that the band of Marriage may be broke by reason of Adultery nevertheless 't is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ who formally declares in the Gospel That 't is only for Adultery that Marriage may be dissolv'd as well to the Bed as the Obligation I know St. Austin and some others have found difficulty in the explication of the Words of our Saviour and that they could not fully resolve to explain them in the manner I just now mention'd at least St. Austin confesses in several places of his Writings That the Question concerning the Dissolving of Marriages for cause of Adultery is very obscure and difficult and is what made him write on this matter things which would seem contradictory if one did not distinguish the times wherein he applied himself to write on this question For it is most certain in what he wrote before the 2d Council of Mileva which was held in the year of our Lord 416. he appear'd unresolv'd and undetermin'd finding great difficulties obstructions almost impassible and depths not easily to be fathomed those that will please to take the pains to see what he writes in the 3d Chapter of his Book against Adimentius in the 7th of the Book touching the Comfort of Marriage in the 8th and 25th Chapters of the 1st Book of Adulterous Marriages that is to say of Marriages dishonoured by Adultery and joyn to these Testimonies which are in the 6th Tome those others which are in the 4th to wit The 19th Chapter of the Book of Faith and Works the last Question of the Book of 83 Questions and the 16th Chapter of the first Book of the Sermon of our Lord on the Mount those I say which will take the pains to read all these places which I have instanc'd will agree to the irresolution and trouble St. Austin was in on the subject now spoke of and especially if they consider the sincere Confession which he makes in one of the places I have cited Having saith he Lib. 1. de Adult Conjug cap 25. Tom. 6. thus Treated and Examin'd these things according to my capacity I am not ignorant that the Question touching Marriages is very obscure and difficult and I do not dare to say that I have yet explained in this Work nor that I am able if you press me to resolve hereafter in any other all the difficulties which accompany it He confesses the same thing Lib. 2. Retract cap. 57. Tom. 1. although in terms a little different in recalling the Books wherein is found the Testimony which justifies what I have alledged of his doubtfulness and declares with his usual humility That he don't think to have given to this Matter all the clearness it requires After this Council of Mileva this Holy Doctor wrote several Treatises wherein he explains himself more fully than he had done in the others for instance In the 19th Chapter of the first Book of Retractaions he saith That 't is out of doubt that one may leave his Wife for the Fornication which is committed in Adultery In his 89th Letter to Hillarius Quest 4. He confesses That by the Laws of Jesus Christ Tom. 2. it is not permitted to leave one's Wife but for the cause of Adultery and that Jesus Christ forbid to put her away for any other Cause but for Adultery And in the 9th Treatise upon St. John It is permitted to put away the Wife for the cause of Adultery Tom. 9. because she has first refused to be a Wife in not keeping her vow of Wedlock to her Husband To judge of the mind of St. Austin by these latter Testimonies which are more formal and positive than the former it may be concluded That he believed having well examin'd the matter that the band of Marriage was broke by Adultery Nevertheless because that in the other writings he could not satisfy himself nor clear all their difficulties wherewith this question seem'd to be always incumbred I would not make use of His Authority for Establishing the Conformity of our Discipline with that of the Primitive Christians This Council of Mileva above-mention'd forbids in the 17th of its Canons which is the 102. in the African Code it forbids him that is repudiated by his Wife and to the Woman put off by the Husband to re-marry themselves to any one else and enjoyns them to live single or to be reconcil'd again threatning to put them into the number of Penitents if they disobey this Decree which the Fathers of the Synod pretend to be conformable to the Evangelical and Apostolical Discipline But in the first place they do not declare whether they speak of a separation occasion'd by Adultery or by some other cause for the which Jesus Christ don't permit of Separation Secondly The Conduct of St. Austin who assisted at this Council makes me suppose that either the Fathers of Mileva spake of Divorces besides for the Cause of Adultery or at least if they regarded Divorces grounded upon Adultery St. Austin did not forbear Writing after the Convocation of this Assembly That 't is permitted to put away the Wife for the matter of Adultery Thirdly When the Council it self with some other Doctors should more fully explain themselves and that they should have formally condemn'd the second Marriage of those which had been put away for Adultery it would not from thence follow that I have not made appear that our Discipline does not suffer in this occasion only what the Ancient Christian Discipline of the Church suffered seeing I have proved it by the Canons of divers Councils by the Decrees of some Popes in their Synods and by the practice of all the Greek Church a practice which the Council of Trent dared not to condemn after the Remonstrances made by the Ambassador of Venice And yet farther It is what a famous Doctor of the Communion of Rome has fully justified without thinking of us nor the innocency of our Conduct on the point in Controversy in a Book which he published two or three years ago touching the power of Kings and Sovereigns over Marriages for in the 3d Part Art 1. Chap. 5. he hath at large represented to the Reader the Tradition of the Church on the matter of Marriages occasion'd by Adultery whereas I have contented my self to relate in my Work what is most definitive in the Tradition and least of all subject to Controversy and Contestation Whatever's the matter after so many explanations there is hope to believe That Men will not for the future cry so much against this Article of our Discipline which has given occasion to our Enemies to accuse us of favouring Vice and Libertinisme I could if it were needful mention other Cavils of some lesser Disputers against the Holiness of our Ecclesiastical Laws which they have spoke very injuriously of as if they were directly contrary to the Rules of the first Christians and as if those which made them had taken pleasure quite to forsake its use and
be done by approbation of the Synod which shall put another in the place of him they send away Thence it is that Pope Gellasius the first doth not always simply condemn these Translations but only then when they are made without cause Hinemar Archbishop of Rhemes in the Ninth Century authorizes these Changes when there is good cause for them or necessity and that 't is done by Order of the Synod and he also produces sundry instances of this practise I do not mention the first Epistle of Pelagius the second who establishes or rather approves for the like motives these kind of Translations because I am perswaded 't is false and spurious XXXI When a Minister is persecuted or for some other cause cannot exercise his Office in the Church whereunto he was appointed he may be sent elsewhere by the said Church or an exchange shall be made of him for some other for a time by the consent and good liking of both the Churches But if the Minister will not submit to the judgment of both Churches he shall impart the reasons of his refusal to the Consistory and there it shall be judged if they are sufficient and if they are not found to be so and that yet the Minister persists to refuse the said Office the difference shall be transferred to the next Provincial Synod or to the Colloque if the Churches are of one and the same Colloque CONFORMITY The ancient Christians which had foreseen the inconvenience which regards our Discipline in this Article have made divers Rules to remedy it In the year of our Lord 347 the Council of Sardis in these terms set down the words of their last Canon If violence be done to a Bishop and that he be cast out unjustly through malice for the Discipline