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ whom God has armed with Spiritual weapons powerful through God to the pulling down of strong holds which hold out in opposition against him to whom the Eternal Son of God has given power to bind and loose on Earth declaring that whatsoever we bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven to the end to purifie the House of God and free his Church from Scandals and in pronouncing Anathema against the wicked should glorifie the Name of God In the Name and Authority of the Lord Iesus by the advice and authority of the Pastors and Elders assembled in Colloque and of the Consistory of this Church we have Retrenched and do Retrench the said N. from the Communion of the Church we Excommunicate and remove him from the Society of the Faithful that he might be to you as a heathen and unbeliever and amongst true Christians he may be Anathema and Execrated let his Company be esteemed contagious and let his Example fill your souls with fear and make you tremble under the mighty hand of God seeing 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Which Sentence of Excommunication the Son of God will ratifie and make it efficacious until that the sinner ashamed and humbled in the sight of God gives him glory by his eonversion and being freed from these chains of Satan where with he is bound he bewails his sins with tears of Repentance Beloved Brethren pray unto God that he will have pity on this poor sinner and that this fearful Iudgment the which with great sorrow and sadness of heart we pronounce against him in the Name and Authority of the Son of God may serve to humble and turn into the way of truth a soul which is strayed from it Amen Cursed is every one that doth the work of the Lord negligently If there be any one that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha Amen CONFORMITY Christians were not the first which inflicted the pain of Excommunication on Rebellious and Scandalous Sinners Pagans and Jews have practised the same thing I say Pagans Casar informs us in his Commentaries that the Druids in Gaul Excommunicated those which despised their Decrees and their Constitutions Lib. 6. pag. 134 135. forbidding them to approach near the Sacrifices after which they were lookt upon as impious and obstinate every one flying from their company and conversation fearing to receive some harm by infection and this punishment which was the greatest of all those they did inflict put into such a condition those which were subjected to it that they were refused the benefit of the Law altho they earnestly desired it and it also deprived them from all degree of honour As for the Jews every body knows Excommunication was in use amongst them who as 't is said had three sorts the first and slightest which they called Niddui this separated the guilty from those which were not so but for a little space and for thirty days only the second which they called Herem was attended with Anathema's and Maledictions and it was not permitted to eat nor drink with him that was so Excommunicated and 't is probable St. Paul had regard to this kind of Excommunication when he saith 1 Cor. 5.2 I write unto you that you should not eat with such a one The third kind of Excommunication was Shammatta by which was separated for ever from the Communion and Society of the Church him that was guilty Seeing then that Jews and Pagans have exercised this power methinks it would
be injustice to refuse it to the Christian Church seeing also Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse has commanded us in his Gospel to look on him that refuses to hear the Church as a Pagan and Heathen that is to say Matt. 18.17 he will that he be cast out of the Church or that he be Excommunicated which amounts all to one thing St. Paul has expressed this action by delivering over to Satan 1 Cor. 5.5 1 Tim. 1.20 unless one will say that there was something more in St. Paul's Excommunication than in that designed by Jesus Christ in the Gospel However it be the Governours of Churches strengthned by the command of the Lord Jesus and by the Example of his Apostles have always Exercised this Ecclesiastical power against enormous and scandalous sins Tertullian and Origen have shewn on the fifteenth Article That it was the practise of their times which is also verified by the places I have cited out of the same Origen on the precedent Article and by another of Tertullian's who writes in his Book of Pudicity Chap 4. that these sinners should be driven away from the Inclosure of the Church and the place of the Assembly and this was the great and true Excommunication whereas the other was only a privation from the Sacraments To these two Witnesses we may joyn St. Cyprian Contemporary with Origen who very often in his Epistles makes mention of this Censure Ep. 28.38 55 62 of the last Edit when he speaks of removing from the Communion of not Communicating with some one to banish and to cast out of the Church to condemn by the mouth of the Pastor to kill with the Spiritual Sword And other Expressions he uses to declare the same thing The tenth of the Canons attributed to the Apostles does not suffer us to be ignorant of this ancient Discipline Seeing he Excommunicates him that prays with an Excommunicated person in the House only I 'le inlarge no farther seeing one must make a Volume if one would collect all the Canons and Testimonies of the Fathers which treat of Excommunication and more also should one treat of the History of Interdiction which Popes to render their Power more formidable have sent abroad in these last Ages contrary to the use and practise of the Primitive Church to which they were utterly unknown As for the Order which is to be followed according to our Discipline before debarring a sinner from the Communion of the Church besides that it is grounded on the Laws and Precepts of Charity it is also conformaable to the practise of the Primitive Christians Hom. in Jos Tom. 1. p. 185. who by Origen's report reproved and warned the guilty three several times before they came to this last Extremity Thence it is also the same method was observed when there was any mention of deposing an Ecclesiastical Person because in sundry occasions the same faults which deserved Deposition of a Church-man was punished with Excommunication in a Secular as appears by divers Canons particularly by the sixth and seventh of the first Oecumenical Council of Ephesus where we find these words If they are Bishops See the Can. 8 17. of the Counc of Calced or others of the Clergy which are deposed the Bishops from Episcopacy the others from the degree they-held in the Clergy from whence they are quite excluded but if they are Lay persons let them be Excommunicated And we have made appear on the 49th Artic. of Chap. 1. that a Bishop was cited three times or any other Ecclesiastical person before proceeding to his deposing I don't insist on the form of Excommunication repeated after the Article on which I have made the necessary remarks because 't is in the liberty of the Church in such like occasions to make use of what terms it shall judge most fitting provided that in the main it don't depart from the bounds which the Gospel does prescribe nor from the Example of the Holy Apostles Neither do we see that in the Primitive Church they were confined to the use of a sorm of words when any one was Excommunicated