Conformity of the ecclesiastical discipline of the Reformed churches of France with that of the primitive Christians written by M. La Rocque ... ; render'd into English by Jos. Walker.

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 Primi∣tive Christians following the steps of this great Apostle, have always with great care debarred from all Eccle∣siastical Offices, those who were not of a very clear reputation, especially such as were vicious and scan∣dalous, 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 great∣ness 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 Ca∣non 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 Coun∣cil 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. * 1.1 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 renew∣ed, * 1.2 22. Canon of the year 517, in the same Tome of the Councils of France; the rigor of the ancient Dis∣cipline 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, * 1.3 and the suspension was to hold till he had fully acquitted himself, that is to say, till his in∣nocency

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 defer∣red to treat of the scandalous vices therein mentioned, when we consider this, and the following ones, it is re∣quisite we should say somewhat of each. The Coun∣cil of Lerida above-mentioned, appoints in the same place, to depose those which shall be convicted of Cheat∣ing, Perjury, Robbing, Fornication, and other the like crimes, under which may be comprehended, Drunken∣ness 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, * 1.4 cited a little before, puts false witness in the number of Ca∣pital Sins, for which it will have Ministers to be depo∣sed. The third of Orleans, in the year 538. speaks of A∣dultery, Thieving, Cheating, of Perjury, or false wit∣ness, 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 necessi∣ty 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 Edi∣tion 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, condemns all Simonia∣cal Ordinations, and deposes as well him which gives, as he which takes Ordination for Money; and serves no bet∣ter, 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 mo∣ney, be deposed, with him that gave him Imposition of Hands; and debar'd from the Communion. There's an in∣finite 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 fa∣vour of great men, whose credit and recommendation may contribute to the promotion of some one; these contrivances, I say, are forbid by the ancient Disci∣pline. 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. * 1.5 Pope Hormisda in his 25th. Letter to the Bishops of Spain, follows the steps of these two Illustrious Wri∣ters. 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 Qua∣lity;

so 'tis 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, * 1.6 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 Com∣munion, with all those that are concern'd with him. * 1.7 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 Ec∣clesiastical 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 guil∣ty 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 'tis 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 Excommu∣nicated.

As for deserting their flocks, by Pastors forsaking them without license, it is punished by the same punish∣ment, 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 a∣gainst the Ecclesiastical order, and with a disregard of Ca∣veats 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 con∣tempt 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 con∣trary to Justice and Piety, if he makes Assemblies a∣part, 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 se∣parating himself from the Church, makes a Congrega∣tion apart, and raises an Altar, and refuses to hear∣ken 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 reme∣dy 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 Canstanti∣nople, 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 him∣self from the holy Oecumenical Synod, has, or shall ad∣here to the Council and Assembly of Apostacy, and Re∣bellion; and moreover declares him incapable of exer∣cising any Office, subjects him to all the Bishops of the Province, and to all the Neighbouring Metropoli∣tans, 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 Re∣monstrances, 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 Sum∣mons, 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 be∣fore 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 Constantino∣ple by the Emperor Constantine Pogonat, or the * 1.8 Hairy; and it may be said, 'twas 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 accu∣sed, the Bishops shall summon him; and if he appears,

and that he confesses, or is convicted of the crime he is accused of, they shall declare what punishment he has deserved; but if being summoned, he don't appear, it requires to send two Bishops to cite him a second time; and if he fails again, that two others be sent to cite him a third time; and if through contempt and rebellion, he refuses to appear after those three Citations, it re∣quires the Synod to pronounce against him what they shall think fit, fearing lest flying from judgment, he may think to have gained his Cause.

I almost forgot to have spoke a word of Dancing, and other Disorders which are prohibited to our Ministers, in the 47th. Article, which is very conformable to the 45th. Canon of the Council of Laodicea, especially if also one considers the 35th. of the same Council.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Tom. 1. Conc Gal. pag. 19.
• * 1.2

  Ib. p. 180.
• * 1.3

  Tom. 3. Concil. pa. 817. c 10.
• * 1.4

  Can. 13. Can. 22.
• * 1.5

  Tom. 3. Concil. pag. 757.
• * 1.6

  Lib 9 c. 17 & lib. 1••. c. 25.
• * 1.7

  Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 280.
• * 1.8

  Great Beard.