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REASONS UPON 'REASONS;

A BISHOP'S TRUE POSITION

IN SYNOD ASSEMBLED.

MONTREAL :

niNTgO BT t> 0. BECKET, AT HIS 8TBAH PRBSa PRINTINQ orFIOE,
KO. 38, QREAT BT. JAMES BTRBET.

1856.

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* •

" Now, therefore, why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the
neck of the Disciples, which neither our fathers nor we are able to
bear." — Acts xv. 10.

nj^u u j -. J . i r TTMi^nrt i Tr f^ r" " ■ *"'"

REASONS UPON " EEASONS."

on the
,ble to

A Diocesan Synod may be defined as an assem-
bly called together by authority, composed of the
Bishop^ Presbyters and Brethren^ not for the pur-
pose of making new canons or laws for the govern-
ment of the Church, but to enforce canons made
by the General Councils, or National Convocation.

The first National Synod which we read of in
England, was that of Hertford, in 673; and the
last was that held by Cardinal Pole, in 1535.

Diocesan Synods were not wholly laid aside till
by the Act of Submission, 25 Hen. VIII, c. 19., it
was made unlawful for any Synod to meet, unless
by royal authority.

This law having never been repealed, and rhe
Colonies being in the see of Canterbury, any
attempt at reviving Convocation by voluntary asso-
ciation would be a direct infringement of the royal
prerogative, and contrary to law.

The Convocation is summoned by the Queen's
writ, directed to the Archbishoj) of each Province,
requiring him to summon all Bishops, Deans,
Archdeacons, &c. The power of the Convocation
is limited by a statute of Henry VIII. They are
not to make any canons or ecclesiastical laws,
without the Qneen's license ; nor, when permitted,
can they put them in execution, but under several
restrictions.

The first Christian Cowna7that we read of, is in the
15 c. of the Acts of the Apostles. There the Council
was composed of the Apostles, and Elders and
Brethren^ see verse 23. And when the questions

were decided for which they had assembled, St.
James, their presiding Bishop gave expression to
their deliberations, and the matter became law.

This is in agreement with St. Cyprian, where he
says, " All things shall be examined, you (the
brethren) being present and judging.''^ Ep. 12.
And again : " Accordi7ig to your divine suffrages :
according to your pleasure.''^ Ep. 40.

This then, is the Apostolic rule, and all Christian
Synods should, in their composition, be formed after
this original model ; it is not therefore correct to
define a Diocesan Synod as composed of the
" Bishop and Clergy." It must never be without
the lay element. " The Apostles and Elders and
Brethren.''''

The question being conceded that a Synod will
be formed in the Diocese of Montreal, (the expe-
diency or usefulness of which, however, is strongly
doubted,) what authority should the presiding
officer or Bishop have in such assembly ? The
same as St, James had in the council of his bre-
thren at Jerusalem, and no more : that was, to pro-
nounce the judgment of the elders and brethren.

No authority should l)e granted him to prorogue
the meeting at his pleasure, nor to withhold his as-
sent when the voice of the majority of clergy and
laity has deliberately decided. For what is a Bishop
but one of the clergy ? although the chief in his
own diocese, Chrysostom saith, " Inter Episcopum
et Preshyterum interest ferme nihil.'''' " Between
a bishop and priest, in a manner there is no differ-
ence." Again, " Wliat things he spake concerning
Bishops, the same are also meet for Presbyters,
whom B'lshops seem not to excel in any things hut
only in the power of ordinationV And St. Jerome
asks, " Wliat a Bishop, by virtue of his place
and calling may do more than a Presbyter, except
it he only to ordain.'''' Barrow, in his celebrated
Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy, quotes St. Chry-

Bostom with approval as affirming the episcopal
power not to be avOivria, or apxrf ; and goes on to
say : " At first the episcopal power did only consist
in paternal admonition, and correction of olienders,
exhorting and persuading them to amendment ;
and in case they contumaciously did persist in dis-
orderly behaviour, bringing them before the con-
gregation : and the cause being there heard and
proved, with its consent, imposing such penance or
correction on them as seemed needful for the pub-
lic good, or their particular benefit."

The author of " Reasons" observes, " In passing
a regulation in Synod, in opposition to the Bishop,
we of the clergy or of the laity, should be resisting
an authority given him by God. This consideration
might well settle the whole matter." Reasons, 12.
And so it might if it were true. And in order
to give weight to his argument, (the only weight
he can produce,) he quotes from the "Fathers":
" The issue then is this ; the Presbyters, and Clergy
and Laity, must obey, therefore the Bishop must
govern and give them laws.^^

We also shall quote from the " Fathers." Origen
saith : " Sensiis nostri et enarrationes sine scrip-
turis testibus non habent Jidem.^^ " Our judgments
and expositions without witness of the Scriptures
have no credit."

Therefore, the enquirer after truth may say to the
author of " Reasons," in the words of St. Ambrose,
" Ego vocem pastoris inquiro : Lege hoc mihi de
Propheta : lege de Fsalmo : recita de Lege : re-
cita de Evangelio : recita de Apostolo.^'' " I require
the voice of the Shepherd, read me this matter
out of the Prophets ; read it me out of the Psalms :
read it me out of the Law : read it me out of the
Gospel : read it me out of the Apostles."