he has exercised or for the Catholick Faith which he confessed or for the truth which he defended and that being innocent and flying from danger he comes to another Church let him not be hindered to abide there until such time as he can return and that an end be put to the trouble which he suffers for it would be cruel not to receive with all humanity and good will him which suffers persecution 〈◊〉 20. The Council of Chalcedon which forbids to quit the Church one has served in from the first time of ones promotion Excepts those which having been constrained to forsake their Country have passed into another Church according to which Gregory the First established a certain Bishop call'd John which had been driven away from his Church by the Enemy which had taken possession of the place I say he setled him in another on condition to return back to his former Church as soon as it recovered its ancient liberty It was also in the same manner he served Agnellus Bishop of Fundi which upon a like occasion he preferred to the Church of Terracina the same was practised in France in the IX Century in regard of Actard Bishop of Nants the City having been sack'd and plundered by the Brittans and Normans he was made Archbishop of Tours as Hinomar affirms who lived in that time and at large relates the History in his 45 Epistle which we cited on the foregoing Article and all that he blames in Actard is That he would have held both Churches of Tours and Nants contrary to the prohibition of the Council of Chalcedon excepting this he approves that when a Pastor is persecuted and driven from his Church he should be provided of another The Frier Blastares is of the same judgment and he supports it by the 13 and 22. Canons of the Council of Antioch in Syntagm Lett. A. Cap. 9. pag. 22. XXXII Ministers may with their liking be lent by the Consistory as the Edification of the Church shall require but the Loan shall not be made without the advice of two or three Ministers or of the Colloque if it be for more than six Months CONFORMITY St. Paul saith Charity is the bond of perfectness and all those of one Communion being to be united by this Sacred Bond they are bound in conscience upon all occasions to shew reciprocal marks of sincere and true love and because there are none more sensible than those which have for their scope and aim our instruction and consolation they cannot be mutually refus'd without violating the Laws of Christian Charity It was by such a principle that when there was among the Primitive Christians any Church destitute of a Pastor That next unto it was obliged to take care and visit it from time to time to impart unto it Instructions and Consolations There are several Prescriptions to this purpose in the Monuments of Ecclesiastical Antiquity particularly in St. Gregory's Epistles and all these Rules in effect amount to what 's here prescrib'd in our Discipline XXXIII Ministers lent when the time for which they were lent is expired they shall return to the service of the Churches from whence they went CONFORMITY When a Church for some time borrows the Ministry of a Pastor which is setled in another Church which consented to this Loan there 's no need to doubt but that when the time of Loan is expired he may re-enter into the Church which lent him and which in lending him did not disclaim their Right in him In the Primitive Church at the very instant a Flock was provided of a Pastor he that visited it in the time of its Widowhood that is to say whilst 't was without a Conductor returned no more to it and exercised the Functions of his Ministry no where but in his own Church XXXIV If in one year after the time of Loan is expired the Church don't re-demand its Pastor he shall belong to the Church which borrowed him always provided the Minister willingly consents thereunto but if he be not willing he shall submit to the direction of the Colloque or Synod of the Church to which he had been lent And this rule also shall be in force for the Ministers which by reason of Persecution shall flye to other Churches and the persecution ceasing not being demanded by their former Churches in a years time the which shall commence after the warning which shall have been given to the said first Churches by the said Ministers CONFORMITY Because it may so sall out that a Church which shall have lent one of her Ministers does not recall him after the Expiration of time for which he was lent no difficulty is made of translating him wholly to the Church which had borrowed him the silence of the other being then look'd upon as a kind of Consent Which also is to be appli'd to those which joining themselves to other Churches by reason of Persecution are not redemanded by theirs when the Persecution is over for on these occasions it is as much as if they had granted unto them those Letters of Congé which the Ancients called Dimissoria's with the which a Church-man could serve in another Church in
Kings of the second Race Dances and Lascivious Songs were absolutely forbidden and it is therein declared that they which shall disobey this Ordinance shall suffer the punishment contain'd in the Cannon alledging for a Reason that they are the remainders of Paganism XXVIII Mommery's and Stage-plays shall not be allowed nor the Ceremony of King Drinks nor Carnavals nor Hocus Pocus slight of Hand and Poppet and Stage players and Christian Magistrates are exhorted not to tolerate them because these things only cause loss of time and entertains Idleness Curiosity and Expence Neither shall it be lawful for Believers to assist at Comedies Tragedies Farces Moralities and other plays acted in publick or in private seeing that in all Ages they have been prohibited amongst Christians as inclining to the corrupting of good Manners especially when the holy Scripture is therein mingled Nevertheless when in Colledges it shall be thought fit that Youth may represent some History it may be tolerated provided it ben't contain'd in the Holy Scripture which is not given to be dally'd with but to be truly Preached also it shall be done but very seldom and by advice of the Colloque which shall first see the composition CONFORMITY There may be apply'd to this Article as to what regards Mummery's the Liberties of Shrovetide and other the like Pastimes what the Fathers have said and done against Christians which allow'd themselves in Libertinism after the Manner of Pagans in the Callends of January that is to say the first day of that Month who used near hand the same Sports now practis'd at Carnaval but to draw to a Conclusion it suffices to refer the Reader to the first Cannon of a Synod at Auxer in the year 578 to a Homily of Maximus Bishop of Turin and a Writer of the V. Century Entituled A Homily on the Circumcision of our Lord or a reprehension of the Callends of January In this Sermon he explains the Follies and Debauches committed by Christians on that day and to what St. Owen writes of St. Eloy in the same Chapter cited on the foregoing Article whereby we find they abandon'd themselves to very great Extravagancy they put on Vizards and put themselves in the shape of sundry Beasts as of Sheep Stags Cows Bears and other Beasts to act with greater Liberty and Freedom until that at last these extravagancies being restrain'd by Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws Christians changed these Follies of the Callends of January to the time a little before Lent as if one were bound to commit Sin to have greater occafion of Repentance As for the rest of the Article which concerns Stage-plays and the Theater the Ancient Doctors of the Church incessantly cry against these worldly pastimes Tertullian and St. Cyprian have writ whole Treatises on purpose to divert Christians from them and has called them spectacles I actantius St. Basil St. Lib. 6. pag. 127. Par. 1669 Cyril of Jerusalem Isidore of Petlusta St. Crysostome St. Austin has highly condemned them and Salvian in his Treatise of Providence doth vehemently exagerate the evils that proceed from them and saith several things as may justly be apply'd to those amongst us as do frequent the Theater and Comedies The third Council of Carthage in the year 388 expresly forbids it in 11th Cannon And the 4th Tom. 1. Conc. pag. 710. which was assembled the year following Excomunicates in the 81th Cannon all those which on a solemn day