an ecclesiastical sense, a law, rule, or regulation of the policy and discipline of a church, made by councils either general, national, or provincial.

Canons of the apostles, a collection of ecclesiastical laws, which, though very ancient, were not left us by the apostles. It is true, they were sometimes called apostolic canons; but this means no more than that they were made by bishops, who lived soon after the apostles, and were called apostolical men. They consist of regulations, which agree with the discipline of the second and third centuries: The Greeks generally count eighty-five, but the Latins receive only fifty, nor do they observe all these.

Canon of mass, in the Romish church, the name of a prayer which the priest reads low to himself, the people kneeling.

In this part of the mass, the priest particularly mentions some persons for whom he is going to offer the sacrifices, and prays to God for the redemption of their souls, the hopes of their salvation, &c.

Paschal Canon, a table of the moveable feasts, shewing the day of Easter, and the other feasts depending on it, for a cycle of nineteen years.

Canon of scripture, a catalogue or list of the inspired writings, or such books of the Bible as are called canonical; because they are in the number of those books which are looked upon as sacred, in opposition to those which are either not acknowledged as divine books, or are rejected as heretical and spurious, and are called apocryphal.

monastic orders, a book wherein the religious of every convent have a fair transcript of the rules of their order, frequently read among them, as their local statutes.

Canon is also used for the catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Romish church.

music, a short composition of two or more parts, in which one leads, and the other follows: Or it is a line of any length, shewing, by its divisions, how musical intervals are distinguished, according to the ratios, or proportions, that the sounds terminating the intervals, bear one to another, when considered according to their degree of being acute or grave.

Canon-Law, a collection of ecclesiastical laws, serving as the rule and measure of church-government.

The power of making laws was exercised by the church before the Roman empire became Christian. The canon-law that obtained throughout the West, till the twelfth century, was the collection of canons made by Dionysius Exiguus in 520, the capitularies of Charlemagne, and the decrees of the popes, from Siricius to Anastasius.

The canon-law, even when papal authority was at its height in England, was of no force when it was found to contradict the prerogative of the king, the laws, laws, statutes, and customs of the realm, or the doctrine of the established church.

The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the see of Rome in England, was founded on the canon-law; and this created quarrels between kings and several archbishops and prelates, who adhered to the papal usurpation.

Besides the foreign canons, there were several laws and constitutions made here for the government of the church; but all these received their force from the royal assent: And if, at any time, the ecclesiastical courts did, by their sentence, endeavour to enforce obedience to such canons, the courts at common law, upon complaints made, would grant prohibitions. The authority veiled in the church of England of making canons, was ascertained by a statute of Henry VIII., commonly called the act of the clergy's submission; by which they acknowledged, that the convocation had been always assembled by the king's writ; so that though the power of making canons resided in the clergy met in convocation, their force was derived from the authority of the king's assenting to, and confirming them.

The old canons continued in force till the reign of James I., when the clergy being assembled in convocation, the king gave them leave to treat and consult upon canons; which they did, and presented them to the king, who gave them the royal assent: These were a collection out of the several preceding canons and injunctions. Some of these canons are now obsolete. In the reign of Charles I., several canons were passed by the clergy in convocation.