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
St. Ambrose in the 9th chapter of his first Book touching Abraham speaks so clearly Tom. 2. p. 1071. and alleages such strong Reasons that 't is not to be doubted but he condemned Marriages contracted betwixt Persons of different Religions it is what he teaches also on the 118th Psalm and according to the Hebrews the 119th pag. 232. And in the 24th Epistle of the Third Book in the 5th Volume of his Works he is not far from this Opinion The Deacon Hillary in the Third Volume of the Writings of the same St. Ambrose explains the words of the 39th verse of the 7th chap. of the 1st Epistle to the Cor. Let her marry in the Lord by these to a man of her own Religion and Balsamon to an Orthodox Lic G. c. 4. in interpreting the 41 Cannon of the Second Canonical Epistle of St. Basil Blastares on this same Cannon to a believing man XXI If one of the Parties that desire to be Marryed is Excommunicated the Marriage shall not be admitted in the Church unless the Excommunicate Person makes confession of his faults As for those which are suspended from the Lords Supper the Consistory may permit them to marry notwithstanding the suspension however having good reason for it CONFORMITY Excommunicate Persons not being looked upon as Members of the Church during the time of Excommunication it is absolutely necessary they should make publick acknowledgement of their faults to repair the Scandal they have committed before one can proceed to Celebrate their Marriage And I have shewn on the 11th Article of the 11th Chapter that they were not so much as suffer'd to present a Child to Baptisme XXII The Panes of Widows which re-marry shall not be published in the Church till Seven Months and half at least after the Decease of their Husband to avoid the Scandals and inconveniencies may happen by it unless it so happen that the Magistrates Order may interpose to the contrary CONFORMITY Herraid Bishop of Touers in his Capitulary of the Year 858 Tom. 3. Conc. Gall. cap. 41. p 113 Tom. 2. Bibl. Jur. Can. Just p. 1075. ad 1078. Litt. B. c. 8. G. c. 4. assigns but 30 Dayes but Photius in the 2. chap. of the 13. Title of his Nomocanon requires there should be a years mourning before a Woman should marry again unless the Prince suffer her to marry in the first year of her Widowhood or that she had not layn In till the end of the year The Frier Blastares of whom I have so often spoke proves this same practice by the Laws of Emperours and also doth Photius to which our Discipline well agrees XXIII Marriage shall be celebrated publickly in the Company of Believers and that by the Ministry of the Pastors and none else CONFORMITY It is a very long time since Christians have been wont publickly in the Church to cellebrate Marriage seeing Tertullian in the Fourth chap. of his Book of Pudicity causes those which have not done so to pass for Adulterers and Fornicators and in the Eighth chap. of the Second Book he writes to his Wife he publishes the happyness of those which the Church has bless'd this benediction preventing the course of private Meetings Tom. 1. Conc. Ann. 358 pag. 728. Tom. 3. and of Clandestine Marriages Thence it is the Fourth Council of Carthage orders Fathers and Mothers or the Bridegrooms to present the Bride and Bridegroom whose Marriage is to be Celebrated Pope Hormisdas in the beginning of the Sixth Century appoints also it should be done publickly in the Church There is in the Book of Sacraments of Gregory the First which Maynard a Benedictine Frier has Printed pag. 286. a whole Liturgy about Cellebrating Marriage which was taken out of a Manuscript of the Church of Rheims The Deacon Hillary in the Third Volume of the Works of St. Ambrose speaks of this benediction on the 12th verse of the 3. chap. of St. Paul Ep. to Timothy and on the 3. of the 5. chap. it is likely St. Tom. 2. p. 681. Par. 1614 Chrysostom had it in his thoughts when in his 48th Homily on Genesis he exhorts to send for the Priests to knit by Prayers and Blessings the Union and Concord of Marriage St. Isidore of Sivill in the 19th chap of the 2. Book of Divine Offices saith That when the Priest blesses Marriages he does it in imitation of God who blessed the Marriage of the first Man The Kings Charlemain and Lewis the De bonnaire in the Seventh Book of the Capitularies chap. 358 amongst several Conditions they prescribe necessary to a lawful Marriage they have not forgot the Blessing we treat of And in the Capitularies of Charles the bald is to be seen the Nuptial Blessings of his Daughter Judith with Edelwolf King of England and of Hormintrude with himself I would alleage other proofs of this Ancient Practice but not to tire the Reader I will conclude with the Testimony of Photius who in two of his last five Letters by way of Augmentation at the foot of the rest that is in the First and Fifth he several times makes mention of the publick benediction of Marriages by the Pastors XXIV It is convenient for the Order of the Church not to Celebrate Marriage on Sacrament Dayes and this Order shall not be broken but on weighty reasons which the Consistory shall advise upon Neither shall Marriages be solemniz'd on Days of Publick Fasting CONFORMITY The Cellebration of the Lords Supper which invites us to meditate of the Death of our Saviour and which requires of us Holy Dispositions to partake worthily of it the Cellebration I say of this Holy Sacrament not agreeing very well with what usually passes at Christian Weddings it is with great Reason the Authors of our Discipline has forbidden to solemnize any Marriage on the Days appointed for the Communion no more than on Days appointed for Cellebration of a Publick Fast because Fasting is an occasion of Affliction and Tears and Marriage on the contrary after the manner most People use it at this time is of prophane Rejoycing and very often of Debauchery and Excess The Antient Church prohibited although after several ways to Cellebrate Marriages in certain times as appears by the 52 Cannon of Laodicea and by a fragment of a Council of Lerrida in the Year 524. Tom. 3. Concil and the Second Council of Aix la Chapella pag. 817. in the year 836 defends in the 18th Cannon of the Third chap. to solemnize Marriages on Sundays for the Reverence of the Day Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. p. 394. XXV Those who have been contracted and that have cohabitted together before being lawfully Marryed whether their fault came to be known before or after Marriage is solemnized they shall make publick confession of their fault or before the Consistory according as it shall think convenient And it hapning before Marriage such Solemnities shall be observed at the said Marriage as the
Name for the favour thy good hand has vouchsafed to shed abroad on this thy Servant who was in the most profound darkness of the shadows of Death when thou didst illuminate him causing to shine on him the saving and quickning Light of the Day Star from on high drawing him from a deplorable hardness to soften his heart and freeing him from the bands of Death to restore him to Life as Lord thou hast taken away the vail which was on his heart calling him to confess the only true God and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ and hast at this time inspired him with courage to make publick Confession of thy most Holy Faith and of the hope thou hast caused to spring in his Soul enabling him to present himself in thy sight to receive Holy Baptisme the Seal of thy Covenant pledge of the remission of sins and Symbole of our entrance into thy House by Spiritual Regeneration Look Lord more and more on him with the eye of thy favour forgiving all his sins sprinkling his Soul with the precious Blood of the Lamb without spot which taketh away the sins of the Woold and making him feel the powerful vertue of its propitiation let thy Spirit sanctifie and make him a new Creature to the end that dying to sin he may live unto Righteousness and laying aside the Old Man with its Lusts he may put on the New Man which is renewed in Righteousness and true Holiness And as we are about to pour on his head the water of thy Sacrament shed forth on him the Gifts and Graces of thy Holy Spirit receiving him into the number of thy Servants and honouring him with the Adoption of thy Children Enable him to offer unto thee during the whole course of his Life the Obedience and Religious Service which is due unto thee and for ever to persevere in thy Holy Covenant to the end that as now in thy Name we receive him into the Communion of thy Church Militant thou wilt vouchsafe one day to receive him into thy Church Triumphant and gather him for ever into the Assembly of the First born whose Names are written in Heaven Hear us O Father of all Mercies to the end the Baptisme we confer upon him according to thine Ordinance may produce its Fruit and Vertue as 't is revealed to us in thy Holy Gospel in thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ who has commanded us to pray unto thee and say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Speaking to those who present the Catecuminy the Minister shall say to them Quest As you have been charitably imployed in the Teaching and Instructing our Brother and are Witnesses of the Baptisme he is to receive at this present by our Ministry Do you not promise in the presence of God and this Holy Assembly to continue more and more to strengthen him in the Faith and exhort him to good Works Answ Yes This being done speaking to the Catecumeny which waits kneeling to receive Baptisme powing the Water on his head the Minister shall say Having seen the Testimonies of your Faith N. I Baptise you in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen CONFORMITY There is nothing in all this formulary as large as it is which is not found in substance in what we have remaining of the Catechisms of the Antient Doctors of the Church and in what was practis'd towards those to whom Baptisme was to be conferr'd and because