Concil. Chelsea. 4. 3: in dam nad Diofcur. Can. V. XXII. Καζα τες θείος κανόνας. και ἀκολουθίαν την αγίων κανόνων. και κανόνων τάξεως, καὶ τῆς Περί μεταβανόνων ἀπὸ πό- Καθώς καὶ τοῖς πάλαι κανόσιν XIV. XV. XL. poft XVII. Lex Theodos ap. Futin Novel. Joan. Scholaft. ante Collect.Cam. jici. 2 Τέτο ἢ ἔσεσθαι πις Νομου εται ἡ τῆς ἱερῶν κανόνων τα τήρησις φυ λάτζοιτο, ἣν οἵτε δικαίως υμνέμθμοι, καὶ προσκωητοί, καὶ ἀντιπαι το θε λόγε ο αδεδώκασιν Σπόςολοι, καὶ ἅγιοι πατέρες ἐφύλαξαν τε καὶ ὑφη γήσαντο. Οἱ μὲν ἅγιοι τῇ κυρίς μαθηταί καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα πέντε δια κλήματος κανόνας· ἐξέθεντο. Now from these plain Premises IObserve, (1) That thefe Canons do almoft equally pretend to be, and were commonly own'd as Divine, Sacred, and Apoftolical, as well as as the Conftitutions themselves. For tho' they are frequently call'd Antient Canons, as all along obtaining from the first times of the Gospel; and Canons of the Fathers, as made partly by the Antienteft Fathers, or as own'd all along by them; and Ecclefiaftical Canons, as made for the ufe of the Catholick Church in Ecclefiaftical Affairs; yet when their Authors are diftin&tly fet down, they are always fuppos'd made by the Apoftles themselves, and their Companions, or at leaft by their Companions, who us'd to be joyn'd in the Councils of the Apostles, and received compleat Inftruction from them. These Rules are by Conftantine faid to be αρετά τε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ τῇ Σποςολική ποδόσει ompara, and he calls them, or the Conftitutions themfelves, τοὺς ἐντολὰς * Θεῖ, καὶ τ Doing naróva, &c. So alfo the Ethiopians and Copti ftill efteem thefe Canons, as well as the foregoing Conftitutions, to be Sacred and Apoftolical; written by or deliver'd to Clement as well as they. Athanafius calls them or Dequóv. Pope Julius S αποςόλων κανόνας. Which laft moft expres Name of all is alfo frequently in the Manufcripts, in Theodofius, fuftinian, and their famous Collector Joannes Antiochenus. Nor does the Council of Chalcedon imply lefs when they stile them dess vas, and agiss καμόνας. doras. So that as they are now the laft Chapter of, or a real Appendix to the Conftitutions ftitutions of the Apoftles themselves, fo were they originally efteemed with them truly Apoftolical. (2) That the moft common Names κανόνες ς ἁγίων ἀποςόλων, κανόνες απο ςολικοί, and κανόνες ἐκκλησιαςικοί, here given them, do exactly agree with their Titles in all our present Manufcripts; and fo do confirm those Manufcripts to be true, and their Titles, the genuine Titles thereof in all Antiquity. (3) That these Canons, which in the main are plainly extracted from the Body of the Conftitutions were therefore revis'd, improv'd, and confirm'd by the furviving Apostles, and their Companions, before their Death; and deliver'd to the Bifhops and Clergy, and perhaps allow'd to pafs among the Body of the People alfo, for their Direction in Ecclefiaftical Affairs; and as the Church's ftanding Laws in her Ecclefiaftical Affemblies, or Courts of Judicature. (4) That few of the Apostles could be alive about A. D. 86. when thefe Canons were made or confirm'd; and fo this Council muft confift chiefly of the Companions of the Apostles; and therefore 'tis no wonder that they are frequently cited as Canons of the earlicft Fathers, and their Apoftolical Authority and Original not always mentioned in those Citations ; unless we suppose the Apoftles here ftiled Fathers by the Antients as it appears they are by the Ethiopians in this very cafe before us. (5) That these ; 85 85 Canons feein ever both to have been added to the fecret Constitutions themselves, at least in the Generality of the Apoftolical Churches, as their Appendix or concluding Chapter; and alfo to have paffed abroad in a diftinct Volume; juft as is now the Cafe in the present Copies and Manufcripts alfo. Where note, that hence arifes the beft Account of the Infertion of Clement's Epiftles and Conftitutions in the compleat Copies added to the fecret Conftitutions, as they are now in all our Copies; and yet of the Ómif fion of the fame in all the Antienteft Catalogues of the facred Books, deriv'd from this Canon. For however the Copies laid up in the Archives, or kept among the Bishops and Clergy, might admit these Clementines, yet to be fure was it not agreeable to the Rules of those Ages to permit them all to stand there in the ordinary Copies fpread among the Vulgar, however not in the Catalogues made and published for Common Ufe by particular Men or Councils afterward. This would then have been thought a very great Tranfgreffion of the Rules of the Gospel. Whence alfo (7) we can beft account for the different Sentiments of the Antients about thefe additional Canons; while fome feem'd to look on them as of equal Authority with the Constitutions themfelves, which I take to be the most general Cafe; and others, I mean Origen, Eufebius, and perhaps Euno mius; who seem to have efteem'd them of not quite fo facred an Origin and Authority. I mean because some took their Notions of them from their standing in the Copies they had any Knowledge of, as a Part of, or ori-, ginal Appendix to the Conftitutions them felves; while others feeing them in diftinct Copies, and fo without Clement's Attestation, and the folemn Apoftolical concluding Address to the Bishops, as well as more compleat in the Archives, might doubt of their certain Apoftolick Authority; especially if they were not alfo added more compleatly. in those Copies of the Conftitutions which they were acquainted with. Whence (8) we can withal give a fair Account of the Omiffion of that laft concluding Claufe to the Bishops, juft now mentioned in feveral of our Copies. Since that would only appertain to fuch as belong'd to the Bishops, whom alone it is directed to: While it must be wanting in thofe defign'd for the Body of the People; according to the constant Method of thofe times in fuch Matters. However, (9) we may obferve that later Additions and Interpolations would more frequently attend the publick Nature and many Copies of these Canons, than the private Nature and few Copies of the Conftitutions. Accordingly there are plain Signs of feveral fuch Corruptions in those Copies |