those which condemned Sinners to that punishment having been always Masters of the form and manner of Excommunication which is always the same in substance what variety soever there may be in the form wherein it is conceived XVII For the future all Sentences of Excommunication confirmed by the Provincial Synod shall continue firm as also all Sentences of Suspension from the Lords Supper given by the Consistory the which not being published to the People shall hold good altho the party suspended appealed to the Colloque or Provincial Synod CONFORMITY There 's nothing in this Article but what is very conformable to the ancient Discipline according to which each Church had power to inflict throughout the whole extent of its Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction the necessary punishments and Censures against all sorts of offences so that when a Bishop had Excommunicated any one none but the Synod of the Province could take off the Excommunication as there was none but the Synod of the whole Diocess which comprehended several Provinces which could reverse the Sentence of a Provincial Synod Therefore 't is that the Sixth Canon of the first Oecumenical Council of Constantinople the 9. and 17. of that of Chalcedon suffers to appeal from the Bishop to the Provincial Synod and from the Provincial to that of the whole Diocess of which we have a resemblance in our National Synods XIX Those which have deserted the profession of the True Religion to embrace Idolatry if they persist in this Apostacy after means used to return them to the flock they shall publickly be declared Apostates to wit those who lately shall turn to be such unless the Consistory shall think such a publication to cause some notable damage and prejudice to the Church in which case nothing shall be done but by advice of the Provincial Synod As for those which of a long time shall be revolted the execution of this publication is refer'd to the discretion of Consistories CONFORMITY In the Primitive Church Idolatry and Apostacy were in several places excluded from pardon and absolution Tom. 1. Conc. p. 232 236. Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 8. during the two first Centuries of Christianity as is made appear by the first and 46. Canons of the Council of Eliberi assembled Anno Dom. 305. and by the last of the first Council of Arles in the year 314 but it also appears by these same Canons that bare Apostacy was not without hope of being pardoned by the Church but only when it was accompanied with Idolatry which the ancient Christians looked upon as the blackest of all crimes Paran ad Poen Tom. 3. Bib. Pat. pag. 71. and the most heinous of all sins But the great Council of Nice removed this difference in the 11th Canon and made them all hope to find absolution in a certain time as well Idolaters as meer Apostates
and Deserters but this Decree was not so soon observed in all places as may be gathered from the Writings of St. Pacian Bishop of Barcelona who writ after the sitting of this Council and it may also be said that before the middle of the third Century bare desertâ—rs were not received into the bosom of the Church but they were still left under the labour of Penance without any hope of Absolution no not so much as at the hour of Death it was at least the practise of most of the Western Churches Tertullian in his Treatise of Pudicity Cypr. Ep. 52. cum 14 31. and St. Cyprian in some of his Epistles suffers us not to call in question the use of this hard and severe Discipline no more than the mitigation which was begun to be used in it at that time at Rome and in Africa XX. In publick offences that is to say committed in effect and known to a great many of the People the restoring of the sinner shall be made by the publick acknowledging his fault tho he had been punished by order of the Magistrate CONFORMITY In the Primitive Church the restoring of a Scandalous Sinner was not done but in presence of all the People by the Imposition of Hands which was accompanied with Prayer and the better to understand the nature of this Discipline it is to be observed that three sorts of Imposition of Hands was used to Sinners whose Sins were punished according to the Laws of publick Penance by the former they were admitted to do Penance after having demanded it Let the Penitents saith the Council of Agde in the year 506. Tom. Conc. Gall. p. 164. Can. 15. receive the Imposition of Hands at the time that they desire to do Penance The second was not practised one time only as the first but often during the whole time of Penance for as often as the Church assembled to attend the Exercises of Piety and Religion they were made go out as well as the Cathechumeny before the celebrating of Divine Mysteries but after the Bishop imposed his Hands and Prayed on the one and the others separately so it is we find it by the 19th Canon of the Synod of Laodicea See 4 Conc. of Carth. Can. 80. Tom. 1. Conc. Toletan 3. c. 11. Tom. 4. p. 504. An. 589. It is requisite saith he after the Homilies or Sermons the Bishops make Prayers separately first on the Catechumeny and these being gone forth Prayer must be made on those which are under Penance and after the Penitents have been under the hands of the Bishop and that they are withdrawn the three Prayers of Believers must be made The last was destin'd for the publick reconciliation of Sinners after they had accomplished all the time of their Penance and that they had passed through all its divers degrees Therefore the 3d Canon of the 1st Council of Orange in the year 441. calls this Imposition of Hands Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 71. The imposing of reconciliatory hands because God was beseeched that he would pardon these Penitent Sinners and that he would reconcile them to God and his Church The 78th Canon of the 4th Council of Carthage calls it simply The Imposition of Hands Tom. 1. Concil p. 730. without which it will not so much as have sick Penitents to be Absolv'd in case they recover although they had receiv'd the Sacrament during their Sickness Pope Leo I. calls it the Door of Reconciliation in his 41st Epistle to Theodorus XXI Seeing Adultery brings a mark of Infamy especially on Women the Publishing such Offences is refer'd to the discretion of Consistories CONFORMITY St. Basil in his Canonical Epistles has prescribed something of this kind Ep. 2. Can. 34. Tom. 3. p. 32. Our Fathers saith he have forbid to publish that is to say to make known to the People the Women guilty of Adultery whether they confessed it by a movement of Piety or that they were in some sort convinced of it for fear that being Convicted we should expose them to danger of Death But they have appointed that they should be deprived of the Communion until such time as they should accomplish the time of Penance XXII Publick acknowledgments are not to be made but in person and the Sinner shall give testimony of his Repentance CONFORMITY What we have alledged on the 20th Article ought to serve as a Commentary on this seeing it was the Sinner in person which was publickly reconciled to the Church after having fully satisfied the Laws of Penance XXIII The Sinner which has been Suspended from the Lord's Supper by the Consistory and that the Suspension has not been declar'd to the People shall desire of the Consistory to be restor'd and shewing signs of Repentance shall there