PART I.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

PROLEGOMENA.

A.-Nature of the Canon Law.

1. THE Canon Law is the law of the visible Catholic Church of Christ, and, like the law of every society, is composed chiefly of the enactments of the rulers of the Church, supplemented by the customs handed down by tradition. It is not alike in all places at the same time; the general laws are modified in various ways by the rulers of the Church in order to suit different races and different civilizations, and each church has its own traditional customs. It is evident that by the progress of the races, and by increased intercommunion, special local customs and laws must decay and be replaced by more general ones, so that in the end uniformity will be gained through the whole body of the Church.* It is, therefore, not the same at all times, but may change according to need, so far as it relates to discipline; thus, some of the few Apostolic canons have ceased to be obligatory, because no one

* A familiar instance of this is the prohibition of the Asian rule about the time of keeping Easter.

now is scandalized by Christians eating" things strangled" (Acts xv. 29).

2. The Christian Church is an eternal society of men, founded by our Lord Jesus Christ for the advancement of the supernatural welfare of mankind. He gave it an outward constitution, and infused into it on the Day of Pentecost an inward Life, by which all its members are united into one body, "the Body of Christ." The Jewish Church was a type and prophecy of the Christian Church, and faded away when the true "kingdom of heaven" was set up in the world. The Church is of necessity an eternal society, for the Humanity of Christ is eternal; nor can any member of it be cut off from the body unless he wills it. Hence the Church is divided into two parts, the living and the departed, as it appears to us who have to judge by sense; but the division is only apparent, and not real. The whole Church, therefore, is one body known to us under a double aspect, visible and invisible; the former evident to all men, the latter evident to faith. Canon law is the law of the visible Church. In founding a supernatural society of which a continually greater part should be invisible to men, our Lord designed that men should be brought to the truth through the work of the visible society, and educated within it and by it; and therefore He ordained the outward constitution, and gave the officers of the visible society power to make laws for the discipline of this society, laws which He assured them would be sanctioned in heaven as soon as they were made upon earth (St. Matt. xviii. 18).* This visible Church was to

* Reason would teach us that, as the visible Church is to teach mankind, it must be able to speak infallibly in the name of the whole

be one, for men were to be drawn to it by the sight of Jerusalem "built at unity in itself; " it was to be Catholic, to embrace the members of every race of the human family without distinction of colour or sex or age; it was to teach the true religion with authority, and so destroy every false religion and philosophy. In the end, when its work was finished, the distinction between visible and invisible was to cease, all men were to be judged according to their works, the wicked were to be punished for ever; and the Church, now made perfect, was to be revealed in its true beauty not only to those who had lost their place in it, but to the saints themselves who composed it, and who were to abide in it for ever in the most perfect happiness of which they were capable.

3. This was the design of Christ in giving His Church a visible constitution, as revealed in the New Testament. It is with the visible constitution that the canon law is principally concerned; the inner life, which is the really important thing, belongs to theology proper: but while "this treasure is contained in earthen vessels," the vessels themselves have an importance which cannot be passed over, and this is the importance of the study of the law of the visible Church. The visible Church as designed is the model of a perfect human society: all its members are equal; though its officers have special functions, this is of necessity for the general good; * all are brethren, bound to help each other to the utmost of their power, and their

Church; but it pleased our Lord to assure us plainly of this truth. On the nature and functions of the Church, see Cardinal Manning's work on The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost.

* The Pope's highest title is Servus Servorum Dei.

family tie is the highest possible, for they are all "sons of God in Jesus Christ." The visibility of the Church was a merciful concession to the sensuous nature of man; it pleased God to make a further concession of the same sort, by so ordering the society that the whole should be composed of many separate yet similar parts established in all the different cities and countries of the world, so that those who could not see the beauty of the whole visible Church, might yet be able to see the beauty of the church in their midst. * The unit of the visible Church is the diocese, of which the chief ruler is called a bishop.†

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4. In the foundation of the Church, this constitution is made plain by the choice of twelve Apostles from the general body of the disciples; they were the hierarchy or clergy as distinguished from the laity. Their office was twofold: it related to the government of the Church, and to the administration of sacraments and of other rites there was a hierarchy of Jurisdiction, and a hierarchy of Order. As the Church was to continue for ever, it is evident that the Apostolic office must also continue. The diocesan constitution was prefigured by the Apostolate being shared amongst twelve men, each of whom seems to have had the same authority as any other, just as each bishop is the equal of every other bishop. The unity of the visible Church was shown by the fact that our Lord

* Many similar folds for the one flock (St. John x. 16). The flock is larger than the sum of the folds, because it contains those sheep whom the Shepherd has called away; but no one can suppose that he belongs to the flock unless he now finds himself within a fold.

†The connection between a bishop and his diocese (or church) is so intimate, that his church is said to do what he does, and vice versâ.

gave His charges to the Apostles while they were all together; and He secured the union of the band by His special charges to St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles, the head on earth to whom each of the other Apostles was to look for "strength" (St. Luke xxii. 32).*

5. The constitution of the visible Church at the present day is essentially the same as its constitution on the Day of Pentecost. The history of the early Church is so obscure, that we cannot trace every step in the development of the different functions of the hierarchy; but, from what little we know, there seems no reason to doubt that the development, however wonderful, has been a true development in accordance with the laws of growth which the Incarnate Word gave to that mystical Body of His which was to be His witness amongst men till the consummation of all things. On the Day of Pentecost the visible Church consisted of a hierarchy and a laity, all equally sharing the gift of the Holy Ghost; the hierarchy was bound together by means of St. Peter's primacy. Persecution dispersed the Apostles, and we find in consequence that a number of churches were soon established in the chief cities of the Roman empire; and that each church had its clergy and laity. The Apostles did not give

*For the separation of clergy and laity see St. Clement of Rome, ad Cor. 40, where the Jewish hierarchy is used to enforce the duty of subordination in the Church. For the relations between St. Peter and the other Apostles see St. Cyprian, De Unit. Eccl. 4, 5. Barrow, On the Pope's Supremacy, contains the usual Anglican teaching on this point; but Thorndike, Of the Laws (18, 19), and, in the present time, Allies, Church of England Cleared, have treated the question more liberally; while R. I. Wilberforce points out the results of the primacy which they allow, in his work on The Principles of Church Authority.