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BR 165 .S43 1833 Sclater, William, 1638-1717? An original draught of the Shelf, priinitiv* church
AN
ORIGINAL DRAUGHT
OF THE
PKIiTIITIVE CHTRCII,
IN ANSWER TO A
DISCOURSE,
ENTLITED
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE CONSTITUTION, DISCIPLINE, UNITY
AND WORSHIP, OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, THAT
FLOURISHED WITHIN THE FIRST THREE
HUNDRED YEARS AFTER CHRIST,
By Lord Chancellor King.
BY A PRESBYTER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLA^.
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION
.^•J?^*^?^!S^:f^
COLUMBUS, OHIO:
PUBLISHED BY ISAAC N. WHI HIGH-STREET.
»;- .-■ ■-■■••i&.
1S33.
Jenkins and Glover, Printers.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
"Slater's Original Draught of the Primitive Church," is one of the standard books, in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Its circulation among the members of that Church will be very useful; and we therefore most heartily wish success to the enterprise of its republication in this country.
WILLIAM WHITE, D. D. Bisho]) of the Prot. Epis. Church in the State of Pennsyl- vania.
HENRY U. ONDERDONK, D. D. Assistant Bishop of the Prot. Epis. Church in the Slate of Pennsylvania.
My sentiments fully accord with those of Bishops White and Onderdonk above.
LEVI S. IVES, D. D. Bishop of the Prot. Epis. Church in the Stale of JV. Carolina.
We the subscribers entirely concur in the above recom- mendations.
THOMAS WRIGHT,
Rector of St. Luke's Church, Salisbury, and Christ Church, Roioan County. JVorth Carolina.
JAMES ABERCROMBIE, D. D. Senior Assistant Minister of the United, Churches of Chriit, and St. Peter's, Philadelphia.
BIRD WILSON, D. D. Professor of Systematic Divinity in the General Theologica I Seminary of the Prot. Epis, Church in the United States' iVewi York.
WILLIAM H. De LANCY, D. D. Provost of the University of Pennsylvania.
WILLIAM COOPER MEAD, D. D. Rector of Trinity Church, Soulhwark, Philadelphia.
IV KECOMMENDATIONS.
EDWARD RUTLEDGE,
Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Pennsylvania.
JAMES MONTGOMERY, D. D.
Rector of Si Stephen's Church, Philadelphia.
PETER VAN PELT, Jun.
Secretary of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Prot. Epis. Church in the U. States, Philadelphia. The republication of "Slater's Original Draught," I con- sider to be one of the best means of directing aright the hon- est enquirer for the truth, in the important subject of the Constitution of the Christian Ministry, in the first and purest ages of the Gospel. Most sincerely, therefore, do I recom- mend it to general patronage.
BENJAMIN T. ONDERDONK, D. D.
Bishop of the Prot. Epis. Church in the State of J^eio York.
We fully accord with the foregoing recommendation of Bishop Onderdonk.
JONATHAN W. WAINWRIGHT, D. D. Rector of Grace Church, JVeto York.
THOMAS LYELL, D. D. Rector of Christ Church, JVeio York.
HENRY ANTHON, An Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, J\'ew York.
WILLIAM CREIGHTON, D. D.
Rector of St. Mark's Church, J^ew York.
WILLIAM R. WHITTINGHAM,
Rector of St. Luke's Church, JVew York.
I consider "Slater's Original Draught" as one of the ablest delineations of the Primitive Christian Church and its Ministry, that has been given to the public. Its repub- lication cannot fail to advance the cause of primitive truth and order.
THOMAS CHURCH BROWNELL, D. D. LL. D. Bishop of the Prot. Epis. Church in the State of Connecticut:
RECOMMENDATIONS. T
The republication of "Slater's Original Draught," in an- swer to Lord Chancellor King's book, to which he never i-eplied, and by which he is said to have been convinced, I regard as a measure promising great benefit to the Church, and an enterprise worthy of all commendation.
GEORGE W. DOANE,
Bishop of (he Prot. Epis. Church in the State of N'ew Jersey.
I rejoice to see proposals for an American edition of "Sla- ter's Original Draught." The English editions are all old and nearly out of print. The work is a master piece, and one of the best correctives of some of the prevailing errors on the subject of which it treats.
WILLIAM CROSWELL,
Rector of Christ Church, Boston.
We heartily concur in the several recommendations of "Slater's Original Draught," and shall be glad to see it in the American press.
HARRY CROSWELL, D. D. Rector of Trinity Church, Js''evo Haven.
WILLIAM E. W^YATT, D. D. Rector of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore.
Although I have never read "Slater's Original Draught of the Primitive Church," yet from the high reputation which it has long enjoyed as a work containing an unan- swerable refutation of the errors of Lord King in relation to the subject of which it treats, I should hail its publication in this country, as an event favorable to the interests of primi- tive truth and order.
JOHN P. K. HENSHAW, D. D. Rector of St. Pcler''s Church, Baltimore.
I should be glad to see an American edition of "Slater's Original Draught of the Primitive Church," and do not ddubt that its circulation in the West will be highly profit- able.
CHARLES P. M'lLVAlNE, D. D. Bishop of the Prot. Ejiis. Church in the State of Ohio.
HBOIiOGlO&Ii
^^M^%i^
CHAPTER I. p. 1.
An Introduction. The Primitive notion of a particular Church- considered, The Enquirer asserts a Congregational form of it. His first authority from Irenaeus for it, proves nothing to his purpose. His second is a precarious construction of Dionysius Alexandrinus' words, and inconsistent with that father's account of his own Church of Alex- andria. His third and last authority from Tertullian is rather a mere oversight, than an argument. His observation of the wold Churchi rarely used for a collection of Churches, shewn to be neither material nor just. He divides Church members and ministers aright; but in the respective offices he assigns them, he vastly differs from the ancients. His misapprehension of the different powers conferred by the Apostles on the several Elders they ordained, a main ground for his mistake ; yet easy to be rectified by some observations of his own, if applied to it. But to carry on that mistake, he styles the single Bishop of any Church the Supreme Bishop of it, contrary to the language of all antiquity^ And thereby defeats that catholic test of distinction between truth and heresy of old, viz. the Apostolical Bishop in every true Church of Christ. The artful use he makes of the several titles of his Supreme Bishop.
CHAPTER II. p. 24.
A Primitive Diocese called a Church, in the singular number, is no proof of the congregational form of it; it was apparently so in latter ages, when a plurality of congregations was notorious; nay. Churches, in the plural, were often attributed to a single Diocese by the ancients though the Enquirer overlooked it. His popular argument from a primitive Diocese, and a modern English Parish called by the common name ofUapoida considered at large, and refuted. The Congregational notion inconsistent with the numbers of believers in Jerusalem, which Church, though the original platform of Christian Churches, the Enqui- rer passes over, whilst he particularly considered other Churches. Ter" tullian, Eusebius, and Optatus' testimony in this case. St. Gregory's Church in Neoeassarea a pregnant instance against the Enquiry. Justin
VIII CONTENTS.
Martyr misrepresented in tVie Enquiry. His true meaning cleared. The like of several passages in St. Ignatius . A primitive Bishop c ould assign distinct places, and Presbyters to officiate in them within liis own Diocese, confessed b} the Enquirer. St. Ignatius' IIu'i'?'^*' ^t' 7o avTo (jviii\ivats and his Mia iirictt: are severally accounted for. And also his one Altar in a Diocese. The Enquirer's mistake about St. Cyp- rian's Diocese communicating with him ail at once. And that all received at the Bishop's hands only in Tertullian's time. And that the Bishop alone baptized all. And that he alcne took a personal care for all in want or distress. And that those common phrases before the Church, in presence of the people and the like, implied the presence of every individual at once. Bishops might write letters in the name of tlieir people, and not have all present . A mistake again, about the Bishop of Smyrna's personal knowledge of all his Diocese. And of the Diocese of Magnesia having but one Church in it. The great absurdity of affirming the See of Antioch to have but one congregation in it. The like of the See of Rome. And of the See of Carthage. And of that of Alexandria. Some short remarks on Bishons placed in villnges
CHAPTER III. p. 92.
The sense of antiquity about several parts of the Episcopal charge, compared wiih that of the Enquirer's. The primitive manner of pla- cing a Bishop in a vacant See, misrepresented in the Enquiry. Origi- nal right not distinguished from some particular practice in that matter. Holy Scripture places the entire power of ordimiion in the persons of the governors of the Church. The Apostles used that power accord- ingly ; and so did those secondary Apostles St. Paul and St. Barnabas. The true construction of Acts, 14, 23. can mean nothing else. The like authority was personally invested in Timothy and Titus. Those texts, 1 Tim. 3, l2, 10. and Tit. 1, 16. tiiat Bishops and Deacons ;njst be first proved and found blameless, imply no popular election in them ; St. Paul's instructions about it shew his meaning to be otherwise, nor does the nature of the qualifications for the ministry agree with it, or the Enquirer's impartial opinion in the case. Primitive antiquity shews the like practice after the Apostles' times. Where the people were present at the consecration of their Bishop, the Synod chose the person,, and all the people's part in it was to give their testimony of his life and conversation. St. Cyprian's account of the African Synod's practice in that case, proves quite the contrary to what the Enquiry quotes it for ; and that chiefly by the misconstruction of the vvor;l suj/ragc in making.
CONTENTS. IX
it equal to a judicial or authoritative act. St. Cyprian's notion of the word suffrage cleared at large. St. Clemens' phrase Suvtu^o/ojo-dp-jjs T?f 'KKKXriclai TTaarji directly answers to it, and neither one not the other imply any power or authority in them. The example of Alexander's promotion to the See of Jerusalem, a nd that of Fabianus to the See of Rome, urged by the Enquirer for proof of popular elections, and both of them shewn to be of a very different nature. The other two of Cornelius and St. Cyprian have only the mistake of the word suf- frage to support them. Some provinces may have obliged themselves to join the people's approbation to the Episcopal authority in oidina- tions, and there it became a duty for the time, hut was repealable, be- cause prudential only, and obliged no farther, as the Enquirer owns, than amongst themselves. To ordain in presence and cognizance of the people, for better knowledge of the candidates, was wise in the ancients, and is continued in the Church of England still. The case of St. Matthias and the seven Deacons considered; and neither one nor the other countenance a popular election of Pastors in. the Church.
CHAPTER IV. p. 141. The Enquirer's impartiality a little doubtful in this cause. He as- ser(s equality of order in Bishop and Presbyter. A ruling power in the Presbyter given for one instance of that equality, and yet a palpable inequality of it included in his definition of a Presbyter. That a Presbyter had not an inherent right in his orders to perform the whole office of a Bishop, proved from the judgment of antiquity, concerning the holy rite of advancing a Presbyter to the station of a Bishop. That judgment of theirs specified in six or seven instances of it, all importing the collation of a different order by it. And further, the Presbyter so advanced could perform such clerical offices then, as he could not do before ; what Tertullian's meaning is of approved Elders presiding, and Firmilian's of his majores natu ; neither one nor the other refer to the presidency of the Presbyters with their Bishops in the private consistories, as co-partners with them in the executive part of the Ec- clesiastical Court. Much less do Firmilian's words imply a power of ordination in the Presbyters, which they are quoted for; nor yet that text, 1 Tim . 4 . 14. with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. What Rogatianiisand Numidicus did by St. Cyprian's order, no proof of a power of excommunication in his Presbyters. Much less do the quotations from his letters to the Presbyters and Deacons proye they could do all their Bishops could do. Nor does the letter of the Roman
X COIVTENTS.
Presbyters to those at Carthage imply any such thing. To prove that Presbyters could confirm, the Enquirer makes that holy office a mere part or appendix of Baptism, and the very same with absolution Of penitents. The invalidity of his proof for it, and the inconsistency of the thing itself, and the true nature of primitive confirmation explain- ed, and appropriated to the Bishop alone. The Enquirer's second general reason for equality of order, from identity of title or appella- tions, shewn to be of no force, and a reason assigned why clerical titles were so indifferently used all the Apostles' times, and the title of Bish- op so peculiarly appropriated afterwards. His third general reason, viz. tliat the ancients expressly affirm there were but two orders in the Church, holds goodin none of the three authorities quoted for it. That of Clemens Roraanus examined, and that of Irenseus; together with the sacred text, Isa. 60. 17. used by them both, and lastly, that of Clemens Alexandrinus. The Enquirer affirms St. Cyprian calls his Presbyters his colleagues; his mistake shewn. His singular reason fof the number of Presbyters in many particular primitive Churches . The divine and apostolical institution of Bishops, Priests and Deacons in the Church observed from Clemens Alexandrinus' account of St. John Uie Apostle's solemn ordinations.
CHAPTER V. p. 202.
Deacons by a mistaken passage in St. Ignatius, styled Deacons of the meats and cups. That father clears them of that title, and styles them ministers of the Church of God. The Enquirer, to strengthen •his notion of the equal orders of Bishop and Presbyter, supposes the same in Deacons and sub-Deacons, which is a wide mistake, and against matter of fact. His account of the primitive manner of ordain- ing Piesbyters. It is no pattern of the Catholic practice then, though represented as such, by misquoting St. Cyprian for it. What St. Cy- prian did in that matter, was wholly grounded on a private purpose of his own, and that proved at large, both from competent and impartial judges, and from himself too. The primitive qualifications for holy orders, required and provided for by the constitution of tlie Church of England. Some remarks upon the manner of the ministers' mainte- nance in the primitive times; that it was no subscription of the breth- ren, as the Enquirer makes it, but of a very different nature. The notion of the primitive fathers about paying tythes.
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER VI. p. 222. Of the Lay-members' rights and privileges in the Church. The En- quirer affirms, that to elect and depose their Bishop, were peculiar acts belonging to them. Their right of electing is considered and refuted before. That of depriving is wholly grounded upon the pretended example of the people in Spain depriving of their Bishops Basilides and Martialis; the palpable misapplication of that matter of fact. The Enquirer owns that the ancients both used the authority of a Sy- nod for deposing Bishops, and ascribed the thing itself to them; nay, confesses it was necessary. A short specimen of the discipline pre- scribed and enjoined by the Church of England for the benefit of her children after the example of the primitive Church.
CHAPTER VII. p. 231. Of the government and policy of the primitive Church in her eccle- siastical courts; the Enquirer affirms, the laity and clergy were in joint commission, and all of them judges there. He offers the primitive father's expositions of the several texts, where the power of the keys was granted, for proof of it : yet owns that some of the ancients under- stood that power given to St. Peter, Mat. 16. 18. 19. as peculiar to Bishops only, and that Origen and St. Cyprian agreed to it, so long as Bishops were orthodox. But others of the ancients, he says, expound,' Mat. IG. 17, 18. as a grant to the 'whole Church. He instances in Tertullian and Firmilian, yet neither of them refer to that text in his quotations from them. Tertullian's authority is very different from this application of it, and so is Firmilian's too; and yet that from Clemens Romanus is much more foreign and surprising still; and so ia St. Cyprian's evidence for it, after his declaration about the power of the keys; yet he is quoted for the people's power in the consistory again; but no one quotation from him implies any such thing either in respect to the judicial acts of censuring or absolving offenders, or any one particular relating to them. The sense of tiiat primitive martyr in points of ecclesiastical discipline compared with that of the Enqui- rer, and the difference manifestly shewn.
CHAPTER VIII. p. 254. Every single congregation in the primitive Church, had not a power within themselves, to exercise all ecclesiastical discipline. And a far- ther proof that primitive dioceses were not congregational . Of Synods and the proper members of them ; the Enquirer affirms, that Presbyters,
XII CONTENTS.
Deacons and Lay-representatives, as well as Bishops, had a right of session in them. His authority for it from the synodical Epistle of the council at Antioch, considered and refuted. As also his other author- ity from an anonymous author in Eusebius. His last reserve from the example of St. Cyprian's council against the lapsed discussed at large, and shewn to imply no such thing. An account given of the Presby- ters coming to Synods in the primitive limes, and of the Laity also. Remarks upon the Enquirer's singular notion of the first division of ecclesiastical provinces.
CHAPTER IX. p. 272. * The unity of the Church. *■ * * * * * '
* The table of Contents of this chapter having got mislaid, the pub- lisher is unable to give them in full, agreeably to the English edition.
preface:
TO THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION.
It is an evident fact, that very many of the prevailing errors in religion, are attributable to mistaken views respecting the "Constitution, Discipline, Unity and Wor- ship of the Primitive 'Churc h."
Next to that inward and transforming power of reli» gion, which has its seat in the heart and affections, and is able to control the actions, and guide the lives of all who feel its influence, a correct understanding of the outward form and constitution of the Church of Christ is unques- tionably essential.
If, as the scriptures assures us, there be but "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all;" if the word of God be at unity in itself; and if the doctrine and discipline of the Church in the first and purest ages of Christianity, were such as Christ and his Apostles estab- lished, and intended to be transmitted down to those who should come after them, then it becomes an important duty for every one who calls himself a Christian, to ascertain well the Ira'h in these matters, that he may be well grounded and settled in his opinions, and at all times able to give an answer to every one that asketh a reason for the principles which he adopts.
The following pages, recommended as they are by some of the highest authorities and distinguished divines of the Protestant Episcopal Church in these United States, as a work of singular merit, must, it is believed, prove in this country, and at this time, as it has done on the oth- er side the Atlantic, a very valuable aid in forming a right judgement on the important subjects of which it treats.
XIV PREFACE.
It can scarcely have escaped the notice of tlie most inattentive observer of the various controversies which have originated in this country, on the constitution and ministry of the Church, in its early ages, that the work of Lord Chancellor King, intitled an "Enquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity and Whorship of the Primitive Church;" has not unfrequently been quoted and referred to by anti-Episcopalians, in a tone of triumph, which would lead one to imagine, it had never re. ceived an answer, and, as has been asserted, that it is unanswerable. But whoever will attentively and can- didly peruse the following pages, must unquestionably come to a very differrent conclusion. Indeed so com- plete and triumphant was the refutation of Mr. Slater viewed at the time of its publication, that we have strong circumstantial evidence of its having produced an entire conviction in the mind ol Lord King himself, of the error of his viewS; from the fact, not only of his never having attempted a reply to the "Original Draught"; but, that shortly afcer its appearance, he presented Ivlr Slater to a lucrative benefice, which, as Lord Chancellor, was at his disposal.
It was the intention of the publisher of this first Amer- can edition of the "Original Draught," as was promised in his Prospectus, to accompany it with a short biographic- al notice of the author; but after improving every means accessible to him for obtaining information, and delaying the publication nearly two years, he has been entirely unsuccessful in procuring any notices of his life and cha- racter, which ho sjpposol would bj of any considerable value. This he exceedingly regrets, since it would un- doubtedly prove highly satisfactory to Episcopalians generally, to possess some information of the life of so
PREFACE. XV
able and learned a champion of their cause. The depri- vation of this satisfaction cannot, however, lessen the real intrinsic merits of the work, and he therefore sub- mits it to serious and candid inquirers after truth, in the hope that it may exert an extensive and benificial influ- ence in the advancement of the cause of pure religion, and of primitive truth and order.
PREFACE,
The following sheets will need the less apology for Ihem, since all, who call themselves Christians, are so nearly interested in the subject of them; and the partic- ular author of that learned Tract they more immediately refer to, will find them little more than a friendly com- pliance with a modest request of his own. His collec tions from the venerable records of the primitive church, entitled, ^''An Enquiry into the Consliiul/'on, Discipline, Unity and Worship of it,''^ were many years since made public, as I am now assured, though my little acquaint, ance with the modern business of the press, made mie a stranger to it, till some considerable time after the second edition came abroad. In his preface to them, (calcula- ted, I presume, for the first impression,) he shews an humble diffideace of his youthful performance; and -de- sires another sense might be given of his several quota- tions, (if need required.) for better information of himself and others. I confess I saw need enough of that, at my first perusal of his book, and not a little v.'ondered, that no friendly hand liad done that kindness for him lonn- be- fore. As to my own part, I had never walked in the unpleasant paths of controversy to that day; and, besides the consciousness of my unfitness for it, had aversion enough ever to set a foot in them; but seeing none had answered, or was ansv/ering, as 1 could hear of, so rea- sonable a desire, though men of letters in both kingdoms of our United Island, had declared an earnest expectation of it, and the Holy Church of England in particular, has reproached the silence of her children in an argument that so plainly struck at her foundation; filial obedience,
II PREFACE.
I may say, to so faithful a Parent, moved me to use the best endeavors I could, to vindicate her truly apostolical constitution, aad to plead the cause of injured antiquity, as well as hers; for that both are truly one, in this case, the impartial reader will easily observe, when he sees the palpable mistakes corrected, and the unfair representa- tions of the venerable fathers of the church, so obvious in almost every page of those plausible collections, re- stored to their genuine sense again.
This is what may be expected here: And I am not conscious I have strained any one passage iti antiquity, beyond the true meaning of the venerable authors them- selves, to form a different construction of it from that of the ingenious Enquirer. 1 should count it the worst of sacrilege to do so; the goods of the churtih are not so sacred as her sense is. What each quotation- appeared to me, from the best authority, and closest attention I could use, I have fairly represented here; if defective in apprehending the true sense, or injudicious in the infer- ences from them, I heartily submit, in my turn, to the charity of better information. For as I write with a conscientious regard to undeceive some, so I am infinite, ly more concerned not to be deceived myself; and I wish no greater freedom, from prejudice or party, in any who read or censure these papers, than I am conscious of in tlie composing of them.
Every one too well knows, of what a large and exten. sive nature this unhappy subject is, and that the contro- versial books about it are sadly numerous, and full of different schemes and arguments, according to the genius of sects, and times, and persons; many of which might have fallen in with several parts of this discourse, had I been inclined to dispute, (as I bless God I am not,) but I
have kept close to the single treatise before me, and that for two reasons especially:
1. Because I heard from many hands, that the less learned, and more prejudiced, adversaries of the truly Primiiive Church of England, have made their boasts of it, and from its not bein^ answered yet, have proclaimed it an unanswerable vindication of their separation from her.
2. Because I think, that all the scattered arguments and pleas, for their univarrantahle schism, are reducible to some one or other, of the great variety of quotations cited in it. For a good part of those mistaken brethren, we know, with great zeal plead, the authority of Holy Scriptures to be clear on their' side, and these sit down contentedly, and triumph in their own comments, and constructions of those Holy Oracles; others pay some deference also to venerable antiquity; and these two great witnesses seem to be agreed upon by all, not only to give in their evidence, but even to be umpires for them, to determine all the fundamental points in difference between them. The reader will find the testimony both of one and the other fairly summed up here; and 1 only pray he may bring a prepared mind with him, to sit down by the peaceful award, which those authentic arbitrators make, for the blessed union of all christians, in one and the same Holy Catholic Church together; which Individ- ual Church of Christ, they visibly enough distinguish for us all, from every counterfeit image of it, by the truly primitive, single, and apostolical constitution of it. And as for those who regard little, either one or the other, of these two great authorities, but overrule all outward tes< timony, of God or man, by an inward witness of their own, (subject lo no trial of the Holy Scriptures them'
IV PKEFACE.
selves, and impatient to hear of a visible church, and the teachings of men.) I dispute not with them; they super- cede all that trouble for me. 1 only recommend them to the Divine compassion for their better instruction, with affectionate grief and prayer for them.
To the reader I have this only to observe farther, that since these papers were nigh wrought off the press, an ingenious treatise came to my hands, entitled, '■^ The In- validity of the Dissenting Ministnj, <^*c." wherein some particular quotations in the enquiry, relating to the Pres- byter's power of ordination, are judiciously explained, and with clear reasoning answered to the full; which might have shortened my work, and the author's trouble in that single point, had I been so fortunate as to have known it in time: However, it is but one link of the chain of mistakes in that whole performance, (to use that learn- ed author's phrase,) which fell under his consideration; and therefore less offence will be taken, I hope, if some- thing like it, though in a more imperfect manner, should be met with here again.
I must add for the ingenious Enquirer's satisfaction^ too, that I have all along been mindful of his strict charge, not to wander out of the straight bounds he set me, of the three first centuries of the church; I think he will have little reason to complain of that. But as to the particular editions, of the several authors he quotes, I cannot say 1 have been so happy, as to have it in my power, to make use of none but them, though I gladly would have done it, in answer to so reasonable a desire; but choice of impressions has not always ffxllen in my way. To make the best amends 1 could, I think I have; seldom failed, to mention the edition \ use, which I hope, will be accepted, where I could do no more.
AN
ORIGINAL DRAUGHT
OF THE
P R I ?,t I T I V E C Ii U K C II, &c.
It is a melancholy thing to see, that after §o long a settlement of the christian Church in the world, and that by the greatest evidence and demonstration of Divine Wisdom and Power, that ever any work of God was wrought amongst men; still the constitution of this Church should want enquiring after: that this city ot^ God, set on purpose, by the Divine Founder of it. on a holy and conspicuous Hill, to the end that every simple one who passeth by, might readily see it, and comfortably enter in to be saved, should be hid from multitudes, even of se- nous Enquirers after it, in tiiese latter times. I have little inclination to examine, what occasion has been given, in the last or present age, for such a wild variety of opinions about it, as has filled the minds of too many men with dangerous amusements only, and afforded little or no comfortable and solid assurance of the thing; for this (I fear) would rather aggravate, than heal; and might teach our enemies to reproach us, instead of instructing mistaken friends: but wheresoever the blame of all must lie, in respect of men, I am sure it is a sorrowful instance to us all, of the too successful wiles of that noted adver. sary in the Oracles of Truth, who, throughout eveiy age, has counterfeited the works of God, that he might deceive the children of men: and because he can never extin. 2*
■i AS ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
guish the light of truth, has either raised mists to make it shine dim, or formed meteors of his own, that might be mistaken for it. Things are come to such a heiglit and warmth amongst us now, that nothing less (I fear) than the interposing hand of Heaven, in a more than ordinary way, will ever undeceive the multitudes of prejudiced brethren in the nearer and remoter parts of Cliristen- dom, and so entirely i^epair the breaches of this Holy City of God, as to make it (what it ought to be) in per- fect unity .within itself.
Yet, when 1 meet with any promising apearance of a virtuous design to clear up all these difficulties for us, and help us to a better understanding with one another; the subject does affect me; and I cannot but have some se- cret inclination to look into the management of it: not so much to satisfy myself in the knowledge of a true Church (which I bless God I have long been satisfied in) as that I cannot be wholly uncopcemed for others; and would gladly see, why, a^ad how, we come to differ in so great and plain a matter-, wKo so generally a^ee in other fun- damentals of the Christian Truth.
This is the main motive which induced me to look into the Treatise before mc: the title page alone offering me a subject, which I had a veneration for; and the short preface fairly intimating to me, t' at tlie learned author had a proper sense of the weightiness of the argument he undertook, and as fairly promised a suitable integrity in the performance of it: how far these encouragintr hints and solemn promises are made good in the work it- self, I shall leave to be determined by the reader, when I have particularly considered the several parts of this elaborate enquiry, which I now propose to do, in order as they lie.
THE PKIMITIVE CHURCH, &C.
CHAP. I.
To begin with his first chapter then, wherein his main business is, to examine the primitive notion of the word Church; upon a due apprehension whereof, he truly and ingenuously tells us, that a right understanding of a great part of his discourse does depend. Nothing can be more proper and material therefore in the whole enquiry be-, fore us, than to settle this first; wherein if we can hap- pily agree, the whole work will considerably be short- ened to our hands, and we shall make a great advance, at once, towards a friendly accommodation, in several ensuing particulars, which have so near a relation to this.
He mentions many notions of a Church in those early times, but fixes upon one only, as* the usual and common acceptation of the word, and which (he says) he chiefly treats of; and therefore, since I mean to differ or dispute as little as I can, I shall pass ' over most of the other less material notions of it, at present, (how little soever I can consent to some particulars in them) and apply myself to consider that main and principal one, which is indeed the great hinge upon which most of his other specula, tions turn.
The word Church (says hef) is frequenthj to he under- stood of a particular Church, i. e. of a company of believers, who at one time, in one and the same place, did associate themselves together, and concur in the partici- pation of all the instilutions and ordinances of Jesus Christ , with fheir proper Pastors and Ministers: And in this sense (says he) we must understand the Church of
*P.ige 7, } 2. tPagc 3, { 2.
^ AN OKIGIIfAL DEAUGnX OF
Rome, the Church of Smyrna, the Church of Antioch, the Church of Athens, the Church of Alexandria, or the Church in any other such j)lace whatsoever, when we meet them in the earliest writers of the Christian Church.
This is then liis positive definition of a primitive par- ticular Church: and to represent all fairly, let us hear his instances or authorities for it from the venerable fa- thers themselves. He begins with Irenmis; for thus (sa)^s he) that is, in the sense which I have given you of a primitive Church, Irenccus mentions that Church which is in any place (ca qucc est in quoque loco Ecclcsia, or ra- ther, inquoquo loco, as I find it in Iren. I. 2 c. .56.) — Now this, I must confess, is a very dark authority to mc, to prove what kind of Church that holy fattier meant by it: if there be any consequence in it, to the purpose it is here brought for, it must needs lie in thtise two plain words (quoquo loco) in any place and from them, as far as I am able to imagine, it can no otherwise be infer- red, than one of these two ways; either first, That there was no other particular Church at that time to be in any place whatsoever, but just such an one as this learned author here quotes this place to prove for him, which would be such a singular fallacy in reasoning (if he should apply it in that sense) as I cannot suppose our ingenious Enquirer can be guilty of: or else, secondly, it must be, that the word;p/ace has such a scanty notion necessarily tied to it, that it would have been no sense in that learned father to have meant a larger circuit by it, than that of an ordinary meeting-house in our modern phrase: For, if ;3&ce. be such an affection of bodies, as conforms itself to every dimension of the thing that is applied to it, (as I think both naturalists and loiricians v.ill warrant us to
THE PKIMI'^'IVE CHURCH, &C. 5
say,) then to be said to be in any jilace, unless the par- ticular measure of that place were expressed too, adds nothing in the least to prove of what extent that thing is. So that Irenaus^s Church in any place, was such a sort of Church, to be sure, as they then understood a Christian Church to be; but whether parochial, diocesan, provincial, or any other kind whatsoever, as to the ex- tent or circuit of it, is not one jot the clearer to me, by his calling it a Church many place, \.\\ong\\ our more dis- cerning Enquirer (it seems) saw his own scheme sd visi- bly lie in it.
His second instance of such a primitive Church, as he has defined for us, is taken from an expression o( Diony- skis Alexcindrinus, when he was banished to Cephro in Lybia. I will give it in his own translation,* "There came so many christians to him (says he) that even there he had a Church." Here was a Christian Church, it seems, and that in a straight place of banishment too; though had it been translated a Christian Assemhjy only, I am sure no wrong had been done to the original word; but I shall not insist on that. It is concluded, (by apply- ing it in this place) that it needs must be such a Church as could meet together for religious worship in one place only, and no otherwise. I confess, it may be so; and that will prove but little, that this ancient father had no other notion of a particular Christian Church, than such an one as this; or, even that lie meant it so, in this very quotation itself; for, by looking a little farther on in this continued relation of his, I think it will evidently appear, that he makes his own particular Church a quite differ- ent thing from it. This I shall consider by and by; only
*Dionys. Alex, apgd Euseb. 7 c.ll p, 259. IIoXX?/ (!-vvcyii'ii'"xn
AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
let me first leave one short remark or two upon this lit- tle Church at Cephro.
Dionysius himself calls it (in our author's own quota- tion ) i-oXX« 'EKKytiaia that is, in true English, I think, a pretty numerous Church at least; Valesius, in his trans- lation, calls it, magna muMludo FideUum, a great multi- tude of believers. Dionysius farther says, it consisted of a threefold concourse of Christians; 1st, of all the brethren that came from Alexandria to him; 2d, of oth- ers that came out of Egypt thither; and 3d,jwhich I think is worth considering, he tells us, that before he left the place, ^« "JX'Vot Tiii' to-vav, not a iew of the heathens left their Idols, and came over to his Church. Not a few, indeed, we have reason to believe, since the humble Confessor himself ventures to speak, as the holy Apostle did upon the like occasion, that God had opened a door to him there to propagate the Gospel amongst them, and he thought he had sent him thither for that very purpose to fionvert them. All this amounts not, I own. to an un- questionable certainty of more than a single congrega- tion at Cephro, and I have no occasion to desire it should; but I think it bids so fair for it, that it looks like little choice of authorities in the case, when we search for such an one as this, to prove that a particular Church in that age consisted of no more.
But the truth is, (and I desire it may be noted all along in this discourse) that the point in question does not he here; whether there was a church in that place, or, in- deed in any other, that de facto had but one congrega- tion to denominate it so; for who doubts but at the first conversion of the Heathen World, the nunaber of believ- ers in some particular places, might not for some time amount to more than that; and records of many particu.
THD PRIMITIVE CHUECH, &C. 7
lar churches afterwards might be wanting (as our learn- ed Enquirer argues upon a like occasion in the 148th page of this treatise) to set forth the entire state and con- dition of such primitive churches to us? But the true question is, whether if more Congregations tiian one, had been actually gathered or converted in any place what- soever, and exercised their offices of Divine worship in distinct and separate places from one another, so that their first, proper, and chief Pastor could not be able personally to attend the service of them all; whether the property, I say, must in such case be altered, and they could no longer bo one church, or be subject to one and the same supreme ecclesiastical Governor, (call him what we please) but must of necessity be formed then into more particular independent churches, and a supremo Pastor, unaccountable to the other, (or to any else) must have presided over each of them, and denominated thera as many particular churches, as there were single as- seinblies that nfiet together to celebrate the ordinances of the Christian Church. This, I humbly conceive,' our learned Enquirer should have proved from this, or any other authorities he produces hereafter in defence of his own opinion, if he meant effectually to support his fun- damental scheme by them. And since it no where does appear from one end of his elaborate enquiry to the oth- er, that he has done so, I must needs say this is such a fundamental defect, as renders the whole performance of very little use to that pious design he professes in it, of reconciling differences about the constitution of the prim, itive Church.
But it is time I make my promise good, and shew that Z)ion?/««5 himself meant no such church, even in this very narrative of his, as he is here quoted for: and this
8 AJ! OEIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
will require that a short account be first given of the present condition that holy confessor was then in. The fase was thus; the persecuting Governor of the prov- ince, breathing out greater thrcatenings still against the banished christians, ordered them all to be removed into the inhospitable region of Marosotis, and particularly assigned the quarters of Dwnysius himself at a place called CoUuthio; the holy Bishop was troubled at the thoughts of this change;' for though he knew that region better than he did the other, yet' they talked of it as if there were small hopes of many christian brethren, or indeed of any sort of good men to be found there. But son>e of the faithful dbout me, says he, comforted mc in this distress: and what were the arguments of comfort that they offered to him? Why, they put me in mind, says he, of this, that Qolluthio was a place nearer to the city (of Alexandria) still, and though I had such concourse of brethren at Cephro, says he, that I could T^'Xarvnpoy dcKXriaialuv that is, havc a church of a very large com- pass, even, in that remate and desolate country, yet' they, told me I should enjoy more constantly, at CoJluthio, the company of ihexn I loved most, and counted dearest to me in the world; for such as those * they said, would come and make their 'abode there, insomuch that there would be congregations of them in sundry/ places, up and doicn, as in so many sulmrlis remotely situai'id from the city; and this, [say she,) I found to he very tri{e; that is, such a concourse of christians did resort to him there, and such distinct assemblies there were of them, during his abode in that place. And now, if these distinct con-
* A(pl^i>vTat yap Kat avaTtavcoi'Tai Kat u; iv trpoa^wi^ wopixncpta «ip£vo({ Kara, ^epoi saovrai avvayuiyai. Kuseb. ibd.
\
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCK, &C. 9
gregationsof believers were under the spiritual jurisdic- tion and government of Dionysius alone> and were pecu- liarly/his church and his people, as the only bishop or supreme ecclesiastical pastor over them, by whose order and direction alone ministerial offices could be perform- ed to each of them, (as the historian's account of that place and time does evidently prove him to be) and none butf Presbyterss and Deacons, (as they are subordinate- jy now taken) are mentioned in the whole narration be- sides, some accompanying him in his trouble.?, some wandering to and fro in banishment, and some particu- larly named with marks of honor, for attending their charge and ministry in the c'ty, in the heat of all the persecution; besides what Dionysius might himself or- dain, if the necessity of his church required it; then I think it needs no farther proof, that this holy confessor, and father of the church, could have no such notion of a particular church in his time, as our learned author's quotation (out of this very narrative of his) has imputed to him.
And yet there is one remarkable passage more in the sufferings of this holy confessor, that makes it much clearer still, if need should be. Take it in his own ac- count of himself, as Eusehius has transcribed it from him, in the same chapter with all that we have heard already. Germanus, an invidious Christian Bishop, had, it seems, reproached Dionysius, as if he had fled and de- serted his church of Alexandria, without holding any religious assemblies before he went off; which was in» deed the pious custom of the churches then, as often as
t ^HKoXadriffOvrat St jiot cruinrptaSuTipos Ttjia Mo^t/ioj koi Siaxoroi (ptzv^o; Kai t^vstSios Kai Xaifirfituv. — Euseb. ib,
8
10 AW OBIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
any persecution was visibly nigh at hand; to the end that Catechumens might be baptized, the eucharist adminis- tered to the faithful, and solemn exhortations to coAstan- cy and perseverance left with them all, to prepare and fortify them against the trials which were immediately coming upon them. Now, how does the holy Bishop an- swer this charge? He first shews tiiat his early appre- hension and sudden condemnation left no time or means for him to perform any one of those ministerial offices by himself in person: But then immediately subjoins, and says, that * by God's assistance he was not wanting in a visible assembly neither; but with all diligence, says he, I ordered those in the city to assemble, as if I had been personally present with them, being absent indeed in the body, as it is said, but present in the spirit with them. — Using the Apostle's phrase, who so governed and presi- ded over churches at a distance. Here is a solemn as- sembly then of the christians in Alexandria, called to- x^ether at the command of their absent Bishop: And I presume none will think they met on this occasion, with- out celebrating some ordinances at least of religious wor- ship. Nay, I cannot but say, that unless most or all of those holy offices were performed there, which I just now mentioned as customary and necessary to be done in such a juncture of time as this was, the holy confessor had but slightly answered the charge and accusation it was his business there to clear. But least of all could he have comforted himself, that by God's assistance he had caused such a considerable part of his cure to assemble there, if
rrsU^o^^pl>v res (tev ui T7] voXu avvtxpoTuv u>i cvviixv' avuv fttv t<j mifa'Jt, «f i.ro» us iiTuv [or, ij r»»nj>, as some copies have ii,] irofw* it «« nnfiajt. Ku£»b.ib. p 211.
THE FKIMITIVB CUURCE, &C. 11
the offices which should minister all the spiritual help they then assembled for, were not dispensed to them too. To apply this, therefore, to the case in hand —
Wiiat manner of church was this of Alexandria at this time? The Bishop in exile had several congregations of his flock in and about the place where his miserable ban- ishment had confined him: The presbyters in his absence, and by his order and authority, hold a religious assembly in the city itself: One only Bishop all this while issues out precepts and acts, as chief pastor and governor of these distinct and so far distant congregations, and is by the general language of the Catholic Church, and of the authentic historians of that time, entitled Bishop, (with- out partner or competiior) of the particular church of Alexandria.
If this be consistent with the definition of such a par- ticular church, as this primitive father was produced to bear witness to, and that in this very narrative of his, where all that I have here offered is recorded by his own liand, I am afraid such enquiries into antiquity will help but little to settle a wavering mind about the true consti- tutionof the Church.
There is one instance more brought by our learned author, to shew that the word church was anciently taken in his sense; and bocause it is a short one, I s'lall not pass it by, though it is more surprising to me than both the others. It is from TerlulUarCs Exhortal. ad Castit. where that father says, JJbi Ires, Ecclesia est; where three are tojether, there we have a church: Now to stop at a com- ma, after four single words, in any quotation, where two words more would bring him to a full period, and explain the author's meaning too, is a little strange to me; for Tertullian's whole sentence is only this; Ubi ires, Ecck>
12 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
sia est, licet laid; that is, where three are, there a church is, though they be all but Laymen: And is it not strange to any man, as well as mc, that such an extraordinary^ church as this, with but three Laymen in it, should be brought to explain the primitive notion of a particular church associating together with their pastors and minis- ters for participation of the ordinances and institutions of Christ? And yet to this very quotation cur ingenious En- quirer immediately subjoins; in this sense, says he, we must understand the Church of Borne, of Smijrna, of Antioch, and in short, in any other such place whatso- ever.
There is an observation in our inquisitive author's 4lh notation of a c-hurch, particularly calculated for the use of his own scheme, and therefore must briefly be consid- ered: He observes * there, that he never met with the v/ord church used in the singular number ly any of the Fathers for a collection of many part cular churches, ex- cept once only in f Cyprian, who mentions the church of God in Africa and Numidia. Now there is something- in Irenoeui. (quoted by himself too in the very next leaf) which looks very like it; for all the Christian Churches which were gathered from among the Gentiles, that learned father expresses by a church, in the singular number, the expression you have in the margin, \ as quo- ted to my hand in the 7th page of the Enquiry, and that iinplies a collection of churches sure beyond all excep- tion. But the tr .th is, I am not aware in the least what advantage this can bo to the point in question, to observe that a particular church is ordinarily expressed in tho singular number, since it is a natural expression for it^
*Pag. 4. +Cyp. Ep. 71. M-
:j:Ea quGc ex Geniibus est Ecclesia. Iren- 1, 4. c. 37 .
THE PHIMITIYB CHUnCH, &C. 13
and no otherwise explains the constituent parts of it, than to say, it is a church somewhere in some place or anoth- er, which how much it clears up the notion cf it, we have seen before. Nor is it of better use to observe, that na- tional or provincial churches are usually expressed in the plural number, since it affords no evidence at all to prove what manner of cliurches they were, that were compre- hended under them, which is the only point in question.
I make no doubt, that our Author's suggestion in it is this: that if a particular church had more congregations than one in it, it would surely be expressed in the plural number; and why? Becaus3 a single congregation and a particular Church, he would have us take for granted, were one and the same thing in the sense and language of the ancients; which, though he has not proved yet, (and I think by the little already said, he will find it hard to do) yet this is an early preparation for it, and some- thing like begging the question bc'oi'ehand; therefore, I thought it not improper to take a little notice of it, es- pecially since in matter of fact it is a more oversight of the Enquirer; for I shall shew in-=itance3 to the contrary in the beginning of the next chapter.
The notion of a primitive church thus cleared, as we have seen, he proceeds in a regular and proper method, to enquire into the constituent parts of it, and to consider the particular offices, together with the joint and several acts of the respective members of the church he has be- fore defined for us.
I am willing to set out, and go along with him as far as truth and primitive authorities, fairly represented, will give mo leave to do. His first division of tho members of a church is just and unexceptionable; he distinguish-, 93 them both as primitive and modern christians doj iote 3*
H
AN ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OP
Clergy and Laity, shutting out Tertulllan' s wild conceit now, though offered unawares before, as a notion of a church wholly unaccountable. * His division of the clergy afterwards into their particular orders and de- grees, as far as names and titles go, is as ortliodox and primitive as the other: For Bishops, Priest ; and Deacons, (so called at least by him) are as approved ecclesiastical officers in his singular scheme, as, in a genuine and prop- er distinction of them, we are sure they always were in every true Church of Christ since the Apostle's times. But I am sorry to say here, that this close adhering to a priinitive form of words, without retaining faithfully the primitive and genuine signification of them, is only a more plausible and dangerous way of setting off mistakes, and makes men lose the truth,_ without being sensible how it steals away. And this, I am afraid, will prove the case of our ingenious Enquirer himsalf, and has caused his performance to pass so insensibly with others; because there are some shades of antiquity in the Draught, though nearly examined, but very i'cw natural and original lines, are to be found. And when you have seen lohat Bishops and Priests he has settled in his. church, what offices, acts, ;;nd powers he has assigned to the several members of it, you will need no other light to discover this by, or to discern the difference between things and names.
To proceed, then; he seems (airly to derive all power and authority in the church from the true fountain of it, our Blessed Lord himself, and his. inspired Apostles com- missioned and empowered by him to plant and govern churches: But t!ie manner of their conveying this povv- er to others, either for assistance or succession to them- selve'Sin their great charge, which is a main part of this
THE PRIMITIVE CIIURCn, &C. 15
Enquiry, I am afraid will not appear so plain. Let us see his thoughts of it.
He begins with quoting two authorities from antiquity, to shew the Apostles' msthocl of constituting pastors and governors in tlie churches they yalhercd. The first is from Clemens Romanus, (in his 1st Ep. ad Cor. p. 54.) where that father says, the Apostles went forth preach- ing in city and country, (as our Enquirer is pleased to translate and place the words) but in * countries and cities, (as it is in Clemens himself; and perhaps that slight variation has some use in it afterwards, and there- fore, the Greek words are omitted in his quotation) op- pointing the firsl-f-iuits of their ministry for Bishops and Deacons. Thus far Clemens: To which our Enquirer adds, that the Apostles generally Uft those Bishops and Deacons to govern those particular churches over which they had placed them, whilst they ihemseh'.es passed for- ward, SfC. Now, if he means that they left them always as supreme church. governors there, I conceive the Holy Scriptures will be clear against him; for that supremacy of power over all the Ai)osto!ical Churches, for the great- est part, at least, of the Apostles' lives, was reserved in their own hands, by which St. Paul so justly imputed to- himself f the care of all the churches; and his com- mands, censures, and peremptory precepts, so visible in most of his epistles to them, do evidently prove the samej and therefore, whatsoever assistants they were to tho Apostles by their ministry and regulation of the churches under them, they could not be ecclesiastical officers in- vested with a plenitude of church power: I only note this
* Kola xupaj Zv (cat iroXsi; K7]pv(TmT'.; KaOi^avov ra; aira^x'^i «7'*' *^i EmaKo-s; Sxai SiaKovu;,&c. — Clein. Rom. Ep. 1 2JCor. p. 54.
t 2 Cor. xi. 28. «•
16 AN ORIGINAI. DRAUGHT OF
here (which must be more at large considered afterward s) for the sake of his s-cond authority immediately quoted from TcrluUian, to the same intent with this: For thus, says he, TertuUiun saycth, Clemens was ordained Bishop of Rome by St. Peter, and Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna by St. John.
Now, see here, how the fundamental mistake insinuates itself, as it were, at unawai'ea. Here arc two quotations brought to prove that thj 'Apostles themselves ordained pastors and spiritual oOicers in the several churches they planted; and because the name of Bishop is attributed to them in both places, therefore they are to pass for church officers, not only equal in tlicir apostolical institu- tion, but in the fulness of their commission, powers, and order too. Here lies the secret spring, indeed, that gov- ems the motions of the whole discourse; and ifit were set right by an even and unbiassed hand, the controversy would move in a regular and unilbrm manner oa both sides, till the adversaries met, I verily believe, in a bles- sed harmony and consant with one another. For if these Apostolical church otiiccrs, expressed only by a common name wilh one another; were but understood to be of a different order and degree by tlic very tenor of their first commission, as to the extent of powers, prerogatives, and jurisdiction, conveyed and assigned to each of them, (as I think the Epistles to Timothy and Titus alone would gatisfy a sober christian, that such a difference there re- ally was) the most entangled knot of the dispute would then be untied, and probably whole churches and nations of divided christians now, would, to the unspeakable joy of all good men, go hand in hand to tlic house of God
together, upon the settling of that single point alone.
* What unexceptionable authoriticg there are in the ve-
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 17
nerable records of antiquity for it, besides the holy Scrip- tures themselves, and the uninterrupted harmony of the Catholic church in it, before the modern innovation at Geneva, against it, I shall have occasion enough to ob- serve in the sequel of this discourse; and I shall only shew here, what considerable reasons our ingenious En- quirer has given in this very treatise of his to persuade himself, and all other sons of peace, like him, to consent to this distinction.
The first reason I observe from him is this; that for want of thus acknowledging this difference of order and prerogative in the church officers ordained by the Apos- tles' hands, he has brought a perplexing difficulty upon himself, and set the holy Scriptures and primitive fathers of the church at a seeming variance, at least, and well- nigh palpable contradiction with one another: For thus he tells us, in the very next paragraph after the two quo- tations above-mentioned; f lohctker, says he, in the apoS. tolical and ■primiUvc chijs there were rnore Bishops than one in a church, at first iighl seems difflcull to resolve^ that the Holy Scriptures, and Clemens Romanus mention many in one church, says he, is certain; and, on the other hand, it is as certain, that Ignatius, Tertullian, Cy- prian, and the following fathers, ojfirm, that there was and ought to be but one: These contradictions and seem- ing difficulties, as he calls them, he lakes the pains of writing his elaborate Enquiry in hopes to reconcile. — - Surely, he had some extraordinary inclination to solve them in a a peculiar and different way from others; for, . The second reason I observe from him for reconcilinff
o
all at once, is, because he shews us a more plain, natu- ral, and truly primitive way than that, in one single paSs
t See Enquiry, &:c. p. 1 1. } 5.
18 AN ORIGINAL DRAtrGHT OP
sage of his book bt-rore us. You may find it in his 4th chap. p. G5. of this Enquiry; where his assertion is, that the first who expressed these church officers ly the dis- tinct terms of Bishops and Presbyters, wis Ignatius, who lived in the beginning of the second century. And from hence I crave leave to observe these three things:
1st, Tliat as often as we meet with the word Bishop or Presbyter in the Holy Scriptures, we cannot, by the term itself, determine which of the two, according to the more distinct language of the ages immediately following, we must necessarily understand by it; unless the context, or some peculiar circumstance besidss, doss more clearly explain it to us. And,
2dly, That tho* same latitude of signification must for the same reason bo allowed to Clemens Romanus's Bish- ops and Presbyters too, because that holy Bishop * suf- fered martyrdom before Ignatius's Epistles were written; wherein the different and determinate sense of those words, as our learned Enquirer affirms, were first estab- lished in the church. And therefore,
3dly, It is but doing juslice to Tertullian in his quo- tation, and allowing him and all the fathers after him to mean by their Bishops such as the whole church did then understand, when t':e pre-eniinence of that name above the name of Presbyters, was fuily settled; and to inter- pret St. Clemens's Bishops by that warrantable latitude of signification which is acknowledged -to have been in general u^e in his time, and consequently no violence or injustice is done to his quotations, if we take thorn to be meant of such Bishops, as were afterwards determinately
*• Cicm. Rom. ninrijrcd, A. D, 100. St, Ignntiusspnt to Rome, and in his way wiitiiighis Eijisilea, A, D. 107. See D/. Care's ChroD^ of the lines fust ccnluiles.
THE PBIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 19
named and allowed to be no others than common Pres- byters, insubordinationto a higher church officer, (as to be sure they were at their first ordination in the Apostles' tirpes,) and then the great perplexity and doubtful contra- diction of the Holy Scriptures and venerable fathers, about one or more Bishops in one and the same church at a time, does naturally, and in perfect analogy to the sense and language of the primitive church, resolve and reconcile itself. For, that many such Bishops, indiffer- ently called Presbyters in the Holy Scriptures and first age of the church, were placed by the Apostles in par- ticular churches, is agreed, I think, by all: But that more Presbyters than one of that determinate order or degree, which were peculiarly called Bishop? afterwards, such as Clemens placed by St. Peter at Rome, or St. Polycarp by St. John at Smyrna, were ever ordained or settled by an Apostle in any particular church of theirs, I think I may freely say, is no where to be read in all primitive antiquity; and our author's own quotation from Tertul- lian here is one very pregnant instance of the thing.
Thus have I shewn what a peaceable and authentic way (agreeable to the sense and writings of the early ages our Enquirer appeals to) he himself has pointed out for us to compromise that difference; and his laboring to do it in a more intricate and unprecedented way, I am afraid, will never attain his pious ends of peace and unity so well.
However, in the very next breath, he fixes upon this for a sure truth, that there was but one supreme Bishop in a place. This seems a very orthodox and primitive assertion: But why such singular difference, m the ex- pression itself, from the common language of the holy fathers within his own three centuries? They speak often
20 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
enough of but one Bishop in a church; but of one su- preme Bishop in a church, I do not. remember I have ever read in their writings. Nay, his own quotations in this very place, as you may see thorn m the * margin here, bear witness for me, that the venerable St. Cyprian and Cornelius did not express themselves so: And besides, the former of those in the name of eighty seven African Bishops, then in cruncil with him, declared, that f none of them were Bishops over Bishops. What are we to understand then b)' this supreme Bishop, who is to be but Bishop of a single church loo? The answer is plain: — The common language of the primitive fathers would not do here; it would not suit with the following scheme of this Enquiry. For when tiiose fathers named a Bishop of a church, they needed no epithet of a superlative de- gree to distinguish him from any other ecclesiastical offi- cer within the cliurch, but concluded the original order he was of, did that of course for them. But our learned author, who discerns what primitive antiquity never saw, viz. that every Presbyter who ministered in any church, had received episcopal authority by apostolical institution or succession, as properly and truly as any Bishop in the Catholic church whatsoever, (which he positively affirms to be so, p. 70. of this Enquiry) stood in need of such a distinguishing epithet or his single Bishop indeed; and as his phrase appears to be thus plainly singular and new, fio we may well expect, that the notion itself, upon which
Unusin ecclcsia ad ic-inpus sacerdos. Cyp . Ep. 55. } G. [orEp. 59. p. 129. Edit. Oxon.]
Ooic tjxts'a.'lo ivc ETtiKo'irov Suv iv KaOo)^tKTi iKKXrjaia. — Ad Fabium Antioch . apud Euscb. I. 6, i\ 43.
t Neque eniin quii-quam nosiniin Episcopum se Episcoponim coo- stiluit, Concil. Carthag. in niiesat. apud Cypr. p. 223. Edit. Oiou.
THE PRIMITIVE CHCECH, &C. 21
it is grounded, (which I shall not here prevent myself from considering in its place) will appear to be so too.
In the mean time, that orthodox observation he makes immediately after this, seems somewhat extraordinary, if it were but only for the timing it. He had just said, there was but one supreme Bishop in a church, though, as I shewed just now, there might be many more Bishops there of apostolical institution by their order (in his sense of them) as well as that one; and yet forthwith he ob- serves to us, that ly the ^.taSoxai. or succession of Bishops, ordained by the Apostles, the orthodox were wont to prove the succession of their faith, and the novelty of here- tics; and quotes two warrantable authorities from Irenseus and Tertullian, here noted in the * margin, for it.
Here was an early occasion given indeed for his sin- gular distinction (if he could have Marranted it) of a su- preme bishop amongst many other apostolical bishops in the same church together. For without that, this great Catholic test to try the true faith by, would have proved no ies< at all: for if more bishops than one, of equal original order and apostolical institution too, were
♦ Edant originem Ecclesiarum suarutn, cvolvant ordineni Epirco- poruin suorum, ita per siiccessiones ab iuitio decurrentem, ut primus llle Episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis vel Apuslolicis viris, qui tamen cum Apostolis perseveraveiit, habuerit auiorem et antecessorem : hoc enim modo Ecclesise Apcstolicae census suos deferiint ; sicut Smyr- iiffiorum Ecclesia habens Polycarpuin ab Johatiiie conlocatum refert sicut Romanorum Clementem a Petro ortlinatum; proinde utique cee- terse exhibent, quos ab Apostoli-s in Episcopatum constitutos, Apos tolici seniinis traduces habeant. De Proescript. advers. HEeret. p. 78. [or p. 243. Edit. Rigalt. Lutet. 1641.]
Ad earn traditionem quae est ab Apostolis, quse per successionM Presbyterorum, [or successiones Episcoporum, as it is iu the next chap. I la Ecclesiit custodpro iiur,vocainus eos. Iron. Lib. 3. c. 2. 3
22 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
ordinarily in the same particular, church together, (as our learned author docs affirm) then to prove tiie ortho- doxy of a church's faith, by the succession of one partic- ular apostolical bishop in a church, had no consequence in it at all; because some other of those apostolically or- dained bishops might possibly be at the head of an heret- ical congregation too, and then the original order and succession of these might have been as warrantable an argument for them, as the like could be for the other; and by that means, heresy and the true faith would have stood upon an equal bottom with one anolher: This sure- ly must have been the case, according to our learned au- thor's modern scheme, unless this cautious epithet of su- preme had been expressly annexed to that particular bish- op, upon whom this rule of orthodox succession did de- pend. And how Teriullian and Irenseus could so indefin- itely appeal to such an episcopal succession as this, and fix no mark of distinction at all upon the bishops they peculiarly meant, is not otherwise to he accounted for, but that no such distinction of supreme and subordinate or assisting bishops was ever known in their time; and so the test in general terms was evident and plain enough to all the christian world then.
This chapter closes with one remark more, which seems of so indifferent a nature, that one would be apt to pass it over; but because, like all the rest before, it i3 calculated for some greater uses which will be made of it afterwards, it must not be overlooked. The remark is only this, p. 14: The titles (says he) of this supreme ehurch-ojficer are most of them reckoned up in one pladt by Cyprian, whic^i, are * Bishop, Pastor, President, Gov-
•Episcopuj, Prsepositus, Pastor, Gubernator, Aiuistes, Sacerdoi. Cyp. Ep. 69. »5, [OrEp. 66, p. 167. Edit. Oxon.]
THE PKIMITIVE CHURCH, ' &.C. 23
ernor, Superintendent, (So he translates Aniistes,) and Priest; and fa'i/ier, (says he,) this is lie which in the Rev- elations is called the Angel of his Church, as Origen thinks, which appellations denote both his authority and office^ his power S^ duty, ^"c. Now would not any common reader be apt to think, that these are the appro- priated titles of his supreme church officer? and that whenever he met with them in St. Cyprian's writings, or any other of such primitive antiquity as his, he must al- ways understand that supreme church officer by them? else why so carefully noted here ? But no such thing, it is quite the contrary; for in his 4th chapter, from p. 64 top. 68, he labors with inuch reading and great zeal to prove, that most of all these supreme titles were equally given, and did of riglit belong, to any Presbyter whatso- ever in the christian church. And what is the meaning, would one think, of this extraordinary way of arguing? why the case is plain. All the presbyters in any church whatsoever are in that place to be owned for primitive bishops, without any farther authority or ordination for it than they had before; and amongst other great reasons for that extraordinary assertion, this is to be a considera- ble one, that the same name is very familiarly used by the ancients to express them both by: so that having first possessed his reader here, that these fore-mentioned titles are peculiarly bishops' titles, and then shewing him there, that many of them are often attributed to presbyt- ers, the inference will go smoothly down, that they are unquestionable bishops too; and I will only add, that by this argument they must every one of them be supreme bishops also. For his chief or supreme bishop was first set apart by him to preside over the whole church he had assigned for him, before he attributed these several
24 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
titles to him; and then if they are common to others af- terwards, tliose others musi be chief too. so far as those titles can make them bishops at all. And this is more, I think, than our Enquirer's own scheme can allow them to be; and consequently, this remark will not conclude the thing for wliich it was designed.
By what has been said, I hope it may appear with what caution this first chapter of the learned enquiry should be read: if I have been thought long in it, it is because I found it true, that the whole discourse would very much depend upon it. A right notion of a primitive church is the very ground-work that all is to be built up- on; this was undertaken to be settled here; how well it is performed, I leave now to others to determine.
CHAP. II.
The great point to be cleared in the 2d chapter is this: That as there was hut one Bishop in a church says lie, so there was but one church to a Bishop. This is prim- itive language indeed, and would be primitive truth too, if the singular notion of a particular church before, had not turned a Catholic maxim into an equivocal preposi- tion; for by his biskop^s church we know he means a single congregation. And from one obaervation of his, which he here remarks to us, he would have us assured, that the primitive fathers meant so too. His observation is this: That the ancient diocesses ai'c never said to con- tain churches in the plural, but only a church in the sin- gular; now what they contained in them (whether one or more of such churches as his) his* quotations say
''See his Quotations in p. 15 ol the Enquiiy.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCH, &.C. 25
nothing of; but they shew indeed, that a bishop's church was usually expressed and named then in the singular number; and I will only add this observation to it, That they were just so expressed and named too in after ages of the church, as well as in the first and earliest of them all. In the 4th century, under Constantino the great, it is notorious how the churches multiplied in the number of their people and their oratories too, yet the celebrated diocfese of Antioch is called no more than* the single church of Antioch still; for so that emperor -himself styles it in his letter to Eusebius, where he applauds his humility for not exchanging his lesser diocese of Csesai^ea for it. Eusebiusf calls the mother-diocese of Jerusalem no otherwise than so, in the same century, and about the same time. In later ages you will fmd the language of the church holds the same still; for the council of Car- thage under Theodosius and Honorius, in the 5th centu- ry calls theextensive diocese of St. Augustin,:}: the church of Hippo only, in the singular number. And (to come nearer home, and be short in so clear a point as this is, which I have spoken to in the former chapter) the ven- erable§ Bede in his church-history of our native coun. try, ordinarily calls both larger or lesser dlocesses in the land, (whether of Canterbury, York, Rochester, or the like) by this primitive name of the single church of each of those places; and that there were more than barely one congregation of believers in each or any of these fore-
^Ttjs Ka]aTt]v Av'Jiox^'av KKK^ritTtag. Useb.in vit. Constant,!. 3. c. l^. + T(i> Tij; EicKXriaias Tns iv lipo(7o\vi.(oii ETttrfcoffui. Ibid. cap. 2D, t Avya^ivo; KinaKO-os rng E.KK\r](Ttas l-mroivrji- {Dorovetneiisis Ecclesia; Aniistes. Bede'sEccl. Hi.«t, 1.2. c. 1?. Tobias Hroffensis Ecclesis pra;sul, Wilfridus in Eboracensi Ecclesia. Ibid. 1. 5. c. 24. 3*
26 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
mentioned churches, I believe will not be made a ques- tion; and therefore what argument can be grounded on this remarkable observation, I confess I do not see. Yet after all, the observation is not just or true; for* Euse- bius names the church of Alexandria, Gaza, Emesa, &c. in tlie plural number, and their bishop in the singular. — [See the quotations in the margin.]
A mora popular one, but of no more force or evidence in it, is that which follows; drawn from the sound Eflone, and not the sense, of a single word, f The ancients (says he) frequcntlij denonmiaied their bisho})''s cure by the Greek word napoi*.;'a. The modern English use that word now to express a parish, by approaching very near in sound indeed to one another. And hence he concludes it very probable, at least, that a bishop's cure then, and an English parish now, were both the same thing; nay he positively:]: affirms, that our present sense of the word is the very same that the ancient christians took it in; and lays a great stress upon the genuine signification of the word itself for it.
Now, betore I give any account of the use or meaning of this primitive word napi/c/a for a christian church, I hope I need not say, that whatever gave occasion for the use of it, it could have no respect to any language then or now in use amongst us of this nation; it would be too absurd so much as to imagine such a thing; and there- fore to suggest the modern affinity of the words, by way of argument in the case, is directly to amuse only, where we undertake to instruct.