most part of those which converted themselves to the Christian Faith turn'd from Paganisme where they had learn'd to believe and serve several Gods the first step they were made go in the way of Salvation was to make them renounce this Diabolical Doctrine afterwards to believe and be throughly perswaded that there is but one True God which has made Heaven and Earth that supports all things by his Almighty Word who gives us our Life Being and Motion who never left himself without Witness and has manifested himself to Men not only by his Works but also by Revelation of his Will contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Tom. 1. pag. 93. The first act of Faith of the Catecumeny's saith St. Cyril of Alexandria in the third Book of Adoring in Spirit and Truth is to depart from the belief and opinion touching the plurality of Gods and to imbrace him who is the only true God by Nature Theodolphus Bishop of Orleans in a Treatise he made of the Order which is to be observ'd in the administration of Baptism establishes near hand the same practise when he writes in chap. 2. that the first instruction which is given to Catechumenies is that there is one true God to the end that leaving the worship of the creature they should Consecrate themselves to the Worship of God the Creator It 's true that when 't was a Jewish Proselite he was obliged before Baptisme to renounce particularly all legal Ceremonies to the Ancient Material and Typical Worship to the Jewish Washings and Purifications to their Feasts their New Moons and Sabbaths and generally to all that pertained to the Synagogue especially to the false Messias they yet expect and will never come Moreover they were to make open profession to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Holy Consubstantial and individual Trinity that they should admit of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word Jesus Christ our Saviour in confessing he is come into the World and that he is made Man but not ceasing to be God the Holy Virgin having brought him forth after the Flesh and by this means being become the Mother of God It is after this manner they proceeded with the Jewish Proselites Pag. 344. Par. 1647 as we find by a Catechism in the Ritual of the Greeks which in substance answers to what 's prescrib'd in our Discipline But if it was a Mahumetan that imbraced the Christian Religion the first thing that was requir'd of him was to Anathematise Mahomet his Sectators his Successors his lying Alcoran full of Impostures and Dreams especially in what regards our Saviour Jesus Christ in a Word all the impieties which depend of the Carnal Religion of this infamous Impostor of the East which being done this Proselite made this Declaration I now adhere to Jesus Christ the only true God I believe in the Father the Son and the holy Ghost holy indivisible and consubstantial Trinity I believe the Mistery of the Incarnation and the coming into the World of one of the holy Trinity that is of the Word and only begotten Son of God who was begotten of the Father before the World began by whom all things were made and I am perswaded he is true Man without being divested of his Divinity for he is true God and true Man without confusion without conversion and without alteration with two Natures in one sole Person I confess also he suffered all things voluntarily that he was crucified
towards it by putting the Cup as near their Mouth as they possible can to avoid giving any manner of Offence CONFORMITY This is a wise and charitable condescendence towards an insurmountable weakness of Nature it was by this Principle the Antient Church gave the Sacrament mixt and soaked to those who lay at the point of Death Apud Euseb l. 6. c. 44. so it was practis'd in the Third Century towards a certain Old Man called Serapion who was a dying Penitent for a Priest of Alexandria sent by a Young Man a little or a Portion of the Sacrament commanding it should be steept and put in the Old Mans mouth that he might swallow it down but this was not done but in case of great necessity as Hugh Maynard a Learned Benedict in observes in his Notes on the Book of Sacraments of Gregory the First The same favour was used towards Young Infants in the times as they were admitted to the participation of the Sacraments and not that only but Pope Paschal who succeeded Vrban the Second in the year 1099 commanded that the Two Symbols should be distributed apart except 't were to little Children and to such as are extream sick for to such he permits that they might be communicated with the Wine only because they cannot swallow Bread The charitable Indulgence then allowed by our Discipline towards such as have an invincible aversion and antipathy against Wine ought not to be blamed VIII It remains in the Liberty of Ministers in distributing the Bread and Wine to use the accustomed words the thing being indifferent provided words are used that tend to Edification CONFORMITY When Jesus Christ gave to his Apostles the Sacrament of Bread he said this is my Body and in giving them the Symbol of Wine this is my Blood or this Cup is the New Testament in my Blood As for the Apostles we do not find they said any thing In the time of Justin Martyr Apol. 1. pag. 97. the Giver nor the Communicant said nothing but the Deacons gave to the faithful Bread and Wine which had been Consecrated And 't is gathered from Clements of Alexandria Strom. lib. 1. pag. 271. that 't was so practis'd at the end of the Second Century sometime after it was said to Communicants in giving them the Sacrament The Body of Christ The Blood of Christ In the Sixth Century and after it was said particularly in the West The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve you to Everlasting Life The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ Redeem you to Eternal Life Euchol p. 83. The Greeks say at this time You participate and communicate of the Holy Body and Pretious Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for the Remission of your sins and to Life Everlasting Amongst us is commonly said This is the Body of Jesus Christ this is the Blood of Jesus Christ The Church as any one may see having at all times used a great freedom in this matter IX The Churches shall be advertis'd that the Cup is to be administred by the Minister CONFORMITY As Jesus Christ Blessed and Consecrated his Eucharist so he also administer'd it for there was none but him that did the Office and Duty of a Minister A little more than a Hundred years after Apol. 1. pag. 97. Christians received the Communion from the hands of Deacons as we find by Justin Martyr a practice observ'd a long while but with some difference and 't is probable those who did so grounded themselves on what is said in the VI. chap. of the Acts that Deacons should serve at Tables as if by this Expression was to be understood the distributing the Sacrament at the Holy Table whereas it means no more but the distributing of Alms and Charities to Widows and Orphans and in general to the Poor of the Church After all lio de Coron c. 3. Tertullian observes it was not received but of the hand of him which presided that is to say of Pastors and probably 't was in his time the use of the Churches of Africa which doubtless were more conformable to the Example and Practice of Jesus Christ to which we may add what is said by St. Chrysostome in his Forty Sixth Homily on St. Matthew The Priest only is permitted to distribute the Cup of the Blood of Jesus Christ The Greek word designs also Bishops as well as Sacerdos which the Interpreter has used X. Inasmuch as distributing the Lords Supper several sick Persons came to receive which occasions that several make scruple of drinking the Wine after them the Pastors and Elders shall be warn'd to take prudent care and give good Order therein CONFORMITY It is a prudent and cautious Establishment to avoid greater inconvenience XI Those who have been a long time in the Church and will not communicate of the Lords Supper if they do it through contempt as for fear of being obliged to forsake all manner of Idolatry after several admonitions they shall be cut off from the body of the Church but if it be by infirmity they shall be borne with for some time until they can be Established CONFORMITY There 's nothing in this Article that differs from the practice of the Antient Church which obliged all those which heard the Word of God to participate of the Lords Supper 't is what is intimated by the Second Cannon of the Council of Antioch Those which enter into the Assemblies and hear the Holy Scriptures but by a certain looseness do not communicate in Prayer with the People and deprive themselves of the participation of the Lords Supper let such be cast out of the Church The Ninth of those attributed to the Apostles and which probably was borrowed of that of Antioch is no less positive All the Believers which enter into the Church and that hear the Reading of the Scriptures but which stay not for the Prayers nor do receive the Holy Sacrament let them be cut off because they give offence to the Church Thence it is that in the Eleventh chap. of the Eighth Book of Constitutions called the Apostles it is Ordained That the Deacons should stand at the Doors where the Men sit and the Vnder-Deacons of that of the Women to hinder that no body go out during the time of the Oblation that is to say during the time of celebrating the Eucharist XII Those which frequent the Christian Congregations but on the Communion Day shall be reprov'd and warned to do their Duty and even to this purpose to joyn to one certain Church CONFORMITY The Author of Constitutions which go in the Apostles Names prescribes to Believers to frequent the Holy Assemblies not only when the Lords Supper is celebrated but also on all other Dayes Lib. 2. cap. 59. there to attend on calling on the Name of God in singing Psalms and the hearing of his Word The 80th Cannon of the Sixth Oecumenical Council does depose Church-men Tom. 5. Conc. pag. 344.
