A FORM OF RECONCILIATION OF Lapsed Protestants AND OF ADMISSION OF Romanists To the Communion of the Church of IRELAND Written by the Right Reverend Father in God Anthony Lord Bishop of Meath DVBLIN Printed and are to be sold by Andrew Crook at Their Majesties Printing-house on Ormonde-Key and by Eliphal Dobson a◠the Stationers-Arms in Castle-street 1601. A FORM OF Reconciliation c. THere was never any signal Deliverance afforded by God Almighty to his Church but as it proved an occasion of greater piety to the devout and sincere Christian so it stir'd up a desire in such as were either it 's open enemies or disguised friends to joyn themselves in external communion with the true members of the Church when they were delivered from their oppressions Thus we read of a mixt multitude that joyned themselves to the Jews and went up with them out of the Land of Egypt These certainly were no others than some of the Egyptians and other nations who having seen the miracles wrought by Moses and being convinced by them that they must needs be the people of God in whose favour so many amazing prodigies had been effected thought it their wisest course to forsake the Idolatry of Egypt and joyn themselves with the Professors of the true Religion Thus the Samaritans that disclaim'd all friendship and alliance with the Jews in the time of their distress did notwithstanding court and implore their favour pretended to be of the of the same religion and communion with them when they were restored to the liberty of their religion and the enjoyment of their properties in their own countrey And it was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah that their deliverance out of Captivity should be so wonderful to the Heathen Nations round about them that it should invite vast numbers of them to joyn themselves to their communion And what was thus foretold so long before their return out of the Babylonish Captivity did accordingly come to pass after their deliverance for many of the Nations that before were their Enemies did declare themselves in favour of them and desired to be admitted to their communion And as it happen'd thus with the Jews before the coming of our Saviour it was so likewise with the Christian Church after it For 300 years she enjoyed little of delight or quiet in the world and few or none embraced her Religion but those that did it on a pure principle of conscience without any regard to secular profit or advantages but when Kings and Princes became nursing Fathers to the Church and encouraged the Religion by making Laws for its security and countenanc'd the professors of it by large priviledges and promotions in Church and State then many of the Heathens flock'd to its communion and embraced the profession of it not because they loved it better than their own but because they saw it enjoyed the countenance of the State and found it the ready way to those honours and advantages which they knew they must want in the profession of their own This having been the state and condition of the Church in former Ages we have reason to believe will be again the consequent of that great deliverance that God has afforded her in this Kingdom it being reasonable to presume that those who never were of her communion as well as those who Apostatized from it will be desirous to be received into her communion The latter out of a principle of shame and sorrow and the former out of desperation as being out of all hopes of seeing their Religion to flourish again among us especially since it received so remarkable a disappointment at a time when they flattered themselves with the hopes of an entire establishment of it And because it is fit that some penance should be imposed on those that forsook us in time of danger as well as a method propounded for the admission of those that never were of our communion that so the former may be brought to a due sense of their sin and danger and the latter encouraged to continue in our communion I shall therefore presume to offer my thoughts upon this point and lay down such a Scheme for the admission of them both as may serve the present necessities of the Church 'till the wisdom of the Convocation shall prescribe another in its stead In order to this I shall consider First What the Ancient Discipline of the Church was in receiving Penitents that had fallen from her 2ly How far that Discipline is at present practicable 3ly What methods are most proper to be used for the admission of Papists or the reconciling of Apostates In the handling of the first head I do not design to insist upon all the particulars of the ancient discipline of Penance for that would be a laborious and voluminous work but shall only mention such branches of it as may be serviceable to my present design and in order to that I consider First That there were peculiar places appointed for the Penitents and Catechumens in the Church some difference indeed there is in the number of them for the Councils of Nice and Ancyra mention only three because they did not esteem the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or weepers to be any order of penitents but rather as Candidates and expectants of it and accordingly they are said by Tertullian to be in vestibulo panitentiae rather in the way and passage to it than reckon'd up as a distinct Order of them But the great St. Basiil takes notice of four viz. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Weepers Hearers Prostrates and Consistents and so doth Balsamon in his notes on the Council of Neocaesaria To these Greg. Thaumatur gus adds a fifth order that of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communicants tho' they cannot properly be reckon'd any Order of penitents but should rather be esteemed as persons that have performed their penance and so were admitted to an entire communion with the Church but notwithstanding this difference in the number it is agreed on all hands that there were several places appointed for the several Orders of penitents These places and stations were introduced into the Church long before the Council of Nice or Constantine the Great 's time as may appear by the disputes between the Novatians and the Catholicks concerning the reception of the Lapsi and the Story of Philip the Emperour in Eusebius who tells us that the Bishop would not admit him to enter into the Church before he had made a confession of his sins and stood in the place of penitents And it is plain by the forementioned Canon of Nice that it rather supposeth them as things of long use and practice in the Church then prescribes any new rules or directions about them And as they were introduced very early into the Church so they continued in practice much longer