abandon the assembly of the Church to be present at Stage-plays Ib. p. 730. therefore in another Council under Aurelius the Fathers of Africa resolved to beseech the Emperours to prohibit those worldly divertisments especially on solemn days set apart for the Exercise of Piety and Religion The 6th Oecumenical Council employes to this purpose the 51st Cannon at the end of the 7th Century Ib. c. 28. pag. 915. Thence it is that the Ancient Discipline excomunicates Stage-players Jesters Comedians and all those as mounted on the Theater to show these Divertisments to the people and worldings must not abuse what 's added at the end of the Establishment I examine saving the only scope of it was but sometimes to Exercise Scholars in Colledges XXIX All Playes prohibited by the Kings Edicts as Cards Dice and other Games of hazard and those of cevetousness immodesty scandal or notorious loss of time shall be suppressed and the parties reproved and admonished by the Consistory and Sensured as the Circumstances shall require Lotteries also are not to be allowed whither tolerated by the Magistrate or otherwise CONFORMITY The 6th Tom. 5. Conc. pag. 337. universal Council made this Decree contain'd in the 50th Cannon That no Christian whether of the Clergy or Laity do henceforth play at the game called Hazard and if any be found doing it if of the Clergy that he be deposed but if of the Laity that he be Excommunicated XXX To be present at Feasts and Collations of Weddings at Birth and Marriage of Children made by those of the Romish perswasion is in it self indifferent nevertheless Believers are advertised to use it to Edification and to consider if they are sufficiently able to resist the dissolutions and other evils which may there be committed and also to reprove them In which Feasts are not comprised those made by Priests at their first Mass to which it is not lawful to goe CONFORMITY The Council of Loadicea has proved in the 35th and 54th Cannons against the debauches which may happen at Feasts and has warned Christians not to participate thereof As for the Feasts made by Priests at their first Mass our Discipline had just reason to forbid those of its communion not to be there present because 't would be in some sort a silent approving of a thing which has occasioned one of the greatest causes of our separation from the Romish Church it was by a like principle the Synod of Laodicea prohibited Christians in the 37th 38th 39th Cannons not to communicate of any thing as they were wont to use in the Feasts of Jewes Hereticks and Pagans XXXI It shall be no means be permitted to be present at the Feasts or Weddings of those which to marry a Person of contrary Religion shall revolt from the profession of the Gospel As for those which have been a good while revolted or are wholly Papists it is at the discretion of Believers to do what they shall in Wisdom think convenient CONFORMITY What I have observed at the end of the former Article may be applyed to this XXXII Those which challenge or cause to be challenged to Duel or that being challenged accept it and even kill their Adversasaries although they might obtain their pardon or be otherwise claered shall be sensured to the being suspended from the Lords Supper which suspension shall be speedily published and if they desire to be received to the peace of the Church they must make publick confession of their Crime CONFORMITY Duels being expresly condemn'd by
endeavoured to be inspir'd in Believers amongst us by the directions which has been made about the administration of Baptism and the Celebration of the Lord's Supper There has no less care been had in preserving the Holiness of Matrimony from whence has been removed all manner of filthiness and impurity and all imaginable precaution used to render it legitimate To conclude As for the Advertisements which regard particular persons it has been made known to all the world that nothing else was intended but to dispose Christians to Piety and Holiness and generally to all Virtues which are worthy the name they bear and of the Religion they profess Behold here the substance of our Discipline which how innocent soever it be nevertheless has found adversaries who being animated with a spirit contrary to that of Christianity have traduc'd it and still daily rail against it declaiming against it in their Pulpits endeavour to render it odious by the calumnies they accuse it of and by the unjust reproaches they load it with as if those which composed it and which have reduced it to the form wherein we find it had no other design but to open the door to Licentiousness to foment Vice and to incourage Debauchery and Excess but let them say what they list God which bringeth to light the secrets of all hearts will be the Judge of our Innocence and will one day cover with confusion and shame those which so cruelly censure and injure us Nevertheless I trust with the blessing of his Grace that the reading of this Treatise will better inform them and that finding therein an intire Conformity betwixt our Discipline and that of the Primitive Christians they shall be forc'd to change their notes lest that condemning the one they also condemn the other they resemble one another too much not to approve and like of both 'T is true that the better to discern this resemblance Conscience must be consulted silence must be imposed on the Passions and all prejudice which blinds our sight and darkens our judgment must be laid aside by this means the Conformity here proposed will be easily discerned and having discovered it they will declare for us for there would be no reason to make that pass for blasphemy in our mouths which was esteemed Oracles in the mouth of the ancient Fathers neither to reject this rule of our conduct seeing it is the same that theirs was It is what I undertake to prove in this Book and to make the thing the more evident I have examined from first to last all the Articles one after another that none might think I had a design to cast a mist over the Eyes of the Readers in establishing a Conformity in too large and general a way and that to save the credit of our Discipline I would not descend to a particular search and examination In effect the first thing I do is to produce the Text of each Article then I cite the Decrees of Councils and Testimonies of Fathers as much as may be necessary to justifie the resemblance which is in dispute from this Article I pass to another and so go on unto the last and I can say with a safe Conscience that in this work I have not used fraud nor artifice that there will be seen throughout the whole Book a great deal or plainness and if in some parts more of art and skill be required I am perswaded that there never will be cause to desire more of fidelity because I had so particular a view of resembling these two Disciplines and to represent so plainly the features and lineaments that the one might easily be taken for the other as it often happens to two Twins and to find in ours a true Copy of the Prototype and of the true Original Moreover I warn the Reader that having done as I have now mention'd nevertheless I have dispensed my self in reciting at large all that I alledg of Antiquity fearing to deform the Edition because the whole Work is but a continued tissue of Canons and Testimonies therefore I have only done it when I thought it necessary and in those places which absolutely requir'd it Secondly The Reader may take notice I do not always write the whole Decrees but just what relates to the matter I examine reserving the rest for clearing some other Article if it be proper for it And to conclude In the things which are evident and approv'd of all I have not oblig'd my self exactly in all places to cite the proper terms of Authors but just the sense and substance which nevertheless I have done in such a way that none will have cause to blame my Conduct if they will please to compare with the Originals what I have transcribed Although what I have hitherto writ be more than sufficient to stop the mouth of Calumny and to justifie our Ecclesiastical Government nevertheless there are some such untoward and cross spirits and withal so full of prejudice against us that they make pass for Criminal the things which are most innocent and easily condemn what is well worthy the Esteem and Love of the best of Men For instance If we