be injustice to refuse it to the Christian Church seeing also Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse has commanded us in his Gospel to look on him that refuses to hear the Church as a Pagan and Heathen that is to say Matt. 18.17 he will that he be cast out of the Church or that he be Excommunicated which amounts all to one thing St. Paul has expressed this action by delivering over to Satan 1 Cor. 5.5 1 Tim. 1.20 unless one will say that there was something more in St. Paul's Excommunication than in that designed by Jesus Christ in the Gospel However it be the Governours of Churches strengthned by the command of the Lord Jesus and by the Example of his Apostles have always Exercised this Ecclesiastical power against enormous and scandalous sins Tertullian and Origen have shewn on the fifteenth Article That it was the practise of their times which is also verified by the places I have cited out of the same Origen on the precedent Article and by another of Tertullian's who writes in his Book of Pudicity Chap 4. that these sinners should be driven away from the Inclosure of the Church and the place of the Assembly and this was the great and true Excommunication whereas the other was only a privation from the Sacraments To these two Witnesses we may joyn St. Cyprian Contemporary with Origen who very often in his Epistles makes mention of this Censure Ep. 28.38 55 62 of the last Edit when he speaks of removing from the Communion of not Communicating with some one to banish and to cast out of the Church to condemn by the mouth of the Pastor to kill with the Spiritual Sword And other Expressions he uses to declare the same thing The tenth of the Canons attributed to the Apostles does not suffer us to be ignorant of this ancient Discipline Seeing he Excommunicates him that prays with an Excommunicated person in the House only I 'le inlarge no farther seeing one must make a Volume if one would collect all the Canons and Testimonies of the Fathers which treat of Excommunication and more also should one treat of the History of Interdiction which Popes to render their Power more formidable have sent abroad in these last Ages contrary to the use and practise of the Primitive Church to which they were utterly unknown As for the Order which is to be followed according to our Discipline before debarring a sinner from the Communion of the Church besides that it is grounded on the Laws and Precepts of Charity it is also conformaable to the practise of the Primitive Christians Hom. in Jos Tom. 1. p. 185. who by Origen's report reproved and warned the guilty three several times before they came to this last Extremity Thence it is also the same method was observed when there was any mention of deposing an Ecclesiastical Person because in sundry occasions the same faults which deserved Deposition of a Church-man was punished with Excommunication in a Secular as appears by divers Canons particularly by the sixth and seventh of the first Oecumenical Council of Ephesus where we find these words If they are Bishops See the Can. 8 17. of the Counc of Calced or others of the Clergy which are deposed the Bishops from Episcopacy the others from the degree they-held in the Clergy from whence they are quite excluded but if they are Lay persons let them be Excommunicated And we have made appear on the 49th Artic. of Chap. 1. that a Bishop was cited three times or any other Ecclesiastical person before proceeding to his deposing I don't insist on the form of Excommunication repeated after the Article on which I have made the necessary remarks because 't is in the liberty of the Church in such like occasions to make use of what terms it shall judge most fitting provided that in the main it don't depart from the bounds which the Gospel does prescribe nor from the Example of the Holy Apostles Neither do we see that in the Primitive Church they were confined to the use of a sorm of words when any one was Excommunicated those which condemned Sinners to that punishment having been always Masters of the form and manner of Excommunication which is always the same in substance what variety soever there may be in the form wherein it is conceived XVII For the future all Sentences of Excommunication confirmed by the Provincial Synod shall continue firm as also all Sentences of Suspension from the Lords Supper given by the Consistory the which not being published to the People shall hold good altho the party suspended appealed to the Colloque or Provincial Synod CONFORMITY There 's nothing in this Article but what is very conformable to the ancient Discipline according to which each Church had power to inflict throughout the whole extent of its Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction the necessary punishments and Censures against all sorts of offences so that when a Bishop had Excommunicated any one none but the Synod of the Province could take off the Excommunication as there was none but the Synod of the whole Diocess which comprehended several Provinces which could reverse the Sentence of a Provincial Synod Therefore 't is that the Sixth Canon of the first Oecumenical Council of Constantinople the 9. and 17. of that of Chalcedon suffers to appeal from the Bishop to the Provincial Synod and from the Provincial to that of the whole Diocess of which we have a resemblance in our National Synods XIX Those which have deserted the profession of the True Religion to embrace Idolatry if they persist in this Apostacy after means used to return them to the flock they shall publickly be declared Apostates to wit those who lately shall turn to be such unless the Consistory shall think such a publication to cause some notable damage and prejudice to the Church in which case nothing shall be done but by advice of the Provincial Synod As for those which of a long time shall be revolted the execution of this publication is refer'd to the discretion of Consistories CONFORMITY In the Primitive Church Idolatry and Apostacy were in several places excluded from pardon and absolution Tom. 1. Conc. p. 232 236. Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 8. during the two first Centuries of Christianity as is made appear by the first and 46. Canons of the Council of Eliberi assembled Anno Dom. 305. and by the last of the first Council of Arles in the year 314 but it also appears by these same Canons that bare Apostacy was not without hope of being pardoned by the Church but only when it was accompanied with Idolatry which the ancient Christians looked upon as the blackest of all crimes Paran ad Poen Tom. 3. Bib. Pat. pag. 71. and the most heinous of all sins But the great Council of Nice removed this difference in the 11th Canon and made them all hope to find absolution in a certain time as well Idolaters as meer Apostates
reasonably be doubted but that in all times those have been Examin'd in the Church which were to Labour for her Instruction and Edification and which were to serve in Preaching the Word and Administring the Sacraments I grant this Examination may differ according to the diversity of Places and Persons which were to do the Office of Examiners some doing it with more Exactness and Severity and others with more Mildness and Charity and I can't tell if ever there has been seen on this Subject a more strict and exact establishment than that which our Discipline doth prescribe Whatever it is it is most certain that is That the Examination of Life and Doctrine however 't was perform'd always preceded Ordination The 19th Canon of the 1st Council of Nice the 12th of that of Laodicea and the 1st and 4th of Carthage ordaining it should be so although the latter makes it more ample than the two others and declares distinctly the Questions which were to be made and the Articles upon which those were to be Interrogated which were to be called to be Bishops and I make no question but 't was with regard to this Examination That Gregory the first condemn'd in his Pastoral Part. 1. c. 1. T. 1. Paris 1586. The temerity of those which being ignorant and destitute of knowledg would presume to take on them the Office of Pastors never considering that the Conduct of Souls is the Art of Arts That is to say the Noblest and most Excellent of all the Sciences and withal the most Difficult the most Intricate and most Laborious and by consequence requires more Study and Care than any other whatsoever What a shame would it be for a Pastor to speak yet with the same St. Gregory Part. 2. cap. 11. in the same Treatise If he should go about to learn in the time that he should resolve the difficulties should be propos'd to him Whereas he ought always to be ready to give to Believers the satisfaction which they desire upon things which concern Conscience and Salvation This laudable Custom continued a long while after the Death of Gregory but since the Ninth Century the Examination of Pastors was insensibly brought to so mean a State that there needed not much Learning to Answer the Questions that were propos'd And to conclude The greatest part of the Vocation and Consecration of those to whom the Care and Conduct of Souls was committed consisted only in Shew and Ceremony or at least so little heed was taken of their Judgment and Capacity that there was seen to grow in a little time from a practise so different from that of the Primitive Christians that gross Ignorance which was the Spring and Cause of most part of the Evils and Disorders which have befaln the Western Church Not but that several Rules have been made to redress this great Mischief but it had got too deep root Besides Favour and Authority had a greater share in these promotions than the Glory of God and the Instruction of the People especially the Power of the Bishops of Rome who by degrees had gain'd to themselves the greatest part of Ecclesiastical Power bethought themselves about the XI Century to cause to be demanded or demanded themselves of the Bishops which were Examined and in the very moment of their Examination if they did not promise subjection and fealty in all things to St. Peter Tom. 10. Probl. Pat. p. 107. and to his Church to his Viear and to his Successors as appears by the Roman Order which in all likelihood was writ about that time and where is to be seen at this day amongst the Questions made to the Bishop which was Examin'd those which regard the Obedience and Fidellity which I but now mentioned and there is to be seen in the Roman Pontifical Printed at Venice in the Year 1582. Page 25. the Form of the Oath they were made to take and whereunto they ingaged themselves in doing it which are things quite different from the Discipline of the Primitive Christians I know very well that about the year 722. Boniface Archbishop of Mayence made an Oath to Pope Gregory the II. at the time of his Ordination and Promotion to the Prelacy but this Oath did properly contain no more but a Profession of Faith and the Essential Duty of an Apostollical Legat and of a Vicar of the Holy See as they express it which is to make Bishops observe the Canons and to give the Pope Information of the great difficulties which is therein I know also this Prelat Assembled a Council as he recites it in his 105. Letter to the Bishop Cuthbert wherein he made alike profession to the Bishops which there assisted but besides that all this was done but only by Order of the Princes and Bishops of the Kingdom as may be gathered from the very Letter of Boniface and from the 1st Canon of the Synod of Leptines where Prince Carloman protests That by advice of the Bishops and Nobles of the Kingdom he setled Bishops in all Cities and gave them for Chief and Superiour the Archbishop Boniface Legat of the Holy See Besides this I say these Examples now alledged went no farther if my memory fail me not before the time I mention VI. Him whose Ordination shall be signified to the Church shall Preach the Word Three several Sundays in publick but not Administer the Sacraments nor Celebrate Marriage in presence of all the People that they may observe his manner of Teaching The said People being expresly warn'd That if there be any one that know any just cause wherefore the Election of him so signified may not be fully ratified or that he be not liked of they may come and make it known to the Consistory who will patiently hear any one's Reasons to judge of the whole The silence of the People shall be look'd upon as a full consent But if there be murmuring and that the Party named is liked of the Consistory and not of the People or the major part of them his admission shall be deferred and the whole shall be reported to the Colloqui or the Provincial Synod to discern as well the Justification of the Person named as of his Reception and altho' the Person named was there justified yet he shall not be impos'd as a Pastor on the People contrary to their desire nor so much as to the dislike of the greatest part of them nor the Pastor in like manner against his will to the People and the difference shall be clear'd by order as abovesaid at the Charge and Expence of the Church which shall demand it CONFORMITY Although a Minister might be judged capable by the Synod or the Colloqui which have Examin'd him That is not sufficient to Establish him It is moreover requisite that the Flock that is appointed for him be satisfied with his Preaching therefore he is obliged to Preach Three several times before he receives the Imposition of Hands to the
usual Sermons Those who have received the gift of Writing shall be chosen by the Provinces and if it happens any Book be Publish'd against the Orthodox Religion it shall be sent to them that they may answer it a Colloque being deputed in each Province to inspect what shall be Writ and Publish'd to dispose of the Copies as shall be thought fit CONFORMITY There was never greater Liberty of Writing than in the first Ages of the Church at which time every body writ in the manner which he thought best and most convenient without being obliged to communicate his Works to any to be Examin'd for their Approbation nevertheless seeing there has been at all times amongst Christians some Bishops and Pastors fitter for this purpose than others such were for the most part employ'd for the defence of the Truth against Schismaticks and Hereticks It was for this Cause that the Book of Phaebadius or Phaegadius Bishop of Agen in Guien written against the Arrians of the East and West holds the Degree of the Epistle of a Council of Vaison of the Year 358. P. 3. Paris 1666. and bears the Name in the Supplement of the Councils of France St. Austin even to his Death was the Pen of Africa against the Enemies of the Church particularly against the Donatists and Pelagians and St. Fulgentius in the following Age succeeded him in a manner in the same Office especially during the time that above Sixty African Bishops of which Number he was one was Exil'd into the Isle of Sardegnia for although he was the youngest of them all the Author of his Life does observe that he was the Mouth and Spirit And it may yet be said of these two famous Writers That they exactly observed the Modesty Sobriety and Decorum prescribed by our Discipline to all those who put Pen to Paper for the Defence and Vindication of Truth Examples which should be carefully imitated and in the mean time condemn the rashness of Agobard Bishop of Lyons who Writing in the 9th Century against Amalarius Fortunatus cruelly rails against him and much more that of Lucifer Bishop of Caillari against the Emperor Constantius in the Library of the Fathers Tom. 9. of the Edition of Paris 1644. XVI Ministers should not pretend Precedency one over the other CONFORMITY S. Jerom informs us in in his Commentaries upon the Epistle to Titus and in his Letter to Evagrius That at the beginning of Christianity the Churches were Govern'd by the joynt advice of the Priests or Elders and this form of Government lasted until that by the instinct of the Devil there arose Parties in Religion saith the same St. Jerom for then recourse must be had to Election so that to avoid Schisms and Divisions one of the Company was chose to whom Election gave the precedency to all the rest whereas before it was the time of promotion as is testified by the Deacon Hillary in his Commentaries upon the 4th Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians amongst the Works of St. Ambrose for he saith That at first the Priests were called Bishops and that the one being Dead the other Succeeded that is to say That it was granted to the Ancientest Priest in promotion to bear the first rank or place this primacy being a primacy of Order and not of Power and Authority over others the only primacy forbidden by our Discipline in effect the first admitted held the first place in the Pesbytery just as the Dean amongst Councellors of Parliament or as the Dean of Prebends in a Chapter From hence it is also that after the Establishing of the Hierarchy in the Church Equality was still observed amongst the Clergy except 't was in the Power of Metropolitans over the Bishops of their Provinces and also it was a very limitted Power seeing it consisted only in the right of calling the Synods of their Provinces to preside and to take notice of all Ecclesiastical matters which passed in the compass of their District only but could not decide nor determin without the consent of their Suffragans after the manner of speaking at this time As for all the rest they had no kind of prerogative but the Order according to the time of their Reception the which is punctually observ'd amongst us and accordingly St. Austin finds it strange that in the Letter which the Primate of Numidia writ to his Brother Bishops to Assemble them in a Synod I say he thinks it strange to see himself named the third in it knowing that there were several others before him which saith he is injurious to others and exposes me to envy Ep. 207 To. 2. And in the Life of St. Fulgentius Bishop of Rusp in Africa which the Jesuit Chifflet caus'd to be Printed at Dijon An. Dom. 1649. with the Works of the Deacon Forran it is observed Chap. 20. That in the Assemblies of Exil'd Bishops in Sardignia he was seated lowest of all although he was the most considerable in Worth and Value because he had been last of all Ordain'd to be Bishop Tom. 4. Conc. p. 422. The 86th Canon of the African Code so appoints it the 24th of the first Council of Prague in the Year 563. Ordains the same thing as also the 3d of the 4th Council of Toledo in the Year 633. and the 112th Letter of Gregory I. his 7th Book to which we may add the 6th Letter of Hincmar Chap. 16. in the 16th Tome of the Library of the Fathers Ibid. p. 581. Page 408. It is the Reason that in Africa one was enjoyn'd to observe the precise day of Promotion and the Consulat African Code Can. 89. which is the 14th of Mileva Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury held a Synod Anno 679. the 8th Canon whereof is conceiv'd in these terms Apud Bedan Hist l. 4. c. 5. Let no Bishop prefer himself before another through ambition but let every one know the Time and Order of their Ordination XVII Ministers shall preside in Order in their Consistories to the end that none might pretend superiority over each other and none of them shall give testimony of any matter of importance until they have first communicated it to the Ministers his Brethren and Companions CONFORMITY This Article is only a continuance of the former for if there is to be an Equality amongst Ministers so that they cannot pretend superiority one above the other it is just that when there are several in one Church that they should preside every one in his Turn and Rank in the Consistory and that none of them should do any thing of his own head without taking along the advice of his Brethren and even of all those who have share in the conduct of the Flock especially when there is question of any thing of importance XVIII Heed shall be taken to avoid the Custom practis'd in some places of deputing certain Ministers by the Provincial Synods to visit Churches the Order hitherto used being sufficient to have cognisance
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