be restored without making publick acknowledgment CONFORMITY This Article is also very conformable to the practise of the Primitive Church which opened not the door of reconciliation in presence of the People but only to Sinners which were in publick Penance and publickly deprived of the participation of the Sacraments as evidently appears by what I have hitherto said As for other Sinners whose faults were not publick they were treated in a gentler sort and proportionable to the sins they had committed XXIV But him whose Suspension had been declared after his Repentance had been known to the Consistory by good Living and sufficient Testimonies he shall publickly be reconciled to the Church in acknowledging his offence CONFORMITY This Article being in substance the same with the 20. the Reader may see what we have observed on that it being needless to speak to this XXV Those who by their obstinacy and hardness in their faults have been cut off from the Church shall not slightly be reconcil'd to the Church but after a good and long proof of their Repentance they shall be heard in the Consistory and if they desire to be receiv'd into the bosome of the Church acknowledging their faults proclamation shall be made to the People to stir them up to pray and bless God and sometime after they shall be presented to the whole Church to confess and detest their faults and past rebellions demanding Pardon of God and his Church and so shall be reconciled with Joy and Publick Prayers CONFORMITY The Ancient Christians were wont to keep Sinners under Penance more or less according to the nature of the Crimes whereof they were guilty all the Canons which treat of this matter confirm it and one may only read them to find this difference the time of Penance of some being incomparably longer than of others because their Sins were more enormous and heinous and as to be hardned in Sin makes it more criminal so also they failed not to augment the punishment in prolonging the time of Penance sometimes even to the hour of Death even after the time that some mitigation had been made to the first Discipline in regard of some Sins which in
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
before as appears by his 55 Letter Theodoret speaks the same in his 86 Epistle in the Third Volumne of his Works and 't is on this practice the Eastern Bishops grounded their complaints in the IV. Century against Pope Julius I. in that he had received St. Athanasius into his Communion and some others whom they had Excommunicated Read what is related by Zozomen in the VIII Chapter of the Third Book of his Ecclesiastical History Socrates II. Book chap. 15. and Julius his Answer in St. Athanasius his Second Apology to be perswaded of the truth hereof for the Letter writ by the Eastern Bishops to Julius is not now Extant that at present found in the first Volumne of the Councils being forg'd and contains but a Collection ill put together of what the Authors I but now mention'd have writ It 's true our Discipline does except some cases of which one may appeal to the National Synod after Judgment given by Provincial Synods but 't is even therein appears its Conformity with the Ancient provided the time be carefully distinguished before the Christian World which was bounded in the Roman Empire had been divided after the Example of the Empire into several Ecclesiastical Diocesses each of which comprehended several Provinces the whole extent of a Bishops Jurisdiction how great soever it was made but one Ecclesiastical Province For Example In St. Cyprians time all Africa made no more but the Ecclesiastical Province of the Bishop of Carthage And in the time of the First Council of Nice Libia and Pentapolis made up that of the Bishop of Alexandria and then 't was requisite Affairs should be determin'd in the Provincial Synod without being permitted to appeal to the Synod of any other Province It is what is depos'd by the Sixth Cannon of Nice which confirms to the Bishop of Alexandria what Custom had given him Possession of that is to say the Metropolitical Rights only although the Patriarchal Rights also may be inferr'd from the same Cannon by lawful consequence when he shall be in a state to exercise them that is to say when his Province shall be divided into several Ecclesiastical Provinces and that he shall have under him several Metropolitans over which the chief of the Diocess and the Patriarchs had the same power as Metropolitans had over the Bishopâ— of their Brovinces But after this Division into Diocesses and of Diocesses into several Feclesiastical Provinces each of which had a Metropolitan had been made which the first Universal Council of Constantinople began to Establish or it may be but to One Musoâ—â—â—s in the Council of Rimini as St. Jerom testifies in his Dialogue against the Luciferians chap. 7. where he observes this Musonius was of the Byzantine Province but instead of Byzantine it should be Byzancene which was a Province of Africa wherein was the Diocess of this Prelate As for the care the President or Moderator of the Synod should take to the end all things should be done in the Assembly regularly and in Order the XI Council of Toledo in the year 675 ordained in the First Cannon Tom. 4. Conc. p. 820. the same Observations which the Authors of our Discipline here prescribes not forgetting those which derogate from the Laws VIII Elders which are Deputies of Churches shall have Votes as Ministers and the Elders of the place where the Synod is assembled may also be present and propose any thing in their Order Nevertheless but two of them shall have Vote to avoid confusion CONFORMITY After what I have writ on the First Article of the Third Chapter there 's no difficulty in understanding of this for the Deacon Hillary hath assur'd us nothing was done in the Church without the Counsel and Advice of the Elders and Firmiâ—lian Bishop of Cappadocia that the Prelates and Elders assembled once every year to order matters committed to their care and with common consent to treat of the greatest and most important Affairs IX What shall be concluded upon by Provincial Synods for ordering the Churches of their Province shall be communicated to the National Synod CONFORMITY The 95th Cannon of the Code of Africa has a Constitution much like this for it Ordains that private Affairs shall be determin'd in the Provinces but as for the common and general they referr the Knowledge and Decision of it to the General Council of Africa Now 't is most certain that what regards all the Churches of a Province ought to be put in the Rank of General Affairs the Decision whereof appertains to a National Synod X. Because several Persons to the end to decline or delay the sensure of their faults appeal from one Ecclesiastical Assembly to another even to a National Synod which by this means is more perplexed in clearing their Case than any other for the time to come all differences within the same Province shall be definitively judged without appeal to the Provincial Synod of the Province except what shall concern the suspending and deposing as well of Pastors as of Elders and Deacons and the changing of Pastors from one Province to another also the changing of a Church from one Colloque to another and also that which concerns Doctrin the Sacraments and the whole Discipline all which cases may gradually move even to the Nationall Synod to receive the