forbid Dancing Comedies the Play of Hazard Mummeries the liberties of Shrovetide Carnivals and other Follies of this kind They say we are Leaders of the blind and they injuriously compare us to those Hypocrites in the Gospel to whom our Saviour says They strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel never considering that in acting after this manner they lessen the Glory of the Fathers which have so highly reproved the same things and pronounced severe Censures against all those which allowed themselves in these worldly pleasures were they not blinded with prejudice they would speak after another manner and they would infer from the severity of these Laws That those which made them were guided by the Spirit of God which inspir'd them with so great a Love to Virtue and so great a Hatred to Vice That they forbid those which lived under their Authority and Conduct the use of those things which were capable to infect the purity of their Lives and to stop the course of their Piety and Sanctification But the Censurers of our Discipline stop not there they pretend it favours Libertinisme because it permits those which separate for the cause of Adultery to Marry some other person and it may be said That this sole Article opens to the Preachers of the Roman Church a wide Field to declaim against us and that they take occasion or rather a pretext to accuse us as if we were favourers of Vice and enemies of Virtue There are also amongst them persons considerable for the Rank they bear which treat us with no less injustice for that having but little or no knowledg of the Ancient Discipline of Christians they imagine it was no way different from that which they at this time follow and on this wrong ground they look on them as Libertines which teach
setling of new Bishops instead of those which were dead Tom. 3. Bibl. Pat. p. 94 112. and says to them Write to these and receive from them according to the custom of Pacisick and Ecclesiastical Letters As for Ecclesiastical Discipline there are a great many Rules which oblige those of the Clergy to observe the Canons whereof the Discipline of the Ancient Christians was made so that neither Bishop nor Priest nor Deacon was admitted who had not first submitted to these Laws and who did not acknowledg in submitting to them that 't was by them he was to conduct the Souls which were committed to his care I should be too prolix to mention all the passages of Antiquity where Ecclesiasticks are enjoyn'd to the practise of the Discipline and observing of the Canons it shall suffice to mention some to justfy a Truth acknowledged by all those which have applied themselves to the Reading the Works of Ancient Doctors and especially of the Councils Cod. Afric Justell Canon 18. That of Carthage An. Dom. 419. Appoints those who are to impose hands on a Bishop or to any other Clergy Man to let them know first of all the Decrees of the Synods that so they might have no cause to repent of having done any thing contrary to the Statutes of the Council Pope Celestin about the same time thus begins his Letter to the Bishops of Poulia and Calabria which is the third in Course Tom. 1. Concil pag. 902. That if it be not permitted to any Priest nor Prelate to be ignorant of the Canons nor to do any thing contrary to the Constitutions of the Fathers for what is it may be worthy of our care if giving too great a latitude to the People at the desire of some persons the Rule of the Canons is infring'd The first Canon of the Council of Calcedon requires that one observe all the Canons had been made till then in the Synods Tom. 1. Concil Gall. the 33d of the 3d Council of Orleans in the year 538 and the 6th of the 4th of the year 541. with several others which I pass over in silence do enjoyn the same thing The Fathers stop not there for not content to have recommended to the Clergy the observation of the Canons which also they have formally requir'd of them at the very moment of their Consecration it is in this manner the Fathers of the 4th Council of Toledo have explain'd themselves in Canon 27. Anno Dom. 633. for they oblige the Priests and Deacons established in Parishes Tom. 4. Concil pa. 589. Ibid. p. 824. to promise the Bishop to live Chast and Holily and Religiously to observe the Laws and Discipline of the Church the 10th Canon of the 11th Council of the same place assembled in the year of Christ obliges all those which take on them Holy Orders to keep the Catholick Faith and wholy to be subject to Canonical Rules and that it should not be thought 't was only Priests and Deacons which were obliged to the strict observing the Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws the Council of Merida in Portugal Ibid. p. 802. extended this obligation to Bishops also and to Metropolitans in the 4th Canon Anno Dom. 666. X. Ministers shall not be ordain'd without assigning them a particular Flock and shall be fit for the Flocks which shall be assign'd them and one Church cannot pretend a right to a Minister by vertue of a particular promise made by him without Approbation of the Colloque or Provincial Synod CONFORMITY The Council of Calcedon made a considerable Decree on this Subject which is to be seen in the 6th of its Canons where the Synod forbids to receive Priest nor Deacon nor any Ecclesiastical Person whatever without assigning them a Flock that is to say without a Title to speak after the manner of the Writers of these times it makes void all Ordinations which is not made in the manner it prescribes and suspends the Ministry of those which have been establish'd in any other manner by this means to correct the boldness of the Ordainers But rightly to understand the sense of the Canon it must be observ'd that the Council calls absolute Ordination an Ordination which obliges not to any certain place it is what the Greek terms import used by him which amounts just to what we say to Elect without assigning a certain Flock See here the terms of the Canon You must not lay hands on any body neither Priest nor Deacon nor on any in Ecclesiastical Orders unless him that is to receive Ordination has been before published and named in some Church in the City or Country or in some Martyrs Chappel or in some Monastry and as for those who are absolutely establish'd the Synod appoints that the imposition of hands be null and that those which received it cannot serve in the Church which shall reflect on those which had done it France caused the Execution of this Decree to be demanded of the Council of Trent P. 639. c. 3. Paris 1654. as we find by the Memoirs of Mr. Du Puy and we have seen in the 4th Article what the Emperor Alexander Severus said of this practice of Christians which he mightily approved The Council of Valentia in Spain prescribes almost the same thing with that of Calcedon in the Year 524. in the 4th Canon Tom. 3. Concil p. 820. Collect. Rom. part 2. c. 14. p. 162. That none of the holy Bishops do ordain any body until he first promises to six in one place to the end that by this means men should not have liberty to shun the Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline Pope John the VIII in a Synod of 130 Bishops made this Decree Him that thinks fit to establish a Priest let him assign him a Church where he may still reside serving the Lord. Atto Bishop of Verceill who lived in the Xth Century cites the Canon of the Council of Calcedon in his Capitulary chap. 30. and in his 31st he saith Tom. 8. Spirit Dach p. 13. Paris 1668. Churches ought to be built in Convenient places consecrate them by Prayers and settle Pastors in each of them However These Decrees hinder'd not but there were some Persons Ordain'd and Establish'd in the Ministry of the Church without being ingag'd to any particular Flock as Paulinus who afterwards was Bishop of Nole in Italy St. Jerom and the Frier Macedonius they were made Priests without assigning them Flocks but this doth not prejudice what hath been said for the two former accepted only the Employ wherein 't was desir'd to ingage them only on this Condition as appears by the 6th Epist of Paulinus to Severus by the 45th to Alipius and by the 61st of St. Jerom chap. 10. As for Macedonius something of constraint was us'd in regard of him if we credit Theodoret in the 13th Chapter of his Religious History To these Examples may be added that of the Friers Barses and Eulogius who by
