I.

PART it was competent to a General Council, convoked by the Emperor, to deliberate, and decide, with the imperial sanction, on questions of this nature.

1 Concil. Chalced. 12.

BINGHAM, XVII. v. 37.

Q. 21. It appears, then, that while the Episcopal Office is of Divine institution, and cannot, in its spiritual nature and ministrations, be affected by any human laws, the actual exercise of authority of Bishops, as Diocesans, Metropolitans, and Patriarchs, may depend, for its distribution and apportionment, upon secular circumstances, and be subject to modifications from civil authority after ecclesiastical consultation?

A. Certainly. The history of the Church affords many proofs and examples1 of this. By the order of God's Providence in the world, kingdoms are augmented and diminished, they are Dan. ii. 21. transferred from one sceptre to another, as He wills in His supreme wisdom and power; and the bounds of ecclesiastical jurisdiction have been usually modelled accordingly."

v. 30, 31.

1 Concil. Constant. A. D. 381, can. 2. Concil. Ephes. A D. 431. tom. iii. p. 801, Labbe. Chalcedon. A. D. 451, can. 12. Justin. Novell. 11. case of Justiniana Prima.

2 BARROW, Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy, pp. 171, 172, London, 1683, thus states the law and practice of the Church on this subject. Patriarchs are an human institution. As they were erected by the power and prudence of men, so they may be dissolved by the same. They were erected by the leave and confirmation of Princes; and by the same they may be dejected, if great reason do appear. No ecclesiastical power can interpose in the management of any affairs within the territory of any Prince without his concession. By the laws of God, and according to ancient practice, Princes may model the bounds of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Wherefore, each Prince (having supreme power in his own dominion, and equal to what the Emperor had in his) may exclude any foreign Prelate from jurisdiction in his territories. It is expedient for peace and public good that he should do thus.

XIII.

Such Prelate, according to the rules of Christianity, ought CHAP. to be content with his doing so. Any Prelate exercising power in the dominion of any Prince, is eatenus his subject; as the Popes and all Bishops were to the Roman emperors. Abp. BRAMHALL, i. 177–8. ii. p. 185, 186, ed. Oxf.

In A. D. 1721, the Church of Russia, and in A. D. 1833, the Church of Greece, was detached from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Q. 1. WE have spoken of the Word of God, and of the ministration of the Word and Sacraments; what other privilege must we next notice as possessed by the Church?

A. That of Discipline.1

1 HOMILIES, Homily for Whitsunday, Part II. Oxon. 1822. p. 428. The true Church hath always three notes or marks whereby it is known: pure and sound doctrine, the sacraments ministered according to Christ's holy institution, and the right use of Ecclesiastical discipline. This description of the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God, and also to the doctrine of the ancient Fathers, so that none may justly find fault therewith. See above, ch. ii. ans. 12.

Q. 2. What is this power of exercising Church Discipline usually called?

A. It is usually termed by divines the Power of the Keys,1 of which it is one main and primary part.

1 Abp. CRANMER'S Catechism, pp. 193–204, ed. Oxf. 1829. Q. 3. Whence did it receive this name?

Matt. xvi. 19.

PART

I.

A. From the words of Christ to St. Peter, and in him to all Presbyters: "I will give to thee the Keys of the kingdom of heaven."

Q. 4. You say, "in St. Peter to all Presby

Matt. xviii. ters;" how does this appear?

17, 18.

John xx. 23.

A. From the fact, that the power which our Lord here gave to St. Peter, He gave to all the Apostles, and to the Church3 generally; and this is further apparent from the universal language and practice of the Church, according to which all Presbyters have ever used this power.

1 ORDERING OF PRIESTS, in the Book of Common Prayer of the United Church of England and Ireland. Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our Hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful Dispenser of the Word of God, and of His Holy Sacraments; in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

2 See below, S. CHRYSOST., S. AUG., S. AMBROSE, at the close of this chapter, and the beginning of the next.

S. AUG. in Joannis Evang. Tract. cxviii. Sicut in Apostolis cum esset etiam ipse numerus duodenarius, id est, quadripartitus in ternos, et omnes essent interrogati, solus Petrus respondit, Tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi; et ei dicitur, Tibi dabo claves regni cœlorum, tanquam ligandi et solvendi solus acceperit potestatem: cum et illud unus pro omnibus dixerit, et hoc cum omnibus tanquam personam gerens ipsius unitatis acceperit: ideo unus pro omnibus, quia unitas est in omnibus.