last and definitive Judgment CONFORMITY To Authorise what Custom had done in several Countreys since the Council of Nice at least it may seem to be so inferr'd from the Cannons of the Synod of Antioch in the year 341 Forty years before that of Constantinople Afterwards I say it is certain Appeal was made from Judgment of Provincial Synods to Councils of the whole Diocess for the greater part of the heads contain'd in our Discipline as is verified by most of the Cannons I have but now cited particularly by those of Constantinople of Calcedonia and of the African Code with the 95th of the same Code to which may be joyned the Third Cannon of the Fourth Council of Toledo assembled in the year 633. To. 4. Conc. pag. 582. XI If there should happen a difference betwixt two Provincial Synods they must pitch on a third to reconcile them CONFORMITY This Establishment don't disagree with the 14 Cannon of the Synod of Antioch which is conceiv'd in these terms If after Judgment be given against a Bishop accused of certain Crimes it so falls out that the Bishops of the Province are upon this score in different minds some declaring him Innocent and others guilty the Synod to put an end to their Contests is of Opinion that the Metropolitan shall call other Judges of the next Province to decide the difference and that he confirms what they shall have concluded upon with the Bishops of the Province It 's true this Cannon don't speak of differences which two Provincial Synods might have together But seeing the Council allows to call Neighbouring Bishops when those of the Province are at variance about a
humility of his heart and of the Homage he owes to Almighty God unless some may be hinder'd to do it by sickness or otherwise the Judgment whereof shall be left to his own constancy CONFORMITY The Ancient Christians were wont to kneel at Prayers as Eusebius testifies in his Ecclesiastical History St. Chrysostom in his 18 Homily on the 2 to the Corinthians saith that he bowed to the ground and Synesius in his 57 Epistle that he kneeled down at his Prayers and that in that posture of a Beggar he desir'd Death rather than a Bishoprick Nevertheless it must be granted that about the end of the 2 Century they began to pray standing on Sundays and during the interval of time betwixt Easter to Whitsontide Tertullian assures us so in the third Chapter of the Book of the Crown and with him the Author of Questions to the Orthodox in the Works of St. Justin Martyr in the 115 Question a practise authorised by the great Council of Nice in the 20th Cannon on account of those which us'd otherwise In the time of St. Jerom that is to say in the 4 and 5 Century's the Decree of Nice was follow'd and he also touches the Use of this Custom in his Preface on the Ephesians where he observes that from Easter to Whitsontide It is a time of Joy and Victory during which saith he we do not bend the knee and do not prostrate towards the Earth Tom. 6. pag. 161. but arising with the Lord we fly up to the highest Heavens He observes the same thing in his Dialogue against the Luciferians chap. 4. St. Paul nevertheless does the contrary for we read in the 20 chap. of the Acts ver 36. that having discoursed with the Pastors of the Church of Ephesus he kneeled down and prayed with them all it appears by the 16 verse of the same chapter that 't was betwixt Easter and Whitsontide St. Luke observes also in the 21 chap. verse the 5th of the same Book of Acts that the Apostle departing from Tyre about the same time being accompany'd with the Disciples and Brethren of the place with their Wifes and Children they kneeled down and prayed Moreover this practise of the Ancient Christians which I but now mention'd shews that it was ever their manner to pray kneeling which is the most becoming and decent posture to procure the Mercy of God as the Author of Questions to the Orthodox does declare because indeed the Creature can never too much humble himself before the Soveraign Majesty of his Maker in whose presence he must prostrate himself and confess his vileness and nothingness saying to him with Abraham I am but dust and ashes And as they prayed kneeling in the primitive Church there 's no doubt to be made but they also prayed bare-headed such doubtless were those Common Prayers and Supplications which were made in their Assemblies as Justin Martyr and Tertullian do testifie in their Apologies As for singing of Psalms it is what has ever been practis'd in Christian Assemblies St. Paul recommends it to the Colossians in these terms Col. 3.16 See Eph. 5.19 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Pliny the 2d in his Relation to the Emperor Trajan of the Christians in Asia and of their Assemblies before day light for fear of Persecution he observes amongst other things Lib. 10. Ep. 97. that they sang Hymns to Jesus Christ as to a God Tertullian makes mention of this Letter of Pliny to Trajan in the 2 chap. of his Apology and in the 39 he speaks of these spiritual Songs which Christians sang to God in his time especially the Psalms of David have ever been highly esteemed in the Church which has found the singing of them so comfortable and saving that it has ever been practis'd without Interruption The 17 Cannon of the Synod of Laodicea prescribes the manner of singing them in the Assembly It would be endless to relate all the Fathers have said in commendation of these Divine Hymns the praise whereof they have endeavour'd to strive who should most exalt them especially St. Basil St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom Theodoret and several others therefore I 'le content my self in producing what is said by the Author of the Christian Topography That the Psalms of David are sung in all Churches throughout the World and that they are almost in every bodies mouth as well great as small and that in each Church they are sung Apâ—d Allaâ—â—um de lib. Graee pag. 61. and they are oftner read than the Writings of the Prophets or any other sacred Monuments II. The Congregations of Believers being also appointed to sing the praises of God and to comfort and fortifie themselves by the use of Psalms All shall be advertis'd to carry their Psalm Books to Church and those who by disdain shall neglect to have them shall be sensur'd as also those which shall not be uncover'd in the time of singing as well before as after Sermon and also during the time of celebrating the Sacraments CONFORMITY Seeing Prayer and singing Psalms are things Essential to Piety our Discipline doth justly prescribe the Manner and Means to do it as becometh and to declare those worthy of sensure which shall transgress their Ordinance It requires the same thing in the time of celebrating the Sacraments and in desiring it it nothing differs from the practice of the Antient Church which had so great Respect for Baptism and the Lords Supper that it suffer'd not the Catechumeny Energumeny or Penitents to be present at celebration of one or the other calling them both Terrible Misteries III. In times of great Persecution or of Plague War Famine or other great affliction Also when Election is to be made of Ministers of the Word of God and at the time of entering into the Synod one may if necessity require one or more days have publick Prayers with fasting yet without seruple or superstition all done with great caution and consideration And the Churches shall be advertis'd to conform one with another in celebrating a Fast as near as they can according to convenience of time and place CONFORMITY Tertullian being turn'd Montanist and by consequence an Enemy of Catholicks and the Orthodox cap. 2. p. 545. whom he treats injuriously and after an unchristian manner Tertullian I say reproaches them in his Book of Abstinence which he wrote expresly against them he reproaches them that they fasted voluntarily according to the subject and occasion they had for it and in the same Book he saith that the Bishops were wont to appoint the People to fast when the Church had need to humble it self in the sight of God Ibid cap. 13. p. 551 Extr. and that it is in fear of some evil that threatens it this was the manner of the Antient Christians in celebrating of