in the Western than the Eastern Church for the three first were abrogated in the fifth Century soon after the days of Nectarius Patriarch of Constantinople but they continued in the Western Church till the ninth Century as may appear by the Capitulars of Charles the Great After which time the discipline of penance beginning to be relax'd the stations of the penitents decay'd with it 2ly That the place for the Weepers was in the Church-porch without the doors of the Church the place for the Hearers was at the further end of the Narthex the place for the Prostrate within the body of the Church but before the Ambon the Pulpit or reading desk and that for the Consistents before the Choire or Chancel This will be more evident by applying proofs out out of ancient Writers to each of these particulars First then for the place of the Weepers we have the testimonies of Greg. Thaumaturgus and St. Basil the former of whom tells us that it was without the doors of the Oratory where the penitent stood and beseeched the â—â—ithful to pray for him and the latter saith that they were to stand without the doors of the Church and confess their sins and desire the prayers of the faithful in their behalf The place for the Hearers was at the hither end of the Narthex or the entry into the Church which whether it was within or without the Church is not much material to my present purpose it being only incumbent on me to make good that there was such a peculiar determined place appointed for this order of penitents perhaps that controversy is easily reconciled by adjusting the several notions of the Ancients concerning the word Ecclesia which some extended not only to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also and included the Nave or body of the Church under the word Ecclesia and then it must be granted that the Narthex was within the Church and a part of it But others take the word Ecclesia in a more restrained sense as including only the Nave or Body of the Church where the faithful did assemble to Prayers and the Sacrament and then the Narthex was no part of it but must be supposed to be a part without it However let that controversy lie as it will I am only concerned to prove that the Narthex was the place or station of the Hearers And by the Narthex I mean the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fore-part or first entry into the Church extending from the West door till you come to the Pulpit of which we have some footsteps remaining in the two Cathedrals of the Holy Trinity St. Patricks Dublin in each of which there is a stone Pulpit fix'd about the middle of the Nave or Body of the Church Now the Narthex will contain all that part of the Church that reacheth from the great West door till you come near the stone Pulpit and here anciently the Catechumens and Daemoniacks and the Hearers had their stations the place before the Pulpit which anciently was fixed in the middle of the Nave tho' now removed to the Wall was the place of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the prostrate and from thence to the Choire or Chancel was the place of the Faithful or Consistents where they stood to hear the Word pray and from thence forward is the Chancel called by the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now that the Narthex was the place of the Hearers is plain from the testimony of Greg. Thaumatur gus who saith that the station of Hearers was within the doors in the Narthex where they were to stand till the Catechumens were dismissed and then to goe out with them To the same purpose are the words of Balsamon and Zonaras and Gabriel the metropolitan of Philadelphia affirms that the place of Hearers was within the door of the Church viz. in the Narthex where the Hearers stood and communicated in the Hymns and reading of the Scripture The place for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prostrate was behind the Ambon or the Reading Desk All the Scholiasts on the Codex canonum agree on this as Balsamon and Zondras Aristenus and Math. Blastares Balsamon places it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behind the Reading Desk Zonaras and Aristenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the hind part of it and Blastares affirms it was within the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but behind the Ambon and that they went out of the Church with the Catechumens when the Deacon pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last place for the Consistents was between the Reading Desk and the Chancel tho' not without some distinction of place between them and the faithful that were not under the censures of the Church This is plain not only from the aforementioned Canons of Nice and Ancyra but from the Annotations of the Scholiasts upon them which we do all place them in the same rank and station with the faithful and allow them the same priviledges with them except the participation of the Lords Supper and the liberty of bringing their Offerings to the Holy Table 3ly That those several Orders of Penitents were not only distinguished from the faithful in their places but also in their habits in the form of prayer that was used for them and in the time of their departure out of the Church The several Writers on the discipline of penance do take notice of a distinct habit that they were to put on during the time of their penance which by some is called Sordida vestis by others lugubris atra pullata by others velamen paenitentiae habitus religiosus To these others require as necessary signes of contrition tears in their eyes and sadness in their countenance shaving of the haire and lying on the ground the putting sackcloth on their bodies and ashes on their heads and all for this end and purpose that it might be known to all persons that they were under the censures of the Church and that they might prove by these tests whether they were sincere in their reformations If any denyed to undergoe these severities they looked upon him as an hypocrite and a person unquallify'd for their communion Besides they were distinguished from the rest of the people in the time and man-of their departure out of the Church and the form of prayer and benediction that were used over them for as soon as the Hymns were sung and the Scriptures read and the Sermon finished the Hearers were dismiss'd and then the doors were shut the Catechumens were prayed for and when that prayer was finished the Catechumens were dismiss'd and then the Penitents come under discipline and as soon as they had kneeled down and some certain prayers were offered up in their behalf and the Bishop or Presbiter had laid his hands on them then they were dismissed