S. CYPRIAN. de Unitate Ecclesiæ, p. 106. Loquitur Dominus ad Petrum, Ego tibi dico, inquit, quia tu es Petrus, &c. Et iterum eidem post resurrectionem suam dicit: Pasce oves meas. Super unum ædificat Ecclesiam suam. Et quamvis Apostolis omnibus parem potestatem tribuat et dicat: Sicut misit me Pater, et Ego mitto vos, accipite Spiritum Sanctum. Si, cui remiseritis peccata, remittantur illi: si cui tenueritis, tenebuntur: tamen ut unitatem manifestaret, unitatis ejusdem originem ab uno incipientem suâ auctoritate disposuit. Hoc erant utique et ceteri Apostoli, quod fuit Petrus, pari consortio præditi et honoris potestatis, sed exordium ab unitate proficiscitur, ut Ecclesia una monstretur.

S. FIRMILIAN. Epist. apud Cyprian, p. 225. Potestas peccatorum remittendorum Apostolis data est, et Episcopis qui eis vicariâ ordinatione succedunt. CASAUBON. Exc. Baron. p. 377. Ecclesia semper credidit ex verbis Domini ad Petrum cuivis presbytero legitime ordinato hoc jus competere.

3 S. AUG. in Joannis Evang. Tract. cxxiv. 5. Quando ei dictum est, Tibi dabo claves regni cœlorum, universam significabat Ecclesiam, quæ in hoc sæculo diversis tentationibus velut imbribus, fluminibus, tempestatibus quatitur, et non cadit, quoniam fundata est super petram, unde Petrus nomen accepit. Non enim a Petro petra, sed Petrus a petra; sicut non Christus a christiano, sed christianus a Christo vocatur. Ideo quippe ait Dominus, Super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam, quia dixerat Petrus, Tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi. Super hanc ergo, inquit, petram quam confessus es, ædificabo Ecclesiam meam. Petra enim erat Christus: super quod fundamentum etiam ipse ædificatus est Petrus. Fundamentum quippe aliud nemo potest ponere præter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Jesus. Ecclesia ergo quæ fundatur in Christo, claves ab eo regni cœlorum accepit in Petro, id est, potestatem ligandi solvendique peccata.

Q. 5. In what respects are keys an emblem of ecclesiastical authority?

1

A. Keys are wont to be given to stewards, treasurers, warders, and other officers, domestic and civil, as badges of trust and power. The proper use of keys is to open, to admit, to shut in or shut out, and again to re-admit: and so Christ has given to His Ministers the power, in subordination to Himself, of admitting to the Kingdom of Heaven, of excluding from it, and of re-admitting to it; and this is what is meant, when it is said that they have from Christ the power of the Keys."

1 Thence Christ's Ministers are called rauía, oixovóμo. See 1 Cor. iv. 1. 2 Cor. vi. 4. Col. i. 25. Tit. i. 7. 1 Pet. iv. 10.

2 HOOKER, VI. iv. 1. They that have the keys of the kingdom of heaven are hereby signified to be stewards of the house of God, under whom they guide, command, and judge His family. The souls of men are God's treasure, committed to the trust and fidelity of such as must render

CHAP.
XIII.

Isa. xxii. 22.

Rev. i. 18. iii. 7. xx. 1.

Job x. 24.

PART

I.

1 Cor. v. 3-5.

1 Tim. i. 20.

a strict account for the very least which is under their custody.

BARROW, de Potestate Clavium, iv. p. 50, ed. 1687. This Latin Treatise is fuller and more complete than the English one of the same author, entitled, On the Rower of the Keys.

Q. 6. You speak of admitting to the Kingdom of Heaven; when so speaking, what do you mean by the Kingdom of Heaven?

A. I mean, first, the Visible Church, or the Kingdom of Grace; and, secondly, that to which it leads the faithful Christian,'-namely, the Invisible Church or the Kingdom of Glory.

1 See above, chaps. ii. and iii.

Q. 7. How do Christ's Ministers admit persons into the kingdom of heaven in the former sense? A. By the Ministry of the Word of God, that is, by Preaching; and by Baptism.

Q. 8. How do they exclude from the kingdom of heaven?

A. By Church censures, after solemn investiga2 Tim. ii. 17. tion, trial, and admonition, and specially by the judicial sentence of excommunication.

Lev. X. 10.

Ezek. xxii.

Deut. xxvii.

13.

Joel ii. 12. 2 Chron. xxiii. 18.

1 Cor. v. 4-7.

12.

2 Cor. vii. 9 1 Tim. i. 20.

Q. 9. What are the intents and ends of Church censures?

A. With respect to Christ, the ends and aims 26. xliv. 23. of Church censures are, to maintain His honour; with respect to the Church, to preserve her holiness, purity, and unity; with respect to offenders, to warn them by a pre-announcement of the final judgment, to inspire them with godly sorrow, to the intent that "they may learn not to blaspheme," and "that their spirits may be saved in the day of the Lord;" and with respect to all others, to deter them from similar offences. For, Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat, and, Minatur innocentibus qui parcit nocentibus.

2

3

' TERTULLIAN. Apol. 38. Summum futuri judicii præju