Not one word has the author of " Reasons," given
from holy Scripture, nor from the history of our
own times since the reformation, nor of the working

of synodical action in ihc United States, where the
authority of the Bishop is simply that of the pre-
siding chairman, in all the diocuses with the
exception of one ; but he produces a few stale
extracts from the Fathers, perfectly irrelevant to the
subject of Diocesan Synods. The })rophot Jeremiah
adviseth us better, " Trust ye not in ' • * • * words
that cannot profit." Yielding to none in reverence
for the great divines of our church, which are quoted
in the " Reasons," we must protest against the
practice of extracting brief sentences from volumi-
nous writers, and endeavoring by means of excerpts
taken apart from their context, and without refer-
ence to the times or circumstances in which the
works were composed, or to the objects which the
writers had in view, to bring the weight of their
great authority in support of the "Autocracy," which
it is sought at the present day to establish for the
Episcopate.

As however, St. Ignatius and St. Cyprian, both
holy marlyrs, seem principally relied on, we
shall quote counter extracts from their writings,
to show the undue weiglit to which the epis-
copal office was magnified, even at that early
period of the Clnireh, and to prove that no reliance
should be j)laced upon their opinions in matters
afiecting our own ecclesiastical polity. Take the
following from the short epistles of Ignatius, a con-
temporary of the Apostles, " Be ye sulijecl to the
Bishop as to Jesus Christ." {Ad Trail, c. 2.)
" Follow your Bishop as Jesus Christ the father,
the Presbyters as the Apostles, reverence the Dea-
cons as the Ordinance of God." {Ad Smyr. c. 8.)
And in the writings of St. Cyi)rian, Epist. 75, we
find the following passage claiming the full aposto-
lic authority for the Bishops. '' Folestas peccato-
rum remitlendorum aposfolis data est ** et epis-
copis qui eis vicarid ordinatione successerunt.^^
Shall we be bound by such dicta as these ? Nay,

verily, but comparing such sentences willi the
writings of the Apostles, we are led to exclaim as St.
Hilary to the Emperor Constanlius, ^^ Fidem, im-
perator^ qimris '^ Audi earn non de novis chartuliSy
sedde Deilihris,^'* "Doth your Majesty seek the
faith ? Hear it, then, not out of any new scrolls,
but out of the books of God."

The true position of a Bishop, therefore, in Synod
assembled, is to preside, to pronounce the judgment
of the Council, and in case of a tie, to have a cast-
ing vote, as the chairman, in any other deliberative
assembly.

We again refer the reader to the 15 c. of Acts,
where we consider this point clearly set at rest by
the Apostolic custom, to the law of England where
no one Bishop has the power proposed by the au-
thor of " Reasons, " and to the regimen of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States,
where the universal practice is ditt'erent from that
sought to be imposed upon us.

" If we deprive the Bishop of this power," says
the author of " Reasons," What power ? the power
to negative any question which he may think pro-
per to put down, shall we not be " taking the side
of those^who in former days were always the ene-
mies of our Church, and of her form of Govern-
ment ?" And will not the clergy be brought into
antagonism with their Bishop, " to the certain peril
of violating their ordination vows?" This is beg-
ging the question, this is a bugbear worthy only of
a narrow mind. There is no class of men on the
continent more disposed to be respectful to their Or-
dinary than the clergy of the Diocese of Montreal.
Yet, if the question is between God and man,
" ought they not to obey God rather than man ?"
And does not the very fact of the Diocesan calling
together his clergy and their lay Delegates to deli-
berate upon matters and things touching the inter-

ests of the Church, destroy the idea of the Divine
right " given him by God ?"

And what becomes of "the divine right" when
the next senior Dignitary takes the chair ? If the
clergy differ from him in Synod assembled, do they
do so " to the certain peril of violating their ordi-
nation vows." The chain requires a link here.
The " Reasons" want a reason to keep them toge-
ther at this point.

We have no apprehension that the clergy will
be moved by this shallow device to sacrifice their
private judgment, in a case where no canonical
obedience can be shown to be required of them ;
but we of the Laity should take warning, for if
this despotic authority be once conceded to the
Bishop, we deprive ourselves of all control over the
proceedings of the Synod, and subject ourselves as
it were to a double veto^ for after overcoming the
scruples of the clergy, and securing, perhaps, a
small majority of that body in favor of any particu-
lar measure of Church reform, we should probably
find that in the end it would be negatived by that
power which we had ourselves consented to en-
throne above us.

We shall conclude these reasons in the language
of one of the " Fathers," St. Jerome.

"Thou that art a maintainer of new doctrine,
whatsoever thou be, I pray thee spare the faith that
is commended by the Apostles' mouth. Why goest
thou about, to teach us that faith which before we
never knew ? Why bringest thouus forth that thing
that Peter and Paul never uttered ? Evermore until
this day the Christian world hath been without this
doctrine."