•OfAlexand. seu Eiiseb. 1.5. c. 9. Of E.nesa and Gaza. See- Euscb. 1. 8 c 13 + See Eiiq. p. 15. X lb. p, IG, 17.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCH, &C. 27
The truest method I know, to learn the idiom or pro- priety of a primitive ecclesiastical word, is by one or all of these three ways. Either,
1st, By the sense it bears in the Holy Scriptures, if we find it there. Or,
2d, By the continued use of it in the christian church for some time afterwards. Or,
3d, By the common signification of it in the original language from whence it is taken. And by these three tests I shall try at present what the word UapoiKia ancient- ly might mean.
In Holy Scripture I find it used by St. Luke, to denote a temporary residence of a stranger in a place remote from home. For in the question of Cleopas to our blessed Lord after his resurrection,* Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, <Sfc. The original words are ^" fi^vos -apoiKtu 'UpsaaXiii^L; which evidently includes this Uapoma in it, as the immediate theme from whence it comes, and should it be rendered with any analogy to the member of a parish, or such-like society in the city, the holy penman's sense would be very singular and unintelligible indeed. — Again, St. Paul uses it in the very same sense and signification afterwards; (Ephes. ii. 19.) Yoic are no lon- ger strangers and foreigners, says he, calling his foreign- ers there by the name of nrfpoixoi, which if we should take it in our learned Enquirer's sense, must be rendered very near neiglibors^ (at least) or fellow members of one and the same society together; which I think directly inverts the meaning of the holy Apostle; and other such-like instances there are.
So that the Holy Scriptures, you see, suggested a very
*Luke xxiv. 18,
28 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
different notion of the word iiafioiKla to the primitive chris- tians, and such an one as should sufficiently warrant, and, one would think, give fair occasion to those heaven- ly-minded saints to denominate their first societies and churches from it; since they ordinarily looked upon themselves as mere sojourners and foreigners in the world, and were no otherwise accounted by the heathen round about them. But,
Secondly, We often meet with the word TiapaiKia both in the Greek and Latin writers for several ages after- wards, denoting the same thing with a diocese of many parishes and congregations in it; which farther proves that the ecclesiastical sense of the word had not so nar- row a notion in it, till particular places determinately made it so.
In the code of the African church, published both in Greek and Latin by Justellus, we meet with Dioecesis in one language, rendered by napoiKla in the other. Thus it is in the title of the* 5()th Canon, and again, and again in the body of the Canon itself. So St. Jerome, trans- lating an epistle of St.f Epiphanius to John, bishop of Jerusalem, expresses both their large diocesses (as they surely were then) by the word parochia only. St.if Au- gustin, in his epistle to Pope Caclcstin, tells him, that the town of Fussala was forty miles distant from Hippo, yet
•Vide Christ. Justell . Can. Ecclcsias Africans, in Can. 56. E lit. Pari?. 1614.
fVide Epiplian. Ep. ad Johan. Hicrosol. inter opera Hieron. Vol. 2. Torn..?. Fol. 71. E.lii. Erasirii Basil. Itcniin EpipIianiiToin. 2. page 312. Edit. Pctav. Colon. 1682.
JVide August, opera a Thcolog. T.ovan. Edit. Colon. Agrip. 1616. Tom. 2. p. 325. Ep. 261. Fussala simnl contgua sibi regione ad
Parojciam Hipponcnsis Ecclcsi^ pertiiichat. Et infra, ab Hippone
laillibut quadr.iginta sejungitur.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 29
both the place itself and the country round about it, did before his time belong to the parccckla of his church of Hippo. And to come home to ourselves, the venerable* Bede calls the diocese of Wiachester by the same name, even when the whole province of the South Saxons did belong to it. And then whether the word diocese (so customarily used for secular districts and provinces in the empire,) were immediately adopted into the church or no, I think it argues little; since when it was received, church-writers themselves made no scruple to use both dmcesis and paroc/j/a oftentimes as terms synonymous in sundry ages and nations where diocesan districts were established^ whicli. makes it plain enough that it was not with reference to cii'cuit or extent of churches, that they used either, till later settlements gave more appropriated ' senses to them, as in sundry other ecclesiastical terms it isobvious enough to be observed and seen. But then,
Thirdly, The very signification of the word napoi/cia our learned author will assure us, does make all clear : For it signifies (says hef) a dwelling one by another, as^ neighbors do, or an habitation in one and the same place. But here I must take leave to say, and I hope shall prove it too, that it is taken in a very different sense by writers of unquestionable authority, and by glossaries and crit- ics in the Greek language is sufficiently warranted ta be so.
The inquisitive Siiicer'^ in his first observation on tho
•^Provincia Australium Saxonum ad civitatis Ventano) paiochiam perlinebat. Bede Eccl. Hist. 1. 5. c. 19.
+ Ibi 1. p. IG. ^ Suicpr ill vocib. riupotKioi Sz TlapoiKia, TlapoiKiu) significat Advena peregrinus sum, & opponitur tu) koIoikhv, quod, juxta veteres Glossas, Habito, incolo.
30 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
word UapotKio), renders it by the Latin, [Advena, or Pere grinus sum] that is, (as the inspired penmen, I shewed you before, always use it in the Holy Scriptures) lam a stran- ger or foreigner in any place. But this is not all; he adds immediately, that this word is put in direct opposition to ca7o«t£iv, which, according to ancient glosses, says he, signifies to dwell, or have an halitalion in amj place: And is this any thing more or less, than downright opposition to our learned Enquirer's peremptory interpretation of it? And what this judicious glossary does thus affirm, he makes good by the unexceptionable authorities of* Philo JudtEUSjf St. Basil the Great,:}: Theodoret, and oth- ers whose particular quotations you have here noted m the margin, which make it clearer still.
I am sensible, it may be alleged, that the Greek prep- osition, [Trapa] when joined iu composition with another word, as it is here, does often signify the same as [juxla] with the Latins, that is, nigh, or near to any place. And this I take to be the sole motive indeed, that induced our learned author to make this positive construction of the word. But let§ Devarius (that accurate critic in the particles of the Greek tongue) be heard in this case; and he will teach us, that we cannot, with any authority, at- tribute such a determinate sense to it: For his note upon it is this, »J napa (says he) non solum '■» syyyj sed etiam -^^ ^'^P<^ i ti<^ significat; that is, the preposition -apu does not only
* Philo Judaes de Sacrif. Abel & Cain, O to,j fy/roxXio/s fwois tiravixuv irapoiKli aofia, a KoJoiKU.
t Basil, ni. ill Ps . 14 1. 1. p 149. H napoiKia i^t Stayayyv KpoiKaipos.
X Theodoret. in Ps. 119, p 911. UapotKiav koXh tvv iv n, a\\o^pla itayuiyrjv.
{Vide Matlh. Devarii, lib. de Giaec ^nig. particul. Edit, du Card. A.D. 1657. page 20G.
THE PBIMITIVE CHUBCH, &C. 31
signify nigh, or near to, but also beyond, or from abroad, and without, according to tlio different phrase or authors we may rneet it in; which sufficiently justifies the above- mentioned ancient writer's using it (even in this very word before us) in direct opposition to that of dwelling nigh one another in one and the same place.
But too much of this; for I ever took criticism to be a slender way of arguing in so great a subject as this is; only I found no help for it here, the determination was so positive in the case, and such smooth insinuations ad- vanced upon the plausibility of a single word.
To pass then from words to things; that if the bare name does not satisfj^, we may, at least, by some following observations of matter of fact, consent to his main asser- tion. That a* lishop^s diocess and a modern parish were the same, as in name, so in thing: That is, let scripture, fathers, and history, say what they will of the numerous conversions wrought by the blessed apostles themselves, by their inspired fellow-laborers and successors in the ministry of the Gospel, either in Jerusalem, Judea, or throughout the heathen world; yet the utmost result of all their labors amounted to no more, for 300 years to- gether, than just to such a competent society of believers, as could be enclosed within the walls of a single oratory, in any of the largest cities upon earth, (including the ad- jacent territories too.)
I wish our learned author had begun his proof of this, where the church itself began, and had thought Jerusalem (the mother-church of all) as worthy of his notice as any of the rest, and scripture evidence as fit to be consid- ered, as other authorities he is pleased to use. But h»
•Enq. p. 17.
32 AN ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OV
has cautiously declined both one and the other : For in his three first chapters, wherein the whole parochial scheme is finished, we find but* one slight reference to Holy Writ, and that of no importance to the case, nor any text so much as named at all; and amongst all the particular churches he chose to treat of, (which are pret- ty many) that of Jerusalem (which the whole College of apostles jointly sounded, as it were a model for the rest) is not so much as named. Was this for want of matter, can we think, suitable to the subject of his enquiry there! or rather, that the stream of evidence ran too strong a- gainst his whole hypothesis in them both? Is it so obvi- ous to common sense, as not to deserve a little notice, and plainer explication of it, in liis way, how the many thou- sands from time to time converted in Jerusalem alone, and the daily increase of them, (as it is specified in the texts here noted in the margin)| should commodiously, or indeed possibly worship God in one and the same place together, since they neither had the capacious tern- pie, (to be sure) or any otiier place, that should be too much taken notice of, to hold such a numerous, and in- deed unconceivable assembly in? And yet St. JameSjJ
• Chap. 1, page 11 .
t Acts i. 15. The number of the names together were about 12(L Aettii. 41. There were added to iliem about oOOO souls. Vcr. 47, the Lord added daily to the church such as shoulci be saved Acts iv. 4. (Peterand John preaching afterwards upon he.Tliig of ihecripple) Ma- ny of them which heard, believed ; and the number of men was about 5000 Acts. V. 14. believers were tlie more added to tlie Lord both of men and women. Acts vi. 7. still the word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great eompanyof the priests were obedient to tiie faith.
^ Qtttfut aiiXfi ftaaai Hvpiaiis iiatv Uiaiuiv Twt vivi^tinjm. Act» xxi.aO.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 33
(the bishop of this church himself) in a few years after, calls those thousands of converted Jews by the multipli- ed number of myriads of them, Acts xxi. 20.
The inspired penmen, who relate all this, had little rea- son to record in sacred writ, or to amuse posterity witli the number, method, or nature of the churches, oratories, or meeting-hoiises, (call them what we please) wherein those multitudes of blessed converts held .assemblies for the offices and mysteries of their new religion, (tho^ their breaking bread from house to house, the churches men- tioned in private and particular houses, there are no im- perfect intimations of it, whatever other interpretations may be- forced upon them.) But, be that as it vi^illjthe matter of fact which they tell us, commands our faith ; and if common sense and reason can contract such num- bers into a single congregation, all their other writings, I am afraid, will feel the. dangerous effectof such an ex- traordinary sort of commenting upon them.
TertiiUian says more than all this still, and that of everyplace in general too : * The numbers of Chris- tians, in his early age, were well nigh the greater part of every city ; for so he frankly tells the persecuting Scapula, who was not to be jested with. And a^ain, to all the Roman Magistrates, in his apology, he glories in the multitudes of his profession, thus: f We are of yes-
*Taiita hominum mvliitudo, pars pcene major cirjusq; civitatis Tertiil. adScap.c. 2. p. 86.
t Hesteini sumus, et vestra omnia impleviinus; urbes, nisulas, cas- teila, municipia, conciliabula, castra ipsa, tribus, decurias, jialatium senatum, forum ; sola vobis reliquimus templa, Tertul. Apol. p. 33, cap. 37. Si tanta vis hominum in aliquem orbis remoti sinuni abru-
pissemus a vobis proculdubio expavissetis ad so'.iiudinem ves-
tram. ad silentium rerum, et stjporem quondam quasi mortui oibis. Id. lb.
4
34 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
terday, (says he) yet everyplace is filled with us, your cities, the islands, the forts, your corjwrations, the councils, the armies, the tribes and comjmnics; yea, the "palace, senate, and/ courts of justice; your temples only have we left you free. Should we go off and separate from you, you would slajid amazed at your oion desolation, he affrighted at the stop and deadness of affairs amongst you; and you ivould have more enemies than subjects left you. An incompre- hensible account, sure! if the biggest city in the empire had no more than a single congregation in it.
Let me add a hint or two from the excellent Ewsebius to the same purpose here: That accurate historian, when he speaks in general of the primitive Christian Churches in every city and country, about the close of the apostolic age, uses such singular terms to express the multitudes and numbers of them, *as, any impartial reader must needs confess, do father denote them to be hosts and legions, than any such thing as mere Parochial assemblies. His words are' hardly to be rendered in our own tongue; i^ot'the greatest number of thronged and crowded societies of them are an imperfect translation of his original, (ag you may see it in the margin) and his comparison for them is this, that they were like heaped grain upon a barn-fioor It is strange, if so exact an au- thor as this should strain for such superlative words as these are, to describe only a common congregation by. Yet thus he represents (we see) the state of Christian Churches at the entrance, as it were, of that period of time to which our learned author all along appeals: And before he comes to the end of his third century, he con- futes, (I think) even to a demonstration, the whole hypo-
* Kai !)riTa ava vaaaa ttoXjij t£ KatKW/ias r^riOvuar/^ aXuvos liKrjv fivptavdpoi Kat la^iTrXrjQsiS aOpoui iKKXtjciai avvi^t]Ki(rav. — Euseb. Hisl. Eccl. I. 2, C. 3.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 35
thesis at once: For, speaking of the peaceful and blessed times that Christians enjoyed after the Valerian persesu. tiqn ended, and before the Dioclesian began, which was the last, 40 years of the third century; Who can describe (says he) Hhe innumerable increase and concourse of them? the numbers of assemblies in each. city? and the extraordi- nary meetings in their houses of prayer? So that not con- tent with the buildings they had of old, they founded new and larger churches throughout every city: Which agrees directly with what Optatus f (the holy bishop of Milevis) tells us, that \\;hen Dioclesian destroyed the Christian Churches, (which was but five years after the third cen- tury at the most) there were above forty Basilica, that is, public places for Caristian worship, in the single 'city of Rome. When were these forty Churches built, or dedicated to this holy use? Koneofthem, can we ima- gine, so much • as five or six years before? Had the Christians enjoyed forty years of peace and favor with the emperors, just at that time, and not provided so much as two or three such houses of God for their solemn as- semblies, and yet had occasion for forty of them and, actually had them too, before the fatal edict was issued out, that levelled them all to the ground? I leave the reader to decide the probability of this: And that the city of Rome was not singular in this case, I believe any reasonable man would easily agree.
NeocsBsarea, (we know) the famed metropolis of Cap-
* nu? ^' 01/ rii iiaypaypiit ras fivpiavSpm iKUva; nrtavvaywyag ; Kai ra TzXrjdri Ti]v Kara izacav -rokiv adpoicrixajoiv ras_ n cmctjfias iv Ton TTposivK]npioit <n)vSpoitai ; oiv hn CvCKa nr)Safiias tri toij izaXatoi; otKoio^irifiaci aKpiij.avoi ivpia$ iti TrXarof ava, vacag ra; iro'Xiis SK 6r]iii\iav q.vi<;o)v 'E.KKXriciai^ — Euseb. HiS. Eccl . 1. 8, C 1.
t Optat. de Schism. Doiiat. 1. 2. p. 39.
36 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
padocia, was long before this as happily stored, as Rome itself proportionably could be, with such Christian ora- tories for the exercise of their religion: For when their Apostolical Bishop St. Gregory had converted that whole city (save only 17 persons) by the mighty hand of God upon him, the zealous citizens pulled down their altars, temples, and idols, and in every place built houses of prayer in the name of Christ in the room of them. The venerable father of the Church, who relates this, lived in the fourth century indeed, which our strict Enquirer, *I know, would in no case have concerned himself in this matter: But since it is only an historical matter of fact, and that within his own period of time too, I hope so ufaexceptionable an author as St. Gregoryf Nyssen may be allowed to bear witness to it. Though I can scarce forbear taking notice upon this occasion, that all the glorious lights of the Christian Church inthe fourth and fifth centuries, whose names can scarcely be men- tioned without deference and veneration by any true sons of the Church of Christ, must be wholly set aside, and (implicitly at least) stigmatized with innovation, and prevaricating from the Evangelical Institution and Apos- tolical establishment of the Christian Church, to make way for this congregational scheme; which makes the sagacious author of the Enquiry before us, lay such [strict injunctions (as in his preface he does) upon any that should consider his elaborate work, not to stir a hair's breadth from the third cefitury of the Church; for to the
* Bo>niiiv TS Kai lipoiv KM Ei^uXuv tv av'Jois avalcTpaixfiivrnv' Hav'Jwv 6t Kara totov vavla.
i "RvKlrjptHi tTi Ta'ovojiaJi'yifii'^H vaHiaviyltfiovTuiv. Gfeg.NySSeil- in Vit . Thaumat, Tom . 3. p. 567. Paris Edit. 1638.
TSE PRnilTIVE CHITRCH, &c. 37
glorious Basils, Gregories, Chrysostome, Austin, or any of their contemporaries, he dares not appeal; knowing how notoriously the Catholic Church of God (then ac- knowledged in the world, and ever since) had dioceses and Churches of a very different constitution from his. This consideration, I verily believe, would a little affect some sort of modest men, but I leave it to themselves: And having briefly shewn you ;n what manner Scripture, Church. history, and ancien,t fathers, applaud the honour of God; and do justice to the blessed labours of the holy apostles, in setting forth the innumerable souls they gain- ed to God and his Church, in so little a compass of time; I shall now, without farther interruption, consider the important observations which our learned Enquirer has made upon sundry passages in the writings of the primi- tive fathers, which have prevailed upon him to aifirm, that there was no more than one single Congregational Church of Christians for three hundred years together in the greatest city in the world.
He begins with Justin Martyr, and renders a passage in his first Apology, thus: On Sunday (says he) * All assemble together in one j)l(tce. Now. Justin's words are these: On Sunday all throiigltoiit cities or countries meet together; and why do we think he left but these words, {throughout cities or countries) which were in the very middle cf the sentence? Why? because those words of the holy Martyr would undeniably shew it to be a gen- eral account of Christian practice in all places of the Christian world; whereas our Enquirer's business was to make it a particular instance of a single Bishop's
* Enquiry, p. 17. Jlavjuiv tin to av'Jo avv<\timii yivt]ai. Just. Mart. Apol. 1, p. 98, Justin's words are \hizt; Uavluv Koja toXus n aypus ptvovliDv iTi TO av'Jo avvi\ivati yivilat.
4*
38 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
Diocese, and that all the members of it, both in city and country, met in one and the same place together at once; and if it were so, then cities and countries in the plural number would be too much for him; for if they proved any thing in that sense, they would prove that cities and countries, indefinitely taken, wherever there were any Christians in them, met all together every Sunday, and made but one congregation; and therefore the \irvvev\tvaU yivtlai cm avjo ] which properly signifies, assemlling togeth- er, though it is expressed in the singular number, yet being spoken with reference to a complex body, as it evidently is here in relation to cities and countries at large, does severally refer to each distinct member and part, wliereof that complex body does consist; and plain- ly denotes, that every part, as well' one as the other, did hold an assembly on that day, or else the same absurdity would unavoidably follow as before, that all made but one assembly in the whole. So unwarily (at least) are this holy martyr's words misrepresented here, toprove what they no wise do prove, '6r never intended to do.
For the plain case was this; the pious apologist writes to the heathen, emperor, senate, and people, in vindica- lion of the persecuted Christians throughout the Roman empire; and tov;^ards the close of his apology sets forth the general method of them all in the exercise of their religion; I say, the general method of them all, for other- wise his charitable plea for tliat profession had been very lame and imperfect indeed, and contrary to the tenor of his whole apology, as is obvious to them that read it: So that his Sunday's assemblies here, were a specificatioa of the Catholic practice, whether in cities or countries throughout the empire, as the plural words, observed above, do unquestionably imply; and forasmuch as they
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 39
were aliens to the Christian dispensation, to whom he wrote, he neither used the pecuUar word Bishop or Pres- byter, to express the president of their respective assem- blies by, (though oar Enquirer frankly translates it by the former of these) but only such a * general term as might instruct the heathens he addressed it to, that a per- son in peculiar authority did preside over each of them, and principally discharge the duties of the assembly, and the day; and what does this prove as to the certainty of but one congregation only in any city or Diocese?
His next appeal is to sundry passages in the epistles of St. Ignatius. The qotations are pretty many in number; but the force and importance of them all, I conceivCy when you hear them, will appear to be much the same.
To the Church off Smyrna he writes thus: Where the Bishop is, there the people must he: And again. It is unlawful to do any thing without the Bishop. To the Trallians, thus::}: There is a necessity that we do nothing without the Bishop. And to the Philadelphians; § . Where the Pastor is, there the Sheep ought to follow. And to the Magnesians, \\ As Christ, says he, did nothing without the Father, so do you nothing without the Bishop and Presiy. ters, hut assemble into the same place (so he renders 'j^' i-^ a-vTo without any other word joined to it;) that you may have one Prayer, one Supplication, one Mind, and on$ Hope.
* 'O IIops-us" Just. Apol.ib.
t Ojtk av (pavt] b EjriffXOTOf, iKci ro TT\r}Oo; i-u . OvK i^ov t^iv XMtf
tniaKoza «ti (ianli^nv uti aya-nriv ttoiiiv' !Ep. ad Smyr. p. 6.
^ AvayKaiov iv t^tv aviv i-kkjkot^h firi&iv vpaaaiiv vftag. Ep. ad. Tral- les. p. 48,
i Ojts Sc b mijirpi t^iv, cku wj TrpoSaJa aKo\a9ei1c . Ep. Phiiad. p. 42.
II Av£u Tu Ettktkottu Kai Toiv TipaSvlepav fti]Sev vpaaarilt aWa tm to avio fiia irpoacvxn fia Setjaii hi v5f /iio fXz(j . ■ Ep. ad Magnes. p. 33.
40 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Now can any man see more in all this, than that the Bishop must be in all the ministrations of the Church, and none can rightly partake of any of them, but by him? But how? By his personal ministry alone? Yes; or else all our. learned Enquirer's use and inference from them, will come to little indeed : But are we sure the ho- ly martyr himself meant so too? Nothing plainer, I think, than that he did not; else how could he say imme- diately before his charge to the Church of Smyrna, of doing nothing without the Bishop, * let that Eucharist be counted valid with you, (says he) ichich is celebrated by your Bishop, or by such an one as he shall authorize to do it. And immediately after it again, as soon as he had told them, that without the Bishop, it was not lawful to baptize or solemnize their love^fcast, (which implies com- munion too) he adds, as it were by way of exception; f But what he (that is, the Bishop) does approve, thai is ac- ceptable unto God. ThB Bishop's- permission and appro- bation (it seems then) were, in the holy martyr's sense, as good as his very act and deed. And ho less is plain* ly to be seen in that great argument, by which he enjoins this dutiful regard to the Bishop, in his charge to the Mag- nesians; :j: As the Lord (says he) did nothing of himself, or by his Apostles, loiihout the Father; so neither do you without the Bishops and .th& Presbyters. In the relative part of this comparison,' we^see, what our Lord did either by himself, or his Apostles, (commissioned by him) are implied to be the same thing; and therefore, in the cor- relate which answers to it, what the Church should do by
* Ekiivi] PtSaia ^vxcpts'in »?y£icr6(ii j; vtto tov Eir((T«:orrov y<ra n w a» av7ot rsilpt^Jt' Ad Smyrn. p. 6.
t AXX' 3 av tKUVOi ioKijioEri tuto cat to) Qlw luoptj-ov. lb,
\ 0v7» ii latir* bti 5(o ru* ATToi]o\u>v Ep. ad Magnes. p. 33.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 41
the ministry of the Bishop himself, or of the Presbyters commissioned by him, by a just analogy of sense should be the same too; and for this reason, perhaps, our cau- tious Enquirer, in quoting this passage in this place, left out the whole former part of this comparison in his ori- ginal in the margin, and these words, [by himself, or hy his Apostles] in his translation of it in the text. I need not add, sure, how natural and undisputed a maxim it is, in all acts of government whatsoever, that the supreme magistrate is said and owned to do what is warrantably done by his commissioned ministers and authority; so little does St. Ignatius's language, in this sense, and in his own interpretation of it, differ from the ordinary dialect and notion of all mankind.
That a Bishop, then, might and did so act by deputed Presbyters, I think is very clear in St. Ignatius's own sense of it; and this sort of deputation so nearly resem- bles even what we call institution in an Episcopal Church at this day, (at least as to the exercising of ministerial offices in it) that if the place, as well as office, were as- signed, I should scarce know what we did dispute about. And that those primitive Bishops could and did assign to Presbyters, as well a separate place or places to minister in, as depute them to the ministry itself, I can bring this very learned Enquirer himself to bear witness for me; for in the 88th and 39th pages of this very Treatise of his, (where he gives account of the populous Church of Alex- andria) he confesses, that because it was incommodious for ■ all the people to assemble in tlieir own usual meeting-place, which was very far from their own homes , and withal to avoid schism from their Bishop, the people asked leave, and the good Bishop Dionysius granted it, that they should erect a chappel of ease. He might have said chappels in the
42 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
plural, if he pleased; for in the historian himself there is the * same authority for it; and this, about the suburls of the city, and to he under the Buhoi)''s jurisdiction, and guided hy a Preshyter of his commission and appointmcjii.'f This passage (from Euseb. Hist. Eccl. I. 7. c. 11.) is represented in a very nice and arbitrary figure here, to suit the scheme it was produced for, as much as it could handsomely do; and yet how little it does so, nay, how directly it contradicts the whole, is obvious to any reader by the bare reciting of it. Here are several assemblies of Christians under the jurisdiction of one Bishop; "sub- ordinate and accountable Presbyters, by permission and commission of that one Bishop, officiating separately in them; and distinct places assigned for their" doing so. — Judge if this be like our Enquirer's Congregational Dio- cese, or can be reasonably opposed to a genuine Episco- pal one, even in after-ages of the Church, and down to these days of ours, if we will not still insist on bare names, and overlook things.
His only Salvo is, that on solemn occasions they ivere all to as-^emblc still in one Church, and with their cm Bishoi) together, which neither Dionysius hiinself, nor the histo- jian from whence he quotes it, say any thing of; and yet we know indeed, that it was a customary form, by which parochial Churches, for many ages together, used to tcs. tify their union and dependence upon their several Cath- edrals; namely, to offer and communicate with them by proper representatives on the greater festivals of the year; and how much more than that, the Church of Alexandria ever did, (especially in St. Athanasius's time, from
* Kaja fiipoi'S.vvaytayai. Dlonys. apud Euseb. 1. 7, c. 11. t See my remarks on lliis passage at large, from page 9. lo page, 13, in the former chapter.
THE PBOriTIVE CHURCH, &C. 43
whence, our author tells us, he could bring his proof) any njan may pretty easily conceive; since that venera- ble father affirms, * that the whole region of Mareotis and all the Churches in it, belonged to the Bishop o^ Alexandria alone; that the Presbyters had their several portions of it, and each of them ten or more large vil- lages under their particular care. What sort of congre- gation this whole region, with all the Christians in the great city of Alexandria would, make, I leave to any reasonable man to consider.
Having thus explained this familiar phrase, then, of that primitive Martyr Ignatius, {That without the Bishop nolhing should be done) in a sense which no ways war- rants the hypothesis it was quoted for; and that by the unexceptionable authority of the holy Martyr himself, and the very lecfrned autJior's own concessions, who was here applying it to quite another end; I think there is no tittle in the fore-mentioned citations, that does not in course fall in with the same interpretation; unless per- haps he will say, that the particular phrases,' 'E-iridurd, and f"'a 58»7o-i{, will not consist with this; by the former of which, he concludes for certain, that the whole Di- ocese or Bishop's Church assembled in one place to- gether; by the latter, that all- publid prayer, and reli- gious duties, were so jointly performed too.
But what necessity for this? do these words so evident- ly imply it, that the holy Father himself could have no other meaning in them? let the context direct us in the case; which, together with the sense, which approved
* OMapttiTTis x'^P'^ "'?? AXflaripfiaj erJ" To) A\i^avSpuasE-i(TK<ma^ at E/cxXjjatai ffaoijs tijj xoipaj viroKUv-ai. EKafTOj tuv -pii6vTepu)v ixu raj tSias Ktiifiaj lieytSTOS kui apiOjiu diKo toi Kai TrXttovaj. St, Athanas. Apol. 2, in Oper. vol. 1, p. 802, Edit. Colon. 1686.
44 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Commentators, and other Ecclesiastical writers, give us of the words themselves, will help us to a fair construc- tion of them.
In the words immediately before these, the holy Mar- tyr warns the Magncsians * to account nothing for a I'ca- sonabh service, that is done privately, or in- their own private way. Agreeable, no doubt, to the Apostolical charge (Hcb. x. 25.) that they should not forsake the as- sembling of thcmsehcs together, hut meet for public wor- ship under the proper minister of their Church; to avoid schism and heterodox opinions, as he proceeds to explain himself presently after. Now, if it had been undeniably proved by any expressions before, that there neither was, nor ought to be, any more than one single house of prayer, or of pubhc worship, within a Bishop's Diocese, and that his personal Ministry was absolutely necessary in all Divine offices; it might have been fairly inferred indeed, that they were all obliged to assemble with him, in that one individual place alone: But since the holy Martyr himself had informed us elsewhere, that the most solemn offices of public worship tverc valid in themselves, and acceptable to God too, when performed by any per- son whom the Bishop should authorize and approve of for it; fas we have seen before he did) sure, if any parti- cular number or society of members in that Diocese had assembled for public worship, under any Presbyter so allowed and commissioned by him to officiate for them, they had answered the fidl import of the holy Martyr's charge here given them, against private and clandestine ways of worshiping; or else I cannot see how the Bishop's approbation and permission of such a person could be to
* yiriifi!ttpaaiq'jiTov\oyov TKpaiviiOaii&iavfitv. Ad Magncs. p. 33.
THE PRIMITIVE CIirKCH, &C. 45
any purpose at all. Nay, if the same Presbyter by vir- tue of such permission, could not minister in places dif- ferent from their Bishop's Church, or Cathedral of his. Diocese too; our learned author's chappel of ease as he calls it, in the Alexandrian Church had been no better than a schismatical conventicle, at the least. So little can it be inferred from St. Ignatius's phrase in this place, that he confined a Diocese to a single congregation.
But let us see what construction impartial Commenta. tors, and other Ecclesiastical writers, have made of this phrase, Eri tO avro- to whose observations I shall only premise this short and general key to them all; that as the phrase itself does, by no grammatical construction whatsoever, so much denote o. place, as it does a thln<r in giuv.raJ, according to the known rule of all such neutral words as this is; so in the instances I shall mention, you will find it is accordingly taken and understood by then all.
Thus the learned Grotius, explaining this E^r/Va avrh \i Acts'm. 1. he only translates it in these words, Circa idem tempus, that is, about the same time. And in Beza's translation of the New Testament, the note and para- phrase upon it. Acts ii. 44. is this; that * the commoiv assemblies of the Chfrc/i, uith their mutual agreement in the same doctrine and the <jre.at iinanvniity of their hearts ■were signified by it. Agreeable to which construction of it, is what we meet with in the Greek translations of Psal. xxxiv. 3. where that which the Septuagint ren- der Et^to avTo, by Aquila is translated, Ofjo^vuaibv, that is with one mind, and 07ie heart: And I need not remind
* Ita communes Ecdesiae coetus significantur cum mutua in candein doclrinam consensione, et summa animorum concordia. Not. ad Bez. in Act. ii. 44. Vid. etiam Poli Svnops. in Act. ii, 44. 5
46 AN ORIGINAL DHAUGHT OF
the reader of what we just now observed, that in Justin Martyr's use of the phrase, it could not be understood in the sense that our learned Enquirer here puts upon it, without the gross absurdity of bringing the christians of whole cities and countries together into one and the same individual place at once. Acts iv. 26, 27. Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and people of Israel were gathered against Christ iwi TO avTo, were they all in one place, and at one time together?
How concluding that argument must then be, which proceeds upon a positive interpretation of a single phrase, that is indefinite in its own nature, and determined to signify otherwise by authors of no mean character in the learned world, and is not suitable to the author's own notions, from whence it is taken, neither; I shall not need to observe.
But is it possible, you will say, that [tlavpoivxh and fiia iivaii, that is, one prayer and one supplication for a whole church, should be consistent with this plurality of congregations?
Let us see what we mean by it; and then, it is likely, we shall argue clearer about it. For if it should appear by the nature of the thing itself, and by the use and ap. plication which St. Ignatius makes of it, that it can con- sist so; that is all, I thing, can be required in it.
Now, from the nature of the think itself, it is clear, that prayer must be one, either in respect of the phrase and words it is uttered or delivered in; or in respect of the sense and substance, the heads or subject matter of which it is composed: That is, it must he one, either in respect of the matter, or in respect of the form of it; for to say it must be one here, upon the account of admitting but one place or one person in a Diocese to offer it up, is
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 47
to beg the question, which it is brought to prove; and therefore unity in either of the other senses, if it agrees with the holy Martyr's sense too, is the fair account of it.
Now, that it is not meant to be one, in the former sense, relating to the words or phrase £>f it, I suppose will readily be granted; for that would make the holy Father plainly to prescribe a stinted form, or mere common liturgy in the Church; which our gifted congregational Bishops, I conceive, would scarce allow. And there- fore, secondly, it must be understood to be one, in respect of the sense and substance of it; or in plainer terms, it must be prayer made with strict analogy to the one common faith, and sound doctrine of the one Catholic Church throughout the Christian world, as every true Christian praj^er necessarily ought to be: And in no other sense than this, is it conceivable, I think, how even a single Bishop in a congregational Church, could be said to offer up this niaSmn or one prayer with his people, which is here enjoined, who affects, as often as they meet together, to alter the phrase and language of his devotion for them.
And that this was St. Ignatius's meaning in it, we may reasonably infer, first, from the words he immediately joins with it, one prayer, one supplication, (says he) one mind, and one hope; the two latter words imply a plain unity in them, and yet have so diffusive a sense, as to extend to all the congregations of the Catholic Church; and therefore why not the two former too? And, secondly, we may infer it also from the use he was then making of it; which, as I hinted before, was directly to secure them from schismatical conventicles, and hereti- cal notions; and since the Bishop himself was to approve
48 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
as we have seen St. Ignatius himself allowed him to do, of any minister whatsoever that should officiate for them, and thereby reserve to himself the inspection, visitation, and censure of them, which is a natural consequence of it, whatsoever prayer the people of his Diocese should join in, with such a commissioned and approved Presby- .ter as this, could never bring them into that danger of schism the holy Martyr here warned them against; but being orthodox, and as conformable to Christian faith and doctrine, as the Bishop's own could be, would, in the true sense of the primitive Father, and to the great end for which he intended it, be that /„-a^s,<7,j, that one prayer, which the Bishop and all his Diocese were to offer up to God.
And that this was a true notion of the unity of prayer in the primitive Churches, Tcrtullian would satisfy us, if we would allow him to speak only what he could justify and make good, in his apology for all the Christians in the Roman Empire: For, though we have no reason to behevethat he frequented many more congregations than that single one to which he belonged, as other Christians did; yet he takes the freedom to declare to the Roman Magistrates, what kind of prayer the Christian Churches used in general, how innocent their petitions were, and frankly mentions severalparticulars of them, by way of upbraiding them all for persecuting subjects that lived and prayed so loyally and harmlessly as they did. * If he could do this without some common liturgies, then at least, in use amongst them, or some known canon of the Ministerial offices; surely, it could be upon no other
* Oramus pro Imperatoribus, pro miiistris eorum, ac potestalibuSj pro statu seculi, pro reruin quiete, pro mora finis. Tert. Apol. c. 39.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 49
grounds than this, that he was sure the Christian Chur- ches prayers were one, and the same, in all places, in the sense we are now speaking; that is, they were bound to bear a strict analogy to that one creed, that one and the same system of Christian doctrine, and that one di- vine model of all prayer, which our blessed Lord deliver- ed to them, and every one of them were known to be guided by. Other fathers, as ancient or ancienter than TertuUian, speak in the same manner with him. But on this head, I think, there needs no more.
To proceed then : The Bishop, * says our learned author, hadbut one alter, or communion-table, in his whole Diocese, at which his whole flock received the sacrament from him, and that at one time. For proof of this, he. offers those words of St. Ignatius to the Philadelphians; t There is hut one altar, as but one Bishop. To explain which phrase, I shall use our X Enquirer's own method, by joining to it a parallel expression of the admirable St. Cyprian; which is so near a kin to it, that it seems almost a mere translation of it; at least, it is a most direct and immediate illustration of it. St. Cyprian's words are here in the margin: Our Enquirer renders them thus; § JVo man can regularly constitute a new Bishop, or erect a new altar, besides the one Bishop and the one altar. And here I am sorry I must remark a fatal over- sight; for I am loth to give even this unjust translation another name, but it is evident, what St. Cyprian here
* Enquiry, p. IS, 19.
■f Ev Svata^piov, wj £(j tmaKo-os^ Szc. Ep. ad Pliilatlelp. p. 41.
% Enq. p. 21.
t Aliud altare constitui,, aut Sacerdotium novum fieri, prster un- um altare & unum Sacerdotiura, non potest. C3'pr. Ep, 40. } 4. Edit. Pamel. ep. 43, Edit. Oxon, 5*
50 AN ORIGINAL DRAtJGUT OF
calls a new fricsilioocl, and one pricMhood, our learned Author renders by u. new Bishop and one Bishop; which proves, indeed, that lie believed it a directly parallel place to that of St. Ignatius, as it really is, because he translates both in the very same words. But, in the mean time, he so disguises this holy. Other's text, that he hides from the English reader's sight the main key which would open the genuine sense and meaning of this, and all such expressions as these are; not only in these two venerable Fathers alone, but in all the writings of primitive antiquity besides: For the unity of the altar, the unity of the bishop, the unity of the Eucharist, the unity of Christian prayer, and the very unity of the whole Church itself, are all founded upon the common bottom that the unity of the Christian Priesthood is; and no man ever so unlocked the evangeKcal secret of this Catholic and Christian unity, as the unimitable St. Cyprian has done. So that if his short and plain, but admirable account of it, were but duly weighed and credited, as it ought to be, we should hear but k\f en- quiries after the constitution of the primitive Church, k\w amusements about the fundamental unity of it, drawn only from a scattered sentence, here and there, in the mostuniformrecordsof the best and ancicntcst writers in it. St. Cyprian's brief account of it lies in that noted pas- sage, so familiar to all who ever read his woi'ks, or al- most ever heard his name: * Episcopacy, says he, in his
* Episcopatus est unus, ctijiisa' singulis in solidum pari leiietur. — Ecclefia quoq; unna est, qiias in imiltitudinetn latius increraento fcecundilatisexteriditui; quo niotlo solis niulti radii, sed Jiimen uniim, &c. Numerositas licet diffusa videatur equndaiitis copiiE largitate, uniias tameii servaturin oiigiiie. Cypr. de Unit. Eccl. p. 108. Edit.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 61
small tract of the unit jj of the Church, is but one; a part lohereof each [Bishop] holds, so as to he interested for the whole. The Church is also one, which, by its fruitful i?i- crease improves into a multitude, as the beams of the sun arc manij, as branches of trees, and streams from a foun- tain; tvhose number, though it seemis dispersed by the abun- dant plenty of them, yet their unity is preserved by the common original of them all. Apply this plain rule to all sorts of unities mentioned here; and see first, if the primitive expressions of one Church, one Altar, and one Bishop, do not evidently consist with as many Churches, Altars, and Bishops, as can be proved to be undeniably derived from one and the same original inslitutor: The unity of whose Divine power and Spirit, diffused at first amongst the chosen twelve, stamps a character of unity upon all who regularly descend from them, and upon every individual, who only claims under, and owns, his authority from, and his dependence upon such as them: Nay , the unity of siWifZry prayers too, as I have shewn before, by the same analogy of reason, may be owned to be such, if they all center, as to the substance of them in that original model which the Divine Author of Christian prayer first delivered in to us; those common articles of faith and doctrine which he obliged us all to; provided they be offered up by a person duly authorized for such ministerial offices in the Church. Nor will the ministra- tion of the blessed eucharist by divers hands, or at sun- dry tables, though within the same particular Diocese still, differ any thing from the rest, if duly warranted by, and kept accountable to, the first and principal minister of that holy ordinance, who is the rightful Bishop of the whole flock. The plurality of eucharists is thus made one throughout all the united provinces and Dioceses of
52 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGnT OP
the Catholic Church; because in the gradual progress of the Church, from the beginning, both Bishops and presbyters do all claim a power of commission to conse- crate from one another, till they rise up to the blessed Apostles themselves, and they from Christ alone.
And thus St. Ignatius' Chatholic phrase, of one altar; one Bishop, ■ and the like, does no more prove the neces- sity of but one communion-table in a primitive Bishop's Diocese, than it would do in the most extensive one of this or any former ages, or in the largest patriarchal province that was ever settled in the Church, provided ev- ery one who ministered at each of them had a just com- mission from their orthodox superiors for doing so: But what is otherwise than so, is altar agaist altar indeed, and no less than formal schism. Let us take care then, not to draio up forces as * St- Ignatius' words import, against the BishojJ, if we mean not to ivichdraw our sub- jection from God.
By this account the reader will see what the ancients truly meant, when they called a schlsmatical usurpa- tion of the Episcopal Power, by the name of a profane altar; which yet our learned enquirer urges again and again, as a fair argument to prove, that there could be no more than one single congregation in a whole Diocese, though the ministers of a second, or third, are more, should never so much agree with the Bishop himself in all his principles and ministrations, and be even author- ized and approved of by him; as f St. Ignatius expressly tells us, a Bishop might so authorize and approve him;
* JiiruSaawitiv jiti av^iTjaaaiaOai tw ErrKTicoiru »vo rijxtv Om imoraoaoufvoi. Ad Ephes. p. 20. i Slav avtoi tvtjpc^ri- Ad Smyrn. p, 6.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 53
in which case they were so far from being thought a. pro- Jane altar, that they were truly owned to be but one and
the same.
Next to the one only communion-table, our author proceeds to prove the second part of his main proposition,
thai all the people of tkt Diocese received together at once. His authorities for that are only two: First, from St. Cyprian, whose words he quotes and represents in thefjrmof a direct and positive proposition, thus: * We celebrate the sacrament, the lohole brotherhood being pre- sent. This is pretty near the author's words, I confess; but his application of them to the whole flock of a Dio- cese, either of St. Cyprian himself, or of any other Bish- op, is very hard to be gathered from them in the place where I fiad them lie. The case was this: f St. Cyprian was complaining to Csesilius of some persons in some places, who either out of ignorance, or simplicity of heart, celebrated the holy Eucharist with water only in the chalice, without wine; the zealous Bishop is full of argument and resentment against them: Wiiat! (says he) are they afraid the heathen should discover them in their morning sacrifices by the smell of wine? What will they do in time of persecution, if they are so asham- ed of the blood of Christ in the very offerings themselves? Or do many of them excuse themselves thus, that though water only was offered in the morning, yet when they come to supper, they offer a mixed cup then? [I shall not amuse my reader with what the learned may say about their taking the Eucharist thus in the morning,
* Ul sacramenti verilatem frateiiiitate omiii piajcente celebremus, Cyp. Ep. 63. Edit. Oxon. 1631. Amstel.
t Quoniam quidam vel ignoranter, vel simpliciter ia calice domin- ico sanctificando & plebi minhtrando, noii hoc fAciunt, ([uod Jesus Christussacrificii hujusauctor — fecil, <SL-c. Cypr. ib, sub init.
54 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
and completing it in the evening, or about any other sense that may be given of it; it is foreign to our case] but * the words are plain: To which St. Cyprian re- plies, but when we sup, says he, we cannot call the people to our feast, that ioe might celebrate the truth of the sacrement, namely in a mixed cup, as it ought to be, with all the brotherhood about us. This is the occasion then of the words. In which it is easy to observe,
1st. That they refer not at all to St. Cyprian in per- son, or possibly to any in his Diocese, though in the name of Christians in general, he says, that we might cel- ebrate the sacrement aright, &c. or if they did refer to him, they would demonstrate that he had more congre- gations than one in his Church; for in his own Cathedral, to be sure, he did not minister so, or else he reasoned very strangely indeed.
2d. It is plain that all the brotherhood here is put in opposition to the Christians in their private families, which I think with sufficient propriety of speech might be said, if he meant only all the Christian brethren that used to meet in their own particular oratory together for public worship, tliough there were twenty other such like oratories as those, united together with them under one common Bishop, to make up a Diocesan Church; for certainly, what any private men should do in their own houses now a days, which ought to be done in their par- ish Church, might very properly be reproved, by saying, they ought to have done it when all the brotherhood came together.
3d. I might observe what an useful turn our ingenious author gave to this quotation, by translating it with that
* See the same, 63. Ep, } 7.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUECH, &C. 55
insensible variation; we do celelratc, instead of, that we miglit celebrate; which made it directly St. Cyprian's act and deed in his own Diocese, and gave no occasion to imagine, that there could be any other possible meaning in it, than very plainly so.
Lay these few things together, and judge what an irrefragable argument this must be, to prove that no primitive Bishop whatsoever, and particularly St. Cyp- rian himself, did ever minister the blessed sacrament; but that every soul under his respective Episcopal cure, who communicated at all, were always present with him, which was the thing it was brought to prove; nor has our learned author any one authority more here, to prove this grand point of his general proposition, but barely the repetition of Justin Marlyr^s Sunday assemblies again, where all in cities and countries, he says, met in one place, which I conceive I have shewn already, to contain an irreconcilable inconsistency in it, and that it proves no such thing.
But to make all sure, he * tells us, the Christians, in Tertullian's time and country, received the sacrement of the Lord's Supper from the hands of the Bishop alone, f But how do we know that Tertullian's presidents in this place, for that is his word, as you see in the margin, were the Bishops only? Now, as far as our Enquirer can assure us of it, you may find in page 67, of this tract of his; where we read, that president was one discretive appellation of a Bishop; and yet St. Cyprian, says he, calls his Presbyters, Presidents too: May not we be very well assured then, do you think, that TertuUian, whom
*■ Enquiry, p. 19.
t Nee de aliorum manu quam Prassicientium sumimug. T«rt. de Coron.Mil. p. 121. Edit. Rigalt. Lutetis, 1641.
66 AN OKIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
St. Cyprian familiarly called his master, could mean nothing else by his Presidents, but Bishops of a Diocese alone, since his great disciple, St. Cyprian, thought no such thing of it? At least, would not one think, that our ingenious author should satisfy his reader a little with some certain note here, that in this passage of Tertullian, it could be meant no otherwise, since he himself had made that observation for us? But to be short, and to give a fair account of the scope of that passage in Tertullian; it was thus: Tertullian was contending for the authority of tradition for many common rites then used in the Christian Church, without a Scripture warrant for them. * Amongst these customs, he instances a general prac- tice in the Church then, to communicate in the morning, different from the time of the institution itself; and togeth- er with that, this which we are now speaking of, that ihey received tlie ccmmunion from the President's hands alone; both equally common in his days in the Christian Church; which, to make as clear an interpretation of it as we can, I think implies neither more nor less than this, that as the sacrament was then generally adminis- tered in the morning, so wherever it was administered, the consecrated elements were usually delivered to the communicants, as it is indeed most in use now, by the hands of them only, who presided in the several assem- blies where those holy exercises were performed; that is, I humbly conceive, by the officiating ministers f them- selves. And what appearance of proof there is in all
* Euchaiistice Sacramenlum, et in tempore victus, et omnibiti rriandatum a Domino, eiiain an;e]'jcanis ccElibus, nee de aliorum manii, quam Prsesidentiiim sumimus. Tertul. lb.
f Whereas in many Places, as Justin fliartyr tells us, the Deacow. «ged to do it.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 57
'this, lor a. Bishop's personally distributing the blessed elements to every communicant in his whole Diocese, at one time and in one place; I desire the words and context may be sifted, and I should willingly set down by the reader's judgment of it.
Well! but the Bishop alone, generally, * says he, bap- tized all in his Diocese. How much the word generally implies, I need not overnicely enquire: He hiynself, again, gives me an easier solution of it; for (Page 55.) he tells us from the same Tertullian, that the Bishop hath the right of baptism, and then the p>feshjters and deacons; hut for the honor of the Church, not without the Bishop^s authority.
I shall observe no more at present from this quotation, than this; that the presbyters and deacons might baptize in the Diocese, if the Bisliop allowed them to do it; as St. Ignatius (we know before) admitted that baptism to be acceptable to God, which the Bishop should approve; so that the whole of the matter, it seems, is this, that the Bishop, with his presbyters and deacons, must baptize all in the Diocese; and this is offered as a reason, that a Diocese must be no more than a Congregational Church, because the Bishop could not otherwise do all; for as for his generally doing it, that is our Enquirer's own; neither quotation has a tittle of it.
I confess, that contestation mentioned here, which was the renunciation form, which all adult catechumens used in their own persons, to testify their forsaki7ig the devil, the poinp, &c. before they actually v^ere baptized; it is probable, and possible enough too, it might be in the presence of the Bishop himself, and the Diocese have a
* Enquiry, p. 21. Sub Autistite contesiamur nos lenunciarc Dia- bolo «t pompae, Tcrtul. de Coron. Mil. c. 3. p. 121. ut supra. 6
58 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
sufficient plurality of congregations in it too; * since it was a very large space ofti?ne, as Tertullian expresses it, wJiich was set apart for this very ordering of baptism every year, even the fifty days, from easter io whitsontide, including the festivals, as you will see, his account of it, in the margin, shews.
It is a hard task to attend such minute particulars, when I have produced before, such general rules, as might answer all at once: But I am willing to please. He tells us farther then, that Justin Martyr assures us, f The Bishop was common curator, and overseer, of all the or- phans, widows, diseased; in a word, of all that icerc needy and indigent; and thence infers, that the Diocese could not be very large, where the Bishop personally relieved them all. Now, the seeming force of this argument does not lie in Justin Martyr^s words, but in the discreet man- ner of wording the inference from them, with a little help in the translation: The holy Martyr said just before, that ihe collection of the people's alms was deposited in their president's hands, and immediately subjoins, that he took care to relieve all kind of distressed persons, there mentioned, and out of the offerings, to be sure, that were so entrusted with him. Our Enquirer infers, that he personally did this; by which he would have us under- stand, that all whom the Church's charity relieved, the
* Diem baptismo soleimom pascha jjiaesiat exinde Pentecoste, ordinandi!; lavariis latissinium spaiiuin esi, quo et domini Resurrectio inter (liscipiilos ficquentata est. Tenul. de Bapt . c. 19 . Edit. Rigal . Lutet. 1641.
* To cvWiyonivov -rrapa ru) ITposj-wn airoJiOiTai xai avToi emKupct op<pavoti Tt Kai' x»7paij Kai Ton 6ia voaov rj h aWriv aijiav Xf/Vo^fyoif (cat' toij iv Si- (TfioiS bfft KUL Tots TTaptTTiSiifioii iai ^ivoii Kai' anXu); rots iv Xp"" *<" KTiStfttav ytviTat, Just. Mart. Apol. 2, p. 99, Edit, Colon . 1686.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 59
Bishop personally visited, inspected every individual case from first to last, himself alone, and distributed relief to the poor sufferers with his own hand; for here the stress of all lies, which must necessarily prove them to be so few; and to give a better colour to this interpretation, he finds out a noted parish term for this Episcopal almoner, and translates him an overseer. Now let the common sense of all mankind judge for us, if any public trust of this nature was ever understood to be necessarily execu- ted so in any sort of society whatsoever. I believe Jus- tin Martyr himself, or any other Christian writer besides him, would have ventured to say as much, or more, than all we have here, of St. Paul's care in treasuring up and distributing the alms of many Christian congregations, for the relief of all his Churches. And yet in the sense we here contend for, he had succoured but a poor num- ber of the whole, and been but a small sub almoner in the matter, if what he obtained of the several Churches to collect, what the Presbyters and Elders did by his order in it, and the messengers of their own too, which he al- lowed to distribute it for him, had not been imputed to his own person, as common governor and guardian for them all. And why should it then be so impracticable a thing, as is here pretended, for any single person to take care of distressed Christians in more than a single' con- gregation? Besides, the charity of the Church in those days, was, among other uses, to be employed for relief of banished and captive brethren, in mines, in islands, in remotest barbarous countries. In what sense did the Bishop personally do all this? But I am weary of serious reasoning, in so slight an objection as this is.
* And yet what follows, I should less expect to meet
* See Enquiry, &c. p. 22. 23. 24.
60 AN origijVal draught of
with from so judicious a hand. For he observes, in no less than seventeen or eighteen instances here produced together, tliat when the ancient Church writers give an account of sundry public and solemn acts of discipline in a Diocese, as censures, excommunications, absolu- tions, elections, ordinations, or the like, .they tell us, they were done before the u-hole Church, before the millitudc, before all the people, by the suffrage of all the brother- hood, nith the hiordedge, and in the presence of the peo- ple; and from hence concludes, that all the whole Dio- cese personally met together in one place upon these oc- casions, and consequently were no more than could make one single congregation.
And here I cannot but observe these three things: 1st. That this singular construction of such obvious and familiar forms of speech as these are, bears very hard upon the common sense and language of all man- kind. Can no public act of civil justice, or solemn min- istration in the Church amongst us, be said to pass in the faceofilte country, before all the people, openly and in the sight of all men, nay in the face of the whole world, as some will think it no absurdity to say, unless the matter of fact will answer to the very letter of the phrase? Are not all public or solemn acts of Church or state, as to discipline and government, familiarly distinguished from any others, by such a latitude of expression as this, and no otherwise taken by any man, that ever I heard of, than that a general liberty is given to all, who either can, or will, or are concerned to be present at them, to come and offer what they think material; to judge, or bear witness of the regularity and justice of what is done? And if every individual member of each respective so- ciety were expected to, be personally present at such
THE Pr.IiriTlN'K ClfURCH, &c. 61
solemnities as these; neither courts, nor halls, nor cathe- drals, were ever yet erected, that could answer the oc casions which the Church or state would have for them; and yet no English author, I am persuaded, would think it an impropriety to say, that such public acts of law or discipline as these, were done in the presence, sight and cognizance of the whole country, Churcli, or people; and if no exceptions, but rather apparent acclamations were made, as is not unusal upon sundr3^such occasions, they would say, they were done with the general consent, isuffrage, and approbation of them all. Bui,
2d. That other way of arguing bears no less hard upon the very language of the holy Scriptures themselves; and therefore there is little reason to fasten it on the writings of the primitive fathers, who v/ere the true guar- dians and assertors of them.
What more familiar phrase in the whole history of the law delivered by Moses, and during all the time of his government, than that * Moses himself spake to all the congregation of Israel, whatsoever the Lord commanded him; nay, even in the ears of all the con^rcs^at'wn of Israel, he is said to f speak the words of that sons', which he left for a testimony amon^'st them. In what sense do we conceive he himself cou'd be said to speak in ths hearing of so numerous a host, as the children of Israel then were? At different times, do we think? or tribe by tribe, and by piece-meals, in his own person? No, he himself gives us a better key for the understanding of such phrases as these: For at the 28th verse immediate- ly foregoing, gather unto me, says he, the elders of the tribes, and the officers, that I may speak these words in their-
* Exod. XXXV. 1,4. Dem. v.. 1. xxix. 2. &c. t, Deut.xxxi. 30. G*
62 AN ORItilTSAX, DKAUGHT OF
ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them. So that it plainly appears, that whatsoever Moses spake in such a manner, and in such an audience, as was sufficient to convey his words and precepts to all the tribes of Israel, though not immediately from his own lips, that the holy Prophet himself thought not improper- ly expressed, when he said afterwards, that he spoke them to the whole congregation of Israel. * And if we can conceive any literal way of interpreting these, and many such like expressions in the Holy Bible, so that six hundred thousand men should at once be instructed by the ministry of one man, we need dispute no more about the greater or lesser numbers in the Diocese of a primitive Church, since one such extraordinary comment as that would answer all for us. But,
3d. To argue more directly ad homincm in this case: If that way of reasoning be right, then it will prove the Dioceses of latter ages, as well as the ancientest of them all, to be but mere congregational Churches too. Com- pare the times and phrases, and you will find it to be so. Our Enquirer tells us from St. Cyprian, f that Salinus was elected Bishop o/'Emerita hj the snffrage of all the brotherhood. This was in the third age.
Now Theodoret tells us, that Nectarius was made Bishop of Constantinople % by the suffrage of the whole city too; and Flavianus made Bishop of Antioch, § the whole Church, as it were with one voice, giving their suf.
* Of like phrases in the New Teslament, sec Matt. iii. 5. Job . xii. 19- Acts xvii. 5. k.c.
t De universoe frateinitatissufl'ragio. Cyp. Ep. GB, p. 6.
^ IlaoTif (ni^i^Tj^ia r>jj EKxXijffjaj uffms/) 5m jttai <j>tDvr}i, Theocl. 1. 5,.c. 9, p. '21 1, Paris, 1673.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, iC. 63
frage for him. And this was towards the latter end of the fourth age. The like says Platina of Gregory the great, that he was made Bishop of Rome by the * unani- mous consent of all: And again, f ^^^ the people chose him, says Gregory of Tours; and this at the very close of the sixth age.
The learned Enquirer again 1^. tells us, from an Afri- can Synod in 258. that ordinations should he done with the knowledge, and in the presence of the people; that so they might he just and laivful, being approved by the suf. frage and judgment of all; and that accordingly St. Cy- prian consulted his people so: And from hence he infers, that his Diocese could be no more than one congregation. Now the Roman Presbyters, in their letter to Honorius the Emperor, which was in the fifth century, speak just the same thing in relation to Boniface their Bishop, whom they chose and consecrated in that very maaner. § On a set day, (say they) calling all to an Assembly, u-e went to a Church wc had all agreed upon, and there consultintr with the Christian people, icc chose him whom God had ordered; for by the applause of all the people, and the consent of the best in the city, we pitched upon the venera- ble Boniface, a man ordained and consecrated hy Dhvnc institution. Here is an election and ordination in one
*^ Uno omiiiutn consensu creatur pontifex. Plaiinn in Vit. Greg
•f Gregonum plebs omnis elegit. Greg. Turon. Hist. Fianc. 1. 10. c. 1.
:J: See tlie Enquiry,.p. 24.
^ Altero die ad Ecclesium nbi piius ab omnibus luni erat constiliituin, habita omnium collatione. properavimus, ibiq; participate cum Chris- tiana plebe consilio, quern Dens jussit elegimus; nam venerabilem vi- rum Bonifacium — acclamatione lotiiis populi ac consensu raelionira civitatis asteruimus, divine insliiutionis ordine consecratum. Baron . An. 419. N. 8. Mag. IGOl. p^442..
64 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF"
certain pliace, in a general assembly of the Church, con-- sultation with, and applause of all the people in it; and yet, our learned Enquirer is very well assured, I doubt not, that there were many congregations in the Church of Rome at that time; and therefore, what proof such arguments can be, that there were no more than one in St. Cyprian's time, I shall leave to himself to judge.
But can a Bishop write a public gratulatory letter in his own name, and in the name of atl hi^ fratermty, as our * Enquirer observes St. Cyprian did to Lucius, Bish- op of Rome, and not have all the fraternity, i. e. all the people of his Diocese present with him? Yes, surely, in the sense St. Cyprian meant, he may; for if all the peo- ple of his own Diocese were met together at the sending that letter, then all the people of many other Dioceses, and probably of his whole Province, were assembled togeth. er for it too: For his words are, f / ani my colleagues, and all tltc frateriiily, send this letter to you. Now col leagues, in St. Cyprian's language, I think is unquestion- ably understood of fellow-Bishops, and given by him to no other order of Ecclesiastics whatsoever; so that all the fraternity, subjoined to them, does most properly" mean, that they and their Churches, as the occasion did require, sent unanimous congratulations to the blessed' confe^or Lucius, so lately returned from banishment.
If this be thought no clear construction of the place, let us compare it with the Synodical Epistle of the Coun*. cil of Antioch, from whence our Enquirer liimself here q.uotes another authority to the like purpose. The Bish-
* Enquiry- p. 25. Fralernitas omnis. Cypr. Ep. 58. ♦ 2". or Ep. 61. Edit. Oxon.
+ Ego et collegae, ct fralernitas omnjs, has ad wis iiteia« mittimus Cypr. ib..
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.. &C. 65
ops in that Council writing to Dionysius, Bishop of Rome, and Maximus, Bishop of Alexandria, first prefixed their* own names to the Epistle, and then join with them, the Churches of God also; that is, i:nquestionably, the Churches they presided over, who jointly with them sent greeting, and concurred in the account they there give of Paulus Samosatenus' case; and do we think the whole Dioceses of those several Bishops were personally pre- sent with them in. that Council? That would make it such a Synod as is surely without example, and I think beyond imagination. Certainly Bishops, or the chief magistrates of any society or corporation, may in consistory or council, write letters of a public importance in the name of the society or body they relate to, without convening or polling all the individual members of it: And their reading' of letters of such public concern to their nume- rous people, which is another argument our learned f Enquirer insists upon, is better accounted for in such an obvious sense as this is, than he will ever account for King X JosiaWs reading the Book of the Covenant in the cars of all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, io his own literal and strained sense of such expressions. So that the triumph, in the close of this head, might as well have been in softer words, at least; for it is pretty much to say, for no better reasons than these, that a primitive Diocese could not possibly be more than one single congregation.
* EXtvof cat T/i£vaios Kai Qcofpt'Xog Kai' oc Xoiroi -ttovtss oi avv tj/iiv
■sapoiKuvJii raj syyv? woXsif Kai tOvrj Eirio-icoiroi /cai' TipisSv'] ipo i Kai AiaKovoi Kai aiKKKXriatai Qm ayaTzrj'Jot;, &c . x^'pf""-
t Enq. p. 24. Sanciiisimic atque amplissimae plebi legere. Cypr. Ep. 55. or in Oxf. Edit. 59.
J 2 Kings xxiii. 2.
66 AN ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
There are some few quotations amongst the rest in this place, which urge the necessity of all the people's presence indeed, upon account of the part and right they all had to judge of any offence that was brought before the consistory of the church; but those will be more properly considered in the following chapters, where they are repeated to us again, and offered as undeniable proofs of such a right and practice in the primitive Church. In the mean time, I cannot but say, it is sur- prising to see, how often the same quotations are brought over and over again in this short Enquiry, to serve the different ends of it, and make it appear a work of great variety of reading, and strongly supported by primitive authority for it.
We have a pregnant instance of this, in the four next pages before us, which are from page 27. to page 31. Our author had gleaned, as wo have seen already, all the short phrases in St. Ignatius's Epistles, that he thought gave any countenance to his hypothesis, and offered them at once to prove his general proposition: (These we had at page 17. to page 21.) And now he gives us them all again by retail, and applies the self- same quotations by piece-meals, to prove, that each of those Churches St. Ignatius wrote to, were mere Congre- gational Churches, and no more. Tliis makes the bulk of authority look great indeed, but adds not one grain of weight to it; and therefore the reader will excuse me, 'I know, if I take no more notice of his repeated arguments here about one Altar, one Eucharist, one Prayer for the whole Church; that the Bishop took one common care of them all; that nothing must he done without the Bishop; that all jnust assemble together in one place, and the like. By which repetitions he here labors separately to prove,
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 67
that the Dioqeses of Smyrna, Ephesus, Magnesia, Phila- delphia, and Trallium, were such sort of Churches as he contends for.