report of Zozomen were made Bishops for Honour sake only without assigning them any Church however Barses in time was made Bishop of Edessa and Enlogius succeeded him XI Those who are Ordained into the Ministry are to understand they are enter'd into it for their whole life if they are not lawfully dismissed for good Considerations and that by the Provincial Synod CONFORMITY The 7th Canon of the Council of Calcedon forbids those that have been once admitted into the Clergy to bear Arms or to exercise any worldly Dignity that is The Synod requires that they should always abide in the Profession they have taken upon them and that they should not forsake the Ministry of the Church Rusticus Bishop of Narbona having writ to Pope Leo the I st That he was so moved with the Scandals which daily hapned that he could wish to be freed from the Episcopal Office to lead a more tranquile and quiet life the Pope answering the Bishops Letter Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 111. intimated to him That he could not with a safe Conscience forsake the Office he had undertaken nor flinch from the Employment committed to his trust It is in this same Sense that Pope Felix the IV. Ann. Dom. 528. wrote to Caesarius Bishop of Arles That the Establishment of Church-Guides ought to be firm and immutable Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 254. Tom. 7. Conc. p. 153. In the Year 895. there was a Council held at Tribury near Mayence compos'd of 22 Bishops which in the 17th Canon renew'd that of Calcedon which we above cited and which anathematiz'd those of the Clergy which did not repent of having left their Cures and which did not return to them Pope Calixtus the II. assembled a Council at Tholouza the Canons whereof are inserted in the 18th Chapter of Monsieur De Marca's 8th Book De Concordia Imperii Sacerdotii The 10th of these Canons Excommunicates the Clergy we speak of until they have repented of their prevarication A great while before Tom. 5. Part. 2. p. 211. Paris 1638. to wit in the Vth Century and before the assembling of the Council of Calcedon St. Cyril of Alexandria complains of this Abuse in his Canonical Epistle There is saith he another thing which doth not agree with the Decrees of the Church which is That there are Priests which present Renunciations by writing for if they are worthy to exercise the holy Ministry they must reside on it and if they are not worthy they do not leave it for their Resignation but because their own Deeds condemn them Thence it is that Loup Abbot of Ferriers in Gattinois said in the IXth Century That as nothing but Adultery could dissolve carnal Wedlock so also it is not permitted to lay aside the Pastoral Charge once received Ep. 2 Paris 1664. whilst one may contribute to the good of the Flock Nevertheless there are sundry Examples of those which in divers times and in divers places have for quietness sake renounced the Ministry that is they have forborn exercising the Functions and exercising the Office of a Bishop thus was was it done by Eustathius Tom. 3. Conc. p. 428 429. Metropolitan of Pamphilia to whom the Oecumenical Council of Ephesus in the year 431. preserv'd the Name Honour and Communion of a Bishop Martirius Bishop of Antioch withdrew himself by reason of the Extravagance of his Clergy the Disobedience of his People and the Corruptions of his Church but in preserving to himself the Honour and Dignity of the Ministry as Theodorus Lector writes in his Ecclesiastical History L. 1. p. 555. In the next Age there hapned almost the same thing to Paul Bishop of the same City of Antioch in the VIth Century and in the very Infancy of Religion St. Clement Tom. 3. Conc. p. 800. Disciple of the Apostles advised Pastors whose Churches were not well satisfied with them he counsell'd them to go elsewhere and to acquiesce to the desire of the People assuring them to obtain a great degree of glory in Christ Jesus adding Ep. ad Cor. p. 69. That those who have lived according to the Rule God has prescrib'd has always and will ever do after this manner because they ought to desire nothing more than the Peace and Edification of the Churches Pope Innocent the IIId in the 1st Book of Decretals tit 9. cap. 10. Nisi cum pridem proposes sundry Reasons wherefore it may be permitted to renounce the Conduct of a Flock for instance The reproach our Consciences makes us of some Crime infirmity of Body want of Knowledg the wickedness of the People some grievous Scandal or some personal Irregularity these are the Reasons for which this Pope thought one might desire to be discharg'd from the Ministry of the Church XII The Office of Ministers is principally to Preach and declare the Word of God to their People and they shall be desir'd to abstain from teaching in any strange way not tending to Edification and conforming to the Simplicity and ordinary Stile of God's Spirit taking heed there may be nothing in their Sermons which might bring any prejudice to the Honour and Authority of the Holy Scriptures They shall not Preach without chusing for the Subject-matter of their Discourse some Text of the Bible which they shall keep close to and their Text they shall take and explain the best they can avoiding all unnecessary Amplifications tedious and needless Digressions of many Passages of Scripture not pertinent to the matter in hand and of reciting various Expositions They shall be moderate in alledging the Writings of Ancient Doctors and much less Prophane Authors and Histories They shall not deliver their Doctrine in Scholastick manner nor intermix with strange Languages To conclude Let them avoid every thing that may tend to Ostentation or any way give Occasion to suspect it to which the Consistories Colloques and Synods shall take special heed CONFORMITY The Preaching of the Word being the principal duty of the Holy Ministry the Compilers of our Discipline have taken particular care exactly to prescribe to Ministers the Subject and Manner of doing it these are the two things contain'd in this great Article As to what regards the Subject of their Sermons it must always be taken in the Holy Scripture The Council of Laodicea calls it The Dispensation of the Word of Faith Can. 12. and of the right and true Word and it is with regard hereunto Tom. 1. Concil p. 728. Tom. 4. Concil p. 820. that of Carthage Ann. 398. appoints in the 20th Canon That the Bishop should apply himself only to Reading Prayer and Preaching of the Word of God The Council of Tolledo assembled in the Year of our Lord 675. employs the 2d of its Canons to prescribe to Pastors their Duty saying They should always have in their mouth the Sword of Truth be powerful in exhorting by holy Doctrine and to convince Gainsayers and not to turn aside from
the same Province or in any other XXXV Him who is destitute of a Church for not being employed in the Province and shall be lent elsewhere out of the Province by the Colloque until the Meeting of the Synod of the said Province if he be not employ'd by the said Synod in the Province he shall remain proper to the Church to which he was lent if he consents thereto and the said Church also CONFORMITY This Article depends of the foregoing ones and is no more but the continuance of the Rules we have examined amined therefore 't is needless to add to what has been said to this purpose XXXVI To the end that Congregations should acquit themselves of their Duty to their Pastors as the Word of God enjoyns them and that cause should not be given to Ministers to be dissatisfied and even to leave them the said Flocks shall be advertis'd to allow them what shall be necessary CONFORMITY When Jesus Christ first sent forth his Disciples to Preach the Gospel he forbid them to provide Gold or Silver alledging for this prohibition that the labourer was worthy of his hire St. Paul who wrought with his own hands that he might be burdensome to none nevertheless appoints in his Epistles the obligation Flocks have to their Pastors saying None goes a warfare at his own expence That him that plants a Vine cats of the fruit and him that feeds a slock drinks of the milk of it that what the Law saith Thou shalt not mussle the ox which treadeth out the Corn is to be appli'd to the Ministers of the Gospel who ought to receive temporal things of those to whom they sow Spiritual things That those which were employ'd about holy things did eat of that which was Holy and those which served at the Altar did participate of the Altar that in like manner the Lord ordained 1 Cor. 9.14 That those which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel The Charity of Christians who lived presently after the Holy Apostles was so servent that they suffered not those which were ordained to instruct in the knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven to lack any thing and altho in those first Ages they lived on the voluntary Oblations of Believers nevertheless they had suslicient for their maintenance and support and for the relief of the poor And because these offerings were divided amongst the Clergy each had his portion or at least they spent altogether that which fell to their share and also imparted to the relief of Indigent Clerks and other Brethren Ep. 66. p. 109. which were in want and which St. Crprian designs by Sportulantes fratres an expressien sound in the Testament of Perpetu Bishop of Tours in the Fifth Century inserted by Dom Luke D'Achery in the fifth Tome of his Collection The 25 Can. of the Council of Antioch appoints That the Bishop should receive of the Church-stores what shall be convenient for the necessary support of life both for himself and for the Brethren which lodg in his House and the 36 Syned of Agde in the year 506 requires That all the Clerks which serve in the Church faithfully Tom. 1. Conc 〈◊〉 p. 168. and with care receive of their Bishops the wages due for their labour propâ—rtionable to the service they yield or according as the Canons do appoint After all when Riches came flowing into the