desist from doing the service but that the honour and dignity be continued them with the enjoyment of things necessary for their subsistence Mathew Paris observes in his History of England in the year 1095 that Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury in a Synod he held at Westminster Anno 1075 judged that the not understanding the French Tongue in a Bishop with the incapacity of not assisting at the King's Councils was a just cause of deposition and it was thereon he grounded that of Wolstan Bishop of Worcester Hereby let the Genius of this Prelate be judged and let no body any further wonder that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which he promoted with so much earnestness made such progress in a time of such ignorance to the prejudice of the ancient belief of the Church Moreover the Reader may observe if he please that the ancient Councils did not put the inconveniencies of Lunatism and of those tormented by the evil spirit in the rank of those for which it was not suffered to depose Pastors on the contrary they banished from Ecclesiastical Orders all those as were any ways touched with these things and if they were already promoted they were removed as appears by the 29th Can. of the Council of Eliberi in Spain Tom. 1. Conc. pag. 235. assembled in the year 305. By the 16th of the first Council of Orange in the year 401 in the first Tome of the Councils of France by the 13th of the 11th of Toledo in the year 675. Tom. 4. Conc. p. 825. it is answerable to what Pope Gelasius the First writ to the Bishops of Lucania at the end of the Fifth Century Cap. 21. Tom. 3. Concil p. 636. There might be added to all these Testimonies Grat. 33. Distinct Cap. 3 4. XLIX Scandalous Vices punishable by the Magistrate as Murder Treason and others which shall reflect to the great dishonour and scandal of the Church deserve that the Minister shall be deposed altho they had been committed not only before his Election but also in the days of his ignorance and that in case of continuance in the Ministry he brings greater scandal than edification to the Church whereof the Synods shall take account CONFORMITY St. Paul who lays down to his Disciple Timothy the qualities requisite to be in a good Pastor desires amongst other things he should be irreprehensible the Primitive Christians following the steps of this great Apostle have always with great care debarred from all Ecclesiastical Offices those who were not of a very clear reputation especially such as were vicious and scandalous whom they never would admit of and they were so strict herein that when they came to know after the Ordination of any one that he had committed any heinous sin before his promotion for example the sins of Fornication or Adultery they inflicted on him a punishment in some measure proportionable to the greatness of his crime but far less than if he had done it after his Ordination The Council of Neocaesaria assembled as is thought in the year 314 the Decrees whereof make part of the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church this Council sufficiently instructs us of the two things I now have mentioned for in the ninth Canon it forbids the Celebration of Divine Mysteries to him that shall have confest or be convinced to have sinned in his body before his promotion permitting him nevertheless for living soberly since his receiving into Priestly Orders to exercise the other Functions but in the former the Fathers intirely depose the Priest which shall have committed Adultery or Fornication that is since his admission into Holy Orders The Council of Valentia in Dauphine in the year 374 in its fourth Canon excludes from all Church Dignities the Bishops Priests and Deacons which declare at the time of their Ordination that they are guilty of any Crime which deserves death Tom. 1. Conc Gal. pag. 19. And that of Orleans in the year 511 And the first of those hold at that place deposes and Excommunicates in the ninth Canon the Priest or Deacon which shall have committed any Capital sin an Ordinance which the Synod of Epaume renewed Ib. p. 180. 22. Canon of the year 517 in the same Tome of the Councils of France the rigor of the ancient Discipline extended so far as to suspend the Priest who was accused of any evil action by the People committed to his Charge altho the Bishop could not prove the things by sufficient witness Tom. 3. Concil pa. 817. c 10. and the suspension was to hold till he had fully acquitted himself that is to say till his innocency had appeared to those that thought him guilty We at least find so by a fragment of a Council of Lerida in Spain assembled according to the common opinion in the year of our Lord 524. Those who are convicted of any evil action are excluded from Holy Orders by the 61 Canon of the Apostles But because in examining the 47th Article we deferred to treat of the scandalous vices therein mentioned when we consider this and the following ones it is requisite we should say somewhat of each The Council of Lerida above-mentioned appoints in the same place to depose those which shall be convicted of Cheating Perjury Robbing Fornication and other the like crimes under which may be comprehended Drunkenness and Quarrelling both worthy to be punished by the Law two Sins which are also mentioned in the 47th Article of our Discipline without touching at the 55th Canon of the Synod of Laodicea which forbids Church-men to make Feasts where each person contributes his share and portion nor at the 24th which forbids them entering into a Tavern The Council of Epaume Can. 13. Can. 22. cited a little before puts false witness in the number of Capital Sins for which it will have Ministers to be deposed The third of Orleans in the year 538. speaks of Adultery Thieving Cheating of Perjury or false witness in the seventh and eighth Canons Tom. Conc. Gall. and the 42th of the Apostles formally depose against Play and Drunkenness and the 25th for the same Sins as the third of Orleans And the 54th excludes from the Communion any one of the Clergy found entring into a Tavern unless it be in Travelling that he by necessity is constrained to lodg in a Tavern or Inn and the twelfth Canon of the fourth Council of Tolledo in the year 633 excludes from the Ministry of the Church those which are spotted with any crime or which do bear any mark of infamy As for what regards Simony which according to our Discipline deserves deposition St. Basil was of the same judgment as he shews in the Letter which he writ to the Bishops of his Diocess and which in the new Edition Printed in England of the Canonical Epistles of the Holy Fathers four years ago makes the 91 Canon of this Holy Doctor The second Canon of the Council of Chalcedon without redemption
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
shall be distributed with great care by the Priests according to the Bishops Order for the use of the Church and the Poor That it be made known to all the World that every body should endeavour at all times to maintain their Family and the Poor because 't is a wicked and impious thing in the sight of God that those which enjoy great Riches and that abound with all manner of Wealth should not help and assist those which are in want and misery It is to what also amounts the 14th Canon of the 6th Council of Arles in the same year That each have care of their Poor in time of Famine Ib. p. 271. or any other necessity because 't is written Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy The Emperor Charlemain commanded the same thing in the first Book of his Capitularies Pag 324. c. 11. Chap. 121 128 132. and in another Capitulary he made after certain Synods he assembled in the year 813. and which is in Sirmond's 2d Tome of French Councils And I make no doubt but this holy Discipline was Religiously practis'd in the first Ages of Christianity when people were full of Charity when there was no need of compelling them to the exercise of it by Authority of Canons and Humane Laws I proceed to the 2d Means which I propos'd and which regards the Attestations and Certificates which should not be granted but with much caution and circumspection to the end those to whom they are given should not abuse them in the places whither they go or by the which they pass these kinds of Certificates were very frequent in the Primitive Church where they