The strength of all those arguments, I conceive, I have fairly tried already; and it is much there should scarcely be one new one found to make any of those five eminent Churches bear a clear testimony for him, when he took the pains to consider each of them singly, and one by one. It is true, to make the Diocese of Smyrna appear such, he adds a short clause or two; (omitted before) 1st,* That the Bishop of that Church could know his lohole Jlock personally by their names. So he translates the place, though St. Ignatius' words have no such affirma- tion in them, but are only a plain advice to St. Polycarp to do what the primitive Bishops always did, that is, to keep the names of every member of his Church enrolled in what the ancients called the Matricula of their Church; the occasion of the words imply it to be so: He just be- fore besought St. Polycarp f not to neglect the icidows of the Church; and immediately after, desires him j". not to overlook so much as the men-servant i and maid-servants in it; and in the midst of this, as a means so to knov^ the qual- ity, number, and condition of his Diocese, advises him to enquire out all by name, that is, to get such a register of their names, that upon occasion of any object of charity proposed to him, of any complaint or application made to him about any within his cure or jurisdiction, or in case of apostacy, or perseverance in time of persecution, or the like; by means of this general Matricula, he, as the other Bishops did, might more directly know how the
* Enq. p. 27, E|ovof(a7os irav7aj ^vtu. Ep. ad Polycarp. d. 13,
t Xrjpai fii? afitKiiOiuaav. Ep. ad Po])'c. p. 12.
;j; E| ovo/ia7os waf?"? f')''£') AbXhj (cai iaXaj /iij uffEpsc^am. lb. p. 13.
68 AN ORIGINAL DKAUGHT OF
case stood with them. And which was more than all this, the names thus entered in this sacred record were personally entitled (hen to all the public intercessions and spiritual blessings obtained by the eucharistical prayers, oblations, and sacraments of the whole Church; and to have their names blotted out of this, was a constant effect of ex-communication, and was dreaded by all th^vt had true veneration, as those primitive Christians had, for the holy ordinances of the Church. Those who know the right nature of the orthodox commemorations, and eucharistical offerings for the saints, before the Roman corruptions so wretchedly infected them, as they now do, cannot be unacquainted with this. And these were suf- ficient reasons for that apostolical father to mind a Bish- op of the Church to be careful of keeping such a neces- sary Mairkula as this, and an effectual way for St. Po- lycarp to take care of the meanest and poorest members of his Diocese; which, the context tells us, was the occa- sion of St. Ignatius' using these words. But as to the matter of but one single congregation being then under his cure, and that he must fersonaUy know them all hy name, as one neighbor knows another, which our En- quirer's translation affirms of them, I think they no more imply it, than that Augustus Csesar had but one town to command, and could know every subject he had, when, for many political occasions, he caused them all to be enrolled, and required the state of his empire to be brought in to him: * For the censor's work, in such a case as that, was to give in an estimate of the age, chil- dren, family, and estates of all the people under him, as TuUy gives us an account of it.
« Censores populi aJvitatesi sobole?, familias, pe:uniajq; eensrnto Cic. dekg. 1.0. fol. 1.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &;C. 69
But still, says our Enquirer, Smyrna could not^^ have more than one congregation in it, because, as St.. Ignatius says again, * it was not fitting that any should marry there without the Bishop'' s consent. Now, I confess, it S3ems to me no impracticable matter for the same thing to be done in the very city of London, or York, at this day, if either banns or licenses were managed with that proper care which the church designed they should; nay, I think it may be said, even as matters stand now, that either the Bishop in person, or such as are commissioned by him, which is much the same thing, have a necessary cognizance of all such solemn contracts, before the con- summation of them, in the largest Dioceses amongst us. And this gives opportunity, at least, to consent, or disal- low of them, without reducing their Dioceses to fewer congregations than they have all along had.
Once more the holy martyr is summoned to bear v/it- ness to this congregational cause; and if he fails them there, our learned Enquirer, for a very great while at least, gives him quite over. This last is a pretty close evidence indeed, as f he manages it, for he makes the holy martyr expressly say, that the Diocese of Magnesia had but barely one Church in it; and I will shew you how he says it: In his zeal for the unity of all the Chris- tians there, he bids % ihe/n all run one loay together, as to the temple of God, or us to the one tcm'ple of God, as the old Latin translation has it, and the learned editor from the Florentine MS3. says it should be, and as to the one altar; plainly exhorting them, by icay of similitude, to
^npETTSt C£TOij ya^noi /cat ya^njiivaii j^lla yvuijirj; ry Eotj/cotS tvusuiv vot- liBai'. Ep. ad Polyc. p. 13.
t Eiiq. p. 23. E(>? vaov ©£!/ . Ignnt. Ep. ad Mng. p. 34. t nav7ss uf £'f vaov avvlpixili 0!»' Ovaiacrriptov, &C. Igliat. ib.
7
70 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Christian unity and communion, after the pattern of the ancient Church of God amongst the Jews; who, though they had never so many synagogues, yet they all cen- tered, and were united in that one temple, and one altar, which God had fixed for them at Jerusalem. But that this comparative way of the holy martyr's arguing might the less be perceived, our careful Enquirer takes no no- tice of the little particle, j,s or as, but quotes the temple of God in the singular number by itself, as clear to his purpose, and gives it the name of a Christian Church, though, besides this unfair dealing in the case, it may justly be a question, whether St. Ignatius himself, or any cotemporary writer, ever used that word ^"^^ for a place of Christian worship at all, it being generally a term in primitive writers, apphed to Jewish or Heathen temples; and then jiidge what a proof this must be, for but one congregation in the whole Diocese of Magnesia.
And now, though all the Churches St. Ignatius wrote to, were eminent cities of the Lydian, or proconsular Asia; most of them the seats of public justice for the pro- vince where the Roman governor kept his residence, and which is infinitely more, were dignified with a singular visitation by our blessed Lord in his great revelation to St. John; and therefore scarcely to be imagined such inconsiderable Churches, as our learned Enquirer labors to represent them to us. Yet, for fuller satisfaction in the case, he frankly appeals to Antioch, Rome, Carthage, and Alexandria, the undoubted metropolitan cities of the empire, to bear witness to the certainty of his congrega- tional scheme; and therefore, not to neglect him, we must briefly survey them all.
Antioch was early blessed with the glad tidings of the gospel; the blood of the first martyr became the seeds of
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 71
a Christian Church there, as the fathers took a pleasure to speak; for many Christians, dispersed upon that occa- sion, resorted thither; and the first account we have of their labors is, * that the hand of, the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Tidings of this came to the Church of Jerusalem, where the whole college of Apostles were in readiness to consult for them. They send Barnabas, a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of Faith, to improve this happy op- portunity, and the success answered their expectation; for by his powerful exhortations, much people, says the holy text, xoas added to th^ Lord. But to forward this work of the Lord still more, Barnabas travels to Tarsus, and joins Saul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles now, and returning with him to Antioch, they continue a whole year together in that populous city, teaching much people. What a harvest of Christian converts those Apostolical laborers made in that compass of time, assisted by all that fled thither from Jerusalem besides, by the f men of Cy- prus and Cyrene, fellow-laborers with them, to convert the Greeks as well as Jews to the faith; and by the sev- eral inspired prophets, so peculiarly :j: noted to be amongst them, I refer to the sober judgment of all who know the fruits of many single sermons preached by an Apostle, at the first promulgation of the Gospel. Two things are sure, 1st, That the reputation and honor of the converts ihere was such, that they laid aside the derided name of Nazarenes or Galilseans now, and openly assumed the name of their Lord and Master, § and were first called Christians there.
* Acts xi. 19. Ver. 21. to ver. 27. ■f Acis xi. 20.
:j:Acts xi. 27. and chap. xiii. 1. ^ Acts 3si. 26,
72 AX O^IGIIsAL DRAUGHT OF
Secondly, * That there were two distinct sects or par- ties of them; Judaizing Christians, zealous of the Law; and Gentile converts, a^ earnestly insisting on their free- dom and exemption from it: Each party so considerable, as to call for an Apostolical Council to decide the con- troversy between them.
Such was the very infant state of this Church of Anti- och; the oversight whereof, antiquity tells us, the great Apostle St. Peter, in a peculiar manner took upon him- self, and for six or seven years, at least, made it his first and special Apostolic See. After him, Church history acquaints us with fourteen Bishops successively there, before the heretic Paulus of Samosata was promoted to that See. In the number of these, were those mirrors of learning, zeal, fortitude, and piety, Ignatius, Theophilus, and Babylas, scarce to be equalled in all the monuments of the Church after the Apostles' time; whereof the first sat forty years, and each of the other two thirteen years together were the watchful and laborious Bishops of that exceeding vast and numerous Jlock, as the words of the learned § Doctor Cave are, where he speaks of St. Igna- tins' charge at Antioch.
Yet notwithstanding all the united labors of so many Apostles, Prophets, holy Martyrs, and Confessors, to plant and improve a Christian Church in this renowned city of the East, in this [eton-oXi;,] or city of God, as the an- cients thought fit to name it; we are borne down, that there never were more believers in it for two hundred and seventy years after Christ, than what could meet togeth- er in one single house of prayer, and barely m,ake a sin- gle congregation.
* Chap. XV. 1, 2.
^Cave in the Life of Ignat. p. 108.
TH-C PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &:C. 73
One would reasonably look for very unanswerable ev. idence, to prove so extraordinary an assertion; * espe- cially, since this city of Antioch, according to St. Chry- sostome's calculation of it, for St. Ignatius' times con- tained no less than two hundred thousand souls in it; and f TertuUian, as we have seen before, durst tell the per- secuting Scapula, that the Christians then were u-cll vdgh the greater part of every citij. Yet all that is offered us to the contrary, is only this, that Paulus of Samosata, the heretical Bishop of Antioch, after the middle of the third century, refused to resign the Churches house, when he was synodically deposed by a council held there; and this Church''.^ house, as our learned :}: author will have it, must needs be the only house of prayer or public worship for all that Diocese, and consequently they could make but one congregation.
Now, thatthe Bishop of Antioch had a peculiar Church, or house of prayer for himself, as Bishop, more imme- diately to worship or officiate in, need not be disputed; and this so peculiarly the Church's house, that so long as he was rightly possessed of that, he was possessed of- the Church or Diocese whereof he was Bishop; and to be legally and canonically ejected out of that, waste be ejected out of the Churcli, be the Diocese great or small, of more or fewer congregations belonging to it: For so, when Constantius the Emperor was resolved to eject § Paulus of Constantinople out of that Bishopric, he
* See Dr. Cave, ubi supra, p. 101.
t Tanla hominum muhitudo, pars pap,ne major cujusq; civitatis. Ad Scap. c. 2. p. 86.
t M.7i&0jt(as tK^-ijvat rrji KuKXriaiai oi/cs Eusrb. 1. 7, C. i.0.
<i Tovfi :v navXov Trji EvicXr/iTiaf cxSaWrj avucayrj is l:S avjrii' MaKidov- lov Social. E. H. 1. 2. c. 6. 7*
74 AN ORIGEVAL DKATTGHT OT
ordered Philip the Prefect to turn him only out of one Church, in the singular number, and place Macedonius in; that is, out of that single Church where the Bishops of Constantinople used to reside and officiate, though there were sundry other Churches, long before that, built by * Cohstantine in that city, and an undoubted part of that Bishop's Diocese. But this single Church, or house of prayer, was so peculiarly the Church's house, that, by being dispossessed of that, he was entirely thrown out of the wholj Church, or Diocese, of Constantinople. And instances enough of this kind might be given, if need required; but I think the case is known to be the very same in respect of any modern Bishop's Cathedral at this day. Yet, to come more directly to the case before us, I think the Synod of Antioch's account of Paulus Sa- mosatenus, from whence this very objection is taken, does pretty fairly prove to us, that that Heretical Bishop had more Cliurches under him, besides that house of the churc/t which he kept possession of; which it is questioned, in- deed, whether it was a house of worship or no, because, amongst the many accusations of him, they tell us, * he sent Presbyters out to j)reach up his own praise in their sermons to the people; and who should tliese be, but Pres- byters, that officiated under him within his own jurisdic- tion; for the plirasj imports no intreaty, as if it were to aliens not subject to him. but an act of authority rather, for he sent them out to do so. Nay, should they have been i'resbyters related to another See, they are, at least, an instance of religious assemblies held by such, in contra- distinction to the Bishops to whom they did belong, which
*■■ i;uscb. (levit. Conit. 1. 3. c. 43.
t IljjKrSvT-pas tv Tais Trpoj to aoov o^iXijai kuOdici OmAtystrSai . Euseb
1. 7, c. 39, p.i2;29.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 75
overthrows the Enquirer's congregational scheme, take it in what sense you please. I will not conceal what is farther said here, that he sent out Bishops of adja- cent villages and cities to do the same thing for him; which our learned Enquirer makes farther use of in another place, ^and shall be considered there. I shall only say here, that the judicious Valesius understands those Bishops to be no others than flattering Chorepiscopi, which makes them a farther part of his own Diocese still. But this alters not the present case; and so the Bishopric of Antioch, I hope, will lose but little of its glory and ex- tent by one such unconcluding argument as this.
Rome, the Metropolis of the Empire, is appealed to next, and allowed no greater honour than the rest: Their faith was early spoken of throughout the whole world; their Church founded by the two great Apostles both of Jews and Gentiles, and Martyrs and confessors were zealous pastors over them for many generations after; Yet, for above 200 years after Christ, our learned En- quirer will assure us, they were not improved to more than a single congregation. His demonstration is this, that * Natalis, a penitent confessor in that Church, re- turning from the heresy of Theodotus, felt down at the feet of the Bishop, clergy, and people, to bewail his fault before them; and at length the Church was touched with compassion towards him. I shall take no advantage of his transposing the historian's words here, so as to make neither sense nor grammar in his quotation of them, but only set them right in the margin, and allow the full im- portance of them. The penitent f Natalis, it appears,
* Enquiry p. 32. JlfioaTrctTiiv tw TS.'JTtaKoiroi K\rjpio XaiKuiv djv lu C7rXay\, Xvoy £KKXr;(Jiav tct iitjOii -xpriaafiivov . Euseb. 1. 5, C. 28.
+M£7o ToXXi;j OTTaSris Kai iaKpvuv TpoiiTianv Zitpv^ivo tw micKOTiii) (cvXiOjuivov
76 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
went early to the ])lace where the Bishop, paid his de- votions, falls down before the Bishop, clergy and people there; and with prayers and tears, besought the merciful Church of Christ to admit him to communion again; which, with great difficulty, was granted to hira. Now, this could not be done, it seems, in this particular manner; but that the whole Diocese, under the Bishop Zephyrinus's jurisdiction and care, must needs be then with him, and consequently make but one congregation; and if we would argue so, we might affirm as well, that Christ had no part of a Church in the world but what was there; for it was the merciful Church of the merciful Christ that he begged to be admitted into, and which he moved with his tears; and if that particular assembly was no otherwise so, than as it was in unity with the one only Church of Christ upon earth, then it would be as much so, if there were twenty other congregations belonging 10 it, in the same union and communion with it, as if it were the only one that the whole Diocese had. But, to be plainer in the case, and bring it home to our own times, should such a case, as Natalis' was, happen in any Chris- tian Church at this day, and the Bishop be found at his devotions with any of his clergy about him, as in his own Cathedral it is scarcely to be known when he can be found without them, and in' the primitive Church, where the orders of them they called the clergy were many more than now, to be sure they never were, and should the penitent supplicant kneel before them all, and, in a full congregation of the people, ask the pardon of tlie Church; might not an English historian, do we think,
tiTTM TB{ TioSas B fiovov TO>v cv Till K\r]piii aWa Kot T(i)v \aiK(i)i> cniyxiai re Toti iaK pvai TO tv cK\ayxvov EK(cXi7(riov tu eXet/^uovoj Xpija iroWri ti tti Setjatt xpi<"'- fiivov /ioXis KotvuvvOivat. Euseb. 1. 5, c. 28, p. 169. Edit. Paris, 1678.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 77
say, that this humble penitent fell down at the feet of the Bishop, clergy, and people, and yet the Bishop have considerably more of both kinds within his Diocese and jurisdiction, than were personally present at this particular solemnity? Surely one would think he might: And yet not a tittle more than this is said in the penitent Natalis's case; for there is not so much as the useful phrase, of all the clergy, or all the fcople, offered us to help us out here, which in many of our Enquirer's fore- going quotations he laid so great a stress upon, though the construction was far from being just and reasonable there.
To strengthen this instance of Natalis's case, there are five reasons more offered us, but every one of them repetitions of what had been said before. For * here we are twice told again, that all the brethren met together in the Church to choose a Bishop when the see was vacant; which I have expressly shewn to be affirmed of elections in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, when all the world knows the Dioceses had congregations enough in each of them. Two other reasons are, that all met to concur in sending salutations and letters to other Churches, and to hear such read. And lastly, that the Church of Rome had so peculiarly but one altar, that the second, which Novatian erected, was called a j^rqfane altar. For each of which reasons, I only refer the reader to what has been said of them before, who, I believe, will be sor- ry with me to see such arguments relied upon in so im- portant a cause;, and so often repeated, to appear many.
In the mean time, the Church of Rome is far better represented to us by Cornelius, the truly apostolical Bish-
* Enquiry, page 32, 33.
78 AN ORIGINAL DEATJGHT OF
op of it, in the third century; who tells us, there were then no less than forty-six Presbyters in it; which, if compared with the number of assemblies in each city, the erecting new and larger Christian Churches in them alh mentioned by Eusebius within the same century, (Eccl. Hist. 1. 8. c. 1.) fairly implying that they had oM and smaller ones even before them; we need not be at a loss to conceive what sort of services those numerous Pres- byters were engaged in: For it was to minister, no doubt ofit, in many of those particular oratories they were then possessed of; as you will the easier agree to, if you consider what Cornelius farther says of it, that besides those * forty-six Presbyters, they had seven dea. cons, seven sub-deacons, forty.iwo acolyths; exorcists, read- ers, and door-keepers fifty-tioo; all necessary, says he, io the service of the church, besides widotos, impotent, and poor above fifteen hundred, living on the alms of the Church; and answerable to all this, a vast innumerable multitude of people in it, as the holy Bishop's words ex. pressly are.
This is so authentic an account of that primitive Church of Rome, as I believe the most zealous advocates for the congregational way will not pretend to call in question; but how they can reconcile it to their own scheme, I leave to themselves.
I enlarge not here, on the transcendent liberality of this single Church, by which f they supported many other
* UptiSvTfpug TC<TaapaKov'Ja i^ ^taKovai iv'Ja vno haKovni iirja oko'XvOhs ivo Kai TiaaapaKovJa i^opKiirai it ku'i avayvioslas cjJ"i wuXupoif ivo Kai TivlnKovIa' Xnpai aw 0\i6opivois vvfp ras X'^'^S irivlaKOatai sj Trav^oi r) tu ^cfirors Xapis Kui (piXavOponia SiaTpt^n TOiuro vXriOoi Kai avayKaiov ev tti 'EKK\riaia ■t:\ti6vtjtv apiOjioi pcTa fiiyi-iln Kai avapiQprfju \aii. Euseh. His. I'iCcl. 1, D,
c, 43.
t EK/cXijiTiais TToXXaij ran Kara Traaav 770X1V C(po6ia T-'.jirreiv iv piJaWotf ii
aSt\<potivTTapx>i''iv ivixopvyn^l^s- Euseb. EcU. Hif. 1. 4, c. ^J.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 79
Churches in every city, as Dionysius of Corinth bears wit- ness for them, relieving their poor, and maintaining their Christian slaves that were condemned to the mines. Nay, the other Dionysius of Alexandria affirms, that the * u-hole country of Arabia and all the ■prozlnccs of Syria were abundantly relieved by the Church of Rome alone. Compute then the numerous clergy, the list of widows, o{ the affiicted and poor, which we have just now seen this single Church continually maintained at home; and if not many rich, not many nolle were called, one would be even forced to think, that legions, at least, of a middle fortune must be in it, to raise such extraordinary contri- butions as these.
Nor will I insist on the positive account the judicious f Mr. Mede gives us of particular Churches, or titles, as they were then called, that were founded in this Church of Rome in the second century, though he quotes the very names and qualities of them that founded them. Enough has been said, I ho])e, to vindicate this imperial city from the hard imputation of yielding no better fruits of the great apostles, saints and Martyr's blood, that was shed in it, than -what amounted to a single congregational Church for three hundred years together.
Carthage shares with Rome in this; and as she was rival once in glory, she must be as little in her Christian converts now. The great jf. Tertullian magnified in- deed that native city of his, and well nigh defied the persecuting governors with glorying in the numerous multitudes of believers there; but all, it seems, were a mere parochial congregation. This is somewhat strange,
* A« ftev Toi Supiat oXat /cat i; ApaBia oij i-napKu'Jt tKa^olt. lb. 1. 2, C. 5.
t See Mede's works, Book ± p . 327. Edit. 4. in 1677.
X Terlull. ad Scapul . c . 2. p. 86- Edit. Rigalt. 2. Lutei. 1641,
80 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
especially to those who know the glorious figure the Church of Carthage made, and the mighty influence it had in all affairs of the Christian world, in the Cyprian- ic age. Yet let us hear the evidence that is given for it; for that is but just and reasonable.
The first reason offered is this, because * the Bishop of that Diocese could know every one therein. Now, I will but state the case of this quotation, and you will quickly see the determination in it. St. Cyprian was now in banishment, he writes to two African Bishops, Caldonius and Herculanus, and with them to Rogatian and Numidicus, two of his own Presbyters f that they should take care to relieve the necessities of the poor, out of the contribution of the brethren; and if any of them would work at their own trades, and yet could not fully provide for their families, they should allow them some- thing towards it; and in doing this, he directs them to in- form themselves carefully of the different ages, condition,, and merits of the men, to the end that I myself, says he, upon whom this care lies, may forthwith thoroughly knoio them all, and if any of them he humhle, meek, and worthy of it, I may put them into some office of the Church. T ap- peal to the words, context, and learned Annotations upon the place, if this be not the genuine sense of it; wherein therefore, these two things are plain:
* Enquiry, p. 34. Ut omiies optiinc nosfem. Cypr. Ep. 38. ^ 1. or ill Oson. Edit. Ep. 11.
t ("unique ego vns pro ino virarios misprliii, iit exptingcretis necef- sitates frairum nostrorum sumpiibiis, fi qui etiam vellenl siias artos exercere, addiianiento, quantum satis e?set,desiHeria eorum juvareti?; simul etiam et cetates enrum, Pt conditiones, et merita fiiscernereii?: ut jam turn:: Ego, ru'i cura incuinbit, omnes opiime nojfem, etdignrs quoqut et liuiniles et mites ad EcclesiaslirJB ad ministrationis r.fiicia permovcrera. Cyp. Ep.4l. ut^upra.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &;C. 81
1st. That the a// here spoken of, were only the list, or MatricLila, ofthe necessitous and poor ones in the Diocese. And,
2d. That St. Cyprian had so little personal knowl- edge of them and their condition, that he employed the Bishops and Presbyters he wrote to, to send him the best information they could get of that matter; and this is brought as a proof, that ike Bishop of thai Diocae could know every one in it; which, I think, is as clear a proof of the contrary, as one could expect to meet with.
And yet, the second argument upon this head, is eirawn from this very passage again; for from this direction to the Bishops and Presbyters, to relieve all that wanted out of the contributions of the brethren, by making a wrong stop in the construction of 'it, he possesses his reader, '-^ that the debts and necessities of all the brethren were defratj- ed at the single expense of the Bishop; and then breaks out into admiration at the many thousand pounds he must tieeds have expended, if his Diocese had some scores of parishes in it! which is a mere chimera of his own form- ing; for St. Cyprian's words import no more, than that he was common almoner or curator for the poor of his Dio- cese, and therefore gave order to his agents in trust for him, to take what care they could in it; which how far it is from proving any Diocese to be a mere congregational Church, I have shewn at large already.
A third argument is the very same which he gave us before, (page, 19.) viz: f that the Bishop celebrated the sacrament, the ichole brotherhood being present; and I have
* Ri^ahiiis's note, ajiproved by Bitliop Fell, upon the place, is thi?, cujiis iiecessitas beneficeiiila fiatrum sublevebatur, ejus et nomen c.vpungebatur.
t Enquir}', p. 35.
82 AN OBIGI.\AL BRArGHT OF
shewn here above (at page, 62.) the unfair representation of that passage, and that the inference was not true.
4th. But it is farther urged, * that all the people could hear and see the reader Celerinus, ichen he read from the pulpit; and I doubt not, but when, and where he read, it was so. But these general expressions, throughout this whole cause, without regard to the common acceptation of all mankind, admit of no limitations: but if «// i\\e people heard him, it must not be understood o^ all that were pres- ent, but of all the Diocese to a man; though St. Cyprian, ■\ not above six lines lower, speaking of him again, says only, whosoever hears him, should imitate his faith. And Balsamon, I fmd, describing the oflice of a reader in gen- eral, at a time, when every Cliurch that had any reader at all, had many congregations in it, expresses himself in much the same terms, and, as the translator renders it, makes him read so, % that every one heard him, as Suicer observes from him. Besides, that there were several readers in this Church of Carthage, is very sure. This Celerinus, Avith Aurelius, were two new ones just ordain- ed by St. Cyprian in his exile, and added to them that served the Church in his absence: And he tells them, 11 he is sure they would loish to have many more such.
The number of his Presbyters is as visible in all his writings too; and though men may form imaginary offices and employments for so many chargeable ministers in
* Eiiquirj', ib. Flebi u.iivoiste. C'vpr. Ep. 34. or hi E- lit. Oxoii 31).
t Li-ctoris ficiein qu'squis audierit iinitctur. lb.
I En Koivri oKpoacra avayiKjuaKiiv Oinuibiis r,nd;bu>. See Suicer al vocein Avayvta^s.
II Sclo vos optare tales in Ecclesia nostra (}uanipk'rimos ordinuri. Ep. 30. p. 75. Edit. Oxon .
THE PRIMITIVi; CIIlKCir, &c. 83
one congregation, when Christians bad reason enough to be as frugal as they possibly could; yet a more natural and reasonable account of them, I believe, will never be given, than that they had several oratories to attend, especially in that state of dispersion they were then in, when it is scarcely conceivable they should hold so for- midable an assembly together, even if they could; and it is not a little remarkable, how often St. Cyprian com- plains of such and such Presbyters admitting the lapsed to communion, whilst others were commended for not doing so; which, if they all united in one assembly together, I think is not to be conceived.
It is plain, the barbarous Proconsul Paternus, who condemned St. Cyprian himself, understood they had more places for religious assemblies than one, when he told him, the emperors Valerian and Gallienus * com- manded there should be no meetings in any 'places, and that they should not enter into their Cemeteries, (in the plural number) as the words in the margin shew.
If I could attend repetitions, with more patience than I have already done, here was a great deal more work for me still; for here we have the current arguments again, o^ all the people heing present, consulted, and approving ordinations, elections, Church censures, absolutions, and the like. Now, so far as this manner of their being pres- ent at these acts of discipline, prove the Diocese to be a bare single congregation, I have fully considered them before, and therefore may justly supersede them here. And so far as they refer to a pretended right or jurisdic- tion of the people in the government of the Church, we shall find them pressed upon us again and again still, and
* Pia2cipiunt ne in aliquibsis locis conciliabula fiant, nee Cosmeieria unRrc iiantur. Cypr. Pass, ex Vet. Cod. i\I.;5S. in Pontii Vit. Cypr.
84 A?» ORIGINAL DRAUfiHT OF
under that consideration I shall examine them farther as they lie in my way. In the mean time, I shall leave the Church of Carthage, with this authentic testimony for her, that as little as she was in her flourishing times of peace and safety, the number of her lapsed memhers only, was such in the Decian persecution, * that thousands of tick- ets were daily granted by the Martyrs and confessors on their behalf, to procure their reconciliation to the Church; and many of those tickets, not for single persons, but for themselves and friends together; f for so their holy Bish- op expressly tells the Roman Presbyters and deacons, and reproved the overforward Martyrs and confessors themselves for it; and what manner of single congrega- tion such a Church should make, before the fatal fall of so vast a number of her members, and after their blessed union again, I leave to any impartial man to judge.
The last Diocese, considered by our learned Enquirer, is that of Alexandria; and had he happily begun, instead of ending, with this, one would be apt to think it might have prevented the trouble of all the rest; for if ever any author gave up his whole cause at once, I think it may be seen here. His main point all along contended for, was this, that every primitive Diocese for three hundred years together, consisted only of a single congregation; but now the force of truth constrains him to confess, ^ that the Christians 0/ Alexandria, within the third century,
* Sine uUo discriiiiiiie atq; examine singulorum (laicutur qiiolidic libellorum millia. Cypr. Ep. 20. Edit, Oxon.
•f liuibusdam sic libellos fieri, ut dicatur, coininunicet cum sui-: — f:t possum nobis viceni, ei triceni etamplius nft'erri, qui propinqui et afFines, etliberti ac domestici esse. asseveienture|us qui accipit libellum. C3-pr. Ep. 15. Edit. O.Kon. p. 35^
t Enquiry, p. [iiy.
THE primiti'.t: cntTRcir, &c. 85
divided themselves into several distinct and separate con- gregations, and all subjected -to one Bishop. These are his own words, and what need have we then, you will say, of any farther controversy? I confess, I should think no need at all, only it is not amiss we should see what management is used with this dangerous evidence, which extorted this candid confession from him, that he might not hurt the congregational cause after all.
It was a passage in Dionysius, the holy Bishop of Alex- andria himself, that inclined our zealous Enquirer to this gentle temper; for this, * says he, is clearly enough asser.. ted by Dionysius, loho mentions the distinct ' conn-relations in the cxtremest suburbs of the city.
To make this hard testimony a little more pliant to this purpose, we have this ingenious comment upon it, that these f congregations were only a chappel of ease within the suburbs of Alexandria, for the conveniency of some members, who Hved too far off to come to their one usual meeting house, so often as they held assemblies there; being every Lord's day, Saturday, Wednesday and Friday; and therefore it was concerted between the Bishop and his people, that they should erect this chappel, or these chappels for themselves; and, tipon solemn occa- sions, should all meet in the one mother Church, and so continue hut one congregational Church still.
In which cpmment, we have a great example of what zeal will do for a bad cause. For.
1st. This single chappel, or these distinct congref^a- tions, for they are named in both capacities, are positive- ly said to be within the extremest suburbs, at least, of the
* Enquiry, p . 3D.
t Ev vpoa^iioii ■rroppiii'Jcpo) Ktifisvots Kara fxtpoi laovrai avvayuiyai, Ad- vers, Gormannm apud Euseb. 1. 7. c. 11. 8*
so- AN OKIGfTWAL DRAUGHT OF
cify oi^ Alexandria; though Dionysius himself says only, * as it were willdn such suburbs; and thus you may re- member this wary author did, in another quotation, f leave out this little particle ['^'h or as it were,'] to very good purpose; and so it is here, for a chappel within the sub- urbs, though it were in the remotest of them all, in the vulgar acceptation of them amongst us, would suit pretty well with an English parish still, which more congrega- tions, a little farther off, would scarce do so well. And,
2d. All this matter must be represented as a singular case, concerted between the Bishop and his people, that they should not only erect this chappel, or chappels for their own ease, but engage themselves upon solemn occa- sions to assemble in one and the same Church with him still, and so be a mere congregational Diocese, notwith- standing these multiplied congregations in it. For all which, there is not one tittle of warrant or autnority in Dionysius's own narrative of it, but enough to shew a very different case from it.
I have had occasion given to consider this whole case of the Church of Alerandria before, :j: to which I refer the reader, for fuller information in it; and only remind him here, as a help to understand this short comment, that the place where these distinct congregations were held, was in and about Coliuthio, in the region of Marajotis, which was a different Nomos, or district of Egypt, from that of Alexandria, both in the Macedonian and Roman division of it. Ptolemy distinguishes each of them as separate regions by themselves, as our learned i^ Dr.
* S.S IV Trpoa^ciois iToppiiiT-poi Kitnivot; Kara ptpoi avvayiiiyai . EiiECb. ib
t Vide pag. 69. supra.
\ Vide supra, p. 6. & p. 49.
0 Sec Heylin's Cosmog. p. 929. Edit. 3- Lond. 1G57.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 87
Heylin also does, who tells us, that Plinthine and Hierax were the chief towns in the region called Maraeotica; and how large a country it was, and distinct from Alexandria, the contrivance of the Arians shews, who set up Ischyras, the pretended Presbyter, for another Bishop there; know- ing, doubtless, there was scope- and district enough for another Diocese, even in the notion and practice of the fourth century, for they never presumed so far as to make him Bishop of Alexandria itself. But we need no other evidence, sure, in our present case, than that the holy Bishop of Alexandria we are now speaking of, was, at this time, confined in this very place in the condition of a banished man, and where, he tells us, * Christians never had resided before, till his name and sufferings had brought these several congregations of them into the country round about; it bei-ng a place infested with va- grants and robbers to that very day, and where he was much afflicted, as he says himself; to hear that he must go. Judge what a kind of suburb this must be to his own city of Alexandria then; I mean, in our modern and Eng. lish notion of a siihurb, for whose sake this comment "is made, and in which sense only the plausible contrivance of a chappel of case could have any show of reason in it. For if he would allow it to be understood in the ancient acceptation of the word, wherein f suburbs comprehen. ded large adjacent countries, whose towns and villafres were the peculiar cures of Presbyters u-nder the Bishop of the Diocese wherein' they lay, we should not need to
* EpJ7f<ov fiTiv a5!.\<pu)v TO x'^P'ov TaU cz rmv oSotTro(>!iv'](i)vc vox>^r](TKTt Kat Xv^wv KaTaipofiOii tyKiiii'.vov ijxOiOriv Kai Xiov £xaX£:r;7i'a, Euseb, ib. 1. 7, c. II.
t See Valesius's Annot. on these very words, Ka]a fiipos trvi'ayuyaj . In Euseb. ib.
88 AX ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
dispute about it. But such a primitive construction as this could no ways clear his point here, but would give his citizens' clinppel of ease a most unwarrantable situa. tion; and yet it is plain, that Dionysius himself did not then take the place here mentioned for a suburb of this city, even in his extensive notion of it neither; else he had never said, as it were in remoter suburbs, had it ac- tually been there. Not to mention how unprecedented a thing it is, to affix the more modern term of a chappel of ease, to any place of public worship in those primitive times; where, I conceive, neither name nor thing is in any author to be found.
To speak the least we can then in this present case; it is very plain, that some fair symptoms of a modern Epis- copal Church did appear in this primitive one of Alexan- dria; and no wonder it should be so, since the great Evangelist St. Mark had, in his own time, converted and settled many ccngregations of Christians in the very city itself, as * Eusebius tells us, who calls them Churches in the plural ncmber, without any cautious distinction of chappels of ease, or any thing in name or nature like it, to make them a parochial Diocese still, but took care to leave upon record, that one single Bishop successively presided over all. And one cannot but think it strange, to see an English pen so very industrious to deface the genuine characters of this primitive Church; when they do no more ihnn bear witness to the venerable ApostoJ- ical constitution, which the providence of God, and our own spiritual superiors, have provided for ourselves at home.
But, once more, though great imperial cities may
* 'EKK\r]aiai iTTt avini AXiia'i'ipiias (Ti'^iraadai. Euseb. Hist. Ecl, S, e. 16.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 89
make a show of being more than congregational Church- es, yet what can we say of Bishops placed in villages? Does not that prove, that their Diocese could be no greater? If it proves any thing, it must prove their ju- risdiction to reach no farther than their village too, which I never yet could hear of. To be a Bishop in a village, and of a village, are very different things; and should an Englishman read no more than the history of his native country only, he would find a Bishop's See, ever and anon, fixed in a village, as properly so called as any Episcopal village in ancient or modern history whatsoever, and yet his territories and dominions as fruitful in parishes and Churches under him, as any city Diocese in the land besides.
But this argument is exhausted by the excellent Dr. Maurice long ago; and Episcopal villages surveyed v/ith such patience, and the objections from them confuted with such learning and reason, in his admirable defence of Diocesan Episcopacy, that one would little think it should appear in public again. Yet I will not wholly pass by the authorities that are offered for it here.
I shall join the two first of them together, because in the application here made of them, they really are an answer to one another. Clemens Romanus tells us, that * the Apostles f reaching loth in city and country, consti- tuted Bishops and Deacons there. Thus he translates the words of Clemens in the margin, though through re- gions and cities are at least as genuine a translation, as that; and by the precedency of regions in the text, they may more naturally be unJerstood oi^ provinces or coun- tries in the largest sense of them, than of mere country
f Ka7a xwpa; yv Kat TroAfi? Kripv(!<Tov']ii KaOi^avov lis iirinKoirts Kat haKove? ZoiliKov a-o Kopavns (coj^ih". Ep. 1. ad Corinth, p. 54.
90 AN OKIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
villages. But let us hear what St. Cyprian adds to this: Bishops, says he, loerc ordained throughout all jprovinceg and all cities.
Now by our author's quoting these two fathers to the same purpose, as he tells us he did, he has all the reason in the world to understand St. Clemens' countries, and the frovinces mentioned by St. Cyprian, to be the same thing. And since the latter never understood frovinces in any other sense, than as large tracts of countries, con- taining cities, towns and villages in thero; so by parity of reason, he ought to allow, that St. Clemens meant such sort of countries too; and then both cities and countries might originally have Bishops set over them, and not a village have a Bishop in it still; which I have only taken notice of, to shew how little these two quotations prove the thing they were intended for; since, if they w-ere equivalent, or much to the same pnrpose. as our author says they are, they make no proof, I think, of village Bishoprics at all. But I have * elsewhere otherways accounted for the doubtful and undetermined sense of St. Clemen's Bishops, in the age he wrote in; to which I may refer the reader for farther satisfaction in the case.
Another argument there is from an instance of a Bish- op in f Comane, which, I am free to own, the historian calls a village, and dispute not, but it really was so; for I have shewn above, that villages may have a Bishop's See in them, though examples in antiquity are rarely to be found indeed, and yet their jurisdiction be large enough too; and that Comane was of that kind, may the rather be presumed, :j: since it appears, that that particular place
* Vide fupin, cli. 1. p. TTl, il.
* ZuTliKov ritro \\.oii(u>i Kixijirii. Euscb. H. E. 1. 5, C. 16.
:}; Episcopus Comancnus mciiioraiur in Epiitola Episcopoium Pain-
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 91
h-ad a Bishop's seat in it, even in the fifth century, and at the time of the council of Chalcedon; when, I believe, no man thinks there was any one Bishop in the Christian Church, that had no more than a single village for his Diocese. In a word, it is strange to see what narrow search is made, to find here and there an instance of this kind, amongst so many thousand Bishoprics as the histo- ry of the Church affords; whereas, had villages been Bishops' Sees by Apostolical institution, wherever any congregation could be gathered in them, the advantage in number, one would think, should soon have been on their side, in the general account of Episcopal Churches in the Christian world.
But it is surmised still, that theie must have been many Bishops of villages, and very obscure villages too, among those 78 Bishops that sat in council with St. Cyprian, in the year 258, because we do not meet with the names of many of their Sees in Ptolemy, or the old geographers. Now, whatever may be missing in the ancient geofj-ra- phy, here referred to, it is plain, that every Diocese, named in that council, is very learnedly accounted for by the venerable editor of the Oxford edition of St. Cy- prian's works, in his notes upon it; partly from those an- cient geographers themselves, and partly from other authors of unquestionable credit in the case; such as Antoninus, Optatus, St. Austin, Victor Vitensis, the Noti- tia African, Collatio Carthaginensis, and the like. And as they are generally styled cities in direct terms; so, if one in twenty of them should be suspected to be other- wise, it neither proves their Dioceses to be single conn-re- gations, as we have seen before, nor should be thought
phylia; ad Leonem Aug. See Vales, in Euseb, ubi supra, and Con- ciUChalcsd. Parts, p. .391.
92 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Strange in the confines ot' those inhospitable countries, where the natives rarely multiplied their cities, yet were numerous in their lesser dispersed corporations, and be- coming Christians must have their Bishops seated in the most convenient mansion for them all. Such instances in the more uncivilized and desert parts of the world are unquestionably to be found. But to take a model of the Christian Church from them, is peculiar only to a few authors in our own times.
To close this cause and the second Chapter together, we have Justin Martyr's Sundays- Assemblies once more recommended to our better consideration, and St. Igna- tius' strict charge to the Magncsiiins to keep in close union with their Bishop; which, without going all to his single house of prayer, our Enquirer seems to think im- practicable. But how ditierent the sense of those holy fathers is from what is here put upon them, I have shewn at large * before; and hope so genuine a construction of them, being plaiilly conformable also to the principles and practice of the Catholic Church of Christ, will find no hard admittance with any peaceful friend of the like primitive constitution in our own native country and times.
CHAP. III.
ENttUIRY INTO THE CONSTITUTION, &.C. OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C.
The Bishop's flock, we have seen in the former chap- ters, is moderate and small enough. His duty is now represented to the full. The particulars are many, and
*Vide supra, p. 37, and p. 39.
THE PRI3IITIVE CHURCH, &C. 93
yet bnt little controverted, as this learned author observes, on either side; they are with great exactness summed up in this place, to introduce the absolute necessity of his residing constantly upon his cure; which in the next par- agraph is so earnestly insisted upon. And in that view of them, I cannot but take notice, that the several acts of the Episcopal function, here mentioned, are many of them so represented by the authors he quotes about them, as to imply an inherent right in the Bishop, of ordering and disposing the discharge of them, as much as a per- sonal obligation upon him to discharge them all himself. Thus, for instance, in the act of preaching; Origen here quoted, to prove it was the Bishop's duty, * elsewhere inlbrms us, that the Bishop commanded him to preach, and enjoined him the very subject ho should preach upon: (Enquiry, page 58.) which shews the Bishop to be as much, at least, a spiritual guardian of the holy ordinance, obliged by his function to provide effectually for the do- ing of it, as that he was personally bound to do it himself; and allowing but one congregation in a Diocese, it was a temporary dispensation to him, from performing that duty; and what could any one say, should that Bishop have oftner done such an innocent thing again? f Soz- omen goes farther indeed, and tells us, it was a custom in the Church of Rome, for neither Bishop nor any one else to 2)reach there; upon which the learned Valcsius notes, that no sermon of a Bishop of that Church was ever ex- taut before those of Leo the Great, which was in the fifth century, and quotes Cassiodorus to confirm what Sozo-
* Origen. in Ezek. Hnm. 3. Origen. Horn, de Engastrim. p. 2S. vol.].
t Ou7£ is i STTiaKovoi DTI aWos Tis ivOaSi siri ExxXficnai liSaaKii. Poz- om. Hist. Ecc!. 1. 7, c. 19, and Vales. Annot. ib.
94 AN ORIGINAL DEAUGIIT OF
men said, an authentic witness, who was both senator and historian, in the city of Rome itself. I infer no more from this, than what barely relates to the case before me, namely, that the Bishops^ continual preaching to their people, which our Enquirer here * asserts, was not uni- versal, at least, in the primitive Churches themselves.
Again, as to the administration of the holy sacrament of baptism, TertuUian is here brought to prove it an act of the Bishop's function, and undoubtedly it is included in it. But let us take it in the ancient father's own words, which are these; f The right of giving Baptism is in the Bishop, and from thence in the Preslyters and Deacons, if he authorize them for it. I only note this language of the ancients, and this practice in the primitive times, to shew that the flock of Christ might be fed, and the ordi- nary saving ordinances of the .Church administered in a Diocese, though the Bishop should not constantly act in his -own person; and that he was not wanting to his func- tion, where he effectually provided that every act of it was performed to the edification and occasions of his people. Personal presence is undoubtedly the truest and most faithful means of discharging any trust in the world, and much more of this high and heavenly one; but it is more extraordinary, to hear it pressed so hard from a Congregational hand, who makes a Diocese but a single auditory, and though there should be fort}^ or fifty Pres. byters, which, in his account of them, are as truly Apos- tolical Bishops in their order, as the very supreme one himself, yet cannot allow that single pastor, upon the most important affair, to be absent for a while, though he should depute them all to watch over his little flock,
* Eiiq. p. 44. ^ 2.
I- Terlul. de Baplis. c. 17.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. C5
which could make but one congregation for them. But, He uro-es St. Cyprian's awful opinion in the case, who reckons this sin o^ non-residency, as one occasion of God's wrath upon the Church, in the Decian persecution. And I believe indeed, it would be thought no better of, even in this, or in any other age besides, if we should take in all the other aggravations that holy martyr there charges it withal. He complains, * that Bishops left their Dioceses, to follow sordid merchandize abroad, to purchase farms by fraud and extorsion, to enrich themselves by use upon use, neglecting to relieve the brethren that were starring in the Church. Such non-residency might draw down judg- ments upon a Church indeed, but will hardly prove, that no occasions, how just, innocent, or important soever, can excuse the temporary absence of a Bishop from his See, where every District in his Diocese has subordinate pas- tors provided for it, to administer every necessary ordi- nance of the Church to all his people in it. That holy Bishop and martyr, we know, was a considerable time absent himself; the occasion was extraordinary, it is true, and I mention it for no other end than this, that matter of fact may inform us, a Diocese is capable to be provided for, in such a case as that; and the example of that bless- ed Bishop will shew us how: f For though absent in body, says he, / was neither wanting in spirit, in act, or admonitions to them; but by my Episcopal authority, I still
* Episcopi pkuimi de relicta cathedra, plebe deserta, per alienas proviiicias oberrantes, iiej;otiationis quaesluosBB inindinas aucupari ; esurieiuibus in Ecclesia fratribus noii subvenhe, habere argentum lar- giter velle, fundos insivliosis fraudibus raperc, iisuris muliiplicaiidibus fosnus augere. Cypr. de Lapsis. ^ 4. Edit. Oxon. p. 123.
f Absens corpore, nee spiritu, nee actu, nee monilis meis defui — Presbyteris et Diaconibus non defuit sanerdotii vigor ut quidam minus disciplirjffi niemores; comprimerentur, intercedenlibus nol->is. Ep..20
96 AX ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
restrained such Preshylers aud Deacnns, as joere remiss and negligent in the discipline of the Church. In a word, therefore, those spiritual stewards of the Lord's household will have a hard account to give, they may be sure of it, if whensoever their Lord cometh, he finds them not watching. But by what rules of equity, that watchful, ness he enjoins them, shall be judged acceptable at the last day, is reserved to himself alone, who knows the heart, and knows the occasions of man, and judgeth not by appearance, but judgeth according to truth. This is matter of awe enough to every servant in his family: and, at the same time, proves how unwarrantable it is too, for any but their Lord and Master alone, to judge of their service: As the excellent St. Cyprian elsewhere speaks, even in respect of one Bishop censuring another.
The next enquiry is, how a Bishop was anciently elect- ed into a vacant See; which is thus determined for us : 1st, * "That all the members of the Parish or Bishopric, for we must admit them for equivalent terms still, both Clergy and Laity, commonly met, to choose a fit person for his successor, to whom they might commit the care and government of their Church. 2dly, Whomsoever the peo- ple had thus elected a Bishop, they presented to their neighboring Bishops for their approbation and consent, lest the people through ignorance or affection should choose an unfit or unable man for that sacred office, (as our learned author modestly surmises for tliem,) it being supposed, (says he,) that a synod of Bishops might be wiser judges in the case. 3dly, A Bishop thus elected and confirmed, is to have liis ordination or instalment, for these must pass for equivocal words too, in his own
* Enqu ry. p. 46. 47. nrd 4',).
THE PRIJIITIVK CHUKCH, &C. 97
Church, by the neighboring Bishops, and that by impo- sltioa of their hands."
These were the three necessary requisites, it seems, for the filling of any vacant Bishopric in the primitive times; and the two former, so equally necessary, that it is * con- eluded, "Neither the choice of the Bishops of the Voisin- age, without the consent of the people, nor the election of the people, without the approbation of those Bishops, was sutBcient and valid of itself: " And after both, the ceremony oi ordination or instabneni was to finish all.
Here is.an excellent primitire practice, with variety. of reading, and not a little art, I fear, represented to us. And, because it has somewhat more than ordinary rela- tion to soit;c unfortunate controversies in o.ur own times, which our ingenious author so affectionately desired to compose and heal for us, I must take leave to observe, that it is not the ancient practice of the Church which has so much occasioned unhappy controversies in the case, as the representation of it in such a sino-ular man- ner as we have it here. By examining the particulars apart, we shall see more of it.
In the vacancy of a See, says lie, all the members of it, Clergij and Laity, met together, to choose a ft ijerson for a successor; and it need not be disputed between us, but that in many Dioceses, though not in all, they commonly did so; provided that by choosing here, we may be al- lowed to understand what our Enquirer himself fairly intimates to us, that it was no more than to pitch upon a person acceptable to themselves, whom they might pro. pose and recommend to the neighboring Bishops, for their consent and approbation, for his own scheme runs so, that is, for those Bisliops to accept or refuse him, as they
*lb. p. 49.
9*
9S AX ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
should think fit; for where we sue for approbation or consent, we must allow a right and power to disapprove and dissent too.
But then the next words in the Enquiry run higher than so, and may mislead the reader, if he be not well aware of it. They met, says he, to choose a successor, to whom they might commit the care and government of their Church. This is somewhat more, sure, than preparing to recommend to others; it is plainly contributing to them a considerable share, at least, of original right and pow- er invested in them, to dispose of their Bishopric to the person, they should please to choose. And we need not doubt, but that our learned' author intended they should be understood so; since in another * place, where he treats directly of the acts and powers of the Lay-mem- bers of a Church, h? affirms in plain terms, that Ihey had a jiower not-only to elect the person of their Bishop, but to depose him too, in case he proved scandalous, heretical, or the like- Now what this Lay-power was, in constituting Bish- ops of old, and from whence it eame, is the point in question; and for the easier solution of it, we need only carefully observe these two things. 1st, What the holy Scriptures themselves teach us concerning the divine institution of this sacred office and power of constituting and ordaining Bishops and Pastors in the Church, togeth- er with the manner it was first executed and put in prac- tice in. the very Apostolical age itself. And, 2dly, What account we Yneet with of the same thing, in the following Ecclesiastical records of fathers, councils, or historians, in the ages very near approaching to the first.
* See Enquiry, p. ]03,
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 99
These two great authorities, impartially compared to- gether, will teach us to distinguish fairly, between a di- vine r.ght, authority, and power, of ordaining elders in the Church, completely and absolutely conveyed, by the fountain of all power, to the single persons of the first spiritual rulers of it, without the concurrence of any popular election, on the one hand; and the wise and pru- dent rules and methods which the succeeding governors in many parts of the Church laid down for themselves in the use and praptice of that ordaining power, so entirely conveyed down to them, on the other. And if this short and clear distinction were but duly attended to, and without prejudice applied to the present dispute before us, the adversaries on both sides might happily find their account in it, and come nearer to compromise their fatal, though unnecessary difference about it. For, if the former part or member of this distinction appear true, which I shall particularly consider by and by, then such as disallow the necessity of jwpular elections in the case, call them by what name we please, must, at least, have a fair appearance of a very important plea, even from the holy scriptures themselves, for their opinion of it; and on the other side, if very primitive Bishops, succeeding in the places, character, and power of those earlier prede- cessors of theirs in the Christian Church, did form rules or canons by mutual consent amongst themselves, not to exercise that ordaining power and office, so invested in them, any otherwise than in the presence, and with the general approbation of the Church or people, over which the person so ordained, was intended to preside; then the advocates for this popular claim, interest, or right, call it what you will, of bearing some part also, in electing and constituting a Bishop over them, may have plausible
100 AX ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
precedents of ecclesiastical antiquity to recommend their plea for it too: Which two points, I humbly conceive, contain the main substance of what is generally offered on one side or the other; at least, they seem to me, more immediately and directly to answer all the reasomngs of our learned enquirer about it; who, through all his man- agement of this argument, grounds his whole scheme upon such ancient ecclesiastical authorities alone; and as for texts of holy scripture, or any authentic charter of popular election contained in them, at tlie first divine or apostolical institution of it, lias though fit not to mention one; as the * reader miy see, by consulting the referen- ces noted in tlie margin here.
To begin then with the former part, or member of the distinction itself; which is this, that the holy scriptures set forth to us a divine right, authority, and power of or- daining elders in the Church, completely and absolutely conveyed, from the fountain of all power in it, to the single persons of the first spiritual rulers of it, without any previous or concurrent election ot the people in it: and farther, that the appostles themselves, or apostolical men, eminently so called, and adopted into the number of them, did accordingly both execute and convoy the same ordaining power, in the same manner, unto others at their first planting of Cliri.stian Churches in t'ne world. This evidence of fact, I shall briefly shew, the holy scrip- tures do set forth to us.
And first, as to the peculiar apostolic college itself, which we know was first consecrated and ordained to this holy function, as the spring and fountain I'rom whence all the rest is undoubtedly dcrivad, I prosumo it will not
* See Enq. p . 23, 24. ami p. 46, to p. 49.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &,C. 101
be disputed, but that they received a fuhiess of power for ordinations, as well as every other part of their ministe- rial office, from the blessed Jesus himself, whether before or after his resurrection, without any imaginary appear, ance of such a popular choice or approbation in the case. And therefore I do but barely name the thing; though I must make this short remark upon it, that it is no incon- siderable circumstance to the point in hand, that the catholic Church was thus founded upon governors and pastors ordained to rule over every part of it, before there was any formed Church or settled congregation in the world to have any hand in it. This comes as near the root, I am sure, of all divine right or power in ordina- tions, as it is possible to do. And in what other sense can we reasonably conceive those first plenipotentiaries of Church power could understand their blessed Lord's express commission to them, * as my father hath sent me, even so send I you, than as a personal power to ordain others in tho same manner likewise, according as the occasion of converting all nations, and gathering Chur- ches in them, where there were none before, did most naturally require.
That they did so understand, and execute their com- mission so too, if a very short digression may be allow'd me here, that one venerable record of Antiquity, which our enquirer himself f singled out to prove the contrary by, will manifestly shew; I mean St. ClemenVs first epistle to the Corinthians, where the holy father's words are these. :j: The apostles, says he, continued [or ordained]
* .lob. XX. 21. t See Enq . p. 49.
^ 0( A.iro^1o\oi KaiQi';avov ras airapxas avTidv £i; jff((rKO-ac Kai 6iaKov«i
r(x>v /iiWovloiv Ti'^livtiv, Ciem. ad Coiimh . Ep. 1. p . 54, 55.
102 AX ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Bishops and deacons for stick as [were not yet converted, but] should, in some time to come, be brought over to the faith. There needs no comment upon this testunony;_ for sure, whatever imaginary people may be suggested to have bore a part in the election or ordination of such Bishops and deacons as those, it is plain enough, the people they were afterwards to preside over, or minister amongst them, could have none at all; which is the only thing contended for, and should be proved, in the case before us.
But, to return to scripture evidence again. As the principal apostles themselves, according to the testimony of that truly primitive father indeed, for he was contem- porary with many of them, did unquestionably constitute and ordain pastors in the Church, without any suffrage or election of the people'in it; so the holy scriptures af- firm no less of such as wore adopted into that sacred college, dignified with that title by the Holy Ghost, and called of God himself to the holy function, as well as the blessed twtlve were; I mean St. Paul and St. Barnabas, whose ordinations are particularly recorded for us in holy writ itself. The text which mentions them is ob- vious enough, and has seldom escaped the observation of any who have wrote on this argument, on one side or the other. It is Acts. xiv. 23. where, in our translation, we read thus. * And when they had ordained them elders in evenj Church, and had prayed with fasting, they com. mended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. I know the original word, here used for this apostolical ordina- tion, is with great assurance insisted upon by the advo. cates for popular election, as including in it the votes or
* Act. xvi. -23. Kai x'-'Poloi'1<yar']s< Si avion Trpt(76i'']sp^s Kola ckkXti- ciav, vpuciv^a jiivui fiila vri^Hnw rapiOivTO avjus rw Ki'/Jifojif ovirems-lvKeican'
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCII, &C. 103
suffrages of the people, because it signifies Ihe stretching out, or holding up, of the hand; which ceremony was com- monly used by the ancient Greeks, to express such an action of the people in giving their voice or suffrage either in courts of judicature, or at the choice of magis- trates amongst them. This is the main stress of all the glosses I meet with, to evade the clear evidence of this text for the apostles ordaining those elders by their own free choice and authority alone. The clear evidence of the text, I call it; lor if there be any regular and gram- matical construction of the holy penmens' words to be al- lowed at all, it must necessarily be Ibis; that the same persons who held forth their hands for the act of ordina- tion here, did, in the words immediately following, com- mold the people, then present, to the Lord, in whom they believed. The word, commended, in the latter clause, and the persons who ordained, or stretched out their hands for orders, if we had rather translate it so, in the former, having as direct a reference to, and connexion with one another, and appropriating the action of the one to the persons of the other, as entirely as it is possible for true Syntax to do in any sentence whatsoever; and therefore, unless the people commended themselves to the Lord in the latter clause, they could not be included amongst the persons that stretched out their hands for ordination in the former; for they that did one, as clearly as language can make it, did the other also. Besides, though it might signify either, yet it must signify both here, if it imply the people's votes, else no imposition of hands in this ordination; and how absurd is that?
I might balance, at least, all the proof that could be criven for a popular election necessarily implied in] this original word, by a cloud of witnesses both of Greek and
104 a:s original dsaugiit of
Jewish writers, in and about the time that the new tes- tament was writen; who famiharly apply the same word, not to the votes or suffrages of a muhitude only, but to the bare authoritative act of a single person, nay even of * God himself, in constituting or ordaining officers to the respective places or purposes that they treated of. I might add also the venerable and I'eceived. authorities of Christian fathers, historians,, critics, and gramma- rians, eminent both in ancient and modern ages of the Church, who affirm the word to be so taken in the an- cient ecclesiastical notion of it; insomuch that the inquisi- tive Suiccr, who was friend enough to popular elections, amongst other significations of the word, undertakes to prove by many testimonies and examples, f that the stretching out of the hand included in it, imports no more than barely creating, constituting and designing persons to the place or office intended for them, as distinct from suffrage and election; and, which is not a little to the purpose, produces this very text, at the head of many others authorities, for a clear testimony and example of it. But they who would see a plain and compendious account of the authorities.! here appeal to, need only read the excellent doctor Hammond's annotations on this single text, and those of the late Bishop Beveridge on the first Apost. Can. But,
1 have chosen rather to leave the sacred text to its own naked evidence, than amuse the reader with numer-
** So the holy Eciiptine attributes it to G id's choice of witnesses, Acts X. 41.
t Exemplis et testimoniis pioebcmiis xtipoloveiv nihil alud declarare qiiani constituere, creare designare; ])atet hoc ex Act, xiv. 23, iibi (le Paulo et Barnaioa, xitpo']ov>i(TavTi; avlot^ TrptaSvJtpm Ka]a tKK\tiaiav. Suicer.Thesaur. Ecc in verbo xeipoTovsu, et mvoce xitpolovla. Num. 2.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUllCH, &C. 105
OLis quotations of that kind, which are so readily to be found elsewhere; especially, since authorities of that na- ture, though justly thought to have a considerable weight in them by unprejudiced men, yet, I know not for what reasons, are very often slightly passed over by some of the greatest patrons of popular election and the congre- gational cause. Witness that remarkable passage in the celebrated J. Owen's plea for scripture ordination; who, speaking of valid ordinations, thus explains him- self. By valid, says he, / jiiean, not ichat old Canons make so, (and yet it is remarkable by the by that our learned Enquirer urges such authorities in the case) but what the scriptures determine to he so. Those sacred ora- cles, which are of divine inspiration, and not aroiiranj Canons lohich are of weak men's devising, are the founda- tion of our faith, and the infallible standard, by which truth and error must be tried; which though it be an un- accountable contempt of those venerable records of the Church, and of all otiier human authority besides; yet so fur as any original right or jiower in that solemn act of oi-dinafion can be claimed, as divine, he may be own- ed to speak a very important truth in it; for after that sacred code was once complete and sealed, I know of no such authentic power as that granted to any, either in part, or in whole.
I shall therefore pursue the evidence of those holy ora- cles a little farther still, and prove from thence, that as the apostles received and exercised such an ordaining power, independent of any popular election in it; so they convey- ed the same, without any such condition annexed to it, to the individual persons of some of the chief pastors of the Churches which were planted by them. The two noted instances of this kind, within the sacrrd Canon it- 10
106 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
self, are Timothy and Titus; in whose commission and instructions together, which are very particular, we know, in the point of ordinations above all things, we might reasonably expect to hear of this ?Hrt/eWa/ right and privilege of the people, if such a right there was, and not without some solemn directions, one would think, for a due regard to it, lest their ordinations should prove de- fective and invalid, after all the authority the apostle had given them, for want of this popular election in them. But that neither their commissions or instructions for or- daining Bishops and deacons in the Church, do either require, or imply any such elections in them, will ap- pear evident, I think, from a very few texts, which im- mediately relate to them.
The commission to Timothy is directly referred to in 2 Tim. ii. 2. The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, says the great apostle, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall he ahle to teach others also. The substance of Titus's commission is, at Titus i. 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete, says the same apostle, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, und ordain elders in every city, as I had njjpointed thee.
Nothing can be plainer, I think, than these three things are here. 1st. That there was a full right and power of ordaining elders in the Church unquestionably inves- led in these primitive pastors of the apostolical Churches. 2d. That each of them in their single persons are ex- pressly specified, addressed, and pointed to, for the dis- charge and execution of it, (co?«»«'i thou to faithful men, <Scc. and that thou shouldst ordain elders, t^c. as I had ap. pointed thee.) And 3d. That there is not the least direc- tion, or so much as hint, or intimation, given to cither of them to call in the assistance, or wait the approbation of
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCII, &.C. 107
the people in the case; neither texts, nor coitexts, if we please to look into them, will suggest the least imagina- tion of any such thing: And therefore, without farther remark upon them,
I proceed, in the next place, to consider the larger instructions given to them by the great apostle, for the due execution of their important charge. These lie dis- persed in the several epistles directed to them. And here, if any where, we might hope to find the sec7-et of a popular election enjoined in all their ordinations. But, on the contrary, instead of clear instructions for it, we find they had the strongest cautions given them, against it, that a holy prophet and apostle together, whose com- mission alone they acted by, could well have left with them. For St. Paul, instructing Timothy in the genius of the people of the Province he had placed him in, in plain terms foretells him what they would one day do, if they were left to their own elections, and might choose paste r^ for themselves. The time loill come, says he, when they will not endure sound doctrine, hut after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teacher}, having itching cars_ (2 Tim. iv. 3.) This was a pretty fair warn- ing, one would think, both to Timothy himself, and to his successors too, I'br it was an indefinite prophecy, in point of time, to them all, that they should beware of trusting too much to the votes and suffrages of the people, in that particular affair especially of providing pastors for themselves. And that Titus had a caution to this purpose much of .the same kind with this, is visible enough in St. Paul's confirming the Cretian prophet's hajd testimony of his own countrymen, that they were always liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies. (Tit. i. 12.) For that the Apostle meant it not of such as were unconverted
108 AjV original draught of
only, but chiefly of such as were then become members of the Church, and indeed of them alone, in respect of the use he made of it, is manifest from the words immedi- ately following., wherein he enjoins Tilus to rebuke them sharply, that they might he found in the faith; which, sure- ly, was to judge and censure them for it; and that had been contrary to his own doctrine in another place, if they were not members of the Church. For (iCor. v. 12.) he disowns his right of Judging them that are with- out; what have I to do, says he, to judge them that are without? If the lay-members of the Cretian Church therefore had such a character as tliis fastened upon them by the very apostle himself, which, at least, must affect a considerable part of them, let any man judge what probability there is, that Titus should have it given him in his instructions to let the people choose their pas- tors for themselves, or that he should take up that method himself in conferring holy orders on any in that island.