in several parts of his Works particularly in his Epistle to the Solitaries Tom. 1. p 855. where he saith That the Nature of Piety and Religion is not to constrain but to perswade after the Example of our Saviour who forced no body but left it at every bodies choice to follow him saying to all the World If any one will come after me and to his Disciples and you will not you also go After which he extreamly blames the Conduct of the Emperour Constantius who at the desire of the Arrians tormented the Catholicks and used great violence to make them declare in his favour violence which he exaggerates with comparisons too strong the which I forbear to write I might alleage other Testimonies of the Fathers but I would not be too tedious Therefore it shall suffice to observe pag. 388. that there is mention in Mr. Justels African Code of a Law that was published by the which it was left to every bodies free choice to imbrace the Christian Religion The Emperour Jovian which succeeded Julian the Apostate Hist lib. 3. cap. 25. 〈◊〉 is praised in Socrates in that he had suffer'd every body to make profession of what Religion he pleas'd Ammianus Marcellinus has not failed to praise for the same thing the Great Valentinian who succeeded Jovian in the Empire Lib. 9. tit 16. de Males Maâ—â—em in his Thirtieth Book which the Prince testifies of himself in the Theodocian Code where he declares that as soon as he began to Reign he made Laws whereby every body had liberty to profess the Religion wherein he had been instructed and train'd up I can't tell if I should mention Constantine Pagonat or the hairy who in the Letter he writ to the Bishop of Rome on occasion of the Sixth Universal Council he assembled at Constantinople Tom. 5. Conc. pag. 11. he speaks to him in this manner We may excite and exhort all the World to amend and to joyn with the Christians but we will not constrain any body But I know I ought not and examining this matter without speaking of the Emperour Marâ—iâ—n by whose Authority the Council of Chalcedon was assembled in the Year of our Lord 451 for in the Letter he writes to the Archimandrites and to the Friers of Jerusalem and the parts thereabouts he saith speaking of this Council That no body was constrained by his Order to subscribe and consent to it and see here the reason he gives For saith he Tom. 3. Gonc p. 488. we will not force or hale any body into the way of truth by threats nor violence Words becoming that wise Prince and which deserves to be graven in the mind of all Soveraigns And it is to be wished for the Honour of Charlemain Collect. part 2. pag. 179. cap. 7. that he had so acted in regard of the Saxons and not to have threatned with Death those amongst them as refused to be baptiz'd V. The Children of those also which are called Sarazins may be received to Baptisme in the Reformed Churches on the conditions above-mention'd provided also they may be void of all presumption on account of any former Baptisme received and after serious remonstrances made to Godfathers to consult how they may best discharge the promise and obligation they make to the Church and moreover that Godfathers and Godmothers charge themselves with the maintenance and instruction of the Child CONFORMITY This Article being much like the former it needs no other explication than that I have made on the Fourth where I have observed several things VI. Baptisme shall not be administred but in Church Assemblies where there is a Church publickly setled and where there is not a publick Church and the Fathers and Mothers by reason of sickness fear to have their Children christned at Church the Ministers shall prudently advise what to do in the matter however that there be the form of a Church together with Exhortations and Prayers But if there be no Church and that an Assembly is not to be had the Minister shall make no scruple to baptize the Infant of a Believer presented to him with Prayer and Exhortation CONFORMITY The Fifty Ninth Cannon of the VI. Oecumenical Council in the year 692 forbids administring Baptisme in Oratories in private Houses it requires it should be perform'd in the Catholick Churches Tom. 5. Conc. pag. 339. threatning to depose the Church-Men which obey not this Decree and to Excommunicate the Laity which shall violate it Nevertheless the same Council permits to do it by advice of the Bishop of the place Cannon Thirty First although the Fifty Eighth of that of Laodicea had absolutely prohibited to Bishops and Priests in the Fourth Century to celebrate the Eucharist in private Houses But the difficulty is to know what the Council means by the Catholick Churches Tom 5. Conc. p. 517. when it forbids christning any where else an Expression which I also find in the Preliminaries of the Second Council of Nice where it is said the Bishops went ad Luteram of the Holy Catholick Church The term Luter which comes from the Greek 〈◊〉 signifies a Basin or Vessel to wash the feet and I can't tell if in the words I examine it may not be put for the Baptismal Fountain After all I am inclin'd to think that by the Catholick Churches here spoke of is to be understood the Churches appointed for all the People in general and where there was publick Fonts according to which there is mention in the Capitularies of our Kings Tom. 2. Conc. Gal. p. 152. Ibid. pag. 30. of Baptismal Churches so called because there was a Publick Font or Christning Place as appears by the Seventh Cannon of the Synod which Pepin the Father of Charlemain caus'd to be held apud vernum Anno Dom. 750 There must not be a publick Font in any Parish but there where the Bishop whose the Parish is doth appoint Tom. 16. Bibl. Pal. pag. 674. Flodoard in his Second Book of his History of the Church of Reims chap. 19. calls these Churches Baptismal Titles which distinguished them from others which had not Fonts And it is very probable that there was in each City but one Baptismal Church where all the People were Christen'd which was also observ'd in Villages in the Country so it must be understood the Decree of the Council of Meaux in the Year 845 Tom. 3. Conc. Gal. Can. 48. p. 45 Tom. 1. Conc. Gal. c. 1â— pag. 566. That no Priest presume to Baptize but in the Baptismal Churches which are in the Villages As for Oratories it was not permitted there to build Fonts as we find by the Ninth Epistle of the Second Book of Gregory I. of the 71 and 83 of the 7th of the Third of the 8th of this practice continued also in Pope Zacharies time who also wrote so to Pepin in the year 747 in using the very terms of Gregory I. But in process
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.
