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
the Mysteries of Piety and of Religion It was for this Reason that from the very first beginning of Christianity they had publick Schools wherein the principal Matters and Fundamental Points of the Religion of the Son of God was taught as has been proved on the 13th Article of the 1st Book Now to descend lower I observe that Charlemain who may be looked on as the first restorer of Sciences in a great part of the West I say he took care to settle Schools in Monastries and Episcopal Houses for the Instruction of Youth it is what he particularly enjoins in his Capitulary Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. p. 152. c. 72. Ib p. 215. c. 19 20. in the year 789. Theodulph Bishop of Orleans declares in his made Eight years after the other That there were several Schools in his Diocess which he names and moreover appoints to have others in the Country and in Villages The 2d Council of Chalous on Soan made a Decree in the year 813. Ib. p. 308. Can. 3. which deserves here to have its place It is requisite that according to the command of the Emperor Charles a Prince endowed with singular Sweetness Force Prudence Justice and Temperance Bishops should Establish Schools where the Doctrine and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures may be Learned and where persons may be instructed of whom our Saviour may justly say Ye are the Salt of the Earth and may be the savour of the People and whose Doctrine may not only resist sundry Heresies but also the temptations of Antichrist and the Antichrist himself and that so it may justly be said of them in praise of the Church A Thousand Bucklers and the Arms of Men of might are there The Synod of Paris Ib. lib. 3. p. 549. Can. 12. term'd the VI. in the Year 829. make request to Lewis the Debonnair in following his Predecessors steps That he will be pleas'd by his Authority to procure the Establishment of some publick Schools at least in three of the most convenient places of his Empire to the end that his Father's and his pains might not be in vain Besides that this Establishment would be very useful and glorious to the Church of God and that by this Action he would make his name Immortal The Council of Meaux Tom. 3. Conc. Gall. p. 41 42. Can. 35. in the Year 845. requires that each Bishop has a Learned Man of a good and unblameable Life to teach and instruct Priests which have the care and conduct of People in the truth of Faith and in the observation of God's Commandments and to enable them to Preach that the Light of the Word of God may shine always in the House of God which is the Temple of the Living God It is also the substance of the 18th Canon of the 3d Council of Valentia in Dauphine Ib. p. 104. assembled Ten years after that of Meaux of the 34th of a Roman Synod held in the 9th Century Collect. Rom. Part 2. p. 43 89. under Pope Eugenius the 2d and which is repeated and inlarged in another under Leo the IVth in the same Century II. The Regents and School-masters shall sign the Confession of Faith and the Ecclesiastical Discipline and the Cities and Churches shall not receive any without the consent of the Consistory of the place CONFORMITY The Regents and Masters of Schools which serve in our Academies especially Professors of Divinity being called to teach their Scholars the same Truths as those Ministers are oblig'd to Preach to their Congregations and to have them live under the Law of the same Discipline it is just they should as well as the Ministers sign our Confession of Faith and our Discipline to the end their Lessons may be always conformable to the former and their Actions to the latter as well in regard of themselves as of those which depend on their Conduct I will not here repeat what I have said on the 9th Article of the 1st Chapter and which may conveniently be applied to that we now Examine it shall suffice to add that what we expect of our Regents is in substance the same thing as the Protestations made by Doctors in Universities amongst the Latins Not to say nor write any thing contrary to the Holy Scriptures and the Decrees of Councils III. The Doctors and Professors in Divinity shall be Elected by the Synod of the Province where the Academies are and shall be Examin'd as well by the Lessons they shall make on the Old and New Testament according to the Authentick Texts of Hebrew and Greek which shall be delivered to them as by Disputation of one or more days as shall be thought fit and being found capable if they are not Pastors the hand of fellowship shall be given them having first of all promised faithfully and diligently to discharge their Duty and to Teach the Scripture with all purity according to the Analogy of Faith and according to the Confession of our Churches which they shall subscribe CONFORMITY The Council of Chalons which was cited upon the first Article refers to Bishops and by consequence to their Synods the Choice and Establishment of those which are to Teach Divinity and the Mystery of Salvation and that of Meaux which we also cited on the same Article prescribes the Gifts and Qualities as well for the Doctrine as the Life and Conversation so that we may say it amounts near to the Establishment of our Discipline if you except only the form and manner of installation whereof these two Councils make no mention at all Pope Alexander the 3d Tom. 7. Concil part 2. p. 660. in his Lateran Council An. 1189. uses the 18th Canon to provide for the establishing and preserving of Schools in appointing Pensions to Masters and Regents it is the subject of the 11th Canon of another Lateran Council 36 years after that under Innocent the 3d which also declares There ought to be in each Metropolitan Church a Doctor in Divinity to expound to Priests and others the Holy Scriptures and to instruct them in things necessary for the guide of Souls IV. To the end there might be always good store of Pastors and that Churches may be always well provided with persons capable to conduct them and to Preach the Word of God the Churches are advertis'd to Elect hopeful Scholars such as are already well advanced in Learning to keep them at Vniversities that there they may be fitted and prepared to be employed in the Holy Ministry incouraging the Children of poor Ministers which are apt for Learning whereof the Colloques shall take notice Kings Princes and great Lords shall be desired and Exhorted to assist herein and to contribute part of their Revenue as also opulent Churches The Colloques and Provincial Synods shall give advertisements where and when they shall see occasion and shall use all convenient means that things so necessary might be brought to good effect and if single Churches can't do it