justifie the Prohibition here made them of Preaching the Word of God and administring the Sacraments because they were not thereunto appointed as Oecumenius has observed on Chap. 6. of the Acts of the Apostles the words whereof we have alledged in examining the precedent Article I know very well that Philip one of the Seven Deacons established by the Apostles Preached the Gospel but I say it was not in quality of a meer Deacon that he Preached but by vertue of a particular vocation whereby God made him a Herald of his Grace and a dispencer of his Mysteries therefore he is qualified with the Title of Evangelist in the 21. Chap. ver 8. of the Acts Act. 21.8 I do not here mention his Preaching Christ at Samaria after the great Persecution raised against the Church of Jerusalem upon the death of St. Stephen because he did nothing therein but what the others which were scattered abroad did elsewhere by vertue of a general vocation which each Believer has right to exercise at certain times and in certain places As for Baptizing and instructing the Queen of Aethiopia's Eunuch Ibid. the Sacred History informs us that Philip had an express command by the Ministry of an Angel to do it In the Primitive Church a Deacon was not permitted to Preach the Word whilst they were Deacons they must at the least pass from the Order of Deacon to that of Priesthood to be qualified to Preach I said at the least for if in the East Priests were suffered to Preach it was otherwise in the West where Bishops only performed that function for several Ages The first Priest that Preached publickly in Africa was St. Austin by the power granted to him by Valerius his Bishop who was by Birth a Grecian which was found to be irregular because 't was contrary to the use and practice of the Churches of Africa as is observed by Possidonius in the Life of St. Austin If amongst us there 's found a Deacon that was capable and had a desire to exercise the Ministry he was made to pass from one degree to another and then might Preach the Word and administer the Sacraments whereas Deacons were not instituted at first to do the one nor the other In effect if their first Institution permitted them not to Preach neither did it suffer them to administer the Sacraments for these two commonly go together so that if prohibiting them Preaching they were afterwards in process of time suffered to administer the Sacraments besides that things which were joyned together were separated they passed beyond the bounds of their Vocation Thence it is that Oecumenius a Writer of the tenth or eleventh Century which I already have cited several times Ubi supra confesses that the Deacons of his time were quite different from those established by the Apostles and an Order quite another thing than the first In the days of Justin Martyr Apolog. 2. that is to say in the second Century the Deacons distributed the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament after being Consecrated by the Pastor which in all likelihood proceeded from a false Interpretation given of these Tables for the service of which Deacons were appointed for they were not Eucharistical Tables but common Tables where distribution was made of things necessary for the Maintenance of Widows and Orphans and other poor People and where perhaps Christians made their Feasts of Charity which for a time was practised in the Church Tertullian something later than Justin Martyr De Coron c 3 p. 102. testifies the Eucharist was received only from the hand of those which presided that is of Bishops and Pastors in all likelihood 't was at that time the practice of the Churches of Africa and a custom which was not observed in all places The third Canon of the Council of Ancyra in the year 314 suffers Deacons which have done nothing unworthy their degree to distribute both the Symbols But in the same year the Council of Arles prohibits them in the 15th Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. Ibid. Canon by that term to offer which he emplies is taken to administer according to the Explication which is given it by the 15th Canon of the second Council of Nice on the same place The year 462 the great Council of Nice forbids them simply to give the Eucharist to Priests Can. 18. The 25th Canon of that of Laodicea seems to forbid them absolutely to distribute the Bread and the Cup It ought not to be that Ministers saith the Council should distribute the Bread nor that they should bless the Cup. At that time the term of Ministers implied commonly the name of Deacons but in the Canons of this Council it denotes a more inferior Order viz. Subdeacons In conclusion it must be granted that we have innovated nothing in the Deaconship and that our Deacons have always kept within the just bounds of their first Institution which was to serve at Tables and to take care of Widows as St. Jerome observes in his 85 Epistle VI. The Elders and Deacons may be present at the Lectures and Propositions of the Word of God made by Ministers besides the ordinary Preaching Or by those made by young Students and even at the censures made there and give their advice thereon but the decision of the Doctrine is principally reserved to Ministers and Doctors in Divinity duly called to their Offices CONFORMITY Besides the usual Sermons Ministers Preach in the Churches they were wont to Preach by turns in the Colloques they held several times a year and those Exercises were called Propositions much like to those our young Studens in Divinity are wont to make to fit them for Preaching therefore these kinds of Exercises are subject to the Censures of those before whom they are made for they were instituted to judge of the Progress which Ministers as well as Students did make in their Studies and because there are Deacons as well as Elders that sometimes are present either in the Colloques in the quality of Deputies or in the Consistory whereof they are Members they are permitted to speak their opinion which ought not to be thought strange after all which has hitherto been said by the Ancients seeing also the decision of Doctrines is reserved to the Ministers VII The Office of Elders and Deacons as it is at present used amongst us is not perpetual nevertheless inasmuch as 't is prejudicial to change they shall be exhorted to continue in their office as long as may be and if they will be discharged it cannot be without consent of their Churches CONFORMITY The setling of Elders and Deacons depending of the will of the Church in which originally lyes all the Right and Power of Government and the Church not having thought convenient to make these Employments perpetual fearing it might not find persons that would accept them for life she hath yielded to those which accept of them the liberty to be discharged provided they do
Fasts an order which we exactly follow and which is grounded in that Jesus Christ nor his Apostles have not prescrib'd in any place of the New Testament on what dayes one should or should not fast as St. Austin has observ'd in his 86 Epistle to Casulanus IV. Those Churches which have been accustom'd to make publick Prayers on certain dayes may keep the order they have for a long time happily used and others may conform thereunto according to the means which God shall please hereafter to give them and as their Edification shall require CONFORMITY This Article has no other Scope but to establish an intire Conformity in the Churches as to what regards the Exercises of Piety and Religion can 27. Tom. 1. conc Gal. p. 199. near hand as when the Council of Epaume in the year 517. ordain'd that in the out Provinces for celebration of Divine Offices the same Order should be observ'd as is by the Metropolitan the same thing was concluded the same year in Spain in the 1 Council of the Synod of Gironda can 55. To. 3. conc pag. 806 and Anno 633 in the 2 Cannon of the 4 of Tolledo To. 4. conc pag. 582. and in the year 465 a Council of Vannes had appointed that throughout the whole Province the same Order and Rule for Divine Offices and for singing of Psalms should be observ'd V. There shall no Prayer or Sermon nor publick Alms be given at Burials to shun Superstitions and those which accompany the Corps shall be exhorted to behave themselves with modesty during the time meditating according to the object before their Eyes as well the miseries and shortness of this life as the happiness of the life to come CONFORMITY All pretence towards superstition whereunto Men are too apt to incline is in this Article endeavour'd to be avoided VI. Because Mourning don 't consist in Apparel but in the Heart Believers shall be warned to demean them therein with all Modesty rejecting all Ambition Hypocrisie Vanity and Superstition CONFORMITY This last Article prescribes Modesty and excludes Hycoprisie and Ambition which were generously opposed by the Primitive Christians CHAP. XI Of BAPTISME ARTICLE I. BAptism administred by one that has no Vocation is absolutely Void CONFORMITY The Author of Apostolical Constitutions contents not himself to forbid Women to Baptise he also prohibits all Lay Persons because they are not called to it in effect having employ'd the Ninth Chapter of the Third Book to shew that Women should not Baptise he thus begins the Tenth Neither do we suffer a Lay Person to Exercise any Priestly Function as to offer Sacrifice that is to say to celebrate the Sacrament or to Baptise or impose hands or to give the Benediction whether more or less for none takes to him this honor but he enjoys it which is called of God St. Basil was of no other Mind as the Jesuit Petau confesses in his Notes upon St. Epiphanius where he says St. Basil seems to have believed that Baptism conferr'd by Lay persons was Null and to speak the Truth this Holy Doctor speaking of the Opinion of St. Cyprian of Firmilian Pag. 351. and others which taught that all those ought to be Re-Baptis'd which had been Baptis'd by Hereticks he saith Epist ad Ampluit can 1. To. 3. p. 21. That they had appointed they should be purisied anew by the true Baptism of the Church no more nor less then if they had been Baptis'd by Lay Persons St. Basil would not have spoke after this Manner had he not been perswaded that Baptism administred by Lay Men is not true Baptism As for Baptism administred by a Woman cap. 17. p. 231. Tertullian had before condemn'd it in his time in his Treatise of Baptism and had shewn that they were not permitted to teach nor to Baptise St. Epiphanius in the Heresie of the Collyridians which is the 79 in order inlarges much in proving the same thing to stop the rashness of Women who would undertake to Baptise pag. 1059 1060. observing also that the Holy Virgin had not this power for if she had it Jesus Christ might have been Baptis'd by her rather than by John Baptist The fourth Council of Carthage made this Decree Anno 398 That a Woman should not presume to Baptise It is not then to be wonder'd that St. Epiphanius in the forty two Heresie observes as a thing blameable Tom. 1. conc can 〈…〉 That the Arch-Heretick Marcion permitted Women to Baptise II. A Doctor in the Church cannot Preach nor administer the Sacraments unless he be both Doctor and Minister CONFORMITY This Article is but a continuance of the former for seeing a Doctor in quality of a meer Doctor hath no vocation to Preach the Word nor to administer the Sacraments it is unquestionable the Baptism which he shall confer shall be no other than that which shall be administred by a Meer Lay Man to do it Lawfully he must not only be a Doctor but also a Minister III. A Jew or Pagan of what Age soever he be ought not to be Baptised before being well Instructed in the Christian Religion and that it appears they are so by their Confession CONFORMITY There 's nothing in this Establishment but what was practis'd in the Antient Church St. Justin Martyr testifies in his second or rather his first Apology that the Christians of those times would not Baptise those who would turn to their Communion until after they had believed and were throughly perswaded of the Truth of their Doctrine and moreover promised to live conformable to the holiness of their Laws and profession Pope Victor the 1 ordain'd towards the end of the second Century as the Pontifical Book saith in his Life that in case of Necessity one may Baptise all those that turn from Paganism to Christianity either in a River or in the Sea or in a Fountain or in a Lake upon condition nevertheless that in the first place they should give an Account of the Christian Faith and make an open Confession of it The Ten Books of Recognitions falsly attributed to St Clement Disciple of the Apostles are very ancient but forged and writ before Origen who liv'd in the third Century in the VI of these Books at the end we read St. Peter Baptised near the Sea Those which had fully received the Faith of our Lord and Saviour that is to say those which believed in him and which had been Instructed in the knowledge of his Gospel St. Jerom expounding these words of our Saviour to his Apostles Math. 28.19 Go teach all Nations baptising them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost St. Jerom observes In cap. 28. Mat. Tom. 6. pag. 66. the Apostles taught them first and that after having instructed them they baptised them with Water for saith he It cannot be that the Body should receive the Sacrament of Baptism unless the Soul has first received
future because say they There must be time for a Catecumene and a longer Proof and Tryal after he has been Baptised which they confirm by the Words of the Apostle above cited About forty years after the Council of Laodice the Canons whereof have been annex'd to the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church made this Decree which is to be seen in the Third Canon It is not permitted to admit into Sacred Orders those who have but lately received Baptism it is also whereunto have regard the 12th and 13th Canons of the same Council This same Defence has been since often reiterated for not to speak of the 8th Canon of those attributed to the Apostles wherein 't is to be seen at this present time it is to be found in sundry other places of the Writings of the Ancient Fathers those who will take the pains to read in the first Tome of the Councils of France the Eleventh Canon of the Fourth Council of Arles Anno Dom. 524. the Letter of Pope Foelix the Fourth to Caesarius Bishop of Arles of the year 528. The Sixth Canon of the Third Council of Orleance of the year 538. and the Ninth to the Fifth of the same place with the Twelfth of a Roman Synod to the Bishops of France the time whereof is uncertain those I say which will please to read these places will will easily perceive the Matter now in question as also in the Third Canon of the first Council of Barcelona Tom 4. Concil p. 531. 587. which was held the year 599. and in the Eighteenth or Nineteenth of the Fourth of Tolledo in the year of our Lord 633. III. If it happens that any Bishop or Curate aspire to the Ministry of the Gospel he cannot be Ordain'd until he be first a true Member of the Church renouncing to all his Benefices and other dependancies on the Roman-Church and acknowledging all the faults he has committed for the time past as he shall be directed by the Consistory and after long experience and proof of his Repentance and good Living CONFORMITY Those whereof there is question in this Rule being near hand the same with the others whereof I have discoursed in the precedent Article the same Method must be observed in reference to them as towards the others seeing they can be looked upon in the Communion wherein they are lately come but as new Converts IV. A Minister of the Gospel except it be in troublesom times in case of great necessity in which he may be Ordain'd by Three Ministers with the Consistory of the place shall not be admitted to this Holy Office but by the Provincial Synod or by the Colloqui provided it be compos'd of Seven Pastors at the least which Number not being to be found in some Colloquies it shall call in others of the Neighbourhood to accomplish the Number and him who is to be Ordain'd shall be presented together with good and sufficient testimonies not only of Academies or particular Churches but also of the Colloqui of the Church in the which he has been most conversant CONFORMITY There are two chief Heads in this Article one whereof regards the Number of the Ministers which are to assist at the reception of him who is intended to be admitted into the Holy Ministry and the other concerns the Testimonies of him who presents himself to be Examined As for the former of these two Heads touching the number of Ministers whose presence is necessary for the Establishing of another there is nothing wiser or more judicious than what our Discipline does appoint Whilst the Church doth enjoy Peace and is at full Liberty it 's very reasonable that the Minister of the Gospel be admitted to this Sacred Office by all the Ministers of the Province assembled in a Synod or at least by those which compose the Colloqui or Class where he is to serve provided they are not under the number of Seven but in perilous and difficult times and upon urgent necessity three are sufficient It is the Establishment of the first Council of Nice which explains it self in these Terms in the 4th of its Canons It is requisite the Bishop should be established by all the Bishops of the Province but if that be difficult to be done by reason of some urgent necessity or by reason of the length of the way let there be Three Assembled to make the Ordination those which are absent consenting and approving the same by their Letters I grant the Cannon speaks properly of the Ordination made by the imposition of hands as we shall see in what follows but that don't hinder but that it may be appli'd to the whole vocation the 19th Canon of the Council of Antioch of the year 341 saith in effect the same thing But in regard of these difficult times whereof mention has been made during the which three Pastors sufficed for establishing a Minister the Ecclesiastical History praising the Piety and Zeal of Eusebius Bishop of Samosate observes of him amongst other things one action very considerable which is that in the time the Arrians persecuted the Catholicks under the Emperor Valens this holy man knowing there was several Churches destitute of Pastors He Equipp'd himself in a Soldiers habit and putting a Miter on his head Theodoret. Lab. 4. c. 13. he went through Syria Phoenicia and Palestine setling Priests and Deacons and also Bishops in the Churches that had need of them I say he established even Bishops whether it be understood of Bishops which had before been advanced to this Dignity and which he established in the Churches which had need of them as may be gather'd from Theodoret or other Orthodox persons which he Consecrated and to whom he gave Ordination at the very time that he assign'd them Churches and that he setled them in them as is observ'd by Mr. de Valois in his Notes upon this place and on the 4th Chap. of the 5th Book of Theodoret's History to justifie what I have now said of Eusebius of Samosate that he established Bishops in the Churches that wanted them and at the same time to see sundry instances of Ordinations by the Imposition of hands of one person only however it be the conduct of this Prelate which was never blamed by any shews plainly that in difficult times and when the preservation and safety of the Church requires it something of the rigor of the Laws and Canons of the Church may be dispenc'd withal as is observ'd by Synesius Bishop of Ptolomais in his 67 Epistle P. 20. Edit Par. 1631. where he makes mention of the Ordination of a Bishop by another single Bishop in difficult and troublesome times and I will make appear on the 8th Article several examples of these kinds of Ordinations even in times that were not troublesome and such as our Discipline designs in the mean while I observe that Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of England writes that Ithamar Bishop of
end that if his way of Preaching please the People he may be confirm'd in his Ministry but on the other hand if all the People or the major part of them declare That they are not satisfied with his Preaching and that his Teaching is not to their liking Our Discipline doth very prudently Order that all shall surcease In effect as a Minister cannot be forced to yield his Service to a Church for the which he has no inclination so in like manner a Church cannot be obliged to make use of the Ministry of a Man whose Conduct and Preaching is not acceptable It is a kind of Wedlock which requires the reciprocal liking of both Parties Tom. 1. Orat. 8. p. 148. Paris 1630. There is nothing more firm and profitable said to this purpose Gregory Nazianzen than to receive freely the oversight of those you receive as your Teacher or Guide and see here the Reason he alledges for it Our Law saith he speaking of the Canons of the Church requires not that People should be led by force it desires that all should be done of free-will and without constraint And because it often happens that Ministers give no cause on their part for the refusal made of their Ministry by the Churches although 't was appointed for them and that this refusal has no other ground but the humour of an inconstant People the Ancient Canons have provided in declaring that these Pastors shall partake of the Honour of the Office and Function of a Minister and that the Provincial Synods shall provide them some settlement elsewhere The 18th Canon of the Council of Antioch in the Year of our Lord 341. is clear in the Case If a Bishop go not to the Church for which he was Consecrated and that it don't happen through his fault but by the opposition of the People or for some other subject for which he is not the Cause Let him partake of the Honour and of the Ministry provided he causes not any trouble to the Church whither he retires and let him take what the Synod of the Province shall judge convenient All the difference there is to be seen betwixt this Canon and the Article of our Discipline is That then the Pastors which were sent to the Churches had already received Ordination whereas amongst us it is to be receiv'd in the Church it self whither one is sent Nearer to which there cannot a greater Conformity be desired The 36th Canon of those father'd on the Apostles prescribes in effect the same as that of Antioch After all by this Order of the Canons Pastors could not be imposed on the Churches against their liking so it is that Pope Celestin writes in the 5th Century to the Bishops of the Provinces of Vienna and of Narbona Let no Bishop be given to those which oppose his Establishment Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 57. and let the consent of the Clergy and People be first had to know if they desire to have him for their Pastor Leo the 1st Successor to Celestin after Sixtus the 3d writes near hand the same to Anastatius Bishop of Thessalonica p. 84. c. 5. Lyon 1652. and pretends That the Bishop be desired by the Clergy and the People and that without it he ought not to be sent fearing lest the People having received against their will a Bishop that they had no liking to might slight or hate him and not being able to have him they desired to have they out of measure decay in Piety and Religion The 5th Council of Orleans in the Year 549. renews in the xi Canon the Ancient Decrees and pronounces Sentence of Deposition without hope of Restoration against those which intrude into the Ministry any other way and that do by violence usurp the Conduct of a Church against the Will of the Clergy and People whereof it is compos'd and without having been called unto it by any lawful Ordinance And the 3d of Paris Assembled Anno Dom. 557. Emplies also to this same effect Ibid. The 8th Canon contained in terms no less strong than that of Orleans There would never be an end should one undertake to cite all the Testimonies of the Ancients touching the part Believers had in Election of their Conducters for besides what I have hitherto writ there are a great many proofs of this Truth For instance L. 6. c. 43. p. 245. That which is said by Cornelius Bishop of Rome in Eusebius of the Ordination of Novatian unto the Office of Priest for 't is easily collected out of this Relation That the People were wont to give their Voices and Consent in these occasions The Fathers of the 1st Council of Nice speak fully of the Choice of the People Apud Theodor. l. 1. c. 9. Ibid. 1.20 p. 50. in the Letter which they wrote to the Church of Alexandria The Emperor Constantine writing to those of Nicomedia he says That 't is in their power to make choice of what Pastor they please and that it depends freely of their Judgment The Council of Calcedon in the xi Action speaking of the Church of Ephesus saith Tom. 3. Concil p. 410. 462. That a Bishop shall be given them as shall be Elected by the consent of all those which he is to feed And in the 16th Action there is also mention made of the suffrage of the People Those that will take the pains to read the 20th Chapter of the 4th Book of Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History the 15th of the 5th Book of that of Socrates the 19th of the 8th of Zozomen the 12th of the 2d of that of Evagrius with the 67th and 76th of Synesius will find several Examples of the Practice which I Examine The IX Century affords us a Treatise expresly about Elections of Bishops written by Florus Deacon of the Church of Lyons the which is contain'd at large in the 2d Volume of the Works of Agobard Bishop of the same place of the last Edition for which we are beholding to the care of Mr. Baluze Pa. 254 c. This excellent Writer Establishes throughout the whole Treatise the Right of the People and proves That they ever had their part in the Vocation of their Pastors and that this was also practised in his time and also in the Roman Church To conclude The Vocation of a Minister was not thought Legitimate if the Voice of the Clergy and People had not interven'd which practise continued also in the XIIth Century at least in the West as appears by a Treatise of Arnulph Arch-Deacon of Siez and afterwards Bishop of Lisieuz against Gerrard Bishop of Angouleme Tom. 2. p. 343 363. for he saith in the 2d Chapter That there 's no likelihood that the Clergy nor the People had any part in his Election And in the 7th wherein he reproaches him to have usurped the Archbishoprick of Bourdeaux he speaks after this manner The desire of the People did not precede no more than the