were called Letters to which was given several denominations according to the several Causes under which they were consider'd in regard of those which wrote them they were call'd Ecclesiasticks in regard of the relation which was betwixt those which wrote them and which receiv'd them they had the name of Communicatory or Pacisick moreover they were called Canonical by reason of the Order which rendered them necessary and peculiar Letters because they were writ in certain Terms and with distinct Marks as they bore if it may be so said as had the very tokens of Christian Charity But besides all these respects there was that of the persons in whose favour these Letters were written and then they were term'd in general Letters of Recommendation of which St. Paul makes mention in the 3d Chap. of the 2d Epistle to the Corinthians Nevertheless this general Term has not hinder'd that in this last regard three sorts has not sometimes been made in the first place there were Litterae Dimissoriae Letters of License by virtue of which Ecclesiasticks of one Church were admitted to do the Functions of their Calling in another and could even be receiv'd into their Clergy Tom. 5. Concil p. 327. and be Members of it provided they were absolutely Dimissoriae as appears by the 17th Canon of the 6th Oecumenical Council Secondly Litterae Commendatiae Letters of Recommendation which were given to strange and unknown Clerks or to Lay-men which were separated from the Communion to the end to recommend them as Believers and as being out of the Censures of the Church The 13th Canon of the Council of Chalcedon speaks of the former Where it forbids to suffer strange and unknown Clerks to say Service in another Church without having Letters of Recommendation from their Bishops And Zonaras a famous Greek Canonist makes mention of the latter on the 11th Canon of the same Council and on the 12th and 13th Canons of those attributed to the Apostles Cap. 9. Litt. A. p. 94. The Frier Blastares makes almost the same remark in his Alphabetical Collection of Canons To conclude The Council of Chalcedon requires that Letters Pacifick only should be given to the Poor See here the manner it explains it self in the 11th Canon We appoint that all the Poor and those which have need of assistance have in their Journeys along with them Ecclesiastical Letters only Pacifick and not Letters of Recommendation because Letters of Recommendation should not be given but to those which are some way suspected Yet I observe this distinction han't always been kept and that the Council of Antioch in the 7th Canon forbids to receive a Stranger without having the Pacifick Letters which that of Chalcedon accords to the Poor and Indigent Gregory of Nazianzen expresses himself thereupon in a manner which sufficiently shews they were Letters of Recommendation as the Interpreter has translated it In short in his 3d Oration which is the 1st against Julian the Apostate he saith That amongst many things which that Cowardly Fugitive from the Truth endeavour'd to introduce the use and practise of amongst the Gentiles in imitation of Christians Tom. 1. p. 102. he desir'd above all things To establish the use of those Letters of Recommendation by the which saith this Ancient Doctor we send from one Country to another those which are poor and in necessity Zozomen in his Ecclesiastical History writes the same thing of this Emperor and saith That by virtue of these Letters by which Christians recommended the Strangers of their Communion they were lodged and care was taken of them where ever they went and in what Country soever they came as much as if they had been Friends and a long while known and acquainted and that all this was done on account of the Character the Letters gave of them and which were as 't were the Mark and Symbol of their Profession and as I conceive 't is what Tertullian calls the Contesseration of Hospitality that is to say the mark and sign at the sight whereof the right of hospitality was us'd towards those which shew'd it and 't is probable Lucian had a regard to this Custom when speaking of a Stranger Dial. de Pereg. he saith that in Travelling he found plentiful assistance amongst the Christians whereby he was abundantly supplied with all things There is yet something farther to be considered in this matter to wit That Christians were so circumspect in granting these Letters of Recommendation that they examin'd those which had them and oblig'd them to give an account of their Faith to avoid all fraud and surprise Ubi supra The 58th Canon of the Council of Eliberi or Eluira in Spain in the year 305. orders it so the 33d of the Apostles is no less express without insisting on the Interpretations of Balsamon Zonoras and Aristenus Greek Canonists which have understood it in this sense I can't tell but Lucian does again allude to this practise of Christians when he said That they receive certain Dogma's which he mentions without exactly searching the Truth but I know very well that we on this occasion do the same as the Primitive Christians did not only through Custom but also by Order of our National Synods That of Charanton the Establishment whereof is cited in the Article
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
business wherefore should it not permit two Provincial Synods to choose a third to judge of their differences the First and Second Cannon of the Council of Turin in the Year 397 are yet more positive in this matter XII The Synods in each Province shall represent the Widows and Children of Ministers which died in the Service of their Church to be supported and maintained at the common charge of each Province as necessity shall require And where the Province shall be Ingrateful the Deputy thereof shall report it to the National Synod to take care therein CONFORMITY This Article is not only grounded on Christian Charity but also on the acknowledgment which the Churches owe to Ministers dead in their Service whereof they should shew the marks to their Families especially when there is occasion for it XIII Deputies of Churches shall not be gone from Synods without leave and till they carry along with them the Decisions which shall there be made CONFORMITY There are two things to be consider'd in this Article First That Deputies are not suffer'd to depart from the Synod without leave The Second Council of Arles made this Decree in its 19 Cannon Anno Dom. 452 If any one thinks he may abandon the Assembly of his Brethren before the dissolution of the Council Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 105. let him know that he is deprived of the Communion of his Brethren and that he cannot be thereunto received until he be first of all absolv'd in the following Synod There may be seen in the Fourth Tome of Councils certain Fragments attributed to a Council of Sevil in Spain assembled about the time of Pope Gregory the I. in the X. of which is to be found word for word the Decree of the Synod of Arles which makes me believe that Burchardus pag. 521. from whom Garsias has taken this Cannon was mistaken when he attributed it to the Council of Sevil and I the rather believe it when I consider that the compilation of Cannons made by this Writer are full of this kind of mistakes The Fourth Council of Toledo assembled in the year 633 does defend also in the Fourth Cannon to depart from the Council until all things are decided by the major Votes and Signed by all the Bishops Tom. 4. Conc. p. 583. The Sixteenth of that of Worms of the year 868 prescribes the same thing To. 6. Conc. pag. 695. The Second thing our Discipline prescribes those which are Deputies to Synods is to carry along with them the Decisions which shall be made I find the same thing practic'd in the Antient Church in Effect it may be seen by the 29th Cannon of the First Council of Orange in the year 451 that each Bishop carried away with him a Copy of the Acts and Resolutions made in the Assembly and that the like was sent even to those as were absent to advertise them of their Duty by the Ministry of the Metropolitan and in the year 431 the First Oecumenical Council of Ephesus permitted each Metropolitan to take a Copy of the Acts whereof his Brother Bishops might have Communication by his means The Eighth Cannon where this power is granted to Metropolitans saying expresly that it is for their own surety