Church in several Provinces they divided them into four equal portions the Bishop had one the Clergy another the third was for the poor and the fourth for repairing the Church But in the Countreys where they divided them into three Portions as in Spain one third was for the Bishop one third for the Clergy and the other third for the Poor and repairation of Temples XXXVII And to avoid the ingratitude of those which have been found unworthily to treat their Pastors this order shall be observ'd To pay them aforehand one Quarters Sallery of the Pension which has been promis'd them yearly CONFORMITY Were the Charity of the Christians of this Age as great as was that of the Primitive Christians those who laboured in composing our Discipline had not been obliged to have made so many Rules to provide for the Maintenance of Ministers they would have found a sufficient propensity in the minds of their People to have contributed to their Necessities But this Charity being abated and the People being but too much inclined to pay those with ingratitude which labour for their Instruction it was expedient to multiply Laws to procure for them a moderate maintenance without the which a Minister cannot subsist XXXVIII And for the time to come doubting of miscarriage herein lest there should happen damage to the Churches Those elected to manage the Action of the Colloques shall inquire of the Elders of each Church what Allowance they make their Ministers and the care they take in administring what has been appointed to the end that by the Authority of the Colloques it might be remedied CONFORMITY The Ministers of the French Protestants living commonly on the equal contribution of their Congregations it became the wisdom of the Authors of their Discipline to remove all dissiculties which might retard or hinder these voluntary Contributions whereon depends their Subsistence having no stock for their Maintenance XXXIX When necessary support is refused to a Minister and that he hath made his complaints and applications and that three Months are elapsed it shall be lawful for the said Pastor to range himself to another Church by advice of the Colloque or Provincial Synod and in case of urgent necessity the Colloques or Synods may shorten the term of three Months and if necessity so require and that three Months are elapsed and that he continue unprovided altho the Minister has made his complaint to be set at liberty it shall suffice that he call into his Consistery the two adjacent Mimslers and shall not be bound to stay for the consent of any Colloque nor Synod unless one of those Assemblies were summon'd in the same Month to the which he may have recourse CONFORMITY Seeing that according to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ Those which Preach the Gospel shall live by the Gospel it cannot reasonably be refuted Minister to whom the Flock doth not apply necessary Subsistence I say one cannot refuse him the liberty of joyning himself to another which are more tender and grateful especially when he has nothing else to subsist upon It 's true this should not be done without the advice of his Superiors that is to say without consent of the Colloque or Provincial Synod which may dispose of his Ministry XL. Vpon the knowledg and judgment which shall be made of the ingratitude of the People upon the Minister's complaint all circumstances must be prudently weighed and as well principal regard shall be had to the poverty of the Churches as to the faculty and ways of him which makes the complaint the better to
follow what may most tend to the glory of God the Edification of the Church and the honour of the Ministry CONFORMITY In the main heed must be taken to do nothing in these occasions which may in the least prejudice the glory of God the Edification of the Church and the honour of the Ministry or that may offend the Laws of Christian Charity XLI The Church which shall be found ingrateful shall not be furnished with a Pastor until first of all she hath fully satisfied what she owes to him from whose service she is discharged CONFORMITY This Article is a consequence of the preceding ones and is founded upon Justice and Equity provided exact Judgment be made betwixt unableness and ingratitude the former deserving pity and compassion and the latter punishment and blame XLII Ministers that have some Rents and Goods may nevertheless take Wages of their Flocks it is even expedient they should do so for the consequence and to avoid the prejudice they may do to other Pastors and Churches But they shall be Exhorted to do as the necessity of the Churches and Charity shall require CONFORMITY The Ancient Canons do sufficiently authorise this settlement in distinguishing the goods of Bishops from those of the Churches the latter not being to be alienated whereas the Bishop at his Death might dispose of those which were his and if he disposed not of them by Will they of right appertain'd to his Heirs the Church not being permitted to trouble them on this occasion The 24th Canon of the Council of Antioch is formal in the case and so regulated the matter that afterwards there was no difficulty in the Case and I make no question but the Impostor that forg'd the Canons which go in the Apostles Names did borrow from that of Antioch the 4th of his which he a little alter'd to hide the fraud of his Imposture for he saith the Bishop has sometimes Wise and Children which are his Legitimate Heirs Neither do I make any doubt but the Fathers of the Council of Chalcedon had in their view the same Canon a little more than 100 years after the Synod of Antioch when they forbid the Clergy in the 22d Canon to dissipate the Goods of the Bishop after his Death and that they alledge the Ancient Canons which prohibit the same it is hereunto may be applied the 32d Canon of the African Code attributed to the Council of Carthage in the Year 419. However it may be it clearly appears by what has been said That Ministers which had any Goods of their own might nevertheless take the portion of those of the Church which by the Decrees of Councils were destinated for the support of the Bishop XLIII It shall not be permitted for a Minister to possess any Inheritance under the Title of a Pastor but if his Pension or any part of it were assign'd upon any Possession Rent or Revenue all shall be administer'd by the Deacons or other person appointed and deputed to this purpose by whose hands the Minister shall receive his Salary to take away all suspition of Avarice and to the end that by such sollicitudes he may not be hinder'd from doing his Office and Duty CONFORMITY St. Cyrill of Alexandria ordains something to this purpose in his Canonical Epistle when he saith That the holy Vessels and the immovables must be left to the Churches and leave to the Bishops which do the Functions of the Episcopacy the dispensation of the Expence which is necessary to be done whether it proceeds from the Revenues of Ecclesiastical Goods or from some liberality that comes from elsewhere The Council of Antioch had already ordain'd something of the same kind in the 25th Canon and since St. Cyril that of Chalcedon in the 26th XLIV The Church in whose Service a Minister dyes shall take care of his Widow and Children and if the Church be not able the Province shall provide for them CONFORMITY This Rule is in good measure grounded on Christian Charity and also on the acknowledgment a Church owes to the memory of a Minister dead in her Service to whom she is obliged to shew some marks of respect and kindness in the persons of his Wife and Children XLV Ministers shall be subject to Censures CONFORMITY All Pastors were subject to the Canons and by consequence to the Censures enjoined by the Canons it is a known Truth and which is not contested by those who have any knowledg of the practise of the Ancient Church Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 27. The Council of Turin in the Year 397. in its Synodal Epistle saith They were Assembled to preserve the Blessing of Peace and the Decrees of the Canons and to apply a profitable remedy to Mens minds and in the 5th Canon speaking of a certain Priest called Exuperantius it saith He was deprived of the Communion of the Lord because he had done something against the Ecclesiastical Discipline Therefore it was Can. 1. that the Council of Chalcedon requires Tom. 1. Conc Gall. p. 490. that the Canons be observed which had till then been made by the holy Fathers and the Synod of Chalons upon Soan in the Year 650. enjoins all Men in the 2d Canon inviolably to observe the Decrees of the Councils Thence it is that the 4th Council of Orleans in the year 541. in the same Volume of French Councils speaks in the 37th Canon of the Censures which were made in the Synods to which also may be referr'd the 3d and 22d Canons of the Synod of Antioch and the 25th of that of Chalcedon and in the 4th of the 7th Council of Tolledo Anno Dom. 646. it is said expresly That if any Bishop be so inconsiderate as to violate the Decree of the Council the Censure and Punishment which the Fathers have enjoin'd Tom. 4. Concil p. 640. shall be inflicted on those which transgress the Canons XLVI The Office of Ministers is to Govern themselves and their Flocks great and small by the Word of God and Ecclesiastical Discipline but 't is also the Duty of the Magistrate to have inspection over all sorts of Men even over Ministers and to take care they behave themselves as becometh in their Vocation and if they fail therein the Magistrate shall warn them of their Duty by the Church Discipline in the Colloquies and Consistories else the faults may be punishable by the Laws the Administration whereof is in the Magistrate CONFORMITY Origen treats at large of these Duties of Pastors in several parts of his Works where he teaches how they ought to act in regard of themselves and in regard of those committed to their care towards whom they should not shew too much indulgence nor too much severity but open unto them the Gates of Heaven by their Doctrine and Example and not shut it against themselves by a disorderly and wicked Conduct But especially must be added what he saith in the 7th Homily upon Joshua which is in the 1st