setling of new Bishops instead of those which were dead Tom. 3. Bibl. Pat. p. 94 112. and says to them Write to these and receive from them according to the custom of Pacisick and Ecclesiastical Letters As for Ecclesiastical Discipline there are a great many Rules which oblige those of the Clergy to observe the Canons whereof the Discipline of the Ancient Christians was made so that neither Bishop nor Priest nor Deacon was admitted who had not first submitted to these Laws and who did not acknowledg in submitting to them that 't was by them he was to conduct the Souls which were committed to his care I should be too prolix to mention all the passages of Antiquity where Ecclesiasticks are enjoyn'd to the practise of the Discipline and observing of the Canons it shall suffice to mention some to justfy a Truth acknowledged by all those which have applied themselves to the Reading the Works of Ancient Doctors and especially of the Councils Cod. Afric Justell Canon 18. That of Carthage An. Dom. 419. Appoints those who are to impose hands on a Bishop or to any other Clergy Man to let them know first of all the Decrees of the Synods that so they might have no cause to repent of having done any thing contrary to the Statutes of the Council Pope Celestin about the same time thus begins his Letter to the Bishops of Poulia and Calabria which is the third in Course Tom. 1. Concil pag. 902. That if it be not permitted to any Priest nor Prelate to be ignorant of the Canons nor to do any thing contrary to the Constitutions of the Fathers for what is it may be worthy of our care if giving too great a latitude to the People at the desire of some persons the Rule of the Canons is infring'd The first Canon of the Council of Calcedon requires that one observe all the Canons had been made till then in the Synods Tom. 1. Concil Gall. the 33d of the 3d Council of Orleans in the year 538 and the 6th of the 4th of the year 541. with several others which I pass over in silence do enjoyn the same thing The Fathers stop not there for not content to have recommended to the Clergy the observation of the Canons which also they have formally requir'd of them at the very moment of their Consecration it is in this manner the Fathers of the 4th Council of Toledo have explain'd themselves in Canon 27. Anno Dom. 633. for they oblige the Priests and Deacons established in Parishes Tom. 4. Concil pa. 589. Ibid. p. 824. to promise the Bishop to live Chast and Holily and Religiously to observe the Laws and Discipline of the Church the 10th Canon of the 11th Council of the same place assembled in the year of Christ obliges all those which take on them Holy Orders to keep the Catholick Faith and wholy to be subject to Canonical Rules and that it should not be thought 't was only Priests and Deacons which were obliged to the strict observing the Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws the Council of Merida in Portugal Ibid. p. 802. extended this obligation to Bishops also and to Metropolitans in the 4th Canon Anno Dom. 666. X. Ministers shall not be ordain'd without assigning them a particular Flock and shall be fit for the Flocks which shall be assign'd them and one Church cannot pretend a right to a Minister by vertue of a particular promise made by him without Approbation of the Colloque or Provincial Synod CONFORMITY The Council of Calcedon made a considerable Decree on this Subject which is to be seen in the 6th of its Canons where the Synod forbids to receive Priest nor Deacon nor any Ecclesiastical Person whatever without assigning them a Flock that is to say without a Title to speak after the manner of the Writers of these times it makes void all Ordinations which is not made in the manner it prescribes and suspends the Ministry of those which have been establish'd in any other manner by this means to correct the boldness of the Ordainers But rightly to understand the sense of the Canon it must be observ'd that the Council calls absolute Ordination an Ordination which obliges not to any certain place it is what the Greek terms import used by him which amounts just to what we say to Elect without assigning a certain Flock See here the terms of the Canon You must not lay hands on any body neither Priest nor Deacon nor on any in Ecclesiastical Orders unless him that is to receive Ordination has been before published and named in some Church in the City or Country or in some Martyrs Chappel or in some Monastry and as for those who are absolutely establish'd the Synod appoints that the imposition of hands be null and that those which received it cannot serve in the Church which shall reflect on those which had done it France caused the Execution of this Decree to be demanded of the Council of Trent P. 639. c. 3. Paris 1654. as we find by the Memoirs of Mr. Du Puy and we have seen in the 4th Article what the Emperor Alexander Severus said of this practice of Christians which he mightily approved The Council of Valentia in Spain prescribes almost the same thing with that of Calcedon in the Year 524. in the 4th Canon Tom. 3. Concil p. 820. Collect. Rom. part 2. c. 14. p. 162. That none of the holy Bishops do ordain any body until he first promises to six in one place to the end that by this means men should not have liberty to shun the Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline Pope John the VIII in a Synod of 130 Bishops made this Decree Him that thinks fit to establish a Priest let him assign him a Church where he may still reside serving the Lord. Atto Bishop of Verceill who lived in the Xth Century cites the Canon of the Council of Calcedon in his Capitulary chap. 30. and in his 31st he saith Tom. 8. Spirit Dach p. 13. Paris 1668. Churches ought to be built in Convenient places consecrate them by Prayers and settle Pastors in each of them However These Decrees hinder'd not but there were some Persons Ordain'd and Establish'd in the Ministry of the Church without being ingag'd to any particular Flock as Paulinus who afterwards was Bishop of Nole in Italy St. Jerom and the Frier Macedonius they were made Priests without assigning them Flocks but this doth not prejudice what hath been said for the two former accepted only the Employ wherein 't was desir'd to ingage them only on this Condition as appears by the 6th Epist of Paulinus to Severus by the 45th to Alipius and by the 61st of St. Jerom chap. 10. As for Macedonius something of constraint was us'd in regard of him if we credit Theodoret in the 13th Chapter of his Religious History To these Examples may be added that of the Friers Barses and Eulogius who by
of abuses And this new sort of Offices and Degrees are condemn'd and look'd upon to be of dangerous consequence as also are to be rejected all Titles of Superiority as Ancients of Synods Superintendents and others of like nature The Advertisements for Assembling Colloquies and Synods or any thing relating thereunto shall be addressed to a Church and not to a private Minister or other particular Member of it if they should happen to be directed to one of the Ministers or Elders for some considerations those which shall receive them shall carry them to the Consistory to advise and deliberate of them CONFORMITY There is nothing in this Discipline which is not intirely agreeable to the Primitive according to which every Bishop was only obliged to visit his Diocess once a Year but he was not permitted to visit any other but his own I say in the first place he was obliged to visit his Diocess as may easily be proved by a great many Canons the 8th of the Council of Tarragona in the Year 517. is formal in it Tom. 3. Concil Paris p. 803. 1636. We appoint by this Constitution That the Ancient Vse be observ'd and that each Bishop visit the Churches of his Diocess The 35th of the 4th of Toledo in the Year 633. renewed this Decree with this Clause That if the Bishop were sick or employed elsewhere he should cause the Visitation to be made by some of his Priests or Deacons This restriction opened the door to the negligence of Pastors which did that by others which they should have done themselves whereas had the Canon of Tarragona been lest in its force and without bringing any qualification to it the Bishops would not have failed punctually to have observed it Nevertheless the Council of Trent in the 24th Session Chap. 3. of Reformation made no difficulty to follow the mitigation of the Council of Tolledo although it does but too much favour the stupidness of Overseers which our Kings having mutually consider'd in the 9th Century they made sundry Ordinances whereby they enjoin'd Bishops themselves only to visit yearly their Diocesses Lib. 7. Capit. Cap. 94 109. of the Edition of Paris 1588. There are besides several other Capitularies which prescribe the same thing but are not necessary here to be recited Therefore I proceed to the other Consideration To shew that a Bishop had no right of inspection but on his own Diocess beyond which he was not permitted to meddle Thence it was that the Council of Antioch in the Year 341. declares in the 9th Canon That each Bishop has power in his own Diocess prudently to Govern it and to take care of the whole Circuit which depends of the City where he dwells and in the 22d Canon this Rule is made That a Bishop do not go to another City which is not under his Conduct nor into any part of the Country which don 't belong to him there to Ordain any one nor to settle Priests or Deacons subject to another Bishop if it be not done by consent of the Bishop of the place and if there be any Bishop so bold to do such things That the Ordination he has made be void and as for him let him be censur'd by the Synod And as this Council prohibits Bishops to enterprise any thing without their Diocess that of Constantinople of the year 381. forbids it to Metropolitans out of their Provinces Canon 2d And as for the Titles of Superiority which is disallowed by our Discipline besides that they are contrary to the simplicity of the Gospel and to the Equality which was at first amongst Pastors the Church of Africa had in a manner banish'd them quite from amidst of it to incline the Bishops to humility and to remove from their minds all thoughts of Pride and Ambition for it made this Canon which is the 39th in Mr. Justell's African Code Let none call Prince of Bishops or High Priest or any thing of like nature the Bishop of the highest See but let him only be called Bishop of the first See St. Cyprian had said a great while before of himself De Haeret. Baptiz p. 282. Vol. Edit Paris 1666. and the Bishops in Africa Let none of us assume to be called Bishop of Bishops or as is read in some Copies None of us have resolved with our selves to be called or termed Bishop of Bishops XIX A Minister cannot together with the holy Ministry Practise Physick or the Law nevertheless he may for Charity give Counsel and Assistance to them which are sick of his Flock in the neighbouring parts provided it don't hinder him from doing the duty of his Charge and that he makes no gain of it except it be in times of trouble and persecution when he cannot exercise his calling in his Church and is not maintained by it to avoid the study of Law or other distraction to addict themselves wholly to their Office and to the study of the holy Scriptures and Divinity And against those which refuse to yield obedience the Colloquies and Synods are warn'd to proceed according to Order of the Discipline as also against those which so employ themselves in teaching youth that it may in some measure hinder them from attending to their principal Employment to which the Provincial Synods Colloquies and Consistories shall have regard even to the suspending of Ministers CONFORMITY It is said that Philosophy requires the whole Man it may more truly be averr'd of the Ministry of the Gospel to the Functions whereof one should apply all their time and all their study so far unfit it is to think one shall be able to exercise any other Calling with that of the Ministry for example that of Physick therefore amongst us it is not permitted for a Minister to undertake any other Profession with the Ministry a Pastor may have some insight in the Law and in Physick and also may use it charitably for the good of his Neighbours in giving Counsel to some and affording Ease to others as Theodotus Bishop of Laodicea did of whom Eusebius speaks so advantagiously Hist Eccles l. 7. c. 32. p. 288. but with all that 't is requisite one should apply himself intirely to the good of his Flock and that one can't with safe Conscience rob it of a great part of the time which belongs to it to employ it in the Exercise of any other Profession to the prejudice of that whereunto it is principally dedicated Thence it is that the 10th Canon of the Council of Mayence in the year 813 Tom. 2. Concil Gall. and the 100 of that of Aix la Chapell in the year 816. prohibit Ecclesiasticks of taking any thing for helping any sick persons by the Rules of Physick which was not unknown to them Doubtless for warning them that having been Consecrated to the Service of the Church they ought not to spend time in the common practise of Physick by the knowledg of which they have liberty in certain
our Lord 506. Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. Can. 21. p. 165. the Council of Agde in Languedoc made a Decree which in some sort refers to this Settlement for it suffers those who for the convenience of their Family desires to have an Oratory or as they speak now-a-days a Chappel in the Country besides the common Places of assembling it permits them there to serve God except it be on principal Feast-days for on this occasion it enjoins them to come to their Parishes excommunicating the Church-men that shall serve in those Oratories if they attempt any thing against this Decree Collect. Rom. part 2. c. 41. p. 132. unless it be by the order or permission of the Bishop in whose Diocess the Chappel is Thence is it that Pope Leo the IVth forbids Laymen to establish a Priest in any Church whatever without consent of the Bishops The Council of Meaux in the Year 845. Exhorts Princes and Lords to order it so that the Priests which serve in their Chappels should be ready to hinder and banish from their Houses all manner of Vice and be careful to instruct the Domesticks because Parish-Priests and Bishops and Ministers are to do so unto the poorest and meanest of the People Agabard Bishop of Lyons in the same Century complains in a Book he writ of the Law of Priesthood he complains I say Tom. 1 p. 134 135 Paris 1666. of the abuse which reigns amongst great Lords in regard of their Priests and Chaplains and of the little esteem they made of them requiring of them services altogether unworthy the Degree they were to hold And because these Priests dwelt in the Houses of Persons of Quality they were called their Priests Pag. 121. and 't was said the Priest of such a Lord the which Pope Nicholas the Ist could not suffer as appears by the Chronicle of Hugh of Flavigny contained in the 1st Volume of the Library of Father Labbe imprinted at Paris Ann. 1657. there is in the 6th Tome of the Councils divers Canons of a Synod which as some think was assembled at Pavia in the Year 850. in the 18th of which the Priests whereof we speak are called Acephales Pag. 444. and those which have them in their Families are warn'd not to entertain any but such as have been examin'd by the Bishops Pope Vrban the IId in the 9th Canon of the Council which he held at Melphes Tom. 7. Conc. p. 504. in the Year 1090. says near hand the same thing and makes such another Decree XXII It shall not be lawful for a Minister to leave his Flock without leave of the Colloque or Provincial Synod of the Church to the which he was given CONFORMITY This Rule is very judicious to hinder Ministers from leaving their Flocks slightly and without permission of those which have power to dispose of their Ministry this is agreeable to the 3d Canon of the Council of Antioch in the Year 341. which forbids Priests and Deacons and all those of the Clergy to abandon their Churches to go unto others suspending from the Ministry those that do so especially if after being warn'd by their Bishops they do not speedily return to the Churches which they left and deposing without any hope of restoration those which shall persevere in their Disobedience with menaces to the Bishops which shall receive them to be censur'd by the Synod according to their Merit or as the Council of Calcedon will have it be excommunicated with the Desertors Can. 10 20. until such time as they return to their Churches Add also to this the 23d of the same Council with the 18th and 13th of Ancyra XXIII The Deserters of the Ministry shall be Excommunicated by the Provincial Synod if they do not repent and re-assume the Office God has committed to them CONFORMITY The Council of Sevill in the Year 619. Can. 3. for some time Exiles the Deserter into a Monastry after having degraded him of the Honour and Degree of a Minister but without taking away from him all hope of being restor'd after a punishment proportion'd to his Fault to the end by this means to restrain the Libertinism of Deserters Gratian cites this Canon in his Decret cap. 21. q. 2. Placuit ut si XXIV Ministers shall not be Vagabonds and shall not have liberty of their own free Authority to intrude themselves where they please CONFORMITY The Council of Ancyra in the Year 314. made a Decree which was very conformable to this of our Discipline If those which have been orduin'd Bishops saith he Can. 18. are not receiv'd into the Churches for which they have been named and that nevertheless they endeavour to get into others and to offer violence to those that are duly establish'd and to stir up troubles against them let such be depos'd but if they will continue in the Presbytery wherein they were formerly Priests let them not lose the honour of Episcopacy whereas if they stir up Seditions against those which are setled Bishops 't is sit they should be depriv'd of the honour of the Preshytery Tom. 1. Conc Gal. p. 126. Câ—n. 11. and intirelâ—d pos'd The Ist Council of Tâ—â—rs assembled Ann 46. requires that he be excommunicated from the Clergy which forsakes his Church without the Bishops permission to settle himself in any other place Ibid. p. 138. c. 5. That of Reimes orders almost the very same thing again Church-Vagabonds in the year 465. In the Council of Valentia in Spain assembled Ann. 524. the like Edict was made against inconstant and wandring Clerks Can. 5. Tom. 3. Conc. pag. 820. See Synesius on the 22d Article in his 67th Epistle how he declaims against these wandring Clergy-men whether they be Bishops or others and judges it is not fit they should have any publick mark of Honour amongst the Clergy nor admission into any other Churches to oblige them to return to their own XXV The Minister of one Church cannot preach in another without first obtaining leave of the Minister of it unless in case of his absence in which case it must be the Consistory must give him leave and if the Flock be disperst by reason of persecution or other trouble the Foreign Minister shall endeavour to assemble the Deacons and Elders which if he cannot do he shall nevertheless be permitted to preach to reunite the Flock CONFORMITY We formerly observ'd on the 18th Article that a Bishop had no power to undertake any thing without his Diocess within the compass whereof he was oblig'd to limit all the Functions of his Ministry and we proved it by sundry Canons needless here to be repeated it shall suffice to add unto them the 20th Canon of the VIth Oecumenical Council which is yet more formal than any of the rest to the matter now in question see here in what sort the Fathers have laid it down That it be not permitted for a Bishop to preach publickly in any City which is not