that is to say for Conservation of the Rights of their Provinces and by consequence the Rights of all the Suffragan Bishops See what shall be said on the Tenth Article of the following Chapter XIV The Authority of Provincial Synods is inferiour to that of National Synods CONFORMITY There is no difficulty at all in this Constitution especially after what we have observed on the Tenth Article where I have prov'd by the Authority of several Cannons of Constantinople of Calcedon and the African Code that Appeals were made from Provincial Synods to those of the whole Diocess to which our National ones at this time do agree XV. Colloques and Provincial Synods shall be regulated according to the several Governments so that one may not pretend to be greater than another and for the present this shall be the Distribution of Provincial Synods 1 The Isle of France Country of Chartrain Piccardy Champagne and Brie 2 Normandy 3 Brittany 4 Orleans Blesois Dunois Nivernois Berry Bourbonnois and La Marche 5 Tourain Anjou Loudunois Le Maine Vandomois and le Perche 6 Vpper and Lower Poictou 7 Zantonge Aunis City and Government of Rochell Angoulmois 8 Lower Guyen Perrigord Gascogne and Limosin 9 Vpper and Lower Vivarez with the Uclay and Forest 10 Lower Languedock viz Nimes Usez Montpelier to Beziers inclusively 11 The rest of Languedock Vpper Guyen Tholouse Carcassona Quercy Rouergue Armagnack Vpper Auvergne 12 Bourgundy Lyonnois Beaujolois Bresse Low Auvergne Gex 13 Provence 14 Dauphine and the Principality of Orange 15 The Churches of the Soveraignty of Bearn 16 The Sevennes and Givaudan If it so falls cut for the convenience of Churches that one or two should be parted or to unite several in one it may be done in the Provincial Synod whereof notice shall be given to the National Synods CONFORMITY Those who please to read the Second Cannon of the First Universal Council of Constantinople and the Eighth of that of Ephesus will easily perceive our Discipline agrees exactly with the practice of the Primitive Christians And as for the dividing one Church into two or joyning several into one when necessity requires there is Examples to be seen in Antient Records As for joyning several into one Tom. 5. Conc. p. 430. the Eighth Letter of the Second Book of Gregory the Great gives us an Example and the Fathers of the Sixteenth Council of Toledo An. 693 in the V. Cannon Authorises the joyning and dividing and declares also in what manner it must be done The Emperour Charles the Bald in his Capitularies Anno 844 gives power to the Bishops to divide a Church into two when the Necessity and Edification of the People require it and if it gives them power to divide Churches Tom. 2. capit c. 7. p. 23. Edit Balux 1677 there 's no question to be made but it gives them power also to join several in one for good and lawful causes In process of time the Popes have assumed to themselves this power of Joyning and Dividing Churches although in France they are not permitted to exercise it without the consent of our Kings as the late Mr. de Marca has well observed in the Thirteenth chap. of the Fourth Book of the Liberties of the Gallcian Church where he treats of these matters XVI A Minister deputed by a Provincial Synod to go to a Synod or Colloque of another Province for some publick Affairs may have a deliberative Vote and that not only for the business he is come about but also during the whole sitting if his particular Affair be not in agitation CONFORMITY I do not think any need question but the same thing was practis'd in the Primitive Church Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 27.
and Excommunicate Lay Persons who being in Town pass Three Sundays without being present at the Holy Exercises made in the Assemblies of the Church XIII Those which make it their practice to hear Sermons in one Church and to receive the Holy Sacraments in another shall be advertis'd and sensur'd and shall associate themselves to the nearest and most convenient Congregation as shall be advised by the Colloque CONFORMITY In the time of St. Justin Martyr Apol. 1. pag. 97. the Christians met together in one place from City and Country not only to hear the Word of God but also to receive the Holy Sacrament The Council of Agde in Languedock which held in the Year 606 Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. cap. 21. p. 165. suffers those that are far from Parish Churches to have private Oratories for the ease of their Families nevertheless enjoyns them to be present at their Parishes on the chief and solemn Feasts of the Year Charlemain in his Capitulary of the Year 789 Tom. 2. cap. 9. pag. 157. requires it should be done on all Holy Dayes and Sundays and forbids private Persons to desire Priests to say Divine Service in their Houses on those Dayes Ibid. cap. 45.46 p. 223 Theodulph Bishop of Orleans prescribes the same thing in his in the Year 797 to this same Discipline may also be referr'd the Second Cannon of the Council of Nants whereof I spake on the Fifth Article XIV Although in our Churches the Lords Supper is not wont to be celebrated above four times a year yet it were to be desired it were celebrated oftner the due Reverence thereunto belonging being observed because it is very necessary that the most upright may be Exercised and Mercies in Faith by the frequent use of the Sacraments as also the Example of the Primitive Church doth teach us And therefore the National Synod shall give Direction as the good of the Church shall require CONFORMITY The lukewarmness of Christians in Piety has been the cause that Communions have been less frequent than they were in the Primitive times Therefore our Discipline has setled them at four times a year desiring nevertheless that People were in a state fit to Communicate oftner The Council of Agde which I cited on the foregoing Article reduces it to Three times in the 18th Cannon That of Autun Can. 14. p. 71. in the Supplement of French Councils doth the same in the Year 630. Atto Bishop of Verceil in the Tenth Century renews that of Agde in its Capitulary Tom. 8. Spicil c. 73. pag. 27. Ratherius of Verona in the same Century speaks of Four times a year in his Synodal Epistle to the Priests of his Diocess which is inserted by Don Luke De Achery in his second Spicilegium Peter de Celles in his Treatise of Monastical Discipline which is in the Third Spicil writes pag. 94. That 't is sufficient for a Lay Person to communicate once a year The Council of Trent in the Thirteenth Session under Julius the Third Anno 1551 the 11th of October Anathematises in the Ninth Cannon Tom. 9. Coâ—c p. 382. all those that shall deny that Believers of both Sexes are obliged to communicate at Easter at least once a year although in the 22th Session which is the Sixth under Pius the Fourth in the Year 1562 and the 17th of September Ib. p. 40â— touching the Doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass chap. 6. The Synod desires that all the Believers which are present should communicate not only by a Spiritual affection and desire but also by a Sacramental participation which Cardinal Borrome has not failed to observe and confirm in some of the Councils which he held at Millan â—â— p. 453 517 549. I almost forgot the Fiftieth Cannon of the Council of Tours assembled Anno 813. That Lay Persons communicate at least thrice a year if they cannot receive oftner unless that they were hindred by some great Sin which is repeated word for word in the 45th chap. of the Second Book of the Capitularies of our Kings Theodulphus Bishop of Orleans contented himself at the end of the Eighth Century to warn Believers that they should not abstain too long from receiving the Holy Sacrament and to procure the qualities fit and necessary when they intended to approach to so great a Sacrament Ib. c. 44. pag. 223. Honorius of Autun observes in the Tenth Volumne of the Library of the Holy Fathers pag. 1198. that 't was agreed on by reason of worldly Men that one should communicate either every Lords Day or every Third Sunday or on great Holy Dayes or three times a year CHAP. XIII Of MARRIAGES ARTICLE I. THose which are under Age cannot Contract Marriage without consent of their Father and Mother or others under whose care they are committed nevertheless if their said Father and Mother be so unreasonable as to refuse to agree to a thing so Holy and Profitable