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ON THE RECEPTION AND OBSERVATION OF THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL.

It remains now that it (the Synod) warn all princes, as it does, in God's behalf, so to give their assistance that they do not suffer the things which have been decreed by it to be depraved or violated by heretics; but that they be devoutly received and faithfully observed by them, and all men. But if in the receiving these any difficulty should arise, or any things should occur (which it does not believe) which may require declaring or defining, the holy Synod, besides other remedies appointed in this council, trusts that the most blessed Roman pontiff will take care, either by the assembling of those whom he shall think expedient to handling the matter, especially from those provinces in which the difficulty has

De Recipiendis, et Observandis Decretis Concilii.

Superest nunc, ut principes omnes, quod facit, in Domino moneat, ad operam suam ita præstandam, ut quæ ab ea decreta sunt, ab hæreticis depravari, aut violari non permittant; sed ab his et omnibus devote recipiantur, et fideliter observentur. Quod si in his recipiendis aliqua difficultas oriatur; aut aliqua inciderint, quæ declarationem, quod non credit, aut definitionem postulent, præter alia remedia, in hoc concilio instituta, confidit sancta Synodus Beatissimum Romanum Pontificem curaturum, ut vel evocatis ex illis præsertim provinciis, unde difficultas orta fuerit, iis, quos eidem negotio tractando viderit expedire, vel

arisen, or even by the celebration of a General Council, if he shall deem it necessary, or by any other better way which shall seem good to him, to take care of the necessities of the provinces, for the glory of God and the tranquillity of the Church.

etiam concilii generalis celebratione, si necessarium judicaverit, vel commodiore quacumque ratione ei visum fuerit, provinciarum necessitatibus, pro Dei gloria, et Ecclesiæ tranquillitate, consulatur.-Conc. xiv. 919.

343

NOTES TO THE CANONS.

NICE, II.

PAGES 109-119, 4th and 7th ACTION.

THE decrces of this council respecting image worship are simply a revival of part of the old Carpocratian heresy which Irenæus thus describes. Etiam imagines quasdam quidem depictas, quasdam autem et de reliqua materia fabricatas habent, dicentes formam Christi factam a Pilato, illo in tempore quo fuit Jesus cum hominibus. Et has coronant, et proponunt eas cum imaginibus mundi Philosophorum; videlicet cum imagine Pythagoræ, et Platonis, et Aristotelis, et reliquorum, et reliquam observationem circa eas similiter et Gentes faciunt. Adv. Hæres. i. c. 24. Epiphanius in like manner, exovoɩ de ɛikóvaç ɛvśwypáφους διὰ χρωμάτων, τινὲς δὲ ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου, καὶ λοιπῆς ὕλης, ἅτινα ἐκτυπώματά φασιν εἶναι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ . . . . καὶ ἕτερα ἐκτυπώ ματα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τιθέασιν, ἱδρύσαντές τε προσκυνοῦσι καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπιτελοῦσι Μύστηρια . . . . τίνα δέ ἐστιν ἐθνῶν ἔθη ἀλλ ̓ ἢ Ovoíai kai rà äλλa; Edit. Petav. vol. i. p. 108. Let it be observed that the distinction between Latria and hyperdulia, and dulia, will not avail here, so that the Romans should say that Irenæus and Epiphanius condemned the Carpocratians only be

cause they offered Latria to the images of Christ, unless they are prepared to maintain that the heathens offered Latria to the statues of Plato and Aristotle: for the charge against the Carpocratians is, that they offered the same sort of honours to the images of Christ, that the heathens did to the images of their great men. See more on this subject in the Appendix.

CONSTANTINOPLE IV.

PAGE 121, CANON 1.

First, we must observe the vagueness of the definition which binds men to the observance of the rules of "the universal and local councils of the orthodox," and "of any divinely speaking Father and Master of the Church;" leaving open to every one's judgment to consider what Councils or parts of Councils are to be counted orthodox, and what Fathers and in what points, divinely speaking. How largely the Church of Rome has availed herself of this latitude, has in some measure been shown in the former part of this work, where it has been seen how many of the decrees of the Councils, general and local, which have been received by the Catholic Church, and, therefore, might reasonably be considered orthodox, she, on her sole authority, has set aside and it will be further seen in the appendix to this second part, in which there will be occasion to point out how many of the Fathers and Masters of the Church, usually accounted to have spoken according to God's truth, stand anathematized by her schismatical and heretical innovations upon Catholic Faith.

2. Let it be noted that the tradition here contended for is not an oral tradition, but a tradition preserved in the records of the Church by the writings of the continual succession of witnesses in the Church; a tradition therefore capable of proof, and which is no tradition unless it can be proved.

3. It is worthy of remark that this tradition is not here placed upon an equal footing with the Sacred Scriptures, as it is by the Council of Trent, but is expressly spoken of as "secondary oracles."

LATERAN, I.

PAGE 125, CANON 3.

This, as far as relates to wives, is at direct variance with the resolution of the Nicene Council, page 28; with the sixth canon of the ante-Nicene Code, and the 13th Trullan.

LATERAN, II.

PAGE 126, CANON 7.

This is a mere revival of one feature of the Eustathian heresy, which is thus described by Socrates, Eccles. Hist. ii. 43. πрεσβυτέρου γυναῖκα ἔχοντος, ἣν νόμῳ λαϊκὸς ὢν ἠγάγετο, τὴν εὐλογίαν καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν, ὡς μῦσος, ἐκκλίνειν ἐκέλευε. It was condemned by the Council of Gangra, which was confirmed by the fourth General Council of Chalcedon, as shown in its place. See above, page 38.

LATERAN, III.

PAGE 128, CANON 16.

That an oath to commit sin ought not to be observed, and that the guilt of such an oath is incurred by the taking it, and not by the breaking it, can hardly be gainsaid; as in the case of the forty Jews who bound themselves with an oath to murder Paul.

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