condemns all Simoniacal Ordinations and deposes as well him which gives as he which takes Ordination for Money and serves no better those which intermeddle in this filthy and shameful Traffick The 29th of the Canons attributed to the Apostles is set down in these terms That the Bishop Priest or Deacon that has obtained this Dignity by money be deposed with him that gave him Imposition of Hands and debar'd from the Communion There 's an infinite number of other Canons no less severe to those which expose to sale the gift which can't be sold nor valued as the Fathers of Chalcedon express it The Combinations which our Reformers condemn and under which they comprehend the support and favour of great men whose credit and recommendation may contribute to the promotion of some one these contrivances I say are forbid by the ancient Discipline St. Chrysostom condemns them highly in his third Homily on Chap. 1. of the Acts of the Apostles St. Jerome does the like in his Commentary on the first Epist to Titus Tom. 3. Concil pag. 757. Pope Hormisda in his 25th Letter to the Bishops of Spain follows the steps of these two Illustrious Writers Gregory the first in several places of his Writings forbids to confer Orders or prefer to Church-Offices by motives of favour or consideration for persons of Quality so 't is they express themselves in the 22d and 24th of the second Book in the 56th of the fourth in the fifth of the seventh and in the fiftieth of the ninth Unto all these testimonies may be added what he writes in the fourth Homily upon the Evangelists Lib 9 c. 17 lib. 1â— c. 25. and in his Moral Exposition of Job the 30th Canon of those which go in the Apostles Names is formal in the case If a Bishop employ the great men of the times to obtain a Bishoprick let him be deposed and deprived of the Communion with all those that are concern'd with him Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 280. The Eleventh Canon of the Fifth Council of Orleans in the year 549 prescribes something of the same nature Quarelling and Violence which sometimes is of ill consequence are punished with deposition in the 65th Canon of the Apostles If any one of the Clergy having a difference with any other gives him a blow whereof he dies let him be deposed by reason of his rashness and too much passion And the 27th involves in the same punishment in general all those which fight and strike each other The ancient Discipline as well as ours deposed Ecclesiastical Usurers as appears by the 17th Canon of the first Council of Nice which plainly threatens with this punishment all those of the Clergy which shall be guilty of this Sin After the definition and prohibition of this great Synod to this Canon may be added the fourth of the Council of Laodicea though 't is not so positive and express the 44th of the Apostles is formal in the case The crime of Treason and Rebellion has not been omitted in our Discipline being it furnishes a just and more than sufficient cause of deposition If any one saith the 84th Canon of the Apostles offers to injure the King or the Prince let him be punished if he be of the Clergy let him be deposed and if a lay-person let him be Excommunicated As for deserting their flocks by Pastors forsaking them without license it is punished by the same punishment by the third Canon of the Council of Antioch in the year 341 and by the tenth and twentieth of that of Chalcedon There remains something to be said of Schism which commonly is attended with Rebellion against the Ecclesiastical order and with a disregard of Caveats and Remonstrances made to the Authors of these Partialities and Divisions by those who have right and power to do it The sixth Canon of the Council of Ganges in Paphlagonia assembled Ann. Dom. 325. or as I think much later has this Decree If any shall hold private Assemblies out of the Church and if out of contempt to the Church they undertake to do that which should be done in the Church only without so much as having a Priest by consent of the Bishop let him be Anathema The 31st of the Canons which go in the Apostles Names pronounces sentence of deposition against a Priest who despising his Bishop altho he has done nothing contrary to Justice and Piety if he makes Assemblies apart and raises Altar against Altar doing after this manner he manifests his Tyranny and Ambition it 's true he advises he should be warn'd three times before he is degraded The fifth Canon of the Council of Antioch is too remarkable to pass it under silence If a Priest or Deacon says it slighting his Bishop and separating himself from the Church makes a Congregation apart and raises an Altar and refuses to hearken to his Bishop when he recalls him and don 't prepare to please and obey him at the first nor second time that he calls him let him absolutely be deposed without any remedy for his evil nor recovery of his place and dignity and if he continue to stir up troubles and seditions in the Church let him be punished by the Secular power as a seditious person The first Oecumenical Council of Canstantinople in the year 381 employs its sixth Canon against those which endeavour to confound and overthrow the Ecclesiastical Order And the first Council of Ephesus assembled in the year 431 deprives of all power over the Bishops of the Province and from all Ecclesiastical Communion the Metropolitan who separating himself from the holy Oecumenical Synod has or shall adhere to the Council and Assembly of Apostacy and Rebellion and moreover declares him incapable of exercising any Office subjects him to all the Bishops of the Province and to all the Neighbouring Metropolitans which make profession of the Orthodox Faith and to inhance his punishment it degrades him from the Episcopacy One may add to this Decree the 3 4 and 5th Canons of the same Council Howsoever it be Rebellion and the contempt of Remonstrances which for the most part accompany Schism and Divisions did not find in the Discipline of the Ancients more kind entertainment than in ours seeing that after two or three Advertisements and Summons they proceeded as has already been seen to the degrading of obstinate and rebellious Clergy-men So it was done to Nestorius who was cited three times before he was condemned as is evident by the Acts of the first Council of Ephesus It was also the manner of proceeding used against Macarius Bishop of Antioch a Monotholite towards the end of the seventh Century In the Sixth Oecumenical Council held at Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine Pogonat or the * Great Beard Hairy and it may be said 't was the usual practice of the Church The 74th Canon of the Apostles explains it self at large for it orders when a Bishop shall be accused the Bishops shall summon
there was need of establishing this sort of Government I have spoke of and of which the Holy Pen-men have not mentioned the time of its settlement because it may be they had no particular occasion of doing it as St. Luke had of writing the History of the Institution of Deacons which probably might also have been unknown to us if the murmuring of the Greeks against the Jews because their Widows were neglected at the ordinary Service had not oblig'd him to transmit it in writing However it be That it may not be imagin'd I only insist on meer conjectures and conjectures utterly destitute of the Authority of Tradition I 'll produce the formal Testimony of Hillary Deacon of Rome a Writer of the 4th Century who speaks in this manner In 1 Tim. 5. 1 2. apud Ambrose Tom. 3. p. 582. The Synogogue and the Church afterwards had Elders without whose advice nothing was done in the Church and I can't tell by what negligence the same has been abolish'd if it be not probably by the slothfulness of Doctors or rather through their Pride to make it be believ'd they are some-bodies It appears plainly by these words of the Deacon Hillary That the Church had her Elders as well as the Synogogue and that very early she began to make use of them when he began to write his Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles for he complains of the abolishing this holy Custom which in all likelihood held a considerable time after its first institution and in the very place it self where it was extinct by the negligence and malice of vain and ambitious Men which doth justify as I take it what I have said of its Antiquity that is to say That the first establishing of it was by the Apostles or at least by their immediate Successors if it were so that we could not find the Footsteps in the Monuments of Ecclesiastical Writers that immediately followed the Age of the Apostles Nevertheless who knows but Claudius Ephebius Valerius Biton and Fortunatus which St. Clement Disciple of the Apostles sent to the Church of Corinth with the Excellent Letter which he wrote to appease the troubles wherewith it was agitated who I say can tell but they were of those Elders whose original Institution we seek for for he says nothing at all which may induce us to think they were either Pastors or Deacons Moreover in the third Century Firmillian Bishop of Caesaria in Cappadocia and one of the most celebrated Prelates of his time makes mention of Elders which he joyns with Pastors for the treating of affairs which concerned the good and edification of the Churches Seniores Praepositi Apud Cypri pag. 144. Optat. l. 1. p. 41. Par. 1631. We meet together saith he every year Elders and Ministers to settle and order matters committed to our care and with common consent to treat of the weightiest and most important affairs About fifty years after Mensurius Bishop of Carthage having received orders to follow the Emperor's Court he committed to the trust of certain Elders saith Optatus of Milvetan several Ornaments of Gold and Silver which appertained to the Church But afterwards he made a Note of them which he gave to an old Woman with orders to give it to his Successor if it hapned that he died in his Journey as it fell out he did so that Cecilian having been Established in the place of Mensurius the Woman failed not to give him the Note she had by vertue of which he called for those Elders to whom Mensurius had committed this trust in the belief he had that they were good honest men but these perfidious persons willing to satisfie their own covetous desires converted the Gold and Silver to their own private uses Cecillian was frustrated of his expectation and as he was going about to compel them they rent from the Communion of the Church a good part of the People and began the Schism of the Donatists which prov'd so destructive to the Churches of Africa And what invincibly proves they were Lay-Elders like ours is that Optatus expresly distinguishes them from Botrus and Celesius which were of the Clergy of the Church of Carthage and who not attaining to the Degree of Bishops to which their ambition made them aspire they herded with these corrupt Elders together with Lucilla a factious and powerful Woman who of a long time endeavoured the ruin of Cecilian See here already sufficient Arguments of the truth of the matter we examine nevertheless because many do imagin that our practise in regard of Elders is new and unknown to the ancient Church it will not be amiss to insist a little longer on this subject and to alledg farther proofs the better to establish the Antiquity of the practise which we defend I 'le begin with the Acts of Justification of Cecilian and of Foelix of Aptonge his Ordainer which are at the end of Monsieur de Laubespine Bishop of Orleans his Notes on Optatus Bishop of Mileva in Numidia In these Acts which are ancienter than the Council of Nice there are several things which directly regard our Subject as what is said on occasion of Money given by Lucilla a Woman of Quality to have made Majorinus Bishop Pag. 268. That all the Bishops the Priests the Deacons and the Elders had knowledg of it And some lines after a Bishop called Purpurius writes to Silvanus Bishop of Cirthe who was accused of several things To employ those of his Clergy and the Elders of the People which are Ecclesiastical persons to the end they might give an account of the nature of these dissentions and in the following page there is mention made of a Letter writ to the Clergy and to the Elders and six pages after one Maximus saith Pag. 276. Inst I speak in the name of the Elders and Christian People of the Catholick Law St. Tom. 7. Pag. 191. c. 56. Tom. 2. p. 250. Austin in his third Book against Cresconius speaks of a stranger Priest and the Elders of the Church of the Country of Mâ—slitan The Title of his 137th Letter is conceiv'd in these terms To my beloved Brethren the Clergy thâ— Elders and all the People of the Church of Bonne Tom 8. in Psal 36. Conc. 2. p. 119. Extr. or Hippone whom I serve in the Love of Jesus Christ There is in this same Father's Sermons on the Psalms a Synodal Letter of the Cabarsussitan Council which speaking of Primian the Donatist saith He was given to be Bishop to the People of Carthage according to the request made of the Elders of the Church by Letters And in the next Page there is again mention made of Letters and Deputies of the Elders of the Church In the Nineteenth Sermon on the words of our Lord which is the third in the Appendix of the 10th Tome he makes appear wherein consisted one part of the Duty of their Employments The 100th Canon of the African Code attributed
it in due form and with the leave of the Churches which called them to this Employment VIII Neither Deacons nor Elders can expect Superiority or Dominion one over another whether it be in being nominated to the People or in taking place or giving their judgment or any thing else relating to their office CONFORMITY If Ministers cannot pretend precedency one of another as we have fully shewed on Art 16. of Chap. 1. It would not be reasonable that Elders and Deacons should pretend any Soveraignty over their Companions and Equals IX The Elders and Deacons shall be deposed for the same causes as the Ministers of the Word of God in their degree It being condemned by the Consistory if they appeal they shall remain suspended from their Offices until things are determined by a Provincial Colloque or Synod CONFORMITY The Deacons and Elders making up with the Ministers one Body that is to say one Consistory and sharing with them the care of conducting the Flocks it is just they should be punished with the same pains as the Ministers when they commit the same Offences whereof we have treated at large on Articles the 47. and 49. of Chap. 1. to which I refer the Reader X. The restitution of Deacons and Elders which have been deposed shall not be done but in the same manner as the restoring of deposed Ministers is done CONFORMITY This Article is a necessary consequence of the former for if the Elders and Deacons are deposed for the same reasons as Ministers it is evident that the restitution ought to be made in the same manner Read what has been said on the 35. Art of Chap. 1. CHAP. IV. Of the Deaconry that is to say of Administring the Poor's Money by the Deacons ARTICLE I. THE Money for the Poor shall not be given out by any but by the Deacons by the Advice and Order of the Consistory CONFORMITY What I have said on the 4th Article of the 3d Chapter sufficeth for the explaining of this and to establish the Conformity of our Discipline with that of the Ancient Churches to which may be added the Order given by Pope Gregory I. to Anthemius his Sub-Deacon That he should take care of the Poor of those places whither he sent him II. In the common Distributions 't is requisite one or two Ministers should be present if it may be conveniently but especially at passing the Accounts CONFORMITY Although I might refer the Reader for the Explication of this Article where I did for the former nevertheless I will add to what I have said some Rules which are not incoherent to the Subject we Examine for Example the 7th and 8th Canons of the Council of Gangres assembled in the Year of our Lord 325. as is commonly said but 't was later where 't is forbid to dispose of the Church-Revenue without the consent of the Bishop or of him he has appointed to distribute these Alms. The 24th and 25th Canons of the Synod of Antioch Anno Dom. 341. Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. c. 47. p. 146. Orders the Bishop to make this distribution by advice of the Priests and Deacons Charlemain's Capitulary in the year 789. renews the prohibition of the Council of Gangres III. The People shall have notice of Passing the Accounts that so every one that please may be there present as well to discharge those who disburse the Money as to make known to every body the Necessities of the Church and the Poor thereby the more to incourage people to contribute towards their relief CONFORMITY St. Austin practis'd something of this kind as our Discipline doth here prescribe for when the Church-stock fail'd he gave notice to the Christian People that he had not wherewithal to supply the wants of the Poor which in all likelihood he would not have done if on the other hand he had not given them an account how he had dispos'd of their Charity and of the Money committed to his trust Aug. Tom. 1. p. 13. and which he consign'd over to the management of Persons as he deem'd fit for the purpose as is related at large by Possidonius in the 24th Chapter of his Life IV. To prevent the Inconveniences which dayly happen by Attestations given to the Poor every Church shall use their utmost endeavour to maintain their own Poor and in case any one for his necessary Affairs was forc'd to Travel Ministers shall in their Consistories Examine if the Cause be just and in that case shall give them recommendatory Letters to the next Church in the direct way from the place whither they go expressing the Name Age Stature Complexion the Place whither they go the cause of their Journey and the Assistance which has been given them and the date of the Day and Year shall not be omitted Which Letters the Churches shall keep to whom they were directed and shall give them others to the next Church And all Attestations before granted shall be Void and Null CONFORMITY It cannot be denied but great abuses are committed and that at all times there has been abuses committed in the Church upon account of Attestations and Testimonies granted to those of the same Communion which desire to go from one place to another to the end they might be known to be Members of the same Church and to be assisted in case of necessity The Primitive Christians endeavour'd to remedy these inconveniencies two ways The first By ordering that each Church should maintain their own Poor The second In using a great deal of caution in granting these Attestations which is exactly the two things prescrib'd by our Discipline As to the former of these two Means Can. 85 101. Tom. 1. Concil p. 730. the 4th Council of Carthage in the Year 398. declares That the Poor and Ancient people of the Church ought to be more assisted than any others and that young Widows who are weak of Body should be maintain'd at the charge of the Church to which they belong In the 2d Council of Tours assembled An. Dom. 567. the 5th Canon's Title is That each City shall maintain its Poor and runs in these terms That each City doth furnish according to its ability Provisions sufficient to all those of its Inhabitants which are poor and incommoded and that as well the Curates of Villages Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 332. as all the Farmers which dwell there do each nourish their own Poor to the end they may not stray and wander about to other Towns In the 3d Council of the same place assembled in the Year 813. there are several directions in this matter for the Fathers command in the 11.16 36. Canons Tom. 2. Conc. Gal. pag. 297 298 302. That Bishops shall be permitted to take out of the Church stores according to the Canonical Rules in presence of the Priests and Deacons what shall be necessary to maintain the Family and Poor of the Church That the Tythes which shall be given to particular Churches
