CAN
Can
^C akosxc Ah putiijhments are thofe which the church may inflict : Such are excommunication,degradation,and penance in Roman cathplic countries; alfo fatting, alms, whipping, &c See Punishment, Penance, &c. Cycl.
Canonical purgations, were antient methods of proving inno- cency, by ordeal, &c. See Purgation, Ordeal, Judicium Dei, &c. Cycl.
Canonical liberty, a freedom to which certain churches are left, being governed by the antient canons and ufages cftab- Mlhed before the papal hierarchy was carried to its height : Such is that which, of later days, the French call the Galilean liberty. Du Pin, Bibl. Ecclef. T. 17. p. 151.
Canonical injlitution^ a regular and legitimate collation to a benefice, agreeable to the rules of the canon law. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 141.
Canonical portion, fo much of the effects of a perfon deceafed as the canons allow to the parifh church he belonged to. Calv. loc. cit.
Canonical life, the method or rule of living prefcribed by the antient clergy who lived in community.
The canonical life was a kind of medium between the monafl ic . and clerical lives.
Originally the orders of monks and clerks were intirely di- ftincL But pious perfons in procefs of time inftituted colleges of priefts and canons, where clerks brought up for the miniftry, as well as others already engaged therein, might live under a fixed rule, which though fomewhat more eafy than the mona- ftic, was yet more reftrained than the fecular. This was called the canonical life ; and thofe who embraced it canons. See Regular, Religious, &c. Cycl.
Authors are divided about the founder of the canonical life. Some will have it inftituted by the apoftles : others afcribe it to pope Urban I. about the year 230, who is faid to have or- dered bifhops to provide fuch of their clergy as were willing to live in community, with nccefTaries out of the revenues of their churches. The generality attribute it to St. Auguftin, who having gathered a number of clerks to devote themfelves to religion, inftituted a monaftery within his epifcopal palace, where he lived in community with them. Onuphrius Pan- vinius brings the inititution fomewhat lower; according to him,pope Gelafius I. about the year 495, placed the firft regular canons of St. Auguftin in the lateran church. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. 1. 7. c. 2. §.9. Trev. Dift. Univ. T. r. 1629. Canonical letters, in the antient church, were a fort of teftirrio- nials of the orthodox faith, which the bifhops and clergy fent each other, to keep up catholic communion, and diitinguiih orthodox chriftians from arian, and other heretics. They were denominated canonical; either as being compofed according to a certain rule, or form ; or becaufe they were gi- ven to the canonici, that is, thofe comprehended in the canon, or catalogue of their church.
When they had occafion to travel into other diocefes, or coun- tries, dimiflbry and recommendatory letters, alfo letters of peace, &c. were fo many (pedes of canonical letters. See Di MISSORV, Cycl.
Canonical is alfo an appellation given to thofe epiftles in tb new teftament,more frequently called catbolic,orgeneral epiftle?.
Canonical hours, are certain ttated times of the day, configned more especially by the Romifh church to the offices of prayer and devotion : Such are mattim, lauds, fixth, ninth-, vefpers. Bibl. Angl. T. 13. p.341. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. I.13. c.9. §.8.
Canonical horfes, canonici cqui, was an antient tax, or tribute impofed on certain provinces, whereby they were obliged to furnifh the emperor with fo many horfes to mount his cavalry. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. 1. 5. c. 3. §. 4.
Canonical, csnomcus, was alfo an appellation given to all the officers and minifters of a church or monaftery, from the bifhop or abbot, to the meaneft fervant, including priefts, monks, Virgins, and all who were entered in canon, that is, in the ma- tricula or regifter of the church. Hclyot, Hiflr. des Ord. Mo- haft. T. 2. p. 55. Stev. Suppl. to Dugd. T. 2. p. 68.
Canonical is an appellation more peculiarly'given to thofe Writings defigned by God to be the canon, or rule of our faith and practice ; and which have been folemnly received as fuch by the church, and comprehended in the canon, or cata- logue of the fcriptures Z)wPj«,Prelim.fur la Bibl. Li. c.i. §.1. In which fenfe, canonical ft ands contra-diftinguifhed from apo- cryphal; axaHJur&i, or non-canonical \ fpurious, doubtful, and even merely ecclefiaftical.
Canonical differs from divine or infpired, as the former imports
- i book authentically received by the church or fynagoguc, as
coming from God, and placed in the canon accordingly ; which is not fuppofed in the latter. 5 Tis alledged there are many prophetical books which were never received by the (y- nagogue, nor publickly read in churches, which yet are by no means to be rejected, as not dictated by God a ; thefe though never actually taken into the canon, yet were capable of being made canonical, in cafe more books had been wanting to be read in the aflemblies of chriftians. Who doubts but the books of Nathan, and Gad, Ahija and Jeddo, the vifions of Hofea, &c. were divinely infpired, though not taken into the canon? And fuch, according to a modern Lutheran writer is the book of WifiJom b . — [* Vid. Simon. Hift. Crit. du vieux. Teftam. p. c6,feq. b Vid. Obferv. Halenf. T. 5. Sect. 13. 4>. 1 2, feq, Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 33. p. 420.J
The conditions then requifite to conftitue a book cat&rifatt are ; that it be written by divine iufpiratiun, and that it be fo- lemnly accepted, aild cohfigned by the church for a perpetual guide or rule of faith, and practice. Ca?-pzsv. In trod; ad Libr Biblic. P. i.e. 1. §.2.