the truth of Faith Tom. 5. Spirit pag. 203. which the forty six Cannon of Laodicea also prescribes St. Owen writes in the VIII Chap. of the 2d Book of the Life of St. Eloy Bishop of Noyon That he baptised every year at Easter those which in the compass of the year he could Convert that is to say those he could turn from the darkness of Paganism to the Light of the Gospel Paulinus Arch-bishop of York did the like in the same Century that is in the 7th as is related by Beda in his Ecclesiastical History of England Theodulph Bishop of Orleans follows the same method in his 1 chap. of his Treatise of Baptism Epist 104 105. Aleuin who approved not the Saxons should be constrained to be baptised by force alledged for a Reason that they ought first of all to be Instructed But to descend to the last Century Cardinal Borrome in the Fifth Council of Mâ—llan of which place he was Arch Bishop An 1579 Tom. 9. Conc. pag. 6.6 requires two things of Adults which are to be baptized First that they know the Rudiments of the Christian Religion Secondly That they repent of their Sins past I will add to all I have hitherto observ'd the practice of the Primitive Church which instructed the Catecumeny a long while before they Honour'd them with Holy Baptisme There is in our Discipline at the end of the Chapter we examine a Form of Baptisme of those which shall be converted to the Christian Faith And in the Thirteenth Century Nicetas Choniates composed one for Mahometans which desired to embrace Christianity Tom. 12. Bibl. Pat. p. 527. cum 531 532. The VI. Council of Paris Authorizes the Decree which it makes in the Year 829. Cannon the Sixth Book the First by the Practice of the Primitive Church To. 2. Conc. Gall. pag. 846. IV. The Children of Fathers and Mothers of the Romish Church and of Excommunicate Persons cannot be admittisme in the Reformed Churches though they were presented by believing Godfathers unless their Father and Mother consent to it and desire it and resign their Authority in quitting and yielding up to the Godfathers their right as to Instructing them with promises their Children shall be Educated in the true Religion CONFORMITY This Article is grounded on that Children depend of their Father and Mother without whose consent they cannot be disposed of nor christned against their Will into a Communion whereof they are not Members otherwise it were a Forcing People to be Baptized which the Church has ever condemn'd Hist lib. 6. cap. 17 King Chilperick as is related by Gregory of Touers commanded to Baptise the Jews that is to say he constrain'd several to be Baptiz'd which Pope Gregory the First did not approve as appears by the Letter he wrote to Virgilius and Theodorus the former being Bishop of Arles the other of Marsellia and is the Forty Fifth of the First Book So also when King Sisibute had done in Spain after the same manner as Chilperick had done in France Tom. 4. Conc. pag. 593. the Fourth Council of Toledo in the year 633 changed their violent practice in its 56 Cannon the Decree is contained in these terms As for Jews the Synod has Ordain'd that henceforwards no body shall be forced to believe for God has compassion on whom he will and harden whom he pleases and such should not be saved by force but voluntarily to the end to preserve intirely the way of Justice for as Man was ruin'd by voluntarily obeying the Serpent he is also saved by believing and converting to God when he calls him by his Grace let perswasion there be used and not violence to incline them to be converted truly and without any constraint Ib. p. 603 And 't is to be observ'd that the Ordinance of this Prince comprehended Children Hist Gothor in si se buto and Domesticks therefore St. Isidore Bishop of Sevil wrote of him having regard to this Edict That he had a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge And we have already seen on the precedent Article that Alcuin Tutor to Charlemain did by no ways approve the force was put on the Saxons in those times Read his Letters in 104 and 105 and you 'l see the truth hereof insomuch as he deplored at the beginning of the former the misfortune of that People which as he saith often lost the Sacrament of Baptisme because they never had in their hearts the Sacrament of Faith Thence it is he teacheth in both of them that one must begin by Instruction that Faith is a thing voluntary and not forced that a Man cannot be forced to believe that which he does not believe But that it may not be thought the Subject I examin is of little importance and that it might be put amongst things indifferent to be done or left undone at pleasure it must be shewn there is nothing more contrary to the tenour of the Gospel than to constrain Men to imbrace the profession of it Jesus Christ the Author of this Heavenly Doctrine and the Soveraign Doctor of this Truth never imployed force nor violence to have it received he was content in Exhortations and Instructions which he accompanied with a hidden and secret vertue in regard of those he intended to call to his Communion and which he drew with efficacy but also at the same time with Sweetness with Cords of Love and Bands of Humanity and Charity The Apostles exactly followed his Example Exhorting Men to repent and believe the Gospel and praying them in the Name of Jesus Christ to be reconciled to God The Christians which succeeded the Apostles did just after the same manner cap. 24.28 Tertullian in his Appollogetick declares positively that the Liberty of Religion cannot be taken away nor deny Men the choice of the Divinity which they adore without rendring themselves guilty of the crime of Impiety and Irreligion because he pretends the Service of God ought to have a willing mind for its first principle And in his Book to Scapula he saith That 't is no Act of Religion to force the Religion which one should imbrace of free will and not by constraint Lactantius in the 20th chap. of the Fifth Book of his Divine Institutions saith There is nothing so voluntary as Religion which ceases to be p. 82. G. Par. 1544 at the very moment one has any aversion or hatred to it St. Hilary of Poictiers in his First Book to the Emperour Constantius Pag. 82. G Paris 1544. writes That God has taught the Knowledge Men have of him before he required it Authorising his Commandments by his Miracles not desiring a forced Obedience nor an unwilling Confession And in his Book against Auxentius Ib. p. 84. he reproaches the Arrians to have imployed Prisons and banishment to constrain Men to be of their side and to enter into their Communion St. Athanasius was of the same Opinion as he shews
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