It is true, indeed, they have this excellent instruction amongst the rest, that Bishops and deacons must be prov- ed first, and found to he blameless; (1 Tim. iii. 2. 10. and Tit. i. 6.) which does undoubtedly suppose a careful in- quisition and wise trial to be made of the personal qualifi- cations of every candidate for holy orders. And upon this indefinite advice, and single intimation, which, when we have said the most of it that we can, leaves the whole matter to the discretional judgment of the ordainers themselves, do many advocates for popular election ground their plea, for a necessary appeal to the votes and suffrages of the people in all ordinations. Nay, our learned Enquirer himself, though he offered no scripture authority for it, when he was directly treating of the
THE PKIMITIVE CIIURCn, &C. 109
point; yet when * he comes to the method of his consis- tory, in examining into thejife and conversation of such candidates for holy orders, he first tells us, theij 'ii-erc zro- ■posed to the people fo/ their t^'sthnony^ and then' imme- diately subjoins the former of these texts as an apostoli- oal Canon, to countenance, at least, if not to enjoin the practice of it.
In answer to which, I offer these few considerations.
1st. That the holy apostle's meaning in it appears not to be so, by the cautions given to Timothy and Titus, which I mentioned but now.
2d. That the nature of the thing itself, namely, the qualifications required in this case, seem vei-y unsuitable to such a popular or congregational inquest as this. And,
Lastly. Tiiatour judicious Enquirer himself, where he most explains his sense upon this subject, does not a lit- tle countenance the conti'ary opinion of it.
The first of these particulars, of the apostle's sense of it, is cleared already, and needs no repetition.
The second, which is the nature of the thing itself, or the qualifications required in the persons to be ordained, (and note, episcopal orders in the sense of the enquiry are included here) 1 shall take from the Enquirer's own pen. t The gifts, cr qualifications, says he, touching u-hich a candidate for the riunisirij icas examined, may be reduced to these four heads.
1st. His age, to prevent admitting a novice or a strip- ling, as he explains the thing.
2d. His .condition in the world, in respect of beino free from all secular employments, or mundane affairs..
* See Enquirj', p . f S. t See Eiiquirj', p . 84, &c. 10*
110 AX ORIGINAL DRArGHT OP
3d. His conversation, that he might be known to be meek and humble, and of an unspotted and exemplary life.
4th. His understanding, that he might be of a good capacity, and fit to teach others; under which head, he falls in clearly with Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus, that all sorts of human learning, and logic, and philoso- phy in particular, were ?;oi only useful, but wjccEsar'j for a Pret.hyter; they were amiable, and projitahlc for Mm, as his own words are, at pag. 94.
The ingenious author, who drew up thesa particulars, was very sensible, I doubt not, that three in four of them needed no appealing to any congregation of men to be satisfied in them. Little need of bringing whole multi- tudes to a poll, to know what, or where abouts, the age of any candidate should be; or whether involved in secu- lar or worldly affairs, or no; and more absurd still, to enquire there of his skill or abilities in those depths of human learning, which are thought proper for him.
The only qualification, then, which could fall under the cognizance of such judges as those, must bo that of his moral virtues, or of his life and conversation; and why should the Bishops of different provinces be called in to judge of that? No man ever questioned, I think, but that neighbourhoods or societies, friends or familiars, whether laity or clergy, which any man whatsoever has been more familliarly conversant with, arc the properest evidence, before all others, to give a just and satisfactory information of this kind of qualification. But how, and in what manner, wou4d a reasonablQ man conceive such information should be had? By an universal suffrage and critical majority of voices, in so mixed a multitude?' Sure, if natural reason, and common sense and experience
THE PRIMITIVE CUURCH, &C. Ill
do not startle at that, yet our blessed Master would teach us to be very cautious, at least, in such hazardous trials as these; when he plainly tells us, there will be f.a)-es as 7rcU as wheat, and it is well, if we must not un. derstand it in more than equal proportion too, in that very field which is a symbol of the kingdom of heaven, or of the visible Church of God upon earth; and to measure out one and the. other without distinction, as this case supposes,- could have little good come of it. Not thi} man, hul Barabbas, is a tremendous instance of this kind, in the most eminent congregation of the only Church of God then amongst men. And. whosoever shall seriously consider, how expressly the spirit has foretold us, what degeneracy of faith, what corruption of manners, what perilous times should come in the latter days, when men should be fulic accusers, and haters of those that are good, and the like; yet still retaining the form of godliness, though without the power of it; whosoever,! say, should impartially consider this, must be inclined to tliink, that the wisdom of God, who both foresaw and foretold it all, should scarcely ever grant such an un- changeable charter to every individual member of a Church, to approve his Bishops and pastors for him, in all generations to come; as we see, indeed, there appears no footsteps of it in the holy code of his laws, by the view we have already had of' them. The wise heathen speaks a natural truth, not very foreign to this purpose, which I am afraid the Christians in our age would find hard to contradict. '^ Things do not go so well with mankind, said the excellent Seneca, th:it the best please the most tvherc number and multitude is, it is an argument rather
* Noil tarn bene cum lebiis hu:iianis agiiur, ut melioia pliii-ibLrs placcant, argumentum pessimi, turba est. Seneca de vit. Beat, c. 2.
112 AX ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
of the iront. The inference from all I have said here is this, that notwithstanding the whole corporation, or so- ciety, whether sacrecj or civil, which any person is an immediate member of, and the whole region or district lie ordinary lives and converses in, be the most suitable places and persons from whence we should seek a moral character of him; yet a few select ones out of all the rest, if judiciously chosen, and with an upright mind appHed to, are as likely, at least, to give a just and sober account in the case, as the promiscuous votes of the mixed mul- titude together can reasonably be thought to do. And if what I have said seem too little for it, I shall farther add, what I learn from the judicious enquirer himself, name- ly, that ignorance and affection, that is, weakness in un- derstanding, and bias upon the will, are generally to be found amongst the vulgar people of any Christian Church or congregation whatsoever.
And this will clear, I hope, the third particular I promised to make oat, that the Enquirer himself, where he most impartially explains his sense upon this subject, does not a little countenance our opinion of it. For these are the two qualities he * fastens upon the common peo- ple, even of primilive Churches and congregations in gen- eral, as 1 just mentioned once before. They served his turn then indeed in another view of the case. He was representing to us the primitive custom of neighbouring Bishops being called in, as necessary to consent to the people's election of a Bishop; and because it would eclipse the popular power, to speak out the whole of their busi- ness, ofiice, and authority, in constituting a Bishop over them, he smooths it over with this gloss; and one or two,
* See Enquiry, p. 43.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 113
more not much unlike it, which I may consider after- wards; I suppose, says he, the reason of their presenting liiiii to those Bishops for their concent was this, lest the people, through ignorance, or afecliov, should choose an unfit, or an muble vicin for that ojjice. What manner of representation this is of an episcopal part and office in primitive ordinations, I shall not stay to observe now; I only make good the observation I raised from it to the present purpose, viz. That he charges the congrega- tion with suspicion of such ignorance and affection in the choice of their Bishop, that they needed better judges to be called in, as in another place he makes them subject to giddiness, envtj or pride, pag. 105. He may apply, it is likely, the tvcaJcncss of their understanding to the point of judging of the candidate's human learning only; but the bias of their affection, which with equal justice perhaps he supposes to be in them, together with the other qualities of giddiness, envy, or pride, can never pass for a tolerable disposition in them, to give their suffrage in any other qualification whatsoever. And therefore I think it can be no injury to say, that where his sense is most impartially explained, he countenances, at least, our present opinion in the case.
Now, to sum up all that has been offered from scrij)- ture evidence relating to the argument before us, the par. ticulars are briefly these.
1st. That the principal Apostles themselves were un- questionably chosen and ordained supreme governors and pastors of all that did, or should believe in their time, without the concurrence or consent of any. And this was the root and fountain of all Church power granted from above.
•2d. That the same Apostles must have had the like
114 AN OHIGINAL DRAITGIIT OF
ordaining power personally and entirely invested in themselves alone, upon these two accounts; 1st, Because their commission, ia this respect, was, in express words, the very transcript of the Father's to their Lord and Mas- ter, who sent them, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you, John xx. 21. And, 2d, Because their pasto- ral work in converting unconverted nations, and consti- tuting or ordaining spiritual governors for them, being, in that respect, the same also, did naturally require the same authority and power for it. And that those holy Apostles did actually exercise such a power, I proved by the collateral authority of Clemens Ilomanus, who, in so many words, assures us, that they ordained both Bish- ops and Deacons so.
3d. I shewed, from the evidence of the sacred text itself, that those adopted Apostles, St. Paul and St. Bar- nabas, did ordain Elders lor the Churches, in the same- manner, as to their sole and personal act in it; referring the reader to many unexceptionable authorities, for that exposition of the holy penmen's words.
4tli, That tlie same St. Paul conveyed the like power to Timothy and Titus, requiring no concurrence of a popular election with them, cither in his commission or instructions given to them; but, on the contrary, left cautions with them to beware of trusting too much to any such elections.
And, Lastly, I considered at large that single instruc- tion so often strained to prove a popular election by, viz. That the Bishops or Deacons must be first frovcd, and found to he blameless; and shewed, that neither in the sense of the Apostle himself, nor from the nature of the thing- or in the more impartial sense and judgment of the
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 115
learned Enquirer himself, any such popular claim or title could be implied in it.
From these particulars, I conceive the first part, or member, of the general distinction I proposed, to be made good, viz. that the holy Scriptures set forth to us a divine right, authority, and power, of ordaining Elders in the Church, absolutely and entirely conveyed, from the fountain of all power in it, to the single persons of the first spiritual rulers of it, without any previous or con- current election of the people in the case; and that it was so executed and conveyed down to others also.
To proceed to the other part of that distinction then: What account do we find of this matter in the records of primitive antiquity nearest approaching to the first age of the Church? And here I might produce variety of instances, wherein neither election, nor so much as a convention of the people, was to be found, or heard of, at the consecration of many of those primitive Bishops within tljat period of time. Clemens Romanus constitutes Euaristus his successor by his own assignment, and a kind of surrender, as it were, before his death; for so ' Eusebius' words, here noted in the margin, do plainly imply. Pha^dimus, Bishop of Amasea, had no other hand but that of Heaven and his own, in making the re- nowned Gregory Bishop of Neoccesarea, as the whole circumstances of that affair, related by the learned f Dr. Cave, from Greg. Nyssen, do sufficiently shew. But, not to amuse ourselves with enquiring after particular cases, what sense can we make of that particular Canon of the Church, ivhich taxes the peoj)Ie of a Diocese with
* K\t!hv? Hvapt^o) sapain? tijv XsirapytavaiuAua rov (iiov. Eujeb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 3, c. 31.
i See Dr. Cave's Life of Greg, Tiiauraat. i G. p. 271,
116 AN ORIGIiVAL DRAUGHT OF
great iniquity, who zvmild not receive a Bishop ordained for them, and sent io j^reside over ihem? Nay, suspended the Clergy of that city, for not instructing such an insolent people any letter; whicli are the express words of the 3fith Apostolical * Canon? What sense, I say, can we make of so ancient a Canon as this, if it were not familiarly in use in those primitive times, to ordain a Bishop for a va- cant See without the people having any concern in it? and they who can believe that Canon to be of later dale than the third century, at the most, after all the evidence which the learned antiquarians have given to the contra- ry, will hardly be brought to reason I am afraid. And yet we need not insist on this neither: for the constant and settled custom of the Church of Alexandria is so pregnant an instance in this case, as supercedes all far- ther enquiry in the matter.
That the twelve Presbyters alone chose their Bishop there to the middle of the third century, at least, is evi- dent enough from St. Jerome's account of it, though, in other respects, the same passage is too often misapplied. But his account is this : "j" At Alexandria, says he, from Mark the Evangelist to Heraclas and Dionysius' iimc^ (who were the 13th and 14th Bishops in succession there) the Preslyters alwcnjs nominated one their Bishop, chosen from among themselves, and, placed in a higher station. — Add to this evidence the same account given us, only more fully and particularly still, by Scverus, who wrote
*E( x^'P°l°^1^''i sricTKOTTO? — j.irt ctxOrj^ y rrnpa Trjv iav']xyvii)iiriV, aAAu ^rapa TIT* TS Xa» fiox6'ipi<"'^ avioi iitv!']ii> nriaKovoi, b St TrXripos tt/j -oXsmj a<popc^eiOu on TOUT" \<iu avv-o1aK']u ■xaiBiv'/ai sk lyivov'Jo. Cnu, Aposiol. 31.
t Nam el Alpxandria; a Marco I'^vang'Iisia tisq; ad Ileraciani et Dionysium episcopos, presbyter! semper unum ex se elecuini, in exrel- piori giadu collocatum, episcnpum nominabaiit. Ilininn. Ep. v-d Euagr, Edit. Erasm. Basil. 15L6. Tom. 3. Fol. loO.
THE PEIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 117
the Lives of the Alexandrian Patriarchs, and by the Arabian and Egyptian annalists of that Church, as * Abraham Ecchellensis has recorded them for us; and we shall find it was not only a stated custom in that primitive Church 'for the Pi'esbyters alone thus to choose their Bishop, but that it was a fundamental constitution tliere, and of St. Mark's own appointment. What must we think then? Could the people have a general right, or charter of election gran-ted them, either from Christ or his Apostles, and this holy Evangelist know nothing of it? Or, if b.e had known it, would he have established a standing rule, in that eminent Church of his own found- ing, so directly contrary to it?
But, not to insist on these approved records of the Church neither, though the testimony they bear is strong and plain enough, I shall willingly go along with tlie En- quiry before me, as far as fact and truth will give me leave.
I dispute not, therefore, that very early custom cf pro- vincial Bishops repairing to n vacant See, and in the presence of the jyeople settling the election of the intended Bishop, and ordaining him there, in most provinces I mean, though not in all,- Mliich is as far as f his quota- iions require.
But, to bring the question to a short issue, what was the part or office of the people n\ those public ordina- lions? The Enquiry, treating of the Presbyter's exami- nation for his holy orders, which, in his sense, is the making of him Bishop too, as to the orders that he takes, allows o?X testimomj and attestation only of the people in
"' See A'urah. Eccheliens. de Eccl. Alex, originib. Horns'., 1C61. 4to. cap. 6. p. 82, 83, 81. and p . 103 to 107, -t Fere provincias universas. Enq. p. 4S. ^ See Euquiiv, p. 88. 11
118 AX ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
the case; but when he comes to be made a Bishop indeed, in the true and univcisal sense of the CathoHc Church, then the people's testimony improves itself into a cJai?n of power sufficient to elect him Bishop, if they please, or io depose him afterwards, if they think he proves unfit for it.
Now, there are two short questions to be observed in this case.
1st, Whether the primitive Church itself, who so com- monly ordained in the presence of the people, acknow- ledged any such power in them, or no?
2d, From whence was this power given, if such an one there was, and by what authority was it claimed?
To prove that the primitive Church did acknowledge such a power, the Enquiry produces two instances. 1st, That of an * African synod, related by St. Cyprian, [Ep. 68. §6. or in the Oxon. ed- Ep. 67.] and translates it. thus: TJie r;c!ghhoriiig Bishops of the province, says he, juct together at the Church of a vacaht ,See, and chose a Bishop in the presence of the people-, who knew his life and conversation heforc: uhich custom was observed in the electing of Sabinus, Bir:hop of EmeritainSpain, who was ordained to that dignity by the suffrage of all the brethren, and of all the Bishops thct& present, f
In this account of the case, here are two parts; 1st, What the general custom was; and 2d, That the partic- ular ordination of Sabinus was in all points conformable
* Apud 1103 et fere per provincias universas icnctur, ui ad oidin;;- lioaos rite celebrandas, ad earn plcbem, cui proepositus ordinatur, episcopi ejusdem provincise proximi quiq; conveniant, el episcopiis deligaiur, plebe prEesenie, qujc sinjuloruni vilam plenissime novil, et uniusciijusq; actum de (jus conversalione perspexit: Quod factum videmiis in Sabiui ordinatione, ut de universa; frateiniiaiis suffragio, ei de episcopordm judicio episcopatus ei deferretur. Cypr, Ep. 68. aui. Edit. Oxon.
t See Enquiry, p. 48.
THi: PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 119
to it. Of the general custom, it is affirmed, in our au- thor's own translation, that the neighboring Bishops met together at the Church of a vacant See, and chose a Bishop. Here is as plain a proof, I think, of the neigh- boring Bishops choosing the person, as words can make it. What then is said of the people? Only this, that it iraj in their presence, n:ho Icnew his life and conversnfion before. If any man can see a popular election here, he must be quicker sighted than I can ever hope to be. — That their knowledge of his life and conversation before, should qualify them to give testimony of his moral conduct and behavior amongst them, and so encourage or discour- age the Bishops in making or confirming their elections, is a natural and genuine inference from that expression; and if we will allow St. Cyprian to make his references and similitutles apposite and agreeable to the subject he applies them to, we must conclude it was his own mean- ing too: For upon this very argument, and in the same page, he refers to God's instructions to Moses, to bring forth Aaron, with Eleazar his son, and place them before the congregation, in order to consecrate the son his fa- ther's successor; and I presume, no man infers from hence, that the congregation of Israel chose or voted Eleazar to the high-priesthood, because it was appointed to be done in their presence; and why this reference, then, to illustrate Christian ordinations by, if they were so very different in that particular circumstance for which alone they were produced? which was, to shew that the judgment and testimony about them both, should be as public as it well could be; for that is the very reason*
*■" Ut sacerdo?, plebe praxseiue, sub omnium oculis rleligaiur, et dig- nus atq; icloiieus publico judicio ac testimonio comprobetur, sicut in Numeiis Dominus Moysi pifecepit. CVpr. Ep. 68. ant Edit. Oxon. Ep. G7.
120 AN ORIGI^'AL DRAUGHT OF
given by St. Cyprian, for quoting the sacred text, and applying it to the argument he had in hand.
For any thing that appears in this quotation, the gene- ral custom of the Church made the election of the person to be the Bishop's part, and left the presence and tesiimo- ny of the people only to be theirs; and doubtless in Sa- binus' case it could be no otherwise, for it is introduced here with this attestation to it, that this custom of ike Church was accordingly observed in the ordination of Sabinus. Where lies the evidence then, that the people chose there, though the general custom is declared in tliis quotation, not to be so? Not in St. Cyprian's affirming it, I am sure, in such plain terms, as he affirmed before that the provincial Bishops met and chose too; but it wholly lies in a jwsitive construction of a dubious and mistaken word in this quotation, and the Enquirer's ingenuity in joining two different terms, in one and the same sense, in his translation, which the accurate St. Cyprian had careful, ly distinguished himself. For the holy father's words, to translate them right, are these; That the Bishoprick was conferred upon Sabinus, by the suffrage of all the brethren, and by the judgment of the Bishops there; so that judgment and suffrage are plainly distinguished, we see, by St. Cyprian; th3 former attributed to the Bishops alone, and the latter to all the brethren; whereas the En- quirer was pleased to unite them in his translation, and says that Sabinus was advanced to that dignity by the sif. frage of all the brethren, and of all the Bishops there pre^ sent. So that suffrage being made the same with a. judi- cial act, by this ingenious union of them, insensibly con- veyed an equal share at least, of right and power to the people in this election, with that of the Bishops them- selves; and that purely, so far as any man can see, be-v
THE PKiMiTiVE ciruscir, .fcC. 121
cause the word suffrage was taken of course to signify no less; which I desire the reader more particularly to take notice of, because a very great stress of this ingenious authof's arguments for popular election, and that which innocently influenced, it is possible, his own judgment in it too, seems to lie in a mistaken construction of this single word, in the writings of St. Cyprian.
I must be forced, upon this occasion, therefore, to spend a little time in clearing up the holy Mart3a-'s notion of it, which I shall do as briefly as I can.
And were there no other instance in all the venerable monuments we have of his excellent works, to prove that suffrage, in his ordinary use of tlie word, implied no right or power at all, in them that gave it; or conveyed any title, or part of title, to the person they gave their suf- frages for; this single passage before us would go a great way to persuade an unprejudiced man that it was so. For to find it distinguished, as it is here, from the judicial part of the whole proceedings, and the decisive act, which judgment expressly is, attributed afterwards unto others, who were fewer in number too, does natural- ly enough imply, that there was no actual power, but purely either precedent testimony or a subsequent appro- bation in the suffrages of the people; else their very num- ber would have made them Judges, rather than the Bish- ops themselves; and it makes not a little to the same purpose, that those very words were carefully distin- guished also, in the account of Eleazar's public conse- cration, just before, where we are sure tliey must be taken so.
But to shew how familiar this notion of the word is, in the writings of that primitive father; let these farther instances, out of many more, which might be produced, 11*
122 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
be added to the former. In his Tract De Zelo et Livore, *speaking of the people's transport of joy and satisfac- tion at David's slaying of Goliah; he expresses it thus, They broke forth, says he, into commendation of David, ■ii-itJi suffrage, of applause. What can this siijf'rage of iT]-)plcrasc signify, but plainly a testimony of the people's highest approbation of the thing done; not expressed by way of votes, to be sure, it would be absurd enough to imagine that, but by public acclamations of them all, as infinitely pleased with what the holy champion had done; and this St. Cyprian thought properly expressed, by caUing it, the suffrage of the people.
Again, in hrs Treatise Da ViDiitaic Idolorietr, speaking of the Jews earnestly urging Pilate to crucify our blessed Lord, f they delivered lihn up, says he, to Pontius Pilate, requesting., of him hy force, and importunale svffrages, that he shorJd he cracifed; and what meant these impor- tunate suffrages more, than to shew their wicked inclina- tions, desire, and highest approbation of the thing, if Pilate should pass such a bloody sentence upon him? for they declared themselves, they had no power, in the act of putting any man to death, Jo. xviii. 31. Yet this the accurate holy father again, in his language, calls the suffrage of the Jeir...
One instance more I shall name, because it contains in it his own explication of the word, and plainly shews, that, by suffrage, he riieanl the same thing as he did by public tcslimomy, and nothing more. In his 63th Epistle, he
* Popukisadmirruis hi iancles David preedicatioiiis siifTra^^io prosiliit. Cypr. cle Zelo et Liv, p. '2i'i. Oxon. Ed.
\ Mfrgistii eorum Poatio Filato tradideruiit cnicim ejus, et mortem suffmgiis violentis et periiitacibus flagitauies. Cypr. tie Vaiiit. Ilol, p. 1G. Ed. Oxon.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 123
says of Cornelius' ordination, * that it was by tlie sufragc of the Clergy and the people; and of the same ordination, in another place, he says, it was f % the testimony of almost all the Clergy, and by the svjfrage of the people that were there. Now if the testimony of the Clergy in the latter clause be not the same with their suffrage in the former, then it was something less than so; and con- sequently the Clergy's personal part and interest in elec- tions falls short of the common people's, to whom a suffrage is imputed in the same clause; which, I presume is not intended neither. But if the terms be allowed to be equivalent, the case is plain, the holy father appears consistent with himsc'f; and in no other sense, I appre- hend, it can be so.
These few instances, I think, may shew, that to take the word suffrage in the sense of solemn testimony, good- liking, approbation, or the like, in the works of St. Cy- prian, is an authentic and warrantable interpretation of it, as being directly suitable to his own manifest and familiar notion of the word; and therefore I leave the reader to judge, whether the Enquirer's promiscuous joining of it with the word judgment in the quotation now before us, as if they were synonymous terms, and laying the whole stress of the quotation upon it, when the holy father himself had cautiously distinguished them in both places, where occasion was offered him to do so, does not seem, at least, a mistaken apprehension of that great author's sense; and by that means strains the whole quotation, to prove a popular election, when, by what has been offered, we may clearly see, there is no such evidence to be found in either part of it.
* De cleii et plebis suffra^io. Cypr. Ep. 63.
t De clericorum prene omnium lestimonio, et de pleblf, quas tunc affuit,.sufriag.o. Ep. 55. p. ]04. E.iit. Oxon.
124 AN ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
* The other authority brought to prove the same thing, is a passage in St. Clement's first epistle to the Corin- thians, where our learned author observes; "j" that apos- tles and apostolic preachers ordained Bishops and deacons with the consent of the whole Church; that is, by their votes given for the candidate to be ordained in the man- ner of a regular election; for so the subject he applies it to, obliges us to understand it. Now this evidence so far agrees with the former, that the whole force of it lies in the signification of a single word again, and will not want many, I hope, to shew the invalidi-ty of it. St. Clement's word for consenting here, is \_(TvvtvboKri(!aavi\ and if any word in the Greek tongue could aptly render St. Cyprian's sense of suffrages in the notion I have just now given of it, I should think it might be this. But let the language of the inspired penmen determine it for us. eWokeu is of near affinity to it, to be sure, and this we of- ten meet with in Holy Writ. God's cowipZacency in his. own Son is expressed by that word in three of the evan- gelists; :j: this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. § St, Paul uses it for talcing pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities; and for the wicked^s being pleased in unrighteousness; (2 Thes. ii. 12.) And other places in Holy Writ might be produced to the same pur- pose, whiclr the learned || commentators expound by rejoicing, resting highly, satisfied, and acquiescing in them. And how can the right of election be grounded on such a term as this? II St. Luke expresses Saul's consent to the
* See Enquiry, p. 49.
t Kaja^aBcvlai v~o t/cfivuv Kat ftija^v vxip tlspwv iWoytjUov avSpam, <nvexjSoK7jaa(!t]i tj;s cKKXijatas ttuo/s. C'leiii. lioin. Ep . ad Ccrinth. p. 57.
^ Ev S) evfoKiiaa, MdH. iii. ] 7. Mark. i. 2. Luk. iii. 22.
tj KvioKM iv aadivctati, &C. 2. xii. 10.
II KvioKriaavTiS ivahKia tut'' Sfi x"'/'"- ev^patvoiiai, pija evOvjita; Scx"!""' Theiflor. in loc, E^edricrav aijxivai ti] aSiKia . Tlieophyl. in loc.
IT Tangos 6i rjv avvivboKdv Ttj aiaipian avTu . Act. viii. I
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 125
death of St. Stephen, indeed, by tlic very same word which St. Clement used here. But if that tragical act was all over rage, and riot, and lawless violence of a barbarous and incensed multitude, as the Holy penman's relation of it does sufficiently shew, then Saul's consen- ting to such an act as that, can have no other sense, I think, so fairly put upon it, as that which we have found to be in all the foregoing particulars upon this head; that is, iie highly approved the thing, had a thorough satis- faction in it, and his heart went along with theirs, who were principal actors in it. So that the sense of St. Clement's word, even in the language of holy scripture itself, does in no wise warrant such an inference from it as can establish a popular election in the least.
To strengthen these two authorities, the Enquiry offers three or four examples of matter of fact, where Bishops were actually chosen by the people; and therefore the primitive Church did own such a power in them. I will propose them fairly as they are, and consider them as briefly as I can.
His first example is that of Alexander, Bishop of Je- rusalem, * chosen there, says he, by the compulsion or choice of the mcmlers of that Church. So he translates the quotation for us; which, in plain English, is thus: f That the brethren would not suffer Alexander to return home. The matter of fact was this; Alexander was a Bishop in Cappadocia long before that time, but came to Jerusalem out of devotion to pray there, and visit the country. Here, by one Divine vision to himself, and another to the people of Jerusalem, God was pleased to signify, that he should stay amongst them, and be an
* See Enquiry, p. 4G.
f AJiX^ot HKiT oiKaSt avrw va\ivo;iiv tirilpiTrnin. Euseb. 1. P, c. 1 1 .
120 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
assistant Bishop to the superannuated Narcissus, who was now 116 years old; upon which vissions, with an au- dible voice from Heaven to confirm them, the people would not suffer him to return home again. This is the first example of the people's choosing a Bishop for them- selves. I shall join the second to it, because of the resem- blance they have to one another. It is that of* Fabian- us's promotion to the Bishopric of Rome. This looks a little fairer to the purpose indeed; for the people were met in consultation about nominating a person whom they liked: And whilst they were thus together, a dove miraculously lights upon Fabianus' head, in the same manner as the Holy Ghost formerly descended on our blessed Saviour; at which Divine vision, in so miracu- ious a manner, the people, as it loere ly inspiration, for so the histofian's express words arc, f cry out with one heart and one mind, that Fabianus was worthy of the Bishopric; and straitway they hastily set him on the throne.
These aro the two leading instances or examples of a popular election in the primitive Church; and to speak my thoughts freely of them, they incline me much more to admire, than to reply. To admire, I say, that so im- portant a right and privilege of all Christian congrega- tions in tiie world, as that of electing their own Bishops surely would be, should be supported in the very foun- dation of it, by two such singular examples as these.
Yet because St. Cyprian furnishes me with a short an- swer to all extraordinary occasions of this nature, I shall leave it with the reader, and hope it may excuse a farther
*. See Euicb. 1 . G. c. 2J.IIisi. Eccl.
t SLa-xcp vip ivos vvivjuijai dim KivrjOtvIa ojioac . lb.
THE PKIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 127
reply. * We must not wait for the testimony of men, says that excellent Father, where the testimony of God is given in before. By this maxim, that holy Martyr himself practised, when he ordained the eminent confessor Aure- lius, a deacon of his Church, without the people's char- acter or testimony of him; which, I freely own, he ordina- rily used to inform himself by. And if the constancy of Aurelius, under his several trials and persecutions, de- served the name of God's testimony for him; for that was all in the case, surely the heavenly voice and visions, in each of the foregoing instances, both of Alexander and Fabianus too, may well be taken for no less; and consequently the human suffrages, whether of Laity or Clergy, in those elections, were but very indifferent pre- cedents to shew how far they might go.
There are two examples more proposed to us; 1st, thai of Cornelius, the successor of Fabianus at Rome; and lastly, that of St. Cyprian himself at Carthage. But forasmuch as all the force of both of them f lies in that construction of the word suffrage, again, and in the Ian- guage of that holy father too, which we have seen alrea- dy, can warrant no consequence from it, I conceive the answer to them both to be given there. It is true indeed, Pontius the deacon calls it, % ^^^ favour of the people, in St. Cyprian's case; (if that would mend the matter) and our Enquirer has not failed to quote it here. But let Pontius be his own commentator, who in the same page calls the people's part in it, § their earnest spiritual desire
* JNon expectania sunt li'stimonia huniana, cum prEecedunt divinn suffragia. Typr. Ep . 38. Edit. Oxon . t See Enquiry, p. 47. ^ Pont, in Vit. Cypr.j). 3. Edit, Oxon. i Plcbs spiritual! desiderio concupiscens— Episcoiiunij&«.
I'QS AN OKIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
to have him for their Bishop; whicli sliews, their favour liad inclination strong enough in it, hut little of authority in the case.
Having considered, then, both authorities and exam- ples, here offered us, to clear the first question by, viz: whether the primitive Church, which so commonly or- dained in \hc j^rcscnce of the people, acknowledged any such electing jpoiver in them, or no? I determine nothing lor others, any farther than the evidence of fact and rea- son, I have laid before them, shall incline them to; though I confess, I think it clear, beyond all dispute, that the first and nearest ages to that of the Apostle's owned no such right or power to belong to them, whatever tho encroachments of the people, upon account of their testi. monies so prudently asked in the 'case, or the condescen- sion of some provincial synods, might bring it to at last.
Yet, to go as far with this hypothesis, as I can; I pro- ceed to the second question, which was this: From whence was this powjer given, supposing such a power there was, and by what authority was it claimed?
The foregomg particulars will make the answer short. We have fouud it neither practised by our blessed Lord himself, nor given in commission to his principal Apos- ties. We have found those principal Apostles manifestly ordained both Bishops and Deacons, in such a manner, as was inconsistent with it. We have seen, that the Apostles next in order to them, and adopted into their college, ordained Elders for the Churches, by their own personal authority and choice alone; and farther, that St. Paul himself, being one of them, conveyed the like ordaining power to other supreme Pastors placed by liim- «elf over the respective Churches he committed to their care, neither in commission or instructions enjoining or
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 129
advising them to make use of such a popular election, but rather indeed cautioning them to be very wary in that matter. And lastly, we have seen that many ordinations in the ages following, and particularly in the great Church of Alexandria, at least for near three hundred years together, were performed without any such elec- tion at all; no one of which particulars, had it been of Divine or Apostolical institution, could tolerably be ac- counted for.
Whence then, to speak the most of it, could such a right or power arise, but from the free consent and pru- dential Laws or Canons of ancient Bishops in some pro- vincial synods amongst themselves? For as for general councils in the three first centuries, I am clearly of the * Enquirer's mind, there was none such within that peri- od of time. And since we are agreed so far, that none but provincial Synods were held witliin those early ages of the Church; I hope, I may affirm with him also, -j- that their decrees were linding and obligatory to those particu. lar Churches only, whose representatives they were : and as a consequence of that, whatever they decreed for discip. line or order within their own precincts or jurisdiction, which had not the stamp of divine institution or command upon it, they had also power to disannul or repeal; and the power of all provinces in this respect was the same. From whence this plain truth, I think, may naturally be inferred, that whatsoever province in the Catholic Church had never once consented to such a Canon of discipline amongst themselves, as this of popular election is; or had they once decreed it, yet directly or virtually had by their own Canons or Constitutions repealed or
* See Enquiry, p. 141. t See Enquiry, p . 146. 12
130 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
disannulled it again. The Christian Laity within the district or jurisdiction of any such province, could have no warrantable rigiit or ciiarter whatsoever, to claim such an electing poicer in any of the ordinations there. For a claim of power, right, or privilege within the Chris- tiau Church; without a warrantable grant from that head or fountain of power, whether it be originally Divine, or purely Ecclesiastical, from whence alone it can proceed, approaches near to the very definition of usurpation itself. In the mean time, I freely own, that all which the primitive Church declares to be their reason for ordain- ing Bishops in the presence and cognizance of the people, was not only warrantable, but wise, and worthy of the imitation of all succeeding ages of the Church; for their reasons were manifestly these, * that the crimes of ill men mi'j;ht be brought to light, and the merits of good men openly proclaimed. And thus far, I believe, there coidd be little objection made against the constitution or practice of almost any Christian Churches in this very age, and par- ticularly against the established Church of England, where ordinations are enjoined to be celebrated in f a. public manner, and the congregation invited to make what objections they can; and at every confirmation of a Bishop elect, :j: citations are appointed to be issued out,
* Ut plebe prresente, vel deteganluv inaloi-urn crimiua, vel bonorum merita ptcediceninr. Cypr. Ep. 67. p. 17:^. Edit. Oxori.
|- In sonve Sunday, or holiday, in liie face of the Church. See Ruhr, before Piiesis' Orders, and Pref. to Eiig. Ordinal. } ult. The Bishop ehall say unlo the people, tiius: Brethren, if there be any of you who knoweth any impediment, or notable crime, &c,. let him come forth in the name of God. and shew what it is. See the office for ordaining Deacons and Priests, p. I.
J See Godolph, Repertor. Canon. Cap. 3. p. 26. and Clark's Praxis in Cur. Eccles. Titul, 329.
THE rRIMITIVE CHUKCII, &C. 131
proclamations six times made, to summon all opposers before the consecration be allowed. And in this sense only it is, that St. Cyprian so solemnly declared the an- cient custom, then in use amongst them, * oi repairing to a vacant See for ordaining a new Bishop there, to be of Divine tradition, and Apostolical ohservation; which is so mightily insisted upon, to prove an indispensable obliga. tion to popular elections; for that he grounded all his divine tradition upon God's instructions to Moses only, for consecrating Eleazar before all the congregation, is manifestly clear from the whole context of the place; and the Apostles themselves, observing those very Magisteria Divina, as his words are, thate is, those very directions again, given unto Moses, when they ordained afterwards; he therefore calls it also, Ajwstolical observation. Thus the direct connection of those two paragraphs in St. Cy- prian, obliges us to understand his words; and how little those directions countenance a popular election, the ex- ample of the fact itself does sufficiently teach us, as we observed before; and indeed St. Cyprian, closing up all with that very application of it to the Christian practice of his own times, namely, f that a Bishop should be chosen in the p7-ese7ice of the people, icJio knetv their life and con- versation, and sciying no more, would convince any im- partial man, that he all along meant no more by it.
It is true, he instances the cases of St. Matthias, and the seven Deacons; where the people were not j^fesent only, say the common advocates for the Congregational cause, but in all appearance absolutely chose the persons too.
*Pjv.plPr quod dlligeuter de traditiona Dhina et Apostolica ob- servatione tenendum est, &c. Cypr . Ep. 67. Edit. Oxoii. p. 172.
t Ut episcopus deligatur,. plebe proasante^ quas singiilorum vitam, ))lenissime uovit, S.:c. Ep. 67,
132 AN ORIGINAL DRAL'GHT OF
I sliali consider these two plausible examples, so much triumphed in by many, with all the fairness and brevity that I can, and hasten to dismiss the argument.
As to that of St. Matthias, it seems a very unaccount- able precedent, for a standing practice in the Church, in whatsoever manner it was done; since, properly speak- ing, the foundation of the Christian Church, as it is a spiritual corporation or society of believers, was not then laid, because the Holy Ghost was not yet given, who was to endue the very master-builders themselves with all that power and wisdom from above, by which they were to found and govern the Church of God upon earth. The eleven there present were Apostles elect, by the infallible nomination indeed of their Lord and Master : But their commission was not yet sealed, nor were they furnished with those credentials and instructions, which the spirit ■was to give them afterwards; insomuch as they presumed not to act in that extraordinary ordination by their own personal judgment, as at other times, but referred the determination to God alone, casting lots, and appealing to God by prayer for it.
Which makes it stranger still, as to the case at present before us, that the votes and suffrages of the people should be sought for, in a case where the Apostles themselves dare so little interpose, and where God himself made choice of his own Apostle.
But it will be said perhaps, that the brethren then present nominated, at least, or proposed the two candi- dates; if so, it must be granted still, that their human suffrages could have neither authority, direction, or any kind of influence upoa a divine election, which gains but little to the purpose it is chiefly urged for. But after all, the very nomination of the persons in this case of St.
THE PKIMITIVE CIITJRCII, &.C. 13S
Matthias, will very hardly, if it can at all, be proved to have been the brethren or congregation's part, by any thing we meet with in St. Peter's whole discourse. — There were about a hundred and twenty persons present, it is sure, and what St. Peter spake, was in the audience of them all; but to whom he immediately addressed his discourse, and upon them imposed the obligation of pro- viding a successor in the room of Judas, is another ques- tion, which the sense and substance of the speech itself can best resolve for us.
Now. two expressions in it afford no small light to this purpose.
1st, In speaking of Judas, who was fallen from his Apostleship, St. Peter's words are these: He was num- bered with tis, and had obtained a part of this ministry, that is, of the Apostolic Ministry, no doubt. Was Judas thus numbered then with all the brethren there present, as partaker M."j7/i them of that Apostolic function? or with fct. Peter only, and the other ten Apostles, in the midst of whom he then spake? Surely this latter sense alone is the utmost the words can bear, when he says, he was nwnhered with us; and consequently they were his Apos- tolic brethren only, to whom he addressed them.
2d, In the directions he gives, from whence the suc- cessor of' Judas should be chosen, his expression is this: T^herefore, of these men, says he, that have accompanied with us, &c. Of these men! Why not of some ajtiongst yourselves? or some words equivalent to that? if the per- sons to be elected were not only to be chosen from among them, but themselves to be the electors also. That seems the direct expression for recommending the election to the brethren, and enjoining them to elect one from among themselves too . Whereas the other, which St. Peter uses 12*
134 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
is as plainly an address to some other electors there pre- sent, to choose out of those very brethren before them, pointing at them, as it were, by that natural expression; out of Uiese persons that have accompanied with us, &c. We need no more, I think, though more remarks might be made, to prove, that the Apostles there present were the peculiar persons St. Peter addressed his speech to; and I presume it will not be disputed then, but that those words, at ver. 23, and they appointed two, did refer to tliem likewise, and to thein only: So that the people had no part so much as in the nomination of the persons to be proposed as candidates for that divine election.
I am sensible, the title of St. Peter's address in these words of our translation, 7nen and brethren, has not a little contributed to the contrary exposition of the whole discourse. But let it be considered, that the particle and is not in the original text, and owned by our translators not to be so, by the different letter it is printed in; and therefore the holy penman's language denotes no more, than if St. Peter had said, my brethren only; and that the whole congregation were so in a genera! sense, is not to be disputed; but that the Apostles there present were in a singular and more eminent sense St. Peter^s brethren, as united in the Apostolic college with him, cannot be denied neither. ' And therefore, since the subject of the discourse appropriates the speech peculiarly to them, there is greater reason that that evidence should explain the meaning of an indefinite term in the title, than that the equivocal sense alone, against the tenor of the whole discourse, should determine for us otherwise. And per- haps'the *Ai^/)£? ilii^o), on which the contrary is grounded, does rather add an emphasis in the title, to denote the sense we take it in; for I should think it no exceptionable
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 135-
translation of it, were it rendered thus: Ye men that are peculiarly my hrethren; which shews a kind of emphatical distinction of some there present from all the rest. Upon the whole matter, I think we might very well subscribe to the learned Grotius' conclusion in this case: * It is a wonder to 7)ie, says he, how some men have persuaded them- selves, that Matthias was chosen hy the people to his Apos- tolic charge; for in St. Luke I find no footstep of it.
As to the case of the seven Deacons, they were left to the enquiry, choice, and nomination of the brethren, there is no doubt of it; but in what particular respect, with what special limitations, and how far it may be made a precedent for the people's choosing their own Bishops and Pastors in the Church, a very short view of the mat- ter of fact may inform us. For,
1st, Whatever offices in the Church the Apostles' im- position of hands might entitle those Deacons to, it is plain, their referring the nomination of them to the breth- ren was upon that single score of finding out persons they could entrust with the contributions of the Church, for the daily ministrations, and for the serving of tables; for that was the only thing in open agitation, and the holy Apostles assigned that special part to them; Look you out men, &c. whom we may appoint over fJus business.
2d, The Apostles leave not the whole matter to their arbitrary and unlimited inclinations neither; but, amongst other qualifications, enjoin them to choose out persons full of faith and of the Holy Gho^', not of faith, surely, witli the ordinary, inward, and sanctifying graces of the Holy Ghost only, for those were scarce discernible, with
* Matthiain a populo ad Apostoli I'lunus electum, miror quo argu- meiito sibi quidam persuaseriiit, nam in Luca nullum ejus rei invenio vestigium. Grot, de Imp. Sum. potest, circa sacra. Cap. X. ^ 5.
l36 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
any certainty at least, by men; but they were to choose believers, as tl)e event also shewed in the persons of St. Stephen and St. Philip, to be sure, who were endued with those miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, which our blessed Saviour * promised should follow some that be- lieved, able to cast out devils, speak with new tongues, heal the sick, and the like; after the manner that f Cor- nelius' family and the disciples at Ephesus were filled irith the IIolii Ghost, as soon as they believed, or were baptized and confirmed upon it. And by this limitation the holy Apostles both secured their choice to be of God's approbation, by the power he endued them withal, and also provided persons fit for the greater offices in the Church, which by their holy orders they designed them for.
So that these Deacons, so far as it was needful they should be faithful and trusty stewards of the contribu- tions and treasure of the Church, were ordered to be chosen and reconmiended by the members of it, whose stock and treasure they were to be entrusted withall; and for the like reason, no doubt of it, that another Apostle gives us on the like occasion; namely, if: to avoid this, that no 7nan should blame us (says St. Paul) in the abiind- ance which is administered by us: For such sort of censures might the Apostles have been liable to, had they assumed the nomination of the persons to themselves; but by the course they took, they provided for honest things, not only 171 the sight of the Lord, but in the sight of men. And in the mean time, as to the qualifications required for those higher offices of evangelists, or preachers of the Gospel, to
* Mark xvi. 17, IS.
t Acts X. 44,46, and Acts xix. 5, 6.
t 2Cor. viii.20. 21.
THE PRIMITIVE CHITRCII, &C. 137
which the holy Apostles ordained those Deacons also, they had the divine testimony (as I observed but now) by the miraculous gifts bestowed upon them; and where that testimony was, St. Cyprian has taught us before, there needed not the testimony of men; and accordingly we find them not so much as proposed to the people under that capacity, when it was referred to the brethren to make choice of them.
After these few observations upon the case, I leave it to the reader to determine, how far this singular and ex- traordinary precedent can go towards establishing a standing right and authority in all Christian congrega- tions, to choose their own Bishops and Pastors for them- selves: Leaving only the learned Beza's judgment with him too, who naming these two instances of* St. Matthias and the Deacons, when he was treating of the people's right of suffrages in ecclesiastical affairs, pronounces of them, that they are nothing to the purpose; and that the French Churches had sujficienthj proved that against Morell, and his yarty, in their public synods.
I have been long upon this argument; but it was chiefly, I may say, at the ingenious Enquirer's request; who, in his f preface, desired another sense might be given of the passages he had cited in liis book. This I have endea- voured to do with as much sincerity, I think, as he so- lemnly professes he collected them at first. And, upon reflection on the whole, I am sorry I must repeat what 1 observed at the begining; that his singular manner of
* Quod eniin ex historia electionis Matthias et Diaconoruui prnfertur,
nihil ad rem facit Sicut adversus Moiellium et alios dciiiceps
ejus seciatores in synodis Gallicis est abunde probatum . Beza Tract. Theol. Genev. 1582. V(..l. 3. Ep. S3 . p. 307.
t SeePref.p.7.
13S AS ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
mis-representing tiie primitive custom of electing and constituting a Bishop in a vacant See, appears to me a greater occasion of the unhappy controversies and divi- sions about it, than the primitive custom, truly stated, could ever have given to the most exceptious adversaries of the Church.
1 will mark out the i)articulars, though you have heard the most of t'lem alrend}'', that we may view and judge at once.
1st. He makes that to be a stated right o{ election in the people, wliich, by the genuine sense of his own quo- tations, as well as the apparent practice of the Church, we have seen amounts to no more, within his period of time, than their public testimony, information, or cheer- ful approbation of the candidates, which the provincial Bishops should think fit to ordain.
2d. Fie has asserted that right of the people under such general terms of a primitive practice, as to lead the reader into an easy persuasion, that it must have been of original institution, either from Chi-isl or his Apostles: Whereas the hol}^ scriptures declare no such institution, nor set forth any such Divine charter for it; but assure us of the contrary, that the full power of ordaining Elders in the Church, was a personal charge entrusted wholly with the first founders and governors of the Apostolical Churches, and conveyed down so accordingly, without any such condition in it.
.3d. He has pronounced the ordaining, or constituting a Bisho[), in a vacant See,^to be absolutely invalid, with- out such a popular election in it; and by not defining wherein that validity, he means, does consist, has led the vulgar reader again into a ready opinion, that at no time, in no place, or province whatsoever, a Christian Bishop
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 139
could be warrantably ordained, and set over any Church, without such an election of the people to authorize and qualify him for it: Whereas it may be seen, I think, by what has been proved upon this subject before, that the utmost validity any such sort of ordinationa in any ao-e of the Church has had, was grounded only on the pru- dential consent, or Canons, of such provincial Bishops as had agreed to exercise that ordaining power they were entirely entrusted with from above, in that particular manner, so long as times and persons should encourao-e them to let those Canons remain in force; and all this obliging no farther, than within their own districts or jurisdictions, and repealable at will, as having no Divine command for it.
4th, and lastly. To finish all, he has advanced a sin- gular and unheard-of notion (as I humbly conceive) of two noted ecclesiastical terms in use amongst us, ordina- tion and instalment, making t!iem equivocal * and conver- tible terms, and oifers it for current truth, that ordainino- and installing of a Bishop are one and the same thing, frankly translating the word, ordinare, in the ancient writings of the fathers by this English word of, installing; and, which is stranger still, makes this installing act to be performed by imposition of Episcopal hands. Now if ecclesiastical records, either ancient or modern, could warrant this sort of language, I wish he had, at least, pointed to them: And yet suppose it could be so, which 1 confess is unimaginable to me, yet, to write to English readers in their own tongue, where Episcopal imposition of hands, and instalment of a Bishop, are so f apparent-
* See Enquiry, p . 49 .
t See Godolphin's Repert. Canon, p. 26. and 44. Edit. 3. Lond. 1687. Where he shews us, that a Bishop is complete to all intents and
140 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
ly different things, gives an unhappy suspicion of some secret notion to be insinuated into men, which was not to be spoken out. And so, indeed, the present case in liand did require; for if the sacred act o{ ordination by imposi- tion of Episcopal hands, imprinted any other character upon the person so consecrated or ordained, than the mei'e act of instalment does; in the Engh'sh notion and practice of it, then these two unfortunate consequences, as our learned Author thinks them, would ensue upon it: 1st. That the provincial Bishops' part in ancient ordina- tions was something more than their bare consent and approbation of the peoples' election, which is the chief part he allows them in the case. And, 2d That their imposition of hands at this installing ordination might look like advancing of the candidate to a new order, which would lessen tlie peoples' part too much in making Bishops for themselves, and overturn the whole scheme of his next chapter; which is to prove, that the orders of Bishop and Presbyter in the Church are plainly one and the same. This shall be considered farther in its own place. In the mean lime, let any impartial man serious- ly consider what probability there is, that such represen- tations of antiquity as these should answer the pious ends of our ingenious Enquirer, and contribute to heal the un- happy <livisions of the Church in the case and controversy now before us; since, as far as I am able to observe, these, and such like misunderstandings of the primitive prac- tice, are the sad occasions of their being so many, and so unhappy as they are.
potposes, both as to temporalities and spiritiiraliiies, after cwisecra- tion: But instalment is pffformecl afterwards, in a manner different enough, by officers «nd cerf monies, verj little a-kin to those of conse- cratioD ■
miTIVE CHURCH, &.C. 141
CHAP. IV.
To heal divisions in a Church, and displease none that make them, are two such works of charity as can scarce consist together. Yet, to carry this as far as it would go, the good Enquirer seems to aim at both; the former he solemnly professes in his preface, the latter as visibly appears in the performance itself. But with what suc- cess, and by what means he has done it, in a great mea- sure appears by what has gone before, and in this fourth chapter will be much clearer still.
There are three or four parties, as he * tells us him- self, which he aimed to reconcile: He began with the independents^ cause, and in order to make them and the rest agree, he has strained antiquity, you see, to make it speak their sense in the points of congregational Dioceses, and the jwpular right of choosing their own Bishops, the main matters they contend for, which no doubt of it, will offend none of them; but as to clearing up the truth in their case, and bringing them to a peaceful disposition for compromising matters, with such as differ from them; we may justly fear, by the palpable writhings for their sake, he has done little or nothing that can tend to that happy end.
He now proceeds to bring the Presbyterian party, to a temper, by much the same way; that is,, by allowing them fairly, as fast as he can, without regard to such as differ from them, the chief and fundamental point they insist upon, the equality of order in the Bishops, and the Preslyters; and to clear his way for that, he defines his
* Ei;q.P. ■;- 13
142 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Presbyters thus: A person in lioly orders, having iherehy an inherent right to perJor7u the whole office of a Bishop; but being possessed of no place or Parish, not actually dis- charging it loithout the permission and consent of the Bishop of a place or Parish.
The difference, in the argument before us lies in the tlie former part of ihis definition; but our learned Author chose to prove the latter clause first, viz. that ^cithoutthe Bishop's leave, a Prcslyter ccvld discharge no single part of his function; and for plainer evidence in that case, he reckoned up most of the particular ac^s relating to it, and beyond exception proved, that in every point it was so. Yet after all, he had so wonderful and singular a notion of this evident subjection of the Presbyters to their Bish- ops, in every ministerial act of theirs within their Bishop's jurisdiction, that he could affirm without scruple, in another place, that Presbyters ruled in those Churches they belonged to, and placed this ruling power of theirs amongst the several other premises, from whence an equality of order in Bishop and Presbyter was to be in- ferred at last; notwithstanding the palpable inequality he had so plainly owned, you see, in this particular before; which, to speak the most of it, might serve as well to prove, that kings and viceroys, or any deputed officers of theirs, are one and the same order of men in any civil state, because in some capacity, and in subordination to one another, they are all rulers within the same jurisdic- tion, though it is sufficiently known how vastly different their order and authority are, considered in themselves. But to come closer to the point.
It is in the former part of our learned Author's defini- tion, that the question in debate is stated all at once, and with great assurance determined by him too. A Presby-
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 143
/er, says \\e,i%ji person in holy orders, having thereby an inherent right to perform the whole office of a Bishop.
Now, two things, directly contrary to the declared sense, as well as language, and practice of the primitive Church, are manifestly included in this single proposi- tion.
1st. That the most solemn rites or holy offices which the primitive Church ever used for promoting any Pres- byter into the station of a Bishop, added nothing more to his former character and order, than a right and title only to exercise those powers, to the fidl, which were inherent in him before. And,
2d. That all the clerical offices which any Bishop of the Church could perform, a Presbyter also, by virtue of his orders alone, had a right and power invested in him by the Bishop's leave only, to perform the same.
Let this great controversy be tried then by the clear evidence of antiquity in these material points; and if in both, or either of them, the primitive Church be found notoriously to declare a contrary judgment in the case, and their practice as direct a contradiction to them too, it must follow of course, that a Presbyter in their times, and in their opinion of him, had not an inherent right by his orders to perform the whole office of a Bishop, as this learned Author affirms.
To begin with the first of these, the sense and judgment of antiquity, concerning that holy rite, or solemn office of promoting a Presbyter to the station of a Bishop; wherein I observe, after the example, and by encourage^ ment from the * Enquirer himself:
1st. that the same word, which all antiquity uses for expressing the promotion of a layman to a Deacon, or a
* See p. 10.
144 A?; ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Deacon to a Presbyter, they used also for the promotion of Presbyters into tlie station of a Pjishop. It is ordina- linn of Bishops, as well as of Priests and Deacons, in the familiar language of the fathers. This our Enquirer owns, for he has quoted an authority from St. Cyprian for it, (page, 49.) and it is too obvious a matter to need any proofs. Hence I argue then, in * his own words, if the same appellation of a thing le a good proof for the identiiy of its nature, then the right of consecrating a Bishop must confer a new order upon him, because the same name is familiarly used for it, as for the rite of or- daining a Presbyter, who undoubtedly had a new order conferred upon him by it. In this manner, our Enquirer proves his Bishops and Presbyters to be of one and the same order, from the identity of their names, (Enq. page 67.) and those names sufficiently liable to distinct con- structions of them, as we shall see in due time and place; and though the argument would have had considerable weight in it, if he had proved the main thing necessary there; namely, that a Presbyter loas ordinarily, or indeed ever called a Bishop, after the Apostolical age was a little over; yet for want of that, which he did not, and I am free to say he cannot prove, his argument, I think, can- not come up to the application I make of it here; since the word ordination, for making of Bishops, has been au- thentic in all ages of the Church, without any mark of distinction put upon it; and for fathers, councils, and his- torians generally to make use of it; whei'c no order is wiven at all, not only puts a force upon the word itself, but is little less than an imposition upon all posterity also, by applying one and the same common term to solemn
* Spe Enq. p. 67.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 145
rites of the Church, of so near a resemblance to one another in all visible appearance, and yet so vastly differ- ent in the intention of the Church, as our Enquirer's sin- gular notion of it would make it to be; though I believe, he is the first who ever ventured to tell the world, that ordination in the making of a Bishop did, in our language, signify no more than mere instalment, as I obs Tved be- fore, and now again will have the meaning of it to be a Presbyter's institution and induction into a cure; which to have proved as well as said, had been no more than was necessary to his cause. But,
2d. As the name, so the rite itself of constituting a primitive Bishop, deserves to be considered; a single Bishop, by the ancient Canons of the Church,, and by sufficient evidence besides, might ordain a Presbyter or Deacon. But to make a Bishop, a whole province of Bishops, our learned Enquirer knows, did most common- ly assemble, and with the like holy ceremony, by which ..^11 orders of the Church were conferred, that is, by im- position of hands, and prayers, did collate that power and character upon him, which ever after, and never before, as far as fact and words together can prove it, he was invested in; and if the former be the giving of an order by a single hand, and this latter but a licence, as it were, to use it; or as our learned Author chooses to express it, but a formal instalment into an Episcopal chair; then the greater sacred solemnity, this united application of an Apostolical rite to it, and this joint synodical invitation of the Holy Spirit for it, are all of them to so singular and indifferent a purpose as is not to be paralleled, we may safely say, in any other ministerial solemnity in the whole economy of the Christian Church.
3d. By this ordination, the promoted Presbyter became 13*
146 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
a member of a distinct ecclesiastical college, from all other officers or ministers in the Church, from whence St. Cyprian so peculiarly calls the Bishop his colleagues in that higher function with him, which, as humble as he was, he never once applied to * Presbyters or Deacons; and we know one immediate effect of it was, that he gained a ruling power over both of them, though he was but a co-ordinate brother to the highest of them before; and such as are curious to see how such distinct colleges implied distinct orders in them, in the nature of the thing, may find it learnedly argued by the late singularly learned and inquisitive antiquary Mr. Dodvvell, in his tenth dissertation upon St. Cyprian. But,
4th. This promoted Presbyter, from the time he had passed under the provincial imposition of hands, acquired a prerogative and jurisdiction parallel to that of God's High-Priest amongst the Jews. Thus St. Cyprian not only makes the rebellion of hi§ Presbyters and others against him, of the same kind with that of Corah, Dathai^ and Abiram against Aaron, but affirms the same law which God gave for the High-Priest, or any the supre- mest ruler whatsoever, to judge decisively in the great council of their sanhedrim, and to punish the offender, did authorize the Christian Bishop to judge and censure rebellious schismatics within his jurisdiction. So f he assures Rogatian, a Bishop of his province, and applies
* Tlie Enquiry affirms ihe coctrary, p. 74. But no. proof, as I shall make appear in its proper place .
t Cuiii pro episcopaius vigpre et cathedrae autoritate haberes potes- la'.em, qua poss3S le illo statini vindicari, habeiis circa hujusmodi liomiues prsecepia divina, cun Dominus Deus in Deuteronomio dicit, et homo quicuiiq; fueiit in superbia ui non exaudiat sacsrdolem, &c. Cypr. Ep. 3. Ti. Elit. Oxon.
THE PRIMITIVE CHtJKCH, tC. 147
It to his own and Cornelius's case, in another* Epistle; where he gives us a farther character of his promoted Presbyter's dignity too, viz: that he was then become the one judge, as well as the one high Priest, and Christ^s Vicegerent in the Church. Farther, he is from that time peculiarly ranked in the number of the Apostles' succes- sors, to whom they themselves committed their Churches, and delivered up to them their place of mastership, or magisterial authority in them. So •]" Irenseus says in plain terms, an^ in that very place where he was prov- ing orthodoxy from the personal succession of them, which our ^ Enquirer owns related to the supreme Pres- byter or Bishop alone. Again, St. Cyprian || minds Cornelius Bishop of Rome , to be zealous with himoftlie unity of the Church, because it came from the Lord, and hy the Apostles says he to us their successors. § Firmil- ian styles Bishops the Apostle's successors hy a vicarious ordination. IT And the confessor, Clarus a Mascula, a Bishop in the Carthaginian council under St. Cyprian,
* Cypr. Ep. 5[). !) 4. Unus in Ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos, et acl teropus judex vjce Christi.
t Habemus annumerare eos qui aD Apostolis iustiiuti sunt epigcopi in ecclesis — his vel maxime ea [sc. recondiia m3'stPria| tiaderent, qui- bus eiiam ipsas Ecclesias commlttebant — successores rejinquebant, suum ipsorum locum magislerii tradenles. Iren. lib. 3. cap. 3.
JEuq.p. 12, 13.
II Ut unitadem a doroinio et per Apostolos nobis successoribus tradi- lam, quantum possumus obtineie curemus. Cyp. Ep. 45. ad Cornel, p. 88. Edit. Oxon.
^ — Et episcopis, qui eis (sc, Apostolis) ordinatione vicaria succes- serunt. Ep. Firmil. inter Ep. Cjpv . 75. p. 235.
IT Manifesta est sententia domini nostri Jesu Christi Apostolos sues miltentis, et ipsis solis potestatem a patre sibi datam permittentis, quibus nos successimus, cadem potestate ecclesiam domini gubernantes. Conci!. Carthag. apudCypr. Suffrag. 79. p. 242.
148 A.y ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
gives this unanswerable suffrage for it. The sentence says he, of our Lord Jesus Christ is manifest, who sent his Apostles, and granted to them alone the power which was given to him of the father, whom we succeed, governing the Church of the Lord with the same power. Lastly, he presided in the consitory to use * St. Ignatius' words, in the place of God, xoliilst the Presbyter in analogy to that comparison, sat as a college of Apostles under him, and then the Deacons as entrusted with the ministerial service of Jesus Christ. Very singular phrases! for ex pressing officers, whereof any two were of the sa?ne order. These and many such characters of a common Presby- ter, after ordination by provincial Bishops, which it would be tedious to set down, are frequently to be met with in the writings of the primitive fathers, whereof not one of them was attributed to him till then, or to any in that inferior station wherein he stood before; and if these accessions of superlative titles, prerogative, and jurisdic- tion, denote no other order conferred upon him than he had before, it will bo very difficult to conceive, in what sense the Jewish High-Priest, the Christian Apostles, the supreme judges and rulers in societies, or the peculiar Vicegerents of God himself, are of a higher order in Church or state, than all other men of whatsoever dignity or station in any of them besides. Not to mention the unaccountable notion of an inlierent character, fully and completely stamped, and virtually resting in every Pres- byter, from their first ordination, of the same nature with this of a Bishop; which is as much as to say, that the Holy Spirit in the government of the Church does, by
* npoKadrifiiru Tu tirioKoirs tis tottov Qta, itai rwv TrjiiiSvlipwy Hf Toror ^vtiopta Tii>v a-nO'^oXwv , km tuiv itoKoviav rrimf tu/ijvuv itaKOnav Irjoa X/)ts^. Igoat, Ep. ad Magnus, i 6.