matters that those which were to be baptised were bound to recite the Symbol of their Faith to renounce the Devil to his Power and his Angels to acknowledge that they were by Nature Children of Wrath and to shew Repentance and Sorrow for their Sins committed during the time of their Ignorance and if they were instructed in the knowledge of Heavenly things they were also taught to live well that is to say holily and in a way answerable to their Vocation The Nature and Fruits of Baptism was explain'd to them They had also some Light of the Eucharist shewed them because they did communicate presently after being baptised and all these things were accompanied with Ardent Prayers to God as well to render him thanks for calling them to his blessed Communion as to implore his Grace and Benediction on them at the very instant that he honour'd them with the seal of his Covenant and Sacrament of our Salvation After all I have said the perfect resemblance may easily be seen which is found in the Matter I Examin betwixt our practice and that of the Ancient Church if you except what regards Anabaptists which appearing but in the last Century could be neither the Subject nor Matter of any of the Decrees of the Cannon Law CHAP. XII Of the LORDS SUPPER ARTICLE I. WHere there is not a settled Church it is not permitted to celebrate the Lords Supper CONFORMITY The reason of this First Article is because the Lords Supper is so called by reason of the Communion of those which participate thereof it is the Opinion of St. Chrysostom which he has thus Expressed Hom. 21. Tom. 5. pag. 312. The Apostle calls it the Lords Supper because all those which are invited take it in common with concord The Author of the Commentaries on St. Pauls Epistles in St. Jerom's Works saith That the Lords Supper ought to be common to all In 4 Cor. 11. The Lords Supper saith St. Isidore of Sevil is so called from the Communion of those which Eat of it and the Communicants from their assembling in Common Orig. l. 20. pag. 132. thence it is that Justin Martyr writes in his first Apology that they assembled on Sundays from the Cities and from the Country round about to hear the Word of God pag. 93. cum 97. and to partake of the Holy Sacrament and he also observes they sent some to the absent to shew doubtless the Communion they had together and I can't tell but 't was with respect hereunto that the Council of Laodicea conceived in these Terms the 58th Cannon Bishops nor Priest must not make Oblations in private Houses that is to say that they should not there Celebrate the Eucharist which was not begun to be celebrated without Communicants till about the 12th Century Part. 1. c. 11. as I have sufficiently proved in the History of the Sacrament II. Children under twelve years of Age shall not be admitted to the Lords Supper but above this Age it shall be at the discretion of the Ministers to Judge of those which shall be fit to be admitted or not CONFORMITY It may seem to be collected from the place in St. Justin Martyr which I cited on the other Article that only persons of Age and not little Children were admitted to the Holy Sacrament and it is very probable that Tertullian was of this Opinion because he thought fit to defer the Baptising of Children for some years as well as Gregory Nazianzen as I shewed on the foregoing Chapter It 's true that since the time of St. Cyprian until about the 12th Century Children were received to the Communion but this Custom is justly rejected by those also of the Church of Rome as well as Protestants In effect young Children are incapable of the Examination St. Paul requires of those which approach to the Holy Table III. Priests Friers and other Ecclesiastical Persons of the Church of Rome shall not be admitted to the Lords Supper until they have first made confession in publick of their past life and profession CONFORMITY This practice is wholly conformable to that of the first Christians It is not permitted unto any one whatsoever saith St. Justin Martyr to partake with us of the Sacrament unless he be fully perswaded of the truth of our Doctrine that he has been Baptized to obtain Remission of his Sins with a new Birth Apol. 1. p. 97 98. and that he lives according to the Laws of Jesus Christ IV. Dignitaries which bear the Name and Title of their benefices and those which therewith mingle Idolatry Directly or Indirectly whether they enjoy their Benefices by their own hands or by the hands of others shall not be admitted to the Lords Supper CONFORMITY Those here described not being in the State nor Disposition desired by Justin Martyr they cannot be received to the Holy Communion in a Christian Society whose Doctrine they do not believe or that don't gather themselves within the Laws and under the Discipline observed in the midst of them V. Ministers shall be warned not to receive to the Lords Supper Persons of other Churches unless they have sufficient testimony from its Minister or in default thereof from an Elder if it possible may be CONFORMITY The Church has observed this Order from the First Ages for the Council of Antioch in the Year 341 forbids in the Seventh Cannon to admit of any Stranger without having Pacifick Letters The Seventh Cannon of the First Council of Carthage Assembled under Gratus about the Year 348 speaks also more clearly forbidding plainly both Clergy and Layity to communicate in any other Church without their Bishops Letter Lib. 2. c. 51. The Author of Apostolical Constitutions prescribes almost the same thing Pag. 601 602. In the Third Volumne of the French Councils there is a Synod of Nants the time it held is somewhat uncertain the Two First Cannons whereof are imployed to confirm this same practice VI. A Man that 's Deaf and Dumb which by evident Signs Tokens and Gestures shewing his Piety and Religion what he can may be admitted to the Holy Sacrament when by a long Experience of the Holiness of his Life the Church shall perceive he has Faith and shall be truly taught of God CONFORMITY The Church never required of Communicants more than a Holy Mind and Disposition wherefore if it is found in a Deaf and Dumb Man and that he gives signs of it he ought to be admitted to the Sacrament and when I speak of the Church I mean that of the Primitive Christians for in process of time they imposed on Communicants an Obligation of Auricular Confession especially since the days of Innocent the Third who made the first Decree for it in his Latteran Council in the Year of Christ 1215. VII The Bread of the Sacrament ought to be administred to those which cannot drink Wine in making protestation that 't is not through contempt and doing what they can possible