Divines generally hold, that thofe books only of the new tef- tament are tb be accounted canonical, which were either written or at leaft approved and authorized by the apoftles. Co/in's Hift. of Canon of Old Teftam. §. 73. p. 80. Richard. Vin- dic. Can. NewTefh §. 2. p. 6. Clark, Reflect, on Amynt. p. 37) f eq.
Formerly thefe were not fo well diftinguifhed as among us. In the firft ages of the church, Dodwell obferves, the genuine writings of the apoftles ufed to be bound up together with thofe now called fpurious, and apocryphal ; fo that it was not manifeftby any public judgment, which of them was to be pre- ferred to the other, but later times thought fit to make a fepa- ration. Dodw. ap. Nye Def. Can. New Teft. p. 1$. The Jews allow of no book for canonical, but thofe written before or foon after the return from the Babylonifli captivity, when the gift of prophecy ceafed among them. Bafnage, DiiL fur le Canon, in Ouvr. des Scav. 1704. p. 25. Eufebius lays down three marks, by which the fpurious writ- ings forged by heretics, under the names of the apoftles, were diftinguiihed from the genuine and canonical, imo, Their not being cited as fcripture by the doctors of the church ; which, however, muft not be taken without fome reftriiftion ; fince feveral fuch are indeed quoted 2s fcripture by Origen and Cle- mens Alexandrinus % the moft learned of the antient fathers, as Eufebius himfelf elfewhcre owns ; but we are to fuppofe he meant not cited as divine fcripture in thofe place?, where they fpeak exprefty what books were canonical, and whatnot. 2 dp , Their manner of writing, which is wholly different from the fpirit, genius, and manner of the apoftles. 3% The doctrines, opinions, and other matter's advanced in their books, which were fo contrary to truth and orthodoxy, that it is not enough to call them fpurious, but they muft alfo be denominated ab- furd and impious b , — [ a Richard. Can. N. T. Vindic. §. 6. p. 2^. Eufeb. Hift. Ecclef. 1. 3. c. 25. Nye. Def. Can. New Teft. p. 68.J
A late writer alledges two marks, or arguments of a book's be- ing canonical: i mo , its being cited by the antient fathers, under the name of fcripture ; and, 2% its having been read in the antient churches : Both which characters agree to the epiftles of Clemens and Barnabas, and the paftor of Hermas. But it has been (hewn him that thefe criterions are not fufficient. The word fcripture was not always ufed by the fathers in its proper, but fometimes in a lax fenfe; and as to reading of books irt churches, the practice of our own church is to this day a proof that it does not imply their canonicity. Some of the Romifh doctors diftinguifti the infpired writings into three clafles, ca- nonical, or pioto-canonical, deutero-canonical, and apochryphal. Vid. Richardf. Vindic. Can. New Teft. §. 6. p. 26, feq.
Pc/?-Canonical, or deutero-CANONicAL, are thofe doubtful books, which were never regularly allowed for fcripture, nor admitted into any canon before that of the council of Car- thage a ; though otherwife frequently cited as fcripture by ec- clefiaftical writers, and read in many churches. The firft ca- talogue wherein the books of Wifdom, Ecclcfiafticus, Tobit, Judith, and the two Maccabees were put in the number of ca- nonical books, was that of the third council of Cartliage,held in 397, which confirmed the decree of a council of Hippo 111393, whereby thofe books had been declared part of the canon, but on condition, that the churches on the other fide of the fea fhould be confulted about confirming this decifion. The fame decree was alfo repeated in a council of Carthage held in 419, with this claufe, that it fhould be communicated to the pope and bifhops of Italy. Pope Innocent came into it, fo did his fucceffor pope Gelafius, in a council at Rome in 494. -Pope Eugenius, and the council of Trent, confirmed it yet more fo- lemnly <\ _ [a D u /v„, Dili; Prelim. 1. 1. c. 1 . §. 5. *> Idem, 1. i.e. 1. §.4. ibid.]
CANON1CUM, x«:/<;»xo* 3 in a general fenfe, denotes a tax, or tribute.
Canonicum is more particularly ufed in the Greek church for a fee paid by the clergy to bifhops, archbifhops, and metropoli- tans, for degrees and promotions. Vid. Du Cangc, GlofTGr. T 1. p. 578.
Canonicum alfo denotes a due of firft fruits, paid by the Greek laity to their bifhops,or according to Du Cange, to their priefts. The canonicum is aifefled according to the number of houfes, or chimnies in a place.
The emperor Ifaac Comnenus made a conftitution for regu- lating the canonicum of bifhops, which was confirmed by an- other made in 1086, by his nephew Alexis Comnenus. A vil- lage containing 3 o fires, was to pay for its canonicum^ one piece of gold, two of filver, one fheep, fixbufhels of barley, fix of wheat flower, fix meafures of wine, and thirty hens. Vid. Du Can^e, Glofl". Gr. T. 1. p. 578. Trev. Did. Univ. T. 1. p. 1397-
CANONIST, a perfon fkilled in, or who makes profcflion of the ftudy and practice of the canon law. See Canon law, Cycl. Canoni/ls and civilians are ufually combined in the fame