THE rumiTivE ciirnc5i, &c. 149
sacred ministerial acts, confer such spiritual powers and cliaracters upon numbers of men before-hand, which not one in twenty, by modest computation, shall in the course of providence ever stand in need of; for in such proper- tion, it is more than likely, I think, that every Presbyter shall not be made a Bishop. It is time enough to have all, when they are called to use them, and the provincial ordinations were undoubtedly instituted that they should not want them then.
But all this must be nothing; lot Bishops be never so sacredly ordained for their particular function, and gov- ern every order of men in their Churches with an Apos- tolical authority and jurisdiction, as peculiar to them alone, as it was to the Apostles themselv3s; their ordar is no whit advanced by it, though such sort of qualifications distinguish orders of men in every society besides, so long as the Presbyters also had a right and power to dis- charge * all clerical offices (there the crisis lies) as fully to all intents and purposes, as any Bishop in the world.
I will join issue with our learned author in this Enquiry also; and doubt not, but we shall meet with great mis- takes here: though we shall find an equality of sovereign, fy in the government of the Church, as nicely contended for all along, as that of clerical ojices are, notwithstand- ing he disavowed such an equal sovereignty as that, at the first stating of his Presbyter's case. This is evident, I think, in the first instance of his Presbyter's authority; which is this,* They presided, says he, in Church consis- tories, and composed the executive part of the ecclesiastical power; that is, they were joint commissioners in the ju- dicial power there, and so far, ujjo^i the level with the.- Bishop himself, in judging causes that came before theaij.,
* See Eiiq. p. 57.
150 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
else they might be as justices of the peace to judges in civil courts, if they had not a judicial power as well as he; or as privy counsellors ta a king, which would doubt- less lower their order below their Bishops, and not come up to his case. But by the choice of his quotation for it, we may be sure he meant no less; for approved El- ders presided, says Tertullian, which our learned * au- thor here applies to his Presbyters fitting in their pecu- liar consistory; and to shew how great stress is laid upon this short quotation, it is offered us in the next leaf again, to help a weak authority out, which otherwise could not prove what our author was zealously contending for there; namely, that Bishops and Presbyters had an equal power in them to haptlze, confirm, and ordain.
These are pretty material points, you will say, to de- pend so much, as really they do here, upon this short disputed sentence at the best, and that with this supposi- tion in the case, that both this and the other parallel quo- tation in the next leaf, loere spoken of the discipline ex- erted in one particular Church or Parish, in which there was hut one Bishop; and if only he had presided, then there could not have been Elders in the plural number. Thus f he states the argument himself.
The reader will excuse me, if I am a little more par- ticular than ordinary in examining these authorities; the case is of moment, though the words are few; and to lay the supposition, here insisted upon, in a clear light, ] shall be obliged to consider these three things; 1st, The occasion of the words : 2d, The plain sense and meaning of them : And 3d, Compare the parallel places, to shew- how they illustrate one another.
* Piobati pifesidi^nt seninies. Teitul. Apol. c, 39. t Enq. p. G].
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 151
1st, The occasion of Tertullian's words was this;* the Christians were under a general persecution in the Roman empire. Tertullian dedicating an apology for them, to the several f governors of the empire, vindicates them as they lay jointly charged, under the general name of a factious sect in the state. Accordingly, at the very entrance of that part of his apology, wherein he represents the innocent manner, both of the Christian discipline and worship; and whereof the quotation, now in question, is a part, he prefaces it in these words: ij: Noiv, says he, I will shew you plainly what this Christian fac- tion is taken up alout, or how they arc emfloyed; surely this Christian faction, which is not only a noun of mul- titude, but in the sense which the Roman governors un- derstood it, comprehended the whole bod}'^ of Christians in it, must be meant in the same sense by the sagacious dpologist too, who professedly undertook to vindicate them all; and not for any single congregation of them in some private quarter of the empire; else the Roman gov- ernors, to whom he addresses in all parts, had but slender motives offered them to cease their persecution in every province; and the good apologist had but little regard to the common cause of all his brethren.
But, 2d, To come to the plain sense and meaning of the words themselves, approved Elders preside: And here I am contented, the learned Enquirer himself should be his own interpreter and commentator for me; for at the 19th page of this Enquiry, he was zealously proving from the testimony of antiquity, that a Bishop could have
* Operata sectae hiijus infestatio; odii erga nomen Christiannrum. Apol. p. 1.
t Vobis, Romani Imperii Anlistites. Apol. in Exord.
\ Edam jam nunc ego ipse negotia Christianie factionis. Cap. 39.
152 AN OEIGIIS-AL DRAUGHT OF
hut one communion talk in his Diocese; and amongst oth- er authorities, insisted earnestly upon these words of * Tertullian, that Christians received the Sacrament of the LorcVs Evjqjcr frcm the hands of the Bishop alone; so he ti-anslatcs the passage, wliich, as j^ou may see in the margin here, is fro7n the hrind oj those u-ho preside. Now if those tt'/to preside in TertulHan's language, must needs be no other than the supreme Bishops themselves; without which construction, all the argument in it, which the Enquirer makes for a Congregational Diocese, is ut- terly lost there. Then his approved presiding Elders, in the quotation now before us, must necessarily be spoken also of the Bisliops or heads of several Churches or congregations within the Roman empire, because a sin- gle one could have but one such Elder belonging to it, in the declared opinion of the learned Enquirer himself; and then what will become of the two important points built upon this supposilicn alone, that Tertullian spake but of one congregati :n? I shall trust to this evidence for the plain meaning of the words, and proceed,
:3d, To consider that parallel place of another primi- tive father, which, in the opinion of our judicious f au- thor himself, and, as he tells us, of most learned men with him, is so plainly of the same import and signification with this, that they mutually explain one another. Th« passage is in a noted epistle of Firmilian to St. Cyprian; and, in the Enquirer's own translation, is rendered thus: % All power and grace is conslitiUed in the Church ivhere
* Nee de aliorum manii, qiinm de pisesi 'eiukiin sumiimi?. Tew. de Cor. Mil. c. .3. p. 121. Edit. 2. Higalt.
■\ Eiic]. p. 61.
X Quando omnis pote?tas cl gratia in R. ttrsia eoiistituta sit, ubi prasideut rnajnces natu, qui ct baptia.nuli, et rnaiuim imponendi, et ordinanfli possident potestatem. Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. h &. Edit. Oxoa
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. iC. 153
seniors preside, who have the power of haptizivg. confirm- ing, and ordaining. Now I readily agree, that this pns- sage, and the former in Tertullian, do help to explain one another; and chiefly in these following particulars, upon which the present application of them does mainly depend.
1st, That whereas there was some scruple raised from the words of Tertullian, whether he was speaking of the collective body of Christians, or no; there is no room for any such question to be made here, since the immediate- occasion of Firmilian's words was to prove this, that out of the Catholic Church there was no grace or power given ta ratify any one ministerial act whatsoever. Ev- eiy one knows, who ever read that Epistle, it was thi; invalidity of heretical baptism which lie was there con- tending for, against the contrary decree of Stephen, Bish- op of Rome, about it; and that controversy, I presume all men will allow, was between the Catholic Church col- lectively considered on the one hand, and all manner of heresies and schisms, of whalsoevcr kind, on the other. •So that the Church, wherein Firmilian affirms, the Ma. jores naiu, or seniors, did preside, invested with such a fulness of power for effectually executing every ecclesi- astical office in it, was no less than the Universal Church of Christ upon earth, as it stood distinguished from all sorts of sects, who separated from her; and in this mate- rial particular, this parallel place of Firmilian may help a doubting reader to understand what sort of Church Tertullian also meant, ^'herein his approved Elders did preside. And then,
2d, As to the common word of j residing, used by both the venerable fathers alike; if Firmilian's sense of it should not be clear enough, for ws, yet Tertullian's notion 14
154 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
of a president, or presiding Elder in a Church, being so plainly interpreted by our learned Enquirer, as we have seen already, to be the single or supreme' Bishop of the Church he presided in, in this particular Tertullian may be said to expound Firmilian's meaning for us, and satisfy the reader, that his ■presiding seniors were no less than such supreme Bishops also, in exact conformity to St. Cyprian's language too, who says of the Christian Bish- ops in general, * that they were ataie anliqui, ancient in years, that is, seniors, as well as sound in faith. And yet,
3d, Let Firmilian be allowed to explain himself more fully. In the next paragraph he had a fair occasion to do it; and accordingly he did. He was arguing, as we observed before, and the whole Epistle shews it, against Stephen, Bishop of Rome, and his party, who maintained imposition of hands sufficient for admitting a baptized heretic into the Church, without any farther baptism than what they had in their heresy; and his argument against it runs thus: IIo^v is this, says he, that trlun u-e i>ee Paul haptizcd his Ditciples again afier John's bap- tism, ue should make avij doubt of baptizing thnii ii-ho return from ]ierc,"y to the Chvrch after that vnlauful and profane laplism of theirs, unless Paul teas less than these Bishops, of whom we arc spea'dng now, f that these, indeed might give (he Holy Ghost by imposition of hands alone; hut Paul was insufficient for it. Here we plainly
* Per omi>es provincias et per uibes singula?, ordinati sunt Episcopi in aetaie anliqui, in fide integri. Cypr. Ep. 55. p. ] 12. Edit. Oxon.
f Quale est autem, &c. nisi si iiis Episct pis, de quibus nunc, minor fuit Paulus, ut 111 quidem possint per solam manus impositionem veni- entibus Hsereticis dare sp. sanctum, Paulus autom idoneus aon fuerit. Aputl Cypr. Ep, 75. i 6. p. 221. Edit. Oxon.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 155
see what kind of seniors in the Church Firniiiian was speaking of, and to whom he attributed the right of bap- tism, imposition of hands, and ordination, just before; for those who were to lay their hands upon the returning heretics, the immediate subject then in hand, he calls by the proper and express name of Bishojys, an incommuni- cable term to any inferior Elders of the Church, if we may believe approved * antiquaries, in that Cyprianic age; and, I make no doubt of it, could any instance to the contrary be given, our learned author, who has a collection of honorary titles for his Presbyters, and ar- gues zealously upon them, would scarce have overlooked it, or failed to have told us where it might be found.
Thus I have given the clear and genuine sense both of TertuUian and Firmilian's expressions together; from whence it appears,
1st, That the Presbyter's ruling power in the consisto- ry, as joint commissioners with their Bishop there, which was the first main point they were brought to prove, can- not be grounded upon either of them, since they have no relation to the private presbytery of a particular Church at all, but were manifestly spoken with reference to the single supreme governors, or Bishops of all the several Dioceses, either within the Roman empire, or the whole Catholic Church. And, indeed, 1 would gladly under- stand how our ingenious author disposes of the n^^-joK^thp'ta, or right of the first chair in the primitive Presbyteries, by which he and his friends so nicely evade the Bishop's higher order in the Church, if all his Presbyters were presidents there, as the application of these quotations to them does literally make them to be. But,
* See Bishop Pearson and Mr. Dodweil in Pearson's Dissert, prima de sncces. prim. Rom. Episc. c. 9.^ p. 9.7.. io 4to. Lon I. 1688.
156 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
2d, By this apparent sense of the holy father's wrords, it appears also, that the only passage in antiquity our inquisitive aut!ior could present us with, to prove the Presbyters' right and power to ordain, contains no such matter in it; but, on the contrary, places all power of baptism, confirmation, and ordination, in the Bishops' possession, for such we find Firmilian's seniors in the Church to be.
Yet, since a fall power to ordain could not be found for his Presbyters, our Enquirer claims a share, at least, from that noted case of Timothy's being ordained * by, or rather with, the laying on of the hands of the Presby- iery. Now this is saying more for Calvin's cause, than Calvin could say for himself; for he disowns it plainly, f that a college of Presbyters was meant by the Presbyte- ry there, and maintains it, as his opinion, that St. Paul ordained Timothy alone, from 2 Tim. i. 6. And tho assembly of English divines X go so far with him, as to own, that all the gifts which Timothy received at his or- dination, were from the Apostle's hands upon him. It cannot be denied, therefore, that the two different ac- counts, though not contrary ones to be sure, of Timo- thy's ordination, with the Presbytery in one text, and % St. Paul's own hands in the other, has occasioned variety of speculations upon them; and therefore it must be a feeble argument, at the best, which depends on a positive construction of either of them. And yet, the utmost it
* 1 Tim. iv. 14,
t Paulus ipse, se, non alios coinplures, Timotheo tnaniis iniposul£Se commeraoiat ; quod de imposiiioiie manuum Presbyievii dicitur, non ita accipio, quasi Paulus de senioruin colleg'.o loquaiur, Cair. Instil- 1. 4. c. 3. in fine.
I See Assomb. Annot. on 2 Tim. i. 6.
THE PRIMITIVE CHCUCn, tC. 157
Can afford so, is only a conconiitaru act of an inferior order vvilh an Apostle himself, and in a case of divine designation by prophecy too; which, since it can be no great ground of controversy amongst ourselves, where the like kind of practice of Presbyters joining in imposi- tion of hands with their superiors in every ordination of their own order, is constantly in use, I fleed say the less; and shall only observe here, that our learned Enquirer grounds his sense of it upon this; * That the constant sig. nijlcation of the word Presuylenj, in all the writings of the ancients, is such as he here insists upon, tiiat is, it always denotes the Bishops and Presbyters of a particular Church or Parish, as his terms for a Diocese are.
Yet, I am very sure, St. Ignatius calls the Aposllcs alone tiie Preshyiery of the Church: For lie tells the f Phi- ladelphians, in his way to the Crown of Martyrdom, that he betook himself to the Apostles as the Presbytery of the Church. And since Timothy v/as ordained whilst these superlative Presbyters were alive, and by an emi- Dcnt one of them, I know no fairer comment upon the Apostolical phrase of his being ordained ly the laying on of the hands of the Preshyiery, than that he was ordained by a special niemher oi this Apostolical Prcslytcry; and if by more than so, it was neither impossible, nor unlike, ly, then, that some other Aposile, or Apostles, might concur witli St. Paul in it; especialiy, if we consider that Timothy's first ordination may ii-easonably be dated froro the time that St. Paul would have hirn, go forth with him, Acts, xvi. 3. which surely was for the work of the minis-
*' S.ee Enq. p. C3, and 78,
t Hpo<j^uy<i>y Toij aroyoXoif, wj irpwivlifm tKx^rjuias . Tg5 at, acj FiiTla- delphia 1) 3.
*14
153 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
fry, and that at Derbe or Lystra, not much above * four years after the gospel was first preached there, when a settled consistory of inferior Presbyters, and a form of Ecclesiastical discipline in it, could scarcely be expected amongst them.
How far the Presbyters' part in the ordination is men- tioned in this sacred text, together with the testimonies of TertuUian and Firmilian before, which are all the author- ities our inquisitive author offers us, has proved the pow- er of ordination to be fully inherent in them, I must leave the reader to judge; and whether they are of weight enough to balance the unanimous consent of the Catholic Church to the contrary, for fifteen hundred years togeth. er; whilst not so much as a single example can be found of the Presbyters practising such a power, without pub- lic censure and protestation against it, in all that time.
Two other instances o'i ruing power in the Presbyters are these; they excommunicated, says he, and they re- stored penitents to the Church. The proof of the first is thus: FeUcissimus, Augendus, and some others had made a schism in St. Cyprian's Church; the holy Bishop in exile is acquainted with it by two of his Presbyters, Ro- gatianus and Numidicus, whom he had left in joint com- mission with two Bishops of the province, Caldonius and Herculanus, to inspect his Diocese in his absence. . To these four St. Cyprian writes a letter, and having told them what evidence he had had of Felicissimus' notorious wickedness, sends this positive order to them; f Lei him receive the sentence, says he, which he has first passed
*= See Bishop Pearson's Amial. Paul, ab A. D. 46. ad A. D. 50. inclusive.
i Accipiat sentenliam, quani prior dixit lit absientum se a nobis sciat. C!ypr. Ep. 41. Edit. Oxen. p. 80.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 159
himself, that he may know he is excommunicated by us; for he had threatened excommunication to such as ad- hered to St. Cyprian, and * Let any other who joins to that faction, knoiv also, that he shall not communicate in the Church with us. Little advice with Presbyters here, and less left for them to do. In answer to this letter, Caldonius with the two Presbyters, and other Bishops together, send word to St. Cyprian, that f they had shut out Fehcissimus, Augendus, and others from their com- munion. Now wh'it Caldonius, and the other Bishops, here concerned, did, in conformity to Catholic practice, shutting out from their Churches also, such as St. Cy- prian had thus excommunicated from his, is no great matter to us, but that the two Presbyters did no more than execute St. Cyprian's censure in his Church, is as plain matter of fact, I think, as words can make it; and accordingly the learned Bishop Fell's % note upon it, does in so many words make it so. This excommunicating pow.er then of St. Cyprian's Presbyters, is just such an one. as any Vicar or Curate in the Church of England exercises, when by virtue of an order from their Bishop's Court, they deny communion to a censured member, and make their return of it; and that it was no more than so in respect of the Presbyters' power of excommunica- ting and absolving again in St. Cyprian's Church at that time, will need no more proof, I hope, when ve consider II that that holy Bishop authorized the very Deacons, as
* Sed et quisquis se conspiraiinni et facticni ejus adjiinxerit, friat se m Ecdesia iioii esse nobiscum commuiiicaturum. lb.
■f AbstinuimuscommunicaiioneFelicissinium, Augeiidum,&c. Ep. 41,
:{: Abstinuimus sentenliam a Cypiiaiio latam executioni maiidando. Fel. in loc.
||Non expeclaia proesenlia nostra apud presbylerum quemcunq; praesentem, vel si presbyter repertus non fiierit, et urgere nxitus caperit,
160 AN ORIGINAL DHAUGUT OV
well as Presbyters, in his absence, to receive the penitent's confession, and by the sole7nn ministerial act of imposition of hands to ahsolve them, if need required, that is, to bind or loose them as effbctuolly as if he had done' it himself; and I believe our learned Enquirer will not infer from hence, that those Deacons had a power of t'le keys inhe- rent in their orders, because they could thus exercise it with their Bishop's leave; and yet if he will argue after the same manner, as he does from one end to the other of •this scheme, he must grant that; for his fundamental hy- pothesis is nothing more than this, that tlie Presbyter's order was equal to the Bishop's, because they could, with his leave, exercise every clerical OiHce whicli the Bishop himself could do. Some of those acts I have already shewn, and particularly that of ordination, they never did, nor can it any ways be proved they could do; and I shall prove it afterwards, I think, in more, and I hope our ingenious author will think it worth his considering, what a confused equality of all orders in the Church will ensue, ■ if every Ecclesiastic be allowed to have the same order with the supreme, who can execute such ministerial •offices as he shall require him, in his stead, to do. The •case of St. Cyprian's Deacons, just now mentioned, is a sudicient instance of it; ami more of that idnd Vr'ilr appear in considering the next liead, which is this:
Though as to every particular act of the * Bishop's of jice, says our learned author, it could not be proved lliat a Presbyter did discharge them; yet it would be sufficient, if we could prove in general that he could, ami did do so.
To make this out, he quotes two letters of St. Cyprian
apud diacoiium quoq: cxouiologeslii facere delicii sui possit, ut manu eis in pociiitent.am imp is.it:i -veiiiaat. 'vd dcaikiu:!! cu:n pace. Cypr. Ep. 18. ICdit. Oson. * .?ee E:iq. p. G7.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &,C. 161
to his clergy, * wherein he exhorts, begs and commands them, to discharge their own and his office also, that so nothing might be wanting, eUher to discipline or diligence. And ai^ain, f that they would, in his stead, perform those offices which the Ecclesiastical dispensation requires. This is partly answered, by what we have heard of the Pres- byters' and Deacons' ministerial acts, by his leave and instructions above. Yet I may farther ask this plain question still: Why are these letters quoted to prove the Presbyters only could do the Bishop's business for him? They are both | directed to the Deacons as well as Pres- byters expressly by name, and the command given to both jointly without any distinction; which, since the Deacons, as we see before, had used the keys for him, why not they entrusted with such an executive part of his Episcopal power as was intended here, being ad- dressed to one as well as the other? especially since St. Cyprian, in the close of the latter epistle, || grieved to hear that his people would not be governed by Deacons or Presbyters either; implying fairly enough, that he had en- trusted his governing power as far as it could be dis- charged by a deputation, to both of them. So little does it prove an equality of order in St. Cyprian's sense and practice, for inferior Ecclesiastics to do those clerical
* Fungamlni illic et vestria parlihua ac meis, ut nihil vel ad discipli- nani vel ad diligentiam defit. Cypr. Ep. 5. I) 1.
t His litcris el hortor et mando ut vos; vice mea fungainiai circa gerenda ea, qufe adniiuistraiio religiosa deposcil. Ep. C. ♦ 2 . a'ias Ep, 14. Edit. Oxon.
:fCypr. presbytsri? et diiconis fratribus. Tit. Ep. 5. et 14. Edit. Oxon.
I! Doko enim quando audio quos.Iara improbe, Sic. nee a diaconis aul presbyteris regi posse. Ep. 14,
162 AN ORIGI>'AL DRAUGHT OP
offices by his Bishop's order and leave, which his char- acter otherwise did not allow him to do.
We have a form of words in our own Church discip- line, which very much resembles this; for an English Bishop instituting a parochial Priest, says thus: * Take my Cure upon you, and your own too; and I believe no man ever imagined that the instituted clerk had a power in him to visit, confirm, or ordain in anj"^ one part of the Diocese; though a trust of his Bishop^s Cure, in our au- thor's way of reasoning, would infer so much. But St. Cyprian's commission to his Presbyters and Deacons, had a clause in it sufficient to explain this; which is likewise implied in our institutions, and in all such general com- missions as those; f Perform such offices, says he, for yourselves and me, as the Ecclesiastical dispensation re- quires; that is, as much of it as your orders and station in the Church can allow of. Could our author have proved that the Presbyters or Deacons had ordained, for instance, so much as one single clerk in the Church in St. Cyprian's absence, by virtue of this great trust re- posed in them, it had been something to the purpose; but since there is no tittle of any such thing in all St. Cypri- an's works, or in any collateral history to be found, but on the contrary, that St. Cyprian himself in his retire, ment :{: ordained such as the necessities of the Church re- quired; I must confess I cannot see that the argument proves any thing that it was brought for.
Upon the whole matter, I rather conceive that the in- genious author, by unwarily offering to public view this commission of St. Cyprian to his Presbyters and Deacons
* Accipe cuiaiii luam el meani . Go Io!p!i. Rppert. Cacon. c. 24. f See the quotation before.
JSeoCyp.'Ep.aO, 38, 39,&c.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 163
together, to discharge his part for him, without any mark of discrimination in either of the epistles, has discovered that plain truth which overturns his whole hypothesis at once; namely, that to be qualified to discharge a clerical office by the Bishop's leave for it, is no proof at all that the person so discharging it, had a power to do it before, inherent in his own orders; for some share of govern- ment in the Church, at least, and the power of the keys, in some signal instances of it, might be proved inherent in the Deacon's orders from this very commission of their Bishop to them, and from what we have seen thesn en- trusted to do before; if that way of reasoning were true. And yet on this single thread hangs all that our Enquirer has hitherto offered, to make the orders of his Presbyters equal with the highest in the Church.
He strengthens the two authorities from St. Cyprian's letters, with a third * from the Presbyters at Rome, to them at Carthage; both those Churches were destitute of a Bishop at that time; Fabianus of Rome newly mar- tyred in the Decian persecution, and St. Cyprian retired upon the account of it. The Carthaginian Presbyters, on this occasion, write to their brethren at Rome; and those at Rome, in their answer to them, write thus: f And since it is incumbent on us, who seem to be governors, and to keep the flock instead of a Pastor; if we should be found negligent, it ivill be said to us, as it was to thoie careless governors [the shepherds of Israel] before us, Ezekiel
* Enq. p. 63.
f Et cum incumbat nobis, qui videmur pisepositi esse, el vice pasto- ris custodire greftem, si negiigemes inveniaraur, dicelur nobis quod et antecessoribus nostris dictum est, qui lam negligentcs piaepositi eranl; quoniam perditum noii requisiviitius, crraniem non correxinius, et claudum non colligaviraus, et lac eonim edebamus, et lanis eorum ope- uriebamur. Cypr. Ep. 8. H- Edit. Oxen.
164 AN OHIGINaI, DRArCHT OF
xxxiv. 3, 4. that we looked not after that which was lost, we did not correct him that wandved, nor bound up him that was lame; hut we did eat their milk; and were covered with their wool.
Now, the argument from this passage runs thus: The Presbyters in these Churches, having no Bishop amongst them, seemed themselves to be, as it were, Bishops of the Churches, and therefore they not only seemed so, but in pojcer and order, actually were such, even as much as any before them ever were, or the next in succession could be; for so the argument supposes.
And if that be so, I wonder what those very Presbyters meant, to tell St. Cyprian in their letter to him very soon afterwards, * That there was a greater necessity lay upon them, to put off the restitution of the lapsed in their Church for the present, because they had no Bishop amongst them, who should order all those things, and, could with authority and council take a proper course with them. It seems, those Presbyters were conscious of a peculiar authority in a Bishop, which was wanting in themselves. And so just they were indeed in the words of the quotation before us, as to say no more of themselves, than that they were seemingly the governors of the Church, or, as it were. Bishops in it, as our Enquirer chooses to translate it: very suitable phrases for such guardians ofthespirituali- ties as Dean and Chapter usually have been, and in ma- ny cases are at this day, for a vacant Sec; and yet their order different enough from his, who in a little time is to put an end to their trust. Such trustees do all, which
* Qiianqiiiin nobis dilTt'rcr.dsp hiijiisi rei neccjsi'.as major incunibat^ quibus: noufium est Episcopus constiiuius, qui omnia ism nioiereiur^ et eonim, qui lapsi sunt, possit cum auctoiiate I't cpnsilio habere' ra :;»,-■ nem . Cypr. Ep. 30. ♦ C. RJil* Oxcu;.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 165
for a time may be necessary, not every act of clerical or ministerial power which a proper officer, when invested in it, can do. This would appear to be the very sense of the Roman Presbyters, to any who perused their epistle, without prejudice in the case; for they specify, as well as speak in general, of the care which was incumbent on them; but not a tittle, amongst all, of supplying ths Church, if need were, with now ordained ministers, or confirming after baptism, or t!ie like. Wiiat sort of care do they mention tlien? Why! that of exhort/ifions to the flock, not to full ciwaij; to adndnisler to the xcunts of all; to give Christian burial to the vmrtyrs; and, to speak all freely, without reserve, one material advice they give to the Carthaginian Presbyters, wliich mny be a key to us to solve a very nice ditficulty in the present argument; and that is, they exhort them, after their example, * fo move the lapsed to repentance, i^ peradrenture they might obtain their absolution from him, who was able to give it; which must either be meant of God alone, since absolu- tion of apostates ;o idolatry had not yet been decreed ia the Church, as th^ excellent Bi.shop Fell observes upon the place, or at least must signify their own incapacity for it at Rome, for want of tliat authority to do it, which they owned to St. Cyprian belonged to the Bishop only; and yet forasmuch as the Catholic Cliurch had solemnly "j"
* Non minimum periculiim hiriniiDeie, si iioti liortati fueritis fratre^ vestros stare in fide immobiles; sepamios h nobis; hoiiamur agere pcE- iiitentiam, si quo modo indu'gcniiam pnicruiu lecipero ab eo qui potest pvaestare. Si qui coeperini apprt-heii'li ifirmitni', ei Hgaut pasnitenlianr. facti sui, et desi erenl communiouem, utiq ; sut)\ euiii eis debet. Cor- pora niart3rum si n< n sepi liar.tur, grande peiicuhn'i imininei eis quibu incumbil hoc opus; faci=»t t'eus; iit o.r.iies iios in his operibus inveni- amur. Cyp. Ep. 8- Edit. Oxoii. p. 17, 18,
I Additum est; ut lapsis infinuis et in exitu cousiitutis pax daretur 15
166 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
agreed that her peace should be given to all in the dying hour, so far, by that general authority from Episcopal power they practised themselves, and advised the Cartha- ginian Presbyters to do. How far these three authori- ties, then, do prove in general what the particulars could not do, viz. that Presbyters could do all which a Bishop did, I must also leave with the reader to consider again. One particular I have postponed indeed, because the former and that lell in so much with one another; I shall now consider it, to shew I pay regard to all this learned author offers; * the Preshyters, says he, confirmed.
He brings no proof for it here, but promises most evi. dent ones in another place; he means, I doubt not, in the second part of his Enquiry. I will step out of my way a little, to bring his arguments nearer into view. The sum of all his thoughts there, is this; f that confirmation was a mere part or appendix only of Christian baptism, .axi^ withal i\\e very same thing with :j: ahsohilion of peni- tents, in the sense of the primitive Church; and then con. eludes, 11 since Preshyters could haptize and absolve, they could confirm also.
To prove it a mere appendix of baptism, he § tells us, he meets with unction, signaiion, and imposition of hands, as it were immediately applied to baptized persons, by some of the primitive fathers, at their coming out of the water; and I believe he may do so; and he might add,
QuSE liters! per totum mimcium inifsje sunt, et in notiam Ecclesiis omni- bus et universis frauibus peilalte sunt. Cypr. ad Antonian. Ep. 55. p- 102. Edit. Oxon.
« Enq. p. 60.
f See Enq . Part 2 . p. 85, &c.
:J: lb. p. 9:2.
II Enq. p. 01. Pan 2. and p, 101.
» Enq. p. 80. '
THE rRIMITIVE CHURCH, &c. 167
that they were forthwith introduced into the sacred Sy- naxis, or solemn assembly of the faithful, to join in all the service of the Church, and receive the holy eucha- rist, before they parted. Were all these therefore a mere appendix of their baptism, because so immediately follow- ing upon it, as * Justin Martyr plainly represents it to us? As well one as the other, for any force there is in this way of arguing. When Catechumens of old had been thoroughly disciplined, and by baptism made com- plete disciples and members of the Church, there was no holy rite or ordinance by which grace was usually con- veyed, but the zealous pastors piously administered it to their new admitted members, to call down all the bless- ings of heaven, as far as in them lay, for strengthening their faith, and carrying on that Christian warfare they were just engaged in; insomuch as new baptized infants, we know, had the blessed eucharist itself then adminis- tered to them, and each of these holy rites and adminis- trations, we are sensible enough, were very different in themselves.
Not to dwell on words therefore, which, all who know primitive discipline must own, are common to sundry ritea and ministrations in the Church, and therefore conclude nothing of themselves; nor yet to gather scattered senti- ments to prove a stated practice by them; let us take a fair view of confirmation, in a short and full scheme of it, as the excellent St. Cyprian has drawn it up for us at once. It is in a noted passage of an epistle of his, to this purpose; which surely must displease some men very much, else they would own something more in it, than our learned Enquirer does, who quotes it upon this very subject, and thinks it proves confirmation to be a mere
* Justin. Apol, 2. p . 97. Colon. 1687,
168 AN ORIGi:>fAL DnAUGHT OF
part of baptism, and nothinir more. Let the reader judge from the holy martyr's words, which are these: * Those who believed in Samaria, had believed with a true faith, and were baptized ivithin the pale of the Church, which is one, and to which alone aulhority was given to confer the grace of baptism, and forgive sins, and that hij Philip the Deacon, whom the same Apostle had sent forth ; and therefore since they. had a lawful and Ecclesiastical bap- tism, they ought not to be any farther brrp'ized. But only that thing 7rhich tens wanting, (plainly after their lawful and Ecclesiastical baptism) that was done by Peter arid John, viz. that by prayer ojfercd up for them, and by imposition of hands, the holy Spirit should be called upon, and poured forth upon them. The same which is in use also amongst ns at this day, where such as are baptized in the Church are presented to the governors of the Church, that by our prayer and imposition of hands, they may receive the holy spirit, and be consummated by the seal of the Lord.
A few plain questions may help to clear this passage.
1st, Did St. Cyprian, do we think, believe Philip's bap- tism to be imperfect, who was sent forth by the Apostles themselves for that purpose?
• Illi qui in Samaria crediderant, fide vera crediderant, et intus in Ecclesia, quaj una est, el cui soli gratiam baptisni dare, et peccata •olvere, permissum est, a Philippo d.acono, quein iiflem Apostoli niise- rant, bapti^sati erant. Et idcirco, quia legiiimum et eoclesiasticum baptisina consecuii suerant, baptizari eos ultra non oportebat. Sed tantummodo quod deerat; id a Peiro et Joiianne factum est, ut oraii- one pro eis liabita, et manu impositn, in vocaretur el infunderetur super «os Spirilus sanr.'tus. Quod nunc q'.ioq; apnd nos gcritur, ut qui in Ecclesia baptizantur, prfepdsitis Ecclesite off- raniur, el per nostram orationem ac mauus imi)Osilioncin Spiviuim sanctum conscqiinntur, et iignaculo Dominico consumtneiilur. Cypr. ad Jubaian. Ep. 73. p. 202. Edit. Oxon.
THE PRIJIITIVE CHURCH, iC. 169
2d, Would he call a defective haptism, a lawful and Ecclesiastical baptism, which is no less than to say, in other words, that the Lawgiver himself, the blessed Je- sus, and the Church too, ^vould own it for their baptism?
8d, Did St. Peter and St. John go to Samaria, to per- form a ministerial oSce which Pliihp could have done without tliem?
4th, Coulil St. Cyprian say, they continued the same practice in his time, and yet the baptizing ministers then, either did, or could as effectually lay their hands on such as they baptized for conveying the graces of the holy Spirit on them, as those very governors of the Church, to whom he affirms they were presented to receive that solemn benediction, after the manner it was done at Sa- maria.
5lh, and last. Since Presbyters, as well as Deacons, did unquestionably baptize in St. Cyprian's time, and ia his Church; what could the Catholic Church itself, or the holy martyr mean, by such a general custom of of. fering baptized persons to the governors of the Church upon this occasion? such governors, I mean, as St. Cy. prian himself was, for so he explains his meaning, when he calls it, our prayer and imposition of hands, by which they were to obtain such spiritual gifts, and be consum- mated with the seal of the Lord. What could they mean, I say, if any who had the power of b.iptizing, by virtue of their orders, miglit have done that as well? Or how could the parallel hold indeed in the whole comparison, if such prcepositi or governors of the Church in St. Cy. prian's time bore no analogy of ditference from the bap- tizing ministers, to that which was between St. Philip and the Apostles, from whence the precedent, he assures iis, was immediately taken? 15*
170 AX ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OP
I can conceive no answer to these questions, sufficient to remove the evident truth contained in the holy •mar- tyr's words; namely, that there was a sacred ministerial rite then practised in the Church, after baptism, and dis- tinct from it; imposition of hands and prayers the princi- pal and constant symbols of it; the rite and power of administering it not inliercnt in the powers or orders of any baptizing ministers, as such, but peculiar to the high- est order in the Church; as tlie Apostles unquestionably were ia this original pattern at Samaria; and consequent- ly, in our holy martyr's sense of the thing, (who allowed the Bishops only for peculiar successors to the Apostles in the Church,) was appropriated to them alone. .
The misapprehension of this testimony of St. Cyprian, and of the primitive Church with him, I perceive by our learned Enquirer, Dai lie, and others, lies here; they dis. tlnguish not the operations and gifts of the Holy Ghost in the two sacred rites of baptism, and imposition of hands after it, as those primitive fathers did. The fathers affirm, that the holy Sjiirit was present, operated, and effiactually sanctified both the elemental water, and the person baptized in it, c^f-'rc this imposition of hands upon him; and therefore St. Cyprian himself calls a baptized person, on whom hands had not yet been laid, * a sancti- frd. pcrf:on, spiniu.ilhj f.rm'd into a new man; one ihat has put on Christ- and ''lat Christ cannot he put on vith- out the Spirit. And yet, in reference to the imposition of hands, which was to follow, he accounted him only
*Qiii i>s>rc'iis in laii=ino pspnsltis sanctificatus est, el in noYum homiiii^i'i s!>ii;(imlitf r ('ciniiHrus, ad accipien.luui Spiiitiim sanctum ido^
neiis l-aciu- i-t. Qiiotqnotin Christo baptizati esiis, Christum
inrluisih f] I'Tsi p'issit sine spiiitii Christiis indui, &c . Cypr. Ep.
ad Poui)). h. 74. p. 213. Edit. Oxob,
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCH, &C. 171
fitted for rccehnng the holy Spirit, which was farther to be infused into him. The reason was this, that foras- much as the spirit was given h>/ measure to all men, ex- cept the blessed Jesus alone, they understood, that the sanctification of the spirit in the holy Laver did princi- pally, if not wholly, consist in purging away all sin, in forming the new creature, as the quotations above imply, and making the baptized person a * tempi" of Goil, fit to receive all other gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which Christ promised to his Church; but that these man- ifold gifts, and the respective measure of them, according as every Christian should s'and in need of them, were to be communicated to them by the several ordinances and ministrations of the Church, as St, Paul says, that the ministry of reconcilintion vilk G )d loaa committed to them. 2 Cor. v. 18. And the first solemn ministerial act of the Church, by w'lich she dispensed such divine grace to all her children, af er they were brought forth from her womb by their perfect nevv-birth in the holy sacrament of baptism, was tiiis ::ii;)o.iiti.9a of hatuUivith praye • for tkci-, as the holy eucharis*, soon after, was an addition to both. And accordingly, St. Cyprian, with above thirty more in council with him, in their answer to the synodical epistle of the Bishops of Numidia about heretical baptism, in a separate and distinct manner, tells those Prelates, that heretics could administer none of those three holy rites or ordinances for want of having the Spirit amongst them. And, 1st, not baptism, becauso the Spirit was necessary there to ■■anrt'fn the water for washing away of .sin. And iiaving cleared that in three paragraphs, then in the fourth they farther add, fNei-
* Templum Dei fieri, lb.
f Cypr. Ep. 70. { I. Neminem foiis extra Ecrlesiam baptizari pot-
172 AN ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
thc}' can. spiriiutl unct'on he among heretics^ nor yet the fucharist; because they cannot sanctify the creature of oil, or can an euchiirlsi he made hi/ them; distinguishing' plainly the three holy nninistratious, and ascribing the grace of the Holy Spirit differently to each of them; in- somuch as, in the close of that Epistle, they plainly inti- mate each of them to be different nacui meats rf the Church, as they used that word in a larger sense than we do now. For, having proved that heretics cculd admin- ister none of them, they conclude in these words: Wc therefore, who are loith the Lord, and hold the unity of the Lord, * ought to give the truth of unity and faith to as many as return hy all the sacraments of divine grace; which looks very little like makiag any one of the three a mere part, or appendix, of either of the other, no more than Vincentius a Thibari's suffrage does in the council under St. Cyprian; where, speaking of the manner of receiving penitent heretics, he prescribes this threefold means for it; f 1st, By imposition of hands in exorcism. 2d, Byrcgencrttion of huptism; and then, says he, they came to the Polllcit Uirm of C'tri'sf, a noted phrase for this conferring of the gifts of the Spirit by imposition of hands, because it was grounded upon that faithful prom- ise of our Lord, Thul suck ay hellci'cd in him,shonld have
te. Oportet muiiriari el s:iiictifican aquam prius a sacerdote, ut
pcssit baptismo siio pacc.ita hominls, qui baptizatur, abluere. lb. i 4. Nee unctio spiritiia!is a[)ii'l haereticos potest esse, quaiido conster oleum sanctificari et eucharistiam fieri apud illos omiiino non posse.
*Dare illis per omnia Hiv in giatitB sacramenta uiiitatiset fideiveri- latem debeimis. In. ^ ult.
tPrimo, pennanus inipositionem in exorclsmo; secundo, perbaptis- nii regenerationem ; et tunc possunt ad Christi ])ollicitationem venire, alias autem fieri censeo non debeie. Cone. Carthag. Siiffr, 37. in Op. Cypr.
THE PRIMITrVE CHURCH, &C. 173
rivers of living water [meaning of the spirit of God] foiv- ing out of them. Which accordingly was made good by those miraculous and saving graces together, conferred upon the first Disciples by this holy rite of the Apostoli- cal imposition of hands; the miraculous ones temporary, the other believed to be perpetual, in the judgment and practice of the primitive Church; wherein we find the successors of those Apostles, as the Bishops were owned to be in the government of the Church, continuing that sacred rite amongst them for infusing the holy spirit into every baptized Christian, as St. Cyprian's express words are, in the manifest account he gives us of this whole matter, which 1 have cited to you but now.
This is that which was still ^vanting then, after St. Stephen's perfect baptism, to the Disciples at Samaria, accordmg to the Apostles' own practice, and that of the primitive Church after them. And for want of this ob- servation of the gifts of the Spirit being gradually dis- pensed by the ministrations of the Church, according to the occasions and capacities of all men, which I take to be the foundation of the institution of any ordinances, or holy rites in the Church, our learned Enquirer and his friends, wherever they met with any such expressions as these. That the water without the spirit could not sanctify , and that, hy imposition of hands the spirit was given to baptized persons, and the like; which are frequent in St. Cyprian and other fathers too; they inferred, that naked baptism had nothing of the spirit in it, in those holy fa- thers' sense of it; and therefore imposition of hands was added to make that perfect; which is an absolute mistake. And by that means, the thing which St. Cyprian here mentioned, as yet wanting, is constantly psrverted, and made to signify what he never meant by it; for they all
174 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
affirmed, and held for certain, that the blessed Spirit was present, and operated powerfully in both of them, in such proportion as was needful to make each of them effectual to the great ends for which they were first instituted; the one to perfect the new birth, the other to sustain the fu- ture, infirmities of the person who was so born. This latter, in respect to the nature, effects, or ceremonies used in it, they sometimes called tlie seal of the Lord, the poll! . citation, or promise of the Lord, the holt/ chrism, or unc ti m, in a singular and eminent manner distinct from any other, the invoking and inf using of the spirit into persons fitted for it; imposition of hands by the governors of the Church, and the like. And this is what our Church de- dares she understands by the solemn rite of confirmation both in her * Liturgy and Canons. This the baptizing Evangelist and Deacon at Samaria could not do. This, no less officers in the Church than the blessed Apostles, St. Peter and St. John, went on purpose from Jerusalem to do. This, St. Cyprian expressly tells us, s\ic\i prozfo- siti, or rulers of the Church, as he himself was, did con- stantly perform in his time, let the baptizing minister be whom they would, provided they were not Bishops them- selves; and therefore I can do no less, than own my con- viction from such evidence as this, that Presbyters, as distinguished from Bishops ever since that distinction made, which is from the very close of the Apostolical age^ could not confirm.
It is true, our enquirer strengthens this Argument, ta- ken from his Notion of Confirmation being a mere part of Baptism, with that Paradox in Primitive Discipline, that it was the very same thing with Absolution of Peni-
*See Order of Confirmation, iind the Collects there. Also Can. 60. Edit. A. D. 1603.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &;C. 175
tents also; which is as much as to say, that the new bap- tized person is even just now cleansed and purged from all his sin,- for baptism before imposition of hands, the* Enquirer himself says, does that, as indeed all antiquity says so with him, and at the same instant, as it were, he makes this cleansed and purified soul enter into the for- lorn class of penitents, as one who wants immediate abso- lution to reconcile him to God and the Church. Such harmony mistakes will make, if we listen to them; but I am apt to think they will sound so harsh to most chris- tian's ears, that I shall proceed no farther on this subject. I have done then with the first general proof offered for Presbyters' equality with their Bishops, in respect to or- ders; namely, that they discharged all offices which their bishop, did, by his leave and permission for it; and therefore their orders equal.
And, by what has been said, I conceive three things may appear:
1st. That they neither did, nor could discharge all, even with such permission for it; and particularly as to ■ordination and coafirmation.
2d. That several of the Ministerial offices, so dis- charged by them, did not imply, that their orders alone qualified them for it; and particularly as to Excommuni- cations and Abfiolnt'oi's; else the Deacon's orders misht claim the like character too.
3dly and lastly. That a bare capacity, if it were inhe- rent in them, to discharge such offices by a lawful Superi- or's permission, so long as they were not impowered ac- tually to do it of themselves, does imply an inferiority of order in the very nature of the thing itself.
If every one of the Clerical acts here specified by the
*SeeEnq. Part 2 -p. 86.
176 AN ORIGI^'AL DRAtGIIT OP
Enquirer, and which we have been considering so long, do still appear to be inherent in his Presbyters, by virtue of their orders alone, then his ingenious and triumphant comparison may pass, that, as a man who can truly be said to have all his .9rrt?r.?, must of necessity be allowed to see; So Presbyters, who can do all that a Bishop could do, may be owned, as to all these Clerical capacities, to have received an episcopal character in their Ordination. But if there be any Act or Acts amongst them, which, by the evidence we have here produced, they neither did, or could do, in the practice or judgment of the Primitive Church; tho' we own them to be as perfect in their kind, as any order of the Reverend Minsters wliich the Church is happy in, yet they will as certainly want something to complete their Episcopal character and order, as a blind or deaf man, pardon the comparison the Enquirer has framed for me, docs want something to perfect all his senses. I leave the evidence to clear the case.
In the mean time, 1 think it is plain, that Presbyterg were invested with important trusts in the Church; partly, as the Bishop's Curates, to use the Enquirer's proper phrase, in such portions of his general ministerial charge, as he could commit. to them; and this their orders alone qualified them for; and partly, as proper and useful del- egates to execute some extraordinary parts of the Epis- copal power, by his authority and commission for it. These things sufficiently required that they should be * upright, merciful, sincere persons, impartial in judg- ment of Men and Things, not hastily receiving reports, or rigid in judging of any, wliich I take occasion to men- lion here, because St. Polycarp giving such advice as
See Poljcarp's Eb. ad. Philip, ^. ad finem vit. Pol3'carp, in Dr CaT*!.
THE PRIMITIVE CIIUKCU, &.C. 177
this to Presbyters; in his Epistle to the Cliurch at Philip- pi our learned* author inferred from it, that it must needs imply no less than a Ruling Povverin them, of the like nature with that of the Bishops themselves, for so his argument required: Whereas tl.eir charge, I think, is great enough to stand in need of such A postolical coun- sel to them, without setting them on the level with their Bishops, if we have no better proof for it than so.
I come now to the second general proof, which is this;f That.Prcabytars were ongliMlly culled by the same titles and appellations as the Bishops thcmsTehe?, and there fora their order cqval. ■ I must desire the reader to see what has- been said to this; at the close of the first chapter pag. IS, &;c. and in this cliapter, pag. l57. And yet because the promiscuous and indificrent use of these ti- tles in the New Testament, and to the end of the Apostol- ical age, occasions some amusement to particular men, 1 shall farther ofler such a short account of that matter, as is visible in Holy Scripture, and the earliest writers of the Church together.
The scriptures teach us, that when the Apostles had founded Churches, they ordained Elders for each of them; entrusted those Elders to administer the word and sacra- ments amongst them, or to use Paul's words to the elders at Mdetus, to take care of themselves, and all the flocks, over which the Holy Ghost, by orders and commission from the Apostle's hands to be sure, had made them over- seers, which in our translation is rendered Bishops now; and to feed the Church of Gcd, as good shepherds ought to do. The titles, doubtless, suited with the charge and Ministry they were entrusted withall; and as they were
* Enq. p. 59.
tSM.Enq. p. 64. ,
16
178 AN OniGI'-AL TRATGIIT 0?
Eclesiastical officers, and commonly not novices iu years besides, ihcy were as properly called in thean- cient language of the Synagogue, Presbyters of the Church too; and accordingly we find these titles indiffer- ently applied to them then. Yet all this while, nothing is plainer iu scripture, than that the Apostles reserved to themselves the jn-erogative of a ruling power over them, kept a rod of discipline in their own hands; * censured such as deserved it; f delivered unto Satan the disorderly amongst them, that is excommunicated their members; :j: expected whole Churches to be obcdiint to them in all things. In short, had the sovereign || Cure of all the Churches in their hands; moreover all the Elders we read of, § ivko it ere ordained in any Church, before Tim- othy and Titus's special commissions, which I shall take notice of by and by, had the Apostles hands Icii vjo.i them, and no co frnnaiion, orgking cfikc Spirit hi/ impc- fltion ofhunh mentioned throughout the New Testa- ment, but by the Apostles alone. This great Preroga- tive of Power, then, the Apostles retained still; and no specious titles of Presidents, Governors, Bishops, Pastors orthe like' ^ attributed to the Presbyters or Elders under them in the New Testament, lessened it in the least, or brought it into question. Their superior character amongst them was owned by all. So that during their lives or personal government over them, those titles might safely and properly enough be promiscuously used for any of their subordinate Ministers, whereof they ordained many as our'* Enquirer believes, in particular churches.
* 1 Cor. iv. :.'l. + lb. v. 5. t 1 Tim. 1. £0. 11 2-. C(.i' ..I. 9. J 2. Cor- xi. 23.
7 npoiff. f c(. ] Thrs. V. 11. Hytfieyot, Ileb. xiii. I". Eti»«*»»*, Acts XX. 2S. * See Enq. p. 7K
THE PSIMITIVE CHURCH, tC. 179
But before the Apostles died, or when Providence * removed them from a personal visitation of their several Churches in this or the other Province, we read in the carHcst records of the Church, that they ordained many single persons, taken notice of without any fellow Pros- byters besides, over large Cities and Churches, as our Enquirer \. observes from Tertullian, that St. John placed Polycarp'in the Church of Smyrna, and St. Peter ordain- ed Clement for the Church of Rome; and Tertullian adds, that X the rest of the Churches could prove their Bishops to be derived from the Apostles in the same manner, and calls those Episcopal Sees, the Apostles Chairs inthe next Idaf; as || I.cnmis, you may remem- ber, told us before, that the Ajwst es del vered the Church io thosj single Bishops, and their Loais Magisterii, or place of Government with them; and the Scripture tells us plainly enough, that Timothy was ordained such a singu- lar Ecclessiastical Governor for Ephesus, where there were § many Presbyters before, and Titus for Crete; for it is plain, they had a special commission to ordain EI- ders, 1 Tim. iii. 15. 2. Tim. 2. Tit. i. 5. to rebuke and censure them as well as others, 1 Tim. v. 10. and that with all authority, Til. ii. 15. to judge of doctrine, and reject heretics; in a word, to set in order the things which were wanting, Tit. i. 5. the very claim o^ Apos- iolical'm power St. Paul's express words for it; 1 Cor. xi. 34. and all this so personal a charge, that the Apostle
*Rom. XV. 23. tEnq. p. 11.
;j: Perirulc iitiq;et cfeterae exhibent, quos ab Apostolis in Ephco- patuni constitutos Aposioiici semhils traduces habeant, Tertul. de liraBscript. p. 243. Edit, fccunda. Rigalt. "Lutet. 1641.
Ij Irei 1 . 3. c. 3.
i Sec- BijbDp Pearson, proof the time wlien Timothy was left at Ephesus.
180 AN ORIGINAL DKAUGIIT OF
conjured Timothy, and no others with him, lefor'c God, and the Lord J&us C'ri t, an I the elect Angers, that he observed these ih' > gswithoiitpar'iali'y\ I'T'm. v. 21. and as a special reason for his investing him' with all this ful- ness of power now, and for enjoining liim so stj'ictly to watch and make a fii!) proof of this his Ministry, hn con- cludes thus: For / am re dij to I e offered, says he, and the time of m-j departure i a.' hand; 2 Tim: iv. 6. as if he had farther said, and now tliis former care of mine must be yours.
It is manifest, I think, from lience, that those singular President's of the several Churches liad sundry parts of the Apostle's reserved soverc'gn pover conferred upon them; never imparted to Presbyters of any denomination before, as far as scripture and Primitive Antiquity can inform us. These consecrated Presidents then take pos- session of the Churches assigned to them, either by the Apostles personal Induction of them, was, or with their full credentials to be sure. In all, or most of those great Churches which this ApostoHcal Institutipa had allotted for them, they must find Presbyters ministering at that time, .in such capacity as they all along liad done with entire subordination to the Apostle's supremacy over them, 'i hese ministering Presbyte'r then, together with the whole Church, receiving such new commissioned Presidents .amongst them, must nianifestly see by those reserved Apostolical po\veYs, oi' Etiling, Orditiation, Cen- iure, and the like, expressed in Timothy and Titus's com- m.issions to thefull, and. no doubt of it, signified sufficient- ly to every Church by the Apostles themselves, who thus placed them there, that they had an authentic and un- questionable riglit of succeeding in tlic ordinary jurisdic- tion and prerogatives of their departing Apostle over them,
TUB PKIMITIVE CHURCH, fcC. 181
This is a plain and natural reason, why the first order, ot Ecclesiastics in the Primitive Church were so familiarly called the Apostle's successors, and perhaps it^would be very hard to assign any other. No wpnder then, if such apparentsuccessors in that eminency of the^EccIesiastical power as these were, should be thought worthy of a dis- tinct and singular title from all others, as the Apostles had before them; and that the Catholic Church did ac- cordingly agree it should be so. The Title of Apostle, indeed, was not thought unsuitable to them by many of the primitive * writers. Tertullian, as we heard just now, calls them. The offujjrl :g of the Apostolic seed. But in a holy reverence to the blessed Twelve, and of the mi- raculous gifts in them, the Primitive Church, though those very persons themselves presided in it, declined the venerable title of Apostles for them; but amongst the several appellations, common to many Ecclesiastical offi- cers before, they so appropriated that of Bishop to them, that St. Ignatus declares at the very f close of the Apos- tolic age, every Christian Church, to the very utmost bounds of all, had a Supreme Governor of that singular and peculiar name, by which he was then known.
Thus I have briefly shewn, how the names of Presbyter and Bishop were indifferently used at first; and there was no danger of misunderstanding about it, so long as it con- tinued so, that is, throughout the Apostolic age; and yet, how great occasion was given afterwards for appropria- ting one of them to the Supreme Governors of the Church,
* 'o aTTOfoXoj KXriiiVii says Clemens Alex . speaking of Clemens Bish- op of Rome. Stiomat. lib. 4, p. 516. Cologn. 16S8. See Blun- ders quotations of seveial such instances in his Apol. p. 85.
t ErrifficoTroi o'l Ka]a ra nepaja bpi^OtvJes tv Irjan XfJif? y^'^l^'^ sictv, Ep. ad Polycarp. 4 3.
16*
182 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
whose peculiar character and powers required no less? anJ accordingly we find it has been so from that very lime to this. Had our learned Enquirer therefore prov- ed his Presbyter to be indillerently styled a Bishop still, after this epoch of time we are here speaking of, in the familiar language of the Church, he had done more for him than all his collection of equivocal titles besides can amount to; for one incommunicable title to denote a superior order by, is as much as the highest orders of men in all human society ordinarily have, whilst they have variety of inferior ones besides, common to others with themselves; and here I leave the argument [so mightily * triumphed in by our ingenious author from this identity of name ■.
But the reserved forces are stiU behind, and are to do all at last; for \ i^tliii second reason be riot tlio'ight cogent e.iou Ji, says our learned Enquirer, yet the third and last will unqucsiio ably ui 11 oat of doubt, and clearly evinc: the same ess of Bishops ' d Presbyters a to order.
The demonstration is tliis; It is exp esshj said ly the Ancient ., says he, tha' here were hut two distinct Ecclesi- as' cat Orders, Bis ops and Deacons, or Preslnjters and Deacons, therefore Presbyters can not he distinct from Bishops, for then there ould be three.
The venerable Clemens Romiinus is brought to prove tliis, for he says, ij: that in counirics and cities where the Apostles preached, ihcy ordained their frst converts for Bishops and Deacons over those who should believe. The Apos'les, it seems then, in their course of planting the Churches ordnincd hut two orders to take care of them. ♦SepEiin. p. (.7, G8. 1 i-r.q. lb. p. G8.
± Ko7a X<''p''f K" fai jroXsij KTjpvcaov'Jei KaOt^avov rai a~apx-iS avriim ti; fmaKOTTsi /cat iicKoins tviv j/iWovtuv r.-^-iBftv. Clem. Ep. 1, ad CoviB**» p. 54.
THE PRIMITIVE CUUKCII, &;C* 183
In the mean time, what wfire the ordainers themselves ? Were- they of no order in the Church, or were they of the same order with either of the two they ordained? If neither one nor the other be so; then in their time there were three orders, it is plain; and how they continued so, both frovi and after them, without splilting any of the two, which our Enquirer * fears we do, I think may ap- pear from what I have said already. The Apostles had a reserved power, we have seen from holy Scripture itself, both of government in general, and in special ministerial or clerical acts besides, which they did not impart to all the Presbyters or Bishops they at fiist ordained for the Churches. If any time could be assigned therefore, or any general grant produced, when or whereby it might appear, that they conferred or bequeathed those reserved powers, so necessary to the Church for ever, to all the Presbyters they ever ordained in it; it is but a modest question to ask, in what text of Scripture, or in what record of the Church, is such an important grant to be found? If no such evidence is to be had, as 1 think the ablest advocates for them have produced none; then the grants I have mentioned and proved above to particular Presidents over mnny Churches, by their own act and deed, even where other Bishops or Presbyters were b«- fore, as they were indifferently cahed till then, does infer such an evident translation of their own third order, with the reserved acts all along peculiar to it, to those partic- ular Presidents and the whole succession of them, as, I think, no ministers in the Church besides have any shad- ow of a charter like it to produce for themselves. For, to say, the Apostles had no successors to any ordinary and permanent prerogative of theirs, is to contradict all.
» Enq. p . 6D.
184 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
antiquity barefaced; and it is plainly no less, to say, the primitive fathers owned any ministers in the Church to be such, besides those they peculiarly called Bishops af- ter them; and therefore their reserved ordinary powers of government, ordination, confirmation, censure, and the rest, did continue their third order in the Church, in tliose Episcopal successors of theirs. And what St. Cle- mens says, is far from being inconsistent with this; for when he tells us, the Apostles ordained Bishops and Dea- cons, or Presbyters and Deacons, to take care of the respective flocks, which either were or should be farther provided for them; he very well knew the Apostles who ordained them were a superior order to them; and there- fore his words have no respect to the number of orders in the Church, for which they are here produced; nor in- deed did the argument he was upon require they should; his only business was to awe the mutinous Corinthians from rebelling against the Presbyters of the Church, be- cause they were of Apostolical institution, and upon that account as much of God's apj)ointment, as the tribe of Levi were for the sacred ministry of the Jewish Church, which is therefore so particularly described in all the orders and offices of it, and so * closely applied to the Christian dispensation immediately upon it, that an im- partial reader would rather infer, that three orders might rationally be concluded, as well in one as the other, than imagine that Clemens had the least thought ol no more than two orders in either.
*T« yap apx'tpi iSiai \tiTupytai St6o/tivai iiai' Kai roii hptvtriy t6wi b roiros Tpa^iraKjai <cai Atvirai; iSiat {laKovtai tiriKuv'Jai' h \aiKog avOpdivos toij XaiKoii Tpo^ayfiaaiv IsStrai . ^Ka^loi d/juv, o^tX^oi, tr tui litui rayjiaji iMxapn^iiTi* 6su) tr ayaOn evytiirjcti, jiv rrapcKSaiVior rov u)picjttvov Tflf \ei1vpyiai avlt KUKora t¥ atjivolvli. Clem. Ep. ad Cor. 1, p. 55, E'li. Patr. Junii, ©xoii. 1633.
Tiia rr.iMiTivE cht'ech, tc. 185
Especially, if two things be considered. 1st, that Clemens himself, who wrote this, was undoubtedly such a single successor, as we have been speakiTig of, set over all other Ecclesiastics in the Church of Rome. And, 2d, That the Presbyters here insulted at Corinth, vyere many in number in that single Church alone, who could not therefore be of the same kind, or order, as I have shewn, with Pdlycarp or Clemens himself, whereof that there was but one only ia a Church, is too noted a truth, to need any proof of it. ,
One word to our Enquirer's closing dilemma here, and I will proceed. • To -what end, says he, should Clemens exhort the schismaiical Corinthians to obey their Presbyters, from the consideration of the Apostles'' ordination of Bish- . ops, if their Presbyters had not leen Bishops? I answer to a very good end, because the two names were indiffer- ently used so long as ( lemcns livedj and without any influence upon the far different powers inherent in one of them, when the name of Bishop came to be appropriated to him, which * our Enquirer inlputes to St. Ignatius as the first author of it, and plac.es it in the beginning of the second century; and that was not before, but indeed very soon after the martyrdom of Clemens, vvhich the f Church chronology places in the last year of century the first.
Irenseus is it quoted next, to strengthen this evidence of Clemens Romanus, for two orders only in the Church.
The force of his authority, 'from one end to the other, lies in this single point, that he calls Bishops by the name of Presbyters, and (v/hich need not be wondered at after that) he calls their orders, the orders of a Presbyter too»
•♦E.nq. p. 65. ■ .
t See Cave's Chro.n. Tables of the ihrec fiVsi reuturies, :l:Eaq. p.7i. •
18S AN OEIGIXaL DRAUOnX OP
This language our learned Enquirer, I doubt not, will readily own is very rare in Irenseus' time, and'in his own works too; but there is little to be gathered from it, to the purpose it is brought {"or here, if we consider these i^ew things.
1st, The caution this venerable Bishop used, to let us know who he meant. In the entrance of the discourse lie describes them thus :. * You nms'. obey the Presbyters of the Church; thoic, I mean, wh-> have a succession from i ';e Apostles, as I shejced. you before,, who with the succes- sion-of their Episcopacy, have the sure gift of truth ac- cording to the good pleasure of the father.
Now what Irenasus shewed us before, was this, We can reckon up, says he, 1. 3. c. 3., those who were instil inled Bishops in the Churches by tus Apostles themselves, — to whom they committed the very Ci.urches themselves also; — -left ihe7n their successors, delivering up to them their own proper place of mastership or prerogative in them.
The persons here meant, are clearly enough described we sec, and the Enquirer agrees with us, that they were Bishops in the sense of the -Church at that time; but he did not like 1o give us this special evidence, which Ire- nseus himself does, of their being so, because it contains such broad marks of more than ordinary prerogatives, conferred by the Apostles upon this order of men, above the common Presbyters in the Church, by appointing them their peculiar successors over it, and delivering up the whole Church itself to their single care alone, as, though the singularity of their commission and powers,
*EiE qui in Ecclesia siiii pres'13'tcris bbaiHire oportet. His qui sue- cessiouem habent ab Apo;t;>lis, sicut ostenciinius, qui cum Eplscopalus successione chAiisiiiaveiitatiH ceiiuin, secuodum placitum patrisaccep- cruiit. Iicn. I. 4. c. 43. p. 38:2. E.lit, Luieu Paris 1G75.
THE PSirJiTIVE CIIITKCH; icC. 1S7
"would look a little like another order from the rest; nnd therefore he would not begin his quotation here, but in general tells us, thai they were surely Bishops, which Irenaeus was speaking of, and then, from three lesser cir- cumstances i-n the account of them, would assure us, they were of no higher a?t order than any common Presbyteis were. .