St. Ambrose in the 9th chapter of his first Book touching Abraham speaks so clearly Tom. 2. p. 1071. and alleages such strong Reasons that 't is not to be doubted but he condemned Marriages contracted betwixt Persons of different Religions it is what he teaches also on the 118th Psalm and according to the Hebrews the 119th pag. 232. And in the 24th Epistle of the Third Book in the 5th Volume of his Works he is not far from this Opinion The Deacon Hillary in the Third Volume of the Writings of the same St. Ambrose explains the words of the 39th verse of the 7th chap. of the 1st Epistle to the Cor. Let her marry in the Lord by these to a man of her own Religion and Balsamon to an Orthodox Lic G. c. 4. in interpreting the 41 Cannon of the Second Canonical Epistle of St. Basil Blastares on this same Cannon to a believing man XXI If one of the Parties that desire to be Marryed is Excommunicated the Marriage shall not be admitted in the Church unless the Excommunicate Person makes confession of his faults As for those which are suspended from the Lords Supper the Consistory may permit them to marry notwithstanding the suspension however having good reason for it CONFORMITY Excommunicate Persons not being looked upon as Members of the Church during the time of Excommunication it is absolutely necessary they should make publick acknowledgement of their faults to repair the Scandal they have committed before one can proceed to Celebrate their Marriage And I have shewn on the 11th Article of the 11th Chapter that they were not so much as suffer'd to present a Child to Baptisme XXII The Panes of Widows which re-marry shall not be published in the Church till Seven Months and half at least after the Decease of their Husband to avoid the Scandals and inconveniencies may happen by it unless it so happen that the Magistrates Order may interpose to the contrary CONFORMITY Herraid Bishop of Touers in his Capitulary of the Year 858 Tom. 3. Conc. Gall. cap. 41. p 113 Tom. 2. Bibl. Jur. Can. Just p. 1075. ad 1078. Litt. B. c. 8. G. c. 4. assigns but 30 Dayes but Photius in the 2. chap. of the 13. Title of his Nomocanon requires there should be a years mourning before a Woman should marry again unless the Prince suffer her to marry in the first year of her Widowhood or that she had not layn In till the end of the year The Frier Blastares of whom I have so often spoke proves this same practice by the Laws of Emperours and also doth Photius to which our Discipline well agrees XXIII Marriage shall be celebrated publickly in the Company of Believers and that by the Ministry of the Pastors and none else CONFORMITY It is a very long time since Christians have been wont publickly in the Church to cellebrate Marriage seeing Tertullian in the Fourth chap. of his Book of Pudicity causes those which have not done so to pass for Adulterers and Fornicators and in the Eighth chap. of the Second Book he writes to his Wife he publishes the happyness of those which the Church has bless'd this benediction preventing the course of private Meetings Tom. 1. Conc. Ann. 358 pag. 728. Tom. 3. and of Clandestine Marriages Thence it is the Fourth Council of Carthage orders Fathers and Mothers or the Bridegrooms to present the Bride and Bridegroom whose Marriage is to be Celebrated Pope Hormisdas in the beginning of the Sixth Century appoints also it should be done publickly in the Church There is in the Book of Sacraments of Gregory the First which Maynard a Benedictine Frier has Printed pag. 286. a whole Liturgy about Cellebrating Marriage which was taken out of a Manuscript of the Church of Rheims The Deacon Hillary in the Third Volume of the Works of St. Ambrose speaks of this benediction on the 12th verse of the 3. chap. of St. Paul Ep. to Timothy and on the 3. of the 5. chap. it is likely St. Tom. 2. p. 681. Par. 1614 Chrysostom had it in his thoughts when in his 48th Homily on Genesis he exhorts to send for the Priests to knit by Prayers and Blessings the Union and Concord of Marriage St. Isidore of Sivill in the 19th chap of the 2. Book of Divine Offices saith That when the Priest blesses Marriages he does it in imitation of God who blessed the Marriage of the first Man The Kings Charlemain and Lewis the De bonnaire in the Seventh Book of the Capitularies chap. 358 amongst several Conditions they prescribe necessary to a lawful Marriage they have not forgot the Blessing we treat of And in the Capitularies of Charles the bald is to be seen the Nuptial Blessings of his Daughter Judith with Edelwolf King of England and of Hormintrude with himself I would alleage other proofs of this Ancient Practice but not to tire the Reader I will conclude with the Testimony of Photius who in two of his last five Letters by way of Augmentation at the foot of the rest that is in the First and Fifth he several times makes mention of the publick benediction of Marriages by the Pastors XXIV It is convenient for the Order of the Church not to Celebrate Marriage on Sacrament Dayes and this Order shall not be broken but on weighty reasons which the Consistory shall advise upon Neither shall Marriages be solemniz'd on Days of Publick Fasting CONFORMITY The Cellebration of the Lords Supper which invites us to meditate of the Death of our Saviour and which requires of us Holy Dispositions to partake worthily of it the Cellebration I say of this Holy Sacrament not agreeing very well with what usually passes at Christian Weddings it is with great Reason the Authors of our Discipline has forbidden to solemnize any Marriage on the Days appointed for the Communion no more than on Days appointed for Cellebration of a Publick Fast because Fasting is an occasion of Affliction and Tears and Marriage on the contrary after the manner most People use it at this time is of prophane Rejoycing and very often of Debauchery and Excess The Antient Church prohibited although after several ways to Cellebrate Marriages in certain times as appears by the 52 Cannon of Laodicea and by a fragment of a Council of Lerrida in the Year 524. Tom. 3. Concil and the Second Council of Aix la Chapella pag. 817. in the year 836 defends in the 18th Cannon of the Third chap. to solemnize Marriages on Sundays for the Reverence of the Day Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. p. 394. XXV Those who have been contracted and that have cohabitted together before being lawfully Marryed whether their fault came to be known before or after Marriage is solemnized they shall make publick confession of their fault or before the Consistory according as it shall think convenient And it hapning before Marriage such Solemnities shall be observed at the said Marriage as the
