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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 more∣over 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 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 satis∣fied 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 accepta∣ble. It is a kind of Wedlock, which requires the reci∣procal liking of both Parties; * 1.1 There is nothing more firm and profitable, (said to this purpose, Gregory Nazi∣anzen) 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 'twas 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 pro∣vide 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 par∣take
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 conve∣nient. 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 Apo∣stles, 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 Establish∣ment; * 1.2 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 Thes∣salonica, * 1.3 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, * 1.4 The 8th Canon contained in terms no less strong than that of Orleans.
There would never be an end, should one under∣take to cite all the Testimonies of the Ancients, touch∣ing the part Believers had in Election of their Conduct∣ers; for besides what I have hitherto writ, there are a great many proofs of this Truth: For instance, * 1.5 That which is said by Cornelius Bishop of Rome, in Eusebius, of the Ordination of Novatian unto the Office of Priest; for 'tis 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, * 1.6 in the Let∣ter which they wrote to the Church of Alexandria. The Emperor Constantine writing to those of Nicomedia, he says, That 'tis 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, * 1.7 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 Ecclesiasti∣cal History; the 15th of the 5th Book of that of Socra∣tes, 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 be∣holding to the care of Mr. Baluze; * 1.8 This excellent Wri∣ter 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 Peo∣ple 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 af∣terwards Bishop of Lisieuz, against Gerrard Bishop of Angouleme; * 1.9 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 Election of the Clergy. I pro∣ceed on farther, and I say, the same practice was ob∣serv'd in the beginning of the 13th Century; therefore a Council of Avignon Assembled the Year 1219. by the Legates of Pope Innocent the 3d, was obliged to prohibit it in the 5th Chapter, * 1.10 We forbid the Laity to intermedle by themselves or any else, in the Election of a Bishop, or of any other Church Guide. And in all likelihood, the Council made this Decree in regard of the Albigenses, who doubtless followed the Ancient practice, and with whom the Legates of this same Pope had a Conference in the City of Mountreall near Carcassone, three years be∣fore, whereof there is mention made in the 18th Chap∣ter of the 2d part of the History of the Eucharist. In the main, I believe, that since this Council of Avignon, the People have, by little and little, been depriv'd of their just Rights; from thence it is, as I suppose, that
Pope Gregory the Tenth which order'd several things a∣bout Elections in the Council of Lyons, in the year 1274, * 1.11 saith nothing at all of the suffrage of the People, altho he speaks several times in general terms of those which do elect.
Tom. 1. Orat. 8. p. 148. Paris 1630.
Tom. 1. Conc. Gall. p. 57.
p. 84. c. 5. Lyon. 1652.
Ibid.
L. 6. c. 43. p. 245.
Apud Theodor. l. 1. c. 9. Ibid. 1.20. p. 50.
Tom. 3. Concil. p. 410. & 462.
Pa. 254, &c.
Tom. 2. p. 343, & 363.
Ubi supra, p. 613.
Tom. 7. Concil. p. 885. ad 887.