shall be distributed with great care by the Priests according to the Bishops Order for the use of the Church and the Poor That it be made known to all the World that every body should endeavour at all times to maintain their Family and the Poor because 't is a wicked and impious thing in the sight of God that those which enjoy great Riches and that abound with all manner of Wealth should not help and assist those which are in want and misery It is to what also amounts the 14th Canon of the 6th Council of Arles in the same year That each have care of their Poor in time of Famine Ib. p. 271. or any other necessity because 't is written Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy The Emperor Charlemain commanded the same thing in the first Book of his Capitularies Pag 324. c. 11. Chap. 121 128 132. and in another Capitulary he made after certain Synods he assembled in the year 813. and which is in Sirmond's 2d Tome of French Councils And I make no doubt but this holy Discipline was Religiously practis'd in the first Ages of Christianity when people were full of Charity when there was no need of compelling them to the exercise of it by Authority of Canons and Humane Laws I proceed to the 2d Means which I propos'd and which regards the Attestations and Certificates which should not be granted but with much caution and circumspection to the end those to whom they are given should not abuse them in the places whither they go or by the which they pass these kinds of Certificates were very frequent in the Primitive Church where they were called Letters to which was given several denominations according to the several Causes under which they were consider'd in regard of those which wrote them they were call'd Ecclesiasticks in regard of the relation which was betwixt those which wrote them and which receiv'd them they had the name of Communicatory or Pacisick moreover they were called Canonical by reason of the Order which rendered them necessary and peculiar Letters because they were writ in certain Terms and with distinct Marks as they bore if it may be so said as had the very tokens of Christian Charity But besides all these respects there was that of the persons in whose favour these Letters were written and then they were term'd in general Letters of Recommendation of which St. Paul makes mention in the 3d Chap. of the 2d Epistle to the Corinthians Nevertheless this general Term has not hinder'd that in this last regard three sorts has not sometimes been made in the first place there were Litterae Dimissoriae Letters of License by virtue of which Ecclesiasticks of one Church were admitted to do the Functions of their Calling in another and could even be receiv'd into their Clergy Tom. 5. Concil p. 327. and be Members of it provided they were absolutely Dimissoriae as appears by the 17th Canon of the 6th Oecumenical Council Secondly Litterae Commendatiae Letters of Recommendation which were given to strange and unknown Clerks or to Lay-men which were separated from the Communion to the end to recommend them as Believers and as being out of the Censures of the Church The 13th Canon of the Council of Chalcedon speaks of the former Where it forbids to suffer strange and unknown Clerks to say Service in another Church without having Letters of Recommendation from their Bishops And Zonaras a famous Greek Canonist makes mention of the latter on the 11th Canon of the same Council and on the 12th and 13th Canons of those attributed to the Apostles Cap. 9. Litt. A. p. 94. The Frier Blastares makes almost the same remark in his Alphabetical Collection of Canons To conclude The Council of Chalcedon requires that Letters Pacifick only should be given to the Poor See here the manner it explains it self in the 11th Canon We appoint that all the Poor and those which have need of assistance have in their Journeys along with them Ecclesiastical Letters only Pacifick and not Letters of Recommendation because Letters of Recommendation should not be given but to those which are some way suspected Yet I observe this distinction han't always been kept and that the Council of Antioch in the 7th Canon forbids to receive a Stranger without having the Pacifick Letters which that of Chalcedon accords to the Poor and Indigent Gregory of Nazianzen expresses himself thereupon in a manner which sufficiently shews they were Letters of Recommendation as the Interpreter has translated it In short in his 3d Oration which is the 1st against Julian the Apostate he saith That amongst many things which that Cowardly Fugitive from the Truth endeavour'd to introduce the use and practise of amongst the Gentiles in imitation of Christians Tom. 1. p. 102. he desir'd above all things To establish the use of those Letters of Recommendation by the which saith this Ancient Doctor we send from one Country to another those which are poor and in necessity Zozomen in his Ecclesiastical History writes the same thing of this Emperor and saith That by virtue of these Letters by which Christians recommended the Strangers of their Communion they were lodged and care was taken of them where ever they went and in what Country soever they came as much as if they had been Friends and a long while known and acquainted and that all this was done on account of the Character the Letters gave of them and which were as 't were the Mark and Symbol of their Profession and as I conceive 't is what Tertullian calls the Contesseration of Hospitality that is to say the mark and sign at the sight whereof the right of hospitality was us'd towards those which shew'd it and 't is probable Lucian had a regard to this Custom when speaking of a Stranger Dial. de Pereg. he saith that in Travelling he found plentiful assistance amongst the Christians whereby he was abundantly supplied with all things There is yet something farther to be considered in this matter to wit That Christians were so circumspect in granting these Letters of Recommendation that they examin'd those which had them and oblig'd them to give an account of their Faith to avoid all fraud and surprise Ubi supra The 58th Canon of the Council of Eliberi or Eluira in Spain in the year 305. orders it so the 33d of the Apostles is no less express without insisting on the Interpretations of Balsamon Zonoras and Aristenus Greek Canonists which have understood it in this sense I can't tell but Lucian does again allude to this practise of Christians when he said That they receive certain Dogma's which he mentions without exactly searching the Truth but I know very well that we on this occasion do the same as the Primitive Christians did not only through Custom but also by Order of our National Synods That of Charanton the Establishment whereof is cited in the Article
it known abroad CONFORMITY Those whom we call Students are young Men which study Divinity and which resolve one day to exercise the Ministry of the Gospel and because this Office don't consist alone in Preaching the Word but generally in all things which one ought to do wisely to Govern the Flocks It is with great reason that under certain Conditions we suffer them to enter into the Consistories to the end they may there learn after what way they are to act when it shall please Almighty God to commit the care of some Church unto them VII A Magistrate may be called to the Office of an Elder in the Consistory provided that the Exercise of the one Office doth not interfere with the other and may not be prejudicial to the Church CONFORMITY What I have said to the 5th Article may very well be applied to this VIII The Government of the Church shall be regulated according to the Discipline as it hath been order'd by the National Synods and no Church nor Province shall make any Law but what in substance shall be conformable to the general Articles of the Discipline To this purpose the Articles of the said Discipline shall be read in the Consistories at least at the time of celebrating the Lord's Supper and the Elders and Deacons shall be exhorted to have a Copy thereof each of them to read and study it at home at leisure CONFORMITY In the Ancient Church It was not permitted to a Province much less to a particular Church to make any Constitution which was not conformable to the Canons which were the Discipline of those times contrary to which nothing was to be Establish'd especially after the Canons which compos'd this Discipline had been Authoriz'd by any Oecumenical Council as the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church was by that of Chalcedon This also shall be farther cleared by the remarks I will make on the 2d Article of the following Chapter IX The cognisance of Scandals and the censure of them appertains to the Company of Pastors and Elders and whole Consistories cannot be impeach'd nor above half However Accusations shall be of force against particular persons of the said Consistories as well Pastors as Elders admitted by the said Consistory and they being adjudg'd shall proceed on notwithstanding Appeal on admission or rejection of the said accusations CONFORMITY What I have writ on the 3d Article of the 3d Chap. serves as a Commentary on this without being necessary to say any more X. The Custom which is found to be us'd in some places of making inquest and a general censure of misdemeanours in the publick Assembly of the People and in presence both of Men and Women being condemn'd by the Word of God the Churches are advertis'd to abstain from it and to be satisfied with the Order contain'd in the Discipline as to what regards Censures CONFORMITY See what has been observ'd on the 51. Article of the 1st Chapter XI The Elders may be advertis'd not to report misdemeanors to the Consistory without great reasons for it neither shall any one be call'd to the Consistory without good cause or reason CONFORMITY The Elders having been Established to watch over the Life and Coversation of those which are Members of the Church as I have made appear there 's no question to be made but they should do it with Prudence and Charity XII In the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Discipline one shall forbear as much as possible may be as well from all formalities as from the terms commonly used in Courts of Justice CONFORMITY The Tribunal of the Church being of a very different Nature from Common-Law-Courts it is convenient the proceeding should be quite different and that in the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Discipline one should avoid as much as may be the formalities of the Bar Read the Discipline of the Primitive Christians for Example the Code of Canons of the Universal Church of which I spake just now and I am well assur'd they shall there find proceedings very different from the conduct and stile of what 's done in the Common-Law-Courts I know that the Tribunal of Bishops at this time have too great correspondence with that of Secular Courts but I know also 't was not so in the beginning and that the Ancient Christians Govern'd themselves quite otherwise XIII Believers shall be Exhorted by the Consistories yea requir'd in the Name of God to speak truth for as much as that don 't at all derogate from the Magistrates Authority as also the usual formalities in making Oath practis'd before Magistrates shall not be used CONFORMITY This Establishment has nothing in it but what is very agreeable to the use and practise of the Primitive Christians as I may prove by sundry testimonies I shall only instance in two which the Oecumenical Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon give us seeing that in one and the other Conc. Ephes p. 2. Act. 1. Tom. 2. Con. p. 264 265 Catch Acts. Tom. 3. p. 131. They Exhort and Conjure the Bishops by the Holy Gospels to speak the truth If these two Councils have made no difficulty to do so towards Bishops Wherefore should not the Ecclesiastical Synod as Origen speaks have power to do so to particular persons as occasion shall require XIV In differences which shall happen the Parties shall be Exhorted by the Consistories to be reconcil'd by all friendly means but the Consistories shall not appoint Arbitrators nor shall do the Office of Arbitrators If any of the said body are called to be Arbitrators it shall be only as a particular person and in their own name only CONFORMITY This Article is taken from the Doctrine of St. Paul 1 Cor. 6. which Exhorts Believers to compose their differences and Law-Suits in an amicable manner and to chuse out some amongst their Brethren to whose Judgments they might refer the Decision of all those things which causes debates and strife amongst them St. Chrysostom and Theodoret explaining the words of the Apostle do fully confirm what is ordain'd by our Discipline XV. Besides the Admonitions which are made by the Consistories to those as have done amiss if it so happens that greater Censure and Punishment must be us'd it shall be either Suspension or Deprivation for a time from the Holy Sacrament or Excommunication and Retrenchment from the Church And the Consistories shall be advertis'd to proceed warily and to distinguish betwixt the one and the other as also prudently to weigh and examine the faults and scandals which they shall be inform'd of together with all circumstances the better to judge what Censure it shall require CONFORMITY There is nothing more frequent nor better Established in the ancient Discipline than what ours doth here prescribe so that 't is not necessary long to insist on a matter the truth whereof it were easie to prove by a great number of testimonies were it not to spare the Reader a trouble The Primitive Christians did just as
Sevil about the same time in his second Book of Sentences Chap. 20. and in the third Ch. 46. these three have followed the steps of others It is with regard hereunto that the third Council of Carthage enjoins Bishops in the fourth Century Can. 31. Tom. 1. Conc pag. 711. to prescribe to Penitents according to the nature of sins the time of penance The Jesuit Petau in the 2 3 and 10th Chap. of his 6th Book of Publick Penance acknowledges against Mr. Arnauld That it was the practise of the ancient Church where only heinous and scandalous Crimes were publickly reproved he acknowledges the same thing in his Observations on St. Epiphamus where he has a dissertation on the ancient manner of Penance Tom 2. pag. 238. on occasion of the Heresie of the Novatians which is the 59th in order Father Sirmond of the same Society speaks in the same manner in his Treatise of Publick Penance Chap. 2. 4. In the main all I have said regards the usual Excommunication of the Primitive Church of which I have treated in the precedent Article and by the Laws whereof scandalous Sinners were not admitted to the Holy Table until they had passed through all the Degrees of Penance which was then in use XVII If by such suspensions the Sinners were not reclaimed but continued obstinate and impenitent after long expectation and that they have been several times admonished and intreated proceeding shall be made against them by giving publick admonitions to the People three several Sundays being named if need be by the Minister to make them more ashamed every body advertised to pray to God for them and endeavour by all means to bring them home by repentance of their sins to prevent Retrenchment and Excommunication to which one cannot proceed without sorrow But if for all this they will not repent but persevere in their obstinacy and impenitence on the fourth Sunday it shall be publickly said by the Pastor That 't is declared to the said scandalous and obstinate persons in naming them by their Names That they are not any longer acknowledged as Members of the Church cutting them off from it in the Name and Authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his Church And the form of the Excommunication shall be as follows The Form of the Excommunication Brethren see here the fourth time that we declare unto you that N. for having committed several Crimes and for having scandalized the Church of God and for shewing himself impenitent and a contemner of all admonitions which have beén made unto him by the Word of God has been suspended from the Holy Supper of the Lord the which suspension and causes of it has been signified to you to the end you may join your Prayers with ours that it might please God to soften the hardness of his heart and give him true Repentance drawing him from the way of perdition But having so long time waited for him prayed and exhorted and conjur'd him to be converted to God and endeavoured all means to bring him to repentance nevertheless perseveres in his impenitence and with an incor rigible obstinacy rebels against God and tramples under foot his Holy Word and the Order he has established in his Church and glorying in his sins is cause that the Church for so long time is disturbed and the Name of God blasphemed We Ministers of the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ whom God has armed with Spiritual weapons powerful through God to the pulling down of strong holds which hold out in opposition against him to whom the Eternal Son of God has given power to bind and loose on Earth declaring that whatsoever we bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven to the end to purifie the House of God and free his Church from Scandals and in pronouncing Anathema against the wicked should glorifie the Name of God In the Name and Authority of the Lord Iesus by the advice and authority of the Pastors and Elders assembled in Colloque and of the Consistory of this Church we have Retrenched and do Retrench the said N. from the Communion of the Church we Excommunicate and remove him from the Society of the Faithful that he might be to you as a heathen and unbeliever and amongst true Christians he may be Anathema and Execrated let his Company be esteemed contagious and let his Example fill your souls with fear and make you tremble under the mighty hand of God seeing 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Which Sentence of Excommunication the Son of God will ratifie and make it efficacious until that the sinner ashamed and humbled in the sight of God gives him glory by his eonversion and being freed from these chains of Satan where with he is bound he bewails his sins with tears of Repentance Beloved Brethren pray unto God that he will have pity on this poor sinner and that this fearful Iudgment the which with great sorrow and sadness of heart we pronounce against him in the Name and Authority of the Son of God may serve to humble and turn into the way of truth a soul which is strayed from it Amen Cursed is every one that doth the work of the Lord negligently If there be any one that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha Amen CONFORMITY Christians were not the first which inflicted the pain of Excommunication on Rebellious and Scandalous Sinners Pagans and Jews have practised the same thing I say Pagans Casar informs us in his Commentaries that the Druids in Gaul Excommunicated those which despised their Decrees and their Constitutions Lib. 6. pag. 134 135. forbidding them to approach near the Sacrifices after which they were lookt upon as impious and obstinate every one flying from their company and conversation fearing to receive some harm by infection and this punishment which was the greatest of all those they did inflict put into such a condition those which were subjected to it that they were refused the benefit of the Law altho they earnestly desired it and it also deprived them from all degree of honour As for the Jews every body knows Excommunication was in use amongst them who as 't is said had three sorts the first and slightest which they called Niddui this separated the guilty from those which were not so but for a little space and for thirty days only the second which they called Herem was attended with Anathema's and Maledictions and it was not permitted to eat nor drink with him that was so Excommunicated and 't is probable St. Paul had regard to this kind of Excommunication when he saith 1 Cor. 5.2 I write unto you that you should not eat with such a one The third kind of Excommunication was Shammatta by which was separated for ever from the Communion and Society of the Church him that was guilty Seeing then that Jews and Pagans have exercised this power methinks it would