out of the Church and the doors were shut again and then the Faithful proceeded to the second Service and the participation of the Lords Supper These things are so plainly set down in the synod of Laodicea and in those Authors that have given us an account of the manner and order of the service of the Church that I need not insist any further on them 4ly confession of their sin was also required of them according to the nature and quality of it and this was judged so necessary a part of their repentance and so sure a sign of the sincerity of their sorrow that without it no one could receive the benefit of Absolution The antient canons indeed take notice of two sorts of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or confession the one before the penance was imposed and this was done either in private to the Bishop or in publick in the Church as the Bishop should direct the other after the penance was performed The former of these was looked on as necessary to free the Church from the guilt and the scandal of publick sins and in the case of private ones it was required as a means to bring the sinners to a more due sence and conviction of their faults Thus Tertullian commends it to the penitent as a thing highly available to Repentance for he calls it prosternendi humilificandi hominis disciplina and saith that it is the parent of Repentance and disposeth the penitent for pardon and forgiveness and St. Cyprian in his accompt of the proceedings with the penitents tells us that by outward gestures and tokens they shewed themselves to be sorrowful for their sins and then made an humble confession of them before the whole congregation and desired all the brethren to pray for them This was also the practice in Origen's time and we have an ample account of the custom of the Church in this particular out of Sozomen where he tells us that it was the custom at first for the penitents to confess their sins in publick that afterwards to consult the modesty of the penitents and because it was thought a little to severe to make the congregation privy to their sins there was a peculiar Penitentiary appointed to receive their confessions that this office was after abolish'd by Nectarius upon the occasion of a crime confess'd by a penitent that they who were conscious to themselves of having offended did fall down flat upon the the ground with weeping and lamentation c. In the Church and then the Bishop runs to them with tears in his eyes and falls down to the ground in token of sorrow and compasion the whole Congregation in the mean time sympathizing with them both and expressing their compassion with tears and sorrow It would be an endless thing to transcribe all the authorities of the primitive Writers to this purpose I shall therefore only mention two particulars that are a plain evidence of it The first is that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or confesion is frequently used by Ecclesiastical Writters for the whole action of Repentance and this is so common in the Greek and Latin Fathers in Ireneus St. Basil Tertullian St. Cyprian Pacianus and others that the crafty Sophisters of the Church of Rome make use of it as an argument to prove their new Doctrine of Auricular Confession and wherever they find the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or confessio mentioned they do not so much inquire into the genuine sense of the word as force it into a proof for the practice of their Church in this particular Now to me it is a plain evidence that confession of sins in publick was estemed a necessary part or principal ingredient of Repentance because it could give a dinomination to the whole action and make the discipline of Repentance to pass under that name 2ly That the Romish Doctrine of Auricular Confession has been superstructed upon this foundation for it is realy nothing else but the publick exomologesis reduced to ashes and sprang up in the Church out of it's ruines and as a late excellent Author saith it is the reliques of that excellent discipline of Ecclesiastcal repentance which was in some cases necessary in very many usefull until by the disolution of manners it became unsufferable and a bigger scandal than those which it did intend to remedy 5ly That during the time of their Ecclesiastical penance they were required to fast There is none of the ancient Writers on the discipline of penance but among the rest of the austerities that were practised by the penitents do mention this of fasting as a principal part of it sometimes under the notion of jejunium sometimes under the terms of cibus siccus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this will be evident if we consider the several periods of the Church and deduce the History of fasting and the practice of it through them from whence it will appear that tho' it was always continued as a part of the penitential discipline yet it admitted of different degrees both as to the manner of fasting and the time of it for the three first Centuries we only read of fasting in general without determining the nature of it or the time how long or the kinds of meat that were to be abstain'd from and where there is any mention of the time of performing it 't is rarely extended beyond seven weeks at most The incestuous Corint hian mention'd in St. Paul who was the first instance of the Churches severity in her censures and of her indulgence in the relaxation of them did not continue aboue a year under that discipline if we may be permited to draw any argument from the distance of time between the writing of the two Epistles and the young man reclaim'd by St. John from the society of Robbers was not above a month or two at most under the severity of it And it is plain from that story and several passages in Tertullian and St. Cyprian where they describe the manner and order of this discipline that there is only mention of tears and fasting of sackcloth and ashes and prostrations on the ground of cibus siccus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cibus and potus purus without any determination of the nature of the fast or the time of it's continuance In the 4th Century as the time of the penance was made more tedious so the time of fasting was inlarged with it and that fasting confined to a spare diet and an abstinence from some particular meats We read in the Councils that were call'd and the Fathers that writ within this Century of penance imposed for 5. 7. 10 12. 20. 30 years according to the nature of the crimes that the penitents had been guilty of and because it was impossible for men to fast so long from all manner of food we are therefore to presume that their fasting did consist rather