even doing it in hatred to Religion the Consistory shall advise the Parties to have their recourse to the Magistrate CONFORMITY The Discipline of the Antient Church has provided for what ours doth here enjoyn and hath taken care to keep Children in the respect and obedience which they owe to their Parents forbidding them to marry without their consent and 't is not only in regard of Children it does so but also in regard of all such as are under Tuition of others It is the matter and subject of the 42 Cannon of St. Basils second Canonical Epistle Tom. 3. p. 33. Marriages made without consent of those under the power of whom one is are Fornications those then who marry during the Life of Father or Guardian are not excusable till their consent be had for then the Marriage becomes lawful and receives the vertue which it ought to have This Cannon is as 't were an abridgement of Two preceeding ones as is observ'd by Balzamon and Zonares Greek Cannonists who pretend that Marriage is void without the consent I but now speak of and that it ought to be dissolv'd The 23th Cannon of the same Epistle is also very full to this purpose Maids which follow their Lovers without consent of Father c. live in Fornication but if Father and Mother are reconcil'd to them the thing seems to be setled in a good state by this remedy nevertheless that they be not admitted to partake of the Lords Supper until after three years Pennance Whereupon the same Greek Cannonists above-mentioned observe that the consent of Parents that is to say of Father and Mother doth change Fornication into lawful Marriage without departing at all from the sensure contain'd in the Cannon The 22th Cannon of the Fourth Council of Orleans Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 265 Ib. p. 316 pag. 5â—4 in the Year 541 prohibits the taking a Maid in Marriage without consent of Father and Mother the Sixth of the Third Synod of Paris Anno 557 forbids also the
that here is to be an intire Separation both from Bed and as to Obligation The Second is in the 19th chap. of the same Gospel verse 3 c. The Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him Is it lawful for a man to put away his Wife for every cause and he answered and said unto them Have you not read that he which made them made them at the beginning Male and Female and said For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they twain shall be one flesh wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh What therefore God has joyned together let no man put asunder They say unto him Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away He saith unto them Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffer'd you to put away your Wifes but from the beginning it was not so And I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another committeth Adultery And whosoever marryeth her which is put away doth commit Adultery As the Pharisees in their demand understood a total Separation it must not also be doubted but Jesus Christ meant it so also in the Answer he made them In effect amongst the Jews the term to repudiate comprehends an intire rupture with power to re-marry again Therefore in the Antient formulary of Divorces amongst the Jews the Husband spake thus to the Wife which he put away I send thee going and repudiate thee to the end thou mayest be at liberty to marry whom thou wilt Let us now see what the Witnesses do depose which I have ingaged to produce for establishing the matter in dispute I 'le begin by Chromatius Bishop of Aquilea one of the Holiest and most Learned Prelates of his time that is to say of the Fourth Century and the beginning of the Fifth This Learned Writer Interpreting the two verses of the Fifth chap. of St. Matthew above transcrib'd speaks in this manner Let them know how great the crime of condemnation is which those do incur in the sight of God Tom. 2. Biol Sal. p. 168. who being overcome with the unbridled pleasure of Lust and without cause of Adultery cast off their Wifes to pass on to another Marriage It appears by the reasoning of Chromatius that if they cast them off for Adultery they were permitted to re-marry and having shewn that though the Laws of Men suffer'd to repudiate ones Wife for other cause than Adultery those which did it were nevertheless inexcusable but their sins was so much the greater that they preferred the Laws of Men before the Law of God After this I say he adds As it is not permitted to cast off a woman that lives chastly and honestly so also 't is permitted to repudiate an Adulteress because such a one renders her self unworthy of her Husbands Company which in sinning against her own Body had the boldness to defile the Temple of God The Deacon Hillary a Writer of the Fourth Century in his Commentaries on St. Pauls Epistles in the Third Volume of St. Ambrose his Works Hillary Expounding these words of the 11th verse of the 7th chap. of the â— Ep. to the Cor. pag. 365. Neither let the Woman forsake her Husband he thus explains himself it must be understood except it be for the cause of Adultery because it is permitted for the Husband to marry after having repudiated his Wife for cause of Adultery St. Epiphanius is full in the case seeing he expresses himself in this manner Him who could not be content with one Wife whether she dyed or that he put her away for Adultery Fornication or some other Crime if he joyn himself to another Wife or if a Woman for the same cause takes a second Husband the Word of God condemns them not neither deprives them of the Communion of the Church nor of Eternal Life but it bears with them for infirmity sake not that he should have two Wifes at once the one being yet alive and in being but to the end that after having left one he may if he will take another lawfully The Jesuit Petau in his Notes on the words of St. Tom. 2. p. 255. Epiphanius does acknowledge this was the Opinion of this Antient Doctor but he adds That if at that time it was suffer'd to have it because the Church had not yet determin'd any thing in this matter it is not permitted at this time after the decision of the Council of Trent Sess 24. cap. 7. nevertheless he owns this Decree of Trent is not agreeable to some of those cited by Gratian causa 32. quaest 7. and also that Cardinal Cajetan and some other Doctors of his Communion have followed an Opinion contrary to the definition of the Fathers of Trent that is to say That they believed that 't is permitted to a Christian to put away his Wife for Adultery and to marry another in effect not only Cajetan on the 19th chap. of St. Matth. but also Ambrose Catharine in the Fifth Book of his Annotations and Erasmus on the 7th chap. of the 1 Ep. to the Corinth have been of this Judgment Auitus Bishop of Vienna at the end of the Fifth Century and beginning of the Sixth sufficiently manifests that in his time Divorcement was made for Adultery with liberty to re-marry Ep. 49. p. 110. observing in one of his Letters That 't is for that cause alone God permits a man to separate from his wife Upon which Father Sirmond who has Published the Works of Auilus makes this observation It from hence appears that in that time it was believed in France that the Husband might by the permission of Jesus Christ leave his Wife in case of Adultery and marry another Which he confirms by a Cannon of a Synod of Vannes which I will cite anon Loup Abbot of Ferriers in Gattinois was in the Ninth Century of the same Opinion with Auitus Ep. 29. pag. 54. for he says as well as him that 't is only Fornication can dissolve Marriage to which Monsieur Baluze who compleated the last Edition with Learned Notes applyes also the Jesuit Sirmond's Observation which I but now mention'd Isaac Bishop of Langres in the Third Title of his Cannons which treat of Adulterys saith plainly chap. 1. That the Husband whose Wife is an Adulteress has power to take another if he please This Prelate wrote and liv'd in the Ninth Century I now come to the Councils whose Authority may contribute to the Establishment of the matter I examin and I begin with the First Council of Arles which the Emperour Constantine assembled in the Year 314 a Council famous for the Decrees there made and for the number of Bishops which were there present for there was 600 if several Writers may be credited In effect there is in the Collection of Letters of Ireland by Bishop