several places were excluded from all hope of Pardon in the bosom of the Church as is made appear by the 16th Canon of the Synod of Ancyra in the year 314. XXVI Those which in a Church shall fall into Idolatry thereupon shall come to live in another Church where the fault is not known shall confess their fault only in Consistory on condition that returning to the said Church which they had offended they also acknowledg their fault publickly in it however referring to the discretion of the Consistory to do otherwise if they shall so think expedient for the Edification of the Churches The same Judgment shall be made of all other Faults which shall require publick Confession CONFORMITY Amongst the Primitive Christians when a Sinner had been Excommunicated in a Church when he had been cut off from its body or only debar'd from the Holy Table another Church was not permitted to receive him without the consent of that which had inflicted the punishment It was by this Principle that the Clergy of the Church of Rome the See being vacant after the death of its Bishop Hygin about the year of our Lord 150. would not receive Marcion to the Communion because he had been Excommunicated by his own Father who was Bishop for having debauch'd a young Woman We cannot say they Apud Epiphan Petau Haer. 42. p. 303. do this without the Order of your venerable Father In Theodoret Alexander Bishop of Alexandria complains to Alexander Bishop of Constantinople that some Bishops had received to the Communion some persons which he had Excommunicated The 5th Canon of the great Council of Nice expresly forbids it as also several others which 't is needless to alledge But when there was no Sentence given against a Sinner that he had not appeared before the Guides to acknowledg his Sin or to be convicted of it and that by consequence he had not been Excommunicated it is very probable that if he retired into another Church where the Fault was not committed he there would be treated according to the Rules of Christian Charity without paying the satisfaction which he owed to that which he had scandaliz'd in case he return'd to it It is just what is prescribed by our Discipline whereas there is not that I know of any positive Decree in the Ancient Canons on a matter of the Nature of that which we Examine although it may be reasonably thought there is by what was practis'd in other occasions XXVII All offences confessed and reparation made for them shall be struck out of the Consistory Books except those which being join'd with Rebellion have been censur'd with Suspension from the Lord's Supper or Excommunication CONFORMITY As there were only publick Faults and scandalous Sins which were to be satisfied for in the presence of the People there is great likelihood that in the first Ages the Ecclesiastical Senate kept not a Register of others of a less quality and which deserv'd not to suffer the pain of publick Penance or at least if they were wont to be written they were carefully expung'd after the Sinners had done what was requir'd of them in presence of the Conductors and that the necessary Censures had been applied to them otherwise what the Church has ever carefully distinguished had been confounded and embroil'd XXVIII Consistories shall not give Certificates to Magistrates by Act nor otherwise nor particular Members of Consistories shall discover unto any the Confessions of Penitents which voluntarily or by admonitions given them shall have confessed their faults unto them unless it be in Case of Treason CONFORMITY There is nothing more judicious than this Rule which enjoins to keep the secret of Confession made by Sinners of their faults either to the Bodies of Consistories or to any particular person whereof they are compos'd except the crime of Treason because in effect the Seal of Confession should not be regarded when there is question of the Sacred Persons of Kings and of the safety of their Estates there being no subject of what degree or quality soever he be that in this occasion is not bound in Conscience to disclose the secret which has been revealed to him otherwise he renders himself guilty in the sight of God and deserves to be exemplarily punish'd by the Laws of Men. XXIX Proceeding shall be made by Ecclesiastical Censures even to Excommunication against those which saying they are of the Religion shall cite Pastor and Elders or all the Consistory before the Magistrate to make them give Testimony against Delinquents which shall have confessed their faults before them CONFORMITY The 11th Canon of the Council of Antioch Anno Dom. 341. expresly prohibits Bishops and Priests to address themselves to the Emperor for any business without the consent and Letters of the Bishops of the Province especially of the Metropolitan and the 12th deprives them of the liberty of defending themselves and leaves them no hope of re-establishment if after having been Depos'd by their Synod they have recourse to the Emperor instead of addressing themselves to a greater Synod for example to that of the whole Diocess composed of the Bishops of several Provinces The Oecumenical Council of Constantinople Assembled in the year of our Lord 381. appoints in the 6th Canon not to receive the testimony of those which despising the Authority of Provincial Synods and of those of the whole Diocess have the confidence to implore Justice of the Emperor or of the Civil Magistrate because say the Fathers they do injury to the Canons and they overthrow all Ecclesiastical Discipline XXX As for Crimes which shall be disclos'd to Ministers by those which demand counsel and consolation Ministers are enjoin'd not to reveal them to Magistrates fearing lest blame should be drawn on the Ministry and Sinners should be discouraged for the future to come to Repentance and make Confession of their faults which shall stand good in all crimes confessed except it be Treason CONFORMITY What I have writ on the 28th Article sufficeth for explanation of this which in substance contains the same thing XXXI If one or more of the People stir up dissention to disturb the unity of the Church upon any point of Doctrine or of Discipline or of the form of Catechism the Administration of Sacraments or of Publick Prayers and the Order of Marriage and that hereto particular admonitions are not a sufficient Remedy the Consistory of the place shall endeavour with speed to dissolve and appease the whole matter without noise and with all mildness of the Word of God And if the opposers will not acquiesce the Consistory of the place shall desire the Colloque to assemble in time and place more convenient having first of all made the said Opposers expresly promise which shall be register'd That they shall not spread abroad their Opinions in any sort or manner whatever until the Convocating of the Colloque under pain of being censur'd as Schismaticks yet they may have liberty to
That the Synod of the Province administer all things which concern the Province as it hath been agreed on at Nice That is to say in the VI. Canon of the Great Council which was held in that City under the Emperor Constantine and which ordained to preserve to each Province their Priviledges According to which if there hapned dispute about any point of Doctrine or Discipline which regarded Christians in general it would not be decided but by a general Universal Council that is to say by a Council compos'd of Bishops of the Five Patriarchs within the compass whereof were inclosed the Christians of the Roman Empire In Append. Tâ— 8. Thence it is that the Frier Maximus in Barronius acknowledged no Legitimate Council unless it has a Circular Letter made by consent of the Patriarchs John Damacen writes To. 2. Auct Court f. p. 696. That ought to be esteem'd an Oecumenical Council which the five Patriarchs have once appointed and made Declaration of But if there wants any one Patriarch or that he refuses to submit thereunto it shall not be a Council but a perverse Congregation an Assembly of Pride and Vanity In Collect. Rom. Part 1. p. 227. It is also for the same reason Pope Pelagius the I. wrote in the VI. Century That if there arises doubt in any ones mind by occasion of a Vniversal Synod those which are desirous of their Salvation must consult the Apostolical See to know the reason of what they do not understand In the Preliminaries of the Second Council of Nice it is observed there were read some Writings of Synods which prohibited the assembling of Universal Councils or at least of holding them without the consent of all the Patriarchs To. V. Con. p. 518. III. The Churches and particular Persons shall be advertis'd not to separate from the Sacred Vnion of the Body of the Church for any Persecution as may happen to procure to themselves any Peace or Liberty apart those which do otherwise shall be sensur'd as the Colloques and Synods shall think expedient CONFORMITY Partialities and Divisions having been ever destructive to the Church Union and Concord can never be too much recommended to those which are Members of it and which in this Quality are obliged inviolably to maintain Peace and Uniformity in Religion as well in regard of Doctrine as of Worship and Discipline It is the Reason for which the Antient Fathers have alwaies abhorred Schism and have vigorously acted against Schismaticks particularly against the Novatians and Donatists which cruelly rent and tore the Unity of the Church IV. The Disputes of Religion with Adversaries shall be order'd in such sort that ours shall not be Agressors and if they are ingaged in a verbal Dispute they shall do it but by the Rule of the Holy Scriptures not giving too much way to Writings of Antient Doctors for Judging and Deciding of Doctrines and shall not enter into Regular Disputes but by Writings mutually given and sign'd And as for publick Disputes shall not ingage therein but by advice of their Consistory and a certain number of Pastors which to this purpose shall be chosen by the Colloques or Provincial Synods Shall not ingage in any general Dispute or Conference without the Advice of all the Churches assembled in a National Synod on pain of the Ministers which shall therein enter to be declar'd Apostates and Deserters of the Vnity of the Church CONFORMITY There is found in the Writings of the Holy Fathers sundry Disputes which the Catholick and Orthodox Doctors have had against the Enemies of the Truth We have in the Second Century the famous Dispute of St. Justin Martyr against Tryphon the Jew who was the Agressor Eusebius makes mention of another Dispute which hapned at Ancyra a City in Gallatia towards the end of the same Century betwixt a Catholick Doctor and some of the Sect of Montanus In the Third Century Malchus a Priest of the Church of Antioch Disputed earnestly a ainst Paul of Samosatia Bishop of the Place and confounded him in a Regular Dispute the particulars of which was to be seen in the time of Eusebius they having been collected by Persons nominated to write what should be alleadged on both parts In the same Century was seen another famous Dispute betwixt Archelaus Bishop of Mesopotamia and the Heretick Manes in the House of a Person of Quality called Marcellus in the City of Caschara in presence of the chief Inhabitants of the place four of which although Pagans were chosen Arbitors and judged the Victory to Archelaus This Dispute has been printed in Latin some years past at the end of the Late Mounsieur Valois his Notes on the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates and Zozomen and St. Epiphanius treats amply of it in the Heresie of the Manicheans which is the Sixty Sixth I may instance in several Disputes principally those of St. Austins against sundry Adversaries but what I have said sufficiently justifies that the Order of our Discipline don't differ from the Practice of the Antient Church although it appoints something more of caution in the manner of Disputing by reason of the way of our former and present circumstances of living amongst our Enemies in this Kingdom V. The Churches should understand that the Ecclesiastical Assemblies of Colloques and Synods as well Provincial as National are the Bands and Supports of Vnion and Concord against the Schisms Heresies and all other inconvenients to the end they should use all endeavour and apply themselves by all means that the said Ecclesiastical Assemblies may be continued and maintained and in case some Churches and particular Persons would not contribute to the Charges needful to be present at the Ecclesiastical Assemblies such shall be surely sensur'd as Deserters of the Holy Communion which should be amongst us The Minister also which shall not promote what is above contained shall be grievously sensur'd by the Provincial Synod CONFORMITY There is nothing in all the Antient Discipline which is more strictly enjoyn'd than the holding of Synods where the Conductors of Churches were obliged to be as shall be shewn on the Eighth chap. and where by consequence they were to go at the charge of the Churches which they serv'd this is collected from the Eighteen Cannon of the Third Council of Toledo assembled in the Year of Our Lord 589 for it ordains that instead of assembling in Synods twice a year according to the Order of the Cannons Tom. 4. Conc. p. 405. they shall assemble but once by reason of the poverty of the Churches of Spain CHAP. VII Of COLLOQUES ARTICLE I. IN each Province there shall be a Division of Churches according to the Number of them and the conveniencie of Places into Classes or Colloques the most contiguous And this Partition shall be made by Authority of the Provincial Synod And the Neighbour Churches shall so assemble in Colloques twice a year or four times a year if it may be done according
left off as he doth testifie in his 80 Letter It may be thought that the Synod of Ries in Province had given some slight endeavour to the first practice Tom conc Gal. p. 69. Ibid. p. 74. in the year 439 when it confirms it in the Eighth Cannon but under condition that times were quiet That of Orange explains it self fuller in the year 441 Cannon 29 saying it was difficult to assemble twice a year by reason of sad and difficult times The Second thing I mean to observe is Ibid. p. 173. Ib. p. 268 284. That the Synod of Agde in Languedock made a Decree in the 71 Cannon by which it reduces these Synodal Assemblies to hold once a year and it declares in the same Cannon which is of the year 506 that it does so according to the constitution of the Fathers having respect it may 〈◊〉 to the Cannons of Orange and Ries but just now cite The 37 of the 4 of Orleans of the year 541 the 23 an◠〈◊〉 of the year 549 on the same with that of Agde 〈◊〉 â—he 18 of the 3 of Tolledo alleges for a reason in the 〈◊〉 589 the length of the way and poverty of the Churches To. 4 Conc. pa. 505 506. II. Ministers shall bring along with them one or two Elders at the most chosen by the Consistory and the said Ministers and Elders shall shew their Deputations If a Minister comes alone no heed shall be taken of the Certificates he brings along with him no more than there shall be of those an Elder shall produce if he comes alone without a Pastor which Rule shall be of force in all Ecclesiastical Assemblies If they cannot come they shall make their excuse by Letters of the which the Brethren there present shall be Judges and shall send their Memoirs signed by a Pastor and an Elder Those who shall fail of being present at Colloques and at Provincial Synods without lawful Excuse shall be sensur'd and the said Colloques and Provincial Synods may finally judge their Cause and dispose of their Persons CONFORMITY There are in this Establishment several things to be consider'd in the first place the deputing of our Elders with the Pastors to Synods which is very agreeable to the practice of the Antient Church which admitted the Layity into their Synods after the Example of the Apostles who in the Synod of Jerusalem make mention of the Church in distinguishing it not only from themselves but also from ordinary Persons which they design by the term of Elders Acts 15.22 to shew that by the Church they meant the faithful People which assisted at that Holy Assembly according to which the Fathers in the Council of Antioch distinguishes also the Churches of God Aâ—d Euseb l. â— c. 30. from Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Letter wrote to Dennis Bishop of Rome to Maximus Bishop of Alexandria and to all the Churches to inform them of the deposing of this Arch Heretick not that 't is necessary to think that the intire Churches assisted at this Council which was assembled from sundry Provinces but they assisted by some of their Body which represented them that is by some of the Body of the People But to say something more to the purpose I have shewn on the First Article of the Third chap. by Authority of Fermillian and of the African Code that the Elders such as ours were deputed to Synods with the Pastors against whom they sometimes pleaded the right of the People which deputed them The Second thing I observe on this Article is that the Deputies to Synods are obliged to be present there or to excuse themselves by Letter And if their Excuse be not sufficient they are sensur'd as shall be thought fit in the Colloques and in the Provincial Synods which have power to judge definitively of their Excuses and to dispose of their Persons which also is according to the practice of the Primitive Christians the Fortieth Cannon of the Council of Laodicea is conceiv'd in these terms The Bishops which are called to a Synod must not neglect to go thither and if any one does neglect he will condemn himself unless some Sickness doth hinder him The 19th of Calcedon requires that one should reprove in a brotherly way those which fail of coming although they are in good health and that they are hindred by any extraordinary business which might not be deferr'd In France no other Excuse will be admitted but that of Sickness as appears by a great many Cannons and amongst others by that of the First of Epaume by the 1 of the 2 of Orleans by the 80 Letter of Auitus Bishop of Vienna and by several other Decrees which I forbear to cite The Council of Agde in the 35 Cannon joyns to Sickness some command of the King next to which it deprives from the Communion of the Church till the next Synod those which have failed to be present at the former and as it deprives them for that time from the Communion of the Church it also deprives them from the Charity of their Brethren that is from the other Bishops to which the Council of Tarragona in the year 517 reduces in the VI. Cannon all the punishment of those Bishops which neglect to be present at the Synods where they have been called by the Metropolitans and excuses none but them which are hindred by Sickness The 15 of the 11 of Toledo assembled Anno 575 Excommunicates them for one year if they are not hinder'd by some Sickness or by some inevitable necessity the 76 of the African Code wills That they should be content with the Communion of their Church the V. Cannon of the Council of Merrida of which I will speak on the 10 Article of the IX chap. excuses those who are hindred by Sickness or by Order of the Prince As to what our Discipline saith That if the Pastor comes alone no heed shall be taken of the Memorials he shall bring nor of those the Elder brings if he comes without the Minister it agrees not ill with what we read in the 100 Cannon of the African Code where a Bishop complains of his Church but because the Elders the Church had deputed to defend its cause against the Bishop did not appear the Council referr'd the Judgment of this Affair to a certain Number of Bishops whereof some were nominated by the Bishop which was dissatisfied with his Flock and the rest were left to be named by the Elders although absent As for the Memorials whereof mention is made in this Article more may be seen of it in what I shall say on the Third Article of the Ninth Chapter III. Those Churches which have several Ministers shall depute them by turns to Colloques and Synods CONFORMITY This Article is grounded on that That Ministers may not pretend any Authority one over the other as I have made appear on the Sixteenth Article of the First Chapter and having no Power one
before as appears by his 55 Letter Theodoret speaks the same in his 86 Epistle in the Third Volumne of his Works and 't is on this practice the Eastern Bishops grounded their complaints in the IV. Century against Pope Julius I. in that he had received St. Athanasius into his Communion and some others whom they had Excommunicated Read what is related by Zozomen in the VIII Chapter of the Third Book of his Ecclesiastical History Socrates II. Book chap. 15. and Julius his Answer in St. Athanasius his Second Apology to be perswaded of the truth hereof for the Letter writ by the Eastern Bishops to Julius is not now Extant that at present found in the first Volumne of the Councils being forg'd and contains but a Collection ill put together of what the Authors I but now mention'd have writ It 's true our Discipline does except some cases of which one may appeal to the National Synod after Judgment given by Provincial Synods but 't is even therein appears its Conformity with the Ancient provided the time be carefully distinguished before the Christian World which was bounded in the Roman Empire had been divided after the Example of the Empire into several Ecclesiastical Diocesses each of which comprehended several Provinces the whole extent of a Bishops Jurisdiction how great soever it was made but one Ecclesiastical Province For Example In St. Cyprians time all Africa made no more but the Ecclesiastical Province of the Bishop of Carthage And in the time of the First Council of Nice Libia and Pentapolis made up that of the Bishop of Alexandria and then 't was requisite Affairs should be determin'd in the Provincial Synod without being permitted to appeal to the Synod of any other Province It is what is depos'd by the Sixth Cannon of Nice which confirms to the Bishop of Alexandria what Custom had given him Possession of that is to say the Metropolitical Rights only although the Patriarchal Rights also may be inferr'd from the same Cannon by lawful consequence when he shall be in a state to exercise them that is to say when his Province shall be divided into several Ecclesiastical Provinces and that he shall have under him several Metropolitans over which the chief of the Diocess and the Patriarchs had the same power as Metropolitans had over the Bishopâ— of their Brovinces But after this Division into Diocesses and of Diocesses into several Feclesiastical Provinces each of which had a Metropolitan had been made which the first Universal Council of Constantinople began to Establish or it may be but to One Musoâ—â—â—s in the Council of Rimini as St. Jerom testifies in his Dialogue against the Luciferians chap. 7. where he observes this Musonius was of the Byzantine Province but instead of Byzantine it should be Byzancene which was a Province of Africa wherein was the Diocess of this Prelate As for the care the President or Moderator of the Synod should take to the end all things should be done in the Assembly regularly and in Order the XI Council of Toledo in the year 675 ordained in the First Cannon Tom. 4. Conc. p. 820. the same Observations which the Authors of our Discipline here prescribes not forgetting those which derogate from the Laws VIII Elders which are Deputies of Churches shall have Votes as Ministers and the Elders of the place where the Synod is assembled may also be present and propose any thing in their Order Nevertheless but two of them shall have Vote to avoid confusion