6. Relates to the duty of archdeacons iu visitation.
7. Relates to marriage.
8. Relates to penance. Orders the priest to consider carefully the particular circumstances of each sin, to re- ceive confessions, especially those of women, in some open place; to consult the bishop, or some discreet men, in doubtful cases, and to be careful not to make the pen- itents implicate other persons by name iu their coufes- sions.
9. Forbids a priest in a state of mortal sin to celebrate before confession. Forbids to reveal confession in any way, directly or indirectly; orders that a priest convicted of doing so shall be degraded without hope of reconcilia- tion.
10. Orders the appointment of a fit priest in every dean- ery to receive the confession of the clergy.
— Johnson, Feci. Canons ; Wilkins, Cone, i, 512.
(5) Held in 1408, by Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, against the Lollartls. Ten constitutions were published at this council, and sanctioned iu one held afterwards in London :
1. Forbids any one to preach without being first exam- ined and allowed by tlie diocesan. Also forbids men sus- pended for preaching erroneous doctrine to preach within the province until they be restored by the ordinary wlio suspended them. Sentences all violators of this statute to excommunication. Declares that any preacher who shall a second time, in any way, intimate that the Church has not power to make such ordinances by her prelates, shall be sentenced to excommunication ; and all Chris- tian people forbidden to hold any communication with him under pain of excomnninication. Further declares that when lawfully convicted of so doing, such oft'enders shall be declared heretics by the ordinary, and incur all the penalties of heresy, and their aideis and abettors also, unless they desist "within a month from the date of their admcuiition.
2. Forbids the clergy and peojde of any parish to allow any one to preach unless full assurancebe first given of his being authorized, |)rivileged, or sent according to the form specified in Constitution I. Orders that the church, churchyard, or other place wheie unauthorized preachers have been iiermitted to hold forth, sh:\ll be put under an interdict. Orders, further, that aullioiizcd preachers shall suit their discourses to the circumstances of their hearers.
3. Kxcommiinicates, ijiso facto, all who preach or say anj'- thiug contrary to the teaching of the Church concerning the sacraments, or any point of faith ; declares that such oflenders shall not be absolved (excejit at the point of death), unless they abjure their errors and do penance. Orders that persons who do so a second time shall be
formally denounced as heretics, and subject to confisca- tion of their goods. With regard to the penance to be performed, it is declared that the offender shall expressly recant the things he has preached, taught, or affirmed iu the parish church iu which he did so, upon some one or more Lord's-days or holy days at high mass.
4. Forbids schoolmasters and other teachers to instruct their pupils in the sacraments and other theological points contrary to the determination of the Church, and enjoins them not to permit their scholars to dispute publicly or privately upon such sul)jects.
5. Forbids to read any book composed by John Wick- lift'e, or any other iu his time or since, in any schools, halls, inns, or other places whatsoever within the province, un- less it have been first examined and unanimously ap- proved by the universities of Oxford or Cambridge.
6. Declares, upon the authority of St. Jerome, that the translation of the text of holy Scripture is a dangerous thing, because it is not easy to make the sense in all re- sjjects the same; enacts that no one shall henceforth, by his own authority, translate any text of Scripture into English ; and that no part of any such book or treatise lately composed in the time of Jt)hu Wickliffe shall be read iu public or private, under pain of excommunica- tion.
7. Forbids any one, under pain of being publicly de- nounced exciminmnicate, to propose or assert any prop- ositions which carry a sound contrary to the Catholic faith or good morals.
8. Forbids all disputing, either in public or private, concerning things determined by the Church, unless it be iu order to get at the true meaning. Forbids, also, to call in question the authority of Church decisions, or to preach anything contrary to them, especially concerning the adoration of the cross, the veneration of the imagea of the saints, and pilgrimages to holy places and relics, or against taking oaths iu judicial matters. Orders all preachers to encourage these things, as well as proces- sions, genuflections, bowings, incensings, kissings, obla- tions, pilgrimages, illuminaUons, and the making of oaths in a lawful manner by touching God's holy Gospels. Of- fenders to incur the penalty of heresy.
9. Orders that none be admitted to serve as chaplain in any diocese within the province who was not born o\: ordained there, unless he bring with him letters from his diocesan.
10. Declares the University of Oxford to be infected with new unprofitable doctrines, and blemished with the new damnable brand of LoUardy, to the great scandal of the university at home and abroad, and to the seemingly irreparable iiijury of the Church of England, which used to be defended by her virtue and learning; that there- fore, upon the petition of the proctors of the whole clergy of the province, and with the consent of all the prelates present in the convocation, it is enacted that every head of a college or hall iu the university shall, at least once a mouth, make diligent inquiry whether any scholar or inhabitant hath asserted or held any position carrying a sound contrary to the Catholic faith and sound morals; and if he find any such, that he shall eft'ectually admonish him ; and that any such person so admonished advan- cing the same proposition shall be ipso facto excommuni- cated and otherwise punished. Orders that if the oft'eud- er be a scholar, he shall be disqualified for his degree ; if a doctor, M.A., or D.A., he shall be suspended from all scholastic acts, lose all his rights iu his college, and be actually expelled, and a Catholic put into his jjlace. De- clares that if any head of a house shall neglect, within ten days after the publication of these constitutions, to execute the above regulations against any oflender iu their college, he shall himself be ipso facto excommuni- cated and deprived of his office, and the college consid- ered to be void, and a new head appointed. Enacts the same penalties against a head of a college suspected of heresy, who, after admonition from the ordinar}', does not reform ; and, further, declares him to be for three years incaiiable of holding any benefice within the prov- ince. Lastly, it treats of the mannerof proceeding against suspected persons.