The first circumstance was this, that iJiey were called ly the name of Preslyiers, as well as the others.
To which I answer, that it very well might be so, and not the least proof of an equal order in that. The argu- ment from names, as I am forced to observe again, does not lie here; for though the name of Preshjler did by degrees become the peculiar title of the second order in the Church, upon occasion of the name of Bishop being solely appropriated to the fust; yet that was not a ne- cessary consequence of it, nor tlie immediate business of the Church to make i! so; it was but one Ecclesiastical officer only, and that tite chief of all, who came with such extraordinary commission from the Apostles to pre- side over them, as I have shewn you before, which they wanted a peculiar and distinguishing title for; and accord- ingly fixed that of Bishop) upon him. So that the nam« of Fresbijter, which had been common to all the minister! of the Church before, even up to the highest order of the Apostles themselves, and had been a term of dignity and honor in the Church of God aiuong the Jews, by long prescription there; and in respect to the venerable age, which it naturally signified, might by any father of tht Church be a:ttributed to a Bishop still, especially if they fixed such a note of discrimination upon it, as IrenEeuC does here; and no fear of derogation to the' Bishop's •haracter in it, and much less of levelling him !• th*
183 Aa OiaGI>-AL DRAUGHT OP
lowest order that should be called by that name. A Bishop therefore might be called a Presbyter then, though it was rarely so, and but for a short time, but a Presbyter as ditstinguished from him, since. the Apobjolical age ex. pired, had the name of • Bishop no longer "attributed to him in the language of the Catholic Church.
Since Irenasus' Bishops, then, were still the same as their predecessors were,_ which the Apostles constituted at the first* and such as the Church then owned for Bish- ops, notwithstanding'ihe name of Presliyter was applied to them, what farther lessening of them could it be, to express their order by an order of the same name too Which is the second dircum^-tance in Iren us' words? that our learned author so mightily insists upon? Such as the persons were, such as was their order to be sure If these Presbyters, then, bj na . c, Were genuine Bishops in the nature and character of them; it follows, that the order of Presbyter, as applied to them, was such a, Bish- op's order also. Jt is hard, I iaiow, to allow of any other possible notion, either of.words-or things, where time im. memorial has fastened one before; and therefore' the phrase of Preshyter^s Order, to men in our age, can scarce eve." be thought in any author to signify more or less than just what we understand by it now. But ifthingg- may take place instead of words and sounds with us, I think it is clear in this quotation, tiiat the Orders of a Presbyter here spoken of, are such as the Apostle's proper successors had in the sense and iraclice of the Primitive Church. Iren; us declares himself to spctaksuch, and I have shewn what prerogatives such Presbyters original. ly had, not only of ruling power but of several clerical acts too, not common to all the rest; and our Enquirer him«eir assures us, that ti Presbyter promoted to such a
THE pRiJiiTiVE cnuRcn, &c. 189
Bishop's Chair, was first to receive imposition of hands from all the Provincial Bishops, in the age 1 renins lived in. Now such singular acts of Ecclesiastical power conferred upon a common Presbyter, who had them not before, and by such a solemn Apostolical rite as that was, which the ancients called ordination, in as plain and express terms, as they did in the act of ordaining Presbyters or Deacons. This, I own, is what I under- stand by the Bishop's supreme order in the Church; and Irenajus, as his language all along imports, meant noth- ing less by it here, though the name of Presbyter, which in several respects suited every order in the Cliurch,'was peculiarly affixed to him.
And as to the text of Isaiah Ix. 17. applied here, as it was in Clemens Romanus before, I shall remark only thus much; that * Clemens's old translation of the place answered his orwn language about the. ApostI.es ordaining Bishops and Deacons in the Church; for so his Greek Bible, it seems, had rendered it in the copies of his time, and by that authority he made the names to be .awful and venerable to the Corinthians, as he was endeavorino^ to do. But Irenrous here, who was speaking of Supreme Presbyters only, applied the text, as it is in our present translation of the f LXX. whereby they are rendered by the names of Princes and Bishops; so that both words answered the argument he was upon, which was to en- join obedience to the true Supreme Governors of any one Catholic Church; and neither in one place nor the other, does it any way prove, that either of the Fathers under-
<■• Clemens' copy retiHered, Isa. Ix. 17, thus: Ka^a^ni^^ ma- tTTicKorrav «u7ui' tis iiKaiocvvrjv Kai Tua iiaKovna avTiav tv Trt^et.
t Iienasus used the LXX. -vh-ch renders it thus : Acoo-u rso- Apxovra: at *? iiprjiti Kat Tuc l~i(7/co7r»(r aa iv iiKaioavvti,
17
90 AlV ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
stood but two orders only in the Church; as I conceive may now appear by what I have observed from them.
Clemens Alexandrinus, as the last evidence, is to clear all; two passages to that purpose are quoted from him. I will shew the occasion of both, that we may judge the better what the Holy Father probably meant by them.
Clemens was setting forth the utmost advancement of a perfect Christian under the title of a complete and true Gnostick. * He represents him as master of all his pas- sions, and then improring in good works till he lecomcs equal to an Angel here; and being bright and shining as the Sun, hastens on through /./.v righteous knowledge, and the love of God to a Holy Mansion, as the Apostles did be- fore him. And, on this occasion, tells us farther, that f every one who exercised himself in the commandments of the Lord, and lived as a perfect Gnostick according to the Gospel, might be admitted into the Apostolic roll: that is, undoubtedly, in his Seraphic sense of it, be as fair a candidate for perfection of happiness hereafter, as an Apostle himself could be, if he was equal tohim in Giles- tic wisdom and holiness here; characters and orders of men, from the highest to the lowest of them in the Church, in this view of them, making but little difference in the case. And to explain himself farther in the point, he goes on in these words; which our Enquirer quotes pr his use, he is a Presbyter in the Church indeed, says
*Milpiii)-iTaO}]aai ra vpwra Kai u; atraOtiav fjc'SsTriaas av^ticaa ti tis iVTroiav Tvia^iKtis TiKnoTrfjoi IcayyeXo; yiiv ivlavOa. <l'a>7£ii'os &i rjSi] Kai us 7]\tos ^ofiTTbiv cTTivhi i-m Triv ayiav fioj'ijv, Kadaiap o; ottosoXoi. Edition Oxon. Strom. 1. G, p. 732.
t E^trtJ' Iv Kai vvv rats Kvpta/cais tvauKritjav'Jai rats lv^»\a7s, Ka^a to EvayytXtoi- teXsiuj ^luxjailao mi rj-uifiKuis sty Trjv iKXayr/v twv ano^oXwy iyYpa<j>rivat — p. 793.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCH, &.C. lO^
he, * and a true Deacon of the will of God, if he does, and teaches, the things of the Lord; not ordained of men, or therefore thought a righteous person, because made a Presbyter, but because righteous, therefore chosen into the Presbytery; and although he be not honored with the first seat here on earth, yet shall hereafter sit down on that twenty four thrones, judging the people, as St. John says in the Revelations. The sense of this whole specu- lation, I think, appears plainly to be this; that in respect of true intrinsic excellency here, and of a title to perfect bliss and happiness hereafter, neither Apostle, Presbyter, Deacon or Layman, have any great advantage of one another, by any outward character, title or difference of order they may have below, but purely as they excel one another in Christian virtue, divine knowledge, wisdom and goodness; and so are more perfect Christian Gnos- ticks than the rest. And therefore if a Presbyter, in par- ticular, be such a qualified saint as this, though he be not honored with the first seat here; that is, says he, with as high a seat as any I have named to you now, which in plain connexion with the whole argument, is with an Apostolical chair in the Church, (for an Apostle was one of the orders, in his comparison, amongst the rest,) yet he shall sit in the twenty four Thrones, judging the people, as St. John speaks in the Revelation; as if he had directly said, though he may not sit in a Bishop's plaqe, whose See Tertullian, cotemporary with Clemens, calls an Apostolical Chair; and the Church of that age,
* 0u7os -peaBv^epoi tg-t rco ovji mi iKKXrjaias Kai SiaKoi'os a\ridi!i rrji t» 0£« (itiXtiathii^ cav irotrj Kai SiSagKrj ra th Kupia, hk utt' av9f)o)zu)v x'-ipolovnntroi, »ii' 07[ -iTpcsBvTipoi iiKaioi vom^onsvos aW oil itKawi £>' TrpeiSvlsptio KoJaXiy- o^ivoi' mvev'JavOa tm yns Trpui'JoKadtSpia jit) TtiinOn iv to~i hkoul Kai Ttacrapa<- KadiScilat dpovois TovXaov Kpivuiv^ uf (prjatv iv tjj avoKaXv^pci luavvijj. Stro*
1. 6, p. 792.
l92 AN ORIGI^'AL DRAUGHT OV
I have proved above, acknowledged Bishops to be their proper successors, yet he shall sit, says St. Clemens, at the last day, among the chiefest saints, to judge the world with Christ; and how the mentioning of a first chair of a Presbytery, in the sense wherein this' Holy Father names it here, should imply, that every Presbyter who sat in the Presbytery also, should be of equal order with him who sat the first and highest in it, by this evi- dence of Clemens for it, I leave now to the reader'sjudg- ment on the place.
But this venerable Father affords our Enquirer a far- ther testimony for his cause; which, though some men think, as he * observes himself, to be more against him, yet he roundly affirms, it is evidently on his side. Clemens mentions, says he, advancements or processes, as he renders them, of Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons. But f these are evidently meant, says our discerning author, only of degree, and there are but two orders between them all. For Clemens immediately adds, says he * that those ofices are an imitation of the Angelic glory, and of that dispensation, xcMch, as the Scriptures say, they wail for, who treading in the steps of the Apostles, live in the per- fection of Evangelical righteousness; for these, the Apos- tle writes, shall be taken up into the clouds, 1 Thes. iv. 17. and there first as Deacons attend, and then according to
* See Enq. p. 72'
t npo*ro-at iTTiffco-uj' irpisBvTipiiiv oiaKoviov. Stromat. 6.
* M(M>;/iara lijjiai' AyyeXiKiis 'So^ilS K^aKUvrji Ttis oiKoyojiias Tvyxain^i-i', >tv avu[iivuv (paaiv ai ypaipai th; kut ixvo; T^v ai:os^o\wv tv rfXtnocit diKoioGuvrii Kara to ErayysXiov jiiCtwicorai (V vi<pt\ais rums apOivras, ypa<pu b aiTo^oXos, SiaKOVTiiXHV lisv Tu TTptora lirnTa eyKaraXayr.rai ru) r:pt(T6vTCpi<a Kara TTpoKOirnv So^ris So^a yap So^?js avaf'^h ax"S c «<f -^iXuov avipa av^tjttiui. c(.v. Id. ib.
THE rKIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 193
the proccs ; or next sta'/nn of gl^ry, be athnltted into the Presbijtery, for glory dij'ers fro^n gljrj, till they increase to a perfect m.rn-
Hence he argues, that since the scriplures mention but two orders of Angels, viz: Ar:.'i-aag U and Angels; and the stations of glorified saints are here explained by being Deacons awhile, and then taken in.o the Presbytery, and so, as he says, their glory perfected. It therefore ap- pears, that tlie Holy Father meant hi? Bisliops, Presby- ters, and Deacons, to have but two orders amongst them. This is his argument faithfully stated, and I think to the full. Upon which I take leave to make these few observations.
1st. That since Deacons and Presbyters, which are two of Clemen's three progressions in tlie Church, have unquestionably a distinct order from one another, and yet but one common word is used to express those two progressions, and that of the third together with them; it is a forced and unwarrantable construction, I conceive of the venerable r'ather's phrase, to make him mean a difference of order between two of these progres. sions, and no difference at all in t!ie third. For that a difference of order vvas to be understood amongst these progressions in general, is clear from our Enquirer's ap- plication of them, who insists upon it, that they were an imitation of the Arch (t.';^e's and lug^h Orders', So that not only three progresssions m ist here be taken to be a natural pattern and imitation of two only in Heaven above; but one of the three also, who had no distinct or- der, but what was common to another, must help to make op the true representation of the State of Angels and Archangels, who had each of them a very distinct and different order to themselves. And this will appear the 17*
194 AN ORIGINAL DKAUGIIT OF
harder construction of Clemen's words still, if we ob- serve, that in this very quotation itself, when he express- es the two orders of glorified saints afterwards, by their advancing from the order of Deacon-saints first, to that of glorified Presbyters ;;it last; upon which the force of this" argument depends, he uses the * same numerical word for it, it is a UpoKovh Sn^rig, which makes the higher order of Saints or Angels there; and why must not this UpoKooy/i of Bishops then, in his language, be thought to do as much for them, if the relutnm and correlalum in the comparison duly answer one another; I conceive it must be so. But,
2nd. What warrantable grounds can we have to deter- mine the number of the o ders of Angels and Arch-angels in the Holy Scriptures? Si. Augustin durst not do it; but thought a \ cautious ignorance less to he blamed, than a rash presumpiioji in this very case, and was sd humble as to own it in himself. That there are thrQp.c^, and Domhi- ions, and Principalitief, and ijoii-ers, in the heavenly par- ade above, says he, i stcddfastly believe; and it is my ur:. doubted fail h,th.:t there is a dijj'erer.ce hetwen ihctn; hut what that diph'c nee is, I know not, nor do I think that ignc- rar.ceis ar,y livrlio ri.c. lie seemed to bemindfulof St. Paul's awful hint, not to intrude into things he sa^.c net. The learned Grotius, from the common opinion of the Jews, affirms somewhat more of them, and says, Xthcij
* Via]a wpoKooivv So^a; syKaraXayijiai toj vpecGvletu). Siroinnt. 6.
t Magis in istis teinerari pijc-uinptio.qiiam cauta ignmaiio culpan 'a videaUir.-"Esse iiaq; tet'e?, (lominatione?, principatus, pptpsiates, in coe'fstibus appaiatlbus fiimiftiine c.iv.dv, ei (lifi>rie inter se aliqujd
indubitaia fi 'e icnen sed quid iutfr sc difTcrant, nescio. JVec ca
sane it'novanlia periclitari nie piiir. Ai^guci. ]ib. ad Oio?. cap. Il Ibl. 14!, intei opern, Tom. 6. Paris 1555.
t Nomina subliniis-imarun classiuni ancjorcarum, frequentia api;d J^Iebtteos. Grot, in Kpl.cs 1. 'jl. inleropcra, Tom, 3. p. 5'?0. Lond. 1679.
TflE PRI.UITIVH CllUUCn, &;C. 195
were names of the sublimcst dishes of Angels, familiarly taken to be such by that ancient Church of God; which is little less than attril)uling so many orders to, them. Nor do I apprehend, indeod, that the gendral division into Archangels and Angels, supposing our Revelation of them to be full and entire, docs any more conclude their orders to be but strictly hon, than the division of English subjects into Peers and Commoners, is an evident proof that there are but two orders of subjects in this Kingdom. And to draw proofs for any part of the Chris tian dispensation from so precarious an hypothesis as this, to say the best of it, is to argue in the dark. Clem- ens himself ga^^e but little occasion to be so represent- ed; for he does not so much as name the orders of Angels, but only mentions the A-W^elical glory in this quotation; and immediately joins it with the glory of human saints in heaven, as making both of them the subject of his com- parison; and that he assigned a threefold state of glory- to them, will appear by the last observation I sha'l make; which is this:
3d, That when Clomons advanced his glorified saints from the inferior state of Deacons into the Presbytery afterwards, he did not so consummote their bliss there, as our Enquirer positively does; but adds, that glory dif. fers from glory, as the quotation o>viis, till they iiicreass into a perfect man. And that this increasing into a per- fect man was a farther advancera nt than that of his Dea- con and Presbyter saints before, is not only evident by what he adds immediately upon it, viz. * Thai such as those rest in the holy mount of God, in the uppermost Church; where the philosophers of God do meet together,
* Axp'S av tii TiXiiov ai'Spo au^Tjaoxnv' 0/ toihtoi — Ku'Ja-avanaiv tv opm. cyiti) 655, Tij av<j)']ano eKKAr;(7ta, KaO' nv oi (piXoaopot aurayorai tS Oh, Ufico.
I, p. 793.
193 AN OKIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
60 his Platonic plirase is, and a great deal more of that superlative character of them; but, I think, is undenia- bly clear, at his summing up this whole argument a leaf or two after, in these^^express words: * You &ce, says he, what Wisdoiii says of these Gnostics: And, in proportion to this, t'lere ar:i different mansions, according to the digni* ty of believers. Solomon says, a select grace oj faith shall be gioea to him, and a more dclighlsome lot in the temple of the Lord. This comparative shews there , are inferior ones in Gnd^s temple, wiich is the Universal Church; and it gives us t ) understand, ihere is a superla. live one too, where the Lord is. These three elect man. sions are signified b i the numbers in the gospel, of thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold. And the perfect inheritance is theirs, who utt.iin to the perfect man, according to the image of the Lord.
By th's clear evidence of the venerable father's sense, I conceive he now appears consistent with himself, and that the three orders in the Church are so far from being lost by the parallel, that it could not be made out without fhem; and I should think I very unfairly represented him, if I contracted them into two.
Between these two authorities of Clemens, for only two orders in the Church, t':e f Enquiry describes the form of session in the ancient Presbytery; which I should
♦ Oj(I{ olul 7rfp( Tui/ rv(^^iKuiii i' oKeycTat n coipta' avu\oY(j>s apa Kat fiovat *ot/ttXoi Kar' a^la tuv wt^tvcavjiov. ' Ku'llna JLoXojiwv, SoOijacrai yap avm i Xapii ikXektm xai KX);poj iv vau) Kupia dujiiipiTipos. To avyKptJtiruv yap iwjcvujt «£v ra v!:oSiS>iKa']a tv to) vaoi th Q'.3 35 £^7'" '( iraffo lKK\ncia atroKitvu it svvociv Kat TO vircpOiliKiiiii, ivOj b Kupio; £5-ii'- Tauras iicXtKTai Haat rat TDtituovaf oi svTO) EuayytXiu) afiiOjiot amaaov1ai,h rptaicov'Ja, /coi i c^rjKovJft, mu 6 CKaJov. Kai « ficv rtXtia KMpovopua tujv Ui av!pa reXctov afiKyv/uwrf kmt' ciKOva TH Kvpota, Id. 797.
t Knq. p . 74.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 197
pass over without any controversy about it, but that ho tells us there, that St. Cyprian calls the Presbyters his colleagues in the session. This obliged me to consider his authority for it, because I had appropriated that title to Bishops only, by which they spoke of one another; and had accordingly * argued, as you may remember, for their prerogatives upon it. ' I presumed he had found some singular passage in £t. Cyprian, to warrant what he had said. The place he quotes for it, is in his 28th Epistle, § 2. EdiU Pamel. or Ep. M. Edit. Oxon. I carefully perused the whole Epistle, and found Si. Cy- prian mentioning his colleagues four times in it. 1st, He commends his Presbyters and Deacons, to whom he writes, for not communicating with a Preshjtcr and, Dea- con o/' Didda, as his colleagues f had athiscd them. — Were these colleagues his own Presbyters, do we imagine, by whose advice they themselves acted so agreeably to his mind 1 2d, He takes notice to his Presbyters, that they had acquainted him by letter, how the said Presby- ter of Didda and his Deacon had been admonished again and ^gain hi/ his colleagues, and yet :]: went on in their fault. Did the Presbyters mean themselves, by those colleagues, in their letter to Cyprian? Why not admon. ished j)y us? when the letter was their own, and why not by you, in St. Cyprian's again to them? but no remark can make it so plain, as the Epistle itself does; yet I must go on to the place peculiarly quoted still, 3d, Then, he or- ders his Presbyters and Deacons to read his letters to his . * Page 145. supra.
i Consilio collegaiuin meoruin — censuistis iioii communicandum. Cypr. Ep. 34. Edit. Oxon.
T Semel atq; ilerum, secundum quod mihi scripsisti'^, a collegis me'.s ijjoniti; pertluaciter pcrstilcrunt. lb.
198 AX ORIGI.XAL DRAUGHT OF
* colleagues also, if there were any there, or happened to come thither. Strange sense, if he meant sucli persons as he wrote to, and questioned whether any of them were there. Thus far I thinlc his colleagues and Presbyters were somewhat different persons with him; and do we think he used the same term a fourth time after this, and meant quite another thing by it? In the last place then, he acquaints his Presbyters and Deacons, what should be done in the case of two sub-Deacons and an Acolyth, which they consulted him about; and tells them, that many of lijs own Clergy were yet absent, and he would not privately decide that cause, which was likely to be a standing precedent concerning ministers of the Church, and therefore ought to be examined, f not only together with his colleagues, hut with all his people also; letting them plainly know, that the hearing of that cause should be as public as the co.icern was, and not only he, and his own Clergy to whom he wrote, but his colleagues also, and even his own people too should be present at it; where by his colleagues, surely he meant the same persons, as he had three times before, you see, in the same letter, that is some Bishops of the province, whereof he was metropolitan; as the solemnity of the case did manifestly invite him to call in their assistance, and require their presence, according to his account of it. And this con- firms me more still, that colleague was unquestionably a term appropriated to fellow-Bishops only, in St. Cy- prian's language; since the fairest instance so inquisitive
*Legite has easdom literas et collegis meis, si qui aiit prassenies fiie- rint, aut supervenerint. Cyp. Ep. 34. Edit, Oxon.
Y Haec singidouun tractandasit et limanda plenius latio, non tantum cum collegis ineis, sed et cum plebe universa, expensa enim moderatio- ne libranda et pernuncianda res est, quce in posterum circa ministros ecclesite constitual exemplum. lb.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 199
an author could single out to disprove it, appears to fall in with it too.
I have now considered, and too particularly, I am afraid, the tired reader will think, the three general ar- guments for equality of orders in the Bishops and Presby- ters of the Church, with every single authority, I think, which the ingenious Enquirer has offered for the proof of it; and if it still appears, that the Presbyters could do every clerical act which the Bishop could do, by virtue of their inherent powers alone, without his authority for it; that their different powers made no difference of orders in them; that the identity, antl sameness of name, proved them to be the same with one another; and that the prim- itive fathers did expressly own and declare that there were but two orders in the Church. It is no more than that learned author foretold, would surely be the effect of such a vain attempt as this. * For though he humbly questioned for a while, whether his premises were fully proved or no; yet he concluded ^oon, that upon the nar- rowest enquiry he could make, they could not he evinced, I have no opinion of all that I have said, any farther than of the sincerity of it, and that it keeps me unavoidably, through the evidence of truth I verily think to be in it, from consenting to any one of the arguments he offers for his cause. What others may think of it, I leave only to God and themselves; having as unfeigned and hearty a concern (I may say it before Him, who knows my thoughts long before-hand) as that affectionate author professes to have for the unhappy divisions this fatal controversy causes in the Church.
The close of this chapter is an innocent speculation about the reason of the number of Presbyters in the * See Enq. p. 75.
200 AN ORIGINAL DEArcriT OF
primitive Churches, and of the time when their office began. The scheme required something of this, since a Diocese was allowed by it to have no more than a single congregation for three hundred years together; and read- ing of forty or fifty' Presbyters in one, the question might be asked, he pretty well foresaw, what need there should be of them ail? He answers therefore. They were partly as- Curates are to our Rectors now, though more neces- sary ones, says he, upon account of the variety of acci- dents then,' and of the uncertainty of the times; and be- cause the number might be a little surprising still, he farther makes h.is Presbyters to be young pupils to hia parochial Bishops, and in a state of education under them, to be fit to succeed them in time. This hai'mless thought, since it is pressed upon us with no authority of fathers, council's, or historians, to give the reader much trouble about it, shall be left undisturbed by me; tind I will con- clude this chapter, as the Enquiry does, with a short re- flection upon a remarkajjle account which Clemens Alex- andrinus gives us of St. John the Apostle. * He wcnl, upon request, to the nelglihoruig provlncey, says Clemens, in some places to constitute Bishops; in.othcrs, to plant '.thole Chvrchrs; and iii other places to ordain such into the rtnmlcr of the Clergij, as were signified to him hy the Holy Ghost. Here is a sacred example of primitive Bishops indeed, ivstitvted. we may truly say, by the Ho- ly Ghost itself; for who assigned the persons? It was that Holy Spirit, you see, in this quotation, and inducted by an Apostle, for so St. John plac3d them in their Churches; and if our learned author meant such an institution and indueiiou as this, derived from this original upon all their successors in the like station in the Church, we should • F»r Note see next page.
THE PKI3IITIVE CHURCH, tC. 201
differ but little about his words, when he calls the Bislt- ops, the lyrcscutcd, instituted, and inducted ministers of his Diocesan Parishes. [Enq. p. 57.] But then the obli- gation of the Presbyters, nut to invade these Bishops' places, would have something more in it, than he thinlis fit to allow; for he will have it, that for peace, or unity, or order auke, they could not or u-oidd not do it, as if it were mere gentleness, or love of peace in them, which withheld them from invading a Bishop's function, being as fully qualified for it as the Bishops themselves. Where- as here is an eminent superior by God's institution or- dained to preside over them; and as I have proved above, with additional clerical powers too, which were never imparted to them. And as the Bishops were thus Apostol- ically settled at the first, so the orders of Presbyters and Deacons, as distinct from them here, had the like institu- tion and induction into their respective places in the Churches, so early as St. John's time. For our Enquirer tells us, he believes, that by the word Clergy, in the last clause of this quotation, both those orders most probably should be understood. So that a divine right for each of ihem, in the language and acceptation of those times, wherein Clemens and Eusebius lived, is as clearly af- firmed here, as the venerable Clemens, in so few words, could possibly have said it. .
* 'Atttisi TTapaKa\8ftivos Kat mi ra TfKi)CtD\u>pa rdiii i')i5v. Otts jxiv fata-
MTSf, Kola^Tiauv^ — Otts 6e oXcj tKK\r,ciai cpixcuv, Otth Is cv^yi nva
fXripuieriav tuv vtto tS -vivuu'jos <r,7^a(vo;Ui'uu. T.'i 6 :rA/-;(TU^. C. ult. and Euseb.l. 3, C.23.
13
202 AN obiginaL draught op
CHAP. V.
The fifth chapter begins with the order and office of Deacons; and it is a comfort to hear * there is no great controversy about (hem. I hope I shall occasion none, by barely using the learned Vossius' authority for restoring a negative particle to a short clause quoted out of St. Ig- natius, here. The Enquiry leaves it out, as some copies had done before, and by that means makes that venerable father call this third order in the Church, "j" The Deacons of meats and cups; \ whereas it is plain, St. Ignatius' in- tention was to remove that meaner character from them, and give them their proper title of sercanls, or ministers, of the Church of God; in contradistinction to it, and im- mediately thereupon he requires all to reverence them accordingly. The nature of the period itself, and the holy father's ordinary notion of the Deacons, agree with this reading. The rest upon this head I willmgly leave as I find it, and wi^h 1 could have done the like to all that is gone before.
Sub-Deacons are briefly considered next; not for any thing this learned author thought material to say about them, but purely, one would think, to give one plausible turn more to what he seems to have so much at heart. The equality of Bishops and Presbyters' orders. For all he observes of them is this, ttiat the orders of Deacons and sub-Deacons, in his || opinion of them, were probably the same; the one intended only to assist the other in the same Ecclesiastical ofilces, common to them both, that
•Enq. p. 79.
t BpC>jxa]uiv Kill TTolwv £1(71 ciaKQvoi. Enq. p. 80.
1 0« yap Ppwiiajiov koi t:o']Cjv itai SiOKOvoi^ qXX' eKK\>iaiai Oj3 iTriptlat — ■trwlei tvTpi-KiuOdxrav r«s SiaKorov;. Igliat. Ep. acl Trail, p. 48, Edit. VosBii secunda Lend. ICSO. || Encj. p. 81.
THE rSIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 203
SO the account he gave of the like equahty between Bish- ops and Presbyters might pass the better for being so directly parallel to these. Now all he could hope for from hence, amounts to no more than what uncertainty and supposition could afford him; for he concludes it doubtful, after all, whether Deacons and sub-Deacons' orders were the same, and * supposes it only upon this presumption, that i;i vo Church whatsoever it teas usual io have more than seven DeacorcS, because of the original number institvicd hij the Apostles; and therefore sub-Dea- cons were ordained to discharge their necessary ministra' tions for thcvi i" the greater and more numerous Church- es. But that a sub-Deacon could not discharge the nscessary ministrations of a Deacon, I think is plain enough, from what our learned author himself knows, and f owns, a Deacon did in the primitive Church; that is, assist in the ccJclrution of the eucharist, lyreach,, and baptize; for what monument of antiquity, ever affirmed the sub-Deacons, could do all this 1 So far from that, that the council of Laodicea, which the learned Dr. Cave observes was peculiarly held to revive the discip- line of the primitive Church, assures us, ij: sui-Deacons were not suffered to have amj place in the Diciconicum, [or sacred apartment of the Deacons] 1| nor so much as to touch the hohj ves els. § That they might not tvear the sacred fascia, or linnen wreath, called the orarium, appointed for the Deacon^s ojjlce; and for this very reason, as Zonaras
® Enq. p. 81.
t Enq. p. 81).
\ In eo pvLecipua id agcbatur, ut collapsa primitivfe ecclcsia3 discip- Ijna lefaiciieuir. Hist. Liter. Part. 2. p. 123. Edit. Lond. 1G98.
11 Ou ^t( vTripsra; cxnv xu/jav iv Tia SiaKoviKO), Kai 'd-'JaOai )iptl>v ckivuit. Cone. Laod. Can. 21.
^ Oil iuvyrnpt^lny i^apiov^optiv. lb. Can. 22..
204 AN oraGiNAL urwVUGiiT of
notes upon it, * because eierij sacred order had their pecu- liar habit. That sub-Deacons ministered to, and not for the Deacons, is observed by the inquisitive f Suicer, from no less authority than the first great council of Nice. All this does little less than contradict the hypothesis be- fore us, of sub-Deacons being ordained to discharge the Deacons' ministrations in their stead; and, one would think, were evidence enough to prove their orders to be different, unless some authentic ordinal, within our En- quirer's period of time, were extant to demonstrate the contrary. And lastly, As to the primitive Churches con- fining themselves to seven Deacons only, from the exam- ple of the first institution in the Acts, I refer the reader to the judgment of the sixth general council about it, where he will find, in theif IGth Canon, :{: that the origi- nal precedent in the Acts, did not affect the number or office of the Deacons icho ministered at. the ^Itar of the Church. And the testimony of an ecumenical council about the sense of the Catholic Church, is of some weight, I think, though at a distance from the three first centu- ries of it.
But to pass from this, and all the other antiquated or- ders in the primitive Church, I proceed to consider the next general head in this chapter; which is, the manner of ordaining Presbyters in use amongst them then.
And, in no point is our learned author more curious and particular than in this. He presents us with every circumstance of the ancient manner of ordaining Pres-
* EKarwi-pu) Tuyjtaji a~ovti':^i>ilat Kai joXi; iiKaa aii7u, &C . Zonar. in
Can.
t Suiceriii voce virripcrri;. r-nrjptlai ill Ecc'esia dicuntur subdiacoiii,
qui episcopis, presbyterif, at Diacoiiis miiiistraiit. Act. Cone. Nic. 1,
Par. 3, p. 172.
^Tmrpoinriiitviic trjil ^iai:ovb-; ^i)j i~' ""'» i^v-lnjiioti ^laffovD/iU'OJV \ajx-
iavaOai, Cone. G, in Trullo. Can. IG.
fan i^iuffiTivE cnuEcii, &c. 205
byters, in a more exact method than any author who lived amongst them, or near those early ages he speaks of, ever did; and for that reason, I shall oblige the reader with the whole scheme cf it, in his own words.
Whosoever desired to he admitted, says * he, into this sacred ojjice, he first proposed himself to the Presbytery of the Parish where he dwelt and rvas to be ordair.ed; desiring their consent to his designed intention; praying them to confer vpon him those holy orelers ivhich he craved. Now we must suppose, says he, this petition to the whole Presbytery, because a Bishop alone could not give those holy orders; as is most evident from Cyprian, ivho assures vs, that all clerical ordinations were performed by the common council of the whole Presbytery, f Upon this application, the Presbytery debated their j^^tition in % their CGmmon council, and proceeded to examine, whether lie had those quilifications and endowments ivhich were requisite Jor'that sacred, ojjice, (viz. these four) his ao-e, his condition in the world, his conversation , and his under- standing. 11 If they approved all, they declared him ca- pable of the function. Then his name must be propounded to the people, that, if worthy, he might Ivxve their testimo- ny and attestation; if unworthy, he might he debarred and excluded from orders. If they approved his fitness for the ojfxe, then, followed ordination and imposition of hands, usually of the Bishop and Presbyters of their Parish, according to 1 Tim. iv. 14.
Here is a formal abstract, one would verily think, of some primitive ordinal or another; though not a syllable quoted from any one record, so public, proper, and ne.
»Enq . p. 83, £4.
tCominuLiicJiisilio omnium nostrum. Typ. Ep, 24. alias 29. Edit. Oxon. |Enq. lb. |1 Llnq. p. 95,96.
18 *
20& AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
cessary in the case; here is a candidate for holy orders^ made an humble supplicant to a whole parochial or dio- cesan Presbytery for them, and not a text of Scripture to direct, or one single Canon, so much as of a provincial Synod, to require it of them. And lastly, liere is a Cath. olic practice set forth to us, upon a bare svpijosition, for the learned author himself says no more, that three or four words in' a particular Bishop's writings, relating purely to his own peculiar practice, as we shall see by and by, must cvidenllfj imply so much.
This is a singular method, I must needs say, of proving the general practice of the Christian Churcli; and to say the most we can of it, amounts only to this, that if the excellent St. Cyprian did uj;on any consideration what- soever generally consult his Presbytery, and we may say his people too, whensoever he ordained in his Church; then he, and all other Christian Bishops besides, were so far obliged, by the constitution of the Catholic Church in his time, to do so, that none of them could ordain a single Presbyter without them; for upon tb.at holy father's account of himself alone, and that in much larger ferms in the translation, than we find it in his own text, this formal scheme o^ j^n'milii-c ordincdions is drawn. Let the reader consult the whole, and he will find it so; — though whatever less material quotation intervenes, I shall both mention and weigli it too. In the mean timer to prove the translation of the present quotation to be far wider than the text itself, before we go any farther, we need only set one against the other.
The Enquiry makes St. Cyprian say, that all clerical ordination were performed ly the common Council of the tohole Preshjtery, implying by his general terms, and the application of them here, that he and all other Bishop*
THE rniMiTivE cnriicii, tc. 207
practised so. Whereas the wcrds, oil clerical ordinations, are neither named, nor so mucli as implied in that Epis- tle, from whence this quotation is taken. The whole case there was this: * St. Cyprian had formerly design- ed to crd:iin a certain Lccio.- and Sub-Deacon, by the common advice end coun/^cl of his Presbyters and Dea- cons; therefore he assures vs, says our learned Enquirer, that all clerical ordinations mere pcrfor-urd by the com- mon council of the jchule Presbyicr;! ; for from this very place the quotation is taken, f But having occasion, as the holy Bishop farther tells tlicm, to make use of such clerical officers in the time of his absence from them, he lets them know, that he had ordained them there by him- self alone, which, by the way, is proof enough that ^the orders were complete, and valid to all intents and pur- poses, without them. It is true, he plainly wishes, as his manner was, rather to have had them in council with him, and excuses himself for doing it alone; and why? + Because he had solemrdy [luri^oced vdth himself as he tells them in another Epistle, frorn, the time of hia first promotion to the See, that he 7vo;dd do nothing of his own private opinion, iclthout confuting ihe'ii, or without fie consent of his people. The only needful enquiry here is this:
Was this resolution of St. Cyprian grounded upon any law of God, or the Church, by which he was obliged and
• Quod jampiidemcommtini confilio oniniu.n nostrum cceperat, &c. . cporluit me perclfiicos sciibere,
f Fecisse me sciaiisleclornm Saturum el hyporliaconum OptatQtn. Eb' 29. Edit. Oxon-
^Aprimordio episcopatus mei staiuerim n'.hil sine consilio vestm, etl sincj plebis consensu mea piivatim seuteniia gerere. Dyp* Ep, 14- « ult. Edit. Oxon.
208 AN ORIGINAL DKAUGIIT OP
bound to do so? or w?s it by the mere free motion of his own discretion and goodness, that he determined so with himself? The former would imply Catholic practice and duty in the case, if it iuid been proved; the latter will amount to no more, tlian a personal virtue and prudence in the peculiar circumstances of that meek and holy Martyr; worthy of all imitation indeed, where times and persons suited so properly with it, as they did then. But otherwise, obliging unto none.
That no coiistitution, law, or canon whatsoever, oblig- ed St. Cyprian to it; these following particulars must in- cline us to believe.
1st. That the whole College of Presbyters and Dea- cons in the Church of Rome, who were cotemporary with the holy Martyr himself, and continually corres- ponding with him, give a quite contrary account of it. For in the preface of an Epistle to him, they represent his practice thus: * JlUhough a good co7irciencc, say they, supported by Ihe vigor of the discipline of the Gospel and made a true witness of itself, by the decrees cf Heaver?, commonly co.. tents itself wih appealing to the judgment of God alone, and neither cour.'s the prrdse, nor fears tJie accusations of another; yet they are worths/ of double honor indeed, who, knoiuing their oicn conscience, ought of right to be judged of God only, yet desire all their actions to be
* Quanriuam bene sibi consciiis animus, et evangclicre disciplins vigore subnixuf, el veius sibi ia decretis ccsleslibus testis effectus, so'e- at solo Deo judice efTe contentus, nee alteiius aut laudes j-etere aut a.ccusationes psrtimescere ; tamen geminata sunt laiide condigni, qui cum conscientiam sciant Deo soli debeie se judici, actus tamen suoi desiderant etiain ab ipsis suis fratribus comprobari; quod te, frater Cypriane, facere non mirum est, qui pro tua verecundia el ing»-n«ta indtistiia consiliorum lucrum nos non tain jadices voluisli, quam par- licipes inyenire. Ep. 30.^1. Edit. Oxon.
THE PKIMITIVE CIIUKCn, &C. 209
tried and ap]:rcvcd bij their cion very brethren themselves; which we do •not nonder, brother Cyprian, that you do- who according to your native modesty and care, are ■will, ng that we, the Presbyters and Deacons of another Church, should judge, or rather Ic partners of all your councils with you.
This is pretty clear language, and the holy Martyr himself says little less, when he spciks out to the lapsed brethren of his own Diocese, that * the Church was con- stitu'ed upon Bishops, and every act of it was to be govern' ed by them; and his stated sense, repeated over and over again, throughout his whole works, is this, f That every Bishop had the order' ng and dsposing of his own act in the administration of the Church, and was accountable for it to Goda^.oite. The learned Dr. :j:Cave understood this in the same sense that the Roman Presbyters and Deacons did, and therefore speaks of this holy Martyr's practice in the same language with them; |1 he was so modest, says that judicious author, that in all great transactions concerning the Churchy he alxays consulted tiithhis Col- leagues and his jlock, and determined not tn adjudge, any thing without the counsel of the Clergy and the people. A singular modesty! if he were obliged to act no other- wise. But,
*• Per lemporum et succe??ionum vices episcoporuin ordinatio, et Ecclesiaj rati^ decnrrit, et Ecclesia super episcopos constitiiattir, et omnis actus ecclesice per eosdeni pireiositos gubeinelur. Cypr. Ep. £3. ^\. Edit. Oxoii.
f Actum suum dispotiit el riirigit luuiRquisq; Epwcopus ratinnem propositi £ui Domino redditiinis. Kp. 55. p, 110.
tin Ecclcsitc adiiiiniFtratione vohmtat's eiicb arbilrium liberum^ F,p. 73. p, irS. Ep. 53 p. 136. Kp. 6. p. 158, fee.
1! Cave's Life of St. Cypiip.n, p. 2G3.
210 AN ORIGINAL DKAUGIIT OF
2nd. St. Cyprian's own e:cpression, upon which this question more immediately depends, implies no manner of obligation in it; but on the contrary, denotes a free determination of his own will, * a irrimor clio Episcopatus mei statucrim, says he, I have purposed or detcrmimed with myself, frovi the time 1 entered iqjon the Bisoprlc, that I would act in common concert with you all. This was a rule, indeed, for the holy man to act by; but all the authority in it taken upon himself alone. So the learned Grotius expressly declared it to be, even when he was speaking in favor of the Presbyters and Presbyte- ry of the Church; for quoting this passage of Si. Cyprian, •j- the word staiucrim, says he, signifies a voluntary act of his own; and I presume the most partial reader finds no more of any legal obligation in it, than that discerning critic did. But,
3dly, It is instead of many arguments to me, that no law, Ecclesiastical or divine, obliged that humble Bish- op to his ordinary condescensions in the case. That our accurate Enquirer himself could not find so much as a single one in all antiquity for it: for had he found one, he had never left his plausible scheme, so perfectly precarious as it is, without it. For what can be more so? than thus formally to represent a candidate lor orders, tendering his petition to a parochial Presbytery for them, the Presbyters in solemn debate upon such petition, and the whole success of the supplicant to 'depend on their declaring him capaile or incapable of them, and the peo- ple's authority in it, little less than theirs too; insomuch as the Bishop himself was not able, by any power or
» EP'14. ♦ ult.
+ A primnicUo Eplscopalus mei Slatuenrn, hffic vox rem arbitrari- ara significat. Grot, de Iinp. Sum. potest. &:c. Cap. xi. § 14.
THE PRIAIITIVE CHURCH, &C. 211
commission of his own, to ordain so much as a sinj^le clerk in his diocese, bat as they should please to approve or disapprove of him. And all (his, without one sacred text, one single canon, general or provincial, one clear precedent of matter of fact, so much as a positive affirm- ation of a single fathcj- of the Cliurch, that it was Cath- olic custom and const! tcition to do so; but purely, because a wise and humble Bishop would have a chapter called, and take what counsel and information he possibly could from his Presbyters, and from his people too, before he would proceed to ordinations. For St. Cyprian's com- mune consiliiim, the co?jm/or /a? Conre, //on lie was pleas- ed to call upon such occasions, is the very fundamental argument here for the whole scheme: Of which conven- tion, the holy Martyr himself tells us plainly enough what assistance he ever expected from it; when he acted most in common council with tiiem all, for speaking in full and plain terms about it to his Presbyters, Deacons, and people together, he expresses the whole of his ex- pectations from them to be no more, thtui their evidence, information or testimony, about the qualifications or merits of the persons he purposed to ordain. * Humana iesiimovda are the very words he uses, to denote their part in all his clerical ordinations, as you will see in his 38th Epistle, where this custom of his is drawn up by his own pen.
Now to draw such pregnant inferences as we have heard but now, and to raise such imaginary suppositions as are offered us here, from these consistory councils alone, is much the same thing, as if we should suppose, that some branch, at least, of royal authority must needs be-
*SeiS expectanda non sunt tesliraonia huinana. Cypi, Ep. SS. 1. Edit. O.xon.
212 AN ORIGINAL DKAUGHT OP
long to the Privy Counsellors of a wise Prince, because he will seldom, or never, collate honors, or exert any important act of his sovereign powrrin the state, with- out entering first into council with them; and that a cau- tious and wise judge, who gets all the evidence and in- formation he possibly can, before he decides a cause, and probably forms his judgment in a great measure by the advantage of it, should therefore be said to allow a negative or casting voice to those witnesses, because they have some useful influence, in all appearance, upon his determination. St. Cyprian's case with his Presby- tery and people, bcth in his own account, and from the impartial judgment we have heard of others about it, has a plain and near resemblance to these; at least, I may say, the Enquiry before us offers nothing that can provo it to differ from them. For he proves no more, but that St. Cyprian had such a consistory council in his Church, and made some use of it in his clerical ordinations, and I doubt not but othei Churches did so too. But as to tho candidate's petitionary application fur craving orders from ihem, and his success depending upon their concilia- ry declaration in the case, and the ])eople's authority to debar or exclude him, if they thought him unfit for lliem, and the Bishop^s incapacity to ordain a /on", he allows his fancy to infer and suppose all thai, without one singlo proof or authority for either of them, unless his quota- tion, page 06. from Sv. Cyprian's 68th Ep. § 4. must pass for a proof of tho peojile's great interest and authori- ty in ordinations, which, I have shewn at large '•'' before, ho implies no such things at all.
Yi'e have seen then what Si. Cjprian'3 commune con-
* Caop. ill, p. lis, sui:ra.
THE PRIMITIVE CIIURCil, tC. 213
silium, or his ordinary consultations with his Presbytery and people, means. And in that, how much authority the learned Enquirer had to represent tlie primitive man- ner of ordaining Presbyters in such a singular and un. precedented form, ashe has dene here. And if the read- er please to reflect upon what I have offered from holy scripture and primitive antiquity before, to prove that all ordaining power was oxiginaWj a j}crsGnal trust, fully and entirely invested in thes'ngle persons ofthe fiist Govern- ors,of the Church, by divine and Apostohcal Institution, and derived down so; I shall need to leave no other test with him to try this extraordinary scheme by. Yet, because the Enquirer himself lias suggested one particu- lar more, immediately relating to this present case, I shall brieily mention it, forasmuch as it is liis c-wn.
In the close ofthe former chapter he observes; * that all Churches were not furnished with Freslylers, and cs- pecially new planted ones, tchcre either the nun.ler cr cliL ities ofthe believers loere small and inconsiderable, which I make no doubt of; and therefore cannot but ask a few obvious questions about them. Can we ti-ink such new- planted Churches were never so blewsed with an increase of con verts, as to stand in need of assisting Pastors to dis- pense the word and sacraments to them? Do we believe there was no authority in the single pastors or Bishops, to whom thos(; Churches were entirety comniitted, to gupply that important v/ant in th-cni? Could the disci- pline of such Churches be executed by a joint council of Bishop and Presbytery, in the known Catholic sense of such an Ecclesiastical body, where no ordained Presby. ters were? Or have we any precedent or rule, for the
• Enq. p. 77.
19
214 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Bishops of such Sees to seek abroad in other Churches for necessaiy Ministers to assist them in case they stood in need ? Unless all this can be supposed, besides what we have so liberally supposed before, we must allow that single Bishops of those primitive Churches had a power in their original commission to ordain assisting Elders for the necessities of their increasing flock or diocese, and, to be sure, to execute the discipline of the Church, with- out a regular Presbytery to give any kind of force or sanction to it. And the case of Titus's commission in Crete is evidence enough of all this, if we would impar- tially judge of it. For that there were no Church Minis- ters of any denomination at that time [settled there, is highly agreeable to the sacred account of it; and then it is clear, he must have ordained in that Island, without any such Presbytery to assist in it; for to that very pur- pose was he left there. Or if St. Paul had ordained any Elders there before, that would look very favorably on the Episcopal prerogative again, that such a single and peculiar Church Governor, as Titus was, should be nom- inated and sent thither with that special article at the head of his commission, if any Presbyters or Elders, al- ready resident amongst them, could have done it as well as he.
Having seen then where the full power and right of or- dinaiion always lay; if a candidate did petition for his or ders, one would think it should be directly ihere, 3ven to the venerable Bishop alone. Or if, per adventure, for a t 3- timonial of his qualilications and moral conversation, the Presbytery might not improperly be addressed to for it, or the more eminent of the people either; for reccm- mendations from them had a considerable influence, to be sure, on every wise and careful Bishop in the Church;
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C.
213
though should the candidate not proceed in such form, which we have little evidence to prove he did, yet the Bishop's voluntary consultations with them in the man- ner that the excellent St. Cyprian used it, did sufficient- ly supply that; and more than so, neither the Enquirer's own quotations, nor any other records of antiquity I meet with, do amount to.
As to the particular qualifications, there mentioned to be usually enquired into, we need have little difference about them. Such as the ingenious author names, are primitive and genuine. And in the canons and ordina- tion offices of our own Church, such suitable provision is made for each of them, that if the spirit of peace and unity in the blessed primitive times were not more altered amongst us, than the constitution of the Church is, we should hear of few exceptions against it. For,
1st. As to the age of a candidate, 1 find but little par- ticularly determined about it within the three first centu. ries; only, in general, that he should not be a novice; a word often used with little good intention in our times, and as little understood, for in the scripture sense of it, and as the word itself literally imports, a novice can scarcely ever be ordained here now; because it signifies an adult person hut wnj lutely convcru'u to the faith, and newly planted in the Church, as the best * commentators agree in the exposition of it. But as to maturity of years in g'neral, it has little or no reference to it, though St. Paul's use of the word to Timothy is by this learned au- thor here applied to that purpose. Whereas to be early baptized rather, and to have the advantages of a happy
'^See St, Jerom», Chrysosiome, O-Ecumsnius, Theophylact; and, of later times Erasmus, Menocliius, A Lapitp, Dr. Hammond Gro- jiuK, in 1 Tim.iii. 6.
216 AX ORIGIIVAL DKAUGHT OF
education after it, fur the improvement of knowledge ia sacred and human learning together, are the proper considerations, in this respect, to form a reasonable judgment of maturity of age by; and in view ol botlv these, in the age and nation wherein we live, our Holy Mother, the Church has * enjoined tlie a:cof candid, ates to be always enquired into, and allowed none to be ordained sooner, than in all probability, with these advan- tages, they may have attained to it; though she f com- mands a strict examination for farther assurance in it too, and :[: suffdrs none to be advanced from the lowest to the highest order afterwards, without a gradual promo- tion to them, and a space of tima given to try how they behave thsmsslves in the first. And,
2d. No less care do^-s she take to confine all her min- isters to that holy employment alone, to which she has consecrated each of them \\ to lay out every hour they can get either ia rcalhigor kcarhig the Holy Scriptures ; or some such laudable study or exercise as that, and to be ever doi^g tvhai tends to pie.'y and virUic, and tJ the ad- vancement of the Church of God; § interdieling all mca:i trade or employment ia the wdrll, and much more every loose and sccinddcw; course oflfe, under penalty of all the censures she can i/'Jlic: upon them. And,
* Vide Can. 31. Edit. A. D. 1G04. t Can. 35.
I III. Can. 32, an-t Last .'lub. in off. for Ord. Deacons
II Iloris omnibus oppor unis vel scripturis Ipgetulis aut audicndis incunibenl, vel alii cuiiiiim studio nut exeicitio lauiabili vacabunt; oa semper facientes qua- ad pr biatcm ct virtutem spectent, scdulcq; operamdantes iit Ecclcsiam Dei proinoveunr, itc. Can. 75.
4 Nee vero sordi;lu3 alicni nut illiberali operse assue^cent, ncc jjota- tionibus ct crapulse se dedcnt, tenipoive otiose transigi^nt in uka, kc. lb.
THE PRmiTIVE CHtrKCtl; &C. 217
3dly, That she imitates the primitive Church in get. ting, what testimony and information she possibly can even from the people themselves, before her Bishops or- dain any, 1 have * shewn already froixi the public man. ner of celebrating those sacred ofilces, and the Holy Bishop's solemn appeal to the congregation to assign what crnne or impediment they can, and even conjuring them in the name of God to do so; and whosoever will, has timely notice, and a free liberty for it; and the tes- timonials expected from the neighborhood where they lately lived, is another occasion for the same. And,
Lastly, As to the trial of the candidate's understand- ing, and his advancement both in sacred and human learning, siic is far from neglecting that, f She enjoins the venerable Bishop iiimsclf, if able to be present, to be strict and diligent in his examination; together with all the Presbyters who are to join in imposition of hands with him; requires it to be solemnized in the Cathedral itself, or the Bis!iop's parochial Church, and the rever- end Dean, Arch- Deacon, and two Prebendaries at least, to be present and assisting in it, or in case of legal ab- sence four of the gravest preaching Ministers who may be had: Besides- testimonials required either from Colleg- es of Presbyters and graduates, where they have had their education, or some .grave learned, and judicious per- sons, who have known their conversation for some years last past; which, should we calculate the numbers of the fullest Presbyteries in most oftlie primitive Churches, would perhapo amount to as considerable a multitude of proper counsellors in this case, as could ordinarily be had in those carefuUcst and purest ages of the Church; *Ch, iii. p. 130. supra, f iVirie Can. ol. 35. 19*
218 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP'
and consequently as much safety in it now, to use the • words and JLidgmant of the wisest of mon, as they could hope for then.
What can any sons of peace then complain of here? Ordinations we have seen are an unquestionable part of the Bishop's commission alone; the manner of them is no otherwise set forth in Holy Scripture, than as prayer, and fasting and imposition of hands were the Apostolical \"ay of conferring them. All other circumstancs in them were referred to the wisdom and judgment of the ordain, ers themselves; and in our own constitution, we find ftuch provision made for each of them, that had we but first learned the most essential rules of Church. member- ship, commanded in the Gospel, tn hnr. the brotherhood, obey them who are set over us in the Loril, aid to keep the vnity of the Spirit in the bor:;! of peace, we should find little difEculty to own, that they were proper and sufficient means, if duly executed, to obtain the end for which they were designed.
I should here close this subject and chapter together, but that our learned autiior has one insinuation, in the course of this argument against t;ie modern custom of receiving tythes, which lie may t!iink, perhaps, deserves to be considered.
In quoting a passage from St. Cyp'-ian's 6Gth Epistle, he met with these words, relating to the maintenance of the Ministry f In honore sportu an'dmt fratrum, tanquam dccinias, ex frucUbus accipi ntes, which he translates thus. Tythes j'eceicln<r suhscri;>f'ot from the brethren.
And with nearer analogy to the words, and quite as
• Prov. xi. 14. t Enq, p. 86, 87.
THE PRIJIITIVE CHURCH, &C. 210
much kindnessto the Church, he might as well have ren- dered them, i'lc Cltrr'/s li,i\nj on the baske!. For some allusion there is indeed to that, but to subscriptions of the brethre:!, not the Feast, that 1 can see. The true ac- count of this phrase will occasion some digression; but it shall be as short as I can nuike it.
That the primitive Christians paid their first fruit3 to God, Origen assures us, when he says, * To whomicepay first-fruits, to him we also offer up our prayers. Irenseus farther, when speaking off the ohlul.ions of the Christian Church, we oughf, says he, lo offer to God the first fruits of his creature; even us, Moses says. Thou shalt not appear empty before the Lord thy God; and that these first-fruits, in the language of the fathers, included even tythes in them, I. might oifer Clemens Alexandrinus' authority for * it, who in one s'.iort sentence makes them both to be terma equivalent; :{: the tylhes of fruits and cattle, says he, taught piety towards God; for out of these first fruits, (which he called lylhes, you see just before) / conceive the Priests also were maintained. But Irensus needs no illustration of his sense in tliis case, who expressly says, that \\ iha
* nSc ra; a-apx^ii a-oSiSiiii-tiv, tutu Kai Ta^ ivxa; avaTrtitrjy.iv . Orig, c CgIs. E lit. Hop.schel. Ausast. Vin I. i6 5-
tEcclesisp. oll'dtio, quani Dnmimis dosuii .ifF^ni, Szr. — OfTinre igitui oportetDeo priinitias ejus creatniEe., slciit el Moyses ait, Non appare- bis vacuus ante conspectinii Domini D.^itui. Iren. I. 4. c. 34.
^ A/ osKalai tuv K-ip~\i)v kii O^tvmliav ivtijuvje ii; 6iiov — iStSaiTKor . cz ruTwv yap oT.iai Toiv a-apx'^v Kat oi hpns Su'Jj.c^'ovTn- Stiom. 1. 2, p. 397, Edit. Luiet. 1629.
P Iran. 1. 4. c . 27. Et quia Di'iiinvis niluralia legis, per qua homo
justificalur u^n dissolvii, sad PX'eu lit, se 1 fit implevit, ex serraon-
ibus eju3 ostenditur p'O eo q'.nd est, non imschaberi?, nee concu-
piscere prxcppit; et pri ei q n I est, inn occi l?s, neq; irasci-quidem; •I pro eo quod est, deciinare omnia, quae sunt patiperibus diridere;
220 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
law of paying fijthes was no more ahrogated by our Saviour^s doclririe, than those two ijrecepts in tie Decalogue, against adultery and murder, were; bJ, like them, 7nore enlarged and coTnpleted by it; insomuch tliut, as the Jews consecra- ted the tythes of their possssions to God, so Christians, says he, gave all they had to such us^s as the Lord had for it; and what uses the Lord had for it, St. Paul tells us, where he calls it * an ordinance of the Lord, that such as preach the gospel should live of the gospel, even so, as such as ministered in holy things [before] lived of the things of the temple, and such as waited at the altar were partakers with the altar. [1 Cor. ix, 13, 14.]
To apply this therefore to the case before us: Out of these first-fruil?, these holy oblations-, these tythes, and overplus of tythes thus deposited by the primitive Chris- tians in: the holy Apostles' hands at first, and in the hands of the venerable Bishops of the Church for some consid- erable time after; those faithful stewards of this conse- crated treasure iillotted a suitable proportion to each Presbyter, Deacon, and other inferior officers in the Church; and withal, to such poor brethren as stood in need of maintenance; in which distribution, every cleri- cal officer's part was called his ]' sportula, or basket of the consecrated oflerings, in allusion to that custom pre- scribed by the Jewish law, that every Israelite who dwelt remote from the temple at Jerusalem, should bring his
htBc omnia non diss ih'eiuis crant legem, sc I atlimplentis, et extondeo- tis, et dilatanlis in iioliis,
* Et propter iioc illi (sc. Ju Issi) decimas suoniin habebant consecrai» MS, qui autem peiceperuiU libfrtatein ; omnia qua; sunt ipsorum ad Do- minicpsdecernunt usus. Idem, ib, r. 34.
fCsteruin preshyterii honorem designasse nos illis jam sciati?, ut et sportulis iisdem cum presbj'teris honorentur, ei divisiones mensurnas «quaiis quaniitatibus partiantur. Cypr. Ep. 33, ad finem. Edit. Oxob.
THC PRIMITIVE CIIURCII, &C. 221
first.fruits in a basket thither; [Dent. xxvi. 2.] and ac- cordingly, the several mi. listers who received such por- tion of those halloiced ohiilions, were called the sportu. lantes fralres, by St. Cyprian here and elsewhere, that is, brethren who had their iivxialdtvince from those dedica- ted thiiigs.
How fairly, then, this manner of maintaining the priesthood in the primitive Cliurch is, without any farther note upon it, but as in an ordinary notion of the word, represented to be by the mere subscription of the brethren, I leave with the unprejudiced reader to judge.
The holy fathers, themselves, we see, own a * natural obligation to pay such tythes and oHerings to the great Author of all we possess, as the heathens did indeed, which we may see clearly set forth, in a short comment of the late venerable Bis!)op Fell, upon the close cf St. Cyprian's Treatise of the iinitij of the Church. They argued the obligation of it also, from the morality of the Mosaic law in t-iut furliciil::r. They profess that our Lord's doctrine did not dissolve, but completo that obli- gation, by enlarging thf; former bounds and measures of it.
What is wanting here then, to make the sense and practice of the primitive and modern Christians agree in this matter, unless we amusn ourselves about forms and circumstances of a duly, and overlook the thing? Little difference, as I can see, between us; but that there was no secular law then to enforce the duty upon primitive Christians, as indeed it was scarcely possible there should be, all power of tliat kind being lodged then in persecu- ting heathen hands, from whence it were absurd to look
* Dominus nauiralia legis per qiicc hojno |usiif.c<i'.ur, noii dissolvit, Xren . upou l!"Js subject , ut supia.
222 AN ORIGi:}fAL DRAUGHT OF
for it. Nor probably did any Canon of the Church so explicitly enjoin, or require it then, as they have done since; for which Mr. Selden himself has given a sufficient reason. For * it had been little to the purpose indeeil, says he, to have had. tythcs of annual increase paid, (and I may say required or demanded by the Church too) while that most bountiful devotion of good Christians con- tinued in frequent offerings, both of lands and goods, to -such large value: and this, as he observes, continued- to the end of the fourth century, [Hist, of Tythes, Cap. 4. n. 2. p. 40.] In the mean time, those primitive Chris- tians, we have seen, performed the thing itself, in as direcf, and more eminent manner, as they themselves relate il, than tlie true Church of God ever did, either before or since; and that by virtue of a natural, consci- entious, and Evangelical obligation lying upon them to do so, v/herein the very essence and reason of the duty, in the sense of modern Christians also, wholly does con- oiet. But I have stayed longer than was intended in this digression. If St. Cyprian's expression be something cleared by it, it is all I designed. I shall therefore leave this subject, and close this chcpter together, and proceed to what follows in the learned Enquiry before me.
CHAP. VI.
Hitherto we have heard the proper acts of the Clergy only; those peculiar to the Laity are considered next. He briefly mentions, 1st, the means of becoming mem- bers of the Church, and then tells us what powers and actions the Laity exerted distinctly by themselves. No
*See Seidell's Review, a,naexed to his fiist. of Tyiiies, c. 4. p. 4G?.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCH, &>C. 223
controversy need be raised about the former: That Baptism makes members of the Church, I think is agreed by all, who own any, and that it gives a right to all the peculiar privileges ofthe Church, that is, to all the spirit, ual means of grace and salvation; in such order as by divine and Apostolical institution they are administered in it, till such time as they forfeit that right by just cen- sures for their faults, I take to be equally true. But our learned author in his late clause upon this head, en- titles his Lay-members to powers and privileges of anoth- er nature. They had power, he says, to elect their Bish' ops; and in case they proved scandalous, heretical, or apostates from the faith, to depose them too. And these powers he makes so full and proper to them, that he reckons them among * the discretive and particular acts ofthe laity, insomuch that if they called in any particu- lar Bishops, or a synod of Bishops, to assist or concur with them in it, he f represents that as an act ot modesty or discretion only in them, and the power entirely their own.
Now the Laity's electing poioer I have at large consid- ered before, and refer the reader to what I have offered there. Their deposing power, so far as it is maintained here, is wholly grounded upon a single passage in the answer of St. Cyprian and his African Synod to the Cler- gy and people of Legio, Asturica, and Emerita in Spain. The case af which Churches, at that time, was this; their late Bishops, Basilides and Martialis, being notoriously convicted of idolatry, blasphemy, and other crimes ofthe highest nature, Felix and Sabinus were by a Synod of the province constituted Bishops in their stead. — The ejected Bishops secretly applied themselves to Ste-
» Enq. p. 103. t Eiiq. p. 105.
m
224 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
phen, Bishop of Rome; wlio, knowing little of the merits of the cause, or over-forward, as it is most likely, to shew some prerogative of his See,- admits them into his communion, and restores them to their Bishoprics, as far as his power would go. Upon this, they return to their respective Churches, and ckiiin a right to their Sees again. The people meet with two great difficulties in this case;
1st, Whether their old Bishops, being received now into communion with an orthodox Bishop of the Catholic Church, had not recovered, by that means, a title to their own Churches; according to the Cat olic rule, that com- munion with one Church, gave a right of communion with all. And,
2d, Whether it were warrantable for them, be their claim never so good, to commiuiicate in all holy offices with such idolatrous and iipostatc Bishops, as Basihdes and Martialis were certainly knov/n to be.