Husband it was also the Opinion of Innocent I. Ep. 9. Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury whom I cited on the 29th Article Can. 113.4 q. Spicil p. 62. suffers a Lay man whose Wife has absented to marry another at the expiration of seven years with consent of the Bishop and at the End of one year if she has been taken away Captive by force The 83 Caunon of the 6 universal Council Tom. 5. conc pag. 347. follows near hand the Discipline of St. Basil and partly that of Leo the First The 9th of that of Verbery which I have mention'd several times suffers a Man who is forced to change Countries and whose Wife will not follow him it suffers him to marry another if he cannot contain Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. pag. 3. Photius in the 13 Title Can. 2. of his Nomocanon declares the Time and the Manner that the Wife of the absent Husband is to observe before she re-marries The Friar Blastares follows the steps of Photius and when the absence of the Husband or the Wife is caused by Captivity he determins that if in five years no news be heard the Marriage is void XXXII As for the Wifes of Priests and Friers which revolt and return to Idolatry singing Mass or returning to their Cloysters from whence they came out before they are advertis'd to inhabit no longer with their said Husbands during their Apostasie not to load Marriage with blame and ignominy and also shall not marry with others until the first marriage be dissolv'd by the Magistrate CONFORMITY To this Article may be referr'd the 44 Cannon of the 2d Cannonical Epistle of St. Basil with the interpretations of Balsamon and Zonaras the 13th Cannon of the first Council of Orleans of the year 511. and the 3d. of that of Verbery assembled Anno 752. for in all these places Tom. 1. conc Gall. pag. 150. Tom. 2. pag. 2. something is ordain'd which comes very nigh the Establishment of our Discipline CHAP. XIV Of Particular Rules and Advertisements ARTICLE I. NO Body shall be received to the Communion of the Church until he has first publickly renounced all Superstitions and Idolatries of the Church of Rome and of the Mass especially CONFORMITY The Church in all Ages has refused to receive Persons into her Communion until they had first given an account of their Faith and had renounced all Errors they had formerly professed and all the false Worship they had before preached I may prove this Truth by sundry Cannons but I 'le only produce some the thing being clear of it self The Sixth Cannon of Laodicea is express on this Subject Hereticks must not be permitted to enter into the House of God if they persevere in their Heresie The Seventh is no less formal Those amongst the Novatians Photinians or Quarto decimans nor those amongst them they call Believers until they first anathematize all Heresie especially that wherein they were detain'd To this same Subject may be apply'd the 37th and 58th Cannons of the same Synod about Forty years before the Great Council of Nice had order'd in the VIII Cannon touching the Catharians that when they return'd to the Communion of the Church they should be oblig'd to declare by writing That they imbrac'd all the Doctrines of the Catholick and Apostolick Church And that by consequence they renounce all the Errors contrary to them and wherewith they had been infected and because all Errors are not alike dangerous the Second Oecumenical Council assembled at Constantinople in the year 381 prescribes in the Seventh Cannon the manner of receiving those which turn to the Church and this method is different according to the Diversity of Errors of those which are converted but after all the least that is expected of them Is to anathematize by Writing all manner of Heresie as doth not agree with the Dogma's of the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church II. A Believer is not permitted to intermeddle in any thing wherein there may be an intermixture of Idolatry as that which is called the Kiss of the hand or the Ceremony of the Church keep Masses Vigils and maintain Friers which are appointed for that purpose But to hold Priories Revenues Rents Chappellanies and Tythes to pay the Revenue to Churchmen inasmuch as they are Temporal Lords it is a thing indifferent and at the liberty of those that please to do it Nevertheless Believers are advertis'd not to intermeddle in those matters if they find any abuse therein or appearance of any ill consequence whereof the Consistories shall take special heed CONFORMITY It 's only requisite to read what I have said on the Nineteenth Article of the Fifth chap. which is that of Consistories to see after what manner those are treated in the Primitive Church as were any way poluted with Idolatry I will here only add two things First That the Ancient Fathers called Idolatry Crimen principale summum scelus principale crimen genneris humani summum saeculi reatus tota causa judicii And by these expressions they would let Christians see how much they should abhor Idolatry seeing it breaks all manner of Communion with God Secondly That the Council of Laodicea after having declared in the 35th Cannon that Christians should not forsake the Church of God to follow Angels to invoke them it makes this Mennace If any one be found to serve this hidden Idolatry let him be anathematised because he has forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and is turn'd to Idolatry The Reader may observe if he please that the Fathers of Laodicea think one abandons Jesus Christ and for sakes him at the very instant one makes any step towards Idolatry and 't will be to no purpose to say that one often thinks there is Idolatry where there is none because that as soon as ever a Man thinks there is Idolatry he ought not be concern'd more nor less although he might be mistaken in his Judgment for he would betray his own Conscience and indanger his Salvation seeing that in matter of Religion all that is done without Faith is Sin as St. Paul saith III. Those who by unlawful means as by Popes Bulls or for Money shall hold Benefices and also those which shall uphold Idolatry directly or indirectly are declared unworthy to be admitted to the Holy Communion of the Lords Supper As for benefices conferr'd on any Body by right of Patronage whether it be by Provision of the Lord Lay Patron or by Collation of the Bishop Believers are advertis'd not to accept of any that shall be given them under any open or tacit condition of service deditated to the Idol CONFORMITY This Article being a consequence and dependance on the former it has no need of any other Interpretation IV. Printers Booksellers Painters and other Tradesmen and in general all Believers especially those who have any Office in the Church shall be admonished not to make any thing in their way as depends directly on the