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
we do they informed Sinners of their Duty they charitably represented to them their faults they applied to them fit censures they depriv'd them of participating of the Divine Mysteries they caused them to pass by certain degrees of Penance proportion'd to the greatness of their faults and when the crimes were heinous and the obstinacy stout and resolute they Excommunicated them in separating them from the Society of the faithful as persons who had made themselves unworthy of living within the pale of the Church Tertullian has in few words compris'd all this proceeding which I have now touched when describing the Assemblies of his times Apolog. cap. 39. he observes That therein was made Exhortations Reprehensions and Censures that therein were inflicted punishments that after having maturely weighed all things Judgment was given being perswaded God see them and it is saith he a great resemblance of the last Judgment if any one for his sins is deprived of the Communion of Prayer from the Assembly and from all holy intercourse Which will also appear yet more clearly if one considers that Peter Bishop of Alexandria and Martyr of Jesus Christ under Dioclesian has expressed the vertue and efficacy of the Communion Epist Canon cap. 8. by communicating in all things in Prayers in participating of the body and blood of the Lord and in the Preaching of the Word Origen has already spoke of the Ecclesiastical Synod and of those which had the care to watch over the conduct of Christians to encourage the one to do well and to exclude from the holy Assemblies those which lived ill Chap. 3. Art 3. upon which it may be noted there was two sorts of Excommunications amongst the Primitive Christians the former which was most frequent consisted in the being debar'd from the Sacraments to which sinners could not approach until after having done Penance for their sins as it happened to the Emperour Theodosius as is related by Zozomen Lib. 3. Cap. 25. for so it was that all publick sins were punished the other was a total exclusion from the Society of Believers which Tertullian expresses by Omni Ecclesia tecto Submovere XVI Suspension from the Holy Sacrament shall be used the more effectually to humble sinners and make them the more truly sensible of their offences This suspension nor the cause of it shall not be declared to the people neither also the restitution of the sinner unless it were in case they were Hereticks despisers of God Rebels to the Consistory Traytors to the Church as also such as shall be guilty of crimes worthy of corporal punishment and that bring great scandal on the whole Church as also those who against remonstrances to them made do marry to Papists Fathers and Mothers which do so marry their children Tutors Curators and others which supply the place of father and mother and do so marry their Pupils together with those which thither carry them to be Baptized or do present others to be Baptized it being necessary that all such persons altho there may be perceived in them some beginning of Repentance should speedily be deprived for some time from the benefit of the Sacrament and that the Suspension should be declared to all the People as well that they may be the more humbled and induced to repentance as to discharge the Church from all blame and reproach and also to give terror to others and make them tremble by this example to avoid the like Sins CONFORMITY There has ever in the Church a distinction been made betwixt secret sins and those sins which have been publick and scandalous in regard of the former the Church never exercised any authority for to the end she might act against sinners it is necessary that they confess their sins or that they may be convinc'd of them But because it may so happen that the sins of a private person may be known to some of the Governours of the Church and that he may not have scandalized the publick Orig. Hom. 7. in Jos pa. 185. l. 1. Aug. Ser. 16. de Verb. Do. c. 7 Tom. 10. in this case he may be censured in the Ecclesiastical Senate and if his crime deserves it may declare to him he is not in a state fit for some time to approach to the holy Communion which is just what is practised by us But when the sins are publick and scandalous we publickly suspend from the Holy Sacrament those which commit them and leave them in this state until such time that having given sufficient marks of sincere Repentance we receive them into the bosom of the Church by a publick acknowledgment of their offence which they are obliged to do in presence of all the People And herein we follow the Example of the Primitive Church Hom. 7. in Jos 21. 2. in Jud. Tom. 1. in Mat Trac 35. To. 2. which only subjected these sort of Sins to the Canons of publick Penance it is the constant Doctrine of Origen as appears in divers parts of his Writings where he formally declares that there 's only great Sins scandalous Sins which should be publickly punished and also he will have it done with a spirit of Charity and according to the Gospel precept for so 't is he explains himself in his third Homily on Leviticus Gregory of Nysse in his Canonical Letter to Letoius Can. 5 6. speaks no otherwise and tho he expresses himself in different terms from Origen yet he acknowledges that 't is only publick Sins which should pass by the degrees of publick Penance according to the Constitution of the Fathers St. Austin is no less clear herein than the two others Hom. 50. he teaches in the Book of fifty Homilies which is in the tenth Tome That when the sin is great and gives scandal to others the Sinner ought to do Penance in presence of all the Congregation especially if the Edification of the Church require it And in another of these same Homilies that is in the 27th he will have to pass by this rude and laborious Penance Murderers Tom. 10. Cap. 7. Adulterers and Sacrilegious persons And in the sixteenth Sermon on the words of our Lord he saith That the sins which are committed publickly must be reproved publickly and privately those which are committed more secretly I might add to these Testimonies what he writes in the Epistles Fifty four and hundred eight which are in the second Tome of his Works and in the 65th Chap. of his Manual to Laurence the Author of the Questions on the Old and New Testament Tom. 3. which is in the Appendix of the fourth Tome which shews he is in this of the same opinion as the true St. Austin is in explaining the 102. Question Caesarius Bishop of Arles Tom. 2. Bibl. Patr. a Writer of the Sixth Century in the first and eighth of his Homilies Pope Gregory the First in the 31. Letter of the 12th Book Isidore Bishop of
the Church-book if the Children are begotten in lawful Wedlock A Form of Baptism of those which shall be Converted to the Christian Faith as well Pagans Jews Mahometans and Anabaptists which have not been Baptised made at the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France held at Charanton in the year 1644. the 26 of December and the following Days AFter that the Catechumeny has been sufficiently instructed and Catechis'd to give an account of his Faith and that the Church shall by good Testimonies have taken cognisance of the Integrity of the Persons Life and Learning they shall by the said Persons be presented to the whole assembly of believers to be baptised in their presence And the Minister shall say The first Demand Do you not confess that you are a Child of Wrath deserving death and everlasting damnation Answer Yes Demand Are you not displeased and grieved for all the the sins you have committed ever since you were born and don 't you promise for ever to forsake them Answer Yes Dem. Do you not with all your heart forsake the seducements and temptations of the Devil and his Angels of all the Pomps and Vanities of the World and of all the Affections and Lusts of the Flesh Answ Yes If it be a Pagan the Minister shall say to him Dem. Do you not believe there is one only God which made Heaven and Earth who supports all things by his powerful Word and in whom we live move and have our being Answ Yes Then the following demand shall be made which is common to all and which are to be offer'd to all Dem. Do you not believe this great God which has created Heaven and Earth is one in Fssence and distinguished into three Persons Equal and Coeternal the Father the Son begotten of the Father from all Eternity and the Holy Ghost proceeding Eternal from the Father and the Son Answ Yes If it be a Pagan the three following Questions shall be propos'd Dem. Do you not believe this great God never leaving himself without Witness has manifested himself to Men not only by his Works which from their first production continually publish his Praise and Glory but also by revealing his Will for the Salvation of Mankind contained in the Holy Scriptures called the Old and New Testament Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that all these Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired and continue the perfect Rule of our Faith and good Living Answ Yes Dem. Do you not protest to resist the Devil to the last minute of your Life whom you have hitherto adored serving sdols made with hands or the host of Heaven or to conclude those which by Nature are no Gods Answ Yes If it be a Jew these sive Questions shall be made omiting the four above expressed they belonging to Pagans Dem. Do you not detest the Rebellion and Obstinacy of the Jews and do not you beg pardon for having been so long time ingaged therein Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that what God has been pleas'd to reveal to us of his Will is contain'd not only in the Books of the Old but also in those of the New Testament Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived in her by the ineffable Power of the Holy Ghost and after condemned to dye on the Cross through the false Accusation of the Jews by the wicked Sentence of Pontius Pilate raised from the dead the third day and now sitting in Glory is God manifest in the Flesh the Eternal Word of the Father by which he created and maintains the whole Vniverse the blessed Seed promised to Adam presently after his Fall by vertue of whom the Serpents head is broken whose coming all the Patriarchs expected with Hope and the great Prophet and true Messias foretold as well by Moses as by the other Prophets which lived after him Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that the Lord Jesus is the fulfilling of the Law in Righteousness to all which believe the truth of his Types and Figures the true Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World and that in him dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that now the observation of Legal Ceremonies is not only superfluous but also wholly prejudicial to a good Conscience Answ Yes If the Catecumeny be a Mahometan the Minister shall ask these following Questions omitting the former which particularly refer to Pagans or Jews Dem. Do you not believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are inspir'd of God and conttain his whole Will for the Salvation of Mankind and the only perfect Rule of Faith and good Living Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived in her by vertue of the Holy Ghost and made after the Flesh of her substance is God and Man blessed for ever perfect God and perfect Man Man made of a Woman in the fulness of time and God ingender'd of God the Father before all Eternity Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that the Lord Jesus from his first conception after the Flesh was Holy Innocent without Spot separate from Sinners and that he suffer'd not Death for his Sins but for ours¿ Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that his Death is the propitiation of our sins yea for the sins of the whole World and that this propitiation is of infinite Merit whereby Eternal Glory and Salvation has been acquir'd for us Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe Mahomet was a Deceiver and that his Alcoran is a Sacrilegious heap of Dreams full of absurdities and broached a purpose to set up a false and abominable Religion Answ Yes Dem. Do you not believe that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus is the power of God to Salvation in all them which believe That the only Christian Religion is the power of God to Salvation in all them which believe that the only Christian Religion is that alone whereby God the Father has revealed his good pleasure for the Salvation of Mankind until the end of the World that since the manifestation thereof there is no other to be expected that the Lord Jesus Christ only is the great Prophet promis'd to the Believers of the Old Testament and that God having formerly spoken in divers manners to Men before and under the Law has spoke to the Church of the New Testament by the Mouth of his only Son Jesus Answ Yes Quest Repeat the summary of your Faith Answ I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth c. If the Catecumene be an Annabaptist the Minister shall say Quest Do you not believe that the Lord Jesus is and shall be true God and Man in both Natures Eternally that he was according to his Manhood like to us in all things sin only excepted so that he was the true Son of Abraham of David of the Blessed
Virgin proceeding from their Blood and Seed and that the substance of his Body was formed not only of the Virgin according to what the Apostle saith that he was of the Seed of David according to the Scriptures that he was made of a Woman and that he partook of Flesh and Blood like other Children Answ Yes Quest Do you not believe that the baptizing of young Infants is grounded in the Scriptures and in the continual practice of the Church Answ Yes Quest Do you not with all your heart renounce the Errors of those which deny it and are you not sorry for having hitherto slighted it Answ Yes Quest Do you not believe that the Establishing of Magistrates is an Ordnance of God to the which those which refuse to submit draw down damnation on themselves And that all manner of Obedience after the Will of God is due to them Answ Yes Quest Do you not believe that this good God which calls us all by the Preaching of his Word to Life and Salvation has instituted some Signs and Sacraments in his Church which Seal and Confirm to us the Covenant of Grace which is offer'd to us by the Preaching of the Gospel Answ Yes Quest How many Sacraments think you there are in the Christian Church Answ Two to wit Baptisme and the Lords Supper Quest Do you not desire to be instructed in the Nature and Vse of Baptisme which you desire in the Church Answ Yes Quest The Minister shall say Our Lord shews us all in what poverty and misery we were born in telling us we must be regenerated for if it be needful our Nature be renewed to have admission into the Kingdom of Heaven it is a sign 't is wholly sinful and cursed therein therefore he warns us to be humbled and cast down in our-selves and in this manner he prepares us to desire and seek his favour whereby all the perverseness and evil of our first Nature shall be abolished for we are not capable of receiving it until first we have wholly laid aside all trust in our own Strength Wisdom Righteousness even to condemning all that is in us Now when he has shewn us our misery he then comforts us by his mercy promising to regenerate us by his Holy Spirit to a Holy Life which shall be to us as the entrance into his Kingdom This Regeneration consists in two parts which is that we should deny our selves not following the way of our own reason our Pleasure and own Will but subjecting our understanding and heart to the Wisdom and Will of God mortifying all that is of us and of the Flesh afterwards we should follow the light of God to comply and submit to his Holy Will as he commands us by his Word and bads us by his Spirit The accomplishment both of the one and the other is in our Lord Jesus whose Death and Passion is of such Vertue that partaking thereof we are as it were Dead to Sin to the end that our fleshly Lusts should be mortified In like manner by vertue of his Resurrection we may be raised to a new Life which is God being Govern'd and Conducted by his Holy Spirit which worketh in us things well pleasing in his sight Nevertheless the first and principal point of our Salvation is that by his Mercy he pardon and forgives us all our sins not imputing them to us but blotting them out that they should not rise up in Judgment against us All these Graces are bestow'd on us when he is pleased to ingraff us into his Church by Baptisme for in this Sacrament he assures us of the pardon of our sins And to this end he hath appointed the Sign of Water to shew us That as by this Element Bodily filthiness is washed away he will also wash and purifie our Souls that there might be no spot in them Then he shews us our Renovation the which lyes as has been said in the Mortification of our Flesh and in a Spiritual Life which he worketh in us So shall we receive double Grace and benefit of our God in Baptisme provided we do not frustrate the vertue of this Sacrament by our ingratitude which is that we have therein certain assurance that God will be a merciful Father to us not imputing our Sins and Offences Secondly That he will assist us by his Holy Spirit to the end we may resist the Devil Sin and the Lusts of the Flesh even till we triumph over them to live in the liberty of his Kingdom which is the Kingdom of Righteousness Seeing then 't is so that these two things are accomplish'd in us by the love of Jesus Christ it follows that the vertue and substance of Baptisme is compris'd in him and indeed we have no other cleansing but his Blood nor no other renewing but in his Death and Resurrection but as he communicates to us his Riches and Blessings by his Word so also he distributes them to us by his Sacraments Now herein appears the wonderful Love of God towards us that those Graces he bestows upon us having before the coming of the Messias been restrain'd within the People of the Jews and the partition Wall which separated the Jews and Gentiles being taken away by the Death of Jesus Christ he shed abroad the Waters of his Saving Grace in such abundant manner on the Children of Men that in him there is now neither Jew nor Greek Male nor Female Circumcision nor Vncircumcision nor any other Creature else which can hinder us from this great Salvation that Jesus Christ will be preached to all Nations and the Covenant of his Love confirm'd by Baptisme according to the Commission given to his Apostles saying Go Preach to all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And it is this Grace Brother which you desire to partake of by Baptisme is it not true Answ Yes Quest But because entring into the House of God every one should take care of his wayes fearing to prophane the the Sanctuary in adventuring according to the saying of the Wise Man least he should offer the Sacrifice of Fools and that he should be cleansed from the Leven and Error of Malice do you not detest all the Errors which are contrary to the Holy Doctrine taught in our Churches Answ Yes Quest Seeing you are about to receive Holy Baptisme do not you promise to live and dye in the Faith of the Lord Jesus heretofore confessed by you accompanying it with a Holy Life and Conversation and to imploy all your Thoughts Words and Actions to glorifie God and edifie your Neighbours submitting your self to the Order of the Church and to the Discipline whereby this Holy Order shall inviolably be maintain'd Answ Yes This being done the Minister shall add Let us pray to God that he would be pleased to Bless this Holy Action and shall pray after this manner Lord our God infinitely Wise and Merciful we Praise and Bless thy Holy