For satisfaction in thL^;c jioints, as appears by the * Epistle, wherein the present quotation lies, they write 10 a provincial Synod in Africa, wherein St. Cyprian himself presided at that time; the Synod, in answer to the first of their scruples, flatly tells them, f that all which Pope Stephen had done through the deceitful insin- uations of their deprived Bishops, could not disannul the regular and just ordination of their new ones, but that Basilides and Martialis were justly deposed, and the oth- ■ era duly ordained in their room. And if we would know
• Cyp, Ep. G7. Edit. Oxon.
\ Nee rescindcrcnrdinfUioucin jure peifectam pr.test,qiiod Basilidej; Stephanum collrgam uosmim longe potituni, et ^esire rei ac taciis t«»- itali* ignarum fereHit,ut exanibirct rcponi se inji'sic in epl'ccpatum, d« «luo fiieiit jusie deposilus; sed kifc Maitir.li potest profuis»c fallieia- Cjpr, Ep. 67.
'^'^■V Yjjj, PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 225
by what power this change was made, St. Cyprian will satisfy us; who in express terms * tells us, that Sahinus^ ordination into Basilides' Sec teas by the regular authority of a Synod of Bishops, loho met upon the place for it; and surely Felix's case must have been the same, since that was the known Catholic practice in those times and places, and both tliose new Bishops were f sent by their respective Churches, to represent their common case to the African Synod, and both recognized alike as fellow- Bishops by them all. The deposition therefore was over, and new ordinations synodically passed, before the peo- pie wrote to the African council for any advice in their case, and all declared by the council to be just and valid, and such as the Bishop of Rome could not disannul. — Vrhat a groundless imagination must it then be, to think that the Lait}' of those Churches should enquire anything of that Synod about their own deposing -or electing pow- er, when all of that kind was over in a synodical way be- fore, and that they themselves had approved of what was done? No! it is plain enough, by the whole tenor of the council's answer to thsm, that the two queries above men- tioned were the difficulties they wanted to be resolved in; and that the latter of them, relating to their joining in religious offices with those idolatrous Bishops, supposing their claim to be good, was directly referred to, and clearly answered by that very quotation, which is here so unduly applied to a deposing power. The circum-
* Quod el apufi vos factum videmu^n Sabini Collegas nostri ordina- tione, ut de universae fraternitatis si^Kgio, [and whai that suffragiuni means I have shewn before] et de Episcoporum, qui in praesentia con- ^enerant— — jndicio, episcopatus ei deferretui-, et manus ei in locum Basilidis imponeretur. Cyp. lb. ^ 3.
tLegimus literas vestras, quas ad nos per Felicem et Sabinutn Co- «piicopos nostros pro fidei vestrae integritate fecistis. lb, } 1. 20
226 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
stances they were in, explain the thing; they Imd two sorts of competitors, claiming a right of ministry amongst them, the deposed idolators, Basilides and Martialis, on the one hand, and the Orthodox synodically ojdained Felix and Sabinus on the other; neither of them of their own setting up, or putting down, but both by the synodical authority of the province. Now, which of these compet- itors they thought themselves obliged to commiinicate with, the African council told them, they had a liberty in that to choose and refuse; which is just such a power of making aad deposing Bishops, as the Israelites had in that solemn competition for the priesthood in the wilder- ness, when they separated themselves from Corah and his usurping Levites, and kept close to Aaron their lawful high-priest; and the African Synod, it is plain, thought no otherwise of it; * for they make Ih.at very comparison, in this place, and apply the quotation here insisted upon immediately to it.
And however our learned author came to strain this clear passage to so very different a sense, he himself was- ■j- conscious, we find, that at the deposing of any Bishop, a convention of Bishops was always present wherever it could be had; nay he confesses, the deposing power is directly :): ascribed to Synods by the fathers of the Church, and gives us remarkable instances of it in the cases of Paulus Samosatenus, and Privatus Bishop of Lambese, and might have added several more, even [|
* Separamiiii, inquit, a tabernaculis hominum istornm, &c. propter quotl plebs — a peccatore jirEEposito separare fc debet, nee sc ad sacri- leeii saccrdotissacrificia mifcere, quando ipsa maxime habeat potesia- tem vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes, vel indignos recusnndi. ("vpr. lb.
■t See Enq. p. 105. ;Enq. lb.
IJEuseb. Hist. Eccl. 1.7. c. 30. and Cypi . Ep. 55. i 11. Edit.
OXOD.
TIIS PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 227
where he had these. But all this synpdical solemnity, in our Enquirer's account of it, was only through the gracious condescension of the humble people, who would not, though they might and could, do all, * by virtue of their own power. This is a glorious account of the hon- orable use and great power of the sacred Synods of the primitive Church; they were to be ready at the summons of any people, who thought it needful to change their Bishop; and why? That the people's actions in it, says he, might be more authentic and unquestionable. More au- tjientic, it seems, though they themselves, he says, had full authority to do it; and less questionahle, though the African council had just before asserted, and that flatly too, (as his words are, that is, ieyond all question, I think) the people's power to depose. But farther, they allowed the Synod to examine, says he, theij' complaints and accu- sations too; and so they were commissioners, besides, to examine witnesses for them, and when that was done, they might concur, says he, in the deposition tcith them; and if they only might do so, then they might not too; as this whole hypothesis of his popular power implies it to be needless indeed. Thus the sacred Synods were to be ornaments and under officers in this great solemnity, whilst the venerable Court of Laity proceeded to depose their Bishop by their own inherent right and power, and chose another in his room : And which is stranger still, the holy fathers and historians of these times took a lib- erty to tell the world, that Bishops in their times were deposed by Synods of Bishops in the Church, for. so t^Q learned Enquirer himself immediately shews us that they did, and in the very next breath, unwarily owns also, that such a provincial Synod was f necessary in the eleq.
•See Enq. p.l05. fEr.q. p. 106,
£28 AN ORIGINAL DRArOIIT OF
tion or deposition of a Bishop, against the plain sense of all that he had said before. Such pregnant instances of the discretive and particular acts of the Laity, as our learned author undertook to prove them, were these two important privileges of deposing, and electing Bishops for themselves.
The rest of this chapter sets forth the admirable dis- cipline of the primitive Church, in leading her adult con' verts through all the stages of catechetical instruction, till she fitted them for the heavenly blessing of her holy bap- tism. A precedent! of piety and wisdom, fit for all ages to set before their eyes, in training up the younger and unexperienced members of the Church, though not directly applicable, or very rarely at least in the primi- tive and original use of it, to our own times; since most Christians are baptized in their infancy now.
And yet, if we will distinguish justly here, and I am «orry there should be need of that, between constitution itself, and personal neglects of it; between the pious laws, drders and canons, of our most holy mother the Church of England, and the too imperfect executing of them in- deed, by her sons at this day; we must own that that faith- ful parent of ours has not been wanting in making suita- ble provision for a due instruction of all the tenderest, and more undisciplined members of her communion.
Her care- for her very infant members, commences with the first hour of their entering into covenant with God. She requires duly qualified sureties, as so many spiritual guardians for them, besides what God and na- ture gives them in their Christian parents, to look to their religious education, as soon as the first seeds of reason spring up in them. She conjures these, as a charge then taken upon them, in the presence of God and his Church,
lite PIIIMITIVE CHURCH, tC. 229
to see that they be forthwith taught, as soon as they be able to learn,. the nature and importance of their baptis- mal vow, and all otjier things which *i Christian ought to know andbeheve to the saving of his soul; dismissing them with her own fervent addresses first to the throne of grace, that that infant Christian might lead the rest of its life accordincr to that beginning. And not content with this, she * enjoins every minister of hers in their respec- tive Parishes,- to attend continually on this very work; commanding them under penalty of the highest censures she can inflict, io catechise children, youth, and every ig- norant person within their Cure, upon every Lord's day, and other holy festivals throughout the year, till they become thoroughly instructed in all the articles of the Christian faith', in the duty of prayer, and all practical rules of a holy. life; and that none may want it, she lays OS strict an' obligation upon all those, to whom God, na- ture, and civil laws, have given authority over the youth and servants of their families, and even upon the young and ignorant ones themselves too, as the power of the keys allows her, to use their respective authority, and do their several parts in carrying oa this blessed work, for the good of them all; that, if possible, no soul might mis- carry, or the Church be reproached, through the igno- rance or immorality of any of her members.
Thus far she goes in the first stage of the excellent primitive discipline; and before she allows them to be per. feet communicants with her, she commands examination t© be made of the progress of these younger members of hers in this catechetical discipline, and requires all who can give a good account of it, to come and receive great- er helps of the holy Spirit, for their establishment and
« Vide Can. 59. E.r.t. A. D- 1504. 20*
23Q AN ORIGnTAt DRALGHT OF
perseverance in faith and a good life, by the sacred rite of her solemn conjirmaiion; and so gradually aditiits them into the -highest class of her blessed children, by the holy eucharist at last.
Here is some visible resemblance, an impartial eye must see, of the. incomparable discipline of the purest ages of the Churcii. Copies of this nature, we must ex- pect, will fall short of their originals; and more and more so, by distance of time. But whatever our uncharitable adversaries may say, it is a comfort to see so fair a draught of it preserved within our own national constitu- tion, to these very last and worst of tinqes. And if we looked calmly inlo things, instead ot" aggravating our resentments against personal abuses of them, we should find our holy mother the Church has suffered more re- proaches from her enemies, and from too many of her unnatural children too, both in this, and many other parts of her wise and pious constitution, than she has ever deserved of them.
But to return to the Enquiry again, which after the ex- traordinary account it has given us of the the peculiar acts and special powers of th6 Laity of the primitive Church, proceeds to treat next of the coTyw/jc^ cds of the Clergy and Laity together; wherein the general propo- sition is this, 11 That all things belonging to the Government and policy of the Church, icere performed by their joint consent and administrations. The people, on one hand, could do nothing, says he, without their Bishop, as St. Ignatius, he owns, affirms in general terms; and' seems satisfied, that in every Church it was so. But that the Bishops, on the other hand, could do nothing without their people's consent, he offers nothing more to prove it
* See Enq. p. 106.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCII, &.C. 231
here, than what I have shewn already is no proof of Catholic practice at all, and much less of Ecclesiastical law for it; and that is, St. Cyprian's private purpose again, to act in concert with his Clergy and people in the chief affairs of the Government of his Church; which, as himself explained it, and other cotemporary witnesses, I have shewn, confirmed it to us, was a voluntary con. descension of his own; and that he used their advice and information only in the causes which came before him, and owned ho other power or authority in them, or was ' any ways obliged or bound to do so much as he did in it; and more than this need not be said here, till we meet with new arguments upon this head, Which we must look for in the next chapter;
CHAP. VII.
The constitution of the primitive Church has been the general subject of all that is gone before. The discipline of it is to be considered now. It is introduced with prop- er observations of the necessity, nature and admirable advantages of it; about which there need be no dispute. For that the first Christian Church is a true Sociely, and has a government annexed to it as such; that it is a spir- jtual one, and therefore her own proper laws, orders and penalties, purely Spiritual too; that admonitions, ex- communications, suspensions, and the like, as oiir learn- ed author here observes, are peculiar acts of this Spiritual Power, is readily agreed; and all the brightest charac- ters and glorious encomiums, which from the elegant pen of St. Cyprian are here transcribed, concerning tho usefulness excellency, and necessity of this holy disoi-
233 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
pline, are no more than what are due to it;for, to use the Apostle's words, zohatsosver things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if any virtue or any praise; they all fade or flourish in proportion to the remissness of it; and may the respective trustees or stewards in the house of God, to whom any part of this important charge is committed, be ever mindful of it! Who they specially are, and in the primitive Church were ever owned to be, is the question now before us,
• Our learned Enquirer, you see, has just now told uS) that the Clergy and Laity together have a right tOjthis Ecclesiastical power, as in joint commission with one another; they were all judges, as he * here farther affirms, in the Ecclesiastical Court; insomuch that t'ley perform all things belonging to the Government and policy of the Church, Inj their joint consent and administrations
His fundamental proof of this, is taken from such in- terpretations, as he tells us some of the primitive Fa- thers made of those two eminent texts, where the power of the keys is expressly promised; namely, 3Iai. xvi. 18, 19. where they are promised to St. Peter only, byname; and Mat. xviii. 15, 16, 17, 1.8, where in general terms they seem to be given to the Church; and it is somewhat strange, that betakes no notice of a third text, where this power was more solemnly promised, and by a sacred symbol from the mouth of the blessed Jesus, assured to those persons, for whom it will appear, I think, it • was peculiarly designed. I mean, that text in St. John xx. •21, 22, 23. where our Lord breathed on those disciples, whom he then sent, as the Father had sent him, and that is surely the Apostles alone, that very mission confirm, ing the name and title to them, saying, receive the Holy
* See Enq, p. 112. } 3.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C.
23»
Ghost, whosesoever sins ye remit, they are renuUed to them., &c. But I shall not interrupt our learned Enquirer's method, on account of this omission here, but fairly state his arguments in the way he offers them to us.
This power of the keys ,as promised to St. Peter, in St. Matt, xvi. 18. 19 he confesses, upon * Origen's authority, 'truly quoted for it, the Bishops of the primi- tive Church applied to themselves; and owns also, that very ancient Father allowed it to be orthodox in those Bishops to do so, so long as they held Peter''s confession, and were such as the Church of Christ might be built upon; and that is, surely, so long as they were true and Orthodox Bish- ops of the Catholic Church. But what is more surpris- ing tO' me, f he tells us that St. Cyprian himself was of the same opinion also; and quotes that veiy passage for the proof of it, which I have elsewhere cited from that holy martyr upon much the same occasion; the Church, says St. Cyprian, X is founded upon the Bishops, by whom every Ecclesiastical action is governed. St. Cyprian then thought just the same, it seems, as Origen did in this mat- ter; that the Orthodox Bishops might justlj'- claim the power of the keys to tha'T.'^elves alone. Though others of the ancients, as the Enquiry adds here, mention this power as given to the whole Church, according to that in St. iliat. xviii. 15, &c. And how clearly that appears, we shall quickly see.
But, in the mean time, hers is a truth acknowledged now; which, if earlier owned, might have prevented a
*(jSee Enq, p. 113. and Orig. Comment, in Matth. Tom . 12. ^.^ 279. Vol. Edit. Huetii,Rothomagi, 16G8.
f Enq. p. 114.
jf. Ece'.esia super episcojios constiluatiir, et omnis actus Ecdesi». per cosdem prxposilos gubernetur, Cypr. Ep. 27. Edit. Pamel, ot Ep. 33. Edit, Oxon. ^ 1.
234 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
considerable part of this elaborate Enquiry; for what nu- merous quotations have we met with? and still shall raee^ with aiore, from the venerable St. Cyprian's works, to prove, that not only Presbyters had a ruling power inhe- rent in their orders, in respect of excommunications, ab- solutions, and such like manifest acts of the sacred power of the keys; but that the Laity also, as well as they, had ashc.re o? legislative, decretive, and judicatorial power in the consistory of the Church. And yet this very St. Cy- prian himself is now declared to have been wholly of that opinion, that the Bishops alone, by virtue of the or- igiiial grant of the keys tO' St. Peter, did in the primitive Church justly appropriate all that power to themselves. What can more directly confirm all that I have proved at large before in these several particulars? namely, that whatever part either Presbyters, Deacons, or people had in any such authoritative acts of discipline or govern, ment in his Church; it was upon one or other of these two accounts, either that St. Cyprian commissioned some amongst them, whose character and station made them the proper officers, in many cases, to execute some parts of discipline, which he authenticglly agreed to be done by virtue of the power of the keys invested in himself; or else, that he purely condescended, according to his humble purpose at the first, to take counsel, information, and advice only, from his Clergy arid people, in all im- portant acts of his administration. And if there had been more in it, he must have practised otherwise than his own opinion of these matters is hero truly owned to have been.
Thus fur, then, the joint administraiion of Clergy and people, together with their Bishop, in the government of the Church, is set aside by Origen and St. Cyprian's
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 235
interpretations of the original promise to St. Peter; as to any power the two former were entitled to by it, from wliicli promise and commission, S.B our learned Enquirer * owns, all power thai any Church Court exerted, was derived.
What is offered then to balance such evidence and authority as this? Wh}-! others of the ancients, says our- learned author, mention this power as given to the whole Church, according to that in St. Mat. xviii. 17, 18. Tell it unto the Church, hut if he neglect to hear the Church, let Mm be unto thee as a heathen arid publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall hind on earthy shall he houndin Heaven, &c. By the Church here, says he, is to he understood the whole hody of a j^articular Church, or Parish, unto which some of the Faihers attri- lute the power of the keijs. And yet it is remarkable, that neither of the two fathers he produces to prove it, aro-ue upon this text at all, but from the two others I have mentioned before; the one from the grant to St. Peter, in St. Mat. xvi. 19. the other from St- John, xx. 21, &c. But let us hear their evidence. Tertullian's, so far as the Enquirer is pleased to give it us, is i\\\s: ■\ If thou Jearcst Heaven to he shut, remember ihe Lord gave its keys to Peter, and hy him to the Church. The rest of the sen. tence is; which keys, every one who is brought to the ques^ Hon here, and confesses [Chnst,]will carry along n ith him. If our author had thought fit to give us this period entire, attdof the occasion of it too, we should have needed little
*SaeEnq. p. 113.
■f Si adhuc clausum putas creli'm, memento claves ejuchic Dnmin- a^Peiro, a pe.- eum EccLsio t^Iiquisse, quas iiic unu..quia] ; iniGrro g?.iu3 aiq; confessus feret tecum. Teitiil. .Scorpiac. p. C28. Rij^alt- Edit. Jecunda, Lutet. 1041.
^36 AN ORIGIJN^AL DRAUGHT OF
more to understand what Tertulliao meant. For in what sense do we imagine this penetrating father should say, that the keys given to Peter were thereby given to the Church, so that every martyr or counsellor in it, should carry them to Heaven with them? Was it in such a sense, do we think, as it is here required to be taken in? namely, that they should exercise an Ecclesiastical dis- cipline with them? By that construction we might as well conclude, that they were to continue such a disci- pline in the other world still. No! the plain occasion of the words will expound them clearly for us; he was argu- ing against heretics, * who held it needless for persecu- ted Christians to confess Christ on earth; it was enough, they said, to confess him hereafter in Heaven. Tertull- ian f replies, there is no coming thither, unless first ap- proved here; no occasion for such trial there, where no persecution can be; no fanciful porters, as the chimerical pagans dream, to stop a Christian's coming in. Christ had opened Heaven for every true Christian by his own entrance thither. Or if you tJdnIc that Heaven is shut still, says he, remeinher the Lord, left the keys to Peter, and by him to the Church, which every one ifho is brought to the trial here, it^iid confesses Christ, irill carry along with him. Here is a manifest advantage declared indeed to every member of the Church by the grant of the keys to St. Peter, and of such a nature, that, if they made a right use of it, would help them all to Heaven, in refer- ence no doubt, to our Saviour's words at the first delive- ry of them, that whatsoever should be bound or loosed on earth by these keys, should be bound or loosed in
• A(1»jTers.t diabolui illic coniitendum, utsuadc.it hie np'anduit/j Tert. lb. t lb. p. t>27.
THE PRIJIITIVE CHURCH, &C. 237
Heaven; which is a clear comment on Tertullian's words here, and implies, that the keys were so given to all the Churcli in general, that if they made that advantage of them which was intended for them, by duly fitting them- selves for the holy absolution appointed to be administer- ed by them, they would find that comfortable sentence ratified above; and, peradventure, the virtue of that grant should extend farther to Martyrs and Confessors, through their very confession alone, where ho more was to be had, as the common opinion of the ancients was. This comes up, I think, to the sense of TertuUian's whole peri- od, but marks out no particular persons; and much less th : whole Church, as entitled to the present power of those keys, but only that such an universal blessing ac- crued to the church by them, and to every member of it, who would fit themselves for that benefit of ihem.
Firmilian, Bishop of Cajsarea in Cappadocia, is joined with Turtullian, as anotlicr of the ancients, who under- stood this promise of the Iceijs to be made to the whole Church: This venerable fiitliei was arguing, pretty warmly indeed, against Stei)rien, Bishop of Rome, for allowing, that remission of sins could be given icithin the tojuiigogiiea cf hcrcik;;, as his own words are, that is amongst such as were out of the Catholic Church, urging those two eminent texts to prove the contrary: First, * that it u\!s Fi'Jcr alone, .to whom Christ said, ickatsoever thou shah bl.i'l in earth, skul be bound in Heaven; Matt, xvi. li*. and afterwards, it was the Apostles alone, upon whom lie breathed and gave the same power; John. xx. •-:2, 23. and therefore cncludes^ in the quotation here in-
*Qualis error sit, et quanta sit ccsciias ejus, qui remissionem pecca- torvim (licit apud synagogas hosretic iruia dari posse Apud Cypr- Ep. 75. Edit. Oxon. § 9. 21
238 AN ORIGINAL DRAVGHT OF
sisted upon, * Thai the power of for ghing sins was given to the Apostles, and to the Churches whivh they plantaf, and to the Bishops u'ho succeeded, them, hi; being ordained into their places.. Now one would be apt to ask this plain question here; why did Firmilian so distinctly say this power of the keys was given to'ihe -BisJiopr, when he had said, but just before, it wSs given to the Churchetl Were these Bishops i,o part of the Churches? Were they not included in them? or had his argument been any ways more imperfect without that special addition, who was only proving that rcmisson of sms was peculiarly and solely within the Churches, and had no need to prove more? The least I can conceive of it is this, that the keys, in his opinion, were given to the Churches in one sense, and to the Biihopsm another; elseit was rath- er tautology, than propriety of speaking, to have distin. guished the grant so. And if we mearly consider the Holy Father's period entire as it is, and observe- the a[)- plication he was to make of it there, we shall see a very different nature of grant affirmed by him; and discover plainly too, where that difference lies. 7 he j^ou-er of re- mitting sins, says he, teas given to the Apostles, and, astiie sacred text speaks, from whence he just tht.n proved it to be so, 'j" it was the Apostles alone, and that was, doubt. less without any joint comrriission to Apostles and breth- ren totrether; and then in the same breath, he tells us, that it was given to the Bishops as their successors, ly a vicarious ordination. .What was this less, than in plain terms to say, that the Bishops were ordained to enter
♦•Pote.sVas erg6 peccatorum reinittciKioium Apostolis data est, pt Ecclessis, quas illi a Chiisto missi constituPiunt, et Episiopis qui eis ctfiinatione vicaiia succcsscruiit. A'pud Cypr. Ep. 75. Eciit. Ox- on. ^9.
[■In solos Apostolos insuffl.wi'. Chrisi;i?, ilici-ns. lb.
THi: PEIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 239
upon the v^postle's title and possession of that power he was then speaking of, and to hold it in such a manner as they themselves had held it? So far, I think, Firmilian's own period explains itself. But what did the Hdly Bish- op mean, you will say, when in the intermediate comma he tells us, that the powr.r was given to the Churches lohich the Apostles consiifutedl The suhject he was upon as clearly explains this clause, as his own words did the other. He was to prove against I'ope Stephen, that Baptism without the pale of the Chiu'ch was of no force, because remission of sins was only to be had within it. .Now, having only proved, by the other two clauses of this period, that the Apostles first, and Bishops after them, were in sole and full possession of that power within the Churches. This did not undeniably prove yet, but that some one or more of those Bishops,, being either by just censure or voluntary separation, removed out of their Churches, might exercise all their Ministry still, with as good effect as before; and the remission of sins might by their means be had as \vc]\ without asiviih- in. Now, to obviate such exceptions as these, and to make his argument every way perfect, he adds this clause. That the power icas given to the Churches, that is, so peculiarly to them, and them only, that none could either validly use or exercise that power, if once they were gone out of them, or receive any fruit or ben- efit of it, but from the hands of such as were in them; and this comes up ill every point to the argument he vvas up- on, against the validity of heretical baptism. And that this construction of the whole period agrees with the sense, and language too, of this very Firmilian himself, upon a like occasion, will evidently appear; by repeat- ing only u quotation from him out of this ver'"' "
240 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
which we met with some time since in * the Enquiry now before us. f AH poiver and grace s;iys Firmihan, is con- stitutedin the Church, where K\ders preside',- who possess the power of baptizing and Inj'ng on of hands, and ordain- ing. Here all power is at large said to be in the Church, an expression every way equivalent to what we dispute of now in this very quotation, and then immediately it is added, that Elders preside there, v:ho possess the power of baptizing, laying on of hands, and- ordaining; and doubtless had Firmilian's . argument required it there, he had gone on and proved that possession of power to have been in the same Elders in respect of any other act of Government or discipline besides; for the reason had been the same, and the limitation of all power in that manner imports no less.. Now, that those presiding El- ders- were true and proper Bishops, I have proved at large before, though so much is not required here sicice it unquestionably proves these two things:
1st. That though all power was absolutely said to be ill the Church, in general terms, yet the possession of it, and that is, I think, the very power itself, was in particu- luar hands only: And,
2d, That they were presiding Elders only, and that is, in our Enquirer's own application of it above, they were clerical Presbyters at least, and consequently the Lay-brethren, in Firmilian's opinon, hadno share of it; and therefore upon the whole matter, this latter quota- tion, I conceive, does no ways prove the thing it was brought for.
• See Enq. p. 61.
t Oninis poiestas et gratia in Ecclesia constitiiia fif, ubi p;cs'u!eiu majores naii, qui et baptizaiuli et manum impoaendi et ordinaudv possident potes lalem. Ep, 75. ut supra.
1?iiE piiiMttiVE ciiuucu, icc. 241
To sum up this present argument then, Origen and St. Cyprian did unquestionably own, that true Bishops in the primitive Church appropriated the potver of the keys to themselves, and that warrantably and orthodoxly too. TertulKan and Firmilian, the two only fathers here quoted to entitle all the brethren to a joint interest in them, appear to have meant no suck thing, in those passages of their works, which this learned author had so carefully -fitted out for it; and therefore I may leave the reader to judge, from what groundless and unfair premises he has drawn this fundamental inference, upon which all that follows in this chapter depends, namely, * that the "power of the keys was so lodged both in Bish- ops and people, that each had some share in it; and as he distributes it, the lygUlative, Decretive, or Judicatorial power, was held in common between Clergy and Laity; ■find the formal Excc.iUive pQii'cr o?}/?/, consisting mere i ly in proaouitciiig serdence, or the empty ceremony of imposing hands, was allowed peculiar to the Clergy. How he has proved antiquity to agree with him in all this, you have seen already; for this general thesis of his has no othtn- of the ancients to vouch for it, ^'than what you have heard just now. Some particulars fol- low, for better security to the lay-brethren, oUheir share in this common stock of this Ecclesiastical power, which it will be expected 1 should consider in order as they lie.
1st, Then, that the Laity tcere judges and sharers with the Clergy in tJie judicial power of the Spiritual Conrf, he tells us, does most evidently appear from what he reads in f Clemens Romanus's first Epistle to the Co- rinthians. I shall briefly state the subject that holy
•See Enq. p. 1(5= + Eni. 116.
21.
242 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
father was upon, and then recite the words of this quo- tation. The Church of Corinth was fallen into a miser- able faction. * A few giddy and audacious men had stir- red up the meaner sort against their betters; a crew of vile and ignorant wretches, as the Holy Father styles them; had got a head against the men of wisdom and reputation in the Church, and were for turning out the Presbyters, f who had been duly placed over them, and had faithfully discharged their Ministry amongst them. The peaceful Clement afiectionately bewails this; exhorts the heads of those seditions to peace, humility, and Charity, with an Apostolic spirit indeed; for many pages together con- jures them to prefer the public interest before their own; and, in the end, goes so far, as to ij: recommend the great example of Moses to them, that as that meekest saint on earth had consented that his name should be blotted out of the book of God, rather than the peopb who had sinned so presumptuously against him, should be consumed by him. So he advises the unhappy authors of that fatal faction, to imitate, if possible, || this super- lative perfection, and wishes each of them, singly for himself, to make this heroic declaration in the audience of all. § If this sedition, strife, schisms, are upon the ac- count of me, I withdraw, I go whither you will, and am
*OAiya7rpo(;a)77a npovc'Jri Kai avOaSr] — i-^yipOnaav o'l a']ifiOt tin tsj 0'7(uk5, olaio^oi STTi tviolvi, o'l aijtpoym ith tsj (ppovijias. Clem . epis. ad Corinth, prima, p. 2, and p, 5, edit. Oxon. 1633.
t 'Evisf i;/j£if pclayayzTi Ka\ws iro'Xila-o^ivus CK ttj; a/xt^TrJu; avjots Tt- Jilitijitvrii Xiijapytai . lb. p. 58.
X lb. p. e8. G9.
!1 'AwiTEf 6'X>fr» t£X£idt;;7<'S. .lb.
<l E* Si tfit raffis, Kai t; is Kai, <t^ kt ■. 7c iKXk^pii, ottsi^ij a lav jSaAjjSt, Kai yroid ra Kpo^acaojiCia tiro ru ■i:\rjOn;, fiovov tu TroipiOv t3 Xpiyff itpTjvtu'Jia ftila Ttav KaOi^ajiivuv vpijli-u'Jepiav, lb.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 243
ready to do whatsoever the- to ttA^Oos, the multiiudc, the majority, thej^cojdc, English it as you please, shall order to be done; so the flock of Christ may live in peace with the Presbyters ivho are set over them. Now the rd wporair- edntvvavrb t5 irH&ag here, that is, the conditions this incensed multitude would insist upon in this case, how unreason- able soever; before they would be quiet, our learned au- thor offers to us as an act or precept of a regular power invested in them; and that all who loved peace in that Church were obliged to do what they 'thus required to be done; for he quotes these words alone, as a proof of the people's, authority in a consistorial capacity: And me- thinks, if this be so, then in the example which'the Holy Father here proposes for their imitation, it mu^ be taken for no more than an act of justice and duly in holy Mo. ses, to consent to have his name blotted out of the book of God, to save the wicked Israelites from a just punish- ment of their sin; for to me the comparison plainly seems to lie there, and to import no less. Besides, I cannot but take notice that the word ^a^Oo? in' this place is a very extraordinary term to express the laity of any Church by, in contradistinction to the Clergy of it, and much less the laity in consistorial council together, as the application of it here must imply. I am sure, it is the very same word that Clement expresses the idolatrous rebels by, in the case of Mos s's controversy with them just before; and I am apt to think it would be no hard- ship upon them to translate it a tumultuous multitude or rabble, in the circumstances we find it here, and much more agreeable to the vile and sordid character which Clement himself, you see, gave us of them just befo-re. After this evident proof , as the Enquiry calls it, from Clement's Epistle, the subject runs low, and seems to be
244 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
exhausted. For to * tell us that Origin describes a crim- inal as appearing before tiie whole Church or congregation; a-nd that Dionysius of Alexandria should say the like of j^erapion, and that no one ever took any notice of him, is such a singular way of proving, that all persons present sat with a judicial authority in the Church, as would make every individual person, even women or children, a magistrate, who in any capacity were a proper member of either sacred or civil assemblies.- The force of such arguing, if there be any force in it, has been at large considered upon sundry occasions before, especially in .the second chapter; and therefore I may lea.ve it as I find it here.
All the rest upon this head arc only quotations from St. Cyprian again, whom he f aitirms to be more full in this matter, of the judicial power of the Laity in the spir- itual court, than any he has named before. And who can help observing here?
What a paradox it is in this learned author to bring St. Cyprian's authority for a popular jurisdiction m the Church, when he had so freely owned but ± just before, that Cyprian was of Origen's opinion about i\\Q poiocr of ihe keys? Both agreeing, that primitive Bishops appropri- ated the grant of them to themselves, and icere very ortho- dox in doing so. From whence it must follow also, in the second place, that no personal condescensions in St. Cyprian's practice, upon which the Enquirer's argu- ments all along run, can amount to any proof in this matter before us, unless we will make the self-consistent martyr not to believe and act alike; which is very hard indeed.
*Enq. p.llf). tEnq. p. 116.
XEnr\ p. 114. " \
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 245
• And yet, since two or three passages in that eminent father's writings are ofFered to us, after this, with- a pecu- liar air of plausibility in them, I will fairly represent "them, before 1 leave the subject.
1st, then, we are * told of the great difficulties St. Cyprian had to win his people's consent to the absolution of some penitent schismatics; and, it is true, he had a very affectionate conflict with them in the case; but for what? Was it to gain their aiithont.a,tlve vote as fellow- judges with him, and without whose concurrence he could not do it, as is here pretended? Three or four par- ticulars in St. Cyprian's relation of it sufficiently shew the contrary. 1st, He calls it their patience in the case, v/hich he had so much trouble to persuade them to, as the Enquirer's quotation, noted in the margin, shews, which is a very extraordinary word indeed, to express an an-, ihoritatice suffrage by. 2d, In the foregoing paragraph, St. Cyprian tells Cornelius, that j the people were so much a<niinst the restoring of some of the more nrofli/fatc schi^- matics, that for fear of sccuidul, and endangering oth- ers by it, he was put to it to know who should, or should not, be admitted into the CJiurch; and further adds, :j: he
* Enq. p. 118. O si pnsses, fratcr charissLine, isthic interesse no- biscum, cum pravi isti et perversi cle schismato revertuntur, viderea quis mihi labor sit persuariere p:Uientiani fratiibus nostris, ut aiiimi dolore sopito recipiendis maliscurandisq; consentiant. Vix piebi per« suadeo, imo extoiqueo, ut tales pr-aiantur adinitti. Cypr. Ep . 55. } 17. Edit. Painel. vel. Ep, 59. E iit. Oxon.
t Not)i3 sollicite examiiuintibns qui recipi et adinitti ad Ecclosiam (lebent; quibusdam cnim ita crimina sua obsistuni, aui fiatres obsti- nate et firmiter reiiituiiiui-, ut recipi oiniiino non possunt. | nisi] cum scaiidalo et periculo inulioruiii. It. H6.
:j:Necutilis aut consultus est pastor qui ita tnorbidas et contractas oves gregi adiniscet,ut giegem totuni mali cohcereniis alilictaiione coa- taminaret. Ibid,
246 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
should be no jjrojiiable or well-advised Pastor, who should so mingle the infected sherp with the flock, as to grieve the whole fock irith a resentment of so much evil amongst them. From whence it is plain, not only, that point of scandal was the great controversy betwixt him and his people; but also, that it was a single Pastor's act and deed which might occasion or prevent that scandal; suf- ficiently intimating to us, that that single Pastor had the power of receiving or keeping out such exceptionable schismatics from the communion of the Church; and this directly spoken with reference to himself. But,
3d, And last, to make all clearer still, St. Cyprian far- ther tells Cornelius, in the same paragraph where this quotation lies, that * he had actually absolved one and an- ^ other of those schismatics through his own tenderness to them, though the -people stiffly withstood and contradicted him in it; which shews sufficiently what he knew he might have done to all the rest.
Weigh these few circumstances together, and judge if it were an authoritative comment which St. Cyprian want- ed of his people. The whole case suits his settled reso- lution indeed, of tenderness and condescension to his Diocese, but does not in the least impair the fulness of his power.
2d, We are f told again, that the clerical Presbytery, as being more at leisure than the rest, prepared matters for the court, wherein the Clergy and Laity together were to pass sentence at last. The proof is thus; Some eminent schismatics of Novatian's party, begged to be admitted to communion with Cornelius again; that holy
* Uuus atq; alius,' obnitente plibs et coniradicente, mea tamen fa- cilitate suscepii, lb. iEnq. p. 119.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCn, &C. 247
Bishop, * having been personally applied to before, and thoroughly instructed in the case, wfis pleascdto call his Presbyters together to consult about it; and when he, and. they, and five Bishops more with them, had concerted that matter there, and, as the next sentence, wherein the quotation lies, does imply, had absolutely agreed that those penitent schismatics should be admitted to commu- nion again; then says f Cornelius, what follows was, that all zvhich had been, done should be notified to the jseople. And why was it to be notified to them? Cornelius is not wanting to add the reason for it,thut they 7night sec those very persons, says he, established in the Church again, 7choni they had a long time secivas forlorn vagabonds be- fore, and had iamcntcd their condition. Judge you, if this matter had not been thoroughly agreed upon before this; and whether Cornelius would have spoken thus of the people, if he had wanted their authoritative consent to receive the criminals into his Church. And accordingly when a great concourse of the people appeared upon this notice of the matter, and universal joy and praise to God ensued upon it, with tears and' mutual embracing of the brethren, which in his language indeed, as I have :{: else, wliere evidently proved, I think, he called an ingens po- ■puU siijfragium, in the close of this relation; that was, ikeir joyful approbation of the restitution of them; and cxclusiively of any act of the people at all, he says, in
* Omni aclu a 1 me peiiaio placuit coiitrahi presbyteriiiin, adfuerunt eiiani quinq ; Episcopi.
t Quod erat consequens, cmnis hie actus populo fuerat insinuandu?, [so far the Enquiry quotes, and leaves out this] ut et ipsos videreiu in Ecclesia constitutos, quos errantes et palabun los jam diu videram et dalebant. Apud Cypr. Ej). 4i). Edit. Oxon.
|Cliap. iii. p.2-2, ?upra.
248 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT CF
the same breath, * u-e commanded Maximus the Presbyter to take his place agnin.
Now, when our learned author had thm settled, as you have seen, an equal sliare of legislative, decretive, or ju- dicial power m the Church, the next thhig was to shew the manr.er of their executing this power in the solemn acts of public discipline. To which purpose he has set before us the ordinary form of an Ecclesiasthal Consis- tory in the primitive Church; wherein, had he assigned to the several members of it their respective offices and powers, as ingeniously as he had represented the thing, we should have found indeed a general scheme of admi- rable discipline for preventing any long infection of vice or heresy in the Church of God. But one would wonder to see what strained constructions he has made of a few plain passages in Gt. Cyprian i;g:ihi, to secure to the Lai- ty of the Churches their pretended share in the adminis- tration of that discipline.
Censure, and absolution ofcriminals, are without doubt the two principal acts of Ecclesiastical discipline; and to prove, that crnxures passed by the votes and suffrages of the people, as well as of any of the Clerj^y in the Church, he tells f us, St. Cyprian writes thus: Wkocvfr was excommunicated, it was by the divine suff7-ages of the people. The original words he quotes, are in an Epistle to his people indeed; but so miserably pointed, so mis- translated and misapplied here, that, to speak the truth, I am surprised at it. St, Cyprian wrote to his people a zealous letter against the schismatical Presbyters who
• Maximuni prrsbytenitn locvim suiim n^iioscere jussimus; Caeteros cum ingenli populi sufTrni^io recpplnui.''. lb .
tEnq. pl21. SeruiKlum vcsira <iivina siiffrngia conjurati. Ep. 40. ad plebem. Eilit. Pairel. ve! Ep. 43. Edit. Oxon. ♦ 1.
THE PHIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 249
had sided with FeHcissimus; telHng them that * by God's providence they had met with the punishment they deserved; for idthout my knoidedge, says he, and beyond what I wished, and even whilst I said nothing, and excused their fault, those confederate and ivicked wretches, says he, not cast out by us, have of their own accord turned out them- selves; convicted in their own conscience, they pronounced their own sentence, according to your divine suffrages. What can be plainer here, than this, that neither St. Cyprian, nor his Clergy, nor his people, had any hand in this extraordinary excommunication? It was the schis- matics' own act and deed, by a voluntary separation, and nothing more in it. But what mean those words of the holy Bishop, you will say then, according to your di- vine suffrages? They plainly mean, as I just now said, and have proved before, what this word suffrage does al. most always signify in this holy father's language; name- ly, that those self-condemning schismatics had done what the people very ivcll approved of, and liked it should be so. What sort of translation therefore this learned author gave us of this passage, and what a groundless applica- tion he made of it, I conceive is pretty clear; and how unintelligibly it is pointed also, to countenance that appli- cation of it, the reader may see, by comparing the En- quirer's, short clause of it, with the entire transcript of the whole period, which I have joined together in the margin.'
This is all the authority offered for the people's judicial
* De Dei piovidentia, nobis nee voleiitibus, nee optantibus, imo et ignoscentibus et tacentibus, poenas quas meruerant rependeruat, ut a nobis non ejecti iiltro se ejicerent ipsi in so pro conscientia sua senten- tiam darent, secundum vestra divina suffngia, conjurati et sceleratide Ecclesia sponte se pellerent, 22
250 AX ORIGIXAL DRAUOnT OF
power in the censures of the primitive Church. But then, •2cl, To prove ihcij could loose, as well as bind, he * assures us, the penitents applied themselves to this Ecclc- siiutical Court of his for their ahsulution. For, St. Cyprian, he finds, amongst other things tells us, that the f Life and demeanor of tie penitei.t was to le locked inio, before he was absolved, and therefore concludes, it needs must be, that the penitent offender went to beg his abso- lution of the Consi'jtnri) ; and if that clause, or any con. text in the place where it is, warrants such a conclusion as that, I must own it is a way of reasoning I cannot comprehend; and therefore shall leave it to the more ju- dicious reader to make the most of it he can.
And by the same way of reasoning again, he supports all those positive and important assertions of his, relating to this matter; namely, that the joint assembly of all the Laity and Clergy in the Church had the proper right of :|: judging the sufficiency or insufficiency of a censured person's repentance; the right of || admitting him by de- grees into part, or a full -communion with the Church; the right of § continuing ofienders for a longer or shorter time in the jpenileniiary station; and lastly, a full right or power IT to assail or absolve them; insomuch that the im- position of the Bishop's and Clergy's hands upon them, was a * mere declarative act, and no more than a barren form of admitting them to the Church's peacei Now, not to trouble the readeV with a repetition of what has so largely been cleared before, concerning the use St. Cy-
*Enq. p. 130.
\ Ir.specta vita ejus qui a-^it p'oniteniiam. Cypr. Ef . 13. TAh. Pa- mel. or Ep. 17. Edit. Oxon. j 1 .
X Enq. p. 126. II lb. iEnq. page 129. ^Ib, page 130. * Enq. p. 133.
THE PKI3IITIVE CIIUKCir, &.C. 251
prian made both of liis Clerg)^ and people, as well in all causes witliin his own private Consistory, as in that emi- nent council for trial of the lapsed brethren, from whence all that is offered from him, upon these several points, is taken and misapplied again, I shall, once for all, shew how very different that holy father's judgment was from that of this learned Enquirer, in relation to all the main points he here quotes him for. And,
1st, The Enquiry * tells us. that both Clergy and Laity were all of them judges in the Ecclesiastical Court, and f that the feople as icell as the Bishops had each of them a negative voice, ij: St. Cyprian as expressly says, there is hut one judge in the Church at a time, as ChrisCs vicege- rent there.
2d, The Enquiry || tells us, the Consistory Court did § actually assoil or absolve the penitent. St. Cyprian says, Absolution loas a remission of sins effected ly the Priests, and acceptable to God.
3d, The Enquiry ^ says, that imposition of hands by the Bishops and Clcrgj/, u-as a mere formal ceremony, declarative only of an absolution parsed by the Consisto- ry. St. Cyprian says, * The hand of the Priest conduced to the purging of the conscience; and where he describes the whole course of a censured person's recovery, f if he
♦Enq. p.MO, 113. tib. p. 117.
1 Unus ill Ecclesia ad tempus sacenlos, et ad teinpus judex vice Christ;. Ep. 59 . ^ 5. Edit. Gxon.
{] Enq. p. 130.
i Remissio facta per sacerdotes apud Dominum grata est, Cypr. de l.apsis. p. 13-^ . Edit. Oxon.
t Page 133.
'■ Ante puigatam consc'.eniiani sacrificio et manii sacerdoti?, pacem put ni cfEc. — Dc Lapsis, p. 12S.
t PQeijit,ent;, -ipennt;, rogmri, potest clementer ignoscerc, (Deus) po-
252 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
repents, says he, docs good works, and prays to God for it, God can pardon such an one, and what the martyrs should request, and the Priests should do for such persons, might be accepted of him.
4th, Whereas the Enquiry * says, tliat his Ecclesiasti- cal Court was to judge of the reality of a censured per- son's repentance, and according to their will and jileasure they were to continue a longer or a shorter time in the peni- tentiary station; St. Cyprian \ says, it was the peculiar part or province of the governors of the Church (exclusive of the Lay-brethren, to be sure) to order ignorant or over- hasty penitents in that matter; for to grant them, says he,^ those things which would turn to their destruction, (that is, for those governors to permit them to be absolved before they judged they were fit for it) would he plainly to de. ceive them, and they would be rather butchers than Pastors of the sheep. ■ The office of ordering their absolutions sooner or later, and the guilt of an over-hasty absolution, is fastened, you see, upon the governors or pastors of the Church alone; where must we think then the power lay? and agreeable to this, when the martyrs were importunate to have some lapsed brethren absolved who were unqual- ified for it, St. Cyprian argues, % They could not put the Bishops upon that lohich was against the command of God. "Why, put the Bishops only upon it? How is the whole Consistory forgot in such an important act of their power
test in acceptiim referre quicquici pro talibus et petierint martyres, et feceriiU saceidotes. lb. p. 138.
* Enq. p. 126, and 129.
tPiEpositorum est, properantes vel ignoiantes instruere, ne qui ovi- um pastnres esse debeiit, lanii fiant: ea enini concetlere, qute in perni- ciem vertant, decipere est. Ep. 17. Edit. Oxnn.
\. Ut al) Epis.copi?. contra mandaium Dei fiat, auclpres esse non pos-. Sunt,
ftiE. pjKlWiTtvK cnuRcir, &.C. 253.
as this? Sure, if they had had a negative, and it had been done amiss, the guilt as well as power would have been shared amongst them, and they would not have been overlooked. But,
5th, and last St. Cyprian assures us, that his own Presbyters sent to him alone for his authoritative order^ upon the like occasion with this; for so the Forma, as the hoi)'- Bishop calls it, plainly does imply; which he imme- diately explains thus r * You desired a 'form, says he, of me, in relation to some lapsed hrethren, toko were very pressing with you to be speedily absolved; I wrote myinind very fully, I think, upon that matter, in my last letters to you; and then proceeds to tell them the contents of them, which was no less than a positive authority and order for them to act by, in absolving some, on such conditions as he there prescribed, and leaving others as they were, till public peace should be restored again.
Endless were quotations from that excellent father up- on these heads. What part he allowed the Lay-brethren of the Church in each of them, I leave the world to jud^^e from the few I have produced here, and only hope and: pray that truth will clear itself at last, on whichsoever side it lies, and be impartially embraced by all the lovers, of it.
* Significastis qiiosdam immo'leratos esse, et communicFiticnem ac- cipiendam festinanier urgere; et desiderastis in hac re forniaai a me vobis dare : Satis plene scripsisse me ad lianc rem proximis Uteris ad vos factis credo, lit qui libellum acceperunt, &c. — manu eis in pccni- tentia a vobis imposita — ciiin pace —ad Dominum remittantiir. Ep.. 19.
22*
254 AN ORIGINAL DEAUGnT Of^
CHAP. VIII.
We have heard, at large, tlie excellent discipline of the primitive Church. Our learned author makes this re- mark upon it here, that all those judicial acts ivcre exerted in and by every single Parish; which being wholly ground- ed upon his own precarious principle, that a primitive Church, or Diocese, and a modern Parish, or congrega- tion, were one and the same thing, I shall refer the reader to what I have said * before in answer to that unwar- rantable notion of Congregational Dioceses, and only con- firm the authorilie.^, then produced against it, with one sino-le instance here; which 1 take to' be a clear proof, though nothing had been said before, against that whole hypothesis, and the present observation from it.
The instance is this: f Ncpos, a Bishop in Egypt, had corrupted most of the Christians about him with the erro- neous doctrines of the Millenaries; Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, goes into that region of Egypt called Arsi- noe, where he had done tliat mischief, and, Nepos himself being lately dead, summoned in the Pre. hyters and teach- a-s of the brethren in the several v'.llages there, together with as many of the brethren as were willing to come, to Ijold a solemn conference and public disputation upon that subject; and after three days reasoning with them, happily brought them off from their mistaken opinions.
Now, who do we think, were these Frcshytcrs or.d teachers of the brel)rcn in the scrcr.d villages there, sum- moned in by the Dyo'.itjsiur, upon this occasion? And in
* Vide supra. Cap. ii.
t 'Ek Tb) Apatvourri ytvojJivoi, ivOa ir^b ttoWS tuto jTiroAa^f to ioy^a — avyKa\icaiTmTTpii6vlifiSiKaihiaaKa\>ii ran- ir toi; kw^uh aSeXipwy, -rqpo- vluv Kat Tuv /SiXofiSvwv ais\ipiiv, 5)j//o(ria rrtv t^iraaiv TToirfcaadai ri Xoy»- vpotlpt-^apiY. Euscb. Hbt. Feci. 1.7,. c. 24.
THE rniMiTivE cnrEcn, lc. 25&
wliat capacity did they exercise their Ministry in tcacli- ing the brethren committed to their care? Not as Su- preme Pastors over the several congregations of them; for Dyonysius himself, and the whole Catholic Church in that age, ever distinguished such pastors by the prop, er name and title of Bishop; and accordingly the late deceased Ncpos is '^ so styled here. If they were not village curates therefore, instituted and deputed to their respective cures there by the Bishop of tlie neighboring city of Arsinoe,"and possibly of some others in that Pro- vince too, these congregations, or religious assemblies of Ciiristians under teaching Ministers, were members of no Church at all; for, without a Bishop, all agree they could not be so; and that Dionysius, and Eusebius with him, should call Bishops by the name o? Pre&hyters and teachers of tit c brethren in villa gc" and hnmlets up and down the country, is what no modest antiquary, I verily believe will affirm. It remains therefore, that they must have been Co.'sgregatior.al pariaJics relating to some mother Church, where their Bishop resided; and conse- quently no one of them was an entire particular Church in the sense of antiquity, or could exercise judicial aets of EcciC^AatlcA discipline ivithin tkeviselvcs; {or St. Ig- natius' maxim is owned by this learned Enquirer f him- self, and by all the ancients with him, that uit'iont titc Bishop it u-as r.o' l.v.vful to do any thing.
What follows, is a just account from antiquity of the admirable harmony and mutual correspondence of every particular Church with one another in those primitive times; which was so blessed a precedent of unity indeed
* NcTTuj iTirKoroj Tuv kaT A;yu-Toi'. — Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 7. c . 24. + o^< ii<'"' T'" — dvayxalov tTtv avtv ra ctTtaKoirn prjhiv vpdcciiv. £uq. p.l7.
256 AX' ORIGINAL DHAUGirr 07
throughout the Catliolic Church, as every succeeding age, how degenerate soever, must have a veneration for, and all good men must lament the fatal breaches which uncharitable schisms have made in it since; and with a holy, though hopeless emulation, I am afraid, in these divided times of ours, must wish and pray, at least, to see such heavenly concord in the Churches upon earth again. Yet, however irrecoverable so great a blessing may seem to be, let every disciple of the peaceful Jesus so far contribute to it still, as to ask his ovvn heart, with all the strictness and sincerity he possibly can, what oc- casion he, in particular, has given for so miserable a change; by which means he may happily find a way to acquit himself, at least, which would do no small com- fort to him, though, for the present, he has but little far- ther hopes in view.
The rest of this Chapter treats of intercourse and go- vernment of the primitive Churches by Synodical as- semblies; the proper members of which assemblies, the Enquirer tells us, were * Bishops, Prcshjters, Deacons, and deputed Laymen, in behalf of the people of their re- spective Churches. Though a little after, he f says again, that Firmilian's yearly synods were rather mere clerical convocations ; iXXidconsisieA of Bishops and Pres- bytcrs only However, to prove that all those orders of men were members of a primitive synod, he produces two passages from Eusebius, which make it not unlikely that some of each of them might be present at the coui>. cils he there refers to. And,
1st, In the great council of Antioch, which condemned Paulus Samosatcnus, there were present, * says he, Bish-
* Enq. p. 143. 1 Ibid. p. 148. • tE>"l- P- 113. Ek. Epist. Syii)!.* Ap 1 1 Ejsub. 1. 7. c. 3J.
THE PEIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 257
ops, Presbyters, Deacons and the Churches of God^ by their lay. representatives, as he explains it, because, in the synodical Epistles which the fathers of that council sent to the Christian Churches abroad, after the council was over, they sent the joint salutation of all of them, to. gether with their own. And,
2d, * when the heresy of the Montanists was fixed and preached, thefaithful in Asia, says an anonymous author in Eusehius, met together several times to examine it; and, upon examination, condemned it.
The argument from the former of these authorities is plainly no more than this. There were, probably, pre- sent in that council of Antioch, some of all those orders of men; therefore they were all there as proper members of the council.
Now, to be really present in any court or council, and to have a right of membership and session there, are, doubtless, very different things. And, to judge aright where this difference lies in the present case before us,. let these few particulars be considered.
1st, That Bishops were so absolutely necessary and essential members of the primitive councils, that a conven- tion of Bishops arid a primitive council, in the familiar language of the ancients were convertible terms. And this our learned Enquirer is very sensible of, who j- tells us, from Eusebius, that Polycaries presided over a synod of Bishops, which was no other than the great council of ^Asia assembled about the controversy of keeping Easier. And, in :j: another place he says, Privatus, Bishop of Lanibcse, was deposed by a synod of ninety'
* Enq. lb.
tEnn- p. 145. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 5. c. 23. 2.4.
JEnq. p. 105.
258 AX ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
Bishops. In both wliich places, it is manifest, a conven- tion, or synod of Bishops, and a primitive council, were one and the same thing; and it wove endless to produce instances of this kind. The ancients, tlicrefore, bear sufficient v»"itoess, that Bishops were necessary, at least, ifnot the only mefnbers of a primitive council. Whereas,
2d, No passage in antiquity, I have ever heard of, af- firms so much, in either respect, cither of Presbyters, Deacons, or people, how often soever we may !licar of them, as being present at them; nor do I tliink our dili- gent Enquirer could have overlooked it, had there been ■any such passage to be found; and sure it is, he olFersno such thing.
This express evidence, therefore, of antiquity on the one side, and entire silence on the other, gives a fuir oc- casion to distinguish who were necessarily present, and, W'ho occasionally, or prudentially called thither; especi- ■ ally, if wc consider in the third and last place,
3d, That whosoever were present in any primitive council, the whole right of vote, or suffrage, in passing any acts or canons there, was peculiar to the Bishops nlone. "And this our learned En-julrer has made clear to my hand in one of the most eminent instances, which the Avritings of the ancients can aTord us. For in the * page just referred to, he tells us, the ojtcc and duty of a Moderator in a synod icas, amongst other things, to talc the votes and snjf'ra^cs of the members of the synod; and hi^t of all, to give his o'rn; a.i is ci'idcnt, says he, in the fiTocecdings of the council of Carthage, rrldch ore extant (it the end of St. Cyprian'' s vorls. Cipriaa Icirg mod- erator, sums up all, telling the synod what they had heard; and that nothing more remained to be d^ne. lu' the dc- * Znq. p. I !:..
THE PKnilTIVE ClU'PXn, &c.
259
earatlon of ihdr judgment thereupon. Accordinghj the Bishops gavo their rcs'pechve votes and dcc:sloii^-, and laU of all, Cyprian, as President gave ia his. In this account you find,
1st, That St. Cyprian, as moderator, took the votes and suffrages of the members of that council; and if St. Cyprian's own authority may be taken, they were Bish- ops onhj, whose votes and suffrages he took there; and therefore Bishops onhj, in the Enquirer's account, were members of it. The proceedings of the council, at the end of St. Cyprian's works, which this author appeals to, manifestly prove as much. * At the opening of the council, we find there, some few learned letters were read, containing the full sense and substance of the con- troversy they met about, as any one who pleases to pe- ruse them will quickly see. As soon as those letters were read, St. Cyprian, the moderator, addresses to his fellow Bishops to this effect: You have heard, my beloved col. leagues, says he, what has been written on one side and the° other. And now what remains, is only this; that each of us, the Bishops here present, for so the context obhges us to read, do give in cur respective votes and suffrages, or declare our opinions in the case, which ac Gordin'^'^ly the Bishops there present immediately did, be- incr in number 87; and their suffrages alone, so obtained an^d given, as I have shewn you now, are recorded by St. Cyprian himself, as the whole of that ccuncil. And what room is left here, for any order of men, there pre.
tCum ia unum cotnenissent, et lecta3 essent literal, Cyprianus
riixil- audistis, college dilectissin.i, quid rx^ihi Jubaianus Co-Ep.sco-
• pusnoster scripserit, et quid ego ei rescripserin.-'.ect^^ sunt vob.s et
ali. Jubaiani Hterx— superest, ut dc hac re singuh qu.d se««a<
„.us, proferamus. Cypr. i« Exorrt. Con.. CariUag. A. D. .56.
260 AX oeigixal draught of
sent, to have any part or interest in it, besides the Bish. ops onlyl
Nor does our Enquirer's own representation of it im- ply less than this. St. Cyprian, says he, in summing up all, told the synod what they had heard, and called upon them, that is, upon ihQ synod again, to declare their judg. ment; and how did this synod, which were surely all the members of it, declare their judgement in the case? Why, the Bishops accordingly, says he, gave their respective votes and decisions, and last of all , Cyprian gave in his. Can any thing be clearer, than that the Bishops alone are owned in this account to be the whole Synod, to whom alone their President applied himsef for votes, and that no others gave in any?
And if this eminent council, which 1 may justly call the brightest precedent of primitive synods, within the times prescribed by the Enquiry, had Presbyters, Dea- cons, and a great part of the people present at it, and yet the Bishops only were addressed to under the name and title of the synod, had the sole right of suffrage, and de- termined all there; what would our learned author gath- er more from * Eusebius's account of the council at An- tiochjWhich condemned Paulus Samosatenus, supposing that historian had plainly said, that all those orders of men were present there also, both at the time of debate, and when the sentence passed too? Why should we think they proceeded otherwise there, than the practice of synods in those times appears to have been, by the ev- ident example of St. Cyprian's council now mentioned? The reason of the thing itself must incline us to believe they did, and no particular reason is offered to make us
* Eufeb. H. E. 1. 7. c. 30.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &;C. 261
think otherwise. Though, after all, the quotation from Eusebius, wherein the Churches in general terms, as well as Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons, are named, is no part of any Synodical act, or so much as of a debate in that council, but barely a part of the formal salutation in the Synodical Epistle sent by the Fathers of the coun- cil to the Catholic Churches abroad, after the council was over; and * the Enquiry quotes it as such, wherein those venerable prelates, who, in the sense of antiquity were the proper f representatives of the Churches they presided in, sent the salutation of their respective Church- es to the sister Churches in a;ll other parts, together wtth their ovn. By which the historian himself so little un- derstood them, or any lay-representatives of theirs, to •be proper members of that council, that when he speaks expressly of the first meeting of it, it was a convention of Bishops, as he tells us, who assembled at Antioch, to suppress thai open enemy of tlie Church; and no other order of men does he make mention of, as belonging" to that council. His words are these. :[: Dionysius, Bishop -of Alexandria, by reason of his old age, sent his suffrage by a letter to them; but the rest of the Pastors of the Church, es, that is plainly such as Dionysius was, |] came together Vierefrom every quarter to oppose that destructive ravager of the flock of Christ; and when he mentions the last ses- sion wherein Paulus was actually condemned, he calls it
* Enq. p. 143.
t Ecclesia in Episcopo. Cj'pr. Ep. 6G. } penult.
J'O KaT AXt^dvociav Atovvutoi ytjpas ailiaaajtevoi — &] tm?o\^; rrtv m"], yvwurjv wapas-Jjo-af. 0/ ^£ \omoi toiv ikkXyjciuiv IIot/^EWf aXAof aWoBcv us ■xuKviilwva Tt]i TH Xpis-S ^oinvrjs (rvvUaav. Euseb. Eccl. Hist . ]. 7. c, 27.
n TiXivraiai <rvyKpo'}jiO(ia>tS rXstovwi' Haiav tvioKinuv ^vvoSii KaJar*<a&Hi TJJ5 Ka9o\iK^i (KK\r]das iKKripvT'JiTai -lb, cap. 29,
23
262 A?J ORIGIA'AL DRAUGHT OP
a synod of innumerahle Bishops, which met there, and cast him out of the Catholic Church. This Avas Eusebius's Anti- ochian council, which deposed Paulus, and no others mentioned to concur with them in it.
The other authority from the same historian will soon appear to be much the same with this. The faithful in Asia, says an anonymous author cited * there, met togetJu er to examine and condemn the growing errors of the Mon- ianists. Now the [^oi ttho)] or \\\e faithful here mentioned, rtiust not be understood, I conceive, in xXxa pcc^diar and appropriated notion of them in the primitive Church, by whicli they signified only f the highest station of the Christian Laity, admitted to all the mysteries of it; for then those Asiatic Synods would haye had neither Bishops, Priests, nor Deacons in them, which I presume is not pretended; they must be taken therefore in the more gen- eral sense, for true and Orthodox lelievers: in opposition to Infidels on the one hand, as our blessed Lord uses that distinction, Jo. xx. 27. and of heretics on the other, as the 'distinction between the Montanists and them, and re- quire them to be understood indeed in this present quo- tation; and then what sort of evidence is given here; to prove that this or the other order of Christians acted with synodical right and authority in those assemblies; or in- deed to prove what particular orders of them were present there, by telling us only, that true and Orthodox Chris- tians met together to examuie and condemn the heresies of the Montanists? Which is all that anonymous author says of it.
To strengthen these authorities from Euscbius, we are
• EusRb. H. E. 1. 5. c. IG.
i See Dr. Cave's prim. Christian, Part. 1. c. 9. p. 219. Edit. 3. inSvo. 1C76.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &:C, 263
* put in mind again of that eminent counciJ, which St. Cyprian so often promised to call, as soon as the Church's peace was restored, about the case of the lapsed] assur- ing his people again and again, f that Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, and the standing laity should all be present at it; and farther, that the Martyrs, Confessors, and whole body of the Clergy of Rome highly approved of such a general Convention upon that occasion. And why such careful and repeated assurances, one would be apt to say, of calling all those orders of men to that particular council, if all of them had a right of sessiofi in every council, of course? Or why such signal notice taken of the Roman Martyrs? Confessors, and whole Clergy's approving so much this wise proposition of the venerable Bishop of Carthage up- tm that occasion, if he could not hold a synod without them? These very circumstances would incline a man to think, that all those orders of Christians were not the ordinary and necessary members of every Ecclesiastical synod; but that something extraordinary made it advisa- ble to have them present then; and that St. Cyprian himself assigned such a peculiar reason for it, is observ- able wherever he made mention of it; and because the Clergy of Rome, whose authority is here quoted, not only confirm, but farther explain that reason of his, I shall briefly shew you their declared opinion of it, as being one and the same with his.
They approved St. Cyprian's whole scheme, as they j: tell him of that great council, in so momentous a case, upon account of a double advantage of it.
* Enq. p. 143. t Ibid. p. 144.