CONFORMITY After what I have writ on the First Article of the Third Chapter there 's no difficulty in understanding of this for the Deacon Hillary hath assur'd us nothing was done in the Church without the Counsel and Advice of the Elders and Firmiâ—lian Bishop of Cappadocia that the Prelates and Elders assembled once every year to order matters committed to their care and with common consent to treat of the greatest and most important Affairs IX What shall be concluded upon by Provincial Synods for ordering the Churches of their Province shall be communicated to the National Synod CONFORMITY The 95th Cannon of the Code of Africa has a Constitution much like this for it Ordains that private Affairs shall be determin'd in the Provinces but as for the common and general they referr the Knowledge and Decision of it to the General Council of Africa Now 't is most certain that what regards all the Churches of a Province ought to be put in the Rank of General Affairs the Decision whereof appertains to a National Synod X. Because several Persons to the end to decline or delay the sensure of their faults appeal from one Ecclesiastical Assembly to another even to a National Synod which by this means is more perplexed in clearing their Case than any other for the time to come all differences within the same Province shall be definitively judged without appeal to the Provincial Synod of the Province except what shall concern the suspending and deposing as well of Pastors as of Elders and Deacons and the changing of Pastors from one Province to another also the changing of a Church from one Colloque to another and also that which concerns Doctrin the Sacraments and the whole Discipline all which cases may gradually move even to the Nationall Synod to receive the last and definitive Judgment CONFORMITY To Authorise what Custom had done in several Countreys since the Council of Nice at least it may seem to be so inferr'd from the Cannons of the Synod of Antioch in the year 341 Forty years before that of Constantinople Afterwards I say it is certain Appeal was made from Judgment of Provincial Synods to Councils of the whole Diocess for the greater part of the heads contain'd in our Discipline as is verified by most of the Cannons I have but now cited particularly by those of Constantinople of Calcedonia and of the African Code with the 95th of the same Code to which may be joyned the Third Cannon of the Fourth Council of Toledo assembled in the year 633. To. 4. Conc. pag. 582. XI If there should happen a difference betwixt two Provincial Synods they must pitch on a third to reconcile them CONFORMITY This Establishment don't disagree with the 14 Cannon of the Synod of Antioch which is conceiv'd in these terms If after Judgment be given against a Bishop accused of certain Crimes it so falls out that the Bishops of the Province are upon this score in different minds some declaring him Innocent and others guilty the Synod to put an end to their Contests is of Opinion that the Metropolitan shall call other Judges of the next Province to decide the difference and that he confirms what they shall have concluded upon with the Bishops of the Province It 's true this Cannon don't speak of differences which two Provincial Synods might have together But seeing the Council allows to call Neighbouring Bishops when those of the Province are at variance about a
of time t was left to the Liberty of the Bishop to suffer it provided that the consent of his Clergy also interven'd It is what may be seen in the Decree of Gratian cap. 16.9 1. c. 35. Moreover these Baptizing Churches which were otherwise named Plebes and Oracula were in so great consideration above others that Charlemain in his Capitulary in the year 793 chap. 2. will not have them possessed by Lay-Men to whom he forbids to grant them under the Title of Bennifice although that was not alwayes observ'd And it may be the Names of Plebes and Oracula was given to these Churches because all the People were wont there to resort to hear the Oracles of God that is to say the Word of his Gospel Inasmuch as our Discipline suffers Ministers to baptise out of the Assemblies when it is impossible to have them it agrees very well with the Seventh Cannon of the Council apud Vernum which I cited above where 't is permitted in case of Necessity to Baptize out of the places where publick Fonts were erected Moreover Vernum Palatium was one of the Kings Pallaces betwixt St. Dennis and Compeigne at least many do think so VII Seeing we have no command of Christ to take Godfathers and Godmothers to present our Children at Baptisme there cannot an express Law be impos'd on Persons to do so Nevertheless because it is an Antient Custom and introduced for a good end to with to testifie the belief of the Godfathers and the Baptisme of the Infant and also to maintain the Society of Believers in Friendship and Amity those which desire not to follow it but would present their Children themselves shall be earnestly exhorted not to be contentious but to conform to the Ancient Custom which is good and profitable CONFORMITY The Custom of Godfathers and Godmothers to present Children at Baptisme is very Ancient seeing Tertullian makes mention of it in his Book of Baptisme chap. 18. St. Austin in his Twenty Third Epistle saith they are presented by their Father or Mother or by others Tom. 2. cap. 2. 7. p. 215 216. 217 361. Paris 1644. the pretended Dennis the Areopagite in his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy speaks but of Godfathers which should be faithful and chosen by those which are to be Christned if they are Adults or by the Fathers and Mothers if they are young Children and he would also make the Reader believe that 't was instituted by the Apostles Gregory the First in his Book of Sacraments doth not also forget those which present Children at Baptisme As for Cesarius of Arles he declares in the Twelfth of his Homilies given us by Monsieur Baluze that the Father and Mother are to be answerable the VI. Cannon of the Council of Metz in the year 888 Tom. 3. Conc. Gall. p. 526. ordains that the Father or Mother of the Child receives it when it comes out of the Baptismal Fountain so great Liberty has been us'd by the Church in these things Read the Three last Testimonies I have mentioned on the Twelfth Article VIII Women shall not be admitted to present Children to Baptisme unless accompanied with a Godfather and after having made profession of the Christian Religion CONFORMITY In all Antiquity there is few or no Examples to be found of a Woman that presented a Child to be Baptized without a Godfather and much less of an unbelieving Woman in effect we have seen on the Seventh Article That those which presented Children should be believers What I alleadged of the Council of Metz on the same Seventh Article not destroying what I say on this if one reads all the Cannon besides that it has sometimes been suffer'd amongst us upon some Considerations as appears by the National Synod of Poictiers in the Year 1560 that 's to be understood in regard of believing Women though this sufferance is not at present in use IX No Godfather coming from another Church shall be suffer'd to present a Child to Baptisme without bringing a Certificate from his Church CONFORMITY Anciently no Stranger was received without a Testimony from his Church it is the Order of the Seventh Cannon of the Council of Antioch in the year 341. Let no Stranger be received without Pacifick Letters It is what appears also by the Fifty Eighth chap. of the Second Book of Apostolical Constitutions where we read that neither Brother nor Sister of another Church was to be received without Letters of Recommendation X. Those which present Children to be baptized must be of competent Age as of Fourteen years old having received the Sacrament Or if they are more advanc'd in Years and have not received the Lords Supper promise faithfully to do it and are duly catechised CONFORMITY Herraud Bishop of Touers in his Capitulary of the Year 858 makes this Ordnance Tom. 3. Conc. Gall. cap. 55. pag. 113. That none shall receive any at the Baptismal Fountain unless he knows by heart in his own Language and understands the Lords Prayer and the Apostles Creed and that all know the Covenant they have made with God Ibid. pag. 526. The Sixth Cannon of the Council of Metz prescribes the same in substance in the Year 888 Tom. 9. Conc. pag. 548. and 615. Cardinal Borrome Arch-Bishop of Millan in the Fourth and Fifth Councils which he there caused to be held in the Year 1573 and 1579 orders the very same marking also as well as our Discipline the Age of Fourteen Years and to observe the exactness of our Discipline with that of the Antients it is to be known that we admit none to participate of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist till after he has given sufficient proof of his being well-instructed and of his knowledge in the Misteries of Salvation The Sixth Council of Paris precedent to all the Testimonies I have hitherto cited seeing it was assembled in the Year of our Lord 829 This Council complains in the Seventh Cannon Book the First That those which present others to Baptisme Tom. 2. Conc. Gall. pag. 487. and 521. have not knowledge sufficient to instruct them which he attributes to the negligence of Conducters and in the Fifty Fourth Cannon he will by all means have them taught to be able to answer for the Instruction of those which they present even serving themselves in the Seventh Cannon of some words of a Sermon of St. Austins to confirm what he sayes 163 de Temp. XI Those which are suspended from the Lords Supper cannot as Godfathers present Children to be baptized whilst their suspension holds CONFORMITY This same Council of Paris which I but now cited prohibits in the last of its Cannons that is to say the Fifty Fourth it forbids those which for some Crime is under Pennance and by consequence excluded from the Sacrament not to present any Body at Baptisme until such time as they are reconcil'd to the Church Cardinal Borrome in his First Council of Millan Tom. 9. Conc.
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
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
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.
then the Cannon of Constantinople and the law of this Emperour But what surprises me is to see Pope Nicholas the first in his Answer to the Interrogatories of the Bulgarians in not making these Impediments of Marriages proceed from the Decrees of his Predecessors but from the laws of Princes and Sovereigns as if what the Church has done in this occasion was only the Execution of the command of Kings and Emperours I will say nothing of the Arabian Cannons attributed to the first Council of Nice the 21th and 23th of which treat of spiritual Cognations because by confession of the Learned which have any candor and sincerity these are forged Cannons and were forged several years after the Council of Nice It is better I should finish the examining of this Article by this remark that when our Discipline declared that these cognations called spiritual hindred not to contract Marriage it follow'd the steps of the Primitive Christians to whom this sort of Affinitys and Relations was unknown for the first 6 whole Centuries or little less for towards the end of the 6th the Emperour Justinian made a Law but 't was not soon observed in the Church IX It is not lawful to Marry the Sister of the deceased Wife such Marriages are forbidden not only by the Laws but also by the Word of God And altho' by the Law of Moses it was ordained that if the Brother died without Children the Brother should raise up seed to his Brother nevertheless such a Law appointed for the People of Israel was temporal regarding only the preserving a Lineage of the said People There is another Reason in the Sister of the deceased Marry'd Person in as much as the Alliance is not contracted by commixture of Blood therefore such a Marriage ought to be receiv'd and approv'd Nevertheless heed must be taken the Magistrate and weak Brethren be not offended CONFORMITY The 19th of the Cannons that go in the Apostles Names does not admit him into holy Orders that has married two Sisters whereupon Balsamon observes that such a marriage is Null And the 2d of the Synod of Neosesaria assembled as is thought in the year 314. Excomunicates for life her that shall have Married two Brothers that is to say that shall have Marry'd them one after another but if in danger of Death she promises to break the Marriage when she is recovered the Sinod by movement of pity shall admit her to do Penance whereas it declares that if she or the Husband dye in this Marriage the Surviver shall scarce be admitted thereunto St. Basil in the 2d or 3d. of his Canonical Letters also condemns Marriages made with two Sisters successively he also explains himself more clearly in a Letter he writes to Diodorus of Tarsus and which is in the 2d Tome of the of the Greek Pandects printed at Oxford of late years and 't is the 197 amongst St. Basil's Letters upon this Letter Balsamon observes that it has no great need of Interpretation because in his time there was no Christian Man that would contract such Marriages that it may be was true in regard of the Greek Church which suffered it not but not in regard of the Latin where the Bishops of Rome grant Dispensations for two Brothers and two Sisters to marry and I admire Balsamon knew nothing of it or if he did that he said nothing of it seeing that even in the Age he lived that is in the 12th Century there is found amongst the Latins these kind of marriages The Frier Blastares in the same Tome of Pandects but now mention'd Pag. 68 59. Lett. â— c. 9. follows the Authority of Ancient Cannons which prohibit the Marriages we now Treat of Avitus of Vienna doth not otherwise in his 14.15 and 16. Letters I may also alledge against these same Marriages a great number of other Cannons as the 18th of the first Council of Orleans of the year 511 the 65 of of that of Agde in the year 506 the 30 of that of Epaume in the year 517 the 21 of the 2d of Tours Anno 567 the 30 of Auxer in the year 578 and several others which are as well as these in the first Volumn of French Councils by Sirmondus but it sufficeth what I have hitherto said I shall only add that I find not in any of the Cannons nor in others made a long time after on the same subject I say I do not find there has been reserved to Bishops nor to Popes the right of dispensing in these occasions because such marriages are prohibited not only by Humane but by Divine Laws as the Fathers of the 2d Council of Tours do plainly acknowledge in the Cannon I but now mention'd But if it be prohibited to marry the sister of the Deceased Wife our Discipline does not condemn marrying the sister of one contracted that is dead because it supposes that an Alliance is not consummated but by Commixtion of Blood or as St. Austin speaks in Gratian Cap. 27. q. 2. by commixture of Sex saying without this Accouplement there 's no Marriage nevertheless this Discipline enjoyns to Act so as not to give distaste to the Civil Magistrate nor weak Brethren scandaliz'd there can nothing be more prudent nor more Circumspect Pope Alexander the 3d. in the Appendix of the Council of Latran Anno 1180 reports this Decree from one Benedict his Predecessor of whom it had been demanded if one might marry the sister of one he had been contracted too who died before accomplishment of the Marriage Tom. 7. conc pag. 692. We order and command by Apostolical censure that it may be done without danger for wherefore should I forbid what the Scripture never says was prohibited and that the very Laws of the Land say nothing against when they reckon up the persons betwixt whom it is not lawful to contract Marriage and this shews by the way cap. 27. q. 2. that the Decrees which Gratian attributes to Julius the I. and to Gregory the I. are but forged Decrees or at least that they were of no use in the Roman Church X. The betrothed may not Marry the Mother of his betrothed deceased CONFORMITY This Article having something in it of the Nature of the former it is with great Justice the Rules of our National Synods refer it to the Magistrate without whose Authority they will not have us proceed in our Churches to the Celebration of such Marriages as are now treated of see here how the National Synod of Charanton in the year 1644 cleared up the Article The betrothed may not marry the Mother of the betrothed defunct unless it be so that the Magistrate has authoris'd it by his Order which shall be known as well by the Pastor as by the Parties contracting which is so much the more reasonable as that the Laws of Emperors formerly prohibited such Marriages XI Neither shall it be lawful for any one to marry the Aunt of his Wife such marriage
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
Tragedies CONFORMITY This Respect is due to the Holy Scriptures as not to make it serve for Subject nor Argument to these peeces of Theater which the Ancient Church has securely condemned forbidding her Children to be there present XIX Churches where there shall be Printers shall warn them not to print Books that shall concern Religion or Ecclesiastical Discipline without first having communicated them to the Consistory to prevent the mischeifs that have arisen thereby The Printers Stationers c. shall be warned not to sell any Books relateing to Idolatry that may be impious or scandalous or which may tend to the corrupting of good Manners CONFORMITY After what I have observed on the 2 3 and 16th Articles of this Chapter this doth not require any new interpretation XX. Although the Priests do wrongfully usurp Tythes by reason of their Administration nevertheless they ought to be paid in respect to the Kings command and to avoid sedition and giving offence CONFORMITY In that we pay Tythes to the Curate is an Effect of the obedience we owe to the Ordinance of our King and a mark of the care our Synods have had in accomodating in indifferent things with those from whom we have separated for meer Conscience sake and not for worldly considerations nor for private Interests XXI Believers shall be exhorted not to give any offence in working on fast days according to the Edict CONFORMITY It is also by a Principle of Obedience and submission that we observe Holy-days not to offend our Neighbours and to keep our selves up to the Edict under whose Rules we live XXII All Vsuries shall be very strictly prohibited because they are Exorbitants and many abuses is therein committed CONFORMITY The Ancient Cannons very strictly prohibited usury because it was cruel and many great crimes were therein committed Our Discipline follows a moderation in declaring that in matter of Lending one shall act according to the Kings Ordinance and moreover that the Rules of Charity be consulted XXIII All violence and unbecoming language against those of the Roman Church and even against Preists and Friers shall not onely be hinder'd but also wholly suppressed as much as possible may be CONFORMITY This Article is grounded on the Gospel which puts in the number of Murderers those which violate their Neighbours by injurious words and shews the disposition we have ever had to live peaceably with our Country-men not to instance in Cannons which forbid all manner of Outrages XXIV Swearers who through Custom or Anger take the Name of God in vain and others who prophane the Majesty of the Lord shall be grevously censur'd and after one or two admonitions if they desist not shall be suspended the Lords Table and outragious Blasphemers as also Damee's and the like shall by no meanes be tollerated in the Church but from the first offence shall be censured even to suspension from the Sacrament and if they persist they shall be publickly Excommunicated CONFORMITY The foundation of this Article is taken from the third Commandment of the first Table of the Law Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain After so strict a prohibition and so terrible a Commination our Discipline had Reason to establish punishments against the Infringers of this Commandment to avoid all blame and reproach L. 7. Ind. 2 Epist 6. Tom. 2. Spicil pag. 548. because as Gregory the first says Him that corrects not what should be taken away doth commit it Our King St. Lewis made an Ordinance in the year 1270 to bannish out of his Kingdom Blasphemies and Oaths whereby the Majesty of God is criminaly prophan'd XXV The Churches shall advertise Believers both Men and Women to use great Modesty especially in Apparel and shall give Order to abate the superfluity therein committed Nevertheless the said Churches shall make no Law thereabouts it being a thing appertaining to the Magistrate to do but shall give notice to all that the Kings Ordinances in those Cases shall be diligently observ'd CONFORMITY The remarks I have made on the 20th Article of the first Chapter will shew the Conformity of this with the Discipline of the Ancient Christians XXVI No body can be debarr'd from the Lords Table for wearing any kind of habit that shall be of Common use and Custom in this Kingdom but in this rank ought not to be comprehended those which leave the open marks of shame dissoluteness too much newness as Painting naked Breasts and the like the Consistories shall use all possible means to suppress such Dissolutions by Sensures and against obstinate Persons shall proceed to suspending them from the Lords Table CONFORMITY I say the same of this as of the former XXVII Dances shall be suppressed and those who make account to Dance or be present at Dancing after having been several times admonished shall be Excommunicated when they shall grow obstinate and Rebellious Consistories are strictly enjoyn'd to see this Article duely executed and to cause it to be publickly read in the name of the Synods and the Colloques exhorted to take Notice of Consistories which shall not take care to Sensure them CONFORMITY Can. 53. The Synod of Laodicea about the middle of the 4th Century made a Cannon against Dances contain'd in these Words Christians which go to Weddings must not Dance but let them Dine or Sup civilly as becomes Christians In the third Volume of the Councils a like Decree is attributed to the Council of Lerrida in the year 524. Though it s nothing but the same of that of Laodicea a little vary'd but just now mention'd Herrald Bishop of Tours in his Capitulary's of the year 858 Pag. 818. in the third Volume of the Councils of France forbids also Dances not only at Weddings Cap. 112 114. pag. 115. but also on other occasions the Frier Blastares has not in his Collection forgot the Cannon of Laodicea Chap. 7. of the Letter G. pag. 66. St. Eloy Bishop of Noyon in the 7th Century inveigh'd much against Dancing which he put in the number of Devilish Divertisments as is reported by St. Owen in the second Book of his life chap. 15. Tom. 5. spiril pag. 217. In the year 589 the third Council of Toledo had appointed in the 23d Tom. 4. conc pag. 507. Cannon to exterminate this prophane and Irreligious Custom from amongst the people who instead of attending diligently on Gods service on Holy-days spent the time in Dancing and singing filthy and impure Songs and the Fathers enjoyn the Bishops and Judges with care to clear Spain from this extravigance And about the beginning of the V. Century a Council of Africa had ordain'd in the 27th Cannon that the Emperors should be desir'd to prohibit Dances in the Streets on Days appointed for Celebrating the Memory of Martyrs Tom. 1. conc pag. 915. In the 6th Book of the Capitularies of our