according to the Flesh the Divinity remaining impassible that he was buried that he rose again the third day that he ascended into Heaven and that he will come in glory to Judge the quick and the dead to conclude I confess and believe that the holy Virgin is preperly and truly Mother and the Mother of a God which made himself Man Those who desire to be more fully informed of what I have now discoursed may Read the formulary of Nicetas whereof I have made mention on the 3 article of this chapter and in the place I marked After all 't is most certain the Catechumeny were instructed on all the articles of the Symbol which comprehend the principal points of Christianity and the essential and capital points of Religion the Catechisms of St. Cyrill of Jerusalem shew so much seeing he there Explains all those saving truths which those ought to know which fitted themselves to receive holy Baptism in effect they often heard mention made of God the Father and the Work of Creation with the Titles of Father of Almighty and of Creator which are given to him of Jesus Christ and of the work of Redemption with his quality of only begotten Son of God of the Holy Ghost and the Work of Sanctification they were taught there were three Persons in Unity of One and the same Essence that the second Person of the Trinity took on him our Nature in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the Operation of the Holy Ghost to the end he might dye and by his death make Expiation for our Sins fully satisfie his Fathers Justice for us appease his Wrath and restore us into his Favour They often heard mention made of his Person of his two Natures Divine and Humane of his Imployments and Offices of the Misteries of his Incarnation the Wonders of his Birth the Holiness of his Life the Glory of his Miracles the meanness of his Cross the shame of his Sufferings the power of his Resurrection and the Glory of his Ascension and of his Triumph thence they proceeded to the Explication of the Article of the Holy Ghost whose Divinity and Operations were established Jesus Christ having sent Him from Heaven on the Apostles for the establishing his Kingdom and for Illuminating and Sanctifying those which he was effectually to call to the Communion of his Gospel To conclude they were made understand the Nature of the Holy Church which was to beget them anew unto God of the Graces he bestows on it in this Life and of the Glory he prepares for it in that which is to come All these thing are at large treated of in the Catechisms of S. Cyril which I have cited and they are seen more succinctly in the 7 chapter of the little Treatise of Theodulphus of whom I have also spake and in that of Amalarius Arch-Bishop of Treves Pag. 1151 Par. 1617 dedicated to Charlemain in the works of Alcuin Besides it must not be thought that in the ancient Church they satisfied themselves with explaining to the Catechumenies the things which I but now touched it was also necessary they should give an account in answering the questions put to them on each article according to which Eusebius makes mention in his Ecclesiastical History of a man Lib. 7. c. 9. which had assisted at the Baptism of those which had been newly Baptised and he said he heard their Questions and Answers St. Cyprian in his 70 Epistle speaks also of this custom when he saith the Question it self made at Baptism is witness of the Truth Firmillian Bishop of Cesaria in Cappadocia teaches us the same thing when speaking of a woman which boasted to be a Prophetess he saith that to give the more colour to her Delusions Apad Cypri Ep. 75. pag. 147. She Baptised several persons using the usual words which were wont to be implyed in the Interrogations to the end her Baptism should not seem to differ in any thing from the Ecclesiastical Rule seeing that neither the Symbol of the Trinity nor the usual and Ecclesiastical Interrogations was omitted by her It is to which doubtless the first Council of Arles had regard Tom. 1. conc Gal. pag. 6. when in the year 314 it appointed in the 8th of it's Cannons not to re-baptise Hereticks if after Examining them on the Creed one found that they had been Baptised in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but only those amongst them who being interrogated answered not this Trinity that is to say to the questions made them touching the Trinity of Persons and unity of their Essence St. Pag. 86. Par 1631 Cyril of Jerusalem has not forgot this Circumstance in his two Mystagogical Catechisms no more than Optatus of Mileua in his 5th Book against Parmenian nor St. Jerom in the 5th Chapter of his Dialogue against the Luciferians nor St. Austin in the 20th Chapter of the 5th Book against the Donatists and he even tells us in his 23th Epist to Bonifacius that when Little Children were Baptised those which presented them answered for them to all the Interrogations which were made and the Author of the Book of Ecclesiastical Dogma's in the Appendix of the 3d. Tome of his Works establishes the same Custom in the 52 Chap. The Author of the Book of Sacraments in the 4th Vol. of the Works of St. Ambrose also observes this Custom in the 7th Chap. of the 2d Book And a great while before Tertullian in the 3d. Chap. of the Book of the Crown had made mention of the Answers of those which were Baptised therefore he could have wished they had deferr'd the Baptism of Children until they were in a state of being able to give an account of their Faith which opinion St. Gregory of Nazianzen seemed also to approve In the book of Sacraments of Gregory I. Pag. 73. it is demanded of the Party to be baptised Do you believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth He answers I do believe Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord which was born and suffered I do believe Do you also believe in the Holy Ghost do you believe the holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the forgiveness of Sins the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting I do believe Do you desire to be Baptised I do Somthing to this purpose is to be read in the book of Sacraments whereof I made mention in the foregoing Section and in the place I noted Besides there 's great probability that St. Peter made Allusion to this practice when he said in the 3d. Chap. of his first Epistle that the Baptism whereby we are saved is not that whereby the filthiness of the Flesh is washed but the witness of a good Conscience in the sight of God the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The Greek Word which we have translated Witness signifies properly Interrogation I add for a Conclusion of these
matters that those which were to be baptised were bound to recite the Symbol of their Faith to renounce the Devil to his Power and his Angels to acknowledge that they were by Nature Children of Wrath and to shew Repentance and Sorrow for their Sins committed during the time of their Ignorance and if they were instructed in the knowledge of Heavenly things they were also taught to live well that is to say holily and in a way answerable to their Vocation The Nature and Fruits of Baptism was explain'd to them They had also some Light of the Eucharist shewed them because they did communicate presently after being baptised and all these things were accompanied with Ardent Prayers to God as well to render him thanks for calling them to his blessed Communion as to implore his Grace and Benediction on them at the very instant that he honour'd them with the seal of his Covenant and Sacrament of our Salvation After all I have said the perfect resemblance may easily be seen which is found in the Matter I Examin betwixt our practice and that of the Ancient Church if you except what regards Anabaptists which appearing but in the last Century could be neither the Subject nor Matter of any of the Decrees of the Cannon Law CHAP. XII Of the LORDS SUPPER ARTICLE I. WHere there is not a settled Church it is not permitted to celebrate the Lords Supper CONFORMITY The reason of this First Article is because the Lords Supper is so called by reason of the Communion of those which participate thereof it is the Opinion of St. Chrysostom which he has thus Expressed Hom. 21. Tom. 5. pag. 312. The Apostle calls it the Lords Supper because all those which are invited take it in common with concord The Author of the Commentaries on St. Pauls Epistles in St. Jerom's Works saith That the Lords Supper ought to be common to all In 4 Cor. 11. The Lords Supper saith St. Isidore of Sevil is so called from the Communion of those which Eat of it and the Communicants from their assembling in Common Orig. l. 20. pag. 132. thence it is that Justin Martyr writes in his first Apology that they assembled on Sundays from the Cities and from the Country round about to hear the Word of God pag. 93. cum 97. and to partake of the Holy Sacrament and he also observes they sent some to the absent to shew doubtless the Communion they had together and I can't tell but 't was with respect hereunto that the Council of Laodicea conceived in these Terms the 58th Cannon Bishops nor Priest must not make Oblations in private Houses that is to say that they should not there Celebrate the Eucharist which was not begun to be celebrated without Communicants till about the 12th Century Part. 1. c. 11. as I have sufficiently proved in the History of the Sacrament II. Children under twelve years of Age shall not be admitted to the Lords Supper but above this Age it shall be at the discretion of the Ministers to Judge of those which shall be fit to be admitted or not CONFORMITY It may seem to be collected from the place in St. Justin Martyr which I cited on the other Article that only persons of Age and not little Children were admitted to the Holy Sacrament and it is very probable that Tertullian was of this Opinion because he thought fit to defer the Baptising of Children for some years as well as Gregory Nazianzen as I shewed on the foregoing Chapter It 's true that