:|:Qaam(niam nobis in lam ingenti negotio placedt, quod et tu ipse
traciasli prius peiqiiam enim nobis et invidiosum et onerosura
yidatur, non per raultosexaminare, qiioJ per multos commissum vide-
2fi4 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
1st. Because if seemed a hai-d matter to them, how so great a number nf persons, as were likely to appear crim- inals in that case, coidd duly he examined, without a great number assisting in it. And,
2nd. That it would be an inridlou'i thing in their opin- ion aho, for any one single licrson to pass his sentence upon criminals in so universal a cause as that was, where- in the whole world, ina manner, tvas concerned as well as himself; and that swh a private decree, without the con- currence ofwMre iDiin, him, would scarcely be thought au- thentic enough in so very public a concern.
in which declaration these particulars seem clear.
1st. That the Roman Clergy conceived, St. Cyprian must either try the lapsed brethren of his Diocese, by a private consistory of his own, or else in a public council convened for that purpose.
2d. That if he had tried them i\\e. former loay, then he himself had been the one only judge in the case; for what other sense can be made of their unutn sententiani dicere, here urged as an invidious thing, in case he had not call- ed a council for it? where I desire the reader to take no- tice, by the way, how plainly these Roman Clergy place the whole judicial power of a Diocesan consistory in a single person, that is, in the Bishop alone.
But thirdly and lastly, They therefore approved his whole design of calling so numerous a council, both of his own Clergy and people at home, and of as many
atur; etunum sententiani diceie, ciim tani' grande Crimea per multoij fliffusum notctur exlsse; quoniam nee firnium decreium potest esse, quDd non plurimorum videbitur habuisse consensum; aspice totum op- hem pane vastatum — et idcirco tarn grande expeti concilium qiiam late propagatum. videtur esse delictum. Cypr. Ep. 30. } 6. Edit. Oxoa.
THE PRIMITIVE CHtTRCH, &C. 265
Bishops as could be got from abroad; because, not only the examination of so many criminals would be managed with greater ease and less envy, if all the brethren were present, and assisted the Bishops in it, (which plainly shews they argued upon no right belonging to them there,) buthkewise the decree and censure, which should pass upon the offenders at last, would be more firm and satisfactory to the whole Christian world, who had so great an interest in it; because it would not be the decree or sentence of one only Bishop then, as it must have been in the pother case, but would have the consent of many, that is, of many such as that one was; for the word plurimormn m the latter clause, is set in plain op- position to the unum in the former. By which it appears, what an entiie synodical right and power this Roman Clergy attributes to the Bishops in that council, and what an occasional and prudential reason they assign for so many others being present there also; which agrees with St. Cyprian's own account of the same council; who, as often as he wrote about the vast number of the lapsed, the importance of that case, and the public inter- est of all the Churches in it, assured his people and all his correspondents, that every order of the Church should be present at the solemn trial of those lapsed brethren. But when he acquainted Jubaianus, how that trial was carried on, he expresses himself only thus: ' A numerous assembly of \xs Bishops, says he, met after the persecution was over, and such moderate decrees we passed there; and if such a number of Bishops in Africa, as he farther ro-
• Persecutione resopita in unum convenimus copiosus et Episcopo- rom numerous, et temperaraentum libravimus. Cypr. E'p, 55. f 3. E lii. Oxon.
23*
266 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT Of
late the matter, * may not seem to be sufficient, placing the sufficiency of the council, you see, in the number of the Bishops there, loe wrote also to Cornelius of Rome, 7oho, holding a council with many of his felloio Bishops, fully agreed with us. The councils therefore, as such> are familiarly styled a pure convention of Bishops only, in St Cyprian's language; as we saw they were in that of the accurate Eusebius also. Though the learned En- quirer has been as careful to conceal this, as his own au- ihors are clear in it. For quoting: many canons from St. Cyprian's works here, he barely tells us, that such and such things were declared in synods; and nolwith- standingSt. Cyprian is as clear in telling us, they were synods of Bishops who decided them, as that they were decreed at all; yet in no one canoh which he quotes in this place, was he willing we should hear that. As for instance, St. Cyprian, in his first Ep. Edit. Oxon. tells us, f it was long since decreed in a council of Bishops, that no Clergyman should be trustee of any man^s will. The Enquirer had occasion to cite this canon, but only f tells us \slatutum sit] it was' so decreed, though [in Concilio Episcojforum] in a council of Bishops, be part of the same comma; and there are four canons more, quoted in the same page, which I do not say the learned Enquirer had any necessity to tell us what sort of synods they were made by, but he must be sensible himself, by perusing '
* Ac si minus sufiiciens'Episcoporuni in Africa numeious videbatur, etiam Roman super hac resciipsimr.s ad Coiiieliiun — qui ipse cum
plurimis Co-episcopis liabilo concillio conseiisit. Cypr. Ep. 55.
f, 4. Edit. 0x011.
+ Cum jampridem in Concilio Episcoporum slatutum sit Cypr. Ep. 1. Ed. Oxon. Fame). Ep. G6. J See Enq. p. 14!>.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 267
the several places from whence he cites them, that in St. Cyprian's account they were synods of Bishops only, who made them; and therefore I chiefly take notice of them for a further confirmation of that Holy Father's sense of the synods in his time.
That Presbyters, more or less in number, were gener- ally present with their Bishops in those provincial synods, is not to be doubted; that they should all of right be there, we may be sure the necessities of the Churches could not admit of; and that there were any stated representatives assigned for them, by the usuage or appointment of the Church, as necessary members of a synod, we find no evidence in antiquity for it. And lastly, that they had no right of suffrage in passing any canons or censures when they sat there, I think is manifest by what is said before. All which particulars considered, seem to point out this determination for us, that they came to councils, in those primitive times, according as each Bishop, of the several dioceses in the province chose out some one or more of them to be proper counsellors and assistants to them, in such synodical debates and consultations as should come before them; whose judicious opinions were of eminent advantage and considerable weight, (no doubt of it,) with the venerable Fathers themselves, who alone sat as necessary members, proper judges, and sole le- gislators there.
As to the people's part or interest in all primitive coun- cils, because we read they were present in some, I shall only observe,
1st, That their being present only in some, and not in all, is a fair argument against their right of session in any, for right and claim are seldom wanting to them- selves, and popular rights the least of any. Yet how
S68 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OT
often we hear nothing of them amongst the many Synoda we meet with in antiquity, their greatest advocates must be very well aware of. And,
2d, Where we hear the most of them, there are spe cial reasons given for the particular occasions of their be ing there, and such as Httle related to the essence or con stitution of the council itself; for such, we find, St. Cy prian and the Roman Clergy gave for the standing Lai ty^s coming to that extraordinary council, where their lapsed brethren were to be tried. And,
3d, Though this learned author has produced two or three instances where Lay-hrethren were present in the primitive councils, and we have seen what sort of instan- ces they were, yet in his general account of them, which is more material by far, you may remember he told us from the great authority of Firmilian, that the eastern Synods of those times consisted of * Bishops and Presby. iers, who met every year to dispose those things which were committed to their charge; and can we think that excellent father could be so defective in his account of St. Cyprian, or so injurious to all the Laity of those Churches, as to give no intimation in the least of their meeting with the rest; if either personally, or by representatives, they were members of those Synods, as well as any of the others who met there?
To close this point then, since we neither meet with the name nor notion of Lay-representatives in any Synod of the primitive Church; nor any foot-steps of a claim of right, pretended by the pzople, to sit and act in the councils of those times; nor so much as a smgle father bearing witness to any such right invested in them; but barely read, that in some particular councils, Lay-breth-
• See Esq . p. 148.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 269
ren were present, which is accounted for above, and in the most we read of, they are not so much as mentioned at all; and no where affirmed, that they either came or acted in a true synodical capacity there. Since antiquity, I say, goes no farther than this, I must take leave to dif- fer from this learned Enquirer here, who has * placed svch members in the provincial Synods of those times, as the Synods themselves no where owned for proper mem- bers of their body, under this modern title of deputed Laymen,, in behalf of the people of their respective Churches.
There are other circumstances, relating to these prim- itive Synods, wherein this learned author and other anti- quaries do not agree; but they are less material, and may the sooner be dismissed.
And 1st, As to the extent or first division of Ecclesi- astical provinces, he f concludes that depended wholly upon the mere conveniences, or accidental circumstances of the Churches they consisted of; whereas approved an- tiquaries assign a more regular origin of them. The judicious Du Pin's opinion is, that % after the Apostles' de- cease, the Christian Church did of course, as from the
* See Enquiry, p. 143. tEnq. p. l4l.
^ Du Pin speaking of the civil distribution of the Roman Empire, Simile aliquid |^inquit] in rebus Eeclesiasticis secere Christian!, et sive cum oidinandus aut deponendus erat episcopus, sive cum aljqua divisio ciat in Ecclesia, &:c, cum jam non aniplius superessent Apostoli, per quos hajc antea componebantur, urbis nieiropoleos episcopum adire par fuit, idq; paulatim per consuetudinem invaluit, ac tota Ecclesiarum distribulio ad formam imperii facta est, urbesq; metropoles, metrnpoles quoque fuerunt Ecclesia;, et illaium episcopus super universam provin- ciam Dotestatem habuit — tum ad ordinandos, &c. tum ad componetv- da Ecclesiarum dissidia, turn ad convocandas synodos. Du Pin Dis- sert. Ecclesia prima de Antiq. Eccl.Discipl, } 7,.
270
AN OEIGIKAL DRAUGHT OF
reason of the thing, tvpply themselrcs to the Bishop of the metropolis, or chief city in that province of the empire, wherein they first were founded, in cuse any Bishop .were to be ordained or deposed, or any controversy arose amongst them; who called together the Bishojys of the same (civil) province, and jointly managed all those Ec- clesiastical affairs -which the Apostles themselves had done in their life-time; by which means, the distribution of Churches, though not by Canon, yet by general custom, was quickly mrnleled after the form of the empire itself. The learned Doctor * Hammond proceeds farther, and with great evidence of reason shews, that the- Apostles themselves invested those Bishops of the chief cities with a right of regulating the common discipline of all the Churches within the peculiar provinces adjoining to their •Sees. But whatsoever occasion we assign for it, the matter of fact, I think, wants no other evidence, besides the sixth Canon of the first Nicene council, which ex- pressly calls such a peculiar pre-eminence of many chief Churches in several provinces of the empire, by the name ■oi Kpxaia'iQr,'\ ov customs of an ancient standing in the Church; and then cunonically decreed them to continue so still. These Bishops then of the more eminent cities, as Du Pin, you see, observes, did likewise call councils, and preside in them too, long before the first general council ordered any thing synodically about it; to which the accurate Valesius agrees, in his notes upon Euseb.
*" See Hammond of Schism, p. 4:2. to. p. 51. in 8vo. Edit. Lond. 1654.
t Ta apxaia Wr/ KpaJ-iJo), ra (v Atyv-lta Kai AtBvr] Kai Tliv'JaTToXit, wcTTip Tov IV A.Xi^avSf>eta CTricKOirov -avjijiv Tsliav fx^'M ^l^"'""'} tTHiit] km to) IV Tij Viijiri nncKOTiii) t5t» avvriOis i^iv' opoiois 6i Kai Ka]a rrjv Kv"] lOXii-O-v k£h ivTais aWati e-apxtais TairpeaGita oui^iadai rais e/cxX ijcriaij. Conc. Nic . Can. 6.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 27 1
Eccl. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 23. Where, the historian speak. ing of Theophilus Bishop of Csesarea's presidingthe ui council of Palestine, he observes upon it, that * theBisL op of Csesarea both before and long after the first council of Nice, had- the dignity of a metropolitan, so that he pre- sided in all the Churches of Palestine, as Bishop of the first See; and where it was otherwise, as in Africa it often was, there the same privilege devolved of course upon the eldest Bishop of the province, as the same Vale- sius observes upon f Palma's presiding in the Synod of Pontus, hecause the eldest Bishop there.
So that our Enquirer's notion of primitive Synods % assembling themselves together by their oion authority and appointment, if he mean so much by it,, ihat every order of Christians in his mixed councils of Laity and Clergy concerted that matter together, and by a joint authority determined, that a council should be called, as his ac count of it would imply; this is very different, you see, from the sense of other antiquaries, who place that pre- rogative of calling councils in some peculiar chief Bishop in each province of the primitive Church, from the very time of the Apostles' decease, as they also do their right of presiding there when they met; so that there sisems to have been no such great concern again at the opening of a council about finding out some grave and renowned
* Caesariensis ppiscopus ante Conctlium Niecenum, et diu postea, me- tropolitani honoiem ac dignitatem semper obiinifit, ita ut omnibus Pa lestinae conciliis prcesirieiet tanquam primje sedisepiscopus. Vales, in loc.
t Palmam prajsedisse ait ob antiquitaiis prferogaiivam . Simplicis- sima sessionis fuil ratio, ut aiitiquissimus episcopus caeterisprassideret. Vales lb
\ See also Du Pin in his 9th } of the fore-cited first Hist. Dissert.
272 AN ORIGINAL DRArCHT OF
Bishop, one or more, to moderate for them, as our learn- ed author * conceives, since the person, to whom, Oj. common custom, that belonged, was known to them a\\ before-hand. And if the observation be made of the Bish. ops presiding in the several councils of the three first centuries, which either fathers or historians give us any account of, I presume it would appear, that these learned antiquaries' remarks upon them were just and true.
What is farther said of provincial Synods, that they ordinarily met once a year, at least, and oftentimes more than so; that their Canons were binding to the several Churches of the province whereof they did consist, and to none but them, unless otherwise confiitned; and, lastly, that the general end and use of them was for the regulation and management of all Ecclesiastical affairs within their respective jurisdictions, needs no dispute about it, and therefore I shall close this subject and this chapter here.
CHAP. IX.
Having seen what sort of enquiry has been made into the constitution and discipline of the primitive Church, I leave it to the reader to judge, how impartially the learned author of it has represented them.
He proceeds, next, to consider the unity of the Church, in order to clear up the sense of antiquity in that impor- tant point of schism, which is rightly defined here, a breach of that unity.
This enquiry might be short; but, as the case is stated to us, we have three or four sorts of unities to enquire
• Enq p. 144.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 273
into, instead of one; for Church unity, says he, is to be differently understood according to the different accepta- tions of the icord Church; that is, (as he explains hirr.. self) there is one sort of unity pecidiar to the Catholic or Universal Church ; '^ another to a Church collective ;\ a third, we may say, to a provincial Church, for he f (listinguisheth them also ; and lastly, a fourth Jdnd of vnity belonging to a \\ particular Diocesan or Parochial Church, which terms, you may remember, are all along equivalent in this Enquiry^
These are offered to us for primitive notions of Church unity, though not a single instance given of any of the ancients who so diversified it; nor do I think all the re cords of the primitive times could afford him one. Unity or sckicm, upon whatsoever occasions the ancients speak of them, are represented in uniform terms, and every where alike; a Parochial, a Diocesan, a provincial, a total or a partial schismatic, is very foreign language from any v;e meet" with in the fathers of the primitive Church; and consequently such sorts o^nnify are so tec.
However, I will consider this ingenious author's singu- lar speculations; not doubting but they will all centre in the one, true, and individual unity at last.
He begins with the unity of the Church Universal; which, negatively considered, says he, did not consist in an uniformity of rites or customs.
This proposition is so far true, that the Catholic Church did not enjoin particular rites and customs to all particular Churches; nor, on the other hand, did particular Church- es impose their own rites and customs upon one another; and, therefore, 1 see no reason why the unity of the
*Enq. p. 154. tib. p. 160. $Pag€ 160, llPage 162. 24
274 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
Catholic Church, and that of particular Churches, should be distinguished upon this negative account. In the mean time, each particular Church might lawfully impose in- different rites and customs upon her own members; as this learned author * elsewhere owns; and if they could lawfully impose them, then they might lawfully censure such as would not comply with them; for contumacy, or opposition to the lawful orders of their own Church, was a just cauie of censure in St. Cyprian's opinion, and the Enquiry f quotes him for it. Now to such as were just- ly censured by their own Church, the laws of the Catholic Church, we know, denied communion in any part of her. So that a contentious member of any particular Church miwht find himself wholly cast out from the Catholic Church, though it were for mere non-conformity to in- different rites and customs in his own; and therefore this indefinite negative, I think, does not hold good, that the unity of the Catholic Church did in no wise consist in an -uniformity of rites and customs, since it was liable to be lost for want of it. But,
2d, Neither did it consist, says he, in an nnanimity of consent to non-essential points of Christianity.
To wave the undefined term of non-essentials, I may justly say of this, what I said of the former; though the Catholic Church enjoined them not, yet where any of them were decided one way or the other, and enjoined to be received either by authority of a particular or provincial Church; if any member of such Church or Churches should break communion, and be censured on account of them, the Catholic Church would no more receive such a censured person, than she would the former, I will put
•See Enq. Part 2. p. 1G3. tEnq. p. 121.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 275
the case in that very instance which the Enquirer * gives us of non-essential points. St. Cyprian, and the African Bishops of his province, decreed that heretical baptism should not be valid amongst them; this decree was binding to the whole province, as the Enquirer owns, where hef speaks of the obligation of provincial Canons in general; and if binding, then such as would act contrary to it, were justly liable to censure; and would the CathoHc Church, do we think, receive into communion any such member, which either St. Cyprian, or any Bishop in his province, should have censured for. not observing that decree of theirs, though the point itself is here acknow- ledged to be non-essential? By the laws of the Catholic Church, we know they could not. So that the general negative seems not to hold in this particular neither.
But let us see the learned Enquirer's special authority, in this case of non-essentials. Justin Martyr, ij: says he, would receive the Jewish converts, who adhered to the Mo- saical rites, into Church-fellowship and communion with him, if they did it only through weakness, and did not per- suade others to it; therefore every one was left to believe in those lesser non-essential matters, says he, as God should inform them. Now, if every one were so left to God and themselves, then why not the Gentile converts as well as the Jews in this particular instance? And yet St. Paul |] tells them, if they should he circumcised, Christ would profit them nothing. Nor did Justin himself allow them that liberty. The observation of the Mosaical rites there- fore was, either not thought a non-essential point, and then it is unduly quoted for an instance of it here, or else the Church did not allow that every one should believe in
*Enq. p. 156. hEnq.p. 146. jE.^q. p. 155. II Gal. V. 3.
2T8 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
those matters as they thought fit, or, if it pleases better as God should inform them. So that this instance so little, proves the proposition it was brought for, that it rather proves the contrary; besides, most men are sensible, I believe, that Justin Martyr in that * early age, and f peculiar country he lived in, was not swayed by his own private judgment in that extraordinary case, but had a fair plea of the opinion and practice of the highest au- thority in the Church for what he did, which I take to be the only true warrant indeed for concluding any difficult point to be non-essential; for if every one might do it for himself, it is scarce conceivable how the Church of God should secure the fundamentals themselves, which are committed to their trust.
How little then the two negative definitions of Catholic unity distinguish it from any particular kind besides, ap- pears by what has been said. The inference drawn from the former is this, X Whosoever imposed on particular Churches the observance of their peculiar rites and customSy were esteemed not as preservers and maintainers, but as violators, and breakers of the Church's unity and concord; for so Victor of Rome was, says he, for exacting of the Eastern Churches to keep Easter as they did in the West.
This inference seems carefully' calculated for the au- thor's own singular notion of a primitive Particular Church; and not so much to inform us, (what his example shews) that a Church in the West could not impose cus- toms on a Church in the East, which none would dispute with him as that no Bishop of any Church whatsoever, from East to West, could impose their rites and customs
* K-no^oXm Uadvlm. Ep . ad Diognet. prope finem. t Aio ifXasiaj vs as rroXEwj T17J 2upta5, Tfjs naXai5-i»7!s. Apol. sec unda adinit. t §«« Enq. p. 156.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUBCH, &.C. 277
on more congregations than one, because every congre- gation, in his opinion, was a particular Church, and al- ways should be so. But since this ingenious innuendo does, 1st, suppose, that he has clearly proved the primi. tive Dioceses to have been no more than mere Congre- gational Churches, which I take to be sufficiently spoken to before; or, 2d, that they could not have been truly Catholic or Apostolical Churches, if they had consisted of more, which he has not so much as attempted to prove, though it might well have been expected from him, I shall leave the reader and him to make the best use they can of the arguments he has offered for it within the three first centuries, and to censure, as they think fit, all the celebrated Bishops of the ages immediately following; which I make no doubt they freely own to have presided over Churches of more congregations than one, and con- sequently to have enjoined the same rites and customs to be observed in all.
The inference from the latter negative definition is more extraordinary still; * Whosoever, says he, should impose the belief of non-essential j.oints upon particular persons, were in like manner esteemed as violators of the Churches unity and concord. For thus, says he, Stephen, Bishop of Rome, was condemned by other Bishops, for anathematizing Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, because he held the baptism of heretics to be null and void.
In this inference you may observe, that the words whosoever and particular persons are indefinitely named, and in general terms, at first; but in the instance given for the proof of it, they are explained by the Bishop of one Church imposing his non-essentials on the Bishop of another. Now, if the instance explains the full meaning
* Enquiry, p . 56- 24*
278 A>; OKIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
of the author, as it ought to do, then the inference is just, and may pass without exception, and the imposer deserves all the hard words of cruelty tyranny, and the like, which this zealous Enquirer fixes upon him; and the I'eason is plain, because the one Bishop had no manner of jurisdiction over the other; and besides, the Bishop of a Church is not looked upon in a private capacity as oth- er particular j^ersons are, especially when a foreign Bish- op attempts to impose a point of doctrine upon him, which is otherwise determined in his own Church. St. Cyprian's maxim is peculiarly applicable in such a case, the Church is in the Bishop, and the Bishop in the Church; at least, it was notoriously so, in the present case between Stephen and St. Cyprian; for Stephen's controversy -was not with * the person of St. Ci/prian only, as it is here made to be, hut with his whole Diocese, nap his province indeed, insomuch as he proceeded to censure all alike, for not receising that non-essential point in dispute betweeti them, as he and his Bishops had decreed if at Rome. This was tyranny with a witness, and if the Enquirer had meant no otherwise than this, as his example and quota- tions prove no more, it had been fair to specify his u-hoso- cver, and his particular persons with some note of re- striction upon them. But they arc left at large, you see, that the inference might remain an universal proposition still, though tlic proof of it was in a particular and sin- gular case only; to the end that his freedom in non-essen- tials might be liable to no sort of check or control, either from abroad or at home; insomuch that if a Synod of
* Stcphanus inn taiituni seiiteiuiam suain adveisus Cyprianuni et synodum Africanum eliain iteratain pfotulit, sed et ipsum ct episcopos conlraria seiitieiues, absiinendos esse puiavit, ut turn Cyprianus turn Augusiinus disciiis verbis testamur. Aiinal. Cypr. ad A. D. Q-^6. li ?.
THE PRiMITIVE pHURCH, &C. 279
Bishops in any province of the Christian Church, should pass any Canon relating to a non-essential point, though for the better security of some fundamental doctrine in their impartial judgment and opinion of it, as both the African and European Bishops plainly did in that case we have been speaking of, and should require the sub- jects in their respective jurisdictions to consent to it, as those Bishops on one side and the other certainly did, they must be censured as schismatical violators of the concord of the Church, according to the inference drawn by this learned author from his negative definition of unity in the Crurch Universal. Notwithstanding we are fully assured, that the Universal Church itself did peace, ably allow all those celebrated Churches to use that lilj- erty within themselves, and none but the furious Bishop of Rome himself, whom all Christian Churches besides exclaimed against for it, did ever think the sacred unity of the Church was violated by it. But to proceed to his positive definition, which is this:
The unity of the Church universal, says he, ■positively consisted, in an harmonious assent to the essential articles of religion, or .in an unanimous agreement in the funda. mentals of faith and doctrine. This is true; but wheth- er the whole truth, is not so clear..
The unity of the Catholic Church was two ways lia- ble to be broken; by heresy, and by schism; so the En- quirer * tells us from St. Cyprian, under this very head that the Devil found out heresies and schisms to divide the unity. Now in opposition to heresies, ^Ac unity did consist, no doubt of it, in an unanimous agreement in fun- damentals of faith and doctrine. And this Irenaeus par-
* Enq. p. 160. Diabolus haweses invenit et schismata, quibus fcintleret unitatem, Cypr. de Unit. Eccl. ^ 2.
280 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
ticularly meant in the quotation here produced from him, as the subject of his whole book indeed impUes, which was directly written against heresies. But^does our learn- ed Author's definition tells us wherein the unity of the universal Church consisted, in opposition to schism also? which was the main motive of his enquiry into it, as he says himself, § 1. of this chapter. If the unity of the Episcopacy be admitted by him for one of his fundament- als, I need raise no farther controversy about it at pre- sent; but if he exclude that, as his manner of explaining it, and his different use of it afterwards, give us just rea- son to think he does, I must take leave to say, his posi- tive definition is imperfect, and appeal to the primitive fa- thers themselves, if the unity of the Ejnscopacy was not absolutely essential to the unity of the CathoHc Church. St. Cyprian, in the same breath, I may say, wherein he exemplifies the unity of the Church in the words of St. Paul, * one body and one spirit, one hope of your call, ing, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God; He adds, as parallel to the rest; let no man deceive the brethren with a lie, let no man corrupt the truth of our faith with any treacherous prevarication, the Episcopacy is one; making it a treacherous corruption of the truth of the faith, you see, to deny that. And that it was the Episco- pacy of the universal Church, and not of any particular one, which he so affirmed to be but one, is evident beyond exception, by what he immediately says of it, that each Bishop held no more than a part of it, though they were interested for the whole.
* Unum corpus, el uniis spiritup, una spes vocationis vestra, unus
D,ominus, una fides, unum baptisma, unus Deus. Nemo fra-
ternitatem niendacio fallat, nemo fidei ve'ritatem perpida prsEvarica- tione corrumpat; episcopatus est unus. Cujus a singulis in soiidum paretenetur. Typr. de Unit. Eccl. J 4. ^. 103. Edit. Oxon.
iHE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 281
But notwithstanding this evidence, which runs through- out St. Cyprian's works, and the same principle receiv- ed by the whole primitive Church, our learned author seems so little to allow this unity of the Episcopacy for a common bond of unity to the Church Universal, that he mentions nothing of it, you see, either in his nega- tive, or positive definitions of it. But, on the contrary, to make it patronise his own * singular opinion, that primitive schism respected only a particular Church, he produces St. Cyprian's notion, under that head, as a cur- rent Tpiooi of his particular or parochial unity, in contra- diction to that of the Church-Universal; though, to make it bend to that design, he was obliged to translate the Ho- ly Father's words, as he had done oncef before, contrary to his plain meaning in them, and the genuine significa- tion of them. I will repeat the X quotation, and let the reader judge, The words as he translates them, Enq. pag. 166. are these: God is one; Christ is one, the Church is one, the rock on which the Church is built is one. A ve- ry unlikely preface, you will say, to introduce the unity of a single parish Church by! But observe what follows; wherefore, says the Enquirers translation, to erect a new altar, and constitute a new Bishop, besides the one altar and one Bishop, is impracticable. And had St. Cypriaa said this, one might have thought, indeed, by his speak- ing of one Bishop, and a new Bishop, and no more thaik so, this clause of the period ^might have had some refer- ence to the unity or schism of a particular Church, and for that reason, no doubt, the Enquirer translated it so.
*Enq. p. 168, t Enq. c. 2. p. 21.
f Deus unus, et Christus unus, et una Ecclesia, et |Cathedra una super Petrum Domini voce fundata: aliud altare constltui, aut sacer- (lotiuni novum fieii, piaeter unum altare, et unum fac ■
282 AN ORIGINAL DKAUGHT OF
But St. Cyprian's words, we see, are Unum Sacerdotiwui et Novum Sacerdotium, one Priesthood, and a new Priest- hood; which are complex terms, and denote not a single Bishop, but the entire order of them in the Church, or, in his own language, as we observed but now, the one Episcopacy, whereof each Bishop held a part. And this is that principle of unity in the Catholic Church, which the holy Martyr, in this quotation, declares to be so ab- solutely one, that he introduces it with all those solemn instances of indivisible unity which we find here in the same period with it. A plain proof, that no breach of it could be made in any single Church whatsoever; but the whole Episcopacy was broken, and consequently the schism must, ipso facto, extend to the Church Universal. In few words, the difference between the primitive Church and the Enquirer, in this matter, lies here. The Enquirer takes notice only, how that particular Church alone, wherein the schism began, had a new Bishop im- posed upon them; and therefore seems to see no far- ther injury or innovation yet made in the Church of Christ besides. Whereas the primitive Church was sensible, that there was not only a new Bishop schismat- ically made in that particular Church, but a new Priest- hood, or a new Episcopacy, springing up by means of it, which stood in open competition with that one Priesthood, pr one Episcopacy, derived down to them all from Christ and his Apostles, and might, from generation, to genera- tion, propagate another pretended Church, distinct from, and independant of, the only true one; usurping an equal right and title to Scriptures, Creeds and Sacraments, as well as a new Priesthood, with the Apostolical succession itself, and the authority as good in the one as the other, unless they all jointly disavowed the usurpation, and
THE PKI3IITIVE CHURCH, &C. 283
every Bishop of the Church, as soon as they had any cognizance of it, utterly renounced all correspond- ence and communion with the authors or abetters of it; for it equally injured them all. So immediately did eve- ry particular schism, without any other intervening act in the case, influence the Universal Church, and violate the sacred unity of it.
From whence these two things appear. 1st. That it was no slight error in the learned Enquirer, to render St. Cyprian''s JSovum Saccrdotiim, by that undue translation of a new Bishop, instead of a new Priesthood, since it was the main hinge on which the controversy turned; and had it been rightly rendered, would have discovered wherein the primitive Church and he differed about those important points o{^ unity and schism. And, 2d. That the two only ways, whereby the Enquirer * afterwards says, the schis?n of a particular Church might influence other Churches, namely, by admitting excommu- nicated schismatics, their Legates, Messengers, or follow- ers; or else, by receiving letters from them, and approv- ing their pretensions; are of a very different considera. tion from the point in question here. For the question is not, how other Churches might actually become schis- matics, as well as the principals themselves; but how all Christian Churches, in the judgment of the primitive Fa- thers, were ipso facto injured, and their Catholic unity immediately broken, by a schism breaking out in any particular Cliurch, though no other Church besides either favored or approved of them. Which was not, you see, by becoming schismatics themselves, as the Enqui- rers argument implies, but by the Schismatics introducing
El.q. p. 177,
234 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
a new Priesthood or Episcopacy into the Church of Christ, wherein they were wholly passive, but univer- sally concerned.
It is true, St. Cyprian very well knew, from the na- ture of the thing itself, that every schism must be form- ed by some members of a particular Church breaking ofi from their own Bishop, and therefore inveighs against that violation of their Spiritual allegiance, and aggra- vates the guilt of such a breach, as the necessary cause from whence schism must arise, and so much the Enqui- rer's several * quotations from him shew; but he produced them as plain evidence that schism respected only those particular Churches, and no more; whereas, when the same St. Cyprian comes to close those discourses, and to tell the schismatics how their guilt came to be so great: he gives them this reason for it, which the Enquirer has transcribed f amongst tbe rest too, because, says he, the Catholic Church, ichich is one, is not rent nor divided, but Icnit and coupled together by the cement of her Bishops united to one, another. As if he had plainly said, that no schism can be made, but the Catholic Church and all the Bishops of it must be injured at once; and this plain consequence of revolting from a single Bishop, was a sufficient motive for the Holy Martyr St. lagnatius also, to lay such frequent and pathetical injunctions upon all Christians to obey their respective Pastors, and live in
*" Neque aliunde nata sunt schismata, &c. Hi sunt onus atq ; co- natus schismaticornm, kc. Inde schismata ei hfereses obcrtfe sunt, &c . See Enq. p. 166, 167.
i Enq. ib. p. 167. ad finem. Quando Ecclesia, Quas Caihol- ica una est, scissanon sit neque divisa, sed sit utique conne.'^a, et cc- hsrentium sibi invicem saceriotum ghitino copulaia. Cvpr. Ep. 69. Edit. Oxon. 66. (I 7.
THE PRIMITIVE CUURCH, &C. 285
the unity with them, which the Enquirer * makes a great argument again for his primitive parochial schism, whereas if the sin of Schism was the consequence of their disobedience, which is agreed as well on one side as the other; the reason was equal at least, take it in which sense we please, for the zealous martyr to warn them so affectionately against it; or if any difference, the argu- ment would rather look the other way; that their crime extended farther than our learned author allows it to do, because the Holy Father's injunctions were so frequent and pathetkcd, as he observes them to be. And this can- not be doubted indeed, if we remember St. Ignatius' no- tion of the one altar, which he unquestionably meant, as all the ancients did, with reference to the Universal Church, as I have shewn before.
After all, the Enquirer f undertakes to make his The- sis clear, beyond exception, by the noted instances of Felicissimus' schism in the Church o^ Carthage and that of Novatian at Rome; and to that purpose shews at large, that they were called schismatics, and proceeded against as such, whilst they neither caused nor attempted any separation from any other Churches, but those respect, ively of Carthage and Rome; and they very well might be so, and yet nothing less injurious to the Universal Church, as you have seen already. But let us hear what St. Cyprian says of these very schisms, which are offered as a pattern for all. Of Felicissimus and his ac- complices, says that Holy Martyr to Cornelius of Rome, :j: what manner of •persons do you think they must be, who are enemies of the Bishops, and rebels against the Catholic
*Enq. p. 169. tEnq. p. 172.
:j: Quales pmas esse eos, qui sacerdotum hostes, et contia Ecclewam Catholicam rebelles? Cypr. Ep.59. {5. Edit. Oxon. 25
286 AN ORIGINAL DRVrGIIT OF
Church? Did their schism respect himself and his Church only, and yet that good man fix so hard a charge upon them, beyond what they deserved? jMoj it was on ac- count of his settled judgment in the case, and that of the whole Christian Church with him, according to theCatho- hc principle we are now speaking of. And of Novatian, more plainly still; * he separated himself, says he, from the bond of the Church and from the College of Bishops, and would neither keep the unify of the Episcopacy nor the peace of it. How this suits with primitive schism, again, respecting a particular Church only, I confess I can not see.
This, and such like evidence from antiquity pressed so hard upon the Enquirer's singular notion, that he found liimself obliged to fly to these cautious distinctions; j that schism, in its larger sense was a breach of the Church Universal, but in its xi.ual and restrained sense, of a Church p>articular. And again, :j: thai schism, jrincipal. ly and originally, respected a p)articiilar Church or parish; though it might consequentially influence ethers too. And again, § that it actually Iroke the unity of one Church, and virtually of all- in the first of which distinctions, he owns, you see, that schism, in some sense, was a breach of the Church Universal; and in what Zar^e sense that should be, if it respected no more than a particular Church only, as he || affirms of it, is too much for mc to conceive. Or'gincd- ly, indeed, it respected a particular Church, so far, that
* Qui se ab ecclesiae vinculo .a:q ; a saceidoluin coilrgio scparnt
qui Eoiscopatus nee uniiatem voluit tcncre, nee paccm. (Vpr. Ep. 55. p. 112- Edit. Oxon. t Enq p. 180. |Pag. 162.
J Pag. 173.' 11 Enq. p. 168.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &.C. 287
in one or other of them, it must originally break out; but that it respected other Churches consequentially only, is but the same mistake again, which I answered before, that none were affected with it, in his opinion, hut such as became schismatics thcmsehe". And lastly, how this Cathoh'c unity n-cs brokcv, and not actually broken, is too nice for me again. But such uneven ground we may expect to meet with, when we leave the plain way.
I have wondered, I confess, from whence the singular way of reasoning in this Enquiry should come; but the secret of it, if I mistake not, and I ask pardon if I do, seems to lie here; some charitable expedient was to be found out to support some sort of schismatics with this comfortable hope, that though they broke the unity of ihe par.icuhr Chiifcli whereof they were members, yet they might continue in the unity of the Chwrh Universal still; especially, if the points in controversy between them were matters only of rites or non essentials; and if the unity of the Episcopacy had been admitted for an es- sential bond of Catholic unity, as it really was in the judgment of the primitive Church, that comfortable expe- dicrJ, and this whole scheme of diversity of unities, had been lost together; as appears, I think, by the particular account I have here given of them.
I have taken but little notice indeed of his difference between the unity of a Church collective, and that of the Church Universal; because he had prevented me in his own account of that. For ihe unity of a Church Collec- tive, * says he, may have consisted in a brotherly corres- pondence with, and affection towards each other; which they demonstrated by all outward expressions of love and
tEnq. p. 160. IGl.
288 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF
concord; as by receiving into communion the members of each others, mutually advising and assisting one another by letter or otherwise, and other marks of love and concord. And, on the other hand, the relation, says he, between each particular Church, and the Universal Church in gen- eral, was this, that as one member of the natural body has a regard to all the other members thereof, so a particular Church had to every member of the Church Universal; the Bishops employed a general kind of inspection over all other Churches besides their own, observing their condi- tion, and giving them an account of their own: and sent to one another for advice and decision in difficult points. In these, and in many other such like cases, there was a cor- respondence between the particular Churches of the Uni- i)er$at Now, where the distinct unity of a collective Church, from that of the Universal, lies in this account of them; I must leave the reader to enquire, for 1 confess I can discover none.
And thus having considered the several kinds of uni- ties proposed, I may conclude, I think, what I first ex- pected of them, that in respect of schism at least, for the sake of which this singular diversity was contrived, they all centre in that one individual unity, which all antiqui- ty attributed to the Catholic Church of Christ.
One point under this head, is still behind, and so neces. sary to be settled, that the subject of the whole Chapter is of little use without it. Schism, as our learned author has * defined it, was a causeless separationfrom their law- fid pastor. This gave him occasion to enquire, what causes could justify such a separation, and what not; an enquiry, proper on all sides, whether the schism were particular only, or an uniiicrsal one; since schism was a certain and immediate effect of it. But, to be clear in
* Enq. p. 1G3.
THE PRIMITIVE CIIUKCII, &C. 289
this enquiry with him, the principal term in the question must first be rightly understood.
Separation, if it be meant according to the point in question here, must imply, not a bare abstaining from communion with the lawful Pastor, but setting up anoth. er also in his stead, for otherwise a formal schism was not yet made; which distinction I briefly hint to the read- er, because, though the question i self does so necessari- ly suppose this selling up of altar against altar, as well s.sforL'cari:ig to coiiununicatt; yet in the proofs and pre- cedents offered for it, and in the inference drawn from them * at the last, he will find they are promiscuously used without this due distinction; whereas it is evident by the whole economy and principles .of the primitive Church, that causes might be given for not joining in communion with a Pastor, through some fundamental corruption, for example, in the very service of his Church; and yet the same persons, who leave him for it, may not be authorised to deprive that Pastor, or to substitute ano- ther in his place. The necessary requisites for deposing or ronstitiding Bishops in the primitive times, as we have seen at large f before, is sufficient proof of this; and the learned Enquirer, in the close o£ this very head, :}: de- clares, that it u-as acotiched hy all, that Synods did depose all those Bishops that were gttillij of criminal or scanda- lous enormities. As he owned § before also, that the Bishops of the Province were to be called in, at least, and their consent obtained, before any Bishop of the primitive Church, could be legally instituted, as he calls it, or settled in their place. From these considerations of confessed matter of fact, it must follow, that the peo-
*Enr), p. 166. 5 7. t Cap. 3. et 6. supia.
X Knq. p. 165. 5 Eiiq. p. 47, id.
25*
290 A\ ORIGIXAL DRAUGHT OF
pie's part in any separation, be the occasion never so jus- tifiable, could amount to no more, tlian a bare abstaining from communion, till a regular mithoriti/ should depose their criminal Pastor, and provide another for them.
And iif we bear these premises in mind, whilst we ex- amine all this learned author offers upon this subject, we shall find it comes to just the same thing: whatever more might be intended by it. His whole account of it is as follows.
The justifiable causes,* says he, for such a scparatioUy I think, Kcrc two, oral the mist, three; firsinposiacyf ro7n t'le Faith; secondly, Heresy; and thirdl}-, a scaridalous and u-iched life.
His instance for-Apostacy, is that of the Spanish Bish- ops, Basilldes and Martialis; whose relapsing to idola- try in time of persecution was notorious; and that the people should separate from them, and join in commun- ion with others, was approved by St. Cyprian and his synod, in that f Epistle the Enquirer refers to for it. But how stood the case, when the African council thus advis- ed them? and how far did the people's part in that separa- tion gol Did the people, or any of the inferior Clergy of their Churches with them, turn their Apostate Bishops outoftheir places, and, by their own act and deed, sub- stitute others in tlieir room? Nothing like it, if you will believe the synod itself in that case. For, as they rep- resent the matter, in the same Epistle, those idolatrous Bishops were synodicalh/ deprived, aiid others, in the same manner, placed in their Sees, before the people ever applied to St. Cyprian and his council about communicat- infT or not communicating with them; only by the un-
*Enq. p. 1G3. 164. • .
1 Cypr. Ej). C3. or 67. Edit. Oxon.
THE PRIMITIVE CnURCII, &C. 291
just interposition of the Bishop of Rome, in favor of those idolaters after they were deprived, they claimed their former right slill; and in that case, the African council advised and warranted the people to separate from their first idolatrous Bishops, and join communion with those, who were so regularly provided for them; as I have shewn more at large in the sixth chapter foregoing, and now a reparation , in any case whatsoever, thus manag- ed, isjustifiable without dispute. And this is all the En- quiry proves in the first justifiable cause for it, namely, that of notorious idolatry. For what the instance or ex- ample proves, is presumed to be the substance of the ar- gument, which the author grounds upon it. But,
2d, What sort of separation he approved of, in case of an heretical Pastor, is not so easily to be known, from his short quotations under that head; for all he * says of it is, that Irena3us advises usf tofiyfrom all heretics; and that Origen allows the people to separate from their Bishop, :j: if they could accuse him of false and heretical doctrine; which no doubt of it, all good Christians ought to do. But this is speaking at large. If we would know the practice of the primitive Church in this matter, the case of Paulus Samosatenus is as clear a precedent as antiquity can afford; and as evidently shews, that the separation both of Laity and inferior Clergy from an heretical Bishop, was managed in thesanie manner then, as we have seen it was in the case of the idolatrous Bish- ops before. The proceedings against Paul are at large recorded by Eusebius, and in the synodical letter of the
* Enq. lb. _
f Enq. ib. Oportet longe fugere ab eis. Iren. 1, 1. c. 13. J Si habueris accusalionem doctrinne pessimae, et alienorum ab eccle- sia dograatuin, Oiig. Horn. 7. in Ezek.
292 AN OHIGIXAL DBAUGUT OF
couQcil called against him, which that historian has in great part preserved for us; where we read of no new altar or second Bishop set up by Presbyters, Deacons, or people, notwithstanding they were conscious enough of his blasphemous notions, till such time as the great coun- cil solemnly deposed him, and promoted Domnus to his See. . Nay, we find his orthodox people still present at the public service of the Church with him, his heretical blasphemies not being yet inserted there, though * tJxey suffered rej^roaches from him all ihz lohUe, for behaving themselves more decently and gravely than his tor etched flatterers did, as the holy fathers of the council relate the case themselves. The separation in this case there- fore was managed thus: The watchful Bishops- of the several Churches of God about him took the alarm of his heresy, and provided a more faithful Pastor in a regular and authentic manner foT his people, who waited for that warrantable course of being duly separated from him; trusting to the providence of God, without going out of his way, which every Christian safely may depend upon, from the faithful promises of our blessed Lord, that he will be with his Church for ever. But,
3d, As to the matter of a scandalous and wicked life the learned .Enquirer himself, and the venerable authors he cites, are divided about the modes of separation in such a case. An African Synod, | he tells us, affirms, that the people of their oion jwwer and authority, loilhout the concurrent assent of other Churches, might leave and desert a scandalous Bisjop; and Irenams, says he, agrees
* Toif olv u>i IV oiKii) Oiu cifivo-rpi-zijOi Kai H)7a«r7uij OKuovcir t-iliawv Kul evvSpi^^wv. Euseb. H. E. lib; 7, c. 30. t Enq.p. 1G4, 1G5.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 293
with them in it, though Origen seems to he of another mind.
Now, by leaving and deserting their Bishop, of their own authority, and without the assent of other Churches, it is plain he means no less than a full power in them to discharge him of his pastoral care over them, and to pro- vide another Bishop or Pastor for themselves; for he sets it in direct opposition to Origen's opinion, which in his * own construction cf it, was to wait for a synodical author- ity to deimse their Bishop in any such case.
His meaning being plain then, we shall soon see, or rather have sesn already indeed, that the African Synod he refers to, allows no such popular liberty, of placing and displacing Pastors for themselves, in case of a scan- dalous or imiiwral life; for it is the very same synod, and the same Epistle of theirs he here appeals to, Vt^hich he cited just before in the case of the idolatrous Spanish Bishops; who being not apostates only, but vicious and immoral men toOj the Synod considered them in both re- spects, in their answer to the Clergy and people cf tueir Churches who v/rote for their advice about them; and as this gave occasion to the Synod severally to declare, in many passages of that Epistle, how unworthy either vicious or idolatrous Bishops were to minister at the altar of God; so it did to this Enquirer also to make a double use and application of it; whereas in respect to the peo- pie's separation from one, and joining in communion with another, which is the case before us here, the Synod's judgment was the same, as well in regard to the immoral- ity, as to the idolatry of their Bishops. In both cases it had immediate reference to the condition the people were in, and the difficulties they were driven to, of hav- ing rival Bishops, on one side synodically deprived, and
*Enq.ib. p. ]65.
294 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
on the other synodically set up, and the Synod's determi- nation for thera was this: That since they had Bishops so regularly provided for them, and the other so justly deprived, they should separate from the one who were guilty of such open idolatry and immoral lives, and join communion with the other, who could be charged with neither, notwithstanding the Bishop of Rome, and some other nearer home, discouraged them from doing so; and this was the very separation that Synod had occasion to speak to, upon the Clergy and the people's application to them; and the only kind o^ popular election they main- tained, which has so mightily been insisted upon, in a very different sense, ' before. Let the impartial reader have recourse to the synodical f Epistle itself, and judge if he ci;n find this dispensation granted there to any Christian Churches whatsoever, to desert their criminal Bishops of their own authorily, and without assent of other Churches, in such a sense as is affirmed here. To pTocecu tlicn to the other autfiority for it.
Irenseus, :j: saj-s he, was of the same mind with this African council; and I doubt not, but he was; but not in the sense intended here. The || passage quoted for it from that father, neither implies so much, nor is directly applicable to the point in hand, if the learned commenta- tor upon it, understood it right. The question before us is, what the people are to do in case of scandal and im- morality in their Bishops, his faith and principles in the mean time being sound and orthodox; but Irenoeus, in the place quoted here, was speaking of the IT most vicious
^Eiiq.Chap. 6. tCypr. Ep. 67. Edit, Oxon. |Enq.p.l64. [] Qui vero prebbyteii serviunt siiis voluptatibus, ire. — ab omnibui talibus dbsistere oportet. lien. 1. 4. c. 44. } 1.
H Qui veio cietiti quii'.em sum a multl.«! presbyteri, &:c . Annot.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 295
heretics of those times, such as Nicolas the Deacon, Cc. rinthus, Ebion, and the like, as the judicious annotator verily believes. This alters the case, and many circum. stances would persuade any reader that Irenceus meant so. 1st, Because he does not name the Presbyters he was speaking of there, as genidnc Preslyters of the Church, but * such as were thought by many to be so • which character of them the Enquirer was pleased to leave out, though in the midst of the first comma he cites. 2d, Because Irenteus introduces what he says of them, with plain terms of distinction from the Presbyters he was speaking of before, who were f such as had succes. sion from the Apostles, and with that succession the cer- tain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the father, as the context shews. And 3d, Because in the quotation itself, where he advises all Christians to abstain from them, he exhorts them, by way of distinction again I to keep close to those, who, as he told them before, pre- served the doctrine of the Apostles. Pretty plain signs, one would think, that he was speaking of heretics, as well as vicious men, though the same persons still .
And yet, after all, be it of one or the other, or both; he says no more, you see, to our present case, than that me should abstain from thctn; which determines nothing, how the Church of God in general should be regularly
Nicolaum, Cerinthum, Eblonem, et id genus Haresiarchas hie atro carbone notari existimo. Ad Iren. ubi supra.
* Qui vero crediti quidem sunt a raultis presbyteri.
+ Eis qui in Ecclesia sunt presbyteris obaudire oportet, his qui suc- cessionem habent ab apostolis, et cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis cerium secundum placitum pitris acceperunt. L. 4. c. 43. Qui vero crediti sunt a multis, £:c. lb. c. 44. { 1.
;j: Ab omnibus igittir talibas absistere oportet, adhaerere vero his qui Apostolorura, sicut prEediximus, doctiinara custodiunt. lb. cap. 44.
296 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OP
freed from such wretched Presbyters, or any particular people provided with a more worthy Pastor for them- selves; but leaves his reader there to the warrantable rules and method of the Church, having taught him just before what sort of Apostolical successors all Christians were obliged to cleave to; and farther warned him to * suspect all others who go off from that succession, and hold their meetings in any place whatsoever, as heretics or schismatics, or proud, or pleasers of themselves, or else as hypocrites who do it for the sake of interest or vain-glory. Which gives as little licence, I think, to the people of any Diocese, particular Church, or Parish, name it as you please, to provide themselves a Pastor of their own au. thority and without the assent of other Churches, in the sense it is pretended here, as the African council itself did before; and so. far Irenajus and that council do agree; neither of them wavTantingthiit popular right and author, ity of heoping up teachers to themselves, to use the Apos- tle's phrase, however unfortunate they may be, to have an immoral Pastor at any time among them.
And that Origen comes nearer to the sense of both of them, than our learned author thought he did, though he endeavored to reconcile them too, I believe the reader will perceive by the very quotation he gives us from him here, which I shall transcribe in his own translation, together with the text itself; not only as the true sense of the African council and Irenceus, but of the whole primitive Church with them; in this point of scandal and immorality in any minister of the Church of God.
*Reliquos vero qui absistunt a principal! successione, etquocunq; Iccn colliguntur, suspectos habere, vel quasi haeieticos et malae renten- tjifi, vel quasi scindentes, et elatos, et sibi placentas; aut ruisus ut hy- pocritas, qufestus gratia et vanae gloria; hoc operantes. Iren. ubi supra, sap. 43.
THE PKIMITIVE CHITECH, &C. 297
He * that hath a care of his soul, will not he scandal- ized at my faults, who am his Bishop, but considering my doctrine, and finding it agreeable to the ChurcWs faith, from me indeed he will he averse, iut he will receive my doctrine, according to the precept of the Lord; uhich saith, The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' chair, whatsoever therefore they say unto you, hear and do, but according un- to their works do not, for they say and do not. That Scrip- ture is of me, toho teach what is good, and do the contrary, and sit upon the chair of Moses, as a Scribe or Pharisee. The j)recept is to thee, O people; if thou canst not accuse me of false doctrine, or heretical opinions, but only behold, est my luicked and sinful life; thou must not square thy life according to my life, but do those things which I speak.
Here Origen must needs he understood, as the learned L^nquirer f remarks upon him, to restrain the people from present separation, till they had the authority of a Synod for doing so; and can the African council be said to differ from him in this, when all they wrote upon this subject, was in the particular case of the Spanish Churches, where such a regular Synod had already settled all in the same manner that Origen would have it done? Or, supposing
*■ Qui curam habet vhsB suae, uon meis delictis, qui videor in Ecclesia proedicare. scar.dalizabitur, sed ipsum dogma considerans, et pertrac- laiis Ecclesise fidem, a me quidem aversabitur, doctiinam vero suscipiet secundum prseceptum Domini, qui ait, supra cathedram Moysi sede- runt Sciiba; et Pliarisifii, omnia enim qujecimq; vobis dicunt audite et facile, juxta auiem opera illorum nolite facere, dicunt quippe et non faciunt. Iste sernio de me est, qui bona doceo, et contraria gero, etsuni sedens supra cailiedram Moysi quasi Scriba et Pharisasus ; prasceptum tibi est, O popule; si non habueris accusationem aoctrinae pessimae et alienorum ab ecclesia dogmatum, conspexeris vero meam culpabilem vitara atq; peccata, ut non habeas, juxta dicentis vitam tuam institu- ere, sed ea facere quss loquor. Orig. Homil. 7. in EzechieJ.
tEnq. ib, p. 1G5.
26 ■ •
398 AN ORIGINAX DRAUGHT OF
Irenseus referred to this special case of immorality, which it is likely, you see, he did not, could he be said to allow the people to provide another Bishop for themselves, of their own power and authority, and without the assent of other Churches, because he said they should abstain from the former? determining nothing for them which way they should be better provided for in the case, but plain- ly leaving them, as I observed before, to the ordinary methods of the Church for that; which, as the Enquirer owns, in this very place, was avouched ly all to he this. That Synods did depose all scandalous and criminal Bish- ops; and to understand it otherwise, in Origen^s case, says he, was to contradict all other writers besides. It were hard upon Irenseus then, to say, he did not understand it «o, who had so strictly charged all Christians, as you heard but just now, to keep close to the Apostolical suc- cession, to whom the certain gift of truth was so peculiar- ly bequeathed, and to be so jealous of all others, who would meet any where, without regard to that.
And thus the three authorities produced agree, I con- ceive, in this, that neither one nor the other justify the people of any Church, to deprive or set up a Bishop or Pastor for themselves of their own power and auihority, in this last case of a wicked and scandalous life; any more than the Catholic practice of the primitive Church did in the greater ones of heresy and apostacy itself, which we have no where found was done ; and with this I shall close the material point of the justifiable causes of separation, and at the same time the general head of this last chapter, concerning the unity or schism of the prim- itive Church.
And by the particular survey, which has been taken of these two important points, it is no hard matter, I think,
THE PRIMITIVE CHUECH, &C. 299
to know what schism is, and in every division of the Church, who the schismatics are. The learned Enquirer indeed, differs widely from the primitive Church about it, in the case of non-essentials; but then he differs little less from himself too; for all kind of imposers in that case are schismatics of the highest nature with him; he taxes them with cruelty, tyranny, violation of the Churches concord, and a great deal more, beyond his usual temper; and yet in his own account of the discipline of the primi- tive Church, he shews us there was as much imposition of that nature practised then, as he can any where com- plain of, in any orthodox Church at this very day. For his account of primitive provincial Synods is this, * They were assembled, says he, amongst other things, for resolving all difficult points that did not wound the essen- tials of religion, and what were those resolutions, but so many determinations one way or the other, what the Churches of the provinces they belonged to should be- lieve, in such non-essential matters as they so considered and resolved? especially, since he farther adds, f that what they there enacted, they decreed to be observed by all the faithful of those Churches whom they represented, or by all the members of them. Now this right of debating non-essential points in Ecclesiastical councils, of resolv- ing and determining about them there, and requiring all the Churches they belonged to, to acquiesce in such sy- nodical determinations of them, is all the imposition, I aiB sensible of, that any Orthodox Church, primitive or modern, can be charged with in any dificult points that wound not the essentials of religion; and therefore I can- not see, I confess, what sort of imposers he can be so
♦ Enq. p. 147 .
T Enq. p. 148, and 149.
800 /.N ORIGINAL DKAUGIIT OF
highly angry at in this case, without reflecting on the sacred Synods of the primitive Church, in his own man. ifest account of them.
But it is too visible, with what partiaUty to his own opinion he * applies the venerable Irenseus' censure, of (lU inexcusable schismatics in his time, to the single per- sons of such imposers only, as he is pleased to call them; that is, to all Ecclesiastical authority whatsoever, which should determine any thing in these di^cult points, which no way wound the essentials of religion, let their consid- erations of unity, peace, or order, in it, be what they will; and notwithstanding the right and practice he had owned, you see, before in primitive provincial Synods to do so. And that St. Cyprian and his African pro- vince drew up a solemn decree in such a case, as our learned author himself allows the case to be, for the ob- servation of all belonging to them, I have shewn at large before.
But I shall leave Irenjeus' own words with the reader, that he may judge how the bias of an author's mind must be set, to apply such general language to any special sense he has first prepared for it, which the holy father himself gives no manner of occasion for. The words are these :
The f spiritual man, says he, will jndgc, or discern those who make schisms, who are inhuman, not having the
•Enq . p. 158.
t Discipulus vere spirilualis recipiens spiritum Dei judicabit eos
qui schismata operantur, qui sunt iinmanes, non habentes Dei dilec- t.ionem, suamq: utilitatem potius consideranles, quara unitatem Ec- deeiaj, propter modicas et quassibet causas magnum et Rloriosum cor- pus Christi conscinduiit ct dividiint, et, quantum in ipsis est, interfici- unt^ pacetn loquentes, et bellura operantes, vere liquantes culicetn, et cftinelgra transglutientes. Iren . 1. 4 • cap . 53. and (ti.
THE PRIMITIVE CHUECH, &C. 301
love of God, but preferring their own advantage before the unity of the Church, for trivial and slight causes, rend and divide the great and glorious body of Christ, and as much as in them lies, destroy it; who speak peace, but wage war, truly straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel.
Here li a fearful character of schismaticsj every one sees; but the Enquirer thinks he sees more; he discerns a special kind of schismatics marked out here, to whom he frankly applies it all; and those are imposers of non- essentials, as I hinted but now, be their authority what it will, or the articles they decree never so innocent or use- ful in their kind. In such cases, all inferior members of a Church, by his construction of the place, may be left at liberty to disturb the peace, and rend the unity of the Church for such mere non-essential points, and be all the while innocent and blameless in it; for the whole guilt is removed, * you see, from them, and placed where it can- not touch them. But, what one syllable is there in Ire- nseus' words, which looks that way? unless we will be great imposers ourselves, and oblige the reader to believe, that there could be no inhumanity, or want of the love of God in it, if any subordinate members of a Church should break the unity, and disobey their spiritual superiors too, for such slight matters as Trenteus speaks of there; or that it could not be said of them, that they preferred their own advantage before the Churdi's unity, who from being subjects in it, make themselves heads and govern- ors of faction and a party, by excepting against non- essential matters, and forming a schism upon it; or that it could not be supposed, that such mean and ordinary schismatics should make professions of peace and fiety,
* Enq. p. 158,
802 AH ORIGir^AL DRAUGHT OF
whilst they wage war against the Church of God. Or lastly, that to strain at ag7iat, and swalloio a camel, could with no propriety of speech be said of them, with whom a harmless non-essential will not down, and yet the dread- ful guilt of schism be easily digested by them.
The words make no distinction of persons from one end to the other; nor exempt any from the common guilt of the same unnatural schism, where the cause of contro- versy and division is the same; that is for slight or non- essential matters; and it is strange to think the venerable author of them, who held the highest station in the Church, should mean to clear all other members of it, and leave them free to rend the great and glorious body of Christ, for such slender matters as he was speaking of, except himself alone, or such as he was.
Had his first words been fairly translated, there could have been no umbrage for such a construction; for the schismatics Irenseus censures, are, in his own express terms, such as * actually make or form a schism, upon some slender occasion or other, and not such as should more remotely cause, or occasion, such a schism to be made, as the Enquirer has rendered them; and by that slight turn alone, made them so plausibly countenance his own peculiar application.
But I will leave the quotation now to speak for itself, and only excuse myself for differing in one particular more from the learned Enquirer, in translating that first sentence of it. He renders it thus. That at the last day, Christ shall judge those who cause the schisms, there spo- ken of; and I doubt not, but all such schismatics will sadly find it so. But Irenceus' sense, I conceive to be this, that the spiritual man will judge, or discern, those
* Qui schismata operantur.
THE PRIMITIVE CHITECH, &C. 303
who actually make such' schisms, &c. And my reason for it, is, because the holy father for niae or ten short chapters to- gether, was speaking in one continued discourse of this particular judge, who should try and discern all sorts of adversaries to the truth. And in the fifty-third chap, ter, where he first began it, he expresses by name the spiritual disciple, who should so discern and judge all^ and himself he judged of no man, according to the sacred text, 1 Cor. ii. 15. And answerable to that, in the sixty second chapter, where he speaks of judging schismatics ■ amongst the rest, in the words of this quotation before us, he shuts up the whole d.scourse with repeating that clause again, but he himself will be judged or discerned by no man; which made it plain to me, that the spiritual man was the judge spoken of, from one end to the other; and therefore I translated it so. ^ .
Some little attention then seems to have been wanting Here, both as to the context and application of this prim- itive father's words. But take them in what sense we will, they are an evident instance of that awful sense which the first and best of Christians had of the dreadful sin of schism; not much unlike what the learned Enqui- rer has * observed from St. Cyprian to the same purpose; and since his Enquiry was professedly written to heal such unhappy divisions in the Church, and viy heart tells me I had no other ends in all my observations upon it, I shall leave the authorities of both those ancient fathers to the serious consideration of the sons of peace, as no unsuitable conclusion to this whole discourse.
St. Cyprian's words are very close and affecting in- deed. The schismatic, says he, f can no longer have God-
*Enq. p. 180.
•t Alienug est habere jam non potest Deura pairem, qui Egcle*
304 AN ORIGINAl DKAUGUT OF
for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother, but is out of the number of the faithful; and though he should die for the faith, yet should he never he saved.
And Irenseus' senss is this, that schism is such * a rending and dividing of the great and glorious body of Christ, as equals the guilt of schismatics to that ot' apos- tates from the faith, censured by St. Paul, f/r/to crucify to themselves afresh the Lord of Glory, and put him to an open shame; and this guilt he makes more monstrous and unnatural still, when men aclualhj form their schism for \ slight and inconsiderate matters; that is, as the learned ■ Enquirer explains it, upon account of non-essential points, which wound no fundamental article of Christian faith or doctrine. To this sort of schishnatics his censure more im- mediately belongs. And if the joint suffrage of these two eminent martyrs of the primitive Church were duly weighed and solemnly attended to, it might have a com- fortable influence upon the unhappy divisions of our times. For should all divided parties in the reformed Churches of this age, have the same av/ful fear of the dreadful guilt and danger of schism, and the same peace- ful indifference to non-essential points, as it is manifest these holy fathers of the primitive Church had; the sorest divisions amongst us would well nigh heal of themselves; we should need no litigious volumes of controversy to apply to them, which rather fret, than cure; they would insensibly dissolve within every man's own breast, through the gentle, but poioerful influence of that spirit of peace,
siam non habet matrem, tales etiamsi occisi in confessione nominis fue- »nt, macula ista nee sanguine abkiitur. De Unit,
•Magnum el gloriosum coipus Christi conscindu et dividunt, et quantum in ipsis est, interficiunt. Ire. uhi supra.
t Heb. vi. 6.
I Propter modicas ct quassibet causas, Iren. ut supra.
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, &C. 305
humility, and love, which, for so many ages together, kept the universal Church of Christ in so amiable and admired an unity within itself. May the dying petition of the great Lord and Redeemer of the Church, so often and so affectionately * repeated to the Father, for the peace and unity of us all, procure that miracle of mercy for us, that we all may be one, even as the Father and he are one. Amen, Amen.
* Jo. xvii. 11,21.22,23.
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