to the Council of Carthage in the year 407 speaks three several times of the Elders at Nova Germania and because there had been some difference betwixt this Church and Maurentius its Bishop and that nevertheless the Elders deputed in this affair to the Synod appeared not the Council assigned to Maurentius the Judges he desired and left to the choice of the Elders tho absent the nomination of those that should be needful to compleat the number and what is very remarkable in this conjuncture is that these Elders defended the right of the People which were the Bishops opposite party who complained of their outrage and calumnies What I have hitherto writ does clearly shew that when the Deacon Hillary complained that the use of Elders was abolished he had a regad to Italy where it had indeed hapned in sundry places though the same practise continued elsewhere as I have justified by many Examples after the time in which this Roman Deacon wrote I now proceed on farther and do say this custom was not extinct in France and Sicily at the end of the Sixth Century I say first of all in Sicily for Pope Gregory the First writ to John Bishop of Palermo Tom. 2. lib. â—1 Ind. 6 Ep. 49. p. 1083 and recommends two things to him one was To establish a Receiver by consent of the Elders and Clergy to give an account yearly to take away all suspition of fraud The other was not to give easie credit to reports that might be made to him of his Clergy but carefully to examine the truth in presence of the Elders of his Church I say in the second place this same practice was observed in France In effect Gregory of Tours has transmitted to us the Letter of an Assembly of Bishops held at Poictiers by the King's Command to take course about the disorders of the Monastry of St. Radegonda Hib. l. 1â— c. 16. and in this Letter the Abbess confesses amongst other things that she received Earnest for the Marriage of her Neece which was an Orphan that she received it in presence of the Bishop the Clergy and the Elders And in the year 585. King Goutran makes express mention of the Elders of the Church which he distinguishes from the Clergy in the Edict which he addresses to the Bishops and Judges of his Kingdom Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 391. I can't say but Agobard Bishop of Lions in the ninth Century might design these same Elders Lib. de Jure Sacerd pag. 135. Tom. 2. when complaining of Persons of Quality that abused Priests they had in their Houses He saith That by reason of these Domestick Chaplains They forsook the Churches the Elders and the publick service Now it follows I must treat of the form and manner of Electing our Deacons and Elders The Establishment I examin distinguishes the places where the Discipline is not yet setled from those where it is already received in the former it requires Election should be made by the Votes of the People and Pastors In the other it appoints that nomination shall be made in the Consistory and that it shall be signified to the People to have either their consent or their refusal because their Establishment depends on the liking and approbation of the People the nomination made in the Consistory no way depriving the People of their Right seeing the most part of those which do it that is to say the Elders and Deacons do represent the People and are invested with its power and rights It is therefore of the People either mediately or immediately that depends the Establishing of Elders and Deacons amongst us And herein our Discipline has Religiously followed the practice of the holy Apostles who referred to the liberty of the People the Election of the Seven Deacons the History whereof is mentioned by St. Luke in the 6th Chap. of the Acts. And 't is not only in regard of Deacons the Apostles proceeded in this manner they would also that the whole Church of Jerusalem should have share in Establishing Matthias Acts 1. who by common consent was added to the Number of the Eleven Apostles and when they Ordained ordinary Pastors doubtless they did it by the advice of the Assemblies of the People to the conduct of whom they intended to commit them Which example the succeeding Christians imitated very exactly as we have made appear on Artic. 4. of the first Chap. Our Discipline does not therefore prescribe any thing as to what regards the Election of our Elders and Deacons but what is very conformable to the practice of the Apostles and to that of the Primitive Christians in short if in the first Ages of Christianity the People had a good share in the Vocation of Ministers of greater reason had they in Establishing of Elders which were if it may be so said the Executors of their Will and the dispencers of their Rights And if our Ministers by the ninth Article of the first Chapter are obliged to sign our Confession of Faith and Ecclesiastical Discipline agreeable to what was practiced in the Primitive Church it cannot be thought strange that we should also oblige our Elders and Deacons to sign them because they make up one body with the Ministers of each Church and do partake with them of the conduct of the same Flocks II. Hence forward as much as possible may be avoided there shall not be elected for Elders and Deacons of the Church those which have Wives contrary to the true Religion according to the saying of the Apostle Nevertheless that the Church may not be deprived of the labour of several good persons who by reason of the ignorance of past-time have Wives of a contrary Religion they shall be dispensed withal for the present necessity provided they shew their readiness in instructing their said Wives and in desiring them to joyn themselves to the Church CONFORMITY Having established as we have done the first Article this has no difficulty in it for St. Paul requires 1 Tim. 3. That Deacons should hold the mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience He also requires That their Wives be faithful in all things and by consequence in those of Religion and Piety which should be the only Religion of Jesus Christ both in Husband and Wife to avoid the great inconveniences which happen by diversity of Religions which Tertullian represents very well to his Wife in the Second Book he wrote to her III. The Office of Elders is to have care of the Flock with the Pastors to take care the People come to the Assemblies and that every one frequent the holy Congregations to give notice of misdemeanors and scandals to take cognizance and judg of them with the Pastors and in general to have care with them of all such like things which concern the Order Support and Government of the Church so that in each Church there shall be a form of their office in writing according to the circumstance
of time and place CONFORMITY In the Christian Church there has ever been persons appointed to take care of the conduct of those which were Members of it and to watch over their Flocks to the end no scandalous actions should be committed therein nothing that should be unbecoming the profession of the Gospel Origen at least tells us that in his time which was the third Century it was so practised for he declares in his answer to Celsus that there was in the Churches Lib. 3. pag. 142. of Cambridge Edit 1658 Persons established to take notice of the life and conversation of those which imbraced the Christian Religion that when they committed any evil actions to expel them out of the Congregations and on the contrary to receive with great affection all those which lived orderly and well to the end to improve and make them better from day to day Tertullian before Origen Apolog. c. 39. had sufficiently intimated this same practice speaking in his Apologetick of Censures inflicted on sinners in Christian Assemblies which banished from their Communion those which were convicted of heinous offences for example of Idolatry Murder and of Fornication which proceeding shews there was in each Church persons intrusted to keep watch over the life and manners of the People and these persons were the same which we call Elders which also is the name St. Austin gives them in the nineteenth Sermon on the words of our Lord and which at this time is the third in the Appendix of the tenth Tome In this Sermon which others attribute to Maximus Bishop of Turin and which is the 66th amongst those of St. Ambrose there is to be seen the Name and the Office of Elders the same in effect as they are amongst us for the Author whoever he be having observed that Soldiers and those in any Office could not bear to be reprov'd and to be told of their Duty he speaks after this manner When the Elders reprove them for any misdemeanor and that any of them are asked why they are drunk wherefore they took away other folks goods wherefore they committed murder They presently answered What would you have me do being one of the World and a Soldier Do I profess to be a Frier or a Clergy-man IV. The office of Deacons is to collect and distribute by direction of the Consistory the Money belonging to the Poor to Prisoners and to sick folks to visit and have care of them CONFORMITY It appears by Chap. 6. of the Acts of the Apostles that the Office of Deacons is what our Discipline does represent because they were first of all appointed to serve at Tables that is to say to take care of the Poor Oecumenius in his Commentaries on this Chapter of the Acts I now mentioned observes expresly that they were appointed to distribute to Widows and Orphans with care the things necessary for their subsistence According to which the Enemies of Cecilian Bishop of Carthage laid it to his charge as a great crime That being Deacon he hindered people from giving meat to the Martyrs whereas he ought to have carried them some himself Fascicul rer Expet fug fol. 32. vers Coloniae 1535. Cardinal Julian who presided at the Council of Basle remonstrates to Pope Eugenius the Fourth That there are several things he ought to do himself and others which he may refer to the care of those which are under him after the example of the Apostles who to attend the more freely to the Preaching of the Word instituted seven Deacons which served Tables and the administration of things of less weight It is nevertheless true Apolog. 2. pag. 99. that in the time of Justin Martyr it was the Pastor that distributed the Money to the Poor which was appointed for their Maintenance which was given by Peoples Charity But this Distribution in all likelihood was made by the Ministry of Deacons Cap. 39. Tertullian indeed in his Apologetick declares one had care of the Poor of Orphans of Old Folks of those which had lost their Goods by Shipwrack of those which laboured in Mines who were banished into Islands or detained in Prisons for the Gospel sake but he don't mention by whom it was done The Church of Rome in the time of Cornelius its Bishop that is about the middle of the third Century Apud Euseb Hist lib 6. c. 43. p. 244. maintained above 1500 poor as well Widows as others who were reduced to poverty or afflicted with sickness or infirmities The charity of that of Antioch was no less conspicuous than that of the Church of Rome as we find by some of St. Chrysostom's Homilies on St. Matthew particularly the 67 and 86th It is true we are not certain that the Deacons were charged with the care of these two Churches in the days of Cornelius and of St. Chrysostom but we know very well the Deacons amongst us attend on the things for which they were established by the Apostles that is that they should take care of the Poor and Necessitous according to their Primitive institution It was on this account that Fabian Bishop of Rome divided amongst seven Deacons in the third Century the fourteen Quarters of the City of Rome that is to say to the end they should take care of the Poor which were in each of these Quarters as is to be seen in the Roman Breviary on the 20th day of January and as Binnius observes in the Life of Fabian Tom. Conc. pag. 114. But what the Deacons did at first was in time performed by the Ministry of Oeconoms and others of which the ancient Canons make so frequent mention in such a way nevertheless that the Bishop had the chief power in the distribution which however was not done without the knowledg of these Deputies when they had taken the place and office of those first Deacons and that it is so I explain what Zozomen says of St. Epiphanius Lib. 7. Chap. 27. Read what shall be said on the second Art of the 4th Chap. V. The office of Deacons is not to Preach the Word of God and administer the Sacraments Nevertheless if necessity require the Consistory may chuse certain Elders and Deacons to Cacechise in Families as also it is permitted to Elders in absence of the Pastor to read Publick Prayers on working-days being chose by the Consistory for that purpose and that they follow the usual form in Reading the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament As for the Deacons who are wont to Catechise publickly in some Provinces the inconveniences which have already or may hereafter ensue being heard and considered the Churches where this custom is not yet introduced are desired to forbear and the others where it is to continue and to order that the said Deacons if they are found capable would enter into the Ministry of the Gospel as soon as they can possible CONFORMITY What I have said of the Office of Deacons doth highly
humility of his heart and of the Homage he owes to Almighty God unless some may be hinder'd to do it by sickness or otherwise the Judgment whereof shall be left to his own constancy CONFORMITY The Ancient Christians were wont to kneel at Prayers as Eusebius testifies in his Ecclesiastical History St. Chrysostom in his 18 Homily on the 2 to the Corinthians saith that he bowed to the ground and Synesius in his 57 Epistle that he kneeled down at his Prayers and that in that posture of a Beggar he desir'd Death rather than a Bishoprick Nevertheless it must be granted that about the end of the 2 Century they began to pray standing on Sundays and during the interval of time betwixt Easter to Whitsontide Tertullian assures us so in the third Chapter of the Book of the Crown and with him the Author of Questions to the Orthodox in the Works of St. Justin Martyr in the 115 Question a practise authorised by the great Council of Nice in the 20th Cannon on account of those which us'd otherwise In the time of St. Jerom that is to say in the 4 and 5 Century's the Decree of Nice was follow'd and he also touches the Use of this Custom in his Preface on the Ephesians where he observes that from Easter to Whitsontide It is a time of Joy and Victory during which saith he we do not bend the knee and do not prostrate towards the Earth Tom. 6. pag. 161. but arising with the Lord we fly up to the highest Heavens He observes the same thing in his Dialogue against the Luciferians chap. 4. St. Paul nevertheless does the contrary for we read in the 20 chap. of the Acts ver 36. that having discoursed with the Pastors of the Church of Ephesus he kneeled down and prayed with them all it appears by the 16 verse of the same chapter that 't was betwixt Easter and Whitsontide St. Luke observes also in the 21 chap. verse the 5th of the same Book of Acts that the Apostle departing from Tyre about the same time being accompany'd with the Disciples and Brethren of the place with their Wifes and Children they kneeled down and prayed Moreover this practise of the Ancient Christians which I but now mention'd shews that it was ever their manner to pray kneeling which is the most becoming and decent posture to procure the Mercy of God as the Author of Questions to the Orthodox does declare because indeed the Creature can never too much humble himself before the Soveraign Majesty of his Maker in whose presence he must prostrate himself and confess his vileness and nothingness saying to him with Abraham I am but dust and ashes And as they prayed kneeling in the primitive Church there 's no doubt to be made but they also prayed bare-headed such doubtless were those Common Prayers and Supplications which were made in their Assemblies as Justin Martyr and Tertullian do testifie in their Apologies As for singing of Psalms it is what has ever been practis'd in Christian Assemblies St. Paul recommends it to the Colossians in these terms Col. 3.16 See Eph. 5.19 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Pliny the 2d in his Relation to the Emperor Trajan of the Christians in Asia and of their Assemblies before day light for fear of Persecution he observes amongst other things Lib. 10. Ep. 97. that they sang Hymns to Jesus Christ as to a God Tertullian makes mention of this Letter of Pliny to Trajan in the 2 chap. of his Apology and in the 39 he speaks of these spiritual Songs which Christians sang to God in his time especially the Psalms of David have ever been highly esteemed in the Church which has found the singing of them so comfortable and saving that it has ever been practis'd without Interruption The 17 Cannon of the Synod of Laodicea prescribes the manner of singing them in the Assembly It would be endless to relate all the Fathers have said in commendation of these Divine Hymns the praise whereof they have endeavour'd to strive who should most exalt them especially St. Basil St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom Theodoret and several others therefore I 'le content my self in producing what is said by the Author of the Christian Topography That the Psalms of David are sung in all Churches throughout the World and that they are almost in every bodies mouth as well great as small and that in each Church they are sung Apâ—d Allaâ—â—um de lib. Graee pag. 61. and they are oftner read than the Writings of the Prophets or any other sacred Monuments II. The Congregations of Believers being also appointed to sing the praises of God and to comfort and fortifie themselves by the use of Psalms All shall be advertis'd to carry their Psalm Books to Church and those who by disdain shall neglect to have them shall be sensur'd as also those which shall not be uncover'd in the time of singing as well before as after Sermon and also during the time of celebrating the Sacraments CONFORMITY Seeing Prayer and singing Psalms are things Essential to Piety our Discipline doth justly prescribe the Manner and Means to do it as becometh and to declare those worthy of sensure which shall transgress their Ordinance It requires the same thing in the time of celebrating the Sacraments and in desiring it it nothing differs from the practice of the Antient Church which had so great Respect for Baptism and the Lords Supper that it suffer'd not the Catechumeny Energumeny or Penitents to be present at celebration of one or the other calling them both Terrible Misteries III. In times of great Persecution or of Plague War Famine or other great affliction Also when Election is to be made of Ministers of the Word of God and at the time of entering into the Synod one may if necessity require one or more days have publick Prayers with fasting yet without seruple or superstition all done with great caution and consideration And the Churches shall be advertis'd to conform one with another in celebrating a Fast as near as they can according to convenience of time and place CONFORMITY Tertullian being turn'd Montanist and by consequence an Enemy of Catholicks and the Orthodox cap. 2. p. 545. whom he treats injuriously and after an unchristian manner Tertullian I say reproaches them in his Book of Abstinence which he wrote expresly against them he reproaches them that they fasted voluntarily according to the subject and occasion they had for it and in the same Book he saith that the Bishops were wont to appoint the People to fast when the Church had need to humble it self in the sight of God Ibid cap. 13. p. 551 Extr. and that it is in fear of some evil that threatens it this was the manner of the Antient Christians in celebrating of