And in similar language the Convocation of 1571 makes a Canon about preachers, and directs, that—

66

they shall in the first place be careful never to teach anything from the pulpit to be religiously held and believed by the people, but what is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old or New Testament; and collected out of that very doctrine by the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops."

In the same manner, the twenty-fourth Article, when speaking of the change from the Latin tongue in which the Mass used to be said, into the English as now used, justifies it on this ground, that to "have proper prayer and minister sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people is plainly repugnant to the word of God, and the primitive Church."

Also in the ordinal of the English Church, the basis of her provision for the consecration of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, rests not only on Holy Scripture, but also upon ancient authors and the Apostles' time. A Bishop when he is consecrated is warned that he is so consecrated as the ancient canons command.' The same spirit runs through all the prayers and devotions of daily use forming our Book of Common Prayer. In the common Litany and at the oblation of the sacred elements in the Blessed Sacrament, we pray for the Church universal.’ In the creed of S. Athanasius we profess our adherence to the Catholick faith. Every Ash-Wednesday we solemnly refer to the Primitive Church as our authority for discipline, and we wait in expectation, that some day it may be ours again,-we say until the said discipline may be restored again which is much to be wished.'

Bishop Beveridge cautions us that we are never to think of the English Church in any other light than a

part of the whole, and that part of necessity bound by the rules of the whole :

'Probe enim sciebant' (he says of the Reformers) omnes particulares ecclesias ad universalem accommodandas esse; siquidem juxta generalem illam et vulgatam ethicorum regulam, Turpis est pars omnis toti non congrua.' Hinc itaque primi particularis hujus Ecclesiæ reformatores totam reformationis ab ipsis suscepto lineam, secundum totius sive universo ecclesiæ normam dirigebant, ea sola abjicientes quæ universali ecclesiæ vel inaudita fuerant, vel rejecta, ea vero religiose admodum retineutes, quæ universalis itidem ecclesiæ consensu corroborata videbant.' *

II.-The second principle upon which we must agree will be this. The universal consent so understood must be tested by the canons which have been from time to time issued by the Councils of the Church, such canons being issued for the express purpose of retaining unity. This universal consent must also be confirmed by the writings of the Fathers, and by "the Fathers" we mean such holy men as have been approved by the universal and undivided Church within the time of the first six general councils, thus forming a catena or chain of evidence carrying us back to the times of the Apostles, and binding us to antiquity in its purest sense. Arguing upon these principles as rightly giving us the rule of faith, Bishop Beveridge says:

E quibus omnibus, breviter et summatim præmissis, legitime concludamus omnia et Patrum singularium opuscula, et synodorum tam provincialium quam universalium Acta et

* Codex Canonum Ecclesice primitivo, Proæmium p. xxii., Anglo Cath. Library.

monumenta, quæ hodie extant huic imprimis magno sane et eximio usui nobis esse, quod ex iis pro certo et explorato habeamus, quid Ecclesia universa de necessariis fidei articulis et ritibus ecclesiasticis semper crediderit, et prædicavit, adeoque quid semper in Ecclesiâ credendum et prædicandum sit. *

We begin then by an appeal to the Canons, because the Canon Law is the foundation of all government in the Church. It is Divine Law when it comes direct from Holy Scripture, as e. g. the ten commandments, but we call it Canon Law when the Church unfolds it, for the practical use of her children in daily life. The Government of the Church depends upon Unity, and Unity is shaped and guided by this Canon Law which the Church constructs for that purpose, so that she may carry on her work without interruption. If a man be called a heretic, he is so called, because he is proved to hold something peculiar and contrary to the Canons; the Canons embracing the Creeds. If a man be called a schismatic, he is so called, because he is proved to be acting contrary to the Canons, the Canons directing him in his rule of life. Individual judgment or private opinion cannot stand for an instant against this principle; for it is by this principle, and this alone that we can form a Church. It is a law to the Church as binding, as an Act of Parliament is to the Nation, and it is so, not because it has been devised by some single Emperor, or some single Bishop, or by some single Country, but because it has been pronounced to be law by universal consent; such universal consent being

* Proæmium, Codex Canonum Ecclesiæ Primitivæ, p. xxii., Anglo Cath. Library.

obtained by the Universal Church meeting together from all parts of the world, and placing themselves as an undivided body, under the Holy Ghost. Hence in the same manner as an individual man, breaking the law of his country is a disobedient subject; so an individual man, or an individual nation breaking the Canon Law of the Church is disobedient to Christianity. He is so disobedient, because he is acting against God.

This great principle has ever been faithfully maintained by the Church, and principally in the many contests which have arisen with the Court of Rome. The Popes too frequently assumed individual power. That power was checked by Canons. In a very learned work by Father Antonio Pereira we have this question treated at large. I will select some cases:

'In the year 948 there was a contest for the Archbishoprick of Rheims. Hugo one of the candidates brought letters from Pope Agapetus, ordering his election. But the Fathers of the Council (Council of Treves) having examined the letters, found them inconsistent with the Canons, and rejected him.'

'In the year 1004 Count Fulk had built a Church inthe city of Tours. The Bishop of the Diocese refused to consecrate it. Upon which the Cardinal Legate of Pope John XII., on the Pope's authority took upon himself the consecration. The French Bishops resisted, on the ground of its being contrary to the Canons.'

'In the year 1025, Gauslenus Bishop of Macon complained against Bouchard, Archbishop of Vienne. The complaint was investigated in the Council of Anse near Lyons, and it was decided that the Canons of the General Councils belonged to the whole body of the Bishops, and by those alone they were to be governed.'

And the learned Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims in a letter to Pope Nicholas I., uses these words :—

'The privileges of the holy Churches, established by the Canons of the Fathers and fixed by the decrees of the Council of Nicæa, no wickedness can destroy, no depravity can change.'

Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, the great defender of the Gallican Church takes the same view and cites many declarations from the Popes to the effect that not even they with all their assumed powers could do otherwise than obey the Canons.

"Nimis improba sunt, nimis prava quæ sanctissimis canonibus probantur adversa."

S. Gregory the Great :

"Si canones non custoditis et majorum vultis statuta convellere, non agnosco qui estis."

S. Martin, a most learned Pope and illustrious martyr :

"Canones ecclesiasticos solvere non possumus, qui defensores et custodes canonum sumus, non transgressores."

S. Leo III. :

"Ego me illis (Concilii Patribus) absit ut præferam, sed etiam illud abit ut co-æquare præsumam.".

S. Leo IV. :

"Non potuimus præfixos Patrum terminos immutare.”

Then the learned Bishop goes on to say that—if he should cite all these dicta of the Roman see, he should fill a volume. †

* Pereira, Tentativa Theologica, translated by Landon, p. 121.

+ Bossuet, Works, Versailles, Tom xxxiii. p. 293.