Skip to main content

Full text of "An original draught of the primitive church, in answer to a discourse, entitled [1] An enquiry into the constitution, discipline, unity and worship, of the primitive church, that flourished within the first three hundred years after Christ"

See other formats 


^  PRINCETON,    N.    J. 


% 


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. 

FINIS.