since the time of St. Cyprian until about the 12th Century Children were received to the Communion but this Custom is justly rejected by those also of the Church of Rome as well as Protestants In effect young Children are incapable of the Examination St. Paul requires of those which approach to the Holy Table III. Priests Friers and other Ecclesiastical Persons of the Church of Rome shall not be admitted to the Lords Supper until they have first made confession in publick of their past life and profession CONFORMITY This practice is wholly conformable to that of the first Christians It is not permitted unto any one whatsoever saith St. Justin Martyr to partake with us of the Sacrament unless he be fully perswaded of the truth of our Doctrine that he has been Baptized to obtain Remission of his Sins with a new Birth Apol. 1. p. 97 98. and that he lives according to the Laws of Jesus Christ IV. Dignitaries which bear the Name and Title of their benefices and those which therewith mingle Idolatry Directly or Indirectly whether they enjoy their Benefices by their own hands or by the hands of others shall not be admitted to the Lords Supper CONFORMITY Those here described not being in the State nor Disposition desired by Justin Martyr they cannot be received to the Holy Communion in a Christian Society whose Doctrine they do not believe or that don't gather themselves within the Laws and under the Discipline observed in the midst of them V. Ministers shall be warned not to receive to the Lords Supper Persons of other Churches unless they have sufficient testimony from its Minister or in default thereof from an Elder if it possible may be CONFORMITY The Church has observed this Order from the First Ages for the Council of Antioch in the Year 341 forbids in the Seventh Cannon to admit of any Stranger without having Pacifick Letters The Seventh Cannon of the First Council of Carthage Assembled under Gratus about the Year 348 speaks also more clearly forbidding plainly both Clergy and Layity to communicate in any other Church without their Bishops Letter Lib. 2. c. 51. The Author of Apostolical Constitutions prescribes almost the same thing Pag. 601 602. In the Third Volumne of the French Councils there is a Synod of Nants the time it held is somewhat uncertain the Two First Cannons whereof are imployed to confirm this same practice VI. A Man that 's Deaf and Dumb which by evident Signs Tokens and Gestures shewing his Piety and Religion what he can may be admitted to the Holy Sacrament when by a long Experience of the Holiness of his Life the Church shall perceive he has Faith and shall be truly taught of God CONFORMITY The Church never required of Communicants more than a Holy Mind and Disposition wherefore if it is found in a Deaf and Dumb Man and that he gives signs of it he ought to be admitted to the Sacrament and when I speak of the Church I mean that of the Primitive Christians for in process of time they imposed on Communicants an Obligation of Auricular Confession especially since the days of Innocent the Third who made the first Decree for it in his Latteran Council in the Year of Christ 1215. VII The Bread of the Sacrament ought to be administred to those which cannot drink Wine in making protestation that 't is not through contempt and doing what they can possible
Vsher a Letter of Cummin a Priest to the Abbot Seguinus touching the keeping Easter Ep. 11. p. 28. wherein he wrote to him above a 1000 years ago That the Council of Arles composed of 600 Bishops confirm'd in the First Cannon what had been concluded upon for the observing of Easter that is to say that it should be Celebrated all over the World at one time and one day Ado Bishop of Vienna in the Ninth Century writes in the Sixth Age of his Chronicle That in the time that Marin was Bishop of Arles there met a Council of 600 Bishops In the 10th Spicilegium of Dom Luke D' Achery and in the Additions there is to be seen an observation touching Synods which was taken from an Antient Collection writ above 800 years ago wherein mention is made of the Council we speak of Tom 10. p 633. and of the number of 600 Bishops there present and apparently it was in reference to this great number of Prelates Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 105. Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 6. that the Fathers of the Second Council assembled in the same City in the year 542 said in the Eighteenth Cannon That the first was assembled from all parts of the World However it be the Tenth Cannon of the First Council which concerns the business we treat of is expressed in these terms As to young Men that are Believers which surprize their Wifes in Adultery and who are forbidden to marry others It has seem'd good to us that they should be advis'd as much as may be not to marry again during their Wifes life time although Adulteresses I gather two things from this Cannon First Before the holding this Council there were those which prohibited them which left their Wifes for Adultery to marry again Secondly That the Fathers of the Council to the number of 600 amongst which there are Two Priests and Two Deacons of the Church of Rome which held the place of Silvester its Bishop these Prelates having maturely examined the business changed the Prohibition into an Advice which they desired might be followed but no farther than Mans weakness could bear which shews that they did not believe as now a days in the Romish Communion That the Band of Marriage is indissolvable though Adultery should intervene In the year of our Lord 465 there was held a Council at Vannes in Brittany see here its Second Cannon As for those who forsake their Wifes Tom. 1. Gall. p. 138. unless it be in case of Adultery as is expressed in the Gospel and do Marry others without having proved the Adultery we ordain they shall be deprived of the Lords Supper that is to say Excommunicated lest through our remissness Sins unpunished may incline others to licentiousness It appears by this Cannon that when the Adultery was proved it was permitted to conclude another Marriage it was so 't was understood by Father Sirmond on the Letter of Auitus above-mentioned wherein he was followed by his Nephew Mr. De la Lande Treasurer of the Church of St. Framburg of Senlis for in the Supplement of French Councils pag. 349. he explains this Cannon in the same manner as I have explained it and this ought not to be regarded as a private interpretation seeing this Supplement was approved by the Clergy of France assembled at Paris in the years 1655 and 56. The Synod of Agde in Languedoc in the year 506 Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 166. marches in the same steps of that of Vannes in the 25th Cannon which Excommunicate those which put away their Wifes to marry themselves to others before they represent to the Bishops of the Province the causes of their Separation and before their Wifes have been condemn'd that is for Adultery for when they were once convicted Husbands were permitted to Marry others it is what is lawfully inferr'd from this Cannon Theodore Arch-Bishop of Canterbury held a Synod in the year 670 as Beda writes in his Ecclesiastical History of England wherein he made these Cannons relating to Marriage Lib. 4. c. 5. Let no Man forsake his Wife unless it be for Fornication as the Gospel does direct If any one puts away his Wife whom he has lawfully marryed let him not marry another if he will be a good Christian but let him continue as he is or let him be reconcil'd to his own Wife That is If he puts her away for any other cause than for Adultery And it can't be question'd but this is the true meaning of the words of Theodore especially if one considers that in Dom Luke D' Achery's Ninth Spicilegium There are a certain number of Cannons chosen out of all those of the said Theodores the 116th of which formally contains this Decree pag. 62. It is permitted to him whose Wife has committed Adultery to put her away and to take another Gratian attributes this Decree to Pope Zachary who liv'd in the Eighth Century ca. 32. c. 7. Conc. Concnbaiâ—ii You have layn with your Wifes Sister if it be so you cannot have to Wife neither the one nor the other but as for her that was your Wife if she consented not to this crime and that she cannot contain she may marry in the Lord to whom she thinks sit The Antient Copies Manuscripts and Old Editions of Gratian produce this Decree as being Pope Zachary's yet there are Compilers of Decrees which have cited it as having taken it out of the Roman Penitential Binchard lib. 19. c. 5. Enq. but 't is nothing the less considerable seeing 't was the Penitential whereof Zachary was the Compiler The Author of the Gloss explains the last words of the Cannon in this manner Let her marry to whom she will He explains them in adding these others after the Death of her Husband As if a Woman whose Husband was Dead was not in full liberty to re-marry without having any permission for so doing whereas here there is question of a Man convicted of Adultery whereby Marriage is dissolv'd therefore the Woman which is Innocent and has no share in the Husbands Crime she is permitted to re-marry Erasmus on the 7th chap. of the 1. Ep. to the Cor. where he examins the Question Whether Divorce is sometimes permitted amongst Christians Erasmus reproves and condemns the Gloss I but just now cited as being contrary to the words of the Decree and to the intention of Pope Zachary to whom 't is attributed and he does so against the Master of Sentences Lib. 4. dist 34. who had interpreted the Cannon with this addition that is to say after the Death of the Husband The Council of Verberie in Vallois assembled in the year 752 Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. p. 2. made several Decrees the Second whereof is compriz'd in these terms If any one carnally knows his Wifes Daughter he cannot have the Mother nor Daughter and neither she nor him cannot never after marry any others but as for the