Note N10 — St. PETER (continued 3)

Several Canons were made by this Council relating to the Discipline of the Church. 1. It was ordained, that Easter should be kept on the same Day, and on a Sunday, by all the Churches in the World; and that the Bishop of Rome should acquaint the other Churches with the Day. But it was afterwards ordained, that the Bishop of Alexandria should fix the Day, and give timely notice of it to the Bishop of Rome, that by his means it might be notified to the whole Church. This Ordinance St. Cyril seems to ascribe to the Council of Nice; for he says, that it was so enacted by the Synod composed of all the Saints of the Earth; which, at the Time he writ, that is, about the Year 360. could be said of no other Synod but that of Nice. Pope Leo the Great, speaking of this Custom in a Letter to the Emperor Marcian, only says, that it was established by the holy Fathers[1]. He meant, perhaps, the Fathers of Nice. But as they took no notice of such a Custom in their Letter to the Church of Egypt, I cannot suppose it to have been introduced by them. The Care of fixing the Day, and acquainting the Bishop of Rome with it, was probably committed to the Bishop of Alexandria, because the Egyptians were thought to be better acquainted with the Motions of the heavenly Bodies than any other Nation. In other Provinces the Bishops seem to have been utter Strangers to Astronomy, and to that Ignorance was chiefly owing their Disagreement with respect to the Celebration of Easter. This Custom still obtained in the Fifth Century, as appears from a Letter of Leo the Great, dated the 28th of July 454. For by that Letter he acquaints the Bishops of Gaul and Spain, that the following Year 455, Easter would fall on the 24th of April, as it had been settled in the East[2]. Before his Time Innocent I. being at a Loss to know on what Day Easter should be kept in 414. had recourse to Aurelius Bishop of Carthage, intreating him to examine that Point in a Council, and let him know what they determined, that he might notify it, as was customary, to other Churches. Innocent had quarreled, on Chrysostom’s Account, with the Eastern Bishops; and therefore chose rather to be informed and directed by the African Bishops than by them. 2. It was decreed, that such as had been baptized by Heretics in the Name of the Trinity, should not be rebaptized, but admitted into the Church only by the Imposition of Hands. But to this Decree of the Council no greater Regard was paid, than had been paid in St. Cyprian’s Time to the Decisions of Pope Stephen. For in the Year 370. the same Practice of rebaptizing Heretics still obtained in several Churches of Africa, as appears from Optatus, who writ about that time. In the East some held, and some denied, the Validity of Baptism administred by an Heretic. Of the latter Opinion was the great Athanasius, who flourished from the Year 326. to 373. and St. Basil, who writ about the Year 369. after examining, in his Letter to Amphilochus, the two opposite Practices, seems inclined to think the Baptism of Heretics null. According to the present Doctrine of the Church of Rome, Baptism, by whomsoever administred, whether Jew, Gentile, Heretic, Mohammedan, &c. whether Man or Woman, or even a Child, is valid, provided it be only administred with an Intention of administring it, without which every Sacrament, say they, is null. This Doctrine, with respect to the Intention, proves daily to timorous Consciences the Source of endless Doubts and Perplexities, which can never be removed: for tho’ they may know for certain, that the Ceremony was performed, yet they can never know whether or no it was performed with the due Intention. In Confession, for Instance, they may hear the Words of the Absolution pronounced by the Priest; but they know nothing of his Intention, of the Intention of the Minister who baptized him, of the Bishop who ordained him, of the Priest who baptized, or the Bishops who ordained that Bishop, and so up to the Apostles, by whom the first Bishops were ordained. Should the right Intention have been wanting in any of these; should the Priest, while he pronounces the Words of Absolution, have his Thoughts employed on some other Object, as it may easily happen; the penitent Sinner would depart from his Tribunal with the whole Load of his Sins, and be damned, notwithstanding his Repentance, for, or, more properly speaking, thro' want of Attention in the Priest. A most unchristian and impious Doctrine, placing our eternal Salvation in the Hands of others, and not in our own. 3. The Council decreed, that excommunicated Persons should be no-where absolved from the Excommunication but in the Places where they had been excommunicated. The Bishops of Rome did not yet know, it seems, that they were vested with an unlimited Power of binding and loosening, of excommunicating and absolving, with respect to all Persons and Places; for had Sylvester but dreamt of such a Power, we may well suppose he would never have suffered it to be thus controuled. Several other Canons were made by this Council, in all Twenty-two; but it is foreign to my Purpose to take notice of them. I shall only observe, that the Council consisted of Thirty-three Bishops, and not of Two hundred, as Baronius supposes, upon the Authority of St. Austin, whom he misunderstood; and that Marinus Bishop of Arles presided, his Name being placed at the Head of the Subscriptions, and the Names of Sylvester’s Legates after his.